“My Castle Of Quiet” (Used 36 times)

Arvo Zylo's recordings and talents run the range from truly overwhelming, confrontational, and chilling, to thought-provoking. His experimental sounds are rooted in the 1980s Raplh/LAFMS/post-TG international "noise boom." Over many releases and collaborations, he has maintained a character of the unexpected, though one always wants to hear what that next sonic mask will be. In his other projects Blood Rhythms, Saint Street, and Mister Fuckhead, Arvo guarantees provocative listening, and the "catchy" or more-easily-palatable nature of the work will naturally come and go, giving way to the horror.

The cassette-and-CDr album 333, his recent split with Death Factory, and some of the live solo work he's done recently, under his own name and as Blood Rhythms, all stand out to me as experimental music of the highest order from an original talent.

NJ's IDES did what I'm always a sucker for—treated their live WFMU appearance as something unique and special, considered the medium / opportunity of a live radio appearance, and planned accordingly. In addition to their mini-masterpieces—tight, well-composed songs of 40 secs. to one minute in length, they bridged those songs with a series of improvised, powerful "interludes," cleverly paced and sequenced passages of enthused energy.

I knew immediately upon hearing IDES for the first time that they were a cut above simply another hardcore band, with an intensity and dedication to their sound that transcended genrefication. They pretty much played straight through their 22-min. onslaught, wound tight as a battlefield tourniquet, though there were two ever-so-momentary "breaks," which is where I cut up the otherwise-continuum presented here, for your mp3 enjoyment, stream or download. 

Like the predatory sea mammals we have today, the Megalodon cannot stop, or it dies, and the sonic charisma of IDES remains intact. The band have an incredible "swing" to everything they do, such that even an old fart like myself can daydream about careening off the stage head-first into the pit; all you'd see of me would be the flat heels of my Converse hi-tops, back when such footwear actually sort-of supported my meager arches.

The noise bridges are welcome, carefully placed throughout the set, and sound casually great, miles away from anything even remotely half-arsed. So, the verdict is and remains that New Jersey is a reliable, consistent font for all things hardcore and punk, and beyond; look just across the Hudson, 'cause great things are happening.

Can't thank the band enough for playing, adding yet another outstanding, highly memorable live performance to the ever-growing WFMU / My Castle of Quiet pantheon. Thanks also to engineer Juan A. for the reliable, versatile and casual application of his considerable talent, translating the often-chaotic happenings across the double-glass into something radio-ready and highly listenable.

It was a night of true magic, back in early October 2012, when some of Brooklyn's finest improvisers gathered at WFMU / My Castle of Quiet, to offer unique, exclusive performances, on a double-bill to support the station's pre-Hurricane-Sandy, Web-only fundraiser for that month.

First, Lea Bertucci, a master of spacious atmospheres, and gloomy, contemplative soundscapes, on her trademark combine of physical, open-reel tape and electroacoustic bass clarinet. Lea's two sets from this night evoke The Grand Canyon, and Utah's wide-open spaces, where she'd spent several months earlier in the year on artist's retreat. Lea has been performing solo for many years (see her bio, at Broken Diorama, linked above), as well as in the hometown-favorite duo of Twistycat.

Second, K-Salvatore, the duo of Jason Meagher and Pat Murano, coming off the high of their landmark LP, Tsar Ova Elk, a veritable shoe-in for the My Castle of Quiet end-of-year music list (like I said, glaring omissions; this one very worthy of inclusion and just slipped off my mental radar at the time the list was being compiled.) Pat has appeared twice before on the show, both solo as Decimus, and in 2010 with Malkuth; both Jason and Pat are founding members of the No-Neck Blues Band. Their set hummed and shook our building; as "top shelf" as anything from the aforementioned newest LP. 

If you want hard blast-beats that under-ride high melodic guitar figures, vocals that seem to scream up an impossibly deep Norwegian well, and slower, lurching sections that evoke anthemic, latter-era Bathory, you need look no further than Grafvolluth. They do an incredible job honoring the traditional Scandinavian Black Metal sound of the early 90s.

As someone who caught up with the genre a few years late, I was initially blown away by the incredible variety of what passed as "black metal," and records like Ulver's Nattens Madrigal, as well as Carpathian Forest's Black Shining Leather, blew my mind and ears, as I walked home from the BART station around Lake Merritt in Oakland, hugging my Discman, and saying hails to the birds. ...It was an honor for me personally then, to host Grafvolluth, as their music takes me back to this initial enthusiasm I had for black metal—while still being very new, raw, original, and in its way, distinctly US-made.

Brooklyn's exceptional Divorce Money, one of the finest, mournful, hardcore bands around (who for whatever reason have not been released on Youth Attack, though their eminence and songwriting parallels the best releases on that label), brought something a little different from the careening, tortured pleasure of their 7" EP and tape, to their My Castle of Quiet live appearance. I'm a sucker for artists who consider their radio set to be an in-its-own-world kind of event, and this one was was borne out of sheer circumstance.

Down a drummer for the night, after having rescheduled with the show once already, Divorce Money more than rose to the occasion, bringing something no less "punk," and definitely no less tortured, though musically more along the lines of the best jams of Missing Foundation or Flipper. Friend of the band Jonathan C. stepped in quite admirably on drums, tapping out a mighty dirge into the night, with DM members Rene on vocals and Alex on guitar (with much feedback, yes!)