The reason I’m calling this day An Introduction could probably be best explained by linking to Kevin Drumm’s discography. At a quick glance it’s clear that Drumm is a prolific artist, and his work spans many areas that I probably wouldn’t be able to do justice if I were attempt to characterise and categorise them all. So, with that disclaimer out of the way, I’ll try and focus on certain points of his body of work that are specifically exciting to me, and the reasons why, and then … yeah, I guess if you’re into it you can go searching for more. In short: Kevin Drumm is a genius.

I think I first got into Kevin Drumm after reading this interview with Jim O’Rourke where he talks about giving up playing the guitar after realising that Kevin Drumm had already done or achieved everything that he would have wanted to do with the instrument. O’Rourke is one of my all time favourite artists, so it was high praise indeed.

And so I started digging …

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One of my all time favourite records by Drumm is Imperial Distortion, which I have often turned to as a soundtrack for when I’m writing. It creates such a perfect, unique mood. Completely inspiring and singular. I just found an article from FACT that profiles that particular album:

IMPERIAL DISTORTION: KEVIN DRUMM’S MODERN MASTERPIECE TURNS FIVE

Chalked up on Hospital Productions’ release schedule before it was even finished, the album was originally planned as a balls-to-the-wall collection of primal fuzz pedal experiments, an idea that was quickly canned when Drumm came to the decision that the results simply wouldn’t “stand the test of time”. A subsequent creative block forced him to rifle through his archives, and in doing so he came across a handful of pieces that he since has slightly disparagingly passed off as being “go nowhere tracks”. The resulting collection of odds and sods, recorded over a thirteen-year period between 1995 and 2008, became Imperial Distortion, and, thanks to some warm persuasion from Hospital’s Dominick Fernow, Drumm even kept the original title despite the fresh set of material being very much at odds with it. So we have an ambient album on a noise label, compiled from mostly archival material and given a title that would make people assume, quite wrongly, that it would be along the same lines as Drumm’s career-defining Sheer Hellish Miasma. It shouldn’t have worked, but somehow it did.

It’s important at this point to think back to 2008, and while it doesn’t seem like very long ago, the sprawling U.S. noise scene was in flux. Wolf Eyes had hit their blood-belching high in ’06 with Human Animal, and Fernow himself had already begun to tip from the feedback-laden, barely-listenable aural oppression of Black Vase into the almost melodic synth-led electronics with ‘06’s pre-emptive Pleasure Ground and ‘07’s irrationally static Cave Depression set. It was in 2008 when the sun-starved basement dwellers who had pored over hand-sprayed (and probably unplayable) Hair Police CDRs in ’05 and saved their allowance for the hotwired Casio SK-1 they saw on Craigslist in ‘06, were looking for something a little different. You must remember that it was around this time too when a trio of Midwestern stoners known as Emeralds suddenly shot from being a band who sold a few tapes here and there at noise shows to being a worldwide sensation. Solar Bridge slipped out on the Hanson imprint in ’08 and helped shift the tides – the kids who used to be totally happy splicing their first tape loop, and screaming into the grubby cup on a broken pair of headphones now wanted to make new age music, and the same beardy dudes who had discovered how to break their hand-me-down synthesizers a few years earlier now wanted them repaired and spitting out arpeggios.

This instability could have been what caused Drumm to abandon his early attempts at Imperial Distortion. His comments that he was worried his tape noise experiments might not “stand the test of time” are telling indeed. Time was moving quickly, and the scene’s tolerance for his particular brand of harsh noise appeared to be waning. Certainly another crack at 2002’s Sheer Hellish Miasma would have been a mistake. It was a record that had pre-empted the general, if short lived, obsession with corrosive American noise, and to this day stands as one of its most successful sonic signifiers. Arriving notably early in the U.S. scene’s development, it emerged on Mego very much after the Austrian stable had cemented its legacy, feeling stylistically long way from the mischievous laptop hiccups of Pita’s Get Out or the well-pruned maximal experimentation of Hecker’s Sun Pandemonium. Fittingly then, when Imperial Distortion did finally see the light of day, it had a very similar effect on its listeners – it was the kind of album that we didn’t yet know we wanted. Drumm had been dabbling with minimalism for decades, but it hardly mattered – Second’s crystalline experiments and Comedy’s organ studies mostly fell on deaf ears compared with the near-universal acceptance of Imperial Distortion.

Taken from/continued here.

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Another firm favourite is Sheer Hellish Miasma, which I don’t need to really describe too much, given the accuracy of the piece’s title. It has a cool, metal inspired cover and gets bonus points for being released on one of my very favourite record labels, MEGO. Beautifully noisy and noisily beautiful. Here’s a review from Pitchfork:

When Rhino decided to reissue the entire Mego back catalog in 2022, they came across notes for alternative titles to this particular disc, Kevin Drumm’s third solo release, and first for the electronic Viennese label. Some names scribbled down (and ultimately scratched out) included: Brain Scratch Avalanche, Tooth Filling Freebaser, and Demonic Wasabi Colonic. They were all in the running until the eleventh hour it seems, each brandishing the palpable sense of (dark) power coursing through them, as well as boldly proclaiming grievous bodily harm of a most agonizing sort. All of the vetoed names had their own je ne sais quoi, I’ll admit. And yet the decided upon title conveyed the sensation succinctly, as the vagaries of the “Miasma” in the final title somehow qualified this intense listening experience.

Back in the winter of ‘ought-two, when I first heard this Kevin Drumm disc (he was still into Norwegian death metal in those days), a blizzard had just hit the city and snow was flurrying and thick on the ground. It was my first time ever through such weather conditions and I was crazy enough to venture out into it for a few thrills, with this music strapped to my head. While familiar with Drumm’s earlier work, always the aural equivalent of a “Fisherman’s Friend” (be it by prepared guitar or synthesizer), Drumm was blasting the sinuses clean and viciously chapping the knuckles with a clarity and enhanced eucalyptus flavor unfelt before. The opening glitches were mere forbearer of the whiteout to come. What roar I presumed to be outside in the cold was already inside my cavities, and I was well beyond the turning point before even reaching the front door.

Hitting the pavement, every step was treacherous, uncertain. Thinking the storm already at its apex, it took only a minute or two before I realized it was just beginning. The snow was blowing about thick, obscuring the eyes, numbing all sense extremities, and making penetrating vision impossible beyond twenty feet. The wind was a two-by-four to the face, and it was coming from both left and right channels. I turned it up to keep my ears warm, as it had already blown off my earmuffs, and the headphones were suffering, crackling under the extreme frequencies.

Vast drifts of clean, pure snow were expanding everywhere, and the white noise that flossed through the cerebellum made perfect sense, flushing out my stuffiness in a fast-acting manner. Aside from the severe nasal drainage (in public no less), there was an underlying nastiness to it all. Drumm, hiding within all that white, was not merely packing together some frozen snowballs for further assault, but opening portals of treacherous black ice underfoot. Combined with the vociferous gales, it threatened to knock me on my ass at any moment. And with the slicks all leading to vast puddles of a most heinous slush, piss-pocked and tire-gray, it took all of my balance and willpower to hold steady throughout.

The meteorological climate was quickly turning into the frozen-solid core of “The Inferno”. Nearly a twenty-five minute journey to trudge through, I shuddered at the fact that I was barely halfway home, and the conditions were only growing more ferocious. All the chained tires on the street spun like reckless turntables and cars careened into brick buildings left, right and center. The snowplows were out in full force, but they were ungrounded, buzzing and crawling ever closer, crunching rock salt and scraping towards me. It was a sound very much like the Approach of the Valkyrie’s Vacuum, sucking and forever oncoming with this gritty, hairballed roar of eternal Norse vortices. I fell into it about eighteen minutes in, and it felt like certain death-metal doom. That’s when the dental-drill blizzard of the world around me peaked, revealing the Metal Machine Music axe at its black, bloodied valentine heart. All its cold, coiled, single-string essence was finally laid bare. I was alive and kicking in its eye, feeling the beautifully brutal essence of the storm emanating out of my head. The rush felt like Valhalla, with Vikings hacked into steaming chunks on the frozen battlefield. It rocked!

Taken from/continued here.

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Kevin Drumm’s first album is amazing in that it’s solo guitar, but unlike any other solo guitar (or guitar solo for that matter) that you’re likely to hear. He doesn’t focus on guitar work anymore, having seemingly found all the logical conclusions of the instrument that he wanted to or perhaps could. This album crystallises some of the investigations into the guitar perfectly. It was recorded directly to tape in 1996 and released in 1997. It has been re-released by Thin Wrist Records.

“Looking back at Kevin through his formidably individual tunnel of works, it’s hard to remember that his first official recorded statement would be caught sneaking into bed alongside history’s milestones of “solo instrument improvisation.” Or that, in turn, it also would be caught trying to sneak out of the house built by Father Jazz, into a backyard that still hasn’t quite been fenced off yet. Those running around Chicago chasing down the sound in the mid-90’s should’ve already known about this guy and his contributions both in and out of the relative spotlight. For those far from the city winds, thankfully they might’ve gotten the message in the form of this missive. In the afterglow of later love letters titled “Sheer Hellish Miasma” and “Imperial Distortion”, it’s absolutely overdue that this first musty green postcard be dug out, polished off, and framed.

Judged by its understated title, “Self-Titled” aka “Guitar” is incredibly literal — what you hear is what you get. In the simplest considerations, the ensuing connotations and possibilities are wide open; the real-time velocity of urgent decision and movement are wrapped in a clearly-mapped compositional endurance that continues to stand firmly in the relative spotlights of this day. No surprise then, that even all these years later, we would still be trying to figure out exactly at which table Kevin should squarely sit.

They say that every kid who heard this record immediately went out and grabbed a busted guitar with a scratchy selector switch, ready to subject their friends to fuzzy pauses of amp hum. I know of at least four.”

– C. Spencer Yeh

Taken from/continued here.

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Next is COMEDY, which was released on the aforementioned Jim O’Rourke’s Moikai label. I actually got this on CD when I was in Paris visiting Dennis and Kiddiepunk a few years ago. I picked it up at the awesome (and sadly dead) Bimbo Towers record store.

Finally reissued on Jim O’rourke’s Moikai imprint. Comedy is Drumm’s third album, recorded over two years ago. It floated around in a provisional version, entitled Organ, for quite a while and caused a genuine bidding war between labels, at least five of them, which caused our Kevin to retreat in his special endearing way, and ultimately decide not to do anything at all with it. During this hibernation, Organ underwent some changes, being dissected and bisected and now including three electronically generated magnifications, bookended by the original monolithic organ recording. The album opens and closes with this would be title track, and it’s awesome. ‘Organ’ is firmly in line with monster-minimalists Tony Conrad and Phil Niblock. The recording of this could honestly be heard over a block away from his apartment. The middle pieces are, like his album Second, extrapolations of microscopic detail and will be familiar terrain to fans of Bernhard Gunter and the Mego scene. But Drumm is so all-American, his sense of intuition over form is totally there, that classic intuition that got us all the patents.

Taken from/more here.

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A prized possession is the Necro Acoustic set. Just amazing.

“Christ, where do I start with this one. I don’t for one minute claim to be a Drumm expert so there is no point reviewing this in reference to Drumm’s previous work. So I’ll simply review it as a noise fan. Necro Acoustic is a five CD box set of noise goodness released by Lasse Marhaug’s excellent Pica Disk label. As a package it is very nice indeed with the five separately titled discs a mix of old and new Drumm, noise and drone. In fact, to be fair, Necro Acoustic is five new Drumm records conveniently packaged together.

