--

Not a whole lot of metal this week, one choice, solid set pretty much, but I move toward and away from things on a daily basis. I did drive home listening with great enjoyment to the 2013 album by Siculicidium--punk-fired bm, great driving music, with trumpet solos and other unexpected loftiness--suffice it to say that I haven't played it nearly enough on the radio...next week!

I'm always pleased to find that Castleheads take the ride with me, wherever I may go.

Playlist comments went out once again to the new and truly outstanding Spitzenqualität, as well as a new track from Moonknight, an excellent piece from a forthcoming tape release from Ellorsith, the ubiquitous (in Castle terms) Klaus Schulze, and amazing, new releases from Moth Cock and Lussuria.

...and thanks also to Felix of DA for all the excellent film discourse!

That pussy is out to get you! Click up top for this week's horrorcast™ archive.

Two whole weeks without the castle:( I didn't think I'd survive it. Welcome back ... Dj my funeral please

Spend more than a week away, and home is not likely to feel like home, not instantly. A few days of adjustment will be requisite. But that said, the DJ's chair @ WFMU was an easy slide back in, and will probably feel comfortable to me as long as I live. And such a nice welcome back from listeners! ...I'm one who by nature assumes that no one gives a damn what I do or where I go, if I live or I die, etc., and I'm not above engendering some self-fulfilling prophecy towards that end, either, so your kind words and accolades are appreciated perhaps more than you know.

I think it's become appropriate to refer to the particulate forms in the My Castle of Quiet radio show as "coitus" (the metal / punk / grind etc.) and "post-coital" (the noise, film scores, etc.), but I'm also not above flipping those scenes, mixing and mashing as the moment strikes.

Words on our playlist for:  Ancient Funeral Cult | Pallbearer (bought the CD used @ Beatnick Records in Montreal), and classic tracks from Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and Vangelis (thanks to listener fleep for that last link; I was fortunate enough to find the original Barclay vinyl CHEAP in Montreal, at Sonorama (lots of great used vinyl there, with all genres represented) Also want to give a huge plug to Sound Central, the best store for my particular tastes in Montreal, where I found the Kenaz cassette and The Ropes 7" we heard last night.

Personal highs last night, and there were many, include the aforementioned Vangelis find, new tracks by Dhampyr, and Black Whispers (from Costa Rica), one selection from an excellent new full-length by Lussuria (Lussuria LIVE on MCoQ in 2011<<<), classic tracks from Kraftwerk (full DL / info / SoundCloud @ that link!; The CD itself is a boot...), Agent Steel (I played a different track, but this is their "anthem") and Antonius Rex (interesting, contemplative fan post on the Jacula / Antonius Rex "mythos"), and lastly, a great 2011 piece from Sky Burial, who as far as I can tell have no "bad material," as I like everything I've heard.

I want to get this posted, so I'll keep it short and just say thanks for listening! We have some interesting prospects for live music on the horrorcast™ in the cooker, but nothing ready for publication. ... Our film still this week comes not from a horror film, but from Mikhail Kalatozov's Cranes Are Flying, an elegant-but-brutal WWII tragedy; click there to reach our audio archives and playlist / message board for this week's show.

Pure tongue gnashing pleasure.

Somehow that sounds like a cigarette ad, two young couples on a catamaran; it's an unbelievably beautiful day. That's not my life, probably not yours, either, though I do gnash my tongue.

So, howABOUT that Volkl tape? Really pretty goddamn special. Lussuria + Husere Grav = I tremble and hoard my breath, as though in a trap, but the air is open all around me. I know at this moment what it is to suffocate—and it's horrible. Musically, enjoyable. That about sums it up.

The Nihilobstat (on Rhinocervs) and Satanhartalt (Legion Blotan) tapes can be endlessly explored, it seems. Californians DARGAR also seem to have joined that club, with one single play from their s/t record. A very unique sound indeed. And well Custodian harrrrsh noise is pretty fuckin' unbelievable; the set they shared with Volkl, Absum et al. was rip-roaring, and I'm happy to know that listeners got happily lost in the crush as well.

NRIII's full-length from last year, Solus Patior, continues to be a source for new discoveries, and the more I listen the more I realize that there really is no one making music quite NRIII. The Lego Feet reissue inspired a positive discourse, which I didn't expect, as the last time I tried to play something vaguely Skam-ish there was a fairly heavy "techno sucks" cotillion on the playlist. Ah, but we've grown, together, haven't we? All at once, I was taken back to the exciting days of waiting for the new Skam 12" to hit the street. I still have all mine! They did not go the way of drug money! Last but never least on the appreciation list (because we all love the entire show, don't we?) was Jesse DeRosa's Shingles project from an all-around great new split release on Tranquility Tapes; expect to hear the Spectrum Tickets side soon.

So, that was the horrorcast™. Our title suggested that one be on one's guard, "always," but our screen capture seemed to encourage willful bondage. Contradictions, always contradictions. So click on the couple, above, to reach the playlist and audio archive from last night.

Next week, it's big marathon show #1, with the always-amazing Diane Kamikaze co-hosting, running the phone room, and generally keeping the energy moving. We make good team, yes? Also watch this space for more info on my premium CDr (for anyone who pledges $75 or more during either of my marathon shifts, or to my show in general); I don't mind saying I'm really pleased with all of the exclusive, new material I was able to shake out of some of MCoQ's favorite artists.

Complaints are HIGHlarious.

People. A necessary evil. Be ready with the machete when your options for dealing with them dissolve. April functions best on her own, despite the occasional bout of tears, and she ends "the movie" in much the same way in which she started it. And isn't this really a microcosm of how we live? You can't merge souls, for chrissakes, unless you're John-and-fucking-Yoko. Like many of the better zombie/plague films, new and old, The Dead Outside is a gorgeous metaphor for how we deal with one another in this human zoo. Zombies aren't real—but isolationism, fear of relating, and a frothing herd at your heels—these are all things that ring a bell for most of us.

J. Soliday and I were just touching upon the topic of EVPs when the bell tolled and we had to wrap it up, but I want to know, what would YOUR ghost say on repeated, electromagnetic loop, when the rag-tag band of "paranormal researchers" came a-callin'?, 'cos mine would say, "don't leave"—followed after a few heartbeats by "get away!" Prone to terror at the very thought of loneliness, but also quick to shout away anyone who gets too close, my life is a zombie feature.

Much praise on the playlist comments board for our live performer Mr. Soliday, who danced with the circuits like a pro, no manual required. What magnificent self-expression we were treated to! Jason's two sets will post as mp3s to WFMU's Beware of The Blog and Free Music Archive, once I've had my chance to come away from the moment, listen more deeply, and figure out exactly why the work was so magical and made us all tingle.

Other notable selections inculded the new, limited Lussuria LP on Hospital Prod., the new-and-already-on-second-press Arizmenda full-length tape on Crepusculo Negro (these CN releases REALLY need vinyl documentation!), and the new OPPONENTS 2CD on the Opposite label.

April is a simply lovely young lady (if you can get to that level with her, it's far from easy), too young to have seen and have coped with all she's been through. She wields that machete only because she must. Survival is the key. She, in a rare moment of generosity, will guide you to the playlist and streaming audio options for this weeks' horrorcast™.

Thanks again to Jason Soliday (and to Bob Bellerue for engineering!)

Next week, the live debut of Raspberry Bulbs! (Sorry, this is a closed, broadcast-only event.)

OH HELL YES! This sounds like a fucking nightmare!

Gravity can be quite "punishing" at times. Its judgments are final and impartial. Were it that nature took care our punishments for us, but no, it's often the weak, the innocent, the good-hearted and true that suffer that impartiality. In the world of film, a violent misogynist can be forced to live forever on the ceiling of his flat, his feet never resting on the floor, always below.

And where is my punishment? Self-inflicted, I'd say. Heavily. Bad dukkha Joe, I like to joke. That feeling of never quite being in on the joke, summary and lifetime rejection from the "popular crowd," in whatever venue or universe we may be discussing at the moment, macro or micro. Always just shy of "great." For three hours a week, WFMU allows me to imagine that I am great, in that I take over the airwaves, control the program, however you want to put it. My debtors have paid up, as much out of doing what's right, as for fear of my reaction. My lessons have all been taught, people have listened; they can deride, criticize, but for those three hours, still I sit in the master's chair. I like that very young men are often addressed formally as "master," for it's my "master" that will call the shots and dictate how it goes, most likely. We know best then, in a certain instinctual way, prior to social programming and poisoning.

