Sway 7A, Baby

 

It's just the best Rock n' Roll song ever recorded from the best Rock n' Roll album ever released.

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Watch:

This recent trend with prequels to 70s Horror classics hasn't given us very much in the way of anything worth hanging onto. The idea that Paramount has a Rosemary's Baby prequel called Apartment 7A coming straight to Paramount Plus didn't move the needle with me at all until I saw Julia Garner is the lead. She will FOREVER be in my good book for Ruth from Ozark. Here's the trailer, which I didn't bother with; I'll just watch and assess when it lands on the streamer come September 27th:

 

I should also mention that there's more good news: Apartment 7A is Directed and Co-written by Natalie Erika James, whose 2020 flick Relic made quite the impression on me (it's definitely time for a rewatch of that one, and it's currently streaming on Shudder).

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Read:

I blew through Nathan Ballingrud's novella Crypt of the Moon Spider yesterday. Both the Hardcover and Paperback are currently available; I posted the paperback's cover art last week, primarily because that's the version I chose for my shelf, as I liked the art just a smidge more; here's the Hardback:

It's fantastic but short, and the advance chapter from the second book of his Lunar Gothic Trilogy that serves as an epilogue to this volume only made me want MORE! Seriously, Ballingrud writes Science Fiction with a silver lining of Horror and it's GLORIOUS! 

Now, however, I'm in between books. Bad Hand Books began shipping Laird Barron's new collection, Not A Speck of Light, last week. However, I've not received a shipment notice yet, so I have some time to kill, and I'm not quite sure what will adequately follow Ballingrud. 

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Playlist:

Ministry - Psalm 69

Bauhaus - Go Away White

Ghost Bath - Self Loather

The Cops - Free Electricity

Chasms - On The Legs Of Love Purified

Megadeth - Rust in Peace 

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Isolation: Day 119 - Soul in Isolation

Over the last week or so, I've fallen back into The Chameleons UK pretty hard, and now Strange Times is a daily double listen (at least). I can't explain how much this album affects me; when I first found it in 2015 I was at a precipice, an unknown crossroads before me. It empowered the part of me that knew how everything would turn out, even if another, bigger part refused to go along with it.

I'd be remiss if I didn't add the caveat that, in my opinion, to really get the maximum effect of this song, it must be listened to in the context of the entire album, or at the very least, immediately followed by the next successive track on the record, Swamp Thing. Talk about an extremely powerful double-hitter.

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I was SUPER excited to come home from work yesterday, smoke out, and watch Jeffrey A. Brown's debut feature The Beach House on Shudder. I knew nothing about this one going in except a blurb I saw that called it "Cosmic Body Horror."

I was not disappointed.

The Beach House takes an everyday situation, makes it awkward, so that a lot of the expectation is based on social mores. The film then balances on a precipice of possibilities, slowly turning up the tension, never quite doing what I expected it to. Which is almost always a great thing.

This one would make a great double-feature with Richard Stanley's The Color Out of Space, as the two films have similar themes and color palettes. Strong tone, great visuals and camera work - some nice juxtapositions of macro and micro with the lens - and eventually, squirm-inducing effects. Highly recommended, but wait for when you're open to a slow unraveling.



The Beach House was the first in a two-day, self-styled event viewing program that culminates tonight with the VOD premiere of Natalie Erika James' Relic. Without theatrical premieres and fests to look forward to, this is the way I stay sane and psyched for Horror Cinema!


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Playlist:

Various Artists - Twin Peaks (Music from the Limited Series Event)
Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin
The Chameleons UK - Strange Times
Lissie - My Wild West
Emma Ruth Rundle - On Dark Horses
Flying Lotus - You're Dead!
Exhalants - Bang (single)
The Obsessed - Lunar Womb
The Jesus Lizard - Head
Jenny Hval - Blood Bitch
Mannequin Pussy - Patience
Pygmy Shrews - The Egyptian
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley (Expansion)
EPMD - Unfinished Business
Brainiac - Hissing Prigs in Static Couture
Holy Porter - Kistvaen

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Card:

Personal or global? I think we know the answer to that one, although I don't really have any conflicts (that I know of) at the moment.

Isolation: Day 102

Well, I know what I'm doing on July 10th. This looks breathtaking.

One of the things I began working on last year is a collection of short horror stories all based around the horrors of aging. Nice to see kinship in a major motion picture. From all accounts director Natalie Erika James is going to be a force to be reckoned with. That's awesome. Good to have another voice along the lines of Jordan Peele, Ari Aster, and Robert Eggers to look forward to hearing from. James' shortfall Creswick is a Master Class in the craft, from the acting to the camera to the sound. I'd expect with a larger budget, someone this good will give us a powerhouse.



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New Jaye Jayle out August 7th on Sargent House. Here's the latest single. Pre-order HERE.



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Playlist:

Baroness - Gold and Grey
Flying Lotus - You're Dead
Crystal Castles - II
Lead into Gold - The Sun Behind the Sun
Slayer - Reign in Blood
Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
Doves - Lost Soul
Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Public Enemy - State of the Union (Single)
Bell Witch and Aerial Ruin - Stygian Bough, Vol. 1
KRS-One - Return of the Boom Bap
Run the Jewels - RTJ4
Nexus 6 - Too Late to Tease EP
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Alio Die and Lorenzo Montan á - The Threshold of Beauty
Van Halen - Eponymous
Sault - Untitled
War On Women - Capture the Flag
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
Doves - Carousels (pre-release single)
Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit
Zombi - Shape Shift