Friday Metal Post : A Tribute to NME

And no, I don't mean the wanker music publication from over seas. I am talking about a classic American METAL band here. A legendary one of sorts because they released a piece of music in 1985 that many of us think was a precursor to what the world calls Black Metal now.

The back story is this; NME (pronounced enemy) was a heavy thrash garage band from Tacoma Washington that released a classic album (pictured here) called Unholy Death. The band reached the ultimate cult status when the singer Kurt Struebing was rumored to have been found dancing naked on the front lawn of his of mother's house covered in her blood. Apparently, again all hear say, he was on drugs, believed he was a robot and cut open his mother with a hatchet and scissors to see if she was a robot too. Tragic yes but in the world of metal that is the stuff legends are made of.

True or not he was charged with second degree murder of his mother in 1986 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison bringing the band to a halt....until 2004 when he, now out of jail, rejoined the recently reunited band.

To make this story all the more insane ...in 2005 Kurt (according to witnesses) took his car which had been stopped at a West Seattle Swing Bridge to let a tugboat through and pulled out of the line only to crash through the barricade and drive his car off the edge. His car dropped some 60 feet and he was pronounced dead on the scene. Friends call it a terrible accident but many believe this was clearly a suicidal act.

Again, in the world of metal this brings Kurt to a God-like status leaving in his wake a very amazing groundbreaking record which is hunted by collectors of the heavy music genre world wide.

May 28th : Cause & Effect : Grizzly Bear

You can't look at a music publication these days and not see a review or an article on Grizzly Bear highlighting the fact that they have a a brand new release that hit the streets this week called Veckatimest. In celebration of this release we will feature them on Cause & Effect; giving them the usual treatment where we play records that trace their musical roots, playing various songs from their catalog as well as the bands that have influenced them along the way.

Tonight's set will include Tim Buckley, Van Dyke Parks, Nico Muhly, Chad Van Gaalen, The High Llamas, TV on the Radio, Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, The Beach Boys, Final Fantasy, Fleet Foxes, Brian Eno, and NOT ONE ANIMAL COLLECTIVE TRACK!

We can be found on the dial at 97.3 in RVA or you can stream us on http://www.wrir.org/

Ringfinger + Forensics = Failed Master

Yo.

I am taking the day off from blogging to finish up my vocals for a Forensics collab track we have in the works. The deal is they supplied all the music and I am singing. The track will be called Failed Master and should be recorded soon ...now that I almost have my voice back in full.

Who knows, I might even end up singing the song with them live for either or both the Richmond show this Friday and or the DC show on Sunday.


May 29 2009
7:00P
Gallery 5 w/ Wolves In The Throne Room, Storm Of Light, Krallice
Richmond, Virginia


The Black Cat (backstage) w/ Cinemasophia & Ringfinger
DEE CEE, Washington DC
May 31 2009
9:00 PM

The Oh Sees

Dig it. 60's damaged folk in the now from SF, CA.

Friday Flashcard - Name That Metal Band

All I can think of is if Lux from the Cramps came back from the dead as a zombie cutter (wait do zombies bleed?) and gave a whirl at minimal black metal in Mexico, this would be the demo. It borders on cool but at the same time I find myself laughing out loud which maybe isn't exactly what a dude influenced by "the sorrowful streams of emptiness" is going for.

And check out his sweet catalog:

RAZORS:My first album DESTROYING YOUR LIFE!!! is OUT NOW by ZIEKTE-NL (NETHERLANDS).

ROPES:My thrid album THE PAIN BETWEEN BIRTH & DEATH will be release by UGLY CUNT RECORDS (POLAND) this next APRIL

10.PILLS:My second album THE PORTRAIT OF MY SORROW will be release by ZIEKTE-NL (NETHERLANDS) in a few weeks.

BULLETS:The split with TERRA AUSTRALIS (AUSTRALIA) will be release by THE BLACK 666 PRODUCTIONS (KOREA) in two months.

