Being a record of the ruminations, ramblings and obsessions of a Hound of the noblest breed (or so His Lordship claims, anyway). The focus being on dark music and culture, style, spirituality and - naturally – Basset Hounds.
Welcome to the chronicles of Lord Bassington-Bassington, coming to you from Little Storping in the Swuff – a quaint place located somewhere between England’s Lake District and the outskirts of the Norwegian capital.
This is intended as a log of His explorations of music, books, films and so on. I, your humble chronicler, is merely His Lordship’s secretary.
For more information on Lord Bassington-Bassington, please confer this blog’s opening post. Contacts can be directed to neofolk@zog.no.
A while back, we here at the Chronicles decided to celebrate the first Norwegian Bowler Hat Day. A few sporty colleagues consented to help out with curry cookery, and even more agreed to be our guinea pigs.
Thank you so much for all your time and effort, and thanks to everyone who ate our vegetarian curry and contributed money to this noble cause.
Here are some quick pictures from the event and the receipt from the charity.
(The World's Coolest Librarian demonstrates proper, though non-compulsory, attire for the event).
(While Mrs. Ferrada demonstrates that there are many ways to wear a bowler. In fact, are there anything that won't go with such a stylish hat?)
(Lady Mju's private secretary, Kornelia Shazoo, was put in charge of the money gathered).
We're already looking forward to next year's event!
We've been a bit lazy with our musical updates here at the Chronicles, but thought we'd tip our readers off that Sonne Hagal have recently released some very desirable pieces of vinyl. One of these is a re-release of their album Jordansfrost, in a very stylish sleeve. The album is a very solid neofolk release, with a gallery of guests ranging from Of the Wand and the Moon, Darkwood, Lux Interna and In Gowan Ring - just to mention a few names.
Firstly, because we've quite forgotten to show our readers what it looks like when we finally got a full-sized version of Mr. Kvant of Scania's study of H.P. Lovecraft properly framed and mounted on the wall of Bassington Manor.
It looks rather small in this picture, but it's really 70 cm tall. It's hard to put words to the pride Lord Bassington-Bassington feels about owning such a beautiful object, not least because it was created for him.
And secondly, because the new issue of Dark Discoveries magazine is an H.P. Lovecraft special, and Lord Bassington-Bassington has enjoyed it very much. With the short story by W.H. Pugmire as the high point.
Basset lovers know full well that tragedy can strike. But tragedy can also lead to joy.
Not long after the Norwegian family of Sørensen lost their beloved canine companion, a young lad found their home to be a good place to set up camp. Enter Mr. Gustav Beowulf av Lulubelle, whom Lord Bassington-Bassington and Lady Mju were recently able to visit at his abode in Strømmen, close to Oslo.
And how better to commemorate the visit, than to continue the Chronicles’ habit of looking at the fashion and lifestyle trends in the canine community?
We feel that this picture shows how well Mr. Gustav Beowulf carries off the droopy-ear look that is absolutely essential for the coming season (and, as we have stated before, for every season).
Like any trend-conscious bachelor, Mr. Gustav Beowulf knows how to appreciate the finer things in life. Like a thorough belly-rub.
After this rubdown, Mr. Gustav Beowulf was kind enough to take Lord Bassington-Bassington's secretary for a short walk. Which was sorely needed, as His Lordship's secretary and assistant is starting to get a little heavy in the flanks.
Gustav Beowulf has no such figure problems. In fact, as this picture shows, one of the advantages of having a perfectly proportioned Basset physiology is that one can pull off almost any look. Take, for instance, this workwear-inspired harness. It would look somewhat ludicrous on a lesser breed of canine, but looks fabulous when Gustav Beowulf rocks it.
Martial industrial music was an interesting proposition for a while. Industrial noises, militaristic drumming, historical samples - perfect for us who overdosed on historical documentaries and war simulations when we were younger. But like any genre, it soon became flooded with cheap clones. It seemed like any kid with a computer, access to The History Channel and a few unsavoury books was cranking out some drum machine sequences drenched in Hitler samples.
So when Albin Julius, leader of Der Blutharsch, in many ways the genre's best band, stated that "Martial industrial is dead", you just knew the martial party was over (while the party obviously continues over at Der Blutharsch's house, where they now play groovy psychedelic rock).
That doesn't mean Mr. Julius was entirely right, though. For even if a genre dies, it doesn't mean that the best bands in it also have to go the way of the dodo. And just as AC/DC and Motorhead have survived any number of backlashes against hairy hard rock, there are some martial industrial bands so enjoyable that they'll be immortal.
Karjalan Sissit is what you get when you take a Finn that seems kind of pissed off that the Winter War ended before he was even born, and pissed that black metal ended before he could burn a church, but mostly pissed on Koskenkorva, and transplant him to Sweden. There you let him have access to Peter Bjargö's Erebus Odora studio. And the rest if, if not exactly musical history (Bach it ain't), then at least tremendously enjoyable. Here's an interesting interview, by the way. And we here at the Chronicles particularily recommend the debut album on Cold Spring - if you can get hold of it.
As the videos above indicate, Karjalan Sissit give some of the most demented concerts imaginable, and Lord Bassington-Bassington is happy that he has been lucky enough to catch them on stage once.
These videos are from a gig in Eskilstuna, and no, we here at the Chronicles don't know where the band ends and the drunken audience begins, either.
And no, we don't recognise any songs, either.
Sigh.
It's almost enough to give one back faith in martial industrial...
Before my eyes, there slowly emerged a giant snake coiled about the earth; a snake that by constantly swallowing its own tail vanquished all polarities; the ultimate, huge snake that mocks all opposites.
Opposites carried to extremes come to resemble each other; and things that are farthest removed from each other, by increasing the distance between them, come closer together. This is the secret that the circle of the snake expounded. The flesh and the spirit, the sensual and the intellectual, the outside and the inside, will remove themselves a pace from the earth, and high up, higher even than where the snake-ring of white clouds encircling the earth is joined, they too will be joined.
I am one who has always been interested only in the edges of the body and the spirit, the outlying regions of the body and the outlying regions of the spirit. The depths hold no interest for me; I leave them to others, for they are shallow, commonplace.
In a time when music is sold in cheap and gaudy jewelcases or terribly-sounding MP3, it's fun to follow artists that try to put some effort into presenting their music. For a beautifully presented record can provide an extra dimension to the experience of music, much in the same way that good popcorn can make a movie more enjoyable.
Neofolk labels and artist have always been good at producing “cult objects”, but one wonders if the boxed version of Sturmpercht’s new release, Schattenlieder, don’t set a new benchmark even in this genre.
The idea is to use the musical instruments to record a cover of one of Sturmpercht's songs, which will then be released in a compilation. Lord Bassington-Bassington is working on how to carry out this project, as he - apart from howling - has little aptitude for making music.
