Happy Deathday to HP Lovecraft

What better soundtrack for the day the misanthrope died than a playlist of all the songs featured in Harlem Smoke, a novel that blends Lovecraft and music? The answer is potentially a great many things: however James Champagne's choices for songs to feature do provide a pleasing change from the three threads of dark ambient, …

Triggering a Dream

Earlier this month, my review of Marillion's B'Sides Themselves appeared in Issue 7 of Mythaxis Review. As this is the only album I can remember ever reviewing, it will be no surprise to hear it is significant to me. However, the ways it is significant have shifted over time. I bought the album on cassette …

You Take My Wife…

...and I'll take your shoe! A happy arbitrary time division to you all. While I don't make resolutions, I am intending to keep my heart pumping; if you'd like to join me, I suggest Truthsurge's rather fine cover of Iron Maiden's "The Trooper". https://youtu.be/KF_0Jgm7JHg I'm sure it's not that complex if you're a professional music …

Theme Tune to My Un-Life

Many authors name music as a major inspiration for their work: they have a theme song for their lead character, they create a specific playlist for drafting each book, they have go-to songs for particular types of scene. I am the other kind of author. Rebecca Linam's forthcoming article on music influencing writing in Issue …

String of Conflicts

I greatly enjoyed the string duel between Bill Bailey and Soumik Datta in Tinselworm. Salut Salon have elevated the "competition" to another level though: https://youtu.be/BKezUd_xw20 Today's random thought has been: a piano has strings, but is it a stringed instrument.

Casey Douglass: Dark Ambient Review: Hastur

Those of you who've read Bloody Red Nose will already be familiar with Casey Douglass. However, what you might not have gathered from his deliciously distilled tale is that he shares my taste for Yog-Sothothery. So, it seemed a public service to ease you into the new arbitrary time division by mentioning his review of …

In Music We Trust

Part of dealing with the toxic areas of society is accepting that weakness or doubt isn't immoral. That saying we aren't perfect can be a greater display of strength than donning a mask of false functionality. Another part is to celebrate our commonality. Which is why In Music We Trust's fusion of supportive messages and …

I’ve Been Thunderstruck

Hark at the pipes on him! https://youtu.be/_EwDlUHoDFo

Unity through Joy

I discovered this rather fine bossa-nova/goth crossover earlier today: http://youtu.be/qv5QLr_TQ3g And to set it off nicely, a Bauhaus/Bowie merging: http://youtu.be/qPNa9KD4Y_k No complex insights or odd asides, just the possibility of a shared moment of happiness.

The Unhelpful Valley

One well-known obstacle to the creation of prosthetics, humanoid robots and many three-dimensional animation projects is the Uncanny Valley: the feeling of discomfort that an observer feels once a replica of a human becomes very similar to but not quite the same as an actual human. One of the theories for why this occurs is …