Creeping in for the kill.

A few words about me, as this blog used to be ALL about my tastes, commentary and obsessions, before the My Castle of Quiet radio show broke ground in June of 2009.

Who woke me up this morning? It's wasn't G_d, it was my iPhone alarm. I've been attending a weekly NA meeting, and I do enjoy the company and conversation (usually) of fellow and former addicts and substance abusers; I like the way addiction is the great leveler; in those rooms, black, white, young or old cease to matter. But why, oh WHY (!) does the seemingly ever-present spectre of a monotheistic deity have to enter into it? I am encoded with all the ways of right and wrong, right here in my solar plexus, and I never, but never, expect to be forgiven for my many misdeeds and bad behavior. The world, and life as we know it, is sometimes ordered, "destined" if you will, but mostly strikes me as a constant collision of random particles in chaos. I am alright with chaos, not the kind that strikes sometimes in daily life, but the kind that "governs" our progress. At the end of every meeting, I back out of the circle, I DO NOT hold hands, and I DO NOT recite the Serenity Prayer. May I never accept that there is something I cannot change, though I butt up against these things nearly every day. Accepting is a different ballgame, and I'm not a good batter, the outfield always came in when I went up to bat, but I've got more than a few tricks up my sleeve, and have spent my every day trying to be a righteous man and have gathered many an ally, simply by being a good person with no hidden agendas. G_d is not required, in my case, for a righteous path to be taken. Where it ends, I know not, but I won't blame my failures, aggravations, or disappointments on a misty deity, any more than I will humbly thank the same for my successes and good fortune in life.

Keep in mind, that here in the States, we stand a very good chance of having a new leader who wears "magic" long underwear. If a Mormon does make it into the White House, that desperate move to plead for Canadian citizenship may really be in order this time. Most of the people I know and talk to about these things, know that a third-party, truly anti-corporate-rule candidate is the only option to potentially "save" this country and our flagging economy, and that's just not going to happen any time soon. For that I DO blame G_d, or at least his concept, for keeping the masses complacent and "faith"-full, or full of faith, so much so that any man who wears the veil of righteousness, while underneath lies the prideful garment of a false prophet, can fool the great number.

Extremely awkward segue to this week's radio horrorcast™; I was feeling especially good, having turned an important corner in my personal development as a productive human being. My focus has shifted, in indeed a very positive way, and that is always cause for celebration!

Much love for -

Dead Times, and their split with TRTRKMMR (we heard the TRTRKMMR side not long ago); the label, Aum War, looks to be extremely promising.

Judas Priest's "Exciter." Priest are one of those bands that mark true metalheads, their brilliance, as a prog band, a hard rock/heavy metal band, and even later as a pop concern (conforming to the MTV times, as they did in the 1990s) will stand forever the test of time, and "Exciter" never fails to be a boot to the ass.

Demonologists, this time their Waves of Decay cassette release, Sermons of Death and Eternal Damnation, though the project never fails to ignite excitement on the MCoQ playlist. An upcoming release on my own Prison Tatt records label is, I say with as much humility as is possible, which is not much, some of the best, if not THE BEST, material from the Cory / Dustin duo phase of Demonologists. I can't wait to get this one on the street, kids. I know that I say this about every P-Tatt release, but this time...wow. It rattles my neighbors, providing me much glee, whenever I pull into my driveway blasting the CDr which will eventually be this record.

Mortuor, an outstanding release from Dustin Redington's (see above) Ministries of Blood CDr label (35 FREE downloads at that link!) There was not a boner in that entire label discography, though Mortuor's I'm Waiting For You stands out as one of the best releases in the MoB canon, wrought with sinister warnings and dark-as-pitch emotions.

Luciation, excerpts from Side A of their Manifestations in Unholy Blackness LP. A roller-coaster ride (the kind where bolts are loose, it's rickety as hell, and you may not make it off alive) of Satanic grind, from the Analog Worship label. Luciation's home-made videos on YouTube are quite enjoyable! (Click on their name to see "Infested Female Skull Orgy.")

