Friday, January 31, 2014

More Music from the Underground: the Music-Biz Post-Apocalypse vol. III

     It's a shiny New Year & my optimism for exciting new things in underground music is bountiful. First of all, the recent Shammy awards proved that the mainstream is getting weaker and relying more & more on sensationalism rather than substance to keep music lovers attentive. However, even the so-called sensationalism is becoming trite and painful to watch. The boring striptease, wedding ceremonies and circus performances would be much more tolerable if there was some sort of musical substance lying beneath the cellophane-thin surface. However, that was hardly the case.





     A similar painful reality in the world of mainstream music smacks one in the face with a wet glove on a daily basis if she attempts to scan the FM radio dial in search for something listenable. Unless she is lucky enough to live in an area that hosts interesting college music or independent stations such as NJ's WFMU and WPRB, she is going to get nothing but dry-humped by the corporate music dildo. Even classic rock stations which actually play music by diverse and passionate artists of yore have destroyed any interest in nostalgia by repeatedly beating the same 50 or so songs into our heads until we are filled with the urge to vomit up the same old riffs by Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Lynard Skynard, Rush, Queen & Clapton. Do we really need to hear "Layla," "Whole Lotta Love," "Another Brick in the Wall," or "Tom Sawyer" one more time, brilliant as these songs all once seemed to be before they were turned into earworms? It flabbergasts me to hear the djs who have been promoting this institution for decades as they manage to force out feigned enthusiasm over yet another spin of "Bohemian Frikkin Rhapsody." Even Freddie is probably rolling in his grave by now with each "Bismillah!" I can hear him shouting "Please, no more. Play "the Prophet's Song." Play "Flick of the Wrist." Play something, anything from our vast catalog of non-Bohemian Rhapsodies. Please!" What I wouldn't give to hear "Julia Dream" by the Floyd once in a while instead of another round of "Money." There are millions of incredible songs in the world. WTF??????




     Thankfully, we don't have to listen. We can shut the FM radio down and plug in our iPhones or Androids and sink our cerebrums into the vast possibilities offered by the Internet. However, some of us are screwed during our commutes as we still have to pay for our data to access all of the possibilities. However, I will focus on the positive and share with you a pair of gems I have discovered in the catacombs of the net....

     I am going to begin by sharing one of my favorite "secret" finds of all time. I discovered this guy while I was on tour with Miles Hunt of the Wonder Stuff. Miles bought a Killrockstars compilation disc that featured one of Mike "Sport" Murphy's songs and we immediately contacted his management company requesting to meet him. He turned out to be an incredibly down-to-earth gentleman and I am proud to know a lyricist of his caliber first hand. Thus, I am going to reprint lyrics from his most brilliant and curious album, "the Magic Beans" which I stole directly from his blogspot page, Sport Spiel, to open this whole shabang:




TREAT ME LIKE AN ARTIST!Treat me like an artist! Bend me over something! Put it to me bluntly!

I'm so glad you're handling me! I ain't misanthropic, but I must be misan-something!

Treat me like an artist! I know that I deserve it!

See, the doctor slapped my ass and said "MacBeth", and I've been skittish ever since; awaiting thy disdain with bated breath! Born to wince.

I'm way down... way, way down. Treat me like an artist.

All I am's a failure, but you can make it better: treat me like an artist! An artist got to suffer.

Treat me like an artist! Money is no object! Why dontcha wear that Sammy Glick suit... it's better when you do that.

I hate it when the clock sez "time to quit", until you give me your card.

I take it home and stare at it... real hard. I'm way down... (etc)

There must've been a trauma, something in me I'm ascared-a, 'cause I can't get off unless you tell me where to when you treat me like an artist. Artist. ARTIST!


BLACK RIVER FALLS.The broken boughs float down the stream.

We're in a kind of nowhere now... some kind of in-between.

The great commotion that left this calm has come and snapped some of the tension I've been strung out on.

Severe and still. I'm a crocodile.

Oh river, oh river, can't you move more slow, river? For a little while...

The lines are down. A welcome spell.

Shook loose from all the shapes we take for those who know us well.

I figure you for 45. There's shadows 'round your small talk; that just proves you've been alive.

Such lonesome light... ah, such a smile!

Oh river, oh river, can't you move more slow, river, for a little while?

It's getting late, but that's okay. My hurricane-eye neighbor, thanks for leading me away, with as strong a touch as I could take, this strange and temporary day





Unfortunately, I have not been successful in finding full versions of his songs to share with you here.

However, I did find some clips from Itunes. Enjoy these, but I highly recommend listening to Sport's 3 albums, "Willoughby," "the Magic Beans," & "Uncle" in their entirety through headphones.


Mike "Sport" Murphy on Itunes



     And then we have ROTTING MOLDY FLESH, arguably one of the most important, unsung experimental, dark space, horror, ambient collectives ever to record & perform. I can't say enough about this duo, consisting of two gents from Tinton Falls, NJ, Russ and Don. Their rare live performances are among the most unique, atmospheric events I have ever witnessed. They perform their music side stage in film theaters to the backdrop of horror films from the silent era. F.W. Murnau's "Nosferatu" and "the Hunchback of Notre Dame" featuring Lon Chaney are among some of Rotting Moldy Flesh's standout live performances. Their "Decomposition" 4-disc box set is without a doubt, one of my all time favorite dark albums. It has been a major part of my yearly Halloween tradition since 2006 to play the album while simultaneously viewing silent films of the 20s. If you can find this set, I urge you to obtain it. However, it is likely to be difficult to find. I did find a nice representation of some of their live and studio performances on their Myspace page, which I will share with you here:

ROTTING MOLDY FLESH on Myspace






   




Sunday, January 26, 2014

Michael Ferentino “Into the Hollow” diary entry #1 January 27, 2014

     OK, so this is my first entry concerning the creation of the follow up to 2003’s solo album, “Boy. Man. Robot.”, which was actually recorded during and within the months that followed the September 11th debacle of 2001. At that time, I was recently married to my former wife and living in a tiny New Jersey apartment, working in the merchandise department for film maker, Kevin Smith, and just became a recent member of the Miles Hunt Club, the break-away project for the leader of the seminal U.K. band, the Wonder Stuff. After simultaneously enjoying and enduring a tumultuous decade of touring and performing under various incarnations, returning to school to pursue degrees in neuroscience and P.A. studies, and recording a plethora of ambient and experimental electronic albums under the moniker, Bedtime for Robots, I found myself more than a decade older & arguably, wiser. I pretty much all but abandoned the idea of songwriting in the traditional sense of the word after 2006, in lieu of academics and electronic music exploration.
     Fast forward to January of 2014: I am now a father to an amazing 4 year old girl, the one beautiful result of my now-defunct marriage, and I am also a step-dad to a wonderful 6-year old girl. I live in Tampa, Florida with my life partner in crime and continue to create ambient madness with my Bedtime for Robots project while subsisting on a fledgling career as a P.A. Recently I decided to resurrect my focus on songwriting, or should I say songwriting unexpectedly decided to resurrect my interest and inspiration in said direction. I swore off all structured, guitar and lyric oriented music years ago, which only amplifies the old adage; life is what happens to you when you’re making other plans, often attributed to John Lennon.
     “Into the Hollow” started as an afterthought in 2009, while I attempted to organize my “24-Hour Psychosis” project, which was far too overwhelming to release in its entirety, into several more palatable chunks. This resulted in several cohesive and satisfying Bedtime for Robots albums and a full length curiosity I called “Into the Hollow,” which was much more a singer/songwriter album than an experimental/ambient/electronic collection. However, it never quite fit into its own niche, although it had the making of something very special. I secretly released “Into the Hollow” in its original form on LastFM and soon after began to dismantle it, incorporating the tracks “A Field of Fireflies” and “La Foresta Scura” into the 2103 Bedtime for Robots guitar-driven collection, “El Diablo Guitarra.”  

     “El Diablo Guitarra,” a departure from the way Bedtime for Robots albums were created throughout the years, incorporated more structured musical pieces, albeit without lyrics. I recorded the collection using the iPhone and iPad, along with several guitar amp and recording apps. I knew I was onto something special with “El Diablo” and soon after began picking up the guitar more often than not, re-igniting my passion for guitar-driven music, which ultimately nudged me back into the arena of songwriting. During early January of 2014, I discovered my 2-year old abandoned Blackberry and luckily I still had its charger. After kicking the outdated little fucker back into life, I discovered a wealth of guitar riffs and melodies that I had screwed around with during 2012, when I had a brief period of inspiration which coincided with a break from academic studies. I then spent a few “lost weekends” during January, 2014 rediscovering some of my most exciting blueprints for possible songs in years. Thus, “Into the Hollow” was reborn. More to come…