Bob's back! One of our favourite guests, and knowledgable chap when it comes to global folklore! In this episode, we build on our discussion in last interview by analysing ZOMBIES! Bob has a new book coming out soon entitled Zombies: A Field guide to the Walking Dead, so make sure you get your hands on that! Bob has some great tales that he picked up on his travels to research this latest book, so join us as we take a journey into the world of Zozobra's, undead-monks and more! This weeks featured music comes in the shape of The Melvins, with the track The Kicking Machine from the album 'Nude with Boots'. You can download the track in MP3 form from the Southern Records site here. Background music comes in the form of Nintendo's Super Smash Bros (no really!) played in Orchestra form! We have some great guests coming up in the coming weeks so stay tuned for more Sitting Now oddness!

In this age of online-piracy, where big US companies like ComCast are strangling consumers bandwidth privileges, who can the big software houses and Internet providers call on to reach the kids of tomorrow? Well, back in the early 90's, it wasn't Superman or Batman that protected classics like Monkey Island and Wing Commander 2. No, it was a bad-ass rapper, come super-hero that the really reached out to the kids.  In this 'caught on camera' expose, witness the mighty 'Double Def' preventing two innocent kids from taking their first steps into a life of crime: If the Internet-Police had such speedy countermeasures today, we could all rest easy! Little is known of what happened to the MC, however it is rumoured that he was accidentally deleted in the late 90's, whilst trying to stop a kid from copying Quake...for shame...he wasn't just def...he was DOUBLE def! Ken Eakins

Experiment: a test, trial, or tentative procedure; an act or operation for the purpose of discovering something unknown or of testing a principle, supposition, etc.: a chemical experiment; a teaching experiment; an experiment in living. A Sontaran: An ugly potato-headed alien from Doctor Who; heavy-set, thugish and with an obsession for conflict and total domination of the universe. After just one listen of this brutal outpouring, it's not hard to see why these guys chose their name! This, their debut album, is an epic and adventurous work of three 'acts' each lasting anywhere from 15 - 25 minutes. Yes! I know what you're thinking: "Urgh! I hate it when bands do this", but stick with me here.  The album opens with layers of strange electronic ambiance, which are brutally interrupted by an explosion of bowel-emptying doom. The tone and tempo of the record shift around like a disturbed and violent rockweiler, one minute you are nodding along (wishing you had a big doom-fan beard) and the next you are thrown into an almost Napalm Death blast-beat-ridden hellfest. The album takes some seriously cool little sidesteps when you least expect it;  Act II, for example, goes down a, dare I say, almost jazzy avenue at one point! So, I told ...

Here at Sitting Now, we don't claim to be Conspiracy theorists, Mystics or Counter Cultural experts (though, I am working on the latter), we just find it all really interesting and enjoy discussing, and exploring it. Now, i've gone on the record in one of our shows saying that, personally, I find the world of Magic/Magick (call it what you will) fascinating...but a bit too snobby. There are a few exceptions to this rule, and one of those is the author and magician Lon Milo Duquette. In Enochian Vision Magic, Duquette attempts to not only document the fascinating story of Dr John Dee and Edward Kelly's quest to make contact with spiritual entities, but also to instruct the reader in the practical application of their findings in the modern environment. Readers not already familiar with Duquette's writings will feel instantly at ease with this book, while regulars will appreciate his attention to detail/yet solid conveyance of the topic at hand. What I feel separates this work from others on the subject, is the intensive research and notation of the original Dee texts. Duquette doesn't just present the reader with a 'how-to' textbook, he painstakingly explains all the symbology and application of each element. ...

ASVA are probably my favourite of the 'Drone/Doom' (whatever) bands out there, SUNN O)) coming a very close second, so I was pretty excited to get my hands on this release. Formed a few years ago by Stuart Dahlquist (Burning Witch, Goatsnake...and I think he was a part of SUNN O)) at one point as well?), and featuring such names as Trey Spruance (Secret Chiefs 3, Mr Bungle) and the oddly named B.R.A.D. (Burning Witch), this is quite the 'super-group'. In their debut album, Futurists Against the Ocean, ASVA took the slow cue from bands like Earth and then added their own, very unique flavour.  In this record that blueprint was dusted off and added to, giving a much more individual feel to each track. At points far more sinister and claustrophobic than it's predecessor, at others faster and more urgent. Spruance's influence on this record feels a lot greater as well, the varied instrumentation, and what sounds like alternate tunings at some points.  The standout track on this record is the incredible 'A Trap for Judges', which lurches slowly like a grim leviathan nearing some awful, unearthly climax (and can be downloaded from the Southern site here). If you're interested in ...

I can't believe i've not encountered this band until now, I love them!  Kylesa play a mixture of Doom-metal and hyper acid-rock that literally grabs your attention the way all good bands should! Some parts of this record remind me of Black Cobra and elements of early Mastodon, to give you a hint of what to expect. The pace of this record is really clever, slow broody noise tracks ala Old Man Gloom set the scene for huge riff-ridden chunks of fast noise. The only real complaint I have about this record is the production, it's begging for 'fatness', and less tinnyness, but it's not bad enough to impare your enjoyment of this great record. The standout track for me is 'Hallow Severer', which lurches into a sonic explosion laced with epic, almost Minor Threat-esque intensity.  I cannot recomend this record enough. It fills the void between the doomy elements of 'Red Sea' era ISIS and 'Houdi' era Melvins perfectly. 4.5/5 Ken Eakins www.kylesa.com www.myspace.com/kylesa

I think this DVD was released on a 'need-to-know' basis; I for one, had totally forgotten it was available! So, imagine my surprise when this arrived in the Sitting Now mailbag!  This was well timed by Ipecac, it's been a while since the last Fantomas record, Suspended Animation  and I think fans of Mike Patton's crazy cut-up metal supremos, used to a pretty much annual release, are starting to get a bit itchy for new material. Ipecac released a CD of a similar show a few years back and for some reason, I think shoddy sound levels, I couldn't get into it. That mistake has been rectified in this release, however, and what you see is pretty much what happened on the day both audibly, and visually (I was at the show).  I wasn't too sure about the animations added into the mix at first, but you soon realise that they compliment, rather than hinder your enjoyment of the show. One of the truly weird elements of this release has to be in the DVD commentary. Buzz and Dale of the Melvins, the promoter of the show, the (I think) filmmaker and Danny Devito (what the hell?) deliever a rather random conversation that includes a quite ...

12 years!...i'll say that again: 12 YEARS! I have waited 12 years to see this, my favourite band. Back in '96 when the Trey Spruance released the mighty 'First Grand Constitution and Bylaws', I was frankly blown away, the crazy mix of Eastern/electro/break-beat/metal was just what the world needed, even though the world barely noticed (a normal symptom of music-fans it seems). Since that first album release (I Know they released some vinyl prior to that, shhh!), we have been treated to an ever evolving slew of epic-genius and crazyness culminating in, to me, one of the greatest releases of all time in 'Book of Horizons'...and now I finaly get to see it live! Cargo is a great venue, I saw Part Chimp and Bullet Union here not so long ago and it was one of the best times i'd seen both bands. Huge sprawling pipes on the walls, a really nice big bar area and a cool garden for us filthy smokers. I grab myself a tonne of merch and head into the main room to witness Zu. Imagine getting Naked City's debut album, mixing it with Morphine's Yes and blending it all down into a slow melting pot with some Old ...

WE ARE BACK! After some hefty technical problems, a brief spell of sickness and some general booking of awesome new guests...and I mean awesome, we finally return! This week me and our returning guest/co-host Raymond Wiley chat about The culture of Conspiracy belief! We decided the subject was so large that we would wax about some of our own experiences, some key theories and funny ones to boot! There is no music this week, mainly because we have been rushing around to much to find anything in time. Expect a total change of format in the coming weeks! We have sorted all the techy glitches and now we are adding a new audio version of the Weird Weekly News into the show. We've done a dummy run with Claire and it sounds cool, so that will start as of episode 15 next week! Also, keep your eyes peeled to this site for a really cool announcement of a new show featuring some of Sitting Now's staff!

Hey, just thought i'd let you, our dutiful readers and listeners, know that we have finally sorted all of our technical gremlins and will be resuming normal service as of Friday this week! Show - The show is back this Friday morning and is an interviewy discussiony type affair with mysef and Raymond Wiley. In this ep we will be discussing the ups and downs of conspiracy belief. After that, Dr. Bob Curran returns to wax undead again, this time however, about Zombies...swwweeeeeet! Reviews - As of this week, we will be reviewing Books, Music, Audiobooks, gigs and Films. We had a bit of a problem sorting how this was going to be done, but that's all sorted now, so expect that! Equipment - This is all looking gooood now (fingers crossed), I invested a bit more of the mighty Sitting Now budget on some nice gadgets to make the show sound better and easier to produce, so we'll hopefully be back to our usual weeklyness as of now! Finally, we are all over Social Networks now like a bunch of cheap ho's! you can find us on Facebook here, Myspace by clicking the link in our menu bar and we'll have a brand ...