Another blog... why?

Yeah, I know - there's already enough blogs out there and here I am, throwing more rats onto the plague ship that is already overrun with vermin and body piles that obscure the work done by qualified and genuinely talented writers. I am now officially part of the problem that has come to be now that anyone can make one of these things, and I acknowledge that it's a terrible thing to do.

This will end up as a music blog of some description. I'll put up some music, review shows, and try to entertain with some witty banter.

I'm pretty sick of music blogs that don't tell you the bitrates of their rips, so I'll do just the opposite whenever I put something up for grabs. If it's one of my rips it'll be done in EAC/LAME V0, which is the ultimate variable bitrate for .mp3 files, preserving maximum quality while taking up less disc space. Trust me, your ears (and your hard drive/mp3 player) will thank me.

Ah what the hell, I might as well provide a sample.

Milemarker - Satanic Versus (V0-VBR)

The name of this blog comes from a Milemarker song, so it makes sense to start here. These guys are originally from North Carolina, USA and then moved to Chicago when they got tired of crowds asking for Skynyrd songs. Made up of ex-members of Sleepytime Trio and Maximillian Colby, they have a pretty unique sound; originally they sounded like video game music but then they progressed into a more fleshed-out outfit. Imagine Fugazi in an alternate reality where Russia won the Cold War and add a keyboard  to the mix and you're getting somewhere. They're criminally underrated in my opinion.

Satanic Versus is a strange record; half of it was recorded with and produced by the legendary Steve Albini, while the other half the band did themselves. It's split between new tracks and re-recordings of old songs, most notably of which is this EP's version of "New Lexicon," which was originally done with minimalist electronics, while here it's Albini-aided full band bombast.

If you like it, check out Frigid Forms Sell, Anaesthetic, and possibly Future Isms for some of their more electronic stuff. These guys are one of my favourite bands and I'd kill to see them again - with Roby Newton back in tow, of course.

So yeah, here's to yet another music blog.