Tuesday, March 5, 2024

PODCAST: February-March 2024 Episode

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EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS:

Welcome to the first traditional show of 2024, following the exhaustive recap that was January's "Best ov 2023" episode. As probably expected by now, this episode features a handful of what I refer to as '2023 Hangovers,' or what you might call Honorable Mentions to spiritually add to the last episode's collection. We begin with one of those, in fact, in the form of Australia's Body Maintenance, whose album Beside You -- a collection of solid modern post-punk -- has really started to stick with me in the last month or two.

After that, we begin to salute the many noteworthy anniversaries that this hybrid February and March episode will throw the spotlight on. First, 
Manuel de Sica's music from one of my all-time favorite films, "Dellamorte Dellamore" (aka "Cemetery Man"), which celebrates its 30th anniversary this March. If you have yet to soak in its moody, existentialist, lovelorn ethereal zombie atmosphere, I recommend it. 

Leaning into the first full set of music, which is intended to glide like a fog drift across a shadow, we begin with a single from 
She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She by Chelsea Wolfe -- whose sold out Nashville show I will have the pleasure of attending this week. From there, we delve into a 40th anniversary salute to the debut of one of dark music's proudest accomplishments, Dead Can Dance's self-titled 1984 debut, which is followed by a pair of obscurities from the vaults. A band otherwise known for cabaret and indie rock sounds, Dévics' 1996 debut Buxom offered several songs I will never let go of, for their unmatched feel, especially the mood and vocal delivery on "Peresoso." After that, it becomes a contest for which song will be the most obscure with a selection from the now-defunct Dr. Kevorkian & the Suicide Machine, taken from their 2000 album, The Ironman. We then issue another 40th anniversary salute to the self-titled debut from And Also the Trees, before closing the set with new music from Ukrainian darkwave artists Ritual Lovers.

Set two kicks off with the unexpected sound of Astari Nite's new single, "Necessity Meal," showcasing the band's shift towards more '90s alternative sounds, while still retaining their well-loved "what if Bowie HAD gone goth" inclinations. We then go back down under for some new post-punk from Close In's Wellbeing album, before dipping further into the latest from Ringfinger. If you're looking for more modern trad-goth sounds, make sure you didn't miss Still Patient?'s 2023 release , which leads us into the b-side for a 2023 single from US hardcore/post-punk hybrid A Pregnant Light. Finally, the set concludes with music from the new Topographies album, Interior Spring.
 
Set three springs into action with another banger from the now-fully-released new Twin Tribes album Pendulum, before jumping into new music from Turkish post-punk/darkwave act Ductape. We then round back to spotlight the 2023 Hoy Solo Quiero Odiar EP from Mexico's Vacíos Cuerpos, before spinning the brand new Scary Black single, "The Fallacy of Worth," which sees them adding more industrial stomp they've been teasing in recent live shows, to their darkwave/post-punk recordings. While we're hitting hard, you also get the short-but-deadly "A Dagger in God’s Back" from the new Tears for the Dying album, . And, closing it out, a pick-up from the formerly darkwave/goth act La Scaltra's 2023 album, Mater, which sees the band leaning heavily into Goth Metal territory.

Speaking of Dark Metal, set four begins with a second taste of Afsky's , which leads into a 30th-anniversary-spotlight on three cornerstones of second wave black metal's renaissance era: Emperor's In the Nightside EclipseSamael's Ceremony of Opposites, and Cradle of Filth's debut full-length, The Principle of Evil Made Flesh -- which all, incredibly, were released in the same few weeks in an unprepared 1994. After that, we return to the new with a stand alone single from the surprisingly popular lo-fi Ukrainian black metal act Këkht Aräkh, before closing the black metal department down with something brand new from LVME's Of Sinful Nature.
 
In closing the show, it seemed appropriate to give some breathing room to the new ambient/synth side project from Bell Witch's bassist/vocalist/composer Dylan Desmond. Emerging under the moniker of Je est un Autre, (French for "I is another"), Flatworm Mysticism picks up the cinematic energy of Bell Witch's recent online scores for cult films, but working with synths and electronics rather than drums and bass.

All of that PLUS: New soundtrack work from one of my favorite 2024 films so far, "Lisa Frankenstein"; A 35th anniversary memorial to the (fictional) death of Laura Palmer in "Twin Peaks"; New Ukrainian ambient from Svitovamora; Selections from the cult film vaults; and more!

