THE WORLD WITHOUT US

(Picture by Beth Moore Love - Iris of The Eucharist)

"If human beings disappeared instantaneously from the Earth, what would happen? How would the planet reclaim its surface? What creatures would emerge from the dark and swarm? How would our treasured structures--our tunnels, our bridges, our homes, our monuments--survive the unmitigated impact of a planet without our intervention?"
This is the question posed by Alan Weisman in his book The World Without Us, as explored by a popular History channel series called Life After People and the topic I have chosen for my Hexvessel influences podcast, March 2011.

Who hasn't reveled in a quiet woodland valley, park, beach or sunset in the mountains in the absence of other human beings? As dystopian views of the future take hold in popular culture again, monsters, zombies and vampires permeate our fantasies, We are collectively manifesting aspects of our deepest fears, the fears of ourselves, of human beings against themselves and their environment. As we struggle against war and natural disasters, the planet and most of its nations in states of high alert, for multitudes of threats to our existence, it's hard not to feel as though the apocalypse is not verily upon us this time. Who are we to argue that it would be a loss for this planet, no less for space and time itself, if humans were to perish forever at their own hands? Would the universe mourn or merely carry on as before?

With that in mind, this mix is a deep dive into audial apocalypse culture, of psychedelic trips on the borders of the peace and love movement, as where a dose of acid reveals something more malignant behind the warm and cosy environment we know as reality. A strange sojourn into a fairytale forest, up into the dense canopy, towards a mountain clearing view of the horizon and the cities beyond. There you can sit alone, surrounded by the beauty of nature and watch the destruction of mankind from the safe view of a passive outsider, at peace with the earth. Take a long breath of cool pines and mountain air as the A-bomb hits. Climb out of your reality tunnel, use your mind machine, journey into the death of human-kind, alone with the calm. The air is god!

THE WORLD WITHOUT US
Podcast mix by Capt. Kvohst March 2011
Hexvessel/Club Mega Therion
Download and streaming links at the end of this page!

1)Boyd Rice - Alone With The Calm



From the Hatesville! album.
"If others choose to see the world in terms of sugar, spice and everything nice, that's certainly their prerogative, and I would never dream of trying to tell them otherwise. However, I might suggest that they always keep a loaded pistol on the off chance that they could possibly be mistaken." Boyd Rice


2) Fuchsia - Gone With The Mouse

From the album Fuchsia from 1971. For me a grand eclectic dose of early Floyd (only Floyd for me) mixed with Comus (whose First Utterance was released the same year) and early Yes (which is truly godly music). The entire album is a treasure. Seek it out if you haven't already.

3) Jerusalem - Beyond The Grave

From their self-titled debut 1972. Way more than sub-Purple as I've read many putting them down to be. I am lucky enough to be married to the coolest woman on earth, who introduced me to this diamond album - thank you Marja! This is a real proto-metal classic with far more going for it than a large percentage of the thousands of bands that followed. Rockadrome Records are re-releasing this on LP. It's a total out and out classic, but you probably have it already . . .don't you?

4) Wizards intro

This is from the film Wizards, 1977, by Ralph Bakshi - who you probably know from the animated Lord Of The Rings. This speech from the beginning of the film is spoken by Susan Tyrrell, who is not credited on the film, but who undoubtably shaped and created the suspension of disbelief that lingers on throughout this spectacular odyssey (I mean it's a cartoon right, but it's way more than most cartoons you will have ever seen - watch and witness). It was a career defining voice-over for her and you can tell why. It's one of the greatest narration pieces I have ever known. A movie with an extremely powerful message that really shocked, frightened and scarred me as a child. I still get shivers by it and by this narration. It's way up there in the pantheon of greatest movies of all time for me. By the way, death metal gossip/trivia fans, Orvar from Nirvana 2002 has a massive tattoo of Necron 99 - Blackwolf's assassin - on his upper arm.

5) Bill Plummer - Journey To the East


From Bill Plummer and the cosmic brotherhood LP 1968.
I stole this track from one of Marja's (awesome) playlists that she DJed at Mega Therion last year. I have been obsessed with this track ever since. Mutant Sounds says it so well:
"Great Jazzy freaked out eastern influenced psychedelic LP.Released in 1968, through Impulse label, and never released on cd. Supposed to be a jazz LP.....i don't think so…." This track is so far out - I will never tire of it. It's one of the greatest things I have ever heard in my life. The bare-footed but suit-wearing Plummer, surrounded by psychedelic voodoo-esque effigies on the cover is as disconcerting and unsettling as Boyd Rice sitting in his Tiki bar . . .

6) Music Emporium - Nam Myo Renge Kyo



From the 1969 self-titled album. Every song on this album rules. I have played the entire thing through my course of DJing at Mega Therion and it never gets old. Fantastic lyrics and vocal delivery - everything is just perfect. It's got a wild Jefferson Airplane vibe, but way more garage and Manson-family than that. The Sundazed re-issue has a nifty history of the band and some bonus tracks. It slipped through my fingers in Athens, Greece (along with a lot of other gems they hide away there in the best record stores on this earth), but it shouldn't be hard to track down a copy. I'd recommend it as a psychedelic classic. The song Velvet Sunsets was on and off, on and off this mix and I still wish I had just included it too. But you get the message. I love this album.

