I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, however, this year is different: More Creedence. Simple and easy to do, as every time I fall into a binge with this band - and it's been over a decade at least - I remember just how much I love them, and how much they influenced my early guitar playing. Also, they remind me to no end of my good friend JFK, who I haven't talked to in some time and really need to reach out to.
Watch:
I completed my current re-watch of Cowboy Bebop. Man! For someone who doesn't really get into animation, this has got to come in just under Twin Peaks in my 'Favorite Things Ever' category. I love it so much. The final two episodes - "The Real Folk Blues" parts 1 and 2 always blows me away, and the one major regret/gripe I have about that vinyl edition of the score that came out this year is the song of the same name - which Bebop fans know as the ending credits music - is not on it.
Like Twin Peaks, this is a show where I never skip the intro or outro credits. Ever.
Playlist:
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country
Thou - Rhea Sylvia
Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color
Alice in Chains - B-Sides and Unreleased Playlist
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
Tomahawk - Oddfellows
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
Jóhann Jóhannsonn - Mandy OST
Goatsnake - Breakfast with the King b/w Deathwish (single)
More new Besnard that I'm trying really hard not to listen to in anticipation of sitting down with a joint and the entire new album - The Besnard Lakes Are the Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings, out January 19th (digital) and 29th (physical) - and just melting into the fucking music.
Pre-order the record HERE.
Read:
I have read a lot lately. First, at the recommendation of my good friend and Christian Fisting co-founder Joe.Baxter, I fell into Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder novels pretty hard, devouring Books one and two in about a day each. This started as research for a character I'm writing in Shadow Play Book Two, but quickly became the kind of obsessive read that forces me to relegate all Block to weekend reading only, lest I stay up all night on a work night rabidly flipping pages.
Next, I finally picked up Stephen Graham Jones' The Only Good Indians. After reading Jones's Night of the Mannequin a few months ago, I've been eager to get to this one. Halfway through in two days, it is not disappointing at all, so there will be more SGJ in my future.
Also, thanks to Jonathan Grimm, who tipped me off that Kindle was having a Marvel Masterworks sale on the entire original Chris Claremont run of Uncanny X-Men. I picked up the first five volumes, which fills in most of the gaps of what pre-dated the issues I have in physical form, including the classic Giant Size X-Men, which introduced Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Banshee, Sunspot (fuck him, he stayed for one mission and left), and Thunderbird to the team.
Playlist:
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
Bell Witch - Four Phantoms
Four Stroke Baron - Planet Silver Screen
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Eponymous
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country
Card:
Not about me at all, I think, but a confirmation K will be getting her promotion.
New Crosses! No word that I see of a release date yet, but what a way to round out the year!
Favorite Horror Films of 2020
Over on The Horror Vision, we did our "Favorite Horror of 2020" episode this weekend, and as I type this the episode should be hitting all major streaming platforms. Here's an embed of the youtube, although this and the IGTV version are considerably truncated for time compared to what you can stream from Spotify and the like. Either way, here are our picks:
Watch:
This was one I had not even heard of until I watched it on Christmas Eve. HOLY cow. This one would make a fantastic double feature with Jeremy Saulnier's Hold the Dark (time for a rewatch!), there's such a stoic reverence for violence. Easily slid into my top ten of the year, as evidenced by the episode of The Horror Vision above. This is director Shawn Linden's third feature, and you can bet I'll be seeking out his first two films - The Good Lie, and Nobody - in short order.
Playlist:
Howard Shore - Crash OST
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me
Vince Guaraldi Trio - A Charlie Brown Christmas
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - Hollywood (pre-release single)
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
Electric Wizard - Dopethrone
Doves - The Universal Want
Nat "King" Cole - The Christmas Song
The Blueflowers - Relapse EP
✝︎✝︎✝︎ - The Beginning of The End (pre-release single)
Calexico - Seasonal Shift
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
The Blueflowers - Relapse EP
Card:
Being that the standard reading of this card is the beginning of a new project, and I'm in the midst of wrapping one and finishing another, I'm not quite sure how to take this. There's also the "Big influences" reading, and although I'm not sure how to interpret that on a surface level, I suppose I should be on the lookout for inspiration.
Possibly my favorite track from an outstanding album, Dance With the Dead's 2016 The Shape.
Watch:
Last night, K and I watched Brian Duffield's Spontaneous. Wow. Just wow. Duffield - a writer on a bunch of stuff I love, like Underwater, The Babysitter, The Babysitter: Killer Queen (which, admittedly I haven't watched yet, but it's on the list and when the gang's back together, you can't go wrong, right???) - makes his directorial debut here and he KILLS IT. I mean, seriously kills. The Terminator shooting Linda Hamilton's roommate kills, if you know what I mean. Here's the trailer, but my suggestion is, just go pay $2.99 to rent it on Amazon. Best three bucks you're gonna spend all year.
Playlist:
Opeth - Deliverance
Worm - Gloomlord
Human Impact - Eponymous
Deftones - Ohms
Les Discrets - Septembre et ses derniéres pensées
Dance With the Dead - The Shape
Code Orange - Beneath
Perturbator - Dangerous Days
Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits
Card:
Balance will be tough to maintain over the next few days, but it will be a struggle well worth mastering.
I really can't say enough about Michael Kiwanuka's KIWANUKA album, except that it's made me a fan of his for life. The entire album is immaculate. This person song, though? This is the gateway drug that will lead to the rest. I'm so happy real Soul music appears to be back on the rise and striving.
NCBD:
I had my dates wrong last time. Today, it's here, the end of one of the staples of my comics reading for the past few years, Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino's Gideon Falls:
My re-read on the entire series as a run-up to this stalled out before I even hit the first issue, so it'll be a bit before I actually read this one. That said, just to have it in my possession will feel like a pay-off. And that cover - good god. So ominous!
Also out this week:
I skipped the first issue of Sea of Sorrows but doubled back when Indie Comics Jones gave it high marks, and as usual, Mr. Jones was not wrong. The first issue set up some creepy AF Underwater Horror, and if this awesome cover art is any indication, we're about to get into it. Can't wait. Underwater Horror is a great subgenre that seems poised for a resurgence. This would make me insanely happy.
And this... well, a sequel/continuation of The Picture of Dorian Gray? I don't really know much about this book, but Vault has become my go-to company for new books, so I'm excited. And this cover art? Boy Howdy, that's just freakin' gorgeous in a very creepy way.
Playlist:
Deftones - Ohms
My Morning Jacket - Z
Spoon - Gimmie Fiction
Blut Aus Nord - The Work Which Transforms God
Dante Tomaselli - Out of Body Experience
Card:
Act fast - action is Futility's nemesis! Pretty relevant as I sit down and try to shift gears for the third time this year. I have today off and will be attempting to get back into a full re-read/final pass edit on Murder Virus. I have all my Beta Reader's notes, so between that and a fresh take after not looking at the manuscript since August, I'm hoping this last go-through further sharpens what I'm already feeling is my best novel to date (granted, it will only be my second published novel, but I have a few in various states of undress that are complete and will eventually see the light of day, just like this one, which I originally finished in 2008.)
Just from the opening strains of the keyboard, I want to listen to this song SO BAD. I mean - new Besnard Lakes! However, I already try to adhere to very limited ingestion of advance tracks from my favorite bands' records before I can hear the track in the context of the entire album, but with this new Lakes record that's dropping on The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings - which according to the write-up on the band's Bandcamp is designed as one continuous cycle of songs - it's really hard. Because I want this one to wash over me as an entire expression.
From the Bandcamp:
"The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings honors the very essence of punk rock: the notion that a band needs only be relevant to itself. At last, the Besnard Lakes have crafted a continuous long-form suite: nine tracks that could be listened together as one, like Spiritualized's Lazer Guided Melodies or even Dark Side of the Moon, overflowing with melody and harmony, drone and dazzle, the group's own unique weather."
The digital is out out January 19th, and pre-order for the GORGEOUS physical album is at the Lake's Bandcamp HERE.
Also, I'm very pleased to see the return to form on the album's title. I know the band had previously expressed concern people would get sick of the format, but I for one, love it. However, it also makes me wonder if this is the final album from the Lakes. Let's hope not.
Watch:
I watched Bea Grant's 12 Hour Shift last night. WOW! Fantastic dark comedy. Go HERE for a short, spoiler-free Letterboxd review and the trailer. This is currently a $6.99 rental on Prime and absolutely worth your hard-earned money.
In the quiet moments of my day - which admittedly are fleeting - I am still entirely under the spell of Fleet Foxes' newest record Shore. While I've heard this band before - specifically, in 2009 my cousin Charles came out for a visit and introduced them to me with the previous year's Eponymous debut - I've never really listened to them in anything but a passive capacity. Why then, do I feel as though Robin Pecknold's voice hits me like that of an old friend? Someone I've really spent some time listening to, reflecting on, and being moved by? While my memory has absolutely proven to be complete shite the older I've got (who knew all those fears about constant and gratuitous pot use would actually yield these results?), and it's possible I spent more time in the late 00s listening to this band than I remember, it seems more likely that first trip Charles and I took around San Pedro's Portuguese Bend on a ridiculously peaceful and serene July day where he first played the band for me really cemented itself in my emotional epicentre. Although I'd moved from Chicago to LALALand three years prior at that point, when you consider how the momentum of daily life makes it pass in a blur, I remember I still felt like a relatively new transplant at that point, and the first visit from one of my favorite people on Earth no doubt combined with the music to make a photographic impression that is retriggered by the sound of Pecknold's voice here, over a decade down the road.
Pretty cool.
Watch:
I finally got around to watching Antonio Campos's cinematic adaptation of Donald Ray Pollock's novel The Devil All the Time. I really liked it. Instead of attempting to stuff Pollock's novel into a conventional three-act movie, Campos and his brother Paul, who wrote the screenplay, really allowed the film to go on a more literary journey.
The Devil All the Time sprawls over the course of two generations, weaving together multiple people's stories and how they all coalesce around the death and depravity of the twisted impulses of humanity as reflected through the misleading light of religion when not tempered with intelligence and common decency.
Yeah. The more things change...
Playlist:
Code Orange - Underneath
Willie Nelson and Leon Russell - One for the Road
Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny
Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit Vol. 1
The Doves - The Universal Want
Anthrax - Spreading The Disease
Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars
Jehnny Beth - To Love is to Live
Michael Kiwanuka - KIWANUKA
Fleet Floxes - Shore
Card:
In a fairly superficial way, I find it interesting that the card I draw for this post is the 8 of Wands Swiftness when I post Fleet Foxes as the music and the first words of the second song on that album are "For Richard Swift."
As if I'm not completely overtaken by my love of Greg Puciato's debut solo album Child Soldier: Creator of God, the former lead singer of Dillinger Escape Plan has put out a new, multi-media package. Available from his own Federal Prisoner label HERE, Fuck Content is a video/audio release featuring a ten-song live set and five new studio tracks. I love Puciato's music, but I've also become quite a fan of his aesthetic. All the glitchy, seizuring graphics, the black and white digital abstractions that almost resemble some cyberpunk version of newsprint. It's all very fitting for the noisy/melodic mash-up that defines this first album's sound, so the idea that his follow-up release is an audio/visual thing really just makes sense. Also, not nearly enough musicians do this.
Read:
I finished my re-read of Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn. It'd been over ten years since I read this the first time and inspired by the film, I decided to revisit, not remembering a lot of specifics, except that the movie is very different. Still, I really enjoyed both.
After that, I picked up that new Brubaker/Phillips Hardcover Graphic Novel Reckless, expecting to read it in several sittings. Nope. I blew through Reckless non-stop, and even though I just got done telling everyone Pulp is their best, Reckless comes in ahead of that one by about 100 miles.
This book is the perfect iteration of these gentlemen's ongoing collaboration, and if this is the case, we have nowhere to go but up. Hot damn, go buy this and read it now; Reckless is FANTASTIC!
Watch:
The Mandalorian's second season ended last night and I am going to feel every day between now and season three. I am absolutely floored, not only at how fantastic this show is, but how John Favreau has completely undone my hatred of star wars - a hatred rooted in a betrayal, the complete undermining and convolution of something that should have been so simple, namely, making new star wars movies. This veritable disgust that I feel for the franchise began to sink deep into my blood three years ago, when I sat in a movie theatre in LaGrange, Illinois and watched the trainwreck that is The Last Jedi.
Disney + has really been a gamechanger for the fan-driven content previously only associated at such a high level with movies released in megaplexes. If you watch The Mando show, you're missing something great if you skip the end credits (especially on this last episode. Whewww! and on that, I will say no more). When you watch all those names and roles scroll up your screen and realize that these television shows Disney is producing are every bit as accomplished as major motion pictures. That in itself just blows me away, the fact that Disney is so big they can change the game this much (also, I secretly hope all the Marvel/Star Wars stuff will go this route and we can go back to having non-blockbuster movies in theatres in a year or four).
Anyway, Favreau really should be crowned king Geek for what he did for starting the MCU with Iron Man and now reinventing and, frankly, saving Star Wars from itself by taking it back to its roots. This final episode brought me to tears. Not just because of the story, but because finally, after twenty years of new star wars material, SOMEBODY GOT IT FUCKING RIGHT.
Playlist:
Four Stroke Baron - Planet Silver Screen
Opeth - Deliverance
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
The Plimsouls - Everywhere At Once
Preoccupations - Eponymous
XTC - Drums and Wires
Kevin Morby - Singing Saw
Calexico - Seasonal Shift
Squeeze - Argybargy
Slayer - Live Undead
Mrs. Piss - Self-Surgery
Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
Devo - Going Down (single)
Fleet Foxes - Shore
Greg Puciato - Child Soldier: Creator of God
Various Artists - Joe Begos's Bliss Spotify Playlist
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full
Loathe - I Let It In and It Took Everything
Code Orange - Beneath
Card:
A solid foundation for a solid trilogy. That's what I've been thinking about as I approach a stopping point in Shadow Play Book Two. I have to wind this plot down just right by the end of this section of three sections, so after I do one last post-Beta Reader edit on Murder Virus and release it, I can hop back into Shadow Play and really make that third act SPRING.
My god, these guys are like the Bloc Party of Post Metal. This is, of course, one of the albums I discovered directly after putting up my 'best of 2020' list last week. The way Loathe move between noise, atmosphere, super intense metal, and melodic vocals is seamless and an absolute joy to listen to, especially on headphones.
Watch:
Alex De La Iglesia is a filmmaker who I've known about for nearly 20 years now but never seen any of his movies. And there's a lot of them.
To go back to the early 21st century, when I still lived in Chicago, my good friend and brain trust behind Darkness Brings the Cold Dennis is one of two friends who really stoked my love of Horror movies. Dennis had an enormous collection of DVDs and a wealth of knowledge for the genre at large, and one of the films he always touted as a favorite was one he couldn't update from his old VHS copy, for which he did not have a player. This was Iglesias's 1995 Day of the Beast. Without even knowing anything about this one, I was intrigued based on the name and cover image, which Dennis had on a badass shirt:
After a recent conversation with Dennis, I finally sought out some of Iglesias's films and added them to my Amazon Watch List. Just in time, because the other day the trailer for his new HBO series made its rounds in our Horror Vision text thread, and I was BLOWN AWAY. Whatever that is at 1:19 will be in my nightmares for years to come. It reminds me a bit of that thing at 21 seconds into the American Horror Story: Coven opening credits sequence.
Either way, January 4th can NOT come fast enough.
NCBD:
Holy cow, there were A LOT of new comics for me yesterday. I divide this between the two shops, so I'm spreading my support around, but here's a combined total of what I picked up:
This series continues to be one of the funniest things I've read in a while. Super light, super creative, each issue reads like a chapter in a big-budget action film.
A recommendation from my Drinking w/ Comics co-host Mike Wellman, this one takes place in Chicago and totally nails its look at feel. Hell, I've been to the Globe Pub, so that got me right away.
The previous issue of this new Locke and Key mini series nearly made me cry, so I'm looking forward to some closure before we do next year's crossover with Sandman.
Miskatonic #2, wherein we get a ton of new characters from all kinds of H.P. Lovecraft stories involved in what is shaping up to be a really complex, interesting blend of historical fact with Lovecraft's literary legacy.
Eddie at the Bug recommended this very independent book to me, and the moment I saw it, I knew I had to have it. Artist Alex Ziritt - who made a huge impression on me with Space Raiders a few years back - offers some truly unique style when designing his visual worlds, and from the brief flip-through I did upon picking this one up, looks like Night Hunters is no different.
I totally forgot the new Brubaker/Phillis HC was landing this week until I walked into the shop. Perfect timing, as I finally just read their previous one, Pulp, over the weekend. It won't take me nearly that long to dig into this one, that's for sure, as I loved Pulp, and it definitely put me in the mood for more from these guys.
Two issues left after this one, and once again, I have NO idea where this is going. Some definite surprises in this chapter, and more of that gorgeous art and deep character development the Opena/ Remender team seems able to deliver flawlessly.
'
This final one, We Live #3 from Aftershock Comics, just turned this series from an on-the-fence read to something I Love. Definite shades of Day of the Dead and Girl with All the Gifts, this issue supplants the first two chapters' more Fantasy approach with an equal measure of Horror. This book feels like something new, something that blends a lot of different influences and genres for a unique effect. We Live has also proved its ability to continuously surprise me, so from here out, I'll be waiting for each subsequent issue with the kind of excitement few books these days inspire in me.
Playlist:
Swans - The Seer
Howard Shore - Crash OST
Portishead - Third
Richard Einhorn - Shockwaves OST
Amesoeurs - Eponymous
Opeth - Deliverance
Anthrax - State of Euphoria
One Stroke Baron -
Loathe - I Let It In and It Took Everything
Card:
This is certainly how I feel at the moment, having spent nearly $70 on comics today. I'm kind of beating myself up over it. It's such a weird feeling, to balance in your head what you want and what you need. I'd imagine my peers with children have an easier time staying on focus as far as needs/wants. I'm not jealous, but I definitely think that, as I age and find myself pretty much able to buy whatever I want within my realms of interest - none of which is extravagant, mind you, but definitely adds up - I feel occasional pangs of guilt at, well, I guess at not spending the money one something more important? This, however, begs the question who decides what's important.
I was super happy to finally get a copy of Criterion's recently released Blu Ray for David Cronenberg's Crash. Not only has the film become my second favorite Cronenberg just in the two years since I first saw it at 2018's Beyondfest Cronenberg retrospective, but Howard Shore's score is probably my favorite of his music for Cronenberg's films. Here's the title theme, some of the sickest guitar I have ever heard.
Watch:
I guess I won't be getting rid of my Disney + sub any time soon... Wow. Just wow. The mind reels at what we could get from a What If? series down the road. Some of my favorites from the comic series - which I didn't buy regularly but always picked up if one of the 'What If' scenarios spoke to my particular Marvel series proclivities:
We're not really in a position with the MCU to see this kind of stuff happen, but then again, who is to say that the What If? show will only stick to variations of what the MCU has done so far?
Read:
In preparation of the upcoming final issue of Rick Remender and Jerome Opena's Seven to Eternity, I've just completed a re-read of the series to date. Next? The final issue of Gideon Falls lands this Wednesday, and as such, I have begun to work my way back through that series.
Creepy AF, and featuring some of my favorite art EVER, I'm super psyched to be taking this trip again just in time for the end of the story.
Playlist:
Joseph Deluca - Evil Dead 2
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Michael Kiwanuka - KIWANUKA
Mrs. Piss - Self-Surgery
Radiohead - Kid A
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full
Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
Meg Myers - Sorry
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - Hollywood (pre-release single)
La Hell Gang - Thru Me Again
Howard Shore - Crash OST
Cynic - Kindly Bent to Free us
The Plimsouls - Everywhere at Once
Greg Puciato - Child Soldier: Creator of God
Michael Kiwanuka - KIWANUKA
Zeal and Ardor - Wake of a Nation EP
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Loathe - I Let It in and It Took Everything
Deafheaven - 10 Years Gone
Card:
8 of Wands - Swiftness. Eights always move on from the stoic, sturdy Netzach (7s) to a transient moment of swift action and/or decisiveness.
Time to switch gears again. My beta reader has finished Murder Virus, I have all her suggestions and edits logged and, mostly, completed. Now I need to pursue the cover art I want and get this fucker ready to publish by the end of January.
Here then is the list of my favorite records released before 2020 that I discovered this past year.
• Mol - Penumbra:
Melodic, heavy, and mysterious. I love Mol's Penumbra record.
• Iress - Prey
One of those great Bandcamp discoveries, Los Angeles's Iress have crafted a perfect balance between metal and 'grunge' with 2015's Prey. And in locating a picture of this one's album art, I realized Iress released a record this past September that's bound to be one of those that would have made this year's list had I heard it in time. This year, there's been quite a few of those, so I may do a 'booster' next week of those 2020 records that should have made the Top Ten but just barely missed out.
• The Plimsouls - Everywhere at Once
Thanks to Bret Easton Ellis, Valley Girl (OG), and Cameron on Halt and Catch Fire for all simultaneously introducing me to this fabulous 80s LA band.
• La Hell Gang - Thru Me Again:
A band I discovered through Henry Rollins's KCRW radioshow, La Hell Gang are kind of a more low-key Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Great album though, one that drifts through sandy, sudsy rock n roll atmosphere.
• Mannequin Pussy - Patience:
What can I say about Mannequin Pussy? I came for the name, stayed for the unbelievable songs. Kind of like if Hole had a talented songwriter who I didn't find too obnoxious to even look at, there's the spirit of the 90s here, but it's tempered with the same kind of time and distance that bands like M83 and Cut Copy did for the 80s.
Thus begins the section for my MVPs. My list of 2020's favs from last week can't even hold a candle for what these three records did for me this year:
• White Lung - Paradise:
Fucking perfect from start to finish and impossible to turn off after only three full-run throughs, White Lung have never recorded a song I don't love, but this record, from start to finish, is above and beyond even that.
• Michael Kiwanuka - KIWANUKA
A late entry, Michael Kiwanuka's KIWANUKA is an album I have been unable to turn off for the past two weeks, and my rabid love of its 14 songs shows no sign of abating, much like my love of this year's Number One record:
• Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey:
Mr. Brown must have told me to check these guys out a thousand fucking times. I get caught up in my own little scene - especially when I'm knee-deep in writing something utilizing specific musical muses - but I always get around to stuff eventually. Usually, I happen upon these records when I need them most, and boy howdy, if that isn't true of Low Cut Connie's Hi Honey, then I don't know what is. I feel like it's only a slight embellishment to say this record more than any other saved me from 2020 - I put on The Royal Screw or Danny's Outta Money and I immediately feel great. Thus is the power of Soul. Destined to be one of my favorite records ever.
And I thought I really liked the lead release off May Our Chambers Be Full! This is killer, and I can't wait for the EP, which can be pre-ordered from Sacred Bones Records HERE.
Watch:
I'm really getting back into this Marvel thing:
Playlist:
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - Hollywood (pre-release single)
What the hell? Back in January, we lost former Cynic drummer Sean Reinert, now at the polar opposite end of the year, we lose bassist Sean Malone? Good lord. Here's the close-out track from Cynic's last full-length album, 2014's Kindly Bent to Free Us. It's fucking gorgeous. Rest in Peace Sean Malone.
Watch:
All this awesome Spiderman news has me in the mood to, well, to finally watch the MCU Spiderman flicks, none of which I've seen! But it's also got me in the mood for some Marvel, and this show right here is numero uno on my, "I can't wait give it to me right damn now" list.
Playlist:
Cynic - Kindly Bent to Free us
Curtis Harding - Face Your Fear
Jehnny Beth - To Love is to Live
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
David Bowie - Warsazawa (from Stage, disc 1)
Sir Neville Marriner and Academy of St. Martin in the Fields - Amadeus OST
David Bowie - Earthling
White Lung - Paradise
Loathe - I Let It In and It Took Everything
Michael Kiwanuka - KIWANUKA
Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - Hollywood (pre-release single)
Card:
Ah, my old friend, the Queen of Swords.
I keep getting this when I veer back on track. From my October 10th post, where I drew this card:
"...clear insights and the fresh perspective of adopting the perspective of another and cutting your own head off long enough to truly experience that other perspective..."
A violent reaffirmation of rulership over your emotions and intellect. I associate 'violence' in this respect, as my turning back on the deep dive function for writing. I pulled a major three hours yesterday, and made fantastic progress.
I have a very push/pull with this video. Two days ago my good friend Jacob sent me a link to Jehnny Beth's debut record, To Love is to Live. You may remember her from Savages, whose 2013 debut Silence Yourself still resounds as one of my favorite records of the previous decade. Savages' follow-up Adore Life came out in 2016 and just kind of left me flat. I go back to it every now and again, but the 'a-ha' moment has never come. Still, I hold out hope that one day it might.
So too, my first couple of attempts at listening to To Love is to Live were completely unsuccessful. I put the record away, went about my business, and came back to it later for a fresh perspective. This time, I perused the track listing before jumping in from the beginning, as I am most often wont to do, and decided to start with the fifth track on the record, "A Place Above", simply because the listing said featuring Cillian Murphy, and I was curious what that would sound like. You can actually hear that track in the video above for track six, "I'm The Man", as it serves as something of a prologue to the song. I'm happy to report, from this track on, the album opened to me in a way that very much made me appreciate Ms. Beth in a way I don't think I have before. The video above, directed by Anthony Byrne, is gorgeously shot and lit, even if the theatrics themselves that comprise the narrative of the video's run time leave me a little harumphed.
Watch:
If you've listened to any of the recent episodes of The Horror Vision - we've been weekly for a month or two now - you'll have heard me talk about Eibon Press's four-issue comics expansion/adaptation of Lucio Fulci's The Beyond. I loved the book, and immediately ordered the trade paperback collection The Gates of Hell, which does for Fulci's City of the Living Dead what the aforementioned comic did for The Beyond. There's a big picture here, and it excites the F*CK out of me. One of the things that converted me to such a huge fan of Fulci's Gates of Hell Trilogy is the mythos, the larger picture that can be glimpsed beneath the films. It reminds me of HP Lovecraft's mythos, and I think Eibon Press is breaking serious ground by going in and fleshing it out.
After talking about this on our show, Eibon Press founder Sean Lewis hit me up online. There will be an interview coming up down the road, but before that, some more reviews, as he sent review copies of a lot of other Eibon books with my Gates of Hell trade.
First up was House By the Cemetery, three issues that further my favorite Fulci film in ways that directly connect it to the other two movies in the series. Next, that Gates of Hell trade is calling my name, so first, K and I re-watched City of the Living Dead last night.
Easily the poorest of the three films in this cycle, the comic will only be able to improve the story, for which there is only the barest hint of in the film. Don't get me wrong, I still dig it, but even that clipped, nightmare logic that makes The Beyond work so well kind of fails here, as we move from scene to scene with a pretty transparent disregard for anything but the gore and atmosphere.
Interestingly, while this is the weakest of the three Gates of Hell flicks as far as story is concerned, City contains the best FX in any of these: Bob's drill-through-the-head death scene doesn't suffer from the usual tail-end let down present in most of these movies, where you can see how the actor is replaced by a close-up of the model. Below, compare Bob's death with the infamous 'gut-spewing' scene from this same movie, where you can clearly see the actress replaced by a dummy (again, not badmouthing here, just saying).
I should add, these are some especially gross-out clips (okay, really just the second one), so press play at your own risk:
Anyway, as I said, Eibon press's Gates of Hell comic can only improve on this one, so I can't wait to dig in later today.
Playlist:
Michael Kiwanuka - KIWANUKA
Me and That Man - Songs of Love and Death
Queens of the Stone Age - ... Like Clockwork
Curtis Harding - Face Your Fear
Venue - One Without a Second
Deafheaven - 10 Years Gone
Card:
Twos are often an indication of balance, I can't help feeling that is a spot-on assessment of the morning so far.
Two's also indicate cycles, shorter cycles, and I feel a few loops closing in the near future. This is good, as I seem to constantly be opening more of them.
Out February 5th on Sacred Bones, with a variant that I pre-ordered from Waxwork, which I am now ridiculously excited for after hearing this track!
NCBD:
You can set your freakin' watch by how on-time this book is every month.
Lonely Receiver's penultimate issue. I'm really enjoying this one, and things really crystalized last issue, so this is sure to be pretty F*ked up!
I'm unclear whether this "Zero" issue of the Locke and Key/Sandman crossover due out early next year is a full issue, or simply what amounts to an ashcan-sized promo. I'm also unsure why this is coming up as being out this week but has October 2020 across the front cover.
Playlist:
Ainoma - Necropolis
Airiel - Molten Young Lovers
Barrie - Canyons (single)
Barrie - Happy To Be Hear
The Blueflowers - Circus on Fire
The Blueflowers - Relapse EP
Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny
Sightless Pit - Grave of a Dog
Michael Kiwanuka - KIWANUKA
Card:
Let go of your preconceived notions and prepare to shake things up a bit. Feels like I could really use this.
New Order dropped an EP last Friday. Here's the first 'single.' Awesome tune, not at all where my head is at right now, but I have a feeling this will come in handy in a few days or so.
Watch:
My Co-Host on The Horror Vision Chris Saunders and I have decided to try and do a week-by-week podcast exploration of CBS' The Stand series starting on December 17th. I'm a King fan for sure, but I've never been a rabid one, and I've never undertaken the commitment to read The Stand. Usually, in undertaking a project like this, I'd set aside what I'm reading and try and 'bang it out' before the launch of the show, however, there's just no way. The original cut of the novel is 823 pages, but the expanded is lost 1500. Add to that the fact that I started 2020 reading a very long novel about a pandemic (Chuck Wendig's Wanderers, which despite it's eerie parallels to our reality while I read it - or perhaps because of it - still occupies my mind on an almost daily basis and lingers with a strong A+ rating in my book) and, well, for obvious reasons don't want to finish it out doing the same. So I'm doing the audiobook. Which, at ten chapters in, frankly isn't great.
Still, having read the Dark Tower books since shortly after The Drawing of the Three, I've wanted to read The Stand since early High School. In the Dark Tower books, Roland and his compatriots travel across worlds and, at one point, end up in the world of The Stand, a world decimated by a flu-like virus called Captain Tripps. Weird timing for the show to be coming out, but I'm excited to cover it, as it's been a while since I've done something like this, and it's not so often I get to work with Chris these days. So win win.
The Horror Vision:
The New episode of The Horror Vision Horror Podcast went up yesterday. We talk about the Barbara Crampton-produced Castle Freak remake, which I LOVED, along with Freaky, Max Brooks's Devolution, and a bunch of the Mario Bava that just landed on Shudder recently. And as usual, that's really only the tip of the iceberg. Also, I'm doing anything with the video side of this show yet, but I've started posting the episodes on youtube as of late.
Playlist:
Behemoth - The Satanist
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Selim Lemouchi and His Enemies - Earth Air Spirit Water Fire
James Last - Christmas Dancing
Bing Crosby - Merry Christmas
Orville Peck - Pony
The Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop OST
Daniel Pemberton - Motherless Brooklyn OST
Jehnny Beth - To Love is to Live
Opeth - Deliverance
Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny
New Order - Be a Rebel
Barry Adamson - As Above So Below
David Bowie - Black Star
Card:
Ah, the wonderful Knight of Disks, the Fire in the Element of Earth.
Interpreted here as a pragmatic focus on and progression with ongoing projects. Industrious perseverance. Bread winner and objective provider.
While the world around us went to Hell, I used a constant influx of awesome music to stay sane. There were A LOT of great records this year, here are my favorite ten.
Manuel Gagneux has proven he's not going anywhere, and on Wake of a Nation - an EP with a more robust run-time than some albums - he's begun to shift his work from clever Alt-History to a poignant contemplation on current global events to chilling, heart-pound results.
I've never cared too much about RTJ's other albums - none of it's bad, but none of it is irreplaceable to me - but THIS! Partially because of when it dropped, partially because of how it dropped, partially because they refuse to participate in all the Hip Hop tropes that make me skeptical of the genre, and especially because it's just that good. Killer Mike and El-P can both rhyme like madmen - a lost art if you do a quick who's who of the 'name brands' of rap at the moment - and on top of it, they can actually do so eloquently on pretty much every urgent topic of the day.
Two years ago, when I fell in love with Ms. Rundle's music, it never would have dawned on me how well it would mesh with Thou's. Imagine my pleasant surprise then when the first track from this album dropped. To Thou is one of those "Beautifully brutal" bands that transcend any genre or classification for me, and something about their stoic sonic textures meshes perfectly with Emma Ruth Rundle's dark, contemplative musings.
The most 'balls out' record I heard this year. Infinitely repeatable and perfectly balanced between hooking you and punching you in the goddamn face.
I can't even believe the range on display here. One might have thought Greg Puciato's first solo record would have come out sounding a bit like Black Queen and DEP in a blender.
One would be perfectly incorrect. This is... an evolution not many metal frontmen could ever pull off. I remember the days when I could see Mike Patton's influence on Greg Puciato. Now I only see his own personal creative resilience.
Recontextualizing so many different sounds from Heavy Music's last twenty-five years: I hear Alice in Chains, I hear Fear Factory, I hear Bungle, I hear Slipknot. Only, that's not all I hear. I also hear a template for a band that sounds like none of those things exactly and nothing like anything I've heard before. And I want more.
The first Bungle album in twenty years is a redux of their demo - which I never gave a shit about listening to even at my most rabid Bungle fan stage - and it's being re-worked and performed with Thrash Icons Dave Lombardo and Scott Ian? There was simply no way this one didn't make it onto the list. Also the best concert of the year, although of course, there haven't been any concerts since about three weeks after I saw them, so that may be slightly skewed.
This band reminds me so much of the kind of bands I couldn't get enough of in the late 90s. I loved the first Exhalants record, then they went and deepened their sound into this and I had to do a double-take. These guys are for fucking real and I will follow them to the ends of the Earth. Which, incidentally, might not be that long to follow them for, but still.
Another band that just can't do anything wrong. The Deftones continue to push the edges of their sound in unexpected directions, and while there's no mistaking this for anything but a Deftones record, ain't nothing wrong with that at all.
And actually, as my friend Jacob pointed out, there is at least one passage that could easily lead one to believe the tracks had unexpectedly rotated over to a Vangelis song.
I guess I needed some beauty in my life this year, and Fleet Foxes Shore definitely qualifies as the most beautiful new album I heard in 2020.
It was a weird year, and some of these records I didn't even listen to as much as you would think for them to make such an impression on me. But I've begun spending a good deal of time on narrative podcasts and audiobooks, as well as a fixation on a lot of music that predates 2020. Maybe then, the less-listened to entries on this list won their spot by making such a large impression in so few listens?
