ra - the sun god
The ancient Egyptians believed the role of Ra, the sun god, was to sail across the heavens in his boat
called the 'Barque of Millions of Years.'
In the morning when Ra emerged
from the east, his boat was named, 'Madjet' which meant 'becoming
strong.' By the end of the day the boat was called, 'Semektet' which
meant 'becoming weak.'
Ra
died each day and sailed on to the underworld, leaving the
moon in his place to light up the world. Ra was reborn at dawn the very
next day.
During his daily journey across the heavens Ra fought his main enemy, an evil serpent named Apep, the
Lord of Chaos. In some stories, Ra, in the form of a cat named Mau,
defeats the evil serpent, Apep. This is part of the reason why cats are
so highly-revered in Egypt.
the headless warrior
Japanese folklore tells the legend of a vampire-like creature called the nukekubi,
meaning 'prowling head.'
By day, a nukekubi is largely
indistinguishable from an ordinary person. At night, however, its head
detaches from its neck and flies away. The flying head of the nukekubi
preys on mortal flesh. Once it finds its victim, it emits a paralysing scream before going in for the kill.
Often a nukekubi has no idea what it is. It might only recall
dreams of seeing its room from odd angles. To vanquish a nukekubi, you
must find its idle body at night and destroy it, thereby killing
the head. There is one way to identify a nukekubi by day - it will have
two or three wrinkles along the bottom of its neck.
Dear Sheddists,
after the 'sturm und drang' of the Stooges, 'Fun House' here's something a little more down-tempo.
William Tyler, son of noted songwriting parents, Daniel and Adele Tyler, first emerged on the music scene with the brilliantly eclectic Lambchop.
William's third solo album, 'Modern Country' is a beatific celebration of the wide open spaces of America. It cements his place in an illustrious line of American Primitive guitarists which leads all the way back to the 1960s and the late John Fahey, who first integrated country blues finger-picking with avant-garde and neo classical stylings. If you haven't heard Fahey's music before it repays further exploration.
The American Primitive lineage takes in such brilliant musicians as Robbie Basho, Jack Rose and Leo Kottke and its future lies in safe hands. Modern day exponents include Ben Chasney, Steve Gunn and Nathan Bowles.
'Modern County' invokes the very spirit of Fahey. It is by turns melancholic and uplifting, combining the traditional and the modern effortlessly. A veritable tour de force. If you haven't heard it before you're in for a treat!
