Tonight... The Fortieth Day

From Gapers Block/Transmission – with thanks to Mr. Sienko!"

Hey you...don't watch that, watch this! This is the heavy heavy monster sound!"

"Pictures and Sounds" is an annual event hosted by WHPK (88.5 FM) in which musicians improvise soundtracks to silent films. Past events have brought out folk musicians working with Harry Smith films, free jazz orchestras accompanying the Vienna Aktionists, as well as moments less combative. This year's event goes right for the jugular, though, with industrial waste a-plenty and few hummable hooks to be found among the bones.

• The Fortieth Day bring their resident video-shape-shifter Noise Crush (aka Lisa Slodki) for barren landscapes set to uneasy REM cycles
• Ghost Ice, St. Louis' most beloved, shall no doubt once again cement his reputation as "out of town guy who brings out even the most reclusive too-cool-for-school Chicago concert-goers with his awesomeness"
• Mykel Boyd turns conventional electronics into 53 different words for snow
• Mac Blackout (of the Functional Blackouts) eats tapes for breakfast, and walks out on the check

It all goes down on Saturday at 6 p.m. (starts early in case you wanna haul ass uptown to see Wolf Eyes and Rubber-O-Cement [and by golly, you should]), and it's FREE. 5811 S. Ellis Avenue, Room 310.

- Chris S.

Gothic Doom

Thanks to a birthday present that arrived with Isidro at one of The Fortieth Day (+ Noise Crush!) practices this week, I have been on a steady diet of the "great three" (not my term)... My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, and Anathema. I am not 100% sure whether I should be thanking him or poking him in the ear with a pencil, but it is certainly strange to revisit this stuff so heavily, after so long. I can only usually manage a CD, or two, every once in a while. Maybe that idea of an Animal Law and Unlucky Atlas split single (thanks, Terence) is not so strange, after all, although it would have to be a 10-inch or a 12-inch, obviously. Shmoosh us together, and squint, and you almost have that style of music. It seems a bit too obviously morose to listen to these groups after losing a friend this week, but, well, if the shoe fits...

Saturday, February 23, 2008
6:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Free Admission
All Ages

The University of Chicago
Film Studies Center
Cobb Hall
5811 S. Ellis Avenue
Room 307
Chicago, IL 60637
773-702-8596
http://filmstudiescenter.uchicago.edu/
http://www.whpk.org/

WHPK presents: Pictures and Sounds
[Live audio performances with experimental film accompaniment]

Featuring:

Ghost Ice (St. Louis Mind-Melter Extraordinaire)

The Fortieth Day + Noise Crush (Isidro Reyes + Mark Solotroff of BLOODYMINDED + A Vague Disquiet – with a live video performance by Lisa Slodki a.k.a. Noise Crush)

Mykel Boyd (Somnimage Corporation; The Pride and Joy of Bradley, Illinois)

Mac Blackout (Solo tape-fuckery from Ex-Functional Blackout/current Daily Void member)

Additional Information:
"The Fortieth Day is the duo of Mark Solotroff and Isidro Reyes, both key players in the power-electronics outfit Bloodyminded, a local unit known for its confrontational live shows. Here, Solotroff and Reyes show off their kinder, gentler side, using guitar, bass, and synth to improvise 'sustained, withering blasts of high-pitched noise that are as distinct from one another as spotlights sweeping across the night sky; jackhammer clatter, jet-engine whines, and forlorn keyboard melodies dart in and out of those huge sounds with the grace and impunity of plovers picking a crocodile's teeth.'" (Bill Meyer, Chicago Reader)

We will have copies of our new CD available at the show




Note: The organizers were kind enough to start this event earlier than in previous years, so as to accommodate those people who plan to attend the Wolf Eyes show at The Empty Bottle, later that night:

SAT. 2/23/08 (10:00pm, $10)
Arthur Magazine & The Empty Bottle Present:
Wolf Eyes
No Fucker
Rubber O Cement

Another Tascam 424 bit it...

I just had another Tascam 424 Portastudio four-track cassette recorder crap out on me. This is my second one to go in just over a year. These damned things are absolutely VITAL to how I record my Super Eight Loop cassettes, as well as being a big part of certain aspects of recording The Fortieth Day and even some BLOODYMINDED pre-production material.

It appears that the play/record heads are no longer engaging with the cassette. This also seems to be what happened to my last one.

They are getting increasingly difficult to find on eBay... people are mostly selling later generation decks - MKII and MKIII - but I have to have the earlier model, as it is the only one to feature three (3) tape speeds:
HIGH (9.5 cm/sec. -- 3-3/4 ips)
NORM (4.8 cm/sec -- 1-7/8 ips)
SLOW (2.4 cm/sec -- 15/16 ips)

I would be willing to move up to a different model or to a different brand of four-track, but again, only if it featured all three tape speeds...

If you see one pop up, or you know of someone who has one, and who might be willing to let go of it, please let me know.

