Shaolin Wooden Men - Mirror Ball of Death

Holy cow! The Loved Ones - a fantastic Australian horror flick my friend Missi showed me this evening.

H.P. Lovecraft Film Fest Los Angeles 2013

image courtesy of tentaclii.files.wordpress.com,

Tomorrow at the Warner Grand in San Pedro. Cannot wait. Dagon and John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness, along what will undoubtedly be some amazing shorts and great vendors. Tickets available here.

The art for this amazing flyer by the way is by one Jason Bradley Thompson

The Ocean Has a Video and a Film (NSFW)

I totally missed out on the fact that there is a version of The Ocean's Pelagial record that comes with a film shot to the length of the album (a 53:13 long song they were unfortunately forced to break into pieces when I saw them live at Summer Slaughter). Apparently I also missed the fact that they released a music video a few months ago for Bathyalpelagic II. A big, hearty thank you to Metal Sucks for bringing all this to my attention. Read their articles here and here.

The Only In Utero Review You Need

image courtesy of http://www.taringa.net/

Great review of the reissue of an arguably classic record by Chester Whelks on Joup.

New Luscious Jackson Record!!!

Another insanely busy week - so busy that I almost completely forgot that I read about a new Luscious Jackson record on Brooklyn Vegan (their article on it right here) at some point earlier in the week! How the hell could I forget about that? Good thing the weekend sometimes allows me to collect my thoughts and re-examine a lot of the stuff I read in quick, passing bursts throughout the week when I can steal a moment or three.

When Luscious Jackson called quits it hurt. And even though we got the wonderful Jill Cunniff solo record City Beach there was no way it was going to be enough to quell the sting from losing the band that put out Fever In Fever Out and Electric Honey, two fine examples of main ingredient funk, synth and straight up pop. The news of a brand new album is pretty much from out of left field to me and makes me very, very happy.

The new Luscious Jackson album is titled Magic Hour and it will be released on November 5th via their own City Song record label.

Ryan Black's Tension #1 Rocks!

I do a post Tension #1 release interview with Ryan Black in this week's Thee Comic Column on Joup. (essentially a sequel to my interview with him from May which can be found here).

The book is a fantastic independent debut. There's espionage, reality-based super powers (main character draws Dark Matter for his power! How awesome is that?), accommodating stewardesses and dirty black ops government agencies!

Sunday It All Comes Apart

I don't want it to but I need this to end. It is devastating me. However, at the same time the writing is so good that I'm pretty sure I can actually feel myself becoming a better writer just watching it.

I'm going to cry.

American Horror Story: Coven Intro

I cannot wait for this.

Annotations for Grant Morrison's Batman

image courtesy of http://blogs.villagevoice.com/

No, I didn't write them, but I list them and give the massive props due to those brave souls who did in this week's Thee Comic Column on Joup!

JSBX

In honor of the fact that Jon Spencer Blues Explosion is playing a free show tonight in NY (see Brooklyn Vegan here if you're there and want to try your luck at attending) I thought I'd post my all-time favorite song by the band. Of course, it's not quite the same when r i got soul doesn't bleed directly into get over here, but what can you do?

Deltron 3030 Ft. Mike Patton

You had me at Mike Patton, however despite my pervading prejudice against a lot of hip hop I dig this quite a bit and the video is fantastic. Very urban ex., steampunk, dystopian visuals and great low budget costume design.

Ghost - Papaganda Episode One: The Olde One

My good friend Tori is the one who turned me on to Ghost back when Opus Eponymous was released. I dug the album but there was something that kept me from really loving it. There seemed to be a certain... I don't know if lethargy is the exact right word, but it's the word I always think of when I listen to or contemplate that album. When the hype started for the band's second album, this year's Infestissumam Tori told me she thought the band had switched singers. This intrigued me, however once the album came out and I found that it did everything so much better than the previous one did I found it hard to reconcile the idea of the singer having been changed. Well, unless this is an elaborate hoax - which it might be - this video show's that Tori was completely correct.

Bells into Machines - Chris Connelly & Paul Barker Reunited!!!

Holy cow does this make super extra happy! Chris Connelly and Paul Barker in a new band together? Go to their website here or their facebook here and shower them with love folks, this is going to be great!

23 Skiddo

One of those bands I have always read about and yet they've stained perpetually on my peripheral radar. So this is a first experience for me. And it is a fantastic first experience.

Wire - Chairs Missing

Pink Flag is one of those records that changed my life when I got into it later in life, circa twelve years ago. It immediately became one of those albums that is ALWAYS on me, occupying a constant, non-negotiable spot in both my automobile CD binder and the ipod that I constantly have to juggle the contents of in order to accommodate day to day fancies along with such mainstays. Chairs Missing is a step further down the Wire spiral, and from the first track you can feel a little bit more madness eating in around the fringes of the classic post-punk sound that means so much to so many.

Pinebender - Fifth to Last

I came by Working Nine to Wolf by Pinebender on accident back when it was released in the fall of 2006. In the press that accompanied the record it's interesting to note that the band describes their music as "amplifier worship", and when you get to know the music that becomes a crystal clear encapsulation of what they do. I wish I could see them live, because as good a job the recordings on this album are in translating the loud factor - my guess is there are a lot of good room mics involved in the mix - simply by listening to it you become swallowed by the sound and inevitably I find myself wondering how much more glorious the 'worship' would be in a live room, with thundering space and the occasional breeze from a back room. This has been a peripheral staple of mine ever since, however listens are infrequent enough that I really never kept tabs on the band and as such with just a smidge of internet research this morning (woke up thinking of this song again) I am unable to discern whether or not Pinebender still exists. Perhaps someone from the band will see this and drop a comment? One can hope...

Ty Segall - Ghost

Filthy.

Al Jarreau's Working on the Night Shift

I'm rounding out the night watching Night Shift for the first time in about... oh, twenty-something years. Not even twenty, had to be twenty-something. Night Shift was originally released in 1982 - I would have been 6 at the time - I don't remember what year I saw this flick on late night WGN Chicago's channel 9 but a lot of it stuck with me. That's how 80's movies were. Part of that is probably just the nostalgia - you know, the first time you see Michael Keaton jump off a second floor balcony in a cave man toga and land flat on his face it stays with you, right? Yeah, but of course there's the fact that my brain was still gathering mad information and formulating future experiences based on what I was perceiving at the time - a lot of deep-seated psychological growth going on that explains the attachment as well. Either way, my boss and I have talked about this movie a couple times and I've been surprised how much I remembered for having seen it once. Surprised despite the fact that I held it in a slightly unexplainable regard ever since...

Alas, I fear that this post has become incoherent because I've now been up for almost 24 hours and have a handful of Sierra Nevada's in me, so why don't I just let my sudden predilection for jabber-jawing take the proverbial dive off the second floor balcony of an $8k a year strip club and let Mr. Jarreau attempt to pull my ass out of the recycler?

What?

Future Primitives

This is the shit. I LOVE the fact that this surf/punk is proliferating at the moment. I heard pretty much this entire record tonight and it is fantastic.

Spider Heart

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Driving home late at night, unseasonably cool air for September in Southern California whipping through the windows as I drive La Brea, dodging double parkers waiting for spots outside trendy bars, swerving to avoid bold or drunken J walkers, tired but buzzing from the electric city wrapped around me. And Spider Hearts is ripping through my speakers and everything is pretty goddamn awesome at the moment.

Future Islands - Long Flight

Just discovered Future Islands, a band that hails from my beloved Baltimore, MD. This song takes me all over the place - something about it evokes some of the Empty Bottle/Thrill Jockey corner of mid/late 90's indie rock (and lo and behold, guess what label two of their last two long-players were on?) and something else evokes Euro synthoids Stereolab. Either way, I love this and aim to hear more. You can check out some stuff on Friends Records bandcamp or just go to the band's website.

Lebanon Hanover

I was just introduced to Lebanon Hanover yesterday via Part Time Punks radio show on Los Angeles' KXLU. Very good, very dark and atmospheric. Their bandcamp is loaded with music that is just perfect for the encroaching season of Autumn.

Take Action Day - Make a Sequel To Dredd!!!

image courtesy of collider.com

Yes, this is a real thing. This coming Wednesday, September 18th is take action for a Dredd sequel day. I explain all about it in the new Thee Comic Column on Joup this week, which you can read right here.

Disappears Cover U2 For AV Club

Disappears cover U2

I really dig Disappears. And I've always really liked New Years Day. This then, is a great combination in my book.

The band really nails it. Notice how they say they don't so much turn it into one of their own as get traditional with it, but as traditional as it is, I would argue that they add some of that smoky, mysterious flavor that makes Disappears' music so unique and compelling.

The Pixies @ Echo: 2 New Songs

Friday morning the following email arrived while I was at work. It was about an hour until I saw it, and as such I missed what probably sold out in .0003 seconds. Sender was PIXIES, subject heading LA TONIGHT;

Hello We are playing a special warm up show TONIGHT in LA. Friday, Sept 6 @ ECHO Doors at 7pm / Pixies on stage 7:45pm 18+ $10.00 ticket Tickets are available right now: http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/368905?utm_medium=bks Access code: BAGBOY La La love you PIXIES

FUUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKKKK!!!



Doubly so after last week's early surprise with the last minute drop of EP1 (so last minute the press release didn't go out until until the small hours the day of.

Thanks to Gigwise for posting this footage. Still wish I as there - the Echo is SO small. 300 people tops I think.

Soundgarden - Halfway There

I've been meaning to post this for days, but it's been hard to find time to do anything other than work on my writing, which is something I am definitely not complaining about. I've already talked in these pages about how unexpectedly pleased I was with King Animal after expecting it to suck based on that awful audio-slave-ish song Soundgarden had in the Avengers. Halfway There's definitely not my favorite song on the record, but it's good and it's very reminiscent of the tone the singles on Down on the Upside - which I love - had.

My Three Favorite Songs by The Rolling Stones

Yeah, that's a bold statement and a damn hard pick, but I'm having a Stones Sunday, well have been having a Stones week really, and these are the three I ALWAYS hold in the highest regard.



I bought Sticky Fingers at Rolling Stone records (no connection) on Irving Park Road in Chicago back when I was a Junior in High School. Or a Senior, I forget. I was a metal head and on the same trip I bought another all-time favorite, Type O Negative's Bloody Kisses (the superior, digi-pak version). I probably also bought more metal. And my girlfriend at the time probably bought all metal. I say this to illustrate what a departure this was for me. By this time I knew and loved a lot of Stones songs from the radio, liked some and disliked some. I had a pretty thorough knowledge of classic rock in general thanks to WCKG and I had already been a Zeppelin fanatic for years thanks to my Aunt Dottie generously gave me the Zeppelin box set for what was probably my fifteenth or sixteenth birthday. But Zeppelin has, somewhat enigmatically with hindsight, always been more of an analogue to metal. While I liked the Stones it was a limb I went out on spending some of the little money I made at the time on a CD I was unsure of.

I was instantly justified upon hearing Sticky Finger, esp. Sway.



The 70's. Funk. Disco. Espionage. Coke. Fingerprint File. Who's Listening? Who indeed. For my money this is the funkiest, dirtiest the Stones ever got.



Henry Hill. 'Nuff said.

Joshua Hale Fialkov & Joe Infurnari's The Bunker

image courtesy of the artist's site joeinfurnari.com

OH! I'm loving this digital-only comic from two creators I was totally unfamiliar with until about two months ago. Read about it in this week's Thee Comic Column on Joup, right here!

Regis - Blood Witness

I've not yet read Warren Ellis' novella Dead Pig Collector (available here), but it's on the list (and what an enormous list that is). Stumbled upon a great interview with the author today via twitter where he talks about the 'playlist' for the writing of the book. This is on it. Mr. Ellis has written some of my favorite comics and the one novel of his to-date three (I think - someone please correct me if I'm wrong) that I've read was fantastic. Crooked Little Vein. Mmm good.

Anyway, here's the link to the full article on Large-Hearted Boy's wonderful music blog. And you can purchase this wonderful music here.

image courtesy of comicbook.com

Tricky + The Antlers - Parenthesis

Wow. There's a strong amount of garbage-can funk in that guitar riff that comes in and out to mock a chorus. Reminds me a bit of 'Strugglin' from Maxinquaye. Wicked.

As an aside, the Real Rock n Rolla from Guy Ritchie's Rocknrolla - Johnny Quid - he's just gotta be based on Tricky.

Silian Rail

Here's another band I've only just discovered and basically know nothing about. Silian Rail is named after the business card Patrick Bateman uses to impress his "friends" - only to then be outdone by ah... it's been awhile, I forget. Paul Allen?

Anyway, you can imagine me googling Silian Rail and not only finding the bandcamp I was hoping for after hearing a song by the group on KXLU 88.9's Morning Cup of Tommy but that it's also a reference to one of my favorite books.

Silian Rail has a definite "post-rock" vibe. I hear shades of Daemien Frost - one of my all time favorite bands - but also a touch of the Mogwai, and a whole lot of their own personal touch. Really digging this band and if you like what you hear follow the link above to the bandcamp and the digital is $7, vinyl a meager $12. The entire record is great, might I suggest skipping directly to Shapes which is just likely to haunt me all day.

New Pixies 4-Song EP

This morning I woke and found a fantastic email in my box - The PIXIES are releasing a new, 4-song EP... TODAY!!!

Way to keep that under your hats until the last minutes guys.

Go to Joup here and I've posted the first video and more information

NIN Hesitation Marks Tour Doc

Another in Vevo's Tour Exposed documentary series.

Ministry: From Beer to Eternity

Read my review of the fantastic new Ministry record on Joup.

Groovie Mann + William Tucker = Darling Kandie

While working on my review of the new Ministry record From Beer to Eternity for Joup I've been drudging up a lot of old school Chicago connections I'd either not known about or totally forgotten.

Ty Segall's FUZZ

This makes me wish that for this labor day weekend I had a garage. With an old, greenish-yellow refrigerator in it. And a lot of Hamms in that refrigerator. NO, scratch that. The Hamms fits aesthetically, but I wouldn't drink it so let's change that to something... Leinenkugel's, yeah. That'll do. And an older neighbor who notoriously stops by with joints of grass. Not good weed like we know it today, but certified grass. Like the stuff you could light up after a twelver and NOT get sick.

Listen to that glorious amp buzz around the 4 minute mark. This would have been a killer end of the summer album, but it's not out until October 1st (on In The Red Records). Oh well, there's enough advance stuff floating around for us to enjoy sampling it this weekend as most of the states kiss the summer goodbye (and we in socal continue to sweat our asses off as ours still builds to a head). Besides, it's not Mr. Segall doesn't have another album that just came out recently*.

.................

*

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison Grant Morrison

I missed a week of my comic column because I was locked in a recording studio with Mr. Brown working on the first Schlitz Family Robinson tracks in... a really long time. So Grant Morrison's Annihilator has become well-talked about news by now. Still, hearing him describe the new creator-owned book in this video made me so excited that I devoted this week's edition of Thee Comic Column  over on Joup to talking a bit about Morrison books I read before I knew who he was, and how they subsequently added a whole new level of appreciation to his work for me when I put the pieces together later and found that even before I knew who he was, Grant Morrison was writing comics that were among my all-time favorites.

image courtesy of legendary.com

Disappears

Chicago-based band Disappears recently released a new record via Kranky records. Minor Patterns is not from that record. It's from 2012's brilliant Pre Language. Upon first hearing the band last year via Mr. Brown I was immediately struck by the somewhat updated throwback sound. Now, I know "updated throwback" sounds ridiculous but it's something I've really come to like in another group, A Place to Bury Strangers. The meaning of the ambiguous and possibly even pretentious term is really just a nod to the fact that while doing their own thing - quite well in both cases I might add - there is a definite comparison in sound to be made of bands-gone-by. My two-second elevator pitch for A Place to Bury Strangers when I first fell in love with Exploding Head was, "Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste-era Ministry meets My Bloody Valentine meets Bauhaus. Ridiculous? Maybe, but it worked like a charm in selling more than a few records for the band when I had my retail job so I count it a success. Disappears is similar, in that just listening to the opening chords of Minor Patterns I get that same early-Bauhaus feeling of space within the song. Once the song gets going though, as with the rest of the album, there's an aesthetic comparison I feel can be made to both 80's Sonic Youth (or maybe that's just because Steve Shelley is in Disappears) and even 13-Songs Fugazi. It's that small club/loud amp sound and the knack for writing a song together, organically, as opposed to riff-oriented.  It's the definition of what indie used to mean. IT'S GOOD.

Anyway, don't listen to me babble comparisons at you, if you dig Minor Patterns, go buy the whole record Pre Language. Then buy the new one. I need to do that last part yet, but it's on the ever-growing list for sures.

Oh, and when you have a little more time to burrow into something, there's this: