I'll be totally honest - I totally forgot this record came out. Loading it into Apple Music and going to hit it later tonight, but if the production on "The Company" is any indication, this one is stunning. ERR's voice already has an ethereal quality to it, but this really raw, up-close feeling makes listening to her sing almost voyeuristic.
Watch:
Just last week I was talking here about everything releasing on November 19th, but it wasn't until about an hour ago that I realized, HOLY COW - that's in three days! That means Cowboy Bebop is in THREE DAYS!!!
Here's musical genius Yoko Kanno going behind the scenes on the music for the show, which is the best music from any show ever.
Wow. I know what I'm doing Friday.
Playlist:
Odonis Odonis - Post Plague
NIN - With Teeth
Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments
DEADLIFE - City of Eternal Rain
Bnny - Everything
Mastodon - Hushed and Grim
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
Card:
Well being. Completion. These things are normally very abstract concepts in my readings, as I tend to interpret everything as being about my writing. However, writing has suffered, what with this insane work schedule, the massive open loop of the move looming, and the often debilitating exhaustion that has come with both of these. I get down about this, and that adds to the weight of things, but then I draw a card like this and realize I'm in control of how much these things affect me. I don't have to stay ten hours at work. I don't have to obsess over the move. I can fight back and clear some time and headspace for myself.
New music from Emma Ruth Rundle, off the fourth-coming album Engine of Hell. Pre-order HERE.
31 Days of Halloween:
1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)
2) The Mutilator
3) Demons
4) Vortex
5) Possession
6) The Black Phone
7) Slumber Party Massacre
8) Antlers
9) No One Gets Out Alive
10) Nightmare on Elm Street 84*
11) Nightmare on Elm Street 2010
* Followed by The Movies That Made Us: Nightmare on Elm Street; not a Horror flick, but worth noting
Playlist:
The Ritual Howls - Into the Water
Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers + Queers
Trouble - Snake Eyes (single)
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me
Ghost - Prequelle
Dr. John - Remedies
King Woman - Celestial Blues
Steve Morse - VFW OST
Type O Negative - Origin of the Feces
Type O Negative - World Coming Down
Type O Negative - October Rust
Specimen - Azoic
The Final Cut - Consumed
The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim
The Wake (US) - Nine Ways
Anthrax - Spreading The Disease
Unto Others - Mana
Card:
Always a welcome image, although I really have no idea how to interpret this at the moment. Things have been slow AF since I returned from Nashville/Chicago. As I write this, it's the first time I've been able to sit down and work on writing. The day job has been difficult, to say the least, and it's draining my creative juices on a pretty much continuous fashion. Ad to that almost a week straight of Beyonfest - NOT complaining - and I just haven't had time to set anything up for success.
I know I just posted the song, but there was no way I wasn't going to post what might just be my favorite music video in the last decade. It's the rare case where the visuals actually add to the meaning and impact of the song. These two artists are at the top of their game and cranking out material - all of it awesome! Again, I'll echo the sentiment I did the last time I posted this and hope there's an album or EP on the way.
Watch:
K and I did the Netflix Crime Scene: Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel over the last two nights. Wow- this should have been a two-hour documentary, but instead, the creators padded it out with A LOT of really infuriating conjecture and nonsense from the 'web sleuth' community. I would unilaterally detest this community, if not for the side of it on display in the HBO doc I'll Be Gone in the Dark. The difference appears to be one of talent and drive - Michelle McNamara and her immediate confidants within the community are clearly light-years beyond the people spouting obvious banalities in the Cecil doc. Either way, the doc starts pretty good, has a fascinating story at its heart, and ends up finishing a lot better than the middle would have suggested it would.
If nothing else, watching this has made me rabid to re-watch American Horror Story: Hotel, still my favorite season of the five I've seen. Based largely on the Cecil, it will be cool to go back and watch it with the real-world inspiration fresh in mind.
Playlist:
Tomahawk - Tonic Immobility (Single)
King Woman - Doubt EP
King Woman - Created in the Image of Suffering
The Blueflowers - Relapse EP
The Veils - Time Stays, We Go
Vel Indica - Turn Off Your Devices
Def Leppard - Pyromania
Small Black - Duplex (Single)
Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Lard - Pure Chewing Satisfaction
Depeche Mode - Essentials
Genghis Tron - Deam Weapon (Single)
Genghis Tron - Cloak of Love EP
Genghis Tron - Board Up the House
Ghost - Infestissumam
Ghost - Opus Eponymous
John Carpenter - Lost Themes III: Alive After Death
Card:
Recognizing the powers in the Universe you cannot contest, and having the heart to allow them to move you. I'm sure that my fortune cookie-esque reading has something to do with the renewed approach I've taken to Shadow Play Book Two, and the fact that while I was away finishing Murder Virus, it has somewhat changed - for the better. Still, changing things at this stage is daunting, even if it means the story will be better. However, as the card says, recognize the powers that move you and listen to what they're telling you.
Moments after finishing my first listen to Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou's entire new EP The Helm of Sorrow (I was holding out for my vinyl to arrive, but gave in), I log onto youtube and see the two Doom Goddess's have joined forces! Is Anhedonia a harbinger of a full-length to come?
I certainly hope so! In the meantime, I'll play the hell out of this track, because it rules.
A Most Horrible Library is the newest podcast under The Horror Vision umbrella, and my co-host Chris Saunders and I spent a good two hours last night on Zoom talking with comics writer/artist Jeremy Haun. Jeremy's recent book, The Red Mother, wrapped up with its twelfth issue, and I can tell you, it's fantastic. Especially if you're a Clive Barker or Dario Argento fan.
Jeremy is an extremely personable, and very interesting guy. He's a HUGE Horror fan - which endeared him to Chris and I immediately, and he has a bit of a mythology brewing that appears in a lot of what he writes. That mythology - the Four and Seven - also shows up in the short comic stories he publishes via his Patreon, which I subscribed to. Jeremy writes, draws, letters and inks these Haunthology books, and I'm super excited to read them because I'm a sucker for mythologies, and The Red Mother really made an impression on me.
Playlist:
Credence Clearwater Revival - Eponymous
Small Black - Best Blues
Tomahawk - Tonic Immobility (Pre-release single)
Tomahawk - Eponymous
Tomahawk - M.E.A.T. Single
The Jesus Lizard - Lash
The Jesus Lizard - Liar
The Soft Moon - Black Sabbath (Single)
The Soft Moon - Criminal
Dream Division - Beyond the Mirror's Image
Boy Harsher - Country Girl Uncut
Cocksure - K.K.E.P. EP
exhalants - Atonement
Gwar - Scumdogs of the Universe
The Replacements - Tim
Small Black - Duplex (Single)
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - The Helm of Sorrow
The Bangles - A Different Light
Drab Majesty - Careless
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
Card:
I'm writing this Thursday night and it's raining in LaLaLand. As you've no doubt heard me say before, that's pretty rare. I'm on New Retro New Wave tonight, splitting the decades between the 80s and the previous, jumping from The Bangles to Drab Majesty, to Deth Crux, all on vinyl. It's glorious, and I stop to have K try and take a photo of me standing in the rain with my Israeli Military issue gas mask, really just as an excuse to stand out in the rain for a while. When I come in, I draw this card.
I'm burned out from several insanely close COVID scares at work and all the stress that goes with them and the stupid fucking humans responsible. Luckily, by the time most of you read this, I'll be well into my Friday. Then I'll have a quick and painless (I hope) four hours on Saturday, and I'm off until Thursday. Five year anniversary with K on Monday, and three days to be even more of a Hermit than I already am. It will be glorious.
And I thought I really liked the lead release off May Our Chambers Be Full! This is killer, and I can't wait for the EP, which can be pre-ordered from Sacred Bones Records HERE.
Watch:
I'm really getting back into this Marvel thing:
Playlist:
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - Hollywood (pre-release single)
Yes please! Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou have a collaborative album coming from Sacred Bones, dropping on - how perfect - October 30th. You can pre-order May Our Chambers Be FullHERE.
**
NCBD today. It's been a few weeks since I've been in to collect my books, so I'm really going to try and make it in today.
First up is the second issue of Aftershock's Dead Day. It's been a minute since issue #1, so I'll no doubt re-read that first. As I'm sure I've said here a thousand times, I'm generally pretty exhausted with the Zombie genre, however, every once in a while something new comes along that gives it a fresh spin. This book appears to be doing just that.
Gideon Falls #24 - speaking of re-reading older issues, I really need to find the time to go back and start Gideon Falls over from the beginning. I'm keeping up with the story month to month just fine, however, I'd really like to experience everything thus far in a tight burst; this book is so freakin' out there, I really want to let its odd narrative wash over me and see what more I get out of it.
The second issue of Simon Furman and Guido Guidi's newest chapter in the Transformers original comic Universe that started in the 80s at Marvel hit the stands today, and already has me panting - look at that cover! Shockwave vs. Grimlock? I don't geek out over much that holds this beloved brand's name anymore, but these guys are definitely my window into that world.
Available July 3rd. Buy it on Bandcamp, and Ms. Rundle will receive all the proceeds, as 7/03/20 is another 'no fees' day for artists.
**
It's been about five or six years since I last listened to The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast, but I've been meaning to revisit it for some time now. I'm starting with Episode 37: The Shunned House, because honestly, this story came up elsewhere and I have no recollection of ever reading it.
This Lovecraft Amnesia isn't new; I began reading his work circa '92 or '93, when lyrical nods from Heavy Metal bands sent me in search of his work. At that time, it was nearly impossible to find Lovecraft's work in conventional bookstores - this predates Borders - and I ended up buying a copy of The Lurker At the Threshold at a local Record Swap store in Tinely Park, Il.
The shop had a kind of alternative press literary section, not very big at all and filled with titles like The Anarchist's Cookbook, and tomes written about the cinematic underground of Japan. Amidst those titles I came across Lurker, bought it, and promptly read it. It was't until years later I learned this was not a Lovecraft story proper - he'd helped initiate it - but was actually penned by his friend August Derleth, who functioned as a sort of understudy to H.P., eventually opening Arkham House Publishing after his mentor's death. Anyway, Del Rey began publishing cool paperback editions of Lovecraft's work shortly after that - the ones with the Michael Whelan covers - and that was how I initially read what I assumed was all Lovecraft's work. A lot of those stories didn't stick though, so that as years have passed, whenever I go back to them, it's always like I'm discovering them for the first time. After hearing a description of the climactic moments of The Shunned House though, I'm pretty sure I missed this one. I figured I'd brush up with the podcast, and dig into the story this weekend.
If you're a Lovecraft fan, The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast is absolutely worth your time. Also, Chad Fifer and Chris Lackey's wonderful analytical conversations are both fascinating and oddly soothing, making them possibly my favorite podcast hosts ever.
**
Playlist:
Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery
RY X - Unfurl
House of Pain - Same As It Ever Was
Orville Peck - Show Pony EP (pre-release tracks)
Andy Fosberry - Death Ship 2047
Ry X - Thunder (single)
Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST
Ritual Howls - Turkish Leather
Card:
The fiery aspect of Earth, which can be dangerous if not controlled. I think this is a warning in regards to the story I'm editing at the moment, which is giving me a bit of trouble, as it has off and on for well over a year now.
Well, it's been a few days. In fact, the interim between today's post and my previous one on Sunday is the longest I've gone without posting since I began the new format of this page shortly into 2018. This plague I have is no joke, and to top it off we're short at work, so I've had to go in the last few mornings. It's been half-sick days all week, which isn't bad, but half measures apparently are not going to give me the rest I need to beat this, so today I am just off, period.
I'm starting the day re-watching the above Emma Ruth Rundle documentary that Sargent Housedropped last week; makes me want to move back to the Midwest, if I'm being truthful. Although, if I'm being honest, many fleeting glances into other people's lives inspire that reaction in me; from visits home, to contemplation of friends who have beautiful homes and pay less in monthly mortgage payments by half than I pay to rent a small two-bedroom, to the idea of thunderstorms owning an entire season. The early scenes in this doc, those with everyone in the bar, even just the shot of the street outside the bar for that matter because there aren't bars in LA like that, these scenes make me homesick. Then again, I remind myself, it's only one aspect of myself that pines for these things, and as green as the faraway grass of Chicago, or Dayton, or Louisville looks from here in Los Angeles, I'm well aware I have a pretty awesome life set up here. Cost of living is a big check in the CON column, but there's a lot of PROs as well. This is the mental and emotional cost of daily life: the balancing act between all the wants and needs inside us. And I do a pretty good job, for the most part.
