If SYLVESTER ANFANG shredded the gnar...

They'd shred the gnar on this...



Actually a new line called PALACE by SLAM CITY SKATES. Art attack by Will Bankhead of TRILOGY TAPES and Fergadelic of TONITE fame, both comrades from waaaaaayyy back.

"Every sign I see is doom"

'In Russian, the phrase "gore vidal" means "he has seen grief"....

Is there any hope? "Every sign I see is doom. But then people say" – he adopts a whiny, nasal voice – "'Oh Mr Vidal, you're so negative, can't you say something nice about America? It's a wonderful country, everybody wants to live here.' Oh yes? When was the last time you saw a Norwegian with a green card who wanted to come here because of the health service? I'll pay you if you can find one." '

Read the whole article here.

FRISCO FREAKOUT

Juliet is in San Francisco right now, I hope she Freaks Out... Sun Araw, Magic Lanterns and Barn Owl! Awesome!!

Tunnel Jam

New G Lansard eye pain

A crap phone photo of the new afront decency by G Lansard, artist. Available now-ish from the AB webshop.
* Yes, that is a big bit of wood stabbing in him, and yes, that his own giant cock piercing his distended belly. Why? I don't know.

My Mac wouldn't wake up and I thought the world had ended. Tragic.

How did I miss that? doh...

Postman delivered bounty yesterday:
2 x tapes from SLOOW TAPES Im Jahrtal
'Reprisen Und Instrumentalstuecke' is especially killer...
1 x returned CD (wrong one sent out, oops...)
1 x Jonathan Meades 'Incest 7 Morris Dancing' hardback - stoked!
UPS delivered bounty:
1 x Bonfire Snowboards 'Mexican Blanket' style hooded sweatshirt - I fear it very much. But its good, I think... It pales into insignificance when compared to Attila as Mechagodzilla/mirror man.

I wonder what gems he will come out with this time around?

Lastly: "oh man, the hippy's got skills, trust me!" - small child on the BMX abilities of 'Taliban' Tom, pictured below:

New AB mixtape image source...

The source of the "cover" of the new AB mixtape. I love this episode, managed to randomly see it on TV once and it left a big impression. Wonderful stuff.




Also very happy to have seen this massive billboard when I walked to the shop the other night to buy rice pudding. How can you get something this big that wrong? Amazing work. Upside down and back to front. Still, its only about 50 feet off the ground and 30 feet wide. I'm sure no one will notice... "Good Times" indeed!

newly discovered WWI photos

HTFU

oooohhhh yes!

Metal cycle jesrseys - I don't see the problem myself.

In fact, I've been trying to find the Judas Priest 'screaming for vengeance' long sleeve jersey today, but its discontinued! Found these though:



Gotta love it. Pass the "Belgian Pot".

Transilvanian Hunger...

That, my fine friends, is a bike lock with a DARKTHRONE 'Transilvanian Hunger' cover. It ONLY has 'Transilvanian Hunger' bootleg patches on, thus being both TRVE and KVLT whilst being most excellent also. I was bored while waiting ages for new software to install...
I might make a crust one next.

Menace Ruine

You have to check them out if you have not already. Thanks to Roadburn for turning me on to this amazing French Canadian band. Originally had a tape out on Tour De Garde (also responsible for Uno Actu, Ash Pool, Akitsa and many more), 2 CDs out on Alien 8. Its incredible stuff: I have been pretty down on most of the shoegazing drone stuff that's been filling up the internet over the past couple of years - well, this takes some of that, Nadja, Angelic Process, adds some Velvet Cacoon, adds some Urfaust, then adds Nico (a la 'Marble Index', probably my favourite record ever). The second album 'The Die is Cast' goes the extra mile and I truly think they have synthesised something entirely new and wonderful. The Nico vocals are there in spades, slightly "buried in time and fog", but there are also touches of Dead Can Dance and Martial Industrial, but its all heavy and etherial at once. Totally recommend you check this out, not been this excited about a band for a while.

Also currently have GRAYCEON on heavy rotation, wonderful stuff. Every now and again I find that I have been a whole day without listening to any music, sometimes a few days, I get burnt out on it I think. Its good when something grabs you and pulls you back in.

Its a wonderful world

The world is a remarkable place. Juliet pointed out the total futility of a cover story on the Vogue magazine that she blagged from work. Apparently there's a new way to wear you bag. You just hold it. Yes, you hold it. Holy fucking shit! No wonder that made the cover. In a world this retarded, its only right that you can buy CROM skateboards.

In other hot fashion news, I got the proof image for the SUNN O))) patch that's going to be on sale for the summer EU tour. This is the 'work in progress' proof, needs the text correcting.


I was going to post on things that I learned about over the weekend, but I kinda forgot most of them. One of them was that NICO (musical genius) died on a bicycle. I'm sure the other things were equally as crucial.
Got the new HEAVY WINGED 'Waking, shaking' LPs through, will be up on sale on AB soon. The whole thing came out killer: looks rad, more like a WARP release than something on AB. the vinyl is stupidly heavy. Also doing layout for the new GRUMBLING FUR CD/LP... Wondering what to do with type.


Oh, and last night I dreamt I was a swan and was surprised how easy it was to fly, but got freaked out by how fast you could get really high up because of the thermals.

Early start part 2

Early starting again here and its resulted in finally sending off patch art for SUNN O))), discussing interview questions with Aethenor, sending off the new SYLVESTER ANFANG II T shirt design and joining Twitter for AB - I figure it will be a fast and effective way of informing any techy AB fans of new stuff in the webshop and label developments. We'll see....






How great is this drawing? Its the cover of the new Oaken Throne 6 CD. You can check the artists out here:
Tin Can Forest

rise and shine

getting up at 7am gets things done, but carries the risk of an espresso overdose by around 11am.
Currently working on: improving AB website, improving Iron Pig website, LP sleeves, SUNN O))) merch ideas for May tour, Rose Kemp T for Roadburn, Burial Hex T, Sylvester Anfang II T, Alabaster Suns T, website copy, a website for a carpet shop in Indonesia, some postcards for AB (and a justification for said items), an interview with Aethenor for Equinox Festival, fliers for Equinox Festival, mailorder and a looming stock take. Ugghh... stock take...
Its amazing how little cash all of these fine projects are generating. I am considering becoming a charity.

Hail das uber KVLT!!!

Today I am mostly...

Today I a mostly working on various record covers and such like whilst loving the above PRURIENT record and eating Turkish biscuits. Also very happy to have thoroughly enjoyed KEVIN DRUMM's 'Imperial Distortion' double CD, which was so much calmer than I had expected. Still failed to get through 90% of this week's sonic influx.

Amazed to receive a package in the post this morning that I posted yesterday to someone in Germany. Apparently the 1cm sticker on the bottom left of the package which begins with the block capitals 'SENDER:' was more prominent than the 10 cm tall marker pen address on the fucking middle of the envelope with someone in Germany's address on. I totally fucking despair. Luckily I don't have to deal with the glorious Post Office much as I only run a mailorder business. Oh, wait...

Like Christmas...

By 9 a.m. its already like Christmas today... In addition to yesterday's fine haul of the new L'Acephale and Sylvester Anfang II CDs showing up, and shipment from Conspiracy that includes the new Gnaw album, Khanate picture disc and Austrasian Goat "Piano and Stump" LP. Today's booty so far is my new PURPLE tyres which are badass and my trade package from Trilogy Tapes, which included three Ts, (how great is the monk potter??!), a Moondog promo, Black Lodge/IUD tape and a Folkways mixtape amongst others. Plus its sunny. Today is a good day.

ZOLA JESUS

Check it out, a blog with a music link that isn't stolen or illegal... wow.
Anyways, these fine folks above are Wisconsin's ZOLA JESUS, pictured in their live incarnation as a four piece when they visited New York's WFMU radio station to record a session. I was blown away when I first heard them, they are an amazing mix of several different styles, including "teenage Diamanda Galas" touches. Very excited by this band.
You can download the 4 track session here from the WFMU site. There's a split LP with BURIAL HEX in the works now, due out in the next month or two on Aurora Borealis, and apparently they are working on a full length right now.

Nico Vascellari

If you are in London you should check out Nico Vascellari's show at Crisp, its just off Oxford Street. He's an incredibly interesting artist who used to be in bands and seems to have expanded his interest in performance and music to encompass something verging on primitive rites. Apparently he's working on casting a six metre bronze monolith right now. Show at Crisp ends March 14th.

Old...

This is how old I will be before I can afford the bits I want for my bike.

Cycled back across the Thames from Corsica Studios at about 1.30am last night after the SUNN O))) show, the roads were dead and the moon was out and it was a great end to a great evening.

I actually got to hear the new SUNN O))) album at Fortress studio on Saturday: Its incredible. The sound system in the studio made perfect sense of this album, really did it justice. I'd say its the band's first truly great avant garde album. Some parts are just so mind alteringly bassy and others are heavier than anything they've yet done. Album closer 'Alice' reminded me most of the show they did at the Oya festival in Oslo last year. A great record, though I doubt my stereo will sound so good.

In a similar sonic vein, KHANATE are fondly eulogised by myself and a horde of musical folks over at The Left Hand Path. I wish I had a picture of Alan Dubin's custom KHANATE Nike basketball boots. They were truly disconcerting.

New SYLVESTER ANFANG II artwork

Behold, the cover of the forthcoming new CD from SYLVESTER ANFANG II. Very happy with this, its a killer album. Clay Ruby of Burial Hex does vocals on a couple of tracks, its like Dr John gone wrong.

Equinox Festival

Working on the Equinox Festival here in London, June 12-14, its such an enormous undertaking that its pretty frightening, but its going to be incredible. A cross platform event over three days that combines film, music, performance and lectures on a wide array of perspectives on spiritual thought, such as magick, shamanism and altered states. More posts to follow on this soon I'm sure and we are publishing a specific blog on this very shortly.

No news is...

No news. Things went seriously awry with my efforts to foist Nihilismus on an unsuspecting public this last few months... Currently working on a new plan for a large webshop kinda thing. Watch this space for more info soon.