Where was the praise this week? Hard to tell in some cases, partially b/c playlist commenters were purposely oblique. Not into the voice of modern hardcore? Well shut up, then. Maybe give a good listen first, before you mouth off. I like it better NOW than I did in the 80s, having been around for both. Could it be that there's something actually good going on, your rush to criticize aside? Bands like The Kill, The Ropes, and City Ropes go beyond mere genre ident., into just making good, pure music.

Denmark's Narcorgasm need to be found and shaken, made to realize how unique and exceptional that tape of theirs is. Sarzan and I heard it immediately. Recordings by Sombre Présage, Sleepwalkers Local, Lussuria and Kakerlak all pricked-up ears this week, very deservedly so. That's it.

Lots to come this summer on The Castle, including live visits from J. Soliday, Raspberry Bulbs, Lady Piss, Decimus, and others.

-----------------------------------------

Personal: Harry, it is for ourselves that we mourn. This world is a shit pile (not all of your making, surprisingly!) You were always too good for it.

I am pleased

And this means that I too am pleased, for here at MCoQ, LLC, we live to please the dour. Among all the countless reasons why The Castle lives and persists, another day for your host to not power-serve the straight razor, and/or take a megabucks hot-shit shot, one HUGE reason is that we make the glum a little less so. Temporarily pacifying sounds for troubled minds, not least of all that of the DJ.

Wanna see a list of all the things I didn't get to, but so sorely intended to play? Just for laughs? I'm gonna do it anyway..... new Decoy Jews tracks, a pre-release burn of the new Decapitated Hed on tanzprocesz (kudos, Tim!), as-yet-unreleased album side by Darvulia from a forthcoming split, new Cthulhu Youth full-length (the grind hat for members of Sesso Violento and Coprophagic Substratum), a new Lussuria tape on Hospital Productions, and a 4-way split tape from Ives, Hot Graves, Nak'ay, and Cellgraft. That's what I DIDN'T get to, and this is one of those things where I just need to write it all down, and it makes me feel a little less bad to rub the belly of the OCD kitty in the brain.

Still, something happened in those three hours. Arvo Zylo's 333, new to compact disc ("this is the craziest song i've ever heard" ... "what genre is this???") boxed some ears, as did a Kakerlak cassette selection from 2007. And...NEXT WEEK'S VERY-SPECIAL LIVE GUESTS, Long Distance Poison, got a positive reaction from Castle playlisters, as they most often do. Looking forward to that. Sisu!

To hear last night's horrorcast™ in all its seedy glory, simply click on the blood-soaked traveler above. It's the only way to go.

We Need To Carry It Off.

My Castle of Quiet Marathon Show #2 "Monumental" with Pseu Braun

That's A. And because I hate to cannibalize myself. Suffice it to say tune in and pledge, if you haven't already. Win cool shit. Get my premium for a pledge of $75 or more. Thursday night at midnight ET.

B is this great show I'm excited to be a part of this Saturday in Baltimore—An evening of: Metal / Noise / Horror. The night brings together a lot of people who share certain aesthetic visions and approach; without sounding too pretentious, I think we're all sort of excited to work together. Images speak louder than words, so see the image down below for the event info (click to make larger, like most things.) The folks whose work I know are some of my favorites around, and those who will be new to me I'm excited to see, especially based on the taste and aims of the event's organizers. Lussuria, Malkuth and T.O.M.B. have all played on the Castle radio show, and Decapitated Hed played on Nat Roe's program, all on WFMU (again, see My Castle of Quiet Marathon Show #2 "Monumental" with Pseu Braun above.) Kakerlak and Putrid Servant are also Castle favorites.

So hope to find you in some form of corporeal or non-corporeal attendance, at one or both of these events, at this week's end. Bring your soul.

i resent bottom feeders comment--that was just wrong!!!

