Dark Corners

Yesterday I went digging at Music Millennium (mistake) for the new (to me) Lost Horizons record from 2021, which sadly wasn’t to be had, but no worries, I’ll buy it on Bandcamp this Friday.

Feeling slightly dejected, I fingered through a few bins, considered a $20 used copy of Pornography by The Cure, having just read Lol Tolhurst’s autobiography, Cured, wherein he extols that record as the best of the early “easy” Cure recordings. This was the extended version, featuring a few bonus studio cuts and live tracks on a second disc. This wasn’t what I was looking for, I told myself, exercising some rare restraint, so I put it back, which I’m now regretting. Oh, digger’s remorse!

I eventually ventured out of the vinyl room and into the used CD bins, where I found a promo copy of Tony Levine’s “Prime Cuts,” which has this amazing, epic Vapourspace remix of the track “Dark Corners” that clocks in at 10 minutes and 30 seconds of dark, spastic jazz meets industrial jungle with block-rocking beats by Dale Bozzio on drums and Steve Stevens on cosmos-shredding guitar. Pure techno prog heaven.

And now, today, comes news of the country turning another dark corner, due to decisions made in dark corners of our democracy. Dark days, indeed.

Also in the L’s I found another promo, which I didn’t realize it was at the time I purchased it, of Lost Horizons’ first record from 2017, Ojalá. For some reason I thought this release featured only one vocalist, though it turns out it’s as much a varied vocal affair as “In Quiet Moments” is. The two records are somewhat surprisingly similar, but not disappointingly so. I’m digging the dramatic lyrics, stoic song structures, and sonically charged instrumentation.

I felt a little bad though after I realized I bought two promos, which means none of the sale proceeds will actually go to the artists — just the sordid record store. There were a lot of “bootleg” goods also being sold in the store: slipmats with unauthorized images, for instance, and even a copy of the “Deliverance” EP by Prince. Also remarkable was the surly attitudes of the clerks at Music Millennium. I don’t think I’m going to shop there any more.

Check out this joyful sitar-laced version of “All Apologies” originally by Nirvana, here performed by Herbie Hancock.