The bare-bones ain't-no-frills yet version of...
: : e x o t e q u e m u s i c : :
| Cabaret Voltaire -- Chris & Cosey -- Clock DVA -- Coil -- Controlled Bleeding -- Pascal Comelade -- Crash Worship -- Einstürzende Neubauten -- Esplendor Geometrico -- The Fall -- Gerechtigkeits Liga -- The Haters -- Hunting Lodge -- Illusion of Safety -- Joy Division -- Konstruktivits -- The Leather Nun -- Lustmord -- MB -- Nocternal Emissions -- Nurse With Wound -- Jim O'Rourke -- Portion Control -- Psychic TV -- The Psychic Workshop -- Boyd Rice -- Severed Heads -- Shame Exposure -- SPK -- Throbbing Gristle -- Wire -- Various Artists |
| Focus on HUNTING LODGE -- Interview -- Discography -- SM Operations History -- About the cover of Nomad Souls |
N O M A D S O U L S : a b o u t t h e c o v e r
This Necropolis of New Orleans is a unique architectural wonder. Due to the dampness of the soil, in this graveyard the bodies are not buried. Graves tend to sink and fill with water, which causes the bones to rise to the surface. So consequently the coffin is placed on the ground and a rectangular brick structure is built around it. This structure is then plastered and whitewashed. Those with lower incomes are buried in wall vaults (or even tombs, so called due to resemblance to bakers ovens of old); these vaults make up the walls of most cemeteries. They are stacked 3 to 4 stories high and are most economical, for when the newly-deceased is in need of a resting place the former occupant is pushed to the back of the vault, the rotting wood coffin is burned and the new tenant is inserted.
For the upper class (re: very well-to-do), marble, windowless houses are built. The architectural styles range from the Greco-Roman columnesque to Egyptian-styled pyramids complete with guarding sphinxes. Aligned in rows, these iron fenced-in structures resemble a surburbia of the dead.
Traditionally, every November 1st, All Saints Day (Day of the Dead), is a time of restoration and visitation by relatives. Much patching plaster and paint are used and thousands of flowers are brought in and placed in the urns. In the days of past it resembled more of a county fair atmosphere as vendors sold hot dogs and souvenirs to the curiosity-seeking tourists. Many of the cemeteries are now wisely avoided by outsiders, as vandalism, robberies, murders and rapes are not uncommon occurrences.
The power and influences of voodoo, a subject not to be taken lightly, is still persistent in New Orleans. Many of the desecrations have been not unjustifiably blamed on the cults. Evil-looking black wax dolls stuck with needles and pins are occasionally found on the grounds. If you think the chicken bones left on a grave are there from a past picnic you’d be quite mistaken. Ceremonies are still performed during certain lunar phases and it would be unwise and indeed unfortunate for a curiosity-seeking white to be caught eavesdropping.
The scene depicted on the front cover of Nomad Souls is from St. Louis No. 1, New Orleans’ oldest surviving cemetery. Marie Laveau, the infamous voodoo queen of the 19th century N.O., is said to reside in a tomb here. Her crypt has been defaced with thousands of chalk marked X’s, a wish for good luck. Scapulars, cheap plastic jewelry and even K-9 rabies vaccination tags are to be found dangling from her tomb. It is said of this area that the air is almost oppressively thick with lost and wandering souls.
- Lon C. Diehl