Christmas Day. Ten years ago today, dark americana artist Vic Chesnutt died from an overdose of muscle relaxants that had left him in a coma. Whether his death was accidental or not isn't important. More important is his impact. His music has been described as "skewed, refracted version of Americana that is haunting, funny, poignant, and occasionally mystical, usually all at once". Read the article about Vic here (opens in a new window). Vic Chesnutt was a productive artist and released 14 albums under 19 years: "Little" (1990), "West of Rome" (1991), "Drunk" (1993), "Is The Actor Happy?" (1995), "About To Choke" (1996), "The Salesman And Bernadette" (1998), "Merriment" (2000), "Left To His Own Devices" (2001), "Silver Lake" (2003), "Ghetto Bells" (2005), "North Star Deserter" (2007), "Dark Developments" (2008), "At The Cut" (2009) and "Skitter On Take-off" (2009). I have all albums in the cd format. 14 albums constitute an impressive production. However, according to Soundscan (official information and sales tracking system), he sold - in total - 104 000 copies, which is not even 7 500 copies per album. This is simply outrageous. In addition, at the time of his passing he peaked artistically. The albums "North Star Deserter" and "At The Cut" clearly showcased this fact. In the above-mentioned article I presented a playlist with his absolute best songs (which amounted to 33). Initially, I planned that the memorial playlist below should consist of "the best of the absolute best". Instead, I decided to do a new list with none of the 33 songs. And it's still an exquisite list. The list ends with "Grim Augury". A man awakes from a nightmare. His wife accuses him of being with someone “during the dream” and wants to know who she is. He denies forcefully and then reluctantly tells her the truth. Some stones are best left unturned. Horrible stuff, indeed. Vic Chesnutt wasn't afraid of turning any stones. In an interview for the New York Daily News in 2005 he declared: "Other people write about the bling and the booty. I write about the pus and the gnats. To me, that's beautiful." I unequivocally agree.  

A new year and a brand-new decade is waiting around the corner. This time a year the newspapers and internet are filled with contradictory facts whether the world has become a better place. Be that as it may. One thing is for sure. The best years for the gothic country genre have come and gone. And if you don't know this, well what do you know? You can deal with this fact in a number of ways: denial, frustration, anger, apathy or - more unexpectedly - with optimism. Your choice depends on your mindset. I'm not an avid social media user. But, needless to say, to be able to manage this website I sometimes have to stare into the abyss of narcissism and inappropriate expressions of recognition. Personally, I value my privacy. My personal information is limited and the digital tracks left are few. The platforms need more information in order to filter out relevant content. And the result? The algorithms have targeted me as a vulnerable person in great need of uplifting and self-reinforcing messages, words of wisdom, pensive thoughts, aphorisms and truism. Hmm. Let's just say that there's room for calibration. Back to the fact that the best years have come and gone. I've seen it coming for a long time. Now, let's face the music and dance. When I summarize the year I can establish that it was a minor catastrophe in terms of quantity. Very few albums were released in 2019: "Evil Seeds" by Those Poor Bastards, "Songs Nine Through Sixteen" by DBUK and "No Justice" by Federale. They first two were pretty good releases, but the latter release was a huge disappointment for anyone who likes gothic western music. In terms of quality, I assess a slight deterioation compared with 2018 and 2017. The only album that exceeded my expectations in 2019 was "Doom Blues" by T.K. Bollinger And That Sinking Feeling. Great posthumous album. 

What about next year? Is all hope in vain? I've had the same three wishes for four years in a row. The first wish: a new gothic country album from Christian Williams. This will probably never happen, since he changed style to experimental electronica a couple of years ago. The second wish: a new album from The Victor Mourning. This can actually happen since all band members are located in Austin again, playing and recording for all it's worth. The third wish: to acquire at least one of the hard-to-find four missing albums (read more here) and to get all albums from the defunct label Devil's Ruin Records. The first part failed. But, surprisingly I managed to get a hold of five (5) rare Devil's Ruin Records albums. I also acquired information from the knowledgeable seller (more in an upcoming blog post). The complete Devil's Ruin Records catalogue is (maybe) within reach. I wish for the same three things in 2020. What about new releases 2020? Next year is empty as Satan's heart. Maybe Sons of Perdition will find time and place for a new album. Attentive followers of the blog posts will notice that this was also my pious hope last year. And then it strikes me. Maybe there's a miniscule receptiveness for positive thinking in me, after all. And maybe the algoritms, in fact, are doing their job perfectly and knows far more about me than I give them credit for. My mind boggles when I think about it.  