 

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PLAYLIST BEGINS HERE
Format: Band Name - Song Title [Album Title, Year]
(each band name is also a website link)
(sets and talk breaks separated by dashes)


"Out ov the Coffin" w/ Ichabod
  February-March 2024 Episode
  Show recorded March 5th, 2024

Opening Theme:
Elliot Goldenthal
- Libera Me ["Interview with the Vampire" (soundtrack) 1994]

Body Maintenance - Beside You  [Beside You, 2023]
-
Manuel de Sica - Dellamorte Dellamore / Buffalora’s Cemetery / The Moon on the Island of Death / The Death That Lives / The Ossuary  [“Cemetery Man” (soundtrack) 1994]
-
Chelsea Wolfe - Everything Turns Blue  [She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, 2024]
Dead Can Dance - The Garden of Arcane Delight: The Arcane  [Dead Can Dance, 1984]
Dévics - Peresoso  [Buxom, 1996]
Dr. Kevorkian & the Suicide Machine - Gotham City  [The Ironman, 2000]
And Also the Trees - Midnight Garden  [And Also the Trees, 1984]
Ritual Lovers - Lurid Sun  [Sombre Rawmantique, 2024]
-
Angelo Badalamenti - Laura Palmer’s Theme (Baritone Guitar Punctuation)  [“Twin Peaks” (soundtrack) 1990]
-
Astari Nite - Necessity Meal  [single, 2024]
Close In - Catacomb  [Wellbeing, 2024]
Ringfinger - Familiar Placement  [In a Black Frame, 2023]
Still Patient? - Looking Glass  [Love and Rites of Rage, 2023]
A Pregnant Light - In Thebes  [Inverted Pyramid b/w In Thebes, 2023]
Topographies - Face of Another  [Interior Spring, 2024]
-
Isabella Summers - Sad Lisa / The Ear / Principal’s Office / The Fire / Love in Flames  [“Lisa Frankenstein” (soundtrack) 2024]
-
Twin Tribes - Another Life  [Pendulum, 2024]
Ductape - Veil of Lies  [Echo Drama, 2024]
Vacíos Cuerpos - Hoy Solo Quiero Odiar  [Hoy Solo Quiero Odiar, 2023]
Scary Black - The Fallacy of Worth  [single, 2024]
Tears for the Dying - A Dagger in God’s Back  [In the Shadow of the Midnight Sun, 2024]
La Scaltra - Harmageddon  [Mater, 2023]
-
Simon Boswell - Grave Business / Church Tattoo  [“Santa Sangre” (soundtrack) 1989]
-
Afsky - Tak for alt  [Om hundrede år, 2024]
Emperor - Towards the Pantheon  [In the Nightside Eclipse, 1994]
Samael - Crown  [Ceremony of Opposites, 1994]
Cradle of Filth - The Black Goddess Rises  [The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, 1994]
Këkht Aräkh - Wanderer  [single, 2023]
LVME - Strix Rêverie  [Of Sinful Nature, 2024]
-
Svitovamora - Vuxta / Νύχτα  [Proi, 2024]
-
Je est un Autre - Ippolite's Suicide  [Flatworm Mysticism, 2024]


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Friday, February 2, 2024

PODCAST: The Best ov 2023 (January 2024 Episode)

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EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS:
 
Welcome to the 'Best ov 2023' episode of "Out ov the Coffin," my annual reflection on the best in Goth, post-punk, deathrock, darkwave, coldwave, damnbient, film scores, dark metal, and beyond.

As is the tradition, this first episode of each year serves as a sonic time capsule of the year that came before: The bands, albums, songs, films, and shows that shaped the year that was 2023. I have intentionally delayed this episode into the new year, so that I could include releases from November and December. which so often get overlooked, and spend some real time catching up on the massive amounts of music that can easily be missed in the constant downpour.

Instead of ranking my choices, I have placed them in an order that flows smoothly between the various styles, like a normal episode would. The result is a specially curated collection of the songs, artists, and albums that made the strongest impressions or were attached to the defining moments of the year that was 2023. During the talk breaks, you will hear music from some of the outstanding releases in film, television, and dark ambient (or "damnbient") music. And while the accompanying graphic certainly includes the cover art from a lot of my personal highlights, it acts as more of a representative collage than a chart. Think of this episode as an augmented greatest hits, if you will.

That said, this is not a rerun. As with every year, there are some releases included here that either slipped through 2023's proverbial cracks, or simply emerged late in the year. So, as you've come to expect each month, you are also getting some brand new music on this episode, including debuts from: 
Corpus Delicti, Happy Phantom, Ringfinger, VarsovieLepraAfskyBell Witch, and more — plus the soundtrack to one of my surprise favorite films of the year, “Godzilla Minus One.”

