Fuck everything ... Except MCOQ

Ahh, what's playing now?! @00:17? ...a monumental LP side from Sea Of Bones, followed by a soul-crushing track off the Coffinshade demo (cassette available from Tour de Garde), and then, some absolutely hypnotic, "blackened" selections from blonde dissection, and Menimals, recurring 80s thrash/death from Sewercide... and plenty more lurching, wicked black metal, from Blliigghhtteedd, Istidraj, White Medal, A.M.S.G. ...and thanks to Fox (Rā-chul), for keeping my car psychologically on the rails, with all the untoward shit going on in American politics I was in fact quite numb.

It's all there; just click on Jena Malone, captured from NWR's The Neon Demon, a departure from the director's form in certain ways (female protagonist; many smoother, extended scenes), but for fans of Refn's movies, truly, there is a lot to crush. ...And we rode out last night's horrorcast™ with long-form electronics, film scores and lush, Scandinavian chanting.


I'm glad I was able to provide respite for some. Trying not to be too serious, ever, while at the same time, realizing "IT'S OVER!" and "PHEW" though many hedged their bets on a losing horse. "We told you so" seems oddly cruel ...

WFMU is still fundraising, with an eye on the station's overall goal; My Castle of Quiet as well, more than halfway ascending to ours. To pledge, please see the dog 'n' cow Flash widget above this post. It's been a rich autumn, so many great new releases, in our twin godheads of extreme metal and noise.

I got my share of tongue-tied last night, my mind being somewhat possessed by current affairs. "When you haven't finished the assignment," right? The teacher disdains, because they know that you're "not working to your fullest potential." 

Highlights of our last hour included, but were not limited to: Arvo Zylo great solo CD, Kimberly Henninger & Shawn Parke, Exhaustion, Death Factory, and Architeuthis Dux (stream below.)



Special programming kicks up again on our November 29/30 program, with a live set/album premiere from NJ's Ides ...here's Ides from their first MCoQ appearance in 2013. Thanks for listening as always. Perhaps next week we will find ourselves nearing the end of "bargaining" ....

We just can't get a Castle show on Halloween can we? One day though...

Someone please 'splain to me what "...a Woody Harrelson short" means? Is the always-charming actor-stoner-stoner-actor valid currency now? And how then, would a Harrelson fare in market value against a McConaughey? And thanks for the consideration (and headline), listener Rory. That particular planetary alignment may have happened (I'd have to check a calendar), of our program and Halloween falling on the same night—may not have—but honestly, the very essence of the matter is that WE ARE HALLOWEEN on My Castle of Quiet, every week; so while many take the weeks leading up to the holiday to "get their spook on," it's the daily order that we remain immersed in the cinema, imagery and language of horror always, so no "Halloween Special" needed, or really even considered. IF we fall on the day, all that said, a ritual of some proportion might be in order, we shall see what the stars have planned.

...It's a good day today, not only because my pre-worn shirt and Instax from Gyna Bootleg* arrived (*performance artist-idol-noisemaker-sexbomb-SIRE vocalist-and pretty much the best thing on Instagram) but also because we rattled these Castle walls last night, and a good time was had by all. (And to answer your question, yes I am a pervert, a bicycle-seat-sniffer if ever there was one, and though the Bootleg shirt came with neither stink nor stank, it's still pre-worn and it's a nicely debauched, seedy silkscreened design.) ...and we didn't even hear SIRE this week, but we will!!!! They have three new songs posted at their bandcamp from the soon to arrive SIRE full-length, Evocation of the Serpent.

 

The faithful roared (er, typed) for: Basarabian Hills | Waste | Frizzi2Fulci (see below) | new Nick Cave | new Dark Blue | new Numerators | Alcoholic Rites | Kiran Arora ... the new Cape of Bats tape-side sounding great, too, along with Street Sects, BIB, the Fur Helmet 12", lots more ...



So, 54% is awesome, and much love to the hardcore 'heads that got us there—we still have a potential 46% to go in pledges, so if you enjoyed last night's show, haven't pulled the trigger quite yet, etc., please see the black, white and grey "PLEDGE NOW" widget somewhere above this post, at the top of our horrorcast™-playlist-archive page, and virtually all over wfmu.org (if you wish to pledge to another WFMU program, or the station @ large.)

Click on that inspired young lad up top, from the I Was a Teenage Were-Bear segment of the comedy-horror anthology Chillerama, to reach the full streaming audiocast, playlist with album art, and comments for last night's program.

ACCOUTREMONTS!

I'm enjoying this more-mixed approach to set structure that has sort of crept up on me. The Castle has always been eclectic—because "dark" comes in so many colors. There will still be "metal blocs," not to worry, just maybe with a little more seasoning in the membranes. All The Colors of The Dark, in fact. It's been an Edwige Fenech kind of week, for me, having just re-watched Your Vice Is a Locked Room ...thanks to Shudder. Also, if you happen to be a subscriber, Blood Rage, recently added, and starring Louise Lasser, is absolutely indispensable for lovers of great American trash cinema.

Much gratitude to Andy Ortmann for a complex and slowly unfolding, treat-for-the-ears set; sounded amazing over the air. And to HOGG, fierce and earnest in their craft in all the right ways, a perfect blend of punchy drum machine-live percussion-spiny guitar-plucky bass, and Regan McNeil vocals, nice people to boot. It was great to meet you all, and thanks for making My Castle of Quiet & WFMU a stop on the tour. You can stream our entire horrorcast™ from last night, including both live sets, by clicking above, on a revolver-wielding Imogen Poots from the fun Fright Night remake (2011.)

Remember, while everyone gets "spooky," and wallows in horror-film enjoyment every October, we are here doing this every week. We are Halloween all-year-round, and if that be your Santa Claus as well, then please do donate what you can, to our show and to WFMU. Bottom line we really need it (for example, our server was choked, right during last night's show and until some time today) and more $ means more independence for WFMU always. Just sayin'.