I'm chastened and jaded before my time. I have seen and experienced things that I wish for no one, namely personal development courses. They seem to respond to certain basic needs. I'm too young to have taken part of sensitity training in the 1970s. People were supposed to scrutinize and reveal each other and thereby gain self-knowledge and the ability to openly interact with one another. Reportedly, through nonverbal excercises like snake pit cuddling on wrestling mats. The training often ended in tears and sometimes in visits to psychiatric clinics. Well, some say there's a learning in everything. However, no learning seems to have taken place. In the beginning of the 1990s self-improvement courses became popular in Sweden. Most disreputable was Landmark Education. The original concept for the courses (EST) was invented by Werner Erhard, a former car salesman. In 1991 he sold his intellectual property to his employees, who formed Landmark Education. The company quickly expanded like a Hydra over the world. The courses were built upon sleep deprivation, testimonies, group pressure and a home-made potpourri of religion and philosophy. The course participants paid top dollar to be humiliated and humbled. An important part of the business model was to make participants attend more advanced (and expensive) courses and, not surprisingly, recruit new course participants among friends and relatives. Sometimes in an aggressive, unsensitive and mechanically way. Just like car sales. The Swedish expansion became shortlived. Investigative journalism came into play. Landmark Education was described as a dangerous cult and accused of not taking responsibility for any negative effects of their business, i.e. mental breakdowns among participants. The meeting between dream and reality could be quite brutal, as you can imagine. The company tried hard to refute the allegations, but crisis and media management didn't work. The company did the math, closed shop and left Sweden for more fertile pastures. But this is not the end of the story. Over the years I have participated in many work-related courses. I can't say I like it. On the contrary. I'm not impressed by people who get high on their own yackety-yak. I've become very observant of the warning signals. A change management consultant recently said "all popcorn's pop, but on different times". Did she know that this is part of the course content of Landmark Education? Did she attend the courses herself and is now spreading the word? I don't know. Nonsense always tends to come back, but in different shapes and forms. The newest of nonsense is self leadership, a management trend which has spread like a plague. Actually, a huge and socially important public agency in Sweden has spent a ridiculously amount of money on this new age trend. The expanded definition of self leadership is having a developed sense of who you are, what you can do, where you are going coupled with the ability to influence your communication, emotions and behaviors on the way to getting there. In short: how to get your shit together. What would happen if you asked a musician in the gothic country genre: who are you, what can you do and where are you going? You would probably get a punch in the face. 

The ultra-epic concept album "The Wall" was released 40 years ago today. It doesn't feel like yesterday, but not like four decades either. Anyway, the album still blows me away. The album peak is the third side of the LP; from "Hey You", "Is There Anybody Out There?", "Nobody Home", "Vera", "Bring The Boys Back Home" to, last but not least, "Comfortable Numb". The second guitar solo by Dave Gilmour is one of the most brilliant and suggestive solos ever. The double album has followed me hard on the heels over the years. During the shortest period of employment in my life, in school bureaucracy on the national level, I had the children's choir from "Another Brick In The Wall Pt.2" as the ring signal for internal calls. "Teachers leave those kids alone / Hey teachers, leave those kids alone". I muddled through in the deep state and was obviously in denial. Speaking of denial, the album triggers a memory 40 years back ago when the album was released. I attented my second year in senior high school. I was a preppy (pea coat, crew neck Alan Paine cardigan, Lacoste tennis shirt, Dexter loafers and checkered golf pants). Officially, I liked disco. Unofficially, I held on to my old unpreppy musical taste. "The Wall" forced me to make a stand. A friend and classmate (we can call him M) took this a step further with a home-made badge picturing a wall. A clueless teacher asked him what it was. Since M was a master instigator he answered without any hesitation: "The badge symbolizes that a wall should be built to separate students in university prepatory and vocational programs. Personally, I have nothing against vocational students, but they're smirching our sofas with their filthy boilersuits". Of course, none of this was true. However, M knew exactly which buttons to push (dividing class conflict and arising elitism in the school). These unwanted tendencies should be nipped in the bud. The principal called to a meeting with the student council. They didn't understand the concern. After the meeting M was confronted. He denied to have said anything of the kind. "It's just Pink Floyd - The Wall". In fact, M was more trained in denying than of instigating. He could easily pass a polygraph test. One time on a field day he fired an emergence rocket (which was school property) from the top of an outdoor diving tower. The gym teacher clearly saw what happened. M denied energetically to the accusations. The gym teacher began to question his first sense, sight. M somehow got away without any consequences. After this incident M became more arrogant. "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall" (King James version). Later in life justice caught up with M. As an irony of fate "The Wall" ends with a trial: "The evidence before the court is / Incontrovertible, there's no need for / The jury to retire / In all my years of judging / I have never heard before / Of someone more deserving / Of the full penalty of law". Well, M wasn't quite that bad.    

If there for some inexplicable reason had been a service like TripAdvisor for the gothic country genre then Those Poor Bastards would have received customer reviews like "key provider", "reliable", "always high and consistent quality" and "on time". Now is time for delivery again. Their tenth album "Evil Seeds" was released on November 15, 2019. For this album they barricaded themselves in the basement of a 1930's schoolhouse to see what horrors they could conjure when completely cut off from the corrupting influence of the modern world. The album title probably refer to Matthew 13:38 (King James version) "The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one", i.e. the Devil. TPB assess that this is their perhaps most cohesive album. It may be cohesive, but not beyond reproach. The album is a departure from their raw, unpolished and distorted style. Clearly, the edges are abraded. In my opinion, the TPB greatness lies in that their music is rough around the edges. The new songs are not bad, but the songwriting doesn't live up to their usual standards. The declaration "These songs feature classic themes of violent struggle and loss with bizarre overtones of supernatural menace and dread." doesn't match my expectations. I hope this was a one-off event and not the beginning of a downward trend. One song stand out, the slow and dreamy "Neglected Wife". To sum it up. "Evil Seeds" doesn't live up to the seductive album cover. Only "Neglected Wife" will take place on my prestigious TPB compilation list.