Reviews: stoner psyche drone space desert thrash alt prog classic.
Gigs in Oxford, sometimes beyond.
Monthly rewinds of new sounds.
Home taping killed nothing.

amplifier wordsmith. some words on rock.

2020 listening

Some words … yep, that’s right. 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 or the audio. Just some words, written.

Let’s give it a spin, eh?

Album reviews so far: Acrimony,  Audioscope, 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, 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,  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, King’s X, King Crimson,  Love/Hate, Mark Lanegan Band, Masiro, Metallica S&M2 (film),  Minor Victories, Mother Corona / Morass of Molasses, Naam, 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, Ryley Walker, SikTh , Swervedriver / Dearly Beloved, Testament, Undersmile / Earthmass, Winnebago Deal, Wire

REWIND and other brief words on things like coronavirus lockdown listening,  5 Great 2019 Albums, David Bowie and Blackstar anniversaries, Chris Cornell, Nick Cave, Prince, RSD Record Store Day rants, BBC 6 Music gems, Corrosion of Conformity, Dead Cross, Desert Storm, Drore, Eddie Van Halen, Evil Blizzard, Halloween playlists, Julian Cope Drunken Songs, Julian Cope Self Civil War plus Rite / Vesuvio / Urthona / Dope / The Other Without,  Judas Priest, Legend of the Seagullmen, Masiro,  Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, TAD Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, worriedaboutsatan, TV Glastonbury with Kanye / Metallica and Robert Plant / Radiohead, Anthroprophh, Kandodo McBain, Sir Walter J Wallis, King of the Slums, Harvey Milk, Van Halen, Robert Plant, winter soundtracks, year-end round-ups

Thanks for stopping by.

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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…