That's the trick with insults of that nature, i.e., if you think I was addressing you, then it's likely that I was. Castleheads are more apt to be the diggers, the over-curious, the not satisfied. What's "there" is rarely, if ever, good enough for them. That said, the listener-friendly tried-and-true is not absent entirely from the My Castle of Quiet radio show, it just doesn't set the rules, or make up the bulk—it's a seasoning that occasionally provides connective tissue to what's happening now. And that's why I'm here, or at least one big reason why. I never accept, follow, or compromise even three minutes of the weekly broadcast, because I think it might get me laid, or otherwise enhance my personal or social standing, inside or outside of WFMU. It's fairly easy for me to say and write this, too, and not feel like I'm bragging, or being an elitist shithead, because quite literally, in terms of the radio show, my integrity, by way of my unique filter, is all that I have. If I like it, I play it, and I'm already tired of tooting my own horn, so....

Kyle Clyde performed brilliantly, two sets of hair-raising electronic improv, unique renderings that will appear as mp3s for download in about one week's time on WFMU's Beware of The Blog and Free Music Archive. For now, you can click on ill-starred Father Jozef, riddled with forbidden desire like a cancer, to connect to the playlist and audio archives of last night's horrorcast™. (I encourage you, if I may be so bold, to never face the wall of your own reality. Mother Joan, especially when fevered by Clootie, was a desirable, red-blooded woman, and Jozef had a right to his feelings—they both did, despite their collective vows to an invisible and overtly didactic God.)

If you're new to the show and what I do, please also check out my curator portal at the FMA, consisting of all the live sessions I've hosted since July '09, as well as some rare recordings by friends and associates, roughly within the same creative universe.

Compliments and thanks for Kyle Clyde dominated the comments board last night, as well they should have, in addition to notice for recordings by NRIII, Hanged Ghost (available through Seed Stock), Meditations, and yet more archival Schulze.

Exciting events coming up this month on the Castle, in addition to the usual celebration of life (queue birdies and butterflies), including an interview/live chat session with Mike Hunchback and his pal, director Frank Henenlotter (of Basket Case fame, and more recently Bad Biology.) Frank's newest feature is a documentary about Herschell Gordon Lewis, a topic all three of us should be able to, uh, sink our teeth into. The film is screening at Anthology Film Archives for three days beginning on March 11, along with three Lewis classics, Blood Feast, Something Weird, and Scum of the Earth. That's the 24th/25th Castle show.

Even sooner, we're also working on a possible live appearance by Ryan Dunn aka Instinct Control (and there I go, breaking my new rule about one live artist per month, but Ryan is visiting from Chicago, and talented out-of-towners need be accommodated—seize the day!) This is looking good for the 2/18 show, thanks to our friend Bob Bellerue, who also engineered sound for Kyle last night.

March brings the WFMU 2011 marathon fundraiser, and an absolutely deadly CDr premium collection called Demo Hell; more on that soon. March 12 I'll be DJing a monster show in Baltimore with Kakerlak, Lussuria, T.O.M.B., Malkuth, DJ Decapitated Hed, and many others; more on that soon as well. Post marathon, a live performance by Long Distance Poison (3/25.)

Fuck YES! Busy, busy, busy. Less time to cry.

This Thu/Fri on My Castle of Quiet radio >>> Kyle Clyde LIVE!

For 2011, I've cut back the live music (though not necessarily the special guests—stay tuned) to once a month on the My Castle of Quiet radio show. The tremendous amount of work that goes into promoting and organizing a live radio concert, the volunteer time on the part of both myself and the audio engineer, and the personal need I had to devote more of my free time to the Prison Tatt record label led me to this decision. What this means to you, the listener, is that our monthly live music sets will now be anvil-weighted events, heavy stuff, larger than large, and not to be missed. We started the new-year's lineup last month, with two very powerful sets by Lussuria. This week, February's star is Kyle Clyde.

Kyle Clyde is "an eponymous noise and performance project ... (that) explores the areas of folk electronics, garbage noise, the urban sublime, post-industrial recovery, the science of the mind, and aesthetic asceticism. Kyle has performed solo at PPOW Gallery (NY); Saint Mark's Poetry Project (NY); Death By Audio (NY); Enemy (Chicago); Monument II (Chicago); et al., and has toured the US. In addition, she has been a featured performer for Joan Jonas at the Guggenheim (NY). Kyle also books (live music) and curates art shows—formerly organizing events at AC Temple in Birmingham, AL, Goodview in Baltimore, MD, and Silent Barn in New York City. She currently runs the venue/art space Port d'Or with Dylan Hay (Isa) from their storefront studio in Crown Heights, Brooklyn."

