Album Review: Orson Welles's 1938 War of the Worlds Broadcast

Rating: 5/5

Its October! Here's something to get that Halloween mood going.

In 1938 Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater did a live radio broadcast of their radio adaptation of H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds. With only two station identifications throughout the 60+ minute broadcast, listeners tuning into the middle of the adaptation became convinced that what they were hearing was actually happening. Panic ensued as many individuals were convinced that Earth was being invaded by Martians and destroying the planet.

Granted, no one really knows exactly how widespread this panic was and numbers vary, but this broadcast and the panic it caused reached newspapers across the world and did much for Welles's fame and notoriety. This broadcast is cleverly put together not simply as an adaptation that exists merely for entertainment, but they put in news broadcasts, music, and other things to make the adaptation sound genuinely like a radio program that is interrupted by news of a martian invasion. It's not surprising that it caused a panic; listening to the broadcast gives the listener a sense of dread as innocuous reports of gas jets from mars turn into broadcasts from army soldiers that go silent as they are killed from martian heat rays.

The fall season and cooler nights are approaching and this is a nice broadcast to listen to with a cool drink and a nice autumnal breeze blowing.


Orson Welles 1938 Broadcast: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 , Part 5 , Part 6 , Part 7

Album Review: Earth - Hex, or Printing in the Infernal Method

Hex, or Printing in the Infernal Method by Earth
Release Date: October 2005
Length: 46:29 (61:35 on vinyl)
Label: Southern Lord
Buy the Album: Amazon
Album Rating: 5/5






As I just saw Earth play live in Nashville Saturday (which was amazing) I thought I would put up a review of one of my favorite albums by them. (I was going to review it eventually, but why not now?)

After a long hiatus Earth comes back onto the scene with a new album and direction. Where previously their music was heavy metal/drone, their new album, while keeping elements of drone (long notes, slightly minimalistic, no vocals), has a distinct western flair and the guitar is less sludgy, along with the inclusion of drums, traditional instruments, and experimentation.

While I was initially turned onto the drone genre by SunnO))) I later discovered Earth through this album and it has consistently stayed in my album rotation and is one of my top albums. The best way I can describe this album is that if a ghost town from the 1840s in the middle of Kansas had a soundtrack, this album would be it. This album reminds me of an Ennio Morricone soundtrack for a revisionist western. Haunting at times, this album mixes complex guitar work, ambiance, and traditional drone into a compelling album.

I highly recommend checking this album out. The link below is perhaps not the best playlist to listen to the album as all the tracks are shortened, but they are enough to get a good idea about their music if you want to investigate further. Which, if you do, I don't think you will be disappointed. This album was supposedly influenced by Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian and would perhaps be apropos to listen to this while reading that, though I think this album is great background music while reading in general.


Hex, or Printing in the Infernal Method Youtube Playlist

Album Review: Coil - Time Machines

Time Machines by Coil
Release Date: January 1998
Length: 73:32
Tracks: 4
Label: Eskaton
Rating: 4.5/5









This will be one of the occasional album reviews on this blog and I should state a few things before I continue with the review. The point of many of these albums is to try and review albums that could serve as background music while reading a novel, or, justified as 'dystopic' by my twisted logic. I would make the argument that probably a large majority of people will not like the music, as it is often soundscape, drone, or otherwise (arguably) repetitive or questionable as music as its traditionally understood. I like drone as it serves as white noise in a way for me, to keep that part of my mind easily distracted by other things ...well... distracted and I can focus on reading or, as is most often the case, writing.

Time Machines is a electronic drone album by Coil, a leading band in industrial drone and experimental music. The album consists primarily of differing levels of synthesizer drones that oscillate at differing rates. Supposedly the concept behind this album is to facilitate time travel, should the process ever come about. Regardless of all that, the tracks do seem to provide the soundtrack to what one would witness should they time travel as seen in the time machine films.

Other than I suppose the general categorization as electronic drone music to build a layered wall of sound, I can't think of much else to describe it. The electronic music is not the harsh tones seen in a lot of techno music, rather a unrelenting thrumming tones that last for minutes upon minutes.

Definitely I would categorize this as background music and it definitely isn't for everyone. My personal favorite is track four. The CD is OOP but I will put links up to the tracks on you tube for those interested.

Track 1: 7-Methoxy-ß-Carboline: (Telepathine)
Track 2: 2,5-Dimethoxy-4-Ethyl-Amphetamine: (DOET/Hecate)
Track 3: 5-Methoxy-N, N-Dimethyltryptamine: (5-MeO-DMT)
Track 4: 4-Indolol, 3-[2-(Dimethylamino)Ethyl], Phosphate Ester: (Psilocybin)