REPTILIAN AGENDA

Lo Fi Schizophrenia, y'all.

HoodooEngine: Control Freak ROUGH cut a la Skinny Puppy

This of course is an early cut of the experiment working with our track "Control Freak" from the album "Murder the World."

Using hypnosis and trance techniques on the first night I listened to the track on repeat, and wrote down all images and impressions that bubbled up as I hovered on the edge of the liminal door. Then the next day, began collecting source that seemed to match that inspiration as close as possible. That's where this is at. Now it's just a matter of fine details.



Next up is "In The Flesh," and then possibly one more if the inspiration is still flowing.

Enjoy.

[Take a Trip with us... Mythos Media.]

New Badass Player Script, Y'All

Can you dig it? Listen, share -- and remember, these albums are mad cheap this month. Just use the code "hoodooluv" on checkout. 50% off, which means all the mp3s for both of our albums (3 years of work), all yours for the cost of a cappuccino.

June Sale!

For the entire month of june, you can get 50% ANY HoodooEngine Bandcamp purchase with code: "hoodooluv"- that means $1-2 ALBUMS.

Go get em!

KMFDM Bitch-Slaps Plutocracy With A Drug Against Wall Street

The whole #OccupyWallStreet thing is cool and all, but it's not a real party until some heavyweights of radical music start throwing their weight behind it. Fans of industrial metal will be pleased to know that KMFDM has done just that, releasing a new version of their classic track (which the more angsty of us rocked in our angsty bedrooms over a decade ago), A Drug Against War, but have altered their own lyrics to spotlight the recent rebellion against evil psycho-clown corporations.

The vocals in the track are now all about defeating our shady bankster-GMO-Annunaki overlords with the new title A Drug Against Wall Street! Calling upon the 99% to "march to the drum of the ultra heavy beat," the vocals warn against remaining passive to the ravages of class warfare, warning us rather succinctly that "make no mistake, our children's future is at stake."

Shortly after the release of this slammer in its new incarnation, KMFDM's founder and front-man, Sascha K, stated, "On Oct 15, I suddenly had this idea of doing a new version... using alternate lyrics voicing support of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Working quickly I was able to get it done and posted so it could be made available for free to everyone during the Global Day Of Action."

You heard right! The key to success is to take action before it's too late. Give em hell, people.

Skinny Puppy Thwarts Ambush From The Great Vampire Squid

It is a story that most musicians and bands are now accustomed to as economic imbalance continues to sabotage their creative potential. With the release of the new Skinny Puppy album, HanDover, this past October, we bear witness to a record that has been on hold from release for two years thanks to the ongoing sickening ravages of the global financial plague waged on anyone who isn't in the 1%. Obviously, there is an interesting back story to this. In 2009, Skinny Puppy's label, the German-based SPV, went into insolvency, instantly nullifying any possibility of the album's release that year. While this was happening, the band had also scheduled their 2009 Fall tour throughout the US and Europe, yet decided to go forward with the shows despite not at all having their new album on hand. The trouble with the label's lack of financing for the release of their album inevitably gave the band's singer, Ohgr, an idea to harness his patented gothy word-manipulation powers and christened the tour name "In Solvent See".

In the run up to their tour, Skinny Puppy learned of the label's insolvency, so the band's manager, Jeff Jacquin, put out a press release, which stated "I just wanted to attempt to make everyone aware of the current situation that Skinny Puppy is in. Due to the fact that SPV filed for insolvency earlier in the year, the new Skinny Puppy LP will not be out in time for the tour. We have been in discussion with SPV and had hoped to find a solution to the mess they have put us in, but it looks as though things will not get sorted out until years end. We have meetings set with them in the near future and I hope to be able to let everyone know that things will be back on track soon. Songs have been recorded and artwork has been worked on and once we resolve the issues we have with SPV we will release them."

That was October 2009. Fast forward two years later and we are finally able to enjoy this legendary industrial band's new album hanDover, a long-awaited follow up to their 2007 album, Mythmaker. Sporting a poignant design by the visual artist who has done nearly all their album covers since the beginning, Steven R. Gilmore, the release turns a giant mirror on this naughty little world in a way that only Skinny Puppy can pull off. One can assume that the band must have continued to record and tweak the album while waiting to put it out so that it wouldn't be too dated. If so, they succeeded. Stylistically, the record has similarities to their post-millenium sound (Cullorblind, Ashas, Icktums, Village), but at times can possibly even remind diehard fans of their earlier, grittier, analog synth legacy (Ovirt, Wavy, Point) while continuing to explore production techniques that tap into new territory (Gambatte, Brownstone, Vyrisus, Noisex). Overall, the album is a worthwhile buy if you are a fan, but probably not the best pick for newcomers, who should likely first be exposed to their classic albums (such as Remission, Too Dark Park, and The Process) for the best potential long term impact.

