New Music From Ghost!

Posting, but not listening. New albums Skeletá is out this Friday, 4/25, and although Loma Vista hasn't shipped my vinyl yet - I'm not sure what they are waiting for - I'm holding out until I can at least listen to the entire record on Apple.

 

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NCBD:

Fantastic pull list this week! Very excited to hit the shop tonight. Here's what I'll be reading later today:

Jeff Lemire's Minor Arcana returns, just in time to line up with my Gideon Falls re-read, so I am very much into more Lemire. Plus, this book has been very cool. Atmospheric the way Lemire does so well.

Still one of the strangest books I've read in quite some time, Into the Unbeing continues to confound and delight me. Macrocosmic Body Horror.

Even though I've cooled on Skybound's iteration of Joe, I'm still looking forward to seeing the confrontation promised by this cover.

Two left after this one. Damn, I'm going to miss this book. 

Dust to Dust has really turned out as a sleeper. I don't hear much about other folks reading this book, but I know they're out there. 

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Watch:

I haven't had a chance to say it here yet, but Ryan Coogler's Sinners is an exceptional film, and a breath of fresh air in what started out a strong year for Horror with Presence, Grafted, The Dead Thing and The Monkey, but quickly became stale. 

Sinners shares some structural DNA with Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn in that it both films are actually two movies glued together in the middle with blood. What I love about this is that is the world, right? There's the everyday world where you're robbing a bank or driving around, collecting down-on-their-luck musicians to play at your new Juke Joint, and there's the world where something unnatural arrives and takes you into the netherworld. 

With Sinners, the detail is fantastic. You can feel 1930's Southern heat, the sticky humidity, and the life to which these characters live to their fullest, even when they die. Very cool film that I recommend everyone up for a field trip take in on the big screen. The soundtrack through the theatre speakers alone is worth the trip.

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Playlist:

Dreamkid - Daggers

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk)

Windhand - Eternal Return

Moon Wizard - Sirens

Telekinetic Yeti - Primordial

Mars Red Sky - Eponymous

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

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Card:

Back to the Thoth deck today for a quick, one-card pull:

From the Grimoire, "How true are you to your inner aspirations and will?" 

Follow They Will...

New Music From Pulp!

 

I am waaaay behind on posting new music here. Mr. Brown alerted me to Pulp's new single last week, along with news of their forthcoming first album in... a really long time! More drops on June 6th. Pre-order from Rough Trade HERE.

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NCBD:

Very excited to hit the shop later today. Here's what I'll be bringing home:

Really digging A.J. Lieberman and Mike Henderson's The Hive. The first issue was something I grabbed on a lark, but it was enough to get me to come back for two, and now here I am waiting on issue #3! A street-level crime comic with a very subtle, maybe "Black Mirror-like" Sci-Fi twist.  

I'm going to have a boatload of these Z-News waiting for me in Chicago next time I'm on the South Side long enough to shop at Amazing Fantasy. The cover story here is on Joe Kelly helming the recent re-launch (yes, again) of Amazing Spider-Man with a new number one. I saw that on the shelf last week and almost went for it (there were certainly enough covers and copies), but they didn't get me this time, so it will be cool to read Kelly's plans or whatever this "interview" will be. 

I feel like this book is tri-monthly at this point, and that's okay with me. Take it slow.

Justin Jordan and Maan House's Mine Is A Long Lonesome Grave is now one of my most anticipated books every month! A creepy A.F. supernatural revenge story, I'm really hoping this runs longer than next issue, which is the last I see solicited. I suppose if it doesn't, we'll have a tight little tale easy to push onto others. Always better to leave 'em wanting more than give 'em too much. Still, this could unfold in some pretty crazy ways. I trust Mr. Jordan implicitly, so I'm here for it either way.

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Watch:

I'm not entirely sure how I made it to 2025 without seeing 1994's Brainscan, but I watched the flick for the first time last night and instantly fell in love with it.

With a screenplay written by Andrew Kevin Walker taken from a Brian Owens story, Director John Flynn leaves his 80s Action roots behind and crafts what I can honestly say is the only film I know of that delivers to me the same vibe that Robert Englund's 976-Evil does, and if you read these pages, you know how much I adore that film.

