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EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS:
The show begins with new music from the UK act, Grasshopper. The band first caught my attention when I read that they had worked with David M. Allen, best known for producing just about every record The Cure put out from 1984-1992 (and, good lord, that's a lot of amazing material), but he was also responsible for such landmark albums as The Sisters of Mercy's First and Last and Always, and The Chameleons' Strange Times, just to name a few. Not to put too much emphasis on the production credit here, but that's such a stellar resume, it's worth a quick write-up here. At any rate, Grasshopper's new album, Scuttle, as deceptively named as both the album and the band are, is a welcome addition to the current post-punk/goth movement.
The first full set begins with new music from Boston's Pilgrims of Yearning, whose new album Forsaken Lands has built up a good buzz in recent weeks. Newcomers, and recent Profound Lore artists, Executioner's Mask step in next, with what might be a surprising blend of Lorry-esque post-punk and goth/deathrock sounds, considering that the band features members of such much-heavier acts as Howling Void. An older cut from Italy's Yabancı then leads us into a 10th anniversary nod to the self-titled debut from O. Children. Stepping further back in time, we hear from Joy Division's iconic final studio album, Closer, in honor of its 40th anniversary this month. Finally, the set drops to a somber, but infinitely moving, close with Alex Reed's stripped-down, piano and vocal take on the 2003 ThouShaltNot classic, "The Ocean Is Your Voice," which emerged in 2018 on a one-off performance released as The White Beyond (Piano at Night).
The second set has a bit of a theme, inspired simply by the swamp-like heat of the south in the summer, even at night, which evokes southern gothic vibes, bourbon-soaked tales of woe, and shadowy western tinges. As the kids say, "it's a mood." The set begins with another taste of the new Venus Aeon compilation, “Blood and Dust: A Gothic Western”, this time from October Burns Black. Next: Athens, Georgia newcomers Vincas stroll in -- on Nick Cave's legs and looking for blood -- with a track from their new album, Phantasma. Former Athens natives (now Brooklynites) Bambara stroll in next, but even slower -- we're dripping with Cave-sweat now -- for a deeper swallow of their latest LP, Stray. We then let the pace drop almost entirely, opening the stage for a gloom-ridden croon from the greased-up new Danzig Sings Elvis LP. Controversial, perhaps, but I have always celebrated Danzig's penchant for '50s/'60s music, which -- along with David Lynch, of corpse -- helped cement the association I have with such music and dark, ethereal moods that suggest longing and tragic death, if not by foul play. Closing out the set, I reach back in the early '90s goth vault for The Tors of Dartmoor, followed by a 40th anniversary salute to Echo and the Bunnymen's first LP, Crocodiles.
Set three turns to darkwave, in case you need something to wash all of that dust out. Clan of Xymox jumps in first, with the closing track from their new Spider on the Wall album, followed by the title track from up-and-coming darkwave act Scary Black's second full length release, Are You Afraid of the Dark? The third, and final, 40th anniversary salute of this episode arrives next, that being Ultravox's first Midge Ure-era album, Vienna. We then dig deeper into Astari Nite's new Here Lies album, before exploring the new release from the Jean-Marc Lederman Experience, a collaborative collection of songs from Lederman (known for his work with Fad Gadget, Gene Loves Jezebel, Front 242, etc.) and a series of guest vocalists from such acts as All About Eve, Assemblage 23, GLJ, Kirlian Camera, Mesh, Chiasm, Cassandra Complex, and Leather Strip. In this case, the song we hear is voiced by Mesh's Mark Hockings. The set then closes with more current darkwave from Baltimore's Kiss of the Whip, taken from their 2019 album New Lows.
