Blogging on Meds

Jean Feraca, I Hear Voices: A Memoir of Love, Death and the Radio

March 13 07:00PM - 08:30PM at Strand Book Store
Located at the corner of 12th Street and Broadway, NYC

“Jean Feraca, Wisconsin Public Radio’s Distinguished Senior Broadcaster and poet, will read from her new memoir, I Hear Voices, accompanied by her son, Dominick Fernow, electronic artist Prurient. The focus of this mother and son duo will be the first chapter in the book, “My Brother/The Other,” which tells the extraordinary story of Feraca’s brother, Stephen, a man with “a life force that verged on the diabolic,” who left home at an early age for Pine Ridge Reservation and was adopted into the Sioux tribe. To carry the text through Stephen’s redemptive death, Prurient will perform dark layers of synths and electronics to create a landscape where the voice breathes a message of existential paradox.”

If you aren’t familiar with Prurient it’s hard to just throw you into a new genre and give you an overview. It’s not like saying “Oh you like the Bright Eyes, man you’ll dig Okkervil River!” plus no one should ever say that. My suggestion is that if you have an interest in thick synth blankets of feedback with structure, tension and dissonance you should start with Pleasure Ground. If you’re a noisemin you know the name, if you’re not and maybe had a Throbbing Gristle phase or pretended to have a Throbbing Gristle phase in order to get laid by a germanic goth chick that was probably into sketchy shit you have some point of reference. If this doesn’t make any sense it I’m kind of psyched because you’re a clean slate and my job becomes easier. Prurient, or Dominic Fernow to be proper has a grip of releases ranging from limited edition cassettes to lathes and CDs. Dominic also opened the New York source for noise, experimental music and black metal, Hospital Productions. The Village Voice has already romanticized the Hospital Productions store located in the basement of Jammyland on 3rd Avenue in Manhattan so we’ll skip over the whole “a dark lair of black metal and experimental music” prose and get to the main course. What’s inspiring and incredible about the store is the care and craft of so many of the releases sold there. While intricate packaging was always been a staple of many noise releases since it’s inception, it really appeals to the early nineties guy in me that consumed any 7″ screened on a paper bag or cover with something glued on it. I know Dom wasn’t into Nuzzle or Mohinder so it’s coming from a completely different head , don’t worry. Knowing that these records were crafted by someone and not a machine adds to the experience. Knowing you can get tapes and records packed with human hair, blood, skin and probably / maybe doo doo adds a new layer. Two Prurient releases probably came out since I just typed that I bet they’re incredible.

Instead of shimmying down the sketchy ladder into the Hospital you should visit the Strand tomorrow night if you are in New York to hear him do his thing while his mother reads from her memoir, I Hear Voices. I’ll be there and I’ll be jealous of both of them as it’s an impressive and unique opportunity. I know your inner NPR voice is telling you what a rich event this could be and at the least you’ll have something interesting to spin to your housemates or fellow free lancers while you sip Kombucha and bash Elliot Spitzer.

Visit the Hospital Site : Here

Pick up the Prurient / Kevin Drumm release - All Are Guests In The House Of The Lord. The only time I was ever disturbed by music was the first time I heard Swans in my teens, I knew there was something mangled and frustrating going on, something that was more shocking than loud guitars and demon imagery. In my adult years I’ve laughed at corny slideshows and drum circles by Neurosis, laughed louder at grown men in corpse paint and became really annoyed by “metal” records that are always compared to “the sound of hot steel ripping through your larynx while you take your last gasp”. All that stuff is bullshit, All Are Guests In The House Of The Lord is disturbing, draining, droning and lucid. You need to let it sink in and give it your attention and it will reward. Trust me I’m cynical, old and a pain in the fucking ass and few records impress me in this way.

Then go here

Read Jean Feraca’s blog, once again get familiar and gear up for tomorrow.

Lastly go here if you’d rather be really pedestrian and read boring reviews by interns that are “so over Justice” and like the sketchy Brian Eno records.

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