New print zine by Robert Inhuman

"SACRIFICE" a new zine curated by Robert Inhuman [of Realicide].

No.1 issue, 40 pages, $5 U.S. $7 world post-paid.

CONTACT/PAYPAL: robertinhuman@hotmail.com

featuring:

INTERVIEWS WITH...
Justice Yeldham (Australian experimental glass/flesh)
Halflings (NYC powerelectronics)
Vankmen (Sacramento gabber speedcore)
Gordan Ashworth (of Oscillating Innards)
Z'EV (UK experimental percussion legend)
Lydia Lunch interviewed by Bryan Saunders (wrenching spoken word)
OvO (Italian progressive punk/metal duo)
Bunny Poe (Columbus OH enchanting pop/rock legacy)
Jason Zeh (north Ohio cassette/xerox manipulation)

ESSAYS BY...
Split Horizon (of Detroit's From The Gut)
Andrew Barranca (AKA Gaybomb)
Noam Erica (Charleston WV)
David Lim (AKA Tralphaz)

ARTWORK BY...
Ryan Faris and Pamela Mogollon (of Outfall Channel)
Mister Ben S. (of STL's Freezer Burn zine)
Nicole Bailey (Johnson City TN)
Adrian DeQuiros (Charleston WV)
Dominick Fernow (of Hospital Productions)
Jessica Rylan (AKA Can't)
Robert Inhuman (filling in the blanks)

REALICIDE YOUTH RECORDS, for more info and other publications http://geocities.com/realicide

CBC Documentary on Homosexuality in Iran...

In case you haven't heard, the President Ahmadinejad of Iran said, "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country. We don't have that in our country. In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who has told you that we have it."

Here's some footage documenting the Homosexual Scene in Iran and the brutal treatment its members receive:

CBC Documentary on Homosexuality in Iran

A CONGRATULATIONS to Joshua of This Blog!!!!!!!!!

He's getting married today!!!!!!!
:)

Best Political Music Video Ever?

Check it out here. It's called "Empty Walls", and is by Serj Tankian of System of a Down (he's doing a solo thing). It reenacts 9-11 and the Iraq War with kids using toy weapons. It's very powerful. And the song, is really good, as well.

Prince Caspian Movie Poster

it's too big to post here, so click this.

In Soviet Russia...

"Jewish Autonomous Oblast is a federal subject of Russia (autonomous oblast) situated in the Far Eastern federal district, bordering Khabarovsk Krai and Amur Oblast of Russia and Heilongjiang province of China. The region was created in 1934 as the Jewish National District. It was the result of Joseph Stalin's nationality policy, which allowed for the Jewish population of Russia to receive a territory in which to pursue Yiddish cultural heritage within a socialist framework."
(from Wikipedia)

This was an attempt to counter Zionism in Palestine and secularize the Jews within the U.S.S.R. Thousands of Jews throughout the world emigrated there. Sadly, it was a victim of Stalin's purges After 1991, most of the Jews living there left for Israel. For more info on its sad history, read the Wikipedia page on it.

Looking for new music? Check these guys out...

Slug's Revenge
myspace

One-man folk/punk with a strong bluegrass influence. Unlike most of the shitty acts infesting this genre, this guy can fucking play. Check out "The Jail Song" and "Notes on Military Recruitment". Originally from South Carolina, now residing in Baltimore.

Bodies of Water
myspace

This is what a friend wrote about them on a message board: "I don't know that Bodies of Water is all that original. You can here their influences here pretty clearly (Danielson, Pink Floyd, Arcade Fire, Os Mutantes, Polyphonic Spree), but they somehow manage to completely transcend their influences, sounding more honest and alive than the latter two, braiding gospel harmonies with proggy freakouts and pop purity. They remind me of Danielson in their total disregard for the whole "Christian indie rock/Christians in indie rock" paradigm. Their self-released s/t debut is probably one of the top 5 albums of the year for me (Someone sign these dudes!). Wonderfully life-affirming."

Vorkuta (fka Fjord)
myspace

Hungarian black metal band that said they formed because they wanted to "...[overcome] the many shitty acts that infected the scene today". And in my opinion, they accomplished what they set out to do. Named after a village in Siberia, "close to where a communist lager was located. It is said that during WW II, more people died there than in all the death camps, much more than Auschwitz/Birkenau. Our choice does not have any political meaning," - from an interview in a recent Metal Maniacs. In that interview, when asked about Christianity, they said, "I believe churches cannot be perfect, as they were all established by human beings. Like Nietzsche once wrote, 'there are no eternal facts, as there are no absolute truths, only interpretations.'" Regarding their lyrics, they "...mainly depict dark things. They're about the agony of souls, about our inner fears, which are usually expressed allegorically. Besides all of these, nature especially our homeland Gocsej, is also highly inspiring...". They have a number of splits out and a full-length on Paragon Records.

Burning Witch Reissue News

BURNING WITCH "Crippled Lucifer" (sunn2) will finally see the light of the lord in late November. This will consist of a double CD containing all works recorded during the September 1996 "Towers..." and March 1997 "Rift.Canyon.Dreams" sessions, liner notes and a lot of associative imagery from the short period the group was active.

Burning Witch was born from the ashes of the act Thorr's Hammer in late 1995, but was in existence only a bit longer and disbanded in late March 1997. During the period three recording sessions (a demo plus two album works) and a hand full of concerts were executed in the Pacific Northwest region. Two of the sessions eventually were released on LP format under the following titles, and portions of the 2 sessions were compiled as the second Southern Lord cd release in 1999 titled "Crippled Lucifer (Seven Psalms for our Lord of Light)". The group reformed briefly in October 1998 to perform two concerts in California as a tribute to Slap A Ham releasing the "Towers...." LP at that time.

Despite existing beneath a certain black envelope of total underground obscurity in it's life, the band has left a lasting legacy within certain sectors. BW could also arguably be mentioned as an important seed from which members posthumously branched off into the following critical acts: SUNN O))) (and associated projects), KHANATE, GOATSNAKE, ASVA, ATAVIST, SINISTAAR and others.

Burning Witch
"Crippled Lucifer"
sunn2

CD1
Towers...
1) Sacred Predictions
2) Country Doctor
3) Tower Place
4) Sea Hag
5) The Bleeder

CD2
Rift.Canyon.Dreams
1) Warning Signs
2) Stillborn
3) History of Hell (Crippled Lucifer)
4) Communion
5) Rift.Canyon.Dreams

Eventually we hope to amend this with a proper vinyl issue as well, and probably a few tshirts (one vintage design and a new one). Please check --> w --> http://www.ideologic.org --> w --> or --> w -->http://www.southernlord.com --> w --> for more information in the next weeks.


source:

Myspace Blog - log in to read...

LED ZEPPELIN REUNITING

Led Zeppelin reunion now virtually certain
Led Zeppelin will fly again after Robert Plant is quoted as saying that the 1970s band will play a reunion concert at the O2 Arena in November

Michael Moran

The rumours that first began in October 2002 look to be solidifying into something like fact, with increasing confidence that three quarters of the legendary rock outfit will play London’s O2 Arena this November.

Certainly there will be a Zeppelin ‘best of’ compilaton, to be called Mothership, released on November 11. Several ticket-sellers have already begun advertising ticket and accommodation packages for between £250 and £350. Veteran concert promoter Harvey Goldsmith has gone on record to deny that the tickets being sold were for a real event, but tellingly his statement was that ‘some’ of the dates announced were fabrications.

The quintessential hedonistic rock band split in 1980, after the alcohol-related death of drummer John ‘Bonzo’ Bonham. Since then they have played two one-off dates, Live Aid in 1985 with Chic drummer Tony Thompson and Phil Collins sitting in for the much missed Bonzo, and then in 1988, at an Atlantic Records event with Bonham’s son Jason sitting in for his father.

Frontman Robert Plant also united for a project with guitarist, producer, and eminence noir Jimmy Page for a project developing from an MTV Unplugged session, where they revisited a number of Zeppelin classics with a Middle-Eastern orchestra. Reputedly, it was the failure to include bassist and multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones in these sessions that caused the rift that is considered to have been the main obstacle to the band’s reformation.

NME.com reports a conversation with Robert Plant this week in which the still golden-haired rock god describes a successful meeting between the three surviving band members, with Jason Bonham looking set to appear again on the drumstool. Full conformation is still forthcoming, but it looks increasingly certain that the most eagerly-awaited revival of any band short of the Beatles is finally going to happen this year.

read about it here

Madeleine L'Engle died yesterday...

click here for the story.

THIS is how you fuck with people...

http://www.paperthinwalls.com/featuredarticle/index?id=106

by Sharkey Malarky
So, Clockclean Er, Tell Us A Story

A couple years ago, I lived in Cleveland. And if you can believe it, I was a bigger pain in the ass then than I am now. I was 19 or 20, I had no couth and no conscience. There’s no way to get around it—I was an asshole. I lived with Steve Peffer from the Homostupids and Nine Shocks Terror. When I first moved there, it was me, Steve and this kid Scott [Names were assuredly changed in this story—Ed.]. He was kind of an enormous pussy. Like a Sophie B. Hawkins fan. He ended up eventually moving out of our house, because [we] were constantly drunk and busting his balls. A couple months later Steve decides to move in with Scott because he had a really nice house and offered him a nice room. Steve moves out and goes on tour in Europe. While he’s on tour, Scott gets the bright idea to kick Steve out for some stupid little reason. He didn’t pay a $75 phone bill or something. He kicked Steve out when he could do nothing about it. Steve ends up moving back in with me and we’re like, “Yo, we should fuck with him.” But I was like, “Dude, if you fuck with him, people will know it’s you. Just let me handle it.”

The house that Scott moved into was about three blocks down the street from us. In the middle of our houses was an enormous white wall that he had to drive by every day to get to work. So I took a can of spraypaint and went up to this wall at three in the morning, shit-faced, and as large as the wall—it was like the size of a billboard—wrote “SCOTT BAKERMAN IS A FAGGOT.” His full name. As clear as day. Crystal clear. Of course he drives by it the next morning and freaks out—we hear it from friends that are friends of friends. A couple days later that gets buffed off the wall by the city. So, I’m like, “Fuck it, I’m gonna do it again.” Take the spraypaint, go up there, I take his girlfriend’s full name: “PATTI MCLELLAN HAS A DICK.” We’re all standing on the porch waiting for him to drive by on the way to work. He just drives by furious! You could see him freaking out in his car, speeding down the road.

One night, it was three in the morning, I was like, “I’m gonna seal the nail in this coffin and fuck Scott up for a little bit.” He’d been leaving his car windows open and down like an idiot. So I went and reached in and stuck airplane glue into his key ignition and filled his ignition with glue and his car locks with glue. I get home [from work] the next day and I go to my answering machine and there is the fucking best answering machine message I’ve ever heard in my life.

for the rest of the story, and to hear the answering machine message...

CLICK HERE

Best of Craigslist

Okay, I've decided to do a regular (meaning, whenever I feel like it) feature where I provide links to some great stuff that's made it into the "Best of Craigslist."

Let me just say, Craigslist is a great place to find an apartment or Casio keyboard.

It's also a great place to spend HOURS frittering away the day.

So, without further ado, a few of my favorite "Best of Craigslist" selections:

"You're not looking for them, but I found your two dogs." (SF)
"lvl 8 ogre mage seeks moon queen or druid" (KC, MO) (Pic)"you PISSED on my floor" (NY)
"Vasectomy: $400. Speechless look on her face: priceless." (Sea/Tac)
"Bad news about the screeching bird on Rossmore...." (LA)

Starflyer 59 on ebay.

So Josh Dooley is selling a guitar he used on actual SF59 albums on ebay - Link.
SF59 stuff always goes for an ungodly amount on ebay. So, this should be interesting to watch.

What is it that makes Starflyer fans so insane when it comes to dropping 100 dollars for a 7"?

Lots of news and apologies for the lack of updates

Things have been really crazy lately. Until we get some original material up, check out the following for now:


The September issue of The Phantom Tollbooth, Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective. I've been reading them since their inception and have nothing but good things to say about them.


A clip of Idiocracy, by Mike Judge (Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill):




From seminal Swiss black metal band Hellhammer's myspace:

This page is run by the webmasters of the official Celtic Frost website and by the former members of Hellhammer. It is the sole source for accurate information on Hellhammer as it draws directly from the band's extensive archive. It is also the sole and exclusive MySpace source for information on both the forthcoming comprehensive Hellhammer book and the forthcoming official Hellhammer demo releases on CD and vinyl (both to be released in 2008).

With best regards

Tom Gabriel Fischer
Former singer/guitarist of Hellhammer
Singer/guitarist of Celtic Frost


And from Burning Witch's official myspace:

BURNING WITCH's, "Crippled Lucifer" will finally see the light of the lord in late November. This will consist of a double CD containing all works recorded during the September 1996 "Towers..." and March 1997 "Rift.Canyon.Dreams" sessions. 10 tracks in all. Eventually we hope to amend this with a proper vinyl issue as well. Steve [Stephen O'Malley] is working on this design now.
grimm

Springsteen Tour Dates

Springsteen's new single "Radio Nowhere" went up on iTunes today. The new album "Magic" comes out October 2nd.

They've announced dates for a fall tour to support the record.

Here is the itinerary for the Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band tour:

Oct. 2: Hartford, Conn., Civic Center
Oct. 5: Philadelphia, Wachovia Center
Oct. 9-10: East Rutherford, N.J., Continental Airlines Arena
Oct. 14: Ottawa, Ontario, Civic Centre
Oct. 15: Toronto, Air Canada Centre
Oct. 17-18: New York, Madison Square Garden
Oct. 21: Chicago, United Center
Oct. 26: Oakland, Calif., Oracle Arena
Oct. 28: Los Angeles, TBA
Nov. 2: St. Paul, Minn., Xcel Energy Center
Nov. 4: Cleveland, Quicken Loans Arena
Nov. 5: Auburn Hills, Mich., Palace of Auburn Hills
Nov. 11: Washington, D.C., Verizon Arena
Nov. 14: Pittsburgh, Mellon Arena
Nov. 15: Albany, N.Y., Times Union Center
Nov. 18: Boston, TD Banknorth Garden
Nov. 25: Madrid, Palacio De Deportes
Nov. 26: Bilbao, Spain, Exhibition Centre
Nov. 28: Milan, Datchforum
Nov. 30: Arnhem, Holland, Geldredome
Dec. 2: Mannheim, Germany, Sap Arena
Dec. 4: Oslo, Spektrum
Dec. 8: Copenhagen, Forum
Dec. 10: Stockholm, Globe
Dec. 12: Antwerp, Belgium, Sportspaleis
Dec. 13: Cologne, Germany, Koln Arena
Dec. 15: Belfast, Odyssey Arena
Dec. 17: Paris, Palais Omnsiports De Bercy
Dec. 19: London, O2 Arena

if you haven't seen it yet,

I just want to encourage everyone out there to check out Trapped in the Closet by R.Kelly. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's a sort of r&b soap opera.

Each episode is only a few minutes long. It's totally worth watching the whole thing. Episodes 13-22 came out pretty recently, and man, there are some crazy plot twists.

This stuff is insane. How anybody could give this man money to make this is just utterly beyond me. But, man, are we lucky that someone did.

R.Kelly's brain farted. And that fart was Trapped in the Closet.

pigeon john is criminally under-recognized.

just saying, is all.

pigeonjohn.com
myspace/pigeonjohn

unpretentious indie rock is still possible?

Rhode Island indie rockers The Jena Campaign released their second album "A Panda for Amanda" a few months ago on Nobody's Favorite Records to little fanfare or acclaim. And that's cool. Because The Jena Campaign isn't pretentious. No, they're just a breath of fresh air.

In a scene plauged by college freshman trying to recreate the sickly overproduced sound of The Dresden Dolls, The Jena Campaign is simply making music. It's not genius. It's not album of the year material. But it's solid songwriting with no frills. And it seems like that's becoming an anomoly these days.

It seems like "rock & roll" doesn't mean anything anymore, and "indie rock" means even less. But "Panda" is just that: a straightforward indie rock record. The comparisons are obvious and generally in the vein of Pedro the Lion or Pavement, but the album certainly has its moments where a Buffalo Springfield comparison would be appropriate, too. And it leaves the listener wondering if they're listening to rock and roll, folk, slowcore, folk rock, alt.country, or indie rock. Kind of like that one folk band from Portland did in the late 90's.

It kicks off with "You Stole My Car and Then You Stole My Heart," and by the time the drums kick in at the second verse, you're hooked. It's a great blend of banjo, mandolin, guitars, and lovely female harmonies. And that blend is pretty consistent through the whole record.

Aside from the first track which is great, the high points include the irritatingly catchiness and singalongability of "A Born-Again Christian upon Reading The DaVinci Code," the Simon and Garfunkel-esque harmonies of "Our Weekend in Kansas" the title track, and "Cheyenne Skyline."

The second half of the album drags a bit, but certainly never gets boring. And even the slower parts have their moments. None of the songs feel like they were just included to fill up time, a big step forward from their first album.

So, kudos to The Jena Campaign for making a solid, straightforward rock and roll record. Its consistency is applaudable. Its simple production is a relief. Its catchiness keeps me humming it to myself. It's been in my CD player for like a week straight. Thanks, guys.

Hello!

My name is Tim and i'll be contributing to this blog regularly. Let's get things rolling...

Music News:

Cincinnati, Ohio shoegazer band POMEGRANATES, on LUJO RECORDS, has completed their first tour. You can get their independently-released debut CD EP on their site. A full-length is forthcoming.

US black metal label E.E.E. RECORDS, from Illinois, known for releasing critically-acclaimed projects combining both post-rock and black metal, was burgalarized recently of a lot of items needed for running their label and recording their projects. Thankfully, they still have their CD stock on-hand. When they'll be able to fulfill order requests and release albums again is anybody's guess, but I'm really looking forward to that.

It's quite rare that Christians make black metal and these guys have been pumping out the highest-quality "unblack" or "white metal" that I've heard so far. I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but that's only if you actually care about the lyrical content of your music. And seriously, black metal isn't exactly a scene deserving of much respect, so whatever...

The two-piece 15-year punk/metal veterans known as CROATAN, also from Cincinnati, OH, have returned with one of their best efforts to date. A mix of black metal, grindcore, and other genres, their recently released album There Can Be Only Two, on Laguna Sunburn Records is definitely worth picking up. The lyrics cover such topics as the Bush Administration, the generic metalcore sweeping the world, and problems within their local metal scene.

The up-and coming Doom/sludge/drone band known as BENEATH OBLIVION, also from Cincinnati, OH, are currently on a tour of the Northeastern US and have a highly-limited cassette coming up soon. Not to mention a 10" vinyl release with Sin of Angels. Be sure to pick up both of them and catch them on tour if you're in the area.

Albums you should check out:

Orthodox/Gran Poder - Southern Lord Records
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club/Baby 81 - RCA/Island UK
Massgrav & Diskonto/A Blaze in the Northern Sky (Split Album) - Sound Pollution
Torche/Torche - Robotic Empire Records
All Things Bright and Beautiful/Love and Affection - Northern Records
Melk the G6-49/Glossolia - Joyful Noise Records
Child Bite/Gold Thriller - Suburban Sprawl/Joyful Noise Records
Light Shall Prevail (RIP)/Defeat the Reign of the Horned One Through the Light of Christ - E.E.E. Recordings/Gud Er Sannhet Records

ceiling stars coming soon

ceiling stars.

art+culture, society+spirituality.

coming soon.