A Couple Interesting Things...

I know, I haven't been blogging as much as I should lately, but this whole Music Street Journal conversion, which is still under way in terms of the archives getting moved over, has taken a lot of time. Speaking of that, the site really needs everyone's help. Without subscribers (we have a new members area) our time is limited. You can get a membership for as little as six bucks (that's for one month) up to 25 dollars for a year. With that membership you get a lot of exclusive content - including The Strange Sound of Cthulhu book. OK, you don't physically get a book, but the entire book is posted there for your reading pleasure. There are also quite a few songs from artists like Asmodeus X, The Syn, Black 47, Lana Lane, Erik Norlander and more for you to listen to. You can check out massive concert photo galleries from bands like Yes, Heaven and Hell, Queensryche and many more. It's a bargain when you consider everything you get.

OK - enough of that, here are the reasons for this blog. First off - I spotted this online yesterday at Vibrations Of Doom Magazine (http://vibrationsofdoom.com/). In an interview with Byron from Bal-Sagoth (Steve Cannon is the interviewer) we get this exchange.

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Leap Day....

In honor of Leap Day Music Street Journal is going to give free one day memberships.  Check out that blog - my number three friend - for more details of what that represents. Then,  just send me an email to memberships@musicstreetjournal.com. Title it Leap Day and include the email address you'd like to use - this will be your user name - and a password you'd like to use. Your account will be live from sometime today til the end of the day tomorrow. To qualify you have to have your email in by 10 PM tonight - Central Time USA. The memberships will be entered as soon possible, but are guarantee to be live by midnight tonight (again CT USA).

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Video Interview...

I finally figured out how to edit and upload videos. So, I just added a video of an interview I did right after the book was released on a local cable access show. Just go to view my videos link - right next to view my pics - on the profile and check it out.

Also, if you haven't already read the blog about how you can read the book online, check it out - it's the blog posting just previous to this one.

Thanks

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Read It Online

Just added to the members' section at Music Street Journal - you can now read my book, The Strange Sound of Cthulhu - Music Inspired by the Writings of H. P. Lovecraft by joining the members area. A year's membership is 25 bucks and when you figure that you can now read the book (which sells for almost that amount) with that membership, it becomes an even greater bargain.

Check out the MSJ blog by following this link. There you will find some screen shots of the members area and information on how you can sign up. Keep in mind those screen shots are slightly dated as more material has been added.

Here's a more complete list of the other items that are in the members area.

The audio interviews are still the same - obviously the book has been added.

Here's a list of all the photo galleries that are up by now....

Alice Cooper
Amon Amarth
Arlo Guthrie
Asia
Atreyu
Black 47
Black Label Society
Bleeding Through
California Guitar Trio
Children of Bodom
Chris Caffery
Coco Montoya
Dimmu Borgir
Doro 1
Doro 2
Dream Theater
Echolyn
Enslaved
Enuff Z'Nuff
Every Time I Die
Frank Marino
Geoff Tate
Gojira
Grand Funk Railroad
Gwar
Hawkwind
Heaven and Hell
Heaven and Hell 2
Jean-Luc Ponty
Jethro Tull
Judas Priest
Judas Priest 2
Judas Priest 3
Kansas
Lacuna Coil
Lamb of God
Lonnie Brooks and the Brooks Family Band
Magma
Magna-Fi
Megadeth
Nazareth
Otep
Otep 2
Overkill
Placebo
Porcupine Tree
Prong
Pure Reason Revolution
Queensryche
Queensryche 2
Queensryche 3
Rik Emmett
Robert Cray
Ron Keel
Skeleton Breath
Slayer
Soul Sirkus
Spock's Beard
Spock's Beard 2
Spock's Beard 3
Star People
Static-X
Stratovarius
Superjoint Ritual
Tempest
The Heavils
The Red Masque
Throwdown
Tony Levin
UFO
Y & T
Yes
Yes 2
Yes 3
Yes 4
Yes 5

These are the bands who have provided material thus far - along with what has been provided by them.

