The Narrator is acting strangely, but why? Don’t worry. It’s unimportant. Even if you think it’s actually the most important thing you are quite wrong. Actually, what you should be paying attention to is the portal that’s opened up behind the young scholar Simone’s head for it is a portal into hell itself, one that is crying out for it will have the girls Simone and, dare I sat it? Boo Boo?

Download Podcast here or click below to listen.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Podcast: Download

The year is 1903 and something has happened to the narrator, and Satan is very definitely in control of the story. Simone is floating above her bed and saying horrible things in a strange voice, while down below Butcher Billy is receiving a warm welcome in the front hall. Also, in case you’ve forgotten, Grammar Instructor Gundrun is slowly transforming into a more demonic being, and Handyman Jack is a cannibalist. At some point in the below episode Archibald the Professor of Arcane Knowledge uses his powers to transport Butcher Billy out onto the moors. Keep this in mind.

Download Podcast here or click below to listen.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Podcast: Download

I guess 2009 is officially Animal Hospital’s coming out party. I first became smitten (and rightly so) by the release of Memory on the illustrious Barge imprint and apparently this little puppy preceded Memory by a month, so it looks like I am taking in the releases in reverse order. Of course, this matters not at all. A cursory listen to either album would quickly lead a listener to the other release on the basis of sheer goodness. Oh Animal Hospital, will you never stop healing our poor pets and wild Earthly co-inhabitants? Hopefully not. Good or Plenty, Streets + Avenues is a wonderful addition to the Animal Hospital repertoire that was presented on Memory. The album avoids the lengthy, dramatic surgeries displayed on that release and instead focuses on the standard day to day operations of animal hospitalateering: daily check-ups, medicine prescriptions, happy customers. GorP,S+A is a light hearted dip into the joys of healing animals via layers and layers of homespun loops. As a refresher for those who were unable to wade through my lengthy review of Memory (or simply missed it altogether), Animal Hospital is not “Animal Hospitals.” It is a single edifice and as such is the pseudonym designated for a single musician from Boston named Kevin Micka. Micka’s work here is built around his slowly evolving and elaborate looping of guitars, percussion and electronics. Unlike Memory, GorP,S+A steers clear of weighty crescendos and instead offers beautifully intricate character sketches with each track. In a way, this kind of meandering structure is harder to pull off, but Micka proves ownership of a keen ear and adept musicianship by executing each track with the utmost precision and always keeping things interesting. Good or Plenty, Streets + Avenues is one of those rare albums I’ve found that I can always listen to even when nothing else will do. Really solid work.

Simone still remains in the infirmary, her mind becoming less and less her own, and more and more a place populated by demons while Boo Boo and the boy from the preparatory school down the lane look on, but we will not witness this scene today because the narrator is currently in the midst of a struggle himself, a polite conversation between his own will and that of the dark lord, while the Headmistress and her staff give Jack’s childhood friend a warm welcome in the front hall.

Download Podcast here or click below to listen.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Podcast: Download

 

Lineland and Animal Hospital are touring the U.S. and Canada soon. These two fellows will be driving from Boston to Toronto, from Chicago to Tacoma, from Seattle to Sacramento, playing their signature sounds in town halls and back lots, in bar-rooms and brothels. Keep an eye out for them! Dates below:

 

Read the rest of this entry »

Simone Fairfax is possessed by the devil, and a stranger has arrived at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies, but right now we are going to take a trip down memory lane to Headmistress Ursula’s young adulthood in Shanghai and the stranger she met and how he changed her life, and that’s not all. In case you haven’t noticed, the radioplay has been freed from its former moorings, no longer stuffed within an hour of melodies because we are no longer putting out our weekly radio show, or not for right now right here. Instead Malcolm is going on tour (yay) and Gabe will be fighting wildfires (boo), leaving the rest of you to your own devices, but for the ongoing saga at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies.

Download Podcast here or click below to listen.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Podcast: Download