Hey - those pants sold out in pre-order!

Yes, this week I claim the headliner for myself, as the most laughable line of the night; a bit "inside," but if you know the party or parties involved, utterly hilarious.

The Castle Freak should never have come out of his basement lock-up. To view the full physical extent of his body, his visage, and those all-but-gone genitalia—it would be too much for even the most damned of souls. And he tried to compensate, with the young lady, for his lack of proper equipment, but it all ended up a bloody mess, truly. Truly yes, and no exaggeration, neither for the young lady or for Castle Freak himself. Had her hands not been bound, she could have given him "the tap," but even then, things may have been too far gone. Lousy head indeed!

I had an extra-good time putting last night's horrorcast™ together, hardly consulting my "notes" at all; it's true enough that sometimes one only needs a few good starting points, for any creative venture. So it was last night.

The Roland Kayn piece, to contemplate Kayn in the first, a composer that has inspired me so much, and yet his works rarely grace the Castle airwaves, largely because of their duration, but also because I'm cautious of wallowing in music I truly like that much, so that it may never, ever become routine. The expected enthusiasm followed in the listener comments. (Kayn passed away in January.)

As listener ami ad noted "good tunes" on the playlist at the very stroke of 1:47, I am unsure as to whether this applied to Kavra or Desastrious—both are deserving; grimy black metal of the very highest order—the very sonic equivalent of gloriously ill-fitting pants. Ha!

In addition, after two weeks and as many selections, listeners are already on track with the new Half An Abortion full-length being one of the best noise records of the year. It's called Naked Math Machinery, and is available on Ilse Music. Ho-Lee-Fook, it's good!

Like all of dir. Stuart Gordon's Lovecraft adaptations (Castle Freak is based on the short story The Outsider, which can still inspire tears some 40 years after I first read it), Castle Freak amps up the gore, and takes great liberties with the story, but the still the basic core of the tale remains. Gordon is a smart man, and knew that Lovecraft was quality writing, not meant to be merely "mined" for its skeletal parts. The Outsider is punk literature decades and decades before such a thing existed, before Darby Crash ever thought to write a poem; the ultimate parcel of human alienation, and a spot-on expression of the dusty solitude of our lives within these neato flesh-prisons we carry around. Here is a larger-scale appreciation I wrote of H.P. Lovecraft for WFMU's Beware of The Blog in January of 2006.

Please remember that Professor Dum Dum and I will be at Clifton, NJ's Clash Bar tomorrow night (39 Harding Avenue), starting at 9 p.m., as part of a WFMU "Meet the Listener" event, as well as a Bill Zebub DVD-release and screening party for his film, Antfarm Dickhole. I imagine the event will go on as planned, hurricane be damned; and while we're at it, damn the newscasters and broadcast weathermen too, for so delighting in whipping up general hysteria, and drumming up business for the supermarket chains and property insurers.

Castle Freak will take you to the playlist and audio-archive options for last night's horrorcast, but, uh, best to guard your privates.

Full of wonder tonight!

LOST ENTIRE POST WHILE TRYING TO LINK BLACKDEATH HAHA THEIR HOMEPAGE LINK TRULY EVIL HAHA JUST KEPT PASTING ITSELF OVER AND OVER HAHA ERASED ALL MY PRIOR CONTENT HAHA HAD TO COMPLETELY START OVER HAHA RUSSIANS HA.

Wonder >>>

—as in a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable
—as in why is it that I inhale, and by the time I've exhaled, all new releases on Youth Attack have sold out
—as in the little boy (filthy bunny-bonnet optional) removed his finger from the hole in the dyke, and a great flood of amazing new music surged past my door, as I reached out to grab what I could, all the while "yoinking" like Homer Simpson
—as in I wonder if that's a real cat

Completely wowed by the new Half An Abortion full-length on Ilse (yes kids, it's true—great noise can come out on CD!) Also receiving heavy notice on this week's playlist were Smoke and the aforementioned Blackdeath, both on Wohrt Records, Arizmenda's new tape, already in second press, Cripta Oculta, Throudos (2006 demo is a free download at that link), the Aghori split tape (with Gitche-Anahmi-Bezheu, their side was heard on last week's horrorcast™) on Existential Cloth Recordings, OPPONENTS (as always), and Norwegian BM legends Tulus.

