2024.10.31
Happy Halloween to all!  Celebrate the horror of being alive!

2024.10.30
The USA where I live prides itself so much on freedom and democracy.  How is it the case then that choices for president are reduced to two people and parties?  What kind of bullshit "democracy" is this?  Or is this the inevitable degeneration of a so-called democratic system? I am so utterly disgusted with toxic, partisan, binary hysteria and everyone trying to fill my headspace with junk.  Decades ago there was nothing like this, no Fear Porn of this magnitude.  People had heads full of excrement and bias, but mostly they lived their lives free of hysteria.  I'm not saying not to vote.  I have already voted.  But it may be worthwhile to take a step back and think about what the classics have already warned us about, in fact a prophecy that is already in process.  In the words of Plato, from his Republic:

"Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.”

2024.10.29
I just found out, over a month late, the shocking news of Peter Kubik from Abigor committing suicide at 49.  Abigor had an enormous influence on me in the 90s, not only in good part shaping my understanding of black metal, but serving as one of the reasons why I started Convivial Hermit in the first place.  They were my first interview in issue #1, a combination of interviews I held with Kubik in the Erebus days from 1999 and 2001.  I'm not one for sentimentality but for a few moments, after I learned of this, I had to stop what I was doing to process what happened.

I already wrote a tribute and if I create another Convivial Hermit issue, I will publish it in those pages.  No bullshit sentimentality, I promise!  In the meantime, I had to re-read one of my questions to him, answered when he was in his 30s.  R.I.P. Peter Kubik.

Imagine your life span extended a thousand years.  In what way would you organize and plan your life differently than the way it is at present?  

"A thousand years? Damn!  I guess 50 are more than enough within this world!"

2024.10.26
It's almost 2 AM here.  What the fuck happened to Trelldom?  Everyone who is praising this "By The Shadows" album as some brilliant mix of David Lynch's jazz work and Diamanda Galas will completely forget about this record days or weeks from now, guaranteed, once the hype dies down and their micro-attention moves on to the next PR-hyped crap.  In itself it is low quality, but to place this under the rubric of Trelldom is obviously a slap in the face to those who've previously been on board with his work, though I think Ghaal really never recorded anything warranting more than a 5 or 6 out of 10 rating in his life.  I am utterly sick of bands recording the same album over and over again (listen to Norwegians Djevel for a close reference point), but to mix oil and water and to put such an "experiment" into the world as if it is something new is almost as dumb.  Most metal musicians' efforts, particularly today, at doing things experimental is just laughable... you don't experiment by mixing insipid music from two or more genres together, a good start is leaving the concept of genre behind.  For Gen Z and Millennials this is unthinkable, but maybe for a 49 year old guy who had lived through a period of so much uncharted territory he would know better?

2024.10.22
New Slow interview received from Edmund/Gas for the next Ethere issue.  I'm still not in the best place to start writing new material at length... although I already have an extensive plan!  Disappointing sales have sapped my inspiration. I'm still keeping my eye on several distros to see how things flow.... please check Paragon Records, Ardua Music, Cult Never Dies and Bleeding Heart Nihilist among others who still have copies!

2024.10.07
You know how you know you are dealing with a racist when they start a sentence with "I'm not a racist, but..."?  The same reversion holds true for those who say, "I have no ego..."  There is no bigger red flag in my experience that you are about to deal with the biggest fucking egomaniac you have ever met in your life.  It's all projection... they want to be what they categorically aren't.

2024.10.06
Just finished reading Metalegion #14 and I have this feeling that some writers, I won't name which, used AI to assist their text.  Incredible to believe we have come to this point... are we really falling this low? I have seen AI text before and it is pretty obvious; the text is usually soulless and excessively formal.  The zine itself has an absolutely beautiful layout and graphic design, some of the writing is very good, while other, in fact most, writing is pretty damn awful - words locking together smoothly, but vapid and bereft of content.  Cliche, boring questions about "conscious" vs "natural" actions, reactions to albums, label preferences, etc. People that celebrate this zine likely have not read most of it and just admire it for its art and layout.  As a graphic designer myself I get that... but 14 issues in this zine needs help... there's something very wrong with it.  

2024.10.04
Ars Longa Vita Brevis (aka Necrocosm) has finally put up Ethere and Convivial Hermit in their distro, so if you are in France you can finally order these zines domestically!

Soapbox time: it's incredible to me that labels still charge $15 or more for CDs with sales as low as they are for this format these days.  I even see some for close to $20 for new releases (not rare).  For very rare albums this makes sense, but otherwise...?  A CD should cost at the absolute maximum $10 today, no more.  Vinyl is a different story with rainbow poke-a-dots glow-in-the-dark editions.  You have to be a moron to buy these expensive formats anyway that are designed exclusively for profit.

