I like this fucking track..

How gratifying for me personally, to finally engage in one of the main activities that the My Castle of Quiet radio program was designed for, to discuss horror and exploitation films in depth, and with one of the American masters, no less—Frank Henenlotter. For someone who makes "real" movies, Frank was quite personable, very approachable, a gentleman and a bona-fide scholar of sleaze. The Michaels, Hunchback and Diana, provided further input, chuckles, and good company.

Were that I could mix in directors, writers, archivists, and enthusiasts of horror several times a month with the soundtracks, noise and metal, I'd be sitting pretty. Ten million thanks must go to Mike Hunchback for setting up the meet, and to Frank Henenlotter for showing up, with his wealth of knowledge and friendly, gentlemanly ways (though the director curses like a longshoreman when not on mic, haha.)

After a year-and-a-half's worth of extending invitations to film people, give or take, it's terrific to have someone of Frank's stature show up, shoot the shit, and represent as a local boy to boot. It was great, great fun, as the archive and listener comments will attest, and I wore a shit-eating grin pretty much the entire time. You can hear the whole kit and kaboodle, making up approximately the first half of the weekly horrorcast™, the entirely of which is accessible by clicking on the very-gingerly placed assault victim above (taken from the title sequence of Herschell Gordon Lewis' Something Weird; she also seems to be turning blue a bit quickly, considering.)

Remember, those screenings of Frank's latest work, Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore, begin March 10 at Anthology Film Archives in NYC, and continue for four consecutive nights, each night accompanied by two Lewis classics (including the rarely celebrated Scum of the Earth); Frank and fellow B-movie enthusiast and historian Joe Bob Briggs appear in person at the 3/11 screening.

I can only hope that Marina de Van, Damon Packard, Holly Woodlawn, John Waters and/or Asia Argento warm the Castle's guest chair in the near future.

Onto other matters, there was much love on and off the playlist for that classic Darkthrone track, and new work by Coprophagic Substratum (whose membership aligns with that of Sesso Violento and Cthulhu Youth, all from Complexo do Alemao, Rio, Brazil; blog links to come.)

Monday begins the 2011 WFMU fundraising marathon, with thrills, chills and surely some spills. I'll be co-hosting for Sue P.'s Solid Gold Hell week 1 on the Tue./Wed. midnight-3 overnight, as well as hosting my two usual slots (with illustrious co-hosts Nat Roe week 1, and Pseu Braun week 2) where you'll have a chance to win unique prizes, including, but not at all limited to, custom ringtones by Chromaa, a wonderful, eclectic art book compiled by Toronto native Davis Weir (dw from our playlists), a 3-pack of Physical Demon releases, a 3-pack of Anarchymoon Recordings' releases, and much, much more.

A pledge of $75 or over during my shift will automatically earn you a copy of the limited CDr collection Demo Hell, featuring exclusive tracks by Bob Bellerue, Physical Demon, Husere Grav, Skulleraser, Ungoliant (Joseph Curwen of T.O.M.B.) and Explosive Improvised Device, as well as classic black-metal demo tracks from Black Witchery, Hungary's Whisper, Helvette, and Demon Sword, all packaged in a gorgeously horrific watercolor sleeve by Sarah Zahn (aka Sarzan from our playlists.) Tune in and pledge! Support WFMU, and let everyone know that you LIKE noise, horror, and black metal on the radio.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a personal note, I was moved to tears at the news of the loss of Clare Amory. My deepest condolences to Clare's fellow players in Excepter, including friends Jon, Lala, and JFR. You can read more about Clare's life at Jon's blog, here.

"Whatever?!?" Frank Henenlotter and Mike Hunchback visit The Castle, tonight!

2008's Bad Biology is my favorite Frank Henenlotter film. In fact, it may be my favorite film on the topic of sex, ever. I just watched it again last night, and it continues to increase in my estimation. In exploitation film (so called), you can pretty much get away with anything, and Frank Henenlotter takes ample advantage: sudden fourth-wall attacks from the female lead, fresh fetuses dropped in trash cans, vagina's-eye view, cock's-eye view, vagina-face masks in a Vinnie Paz video, aw hell, you name it. And WHAT you name will not be as penetrating (joke intended) or as lurid as what the director came up with for Bad Biology.

