The order is, for the most part, negotiable by day. However, Orville Peck's Pony is absolutely the best and my favorite record of 2019.
Beth Gibbons/Henry Gorecki - Symphony No. 3 - Admittedly, I'm a bit of a rube when it comes to orchestral/classical music. I know what I like, but I don't necessarily know how to find it. Imagine my surprise when I saw Beth Gibbons name attached to this one. Gibbons, along with legendary composer/conductor Krzysztof Penderecki and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra deliver a rendition of Henryk Górecki's Symphony No. 3 that makes my heart both swell and sing with all the force of a cinematic thunderhead. Also, fantastic writing music.
Sunn O))) - Life Metal - PERFECT writing music, but beyond that, Sunn O)))'s Life Music, produced by Analog hero Steve Albini, contains a lot of rewarding textures that only reveal themselves after in-depth and multiple - and I mean multiple - listens. Easily my favorite record Sunn O))) has put out since 2009's Monoliths and Dimensions.
Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell - A late entry, this album is as calming as it is strange. Of course, at first glance, the strange is less than apparent, buried behind the subtle, acoustic pop sensibilities on display in the making and arranging of this record. But there's some pretty strange choices here when compared to what you get at first glance, and without having much of a history with Ms. Del Rey's earlier works, this one began as a curiosity for me and quickly grew into a calming obsession.
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen - As much as I love Blut Aus Nord, I've come to terms with the fact that I don't love everything they put out. After a couple years of albums I've tried repeatedly to connect with and failed, Hallucinogen hit me from the opening chord and held me all the way through its runtime. My favorite thing they've released since 2012's 777 Cosmosophy.
The Thirsty Crow - Hangman's Noose - Yes, I am good friends with one of the members of The Thirsty Crows. Yes, I co-host two podcasts with him. Yes, I love his band. Do I love it because he's my friend? Yes, but that's not the only reason I love The Thirsty Crows. I also love them because they are A) Awesome live, and B) the only Rockabilly/Psychobilly band I have identified with since I was head over heels in love with The Reverend Horton Heat back in the mid/late 90s. That scene has broadened considerably, and while I dig a lot of it, I don't love any of it like I love the Crows. Their music is catchy AF, and dusty in a way that feels familiar and pleasing, like leaving the Joshua Tree Saloon at two in the morning hammered out of your skull and meeting people with drugs in the parking lot. "Drinking and drugging 'til six in the morning," yeah, I can't live that life anymore, but I can enjoy wicked ass thrashabilly songs about it.
Federale - No Justice - Another sun-drenched album, this one with enough cinematic flourish as to play like a Robert Altman flick from the 70s. No Justice is up there with my most listened to records this year, and it's been an absolute pleasure learning every nook and cranny of these songs.
Oh Baby - The Art of Sleeping Alone - What do you get when you have a band with a terrible name releasing an album with a fantastic name? Apparently, a hell of an album. Poppier than everything else represented here, this one scratched an itch that had lingered the last few years, a good dance/electro record with pop sensibilities and fantastic arranging, eschewing bubble gum for a kind of Neon Noir Dance Floor feeling.
Spotlights - Love and Decay - Beautiful beyond words from start to finish. Epic, haunted, brash, and polished, I absolutely love this album.
Boy Harsher - Careful - Dark LaLaLand electro that feels like old Revolting Cocks did the music for an alternate version of David Lynch's Lost Highway.
A dream, a lover's return, a haunted highway at night. Orbison, Lynch, Williams. Desert, tavern, danger. Pony is a place that I have always wanted to go to and now cannot stay away from for very long.
Showing posts with label 2019. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2019. Show all posts
Saturday, December 28, 2019
Friday, December 20, 2019
C*nts Are Still Running the World
Jarvis Cocker released a new version of his 2007 track Cunts Are Still Running the World just in time to "celebrate" the election in the UK. And I thought this song rang true twelve years ago? Meet the new boss, bigger slag than the last boss.
**
Currently immersed in collating all the year-end stuff I want to spread the word about. This coming Saturday, The Horror Vision will be recording our "Favorite Horror of 2019" episode, but what about just a general "Favorite Films" list? Well hell, Chewy, I haven't done one of those in at least five years. I always want to do one, but never really feel like I see everything in the end-of -year Oscar release schedule that I want to, or perhaps that I feel I need to in order to make a well-informed list. This year? Fuck that. Here's my three favorite, non-horror films of 2019. My plan is to see Knives Out on Sunday, and I'm assuming I'll be able to add that to the list.
Also, despite the venomous oath I swore two years ago upon walking out of The Last Jedi to never see another Star Wars film again - actually, it was to never even watch the old ones again - I will be going to see the new Star Wars film in a few weeks, but only for the same reason I vote. So I can feel justified in complaining.
Joker is the only film in years that I have seen twice in a theater upon original release, and seeing it in 70 mm at the Aero Theatre with Director Todd Phillips in-house for a post viewing interview was one of the theatrical highlights of a year with quite a few theatrical highlights.
**
Playlist:
Carpenter Brut - Trilogy
Brittany Howard - Jaime
NIN - Ghosts I-IV
The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir
Boy Harsher - Careful
Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers and Queers
Federale - No Justice
The Misfits - Static Age
The Misfits - Earth A.D./Die, Die My Darling
Preoccupations - New Material
Balthazar - Fever
Cave In - Final Transmission
Meg Myers - Sorry
Black Pumas - Eponymous
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Watchmen Vol. 3
Blood Red Shoes - Get Tragic
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Blood Red Shoes - Mexican Dress
Blood Red Shoes' 2019 album Get Tragic is one of those albums that just missed being on my Top Ten Favorite Albums of 2019 list. And I mean, just missed it. A solid album that scratches the itch left by The Kills, whose last album I didn't particularly care for.
That list is coming soon, I swear. In the meantime, Heaven is an Incubator posted his Top Ten Favorite Albums of 2019 HERE. Great stuff, and a lot of it that's new to me. Of particular note is Zetra, whose Bandcamp you can check out HERE.
**
I recently became completely obsessed with HBO's Watchmen show. I've always been hesitant with any addition to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's seminal graphic masterpiece, completely ignoring After Watchmen and Doomsday Clock and Doctor Manhattan's Super Happy Funtime Show, or whatever other ridiculous way DC is currently involved in trying to fleece the source material for, so I didn't fall in line with HBO's offering until I learned a few things recently that changed my mind.
