Netherlands - Deathling

 

I randomly stumbled across the Netherlands on Apple Music a few days ago, and they immediately became a driving force in my musical day-to-day. This album ROCKS! Check out Netherlands' Bandcamp HERE and their physical media HERE.

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NCBD:

Hot damn! It's NCBD! Let's see what I'm bringing home from Rick's Comic City tonight:

Batman: First Knight proved to be one of my favorite titles of the last few years, so I was excited to see we're getting a sequel. I love the oversized format and the 1930s, no-tech approach to Batman. What we get is a wonderfully lush period piece, dripping in Noir. 

You know, Major Bludd has long been a favorite of mine. As a kid, I loved the original figure, but it wore out and never really got a proper update while I was still collecting, so it got pushed to the back burner by other favorites. And while there were some memorable moments with the character in Hama's comics, those too were early on, and ol' Sebastian Bludd didn't really exert a presence again until his failed attempt to impersonate Destro and take over his Scottish empire. Recently, I acquired the latest Classified version of Blud's figure, and I must say, the nice juxtaposition of receiving that figure and seeing this cover has me excited. He's been an integral part of the building of Cobra in this series, and I'm pretty happy with how much 'screen time' he's received. That might all implode this issue, as I'm wondering if he's going to make it out of this skirmish with The Baroness and Cover Girl alive. 

Still really digging this book. Obviously, at least partially inspired by Rob Zombie's 31 - of which I seem to become more a fan of every October upon viewing - Exquisite Corpses differs in one big way. For a book about a bunch of competing homicidal maniacs dropped into a small town for a game of mass murder, this book is FUN! That's right, I said it. FUN! There's a palpable sense of dread at times, but it's often undercut with some pretty amusing peeks behind the curtain of the game and its players.  

Anthology Horror at its finest, Oni's rejuvenation of EC Comics continues to thrill me each and every month. 

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Watch:

Honestly, all I needed to see of Yannis Veslemes and Dimitris Emmanouilidis's She Loved Blossoms More was the still image on the trailer's thumb, and I was sold. 

No reason to risk ruining any surprises this one may have in store - I have a feeling there are many.

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Playlist:

Hellbender - Hellbender OST

Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain

The Jesus Lizard - Rack

Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services

Netherlands - Vapors

Alice in Chains - Eponymous

Blood Incantation - Absolute Everywhere

Blood Incantation - Hidden History of the Human Race

Deftones - private music

Comic Tropes - Robert Kirkman Interview 

Testament - Shadow People (pre-release single)

USSA - The Spoils

Hall & Oats - Do What You Want, Be What You Are (Disc 3)

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

Will Haven - Carpe Diem

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Card:

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

Also, if you head over to Grimm's Kickstarter HERE you'll see his upcoming The Eldritch Lace Tarot Deck you can hit the "notify upon launch" button and then you can get on this seriously unbelievably awesome deck. 

• Eight of Pentacles

• King of Wands

• III: The Empress

Concentration. Yeah, it's at a premium these last few days. From the Grimoire: The purest manifestation of Fire in the deck, thus strong. Unchecked can be imbalanced. That's the concentration key. Imbalance. Now, let's try and tie those two cards to III: The Empress. Also from the Grimoire: " She is the inferior Garden of Eden, the Earthly Paradise, all that is symbolized by the visible house of man" - A.E. Waite.

How do I reconcile this? My problem at the moment? Too much social media. Luckily for me, it's like fast food - I don't use it much, so even a little can be too much. But I'm fairly certain that's what's killing my concentration. Remember all those epiphanies to start meditating again? Yeah, never happened. Would probably help. 

Revocation - Cronenberged!!!

The new album from Revocation lands in under a month and I'm pretty psyched. I've especially taken to this pre-release single "Cronenberged," the name of which almost immediately signified how I would feel for it. And with a title referencing the Godfather of Body Horror, Revocation and Director, Cinematographer and FX guru David Brodsky 100% delivered!

You can pre-order the new album, New Gods, New Masters, from Metal Blade Records HERE.

 

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NCBD:

Another Wednesday, another NCBD pull list! Super excited about these, so let's get into it!

So excited for the next chapter in this cosmic game of thrones (not a reference to George R. Martin). Hickman brings his trademark complexity, but also, he once again manages to infuse it with a sense of excitement I've not seen anyone bring to the big two in quite some time. 

G.I.Joe issue #9 was, I think, the best of the series thus far, so despite the instant exhaustion I feel looking at a cover displaying Cover Girl and Baroness as the stars of the issue, I have high hopes. I'd just really like to move on from them soon.

I feel a re-read coming on for Exquisite Corpses. Interesting to note that issue 3 had Pornsak Pichetshote and Valentine De Landro were credited as Writer/Artist, so I'd kind of assumed this might be a project that Tynion and Walsh had conceived, set up and handed off; however, that's not the case. League of Comic Geeks' entry for this issue shows the founders back on board for the next few solicitations. 

