Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Done And Done

Vintage Old Metal Decal

Long story short: 2010 was a good year for Umlaut... a really good year actually. I've said this many times, but I rant in this space mainly to keep my mind sharp; I like putting words together. The fact that I mainly rant about bands and music is kind of secondary. I'm not out for narcissistic glory since I get plenty of that in my professional and personal life (HAHA!). I rant here for fun and I just do my own thing. Umlaut will continue to fight the hordes, sing and cry, and we will see what the next 8,760 hours bring.

I will now quote that British band: "Let The Music be your Master, will you heed The Master's call?"... and with those words, here's my 2010 scorecard:
  1. 01/02/10 - Melvins - Great American Music Hall
  2. 01/08/10 - Devildriver / Suffocation / Goatwhore - Slim's
  3. 01/28/10 - Swashbuckle / White Wizzard - Thee Parkside
  4. 01/29/10 - Saint Vitus / Saviours / Laudanum - DNA Lounge
  5. 01/30/10 - Nile / Immolation / Krisiun - Slim's
  6. 02/05/10 - Black Cobra - Amoeba Records [San Francisco]
  7. 02/06/10 - Anvil / Attitude Adjustment - The Fillmore
  8. 02/08/10 - Arch Enemy / Exodus - The Regency
  9. 02/11/10 - Alice In Chains - The Fox Theater
  10. 02/28/10 - Stormcrow / Vöetsek / Wasteoid / Sorrower - Thee Parkside
  11. 03/05/10 - Shrinebuilder / Harvestman / A Storm Of Light / Brainoil - The Voodoo Lounge [San Jose]
  12. 03/07/10 - Shrinebuilder / Harvestman - The Independent
  13. 03/13/10 - Shrinebuilder / Yob / Saviours / Landmine Marathon / D.R.I. / Hate Eternal / 3 Inches Of Blood / Voivod / Ludicra - Scion Rock Fest [Columbus]
  14. 03/16/10 - Motörhead - Stubb's [Austin]
  15. 03/17/10 - Withered / Landmine Marathon / Salome / Dark Castle - Emo's [Austin]
  16. 03/17/10 - Landmine Marathon / Withered / Book Of Black Earth - Mohawk [Austin]
  17. 03/17/10 - High On Fire - Mohawk [Austin]
  18. 03/18/10 - Landmine Marathon / Book Of Black Earth - Hoek's Death Metal Pizza [Austin]
  19. 03/18/10 - Orphaned Land - Emo's [Austin]
  20. 03/18/10 - Dillinger Escape Plan - Emo's [Austin]
  21. 03/24/10 - Pentagram / Ludicra / Slough Feg / Orchid - DNA Lounge
  22. 04/08/10 - The Funeral Pyre / Early Graves - Thee Parkside
  23. 04/09/10 - Fear Factory / Amon Amarth - The Regency
  24. 04/11/10 - Orchid - Thee Parkside
  25. 04/14/10 - Faith No More / White Trash Debutantes - The Warfield
  26. 04/15/10 - The Dead Weather - The Fillmore
  27. 04/18/10 - Overkill / Vader / God Dethroned / Warbringer / Evile - The Regency
  28. 04/28/10 - Ludicra / Black Hell / Landmine Marathon / Nightgaun - The Nile Underground [Mesa]
  29. 05/05/10 - Cannibal Corpse / 1349 / Skeletonwitch - Slim's
  30. 05/08/10 - Mastodon / Between The Buried And Me / High On Fire / Baroness / Priestess / Valient Thorr / Black Cobra - The Fox Theater
  31. 05/08/10 - Ludicra / Kowloon Walled City - Café du Nord
  32. 05/11/10 - Pearl - Red Devil Lounge
  33. 05/15/10 - Portal / Sanguis Imperem / Dispirit - Thee Parkside
  34. 05/22/10 - Saviours / Iron Lung / Walls - 324 Gilman
  35. 06/04/10 - Vastum - Elbo Room
  36. 06/20/10 - Iron Maiden - Concord Pavilion
  37. 06/25/10 - A Place To Bury Strangers - The Blank Club [San Jose]
  38. 06/26/10 - Dillinger Escape Plan / Bring Me The Horizon / The Uptones - Vans Warped Tour - Shoreline Amphitheatre
  39. 06/27/10 - Saint Vitus / Hammers Of Misfortune / Walken - DNA Lounge
  40. 06/29/10 - Landmine Marathon - The Blvd [Los Angeles]
  41. 06/29/10 - Saint Vitus - The Viper Room [Hollywood]
  42. 07/01/10 - Landmine Marathon - The Hub [Sacramento]
  43. 07/02/10 - Landmine Marathon - Kimo's
  44. 07/16/10 - Inquisition / Altar Of Plagues / Velnias - Elbo Room
  45. 07/17/10 - Rob Halford - The Regency
  46. 07/22/10 - The Dead Weather - The Warfield
  47. 07/30/10 - Death Angel - Slim's
  48. 08/01/10 - Scorpions / Cinderella - Concord Pavilion
  49. 08/06/10 - Impaled / Funerot - Thee Parkside
  50. 08/09/10 - Rush - Shoreline Amphitheatre
  51. 08/10/10 - Corrosion Of Conformity / Goatsnake / Eagle Twin / Black Breath - DNA Lounge
  52. 08/15/10 - Black Cobra / Howl / Lions Of Tsavo - Bottom Of The Hill
  53. 08/26/10 - Boris / Red Sparowes - Great American Music Hall
  54. 08/29/10 - Slash / Taking Dawn - The Warfield
  55. 08/31/10 - Slayer / Megadeth / Testament - Cow Palace
  56. 09/01/10 - Slayer / Megadeth / Testament - Arco Arena [Sacramento]
  57. 09/04/10 - Green Day - Shoreline Amphitheatre
  58. 09/12/10 - Sleep / Thrones - The Regency
  59. 09/13/10 - Sleep / Saviours / Black Cobra The Regency
  60. 09/15/10 - The Head Cat [Lemmy, Slim Jim Phantom] - Uptown
  61. 09/29/10 - High On Fire / Torche / Kylesa - Great American Music Hall
  62. 10/02/10 - The Sword / Karma To Burn - The Regency
  63. 10/04/10 - Guitar Wolf - Bottom Of The Hill
  64. 10/08/10 - Cheap Trick - Mountain Winery [Saratoga]
  65. 10/11/10 - Alice In Chains / Deftones - San Jose State Event Center
  66. 10/23/10 - Triptykon / 1349 / Yakuza - Slim's
  67. 10/29/10 - Acid King / Christian Mistress - Hemlock
  68. 11/17/10 - Watain / Goatwhore / Black Anvil - DNA Lounge
  69. 11/20/10 - Black Label Society / Children Of Bodom / Clutch - The Warfield
  70. 11/24/10 - Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience - The Warfield
  71. 11/28/10 - Dimmu Borgir / Enslaved / Blood Red Throne - The Regency
  72. 11/29/10 - Grinderman - The Warfield
  73. 12/04/10 - Skeletonwitch / Withered / Trap Them / Landmine Marathon - Red 7 [Austin]
  74. 12/07/10 - Roger Waters: The Wall Live - HP Pavilion [San Jose]
  75. 12/17/10 - Killing Joke - The Regency
  76. 12/19/10 - The Black Crowes - The Fillmore
  77. 12/22/10 - Agalloch - Great American Music Hall
  78. 12/30/10 - High On Fire / Archons - Brookdale Lodge [Brookdale]
2010 Bands: The bands that were special to Umlaut this year were Landmine Marathon and Ludicra. Landmine Marathon are friends and remind me alot of Metal bands from my Salad Days with how they go about their business and music. They did 2 tours of the U.S. and Canada behind their new album Sovereign Descent and are a band who leave some blood on the stage every night (sometimes literally). Ludicra took their game to another level with their landmark album The Tenant, which is the best album by a Bay Area band (any band) in years. They also had one of the most dramatic U.S. Tours that I've followed in recent memory! A tough and majestically brutal band.

