Tomorrow...

What better way is there for me to celebrate my birthday, which is actually on Monday the 18th, than on the stage at my favorite place to play in Chicago? Not that I am into numerology, but this is one of those odd multiples-of-eleven birthdays, so who knows what is in store for the night... Oh, and just in case you were thinking about it, the A Place To Bury Strangers show at Schubas has been sold out for a few weeks, already. I hope that you can join me...

Sunday February 17, 2008
Time: 9:00 PM
Cost: $8.00
21+

Animal Law
http://www.myspace.com/animallaw
Unlucky Atlas
http://www.myspace.com/unluckyatlas
Druids of Huge
http://www.myspace.com/druidsofhuge
Plastic Boner Band
http://www.myspace.com/plasticbonerband

The Empty Bottle
1035 N. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
773.276.3600
http://www.emptybottle.com/

For those of you who still have not seen or heard Animal Law, here is a little blurb about us:

"Animal Law is what happens when five guys who primarily operate within the experimental, noise, and avant-garde rock scenes (Blake Edwards of Vertonen, ssseepage, Burrow, Series Founders, Crippled Insectual; Geoff Guy of Sexual Freedom, Gary Glitter Hard Drive, ex-Gays in the Military; Dylan Posa of Three Cheers for One Dead Man, ex-Cheer Accident, ex-The Flying Luttenbachers, ex-Bobby Conn; Jason Soliday of I Love Presets, Behold! The Living Corpse, Coeurl, Gunshop, Mora; and Mark Solotroff of BLOODYMINDED, The Fortieth Day, ex-Intrinsic Action), combine forces to play some form of laboriously slow, heavy metal dirge. While the band may cringe at the use of comparisons, references have already been made to (early) Swans, Khanate, Bauhaus, Harvey Milk, Joy Division, The Goslings, My Bloody Valentine, Flipper, Saccharine Trust, Einsturzende Neubauten, etc. On top of that, most of their compositions are purportedly love songs"

Coming Soon...

BloodLust! 106 The Fortieth Day "II" CD

Status - 2/15

- Initial orders of the new Sleep Museum CD - as well as all other mail-order and eBay packages - were taken to the Post Office this afternoon

- Still awaiting sample copy of the Angel Of Decay CD for final approval

- In case anyone wants to make sure that they do not miss it, I did a quick count the other day and I only have seven (7) copies of the Slogun "Bleached" 7-inch left...

OUT NOW: B!096 Sleep Museum "Core" CD EP

OUT NOW:
BloodLust!096
Sleep Museum "Core" CD EP
$10.00 USA/$13.00 World @ postpaid
(I am pleased to welcome back Sleep Museum, following their
"Street" private series 7-inch single, with the first disc in a short
series of EPs; Easily, one of my favorite artists of the last couple
of years; Four tracks of rhythmic, darkly melodic synth- and drum
machine-driven TRUE MINIMAL SYNTH music, with unrepentantly
eccentric vocals, and dour lyrics; Utterly contemporary, yet also
reminiscent of certain late-1970s and early-1980s "cold" music
- a hint of Joy Division mood and a dose of electronic-era Death
in June; The fifth track is a 27-minute long experimental analog
synth piece, far closer to the M.B.-style of dark electronics; We
are calling this an EP, even though it clocks in at 46-minutes;
Professionally duplicated CD, single panel, double-sided insert;
color and black and white artwork; in jewel box with shrinkwrap;
Released in 2008)

Tracklisting:
1. Shunned (Again) (3:09)
2. About Nothing (4:23)
3. Exultant Trees (5:41)
4. Ice Wall (5:39)
5. Night In Wire (27:07)

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!)

Status - 12 Feb

- I dragged two big duffel bags through the snow, this evening, in some lame approximation of the United States Postal Service credo --- in order to get up-to-date with mail-orders and eBay orders. All paid orders are now on there way --- both distro and individual packages and boxes. Armageddon will have all three new CDs and both new 7-inch singles, ASAP. RRR should have stock of the two latest CDs soon, while they already have copies of the BLOODYMINDED PLAYS BLOODYMINDED CD. Second Layer (UK) will have all new titles and various re-stocks, shortly. More distro orders should follow soon... Thanks to everyone for their support on the latest round of releases.

- Barring any weather delays, the first Sleep Museum CD EP should arrive tomorrow. I will post an announcement when I have them in stock. Robert and I are beginning to plan EP number two...

- Jonathan Canady and I finalized the CD version of the Angel of Decay "Bleeding on the Flowers" cassette that was released last spring. I should have a test copy of the CD within a week. If all goes well, that disc will be out by the end of the month.

- Weird, I seem to have lost a knife...