From the outset, I’ll nail my colours to the mast – Necro Acoustic is overwhelmingly brilliant. My problem is how to describe it to you with even a sliver of intelligence. Sure it is all about distortion and layers and blips but so is a Merzbow record and this, my friends, is a very different beast indeed. I don’t plan to write about all the discs but to give you a taste if what to expect my two favourite discs are Decrepit which includes tracks recorded between 1998 and 2009 and the single track record Organ from 1996.

Most tracks on Decripit are previously unreleased except for a couple at the end which appeared on vinyl in various guises. It runs the gamit from harsh noise, high-pitched drones to repetitive electronic nirvana (Totemic Saturation). What Drumm does on the majority of the track is produce sketches in manipulated and controlled distortion. It is some of the most intelligent and clever noise you may ever hear.

Organ was recorded by Jim O’Rourke in 1996 and made an appearance in an editted form on Drumm’s album Comedy. This is the first time the entire piece has made an appearance on any format. The track itself (all 50 + minutes of) shifts between mid-level drone and doom laden distortion all created with an organ and various filters and effects pedals. As a listening experience it is a strange one and the only words I can think of to describe it are it invokes a gentle malevolence. It’s the kind of drone track that begs to be played on the best equipment available.”

Taken from and continued at this rather cool blog.

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Kevin Drumm has also taken part in a load of collaborations. This one, with the always fantastic Prurient, is especially interesting to my ears.

“With so damn many records pouring out, there are precious few artists who strain against sagging shelves and actually merit the “must hear” designation. One of them for me is Kevin Drumm. Widely known “guitarist” and relentless disassembler of technique, expression, and expectation, Drumm has recorded seminal solo records (first on Perdition Plastics, then the epochal Sheer Hellish Miasma), tussled in some notable duos (with, for example, RLW with Ralf Wehowsky), and even shown up to upend some “jazz”-based sessions, with Weasel Walter and Ken Vandermark.

All Are Guests in the House of the Lord is a somewhat new trajectory for Drumm – a libretto. Paired up with Prurient (Dom Fernow), this six-part suite (once in circulation on a cassette) is moody, somber, and filled with detail. Throughout this recording, the music flirts with cheese via Hammer horror effects (Fernow’s screeching recitation of the disc’s title, or cornball synths), resulting in a sound that’s challenging in ways both successful and unsuccessful. There are passages where Drumm’s flinty musical personality – guttural feedback, metallic scrapings, and sine waves – doesn’t fit neatly with Prurient’s more cinematic, even narrative approach. But there are times when, as in “On This Slab,” it works very well indeed, drawing you into its distinct space.

I found myself rarely paying attention to the recitation (there is apparently an actual libretto, which has prompted innumerable – and to my ears somewhat sloppy – comparisons with Robert Ashley), and concentrating more on the sound of the vocals. The pieces work quite well on this level. The cavernous loops on “There Died Venus” sound like someone ripping a hole in the music. There’s very effective use of “field recordings” (kids shouting in play) on “Though the Apple is Rotten.” The rumbling setting of “In Long Rows” – with Fernow’s muffled, pitch-shifted voice – reminds of the Giant in Twin Peaks. The closing “Comes Another Brood” – what story is being told here? what slaughterhouse narrative are we being led through? – sounds like the innards of a charnel house, a voice resounding bleakly within the infernal machine. I like listening to this record without feeling compelled to answer questions about narrative, which would surely reduce its pleasures for me, though your mileage may vary.”

Taken from here.

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So that’s an introduction to Drumm’s work for those who are unfamiliar, and perhaps a reinforcement of the guy’s magnificence for those who are up to speed with him. Now it’s time to take a listen.

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Links

Kevin Drumm’s blog: http://recreationalpanick.blogspot.co.uk/.
Kevin Drumm’s Bandcamp page: http://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/.

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p.s. Hey. It’s the weekend, which gives you a relatively awesome amount of time to get to know, or, if you’re already knowledgeable, luxuriate in the work of the fantastic music maker Kevin Drumm, all courtesy of the savvy and bright-eyed scribe and d.l. Thomas Moronic. A thorough delve is highly recommended! Thank you ever so much, Thomas. ** Sickly, Hey. Oh, wow, thanks. The magical ingredient is one of those magical ingredients that only work if the person(s) for whom it’s intended doesn’t know what it is, and, on top of that, the magic was only for Zac, sorry. Thank you about the novella. Yeah, I’m extremely interested in the form. The narratives can be constructed effectively, I think, but they’re damaged by the limitations of the source materials and by the associations the original materials have, which one can work with or try to erase/destroy by how you position them, and the damage becomes as important to the narrative as the ‘story’, and, most excitingly of all, I think the rhythms of the gifs themselves are really important, and combining the rhythms, by which I mean both the actual thump/looping tempo and the rigid visual movement, the simultaneously alerting/hypnotizing effect of the strict, repeating movement, side to side, back and forth, deeper and towards the surface, and how that movement effects the eye, and how you can work with the difficulty of making the eye negotiate really conflicting movements/rhythms. I don’t know. That may make no sense, but I think the form is extremely interesting to work in and kind of serious in a way. I get that about ‘Goldeneye’. I mean I get why that would be exciting and interesting. Yeah, sure. I don’t know ‘Counterstrike’. ** Tosh Berman, Right, I think you did mention that Japan creates an actual thoroughfare. What can’t Japan do, I wonder? Thank you. Ashbery is known here. The fact that he lived here for a while, and his translation work, and his championing of Roussel and other French writers in the US, and his status as an immense, important English language poet is known. There was an Ashbery celebration/conference here a few years ago. But he has been barely translated. My French publisher POL is his publisher here, and I think they’ve put out one or maybe two books by him, and when I expressed my excitement to them about that, they said that the work was almost impossible to translate with any loyalty to the work. So, I think he’s read here mostly in English and pretty much only by people whose English is good enough to get it. ** David Ehrenstein, Thanks. Yeah, well, he’s one of those writers whose work is overwhelmingly influenced by French lit but whose work is, at the same time, incredibly American, and the transference of his stuff into French is apparently impossible without massive compromises. Incredibly weird to mention myself in light of Ashbery, but, for instance, in terms of French-originated work being anathema re: the French language, my ‘Marbled Swarm’, my French novel, is proving to be basically impossible to translate. It’s on its third translator now after the first two translators couldn’t find a way to do it, and it may well end up being abandoned entirely. Oh, Van Dyke Parks, I can see that. ** Steevee, Hi. Him doing Roxy Music would be very curious, it’s true. ** Bill, Hi. Thanks about the hands. I hoped so. The Iceland plan is that, first, we go to NYC for ‘Kindertotenlieder’ and also for NYC fun/exploration, and also to document a Fujiko Nakaya fog sculpture that’s currently on view upstate at the Philip Johnson House for our documentary film on Nakaya’s work. Then we’ll fly to Iceland where we’ll rent a 4X4 vehicle and spend about 10, 11 days driving around the circumference of Iceland exploring it via auto, feet, snowmobile, etc. as much as we can, as well as hopefully getting as close as possible to the erupting volcano, and then we’ll spend a couple of days in Reykjavik checking it out before heading back to Paris. Should be really incredibly, obviously. You as Tom Waits is an exciting idea, although sorry, of course, about the reason. You have recorded or will record yourself in this state, won’t you? ** Sypha, Oh, shit. I try hard to avoid gifs from those TV shows everyone watches and talks about, but, since I’ve never seen them, I do accidentally end up incorporating gifs from recognizable sources with pre-set strong associations, and I hate when that happens. Oh well. Wowzer, 900 pages, my head hurts. Cool that the book is being fruitful in your head, though. ** Thomas Moronic, Hey, Monsieur. Oh, you know, I just this morning realized that I might never have told you that I was launching the Kevin Drumm post this weekend, and, if that’s true, I apologize. My memory was fusty for a bit there. Anyway, it’s amazing, thank you! Thank you about the gif novella. Yeah, as I’ve said, I’m really excited about the form and working in it. You should write that Crystal Castles thing. They were kind of sublime and perfect in a way. My weekend should be nice. I still haven’t seen ‘Stranger by the Lake’, and I really need to. How was it? What’s the collaborative project? ** Kier, Hi, King Kier! Thank you about the novella. Wow, that’s so weird and meticulous or something that the diagnosis will take that long. Wow, I don’t understand medical stuff at all. Or official psychological stuff either. Cool, I hope you get it quicker. Weird, it’s like, what do they call it in the legal system, …’time served’? Oh, COD meant ‘care of delivery’, and it probably was never an international thing even when it was common, which was basically pre-Fed Ex and all of that kind of stuff. Please do save me a zine. Today is finally the day I’ll listen to the new Iceage, excited! Pizza! Oh, wait, C+, never mind. My day was okay. Worked a bit. This and that. Phone stuff. Zac and I were supposed to get the organized footage for our film yesterday evening, but the guy who did it kind of fucked up and used a very old version of Final Cut Pro which isn’t compatible with Zac’s up-to-date version, so the guy has to redo it or rather reformat it so it can be imported into Zac’s version, which will take until Monday, and that was very frustrating. And, until then, Zac’s going to try to track down an old version Final Cut Pro so he can at least start looking at the footage. Anyway, that sucked because we were really excited and raring to start editing. I was putting together my upcoming LA spooky house post for the blog, and I found this homemade haunted house being done by these kids and their dad in their garage, and they’re trying to raise a little bit of money through Kickstarter to do it, and it’s really cool because it has an actual hand-built dark ride in the spooky house, which I’ve never seen before, so I donated a little money to the cause. When I checked this morning, they’re getting close to their funding goal, so that’s good. Otherwise, mm, not much. How was this weekend in regards to your life and your fun and your art and your happiness, my pal? ** Zach, Thanks, Zach! Its true, the gif is really, really interesting thing, I think. Weirdly unnerving and complex and fraught and all these other things that don’t make sense relative to how simple they are. And I find combining and juxtaposing them to create narratives really, really interesting. Oh, wow, cabin! Just to chill and be one with nature and that kind of stuff? Don’t walk too far away to pee. Or I wouldn’t. Have fun! ** _Black_Acrylic, Thank you kindly, Ben. Glad the event was fun even with the sadness. Sadness and fun can be really cool combination, though, sometimes. Inspiring or something. I don’t know about ‘Ida’. Hm, think I’ll not chase it down. ** Paul Curran, Hi, Paul! Me too, about feeling better. And thank you ever so much about my gif novella! How are you? What’s going on? Was the typhoon intense in Tokyo? ** Rewritedept, I would think 13 might be a wee bit young for my stuff, or for a large proportion of the 13 year-old set probably. I’ve never been to Iceland before. No, didn’t get my Indian food fix. Soon. Quesadilla sounds sweet. I eat them pretty much every day. Super easy to make. I missed the CA/LfL show because I was sick. Ace about your mom’s job! ** Misanthrope, You’re making the whirling ball of twink knives?! Oh, you’re not. Hard to do. Maybe it would work as something to create in language. Ooh. Tempting. The only reason I’m not gong to steal that idea from you is that it won’t fit in my novel, Or … hm, Question: just in case, can I steal it from you? Ha ha, no, Zac’s fear factor and mine are pretty much aligned, meaning no, he survived the novella in one piece. Amis winning the Nobel? Hm, I guess weirder things have happened. Maybe not many, ha ha. ** Jonathan, Hi, J! Thanks a lot, man. Yeah, Chapter 12 was kind of the centerpiece or godhead of the novella or something maybe. So glad you loved the hunting museum! One of the world’s great treasures, that place. Yeah, let’s talk today and make tomorrow’s plan. Excited to see you and that you get to meet Zac and that you’re up for helping his friend and about everything else! ** Okay. Kevin Drumm, amazing, Mr. Moronic, amazing. You’re all set for the weekend. Enjoy, See you on Monday.

