Between Dec. 1-31, 2010, The Obelisk received 314,110 page views. That’s according to Yahoo. Google puts it at 371,002. That is for the single month of December, and it’s more than I had for the entire year leading up to that point. After November, I felt good about 20,000. In December, we did that in a day after the forum went up. Seriously, the numbers for December were so astoundingly huge, I had to decrease the font size to make the image fit.

There was a dip for the holidays, but we still had visitors from all 50 states in the US and 114 other countries on six continents, including Senegal and Ethopia in Africa and Bhutan, Pakistan and Bangladesh in Southern Asia. There were even three visits from Azerbaijan! I don’t know about you, but I think that fucking rules.

Of course, the difference is the forum. As of today, Jan. 3, there are 426 registered users and over 8,500 posts. I’m hoping bands and labels will take to using the News/Band Updates board to fill people in on what’s happening, and that The Obelisk becomes the central hub and online resource of this scene. It’s a growing process, and clearly, it’s growing.

I hope you’ll take the time to register and check out the forums, and when/if you do, I hope you get some good out of them. I’m not planning any real changes in terms of how things are done on the blog proper, but I will be switching hosting companies in the near future, and that will rule. Really looking forward to that.

Here’s what else is up for January:

Kings Destroy: The album is selling well. I have 48 copies left and so far all the response I’ve seen has been positive. Of course I love And the Rest Will Surely Perish, but it’s nice to see it doing well with other critical types. If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, do so here or in the sidebar of this page.

The Maple Forum: I’m not ready yet to announce what the next release will be. I’ve been teasing it for a while, and we’re almost there, just bear with me a little longer. And do yourself a favor — listen to Kings Destroy.

2010 Stuff: I’ll be posting the results of the readers poll in the next couple days. In the meantime, I want to thank Walter and the Roadburn crew for using one of my quotes for the top of their own readers poll list. If you haven’t checked that out yet, it’s here. I’ll have some loose ends stuff for 2010 to casually wrap this week, then we’ll get moving on the New Year in full force.

Interviews: I’m slated to talk to Laura Pleasants of Kylesa in about an hour, so stay tuned for that this week, and I’m also hoping to set up chats with Suplecs, Weedeater and several awesome others in the coming weeks, so there’s plenty to come. We’ll have more Six Dumb Questions features too, because those are fun.

Reviews: Let’s see what we’ve got: Mr. Peter Hayden probably tomorrow, followed this week by Ghost (finally), Buck Gooter and Weedeater. Also records from Immolate, Sons of Tonatiuh and Agalloch to get to, and others. I seem to be perpetually behind, but we’ll get there one way or the other. Hey, it’s the internet. Who needs immediacy? Oh wait…

audiObelisk: I’m listening to this month’s podcast as I type this, and it wasn’t just punch-drunk slobbering last night when I posted it, it actually does rule. If you missed last month’s, that’s still available as well.

On the Radar: Has been neglected in the face of all the year-end stuff, but now that that’s over with, we’ll pick up right where we left off. This is one of my favorite features on this site and there’s no way I’d let it go for too long without one.

Thanks to you all as always for reading and commenting on the blog, and for signing up for the forum and posting there. I’m blown away by the success of the forums and of The Obelisk in general, and I hope that as we enter 2011 it will prove useful to you in one way or another.

All the best,
JJ Koczan
Holding Pattern Taskmaster

…And we’re back. Forums up up and running again: https://theobelisk.net/forum

PLEASE NOTE: The forums have reverted to what was there this past Tuesday. That was the last working backup Yahoo could restore. If you’re one of the 30 or so people who signed up in the meantime, I’m sorry, and I humbly ask that you re-register. I hope you will.

I’ve been asked how do I know this won’t happen again. I’m taking steps to see that it doesn’t. I’ll be investigating switching hosts for the site this week. I don’t think it was hacked. After going through all the errors and everything, it seems like it’s just your basic internet bullshit.

Thanks as always to Slevin for his help in putting everything back together. We may include some upgrades to the boards (I’m pulling for a live chat room) as well, but we wanted to get everything back up and running first, and it looks like that’s been done. Your patience is appreciated.

I have the feeling I’m going to get pathetically few responses to this, but yeah, I want to put together a readers’ poll of the best albums of 2010. Leave a comment to this post with your favorites (they don’t have to be in numerical order, but please keep it to 10 max) and at the end of the month, I’ll tally up the votes and we’ll see what came out on top.

In the meantime, I’ve still got my list going. Thanks for reading and I’m looking forward to finding out what you thought were the best albums of the year.

