make me cry!

Paper towels, tear with ease at the perforation...or F E E L  M Y  W R A T H ! ! !

On occasion, My Castle of Quiet takes on spontaneous form, a swirlie of pre-planned and unplanned elements; such was last night's show, with engaging conversations forming a centerpiece, surrounded by mostly lovely, haunting music.

As I intentionally festooned the program around Rene Nunez' soulful and many-textured Horoscope performance, that lapsed into a chat, give or take as long as the set itself, rare for McoQ, but Rene and I fell in quite naturally, an extension of our off-air talk that preceded the program. The live set itself was rich with engaging and varied approaches to solo sound manipulation, using circular musical figures and compelling spoken extracts, and I'd imagine Horoscope's available and soon-to-be available recordings reflect that same singularity and heart.

A bracing chat ensued as well with music writer and Castle friend Mike Rowell, mostly about the SF Fabio Frizzi concert, some other brief music and film tangents as well. Mike's reports from the left-coast field will likely become a recurring segment.

Castleheads loved "Demon Loaf," from the new cassette and digital album Chuck by former McoQ live guests The Gate, as well as selections in our opening set by David Bowie (from Low), Vond, and the supreme new double LP by Kawabata Makoto on vhf.

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT WFMU IS FUN-RAISING ALL THIS MONTH! Find out more about the drive, new t-shirt designs and mascot contest here. To contribute directly to support My Castle of Quiet, please see the white dog-and-cow pledge widget above this post.

Next week, my singles, going steady (or at least liking you as a friend), live music from Mortífera the week after. Click on the gloppy, green mummy from Charles Band's Petrified, above, to reach the playlist and archived audio for this week's horrorcast™.

Needs more Gutterals.

WOULD YOU RATHER...? Be Father Merrin, or Father Karras?

A few more questions: Where is my Women of The Huff Post calendar? ...and if, from my receiving end, that request seems to minimize women, why then do I feel so aroused every time I watch a Huff Post Live report by Logan Tittle, Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani, or Alyona Mink? It certainly can't be the content; the way they belabor those important issues, yammering on and on with "experts," through shaky Skype connections? Someone there at HuffPost is up to something, and I am merely the libidinous male having my brain and hormonal surges tinkered with.

Also... Why can't the U.S. and Russia team up to defeat ISIS, the way Goku and Vegeta aligned against the more-powerful Frieza? We'll deal with Assad later, and besides, we've supported plenty of ultra-shitty Mideast dictators in the past. MAKE MY LIFE INTO A HAWKISH ANIME PLOT! PLEASE!

Can't say enough good things about Throaat, our live guests on last night's horrorcast™. What I expected and got was raw black metal; what I didn't expect was a lesson in great songwriting and classic metal chops. It was a real exercise in intensely controlled chaos; a well-heeled, but also wild presentation by a band in their prime. Just great metal music.

Also garnering appreciation in our first, pre-Throaat set were Royal Trux (the topic of a recent behind-the-scenes difference of opinion involving myself and several of my radio colleagues, so I've naturally been revisiting their catalog) with one of my most-fondly recalled songs of theirs (and I come down very much on the "YES" side, having long appreciated Neil Hagerty's angular, avant-Stones approach to making music); and Heavydeath, from their latest full-length...so much love for a first-set doom track, that hopefully the ripple leads to Caligari Records selling a few tapes—whup—"5 remaining"—better jump on that.

Also among the noteworthy last night were: Voqkrre | Grausamkeit | Rid | Orodruin | great new Drew McDowall LP | Black Leather Jesus | new GX Jupitter-Larsen with The New Blockaders LP

Yes, we (My Castle of Quiet and WFMU) are FUN-RAISING for the month of October (see the white, rectangular WFMU logo-widget above this post) and we here at MCoQ appreciate deeply your generous donations toward achieving our very-modest program pledge total for the month. Those not thanked on-air this week will be thanked next week, where we'll have more live music; this time a real-time set by Horoscope (music embeds in that post from Italian noisey; Horoscope on Facebook) .

