#matthew houck

[nofatclips]

C’est la vie No. 2 by Phosphorescent, live on WFUV

[mywifeleftme]

187: Phosphorescent // Muchacho

Muchacho Phosphorescent 2013, Dead Oceans (Bandcamp)

I thought Muchacho was a masterpiece when I first heard it ten years ago, and it’s never really slipped in my estimation. We’re far enough now from the early ‘10s to have our own personal senses of what has and has not lasted—the water level has risen and the mountaintops have become islands. Muchacho is the soundtrack to the wanderings of a mystic with decidedly clay feet, someone whose eyes have been burned from staring too long at the sun in search of God, brimming with sweetness and a fearful need who’ll nonetheless disappear on you without notice for months at a time. A terrible man to date (circa 2010 anyway), in other words, but one with the magnetism that comes from living intensely, as though music, love, bacchanalia, and the soul are matters with real stakes.

According to singer-songwriter Matthew Houck, the songs arose after returning from a tour and finding his personal life in ruins: “lost the place, lost the girl, lost my mind.” And while depicting yourself on an album sleeve surrounded by multiple women in various states of undress isn’t the greatest mea culpa I’ve ever come across, as an evocation of the state of freedom and fragility that comes when the bottom drops out, Muchacho is captivating. Houck uses ‘Hej’ (sounds like ‘hey’) as his own pet name for God, and borrows the old mystical poetry trick of couching his lyrics as simultaneous addresses to an absent lover and to the divine. There’s a sense of surrender throughout, whether to the thrill of the drive (“Ride On/Right On”), dissolution (“Terror in the Canyons”), or the whirlwind (“A New Anhedonia”). A lot of the language has the taste of Bible leather, but at bottom, Muchacho’s weary vibe can be summed up in the words of its lurching title track:

“I found some fortune, found some fame I found they cauterized my veins Hej, I've been fucked up. And I've been a fool But like the shepherd to the lamb Like the wave unto the sand I'll fix myself up. To come and be with you.”

Houck’s plaintive moan and a shimmering fiddle loop that makes time feel simultaneously like it’s hurtling forward and suspended in place have given Muchacho’s best known track, “Song for Zula,” a long afterlife in soundtrack licensing, but there’s something (inadvertently, I think) subversive about a song with “Zula”’s caged, vehement grief turning up on a show like Superstore. What to make of a nostalgic sitcom montage on the importance of finding moments of reprieve at your workaday job being set to a piece that concludes with the words, “And I could kill you with my bare hands if I was free”? That’s what happens when you let a song out into the world—but with any luck a few have followed its silver line back to Muchacho, and found themselves a shade more debauched and enlightened for the trip.

187/365

[vmonteiro23a]

UNDER THE RADAR: New Album - Phosphorescent – "Revelator", released on April 5, 2024

UNDER THE RADAR: New Album – Phosphorescent – “Revelator”, released on April 5, 2024 “On Phosphorescent’s (aka Matthew Houck’s) third album since 2013’s career-reinventing Muchacho, he’s continuing to work in the ethereal, synth-infused Americana realm that began on that album and continued with 2018’s C’est La Vie. This one feels a little warmer and cozier than the sometimes-off-kilter C’est La…

[musikblog]

https://www.musikblog.de/2024/04/phosphorescent-revelator/ Nach Bestrahlung mit UV Licht im Dunklen zu leuchten, ist die Eigenschaft von phosphoreszierendem Material. Eine Eigenschaft, welche auch auf Matthew Houck passt, der seit 2001 als Phosphorescent die US-Americana Szene bespielt. Uns Europäer lies er bisher ziemlich im Dunklen über sein Schaffen, der achte Longplayer “Revelator” schickt sich jetzt aber an, Licht ins Dunkel […]

[lastchancevillagegreen]

Friday, 1 March 2024:

Alter Jo Schornikow (Keeled Scales) (released 20 May 2022)

This Australian Jo Schornikow's third album and here is another artist I discovered via God's Jukebox. Posted by one of those I follow (and who regularly posts things I actually like, obviously) the song I heard was Visions and to date, it remains the only Schornikow song on the site. I was captivated by everything about the track but what tipped me over into buying the album was discovering that she is married to Matthew Houck better known to many as Phosphorescent. Phossy was an artist I discovered way back in the days of Parasol in Champaign and I was a colossal fan of his. That fandom eventually went by the wayside (I didn't even bother buying his last album, matter of fact I'd take his first four albums over his last four albums) but I certainly couldn't resist checking out Schornikow's work in better detail. She worked as the keyboard player for Phosphorescent for the past eight years and seemingly she is assisting Houck in crafting his new album.