2024.09.25
Sale/trade list has been updated, find it through the menu or here.  A lot of new metal and industrial/ambient CDs added.

Also, Siren Records in Doylestown, Pennsylvania is once again stocking the latest Convivial Hermit issue as well as Ethere #1!  Please check the store out the next time you visit the Philadelphia region and surrounding suburbs!

2024.09.21
Anyone who freely and casually insults people online in today's hyper-narcissistic ADHD mentally-ill internet and corporate culture should not be surprised if one day someone drives/flies over to their houses/mom's basements/cardboard boxes and beats them into a bloody fucking pulp.  It's something I would never do, but I have heard of such things happening recently, and to be perfectly honest, I am 100% in full support of it.  Fuck trolls.  Also: fuck you if you are a poser that doesn't trade.  Trading and selling music outside of labels and corporate middle-men is what defines the underground.  It's what defines the underground today and it's what will define the underground always.

2024.09.13
What a Friday the 13th... pretty scary personal issues.  Feeling a little bit like the last survivor of Texas Chainsaw Massacre... very unexpected.  But maybe the kick in the ass I needed to change things in my life for the better.  The creative drive is a bit stifled for now but I may be selling more music related items, I will update the sale list shortly.  On the bright side... autumn will soon "officially" begin...

2024.08.23
Darkness Shall Rise in Germany will be the next distro to stock the latest Ethere and Convivial Hermit issues!  Great deal with Denny and Mirko that came about after a lot of perseverance.

202408.14
Just 38 more days until summer "officially" ends in the northern hemisphere!  If I never experienced a summer again in my life I would die a happy man.  Well, I will die a man in any case.

Aesthetic Death will soon be restocking Ethere #1 as I have another trade now in the works with Stu.  I feel like I'm at a point where I will soon be able to work on Ethere #2.  Sales have been okay but not as strong as I would have liked for what I know is a very unique project.  What gets me the most is how not a single label in Finland has approached me about stocking Ethere, not one.  I've contacted some labels but any suggestions are welcome.

2024.07.26
Cult Never Dies is now carrying Ethere #1 and Convivial Hermit #10 in their distro, check it out by clicking the link below and make sure to order ASAP if you are in the UK!!!

2024.07.24
Raffaele Pezzella of the Unexplained Sounds Network and Eighth Tower Records/Magazine has published my interview with Jarl on his page to coincide with the release of the new Jarl album, Neurotransmitters Sphere Music.  Please check it out at the patreon page here.  

2024.07.13
Crucial Blast out of Maryland will soon be distributing all of the currently available Convivial Hermit issues as well as Ethere #1!  This is one of the oldest metal and experimental labels around, check out their shop ASAP for great, interesting music and label releases!  They also happen to STILL have Hermit issues 1 and 4 which I have sold out of long ago!

2024.07.10
Philadelphia is killing me with unending 90+ F/32+ C day weather.  I much would have preferred it was global cooling.  On the plus side, most islands will sink into the ocean soon, as well as Florida, which can only be cause for celebration.

A more pertinent announcement since the last update: the big British publishing house Cult Never Dies is placing an order for Convivial Hermit #10 and Ethere #1!  Yes, after over a year of no responses it has finally happened.  Persistence is a virtue or so someone said.  Just waiting for the checks to clear now!  I will post a message up when the zines are ready to buy there.

2024.07.04
Convivial Hermit #8 is sold out!  Stickers for Ethere #1 are sold out!  Thanks to all who support physical media and not internet ephemera.

Ethere #1 and the latest issue of Convivial Hermit, #10, will soon be stocked in France by Ars Longa Vita Brevis.  Will write an update when they are available.

2024.07.01
Is this the day that the United States officially becomes a monarchy with a King?  No president is above the law?  Before the celebrations kick in for whomever people most admire today, consider: this also applies to your enemies.  Constitution goes down the toilet but when was it actually followed when ideology was more important?  It is exploited as opportunistically as the United States does the UN - when it's needed, it's vital and must be followed; when it's not, it's outdated and no one should care about it.

In less absolutely horrifying news, I've completed a new article on my thoughts on vinyl today, the trendiest physical music format.  I've had such hatred for this stuff and where it is going for a while, it's time I blew some steam out on it.  If I make a CH #11, I will publish (almost wrote "post") it there.

