To smile and wave is a way to pretend like you have some kind of idea of what is going on when in reality you don't have a clue. The Soviet president Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982) rarely smiled and barely waved. His stiff facial expression and robot-like waving to the people from atop the Lenin Mausoleum is a memorable moment in history. Brezhnev is, right or wrong, associated with stagnation. The term "Era of Stagnation" was coined by president Mikhail Gorbachev in order to describe the negative way in which he viewed the economic, political, and social policies of the Soviet Union that began during the rule of Brezhnev, and continued under Andropov and Chernenko. Sometimes this period is called the "Brezhnevian Stagnation". The gigantic BAM project served as a way to instill faith in the future, read more here (opens in a new window). The gothic country genre is also in stagnation. Or is it?  

In contrast to 2021, this year turned out to be a very productive year with album releases from many renowned artists: Wovenhand (Silver Sash), Sons of Perdition (Heathen Hof), Those Poor Bastards (God Awful), Murder by Death (Spell/Bound), The Builders and the Butchers (Hell & High Water), Munly and the Lupercalians (Kinnery of Lupercalia; Undelivered Legion), Mr Plow (Legendary Super Hits! Volume Four), Dad Horse Experience (At the Limbo) and Swarme of Beese (Backwoods of My Mind). A post-pandemic bonanza with a time lag? In terms of quality, 2022 was a good year. 

What about next year? My judgement is clouded by my commitment. Clearly, there's a difference between what I hope for and what I expect will happen. I have three wishes for 2023. The first wish: a new gothic country album from Christian Williams. This recording project is an off and on project that takes time. According to the artist, the easy part is coming up with ideas; the hard part is shifting through all of that and figuring out what’s worth working with for an album. The second wish: to acquire at least one of the hard-to-find four missing albums, read more here (opens in a new window). The third wish: to lay my greedy hands on all albums from the defunct label Devil's Ruin Records. At the moment, I got 35 out of 40 registered albums on Discogs. Four of the missing albums were probably never manufactured and distributed, read more here (opens in a new window). So we are down to one missing album. What about new album releases in 2023? This is what I know at the time of writing: Slackeye Slim (Scorched Earth, Black Heart), Swarme of Beese (Fruits of the Golden Land) and The Handsome Family ("untitled"). Moreover, T.K. Bollinger will maybe come up with a physical release of the best songs from his 12 "Ordinary EP"-project (originally scheduled to 2022). Oldboy of the Fens will maybe or maybe not release a new album. They release a new album every two or three years. Antic Clay (Broom of Fire) has been scheduled for five years in a row. Maybe the upcoming year is the year when it will finally happen. Hopefully, there will be more albums. What is the right thing to do in these circumstances? Smile and wave. 

Joe Biden's first executive order was "Revision of Civil Immigration Enforcement Policies and Priorities". An executive order is a directive by the president of the United States. This order gives presidents broad executive and enforcement authority to use their discretion to determine how to enforce the law or to otherwise manage the resources and staff of the executive branch. I don't have presidential powers. I'm only a Swedish civil servant with an internet connection. But if I had power, my first order as president would be to permit Dad Horse Experience to return and tour in the US. The German artist last appearance in the US was in 2014. When the artist tried to return for a seven week tour in February 2015 he was banned and cast out. The motive: lack of a working visa. Dad Horse declared in a newsletter: "I never intent to harm the American people or to exhaust the American economy". In another newsletter Dad Horse explained that he just wanted to go back to the land where "I found so much resonance and appreciation for the weird and twisted kind of music which I am doomed to produce in this crazy world. But after I've checked all the economical and legal circumstances I came to the conclusion that this will most probably never gonna happen. Some may be sad about it, some may be relieved, but I won't expect to play any shows in the US for the foreseeable future at all. There is simply no doable way to get a decent working visa. I feel sad about this because for me it has been so much inspiring and uplifting travels in the US between 2012 and 2014. I met so many funny, weird and amicable people there, which I often miss and I wish I could see them again. There are both cultural and economic aspects. Keller Gospel is art. The American people have been deprived this art form. Dad Horse Experience also have (by gothic country standards) a strong fanbase in the United States. The ban meant a huge economic blow for the artist. Former president Trump had a terrible music taste and despised Europeans. President Biden, the time is always right to do what is right.   

 

"Cattle die, kinsmen die, thou wilt also die; but I know one thing that never dies: the judgment on the dead". This quote comes from a line in the Old Norse poem Hávamál. So true, then and now. The reputation of a person is a highly valuable property. The same goes for a dead person. You shouldn't say bad things about the dead. In Latin "mortuis nihil nisi bonum" ("of the dead, [say] nothing but good"). It's socially inappropriate to speak ill of the dead as they are unable to justify or defend themselves. Anyway, people will come to the rescue and vindicate your honour. Obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life and can be used to reinforce or alter an image. You need to know how to read them. Contrary to popular belief, it's not about reading between the lines, it's about decoding words. The format is very strict. In Sweden's biggest morning paper the number of characters with spaces is limited to 2000. The introduction should include domicile, age and next of kin. Furthermore, you should not address the deceased personally. An image could be attached, black-and-white or colour, preferable in jpeg-format. Abbreviations should be written out in full and technical terms avoided or explained. The obituary should be signed (by max five persons). The next of kin should always be contacted in beforehand. There are obituaries and there are obituaries. Some are stylistic masterpieces written with great flow and a happy endnote. Other obituaries are just like a resume in chronological order, describing a career not a life. In some cases, it's pretty obvious that the people who signed the obituary didn't know the deceased too well. A more rigorous fact-checking would have covered that up. Sometimes, it becomes odd or discrepant. For example, an image of a woman in her twenties, but died 91 years old. Another anomaly, multiple obituaries written by different people. The inofficial record, as far as I know, is five. Obviously, there are many aspects of a human being. The obituary guidelines has nothing to say when it comes to honesty or truthfulness. In real life candour works, but not total honesty. After death, even more so. Obituaries are conform and predictable. Seems like everyone, more or less, lived the same life. "His supportive wife hosted many memorable social events at their weekend house, with happy laughs in the summer night. Not only is this a worn-out cliché. It has another important function. Obituaries are not exclusively about the dead, it's also about the living. It places the signatories in a social-economic-cultural context. I, too, was part of this glorious circle. Obituaries creates a good opportunity for corrections. There is room for being a bit vague and to tweak the wording. The sentence "could be perceived as" works as a disclaimer where harsh=mean, forthright=insensitive, strident=brute, uncompromising=obsessed with obtaining justice. What you put into life is what you get out of it. Be good, said ET in the tearful ending of the movie with the same name. And, if you haven't been good? Well, it's all very well to be sorry now.

Those Poor Bastards released their new album "God Awful" on November 18th 2022. I pre-ordered a cd copy and it arrived in good time from Stoughton, Wisconsin. I got plenty of time to listen to it. Buying cds from the US is getting pretty sick. $13 for the cd, $20 for the shipping, $1 in import charges and $6 in a postal administrative fee, which amounts to $40. The level of getting your money's worth has risen to unprecedented levels. But, the cost isn't my main concern. Those Poor Bastards may very well be the "last man standing" in the gothic country genre. They are known for their steady production and quality standards. However, I was disappointed of "Evil Seeds" (2019) and overwhelmed by "Old Time Suffering" (2021). I'm buying blind and don't know what to expect. From the product declaration of "God Awful": "Those Poor Bastards continue their tireless exploration of the pitfalls of mortal existence with eleven all new hits with such troubled topics as the extermination of the rich, the shameful allure of drunkenness and the repentless confessions of a criminal on death row." There are a couple of songs full of wit and energy: "Heaven's For The Poor", "Full of Failure", "What's In It For Me?", "Night Thorn" and "Confession". The lyrics of "Full of Failure" are hilarious. Other songs on the album are either weak or insipid, for example "Untamed", "Drinking Alone", "Redemption Angel", "Brother is Dead" which drags down the overall impression. The product declaration continues: "Vintage country music combines with distortion and repulsion to create a toxic sludge of contrarian sounds in a style that only Lonesome Wyatt and The Minister would ever dare muster." I agree. All in all, another good album from Those Poor Bastards. On the downside. The running time is 35 minutes. The last song begins and ends with the familiar sound of tonearm clicking and vinyl crackling. The very short running time and the closing homage indicates vinylmania. Been there, done that. Never going back again. 

In some close circles the "ketchup effect" has a dirty meaning. However, in wider circles the concept is neutral. The ketcup effect is used to describe a situation or event where not much happens for a long time, and then a lot happens at once. The significance of ketchup will be clear to anyone who has ever tried to pour the sauce from a Heinz glass bottle — nothing comes out followed by abundance. The gothic country genre is characterized by an inverted ketchup effect. It's nice to know that some bands are swimming against the tide. The Victor Mourning released their one and only album "A Handful of Locusts" in 2010. A very long hiatus followed. In 2021 they changed their name to Swarme of Beese and the following year they released "Backwoods of My Mind", which may very well be the album of the year. Anyway, "Singing in the Dark" and "Guntown Mountain" are outstanding songs. Now it seems like Swarme of Beese is making up for lost time. When "Backwoods of My Mind" was released they were almost done recording their second album. On September 28th 2022 they wrote on Facebook: "Exciting news! The second Swarme of Beese studio album — "Fruits of the Golden Land" — is now in the capable hands of Gold Rush Vinyl in Austin, Texas! The gestation for vinyl production is about 9 months, so it should be ready to spin on 180-gram vinyl, CD, download, and all your favorite streams by June 2023. Some extremely talented folks have contributed to this project, and we are grateful to each of them. We were incredibly fortunate to work again with producer/multi-instrumentalist Mark Addison at The Aerie in Austin, and these 8 luscious new tracks are guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes! One of our favorite visual artists, Dan Barry, created the beautiful art for the cover, and if you’re familiar with his work, you already know it’s going to be good! Will Branch has been working hard on the design, and it’s nothing short of stunning! These details provide just a tiny glimpse of what we’ve been up to: we can’t wait to share it with y’all!"