hairy woodpecker
downy woodpecker
black-capped chickadee \m/
dark-eyed junco (slate colored)
red-breasted nuthatch
white-breasted nuthatch
tufted titmouse
blue jay
dove
goldfinch
northern flicker (only heard, not seen)
red tail hawk
terrorist goose

I was hoping to see a common redpoll or some of the other species that we don’t get in NYC, but no dice. But it’s refreshing to see birds again — Bushwick has many things to recommend itself, but easy birding ain’t one of them.

Albums
Aksumite — Prideless Lions
Aura Noir — Out To Die
Behexen — Nightside Emanations
Charon — Sulphur Seraph
Christian Mistress — Possession
Dawnbringer — Into the Lair of the Sun God
Dead Can Dance — Anastasis
Dephosphorous — Night Sky Transform
Faustcoven — Hellfire and Funeral Bells
Hades Archer — The Curse Over Mankind
Horrendous — The Chills
Indesinence — Vessels of Light and Decay
MGLA — With Hearts Toward None
Mok — Mokamorphosis
Pseudogod — Deathwomb Catechesis
Satan’s Satyrs — Wild Beyond Belief!
Svartidauti — Flesh Cathedral
Wormlust — Collective
Zuul — To The Frontlines!

EPs/Demos/Splits/Etc
Agatus – Gilgamesh 7″
Antediluvian/Adversarial — Initiated in Impieties as Mysteries split 12″
Antimelodix — Hellfuck EP
Funebrarum/Undergang — The Dead of Winter split 7″
Genocide Shrines — Devanation Monumentemples EP
Impious Baptism — Path of the Inverted Trinity 7″
Innsmouth/Mongrel’s Cross — split 7″
Ohmwar — 5 Song, 11 Minute EP 7″
Ravens Creed — Nestless and Wild 7″ EP
Thevetat — demo CD

Still TBD (late arrivals)
Nechochwen — O+O
Hatespawn — Blasphemous Redeemer 2012 demo
Blood of the Black Owl — Light The Fires!
Imprecation — Jehovah Denied demo
Oath of Cruelty — Altar of Impalement
Verraeter — demo

After weeks of not finding anything worthwhile in our neighborhood (which we wanted to stay in because of close proximity to Prospect Park and Greenwood Cemetery), we started looking farther afield. And we eventually moved into the neighborhood I least expected us to move into: Bushwick. Bushwick has a shitty reputation: it was a crime-infested pesthole for much of the 1970s through the late 1990s. Then the hipsters moved in and now it balances between a crime-troubled neighborhood and a hipster-infested pesthole with some bright spots sprinkled throughout. We like living in Bushwick, all things considered.

We moved in June and have spent the past few months getting settled, figuring shit out, and learning new routines. It is difficult to go birding here, though. Transportation to Prospect Park is kinda crap from this part of Brooklyn, and the Ridgewood reservoir is not yet open. So, not much city birding lately. We finally figured out the various quirks of the kitchen and have successfully brewed some beers, which we will eventually write about. There’s a used record store a couple of blocks away, and we’re near metal venues, so we’ve been going out to shows more often.

Anyway, I’ll follow up this post with my Favorite Music of 2012. I wish everyone an excellent holiday season filled with booze, birds and blastbeats.

Friday, Doug opted to stay home, but I went back to St. Vitus to see one of my favorite black metal bands: Inquisition. This is the third time I’ve seen them (although I didn’t see much of their set at RODIII), and these guys simply do not disappoint. I was in the front, just to the left of Dagon’s mic, and it made everything 100x more intense. Which kind of boggles my mind, because Inquisition shows are ALWAYS intense. They played a bunch of my favorite songs, including Desolate Funeral Chant.

Next Friday is another KILLER show: Autopsy, Funebrarum, Unearthly Trance and Undergang. Those who read my MDF report from last year will remember that Doug and I got to meet two of the guys from Funebrarum, and they are top-notch humans. I’m really looking forward to this show as sort-of the prelude to MDF X. It’s gonna crush.

The barleywine spent a month in secondary. One gallon was left alone while the other gallon had oak cubes soaked in Lagavulin whisky in the jar. Both turned out quite delicious, with the oak-aged version (dubbed The Howler*) showing some pleasant woody notes and the unoaked version (dubbed The Limper*) tasted like a drier version of JW Lee’s Harvest Ale. Both beers are definitely drier than intended, and have already started to take on some port-like character which I usually associate with aged barleywines. Next time around, I want to get the starting gravity higher in order to hit a similar ABV (11.8%) yet have a sweeter, fuller bodied finish.

Calypso Pale Ale. It does not dance.

Ever since I started repitching yeast about a year ago, I’ve started planning our recipes in sets with common yeast and increasing strength. The pale ale was the first of four beers brewed with the 1056 yeast. Next was batch #31 and dubbed the Wilbert Montgomery ale, named for the guy who wore 31 on the Eagles back when I was a kid. I suppose you could call it a brown ale, a dark old ale, or simply a dark ale. I usually go with American strong dark ale, as it’s fairly strong (7%), it’s quite dark, and it’s an ale brewed with American yeast. I suppose I like descriptive style names. Originally modeled after beers like Pretty Things’ St. Boltoph’s Town and Smuttynose’s Really Old Brown Dog, I ended up taking the recipe I drew up for the dark mild I made in October and doubled everything.

1.100. I was so proud I needed to take a picture.

The hop additions for the Double Joe Montana. From left to right: 60 minute, 20 minute, 10 minute, and 0 minute additions.

The mess left in the bottom of the kettle -- hops, raisins, Zante currants, and a cinnamon stick. Tasty.

Next weekend we’ll be bottling what we can of the sour with oak and dates, then there will be no brewing happening until mid-April as we’re off on vacation for the first two weeks of next month.

*At some point, we decided to begin naming very strong beers after members of The Ten Who Were Taken, a group of enormously powerful wizards from The Black Company series of books by Glen Cook. The Limper, The Howler, and Stormbringer are the first three names we’ve used.

An Overlooked Best of 2011

It’s been a long time since I’ve put an album on unending repeat, but the past two weeks have had a very consistent soundtrack. Chicago-based High Spirits delivers some of the most unapologetic 80s hard rock I’ve heard since, well, the 80s. Think of a million Friday nights from 1980-1986 with a soundtrack of Journey, Scorpions, REO Speedwagon and Cheap Trick, and you have an idea of what High Spirits sounds like. Thing is, I was never really a fan of that kind of music (save for Scorpions and Cheap Trick) back then, so this isn’t really a nostalgia trip for me. It’s a celebration of a kind of music that has gone deep, deep underground and hibernated for 30 years.

I cannot wait to play this at the next party we throw. If I had my druthers, in 10 year’s time my friends will all drunkenly howl along with “Full Power” or “You Make Love Impossible” in the same way they do today when some jackass (not me) puts on “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
You can buy an MP3 download from Amazon. But do yourself a favor and get the hard copy. CDs and LPs are available Hells Headbangers, or directly from Professor Black, the man responsible for this fine music.

We saw no pelicans while at the Pelican Pub, though I did spot one further down the coast.

The flight of Pelican's standard offerings, plus the Bridal Ale at the far right.

I ordered a standard sampler featuring a cream ale, an IPA, a Scottish style ale, a brown ale, and a stout to go with my lunch, which was a hop-crusted tuna steak sandwich. The sandwich was incredibly tasty, though I would not have guessed there were hops involved in the preparation without being told. The beers were straightforward and well made. Our waitress mentioned that Dory’s Dark Ale, the brown ale, was the first beer made by the brewpub. I appreciate details like that when visiting a new place. The beers were all solid brews, and I’d happily order any of them on tap, but the highlight of the visit was the flight of various vintages of the Stormwatcher’s Winterfest barleywine and its barrel-aged version known as Mother of All Storms.

The flight of three vintages of the Stormwatcher's Winterfest barleywine and two vintages of Mother of All Storms bourbon barrel aged barleywine.

• 2011(SW) – “Sweet gooey malt bomb. Caramel nose and flavor”
• 2010(SW) – “Cinnamon toast in nose. Slightly sweeter. Dark fruits.”
• 2008(SW) – “Almost a toasted nut character to the nose. Sweetness mellowed out to allow more flavors, like dates and figs.”
• 2011(MoAS) – “Very nice. More of a bite, understated slight caramel bourbon presence.”
• 2010(MoAS) – “Biggest bite of all the beers, though more from the bourbon and booze than hops.”

It’s safe to say we spent quite some time at Pelican as I slowly sipped my way through the flight. While sitting there, we watched a storm roll in off the ocean and chase the handful of people and dogs from the sand.

The Rogue brewery, or Rogue Nation World Headquarters, as they call it.

The Yaquina Bay Bridge. Rogue sits at the southern end.