Above you see the album cover and the back of the album. Below you will find the gatefold. Apologies for the crappy photo, it's dusk and I can never make a digital camera operate after dusk.

This comes inside a custom inner sleeve that is the same slate grey on both front and back, hence only one shot.

This album is pressed on quasi-clear vinyl (not as clear as Neil Young's clear vinyl). But below you will find both shots of the color vinyl.

Below you will find photos of both sides of the record label.

Because I bought this via bandcamp, Schornikow included a handwritten note and the label included a sticker of their logo.

[docrotten]

SLAUGHTERHOUSE (1987) – Episode 251 – Decades Of Horror 1980s

“Buddy’s a good boy, but he has what you might call basic hygiene problems.” Who knew? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Chad Hunt, Bill Mulligan, Crystal Cleveland, and Jeff Mohr – as they take a trip to Buddy’s domain in this low-budget slasher centered around – wait for it – a Slaughterhouse (1987).

Decades of Horror 1980s Episode 251 – Slaughterhouse (1987)

Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! Click the alert to get notified of new content! https://youtube.com/gruesomemagazine

Decades of Horror 1980s is partnering with the WICKED HORROR TV CHANNEL (https://wickedhorrortv.com/) which now includes video episodes of 1980s and is available on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, and its online website across all OTT platforms, as well as mobile, tablet, and desktop.

The owner of a closed-down slaughterhouse sets his intellectually disabled psychopathic son on the people who want to take his land away and the unlucky teens who decide to party there.

  Writer/Director: Rick Roessler

Executive Producer: Jerry Encoe

Production Design: Michael Scaglione

Selected Cast:

Joe B. Barton as Buddy Bacon (as Joe Barton)

Don Barrett as Lester Bacon

Sherry Leigh as Liz Borden (as Sherry Bendorf)

Bill Brinsfield as Tom Sanford

Jason Collier as Ronnie

Jeff Grossi as Buzz

Jane Higginson as Annie

Joel Hoffman as Kevin Matthews

William Houck as Sheriff Borden

Courtney Lercara as Michele

Lee Robinson as Harold Murdock

Erich Schwarz as Skip

Donna Stevens as Sally Jean Duncan

Jeff Wright as Deputy Dave Thomas

Ah, Slaughterhouse (1987). “You’ll Never Get Out in One Piece!” is one enticing tagline while the second tagline, “Buddy Has an Axe to Grind. A Big Axe,” may give you a better idea of what you’re in for with this low-budget dark comedy slasher. The Grue Crew chuckles aimlessly at the humor, gags at the gruesome opening shots, and questions the film in general. As Bill says, at least it goes for Texas Chainsaw Massacre instead of Halloween. Snort, snort!

Every two weeks, Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror 1980s podcast will cover another horror film from the 1980s. The next episode’s film, chosen by Bill, will be Conan the Barbarian (1982). You all know what’s best in life, right? 

Please let them know how they’re doing! They want to hear from you – the coolest, grooviest fans – so leave them a message or comment on the Gruesome Magazine Youtube channel, on the Gruesome Magazine website, or email the Decades of Horror 1980s podcast hosts at feedback@gruesomemagazine.com.

Check out this episode!

[writer59january13]

Cherry Tree Music Co-op

alternately titled instant infatuation:

a moment of spontaneous spunk

instantaneously transformed

ordinarily shy guy into a quidnunc

courtesy powder milk biscuits

inside his mouth

bitesize morsels did plunk

wafted courtesy pheromones

found him punchdrunk

reclusive tendencies bubbled up

(analogous to petrification found yours truly immobilized like Stonewall Jackson)

undermining vetted wanton yearning

I lapsed into role of celibate monk

nonverbal communication conveyed

that of characteristic,

eccentric, and generic lunk

gobbed up with gunk

dating gamesomeness I did flunk.

Envision Saint Mary's Church 3916 Locust Walk; City) (Circa mid nineteen eighties after the common lee washed out tide dull era - CODA).

Naughty bits and pieces asper an uneventful memory came back in a flash prompted by a pop up, (no...NOT the male organ), which noisily did clack in my mind, and (methought hmm...a bit early in the season... mebbe Santa and his reindeer made a preseason debut),

just this morn'n (a boot two plus months from today October 20th, 2018) tubby more exact,

but most likely giving me flack

that cerebral din..., which would not abate? just rusty cogs and cranky gears nar fail'n to generate causing a screeching grate analogous to soundgarden filled with 10,000 maniacs hood did gyrate ting amidst flickr ring erratic my third eye blind began to habituate where illumination, sans remembrance became clearer apparently beckoning with wings at the speed of sound, sorely crying out particularly in sore need for me to partially hydrogenate and/or elbow grease to lubricate amp pull juice so I could intimate

more specifically, a flop and embarrassing date

all but forgot till this very moment, though nothing to equate the heron now bird den sum present, to become linkedin with ill fate

that Sunday evening approximately, the half life of carbon based organic NON GMO matter - Matthew Scott Harris an awkwardly forced attempt to foster acquaintanceship, where gall didst grate

courtesy sans call of the wild, which brazenness, and faux brawniness then, I now hate and perhaps abysmal outcome deserved of this then ingrate

okay, I pride myself to take an interpersonal dare shot thru with anxiety to broker a conversation with an attractive gal aesthetically pleasing with medium length sandy colored hair

and upon asking, she told me her name tubby Janet Houck accompanied yours truly back to his dorm room where we did nothing but talk (and learned her home town matched my own) suddenly feeling gun shy, shrinking into an occupied emotionally fortified wall - hermetically sealed with top brand caulk and then...? I did balk

where former emboldened gutsiness drained away from me,

cuz intimate liaison golden opportunity slipped away awk word lee upended by my pullulating nervous jabbering.

[nofatclips-home]

Song for Zula by Phosphorescent from The BBC Sessions

[cr0ss0veronlymusic]

Phosphorescent - Song For Zula

[iwant2-believe]

Phosphorescent was amazing last night. Matthew Houck put on an awesome show. Indianapolis, IN

[10-mile-stere0]

[nofatclips]

Live radio performance of We'll Be Here Soon by Phosphorescent from the EP The BBC Sessions

[adsmusiconstellations]

Phosphorescent - Like a Rolling Stone (2022)

Once upon a time you dressed so fine Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you? People call, say "Beware doll, you're bound to fall" You thought they were all a-kiddin' you You used to laugh about Everybody that was hangin' out Now you don't talk so loud Now you don't seem so proud About having to be scrounging your next meal How does it feel? How does it feel? To be without a home? Like a complete unknown? Like a rolling stone? Aw, you've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely But ya know ya only used to get juiced in it Nobody's ever taught ya how to live out on the street And now you’re gonna have to get used to it You say you never compromise With the mystery tramp, but now you realize He's not selling any alibis As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes And say, “Do you want to make a deal?" How does it feel? How does it feel? To be on your own With no direction home A complete unknown Like a rolling stone? Aw, you never turned around to see the frowns On the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for you Never understood that it ain't no good You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you You used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat Ain't it hard when you discover that He really wasn't where it's at After he took from you everything he could steal? How does it feel? How does it feel? To hang on your own With no direction home Like a complete unknown Like a rolling stone? Aw, princess on the steeple and all the pretty people They're all drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made Exchangin' all precious gifts But you'd better take your diamond ring, ya better pawn it, babe You used to be so amused At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used Go to him now, he calls ya, ya can't refuse When ya ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose You're invisible now, ya got no secrets to conceal How does it feel? Aw, how does it feel? To be on your own With no direction home Like a complete unknown Like a rolling stone?

