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Blistering show last night, good times! ...WFMU's 2015 fundraiser is only two weeks away, so get ready, Castleheads. We'll have some great prize giveaways, sterling co-hosts, and a premium CDr collection of some of the rarest Krautrock gems from my personal collection, entitled Raritäten Krautspieler (see a brief description, cover art, and other WFMU DJ premiums for 2015 at this page; our cover model is the stunning Hannah Fierman, famed for her role in the "Amateur Night" segment of V/H/S, thanks to Castle super-listener Ken Weaver, who photographed and designed the cover.)

Shown above, one of my heroes—Michael Findlay—the prolific, oddball, talented and tragic auteur behind such films as Shriek of the Mutilated, the Flesh trilogy, Satan's Bed, and The Ultimate Degenerate (from which our capture comes.) Findlay's films, made in close collaboration with his wife Roberta, represent a vaunted obsession for me. For the unique consumer of cine-exploitation, once you've seen a "Findlay" or two, you're hooked, on their distinctive darkness, moody post-Bergman photography, meandering plots and irresistible sleaze. Ultimate Degenerate is one of his more readily digestible features; a great place to start for the uninitiated. Considering especially that Findlay's works were made for the cheap-and-cheerful Times Square circuit of the 60s and 70s, they represent considerable vision, and the boldness and craft to try and tell strange and "real" stories, and to make "art," for what were essentially brown-overcoat, paper bag jack-off emporiums.

On to last night's musical selections, there was much appreciation for a vintage Siouxsie hit, one of my favorites, as well as a full tape side from Heavydeath, ace doom purveyors whose recorded works are seeing the light of day thanks to Caligari Records. Much dank and ominous groove from WFMU favorites Cadaver Eyes, followed by an ongoing discussion (my bad, I think I started it) of maggots,  and their unique talent / virtue for consuming necrotic flesh. Praise also for GIDIM, who were not even part of last night's playlist, but have been so in weeks prior—a great, one-man Midwestern black metal monolith, with a new split on Broken Limbs Recordings with Leather Chalice, and we did hear a staggeringly good track from the Leather Chalice side of the tape.

Also, heavy praise for our last set, which included red fish blue fish's new, clamorous rendering of Stockhausen's "Mikrophonie," a live cassette track by our old friends Caldera Lakes (the first artist ever to contribute exclusive music for our show, and our first-ever entry at the My Castle of Quiet portal on WFMU's Free Music Archive; -hi Eva and Brittany, hope you are doing stellar!), and a phantasmagorical selection by Head Dress, from Frozen In Time II, the second three-cassette collection of various-artist Ingmar Berman-inspired sound works released by Black Horizons.

Click on the spat-faced Spencer above, one of M. Finlday's many twisted characterizations, to reach the accuplaylist, audio archive and listener comments for last night's horrocast™, and thanks for tuning in.

Necro pages

Castlehead / comment love this week for GIDIM (new split w Leather Chalice coming on Broken Limbs  Feb. 17; we premiered a track from each last week) | early Summoning | Vorde (our live guests, coming 4.28, just shy of Walpurgisnacht.)

Personal highs included tracks from Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom (new cs reissue on Caligari Records) | Nekromantiker (a steal @ $10!) | Electric Funeral | Vilkacis | Bog Oak | Bludded Head | Arvo Zylo (great new tape!) | Mood Organ (on the excellent, new MOTOR label, out of Seattle) | Contact | ...and a new track from Faust.

Our eerily comic screen capture this week comes from Chester Novell Turner's Tales From the Quadead Zone. Turner, more well known for the wild and sensational Black Devil Doll From Hell, is without question a most-unique, bizarro voice in no-budget American cinema; his films look cheap, but have a quality of vision that far exceeds any production value.

Click on the zoned-out Mom, "living high," to reach the playlist, comments, and audio archive for this week's horrorcast™, and thanks for tuning in.

Thanks for the RAT ! ! !

I remember when I learned the difference between "lunch" and "luncheon"—lunch just happens, it's the midday meal, for many of us, while luncheons are "held." Ladies hold luncheons—women attend, sometimes girls, sometimes men—but luncheons are held, by ladies, and usually in someone's honor. My fantasy is that Jezebel mag holds a luncheon in Nightbitch's honor—it'll be then that I know we are all truly equal, and fearlessly so, and mere words will cease to have the power we imbue them with, when neo-feminists can celebrate (and they should) such a testosterone-laden TRUE METAL combo as our guests last night. For anyone who ever wore a chain wallet, and / or held up the horns in earnest, Nightbitch are your band, and I joke, as there are plenty of chicks who can raise up music like Nightbitch, and are perhaps even more devoted, true metalheads than many a dude who finds himself swimming in the metal gene pool.

My point? We lost one such woman this week—Katherine Ludwig, founding editor of Metal Maniacs magazine (remember print media, kids?)—a Mom, a generous friend, a straight shooter, and as true as true metal enthusiasts get. She shall be missed, by many. R.I.P., Katherine—your suffering is over, and now you have all the time to fly by night, and soak up all the great metal music the universe has to offer, watch over your son, and carry your righteous nature into the misty afterlife.

Getting back to our special, live guests, rarely if ever has My Castle of Quiet been in more solid, classic-metal territory—with swirling lead guitar (Ryan Adams, also with former Castle guests One Master, their 2013 live set subsequently published on CS by NoVisible Scars), chunky Hammond organ, and the most-solid of solid back lines. Starting with the theme from Phantasm, then launching into a set of their simply great original songs, that also included choice covers from Iron Maiden and Deep Purple, Nightbitch laid it down for all to hear, and their outstanding, new, self-titled 10" releases on The Ajna Offensive on March 15 (beware!)

Last night's horrorcast™ also featured the exclusive premiere of two tracks from the upcoming Leather Chalice / GIDIM split tape on Broken Limbs Recordings, both bands fitting right in to the Castle pantheon—filthy, idiosyncratic, one-man black metal projects that are worthy of your extreme focus—cassette edition of 100 releases on Feb. 17.

Also new last night, another Castle premiere of sorts, by the one-of-a-kind Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom, the 2010 album by this mighty, Pagan, Motörhead-inspired Birmingham combo, to be reissued on tape by the mighty Caligari Records.

Also of note on our playlist, new selections by former Castle guests IDES | the great Vorde | Kyle Eyre Clyd (2014 live Castle collab with Rodger Stella just posted!; Kyle Eyre Clyd on SoundCloud) | ...as well as a track by the ever-present R. Nikolaenko, and some dark dynamite on cassette from México's Horrendus. Our opening set also featured a much-appreciated (see our headline, above) classic track from Deep Purple In Rock.

Thanks for listening, and for your many effusive comments aimed at our special guests. Click above on the translucently pale, alluring Tilda Swinton (having just sampled "the good stuff"), from Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive, an uncommon, landmark vampire saga—to reach the playlist, listener comments and audio stream of last night's horrorcast.