IN THIS ISSUE OF COSMIK DEBRIS: Our annual exercise in agony in which each of our writers is forced to whittle a years worth of music down to his or her five favorite releases. Also, interviews with Per Stalberg of Sweden's coolest band, Division Of Laura Lee, and the always controversial Frank Discussion of The Feederz. Underrated returns with the spotlight on Mother's Army, a band made up of four heavyweights of hard rock who chose not to go the big PR route and are therefore not well known, despite being a house-shaking band. Plus our usual slate of excellent columns, a pile of reviews and a special edition of Cosmik Radio hosted by musician and frequent Cosmik contributor, Skip Heller. It's "A Show From California," with a California feel, from current urban themes to historical folk to the most requested song in state history. It's all in and around the January issue of Cosmik Debris Magazine.

COSMIK RADIO!: HEY THERE! It's a brand new Cosmik Radio show, and this one is somethin' special. Guest deejay Skip Heller has produced an hour of music with a theme. It's a show from California, and it's ready and waiting for your listening pleasure. You just need a RealAudio Player to listen. If you don't have one, go pick one up. Cosmik Radio is just the kind of Net-Only audio that radio station program directors don't want you getting hooked on. So go ahead. Inhale!

DIVISION OF LAURA LEE - They're from Sweden, but don't even try to compare them to The Hives. DOLL, as they're often called, have a totally different sound that comes from Gothenburg, on the west coast of the country. Darker, more mysterious, and far, far gutsier. DJ Johnson talked long, long, long distance with Per Stalberg about the promising career of DOLL, and one fantastic album called Dark City.

WE PICK OUR TOP 5s FOR 2002 - It's that time again. Time for the writers of Cosmik Debris, full time and contributors, to let you know what they think the best music of 2002 was. So ready or not, here it comes!

THE FEEDERZ - Controvery is old hat for The Feederz. Every time Frank Discussion opens his mouth, lines are drawn. One thing you have to say, though, is this is definitely not a band that poses. Love 'em or hate 'em, they put their issues in large fonts. As this isn't a typical Cosmik Debris interview, there's a warning at the gate. You'll see. Holly Day's interview with Frank Discussion is just a click beyond the warning page, so don't get uptight.

UNDERRATED: MOTHER'S ARMY - Hard rock fans are always looking for the bands that can deliver the power hooks. Due to intentional marketing methods employed by this band, Mother's Army may have been missed by most of those fans. And the amazing part is that this isn't just some upstart band. We're talkin' four of the hottest heavyweights of hard rock music and three CDs that belong in any rock fan's collection. Who are the famous soldiers of Mother's Army? DJ Johnson has the roll call.


TIME FOR THE THIRTEEN O'CLOCK NEWS - Is the invasion on? Is Michael Jackson leading the charge, or just being charged? And does he have a Bono? Why isn't anyone listed at third in the Yankees press guide, fer Chrissakes?! And will Liza awrowala fima? It's all in the 13 O'Clock News.


CD & RECORD REVIEWS - Plenty of Pretty Platters for your Perusal.

EVERYTHING ELSE IN REVIEW - Things besides CDs that we felt like tellin' you about.



CLOSET PHILOSOPHY - Our resident philosopher, Rusty Pipes, traces the tangles of pavement through LA and muses on the true nature of our relationship with Saddam the pusher. Okay, it sounds strange now, but it'll all make sense when Rusty explains it. He's the philosopher, I'm just a clueless editor.

COSMIK BLUES - Eric tells us about the top 5 blues records for the year 2002.

PIGSHIT by GARY PIG GOLD - It's top records time, and as usual Gary tells us about his ten favorites that he at least found in 2002.

MASS APPEAL MADNESS - Jason tells us about hip-hop artist MF Doom's story, including his past history with KMD.

MEDIA CURMUDGEON - Recapping last year seems to be a kind of theme for this issue, as Karl chimes in with his top 5 media... somethings... for 2002.



CREDITS - The names and e-mail addresses of the people responsible for this thing.

COSMIK RADIO - Want an hour of music that fits the personality of Cosmik Debris Magazine? That's right, Sinatra segues into Megadeth into Peter Tosh into Man Or Astro-Man into... well, you get the picture. It's a little something we like to call Genre Whiplash. Or maybe you're in the mood for a trip into The Fog Machine, our mix of music of the ethereal variety. All you need is a RealAudio player. Come on in.

OUR OWN WEBSITES - Many of the Cosmik Debris writers have websites of their own. We have some links right here.



Happy new year, everyone. My apologies for the tardiness of this issue, but it couldn't be helped. Despite the number of able bodied writers, they're located all around the globe, and the task of actually putting the magazine together falls to just a few of us. Due to a medical situation, which is fine now, we were one person shy and unable to get this puppy birthed until now. It happens from time to time.

There's something about this issue that's different from issues past, and I want to mention it briefly so you know where we're coming from. As most of you know, our policy has always been to never make Cosmik a forum for people who spread hatred or promote violence. That's very hard to do, and things slip through, of course. This month we have an interview with Frank Discussion of The Feederz. They could be called shock punk. For example, one of their albums is called Teachers In Space, and the cover shows the space shuttle Challenger exploding. The guy makes comments in his interview that, to be honest, made me feel sorry for him. But some of his other comments seemed interesting and important, and if nothing else, it seems he is someone people should be aware of. Love him or hate him. There's a warning before you can fully click into that interview, so we don't expect people to be taken off guard. He doesn't talk about roasting babies or making bombs. The only reason I'm talking about this is I know a lot of our readers enjoy Cosmik because they don't see interviews promoting hatred or violence. No, we're not changing our policy. Just read the warning and decide for yourself.

Other than that, the only thing to tell you is you HAVE to listen to Cosmik Radio. Skip Heller did a special for us that is all about California music, mostly historical, some brand new, all very, very fine. Skip is known for many things, and one of them is excellent taste. I think you'll enjoy this show. That's about it. Have at it.

DJ Johnson
Editor

Did you miss an issue? We now have many of our back issues online, including sound clips and extras. Check out interviews with The Witches, Electric Frankenstein, the Vampire Beach Babes, Jeff Berlin, Curve, Michael Shermer, Steel Pulse, Transglobal Underground, Mark Helm, The Southern Rock All-Stars, Ottmar Liebert, Jason Noble of Shipping News, Phil Vassar, Joel Dorn, Mark Cline of Love Tractor, Texas Terri (of Texas Terri & The Stiff Ones), Mike Keneally, Chris Shinn of Unified Theory, Alley of Wise Monkey Orchestra, Mario Escovedo of The Dragons, The Clarks, Big Ass Truck, Richard Cheese, Paul Krassner, Tony Iommi, Ron Dante...