New Music From Nothing

New music from Nothing! Lead single from their upcoming album A Short History of Decay, out February 27 on Run For Cover Records. Pre-order HERE.

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NCBD:

A nice, tight list of great books today. Let's get 

I guess I'll be leading every Transformers entry in these pages with, "Look at that cover!" because hot damn if Dan Moya isn't turning out some of the most elegantly pleasing covers in all of comics at the moment. I was a little concerned about switching out the analog space-dust style of Jorge Corona and DWJ for this more polished look for the book. However, it's been incredible so far.

Jason Aaron is out, and Gene Luen Yang takes over writing as of this issue, backed by Freddie E. Williams II and Andrew Dalhouse on art. I will miss Juan Ferreyra's art; Ferreyra's look was new to me and gave the book a bold new look that I think we were all ready for with 2023's continuity-adhering relaunch. Now, it looks like the new team has once again reinvented the book from the ground up, and I find myself once again happy that I didn't jump off when the issue counter got reset. 

Minor Arcana continues to thrill me with its seaside vibes and mysterious characters. 

Always a great thing to see Cobra Commander rising from the ashes of his missteps. Also, to have Copperhead feature so prominently on a cover makes my heart sing - one of me favorites, he is!

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Watch:

I finally had the chance to sit down and watch David Cronenberg's latest film, 2024's The Shrouds. 

After a few initial misgivings, I ended up really liking this. It reminded me a lot of Cronenberg's novel, Consumed, which I am a fairly big fan of. There are a few nuances to Vincent Cassel's acting choices (which might have more to do with an otherwise solid script), but overall, The Shrouds starts in a relatively small place and expands into a very Cronenberg-esque conspiracy. I've been thinking about his predilection and approach to conspiracy lately; most of his films deal with secret cabals and their agendas. Starting with Consumed - unless I'm missing something - those conspiracies become global, moving away from small groups of rag-tag conspirators to incorporate global countries. North Korea is a major force in Consumed, and both Russia and China may or may not figure heavily into The Shrouds. Fifty years of making films that have grown in budget, scope and acclaim have helped David Cronenberg become a Director with global urgency, and that is on full display here. 

I watched this on the Criterion Channel app, but it's likely available elsewhere as well (although Criterion is becoming a must-have channel in our house, so I'd just recommend signing up for the trial and checking them out).

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Playlist:

Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST

Blackbraid - Blackbraid III

Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World: The Songs of Rodney Crowell

Deadguy - Near Death Travel Services

Fever Ray - Eponymous

Brian Eno - Ambient 4: On Land

Stone Angel - Eponymous

Carter Burwell - Blood Simple OST

Tim Hecker - Infinity Pool OST

Nothing - a short history of decay (pre-release singles)

Mondo Decay - Nun Gun

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Card:

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

• Page of Swords

• XIV: Temperance

• Eight of Cups

Agility again. Agility tempered with emotional control. Or, perhaps, Agility achieved through emotional distance? 

Ask the Rust About The Last of Us

 

You know, I never really gave Nothing's 2020 album, The Great Dismal, the chance it deserved. I wouldn't say I didn't like it, but before recently, I'd never bonded with this one like I did some of their others. That's changed, and this song resonates as a perfect album closer. Very MBV, but not, if you know what I mean. Here's Nothing's Bandcamp HERE or their site (which is really well-made) HERE.

 

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Watch:

F*ck. Not sure I'm ready to go back to this world...

 

Well, we have until April. Gonna have to look at A LOT of cat pictures to prep.

 

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Read:

Now that issue three of Rafael Grampa's Batman: The Gargoyle of Gotham is out, I sat down over the weekend and read all three. Holy smokes. This is seriously one of the best Batman series I've read, and even though I don't read all that many Bat-Books, I've read my share of the classics. I think this will sit amongst them. One of the reasons for that? The villains.

I've talked on Drinking with Comics about how I feel Bruce's standard rogues gallery is one of the major issues keeping from reading Bat-books. I rejoiced at Morrison's run when Prof. Pig and the Black Glove were introduced. Anything to get the same stupid, overdone bad guys out of the spotlight. I mean, yeah, I like a good Joker story here and there, and I loved Max's Penguin, but it's how you approach it. For the purposes of a Batman comic that's going to hold my interest, I need something new. And Mr. Grampa has certainly done that. Cry is fantastic (if that is actually their name), and whoever this is that showed up at the end of issue three blew me away. Let's not forget the weird, hallucinogenic psychic chick. There's just so much NEW going on here, and I absolutely reveled in it while reading. Can't recommend this one enough; I just hope it doesn't take the better part of another year to get issue four. If it does, it's worth it, but man - it would be tough just waiting a month or two.

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Playlist:

Windhand - Split E.P.

