If you want to get in touch, use the Contact link in the sidebar. Or, if you’re Facebook-inclined, there’s always that. Also, the comments have apparently been broken the last few days. They’re fixed now too. Wonderful thing, this internet. If you want to get in touch to tell me to review your band, please do so.

Click here or on the Facebook logo to go to The Obelisk‘s new page over there. I’m hoping that posts that appear here will be able to show up on the Facebook page, but who knows if that’s actually going to work. Honestly, I’m way out of my league in dealing with this technology. I can’t even handle real-life socializing, let alone internet-type interaction, but I’ll do my best and we’ll all see how it works out.

I still also have the MySpace page, but I don’t really check that either, so now I’ll have two social networking sites to ignore. Maybe if I can get up the gumption I’ll start a Twitter page and complete the unholy trinity.

I figured given the comedown between May and June that there’d be a chance we’d hit 17,000 for the month of July, and sure enough, at the last possible moment, we got there. Nothing like a little suspense to keep things interesting. As usual, I watched the ticker tape roll in at three in the morning, waiting for the final tally. Oh my, it was a thrill.

Okay, maybe not with the ticker and all that, but I am stoked at the fact that people still come here and check out what’s going on. It’s wild. Especially this month, when I wasn’t really around as much, what with the Vermont trip and focusing on other writing and whatnot. I’m still here, actually, in the Ludlow, Vermont, public library. The Patient Mrs. and I are set to leave on Saturday, allowing plenty of time for me to get to check out Earthride and Valkyrie at Ace of Clubs. Gonna be a blast.

It’s been a good, productive month, which was the point in coming here in the first place. Still, there’s a lot of news for August coming up, so let’s do a quick rundown:

Interviews: I’m just about caught up, which means I need to do some more, but I’ve still got Against Nature and Yawning Man in the can waiting to be transcribed, so look for those in the next couple of weeks. Both were really interesting conversations and I’m looking forward to bringing them to you.

Real Life: As I alluded to the other day, I’ve had a change in my life situation, and by that I mean I got a job. Actually, I got my old job. Starting August 16 (also the day my second nephew is due to be born), I’ll be working day-to-day as the Managing Editor of The Aquarian Weekly, where I was previously tenured from 2004-2007. Kind of nuts to be going back, and I know it’s going to be shaky balancing that, this site and school, but I can do it. I never liked sleeping much anyway.

The Maple Forum: I’ll have a big announcement this week about The Maple Forum‘s second release. It’s not slated to be out until October, so if you think it’s soon, it’s not really all that soon, and it’s the last one I’m planning for 2010, so there you go. It’s killer though and I’m crazy stoked to be working with this band, so definitely stay tuned.

Roareth: Acts I-VI has been a huge success. I’ve only got 11 copies left — if you want one, click here — and so far the response has been really positive. I’m going to put the whole album up this week for free streaming, so if you’re the type of person who likes to hear stuff before they buy it, you’ll have your chance. I’m glad I got my copy.

Where to Start: If you have a question about a band or a scene and you’re looking to find out where to start, leave a comment and let me know. I’m glad to see those posts are among the most popular on the site, since I take that to mean people are finding them useful. I certainly hope that’s the case, anyway. More to come there.

Podcasting: The August podcast seems to have been pretty well received, which I’m glad for. I already know what I’m doing for September, but if anyone has any suggestions for themes or requests for what they want to hear, again, leave a comment and let me know. I’m more than happy to oblige to the best of my ability. The way I see it, I owe you guys pretty huge.

I feel good going into August, which I know is going to be a turbulent month. But hell, they all are, one way or another. In any case, thank you as always for coming along on this trip. It’s been a killer ride so far.

Sincerely,
JJ Koczan
Hopping Philistine Taskmaster

So June wasn’t so great. At least not as compared to May. And the gradual upward trend that I saw as the march to 30,000 hits a month pretty much hit a wall. Okay, fair enough. Keeps me humble, reminds me that at the end of the day I’m just an irrelevant dude sitting in front of a computer all afternoon writing reviews and talking up bands. Hey, that’s pretty much what I signed up for when I created that WordPress account.

Still got to 20,000, which is great as far as I’m concerned and still more than I thought I’d ever get, so that’s a plus. Still visits from every state in the US and 108 countries around the world. And it’s summer, just because I’m not doesn’t mean other people aren’t outside, actually doing things. Yeah, that’s the ticket. When the site’s kicking ass, it’s because I rule and understand this music better than anyone in the world, and when it’s down it’s because people have just decided to enjoy the weather. Totally. That makes sense, right?

