Night Vision Monarch!

Here are video clips of Monarch!'s complete Halloween set at The Hideout in Chicago, featuring Kenny Rasmussen from Anatomy of Habit on drums

Angel of Decayed Cheese

Click here to view a nice cooking lesson from our friend Jonathan Canady (Angel of Decay, Dead World, Deathpile, Nightmares, etc.)

B!136 + B!137 Pre-Orders

B!136 + B!137 are now listed in the BloodShop! for pre-orders, with an anticipated release date of Tuesday February 15, 2011

B!136: http://bloodshop.bigcartel.com/product/b-136-mark-solotroff-archive06-cd
B!137: http://bloodshop.bigcartel.com/product/b-137-mark-solotroff-archive07-cd

Discogs listings:
B!136: http://www.discogs.com/release/2695663
B!137: http://www.discogs.com/release/2695665

Status - 2/4

The Peter Sotos "Comfort and Critique" paperback is back in stock. The publisher said that it is now nearly out-of-stock on his end.












http://bloodshop.bigcartel.com/product/peter-sotos-comfort-and-critique-book

I think that the blizzard affected delivery of a few new additions to the BloodShop!, so expect an update by the middle of next week.

Recent rotation:
Young Prisms "Friends For Now" (noisy shoegazer stuff)
Sleep Museum "Forschung 1-4" (BloodLust! pre-release discs, for review)

Crustcake on Indian + 4/9/11 show

http://www.crustcake.com/2011/02/indian-debut-new-song-no-grace-announce.html

Musique Machine on Locrian "Territories"

It is nice to see that reviews are still coming in. Here is a new one from Music Machine:


The built environment seems central to Locrian’s ‘Territories’. Track titles talk of geographical positions such as ‘Between Barrows, a ‘Ring Road’ and a ‘Columnless Arcade’, while ‘Procession of Ancestral Brutalism’ refers to the functional/industrial architectural movement of the mid-Twentieth Century. But the sound made by Chicago’s André Foisy and Terence Hannum seems to describe the decay of such structures as opposed to their construction. The monochromatic improvised interplay of Hannum’s analogue synths and organ with Foisy’s guitar feedback and fretwork has seen them aligned with the often dystopian-sided genres of noise and drone. But with ‘Territories’ they open up their sound with a selected guest list of collaborators that sees them slip in and out of their discomfort zone.

Mainly culled from improvised sessions, the album seems to have been prepared for vinyl, whose two sides enjoy three tracks a piece, each culminating in a black metal climax featuring Nachtmystium’s Blake Judd on guitar. This immediately recognisable genre sound, full of tinny and tensely strummed axe work, wraith-like vox plus alternating pummel and plod percussion, contrasts strongly with the outlandish experimentation that precedes each act’s finale.

Side one opens with ‘Inverted Ruins’ whose dilapidation is depicted through a repetitve, delayed and dirty bass riff, reminiscent of early TG, pitted against distorted layers from a grainy amp with winding feedback so shrill it seems designed to attract stray dogs. It feels like a meditation on abandoned houses, where injured vocals, buried in the noisy rubble, complain of the failure of traditions that has lead society to decline. But here, Locrian’s spiralling pessimism is held together by the strong rhythms of drummer Andrew Scherer (Velnias), somehow channelling the duo’s depression into an acceptance of fate.
‘Between Barrows’ continues the solemnity as a ritual of crashing cymbals punctuates a slow melodic passage of deep extended organ tones underneath the saddest of sax solos by Bruce Lamont (Yakuza). Again, a vivid sense of grieving is kept dignified through an elegant, tempered accompaniment. So, while not unenjoyable in its own right, a segueing into black metal’s more predictable ingredients disturbs the first side’s otherwise powerful atmosphere.

And the same happens on side two, but not before Territories’ bleakest track, ‘Ring Road’, winds its way around bursts and squeals, aided by power electronic stalwart Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded), encountering what sounds like a momentous avalanche all but obscuring a feral guitar on the way. While ‘Antediluvian Territory’ seeks to calm things down with a Floyd-ian delayed guitar and warm bass, the final track builds a wall of guitars for four minutes or so before heading into a powerful but standard black metal form.

‘Territories’ shows how working in collaboration can both enhance and detract from Locrian’s wildly experimental, unpredictable inclinations. But while the sequencing of the tracks seemed spell-breaking at the end of each side, most tracks taken individually are truly spell-binding, possessing a rich, resolute display of the evocative power of the sound of decay.

Russell Cuzner

Peter and Pieter

What a nice team-up!
I regret not being able to attend this event.
Pete will also "read" at the Hospital store on 2/25.

Timeless Update

It seems like Xavier was just here, but it appears that he has been rather busy since Thanksgiving. There are several new titles about to be released by Timeless:

Andrew King "Emblematic Paintings"
Zorin "Art Moral"
Mirka Lugosi "ML 80/90"

and a new Timeless issue titled "Gehenn"

Complete details can be found at: http://www.timeless-shop.com/

And... the French magazine Obsküre (Gang of Four cover article) just did a very nice feature on him:























(click images to enlarge)

Frozen Rotations

Lifelover "Sjukdom"
Xeno and Oaklander "Vigils" LP (re-release)
Esben And The Witch "Violet Cries"
Circle Of Ouroborus - split w/Crooked Necks + still playing "Unituli"
Disappears "Guider"
The Soft Moon "The Soft Moon" (still heavily playing the full-length, plus demos and singles)
Zond "Zond" (HEAVY rotation)
Apati "Morgondagen Inställd I Brist På Intresse"
And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead "Tao Of The Dead"

New in rotation:
Netra "Melancolie Urbaine" (Lifelover meets Portishead???)
Robert Turman "Way Down"

+
Redrot "Psycho Bondage" (BloodLust! LP tracks)
Anatomy of Habit (LP pre-master)

Status - 2/1

- Preparing for blizzard conditions here in Chicago

- Sending B!136+B!137 to the CD plant



- Reviewing last night's The Fortieth Day recording session, which was full-on heavy duty...

- Now in Stock at the BloodShop!: Consumer Electronics "Nobody's Ugly" LP on No Fun Productions

http://bloodshop.bigcartel.com/product/consumer-electronics-nobody-s-ugly-lp