There's special programming and live guests aplenty gracing our show in April and May, but I'll leave the details for a future post. For now, please click on this week's screen capture, again from Hammer Films' Plague of the Zombies; my dream mate, with matted hair and blued skin—and she's a quiet lot, as well! Haha- That click will take you to the audio archive, comments board and playlist for this week.

And until next time, remember, YOU are your own master, no higher power need exist than the individual; we are morally "encoded" to do right, most of us anyway, and no book (that written by men, though attributed to power on high) need be consulted, ever. Look inside yourself, for it's there that the answers lie.

Please note: Will be getting the Wretched Worst session from 2 weeks past up online, in mp3 form, as soon as possible, likely during the coming week; my apologies for the delay.

WHIPPIN UP DAT BAD BUSINESS. BLEAK TWEAK 2012!

Biddle-biddle dum dum, de do dum.... the riff from Tangerine Dream's Halcyon invades my head space, again. No worries—happens all the time. Sometimes all I can muster is some ancient-rock gibberish.

So glad to be BACK though, to relative normal on the My Castle of Quiet program. Though I think I enjoy the pitching more than many, it is nonetheless plain exhausting. So much easier to just put what you do OUT THERE, than to explain to someone why it's good, why they should donate actual money to keep it in existence. But the WFMU marathon is so much more than any necessary evil, it's actually a good time for the staff, and our friends and volunteers. For example, duking it out in my head with T-Dream is Rage Against the Machine, put there by Tom Scharpling's inspired performance at our free form-aoke party. Wuzza wuzza, even I was swinging white-boy hip-hop arms, or maybe just bobbing my head, can't remember—either way, my secret's safe with you.

THANKS AGAIN FOR SUPPORTING WFMU & MY CASTLE OF QUIET. THE 2012 MARATHON WAS A SMASHING SUCCESS!

A new week, a new show, a powerful vibe, if I may say. (Yes, us older guys say "vibe," but slightly younger men than I say "rad," all the time too, so I think it's a fair trade off of that-lingo-does-not-match-your-bald-spot, and "where's your surf board, by the way" inappropriateness.)

This was the show that the "bessicles" were just barely holding back for two weeks.

It's always cool to see our theme get a nod after several years, as it's been the Frizzi-for-Fulci that opens The Castle's doors every week. And some clear enthusiasm early on for our broad-scope opener from Sentenced For Life, a damn straight trade I made of a T.O.M.B. LP for two copies of this excellent, creative tape from Australia. Write to bustedupslut@gmail.com for a copy; also see here. Love also for the exclusive Demonologists' track from the MCoQ 2012 Marathon premium CD. And, and...the Death Factory on No Visible Scars, the Grafvolluth on Regimental (hopefully a live appearance awaits us this Spring), and the extended trailer for Teenage Mother.

Oh, and I almost forgot, there were several after-the-fact shouts for the UK's Filthy Turd. A very unique performer, indeed. Here's Filthy Turd on MySpace.

That's all; I hope you had fun listening, and if you missed this one, there are always WFMU's very well-maintained archives; you can access this week's horrorcast™, its playlist and comments board, simply by clicking on the malevolent patient from Lucio Fulci's Aenigma, above.

THIS IS IT>>>NEXT WEEK, THE LIVE EVENT TO END ALL. MY CASTLE OF QUIET WELCOMES WRETCHED WORST!!!!!!

Doomed! ... a Prison Tatt records update, and MCoQ horrorcast™ review.

Doomed because listeners and I were envisioning mushroom clouds Friday a.m., when the EAS issued a "Civil Emergency from a Civil Authority." Sounds scary, right?!?! Although serious, it turned out to be an almost-state-wide Amber Alert, another disgruntled Dad nabbing his kid and driving off, leaving a hysterical wife, girlfriend or ex-wife behind. Why not SAY "Amber Alert," EAS, instead of potentially causing widespread panic? Testing the system, they were, yeah that's right, getting us prepared for an "actual emergency." I imagine the flood of expletives covering the state that night, as apparently these non-specific warnings were also forcing their way through people's DVRs as well. Nice. Do I even have to say "God Bless America," anymore? What could be the country with the best standard of living in the world continues its rapid, vapid decline. Enough! By clicking on everyone's favorite miner, above, you can check the My Castle of Quiet playlist for listeners' responses, and some of my own craaaaaazy ideas about what's really wrong and how to fix it, also known as "shit that will never happen."