[vmonteiro23a]

UNDER THE RADAR: Phosphorescent Returns With First Album in 5 Years, Shares New Song: Listen

UNDER THE RADAR: Phosphorescent Returns With First Album in 5 Years, Shares New Song: Listen “Listen to the title track of Revelator, Matthew Houck’s debut for Verve Records. Phosphorescent has announced Revelator, his debut album for Verve and first studio LP since 2018’s C’est la Vie. The news comes with the release of the title track, along with a video in which Matthew Houck sings on a…

[iheartmoosiq]

Though Matthew Houck has been active in the music scene as Phosphorescent for much the 21st century so far, it wasn’t until we came across Song For Zula that we came to know about the project, quickly falling head over heels for the Georgian singer songwriter and his band. Soon afterwards, they put out an album named Muchacho, which became one of our favorites in 2013. So we were immensely glad when Phosphorescent returned earlier this summer with a sun-kissed jaunter named New Birth In New Zealand, as well as news of their next album, C’est La Vie, arriving October 5th via Dead Oceans. Today, Houck has unveiled a second track off C’est La Vie, and it’s a much more melancholic of a twangy, reedy track, with a despondent Americana timbre that Matt Berninger of The National would probably approve. Christmas Down Under is a slow burner of a indie rock song, dusty with its weathered guitars and jangling percussion, but adorned with synthetically tuned vocals and a steely electric sheen. We’re no where near the holidays just yet, but I’m pretty sure we’ll be slinging this tune through our content ears through the end of the year, long past Christmas. Pre-order Phosphorescent’s new album C’est La Vie, here.

[100albumcountdown]

64 - Phosphorescent - Pride (2007)

One of my favourite feelings is the soft melancholy of warm lights in the twilight. Walking home on cool autumn evenings as the dusk is turning inkwell blue and the distant streetlights and suburban front windows create glowing pools of tender intimacy, each one a self-contained haven against the darkening night. A sense of space and depth appears that wasn’t there just hours earlier, when the world was so brightly lit and full of the hubbub of life. There is a peaceful solitude to drifting through this half-lit world, maybe with a collar up against the breeze and yours eyes occasionally drifting up to the star-lit ceiling above. The feeling is at once lonely and comforting, insular yet vast. It’s also the feeling that lasts for the entirety of Pride by Phosphorescent – from the cracked, trembling voice of Matthew Houck alone in the centre, to the surrounding chorus of a thousand supporting voices off in the distance, and the tender, beautiful instrumentation that’s suspended in the most enormous night sky atmosphere. ‘A Picture of Our Torn up Praise’ is a tentative beginning; Houck’s gentle falsetto seeming to drift in out of the ether. Guitars, tambourines, and skeletal drums slowly start as though people were quietly picking up their instruments around him. Eventually it coalesces into a swell of voices and ramshackle percussion, before pausing to introduce ‘Be Dark Night’, an almost entirely choral hymn supported only by a gently strummed guitar and the odd rumble and whoop in the background. It sounds much like a group of people around a campfire that were all feeling their way into the song as it happened, the only guidance being the central figure of Houck, who knows exactly where he wants the song to go and will steer the crowd there bit by bit. ‘Wolves’ is more conventional in terms of its structure and instrumentation, but it still shares that sense of beautiful loneliness set in a vast space. The softly strummed ukulele that introduces it sounds tiny to begin with, but by the end it’s almost entirely lost amongst a wash of voices, claps, organs, bass, and spiralling electric guitar leads. ‘At Death, A Proclamation’ kicks up some dust with throbbing percussion, whilst ‘The Waves at Night’ is just outright gorgeous – a protracted sigh emanating from a group in perfect harmony, Houck’s cracked and imperfect voice the only thing to break the surface sheen of the inky black ocean of sound. ‘My Dove, My Lamb’ and ‘Cocaine Lights’ are slow, contemplative epics, meandering through their verses and choruses but constantly growing, swelling, shimmering and cresting within their own pools of light and space. The album closes with the title track, wherein all the harmonies and instruments that were built up during ‘Cocaine Lights’ slowly devolve into chaos, with whoops, hollers, animal noises, outbursts of percussion and meandering guitars drifting off into the night. Walking through a quiet city on an autumn evening with this album in your headphones is a beautiful and entirely singular experience, and one I highly recommend now that the nights are starting to draw in again.

Also listen to: Muchacho, A Hundred Times or More