I had my own little blast with the opening few tracks—John the Postman mumbling about "the wrath of Astaroth," and Nick Cave howling, "come my executioner, come my bounty hunter, come my county killers, I cannot run no more!!" -all seemed very relevant in light of national and local events, with both the FDR and Lincoln Tunnel closed by street protests as the show began. And "The Return of Darkness and Evil," well, trouble is it never really went away! ...I'm no activist, certainly not a soapbox-stander, but if our courts keep telling our Black citizens that our police can shoot them dead with absolute impunity, that sets a horrible standard on both ends; cops will never think "de-escalation, or 'shoot to apprehend'" and Black people, quite honestly, how could they NOT think, "I am a target. My family will be left alone, with only Civil retribution / compensation to pursue"; NEVER vindication, never for the Black man, and it makes me ill just thinking about it, because it promotes ongoing unrest and disharmony, amd tells our Black citizens that their lives are worth less. ...I hope people stay PISSED OFF for a long time, long enough that actual change and awareness seeps into the thick American skull.
Back to the safe environs of The Castle, playlist notices went to John the Postman's Black Widow rendition, from the highly underrated (and woefully un-reissued) The Disparate Cogscienti, a 1988 compilation rolled together by The Fall's Mark E. Smith, with a solid representation of all types of gleefully bent, smart, wholly-unheard-up-to-that-moment UK and American pop. (We heard from the collection again later in the show; God with "Sounds Like Thunder.")
Also "trending" on our playlist were our live guest(s), rescheduled from last week, Thomas Carnacki—a simply excellent live set, wholly Castle-appropriate, with much haunt and much gloom; I only wish that I had been there to experience it in person. Thanks to Jean Paul G. for making the session recording happen—he's a dedicated, enthused, talented engineer, who goes the extra mile, in our impressive roster of extra-mile-going WFMU audio engineers.
Also of much discussion, a film that's come up before in our playlist chats—1979's Tourist Trap, a bizarre, B-budget affair, with effective dread and a wealth of eerie, deadpan scenes that prove Soylent Green's Chuck Connors could really do something in front of a camera. Must remember to load this one up, and scout for a few choice captures.
Also of note, a track I liked so much I ripped it from YouTube by R. Nikolaenko. I highly recommend that you check out his YouTube channel and subscribe to it; his music, the keyboard-based pieces especially, are PURE CASTLE HEAVEN.
More playlist notices went to: Of Blood and Oak; a howling, caterwauling cassette of Vinlandic harsh noise, wholly infectious, from Vanguard Productions; and that curious, hypnotic, and right brilliant Black Hat album, Thought of Two, more wholesome, colorful elec.-noise-improv goodness from Hausu Mountain, who have also released our good friends' Grasshoppers' monumental new LP, Dark Sabbath: Symbols of Evil. Both records, quite honestly, are musts-to-own for the fully tuned-in Castlehead. [Ghop's second MCoQ live session, from this past August]
Maria's luminous dolls, up at the top, will take you to our lengthy, schizophrenic comments board, our playlist, and archived audio for last night's horrorcast™.
Coming soon, my end-of-year 2014 music and movies list; thoughtfully stewing now.
