what the Fuck! why so quiet?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hooray for full bush!

Ideally, the My Castle of Quiet radio program is an enthused gathering of passionate, like-minded souls, whose discussions of music and film etc. can comfortably veer off into equally zealous exchanges on pubic-hair preferences. Viva! I think it's what Jim Morrison meant when he used the term, "a feast of friends," and I like that we had a solid, gender-mixed, cross-generational group on the chats last night. Doing the weekly horrorcast™ is always rewarding for me personally, the "big charge" of my week—but even more so when I'm surrounded by a good group of vibey Castleheads.

No shortage of musical highlights last night (that unplanned week off always ensuring greatness), with noteworthy tracks by Oppressive Light, Black Sabbath, Dark Star (great top-ten NWOBHM albums of 1981 list here, at Play It Loud!), Dr. Shrinker, and new Ramleh (Crucial Blast) in our first set alone.

As the conversation veered away from music, to femme fur, archaic sex tomes, and the questionable eroticism of toes, I allowed the good times to er, roll through me, so much great music, old and new things I'm really excited about: Nordwind | 2009 Lifelover | Dry Insides (!!!!!) | Mystic Inane | Muerte (ad perpetuum) | Cape of Bats (of course; our guests on the upcoming Feb. 23 Castle show | new prog music from James Harlow (aka Jabladav) | ...and that amazing new Gate album, Michael Morley boldly re-shaping his solo sound yet again!





In other news, we have live music coming next week, our first for 2016, from Imperial Trumpet—more info & join the radio event here on Facebook.

Not much more to add except to say that last night quite innocently became Camille Keaton night, what with our smoochy screen capture above, and the unexpected Morricone score for What Have You Done to Solange? waiting for me in WFMU's new vinyl bin (see our last set.) You can hear the whole mess, and traverse the playlist and listener comments by clicking on that winning smile, from  Tragic Ceremony (click here for the full film on YouTube, a free watch—and trust me when I say that's it's some nicely bent, 70s Euro-crud.)

Thanks for listening... Speaking of film here's another one I really liked:

You gonna rise or what?

Not sure on the rising, especially with that Nazi temptress / torturess from Der Todesking looming. The message is so clear; arouse your interest -then lob it off! ...You ladies want to know how "creeps" are created? Sexual deprivation, lack of female affection, breeds a kind of madness in men. Not saying ladies don't need sex too, far from it, but in my years of observation, they can go without and not suffer quite as much. ...Men get weird, we get obsessive, start sniffing chairs etc., and even the old bags at the supermarket start to look "not so bad" to us. It's uncontrollable. Men do not go through menopause, though our sex drive does diminish / calm down with age, we're pretty much raging until we die.

I was raised for the most part in my Grandparents' home, and I recall one night getting up to go to the bathroom, passing my Grandparents' bedroom, and hearing my Grandma say, "get off of me!" - just like that. I really felt for my Grandfather at that moment. He was a randy gent, always admiring the ladies, right up until his 80s, when he got sick, and as far as I know, was always loyal to my Grandmother.

I'm not suggesting that women roam the countryside handing out "charity fucks," that would be absurd, but when a man spends his lifetime with a fairly regular diet of sexual / romantic encounters, he begins to flounder and get weird, and yes, "creepy," as that frequency dwindles. So watch where you sit, as my face may be buried in your chair after you leave. It's a compliment!

...I often think, "why do I do this show, still?" as I head towards the station every week, but it always turns out well, I enjoy the creative release, and sharing the music I love with a receptive public, even if it is from 12-3 a.m., and the playlist comments are sometimes minimal / quiet. I've already amassed a substantial archive / legacy of unusual radio, over 200 shows which will stand the test of time, especially for those like myself that obsess over dark, aggressive, mysterious sounds. I will always be a slave to the less-obvious, the hidden, the less-socially acceptable arteries of creativity and art. I won't grow old and adopt mellower tastes, as some do.

Love on the playlist for Wargrinder, Voqkrre (album on iTunes!), Pig Destroyer (a 2001, "classic" track) ... then some sincere lamentation of the absence of Sue P.'s Solid Gold Hell program (both on my part and that of listeners), and then, a healthy bitch session on the plague of bedbugs. ... Sue P. was / is the real deal, a true maverick individual, with great taste in music, and for those that know her, a what-you-see-is-what-you-get, no-bullshit lady; I've always admired Sue a great deal, and her taste in what she conveyed on her weekly program was peerless. Sue continues to do fill-in shows on WFMU.

Though by and large, my weekly playlist is mapped out in advance, I still end up discovering the true greatness of many selections during the course of the show; this week, tracks especially by Excepter (awesome new LP!), Murw and Fatalism, really opened like flowers for me, and I reveled in the privilege to be able to share them with you. ...

Next week on our show, GREAT live sets from both Bleak (Syracuse, NY) and Hell Mary (NJ) grace the horrorcast™! Here's the Facebook event page.

