The Good, The Bad and the Acid

 

From the forthcoming album Shapes of Midnight, out September 18th on Killer Candy Records. I'd tell you to pre-order HERE, but all formats have been sold out since about three minutes after it went on sale last month. I grabbed mine day-of release from the bezos corp. 

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Watch:

Either the kidney stone returned (still haven't found a "doctor" that can tell me if it passed, or my fatty liver acted up and I was couch-bound for much of the weekend. So what do you do when you're in mildly agonizing discomfort? Watch the Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns, that's what!

I started Saturday with A Fistful of Dollars. I have this one on DVD, and it felt like coming home again, with the scratches on the film and an almost vinyl-like hiss on the soundtrack at times. I watched these with my Dad when I was a kid, and have revisited a few times over the years; they've always remained somewhat holy to me, but I don't often find the time to sit down and give myself over to the unique rhythms of Leone's classic trilogy. 

When I reached For A Few Dollars More, I watched part on DVD, then moved downstairs and had to resort to Prime, which currently includes all of these. I will say, as much as I love the nostalgia of those old DVDs, seeing the restored picture on these... wow. There's just no comparison.

This sequel is probably my favorite of the three. Lee Van Cleef's Col. Mortimer is a fantastic addition, and Leone embraces the first film's popularity and uses the resultant bigger budget wisely. Nothing showy, but you can see the money and the fact that Leone is becoming a better filmmaker.

Now, we get to the best film of the three. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is a damn masterpiece, and the only thing that gives For A Few Dollars More the upper hand in my heart is that, while it's awesome to watch Leon really up the ante on this third one (the bridge!), I feel like the late-in-the-game Union/Confederacy battle with hundreds of extras could have been cut. Again, I think it's Leone stretching his legs and settling into the role of a Hollywood filmmaker. Eli Wallach's Tuco, however, really helps keep the third movie in the series neck and neck for my favorite. 

Either way, while I'm not happy about being in discomfort and getting next to nothing done all weekend, rewatching these felt like a great reset and recharge. Nothing like reconnecting with something from your deep past. 

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Read:

Yesterday I reread Peter Milligan and Kieron Dwyer and Dennis Janke's three-part Dark Knight Dark City that ran through Batman 452-454 in August and September of 1990.

During that initial publication period, I was buying Batman, Detective Comics and the newly launched Legends of the Dark Knight more than ever before. Some of this was still riding the wave of buzz Tim Burton's Batman had generated a year and some odd months prior, and some of it was a succession of storylines within these titles that caught my eye. Even at 14, I had a fairly robust interest in the Occult (still tempered by the dying clinging of religion at that point), so this was a no-brainer. Couple that with the buzz that this series would feature a decidedly more "Adult" version of a pretty goofy character, and Dark Knight Dark City proved similar to J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck's Kraven's Last Hunt in that some of what I found in those pages blew my mind.

18th century devil-cults that  featured Thomas Jefferson as a member? Scantily clad sacrificial victims on black altars? A cartoonish villain that executes innocent security guards with a bullet between the eyes? Batman forced to perform slit a choking baby's throat in an emergency tracheotomy? Zombies????

Of course, all is not as it appears, but the journey to the revelation is quite the ride. This Barbatos (aka Barbathos) would reappear in Grant Morrison's epic seven-year run, which endeared me to it even more. But this dark storyline was possibly the first place I saw Batman run up against such devilish forces, and it thrilled me!

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Playlist:

Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God Chapter 2

Zeal and Ardor - Devil Is Fine X

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The House By the Grave (single)

Blackbraid - III

Blackbraid - II

Roughly Enforcing Nostalgia - Front Door Doxologies

Servotron - No Room For Humans

Brown Whörnet - Emena Pesticide

The Ocean - Solaris (pre-release singles)

The Ocean - Holocene

The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir

The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium

The Caretaker - A Stairway to the Stars

Primus - Frizzle Fry

Man Man - Life Fantastic

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Card:

One from the Thoth deck:

Balance creative fire with ambition and mastery.

New Music from Godflesh!!!

From the forthcoming record Decay, out September 25 on Relapse Records. Pre-order HERE. 

Going back to that health update from Justin K. Broadrick back in early March, this is the penultimate Goflesh record. That gives me chills.

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R.I.P.:

We had an erroneous sneak peek at this post on Wednesday when I pasted in the wrong code, but here's my tribute to Reggie Fucking Banister. R.I.P. 

Back in 2016, I got to briefly say hello to Reggie (from a distance - lots of people and I was extremely concerned with adding to the swarm) on the sidewalk outside L.A.'s Egyptian Theatre. Beyondfest premiered Phantasm: Ravager as part of a double feature with the then-newly restored original Phantasm. I remember reading shortly thereafter that he'd had some health concerns, so maybe ten years on, this was for the best. Either way, sucks to lose such a legend. I always wished we might get a Reggie/Ash crossover at some point when Don Coscarelli began talking about doubling down on Phantasm again in the early 00s. Nothing really came of that, but maybe someday we'll see a comic or something. Either way, I bring it up because Reggie is up there with Campbell for me, as far as 80s Horror Hero Icons.

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Watch:

Last night K and I went to see the 20th-anniversary 4K restoration of Neil Marshall's 2005 film The Descent. Here's the trailer released in anticipation of this new theatrical run:

As a diehard Dog Soldiers fan from shortly after it hit video in 2002, I'd been waiting for a new Marshall film and was overjoyed that his sophomore film received the huge theatrical rollout his first film should have. I don't necessarily have to agree with the consensus that seems to consider this his best film - I dig it, especially after seeing it again on the big screen 20 years later - but it's no Dog Soldiers. It's always bothered me that I've pretty much never cared for any of Mr. Marshall's subsequent films, but he is a definite craftsman and I always (almost) give them a chance.

Watching this for the second time on the big screen, twenty years later, a couple of things occurred to me:

    A) I don't think I've seen this since its theatrical release in 2006, and considering the impact it had on me then via what I've carried with me since, I think I missed A LOT of subtext and nuance that first time around. 

    B) Much like Open Water, The Descent affects me. I have a thing about tight, underground spaces (never been in one, not wanted to be in one) the same way I have a thing about large bodies of water. The film exploits that - to great effect, and the result is a genuinely visceral experience. Everything from the point in the film where Holly takes point, all those claustrophobic shots of the girls wiggling into and through some of the most insanely tight holes - not gonna use the word passages for anything that small - is tantamount to any fear I reserve from a viewing of Friedkin's The Exorcist. But it's a different kind of fear, one that I feel less in my mind's eye and more in my body. This serves the film well, so that when bones start a'breakin' and blood lettin', I'm already there.

One final note - for a 4K restoration, the film looks fantastic, but the sound is abysmal. Maybe the worst sound I've ever heard in the theatre. The dialogue through the first act of the film - i.e., pre-cave - is buried so deep in the mix of the score I gave up trying. The mix gets a bit better once we're inside the cave, but even then, everything feels like it has a thin layer of sonic gauze over it. Shame, because this is otherwise a five-star film. Not sure if that's a problem with the source that couldn't be fixed or if my theatre somehow dropped the ball with their equipment. Either way, it definitely detracted from the overall experience.

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Playlist:

Steve Moore - Jimmy and Stiggs OST

Carlos Rafael Rivera - They Will Kill You OST

Godflesh - Selfless

The Cramps - RockinnReelinInAucklandNewZealandXXX

The Cramps - A Date with Elvis

Godflesh - Purge

The Cramps - Flamejob

Man Or Astroman? - Intravenous Television Continuum

Godflesh - Living/Ending (single)

The Ocean - Fogdiver

Godflesh - Eponymous

Mastodon - Live at the Aragon

Justin Hamline - This Machine Kills Music

L7 - Hungry for Stink

Sewer Mutant Podcast - Sam Keith Tribute

Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications

Blackbraid - Arte Concert Summer Breeze Live Stream

 Spotlights - Seance E.P.

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Nine of Cups

• Seven of Swords

• Nine of Swords

Be careful what you wish for? The strategic victory you spent so much time finagling may make things worse.

Definitely a work pull. 

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Primary Colours

From the 2009 album Primary Colours, which I pulled out yesterday and instantly regretted not having listened to in... a very long time. Fantastic record.

I don't know any other records by The Horrors, but this one is fantastic start to finish. These guys obviously got a big push marketing-wise in the wake of Interpol's success, but they are their own band. 

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NCBD:

So what did Wheeljack find in issue 33? My guess: Dinobots!

Every issue of any Shaolin Cowboy series is a gift. Loving Staying A.I. Live.

I've literally been thinking about Of the Earth more days than not since reading issues 2 and 3 last month. I adore this book! Condon's "The Thing meets Blood Simple" is so spot on, and being that those are two of my all-time favorite films, this feels made for me.

One more after this and I'll need to re-read everything that came before. It has been a minute since The Nice House on the Lake was on my radar; looking back on the last few release dates shown on League of Comic Book Geeks, it appears this went bi-monthly after returning from its "mid-season" hiatus. That's fine; not giving anyone sh*t, just saying, October's final issue will be a good prompt to re-read both The Nice House By the Lake and this second act. A quick search tells me Tynion has not announced a third act, but I guess that will depend on how this current arc ends.

So, while I'm still digging this current chapter of ARAH, I have space constraints that are weighing on me a bit. I recently bought a new long box (I phased out all but two long boxes before my move from LA; took a tip from my friend Chris Saunders and switched everything to short boxes. Way more manageable. The two I did keep were out of necessity: TMNT and X-Men. There's easily a long box of both. Coming to the end of my TMNT box has a lot to do with why I just canceled the series from my pull. Now, I'm closing in on the end of my ARAH box (which admittedly also includes the IDW run; the Energon stuff is all in a short box) and I have to consider if I'm going to stop. 

Talk about first world problems.

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Watch:

A few months back, Vinegar Syndrome ran a sale on Kim Stim's Blu-Ray edition of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2016 film Creepy, which I had never even heard of, let alone seen. I'm fairly new to Kurosawa's work, but what I've seen thus far - Cure, Chime and Cloud - have all blown me away, so I figured, what the hell? Let's give it a blind buy.

I cannot tell you how grateful I am that I did. This one really messed with me, in the best possible way. There is something so alien and yet relatable about Kurosawa's work that has really steeped into me over the viewing of these last four films, and I feel now as though I have to set out on a mission to see everything. There's a level of banality to Creepy that manages to create an unease that is slow, methodical and unexpected at times. The lighting in the Nishino house borders on what I think of as Cyber-Industrial-Gothic, with Tetsuo and Eraserhead immediately coming to mind. 

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Playlist:

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies - Cathedral

Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons

Various - The (S)hit Factory Disc 2

Various - The (S)hit Factory Disc 3

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets

Sepultura - Chaos A.D.

Mary Anne Hobbs Final BBC Broadcast: Burial and Kode 9 (Sept. 8, 2010)

The Horrors - Primary Colours

Pigface - Fook

Carpenter Brut - Leather Temple

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Shapes of Midnight (pre-release singles)

Lisa Bella Donna - Reach for the Light (single)

Mascara - Hla-11Tf (single)

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Eight of Swords

• XVI: The Tower

• Ace of Swords

A lot of strife, which can be a struggle, especially when paired with The Tower, a paradigm either in flux or ruling. This leads me to believe something I adhere to - probably a plot point in Shadow Play 2, or something I hold as an absolute with the characters- will change drastically. I'll resist it at first, then realize the change is needed.

New Music from The Ocean!

From The Ocean's forthcoming record Solaris, out September 25 on Pelagic Records. Pre-order HERE in the States or HERE elsewhere. 

I knew there had been a bit of an exodus from the band within the last year or two, but hadn't seen the new line-up until this weekend when I stumbled on the pre-release singles. Nothing against those who left, but this is the most excitement I've felt for an Ocean release since 2013's Pelagial.

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Watch:

I say this as someone who checked out on Marvel's MCU pretty much with Civil War, which I wasn’t a very big fan of. I’ve liked some things about a few subsequent films (of which I’ve only seen a few), but overall have been saddened to watch a carefully planned, confident approach to a blockbuster universe become tiresome, meek and rudderless. 

I LOVED Brand New Day and consider it the first Marvel movie I’ve actually liked - one that gave me repeated chills - since Age of Ultron (I really dug Raimi’s Dr. Strange: Multiverse of Madness, but not as a Marvel movie, as a Sam Raimi movie. Regardless, even that didn’t come close). 

I’d go so far as to say Brand New Day is the second best MCU movie thus far, coming in right behind the original Avengers film. Was it long and prone to indulgences? You betcha. But I was here for all of it. Best of all, almost none of the cameos were fan service - they all (mostly) played a role in the overall story. Which, after the exhausting (but not un-fun) Deadpool Loves Wolverine, was nice. I'm still all about street-level Marvel, which basically, at this point, means DD, Frank Castle and Spidey. Would be nice to see something else added to that list eventually, but for now, I'm happy keeping up with this little corner of things.

There are a couple huge ideas/plot points this film intentionally leaves hanging, and I'm a bit bummed that I'll have to wait until all the Avengers: Apocalypse Now Buddy B.S. is over before we likely get another proper Spidey flick. I find myself begrudgingly curious about Dr. Doom and Battleworld, so maybe I'll eat my words and watch that simply to stay in with Spidey's adventures in the "big potatoe" tier of the still hobbling overall MCU. I'd love it if they just left Peter alone and firmly entrenched at street level, but I guess that was never going to happen, so...

All right, Doom. Thrill me.

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Playlist:

Quicksand - Bring on the Psychics

Face to Face - Don't Turn Away

Firewater - Ponzi Scheme

Justin Hamline - This Machine Kills Music

Show Me the Body - Alone Together

Zeal and Ardor - Devil is Fine X

Pigface - Gub

Pigface - Welcome to Mexico Asshole

SOD - Speak English or Die

Anthrax - Cursum Perficio (pre-release singles)

John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies - Cathedral

The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir

The Ocean - Precambrian

Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album

Various - The (S)hit Factory: Disc 1

Sepultura - Chaos A.D.
Sepultura - The Cloud of Unknowning EP

The Ocean - Pelagial (Instrumental)

The Ocean - Solaris (pre-release singles)

Bohren and the Club der Gore - Sunset Mission

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Four of Wands

• Six of Pentacles

• Knight of Cups

Completion and success, but at a cost. 

Gatta Morta - Black Hall

Gatta Morta is a new band featuring Buzz Osbourne (Melvins), Jeff Pinkus (The Butthole Surfers, Melvins) Coady Willis (Big Business) and - totally new to me - Clinton Jacob from Chicago band Mr. Phylzzz.  I was unfamiliar with Mr. Phylzzz until Mr. Brown mentioned them to me in relation to news of this EP, which is on sale via Amphetamine Reptile and most likely long sold out. Pre-order whatever is left HERE. If you missed it like I did, you can wait a year or so, and Ipecac will probably put out a version as well.

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Watch:

Na Hong-jin's Hope looks a bit like another A Quiet Place analog; however, I'd say the similarities are probably how the film secured a wide release in the States and are likely played up for the trailer. Either way, looks pretty rad:

Hoping this one will find its way to me here in Clarksville, but I suppose I'd be amenable to a drive if I have to.

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Read:

I finished Stephen King's Wolves of the Calla two nights ago and, after reading the corresponding chapter about the book in Bev Vincent's The Road to the Dark Tower, immediately picked up Dark Tower Book Six: Song of Susannah. 

Here's another one I've only read once, and not since it was first published over twenty years ago. A lot of Wolves... came back to me as I read, but I also retained more of an idea of that novel than I did with this one. I remember King himself making an appearance, but with some of the crosstalk between books that pepper Bev Vincent's handling of these last few, I am getting a sense I remember very little of both this and the final book. 

Song of Susannah is a paltry 400-something pages compared to Book Five's 709 and Book Six's 800+, and that's not a complaint. I still have two Talisman novels to read after this (three once Other Worlds Than These drops in October) and based on a tidbit Vincent mentioned that I'd never heard before - namely that the Crimson King actually first appeared in Insomnia, a book Mr. Brown read when it came out while we were in our Senior Year of High School and I've been curious about since - I think I'll be adding that nearly 800-pager to the year's list. There's a cheap first edition hardcover in an antique store near me that has my name on it. After that, I'm considering rereading The Regulators and then finally diving into Desperation (following the announcement that Sam Raimi will be helming an adaptation of that), both of which I have hardcovers of. There's also the Robin Furth/Jae Lee comics that broaden the overall Dark Tower series, all of which I've read but not since publication.

Shit - I'm exhausted and yet also jazzed just by putting these plans down on paper. 

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Playlist:

The Black Keys - Magic Potion

Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Drain - ... Is Your Friend

Secret Chiefs 3 - Book of Horizons

United Future Organization - 3rd Perspective

Carlos Rafael Rivera - They Will Kill You OST

Secret Chiefs 3 - Hurqalya (Second Grand Constitution and Bylaws) 

Ween - God Ween Satan Live (disc 1)

Tomahawk - Eponymous

Burning Witch - Crippled Lucifer (disc 1: Tower)

The Ocean -Phanerozoic  I: Palaeozoic

The Ocean - Solaris (pre-release singles)

Morphine - The Night

Miles Davis - Bitch's Brew

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• 16: The Tower

• 18: The Moon

• Knight of Pentacles

Drawing the Tower has plenty of connotations, just in common with what I'm reading, but aside from that, I can see that I'm in for some ying and yang balancing and possibly some unexpected developments pertaining to my goals, which is great, because things have been tough. My health hasn't been great - it's undetermined whether I've passed this stupid stone, may have another gestating, and there's a persistent discomfort in my left stomach that's freaking me out. All this has left me pretty on edge, run down and just generally morose. Yesterday was different, though, and hopefully the cards herald a change. 

It's been quite some time since I've really gotten into Ween, which breaks my heart because at one time, and in some perpetually occluded way, they are and were one of my favorite bands ever. 

It started with Aaron Freeman (Gene Ween)'s Freeman album and hearing his side of the rift that had torn the band apart a few years prior. I wouldn't say I ever took Gene's side over anyone else's, but there was just something so disturbing about hearing the behind-the-scenes shit on this band known for reveling in intoxication that broke something in me. I wouldn't say anyone was at fault but Freeman himself - we all take responsibility for our choices - but it just left me cold. Then, when the band eventually reunited, I don't know, it just felt like the old, 'Ya can't go home again' rang true. 

Yesterday, a message from Mr. Brown about the new three-disc anniversary edition of 12 Gold Country Greats set something in motion, and I started listening to Ween and found I couldn't stop. I feel like I reconnected, but what's more, I realized something important.

Ween takes me to a place - a state of mind that I believe I share with my two best friends in the world - Mr. Brown and Sonny Vee. We all live in different places and can't see one another nearly as much as we would like (I could definitely make more of an effort), and so listening to Ween makes me reflect on missing our friendship in the day-to-day, as something I could experience in the flesh, and that leaves me sad. So, while I may be over whatever bullshit I had due to Ween's breakup (finally), I don't think it's likely I'll be doing more than what I did yesterday - the occasional freefall back into a state of mind that just doesn't gel with the world of 2026. Or, at least for the moment it doesn't.

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NCBD:

Another light week, thankfully...

