Hank launched his free-form blog, Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches*, in 2006**. (As of 2024, it was relaunched as a Substack newsletter.) Since then, it has been a sporadic outlet for everything from in-depth interviews (Astral Weeks producer Lewis Merenstein, vibraphone magician Walt Dickerson) to spontaneous subgenre surveys (“math rock,” major-label post-hardcore of the 1990s), remembrances (Cecil Taylor, Cleve Pozar, Charlie Haden), impressions of live shows (Brötzmann/Leigh, Taylor/Oxley), impromptu deep dives into this or that body of work or musical avenue (the compositions of Cecil Taylor; Paul Motian; Tim Berne’s early Snakeoil records; death-metal conservatism), reflections on the act of writing-about-music and why I’m uneasy with the idea of “criticism” (Kamasi Washington, Frank Ocean), year-end wrap-ups dating back to ‘05, and more.
Basically, DFSBP has been a home for anything I feel like writing that doesn’t belong elsewhere. As a rule, it’s informal, spontaneous, sometimes even diaristic.
DFSBP is currently far less active than it once was. But I hope you’ll still drop in occasionally and/or take some time to browse the archives. If you ever spy a dead link there or have any questions or comments about a given post, don’t hesitate to drop me a line.
*If you’re curious where the name came from, have a look at this post.
**I have to thank my friend and former colleague Steve Smith for linking to DFSBP in the early days, thus encouraging me to treat it with some degree of sustained care and attention.