• Damage Manual, 1 EP.
  Click here for the album review.

  From the opening drum beats on, this was one powerful EP that kicked me in the head and jammed itself in my CD player for a long time. I only recently picked up the full-length, and while it doesn't come on so strong, it's definitely growing on me.

• Live Human, Elefish Jellyphant.
  Click here for the album review.

  Get past the first 40 seconds of annoying "intro" noise, and you enter the most pleasant surprise of my year which was the real reason I was bouncing happily around my office cubicle.

• Pitchshifter, Deviant.
  Click here for the album review.

  Frankly, my first impression was "commercially formulaic." But once "Hidden Agenda" kicks in, I'm pumped through the rest of the album--and "As Seen on TV" is incredible energy.

• Bruford Levin Upper Extremities, BLUE Nights. I love the album [Click here for the album review], and this live double-CD set is even better. Even though it's audio only, the human musical interplay is palpable here and they transform the pieces into even greater, more organic, works.

• Trey Gunn Band, The Joy of Molybdenum. Great world groove with excellent production and impressive guitar work from Tony Geballe.

Best 1999 copyrights I waited until 2000 to find:

• Toshinori Kondo/Eraldo Bernocchi/Bill Laswell, Charged. Saw this on the store shelf, and figured it would be hard to go wrong with names like Laswell and Kondo (I wasn't familiar with Bernocchi). It's a good rule of thumb--this album is dark, dangerous, sinuous and seductive.

• Uz Jsme Doma, Ears. "The soundtrack to an epileptic porno." These are some mighty crazy punkjazznoiserock Czechs, whose disregard for conventional structure opens the possibility of a musical gem at any moment. Somewhat of an acquired taste, but this is probably their most accessible--and thoroughly energetic--yet.

• Supreme Beings of Leisure, Supreme Beings of Leisure. Sure, at times it dips too far into Madonna territory for my taste, but overall this is a very lush and luscious album of jazz-tinged hip-hop.

Best Live Shows:

• Kodo.
  Click here for the live review.

  I went to fewer shows this year than I have in at least six years; but had I been restricted to only one, I would have been perfectly content to have it be this one. If they ever come to your neck of the woods, do everything you can to be there. You will never quite look at music the same way again.

• Trey Gunn Band/LAND.
  Click here for the live review.

  Not even a smoke-filled club could hinder the musical tracery both these bands wove about my head and between my ears. Having to contemplate more instrumental voices than musicians makes for a very immersive experience.

Most Abused Album: MDFMK, MDFMK. Okay, so I slagged it pretty hard in my review. In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to admit that I put it in the car on a fairly regular basis. Not that I'm going to retract anything I said, but some days this is all I really need.

Most overplayed song at my house: Fields of the Nephilim, "Darkcell AD." I'm not obsessing or anything. Really. Some of us Watchmen have been waiting a long time, that's all.

Song most indicative of the imminent arrival of the apocalypse: Limp Bizkit, "Hot Dog." The question I have: what does this song sound like on the edited version of the album? If you bleep Fred's 47 "fucks," then you're essentially listening to an Aphex Twin remix. A collaboration which, in itself, is the sound of the final trumpet being blown.

Most overlooked album: DJ Krush, Code 4109. What can I say? My entire career at eP can be bookended with commentary about DJ Krush. Since he continues to produce such fantastic albums, I don't see any reason to change my tune.

Best display of restraint: Radiohead, Kid A. As compared to the overwhelmingly bloated monstrosity of Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile. Yes, I'm still disappointed.

Best multimedia display: The piece of art by Robin Storey hanging in my living room. Puts me in as restful a state as listening to any one of his Rapoon albums.

Best album I could never review without being revealed for the poseur that I am: Dandy Warhols, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia. I'm always thrilled to hear it, but I'm never the one who thinks to put it on. Go figure.

Best underwater dub ambience: Porter Ricks & Techno Animal, Symbiotics. So there is probably only one entrant in this category. So what. It's a mandatory record if you call yourself an explorer of ambience.

Greatest high and low: The Damage Manual album--and the lack of any tour dates west of Chicago.

