PODCAST: March/April 2019 Episode

[STREAM this episode right now on Mixcloud]

 Or, click the photo below to save the podcast file:

EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS: 

*Quick housekeeping note: Due to travel on my part, separate episodes for March and April were not possible, so they were merged into this one podcast, and presented on the border of the two months. The next new episode will launch on mid-May.

This episode begins, as is the tradition every April, with a song in memory of Rozz Williams (November 6th, 1963 - April 1st, 1998) on this, the 21st anniversary of his death. Even now, two decades later, when I sit down to choose which music to play in his honor, I'm amazed at how my attachment to his work and his spirit has not faded in the slightest. For his iconic contributions to the worlds of goth, deathrock, and the darker arts in general, he's been given the first and last words of this episode. In this case, I've chosen a song from Christian Death's second full-length album, Catastrophe Ballet, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this year.

Before we even get to the first full set, you'll hear me introducing the show over the main title from one of my favorite film's, 1979's Phantasm, which celebrates its 40th aniversary this week(!), hence the film's iconic artwork adorning this episode's graphic. If you haven't watched it in a while, definitely check out the recent 4k restoration. And, stay tuned for a cover of Fred Myrow & Malcolm Seagrave's classic theme later in this show...

The first full set begins with brand new music from one of current-deathrock's brightest hopes, Seattle's Nox Novacula. The band have just released their first piece of vinyl, a new 7-inch entitled Hitchhiker/Drug (grab that here). From there, we jump to Sweden, for a taste of the much-talked-about debut from newcomers Isolated Youth. The material on the Warfare EP has been compared to an early post-punk take on Placebo, merging two mutually appreciated, but separate, fields. We then get another taste of Virginia's Sonsombre, from their most recent full-length, A Funeral for the Sun, before diving deeper into Altar de Fey's latest deathrock ritual,The Insatiable Desire... For More. A visit to the vaults to extract an early-2000s electro-deathrock classic from Fear Cult is next, followed by another new track from Nuke York's Blu Anxxiety (ex Anasazi), which should probably be accompanied by their wild new video, available here.

Set two begins with fresh darkwave sounds, first from newcomers Pass/Ages, out of Florida, who present some pleasantly creeping dark synth atmosphere on their new album, Taken Underneath. This leads nicely into a further taste of Kælan Mikla's excellent new darkwave/post-punk journey, Nótt Eftir Nótt. We then ask for more from French darkwave/synth act Hante. (who I am excited to see live in Portland on April 25th), and receive the opening track from her new FIERCE album, which leads into a further taste of the latest from California's post-punk/synth act Creux Lies. I've already heaped a lot of praise of Belgium's Whispering Sons already, but I will continue, as I reach back into their catalogue, this time sharing the opening track from their first EP, Endless Party. Superb post-punk/goth/darkwave/etc. Finally, we close the set with new music from VR Sex, the new, and more-rock-ish alter-ego of Drab Majesty's Deb Demure, whose new EP Horseplay has just been released via Dais Records.

Set three heads back towards deathrock and post-punk territory, starting with the weirdly-western-goth vibes of Ritual Howls, who've built a sound all their own on their new Rendered Armor album. Long-awaited new music from Frank the Baptist's new Road Omen album comes next, with an ode to ditching Valentine's Day in favor of a "Second Halloween." Now, there's a ballot initiative I could get behind! Fellow Germans Diät are up next, with a taste of their Positive Disintegration LP, followed by non-German, but also umlaut-obssessed Ötzi, with a track from their new Part Time Punks session. Another long-awaited album, the foretold coming of Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows' take on a deathrock sound, has finally landed, so I've chosen a song that represents that take fairly well, although many tracks on  wind up landing in a zone somewhere between trad goth rock, almost doom-metal guitar work, and the signature Sopor Aeternus neo-classical sound infusion. Regardless, the result is one of the best SA&tEoS albums in a years. Finally, to close such a set, I revisited a classic from The Legendary Pink Dots, taken from their recently remastered and reissued 1988 classic, The Golden Age.

