Episode 15 - Beast Mode Tour

in

What a treat! What an absolute treat! This week we have four people on at once, plus us! We got us some WMX, we got some Statiqbloom, we got some Cervello Elettronico, and we got some Blush Response! We talked about house parties, cock fighting, and mic stand sodomy, so there's that. Also it's sort of a short interview, so you get some extra long talking on the outro, where we discuss I Die: You Die's excellent grocery service.

You can find Talking to Ghosts on Facebook and Twitter. Also, don't forget to subscribe and review on iTunes!

Poltergeists - Week of October 20, 2014

in

Poltergeists is a biweekly feature in which Michael and Wes share tracks that they have had on repeat over the past two weeks.

Michael

Chrysalide - “Keep Calm”

Keep Calm Chrysalide ℗ 2014 Dependent Released on: 2014-10-10 Composer: Arnaud Coeffic Lyricist: Arnaud Coeffic Original Publisher: Mandarah MV Auto-generated by YouTube.

“Keep breathing, you’re strong, I need you beside me.”

The new Chrysalide album Personal Revolution is everything that I knew it would be! It is unique in sound and presentation and maintains a constant message that I wholly support. When we spoke to Chrysalide they said that they were turning this album inwards into their own personal issues and focusing on changing themselves at the roots of the problem - which is the only way to combat something - personal revolution.

“Hold on, Hold on even if your world is fucked up.”

This song is catchy and brilliantly executed, I really love all of the elements that come in and out of the mix. From the spoken vocals, to the robot overdub, everything falls into place just right to create somber chaos.

Chrysalide - “Question Everything”

FREE DOWNLOAD : http://www.dependent.de/media/audio/mp3/chrysalide_-_question_everything.zip Format: CD/Album Catalogue Nr.

Another Chrysalide track! I love it so much. This was the first preview track released from the new album and honestly I was kind of worried that it was so different than the last album, but I see now that it fits so well with the sounds used in the rest of the album and that it is a great song to preview because the message is not only meaningful, but an example of what the album will be primarily about.

Wes

Chrysalide - “We Are Not Cursed”

Album : Personal Revolution [2014] This is for promotional use only. I don't have any rights for the music and I'll remove it immediately if the copyright holder request it. Buy the artist's cd's and support them at their live performances.

Y’all know I had to talk about the new Chrysalide. It’s no secret that Chrysalide is one of my favorite acts out there, and I’ve said many times that I think Don’t Be Scared, It’s About Life is one of the best albums I’ve ever heard.

I’ve listened to the new album over and over since they sent us a review copy, and for the most part I love it. I chose this particular track to highlight because I think it represents the whole of the album fairly well. Chrysalide is excellent at building danceable tracks that blend in enough interesting sound design to keep them exciting, and this track is no exception. The lyrical content reflects the themes of the album - the need to self reflect, responsibility for the self before demanding change from the outside. These themes threaten to be over trodden, but Chrysalide manages to breathe life into them by keeping the song personal and genuine, rather than as a flag of pretension.

BADBADNOTGOOD  - “Velvet”

Guys, BADBADNOTGOOD is my jam. They released their third album, titled III earlier this year, and I have been bumping it on repeat since I finally picked it up last week. Then, I see that they put out a single, “Velvet” on Soundcloud. And folks, I am a sucker for those snappy, grooved beats and that sharp electric piano. I am a sucker for those whining horns, and that clean bass. I love how the song starts out with kind of a quick groove, a move that sounds like it would work for the opening theme of a family show in the mid 80s. I love how that transitions into a song that wouldn’t be out of place in a dystopian John Carpenter movie in the middle. And I love how it flips the script again, moving into an e-piano solo that, with increasingly frantic drums, just drives the whole thing home. If you haven’t checked out BADBADNOTGOOD yet, take this opportunity.

Episode 12 - Tactical Sekt

in

This is our last entry from the Terminus Files. It feels sad to put a cap on all the wonderful interviews that we managed to get while at Terminus, but on the bright side, there's always next year.

