Dreamkid - Street Lights

 

I have to say, while holding Dreamkid's retro 80s synthwave sound at arm's length for well over a year, I think I've finally succumbed to full-on fan. Yes, there's definitely a chessiness at play here, but it doesn't matter. Dreamkid's music has a very genuine soul, which is weird to say about something with so much facade, but that's part of music, right? A ton of Metal is facade, so why not neon and glitter instead of Satan and blood?

From last year's Daggers album, which I've been listening to in late-night writing sessions for a few days now.

---

---

---

Watch:

In the past seven days, K and I have watched two and a half seasons of Apple TV's Slow Horses. This is a show based on Mick Herron's Slough House novels, none of which I have had the pleasure of reading.

That's the opening of the first episode. Slow Horses follows MI5 agent River Cartwright who is reassigned to Slough House after the debacle depicted in the Sneak Peek above. Slough House is where British Secret Service assigns their fuck-ups, and we meet a lovely cast who all suffer under the profanity-spewing, Curry-farting, Single-Malt-drinking Jackson Lamb, a right old bastard as played by Gary Oldman. Lamb was a legend but made a lot of enemies and got sent to Slough House to 'run out the clock.'

Lamb reminds me of two very different characters I've met before. On the one hand, Oldman invokes Jackie Flannery from State of Grace in all his whiskey-swilling, unwashed glory. The character also conjures more than a little comparison to an aged John Constantine, and I have to wonder if that's canon from the novels or if the show's creative team is showing its influence. Either way, Oldman is a delight every moment he's on screen.

So are all the other characters, too. Even the ones you despise. As the clip shows, this is a fast-moving series and, honestly, the best "spy" story I've come across.

---

---

---

Read:

I guess re-reading Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey's Injection is, at the very least, an annual appointment for me now. I woke up Saturday and re-read the first volume and experienced nothing short of total comic book ecstasy.

I've held to the story that my two favorite comics of all time are Preacher and The Walking Dead, and on some level, they are and always will be. That said, I think Injection is up there, neck and neck, as well. This might even be a "win by a nose" situation, and what I mean by that is both Ennis and Kirkman's opuses are just that - epic, long-form series. At three six-issue volumes (that I hope will one day be joined by those final two), Injection is pocket-sized, in a manner of speaking. 

Especially when you consider that this is among the best of the 'wide-screen' format series, so it reads quick. Rereading is easy, as opposed to the voluminous experience of rereading the other two. That's not without its merit, of course, but I can find far more time to read Injection, and it affects my brain in a different way. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Aidan Baker & Dead Neanderthals - Cast Down and Hunted

Aidan Baker & Gareth Davis - Invisible Cities

Zombi - Shape Shift

Lantlôs - Neon

Windhand - Split

Windhand - Eponymous

Telekinetic Yeti - Primordial

Ruin of Romantics - Velvet Dawn

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction (pre-release singles)

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Dreamkid - Daggers

Dreamkid - Eponymous

Soft Sun - Daylight in the Dark

Dreamkid - All Thriller, No Filler

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

David Lynch & Mark Zebrowski - Polish Night Music

---

---

---

Hilary Woods - Tongues of Wild Boar

I know nothing about Hilary Woods, but this song and its accompanying video are gorgeous in the creepiest possible way. The album drops March 13th on Sacred Bones - and it brings me a little spark of joy knowing that's a Friday to boot. Pre-order HERE.

**

NCBD:

Nothing new this week that's on my radar, but I still have to grab Trees: Three Fates #5. from two weeks ago (not sure how I keep missing this one or why I never put it on my Pull):

Trees: Three Fates has been a nice mostly dose of Warren Ellis' comics writing, and its helped me postpone getting involved in Batman's Grave on a monthly basis. As I editorialized on the most recent episode of Drinking with Comics, I'll read an independent monthly, but I'm done reading Big Two books in a format constantly interrupted by shitty ads. Plus, admittedly, Ellis always reads better in trade.

I know Trees won't be coming back for a while, but I'm really looking forward to the return of Injection, which I believe I read will be starting up again this year. Injection stands as my favorite Ellis book since Doktor Sleepless, and I miss it dearly.

**

I finished David Cronenberg's Consumed. Outstanding. Five stars - six if it was possible. I really can't wait to see this rendered by the author into a visual, episodic format. There's some serious body horror here, and it runs the game from subtle-but-terrifying to remarkably vulgar. Thus, it should make for a fantastic Cronenberg project.

In the wake of Consumed, I've become a book my friend Jesus gifted me for Christmas, Chuck Wendig's Wanderers:

One-hundred and six pages in and I can't put this book down! I know nothing about the story going in - I hadn't even heard of it before Jesus put it in my hand - and that's definitely making for a great read. Also, its always nice to see a tense or horrific story start with a twist on something so basic - what if your loved one started sleepwalking and would not stop for anything?

**

Playlist:

Steve Moore - Bliss OST
Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST
Zombi - Shape Shift
Umberto - Helpless Spectator
Tangerine Dream - Exit
Godflesh - Post Self
Godflesh - Hymns

Card:

Yesterday's card was XXI: The Universe, and it compelled me to work for an extended period of time on the "Bigger Ideas" of the final book in the Shadow Play series. I've made a pact with myself to not begin writing the second book - which is painstakingly outlined - until I have the entirety of the third volume outlined as well. This has proved challenging, to say the least. My writing sessions, have been long and consisted of reading research material, outlining, story boarding (of a sort), and all kinds of other fun tasks, but nothing that scratches the itch to write. Still, a solid three hours yesterday and I made what feels like serious progress.

Serious. Professional. Driven. All qualities I could stand to aspire to of late; as much fun as this phase of the Shadow Play project is, it's susceptible to distraction. I downloaded a new focus app, called Tomato Timer, and it's helped me get a handle on this a bit. And on that note, off to work!