We took an excursion to Mass MoCA yesterday, specifically to see Laurie Anderson's varied installations. Her sense of humor and restless curiosity came across as much as her interests in audio and technology... as well as an undercurrent of darkness.

I needed to get my hair & beard cleaned up before Eclipse's KRAMPUSNACHT event, and I'd been meaning to check out Valentine's Barbershop, which just opened down the street from us in Biddeford. The owner Highly recommended if you're looking for a new local spot for a fresh cut and/or shave.

I would have liked to have had my new single ready by this month's Bandcamp Friday. But then a friend introduced me to the fascinating poetry of Wisława Szymborska, and it took me down a detour into new ideas. Besides, products have deadlines; art has no timetable.

Obligatory Apohadion bathroom pre-show selfie. Wearing my father's winter jacket for tonight's show, which I found in the closet right next to where he had collapsed.

Turned to a random page of a book in the waiting room of my therapist's office this morning. This was the result. Playing a set with ICHORCLAW tonight at the Apohadion Theater. Dead layers will be shed.

The Clock DVA "Second Sight" book & unreleased album bundle was sold out when I got to the merch table at their show w/ FLA/Lead Into Gold/Mentallo & the Fixer, but I ordered it that night & it arrived a couple weeks later. Listening to the CD at the shop right now & it's excellent as expected.

Tonight at the Coolidge.

While ordering for CSO recently, I also got a couple CDs for myself as a balm for my hemorrhaging soul: THIS IMMORTAL COIL's "The Dark Age of Love" & "The World Ended a Long Time Ago". Covers of Coil by Ulver, Bonnie Prince Billy, Yann Tiersen, more. Delicate, melodic, sometimes quite breathtaking.

Huge thanks again to everyone who attended CRIMEWAVE at Portland House of Music Friday night-- DJ KTTNMTTNS and I had an absolute blast spinning for you all. As requested, here's everything I played.

Just arrived in the mail: THE PRESSURE COMPANY, Live in Sheffield 19 Jan 82. The location & date are clues, this was a pseudonym of Cabaret Voltaire for a one-off performance to raise money for a civilian hospital in Czestochova, Poland.

I've been putting off writing this post because my disbelief and despair are almost too much to bear. This weekend, my brother in law Matt was found dead in his apartment. Days later, we still don't have all the answers. There is no bottom to this chasm of grief, no relief in sight. It is endless.

Find someone who looks at you the same way that Gary Numan's guitarist & bassist look at each other. 🖤 Numan really does put on an excellent show, but these two axe-wielding Harkonnens are almost just as entertaining. It wouldn't be nearly as good a concert without them.

TREMOURS opening for Gary Numan at State Theatre, 10.12.2025. Recommended for fans of Cranes in particular, and then also Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, and similar ethereal shoegaze-y acts.

Thank you for all the kind words. You help keep me going. I have some gigs coming up: OCT 17 - CRIMEWAVE DJ set w/ DJ KTTNMTTNS at Portland House of Music OCT 24 - SLAY III DJ set w/ DJ FOXY at Jewel Box OCT 30 - SCROTAL TEAR live set at HOGO NOV 6 - ICHORCLAW live set at Apohadion Theater

Today would have been my mother's 76th birthday. There are reminders of her and my father all around the house right now, at every turn. I know in my rational mind that she would want her children to celebrate the good times we had together, but I am suffocating under a leaden blanket of grief.

SWANS live at Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA on 10.06.2025. My 4th time seeing them. They played for 2 hrs, traversing sonic ground from delicate folk fragments to raging oceanic swells, dense cinematic soundtracks of desert post-apocalypse to the finale's transcendent psychedelic western dub.

While in Boston for Sam's bday yesterday, we visited Big Dig Records, where we mined a rich vein of experimental incl. Laibach's Occupied Europe NATO Tour 94-95 VHS+CD box set, Profligate's debut LP, Sigmund Und Sein Freund's first 12", a stack of YGR/SWANS/Gira/Jarboe releases... Good times.

Visiting Shangri-La Records in-person for the last time was more difficult. I'd been going there for 30 yrs, since high school. Along w/ Chicago's Reckless Records, one of the inspirations for our description labels at CSO. I found & bought 3 Lost Sounds albums incl. my goal, the Memphis is Dead LP.

My final in-person visit to Goner Records was understandably bittersweet. I remember going there w/ my dad. I recall buying Throbbing Gristle's Heathen Earth on wax & still curse myself for passing on Lydia Lunch's Queen of Siam LP-- I've since picked it up elsewhere, so why does this still stick?

GREETINGS PROGRAMS. NIN - TRON ARES 2xLP soundtrack on black & red vinyl. Always irks me to no end to see a release on store shelves before my pre-order arrives. But at least it's here now. END OF LINE.

Taken on the way to the Shelby County Clerks Office. I have forgotten the meaning of the word inscribed on its base.

On Tuesday, we got into KC fairly late after a traumatic week of cleaning out my parents' house in Memphis. Wednesday morning, we were told that my mom had passed earlier that day. I never got to see her or say goodbye. I have lost one of my biggest supporters, closest confidants, and best friends.

Our two stalwart defenders of the realm, idmtheftable and contemnlight, will be working at the shop Friday and Saturday respectively, Noon to 4pm. Thank you for your ongoing patience. A return to our regular schedule is in sight. 🖤

Arriving at my parents' house this morning, we discovered someone completely filled the new dumpster we'd ordered for the remainder of our clean out w/ their own garbage after midnight last night. Authorities said they could do nothing, it was a "civil matter". It will cost ~$600 to have it emptied.

