New Music from The Jesus Lizard!!!

 I'm behind everything by a couple of days. Had a friend in town earlier in the week, and between catching up at work after a few days off, digging back into finishing Black Gloves & Broken Hearts after five days away at a crucial point in the novel, and recording podcasts for both MaXXXine and Longlegs, I just haven't had time to do anything else. So here's some awesome new music by one of my all-times. You can pre-order the new album RACK from Ipecac Records HERE, it drops September 13th.

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Watch:

In the past week I have seen three movies that I expect will define much of 2024 for me. First, MaXXXine, which I've now seen twice on the big screen and am planning for another round:

I'm in the final stages of editing a HUGE episode The Horror Vision just did on this one. Ti West has been a favorite of mine since I first saw The Roost in 2005, and to see his very distinct filmmaking on the big screen for the first time since I caught The House of the Devil back in 2009 at the old Laemmle's on Sunset (after waiting for it for something like 3 or 4 years), but with a much bigger budget and not in a limited art-house release (I'm in Clarksville for hell's sake; I seriously doubt Hosue of the Devil played in Clarksville, haha) was an awesome experience. MaXXXine has some issues, but none that blind my love for it or the director.

Although I saw Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's Kill last September at opening night of Beyondfest 2023, I am counting my viewing this past Sunday on a big screen in Nashville as the first salvo of what may very well be my favorite film of the year.

This film takes the "Surprise, I'm getting married" trope of Indian Cinema and uses it to propel the best Action-Horror film I've seen since Dog Soldiers, easy. See this on the big screen if you can, and don't worry about the run time. It's a little over two hours, and I won't feel it AT ALL.

Finally, Oz Perkins' Longlegs... I'm not really sure how I feel about this flick after seeing it last night. It's fantastic, no doubt, but something about all of Perkins' films creates a disconnect in me. 

You'll read this is the scariest movie of the decade. I think that's a bit much. But it is extremely unnerving, and everyone turns in a fantastic performance, especially Nick Cage, who defies all possible expectation and description with his performance.

The only other really big films I'm still waiting on for the year are Fede Alvarez's Alien: Romulus, Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis, and Robert Eggers' Nosferatu. I know there will be other, unexpected greats that filter in here and there, but for now, those are the horizon line. All in all, so far it's been a pretty great year, with Kill and Stop Motion duking it out for my favorite thus far.

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Playlist:

Various Artists - The Void

High on Fire - Cometh the Storm

Dean Hurley - Anthology Resource Vol. 1: △△

Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes (single)

Scorpions - Rock You Like a Hurrican (single)

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• XIV: Temperance

• XX: Judgement

• Page of Wands

XIV is Art in the Thoth deck, a variation that projects a slightly different connotation for me. Having only used Thoth for the first 17 or so years I've been familiar with the cards, this recent switch is something I've not quite worked out yet. Art usually suggests synchronization, often of disparate elements into a pleasurable outcome. Temperance, on the other hand, suggests Balance, which is and is not the same. Seeing this card here and thinking about it, I take this as a definite nod to balance some of the uneven and, frankly, negative emotions/thoughts that have ruled my head of late. Taken with XX - ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES - and the Page (Princess) of Wands, or the Earthly aspect of Fire, I'd say this is a Pull that suggests I really have some work to do on myself in order to regain the mental/emotional balance I've kind of misplaced the last two weeks or so

Seven Days of Steve: Day 2

Mr. Brown sent me a link to this live performance in 1986 the other night, shortly after we touched base about Albini's death. The performance speaks for itself.

 

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Watch:

As much as I dug on Moritz Mohr's Boy Kills World the other night, what really set my heart a flutter was seeing a trailer for Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's Kill beforehand. I'm posting it here for posterity's sake, but my advice is do not watch it; as excited as I am to spread the word about this awesome, awesome film, the trailer just gives too much.

 

I saw this on opening night of 2023's Beyondfest and was completely blown away. Ever since I've been hoping Bhat's unflinching action flick would get a national US rollout, and it looks like that is indeed the case. 

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Read:

I caught and inadvertent book recommendation from Stephen King and Joe Hill on Twitter the other day, and I'm stoked to finish up Stephen Graham Jones' Indian Lake Trilogy and move onto this one. 

While completely unfamiliar with Keith Rosson, the description for this one grabbed me right away. I LOVE anything that deals with a Hand of Glory. Here's part of the blurb from the Publisher:

When leg-breaker Hutch Holtz rolls up to a rundown apartment complex in Portland, Oregon, to collect overdue drug money, a severed hand is the last thing he expects to find stashed in the client’s refrigerator. Hutch quickly realizes that the hand induces uncontrollable madness: Anyone in its proximity is overcome with a boundless compulsion for violence. Within hours, catastrophic forces are set into motion: Dark-op government agents who have been desperately hunting for the hand are on Hutch’s tail, more of the city’s residents fall under its brutal influence, and suddenly all of Portland stands at the precipice of disaster. . . 

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Playlist:

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Final Light - Eponymous

Pigface - Gub

Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound

The Jesus Lizard - Down

The Jesus Lizard - Liar

Big Black - Live at CBGBs 7.13.86

Warning - Watching From A Distance

Witch Finder - Forgotten Mansion

Soviet Soviet - Endless

Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger

Crispin Hellion Glover - The Big Problem

Big Black - The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape

John Carpenter - Lost Themes IV: Noir

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• XI: Justice (Lust in Thoth)

• XVII: The Star

• Knight of Cups

I thirst for something more. I see it in the online lives of people who I admire, and I want that for myself. The trick is not to fall too hard for the illusion of other people's lives. Everyone has successes and failures. The Star reminds me that, from the grimoire, "Create unto and within yourself a Universe, shaped of your strengths and built on your accomplishments as a foundation." The Knight of Cups, or the Will of Emotions/Firey aspect of Water, further clarifies that the aforementioned Lust can seem like it is deserved (Justice), but that's emotion talking. Nothing is deserved, it is earned. 

It's Beyond Me, the Way That We Use it

If you know me, you will be surprised to see me posting an Eric Clapton track here. Outside of "Layla", I am NOT a fan. But a few days ago, Mr. Brown showed me Rick and Morty's "The Vat of Acid Episode," where they use this track from Clapton's 1986 album August for a hilarious montage sequence. This is full-blown, mid-80s, mid-life crisis EC, and it's... well, I can't really talk all that much shit about it at the moment because a combination of R&M and nostalgia for the world as it was in 1986 (to a degree) has it in regular rotation inside my head. This has made me question something about myself: my cynicism. I'll write more about this soon - I'm running on 12 hours of sleep TOTAL over the previous 72 hours, and I just don't have the mental capacity to explain my thoughts because, you know, it's in the way that you... yeah. 

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Beyond:

Tuesday night, running on next to no sleep, my friend Jesus, Horror Vision Ray and I attended the opening night of Beyondfest with Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's new film Kill. There's no trailer yet, so here's a poster:

This one BLEW ME AWAY. I’m fairly certain I won’t see a movie I like more over the next two weeks, maybe not for the rest of the year. Kill provoked a standing ovation and a whole lot of encouraging "fuck yeahs" from this guy right here. I felt like I was at a freakin' metal show it pumped me up so much.

Kill instantly became my third favorite action movie ever (Predator and Die Hard being one and two). Also, though I don't want to give too much away, Kill becomes something of a “reverse slasher” in the last half and is apparently the "bloodiest film to ever come out of India." Of that, I have no doubt. If you are lucky enough to get a chance and see this on the big screen whenever it comes out, do yourself a favor and do just that. Outstanding!!!

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NCBD:

Here's an amalgam of what will be waiting for me at Rick's Comic City when I return to Clarksville, as well as what I'm planning on picking up while I'm on the road:

Probably the book I am most anticipating this week. I really dug the previous arc of The Stuff of Nightmares, and from the brief synopsis I saw months ago that stated this is a Horror story that takes place at a Horror Convention - not to mention this Barbarian-homage cover - Red Murder really has me excited. Funny then, that when I first heard the creator Goosebumps had a Horror Comic on the way, I wrongfully dismissed it; I grew up a voracious reader, but born in '76, I was too old for that kid-driven series, and honestly, I was reading Horror novels from the Worth Library's paperback spinner racks that were probably way advanced for me at the time, subject matter-wise.

Not super sure what to make of Jean Grey number one, other than A) Louise Simonson has returned to B) Whatever happens after Fall of X, pretty sure Jean will be returning from beyond the grave as the Phoenix.

Newburn! That is all. 

LOVING this new Garth Ennis/Jacen Burrows Horror series. 

I know something about issue four of Robert Kirkman's Void Rivals that shocks me into almost placing it above Red Murder #1 on the anticipation scale.

Not going to lie - I need a full-series re-read to reestablish where we're at in What's the Furthest Place From Here. That doesn't lessen my fervor for the book; just makes it difficult to say very much about picking this up today. But pick it up, I shall.

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Watch:

Somehow, I missed the fact that a teaser for Issa Lopez's True Detective Season Four dropped a couple of months ago. I didn't miss this one, though:

So, you know my recent aversion to trailers? I couldn't help but hit "Play" on this; however, I cut out after about half. I mean, I didn't need to see anything at all ahead of time to know I was going to be all-in. I mean, have you seen Tigers Are Not Afraid? Set in Alaska and... well, that's about all I know about this one at this point, other than the fact that it stars Kali Davis, Jodie Foster, John Hawkes and Destro - I mean Christopher Eccleston, and has something to do with the operators of a research station disappearing. Sound familiar? Chances are this won't resemble John Carpenter's The Thing at all, and the comparison I'm actually referencing is the work of Laird Barron, which would fit right in with what I originally thought this show was going to be in Season One. Based on the appearance of a certain symbol, this season is apparently going to tie into one and three. Fine by me - world-build True Detective. Please! 

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Playlist:

Umberto - Prophecy of the Black Widow

Screaming Females - Desire Pathway

Le Butcherettes - A Raw Youth

Mastodon - Leviathan

Eric Clapton - It's In the Way That You Use It (single)

The Damned - Evil Spirits

Danko Jones - We Sweat Blood

Sandrider - Godhead

Blackbraid - Blackbraid II

Pale Dian - Feral Birth

Godflesh - Songs of Love and Hate

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets (1994 Edition)

Two Minutes to Late Night: Serpents of Christ

Johnny Marr - Somewhere (single)

Mutoid Man - Mutants

Feuerbahn - The Fire Dance EP

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Card:

I'm on the road, so all my Pulls will be from my mini Thoth deck for the next two weeks. Not a bad thing, but wanted to put up a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter until Tuesday, October 3rd. Here's the LINK.

• Eight of Swords - Interference

• X - Fortune

• Ace of Wands

Again, I'm probably too tired at the moment of Pulling and writing this, however, pretty sure this is a work-related issue. The 8 of Swords, combined with Fortune (The Wheel in other decks) which denotes change, and the Willful breakthrough intimated by the Ace of Wands leads me to believe there will be somewhat of a confrontation tomorrow and this is a reminder to handle myself with tact and professionalism.

Weird being on the job site again. 

Godflesh @ Cold Waves 2023!!!

 

This past Sunday, Mr. Brown, Missi Raven and I attended the 2023 Chicago Metro edition of Cold Waves. As with last year - the first one of these I'd managed to make it out to after almost a decade of wanting to - the event was fantastic. We arrived late, so missed several bands, which sucks, but I've been a bit worn down, so it is what it is. We did manage to see Sierra, who was fantastic, Paul Barker's Lead Into Gold, also fantastic and closer Godflesh.

Godflesh closed with"Spite," the opening track from their 31-year-old masterpiece Pure, arguably my favorite Godflesh album (depending on the day, I suppose, but it's up there). 

Here's a recent setlist from Montreal; Chicago's set was identical, except for the two encore tracks, which they didn't have time to play. No complaints - a fantastic sampling of their illustriously pummeling career.

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Watch:

Holy smokes. I did not know this was on the way:  

I've cooled on pretty much everything Mr. Cave has put out since Push the Sky Away. However, I still think he's a genius. And that genius began in a completely raw, primordial form with The Birthday Party, easily one of my all-time favorite bands. Seeing there's a documentary on the immediate horizon makes me insanely happy, even though it plays at my local arthouse theatre in Nashville, The Belacourt, from October 4th through the 8th, and I return from my trip on the 9th. 

Agghh!!!

More information - including all upcoming screenings - is on the movie's website HERE.

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Playlist:

Boards of Canada - Geogaddi

Boards of Canada - A Beautiful Place Out in the Country EP

Canyon - Empty Rooms

Nabihah Iqbal - Dreamer

Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire

The Damned - Evil Spirits

Damone - From The Attic

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Card:

I'm on the road, so all my Pulls will be from my mini Thoth deck for the next two weeks. Not a bad thing, but wanted to put up a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter until Tuesday, October 3rd. Here's the LINK.

• Eight of Disks - Prudence

• Ten of Cups - Satiety

• Three of Cups - Abundance

Seriously sleep deprived out here for my first full day in LaLaLand, I'll take this as a reminder to know when enough is enough. Prudence + Satiety = Plenty; have the sense to know when you're done and retire with that. I'd say that's letting me know that I should not work past my 8 hours today but rather return promptly to my hotel and catch a nap, as I'll be attending a 10:00 PM screening of Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's new film Kill tonight at Beyondfest!!!