Thanks 2014 - You kept it Weird

As I look back at Thwart, in 2014, the first word that comes to mind is... Immense! Despite a year that started off on a bad foot (pun intended) 2014 has been one of my most creative years EVER. 

In-between doctor appointments, hospitalizations and fifty two-hour hyper-baric oxygen treatments and maybe one of my worse possible bouts of writers block I personally seen, Thwarts 2014 output is something I look at with great pride. Not since my latter Neus Subjex years has such a creative era ever been realized as well as recognized!

Speaking of pride, it's  not something I allow myself to feel that much. You know, I wanna keep it real. I wanna be humble, but a good year is a good year... I feel that I must acknowledge that yet one more time!

I look ahead to 2015, and whereas I dont want to explain any of my plans (and jinx them), just let me say that plans do exist. Great plans... Plans that hinge on me staying foot ulcer and infection free. I realize that statement may come off as a bit odd to many of you that may not know me that well, so just trust me on it.

Right away, I know a year like 2014 wont be easy to top or even best, but Im gonna give it the ol' college try. 

Let the record show... I never went to one day of college. 

Yet...

The Man Who Japed

The Man Who Japed

by Philip K. Dick

Somewhere in another quite evening broken in half from a stellar Value City Furniture commercial, I finished what was, (at least) my 13th full-sized novel by PKD! This estimated number is a conservative number and not accounting, in any form, the five collections of his short-stories that defy any amount of calculation consideration... The Man Who Japed isnt PKDs best book, in my opinion, but isn't his worst either. His best/worst novel ratio is at least 4-1 which may be a conservative estimate. Japed is a middle-of-the-road read and coming from PKD, one of fictions undisputed kings, is saying much more than its not. Yeah, the PKD trademarks are there... The eternal struggles of a dystopic future, ample amounts of paranoia, the questioning of moral fortitude and those special WTF moments that propel the novel from one place to the next with a hurried pace. You read PKD the way he designed and wrote them, in a speed-fever with fast dinners of meat not fit for human consumption. I'm not about to give ya a whole run-down of the plot... Like I said earlier, its not my favorite novel of his and not his worst. If you can find a copy of this book cheaply, and your in the mood, then, by all means, get this and read it.

Struggling to figure out my next read, I had Tetherballs of Bouganville by Mark Leyner and The Sequel of Dangerous Minds by Chuck Barris called Bad Grass Never Dies, both as choices before finally deciding upon the collected limited series b&w graphic novel, The One, from Rick Veitch to switch things up. I've taken to re-reading some of my favorite comics from my youth, again, as an adult. Squadren Supreme, The Watchmen and now The One. Back in my comic book days (first stint) I remember buying copies of the The One as a limited series that, for whatever reason, I remembered being in color... But hey, thats memory for ya! It was the 80's, shit was weird and it's about to get weirder!

2014 - Step In The Right Direction

I really wanted to do a Thwart Top Ten... Really, really, wanted to do one, but when I actually got down to actually doing one, I became overwhelmed. Then, along cames Mick Fletcher of JUST ANOTHER PUNK SONG blog asking for a 2014 Top Ten Songs... The best I could offer was Top Ten releases. So, with Vanderpump Rules playing in the background, I reapproached the idea and in-between my wife and I wondering why Stassi was on the show despite not having a job at Sur, Cassa Blanca or Kenny Halberts fav, PUMP, I got not only Mick's Top Ten done but inadvertently got a Top Twenty done!

So, to find out if your shitty band made my Top Ten, go read Mick Fletcher's JUST SOME PUNK SONGS Blog with the following link and come on back to read 11-20!

http://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/top-10-songs-of-2014-as-chosen-by-shawn.html

20. Betty Machete & The Angry Cougars "Rats" 

19. Black Planet "S/T"

18. Stalin Video "Vivisektion"

17. Miscalculations "Silent Defence"

16. Super Stupid (ep)

15. S.H.I.T.  "Feeding Time" +1

14. Coathangers "Suck My Shirt"

13. Sleeves "Sex Is Stupid"

12. Love Triangle "Clever Clever"

11. Old City "S/T"

Honorable Mention(s):Releasing  TWO full-lengths on 2014, Parquet Courts' Content Nausea hit hard just as the year was closing and would have proly made the top ten, if not the top five , if I had a few more weeks with it. 2014 was also a great year for Lions Care Recordings. Bringing to bear two interchangeable bands, Cvttvnmvvth and Wild Wings, Youngstown is definitely back on the map of dangerzones. Whereas my Top 20 included borderline entries with Kill The Hippies and The Great Dismal Swamis due to my design work being used for both bands, I had to draw the line with lyrical contributions. I know, for a fact, that some lyrical content from World War Wild Wings by Wild Wings was provided by yours truly, I suspect the same concerning Cvttvnmvvth. Currently, Im too fucking lazy and currently rocking some homemade Christmas candies to look that fact up. I'm sure Sweet Starchild will understand... Lots of creative things happening that I must give props to Lo-Fi City who have fielded many great stabs into the gut of Cincinnatis 'music' scene. Look for more of them in the form of 2014 catch-ups on 2015, added well as newer stuff. 

Its...Complicated.

When I listen to The Love Triangle I'm taken back a good ten years (approximately) when The Fuses stop in a Cincinnati basement venue called The Maxi-Pad... Amoung the normal basement fare of washers, dryers, half bathrooms and kitchen sinks, The Fuses ripped thru their set in master form with only minimal breaks for swill or breath. The Fuses brought it in the strongest sense of the phrase. The Fuses 2005 release Eastern Cities on Shit Sandwich was before its time even though The Fuses had mastered its sound before-hand. Static Shock Records 2013 release of Clever Clever from The Love Triangle has everything I look for in punk-rock; Explosive, Confidence, Seering vocals and cryptic allegory spouting danger, uncertainty and the tricky business of mental survival. Clever Clever could be the newest, anthemic Shock Troops-esq release of the past 5 years (maybe more if I really consider it) and, I will confidently say, the next 5 years too! You dig Fuses, Cocksparrer and stop-n-start wanky 00'sGarage-punk? Get on board if you wanna live!

The Love Triangle is available on Bandcamp. Check Dis-Cogs for Fuses