PODCAST: December 2022 Episode

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EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS:

This episode begins, as too many of them do these days, by marking the passing of an artist that meant a great deal to the music this show was built on. In this case, we lost an icon: Angelo Badalamenti. Known primarily as the man who crafted the incredible moods of many David Lynch projects -- especially "Twin Peaks" -- Badalamenti could set a tone like no other. Whether effortlessly painting the atmosphere of a darkened wood with minimal synth, or haunting a scene with the most heartbreaking songs of ethereal longing and slow-motion loss, Badalamenti's influence changed the world of soundtrack music by letting it stand in the foreground of so many scenes, like a character all its own. To honor his memory, this episode opens with (perhaps) his most iconic piece, "Laura Palmer's Theme," followed by a rarity from the Twin Peaks Archives, a seldom-heard (and absolutely heartrending) vocal performance from a man who usually let his fingers do the talking, Badalamenti himself. I defy you to get through his demo for "Questions in a World of Blue" with a dry eye.

 

R.I.P. Angelo Badalamenti: 1937 - 2022

 

But -- because the man gave us so much more than could be summed up in just an intro, every talk break in this show is lined with his soundtrack work, selected from many corners of his dark music portfolio, AND a special closing nod as well. Also, if you've never seen the clip where Angelo tells the story of composing "Laura Palmer's Theme," I've embedded it below. Pure magic. Rest in peace, sir. Your music will travel with me the rest of my days. Or nights.

After that, we dive into the first regular set of the show, beginning with the brand new single from The Bellwether Syndicate. A guitar-driven goth rock banger right out of the gate, "Beacons" gives us a second taste of the band's long-awaited forthcoming full-length album, Vestige & Vigil. Keeping the gothic rock going, we catch up with resurrected UK goth band Sirens of Light for a deeper cut from their newly-unearthed and remixed 2004 album Nullus Margis Gothica MMXXI, before catching up with Black Rose Burning, whose 2021 release The Wheel had eluded airplay on this show - until now! A brand new standalone single from current goth rock powerhouse The Waning Moon comes next, followed by a deeper cut from the new Panic Priest album, Psychogoria -- this time, a wonderfully executed cover of the classic Italo Disco anthem, "Self Control." Finally, the set closes with some fresh, melancholic darkwave from California's Harsh Symmetry.

 

The second full set of the show is your Christmas Bonus! So to speak. It is, in fact, a short collection of holiday-related tracks, but not in the traditional sense, so never fear! We begin with the latest holiday single from The Crüxshadows, a snappy little synthpop track that channels a bit of the Cure's more sunlit hits through a traditional Christmas filter. Grab it here. We then hit a patch of black ice, in the form of a mini-set dedicated to the 30th anniversary of "Batman Returns," featuring music from Danny Elfman's score, some film dialogue, and the immortal Siouxsie & the Banshees track that ties the whole affair together. We then honor the memory of Batman's animated voice for an entire generation, Kevin Conroy, who passed away last month. Rest in peace, and thank you.

 

R.I.P. Kevin Conroy, 1955-2022

Since it also happens to be the 30th anniversary of "Christmas with the Joker," one of the greatest episodes of one of the best shows of all time, "Batman: The Animated Series," you'll hear select dialogue samples from that episode, featuring Conroy's Batman facing off with Mark Hamill's Joker, guiding us along between two more Xmas anniversary selections: Alien Sex Fiend's drunken goth club anthem, "Stuff the Turkey" -- which turns 35 this year -- and Georgia band Porn Orchard's oft-confused cult classic, "This Holiday Season," which famously fooled thousands into believing that Tom Waits and Peter Murphy actually got together and recorded a Christmas song. They did not, it was Porn Orchard all along. Anyway, depending on which release you count, it came out in either 1991 or 1992, so it's ripe for an anniversary salute. It's always worth hearing, either way. 

