Showing posts with label New Albums 2018. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Albums 2018. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

2018: Tuesday, December 18th



Aaaannnddd... the dream is over. Back to work today.

I'd never heard of Demdike Stare before last Thursday night. We were sitting around in the hotel room in Wisconsin after spending the day at House on the Rock, and I happened across this, which led me to the group's 2018 album Passion, which is fantastic. Reminds me a bit of the first time I heard Adult, way back on the Erase Errata remix EP that has since disappeared from this reality completely.

I think.

Playlist from 12/17:

Kevin Morby - Singing Saw
Calexico - Even Sure Things Fall Through
Calexico - The Black Light
Exhalants - Eponymous
Pastor T.L. Barrett & The Youth for Christ Choir - Do Not Pass Me By, Vol. II
The Knife - Silent Shout
Cash Money (Audio) - Green Bullet

Card of the day:



Right now, I'm reading this as successfully reintegrating back into my routine, which I have seem to done fine.

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

2018: December 11th



After a conversation with a friend, I'm really re-assessing this year's return of the band Daughters. Here's some live footage I watched in the middle of the night last night (that's now! I'm all messed up on time this trip).

The weather in Chicago is COLD, and I've taken a bit of a hit. Or, my day of feeling like shit was reaction to another fairly heavy drinking late night, the after-show for the Drinking with Comics On the Road Special: Chicago, which just went up on Apple, Spotify, and Google Play.

Read the first two trades of Warren Ellis and Jon Davis-Hunt's Wildstorm reboot last night in between editing the audio for the new episode. THEY ARE INCREDIBLE, and have surely set me off an an Ellis-jag as soon as I return home and get to my bookshelves. First up? Planetary, the last issue or trade or whatever was delayed for years back in the day, I have still never read.

Playlist from 12/10 was non-existent.

Playlist from 12/09:

Black Sabbath - Children of the Grave (Vol. 4 import)
Arab Strap - The Red Thread
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs

Card of the day:


"Analytical approach to problems of the mind."

Nail on the head.

Friday, November 30, 2018

2018: November 30th - NEW GRIMES!!!



Wow. Just wow. I saw this dropped last night, stopped everything I was doing, put in headphones and closed my eyes, went off to Grimes World. The textures at work in this song feel three-dimensional, no doubt based on her use of the stereo field, as well as a knack for choosing sounds of all kinds - many not traditionally 'musical', and using them to really fill out the sonic space. If this is any indication of the new album, it is going to be a perfect step forward from Art Angels.

Re-watched Hereditary a couple of nights ago. My god, even though Mandy is probably my favorite film of 2018, this is far and away the best film. It lost none of its ability to traumatize me, and really opened up more interpretation-wise with this second viewing. I'd imagine I'll be talking a lot about this come our 'year's best' episode of The Horror Vision. Two observations:

1) Toni Collette had certainly better at least be nominated for best actress.
2) Watching the deleted scenes, you see how good writer/director Ari Aster is at 'killing his darlings.' Not that any of the deleted scenes were darlings necessarily, but watching what he shot and then removed, you see how he was originally trying to flesh out Peter and Steve's characters more, and how he pulled back and gave us only what we needed. The inclusion of any of those deleted scenes would have, in my opinion, hurt the movie's power, so Aster knew exactly where to draw lines and how to intuit when he had enough.

Pretty impressive for a first movie.

There's some criticism out there that Gabriel Byrne's Steve in particular, is a poorly written, two-dimensional character. I for one disagree. He is exactly what the movie needs him to be. I stuggle with this some time in my own work, the idea of adding more to make sure my point gets across, or to ensure a character is 'fully realized.' Then I watch something like this and see that with restraint great things can come. Spaces in the character can evolve, spaces that draw people in the way the people in their life do. We all interact every day with people we only know in one particular role, or way, and it doesn't diminish their role or strength in our lives. Why wouldn't the same be true for characters in a film?

For a counterpoint, watch Rob Zombie's Halloween - RZ spends so much time ensuring that we understand William Forsythe's Ronnie is white trash that it becomes overkill and, frankly, derails the movie.

Playlist from 11/29:

The Doors - Strange Days
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Kylie Minogue - Fever
Cocksure - Be Rich
Emma Ruth Rundle - Marked for Death
Grimes - We Appreciate Power (Single)
The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night

Card of the day:


Another card I see a lot. I'm curious if this convergence of regular cards I've pulled during the year are rallying to clarify a point I've missed?

Saturday, November 17, 2018

2018: November 17th



The video for Ghost's Dance Macabre dropped almost a month ago and, for the first time, I didn't immediately post it here. Truth is, I didn't even watch Dance Macabre until this morning. Why?

Prequelle was released on June first, and at the time I spent maybe two weeks rotating it through my playlist before I abandoned it. So this is also the first time a Ghost record dropped and didn't take up months of my sonic real estate. I like Prequelle, I think it's a great pop rock album, but for my own personal tastes, it's a bit of a step in a direction I'm less interested in actually listening to than observing.

What the hell does that mean?

Ever since I heard Ghost's cover of Imperiet's Bible, the closing track on 2016's EP Popestar, my theory has been Ghost is moving toward becoming mass appeal entertainment, rather than simply being 'a rock band'. My money is on the band - or rather Papa/Cardinal's - next phase being a high-level musical. And I've felt since the first go-through on Prequelle that as an album, it is a step in that exact direction. And that's awesome. To reach that level and still be singing about Satan makes me very happy. That said, musically there are a lot of other groups that do for me what Ghost used to. Prequelle doesn't have a Year Zero or Circe, i.e. a track that hits me hard, and instead eschews that for an infinitely more pop/polished sound. Which is also fine, for the most part. But Dance Macabre? For my money, the worst lyrics I've heard in a while. Definitely the worst on a Ghost album.

Ghost's first record, Opus Eponymous, is, lyrically speaking, full of metal tropes, so that record is also not my favorite. But Infestissumam and Meliora have extremely strong lyrics, and those are the records that made me a rabid fan of the band. So to go from Year Zero's, "Crestfallen kings and queens cavorting in their faith," to, Dance Macabre's "I just want to bewitch you in the moon light/Want to bewitch you all night," hurts my heart a little. That one element of that one song seriously affected my entire relationship with Prequelle, and sadly I haven't listened to the record since the month it came out.

Then...

Last night, thanks to my friend and fellow Horror Vision co-host Anthony, I had the pleasure of seeing Ghost live again. As I suspected, seeing a lot of this new material, even Dance Macabre, endeared it to me a little more. This morning then, I finally surrendered to a new-found curiosity and fired up the video. And what do you know? I found the video to be an awesome visual accompaniment - nay enhancement - for the song, and beyond that, a fantastic entry to the band's mythos. Because that's what Ghost is building - and by that I mean the man behind it, who I still would rather remain nameless even if his identity has been revealed at this point - a mythos. And that's what I think the imminent musical will be about: their Heaven and Hell, Black Magick mythos.

Enough Ghost, let's talk comics.



Still feeling poorly. This isn't flu, but it does seem to have the tenacity of a flu bug. Attending an arena concert last night probably wasn't a great idea, but those tickets were purchased months ago and the sickness came on fast, so I didn't want to leave my friend high and dry. Also, it was good to get out of the house for a few hours. Today will consist of more convalescing, so that means I'll be finishing Robert Payne Cabeen's Cold Cuts (so good), and then delving into a few comics. I mean to keep on with a few issues for my Chris Claremont's Uncanny X-Men re-read, and then pick up with issue #2 of Menton3's insanity conundrum, Monocyte.

I've had this one since it came out, four issues from IDW back in 2012, I've never been able to successfully read this series. Monocyte requires so much set-up and backstory that the actual story kind of gets lost. I tried with an issue or two back as they were being released and then bagged-and-boarded it, waiting for a day when I might feel up to the task of trying again.

That day has apparently come. I read issue #1 a week or so ago and, although I still feel the book is a bit too stout for its own good, I enjoyed it. The art is ridiculous, as all Menton3's stuff is.

Playlist from 11/16:

Chelsea Wolf - Hiss Spun
Chasm - Divine Illusion
Various Artists - The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs

Card of the day:
'

There's an obvious pattern of late with all these orange cards, so let's talk about what this color might have to tell me about these recent draws.

Orange is an amalgam of yellow and red, yellow representing Air and red Fire. So that's intellect and anger, or strength/drive if we're inclined to interpret it in a non-hostile way, which I am. Add to this the Three, which corresponds to Binah, or the Great Mother and Understanding. I'm tempted then, to interpret these deluge of Orange in my pulls this week as a cue to use my brain to better understand where I'm going with this novel, and have the strength to re-wire the things I already know still need re-wiring. Which isn't much, but it's a touch daunting.

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

2018: October 17th - New Uncle Acid!



Man, feels like I just checked on the new Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats album a week or two ago and there was no pre-order up, then yesterday I realized Wasteland has indeed officially dropped. Of course ALL the nifty colored vinyl is gone over at Rise Above Records, so for now I'm just listening on Apple. Great record, and as you can hear above MAN! What an opening track!

31 Days of Horror continued last night with Candyman! Only the second time I'd seen this flick, it's a great example of a 90s horror flick that doesn't seem as dated as, say, Species.  Leave that to Bernard Rose's direction, Clive Barker's oversight, and poverty anachronistic staying power. That's the world folks.

31 Days of Horror:

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead
10/13) George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
10/14) The Apostle
10/15) Phantom of the Paradise
10/16) Candyman

NCBD today and it's a great day because Gideon Falls returns!!!






Playlist from 10/16:

Second Still -
Windhand - Eternal Return
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland

No card today.

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

2018: October 9th: New High on Fire



With all my elation at Windhand's Eternal Return dropping last Friday, I forgot High on Fire's new album Electric Messiah also hit the 'shelves.' After giving it a couple spins I dig it - Matt Pike and crew didn't reinvent their wheel here, but there's some digging around inside the confines of their patented sound that there's some growth here. As usual, it's pummeling and a bit exhaustive. Not a bad thing.

31 Days of Horror continued yesterday with another first timer for me (we opted to save The Convent for tonight):

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species

Species is one of K's favorites. I'd never really had any interest in seeing it until I recently read that the monster was based on an H.R. Giger design - obvious, but I guess I just thought it was a case of Hollywood cribbing the design on the Alien monster. Either way, I enjoyed Species in spite of it being very 90s- everything from the camera work to the overwrought score reeked of X-Files influence. Forest Whittaker overdoes his role as this search-and-destroy team's empath, although I suspect that was the product of direction more than his personal choice. Also, the use of ground fog where there shouldn't be any is very much a trope of the 90s.

Playlist from 10/08:

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Automatic
Corniglia - Eponymous
High on Fire - Electric Messiah
High on Fire - Snakes of the Divine
God is LSD - Spirit of Suicide

I ended up baulking on finishing the second part of the novel last night due to sheer exhaustion. After work was reserved for a big ol' nap! Today's card for the day reflects my adjusted expectations:


Also, there's the balance of contrasts inherent in this card, which ties into the book's attempt to balance YA adventure-horror with a touch of a literary pedigree.

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

The Ocean Release Another New Track!



I'm still debating on whether or not I'm going to listen to this one before the album comes out, but that's no reason not to share it! These guys are such a great band, but I feel like not everyone that would like them knows about them. Hopefully that changes.

Pre-order Here for a November 2nd release!

Sunday, September 23, 2018

2018: September 23rd - New Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats!!!



Jesus. I'm going to go broke with all the new music on the horizon. Good problem to have, eh? The new album is called Wasteland and there is not a pre-order up yet that I could find.

Drove 35 miles both ways out to Santa Ana to see Mandy on the big screen again. The Frida Theatre is the only place anywhere even remotely close by - if at all - still playing it nightly, 10:00 PM shows until the 27th. So worth it!

Going to see Rebel Without A Cause today, thanks to AMC and the TMC's monthly movie. This is such an amazing program, and it's available at almost all AMCs and I think some Regal (Or at least in Southern California it is. Check the TMC website for details about theatre's near you - it's worth it!).


Playlist from Saturday, 8/22:

White Lung - Eponymous
Type O Negative - Dead Again
Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Digipak Version)
Sunn O))) - Domkirke

No card today.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

2018: September 19th - New Cocksure Album!



Holy cow, there's a new Cocksure album out! Listen to the way that synth comes in at 1:19 - old school never sounded so good!

NCBD and I am SUPER excited because the first installment of Batman: Damned hits today:


Also, I've been eager for more Seven To Eternity since it returned from hiatus last month (feels longer), so it's nice to see a new one. And what an awesome, Saga-like cover, despite the fact the book bears little resemblance to Saga; they are both awesome in very different ways.



It's going to be a good week!

Playlist from Tuesday, 9/18:

M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Cocksure - Be Rich
Elder - Dead Roots Stirring
Tennis System - Pain EP
Jucifer - War Bird
The Atlas Moth - The Old Believer
Yob - Our Raw Heart

Card of the day:


Second iteration of this card in a row (I didn't pull yesterday). I finished Please Believe Me, however became reticent to submit it to the magazine I had planned to due to the fact that in their voluminous "What we don't want" list - which is hysterical reading - they mention anything that requires a 'vestigial belief in Judeo-Christian beliefs'. My story does not, however, the first line of the story, which is meant to be ultimately metaphorical and initially disorientating, is "It was a Thursday in September when seventy-three-year-old Heddie Larsen met the devil." I can just see an overworked slush pile operator reading that and moving no further with it. I thought about changing the line, but it would change the story, so in keeping with my draw today, I will wait and send them the results of the next journey, read: story, which I've already begun mapping out and is tentatively titled "Growth Spurt." It's the closest thing to hard Sci Fi I have written thus far. Think Primer meets Slither.

Saturday, September 8, 2018

Perturbator has a Side Project: L'Enfant De La Forêt

Translating to "The Child of the Forest," I immediately feel a kinship here due to my old band The Forest Children's name. This is dark ambient, not like Mr. Kent's Perturbator at all, and I love it. The digital album is available on the bandcamp:



And physical copies can be pre-ordered on Neuropa Records's website HERE.

Spooky shit, as one would expect from Mr. Kent.

2018: September 8th



Ghostland Observatory released a new album today. This is a band I very much dig, but who fell off my radar quite a few years ago. Good to see them back in action.

I've been thinking quite a bit about the bands that kept me afloat in the 00s. These guys were definitely one of them, along with a lot of more electronic-based artists. My general musical inclination has shifted over the last seven or eight years, so that I generally listen to heavier music these days (although Sunn 0))), The Ocean and High on Fire were staples for much of the 00s). That has a lot to do with writing - I just find it easier to write to heavier stuff. Most of the time. Also, it tends to fit my tone.

Oh! Mr. Brown sent me a link to the new film by Harmony Korine. Looks great, and I love the fact that Korine has kind of - for the time at least - reinvented himself with this Neon Beach Noir look.



Playlist from yesterday:
The Ocean - Permian: The Great Dying (Pre-release Single)
White Lung - Eponymous
Dead Rabbits - The Ticket That Exploded
Soundgarden - Super Unknown
The Cramps - Flame Job
John Carpenter - Big Trouble in Little China OST
Black Sabbath - Volume 4
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

Card of the day:


Dogma. Well, what am I dogmatic about? I don't draw this card often, and when I do I don't always attribute it the respect and fascination it deserves. In my general temperament, I'm used to thinking of this card as being followed by or juxtaposed with XVI The Tower, as in law or dogma in a state of upheaval. Alone, I have to wonder if I am supposed to look deeper into my belief systems, which are ersatz for sure, as I decided long ago the word belief is much akin to the word prison. Maybe that doesn't have to be the case? Most people would read this - I think - as beware your belief structures. I'm wondering if I need to fine-tune my own, as lack of belief is still, ironically, belief.





Thursday, September 6, 2018

New Music from The Ocean - Permian: The Great Dying



I don't know what's more disturbing, the fact that it's actually been five years since the last album from The Ocean (they released a split 7" with Mono in 2015), or all the changes that have taken place in my life since. Either way, this track is MUCH anticipated and proves this band will never let me down. You can pre-order the new album, Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic on the Metal Blade Records site HERE. Release date November 2nd.

Props to my friend John for tipping me off to this release. Made my night!

New Windhand Single Diablerie



Windhand dropped the second single off the upcoming Eternal Return, out 10/5 on Relapse. You can pre-order this HERE. I for one cannot wait!

Monday, August 27, 2018

2018: August 27th



My favorite song of the year, thus far. And the entire album is, after an intense day of listening to almost nothing but, clocking in at #2 of the year, right behind Zeal and Ardor's Stranger Fruit. Another great year for music (if you know where to look).

Finished Thomas Harris' Silence of the Lambs. Solid four stars. I'm still irked by some of the pacing manipulations, but that's a small thing. The end speeds by and is excellently paced. I definitely learned a thing or two here. Next up:


Playlist from 8/26:

Etta James - Second Time Around
Louvin Brothers - Satan is Real (vinyl - thanks Mr. Brown!)
Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog
The Damage Manual - >1
David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer

Card of the day:


And yeah, my lust of result is interfering in my work process. So I'm at my CBTL trying to fix that now.

Friday, August 10, 2018

2018: August 10th - NEW HIGH ON FIRE



Fuck. Yes. They're not reinventing the wheel, and I don't care. Pre-order HERE from Napalm Records for an October 5th release.

Finished Dark Moon Books' excellent collection, Exploring Dark Short Fiction #2: A Primer to Kaaron Warren. Weeeelll worth your time. Jumped right into the first of two novels I'm reading for writing homework - Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. Excellent so far, not that I didn't expect exactly that. I'm going to read that and, ahem, James Patterson's Along Came A Spider, a book I'm not looking forward to as much, though I'm sure it will be a more than adequate page-turner. The idea here is for the three books Keller and I have planned to pen together, I'm looking at creating a fusion of the thriller, less-is-more page-turner style and more more literary leanings. I tend to avoid page-turners, so I'm reading what Keller has suggested are two examples of the style that are worth reading.


Playlist from yesterday:

Secret Chiefs 3 Traditionalists - Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini
Tennis System - Pain EP
The Body - I Have
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
Mstislav Rostropovich - The 1967 Carnegie Hall Marathon (excerpts):
       Concerto for Violin & Cello in A Minor
       Suite for Cello & Chamber Orchestra
Christine - Sam Was Here OST
Christine - Brand New Furies
Goblin - Buio Omega

No card today.

Friday, August 3, 2018

2018: August 3rd - NEW WINDHAND!!!



This absolutely made my day! I've had a feeling for a while that a follow-up to one of my favorite records of the last ten years, Grief's Infernal Flower, was due, especially after that split 7" with Satan's Satyrs earlier in the year.

Listening to Grey Garden for the first time, my initial observations are:

  1. The bass sounds like a fucking motor tucked into just the right spot beneath those twin guitars; reminds me a bit of the bass on my favorite tracks from Soundgarden's Superunknown.
  2. Producer Jack Endino really brought Dorthia's vocals up in the mix here, and that's fantastic news.
  3. The artwork, by Arik Roper, is beautiful beyond words, and somehow reminds me of the writing of Clarke Ashton Smith.

Eternal Return is slated to release on October 5th; pre-order it on Relapse Record's website HERE.

Playlist from yesterday:

Shockwaves Podcast 101 - Tubular Bells
Shockwaves Podcast 099 - Graham Skipper 
Tennis System - Pain EP

I'm sure I'm forgetting something I listened to, because I find it hard to believe that other than that Tennis System it was all Shockwaves, but work was nuts, so it took me a while to chew through most of two whole hour-plus podcasts.

I took K to see one of her favorite musicians last night, again at the Hotel Cafe. This time it was Justin Furstenfeld of the band Blue October. Justin does this "Open Book" show that's him on a small stage, telling stories from his life and accenting them with acoustic songs. I can't confess to being much a fan of the band, but as a low-key performer he was endearing and has a pretty great voice. This stories run the gamut from funny to hard-life-lessons-wrought, and in discussing being put on Paxil at 15, he solidified a theory I've had for a while now: the reason I can't directly relate to a lot of the music from the 00s is because that was the first generation of 'rock stars' - take Justin as an example of what that means today - raised on pharmaceuticals (ie anti-depressants) and, having never had that experience, it creates a palpable rift between them, their music, and me. 

Card of the day:


From the Grimoire: "Big Change; think things through."Not certain what this is referring to, but I have a feeling I will know by the end of the day. Always good to have a forewarning against acting impulsively. 

Thursday, August 2, 2018

2018: August 2nd



In just two days of sporadic listening, and after an initial and unfair dismissal upon its release earlier this year, The Body's I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer is shaping up to be in my top ten if not top five of 2018. This is a POWERHOUSE of an album, and

The new and final of my Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying installments is up HERE - I'm hoping my fellow writers at Joup jump on this column and make it their own. It probably will no longer be a regular publication, but irregular's just as good.

Playlist from Wednesday, 8/01:

Shockwaves Podcast 104 - Paul Tremblay
Tennis System - Pain
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Johnny Marr - Call the Comet
The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer
Ministry - Dark Side of the Spoon
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
The Veils - Total Depravity

Card of the day:


This was apparently my friend Missi's pull today too. I don't have time to decode right now, but it's interesting we both received it.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

2018: July 25th - New Video from Nothing



New Nothing! The album drops on August 24th and you can pre-order it from Relapse Records HERE and on their bandcamp.


Playlist from 8/24:

Killing Joke - Nighttime
Grimes - Visions
!!! - As If
NIN - Ghosts I-IV

No card again today. I' buttonholed at work with extensive logistics for the importation/exportation of live cells from South Africa into the U.S. and I have barely had time to do anything. Couple with this a pervading exhaustion, and a somewhat frustrating preoccupation with getting >60 seconds DwC clips on youtube to try and drum up views (of which we get no where near as many as I feel we should based on the amount of work I put in on editing), and I'm running on mental empty, so I can't even remember to pull from the Thoth Deck before I leave for work, and it takes all the free time I can muster in-between tasks at the office to even type this much out, let alone pull a card and attempt to interpret it.


Sunday, July 22, 2018

2018: July 21st



I just realized Tennis System has a new E.P. out the other day, and not long after Keller messaged me to ask if I was down to see them at a Part Time Punks show at the Echoplex next Sunday.

My response? Fuck. Yes.

Per my previous blog, we watched Triangle on Friday night. Fantastic film. I was a little worried that the thumbnail image on Shudder - which was the widespread poster image for the film - had ruined the twist of the film for me (I was so concerned about this that I doctored the thumbnail I posted here the other day, so as not to ruin it for anyone else), but the good news is that particular twist is inevitable right from the start and not at all the point of the film. So definitely worth a watch.

Oh! And speaking of Shudder, one more reason to love these folks - they surprised me with a free 30 days! How great is that? So, let's check the boxes on why Shudder is awesome (and, btw, not an affiliate):

1) They Sponsor Beyond Fest every year.
2) Great selection that grows every week
3) Hosting the Joe Bob Briggs Last Drive-in and leaving it up in perpetuity
4) Their live-streaming Shudder.TV channels are awesome and remind me of how I discovered horror back in the day (John Carpenter on WGN channel 9's nightly movie).

Playlist from Friday, 7/20

Emma Ruth Rundle - Marked for Death
Daughters - Satan in Wait (Pre-release single)
Beak> - L.A. Playback
Lake Trout - Another One Lost
Ministry - Dark Side of the Spoon
Converge - The Dusk in Us
Emma Ruth Rundle - Fever Dreams (Pre-release single)
True Widow - AVVOLGERE
Uniform - The Walk (Pre-release single)
Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit
Johnny Marr - Call the Comet

I spent about twelve hours yesterday editing, uploading and post the new episode of DwC. Possibly the fastest turn-around I've done on my own, but it cost me my Saturday. I mean, I didn't do anything else, as reflected by my playlist, which was what we listened to while we made and ate dinner.

Playlist from Saturday, 7/22:

Footloose - OST
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

I watched Slither last night for the first time since my initial viewing, many years ago. Great little horror flick. Between that and Super - which I loved - I'm pretty sure James Gunn will have no trouble re-acclimating to making movies again. I'm sorry for the loss of such a huge contract and opportunity at the hands of adolescent-like immaturity, and I'm even more sorry for those MCU fans that will be subjected to GoG without Gunn at the helm, but I'm excited Mr. Gunn will once again be making movies that I will actually see.



Card of the day:


From the Grimoire: "All troubles and disruptions have been necessary to grow. That growth is a Victory, as not everyone makes it out of the strife and chaos of the fives."

The story I've been working on, "Please Believe Me" is so far outside of what I've done before, as far as character and overall tone, that my writing sessions have been strife and chaos. It can't be underreported, the feeling of sitting down during my daily ritual space for writing and coming away two or three hours later with nothing useable, or merely sketches of the tone and ideas that I want. Please Believe Me is meant to be a contemplation of Dread, which is far and away a different tone and emotion than horror, and finding the parameters of that tone inside of how I would normally write, how I would move a character or set a scene to progress, it's just not easy.

But it's rewarding, I'll tell you that.

Is today the day I finish it? Maybe.



Friday, July 13, 2018

2018: Happy Friday 13th! New Deafheaven Streaming via Anti-

Well, it's 12:27 AM. I've officially called out from work tomorrow. Mental Health day. AND the new Deafheaven just dropped! and their awesome label Anti- is streaming Ordinary Corrupt Human Love in it's entirety. I'm a little pissed that the vinyl copy I pre-orderd the day the album was announced has not shipped yet (or King's Road Merch/Anti- hasn't updated the order status on their website), but I've got it digitally and now I've got all night and all day to listen to it!



There's a Drinking w/ Comics live streaming on our Facebook page tonight at 9:00 PM Pacific Time. Check it out - we've got Karen Kunawicz as a guest. She's the entertainment columnist for the Manilla times and a good friend of Mike's so I'm psyched to talk geek shop with her.

And a BIG Also, Joe Bob Briggs is hosting a 24 hour horror marathon on Shudder starting at 6:00 PM Pacific (that's 9:00 PM Eastern Standard) and other than listening to Deafheaven and doing my show, I'll be watching that.

Comics I will (Try) to talk about tomorrow:






Earlier this evening I watched a flick on Shudder I'd not heard of before. Described as a modern Giallo, Cold Hell defied ALL of my expectations and proved to be a fabulous film. A Giallo that is not content to just hail the flags of the genre, Cold Hell is a story of violence, but more over it is a story of the human heart. That might sound a bit heavy handed, but it's not. Absolutely, positively recommended:



Followed that up with this classic:



Card of the day:

Balance. Kind of feel like that's what I'm doing now, by not going to work tomorrow. Sometimes you have to do that; call it a mental health day.