Mixtape: My Sister's Methedrine

In my flurry of mixtape creation in the early 90s, I started this project of compiling Sisters Of Mercy and bands that embraced their unique sound. The tapes found their way to the bottom of a box when I found myself with too much material for one cassette, but not enough for two. After finding the lost treasure a few weeks ago, I found myself wanting to complete the recordings. So, here's the finished product.

.MY SISTER'S METHEDRINE: V.1

A01 - The Sisters Of Mercy - Lights
A02 - James Ray Performance - Edie Sedgwick
A03 - The Lords Of The New Church - Open Your Eyes
A04 - The Mission - Evangeline
A05 - March Violets - Snakedance
A06 - Fields Of Nephilim - Laura
A07 - Rosetta Stone - Heart And Soul
A08 - Ritual Howls - No Witnesses
A09 - The Merry Thoughts - Black Day
A10 - Pink Turns Blue - I Coldly Stare Out




B01 - Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Hand On Heart
B02 - Ghost Dance - Yesterday Again
B03 - The Wake - Nazarene
B04 - Every New Dead Ghost - Bleak House
B05 - Gary Marx - Blindfold
B06 - Dreadful Shadows - A Better God
B07 - League Of Nations - Fade
B08 - Fad Gadget - Ideal World
B09 - And Also The Trees - Midnight Garden
B10 - Ausgang - Crawling The Walls
B11 - Balaam And The Angel - Two Into One

MY SISTER'S METHEDRINE: V.2

C01 - London After Midnight - Inamourada
C02 - Ultravox - I Remember (Death In The Afternoon)
C03 - Sad Lovers And Giants - Echoplay
C04 - Dr. Arthur Krause - Moribund
C05 - The Sisterhood - Giving Ground
C06 - The Sisters Of Mercy - On The Wire
C07 - Love Like Blood - Into The Snake Pit
C08 - Bone Orchard - Princess Epilepsy
C09 - Fields Of Nephilim - Back In Gehenna
C10 - The March Violets - Walk Into The Sun
C11 - Virgin Prunes - Walls Of Jericho


D01 - The Sisters Of Mercy - Lucretia, My Reflection (Long Version)
D02 - The Legendary Pink Dots - Golden Dawn
D03 - Einstrurzende Neubauten - Total Eclipse Of The Sun
D04 - Phallus Dei - Circles On Circles (The Final Realm Mix)
D05 - New Creatures - Post Valentine
D06 - Ultra Vivid Scene - The Ascent
D07 - Christian Death - Lacrima Christi (Italian Version)
D08 - Petali Del Cariglione - Altra Donna

Mixtape: Sticky Brilliance (Eclusion)

A few weekends past, I found myself digging thru boxes of tapes. I probably have about 1000 cassettes in my collection, 100 or so of those are cassette bootlegs (mostly of a Rozz Williams nature) and probably an additional 100+ mixtapes of varying degrees. It's not because these collections are remarkable that I wish to share them, in fact, quite the contrary. I believe that if anything, what is illustrated with my mixtapes is a glimpse in to my music collection and how it developed and the tangents it takes. As I sat on the floor of my office I looked at the tapes, more precisely, the songs included on those tapes almost as seeds; where a sound, a genre, an artist took root, grew branches, bore fruit, and offered up new seeds. It's almost a surrogate family tree, because in all honesty, it's where I stole my culture, my tongue and my failures. This as much paints the decades of one person, as a museum in honour of one artist. So, the reason I want to share these tapes is either because I want my own museum; or I need to visualize the paths to today, and most importantly, not lose sight of the precious influence of my dearest friends and loved ones; or I need to pry open the doors to who I was and where I am today; or I simply want to hear these tapes again after so many years.

Sticky Brilliance (Eclusion)

Compiled in 1993. As previously stated, this collection sheds a painful light on how limited my music collection was at the time. I had a collection of vinyl, but no turntable at the time, so I was relegated to cassette and compact disc, and the issue I had with cassette was that I couldn't control the recording volume. Not wishing to have a mix of songs at various recording levels - I kept my selections to those that maintained that aesthetic. 

Having said that, here is the selection. Please note, the original playlist is in tact, but not as presented. I have remixed the track listing to be a little more cohesive. Inclusions I am most proud of are by Flowerhead and Walt Mink... early pieces in my collection that I was quite fond of and took me through the deeper catalogs of Caroline Records and correspondence with members of Flowerhead. Without saying, this is pre-internet forays into looking for new music, and more importantly, new visions and talent.

A01: Beastie Boys - The Biz vs. The Nuge

A02: Beastie Boys - Time For Livin'

A03: Ice Cube - Endangered Species (Tales From The Darkside)

A04: L7 - Wargasm

A05: Nirvana - Molly's Lips (BBC Session)

A06: Pixies - Is She Weird?

A07: Sonic Youth - Mildred Pierce

A08: Daisy Chainsaw - Dog With Sharper Teeth

A09: The Jesus And Mary Chain - Tumbledown

A10: My Bloody Valentine: Only Shallow

A11: Nine Inch Nails - Head Like A Hole (Opal)

A12: Nitzer Ebb - Godhead

A13: They Might Be Giants - Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

A14: Violent Femmes - Mother Of A Girl

A15: Bingo Hand Job (Billy Bragg w/ R.E.M.) - Tom's?

B01: Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

B02: Soundgarden - Birth Ritual

B03: The Infectious Grooves - Do The Sinister

B04: Living Colour - Type

B05: Soul Asylum - All The King's Friends

B06: Live - Waterboy

B07: Flowerhead - Everything Is Beautiful

B08: Walt Mink - Factory

B09: Pixies - Bone Machine

B10: The Smashing Pumpkins - Siva (BBC Session)

Review: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

My interest in this film was piqued last year when he was among a list of several independent films to watch for in 2014. Elijah Wood was involved in the production, so I believe that put this film on the radar of critics, journalists, and film-lovers. I've not seen the short-film that was the precursor to this movie, and hopefully I haven't missed out on anything as a result.

The film is a subtitled, Iranian independent release from 2014. Shot in black & white; what is immediately striking is the cinematography, reminiscent of early Jim Jarmusch. This is a vampire film, and it takes place in the dying town of Bad City. Sheila Vand portrays "The Girl" and her presence is equal parts sexy, eerie, playful and mysterious. What director Ana Lily Amirpour captured perfectly was the intoxicating aura that vampire lore suggests, and was brilliant to stay away from the genre's many trappings. While "The Girl" is central to the plot of the film, it's the social and political undercurrent that transforms this film from simply a well-done indie horror movie into something that speaks volumes about not only the situation in Iran, but that human struggle is universal and we are all frail from the weight of our reality. "The Girl" is as motivated by hunger as she is by ridding the wrong, her interaction with a young child is riveting and terrifying. Amirpour was clever to tell a story and let it unfold, and avoid explaining how we got here, and why it mattered - because it doesn't. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night could have easily taken place in Cleveland or Detroit and still been completely relevant, and I think that's a mastery of story telling. Every performance is excellent, and the stark dereliction of the landscape is brilliantly captured. Arash Mirandi portrays a character that is believable given the circumstances of his day to day, an opportunistic young man trying to hold the fraying tethers of his reality together. Most writers would have him portray the hero or anti-hero instead of someone real, reacting the way a normal person reacts.

If there was a hiccup in the film, it was the score editing. There are parts where the music awkwardly fades out or drops out. It does become a bit distracting, but thankfully the scenes in which this occurs are without dialogue and the focus is on the interaction between two characters.

Please give this film a shot. Not for the horror-aspect, because it is not frightening. It is however eerie, gorgeous, sexy, well-acted, beautifully shot and brilliantly directed. And if I can offer one spoiler - the most important character is right at the beginning of the film...

Haloes Curios - HC08 - Zola Jesus, Le Poisson Rouge 191011

HALOES CURIOS HC08

In honor of the Zola Jesus performance tonight in New Orleans, I threw together a small gift for someone who happens to be at the show. This New York City performance from 2011 was presented by NPR (see link below). It's a strong show and ushers back memories of when I saw Zola Jesus in Orlando a few years ago. An audio download was made available, so if you miss out on the parcel, you can make your own.

This is the first HALOESCURIOS since Halloween. Time simply got away from me, but it's certainly been on my mind. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the disc and if you were at the show tonight, had as much fun as I am anticipating having.

NPR Video of Le Poisson Rouge with Audio Download

Haloes Curios - HC06 and HC07 - Haloeween V.5 and V.6

HALOES CURIOS - HC06 and HC07
Distributed on Halloween, in a rush. The items respectively contain: Haloeween, Volume 5 and Haloeween, Volume 6. Each release were created for Halloween 2013 and distributed to friends and family. Not sure which package went where, but I decided to hit two locations I've missed thus far; Frenchman and Bywater. Traffic dictated where the Frenchman package was placed, and adoration for Euclid Records determined the other drop. Both of the discs contain some of my favorite Haloeween selections so far, and as a whole, these two volumes comprise my favorites among the series. I hope the individuals that found these packages found some tracks they enjoyed and most importantly, had a very Happy Halloween!

Haloes Curios - HC05 - Haloeween V.7

HALOES CURIOS - HC05

Congrats on finding this item. The first, and to date, the only item stashed outside of the Greater New Orleans area. Left in my favorite destination in Rochester, Lux. Had an awesome night with friends and their friends, and it was sad that the night had to end. During my time in Lux, the item had been touched, moved, opened but confusingly, not taken. So, the item was retrieved and stashed on a vehicle parked just outside the door. Hopefully it was found rather quickly, before travel?

Inside, was Haloeween, Volume 7. Haloeween is an annual effort of mine to create a unique collection of Halloween-inspired tunes to share with friends around the country. Volume 7 was this years installment. There was a handful of tracks that I love on this years' collection, but the one that lodged itself in my cerebellum was by The Hives. Anyway, I hope you found some tracks you enjoyed and shared the find with friends. And most of all, I hope you had a wonderful Halloween!

Haloe's Curios - HC04 - Time For A Bavarian Death Waltz

HALOES CURIOS - HC04

There's not a lot of hunting or luck that was needed in finding this item. I fully intended to hide it within The Civic Theatre to be found by some random Afghan Whigs fan. However, I left it in the car, and once I had passed security, there was no going back to retrieve it. I was relegated to do what I could to ensure it made it into another fan's hands - so it was left lovingly underneath the windshield wipers of the vehicle parked next to ours.

Enclosed was the Home Records bootleg of The Afghan Whigs entitled, "Time For A Bavarian Death Waltz", recorded at The Paradise Club, in Boston on 5 April 1994. Not a stellar recording as far as quality goes, but unique to the performance were some stunning covers of The Supremes, Prince, and New Order. It's the only bootleg recording I have of The Afghan Whigs, so I thought this would be the proper moment to share it with another fan. Now, if they happened to purchase the performance from London offered at the merch booth, then they probably weren't all that impressed. But I hope they enjoyed it anyway...