The next set continues my ongoing spotlight on the music of Ukraine, this time with a holiday-related twist. As it turns out, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the first recording of the song that's come to be known in the west as "The Carol of the Bells." What most may not realize is that this most famous of Christmas Carols is actually an old Ukrainian folk melody, turned by composer Mykola Leontovych into the enduring multi-part harmony we all love, then married with traditional lyrics to create a song known as Щедрик ("Shchedryk" meaning prosperous, generous, or bountiful). The original pre-Christian Ukrainian lyrics reveal a song of prosperity for the new year rather than Christmas, but could anyone imagine this time of year without it? That said, the set begins with three versions of the song: The original 1922 recording by the Ukrainian National Chorus, followed by a 2022 live recording by Shchedryk Ukrainian Children's Choir captured in Carnegie Hall -- the very same venue that hosted its first US performance 100 years prior -- and, finally, marking the halfway point between the two with a 1972 version of the song by the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus, utilizing the traditional Ukrainian instrument, the bandura.

The rest of the Ukrainian set focuses on new and current post-punk and darkwave acts, starting with a selection by Smurno, taken from Sideline Magazine's second Ukrainian artists compilation, "Electronic Resistance: Reconstruction ," the proceeds from which benefit Ukrainian aid efforts. We then go further into the catalogue of Quadrille (КАДРИЛЬ) with their 2019 single, before closing the set with a song I can't seem to stop playing, the latest single (and video) from Ukrainian wave newcomers Spokusy.

After two ultra-focused sets like that, we turn to a set that is united more in mood than in style or sub-sub-genre, beginning with new music from Entertainment's Horror, Pt, 2, an ultra-atmospheric piece of isolation-deathrock. We then delve deeper into the more theatrical textures of ROME's new album Hegemonikon: A Journey to the End of Light. Building from that song's ambient landscape, we hear a collaboration between Images in Silence & Fjolla Hoxha, two Nashville arists on the Trance//Furnace label, who recreate the Bauhaus classic "Double Dare" with a new dark ambient dimension. Interestingly, the track is exclusive to a zine entitled Transmissions From The Island Of The King, which you can get here. We then play with the theme of the newly-arrived winter with the next three selections: A late 35th anniversary cut ("I Coldy Stare Out") from Pink Turns Blue's 1987 debut If Two Worlds Kiss, followed by a debut ("Stay Awake") from the '80s-soaked California new wave/post-punk band Sacred Skin (formerly Second Skin), and a rare industrial selection from the vaults, the :Wumpscut: classic, "Die In Winter."

 

The dark metal portion of the show begins by marking the 25th anniversary of Katatonia's final harsh-vocal release, 1997's Sounds of Decay EP, before going a cut deeper into An Eternity of Misery, the latest from Italy's In Grief. A pair of personal winter metal classics come next, in the form of Agalloch's "Fallen Snow" (which is incredibly timely, given the extreme cold front and snow storm that is ripping through as I type this) and Summoning's Tolkien-inspired "Kôr," taken from the recently 25-years-old album, Dol Guldur. Both songs represent the respective acts at their peak, in my opinion. After that, we close the metal set with brand new music from Dutch doom masters Celestial Season, taken from the follow-up to their return to death-doom, Mysterium II.

The show then ultimately closes with one more nod to Angelo Badalamenti. Showing how much a master could do with so little, the Twin Peaks background mood piece "Nightsea Wind" leads us into the Twin Peaks-inspired song "Black Lodge" by (no doubt very-unexpected-on-this-show) Anthrax . But before anyone thinks I just included a random song by some famous David Lynch fans, know that Angelo Badalamenti himself did the string arrangements for the song, which I also hold as a very underrated and atypical song from a band that I already loved.

