Commisioning Cthulhu

Lovecraftian themes surface in art in the strangest of places, whether involuntarily or quite on purpose. But the world's foremost interpreter of the Lovecraftian in art is undoubtedly the American symbolist Harold Arthur McNeill.

Now Lord Bassington-Bassington has decided to fulfil a puppy dream of his, namely to order a rendition of Mr. McNeill's stunning work Arkham in stained glass. The work is to be done by upcoming French-Norwegian glass artist Jeanne-Sophie Aas.

Miss Aas shares Mr. McNeill's appreciation of the Gothic and his penchant for Art Nouveau, and so seems the perfect artist for the task. And while she professes ignorance on matters Lovecraft-related, we dare say she has dabbled in the Lovecraftian, though perhaps without realizing.



("Organic Corners", 2010)

We won't even try to conceal the fact that Miss Aas' reasonable prices played a part in our decision. Especially not as that piece of information might hopefully tempt some of our readers to commission her, too.



(Miss Aas)

We're taking a break here at the Chronicles to attend to some pressing concerns, but will keep you updated on the progress of the piece. Our hope is to have it finished by August 20th, which marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of Lovecraft himself.

Parisian dandy alert!

It should have been in our "Likeable links" section a long time ago, but for various reasons we here at Chronicles never got around to it. But now it's finally official: The Lutetia Dandy Club has become one of Lord Bassington-Bassington's favourite stops on the Interweb.

Sadly, we here at the Chronicles are unable to understand anything this French-language blog has to offer. That doesn't stop us loving the photographs, graphics, design, links, videos and everything else these Parisian dandies have to offer. If you have the slightest interest in neofolk or industrial music, style or culture you'll see what we mean.

To help convince our readers, we borrowed some pictures from them (with their permission), but we suggest you visit their blog. And His Lordship needs to visit the French capital again. Soon.

Total interpretation

"Total War" by NON is one of the milestones of martial industrial music. With its militaristic drumming and calls for the return of Thor it is still quite powerful, even if it's been more than two decades since it was made (and whatever your feelings about militarism or divinities wielding hammers).

The reason Lord Bassington-Bassington would like to bring this track to your attention is that a lot of interesting interpretations of it are starting to surface on the amazing world-spanning webatron. And they are worth enjoying.

This old performance, from a documentary about Satanism, gives an idea of the impact that NON's headman Mr. Boyd Rice would like it to have. Even if his attempts to channel Mussolini tend to end up with him channeling someone far more soft-spoken.



This interpretation mixes NON's music with some images most definitely not by NON.



While this interpretation takes certain... liberties... with the lyrics.

Freudian Basset analysis

If one is to believe Mr. Freud, even creatures as noble as the Basset hound has a subconscious filled with instincts and impulses. Some of which, regrettably, can be rather base. So after a welcome tip by Mr. Gustav Beowulf of Lulubelle, we can share with our readers this old commercial, which sheds rare insight into the inner life of the Basset hound.



The Freudian analyst in the commercial might be considered offensive by people with modern sensibilities, as ethnic humour has become increasingly frowned upon as political correctness have killed so much which is true and good. However, as Lord Bassington-Bassington considers all humans to be inferior (to Basset hounds) anyway, he is a great fan of ethnic stereotypes.



This next commercial illustrates that however superior Basset hounds may be to humans, there are certain positions they should not be put in, lest temptation become too great.

Cult of Youth - still kvlt

We have a great fondness for New York-based neofolk outfit Cult of Youth here at the Chronicles. So we couldn't resist the temptation to tell our readers about Cult of Youth's new 12 inch EP, Filthy Plumage in an Open Sea!, released just now on Italian label Avant! records (from whose MySpace page we stole these pictures).



Cult of Youth continue to deliver punky, industrial-tinged neofolk, with an energy an enthusiasm that is hard to resist for anyone with the slightest interest in the genre. And as can be seen from this video from a small performance at Los Angeles' Vacation Vinyl, they also appear to be a terrific live act.

Carl Abrahamsson's new exhibition

Carl Abrahamsson is a person we here at the Chronicles have always found very intriguing and inspiring. This writer, photographer, musician and mystic has just opened a new exhibition of his photographic works in the Swedish town of Sundsvall, curated by industrial mischief-maker Kristian Olsson. The following promo film is mostly in Swedish, but non-Scandinavians will surely enjoy the pictures and music.



In occasion of the opening, we took the liberty of borrowing some pictures from Mr. Abrahamsson's web page. These are portraits of people we think readers of The Chronicles could be interested in.



(Michael Gira, New York 2004)



(Genesis P-Orridge, London 1986)



(Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, New York 2005)

Norway - now a civilized country

Now that Norway feels the threat of Islamic terrorism, Lord Bassington-Bassington, who counts a notable convert to Islam amongst his forebears, feels it is proper to keep one's focus on the important things that immigration from Muslim countries have brought to Norway. For most of the challenges that come with such immigration are easily cancelled out by the fact that Norway now has a decent cricket team. Something that Lord Bassington-Bassington dares say would not have happened if it were not for the fact that some Pakistani (and other Asian) chaps decided to bring some sporting civilization to Norway.

So in the spirit of Mr. B's world cup song, The Chronicles bring you a picture of Mr. Mehtab Afsar, captain of the Norwegian cricket team. This picture will surely help steel our readers through the vuvuzela music festival currently happening in South Africa and on TV screens everywhere (Lord Bassington-Bassington has rarely been happier that Bassington Manor does not have a television set).



And what better way to celebrate the heartwarming phenomenon that is Norwegian cricket than listening to The Duckworth Lewis Method's ode to the Pakistani cricket legend Mohammad Javed Miandad Khan?





(Picture stolen from the Facebook page of the Norwegian Cricket Union. Support this splendid initiative!)

Now, all Norway needs is an elephant polo team, and we can start calling ourselves a proper country.