Monday, October 11, 2021
Regarding Hiatus
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Woodcreeper News
Wanna know why I've been so quiet? Check out the brand new single by Woodcreeper, and that will be a slight indication as to what I've been up to for the past couple of months....
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Bandcamp Blitz February/March, 2021
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Best Of 2020...
HA! I fell asleep for a while. I still feel like slacking off...
This is my Best Of The Year list for the crapload that was 2020. It's nowhere near complete and never will be, nor is this in any order of importance! Few descriptions, just the list and some links. 2020 was a year where music just kept coming out. People were super bored and frustrated.
I, myself, was one of those people...
Best Of 2020 list:
(Everything Cloudkicker is an insta-buy. Ben's back in full force. This is easily some of the best Cloudkicker stuff yet. Busy and heavy, just the way we've come to expect it. This album will plow you into the soil and offer no apologies.)
You'd best grab onto something before you hit play.)
- Andy
Friday, November 20, 2020
Fear Not...
Fear not, bands and friends.
I won't be gone much longer.
Things are quiet on the Nerve Salad front. I'm taking this year to reassess it all and get a fresh start. I have been pretty busy with starting a new venture in life, playing with plants, creating a more positive future for myself and Nerve Salad in general. What better way to get past the suckass year but to simply work at improving one's life from both the inside out AND the outside in. I'm still doing reviews, just more slowly until the year wears itself out. Thanks for sticking with me. I'm still listening...
I've taken on another responsibility, along with being an educator and Naturalist for the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. I now am the co-manager, maintenance, and education coordinator at Crystal Lake Cave (in Iowa). I spend my days 100 feet below ground, playing around with crystals, getting dripped on by carbonic acid, calcium carbonate, & hydro-silica. All good stuff. Now, this does NOT mean I am out of the review game. Not by a long shot.
I'm merely making merry with rocks and cave crickets until the year decides to quit being this year. I was due for a change.
My band Woodcreeper is currently working on our last few touches of the tunes before we hit the studio.
Nerve Salad Records has a few things in store for next year. But as always, we only do one or two things a year. No big hullabaloo here.
Beyond that.. I do wish everyone a great rest of the 2020 year. I will likely do a couple more posts before the year is up, but next year we're back as usual.
Thanks, again!
Sunday, September 6, 2020
Bandcamp Blitz - September 6th, 2020
It's been a few less posts lately, I know. This year is one of those years where I simply just absorb the entire goings-on in the world. A lot can be said about things right now, and it's all been said already.
Bands have obviously been taking this moment in time to compose a soundtrack for it all. At least the year has brought us something other than what we see on the fucking news.
I dunno... I feel less like talking lately. I feel like being silent. It's a weird feeling. Kind of like withdrawing, a little. I see what the world has going on, and it makes me dislike it even more. I find solace in plants, the woods (when there is nobody else there), animals, soil, trees, birds, etc. I lean on the predictability of the seasons, and the simple norms of birdsong. I spend my days contemplating the internal machinations of a flower. I while away the hours ruminating over the wily ways of carnivorous plants & watch the clouds for rain. I steal away in the wee hours to internalize the growth of a cactus and attempt a living, syncopated symbiosis within the confines of the circadian rhythms...
But the band plays on....

https://therevenants1.bandcamp.com/album/goodnight-and-pleasant-dreams
Monday, July 20, 2020
Bandcamp Blitz - July 20th, 2020
So far, 2020 life has been nothing but craploads of boogery fartface garbage junk, but at least the soundtrack has been pleasant enough.
On with the madness:
Jumbee - The Smell Of Red Sunset Air
https://jumbee.bandcamp.com/album/the-smell-of-red-sunset-air
(Gave this a good run-through a number of times. It gets better with each listen. Djent-y stoner doom with some true grunge influences. Rare with the aggressive vocals, the Staley-esque delivery makes itself the most apparent in this mish-mash of brilliance. I have a strange feeling these guys will make a few fans. Up and running for the Best Of The Year list.
You'd best grab onto something before you hit play.)
The Lees Of Memory - Moon Shot
https://theleesofmemory.bandcamp.com/album/moon-shot
(Everything I had hoped for. The last album made it into my All Time Best list. This album comes back full force with some of the niftiest power pop you're likely to hear. Everything these guys touch turns into pure, unadulterated gems. If you miss this album, you're just weird.)
Dead Quiet - Truth And Ruin
mcbaise - Raviolo
https://mcbaise.com/album/raviolo
(Smoothed out Yacht-y Sunday Jazz Vapor-Rock. A sensitive, juicy little EP, dangling in the cool Summer air, ripe & just waiting to be plucked. Really worth a listen if you want to hear some fine songwriting and a few oddball twists and turns to keep you silky until the end.)
The Texas Gentlemen - Floor It!!!
Joe Pernice - Richard
https://joepernice.bandcamp.com/album/richard-2
(Joe sings to you in your kitchen, while you're making spaghetti.
He sings of joys, losses, and folks getting into things. All from the comfort of his chair with nothing but a couple of mics and some mood lighting. Makes for a fine, intimate evening of... just you and Joe.)
Sloppy Joe And The Cruise - Keep On Cruisin'
https://sloppyjoeandthecruise.bandcamp.com/album/keep-on-cruisin
(An unearthed classic rears its beautifully salty head. True escapist Yacht Rock at its absolute infancy in the world of smooth cats making smooth tunes. So chilled-out, you might as well take the day off.... every day. Music made strictly to celebrate the virtues of living by your own rules, not making a big deal out of life, having a good time, and being at every party, every time. Outshines good ol' Jimmy Buffett on the coolness (even though he apparently had many a session with Buffett himself). The was recorded in 1975, but is now getting its true purpose realized: To make you feel like you should enjoy the little things. Joe Flappens died in 2018, and we've got this to honor a cool guy who had a very brief moment of fame and not-so-much fortune.)
Bob Benson - Bob Benson Archives Vol. 1
https://nervesaladrecords.bandcamp.com/album/bob-benson-archives-vol-1
(Bob Benson wrote vaporwave and chillwave before they even had a name. He spent countless hours driving for a job as an old school "IT guy" for Sears Roebuck, living in hotel rooms, eating bags of peanuts and drinking crappy coffee, all the while writing chill-out tunes to help ease the stress of being away for weeks at a time.
Bob Benson died in 2016, but these newly unearthed recordings showcase a musical view into the world of a much-loved gentleman.
Vol. 1 was found in a pile of old music, and Vol. 2 is probably laying around somewhere, too.)
- AB