Thanks to everyone who has pushed My Castle of Quiet 30% toward its shift goal for the month! I've thanked some of you on air, and have a bigger list of names to roll call next week. My gracious thanks, and a place for thee always amidst the mortar of The Castle.

To pledge, please see the dog-and-cow flash widget above this post.

[My Castle of Quiet on Facebook]

Finally, this week is Singles Going Steady at WFMU, which undoubtedly fueled our eclecticism, with high points last night from The Animals, Amofas, Wilt, the first Der Plan EP, Sun Splitter, Spettro Family, Liviiing, Dairyland Jubilee, Narcos, True Love, more ...

boundless

Call it a seasonal mood, "creativity in action," whichever, last night's My Castle of Quiet program was more organically devised, rolling forward with the selections like a wheel of fortune, trusting my gut that it would all fit, in contrast to my more-tried-and-true device of blocking out sets of similar music, or as I put it, "metal, metal, more metal, punk, 'space'...." It was a lively, receptive and interactive comments board, so I guess maybe I done good.

Praise for "Lucifer's Corpus," a UK-occult-psych classic from Writing on The Wall, never fails | a track from the recent Senyawa/Arrington de Dionyso collab | the amazing Jackie Ransom tape | Mexican shoegaze-black loveliness from Astarot | the perennial Castle favorite Haare, from the -stuff of legend- Chemical Witchcraft LP ... and 54 mins. of brilliant, brutal, HEALING doom from Highgate.

...and it's my free-form / nonprofit broadcaster's duty, nay mission, to remind you all that if you like what you hear, on MCoQ or any other WFMU program, to please make a donation to us this October. The month is past the halfway mark, our program and the station in general still falling short of our fundraising goals. It's always "lean times" at WFMU, our budget always a gathering of piecemeal donations from various generous sources, and yeah ... If last night's program enriched your night, please think about visiting the white Flash widget above this post & giving what you can. Also see this page for more information/options, and new merch designs.

Recorded yesterday, to be broadcast next week, dazzling live sets by both Andy Ortmann and HOGG, a Chicago noise tour that graciously made WFMU and The Castle one of their stops, and you won't be disappointed by what has been laid down! Join us for the broadcast next week, see here for more info and to "join" our event.

Finally, our screen capture this week takes us YET AGAIN to Robert Eggers' contemporary classic The Witch; click there for the streaming audio archive, playlist and comments for last night's horrorcast™.

River of Garbage. That's beautiful.

Cult black metal definitely pulled the train last night, slapped the horse—"giddyap!"—its melancholic streams, relentless, hammering beats, and anguished wails defined our evening ...And none more so than Ozama, whose live set showcased well the band's songwriting power. Mügrêh is planning two albums ahead, his pockets are full of songs, and it's damn impressive too, because it's top-shelf composing, none of this riff-blast beat-slow part-repeat stuff that's all too common nowadays. SO yes, GREAT USBM, Latin-American Black Metal, "kvlt"—call it what you will it's just top of the line, and I'm thrilled to have hosted the band. Look for their second full-length, Rio de Basura, to arrive in a few weeks.

The evening began and continued in this dark terrain for most of the night, with great tracks from White Medal, Tardigrada [new full length preview here], Grand Mood [new 12"!], Human Bodies, M. Del Rio, a blistering punk set, and lots of Popnihil cassettes. It's all up there, to stream the archive just click on Alan Bates' cracking visage from Jerzy Skolimowski's classic The Shout.

So here's the thing—WFMU needs pledges! We're doing this all October, mostly on the Web, low pitch, low pressure—but we do need what you can spare, with all kinds of changes happening at the station (rebuilding our third floor, JM in the AM's amicable yet sudden departure (12/1), plus more stuff you don't even wanna know....) so PLEASE click on the black and white dog-and-cow widget above this post to support WFMU, and to specifically make that pledge to My Castle of Quiet, I mean if you're reading this and enjoy the show yep yep yep

Thanks again to Ozama, and JP, and to everyone who's put us 14% toward our modest program goal for the month; I'll be thanking folks on the air next week.

BUT WAIT, there's more...WFMU is holding a "small-but-mighty record affair" at our Monty Hall, THIS SATURDAY, October 15, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. @ 43 Montgomery Street in Jersey City. And yes, my own little curative label/cottage industry Prison Tatt Records will be there, with our in-print catalog of cassettes, 12" & 7" vinyl, and CDs, distro items, personal-collection must gos, and a few new releases NOT YET FOR SALE ONLINE. Hope to meet you there and maybe even sell you something!

Yea this is definitely scratching the itch.

We opened strong, with at least one listener declaring, "this is horrible noise!," and a live-recorded vision of ecstasy from the great Incapacitants, from their Burning Orange album (2008.) Onward into Oxen-label territory—a trio of mind-mashing works—one from Unsustainable Social Condition in particular drawing comment on our playlist. [Click on the image below to stream our exclusive 2010 broadcast of Incapacitants' set from LAFMS fest.]

We drifted forward in the sandstorm, with tracks from PANICSVILLE [Andy Ortmann, with touring companions HOGG, our guests-to-be at the end of the month], and a dreamy excursion through many-colored rooms with pianos, from our friend and former guest Arvo Zylo.

Noise Bliss-Out #5 played out in fuzzed ease, with a later excerpt from the great Wipe Hour Time Canceler tape also garnering praise. ...

Please remember that our mothership WFMU is fundraising all this month, low-pressure, Web-only, and to contribute directly to My Castle of Quiet, see the easy-to-use flash widget atop that page, or this page, or our weekly playlist page, or simply visit this page (to also have a look at our two new t-shirts, and other swag as well.)
Click on everybody's pal McConaughey up top (from the moving Dallas Buyers Club) to reach the full, screaming, streaming archive of Noise Bliss-out #5, complete with album/tape art and listener comments.