Glad to have Jeff Lemire's Minor Arcana back. Love this book, and I've been in the mood for Seaside Horror, even if this book is really more Horror adjacent. 

Unless something huge happens - and I mean HUGE - this is probably the last regular issue of MASK I'm picking up. I just don't really care about this end of the EU. I know at some point I'll at least partially regret this decision; these titles are all so tied together, after all, that we've seen Scrap Iron working for Miles Mayhem and Matt Trakker build his vehicles from Cybertronian technology. So logic dictates that 'crossing of the streams' will continue. That said, I did not have any MASK toys as a kid; I never saw the cartoon (that I remember) or read the comics. So I think I can let this one go.

Event Horizon: Inferno is the Event Horizon story I've wanted for thirty years. Destined to be in my top of the year. 

With all the crossover stuff happening around this book, I am very happy that Fraction and Jimenez appear to be keeping that from infecting the regular book. Because I really dig everything happening in this one. Issue 5 is still probably my favorite comic so far this year. So I'm invested. I just don't care about Commissioner Vandal Savage, Mayor Poison Ivy and the whole police angle. It feels too beholden to what Marvel just did in Daredevil: Born Again. I know this always happens with the big two: they share concepts like this. It's fine. I haven't minded what we've gotten of this so far in the book, and actually quite liked the idea of the police hunting the Bat-Family. Now that this plot point is turning into a full-on "Event," I just want it to stay the hell out of the book so it can focus on other things.

Like Minotaur, who my cohost Mike Shin pointed out is almost definitely an AI crime boss. Now that's not something I've seen anywhere else. You?

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Watch:

Monday night, K and I hit the Regal Mystery Movie: Horror Edition and were thrilled with an early screening of Eli Roth's Ice Cream Man.

This movie is f*cking bonkers!

Weapons meets Terrifier is my elevator pitch. Weapons, because there are children running around constantly causing mayhem; Terrifier because their mayhem consists of brutally murdering every adult they encounter in some of the most graphic ways I've seen on a big screen since Terrifier 3. This is not for everyone - I can't tell you how many people walked out of the theatre Monday night - but if you have a sick sense of humor like I guess K and I do, I think this will really make for a fabulous night at the theatre!

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Playlist:

Steve Moore - Christmas, Bloody Christmas

Secret Chiefs 3 Traditionalists - La Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomimi

The Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop OST

Ween - 12 Golden Country Greats

Ween - Featuring the Shit Creek Boys: Live in Toronto Canada

Ween - Live at Stubbs (Disc 2)

The Black Keys - Magic Potion

Alice in Chains - Sap

Alice in Chains - Dirt

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

Gatta Merta - Black Hall (single)

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Four of Pentacles

• King of Swords

• XVI: The Tower

Soundgarden - Holy Water

The penultimate track on Soundgarden's 1991 masterpiece, Badmotorfinger, "Holy Water" always ushers in a bittersweet feeling for me. I love the track, but it signals the outro of the record, with "New Damage" following to wrap up what has been one of the most satisfying listens in my lifetime.

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Watch:

Penny Lane is Dead has been on my radar via word-of-mouth from my friend and Horror Vision cohost Anthony (That's King Butcher if you're on the IG), and without knowing anything specific, I've been wondering when it will reach us (and if it will receive a theatrical release). Here's the trailer that just dropped:

 

Honestly, I shut this trailer down by the time the Shudder logo popped up. I don't need to see anything beyond those initial, frenzied flashings - I'm in.

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Playlist:

The Caretaker - Theoretically pure anterograde amnesia

Uniform & The Body - Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back Again

Drain - ... Is Your Friend

Judas Priest - Greatest Hits

The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer

Ministry - The Last Sucker

Ween - Bring Out the Foos: Live 1996

Róisín Murphy - Overpowered

Revocation - New Gods, New Masters

Napalm Death - Resentment Is Always Seismic (A Final Throw of Throes)

Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons

Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Three of Swords

• Nine of Wands

• Nine of Swords

Pain and closure.