"So what in the hell does this blog have to do with your band HoodooEngine?" you may be furiously asking yourself while sitting in total isolation (in true troll form). Aside from being one of the most influential groups for us and wanting to show respect for their continued efforts, we are also intrigued by this tale of an extended monetary struggle to release their art. Much like our own (and most others) sustained professional difficulties, Skinny Puppy has undergone major stresses and delays of their work due to the persistent specter of economic disparity. Their true hella swag gangsta ability to persevere as a band continues to inspire us. As such, we have learned to gladly punt any silly obstacles (such as total world meltdown) that might stand in the way of releasing stuff such as our newest cheerful release, Murder The World, and we will continue to stand for groundbreaking art that isn't afraid to raise its voice to make a worthwhile pissed-off statement. In closing, we feel it really helps to make an impact against the powers that be if you offer bands that you really appreciate a little bit of your money. I mean, c'mon, otherwise its just going to go toward that corporate slush fund for genetically modifying your unborn children. Nobody wants that.

Fretboard masturbation

Sirona Releases Murder The World LP

4 of the tracks from "Murder The World" are available on the free Sirona promotional LP.

Like the album? Pick up the 13 track full release.

Primus Portrays Tales Of Crustacean Class Struggle

This is Johan Ess, lead singer and lyricist for HoodooEngine, bringing you the best and newest mindstuffs floating about in the void. The new video by Primus, Tragedy's 'A Comin', gives a rather inspired take on the ravenous inequity that has been given such widespread attention lately. This type of mass obsession with the horrible condition of class issues is largely due to the #OccupyWallStreet movement going on right now, which we fully support. Anyway, back to the video. Basically, you've got their bassist/singer Les Claypool wearing a giant lobster costume on the beach in the daydream of one of the lobsters awaiting his fate in a restaurant's tank, as the privileged dine and party like there's no tomorrow. The video has an amusing climax with an astronaut riding in on a horse to devour the Claypool lobster, making me wonder if this was all just inspired by a nightmare he recently had.

Primus is no stranger to infusing class commentary into their music, with previous songs like Too Many Puppies, American Life, Welcome To This World, DMV, and of course, who could forget Those Damn Blue Collar Tweakers amongst the more obvious critical jabs of society at large. In fact, despite their reputation as a stoner's wet dream of a proggy funky slippery mud rock trio, Primus has always managed to balance their infamous alternative wackyness with a deeper set of socially conscious views. "Musically, it's upbeat," Les Claypool says, "But lyrically, the song is all about impending doom." When there's "a storm coming, the rain must fall. But to depict that would have been the cliché thing to do, so we've got lobsters."

Keeping in line with the invertebrate theme, the track Invocation from my new solo album, vltrahex, has a line that calls on listeners to "raise up your claws!" in defiance of the submission demanded by an economically obsessed society...



In much the same vein, with projects like HoodooEngine, I have always intended to convey the very palpable sense of impending doom without devolving into utter cliché. This has always been best remedied by the vigorous application of comic relief.

Whether it is referencing Grant Morrison's cancer-dimensional Archons from The Invisibles graphic series, the absurd notion of "alchemists in their fancy aether, turning their shit to gold", or the inhumanly robotic "machinations of silicon, making their way to your rear", these lyrics are designed to amuse and alter your brain chemistry...


If you like that last track, be sure to get our new album that just came out, Murder The World.

Murder The World officially released in digital format

Have at it you lunatics! Hilarious ultraviolence in musical form.

The CD version will be available soon, for an equally reasonable price. If you'd like to know more about the process behind the scenes (we worked on this album for 3 years), explore this site more.

Thanks to everyone that worked so hard on this project.

"Murder The World" in the studio

HoodooEngine is a musical jihad against corporate thoughtforms. We’ll use their tools against them, and drink tequila as the old guard crumbles and topples from its own weight.

As we were in the studio preparing our second album, "Murder The World," James also brought around his hand recorder and chronicled our descent into madness, including some of the tracks in progress as they were at that point (you can hear the finals now on the album). This is it- a 2 part podcast series completely unlike any other podcast you've ever heard.

These recording sessions were a taxing process that involves copious amounts of drugs and self-abuse, so bear with us and check out the album when it’s released as CD if we don’t all OD on cough syrup and fermented yak semen, or invoke a wrathful demon that replaces all of our bodily fluids with nutella.

And of course, the album "Murder The World" digital album: now waiting for final master but already available:

Would You Fuck Me? I'd Fuck Me

What's we been up to, you ask? Here's a little taste...




I'm leaking this little "B" side for you for labor day or some shit.

If you don't "get it" let me help refresh your memory. (I know drug abuse is hell on recall.)


You can thank Clark for the phone call you can hear in this track. And yes, he really was on the line with the hospital, asking to have his dick removed. A MAN HAS NEEDS, OK?

Last but not least... Here our some of our recent band photos. Don't we look purdy?

Hartman (Leads on "Drawing The Void.")

James (Rhythm, bass)

Johan (vocals)

Marz (fascist dictator)

Clark (hand percussion, inspirational OD's)

Now go and pay 5 measly bucks for an album that'll blow the speakers out of your car, will you?

Sirona Records "Signs" EgoWhore

Sirona Records picked up an LP version of EgoWhore for free distribution. You can now check out 5 of those tracks under a creative commons license here.

DJs, podcasters, all of you should feel free to spin and use our stuff with impunity so long as you credit it within the broadcast.

The follow-up, "Murder The World," is both more extreme and far more genre-breaking than EgoWhore, so we all hope you check that out as well. ($5 gets you 8 pre-masters now, and all 13 tracks the moment the masters are released.)

Party At The World's End Video Trailer Featuring HoodooEngine

New trailer for Fallen Nation: Party At The World's End





Music "Nothing Is Sacred" from HoodooEngine's album Murder The World.

Video/motion and some still work by Daniel Warwick, other still visuals by James Curcio,
rest of the credits at the end of the video. Enjoy, and show your support by picking up a copy!

"You're Playing Too Many Notes, James" (Behind the Scenes)

Marz233 (and Beaker)

Now that $5 Pre-orders have been announced * and we are moving into mastering, I wanted to give some of you a brief look behind the scenes at the 2 years we've put into Murder The World. (It just dawned on me that we actually started writing some of the songs for this album more than 3 years ago. Bloody hell.)

First, the nuts and bolts. Most of these songs began with Marz233 laying down a basic structure. I would then track bass and rhythm guitar along with that, and we'd add percussion, either from Iron Will and I or V-Drums. Then we did a round-robin with Scott Landes and The Illumanist laying down leads, Johan layering on vocals - and more layers of vocals - and synths, and more synths. The only exception to this process was Psychic Seige, which I wrote most of the parts for first on guitar over a drum loop, and then we built the song around that.

During tracking, this was pretty much what you could expect to hear between Marz233 and I:

Marz: "That chord sounds weird."
Me: "I added a 9th to it to give an other-worldly quality."
Marz: "What the hell?"
Me: "How did you write this part?"
Marz: "It sounds good, right?"
Me: "Yeah. It sounds really evil. But these chords have no tonal relation with each other that makes sense on planet Earth. It's all from Neptune."
Marz: "Smoke this and you'll be from Neptune too. Fuck, hold on. You're playing too many notes, James."
Beaker: "RAAAAAAAAAAWK!"
Me: "Too many notes?"
Marz: "SHUT UP BEAKER. Yes. Play less of them."
Me: "But that's the tonic of the-"
Marz: "I don't care what it is. Play less notes."

Iron Will. Always the kidder. 

Of course, the exact words are made up, but this is very much like a conversation that we had back and forth throughout the tracking of rhythm guitars.

There's an element to this album that was secretly pretty serious for all of us. It was a channel for a lot of frustration, a punching bag that you could hit again and again without anyone telling you that maybe you should try out some Prozac. But we had a lot of fun, too. Throughout recording, we fucked around with each other a lot. There were moments where I'm sure all of us wanted to strangle each other, but even more than that, I already remember it as one of the most fun projects I've had a chance to work on. We goofed off constantly in a way that I don't think you get with most creative teams- I mean, on one occasion they got me to drink whiskey ceremonially out of a human skullcap, and another time they almost got me to smoke human brain. (There is more to this story, of course.)

I also wandered around constantly at that time with a hand-held recorder, so as a result, you can listen to some of our goofing around that at times almost reaches the level of art, but more often is incredibly juvenile and still makes me laugh my ass off. At times it felt like we were living inside an episode of Metalocalypse. If so, I'm not sure which one of us would be Pickles.

Hartman, rocking out.
(He did the main guitars
for "Drawing The Void".)

Now that the album is moving into mastering, we are also moving on to different things- Scott is prepping for a massive uber-tour with several bands (I believe Mankind is Obsolete, Android Lust, I'm not sure off the top of my head of the rest), Marz is in the wilds of Pensyltucky cranking out electronic music, Johan is studying physics and getting back to some of his own material, I'm getting a bunch of books ready for publication, and Iron Will is roaming India.

Hopefully this team will be unified for another project in the future. If not, either way- it's been real, guys.

-JC

*For $5 now you get 8 of the premasters as high res mp3s, and then the entire 13 track album the moment it is mastered. 

Preview Murder The World

You should be able to pre-order on Bandcamp as well. Kick ass! It's going into mastering now at Bob Idakaar's studio -- tubes should lend some nice warmth. We're hoping for a final release in September, though it might be slightly after.

Check out this interview if you're new to our music and want to know a bit about us.

solipsistic NATION - Tim Skold Ogre Karsh Kale and Hoodoo Engine

Pre-order "Murder The World" right now! Only $5.

From Solipsistic Nation:

Listen to the Interview now! (Download/direct link)

In the last couple of weeks I learned that Karsh Kale, Tim Sköld, Nivek Ogre and HoodooEngine had released or were about to release new albums. I dig them all so I do what I do sent out the emails and made the phone calls. 

I discovered Karsh Kale right about the same time I discovered the Asian Massive (or Asian Underground) scene. Over the years I watched the careers of Karsh Kale, Asian Dub Foundation and others grow over the years and it’s a wonder that I haven’t had someone like Karsh on the show earlier. Karsh has released six albums and recorded and performed with everyone from Zakir Hussain to Yoko Ono. Karsh’s latest album,Cinema, is his most ambitious album to date. It’s big, bold and melodramatic, and Karsh’s experience scoring films has had an impact on the scope of Cinema.
Tim Sköld was another surprise! Before I knew it, one night after work I found myself in front of a microphone talking to Tim about his long career, from his rock roots in bands like Kingpin and Shotgun Messiah and then later playing with the likes of KMFDM and Marilyn Manson. Tim also released a solo album back in 1996 and 15 years later he’s followed it up with Anomie, due out May 10th. Tim was great to talk with and I found that he’s as much an agent provocateur in person as he is in his music. I also had some great questions to ask him from folks like Jeremy and Royb0t from Twitter and Facebook.
Ogre’s is set to release a second album with ohGr called unDeveloped that also due to be released May 10th. Ogre and Skinny Puppy have scored the post apocalyptic soundtrack to our lives for nearly 30 years. While Skinny Puppy was my introduction into industrial music, there’s industrial music and then there’s Skinny Puppy. They’re in their own category and to call them industrial is kind of limiting. I was curious to see what directions Ogre would explore through ohGr and to be honest, I didn’t like unDeveloped at first. As Ogre mentions during our chat, people rarely give music full attention because they’re usually multitasking while they’re listening to music. I was doing the same thing with unDeveloped but one night while I was going out for a run I listened to unDeveloped and without being aware of it I found myself lost in the album and now I think it’s one of my favorite album of 2011.

Hoodoo Engine Primary Members
(Not pictured: Iron Will, Scott Landes, & The Illuminist)

Once I finally realized that Tim and Ogre were going to be guests on this week’s show I knew I had to include Hoodoo Engine. I’ve wanted to play tracks from their EgoWhore album since it was released in 2010 but it was just one of those scheduling things. Hoodoo Engine would be perfect for today’s show and to top it off, they’re gearing up to release their new album, Murder the World, and it’s more wretched and evil than EgoWhore, if such a thing is even possible. The core of Hoodoo Engine is Marz233, James Curcio and Johan Ess. Just to be above board, both James and I are on the Alterati Network, but I’ve known James long before Alterati when I interviewed him about his book, Join My Cult. While you anxiously wait for the release of Murder the World you can watch Clark, a gonzo mockumentary reality show art film surrounding the struggles of an independent artist in a capitalist world. 

Listen to the Interview now!

(Direct download) 

In The Flesh: For Murder The World

As you know, if you've been following our site, we are still hard at work on our album Murder The World. All going well, we should be hitting the final mastering sometime this summer.

We have an interview that we should be dropping on you any...week...now with Solipsistic Nation, in the same show where you can catch some new updates from Ogre (Skinny Puppy) and Tim Skold (KMFDM, Marilyn Manson). We can't promise you won't catch some kind of aural disease from putting all of us in your ear holes. Just saying - we did warn you, and we can't be held legally responsible. It should be a hell of a show.

But in the meantime, here's one of the tracks - pre master and final mix - from the album. We're super cereal guys. 

InTheFlesh 150bpm by agent139

Studio work: A look under the hood

Here is a look under the hood of the hoodooengine locomotive. ("Hey, locomotives don't have hoods." "Shut up already.")

We've been working on this album for quite some time, and hope to have it in mastering by this summer.

Enjoy the music. These are low bit-rate versions, but should give you an idea of our acoustic and unholy fury. Tell your friends, and make sure to draw that circle of salt around yourself before listening. (Or take off your shirt. It has the same effect.)

ControlFreak 160bpm by agent139

HoodooEngine in Carpe Nocturne Magazine

In the midst of engineering their next epic and sweaty album, HoodooEngine brings heavy words of doom to the masses through a feature in the Spring 2011 Carpe Nocturne Magazine, as follows...

HOODOOENGINE CONJURES DEMONS IN YOUR LIVING ROOM
WITH THEIR UPCOMING RELEASE: “MURDER THE WORLD”

It has only been a matter of months since our strange conglomeration of dubious characters, HoodooEngine, mercilessly ejaculated its first stream of tracks upon the world in the form of EgoWhore. We are only now preparing to open the 9th gate for our next release with the material we've been working on since 2008: Murder The World. Oddly enough, the material for our near-complete second album began over a year before we joined forces to put out our first release as HoodooEngine.

As the title might imply, Murder The World is an incredibly dark trip, one might even say a completely nihilistic one. When we first started working on it, we were deep “under cover” in several corporations, and so maybe you could say the demons we were trying to exorcise (or invoke? I can't tell anymore) were the Corporate egregores that dominate the planet. And if you don't know what that means, don't worry. You will soon enough.

Some of that nihilism comes through the music, and certainly we got to have fun digging into some more intricate metal riffs than we did on EgoWhore. But it comes through most clearly in the lyrics. Acting with our loose guidance, Johan has been channeling some truly horrifying, and dare I say obscure magic. Occultists will probably feel like it's Christmas morning, and all their presents are being handed out by voluptuous green-eyed succubi. But non-Occultists can enjoy it just as much. I mean the flip side is: How many people listen to lyrics these days, right? So you can rock along to the music and have no idea that you're helping us conjure demons that will devour the dominant paradigm in their massive, hungry maws. That's fine. Sing along, kids. Sing along. Master will be pleased.

Seriously though, we think Murder The World will be an experience that twists your mind through the morbid annals of an unholy ultimate destiny. EgoWhore is something you can dance to while starting a revolution and decimating zombies. It has a point, but heavy as it is, it's still a bit more lighthearted than Murder The World, especially with tracks like “Hoodoo Luv” that have prominent crunk chants. EgoWhore is a non-stop progression of hooks and anthems. There's a strong pop structure underlying the album, despite how it doesn't sound too much like pop on the surface. (Thus the title, among other traits.)

A few of the tracks on Murder The World hearken back to that, so we can keep the Gucci Goths happy. But other tracks, like “Drawing The Void” would just melt people's face off on the dance floor. And we all liked Raiders of the Lost Ark but who wants to have their face melted off when dancing? So blast it in your car, on your headphones, or at home on your ridiculously expensive audiophile soundsystem while having rough sex, but for the love of everything unholy, wear the proper protective gear. It might not be a bad idea to draw a circle around yourself, purify your chakras, or at least take a salt bath after listening. Or you know, don't...

We’d also like to point out that while there haven’t been any confirmed injuries from enjoying our music, that doesn’t it can’t happen. Oh, and also be sure not to take us too seriously. Banish with laughter.

Check out www.hoodooengine.com for music, releases, and interviews. We especially suggest you look into the podcast that we released with Alterati.com if you want a glimpse at the insanity we conjured up in our basement studio while working on this material.