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.”

A Slight Perverse Expanse

The lady bugs
 in our first house

gathered 

in the nondescript alleys
of a corner. 

After a decade, 

in a different house,
they’ve come back.

Now they crawl 
across the kitchen
window, 

like red bursts popping 
in blue skies, sometimes 

like cranberries 
in the custard.

A Slight Perverse Expanse
Listen on Tidal. Listen on Spotify.

1. “lawless world (numbers)” – Vladislav Delay
2. “Unfinished not fragile” – Bill Orcutt
3. “Don’t Test the Pest” – Pest Control
4. “Violin Concerto No. 2: V. sgraffito” – Miranda Cuckson
5. “Xmas” – Mark Van Hoen
6. “Sabotage” – Maria BC
7. “Cold” – Oláh Krisztián Quartet, TRYPL
8. “From Empowered” – John Edwards, Eddie Prévost, N.O. Moore, Alan Wilkinson
9. “Pathol O.G.” – Bill Callahan
10. “Jacob’s Ladder: Ob rechts” – Berliner Philharmoniker
11. “Surfaces” – Frank Gratkowski, Simon Nabatov
12. “Boustan El Achar” – Yassine Nana
13. “Patterns from Nature: I. Branches” – Quinsin Nachoff, Matt Mitchell
14. “New Dawn” – Marshall Allen, Neneh Cherry

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.