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.”

The Nearness of Me

Uncanny places and thoughts,
everywhere the knots get tighter.
In my daily and weekly ledgers
errors glow in neon highlighter.

Where the manual, the 
directions for surrender?
Probably in the trash next to 
the handbook for the blender.

It’s like trying to find a voice,
while in the mouth of a cave-in,
squeezed like anchovy, like sardine,
drowned in salty oil–dream-tinned.

Sometimes we need help
and larger boots with longer laces
and friends, more friends,
with blazing, but stranger faces. 

Proximity

Listen on Tidal. Listen on Spotify.

1. “Sette ragazze di classe (Ritmica Suspense #2)” – Fabio Frizzi
2. “Eletricidade” – Dom Salvador, Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad
3. “HOW TO SWING” – Sunking, Niki Randa
4. “Rato Gordo” – Akira Umeda, Metal Prayers
5. “They Shall Take Up Serpents” – Sir Richard Bishop
6. “Paroxysm” – Car Bomb
7. “Time and Time” – Kokoroko, Demae
8. “Karsh” – Howard Shore
9. “Meant to Be” – Half Japanese
10. “Openness” – Nate Mercereau, Josh Johnson, Carlos Niño
11. “Mistral (Live)” – Fuubutsushi
12. “Tiger Trot” – Leroi Conroy
13. “Wood Teeth” – Doseone, Height Keech
14. “Different” – Barry Can’t Swim
15. “The Sheer Drop” – Ulrika Spacek
16. “1845” – K. Yoshimatsu
17. “Big Dipper” – Joey Waronker, Pete Min
18. “E.B.I.T.D.A.” – Clipse, Pharrell Williams, Pusha T, Malice
19. “Fava” – Michael Hurley

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.