I think it’s time for a new header for this site. If you’re interested in making one, if you’re an artist or otherwise capable and willing designer-type, get in touch. It’s been over three years and technically, that’s not even an obelisk up there. It’s the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Way less phallic. Anyway, if you’re into it and have an idea, hit me up. I’ll be waiting by the inbox, dreaming in fda100 orange.

April was down some from last month, which I attribute mostly to the fact that I was less able to post stories in the news forum and link them from Thee Facebooks, which seems to drive a decent amount of page-views, even if it’s people just checking in and bouncing right off. Whatever. I’ll take what I can get as regards that, and I’m definitely not about to complain about 195,971 page views for April. I’m still awed that anyone else comes here other than me. Certainly is appreciated.

Google took their simple, easy-to-navigate Analytics layout and completely fucked it up sometime in the last month, no longer allowing me to go back to the “Old Version” that wasn’t a total pain in the ass to look at (god damn it, I hate things that are different from the way I’m used to them being), but after much digging, I uncovered those page view numbers, and found that they came from 135 countries around the world, the top five of which were the US, the UK, Germany, Canada and the Netherlands. The UK had a big month, which is likely owed to Desertfest, and ditto that for the Netherlands for Roadburn. Either way, good to know a few people saw that stuff.

Here in the States, the top five showings came from California, New York, Massachusetts, Texas and Pennsylvania, in that order. That’s business as usual for the top three, but Texas and Pennsylvania switched places. My home state of New Jersey was sixth, which I’ll take, and though I knew this month would be down from March, I was surprised to find a whopping 12 visits from Wyoming. Those are South Dakota numbers!

As of this post, this month’s podcast has been downloaded 144 times, which is wild considering it’s only been up for a little over a week, and on the forum, there are 991 registered users and 66,791 posts in 4,709 topics. I’ve been using the news forum more for posting press releases and stuff like that, and hopefully if you’ve seen it, it’s been useful. I can put stuff up a lot quicker that way, and sure, you don’t get commentary with it, but I figure the tradeoff is worth it and that I do plenty of opining either way. If you disagree, wait about five minutes, I’m sure I’ll completely change my mind on the issue by then.

But in the meantime, May is a busy month as they all seem to be these days. I’m looking for input on a few things though, so if you’ve got a second, I’d appreciate the time.

Here’s a taste of what’s in store:

The Maple Forum: The Clamfight dudes sent over a sketch of the front cover to their new album, and it’s looking more like the fall or later that it’ll be out, which suits me just fine. I’m in no rush, though the record rules and I’m eager for every brave soul who would dare take it on to hear it. We’ll get there though. In the meantime, I’ve got 64 copies left of the HeavyPink 7″, which are available in the label’s BigCartel store. Gratitude to everyone who has thus far supported the cause.

Interviews: My chat with Ed Mundell goes up this week, probably Thursday if the next two days work out the way I’m hoping they will. Next week is Caltrop, then after that probably Grifter, which is finally in the can. I’m also slated to get on the phone this week with Bible of the Devil, and we’ll see from there. Greenleaf and Ufomammut interviews will happen, probably by email, but I don’t know the timing yet on when. I’m also hoping to have an email Q&A with the folks behind the Falling Down compilation series before too long, and I still want to talk to Ancestors about their album as well, so much to come.

Reviews: You know, my goal is less to review specific things at this point than just to review things at all. Last week I got stuck a couple days and didn’t have time, and that was frustrating. I’m two for two so far this week, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to get back on track from here on out. Travel and subsequent illness are decent excuses, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve got a stack of releases waiting to be written on and that it’s getting added to constantly.

Along those same lines, I want to make it known that I’m directly prioritizing physical releases from here on out. I’m not saying I’m never going to review a digitally-delivered album again — I have neither the clout nor the prickishness to make that happen, though I might do it if I did — but in terms of promos sent in, if it’s going to be between someone to took the time and made the effort to send a full release and someone who emailed a Bandcamp download, my priority is going to be the disc. I don’t mean to discriminate against digital-only releases or anything like that, but on every level imaginable, some physical manifestation — whatever format it might actually be — is preferred, and as people sending real copies are actually taking time and money to do so, I feel the least I can do is acknowledge that effort with one of my own.

audiObelisk: Will continue rolling along. This week, a track premiere will go up with that Ed Mundell interview for The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic. I’m trying to work out a stream of a track from the new Naam EP, and rumor has it I’ll have some music from the new Black Shape of Nexus album toward the end of the month. I’m sure in between those two events will be full as well. The streams seem to get a good response, and I’m happy to host them as much as I can. If it’s not about the music, it’s not really about anything, so yeah.

Columns: Well, as I type this, I’m waiting on Tim Catz‘ next column, which I’m hoping comes in time to post either tonight or tomorrow. If that’s a no-dice, Woody has sent the next installment of “Spine of Overkill” already, so that’ll go up and maybe “70 RPMs” will run next week or something. I’ll figure it out. I also emailed Ben from Orange Goblin to see if he’d be interested in picking up that cult movie column now that the band’s spring tour seems to have wound down, but haven’t heard back as yet. Maybe I’ll find an alternate if he winds up saying he doesn’t have the time for it. If you know of any experts you might recommend, leave a comment.

Where to Start: Tomorrow I’ll be posting a guide to Small Stone Records that I’m expecting will take me most of the day to write. Should be fun anyway though. Stay tuned for that. Looking for some other stuff to write on if you’ve got any suggestions.

I’d also like to start some kind of classic albums section over the course of the next month, but I’m not sure yet what to name it. “Hall of Fame” is both obvious and taken. Maybe I’m just looking for another excuse to laud the brilliance of Master of Reality, but even if that’s the case, that’s my idea of good times, so I’m alright with that. I’ll get cracking on it and you let me know if you’ve got any ideas in the meantime. “Hall of the Gods?” But that’s still got “Hall” in it. Something about Olympus, maybe? “The Heavy Canon?” I don’t know. This is hard.

I actually might like “The Heavy Canon,” or perhaps some derivation thereof. Let me know if you can do better.

Alright, that’s enough of this silliness. Thanks as always to everyone who swung through these parts in the last month, or to those just doing so now. It’s a continued pleasure on my part to do whatever it is you call this, and I’m more than humbled by the ongoing support.

Sincerely,
JJ Koczan
Hircismic Pteridomaniac Taskmaster

Tags: self-aggrandizing, The Numbers

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 1st, 2012 at 3:36 pm and is filed under The Numbers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.