 

All of that PLUS: Side stories, touring news, Xmas jeer, 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: December 22nd-23rd, 2022

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

Angelo Badalamenti - Questions in a World of Blue (demo)  [The Twin Peaks Archive, 2011]
Angelo Badalamenti w/ David Lynch - Laura Palmer’s Theme  [“Twin Peaks” (Soundtrack) 1990]
-
Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch - Sneaky Audrey / Dark Mood Woods (Full version) / Half Speed Orchestra 1 (Stair Music) [The Twin Peaks Archive, 2011]
-
The Bellwether Syndicate - Beacons [single, 2022]
Sirens of Light - Succubus’ Requiem  [Nullus Margis Gothica MMXXI, 2004/2022]
Black Rose Burning - The Wheel  [The Wheel, 2021]
The Waning Moon - Scars  [single, 2022]
Panic Priest - Self Control  [Psychogoria, 2022]
Harsh Symmetry - Skin  [Display Model, 2022]
-
Angelo Badalamenti (partially w/ Charles Bernstein) - Save the Children / Grave Walk / Puppet Walk  [“A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors” (score) 1987]
-
The Crüxshadows - Angel Voices  [single, 2022]
Danny Elfman - The Cemetery [“Batman Returns” (soundtrack) 1992]
[SAMPLE] Batman Returns (1992)
Siouxsie & the Banshees - Face to Face  [“Batman Returns” (soundtrack) 1992]
[SAMPLE] Batman: The Animated Series "Christmas with the Joker" (1992)
Alien Sex Fiend - Stuff the Turkey [single, 1987]
[SAMPLE] Batman: The Animated Series "Christmas with the Joker" (1992)
Porn Orchard - This Holiday Season  [The Mother of All Flagpole Christmas Albums (comp.) 1992]
[SAMPLE] Batman: The Animated Series "Christmas with the Joker" (1992)
-
Angelo Badalamenti - L'anniversaire d'Irvin  [“The City of Lost Children” (soundtrack) 1995]
-
Ukrainian National Chorus - Щедрик (Schedryk)  [Poor Hawthorne / Shtchedryk / Koza, 1922]
Shchedryk Ukrainian Children's Choir - Щедрик (Shchedryk) (live at Carnegie Hall, 2022)
Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus - Shchedryk  [Christmas Carols, 1972]
Smurno - Sklo (Glass)  [Electronic Resistance: Reconstruction (comp.) 2022]
КАДРИЛЬ (Quadrille) - Оцепенение и страх (Numbness and Fear)  [single, 2019]
Spokusy - Ordlo  [single, 2022]
-
Angelo Badalamenti - Main Titles / Cue 13 / Cue 21 & 24  [“Blue Velvet” (soundtrack) 1986]
-
Entertainment - An Alter of Remembrance  [Horror Pt. 2, 2022]
ROME - Icarus Rex  [Hegemonikon: A Journey to the End of Light, 2022]
Images in Silence & Fjolla Hoxha – Double Dare [Transmissions From The Island Of The King, 2022]
Pink Turns Blue - I Coldly Stare Out  [If Two Worlds Kiss, 1987]
Sacred Skin - Stay Awake  [The Decline of Pleasure, 2022]
:Wumpscut: - Die In Winter  [Bunkertor 7, 1995]
-
Angelo Badalamenti with The City Of Prague Philharmonic - Mulholland Drive / Love Theme  [“Mulholland Drive” (soundtrack) 2001]
-
Katatonia - Nowhere  [Sounds of Decay, 1997]
In Grief - Ярна (Yarna)  [An Eternity of Misery, 2022]
Agalloch - Fallen Snow  [Ashes Against the Grain, 2006]
Summoning - Kôr  [Dol Guldur, 1997]
Celestial Season - The Sun The Moon And The Truth  [Mysterium II, 2022]
-
Angelo Badalamenti - Fred’s World / Haunting & Heartbreaking  [“Lost Highway” (soundtrack) 1996]
-
Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch - Nightsea Wind (exc.)  [The Twin Peaks Archive, 2011]
Anthrax - Black Lodge (Black Strings Mix)  [Black Lodge (single) 1993]

________________

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PODCAST: November 2022 Episode

STREAM this episode right now on Mixcloud]

 Or, click the photo below to save the podcast file, stored on GoogleDrive:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS:

This episode -- the first "regular" episode in a few months -- begins by marking two personally-significant moments in '90s goth: First, the 30th anniversary of the release of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992) -- a film so beautifully shot and exquisitely atmospheric that it remains a favorite despite a couple of flaws that may not hold up for present-day viewers. One thing that is certainly without flaw to this day is Wojciech Kilar's powerful, dramatic, and compelling score, which will likely always be cited as his greatest and most famous work. 

