Depressing Awesome-ness!

A quick suggestion:  Listen to France's Deathspell Omega and check out this thread on Slashdot.  It will be awesome.  Maybe a little depressing, but mostly awesome.  I've thoroughly enjoyed the last 45 minutes of my life.

Cheatin' on y'all

So I play in this band called Wormrider, and this band called Wormrider has a blog.  I just posted to it earlier today.  The post is about a fan re-edit of the Dune movie.  I curse a lot in it.  Also I say mean things about George Lucas.  It's funny.  You should read it.  Then you should start listening to my band.  That's all the advice that I have for today.

WORMRIDER'S WEBPAGE BLOG THINGAMAJIG LINK!

Punk Not Profit

Punk Not Profit is one of many music download blogs that cater to the completionist in us all. I bet you thought you had every single inch of tape ever blessed (cursed?) with Glenn Danzig's voice. Is it important to have the instrumental outtakes from Samhain's November Coming Fire? I'm not sure, but there are worse compulsions out there.

Blogs like this help to bolster the argument that free music downloading drives the careers of musicians. Most of what Punk Not Profit shares is not available for sale anyplace anymore. I go on, download some rare bit of nonsense and keep scrolling. "Oh, look. An early Exploited demo. I've heard these guys are fun." Download. Listen. Buy some more music next time I'm in a record store. It's free advertising.

And if you prefer classic and psychedelic rock over punk, take a gander at The Day After the Sabbath. The dude loves you so much, he makes you a mix tape every few weeks. Then you start hunting down complete albums.

Vegan Black Metal Chef!

The Vegan Black Metal Chef makes me laugh and laugh. I would caution agains using as much salt and butter substitute as he does. I would also say that headbanging, posing w/ an awesome guitar, and using a mace to mash potatoes are all awesome and common practice in my kitchen from here on out.

How I spent Columbus Day 2010

Let me just say that Columbus sucked. Maybe not quite as badly as we remember him, but dude's published journals are woefully inaccurate and contain some pathetic attempts at keeping posterity from remembering him as a drunkard and a failed politician. My school generally does not get Columbus Day off, and I fully support this policy.

This year, however, a strange twist of calendar-fate has landed me at home on this most ignominious of holidays. How am I spending it? By working my way through an amazing music blog! The Day After The Sabbath makes me nothing but giddy with 70s heavy metal joy. My poor neighbors.

A Hypothetical, Unedited Mixtape for My Students

Mp3s may have killed the mixtape, but they do make it so I can just publish a list of songs and let everyone else break copyright laws. My students only actually get to hear some of this stuff. I'd actually make this mix, but I'm a wimp and am worried that my musical tastes are too offensive to share in their entirety.

Here we go, my hypothetical, unedited mixtape for my students that I am too wimpy to actually make (OK, maybe one day . . . ):

1. "Love in Vein" - Skinny Puppy - The best opening track in recorded music. I could never make a mixtape without Skinny Puppy. Just ask my poor wife.

2. "In Bloom" - Nirvana - Grunge! I want everyone to love this song as much as I do.

3. "Time Does Not Heal" - Dark Angel - Thrash metal. Your life does not improve without your action.

4. "Man the Ramparts" - Botch - Hardcore! The world may very well not be on your side, and that is just fine.

5. "Bring Back the Apocalypse" - Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Art metal. You may very well not be on the world's side, and that is just fine.

6. "Mind's Mirrors" - Meshuggah - Tech-metal. "The struggle to free yourself from restraints / becomes the very shackles"

7. "Wanderlust King" - Gogol Bordello - Joyous, rollicking punk. Everything that everyone does is awesome all the time.

8. "Doin' It" - Herbie Hancock - Did Herbie invent funk? Does it matter? Keep on truckin' kiddies!

9. "Draconian Crackdown" - Rasputina - Cello rock? - Fight the power!

10. "No Quarter" - Led Zeppelin - Rock'n'Roll! The approach I would like my students to take towards life

11. "Swollen Tongue Bums" - Dalek - Angry, noisy hip-hop! You cannot run from your human responsibility.

12. "Watchfire" - Neurosis - Face-melting post-metal. Humanity cannot escape you or your influence.

13. "Death Is Not the End" - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Folk rock! Nothing is ever actually over.