1) HBO's show is not a sequel to the Movie Adaptation. It is a sequel to the original comic. That means no Dr. Manhattan blamed for Nuclear Strike, but massive phony squid alien destroys New York, brings humanity together, and diverts Nuclear Holocaust. Three episodes in, I'm floored by the quality of the show. I mean, it's HBO, so the production value is always going to be top of the line. But I'm getting some aesthetic vibes reminiscent of True Detective Season One. Also, the story plays with so many peripheral elements of the world created by Watchmen that it's just not the story I would have ever imagined anyone doing. If that's not awesome enough, the way the show introduces people/events and then doles out information made the first episode basically one big gottasee, so I am hooked.
Oh yeah, and 2) Mr. Brown sent me THIS.
**
Shudder recently added Brian Yuzna's Bride of Reanimator. I'd never seen this one before, despite loving the first Reanimator, and I was shocked to find that I think I actually like Bride better! It's funnier, gorier, and really just completely insane.
**
Playlist:
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Watchmen OST, Vol. 1
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Watchmen OST, Vol. 2
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Social Network
NIN - With Teeth
NIN - The Slip
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Godflesh - Pure
Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire
NIN - Not the actual Events
Duende and David J - Oracle of the Horisontal
Blood Red Shoes - Get Tragic
Carpenter Brut - Leather Teeth
Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell
Carpenter Brut - Trilogy
Friday, December 13, 2019
Orville Peck - Nothing Fades Like the Light
From the album Pony, which is most definitely in my top ten favorite albums of 2019. Where's it rank? I'll be posting my list within the next week or so, and you'll find out.
**
Happy Friday the 13th, folks! I'll be celebrating tonight with a croc pot full of Chili, copious amounts of beer, and Joe Bob Brigg's Red Christmas Special on Shudder. Can't wait!
What three movies is Joe Bob going to play? I'm guessing Black Christmas, Deadly Games, and Silent Night, Deadly Night 2, the first of which I dig, the other two I have never seen.
**
And now, ladies and gentlemen, it's time once again for...
Last night was Season 1, Episode 3, "Squeeze." I'd seen this one before as well, but it's been quite a while. While I can't say there was anything spectacular about the episode - which, of course, wasn't the point at all - the first of two episodes with "Twentieth Century Mutation" Eugene Victor Tooms is a freaky-ass exercise in creature-of-the-week tone. The idea of a human being able to stretch, squash, and elongate on command is a nice, subtle play on the 'body horror' ethos, and makes me wonder what would have happened if David Cronenberg directed an episode or two of this show.
I especially dug the opening kill of this episode, as it really felt like the beginning of a horror movie or, perhaps better equated, an episode of Tales From the Crypt.
Oh yeah. And the Bile Cave. That was pretty gnarly as well. Now that I'm thinking about comparisons and the X-Files influence down through the years, I'm also feeling a kinship to some of the Body Horror/Nightmare Logic of Channel Zero (RIP).
**
Playlist:
Young Widows - Settle Down City
Kaiser Chiefs - Duck
Me and That Man - Songs of Life and Death
Shining - X Varg utan flock
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer
Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire
The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen
Card:
I'd imagine then that I should be careful about befouling my plans for the weekend.
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
It Never Rains in Southern California
It gives me infinite pleasure to have finished Season Three of Veronica Mars last night - the episode ends with this song - and wake up to find it POURING. Because, like the man sings, it literally never rains in Southern California.
Next: Veronica Mars the movie, then Season 4! WU-HU!
**
Couple movies I watched recently:
Nothing revelatory, but an entertaining watch, to be sure. I really liked the way they used a huge red herring out of the gate and then totally dropped it. Also, the faux choking gag that results from this made me laugh out loud. Letterbxd
I LOVE this movie so very much. Letterboxd.
I LOVE Brad Anderson's films. Most of them, anyway. Transiberian owns a very special place in my heart, as does Session 9 and The Machinist, though to a lesser degree. IN my opinion, Trans is his masterpiece thus far - although there's a few I didn't see in the last few years and one I didn't care for at all, Vanishing on Seventh Street. Letterbxd.
**
I never thought I'd say it, but after reading Gideon the Ninth on a kindle, then moving on to Warren Ellis' Dead Pig Collector (finished, fantastic), and Autumn Christian's Girl Like A Bomb (in the middle of, also great) on it as well, I am in love with the digital reading format. I bought the Kindle version of the Injection Omnibus by Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey - I have all the issues at home, but wanted to be able to carry the entire thing around with me all the time, as it is a source of endless inspiration at the moment, even though I've been pretty spotty on actually getting any writing done the last few days. Those weekend shifts at work kill me this time of year, and I've generally just been tired and obsessed with finishing V. Mars.
**
Playlist:
Orville Peck - Pony
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Beth Gibbons and the Polish National Radio Symphony - Henry Górecki - Symphony No. 3
New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too
Canyons - Barrie (single)
Caterina Barbieri - Ecstatic Computation
Blood Red Shoes - Get Tragic
Spotlights - Love and Decay
The Soft Moon - Criminal
The Smiths - Meat is Murder
Meg Myers - Sorry
Blackwater Holylight - Veils of Winter
Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell
Meg Myers - Take Me to the Disco
Perturbator - Dangerous Days
(Sandy) Alex G - House of Sugar
**
No card today.
Saturday, November 30, 2019
Grimes - My Name is Dark
New Grimes track! I reluctantly listened to this - while I'm chomping at the bit for the album and can't help but listen to every new track she drops, I'd really like to preserve the album experience. That said, I'm glad I hit play this one time (abstaining after until release day) because this is a fantastic track.
**
Finished Gideon the Ninth. Fantastic - four solid stars on Goodreads. Next up, Autumn Christian's Girl Like A Bomb, which I'm only a few pages into so far but am totally fascinated by. Sex has never been something I've shied away from in fiction, probably because so many of my favorite formative authors utilize it so well. It is a part of life, after all, and Irvine Welsh, Bret Easton Ellis, and Chuck Palahniuk - to name a few - all write it very well. However, if you look at the common denominator there - all men - you'll probably see what I see, namely the fact that it's pretty one-sided. Christian's book starts off with sex and carries on much the same for the first chapter. It's about a girl's mission to lose her virginity and the strange power she experiences in doing so. Not sure if this power is a metaphor or something extraordinary yet, but then, that's the gotta see of the book, so far, and it's nice to see sex from the female perspective.
