New Music from The Jesus Lizard!!!

 I'm behind everything by a couple of days. Had a friend in town earlier in the week, and between catching up at work after a few days off, digging back into finishing Black Gloves & Broken Hearts after five days away at a crucial point in the novel, and recording podcasts for both MaXXXine and Longlegs, I just haven't had time to do anything else. So here's some awesome new music by one of my all-times. You can pre-order the new album RACK from Ipecac Records HERE, it drops September 13th.

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Watch:

In the past week I have seen three movies that I expect will define much of 2024 for me. First, MaXXXine, which I've now seen twice on the big screen and am planning for another round:

I'm in the final stages of editing a HUGE episode The Horror Vision just did on this one. Ti West has been a favorite of mine since I first saw The Roost in 2005, and to see his very distinct filmmaking on the big screen for the first time since I caught The House of the Devil back in 2009 at the old Laemmle's on Sunset (after waiting for it for something like 3 or 4 years), but with a much bigger budget and not in a limited art-house release (I'm in Clarksville for hell's sake; I seriously doubt Hosue of the Devil played in Clarksville, haha) was an awesome experience. MaXXXine has some issues, but none that blind my love for it or the director.

Although I saw Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's Kill last September at opening night of Beyondfest 2023, I am counting my viewing this past Sunday on a big screen in Nashville as the first salvo of what may very well be my favorite film of the year.

This film takes the "Surprise, I'm getting married" trope of Indian Cinema and uses it to propel the best Action-Horror film I've seen since Dog Soldiers, easy. See this on the big screen if you can, and don't worry about the run time. It's a little over two hours, and I won't feel it AT ALL.

Finally, Oz Perkins' Longlegs... I'm not really sure how I feel about this flick after seeing it last night. It's fantastic, no doubt, but something about all of Perkins' films creates a disconnect in me. 

You'll read this is the scariest movie of the decade. I think that's a bit much. But it is extremely unnerving, and everyone turns in a fantastic performance, especially Nick Cage, who defies all possible expectation and description with his performance.

The only other really big films I'm still waiting on for the year are Fede Alvarez's Alien: Romulus, Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis, and Robert Eggers' Nosferatu. I know there will be other, unexpected greats that filter in here and there, but for now, those are the horizon line. All in all, so far it's been a pretty great year, with Kill and Stop Motion duking it out for my favorite thus far.

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Playlist:

Various Artists - The Void

High on Fire - Cometh the Storm

Dean Hurley - Anthology Resource Vol. 1: △△

Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes (single)

Scorpions - Rock You Like a Hurrican (single)

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis

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Card:

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

• XIV: Temperance

• XX: Judgement

• Page of Wands

XIV is Art in the Thoth deck, a variation that projects a slightly different connotation for me. Having only used Thoth for the first 17 or so years I've been familiar with the cards, this recent switch is something I've not quite worked out yet. Art usually suggests synchronization, often of disparate elements into a pleasurable outcome. Temperance, on the other hand, suggests Balance, which is and is not the same. Seeing this card here and thinking about it, I take this as a definite nod to balance some of the uneven and, frankly, negative emotions/thoughts that have ruled my head of late. Taken with XX - ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES - and the Page (Princess) of Wands, or the Earthly aspect of Fire, I'd say this is a Pull that suggests I really have some work to do on myself in order to regain the mental/emotional balance I've kind of misplaced the last two weeks or so