Posts

The Human Chair and other curiosities

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As a creature who self-identifies as a hermit crab, the past weekend has been jarringly full of events . I mean that in a positive way though —this unspeakably ugly person needed to leave the interior of a leather armchair and experience the outside world, to celebrate my 33 years of existence.  In other, less purple prose: I've been listening to a reading of "The Human Chair" (人間椅子) by Edogawa Rampo , one of my favorite authors, on vinyl.  I dug it up at Vinyl Daze in Virginia Beach. I initially returned to the soundtrack section to dig up a reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum", which I forever regretted not buying, but found this instead. The jacket art is gorgeous. The origin of my "DJ Name" is another story, but it partially relates to Edogawa Ranpo*. The author's pen name is partially a Japanese homophone for "Edgar Allan Poe", but also means "to ramble along the banks of the Edo river" in Japanese. 

A Samhain Night Like This- October 25, 2023

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"A NIGHT LIKE THIS" Samhain event, October 25, 2023  Setlist: Buck-Tick- KISS ME GOODBYE Clan of Xymox- Lovers 6XT7- Dead Bride Lebanon Hanover- Kiss Me Until My Lips Fall Off  Nightcrawler- My Worst Enemy Is Myself (Feat Deus Ex Lumina) Anders Manga- Blood From Roses The Ink Bats- Caves COLD CAVE- Promised Land  Bauhaus- Double Dare PRIEST- A Signal in the Noise Dread Risks- Trace Amounts Third Realm- She's My Addiction Teknovore- Morbus Gravis (feat. Keeva Leo of SIRIUS) Cerulean Veins- Hex Me   The day before, I found out that the vocalist of BUCK-TICK, Atsushi Sakurai passed away . It hit me really hard, not only because I'm a fan of his music, but because so many of my artist friends considered him a muse. The howls of grief yesterday were so resonant and aching. I also wrote up the article announcing his death on the site I work for. When I first saw the news, I felt numb, and in shock. However as I wrote down the facts surrounding his death, and constructed an

Free virtual event "A Samhain Night Like This" chills your spine on October 25

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Hello darklings, On October 25 I'll be spinning a free virtual event with one of my DJ friends Jody Rose , "A Samhain Night Like This". The event will be streamed on Zoom and possibly Twitch. Jody Rose has run this virtual event "A Night Like This" for some time now. I remember attending their goth events on my home turf in Honolulu. Even if you don't turn out to watch me spin the opening set, please check it out for Jody and Hex Embrace's dark musical prowess. There will also be a guest dancer, Chloe Dark to keep the party going.   For my fellow Jrock nerds out there, Jody Rose is familiar with some of my favorite Japanese rock bands and has also answered my request for them at live events, including DIR EN GREY and Phantasmagoria. I always appreciated that solidarity in the alternative music scene, and their openness to neighboring alternative genres. I plan to spin some of my tracks I curated for last month's Goth Night at Zen. Unfortunately I

How I curate my music

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To be perfectly honest, it's not that difficult to curate music for a goth night. Hell, you could even open an AI program and enter the prompt, "create a DJ setlist for [x] genre", and it will do it for you.   Wanna see? Here's one from Chat GPT, when prompted with the command "Create a 15 song setlist for a Goth DJ.":     Bauhaus - "Bela Lugosi's Dead"     Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Spellbound"     The Sisters of Mercy - "Lucretia My Reflection"     Joy Division - "Love Will Tear Us Apart"     The Cure - "A Forest"     Fields of the Nephilim - "Moonchild"     Depeche Mode - "Enjoy the Silence"     The Mission - "Wasteland"     Clan of Xymox - "Muscoviet Musquito"     The Birthday Party - "Release the Bats"     She Wants Revenge - "Tear You Apart"     The Damned - "Shadow of Love"     The Crüxshadows - "Winterborn (This Sacrifice

Goth Night at Zen, Norfolk- July 21, 2023

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Goth Night at Zen, at 37th and Zen, Norfolk Setlist- July 21, 2023 Set 1, "Pikes with Spurs": Boys Don't Cry- I Wanna Be a Cowboy Buck-Tick- Coyote Ritual Howls- Final Service Double Eyelid- World in Ashes (feat. AzumiG) The 69 Eyes- Gothic Girl The Bellwether Syndicate- The Night Watch Paralysed Age- Bloodsucker (Radio Edit) The Ink Bats- Caves   Set 2, "Cloves": Unwoman- Wallflower (Switchblade Symphony Cover) Lestat- Realm Siouxsie And The Banshees- Christine London After Midnight- Black Cat Lebanon Hanover- Kiss Me Until My Lips Fall Off The Sisters of Mercy- Nine While Nine Depeche Mode- Never Let Me Go Petit Brabancon- surely Panic Priest- She's My Guy O CHILDREN- Radio Waves Transponder- I Was a Gothic in the '80s (feat. Leaether Strip) The Cure- The Walk   Set 3, "Filth": 3teeth- Oblivion Coil Alien Vampires- Her Blood Into My Veins Hocico- A Call For Destruction HEALTH- HATEFUL suicide commando- Destroyer of worlds (the Trinity test- H