In this end of the year series, Ears to Feed spoke with some of our favorite artists to see what albums, films, shows, and any other forms of art or activities have helped them to cope through this truly trying year.
We caught up with Anthony Anzaldo, guitarist of the boundary-pushing California punk band Ceremony. This year, the band took another unpredictable left-turn — in what seems like a career that has been full of them — by reimagining their 2019 album In the Spirit World Now with a brand new “Synthetic Remix”. The new approach, as you may have guessed, dials up the synths giving the original post-punk inspired material even more of a darkwave bombast.
Who would have guessed that nearly fifteen years down the road from splitting our skulls wide open with the brutal power-violence of Violence, Violence Ceremony would be delivering a synthed-up remix to a previous album? Moreover, that they would be able to pull off this kind of move without anyone second guessing them. This is a band that is in total control and it’s a thrill to be along for the ride.
Check out Anthony’s picks and stream both In The Spirit World Now and it’s 2020 Synthetic Remix below.
McGlue and My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
McGlue and My Year Of Rest And Relaxation respectively bookended my 2020. Although I am not an advocate for intoxication, a story of a forgotten-recent-past and a woman chronicling her attempt to elapse her pain by sleeping through an entire year seemed like appropriate reads.
Alissa Nutting wrote the funniest book I have read in recent memory with Tampa. Sadly, I finished it in two days, therefore only offering a brief interruption in the “New Normal”.
England’s Hidden Reverse by David Keenan
David Keenan managed to make a dense piece of work quite the page-turner. This book is out-of-print and I was lucky to pick up a copy at The Daily Planet Bookstore in LA. I can’t image how interesting EHR would be if you’re not at least curious about the scene that spawned Coil, Nurse With Wound and Current 93 but if you are in fact curious about England’s “esoteric underground” then I highly recommend hunting down a copy, for which you will cherish.
Synthesist by Harald Grosskopf
I was drawn to instrumental music this year, far more than ever before. Nothing short of inspiring, equally fun and dystopian, partially relatable.
Silver Ladders by Mary Lattimore
After many unaccompanied walks up and down the 4 blocks that surround my home, my neighborhood now reminds me of this album. It continues to be the soundtrack to the impulse to step outside my door and walk under the palms.