Any and all further discussion, debate, discourse on the topic of male / female, sexual / romantic deprivation is welcome, on or off these pages. (You can email privately to castle@wfmu.org.)

Click on our capture from Der Todesking up top, to reach the playlist, audio archive, and listener comments for this week's show, and thanks as always for tuning in.

Dew.

So I'm sitting here now, listening to yesterday's archive, and I'm thinking, "what the hell IS this?!"> od Playgyooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Bleeps and blops, popping in and out; what's happening, Rajah???? ... and Dawn, and Dew, and You. And Hugh.

No! It was not my show, after all, and whew and thankfully. Well it was MY SHOW, technically, but the browser audio (I hope, and not the permanent archive, or HORRORS, the actual broadcast as it was aired, methodically and machinistically popping in and out, vocal mics CLEARLY AUDIBLE and OVERLAPPING WITH THE MUSIC?!?! But you tell Barrett that something was awry, and what happens? > His girl gets locked in the closet, food and water oumoked in indtanrl, slid under the door at semi-reg intervals.

What the kid is asking for is far-reaching; lt's "imtemse," in the Thames, in a tent, for Chrissakes.

So there was the old standard love; polished almonds plucked from the very rough tide, (Do my selections and their airing sequence make a kind of sense, I mean, TO YOU? They always have to me, but of this nature, unprecedented.) His big brother does not like his girl, doesn't approve of her, and THAT kiss of death can last long and hurt aplenty, certainly nothing that numbnuts over here could tell from smelling.

MASSIVE ATTACK = Not massive, not an attack. Your thoughts?

I'monna tan y'hide, I'monna tan it and tan it, gonna Dan Tan-it. Kochalka, Kochalka, Kochalka.
E maj > D-flat minor. Bah-doo-ba-doo-ba-doo-ba.

In the midst of playing all this black metal, Castleheads had NO TROUBLE instantaneously plucking out a song from the latest LP by Yellow Eyes (and there I am, quoted on the page—schwet!)—"Cabin Filled With Smoke and Flies." Great title, great song. What else? Gorduw OH HELL YES. Hydravion (a full band project (1977) by the enigmatic Philippe Besombes, of Besombes-Rizet), Klaus Schulze/Angst --[Angst trailer]-- (thanks, mighty SARZANNA!) ...new Hive Mind, Eeuwig (late of Smoke.) --[Zwaertgevegt label]--

He must explain how he got in. His way in—what was it? Surely it was not through me, as my pockets remain empty and turned out.

...And I'll add a few favorites of my own: the new Witchbeam cassette (also of the legendary ensemble Telecult Powers, the latter, the first artist to ever perform live on My Castle of Quiet, back in 2009), Shadow Musick Vol. 1; and the incredible new White Medal full-length, Guthmers Hahl.

It's refreshing to do a show again; I get restless if I put it down too long, though this time the lengthy gap was but for terrible illness, which demanded much recovery time. My muse must be stoked, stroked, and channels must be channeled. Demons exorcised, and all this wonderful / weird / dark and aggressive music that clutters my head frequently must be LET OUT. A discovery a day, so to speak, sometimes literally.

Always at odds with the idea of an omniscient power beyond reason; the vast, vocal majority of those who espouse such a belief are ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssnakes, liars, or worse; YET, the undeniable need in all mankind for some reason to get up in the morning, PK Dick's "Pink Light," which finally found him, or so he said, and maybe it was just a keen sense, box-cutter sharp perception, or some combination of the aforementioned with amphetamines. Where do I go? Where is my pink light? I've just now passed a dream; loosing out of my psyche as I sit here, extraordinarily sleep-deprived at the moment.

All I can say, mostly, is that it felt good, didn't feel bad, to be in Castle Country again, which feels like home, and WFMU in general has always been one of my few homes away from home; a gathering pod for the idiosyncratic, sometimes quirky, unique minds, focused tastes of the extreme diggers, the weirdos and the deep music collectors. I started listening to the station in the mid-to-late 1970s, hearing The Residents and Jandek, among others, for the first time, wondering what it was all about while simultaneously knowing that I needed to be a part of it. And though my involvement with the station has been either very on or very off (I joined in 1984, doing a weekly show straight through 1999 w/o a break; took a complete break, almost, from Feb. 1999 until June 2009, with only sporadic fill-in shows, the number very gradually increasing as I eased my way back in and sculpted the My Castle of Quiet format. Then again taking this past Summer off as some family obligations/responsibilities loomed.

If you're in NY, or planning to be, make sure to join us next weekend for our annual record fair, Fri.-Sun., more info HERE.

I hope to rejoin you on WFMU's weekly air in December; in the meantime, I'll be filling in again, Castle show #200 (!) this time, in Martha's slot on Black-Friday night, 29-30 November @ mitternacht. Thank you for your kind and enthusiastic indulgence!