NEXT WEEK: MCoQ continues a month of special programming with another one for the ages; a live set from the mighty OZAMA! [Facebook event]

playlust

Last night's My Castle of Quiet horrorcast™ definitely leaned noise-friendly. I'd had the thought of doing another Noise Bliss-Out; then, in the intervening week, realized that a wealth of great new metal and punk had dropped and I wasn't looking to wait to play it. All the same, noise dominated, and that Live Sadism I'd been carrying in my satchel for months finally got a second play on our program, a nice chunk of "Hängeparty 2." The world would most certainly be a little less wonderful without Scandinavian sado-porn-noise.

New OPPONENTS music once again graced our air, the band having *two* new digital full-lengths of outstanding material. We heard also in our first set from the one-off Welsh-dynamite 2009 Blackest Rainbow CDr by Spill, and a full side of the newly issued-on-vinyl M.B. and Ryan Martin collab.

Also drawing comment were Herschell Gordon Lewis; we lost the gore/horror/sleaze-cinema pioneer this past week | new Sea of Bones | new White Medal [!!!] | new A.M.S.G. | ...and occupying much of our last hour, a full 2011 tape side, two pieces, by Death Factory, the longstanding Chicago-based sound-artist extraordinaire M. Krause, whose vinyl debut also recently released.

Also of distinction: Narcos | Street Sects | Caveman Cult | The Gospel Truth | PBK & Wolf Eyes | Lead Sprinkler

Next month brings not only Halloween, and with any luck a wealth of special programming on My Castle of Quiet and WFMU, but also our annual "silent" fundraiser (low-pitch, Web-based, new t-shirts & other station swag.) More info on that very soon, here, as well as at our Facebook group page. One thing for sure, we'll be visited by Darcey Leonard, the charming/sassy/mystical proprietress of Brooklyn's Tarot Society, on the 18th, our friend DJ JayD (a name you may know from our comments board) joins as well.

This week, in our screen capture, the tragic Emily—from Lucio Fulci's Gates of Hell—Fulci, Fulci, it's always Fulci! You can click there to reach the playlist [*ahem* Listener Howard], streaming audio and comments board for last night's show.

Mom's listening.

Much as 2016 is shaping up to be, 2010-2011 was a great year for kvlt black metal, and as part of last night's extra-blackened horrorcast™, we took many great side-trips into that year, with selections from Fidei Defensor, Disakrin, Blackest Woods [for a very brief time, Ormeyngel was the "Youth Attack of Oslo," -now, some of their releases are available as FREE downloads on bandcamp], City Bones and Forgotten Spell. ...






Unquestionably, the stars of our program were our live guests Worthless, who, as a relatively young band, already are quite accomplished—with great songs, deftly arranged, and executed in a raw, aggressive, gracefully shrieking manner—it occurred to me that Worthless' first cassette demo [recorded at My Castle of Quiet engineer Jean Paul's studio, The Ossuary Recordings] could easily and worthily see a vinyl issue on Gilead Media or Broken Limbs.... Thanks again to the band for rendering a fantastic set, our first live show of the new WFMU season.

Also praiseworthy on our playlist were very-new releases by M. Del Rio | Istidraj [this release quickly becoming one of my favorites of the year] | Ramlord | Moros | The Gospel Truth | Caveman Cult ...

...and closing out or last half-hour, one of the finest noise-cassette-one-piece-on-each-side releases in a long while, and definitely one of my personal favorites of 2016, Vasculae's Head Against Wall.

Our screen capture this week comes from Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Gods of the Plague; click on its gathered mourners to reach this week's playlist, streaming audio, album artwork, listener comments, etc. Next week's show is destined to be more noise-focused, if only for the grace of a glut of material as yet unaired...we'll see, perhaps a Noise Bliss-Out is in order. ...

hey dude, your fckin cd's stuck. nudge it will ya?

The Castle air has perhaps never been clearer the old spirits linger, in eagerness of receiving a new soul its arid, stone hallways more charged than ever with expectancy. ...and as the Northeast US crackles open, back to life with actual breezes blowing, rustling the dirt, so too are myself and the My Castle of Quiet program reborn—alive, fresh, brushing off the corpse dust—HELL, even having the jacket drycleaned. Only the future awaits.

We had the usual good time last night; worthy of comment were an "alt. take" of The Rolling Stones' "Sway" from which we also borrowed our show title | a track by metal mathemagicians Spiral Architect | and mostly WORTHLESS, our live guests next week on WFMU/MCoQ, with the title song from their premiere full-length ...

Also GREAT were new Actuary [from a split LP with Deathstench] | Reissued Japan-psych-noise from Up-Tight | Burzum-style electronics from Wende | more new OPPONENTS | Istidraj | more Negromancy | Forgotten Spell | Funeral Art | Bleak | Salvation | 0N0 ...

 
^^^GREAT FUCKING SONG HERE BTW

Back next week with the beefy, cobwebbed LIVE sounds of Worthless:

Click on our lovely space girl (from Paolo Sorrentino's Youth) to reach the accuplaylist, audio stream, and listener comments for last night's horrorcast™

Remind me never to cross you.

As Nelson Muntz has said, "these are the grapes, and this is the WRATH."
... The halfwits who live in the catacombs under the Castle were rattling their chains so loudly last night, Phyllis Schlafly could hear them down in the 9th circle of hell...and she was truly tormented. When I please them, I know that I have done truly well; they break from long hours of fingering the rough texture of their greenish skin, and pulling on their matted hair (turned white with the absence of any pigment), and just generally fucking like there's no tomorrow...which is, in fact, all they have—a thousand-and-one tomorrows—when THEY acknowledge that something GOOD is happening upstairs, it must very surely be.

Every song, every selection was an "arrival"—which is always my intent, though I most often pick apart program archives as a merciless critic (rest assured I am proud, yet I share a room with humility and gratitude) ... Maybe I need to get pissed off more often by haggard-before-their-time, NJ cigarette cows, livin' in "da heights," and calling the studio phone with their drunken ramblings about nothing I care about. Perhaps that utterly wretched cunt improved my performance! I made a mountain out of an albeit-festering molehill, and it turns out she was helping me? This all goes to show that sobriety and anger are potent creative forces, because apart from having the usual good time, I can actually quite recommend last night's horrorcast™ as, you know, something to listen to, all without feeling unduly stuck up.

Highlights: Kallathon from the monumental 2015 Black Twilight Circle collection Desert Dances & Serpent Sermons | Vaarheere from their one-off rip-roaring cocainacopia tape | the amazing SIRE, wild black metal from Providence (fronted by splatter goddess ex-Tinsel Teeth monster  artist/sex bomb Gyna Bootleg) | Esoteric, raw black from the Negromancy label artists | outstanding new work from Opponents | Kleistwahr | excerpts from a great blacknoise concept work by Enbilulugugal | more from Street Sects | Christian Death reissue | THAT GREAT KIRBY MUSIC! | Rectal Hygienics | new works from Avarus | ...and Aethenor





That about covers it.
In two weeks: Great, contemporary, locally grown black metal LIVE with WORTHLESS!

For our screen capture, we returned again to the contemporary classic The VVitch; click there to reach the streaming audio, playlist, and listener comments for this week's My Castle of Quiet.

...Good ol' one-neck-having Rome. ...That's one more neck than the No-Neck Blues Band.

Life lessons? Sometimes life is the one that needs to be taught a lesson. Arguably not a two-way street, though. So what do we do? We talk of politics, sex, and poo. Jonathan Herweg v. The State!

Caligula cared not for The State, at least not the movie Caligula. The "irl" Caligula perhaps a bit more. With nothing to defy or question or rebel against, we would quickly and simply turn to ash, so THANK your enemies, for keeping YOU attentive, and strong. Ok...maybe don't thank them, but at least know that conflict can serve a purpose.

But "purpose" itself, unchecked, can lead to ...well, Caligula's Rome. Too easily, one can go from "slothful orgy participant" to "traitor"—buried up to your neck, pelted by rotten apples, and awaiting a fate even worse. Rotten apples = food for thought, albeit too late.

We won't see Jonathan on the weekly schedule this time around, unfortunately, but I trust that he will remain one of WFMU's most-called-upon fill-in programmers, and continue to be our most entertaining weekly itinerant, as he has been all summer. You'll be hearing more of our banter on Castles to come. You can always check out Jonathan's Blurred and Obscured radio archives, and I recommend that you do.

A dazzling opening selection from Theologian pricked up some ears; we heard Led Zeppelin's "The Rover," so that happened (I opened a show not so terribly long ago with "Achilles Last Stand," perhaps my all-timer); a signature song by Rectal Hygienics pounded us, with visceral, hate filled visions...goddamn, that was some heavy listening that I didn't fully expect; we rounded out the 3-hour horrorcast™ with longer, improvised pieces by The Gate (new LIVE! cassette) and Skullflower's "La Noche De Walpurgis," a live cassette recording from 2011.




Coming Sept. 20, live music returns to My Castle of Quiet with Worthless—a powerful and creative (and locally grown) black metal outfit—a stirring start to our glorious autumn!

To stream the archived audio, view the playlist and listener comments for this week's horrorcast, please click on the great Malcolm McDowell above, as that most-debauched of Emperors.

I kinda like the combination of werewolf howls and grammatical discussions.

Keith Moon we lose tragically young, at 32...and we get 38 *more* years of the "geezer" Daltrey, and "I Am a Woman" Pete Townshend (remember that? It really happened, in 1990; Townshend declared himself to be woman, as I recall there was even a press conference; though many have now forgotten this odd tidbit of Who history.) ...at the time, a female colleague @ WFMU, who shall remain unnamed, said, "just because he's taken it up the ass a few times, doesn't mean he knows anything about being a woman.")

We always get the shit tradeoff; we lose MLK, both Kennedys...yet they manage to save Reagan in the operating theatre. Just saying. Can the proles have our day yet? Fuck sake.

On to last night's horrorcast™, there was a lot to like apparently for the 'heads; my mini-happy birthday to Moonie opening bloc was followed by something from Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism by Immortal, to my ears a regular go-to of the Norwegian giants' catalog:



Also currying favor were several selections of chaotic, lo-fi "black-a-billy" from Negromancy ...



The Cabbageheads | Finished | The Bear Faced Boy | Misery Ritual | Dip Apple ... we also heard more from the new Jucifer | a great 2015 tape-title selection from Lea Bertucci
[Lea live on My Castle of Quiet, Oct. 2012] ...

Our still this week comes from The Forest (1982), yet another chunk of American cinematic low culture—from virtually the golden age for such things—and probably worth a look if you fancy a camper/slasher tale with a prevailing "supernatural baloney" centerpiece.



Click on the image up top to reach the streaming audio, accuplaylist and listener remarks for last night's My Castle of Quiet.

this is the shit, from my perspective.

My Mac is at a crawl, either protesting the climate, its own planned obsolescence via Apple (2009, so ANCIENT), or it *could be* the dramatic volume of music and movies stored locally (yeah, yeah, "get a backup drive" ... I have one & it's FULL.) So, must try to keep this internal review short.

We kicked off last night's horrorcast™ with a project I've been following with enthusiasm, Funeral Art, from Guatemala, who put forth a very unique blend of neoclassical, dark ambient, and raw black metal elements. This track is an MCoQ exclusive, slated for 2017 release. ...Our first set, aka "the shit," aka Music For a Sweating, plodded forth with tracks by Evoken, Aun, Eyehategod, classic Pain Teens, and yes, Candlemass. (I'm preparing you all for that night when I play Heart's "Mistral Wind," and no one is surprised.)

Other highlights included a track from the queasy, arcane blackmetal noise-mess of Chernobog | a 2010 favored chestnut from The Communion | dynamite new sounds from Finished (rising from the ashes of Tinsel Teeth, with Gyna Bootleg on vocals—can't hardly wait for a personal copy of the Load LP, avail. for pre-order) | an older song by Ramlord (a new split LP, also a pre-order, from Broken Limbs) | new Black Panties 12" on Lumpy | new, improvised post-Kraut electronics from Brooklyn's Mind Machine | hard head noise from NJ's Lead Sprinkler

There was a lot more ... click up top, on that final, exhausted scene from Jeremy Saulnier's Green Room, to reach the playlist, streaming audio, record art, and listener comments for last night's My Castle of Quiet program. As always, thanks for taking the ride with me.

*chirp chirp chirp chirp*

"Write what you know." ...and that's what I'll be trying to do, reading what I know—horror film that is, its "dont's," its preposterous clichés, praising the praiseworthy and fighting the good fight against impervious poltergeists, among other asides—my virgin voyage aboard WFMU's Literary Guild Meetup events, with readings by a delightful assortment of my colleagues as well. All happens tomorrow night @ 7 p.m., at KGB Bar & Lit Mag, 85 E 4th St., NYC; more info below.

As to our horrorcast™ this week, I'll be keeping it brief, that said, songs by Alraune | Cirrhus | Moloch stirred the faithful. I quite liked our excursions into ritual dark ambient whatever, with longer selections by Ateh Gibor Le'olam Shaitan, and Mortiis



Our screen capture this week comes from Mickey Keating's Darling, a visually engaging modern meditation on Roman Polanski's Repulsion, with a star-qual. performance by the lovely Lauren Ashley Carter (seen above.) Click there to reach the archived audio, playlist, and listener comments for this week's My Castle of Quiet program.

I'm screaming

"You're goin' drip drip drip on mah radio, AM radio, PM radio ..."

As we move through the summer, the stagnancy of same lifting and then returning, life goes on oblivious, the wheels turn and the gears churn, hope blinks at us from the horizon. The dog gets walked. The broken gets repaired. I ease into the uniform of track pants and band t-shirts, saving those buttoned-down patterns for days when I might "see people."

Tons o' fun last night, employed my tried-and-true "start off hard, get black, then get noisy" formulae; listeners were dazzled by selections from Vile Gash | Sunrot ("Trigger Warning," a ferocious ass-kick of a song; fingers crossed, Sunrot joins us live later this summer) | Exhaustion | True Love ... a few more personal highlights; Fugazi's First Demo | Absolute Power | the Green Room original motion picture soundtrack (we heard songs from Midnight, Battletorn, and Brooke & Will Blair) | The Communion | Mauler | The Spitters (Legendary NYC Stooges-Jesus Lizard-Birthday Party-style teetotalers, fronted by the late Mark Ashwill, a founding member of Missing Foundation) | Tzantza | Haxen | Beackon | Crowhurst | Triac | Sonic Poison | Verminaard | selections by Leah P & Circuit Wound from Stray Dog II | ruiner. | Lead Sprinkler—those last two both have a fine selection of harsh-noise digital album work available online & worth your time...

Lastly, our friends One Master are finishing up their tour with Bog of the Infidel this Saturday night @ Lucky 13 Saloon in Brooklyn; see that link^ for show locations and times between now and then; they are playing a different city every night...

Our screen capture this week returns us to the recent, well-crafted horror-comedy Ava's Possessions; click up top to stream the audio archive, peep the playlist, and read listener comments for last night's horrorcast™.

Yessss! It makes me vomit too!

A lot can happen in a bloody fortnight. I come back to you somewhat transformed, from a grouping of events that run the spectrum from "that really fucking sucks" to "life-changingly, unexpectedly amazing." I jawed enough about stuff & things last night; better y'all just listen to the archive, than that I start dipping my toe into repeating color commentary logged in a spirited fashion during our broadcast. ...

Coming back after a week's absence from the air is like "shooting Castles in a barrel" for me; I get easily and compulsively overloaded with ideas of music to play, set construction, etc. I've had compulsions far worse, to be sure! The constant flow of great new music makes it very easy as well. I'm really about 2016, what's happening RIGHT NOW, rather than opting to wallow in familiarity and nostalgia; what's been there will always be there, but what have you got for me that I haven't heard before?

So, with that two-week, lust-building exercise in mind, it would be a bit ridiculous for me to pick favorites, because even more so than usual, last night's playlist was chock full. I do want to point to some outstanding recent releases by Crowhurst, Sonic Poison, Straight Crimes, and Vasculae. Castleheads remarked upon selections from Iskra | Burnt Skull | Bleak | The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion ...

Our capture this week comes from a short film entitled Hag (see below), part of the somewhat-uneven but ultimately quite satisfying comedy-horror anthology Monsterland; click on that little moment of love paralysis up above to reach the streaming audio, playlist and listener comments for last night's horrorcast™.

You had me at orphans

Open and enthused dialog is always encouraged at My Castle of Quiet—butts v. boobs, how The Jam's music has not aged well, weevils ... it's all good, very very good; group share, without hugs or the gut-stab of the serenity prayer at the end. Did I ever mention how much I dislike the serenity prayer? How it plays into our already-rooted Judeo-Xtian programming; another backhanded slap of prostration before the misty "Lord," who we invented to shoulder the burden of our natural, human weakness. "Accepting the things I cannot change" never got a bridge built. You know what else "works if you work it?" You get the idea.

"Fist in the Air" has to be the anthem of 2016, and who better to serve it up than Cherubs, who after 20 years, just decided to start making amazing music again. Also remarked upon were a classic track by Renegade Soundwave | Magnetic Systems w Fabio Frizzi | the trailer for Blood & Lace (see below) | the always-amazing Couch Slut (ferocious live set video below)(Couch Slut on My Castle of Quiet 2015 @ the Free Music Archive) | NJ's Null & Void [coming soon to MCoQ for a live set!] | Ustalost ... personally, I can't escape the new releases from True Love | Haxen | Verminaard ...my year's favorites are lining up fast, just past the halfway mark.
 


I'll be tending to family business next week ... please lend new WFMU DJ Carol McCrossen your ears & indulgence; she's got a fine radar for what's good.

Want to close with a double-down on my recommendation of 2008's Plague Town (director David Gregory also known for the excellent Richard Stanley documentary, Lost Soul), a film of humble means, rich in great atmosphere, resonant visuals, and brutal gore. Back in two weeks!

Given the musical motif, I thought I should speak severely.

 

Good, dark times this week per usual. Enrique of KAVRA already summed up our horrorcast™ better than I ever could have (see the lead post @ The Castle Facebook grp), heartfelt appreciation from a bandmember/listener/participant/friend always better than notes from the maestro (I like the way he called the program my "monster child," that's perfect.)

Do want to say that conversation on Brooklyn eats, Oasis restaurant, and a good bowl of borscht all very much appreciated. How satisfying its rough heartiness would be today—in this oppressive heat—with a cool dollop of sour cream on top.

I only ever ask for life to be reasonable, and it is, more often than not. Perhaps that's why the unreasonable moments really stand out—like hi-beams at night—getting under my skin like an irritation, a scabies infection—insulting my very senses like the acrid, over-warmed air of Northern NJ in July. A pale-skinned lass to share the occasional bowl of borscht, to sit on my chest a few times a week, to mosh in the kitchen, to share in the joys and mockery of life?!—seems like a reasonable request to me. "What's not to like?" (Right, D?)

Listeners remarked upon Iggy Pop's classic "Caesar" | Sand ... personal highs included, but were not limited to, new USBM from True Love | The Repos | Null & Void | new Misery Ritual | new top-shelf dark ambient from Verminaard | new Jason Crumer | Jabladav [James Harlow on bandcamp] ...

Our still this week comes from Georges "Eyes Without a Face" Franju's Judex, and we see there the titular character, where you can click to reach the streaming audio, image-laden playlist, and listener comments for this week's horrorcast. Thanks for your ears and appreciation.

And to close, I want to second my on-air recommendation for the 2014 film Honeymoon, working the "female partner is sensitive to spirit-energy, thus is drawn into a separate realityscape/consciousness" horror trope to rewarding dramatic effect:

Thx for the discourse + all th other d's

They say that if you don't buy a lottery ticket, your chances of winning are almost as good as those of one who does. I'm starting to realize how that equation applies to so many things, i.e., you are almost as likely to reap success, praise, and attention for your efforts doing fuck all as you are breaking your back. Fortune smiles on the charming-but-talentless shitheads among us as often or more so than it does on those of us who really put the passion into everything we do. Integrity is supposed to be its own reward, but honestly it's getting old, practically on a respirator at this point.

In context, does anyone read these posts, apart from my Dad? (he won't be happy with this one...) I mean I realize that people do read, but is the ratio of effort-to-recognition anywhere near equivalent? The more Internet content that gets vomited out, by everyone, the fewer salvageable chunks I see. Fluff, as opposed to fodder. "Secret admirers" should step into the light, because I want to see you; you appreciate my quality, and I want to appreciate yours. Apart from sheer, blissful music appreciation, "building the tribe" is the reason I do this.

We were back with a metal vengeance last night, after a week off. Listeners liked Sodom | Doom | Undergang | Occult 45 | Null & Void | Inculcator | Steve Moore/Cub OST | Macronympha ...personal highlights included Rosemary Krust's Last Tape | Blood Rhythms | Vociferii | Haxen | Tzantza | ...and my all-time favorite Clandestine Blaze song.

Keeping it brief, I have a life to get to (not much of one, but I'm always working on it) ...our still this week comes from the small-budget, mini-masterpiece horror-comedy Crush The Skull (see below.) Click on Vivian with the gun to reach the audio archive, detailed playlist and listener comments for this week's My Castle of Quiet horrorcast™

what the Fuck! why so quiet?

"Baa baa ..." Whisper your questions and desires to Black Phillip, may he listen. But know that once you sign the book, you've committed and have chosen a side.

Many people today are obsessed with desire, but not with desire itself...rather, with damning it, condemning it. To want for earthly pleasures (not just sex, not by a mile) is shameful and to be quashed. Lust, indulgence of any kind, hedonism, all terribly BAD. Desexualization of everything is becoming the acceptable norm; be not a sexual being at all, be Switzerland ...you're a potato waiting for the proper sticks to be added. The hipster / politically correct wave riders forget, it would seem, that these are VERY CHRISTIAN VALUES, PURITANICAL, and therefore not "modern" at all. Desire makes the world go around—as does compassion, generosity of spirit, and a sense of community—but desire has become the odd man out in that equation. It's less fashionable to be The Devil than ever before; all manner of want is strictly verboten, uncool even, and if anything, that paradigm reminds me of the Heaven's Gate cult—CONTROL—draining the "sex" out of everything—albeit by way of a good, seemingly humanitarian intention.

Needless to say, I'm very proud to be a heterosexual male, neither a "sinner" nor a "saint," with my values and ideas very much consistent and very much forged in the latter part of the previous century. Remember, the hippies, cultists, and free thinkers of mine and my parents' generations did a lot of fucking and drug-taking, they answered the call of their hedonistic desires, and SOMEHOW they still fought for equality, Civil Rights, and against unjust wars and unchecked Capitalism. I'm not sure what neo-Liberals stand for, except shutting down and silencing every voice that is not in agreement with theirs, not seeing light and shade, or nuance—only a black and white world, where a hard cock and a juicy steak are both very much anathema. I am male, I am solid, my feet are on the ground, but I am also tender, compassionate, loving and sensitive. All those pieces fit. ....

