My name is MICHAEL F. HOUSEL, author of THE HYDE SEED, THE PERSONA #1 & #2; and MARK JUSTICE'S THE DEAD SHERIFF #4: PURITY. My short fiction is featured in RAVENWOOD, STEPSON OF MYSTERY #4 & #5; THE PURPLE SCAR #4; and THE PHANTOM DETECTIVE #2. My additional works can be found in Eighth Tower's DARK FICTION series and Main Enterprises' WHATEVER!; PULP FAN; MAKE MINE MONSTERS; SCI-FI SHALL NOT DIE; THE SCREENING ROOM; *PPFSZT!; and TALES FROM GREEK MYTHOLOGY.
Friday, June 5, 2020
BEDTIME FOR ROBOTS' SUBCONSCIOUS GALLERY (EXHIBIT A)
Some months ago, when I got a taste of Michael Ferentino's Bedtime for Robot's sample, "Western Plot", I found it a terrific track for espionage, bringing to mind the likes of James Bond, Napoleon Solo, Illya Kuryakin, April Dancer, John Steed and Emma Peel, to name but a few.
Now that I've absorbed its accompanying tracks, under the sublime umbrella, SUBCONSCIOUS GALLERY (EXHIBIT A), the espionage establishments have proven even more potent (enough so that I felt compelled to don an Eddie Constantine trench coat as I listened).
"Ever" is the album's auspicious advent: a cautious composition that establishes a gonged entrance into places where trouble (and surreptitious messages) await, along with all those spiraling, backstreet flights that one must take. It's an epic as large and loud as "Western Plot", though maybe more severe for its smoky-flecked fringes.
Its thematic-complementing sequels, "Fingerflock", "#52" and "Experiment M" add to the album's tin-pan, dark-corridor sting, mounting menacing tones that imply an edgy sexiness, where fine, fickle females wait to entice and steal more than just one's code. In these moments, one will experience temptation, betrayal and comeuppance, segmented by waddling bangs and shrugs.
To give the treacherous atmosphere an allegorical smidgen, "Damn the Church of Reason!" paints an organ-induced sector where comfort turns to discomfort and what one thought was trustworthy is anything but. Above all, this is a track to make one question what's right and wrong, and when assisted by the scorching "We Forgot to Take Our Acid", pulsating paranoia understandably follows.
"Plenty of Fish in the Sky" is an angelic afterthought, depicting a moment where one finally gains the advantage. It brims of ethereal hums, even if its center stays hard, but that's just part of the cloak-and-dagger game.
The album concludes with "Artificial Melon": a blasting and shaking piece that would make an ultimate end-theme for any cultivated, spy fest. (Be careful not to run a few red lights when listening to this one. Whoa, does it ever rock!)
To discover what your own subconscious gallery might exhibit, grab Ferentino's latest Bedtime for Robots achievement at
https://blackboxrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/the-subconscious-gallery-exhibit-a?fbclid=IwAR03Lzp-ZFJ98Yt-N0mDIkFL4Vy5NEieCBF3Isr1zZV72G4PfYD8-Ip0rEA.
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