2019 was a year full of ups and downs for me personally, yet the blog managed to continue doing its job giving readers a gentle push to try something new and different to listen to. Working out of China is always a challenge mainly due to Internet restrictions, but we managed to post semi-regularly. I have a stack of CDs going back several months, and many downloads I have to get through, but I’m hoping that 2020 will run more smoothly. Thank you, readers, for the kind comments, the amazing recommendations, and if I haven’t reviewed your work yet, don’t worry, I’ll be getting to it. May you all have a good, blessed, peaceful and profitable 2020.
Month: December 2019
[Music] Nass Zuruck – Golden Age
This is the last release of 2019 for Kalamine Records, a label out of Bordeaux, France, who have a deep catalog of bands deeply made in the post-punk and electro-Industrial mold.
Nass Zuruck release a very short album, but this is good. The grooves are tight, meaty, and it left me with a tinge of disappointment because the album was far too short. This is definitely for fans of Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft and mid-era Wax Trax! Records fare.
[Music] Sting – Gabriel’s Message
Merry Gregorian Christmas!
[Music] Trigger Cut – Buster
Thanks kindly to Ralph Schaarschmidt for introducing me to Trigger Cut, a band that sounds like The Jesus Lizard, Die Haut, and a reformed Big Black slowing their sound a bit into something more manageable, yet equally powerful, as their speedy stuff. This has punch.
[Music] Various Artists – Serein: A Compilation (FREE)
[Music] CULT CLASSIC: FUNKADELIC-MAGGOT BRAIN. — dereksmusicblog
Cult Classic: Funkadelic-Maggot Brain. Rumour has it, that when Funkadelic recorded their career defining album, Maggot Brain, they were on one long acid trip. Members of Funkadelic had dropped some Yellow Sunshine Acid before producer George Clinton pressed the record button and ironically, the result was their finest hour, Maggot Brain. Sadly, never again, would Funkadelic reach the same […]
via CULT CLASSIC: FUNKADELIC-MAGGOT BRAIN. — dereksmusicblog
Derek’s Music Blog reviews Maggot Brain, Funkadelic’s seminal masterpiece.
[Literature] The Matryoshka Doll of Dreams: The Adam of the Divinity and the Golem of Mankind in Jorge Luis Borges’ “The Circular Ruins” — Extending the Literature Classroom:
Many postmodern writers convey the inadequacy of mankind’s imagination to the infinity of the universe with endless repetitions of sublime imageries. In Jorge Luis Borges’ Ficciones (1944), the imagery of an exitless labyrinth is often employed in his short stories to expose men’s roles as God’s prisoners under the notion of Pantheism. One of the […]
[Music] Bandcamp’s Best Albums of 2019
Another banner year for Bandcamp. They continue to be the premier platform for new artists, and the reissue market benefits greatly from their presence. May 2020 be much better for them!
Monday, Dec. 9: Best Albums of 2019: #100 – 81
Tuesday, Dec. 10: Best Albums of 2019: #80 – 61
Wednesday, Dec. 11: Best Albums of 2019: #60 – 41
Thursday, Dec. 12: Best Albums of 2019: #40 – 21
Friday, Dec. 13: Best Albums of 2019: #20 – 1
[Literature] Analysis on “The Gospel According to Mark” — Coffee with Andrea
Jorge Luis Borges was an Argentinean writer, poet and essayist, who belonged to the Ultraist, and who used a dream-like world, a paradox of reality, to criticize and comment on then socio political situation of Argentina during the beginning of the XX century (Rodriguez Monegal). Borges is known for creating a complex intellectual landscape that, […]
via Analysis on “The Gospel According to Mark” — Coffee with Andrea
[Literature] Bolaño’s Borges — Biblioklept
Jorge Luis Borges is first mentioned in the sixth paragraph of Roberto Bolaño’s masterful short story “The Insufferable Gaucho.” In this paragraph, the narrator tells us that the story’s hero, an ex-judge named Pereda, believed “the best Argentine writers were Borges and his son; any further commentary on that subject was superfluous.” Several paragraphs later, Bolaño’s […]
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 