2019 allowed me the opportunity to work on and release a wide variety of music.

Sword2Saber – Walk (Bells of Infinity)

I consider this one more of a 2018 release since that’s when it was all recorded, but Patrick and I dropped this EP at the start of the year. These tracks all appeared later on his first full-length (Walk Pt. 2, duh) but we recorded these four in a day and I feel they’re easily his strongest. I even still listen to some of these beats.

Christian Molenaar – My Name Was the Sweet Fire On Your Lips

2018 was a drag for me in general, but at the end of the year I met my wife and ended up on a serious creative tear. The first album I released in 2019 was a collection of acoustic guitar improvisations dedicated to Hannah I recorded at her parents’ house, and it’s still one of my proudest releases from this year.

Crowhurst – III (Prophecy Productions)

A few years ago, Jay from Crowhurst hit me up about coming down to San Diego to jam and work on some music. His Greyhound ended up getting cancelled so instead I just recorded by myself at home. The resulting material ended up becoming the first track on III, Crowhurst’s first record for Prophecy Productions. This album ended up making quite a splash and now we’re flying to Paris in a few months to make the next one. Life is wild sometimes.

Follower – Lost (Apollo’s Crotch)

In 2018 I decided to put some of the algorithmic synthesis methods I was working on in Pure Data to use in film scoring. My first attempt was to create music for one of my favorite movies, David Lynch’s Lost Highway. Somewhere along the way the project took on a life of its own and the end result was a sort of haunted drone album filled with washes of reverberating drums and acoustic guitars.

Those Darn Gnomes – Calling Whitetails to a Tuned Bow (Nefarious Industries)

I’m not sure where to begin in describing this album; I’ve never spent more time actively working on a piece of art. Work on this album began before The Zodiac even came out back in 2016 and wasn’t completed until December of 2018. Nefarious Industries released the album and we toured the country with Fuck Your Birthday. This album opened a lot of doors for me and us as a band, and I can only give my deepest thanks to Russell, Noah, Greg at Nefarious and Dave from Earsplit for making this album a reality.

Sword2Saber – Walk Pt. 2 (Bells of Infinity)

Patrick started coming around my house out of the blue in 2018 to record over whatever funky rnb/trap beats I had lying around, and eventually we had a full album of soulful, dirty hip-hop. This album is far from consistent but I’m still happy with it as a stepping stone, and I still bump some of the tracks on a fairly regular basis.

Christian Molenaar & Noah Souza – Aborted Edge (Potentially Kinetic)

While recording the Mycropenez Caillou EP (due out next year) I set up a diminutive drumkit comprising a kick, snare, floor tom, hi hat and crash. While Noah was in town for a Those Darn Gnomes show, we decided to track a quick duo recording as a warmup. My playing was beyond rusty and far from my best but I stand by some of the musical ideas, including harp played with an EBow and letting my phone vibrate on the drums. We improved on this formula on a number of other recordings which should be out next year.

Oxidase Nightmare – Contorting the Infinitiated Forms (Apollo’s Crotch)

On a whim one day I decided to record myself improvising on the drums in a technical brutal death metal style and overdub some guitar and vocals. I initially didn’t even plan to release it but I threw it on the Apollo’s Crotch Bandcamp and was pleasantly surprised at the reception it received, garnering some very kind and thoughtful reviews and becoming the best-seller on the label’s page.

Those Darn Gnomes – All Tiny Breasts Crushed Beneath the Shadow (Snail Cage)

After the beast that was Calling Whitetails to a Tuned Bow, I wanted the next Those Darn Gnomes release to be something quick and relatively low-profile. To that end, we made an entirely improvised twenty minute grind record and got a bunch of friends to do vocals on it.

Sword2Saber – The New Era (Bells of Infinity)

When Patrick wanted to record the followup to Walk Pt. 2, he told me he wanted to go in a harsher direction inspired by Death Grips and El-P. I don’t think he was fully aware of who he was asking because a few of the tracks ended up being too harsh for him and we made a bunch of dusty boom-bap instead. The final product is a mix of power electronics, trap and rnb beats that I think has some of our strongest tracks we’ve made together yet.

Christian Molenaar & Noah Souza – Arrested (Potentially Kinetic)

For our second drum and sax duo, Noah and I stepped up just about every element. I played on a real kit this time around and the expanded sonic palette and general increase in technical ability on both of our parts allowed for a more varied listen. This album is a decidedly more aggressive and brutal recording than our first with this setup but it also contains more dynamic range with some moments of genuinely disquieting ambience.

Carton – Milk

In 2017, Sam and I started making noisy industrial-inspired hip-hop. Two years later, I finally got tired enough of sitting on it I just dropped the album. As with any art I’ve had completed for that long, I’m not exactly satisfied with the end result but I’m glad to have it out and I still stand by the bizarre harsh noise/breakcore hybrid we created, especially the creepier, more atmospheric tracks.

Mycropenez – A Contractually Obligated Christmas

A few weeks ago, Russell came to my house and told me he wanted to record a Christmas EP. Naturally, I obliged, and the result is some of my favorite Mycropenez material yet, including the slamming opener, a ripping Taylor Swift cover and guest vocals by Hannah, Joe, our friend Jordan and myself.

2020 has a lot more on the way: a grip of Those Darn Gnomes splits and EPs, solo releases, an album with Tall Can, full-lengths from Oxidase Nightmare, Enamel Hypoplasia and Prison Resources and plenty more. If you’ve made it this far or listened to a single record on this page, I can only give my deepest thanks and hope you’ll join me in the new year.