Aethellis - Two video clips
Asmodeus X - Two songs and they are awaiting your questions with a Q & A they've set up.
Black 47 - two songs and two video links
Bill Bruford - an audio podcast
Clark Plays Guitar - two video links and two blog entries and he's awaiting your questions with a Q & A he set up.
Cosmo's Moon two songs
Alan Davey - two songs
DC4 - Two songs and they are awaiting your questions with a Q & A they've set up.
Djam Karet - Two songs and they are awaiting your questions with a Q & A they've set up.
Dream Aria - Two songs and they are awaiting your questions with a Q & A they've set up.
Eternal Descent - two songs
Farpoint - two songs
Fernwood - Two songs and they are awaiting your questions with a Q & A they've set up.
Groove Pipe Two songs and they are awaiting your questions with a Q & A they've set up.
Inquisitor Betrayer - two songs
Lana Lane - Two songs
Magic Pie - Two songs and they are awaiting your questions with a Q & A they've set up.
Valentin Narvaez - two songs
Erik Norlander - two songs
OnOffOn - two songs
Michael Paul - two songs
Pennenga - two songs
Raising Fear - Two songs and they are awaiting your questions with a Q & A they've set up.
Rocket Scientists - two songs
2nd Day Crush - two songs
The Smith Brothers - two songs
Stealing Jane - two songs
Sifu Stephen Doe - two songs
James Sudakow - two songs
The Syn - Two songs and they are awaiting your questions with a Q & A they've set up.
Tafoya's Lost Boyzz - two songs
Mike Visaggio - Two songs and he's awaiting your questions with a Q & A he set up.
John Young Band - two songs

Anyway, that's all for now - there is more and more stuff being added to the MSJ members' area on a regular basis, so your membership fee is a real bargain - especiallly when you figure that you can read the book that way.

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It’s Been WAY TOO LONG...

Yeah, I know, it's been too long since I've posted a new blog over here. Been very busy with MSJ and other stuff - but I wanted to just post a short one here to let everyone know about something cool. For those who have been waiting to buy the book The Strange Sound of Cthulhu - Music Inspired by the Writings of H. P. Lovecraft, you will soon be able to read it online. I'm going to have it set up in the members area of Music Street Journal when we launch the new site. So, not only will membership to the site get you a lot of other cool things (see the MSJ blog for more about that), but it will be a great way to get an indepth look inside the book. Mind you, my guess would be that no one will read the whole thing online (who can read a book on the internet), but it will definitely let you know what the book is like and you can better decide if you want to pick up a copy or not - mind you, I'm hoping for "yes." The thing, if you did want to read the whole thing that way, you would be able to. Now, you won't be able to download it, but you will definitely be able to read it in its entirety.

Alright - that's all for now. Thanks

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More, More, More....

Well, folks it's time for some more repostings. Here we are going to look at some excerpts, published previously, from the fourth chapter of the book. As I said, these were posted a WHILE ago.

Now it's time for another glimpse inside the pages. This time I'll be taking excerpts straight from the finished book, rather than the ones that appeared before at the MSJ blog. Here we'll be looking at Chapter Four - The Crunch Meets Cthulhu: Heavy Metal and Lovecraft-Part One. The first paragraph gives a bit of an overview of the chapter.

As with any musical style, there are arguments as to what album or band constituted the origin of heavy metal. However, in many minds (including the author of this book) the first example of the genre was Black Sabbath and their self-titled debut. It is therefore fitting considering the impact Lovecraft has had on the genre that that album featured Sabbath's one link to his work.

With their first album, Black Sabbath established both their sound and a small following that was to grow over the years. Formed in the late 1960s that first self-titled disc contained the track "Behind the Wall of Sleep." Although this is not a direct quote from the title of the Lovecraft story, bassist Geezer Butler was certainly responsible for bringing his literary influences into the fold and paying tribute to Lovecraft on the number. Those words do not explicitly point to the story, either, but rather seem to be more of a mood setting nature. "Feel your spirit rise with the breeze / Feel your
body falling to its knees / Sleeping wall of remorse / Turns your body to a
corpse..." Musically, the track is firmly rooted in the dark and bluesy sound that Sabbath made a mainstay of their trademark, but it includes a triumphant metal section that also would be destined to show up frequently in their music. This is proto Sabbath at its best.
Some have said that the lyrics to the band's song "Planet Caravan" are also inspired by H.P.L. I see even less of a connection to the works of the author on this one than the previous cut. The number comes from the follow up album, Paranoid, but really I just don't buy the Lovecraft connection on that one at all. It so happens that after the present book had pretty much been wrapped up, I got a response from Geezer Butler on the issue. Out of respect to both Mr. Butler and the truth I make a point of working his reply into the book, to make the situation absolutely clear. Here is what he said:

I think I may have borrowed the title "Behind the Wall of Sleep" from "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" (of which I have a first edition), but it's so long ago, I can't really remember. The lyrics came from a dream I had, hence the title. Most of my inspiration in those days came from books by Dennis Wheatley, rather than Lovecraft or Poe. "Planet Caravan" had nothing whatsoever to do with Lovecraft.

The next ones come from the blog that followed, but are also from the same chapter.

ell, now let's move on towards another set of excerpts. This time around I'll be drawing from the same chapter as last time - the first half of the coverage of metal.  The first one is the section on Metallica.

A behemoth of the heavy metal scene, Metallica is probably best known to the general public as the artist responsible for suing Napster. That analysis certainly does not give credit to the legacy of the band, though. The group, practicing a high speed, precision based form of heavy metal known as "thrash" came into existence in 1981. Although they did not invent thrash, they were definitely the band who brought it into the limelight. As the group's popularity soared, they eventually moved away from that style, but not before popularizing it and bringing a wide range of musical prodigies into their shadow.

Metallica has been responsible for two Lovecraft related songs. The first came from their first major label release Ride the Lightning. It was a song entitled "The Call of K'Tulu." The instrumental begins with a mysterious acoustic guitar melody. That is moved through various melodic changes for a while before the harder edged sounds take over, bringing up both the intensity and pace of the piece. At nearly nine minutes in length it is meaty, if a bit repetitive. It really feels little like the type of music that Cthulhu might inspire.
With their next excursion into the territory of Lovecraft, though, the band seem to have truly gotten it right. "The Thing That Should Not Be" comes from their next album Master of Puppets. While the title is not so obvious a nod to Lovecraft, the song is far more relevant. Feeling dark and mysterious, acoustic tones start this one. As the thrash guitar enters, it carries the melody that was begun in the introduction. This also includes an appropriately psychotic sounding guitar solo. The lyrics are quite a well-written homage to the Cthulhu legends. "Hybrid children watch the sea / Pray for Father, roaming free." Later we get to hear the lines, "He watches / Lurking beneath the sea / Great Old One / Forbidden site / He searches / Hunter of the Shadows is rising / Immortal."  Later lyrics include, "Crawling Chaos, underground / Cult has summoned, twisted sound." The song even includes a direct quote from Lovecraft in the form of what is probably the author's most famous couplet, "Not dead which eternal lie / Stranger aeons Death may die." Although this quotation is slightly altered, (Lovecraft's version from the story "The Nameless City" reads "That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die.") fans of H.P.L. can certainly enjoy this homage.

The next excerpt is in regards to the Witchita, Kansas based band Manilla Road.

Mark Shelton, the main man behind Manilla Road, shared his insights regarding creating music based on Lovecraft's work. He explained it in the following way:

Actually it is not that difficult. All I have to do is read some Lovecraft and the strange comes out of me automatically. I have always liked haunting sounding music and the trick to making any song that is inspired by Lovecraft is to create lyrics that represent his style of writing or story telling. His work is very atmospheric and so I try to put the same emphasis on the songs that are influenced by his work. You have to not be so obvious in your lyrical content and allow the listener to be able to use their own imagination; so I try not to be too explicit with the lyrical descriptiveness.

In regards to what Lovecraft's work has to offer music, Shelton said, "Very few writers have ever achieved a total style of their own but Lovecraft did and that is what works so well with Lovecraft ideas and Manilla Road music." He further explained the situation in the following way:

Manilla Road has always had a style unlike anyone else and so working with storylines that are of the same unique quality make the songs very interesting and mysterious. Lovecraft, Howard and Poe have been very important in the development of the Manilla Road lyrical approach and so the offering to the music is huge in my mind.

Remember, you can buy the book - among other places, from www.lulu.com/strangesound.

Here's an excerpt from another of my Amazon Shorts - this is another repost....



The short is Yyrkoon's Vision - Extreme Lovecraftian Metal. This one is an addendum to the book, being written around an interview that came in a bit too late. If there is ever a revised edition this will be worked into that tome, but for now this is the only place to get it. It serves as an inexpensive way to sample the concepts of the book, and for those who have already bought the full book it's an addition you should have to be complete. Here are the first couple paragraphs.