This a 90s film that feels like a natural progression from 80s Sci-Fi Horror; the suburban neighborhood, children who lead a seemingly adult-less existence and do just fine, and an otherworldly entity that singles them out for Horror that feels, at times, theoretically very frightening. I mean, the opening "kill" sees the film's Protagonist Mike (Edward Furlong) commit a savage murder first-person by way of a 'radical new video game.'

If you've read my story "Literal Death", I'm sure you'd think this film burrowed its way into me way back. That, however, is not the case. 

So, of course, after watching Brainscan, I had to follow it with 976-Evil. 

How could I not? Perfect timing, because I missed this one last year during 31 Days of Halloween, so I was overdue.

I don't know what it is about Englund's sole Directorial excursion that I love so much. It captures not an era, but an era as portrayed by Hollywood so perfectly, balanced on the precipice between when Horror and Exploitation were kind of studio-ish (Post-Terminator) because there were still successful, but still malleable, small studios with widespread distribution. The kids in 976-Evil are exacerbated stereotypes of 80s nerds and hoodlums like we see in so many other films (Return of the Living Dead springs immediately to mind), but combined here with Howard Berger's FX and the faux-small town but still recognizably urban environments the Art Director and Set Designers create, there's an etheral tone I've not seen many other places. Except in Brainscan, where Flynn updates the look to early 90s-but-still-oh-so-close-to-the-80s Suburbia, but still retains that 80s Kids in Danger vibe.

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Playlist:

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk version)

Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me

MadLove - White With Foam

Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She 

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Card:

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

• Five of Swords

• Two of Pentacles

• XXI: The World

Routine can be damaging, but it can also help establish a new foundation from which new vantages reveal comprehensive comprehension. 

Or something like that. In other words, stay the course. 

Money Mark - Hand in Your Head

From Money Mark's 1998 album Push the Button. One fine little tune to brighten your day. Had this man on my mind since watching that B-Boys doc on Apple, and it's been a while since I revisited this. So good.

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NCBD:

Are those... Sharkticons? Oh man! DWJ and team know exactly how to get me excited before I even hold the book in my hands.

The return of Jeff Lemire & Gabriel H. Walta's Phantom Road! This is long overdue, and I'm dying to re-read the first ten issues and pick right back up where we left off. So many burning questions with this one.

I'll admit, when this book flipped to the second arc last issue and I saw it involved that ventriloquist dummy character from Batman's classic rogues gallery, I was unconvinced. But Watters and Sherman left me completely agog by that issue's closing page, so I'm psyched to be back!

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Watch:

There's really only about 3% of stuff on Netflix I care about, and one of those is Love, Death + Robots, which is returning May 15th for Volume 4. Here's a teaser:

I've watched the first three volumes countless times, but I still somehow have the feeling I have not seen it all. This was a show I used to fall asleep to back in Redondo Beach when I first became enamored with it, so some episodes have a real 2:00 A.M. haze to them. That said, there's something particularly envigorating about viewing Science Fiction from a liminal conscious state, and I'm pretty sure that has added to my high regard for the show.

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Playlist:

Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She

The Jesus Lizard - Rack

Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 1

Neverly Brothers - The Dark Side of Everything

Sumerlands - Dreamkiller

Sqürl - Third Man Records Session

Beastie Boys - Check Your Head

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Card:

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

• Two of Swords

• Four of Cups

• King of Pentacles

As I've said here before, one of the many things I love about Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot is the imagery he uses is so particular to me, so invested in meaning, I can sometimes just read these based on what I see and not the learned associations of the number/suite/arcana. In this case, I'm hearing loud and clear I should pursue a new musical idea I have. Heard, chef.

Mclusky

Mclusky is the closest thing I've seen to the old Butthole Surfers. Thanks to Mr. Brown and Jacob for sending this my way, because this band was not on my radar at all. 

New album, "the world is still here and so are we" is out now on Ipecac Recordings; order a copy HERE.

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NCBD:

I love that this week's pull is two super indie Horror books and one major. Makes me feel like maybe the indie comics world is making a new push. Let's do everything we can to help it succeed.

