Sunday, September 29, 2024

Alice in Chains - Sweet Leap Live 1991

 

Discovered this randomly yesterday. Badass - to hear Layne do Ozzy's introductory, "All right now!" just puts a Horror-movie-sized SMILE on my face! It's not the full track, but it's enough. This video was posted by Nerojotun on their Youtube channel, which is filled with Alice in Chains stuff. Check them out HERE.




Watch:

K and I rewatched Jordan Peele's NOPE Saturday night. Hot damn - this movie is absolutely my favorite of Peele's films, and that's saying something because I really dig all of them.


All the characters are so endearing and relatable, human and distinct. It doesn't 'give' the viewer anything - totally drops everything in front of you the entire time and just lets you either pick it up and piece it together or not. Peele's not concerned with convincing or converting anyone; he just wants to make killer cinema. And he does. 




Play:

Cosmic Horror Metroidvania for Switch? Holy shit, sign me up:


Voidwrought hits Switch on 10/24. Thanks to Bloody Disgusting for posting about this one, as it was not on my radar at all




Playlist:

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets (1998 Edition)
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Crystal Castles - (II)
Fvnerals - Let the Earth be Silent
Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium Undreamable Abysses
Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium Nahab
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
Intronaut - Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones)
Alice in Chains - Dirt
The Replacements - Tim
Silent - Modern Hate




Card:

Card for today:


"Structure, time and space. Laws of growth and decay. Completion." - That's from a book I have named Keywords for the Crowley Tarot. I like this because, to me, Fortune - The Wheel in traditional Tarot - is an example of the laws of space and time. Simply put, what goes around comes around. I don't believe in Karma, per se, but as a concept, I think it's close (I just don't like the word, probably because hippies adopted and ruined it). 

Alice in Chains Dirt - 32 Years Old Today

 

One of those records that changed my life. Happy Birthday, Dirt. Love You!!!

Friday, September 27, 2024

The Mystery Lights - Cerebral Crack


Another fantastic find courtesy of Mr. Brown. I love this record! It reminds me a bit of The Monks' Black Monk Time, a bit of The Black Lips, and a bit of a general "Nuggets" era garage band or bands I can't quite put my finger on. Order the new album Purgatory directly from the band's Bandcamp HERE, from Daptone's new Rock subsidiary Wick Records HERE.




Watch:

Last night, K and I went to the theatre to see the new E.L. Katz/Simon Barrett film Azrael. Solid Post- Apocalyptic Survival flick. It's also part of what I've come to think of as the "Subtraction Apocalypse" subgenre - you take an apocalyptic event and then remove a sense from the survivors. Josh Malerman's Birdbox takes sight, A Quiet Place takes sound, Azrael has its own spin.


If you're even remotely interested in seeing Azrael in the theatre, do so soon - this one is definitely not going to last past next Thursday on the big box screens. That said, it's another Shudder/IFC collaboration, so it should be on Shudder in 2-3 months.

Also, Coralie Fargeat's Reality+ short film was the subject of a recent article on Bloody Disgusting (read the article HERE), and while I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, I wanted to leave it here as a placeholder. 


I haven't found a Director whose work has grabbed me like this in a very long time.




Playlist:

Bauhaus - In the Flat Field
Ministry - The Mind Is A Terrible Thing to Taste
White Zombie - Astro Creep 2000
The Damned - A Night of A Thousand Vampires
Joy Division - Still
Type O Negative - Dead Again
The Mystery Lights - Purgatory
METZ - Up On Gravity Hill




Thursday, September 26, 2024

New Music from The Cure!!!

 

New music from The Cure! From the album Songs Of A Lost World, out November 1st. Pre-order HERE. I definitely wasn't expecting to see this today. I'd heard some titterings that amounted to, "The Cure are up to something," but that's about the extent of any foreknowledge I had of a new album. Full Disclosure: I can't remember the last new Cure record I listened to, kind of left them at Blood Flowers - which I don't know hardly at all - but I'm curious. 




Watch:

Ready to have your heart ripped open again? The Last of Us season two is coming. Here's the teaser, which I'm not even going to bother to watch.

 

As I'm sure I mentioned here previously, I have never played the Last of Us game, so the storyline is completely new to me. I dig it; however, I will say it's A LOT emotionally, and season one took me a bit to get through. It's more difficult to watch a post-apocalyptic story with such emotional weight when you basically live in a post-apocalyptic world.
 


NCBD Addendum:

A quick word on the new DSTLRY book, The Missionary, that I mentioned yesterday. Stay away. Awful. Reminds me of when Todd McFarlane and a bunch of the other "hot" artists at the moment split off and formed Image. Yes, Image Comics ended up being a very good thing, but most of those first gen guys should have stuck to art, as they really only approached writing as a means to string a bunch of awesome pictures together. Which, admittedly, was the comic zeitgeist at the time; however, that was also mainly because of them.

Anyway, I couldn't even make it through the first issue of The Missionary. I might try again - Jason Howard's art is fantastic - but man, it's just not good. There's a scene early on with the demon possessing the main character, where they're having this interior monologue back-and-forth that just feels so cheesy; I experienced a similar cringe to the one Beetlejuice Beetlejuice inspired in me several nights ago. Maybe it's because I'm a little over half through my third reading of China MiĆ©ville's Perdido Street Station, wherein the prose is intelligent and elegant, to say nothing of the plotting and storytelling. MiĆ©ville's work unfolds so intricately that I don't have time for a book that seems to be shooting for a goofy take on Angels and Demons, wearing a sort of artistic clumsiness on its sleeve as part of its style. 

No thanks.




Playlist:

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk Edition)
Type O Negative - Origin of the Feces
The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose
The Coasters, The Brains & Rezurex - Yakety Yak (single)
Rezurex - Bat Music for Bat People
Beastmilk - Climax
Various - Return of the Living Dead OST
Various - Rocktober Blood OST
Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me




Wednesday, September 25, 2024

John Bonham

44 years ago today. Damn. Maybe When the Levee Breaks is old hat to some, but I'll never get tired of this song, and what's more, this song IS the drums. Not just how they're played, but how they're recorded. 




Steely Dan - Schlitz Jingle

 Thanks to my good friend Seth for sending this my way, catchiest thing I've heard in some time.




NCBD:

An interesting haul awaits me later today. Let's see what I'm bringing home for NCBD:


The first issue of Michael Walsh's Frankenstein brought great joy to our house! K loved it, I loved it, and we're both rarin' for more.


Saga issue 69 gets the most appropriate and Saga-like celebration of the number I could have hoped for. I still love this book, despite the cooling of the fervor that settled in with all the hiatuses. 


Ryan Stegman's art on Donny Cates' Venom run a few years ago drew me into that title, and now he's writing a book with Jason "Trees" Howard on art? Definitely picking up this first issue, at the very least. Also, this will be my first Dstlry book. Here's the solicitation, cribbed from League of Comic Geeks:

"Bryce Hunter is a devoutly religious man whose faith is shattered when he catches his wife being...Intimate with an Elder from his church. This harrowing event sends Bryce spiraling into the hands of a demonic entity named Uvydus, Instead of rejecting possession, Bryce ACCEPTS Uvydus. Bryce wants to learn to be “bad” and Uvydus wants to be “less than completely evil.” But before Bryce can use this new partnership to finally live a little, the world's greatest Exorcist sees Bryce as his greatest challenge. But that's not even the worst of it as a murderous group of demons breaks free from Hell and threatens to re-shape earth into a kingdom over which they rule!"


The penultimate issue. Let's see that boom stick, sir!




Watch:

Another Autumn is upon us, so that means a new V/H/S flick is just around the corner.


 I dug last year's, but these are still usually a mixed bag for me. Still, taking the idea of "Beyond" to this series might make for some very cool ideas. 




Playlist:

Eldovar - A Story of Darkness and Light
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me




Card:

Today's card for study is I: The Magus.


Skill and/or Wisdom. Magick. Take initiative.

You know, when I set out to 'study' these cards more, I had grand designs to really dig deep. I certainly have enough stores of knowledge on them assembled. That hasn't actually happened, though. I really haven't been doing anything different than I normally do, drawing a card for the day and writing out its interpretation/possibilities. I want to change that, but there's just not enough damn time at the moment. 

Looking at Crowley's The Book of Thoth, I'm reminded that he refers to this card as "The Juggler." 

Monday, September 23, 2024

New Music from Dance with the Dead


Okay, newish music from Dance of the Dead, as I've meant to post this one for a while now and keep forgetting. That neon green cross in the thumbnail is something I'd pay to have hanging on my walls, so you can say it caught my eye.

From the new EP Dark Matter, out October 25th. They also have a tour coming up, dates for which you can find HERE



Watch:

Last night, K and I finally saw Tim Burton's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. This will be the last time I give Mr. Burton A) the benefit of the doubt and B) my time. 

 

Such a waste of a great cast. It's painful to realize that Mr. Burton is very clearly not the same person he was when he made his mark on pop culture, and it's even more painful to watch him try desperately to recapture that person and fail every time. The last movie by him I saw was Dark Shadows, and that, too, made me cringe about his entire aesthetic, which honestly has always been his main appeal. The problem with style over content is, eventually, if it wears out, it's welcome for want of substance. 




Playlist:

The Ritual Howls - Into the Water
Miranda Sex Garden - Suspiria
The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose
The Jesus Lizard - Rack
Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Oz
Eldovar - A Story of Darkness and Light




Body Count - Comfortably Numb

 Wait... what?