* excepting L.A. which will get its own post.

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The Dent Schoolhouse
Cincinnati

‘The Dent Schoolhouse was once an actual school, but over the years it served as a home for several different businesses including a machine shop and a dry dock. Then for many years it became a haunted house run by the local Boy Scout troop, until 2005 when they sold the place to Bud Stross, Josh Wells and Chuck Stross. Formerly home haunters, the team had spent several years planning the leap to pro haunting and had attended many shows and seminars in preparation for opening an event. When they built this haunt they really had a clear plan in mind and it showed: create a very tight theme weaving the building and the design of everything from the scenes to the marketing into one cohesive story. The building is much larger than it at first seems as a vast area in the back extends the floor space enormously. Here the rooms expand in size, one of the first being a rather large auditorium full of seats and prom decorations. One of my favorite scenes in this section was the garage featuring an actual car, with a poor victim shoved in the trunk. The tools, the car parts, the walls of old license plates are just cool, hundreds and hundreds of props in just one room. The space is well used as you wind around the garage though a series of chain link partitions. I was amazed at how much work went into securing these props to the various surfaces, most of which are located where the public can touch them. Often VERY fine wires wrap almost imperceptibly around them creating a firm anchor but giving the illusion of being casually tossed down by a mechanic.’ — Haunt World

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Nightmare: New York
New York City

‘Nightmare: New York, a haunted house opening Friday in the Lower East Side, will explore the darker side of the city’s history and mythology — including a walk through the crime-ridden subway of the 1980s. The spooky trip back in time includes a ride on a graffiti-covered subway car with “criminals rambling around” and an encounter with the “mole people” who live underground. “They can experience the horrors of that era in a sick way,” said co-director John Harlacher. The attraction’s horrors also include a “demented rat section” that includes a “rat king” — a ball of rodents stuck together by blood and bodily fluids — as well as the paranormal ghosts of the Dakota, a co-op located on 72nd Street and Central Park West, said Harlacher. The haunted house on Suffolk Street will feature 13 different areas, each covering a specific NYC horror story or urban legend, said Harlacher, who grew up in Brooklyn but now lives in Harlem. Other scares include a visit to Melrose Hall in Brooklyn, which was built in the 1730s and sold to a British colonel who allegedly tortured colonists in his basement and imprisoned an Iroquois girl in a secret room. Nightmare: New York will admit groups of six to 10 people at a time, according to its website. Going through the entire attraction should take about 20 to 25 minutes, Harlacher said. Those looking for an especially frightening time can also mark their forehead with the letter X. The mark lets the house’s 38 actors know that person is up for slightly scarier experience.’ — DNAInfo New York

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Dead Acres Haunted Hoochie
Patatskala, Ohio

‘Dead Acres is advertised as “The Worlds Most Extreme Haunted House”. This is a strange haunted attraction that is working hard to make you sick. Tickets are $25. This is not your typical haunt attraction. It is very “hands on” and you should expect to be touched, grabbed, and maybe even choked or dragged. They set out to stand out. Dead Acres is a full sensory assault. Taking you by the neck or leg or crotch and dragging you down the rabbit hole & into the realm of a heart pounding in your face horror show. This year they feature a simulated live demon birth. If you do not want to see this, don’t buy a ticket. Their fans expect them to step it up a notch and be cutting edge, and that’s what this is. This is not church. This is the Haunted Hoochie. WORKING HARD TO MAKE YOU SICK.’ — collaged

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Albany Haunt
Albany

‘Sam DuBois has loved All Hallow’s Eve pretty much all of his life. When he was 10, he constructed a haunted house in the basement of his house. When he was 12, he set up a graveyard in the yard, complete with a witch’s cauldron. So now, at the ripe old age of 13, he’s an old hand at the holiday. But he’s also upping the ante. This year, DuBois has set up a full haunted house in the driveway of his house at 1048 Peralta Ave. “We have over eight animations, six skeletons,” said DuBois, sounding like a Disney imagineer. “Over 500-square-feet of fear. People popping out around every corner and you can’t see because of fog. When you’re outside, there’s thunder and lightning going on.” The theme is a hillbilly haunted house, something DuBois cooked up last year when he began planning. DuBois began buying up marked-down Halloween supplies right after last year’s holiday. He created a floor plan and spent much of the summer building parts of the house. He recruited volunteers to perform in the house. And how long does it take to go through the house? “It depends on how fast you run,” DuBois said.’ — Contra Costa Times

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House of Shock
New Orleans

‘Far more than a mere “haunted house,” House of Shock was started by Phil Anselmo, front man for heavy metal rock group Pantera, and two friends, in one of their backyards. After initial success, it moved to one of their grandmother’s backyards for more room, then a rented warehouse, and now 22 years later it has been rated the Number One haunted attraction in the country by an industry publication, gets thousands of loyal visitors each weekend, and resembles a county fair devoted to gore, a small village with retail area, games, bar, restaurant, and the main event, which includes a live pyrotechnic stage show, followed by a walk through the House and more than a dozen elaborate Hollywood-style sets, ranging from a zombie infest graveyard to Satanic Church, complete with live actors and automated creeps. Despite its impressive run and long success, House of Shock is coming to an end after more than two decades – this is the final season and curtain call for the soon to close attraction.’ — Forbes

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Fear Overload’s Scream Park
San Francisco

‘These ‘R’ Rated attractions are far different than normal haunted houses. Fear Overload’s owner Nathan Polanco explains, “We had to make it R-Rated, it’s so unspeakably terrifying that we can’t let kids or young teens to go through.” At Fear Overload, customers are given only one dim flashlight to journey through the horror. Nathan promises, “We have created the most jaw-dropping, horrifying haunted houses in all of California.” In their newest haunted attraction this year, AbusementPark, customers make their own path through the haunted fair grounds of BaylorAmusement Park. Wandering through this once friendly amusement park, they encounter what lurks behind the walls in this horrific place. Polanco explains, “In the Abusement Park, the legend goes that Sally Baker, a local schoolgirl, hanged herself in its bathroom stalls. Ever since then, the fairgrounds have been haunted.”’ — Horror Society

