Showing posts with label industrial noise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label industrial noise. Show all posts

31 October 2023: The Annual FreeForm Halloween Show - Expanded to Five Hours!!!!

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The music you hear on tonight's show is available on the artists' Bandcamp pages and websites. (links below) 

We urge you to support the musicians you hear on FreeForm Radio.



This year's Halloween show expands to a full five hours of fun, creepiness, and horror!

Here's the breakdown:

7-7:15:  The Island Messenger Spooky Edition

7:15-8:00:  Witch-themed Halloween Music

8:00 - 9:00:  A locally produced Halloween radio play:

A local theater group, Kodiak Stage Craft, have recreated a 1940's Radio Drama called That Thing in the Window written by Lucille Fletcher. This suspenseful auditory experience features local voice actors and original music compositions.

2️⃣ Another chance to listen live on KODK 90.1 @ 9pm
 
9:00 - 11:00:  Spooky, horrific, creepy, fun Halloween music including dark ambient sounds from The Necronomicon Pages.

11:00 - Midnight:  This American Life Halloween Special


Does Abdul Alhazred’s cursed Necronomicon, the best known of the 'forbidden books', really exist?
Is it really part of the so-called "pseudobiblia" (books that do not exist) or did Howard Phillips Lovecraft, (the "Loner of Providence") base the Mythos of Cthulhu and all the vast, incredible Pantheon that pervades his fascinating and disturbing literary adventures?

In February 1937, in a letter written to his friend Harry O. Fisher, Lovecarft wrote, ‘The term Necronomicon (from the Greek "nekros", corpse; "nòmos", law; "eikon", image, i.e. "Image, or Representation, of the Laws of the Dead") came to my mind during a dream, including the etymology “.
Despite this, the belief that the Necronomicon is a real book persist. In reality, of course there are many magical books that have vanished and that are very sought after. Some do resurface. In Renaissance Florence the translations of Plato were put on hold when the legendary writings of Hermes Trismegistus were rediscovered, and their translation was deemed more important. They actually weren’t lost; they just weren’t in Europe. We can also add The Steganographia of Trithemius to the list, a book that was deemed blasphemous, black magic and in reality, turned out to be a canon of cryptographical techniques. We also have the very strange and compelling Voynich Manuscript, that still hasn’t been decoded but attempts to do so have driven people insane, allegedly. It seems that magical works need translating from either dead languages or codes and that the world of the dark arts is surrounded in mystery, secrets and blasphemy as underground esoteric groups attempted to avoid the wrath of persecution.
The Necronomicon, like the books mentioned above, has its own legends and the waters have been thoroughly muddied through hoax, creative invention and rumour. My first understanding of it was that Lovecraft’s grandfather was an occultist who had a vast library of occult books that young Howard used to engulf himself in, reading all of them with fervour and becoming a black magician. The Necronomicon was amongst this library as were many of the books that he mentions throughout his writing. By creating the Necronomicon and alluding to the contents without revealing them, has he not invented something that carries weight and mystery to such an extent that readers believe it to be real, because the other books he describes are? And there we have it. The mad, Arab Abdul Alhazred was Lovecraft himself. The Necronomicon does not exist and yet it does and is living and breathing. Long may it continue in the writings, movies, games, comics, music and all future media to come. This is precisely what Lovecraft wanted.

In this collection of music pieces and soundscapes, Eighth Tower Records and the musicians involved tribute their homage to the Necronomicon and expand the enigmatic mythology with the same passion for the subject as all the other ‘Mythos’ creators. What’s more, for your perusal, the artwork is beautifully designed by Mr Zarono.
 

credits

Our thanks to Raffaele Pezzella for providing FreeForm with a promotional copy of this release.

license

all rights reserved

tags

29 November 2022: Dancer; litmus0001; Capricorni Pneumatici

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The music you hear on tonight's show is available on the artists' Bandcamp pages and websites. (links below) 

We urge you to support the musicians you hear on FreeForm Radio.