This doc also made me remember how much I like Young Widows. Been a while; you'll notice they begin to populate my daily listening again below.
**
Here's a shocker I just found out yesterday because I don't pay any attention to music award shows: High on Fire won a Grammy on Sunday. Holy shit; hell hath frozen over. And as much as I hate to solicit for a paradigm I detest, here's their acceptance footage, because even after watching it twice, I still can't believe it. That said, I feel like this is an Oscars-like, making-up-for-lost-time awarding, because although I dig Electric Messiah, I feel as though the band's truly groundbreaking and undeniable work is well behind them. Still, who'd have thought, eh? Better late than never...
Having now crested the half-way point in Ramsey Campbell's Alone with the Horrors, I've returned it to the shelf and decided to re-read a few of the stories in Thomas Ligotti's debut collections Songs of a Dead Dreamer/Grimscribe. There's a definite pedigree here; Ligotti is clearly influenced by Campbell, although not in an overly direct way. But there are some aesthetic through-lines I am interested in exploring here, and I'm enjoying this strange little path I've discovered for myself through some of the foundations of short-form modern Weird/Horror. It's definitely helping me understand tone and craft better.
I've watched quite a bit during my sick time. First up, Anthony from The Horror Vision recently gifted me a copy of Scream Factory's Scream Queens Double Feature: John Carpenter's The Fog, and Joe Dante's The Howling. It'd been a couple years since I'd seen The Howling, and I was curious to see the difference the transfer would make, so before watching it I did a quick A/B with my old DVD copy.
Wow. Folks, this is dangerous. Having only recently been converted to the merit of upgrading to Blu Ray - because I refuse to rebuy my collection on another format - I have to say, the difference is huge. So I watched The Howling and was enraptured by the clarity. I also did some reading about transfer technology and what not (Blu-Ray.com is a near limitless source for that), and I have to say, I won't be replacing everything, but some films for sure. Army of Darkness for instance, or at least the DVD copy I have of the Director's Cut, is a laughable transfer; seriously, this was one of the first films I noticed issues on, two years ago when I excitedly sat down to show K the original Evil Dead trilogy. We made it to the third installment and I realized the picture was so bad it looked like we were watching the film on a crappy old tv in 1978 during an electrical storm. I mean, it's garbage.
Army of Darkness isn't a film I can't live without; it's easily my least favorite of all Ash Williams vehicles, but it's an iconic gem and one I want in my collection. But not this terrible transfer. Because, the idea isn't about constantly upgrading and rebuying, it's about Film Preservation. And while I'm not sure if I have to nitpick over the differences between the $10 AOD Blu Ray that Scream Factory released and the $30 one, having all three versions of the film is important to me, so it's going to have to be the $30. But that purchase is down the road, perhaps when one of SF's sales comes up. I'm still trying like hell to save money, and doing a fairly good job doing it, which is precisely why all the information available about transfers and clarity is, as I said at the outset, dangerous.
After The Howling, I changed pace and watched Jim Jarmusch's Paterson. Wow. One of the best films I've seen in a while, and one of my favorite of Jarmusch's to date; he has such a sense of forgiveness, community, and humanity that comes through in his work, that I feel like this film actually helped heal some black, sticky stuff that was left inside me after a falling out I had back in August last year. So good. I'm not posting a trailer, because there's no way a trailer could tell you anything about this film. Just watch it; Paterson is an Amazon-funded film, and thus available on Prime for free.
Next, I finally got around to Werner Herzog's Nosferatu: The Vampyre. I don't always understand or gel with Herzog's style, but he has such a knack for balancing pragmatism with artistic flourish that I always enjoy his films, even if only after they've ended and I'm re-thinking them. That might be the case here. Let's stick with the poster thing, I'm starting to hate trailers:
Finally, with all these long stretches of time on my hands, I thought I'd get around to one of the longer flicks that has been on my list forever, namely, Derek Cianfrance's 2012 MASTERPIECE, The Place Beyond the Pines. This film was enormous to me; a familial crime epic that blew me away and capped my cinema for the day yesterday because, how the hell do you follow something that BIG? And hell, Mike Patton does the score, and I can say this not just as a fan of his but as a fan of cinema scores: fantastically done, Mr. Patton.
Playlists have been tiny, so instead of doing a day-by-day, I'm summate thusly:
Playlist from Sunday, 2/10-Tuesday, 2/12:
SQÜRL - Paterson OST
David Zinman, Dawn Upshaw & London Sinfonietta - Gorecki: Symphony #3, Op 36 "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs": I. Lento - Sostenuto tranquillo ma cantabile
Young Widows - Settle Down City
Young Widows - Old Wounds
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Windhand - Eternal Return
Morphine - The Night
Secret Chiefs 3 Traditionalists - Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini
Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch - An Attempt to Draw Aside the Veil
John Carpenter - Lost Themes
Card of the day:
I'm hoping this is a reminder of the past few days, and not a harbinger of more oppressive illness to come.
Still haven't had a chance to sit down and ingest that Emma Ruth Rundle. Hopefully today.
Funny: That makes me think that way back HERE in April I was holding out listening to the latest Sleep record for a quiet moment where I could smoke and quietly absorb the record on vinyl. Well, I still have not heard more than a note or two on The Sciences. The one time I made it to Fingerprints to look for the vinyl they were out, and the quiet, stoned alone time is a fleeting commodity. I may just break down and order the fucker off Amazon, but I had this entire scenario built in my head for buying the new, unexpected Sleep album at an actual record store, and then sitting with it the way I sometimes - not so much any more - sit with brand new records from bands I love, undivided attention focused as the first listen washes over me...
Hopeless music romantic, or curmudgeon? You decide.
Drinking with Comics was a blast last night, even though I really didn't get to talk about one of the main things I wanted to talk about: re-reading the first six issues of Gideon Falls. This book is spectacular, and feels so close to HBO level execution that I honestly feel the experience of consuming it is less like reading a comic and more like watching True Detective (season 1, of course). Not that there's any overlap story-wise; you know how Warren Ellis makes extremely widescreen, cinematic comics that feel very much like you're 'watching' them on a big screen? Well, Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino, and Dave Stewart have created something similar, but it's an analog to the micro-screen revolution that has served as the only viable, professional, top-tier level outlet for dramatic roles since Disney and the franchise machine stole Hollywood from us. Gideon Falls will no doubt be converted to a cable show soon, and reading it again, I realize the blueprint for that show exists perfectly in the comic.
Playlist from yesterday:
Earth - Primitive and Deadly
White Lung - Eponymous
Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer
Windhand - Split EP
Touche Amore - Eponymous
King Woman - Doubt EP
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST
Card of the day:
Face value for sure. Busy few weeks. Today is a day dedicated to my baby!
Last night, I scored a ticket to the Southern Lord 20th Anniversary show coming up on November 18th. Sunn O))) is the only announced act at this point in time - I've never seen them live and the show is at the Echoplex, so there was no debating my attendance. That said, I'm holding out hope a Burning Witch reunion might be in the works, so I'm throwing this live performance out to the Universe as a suggestion/nudge. Let's see if it works.
New Emma Ruth Rundle dropped today; I woke up to find it loaded in my Apple Music. Can't wait to chow down on this one later today, preferably at night, stoned. I have make it through work and Drinking with Comics first though.
I have it on good authority the new Predator movie is not good. My friend Anthony sent me a text about it last night directly after leaving the theatre. I trust Anthony's opinion 100%, so despite my initial fervor, I will now be skipping it.
Playlist from 9/13:
Pallbearer - Fear & Fury EP
Type O Negative - October Rust
Type O Negative - Dead Again
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Emma Ruth Rundle - Fever Dreams Pre-Release Single
Card of the day:
I guess I will need to be ready to act on unexpected opportunities.
Kind of an obsession right now. I had never heard of Emma Ruth Rundle until a friend sent me a writing playlist that had this song on it. After a few iterations, this one stuck out. It has a particularly '2 A.M.' sound to me, a tone I've talked about on here at various points in the past. Might be what I need to finish my novel 2:00 AM Corridors, or at least complete the outline. Regardless of how Ms. Rundle's music fuels my creativity, you can find her full albums - including Marked for Death - on Apple Music, and I was excited to see she has a new record in pre-order mode HERE.
Playlist for yesterday:
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Write Dark Things Playlist
Card of the day:
Oppression? In this heat? Yup. That is the word. My sleep is bad, my stomach is bad, my head is heavy. Oppression is the exact word.
