The (re)birth of a Record Label

"Café Grössenwahn" – "Café Megalomania". Such was the nickname of several cafés in Central Europe at the end of the 1800s. Here they would sit, the demagogues, dreamers and drunkards who would leave their mark on the coming century.

These cafés in turn gave name to a music club in Oslo, Norway, where a select invitation-only door policy, strict dresscode and artists such as Tony Wakeford, Spiritual Front, Solblot and The Green Man created a suitably megalomanic atmosphere. The absinthe fountain helped a bit too...

Which leads us to Café Grössenwahn Grammophon, created as a living monument – or perhaps a folly – to the club we loved. We aim to bring together some of our favourite artists both in music and the pictorial arts.

Our first release will be an extended play record entitled "Ghostly Whistlings". It is a tribute to the greatest ghost story writer of all, Montague Rhodes James. Four bands: Sol Invictus, Solblot, Sonne Hagal and Of the Wand and the Moon each deliver their interpretation of an M.R. James story set in their own country.

Cover art is by Swedish artist Fredrik Söderberg, and sleeve design is by Trine og Kim Design Studio. A small peek at the work can be seen above (Trine og Kim also created the Café Grössenwahn "absinthe grail" logo).

The record will be a strictly limited (250 copies) 10 inch record in art-edition gatefold cover.

More information will be forthcoming soon. A web page is being (re)built and a release event is planned for late January. In the meanwhile, feel free to follow the proceedings on Facebook.

Luciferian Women's Day

Since Lord Bassington-Bassington's friends the Somersetians asked us to translate this promotional text for the Heretical Cellar, so they could share it at their ZOAS Press website, so why not post it here as well.

Saturday, March 7th
The Heretical Cellar presents
Those damned women: Lucifer as feminist icon


For many Norwegians, occultism is associated with über-macho black metal. That makes it easy to forget that several of the trailblazing occultists also were pioneering feminsts. The mother of Western occultism, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, founded her own religious movement at a time when a woman's place was by the kitchen counter, and the rebel angel Lucifer inspired women to demand their rights.

The Heretical Cellar invites you to an early start to the International Women's day. Join us for a trip through esoterical and decadent environments to meet prophets in skirts, lesbian Luciferians, Dagny Juel and the actress Sarah Bernhardt.

As a guide we've invited Per Faxneld, associate professor at the University of Stockholm, where he has defended a doctorate thesis entitled "Satanic Feminism: Lucifer as the Liberator of Woman in Nineteenth Century Culture".

Faxneld is as good a public speaker as he is a rock-solid academic, so this is something we're really looking forward to.

Faxneld's thesis is also published in book form (Molin & Sorgenfrei forlag) and will be available for sale this evening.

As usual there's food, drink, music and darkness at Katedralen in Parkveien 13 (it's a bit into a side street). The party will cost you 70 kroner, and you must be 18 years to enter. We open our doors at 19:00 hours and continue into the Women's day itself.

Welcome to an evening dedicated to feminism and Lucifer!

The event on Facebook.

And we couldn't resist linking to this write-up of Dr. Faxneld's book.

Heretical season opened

More heresy coming soon to a cellar near you. If you live in Oslo, that is.

Live in Oslo

Do pop by if you have the chance. Lord Bassington-Bassington's good friend Frater Zog is organizing. We are, however, unsure about whether there will be a Germanic Bear Search this time around.

The heresy continues

And now the Heretical Cellar has a website of sorts again.

The Heretical Cellar goes to space

in a Haunebu II, and might stop by to help build some pyramids.

 

If you're in the neighbourhood, drop by. And yes, we're working on new web pages.

Rebel club

Because Lord Bassington-Bassington loves club ties. And Moomintrolls. And because this lovely coaster was a Yuletide present from Lady Mju. Thank you very much!

Perhaps it is time to finally try to join the Handlebar Club?

Live in Oslo

Because neofolk concerts can be a great choice for a civilized night out, and because concerts by In Gowan Ring has become something of a yearly tradition in these parts, here are some pictures from Sangre de Muerdago
and In Gowan Ring's performance in Oslo yesterday. Thanks to The Light Thief for snapping.

And here's a picture of Sangre de Muerdago from last Saturday, playing at the punk squat Blitz in Oslo.

For posteriority

The Heretical Cellar celebrates the launch of Frater Zog's long-awaited book.

Because conspiracy theories ruin everything.

Germanic bear search

When a good friend of Lord Bassington-Bassington visited Norway recently, he brought with him a small selection of Alpine leather accoutrements which (sadly) didn't fit His Lordship. So in the spirit of generosity, Lord Bassington-Bassington decided to hold a Great Germanic Bear Search for some of his friends.

The concept was simple: A bit like the fairytale about Cinderella, but with fewer petite feet and glass slippers, and more hairy bellies and leather.

The guys get ready, trying on which leather pieces fit (all pictures courtesy of The Cub Scout).

Mr. Huseby tries to look extra Germanic by posing in front of a Bavarian flag. A Blutharsch beer stein helps too.

Frater Zog tries the same maneuver, but goes even further. But to little avail.

For it was easy to see that Superfritz would be the winner of the Germanic Bear Search. Hardly surprising, what with him being a demigod and all.

The two runner-ups try to score some extra points by flirting with the camera and showing a bit of leg.

At this point, the "bear" theme of the evening got a little overtaken by the "beer" theme. There was also a bit of cuddly Kameradschaft with a certain Mullah who isn't exactly known for his adversity to strong drink.

For as the good Mullah said in a recent fatwa: "Many Sufi poets compare wine with love and love with God. And if it is so, there can be no sin in letting God flow through you. Even if it might be a bit inappropriate for the stream to end in the toilet. But as the Christian tradition teaches us, God moves in mysterious ways".

And later in the evening, the bears walked happily off to see Blood Axis play.

The end.

 

 

Clubbable colours

Things tend to take time here at Bassington Manor, but Lord Bassington-Bassington has finally gotten around to ordering a club tie from his beloved New Sheridan Club.

In Lord Bassington-Bassington's not-so-humble opinion, this tie will work well with a double-breasted blazer, and perhaps even teamed with the club cufflinks.

And as His Lordship lives in one of the colder corners of the world, he saw fit to order a club scarf at the same time. These are specially made in extremely small batches each spring and fall. The spring quota was full, but if all goes well His Lordship can wrap one of these lovely things around his neck and ears come the winter.

And perhaps it is, at last, time to get a proper boating hat...?

A death and a rebirth

So it's hardly a secret anymore that the Café Grössenwahn is on an indefinite hiatus. While the Heterical Cellar is back. Tonight.



It's been fun to do the Café Grössenwahn, and we here at the Chronicles would like to thank all the jolly and sharp-dressed people that helped make it so magical. Especially Solblot, Tony Wakeford, Kentin Jivek, The Green Man and Spiritual Front, who all travelled great distances to entertain us.

Oh, to be there...

...at the Third Grand Anarcho-Dandyist Ball. Sigh.

Loveable handles

While already a member of the New Sheridan Club, Lord Bassington-Bassington is currently investigating The Handlebar Club.

This august society, founded in 1947, demands that its member possess "a hirsute appendage of the upper lip, with graspable extremities". So surely the stately whiskers of a Basset Hound qualifies for membership?



In fact, Basset Hounds are so naturally elegant that even Basset ladies (such as the lovely Lucy from Boston seen above) would qualify for membership in the Handlebar Club!

And like any club worth being in, The Handlebar Club has a lovely selection of ties and cufflinks.

Dress to press

In a time when everybody is talking about digital e-books, Lord Bassington-Bassington grows more and more infatuated with the more analogue hardback book. Especially when such books are produced by small specialist presses. And few specialist publishers are more tailored to His Lordship's tastes than Scandinavia's leading purveyors of wormwoody literature, Malört Förlag.

And as these pictures from the release party for their latest book in Stockholm (the Norwegian leg of the launch was assisted by Café Grössenwahn) reveals, the staff at Malört look as good as their books. And when they produce some of the most beautiful books available, that's saying something. Quite a lot, actually.