The first issue of Catacombs of Torment was a blast, so I've been jonesing to read #2, due out today! There is nothing quite as satisfying as a fantastic Horror Anthology, especially when it's in comic book form (This is probably based on the fact that I saw Creepshow as a very young child, and it imprinted on me forevermore).

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Watch:

After rewatching Osgood Perkins' The Monkey this past Sunday night, I was reminded just how much I'm looking forward to his next film, Keeper, due in theatres November 14th! 

I'm continually amazed at not only how fast Mr. Perkins works, but how he's really matured as a filmmaker of late. 

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Playlist:

The Knife - Silent Shout

The Knife - Shaking the Habitual

The Knife - Deep Cuts

Blackbraid - Blackbraid III

Drug Church - Prude

King Woman - Doubt EP

Steve Moore - The Mind's Eye OST

Steve Moore - Christmas Bloody Christmas OST

Revocation - New Gods, New Masters (pre-release singles)

Helmet - Aftertaste

Spotlights - Love & Decay

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

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Card:

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

• XVI: The Tower

• XII: The Hanged Man

• 7 of Disks: Failure

It'd been a minute since I put hands on my Thoth deck, so that's what I pulled for today. Looks like to change a paradigm, I'm going to have to go through a sacrifice and fail once or twice. Not sure what this is alluding to; might be the new methodology I've been tweaking for working on Shadow Play Book 2. Might be work-related. 

New Music From Ritual Howls!!!

Ritual Howls announced a new record and dropped an awesome new track, so let's all rejoice! You can pre-order a super nifty neon green vinyl on their Bandcamp right HERE.

I realized I completely forgot about and never ordered the band's previous release, 2023's Virtue Falters, so I have to go back and take care of that at some point. But this is a very well-timed release; we're approaching Autumn, and just over the last two days, I've felt twitches of it. First, I pulled out the copy of The Damned's live Night of 1000 Vampires the other day, an album Mr. Brown gifted me and that I played continuously last autumn. Then yesterday I had a taste for Joy Division. So, having a new Howls' record for Halloween 2025 will be a welcome event.

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NCBD:

Another easy week, but everything here is something I can't wait to read! Let's go:

The penultimate issue of Daniel Warren Johnson's run, which ends next month with Transformers issue 24! The cover says it all - I really dig what they've been doing with ol' Ultra Magnus, and in general, the Autobots are in such dire straits, I can't wait to see how this all plays out.  

I LOVED issue one of the first Epitaphs from the Abyss spin-off mini series, Blood Type, and am looking forward to more. 

Hands down the best regularly produced Batman book I've read since Morrison's run almost twenty years ago now. I know this ends in a few issues, but I'll enjoy Dark Patterns while I can. Dan Watters and Hayden Sherman are really operating at peak performance on this one. 

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Watch:

I found this trailer for Matt Stuertz's new feature, Human, via Bloody Disgusting, which had a headline comparing it to Greg Araki meets Evil Dead 2. I see the Araki for sure, not 100% certain I see the Raimi. Regardless, for what looks like a super small budget, I am intrigued and won't hold a Howie Mandel cameo against the film.

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Playlist:

The Damned - Night of 1000 Vampires

Windhand - Eternal Return

John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Prince of Darkness OST

Revocation - New Gods, New Masters (pre-release singles)

Blackbraid - Blackbraid III

Witchthroat Serpent - Trove of Oddities at the Devil's Driveway

Sleep - Dopesmoker

QOTSA - Rated R

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

Joy Division - Substance

Ritual Howls - Follow the Sun (single)

Ritual Howls - Virtue Falters

Ritual Howls - Into the Water

Ritual Howls - A Safe Haven From the Sun (single)

Cryo Chamber - Echoes of the Hollow Earth

Young Widows - Power Sucker

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Card:

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

• Ace of Cups

• V: The Hierophant

• Seven of Wands

Emotional breakthrough leads beyond accepted dogma/practices to a victory of Will. 

First, let's take a moment to marvel at the artistic merit of these three particular cards. My god  - I'm blown away every time I stop to examine Grimm's art in this deck. Not just the actual art, but the concepts and pulling together of so many similar attributes - stoner rock, Weedian folklore, Occult influences, 70s Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Breathtaking, I tell you.

Okay, so what the hell is this pull saying? I've finally knuckled down and have been writing very nearly every day, and it's paying off. The book I'm working on - Shadow Play Two - is extremely difficult to write. I have a timeline that dates back to Elizabeathan England and draws in a lot of minor historical figures. I'm having trouble shaping the second act of the book - which I'm back to thinking will take place in both Elizabeathan and Victorian England, and a lot of my work is slow going. 

Blackbraid III is OUT NOW!!!

 

Blackbraid III, out everywhere today! Psyched for the arrival of my vinyl, which I pre-ordered directly from the band's online shop HERE.

 

Last weekend, while doing some work around the house, I put in my headphones and listened to Blackbraid I and II in succession. This is a band that deserves all the hype; in fact, Blackbraid deserves a lot more hype! There's an evolution going on across these three records that is breathtaking to behold, and you can see how their success funnelled directly into their Art. The cover artwork on III is a contender for cover of the year. Artist Adam Burke absolutely nailed this, and with Adrian Baker's layout, this is something I cannot wait to just sit and stare at while cranking the record. (You can read a bit more about the album and the art HERE)

I had hopes of seeing Blackbraid live, but alas, they're playing Chicago when I'm in LA this October, and they're playing LA when I'm back home in TN, so I'll have to catch them next time. 

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Watch:

Weapons. Holy shit. THIS might actually topple Eddington as my favorite film of the year. Zach Cregger has actually crafted yet another movie that belies all comparison. Weapons is unique. It is intricate and perfectly executed. The storytelling here is just on another level. The characters - of which there are quite a few - are very well-written and expertly developed. As my good friend and cohost on The Horror Vision said last night during our live, spoiler-free reaction on IG, "The characters are rich."

Yes. That is exactly the word.

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Go into this as blind as possible. I will say, another thing that now appears to go hand-in-hand with Cregger's brand is the mystery, so that even though I've seen the initial trailer for this film several times, and have been inundated with a more recent ad while watching The Bear on our HULU (our phone pays for the subscription, so there are ads), I still knew NOTHING about this film. That's a feat. While Blumhouse continues to beat everyone over the head with trailers that show (and ruin) the entire movie, Directors like Mr. Cregger and Oz Perkins have "spoiler-free" built into their brand.

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Playlist:

Opeth - Solitude (Black Sabbath Cover live)

Eric Prydz - Call Me (single)

Black Sabbath - Vol. 4

Opeth - Blackwater Park

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

Ghost Bath - Moonlover

Beastmilk - Climax

Bella Morte - Where Shadows Lie

Revocation - New Gods, New Masters (pre-release singles)

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

Blackbraid - Blackbraid III

Bruit ≤ - Live on KEXP

Cobalt - Gin

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Card:

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

• Queen of Cups - The Watery aspect of Water: Emotion x 2

• Page of Wands - The Earthly aspect of Fire: Earthly expenditures/expression of Will

• Page of Cups - The Earthly aspect of Water: Earthly expenditures/expressions of Emotion

Heavy emotions lead to Earthly concerns diluting the Will. 

7 Days of Sabbath Day Day 3: Cornucopia Live 1973

Black Sabbath performing the criminally underrated "Cornucopia," one of my favorite tracks from 1972's Vol 4. 

This recording, which was apparently included in the Vol. 4 box set Rhino released a couple of years back, is fantastic! When I went looking for clean copies of this song live, I never dreamed this was out there. I guess I should have sprung for that box set!

Posted to YouTube by Marc Jacobs - go give this channel a browse and a follow. Lots of great stuff!!!

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Watch:

I had the honor to once again sit in on the Dread Broadcast, this time for their July recap panel discussion.

This aired live last night from 7:00 PM CST until 9:30 PM, but it's up in perpetuity and totally worth your time. So many great films and books covered, and we kicked it off with special guest Writer/Director/Actor Chris Riggi, whose new film Abduct blew both K and I away when we watched it this past Wednesday night.

This one has such a unique tone! Abduct is not a comedy, but it's funny in the way that a film about a group of friends undergoing an extremely messed-up situation can be funny. It's also not afraid to get a little mean and a lot Weird. This is currently a $2.99 rental on Prime and available for free on something called Fawesome. Either way, HIGHLY recommended. 

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Read:

A little bit of personal historical data. 

The first time I saw Ozzy Osbourne live was August 23, 1992. I would have been 16 years old. This was the "No More Tours" tour. Goddamn, do I wish I still had the concert t-shirt I picked up!

Edit this setlist | More Ozzy Osbourne setlists

Personally, I definitely could have done with more of the heavier No More Tears tracks, but the two they chose are favorites, so it's an even trade, as this would have also been the first time I ever heard any Sabbath songs performed live. I remember this show in a very vague way: I remember the World Music Theatre (now called something else) and the way the seats were, the lawn, the metal chicks who were, to my sixteen-year-old eyes, ravishing. I remember Ozzy and excitment of seeing him on stage, but I don't really remember the performance overall. Seeing this set list (thank the stars for Setlist.com. I mean, really), it all seems like a remember it, but I can't be sure I'm not just remembering the decades of knowing what Ozzy does live and grafting it atop the memory. Either way, Glad I went to this, which would have, I think, been my third concert ever.

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Playlist:

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

Black Pyramid - The Paths of Time are Vast

Comic Tropes - Marvel Cancelled FF Out of Spite

Deftones - Ohms

Windhand - Eternal Return

Black Sabbath Live Paris 1970

Goblin - 2013 Tour EP

Ennio Morricone - The Thing OST

Escape Driver - No Fate

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Card:

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

• Queen of Cups

• Two of Wands

• XVI: The Tower

Deep emotional connection and a union of Wills lead to a paradigm shift. Hmm... 

When I turned 49 in March, I made the statement that for my upcoming 50th year, I want to finally make the short film I've been talking about for the last few years. K is on board - she's Magick with a camera - and I have some rough ideas, but I've had a hard time knowing where to start. I think the cards here are telling me that I should perhaps consult more with her, and figure out a game plan together, as opposed to keeping it in my mind to just bring her in as camera. Props to Chris Riggi for, I think, indiretly planting this idea in my head. 

New Music From Preoccupations

 

When I added Preoccupations back into my regular rotation a week or two ago, I had zero idea they had a new album coming out. I woke up this morning and saw Apple's push notification that Ill At Ease had been released, promptly made coffee and have been sitting outside listening to it in the post-storm morning since. Exceptional album! A surprise like this is so rare these days, and I am cherishing it! You can purchase Ill At Ease from Born Losers Records HERE.

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Watch:

I was super excited to see Sean Byrne's new flick, Dangerous Animals, is getting a wide theatrical push. I still say Devil's Candy would have been an absolute banger if it had played theatres, but, unfortunately, it came out before this new post-pandemic, Independent Horror friendly world we live in.,

While I'm not really one for mean-spirited torture films, I've come to know Byrne's work enough to know this will be something more than it seems when it opens on June 6th.

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Playlist:

Gibby Haynes - Third Man Records Blue Series

The Black Belles - What Can I Do? (single)

The Raveonettes - PE'AH II

Pinky Tuscadero's Whiteknuckle Assfuck - Halfway to Honky Heaven

Ghost - Skeletá

Ghost - Impera

James Williams - Possessor OST

Zeal & Ardor - Eponymous

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New Perturbator!!!

I feel like I've been waiting for the new Perturbator album forever, and now we finally have the first single. I don't love the video, but the track is cool. As usual, though, I'll be holding out for the full album to hear it again. Need that context. 

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Watch:

Here's a new Irish Folk Horror flick I do not remember hearing about before this past weekend when it popped up on Shudder. You know I love me some Irish Folk Horror; this is well-timed, as Lorcan Finnegan has a new film out and in buying tickets for that tomorrow night, I've already got a hankering to rewatch Without Name, which is possibly my favorite of the Irish Folk Horror genre. 

 

This is Writer/Director Aislinn Clarke's second feature-length film. Their first, The Devil's Doorway, is on a list I have somewhere and is currently streaming on AMC+ (But not their Horror subsidiary Shudder, fuckyouverymuch AMC+), so I'm adding both of these films to my watch list with hopes to have a nice, spooky double or triple feature soon.

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Playlist:

The Cops - Free Electricity

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Undreamable Abysses

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Nahab

Hayden Pedigo - Long Pond Lily (single)

Hayden Pedigo - Letting Go

Ghost - Ghost - Skeletá 

Ghost - Infestissumam

Nuxx Vomica - Compilation LP (pre-release tracks)

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Techno Westerns - Loverboy

I rewatched In A Violent Nature last night, strictly because Joe Bob and Darcy hosted it on the previous installment of The Last Drive-In. Not a fan of this flick, but I did come away with this song, so that's cool.

The album this track is featured on shares its name, and while I didn't love it, I found a pretty reliable evocation of a certain kind of Electro-Indie-Pop that was ubiquitous in Los Angeles in the late 2000s and early 2010s, and thus, hits a certain nostalgic trigger for me. I'm not talking smack; I would have probably liked this a lot more back then, but my tastes have definitely shifted, and as it stands after a couple of listens, I do dig this, just not enough to really get excited by it. Still, if you dig this track, check out their music for yourself. 

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Watch:

Zach Cregger's follow-up to Barbarian received a trailer last week:

This is another example of a creator who must have a hand in controlling the marketing of his films because, like Barbarian, this gives nothing away. I'm not going to test that theory by watching any subsequent trailers New Line releases after this; Weapons hits theatres on August 8th, and I will be there on opening day. 

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Read:

Over the weekend, I ripped through a re-read of Preston Fassel's brilliant Our Lady of the Inferno. Second time reading this book, and it's an all-time favorite for me. 

The depth of emotion here is incredible. This is a book that can scare you, gross you out, and touch your heart. The imagery is above and beyond as Fassel conjures 42nd Street, New York, in 1983, in a way I cannot even begin to describe. You hear it, you feel it, you smell it. The characters are so well-written and so developed that you feel like you know them - like you have known them your entire life. And the Horror is both breathtaking and heartbreaking in equal measure.

I was lucky enough to grab this one upon original publication by Fangoria, but while that edition is long out of print, there is a new edition available everywhere books are sold. 

I know I say this a lot, and I always mean it when I say it, but I cannot recommend this book enough. While I would definitely classify Our Lady of the Inferno as a "Horror" novel, it is also a literary Horror novel and one that is far too human to be limited by any genre tropes.  

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Playlist:

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

Moon Wizard - Sirens

Sumerlands - Dreamkiller

The Raveonettes - PE'AHI II

Matt Cameron - Gory Scorch Cretins

Zeal & Ardor - GREIF

Fever Ray - Radical Romantics

Turnstile - GLOW ON

Primus - Pork Soda

The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir

Ghost - Skeletá 

Perturbator - Dangerous Days

Final Light - Eponymous

Techno Westerns - Lover Boy

Joseph Bishara - Malignant OST

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Card:

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

• Ace of Cups

• Four of Wands

• Seven of Pentacles

Emotional breakthrough leads to a stable foundation from which to move forward to victory.

Black Gloves & Broken Hearts is finished and is in the hands of my trusted Beta Reader, so I'm really just waiting on the cover art and any cleanup based on early readers' reactions. After that, we'll be looking at setting a release date. Conversely, I've added a chapter to my latest ongoing Nosleep Serial and moved back to Shadow Play Book Two with the intention of stripping it, streamlining it, and finishing it. I toyed with the idea of turning this proposed trilogy into a duology. However, I think I will simply make books two and three shorter than originally expected. There's just too much sprawl, and I think it's that admitting and acknowledging that right there that is the "Emotional Breakthrough" mentioned in the reading. Roping this in can only lead to a stronger foundation and, thus, completion (Victory).

New Music From Stereolab!!!

 

Holy cow - new music from Stereolab!!! From the forthcoming album Instant Holograms on Metal Film, out May 23rd on Duophonic UHF Disks and Warp Records . Pre-order HERE.

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Watch:

A full trailer for Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's 28 Years Later dropped while I slept, and just seeing the thumbnail, I'm excited. I'm not going to actually watch this trailer, mind you. But just knowing we're that much closer to this brings me joy.

My fear is this will play before every movie I go to the theatre to see until the film's release on June 20th.

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Playlist:

OLD - The Musical Dimensions of Sleastak

Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me

Primus - Pork Soda

Killing Joke - Eponymous

Stereolab - Aerial Troubles (single)

Type O Negative - Dead Again

Tad - Inhaler

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Card:

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

• XI: Justice

• Knight of Cups

• Nine of Swords

Balance creativity or sleeplessness could result.

I actually think this is telling me this so I do the opposite - I've wanted to work on some projects at night the last two weeks, but I'm finding it impossible to stay awake later than 11:00 PM most nights. I think I need to generate a fervor to inspire some 'sleeplessness.' Or at least, some sleep-delay.

Beedridden's Moths Strapped To Each Other's Backs is out now!!!

 

Very excited that Bedridden's debut album, Moths Strapped To Each Other's Backs, released today! You can head over to their Bandcamp and snatch up the digital copy for $8 or the cassette for $12! Great band, can't wait to hear more from them!

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Watch:

Although I have very few complaints about the theatrical releasing in Clarksville, I was bummed that all my Chicago friends got a pretty wide rollout of French Canadian directing trio RKSS's (Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell, and François Simard) new film Wake Up. All reports are, this is a great one.

I know nothing about Wake Up. This was completely off my radar until my friend Chris mentioned it to me, and from there, a few others picked up the chant. "See it in the theatre." Unfortunately, neither my failsafe Regal in Nashville nor the Belcourt has it, so I'll be holding out for VOD.

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Read:

Long-time HWA friend David Lucarelli has turned his brilliant 2018 spook show Doctor Zomba into a comic book, Doctor Zomba's Ghostly Tales!

David joined us on Drinking with Comics HERE to talk about the original stage production of Doctor Zomba's back circa 2019. K and I caught the show at that year's Fringe Fest in Hollywood and LOVED it, so I'm psyched to see David turning this into a Horror Anthology comic. Head over to the Kickstarter HERE and take a gander! 

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Playlist:

Radiohead - OK Computer

Lounge Lizards - No Pain For Cakes

Beastie Boys - Check Your Head

Drug Church - Prude

Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F#A#∞

The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose

The Afghan Whigs - Black Love

Slow Crush - Aurora

Suburban Living - Always Eyes 

Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror

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Card:

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

• Seven of Cups

• Ten of Swords

• Page (Princess) of Pentacles

Imagination culminates into prosperity when focused through long-term effort. All good signs when you're getting ready to launch a new book. Not there yet, but close.

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. 

Hangman's Chair - Kowloon Lights

Really digging this new Hangman's Chair album. Here's one of my favorite tracks so far. You can head over to Nuclear Blast to order Saddiction on vinyl or CD.

 

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Watch:

I ran across the trailer for Joshua Erkman's debut feature film, A Desert on Bloody Disgusting, yesterday and instantly fell in love with the tone.

Of particular note, The Jesus Lizard's David Yow is in the cast, which is casting I'm always happy to see. I'm completely unfamiliar with everyone else involved except the credited composer is none other than Ty Segall! Also, distributor Dark Sky Films tends to deliver greatness. 

Looking around online, I found one of co-writer/Director Joshua Erkman's previous films available on YouTube:

Looking forward to this one.

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Playlist:

Television - Marquee Moon

QOTSA - Era Vulgaris

Windhand - Eternal Return

Melvins - Hold It In

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction

Kowloon Walled City - Piecework

Conrad Schrenk & Thomas Lang - Yumaflex

Fvnerals - Let the Earth Be Silent

Moderat - II

Witchfinder - Forgotten Mansion

Barry Adamson - Oedipus Schmoedipus

Double Life - Indifferent Stars

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Chapter 49: Ash, Pain and Blood

I turn 49 today. Happy to still be here, slightly confused at how that's possible. Fuck it - let's listen to some Flying Lotus!

Even at a curt 1:24, "Blood and Pain" stands out as one of my favorite tracks on an album full of favorite tracks, Flying Lotus' 2021 Yasuke. I'd kind of lost track of this man's music for a few years when I discovered this record last year, and it brought me flying right back. 

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Watch:

Speaking of Flying Lotus, this past Thursday night, K and I sat at our local big box theatre and watched Flying Lotus' new film, Ash.

I wish I could tell you that I loved this as much as I love the man's music, but that's not the case. Do I regret seeing it in the theatre? Absolutely not, and in fact, I'd encourage others to support it as well. Just know what you're getting into.

Ash is slow and somewhat cumbersome in its dissemination of the story. It's meant to be that way because of where the characters are, but it takes making us feel what they do a bit too literally. Slow is never a problem with me, if the film has strong legs to stand on. But things here wobble; there's some convenience in the writing and some ambiguity that doesn't feel purposeful. Also, Ash substitutes - probably out of budgetary necessities - flashes of FX for anything of real depth, which is fine if it's not the only technique you're using. But here, we're indoctrinated with these kind of "nightmare, body-horror" flashes early on, fragments of main character Riya's damaged memory of events that led to the death or disappearance of her ship's entire crew. Later in the movie, we get some action, a fight for survival, and the FX opens up a bit, but it still feels right in line with what we had earlier. Limited.

Now, to play my own devil's advocate, while everything I mention above feels like a weakness, I can say there's also a strength and a healthy dose of hope here, as well. Everything I'm describing feels like a weakness because this is a movie on a big screen in a theatre. But can we not shift our bias and look at this as, "Holy smokes - this is basically a relatively new filmmaker being given not only a chance to make a pretty large-scale film but have it distributed nationwide? I mean, I saw this at a Regal in Clarksville, for fuck's sake. That's kind of staggering.

Granted, Ash is considerably more advanced than films like Skinamarink or The Outwaters - two films I give props to but fucking hated - but its distribution jackpot owes a lot to them*. So I guess all this is to say it's not really a surprise that Ash found a wide release, but even with its shortcomings, the hope is this will further develop Flying Lotus' career so that maybe next time, he'll have the budget and insight to really blow our minds. 

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* And yes, I'm aware both of those films owe their shot at the big screen to the massive success of Damian Leone's Terrifier 2; however, if you want to take it even further back, I'll bring up my absolute shock at seeing films like Hatching, You Won't Be Alone and Lamb in my local AMC theatre post COVID lockdown. 

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Read:

The same day that we went to Nashville to see The Straight Story at the Belcourt Theatre, we made our first visit to Jack White's Third Man Records.

I'm not a Jack White fan. The White Stripes were a much-needed breath of fresh air at the time Elephant blew up, but White's meteoric rise to stardom afterward kind of baffles me. I think I can trace my cynicism back to the moment I saw the DVD It's Going to Get Loud on a shelf at Borders. This is a video that hoists White up as a peer with The Edge and, even more incredibly, Jimmy Page. I can't say I ever watched this video, but its very existence rankled me, and from there, whatever tidbits of information that have trickled down to me about the man have just reinforced that opinion. Well, except one.

His records stores.

From all accounts I'd read, Third Man Records is a bastion of old-school record store glory in an age devoid of such places. Add to this innovations like converting an ice cream truck into a mobile record shop and I almost want to cry. I mean, what an unbelievably cool idea! Literally bringing the music to the people. 

I knew Third Man was in Nashville, but I hadn't been yet, so when my cousin asked if we could visit while he was in town, I assured my wallet all would be well and set the controls for 623 7th Ave South.

The moment I stepped inside, I fell in love with the place.

Wall-to-wall vinyl, all gorgeously packaged and displayed. So many items unique to this store, and just a general sense of reverence for physical media. Yeah, it didn't exactly alter my opinion of White as an egotist when, for the entire forty-five minutes or so we were inside, all they played on the overhead speakers was White's music. That's fine, though. I mean, flaunt it if ya got it, I guess, right? Especially when you maintain a place like this (named after my favorite black and white movie, no less)

Other than the records I purchased, I also picked up an issue of Maggot Brain, Third Man's quarterly music magazine.

I primarily grabbed the issue because of the TVOTR article, but in slowly working my way through it over the last few days, this is the closest thing to when I used to read The Wire back circa 2008-2011. I LOVE this magazine for the same reason I loved The Wire or Heaven is an Incubator. Simply put, there are more words spent on bands and artists I have never heard of than those I have. That's super important to me because I am always looking for new music.

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Playlist:

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

Sqürl - Third Man Records Session

Spoon - They Want My Soul

QOTSA - In Times New Roman

INXS - Kick

TVOTR - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

Deftones - Ohms

Flying Lotus - Yasuke

Flying Lotus - ASH OST

Windhand - Levitation Sessions (Live)

Heilung - Lifa

Radiohead - Myxomatosis (single)

Radiohead - In Rainbows

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Card:

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

• Four of Wands

• Ace of Swords

• VI: The Lovers

Being that it's my day of reiteration today, I'm viewing this spread as an indication of how to proceed for the next 365 days. What does it say? Well, I see a steady foundation and a healthy application of Will - moving forward with these two ideas as a basic tenant for the next year will provide an alchemical reaction. 

Happy St. Paddy's - Flogging Molly Float

Happy St. Paddy's Day, everyone!

I celebrated on Saturday with some Guinness, some Jameson, and my annual reverence for Phil Joanou's State of Grace, which I just love more every time I see it. And I've watched it every year for maybe 20 years. 

Also, if you haven't heard, Flogging Molly frontman Dave King has some health issues that forced the band to cancel their most recent tour, so maybe stop by their Bandcamp and plunk down some silver for one of their albums. Mr. Brown recently recommended the live 2006 Alive Behind the Green Door, and I can attest that it's fantastic. 

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Watch:

David Cronenberg's The Shrouds opens in select cities on April 18th and nationwide a week later. Really looking forward to this one.

This trailer doesn't reveal too much, but it also doesn't 100% whet my appetite for the film. That doesn't mean anything, though, as just the fact that Cronenberg has a new film on the immediate horizon has me excited. I really liked Crimes of the Future; actually felt like it was the first truly transgressive film I'd seen in a theatre in a very long time. Not sure if this will be a similar experience, but it doesn't matter. Cronenberg is Cronenberg, end of story.

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Playlist:

Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God Chapter 1

Marilyn Manson - Lest We Forget 

Marilyn Manson -We Are Chaos

T. Rex - The Slider

'Til Tuesday - Voices Carry

New York Dolls - Dancing Backward in High Heels

Buster Pointdexter - Eponymous

The Pogues - Rum Sodomy and the Lash

The Who - Live at Leeds

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

Sqürl - Third Man Records

Flogging Molly - Alive Behind the Green Door

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Voice Carry (Voices Carry)

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'Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry" is, in my opinion, one of the strongest singles of its era. Released in 1985, for a song every source I consult says was an MTV staple, I swear I cannot remember hearing this until circa 2006 when I moved to L.A., where they played it on the radio on a daily basis. I don't remember ever hearing this on the radio in 1985 or at any other time during the 30 years I lived in Chicago. 

Part of the reason for this may be that we didn't have MTV at our house growing up, a point of infinite frustration for a kid in the 80s (and one I am thankful for now). A friend down the street had it, though, and "Music Television" was on a lot at his house. I can remember some rather oddball songs ("Shoot that Poison Arrow" for one), but not this one. 

I also listened to A LOT of radio from a young age. Some of the songs that populated my sonic landscape from as far back as 1982 were "Rock the Casbah" (an instant lifelong favorite), as well as everything Huey Lewis and the News, Prince and Duran Duran. Whatever station I heard all that on had to be playing "Voices Carry." I just missed it.

Or maybe I didn't miss it. My reaction to hearing this song the first time was immediate infatuation, as if, even though I had no memory of it on the surface, my subconscious had long ago embraced it. I was listening to a lot of modern pop in 2006 (Justin Timberlake's first record, Kyle Minogue, etc), making mix CDs I dubbed "Satan's Discoteque" and arranging playlists that included everything from George Benson to Throbbing Gristle. The point is, "Voices Carry" would have fit right into my scatterbrained sonic ethos at the time, especially because its production is a great example of that lush, 80s vibe that M83 would recontextualize a few years later and make me hungry for again.

Listening to the entire Voices Carry album while I write this, I'm blown away. The whole eleven-song cycle is fantastic, and really, for a band dubbed "New Wave" in their day, there are moments that dovetail with what was going on with 80s Rock at the time. The guitars on "Don't Watch Me Bleed," for instance, have a healthy but tasteful application of both Chorus and Reverb that make each note shimmer in the way bands like Kix and Warrant would live and breathe by a year or two later. This is a great revelation since I enjoy that production technique but not bands like Kix or Warrant. 

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Watch:

Interesting little teaser that popped up on Bloody Disgusting recently. Saw this earlier and it made me fire up the song, hence today's post. 

There's not really enough here to make a very good assessment, but Voices Carry is the debut feature from Writers/Directors Abby Brenker & Ellyn Vander Wyden, and I'm always interested in supporting new voices. 

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Read:

My good friend and Horror Vision cohost Butcher pointed me to the upcoming Giallo-inspired comic mini-series You'll Do Bad Things. This was 100% off my radar, but damn if I didn't have my shop add this the moment I saw this cover:

Here's Image Comic's solicitation blurb, plucked from the irreplaceable League of Comic Geeks: 

"It's been ten years since the release of He Came in With a Smile, the true crime smash hit that chronicled the brutal murders committed by the Nursery Rhyme Killer. But in the decade since its release, its author Seth Holms hasn't produced another title. He wants to write a story with a happy ending, but every time his fingers clack across the keyboard, it always ends in his character's death. Worse yet? These tales of blood and barbarity that flow so freely from Seth's mind are starting to happen in real life."

Nothing we haven't seen before, but that can be said of a lot. It's not the idea but what you do with it, right? Written by Tyler Boss - whose 2021 series Dead Dog's Bite was a favorite of that year - with art by Adriano Turtulici, I am very much looking forward to this one. 

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Playlist:

Melvins - Houdini Live 2005 (thanks, Mr. Brown!)

Melvins - (A) Senile Animal

The Bronx - The Bronx (IV)

James Brown Presents: Funky People

The Pogues - Rum Sodomy & the Lash

Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power (1973 David Bowie Mix)

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Live Deftones 2025

 

Courtesy of the Watch Your Head YouTube Channel, which I just subscribed to. Packed with Los Angeles fair, the channel describes itself as "South Central L.A. Locals Mainly concert videos, estate/garage sale treasure hunting, and raw and unfiltered daily street life videos."

Some really cool stuff, especially when I'm feeling homesick for my second home!

There's titterings of a new Deftones record on the way, and I'm hoping it soon. I haven't watched this full video yet, so not sure if there's any new material in here. We'll see. Just from the opening two songs, though, this must be career-spanning. 

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Watch:

I love Flying Lotus' music, but thus far, I haven't cared for his theatrical outings. Kuso just felt gross for the sake of being gross, and his entry in the VHS series, "Ozzy's Dungeon" from VHS '99 was... I guess I enjoyed it? I don't know. It's not that I think the cinematic work FlyLo has done is bad, it's that I expect so much more. And when I saw the trailer for his new film Ash in the theatre recently, I got the feeling I'll finally be getting it!

Really just speechless that I get to see this in the theatre. So cool! Opens March 21st - can't wait!!!

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Read:

I wanted to take a moment to say, A) I think my reading of yesterday's Tarot pull was right on, as when I arrived at the shop, there was exactly one copy left of both Batman: Dark Patterns and Mine is a Long Lonesome Grave, which I took to be a kind of 'reward' for my introspection. Not to rest on my laurels, I immediately put down to be subbed to both of those and The Hive - which interestingly enough had a stack of copies for issue #2 remaining, so either it's selling exceptionally well, and they ordered a lot, or the first issue did great and the second is dead in the water. Either way, I'll have my copies going forward.

Re-reading Lonesome Grave issue #1 and following it directly with #2, my initial excitement for this book is confirmed. This is a fantastic Revenge Story with what appear to be Black Magick or Voodoo flourishes. Southern Gothic A.F. Reminds me more than a little of Southern Bastards, a book I loved so much and which just disappeared. I haven't been this excited about a book in a while now. Looks like it's only four issues, but who knows. Maybe this will be like Into the Unbeing and have several iterations.

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Playlist:

The Bronx - The Bronx (I)

The Bronx - The Bronx (II)

The Bronx - The Bronx (III)

The Bronx - The Bronx (IV)

D'Nell - 1st Magic

Razor - Armed and Dangerous

Foster the People - Torches

IDLES - Joy As An Act of Rebellion

Steely Dan - Aja

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Card:

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

• Queen of Cups

• Page of Wands

• Two of Wands

Probing emotional depths can take an unprecedented amount of Will. To actually go deep and get to the issues that might be causing balance to waiver. 

A reminder of something I learned last week in an unlikely place: Interrogate Reality to the fullest extent of your being, and sometimes, that Reality is not the one around you, but inside you.