While the interview that is included here came in too late to be included in the book The Strange Sound of Cthulhu - Music Inspired by the Writings of H. P. Lovecraft, it seems a good place to start with the Amazon Shorts program. It certainly seems a shame to leave it sitting around out of the public eye. One can look at this as both an addendum to the book (for those who have the full tome) and an introduction to the book (for those who have yet to pick it up). While I might one day (probably far in the future) do a revised edition of the book, for now these shorts will serve to catch up some material that was not worked into that document_ I intend to use this program as a way to augment and document further research done into the depths of Lovecraft based music. One can look at this, then as the first footsteps in that direction. So, with no further introduction, here we go.

In the course of working on the book I came across French metal band Yyrkoon. There is some information in the book itself about them - including a few additional comments from an interview one of my friends (Mike Korn) conducted. After sending the book to print, though, I got responses from the band's guitarist and vocalist Stephane Souteyrand. It's unfortunate that the communication came past the deadline - or this snippet would actually be part of the book itself. Since Yyrkoon turns to Lovecraft's work for inspiration rather frequently, (in fact in the interview I just mentioned Souteyrand said that their latest release was "about Cthulhu, the Great Old One that sleeps in the deep blue abyss of the ocean and is waiting to rule the world again") it seemed a great idea to get Souteyrand's responses to the questions being posed to all the other musicians. Note that the musician's first language is French. He was kind enough to email with me in English, and did a far better job at it than I can do in any language besides my own. Still, you will no doubt spot some minor issues with his use of English. As I said, I could certainly not do as good a job writing in a foreign language and I applaud his effort and assistance, but I also left his words relatively untouched in an effort to truly capture the thoughts and visions of the man. With that little caveat out of the way, we begin. In describing the process of creating music befitting Lovecraft's works he had this to say:

I'm a big fan of Lovecraft's writings since a long time now. It was natural for me to bring his world and imagination through our music. We just tried to compose some atmosphere and songs that correspond to what we feel in reading Lovecraft novels. To bring music on his words but in a really personal way, because I'm sure each of us perceive the writings differently. When we compose our stuff, we just try to paint a musical board that represents the images that we have in our mind.

You can get that one here.

That's all for now - more soon

Currently reading : The Strange Sound of Cthulhu: Music Inspired by the Writings of H. P. Lovecraft By Gary Hill Release date: 15 August, 2006

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Another Round...

Here's the next round of blog posting re-visits. This time around for book excerpts we'll be looking at Chapter Three - Miskatonic Mellotrons: Progressive Rock and H. P. Lovecraft. While the last couple times I've used the same excerpts that were originally done at the MSJ profile, this time I'm just going to grab a few straight from the book - and they might not be the same ones I did last time around. First, here is the synopsis paragraph from the Chapter (this one was definitely in that other excerpt).

Another of the first musical styles which flirted with the works of H.P.L. was progressive rock. "Prog" rock, as it is often called, is a musical style that emerged in the late 1960's. It derives its name from the artists' attempts to create a musical style that "progressed" or pushed the envelope of rock music. The style, which gained prominence in the 1970's, but continues to this day, is typified by complex musical arrangements and extended songs. However, those two elements, like everything else in progressive rock, are not always the case. Certainly this is one style of music in which the rules are meant to be broken. Ultimately, it is a high level of musical ability and the desire to create a higher form of music that are the underlying elements of the form. Much progressive rock owes as much in musical form to jazz and classical as it does to the forebear of mainstream rock-blues.

And here's another excerpt:

Progressive rockers Caravan made one musical journey into the land of Lovecraft inspired works. This was the track, "C'thlu Thlu." The unusual spelling is only one aspect of the song that doesn't feel especially in the style of Lovecraft. The opening segment with its bluesy jam has a creepy sort of texture roaming over top. This section (that also makes up the verses) feels a bit like a cross between Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac and the bluesier end of Spinal Tap. It is the chorus and bridge that take away from the Lovecraftian feel of the piece. They are fast paced, almost Beatlesish and very light in tone, feeling quite happy, although the lyrics call the listener to "run away."