Barstow is so goddamn odd and I have loved every freakin' minute of it. A Desert X-Files analogue, except darker, weirder and a helluva lot bloodier than Mulder and Scully ever saw. This appears to be the final issue, but damn would I love to see a 'second season.'

I know nothing about Plague House by Michael W. Conrad and Dave Chisholm, but Oni Press has really been knocking it out of the park lately, so I'm on board to check this out. Here's the solicitation blurb from League of Comic Geeks:

"Thirteen years ago, Orin McCabe was a family man living a privileged life in the suburbs. Today, he’s condemned to death row for murdering his entire family in an unexpected fit of hammer-wielding brutality. In the aftermath of his heinous crime, it’s fallen to a trio of eclectic, but dedicated, ghost hunters—Jacob, the holy man; Holland, the skeptic; and their leader, Del, a true believer in the occult and worlds beyond—to surveil the abandoned McCabe home in search of proof for the existence of the undead . . . and whatever supernatural source may have possibly fueled McCabe’s inhuman massacre. But this ill-matched and uneasy squad of investigators is about to discover something much more terrifying than any ordinary spirit. . . . Something much more pernicious, much more contagious, that if not contained, could take full advantage of America’s unquenchable appetite for violence and deliver a plague of blood unto us all . . ."

Sounds f'king awesome, right?

Finally, thinking of picking this up:

Larry Hama's GIJOE: ARAH is doing this weekly event "Silent Missions," and while I probably won't pick up the all, I have a soft spot for Beach Head, so I'm in on this one.

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Watch:

I caught the trailer for the new film by Talk to Me's Danny and Michael Philippou once in the trailer last month and it was enough to convince me that I would henceforth be in rabid expectation. 

Great title, too. The Philippou's are fantastic filmmakers who earned their first hit and will likely continue to make them. There's an interview with the brothers up on Indie Wire that I haven't had a chance to read and likely will avoid until after the film's theatrical release on May 30th, which you can bet your arse I'll be sitting in a seat at my Regal for.

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Playlist:

Pink Floyd - Umma Gumma

Alice Donut - Dry Humping the Cash Cow

The Kills - Live at Third Man Records

Arcade Fire - Everything Now

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

Melvins - Thunderball

Mclusky - the world is still here and so are we

Various – The Daptone Super Soul Revue Live! At The Apollo

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Card:

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

• XXI: The World

• VIII: Strength

• King of Pentacles

XXI: The World (The Universe in Thoth) can sometimes indicate a happy ending. Combined with Strength and King of Pentalces - financial security - indicates, to me at this time, stay the course and things will work out. Really interesting developments after my recent pontifications on work and corporate life (anti-life), and I can't help but feel this pull is a direct response. 

 

I had kind of tuned Radiohead out by the time In Rainbows landed, but I'm not really sure why. My good friend Chester recently brought up In Rainbows being what he considered the end of the band's Golden Age, so I went back and gave it a couple of pretty deep listens. I definitely agree with Chester; In Rainbows, while nowhere near Kid A, OK Computer, or even Hail to the Thief, definitely feels more in line with those albums. I suppose at some point I need to test my prejudices against Radiohead's later output, which seems like it became interchangeable with York's solo career at some point and started sounding a bit like self-indulgent electronic noodling. 

Definitely check out From the Basement's YouTube page. A lot of really great performances like this one.

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NCBD:

I am super excited about all three books in this week's Pull:

Really digging Dust to Dust from Giant Generator and Image Comics, a kind of Dustbowl Horror Thriller from JG Jones and Phil Bram. This is apparently the penultimate issue; not sure if this will continue beyond issue #5, but it seems like it's a safe bet.

With the first issue of Into the Unbeing Part Two, this book became even weirder than it already was. That's not nothing. I'm definitely recommending this book to anyone who enjoyed Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach series as much as I did. 

I mentioned this a week or two ago, and my excitement has only grown. All hail Giallo-inspired everything!