Guy I'd be delighted to have play at my wedding: Jonathan Richman. Tommy Larkin can pop out of a cake. It'll be a hoot. I saw him twice this year and I could do with about six more visits.

Biggest reason I wished I lived in Toronto: Actually there's about three every week, but the real corker was the Winter Hands 2000 tours (a packaged onslaught of bands featured on the Hands label's 2000 compilation). Reports are that it took Winterkälte all of about seven seconds to demolish the club's sound system. Now that's a noise show.

Most fucked over by the record companies: That would be us. With "any band signed to a major label" in a close second. Prices of CDs continue to rise while free music overflows the Internet (anyone want to guess where I got my copy of the Limp Bizkit album?) and we, the consumer, continue to get fucked when it comes to being able to get our hands on music that isn't programmed and generated by market performance data within an inch of its airbrushed and hair-gelled life. 2000 lives up to the "more thing change, the more they stay the same" mantra and--naively, I suppose--I hope that 2001 will actually herald a shift towards people fighting back against the corporate suits shoveling the heavy spoonfuls of shit into our mouths. Looking back at our growth over this last year, it's pretty clear that we're not the only ones getting tired of the diet being forced on us.

Viva la resistance!

• Section 25, Always Now. Although technically a compilation of early-1980s recordings, Always Now was in my humble opinion the best thing to hit music stores this year. After wearing thin my Joy Division records and making cue-burns on a couple of Bauhaus songs, this album amounted to a religious revival comparable only to witnessing the resurrection of Ian Curtis. Indeed, Larry Cassidy sounds so much like Curtis that you'd hail this as a second coming, were it not clear that it's a reissue.

• Radian, TG11. Although composed entirely of slight noise bursts and skittering drums, the sophomore album by this Austrian trio is a frontal attack on the nervous system. It's not so much caustic as it is enthralling. Never once receding into a cacophonous mess, but always relentlessly driving.

• Rothko, Forty Years to Find a Voice. Admittedly, Rothko's 1999 release Negative for Francis is the only reason why the band makes my 2000 short list. It is a dangerous sort of complacency to stop singing praises for Rothko. Although it's the lesser of the two albums, Forty Years to Find a Voice has its fair share of standouts and is more immediate than Negative for Francis.

• Tara Jane O'Neil, Peregrine. A Sunday afternoon album pregnant with that air of the next day's impending disaster. Very quiet and rather pretty; a whitewash for a few dusky songs. So evocative it inspires only sentence fragments.

• The Up On In, Steps for the Light. On March 23, I walked into a bar without a clue that The Up On In were about to play. Whatever the first song was, it must have been a taut trailblazer with shifting dynamics and a mean bass line. Not one of their songs has a languorous moment. A few days later, I found Steps for the Light in the bargain bin of a record store. Although less effusive than on the stage, this trio's debut is among the more rewarding instrumental avant-post-something-or-others to date.

On the flip side, here's a short list of shoddy sounds. I tend to quickly sell and forget albums that I think are beyond hope or redemption, so I have few details to offer.

• Sonic Youth, NYC Ghosts and Flowers. So much potential, so little in actuality.

• Isotope 217, Who Stole the Walkman? I can do without the pep of their debut. I can comfortably say goodbye to the clean riffs of Utonian Atomatic. But must one really have to stand for the half-cooked "Kidtronix" or the obnoxious "II" (Pause) or "<<" (Rewind)? As with most albums on this short short list there are moments, but they are few, far apart and often soiled by the album's many fillers.

• Joan of Arc, The Gap. Why settle for a brief write-up if you can read the full review?

• Daniel Givens, Age. This album, "conceived and captured" by Daniel Givens, and featuring "contributions" from the likes of Jeff Parker and Josh Abrams, is an ostentatious collection of songs that never gels. It bears only the traces of melodic passages and struggles against Givens's spoken-word vocals. The albums hangs, uncommitted, much like wallpaper.

• My Favorite, Love at Absolute Zero. 1980s kitsch is one of my guilty pleasures and My Favorite seemed like the perfect eponymous band. Then came Love at Absolute Zero, with its gleaming sounds and overzealous vocal harmonies. The glistening guitars often drown what to me is the staple of the genre, the squelchy synths.

