One Year Recap: Top 10 Posts I Don't Want You to Miss

So this blog has been up for a year now. There have been a few gaps here and there, but regardless, I feel like I've laid some righteous jams on here, and that it's about time to recap and choose my top 10 favorites. If you aren't sure what you'd possibly want off the blog, or maybe you've missed out on some choice cuts, this will be an excellent place to pick up some slack. So here ya go:

Mitchell's top 10 posts you shouldn't miss (in no particular order, and most of these posts should have a youtube video to sample on their respective pages, so be sure to give 'em a listen):

1. LECHEROUS GAZE - ex-Annihilation Time, rock n' roll punk at it's purest and most creative
   (Recommended download: Lecherous Gaze - S/T EP)
   
   
2. Annihilation Time - The precursor to Lecherous Gaze. More punk-tinged, but still chocked full of tasty riffs
   (Recommended download: Annihilation Time - II)
   
   
3. Otis Reaper - New Wave of Southern Heavy Metal. Good friends of mine with a unique sound and unrelenting jams.
   (Download: Otis Reaper - Footprints in Dead Earth and Graveyard Sorcery 7"s)
   
   
4. Cave In - Psychedelic rockers who tread the line from heavy hardcore to Syd Barrett worship and everything in between.
   (Recommended download: Planets of Old EP and White Silence)
   
   
5. Owen Hart - Chaotic hardcore death thrash extravaganza. Pushing some serious metal envelope.
   (Download: Owen Hart - Earth Control)
   
   
6. Glasses - Pretty unique and gnarly German d-beat punk band. For fans of Ghostlimb, Tragedy, From Ashes Rise, Kylesa)
   (Recommended download: Glasses - The Ills of Life)
   
   
7. ASG - Little known band from Wilmington, North Carolina, who play a brand a stoner rock that beats the pants right off The Sword, leaving you wondering why no one has heard of these dudes. Heavy and catchy. Dig it
   (Recommended download: ASG - Win Us Over)
   
   
8. Frumpy - Organ heavy, female fronted 70's prog rock from Germany. Another band that puts their contemporaries to shame, leaving me in awe that no one ever picked up on them
   (Download: Frumpy - Frumpy 2)
   
   
9. Rwake - Sludgy, swampy, grimey dextromethorphan prog metal from Little Rock, AR. These dudes are incomparable and unmatched at the insanely creative form of metal they put forth. If you haven't heard 'em, you haven't heard heavy.
   (Download: Rwake - Voice of Omens)
   
   
10. Earth - Starting out loud, fuzzy, and droney, Earth made a name for themselves in the realm of heavy music. Then after a short hiatus, they returned with a new outlook and an expansive sound, eschewing the one-note wall of fuzz for sprawling clean guitars and atmospheric percussion. Incredibly mind-expanding music.
    (Recommended download: Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull)

Earth - Hex & The Bees Made Honey In The Lions Skull

Earth has been around a looooong time. After starting in 1989 in Seattle, Earth has evolved from being the forebearers of brain melting fuzz-laden drone into the slightly more accessible, yet much more intricate brand of slowcore they are today. Taking influence from a vast array of styles, from Sabbath to Hank Williams, and following a 9 year hiatus, Earth released Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method in 2005. It was the first to signal the change of style, one no longer dependent on the loud fuzzy drone.  Hex is much more subtle, crawling along with clean and low-gain guitars and drums, all perfectly sparse, driving you into a hypnotic state as they build layer and layer of sound, creating a sonic space that seems to envelop you like molasses, trapping you in their tidal push and pull. And though their approach was already unique enough, Earth found themselves taking it a step further with 2008's The Bees Made Honey in the Lions Skull. Adding keys and lapsteel, and recruiting legendary jazz/prog guitar aficionado Bill Frisell, they continued the evolution found on Hex, taking their newly found sound into the 5th dimension. Both of these records are just mind melting. No vocals, no pretension. Only sweet, sweet jam.

 Hex; Or Printing in The Infernal Method

GET IT!

The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull

GET IT!