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Playlist:

The Kills - Live at Third Man Records

Blind Willie McTell - Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order (Vol. 1)

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Witchfinder - Forgotten Mansion

X - Los Angeles

Alice Donut - Dry Humping the Cash Cow

Arcade Fire - Everything Now

Double Life - Indifferent Stars

Entropy - Liminal

Deftones - Koi No Yokan

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Live Drug Church for NCBD!

Live Drug Church from Glasgow, courtesy of David Tan Films. Do yourself a favor and check out their YouTube channel. I just found these folks, and they are packed with awesome multi-camera live show recordings!

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NCBD:

Pretty decent pull this week:

I love Dan Watters' Batman: Dark Patterns series. The first storyline wrapped up last issue, so this is the start of the second, which will run to issue six and round out the series. 

One of those my DwC cohost Mike Shin holds for me at the shop in Chicago, so I'll have a bunch of Z News waiting for me when next I travel North. So much fun.

Have we ever gotten Void Rivals and Transformers in the same week before? We must have, but seeing this today feels exhilarating. Maybe it's just because...

... Bruticus is on the cover! I've professed my love of all Combaticons here previously I'm sure; in fact, I just pre-ordered the new Vortex figure from HasbroPulse last week. Can't wait until I have them all and can combine them into Bruticus, maybe chase my cats around with him.

I loved the first issue of Justin Jordan's Mine is a Long, Lonesome Grave and I'm coming back for more! Like I mentioned below, though, I neglected to add this one to my Pull (I think), so I may have to have the shop order me one. Either way, going forward, this is on the list!

Take what I said about ...Lonesome Grave above and apply it to the second issue of A.J. Lieberman and Mike Henderson's The Hive. A street-level crime story with some odd flourishes; I'm very intrigued to see where this one is going. Add it to the list!

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Watch:

One of the trailers I've seen in the theatre of late that really catches my eye is Ryan Coogler's Sinners. Not the best title, but damn if this doesn't look fantastic.

The mythology behind Robert Johnson and the "Crossroads" has long fascinated me, and it seems like Coogler is doubling down on that here. There's just something about this era of American history when it mixes with the Supernatural. It really works for me. Can't wait to see this on the big screen!

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Playlist:

Erik Truffaz - The Walk of the Giant Turtle

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

The Body - No One Deserves Happiness

New York Dolls - Dancing Backward in High Heels

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun

Antibalas - Where the Gods Are In Peace

Metallica - Garage Days Re-revisited

Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese

Buster Pointdexter - Eponymous

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Card:

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

• Ace of Swords

• 0: The Fool

• XVIII: The Moon

I think this Pull actually explains something that just happened while writing this entry, or at least helps me understand why it happened.

I had this entire post penned and saved, I opened a new window to download the picture of today's Tarot Pull and when I came back, large chunks of what I'd written were gone. Only, this wasn't a case of  "I forgot to save." I titled this entry last, but that is still here. Missing are my comments under the trailer for Sinners, the entire NCBD section, and all the tags I'd added. 

I'm sure this is just a weird glitch, but these are things we should pay attention to from time to time. In this case, I think I'm taking away that I've been continuing on my comic book life as before, and that's a mistake. With Diamond going or gone, the landscape is changing. I typically forget to put myself down for books to be added to my Pull, and thus, I miss stuff. Specifically, 

NEW GHOST ALBUM!!!

 

Holy smokes - the New Ghost album Skeletá is out on April 25th! Pre-order HERE!!!

I definitely haven't loved everything this band has done, but I root for them. Impera was easily my favorite since Infestissumam, and although I'm not crazy about this new song right off the bat, I can say that about two of the 'singles' on Impera. Regardless of my off-the-cuff opinion, the songwriting is here. STRONG melody on the chorus and a pretty ripping guitar solo. I don't love the video, but then, videos I do love are rare. I will say since Tobias Forge's sense of humor has infiltrated the band and all its ventures - it's on full display with this video - I long for the days when they felt a bit more ominous. But then, that was bound not to last. He's funny and always well-spoken, but I guess I prefer a little more solemnity to my Satanic Metal. 

Either way, SUPER psyched and I love that Ghost has taken to announcing their albums like two months out. It's literally right around the corner.