• Björk, Selma Songs. I am assured yet again that if I could be reincarnated as any singer in the world, it would be Björk.

• Dandy Warhols, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia. At long last! Dandy music for urban bohemians like me.

• Eels, Daisies of the Galaxy. Beautiful indeed.

• Fatboy Slim, The Fatboy Slim - Norman Cook Collection. Hard to believe, I know, but this collection of dance remixes has genuine appeal.

• Groove Armada, Vertigo. I see you baby, shaking that ass!

• Modest Mouse, The Moon and Antarctica. Exceptional songwriting and lead singer Isaac Brock's vocals definitely hit the mark.

• PJ Harvey, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. OK, maybe I would be reincarnated as a mixture of PJ Harvey and Björk.

• St. Germain, Tourist. Electronica jazz for the masses.

• The The, NakedSelf. From the '80s to the '00s, it only gets better.

• Thievery Corporation, The Mirror Conspiracy. Lounge, chill, take a pill.

• The Need, The Need is Dead/Transfused. The Need are definitely my discovery of the year. I'd known of the band and had heard their work with Mocket but, whoa! I've seen 'em a bunch of times this year and they're mind-blowing. The rock opera Transfused filled my desires for more of the "metal meets the musicals" that ran rampant throughout The Need is Dead. I do believe they're doing a December tour.

• The Year of the Discography. Charles Bronson, Crossed Out, Mohinder, Government Issue and a bunch of others. Good call, but I'm sure the collector snobs aren't too happy. Charles Bronson, a band that's life was not quite as short as their songs, caused quite a stir. Their singles, splits and records were eaten up and nobody wanted to share. Buttloads of songs on the discography and Charles Bronson...the movie featuring Ebro on Jerry Springer. Crossed Out discography...awesome power...grind...whatever you want to call it. They're legends. Mohinder, a bit lesser known but fantastic. This band went on to spawn some awesome bands: Jenny Piccolo, Anasazi, Howdy Partner, and some others. Government Issue needn't an introduction. The Complete History Volume One. Number 2? Are you out there?

• Thrones, Sperm Whale EP. Joe Preston is a wonder. A damn national monument...well he should be. A true master of the one-man band. Don't take that lightly just 'cause there aren't too many, now. Sperm Whale was supposed to come out a long while ago and I'm glad it's finally out. It killed me that I'd hear him play those songs live and I couldn't go home and listen to them. I'm happy now.

• Chris Dodge's Short, Fast + Loud magazine. Admiral Dodge was one of Maximum Rock 'n' Roll's best columnists. Now he's doing good things chronicling all things, um...short, fast and loud. A compilation of the same name has just come out on his label Slap a Ham, too. Worldwide speed! A great bonus is the inclusion of fellow Spazz member Max Ward's Mosh of Ass 'zine. Sadly, Spazz is playing their last show soon, but another volume of Sweatin' to the Oldies is on its way.

• Tumult Laboratories. Since its inaugural release last year, some of the best records have been coming out on ex-A Minor Forest drummer Andee's label. To name a few: Chicago black meatless Hatewave, Finland's Circle, the Byrds-ish Court and Spark, Burmese (ex-Pink and Brown), and lots more. A bit of everything.

• J Church, One Mississippi. Going strong, ten years in. This was one of my favorite bands. I feel lucky being from the Bay Area and for the fact that I got to see J Church, Jawbreaker, Green Day, and the rest of the Gilman bands in their prime. While most pale now in comparison to what they were doing, J Church just ain't disappointing me. It's quite an infectious record.

Oh, so much stuff. Here's some other stuff I've enjoyed this year, live, recorded, or just enjoyed: Ted Leo and the Rx Pharmacists, The Fucking Champs, Neurosis, The Lies, Alaska!, and most of all...celebrating my first anniversary with my wife in Mexico! Maybe next year I should make a resolution to party a little less, that way I'd remember more things... Awww, screw that!

