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??
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"?
Our live music schedule shifted some ...with Sire canceling / postponing, and a door opening that very same day to a live collab set from Rodger Stella and Sean Ragon, on our October 3-4 program- with Pulcinella still scheduled for the following week, 10/10-11.
Click on Cissy above, this week's mad goddess, to reach the accuplaylist, streaming audio, and listener comments for this week's horrorcast™.
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 My Castle of Quiet continues on its bloody rampage into WFMU's new schedule...
On that topic, expect a live, in-studio set from Pulcinella (10/10-11), with more to come.
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.
AND ON THAT TOPIC...
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: The Oregonian, 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 You're Next, or as Gary, the head thug in "Tape 56," the wraparound story from V/H/S the first.)
The Oregonian 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 The Third Policeman, with a female protagonist, set very decidedly in the Pac NW, with a recurring and disarming frog-furry costumed character.
Up top, the chillingly amoral Ryunosuke, from The Sword of Doom (1966.) Click there to stream this week's horrorcast™ in full.
The centerpiece of our horrorcast™ this week was a barbarous live set by SCREECH, their FIRST LIVE SET 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 The Color Greed, 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.
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.
Our screen cap this week returns us again to the great South-Korean film The Wailing; a scene from the near-end—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.
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.
Also lined up for praise: new Wiccans | Glue | vintage Smegma | another great excursion from the upcoming Breakdancing Ronanld Reagan full-length | Argholsent | Bill Orcutt | new works by Sects | R. Nikolaenko | Orphan Swords ...
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, then it was all worthwhile. The ol' radio reach-around. Bam Bam, Bam Bam Billah.
For this week's playlist capture we returned to the oft-visited Joe Spinell and William Lustig's Maniac, 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.
My sole film recommendation this week is something Castleheads are likely already on top of, Ben Wheatley's Free Fire, 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.
'Twas a briny night in The Castle, with 3/4 of Couch Slut 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 Contempt, which releases today on Gilead Media.
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.)
We also heard from Led Zeppelin's Presence | Screech (our live guests on the upcoming 8-9 Aug. Castle show) | new Impalers | our good friends and former guests Yellow Eyes | new Brainbombs | Bill Orcutt | Sunk Cost ...
In movie-revelation news, my highest recommendation this week to Hostiles (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.
Our screen capture this week comes from Amat Escalante's Heli; Escalante 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.
Kevin Corrigan, (uncredited) as the soft, hairless, and dull-witted-but-lovable Mercutio to Vincent Gallo's aggro Romeo in Buffalo '66, will take you to the streaming archive of this week's My Castle of Quiet horrorcast™. I don't have to tell YOU that Buffalo '66 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.
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 Japanese Summer: Double Suicide and Violence at Noon, 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.
Next week, special programming; the full-album premiere of Couch Slut's Contempt, their new LP on Gilead Media; thanks to all who helped make this happen, and do join us!
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 between and connecting the fixed obelisks on either side.
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.
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.
Enjoyed the lively discourse on cult film, New Jersey towns, hipsters and other nonsense on the My Castle of Quiet comments board; always a distinct pleasure to engage with the tribe!
I can hardly see to type through filthy glasses (a summertime affliction), but I'd have to say this week's Noise Bliss-Out #6 (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, Unsustainable Social Condition's "Barricade Coercion" 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!
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 My Castle of Quiet program thus far, for your crunchy enjoyment:
Atop our playlist, the talented, gorgeous (and so often cast in deliciously grotesque roles) Béatrice Dalle. A bit more on the film depicted, Trouble Every Day, and the actor's outrageous personal legend, here.
Back next week with more mayhem. Thanks for listening, enjoying, and for your robust dialogue on our playlist comments....
Someone recently referred to My Castle of Quiet 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 quietly. It's not as if praise or support or sincere appreciation of what I do, both on and off the radio (as with the Prison Tatt Records label) 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 Rise William Rise digital collection on Opposite Records.
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 Harassor tour.
Shortly after my first hospital stay, Don Sigal, longtime friend and supporter of my My Castle... 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.
You can view the contributors and track list, and stream the collection in its entirely here, 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 Beyond The Living, aka Nurse Sherri for the cover (the film that supplies most of the audio for MCoQ's much-beloved weekly show-opening.) I'm humbled, and send tremendous gratitude and love to all involved.
Now, the best movie I watched this past week, perhaps in months, is The Wailing, an anything-goes South-Korean horror epic from the director of the great The Chaser (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 The Wailing's greatness. Click there, on our weekly screen capture, to stream this week's horrorcast in full.
Next week (maybe, still juggling ideas): Noise Bliss-Out #6
