It's all "sombre" ...

You guys turn my traditional grey pallor a decided shade of blush. Year's end being an inevitable time of reflection, I can say for sure that I've had my ups and my downs, my moments of shame and of great joy, personally speaking...but that most-rare opportunity of turning the giant key in the Castle door, dimming the lights (thanks, Dave the Spazz!) and playing an array of my weekly favorites for you all, that ALWAYS delivers. I'm grateful, both to WFMU, and to the ever-growing cadre that has gathered around the My Castle of Quiet program, for giving my every Thursday into Friday a decided sense of purpose and forward movement.

Onward we go, into the year 2013, with the surety of continued, weekly notes from the musical fringe, special programming and live appearances, and the added bonus of personal connections with some of the listeners, performers, and music labels that have helped make the show what it is. (Those live sets, from Yellow Eyes and Sun Splitter, and last week's hardcore fiesta with Ides, are forthcoming on WFMU's Web portals, I promise; you may have noted that sets by Lea Bertucci and K-Salvatore, originally aired live in early October, just went up this week.)

In other new MCoQ Web business, our yearly list of horror films and most-favored music posted last week to Beware of The Blog, and I swung into this week's program shamefully noting the many glaring omissions from the music list (K-Salvatore's Tsar Ova Elk, the Vetala/Black Cilice split 7" from 2011, the False s/t LP, and Sun Splitter's III come most-readily to mind, NOW.) But that's the "curse" of the music-obsessive; any list of favorites scrolls to the floor and beyond, as there are so many favorites; at least I'm lucky enough to have a radio show, so that weekly colonic exorcism can be counted upon to relieve the pressure. ...

On to this week's horrorcast™, where another still from V / H / S adorned our playlist, listener comments-board mentions included

HASIL ADKINS (on WFMU, no way! ???)

TANGERINE DREAM

NINIKA (new on NVS)

VETALA / BLACK CILICE

SOMBRE PRÉSAGE

SNUFF

Click on the creepy girl alien, looking on, emotionless, as Emily lies unconscious and bloodied on the floor, to reach the audio archives and playlist for this week's My Castle of Quiet.

you fill the void.

MUCH LOVE FOR:

BOB CLARK'S BLACK CHRISTMAS

(THE CALLS ARE COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE!)

GERMS

"SIOUXIE" (SIOUXSIE) IS HOW THEY CALL A PIG.

SUPER POWERS (LIKE BEING INVISIBLE IN THE GIRLS' LOCKER ROOM.)

UNHOLY TWO

OUR VERY SPECIAL GUESTS IDES!

FLORIDIAN WINTER

SZRON

CRIPTA OCULTA

DHAMPYR

It was a trebly, punchy, showing of electric maelstrom last night; there was a lightning rod on every turret of The Castle, just to ensure that if anything did happen, it was going to happen here. The cymbals and downbeats in every selection rattled with extra chaos, the servants broke the china, and dropped every pot and pan in the house, and lightning struck; the crackles musical sky whomps. IDES broke the playlist-accolade record, for sure. Everything buzzed, like sheets of paper-thin, electrified chain mail, and a time was had by all!

Have the holiday week you were meant to have, the one you wish to have, and we'll see you after the sleighs have been through; after the last kid has opened up a sweater, and groaned slightly and pretended to like it.

BEAUREGARD! 

Click on the "I like you"-girl from V / H / S to reach the playlist and audio archives for last night's horrorcast.™

TONIGHT ... IDES! LIVE NJHC on My Castle of Quiet!!

There's so much great, new hardcore, especially in the last 10 years or so, that I can hardly keep up, especially with all my other assorted musical fetishes, but I try! ...And New Jersey, like Boston, being one of the places where the genre was originally born and thrived, is no slouch in modern terms.

With that in mind, MCoQ is proud to present a live set from IDES, a band just on the approach to some peak / plateau of their powers. IDES pack more variation and energy into their 40-sec. to 1.5-min. songs than most bands in punk put into songs twice or three tines as long.

And not to overemphasize the "female singer" aspect, but Jillian Keats' vocals do add an enticing element to IDES' sound, a relevance of fresh energy and (girl) power, and fans of Nausea and Crass, and other legendary female-fronted hardcore bands, will not be disappointed.

You can listen to their demo and single at the their bandcamp page (linked above and below), which will give you more than an idea of what to expect, though I also imagine IDES to be a band so fresh and so vital, that they're probably getting better and better with each show and practice session.

