Hello fright-fans,
Watch out this summer for a horror music compilation on Valiant Death Records featuring songs about REH, HPL, and CAS, as well as horror in general. Also, the new Von Dooms CD is out, 11 songs of horror punk, psychotronic schlock rock, and Lovecraftian rock to kill yourself over. Only $6 at valiantdeath.com

The whirring sound is produced by the extremely high level of RPM's achieved by
HPL rolling over in his grave -
Dr. F

LOL! Bravo, Dr. F.! I'm suspect, though, that you might find my electro-acoustic piece in honor of CAS, entitled *Ubbo-Sathla, to be no less "blasphemous". I think that at least the overt weirdness of electro-acoustic/electronic music matches the spirit of HPL and CAS a little better than commonplace rock 'n' roll, but ultimately I leave that for others to decide. In the meantime, the search both to hear (and perhaps to create?) the music of Erich Zann continues!

P.S. Thanks for forwarding the word list; I got a kick out of it.

Well, maybe HPL would roll over in his grave, but I also know that he was never a snob. We all have our own ways of paying tribute to the horror masters. I imagine you might say the same thing about the music of Erich Zann. I don't mean to come off too harshly, but I really get tired of this kind of attitude.
Those of you willing to give something new a chance, should check out the CD. Also, try giving something a look before you jump all over it.

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Well, maybe HPL would roll over in his grave, but I also know that he was never a snob.

LOL! You really don't know much about Lovecraft, do you?

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I don't mean to come off too harshly, but I really get tired of this kind of attitude.

I don't mean to come off too harshly, but I really get tired of spammers and trolls coming here, peddling their cheesy wares, and then copping an attitude when someone calls them on it. I've never advertised my musical endeavors here, and, unlike you, I actually post in this forum from time to time on the subject of Clark Ashton Smith.

Anyway, that's all for me on this one. Feed the trolls too much, and it only encourages them.

I allow the odd (I have seen 2) advertising posts here as long as they are CAS related - of course i do expect a free copy:-D

I decline to comment on the merit of the work till i hear it.

I would be interested in comments on the new concordances (off the writting index page) if any one would care to take a look.

Kevin if your musical endevours are cas\lovecraft relaterd please do post - some of us dont get out much theses days.

B.

I know plenty about HPL, and I know that he took the time to at least be polite to those who admired his stuff, even if they weren't as talented as him. I didn't intend to spam, I just thought that since there were going to be some Clark Ashton Smith inspired songs on the CD that some people here might be interested.
I didn't get any money from working on this stuff, in fact I have done nothing but lose money on it. I just did it because I love weird fiction, so I wouldn't exactly call it "peddling my wares". Kevin, I don't want to get into a long argument about all of this, maybe you are right and I should have taken a little more time to get to know the community before I posted. I didn't mean my response to be an attack, though I kind of perceived those of you and the Dr. to be one on me. Maybe I was a little snotty though, and I'm sorry. I can see how it looked kind of bad. Friends?

Boyd:

Fair enough; it is your site, after all. I assume that you don't mind those of us who object to this sort of thing to weigh in, as well, though. In my opinion, the fit between the commercial post and the site's subject matter should be very tight, indeed, and ideally should bring us news of newly published work by or about CAS, himself. Perhaps it is narrow-minded of Dr. F. and me to razz this compilation without hearing it, but (speaking only for myself), as I dislike most rock 'n' roll, and all punk, I have no hesitation about expressing my distaste for it in advance. I suppose that what really galls me in this case that a spammer would come here, spam us, and then take offense when others object to it or otherwise express derogatory opinions about the spam in question. Just my two cents, as the saying goes. It's certainly not a major polemical issue, nor do I mean to turn it into such.

Speaking of distasteful music, I'm posting this information only because you asked: My project is called Bestia Centauri. My debut CD-R is called Ubbo-Sathla; I also contributed to a tribute compilation CD-R dedicated to Lovecraft called The Outsider. Further information and music samples are available at www.somnambulantcorpse.com and http://www.aferecords.com/mp3/beneath_exsanguinated_suns.mp3. Only those who enjoy, for lack of a better term, avant-garde electronic music (in particular, non-rhythmic dark ambient and electro-acoustic music) are likely to find any value in this work. There! Now I feel like a proper hypocrite! ;-)

Jim:

To me, yes, it did look bad because you had not posted in this forum before. On the other hand, as I mentioned, I'm just expressing my opinion on the subject. It's Boyd's site, and his rules are the ones that count.

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Friends

Ultimately, any true friend of CAS's and HPL's is a friend of mine.

Kevin,

Again, I apologize. I am fairly new to the computer world, and I didn't realize that this kind of thing was looked down on. I just didn't know a better way to get the word out to CAS fans. I will continue to post on here, and I look forward to talking to all of you more. I am a true friend of HPL and CAS (and REH), so I'll consider you a friend as well. I won't post anymore ads though, lest the shoggoths drag me down into some nameless abyss;-) Maybe we could work out a CD trade or something. Even if you hate punk, this is punk with a lot of weird effects, and not like the standard stuff.

