THRASH UNREAL!

Summertime in NJ is so miserable; oppressive heat and humidity, a lack of physical energy, while at the same time, the "Summer fever" of raw lust boils my very blood. Gets me thinking about dear Elke, how I would flick the pom-poms on her hat, kiss her gently, and tell her that I'd protect her from Baron Blood. Shit, she's only on the run through old Vienna because her tousled-hair, model-looks boyfriend read an old incantation at the right time and in the right place. Over-curious, weak-willed fuck; I'd be much better for her than him—at least I wouldn't get her stalked, and maybe killed, by a resurrected evil magician. Sweet, tantalizing Elke, with her alluring, Teutonic features! Lisa and the Devil is however a much-more watchable collaboration between the actress and the late Mario Bava. Much more.

And Vienna, will I ever get back there? Much like San Francisco, in that once you've been, you leave a little part of your heart there. The Viennese air smells like a heady mixture of the damp, meat, cigarettes and wood-burning stoves, which I of course loved. I had a day off in Vienna once, while on tour with my old band, and I walked all over the city, hitting literally every record store in the phone book. I was a near-cripple the next day, from all the walking, my left leg and foot being the "bad ones," but it was totally worth it. Picked up several 39 Clocks originals, a Sly & the Family Stone original for 30 schillings, the first Amon Düül LP for a steal, and one of those Visions of the Past comps, plus a lot more...buying records on tour being one of the finest aspects of being in a working band, not to mention the college-age women that hitchhiked across Austria to see every one of our shows!

Traveling to Europe would be so very different now ... I'd take my son, and show him all the wonders. We'd eat wurstl (the kasekreiner, a chesse-filled sausage only available in Germanic countries being one of the most savory carnivorous treats I've ever gorged upon; eating even the most base, street-food meat there is a veritable feast compared to gnawing on the factory-farm-floor scrapings that go into sausage here), and we'd walk the old city looking for Baron Blood exterior locations. As Midge Ure unfortunately sang, "Oh, Vienna!"

On to this week's horrorcast™, 'twas the now-usual 1.5 hours of sludge, black, grind, punk and other hard scree, followed by a second half of massive, mind-melting noise and sound art. (These, and the video-game music that my boy has got me obsessing over.)

Listener comments noted the Unsane track, which came to my attention during the end-credit sequence of an excellent, recent French horror film called The Pack, starring veteran and highly versatile actress Yolande Moreau, as well the equally veteran Philippe Nahon—playing a very different character from his popular "Boucher" mega-misanthrope. WOLD, filthy-noise mongers Shalocins (lots of free downloads at that link), NRIII (two discs into their amazing EP trilogy!), and the always-loved-by Castleheads Moonknight, also provoked excited commentary.

We've got two special events coming up in August -- Brooklyn's great Divorce Money LIVE, and round #2 of the Seed Stock/RB guest-DJ extravaganza of rare black-metal art. For more information on those events, please see the My Castle of Quiet playlist directory page.

Click on Elke Sommer's lovely, sweat-speckled face above, to access the playlist and audio-archive options for last night's show. Thanks for listening; your comments (even the somewhat backhanded ones) are always appreciated!