Whatever. You have to move past it. July is busy as hell. I’ll be in the studio with Kings Destroy this weekend as they record their debut full-length with Sanford Parker in Hoboken, and we’ll have interviews with Zoroaster, Gozu, Against Nature, Yakuza and Hawkwind — that’s right, Dave Brock spoke to my irrelevant ass. Takest thou that, disbelievers. Here’s more:

Adventure: As a way to get writing done, The Patient Mrs. and I have rented a cabin in the woods of Vermont for July 7 through August 7. If you’re thinking that all I ever do is write anyway, you’re correct, but I’m thinking story-type writing, stuff for school and whatnot. What that means for The Obelisk is a reshuffling of my priorities. I’ll still be posting every day throughout July, but it might be one or two posts instead of five or six. Or three, or five. I don’t know yet, but I have a shitload of work that needs to get done and I’m going to make the time to do it one way or another. I’ll probably take some pictures and write about it on here as well.

Where to Start: This is, in fact, going to be a regular feature. There may even be a new one today if I can find the time, since I love that they seem to really spark a discussion in the way regular reviews don’t. Any requests for Where to Start pieces, leave a comment.

The Maple Forum: As of Tuesday, the manufacturing process on the Roareth CDs has begun. I can’t imagine they’ll be here before I leave for Vermont, but I’ll be back in the valley a couple times over the course of the month for shows and whathaveyou, so I’ll have them up for sale as soon as possible.

Podcast: The all-Brit podcast leaves the top page spot today. This week it was downloaded a whopping 42 times. If anyone knows a way to stream it in the sidebar, I’d be eager to know about it. I’d like to have the audio more immediately available to anyone who wants to listen.

Thanks for reading and being a part of this ongoing experiment.

Sincerely,
Helcoid Probleminious Taskmaster
JJ Koczan

Thanks to everyone who checked in over the weekend. It came down to the wire, but yesterday morning, we passed April’s total to wind up with 22,457 page views for the month of May. I know that’s not so much more than April, but if you think about it, April was action-fucking-packed, with travel to San Francisco and The Netherlands, whereas May was pretty much just the normal day-to-day. Beating April’s numbers even with nothing really out of the norm means more to me than it otherwise might. Thank you.

According to Google, which I’m using for everything but the actual numbers at this point (though I should use theirs, since they’re higher than Yahoo‘s), The Obelisk had visits between May 1 and 31 from every state in the US and over 110 other countries around the world — even Bangladesh! Hello, Dhaka!

Not sure what’s up with Central Africa, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Burma not showing up. Come on guys, get with the program! It’s not like there’s anything devastating to humanity going on in those areas or anything…

I’ll try and keep this short (and probably fail, as usual). There are a lot of good things coming up for June. I’ll have interviews with Fatso Jetson — it happened — Stone Axe, Eyehategod, The Melvins and more, and I’m in a perpetual state of being behind on reviews, so there’s going to be a shit-ton of those as well. Here’s the updates:

Shirts: I’m getting tired of saying “I’m on it” every month and then doing nothing, which is a good sign. As of right now, I’m slated to go to New Brunswick on Thursday and I’ll talk to the printer then.

Roareth: Yeah, so you know how The Maple Forum‘s first release was set to be out in May? Heh. So much for that. Roareth, following an injury to their vocalist that delayed the recording, are in the mixing stage now. On my agenda for the day is to email Aaron for an update, so I should hopefully have that by tomorrow.

audiObelisk: I’m glad so many of you downloaded and hopefully enjoyed the Dio-cast. That was really great. If you didn’t see it, the June podcast is up, and it’s the Man’s Ruin tribute. If anyone knows Frank Kozik, please forward it along. I haven’t been brave enough to email him and ask for an interview yet. To anyone who voted for the British-only podcast, that’ll be coming later this month as the July transmission.

On the Radar: It’s starting to feel a little stale to me. If you dig the On the Radar section, please speak up. I like finding new bands, but MySpace tracks always sound like shit and are hard to review. If you think it’s worth it, I’ll keep it going, but I’d just as soon find another way to explore unheard acts. If you have a suggestion for how I might do that (short of hosting demos, which I don’t have the bandwidth to do), please let me know. I have some ideas.