2000 has been an odd year for many reasons, most notably the entrance to a new millennium. Year 2000 also brought the welcome resurgence of death metal; the advancement of black and symphonic metals to a now-critically-respected style; the sudden ascension of the Oakland Raiders to the top of their NFL division; and the heartbreaking subway World Series loss of the Mets to the stinking Yankees. My worst disappointment, however, was the cancellation of the Pantera, Morbid Angel and Kittie show at Universal Studios. Otherwise it was a great year musically.

I wonder if we will know who won the now-ridiculously-stupid election between Gore and Bush by next year. I also want the world to know that Florida isn't really that stupid. Honest, it's not the whole state, just the politicians and lawyers. It was phrased best by one politician who stated, "Funny how the seniors in Palm Beach can't understand a simple ballot, but can play 64 Bingo cards at once." Kind of sums up my final thoughts for 2000: Let's play Bingo to black metal and retire this bedanged year.

Damn if I Didn't Review This in the Wrong Year Category:

Releases that I reviewed this past year and loved. However, when reading the copyright dates now, they say 1999--I could have sworn that I either received them or bought them as quick as I saw them out. So I guess I can't say they were 2000 releases, but they should have been.

• Rain Fell Within, Believe. Believe is a startlingly beautiful symphonic release from Dark Symphonies that should find a home in every collection. Ethereal, beautiful and haunting...this is perfect for those slightly depressed days.

• Pandemia, Spreading the Message. Spreading the Message probably would have been my number one release for this year strictly because I can't seem to let it out of my deck. This may be the salvation of death metal. Pandemia hail from Poland and are presently spreading their death metal message throughout the world. If you have a chance, catch them on tour. This is a masterpiece that every fan of death metal should own, pure and simple.

• Septic Flesh, Revolution DNA. I bought it the second I saw it and I guess it was still too late. Everything that Septic Flesh has recorded is remarkable. This is an utterly intellectual band, they don't repeat themselves and always manage to astonish and amaze with every release. Revolution DNA rips up the metal envelope that most bands have surrounding themselves and moves in a techno/industrial direction, still with guitars and growling vocals in tow. This will blow the minds of techno and industrial fans, while leaving the less adventurous metal fan crying over their copy of A Fallen Temple. Those who understand that Septic Flesh is not a static entity will be enticed by their utter and complete denial of their past and watch with wonder as they push the limits of metal for the future. Ten years from now, everyone will be playing this style and calling it original.

• Theory in Practice, The Armageddon Theories. The Armageddon Theories, recorded in 1998, released for the first time as I know it in 2000. These technical monsters of metal always push the limit on every recording. This is no exception. If you have missed either The Armageddon Theories or Third Eye Function, you should run to your nearest music store and plead for them to order these goodies for you. Fans of Meshuggah (where is their new release, eh?) will flip out when they hear Theory in Practice. If you dig technical metal, this is a must own. I don't think it will be around for long. This reeks of a private release that is going to be limited by small label dollars.

Honorable Mention Category:

• Orphanage, Inside. Inside is a virtually undefinable chunk of metal that roams all over the place. It keeps your interest, but is just lacking that one extra intangible that pushes it over the edge of greatness.

• Impaled Nazarene, Nihil. Nihil is the best album that Impaled Nazarene has done to date. Okay, some of their previous recordings have really sucked--so I think you have to give a band kudos when they finally show growth after oh, about ten years in the metal world. Hope they can keep it up and blow away the awful tripe of the past with an even better disc in 2001.

• In Flames, Clayman. Clayman will be on everyone else's "best of" lists, but for some reason, although excellent, it just doesn't have the same appeal to me as Whoracle or In Colony. In Flames may be the best melodic metal band in the world, but this disc is their third best to date.

• Therion, Deggial. Deggial is a great disc by an extraordinary band. The only problem is that almost every disc of Therion's music is perfect and Deggial just doesn't seem to have the oompf to push the already open envelope of symphonic metal. Although an extraordinary disc, it just doesn't live up to the potential of Therion.

• Cradle of Filth, Midian. Cradle of Filth's Midian is simply the best CoF to date. Dani Filth has improved his vocals and when not in soundtrack mode, the music is far more metal than on previous releases. Midian is so good that my husband who hates growling vocals has run off with it after listening to it during his workouts. I don't know when I will manage to pry this disc out of his truck. Oh well, at least I can listen to something good in the Silverado.

• The Crown, Deathrace King. Deathrace King is another slobberknocker from The Crown, formerly known as Crown of Thorns. Their human gas tanks must be empty after recording this raucous gem. Johan Lindstrand's vocals are picture perfect, just enough growl to make them interesting and just clean enough that the lyrics are decipherable. Janne Saarenpää drains everything into his monumental drumming. The melodic and rocking interplay between guitarists Marcus Sunesson and Marko Tervonen only accelerate Deathrace King into utter winners. Deathrace King surpasses Hell is Here and shows The Crown at their best.

• Burial, Enlightened with Pain. Enlightened with Pain is a bloody good brutal death fest that will put you into the chiropractor's office immediately. I'm anxiously awaiting their next release and hope that it is as good if not better than Enlightened with Pain. Darned attractive cover art to boot.

• Deep, Pieces of Nothing. Deep's Pieces of Nothing creeps under your skin and forces you to love it. It isn't speedy, in fact at times it is as slow as molasses in winter. Deep tosses in tiny touches of industrial metal and melody just to throw you off the traditional death metal path. The gruff but melodic vocals will worm their way into your heart and the music will inevitably leave tracks in your mind.

• Hypocrisy, Into the Abyss. Into the Abyss is a fantastic album, but of course I have loved every Hypocrisy album since Abducted so I may be a bit biased. However, the ripping music demonstrated on this disc is so heavy it makes Roseanne and Rosie look lightweight. I have a hard time fathoming why Into the Abyss has received poor reviews--maybe some of the advancements have skipped over reviewer's heads. Into the Abyss is not as immediately catchy as Hypocrisy or Final Chapter, but it makes up for its lack of melody by concentrating on nearly hypnotic pummeling death metal. The rhythms just wall up around me and seem so overwhelming that I can't help flexing my neck muscles. When Hypocrisy slows it down, they enhance the heaviness even more. The production is rawer, making it seem less technical and more devastatingly heavy than earlier releases. Into the Abyss focuses more on rhythm, heaviness and darker images than previous discs. Tagtgren rules!

• Angelcorpse, The Inexorable. The Inexorable made me cry...a lot. Mostly because this is the most mind-blowing album that Angelcorpse has ever done (and that's saying a lot) and then the bastards break up the band. Why? I love this band and this is a shining example of blazing, blackened war metal from Florida. These guys are the kings...and now they've quit. This bites. Reunite!

• The Black League, Ichor. Black League's Ichor is my album of the year because they have tossed every good idea any metal band has had since the '60s and churned it together to form a whole new genre of metal. The originality and power and melody will blow away any song you can find. It may not be blazing fast, but it has its own speed and the power is tremendous. It seems to build and develop as the disc plays, everything just comes together perfectly. Taneli Jarva's vocals, Mr. Florida's (I love it!) bass charisma, the precise, futuristic, rhythmic guitars of Maike Valanne and Alex Ranta and the meticulous drumming of Sir Luttinen. If you want to own a disc that could set the world on fire with melody and power not speed, this is the one. I only wish I could have sat in and listened to these geniuses at work.

• Enter Self, Awaken in Agony. Awaken in Agony is a winner. These guys are out to not only take the crown, but hop on it and destroy it as well. They move to their own beat, partially brutal, partially death, a dab of NYDM--it's all good. Oddly enough, I enjoy the guitars more than the drums on this release.

• Immortal, Damned in Black. Osmose has now put out the best black metal album of 2000. Immortal's Damned in Black will probably dominate the year-end lists and rightly so. Immortal are the best of the black metal technicians playing today. They live in their own black metal world and frequently use their own language. Immortal are simply brilliant. They entice the listener into their own black world with their blazing speed and melody, then imprison their musical guest as they build tremendous black walls of sound, forcing you to stay imprisoned firmly within their musical grasp. Immortal releases your soul at the end of the disc, unless you've hit repeat, like I do. No one can usurp the Northern Blast Crown from these Norwegian masters.

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