7) Charlie Manson - Intro

Charlie riffing from his prison on the higher authorities of law and order. The air is god. Amen to that!

8) Charlie Manson - Love's Death

This is actually from The Family Jams album 1970 with all the vocals by Clem. All the usual suspects are there tho and the creepy undulating female vocals of Red and Blue, Gypsy, Brenda and Ouisch are really chilling on this particular track. Charlie got what he wanted in the end. The music made it through and ever since has been a massive influence on subversive and underground culture. My imaginary landscape certainly wont be the same after hearing Lie for the first time. There's no doubt about the man's musical and lyrical genius, even if you wont admit it. He's a poet.

9) The Open Mind - Cast A Spell

The Open Mind's only album from 1969 is a well-known rare classic of the psych-rock scene. Hardly containing a bad track, this UK band has really top-notch playing and sound on this record - it's really part of the whole proto-metal feel and hard to believe that this has been conceived in '69.

10) Damian Youth - Holy Circle

From the Festival of Death album from 1995.
I discovered this artist very recently online through a download blog (Mutant Sounds again my friends) and he's still an enigmatic mystery to me. Like Voice of The Seven Woods, I was astounded to find a musician and lyricist that seems to inhabit the same universe as me, somehow from something about the way they approach music and/or lyrics. Last FM says: "A mysterious cassette-only artist who began putting out material on tape in the late 1980s, although some of it started to appear on CD in the late 1990s. His music is haunting, acoustic rock with a sense of British whimsy akin to Robyn Hitchcock or Donovan (although, as his tapes were distributed from Louisiana, it’s uncertain whether the singer is British). It’s solid, melodic stuff that would most likely appeal to Hitchcock fans, despite the sparse production." The lyrics are a mind-blowing overdose of heavy deep poetry . . . I simply can't believe this man's music is as of yet so unknown.

11) Karen Beth - Song To a Shepherd


From The Joys Of Life album 1969.
Originally this mix was just a purely female vocalist mix with Linda Perhacs, Karen Dalton and Buffy Sainte-Marie etc. I shelved that idea for a deeper exploration on another mix later - but this track stuck with me for this mix purely from the feel it gives off. The spooky folk melancholy is really majestic and looms like fog over a woodland clearing in spring. I love the images that this slightly unsettling track brings me. There's more than a small hint of Wickerman vibes abound and I get this really English old horror that disturbs, chills and thrills in equal measure. It's like a death-knell. Karen Beth sings me through the forest while I dream of an uninhabited planet. Shivers ahoy!

12) Hunger - Mind Machine

From the album Strictly From Hunger 1969.

A great psych rock gem from the vaults. I seriously dig the vocals here! The whole track is just so bad-ass and oozes coolness . . .it will kick your ass!


13) Werewolves on Wheels - Intro

From the Don Gere soundtrack to the film Werewolves on Wheels 1971. Apparently Michel Levesque admitted that a lot of stimulants were running rampant on the set of this film. I don't doubt it! What a wacky trip to weirdsville that movie is. I like to imagine an apocalyptic alternate reality where a satanic cult of werewolves ride motorcycles and prey on road-weary travelers and drug-taking kids! The music to this film is outstanding - like a sun-bleached, dried out Canned Heat, warped and running on empty.


14) Salem Mass - Bare Tree

From the Witch Burning album 1971.

Another regular slab of wax on the Mega Therion decks - most of the tracks on this album are total jaw-dropping heart-stoppers. Not just heavy but drenched in atmosphere, with songs for women who would soon be burnt as witches, they along with bands like Sabbath laid the lyrical/thematic foundation for the whole occult doom/rock generations to come . . .

15) The Lords - Death Bells At Dawn

From 1966. This garage/psych hit is also a bit of a mystery to me. I got it from the great 30 Seconds Before Calico Wall compilation. The vocals actually remind me of Screaming Lord Sutch. I adore this track so much I'd love to cover it with Hexvessel actually - and may still do it!

16) McCully Workshop Inc. - Seance

From their 1970 self-titled album

A South African band from 1970 playing this stuff is kinda surreal. Recorded during the Tulbagh earthquake of 29th September 1969, this album has a really special quality to it. I love the vocal harmonies and the strange structure to some of the tracks. The environment and time/history of this band and how/where/why they got their influences intrigues me. The cover kind of indicates some sort of temporary paradise built on a weak and questionable foundation, of a way of life that is constantly under threat by nature and the destructive natures of man. Hey, that's just how I see it or perhaps want to see it . . .



"We're witnesses and valets who are here and, sooner than we think, will be gone."
A review of Herzog's Encounters At The End of The World

"Our presence on this planet does not seem to be sustainable. Our technical civilization makes us particularly vulnerable. Human life is part of an endless chain of catastrophes, the demise of the dinosaurs being just one of these events. We seem to be the next."
Wernery Herzog - Encounters At The End of The World


LISTEN TO THE MIX HERE:
World Without Us - Capt. Kvohst Hexvessel/Mega Therion Podcast March 2011 by Hexvessel


OR DOWNLOAD IT HERE:
Kvohst's World Without Us podcast march 2011

Enjoy it!
For more info about Kvohst and his music with Hexvessel go to:
Hexvessel on Facebook
Hexvessel Tumblr
Myspace Hexvessel
Svart Records - the Finnish pimps of luxury audio!