I had the pleasure to speak with 2 very like-minded individuals who go by the names Durell Smith and Michael Wagner. They have played guitar in Rayleigh (Mike) and they both have been kicking it since 2010 in MAHRIA, an influential Canadian band that has situated itself in the foundation of modern screamo/skramz music. Embedded below are 4 songs and 2 live videos from their set in Toronto, mid-2013. Read OPENmind/SATURATEDbrain's take on the band here. Enjoy!

Why the name, MAHRIA?
Mike: The name Mahria refers to the ocean-esque dark portions of the moon, which although look undamaged and aesthetically beautiful, originate from violent impacts that reached the core of the moon and resulted in magma spilling out and smoothing out the surface. When the idea of naming our band Maria was brought up, Durell (our drummer) thought that we should purposefully misspell it with an H added in so people wouldn't confuse it with the name Maria, which is how the lunar phenomenon is originally spelled.

Tell us about the conception of MAHRIA.
Mike: In 2010 I was living in Abbotsford BC, and Durell was living in Edmonton AB (a 16 hour bus ride apart for anyone unfamiliar with Canadian geography). We had met in 2009 when our bands toured across Canada together and he encouraged me to move out to Edmonton and play in his hardcore band Cope. Unfortunately after being in the band for just less than a month the band broke up. So Durell and I started jamming in the house we lived in. I was really interested in playing melodic heavy music and was really into Kidcrash and Beach House (at this point I was pretty unfamiliar with screamo music, and was just writing from post-hardcore, indie-rock and hardcore influences) and Durell was really into Phoenix Bodies and starting to discover bands like Loma Prieta and wanted to play really intense drums and blast beats. Soon after we ask Corby and Lealand to be involved and started writing what would become our split with Todos. We continued looking for a bassist but after awhile became content to not have one.

What’s it been like with the inclusion of a bass player?
Mike: Really good. A lot of screamo bands in Edmonton aren't particularly chaotic or crushing, so when we toured the west coast and played with Ten Thousand Leagues and John Cota it became evident that having a bassist playing our style of screamo made a huge difference in sound. After that tour I really wanted to include a bass player and when we were going through a line-up change (Lealand left the band), it seemed like a good time to include Stacy as a bassist. As a result our songs have become a lot heavier and more dynamic - the guitars can do higher register melodies and harmonies without compromising the bottom end of our songs which is now in abundance.
Durell: For me it's made a big difference. Mike and Paul are usually flying around all over the fret board so now I can lock into what the bass is playing and keep up comfortably with that.

My friend and I are starting a band and are finding it extremely difficult to find drummers. Have you felt there is one instrument that is generally lacking in area or scene?
Mike: I think drummers and bass players definitely. Drums are a pretty big financial investment compared to what an affordable entry level acoustic guitar costs, they’re also really loud and I imagine that a lot of people have to overcome disrupting others in order to initially learn the drums and get good at them. There’s also ostensibly less ability to compose music on drums or on bass, so I think people are more inclined to learn to play guitar. I may be wrong, but that might explain why I’ve noticed a disproportion between guitarist vs. bassists and drummers. In fact most people I know who play bass in a band started off playing guitar.
Durell: For me it's made a big difference. Mike and Paul are usually flying around all over the fret board so now I can lock into what the bass is playing and keep up comfortably with that.

I found there to be a noticeable shift in the quality of the songwriting from the band’s split with Todos Caeran to the Self-Titled LP  – what drove this change?
Mike: I believe with a lot of bands the second collection of songs are usually stronger because you mature together as a band and develop a style. From a song-writing perspective the influences developed as well, we started playing with other screamo bands in Edmonton and listening to what influenced them - Most of those songs were written after I had discovered a new band, there was a lot of, "Wow (amazing screamo band I'd hear for the first time) is so good, I want to write a riff/song that has the same style."I think with the Todos split, we were just experimenting.
Durell: The first song we ever wrote is the first song on our side. Once the S/T songs came about, I think we were comfortable with jamming with each other and the songs just came naturally.