Misspellings aside, Lovecraft's Cthulhu is certainly something that would make you want to run away. With its most famous appearance coming from H.P.L.'s story "The Call of Cthulhu," According to The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, Cthulhu is "an amorphous Great Old One who most frequently resembles a clawed octopus-headed humanoid with great batlike wings. Cthulhu sleeps in a deathlike trance beneath the Pacific Ocean, but he will one day awaken to rule the world."

Caravan was part of the "Canterbury" movement in progressive rock. The genre is named for the city in England where most of the bands originated. This subset of the progressive rock genre was one of the earliest, and the bands are characterized by both their fascination with complex musical structures and a very "English" sound. Caravan itself is one of the original Canterbury bands, formed in 1968. The track covered here was released on their sixth album, For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night, which was released in 1972. The disc was sort of a reunion album, bringing back some original members and a renewed vitality after tensions within the band had caused splinterings of both personnel and musical form.

Here is the final excerpt for this time around:

John Petrucci is probably best known as the guitarist in the neo-progressive rock band Dream Theater, but his credits also include work with G3 (with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai), Liquid Tension Experiment and others. He makes his way into the Lovecraft vein with the song, "Necromonicon." This instrumental, written for the Sega Saturn game of the same name really only shares a title with Lovecraft's works, though. Petrucci revealed that he has not read any of Lovecraft's work and simply wrote the music for the game. It is a very dynamic piece that features both Eastern tones and mysterious sounds at times. It also manages to get quite powerful and magical. It is overall a frantic hard-edged progressive rock excursion. Its title is of course related to the book that is said to contain all sort of horrifying mysteries and which is a key element of the Lovecraftian mythos.

While there have definitely been plenty of progressive rock ties to H.P. Lovecraft, it is truly the heavy metal genre that embraces it more than any other. There is one other group, Nox Arcana, that fits loosely into prog rock still to be addressed, but they will be covered in a separate chapter later. The next analysis will be focused on heavy metal.

This review is from Screams of Terror Ezine.

Currently reading : The Strange Sound of Cthulhu: Music Inspired by the Writings of H. P. Lovecraft By Gary Hill Release date: 15 August, 2006

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More Past Postings ReVisited...
Category: Writing and Poetry

Well, here I go catching folks up on some of the stuff they may have missed in earlier blogs - or reminding them of stuff they may have forgotten. First up is another excerpt from the book.

This time we take a little look at Chapter 2 - Peace, Love, Dunwich: H.P.Ls Influence In Psychedelic Rock.

One of the first styles in which the writings of H.P. Lovecraft were to show up was psychedelic rock. Coming in the latter half of the 1960's, the style was named for the psychedelic drugs that its sounds were meant to mimic. Characteristics common to much of the genre include East Indian styled musical scales, long instrumental passages, and effects that were designed to simulate the effects of drug use (included echoey, processed or phased vocals, backwards tracked sounds, distorted and otherwise altered sounds.) With much of the genres lyrical content being devoted to topics like protest, drug use and free love, horror stories might seem an unlikely combination. Still, one band in particular even went so far as to take on the name of the author.

The chapter speaks about the music and lyrics of that band, H.P. Lovecraft, along with The Bevis Frond and H.P. Zinker. In addition I got responses to my questions to provide insights from both George Edwards (Ethan Kenning) and Dave Michaels (Dave Miotke) of H.P. Lovecraft, Nick Saloman of The Bevis Frond and Hans Platzgumer of H.P. Zinker.  Here's another excerpt which shows both Edwards and Miotke speaking about how they chose to use Lovecraft's name for their band.

While Providence, Rhode Island was the birthplace of the author H.P. Lovecraft, Chicago, Illinois served the same function for the band H.P. Lovecraft. With that moniker chosen for this original era (formed in 1967) psychedelic rock band, one would assume that much of their material would be based on the works of the author. The full story regarding the taking of the name, though, is provided by band member Dave Miotke (aka Dave Michaels), who explains how he discovered the writer and what has kept him as a fan at the same time.

Back in 1967 our two managers were familiar with Lovecraft's writings.  After rejecting a whole list of possible group names one evening, we took a break and in collective conversation the name H.P. Lovecraft came up.  The name itself, so different and containing the word "love" drew us into naming ourselves after the author.  One of the managers, Bill Traut, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, knew the professor/author August Derleth, who was executor of the Lovecraft body of work.  Bill contacted professor Derleth and got permission to use the name.  Shortly thereafter, I began reading some of Lovecraft's stories.  Wow!  What a gifted and talented mind to create such "beyond scary" stuff!

