Mail In, Mail Out

UPS dropped off the Atrax Morgue vinyl (waiting for sleeves, next) this afternoon, just as I was running out to do a final Post Office run before heading out of town. All paid orders have been sent out. Please hold all new orders/payments until Monday October 4, at which time, I will have a day to put orders together before heading to NYC.

Flavorpill on 10/16

From Flavorpill

An important and influential fixture on the early Chicago (post) punk scene, DA had its feet planted firmly in the moment while focused on a future yet to come. DA, while influenced by psych, punk and noise, created a body of work startling in its depth and originality. The inventive rhythms of original drummer Dawn Fisher and the muscular backbeats of her successor, Robert Furem, layed a propulsive framework for the intertwined guitar work of Gaylene Goudreau and David Thomas. The angular fluidity of their interplay became the perfect backdrop for singer and bassist Lorna Donley's introspective lyricis and expressive voice. Personal and obsessive, strange yet familiar, the music of DA is ripe for re-discovery.

Loud Week

Ah, the gentle ringing...

Heavy-duty Anatomy of Habit practice this week. We have really been nailing the new song, "Then Window," and I am quite excited to play it on October 16. We also ran through "Overcome" for the first time in a while, which was a pleasure for me, and we have some subtle updates to bring to that song for the next show. We have a quick practice scheduled for next week, so that some of us can run over to Bottom Lounge in time to see Swans.

After a quick burrito, Isidro and I had a really interesting The Fortieth Day session last night, and his bass and my guitar locked into a cool, extended sequence that has to be the result of playing together week after week, for so long, at this point. We definitely had one of those moments where you know things are working nicely in harmony. I will playback the recording after a bit more espresso. I have been continuing to strip down my FX pedal chain, sticking to delays and distrortions, and using less and less of the latter. I think the results have been good, thus far.

After we got done, we hauled ass to the South Loop to Reggie's, making it in time to see part of Drug Honkey's raw, heavy, slow dirge of a set. That was actually my first time seeing them and I am looking forward to more opportunities. Indian were quite simply spectacular. Bleak. Harsh. Crushingly loud. They are the soundtrack to what happened before the resulting ashy, gray scorched-earth landscape emerges in the film version of "The Road." The addition of Will's guitar and gut-wrenching vocals continues to add strength to strength. That was a tough act to follow, and Buzzov-en got off to a rocky start, as the sound guy had to swap out a series of cables and microphones before the cult crusty sludge metal crew could achieve full running speed. I do not think that I have seen the band since BLOODYMINDED played a festival with them, Eyehategod, etc., way back in late 1997, so it was great to see them back in "top" form... quotation marks for, you know, always expect the unexpected... and well, within a few minutes, they were chugging along like a finely honed machine. Their style is in such contrast to Indian's --- dare I say that Buzzov-en are in some ways more human in their approach --- and they cranked out an intense set, topped off by a Big Boys cover as their encore. 2010... Chicago... Eyehategod, Buzzov-en... and still to come, Swans, Einsturzende Neubauten, Killing Joke... WTF?!? It was fun to run into so many friends there last night... I am so bummed to be missing Dark Castle (hey to Stevie!), The Atlas Moth, Zoroaster, and Nachtmystium at Reggie's on Saturday, but I will be out of town. Fuck!!!

Status - 9/28

- Mail order is up-to-date. All paid orders have been shipped

- Things are fairly quiet as new releases are being pressed

- I saw the new Gaspar Noe film, "Enter the Void," last night. It was quite a mind-blower. It was hands-down one of the most visually striking films that I have ever seen. It seems funny to call a film "dark" when it is so "bright," but the story is pretty bleak. And the construction of the film/story is total Noe. That said, it was not a total slam-dunk for me, like "I Stand Alone" or "Irreversible" were, as there were a couple of things that I could have done without... +++POSSIBLE SPOILER+++ Oscar's full-on DMT experience towards the beginning goes a bit too far for me, as I am neither a fan of computer animation nor of 1990's fractal coffee table books, and I was fearing a "Tron" moment - or worse, some bad "Avatar" crap... but Noe reeled things in, and the hyper-saturated colors and the CGI, in general, became totally integral to the film. At the end, the biology book internal sex close-ups were a bit goofy... enough to make the audience laugh out loud, at least... and my movie date Miss Nicole cracked a "Look Who's Talking" joking. But, at nearly two-and-three-quarters of an hour in length, I was only less-than-thrilled with four or five-minutes at the most. Between the quick move to IFC On-Demand, and - I believe - an imminent DVD, I expect to see it again very soon. That said, seeing it on a big screen was a must, which is very rare for me. It just really needs to be seen in a movie theater unless you have some ridiculous home theater system at home. My old Sylvania probably cannot do the film justice. In a sense, the film transcends being a narrative device and becomes a visual feast to get lost in, but that is not to say that the story gets lost, or is of lesser value. And let's talk about the opening credits... They were just nuts! Nicole had already heard them referred to as "font porn"... The crowd even applauded when the credits concluded... pretty humorous... and they were only one of the homages to Kubrick.

All this while my doppelganger espresso machine has been warming up... and while listening to the rather mind-melting second disc of the new Swans album... I will be curious to see if the try anything as expansive at the upcoming shows... I have to skip Serena Maneesh (bummer, as their last Chicago show in March was great) tonight as I will be skipping AoH practice next Tuesday to see Swans...