Summer Solstice is upon us and what better way to celebrate the transitioning season from pastel Spring to Summer bonfires than with the legend of the flame-bearded Barbarossa?!
​Embedded below is a new video of the 1991 Radio Werewolf song commemorating Summer Solstices of yore, in which we envision the long-sleeping Emperor Barbarossa awaking yet anew.
May your Summer Solstice be marked with renewed energy to facilitate spiritual awakenings and psychonautic victories!
-Om Vajrasattva Hum-
Zeena

From Rock is Lit:
​
"So much of Zeena’s art converges with her spiritual practice. This is definitely true of [her latest album] ‘Transcend’. To celebrate the release of this amazing album, have a listen to this outtake from my interview with her from Episode 22 where Zeena talks about her new album ‘Transcend’, the use and power of Medicine Buddha mantra for spiritual and physical healing, energy transference and mantras as a means for energy transference, approaching Medicine Buddha in the spirit of receptivity and experimentation, the importance of having compassion—even for negative forces—and more.
​Zeena has been on the podcast a few times, and each time our conversation tends to branch out and take on a life of its own, which means I always have some bits that don’t make it into the regular episodes, many of which wind up as stand-alone mini-episodes, like this one." -Christy Hallberg

Direct link to the bonus interview from Episode 22: ​
https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/podcast-vault-feed/zeenaschreckandmedicinebuddha

Direct link to the original interview in the second half of Episode 22, in which Zeena talks about the power certain songs have in spiritual and magical practices, with relation to the plot of Rob Errera's novel Hangman's Jam:
https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/rockislitpodcast/roberreraandzeenaschreck

Direct link to order Zeena's new album Transcend:
https://zeenaschreck.bandcamp.com/

“If you have strength of character, you can use that as fuel to not only be a survivor but to transcend simply being a survivor, use an internal alchemy to turn something rotten and horrible into gold.”
~Zeena Schreck

The three lengthy pieces in 'Transcend' totals nearly 52 minutes altogether, affording the listener ample meditative journeys of contemplation and sonic catharsis, ending with an exhilaratingly triumphant sense of dashing through space and time, releasing the ballast of all pain and suffering, emerging as a Victor.

The succinct titles focus on specific Buddhist themes, directing the mind toward wider and deeper understanding of ones own spiritual path and experience.

The album's official release, June 4th, 2023, is Saga Dawa Düchen, a date of immense Buddhist importance commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and Parinirvana of Buddha Shakyamuni.

'Transcend' debuted at Snow Gallery NYC on June 3rd, 2023, for their third exhibition in a series, 'Movement of the Triangle,' inspired by Kandinsky’s 'Concerning the Spiritual in Art.'

The exhibition also marks the first time originals of Zeena's visual art are shown together with works of her late godfather Kenneth Anger.

Album cover for Transcend is a detail from a larger piece, 'Ladders,' original art by Zeena Schreck on display at Snow Gallery until end of July, 2023.

Credits:
released June 4, 2023

Recorded in Berlin, Germany.

Sound Engineer: Robert Mayson, NYC.

Promo videos of the album linked below, by Courtney Sell.

Album is in digital download format only.​

Zeena's second solo album 'Transcend' debuts at Snow Gallery NYC on June 3rd, 2023, as soundtrack for their third exhibition in a series, 'Movement of the Triangle,' inspired by Kandinsky’s 'Concerning the Spiritual in Art.' The exhibition also marks the first time originals of Zeena's visual art are shown together with works of her recently deceased godfather Kenneth Anger.
 
All good things come in threes: 

The three lengthy pieces in this album total 52 minutes altogether, affording the listener ample meditative journeys of contemplation and sonic catharsis, ending with an exhilaratingly triumphant sense of dashing through space and time, releasing the ballast of all pain and suffering, emerging as a Victor. The succinct titles focus on specific Buddhist themes, directing the mind toward wider and deeper understanding of ones own spiritual path and experience.

*The album's official release is June 4th, 2023, on the day following its debut at Snow Gallery NYC and a date of immense Buddhist importance, Saga Dawa Düchen, the anniversary of Buddha's Enlightenment and Parinirvana.
*Pre-order the album Transcend prior to the official release date to get the first track; email notification on the release date will give you the link to the rest of the album.

Album cover for Transcend is a detail from a larger piece, 'Ladders,' original art by Zeena Schreck on display at Snow Gallery until July 2nd, 2023.

Recorded in Berlin, Germany.

Sound Engineer: Robert Mayson, NYC.

Promo videos of the album by Courtney Sell.

Album is in digital download format only.

For full gallery description of the exhibition and other artists featured, click on the below images or visit: https://www.instagram.com/snowgallerynyc/

German online music magazine African Paper posted a great review of Zeena's 'Bring Me the Head of F.W. Murnau". Scroll below for the English translation of the original German language review.
Digital downloads of the album are at Zeena Schreck Bandcamp.

Perhaps one has to be well-travelled to realize that they're one of those people who don't settle for the illusion of home - I'm talking about an illusion here insofar as the ideas you have about your own life, that are always illusory in a certain way - you can or want to let those illusions in. The famous silent film director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau wrote to his mother from Tahiti, where he was shooting his last film Tabu, that he only felt homesick to a limited extent, because no country, no house, no person's companionship could really give him any sense of home. He became particularly aware of this on the island at the other end of the world, which he felt bewitched by.

The compact but intense sound collage-like album, which Zeena Schreck - formerly of Radio Werewolf - composed about a fictional post-biographical episode surrounding Murnau, with accompanying videos by a certain Tnopud Salocin, begins with an excerpt of this letter, appropriately framed by the sounds of tropical tides and delivered in a slowed down, androgynous voice. The haunting tale that forms the backdrop to the music is about the abduction of the director's head from the cemetery in Stahnsdorf near Berlin - something that some may think is an urban legend but that actually happened a good ten years ago, and so the master's homelessness outlasts his physical life.

A feature of the album is the constant blending of the director's life and work. “Ill Omens”, whose melange of alienated, perhaps sampled instruments is reminiscent of a slightly sepia-toned grey, could be a congenial score for the bizarre skull robbery, and yet the tension, the coarse-grained and flickering humming and hissing, after which only the death bell remains, is reminiscent of many a film scene from Murnau's oeuvre. "A Drive up the Coast" is like a peaceful little miniature [fairground]: organ and waltz rhythm evoke a carnival atmosphere, and when you hear the sound of rain and the honking of a vintage car toward the end, you might even think of California, where Zeena herself spent her early years.

While the first three tracks have an effect of a soft introduction, the rest of the compositions get more to the point. With ritualistic percussion by drummer Hisham A. Bharoocha, hand drums and rattles, odd reverbs and orchestral quotes, "Tabu," which contains lyrics from the film of the same name, is a furious celebration of the dark side of the exotic, and contains in Zeena's recitation the warning to respect the eponymous taboo. In “The Phantom Bridge”, which draws from a pivotal scene from Murnau's best-known film Nosferatu, the voice sweeps like murmurs through a room, flanked by dusty bright bells. In a whisper, the voice tells of unknown places and things, but also of life leaving the body, while water ripples in the background. For anyone familiar with Zeena's background in Vajrayana Tantric Buddhism, entirely different dimensions might open up here, in the vampire's quotes.

In the final track, “Endlich Daheim”, which opens with the rattling of an old film projector, and whose lyrics are by Zeena herself, the whole spooky story about the open grave is revealed, in which the director seems to have actually found his home, decades after his physical death.

“Bring Me The Head Of F.W. Murnau” is a beautiful, concise piece of music that wraps the aura of old, fantastic film scores in a delightfully experimental guise, and at the same time doesn't seem implausible for a second. All this and the appreciation of the master is in no way disturbed by the fact that the signature of the musician herself is always present and sometimes becomes explicit through small and not so small hints. The already mentioned echo of a faded fairground somewhere in Karloffornia and the reference to tantra could also be purely coincidental and a projection of the reviewer. Less so, however, is the title which refers to an early Radio Werewolf release (and indirectly to another classic film, Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia) - but at that time it was about the head of an unpleasant journalist.

When past and present, life and afterlife, one's own and the other's are intertwined in this way, it becomes clear once more how illusionary the perceptions of time, space and what one takes for the self are in the end. The fact that you can still feel Zeena and the world of Murnau throughout is not a contradiction in terms. -admin/African Paper 
​[Original German Version HERE.]

Beginning Friday 4th of March, Bandcamp is waiving their artist fees for 24 hours - a perfect time to order Zeena's first solo release, 'Bring Me The Head Of F.W. Murnau: A Ghost Story in Six Acts,' available at Bandcamp in both digital download or in a digipak CD limited edition (including download code). 

About the Album:
After a long career in collaborative music activities, this is Zeena Schreck's first entirely solo recording project, placing the collector value of this project in historical context. (To order from Bandcamp, click here or on the picture below.)

Released on March 11, 2020, 'Bring Me The Head Of F.W. Murnau: A Ghost Story in Six Acts,' was inspired by news reports that the director's head had been stolen from his grave in Berlin. 
The tone poems in this recording are sonic necromancy, reflecting the transition from the end of Murnau's worldly life to what his disembodied consciousness may have experienced in the afterlife. Many of the intricate sounds heard in these tracks were captured in field recordings at Murnau's former residence in Berlin and at his grave site in Stahnsdorf, Germany.
All music and vocals composed and performed by Zeena Schreck.

​Genres: Ambient, Avantgarde, Electroacoustic, Experimental, Minimalism, Sound art, Soundscapes, Tonkunst, Tone poems.

• There are now only eight CDs left of the original, limited signed and numbered edition. 
• The limited edition also come with a download code and a 5.47" x 4.21" (13.9 x 10.7 cm) post card sized flexi-magnet of the album cover.
• Numbers of the signed limited edition which are still available are #82-89.
• Aside from the limited signed & numbered edition, there are also normal sealed (unsigned) copies available.

For more details on the backstory, and the making of the recording, here's an in-depth interview with Zeena by Nicholas Diak about this recording.

To order, click the picture below .

[posted by Thomas]

“Big Thanks to my dear friend Fabiano Gagliano of the band Sacred Legion for adding me in the acknowledgments of their fantastic new debut album 'Silent Lineage'! At Fabiano's request, both the band name and album title came to me through a divination for the purposes of “christening” the newly formed band. And the rest is history, as they say!
​[Scroll down for my review!]

Though 'Silent Lineage' is their first album, these well-seasoned musicians have decades-long experience in previous European-based Deathrock and Punk bands. Specifically, Fabiano Gagliano (also a visual artists) is formerly of Chants of Maldoror, Mirko is formerly of Human Disease, and Tony Volume is formerly of Idol Lips. The lads hail from Italy, yet Gagliano, in keeping with the necromantic and nostalgic themes of the album, conjures vocal qualities of deceased cult singers like Marc Bolan, Syd Barrett and Benjamin Orr. The original music in this album reflects an eclectic mix of '80s genres from deathrock, classic goth-rock and post-punk. Yet the music also hints of '70s influences like glam rock, prog rock, early neo-martial and industrial music with choice bits of sampling from cult films that film buffs will enjoy. The stark and mysterious cover art is Gagliano's creation. All lyrics are contained within the CD booklet. An excellent debut for this great new band!

My best wishes and blessings to all involved!
Omnia·Vincit·Amor

~Zeena”
Check it out at batcaveproductions.bandcamp.com/album/the-silent-lineage

Released by Bat-Cave Productions 

Exclusive in-depth seven page interview with Zeena in the April '21 edition of Derailed, a new magazine for cynics, renegades and survivors of the unimaginable, describes the article: "The Artist Discusses Inspiration, Early Life & 'The State of Suchness.'"
"My leaving my birth country wasn't just about my family. It was about the country itself. It's about what I went through with that national witch-hunt, the whole experience." -Zeena Schreck

To read online, go to Featured Story in the April 2021 Issue.
Order the print edition at:  ​www.derailedmagazine.com/

​Review and Interview: Zeena Schreck and her debut Bring Me the Head of F. W. Murnau   
Tuesday, August 4, 2020 by Nicholas Diak

During the summer of 2015, the skull of German silent film director F. W. Murnau was stolen from his tomb. Remnants of wax from lit candles present at the scene spurred the hypothesis that occult work was afoot while the macabre nature of Murnau’s stolen skull drew parallels to his legendary horror output, in particular his influential expressionist film, Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922).(1)
​
    Shortly thereafter, inspired by the event, multimedia artist Zeena Schreck announced a “sequel to Radio Werewolf’s mystical, musical piece Bring Me the Head of Geraldo Rivera” that would be appropriately titled Bring Me the Head of F. W. Murnau.(2) Five years later, Bring Me the Head of F. W. Murnau (BMTHOFWM) was released in March of 2020.

   BMTHOFWM marks the first studio release proper of Zeena performing music solo. Prior to this EP, Zeena had been a part of many musical collaborations and projects, such as Radio Werewolf, and had released some of her live ritual performances, such as her appearance at Wave-Gotik-Treffen, on compilations and YouTube. Per Zeena in regard to releasing a concept album instead of an album of her ritual performances:

“I definitely have future recording plans which will be in the areas of dark ambient and ritual music. [T]his first solo release was experimental in the sense I'd never done such a precise theme as concept album like this before. I like working within specific parameters though. Even in past recordings, when it might not seem obvious, I've almost always had in mind a particular framework within which to create the music. But this album was much more of a specific theme than I would normally do.”(3)

    BMTHOFWM certainly has a thematic laser focus, concentrating on Murnau and some of his films, while capturing a certain silent film aesthetic, though paradoxically, with sound. Zeena pulls this feat off – a silent film with no images but instead with sounds – by incorporating elements of field recordings, minimalist-industrial, exotica, spoken words, and incantations, in conjunction with the brilliant German expressionist/Caligari style artwork that emblazons the release’s cover art that evokes some of the classic horror posters of the era.

    Though Murnau is the subject of the EP, the filmmaker did not have a strong influence on Zeena at the beginning of the project:

“[Murnau was] not a huge influence. It was only his films Nosferatu and Faust that I had known and really liked since childhood, when they'd play on late night TV. I knew he'd worked with the occultist artist/architect Albin Grau on the sets for Nosferatu but working with an occultist doesn't automatically make you one. There is also the tie-in of my last name being the same as the actor who played Count Orlok, Max Schreck, in Murnau's most famous film Nosferatu. I'd also remembered the scandalous rumors about his untimely death that my godfather Kenneth Anger wrote of in Hollywood Babylon, rumors which, by the way, I've since learned weren't true. But aside from these things, I hadn't much knowledge of his life prior to embarking on this project. I know far more about him now.

Originally, I'd planned that this [release] was only going to be a single; not more than a two-track novelty piece inspired by a quirky event. But then, as I began researching more about Murnau and put flesh on the bones of this project, certain metaphysical portals started opening up. More material for more tracks developed than could be narrowed down to just a single. Yet I didn't want this to be a full album either. So, the logical middle ground was to make it an EP.”(4)

    Through the process of researching Murnau, Zeena also visited the director’s home and his grave, gathering field recordings that would be incorporated into the compositions of BMTHOFWM:

“[I] intermingled various sounds from both locations in just about every track except the opening one, ‘Letter to Mother.’ Some of those field recordings were used in a straightforward manner, such as a fox barking, birds singing, the sound of some machinery or a metal gate clanging. Those can be detected fairly clearly enough. But other sounds used, I distorted in the editing to achieve certain auditory effects.

When I visited Murnau's grave, for the photo shoot to the CD, I was focused on getting the photos but hadn't intended on capturing field recordings at the same time. I'd already compiled field recordings taken at the former Murnau house in Berlin, which coincidentally happens to be right in my neighborhood. In addition to that, I'd painstakingly searched for specific samples corresponding to the exact years of Murnau's creative life and his death, such as the sound of the precise year and make of the car he was in when it crashed, leading to his death. Or a snippet of a song that would've been popular at parties in Hollywood that he may have attended. Things like that.

At long last, IT'S ALIVE! Congratulations to Mikey Bean for his long awaited mammoth, encyclopedic documentation of the roots of the Los Angeles deathrock scene, which was an integral part of the later goth movement. Within the 630 page history, is full chapter on Radio Werewolf which includes an exclusive interview with Zeena (sample pages below).
Can be purchased NOW directly at: http://www.lulu.com/shop/mikey-bean/phantoms-the-rise-of-deathrock-from-the-la-punk-scene/paperback/product-24320734.html
Book description and product details in screenshot below.