Windhand - Eternal Return

Sleep - Dopesmoker

Nothing - The Great Dismal

Nothing - Guilty of Everything

Laylow - .Raw

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction (pre-release singles)

Hangman's Chair - A Loner

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Card:

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

• Page (Princess) of Swords

• XVI - The Tower

• II - High Priestess

The Earth of Air, the Earthly realms of intellect. In other words, you can be as smart as you like, and it won't mean spit if you're not street smart. The Tower tells me I'm not as smart as I think, and High Priestess suggests nurturing, so I'm reading this as a direct rebuttal to the nearly crippling self-doubt and imposter syndrome that's been hammering on the inside of my skull for the last few days. I'm not as smart as I think - meaning I've misread everything and should chuck all that baggage in the bin. 

The Gate Dismal

I'm pretty late checking out Nothing's latest release, which came out last year on Relapse Records. The Great Dismal was included in my Golden Ticket haul from Relapse, and I'm still working through that. A Fabricated Life begins the record, and I won't lie - its slow, soft, dreary sound hasn't been where my head is at. That said, listening to the record on headphones for the first time this morning, I'm able to grasp the nuance and vibe of the song, and it has stirred something within me. Something that harkens back to the first Nothing release, Downward Years to Come, which I discovered back in 2013. I love this band, and haven't spent nearly enough time with them these past two records, so I'll start correcting that today.

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Watch:

 

I stumbled across this short film - really more of a Proof of Concept trailer for a movie I can only hope gets made. Very cool use of CGI, ingenious locations, and what looks like the set-up for an intriguing take on Cosmic Horror. Directed by Matt Sears and written by Ryan Grundy, Mr. Sears' youtube channel appears packed with interesting content. Sub HERE.

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Playlist:

Cinderella - Long Cold Winter

Ghost - Opus Eponymous

Metallica - Kill 'Em All

The Plimsouls - Everywhere at Once

Perturbator - Dangerous Days

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Emilie Autumn  - Opheliac 

Keiichi Okabe - NieR: Automata OST

 

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Card:

 

Spot on today, as I've definitely been preoccupied with a sort of drifting that has displaced a lot of my creative intent. I'm sure it's just a phase, but it makes me contemplate ideas like, "What if I lose all motivation to write?" which is ridiculous, but, you know, this is the way the mind works.

2018: October 1st

Justin K. Broadrick + Nothing + Prurient? Wow. I didn't know this existed until five minutes ago. What an awesome collaboration! And Somersault, off Nothing's 2014 record Guilty of Everything, is one of my favorite tracks by the band. This really blows it up to a massive size.

The website for the new podcast I've undertaken, TheHorrorVision.com had a bit of a delay, but should be up by mid-week, along with the first episode.


Playlist from Sunday, 9/30:
Etta James - The Second Time Around
Chuck Berry - Berry on Top
The Fixx - Reach the Beach
Yob - Ablaze (Single track)
White Lung - Eponymous
Chris Connelly - Artificial Madness
Sunn O))) - Kanon
Zombi - Shape Shift

Card of the day:

This again. Loud and clear. Yesterday's writing was the first in a few days, and it was pretty disappointing. Basically interpreting a second day of the five of Cups as another day of breaking rocks, which means Wednesday should be good.

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.

2018: June 18th - New Music from Nothing

Wow! There's a new Nothing record coming soon.



Just realized that Season 5 of Orphan Black hit Prime - finally get to finish one of the best series I've seen.

Playlist from 6/17:
Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
Venue - Desireena
Guns and Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Cocksure - KKEP
Nothing - Guilty of Everything
Secret Chiefs 3 - Traditionalists -Le Mani DestreRecise Degli Ultimi Uomini

Card of the day:

Union. Duality. Harmony within. Uniting opposites or complimentary aspects. I'm not entirely sure how any of this applies to me currently; what I've listed is very surface reading, so I could dig a lot deeper. Not on a Monday, though.

New Nothing Track Dig

Via Brooklyn Vegan. Nothing came on my radar a couple months back with the Downward Years to Come EP which you can download for a paltry $5 on their bandcamp (do so - it's an amazing EP with shades of both The Raveonettes and M83. Plus you'll be supporting a great band). Really looking forward to their forthcoming full length, on Relapse no less. More info on BRVGN here.

Nothing -Downward Years to Come

This band is seriously awesome. $5 on their bandcamp for the album.

I allotted myself two albums to buy this week; it was originally intended to be the David Bowie The Next Day, which came out today, and last week's How to Destroy Angels. Well, I bought the Bowie but I decided to buy Downward Years to Come instead of the HTDA, which I'll buy soon anyway. I just really wanted to give Nothing my money.

Nothing - The Dives (Lazarus in Ashes)

I LOVE this band!!! Buy this album here. I did and it's wonderful