It was down to the wire yesterday, and with all the increased hits from the Kings Destroy CD releasing, I thought we had a chance, but in the end we fell just short of October’s numbers to land at 20,673. If not for the lull for Thanksgiving and the Friday after, we’d have made it easily. Still, not a complaint by any stretch. Those are still amazing and I’m incredibly thankful. It’s almost exactly twice as many page views as last November, so I’m thrilled all the way.

According to Google, between Nov. 1 and 30, The Obelisk had visitors from all 50 states and 115 other countries around the world (including such troubled regions as Iraq and Pakistan). The most visited pages (aside from the frontpage and second page of posts) were the Monster Magnet interview and this month’s podcast, and 56 percent of those who stopped by had never been here before. Much appreciated. I hope you found something worth coming back to.

In addition to the killer numbers, there’s also cause for celebration as this is my 1,500th post on the site. It’s an occasion I’m marking with big orange letters thusly:

There. Glad we got that taken care of.

Lots of good things to come before we close out 2010, so let’s get to the rundown:

The Best Of 2010: This year I’m getting over myself with the whole “lists are bullshit” thing and embracing it wholesale. Every day in December (starting today), we’re going to count down another of the top 20 albums of the year. This includes Xmas day and all other holidays. If my calculations are correct, we should finish right on New Year’s Eve with the number one record. If my math is off, well, at least we’ll be close. Number 20 is coming right up after I finish this post.

The Maple Forum: I had 15 orders for 19 total copies of Kings Destroy‘s And the Rest Will Surely Perish within the first 24 hours of putting it on sale. Those went out in the mail today. If you haven’t purchased your copy of the record yet (which is incredible, if I haven’t said that enough), do so here. In the coming weeks, I’ll have songs streaming, a show wrap for the CD release party, and much more. Stay tuned, and please know that if you already bought one or were planning on doing so, the number of copies is limited and your support is met with sincere gratitude.

I’ll have the announcement about The Maple Forum‘s first release of 2011 coming in the next couple weeks, but I’m very excited about it as well, and please know that if you’re spending money on a Kings Destroy CD, it’s going to be put to good use on the impending forum030.

Interviews: I’ve been sitting on a chat with Bob Pantella of Monster Magnet about his Riotgod project for about two months now, and I’d definitely like to get it in before the New Year comes, so keep an eye open for that. I’ll also have my interview with Cough bassist/vocalist Parker Chandler going live before this week is out, and Six Dumb Questions with Whores of Tijuana and Aussie doomers Adrift for Days. As ever, more to come.

audiObelisk: Well, it’s December, so I guess I owe a December podcast. This weekend’s looking like a twofer show-wise, plus the usual homework, so it’ll be tough, but I’ll do my best.

Reviews: I have the new Crowbar record, so be on the lookout for that. Also, the new Might Could album Small Stone is releasing is a Southern metal monster and will be written up within the next week to coincide with the label’s putting it on iTunes. There are new Agalloch and others to come as well.

Where to Start: I’ll be honest, I’m running out of ideas for Where to Start posts. I’m putting out the call: If you have any requests or things you’ve always wondered about, drop a comment and let me know. Those are always a lot of fun, so I definitely want to include them more, rather than just let the category die off for lack of use. Need some input on this one.

As ever, I’m sure there’s more, but that’s plenty to chew on either way. December a lot going on, so please stay tuned, and as always, thank you for reading, commenting and most especially for coming back for more. Between real life, real life and real life, The Obelisk is like my version of psychotherapy, and if anyone else out there gets something out of it, then it’s all the more special. I know I say it all the time, but thank you. Really. Thank you.

Humbled,
JJ Koczan
Holding Position Taskmaster

Yeah, I know there were probably better ways to spend my time at 2AM last night than watching reruns of The Wire and making the flier below for The Obelisk, but screw it, without a little “me time,” we’re all sunk. I grabbed the drawing from an image search — you’ll never guess which one — screwed with the contrast, added some text and came out with the below. It’s not the most complex thing in the world, but I think it’s good sometimes to keep things simple. It gets to the point.

I’ll probably print some out and take them to record stores, maybe keep a few on hand for appropriate shows and such, and in the meantime, I thought you might like to see. Click the image to make it full-size:

And so we climb back over the 20,000 mark for the first time since May, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I didn’t think we’d get there, but extra hits for the Enslaved and Monster Magnet interviews put us over the top to get to the above 20,842 page views (according to Yahoo) for the month of October. Awesome. Thank you.