"Folk electronics" describes the appeal of Kyle's Clyde's Beyond the Meniscus perfectly. The self-released CDr was one of my favorites last year, for its clever marriage of harsh sound scrabble and floating, membranous space-melody. Her recordings, including a 7"-inch lathe split with Isa Christ, and two CDrs, reveal a sonic intelligence and complexity that stands apart and together with the site- and idea-specific performances she creates.

Sometimes Kyle sounds like vintage Tangerine Dream (think Alpha Centauri and Zeit), at other times like thoughtfully layered, more-than-meets-the-ear wall noise. You can see and hear a lot more of Kyle's work at her myspace page.

Kyle presents us with two live, in-the-moment sets, formulated especially for this broadcast.

I ascend into the DISC-JOCKEY'S chair, hara-kiri sword trailing from my hip, @ 12 midnight.
KC set one @ 12:30 a.m. approx.
WFMU 91.1 FM (NY/NJ)
WMFU 90.1 FM (Hudson Valley)
wfmu.org live on the Web

This is an unholy land.

Indeed it is, Os. No holiness here. A bit self-righteous maybe. ("A BIT?" say the Greek chorus.) Hey, it's good to feel "got," at least for three hours per week, and know that I can do but very little wrong.

The Girl holds The Iron Rose to her breast (and yes, it was a bit chilly that night she and The Boy were locked in the cemetery), and hopes, for a day better than today, and a perfect love that will endure the ages and the rot, as the statuary, headstones and monuments have done.

Major, MAJOR praise for our live guest, Lussuria, who rendered the sound of the subconscious world, opaque and fraught with icy uncertainty as it is, in real time. Material from the full-length Garden of Seduction was featured, and some unreleased work as well. So pleased am I to finally have Jim bring his unique sounds to The Castle.

The comments board reflected my enthusiasm for Lussuria, as well as cheers for Curved Blade, Emil Beaulieau, Long Distance Poison and Creeplings (their MySpace photo by your author, pat, pat.)

So The Boy, The Girl, and The Iron Rose go down for the last time under the iron doors, and fresh posies from an old mourner seals the deal. Were they ever there? Did they actually die long ago, let out just for that one night? He was unsure of her intentions, but the embrace of lust eternal, rolling forever on the clak-clak of old bones, brought him in, and down, for the last time. Click on the picture to access the playlist and audio archives of last night's horrorcast™.

R.I.P. Jean Rollin, painter of my mind's eye, 1938-2010.

LIVE from Beyond the Darkness; Lussuria performs on My Castle of Quiet, this Thu/Fri.

Having named his project after an ultra-obscure Joe D'Amato sexploitation film, Lussuria's Jim Mroz shares this writer's passion for the unusual, much-maligned and misunderstood subset of haunted, twisted, visually stunning cinema of the 1970s and 80s of which D'Amato was a major player. Even were this not the case, I would still have been taken in immediately by Lussuria's resonant, opaque sonic creations, coming out of Jim's mixer like coded maps of the subconscious.

I first heard Lussuria on a split cassette with Obscure, released by amourtout productions in France (the label run by Shantidas, of Aluk Todolo and Diamatregon.) It was my more-favored side of the tape—a patient, rumbling soundtrack to a nightmare, with an immersed narrative...something about angels.

Jim is an original member of The Forgotten and tour player with French black metal legends Celestia. The Lussuria releases (cassettes by Hospital Productions, amourtout, Destructive Industries, Razors and Medicine and probably others) are chilling stuff, even troubling—like listening to a feeling always just out of reach. Where some of Lussuria's contemporaries in the genre bring the heaviness with pedal-punching, screaming, and ear-splitting volume, Jim chooses the subtle route to your soul, like a dreamy, obscure film soundtrack, where what sound like murmurs, footsteps, death-organ drones, and fetid mausoleum winds paint the shifting audial landscape.

Lussuria creates two live, in-the-moment sets on My Castle of Quiet, just for the Castleheads.

Scum-covered key made of bone opens latch @ midnight.
Lussuria, set one @ 12:30 approx.
WFMU 91.1 FM (NY/NJ)
WMFU 90.1 FM (Hudson Valley)
wfmu.org live on the Web

Witness below a video I shot of Lussuria, live in Nyack, NY, this past November.

Lussuria from My Castle of Quiet on Vimeo.