Tuesday, August 29, 2017

PODCAST: August 2017 Episode

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EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS: 

This episode arrives late in the month, admittedly, but it's packed with new music that would not have made the cut otherwise, including several bands played in this episode's extended spotlight on Dragon Con 2017. If you're attending the convention, think of it as a primer for the weekend's madness. If not, enjoy all the brand new music that the associated acts are releasing for the occasion -- and the many other new things coming at you on this August 2017 edition of "Out ov the Coffin."

We begin with an almost-obligatory nod to last week's eclipse, which had Nashville in its path of totality, and which caused the enduring refrain of "the sky's gone out!", from the Bauhaus classic "Exquisite Corpse," to be lodged in my head all week. From there, speaking of pointing at the heavens, we slid into an instrumental from the new Drab Majesty album, in a nod to their upcoming tour, which will hit Nashville on September 16th.

The first full set begins with new music from Fotocrime, a US gothic rock band composed of former members of much heavier acts like Coliseum. Their debut EP is called Always Hell, and they'll also be performing live in Nashville soon, this time at Fascination Street on September 23rd, during a huge month for shows and tours. The set continues with nothing but new music, offering new post-punk/goth from Vessel's Courting You, followed by the difficult-to-peg approach of Germany's Rope Sect. The band's new Personae Ingratae album will likely appeal to fans of modern acts like Beastmilk.

San Francisco's The Tunnel makes their debut next, with a sound that merges bay-area deathrock with classic '90s noise rock influences. The set rounds out with a track from the new Pawns LP, The Gallows, continuing to build Mass 
Media Records' contributions to the state of modern deathrock. 

DRAGON CON 2017:

The next two sets form a spotlight on Dragon Con 2017, which takes place in Atlanta, Georgia across multiple host hotels on Labor Weekend (August 31st - September 4th). If you've never been, imagine 80,000 fans of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, music, gaming, comics, film, toys, puppets, anime, cosplay, and anything else you can be far too into, coming together in one location to celebrate those things with the people that make them. AND, they book a lot of cool goth/industrial-related bands, hence the music in these sets.

Disclaimer: Yes, I volunteer and serve as the Assistant Director for Dragon Con's Horror Track, but they are not connected with this podcast in any way. That said, if you're coming to the convention, come by the Horror Track room (Westin Peachtree 1-2, on the 8th floor) and say hello. Also, catch me moderating these panels:

"Goth: The Heart of Darkness"
Friday, 5:30pm, Westin Peachtree 1-2
Panelists: Aurelio Voltaire, Cruxshadows, Bella Morte, Ego Likeness, The Long Losts, Ted Naifeh.

"Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors Anniversary Panel"
Sunday, 4:00pm, Westin Peachtree 1-2
Fan discussion of the cult-classic film, in honor of its 30th anniversary this year.

(Download the Dragon Con 2017 app to see the full list of panels for the Horror Track and all the others, too!).

With that said, the first set of bands that will be playing Dragon Con this year begins with more new music from Bella Morte, whose new Year of the Ghost sees the band delving further into its goth-rock and post-punk roots. Frontman Andy Deane's synthwave project The Rain Within follows next, leading into music from the forthcoming Cruxshadows album, Astromythology, which will be released at the convention this year (they will play the Hyatt on late Sunday night, same as last year). Steven Archer will also be pulling double duty on this year's bill, playing multiple sets with his tribal electronica project Stoneburner, in addition to his main band, Ego Likeness. Both acts will play together on Thursday night (along with Bella Morte) in the Hyatt's Centennial Ballroom. The Rain Within will have multiple shows on the concourse. 

The second all-Dragon-Con set begins with a lowkey number from Aurelio Voltaire's brand new album, Heart-Shaped Wound. A collection of serious songs this time around, the album gathers the typically comical Voltaire's thoughts on a particularly devastating break-up. American Murder Song, a new musical project featuring Terrance Zdunich (Repo: The Genetic Opera), makes their debut next, showcasing a dark Americana sound, rife with murder ballads. From another dark American wing comes music from New York's The Long Losts, a newcomer to Dragon Con this time, who will surely add some Halloween spice to the mix. The set rounds out with brand new music from Horror track familiars Valentine Wolfe, taken from their The Elegiac Repose album. 

Note: Voltaire will be performing several times throughout the convention, as will Valentine Wolfe and The Long Losts, but you can catch them all together (along with friends like The Nathaniel Johnstone Band and This Way to the Egress) at Voltaire's Damnation Cabaret event on Thursday night in the Marriott's Atrium Ballroom. American Murder Sing will perform late Sunday (early Monday) at midnight, just before the Cruxshadows in the Hyatt. 

Back to the music at hand, the dark metal section of the show begins with new music from Atriarch, taken from their Dead as Truth album, which I decided to follow with a couple of '90s black metal gems from the vault. Hades tears in first with a track from their 1997 classic The Dawn of the Dying Sun, stepping out of the way for some Necromantia, keeping the bass assault going with the opening track of their 1995 classic, Scarlet Evil Witching Black. We the take a turn towards the extremes of classical with a further new cut into the latest from France's Les Chants du Hasard, before closing the set with one more vault-classic, this time from Ireland's Primordial. The show ultimately closes with some ritual dark ambient from the new Shibalba LP, Psychostasis - Death of Khat.

All of that, PLUS: A brief nod to the memory of director Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Lifeforce, Poltergiest), who passed away this week (watch for a better tribute in October); selections from the '80s-nerd and '90s-metal 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
  Show recorded on: August 28th-29th, 2017

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

Bauhaus - Exquisite Corpse  [The Sky's Gone Out, 1982]
-
Drab Majesty - A Spire Points at the Heavens  [The Demonstration, 2017]
-
Fotocrime - Always Hell  [Always Hell, 2017]
Vessel - Mourning  [Courting You, 2017]
Rope Sect - King of the Night  [Personae Ingratae, 2017]
The Tunnel - Plasma Den  [Plasma Den/Overland (single), 2017]
Pawns - The Pyre  [The Gallows, 2017]
-
Angelo Badalamenti - Puppet Walk  ["A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" (soundtrack) 1987]  {Dream Warriors panel, Sunday, 4pm}
-
Bella Morte - Black Orchids  [Year of the Ghost, 2017]
The Rain Within - Eclipse  [Dark Drive, 2016]
The Cruxshadows - In Gardens  [Astromythology, 2017]
Stoneburner - Inkvine Scar  [The Agony Box, 2017]
Ego Likeness - Wolves 2017  [Wolves, 2017]
-
Henry Mancini - The Vampire Lives  ["Lifeforce" (soundtrack) 1985] {R.I.P. Tobe Hooper}
-
Aurelio Voltaire - The Necropolis of Former Lovers (Midnight in the Mausoleum Mix)  [Heart-Shaped Wound, 2017]
American Murder Song - August  [Compass Box Sette, 2017]
The Long Losts - Sam  [Scary Songs to Play in the Dark, 2014]
Valentine Wolfe - Taphophilia  [The Elegiac Repose, 2017]
-
David Newman - Main Title (exc.)  ["Critters" (soundtrack) 1986] 
-
Atriarch - Devolver  [Dead As Truth, 2017]
Hades - Awakening of Kings  [The Dawn of the Dying Sun, 1997]
Necromantia - Devilskin  [Scarlet Evil Witching Black, 1995]
Les Chants du Hasard - Chant V: Le Dieu  [Les Chants du Hasard, 2017]
Primordial - Journey's End   [A Journey's End, 1998]
-
Monumentum - The Colour of Compassion  ["Presumed Guilty" (comp.) 1998]
-
Shibalba - Opening the Shadow Box  [Psychostasis - Death of Khat, 2017]



KEY:
(exc.) = excerpt
(comp.) = compilation


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