And holy crap : a video. The man appears to hate birds as much as I do. At least I think that is a bird....


Pain Is Dying

May 21st : Cause & Effect : Of Montreal

The second generation of the Elephant 6 family of bands brought us Of Montreal; a group from Athens, GA born from the loins of Kevin Barnes.

At this point you know how the show works, we play lot's of music by our featured band while highlighting their music influences as well as the bands in their peer group.

This week we have a bevy of beauties - lot's of great 60's stuff ALA Big Star, The Kinks, Love, Soft Machine, The Red Krayola, Bowie, Brian Wilson, Queen, and that doesn't even hint at the funky, sexy, soulful rest of the set!

We are on tonight from 7PM to 9PM on WRIR / 97.3 in RVA and wrir.org for your streaming pleasure.

Cinemetal Shirt Store On-Line : YES!!!!

Thanks for finding this Adam.

Here.

More Pictures of Flipside Records in Pompton Lakes, NJ

National SLAYER Day

I, Barack Obama, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, hereby proclaim the day of June 6, 2009, as National Day of Slayer

Click here for NATIONAL SLAYER DAY article.

WHEREAS, Hessians are a legitimate elective culture that should be recognized with their own national day of celebration and

WHEREAS, Slayer is freaking awesome and one of the most influential metal bands in history and

WHEREAS, The theme of the National Day of Slayer is "Don't go to work, listen to Slayer," which reflects the imminent importance of Slayer in the lives of hessians across America and

NOW, THEREFORE I, Barack Obama, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, hereby proclaim the day of June 6, 2009, as National Day of Slayer, saluting the valuable artistic contributions of the band Slayer and the legitimacy of the hessian culture that supports them. And I call upon all Americans to listen to Slayer on this day and every day hereafter.

SILENCE EQUALS DEATH

I blame this heightened sensitivity to sound and sudden wave of uncomfortable flashbacks on two things. 1) The fact that I have completed reading A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving for a second time and 2) a good friend recently lost his Father.

For those who haven’t read Owen Meany, please do, and for those who have read it, how could anyone forget what the VOICE OF OWEN MEANY SOUNDS LIKE and how poignant it is even in print form when “the voice” is silenced forever.

There is that terrible word again. Silence.

I have never put much thought into my violent distaste for complete silence or my need to surround myself with constant noise until just now; literally minutes ago. It appears my association with silence carries the staggering weight of death itself – the closest thing my imagination can fathom to what that great big vat of permanent dim nothingness might be like - awful and stinging.

Silence admittedly is my enemy. Ask anyone who knows me well. I surround myself with noise makers. If I am not playing music in one room or another there is probably a television on somewhere in the house and not because I care about what is really coming out of it but more importantly it makes noise and fills an otherwise hushed space. I sleep with a fan or some sort of white noise machine on whenever possible and am cursed to a night of tossing and turning if placed in an environment that lacks background noises. I find peaceful quiet neighborhoods brutally haunting and uncomfortable. I consider them literal dead zones, but with good reason.

My brother Peter was a music fanatic and was the first person to ever make me a mix tape. I still own this cassette and consider it among my prized possessions. I recall very little about his memorial service (there was no funeral) but I remember how my ears ached all day to hear music, something that helped to so clearly define my brother to me on a day where there was none to hear. Family and friends spoke in his memory but his voice had vanished never to be heard again and the soundtrack to his character was also painfully missing.

I could say the same of my Brother Christopher’s memorial service held at the fire station where he was a volunteer fireman. There were sirens blown, more speeches from loved ones, but there was no music. Music was a great passion for my brother and I am certain it circulated in his body as if it was life giving blood.

I was too devastated to speak at his service but later that day did I ask to have a song I had written play at a private family function because music was the only communication I could fathom bridging life and death as well as representing the bond between us as brother and sister.