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NCBD:

Small pull this week. STILL waiting on a bunch of books Diamond never shipped to filter in, so maybe some of those will arrive. Otherwise, this is it for NCBD:

I love this continuation of The Nice House on the Lake; however, just as with that first book, I'm behind on my reading. This happens to Tynion's books. They're better read in trade format, but for some of these, I just can't help but buy the monthlies. I guess it's because, at this point, there are so few monthlies I buy and I want to keep the habit alive. 

Solid Batman werewolf series that reminds me of something we might have found in an arc of the late 80s/early 90s Legends of the Dark Knight series.

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Read:

So, I started reading Grant Morrison's Multiversity again. Back when this hit the monthly comic shelves in 2015, I tried for about four issues and gave up. I didn't really admit that I didn't like it, but my life was undergoing escalating turmoil and I was cutting down on my monthly spending in favor of saving my arse, so Multiversity got cut and I never really looked back.

A few months back, my Drinking with Comics cohost Mike Shinabargar gave me a copy of the collected trade paperback with the request we cover it on the show. We recorded yesterday - editing is still in progress - but I have to say, after re-reading the same four issues I read in 2015, I do not love this book at all. What's more, it's making me think I should just up and sell my Final Crisis HC and my Seven Soldiers of Victory complete set of monthlies on eBay because I am no longer the person who I was when I could muster fervor for GM delving into every single nook and cranny of the DCU - a comic book universe I have always held little to no interest in. 

But then I think, is this just me at this moment? You know the feeling; you tire of something, let's say an album or movie or comic book. Not just tire of it but grow disgruntled toward it. This isn't that weird inevitability that some things you love when you're a younger person you will grow to hate for idealistic issues. No, this is the fan inertia I had for GM wearing off a bit and me realizing the stuff I love from him - other than his masterpiece, seven-year Batman run - is his non-IP stuff. Especially non-DC IP, because the DCU is a deep well of superhero stuff that makes me cringe more than it makes me excited. 

I've committed to finishing this book, but man, at this stage, I think it's going to be very tough. Part of my issue is also very much what makes Multiversity a masterpiece accomplishment: when I was younger, the appeal to the Big 2's continuity (well, for me, the Big 1's) was the endless continuity to investigate. I mean, if felt like you could never get there. And with Batman, Morrison read every bit of continuity for one character and synthesized it into one spectacular narrative that incorporated all of it. That's what he's done on a larger scale with the entirety of the DCU, starting with his JLA run, into Earth 2, Seven Soldiers, Final Crisis, and finally Multiverity. As my cohost Mike brings up several times in the episode, this was the final word by the man who was on staff at DC for several years as their "Universe Consultant." That means it's amazing; it's a Mozart concerto of comics, but one I have very little time or bandwidth for in my life at the moment. Maybe never again.

Part of that, then, forces me to reflect that some of my inability to joyously engage with this book is I've gotten fucking lazy. It's not a good thing to reflect on, but I try to be self-aware of the zero-point fluctuation level. So there's really no failing with the artist, just the reader. Damn, when I started this, I didn't expect it to come out like this. 

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Playlist:

Morphine - Yes

Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain

The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust

Nothing - Guilty of Everything

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Led Zeppelin - Presence

TVOTR - Young Liars E.P.

The Raveonettes - Blackest (pre-release single)

Ghost - Satanized (pre-release single)

Drab Majesty - An Object in Motion

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Card:

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

• Queen of Pentacles

• Ten of Pentacles

• II: High Priestess

Low bandwidth. Lots of Feminine energy, which is almost always a good thing. Earthly matters. Fertile interests.

New Music From Deafheaven

 

I haven't listened to this yet and likely will not in an attempt to preserve the album experience when Lonely People With Power drops on March 28th. You can pre-order your copy directly from the band HERE.

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NCBD:

Short pull this week, although I'm hoping some of those outstanding books start to filter in today.

I'm still waiting on issue #6 with that awesome cover, so maybe that will show up today, too? 

LOVE this cover. It's not the "A" cover, so I may not find this in the wild, but I'm going to try. Stalker fucking rocks!

I did not love The Seasons issue #1. In fact, I struggled quite a bit to get through it at first, and about halfway through, I began to grow listless, flipping to the backmatter where I saw Rick Remender reference  Miyazaki as an influence. 

This doubly convinced me this book would be a hard pass for me. I can recognize Miyazaki's grandeur, but his work is just not for me. Then I begrudgingly finished the issue and actually found myself drawn in at the end. So, in the interest of always supporting independent comics and giving Rick Remender the benefit of the doubt (he's earned it for sure!), I'm jumping into issue #2 with an open mind and will reassess after I read it. 

Also from Remender's Giant Generator, I'm very much digging Phil Bram and JG Jones' Dustbowl slow-burn Horror show Dust to Dust.  

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Peaks:

The Twin Peaks Day/David Lynch Tribute at the Eastside Bowl on Monday night turned out to be pretty fun. K and I didn't stay long due to a general creeping exhaustion from long days at work, but here are a few pictures we snapped.

David Lynch shrine. Very cool. We stopped to pay our respects.

My cousin pointed out that in pictures, this bar looks a bit like Power and Glory from FWWM (when that name became available, I have no idea. I'd never heard it before a few months ago, but it pops up here and there. 

"It's kickin' in, Jacques!"

"A log for you, an owl for you. Presto!"

Special thanks to Easide Bowl and The '58 for putting this on. Hoping it recurs next year - I'll end up getting the day after off or something so we can properly celebrate (maybe wake up in Canada).

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Playlist:

Frank Black - Teenager of the Year

Melvins - Houdini

Various - An Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music/Second-a-Chronology Vol. #2 (Disc 1)

The Ravenonettes - The Raveonettes Sing...

X - Under the Big Black Sun

Tennis System - Technicolor Blind

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction

Drug Church - Prude

Ritual Howls - Into the Water

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Card:

Getting back to some more rigorous study interpretations - or as rigorous as I can provide at this point with my attention split between finishing a novel, an ever-increasing mental demand at work, and the encroaching apocalypse.

The Hermit reminds me of a lot of my friends. Also, myself, really. 

From the grimoire (within which, there's not a whole lot on this one): "Dark and lonely period of gestation. Fetal; a re-grouping."

Sounds like everyone with half a fucking brain in 2025, doesn't it? What's good ol' A.C. say? That the card is tied into the Hebrew letter Yod, the first letter in Yod Hau Vau Hau, the name of God. The figure on the card is shaped to resemble Yod, and the color of his cloak reflects Binah, the great Mother, tying this back into Fertility. Gestation is the result of Fertility; ideas are the result of Gestation. You get the point.

Drinking with Comics Volume 4, Episode 50!!! Plus - Melvins!!!

Melvins 1983 (Buzz and original drummer Mike Dillard at it again. Pre-order the upcoming album Thunderball from Ipecac Recordings HERE.

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NCBD:

Short pull this week, and I only just realized today is Thursday, not Wednesday, so I guess I won't be grabbing these until probably next week:

Good lord, that cover! Already 8 strong issues in, and Epitaphs from the Abyss is everything I want in a Horror Anthology comic. 

Love the cover, but still not really feeling this book. Fan inertia, take me away...

Due to the Diamond bankruptcy and subsequent fiasco, I still haven't acquired issue two of the McKendry's Barstow, so I'm hoping this is in my box today but honestly won't be surprised if it's not. 

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Watch:

Speaking of comics, I've fallen out of the habit of posting Drinking with Comics here since I brought it back a little over two years ago, but Volume Four, episode 50 is a doozy! Mike Wellman returns to talk about his new comic strip, A Shadow Called Danger. He brings artist/director Bradley Rader along and Mike Shinabargar and I have a great time talking politics, the comics industry and Mike's sobriety! 

It was really good to have Mike back on, and the "Meeting of the Mikes" felt epic to this man who loves them both dearly!

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Playlist:

Van Halen - 1984

Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Led Zeppelin - Presence

Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Them Are Us Too - Remain

Dead Milkmen - Quaker City Quiet Pills

Yerusalem - The Sublime

Nothing - Guilty of Everything

GoGo's - Vacation

Dream Theater - Parasomina

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Card:

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

Loud and clear.

The first or middle card here jumped out of the deck during the shuffle. I'm a touch hungover this morning, so everything feels slightly pained. I drank five or six beers last night and was thinking, "I should stop drinking five or six beers every night," and then the Nine of Cups. Here's a case where the image on the card - which is specific to this deck - spoke directly to me. The other two cards were pulled as clarification cards. 

Four of Cups (from the grimoire): "An emotional idea or institution that has grown beyond the original balance/harmony of its conception."

Page of Wands (from the grimoire): "Baggage."

Well, that's my drinking in a nutshell. Might be time to dial it back. Five or six beers a night every night is, me thinks, too much. 

Sunn O))) - Alice

 

Currently becoming re-fixated on Sunn O)))'s 2009 EPIC Monoliths and Dimensions. This was my introduction to Sunn O))); I'd seen references to the band on the Freak Angels Whitechapel board (RIP) that had me curious, so I was primed. I was a subscriber to Wire magazine at the time, and their April 2009 issue had Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson on the cover for the release of Monoliths, so that was my inciting incident. The rest, as they say, is history. I've kept up with the band to a degree, but nothing I've heard by them has ever hit me as hard as the arranging on this one. 

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NCBD:

More excited about this week's pull list than any in a while; that could all drain away if Diamond continues to lag on actually getting the books still entrusted to their care into shops. I'm waiting on three books from the new year - What's the Furthest Place From Here #21, Barstow #2, and TMNT #6. I understand that the company is struggling, but come on.

Okay, enough bitchin' already. Let's get into this week's books!

LOVE this alternative cover for Batman: Dark Patterns issue 3. Chances are I won't be able to snag this, but that's okay, because the A Cover is pretty bad ass, too.. Really digging this book, though. Dan Watters drums up another really well-done series, with some truly crazy ideas that work definite elements of the Horror genre into a Batman comic (always my favorite Batman stories!)

Thundercracker and Skywarp - I love spending so much time with some of these Gen One characters again. Always dug all three of the original Decepticon planes, but Starscream usually gets all the screen time.

New book by Luther Strode/Spread scribe Justin Jordan. Looks like an occult-tinged, super violent revenge story. Here's the solicitation from League of Comic Geeks:

"Harley Creed is a bad man. He used to be worse. A violent ex-con with a string of brutal crimes in his past, he only wanted one thing when he finally walked free from prison: to leave Briar Falls, WV, behind and disappear forever. But Harley’s hometown has a strange way of swallowing people whole—call it a consequence of the low-level folk magic that has permeated its darker corners for generations. And now that Harley has returned, pent-up vengeance for his past crimes is about to come roaring back. Somebody has put a hex on him—and Harley has seven days before he dies in twisted, screaming agony. To reverse it, Harley must find and kill his unseen enemy before their curse can reap its terrible end. But in Briar Falls, there's no shortage of suspects—and Harley is coming for them all. If can't have peace, at least he can have revenge."

I haven't read a lot of Justin Jordan's work, which is an oversight on my part. I miss the guy's voice - Luther Strode is so very near and dear to my heart. Can't wait to give this a shot.

Part two of Zac Thompson's super weird, super creepy Science Horror Into the Unbeing! Been waiting for this one. 

This, like all Z News, will be on hold at my shop in Chicago, so it'll be a minute. Just knowing this is out there waiting for me makes me smile, though.

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Play:

A Metroidvania based on the Beast of Gevaudan? Sign me up!

Hitting Switch this summer. Read the full skinny over on Bloody Disgusting!

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Playlist:

Tangerine Dream - Sorceror OST

Gazelle Twin - Fear Keeps Us Alive (Beak> Mix; single)

Windhand - Eponymous

Boy Harsher - Careful

Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Dreamkid - Eponymous

Sunn O))) - Monoliths and Dimensions

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

D'Nell - 1st Magic (truncated, youtube playlist version*)

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* See tomorrow's post

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Card:

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

• IX: The Hermit

• Nine of Swords

• Two of Pentacles

Isolation can seem like a good thing for perspective and concentration, however, it can lead to overwhelmingly destruction thoughts. If this occurs, confide in another.