i was listening to this while trying to sleep, it was great

The Female Chimera was the title of last night's horrorcast™. Chimera? "...a fire-breathing female monster, usually part lion, goat, and serpent. Because of this derivation, chimera and its adjective, chimerical, came to mean something illusory, fantastical, hoped-for but impossible." Sometimes I don't know what I'm saying or writing really, until sometime later when I reexamine my choices. Inspired by that beguiling screen capture above from Spring, I plucked the title from the air, true significance to be filled in later.

Last night's show was certainly female, and serpentine; the path clear for a while, only to suddenly spur off elsewhere. I say this with deference to Hercyn, whose live set was delayed some 20+ minutes (and no, they were not standing right there, waiting to play—I'm not that much of a bastard) by organic, free-flowing conversation with our guest Tiffany Minx, the formidable / former proprietor of Apop Records in St. Louis, a store with a history of great taste, integrity, celebrating music's farthest fringes, and hosting many a memorable live show. WE GOT TO TALKIN'...things happen; and we hope some or all or most of our banter was engaging for those listening.

When you meet another high-ranking member of your tribe, so much simply being understood, conversations happen—not necessarily on the radio, of course...but Ms. Minx and I found ourselves quite engaged and engaging, hoping that some of you did too.

Then came Hercyn's mighty, barely contained exuberance. "That was superb stuff" as one listener commented.... I'm finding more and more that good, thoughtfully rendered rock music is just good rock music, that definitions are not at all important, and that genre reductions only attempt to corner something that's just happening, because the right players got together in the right room at the right time (Couch Slut also come to mind, as in "what do they do? Who cares, it's amazing (live set from MCoQ, January at that link ^) ...

So, Hercyn, riffs and arrangements that, at least at first, take me to wispy thoughts of prog heaven, perhaps something like Anekdoten—then suddenly I'm riding an air-chariot with forgotten gods, screaming at the wind that yes, we're coming. It's rich, heady stuff, perhaps not for short-loud-fast-type attention spans, but there's a lot of reward for those who listen, raw-but-baroque shanties that recall perhaps Enslaved, or vintage Wolves In The Throne Room. Maybe I'm reaching, but regardless, I admire the romance of what they do and its many layers. Hercyn's set is slated for release on cassette, sometime soon.

Other playlist nods went to Tyrants of Hell (Wohrt Records) | Cape of Bats | Black Aura | while personal highs included new popnihil cassettes, from Warground / Hithaeglir, Crowhurst, and Burnt Hair; Leash; Cuntz; Infernal Stronghold; Unspeakable; and an excerpt from one of my year's favorite releases on cassette, a sprawling, hypnotic piece of articulated gloom by Ateh Gibor Le'olam Shaitan.

Thanks for listening, regards to Hercyn, and Tiffany Minx.
...back next week with more face-punching diversion.