Without further ado, welcome to the "Out ov the Coffin: Best ov 2023" Edition (aka The January 2024 Episode, even though it has arrived at the dawn of February). I hope you enjoy it, and if you like what you hear, please share the link online, or pass it along to your like-minded friends.

And, as always, I hope you dig further into these artists and support them by using the linked band names on the playlist below, which most often link directly to their Bandcamp sites. If there's a video for a given song, I have added a link to that on the playlist as well!

 

Ready to hear the show?
Stream it or grab the podcast file?
Here you go...



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[STREAM this episode (on Mixcloud)]
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PLAYLIST BEGINS HERE
Format: Band Name - Song Title [Album Title, Year]
(each band name is also a website link)
(sets and talk breaks separated by dashes)


"Out ov the Coffin" w/ Ichabod
  THE BEST ov 2023 Special!
   Show recorded on: February 1st, 2024
 

Opening Theme: 
Elliot Goldenthal - Libera Me [from "Interview with the Vampire" (soundtrack), 1994]

Astari Nite - Bowie in Daydreams  [single, 2023]  [Watch the video]
-
Shadowsun - A Ray of Sunshine in the Dark  [The Pit, 2023]
-
Vision Video - Normalized  [single, 2023]
Soft Kill - Behind the Rain  [Metta World Peace, 2023]
The Waning Moon - Annabel  [A Dream or a Vision, 2023]  [Watch the video]
Corpus Delicti - Chaos  [single, 2023]  [Watch the video]
Amulet - When Winter Comes  [single, 2023]  [Watch the video]
Ringfinger - An Apparition  [In a Black Frame, 2023]  [Watch the video]
Ritual Howls - Dark Ceiling in Tennessee  [Virtue Falters, 2023]  [Watch the video]
Tears for the Dying - Kaiju  [single, 2023]
-
Naoki Satô - Divine / Portent  [“Godzilla Minus One” (soundtrack) 2023]
-
Attic Eyes - The Moon  [Attic Eyes, 2023] 
[Watch the video]
Vosh - Devout  [Vessel, 2023]
St. Digue - Shadow  [Toxic Kiss, 2023] 
[Watch the video]
The Xray5 - Dark Star  [Elegy, 2023]
Tragic Black - Find Your Own Way  [Unsightly Visitations, 2023]
Happy Phantom - Banshee  [If Blood Comes First, 2023]
Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows - Counter:Spell  [Alone at Sam’s: An Evening with…, 2023]
Final Gasp - Mourning Moon  [Mourning Moon, 2023] 
[Watch the video]
-
And Remain There Forever - Повний трупів (Full of corpses)  [Страх як закон (Fear like a law), 2023]
-
ROME - The Death of a Lifetime  [Gates of Europe, 2023]
Varsovie - The Ghost of Kyiv  [Pression à froid, 2023]
Ego Likeness - Live to Tell  [single, 2023]
Depeche Mode - Ghosts Again  [Momento Mori, 2023] 
[Watch the video]
Urban Heat - Like This [single, 2023]  [Watch the video]
The Bellwether Syndicate - We All Rise  [Vestige & Vigil, 2023]  [Watch the video]
Scary Black - Unlove  [single, 2023]
Silence in the Snow - Ghost Eyes  [Ghost Eyes, 2023] 
[Watch the video]
-
Seraphina & No Justice - Sweet Moon  [Embodiment, 2023]
-
The Newton Brothers - Uncanny  [“The Fall of the House of Usher” (soundtrack) 2023]
Lepra - Mandragora (Spell of Emchantment)  [Devil’s Blood in Her Tongue, 2023]
Afsky - Tid  [Om hundrede år, 2023]
Wolves in the Throne Room - Twin Mouthed Spring  [Crypt of Ancestral Knowledge, 2023] 
[Watch the video]
Morcaint - Elessar  [Elessar, 2023]
Crystal Coffin - Leviathans Encased  [The Curse of Immortality, 2023]
SVRM - II  [... а смерть ввійшла у тебе вже давно (...and death entered you a long time ago), 2023]
-
David Galas - Transmission 20: Everyone Will Die Alone  [Rituals of the Dead, 2023]
-
Bell Witch - The Clandestine Gate: Movement II [Future's Shadow Part 1 The Clandestine Gate, 2023] 
[Watch the video]

 
________________

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