The man whose films are so often obsessed with sex, gore, birth, violent death, a general silliness masking heavy emotional issues, and what the hell IS actually happening between a woman's legs, comes to My Castle of Quiet. Frank fucking Henenlotter!

The American screenwriter, director, archivist and film historian is known primarily for his classic horror-sexploitation comedies, like Basket Case, Brain Damage, Frankenhooker, titles that were inspired by, and staples of, the 42nd Street theater market, pre-cleanup. Henenlotter has also been instrumental in rescuing many low-budget classics from eternal obscurity, mostly via his involvement with the Something Weird Video label and catalog.

If you're my age, give or take, you grew up watching Frank's films, whatever you may have thought of them. Bad Biology showed that the power is still very alive in this gentleman, one-upping most contemporary film that passes for horror, and in fact surpassing the current work of many of Frank's contemporaries who are still in action.

Mike Hunchback is a well-known local celebrant of all things "low culture"—early comics, punk rock, and the kind of films Mr. Henenlotter makes, among many other things.

Together, Frank and Mike join me for a discussion of Frank's latest film, a documentary on Herschell Gordon Lewis, another legendary American schlockmeister, known as the Godfather of Gore, and creator of the "gore" or "splatter" film. Frank's doc on Lewis screens in early March at Anthology Film Archives in NYC, along with the Lewis classics Blood Feast, Something Weird and Scum of the Earth.

The fun begins promptly at midnight.
WFMU 91.1 FM (NY/NJ)
WMFU 90.1 FM (Hudson Valley)
wfmu.org live on the Web

Screen capture taken from Bloody Disgusting.

PRISON TATT RECORDS UPDATE.

Regarding Prison Tatt records, there are releases which have not before this moment been announced, or remain unannounced, often at the artist's request, since I'm usually the one who wants to spill the beans.

But the floodgates have opened a crack, perhaps more, and I'm proud and eager to tell you all of some forthcoming releases not yet listed on the initial canon, still posted as is at our regular Web home at http://prisontatt.com/.

Two great leaps that fell together at about the same time are the one-sided LP by Sesso Violento, a minimal/black metal/crust & noise combo from Complexo do Alemao, a prominent shanty town in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Their first, self-titled release will be out on tape soon, released by the band, and it's these tracks that prompted me to offer the band 17-20 minutes to stretch out and release some new recordings through PT. The response came, "we could record 15/20 min of pure filth for you."

Also on tap to be released very soon is a new full-length by Dhampyr, a one-man project recently expanded to two, and currently making some of the most innovative, sounds-like-no-one-else, dark, mournful, atmospheric black metal around. The tracks and various releases of Dhampyr, many available for free (!) download at the artist's personal blog, run the gamut from staggeringly good black-metal song composition to meditative, gloom-laden ambient black atmospheres. You can preview two tracks from the album, to be titled White Fire Laudanum, here. If you're familiar with the previous Dhampyr release Spoiled Nostalgia, the new full-length (just under 50 mins., to be issued in an edition of 300 on digipak CD) seems the next logical step from SN's powerful song-craft and creepy textures.

Out in hopefully a few weeks or even less, the Xesse one-sided LP by T.O.M.B., which I can say without reservation or bias is some of the most frightening, unsettling music that I have ever heard. I couldn't be more pleased to be unleashing this phase of T.O.M.B. upon the world; it's a large and impressive slab.

Following shortly thereafter, CDs of all-new material by KILT, Dhampyr, and Chaos*Majik. Stay tuned, and thanks for your support.

FYI, we have about 13 copies left of the Grasshopper one-sided LP, and a good 2/3 of the OPPONENTS pressing available for sale, that latter title available for a very reasonable $10 domestically at our Web site.

Much later this year, summertime and beyond, look for other previously unannounced releases by local favorites Isa Christ (!) and Creeplings (!)—I think I can say that. (!!)

Liveness!

Our special live musical guest Instinct Control took honors last night, and boy are those sets something to get into, especially at around 8:30 this morning, when I'd hardly had any sleep. Ryan's sets—with Bob Bellerue's excellent live mix—are extremely rich in their tonal assault, highs and lows jumping out from around corners, pounding away at your psyche. A somewhat harrowing cab ride through a foreign city, though ultimately you trust the driver knows what he's doing, and is gonna get you there.

I'll drop EVERYTHING right now, mid-air, and 'splain to you what I meant by "A5," sure. No problem! Nothing but cavernous amounts of dead air being created over here.

Also grabbing much attention on this week's playlist were some late 90s recordings by Rusted Shut, released on vinyl in 2008 as the Hot Sex EP (thanks to King John for suggesting; made a great opener.) Also, some support for "Hellfuck Ritual" by Sad, from the split CD with Sapthuran, new on Regimental. That song sounded great to me, too, brycepunk—I love the way Sad build their hypnotic song structures with these simple, mournful, barre-chord progressions. The Marduk of melody.

Instinct Control's sets will post, next week sometime, as free, 256k mp3s for download, on both WFMU's Beware of The Blog, and via my curator portal at the Free Music Archive; in the meantime, you can hear the whole archive of last night's horrorcast™ by clicking on the poor damned souls above; condemned as they are to Coffin Joe's papier mâché hell, they've plenty of time to show you around The Castle.

I'm really fuckin' busy. I have Frank Henenlotter here next week! I have to think about how Basket Case made me feel! And I'd love YOUR HELP with some questions for the director. GOT THAT? I know I kind of slipped that in there, but fuck all, participate if you can. I'm lousy with Q&A.

And after that, March 1 and the Marathon, WFMU's 2011 to be precise; I'll be co-hosting for Sue P.'s Solid Gold Hell the first week, and hosting my two weekly time slots that fall within the fundraiser (week one with Nat Roe; week two with Pseu Braun.) For the size of a membership pledge or greater, you'll be one of the lucky few to own and receive Demo Hell, my premium CDr collection created just for this fundraiser, featuring exclusive tracks by Physical Demon, Bob Bellerue, Explosive Improvised Device, Husere Grav, Skulleraser, Ungoliant (of T.O.M.B.), and a fold-in membrane of classic black metal demo tracks. More on that later.

Also early next month, the 12th to be exact, I'll be co-DJing a massive event in Baltimore, featuring, among many other things, live sets by Castle favorites Kakerlak, T.O.M.B., Malkuth, and Lussuria, as well as a Prison Tatt records table, where show attendees can pick up one of the last remainng Grasshopper LPs, the new OPPONENTS cd, and hopefully the new T.O.M.B. one-sided LP as well (dark prayers sent!) There's more Prison Tatt news, which I'll share in an upcoming post.

I gotta stretch out, get some more sleep.
Busy!

TONIGHT! Instinct Control live on MCoQ.

Yeah, this guy >>>

Ryan T. Dunn (Sex, Power & Labor) from F Newsmagazine on Vimeo.

"The connection between the individual and technology always takes time to develop into an accessible living relationship. As humanity welcomes technology into its everyday life it first utilizes, then feels comforted by, and then is consumed."

Ryan T. Dunn's Instinct Control started out as RGB, in 2003, playing only delayed microphone feedback. Since then, the project has evolved to include voice, trumpet, tape, and chiefly the manual manipulation of tape player circuitry. Interest in direct physical intervention in the produced sound, developing a connection with obsolete technology and using and drawing from the "wrong things" as tools of expression permeates the project. Recently the use of voice has expanded to include the mouth as a source of touch contact as well as learning the language of the machine.

Currently based in Chicago, and passing through these parts on tour, Ryan brings Instinct Control's "body circuit synth noise" absolutely live to My Castle of Quiet radio. Check out the video above for a dazzling example of Instinct Control in action.

The above has been largely edited from Ryan's self-penned bio.

Old caretaker finds that one grime-covered key in 1,000, and lets me in @ midnight.
IC @ 12:45 approx.
WFMU 91.1 FM (NY/NJ)
WMFU 90.1 FM (Hudson Valley)
wfmu.org live on the Web

Bring on the darkness Wm!

Backed up. Behind on everything. Behind on gettin' behind, if you get my drift. "Drift." (—a word for losers; those not "with it" or not "paying attention.") A bloody punchout of the hottest sex is happening, but it's mostly in the movie. The misser 0f 1,000 pep rallies, hell one million. Suboxone kitty.

Sorry I don't have the Kyle Clyde sets up yet; I know that everyone's waiting on them, and they are fucking GREAT, but I need to listen more deeply. Everyone wants the mp3s, but I want to know how I feel about it. You know that annoying little text that accompanies the free music? Important to me. The entire broadcast from last week, meanwhile, can be heard here.

The other night's show, in a haze of proto-illness. Mark Robinson about to be in my head, singing "So, so sick." Let's get one thing straight. Or a few things. I always use this space to speak on what the Castleheads liked, and yeah, we will, but I personally feel great about the Forlis>Josh Lay & Teeth Collection>Carlton Melton bridge. Whoa! I can still do this. Also thinking about starting every week with The Birthday Party; if they had not existed, it would have been necessary to imagine them. NOW IF ONLY WE COULD ALL GROW WINGS AND FLY! And music beds TOO loud (vivid picture of sister Pseu scoffing in my mind.)

I can't fuck around too much, 'cause honestly I feel like crap. Listeners enjoyed the NRIII (yeah!), Leslie Keffer, the Group Ongaku reissue. I am gonna re-find that Desolation link for ya, SiHV, and here it is. What else, what else? Sesso Violento! New and really fucking exciting. From Complexo do Alemao in Rio, Brazil.

Next week >>> Instinct Control, LIVE!!!
The week after >>> Frank Henenlotter and Mike Hunchback live in the studio with Wm.

Nothing but raw, good times—sheer insane enjoyment on The Castle, leading up to the WFMU 2011 Marathon, and the Demo Hell premium CDr. Stay tuned.

Click above on Julia Schacht, from the one of hottest sex scenes ever on film, in Naboer (2005) to reach the playlist and audio archive(s) of Friday's Castle show. Once click more or less...well, she's into it; just play along.

i resent bottom feeders comment--that was just wrong!!!

That's the trick with insults of that nature, i.e., if you think I was addressing you, then it's likely that I was. Castleheads are more apt to be the diggers, the over-curious, the not satisfied. What's "there" is rarely, if ever, good enough for them. That said, the listener-friendly tried-and-true is not absent entirely from the My Castle of Quiet radio show, it just doesn't set the rules, or make up the bulk—it's a seasoning that occasionally provides connective tissue to what's happening now. And that's why I'm here, or at least one big reason why. I never accept, follow, or compromise even three minutes of the weekly broadcast, because I think it might get me laid, or otherwise enhance my personal or social standing, inside or outside of WFMU. It's fairly easy for me to say and write this, too, and not feel like I'm bragging, or being an elitist shithead, because quite literally, in terms of the radio show, my integrity, by way of my unique filter, is all that I have. If I like it, I play it, and I'm already tired of tooting my own horn, so....

Kyle Clyde performed brilliantly, two sets of hair-raising electronic improv, unique renderings that will appear as mp3s for download in about one week's time on WFMU's Beware of The Blog and Free Music Archive. For now, you can click on ill-starred Father Jozef, riddled with forbidden desire like a cancer, to connect to the playlist and audio archives of last night's horrorcast™. (I encourage you, if I may be so bold, to never face the wall of your own reality. Mother Joan, especially when fevered by Clootie, was a desirable, red-blooded woman, and Jozef had a right to his feelings—they both did, despite their collective vows to an invisible and overtly didactic God.)

If you're new to the show and what I do, please also check out my curator portal at the FMA, consisting of all the live sessions I've hosted since July '09, as well as some rare recordings by friends and associates, roughly within the same creative universe.

Compliments and thanks for Kyle Clyde dominated the comments board last night, as well they should have, in addition to notice for recordings by NRIII, Hanged Ghost (available through Seed Stock), Meditations, and yet more archival Schulze.

Exciting events coming up this month on the Castle, in addition to the usual celebration of life (queue birdies and butterflies), including an interview/live chat session with Mike Hunchback and his pal, director Frank Henenlotter (of Basket Case fame, and more recently Bad Biology.) Frank's newest feature is a documentary about Herschell Gordon Lewis, a topic all three of us should be able to, uh, sink our teeth into. The film is screening at Anthology Film Archives for three days beginning on March 11, along with three Lewis classics, Blood Feast, Something Weird, and Scum of the Earth. That's the 24th/25th Castle show.

Even sooner, we're also working on a possible live appearance by Ryan Dunn aka Instinct Control (and there I go, breaking my new rule about one live artist per month, but Ryan is visiting from Chicago, and talented out-of-towners need be accommodated—seize the day!) This is looking good for the 2/18 show, thanks to our friend Bob Bellerue, who also engineered sound for Kyle last night.

March brings the WFMU 2011 marathon fundraiser, and an absolutely deadly CDr premium collection called Demo Hell; more on that soon. March 12 I'll be DJing a monster show in Baltimore with Kakerlak, Lussuria, T.O.M.B., Malkuth, DJ Decapitated Hed, and many others; more on that soon as well. Post marathon, a live performance by Long Distance Poison (3/25.)

Fuck YES! Busy, busy, busy. Less time to cry.

This Thu/Fri on My Castle of Quiet radio >>> Kyle Clyde LIVE!

For 2011, I've cut back the live music (though not necessarily the special guests—stay tuned) to once a month on the My Castle of Quiet radio show. The tremendous amount of work that goes into promoting and organizing a live radio concert, the volunteer time on the part of both myself and the audio engineer, and the personal need I had to devote more of my free time to the Prison Tatt record label led me to this decision. What this means to you, the listener, is that our monthly live music sets will now be anvil-weighted events, heavy stuff, larger than large, and not to be missed. We started the new-year's lineup last month, with two very powerful sets by Lussuria. This week, February's star is Kyle Clyde.

Kyle Clyde is "an eponymous noise and performance project ... (that) explores the areas of folk electronics, garbage noise, the urban sublime, post-industrial recovery, the science of the mind, and aesthetic asceticism. Kyle has performed solo at PPOW Gallery (NY); Saint Mark's Poetry Project (NY); Death By Audio (NY); Enemy (Chicago); Monument II (Chicago); et al., and has toured the US. In addition, she has been a featured performer for Joan Jonas at the Guggenheim (NY). Kyle also books (live music) and curates art shows—formerly organizing events at AC Temple in Birmingham, AL, Goodview in Baltimore, MD, and Silent Barn in New York City. She currently runs the venue/art space Port d'Or with Dylan Hay (Isa) from their storefront studio in Crown Heights, Brooklyn."

"Folk electronics" describes the appeal of Kyle's Clyde's Beyond the Meniscus perfectly. The self-released CDr was one of my favorites last year, for its clever marriage of harsh sound scrabble and floating, membranous space-melody. Her recordings, including a 7"-inch lathe split with Isa Christ, and two CDrs, reveal a sonic intelligence and complexity that stands apart and together with the site- and idea-specific performances she creates.

Sometimes Kyle sounds like vintage Tangerine Dream (think Alpha Centauri and Zeit), at other times like thoughtfully layered, more-than-meets-the-ear wall noise. You can see and hear a lot more of Kyle's work at her myspace page.

Kyle presents us with two live, in-the-moment sets, formulated especially for this broadcast.

I ascend into the DISC-JOCKEY'S chair, hara-kiri sword trailing from my hip, @ 12 midnight.
KC set one @ 12:30 a.m. approx.
WFMU 91.1 FM (NY/NJ)
WMFU 90.1 FM (Hudson Valley)
wfmu.org live on the Web