 

I use a selection from that score to lead us into the second anniversary I wished to mark on the way in this month: Seraphim Shock's debut album, Red Silk Vow, which first appeared on this very day, 25 years ago in 1997. The band's blend of goth, industrial, metal, sacrilege, and darkly romantic sentiment met me exactly where I was at the time, so it's a personal favorite, and I chose two selections from the album to set the tone tonight. 

From there, we dive into a sea of new singles and releases which have flooded my world in the past two months, beginning with one of several new singles that have emerged from  ROME, leading up to the release of their latest full-length, Hegeminkon. The consistency of  Jerome Reuter's songwriting abilities still amazes me, with this latest collection referencing some of my favorite earlier sounds from the project. We then go a track deeper into the latest from  Vision Video's Haunted Hours, which shows the band honing its post-punk craft, before melting into a classic from Siouxsie & the Banshees, in honor of the 40th anniversary of their 1982 album, A Kiss in the Dreamhouse. A debut from the French goth act Distance H comes in next, followed by a new single from Brooklyn darkwavers A Cloud of Ravens, as a further taste of their forthcoming new album Lost Hymns. Another 40th anniversary nod comes after that, this time to The Sisters of Mercy classic "Alice," which first appeared as a single 40 years ago this month. And finally, we close the first set with new music from The Bleak Assembly, a new goth project joining members of Bow Ever Down and Fiction8.

 

Set two gathers one of the most infectious collections of new darkwave you've heard from me all year, beginning with a track from the new Panic Priest album, Psychogoria, which is followed by a deep cut from Nuovo Testamento's 2021 collection, New Earth. The two acts will be performing together for an exclusive dual engagement on December 15th at The East Room in Nashville, so I couldn't resist paring them up on this episode as well. After that, we check out a very dancefloor-ready single from Pure Obsessions & Red Nights, followed by a second taste of Vandal Moon's instant-club-hit album, Queen of the Night. An incredibly catchy new song from Aeon Rings' new album Enemy the leads us into a brand new track from Sweden's A Projection, who are, by now, no strangers to filling a dancefloor themselves, with their excellent blend of darkwave, synth, and post-punk sounds. 

Set three brings us back into deathrock territory, kicking things off with a song that hits so hard right out of the gate, I think I startled some people on the dancefloor with it recently: Secret Shame's "Luxury Bitch," a snappily-titled anthem from their new Autonomy album, and a great one to hear live. Spain's Mausoleo fits right in next, with a debut from their new Refugio Transitorio EP, followed closely by a debut from Canadian post-punk/coldwave act, Give My Remains to Broadway. One more anniversary classic lines up next, this time marking the 40th anniversary of the Virgin Prunes' classic If I Die, I Die. From there, we begin this month's Ukrainian Trident (aka 3 or more songs from Ukrainian artists, as a small show of support during the ongoing war). First, we have music from an impressive band I just caught up with, КАДРИЛЬ (Kadril), and a deeper cut from a band I've covered a few times on the show so far, Gentle Ropes. Both songs go back to a slightly better time, 2017, but let's hope a fully better time will dawn on us all soon. 