Next Saturday, the 27th, I'll be a semi-luminous presence at this event, a WFMU listener meetup and Bill Zebub screening and DVD release party for his film Antfarm Dickhole, at The Clash Bar in Clifton, NJ, with fellow DJ Professor Dum Dum also in attendance, his Deutsche intellectual superiority in full display. Bill's movies always deliver more than they might seem to promise at a glance, thick with gnarly wit and social satire, and gloriously politically incorrect. It should be a fun night (Alice Cooper cover band inclusive, so turn out and meet your two most-favorite WFMU air personalities (let's be honest, now.)) Bill says I'm "lovely and talented"—he hath EYES, to see; you can, too.

It's been many a year since I watched Gummo, in fact I had to take the original shrinkwrap off of the DVD case to get the capture above (from the film's final scene.) I bought the DVD, and then kind of "forgot" that I owned it, if that speaks at all to Gummo's true status as a horror film, if not a genre film. It's difficult viewing, though it achieves a certain aesthetic/visual perfection, aided by the mostly grindcore soundtrack, and Harmony Korine's chillingly spot-on depiction of middle-American, white working-class, "idle-hands" conduct.

Click on Bunny Boy to reach the audio archive(s) and playlist for this week's horrorcast. Thanks for listening.

mine eyes are open

This week's Castle show was of the class I always endeavor to put forth—a powerful, dramatic live guest performer, a wealth of great, contemporary black metal and dark ambient sounds, soundtracks, trailers, and a flood of my beloved horrorscapes™.

And at the risk of being "tacky," or "proud," if I don't sound my own trumpet, who will? I have never been, and likely never will be, one of the "celebrity" DJs at WFMU (you know who they are, they know who they are.) I'm not out to please most of the people most of the time, or to get the most playlist comments, or the most praise. I don't disparage the hard work of any of my colleagues at the station, certainly not, though it seems my lot is to be appreciated fully by the enthusiastic few, and that's just fine. If my grapes taste the least bit sour, it's only because I'm such a fool that I actually believe the music I support should be "popular" music, if not "pop." I use only the best materials to dress my canvas, and expect some notice for it, though it's acceptable all the same that my mood is not the mood of the masses. If there were no "thesis," there would be no need for antithesis.

The Decimus live set was strikingly accomplished, brilliant, exquisite—you'll see. You can hear it as part of the full horrorcast™, by clicking on the hanged priest above, or wait for the mp3 download to appear on WFMU's Beware of The Blog and Free Music Archive.

Also receiving notice on the listener-comments board was the music of the late Conrad Schnitzler, Throudos (new album can be downloaded for FREE), Guilt, Tomhet, gitche-anahmi-bezheu, and the Epileptinomicon/HIJDRA cassette.

A show so tight you could tie a bow around it, and I do say so myself. Pride is the lion's sin, and I'm a lion who doesn't give a shit what the trendies (Martial Canterel? Really?) and the nostalgia freaks are after.

No special guests next week, but lots of great shows and night callers coming up this Autumn (Black Twilight Circle tour, anyone? See Oct. 6 at that link) and many a pending event yet to be inked and announced.

Thank YOU for listening. It's you the listeners that truly make the Castle turrets spin 'round.

Decimus ABSOLUTELY LIVE on My Castle of Quiet, TONIGHT!

Decimus is the name for the solo creations of Pat Murano, a sonic journeyman of many stripes. A long-time member of the No-Neck Blues Band, Pat also formed the outstanding two-man collaborations K Salvatore and Key of Shame, in addition to forming and fronting Malkuth (who played on The Castle in Jan. of 2010), one of the most important and highly original black metal bands in NYC history. Pat is a player with a lot to offer, the music apparently shuffling for position within and without him.

The Decimus works are gloriously patient and long-form, not "noise" at all, but melodic, even "psychedelic" at times, the individual pieces ranging anywhere from 7 to 45 minutes in length. Were it not known that Pat was working multiple keyboards and a mixer from a tabletop vantage point, one might presume, based on the sound of things, that Decimus were some sort of progressive electronic ensemble of four-to-five persons. These pieces flow, surge and subside, with melody, counterpoint and polyrhythms bouncing off the walls, not unlike the works of Bianchi and Schnitzler (the latter, R.I.P.)

My Castle of Quiet is pleased to present a live, in-the-moment performance by Decimus.

All giallos suddenly make complete sense @ 12 mid.
Decimus @ 12:30 a.m. approx.
WFMU 91.1 FM (NY/NJ)
WMFU 90.1 FM (Hudson Valley)
wfmu.org live on the Web, with live accu-playlist and message board

make your own damn pizza

If you spent any time growing up in the Northeastern U.S., you know the jingle that ends, "Shop Rite has the answer," and though I'm almost positive that they were referring to the "answer" for dinner, with this graphic above, the larger implications become immediately laid bare. Either that, or some drug pusher had a real sense of humor. The "answer," indeed.