Kevin - unlike some I allow any free expression here.:-P

I just expect free copies of comercial products flogged on the site.

Jim:

Thanks, but honestly, you don't owe me any kind of apology. I'm just another forum member, and not an especially prolific contrbutor, at that. Boyd is the site owner. He stated his policy, and that's all there is to it, so far as I'm concerned. So, if if your subsequent ads are CAS-related, then post away. As I mentioned, I was just expressing my own opinion about the matter, as was Dr. Farmer. It's obvious from your subsequent posts that you are not the sort of nefarious spammer that I imagined, and I apologize as well for jumping to that conclusion. If you haven't been online very long, however, you'll soon see instances of trolling and spamming in your favorite forums, and perhaps then you'll see why some of us shoot from the hip at the slightest sign of that sort of thing!

Boyd:

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Kevin - unlike some I allow any free expression here.

LOL! Point well taken!

In the words of Rodney King, "Why can't we all just get along?" I am, as is well known, notoriously non-confrontational, although I think that Free Expression is our friend.

While I admit that a lot of contemporary music ain't my bucket of blood, being like Dr. Farmer a lover of classical and opera (did y'all know Dr. Farmer sang opera professionally in the northwest?) every so often I am pleasantly surprised to find something I like has managed to escape from Limbo. Why not post a couple of tracks as MP3 files and let us decide if one taste of the milk is worth buying the whole cow?
Oh, and by the way: HPL's favorite song was "Yes, We Have No Bananas." Can't find out what was Clark's, though... .
Best, Scott Connors

Boyd, I will send you a CD for posting an ad on your board, I expect things on it to be finished around the end of the summer, so I'll get back to you on it then. It's interesting to surmise what types of music HPL or CAS liked, I had always heard that HPL was tone deaf. His like of the "Banannas" song may be proof of that fact, haha. I'm betting that REH would have been into country, or possibly celtic music.

Are any of you familiar with the band "The Darkest Of Hillside Thickets"? They are a weirdy type rock band from Canada who pretty much exclusively do songs about HPL, and they are pretty decent. For non-rock fans, there is a band called Azathoth from Russia?! who do really strange HPL inspired songs, I can't really think of a good way to describe them though, but some of their songs kind of sound "opera like" to me. So who is going to be the first to start up an all CAS band?

My goodness, another little furor! But it seems to have resolved into peace among
all parties - I don't have much time at this moment, but two quick notes. My first
response (which I am sure is included in free speech) was certainly not an attact.
I, myself, at my age have little interest in the "new" for its own sake. I am not
against it by any means, only that for me, re-reading my favorite books, re-listening
to my favorite records (Rubenstein playing the Emperor et al), is an ever-deepening
experience of plunging into fountains of limitless depth. As for Clark's taste in
music -- I have pondered this a bit, and I know from his friendship with the
Sully's that he had experienced and enjoyed the classics - I think of the moderns
he might have liked Lighetti (as in the Kyrie from 2001 Space Odyssey). Recall
his line about the "horses vatitty who sang a dumb ditty called Sweet Adeline" -
As a frequenter of the "Happy Hour" - he was easily familiar with all of that
genre. He enjoyed naughty ballads and surprised me that he knew some I had learned
in the Eastern University milieu - ie - (he joined in this one once and knew all
the words) "Oh my sister Lily is a whore in Picadilly,
And me brother runs a brothel in the Strand;
And me father spreads his ass'l
At the Elephant and Castle,
We're the biggest f'ing family in the land (2 beats, repeat last line)

Clark loved the solitude and inwardness of fine music, and much of his work laments
the modern loss and corruption of even the opportunity to launch the mind into
those gulfs, and the entombment within symphony halls and museums for those
arts "certified" superior- Compare in his experience, hearing the Sully girls and
friends do a Mozart string quartet in the back yard on a splendid Auburn summer's
eve with sitting starched and tuxed in a $75 seat -

Yes, we have no Tsathogguas, we have no Tsathogguas todaaay! How many "n"s in bannanna? Hosanna, better ask the "n" crowd! Would CASmith have approved of spam? I am sure he would have enjoyed spam, eggs, baked beans, spam and spam, spam, spam, and if somebody might be interested in buying some books, dvds, cds, or spam, I would be more than happy to accommodate them. As a Professional bookseller, I love to tell people about all the lovely things I have to sell, but it breaks my heart to hear that people are usually too poor to buy anything. This means that I almost never post big lists on items for sale, although I do mention one or two items now and then. In fact, Eldritch Dark may be long overdue for Gavinicuss to make some kind of pitch or other, maybe sooner, maybe later, just so you will all be prepared for it. But I am just so shy, it goes against my nature to blow my own horn. But how else are people going to get the word?

