Is this thing on? It exists, so I guess it isn’t off. But it sure seems dead.
No more! I bid thee RISE! RISE oh poor and neglected blog!
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Fisting ourselves back to life! No, wait.. |
Back in times of yore when I used to be something resembling a productive human being, I blogged. Seriously! Look back and you’ll find older posts. Those weren’t here when I started. And every year and a half or so, I would write up a big blog post covering music I’d personally discovered that year, allowing me a brief glimmer of feeling important. I’m a tastemaker, goddammit! Anyway, welcome to another one of those. Nice to see that my skills in introductory text are as refined as ever.
I honestly don’t know how long ago I started cobbling together this particular list. But this time around I have since gone back through and pruned it, achieving the bare minimum of not completely wasting your time. You’re welcome! And in the interests of changing things up a bit, and because I relish the opportunity to rant and mock, I’ve added something new to the stew pot this time around : BAD SHIT. Please don't start adding shit to any stew pots. It doesn't seem like a good idea.
Now, a few ground rules. Everyone loves rules! I’ll be interspersing the bad entries throughout this post, thus regularly taking the positivity of the good finds and dragging them to Hell. Yay! I’m also avoiding some obvious dreck. For instance, there are some metalcore bands out there who are clearly trying to offend for attention. Fuck that. And some sad little garage band who made the mistake of putting out a single before learning to play their instruments, or the latest Rebecca Black-type mess, also won't appear here. All of these entries have earned their spots the traditional way : by outright failing to deliver. Some are bad albums. Most are bad songs. A few are comebacks that really should not have ever seen the light of day. So, enjoy that. Or don’t. Just read it, fuckers! With no further ado or no ado at all, really
One more little thing : Just like last time, here’s the ‘listen along’ playlist on Spotify if you can’t be bothered to read and hit some links. That shit’s hard, son! Ain't nobody got time for that! And no, the BAD SHIT entries will not be on the playlist. But they're funny and totally worth your time!
Honorable Mentions
Just like last time around, here are a few entries that don’t have enough material to merit a full mention. But because I love my own words and want to shove more of them into your eye holes, I’ll briefly talk about them anyway. Win win?
FKB - I saw these guys open for Pop Evil. They are the oddest assemblage of people that I have ever seen share a stage. The lead guitarist looks like he should be shredding in a metal band. The drummer often had his eyes closed. The bass player just looked uncomfortable with everything and everyone around him. But put it together, and they were actually a pretty decent pop rock group.