OUT NOW: B!101 Mark Solotroff + Sshe Retina Stimulants CD1

OUT NOW:
BloodLust! 101
Mark Solotroff + Sshe Retina Stimulants
"Excellent Manipulation of Distorted Tape Death
- Part One - The Edit" CD
$14.00 USA/$17.00 World @ postpaid
(In 1996, NG5361 [also of Sigillum S] and I collaborated
on a recording project entitled, "Excellent Manipulation
of Distorted Tape Death," which was released on
BloodLust! as a four cassette, six-hour box set [4 x C-90],
limited to 50 numbered copies, housed in a large vinyl box.
The project utilized progressive analog tape generations
and sound fidelity decay as both a direction for the
concept that we worked under and for the sounds that
we manipulated and ended up with. In 2006, NG5361
revisited those recordings, in a more digital manner,
and he came up with two new masters: "The Edit"
- a disc of eight tracks, each drawn from one of the
original cassette sides -- and "Super Density Assemblage"
- two self-explanatory, 28-minute-long tracks, built from
multiple sections of the box set. This is the first of these
new masters to be released on CD. Professionally
duplicated CD, single panel, double-sided insert; color
artwork; in jewel box with shrinkwrap; Released in 2008)

Tracklisting:
1: Commercial Imperatives (6:00)
2: Biopsy Forum (6:00)
3: Unambiguous Containment (7:00)
4: Fluid Outlets (7:00)
5: Major Ailments (5:00)
6: Oral Briefing (5:00)
7: Intellectual Reference (6:00)
8: Moratorium Accounts (6:00)

Sold Out - BLOODYMINDED "Live In Mexico City"

NOW SOLD OUT:
B!088 BLOODYMINDED "Live In Mexico City" CD-R

Friday Night...

Well, the night went by in a bit of a blur, even as long as it was. Thanks to Ben Billington, for including us in this great bill. Thanks to Marshall, and everyone else at AV-aerie, for the great hospitality. Thanks to so many of our friends who came out to support us! I was really pleased to see such a full room for this inaugural event under Ben's curatorial guidance, especially on a gross, cold, rainy night.

Things seemed to go really smoothly for us. The set felt pretty tight. From the sound of my MiniDisc recording, we had a good mix, overall. My vocals came through really well on the screamed songs, but maybe a tad low on some of the sung parts. I think that I also need to build up my singing voice more, as well as my confidence on those songs. Blake's metal percussion rang out rather nicely, slicing through the mix at key points. I enjoyed watching various audience members' faces... as there were clearly a lot of people who were there to "make the scene" and who were maybe not sure where we fit into the combination of bands.

Our set included:
1. "Above Heaven"
2. "Glisten" (completely new version)
3. "Grain"
4. "Never Alone"

Binges played an excellent set from the main floor, with a semicircle of audience around them. It was great to see Lambsbread back in the saddle... even if it was only for six or seven minutes. Totally intensity. C. Spencer Yeh brought the violin heat, yet again. Anyone see the mention of him in the new Throbbing Gristle book in the 33 1/3 series? Karl/Axolotl created a heavy and hazy dronescape from the stage. Unfortunately, I had to leave during the Skaters set due to a 5:00 AM wake-up call, so I did not get to really soak in what they were doing.

I posted a few photos, taken by Chris Sienko, on my Flickr page...

Transmission Write-up

With thanks to Mr. Sienko!

A lamb is not made of bread, an Axolotl is not a fish but lives in water, and The Skaters do not own skateboards...what can this mean?

Clockwise from upper left: Lambsbread, Axolotl, Skaters, C. Spencer Yeh.

It's a respectable hike to anywhere from the AV-Aerie (2000 W. Fulton), but that works to its advantage sometimes. The end-of-the-world feel of its west loop location isolates the events, preventing easy escape hatches to a bar or convenience store for smokes. You're here for the duration; please do not remove your seatbelt until the ride has come to a complete stop.

This land-of-neverland location works well for the four out-of-town guests appearing there on Friday (9 p.m., $5 donation, not BYOB, so bring $$$s for beer), each of whom finds it fun to take you, sonically speaking, to the furthest edge of town, and drive off, laughing as you disappear into a pinpoint in the rearview mirror.

• California's The Skaters (who derive their name not from skateboarding, but from a poem by Edward Blunden...or Emerson, or Tennyson, or something with an "en" sound at the end of their name) utilize hand drums, wood flutes, and delay pedals (not to mention their squibbly throats) to conjure the missing two hours of recordings NOT released by Amon Duul I from their marathon six hour trip/jam, all painful LSD hangover and anguish;
• Axolotl is Karl Bauer, and though he originally came on to replace Ohio-based Emeralds (whose equipment is too fried to perform just now, thank you), the lineup continues to mutate, as now there is talk of Baltimorean Bauer teaming up with Afternoon Penis, a solo project from one of the guys in Double Leopards as the duo Coatmagnets. Confused yet? No? Well, then explain it to me, cuz I'm lost! Anyway, check samples on Myspace for more info - sounds like good, rich droning soundscape, probably controlled by some sort of mixing device.
• Lambsbread, who previously claimed to be broken up, are once again taking their fast, aggressive free-noise-improv (don't call it "hardcore punk" please) out of Ohio and into our fair state. Expect a majestic mess that you yourself will have to clean up later.
• C. Spencer Yeh is billing himself under his own name, suggesting that the focus will be on his solo violin playing and complex vocal airstreams, rather than the incantory horror of his "band" project, Burning Star Core (which itself can be anywhere from one to four members in size). Fresh off his mention in the new "33 and 1/3" book about Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats!

Local support includes free improv guitar/perc/drum duo Binges and superhuman(e) sludge metal from Animal Law.

- Chris S.

Tonight...

Please note: Emeralds have had to cancel (damn!) but they have been replaced by Coatmagnets, which is Karl Bauer from Axolotl and Nate Nelson from Mouthus/Religious Knives/Afternoon Penis