Tag Archives: Coptic Light

R.I.P. Coptic Light

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One of my favorite New York bands, Coptic Light, have called it a day. Bummer news, dudes. Weirdly enough, I just found this out yesterday, and while on the L train today, I ran into CL guitarist Jon Fine (aka Johann von Poodles), who confirmed the tragedy. Needless to say, while not incredibly well known (or active), CL was one of the most aggressively awesome bands I’ve seen in the past five years. First time was at the Fireside Bowl, in 2002, when I still lived in Chicago. CL – which consisted of Fine (ex-Bitch Magnet, Vineland, Don Caballero), wildman drummer Kevin Shea (of the highly under-rated Storm & Stress), and bass mechanic Jeff Winterberg (of Antioch Arrow) – totally killed it, with a combination of heavy volume and dynamic, intricate melodies. I missed their past few shows in New York (they ended up playing more in Japan in the past year and a half than in the city), so this makes the news doubly bummering. But we’ll always have the music: go buy their LP, cleverly titled lp, from the fine folks at No Quarter. And keep your eyes open for a posthumous EP sometime soon. Gone, but not forgotten…

Better Late Than Never: Another Year-End Best-Of List

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If I think that compiling year-end best-of lists are tedious to write, just what exactly does it mean that I want you to read mine? Not much, really – it’s just another exercise one goes through. This kinda thing doesn’t really mean all that much to me, and my answers can change on a whim. And it’s not that I came close to listening to even all the releases with intriguing press releases, or what looked cool in a shop that I put back due to being broke, or whatever. That said, these are all very much worth your while, even without any sort of silly “best-of-2005″ endorsement. So without further ado (in no particular order):

The Weird Weeds, Hold Me (Edition Manifold) CD

I wrote about the Weird Weeds briefly here.

Earth, Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method (Southern Lord) CD

Broadcast, Tender Buttons (Warp) CD

Coptic Light, s/t (No Quarter) CD

Silver Jews, Tanglewood Numbers (Drag City) CD

I promised a longer, “director’s cut” version of this review, but for now that version remains unfinished.

The Howling Hex, All Night Fox (Drag City) CD

Endless Boogie, 1 and 2 (Mound Duel) LPs

Review from the Baltimore City Paper here.

Excepter, Throne and Self Destruction (Load, Fusetron) CDs

Review here, also appeared in Swingset no. 7.

Ones/Hands, 1997-2005 (White Tapes) CD

Review here.

Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom, Days of Mars (DFA) CD

favorite reissues/compilations:

Gary Higgins, Red Hash (Drag City) CD
Crime, San Francisco’s Still Doomed (Swami) CD (review here)
Crain, Speed (Temporary Residence) CD (review here)
Roky Erickson, I Have Always Been Here Before (Shout Factory) 2CD (review here)
Bobby Beausoleil, Lucifer Rising Original Soundtrack (Arcanum) 2CD (review here)

Honorable Mentions:

The Double, Loose in the Air (Matador) CD; Thuja, Pine Cone Temples (Strange Attractors Audio House) CD; Big Whiskey, “Hats Off To Ryan Taylor” (White Tapes) cass; Andrew Paine and Richard Youngs, Mauve Dawn (Fusetron) LP; The SB, s/t (White Tapes) LP; prolly some more I’ve forgotten.