I don't hear any slobbering.

So...last private party at The Castle for a while, as WFMU gears up for Crunch Time: our stealthy, low-impact, October stopgap fundraiser. Fun times last night, more fun to come.

I learned a few things this week; a) you can buy ridiculously inexpensive desktop-printer ink off-brand that works FINE; b) living in the moment as often as possible will always serve you best; and c) Netflix's contractual situations don't care if you want to spend October watching great movies, great SCARY movies, etc.—Oct. 1, what a day to remove The Exorcist, Invisible Invaders, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Blue Velvet, Bloody Sunday, Yesterday Today and Tomorrow, Going Places, Justine, Nightmares Come At Night, and Schoolgirl Hitchhikers (see above) from their streaming universe. Ah, first-world problems!

Had my usual blast last night, starting off with "Stolen Police Car" by King Tears Bat Trip, sounding like Albert Ayler backed by Boredoms 77, and receiving much approval on our playlist. What followed was a flood of black-ish metal, including the newest (and apparently final) tape from Canada's Putamen Insula, a band I've followed with great interest (featuring members of Oppression and Verglas); wild punk-black from Brasil's Velho; a great, split-single A side from Ancestors Blood on Tour de Garde; also on T-d-G, one whole tape side of creepy, funereal ambience from Old Tower; a classic speed track from Germany's Running Wild (have been playing their first album, a 2015 WFMU Record Fair acquisition, to DEATH at home); and yet another track from Bloodfucking Freaks by Throaat—our special, live guests on next week's program! [Facebook event announcement]

Our final hour was an electronic festi, with tracks from Slenderman, Alexandra Atnif (crunchy, beat-based, home-cassette goodness!), Long Distance Poison's new LP (not to boast AT ALL, but I wrote the liner notes, and WFMU's own Michele Colomer did the design and layout), Golden Retriever, et al.

Click on officer pigtails above, to reach the archive and playlist for last night's horrorcast™, and please join us @ WFMU & My Castle of Quiet next month for live music, Singles Going Steady week, and more. Info tc.

I must dash, and rewatch Curtis Harrington's Night Tide before it's too late.

Sounds like the swinging pendulum over the pit.

Ah, blissful coverage! A lined hoodie, long pants (ok, sweats...yes I wear sweats in public because I just don't give a shit) a crisp breeze across my face, and my desire to leave the house all mark the coming of glorious Autumn in the Northeast. Everything seems possible, my temperament goes from "hair trigger" to "safety on," music sounds better, films and photos look better, my olfactory sense tingles, and hell, I may even get kissed before the year is out (though I hedge no bets.)

This is when traipsing to WFMU to do my weekly program becomes a real joy—may sound pretty much the same—feels renewed, rebooted, to me. That lusty breeze that fuels through Jersey City at the Hudson's edge is simultaneously invigorating and deeply relaxing. Hint: Once you turn the corner of 50, you tend to take not a damn thing for granted.

On to last night's horrorcast™, surprised no one asked about our screen capture...it's the lovely Christina Hendricks, of Mad Men fame, peeling off her face in a less-than-Grand Guignol of sorts, in the Ryan Gosling-directed Lost River, a gloomy, Lynchian, neon-lit fable set in a ruined American town, that the more it resonates, is fastly becoming one of my favorite views of the year. Also starring Barbara Steele (!) in a non-speaking role, and the entrancing Saoirse Ronan.

Playlist comments went to a thoughtfully reissued 1981 Heldon single (pop-orange vinyl; on Souffle Continu); Darvulia's great, last gasp; vintage Pussy Galore covering The Stones; prog-black weirdness from Murw; more vintage, New York Dolls' full-throttle cover of Bo Diddley's "Pills," always a personal favorite (live clip 1974), and our opener, a Nurse With Wound single, from their Dada-exotica phase ca. 1995.