Behind me on the Garden State Parkway this morning, another driver was going ballistic, gesticulating wildly, so much so that I thought my own car was on fire. He looked like Cheswick from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and he was sure going cuckoo about something. I wish I had a rear camera on my car, as his wild motions were the perfect soundtrack to what was playing on the stereo, the forthcoming Prison Tatt record by The Communion, A Desired Level of Unease. The Communion are a band that I felt the energetic importance of the very first time I saw them play, and make no mistake, this one is the recording that they were meant to make, and I say humbly, that Prison Tatt was meant to release. It's an absolute mass murder of a record, with their now-trademark excellent songwriting, and stylistic hybrid of blast beats, hardcore flights, and sludge anthems. Fuck yeah, I'm bragging. Hope to have this one out by early next year, though finding the right pressing plant to meet PT's relatively high standard has been difficult. Silly me, I want records to come from the factory without what sounds like several years of usage-oriented surface noise. Silly me.

Since I've been tending to release things in twos, up next are two great records, Haare's Rautapilvi, a magnificent, atmospheric, ritualistic, occult-mood record, with some source material culled (with permission) from Circle's Forest LP. Almost simultaneously, should be coming the one-sider from Josh Lay's Glass Coffin, Haunted By The Ghosts of the Damned, a murky, chilling exercise in slow-kill black metal. Rarely has a record sounded so cobweb-laden, as though it were recorded in the most fetid of basement torture-dungeons. Bravo, Josh! Can't wait for these to hit the street.

All other titles, excepting PT 001, Grasshopper's Calling All Creeps, remain in print, though supplies are dwindling on some. Our most-recent twosome, Husere Grav's Myths, comprising four slabs of thoroughly haunting funereal drone, and Ives' Abandon, the best black-metal demo tape of 2010, quite gloriously reissued on vinyl, continue to sell, but the rate of consumption could always be better (especially on the Ives—what is with you people??) I believe in these records so much, and I simply don't put out anything that provokes naught but a white-hot emotional reaction within myself, that I am sometimes mystified at the dragging nature of sales. Fuck the economy, these are records you need to have! Big sellers in recent history include Sesso Violento's Pacificador, absolutely one of the best raw black metal records of the past year, and T.O.M.B.'s Xesse—the hardest, scariest, most-nightmarish blackened-occult-noise record I've ever heard; both of these titles are still available, though not for much longer.

Also keep an eye out for our arresting new print ad in the latest issue of Yeti, due to hit the stands very soon. Coming later in 2012, The Bog Nebula by Long Distance Poison will likely accompany The Communion, as to relative street date, records by EID/Anthony Saunders (Non-Conformance and Corrective Action o/s LP), Demonologists (as-yet-untitled, though fucking GREAT o/s LP; some of their best work that I've heard), in all probability the CD by Chaos*Majik will see the light of day, records by Rust Worship, Isa Christ, C. Lavender, Tomhet, Kavra and many, many more tba—I ought not get too ahead of myself. Suffice it to say, 2012 will be the Year of the Prison Tatt. We also have a great distro, always growing. Visit our online store and primary site, here.

This week's horrorcast proved conclusively that I can't do any better than my best, and I'm having a great time, and it would seem that the listeners are as well. So much great new music from so many great labels and artists makes my job easy, and again, you can check out the playlist by clicking on the MBV miner, above. Some favorites this week were a 1999 track by Mortiis, the now ever-present Cult of Daath, and the equally can't-get-quite-enough-of-them Demonologists.

Coming up next Thursday night/Friday morning, a New Jersey-themed performance by returning heroes FUN, to be taped this Sunday, as part of their ongoing, year-by-year FUN Go! America! performance series. More details about that later this week; for now, you can view the Facebook event announcement here.

As always, thanks to all Castleheads, the old die-hards and new converts, for listening and for your endless and viable support. Back soon.