I don't love this, but it's definitely worth posting. "Comfortably Numb" was probably my favorite song when I was a stoned teenager in high school. My friend Anthony and I were obsessed with Pink Floyd, and this song... just moved the world for me. I still love it, but it's not all that often I go back and revisit Floyd in the religious manner I used to. Still, seeing this as a cover by Ice-T's thrash metal band Body Count floored me, and it's definitely worth a listen, as they do some interesting things with the song, which is an advance single from the upcoming album Meerciless, out November 22 on Century Media. Pre-order HERE.




Watch:

Last night, K and I watched Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist on Joe Bob Brigg's The Last Drive-In Patreon. The original air date of the episode was 4/3/99 - why does the late '90s look so old to me now? - on a TNT series called Joe Bob's Last Call

As a huge fan who only ever heard of Joe Bob in 2018 when he hit Shudder with that Marathon (I never had cable growing up), I've obviously become aware of Monstervision and Up All Night, but Last Call was new to me. I'll have to look to see where that slots in between the others. Anyway, Poltergeist is something of an annual or bi-annual Autumn watch for me, and it was especially wonderful watching it with Joe Bob.


This is a perfect film, in my opinion. I never bothered with the 2015 remake, even out of curiosity, and I likely never will. The world on display in Poltergeist is the world I grew up in - early 1980s suburban America - and that's part of what makes it so effective both as a Horror film and a nostalgia piece. Also, I find it super interesting that the first few times I saw this film I was very young and Jobeth Williams was a "Mom" to me, but over the years as I've aged and the version of her in the film hasn't, she's become one of the hottest Horror movie women I've ever seen. 




Playlist:

The Damned - AD 2022 Live in Manchester
Human Impact - Gone Dark (pre-release singles)
Human Impact - EP01
Mogwai - God Gets You Back (single)
Dale Crover - Glossolalia
The Mysterines - Afraid of Tomorrows
Bauhaus - Go Away White
Aerosmith - Pump
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Zeal & Ardor - GREIF
Body Count - Comfortably Numb (single)
Body Count - Eponymous
Soul Coughing - Ruby Vroom
Jane's Addiction - Nothing Shocking
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black




Card:

Today's card is the Ace of Disks:


Financial Breakthrough. Successful implementation of new ideas/rules/parameters in matters of Earthly providence. Growth and prosperity.


Friday, September 20, 2024

New Music from Mogwai!


The legendary Mary Anne Hobbs premiered a new track by Mogwai a couple of days ago, and now here's the video! No word on a new album yet, but smart money says it's coming, as the band also announcned a 2025 world tour, details of which are HERE.
 


Watch:

K and I went to see Coralie Fargeat's new film The Substance last night. Pretty sure I will not see a better film for the remainder of the year; Robert Eggers has Nosferatu coming, but The Substance is just... see it on a big screen, that's all I can say.

 

The term "Batshit crazy" gets thrown around a lot - hell, I do a fair share of the throwing myself - but once in a great while, a film comes along that reminds me I really had forgotten what Batshit Crazy is. This is that film. I cannot believe I saw this in a big box theatre in Middle America. The Substance is absolutely INSANE. It almost wears out its welcome, then doubles down on the crazy and just... it feels like the most Body Horror movie I may have ever seen. And I don't offer that lightly.




Read:

Sweet little comic shop pickup I wasn't expecting the other day; shout out to Ryan and Rick's Comic City for pulling this aside when they got it in, presumably from someone selling some old comics:


Published by Arrow Comics in 1986, this was a fascinating read. Not nearly as intricate as Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead, this is totally outsider art from before Zombies had become mainstream. A group of survivors make their way through a world not only overrun with Zombies but intelligent zombies. There appears to be a classification here, with the intelligent Dead few and far between but able to manipulate or control the hordes of shambling dead. Very cool concept and execution, a nice piece of the 80s Black and White Explosion's history I'd missed until now. 




Playlist:

The Jesus Lizard - Rack
Kaiser Chiefs - Employment
Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
Bauhaus - Volume One: 1979 - 1983
Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me
Type O Negative - October Rust
The Damned - A Night of a Thousand Vampires
White Hex - Gold Nights




Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Ershetu - Ketsurui

 

From the forthcoming record Yomi, out November 8th on Debemur Morti. I just stumbled across Ershetu via the Deber Morti Newsletters. Their first album, 2023's Xibalba, is a confounding puzzle of a record, one in a series of records meant to explore the concept of Death among different cultures. From the press release:

"Cinematic Black Metal project ERSHETU was formed in 2021 by conceptualist/lyricist Void and composer Sacr to explore formulations of Death within particular civilizations or religions. After tackling Mayan mythology via evocative 2023 debut "Xibalba", new album "Yomi" finds the band growing in confidence and stature, heading to deeper and darker climes as they immerse themselves in the death folklore of Japanese Shinto."

Blut Aus Nord's Vindsval is not only once again featured on bass and additional guitars for the new record, but also serves as Ershetu's vocalist on the new album. 