I’ve now been keeping track of The Numbers for over a year, and if you look back at October 2009, you’ll see 2010 was more than twice as many. It’s hard to complain about that.

By Google‘s estimate, The Obelisk got hits from 111 nations between Oct. 1 and 31, the top five being the US, the UK, Germany, Canada and Italy. Surprisingly, Sweden wasn’t even in the top 10. I couldn’t be more up that country’s ass if I tried, but hey, I guess you take what you can get from the coldness of Stockholm. Wherever you are, thanks for checking in. A special hello to the one person in Uganda who stopped by.

The pages with the first and second most views were the Monster Magnet review and interview, so I guess I owe Dave Wyndorf a beer. Right behind them was the Hawkwind interview from the end of July and the Cough streaming track, which is cool because it means people actually listened to the song. You never know what’s going to strike a chord, and with so much just left on the front page, it’s hard to tell what’s really the most viewed, but it’s interesting nonetheless, and I hope you enjoyed reading/hearing/viewing whatever you did.

A lot to come in November, so let’s get to it:

The Maple Forum: Kings Destroy‘s And the Rest Will Surely Perish will be released Nov. 30. Physical copies are expected within the week and from there it’s just a matter of getting a little word spreading about the album — which, if I haven’t said it yet (and I know I have) is fucking incredible. We’re pressing 300 and I’ll have some portion of that for sale here. I’m going to see if I can put the Paypal button in the sidebar, and I’m sure, as always, that it’ll be an adventure in screwing everything up. If the site suddenly goes down around the end of this month, you’ll know why.

I’ve also just received the audio for The Maple Forum‘s following release, the first of 2011, and it’s a rocker to be sure. Info on that to come.

audiObelisk: I’ll have the November podcast as soon as I have a copy of Kylesa‘s Spiral Shadow, as per yesterday’s Buried Treasure. I’ll probably try to get it again today, and pending that, maybe tomorrow or Thursday. Before the weekend, in any case. Till then, listen to “Dopesmoker” again. That’s what it’s there for. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, as well. Your feedback and the thought you put in was killer and much appreciated. Seeing that as the most viewed page in “What People Dig” in the sidebar was very exciting for me.

Interviews: Chris Goss hopefully this week. I also have Riotgod, High Watt Electrocutions, Elliott’s Keep and Spiritual Beggars in the can and Six Dumb Questions features with Blackwolfgoat and Tasha-Yar to go up later today and next week, respectively. I think the SDQ thing has some real potential and I hope you’ve been enjoying it as well. Plenty of good stuff to come there.

Facebook: I don’t know if it’s been a help or a hindrance, but whatever. I don’t check the MySpace anymore, so if you’ve sent me something through there, I didn’t see it. Get in touch either via the contact form here (preferable) or on Facebook. Sorry, but I’m only doing one social networking thing at a time, and until Diaspora opens up and is the new coolest thing ever, it’s this. Blah.

Reviews: Working on getting caught up. In the next week, I hope to do OJM (today), Whores of Tijuana, Kin of Ettins, Suplecs and Black Space Riders, but I might not be able to resist throwing Wino‘s Live at Roadburn 2009 or the new Slough Feg in there as well. We shall see. Lots of cool albums though, and no shortage of things to say about them. I tend to think of the reviews as the meat of this site, the everyday thing, so thanks for any reactions you may have given this month, positive or negative.

Good stuff all around. Thank you for your continued support of this strange project.

Sincerely,
JJ Koczan
H.P. Taskmaster

What a month. The back-to-school/work-full-time/work-part-time/manage-this-site experiment left me drained beyond compare, but fuck it, I lived, and by last week, I honestly began to feel like I had the routine on lockdown. Then the internet ate The Obelisk on Friday and sent that all to hell. That’s what I get.

September’s 18,241 hits is up from August’s 17,435 a respectable amount, and as always, I thank you for reading and for coming back for more. Your opinions, comments, suggestions, complaints, etc., are always welcome here. According to the Google, there were 22,585 visits from all 50 states (two from South Dakota, but it still counts) and 108 other countries around the world. I am continually humbled.

Plenty of good stuff to come for October, so let’s get right to it:

Podcasting: I’ll have the next audiObelisk Transmission up either tonight or tomorrow, depending on how drained I am after class. Yes, I was planning on having it up last night (Sunday), but spent the portion of the evening during which I’d otherwise have been ripping CDs at the emergency room with my 95-year-old grandmother. Shin splints. Everything’s fine. Good times. Still hope you like long songs.

