When I first discovered Vatican Shadow, one of the key things that brought me in was how there was absolutely no information to be found on the project. Nothing. Upturned webpages revealed nothing. No known files existed for quite some time. It was as though it was all redacted information. For all I knew these tapes could have been newly unearthed and made by a Iranian noise artist in 1983. Which might be exactly what Dominick Fernow want’s you to believe. Vatican Shadow is industrial instrumental music based on the conflict in Iraq. Yes. I’m going to say that again, industrial instrumental music based on the conflict in Iraq. Kneel before the religious icon after the jump
A CRACK OF LIGHT IN THE NIGHT- THE ARTWORK OF MICHAËL AERTS0
Posted In Art,Features,Mixed Media,Sculpture
Michael Aerts is a Belgian artist who makes minimalist sculpture that ask answerless questions and walk with you in your dreams. All of his sculpture’s evoke death and embrace the feeling of timeless dread, though from the perspective of realization. It is fear revealed and therefore resigned. Fear becomes tangible and accessible and your ally. One aspect of these sculptures that I find fascinating is the conveyance of isolation and confusion. Many artist try to accomplish this and fail grandly, largely because the location in which the medium is presented must not detract from the medium itself, and showing all of these pieces in an open space allows for crushing vastness and titanic silence. Personally the piece entitled BADMAN is my favorite. In it’s crass simplicity it stands as an image of the crucifixion with batwings, evocative of something mysterious and intrinsically terrifying or evil. In addition to sculpting Michael Aerts is also a skilled painter, and i strongly advocate checking out his work but first Stroll through the hall of looming structures after the fall.
It seems that the Nazi’s desperately want to be regarded as history’s greatest villains; The outfits (snazzily designed by Hugo Boss), the propoganda, the atrocities… and like any good villains they invested sometime into learning the ways of the Dark Hours and devising schemes to keep the ignorant masses gripped with mind control powers. This documentary discusses Hitler’s supreme fascination with the Occult and it’s narrated by the King Of The Droogs himself, Malcom Mcdowell. Click the picture to witness the doctrine of evil after the jump. READ MORE…
FLESH ON BARBED WIRE – VOID1
Posted In 80s Hardcore,Demos,Music
You know how you finally listen to a band that everyones always talked about and think “Well this sounds tame by today’s standards”? Void is not that fucking band. Void still sounds like a plane falling through a mall or even crazier. For the longest time I was sure that they were all actually deaf students going off of each other’s movements. From Bubba Dupree’s knife-plunging guitar to Sean Finnegan’s (RIP)lock-step drums, Void sounded like they were always on the edge of a breakdown.
The hand closes and never reopens. It finds you and takes you under and under. It drags you out. Under and under. Sink into acceptance. Acceptance into the sand and you’re back again. There is a constant pulse that echoes with you and it is COIL. Arising from the ashes of industrial music founders Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, lovers Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson and Johnn Balance formed COIL. COIL aren’t so much musicians as they are performance art expatriates, departing from their homeland to find “ritual music for the accumulation of male sexual energy”. Delve into the cavern of noise after the jump!