After a transition featuring another Ukrianian release -- a solid, moody instrumental piece from Toten Wasser -- the dark metal set begins by completing the Ukrainian trident with newly-reissued black metal from Këkht Aräkh. Having garnered a good deal of online attention for last year's Pale Swordsman, the US label Sacred Bones has picked it up for re-release, no doubt spreading their harshly-melancholic sound to many new ears. An absolute second-wave black metal classic from Abigor follows, leading us into some brand new death-doom from Italy's In Grief. Since it is, in fact, the onset of doom season for me, I continue that feeling with Dutch blackened-doom act Half Visible Presence, taken from their newly reissued Three​​​-​​​Faced Scapular of Death EP. Tribulation gets the honor of closing out the last full set with their latest stand-alone single, "Hamartia," which retains their signature goth/dark-metal sound.

 

Finally, the show comes to a close with a 30th anniversary nod to an album some of you may not have expected to be covered on this show, but it remains a classic in my mind, from an era in which darker "alternative" rock drew from post-punk, noise rock, and metal influences. The band I speak of is Therapy?., and their breakthrough album Nurse was released 30 years ago this month, and I couldn't pick just one to close the show with, so you get two personal favorites.

 

All of that PLUS: New music from Michael Abels' "Nope" score; Selections from the vaults; 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.
Now stored on GoogleDrive!

[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: November 26th, 2022

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

Wojciech Kilar - Dracula: The Beginning (exc.)  ["Bram Stoker’s Dracula" (soundtrack) 1992]
Seraphim Shock - Shadow Realm / Annabell  [Red Silk Vow, 1997]
-
Wojciech Kilar - The Castle / The Brides  ["Bram Stoker’s Dracula" (extended soundtrack) 1992]
-
ROME - Solar Caesar  [single, 2022]
Vision Video - Unwanted Faces  [Haunted Hours, 2022]
Siouxsie & the Banshees - Melt!  [A Kiss in the Dreamhouse, 1982]
Distance H - Waters of Woe (feat. Marita Volodina)  [single, 2022]
A Cloud of Ravens - Nature of Artifice  [single, 2022]
The Sisters of Mercy - Alice  [single, 1982]
The Bleak Assembly - Slow Down Time  [We Become Strangers, 2022]
-
Angelo Badalamenti - Dark Intro #4  [The Twin Peaks Archive, 2011]
-
Panic Priest - When Daylight Disappears  [Psychogoria, 2022]
Nuovo Testamento - Golden Boy  [New Earth, 2021]
Pure Obsessions & Red Nights - Sadie Wants the Night  [single, 2022]
Vandal Moon - Queen of the Night  [Queen of the Night, 2022]
Aeon Rings - Shallow End  [Enemy, 2022]
A Projection - Regenerate  [In a Different Light, 2022]
-
Michael Abels - What’s a Bad Miracle / The Unaccounted For / Progressive Anxiety  [“Nope” (soundtrack) 2022]
-
Secret Shame - Luxury Bitch  [Autonomy, 2022]
Mausoleo - Detrás de un disfraz  [Refugio Transitorio, 2022]
Give My Remains to Broadway - Access Revoked  [My Will is Not My Own, 2022]
Virgin Prunes - Walls of Jericho  [If I Die, I Die, 1982]
КАДРИЛЬ (Kadril) - Черная весна (Chernaya vesna)  [Прости (Prosti), 2017]
Gentle Ropes - Burn With Me  [Rose Wine & Gallows, 2017]
-
Toten Wasser - Angel of Death  [Memory of the Laid Asphalt About the Sounds Heard in Sтarkon Essence, 2020]
-
Këkht Aräkh - Night Descends  [Pale Swordsman, 2021]
Abigor - Scars in the Landscape of God  [Nachthymnen (From The Twilight Kingdom), 1995]
In Grief - Beyond the Dark Veil  [An Eternity of Misery, 2022]
Half Visible Presence - Loss  [Three​​​-​​​Faced Scapular of Death, 2022]
Tribulation - Hamartia  [single, 2022]
-
Tangerine Dream - Mae Comes Back  [“Near Dark” (soundtrack) 1987]
-
Therapy? - Nausea / Gone  [Nurse, 1992]

________________

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Or... STREAM this episode right here: