Horde Of Sirens

 If you're into progressive metalcore, here's a San Diego band I came across while hitting up some thrift stores. This was a CDr they put out in 2012.  I don't know how to judge this stuff on its technical merits, as the words "progressive metalcore" generally send shivers down my spine, but I actually like this.   

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Movies 2021

 I made a vow at the beginning of the year to watch more movies. Over the last decade I've pivoted, like most people, to watching TV shows. And while I can knock out three 1-hour episodes of a show in a row, a 2-hour movie seems like a chore. It makes no sense, but I know I'm not the only one like this. 

My vow, well, it did not go very well. It lasted about as long as work-form-home did. Once I had to go back to the office, the ritual stopped pretty much dead in it's tracks, leaving me with a pretty short list of 21 movies. So, here are the movies I watched (NOT that came out) in 2021, ranked from worst to first. 

21. Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar (2021). Just awful. The only truly bad movie I watched all year. Felt gaslighted by all the positive reviews. 

20. Blow Up (1966). I don't know that I've ever seen a movie that made me want to live in a particular era more than this, but despite how good this looks, it was a slog for me, film students be damned. 

19. Nosferatu (1922). I understand its importance, but for a non-film buff, it's not the most exciting way to spend an hour and a half. Glad I did finally see it though. 

18. The Maltese Falcon (1941). I cannot seem to watch movies keeping in mind the context and era in which they were made, which makes it difficult for me to judge them on their own merits.

17. Nomadland (2020). I'm in the minority on this, but as good as Frances McDormand is, putting her on screen with non-actors made this feel like a documentary promoting van life.  

16. Life Of Brian (1979). Never been a huge Monty Python fan, but I liked it, maybe time to re-visit. 

15. Sound Of Metal (2019). Really, really god performance by Riz Ahmed, but I feel it was a bit rushed at times, and some very important things were glossed over or rushed. 

14. Uncut Gems (2019). Liked this a lot, but the frantic noisescape and movement made it an uncomfortable watch. 

13. Lola Montès (1955). Way ahead of it's time, with great performances. 

12. In & Of Itself (2020). Very interesting, but could have done without the celebrity audience cameos, which undermined the whole thing for me. 

11. First Cow (2019). Odd little film that I enjoyed a great deal.

10. Judas And The Black Messiah (2021). Great performances all around and a good story well told. Lakeith Stanfield may be my favorite actor. 

9. Blade Runner (1982). Unreal that I never saw this prior to 2021. 

8. The Disaster Artist (2017). Easily the funnest movie I saw all year. 

7. The 39 Steps (1935). It's crazy that movies came this far in the 13 years since Nosferatu. 

6. North By Northwest (1959). Trying to catch up on my Hitchcock. First 3/4 is fantastic, but kind of stalls and peters out at the end.

5. The Immortal (2019). I am an unabashed Gomorrah fanatic, so I was gonna like this no matter what. 

5. Paths Of Glory (1957). Now we have entered cream-of-the-crop, 5-star territory. Incredibly good anti-war movie. 

3. Battle Of Algiers (1966). At times I had trouble remembering this is a movie, not a documentary. 

2. The Apartment (1960). Incredible. Dark, funny, sweet, raunchy. Didn't even know fils like this were being made in 1960. May go on a Billy Wilder rabbit hole in 2022. 

1. Parasite (2019). Believe the hype. One of the greatest movies I have ever seen. 

Various - 80 Records And We're Not Broke (Yet) [2005 Level Plane Records]

 

Little torn on posting this...Level Plane isn't around, but still feels kind of icky with some known bands on here like Melt Banana and Coliseum. See the Discogs page for the complete track list.  

Me being an old, I'm not familiar with the label, but hot damn there is some good stuff on here. The biggest weakness of this comp is that it's so damn long that by the end you've almost forgotten about some truly amazing shit. 

Some of the bands I've never heard of who dropped my jaw: A Day In Black & White, The Holy Shroud (channeling At The Drive-In), Transistor, Transistor, Hot Cross, City Of Caterpillar, and Newgenics. 

Lickgoldensky has their songs from this on Bandcamp, go throw them a buck. 

D1 DL - Label sampler

D2 DL - Unreleased material

Random Damage - Descending World (1995 Self-released)

 

Another obscure San Diego metal band. We're on a roll! Pretty good musicianship and riffage, hampered by the vocals, which are a more cheesy classic metal style that doesn't match the music well, in my opinion.  

DL

Death Penalty - Conviction [1998 Wild Rags Records]

 

This is on the infamous Wild Rags Records, which issued a wide variety of metal from the late 80's throughout the 90's. The Meatshits, Benediction, Emperor, and tons of lesser known bands (like this). I went down a brief Wild Rags rabbit hole, and I'm still not sure if being on the label was a blessing or a curse. There's definitely a story to be told there, if anyone cares to tell it. 

Death Penalty were a metalcore band from North San Diego County. They put out this and an EP (also on Wild Rags) and then, as far as I can tell, nothing. 

DL

5¢ Redemption - Blood And Soul Demo (2002 Self-released)

5¢ Redemption was a bluesy rock band with southern influences.  As for a bio...there's not a single thing I could tell you about who they are, where they are from. 

DL

The Whitewall Slicks - Bedroom Rodeo [2000, King Of Firewood Records]

 

Rockabilly from Chico, CA. Rockabilly is not my bag, so I have no idea whether this is good or bad. All I can say is that despite my predisposition against the genre, I didn't mind this. 

1. Edge Of Town
2. Blue Dot Boys
3. Rock My Shoebox
4. Time For Me To Be A Man
5. Titty Twister
6. Hoggin'
7. Ace, King, Queen, Jack And A Three
8. Hot Rodabilly
9. Gin & Tonic
10. Bedroom Rodeo
11. This Little Pussy Always Gets What She Wants
12. Neuspeed Burn in HELL!!!!!!

DL

Skydiver - Origami (2003 Self-released)

 

Skydiver was an alt rock band from San Diego active in the late 90's / early 00's. Good production, solid songwriting. While it's a little too slick for me for the most part, I'm still surprised Skydiver did not become more well known outside of San Diego. 

1. Picture Perfect Silence
2. Therapy
3. Jonny On The Wire
4. The Balance
5. Gravity Let Me Down Again
6. Innocuous Lass
7. Origami
8. Allstar (No Star)
9. Longer Than Miles
10. Skylight
11. Changing My Scene
12. Shelflife
13. Mad Cow

DL

Doom Society - Doom Society EP (2002 Self-released)

 

Throwback metal with some 80's styled vocals to boot. Makes sense, as the band features Mike Walish, who sang for Hellhound back in the 80's.  The first half of "Bloodletting" has a pretty blatant Alice In Chains influence, before to transitioning into a metal song. "Freedom" has truly some of the worst lyrics ever. This has flashes of being good, with some decent riffs, and vocals that vary from a Chuck Billy growl to a Steve Grimmett shriek. But the lyrics and decisions like the stop-start chorus on "Fear Of Fear" make it pretty cringe overall. 

1. Social Predator
2. Crisis Junkie
3. Bloodletting
4. Freedom
5. Fear Of Fear

DL

J. Hell - Darkness And Light (2004 Wicked Witch Records)

 

Another album I can't ramble on about because there's almost nothing out there on it. Pretty mellow female fronted indie rock. It's not really my cup of tea, but that doesn't mean it's not good. If the vocals were a little worse, I'd probably like it more. That reflects worse on me than this album I guess. 

1. Makers
2. Blind
3. Competition
4. Short Noise
5. Chat w/ Mother
6. Drinking Problem
7. Backwards Light
8. Life is But a Dream
9. Daggers
10. The Light

DL