Well, I think it's that time of year again... feel free to rant and rave about your favorites, it's always fun and has often in past years pointed me towards new sounds. Anyway, here are my picks for the past year, in no particular order... apologies for including any releases that are actually from 2001 (or even 2000), because I only got around to hearing them this year... 1. Merzbow: Hard Lovin' Man 2. Sissy Spacek: Scissors 3. Phantomsmasher: s/t 4. Dälek: from filthy tongue of gods and griots 5. Skeleton Key: Obtainium 6. Dillinger Escape Plan w/Mike Patton: Irony is a dead scene 7. Otomo Yoshihide: Anode 8. Steroid Maximus: Ectopia 9. Oval: Commers 10. O-Type: Lugubrious A few other very notable entries, which I've only heard excerpts of (yet) but which definitely could have replaced any of the above: - Masami Akita/Zbigniew Karkowski: Mazk - Tetsuo Furudate/Zbigniew Karkowski: World as Will 2 - Danubius: s/t - Melvins: H.A.T. - John Zorn: Cobra - John Zorn: Xu Feng - Ruins: Tzomborgha - Bastard Noise: Mutant - Merzbow: Puroland, Amlux, etc. etc.. and much more I can't remember... Bruno _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail