tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76954232052851859332024-03-12T22:42:16.895-04:00My Castle of QuietCinema, Music, and the Sorrows and Joys of Everyday Life<br>
The Final Ascension of Wm. M. Berger<br>WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.comBlogger672125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-43739113904874555592017-09-08T10:11:00.000-04:002017-09-08T10:11:46.116-04:00I fucking love this show!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/74724"><img alt="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/74724" border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="791" height="227" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Nyv3CrXL-Qs/WbIZPPsdgLI/AAAAAAAAD0w/DErVl1qahgwIouqTTVMXDtQu0Crbz94iACLcBGAs/s400/MAFU.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Well, time for Donald Fagen and Irmin Schmidt to form a band—while they still "can!" ...The most "in" and "out" of 70s rock music, colliding in a studio—how could that NOT get everyone queuing up hours in advance??<br /><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;"><i>Autumn rebirth, it's here; the air is lighter, with cool snap to every breath and breeze. All things seem doable, possible. Just look at Carol Kane, above—is she not in perpetual "harvest mode"? </i></span><br /><br />Favorites this week from: <a href="https://www.theajnaoffensive.com/products/reverorum-ib-malacht-2">Reverorum Ib Malacht</a> | <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Embryo-Opal/master/114916">Embryo</a> | <a href="https://minotaurorecords.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-darkness-1986">Paul Chain Violet Theatre</a> | <a href="https://funeral-harvest.bandcamp.com/album/bunker-ritual-rehearsal">Funeral Harvest</a> | <a href="https://loweryourhead.bandcamp.com/album/hell-full-length">Hell</a> | <a href="https://eternaldeath.bandcamp.com/album/lycanthropic-burrowing">One Master</a> | <a href="https://negate-everything.bandcamp.com/album/demo-tape-2">Altar of Scum</a> | <a href="https://centuriesofdecay.bandcamp.com/releases">Centuries of Decay</a> | <a href="https://cloudrat.bandcamp.com/album/split-with-moloch">Cloud Rat</a> | <a href="https://grinandbearithc.bandcamp.com/">Grin and Bear It</a> | <a href="https://doomsdaystudent.bandcamp.com/album/a-self-help-tragedy">Doomsday Student</a> | <a href="https://helicopter.bandcamp.com/album/lead-their-exit">Sissy Spacek</a> | <a href="https://population-label.bandcamp.com/album/sida">Sida</a> | <a href="https://woundscotland.bandcamp.com/album/wound">Wound</a> ... I personally also quite enjoyed our last set of swath from <a href="https://4ibrecords.com/2015/09/26/maurizio-bianchi-m-b-nh-hn-cd-out-now/">M.B.</a> | <a href="http://www.soufflecontinurecords.com/product/pre-order-birge-gorge-avant-toute">Birgé Gorgé</a> | <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Karlheinz-Stockhausen-Es-Und-Aufw%C3%A4rts/release/365740">Karheinz Stockhausen</a> ...not to at all neglect the dazzling monolith that is <a href="https://youtu.be/De_IfrtsS3k">Black Sabbath's "The Writ,"</a> in our first set.<br />
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Our live music schedule shifted some ...with <a href="https://sire-metal.bandcamp.com/">Sire</a> canceling / postponing, and a door opening that very same day to a live collab set from <a href="https://heathenharvest.org/2011/09/01/the-music-of-rodger-stella/">Rodger Stella</a> and <a href="https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/6ww7q6/the-war-on-control-an-interview-with-cult-of-youths-sean-ragon">Sean Ragon</a>, on our October 3-4 program- with <a href="https://pulcinella.bandcamp.com/album/puddle-wuddle">Pulcinella</a> still scheduled for the following week, 10/10-11.<br /><br />Click on Cissy above, this week's mad goddess, to reach the accuplaylist, streaming audio, and listener comments for this week's horrorcast™. <br /><br />More soon from this pile of leaves.WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-76304662431206213652017-09-01T19:05:00.003-04:002017-09-03T15:39:23.967-04:00New Blockaders, I'm happy! ...God bless the Noise Bliss-Out.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/74600"><img alt="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/74600" border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="805" height="261" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6lnF9ds6P9k/WaniSJhajwI/AAAAAAAAD0c/18j6-1hQyWk1GwtXOao0UUDZ9l17d4ORwCLcBGAs/s400/alice-gun2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And that's the idea—bliss. Large-sized, fat slabs of noise, to wrap and soothe your head like a sonic turban. No. 7 this week, and they will keep coming, as <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB"><i>My Castle of Quiet</i></a> continues on its bloody rampage into WFMU's new schedule...<br />
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On that topic, expect a live, in-studio set from <a href="https://pulcinella.bandcamp.com/">Pulcinella</a> (10/10-11), with more to come.<br />
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Lots of favorites this week again, including <a href="http://hazard.anoema.com/">Testicle Hazard</a> | <a href="about:invalid#zClosurez">new Chris Pottinger</a> | <a href="https://creationthroughdestruction.bandcamp.com/album/the-new-blockaders-creation-through-destruction-negative-mass-12-vinyl">The New Blockaders & Creation Through Destruction</a> | <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Rodger-Stella-Rare-Cuts/release/4715178">Leslie Keffer & Rodger Stella</a> | <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/1797101-Inappropriate-King-Live">Inappropriate King Live</a> | <a href="about:invalid#zClosurez">Richard Ramirez</a> | <a href="https://sissyspacek.bandcamp.com/album/lead-their-exit">Sissy Spacek</a> | and <a href="https://swollenorgans.bandcamp.com/">Swollen Organs</a>, from the great new <i>Psychotropes</i> v/a cassette.<br />
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Lots more to explore therein as well, and your can hear it all via <a href="https://wfmu.org/">WFMU</a> by clicking on the charmingly mad Alice Morgan above.<br />
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<span style="color: #f4cccc;"><i>Autumn seems to have arrived in the Northeast; I can leave the house, or spend the day blissed-out with the windows open.</i></span> Berger out, until next week.WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-1755064007933729632017-08-24T12:51:00.002-04:002017-08-24T12:54:32.245-04:00I love love love that vruuuummm sound of a wood chipper. The sound of efficiency. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/74479"><img alt="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/74479" border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="848" height="172" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WGvVL0Zf14E/WZ786rjr0uI/AAAAAAAAD0A/5SlSQ0jXLWEXFrLtCgPSc8piZRL8qDOGQCLcBGAs/s400/TSOD.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Lots of favorites this week, from <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Sebadoh-Smash-Your-Head-On-The-Punk-Rock/release/623172">vintage Sebadoh</a> | <a href="https://loweryourhead.bandcamp.com/album/hell-full-length">new Hell</a> | <a href="https://sunrot.bandcamp.com/album/sunnata">new Sunrot</a> | <a href="https://lightofthemorningstar.bandcamp.com/album/nocta">Light of the Morning Star</a> | <a href="https://shriekback.com/album/244310/jam-science">vintage Shriekback</a> | new <a href="https://theimpalers.bandcamp.com/album/cellar-dweller-lp">Impalers</a> | new <a href="https://blankspell.bandcamp.com/album/miasma-lp">Blank Spell</a> | new <a href="https://www.svartrecords.com/product/aurum/#">Urarv</a> | new <a href="about:invalid#zClosurez">One Master</a> | <a href="https://totalblur.bandcamp.com/album/attic">attic/blonde dissection</a> | <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Eduardo-Polonio-Proprio-Motu/release/8526673">mid-2000s Eduardo Polonio</a> ... Personal favorites included <a href="about:invalid#zClosurez">Altar of Scum</a> | | ,,,and our closing 40-min.+ of <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Trepaneringsritualen-Untitled/release/9678439">live Trepaneringsritualen</a> (currently on tour.)<br />
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I swear these posts will get longer with the onset of Autumn. Looking back, I used to write things that were like "micro-lit" here. Just waiting out the end of Summer, busy with "life stuff," and not feeling terribly inspired to extrapolate, beyond a program rundown and a movie recommendation or two. <br />
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AND ON THAT TOPIC...<br />
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Apart from some titles already discussed on this week's program, I just last night watched what just might turn out to be one of my favorite viewing experiences of this year—from 2011—but new to me, and freshly available to scrubs with a Shudder account: <i>The Oregonian</i>, directed and written by Calvin Reeder, who you may know better as having small parts in some great 2000s horror films (as the cop who arrives at the sploshy ending of <i>You're Next</i>, or as Gary, the head thug in "Tape 56," the wraparound story from <i>V/H/S</i> the first.) <br />
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<i>The Oregonian </i>hits the ground running (appreciated, in horror especially), and is deftly filmed & edited to incorporate modern shaky-cam techniques (when scene-appropriate) with a "70s psychic-surreal road film" aesthetic. Think O'Brien's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Policeman"><i>The Third Policeman</i></a>, with a female protagonist, set very decidedly in the Pac NW, with a recurring and disarming frog-furry costumed character.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zK4DPABT9-k" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Up top, the chillingly amoral <a href="http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0050902/?ref_=tt_cl_t1">Ryunosuke</a>, from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060277/"><i>The Sword of Doom</i></a> (1966.) Click there to stream this week's horrorcast™ in full.WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-4553284204753982392017-08-11T14:34:00.003-04:002017-08-11T14:34:36.591-04:00"Cry To Me" BY Heart Folk Guitar Love Songs Pretty Nice Ann & Nancy Wilson.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/74234"><img alt="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/74234" border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="852" height="166" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yURNO_zdWwE/WY3uQt_USBI/AAAAAAAADzg/l-JSy0bmGIoB2mOpXKELZy_7kgyqk4nJgCLcBGAs/s400/WAILING2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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The centerpiece of our horrorcast™ this week was a barbarous live set by SCREECH, their <b>FIRST LIVE SET</b> ever, as it turns out, though neither myself nor anyone listening would have known. Tight and mincey—clearly solidly rehearsed—they plied us with older songs, newer, unreleased songs, and several favorites from their outstanding full length <a href="https://screech.bandcamp.com/album/the-color-greed"><i>The Color Greed</i></a>, the record that led me to them in the first place (first via the Mister Mincer channel on YouTube, then to their bandcamp.) Very pleased that I was able to do my little part to bring SCREECH's music to the airwaves, and hopefully to a wider audience, with greater things to come for the band.<br /><br />Other listener favorites included <a href="https://popnihil.bandcamp.com/album/burden">new NRIII</a> | <a href="https://sunrot.bandcamp.com/album/sunnata">new Sunrot</a> | YET MORE Butthole Surfers | <a href="http://listen.20buckspin.com/album/farmakologinen">new Oranssi Pazuzu</a> | <a href="https://yamabushirecordings.bandcamp.com/album/eternal-serpent-power-lp">Ewige Schlangenkraft</a> | <a href="https://popnihil.bandcamp.com/album/thanatomania">Von Nacht</a> | <a href="https://negate-everything.bandcamp.com/album/split-tape">Bahuchara</a> | <a href="https://newforces.bandcamp.com/album/your-strife-means-nothing-to-me">Unsustainable Social Condition</a> | <a href="https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/shop/keith-fullerton-whitman-050715-dl/">Keith Fullerton Whitman</a> ...<br /><br />I'm in a heady, on-edge, ready-to-snap mix of "too much caffeine," and "fear of nuclear war," with the joy of knowing that I'm getting tattooed later this afternoon mixed in. Can't really add much more at this time.<br /><br />Our screen cap this week returns us again to the great South-Korean film <a href="https://youtu.be/43uAputjI4k"><i>The Wailing</i></a>; a scene from the near-end<i>—</i>that still won't make sense to those who haven't yet seen it—click there to stream this week's full horrorcast and the SCREECH set in full. <br /><br />Back in two weeks! Happy fucking summer.WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-48510141306784725652017-08-04T17:40:00.003-04:002017-08-04T17:40:45.093-04:00so good.. this morning a dj saved my life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/74104"><img alt="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/74104" border="0" data-original-height="462" data-original-width="839" height="220" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JTt6VQFounE/WYThS5N94lI/AAAAAAAADzI/c2ake6pYgrMibcKB0yrduYQ77ebTqxZ5wCLcBGAs/s400/MANIAC3.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Sweating to the oldies, quite literally...which I'm fine with, as long as it's "22 Going On 23" and "Brained By Falling Masonry." While 80s popular culture was biting it big—big hair, big belts, bright colors, and white Englishmen playing pop reggae—the musical underground (as viewed by me, then a newbie @ WFMU) was churning with vitality. <br />
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Also lined up for praise: new Wiccans | <a href="https://lavidaesunmus.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-mlp-3">Glue</a> | vintage Smegma | another great excursion from the upcoming Breakdancing Ronanld Reagan full-length | <a href="https://drakkar-productions-official.bandcamp.com/album/arghoslent-martial-barrage-send-forth-the-best-ye-breed">Argholsent</a> | <a href="http://palilalia.com/">Bill Orcutt</a> | new works by <a href="http://oxen-label.com/releases/sects-pretending-fucked/">Sects</a> | <a href="https://rnikolaenko.bandcamp.com/">R. Nikolaenko</a> | <a href="https://silkentofu.bandcamp.com/album/national-crime-history">Orphan Swords</a> ...<br />
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We laughed, we shuddered, and my dog barked on mic. As my old running buddy R. Cuevas used to say, "Billy man, I'm tiiied," and I am, tired as fuck, and braced for an evening airport pickup, so I'm gonna keep this short. Suffice it to say that this week's horrorcast™ had an even-better-than-usual gelling of content, reflected by much praise on and off our playlist comments, which I humbly accept. If I can please myself, and please YOU at the same time, th<i>e</i>n it was all worthwhile. The ol' radio reach-around. Bam Bam, Bam Bam Billah.<br />
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For this week's playlist capture we returned to the oft-visited Joe Spinell and William Lustig's <a href="https://youtu.be/AGoGdKdBt2Q"><i>Maniac</i></a>, just about as good a slasher movie as there ever will be, scalps on mannequins and whatnot. Click there to stream the full horrorcast archive, view song info & album-cover art, and read the heady swirl of listener comments.<br />
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My sole film recommendation this week is something Castleheads are likely already on top of, Ben Wheatley's <i>Free Fire</i>, the latest feature from the ever-surprising, can't miss British director—not a horror film at all—but a raucous, grimy, funny and frenetic shootout film, set in a warehouse in 1970s Boston, with an International cast of miscreant types. High-low entertainment. <br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1908653176015147/">Live music next week in studio from NYC's SCREECH</a>; and in the words of Papa Lazarou, "We would <b>love</b> for you to join us!" <br /><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oDD3I0uOlqY" width="560"></iframe>WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-68568754344952567122017-07-28T14:26:00.002-04:002017-07-28T17:36:54.285-04:00...the blistering musical truth of today.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/73870"><img alt="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/73870" border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="853" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L0xRL_HNbl0/WXt5tNZMq1I/AAAAAAAADyw/uTMTnSfSBBcNRDKQ8ZEWatC7qFRLIhFtwCLcBGAs/s400/HELI.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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'Twas a briny night in <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB"><i>The Castle</i></a>, with 3/4 of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/couchslut/">Couch Slut</a> in attendance, and their inviolable new album taking center stage. What the band have done, far from simply avoiding the sophomore slump, they have created a nonchalantly powerful, ferocious hard rock record—each song loaded with multiple, rousing riffs, moments of melodic, energized subtlety, and some off-brand instrumentation—with no sacrifice of the bite. Obviously, I can't say enough good things about <a href="https://gileadmedia.bandcamp.com/album/contempt"><i>Contempt</i>, which releases today on Gilead Media</a>. <br />
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My right index finger got a delete-button workout, and I'd guess that very few of you listening even knew what was happening, so seamless were the random edits, harhar...and so it goes, with musicians / artists I truly admire, the conversation should and did flow freely, winding down many a tangent. I don't "do" Q & A—much too tedious across the long table—I'm happier to just "clubhouse," and see where the night takes us. It was different for the band, even different for your horrorcast™ host. Thanks again to Theo, Megan, and Kevin, and the good people at Gilead, for making this LP premiere happen (Kevin W. was there too, in holographic, hearts 'n' minds form.)<br />
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We also heard from Led Zeppelin's <i>Presence</i> | <a href="https://screech.bandcamp.com/">Screech</a> (our live guests on the upcoming 8-9 Aug. <i>Castle</i> show) | <a href="https://theimpalers.bandcamp.com/">new Impalers</a> | our good friends and former guests <a href="https://yelloweyes.bandcamp.com/">Yellow Eyes</a> | new Brainbombs | <a href="http://palilalia.com/">Bill Orcutt</a> | Sunk Cost ...<br />
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In movie-revelation news, my highest recommendation this week to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4243168/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2"><i>Hostiles</i></a> (2015) , a French out-of-sequence nail biter, wherein a reprobate couple, in betwixt flashbacks of their socially discomfiting behavior (the female lead reminding me a little too much of a former girlfriend—watch out for the ones with the naturally curly dark hair and angry eyes, all's I'm sayin'), take a floppy biking / camping trip, all the while unknowingly circling both a wild boar and a mysterious gravedigger. Stuff happens, to be sure.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/osA3pDyogDk" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Our screen capture this week comes from Amat Escalante's <a href="https://youtu.be/qfcNTCn9k5g"><i>Heli</i></a>; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amat_Escalante">Escalante</a> being a bold and brutal, wholly original new voice in Méxican cinema. Click there to reach the streaming archive for this week's show. Back next week, with more blistering musical truth and blackened comedy.WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-27266832666586953802017-07-21T11:52:00.000-04:002017-07-22T08:24:59.728-04:00this show cathartics me resplendently every week<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/73738"><img alt="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/73738" border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="853" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vCr-Y5Ggns4/WXIZaQWTTQI/AAAAAAAADyY/FKYkhX-aNy01Bed7QpHF_U97Q_jrb4J5gCLcBGAs/s400/B66B.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Kevin Corrigan, (uncredited) as the soft, hairless, and dull-witted-but-lovable Mercutio to Vincent Gallo's aggro Romeo in <a href="https://youtu.be/1duitd-N1Us"><i>Buffalo '66</i></a>, will take you to the streaming archive of this week's <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB"><i>My Castle of Quiet</i></a> horrorcast™. I don't have to tell YOU that <i>Buffalo '66</i> is an absolutely perfect movie, a 70s-style Cassavetes homage in tone, with unexpected musical numbers and frozen scenes like pages from one character's book of life; I just watched it again recently, so I'm excited, ok? Plus, any good director shooting in the city of their birth is near-guaranteed to strike gold—it's the home-turf rule of film. <br />
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Lots of lively chat and gracious praise on the playlist comments this week, notably for: <a href="https://breakdancingronaldreagan.bandcamp.com/">Breakdancing Ronald Reagan</a> | <a href="https://rnikolaenko.bandcamp.com/album/grace-strikes-back">R. Nikolaenko</a> | <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Wasteland-Jazz-Unit-dbh-Split/release/2134777">Wasteland Jazz Unit</a> | Goblin's <a href="https://youtu.be/MwK1EpQtTUo">dirge from <i>Zombi</i> / </a><i><a href="https://youtu.be/MwK1EpQtTUo">Dawn of the Dead</a> </i>(RIP George A. Romero) | <a href="https://caligarirecords.bandcamp.com/album/voima-on-oikeutta">Huoripukki</a> | <a href="https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Osculum_Infame/Manifesto_from_the_Dark_Age/273247">Osculum Infame</a> | <a href="https://screech.bandcamp.com/album/the-color-greed">SCREECH</a> (LIVE on our show Aug. 8/9) | new <a href="https://derangedrecords.bandcamp.com/album/city-of-fear">Flowers of Evil</a> | <a href="https://irradiatedgrind.bandcamp.com/album/redlisted">Irradiated</a> | <a href="https://superjoint.bandcamp.com/releases">Superjoint</a> | <a href="https://factotumtapes.bandcamp.com/album/facialmess-developer-split">Developer</a> | <a href="https://nihilistrecordings.bandcamp.com/">Abstructum</a> | <a href="https://soundcloud.com/arca1000000">Arca</a> | <a href="https://popnihil.bandcamp.com/album/final-exposure">Jackie Ransom</a> | ...like I said, lots of favorites this week on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/153737993716/">different kind of hit parade</a>, and the indulgence of my Butthole Surfers crawl under the covers continues, thanks!<br />
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I've also been on an Oshima kick, filling the holes in my viewing of the proto-trangressive Japanese director's filmography, having this week watched both <i>Japanese Summer: Double Suicide</i> and <i>Violence at Noon</i>, the latter being my favorite of the two, but they're both worth watching, if you favor that sort of mid-60s, postwar, b&w Japanese cine-madness.<br />
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Next week, special programming; the full-album premiere of Couch Slut's <i>Contempt</i>, their new LP on Gilead Media; thanks to all who helped make this happen, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/132715803992131/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%2222%22%2C%22feed_story_type%22%3A%2222%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&pnref=story">do join us</a>!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n1J9Migw-zQ" width="560"></iframe><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MIkhTaJOpNg" width="560"></iframe>WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-57302728939732462017-07-14T12:54:00.000-04:002017-07-14T12:54:14.142-04:00Listening amongst the hipsters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/73610"><img alt="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/73610" border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="623" height="307" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2oWaMrzermE/WWjyVmBymGI/AAAAAAAADyE/AidJZ51p148c-nep56AQsqe6SvLhlslmgCLcBGAs/s400/TUD2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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I promise not to get preachy this week, at least not here. Getting preachy, it just wears me out—do I get a few "Amens"? Sure. Do I change anyone's mind? Almost definitely not. Most have already chosen a narrative (or wisely chosen NOT to choose a narrative), and my singular voice is not going to take down political correctness or flip anyone's script in a single blow, or even a few blows. Life experience will get you there, if at all. Many seem so married to hard-left or hard-right stances, at least those are currently the loudest voices, not realizing that all the nuance (not to mention most of the population, here and abroad) exists in the massive grey area in the middle, the unconfigured soup, the lengthy festoon that hangs both <i>between</i> and <i>connecting </i>the fixed obelisks on either side.<br />
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Did I get preachy after all? Ah well... news a of a Tarantino-ized film adaptation of the Manson story has me riled, and I'd rather get mouthy about film at this point than social politics. I'm displacing, please excuse me.<br />
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This week's horrorcast™ was "dirty," so said The Countess, and yeah, I was working out a lot of stuff, with a big fat dose of grind, and noise...and thanks to everyone for not only indulging, but encouraging, my ongoing weekly Butthole Surfers time-capsule, because ah, it just seems so like the right time for that.<br />
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Other listener favorites included: the great <a href="https://www.facebook.com/antitheistindustrial/">Theologian</a> piece from the <a href="https://oppositerecords.bandcamp.com/album/rise-william-rise"><i>Rise William Rise</i></a> v/a collection | <a href="https://mothcock.bandcamp.com/album/twofer-tuesday">always stellar improv from the unclassifiable Moth Cock</a> | older & newer favorites from <a href="https://hexrecords.bandcamp.com/album/no-light-no-tunnel">Bleak</a>, <a href="https://katorgaworks.bandcamp.com/album/give-and-take-7">Vexx</a>, <a href="https://irradiatedgrind.bandcamp.com/album/redlisted">Irradiated</a>, <a href="https://screech.bandcamp.com/album/the-color-greed">Screech</a>, <a href="https://blastasfuk.bandcamp.com/album/kill-them-all">The Kill, </a>and <a href="https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/i-ii">Friendship</a>. Also, always happy to share anything by <a href="https://glisteningexamples.bandcamp.com/album/to-the-teeth">Jason Lescalleet</a> | anything by <a href="https://youtu.be/DIh6h29u2UI">Bloodhammer</a> | <a href="https://soundcloud.com/alexiadis">Panos Alexiadis</a> | and the <a href="http://oxen-label.com/releases/sects-pretending-fucked/">new Sects on Oxen</a>.<br />
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Enjoyed the lively discourse on cult film, New Jersey towns, hipsters and other nonsense on the <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB"><i>My Castle of Quiet</i></a> comments board; always a distinct pleasure to engage with the tribe!<br />
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<span style="color: lime;"><b>Upcoming special programming:<br /><br /><a href="https://gileadmedia.bandcamp.com/album/contempt">Couch Slut / Contempt</a> full-album premiere on our 25/26 July show<br /><br />Live set from <a href="https://screech.bandcamp.com/">Screech</a> on our August 8/9 show</b></span><br />
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Click on the gas-masked "pervert" from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Findlay">Michael Findlay</a>'s <a href="https://www.somethingweird.com/product_info.php?products_id=37902"><i>The Ultimate Degenerate</i></a> to stream this week's full program. And for now, I leave you with this, the trailer for <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1811127/">Joel Potrykus</a>' Buzzard:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GpiaeI1Eez0" width="560"></iframe>WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-16969637208405010312017-06-30T12:48:00.000-04:002017-06-30T12:48:07.962-04:00This is not music<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/73370"><img alt="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/73370" border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="846" height="217" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SE1teoCseTo/WVZ3PAuu6uI/AAAAAAAADxw/W-HXnJ7tzjsB6kvThEhMnijPwV4E6z1UQCLcBGAs/s400/NBO6.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I can hardly see to type through filthy glasses (a summertime affliction), but I'd have to say this week's <i>Noise Bliss-Out #6</i> (linked through the capture above) was an unqualified success. Why? Because not only did I fold a mere 14 selections into a three-hour program, but in addition, <a href="http://oxen-label.com/releases/unsustainable-social-condition-dispersant/">Unsustainable Social Condition's "Barricade Coercion"</a> earned us the unimaginative, tried-often-but-not-true "this is not music" comment. Oh, if only I had a hundred bucks for every time a listener's limited expectations led them to say that! <br /><br />Other listener comments singled out <a href="http://www.bureau-b.com/cluster.php">newly released 70s live Cluster</a> | the Butthole Surfers classic "Comb" | <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/211192-Sewer-Election">Sewer Election</a> | <a href="https://factotumtapes.bandcamp.com/album/facialmess-developer-split">Facialmess</a> | ...and the undeniable, early-noise obelisk <i>The 150 Murderous Passions</i> ...<br /><br />Listeners really seem to enjoy the Noise Bliss-Outs, and well of course, I do as well; it's quality immersion, great for the head, and from my DJ's chair, it's "working smart, not hard." Below are links to every other NB-O <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB"><i>My Castle of Quiet</i></a> program thus far, for your crunchy enjoyment:<br />
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<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/33369">#1 (Oct. 2009)</a><br /><a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/34213">#2 (Dec. 2009; special guest Paul Haney)</a><br /><a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/60179">#3 (April 2015)</a><br /><a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/66119">#4 (April 2016)</a><br /><a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/68866">#5 (Oct. 2016)<br /></a><br />
Atop our playlist, the talented, gorgeous (and so often cast in deliciously grotesque roles) Béatrice Dalle. A bit more on the film depicted, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trouble_Every_Day_(film)"><i>Trouble Every Day</i></a>, and the actor's outrageous personal legend, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/movie-news/beatrice-dalle-betty-blue-ate-ear/">here</a>.<br /><br />Back next week with more mayhem. <br />Thanks for listening, enjoying, and for your robust dialogue on our playlist comments....<br />WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-4241371212489694602017-06-23T13:14:00.003-04:002017-06-23T13:14:36.538-04:00I like this music programme<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/73257"><img alt="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/73257" border="0" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="849" height="167" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tyqCUt6CoAM/WU02IPjZj6I/AAAAAAAADxc/YphK_-0VZpQaLKnTCOPot_4-oUBB75ZfACLcBGAs/s400/WAILING1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Someone recently referred to <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB"><i>My Castle of Quiet</i></a> as a "legendary" program; I mention this because going back, reviewing and assessing my accomplishments, and the history thereof, is something I don't really do. I do enjoy a comment like that, of course, but <i>quietly</i>. It's not as if praise or support or sincere appreciation of what I do, both on and off the radio (as with the <a href="http://prisontatt.com/">Prison Tatt Records label</a>) is something I don't soak up like a Brawny towel, I do indeed, though I am most often stymied for a personal response of any kind. Praise makes me look at the floor and go silent and not know what to say. Which brings me to the <a href="https://oppositerecords.bandcamp.com/album/rise-william-rise"><i>Rise William Rise</i> digital collection on Opposite Records</a>. <br />
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Some of you may know that I suffered a stroke late last year, and/or that a host of other health issues were unleashed by that incident. The whole house of cards of my health came crashing down in one day. Since then, I've had short-term kidney failure, upper & lower back pain and numbness, trouble holding my head upright, chronic hiccups, and worst of all, ongoing gastrointestinal issues that led to surgery just over one month ago. I'm very much on the mend from most of this now, but there were multiple hospital stays, a crazy amount of tests, and so much blood extracted from me that I could have stocked a <a href="https://harassor.bandcamp.com/">Harassor</a> tour.<br />
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Shortly after my first hospital stay, Don Sigal, longtime friend and supporter of my <i>My Castle...</i> and Prison Tatt Records, organized and compiled a benefit compilation to help with my medical expenses, and the contributors' list honored and moved me in a way that's so personal, I won't even attempt to describe how I felt. Contributions from good friends, many of whom have been live performers on the show, and/or artists whose music has been featured, even celebrated on the program, add up to a very satisfying compendium of sound art/rock-noise/what have you—a great compilation that I'd like and promote even if its purpose was not to benefit me personally in a time of poor health and unanticipated financial stress.<br />
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You can view the contributors and track list, and stream the collection in its entirely <a href="https://oppositerecords.bandcamp.com/album/rise-william-rise">here</a>, and I'll embed the bc player below, just to make it easy for all. I'm somewhat restricted, by WFMU's not-for-profit norms, from drawing special attention to the release, a perhaps unfortunate catch-22, though both playing the occasional selection, and promoting/encouraging listeners to buy via the Web are within my prerogative, and most importantly, I'll say again that it's a compilation I'd enjoy and purchase regardless of whether or not it was created in my name. Special accolades to Don, who not only seized upon the most-appropriate title, but also grabbed an image from <i>Beyond The Living</i>, aka <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076478/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><i>Nurse Sherri</i></a> for the cover (the film that supplies most of the audio for <i>MCoQ</i>'s much-beloved weekly show-opening.) I'm humbled, and send tremendous gratitude and love to all involved.<br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1460305389/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 470px; width: 350px;"><a href="http://oppositerecords.bandcamp.com/album/rise-william-rise">Rise William Rise by Various Artists</a></iframe><br />
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On this week's horrorcast™, praise for: pretty much my all-time favorite <a href="https://youtu.be/XrZ3opXYpf4">Sonic Youth song</a> (that's a great live version @ that link) | yet more Butthole Surfers | <a href="https://brazengate.bandcamp.com/releases">Brazen Gate</a> | <a href="https://basmu.bandcamp.com/album/ba-mu-compilation">Bašmu</a> | <a href="https://norentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/introducing-the-confession-nrr47">Samantha Glass</a> | <a href="https://powerlunch.bandcamp.com/album/homesick">MindSpring Memories</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijokaidan">Hijokaidan</a> | <a href="https://popnihil.bandcamp.com/album/wicked-game">Burnt Hair</a> ... other highs included <a href="https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Hypnos/Arcane_Moon/31480">Hypnos</a> (left off our <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/73108">Seed Stock black-metal special last week</a> due to time constraints) | <a href="https://unseenforcenoise.bandcamp.com/album/ungoliant">Ungoliant</a> | NEW <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NuitNoireOfficial/">Nuit Noire</a> | NEW <a href="https://nihilistrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/abstructum-nihil-84">Abstructum</a><br />
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Now, the best movie I watched this past week, perhaps in months, is <i>The Wailing</i>, an anything-goes South-Korean horror epic from the director of the great <a href="https://youtu.be/Fxm72hmhdXU"><i>The Chaser</i></a> (an absolute classic among Korean thrillers); dark magic, horrid disease & death, demonic possession, occult & demonic forces at war, and one terrifying reanimated corpse (pictured up top) all feature in the crazy quilt of <i>The Wailing</i>'s greatness. Click there, on our weekly screen capture, to stream this week's horrorcast in full. <br />
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Next week (maybe, still juggling ideas): <span style="color: #f4cccc;"><b>Noise Bliss-Out #6</b></span><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/43uAputjI4k" width="560"></iframe>WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-29026568131522342822017-06-16T12:40:00.000-04:002017-06-16T12:40:32.822-04:00Still time to scream at the moon and shake a fist.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/73108"><img alt="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/73108" border="0" data-original-height="457" data-original-width="842" height="216" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mG_femSormw/WUQBo8idhAI/AAAAAAAADxE/pMIqIDzaMlMn96EMmQ03RP4SAQMeu7rAgCLcBGAs/s400/KN2.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
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M. del Rio is a champion collector / archivist of black metal, and his visits as guest-DJ to <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB"><i>My Castle of Quiet</i></a> are always invigorating. This was visit number four, perhaps one of the most stimulating shows of Seed-Stockery; with artists that will send myself and listeners (one presumes) into weeks of research, hunting and Discogs purchasing.<br />
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Each of his mixtapes (and yes, these were actual mixtapes) was devoted to a different nation: Svensk, Norge, and Hellas, and though we ran out of time on the Greece tape, materials were left in my care, such that we'll be hearing selections from that one in the weeks to come on <i>MCoQ</i>.<br />
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Every song was essentially a "hit"—wild, creative and complex, a must for enthusiasts of the genre, though standouts included: Svartsyn, Arckanum, <a href="https://helterskelterproductions.bandcamp.com/album/paralys">Wulkanaz</a>, LIK, Azhubham Haani, Armagedda, Unpure (!), Sorhin, Helheim, Troll, Kvist, Virus, Legion of Doom... see that's nearly the entire playlist. And <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/73108">just look</a> at the encapsulating rundown of black-metal tape and record sleeves! A heaven for the eyes, naturally for the hell-minded. <br />
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Can't thank M. and Ning Nong enough for stopping by; the on-air selections were prime, and the off-mic discussions also a treat for me, just to be in the company of those who have an "investment" in black metal, such that discussion-in-depth flows naturally.<br />
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Films that resonated strongly with me over the past week were <i>L'autre Monde </i>(English title <i>Black Heaven</i>), a film directed by the writer of two great French mind-fuck classics, <a href="https://youtu.be/CiSP7T0bf2o"><i>Harry, He's Here To Help</i></a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/cB4lf0huKfU"><i>Lemming</i></a>; and <i>Among The Living </i>(<i>Aux Yeux des vivants</i>), a bloody, fast-paced horror thriller that nearly defies adequate description. Trailers below.<br />
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Thanks for listening and for your comments, back next week.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OsSFRqCezBA" width="560"></iframe><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X0Fi6_KT_dc" width="560"></iframe>WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-47049300092281461162017-06-09T16:29:00.000-04:002017-06-09T16:40:41.973-04:00You are your own alert system, always and forever. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/72981"><img alt="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/72981" border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="846" height="218" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E8mvTRmvUv4/WTr0XXXygmI/AAAAAAAADww/dDa5db2IZD00v2X44iWwnwHiA3-peUlqACLcB/s400/BG2.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Anyone out there remember how I've said in the past, "once you care, you're fucked"? Well yeah, that ship has sailed—many times obviously—but this time, things are a bit different.<br />
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What I'm caring about this time is <b>free speech</b>, which has taken so many hard hits recently, you'd think it was married to Ike Turner. See, I think we can all agree that spousal abuse is not in the least bit funny, but my point here, in this context, and <b>context is crucial</b>, is that I have the right to make that joke, and you in turn have the right to chuckle at it, or not.<br />
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62% of American University campuses would really rather that you NOT have that choice, and that's where I'm headed here.<br />
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Harvard admissions are being rescinded over students' use of "offensive" memes; careers of ordinary people, and celebrities alike, are being forestalled or ruined outright—over <b>words</b>, written or spoken, simply because someone would prefer not to read or hear them. You have the choice, always, in a free society, to simply LOOK AWAY, or to use <i>your</i> free speech to publicly disagree. This is serious shit, and I could never have predicted, even 10 years ago, that these hits to our freedoms would come from the Left, that is to say, the collective social-media hive mind of the Liberal and Left-leaning, the so-called politically correct.<br />
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The rules against free expression of unpopular ideas, on the majority of college campuses, right now, are even more restrictive than outside of academia. This is the opposite of what I grew up believing, as a child of the 70s, because <i>college was <b>the place</b> where critical thinking and free-spirited debate was not only supposed to happen, but widely encouraged. </i>Higher education was where you tweaked your identity and began your path to adulthood, a "safe space" for <b>all</b>—feminists, Black Panthers, Communists, yes, but also the Young Conservatives, Randians, literally everyone...and no book open on your lap on the quad would be ever questioned, or even open to criticism, whether it was <i>Mein Kampf</i> or <i>The Female Eunuch</i>.<br />
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As someone who's been in broadcasting since 1984, I pay special attention to censorship, FCC rulings and the like, and I have always been hard-line anti-censorship, because <i>I want to assume that the public is free, intelligent, and discerning enough to disseminate any and all information</i>, be it written, spoken, or in the form of visual or performance art. Seek out the ideas you find relatable and palatable, and leave the rest, or even better—find people you disagree with, those who are saying what you don't want to hear, and engage them, in open, respectful debate. <br />
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People like to say nowadays that "<i>1984</i> is happening right now," the problem with this notion usually for me is that it's automatically assumed that this control of what we say and ultimately think will come from the corridors of power, from government, from the idiot in charge, the Right wing essentially; but what we see happening now is individuals in our free society being bullied into apologizing and kowtowing to popular opinion—neither via regulation nor legislation—and many of us (myself included) are simply <i>self-editing</i>, so as to not lose friends, or have our livelihoods or creative pursuits questioned, boycotted or denied. <br />
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Make no mistake, this war on free speech is a tragic and urgent matter, and it's coming from places you might least expect, like Twitter and BuzzFeed. As <i>Simpsons</i> bartender Moe Szyslak once sang, "Sorry Marge, the mob has spoken." Indeed, the mob has spoken, and it does not want hear words, or see pictures, or experience your irreverence, lexicon and conditions notwithstanding. I for one am scared. Free speech, protected by law, is not being curtailed or limited by the authorities, but by every Dick and Jane with a social media account. <br />
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Rant over, but I implore you reading this to consider my words, and to not simply follow a narrative, but to truly and always be a free thinker, rather than a media parrot. Seek out those with opposing beliefs and opinions and humanize them.<br />
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I also did a radio show this week! Popular tracks came from Mortuary Drape | The Frogs | The Stranglers | The Dead Boys | <a href="https://kriegofficial.bandcamp.com/">Krieg</a> | <a href="https://devilmaster.bandcamp.com/releases">Devil Master</a> | <a href="https://bakedtapes.bandcamp.com/album/too-soon-too-late">J. Soliday</a> | <a href="https://blankspell.bandcamp.com/">Blank Spell</a> | <a href="https://scavengerofdeathrecords.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-2">Nurse</a> | <a href="http://music.crippledsound.net/album/oven">Oven</a> | <a href="https://caligarirecords.bandcamp.com/album/split-2">Black Urn</a> | Tony Conrad ... and special high marks to new work by <a href="https://hatcherspinball.bandcamp.com/album/eroding-patterns">Hatchers</a>, my personal high point of the horrorcast™. You can stream the whole thing by clicking on our weekly still, this time from the elevated zombie trash of 1981's <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081248/"><i>Burial Ground</i></a>, known both for its simply awful, low-effort special effects, and for one very-memorable character, an underdeveloped manchild that just looks a whole lot like Mark E. Smith.<br />
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I return next week with a total blackout—our fourth guest-DJ visit from M. del Rio of Seed Stock Records, Raspberry Bulbs, et al. Should be a great time, as black as we ever get at <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB"><i>My Castle of Quiet</i></a>. For more information, to comment or join, please visit our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1336174036498170/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%224%22%2C%22feed_story_type%22%3A%22308%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D">Facebook event listing</a>.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nB3jpozGjhk" width="560"></iframe>WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-53147517482104481692017-06-02T15:55:00.005-04:002017-06-02T16:11:06.846-04:00Ill conceived sounds. Destroying the airwaves.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/72870"><img alt="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/72870" border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="847" height="178" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p8t2_4JImBM/WTG2eUidxoI/AAAAAAAADwc/OkBGTM0yRE0sdB0lolNq9jcFeKB5TptXwCLcB/s400/DO.bmp" width="400" /></a></div>
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"We're calling to arms, and it's shields and swords people." —<i>me</i><br />
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And if you don't have iron, make a torch, grab a pitchfork. Arguably, those who are driving the spaceship set the tone for the behavior of the crew at large, and all I see when I make the mistake of leaving the house is bad behavior. Tampons (used) on the ground in the parking lot; if that doesn't say (scream) "I don't give a fuck," what does? We have a Chief Executive who tweets utter nonsense at 3 a.m., unchecked by any staff or family, offending the global community daily, and that now-perpetual instability is empowering every idiot with a bad idea, a selective memory, and nothing positive to contribute. <i>That's my real objection to Trump, the celebration of stupid and proud. </i><br />
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I try most often to make <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB"><i>My Castle of Quiet</i></a> a glory-filled, horror-movie fantasy <i>escape</i>, free of social politics or otherwise, but it just seems to get more difficult over time. The herd feeds on propaganda like McDonald's, their senses are dulled to the extreme but I'm sure they <i>feel sharp</i>; "fucking dumb" is to be celebrated, "ghosting" is the new etiquette, and even the good people are pulling inward, playing the "look at me and my problems" game at the expense of anyone else's real, non-social-media-shared feelings—it's the <b>me, me, me</b> generation, and even stepping outside, I check the bushes for personal slights.<br />
<br />
Half a tear for Manchester, and right back to hobnobbing the complexity of midgets talking backward in the new <i>Twin Peaks</i>. Jim Morrison's "You're all a bunch of slaves!" from the ill-famed Miami concert comes quickly to mind. You're familiar with how the NRA aggressively campaigns in regions that have <i>just experienced</i> a mass shooting? That's how I see the cries of "Islamaphobia!" in the immediate wake of a terror attack. I'm only asking that if you truly consider yourselves to be Leftists, Socialists, collectivists, that you traverse in actual facts rather than follow the narrative. Not everything on the Left is right, not everything on the Right is wrong.<br />
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Also, I did a radio show this week...the horrorcast™ careens into summer, and listeners seem to be enjoying the less-predictable eclecticism of more-recent <i>Castle</i> playlists. <br />
<br />
This week, we started off with electronic cinema scores from Goblin and <a href="https://youtu.be/vx_5QKJb7hw">Chris Burke</a>, heard more from Angel Marcloid's <a href="https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/03/21/fire-toolz-drip-mental-review/">Fire-Toolz</a>, danced in YET MORE Butthole Surfers fetish territory, lapsing into mind-melt from new releases by <a href="http://haarenoise.blogspot.com/">Haare</a> and Incapacitants. Later on, Anasazi, <a href="https://leatherdoomsdayrecords.bandcamp.com/album/drezden-demo">Drezden</a>, The Stranglers ... holy aggression from Special Breed (M. del Rio, our guest DJ in two weeks, visit no. 4), <a href="https://daudyflin.bandcamp.com/">Dauðyflin</a>, <a href="https://toxicology.bandcamp.com/">Toxicology</a>, Ancestors, and <a href="http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2013/09/jamaica-queens-the-world-psychic-limb-live-on-the-my-castle-of-quiet-pseudo-finale.html">Psychic Limb</a>, among many others. Our final noise-punch was made up of tracks from <a href="https://norentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-bitch-c-26-nrr26">Stroker</a>, <a href="https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/album/cutting-teeth">Blood Rhythms</a>, and an excerpt from the nothing-less-than-astounding new Peter Brötzmann-Heather Leigh. <br />
<br />
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4104835387/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://trostrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sex-tape">Sex Tape by BRÖTZMANN / LEIGH</a></iframe><br />
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Thanks for listening & partaking. Fighting the good fight against widespread stupid, I shall return next week. WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-75984564069064577512017-05-26T13:43:00.001-04:002017-05-26T13:43:55.960-04:00Inspired. Brilliant. Amazing. Thank you WM!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/72742"><img alt="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/72742" border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="851" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m0aPHMJv-JE/WShdRDa5WgI/AAAAAAAADwM/hPzLe7JuQh09rJfZrx_8jQwEoyhAWydRwCLcB/s400/HME5-2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Yes, I went for it and chose a praiseful headline from this week's listener comments, because well, I don't get those every week; a real connection with some listeners is always assumed, but it's great to hear. I'm forever trying to raise the station of what I do, never sleeping on the job, trying to listen to myself, to my gut, and have a more-natural flow, rather than do a "metal chunk," then a "punk chunk," then a "space chunk" ... which honestly gets unchallenging for me too, and I can see by listener reactions this week, that leaning a little bit toward the past, toward the style of <b>The Hip Bone</b> show (my weekly stint on WFMU from 1984-1999) is a good thing, and I can still maintain the integrity of the <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB"><i>My Castle of Quiet</i></a> filter while doing so. I never want to just come in and play records, because hey, we can all do that at home. In brief, thanks for listening and liking!<br />
<br />
Much of our first and second sets were singled out for praise, notably: Crazy Dreams Band | yet more 90s-vintage Butthole Surfers | black-space mess from <a href="https://arkhtinn.bandcamp.com/album/iv">Arkhtinn</a> | pre-"dungeon synth" classic occult organ blobs from <a href="http://www.antoniusrex.com/jacula.htm">Jacula</a> | new <a href="https://pharmakon.bandcamp.com/album/contact">Pharmakon</a> | newly released late-70s gems from Ju Suk Reet Meate | <a href="https://sire-metal.bandcamp.com/releases">SIRE</a> [again and again!] | <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Forteresse-R%C3%A9cits-Patriotiques/release/9962888">Forteresse</a> | <a href="https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/cult-of-eibon-lycan-twilight-sorcery">Cult of Eibon</a>... and heavy, heavy praise for our old friends <a href="https://metalrouge.bandcamp.com/">Metal Rouge</a>, with whom I admit I lost touch a bit, and was excited to find that yes, they've been working consistently since our two shows together in the earliest years of the horrorcast™. Their linked name above will take you directly to their bandcamp page, with lots of releases since the one we heard [from 2010]; I'll be there exploring, and you should be too.<br />
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Our last hour was all big chunks; more from the new 8-cassette Âmes Sanglantes box, and a <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Blood-Tyrant-Warden-Duvonde-Skerfe/release/9707362">full tape side by Warden</a>, looming and quiet and draped in mystery, from a split cassette on Tour de Garde, <a href="https://t-d-g.net/collections/tdg-releases">still available</a>. More great improvised sounds from <a href="https://sanskazakgascarsolo.bandcamp.com/album/tired-minds-improvised">Arrington de Dionyso & San(s) Kazakgsacar</a> next week, as our time wound down and only a brief excerpt was heard.<br />
<br />
I could comment on world affairs certainly, but since <i>almost everyone</i> <i>does</i> these days, why would my comments be a revelation? Better to just title this week's show <i>I Dream of a Secular Utopia</i>, as I do quite earnestly. "Religious" thugs have been running roughshod over the world and its populace for centuries now, and we are still early in the dawning of the Age of Aquarius (<i>Hair</i> soundtrack aside); I won't live to see The Age of Reason sweep the planet, but hopefully my son can enjoy a taste of the world as based on empiricism, science, and humanism—rather than arcane theology from old books, woefully misinterpreted over and over....<br />
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In film, what impressed me most memorably this week was an intricate horror-drama called <i>The Blackcoat's Daughter</i>, originally released in 2015 under the title <i>February</i>; I'll watch it again and like it even more I'm sure.<br />
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<i>My Castle of Quiet</i> stays with you through WFMU's summer schedule, at its current night and time. Lots of special programming still in the planning stages, but I can tell you for sure we'll be treated to another visit by M. del Rio, of the <a href="http://www.seedstockrecords.com/">Seed Stock and Personnel Records labels</a>, founder of Bone Awl and Raspberry Bulbs, <b>on our June 13/14 show</b>. An upper-echelon black metal collector, M. has joined us before, but not since 2014, so if you'd like to brush up, you can find those programs <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/42009">here</a>, <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/47184">here</a> and <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/55081">here</a>.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8IdXQEhAiyo" width="560"></iframe>WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-77687524462292476972017-05-19T13:50:00.001-04:002017-05-19T13:57:42.817-04:00I zoned out for a few but the deep growl caught me attention lol<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/72629"><img alt="http://my-castle-of-quiet.blogspot.com/2017/05/i-zoned-out-for-few-but-deep-growl.html" border="0" height="218" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QmQVjsG6wnM/WR6bh-B64iI/AAAAAAAADv4/d9yV87jrD3c19h8Ky3zVwWyU-ADPigwDACLcB/s400/M-JS.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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"Hold on to something that'll hold on to you."<br />
<br />
In 1993, Gibby Haynes already had "the answer," and those Capitol-era, ascent-to-fame Butthole Surfers albums have a value that I didn't fully appreciate at the time; solid, crafty rock records that in their way still channel the bacchanal of earlier masterpieces. The continual thread of Haynes being a master songwriter could provide me with horrorcast™ openers for a few months at least, and maybe I'll go for it. ...and though at this point in history, the Butthole Surfers have become recognizable, they are not "ugh" recognizable, and I doubt they could ever be.<br />
<br />
