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.”

Working 250

My chair grits against the warehouse floor
and the printer lies dandruffed,
near previous projects, flagged and stacked
like skulls. Flat files, tall black rooks, 
are castled in the corners.

The light barely bites through 
the dust on the counters and–near
the windows–the hand sanitizer sweats.

We don’t stretch enough.

The old Goodyear sign 
across the street somehow fades 
into electric blue and the perfect 
color of rust. Overhead, six power lines,
two birds, one satellite dish.

The drone of a lawnmower bounces
off the low, dark clouds. No one
brings in the flags when it rains.

Hot Coffee and Styrofoam Cups
Listen on Tidal. Listen on Spotify.

1. “Zai elhawa” – Baligh Hamdi
2. “SAKUDELO” – Deorro, Los Dutis
3. “IFY” – Leá the Leox
4. “Epilogue – Resilience (Live)” – James Brandon Lewis, Lutosławski Quartet
5. “Forever Undone” – The Saddest Landscape
6. “Sunning in the Central Reservation” – A. Whales
7. “little by little” – Simon Fisher Turner
8. “Worldly World (Ohaa Uha Uha)” – The Kiffness, Muyun Brothers
9. “Deus Ex” – Necrotted, Aborted, Coffin Feeder
10. “Oxygen” – Cage Fight
11. “The Fever Mask” – At the Gates
12. “RIPPLES” – Roscoe Mitchell
13. “Moner Basha Bhengo Geche” – Asha Bhosle, R.D. Burman, Mukul Dutta

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.