By this point my taste buds were a bit blown out and my head was a little fuzzy. Martha drove us off to Corvallis, where we wandered around the Oregon State University campus and peered in the windows of greenhouses, wondering if there might be experimental hop varieties growing inside. We then made our way to the local brewpub, Block 15, for dinner and yet more beer. I stuck with the seasonal theme, opting for the 12 Hops of Christmas, a double IPA that was not nearly as hoppy or bitter as the name suggests, and the Chocolate Porter, which was every bit as chocolaty as the name suggests. We struck up a conversation with the super friendly bartender, who let us know some interesting info about the pub, such as the fact OSU fermentation science students get occasional opportunities to brew a batch at the pub and the OSU professors once showed up with a pile of experimental hops which they made into an IPA that sold out in a week. He also mentioned that Block 15 is building a coolship in the ‘wild half’ of their basement, so be on the lookout for some interesting wild ales to be coming out of that area. Of course, you’ll likely need to make a pilgrimage to Corvallis to try them out, but I’d say Block 15 is worth the trip.

And if Block 15 is a bit too packed, check out Les Caves next door, a more upscale beer bar owned by Block 15 with a diverse tap list and a massive bottle selection focusing on imports and more unusual craft beers. We stopped by long enough to have a glass of Beer Valley’s Leafer Madness IPA, but I easily could have spent hours of time and many, many dollars exploring their bottle list.

And so ended our day on the Oregon coast, save for the drive back to Portland, which featured lots of Speedwolf played at a high volume, which is only proper.

Goats. Sharks. Abominators.

Terrible things happen when Doug and our friend Mike start in on the craft brews. Sometimes, it means ordering multiple plates of pickled eggs with jalapeno powder. Sometimes, it means that we decide elf-based erotic literature must be purchased in order to perform live readings of that horrible shit to the unsuspecting (we thankfully sobered up before any of these treasures were actually purchased). And sometimes, it means that they convince me (not that I needed much convincing, considering that I was sober for this) to buy bizarre cassette tapes featuring animals locked in mortal combat on the album art.

Goat Shark Abominator is a split release between the Danish band Goatfago (by all measures a giant piss-take on the war metal subgenre) and the California band Gorphyryac (black thrashing metal). Gorphyryac are actually pretty good. They like sharks, their riffs have some bite. Goatfago, on the other hand…well, they’re awesome in that jaw-dropping WTF is this shit? kind of way. They have what might be the world’s worst drum machine thipping away in the background, with some mid-pace raw black metal howls alongside. But what really sets Goatfago apart is their dedication to a theme. Gorphyryac like sharks, sure. But check this Goatfago tracklist out:

1.Goatromantication
2.Paradise In Goat Vomit
3.In Reverence of Goatchrist
4.Devil Cat Goat Tusken
5.The Gospel of the Goat
6.The Boar Is Mightier Than the Goat
7.Urine Dripping From Goats Bladder
8.Struck By Infernal Goatlust
9.Ritual For the Goat Boar
10.Heroin Injected Into a Goat

It might not be the BEST $6 I ever spent, but it’s damned close.
(Analog Worship in the US still has copies. Otherwise, you can buy it directly from the label, Silver Key Records)

Today, the snail mail has been replaced with email, and the cash has mostly (but not entirely) been replaced by Paypal, but the idea is the same. And while some have fully automatic web stores, others still finish the transaction with emails. The one thing that hasn’t really changed is the nature of these small distros and labels: they’re still run by one person or maybe a couple of people, on their free time, out of a garage or spare room in the house. As such, don’t expect that you’re going to get your records at lightning speed. I can’t count the number of whiny posts I’ve seen online about a distro being “slow” because it took two weeks for someone to get their stuff via Media Mail. Look, everyone understands the legit fear of being ripped-off, but give the poor bastards at the supply end at least three weeks of grace period before you start grousing at them about your order. You still have plenty of time to rescind that Paypal transaction at that point. Shit happens — illness, death in the family, shitty week at work — and sometimes an order can’t get filled for a week or more.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t rip-offs or flakes. There are. And most have been outed on a variety of forums or websites. If you’re unsure of a label or distro, google them with the phrase “rip-off” or “unreliable” or whatever. That should give you a good idea of their reputation.

Labels and distros that I’ve dealt with lately that have been reliable and fast include Nuclear War Now!, Dark Descent Records, Analog Worship, AJNA, Mvrder Svicide Incidents, Sepulchral Voice, Tank Crimes, and Hells Headbangers. If you like some of the stuff I’m going to be posting, give the bands and the labels your support and buy the music. Or, if you don’t buy music for whatever reason, at least buy some merch — t-shirt, patch, pin, whatever — or see ‘em live.