Hear Me Out: A Lazy Blogger Explains His Departure (and the Future)

2018 has been a hell of a year.

If you're the average Joe and/or Jane who stumbles across this place every so often, you may have noticed it's been pretty quiet around here. Aside from a spate of reviews here and there and the maintenance of the weekly Top 40/upcoming releases sections, it's been slim pickings for Sound Bites content (especially over the past four months or so). I've never claimed to be the most on-the-ball guy when it comes to posting, but even by my standards this year has been sub-par. For that, I apologize, and hope to do better going forward.

That said, though it doesn't excuse the silence, I'll try to explain how life got in the way this year without dwelling on details or laying it on too thick; those closest to me know all of this already, and there's no point in trying to get sympathy from strangers.

In April, my mother passed away; she had battled diabetes for decades, and after numerous trials and tribulations she lost the ability to fight the inevitable any longer. She was the strongest person I ever knew, and her life will always be an inspiration.

With the loss of my mother still weighing heavily on me, stress from work and the dissolution of an 18 year relationship looming, I finally sought help. Taking a leave from work for the first time in my life, I got to talk about all of my fear, depression and anxiety with a professional. I have been on medication since late July, and it has helped me tremendously during my most trying times.

In September, after about twenty years in Miramichi, I transferred to Moncton, where I now call home. I am still getting used to the place, but have settled in as well as I could have hoped for. My closest friends all moved here in the years leading up to my arrival, and being able to see them more has been invaluable to my recovery.

As I write this, I have a hope for the future that I honestly haven't felt for a long time. As drastic as this year's changes have been in my life, I believe I'm better having gone through them. There are great lessons in loss and, though I will always look back with fondness, it's looking ahead that's got me most excited.

So, as you might expect, Sound Bites kind of took a back seat for a while there; looking at the backlog I'm up against is admittedly a little daunting (I'm only 15-20 reviews behind), but I'll do my best to catch up this month. Reviews might end up bundled and/or shorter as I plow through them, but my intention is to have Year in Rock 2018 ready to go by December.

I didn't mean to neglect this, and I pride myself in providing the kind of content you come back for. Which leads me to a humble thank you for sticking around; even with an unreliable hack like me bailing on the place for weeks at a time, we're still getting about a thousand hits a month, which is mind boggling to me. I am grateful that you keep coming back, and I promise that if you choose to stick around a while longer, I'll do everything I can to get better.

At blogging, and at life.

Thank you.

Year in Rock 2025

Alright, I've got some explaining to do. By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but: a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...

Year in Rock 2013 Nominee: Arctic Monkeys

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Year in Rock 2023: Album of the Year #10-1

Now we're getting somewhere; the top ten, where there are no duds or mids, only bangers. Also, no more teasing it out; let's wrap this up! What I've learned this year from my ten faves this year is that it is indeed still possible for a dude approaching his fifties to more or less stay up to date on the new school. Of course, there are some listed here that got a boost from playing tribute to the old school, but there is an undercurrent happening in rock that points to the future. But, I'm getting ahead of myself; here come the champs. 10 MILITARIE GUN Life Under the Gun June 23, 2023 • Loma Vista Highlights Very High Will Logic Never Fucked Up Once Rising from the ranks of the still-potent L.A. hardcore scene, the debut record from Militarie Gun (following a trio of EPs) bears a dash of polish that's expected with backing from a larger label; the tension and energy remain, though, resulting in one of the catchiest hardcore albums I can think of in recent years. 9 ...

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