This new Chromatics video popped in my youtube feed yesterday. Directed by Johnny Jewel, this is a really cool piece that expertly masks what I have to assume is a low production budget. As with his music, Jewel knows his style and tone and has become at creating and adhering to it on the cheap. NOT a criticism.
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Friday night I saw Ready or Not. FANTASTIC! Go see this one - Dark, fun, and gory in all the right places. More of my thoughts - as well as the thoughts of two of my Horror Vision co-hosts - will go up later today in our new episode. I will post a link on tomorrow's page, but in the interim, here's the trailer again. So good.
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Today is day three of my Dead Milkmen Appreciation Week. This time, I'm shooting for what is most likely an obvious favorite of all Milkmen fans, Stuart, from 1988's Beelzebubba. This track basically constitutes the sonic equivalent of comfort food for me.
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Back on Laird Barron's Black Mountain, 50+ pages in, The Croatoan is a fascinating boogey man.
Being that both Isaiah Coleridge novels were released a year apart starting in 2018, I'm really hoping Mr. Barron is going for a hat trick and that a third hits next year. Coleridge is a fantastic character in both definition and execution, and his supporting cast is no less endearing, so it's only a matter of time until someone scoops this up for a series.
Playlist from 8/24:
The Dead Milkmen - The King in Yellow
Perturbator - Dangerous Days
Perturbator - B-Sides and Remixes
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Nabihah Iqbal - Weighing of the Heart
Card of the day:
Because my world currently revolves around my Art, and the alchemical act of balancing it with my regular life (two faces).
Based on a story by Channel Zero creator Nick Antosca and produced by Guillermo del Toro, this looks fantastic! I know a lot of hype out there right now in upcoming horror flicks is for The Lodge, but that one doesn't get the benefit of the doubt from me, simply because, as well-made as Goodnight Mommy was, I severely disliked it in a manner that makes me think Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz's horror aesthetic is diametrically opposed to my own. Not a judgement, just means while I can appreciate their craft as creators, I'm not a fan. But who knows, maybe The Lodge will change that. Regardless, this teaser and the names on the banner push this one up there with Joe Begos' Bliss and Chelsea Stardust's Satanic Panic as among my most anticipated horror flicks of the year.
Oh yeah, and of course there's The Lighthouse, but that bloody well goes without saying. With a schedule announcement imminent any day now, looks like I may have to take some PTO for Beyondfest this year.
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I've put a pin in Damien Echol's High Magick for a bit because I'm actually following his suggestions as I re-map my daily world to accommodate Magickal Practice. I will be spending a few months creating and adhering to some of the breathing practices he outlines in Section Three of the book. This is something I've always been bad at, and I think, the reason my results have been spotty in the past. This time, I can tell you that keeping a regular practice of Four-Fold Breathing has filled my last three weeks with sometimes scary reserves of energy. It feels good.
Speaking of reading, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I arrested my first read of Laird Barron's second Isaiah Coleridge novel, Black Mountain, to re-read last year's Blood Standard. For a book I first read barely a year ago, this is already my favorite read of the year. For the second year in a row. I can't wait to dig into that second volume, probably by week's end!
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I spent the last few days in Joshua Tree. First trek out there in four, almost five years. It feels good to stand and sweat in the desert, as it catalyzes a very cosmic perspective.
We stayed at the Joshua Tree Inn, of course, in the fabled Donovan Suite, no less. It goes without saying then that I christened the room with this classic track, first put on my radar by George A. Romero's criminally underrated Season of the Witch:
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On podcast news, my co-host Anthony Guerra and I released a brief review episode for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and 47 Meters Down: Uncaged. Spoiler-free. Check it out, we might save you some $$$:
Playlist from the last few days was largely curated by my cousin Charles, who drive K and I out to JT, so some of the specifics of what we listened to is lost. I'll do my best:
Donovan - Season of the Witch (Single)
Calexico - Even Sure Things Fall Through
Kevin Morby - Oh My God
William Tyler - Modern Country
Whitney - Light Upon the Lake
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
Al B. Sure! - Nite and Day (Single)
Jenny Hval - Blood Bitch
Chris Connelly - Night of Your Life
Hamilton Leithauser - Black Hours
Daniel Rossen - Silent Hour/Golden Mile EP
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Jaye Jayle - No Trail and Other Unholy Paths
John Carpenter - Big Trouble in Little China OST
I've kind of come to think of this band as the American version of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. In a very short period of time, Jaye Jayle have endeared themselves to me in a way few bands do. It's the 'Storyteller' aspect.
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Unbelievably, after only three chapters I put Laird Barron's Black Mountain to the side. Nothing against the book, but I paused to reconsider re-reading last year's Blood Standard, the first Isaiah Coleridge novel. I tend to forget things - character's names and whatnot, and in the case of books like these, they're so f'ing pleasurable to read, why not? Anyway, while I paused to consider this maneuver, I picked up Damien Echols' High Magick, and it dovetails so perfectly with my recent rekindling of Magick Practice, that I'm going to knock it out before going back to the Barron books.
A fantastic book on Magick; probably the most approachable example I've seen since Phil Hine or Grant Morrison's old Pop Magick essay on his website, except Echols' book is even more approachable, without ever giving an impression other than he knows exactly what he's talking about. And this is great for me at the moment; there's such a sense of pragmatism, unlike any other author I've read on the subject of Magick.
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Playlist from 8/07:
Shrinebuilder - Eponymous
Anthrax - Stomp 442
Algiers - The Underside of Power
The Flaming Lips - Hit to Death in the Future Head
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Waxwork Records - House of Waxwork Issue #1
Jaye Jayle - Soline (Single)
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Today's spread:
Queen of Swords AGAIN! Couple this with Princess of Wands and we're looking at the Earthy Aspect of Fire - the Practical honing of Intellect - and the Watery Aspect of Fire - the Emotional temperance of that same Intellect. I'm trying to put together where my Intellect - some flexing of sharpened awareness or acumen - may have been exerted of late. Princess of Wands is a volatile card; I'm tempted to read this as a warning, that the path to those ten cups - an achievement in Earthly matters - will be rocky, but ultimately bested if I remain sharp like the Queen of Swords, who I believe I am going to take on as something of a Deity.
I've been waiting this one for what feels like an eternity! Written by Grady "My Best Friend's Exorcism" Hendrix and directed by Chelsea Stardust, Satanic Panic is possibly my most eagerly anticipated film of the year. And now we finally have a trailer! This, along with Joe Begos' Bliss and a host of other films I can't quite bring to mind at the moment are all looking likely to play at Beyondfest this year, and I can't wait!
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Recently, I wrapped up Robert S. Wilson's Ashes and Entropy Anthology from Nightscape Press. The final story, I Can Give You Life, by Paul Michael Anderson finished the book perfectly, and - I think - ended up my favorite story in a book filled with stories that rabidly competed for that title. Either way, buy it HERE and read your goddamn hearts out; Anthologies do not get any better than this.
And now, of course, I need a new book to read. Luckily, I have one I've been chompin' at the bit to get to for months. Black Mountain, Laird Barron's second installment in the Isaiah Coleridge novels, and three chapters in I can't put this one down.
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Playlist from the last few days:
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets
Motörhead - 1916
Aerosmith - Pump
Anthrax - Sound of White Noise
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The Night Creeper
U2 - War
Tool - Undertow
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Pusher Man (Single)
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Mind Control
Frank Sinatra - Moonlight Serenade
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Card of the day:
Okay, this one is definitely trying to tell me something, and I've been pretty lax on listening. A promotion at work and the first draft of Ciazarn has consumed most of my time. Today we're heading to Midsummer Scream, but I'm putting Crowley's Book of Thoth in my backpack so I can start digging into this one a little more earnestly.
I totally missed that Laird Barron's new novel, Black Mountain, came out this past Tuesday. I cannot wait to read this. As the second in his new, hopefully ongoing, Isaiah Colerige series, this promises to be another fantastic read, just like last year's Blood Standard.
Mr. Barron's website is HERE, and you can buy the book from a local brick-n-mortar bookstore if you're lucky enough to still have one, or order it HERE.
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Playlist from 5/08:
Various Artists - Singles OST
Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch - Twin Peaks: FWWM OST
Bad Luck - Four
Atrium Carceri - Cellblock
Ghost - Prequelle
Ghost - Infestissumam
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
Opeth - Blackwater Park
I've always been a bit on the fence when it comes to Black Mountain. Not sure why, but it very well could just be a case of not having spent enough time with them. Whatever the case, I'm digging this new song the band dropped off their upcoming album Destroyer, out May 24th on Jagjaguwar. Pre-order the album HERE.
Finally heeded all of the recommendations to go see Spider-man: into the Spiderverse last night. BLOWN AWAY. The animation was revolutionary, a far cry from anything that all the pixars of the world put up on the big screen. I never read Brian Michael Bendis' Ultimate Spider-man past the first trade back in the day, so while I've been peripherally aware of Miles Morales since he took over the Spiderman persona in the former Ultimate Universe, I'd never actually engaged with him as a character in a story.
He is marvelous.
As much as I grew up with and will always have a soft spot for Peter Parker, this is the Spiderman of the future. I'm reminded of Grant Morrison's run on Batman and Robin, where Bruce Wayne was dead and Dick Greyson took over the Batsuit, with Damien Wayne as his Robin. Brilliant arc, and Morrison spoke on Kevin Smith's Fatman on Batman podcast about how he told DC that Bruce should stay dead, and that Dick and Damien were the team for the new millennium. And of course, DC ignored him. Status Quo - the staunchest villain to the medium of comics ever. Marvel has, of course, figured out ways to keep all their Spider-characters going, but with the emphasis on Miles in this film, they're clearly hedging their bets on him, as though they heeded Morrison's advice for their own major flagship property.
Playlist from 3/09:
Windhand - Eternal Return
Playlist from 3/10:
Firewater - The Ponzi Scheme
AC/DC - Highway to Hell
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The Night Creeper
Twin Temple - Twin Temple (Bring You Their Signature Sound... Satanic Doo-Wop)
Chromatics - Camera
Noctural Projections - Complete Studio Recordings
Card for the day:
Nine = Yesod: the fields fo imagination, reflection, and foundation, where you can root your creation in firm soil and sit back and let it breath on its own. This pull is telling me I'm pretty much finished and need to prepare to release the book. It's a bit ahead of the actual workload being completed, but close enough to be a sound reminder not to overthink things.
I've been hitting the Calexico pretty hard since Mr. Brown gifted me that Twentieth Anniversary vinyl edition of The Black Light. Their 2001 album Even Sure Things Fall Through still holds its place as my favorite record by the band, opening its sonic maw and swallowing me multiple times yesterday morning, a nice ending to 2018 that should help me segue into a peaceful and creative 2019.
2019, eh? Insert trite colloquialism about how fast the hands of the clock move here.
I finished 2018 reading the eldritch horrors of August Derleth, only to began 2019 reading about the real-life horrors of hatred in Christian Picciolini's autobiography White American Youth, a memoir of a youth spent organizing racial hatred in America and how the author escaped before it was too late.
I can't put this book down. Picciolini's raw, unpleasant accounts are sociologically fascinating, but also enlightening in a true WTF way, as his accounts of places I know in the city I grew up in pave the way for my own personal realization to the dark underbelly of a burgeoning national hate movement in 90s Southside Chicago. A movement that was happening parallel to my own group of friends and our interest in Chicago punk rock. I didn't know Picciolini, but he was something of a boogey man in my youth. The skinhead thug brother-in-law of a high school friend whose house we partied at pretty much 24/7 Junior year, there was always frightened whisperings that while we filled my friend's two-level home with bong smoke, Picciolini might show up at any moment with a Buick of skinheads bent on kicking our scrawny asses for 'polluting our precious white bodies with drugs from the inner city.' The book and Picciolini's evolution out of the skinhead movement, his formation of the non-profit organization Life After Hateand itsdedication to fighting racism, were a total surprise to me; Mr. Brown sent me a copy of the book last March, the first I'd heard Christian's name in twenty-five years.
I've begun and discarded several television shows recently; FX's Legion came highly recommended, but after four over-wrought episodes, ultimately just annoyed me. And the SyFy adaptation of Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson's Happy proved to be the funniest thing I've seen in yeaaaars for two episodes and then just kind of left me uninterested (I may go back to it; it's that funny). Finally K and I went back to Channel Zero: Candle Cove. We started this one before we left for Chicago and then kind of forgot about it. While there's some rough edges to the overall presentation, conceptually Candle Cove is right up my alley, and I'm eager to wrap up this first season and see how good the Anthology series becomes as popularity increases and, reciprocally, so does the show's budget.
Here's a clip of the titular phantom kid's show that runs through the first season storyline of Channel Zero; something about the close-up superimpositions of the character's faces freaks me right the fuck out:
Oh wow, and I almost forgot. Last night I realized for the first time that May 2019 brings another Laird Barron Isaiah Coleridge novel! The new literally made my New Year's Eve! You can pre-order Black Mountainhere.
Playlist from 12/31:
Calexico - Even Sure Things Fall Through
Mark Ronson - Version
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley
Graham Reznick - Robophasia
Iggy Pop - The Idiot
Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog
Anthrax - Persistence of Time
Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Sunset Mission
Card of the year:
Interestingly enough, both K and I received the same card. Spiritually aligned. The big idea here is the saving of money (both pulls of XVII were preceded by Princess of Swords, as if to help direct the reading). To quote from a source, "Make your plans for the future and risk a new beginning in which you set long-term goals."
