Love has many masks; masks of submission and of oppression; and even more terrible masks that make Nature a stranger to herself and ‘turn the truth of God into a lie,’ as St. Paul wrote.
Ray Russell, Sardonicus
The lady may accept the escort, or the lady may ‘give him the mitten.’
I could cite you more than one hundred incidents corroborating the truth, that people have a very confused idea when their senses are tied up by fear and anxiety. As soon as cool reflection gives way to the horrors of a disordered fancy, we are but too apt to create phantoms and spectres all around us, we do not see what really exists, but what we fear to behold.
Lawrence Flammenberg, The Necromancer; or, The Tale of the Black Forest
Cue – “Wedding Song for Living Things and Dead Things”
Wedding Song
This energetic instrumental has the feel of a frenzied, multi-species jig. The combination of piercing violin, crashing percussion, and noisy guitars could easily have been muddled but it’s done well here, especially the quiet moments that have you waiting for the return of the jangly fury.
Horrid to behold did now a second phantom appear before our gazing looks, staggering slowly towards us, and leaving a numerous retinue on the staircase; the garment of the spectre was stained with blood, the skull fractured, the eyes like two portentous comets!
Lawrence Flammenberg, The Necromancer; or, The Tale of the Black Forest
The Polaris Flare in Ursa Minor (ESA)
There is one thing to be said for Mondays. They take the mind off everything else.
William Sloane, To Walk the Night
Imprints – “The Sea & Electricity”
Data Trails
The sparkling conclusion of a lush, dark, and beautiful album, this track’s cohesive sound stands in stark contradiction to the fact that the whole LP was recorded over just three days. Another excellent record from Serein. (bandcamp)
Viking 1 photographs the Martian sunset, 40 years ago
There is no such thing as a stationary point in human endeavors; he who is not worse today than he was yesterday is better; and he who is not better is worse.
Edward Taller, Journals
Somadrone – Invitation (Kevin McGloughlin)
(Source: https://player.vimeo.com/)
There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.
Jack London – The Call of the Wild
Teebs – “Shoouss Lullaby”
E s t a r a
The incongruity of this song being played loudly at a nearby dive bar caused it to stick in my memory. Its warbling, jangly meandering is a good primer for the rest of the record – and indeed, the Teebs discography. (Ninja Tune)
Thunder – Takashi Ito, 1982
Sweet close rings of the serpent’s twining,
As heart in heart lay sighing and pining.
“What bright babes had Lilith and Adam!
(Sing Eden Bower!)
Shapes that coiled in the woods and waters,
Glittering sons and radiant daughters.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti – “Eden Bower”
A forest as seen through a laser tree scanning system
La Luz – “Sleep Till They Die”
Weirdo Shrine
Weirdo Shrine is one of the most end-to-end-solid records I’ve heard in a long time. The band’s surfy psychedelia is equally good in quiet and explosive modes, always tonally consistent but never repetitive. The closing three tracks (not distant from this opening track; the album is a tight 31 minutes) demonstrate this especially well, so listen all the way through. (bandcamp)