Reviews of stoner psyche drone space desert thrash alt prog metal rock.
Monthly rewinds of new sounds.
Gigs when possible.

Home taping killed nothing.

amplifier wordsmith. some words on rock.

The latest purchases

Some words … that’s it. Some. Not thousands, not floods, but some words, a couple of times a month if poss, on ROCK STUFF. Why? To pass on pointers to sounds worth sharing, to things that other people might get turned on to. One fan to another.

It’s like a radio programme, spread out over a few months, but without the talking. Just some words, written.

Let’s give it a spin, eh?

REWIND: tracks of the month by people like Midwife ,  Fire-Toolz , Mdou Moctar , GUHTS , Kim Gordon , The Scratch , The Happy Family , Hey Colossus , Boris & Uniform ,  Empire State Bastard and tonnes more

ALBUM REVIEWS: Acrimony ,  Audioscope , Barkmarket , Boris and Choukoku No Niwa, Caravan of Whores , The Damage Manual , David Bowie , Dearly Beloved , Drore , Earthmass , Honkeyfinger , Iggy and the Stooges , Indica Blues , Karma to Burn , Kylver , Listing Ships , Mark Lanegan Band , May Queens , Melvins , Ministry , Monster Magnet , Morass of Molasses , Motorhead , Music Blues , MUTation , Myrkur , Old Man Lizard , Om , One Day As A Lion ,  Palms , Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs , Shortparis , Sleep , Supershit 666 , Thought Industry ,  Type O Negative , Van Halen , Wall , Wildhearts

GIG REVIEWS: Adam Ant , Algiers ,  Arbouretum/Listing Ships , Coma Wall , Audioscope 2013 2014 2015 , Beehoover/Caravan of Whores , Drore , God Damn , Greenleaf/Desert Storm , GY!BE , Israel Nash , Karma to Burn/Desert Storm , Julian Cope , Killing Joke , King’s X , King Crimson ,  Love/Hate , Mark Lanegan Band , Masiro , Metallica S&M2 (film) ,  Minor Victories , Mother Corona/Morass of Molasses , Naam , Napalm Death , Pulled Apart By Horses , PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS ,  OHHMS/Drore , Old Man Gloom/Bossk/Circle , Queens of the Stone Age/Iggy Pop , Ritual Union 2017 , Ritual Union 2018 , Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters , Run Logan Run , Ryley Walker , SikTh , Swervedriver/Dearly Beloved , Testament , Tool , Undersmile/Earthmass , Winnebago Deal , Wire

MORE WORDS on things like Glastonbury on the TV , RIPs for David Bowie – Mark Lanegan – Geordie – Eddie Van Halen – Steve Albini – Chris Cornell – Will Mecum (Karma to Burn) , halloween soundtracks , end of year lists , winter listening , lockdown listening and more.

And in the Rewind posts, find short notes on Nick Cave , Prince , Record Store Day , Corrosion of Conformity , Dead Cross , Desert Storm , Drore , Julian Cope Drunken Songs , Julian Cope Self Civil War plus Cope-related Rite/Vesuvio/Urthona/Dope/The Other Without ,  Judas Priest , Masiro ,  Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs , TAD Brothers of the Sonic Cloth , worriedaboutsatan , Kandodo McBain ,  King of the Slums , Harvey Milk , Robert Plant

Thanks for stopping by.

* * * * * * * * *

A few words on how the blog got rolling

JOANNA BORYSIAK EXPLAINS

What is a passion if you can’t share it? This blog has been inspired by a great passion for great (most of the time) music. A passion that was yearning for an outlet, a creative force behind tens of notebook reviews and scribbled thoughts, obscure text messages, Pavement Award ceremonies (more on this in the blog), and the vaguely tense moments in which I ask: “What ARE we listening to?”

Yes, Kevin, I know technology is the last gift you wanted for your 40th birthday, but this is YOUR music blog.

And you are not alone. I invited your friends and family to share their Kevin – music stories with you. Enjoy the reading! I certainly have!

Happy birthday,

Joanna x

Why Amplifier Wordsmith?

Richard Storton tells the story of the blog’s name:

Blame it on Boris. Not he of sinister straw-headed buffoonery, but they of grind, drone, and feedback howl. Amplifier Worship, it’s one of theirs. It’s ours too. It’s what those obsessed with music do. Heads down, hieratic, listening to the ebb and flow. Beats that bloom and burst. The thrum of a bass. A string quiver that kicks into a chord. Silent interstices.
Wordsmith, well, that’s what the man does. Each word weighted. Balance and counterbalance. Polished and placed.
Amplifier Wordsmith. That sounds right…