Super-pleased to host the great Moros last night, who delivered a gruesome, punching horrorshow of a set, even better than I could have possibly imagined. Hard hard hard and soul-inspiring in all the right ways. Being on WFMU puts me at a great advantage, one I'm eternally grateful for, whereby I get to meet and host the bands and performers I like, and almost without exception find that they are excellent people as well. I could never have survived some of the harder years of my recent life without the sense of tribe and community that creating and hosting My Castle of Quiet and the Prison Tatt label have provided.

Super-quiet comment board last night, not sure wtf that was about... Maybe people were just too hypnotized by our opener, the driving noise-rock epic "Outside" by Dead C. Maybe I just suck and should play more pleasant pop tunes (we both know THAT isn't going to happen.) Other highlights included new Inculcator on Caligari | new Cherubs single (!) | new Moonknight | new Jason Crumer | Nurse 7" | classic Necrophagia | new Jucifer | Ataraxic Ataxia ...and, as they say, much, much more.

I'm off next week; good buddy Jonathan Herweg will be filling in, with his excellent, collage-like program of compelling experimental music etc., so do tune in and lend him an ear.

Back in two weeks, and thanks again to the guys in Moros! Click on Mercy and Black Phillip, from the contemporary classic The Witch, to reach the archive & playlist for this week's horrorcast™.

So pretty much in Hell and this is the right music.

At My Castle of Quiet, customized, personal hells are our specialty. It's not what we plan on necessarily; just what ends up happening most of the time.

Why take today the shower you could put off until tomorrow? Make an imaginary friend. Start drafting that opinion to remove "ish" forever from the English language.  Try to remember (without cheating) what the five Philip K. Dick books you haven't read are. It's not scary, the abyss awaits, and there's always room for one more on the dusty davenport.

Untraceable bruises and cuts. The floor is sticky, not sure why. With one eye turned away, who did I text last night? Hopefully a friend who won't shame me. ....

the "sin" is deceptively "sin-ple" (sorry) ... those dishes will eventually wash themselves, it's all a matter of focus. Look slightly to the left of what you're seeing, and squint ... the universe might suddenly open up before your eyes.

In our first set, we heard yet again from the great new Alkerdeel LP, as well as brand-new Inculcator on Caligari Records, Muert (from Spain, 2014) ... Always good to hear the splatter of Dead Peasant Insurance, and as we rounded into our last hour, new works from Pete Swanson / Greh Holger, the Anima reissue (1977) on Play Loud!, and Nurse With Wound's set of Sand remixes....

Up top, a high priest of sloth (there are many, after all) Charles Freck, as played by Rory Cochrane, from what I still find to be the most spot-on of PKD film adaptations, especially in that it captures what it feels like to read the novel (drugs, paranoia, our every move is being filmed, who am I and where do my loyalties lie? etc.) Click on the radical "de-bugging" depicted to stream the archived audio, view the playlist and read listener comments from last night's horrorcast™

NEXT WEEK: My Castle of Quiet returns to live music, with a set from the great Moros, from Phildelphia; join the Facebook "radio event"!

and blackout drapes

I rage against the elements. Summer Is Not My Friend. Everything that grates on my will is insult to injury. I shun the light, that which makes me feel like a hot dog under a heat lamp in a last-resort convenience store. You are welcome to bask in the sun's joyous bounty, many of you will. The way of the Lycanthrope is my way; I hunt at night.

A highlight of our first set was the track by Cryfemal, who just played NYC recently; Thanks to engineer Jean Paul, I got to meet Ebola off-mic two weeks ago; all his projects are excellent, and will be gracing the Castle airwaves in the weeks ahead.

From about 1-2 a.m., we had quite the rollicking punk set; too much gold there to mention...best just have a look.

Great tracks by Hive Mind and Schimpfluch-Gruppe made up much of our last hour; remember both are playing tomorrow night on a stacked bill for the first night of Ende Tymes VI—the fest is always a phenomenal weekend for noisehead locals; that link will tell you what you need to know.

Last hour ended gloriously, with a tape-side-long hypno-fest by Acre, and a selection from the excellent Ataraxic Ataxia CD on NO PART OF IT. ...

It would seem my brain momentarily mashed up ginkgo trees and gecko lizards, I knew what I meant. Especially this time of year, all "icky green things that live outside" are of the same stuff, kind of like the pink slime at McDonald's.

To stream this week's melted cone of a horrorcast™ (screen image from Deathgasm—a charming, metal-centric horror comedy from New Zealand) click up top for the streaming audio, playlist and listener comments.

Kippis!

Scandinavia, viewed from here at least, is a land of hoarfrost-covered woodlands, smoked meats and pickled fish—tall, hardy folk, with a shared Pagan history—a socially progressive quasi-utopia of great musicians and artists. While I have no doubt a native's view would be less homogenized and naturally less idealized, it's a beautiful American daydream for those like myself who envision a social-democratic landscape where it never gets that hot, the metal is ice-cold, the noise is served up with whips & ball-gags, and the schoolteachers are all hot-wired MILFs.

The reality could never be so simplified, because Scandinavia is nothing if not complex; there's a lot below the ice that is not readily apparent, no matter how many Bergman films you watch. It's this emotional bubbling under that's part of what makes Scandinavian music so exciting; what's unspoken vs. what's evident, technical excellence coupled with somber, Norse gravitas.

And so it was, another year, another Nordic prog-rock special, this time leaning almost as heavily on newer artists as those from the golden 70s. With bands like Circle and Krokofant in the mix (what before punk was called progressive rock, not yet a dirty word) is truly very much alive and relevant in the frozen North.

