So last night I tackled Lars Von Trier's brilliant new film
Antichrist. I can see why there's so much
eye-rolling on Rotten Tomatoes, but I can also see why it won
accolades at Cannes. It cuts both ways.
At first I was darkly delighted by the few scenes of graphic violence (some involving close-ups of male and female genital mutilation), mutely amused by the more numerous scenes of what looked like slow-motion dream sequences, and utterly perplexed by the story itself.
George Frideric Handel - Lascia Ch'io Pianga.mp3
Artist Unknown - Antichrist (Selected Audio Excerpts).mp3
For one thing, why is the film called Antichrist? What does the grief of losing an infant child have to do with the systematic extermination of women in the 16th century? I left it alone and went to bed.
Then I got up this morning.
Once I had a chance to not think about it on a conscious level -- and even dream about it -- the thrust of the film was suddenly not lost to me. There are still questions, even after I drilled
the Wikipedia page for clues, but I feel like I'm finally able to gain some purchase on a concept that's proven for years to be as elusive as it is attractive: the essence of evil.
Evil is not a bastard spawn of faraway realms of demons and fire; it is not a supernatural force that drives unforgivable acts to their completion. It is us. It is you and I and everyone else who lives now or ever has lived. We are the beginning and the end of evil. The unspeakable acts we commit to one another are unprecedented in the age of the universe and are repeated nowhere else in all of existence.
That's the takeaway. There is something rotten in humanity. Men and women are basically evil, and nature -- the swirling chaos in which we find ourselves, and to the mercy to which we are forever bound -- isn't evil, but is a putrid and unforgiving beast that churns and spits with complete indifference to our plight. In other words,
as the talking fox put it, "Chaos reigns."
Have a nice day!
OK, so I have no idea who this is or how it managed to infiltrate my iPod. I suspect I picked it up while trolling for black ambient at last.fm, a really good place to get lost for hours at a time. 
So last night I tackled Lars Von Trier's brilliant new film Antichrist. I can see why there's so much eye-rolling on Rotten Tomatoes, but I can also see why it won accolades at Cannes. It cuts both ways. 
Etmenns Derokwis knows a thing or two about conjuring up the swirling winds of Satanic madness. Tonight we explore an epic hair-raising masterpiece that pushes the concept of black ambient to its absolute breaking point. 
We all know the first 30 seconds of Mike Oldfield's classic Tubular Bells whether we think we do or not. Most people know it as the theme music to the 1973 film The Exorcist. (Some of us even use it as a ringtone during the month of October.) 
I don't want to get too lost in idol worship, but I will go on record now: if I ever meet the two dudes responsible for these European musical forces, I will immediately fall to my knees and proceed to lick their sweaty balls. 
The darkness continues to descend. My favorite month sees another dreary upload in the form of yet another deliciously chilly Coil-related rarity. 
Peter Christopherson's recent side-project is a fascinating exercise in psychedelic meditation. 
Deep, dark, chilly, cerebral, and breathtaking all at the same time. June Miller never ceases to amaze. Here is a ten minute clip from their December 2008 Experimental Mix. 