2024.06.26

I can't imagine the nightmare it must be to grow up in a world with social media and now AI - kids developing with stunted/destroyed attention spans in corporate environments designed to celebrate wholesale narcissism, "liberated" to insult and threaten anyone they please with impunity, discount and diminish professional opinions and facts for favorable views and bias confirmation, and swim in a sea of socially regulated acronyms and butchered words and emoticons in place of nuanced language.  There can be nothing more toxic online today than social media and I still stand by my view from 10 or so years ago that it should be a pay-service for everyone, maybe $500 a year if the desire is so strong to waste your time/life in a sea of hyperactive advertisements communicating with like-minded ADHD mirror-gazing imbeciles who do not know what else to do with their free time.  

2024.06.24
Be wary of any band that releases half of an album's worth of professional video clips before the official release.  Case in point is the new Rotting Christ which is the most vanilla, smoothed out and inoffensive RC in their entire history, even more so than A Dead Poem.  Sakis clearly is tired of black metal and maybe metal in general... but the name of the band and some obligation to sound like the RC of the past (maybe also an inability to sing pop) is holding him back... would not be surprised if the next one is full on power metal - which would be great for Sakis, by the way.  I am in no way opposed to it since it seems to be what he is genuinely interested in these days, I just feel he needs to do it under the banner of a different name, maybe the eponymous moniker as an example.

2024.06.19
Counting the days, minutes, seconds until summer ends...

2024.06.15
Updated the trade list.

Just discovered this amazing Abyssic Hate tribute (?) album by Withering Away, complete with Einar's pic on the cover.  But this is actually quite good, like the never-created follow-up to Suicidal Emotions.  Check it out if you still love that album as I do:  https://waragainstyourself.bandcamp.com/album/withdrawn

2024.06.14
I'm thinking to myself, as the world burns and humanity inches closer to extinction due to the unending stupidity of millions of people/apes, how simple, lazy and convenient is it for ideology and partisanship to surpass expertise in the public perception?  If the cars of climate denialists break, do they approach politicians to fix them rather than car mechanics?  Why trust anyone who claims to be studying something for years on end?  What's further ironic is that this is considered individualism - when actually it is the total opposite, just a few steps away from an amoeba (who happen to love hot climates).

2024.06.10
I'm thinking of writing an article, "The Death of Trading" - because it is fucking over.  Maybe 2 out of 100 people respond anymore about trading, and one of those will disappear after the first message is sent.  It used to be so common to share music - I suppose with "mp3 collections" no one is interested in this anymore but old people?  Where is the spirit of discovering new music by mail and trading things including shirts and vinyl and magazines?  Where is the excitement of finding music through Youtube or bandcamp links?  I spend as much time as anyone digging through these platforms but I also realize that streaming music lazily through a phone or computer is a joke akin to watching a new film or reading a book on a phone.  Am I a dinosaur for thinking that?

2024.06.08
Businesses beware of 8Merch.com from Riverside, NJ which has ripped people off who've ordered vinyl from them for thousands of dollars.  I don't care much for vinyl in general, it's my least favorite media format, but scores of people buy this shit, so be warned, everyone!

Updates on future projects: I've written a few new articles and a review of an Esoteric concert.  I'm still trying to find labels and distros to stock Ethere - so if anyone can help, please get in touch with me!

2024.05.07
Gutslitter magazine wrote a review of Convivial Hermit #10.  Gotta say I agree with him on the cover now that I've had some time to think about it.  The magazine has a presence on Facebook here and you can also contact the editor here.  Thanks, Ed Perez!

2024.04.11
I haven't felt much purpose to add any news in a while, though we've had some really interesting events happen. 
First was an earthquake on April 5.  I was working upstairs in my house when it sounded like a huge animal landed on the roof and was chipping away at the tiles.  It lasted about 10 seconds but was intense.  Then later in the day there were additional rumbling flowing through the street.  It was fascinating.
The second was the solar eclipse on April 8.  I drove to Montpelier, Vermont to see it and to say that it was amazing is an understatement.  Seeing Vermont for the first time is also something I will never forget, I loved it there.  I think I will need to write about it in a future article.

For those who use Instagram, I just added an Instagram page here: Ethere Magazine.  I still don't understand Instagram or its use.  I will investigate it in the days ahead.

2024.03.28
Convivial Hermit #10 and Ethere #1  are now available to order in Grau.  10 years of support and ongoing!  If you are in Germany and planning an order from their mailorder please pick one of these issues up!

2024.03.22
Tom from Grau has ordered copies of both Convivial Hermit #10 and Ethere #1, so German readers should keep an eye on those coming there soon! 

I also recently hooked up to goshippo.com for orders and am trying out FedEx for overseas.  Prices are very cheap compared to USPS, so more trades may be possible going forward.