Thanks!
Mark

OUT NOW: B!103 Angel of Decay "Bleeding on the Flowers" CD

OUT NOW:
BloodLust! 103
Angel of Decay "Bleeding on the Flowers" CD
$14.00 USA/$17.00 World @ postpaid
(CD edition of the out-of-print cassette, first released
in 2007, in a numbered edition of 50 copies; Angel of
Decay is Jonathan Canady of Deathpile, The Urge Within,
Hollow Earth, Dead World, Torture Chamber, Blunt Force
Trauma, etc.; For this project, Canady focuses on "heavy
experimental electronics created using vintage analog synths
and other out of date equipment"; Heavier and more raw
than "Covered in Scars," his 2005 Desolation House/Relapse
CD, this is the perfect follow-up to the "Radio Brain Damage"
7-inch [B!055, 2006] on BloodLust!; The CD format definitely
allows for a sharper and more vivid listening experience, and
the crackling electronic sounds seem more insistent than ever;
Professionally duplicated CD, single panel, double-sided
insert; black and white artwork; in jewel box with shrinkwrap;
Released in 2008)

Tracklisting:
1. "Bleeding on the Flowers" (27:28)
2. "Sick, Insane and Half Dead" (28:29)

Please use bludlust@mindspring.com for PayPal
payments, or make money orders and IMO's
payable to [and registered letters addressed to]:
MARK SOLOTROFF (not BloodLust!)

COMING SOON:

Yes, we play long sets!

A review of the Animal Law AV-aerie show from Blogstitude

Animal Law was next, a 'Chicago supergroup' of Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded, Bloodlust! label, et al) on vocals, Jason Soliday (Jason Soliday, et al) on baritone guitar, Dylan Posa (Flying Luttenbachers, Cheer-Accident, et al) on drums, Blake Edwards (Vertonen, C.I.P. label, et al) on percussion, and Geoff Guy (Gary Glitter's Hard Drive, Gays in the Military, et al) on guitar - when I first heard they were playing together I thought "this could be good," then I saw on MySpace that they were playing in the style of "Swans, Khanate, Bauhaus, Harvey Milk, The Goslings, My Bloody Valentine, Flipper..." and I thought "this could be really good." And judging from this show I'd say that it pretty much is, although they definitely played too long for being the second band on a six-band bill, and they are still working some stuff out here and there. First song was a great spaced-out dirge that had Solotroff staring down the crowd with cold melancholy for a good five minutes while Soliday's thunderous ax and Posa's minimalist drums held down the riff, Guy did psychedelic stuff on top, and Edwards placed the judicious scrap yard accents. When Solotroff finally came in it was on the attack, in a screaming Bloodyminded style. A couple other songs had a disarmingly poppier approach, with Solotroff doing a fairly explicit Ian Curtis thing on one, and some quirky changes attempted and not necessarily nailed. The dirges were pretty exquisite, though - looking forward to hearing these songs recorded.

Sigillum S News

There is all sorts of news posted on the Sigillum S MySpace page, regarding live performances, forthcoming releases, etc.

Sunday's Animal Law show

Photo by Mykel Boyd

"Thanks" to everyone who came out to support us, and to celebrate my birthday with me, all on a Sunday night that saw dropping temperatures, rain, and even a bit of snow. I just listened to the recording of our set (approx. 42-minutes) and it came out pretty well. I really enjoyed the night, overall... It kicked off with a rugged set by Plastic Boner Band... Sam, once again, breaking some misconceptions about laptop-generated music... by creating gritty, stop-start sound, at times ferocious and at times calmer. Druids of Huge played a different type of set than they usually do... it was a bit longer, for one thing... and there were "movements," I suppose, which was excellent. It was nice to see them do a few different things, not that I mind when they just dig in, and go for it. Unlucky Atlas played a beautiful, stark, dark set of acoustic songs that added great balance to the night. Having to get up and sing after hearing Erica's voice soar through the room was not exactly ideal for me! "Thanks" also to The Empty Bottle folks... Ryan, for asking us to play (and for lights!); Cooper, for doing great sound; Bruce, for doing great bartending.

We played:
"In Fives"
"Above Heaven"
"Glisten"
"Never Alone"
"Grain"

Tim Aher, R.I.P.

I just received the horrible news that our friend Tim Aher - who we stayed with in London during our recent tour - died yesterday. I am so saddened by this news. Tim was an amazingly generous host to James, Xavier, and I, and we had such a great time hanging out with him -- eating excellent Indian and Sri Lankan food - visiting the Tate Modern - attending the Slogun show - and just relaxing at his place in Manor Park. My best wishes go out to Tim's family and his friends.



Tim (with white collar and dark sweater) watching F/I/T/H at The George Tavern, in Whitechapel, November 22, 2007

Source For Final Solution Single

As people have been asking, I just received confirmation that Ul Ni Industries (North Chelmsford, MA, USA) still has a few copies of the out-of-print Final Solution private series 7-inch single. Order via: http://www.ulniindustries.com/