SPIRIT OF ’69 – THE STOLEN CULTURE OF THE SKINHEAD0
Posted In Documentaries,Fashion,Film,Movies,Uncategorized
If you’ve stumbled across this zine chances are your days of meadow-dwelling are long since past. You no longer view the world through the hate-veil of the Fox News Corp (although, I think you should since it becomes an endless “Blood Test” scene from John Carpenter’s The Thing), and have deduced that most Muslims are not blood-crazed terrorists, the world won’t fall apart and decay suddenly in 2012, most mothers are not time-bomb murders incognito and most Skinheads are not racist, ignorant hatemongers. At some point one of the proudest, loudest, least politically minded and certainly best looking sub-sects of the Mod culture was adopted stolen by the very people who make civilization a crumbling structure. Entirely, although unsurprisingly, lacking the foresight to see that their newly purloined look was largely a Jamaican/Immigrant/Black creation, these Bonheads chose simply ignore the truth and go on tarnishing a proud crest. The documentary Man Alive was filmed in 1968 and examines the Dancehall roots and Football hooliganism of the skinhead culture and while the sugar-glazed goggles of the past often allow us to overlook glaring flaws of our heroes (Paki-bashing is entirely unacceptable regardless of how great your Merc looks), these gentlemen were simply rudies intent on having a good time. Check out the original English roses after the jump
Through the high halls of dissonance the sirens send their call. They shriek like knives on glass and splinter wormwood throughout the mansion of elegance. As they glide from room to room, the surrounding landscape is transformed into a wash of noise and simultaneous deafness, can you hear the silence? Otomo Yoshihide spearheads the siren’s assault. Otomo Yoshihide is a guitarist, turntabilist, multi-instrumentalist, and sound sculptor who makes some of the most abrasive and ear piercing sounds imaginable. Yoshihide gives falling buildings a run for their money in terms of sonic onslaught. He pushes the boundaries of sound and instrument and revels in absolute wanton disregard for song structure and anything remotely associated with a “song”. Fall into the feedback abyss after the jump
If there were ever a country to deserve Ambient/Shoegaze/Post-Black Metal, I’m sure it’s Pakistan. The sweeping endless sand dunes are some of the bleakest locations currently known to man. You can keep your forests of endless nights, and looming perma-frost mountain-tops. At least you can make a tent, or dig a trench there and at least something non poisonous will walk by at some point. Out in the dunes, it’s just you. Rising up like a forgotten titan from said dunes are Necktarium, carrying with them the swells of time. Taking cues from Cold Body Radiation, Sun Devoured Earth and other Avant-black-gaze bands, Necktarium crashes the ethereal wave into primitive brutality. Dive in after the fall.
NECKTARIUM – THE DREAMLESS SUN
My commitment to Cvltnation is only seconded by my commitment to scaring the shit out of you, just like everyone else. As if you weren’t already feeling like you were living on borrowed time, Overdose comes out to remind you that before you die, miles from the ones you love with your tie seared to your chest, your flesh fused to your computer chair and your can of Diet Coke laughs on mercilessly (or whatever), you’ll be broke as fuck. Personally I see no problem dying destitute in the arms of a prostitute, that sounds like a perfectly noble death, but it appears the majority of the world would sacrifice themselves to save their credit score. The documentary traces the origins of the financial crisis and explores the eerie similarities with today’s situation, where states like Greece, Iceland and even the U.S. seems to be in danger of collapsing. The most depressing fact of the current state of affairs is that it could have been so easily avoided. Trend analyst who speak the truth are often mocked, and those who don’t usually become chief advisers. None of us slept through the recession, we all were there, but other than an ersatz-sense of security none of us can quite explain how the house of cards fell. Until now. Know your foe after the fall
THE WARREN OF SNARES – FALL OF EFRAFA4
Posted In Apocalyptic Blues,Avant Garde,Crust,Hardcore,Music,Music Videos
There is a foreign corner of a foreign field that is forever sacred. It extends through bramble and thorn and remains uncorrupted by evil and lies. The field is our only martyr. Fall Of Efrafa dwell from within this field. They might be one of the most ambitious bands to tumble forth from the desolate wasteland. FALL OF EFRAFA is a band based around a reimagining of the mythological and political overtones in the book “Watership Down” by Richard Adams, focusing on atheist/animal rights ideologies, but you needn’t be well versed in a 20th century allegorical book about rabbits finding a new home to appreciate the pummeling strength of Fall Of Efrafa. Their songs stretch out till they are no longer visible and sneak up from behind to drop a cinder block on your head. They combine elements of Post-Rock, Black Metal, Crust, Hardcore and probably Vietnamese Shoegaze d-beat(probably) to form epic illiads of a damned society losing a battle with it’s own cruel nature. Cross the Valley Inle after the fall
FALL OF EFRAFA – LAST BUT NOT LEAST
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