We've directed mourners to donate to my father's fav orgs in the wake of his passing, incl. the Memphis Public Libraries. We donated 300+ tomes from my parents' shelves to MPL's used bookstore, which earns $400k+/yr for the library system. In shopping there, I also netted some fun stuff for CSO. 🖤

@idmtheftable.bsky.social will be minding the shop Fri, Sat, and Sun this week (09/12-0914) from Noon to 4pm each day. Thank you for your ongoing support!!

"Death created time to grow the things that it would kill."

Words cannot express how obsessed I was w/ these transparent anatomy sheets from my family's medical reference tome when I was a child. When I saw The Cell years later, the scene w/ the horse and the panes of glass, I was that child again, looking at those clear sheets. This book is a core memory.

Sought out a brief moment of respite in the form of retail therapy. Picked up ART OF THE GRIMOIRE: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF MAGIC BOOKS AND SPELLS, compiled and edited by Owen Davies.

They left the can of spray paint behind when they broke into my parents' house & tagged it while looking for valuables. We're obviously dealing with extreme geniuses here, real Italian Job / Ocean's Eleven types. Criminal masterminds of the highest caliber.

Perhaps indicative of my current mental state, I have done something... egregious. Blasphemous, even. I give you a glimpse of... E. Elias Merhige's 1989 b&w art film BEGOTTEN "remastered"/defiled in the soft, soothing hues of Technicolor™. Forgive me. I am unwell.

Brecht, Remy ...By A Thread 2025 Cicada photos may be cliche in 2025, but stumbling upon this dessicated carapace from Brood XIV? XIX? in the backyard of our AirBnB, hollowed out yet still somehow clinging to its lifeline, was the useful metaphor for life, death, change & rebirth I was seeking.

Huge thanks to our dear friend Jon (Contemn Light/Commuted) for minding the shop today from Noon to 4pm!! Tomorrow, Sunday, our equally dear friend Skot (id m theft able) will be holding things down from Noon to 4pm! Stop by!! 🖤🖤🖤

Hephaestus (2006?-2025) We said farewell tonight to the last surviving member of the 4 cats that had moved to Maine with us. He was at least 19 years old. Originally a stray from Detroit's southwest side, he was always very shy yet sweet. He had been battling cancer for a while. It was time.

This cloudbuster is still pointed at Wilhelm Reich's tomb.

One of the most significant changes to the Wilhelm Reich Museum since our last pilgrimage is that visitors are now allowed to sit inside their two Orgone Accumulator boxes. This was the view from inside one of them with the door closed, peering out at the ceiling light fixtures.

Among my parents' belongings, I found an envelope containing my baby teeth along with letters to the tooth fairy asking if I could keep them but still get compensated for them anyway. Apparently, I have always been strange.

My father's hardcover copy of NEUROMANCER by William Gibson. This was both my intro to Gibson's body of work & also immediately ushered in a lifelong obsession w/ all things cyberpunk. Raiding my parents' vast home library as a child was life-changing in ways I am still continuing to comprehend.

On Wed, I received a call from Memphis police that my father had passed away unexpectedly. My siblings & I got into town over the next 24 hrs to settle his affairs & to visit my mom in the hospital where she's recuperating. The grief we're experiencing in the wake of his sudden loss is immeasurable.

Went to Salem for a wedding today, took a detour to check out the Peabody Essex Museum. Some excellent pieces there, including Anila Quayyum Agha's room-sized installation titled "Intersections". It reminded me of the series DEVS.

WHITE PHOSPHOROUS: Chris Connelly Plays Throbbing Gristle. Vinyl release via Dirter Promotions. 🖤

Seagull or former Icarus, 2025.

We're down to our last five CSO zipper hoodies, printed by the amazing Forest Passage Printing. We have two L, one XL, one 2XL, and one 3XL. You can either swing by the shop or drop us a DM & let us know if you want to snag one of these beauties (we ship anywhere in the US). 🖤💀🖤

Throbbing Gristle "Live at the Volksbühne, Berlin, New Year's Eve, 2005" 2xLP set. Monday's post-therapy, pre-dentist indulgence. Exquisite audio pain sandwiched between exquisite emotional & physical pain. What a sumptuous trifecta. 🖤⛓️🖤

Albums from two of my favorite artists arrived today: KNIFE THE ALLY by Lead Into Gold released on Artoffact Records & the Dais Records reissue of BLACK ANTLERS by Coil. Listening to both today at the shop. 🖤

John Waters was excellent last night, my first time seeing him perform live. All hail the Pope of Trash. 🖤

Went shopping after my therapist appointment, as is my routine lately, and I'm glad I did-- scored this 2xLP copy of Bowie's Outside album for a great price. "I'm Deranged" & "Heart's Filthy Lesson" are among my favorites from his vast catalogue.

For tonight's ICHORCLAW set, I ran my tape of Frank Herbert reading the banquet scene of DUNE through my Atreides Weirding Module pedal as part of my setup.

I acquired this gem for my Vangelis collection at Sunday's Record Show. The dealer recognized me from CSO & ICHORCLAW and had very kind things to say about our recent gig w/ Quest Master. I also got to catch up with the great folks at Weird Media from RI as well as various other friends. 🖤