Set four changes the focus to dark metal, beginning with a further taste of the new Paradise Lost album, Obsidian, followed by a deeper cut from Shadowflag's In Asylum Requiem. Quebec's Trépas carry the black metal torch even further, making their 'Coffin debut with a cut from their 2019 album, Lhéritage du Monde. We then spend a few moments in Klinikal Trials with industrial landscape artist Images In Silence, courtesy of burgeoning Nashville collective, Trance//Furnace. Finally, the set hammers itself shut with a formerly obscure song from Drudkh, originally limited to a split with Hades Almighty, but recently made more widely available on the compilation, A Few Lines In Archaic Ukrainian.
The final song of the show goes to modern progressive doom masters, Pallbearer, and the first single (and title track) from their forthcoming LP, Forgotten Days -- a song about the loss of memory, and of self, from afflictions like alzheimer's.
All of that PLUS: A collection of "summer soundtrack synth" for all of the talk breaks this month, featuring a brand new piece from the legendary director/composer John Carpenter, as well as a small tribute to the memory of the equally-legendary actor John Saxon, who died this week (in Murfreesboro, TN, much to the surprise of those of us who live nearby) at the age of 83. A more fitting tribute to his many roles in horror film will follow on the Halloween episode in October.
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| R.I.P. John Saxon (1936-2020) |
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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)
(sets and talk breaks separated by dashes)
"Out ov the Coffin" w/ Ichabod
Show recorded: July 27th-28th, 2020
Grasshopper - Hymn [Scuttle, 2020]
-
John Carpenter - Unclean Spirit [Skeleton b/w Unclean Spirit, [2020]
-
Pilgrims of Yearning - The Visitor [Forsaken Lands, 2020]
Executioner's Mask - 1988 [Despair Anthems, 2020]
Yabancı - The Bless [Birth EP, 2013]
O. Children - Ruins [O. Children, 2010]
Joy Division - Twenty Four Hours [Closer, 1980]
Alex Reed - The Ocean Is Your Voice [The White Beyond (Piano at Night), 2018]
-
Mark Ryder & Phil Davies - Main Title / Ancestry [“Trancers" (soundtrack) 1984]
-
October Burns Black - Arrowhead [“Blood and Dust: A Gothic Western” (comp.) 2020]
Vincas - Phantasma [Phantasma, 2020]
Bambara - Miracle [Stray, 2020]
Danzig - First In Line [Sings Elvis, 2020]
The Tors of Dartmoor - The Edge of Her Heaven [The Obvious Darkness, 1991]
Echo and the Bunnymen - Stars Are Stars [Crocodiles, 1980]
-
Claudio Simonetti - Revenge’s Beach (#3) / Dark Mood (#7) [“Nightmare Beach” (soundtrack) 1989]
-
Clan of Xymox - See You On The Other Side [Spider on the Wall, 2020]
Scary Black - Are You Afraid of the Dark? [Are You Afraid of the Dark?, 2019]
Ultravox - Passing Strangers [Vienna, 1980]
Astari Nite - Gloomy Witch [Here Lies, 2020]
Jean-Marc Lederman Experience - Letter from Mark Hockings [Letters to Gods (and Fallen Angels), 2020]
Kiss of the Whip - Circle of Knives [New Lows, 2019]
-
Charles Bernstein - Dark Possibilities / Inner Workings / Stealth ["Deadly Friend" (soundtrack) 1986]
-
Paradise Lost - Ending Days [Obsidian, 2020]
Shadowflag - To the Earth, To the Corpse, To the Seas [In Asylum Requiem, 2020]
Trépas - Lhéritage du Monde [Lhéritage du Monde, 2019]
Images In Silence - Neurotoxin [Klinikal Trials, 2020]
Drudkh - Золотий кінь (Golden Horse) [A Few Lines In Archaic Ukrainian (comp.) 2019]
-
Guido & Maurizio De Angelis - (untitled theme) [“A Blade in the Dark” (soundtrack) 1983]
-
Pallbearer - Forgotten Days [Forgotten Days, 2020]
Guido & Maurizio De Angelis - (untitled theme) [“A Blade in the Dark” (soundtrack) 1983]
-
Pallbearer - Forgotten Days [Forgotten Days, 2020]
________________
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