Tuesday, January 28, 2020
New Black Lips!
It's been a minute since I checked in with The Black Lips. "Rumbler" is definitely not where I'm at mentally, but it is awesome nonetheless, and something I'd imagine I'll have in regular rotation before too long. New album, The Black Lips Sing in a World That's Falling Apart is out now on Fire Records, and you can order a copy HERE.
**
Finally had the occasion to watch David Lynch's What Did Jack Do? on Netflix. Wow, easily one of the weirder, more self-indulgent pieces from my favorite director, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I've been accused of being a "Lynch Apologist" before and I guess that's not wrong. But the man is filled with happiness and optimism, while still being capable of creating some of the most dark and baffling art, that it makes me infinitely happy just to see his face. What Did Jack Do? was no exception.
Here's a nice addendum to the movie. The song Jack performs, "The Flame of Love," is being released on vinyl by Sacred Bones. You can pre-order it HERE. I'm sitting this one out on vinyl - I'm not really a completist for everything Lynch has done (though pretty close), but this will probably end up a bizarre piece of memorabilia.
**
Playlist :
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - In Summer EP
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Various Artists - The Void OST
Chris Issac - Heart Shaped World
The Black Lips - Sing in a World That's Falling Apart
No Card Today.
Monday, January 27, 2020
Cynic - Textures: RIP Sean Reinert
Man, this was a blow. I don't know Sean Reinert's catalogue like some of my friends do, but from the moment I first heard this track on Cynic's 1993's debut Focus, I was floored. This was one of the first 'death metal' bands whose vocals didn't put me off, and also, whereas I normally didn't 'listen' to the drums on records like this, with Reinhert, at times that was all I could listen to.
**
Holy smokes! Over at Brooklyn Vegan, Andrew Sacher made my day by posting the news that 90s MetalCore group Deadguy appear to be reuniting. This is one show I will not miss live if they come through LaLa Land! Waaaay back in 1995, when Deadguy's first and only album Fixation On a Coworker came out on Victory Records, I happened to be a writer for southside Chicago music mag Subculture, and this album was sent to me for review. I loved it, and have loved it ever since, and now can't wait to see what more Deadly might have in store for us.
Read Sacher's full article HERE, and below is my favorite song off the album:
**
Playlist:
M83 - Knight + Heart OST
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - In Summer EP
Me and That Man - Songs of
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars
**
Card:
Motion, movement. Flow. Getting back into a stable, regular writing routine has worked wonders. Sometimes things stop your momentum cold, that's life. You just have to start back up again. It's all a Wheel.
Sunday, January 26, 2020
Me and That Man - Mestwo
There's something to be said for artists who, whether they plan to or not, end up defining a part of our time, whether it's a year, or half-year, or period of weeks and/or months. Me and That Man is having that affect on me now, here at the start of the 20s. Part of it is because I didn't hear about them until the back half of 2019, and part of it is the pace at which they have been releasing singles off their upcoming 2020 album, Same Shit Volume One, due out March 27th on Napalm Records (Pre-order HERE). The steady, every-couple-of-weeks has helped keep them on my mind, in my ears, and a continual OST to these cold and dreary days of the first quarter (LaLa Land's 'cold and dreary' might not be as severe as a lot of other places, but everything is relative). This new track is simple, catchy, and has a certain stoic dirge quality that, once again, shows me Nergal is a huge Nick Cave fan. Not a band thing by any means.
**
The similarities between the procedural CDC elements of Chuck Wendig's novel Wanderers and the current 'outbreak' of the Coronavirus are frightening to say the least. Benji Ray's complex relationship with the job of disease identification/control/treatment already inspired me to pull Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys off the shelf in anticipation of a re-watch, reality and the daily news - which I largely shy away from these days other than BBC - have made me think twice about adding to the 'paranoia fire' that seems to lay at the heart of the modern world at the moment.
**
Playlist:
Blut Aus Nord - Memorial Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars
Drab Majesty - The Demonstration
Godflesh - Love and Hate in Dub
Godflesh - Songs of Love and Hate
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Bohren and Der Club of Gore - Patchouli Blue
Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST
Steve Moore - Bliss OST
Night Shop - In the Break
Black Pumas - Eponymous
Iggy Pop - Lust for Life
Revolting Cocks - Big Sexy Land
Mol - Jord
**
Card:
A direct reference to the power and stability my recent writing sessions have given my made-up world of Shadow Play. As if to further underline that interpretation, a second card leapt from the pile as I pulled the first off the top of the deck:
Second time this week for XXI The Universe, and why not? I'm currently dealing with massive philosophical concepts, finding fun and interesting ways to instill a version of my own cosmology in this work that is coming to define my life (at least until it's over and I move on).
Saturday, January 25, 2020
Godflesh
One of the creepiest songs Godflesh did, and that's saying something.
I've fallen in love with Love and Hate in Dub all over again. This one is never far from my speakers, but many times, my listens are not album-length, as they're confined to the car, or at work where a longer album can be interrupted fairly easy. Lately however, I've been sequestered in the back-half of this one, and the final song, this "remix" of 'Gift from Heaven', off 1996's equally brilliant album Songs of Love and Hate. There's always been something so dark and mysterious about Godflesh, and although I love pretty much everything JKB has done in his career - especially under the Godflesh moniker - possibly the stuff that stays with me the most is the creepy, atmospheric, 'a boiler room in hell' stuff.
