Monday, March 30, 2020

PODCAST: March 2020 Episode

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EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS:

What a long, strange, and difficult month it has been. It is truly hard to believe how much has taken place, just since the last episode, but here we are, facing a stripped-down and vulnerable existence, brought on by a global pandemic. In Nashville, where this show is based, we had just been through a devastating tornado on March 3rd, leaving us even less prepared to deal with this new problem. There is so much that we can no longer do, for the time-being, but putting that aside, most of us are lucky to be alive, and at least we have music to enjoy, and podcasts to share that music. So, in that spirit, welcome to the March 2020 episode of "Out ov the Coffin."

Although the subject of the calamities above will find their way into the selections for this episode, I decided against trying to make a theme out of it all. Instead, I stuck mostly with the normal format of the show, save for one memorial set in the middle, to honor an all-too-lengthy list of people who have died since last we met. After the usual intro, the show starts with music from Black Ice, whose final album Before the First Light celebrates its 10th anniversary this month. I gave them a seat of honor this time, because they were never given the respect I thought they were due while active, having developed such unique, experimental, and deeply atmospheric forms of deathrock and art-goth. Gone as they may be now, you can find several members of the band in the current act, Esses, so do check them out.

The first full set begins with brand new music from the forthcoming album by California's Fearing, entitled Shadow. It's the band's first full length release, following a series of EPs, available April 10th, via Funeral Party Records. From there, I finally catch up with the latest from Portland's Shadowlands, taken from their equally ethereal post-punk collection, 003. Orthodox Goths Sonsombre then return with a brand new Nosferatu cover, taken from a free compilation called "Goth Covered," before we check in with Norway's Long Night for a taste of their new single, "Tick Tock."Next, making their 'Coffin debut is Greece's The Black Capes, offering a harder edged take on traditional goth rock on their forthcoming Lullabies for the Dead. Finally, the set finishes with even more great gothic rock from The Kentucky Vampires, who have just returned with the infectious new album, Crimson Curse

Set two begins with a touch of comic relief, kicking things off with what I've dubbed my "Official Quarantine Anthem" -- which is actually a re-purposed Halloween anthem by Nash-vile's own Boo Dude(s). The spook-ridden "RIPped in My Crypt" boasts a surprisingly catchy deathrock vibe, with bleeding-tongue-in-cheek lyrics about self-isolation, curses upon humanity, and unchecked alcoholism. ENJOY! Beyond that, we move to new music from France's Closed Mouth, finally catching with their 2019 release, One. A new darkwave/goth single from New York's A Cloud of Ravens comes next, followed by new music from Sweden's Memoria, landing perhaps on the more hard-pop side of darkwave with a taste of last year's Cravings. We then jump back exactly a decade to mark the 10th anniversary of Zola Jesus' now-classic Stridulum EP, before closing the set with a lesser-heard track from Depeche Mode's iconic Violator album, which celebrated 30 years of domination earlier this month. You also get a bonus DM b-side underneath the ensuing talk break...

Set three attempts to pay musical respects to the (far too) many people who have died since the last episode. I begin with an obscurity from a cult early '90s band, mostly known for alternative rock (back when that term still meant something), but who also wrote a powerful song that stood out and stayed with me ever since I first heard it on college radio: Anastasia Screamed's "Tornado," a song whose frenetic urgency and naked lyrical imagery capture, for me, the overwhelming surreality of disaster. It stayed in my head for days in the wake of the tornado that hit Nashville on March 3rd, so I send it out now to those who were affected. People here are still trying to recover, on top of viral concerns, so if you'd like to help, here's how you can.

