Category Archives: editorial

Aleister Crowley Black Magic Recordings Vinyl LP

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Here’s an anomaly; in the early 1900s, the notorious Aleister Crowley, the self-appointed “Beast 666”, recorded himself doing a variety of readings from his writings including his Gnostic Mass, a bit of poetry, and some ritual magick. Today, these recordings have resurfaced (because they’re public domain, now, I’m guessing) as Black Magic Recordings, a vinyl LP released by Cleopatra Records.

Crowley stated on many occasions–including his turn in the witness stand in several of his failed defamation of character lawsuits–that he was staunchly opposed to black magic, so the title of this album is a bit sensationalized and clearly caters to the easily shocked who consider any form of magic to be evil. But this is a fascinating bit of history–Crowley made these recordings on WAX CYLINDERS, so this is one of very few wax recordings (to my knowledge) to make it back into circulation as a retail item, however small the audience might be for it.

Cleopatra is a johnny-come-lately on this set of recordings though, as David Tibet compiled a VERY similar collection of Crowley’s wax cynlinder recordings back in 1986 according to Discogs.com.

It was a very limited release by Current 93, a total of just over 400 released for public sale before the plates were destroyed. The Current 93 release had two interesting features–the first being that the album is a 45RPM on side one, but is meant to be played at 33RPM on side two.

Interesting feature #2–the center hole for the LP was punched, then labeled over. To play the record for the first time, the paper needed to be punctured. There’s no question whether you got a brand new, unplayed copy of THIS record, called The Hastings Archive/The World As Power. And trust me, you’ll WANT to know if you ever find a copy of it for sale–this 12 inch vinyl LP is said to have sold on eBay for over $400 in 2008 from a starting price of $5 according to Popsike.com. Fascinating.

–Joe Wallace

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How to Clean a Vinyl Record…With GLUE?

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Up til now, I haven’t intentionally set out to find bizarre vinyl LP cleaning methods, but they keep appearing. Clearly this is some kind of signal given to me by the great gods of vinyl that I’m supposed to share these with the masses, so here is another video of an LP cleaning technique I personally will NEVER EVER use.


–Joe Wallace


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Frank Black on Vinyl Justice

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I clearly have been living in a cave for many years as this is the first time I’ve heard of the series Vinyl Justice. And Frank Black’s appearance in this clip has rendered me an instant fan of the series (I was already a fan of Frank Black). Live forever and ever and ever, Frank Black. You are one of God’s own mutants. I am now, even as I type this, looking for more Vinyl Justice episodes. Sadly, embedding for this video clip is not available, but you can click the image above to see the episode on YouTube.

–Joe Wallace
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Elephant Stone The Glass Box EP

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When this seven-track vinyl EP by Elephant Stone arrived in the post, I knew I was in for something good. For starters, the band makes sure to point out in the press materials that it’s an analog recording. 2-inch tape to 1/4 inch before it got onto vinyl.  My kind of recording aesthetics, those are.

Then there’s the record itself. If Shindig! magazine doesn’t get wind of this to further spread it to the masses, I’ll be very disappointed. The Elephant Stone Glass Box EP is chock full of psychadelic jangly pop that does indeed call back to the swirly, radio-friendly pop psychedelia, without being at all annoying about it.

Some of these genre-influenced bands get weighted down by their own musical obsessions, but in Elephant Stone’s case, it’s more about taking an influence and making it your own rather than aping it by rote down to the waistcoats and matching hairdos.

There’s some top-notch songwriting and playing on tracks like the moody Lies, Lies, Lies and the perky Strangers. On the B-side, Yesterday’s Gurl is an excellent slice of yearning with a great hooky Smithereens-style guitar riff tying the song together. Has to be said, 360 Degree Music has done well in adding Elephant Stone to the roster; this band provides a completely enjoyable listening experience–not a single bummer song on the vinly–and that’s no easy feat.

That said, the final cut Dhun (available for free on the Elephant Stone official site)  is a total departure from the rest of the EP. It’s probably not the first track you should hear if you’re trying to decide whether to buy.

Instead, go to Pardon My Hindi and stream the Strangers and Savage Soul cuts–great stuff and totally representative of the band. Then you’ll know why you should buy this record now.
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