2024.03.16
Many ideas are floating around for both Convivial Hermit #11 and Ethere #2 including a few important people I'd like to interview.  Time will tell as well as demand for the existing issues.

Really digging Morcrof, Vemoth and Laetitia In Tenebrae lately, check out these great bands.

2024.03.08
Updated the links for shipping of Ethere to countries outside of North America.  Still looking for other distros overseas so if anyone has any recommendation I would appreciate it.  Greetings to all misanthropes and forest dwellers worldwide.

2024.02.24
Aesthetic Death in the United Kingdom are now stocking Ethere #1 and for a very good cost! Check out the shop and its great prices here . After getting the cold shoulder from Dayal at Cult Never Dies, Stu Gregg has come to the rescue! I highly recommend checking out his great distribution as well, this is one of the best distros in the UK.

Shipments to Japan and New Zealand coming next. I will post more details to follow as funeral doom overtakes other parts of the world...

2024.02.19
Ardua Music in Spain are now stocking Ethere #1! Check it out at this link, the price is cheaper than ordering from me directly, especially if you are in Spain! And pick up more great doom while you are at it!

Support this label and distribution!

2024.02.14
Ethere #1 is now stocked by Bleeding Heart Nihilist Productions in Germany!  Visit them here!

2024.02.13
To those in the EU who purchased a copy of Ethere: I am seeing some unusual delays with customs lately that I have never seen before.  So far these problems are exclusive to Finland but I doubt it's the only place that has this issue.  I will put a note up about customs delays and fees that I cannot control.  I apologize in advance for this and hope that this is a false alarm for most buyers.  At least one person has already responded to me that they had to pay a few extra euro online to clear customs (which is fucking ridiculous for such a small package).  As always, if there is any problem reach me at etheremagazine@hotmail.com. 

Once I get issues in bulk in the EU this should no longer be an issue.

2024.02.10
In discussions with Aesthetic Death now to stock Ethere in the UK!  I will keep everyone posted.

I also just recently got in touch with Ramnsvarturh of I Sorg, Masteriis and Forlorn In Silence, all great Norwegian black metal originating from the classic era, highly recommended!

2024.02.04

I am currently in process of supplying Ardua Music with issues of Ethere #1 for distribution in Spain!  This will be the first official distribution partner in the EU!  I will post up more news both on FB and this page when everything is finalized.  In the meantime, click on the logo to check out this excellent shop which is also distributing Solitude Production titles.

Also worth noting is that the email contact for Ethere magazine is now: etheremagazine@hotmail.com.  This is now noted on the latest issue page here.

2024.01.29
I want to thank everyone who has placed orders for Ethere #1 in the last few days, the response has been better than expected!  All tracking will be uploaded as soon as possible.  Contact me if any problems or questions and I will answer as soon as possible.

Thanks also to Gordon and Steve at Season of Mist for their support and in some ways making this zine happen.  The zine is now in stock in the North American shop along with the last CH issues.

Finally, Alex at Bleeding Heart Nihilist Productions has agreed to stock the new issue in Germany.  More news to come!

2024.01.21
Shipping prices in the USA have once again increased in Louis DeJoy's rush to destroy the US postal system!  International rates are already absolutely outrageous and they are getting worse (sending 1 copy of my Convivial Hermit magazine to Germany for example, now costs $29!).  Even the alternate system I am using has raised their shipping by a dollar.  As a proud anti-capitalist I'll absorb the cost but I'm afraid there's only so much I can do.  International trades and most orders (outside Canada) from within the U$A are already practically impossible for most of my zines...

2024.01.17
Ethere #1 is now available after months of work and waiting!  Still a lot of work to do to update this site but basic buttons added to home page. Contact me with any questions.  Thanks!

2024.01.10
Ethere #1 set to be released on January 17th.  Zine will be just $10!  No price gouging here.  Until I get copies abroad in bulk, shipping will be:

U$A: $4.00 / Canada $10.00 / Rest of World $12.00

2024.01.03
Rodney the Super Strong Ant comic is in progress and halfway done.

2024.01.01
Happy New Year to all!

2023 was an okay and stable year for myself, I cannot complain much while people are getting incinerated and are starving in other parts of the world.

Hard to think that this marks the 4th year of this page and its clunky design, a case of "if it's not broken, don't fix it!"  I wish Microsoft or Google operated under such guidelines.  I still don't give a damn about fancy sites with souped-up graphics.

The first Ethere issue has been approved at the print shop and is set to start printing this week (wishfully thinking).  I'm not sure when exactly it will be done but I will provide updates.

Sales list is updated.

As always back issues of Convivial Hermit are still available including #10 using Zelle or Paypal.  Write to me here if any questions.