If you can understand Swedish (or just want a rare gem for your book collection), or if you own a compact disc player, you have no excuse not to drop by Malört's webshop. For you wouldn't want these fine ladies, gentlemen and camels to run out of money for cords, tweeds and fezes, now would you?

All photo by Patrik Lundquist.

1000 days of the Chronicles

On March 12, the Lord Bassington-Bassington Chronicles had been published for 1000 days – at least if one is to believe his lordship (but as anyone with any canine competence will tell you, Basset hounds aren’t terribly good at math).

So what better thing to do for a born-and-bred pack animal like Lord Bassington-Bassington than to gather a few friends to eat, drink, and waddle around the dance floor to the banjolele stylings of none other than Mr. B Gentleman Rhymer, who kindly consented to come to Oslo for the occasion to entertain the crowd? It was Mr. B's first performance in Scandinavia, and it was so good that his lordship is already planning to get the gentlemanly rhymer back to these parts of the world.

These pictures come courtesy of his lordship’s good friend, the Mysterious Ponytailed Man. Cinematographic records also exist, and might be posted later.





Among the generous gifts lavished upon Lord Bassington-Bassington was this study of his lordship in a moment of quiet celebration, created by Bergen-based cartoon artist Kim Holm.



Lord Bassington-Bassington would like to thank everyone who came from near and far to help celebrate the occasion.

Lord Bassington-Bassington has chosen to censor all pictures of himself from this little report, as he prefers to keep private any record of his lordly body attempting such daring dances as the Basset Bogaloo and the Moonwaddle. Not to mention his necessary post-celebratory contemplation the day after.

Pictorial megalomania

We are pleased to bring some pictures from last Saturday's instalment of the Café Grössenwahn, featuring a book release from the excellent Swedes at Malört förlag and a superb concert from Simone Salvatori of Spiritual Front. Thank you so much to everyone who made this evening something unique.







Thanks to Raymond Alv K. Egge for the pictures.

November playlist

We had a small gathering at the Café Grössenwahn this past Saturday. This event, entitled "The November Men (and Ladies)" was without any concert or big brouhaha, just a bunch of nice people, food and drink. All in all, a perfect way to unwind after a hectic first year of Café Grössenwahn.

And as we're wont to do here at the Chronicles whenever we've been out and about, we'll post the playlist from the night. So here it is.

Sol Invictus: "The Bad Luck Bird"Rome: "Chanson des Gestes"
Anthony and the Johnsons: "Salt Silver Oxygen"
Sub Luna: "A Distance Between"
Thomas Nöla et son Orchestre: "The Rose-Tinted Monocle"
Fräkmündt: "Wuotisheer"
Sturmpercht: "Der Tanz des Tatzelwurms"
In Slaughter Natives "Ashes of Angels"
Dernière Volonté: "Immortel"
Spiritual Front: "Darkroom Friendship"
Ronny: "Blue Cabaret"
Paul Giovanni: "Willow's Song"
Gyron V: "The Boat of the Moon"

Memento Tony

Lord Bassington-Bassington hasn't quite landed yet after the last instalment of the Café Grössenwahn, where the small club managed to get neofolk founder Mr. Wakeford to come for a spin (and Mr. Jivek to open for him).

So here's a small memento of a night of flowing absinthe and wonderful music.

Café Grössenwahn launches web pages

Web wizard Mr. Baetylous has been hard at work, and the web pages of Café Grössenwahn can now be unleashed upon the public in time for the coming Saturday, when the next gathering of the Norwegian Society for Megalomania will take place. Lord Bassington-Bassington is rather pleased with how the web pages turned out, and we in the staff here at Bassington Manor choose to ignore his complaints (such as the pictures only being of creatures with ears much too short to be acceptable in polite society, and a lack of “scratch’n’sniff” features.)

We here at the Chronicles look forward to this upcoming gathering immensely, and especially to hear live performances by French neofolk buccaneer Kentin Jivek and co-founder of neofolk, Anthony Wakeford, Esq.

Visit - and enjoy - the web pages at Grossenwahn.no. And if it seems like something you'd appreciate, feel free to apply for membership.

The political disclaimers are a reflection of the sad state of affairs here in Scandinavia.