Friday, June 6, 2025

Deadguy - Knife Sharpener

 
From their first album in 30 years, Near-Death Travel Services, out June 27th on Relapse Records. I pre-ordered my copy from the Relapse Store the second I saw the announcement last month. Love these guys, and I love this video! The False Metal asteroid made me laugh out loud!

It's difficult to put into words the joy seeing Deadguy reunite instills in me. These guys were one of the few bands from the old Victory Records that made a positive impact on me. In fact, Fixation on a Coworker became something of a legendary album for my friends and I at a time when there wasn't a lot of metal besides Ministry or Mike Patton projects that we cared for. I've carried the CD copy Subculture Magazine sent me to review with me since I received it blind back in '95, and seeing them reunite last year in Brooklyn and now having a new full-length on the way in just a few weeks... it feels great. 




Watch:

Despite an INSANE level of curiosity, I am abstaining from watching this trailer for now. I'm not sure I ever thought The Black Phone needed a sequel, but after reading a bit about this, I have to say, I'm in.        


I'm sure I'll see this a bunch of times at my local theatre, but for now, I'll push past it and hope I can just be surprised. I will say, in the little bit of the synopsis I read, they mention a "Winter Camp," and I thought that was an amazing twist on the Summer Camp trope. I'm curious if it's ever been done before. I brought it up at the comic shop and one of the guys mentioned The Lodge and The Shining, but while those are winter-based, they're not 'camps.' The more I think about this - and it will still require some research to confirm - this may be a one-of-a-kind concept here. 

Derrickson and Cargill - I really don't think this can go wrong.




Read:

As K and I continue our rewatch of Daredevil, Season Two, my fascination with John Bernthal's rendition of Frank Castle has me jonesing to re-read some of the old 1980s Punisher comics I was obsessed with back in the day. So, Tuesday night after we finished Season Two, Episode 7, K retired for the night and I spent some time pulling out short boxes.

I'd forgotten that Stephen Grant wrote the original 1985 Punisher mini-series that served as the set-up for the ongoing one that kicked off in 1987. The ongoing was my introduction, but a large part of my catalyst for picking that up was seeing Mike Zeck's cover art on the wall behind the counter at my first comic ship, Worth, Illinois' Heroland (back when it was attached to the Post Office on Harlem and 111th). Mike Zeck is a criminally forgotten artist who did the art for two of my favorite series from the 80s - this Punisher mini-series and J.M. Dematteis' Kraven's Last Hunt, which I've waxed on about in these pages several times.


I eventually picked up all five issues of this mini at comic book shows scattered around Illinois - they used to host them at Knight's of Colombus Halls - and they quickly became prized possessions. It's been quite some time since I've read these, though, so it's great to go back to them now. 

The story starts with Castle behind bars at Rikers. A run-in with Jigsaw and a failed assassination during a prison break put Castle in the debt of an organization called The Trust. The Trust says they just want Frank to keep doing what he's doing and they'll fund it - but Frank knows there's another shoe bound to drop, and he's packing enough ammo accordingly.

It wasn't until a couple of years ago that an off-hand comment in something I read made me realize how inherently 'Right Wing' the concept of the Punisher is. Although, I'd argue there's an element of Common Sense here as well - Common Sense being my political predisposition in comparison to the two parties of nonsense we currently adhere to in this country. Still, there's no denying that the origins of this character - and certainly the early comics - leaned that way. Yet, just like Marvel has done with Frank's current incarnation in Disney +'s Daredevil: Born Again, there's complexity here that undermines this interpretation. 


That Marvel was able to 'take back' the Punisher logo in Born Again after its unfortunate "Scared Blue Line" association since that infamous photo of a cop's lock screen as he waits outside the Uvalde school shooting while children die is nothing short of a fucking miracle. Not everyone will agree with me on this, but I thought the fact that Marvel addressed this head-on in Born Again was ballsy, poignant and honestly took a lot of guts. I'd be curious to know how many Police officers started the show with a sense of excitement and then bounced once they saw the turn it took with Fisk's private army of corrupt police. The distinction here is perfect - a truly thin blue line that, just as in our reality, takes care to separate the good cops from the bad ones. Anyone offended would seem to be taking the wrong side from the jump.




Playlist:

The Henry Rollins Show - The Stooges (2007)
The Henry Rollins Show - Marilyn Manson & Peaches
Danzig - I Luciferi
Ghost - Skeletá
Black Sabbath - Vol. 4
Brand X - Morrocan Roll
Ministry - Box
Black Sabbath - Sabotage
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST
Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments
Deadguy - Knife Sharpener (pre-release single)
Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell
OOIOO - Gold & Green
Man Man - Life Fantastic
Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician
Murder Inc. - The Complete Murder Inc/Locate Subvert Terminate




Card:

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


• Three of Cups
• IX: The Hermit
• Queen of Cups

The Strength of Two is equal to Three, especially after coming back from a lonely gestation period. Return to a realm of deep Love and Understanding.

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Feast of Wire, NCBD

 

From Calexico's fourth studio album, Feast of Wire. This one is a masterpiece. Well, most of Calexico's records are, but as I listen to this track while typing these words, I remember exactly how I felt the first time Mr. Brown played it for me back in 2003. Which is fitting, as I'm listening to Mr. Brown's copy of the record, which he lent me during our previous record swap and I only just acquired a new turntable that easily plays 45 RPM. Now that I can play this, it won't be leaving my 'on deck' pile until we switch out again at the end of the month. 

Hot damn is this record fantastic!




NCBD:

Last week I walked into Rick's Comic City in Clarksville and realized a kind of comic book apocalypse had come to pass: with Diamond now bankrupt and liquidated, their POS system, Comic Suite, is defunct. My Drinking with Comics co-host Mike Shinabarger had mentioned this was coming a while ago; however, I didn't fully understand the implications until last week. Stores now have no computerized way to assign books to customers' pulls, order specific books for customers, and a whole mess of other complications. So it's anybody's guess if I'll be able to pull down the books I flag each week, especially the upcoming new titles beginning over the next few weeks. Apparently, there's no good substitute for the software, either.

Here's what I'm hoping to bring home today:


Issue three of this creepy A.F. haunted house story that we now know is a lot more than just a haunted house story. 


This book is growing on me more and more. That said, I've just realized my copy of #1 is going for a pretty penny on eBay, and I have a rather gratuitous purchase on a loop in my head, so I may be parting with that.


The finale of this odd little book about the Jersey Devil, a subject I have long had a great deal of fascination for. I'm not entirely sure what the deal is with this book; i.e., is it based on actual historical figures that factored into the origin of the Jersey Devil myth, or if this is just James Tynion playing with history and folklore? Either way, I've enjoyed the book quite a bit. 


Mindbender's revenge. 'Nuff said! Love this cover. 




Watch:

I'm not sure how I discovered this Captain Beefheart interview on Lettermen, but for whatever reason, it just felt right today:

 

It's crazy how much he looks like my Uncle Phil. Also, this is 1983, and before I watched the old NBC show that I became such a fan of in the mid-to-late 80s, staying up, watching it with my Mom (always Magnum P.I, and this). 




Playlist:

Emilie Leviensaise-Farrouch - Censor OST
Jim Williams - Possessor OST
Stereolab - Instant Holograms On Metal Film
John Corigliano - Altered States OST
Calexico - Feast of Wire
Sqürl - Third Man Records Sessions
Exhalants - Atonement
Federale - Reverb & Seduction
Decalius - Dehumanizing Loneliness
Black Pyramid - The Paths of Time are Vast
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
The Clash - Sandinista!
Black Sabbath - Sabotage
Led Zeppelin - In Through the Out Door




Card:

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



• Two of Pentacles
• XXI: The World
• Knight of Wands

Collaboration opens up new opportunities that will reshape and reinvigorate the Will. 

Monday, June 2, 2025

Jesus Lizard LIVE!!!


Live from Birmingham, Alabama, courtesy of the Live from Birmingham YouTube channel. I have been meaning to head down to Birmingham since moving just over three hours from it. This would have been perfect! Drat! Oh well, 

Seeing a bearded Yow brings a smile to my face. Weird to have that opening drum hit on Seasick hit and not see him throw himself into the crowd. NOT a criticism - I stopped crowdsurfing a long time before he did. 

Live from Birmingham's mission statement (from their YouTube page):

"LIVE FROM BIRMINGHAM is the home of Subcarrier, an Alabama Public Television production filmed and recorded at SATURN in Birmingham, AL, featuring performers from across the musical spectrum. Subcarrier is the continuation of WE HAVE SIGNAL, a project active from 2008 until 2015 when the world-famous venue BottleTree closed."

I've added Saturn to my venues to watch list. 




Watch:

I've been sick and largely offline, so I completely forgot that GDT's Frankenstein received a trailer the other day. My good friend Chris Saunders messaged me a reminder, though, and after watching it, well, I am speechless:

 
I will be shocked if this doesn't claim my best-of-the-year spot. That said, is this going straight to Netflix? Because that would be a goddamn shame. This needs to be seen in a theatre!




Read:

I've been sick all weekend, and in that time I blew Preston Fassel's Beasts of 42nd Street.

After my recent re-read of Our Lady of the Inferno and now this, Fassel is easily in my top five favorite authors at the moment. These are so insanely compelling, even if dark A.F. Our Lady is dark, but not in the same way Beasts is. Man, this really took me some place not very nice, but it was a hell of a ride, and I'll definitely make the trip again. Here's the solicitation blurb from publisher Cemetary Dance's website. Important to note that while this is readily available to order from the bezos corp, Cemetary Dance lists it as Out of Print. So grab it now:

"In the kingdom of the damned that is 42nd Street, there’s no lowlier subject than Andy Lew. An unrepentant junkie, voyeur, and degenerate, he’s only tolerated by the more dangerous men around him because he keeps the projectors at the Colossus theater running on time, entertaining them with the most extreme horror cinema money can buy. 

"There’s something unique about Andy, though. He owns a movie. It’s the only one of its kind. No one knows who made it. Only he knows where it came from. The woman it stars is beautiful beyond imagination—and the images it depicts are more nightmarish than the darkest depths of Hell. The beasts of 42nd Street will do anything to possess it, but there’s something they don’t understand. Andy loves the woman in the movie—and he’ll go to any lengths to protect her… A savage love letter to 70s exploitation cinema and a biting satire of toxic fan culture, Beasts of 42nd Street makes horror dangerous again as it ventures into the mind of a psychopath like no other— one that will have readers recoiling even as they keep coming back for more."

I LOVED this novel. It plays with so many ideas from the 42nd street mythos - snuff, projection reel theft, Satanic Panic, Police conspiracy - bundles them all together in a brilliant, engaging story that takes you into the alleyways of late 70s Manhattan and plays with your sense of the world as we know it. Or think we know it. 



Playlist:

Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands 
White Rune - The Spell of Eternal Fire
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta I: Fathers Of The Icy Ages
Federale - Reverb & Seduction
Genghis Tron - Dead Mountain Mouth
Emilie Leviensaise-Farrouch - Censor OST
Blut Aus Nord - Ultima Thulée
Ruin - Plague Transmissions, Vol. 1
Tangerine Dream - In Search of Hades: The Virgin Recordings 1973 - 1979
Pink Floyd - Ummagumma




Card:

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


• Ace of Swords
• IV: The Emperor
• Eight of Pentacles

A breakthrough of Will that successfully affects the "rules" of whatever the objective is will require intense concentration and dedication.

Another reminder for me to get back up on my horse and stop resting on my laurels.