Our special live musical guest, Lady Piss, took the high honors Thursday night, no doubt whatsoever, though several items on the playlist also made indelible impressions—45 Grave's first single, "Black Cross," Tinsel Teeth, Odal (again!), Velaad, Wolfmangler, Vanyar and Ash Borer all took home the silver.

The great times just never seem to end on The Castle, and much thanks must be extended to Diane "Kamikaze" Farris, for making the magic happen; she's the woman behind the curtain, and in this case there's no need to ignore the all great and powerful, as Diane made last night's
Lady Piss session, and the Raspberry Bulbs performance and recording two weeks ago, something(s) truly special. Lady Piss' set will post as downloadable mp3s to WFMU's Web portals, Beware of The Blog and the Free Music Archive, sometime within the next two weeks. In the meantime, you may check out my curator portal at the FMA, to review the many past performances and sessions that have graced the Castle airwaves on WFMU.

For now, check out those unbeatable values for yourself—the SHOP RITE logo will at least take you to the audio archives and playlist for this week's horrorcast™, if not to some values of your own. DO NOT BE TAKEN IN BY THE FAMOUS MYTH OF QUALITY.

On a personal note, thanks for the deluge of birthday wishes from friends old and new.

NEXT WEEK~~~DECIMUS, LIVE!

My Castle of Quiet, Movie Night #2, tonight in Nyack.

Do join Don Sigal of Opposite Records, Richard of the NVT, and myself, tonight, for MCoQ Movie Night #2.

To be screened >>>

Bug - William "Exorcist" Friedkin's 2006 feature; a brilliant treatise on the horrors of the mind—maybe drugs, maybe bugs. The tension builds perfectly, as the camera swoops around the room, plotting the characters' ascent into madness. Reality slips away, and the scratching is almost unbearable. Starring the excellent Michael Shannon, with a hagged-out Ashley Judd at her absolute best. Many thanks to R.W. Hessler, for his insistence that I see this one, now one of my favorite films of the decade.

-in-between the features—The cheerfully gory short Staplefahrer Klaus, and early music videos by Kraftwerk.

Haute Tension (2003), dir. by Alexandre Aja, who's yet to top it, though he's tried. A brutal and merciless killer is roaming the French countryside—or is he? "Twist" endings aside, this is one of the best horror films of the 2000s, a real seat-jumper; the first film in many a year to make me gasp and/or feel shocked. We're screening the original, subtitled French version, a much better viewing than the somewhat thoughtlessly dubbed version that ran in U.S. theaters.

We really need a good turnout for this one, so that Don and Richard can continue to present alt. culture events at the NVT. Turn out, see the films, and wish me a happy birthday!

Nyack Village Theatre
94 Main Street
Nyack, NY
films start at 9 p.m.

LADY PISS - a LIVE splashing on the airwaves - TONIGHT on The Castle.

The band Lady Piss make their first venture northward, after dazzling local Baltimore audiences for some time, with their pummeling hooks and angular, infectious riffage. Progressive and wild, one might compare these B-more sensations to The Jesus Lizard and that's fair, sonically speaking, but only as a baseline—their deft, intricate arrangements and great songwriting take flight into new, cascading zones that are uniquely the band's own. Lady Piss have an outstanding pedigree in their hometown, as the project features former members of Triac, Fight Amp, Carrion, Dactyl and Flowers in the Attic, and current members of Multicult, The Wayward, and Murder.

Their debut 12" vinyl e.p., Streaming, has done quite well, especially for a first, self-made release (hear and purchase the digital version at bandcamp, though the vinyl does come w/a free download code), and you can pick up a copy and hear for yourself, not only on the air but live in person as well, as Lady Piss' My Castle of Quiet radio appearance coincides with a NY-area show, at The Charleston in Williamsburg, Saturday, August 6th, with Ancient Sky, The Catalyst and Tournament. From a trickle off the curb to your radio, this week on The Castle.

I hand over my show opening to Dave the Spazz, my features splayed from a good session of "Hogs of the Road," @ midnight.
LP @ 12:30 approx.
WFMU 91.1 FM (NY/NJ)
WMFU 90.1 FM (Hudson Valley)
wfmu.org live on the Web