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Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab Al-Azif Chapter 16. Epilogue: to the Asylum "Though this jacket is tight, I'm smiling because there is a joy in going mad. The meaninglessness of madness is revealing, in that it no longer leaves one with the compunction to observe the norms of society, which so often obscure the truth and dull the…

Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab Al-Azif Chapter 15. Gone Mad "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Yog-Sothoth wgah'nagl fhtagn! The stars are right!" Cast: Jon - drummis The Witness - Aron Efimenko Music and Sound by drummis Based on the original album Incunabulum by drummis (https://drummis.bandcamp.com/track/Gone-Mad) For more music by drummis,…

Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab Al-Azif Chapter 14. Cry of the Great Old Ones "I can hear the sounds from the other side now, without opening the gate. I hear the noisome and unwholesome creatures from other dimensions. I hear the tortured groans and squeals of small things being devoured. I hear the cosmos unhinge from my dull, …

"I did it, I cracked the code! Those number stations finally paid off, with access to the Equation Groups secret satellite. They monitor it all there, all the outside people, and now I have the key. The truth will finally come ou--- no... no! How did they-- NO! I won't go, I won't be your prisone---" ...Static... B.K.S. catalog # 5x.106//-Carcosa B…

Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab Al-Azif Chapter 13. 33 Heartbeats "They are here. In my world now. I must not have closed the gate behind me as tightly as I needed to. Am I just paranoid or are they hunting *me*, sensing my connection to the gate, hearing my mental music? I counted eleven heartbeats between coming and going, thre…

Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab Al-Azif Chapter 12. Laboratory Remains "Home again. My music studio, which resembles more of a laboratory now than a studio, is in a shambles. I destroyed it while recording my insights from last night's unraveling. After my unfortunate glimpsing of the Parade of the Yellow King and his 'festivitie…

What follows are three short tales to keep you company while we prepare to continue our journey with Jon and his Witness. Stay tuned for the second half of The Witness of Kitab al-Azif. Cast: "Trespasser" Narrator: drummis Freddy: Aron Efimenko "The Canadian" Narrator: drummis Dad/The Canadian: Aron Efimenko "Living Alone" Narrator: Aron Efimenko T…

In the dark of the night sky, a satellite circles the Earth in high orbit. Invisible to the naked eye, it sends signals back to the Equation Group identifying strange transmissions which describe the exploits of Jon and his Witness. “The following are excerpts from a recording of a transmission intercepted from the Black Knight Satellite (BKS), pro…

Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab Al-Azif Chapter 11. The King "In my travels through the gate, I witnessed a most horrifying event I can only describe as a "parade of madness." Whether this was organized as a purposeful public display, or my mind merely framed it as such in an effort to bring some order to the madness, I do not kn…

Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab Al-Azif Chapter 10. Through Space "The sounds were magic. Not the Copperfield kind, but something deeper, more primal, less showy. Others might not even have known I was casting. From the inside, though, I could tell it was working; I didn't feel right. It was sort of like one of those sensory depr…

Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab Al-Azif Chapter 9. Invocation "The invocation was brief, but the results, infinite in scope. I've done it. The guardian and the key are one. I've broken the code of the Gate. Now I can travel on my own." Voices: Jon - drummis The Witness - Aron Music and Sound by drummis Written by Aron Efimenko Ba…

We're on holiday hiatus from The Witness of Kitab al-Azif, but we offer a brief interlude with "Rooms" . . . "When I first started making it, the design seemed too small, cramped, and uneven to be possible. Jory sat on my bed in the other corner of the room, blaring the radio and bobbing his head in that slow, quiet way he has of listening to loud,…

Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab Al-Azif Chapter 8. Casting About "Casting a spell is like extending your mind as a tool into the nether forces of the Universe and twisting that screw until something pops out. Unfortunately, because the Universe is fickle, you never really know if what comes out is exactly what you wanted. It's us…

Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab al-Azif Chapter 7. Dialogue With the Elder Things "I did it. I summoned a real thing from another dimension, the Byakhee. The Byakhee took me to the Halls of Celaeno, where the Elder Things, ancients of enormous intellect and millions of years of experience gained through a unique ability to travel…

Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab al-Azif Chapter 6. Flight of the Byakhee "According to the book, the "Byakhee" are an ancient race of servitors, often doing the bidding of Hastur the Unspeakable. Ozone smell and itching in brain. Two long antennae sweeping back over the head, red eyes, teeth like a mouthful of steel pencils, skul…

Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab al-Azif Chapter 5. Twilit Grotto "This one sort of came to me in a dream last night, after reading more from the book. It's a mellower tune that incorporates Alchemy drums and arpeggios with TC Helicon vocals and Thumb Jam lead synth. My dreams are becoming more vivid, like I'm having an out-of-bod…

Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab al-Azif Chapter 4. Freedom "Reading from the whole book now. This is another song inspired by pages from the book, which doesn't have such a great outlook on humanity and our place in the Universe. This title is, of course, ironic. Who is free, really? We're just ants climbing around in a dust pile…

Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab al-Azif Chapter 3. Visitation of the Mi-Go "Been reading more from the book. This song was the result of an exploration of the TC Helicon Voicelive 2 settings -- it's a patch called "space choir," and I immediately went to that book space after reading about the "Mi-Go of Yuggoth." Fantastical stuf…

Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab al-Azif Chapter 2. Evolve or Die "Spiraling down the abyss of weird vocal effects. Adding to my collection of 'weird music' upon my friend's prompts. The cult will soon rise! Haha. I've really become obsessed with these few pages of the book. What a great music writing prompt! I will have to find a…

Side Street Stories presents: The Witness of Kitab al-Azif Chapter 1. Inquiry and Summoning "I found the cipher manuscript in an old New England library, tucked away in a corner behind a few other dusty manuscripts and tomes. It bore an imprint of a glyph on the cover, but its contents intrigued me, so (in contradiction of the library's rules), I s…