We also heard a moldy slab of funeral doom from Germany's <a href="https://frowning.bandcamp.com/album/extinct">Frowning</a> | <a href="http://www.rotorelief.com/catalog/rotor0037-brown.php">1982-vintage M.B.</a> stirred hungry souls | the <a href="https://sire-metal.bandcamp.com/releases">SIRE full-length</a> gets better every time I listen to it | ...also:<a href="https://necroscythe.bandcamp.com/album/graveyard-frost"> Necroscythe</a> | <a href="https://leatherdoomsdayrecords.bandcamp.com/album/pill-hag-demo-2017">Pill Hag</a> excellent 2-song demo | outstanding solo noise from <a href="https://norentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-bitch-c-26-nrr26">Stroker</a> | I'm only just cracking the surface of <a href="https://www.discogs.com/%C3%82mes-Sanglantes-Crackdown/release/10287700"><i>Crackdown</i></a>, Âmes Sanglantes' massive, 8-cassette box on <a href="http://hospitalproductions.net/shop/">Hospital Productions</a> (with similar offerings from (<a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lussuria/Live_on_WFMUs_My_Castle_of_Quiet_172011/">past <i>Castle</i> guest</a>) Lussuria (<i>already sold out!</i>) and Dust Belt making a set, and for those who had $255 to drop, I'm sure quite worth it)<i> |</i> ...our show finishing on your belly with a great new piece from <a href="https://tubapederecords.bandcamp.com/album/island-virus-2">The Gate</a>, and a new Alga Marghen LP of <a href="http://www.soundohm.com/product/solo-1975-1980/pid/29117/">Ju Suk Reet Meate</a> (Smegma) solo works from 1975-1980.<br />
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Probably the most worth-talking-about horror film I watched this week was Nathan Ambrosioni's <a href="https://youtu.be/23ynuyn-nqY"><i>Therapy</i></a>, though not quite the jarring amazer that is the director's more-recent <i>Hostile</i> (<a href="http://my-castle-of-quiet.blogspot.com/2017/04/kimmy-hi-tony-more-drums.html">discussed here previously</a>), I'm just peripherally rapturous that someone with ideas carries on the tradition of 21st century French-language horror cinema; both features are well deserving of your time.<br />
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Take a break from the relative horror of <i><b>the news</b></i>, and envelop in something fantastic—pop out of your lock box, and DON'T BE GUTTED. Back with another <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB"><i>My Castle of Quiet</i></a> next week.WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-84700498634313803842017-05-12T13:55:00.001-04:002017-05-12T19:21:40.424-04:00No Supertramp and no new Ulver!! Salut, Wm.!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/72517"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VOI7sV4PXsY/WRXuitkmb3I/AAAAAAAADvk/Zb09O9_lboo_29TE5CxP9t-0daBeuDxFgCLcB/s400/KWAIDAN-5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Pretty much the same thing, friend.<br />
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Vengeful ghosts, vengeful ghosts, VENGEFUL GHOSTS! If one believed classic Japanese literature, and the over-hammered plot trends of post-<i>Ju-On</i> J-horror (ugh), they are EVERYWHERE! No innocent soul is spared, doesn't matter what you've done or haven't done, these spirited spirits are pissed!!<br />
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And another thing—long, lustrous, black hair—nearly all of their women are born with it, so why is it so easily transmuted to the ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING?!? I'm not scared of the hair. Maybe Japanese men are scared of their women. Hmmm?<br />
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At least with <i>Kwaidan </i>(1964), you know you are getting the <b>OG Japanese terror</b>, though even then, long hair is still not as scary as a tribunal of a dead clan and their attachment to one blind Biwa player. ...<br />
<br />
This week, we heard black, mucky tons of new metal, from <a href="https://argentorecords.bandcamp.com/album/irwell">Cold Fell</a> | <a href="https://annihilvspowerelectronix.bandcamp.com/album/evocation-of-the-serpent">SIRE</a> | <a href="https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/cult-of-eibon-lycan-twilight-sorcery">Cult of Eibon</a> | <a href="https://colloquialsoundrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/devotion-unlaced">A Pregnant Light</a> | <a href="https://risingbeast.bandcamp.com/album/the-shores-of-space">DARGAR</a> | <a href="https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/road-to-ruin">legendary snarl from Villains</a> | new punk from <a href="https://ironbars.bandcamp.com/releases">Iron Bars</a> | Special Breed | Life Stinks | beaucoup crust 'n' grind from <a href="https://toxicology.bandcamp.com/">Toxicology</a> | <a href="https://escuelaescuela.bandcamp.com/album/non-serviam">Escuela</a> | <a href="https://groundnj.bandcamp.com/album/squalor">Ground</a> ...and a loverly last hour with <a href="https://burialhex.bandcamp.com/album/book-of-delusions">Burial Hex</a> | Magas | Magical Power Mako | <a href="https://kompakt-gas.bandcamp.com/album/narkopop">new GAS</a>, and more...<br />
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There was a lot more too, music and er, TALK, but nothing I could say or play now would match or challenge the in-the-moment. AND ANOTHER THING...<br />
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When did the Conservatives take even our opiates away?! Father Burroughs would be A-PALLED. Now, a good old pain slog is the province of West Virginian unemployed coal miner/Trump supporters? I think not. This week's <i><a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB">Castle</a></i> was brought to you by 10/325 Percocet and Bubble Kush, so fuck that noise. NO political subset has a commodity on any escape from the world-at-large, especially in its current, new state of FUCKIN' DUMB is the currency/rule of law.<br />
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In movies I wish you would see: <i>Applesauce</i> (we heard the trailer this week), Onur Tukel's 2015 Woody-Allen-meets-severed-limbs horror comedy; <i>Always Shine</i> (I've got two sisters, I love 'em both the same, sort of identity-politic horror); and not for nothing, but <i>The Visitor</i> (1978) is newly streamable on Shudder and still kicks ass, in both visually glorious and unintentionally funny ways.<br />
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Back next week, and hoping to stay with you through WFMU's summer, we'll see, as I'm already racking up the tentative special programming for same.<br />
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Meanwhile, click on "The Woman in the Snow" above, from the aforementioned <i>Kwaidan</i>—blue lipstick, yah!...to enjoy this week's horrorcast™ archive.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wp4blJoV9h4" width="560"></iframe>WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-56814538003452045302017-04-27T20:32:00.001-04:002017-04-27T20:32:05.322-04:00Understood it may not always connect, but trusting it will connect.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/72280"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fPuVBc0KchE/WQKII97deqI/AAAAAAAADvU/vCpxzIkF1xQmj-fadT1ilaS-Ze720JcUQCLcB/s400/LOVELESS.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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The shortest of nods today, as tomorrow, I go "under the knife" for real, in the early a.m. ...<br />
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Standout selections from <a href="https://slimecitadel.bandcamp.com/album/a-breath-in-the-wide-valley-sc-011">Basarabian Hills</a> (the pastoral and the black) | <a href="https://bruitdirectdisques.bandcamp.com/album/scorpion-violente-the-stalker">Scorpion Violente</a> (their new 12" EP a mix of Giallo-film and Suicide essence) | two songs from <a href="https://theyfeedatnight.bandcamp.com/">They Feed At Night</a> (thanks to Bobias B. Borris for the recommendation!) | a classic Warsaw track | new <a href="https://bluetapes.bandcamp.com/album/x-ray-five-the-sparrow-12">Jute Gyte</a> | new <a href="http://gnarledforest.blogspot.com/">Blue Sabbath Black Cheer</a> <i>Witch Hunt</i> 7" | <a href="https://fagtapes.bandcamp.com/album/time-recess-a">Sick Llama</a> | <a href="https://tubapederecords.bandcamp.com/album/island-virus-2">new music from The Gate</a> | <a href="https://fire-toolz.bandcamp.com/album/drip-mental">Fire-Toolz</a> (!!!) | <a href="http://www.bureau-b.com/richardpinhas.php">new Richard Pinhas</a> ...<br />
<br />
Listeners seem to appreciate the expanded, perhaps more-adventurous horrorcast™ playlists that have honestly just naturally occurred in more-recent months, that "Quiet side of the Castle" traditionally reserved for our last hour, and sometimes receiving the greatest accolades, I'm spreading out that material more intuitively, trying to roll forward with what I really want to hear in the precise moment, worrying less about genre blocks.<br />
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Hope you like our playlist-topper image this week, not a screen capture, but a b&w production still from <i>The Loveless</i> (1981)—one perfect little moment not actually in the final film. Katherine Bigelow's first feature is most often discussed as an homage to <i>The Wild One</i>; for me, I see nods everywhere to Anger's <i>Kustom Kar Kommandos</i> and <i>Scorpio Rising.</i><br />
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<i>My Castle of Quiet </i>returns in two weeks; thanks as always for lending your ears.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TB8YDlxH1Ho" width="560"></iframe>WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-11999571008689150382017-04-21T13:14:00.001-04:002017-04-21T13:20:51.425-04:00it scared me. But then the fear turned into love <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/72165"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-feip-XU6-WA/WPo3t54OslI/AAAAAAAADu8/xwjEfOyD-8QcukXN3J1xmZoCJ1tlgaJfQCLcB/s400/LET_B.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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This week saw a Cabaret Voltaire-minded opening, the premiere of a new Kenneth Anger / Brian Butler's Technicolor Skull track (tape out on <a href="http://my-castle-of-quiet.blogspot.com/2009/04/walpurgisnacht-check-list.html">Walpurgisnacht</a> from <a href="http://arcanamachine.tumblr.com/releases">Arcana Machine</a>), new <a href="https://caligarirecords.bandcamp.com/album/personae-ingratae">Rope Sect</a>, old <a href="https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/sister-devil">Sixx</a>, new <a href="https://wharfcatrecords.bandcamp.com/album/interludes-of-insanity">Snakehole</a>, and Bauhaus holding up exceptionally well as it has. More new Cult of Fire and Black Cilice, <a href="https://legion-blotan.bandcamp.com/album/abandoned">Vanyar</a>, <a href="https://novisiblescars.bandcamp.com/album/phallic-flagellation">Deathgod Messiah</a> and <a href="https://eldermagickrecords.bandcamp.com/album/born-of-tooth-and-talon">Barghest</a>, and unearthed greatness on 7" from Curved Blade. New Skullflower (!), <a href="https://glisteningexamples.bandcamp.com/album/to-the-teeth">Jason Lescalleet</a>, and krautrock dreams with Planes rounded off our last hour.<br />
<br />
Still in ill health, I remain not terribly verbose, but I can tell you these:<br />
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1. What to know about the Unicorn frappucino at Starbucks? You can't get one. Not at any location I tried. Starbucks is poison; don't go there.<br />
<br />
2. From theoretical poison to real poison, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/04/21/study-links-diet-soda-to-higher-risk-of-stroke-dementia/?utm_term=.0736c7f0ac9a">a new study</a> shows diet soda TRIPLES your risk of stroke and dementia. I told you so. Have a little of the real thing; always better than a frivolous dose of the laboratory-derived imitation.<br />
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3. Dollars to donuts the Paris shooting was perpetrated by a follower of Islam.<br />
I-I-I-I-I-S-S-S-S-L-L-A-A-A-A-M! "The Religion of Peace," the only one globally that still kills people in its name.<br />