Because Girl Like A Bomb is a shorter book, and because I needed some inspiration and Warren Ellis is always raw inspiration, I also bought and downloaded Dead Pig Collector, the novella I picked up a signed copy of earlier in the year but can't bring myself to actually handle in order to read. It was only $.99 on Kindle, so a second, digital copy is hardly extravagant. And of course, within two pages, I'm fascinated and anxious and inspired, all at once.
There are a couple Ellis novels or novellas I've been meaning to read for a few years now, and one I plan to re-read fairly soon, but I figure I'll space them out a bit. The man has a lot of comics I still need to get to as well. The very definition of prolific.
**
My only day off this week due to the on-call schedule, K and I blitzed through a good half-dozen episodes of Veronica Mars season 3 yesterday. Man! I remembered three as being the weakest season, but honestly, just past the half-way mark and I'm thinking it is actually the strongest. The Campus rape storyline is dark AF and I have to wonder if it helped make the show disappear during that original run, but it's the most engrossing storyline to date, and doesn't suffer from being strewn across an entire season, mixed in with the "Scooby-Doo", case of the week stories that pepper throughout. Unlike the Lilly Kane or Exploding Bus storylines, the Campus rape storyline is an omnipotent presence that nips at our casts' heels the entire length of its life, and as such, really creates an ongoing sense of anxiety that works well in a detective, beach-noir show.
We're super close to finishing season three, doing the movie and then finally getting to the new season, so my curiosity is almost at the point of being sated. I purposely know nothing about Hulu's season 4, and cannot wait to dive into it and see where all these familiar characters are in their lives, fifteen or so years later. And after that... the truth is out there. Mr. Brown and my X-Files playlist project begins...
**
Playlist:
Meg Myers - Sorry
Jenny Hval - The Practice of Love
New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too
Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of the Bewilderbeast
Federale - No Justice
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
The Forest Children - Kingdom Animalia
The Forest Children - Darkness Brings the Cold
Oh Baby - The Art of Sleeping Alone
Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
Radiohead - OK Computer
Dungen - Ta det lugnt
Muggs - Dust
Thievery Corporation - The Mirror Conspiracy
Twilight Singers - Twilight
Various Artists - Under Frustration Vol. 2
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Them Are Us Too - Remain
White Hex - Gold Nights
Sleaford Mods - English Tapas
**
Card:
I had to pull a clarifying card after coming up with the Eight of Swords - so some contrary experience will challenge a pre-established idea or ideal I carry with me? Good. It's always nice to get a fresh perspective.
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Pan's Labyrinthine Dreamscape
Five days ago: in the car, a cover of Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill comes on KROQ and mildly annoys me. I erroneously dismiss it as another 'Of Monsters and Men' type band covering a song I adore.
One day ago: I hear the same Kate Bush cover on the radio that is always on at work. Normally tuned exclusively to KXLU, lately, the dial has been set to KROQ. I relive the experience in the car from a few days before, walk out and Shazam the track, realizing as I stand there with my phone in my hand that I actually like the cover.
Fifteen minutes ago: I wake up early, set up to stretch and see that I ear-marked the artist in question, Meg Myers', 2014 Make A Shadow EP on Apple Music. I download the tracks, lay out a yoga mat and hit play. While attempting to stretch out incredibly sore hamstring muscles, the first track starts and I melt.
This is amazing. Full salvo - this hits me hard.
Five minutes ago: I start this post, a newly minted Meg Myers fan.
**
It's time again for...
For the first time in years yesterday, I listened to Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too by the New Radicals. This was a huge album for me in the early 2000s, but perhaps because of that fact, it feels as though it belongs to that era. In this on-going obsession with recontextualizing the 00s, I listened to the album in one straight shot at work and experienced it in a deeply emotional way. Which was very, um, cathartic, I guess. Weird to experience a strong emotional response to music in an office with other people around, but it's kind of a different office aesthetic than most people have, so it worked.
I followed the one album Greg Alexander recorded as New Radicals with a song that often surprises people when it pops up on my iPod in a public forum. I know nothing about Michelle Branch and I'm not the biggest Carlos Santana fan, especially the album I'm about to reference here. However, this song, written by Alexander, sounds like it belongs on that one New Radicals album. I love it. When Ms. Branch hits those "tell my whhhyyyy" parts, it does to my soul exactly what Alexander's voice does on album opener Mother We Just Can't Get Enough, and it feels very, very good.
**
Finished the second season of Veronica Mars, and we're now a quarter of the way through the third. I've seen all these before, but my memory sucks, so while I remember how the main season arcs sweep, I don't completely remember how they get to where they're going. That was certainly the case with the climax of Season Two, where I remembered who had blown up the bus, but not why. I also didn't remember just how damn dark that Season Two finale gets, or how dark Season Three's main story is. Is this why the show ultimately disintegrated in the ratings that propelled it through its initial lifespan and subsequent following?
Chomping at the bit to revisit the movie - which I remember nothing about - and to get to the new Season on Hulu.
**
The new episode of The Horror Vision is up. Movie of the episode is James Gunn's wonderful 2006 gross-out Slither, but the conversation goes all over the place, from Jennifer Kent's Babadook follow-up The Nightengale, to AHS 1984's conclusion (no spoilers), to Clive Barker's Nightbreed. Oh, and our Classic Corner is Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.
The Horror Vision on Apple
The Horror Vision on Spotify
**
Doing the movies-on-silent-in-the-background-while-I-write thing again, and it seems to be working well for inspiration. Recent features:
**
Playlist:
Alice in Chains - Eponymous
Soundgarden - Down On the Upside
St. Germaine - Tourist
New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too
Federale - No Justice
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta III: Saturian Poetry
Dean Hurley - Anthology Resource Vol. II: Philosophy of Beyond
Telephone Tel Aviv - Immolate Yourself
**
Card:
Which I associate with a very good friend who I spoke to immediately after pulling the card - coincidentally, not by design - who experienced a 6.4 Earthquake in Tirana. Stay safe, brother.
Friday, November 22, 2019
The Return of Squarepusher!
First album in something like five years drops on Warp Records, January 31st. Before that, however, and advance 12" titled Vortrack drops. Pre-order HERE.
**
After a slow start, Tasmyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth has me hooked. With only a little over the one hundred pages left, the story is developing into a spooky hybrid of Fantasy and Horror, although not in any way we normally associate with either genre. Sure, there's world-building, and some of that is what got in my way at the start, and I will confess I'm having trouble keeping track of who is who (although in the course of this particular story's The Old Dark House-style whodunnit? that doesn't trip up the story itself, just elements of comprehension).
Gideon the Ninth is apparently the first book in the three-book The Locked Tomb series, with the next book, Harrow the Ninth, up for pre-order on Amazon HERE.
**
Playlist:
David Bowie - Black Star
Belbury Poly - Mind How You Go
Burial - Untrue
Ennio Morricone - Black Belly of the Tarantula
**
Card:
Not going to comment on this at the moment, but I will if what I'm thinking pans out.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
David Bowie Ruled the 00s
I've been swimming in David Bowie's final album again; it's perfect for my headspace at the moment, which I can only describe as 'weird.'
Something kickstarted a full-blown, days-upon-days reverie for the 00s, which is the definition of the word weird because it largely feels like a decade of my life that didn't really end up belonging to me. Not that it belonged to anyone else, but... well, can ten years be a corridor? I've ruminated on the philosophical context/ramifications of Soundgarden's Room a Thousand Years Wide, now we're readjusting that concept to a more micro version. Whether a decade can be a hallway or not, I've stepped back into that - triggered, I think, by a huge Warren Ellis reading binge - and it's very interesting, this mix of my ongoing current headspace, reinforced daily by the world I've built, and these elements of my previous operating system. What will be the outcome? Not quite sure yet, but it's pleasurable to walk around in two personal eras at once (again, a micro version of Philip K. Dick's experience, but without the out of body stuff).
**
There's a couple new Horror Visions up, and one more to come this weekend. Topics of discussion range from Doctor Sleep to The Lighthouse to True Blood to Jennifer Kent's The Nightengale to, ah, turtle sex? The second oldest is a very tangental 'after dark' episode where we start out as a four-piece and become a three-piece whose conversation runs all the fuck over the place, but it's pretty cool to have captured and edited it to be, you know, coherent.
The Horror Vision on Apple
The Horror Vision on Spotify
The Horror Vision on Google Play
**
Yes, I too signed up for Disney +. I will be unsubscribing when The Mandalorian is finished for the season, but in the meantime, holy smokes do I LOVE this show. Now THIS is Star Wars; I actually consider this an apology to old school fans for that crap that's been in the theatre the last few years. And yes, I know this show was very specifically engineered to appease people like me: 40+ year olds who grew up with it and love the old, Sergio Leone approach. They've utilized so many characters that are based on my favorite action figures as a kid that there was no way this wasn't going to work for me. Contrived? Sure. Do I mind? Nope.
**
Weird Walk is a wonderful little 'zine published by some fascinating people over in Great Britain. I received my copy of issue number two after reading about it in Warren Ellis' newsletter a few weeks, and have so far had the pleasure of reading an interview with author Benjamin Myers about how the rural English landscape has influenced and inspired his writing. This seems like it fits right in with that 'Haunted', Hypnogogic aesthetic that, you guessed it, fits in with my current re-assessment of the 00s.
You can order Weird Walk and peruse their sight HERE.
**
Playlist:
David Bowie - Black Star
Clavicvla - Sepulchral Blessing
Greet Death - New Hell
Burial - Eponymous
Burial - Untrue
Federale - No Justice
Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Oh Baby - The Art of Sleeping Alone
The Cure - Carnage Visors
The Cure - Pornography
Black Pumas - Eponymous
Mayhem - Daemon
**
No card today, however, I wanted to note how exact my last two pulls were. Exact like in a creepy, "Tarot is never this on the nose" way.
Friday I pulled the Ten of Disks Wealth and received an unexpected Royalty check in the mail for my books. Three days later I pulled the Five of Cups Disappointment and received a notification that the submission I sent via FedEx to an anthology I adore failed to deliver and that I'd have to re-send it through the post office to get it there.
That's pretty accurate.
**
Yes, I too signed up for Disney +. I will be unsubscribing when The Mandalorian is finished for the season, but in the meantime, holy smokes do I LOVE this show. Now THIS is Star Wars; I actually consider this an apology to old school fans for that crap that's been in the theatre the last few years. And yes, I know this show was very specifically engineered to appease people like me: 40+ year olds who grew up with it and love the old, Sergio Leone approach. They've utilized so many characters that are based on my favorite action figures as a kid that there was no way this wasn't going to work for me. Contrived? Sure. Do I mind? Nope.
**
Weird Walk is a wonderful little 'zine published by some fascinating people over in Great Britain. I received my copy of issue number two after reading about it in Warren Ellis' newsletter a few weeks, and have so far had the pleasure of reading an interview with author Benjamin Myers about how the rural English landscape has influenced and inspired his writing. This seems like it fits right in with that 'Haunted', Hypnogogic aesthetic that, you guessed it, fits in with my current re-assessment of the 00s.
You can order Weird Walk and peruse their sight HERE.
**
Playlist:
David Bowie - Black Star
Clavicvla - Sepulchral Blessing
Greet Death - New Hell
Burial - Eponymous
Burial - Untrue
Federale - No Justice
Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Oh Baby - The Art of Sleeping Alone
The Cure - Carnage Visors
The Cure - Pornography
Black Pumas - Eponymous
Mayhem - Daemon
**
No card today, however, I wanted to note how exact my last two pulls were. Exact like in a creepy, "Tarot is never this on the nose" way.
Friday I pulled the Ten of Disks Wealth and received an unexpected Royalty check in the mail for my books. Three days later I pulled the Five of Cups Disappointment and received a notification that the submission I sent via FedEx to an anthology I adore failed to deliver and that I'd have to re-send it through the post office to get it there.
That's pretty accurate.
Friday, November 15, 2019
New Grimes and Release Date!
We now have a release date for the long-awaited next Grimes album. Miss Anthropocene will be out February 21st, and you can pre-order it HERE.
Being that I'm relatively new to her music - having really only been converted about four or five years ago - this will be the first new record Grimes has released that I've waited for. And I feel as though it has been a long wait.
**
Joe Begos' new film Bliss came out on Blu Ray/DVD this past Tuesday and I highly recommend you go out and pick this one up. I saw this at Beyondfest back in September and loved it, and upon re-watching it last night on Blu Ray, I found I enjoyed it, even more, a second time. Easily in my top top if not top five of the year:
And here's the awesome Spotify Soundtrack Mr. Begos put up to coincide with the release of the film.
**
Lo and behold, NCBD this week turned out to be a pretty big deal for me. It's been a while, but I left the shop with a couple new titles that I'm excited about supporting. I'm not thinking of backpaddling on easing off monthlies, but there were a few that were small press, so I'm paying it forward, in a manner of speaking.
And I'd completely forgotten there was a new Terry Moore series on the stands!
I don't really know anything about Five Years, but I'm fairly certain there are a couple of familiar faces on the cover to Issue #1.
**
This week's playlist:
Flying Lotus - You're Dead
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Timber Timbre - Eponymous
Snatch OST (playlist)
James Browns's Funky People Vol. 1
The Edgar Winter Group - Shock Treatment
Return of the Mack - Mark Morrison (single)
Revocation - The Outer Ones
Revocation - Teratogenesis EP
Final - Solaris
Arthur Ahbez - Gold
Barry Adamson - Stranger on the Sofa
Me and That Man - Songs of Love and Death
Flipper - Album
Hall and Oats - Greatest Hits
The Knife - Silent Shout
Billy Idol - Greatest Hits
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Tyler Childers - Purgatory
Oh Baby - The Art of Sleeping Alone
The Nukes - Why Things Burn
Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim
Barry Adamson - As Above So Below
Tamaryn - The Waves
The Sword - Age of Winters
Sunn O))) - Life Metal
Spotlights - Love and Decay
Kode9 - Nothing
**
Card of the day:
Hoping this is good news pertaining to the submission I sent out yesterday afternoon.
Labels:
10 of Disks Weatlh,
2019,
Black Stars Above,
Bliss,
Five Years,
Grimes,
Joe Begos,
Miss Anthropocene,
NCBD,
New albums 2019,
Spotify Playlists,
Terry Moore,
The Plot,
Thoth,
Vault Comics
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Me and That Man - On The Road
Holy cow. A good friend sent me a link to this 2017 album Songs of Love and Death by Me and That Man. Dark, fuzzy, gothic country, this entire album is fantastic. I know nothing about this band, but this album hits a perfect harmonic with the new Federale and a few other albums I've had on heavy rotation lately, most of which I'll get to posting from in the next few days.
**
Last night K and I went to the theatre to see Mike Flanagan's adaptation of Stephen King's Doctor Sleep.
The best cinematic sequel ever.
Honestly, I miss spoke above, because Flanagan - who I now think might be the greatest living modern horror director - has made a film that is a sequel to both King's book and Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining, which are two very different entities. There's an article in the most recent Fangoria Magazine where Flanagan talks about how he approached this, and all I can say is, he hit it out of the park. Doctor Sleep is also a very tight adaptation of the novel, so it has the dual quality of feeling like a novel first, and a movie second. In other words, the three-act structure moviegoers have unconsciously come to expect is there, but in an over-arching way. The way the individual scenes are woven together, moving back and forth seamlessly between characters, events, and places, feels literary, as though you're plowing through sections or chapters in a book.
I loved Doctor Sleep when I read the novel back around the time it came out - many thanks to Mr. Brown for mailing me his copy just to be sure I read it, as our love for both King's book and Kubrick's film goes back a looooong way. And now I love the film. Win-win.
Playlist from 11/08:
Federale - No Justice
Billy Idol - Greatest Hits
Black Pumas - Eponymous
TVOTR - Return to Cookie Mountain
Revocation - Teratogenesis EP
Sunn O))) - Life Metal
John Coltrane - Coltrane's Sound
**
Card of the day:
Balance and harmony; coherence and the intuition of a guiding light. I think so. Tonight we're doing a Horror Vision taping and I'll be premiering the finished version of this story I've been working off-and-on for over a year now to five people by reading it out loud. As Cap'm says, Proof is in the Pudding.
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Happy Halloween 2019!!!
Yes, I post this song every year. I will continue to do so for the rest of my time on Earth. Nothing sets the Autumnal mood for me like this song, and this album (digipak version). My, how I miss Peter Steele and the boys.
**
31 Days of Horror:
10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31
10/02: Lords of Chaos
10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1
10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3
10/05: Bliss/VFW
10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog
10/07: Halloween 2018
10/08: Hell House, LLC
10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)
10/10: Creepshow Episode 3
10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)
10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena
10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
10/21: Uncanny Annie
10/22: Scream
10/23: Simpsons 666: Treehouse of Horror
10/24: Jennifer's Body
10/25: Belzebuth/The Lighthouse/Halloween
10/26: Murder Party
10/27: AHS 1984 Ep. 6/Arsenic and Old Lace/The Fair Haired Child (Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 9)
10/28: May
10/29: The Exorcist (Theatrical Cut)
10/30: Nightmare Cinema
I felt considerably saddened two nights ago when, for the second time in the last ten years, I watched William Friedkin's The Exorcist and felt nothing in the way of the fear that the film used to evoke in me. If you chart my experiences with Friedkin's masterpiece, there was my awareness of it as a kid; I'm certain I saw parts of it as a child, but I don't think I saw the entire film until somewhere in the early to mid-90s. I don't really remember that viewing, other than as an introduction. My critical faculties for film, in general, were burgeoning at the time, but still largely unsophisticated. Then, in the early 00s, I watched it with a friend, stoned out of my mind in a darkened room, and felt a very real fear that bordered on dread. This feeling stayed with me for at least a day afterward and inspired my oft-repeated axiom, "I don't believe in the Devil, except for three days after I watch The Exorcist."
This used to be exactly true.
I watched the film again in 2004 with the same friend and a few other fellows, all stoned, lights out, in the living room of the house some friends and I used to rent in the Beverly neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. I remember that viewing best because I was so freaked out during it I didn't want to get up and go to the restroom, which was about three feet beyond the television.
Fast forward to somewhere around 2009-2010. Living in Los Angeles now, I invited a few friends over to watch the Director's Cut of The Exorcist, the version I had never seen that contained the freaky and much-hyped Spider-walk sequence. After having talked it up for quite some time to everyone present, this was the first viewing where the film really did not affect me almost at all, certainly not the way it had in the past. That brooding, sustained fear is what I look for in 'scary movies.' I chalked this up to the Director's Cut potentially having different pacing.
After my viewing of the Theatrical Cut again two nights ago, I now find that it's not the film, it's me.
Most Horror films use jump scares, because they're fun and easy. Some use gore or disturbing premises and images to achieve their desired effect. FEW can create the air of menace I'm talking about here. The Exorcist - which although it appears no longer affects me I still consider the scariest movie ever made - definitely does it the best. The original Blair Witch Project also does this and has the advantage of real human fear being captured on film in places (no, I am not suggesting the marketing that the film was real is true. But BWP was partially shot with the three actors operating under false pretenses, and long before the hype of that film began, I read an article that talked about how the directors followed the actors through the woods for several days, employing a magnet to disrupt their compass and actually preying on them by making the strange noises in the middle of the night and, at one point, actually running up and attacking the tent while the actors were inside freaking out). More recently, during its original theatrical run, I was surprised to find James Wan's Insidious had some genuinely scary scenes - the baby monitor and the ghost that walks through the wall, in particular. In fact, several of Wan's franchise films have great moments of sustained fear - think of the two sisters reacting to the dark corner or the handclaps in The Conjuring - but the films usually also take a misstep along the way that neutralizes the overall effect. This year, as part of 31 Days of Horror, I was pleasantly surprised to find Hell House, LLC has some very real fear-inducing moments, and nary a misstep afterward. But off the top of my head, that's all I can think of (always looking for suggestions). They say familiarity breeds contempt, but I've never agreed with that. However, perhaps at this point, I've had the maximum number of viewings one can have with a legitimately fear-producing film before it loses its power. Not to mention, if you add all the lampooning of key scenes from The Exorcist in comedy sketches and pop culture, I'm afraid I may lay this one to rest.
**
Playlist from the last few days:
Type O Negative - Dead Again
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me
The Obsessed - Lunar Womb
Boy Harsher - Careful
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Billy Idol - Greatest Hits
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
Deth Crux - Pears of Anguish EP
Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim
The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
Ministry - Psalm 69
Black Pumas - Eponymous
The Dead Milkmen - The King in Yellow
The Misfits - American Psycho
Card of the Day:
Is this banging my head against the wall or the edict I should move beyond my frustrations and continue to work toward my goal? Number two, always.
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
10/21: Uncanny Annie
10/22: Scream
10/23: Simpsons 666: Treehouse of Horror
10/24: Jennifer's Body
10/25: Belzebuth/The Lighthouse/Halloween
10/26: Murder Party
10/27: AHS 1984 Ep. 6/Arsenic and Old Lace/The Fair Haired Child (Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 9)
10/28: May
10/29: The Exorcist (Theatrical Cut)
10/30: Nightmare Cinema
I felt considerably saddened two nights ago when, for the second time in the last ten years, I watched William Friedkin's The Exorcist and felt nothing in the way of the fear that the film used to evoke in me. If you chart my experiences with Friedkin's masterpiece, there was my awareness of it as a kid; I'm certain I saw parts of it as a child, but I don't think I saw the entire film until somewhere in the early to mid-90s. I don't really remember that viewing, other than as an introduction. My critical faculties for film, in general, were burgeoning at the time, but still largely unsophisticated. Then, in the early 00s, I watched it with a friend, stoned out of my mind in a darkened room, and felt a very real fear that bordered on dread. This feeling stayed with me for at least a day afterward and inspired my oft-repeated axiom, "I don't believe in the Devil, except for three days after I watch The Exorcist."
This used to be exactly true.
I watched the film again in 2004 with the same friend and a few other fellows, all stoned, lights out, in the living room of the house some friends and I used to rent in the Beverly neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. I remember that viewing best because I was so freaked out during it I didn't want to get up and go to the restroom, which was about three feet beyond the television.
Fast forward to somewhere around 2009-2010. Living in Los Angeles now, I invited a few friends over to watch the Director's Cut of The Exorcist, the version I had never seen that contained the freaky and much-hyped Spider-walk sequence. After having talked it up for quite some time to everyone present, this was the first viewing where the film really did not affect me almost at all, certainly not the way it had in the past. That brooding, sustained fear is what I look for in 'scary movies.' I chalked this up to the Director's Cut potentially having different pacing.
After my viewing of the Theatrical Cut again two nights ago, I now find that it's not the film, it's me.
Most Horror films use jump scares, because they're fun and easy. Some use gore or disturbing premises and images to achieve their desired effect. FEW can create the air of menace I'm talking about here. The Exorcist - which although it appears no longer affects me I still consider the scariest movie ever made - definitely does it the best. The original Blair Witch Project also does this and has the advantage of real human fear being captured on film in places (no, I am not suggesting the marketing that the film was real is true. But BWP was partially shot with the three actors operating under false pretenses, and long before the hype of that film began, I read an article that talked about how the directors followed the actors through the woods for several days, employing a magnet to disrupt their compass and actually preying on them by making the strange noises in the middle of the night and, at one point, actually running up and attacking the tent while the actors were inside freaking out). More recently, during its original theatrical run, I was surprised to find James Wan's Insidious had some genuinely scary scenes - the baby monitor and the ghost that walks through the wall, in particular. In fact, several of Wan's franchise films have great moments of sustained fear - think of the two sisters reacting to the dark corner or the handclaps in The Conjuring - but the films usually also take a misstep along the way that neutralizes the overall effect. This year, as part of 31 Days of Horror, I was pleasantly surprised to find Hell House, LLC has some very real fear-inducing moments, and nary a misstep afterward. But off the top of my head, that's all I can think of (always looking for suggestions). They say familiarity breeds contempt, but I've never agreed with that. However, perhaps at this point, I've had the maximum number of viewings one can have with a legitimately fear-producing film before it loses its power. Not to mention, if you add all the lampooning of key scenes from The Exorcist in comedy sketches and pop culture, I'm afraid I may lay this one to rest.
**
Playlist from the last few days:
Type O Negative - Dead Again
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me
The Obsessed - Lunar Womb
Boy Harsher - Careful
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Billy Idol - Greatest Hits
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
Deth Crux - Pears of Anguish EP
Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim
The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
Ministry - Psalm 69
Black Pumas - Eponymous
The Dead Milkmen - The King in Yellow
The Misfits - American Psycho
Card of the Day:
Is this banging my head against the wall or the edict I should move beyond my frustrations and continue to work toward my goal? Number two, always.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Goblin - Tenebrae
What better way to build up to Halloween than some Goblin, from the 2013 Tour E.P.
**
31 Days of Horror:
10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31
10/02: Lords of Chaos
10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1
10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3
10/05: Bliss/VFW
10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog
10/07: Halloween 2018
10/08: Hell House, LLC
10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)
10/10: Creepshow Episode 3
10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)
10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena
10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
10/21: Uncanny Annie
10/22: Scream
10/23: Simpsons 666: Treehouse of Horror
10/24: Jennifer's Body
10/25: Belzebuth/The Lighthouse/Halloween
10/26: Murder Party
10/27: AHS 1984 Ep. 6/Arsenic and Old Lace/The Fair Haired Child (Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 9)
10/28: May
**
Playlist from 10/28:
Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets
Type O Negative - October Rust
Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim
Fields of the Nephilim -
Alice in Chains - Eponymous
Dead Milkmen - The King in Yellow
Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave - Phantasm OST
Goblin - 2013 Tour E.P.
Nachtmystium - As Made 7"
Claudio Simonetti - Phenomena OST
**
No card today.
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
10/21: Uncanny Annie
10/22: Scream
10/23: Simpsons 666: Treehouse of Horror
10/24: Jennifer's Body
10/25: Belzebuth/The Lighthouse/Halloween
10/26: Murder Party
10/27: AHS 1984 Ep. 6/Arsenic and Old Lace/The Fair Haired Child (Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 9)
10/28: May
**
Playlist from 10/28:
Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets
Type O Negative - October Rust
Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim
Fields of the Nephilim -
Alice in Chains - Eponymous
Dead Milkmen - The King in Yellow
Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave - Phantasm OST
Goblin - 2013 Tour E.P.
Nachtmystium - As Made 7"
Claudio Simonetti - Phenomena OST
**
No card today.
Monday, October 28, 2019
Sunn O))) Pyroclasts
The description of this album is one of the more intriguing musical ideas I've seen expressed by any band in recent memory. This is kind of what I wish Tool had to say about Fear Inoculum; a band's Intent with a given piece of music can completely alter the way I look it/listen to it. I used to think Tool thought this deeply about their music. I am no longer sure of that, in regard to Maynard and the boys. Sunn O))), however, continue to express the hell out of me.
Also, recorded by Steve Albini. Always a damn good thing.
You can pre-order Pyroclasts at Southern Lord Records HERE.
**
31 Days of Horror:
10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31
10/02: Lords of Chaos
10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1
10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3
10/05: Bliss/VFW
10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog
10/07: Halloween 2018
10/08: Hell House, LLC
10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)
10/10: Creepshow Episode 3
10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)
10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena
10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
10/21: Uncanny Annie
10/22: Scream
10/23: Simpsons 666: Treehouse of Horror
10/24: Jennifer's Body
10/25: Belzebuth/The Lighthouse/Halloween
10/26: Murder Party
10/27: AHS 1984 Ep. 6/Arsenic and Old Lace/(The Fair Haired Child Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 9)
**
Playlist from 10/27:
Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim
Billy Idol - Greatest Hits
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets
**
Card of the day:
I needed this, which seems to be a running theme with my Pulls of late. A direct reference to a short I've been picking at for almost a year; I finished it, realized the story had gotten away from what I intended (in a bad way), and have periodically gone back and re-worked it over and over. I nearly finished it last night, and when later mentioned the new direction to K, who expressed bewilderment that I had removed some of her favorite elements. In thinking about it, I realize the story was all but finished last year, my real problem was with the ending, which I should be able to synthesize if I go back and master all of the ingredients along the way.
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
10/21: Uncanny Annie
10/22: Scream
10/23: Simpsons 666: Treehouse of Horror
10/24: Jennifer's Body
10/25: Belzebuth/The Lighthouse/Halloween
10/26: Murder Party
10/27: AHS 1984 Ep. 6/Arsenic and Old Lace/(The Fair Haired Child Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 9)
**
Playlist from 10/27:
Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim
Billy Idol - Greatest Hits
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets
**
Card of the day:
I needed this, which seems to be a running theme with my Pulls of late. A direct reference to a short I've been picking at for almost a year; I finished it, realized the story had gotten away from what I intended (in a bad way), and have periodically gone back and re-worked it over and over. I nearly finished it last night, and when later mentioned the new direction to K, who expressed bewilderment that I had removed some of her favorite elements. In thinking about it, I realize the story was all but finished last year, my real problem was with the ending, which I should be able to synthesize if I go back and master all of the ingredients along the way.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
This is One Awesome F#&king Evil Dead Fan Film!
Praise be to the might Bloody Disgusting for plastering this one on their front page, right where it belongs! Not sure what to even say. Talk about inspiring. Courtlan Gourdan did this in 72 hours for $200? It might be time to finally think seriously about making the Short Film I've had planned for a few years now.
**
On Friday, October 18th, I had the members of The Horror Vision Podcast over to record an episode that started out with a planned viewing/reaction to Babak Anvari's Wounds. However, things slipped from my grasp - the battery meter on our Recording Device read a solid three out of four lines for not one but two pairs of batteries, only to die unexpectedly. The delay pushed back the viewing until we missed our spot to have everyone present participate, and realistically we were down my Left Hand Man Anthony, so the night just ran into random horror film conversations. Which was definitely cool in its own right, hence why I took the time to stitch together a mostly coherent episode and put it online. In listening back to it, there's one rough edit where two different conversations unexpectedly bleed into one another, and you can absolutely hear my up-at-four-AM ass lose steam somewhere near the middle of the episode, but overall, pretty solid discussion. Check it out, and we should have another new one up sometime real soon.
The Horror Vision on Apple
The Horror Vision on Spotify
The Horror Vision on Google Play
**
31 Days of Horror:
10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31
10/02: Lords of Chaos
10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1
10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3
10/05: Bliss/VFW
10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog
10/07: Halloween 2018
10/08: Hell House, LLC
10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)
10/10: Creepshow Episode 3
10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)
10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena
10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
10/21: Uncanny Annie
10/22: Scream
10/23: Simpsons 666: Treehouse of Horror
10/24: Jennifer's Body
10/25: Belzebuth/The Lighthouse/Halloween
10/26: Murder Party
**
Playlist for 10/26:
Tones on Tail - Everything
Oh Baby - The Art of Sleeping Alone
Drab Majesty - Modern Mirror
Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir - Like a Ship (Without a Sail)
Underworld - Beaucoup Fish
Zombi - Shape Shift
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Ghost - Infestissumam
The Doobie Brothers - What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits
**
Card of the day:
Interesting. I've been warring with myself for the last twelve hours or so, over an awkward social situation that blasted my night in splinters last night. Well, a series of them really, culminating with an almost telekinetic manifestation of the anxiety I've been carrying with me for a few days. Lots of stress right now, at work and in life. This Pull is a nice indication I should let it go.
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
10/21: Uncanny Annie
10/22: Scream
10/23: Simpsons 666: Treehouse of Horror
10/24: Jennifer's Body
10/25: Belzebuth/The Lighthouse/Halloween
10/26: Murder Party
**
Playlist for 10/26:
Tones on Tail - Everything
Oh Baby - The Art of Sleeping Alone
Drab Majesty - Modern Mirror
Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir - Like a Ship (Without a Sail)
Underworld - Beaucoup Fish
Zombi - Shape Shift
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Ghost - Infestissumam
The Doobie Brothers - What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits
**
Card of the day:
Interesting. I've been warring with myself for the last twelve hours or so, over an awkward social situation that blasted my night in splinters last night. Well, a series of them really, culminating with an almost telekinetic manifestation of the anxiety I've been carrying with me for a few days. Lots of stress right now, at work and in life. This Pull is a nice indication I should let it go.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
The Art of Sleeping Alone at The Lighthouse
Recently picked this up from Burning Witches Records, which is distributed via Mondo/Death Waltz. Super cool electro album. With all the metal I've been listening to lately, I needed a new album like this.
**
K and I saw The Lighthouse yesterday. Hmm. A lot to unpack. I'll link to my Letterbxd review HERE, and go on to say I've heard quite a few movies described as "a descent into madness" before, but this might be the most descending of any of those. Beautifully filmed. I mean beautifully. Looks like a movie from the 30s, even right down to the aspect ratio. If you're interested, see it in the theatre. Just for the shots of the waves breaking against the rocks.
31 Days of Horror:
10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31
10/02: Lords of Chaos
10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1
10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3
10/05: Bliss/VFW
10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog
10/07: Halloween 2018
10/08: Hell House, LLC
10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)
10/10: Creepshow Episode 3
10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)
10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena
10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
10/21: Uncanny Annie
10/22: Scream
10/23: Simpsons 666: Treehouse of Horror
10/24: Jennifer's Body
10/25: Belzebuth/The Lighthouse/Halloween
**
This past Wednesday I did another signing/release party for Shadow Play Book One: Kim and Jessie at The Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach, and it went very well! I sold almost every copy of both Kim and Jessie and my first book, A Collection of Desires: 7 Tales of Modern Horror. I also moved quite a few Kindle copies of the new book, which was by design; trying to hit the new and noteworthy chart. Special thanks to Mike, Jun, Ben, Gerald, Luis, and all those awesome Comic Bug people, not to mention everyone that came out to support me.
**
Playlist from the last few days:
John Carpenter/Alan Howarth - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST
Tones on Tail - Everything
Oh Baby - The Art of Sleeping Alone
Ulver - Teachings in Silence
Ritual Howls - Their Body EP
Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor
The Veils - Total Depravity
Sleep - The Sciences
The Sword - Age of Winters
Ministry - Filth Pig
1000 Homo DJs - Hey Asshole
Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin
The Nukes - Why Things Burn
Bauhaus - The Skys Gone Out
**
Card of the day:
Both a reminder to listen to Sisters of Mercy today, and, despite having work today and the best Halloween party of the year tonight, a reminder to indulge a little of my creative energy today.
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
10/21: Uncanny Annie
10/22: Scream
10/23: Simpsons 666: Treehouse of Horror
10/24: Jennifer's Body
10/25: Belzebuth/The Lighthouse/Halloween
**
This past Wednesday I did another signing/release party for Shadow Play Book One: Kim and Jessie at The Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach, and it went very well! I sold almost every copy of both Kim and Jessie and my first book, A Collection of Desires: 7 Tales of Modern Horror. I also moved quite a few Kindle copies of the new book, which was by design; trying to hit the new and noteworthy chart. Special thanks to Mike, Jun, Ben, Gerald, Luis, and all those awesome Comic Bug people, not to mention everyone that came out to support me.
Thanks to K for the picture! |
Playlist from the last few days:
John Carpenter/Alan Howarth - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST
Tones on Tail - Everything
Oh Baby - The Art of Sleeping Alone
Ulver - Teachings in Silence
Ritual Howls - Their Body EP
Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor
The Veils - Total Depravity
Sleep - The Sciences
The Sword - Age of Winters
Ministry - Filth Pig
1000 Homo DJs - Hey Asshole
Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin
The Nukes - Why Things Burn
Bauhaus - The Skys Gone Out
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Card of the day:
Both a reminder to listen to Sisters of Mercy today, and, despite having work today and the best Halloween party of the year tonight, a reminder to indulge a little of my creative energy today.
Monday, October 21, 2019
A Tale of Two Lions
I finally made it around to really listening to the new Jenny Hval album, The Practice of Love. Wow. The opening track, Lions, put me through a range of reactions, but I came out loving it. I feel like Ms. Hval is involved in a less ostentatious reclaiming of some of the forgotten musical detritus of 80s and 90s Pop, recontextualizing formerly garrish beats and tones in new ways, kind of like what the Hypongogic Pop sound was doing ten years ago, but smoother.
The opening track, which I've posted above, immediately made me think of Tones on Tail, as they're perpetually on my mind this time of year and I haven't listened to them nearly enough yet. Here's a live version of their song Lions; I'm always amazed when I find shit like this on youtube and see it has under one hundred views.
You can order the Jenny Hval from Sacred Bones Records HERE, and if you're unacquainted with Tones on Tail (the first and, in my opinion, best of the bands that three-fourths of Bauhaus created after splitting with Peter Murphy), find the aptly titled Everything double disc. It is fantastic.
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31 Days of Horror:
10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31
10/02: Lords of Chaos
10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1
10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3
10/05: Bliss/VFW
10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog
10/07: Halloween 2018
10/08: Hell House, LLC
10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)
10/10: Creepshow Episode 3
10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)
10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena
10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
Despite what I'd heard over the last few years since its release, K and I followed a viewing of Sinister with the sequel, and I loved it. Definitely not as good as the original, Sinister 2 is still pretty freaking solid. Also, one of my takeaways from the original was how James Ransone's Deputy So-and-So is one of the best-supporting characters in a horror flick in years, so I loved that the sequel stayed with him and what happened to him as a result of the first movie's outcome.
**
Playlist from 10/20:
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
Ulver - Teachings in Silence
**
Card of the day:
After the creative, relaxing, and enjoyable weekend, K and I tried to take a few moments to be mindful that we have good lives. If that's not wealth, I don't know what is.
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
Despite what I'd heard over the last few years since its release, K and I followed a viewing of Sinister with the sequel, and I loved it. Definitely not as good as the original, Sinister 2 is still pretty freaking solid. Also, one of my takeaways from the original was how James Ransone's Deputy So-and-So is one of the best-supporting characters in a horror flick in years, so I loved that the sequel stayed with him and what happened to him as a result of the first movie's outcome.
**
Playlist from 10/20:
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
Ulver - Teachings in Silence
**
Card of the day:
After the creative, relaxing, and enjoyable weekend, K and I tried to take a few moments to be mindful that we have good lives. If that's not wealth, I don't know what is.
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