Listeners also especially liked / commented on: Samla Mammas Manna | Atlas | Jukka Tolonen (see live clip below) ... I quite liked selections from Hebosagil | Kaipa | Rättö Ja Lehtisalo | Haikara (see below) | Neutral

To hear this week's entire Norse-o-phile horrorcast™, click above on the lovely, switch-hitting Kim (from the excellent, mindbending Norwegian thriller Naboer (2005)), to reach the archived audio, playlist with album art, and listener-comments board.

STOKED FAM IS PROUD \m/

Sure, I'm solid, but these older bones don't hold the chassis upright as well as they used to. The whole mechanism is vitally alive, yet undeniably in decline, fighting the good fight against collapse like that tower in Pisa. And I forget myself when I see hard, head-swirling, hi-speed metalpunk played live; the natural urge to stumble into the pit threatens to take over.  Fortunately, WFMU's Studio B has barely enough room for the average man to stand gut-to-butt, let alone mosh. Good thing, because TOXICOLOGY salted the Castle earth with their tight, careening force last night, and a great time was had by all. Thanks again to Devon and the band, personable dudes all, and the boys in Pink Mass for the connect & support (and for commenting on the wrong playlist for a solid 15; oh, how we laughed!)

Lots of playlist favorites noted in our listener comments last night: Sleep's killer 2014 12" single | that super new Graves at Sea album (keeps giving) | 2009 Hellvete (our old friend Glen Steenkiste; hear his new split with Bear Bones, Lay Low) | a recently issued, vibrant rendition of a 1983 Morton Feldman piece | ...and of course lots of love for Toxicology, both in our playlist comments, and on our My Castle of Quiet Facebook group wall.

NEWSFRONT: Our 2016 WFMU Marathon premium CDrs are IN; so if you pledged to get a copy of Anthems (classic video-game themes & misty metal), hopefully that's in your hands soon. Enjoy!
And yes, those sleeves are designed (by me) to look fucked/Xeroxed to hell....

 

Lastly, as WFMU's Winter/Spring schedule winds down, I felt the urge to get in another Scandinavian Prog Special, last year's being an enjoyable departure from our more-standard fare, as well as one of our more popular/visited archives. Again, here is Scandinavian Prog Special, v.1, from 2015 June. V.2 happens NEXT WEEK, so get out your pointed curly shoes, your pickled sheep face & smoked herring, and start cleaning your dope on that Theodor Kittelsen art book. More Songs by Guys Named Jukka and Bo is upon us!

Thanks as always for your ear & participation!

Another shootout!

 

Remember when your friend sat you down, tried to show you something that they had learned on guitar, making several furtive attempts, each time saying "wait...wait..."? I always thought it was funny that guitar players were so well-versed in asking for your patience ...the word "wait" should be the first page in the Mel Bay chord book.

I was batting high last night, in good form, but I don't want to take all the credit, it's all about teamwork after all. That first set, though! Many listeners commented on the Vinegar track, from a wickedly idiosyncratic 1971 one-off LP by the titular gloom-psych combo....just about as "recommended" as it gets.

Again, second week in a row the new Alkerdeel amazes, this time with an 18+ min. track that runs one through a Badlands-style wheat field, into a police shootout, with several side trips to hell. Still one of my favorites in Western-European black doom death rock etc.; they never seem to do anything half-arsed, and Lede is a very all-in release, one of the best I've yet heard this year.

We also heard what probably amounts to High On Fire's best song, one I never get tired of at least; that and a song from the new Hebosagil CD ...ahh! My first time playing the Finnish band on My Castle of Quiet, but damn I waited too long, because "Melvins-y Finnish Wire" is a band description that speaks to some dark, inner need I didn't know I had until I heard them.  Also remarked upon were: the great new Lumpy & The Dumpers album | Facialmess | Klaus Schulze



The news? A LIVE SET next week from NJ's great TOXICOLOGY. Join us!



Week after, I'm thinking its high time for another Scandinavian Prog Special, you tell me. Here's v.1 from almost one year ago (how time flies in the land of the midnight sun!), one of our more visited archives... Scandinavian Prog Special 3rd June 2015

you deserve this bully pulpit

One drunk commenter on one message board is legion, and one redhead per customer, please. (Wait, I didn't get mine!) ...You can't buy evil in a bottle, and People Think They Know Things (myself included), this much I am sure of. Good listeners (may) inherit the Earth, because everyone else is so busy talking; talking "at" and not "to" or "with." ...

I enjoy our weekly meeting; we need only a feast-filled table to make it complete. Some would throw food. Some would be too drunk. Some would be cryptically brief, while others would go on at considerable length like a ticker-tape of personal concerns. It's all pretty alright w/ me. For all our intents and purposes, our playlist IS a real hall, in a real Castle.

New Alkerdeel whipped us out into the field. Very fulfilling to hear a new full-length from the maverick Belgian prototypers of "blackened doom"—they still do it the best and most unpredictably.

Listeners also liked the new Graves at Sea | Order of the Owl | vintage Negativland | Pigs Blood  Absolute Power | Tötenköpf (1978 Swiss Stooge-worship; that said, weird as fuck) ... new tracks from Haley Fohr (as Jackie Lynn) and the unstoppable Cape of Bats also dazzled. Archival live recordings by kraut demi-gods Harmonia closed us out.

I don't recall where this week's pop-art redhead was captured. Help me out? My best guess is Tragic Ceremony, only based upon the image file's dating in my Movie Captures folder. She will nonetheless, take you to the archived audio for last night's horrorcast™ , the informative and colorful playlist (abundant with album-cover art etc.), and the rollicking comments board.

More great, live music on The Castle in two weeks (5/17-18)—NJ once again strafes our polluted earth, with a real-time set from TOXICOLOGY.