This week we talked with Anthony from Tactical Sekt. Tactical Sekt has been a big influence on both of us hear at TTG INDUSTRIES, and getting the chance to see him perform, then sit down and talk with him was amazing. We discussed changes in technology, why social media shat in its own bed, and what movies made everyone cry recently.

You can find Talking to Ghosts on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and our new website!

Episode 11 - 3Teeth

in

Another entry in the Terminus Files! This time, we talked to 3Teeth! Discussed was the influence that Jennifer Lopez played on their highly acclaimed album, castle parties, and how not all guitar industrial is KMFDM. In the intro Michael and I reveal some of the things we almost called the podcast, and in the outro we set forth a mission for you, our dearest listeners.

Poltergeists: Week of August 25th 2014

in

Michael:

Uploaded by Demonaz Occulta on 2013-04-22.

Dimmu Borgir, as you may know by now is a behemoth of a band as far as Black Metal goes. Many elitists will tell you that the Borg’ has not been true Black Metal since their second album, and they might be right! Their first album For All Tid (english: For All Time) is one that I consistently go back to when I need a fix for that special dark place in my heart. Det Nye Riket (english: “The New Kingdom”), the opening track, is a great example of the diversity of Black Metal at it’s roots. The brooding orchestral lulling of the introduction brings me back to an ancient place in my mind filled with dark forests and snowy mountain peaks masked in the morning fog. The orchestra breaks to an equally hymnal piano with soft Norwegian words raising a new kingdom to Satan,“King of the strong.” This is an element that I think a lot of modern day Black Metal has ultimately lost.

“Rhythmic Release” by Ritualz has been on frequent rotation for me lately. I find this track very soothing in a lot of ways. The sample that is used, “Hear me now, all crimes should be treasured if they bring me pleasure somehow,” is pulled from one of my favorite Cradle of Filth albums - Cruelty and the Beast - and it brings a deep seeded nostalgia to the surface to meet my newer fascination with Witch House and the new wave of darker experimental music. “Rhythmic Release” begins with a long period of ambience that I think really sets the tone of the song well. The way the vocal sample comes in, dragging and cut up to perfectly match the tone of the song plays perfectly with the subtle synth work and ambience of this track. This is an older Ritualz track - in the time table of witch house releases anyway - but one that I recently discovered and have fallen in love with.   

Wesley:

I do not have a huge amount of experience with black metal. Much of my knowledge of black metal comes from brief bouts in the Cascadian sound mixed with occasionally trolling the black metal tag on Bandcamp. One thing that I have noticed in these brief foray’s is a large influence from Northern European folk music. What I found interesting about Panopticon is that they took this idea of folk influenced, low production music, and bent it towards Appalachia. The trilogy of songs that underlies the center of Roads To The North exemplify this reinterpretation of black metal’s Norwegian roots starting with melancholy banjo, mandolin and fiddle track that almost listens like an Iron and Wine song before bursting into a folky ecstasy. From there it transitions into the more traditional black metal blast beats and tremolo picking, but the moments of American folk are what really shine through and force me to think about the tropes and traditions of other music I hear and how they could be bent as Panopticon bends black metal.

I happened to stumble across future bass a couple years ago thanks to a DJ Shadow set that was posted to his Soundcloud page. This started a rabbit hole of burrowing through tags and recommendations on Bandcamp that ended with me amassing a frightening amount of bassy, ambient and occasionally trappy music. As I continued to explore the genre, I found that it had already begun to stagnate for me; I was hearing the same drippy lasers and the same echoing claps at every turn.

“Slow” by D33J has presented me with a refreshing take on future bass’ tropes while managing to avoid its pitfalls. Thick low bass with delayed drops of synths and melancholic pads mix with low-fi claps and vocal samples to create a beautiful atmosphere that encourages the listener to melt into the artist’s creation.

Episode 10 - Chrysalide

in

Monday again! This week we bring to you fine folks one of our favorite projects - Chrysalide. We had the pleasure of talking to Chrysalide at Terminus Festival in Canada at 4am after their gig. It goes without saying that we were all very tired and in a hotel room where we had to be quiet!

We talk abou their new album, Personal Revolution , nice places to visit in France, and how industrial has taken over their lives.

