Sublime eclectic mayhem. That’s been my playlist project and musical life, one that begins with The Muppet Movie soundtrack and later involves performing hymns, death metal, surf, and bluegrass. I’ve played in theaters, tents, and basements, for multi-stage festivals and squirrel rodeos. I’ve written and recorded music for The Drunken Odyssey. Sublime eclectic mayhem. A warning and a welcome for joyous noise, for those navigating what Beckett called “this bitch of an earth.”

KNIFE!: Footnotes to the Hidden Mythology of Bladesmithing: Man’s First Tool

1. The inverted cross is the sword of action held by the hilt. This is the full-throated singing of the blade as a symbol of air, intellect, and war.

Like the hidden blade of the assassin, knives and daggers are often a rogue’s weapon. Macbeth’s blades, corporal and incorporeal, point him to his downfall. The ronin commits seppuku, a ritualized disembowelment, with a tanto rather than a sword to regain honor. Similarly, Macbeth charges into a lost battle, sword in hand.

The Rambo survival knife reminds us we live in the time of the anti-hero.

The Sword of Action

Listen on Tidal. Listen on Spotify.

1. “Death Is Only A Dream” – Noël Akchoté, Bill Frisell, Mary Halvorson
2. “Praise” – Panda Bear
3. “Cybernaut” – Tonto’s Expanding Head Band
4. “The Magnificent Seven” – Benny Golson
5. “Drishti: IX. Luminous” – Simone Porter
6. “Attack of the Puppet People Suite” – Albert Glasser
7. “Avanscoperta” – Piero Umiliani
8. “Vega” – Alan Moore, Mitch Jenkins
9. “Venusian Aurora” – Bernard Xolotl
10. “Daybreak” – Eloy
11. “Igxababa Lembhadada” – Abacothozi
12. “Phase III” – Lucy Railton
13. “Hog Maw Stomp” – Dick Hyman

Stephen McClurg (Episode 473 & 666) composes and improvises in Serenity Dagger, The Abdomen, and other projects. Along with session work for mid-Alabama singer/songwriters, he frequently collaborates with musicians across the state adding bass, guitar, and synths to friends’ recordings. He currently writes reviews for Horror DNA and is the substitute low end wrangler for Mobile-based punk rock band Future Hate. You can find out more about his work here.