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4. Someone should do a double-feature screening of the great <i><a href="https://youtu.be/bOWyH6LYM7I">Living Doll</a></i> (from 1990) and <i><a href="https://youtu.be/kY391WsPZTc">Love Object</a></i> (newly added to Shudder.) Trailers below.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bOWyH6LYM7I" width="560"></iframe><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kY391WsPZTc" width="560"></iframe>WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-81003764093316051542017-04-14T13:18:00.001-04:002017-04-14T13:18:17.198-04:00kimmy: hi Tony. more drums<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/72051"><img border="0" height="327" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cSA3v3GOlRw/WPD65bXKAeI/AAAAAAAADus/PGWvT8-cYjUB_e3sJ3hLXksko8hItUvTwCLcB/s400/HAMMER.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Much obliged to IDES, who brought a more intense/focused version of the band I loved just as much in 2012 (their first appearance on <i><a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB">The Castle</a></i>); their songs and arrangements are great, their fury and sheer enjoyment intense. I only wish I could have provided more room for singer Jillian K. to tear it up! Treat yourself to their late 2016 cassette & digital album <i><a href="https://idesnj.bandcamp.com/track/born-to-run-in-place">Born To Run In Place</a></i>, and keep an eye <a href="https://www.facebook.com/idesnj/">here</a> for upcoming live performances.<br />
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Other than our live guests, horrorcast™ torrid treats included a new track by Pharmakon, from a <a href="https://pharmakon.bandcamp.com/album/contact">great new album</a> on Sacred Bones | new <a href="http://www.cultoffire.cz/news/">Cult of Fire</a>, an <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Cult-Of-Fire-Untitled/release/9975105">Untitled EP</a> and probably my favorite work of theirs to date | ...more new black metal from <a href="https://rideforrevenge.bandcamp.com/album/thy-horrendous-yearning">Ride For Revenge</a> | <a href="https://soundcloud.com/iron-bonehead-productions/black-cilice-timeless-spectre">Black Cilice</a> | <a href="https://verwoed.bandcamp.com/album/bodemloos">Verwoed</a> | <a href="https://soundcloud.com/iron-bonehead-productions/curved-blade-blank-faced-oblivion">Curved Blade</a> ...<br />
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Rounded out our three precious hours with two new experimental releases; selections from Lea Bertucci's great <i><a href="https://nnatapes.bandcamp.com/album/all-that-is-solid-melts-into-air">All That Is Solid Melts Into Air</a>, </i>and Incapacitants' <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Incapacitants-Survival-Of-The-Laziest/release/9880201" style="font-style: italic;">Survival of the Laziest</a>.<br />
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This post comes two days late, as I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday couch- or bed-ridden, in pain, not your problem but by way of explanation there it is; I was pretty much incapable of doing <i>anything</i>. Now I know what people mean when they say, "at least you've got your health." Is that idiom ever really appreciated until one <i>doesn't</i>?<br />
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Other than that, my viewing week included several pleasures, mostly thanks to the <b>Shudder</b> streaming service; an oddball, low-cost-but-very-enjoyable sex-doll fetish horror/drama called <i>Love Object</i> (with none other than Rip Torn is a supporting role!), and if you want to be scared, and I know you do (so rare for me, and a distinct pleasure for me when a movie <i>can</i> get under my skin), see <i>Hostile</i>, a Frenh film from 2015; both trailers below.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fIm9YZ-DitU" width="560"></iframe><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kY391WsPZTc" width="560"></iframe>WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-23930655919350416852017-03-30T12:38:00.001-04:002017-03-30T12:38:35.808-04:00Oh, there have been times this program was the only possible medicine.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/71831"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UJPsqo4Uz8E/WN0xFFYYNcI/AAAAAAAADuc/9XHQhGRzD4IhhYI4e0paD0iMpf20oly0gCLcB/s400/SIREN.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://arkhtinn.bandcamp.com/album/iv">ARKHTINN</a> | <a href="https://coldfell.bandcamp.com/">COLD FELL</a> | <a href="https://risingbeast.bandcamp.com/album/the-shores-of-space">DARGAR</a> | Lamberto Bava's <i>Macabre</i> | <a href="https://norrhem.bandcamp.com/releases">NORRHEM</a> | <i><a href="https://youtu.be/TVdOHrERSXg">The Demon's Rook</a></i> | SOVEREIGN | FORTERESSE | <a href="https://moros-666.bandcamp.com/album/moros-black-urn-split-2">MOROS</a> | <a href="https://megadrive.bandcamp.com/album/198xad">MEGA DRIVE</a> | <a href="http://www.midwich.net/shop/viki-viktoria-new-victorian-lp-mw-008">VIKI</a> | <a href="https://hatcherspinball.bandcamp.com/album/summer-2015-tour-tape">HATCHERS</a> | <a href="https://factotumtapes.bandcamp.com/album/facialmess-developer-split">FACIALMESS</a> | <a href="https://toliveandshaveinla.bandcamp.com/">TO LIVE AND SHAVE IN L.A.</a> and quite a bit more...<br /><br />Click on the lovely (and bloody) <a href="http://www.hannahfierman.com/www/Home.html">Hannah Fierman</a>, above from the film <i><a href="https://youtu.be/yomSJf-wCEo">Siren</a></i>, to stream this week's full, 3-hour, <i><a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB">My Castle of Quiet</a></i> horrorcast™.WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-41715390784094911072017-03-23T14:25:00.002-04:002017-03-23T14:28:56.069-04:00Keep those hits coming!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/71724"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LZKT-uAvEqU/WNQJxHhjg8I/AAAAAAAADuA/N9NhabvQKvMOgd6Rn7w2FElGTgUgWR9LgCLcB/s400/WAS.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Gotta keep moving, lest the twin weevils of laziness and anger take hold and tether me to the ground (or at least the couch.) 'Twas an indulgent blast indeed, engaging our first horrorcast™ post-<br />
WFMU marathon, but it's important to note that this year's was a record-breaker, and I personally want to again thank all who pledged to <i><a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB">My Castle of Quiet</a>, </i>especially those selfless souls who pledged off-air and within the past week, after our second and official "last" fundraising show on 3/14-15. The support and dedication you demonstrate to our program is most deeply appreciated!<br />
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As is the case with many of our DJs, marathon shows necessitate a slightly different approach on-air (more talk, and familiar, shorter selections), so what happens with many of us is that THOSE IDEAS start to build like a rush of water against the dam of our creative souls, so the week(s) of programming that immediately follow the annual fundraiser are typically a real kicker.<br />
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Though comment chatter was light, I know you were out there (both in the literal and figurative sense), and new material and releases dominated, from DARGAR (coming soon!) | <a href="https://molochukr.bandcamp.com/album/verw-stung-2">Moloch</a> (reissue on the <a href="http://www.argentorecords.com/">Argento label</a>) | <a href="https://coldfell.bandcamp.com/album/irwell">Cold Fell</a> | <a href="https://legion-blotan.bandcamp.com/album/abandoned">Vanyar</a> | <a href="https://eldermagickrecords.bandcamp.com/album/born-of-tooth-and-talon">Barghest</a> | <a href="https://moros-666.bandcamp.com/album/moros-black-urn-split-2">Moros</a> | <a href="https://circlefinland.bandcamp.com/album/kummitus">Circle</a> | <a href="https://rideforrevenge.bandcamp.com/album/thy-horrendous-yearning">Ride For Revenge</a> | <a href="https://legion-blotan.bandcamp.com/album/soil-of-the-grave">Occulted Death Stance</a> | <a href="https://primitivelanguages.bandcamp.com/album/serpentine-fever-dream">C. Lavender</a> ... hope you enjoyed our mostly blackened and positively chilly fellowship.<br />
<span style="color: #f4cccc;"><b><br />Want to say a bit at this juncture (larger post to come) about the <a href="https://oppositerecords.bandcamp.com/"><i>Rise William Rise </i>various artists digital compilation</a>, released only a few weeks ago, lovingly compiled by Don Sigal of Opposite Records, and featuring almost more friends of myself personally and more stars of our horrorcast than I can count (22, to be exact), the whole release designed to benefit ongoing medical expenses, tests and treatments resulting from the stroke that felled me last November. I couldn't be more humbled and grateful to all involved. Due to WFMU's norms and nonprofit regulations, my hands are tied a bit from promoting the release on air, but we did hear the diobio selection this week, and I do urge you all to check it out, as all purposes aside, it is a damn fine collection.</b></span><br />
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We heard once again the title track from IDES' <i><a href="https://idesnj.bandcamp.com/album/born-to-run-in-place">Born To Run In Place</a>, </i>and I'm very pleased to announce that the IDES live appearance (rescheduled from December 2016 due to my health house of cards collapsing) is again ON, scheduled for <i>My Castle of Quiet</i>'s April 11-12 broadcast (Facebook event to come.) <i>Born To Run In Place </i>is quite the achievement, one of the best punk albums of any year, and I'm excited to host the band for the second time and feature their great new material live and in person.<br />
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Click on the picture/screen capture up top, to stream the full archive for this week's horrorcast.WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-47202334183003217872017-03-16T14:48:00.001-04:002017-03-16T19:24:48.703-04:00fuck yah<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/71621"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sC5zXT4fcXQ/WMrVdywiw4I/AAAAAAAADtc/BcCsLdFMxa0ZrrFcnFywCay5_CSZ6xKlACLcB/s400/C2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here I am...a day late, though definitely not a dollar short! My deepest thanks to everyone who pledged this week; 'twas a nice steady flow of pledges & other assorted good will, with "music appreciation" and talk of Sacramento, CA on the comments board (where apparently there lurks a respectable cadre of <i>Castle</i> folk) ... <a href="https://wfmu.org/playlists/SF">Marcel Mirbeau</a>, learning the way we do things (but try hard not to) on WFMU, pulled a six-hour air shift, co-hosting first for my show, then hosting his own.<br />
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Please help push <a href="https://wfmu.org/">WFMU</a> toward our marathon goal of $1.3m, through this Sunday, when the fundraiser concludes with the Hoof & Mouth cracked-karaoke party finale. ...You can (and should) still pledge to <i><a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB">My Castle of Quiet</a></i> as well, simply by clicking here -<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://pledge.wfmu.org/pledge-widget?program=WB"></iframe><br />
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The usual good time pervaded this week (just with more talk than usual, and therefore less music), with "a tender Butthole Surfer tune" (as per listener <a href="http://www.wfmu.org/profile/058495141/upsetter5001">upsetter5001</a>); a personal favorite, plus heavy music and giveaways from <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Grafvolluth/">Grafvolluth</a>, <a href="https://brokenlimbsrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/the-embodiment-of-hate">Our Place of Worship Is Silence</a>, <a href="https://moros-666.bandcamp.com/">Moros</a>, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/alexandraatnif">Alexandra Atnif</a>, <a href="https://tubapederecords.bandcamp.com/album/live">The Gate</a>, <a href="http://www.daisrecords.com/products/drew-mcdowall-collapse-lp">Drew McDowall</a>, et al. ...yet more thrills with classic <a href="https://youtu.be/F1uFIbeSdw8">Germs</a>, <a href="http://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Witchfinder_General/Death_Penalty/1278">Witchfinder General</a>, the trailer for <i>Sleepaway Camp</i>, and multiple selections from this year's <i>My Castle of Quiet</i> premium CDr (still avail. for a pledge of $75 or more)—<span style="color: #f4cccc;">Shrieks</span>, a collection of horror and cult film music and cinelogue.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ce4uKl5sdPQ/WMrcYohjm9I/AAAAAAAADts/bkYDzXKuMbEQzg5yjREhtlWydCW2IA-HQCLcB/s1600/sleepawaycamp-4_758_426_81_s_c1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ce4uKl5sdPQ/WMrcYohjm9I/AAAAAAAADts/bkYDzXKuMbEQzg5yjREhtlWydCW2IA-HQCLcB/s400/sleepawaycamp-4_758_426_81_s_c1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Back next week with relative business as usual; more new and old black metal, punk, and noise (hint: a wealth of fresh material tends to build, like a flood behind a dam, over that two weeks of fundraising.) Thanks again & as always for your continued support of free-form WFMU, and our horrorcast™.WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-87829038619472417122017-03-14T14:08:00.002-04:002017-03-14T18:05:31.290-04:00CASTLE LIVE MARATHON SHOW #2, TONIGHT!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M_mEMilhR3Q/WMgmuiSMYNI/AAAAAAAADsk/UftQRn-s3IQ0S7YRh6kBDIrDpIHghwe6ACLcB/s1600/METH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M_mEMilhR3Q/WMgmuiSMYNI/AAAAAAAADsk/UftQRn-s3IQ0S7YRh6kBDIrDpIHghwe6ACLcB/s400/METH.jpg" width="317" /></a></div>
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Please tune in tonight @ midnight to support free-form radio <a href="https://wfmu.org/">WFMU</a> and the <i><a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB">My Castle of Quiet</a> </i>program. We have great prizes to give away (<i>Sleepaway Camp</i> Blu-ray/DVD combo; <a href="https://moros-666.bandcamp.com/album/life-assisted-suicide">Moros 1st cassette demo</a> & sticker; the <a href="https://haloofflies.bandcamp.com/album/split-10-2">Primitive Man/Hexis split 10"</a>; <a href="https://brokenlimbsrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/the-embodiment-of-hate">Our Place of Worship is Silence</a> LP; <a href="https://soundcloud.com/alexandraatnif">Alexandra Atnif 2xCD</a>; <a href="http://www.daisrecords.com/products/drew-mcdowall-collapse-lp">Drew McDowall <i>Collapse</i> LP</a>, lots more)<br />
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I'll be joined by co-host <a href="http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/SF">Marcel Mirbeau</a>, <span style="text-align: center;">partying within and without the local storm. As always, lots of great new black metal and punk, horror themes etc. ...and speaking of "horror themes," you can pick up a copy of my premium CDr collection (made exclusively for the WFMU 2017 fundraiser) </span><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;"><b>Shrieks</b></span></i><span style="text-align: center;">, a collection of cult- and horror-film themes and dialogue ripped from home video, cautiously curated, for your pledge of $75 or more.</span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L1LGoU5Z-28/WMhovptwuuI/AAAAAAAADtI/wwhQlMND2NQZhlWsiTG5n91ZM6fdwGNlQCEw/s1600/FRONT.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L1LGoU5Z-28/WMhovptwuuI/AAAAAAAADtI/wwhQlMND2NQZhlWsiTG5n91ZM6fdwGNlQCEw/s400/FRONT.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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To pledge directly to <i>My Castle of Quiet</i>, at any time: <a href="https://pledge.wfmu.org/donate?program=WB&step=landing"><b>click here</b></a><br />
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<span style="color: #f4cccc;"><b>THANKS!!</b></span><br />
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WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-34307293385505522802017-03-08T16:30:00.002-05:002017-03-09T18:59:22.662-05:00Haha, yeah, I meant "blue" as in "dirty"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/71512"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JfLmh1o2uM8/WMBqcSgQp4I/AAAAAAAADsI/F1AsSu72NP0uXDQu92G1nrtqsdwGPQ9IgCLcB/s400/ITSALIVE.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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I love marathon time @ <a href="https://wfmu.org/">WFMU</a>—I get to hang out with some of my favorite people, many of whom I don't see nearly often enough the rest of the year, and the atmosphere station-wide is that of a continuous party with a serious goal. Ribald and righteous—what could be better?<br />
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It's also always a pleasure and journey of re-discovery for me to recall marathons past, and revisit old <i><a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB">My Castle of Quiet</a></i> premiums, and we began last night's horrorcast™ with a wonderful song by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NuitNoireOfficial/">Nuit Noire</a>, a donation to <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Various-I-Will-Live-Only-Within-The-Fraction-Of-A-Second-That-Is-This-Moment-A-My-Castle-Of-Quiet-Co/release/3117263">my 2010 premium</a>...how long ago it seems....<br />
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<a href="https://wfmu.org/playlists/UT">Jonathan Herweg</a> & I brought the blue; I can't quite map out how that happens, but it happens, and the phone room was alive with giggles, and good cheer, thanks to your pledges, many of which came in the form of between-show interval & pre-marathon donations, so we started off the night kicking down the door considerably. <i><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Thanks for that, heads!</span></i><br />
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As always, music and context are the most important elements of our program, and favored selections included those by <a href="https://dmp666.bandcamp.com/album/lunaris">Arkona</a> | <a href="https://narcosrocknroll.bandcamp.com/album/white-dog">Narcos</a> | <a href="https://moros-666.bandcamp.com/">Moros</a> [though we gave away a copy of their debut demo last night, Moros have a great new split available ^ check that link] | <a href="https://unifuckingform.bandcamp.com/">Uniform</a> | <a href="http://12xu.bigcartel.com/product/burnt-skull-sewer-birth-lp-12xu-056-1">Burnt Skull</a> | <a href="http://da-rec.de/">DA</a> | <a href="http://oxen-label.com/releases/leah-p-casette/">Leah P</a> | <a href="https://johnwiese.bandcamp.com/album/deviate-from-balance">John Wiese</a> | and multiple selections from the 2017 <i>My Castle of Quiet</i> Marathon premium, <span style="color: #f4cccc; font-style: italic;">Shrieks </span>(available for <a href="https://pledge.wfmu.org/donate?program=WB&step=landing">a pledge to <i>My Castle of Quiet</i></a> of $75 or more; a curated collection of horror and cult film themes and cinelogue.) Click the link in that last sentence to donate, or simply use the dog & cow Flash widget above this post.<br />
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It seemed like the right week to rewatch Larry Cohen's <i>It's Alive—</i>I always forget what a bleak, serious film it is, and in turn what a sterling filmmaker Cohen was; a class act who always endeavored to make a good film, sailing above the obvious pitfalls of playing the killer infant tale for camp or laughs. Ah, Larry Cohen. So I hope you enjoyed last night's screen capture—the <i>It's Alive</i> baby looking almost poignant, peeking through that tall grass....<br />
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Thanks again to Jonathan, for helping me raise the roof and for being a perfect complement to our <i>Castle</i>-style banter, to the auteurs of horror and cult cinema for their craft, and to the musicians and labels for their music (and prize donations!), and to you, the <i>My Castle of Quiet</i> and WFMU listener for your support. All great reasons to live! You can even pledge to <i>adopt</i> one of us; <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wfmu/sets/72157603873576097/">see here</a>. The WFMU 2017 Marathon continues; I'll be back next Tuesday night late, with co-host Kelly Jones. I'm so glad we had this time together.<br />
<br />WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7695423205285185933.post-17309935781644828082017-03-01T14:09:00.001-05:002017-03-01T14:09:13.105-05:00Is Mardi Gras over yet?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/71405"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hs-gMELyTPs/WLcV3x6sDYI/AAAAAAAADrs/FaYZH0miLXUi2RZ8dnqR2ZUBZNTxO04FQCLcB/s400/REVENANT.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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It's a great "is that all there is?" moment at the end of <i>The Revenant</i>, works for me, though my one point of contention with this otherwise excellent movie is that we are reminded a bit <i>too often</i> that there's a fourth wall in the 1800s American hinterland—could've done without the bear's breath, other bits of condensation and light blood spatter—I mean, this is a movie, right? Feed my fantasy! But then suddenly it works, at the end, with that pleading look you are finally quite willingly pulled into the world of <i>The Revenant</i>. ...<br />
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<span style="color: #f4cccc;">You see how contemporary my concerns are, mildly obsessing over <i>last year's</i> Oscar favorite, or was it even the year before?</span><br />
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Ridiculously short today, creative energies reserved for putting the spit-'n'-polish on <i>Shrieks</i>, an audio compendium of musical high-points and dialogue from home-collection horror and cult DVDs and VHS, hope you enjoy.<br />
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The <a href="https://pledge.wfmu.org/donate?step=landing">2017 WFMU Marathon</a> begins in just a few days (see that dog-and-cow Flash widget above this post to donate <b>directly</b> to <i><a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/WB">My Castle of Quiet</a></i>), and I'll be back next Tues. night/Wednesday morning, with co-host <a href="https://wfmu.org/playlists/UT">Jonathan Herweg</a>, to tickle your fanny and your fancy, to entertain and inspire you to pledge your $ of support for freeform radio obelisk WFMU—a public programming and out-music giant since the late 1960s, and still listener-supported—that place we here like to call "home."<br />
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So, I'll catch you then. Thanks for tuning in last night; all manner of good times suited the horrorcast™ playlist, including works by <a href="https://spitzenqualitat.bandcamp.com/album/spitzenqualit-t">Spitzenqualität</a>, Moloch (UK) [see below], <a href="https://neptunesinferno.bandcamp.com/">Neptune's Inferno</a>, <a href="https://luxinframundisproductions.bandcamp.com/album/deathcult-for-eternity-the-triumph">The Chasm</a>, <a href="https://fanculo.bandcamp.com/album/the-voyage-of-life">Beheat Gorum de Mentheurd</a>, <a href="https://finalbossnyc.bandcamp.com/album/ura-nage">Final Boss</a>, <a href="https://popnihil.bandcamp.com/album/shinju">Burnt Hair</a>, and <a href="https://spitefulwomb.bandcamp.com/album/rigor-blonde">Spiteful Womb</a>, wrapping up with 30 minutes of full-course-meal sound on sound on sound by <a href="https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/album/hello-walls">Arvo Zylo</a>.<br /><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zcbr8klG4QU" width="560"></iframe>WmMBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09456288080403027879noreply@blogger.com0