20jazzfunkgreats was devastated to hear of the recent demise of peddler of nightmares extraordinaire, scion of one of London’s most notorious wizard dynasties and heroic saboteur of Nazi trips to the Himalayas Dr. Benjamin Sprake. We became acquainted with him through our visits to ‘Mysterious of the Worm’, his rather underrated science fiction, horror and uncanny shit bookshop in the capital – indeed, one of the few places to stock self-published (and rarely sold) tracts by our very own Preston G. Parallax.

Our only consolation is that Benjamin’s son, Saint, has decided to give up on a promising career in London’s Old Street digital cluster to take ‘Mysterious of the Worm’ into the new century. As part of his renovation strategy, he is currently putting together concise synopses and selected excerpts from some of the shop’s rarest picks, and spreading them across the Internet in order to drum up some viral interest ahead of the launch of an HTML5 enabled e-shop.

We are helping out with this worthy endeavour by republishing his pithy tasters of obscure gems of the weird fiction genre with a suitable musical accompaniment. Do enjoy, and stay eerie!

M. Denim : “Carnagedon” – Avant-garde poet on ecstasy reports from a  walpurgisnacht rave hijacked by forces of darkness/inbred moor dwellers. Based on real events.

Michael Perkins – Murder By Phone

Chicago designer of poignant ghoulish techno architectures Michael Perkins has just released his Mr. 666 12’’, which includes last year’s hit ‘Esteban’, as well as the relentless grinder above. Darryl Revok put us in his speed dialler, we cower in dread.

L. Erlbaum: “The Blight”- Polanski riffed on this Kafka rip-off in Rosemary’s baby. Paranoia about Paranormal Pregnancies in the Warsaw ghetto.

Alex Barnett – TEMPLE

More goodness from Chicago – Alex Barnett parks the Carpenterian paraphernalia and delivers a moody piece of macabre jazz perfect for a descent into the defiled cemetery which is your basement. File with Ennio Morricone’s Crime and Dissonance, and Goblin’s Profondo Rosso soundtrack.

C. Alterio: “Gunning for Ghouls” – “The horror spilled from the aperture like an unholy symphony. Banner gasped. “Father Drake, we are going to need a weirder gun”

Severed Heads – We Have Come To Bless The House

Oz new beat/pervy electronica/general synthetic awesomeness Severed Heads did go to town in 1985’s City Slab Horror, a toxic hurricane of cybernetic alienation and sensorial battering. ‘We have Come to Bless the House’ could be its ‘prettiest’ moment, and it sounds like Merrick and Karras preparing to exorcise Margaret Thatcher. Imagine the rest.

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We found the image for Alex Barnett’s song in this rather cool website.

Epilogue -
This post is tagged with draft records