I don't hear any slobbering.

So...last private party at The Castle for a while, as WFMU gears up for Crunch Time: our stealthy, low-impact, October stopgap fundraiser. Fun times last night, more fun to come.

I learned a few things this week; a) you can buy ridiculously inexpensive desktop-printer ink off-brand that works FINE; b) living in the moment as often as possible will always serve you best; and c) Netflix's contractual situations don't care if you want to spend October watching great movies, great SCARY movies, etc.—Oct. 1, what a day to remove The Exorcist, Invisible Invaders, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Blue Velvet, Bloody Sunday, Yesterday Today and Tomorrow, Going Places, Justine, Nightmares Come At Night, and Schoolgirl Hitchhikers (see above) from their streaming universe. Ah, first-world problems!

Had my usual blast last night, starting off with "Stolen Police Car" by King Tears Bat Trip, sounding like Albert Ayler backed by Boredoms 77, and receiving much approval on our playlist. What followed was a flood of black-ish metal, including the newest (and apparently final) tape from Canada's Putamen Insula, a band I've followed with great interest (featuring members of Oppression and Verglas); wild punk-black from Brasil's Velho; a great, split-single A side from Ancestors Blood on Tour de Garde; also on T-d-G, one whole tape side of creepy, funereal ambience from Old Tower; a classic speed track from Germany's Running Wild (have been playing their first album, a 2015 WFMU Record Fair acquisition, to DEATH at home); and yet another track from Bloodfucking Freaks by Throaat—our special, live guests on next week's program! [Facebook event announcement]

Our final hour was an electronic festi, with tracks from Slenderman, Alexandra Atnif (crunchy, beat-based, home-cassette goodness!), Long Distance Poison's new LP (not to boast AT ALL, but I wrote the liner notes, and WFMU's own Michele Colomer did the design and layout), Golden Retriever, et al.

Click on officer pigtails above, to reach the archive and playlist for last night's horrorcast™, and please join us @ WFMU & My Castle of Quiet next month for live music, Singles Going Steady week, and more. Info tc.

I must dash, and rewatch Curtis Harrington's Night Tide before it's too late.

Sounds like the swinging pendulum over the pit.

Ah, blissful coverage! A lined hoodie, long pants (ok, sweats...yes I wear sweats in public because I just don't give a shit) a crisp breeze across my face, and my desire to leave the house all mark the coming of glorious Autumn in the Northeast. Everything seems possible, my temperament goes from "hair trigger" to "safety on," music sounds better, films and photos look better, my olfactory sense tingles, and hell, I may even get kissed before the year is out (though I hedge no bets.)

This is when traipsing to WFMU to do my weekly program becomes a real joy—may sound pretty much the same—feels renewed, rebooted, to me. That lusty breeze that fuels through Jersey City at the Hudson's edge is simultaneously invigorating and deeply relaxing. Hint: Once you turn the corner of 50, you tend to take not a damn thing for granted.

On to last night's horrorcast™, surprised no one asked about our screen capture...it's the lovely Christina Hendricks, of Mad Men fame, peeling off her face in a less-than-Grand Guignol of sorts, in the Ryan Gosling-directed Lost River, a gloomy, Lynchian, neon-lit fable set in a ruined American town, that the more it resonates, is fastly becoming one of my favorite views of the year. Also starring Barbara Steele (!) in a non-speaking role, and the entrancing Saoirse Ronan.

Playlist comments went to a thoughtfully reissued 1981 Heldon single (pop-orange vinyl; on Souffle Continu); Darvulia's great, last gasp; vintage Pussy Galore covering The Stones; prog-black weirdness from Murw; more vintage, New York Dolls' full-throttle cover of Bo Diddley's "Pills," always a personal favorite (live clip 1974), and our opener, a Nurse With Wound single, from their Dada-exotica phase ca. 1995.

Personal highs included the theme from Night Train to Terror; Human Bodies; vintage Piledriver; Red Dragon (on Tour de Garde); one side of the Nembutal cassette on Yamabushi Recordings; and new releases on Midwich by Magas and Moon Pool and Dead Band.

Lots of live music coming in October on My Castle of Quiet—sets next month from Throaat (10/7); Horoscope (10/14); Mortífera (10/28.) More info tc. Thanks for tuning in!

SCARIEST most DISTURBING image yet!

Thanks slugluv1313, I thought it was a skin-crawler; even more so if you see the movie, Wake In Fright (1970), a landmark in existential cinema, and Australian cinema overall. High-tension, and not a minute wasted! Click on owur luvvley haaus bend to reach the streaming audio archive & playlist for last night's My Castle of Quiet horrorcast™.

Fan favorites included: "So Jellified" from the new album by Cherubs [got MY attention for sure!]; classic 1981 krautrock from Hardy Kukuk, brought to us by the excellent Wah Wah label, featuring Klaus Bloch, more well known for his idiosyncratic Extrem Musik a la Ping Pong albums.
Some YT audio below:


Listener blee praised the "fierce[ness]" of our second set, which included many new tracks, from One Master | Hercyn | Hadit | ...and a quartet of selections from three cassettes on the outstanding, UK-based Yamabushi Recordings label.

Thanks for listening and joining in. Back next week...

do you have any TKK?

Why yes, I do! Have a soft spot for that old Wax Trax! grime. I rarely if ever take "suggestions" (as listener Jake Gould noted, sounds much better than "requests"); my old 80s-90s show description in WFMU's LCD 'zine used to end with the sentence, "None of your damn requests." (My default method is cut those solicitors off at the knees.) Still, as we saw last night, sometimes a request can suggest an unconsidered path. 

It's a common misconception that I go out of my way to *not* be a crowd-pleaser, which couldn't be further from the truth. It's quite simply that my own listening habits need constant, fresh input, frequent reboots of new sound stimulation, so I work the show outward from that personal premise, with the understanding that listeners often respond favorably to the known/familiar; I endeavor to appease that demon to some degree, while answering my call to duty of spreading the more-challenging and the seldom heard.

'Twas a lively playlist, with much crowd participation and commentary. The suggestion of My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult steered me toward great selections from my stash by Magas and Teatro Satanico.

Also garnering playlist-comment praise were: vintage Cure | Ride For Revenge | Father Murphy | Death Factory [extended selection from great 2013 CDr] | smooth ecojams from MindSpring Memories

Our screen capture this week comes from Stuart Gordon's Dagon, and while not the director's finest H.P. Lovecraft interpretation, it's worth a watch for its mood, production design and arresting visuals. [trailer] Click on the image to reach our horrorcast™ playlist and streaming archive.

The biggest news: My Castle of Quiet continues into the new WFMU schedule, starting next week, through June 2016. Looking forward to a live visit in late October from the legendary Mortífera; that month marks WFMU's Web-based "silent" fundraiser and mascot contest, more info t/c.