Maple Forum: The Kings Destroy album, And the Rest Will Surely Perish (amazing), comes back from the press the middle of this month. Seldon Hunt did an amazing job with the artwork and I can’t wait to actually hold the finished product. This might seriously be the best classic doom I’ve ever heard from a New York band. More info and audio coming soon, and the album will be out in November.

Interviews: This week I’m posting my chat with Tom G. Warrior. You don’t want to miss it. It’ll be up today or tomorrow.

Reviews: Holy shit I’m behind on reviews. Here’s the deal: I’ll keep plugging away, and I’ll do my best to get to things posted in a timely manner. If you’re waiting on one from me, you band and label/PR folks, please be patient. I’ll get there. As you may or may not be able to tell, I’ve kind of got a lot on my plate.

Facebook: To all the people who’ve sent support and encouragement via the Facebooks, thank you. It’s nice to know there are actual people behind these hits, and the feedback is much appreciated. If we’re not “friends” yet, I’m here. Please say hi. I may be kind of a dick in the flesh, but over email I try my best to be as pleasant as possible.

There’s more I’m sure, but I’m too exhausted to think of what that might be. Whatever it was, I’m sure it boils down to thanks as always for reading and commenting, for being a part of this. I know I say it all the time, but it genuinely means a lot to me. I know we’re not really changing the world here, that this is an underground site with a frankly limited appeal and demographic, but that you continue to be loyal to it and come back for more is truly touching. I bow to you.

Literally, right now. I’m bowing.

Much love,
JJ Koczan
Hopeful Platypus Taskmaster

Sure I’m sitting here, chewing Rolaids as I drink my beer after a long day at the office, but hey man, that’s working life. Sure it’s been busy as hell and I’ve struggled even to get a review up every day, and the thought of the semester beginning (which it does tomorrow, Sept. 2) has horrified me to the point of lost sleep all week, but isn’t that what I signed up for?

Apparently yes, it is. I think about where this site was two months ago, or even one month ago, in that pastoral Vermont space that feels a hundred years away now, and take my solace in the fact that hits are up for the first time since May. And Yahoo‘s quoted 17,435 isn’t much more than July’s 17,053, but I’ll happily take it. Thanks for reading and for coming back.

According to the powers that be (i.e. Google) the site had 22,046 page views from all 50 American states and 112 countries abroad on all six inhabitable continents, including places as far away from my little river valley as Pakistan, Laos and Oman. Thank you all for visiting. I hope you liked what you saw.

If this last month brought tumult (and it did), September is going to be even crazier. Here’s a quick rundown:

The Maple Forum: The Kings Destroy record, titled And the Rest Will Surely Perish, goes to press this month. I’ve listened to the finished album and it’s seriously one of the best records I’ve heard all year. I don’t know what else to say about it than that. I can’t wait for you to dig on this band the way I’ve been digging on them.

In the meantime, I have one copy of Roareth‘s Acts I-VI left available for purchase. Anyone interested can hear and pick it up via this link. Ignore that headline though, because there is in fact only one left, and then my supply is gone.

Podcasting: That the Small Stone podcast was downloaded 57 times in its first two days live I consider a success and thank you for that. I have a theme picked out for October and it’s going to seem completely random when it’s executed, but I’m going to have fun with it and that’s all there is to it.

Facebook: If you have a Facebook page, well, me too. Here’s mine. Hit me up. I’ve gotten some very kind comments on there from people who’ve been reading the site and really, that means more than I can say. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Interviews: Oh, do I still do those? Yes, I do. Yawning Man goes live tomorrow, Friday at the latest, and there’s Man’s Gin and Masters of Reality in the can, plus, I spoke to Bob Pantella of Riotgod/Monster Magnet/The Atomic Bitchwax today, and that ruled, so it’ll be up in the coming weeks as well. Lots of good stuff to come there.

Reviews: Hard to see past my own typing hands as far as this goes, but on the docket are records from Kylesa, Del Rey, Poobah, Dusted Angel, BXI, Hypnos 69, Bibilic Blood, High Watt Electrocutions and more, so stay tuned.

I’m sure there’s more, but that’s all I can think of. If posts are light the next couple days, I apologize. The Aquarian is on early deadline for Labor Day and as I may have mentioned, class starts tomorrow, so please bear with me and understand I’m doing the best I can. The contact form works now. Feel free to get in touch.

Thank you as always, and as we move into the Fall, I’m gladder than ever to call this site my home.

Sincerely,
JJ Koczan
Heaping Potbelly Taskmaster