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The Cult
North Conway, New Hampshire

’18+, Must Enter Alone, Encounter Live Animals, Edibles, Extreme Violence, Sexual Undertones, Must Sign a Waiver, There is a Safe Word, Extreme Physical Contact. To reach the The Cult, one must ride a very old, creaky chair lift to the top of a mountain. Once there you must stumble around in the woods looking for anything. Eventually, you will see a lighted cabin. Upon arriving, you will be blinded with a flashlight and temporarily deafened with headphones that will speak to you shortly, and you on your way to the purest horror Halloween has ever created.’ — collaged

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Tayman Graveyard
Midlothian, TX

‘Tayman Graveyard is located in Midlothian Texas, a short drive south of Dallas and Fort Worth on the site of the old Addamsville Terror Complex. Comprised of 4 haunted attractions and many themed areas, Tayman Graveyard is an intense experience that will make you check in the closet and under the bed before climbing in at night. Run, designed, operated and performed by a local Boy Scout troop, Tayman’s charms will depend on your interest in the dark undercurrents in teenaged boys’ fantasies. Dressed, sometimes barely, in ragged costumes that leave uncomfortably little about their bloodied bodies to the imagination, they scream, attack, tell horrible jokes, attempt to molest the teenaged girls in attendance and issue homoerotic challenges and offers to the boys and men. Upon having their advances rejected, and, in the case of the girls and men in my group, rejected only because of the haunt’s ‘no touch’ policy, they turn on themselves, cutting their arms or using dangling prop nooses to hang themselves. Definitely the strange haunted attraction you ever will see.’ — collaged

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Freakling Bros: Gates Of Hell
Las Vegas

‘While walking through the Gates of Hell attraction, I watched a camouflaged attacker appear out of nowhere, grab my colleague by the foot, then knock her down and drag her away down a long hallway. I was left alone in the darkness until the attacker came back for me and threw me over his shoulder. We also faced electric shocks, professional wrestlers, and a firing squad. Freaklings Bros’ now offers The Victim Experience, an uncensored, more extreme way to experience Gates of Hell. The Victim Experience is only for those over the age of 18 and you must go through alone. Participants will experience extreme physical contact, light torture, simulated drowning, and more.’ — ravenblack.com

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Cutting Edge
Fort Worth

‘Located in a 100-year-old abandoned meat packing plant in a section of Fort Worth historically dubbed as “Hell’s Half Acre,” the Cutting Edge Haunted House is built upon a foundation of fear. The meat packing equipment from the Old West is still in use, but now it is a two-story human processing area. Realistic looking human mannequins are hoisted up to the second level and brought through the entire meat packing process until the conveyor system brings the butchered corpses back to the first level. The old meat-packing plant in downtown Fort Worth is a great home for the fantastic special effects that our loyal customers have come to expect.” It takes visitors an average 55 minutes to explore Cutting Edge Haunted House. The walk-through is replete with frighteningly-realistic props. Cutting Edge Haunted House has established a reputation for being one of the best haunted houses in the nation. The new Guinness World Record has helped to solidify Cutting Edge Haunted House’s standing as the largest walkthrough haunted house in the United States. Come see what new horrors lurk in the twisting corridors of Fort Worth’s ultimate haunted house.’ — Cutting Edge

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McKamey Manor
San Diego

‘McKamey Manor is an insanely extreme home haunt. It uses scare tactics that are off limits to professional attractions. Participants are covered in blood, forced to eat disgusting things, threatened with power tools and stuffed into a clothes dryer. Did we mention the experience lasts for 2-3 hours?! So epic. After signing a liability waiver, you’re warned with a self-penned poem of the bodily harm you are about to endure. You will be touched, grabbed, bumped, bruised and possibly even cut. And scared out of your mind. If there’s one thing McKamey Manor is known for, it’s water. They like to blast you with misters, douse you with garden hoses and push you into kiddie pools. And then they dump gallons of blood on you.’ — collaged

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House of the Haunted
Savannah

‘On a spooky scale of 1 to 10, Chase Anthony Davis says his haunted house should score an 8. On Wednesday, the 18-year-old aspiring artist opens his “House of the Haunted” to the public. Davis began building the homemade haunted house in his parents’ Battery Point backyard about three weeks ago. He’s hoping the free attraction will help get him into college. “I’ve always been an aspiring director and producer of the arts,” Davis said. “This Halloween, I decided to structure a haunted house for free, get my name out there and see what I can do.” He recruited his parents, two sisters, a cousin and seven friends to staff the project. “He just loves this kind of stuff,” said Davis’s 21 year-old sister Caryn. “This is his thing.” Davis hopes the project will attract the attention of arts colleges, particularly the Savannah College of Art and Design, where he plans to apply for a scholarship. Since 2006, Davis has taken classes online through Ashworth University High School, based in Norcross. He expects to receive his high school diploma in the spring. Davis also works full time at Tradewinds Ice Cream and Coffee on Wilmington Island.’ — savannahnow.com

Watch the video here

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The Unknown @ Shocktoberfest
Sinking Spring, PA

‘Created by Professor Strangeways and his dedicated assistant Malinda Montague, your journey into the Unknown will overwhelm your senses! Themed in Steampunk, you’ll encounter various fears and phobias augmented through the use of advance audio and 3D video technology. This haunted house is like no other in the world! But be warned, it is said the creators will stop at nothing to better understand what scares you! Not scary enough for you so far? Then know that you can and, dare we say, must experience The Unknown with zero protection by taking the Naked and Scared Challenge. If you’re brave enough, you must tour The Unknown wearing nothing and completely nude! See if you have Gymnophobia — the fear of being naked. This will heighten your vulnerability allowing the creators to take fear to a whole new level! Participants must be 18 years of age or older and must sign a waiver. No sexual misconduct, inappropriate or disrespectful behavior will be tolerated.’ — collaged