Oh, I just had this thought, and it is appropriate to the venue: I happen to be reordering the Arkham reprint of Rendezvous in Averoigne so I will have copies close at hand if anyone needs a copy.

And dear Dr. Farmer, bless your heart, you fit in just fine with all the rest of us spelling-impaired individuals! But if you are adding an "h" to Gyorgy Ligetti, it may be because it reminds you of spaghetti, which puts the stress on the wrong syllable for the composer. I used to follow the lead of the most arrogant grad students in the school of music at the University of North Texas and they all seemed to say Ligetti with the accent on the first syllable, like lickety-split. So, avoiding an "h" after the "g" reminds me not to go astray. We have our own traditions here in Texas, where E.T. stands for Ernest Tubb and not some bicycle-riding puppet from a spaceship. And even opera starts to sound more familiar when you realize that Giuseppe Verdi is just good old Mean Joe Green with an accent!

Yes Gavin, I love the music of Joe Green, though in my old age
I prefer Johnny Creek (Bach for the unitiated). If the spelling
of Ligetti is not Lighetti as you suggest, I accept that; though
the only place I have ever seen it in print is the album cover
of 2001 Space Odyssey where it is spelled like Spaghetti (just
checked on my aged album of the antiquated 33 1/3 LP unearthed
during a recent archaeological expedition in my library). I have
never bothered seeking out anything else by this composer since I
found that as eerie background music for a space movie, it was very
effective, but as a "Kyrie"? I don't think so - the emotions
evoked in the Russian orthodox liturgy are closer to my own
experience (somewhere there may still be a copy of the "Don
Cossack Chorus" singing (sorry, no Russian font) "Gospodee Pomeelooy."
Fabulous - overwhelming power - and other assorted expressions of
awe and wonder.

I hate to be a pedant, but the correct spelling is Ligeti, whose works form the 1960's I consider to be among the greatest in the Classical reperetoire of any period, although they especially stand out in the decadent post-war era. The "Kyrie" from his Requiem may not reproduce the sentiments of the traditional liturgical text, but that was, I think, hardly his intention. The Requiem, I think, needs to be evaluated as a whole, and not as a sound bite. Other Ligeti masterpieces include Lux Aeterna and Atmospheres (both also heard in that superb Nietzschean film 2001: A Space Odyssey) and Lontano, inspired by the "magic casements opening upon faery lands forlorn" of the celebrated Keats ode. For me, at least, "Fabulous - overwhelming power - and other assorted expressions of awe and wonder", indeed!

Yes, the composer's name is Gyorgy Ligeti and he is currently enjoying a bit of a Renaissance. Sony Masterworks started a collection devoted to his music, but stalled after a few volumes. Teldec took over and from the evidence of their disc devoted to the orchestral music, they will do a fine job. This disc contains "Atmospheres", "Lontano", "Apparitions" and "Concert Romanesc" (these last two premiere recordings). The performances and sound are excellent. Now, if only someone would finally record a performance of the REQUIEM worthy of it. I have the old Wergo recording of the complete composition conducted by Gielen and the excerpt recorded by Bour on the 2001 soundtrack; I much prefer the Bour, but there are only a few minutes of it.

Jim

Jim:

I've heard the new recording of which you write, and agree that it sets an excellent standard (although I think that I still prefer the "blurrier" Bour reading of Atmosphereson Wergo). The version of Lontano here is definitive. Like you, I look forward to the recordings of the choral works in this series--not only to Requiem, but also to a fresh reading of Lux Aeterna. As I recall, not only is there some distortion in the Wergo CD version of this piece (I never owned the vinyl, so I don't know whether this is a digital artefact or a flaw in the original recording), but, as I recall, the fortissimo entrance of the choir around the mid-point of the piece is far louder than Ligeti specified in his score.

Speaking of the Requiem, here's a bit of grotesque trivia. I'm a connoisseur of sleazy '70's horror films, and there are few sleazier than 1972's Love Me Deadly. In this charming, Rohmer-esque character study of a female necrophile, there is one scene in which a necro-cult whose ringleader she has met (working out of a funeral home, of course) are stripping a corpse suspended by his arms. All this occurring to the (completely unauthorized, surely) strains of--you guessed it!--the "Kyrie" to Ligeti's Requiem! If Ligeti was litigiously angry over the distortion of his music in 2001, then I can only imagine how he would react if he knew about this.

I agree about both "Atmospheres" and "Lontano", though the Teldec is the best performance of it I have heard since Bour's recording: Abbado's and Bernstein's are just dull. What I like about the new recording of "Lontano" is that the conductor (with plenty of help from the orchestra and the sound engineer) makes the music sound beautiful without in any way falsifying it.

I wish I could put my finger on what is wrong with Gielen's REQUIEM on Wergo---all the notes seem to be there, but little else, as if everyone is sight-reading.

Jim