Agnes Obel - Chord Left

Man, I love this track. Agnes Obel's 2013 album Aventine has become a recent favorite, and this is one of the best "intro" tracks on an album I've heard in a while. Her playing here very much reminds me of Michael Andrews's score for Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko, which I'm sure has a lot to do in winning my favor. But Ms. Obel's voice nestles perfectly inside her piano, and the whole thing just kind of sounds like the last of the evening light leaving the room, shooed off by shadows. 

---

---

---

NCBD:

Here are my picks for this week's NCBD.

The previous four-issue Volume of the revamped Creepshow comic felt - a lot like the Shudder show they brought back a few years ago - pretty uneven. That said, with Garth Ennis and Becky Cloonan involved in this first issue, there's no way I'm passing it up.

I've just embraced that I'll be hanging out with Johnny Blaze for the foreseeable future. If nothing else, the covers continue to blow me away. Björn Barends continues to turn in what are probably the greatest modern Marvel covers. I've liked a lot about this book of late, with only a few misgivings. However, I'm not super stoked about Talia Warroad. She feels a bit much like the people who designed her did so from a half-informed idea of what a 'hot goth chick' would look like. 

This That Texas Blood tie-in/prequel/whatever slipped right by me last month, and it's been a bit of a hard road trying to seek it out after the fact. If nothing else, I've got my friend Mike in Chicago holding this one for me, as my shop in Clarksville doesn't seem to have access to it (my fault that I didn't realize it was imminent early enough to have them add it to my Pull). Anyway, wherever Messrs Condon & Phillips take this crazy world their creating, I will follow.

Finally - The Fisher King! Dying to know more about this guy. I have a sneaking suspicion that a certain red helmet and cape-wearing former villain may end up having something to do with him, but who knows.

---

---

---

Watch:

Mike Flanagan's final series for Netflix is out on October 12th. An Adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. Here's the trailer (which I haven't watched):

I've been pretty adamant with myself that I won't be signing up for netflix until two things happen. For one, I'm streaming no new content (new movies on Shudder not counted) until the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike is over because I 100% think we need to side with the creators. netflix gets a double Fuck You for just being all-around cunts of late. Beyond that, I'm hesitant to re-engage with the streamer because, honestly, there's only a handful of their proprietary shows/movies that I actually like (anything non-proprietary, I can rent). Unfortunately, that handful consists of a handful of titles I LOVE: Brand New Cherry Flavor, Copenhagen Cowboy, and Stranger Things spring to mind, for most of which there will probably never be a physical release. That said, I'd previously figured I would wait until Stranger Things returns for its final season to re-up my subscription. 

But I forgot about Flanagan's House of Usher.

I love Mike Flanagan's work he did for this company. I don't know that I feel like I have to hold onto a subscription to rewatch any of that work. However, I really want to see his Poe adaptation. I'd be willing to bet the strike lasts beyond October 12th, so while I'm still not considering patronizing them (or any other streamers for that matter) again until after that eventual resolution, I may eat my words and re-up before Stranger Things.

We'll see. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Skinny Puppy - Last Rights

Agnes Obel - Aventine

QOTSA - In Times New Roman

Bluekarma - The Communication

Goat Snake - Black Age Blues

Low Cut Connie - Tough Cookies: The Best of the Quarantine Broadcasts

Electric Youth & Pilot Priest - Come True OST

---

---

---

Oracle:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.  Just a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter right now. Here's the LINK.

Different feel to the picture because I typically spend my evenings bathed in Crimson light. For whatever reason...

• VI: The Lovers

• Seven of Pentacles

• IX: The Hierophany

Collaboration leads to an isolated success. Not sure what this one's trying to say. I have a collaborative project in the wings that's stagnant, so maybe it's a nod to go ahead and reach out on that today. Otherwise, if I squint, I can also interpret it as pertaining to the climax of the new novel, which looks like it will involve more than just the "Final Girl" on her own. I was unsure of doing that, but going it alone wasn't working for me, and this seems to suggest following a different path with it. 

Top Eleven Albums of 2013

image courtesy of father time

My top eleven albums of the year on Joup.

H.P. Lovecraft Film Fest Los Angeles 2013

image courtesy of tentaclii.files.wordpress.com,

Tomorrow at the Warner Grand in San Pedro. Cannot wait. Dagon and John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness, along what will undoubtedly be some amazing shorts and great vendors. Tickets available here.

The art for this amazing flyer by the way is by one Jason Bradley Thompson

NEW LIARS!!! FOR FREE

Go here - you enter your email and the country you live in and they'll give you two, count 'em two new Liars tracks!!! This is the video to one of them. New Liars is always good.

How To Destroy Angels - How Long?

I'm liking this new record more and more. The surging, glitchy rhythm section we've come to recognize as Reznor's recent muse but with a - dare I say it - almost Justin Timberlake-esque pop approach to vox. Interesting

How to Destroy Angels - The Loop Closes

Although I did enjoy the eponymous EP that came out two years or so ago, this song - found on last years An Omen E.P. - is probably my favorite thing Reznor has done in a 'band' setting since... I don't know when. With An Omen having been released so close (relatively) to their upcoming debut album Welcome Oblivion I'm hoping this is a harbinger of what is to come. By no means do I mean to suggest I don't like the last few NIN records because I do, but this has a certain throw-back feeling to the simpler digital feel of some of the tracks on Pretty Hate Machine, which in sheer terms of song-craft I don't think he ever topped (certainly each NIN album got better in terms of production and imagination, but the song cycle on PHM is, in my opinion, really just perfect.

HTDA's debut album, Welcome Oblivion, is out March 5th on Columbia Records. I for one have found it fascinating to watch Reznor's career take the twists and turns it has. He's almost more fascinating as a businessman than a musician.