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Haunted Overload
Lee, New Hampshire

‘The Haunted Overload folks just do excellent work. They’re bringing a level of creativity that’s better than anything else I’ve seen anywhere (with possible exception of Blackout in NYC, but that’s a completely different adults-only thing those guys are doing…). Haunted Overload fits together with a really nice vibe – they “get it” in a way most of the bigger budget places don’t usually seem to. So much cooler to have all the DIY stuff instead of a bunch of rubber corpses, fake blood and animatronics. The fog, the pumpkins, the trees, the woods, the sounds – it all comes together the way a good painting does. And it all takes place inside a giant skull-shaped, multi-level labryrinth that they built themselves. A really good spooky Halloween feel. And plenty of scares. Good ones beyond the standard just jump-out-and-say-boo stuff.’ — collaged

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The Basement
Pittsburgh

‘The Basement does contain sexualized content but none of it is meant to simulate or even come close to sexual assault. The goal is to push you outside of your comfort zone and for a lot of people that means confronting sexual content in a new or unaccustomed way. Americans are very uptight about sex and sexuality, they are even frightened of it, so including scenes that put people in sexualized situations is going to really push them to think about their own boundaries (one of the goals of the Basement is that people will learn more about themselves). The Basement tries to keep those two things separate. Sexual assault is not the ‘fun’ kind of scare, it’s just scary. Also in the basement there are no female victims (seen commonly elsewhere). All of the female characters are strong and in control in their scenes, again this was really very important. I loved some rooms in The Basement – but when it comes to borderline sexual assault – even if that wasn’t the intent — it’s gone too far —- at least, for me.’ — Jezebel

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Ultimate Haunted Barn of Blood
Ypsilanti Township, MI

‘Within these walls are the remains of the legend of Wiard’s Apple Thieves: As the story goes, the thieves were looting the barn when bad fortune fell upon them. A hungry bear wandered into the barn looking for a midnight snack. Little did he know he’d found more than fresh apples to satisfy his appetite. Unfortunately for the thieves, the bear blocked the only way out so there was no chance of escape. They tried in vain to scare him off, which only drew his attention toward them. The bear made quick work of the 3 thieves with his mighty claws and, once they were no longer breathing, he dragged their bodies atop of a large pile of apples. With no discrimination, they were torn limb from limb and soon there was no way to tell shredded flesh from the shredded apples. Once his stomach was full of thief-meat, and his lips were wet with blood and juice, he went back into the orchard and lumbered off into the night. Unfortunately, the next day was Sunday so nobody came to work. By the time they found the bodies on Monday the stench was putrid. They decided that since there was no means of identifying who the thieves were they would bury the shredding remains in the floor, seal the barn and let the sands of time cover the memory of the gruesome event. Sometime around Halloween in 1984, the barn was opened again out of necessity. It’s dark history was long forgotten. Workers didn’t think anything of the odd noises and flickering lights to begin with but then the whispers and screams came. The thieves never escaped their fate…will you?’ — hauntedhousemichigan.com

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Sandy Hill Haunted House
Ottawa

‘For the past four years 14-year-old Canterbury High School student Gabriel Roberge has been decorating his family’s Sandy Hill front yard for Halloween. This year’s haunted house takes visiting trick-or-treaters through a harrowing two-minute adventuring including a grisly butcher, glow-in-the-dark clowns, a demented girl with an axe, a man with a chainsaw, and lots and lots of blood. This year’s attraction, bearing the subtitle sKreamers, is promised to be this morbid and creative boy’s most ambitious and horrifying experience yet. “People will speak ill of it for centuries,” Roberge announces.’ — ottawacitizen.com

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Netherworld
Norcross

‘The path through Netherworld is longer than six football fields. There are more than 450 special effects and animatronic creatures at Netherworld, including an 80-foot spinning tunnel, more than two dozen giant monsters, a 60-foot rocking room and in 2014 — more than four dozen ghostly projections. Netherworld contains many sets and props for major movies, including chainsaws from Zombieland, massive candelabras from Van Helsing, a complete basement set from the soon to be released Prisoners starring Hugh Jackman, and additional props and sets from movies such as Pet Sematary 2, The Mummy and Saw, to name just a few. Netherworld icon creature creator Bill “Splat” Johnson’s handiwork can been seen in dozens of movies and TV shows including Eight Legged Freaks, Halloween 2, Zombieland, The Sleepaway Camp sequels, Catching Fire and “The Walking Dead.” Netherworld employs more than 300 people every Halloween season. Many celebrities have visited Netherworld, including Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, CM Punk, Chandler Riggs, Evander Hollyfield, Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, three-time Oscar winning makeup artist Ve Neill, Andre 3000 of Outkast, Jermanie Dupree and Bow Wow. Netherworld is widely considered one of the scariest and best haunted attractions in the world and has been included in countless top haunt lists over the years, including number one rankings in Fangoria, USA Today and Hauntworld magazine.’ — norcross.11alive.com

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? House
near Huntsville

‘You are among a select group invited to attend the most disturbing Halloween haunted house attraction in history. It will take place at 8 pm, Halloween night. At 7 pm, you will receive an email directing you to the location of the attraction. Do not attempt to reply to this email. The address will be disabled upon the issuing of these invitations. If you choose to attend, the cost of the attraction is $300. You will tour the attraction in a small group. Perhaps you will notice an ingratiating young German tourist among your number who will introduce himself as Ralf. Do not become overly attached to him. Upon entering the attraction, Ralf will be assaulted and kidnapped from your group by a handful of the haunt’s performers. After some time, you will be allowed to follow. You will find yourself at an auction where Ralf will be sold to the highest bidder among five unsavoury men. Once the sale is complete, you will follow Ralf and his new owner into a terrifying torture chamber. You will be seated, gagged, secured to your chairs and forced to watch the torture and murder of Ralf by his owner. The length of this scene could take several hours. When Ralf is dead, all witnesses including you will be executed. Somehow you will barely survive your execution. Your body will be wrapped in plastic and loaded onto the back of a truck. You will be left alone for precisely 30 seconds. If you wish to take an early escape from the attraction, that will be the time. Those who choose to stay will be driven into a forest and buried alive in a mass grave. Your murderers will then drive away. If you can escape the grave, you will be free to find your way back to your cars. It won’t be easy. The attraction will end at approximately 5 am.’ — anonymous email