**
One episode into the new Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix and goddamn, I don't care how camp or teenage this show goes at time, the sets, costumes, and overall tone is fantastic, and again, the blasphemy is joy-inducing.
**
Playlist:
Godflesh - Love and Hate in Dub
Mol - Jord
Bohren and Der Club of Gore - Patchouli Blue
Zonal - Wrecked
David Lynch and Marek Zebrowski - Polish Night Music
Kevin Morby - Oh My God
**
Card:
A new journey? That's always the initial interpretation that springs to mind with this one, however I'm inclined at the moment, while reflecting on a fairly successful week of writing sessions, to err on the side of a completely different outlook. One of "new," i.e. a new direction that's becoming apparent within the major arc of the second and third books. It's not radically different than what I originally had planned, but it's more nuanced for sure. In fact, the entire epic is really coming to life in a far more robust way than I'd anticipated. Well, that's not entirely true; I've always known this would be huge, but I guess you can't see it until you're in it, so to speak. And brother, I am IN it now.
Friday, January 24, 2020
Live Dungen Album!
Another album I'm looking forward to that drops on Friday, March 13th! Live Dungen - they've been off my radar for a while, but I've loved these guys since I saw them live in Minneapolis back in the early 00s, and if this track is any indication, this will be a fantastic representation of the band live.
**
Yesterday I returned to work, whatever viral plague that had laid me low the last few days having retreated to a mostly manageable position on the outskirts of my physicality. It took it's tool though, and when I returned home, I flopped down unceremoniously in bed and planned to through on a flick, knowing I'd probably doze. However, I threw on was Jeremy Rush's Wheelman.
Awesome flick, and Frank Grillo absolutely kills it in the lead. Also, always great to see Garret Dillahunt. Needless to say, I did not nap. Totally worth it, though.
**
Playlist:
Bohren and Der Club of Gore - Patchouli Blue
Zonal - Wrecked
Godflesh - Hymns
Godflesh - Love and Hate in Dub
Kevin Morby - Oh My God
93MillionMilesFromTheSun - Towards the Light
Zombi - Shape Shift
The Fixx - Reach the Beach
Card:
Healing. Yup.
Thursday, January 23, 2020
New Music From Bohren and Der Club of Gore
It's been five years since we had new music from Bohren and Der Club of Gore. Five long years. And while I'm still largely hung up on Sunset Mission, I can't wait for this one. My life needs to feel more like a David Lynch movie, and, well, I can't think of any better way to accomplish that. Other than introducing myself to my neighbor whose husband is missing an ear, but I'm pretty sure this is the better route.
**
But I digress. It's time once again for...
Season Two, Episode Twenty, "Humbug" - Freakshow! While these days, the whole freak show setting feels overdone to me - I've continued to avoid the titular AHS season due to that feeling - this is another episode with Twin Peaks alumni, and a definite ploy to the at-the-time interest in all things "alternative." Not a bad thing; it works here, and even though Jim Rose and crew feel a little shoe-horned in (remember they opened Lollapalooza for a while in this era), the always marvelous Vincent Schiavelli evens everything out. This guy is such a great character actor, and his distinct visage and more than worthy chops are something I grew up with seeing in a lot of disparate places, from Night Court to Buckaroo Bonzai, so that he owns a little piece of my heart, for all time.
Season Three, Episode Four, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" - A great little episode co-starring Peter Boyle as a reluctant, socially confused psychic; an old man who has lived with a bizarre gift he doesn't want, and what happens when that brings him into a murder investigation. In his notes on this episode, Brown pitched it as, "Creepy," and he was not wrong. I really dug this one.
Season Three, Episode Twenty, "Jose Chung's From Outerspace" - An episode I had seen at least once before, and one that made a mark on me back in the day due to its strangely comedic tone. Really out there at times, to the point it seems to threaten the integrity of the mythology the show is building. But then it doesn't, and everything ends up working perfectly within the confines of what the show has already set up.
Also, Charles Nelson Reilly. 'Nuff said.
**
Playlist:
Zombi - Shape Shift
Lovecraft and Sabrina Spellman - Straight to Hell
INXS - Kick
Card:
Of particular interest to me here, today, is the image of the Crab, which here symbolizes the aggressive and/or healing attributes of Water, or Emotion. This plays directly into something I wrote into the outline for Book Three yesterday, and I think I'll read this as suggesting an attempt to work in a bit of symbolism in an otherwise literal scene.
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Hilary Woods - Tongues of Wild Boar
I know nothing about Hilary Woods, but this song and its accompanying video are gorgeous in the creepiest possible way. The album drops March 13th on Sacred Bones - and it brings me a little spark of joy knowing that's a Friday to boot. Pre-order HERE.
**
NCBD:
Nothing new this week that's on my radar, but I still have to grab Trees: Three Fates #5. from two weeks ago (not sure how I keep missing this one or why I never put it on my Pull):
Trees: Three Fates has been a nice mostly dose of Warren Ellis' comics writing, and its helped me postpone getting involved in Batman's Grave on a monthly basis. As I editorialized on the most recent episode of Drinking with Comics, I'll read an independent monthly, but I'm done reading Big Two books in a format constantly interrupted by shitty ads. Plus, admittedly, Ellis always reads better in trade.