THIS FRIDAY IS BANDCAMP FRIDAY WHEN THE MUSICIANS GET TO KEEP ALL REVENUE FROM SALES AND PAY NO FEES TO BANDCAMP.

 

Sonnenmensch's avatar

Sonnenmensch
ProgArchives:

DANCER were formed from remnants of Isle of Wight folk rockers SHIDE & ACORN and future famed film director the late Anthony Minghella. Minghella had previously appeared as keyboardist in a small jazz group known as EARTHLIGHT.

The musicians were discovered by Wilf Pine, former manager of BLACK SABBATH and future reputed ranking member of the Gotti mafia syndicate in the United States. Pine secured the group studio time at Olympia in the Barnes suburb of London in 1972, where they recorded seven tracks over a month's period under the direction of GROUNDHOGS guitarist Tony McPhee. McPhee, despite having an arm in a cast offered the guitar solo to close the title track. DANCER dissolved soon afterwards and their recordings remained forgotten until copies emerged nearly thirty years later and were released by Kissing Spell.

Minghella would go on to a lengthy and successful career as a film producer, while Athey and Cuffe would form the funk band BIG SWIFTY.

DANCER merit a place in the ProgArchives.com for their brief but enjoyable contribution to progressive music at a transitional and largely forgotten period in the individual members' careers.

biography by Bob Moore (aka ClemofNazareth)
 
 

 
From Jonathan Ewald:
This release, negative fundamental,  was recorded 12/27/2021 in a single take, all improvised, one track recorded live, no overdubs. The only thing I had a good idea about was to play around the modes associated with G min/Bb maj. 6 string bass thru loops and delays and fx. Knife glissando. Alligator clips chimes. MC202 old school analog synth thru a tremolo pedal and then, programmed sequence thru a delay pedal. 
 
Influences: Robert Fripp, Steve Hillage, Manuel Gottsching/AshRa, Bill Laswell, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sunn O))) ,Boards of Canada.
 
In my process, when these recording sessions turn out best, all but the most bare of plans goes out the window. I try to be patient and build a worthwhile soundscape with minimalist intent. Ideally, this leaves room for development and turning corners, changing the mood and direction of the piece slowly so it all just gently flows together.

I try to have my mind as blank as possible while open to what my ears are hearing. I try to be patient. Again, slow development seems to allow avoidance of trainwrecks... maybe.

A factor contributing to the success of these longform improvised pieces is to approach the primary instrument, the 6 string bass, more as an means to make sounds than as a musical instrument.

Right now working on an extension of the litmus0001 project, called Uberwacht. Essentially, litmus0001 + drummer.
 
This release is available on Bandcamp.  Bandcamp Friday is this Friday.   Our thanks to Jonathan for providing us with a copy of this release.


Eighth Tower Records re-discovers by a cd publication the cult 1989 tape cassette "Nibbas" by Capricorni Pneumatici. They took their name from the Aleister Crowley "Liber A' ASH vel Capricorni Pneumatici SUB FIGURA CCCVII", and between 1987 and 1991 were one of the most active projects of the esoteric/industrial Italian underground.

All tracks composed and performed by Capricorni Pneumatici
Recordings and mixing 1988 - 1989
Cover design by CPS

credits

Our thanks to Raffaele Pezzella for providing us with a copy of this release.
released November 17, 2022

Original tape release by Minus Habens, 1989
Remastered at CPS, Jan 2022
© CP & ETR 2022 all rights reserved
Published by Eighth Tower Records
 

25 October 2022: Philip Glass & the Kronos Quartet "Dracula"; Music Inspired by Bram Stoker's "Dracula"

 KMXT is live broadcasting the Kodiak City Council work session which may run past 9 pm.  

The show will begin as soon as the work session ends or 9 pm if the meeting ends early.

Be sure to follow KMXT FreeForm Radio on Facebook and Bandcamp.  

Please support FreeForm Radio and KMXT by going to KMXT.org and pledging your support.

The music you hear on tonight's show is available on the artists' Bandcamp pages and websites. (links below) 

We urge you to support the musicians you hear on FreeForm Radio.


 Two trailblazing new music artists — Kronos Quartet and composer Philip Glass — come together once again for a recording of the first original score for the Universal Pictures 1931 horror film classic Dracula, starring Béla Lugosi. Glass’s score marks the first-ever for a film which the composer himself considers a classic. “Many films have been made based on Dracula since the original in 1931 — however, none is equal to the original in eloquence or the sheer power to move us.”

There have in fact been many screen versions of Bram Stoker’s classic tale of Dracula, but none more famous or enduring than the 1931 original. Starring Béla Lugosi as the world’s best known vampire and directed by horror specialist Tod Browning, Universal Studios’ Dracula creates an eerie, chilling mood that has rarely been realized since. Dracula’s initial theatrical release coincided with the transition from silent pictures to “talkies.” At that time limited technology existed to present the film as a sound picture, so no musical score was ever composed and there were few sound effects. Browning relied on Lugosi’s legendary Hungarian accent to give the film its distinctive sound.

Glass’s new original score for Dracula was commissioned by Universal Family and Home Entertainment Production for inclusion as part of Universal’s Classic Monsters collection, to be released on video on August 31. Philip Glass, in commenting on writing this score, said, “The film is considered a classic. I felt the score needed to evoke the feeling of the world of the 19th century — for that reason I decided a string quartet would be the most evocative and effective. I wanted to stay away from the obvious effects associated with horror films. With Kronos we were able to add depth to the emotional layers of the film.”

 
Eighth Tower is here to celebrate Dracula on the book’s 125th Birthday.
Two books, since first publication, have never been out of print. One is the Bible and the other is Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Dracula is the embodiment of Satan for the Victorian age. The character is sinister. He is cunning. He is repulsive, sickening in fact. He is quite different to the suave gentleman that any of the films depict him as. He is an old man who grows younger when gorged with blood. He is a walking, rotting corpse, the opposite to us and a reminder of our own mortality. He is arrogant, psychopathic and obsessed with imperialism. Perhaps the novel’s popularity has always been in its ability to make one feel like order has been restored through a strong empathy with the characters. We feel that we have become part of their existence through reading their diaries, letters and hearing their phonograph recordings. There is a real element of hope in their words and in their practices, we even see technology used to aid their war. Therein is progress alongside the knowledge of the past, looking to the future to dispel the shadows and bring us light where once we only saw fear in darkness. We can see the war of civilisation versus our baser instincts, not only in the fight against the sexual charge in the vampiric bloodlust but also in the ability that our heroes have to prevail against the animalistic forms that Dracula brings. As the Bible this is a book full of temptations and resistances that gets to the core of the psychological war inside us, as we fight our own inner biblical adversary, subdue the satanic beast within us and aspire to righteousness.
To celebrate this modern myth Eighth Tower has called musicians from various countries and asked them their musical interpretation of the Dracula myth. Either gloomy soundscapes or electroacoustic compositions, all the pieces are inspired by chapters, scenes, or characters from Bram Stoker’s novel.
 

credits

Our thanks to Raffaele Pezzella for providing us with a copy of this release.

released October 7, 2022

REVIEWS

OndaRock
www.ondarock.it/recensioni/2022-aavv-dracula.htm

Bizarre Chats
bizarrechats.blogspot.com/2022/10/eighth-towers-dracula-inspired-music.html?sc=1665128621667#c942901699638122052


Published by Eighth Tower Records
Curated and mastered by Raffaele Pezzella
Artwork by John Chadwick
© 2022. All rights reserved
ambient dark ambient dark chamber drone industrial noise Italy


11 January 2022: Anna von Hausswolff; Unexplained Sounds Group

NOTE:  Tonight is a Kodiak City Council Work Session broadcast live on KMXT.  If the meeting runs past 9 pm, FreeForm will begin as soon as it is adjourned.

Be sure to follow KMXT FreeForm Radio on Facebook and Bandcamp.  

Please support FreeForm Radio and KMXT by going to KMXT.org and pledging your support.

The music you hear on tonight's show is available on the artists' Bandcamp pages and websites (links below).  We urge you to support the musicians you hear on FreeForm Radio.


All Thoughts Fly by Anna von Hausswolff


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Persefone 07:08



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Entering 02:10



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Sacro Bosco (“Sacred Grove”) is the starting point for Anna von Hausswolff’s new album All Thoughts Fly, incoming on Southern Lord on 25th September. Here in solo instrumental mode, the entire record consists of just one instrument, the pipe organ, and represents absolute liberation of the imagination. All Thoughts Fly radiates a melancholic beauty, and is distinguished by fluid transitions of contrasting elements; calmness and drama, harmony and dissonance, much like the place that inspires the music.

Sacro Bosco is a garden, based in the centre of Italy, containing grotesque mythological sculptures and buildings overgrown with vegetation, situated in a wooded valley beneath the castle of Orsini. Created during the 16th Century, Sacro Bosco was commissioned by Pier Francesco Orsini, some say to try and cope with his grief following the death of his wife Guilia Farnese, others speculate the purpose was to create art.

About the album Anna explains “there’s a sadness and wilderness that inspired me to write this album, also a timelessness. I believe that this park has survived not only due to its beauty but also because of the iconography, it has been liberated from predictable ideas and ideals. The people who built this park truly set their minds and imagination free. All thoughts fly is a homage to this creation, and an effort to articulate the atmosphere and the feelings that this place evokes inside of me. It’s a very personal interpretation of a place that I lack the words to describe. I’d like to believe Orsini built this monumental park out of grief for his dead wife, and in my Sacro Bosco I used this story as a core for my own inspiration: love as a foundation for creation.”

The accompanying video for the first single "Sacro Bosco" is, just like the music, an interpretation of the park with an imaginary twist. Directed by Gustaf and Ludvig Holtenäs.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4POF9AQKQk

Anna summarises, “Sacro Bosco in Bomarzo is a creation carved out from one man’s head. A frozen thought lasting throughout time and touching people across generations. All thoughts fly, Ogni Pensiero Vola, is about this: the importance of sharing for surviving, creating space and evolving. Once you’ve shared your words they are not only yours anymore."

All Thoughts Fly ultimately embodies the exploration of any and all possibilities, and the audience is invited to listen, liberate the mind and let it wander.


Notes on the recording process:

The organ on All Thoughts Fly is situated in Gothenburg and is a Swedish replica of the Arp Schnitger organ in Germany. It is the largest organ tuned in Quarter-comma meantone temperament in the world. With it’s four manuals, one pedal and 54 stops, it was built as part of a ten-year research project reconstructing 17th Century North German organ building craft. The tuning temperament is an important detail to note here, as it deeply affects the sound and tuning, and thus radically changed the process of creating this album. Anna speaks of a pleasant surprise during recording, the organ's ability to create beautiful "pitching" notes through its stops and air supply system. She remarks “We took advantage of this so most of the pitching sounds and notes that you hear on the album comes from the mechanics of this organ, effects made entirely acoustically." The organ was recorded with two room mics for atmosphere and two pairs of close mics placed inside the organ to capture nuances and detail for further organ sound processing by Filip Leyman in his studio.
 

credits

released September 25, 2020

All songs written & played by Anna von Hausswolff
Organ sound design by Filip Leyman and Anna von Hausswolff
Produced and mixed by Anna von Hausswolff & Filip Leyman
Mastered by Hans Olsson at Svenska Grammofonstudion
Recorded in Örgryte New Church, in Gothenburg January 2020.
Organ recorded with mobile equipment from Svenska Grammofonstudion
Cover photo & inner sleeve photo by Gianluca Grasselli
Layout & design by Tina Damgaard
 
 


Unexplained Sounds Group 7th Annual Report is the 7th chapter of the series that comes out every year in December, and showcases the best 2021 experimental and avant-garde music. It includes veteran composers alongside younger but equally talented musicians from all around the globe. All musicians here are united by the spirit of pushing the boundaries of music and of charting the new territories thus forged.

A mid year edition was previously released in July (only digital format):
unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com/album/unexplained-sounds-group-7th-annual-report-mid-year-edition
Our thanks to Raffaele Pezzella for making this recording available to the show at no cost. 

credits

released December 3, 2021

Edited by ©Unexplained Sounds Group

Curated and mastered by Raffaele Pezzella (Sonologyst)
sonologyst.com
© 2021. All rights reserved
experimental avant-garde drone improvisation musique concrete sound art Italy

 

 

27 April 2021: Bernhard Wostheinrich & Tim Motzer: Schloss Tegal

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Recorded live on May 27, 2017, broadcast of Frank Somalus' show at RSD-Radio, Berlin, Germany.


"I remember vividly flying past many tall buildings in Bernhard's sister's speeding old blue convertible and the blur of a vast German boulevard somewhere in former East Berlin. It was a long drive and rather dream-like. I had just finished a European tour with Bandit65 with Kurt Rosenwinkel and Gintas Janusonis, and was now here in Berlin visiting my great friend & colleague Bernhard to play a few shows.
This radio broadcast set was quite inspired. We had not improvised together in quite a long time, perhaps a few years. It was so good to be back in Berlin among friends. I still remember the feeling, as it was the last time I've been there since Covid-19 has taken hold of our planet. Listening to this brings back so many memories, and our performance that day went to amazing places. I believe it to be my favorite concert we've ever done thus far.
We hope you will enjoy this magic sonic ride, filled with mysterious melodic and harmonic sequences, ever shifting driving rhythmic terrain, beauitiful transitions and colours like I've never heard or experienced since. We were so in it. This is so ON! This magic duo. This is a great one folks." - Tim Motzer

credits

Materiaal Series, Vol. XLII   released April 18, 2021

Tim Motzer - guitar, electronics
Bernhard Wöstheinrich - keyboards, live-arrangements, electronics
recorded live in Berlin at RSD-Radio

Mastering: Markus Reuter
Artwork by Christine Kriegerowski (duckwoman.de)

Thank you to Frank Somalus!
www.rsd-radio.com
Tags
 


 

I met Richard Schneider (Schloss Tegal) at Klub 007 in Prague in December 2019, right before the pandemic. Having been invited by Jan Kruml to work together on a radio transmission on Radio 1, I stayed in Prague for some days and had the chance to attend a Schloss Tegal live performance; that night, various musicians from the Prague underground played at the club, including Vladimir Hirsch. After the concert I had some talks with Richard regarding his participation in the compilation "Drone Islands – The Lost Maps" which I was going to release a month later, and I congratulated him on the performance. At the time, I couldn’t imagine that our paths would have crossed again till the moment we talked online about the release of “Musick From Madness” (a document of the early Schloss Tegal productions) through the Eighth Tower Records label.
More than a simple release - though one of historical importance that I’m honored to publish - this publication represents the best way to remember some friends whom I had the pleasure to know and collaborate with: people I could hardly meet in person at the moment.

Raffaele Pezzella

Musick from Madness on Bandcamp

Schloss Tegel was a Berlin-based hospital: see below for more information

credits

releases June 4, 2021

Music by Schloss Tegal (RL Schneider, MW Burch).
RL Schneider: Synth, Samples, Electronics
MW Burch: Tapes, Samples, Electroacoustics
Recorded between 1986 and 1990

Edited by Eighth Tower Records
Originally released on C46 cassette in 1991 by State Of Flux
Mastered by Raffaele Pezzella (Sonologyst)
Artwork by Black Space Industry
eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com
© 2021. All rights reserved
  FreeForm Radio thanks Raffaele Pezzella for providing a promotional copy of this release.

Notes:
Tracks “The Father is Omnipotent”, “I Give Everything to the Devil”, “The Red Skull”, recorded between 1986 and 1990, and previously unreleased.

The original cassette, published by State Of Flux, existed in two editions. In the first, an edition of 25, each copy has a bone glued to the inside cover. The second edition is exactly the same, but without the bone.

A State Of Flux was a label, distributor and radio program on WCUW-FM in Worchester, Massachusetts all run by John Collegio. 
 

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Smart Drug 04:26



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The Father Is Omnipotent



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Ring In Place



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Vortex



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Natan Speaks



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I Give Everything to the Devil



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Watch Me Flop Around



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The Red Skull
 
 Schloss Tegel was a Berlin-based hospital where disaffected soldiers were treated for exhaustion, depression, and other mental conditions spawned by the very violent and demanding nature of their profession. One would think that, if a post-industrial project known for the darkness embedded in their work chose this as their name, it would be because of the dubious methods used to treat their patients; perhaps the hospital was known for having submitted its subjects to inhumane experiments and practices that were on the verge of being pure psychological and physical torture. Nonetheless, this couldn't be further from the truth. Schloss Tegel was a place where the healing process was approached through music and art therapy. How can a project with such gruesome sound and aesthetics be named after a place of healing and improvement? Can we take it as black humor or as a way to reflect the fractured and foggy state of mind of those who attended such an institution? Having been spawned out of the decaying biomechanical world of early industrial music, which fused technology with primitive impulses to create bleak and harsh soundscapes instead of danceable techno pieces, Schloss Tegal (RL Schneider, MW Burch) released "Musick From Madness" on cassette tape around the early 90s, and despite being their second outing (the first being the Procession of the Dead 7"), it already showcased the elements that would grant them the title of pioneers - or even founders - of the dark ambient genre. We had the paradoxical positioning of harsh and soft textures, obscure samples, a very cinematic presence, and loose song structures that flowed like nightmares from which, as the title of the final track in the seminal "Oranur III" (Tegal Records, 1995) states, you can't wake up. Now, thanks to Raffaele Pezzella’s Eighth Tower Records label, Musick from Madness finally has a proper reissue.
If industrial and some of its offshoots, like the ever-controversial power-electronics, intended to place the listener in the center of a tumbling building being demolished by heavy and rusty machinery, Schloss Tegal aimed to create ethereal wreckage: the structure being explored and subsequently destroyed was not one belonging to an unnamed urban landscape, it was the mind itself. While it still had the raw power of early Throbbing Gristle or Whitehouse, the force with which Schloss Tegal struck was very different; somewhat gentler, but still very unnerving. Every detail and every sample is buried under decaying sound layers that feel as if they are struggling to keep everything underneath, but their presence somehow seeps through the cracks. It is all very subliminal. These suffocating atmospheres came rather naturally to the duo if we are to take into consideration everything they were consuming outside of music. With interests such as the teachings of Satanism, the intricate plots that only conspiracy theories can provide, and a proclivity towards the darker side of human nature manifested in a strong interest in serial killers of the late 70s and 80s, it is no wonder that Schloss Tegal were able to conjure such bleak, yet intriguing, landscapes with little effort. To listen to “Musick From Madness” is to let the darkness take hold and lead us through a slow, overwhelming and spiraling descent into uncharted territory. Beginning with hypnotic pulses and unintelligible samples whose echoes linger through the songs with a ghost-like presence, the album eventually gives in to cacophony; nonetheless, it is all very subtle. It doesn't turn harsh or dissonant, but as it progresses, its persistent, maddening state becomes highly - and dangerously - contagious. The duo were already experts in creating engaging experiences, knowing when to hold back, and when to bring back certain motifs to give us a sense of direction, even if for a brief moment. The goal was never to scare us, but to help us assimilate the darkness within. Parting from that point of view - which one could say is very psychoanalytical - it starts to make sense that this enigmatic duo took their name from a, rather wholesome, mental facility. This is the dichotomy of Schloss Tegal.

Jorge C. Ortega
 



07 January 2020: Blow Up Hollywood / Reza Solatipour / Persian Experimental Music

In light of recent events, it is appropriate to feature this superb 2006 release from Blow Up Hollywood.

Blow Up Hollywood’s third studio album,  The Diaries of Private Henry Hill, is based on the journals of a young soldier who died tragically in the Iraq War. This concept album narrates a first-hand account of the transformation of a real man from citizen to soldier to killer to martyr.
The Diaries of Private Henry Hill is Blow Up Hollywood’s follow-up to the critically heralded 2004 album Fake.

Blow Up Hollywood is an underground American rock band. Their eclectic sound, built over a decade of recording, incorporates many different styles, diverse as progressive rock, post-rock, experimental, pop, classical, jazz and ambient soundscapes. Founded by Steve Messina and Nik Chinboukas in 2001, the group has evolved into more of a collective than a band, as some of their members have changed over the years.
Their debut, self-titled CD, is a concept album about death and the afterlife. The CD was recorded in a beach house in West Hampton, New York, over the course of three weeks in March 2001, and was released the following year. Originally the recording was intended to be just a “musical vacation” amongst friends who had performed and recorded together in various groups and projects throughout the years. But after hearing the results, and enjoying the collaboration, they decided to release it, with Blow Up Hollywood as their moniker.
Their sophomore CD, Fake, was released in 2004, and garnished critical acclaim.
In September 2004, John Diliberto, the host of the radio show Echoes, ran a feature on the band and had them perform live on air, bringing them national attention. That same year their live version of the song “beyond the stars” was included on the Echo’s compilation CD, alongside artists Yo-Yo Ma, Kai King, and Will Ackerman.
Stars End – A one track ambient improvisation, was recorded live on November 14, 2004, at WXPN in Philadelphia. The CD is titled after Chuck Van Zyl’s show Star’s End which has aired every Saturday night since 1976. “We asked Chuck what we should play, and he gave us free reign. So we improvised for an hour”, one of the band members stated.
In 2006 the band released what would become their most popular CD, both nationally and internationally. With the debate over the war in Iraq raging, the band released another concept album, The Diaries of Private Henry Hill. Based on the journal entries of a young, deceased soldier from the Iraq war, Blow Up Hollywood takes us on Private Henry Hill’s surreal journey as he joins the army out of necessity rather than patriotism.
That same year the album was released, Amy Goodman, the host of the news show Democracy Now! (a daily TV/radio news program, airing on over 900 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the United States) championed the band and the video for the song WMD, playing it repeatedly on her show for weeks.
Rachael Maddow, the then host of The Rachael Maddow show on Air America Radio, also invited the band to perform live and discuss the CD. And many other songs from the Diaries record were featured on NPR‘s program All Things Considered.
In 2008, the band was invited by Tomas Young (an injured American soldier from the Iraq war ) and Eddie Vedder (the lead vocalist of the American rock band Pearl Jam) to have WMD included on the compilation soundtrack to the documentary film Body of War, alongside Bruce SpringsteenNeil YoungTori AmosTom WaitsRoger Waters (founding member of Pink Floyd), and Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam.
In 2011 Steve Messina, Nik Chinboukas and Thad Debrock joined forces to write, produce, and record with photographer and conceptual artist Andres Serrano, with Blow Up Hollywood as his backing band. They released the recording under the name Brutus Faust.

In the second half of tonight's show, we will feature Tehran musician, Reza Solatipour, and his 2019 dark ambient release, The Gate.  Our thanks to Raffaele Pezzella and the Unexplained Sounds Group for providing us with a promotional copy of this album.

It came clear, in recent years, that drone & dark ambient music from Iran made a considerable statement among the followers of this music genre. Reza Solapitour, from Tehran, was among the most talented Iranian projects alongside with Xerxes The Dark, Alphaxone, idft. His music was published on the prestigious compilation “Visions of Darkness” curated by Raffaele Pezzella and co-released by Unexplained Sounds Group / Cold Spring Records.

soundcloud.com/rezasolatipour

unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com/album/visions-of-darkness-2cd-edition

credits

released November 23, 2019

REVIEWS

ToneShift
toneshift.net/2019/12/11/the-gate-by-reza-solatipour/

Avant Music News
avantmusicnews.com/2019/11/25/amn-reviews-reza-solatipour-the-gate-2019-eighth-tower-records/

Head-Banger Reviews
headbangerreviews.wordpress.com/2019/12/11/reza-solatipour-the-gate/


Music recorded in Tehran by Reza Solapitour
Artwork: Eliphas Üsher (IÖR)
Mastering: Sonologyst
sonologyst.com
© Eighth Tower Records / Industrial Olocaust Recordings
www.discogs.com/label/64495-Industrial-%C3%96locaust-Recordings

22 October 2019: Witchcraft & Black Magic in the UK / Final Strike of the Pumpkin Witch


Tonight is the first of two FreeForm shows with a Halloween theme.

Witchcraft has had a fascinating and turbulent history in the UK. Through periods of persecution and prejudice, it has survived to the present day and many people still practise the tradition now.From the 7th century onwards, attitudes towards the practise began to change. During the medieval period, fears over so-called ‘black magic’ began to emerge. This referred to the power of witchcraft to bring harm to others. An association was also drawn between witchcraft and the devil.
Read the full article by Brett Almond: www.holisticshop.co.uk/articles/history-witchcraft
This Eighth Tower Records release is dedicated to the memory of Daniel Williams, brilliant music critic, musician and dearest friend, I had the honor and pleasure to collaborate on this project. His sudden departure hurt me deeply, but didn't stop me from carrying on with the work we started together. A work in which his memory continues to be alive.
Raffaele Pezzella

credits

releases October 31, 2019

REVIEWS

Avant Music News
avantmusicnews.com/2019/10/16/amn-reviews-various-artists-witchcraft-black-magic-in-the-united-kingdom-2019-eighth-tower-records/

1208 North Fuller Ave Apt 1
1208fullerave.blogspot.com/2019/10/various-artists-witchcraft-and-black.html

© Eighth Tower Records
Curated by Raffaele Pezzella (a.k.a. Sonologyst)
Cover Image: "Three Women and Three Wolves",
Eugene Grasset painting (1900)
Design: Francesco Di Stasio
Mastering: Sonologyst
sonologyst.com
© All rights reserved


June 3rd, 2019:
Good God. I've escaped the clutches of the Pumpkin Witch. But for how long, I know not.

I was torn from my home, last October, by three dark figures: The Disgraced Scientist, The Vampire Tyrant, and Haunter of Darkened Forests. These are the three villains responsible for summoning the Pumpkin Witch and conjuring chaos and death in my small town. And soon, the rest of the world.

While trapped in the hovel of the Pumpkin Witch, her terrible plans became mockingly revealed to me. Knowing what may be the ghastly fate of humanity was but a part of the barrage on my psyche. Just laying eyes on that half-rotted gourd hag was torture enough. I wish not to delve much more into what I suffered at the hands of my vile tormentors, for my own mental well-being. Some good may have come from my entrapment by the Pumpkin Witch and her cohorts though: I discovered a possible weakness.

The Pumpkin Witch is a seemingly ancient phantasm that can inhabit any body prepared for her. If I can expel her spirit, the very essence of the Pumpkin Witch, from the sickening physical vessel she currently inhabits, and transfer it to another vessel of my own...  more

credits

released October 13, 2019

Pumpkin Witch is The Disgraced Scientist, The Vampire Tyrant and Haunter of Darkened Forests

Bonus tracks "The Shape in the Darkness" and "Ghosts in the Graveyard" recorded live in a cemetery

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all rights reserved

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