READERS’ CHOICE MAILBAG DUMP

I’ve got a love/hate relationship with our Readers’ Choice column. On the one hand we get so many entries and sifting through them all takes a lot of time (and most of them suck… sorry… yes, you!), and the more I write about them the more entries seem to come in. On the other hand there are so many talented bands out there and I do enjoy discovering new music and bringing the best to you folks. It’s difficult being a respected blogger, difficult I tell you! First world problems.

Here are some favorites from the last few weeks:

• The above video of Mick Barr (Krallice) jamming it up with Zach Hill from Hella. Holy bajeezus! [Thanks: Eric H.]
• Brent Petrie: After reading my post about 16 year-old multi-instrumentalist Dead on Both Shoulders, Brent Petrie emailed me to say, “Hey… me too!” Thankfully the kid can back up his claims with his new album Vary Us, Artist, which is available for free download and streaming in part at Bandcamp.
• Incarnia: Because as MS reader Vakarm puts it, sometimes you just need “good ol’ melodeath with that gothenburg sound. I believe it’s important to have bands like that around.” Touche. Insomnium fans, meet Incarnia.
• Egoist: A press quote at the top of Egoist’s MySpace page describes the band as “Strapping Young Lad meets Voivoid,” so I’m just gonna roll with that. Egoist is another of these bedroom multi-instrumentalist guys — and as such, Meshuggah certainly play a big influence — but Egoist is way more experimental and wonky than most of those other bands. [Thanks: Kirill Zmurciuk]

-VN