I know Trees won't be coming back for a while, but I'm really looking forward to the return of Injection, which I believe I read will be starting up again this year. Injection stands as my favorite Ellis book since Doktor Sleepless, and I miss it dearly.
**
I finished David Cronenberg's Consumed. Outstanding. Five stars - six if it was possible. I really can't wait to see this rendered by the author into a visual, episodic format. There's some serious body horror here, and it runs the game from subtle-but-terrifying to remarkably vulgar. Thus, it should make for a fantastic Cronenberg project.
In the wake of Consumed, I've become a book my friend Jesus gifted me for Christmas, Chuck Wendig's Wanderers:
One-hundred and six pages in and I can't put this book down! I know nothing about the story going in - I hadn't even heard of it before Jesus put it in my hand - and that's definitely making for a great read. Also, its always nice to see a tense or horrific story start with a twist on something so basic - what if your loved one started sleepwalking and would not stop for anything?
**
Playlist:
Steve Moore - Bliss OST
Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST
Zombi - Shape Shift
Umberto - Helpless Spectator
Tangerine Dream - Exit
Godflesh - Post Self
Godflesh - Hymns
Card:
Yesterday's card was XXI: The Universe, and it compelled me to work for an extended period of time on the "Bigger Ideas" of the final book in the Shadow Play series. I've made a pact with myself to not begin writing the second book - which is painstakingly outlined - until I have the entirety of the third volume outlined as well. This has proved challenging, to say the least. My writing sessions, have been long and consisted of reading research material, outlining, story boarding (of a sort), and all kinds of other fun tasks, but nothing that scratches the itch to write. Still, a solid three hours yesterday and I made what feels like serious progress.
Serious. Professional. Driven. All qualities I could stand to aspire to of late; as much fun as this phase of the Shadow Play project is, it's susceptible to distraction. I downloaded a new focus app, called Tomato Timer, and it's helped me get a handle on this a bit. And on that note, off to work!
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Tangerine Dream's Betrayal - A Window into Friedkin's Sorcerer
It's only been over the last ten years or so that I've begun to feel a growing obsession with the cinematic works of William Friedkin. The man whose name I once knew solely in conjunction with what I once considered the scariest movie ever made, The Exorcist, began to take on new connotations back somewhere in the murky recesses of the end of our previous decade. It was at that time I watched The French Connection for the first time since I was an un-interested child, a third-person voyeur's viewing via the method of early film ingestion many 80s children will relate to. During the dawn of the VHS and video store boom, Saturday nights were commonly VCR Nights; you'd trek to the Video Store with your parents early in the day, pick out something to watch during the afternoon or early evening, then after dinner, it was parents' movie time. Sometimes they rented stuff we could all watch, sometimes it was stuff you weren't interested in but you stayed in the front room and played with your toys while they watched, because the nuclear family was still mostly alive and well in the Suburban United States and the units of the family gravitated toward one another, teenage social rebellion having not yet set in. Then sometimes, there were movies like The Falcon and Snowman, or The Deer Hunter, where the folks waited until you were in bed to watch. It is in this second variation that I believe I originally was exposed to and absorbed elements of The French Connection, but what made it to adulthood was little more than the film's grimy tone.
When I did sit down in my thirties and watch Popeye Doyle and the entire spectacle of Friedkin's crime epic, I was floored. I'd just finished reading a book that Mr. Brown had lent me, Stephen Farber's Outrageous Conduct. Primarily a depiction of the events leading up to and the aftermath from the deaths of veteran actor Vic Morrow and two young children during the filming of John Landis' Twilight Zone: The Movie, Farber offered examples of other 'outrageous conduct' by 70s/80s era directors. The French Connection was included; Friedkin's filming of a car chase during actual New York City traffic resonated with me as outrageous, but just the right kind of outrageous. This is the commitment that made Cinema what it was in its heyday. It is also what led to corporate control and the eventual commoditization of Cinema, so that today, good or bad, all we really have with big budgets are franchise movies. The French Connection played out before me, eliciting moments of half-remembered ah-has, but ultimately as a brand new experience, making me realize the rest of Friedkin's work was something well worth engaging in.
Sorcerer was another movie that I believe Farber's book mentioned. Long elusive to digital transfer, I hunted for screenings of this one for a few years, until finally a BR was announced. I tried to order that disc several times; on every episode it eluded me, until early in 2019, when Friedkin's jungle-epic popped back up on Amazon. I ordered it, however, Amazon had trouble fulfilling that order. I received countless emails over the course of several weeks, all assurances the disc would ship soon. Until finally, the final email came and announced a refund had been issued. It seems I was to wait just a little while longer before I could see Sorcerer*.
Finally, last week, a happened to look at my Amazon wish list and noticed Sorcerer on Blu Ray had returned. I snapped that fucker up in a heartbeat and two days later, my disc arrived.
This past Saturday, I sat down to finally watch this much-anticipated film. However, my initial viewing was doomed from the start. It was late, and Sorcerer has, what my good friend and fellow Horror Vision co-host Ray calls '70s pacing.' Now, to be clear, I do not mind '70s pacing.' In many cases, I love it. However, I have to be ready for it. Last Saturday, I was not. After sleeping through most of this attempt, I called it quits around 2:30 AM and left the comfy confines of our new couch for the more appropriate quarters of our bed.
The following day was a frustrating one. This always happens when I fail to meet an anticipated film on its own terms. When a movie is as theoretically this amazing and I don't bond with it, my initial interpretation of that schism is that the problem originates with me, not the film. How many amazing pieces of art, whether song, prose, film, do we encounter in our lives and dismiss, only to reconnect with it years later and realize we were simply not tuned to that piece's specific wavelength upon first encounter? It so happens that, after moping about Sunday, Monday returned from work with the first strains of viral illness washing over me and dug in for another attempt.
This time, Sorcerer worked.
I still had a hard time with the first hour or so of the film, and I'm now leaning toward that being the Film's fault and not mine, but after making it all the way through, I intend to go back and see if completing the journey helps bolster what otherwise feels like pacing issues. Issues caused by a Director's insistence on adhering to a "European" tone that really doesn't do anything but, to reference an infamous scene later in the film, spin its tires in the mud. However, I'm still not sure I won't now see something in the arduous first act that I didn't see before. Regardless, Sorcerer is an achievement of a film, and one I will continue to engage with, analyze, and subject others to for the rest of my life. Because the imagery, the acting, and the cinema verite reality of that acting is of a caliber that's nearly unbelievable, and because, like another movie I wrote about here recently, from the perspective of 2020's Hollywood, it is almost unbelievable anyone allowed a director to be so indulgent as to make this movie. In keeping with this, you'll notice this title card during the film's opening:
That's because a second studio pitched in to help carry the cost of completing the film after money began to wash away in the storm Friedkin had created. You can read about this in length on the Wikipedia Entry for Sorcerer, however there's a wealth of other information out there, most of it coalescing in the Italian Documentary Friedkin Uncut, which has yet to have a release in the states. My own information from the documentary came second hand; gleaned from talking with someone who was lucky enough to see the film on an airplane in Europe.
Also, and there's no way to discuss this film and not mention this, the rope bridge scene is surely one of the greatest realizations of a Director's vision ever put to film. It's outstanding in its tension, almost a bullet hole that kills the rest of the film, if it wasn't for the narratives degeneration into complete, alien madness. For an in-depth discussion of where this film goes visually, HERE is a great article I found while putting this post together.
Another little time capsule that helps illustrate the cultural malaise toward this film upon its release, here's a clip I found online via the Eyes on Cinema youtube channel, which has a wealth of information on it:
Both men are mis-informed about the film's 'Special FX,' and I wonder if that's because during the initial release of Sorcerer, Friedkin had to downplay the dangerous conditions he'd created in order to make the film, possibly because the studio(s) already had displayed the intention to let it die a quick and costly death? Would revealing the methods of madness employed in the Rope Bridge Sequence, the real explosions captured during the Jerusalem Vignette, or the toll the film had taken on its cast helped bring people in to see Sorcerer? We'll never know.
Finally, just to bring everything around full circle, the track that leads off this post is from Tangerine Dreams phenomenal OST to the film, which Waxwork Records just released in their customary fantastic high-end format. You can peruse or purchase that record HERE.
.................
* During this time, several pop up screenings occurred at the likes of the more passionate, independent movie houses in LaLa Land. I could attend none of them.
Monday, January 20, 2020
Mol - Penumbra
Recently, my fellow Horror Vision host Butcher turned me onto the band Mol. It was immediate enrapture; 2018's album Jord reminds me so much of when another fellow Horror Visionary, Tori, introduced me to Fenn. There's melody, emotional resonance, and ear-shattering howls. The entire album is amazing, but right now, this track is my favorite.
**
Back in September I was fortunate enough to attend Beyondfest 2019's screening of Richard Stanley's new film, The Color Out of Space. An adaptation of a classic H.P. Lovecraft story, Stanley's movie moved me - I did a solo, quick-take review for The Horror Vision - and during the post-screening Q and A with the director, Stanley mentioned he had a long-standing affinity for HPL's fiction and would love to do more. Specifically he mentioned at the time, The Dunwich Horror.
Well, thanks to Spectrevision, it's happening. In fact, Spectrevision and Stanley are launching an all-out Lovecraft Universe, and more films are to follow!
Dreams really do come true, don't they?
You can read all the specifics on Bloody Disgusting, HERE.
In the meantime, The Color Out of Space is hitting theaters this weekend; not sure how wide a release this will be, but keep your eyes open for this one, because it's definitely worth seeing on the big screen. Especially the ending.
**
Playlist:
Godflesh - Hymns
Algiers - There Is No Year
Steve Moore - Bliss OST
93MillionMilesFromTheSun - Towards the Light
No Card today.
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Human Impact - E605
Loving this new project from former Unsane frontman. The album drops March 13th on Ipecac Records; you can pre-order it HERE.
**
Last night, K and I returned to the theatre for a second viewing of Underwater, and this time we brought a couple of the other fiends from The Horror Vision. The second viewing was almost better than the first, and afterward we recorded a short episode - a spoiler heavy discussion. Also, THV is now available on Stitcher, as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Play:
**
Playlist:
Butthole Surfers - Psychi... Powerless... Another's Man's Sac
Godflesh - Hymns
Steve Moore - Bliss OST
Card:
Ah yes, that Breakthrough. A well-timed reminder to get my ass out the door and to my writing spot, instead of starting a movie or continuing to sit here reading.
Saturday, January 18, 2020
Freaked! at the Egyptian 1-17-20
Last night I had the absolute pleasure of seeing the 1993 movie Freaked at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Freaked is a film I don't think I had ever even heard of before a few weeks ago, when I caught sight of the screening via Beyondfest's Twitter. Even though I didn't know the film, I saw them tweet that Paul Leary would be present "with his guitar" and bought two tickets immediately.
Turns out, that was a very good thing...
Written by Alex Winter, Tim Burns, and Tom Stern, and directed by Winter and Stern, Freaked is an absolute marvel of practical FX, courtesy of Screaming Mad George, Alterian FX and XFX. The movie is an testament to a Hollywood that no longer exists. Costing Thirteen Million and boasting a cast that includes but is not limited to Winter, Brooke Shields, William Sadler, Gibby Haynes (yes, that Gibby Haynes), John Hawkes, Randy Quaid, an uncredited Keanu Reeves, and so many more, Freaked is absolute madness. And since this was a Beyondfest event, there was, of course, special guests.
The evening began in Peter Seychelle's comfortable study...
No, wait.
The evening began with Burns, Stern, and Winter explaining how Freaked grew out of their MTV show Idiot Box. From there, they played a first pass at a conceptual Rock n Roll Horror Movie they had attempted to spin out of the show, a feature-length film that, well, in their words, "Was basically The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the Butthole Surfers as the cannibal hillbilly family."
The footage was, of course, as insane as that might lead you to believe. They began with this clip from Idiot Box, to clear up a joke at the beginning of the film:
Then moved to the aforementioned Rock n Roll Horror Film, Entering Texas:
From there Freaked played, with a stop motion "Holo Rollins" Henry Rollins discount "hologram" set in time to sing with Freaked, the Rollins/Blind Idiot God title song that plays over David Daniels' brilliant hand-animated title sequence title sequence. During the film, Paul Leary did indeed take the stage several times to play live guitar over key "freak out" sequences.
By this time, I considered my investment to have already paid off ten-fold.
After the film the special guests took the stage and Burns, Stern, and Winter were joined by Catherine Hardwicke, John Hawkes, composer Kevin Kiner, the real Henry Rollins, Lee Arenberg, Megan Ward, and FX maestros Bill Corso, Tony Gardner, and I think Jim Eustermann, although by the time we got to the three FX gurus, things were a bit of a blur.
Every time I get frustrated with living in LaLa Land, something like this happens and I am reminded why I absolutely love living in this city. Special thanks to Beyondfest, Mondo/DeathWaltz, and @troniks on Twitter, who provided the beautiful 35mm print of the film. A wonderful night all around. Oh, and all that wonderful Idiot Box and early Winter/Burns/Stern footage comes from turdburglar27's wonderful youtube channel where you too, can watch Entering Texas.
Song:
While I was at the Egyptian last night witnessing early 90s Cinematic Magic, the Melvins played a pop up LaLa Land Gallery. Here's Inky Psyops and Printed Schemes, a song I am not familiar with at all, courtesy of Baby Gorilla, whose channel is always chock full o' great live music.
**
Playlist:
Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST
Steve Moore - Bliss OST
93MillionMilesFromTheSun - Towards the Light
Mol - Jord
Godflesh - Hymns
Zonal - Wrecked
Butthole Surfers - Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac
Card:
The Air of Water, a reminder to temper emotion with intellect, not always an easy thing to do.
Friday, January 17, 2020
New Music From SQÜRl
From the album Some Music For Robby Müller, out January 31st on Sacred Bones Records. Pre-Order HERE.
**
I'm nearly finished with David Cronenberg's novel Consumed. It is fantastic. Seriously, so interesting and unnerving. Conceptually, it's another "How did he even think of that?" which is pretty common for Cronenberg. The idea that he's adapting this for a Netflix series makes me super happy, and here's a short I found online that looks like a dry run at the idea for translating this novel to the screen. Starring Evelyne Brochu, from Orphan Black.
Yeah. The story is creepy AF and a return to the body horror genre Cronenberg defined in the 70s/80s.
**
Playlist:
David Bowie - Heathen
David Bowie - Outside
Damage Manual - Limited Edition
Zonal - Wrecked
Zonal - Eponymous Single
Godflesh - Love and Hate in Dub
Zombi - Shape Shift
Preoccupations - Eponymous
King Krule - The OOZ
Carpenter Brut - Trilogy
David Bowie - Low
Tomahawk - Mit Gas
**
No card today.
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Me and That Man - Surrender
I'll just go on record now as saying, after having another go at Nergal's other band Behemoth, I'm all for him letting that fade and focusing on Me and That Man. This new video is a step up even from their last, and that's not easy to say. You can pre-order the new album, which is out March 27th on Napalm Records, HERE.
**
Suffering from some fairly tumultuous back pain over this past weekend, I ended up seeing quite a few movies. On Saturday, K and I took in an early showing of Underwater. I can't stress enough how pleasantly surprised I was by this flick; in fact, based on where it goes, and how grandiose things get, Underwater will almost certainly be on my Top Ten Favorite Horror Flicks of 2020. I know, I know, I just posted 2019's list, but it's never too soon to start thinking about the next year's totals, and when a movie makes this big of an impression, well, let's just say it's a safe bet my love will only deepen.
I put up a six-and-a-half minute "Why you should go see this" review/reaction on The Horror Vision. The first 5 minutes or so of this quick review are spoiler free, then, in case you need more convincing, I literally sound an alarm and go into HUGE spoilers. This movie is fantastic, and apparently it's bombing, so I really want to try and raise awareness and get some like-minded folks out into the theatre to see it. You won't regret it!
**
Playlist:
David Bowie - Black Star
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley
Ennio Morricone - Vergogna schifosi
Ennio Morricone - Scusi Facciamo L'amore
Cavern of Anti-Matter - Hormone Lemonade
Cherrelle - High Priority
Chris Connelly - Sleeping Partner
Night Shop - In the Beak
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
David Bowie - Heathen
The Rolling Stones - Some Girls
Blood Red Shoes - Get Tragic
The Kills - Midnight Boom
Adam Kesher - Local Girl (Hatchmatix Remix)
Battle Tapes - Sweatshop Boys EP
Battle Tapes - Form EP
Bells Into Machines - Eponymous
Tomahawk - Mit Gas
David Bowie - Low
Damage Manual - Special Edition
Steve Moore - The Mind's Eye OST
Card(s):
Struggling with distraction, frustration, and apathy, there's a breakthrough on the way!
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Drinking with Comics - Relaunch Special #1
... and we're back! New location. Just two of the guys who started it (for now - although the third original member, who was actually my original partner on this venture, was in town from NY for the show, so that was awesome). Adobe's newest update nearly fucking killed me editing this one; apparently the export to H264 file format now drops audio, which is something you don't find out until after the three hours it takes render a forty-nine minute session with extensive color correction work and numerous other plug-ins. It took me five fucking days, but I found a work around and from here out, it will hopefully be smooth sailing. Because we plan on doing more of these.
A lot more.
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Song:
My cousin has turned me into a card-carrying Kevin Morby fan, and this is one of the songs on his latest album, Oh My God, that I can't seem to live without these last couple weeks.
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Reading:
Currently, I'm held spellbound by David Cronenberg's debut novel, Consumed. When I saw Cronenberg speak at Beyondfest in 2018, he talked about originally wanting to be an author. It makes sense that his storytelling skills would translate from film to prose; the book definitely feels cinematic, to say the least. ~106 pages in and Consumed is excellent, and also bordering on the most disturbing thing I've read since Naked Lunch.
The fact that Cronenberg is writing/directing an adaptation of this for Netflix makes me both extremely excited and horribly afraid.
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Playlist:
David Bowie - Black Star
Lingua Ignota - Caligula
Kevin Morby - Oh My God
The National - High Violet
Angel Olsen - All Mirrors
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
David Bowie - Outside
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Watchmen Vol. 3
Godflesh - Pure
Card:
A warning to recognize losing oneself in delusion. I actually think this applies to a facet of introspection I've had of late; until last night, it's been almost a good solid two weeks of little to no writing. A lot of that was editing the episode of DwC. Some of it, however, was a combination of fatigue and laziness. I'd come home from work exhausted, lay down and turn on a flick. Fine when that's a one-off, but when that happens several days in a row, I begin to make a habit of it. I come home from work and, tired or not, want to smoke up and watch something. There's filling the well, and there's abandoning the Art for consumption's sake. Escaping my work for the sake of falling into the fantasy of a movie, when reiterated over and over, begins to dissolve the creative inertia I've spent so much time building. This is a good reminder to put the Art first, and the fantasy second.
Friday, January 10, 2020
Thursday, January 9, 2020
Locke and Key Gets a Trailer!
I knew this was coming, but I never dreamed it would look this good! More excited for this than pretty much anything else at the moment, and it serves as a nice bookend to the fact that I'm finally reading the series - only have Vol. Six and the one-off Vol. Seven left to go and I'll be completely ready for what looks like, at this point, the series of the year.
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It's time once again for...
Next up was Season One, Episode Nineteen, "Shapes." Basically a Shapeshifter/Werewolf story set on an Native American Reservation, this episode also featured a Peaks alum, Michael Horse, aka Deputy Hawk. This one was a slosh clunkier than the last insofar as script, but overall, a solid, simple approach to the kind of archetypal folklore that makes this show fun.
Next up - and this I'm very excited for because although the episode resounds in my memory for all its infamy, Season Two, Episode Twenty's "Humbug" is not something I'm one hundred percent certain I've actually seen before.
Can't wait. So far, this little collaborative experiment between Mr. Brown and I has been quite fun, and really, we're just getting started.
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NCBD yesterday:
This book gets more and more insane every month. I'm a little concerned at this point, it might not be able to stick the landing to whatever godforsaken place it's going, but it's still one hell of a ride getting there.
I am so very glad I started reading this book. Seriously, it's the type of dark, Ancestral Horror that used to populate paperbacks in the late 70s/early 80s, and although I was mostly too young to read that stuff at the time, I definitely picked up on its tone while stalking the shelves of the local libraries I used to frequent as a child. The Plot feels like a book that may end up leaving me with a gasp or two, which would be pretty cool, because with TWD gone, I need something to do that for me.
Whenever a major franchise book flips a landmark number, you have to kind of reassess. After the cataclysmic events of TMNT issue fifty, I felt the book took a few issues to really grab me again. Because of that, I've been a little concerned that for all its grandiosity, issue one hundred might do the same.
Nope.
I LOVE the new direction of this book. I won't go into spoilers, but we're finally done paying homage to all the stories of the past iterations of the characters, and are into completely new ground. And it. Is. Glorious, dark, and a little bit sad. And that's exactly where the characters should be. One thing about TMNT - probably the thing that always set it apart for me - for such a zany concept and highly marketable image, Eastman and, in the old days, Laird both excel at taking the characters and the readers out of their comfort zone. So yeah, I can't wait to read the next issue, and TMNT has pretty much replaced TWD as my new "gottareaditrightfuckingnow" title. Which makes me extremely happy.
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Playlist:
NIN - Year Zero
Yves Tumor - Safe in the Hands of Love
Sunn O))) - Pyroclasts
The Damage Manual - Limited Edition
The Rolling Stones - Dirty Work
Kevin Morby - Oh My God
Kevin Morby - Singing Saw
Federale - No Justice
Lingua Ignota - Caligula
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
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Card:
I guess I better start walking...
Monday, January 6, 2020
When the Stars Begin to Fall
Last month I put the first Tomahawk album in my car and listened to it more than I have in more than a couple years. Today I swapped it out for Mit Gas and realized I had forgotten just how goddamn awesome that record is. Nothing against the first, but here's a case where the Sophomore effort totally one-upped the original. Also, while previously contemplating my favorite song on the album, I would always rotate between Mayday, Capt Midnight, and Aktion 13. Today I'm sticking with When the Stars Begin to Fall, which really just makes me want to drive fast and shake my fist in the air in time to the guitars.
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It's been a bit, but join me once again for...
Last night I picked Mr. Brown's X-Files playlist back up with Season One, Episode Twenty-One, "Tooms." This is the sequel to the previous episode on Mr. Brown's list, "Squeeze," which I watched back in mid-December, and enjoyed very much. However, with a show like the X-Files, I knew there would be some ups and downs quality-wise. It's network, in the early 90s, and full old school twenty-two episode seasons. While overall I enjoyed this second part in Doug Hutchinson's creepy AF Eugene Victor Tooms, I didn't really feel the writing was up to snuff. You know you're in trouble when the brooding doctor shows up to free the monster from captivity for no fucking reason at all. This is a common trope, especially I'd guess, at the time this aired, before audiences had been exposed to high-end writing on a regular basis and a flurry of meta-narratives that make them ask questions like, "Hey, why on Earth would this doctor want to get this obviously creepy guy out of the institution that protects the general populace from him?" I mean, maybe there wasn't enough time in the episode to set up a reason, like, say, he wanted to get Tooms out in order to prove a point for a research grant. Or - and I'm reminded a lot of Clive Barker's Nightbreed here - he wanted Tooms free so he can somehow figure out and usurp his longevity. But no, the doctor, played more than adequately by Paul Ben-Victor, just wanted to get Tooms free because the episode hinged on that.
Bad reason.
There were other rather inexplicable actions here as well, and a lot of weird, murky misdirection. At one point, we see that Tooms has entered the sewers to get into a new victim's home. Then we see said victim-to-be's wife fighting a backed-up toilet with a handheld toilet snake, and we're thinking, "I know Tooms can make himself squeeze into small spaces, but is he really in the fucking toilet?" But no, he comes in through a window on the second story.
Huh? Yeah, my sentiments exactly.
My critiques may sound bitter but assure you, they most certainly are not. As I said, I ended up enjoying the episode (again with the bile cave! Ah! How's that for an action figure playset, Todd McFarlane? Make it happen!), and my cynicism is merely the product of disappointment. I've already seen that this show can be damn good, so it irks me when it fails to be so. That's alright. Tonight I take a step backward to Season One, Episode thirteen for what I believe was the first appearance by Don "General Briggs" Davis as Scully's father. Can't wait.
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Fangoia.com launched recently and it is AWESOME! Seriously, how do you augment such a well put together quarterly magazine? With an avalanche of awesome articles. Here's a screencap of what I saw when I logged in for the first time:
And that's before I even looked at the scroll bar.
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The new episode of The Horror Vision went up yesterday. This time, Anthony and I do a dynamic duo episode after we watched Rob Grant's FANTASTIC new flick Harpoon. Strongly recommended. Also discussed, Daniel Isn't Real, Enemy, Sweetheart, and Anthony's season-by-season trek through American Horror Story.
The Horror Vision on Apple
The Horror Vision on Spotify
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Playlist:
Tomahawk - Mit Gas
Etta James - Second Time Around
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Beth Gibbons/Henry Gorecki - Symphony No. 3
Kevin Morby - Oh My God
V - Budos Band
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Card:
Solid foundation; I needed that reminder. Editing the first episode of the newest iteration for Drinking with Comics has pushed my writing time to zero the last week. I need to finish and jump back into my outlining for Book Three of Shadow Play. Once that's done, my hope is I'll be able to bang the second book out fairly quickly. I still plan to release it this year.
Saturday, January 4, 2020
January 4th, 2020 - New Video from The Thirsty Crows!
Fantastic! This, this is only part of the reason these guys made my "Favorite Albums of 2019" list last week. I love this with all my heart, and the time and detail spent on crafting a video for one of the best songs on an album with pretty much only best songs is appreciated and enjoyed!
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I finally watched Adam Egypt Mortimer's latest film Daniel Isn't Real yesterday, and after viewing it once in the afternoon by myself, the moving left me feeling... vulnerable. A harrowing tale of mental illness that goes to places I absolutely did not see coming, this one rattled around in my head for hours after (still is). Later, K and I watched Enemy with Jake Gyllenhaal, a flick I loved when I saw it several years ago. The similarities between the two struck me as anything but a coincidence, and I followed Enemy up with another viewing of Daniel. I can't recommend this one - and Enemy, while I'm at it - enough. I will forever kick myself that I had to bail on it as the second half of the Spectrevision Double Feature at Beyondfest last year, where it played with Color Out of Space.
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Oh. One day last week I re-watched Apocalypse Now for the first time in over twenty years. My suspicion is confirmed - might be the best film ever made. Hyperbolic statement? Sure, but that doesn't necessarily make it wrong.
I picked up the BR edition that has all three cuts - Theatrical, Redux, and Final. Having only ever seen the Theatrical, I listened to the director's recommendation in the introduction and chose the Final Cut, his favorite. I'd have to say, the French Plantation scenes didn't do much for me, and that makes me think the ideal version of this film for me is the Theatrical. That said, I intend on watching all versions in the coming weeks.
Playlist:
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Boy Harsher - Careful
Boy Harsher - Lesser Man (Extended)
Plague Bringer - Life Songs in a Land of Death
Budos Band - V
Arab Strap - The Red Thread
Arab Strap - Elephant Shoe
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Card:
Seems about right.
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
2019... 2020
Not entirely sure what my impetus was for feeling this song with such gravity on this, the final morning of 2019, but the way the album version is resonating with me at the moment, it felt somehow appropriate. I'm in a very slowed down temp right now, which is unique for me.
One of the reasons I keep this blog, and the reason I started doing the daily playlist log, is to be able to look back from future space and see if I have patterns on a seasonal/yearly/monthly/whatever basis. Because I'm so down-tempo at the moment, I expected to look back at last year and see a lot of slower stuff in those playlist logs, but that's not the case. Perhaps on a larger timeline, some of this will make sense.
One thing I appreciate about being 'turned down' is once I'm vibrating at a slower level, I'm able to ingest slower things in more profound ways. When I'm dialed into speed metal, if I put on Godspeed You! Black Emperor or the Gorecki/Gibbons record, it would disappear in my wake. At the level I'm at right now, I can see more micro-detail, and that's led to some pretty great listens of new and old music alike. I've fallen off over the last month or two in keeping a daily log, primarily because I've really been hunkering down on the outlines for books two and three of ShadowPlay; I've revamped a lot of two based on a new take I've had on three's main arc, and it's taken a lot of work. You'll see a lot of what I've been listening to in a minute, but this slower tempo has both hurt and helped my work of late. I go deeper when I work, but I also feel more tired more often, so there have been more than a few days of my coming home from work exhausted and just crashing. This is the calm before the storm. Or at least I hope that's what it is. Just as man cannot live by Metal alone, Man can also not vibrate too slowly for too long; if you know anything about hummingbirds, when they sleep they can turn down to the point that they slip into what's called torpor, which is a sleep so deep they run the risk of never awakening. Eerie, but prescient, I think.
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I have a tie for the best book I read this year.
The second book in the Gravedigger Chronicles by Alan Campbell only trumps the first because of the escalation of the narrative and where it goes; both are fantastic beyond words. I was so impressed with these it's really hard to boil it down to a review, the narrative is immersive as hell, and it goes so many weird places. I mean, the imagination on this author is bar none. I really hope the third book, which Campbell says is done but which the publisher of the first two books Tor opted not to put out, eventually sees the light of day, because, you know, The Art of Hunting ends with the mother of all cliffhangers.
In preparation for the second in Laird Barron's Isaiah Coleridge series I re-read 2018's Blood Standard; both are fantastic, but Black Mountain begins to inch us closer to Barron's trademark Weird Fiction stylings, and from what the author has said on social media, the forthcoming third really gets us into a darker, stranger place, so I can't wait for that. Someone option this and make it into a True Detective-Level show NOW please!
Aaaannddd... one more...
.... because Gideon The Ninth was an extremely fun, pleasant surprise.
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I did my favorite non-horror flicks here a few days ago, and I did my favorite Horror flicks on the latest episode of The Horror Vision. Here's a quick image from my Letterbxd:
Also, the best tv show I watched this year was easily DCU's Doom Patrol. And I watched quite a few fantastic shows. Doom Patrol took the cake, though. And the donkey.
I never thought I'd live to see the day when someone brought Grant Morrison's DP run - complete with Danny the Street - to the small screen. When I get down on the state of the world, I try to remember that.
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Playlist:
The National - High Violet
Beth Gibbons/Henry Gorecki - Symphony No. 3
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell
Neon Kross - Darkness Falls
Young Widows - Old Wounds
Huey Lewis and the News - Sports
Full of Hell/Merzbow - Full of Hell
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