 
Miotke's band mate Ethan Kenning (aka George Edwards), had a slightly different take on the question of how the group chose their name. He said that, "One of our managers had a dog named 'Yuggoth.' I asked him where the name came from and he replied, 'from H.P. Lovecraft.' It was like the sky opened up...after all this was 1967." That answer also describes Kennings introduction to the author. He further explains how the draw that Lovecraft has had on him, "I hadn't read him until late 1966. Once I started, I couldn't stop.  His incredible imagery and the mythos upon which many of the stories are based were beyond anything I'd ever read."

Remember, if you have read the book, please take a few moments to rate it (at the Lulu.com listing and/or Amazon) and leave a few notes.

This was posted by a gent who writes for Music Street Journal at the Lulu online bookstore for the book. Greg Olma said this about the book:

The Strange Sound of Cthulhu is quite the labor of love. Although I had read bits and pieces over the years about H.P. Lovecraft's influence in metal, this book brings to light just how far reaching it is. Each chapter delves in different musical genres in an almost progresive manner; starting with Psychodelic Rock, then moving through Progressive Rock, Metal, Punk, and Goth. Not only is this book well documented with album/song refernces, it also contains interviews with the band members giving the reader a bit more insight into what the artist was trying to convey. What I liked most about the book was that it is a great companion to my music collection. I found myself pulling out CDs that I haven't listened to in awhile and almost re-discovering them. You would be hard pressed to find a more thorough book on H.P. Lovecraft and his influence on music.

Currently reading : The Strange Sound of Cthulhu: Music Inspired by the Writings of H. P. Lovecraft By Gary Hill Release date: 15 August, 2006

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Blast From The Past...

The book has been out for over a year now and these blogs have been going for nearly as long. So, it seems like many of you might have missed out on them the first time around. So, I've decided to start reprinting some of them here. If you saw them before you might find you missed something first time around. If you didn't then sit back and relax. I'm going to focus on excerpts from the book, reviews of the book, excerpts from my Amazon Shorts and more.

So, here we go...

So, here's the first excerpt from the book  - coming from the first chapter: H. P. Lovecraft - The Man and His Musical Legacy.

Those drawn to this book through their interest in the author H.P. Lovecraft will surely need no introduction to him or his work, but for those whose interest in music has brought them here, a brief introduction will be in order. There have been many biographies and critical analyses of his work published, so that will not be the purpose of this segment. One should view this more as an introduction to who the man was, what his overall contribution to literature has been and an overview of some of the music that has been constructed in the image of his creations. If you want to follow up your quest for more information I highly recommend S.T. Joshi's H. P. Lovecraft: A Life. I say this based on the quality of the book and the suggestion is in no way influenced by Joshi's contribution in the form of the forward to this book. Indeed, his biography is regarded by most as the ultimate work on Lovecraft's life.

It should be noted that a good part of that Chapter centers around the author and things he said about music, etc. But, there are also some views about Lovecraft's work and its relationship to music from a list of musicians including Byron of Bal-Sogoth, Smith of the band Babyland, Hans Platzgumer of H.P. Zinker, Scott Kesler of Kindred Idol and many more.
 

If you've bought the book and read it, I'd appreciate it if you'd drop back by that site (www.lulu.com/strangesound) and leave a rating and/or a review (well assuming it's a good one - LOL).

Also, if anyone needs any more information, don't hesitate to contact me. Signed copies can be worked out as can interviews for publications.

Oh, also, I'll go ahead and give everyone the full chapter listing here:

FOREWORD BY S.T. JOSHI ........................................................ 7

CHAPTER 1 .............................................................................9

H.P. Lovecraft: The Man and his Musical Legacy

CHAPTER 2........................................................................... 19

Peace, Love, Dunwich: H.P.L's Influence In Psychedelic Rock

CHAPTER 3........................................................................... 27

Miskatonic Mellotrons Progressive Rock and H.P. Lovecraft

CHAPTER 4........................................................................... 43

The Crunch Meets Cthulhu: Heavy Metal and Lovecraft-Part One

CHAPTER 5...........................................................................69

Moshing to the Mythos: Heavy Metal and Lovecraft-Part Two

CHAPTER 6.......................................................................... 115

Safety Pins and Yog-Sothoth: Punk Rock Takes on Lovecraft

CHAPTER 7.......................................................................... 131

Dark Dreams: H.P.L.'s Influence on Gothic Music

CHAPTER 8..........................................................................137

Oliver Taranczewski: Electronic Gothic Elder God

CHAPTER 9.......................................................................... 141

Nox Arcana: Delving into the Necronomicon

CHAPTER 10 ........................................................................147

The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets: Lovecraftian Humor Set To Music