The rest of the set three is dedicated to the work of audio/visual artists who have died in the last month, beginning with Doug Clark, guitarist/sometimes-vocalist and founder of cult deathrock/punk/goth legends Mighty Sphincter. Next up, a song from the "Re-Animator" soundtrack (1985), in memory of director Stuart Gordon, followed by a track from Psychic TV, in memory of Genesis Breyer P-Orridge. Finally, two tracks to close the set, in memory of a man whose resume was too long for just one song: Bill Rieflin, who played on hundreds of cool releases, but I chose to put the spotlight on his work with Ministry (in their prime) and SWANS (on my favorite album of theirs, The Great Annihilator, which also turned 25 this year). May his drum work pummel you on his way out. 


Doug Clark
Stuart Gordon
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge
Bill Rieflin



























 

Finally, the dark metal set begins by throwing things back to the turn of the century, and some of the metal that was molding my brain in the early 2000s. Israel's Sleepless begin the set with a track from their 1999 demo, showcasing their unique blend of prog, jazz, metal, and ethereal psych, which leads nicely into a track from Agalloch's peak 2006 folk-metal opus, Ashes Against the Grain. An epic-length composition from obscure symphinc black metal band Corvus Corax flies in next, followed by something brand new from Nashville's own dungeon synth/dark ambient vamp, Crypt of Carmilla. You can grab their Wintermoon Phantasmagoria here. Finally, we close the set with a further taste of the latest from Vaeok's new self-titled album, before ultimately closing the show with music from Lurker of Chalice's newly unearthed/reissued Tellurian Slaked Furnace.
 

All of that PLUS: New dark synth from Sweden's Black Spell; Darkness submerged from Marco Beltrami & Brandon Roberts' new "Underwater" soundtrack; Selections from the dark ambient, soundtrack, and neo-classical synth 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: March 29th-30th, 2020

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

Black Ice - Bells of Sicily  [Before the First Light, 2010]
-
Requiem - Refining the Art of Seclusion  [Recluse, 2002]
-
Fearing - Good Talks  [Shadow, 2020]
Shadowlands - Broken Record  [003, 2019]
Sonsombre - Dark Angel (Nosferatu cover)  ["Goth Covered" (comp.) 2020]
Long Night - Tick Tock  [single, 2020]
The Black Capes - And I Wait  [Lullabies for the Dead, 2020]
The Kentucky Vampires - The Falling Sun  [Crimson Curse, 2020]
-
Black Spell - Transformation  [Black Spell, 2020]
-
Boo Dude(s) - RIPped in my Crypt  [Candy Corn Sells... But Who's Buying, 2019]
Closed Mouth - Right Back  [One, 2019]
A Cloud of Ravens - The Earthen Call  [single, 2020]
Memoria - Splinter  [Cravings, 2019]
Zola Jesus - Manifest Destiny  [Stridulum, 2010]
Depeche Mode - Waiting for the Night  [Violator, 1990]
-
Depeche Mode - Sibeling  [Enjoy the Silence (single) 1990].
-
Anastasia Screamed - Tornado  [Tornado (single), 1991]
Mighty Sphincter - Waltz in Hell  [Ghost Walking, 1985]
Richard Band - Prologue  ["Re-Animator" (soundtrack) 1985]
Psychic TV - I Believe What You Said (Leæther Strip Version)  [Cold Blue Torch, 1996]
Ministry - Burning Inside  [The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste, 1989]
SWANS - Alcohol the Seed  [The Great Annihilator, 1995]
-
François De Roubaix - The Dunes of Ostend / The Countess Bite  ["Daughters of Darkness" (soundtrack) 1971]
-
Sleepless - Sands of Time (demo version)  [Demo, 1999]
Agalloch - Our Fortress is Burning... II: Bloodbirds  [Ashes Against the Grain, 2006]
Corvus Corax - Son of the Earth  [The Atavistic Triad, 2000]
Crypt of Carmilla - Night of the Wurdulak  [Wintermoon Phantasmagoria, 2020]
Vaeok - TSouls Void  [Vaeok, 2020]
-
Marco Beltrami & Brandon Roberts - Under the C  ["Underwater" (soundtrack) 2020]
-
Lurker of Chalice - IX  [Tellurian Slaked Furnace, 2020]

 
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