News and Reviews 2021

We are now in year 16, and I stand by my statement from 5 years ago... "it seems both impossible and inadvisable to have gone so far down the rabbit-hole." This blog began in April of 2005. As of this date, that works out to more than 2,900 posts, a decade-and-a-half in the making. Clearly I still have too much free time. I even managed to get published this year on dead-tree media, with thanks to The Slingshot Collective. It's been a long time since I've seen my words on actual newsprint. It feels good. I also got interviewed on 92.9 WOOM in Philadelphia and was invited to do a show at 1620 WLOY. After I unpack my lathe I plan to take them up on that. Anyway, it's the end of the year, and a fine time to take a look back at 2021

Links to all 16 years of News & Reviews:

2020	2019	2018	2017
2016	2015	2014	2013
2012	2011	2010	2009
2008	2007	2006	2005

Best Posts:
I started off 2021 strong with a nice post on the radio coms used by the January 6th Capitol insurrectionists. I wrote a nice long post on Radio in Fukushima, a really long interview with Michael Nevradakis, and a deep dive into PCBs in capacitors in radio equipment. Posting less often has allowed me to open up and dig deeper, do more research and write more long-form articles.

 
Most Popular Posts:
My most popular posts haven't changed in years.  Since 2009 the most traffic has gone to a post about Peter Tripp.  This is what I call the post that Reddit built. It remains an aberration in my web-traffic with 96k+ hits. I did eventually collate a list of all Radio Wake-a-thon records here. My 2007 post on the Career Academy of Famous Broadcasters continues to get comments from it's legion of former students. It remains a top hit on Google. In 2021 My most popular posts were all older posts, I wrote an explanation on DMACs MPOEs, MDFs and IDFs back in 2015 and it became weirdly popular this year. Also my post The Eiffel Tower is an Antenna got a spike of traffic in January I can't account for. Capitol Riot Radio was actually my most popular post of 2021.

Best Zine
With thanks to Slingshot I got to read a lot of zines while under quarantine. I think my favorite this year was Razorcake. It is it's own phenomenon, virtually a magazine at this point. I've also read Slingshot for years now, I have always been pleased to find their paper in random bookstores and venues around the country. They always seem to cover topic no one else has. It's always worth reading. Fifth Estate is fabulous as well but also basically a magazine in it's own right. I think that New Wave Chicken was the zine which surprised me the most. Issue #9 had an article by Mark Ottens that was truly epic. That kind of writing really validates zines as a media form to me.

Best Radio Station:
I've been using the Radio Garden app (not a sponsor) to listen to radio stations. Lately I've been listening mostly to NPR. Special shout out to Ted Woodford's Youtube videos. It's the best repair show since Car Talk. Somebody give that guy a radio show. I'm looking at you CFMU. 

Best Radio Show:
I've been digging deep into the archives of some older college radio shows on WRSU, WVKR and WMFO. The internet has made it possible to binge listen to radio shows that came and went decades ago. It's become just another stream of content in the void. Inevitably Mixcloud will ruin it with embedded ads but I'll try to enjoy the new golden age for now.  Notably No Format with Jeff Wertz on WRSU, and The Primitive Show on WVKR.  If you want to try a program still on air try and Desperate Hours on WMFO. I've been catching that live and I also found the Flat Circle Radio Hour on WPRB to be eminently listenable. It's an ostensibly free form program, but without the sound-clash chaos. Early and modern electronic music blend into world beat and jazz with a certain continuity of time and texture you rarely find.

 

Top 10 Records of 2020
Generally the top 10 full-length albums, is format agnostic unless your format prevents me from hearing it. The definition of "full-length" is totally at my discretion as to number of tracks, or album length in minutes. But generally EPs, Singles, Re-releases, and demos get sifted down the the notable list. Aside from all that preface, our slow descent into dystopia has made for a good year in music. This could have been a top 20 this year.  The Ghost Is Clear Records got multiple spots. They totally killed it in 2021. I am also enjoying the rash of remastered and re-released punk and hardcore LPs this year.

1. Poster Boy - Posterboy [LINK]
   
2. Human Impact - EP01 [LINK]
   
3. NAG - Observer [LINK]
   
4. Infinity Land - Honest Comedy
5. Pressed - Mirrored Body [LINK]
   
6. Personal Style - S/T cassette [LINK]
7. Dug - 35:35  [LINK]
8. Justice Fetish - I Hope This Keeps You Up At Night [LINK]
   
9. Christian Fitness - Hip Gone Gunslingers [LINK]
   
10.  End You - Aimless Dread
11. Mononegatives - Apparatus Division [LINK]
    
12. Macros - Brain Tattoo EP [LINK]
    

Notable mentions: Bronson Arm - Conscious Confuser [LINK]; Bronson Arm - Tedious Compan; Scenario - Sounds In Sequence, Tunic - Exhale; USA Nails - Split w/ Pet brick; Cemento - Streebla, Norse - Blu; Knub - Knub, Hiraki - Stumbling through the walls; Ozzuario - Mental Hell; Drah - RMX; Domkraft - seeds [LINK]; Melvins - Working With God; Ismatic Guru - (self titled); Lavender Hex - Bunch of Flowers;