CHAPTER 11.........................................................................155

Historical Humor: The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society

CHAPTER 12 ........................................................................ 161

Strange Aeons: A Musical Tribute to H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos

CHAPTER 13 ........................................................................173

More Mythos Mayhem: Other Assorted Appearances

CHAPTER 14 ........................................................................215

Miskatonic Miscellany: The Final Word

BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................... 227

INTERNET RESOURCES ......................................................... 237

INDEX ............................................................................... 243

Currently reading : The Strange Sound of Cthulhu: Music Inspired by the Writings of H. P. Lovecraft By Gary Hill Release date: 15 August, 2006

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Music Street Journal Opportunities

I wanted to post this so that all you bands, publicists and labels out there will have the latest information on the promo opportunities available through Music Street Journal.

For those of you who are interested, here's an explanation of the promo opportunities coming up next year at Music Street Journal.

Q: What's Going To Be Changing at Music Street Journal?

A: We're going to be redesigning the entire site and adding a members only section to the site. That section will have bonus content (everything that's currently at MSJ will still be free) – extra concert photos, audio files, video files, and other artist related stuff. The members only section will be available at subscription rates of (these are not set in stone) $9.99 for one month, $19.99 for six months or $29.99 for one year.

Q: When will this change take place?

A: Late next January, when that issue goes live. It will be the tenth anniversary of Music Street Journal and the perfect time to make such massive alterations to the site.

Q: What will the changes mean for me as an artist, publicist or label?

A: Additional opportunities for publicizing your act(s) will be made possible. We're adding both a press release and a tour dates section to the main (free) portion of the site. These will be accessible to artists, labels and publicists to post pertinent items to have them put in front of the Music Street Journal readers (over five million last year).

Q: What will this cost me?

A: Well, there are two ways you can gain access to post your press releases and tour dates. The first is to submit material to be available in the members only area. Acceptable material includes:

Audio Files

Video Files

Artist Blog

A Question and Answer session (MSJ subscribers will be able to send through questions which you respond to and the Q and A section would be posted in the members only area)

As long as you provide content for that section you will be able to post as many (no multiples of the same one) press releases and tour dates as you like. I'd like to keep new content showing up, so while for now I'm not going to set a specific number of items needed for each month of using the service, that might change depending on how the postings are handled by participants.

I mentioned that there are two ways you can gain access to post your stuff. Well, if you don't want to submit items for the members only section you can still get to post your press releases and tour dates, but there will be $1,000 a year fee to do that. Certainly it's a lot less expensive to post items in the members section.

Q: How do I get in on this?

A: At present I'm just putting together a list of those who are interested in participating. Early in December I'll email all of those people and start assembling materials for the launch of the new site. So, for now, just drop me an email (musicstreetjournal@musicstreetjournal.com) and tell me that you want to participate. Then you'll be set for when we move forward.

Q: What about banner ads?

A: We're still going to be offering and honoring our banner ads, with the following changes. First, the main banner ad offer - $20 per issue (2 months) $75 per year for two in twenty rotation on the main page and varying rotations on over 400 pages inside the site. The one change to this is that the size for the banners will change on the main page only. If you have an ad that will still be active when the site changes over you'll need to get me a new banner for that page only (the other banner will still work on the other pages). Email me for the specifications. We'll also be adding a second tier ad rate. This will include varying rotation on at least 200 pages inside the site. The rate will be $10 per issue (2 months) or $50 per year.

Q: How do I get more information?

A: Again, drop me an email (musicstreetjournal@musicstreetjournal.com) and I'll answer any questions you might have.

Thanks

Currently reading : The Strange Sound of Cthulhu: Music Inspired by the Writings of H. P. Lovecraft By Gary Hill Release date: 15 August, 2006

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