2010 Shows: There were so many good shows last year but, if I have to narrow it down, I'd say my favorites were (in no specific order)...
2010 Records: In alphabetical order...
  1. Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit (Track: 'The Watcher's Monolith')
  2. Johnny Cash - American VI: Ain't No Grave (Track: 'Ain't No Grave')
  3. Grinderman - Grinderman 2 (Track: 'Mickey Mouse & the Goodbye Man')
  4. High On Fire - Snakes of the Divine (Track: 'Bastard Samurai')
  5. Killing Joke - Absolute Dissent (Track: 'This World Hell')
  6. Kylesa - Spiral Shadow (Track: 'Distance Closing In')
  7. Landmine Marathon - Sovereign Descent (Track: 'Rise With The Tide')
  8. Ludicra - The Tenant (Track: 'In Stable')
  9. Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones (Track: 'The Prolonging')
  10. Withered - Dualities (Track: 'From Shadows')
Honorable Mention because it's not a "record" (yet): Vastum - digital EP (Track: 'Master's Mark')

2010 Music Geek Moment:
2010 What-The-Fuck Moment:
2010 Reality Check Moments:
Anyway, this has been my quick 'n dirty review of 2010... THANKS for all the support, readers and friends. 2011 will mark the 7th Anniversary of this space... so let's see what happens next. I'll see you on the other side.
Labels: