I've been in the mood for some of the older albums by long-time favorite The Ocean, aka The Ocean Collective. This would be my favorite track from Precambrian, released on Metal Blade way back in 2007.
I love almost every album by these guys, and chief songwriter Robin Staps is a genius for my money, but there's something about the sheer assault of Precambrian and its precursor Aeolian, that the band has yet to capture again (not that I'm saying they need to).
Watch:
The long-unavailable in the States second film by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, Livid, hit Shudder last week and I was able to eek in a viewing over the weekend.
Wow. This one did not disappoint. Livid is, like Inside before it, further proof that Bustillo and Maury are just as interested in making beautiful movies as they are Horror movies. Comparisons to Argento are on the money and yet also a bit misleading, and while the dance academy from Suspiria is mentioned in Livid and thus, ties the film directly to Argento's "Three Witches" world, there are no continuity, character or place/plot overlaps. This means whatever tie was intended is more homage than actual DNA for Livid. But there is a definite tone here that feels at the very least inspired by, if not directly related to, Suspiria. The color pallette is quite different - Livid prefers grey to bold primary colours - however, there is a softness to the visual life of the film that smooths the horrific edges and helps make it feel like a fairytale, much like Argento's technique. Part of this may indeed be that both films deal with the world of Dance, and this makes them feel 'old world' and steeped in tradition, which is often the very element of the world fairytales seek to unmoor.
There's also the element of what I call "Doll Discovery." Dolls play a big part in the visual fabric of the film, from a strange, anthropomorphic children's tea party to a penchant for extreme taxidermy. This also helps the viewer feel what the characters feel - namely that they've accidentally stepped into some "other" place, where time does not necessarily behave the way it does for most of us.
I adore this film, and pretty much immediately set out to order it on Bluray. Now I really need to go back and give the filmmakers' other movies a spin, as I didn't connect with Among the Living upon first viewing, and I still haven't watched Deep House.
Dollar Bin:
New feature. Every Tuesday, I'm going to post a comic I found in a dollar bin. What with hardcovers, omnibuses, trade paperback collections and even digital, old floppies just don't have the draw they used to. The Comic Bug is known for buying large collections and then placing the bulk of the stuff out as Dollar Bins, and I've had a lot of good times going through them, finding stuff that would be garbage to many. So here's where I highlight some of my finds.
Playlist:
The Ocean - Precambrian
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
Mr. Bungle - The Night They Came Home
The Devil's Blood - The Thousandfold Epicentre
Ennio Morricone - Il Grande Silenzio OST
Card:
I wanted to do a three-card spread today, primarily because I haven't done much other than pull one daily card for quite some time. What I got feels very on the money, true to recent form.
Past = 4 of Swords: Truce. Focus and concentration undercut by a certain restless energy. I love this card. The "restless" aspect is not always one of the most clear-cut elements of this card. In fact, I would normally ignore it based on how the other images - all balanced and proportional, right down to the swords that meet perfectly in the middle of a beautifully centered cross and the 49 petaled flower in its own heart. But mixed with the next two cards, that hectic background cannot be ignored.
Present = Knight of Wands. This card is pretty simple. Energy and Passion.
Future = Prince of Disks. More focused energy, but proportionate. Those concentric circles in the background tell of using the second card's Will to help corral the energy of the first card into a culminating experience.
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