My Father’s ashes were fed into the Atlantic Ocean by my sister, her children and I as my mother watched us in her wheelchair from the boardwalk. None of us spoke. The wind and water did all the talking and without words we collected iridescent seashells and stuffed them into our pockets for keepsakes on a day that required no human sound. Our breaths were literally carried away.

My Mother’s memorial was held in a library and I feel like that symbolically speaking it was the mother of all great silences. Libraries are obviously quiet places and it seemed very appropriate to find a space that would promise me a blanket of hush I had grown so accustomed to from funeral’s past. No voice would match the soothing melody of my mother’s speaking voice and it would have been a crime to try and resurrect it and pass it through my lips. I dreaded hearing everyone else speak that day for the very same reason.

To my ears and through my life experiences, death truly has no sound and is represented by a lack there of. The sound of the living paying respects and grieving only masks the epic and startling sound of emptiness we face when we lose someone forever. Music has grown to represent life to me and in turn I don’t just surround myself with it, I gorge myself upon it. As long as I have music, can hear music, play music, make music, I am not just happy, I am vibrant and very much alive.

Cinemetal T-Shirts

Available at the concession stand in the NYC IFC theaterright now - AMAZING!

I picked up the Van Halen Lars Von Trier shirt but I regret not getting the Herzog shirt too.

It doesn't look like you can get these anywhere on line. Go firgure.

Ringfinger Cancels 2 Shows

Hello friends,

I am very sad to announce that I have to cancel the last two shows of my little tour. My car died on me coming back from Boston and I don't have the funds to fix everything necessary to pass inspection no less make it to TN, GA, and back again. It breaks my heart to do this but I don't really have a choice. Such is the life of a woman going on month three of being unemployed and very very very short on cash.

Sigh,
Tracy

So amazing that this doesn't need a subject title.

May 14th, 2009 Cause & Effect : Blonde Redhead

Tonight on Cause & Effect we will be following the musical roots of NYC's Blonde Redhead. Named after a a track by the no wave group DNA we will kick of our set accordingly and follow up with a string on other no wavers like 8 Eyed Spy and Rosa Yemen. The rest of the set will include an assault of great guitar bands like Unwound, Sonic Youth, Polvo, 90 Day Men, Rodan and then we will end with more modern groups one might say are influenced or sound a whole heck of a lot like BR like Asobi Seksu, Mum, and Cafe Neon.

We are on tonight from 7PM to 9Pm - on your radio dial in RVA 97.3 or you can stream us at http://www.wrir.org/.


DNA

Help! Ringfinger in need of a show on May 9th !!!

Hello,

It appears my Pittsburgh PA show isn't happening so I now have May 9th open to play a last minute show or in-store. I am a one woman production so there isn't much hassle to set up and play. It is literally just me singing, a back drop of my living room wall, and an ipod in a docking station. I could potentially play in NJ/NY/ CT/ or PA no problemo.

If anybody has any suggestions for a place to play - please email me at tracy@littleblackcloudrecords.com.


Thank you!
Tracy Ringfinger

Better than the Vivian Girls

At least in my opinion....Dum Dum Girls. (I can only guess they named themselves after the Talk Talk single)

Ringfinger / Cinemasophia Tour Dates

On the road - me!

This means I probably won't be blogging much over the next few weeks but who knows.

I will have limited LPs and CDs on sale for these dates plus ultra cool patchwork robots that are a part of my set made by the ever so talented Chris Milk. The robots might just be the best part of my show.

PS: Thanks to my fella for making this handsome tour flier.

Friday Flashcard : Name That Metal Band

My French isn't great but I am pretty sure that this Japanese Grindcore band has named themselves after the French word for bakery that specializes in pastries. Wow...scary stuff!

If that ridiculous band choice isn't adorable enough, check out their "about the band"

"In Japan scene it is for good time. So if it can have this with friends in Japan and the world! No homophobes no sexists no racists! Fuck off! Let's enjoy grind."

For the name of the band and a link to their MySpace page - check the comments section.