Set four takes us into the relams of dark metal, but don't let that stop you non-metal fans, as more non-metal is yet to come! Philadelphia is the star of the first few selections here, beginning with a double-dose of Zorn -- first from their aptly-titled Cemetery Man EP (chosen to help me mark the 25th anniversary of the classic film of the same name), then one from their latest, self-titled EP. And, speaking of the rising Philly black-metal/horror-punk crossover scene, the masters themselves, Devil Master, arrive next, with a further sip from the chalice that is their Satan Spits on the Children of Light LP.  A reach into second-wave black metal's earliest days comes next, with a track from Ulver's first demo, Vargnatt, followed by a second look at the new, slef-titled Barshasketh album. Italy's Selvans return on this episode, with a third taste of their Faunalia album, which leads us to a closing classic from Entombed's Left Hand Path. I normally don't dabble in the traditional death metal, but in light of the 40th anniversary of the orignal Phantasm movie's release this week, I couldn't resist their take on the main theme.

Last, but absolutely not least, we lay the show to rest with two tributes: First a small nod to Scott Walker -- a highly-influential, yet mostly-underappreciated artist until recent years -- who died this past week. Then, some final words from Rozz Williams on the way out, once again in honor of his memory, on the anniversary of his suicide on April 1st, 1998. Rest in Peace, both of you. 

Scott Walker, R.I.P.

Rozz Williams (photo by Edward Colver)

All of that PLUS: An unearthed dark ambient, experimental oddity from one of my favorites in the the field, Treha Sektori; More cult cinema anniversaries and current soundtrack atmosphere; and more!

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

Click the photo to save this podcast
for your portable device.

[STREAM this episode (on Mixcloud)]
(scroll down to stream it from this page)

<<< Or grab the file to the left <<<




 

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: March 31st-April 1st, 2019

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

Christian Death - The Blue Hour  [Catastrophe Ballet, 1984]
-
Fred Myrow & Malcolm Seagrave - Intro & Main Title ["Phantasm" (soundtrack) 1979]
- 
Nox Novacula - Hitchhiker [Hitchhiker/Drug EP, 2019]
Isolated Youth - Oath  [Warfare, 2019] 
Sonsombre - The Cursed  [A Funeral for the Sun, 2018] 
Altar de Fey - Crimson Sin  [The Insatiable Desire... For More, 2019]
Fear Cult - If You're Watching  [Visionary Complex, 2003] 
Blu Anxxiety - Cats Eye and Corpse  [digital single, 2019]
- 
Le Matos - Mackey's Trash / Mackey's Storage Unit  ["Summer of 84" (soundtrack) 2018]
-
Pass/Ages - Starving Beasts & Fate  [Taken Underneath, 2019] 
Kælan Mikla ‎- Hvernig kemst ég upp?  [Nótt Eftir Nótt, 2018] 
Hante. - Tomorrow is a New Day  [FIERCE, 2019] 
Creux Lies - Silhouette  [The Hearth, 2018] 
Whispering Sons - Shadow  [Endless Party, 2015]
VR Sex - Landmine  [Horseplay, 2019]
-
Goblin - La Chiesa (Suite)  ["The Church" aka La Chiesa (soundtrack) 1989]
-
Ritual Howls - Thought Talk  [Rendered Armor, 2019]
Frank the Baptist - Second Halloween (You Better Run)  [Road Omen, 2019]
Diät - Only My Own  [Positive Disintegration, 2019]
Ötzi - Ballad Of Oiwa  [Part Time Punks Sessions, 2019]
Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows - Spell Bound  [Death and Flamingos, 2019]
The Legendary Pink Dots - Maniac  [The Golden Age, 1988/2018 remaster]
-
Manuel de Sica - The Death That Lives / The Moon on the Island of Death  ["Dellamorte Dellamore" aka Cemetery Man (Extended Soundtrack), 1994]
- 
Zorn - Cemetery Man  [Cemetery Man, 2016]
Zorn - My Master's Call  [Zorn, 2018] 
Devil Master - Listen, Sweet Demons / Nightmares in the Human Collapse  [Satan Spits on the Children of Light, 2019]
Ulver - Vargnatt  [Vargnatt (Demo), 1993]
Selvans - Notturno Peregrinar  [Faunalia, 2018]
Barshasketh - Resolve  [Barshasketh, 2019]
Entombed - Left Hand Path  [Left Hand Path, 1990]
-
Treha Sektori - Deh Semteh  [The Sense of Dust and Sheer, 2018]
-
Scott Walker - My Death  [Scott, 1967]
Rozz Williams - Dec. 30, 1334 (exc.)  [The Whorse's Mouth, 1996]
Rozz Williams & Gitane Demone - Flowers  [Dream Home Heartache, 1995]

________________

STREAM this episode right here: