the pixies

Let’s face it: Steve Albini was one of the real ones. Beyond the incredible music of Big Black, or Shellac, or so many of his other projects were the incredible records he recorded, produced, or engineered. Never mind all the hype of Nevermind…for me the real Nirvana, the uncaged animal that was that band can be found in the raw power that was Albini’s masterclass that is In Utero. Rest in Peace to one of the mammoths of heavy music; the 335th edition of the Nine Circles Playlist is dedicated to you.

After that there’s new and old delights from the rest of the 9C staff, including Ceremony of Silence, new Sonja, Health, Thot, new Thou, even some hip-hop courtesy the latest Drake/Kendrick beef and some JPEGMAFIA, and because I can’t get enough of his production some Pixies to close us out. Plus more surprises.

Get listening. Stay safe. See you next week.

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– Chris

As I write this it’s a few short hours until the next Record Store Day. I’m not normally the type to burst to my LRS in the dawn light just to snag an overpriced variant, but when you have sweet reissues from Opeth and Voivod, plus the debut of The Lord from Greg Anderson, well…you know I have to set the alarm for that, right?

So yeah…we’re gonna kick off the 228th edition of the Nine Circles Playlist with what you can expect from those heavyweights, but we got more of the concrete coming straight for your head. Anton welcomes new music from Exocrine, Misanthropic Rage, and Ufomammut to the playlist while Josh doubles down on the brutality with Black Braid, Crypticus, Paganizer, Butchers Burial and a killer new track from site favorite Spirit Adrift. Vincent is knee-deep in his Pyrithe review, so he’s serving up some of their music along with Ultha, Orville Peck, and some classic New Order. Ian returns to the playlist with some Kardashev and Gojira, along with a healthy dose of the Pixies and some Planning for Burial. Angela is digging the latest from Tribulation and…wouldn’t you know it? For the first time, so am I! And she also has Mountaineer and Telekinetic Yeti bringing up the rear for this week.