Personal highs included the theme from Night Train to Terror; Human Bodies; vintage Piledriver; Red Dragon (on Tour de Garde); one side of the Nembutal cassette on Yamabushi Recordings; and new releases on Midwich by Magas and Moon Pool and Dead Band.

Lots of live music coming in October on My Castle of Quiet—sets next month from Throaat (10/7); Horoscope (10/14); Mortífera (10/28.) More info tc. Thanks for tuning in!

SCARIEST most DISTURBING image yet!

Thanks slugluv1313, I thought it was a skin-crawler; even more so if you see the movie, Wake In Fright (1970), a landmark in existential cinema, and Australian cinema overall. High-tension, and not a minute wasted! Click on owur luvvley haaus bend to reach the streaming audio archive & playlist for last night's My Castle of Quiet horrorcast™.

Fan favorites included: "So Jellified" from the new album by Cherubs [got MY attention for sure!]; classic 1981 krautrock from Hardy Kukuk, brought to us by the excellent Wah Wah label, featuring Klaus Bloch, more well known for his idiosyncratic Extrem Musik a la Ping Pong albums.
Some YT audio below:


Listener blee praised the "fierce[ness]" of our second set, which included many new tracks, from One Master | Hercyn | Hadit | ...and a quartet of selections from three cassettes on the outstanding, UK-based Yamabushi Recordings label.

Thanks for listening and joining in. Back next week...

do you have any TKK?

Why yes, I do! Have a soft spot for that old Wax Trax! grime. I rarely if ever take "suggestions" (as listener Jake Gould noted, sounds much better than "requests"); my old 80s-90s show description in WFMU's LCD 'zine used to end with the sentence, "None of your damn requests." (My default method is cut those solicitors off at the knees.) Still, as we saw last night, sometimes a request can suggest an unconsidered path. 

It's a common misconception that I go out of my way to *not* be a crowd-pleaser, which couldn't be further from the truth. It's quite simply that my own listening habits need constant, fresh input, frequent reboots of new sound stimulation, so I work the show outward from that personal premise, with the understanding that listeners often respond favorably to the known/familiar; I endeavor to appease that demon to some degree, while answering my call to duty of spreading the more-challenging and the seldom heard.

'Twas a lively playlist, with much crowd participation and commentary. The suggestion of My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult steered me toward great selections from my stash by Magas and Teatro Satanico.

Also garnering playlist-comment praise were: vintage Cure | Ride For Revenge | Father Murphy | Death Factory [extended selection from great 2013 CDr] | smooth ecojams from MindSpring Memories

Our screen capture this week comes from Stuart Gordon's Dagon, and while not the director's finest H.P. Lovecraft interpretation, it's worth a watch for its mood, production design and arresting visuals. [trailer] Click on the image to reach our horrorcast™ playlist and streaming archive.

The biggest news: My Castle of Quiet continues into the new WFMU schedule, starting next week, through June 2016. Looking forward to a live visit in late October from the legendary Mortífera; that month marks WFMU's Web-based "silent" fundraiser and mascot contest, more info t/c.

You are nothing!

...said the dude in the plague-doctor mask to the gal in the hog-tie face cage.

Ride For Revenge, with their clang and buzz, their sturdy, insistent mid-tempo declarations of Satanic love, opened our horrorcast™ last night with an extended epic that highlighted all their thudding, grubby mastery. ...Listeners also liked 80s-vintage slimy electronics from Master/Slave Relationship and Cat Rapes Dog.

Personal highlights included "Watchin' You" from Kiss ALIVE! (a formative album that led to "stronger stuff" for me); another track from the Kristallnacht Tour de Garde collection (2010, though currently in heavy rotation here @ home); fantastic, new One Master; great, new Sapthuran on Vanguard Productions cassette; tracks by Indricothere | Ramlord | Cherubs (brand fucking new!) | Ground | Clocked Out (LP on At War With False Noise) | ...and thoughtfully reissued classic Kraut-electronics from Conrad Schnitzler (rare interview airs tomorrow on WFMU's Strength Through Failure.)

Our still this week, which inspired great reaction & inquiry, is from a film called The Poughkeepsie Tapes, a "found-footage," serial-killer torture-captivity film on which my personal jury is still out...quite a compelling image, though.

Paul Bruno fills in next week, providing lubricious entertainment. See you in 2.

Nyuk nyuk nyuk.

What have we learned? YOUR HOST, AND "PEOPLE," LIKE GARY NUMAN. More to come on that exciting revelation. ...

What else? New Drainolith [made even more exceptional by the contributions of Nate Young and Neil Hagerty; and two songs by a swell band I just saw for the first time, Ground from Southern NJ.

Our still this week comes from the unashamedly chessy-but-hits-all-the-right-notes Stitches, by director Conor McMahon, who's made some other promising features, like the peat-bog Nosferatu meditation From the Dark...but also seems yet to make his masterpiece.

Click on Clown-With-Wound above, to reach the audio archive for last night's horrorcast™.

How are you going to mop up all that blood?

"Not false" was the watchphrase for the evening, a "good, old-fasioned" Castle show; TWO ABSOLUTELY FLOORING sets from Encounters, fierce chunks of necromancy, electric and vibrant. Todd W. (Husere Grav), our guest several times previous (and one of my favorite people in the world) and Raj (aka FRKSE, of the great Divergent Series label) kept great company, and we reveled in horror-ciné talk, wholly in its place on My Castle of Quiet...a conversational thread I'm always interested to explore, and something I'm always happy to have more of on the show (the music is great, it's why we assemble, but it will also "keep.")  

"I'd watch Lance Henriksen make a peanut butter sandwich!"

Great to see and converse with good people, thus rebooting one's very interest rolling out of bed in the morning. The occasional discourse on Roger Watkins, Necrophagia, Jim Van Bebber and Amityville II: The Possession is good for the soul—my soul, at least.

Playlist comments were light, though my opening bridge of Bauhaus-into-Shellac (into the great Italian Catholic-guilt purveyors Father Murphy) seemed to garner some appreciation. Newer sides by Belus, Welkin Dusk and NYC psych-freakout guides Pulcinella were among other high points.

Much gratitude to Encounters for their intense performance(s)! You can hear their sets, and the full program archive by clicking above, on our weekly screen capture from The Raid: Redemption (also discussed in our circling film-appreciation table talk.)

Thanks for listening. Back next week...

Holy crap

...or unholy crap, as may be appropriate.

I've been extraordinarily lucky, since returning to WFMU's weekly air in 2009, in that my show quite often falls on or proximate to my birthday. What could be better than being able to put out 3 hours of concentrated music appreciation on one's anniversary of birth, the "highest of all holidays in the Satanic religion"?

Of course, the mighty frontispiece of last night's My Castle of Quiet program was our live set by the great Volahn, making their third visit to The Castle—an outstanding charge of supreme black slaughter of the very highest order. Volahn are always surprising, I'm always floored by their meta-level musicianship and the sheer power and force of their performance. This time, their set was recorded to multitrack, with live mix and outstanding post-production work by JP Gautreaux, enhancing / preserving all the energy with an album-like feel. Couldn't be happier!

Also making the greatness even greater was the live debut of International Mrs. & Mr. Leather, in our last hour; two great, talented people I really admire; a heavy electronics performance rendered in-the-moment, right there next to me in WFMU's Studio A. Strong, heady, steamy stuff. Plus they brought cake.

In betwixt the live KOs, our usual array of thorny releases / recordings, new and old, including: vintage Nuit Noire, new on LP from Seedstock; more greatness from the It Follows OST, by Disasterpeace; bracing, blackened selections from Ramlord, Arcanus Tenebre, Arizmenda, Nocturnal Blood and others.


Hear it all by clicking above, on the frenzy of psychedelic, tentacular love captured from The Dunwich Horror (1970.)

NEXT WEEK: YET MORE LIVE MUSIC FROM ENCOUNTERS!!

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