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Unhinged in the Haunted Basement
Minneapolis

‘Descend into the nightmarish depths of The Soap Factory’s Haunted Basement and explore the terrifying world of Unhinged. Unhinged uses a brand new immersive structure leaving patrons no safety net. Don’t worry, there is still a safe-word, so practice saying “Uncle” now. Each patron wears a mask and assembles into a group before plunging into the nightmarish, subterranean world of Unhinged. Every patron forges their own path, sealing their fate at each twist and turn. All bets are off during Unhinged. Stand your ground? Stay with your friends? Venture on through the darkness? This terrifying journey promises to keep you on the edge of crying “Uncle” all night long. Each patron must wear a light-weight plastic mask for the duration of their experience. We strongly suggest patrons wear contact lenses instead of glasses.’ — The Soap Factory

*

p.s. Hey. Continued slow improvement on my end, but my head is still quite fuzzy so don’t expect too much from me in the p.s. yet, okay? ** Douglas Payne, Hi, Douglas. No, Peter was just here and made noises about giving me copy of the book, but then I got sick, so … I’ll pick it up. Memory says that I’ve only read Bidart here and there in various places. I don’t trust my head at the moment, though. I’ll make a note to look at that particular collection. Thank you. ** David Ehrenstein, I still could maybe be in the Grandieux, but I would need to be very healthy by Friday, and that’s a question mark at this point. ** Scunnard, Ha ha. ** Sypha, Perfect on the twin weekends. ** Steevee, Hi. Yeah, antibiotics and some other supplementary stuff. I was hoping I would bounce back immediately, but the infection was/is pretty bad. At least the improvement is happening. Oh, I suppose you’re right about the cover images. Interesting. I was just imbedding videos, so I didn’t really get a look at them. Look forward to the book review. In my experience, yeah, ‘the tendency to rely on musical comfort food’ increases as one gets older rather hugely. I feel pretty unusual in not having embraced that route at my age, yeah. It’s always scared me, I’ve been very careful to try not to let nostalgia pollute my opinions and aesthetic. And, for whatever, it doesn’t come naturally to me. I’ve always been more into the excitement and promise of the new than the comfort of the familiar or of the previously understood and registered. For better or worse. There’s no right or wrong there, obviously. ** Damien Ark, Cool, man, thanks a lot again. I’ll give you the date for the part 2-like post really soon. ** Mark Doten, Hi, Mark. Thank you a lot. Oh, I saw an email from you, but, with this sickness thing, I haven’t had it in me to open email in a while, but I will soon. Take care. ** Thomas Moronic, Hi, T. Yeah, it should be all upwards from here on, I hope. The Twin Peaks news was of course exciting and intriguing even if I’m already tired of the shared social media excitement and ready for actual news: cast, etc. ** Etc etc etc, You saw Yellow Tears, ha ha, cool. Thanks, it seems like I’m getting better. Fingers crossed re: ‘Vape’ and the CCM Mainline thing, for sure. I’ll be in NYC for ‘Kindertotenlieder’, yeah. I’m not sure how social/or and around I’ll be yet. Too early to tell. ** _Black_Acrylic, Thank you, Ben, and your excitement about the Art101 method of progress is palpable and really nice. ** Cal Graves, Hi. Yeah, I hardly ever get sick, but, when I do, I tend to get fucking whomped. Thanks, man. Doc says I should be gradually returning to normal day by day, so hopefully in a couple of days I’ll be whoever I actually am again, ha ha. ** Keaton, Hey. Your new things looks really good. I think by tomorrow I should have the brain available to actually explore and appreciate your makings, so try not to delete them yet, okay? Everyone, now that you’ve tried Halloween season DC’s style, go try Halloween season Keaton’s style. It’s called ‘Satan’. It’s here. It starts, ‘Pits of bones, sex rooms, child-abuse, child-prostitution, cutting, disease, human sacrifice, drugs, brutal murders, sacred objects, faces in doors, Heavy Metal music, hysteria, the manifestation of Satan himself!’ Yeah, lungs are serious. I’m definitely getting that, ha ha. ** Sickly, Hi. I think I’m turning the corner right now. That’s the idea. I haven’t properly inhaled a cigarette in a week for the obvious reasons, and my brain is a deep, deep haze partly for that reason, so I don’t feel like I know a lot of things that I either actually do know or should know. It’s okay about the Jezebel thing. That whole situation has evolved from an interesting, important conversation being held by people in the scene who knew the people involved to some degree and cared personally about them/it into a grotesque mess of distortions and accusations and censorship and bullying and exploitation by outside Alt Lit-haters and hard-ass activists, and it’s just incredibly depressing to see. I played ‘Super Smash Brothers’, I think. But again, yeah, it just made me bored and antsy. ‘Un Lac’ is my favorite! ** Misanthrope, Hi. It was funny? That’s weird. Thanks I guess. ** Rewritedept, Grumpy? Certainly possible, I guess. Antibiotics, other meds, yeah. Green tea, yeah, doing that. Thanks. It would be good to have a job that’s better for your mental health. I may be sick and fuzzed out, but I know that. The only good news I need is news from my own lungs and brain to the rest of me, so no worries. ** Okay. If I were running wild and free in the US this month, those are the haunted house attractions I would do whatever it took to check out. Those of you who are near any of those attractions really should think about taking advantage of your sublime proximity and checking them out both for your own sakes and in order to tell me how they were. Thank you. See you tomorrow.