What are the newer influences that shape MAHRIA’s sound?
Mike: A lot of our peers that we’ve been fortunate to play with on our previous American tours. There isn’t a large amount of bands from Western Canada that play the style of screamo that we do, so it’s been extremely influential to tour the west and east coast and watch bands like MNWA, Ten Thousand Leagues, John Cota, Capacities, Coma Regalia, For Want Of, Lord Snow and Carrion Spring live. Often when writing newer material I think of what I really like about those bands, along with our Calgary friends in La Luna and Tempest from Vancouver. Those bands/musicians/friends really influence me to write more complex music.
Durell: New as in active bands that influence us? Loma Prieta for me. Val slays. Erik from Lord Snow is also the most amazing screamo drummer I've seen live. I love that guy.

What new styles/influences were brought in by the new members?
Mike: Writing songs with Paul has been quite different from writing songs with Lealand playing second guitar. Lealand had more of an interest in metal and hardcore and less of an interest in screamo music, as a result a lot of the songs he wrote would tread into Converge-esque hardcore territory – Wagering Life and Lady Problems for example. He also wrote 2nd guitar parts that really complimented what I was playing, whereas it often seems like Paul writes in an almost competitive way – making his parts equally difficult or more complex than mine in songs that I write. Paul also writes parts that are more in the vein of screamo music, specifically melodic French emo-esque parts. Ultimately the newer material is dense with guitar parts that are more screamo-inspired, compared to earlier stuff that was more hardcore-inspired and had more melodic lead-work with chord structures.

How would you describe MAHRIA’s music?
Mike: What influences us covers a really broad range of genres but ultimately we end up writing songs that sound like emotive hardcore, screamo and post hardcore so I just refer to us as a screamo/skramz band.
Durell: Techy screamo? Haha, I don't know. Fun jams

How would you define screamo or skramz? Do you have any opinions on these genrifications?
Mike: I think screamo and skramz as genre titles are pretty interchangeable, whereas skramz seems to be more celebrated as a genre definition for bands that have been playing screamo within the past few years. Which I think is a worthy distinction. Although there are a few seminal screamo bands that are chaotic and heavy I perceive a lot of them to be slower and more melodic, whereas more recent bands like Loma Prieta and Republic of Dreams seem to have influenced a newer generation of screamo that really values the heavier more complex/mathy aspects of the genre, the popularity of which also seemingly coincided with people starting to use “skramz” as a genre distinction. So although they are virtually the same thing, in my mind skramz is descriptive of newer screamo bands that are really complex and play off of really melodic parts mixed with super dark, heavy, mathy or chaotic parts.
Durell: I get why the term Skramz is used. No one wants to compare Jeromes Dream to From First To Last. Screamo and Skramz are the same to me, it's all great jams.

I know you have some new material coming up. What can you say about that?
Mike: It features Stacy playing bass (our first material with a bass player) and Paul playing guitar (formerly of Watcher), and as our new line-up I feel our writing is more technical. When writing a lot of these songs I stopped approaching it from having heard essential screamo bands for the first time and wanting to emulate them and started approaching it from, "okay, listening to a lot of screamo music, this is what I really like about it." So the new material sounds more focused towards a unified style and (hopefully) comes across as being more elaborate and specific to our band.
Durell: I'm actually listening to a rough version of our full length as I'm typing this. I usually don't like listening to my own bands, but I am so proud and excited about this release that I just want to listen to it over and over. It's pretty typical for a band to talk a bunch of hype about their upcoming release, but I feel like we genuinely got something special down. Mike and Paul work and play really well together and I think that really shines through.

What would you like to say about the upcoming LP and split with The Sky Above And Earth Below?
Mike: A lot of hard work and dedication went into making the LP, and a lot of plans to release our older material that will be on the upcoming split fell through. So it’s extremely satisfying to see both releases reach more definite stages of completion. Everyone who is involved in both releases are people I really appreciate.
Durell: I was actually debating talking to Reid from Sky Above/Friends For Life about using our unreleased material for a split. Then they got a hold of us before I could ask. Meant to be? I'm glad our side of the split is being physically released. I really like those songs.

How did your splits with Todos Caeran and Watcher come about?
Mike: We are really good friends with everyone from Todos, and for awhile it seemed like Todos was willing to split with anyone. So we had taken our demo ep plans and turned it into Todos split plans. Every year in Edmonton we have an emotive-post-hardcore DIY festival called Ghost Throats which showcases a lot of screamo bands from western Canada, that's how we met Watcher (and Paul for the first time) and we agreed to split with one another soon after.
Durell: We are really good friends with Todos. I'm roommates and bandmates with the older brother of their drummer, Gary. And my high school band was with their guitar player Matt. Not to mention playing shows with James, Joey, and Jordan for years now. Lot's of old friendships. Mike and I were playing a show with our old D-Beat band and James inquired about our new Screamo band and the demo we were putting together. Our side on the Todos split is essentially our demo. The Watcher split happened when both bands were playing Ghost Throats DIY Fest in Edmonton together. I watched them play and asked them if they would be interested in a split. They saw us play and agreed. Andrew from Clue #2 records put together the physical release and that's that.

What kinds of festivals, promoters, etc. are active and making positive contributions to your area?
Mike: There’s so much going on in Edmonton. A lot of it is really segregated and subversive, but if you dig around there’s so much art/music striving in our city. The most notable from my perspective are promoters like Mattie C of Clean up your act productions and Craig Martell, the owner of Wunderbar. I’ve heard criticisms of either promoter now and again, but Mattie C recently celebrated his 500th show since he started promoting and Craig Martell’s bar hosts live music virtually every night of the week along with several festivals that are organized in part by him. I’ll fiercely defend them, because if the past few hundred shows they put on didn’t happen my life would suck and I’d probably only perform live in a band a couple times a year. There’s also ghost throats, an annual post-hardcore/screamo festival that’s always a highlight.
Durell: Ghost Throats DIY Fest is a local all ages fest that a couple people from Alberta put on. Namely Andrew Benson from Book of Caverns and Kevin Stebner from Stalwart Sons. I've been lucky enough to lend a hand in the organizing process and hopefully will be able to contribute more. Other than that, there are several promoters around Edmonton making shows happen. The scene here is thriving and it's really fun.

Your band seems to have done quite a bit of touring in the last 2 years, what have been the most positive and negative experiences?
Mike: They have been mostly positive. Touring the states is incredible, everything is really close which makes driving less tumultuous and there are so many amazing bands to play with and people to meet. Having never spent that much time travelling in the states it was really nice going to all of these huge cities for the first time. There was a really validating moment for me walking around New York and realizing that if I had never learned to play guitar I wouldn't be where I was in that moment, that was one of the most positive experiences I've had in regards to playing music. As far as negative experiences? Mostly van related, we've had a van break down on us and planning a tour and getting visas can be stressful.
Durell: Every minute of the actual touring has been a positive experience. Meeting with bands I've only lurked on facebook and bandcamp and becoming friends is such a fantastic experience. We've had some bad, but manageable, van issues each summer. It's been worth it.

Is there anything you care to say about your band being diverse in terms of gender?
Mike: It kind of just ended up that way. We wanted a vocalist who didn't already have a main project that we'd have to compete with for attention and commitment and Corby was the best choice within our community, and when we wanted to add a bassist Corby's sister had always been really enthusiastic about it and was already shredding in Book of Caverns on guitar. I feel it's important in punk music, which can often feel like a ‘boys club’, to encourage people who would feel alienated to take part in it and to try and be as inclusive as possible. But I feel it can also be problematic to place virtually all the focus on the gender of the musician. Idealistically, bands would feature members who exist all over the spectrum of gender identity, race and sexual orientation and members of the musical community would be welcoming to everyone and just be really stoked that these people make music that they like.

What do the members of MAHRIA generally do when they’re not playing in the band?
Mike: Durell really likes movies, Corby really likes knitting and quilting, Paul studies a lot, Stacy really likes cats, I really like cooking. We all spend a lot of time hanging out with friends and significant others - I don't know the best way to answer this question, we're pretty average.
Durell: Play in other bands, hahaha. I've got 3 fully active bands, with a couple more jamming and playing shows sparsely. Other than that, I'm a vegan cook and watch a lot of Bulls basketball.

Mike, what do you think Durell’s favourite movie is?
Mike: Jurassic Park. I don’t have to speculate on that one, I lived with him for a couple years – I know! Aliens, Die Hard 3 and Lost World are in super close competition.
Durell: Jurassic Park. I have gained a reputation over my fandom of that movie.

Mike, what dish do you feel like you can cook the best?
Mike: I’m really not sure, I usually have a specific meal I cook when I try to impress someone or make something really special, but that has changed quite a few times over the years. Presently I’m proud of making pasta sauce from scratch and emulating a lot of soul food I’ve tried this previous summer.
Durell, what is Mike's best dish?
Durell: Mike can cook anything. He reads a recipe, he owns it. I'll have to say the vegan bbq pulled pork recipe he invented has been a favorite for years now.

Considering the point of this blog is to introduce people to new bands, which bands would you recommend checking out?
Mike: Answers to this question often end up being really lengthy, so I'll exclude bands that I feel are already well known or are closely associated to Mahria and likely known by people who like us. There seems to be this really cool scene of screamo bands that we play with that get a similar amount of attention on blogs as us, and all of those bands are incredible and easy to find. SO.
***Open Letters (Vancouver): This band features some of my favorite people, they play emo-pop-punk and their politics as a band/people are really inspiring, plus their ep 1-6 is perfect.
***Flint (Edmonton): Is easily the most intense band in western canada, and deserves way more recognition then they get, FFO Justin Pearson, 31G bands.
***Ken Burns (Boston): I'm breaking my rules mentioning a screamo band, but they're fairly new and they really really impressed me on tour, not because they're some noodle-crazy, chaotic, scissor-blast-mangling screamo band but because they're the opposite in the best way possible. (*openmindsaturatedbrain reviewed them here)
***My friend Kirk has an electronic project under the name Boogie Howser, and my friend Brett has a chiptune project named Boosh - both are wonderful people/producers. There's a video production group called "El Cheapo" that records live shows of bands in Vancouver - it's a good representation of bands from BC that are lesser known and really good. Alberta also has a really strong music scene, if you can track down line-ups of Ghost Throats festivals or bands that Bart Records has released that's a good representation of bands from Alberta/Canada that are worth checking out. There's also a guy from Vancouver named Al Boyle who has played in so many bands that are exceptional (Ghost House, WPP, Needs, Taxes, Healthy Student, Hard Feelings, You Say Party, Chains of Love etc.) likewise Eric Clarke (Book of Caverns, Snic, Gift Eaters, Crippled Children, Maus, Wolfgoat etc.), Andrew Benson (Gift Eaters, Crippled Children, Book etc.), Noah R. (La Luna, If I look strong you look strong etc.), and Kevin Stebner (Cold Water, Stalwart Sons, Greyscreen etc.) consistently release impressive stuff and are people I aspire to emulate with my musical output.
Durell: Todos Caeran and Book of Caverns. I will never understand how these bands are not incredibly popular yet. They are amazing. Woolworm and Taxa from Vancouver are great if you're into grunge and indie rock. Our good friends in La Lune have been touring and releasing excellent material and should be checked out right away if not already done.

How do you find out about new music, besides tour?
Mike: Someone will show me, or I'll listen to music on youtube and check out related searches. Someone once suggested that you should watch live music videos of your fav bands and check out what band t-shirts they wear, which is really great advice.
Durell: I constantly search out new music. I have bands on my ipod that I haven't listened to yet. I love surfing blogs for new jams.

Do you feel like you have a musical and/or life philosophy?
Mike: Musically, I think it's important to appreciate everything, and acknowledge the different aspects of style in music instead of writing off anything outright - everything is interesting in it's own way. In regards to life, I think it's really important to try and be thoughtful and understanding - do your best to empathize with others and try not to screw anyone over - sometimes I don't follow that well, or other times I fault myself trying to help people at my expense, but it's a good perspective to try and maintain.
Durell: Musically, being grateful for even the opportunity to jam with friends on a regular basis.

What tips would you give to people trying to start bands, tour, etc.? Do you have any real-life examples to share?
Mike: DIY ethics are really valuable, when I used to play in Death Metal bands the trajectory was spending all this money on recording/merch and playing locally until a label helps you distribute a release and tour. It wasn't until I started playing punk music that I realized that you can find reasonable means to record and you can put together tours on your own, nothing is that unattainable so don't be so easily discouraged or limited. But also don't take playing music too seriously, it's easy to be in a band that experiences moderate success and get excited and pressure yourself to be this professional musician or band but you run the risk of burning yourself, and others, out really fast. I was in a band that had started to get noticed because we went on tour and our reaction to that was, "what if we dropped everything and toured for 250 days a year? how many people would know us then?" the band stopped being fun for me pretty quickly after that.
Durell: Just being active. If you want to play shows, write a set of songs and talk to a promoter. You have to work at it, but that doesn't mean it isn't a lot of fun doing so.

Do you find it hard to balance objectivity with emotion when listening to/playing/talking about music? Can you keep emotion out of music when listening, playing and talking about it, or is emotion inherent in music?
Mike: I think objectivity exists in music when you're analyzing it or playing specific things, like if I were to listen to something and say, "hey this song has a part in 5/4 timing." or "I'm going to play this major scale." those are objective statements or actions vs. "hey this song makes me feel really happy." or "I'm going to play this way because I'm sad." The balance of which I think is pretty unintentional, and comes naturally to each person. So I don't find it hard. Some stuff I write or appreciate because of it's objective qualities and some because of subjective feelings associated with it.
Durell: I live for emotional music. Music without emotion is not worth my time and I find it insincere. There are songs and bands I listen to that make me feel so content and happy, and on the other hand there are some that help me vent out all the daily bullshit. Positive or negative, it has to have emotion. For me personally, the more negative, the better. Turn up that Swans record.

What differences and similarities do  you hear between MAHRIA and RAYLEIGH?
Mike: I don't feel like one is more technically proficient then the other. Both bands play screamo but stylistically Mahria has more melody and prettier parts/more clean breaks and is more dynamic, whereas Rayleigh was intended on just being dark and heavy all the time.

Do you think your bands sound like their collective influences?
Mike: Yes and no. Rayleigh was largely influenced by bands like Republic of Dreams, Orchid, Celeste, Mihai Edrisch etc. and I feel like that's pretty indicative of our sound. Mahria is influenced by everything from Kidcrash, Alexisonfire, Sleep Party People, Jimmy Eat World, The Pixies, Phoenix Bodies, Deftones, Beach House and tons of screamo bands - which doesn't seem that apparent most of the time.
Durell: In some cases. I find it depends on who is writing the material mostly.

Mike, I read that you are a big Kidcrash fan. Did you want to share any thoughts on the band?
Mike: I tried to fill out my Bart Records collection through a tape distro from Montreal who also released Kidcrash's album Jokes. They had the song "The Ground Eats You" on their myspace page promoting the release and it was the first time I had heard such a strong mixture of dark heavy melodies and pretty melodies - which largely influenced me. Interestingly, I had no idea Kidcrash was from Portland, and that the guitarist from Kidcrash I admired so much also played in Carrion Spring, so when we showed up to the venue we played in Portland and he was standing outside it was a huge surprise. Watching him play in Carrion Spring was really awe-inspiring.

Durell, I read that we share a common love for Phoenix Bodies. Care to comment?
Durell: Taught me how to blast beat. Ever see that live video of them playing a house show and the camera is directly behind the drummer? Actually watching him play those songs and seeing the technique was a huge influence.

What other bands had an effect similar to Kidcrash – where they pretty much blew you away?
Mike: Deftones, Rammstein and Marilyn Manson. The first album I had was The Matrix soundtrack when I was pretty young and it was my first time listening to heavy music like that. All those bands were pretty pivotal along with bands like Pantera, Slayer, Slipknot and Nirvana. Those bands might seem like cliché influences, but when you’re 7 years old listening to those bands for the first time ever, it’s a pretty big deal. Likewise hearing Cannibal Corpse for the first time when I was in gr.6 was pretty intense, I had no idea music like death metal existed prior to that. Bands that blew me away were often the first band of a specific genre that introduced me to that style of music, so there’s quite a few.

What albums are you listening to the most at the moment?
Mike: Warp records recently repressed the Boards of Canada full-lengths. I’ve been pretty stoked on that. I’ve also been listening to the Nine Inch Nails full lengths chronologically. Recently I’ve taken an interest in synthesizers and as a result I really appreciate whenever an artist uses electronics in an interesting way because I imagine them spending a lot of time adjusting oscillators, filters and envelopes etc. to create specific sounds in addition to the effort of composing parts with electronic instruments once they’ve developed those tones.
Durell: Dirty - Sonic Youth, Pipe Dreams - Whirr, Isn't Anything - My Bloody Valentine, Solitude - Lord Snow, Like Shadows - Ampere, Life/Less - Loma Prieta.

Do you generally write a song from start to end, or does it get jumbled around?
Mike: Generally start to end. Although the skeleton of the song isn't representative of how the song ends up, usually the riffs are very stripped down and have less going on when they're first written.

How long does it take your bands, on average, to write a song?
Mike: There's a couple steps involved for each member before a song is finished as a band, so it can vary quite a bit. Sometimes I write a song in one sitting and the next jam everyone learns and it's finished in a matter of days, contrastingly, it can take several weeks for all the parts to come together.

What was the most difficult song to write? The easiest?
Mike: Of the songs that Rayleigh and Mahria has released, "Coming to terms with being born an ape" was really really easy, we just tuned down to F and hit open strings. There was one particular Rayleigh song that was really hard to get tight as a band, and there's a couple songs on the new Mahria release that were hard to get tight as a band.

What is the most exciting thing to happen to music, as of late?
Mike: The internet has made sharing your music and connecting with other people so easy. I couldn't imagine being in a band booking tours and releasing music independently without it. Also music software and electronics has made creating music really accessible to anyone who doesn't have a background playing an instrument or people to jam with, and it allows a lot of space for creativity.

What internet sites/communites/blogs do you frequent and recommend?
Mike: I don’t frequent a lot of internet sites or blogs, which would be more obvious things to recommend to people outside of Edmonton. In terms of community, I feel like I’m active in quite a few of them in Edmonton. Since moving here I’ve played in D-beat, Punk, Grind, Hardcore and Skramz bands so I feel like I’ve attended shows/been involved in a bunch of musical communities/scenes that infrequently cross over one another – something I really pride myself on. If I had to recommend communities I frequent to other people living in Edmonton, I’d probably just encourage them to go outside of the communities they’re a part of and attend shows outside their comfort zone. If you’re a crust punk who only goes to crust shows try going to a dance party in Edmonton sometime, they’re pretty fun and perpetuated by a lot of the same DIY ethics that grind/powerviolence shows are sustained by, just as one example.
Durell: Elementary Revolt and Chug Life are my favorites.  I also really enjoy the different genre subreddits on Reddit. What's up r/emoscreamo.

What are you trying to fight for? What do you think people should be aware of but are not?
Mike: I work for a company that distributes organic produce and groceries via a home delivery service and it's taught me a great deal about the organic food industry and I try to inform people about it whenever they ask me about my work. I can't articulate it as well as others, but basically with conventional farming, the environment and the people producing your food are exposed to a lot of harmful chemicals - This isn't news to anyone and most people shrug off organic food because they don't believe they will be personally effected by these chemicals or experience any health benefit from the difference or find organic food too costly compared to conventional food. But ultimately the cheap conventional food you buy often comes at the expense of how fairly the farmers are being payed for it, or at the cost of the environment and soils being degraded, or other people's health being detrimented (as extreme as people dying in major banana plantations because planes shower them in pesticides without warning). There's so much responsibility that comes with our dietary decisions and where we choose to get our food from as consumers, so I try to promote eating vegan and organic food to people out of concern for how it effects animals, people and our environment/economy - even if it's just something you do once in awhile or just consider.
Durell: Common fucking sense and human decency. People should be aware that their apathy is incredibly damaging.

What is Canada’s  best feature? Worst feature?
Mike: Diversity in terms of culture and geography, aesthetically beautiful features. It's unfortunately spread very far apart though.
Durell: Landscape is the best feature I think. Worst features are distances between Major cities, coming from a touring perspective and Harper.

What are your thoughts on the oil industry expanding in Canada?
Durell: It constantly reminds you how selfish people are and nothing is sacred when there's money to be made.

Any thoughts on the weather nowadays?
Mike: My physics professor gave a lecture about climate change when I was 19 and it was pretty frightening. I think it’s effects are becoming more and more obvious, and I’m pretty concerned for how the weather will be within my lifetime or the next generation’s.
Durell: It was -5 today in Edmonton. I'll take it

What are you r top 10 albums of all time?
Mike:
Deftones - White Pony
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In The People
Beach House - Devotion
Prince - Purple Rain
Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
Boards of Canada - Campfire Headphase
Owen - At Home With Owen
Weezer - Pinkerton
Electric Wizard - We Live
Kidcrash - Jokes
Smashing Pumpkins - Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Durell:
Saves The Day - Through Being Cool
Cursed - II
Yaphet Kotto - We Bury Our Dead Alive (especially the title track)
Eluvium - Indecipherable Texts
Mare - S/T
Jimmy Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
Sister - Sonic Youth
Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth
Pelican - The Fire In Our Throats...
Sunn O))) & Boris - Altar
Swans - Holy Money