US pre-order HERE
EU pre-order HERE.


NCBD:

Another Wednesday brings another glorious NCBD. What's in the box for me at Rick's Comic City today? Let's see...


I feel like there's a little bit of an homage to the original Marvel GIJOE: ARAH issue #60, but maybe that's just in my head. I dig the way Hama is basically casting echoes of the original series' Cobra Civil War with this new Battle for Springfield storyline. Lots of factions in Cobra in this series, and Mr. Hama is, as usual, handling them quite deftly.


As I've mentioned, I'm digging the Destro series, and even Scarlett issue 4 turned out pretty good, but the new car excitement has worn off a bit on this new take. I think we're all ready to collapse the Skybound Energon Universe GIJOE storyline down to one monthly comic for a while.


Hellblazer: Dead in America continues to be a wild ride with a ghostly John Constantine and his cohorts through the dark heart of America, and while that's certainly a storyline that's been done in Hellblazer before, this one shares a lot more with classic Vertigo books like Shade The Changing Man: The American Scream than those "New Vertigo" Hellblazer volumes. Nothing wrong with either, but Si Spurrier's ability to hit that classic Vertigo tone on the head rivals Tynion's, and that's saying something. Does that mean a book like this is simply serving a nostalgia purpose? No, I don't think so. John Constantine is one of those characters that got strip-mined by the end of the original Hellblazer series - and certainly since then with all the launches and relaunches, to say nothing of his appropriation into a more recognizable character inside the mainstream DCU - and this series feels like the first new Constantine story I've seen in well over ten years that I actually give a toss about. Maybe it was just luck of the draw for the book, but this book is proving to be very satisfying to this old-school Constantine fan at the moment. 


Finally! The second issue of Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood. Issue #1 was a surprise - I wrote about it HERE - and I've looked forward to the second installment ever since. Also - another jaw-dropping cover!!!
 



Watch:

I watched Jennifer Kent's 2019 Colonial Australia Opus The Nightengale recently. This is one I was very much afraid of, knowing a bit about the storyline. One of my compatriots from The Horror Vision recently chose this as her pick for an upcoming episode of Elements of Horror, so I steeled myself and fired up Shudder, where Kent's film is currently streaming.


Not an easy watch in any respect. The Nightengale is film I would definitely say needs to be seen. The harsh indictment of Colonialism, as well as just the general disrespect human beings have for each other, is a reminder that, shamefully, we're really not all that far advanced from this yet. 




Playlist:

Forhist - Eponymous
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Nell' ora blu
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Ritual Howls - Scatter the Scars
Ritual Howls -  Their Body
The Jesus Lizard - Rack
Type O Negative - October Rust
The Damned - Night of A Thousand Vampires
The High Confessions - Turning Lead Into Gold with the High Confessions
Neon Nightmare - Lost Silver (pre-release single)
Neon Nightmare - She's Drowning (pre-release single)
Seventh Void - Heaven Is Gone
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me




Card:

Today's card for study is IV: The Emperor:


Rules that govern all life. 

This begs the question, is the card a reminder to be mindful of those rules or to seek answers outside their boundaries? The card's visual imagery is overwhelmingly Martial and that can be read as playing by the rules of a situation with the intent of subverting its dogma.

Sunday, September 15, 2024

Type O Negative - Die with Me

 

Well, after nearly a week of Autumnal weather, the temperature shifted back into the low 90s yesterday. Doesn't matter - my interior Autumn flourished for 16 years in L.A. and it's firmly intact and engaged. So here's some Type O Negative, from 1996's October Rust.




Watch:

Longlegs hits Blu-Ray next Tuesday! 


Hail Satan!




Playlist:

Darkness Brings the Cold - Devil Swank Vol. 1
The Mysterines - Afraid of Tomorrows
Zeal & Ardor - GREIF
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Ershetu - Xibalba
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food
Type O Negative - October Rust




Card:

Today's card for study is the Nine of Cups - Happiness:


Eight of Cups is emotional change, and adding one to that suggests a new stability. There's balance depicted in Lady Freida Harris' design for this card. A lot going on, but it works out. This then suggests if you keep adding, you will have to work at finding symmetry, but it just might surprise you by occurring naturally. 

Saturday, September 14, 2024

Mastodon, Lamb of God - Floods of Triton

I know nothing about Lamb of God, but this collaboration with Mastodon is pretty bad ass. Not sure if this heralds a split E.P. or something bigger, but this is pretty cool. Fantastic cover art, as well.  




Watch:

I am having a very hard time accepting that I might not be going to L.A. for Beyondfest this year, especially since I didn't even realize that Joe Begos had a new movie that is premiering at the Egyptian! There's no trailer for Jimmy and the Stiggs yet, no nothing except this image posted yesterday on the Beyondfest schedule:


I'm not certain I will be able to accept not going. We'll see. 




Playlist:

Mastodon, Lamb of God - Floods of Triton (single)
Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden
Danzig - Black Hell (single)
Spotlights - Seance E.P.
NIN - Year Zero
††† - Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete
Your Black Star - Sound From the Ground
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
Crystal Castles - II
Crystal Castles - Eponymous
Gourdon Banks - Keep You In Mind (single)
Ghost Cop - Problems (single)
A Place Both Wonderful and Strange - Sorry For Your Loss
In Slaughter Natives - Sancrosancts Bleed




Card:

Today's card for study is the Two of Swords - Peace:


Rest and recuperate. Perspective. 

Friday, September 13, 2024

New Music From Crippled Black Phoenix!!!

 

From the upcoming album The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature, Out November 29th on Seasons of Mist. Pre-order HERE.

Talk about Epic. The song and the video. Well done.




Watch:

I rewatched Chris Thomas Devlin and Samuel Bodin's Cobweb last night. This is definitely now an annual Autumn viewing for me. Cobweb has that fairytale gloss over it that I associate with Trick r' Treat and The Mortuary Collection. 


Having just seen Coraline on the big screen for the first time with the recent anniversary screenings, I can make an educated guess Cobweb also shares some DNA with that film, as some key visual and storytelling elements come from similar places. All in all, a very welcome addition to my Autumnal viewing schedule. 




Read:

The urge had been building for a while, and since I'm in between newly released books at the moment, I decided to reread China MiĆ©ville's Perdido Street Station for the third time. 


This is not a light undertaking - the first and my favorite in MiĆ©ville's Bas-Lag trilogy, this novel is the very definition of an opus; the plot has so many moving pieces, all of which stay in their own lane and eventually coalesce in a manner I find absolutely stunning. Picking this one up and slipping back into it, I'm also overcome with an unexpected nostalgia; this book was incredibly important to me when I first found it and MiĆ©ville back in the early 00s. I was a day-of-release supporter for every book he published from 2005 to 2016 (the trilogy was complete by the time I found it) and only fell off after my life exploded that same year. Since he's published several novels on my list, his most recent a collaboration with Keanu Reeves set in the actor's Bezerker universe. I haven't read the Bezerker comics past the first issue or two of the original series, so this is low on my list. But I'd like to think I'll get to it eventually. 


Also, since I've ended up kind of listing the author's works, I'd be remiss if I did not mention his truly bizarre revamping of Dial H for Hero, twelve issues published by DC Comics in 2012.




Playlist:

Jim Williams - Possessor OST
Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
The Misfits - Static Age
The Misfits - American Psycho
The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose
Algiers - The Underside of Power
Beastmilk - Climax
Jesu - Sun Down Sun Rise
Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
The Cramps - RockinnReelininAucklandNewZealandXXX (Live)
The Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
Bauhaus - Go Away White




Card:

Today's card for study is the Three of Disks - Works:



A welcome reminder this morning, as well. Success through effort. Balance; solid foundations yield sturdy domiciles. 

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Frig off, Beetleman!

 

Just be-fucking-cuz.


NCBD:

One thing I've learned in life is to have Events to look forward to. They can be daily events (opening that first beer at the end of the day), yearly events (new seasons of a show you love, like, let's say, The Last Drive-In on Shudder, just renewed for season seven), or weekly events, like NCBD. So, what does this week's event look like? Let's take a look...


Having just gotten into The Department of Truth last year and read the first four volumes as trade paperbacks, I have to say, there's a definite adjustment taking it down to single issues every month, but I'm here and I'm ready to continue this slow descent into the Kennedy thing.


The final issue of this Eco-Horror mindfuck, and I'm wondering if the "Part One" on the cover means there will be more? 

I'm digging TMNT being bi-monthly. Give my fucking wallet a break, Kevin Eastman.


The end of the current arc, and I'm thinking, a major turning point. LOVE this cover. 




Watch:

As someone who pays for The Last Drive-In's Patreon, I have access to all the great, older content Joe Bob and Darcy are posting there. LOTS of stuff from the Monstervision era, which is all new to me. Last night's viewing? Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! And now this will no doubt be in my head for the rest of the week:


Watching this with Joe Bob circa 1997,  I was floored by some of the factoids. Like, Keaton was uninterested until Burton told him he would re-write the script and just let him develop the titular Bio Exorcist's schtick. Boy, did that work! Or that, originally, Burton wanted Sammy Davis Jr. to play Beetlejuice. Can't you kind of picture that? Or even that - and I'm sure I knew this back at the time it came out - this was Burton's second feature! This flick has never meant to me what it does to others, but it's weird AF, and I love it for that. Just the fact that they married Calypso music with Goth overtones reminds me of what a genius Burton was at one time. I'll be seeing the new Beetlejuice sooner or later, and I'm looking forward to it. 




Playlist:

The Jesus Lizard - Rack
Various - Learn to Relax! A Tribute to Jehu
Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me
The High Confessions - Turning Lead Into Gold with the High Confessions
Type O Negative - World Coming Down
Blitz/Berlin - Psycho Goreman OST




RIP John Cassaday

 

The final track on the band's 1985 album The Head On the Door. Such a great outro to an album that goes through all kinds of emotional disturbances. As this sudden shift in the weather from nearly 100-degree days to cool and smokey 70s took me by surprise, it jump-started my internal Autumn. It's been a few years since I was into The Cure like I am at the moment, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it.




RIP:

John Cassaday, Age 52. An absolute GIANT - his work with Warren Ellis on Planetary remains the zeitgeist of 00s comics - a book that redefined pretty much everything about the medium. I think the first time I heard the term "Wide Screen Comics" was in regard to Cassaday and Ellis' seminal series. 






Of course, he also worked with Joss Whedon on his beloved Astonishing X-Men, and while I'm not really a fan of that run, Casssaday's art is once again fantastic. 




Playlist:

Television - Marquee Moon
Garland Jeffreys - Wild in the Streets (single)
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Garland Jeffreys - American Boy & Girl
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
The Cure - The Head on the Door
The Jesus Lizard - Rack
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Wild God*
Grinderman - Eponymous


*I only made it two tracks into this one. I'll probably try again, but I'm eternally disappointed that Cave and crew just seem to make the same album over and over again ever since Skeleton Tree and, to a lesser extent, Push the Sky Away, both of which I like upon release, but now feel a lot like Al Pacino's performance in Scent of a Woman - they're just stuck in the same phase. I miss the days when one Bad Seeds record would sound like The Boatman's Call, the next Abbatoir Blues or Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!




Card:

Today's card for study is the Eight of Wands - Swiftness:


Clear communication. Anti Confusion. Be upfront. Be real. Decisiveness. 

Monday, September 9, 2024

Sway 7A, Baby

 

It's just the best Rock n' Roll song ever recorded from the best Rock n' Roll album ever released.




Watch:

This recent trend with prequels to 70s Horror classics hasn't given us very much in the way of anything worth hanging onto. The idea that Paramount has a Rosemary's Baby prequel called Apartment 7A coming straight to Paramount Plus didn't move the needle with me at all until I saw Julia Garner is the lead. She will FOREVER be in my good book for Ruth from Ozark. Here's the trailer, which I didn't bother with; I'll just watch and assess when it lands on the streamer come September 27th:

 

I should also mention that there's more good news: Apartment 7A is Directed and Co-written by Natalie Erika James, whose 2020 flick Relic made quite the impression on me (it's definitely time for a rewatch of that one, and it's currently streaming on Shudder).


Read:

I blew through Nathan Ballingrud's novella Crypt of the Moon Spider yesterday. Both the Hardcover and Paperback are currently available; I posted the paperback's cover art last week, primarily because that's the version I chose for my shelf, as I liked the art just a smidge more; here's the Hardback:


It's fantastic but short, and the advance chapter from the second book of his Lunar Gothic Trilogy that serves as an epilogue to this volume only made me want MORE! Seriously, Ballingrud writes Science Fiction with a silver lining of Horror and it's GLORIOUS! 

Now, however, I'm in between books. Bad Hand Books began shipping Laird Barron's new collection, Not A Speck of Light, last week. However, I've not received a shipment notice yet, so I have some time to kill, and I'm not quite sure what will adequately follow Ballingrud. 




Playlist:

Ministry - Psalm 69
Bauhaus - Go Away White
Ghost Bath - Self Loather
The Cops - Free Electricity
Chasms - On The Legs Of Love Purified
Megadeth - Rust in Peace 




Friday, September 6, 2024

Bauhaus - Adrenaline


From their 2008 album Go Away White, which caught a fair amount of slack when it came out, but honestly, always sounded pretty fucking great to me.
 


Watch:

Writing this Friday night with a pretty good head of steam. Since I pretty much passed out after the second movie of Joe Bob's Nightmareathon last week, I'm picking up the slack this week. I started with Fade to Black, a flick I've started watching several times before and never finished (not the movie's fault), and I found it to be just okay until the third act, which I actually thought was pretty fantastic.

   

The Nightmareathon segued into Children of the Corn after Fade to Black, and I wasn't in the mood for that, so I decided to re-watch Joe Bob host Spookies from The Last Drive-In Season three. Talk about a damn good time:


Some of the sound design really blew me away, and overall, you really have to admire anyone who makes such an absolutely batshit crazy flick. 




Playlist:

The Cure - The Top
Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery
Bauhaus - Gotham
Blut Aus Nord - 777: Cosmosophy
Bauhaus - Go Away White
Joy Division - Still
Blackbraid - Warriors (single)
Ghost Bath - Moonlover
The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer.

I guess it's Fall, eh?




Card:

Today's card for study is II: The Priestess:

Alchemical marriage of elements to conceive a new thing (idea, being). This is the cosmic womb that takes I: The Magus's seed and gestates it into a new form. 

Raw Creation, and thus, Will. Tapping into a power greater than your own.

New Music from Jerry Cantrell!!!

 

The second single from Jerry Cantrell's upcoming album, I Want Blood, out on October 18th. Pre-order HERE.

Loving this new record so far. Jerry Cantrell is one of those humans who I root for 



Watch:


I am unfamiliar with Patricio Valladares's previous films; however, when I first read about her upcoming Invoking Yell, she instantly caught my attention. A found footage film that follows an all-female Black Metal band in Chile, set in the 90s? Events go awry through their penchant for recording paranormal phenomena for their records? What a fantastic idea. 

 

Invoking Yell hits VOD on September 20th.


Read:

I woke up early this morning and blew through pretty much the entirety of Sandman Volume 2: The Doll's House. I honestly don't know if there is a work of graphic fiction I love more than this one, especially issue #14:

This was instrumental in so much of who I have become. The dialogue, plotting, characters, and the way Gaiman weaves his own brand of dream logic throughout the series, as well as the way a large part of that crescendoes in this volume. We get the resolution for the missing Nightmares Brute and Glob, and how their machinations have affected the world - and the DCU - while Morpheus was indisposed. We are introduced to Lyta and Hector Hall, tying directly into previous Golden Age (?) iterations of 'The Sandman." We get the Corinthian and the Cereal convention, more of those amazing 'confessional' moments that echo back to Volume #1's 24 Hours. Gaiman knows spooky fantasy, but he also knows human nature at its lightest and darkest. Oh yeah, and we meet Hob Gadling, so Gaiman knows his classic English Literature and folklore as well. 




Playlist:

Black Sabbath - Eponymous
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars
Blut Aus Nord - 777 Sect(s)
Blut Aus Nord - 777 The Desanctification
Blut Aus Nord - 777 Cosmosophy
METZ - Up On Gravity Hill (Thanks, Jacob!!!)




Card:

Today's card for study is IV - The Emperor:


Rules that govern Life. THIS is an important aspect of the card that I tend to gloss over. When this comes up, it's a reminder to adhere to the boundaries of life, i.e., what keeps you alive. There's also the martial aspect, a further reminder of rigor. That said, there's also a flipside that reminds us not to let rationality and, by extension, civilization become a prison. So balance. That's the name of the game, and it's borne out by the image on the card. 

Decisiveness and linear thinking. 

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Brigitte Calls Me Baby - Too Easy

 

From their forthcoming debut full-length album Too Easy, out now. Order HERE. Really digging this band. 
 


Watch:

Wes Craven passed away on August 30th, 2015, so for the last few nights, I've been watching some of his lesser-known works for a tribute episode we're going to do on The Horror Vision. Last night, I chose Shocker.

 

I saw this back when it first hit VHS, but not since. Let me tell you, this was way more enjoyable than I remembered! Shocker is a totally misguided attempt to make another Freddy-level character/mythology, and while the film fails to do that, it ends up being super fun just from how hard it swings for that ball. Mitch Pileggi deserves a goddamn award for how 'all-in' he goes with the role of Horace Pinker, and while a whole lotta the movie makes no sense whatsoever - why park a van with your name on it in front of the house where you're killing people? Why does Jonathan's girlfriend come back as a powerful spirit for good? How could all the police in this town be that fucking stupid? - none of the inconsistencies, absurdities and downright missteps do anything but add to the fun. 




Playlist:

Perturbator - Dangerous Days
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry
Prince - Little Red Corvette (single)
Horrendous - Ontological Mysterium
The Ocean - Heliocentric
Protomartyr - The Agent Intellect
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
Peter Gabriel - So
Oranssi Pazuzu - Valotus (pre-release single)




Card:

Today's card for study is the Six of Wands: Victory.


View troubles and disruptions as lessons - they have been necessary to grow. Life is Victory simply by living. Not everyone makes it out of the Strife and Chaos of the Fives. 

Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Godflesh - For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)

 

I had no idea this existed. Reposted from BlackSunHorizon's YouTube channel, which is full of sludgy goodness. Check it out HERE.

The song itself is taken from the Covered in Black album, an Industrial tribute to AC/DC. If I knew about this back when it came out in 2000 on Cleopatra Records, I had long since forgotten it until stumbling across this track on Apple Music this morning.
 


NCBD:

Here's what I'm bringing home from the comic shop tonight:


Again, I have to say that this series is really just a corridor for me on the way to the rest of the Energon Universe. I don't hate it, but the fervor I had for the Duke and Cobra Commander mini-series is gone.


Very excited for a new book from Jeff Lemire. Especially one he is 


Penultimate issue! Shit is about to get real and hopefully coalesce into a satisfying conclusion. Tony Fleecs has laid all the pieces out in a very pleasing story of past/present/future - something that isn't easy to do in 2024, where time travel is even more overdone than meta. Every once in a while, though, someone takes the concept and really makes it work. Maybe here it's because Army of Darkness did it long before a lot of other cinematic franchises, or maybe it's just great to have multiple versions of Ash running around. Either way, buckle up.


Get Fury has been another sleeper hit of my 2024. Ennis and Burrows really bring their ultra-violent storytelling to the Marvel Universe with two of the best possible choices for telling this story - Frank Castle and Nicolas Fury! Love it.




Watch:

I'm posting this here, but I'm not going to watch it, as I'm assuming I'll have to get pretty creative not to see this a million times before it hits theatres on October 18th.


After initially dismissing it, I loved the first Smile and ended up seeing it three times in theaters, so I have high hopes for this one.




Playlist:

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Perterbator - Bloodlust (single)
Braindamage - The Downfall
Tim Hecker - Infinity Pool OST
The Ocean - Heliocentric
Pepper Adams - Encounter!
Godflesh - Pure
Godflesh - In All Languages
Behemoth - Cursed Angel of Doom Live (pre-release single)
JK Flesh - Posthuman
Godflesh - Hymns
Grimes - Art Angels
Grimes - Miss Anthropocene
Zeal & Ardor - GREIF
Cristobal Tapia De Veer - Smile OST
The Fixx - Reach the Beach
Perturbator - Dangerous Days




Card:

Today's card is The Knight of Cups:


The Firey aspect of Water or the Will as applied to the Emotions. Don't be overwhelmed by emotion. The deluge is not without its rewards. 

Act fast!

Monday, September 2, 2024

Better Lovers!

 

From the forthcoming album Highly Irresponsible, out on October 25th on SharpTone Records. Pre-order HERE.
 


Watch:

Never been a Demi Moore fan, but maybe anybody can redeem themselves with the right Body Horror movie.


This trailer definitely evokes the work of Brandon Cronenberg and also, Ana Lily Amirpour's episode of GDT's Cabinet of Curiosities, titled The Outside. Hell, maybe even a bit of Larry Cohen's The Stuff.  Writer/Director Coralie Fargeat's previous film Revenge crossed way too many lines for me, but I loved the look of what little I saw of it. Very much looking forward to seeing The Substance on the big screen when it opens on September 18th.




Read:

I finished Professor John Trafton's BRILLIANT Movie-Made Los Angeles last week, and after such an academic deep-dive into film and regional history - that I really can't recommend enough - I started Ramon Glazov's newly published English translation of Giorgio De Maria's 1975 novel The Twenty Days of Turin.  


I posted about this early last week, how I hadn't been able to stop thinking about what little I knew about the premise via a post author Warren Ellis made on his LTD:

"A decade previously, Turin suffered twenty days of mass insomnia marked by nightly massacres committed by persons unseen or indescribable. The many hundreds of witnesses cannot explain what happened."

 Something about this rattled around in my brain for several days until I finished John's book and promptly ordered a copy of De Maria's novel. Something about that setup reminded me of Carlos Ruiz ZafĆ³n's The Shadow of the Wind, and my expectations only grew. 

I received the book yesterday, and at ~65% of the way through, I can confirm The Twenty Days of Turin is a fantastically creepy read. What's more, not only does it remind me of ZafĆ³n's work, but reading this is stirring up a desire to re-read Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show for the first time since I was a Freshman in High School, circa 1991. Both novels deal with secrets gleaned from the throwaway detritus of life - notes, scraps of paper, mail. I've always found the idea fascinating, and realize now there's a throughline between where it was introduced to me with Barker's opus, picked up later (in a manner of speaking) by ZafĆ³n's Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, and now reintroduced to me with De Maria's novel. I'm curious if there are more ideas like this out there, and if so, how I might find them.




Playlist:

Feel the Knife - So Raw... So Nasty... So Hideous.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Grey Rubble - Green Shoots (pre-release single)
Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments
Frank Black - Teenager of the Year
Nature Sounds - Pure Nature (Track 7: Bird Calls)
Revocation - Fathomless Catacombs (single)
Braindamage - The Downfall
Perturbator - Bloodlust (single)
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley (Expansion)
L'Enfant De La ForĆŖt - ABRAXAS
Gang of Four - Return the Gift Part 1




Card:

Going to change the way I do this for a while. I'm feeling a bit rusty and disconnected from the cards, so I'm going to take 72 days and go through every card, in whatever order I draw them in, and explore them here. First up - XV: The Devil:


Bringing knowledge. "Bringing light into darkness" - the Lightbringer, as one of Lucifer's many names suggests. This card, like IX, warns against following dogmatic answers laid out by other people's spiritual systems. Worship thine self!!!