Buried Treasure: At some point, after the UK podcast, I’m going to do a “Best of Buried Treasure” compilation of tracks from purchases I’ve made over the last year-plus. I’m looking forward to that. I’ll also be staying in Vermont for most of the month of July, so if anyone knows any good stores up that way, I’d love to visit a couple shops while I’m there. More on that later.

Alright, I think that’s about it. Thanks again to everyone who checked in during May. I love the forward momentum this site has. I know it’s summer now and people are going to go outside and not necessarily spend their entire day on the internet (though I have no idea why they’d do such a thing), but I’ll be here, so please keep The Obelisk in mind as you go about your business or whathaveyou.

Humbled as ever,
JJ Koczan
Happenstance Pituitary Taskmaster

I’ve posted on this site one thousand times — and in no way is that depressing.

Just a quick note to say thanks for making the first 1,000 so special. Here’s looking forward to the next…

April was pure American hedonism. It was what my life would be like all the time if I was endowed with the kind of immortal wealth our culture seems to promise to everyone and only transfer from old white men to other old white men. I traveled, I spent ridiculous amounts of money, I had great times, saw great shows, and genuinely felt the music I love as an extension of my person. That doesn’t happen all the time, but it’s fucking magical when it does.

As you can see from the number above (the big 22,035, in case you missed it), that’s even more than March’s numbers were. This is thanks to Roadburn. When my posts about the festival and the shenanigans being stuck in Europe and the UK for as long as I was got posted over on Roadburn‘s site, I got 1,290 hits in a single day, and that’s the most ever. Thanks to them for that. It was an amazing experience and if you’ve never been to Tilburg, well, go.

San Francisco early in the month and Michigan this past weekend were killer as well, though the latter has left my travel-weary immune system with a vicious cough/sore throat combo that’s more or less got me on my ass. Won’t affect the site any, so it’s not really a concern, but it has kept me (and The Patient Mrs.) up nights, so there’s that. Still, no regrets.

Here are a couple quick notes for the next month:

T-Shirts: The design is done and it rules. I’m going to the printer Thursday. Hopefully in the next week or two you’ll be able to buy them. It’s not gonna be anything fancy, just a Paypal link, but it should get the job done. And since I know the plight of the larger dude, plus sizes will be available.

audiObelisk: The April podcast was a huge success and has renewed my faith in the endeavor of podcasting. The next one should be coming this weekend. If that’s not the case, I’ll let you know.

The Maple Forum: Roareth hit the studio this weekend with Tad Doyle to record Acts I-VI and the rough mixes I’ve heard are pretty damn heavy. Looking forward to getting the discs manufactured and posting the finished product. Like the t-shirt, you’ll be able to buy it here and directly from the band.

Contests: Anyone interested in winning free shit? I’ve been kicking around the idea for a while. It would require me hitting up labels and/or bands for free shit to give away, but if you think you’d be into the idea of contests (would probably be a trivia question or something like that), let me know and I’ll see what I can put together.

I think beyond that, we’re back to business as usual for May. Later today I hope to post the Primordial interview, so look out for that, and still on the docket are Phil Anselmo and Barren Earth, and I’m hoping to confirm plenty more in the next couple weeks once I’m caught up, so keep an eye out.

You know, the one thing from the Pentagram interview that’s really stuck with me (aside from all the hilarious parts) was when Bobby Liebling talked about knowing why he’s blessed. For anyone who missed it, he’s blessed because he’s alive and has a hot wife less than half his age. But it made me think about my own situation and I’ve come to realize that, at this moment, things are fucking great.

What I know about the good times is they don’t last (and according to Orange Goblin, the bad times can get you high), but with life, work and school, this site, The Patient Mrs., everything seems to be heading in the right direction and I couldn’t feel better about it if I tried. No, I really couldn’t. It’s a cap and trade system.

The point I’m making — as usual — is thanks. I’ll stop rambling now and get back to work.

Cheers from the valley,
JJ Koczan
Hoodie Phobia Taskmaster

Yeah, I have business cards now. 13 minutes of graphic design work on my part paid off. The Patient Mrs. had them printed up yesterday. I’m not quite sure how they ended up so yellow and black, but screw it, hardly anyone knows Stryper anymore, so I should be safe. Just thought it was funny and figured I’d share. Plus, anyone looking for my email address because the contact form sucks ass, there it is.