Find Talking to Ghosts on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.

Episode 9 - Negative Gain Productions

in

Folks, there are a lotta people in this room. You got your Alter Der Ruines, you got your Hex-RXes, you got your Kevorkian Death Cycles, you got your Mr.Kitties, you got your Taurant Services and most of all you got your Negative Gain Productions.

We talked tape head cleaner, impossible names, name dropping and filling buckets full of puke. It is a nightmare of hilarity.

Talking To Ghosts can be found on Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook.

Episode 8 - Terminus Recap

in

This week we bring you our second episode from the Terminus Files! 

To start you off, you have Wes's sleep-deprived brain comparing Canada to a break-in, followed by several quick talks with various Terminus attendees and bands, including W.A.S.T.E., Michael Jenny from Alter Der Ruine, Scott Fox from iVardensphere, and Daniel Myer. We also talk to the ladies who were working Terminus's merch booth and selling their art before moving into our sleep deprived outro!

Hopefully you have as much fun listening as we had recording it. We really wanted this episode to give a more rounded out view of what it was like to be at Terminus, and if we came even within a mile of that, we'll be happy.

Again, let us know what you think of the podcast; we're yet to receive any feedback! How we recorded the outro was unusual for this podcast, so we'd like to take this post as an opportunity to give shout outs to the people who shared us, including Jill from Take It For Granted and as always Bruce and Alex at I Die: You Die, who are constantly talking about us!

Episode 7 - I Die You Die

in

SO IT BEGINS.

This episode marks the first episode of the Terminus Files. In this episode, we talked to Bruce and Alex from I Die: You Die. THAT IS CORRECT! Podcast crossover has finally occured. We settled our wrestling beef, imitated the incomparible Daniel Myer, and discussed our pals favorite heel turns. This is not an episode you will want to miss.

If you want to help our podcast grow, one of the best ways you can do that is to subscribe on iTunes, rate on iTunes, and review on iTunes! Pretty much all of the big podcast aggregators just cop iTunes swag, so doing it there is about as good as doing it everywhere.

As always you can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon, and starting now you can also find our podcast on Tumblr, if you like to Tumbl.

Episode 6.1 - The Ghosts Go To A Show

in ,

For this special bonus episode we headed down to the Tonic Lounge to chat with some show goers, as well as James from Panic Lift and the Surgyn duo! It was a great time, and we got some good feedback from fans about how the show went.

Also in this episode: NO WRESTLING TALK. We had a great time feuding with Alex and Bruce at I Die: You Die, but we don't want to wear the bit into the ground. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go back and listen to our earlier episodes, and the I Die: You Die podcast We Have A Technical!

Talking To Ghosts is on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon!

Episode 6 - Dan Weber

in

Today we talked with Dan Weber, a local comedian here in Portland as well as a fellow podcaster. It was a long talk, so we were able to cover topics as varied as Jesus being a bottom, advanced math, obsessively training to kill people with your bare hands, Otherkin, religions founded by the 1% and Tom Cruise.

Oh, and comedy. I guess that got mentioned a bit.

Talking to Ghosts can be found on Twitter and Facebook

Episode 5 - Ross Eliot

in

Listen: we're sorry. Ross had a leather couch and it was squeakier than we expected. We talked to Wrahs about his new book Babette: The Many Lives, Two Deaths and Double Kidnapping of Dr. Ellsworth. We heard some hilarious stories, and a couple that were utterly terrifying. Also: we address the broiling feud between us and IDie:YouDie regarding their rassling talk. Who will win in this Podcast Tag Team Championship? Probably them. Almost certainly.

Episode 4 - Jon Horrid (Lovecraft Bar)

in

This week, on Talking To Ghosts we end our two week streak of bands who's names start with the word "Dead" by talking with Jon Horrid, owner of the Lovecraft Bar, a horror themed bar located in Portland, OR (NOT New York City, where only imposter Lovecraft Bars exist). Jon tells us about his collection of horror memorabilia, transitioning from punk and metal to industrial, and New York's industrial scene in the early 90's, and Michael and Wes discuss Kanye West's secret life as a zombie hunter.