Syrup Moose Records: V (2024 Compilation)

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ICYMI: at some point in the latter half of 2024, Syrup Moose Records officially announced that they were taking a well-deserved break during 2025. After averaging at least one release (digital and/or cassette, sometimes CD and/or vinyl too) for their first 2-1/4 years in existence, they have hit the pause button on anything new over the course of this whole year.

Honestly, I think this is a brilliant idea and more people should follow suit. It might give me a slight fighting chance to eventually one day dig myself out of the pile of stuff on my to-do list I have been compiling over the past dozen or so years, stuff I’ve heard and enjoyed enough to write something about to share with the folks who come here to read these words, but which I’ve failed to find the time and energy to do so (yet).

Anyway, because they’ve never half-assed anything, Syrup Moose closed out last year with one hell of a bang: their latest and greatest compilation V — the fifth in a series (not including their first anniversary Year of the Moose) — which tips the scales at a whopping 108 tracks (yes, you read that right, one hundred eight), totaling roughly EIGHT HOURS of material as varied as the label’s first two years of releases have been.

 

Various Artists – V (Syrup Moose Records, 27 December 2024)

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Welcome to the Spectrum (2024 Compilation)

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Dear gentlepersons of the internet: once more I bid you hello and good day. Things have been pretty quiet around here for a bit, which has been (as per usual) the result of extensive craziness happening BTS IRL. So much, in fact, that I’ve missed the year-end deadline for compiling my year-end list by a couple of weeks now. I’ve got it narrowed down to a manageable collection of contenders, just need to revisit them to cut that number in half and then put them in order — which I’ll hopefully accomplish in the near future, now that I’ve finally emptied my inbox of everything from 2024.

Speaking of which, over the past two months we’ve been dormant here, Food Desert Recordings put out another of their esteemed fundraising compilations, which I’ll take a rare minute of downtime to bring to your attention. Welcome to the Spectrum benefits The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a very worthy cause, since unlike some other well-known organizations, it does not view Autism as a disease to be cured or eradicated…

 

Various Artists – Welcome to the Spectrum: A Compilation to Support the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (Food Desert Recordings, 27 September 2024)

 

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Love Songs (2024 Compilation)

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Good afternoon // happy Friday, everyone!

It’s been an eventful month here at Valley of Steel HQ. After a full year of inactivity on the bird site, earlier this week I finally pulled the plug and deactivated my dozen-year-old Twitter account, which was pretty much the last remnant of my “social media” presence outside of lurking around a handful of Discords.

And on the subject of housekeeping-type news, the renewal for this website’s domain (valleyofsteel.net) is coming up later this month — and with the limited amount of activity I’ve had here in the past few years, I’ve been seriously considering discontinuing that registration. The website would remain, but it would revert back to its original address of https://valleyofsteel.wordpress.com. So you might want to update those bookmarks, just in case. I guess if anyone felt very strongly about the dot-net address sticking around, you could always go buy some shit through this Amazon affiliate link. I just don’t know if my heart is still in it enough, to keep dumping money just to keep a personalized domain name anymore.

But two things I can say for sure my heart IS still in — sharing good music with you folks who come here to read these words, and especially sharing things that are supposed to help other people. In a two birds / one stone situation, here’s a benefit compilation that came out last month, but which I just discovered yesterday (and which I just had to buy before I had even gotten halfway through listening)…

 

Mother Anxiety / Various Artists – Love Songs (26 July 2024)

 

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Syrup Moose Summer Sale

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Syrup Moose Records Summer Sale

 

Hey folks. We’ve talked about our “woke, broke” Canadian friends at Syrup Moose Records a few times over the past couple of years, and if real-life bullshit wasn’t such overwhelmingly real-life bullshit every day, and if I had more time to spend writing about music and sharing it with all you nice people, I can guarantee we’d be talking about our favorite sticky cervids far more often.

But I wanted to let you all know that this week only, they’re running a special summer sale on nearly all the physical releases currently available in their store, also including pre-orders. Better hurry, though – the sale only lasts through this weekend!

 

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All Birds Return (2024 Compilation)

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It is Bandcamp Friday. It’ll be the last one until after summer vacation, so make it count!

One item I’d like to share with you was just released today by Dutch label Rope or Guillotine: a cassette compilation of exclusive tracks to benefit people of Gaza.

 

Various Artists – All Birds Return: a benefit compilation for Gaza (Rope or Guillotine, 03 May 2024)

 

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Know Justice, Know Peace (2024 Compilation)

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It feels like we just did this — but the goodly folks at Food Desert Recordings are at it yet again.

Released TODAY, Know Justice, Know Peace is a brand new compilation benefitting National Bail Out.

 

Various Artists – Know Justice, Know Peace: A Compilation in Support of National Bail Out (Food Desert Recordings, 26 April 2024)

 

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Sky Within Us (2024 Compilation)

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Good afternoon, Dear Reader.

I’d like to share another fundraising musical compilation with you today, one that supports a cause very near and dear to me as an avid birder. (FWIW, earlier today I hit a fun milestone, since the beautiful song of a Warbling Vireo drew me outside to spot my 100th different species of 2024!) …

Canadian label Polar Seas dropped this collection of gorgeous ambient works earlier this month, with any proceeds collected benefiting the BirdSafe.ca / FLAP Canada.

 

Various Artists – Sky Within Us (Polar Seas, 05 April 2024)

 

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Free Me from This Dungeon (2024 Compilation)

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Y’all. It’s been a minute. What’s shakin’?

Our favorite Maryland-based non-profit charity record label recently dropped the latest in their series of benefit compilations, and I wanted to make sure you hadn’t missed out on this one.

Primarily consisting of dungeon synth and other closely-related (mostly) instrumental, (almost exclusively) synth-based sounds, Free Me from This Dungeon is on sale now with proceeds supporting the Safelight organization.

 

Various Artists – Free Me from This Dungeon: A Compilation in Support of the Safelight Organization (Food Desert Recordings, 23 February 2024)

 

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Syrup Moose Records: The Year of the Moose (1st Anniversary Compilation)

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From label owner Barlovv:

As of September 1st 2023, the Moose is one. This whole thing started as a bit of a shitpost in the Noob Heavy Discord and now I’m looking at a release a week until next fucking summer. To say that I’m surprised would be an understatement and I also find myself unable to think of it as a stupid joke as it continues to morph into a real thing. At the time of writing, the Moose has reached:

Bandcamp – 48,705 plays, 650 fans
Spotify – 16,000 Streams
Twitter – 687 followers
Bluesky – 443 followers
Mastodon – 132 followers
Instagram – 746 followers
Youtube – 24 subscribers
Discord – 96 members
Newsletter – 262 subscribers

All of this across 41 releases both full releases of new albums, and physical re-releases of older ones. While I’ve not made anyone (including myself) rich, the response to the music has been tremendous. I am immensely proud of the catalogue we have collected here and stand proud behind every single one. I believe that our variety of genre and the stunning, limitless talent you all possess has helped to build one of the strongest overall catalogues out there right now.

I am truly stunned that I’m writing this to mark the one-year anniversary of Syrup Moose Records. A year marked with ups, downs, and no fucking Nazis. I won’t get too introspective here, because if you’re following me on all the sosch meeds, you’ll probably have had your fill of that.

It’s worth saying right off the bat here that it is BANDCAMP FRIDAY, which means 100% of the money you spend goes straight to the label, and in turn, half of that goes to the artists directly. Also, every single digital album on the label is, currently, Name Your Price. Today only.

 

Various Artists – The Year of the Moose (Syrup Moose Records, 01 September 2023)

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Ohio Doomed and Stoned Fest 2023

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Ohio Doomed and Stoned Fest

 

Friday 28 July – Saturday 29 July 2023

at Westside Bowl – 2617 Mahoning Ave, Youngstown Ohio

Friday Only $25 advance / $30 day of; Saturday Only $35 advance / $40 day of; or just $50 for two day passes (tickets available here)

 

After a lengthy break due to… well, you know… the Ohio Doomed and Stoned Fest returns next weekend! This time it will be at Westside Bowl in Youngstown — so you can go rent some ugly shoes and enjoy some ugly riffs for two whole days.

The line-up includes several great bands we’ve discussed on this website in the past: Michigan’s Bog Wizard, Massachusetts’ Problem with Dragons, West Virginia’s Horseburner, and Ohio’s own Brujas del Sol and Rebreather. Plus a bunch more mainstays of the local and regional scenes, many of whom I can personally attest put on a fantastic show. An almost ludicrous total of 39 bands altogether.

 
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