I climb to the top of the impossibly long spiral staircase, and toll the bell (for thee) @ midnight.
IDES go live @ 12:30 a.m. approx.
WFMU 91.1 FM (NY/NJ)
WMFU 90.1 FM (Hudson Valley)
wfmu.org live on the Web, with real-time accuplaylist and message board.

Exploding heart, what a way to die.

Not a still from a horror movie this time, but a slice instead of real-life horror. JFK's press man, Malcolm Killduff, pointing to where the fatal shot took out the President's skull; a blast from the grassy knoll.

This image is not seen often enough; by its very existence, it tears to shreds the laughable Warren-Commission report on the assassination. And on its face, an emblem of the rapidly deteriorating faith in our government, which continues to this day. True horror, especially when compared to our usual escapist imagery culled from classic and modern films (not that I don't love the same; quite obviously, I do.) But the MEN BEHIND THE CURTAIN are still running things, and will continue to do so, unless and until we all embrace the spirit of revolution that's on continuous slow burn in our hearts.

On to last night's horrorcast™, comment-board favorites included-

Cornflakes 808 (danceable Simonetti-isms from Italy)
Ides (LIVE NEXT WEEK!)
Wulkanaz (already oop tape on Wohrt)
Yellow Eyes (MCoQ live set here; dazzling live clip here)
Highgate (a great 2010 doom record, dropped into my lap via trade)
False Flag (2x floppy-disc release)

It's a continuous source of creative release and ultimately joy for me to do the weekly, live, My Castle of Quiet broadcasts, and knowing that there are many of you out there following along, with ears and minds open, just serves to sweeten the pot. And though I spend much of my week distracted and fretful, loneliness and despair always looming within reach, it seems to make sense that it all culminates in the weekly broadcast, where we get to commiserate on some great music, made up of feelings ominous and occasionally disturbing. We "break bread" over a meal of unusual and dark art—and don't you dare call me late to dinner!

Thanks for listening, always, and watch out! "Beware, be aware!" as Gong put it, and I'll catch you next week, with Ides live in the WFMU studio.

the lake kneels before your awesome.

Pumpkinhead—a great American horror film, beautiful in its simplicity. Stan Winston's finest hour; a tale of supernatural vengeance, with great American horror star Lance Henriksen at its centre, as grieving father "Edddd Haaaarley." An exquisitely designed monster, that's never overexposed, and all blissfully pre-CGI.

Which reminds me, the My Castle of Quiet end-of-year film and music list is coming soon. The film list is not limited to horror, nor is it limited to ten entries, and the music list gets longer every year. Never a simple, expository banging-out of plot lines, I work hard on the piece, pruning and refining it throughout the year, and the POV is most intentionally subjective and personal. I don't want you adding crap to your Netflix queues, nor do I want to tell you the whole story, ever ... just enough enticement to encourage you to see some movies (and listen to some music) that made my year, and form your own notions about it all. Just to jog your memory, here's last year's list.

This week's program flowed like milky-white android juice out of Ian Holm's mouth, and I had the usual rejuvenating slam-bang creative release of a time, three hours zipping by before I knew what was happening. ... Playlist commenters enjoyed:

EDWARD KA-SPEL'S A Pleasure Cruise Through Nine Dimensions
VETALA, from split 7"' with Black Cilice
MONARCH Sortilège
BEREFT double-CS reissue (live video)
DON PRESTON'S analog-electronic works; collection on Sub Rosa

Thanks always for your kind words, your respectful and enthusiastic appreciation of the weekly horrorcast™—it never gets old!

Back next week, and in two with live music from NJ's Ides!

Guillermo, me gusta!!!!! ... Hot damn, what a demonic sound going down.

ARCHIVE RE-POST A LITTLE LATE THIS WEEK ... I WAS WAITING TO HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY, AND IT NEVER CAME. THERE'S SOME REALLY DARK ENERGY IN THE WORLD THIS WEEK, AND I'M HESITANT TO EVEN DIP MY TOE.

I DARE YOU TO SHOW ME A UFO.
I DARE YOU TO INTRODUCE ME TO A GHOST.
I DARE YOU TO SHOW ME A SPELL THAT REALLY WORKS.

ALL PROPHECY IS BULLSHIT.

OUR PLAYLIST COMMENTERS REMARKED UPON-

WRETCHED WORST
TUKAARIA
HERMÓĎR
PROFECTUM IRI
FALSE FLAG
TELECULT POWERS

THANKS FOR SUPPORTING THE BANDS, THE LABELS, THE SHOW AND WFMU.