To Bring You My Backrooms

From her 1994 masterpiece, To Bring You My Love. 

I've felt drawn back to several 90s female artists recently, and PJ Harvey is a big one. I don't remember when I first heard To Bring You My Love, but I know it was an instant "all-timer" for me. That said, it's also one that takes me to a very specific inner place, a place I don't often necessarily find myself drawn to these days. Lately, though, I'm all about it.

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NCBD:

Another fabulous Wednesday pull from Rick's Comic City in Clarksville. Let's take a gander at what will be waiting for me after work:

For whatever reason, it feels like it's been months since the last issue of Thundarr. Excited to get back into this, as there's potentially some really interesting stuff going on in this book. 

Here's a surprise - the unreleased "Swamp Thing meets Jesus" by Rick Veitch and Michael Zulli finally sees the light of day as a four-issue series starting this week and published monthly for the next three months. Reminds me a bit of when Vertigo made a big deal about finally releasing that Constantine story that caused Warren Ellis to bail on the book after only two thin trades worth of what could have been a long and completely brilliant run. For as groundbreaking as they wanted to be perceived as back in the late 80s, I don't think DC had fully acquiesced to Karen Berger's autonomy until after Sandman proved the brand. 

We come to the end of the Sssilent Missions event with a Firefly issue. No better way to end things, in my opinion. Like Copperhead, another of my all-time favorite characters. 

Another facsimile edition for Larry Hama's original ARAH series, this time issue 14, which I believe is the first appearance of Laird Destro!

One thing I learned years ago is to stay the hell out of comic shops on Free Comic Book Day, which is this coming Saturday. So I'm not sure I'll actually be able to walk away with this, or if I should just wait for the not-free version that drops next Wednesday. 

J.G. Jones and Phil Bram's dustbowl epic Dust to Dust finally comes to a conclusion with issue 8, and I'll be jumping in and rereading this one from the start sooner rather than later. I reread the first half a few months ago, but have held off on the subsequent issues due to publishing delays. I want a full-on, one-sitting reread on this one. 

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Watch:

While I now approach all YouTuber-turned-Filmmaker Horror movies with a certain degree of trepidation, I finally saw the trailer for Kane "Pixels" Parsons' Backrooms from A24, and I have to say, I'm excited and hopeful. This looks fantastic. I've expressed my fascination for the YouTube version of Backrooms here previously, and this film looks like the consolidation the admittedly sprawling episodic series needs to really lock in its power. Also, the inclusion of such a top-tier actor like Chiwetel Ejiofor adds significance, as does having Mark Duplass on board. 

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Playlist:

Weird Studies - The Only Possible End: On Donna Tartt's The Secret History

Weird Studies - Lost and Never Found: On the Blair Witch Project

Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST

Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services

Poe - Hello

PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love

D'Nell - First Magic

Steve Moore - VFW OST

John Carpenter w/ Alan Howarth - Prince of Darkness OST

Deafheaen - Lonely People With Power

The Cure - Pornography

Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years

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Card:

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

• IV: The Emperor

• Two of Pentacles

• VIII: Strength

Structure, collaboration on a project, and instinct. 

I have lingering questions about a particular collaboration, and I think I just got my answer. Well, the cards don't answer questions; they just point you to the answer you already know. 

New Music From PJ Harvey!

 

PJ Harvey released the second advance track from her upcoming record I Inside the Old Year Dying a few days ago, and after listening to that and first single "A Child's Question, August" a few times these last few days, I have gained quite the anticipation to hear the entire record. So far, this one strikes me as having as much not to do with her previous albums as it does incorporate a kind of sum-total of her entire oeuvre. Yeah, that's kind of a c-u-next-tuesday word for a music or film blogger to use; don't care. When you talk about Ms. Harvey, you gotta class the place up a bit. Pre-order the new album directly from the artist HERE.

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Watch:

The full trailer for Yorgos Lanthimos's new film Poor Things dropped earlier today, and despite my swearing off trailers, once I saw the still, I had to watch it (part of this decision was based on the fact that I find it doubtful the trailer for one of Lanthimos's films could ever betray its intentions. Judge for yourself, if you dare!

 

What the hell, right? A cast stacked with impeccable actors for a twisted twist on the Frankenstein story? I'm finding it difficult to formulate any opinion on what we see here, other than it will no doubt be as unique and engrossing as this director's other films. I now know where I will be on September 8th.

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Playlist:

Low - Trust

Slowspin - Talisman

Nabihah Iqbal - Dreamer

Drab Majesty - Modern Mirror

Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

PJ Harvey - I Inside the Old Year Dying (pre-release singles)

Ike and Tina Turner - Live? The World of Ike & Tina

Colter Wall - Imaginary Appalachia

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Gila Monster/Dragon (pre-release singles)

Bria - Cuntry Covers Volumes 1 & 2

White Lung - Paradise

Soft Play - Are You Satisfied

Steve Moore - Christmas, Bloody Christmas OST

The Plimsouls - Everywhere At Once

            

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

My first Pull since returning from my Chicago trip, and it's almost identical to one my good friend Missi asked me to help her read the day before. How's that for awesome?

•  On the Tree of Life, The Empress is the first Trump to connect two pillars, from Chokman to Binah, the act of transforming Knowledge into Understanding. Not always easy. This is a card that, while it does not touch the superstate of Kether - the white hot room, as Grant Morrison would say - does represent a process of making the intangible tangible, collating and processing information to produce a result. 

• Ace of Wands - Willfull Breakthrough

• Seven of Pentacles - Earthly victory; accomplishment. Completion and the exhale that follows.

When I string all this together, I see a message that suggests hard work, but not necessarily of the physical kind. In my own terms, this is telling me I have to do more conceptual work, more mental hammering of narrative logistics. This will produce results. 

 

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New Music from PJ Harvey!!!

 

From the forthcoming album I Inside the Old Year Dying, out July 7th on Partisan Records. Pre-order HERE. 

It's been a minute since we've had new music from Polly Jean. I listened to this multiple times in a row when it popped up in my feed last night, and each time the song opened a little bit more, like some dark, grueling flower. I love her music so much - no one else does to my brain and nervous system what Ms. Harvey does. There feels like a growing history in her work, as though each new record contains the sum total of everything that's come before, and I'm eager to hear this entire album.

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Watch:

Neon dropped the trailer to It Lives Inside yesterday:

 

I only needed to watch the first thirty seconds or so to know I was in. Trailers are beginning to be the bane of my existence. Exaggeration? Yes. Of course, but seriously, I can only imagine how much more I would have enjoyed Lee Cronin's Evil Dead Rise had I not been forced to sit through the trailer before every movie I have seen in the theatre since January. So many moments that might have won me over fell flat, so I'm taking action and abstaining from trailers altogether. I'll still post here, but that's it. 

Caveat: I'll still watch trailers for Marvel stuff because that tends to be all I watch of those anymore. It's with Horror films especially, I'm slamming the door. 

Back to the flick - bringing in Indian folklore is such an awesome thing. I've been thinking a lot about Remi Weekes's 2020 film His House and Pornsak Pichetshote's graphic novel Infidel - both use other cultures as jumping-off points and both rank among the most effective Horror stories I've experienced in years. It Lives Inside looks as though it will further explore bringing Horror from other cultures to viewers, and that's a lot more interesting than, well, just the same old Deadites over and over (sorry Evil Dead Rise - I'm your friend but I'm not sure I'd sleep with you).

 

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NCBD Addendum:

Just have to report back that Sins of Sinister: Dominion completely sh*t the bed. Not impressed; possibly the worst X-Event book wrap-up since the late 90s. 

The logistics of 'solving' the set-up of a timeline gone 1000+ years into the future under the widespread genetic influence of a narcissistic madman like Nathaniel Essex was so jumbled and non-specific, it felt rushed and loose in its storytelling and logistics. I would wager that the story ended up becoming so dense that it would have taken another three issues at least to actually write their way out of this; instead, we fall back on that annoying, "Quick, use your power in conjunction with mine and we can stop this." I'm exaggerating, but not entirely. Also, while I dig Mother Righteous and Rasputin IV, this series ends up feeling as though its sole purpose was to move them into the present-day cast, another annoying X-Trope I've personally had enough of for one lifetime. I know, I know - then stop reading! Well, I enjoyed more of this series and the Immortal/Red than I haven't, so this isn't so much a swearing-off as it is a "WHY?"

There were, however, a few genuinely cool set-ups in this issue, the biggest being the question of who is the Dominion if the 1000+ Sinister isn't? My guess is there's a Sinister who already retrieved his Moira engine and reset the timeline, making his (or her) way into the higher dimensional plane. Also, good to get Moira back into the action, though if she'll stay front and center or tuck back into the shadows is anyone's guess. I'm guessing the line, "This is my story" suggests the former.

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Playlist:

Dorthia Cottrell - Eponymous

Dorthia Cottrell - Death Folk Country

Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

Holy Serpent - Endless

Windhand - Split EP

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland

Spotlights - Love & Decay

Lustmord - Dark Matter

Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain

            

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

 

 Going to do this a bit differently today:

• King (AKA Prince in Thoth) of Cups - Sephirothic Association is Tipareth, always my shining star on the Tree of Life. This is the Airy aspect of water or where the Sword and Cup meet. Like sex, a joining of two halves to make a whole. Emotional depths must be honed by intellect

• The Emperor - Rules, albeit not malevolent ones, they're also brutal in their pragmatism. Nature. This infers strength, decisiveness to the point of instinct, and high energy.

• Seven of Swords - In Thoth, Futility. Overwhelming decisions that we see the two cards above prompt for a swift resolution. Difficult or not, to carry on we must make decisions quickly and continue our course.

I actually think this is meant as advice for a friend more than for me. Life is difficult, even the smallest decision can overwhelm, let alone the big, life-changing difficult ones. Employ the swift and brutal energy of nature, roll with the punches. You won't come out unscathed, but you will come out, heal, and carry on, that much stronger. 

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Long Snake Moan

 

PJ Harvey is one of my favorite artists. Has been since the 90s. Weirdly enough, I don't listen to her that often. In thinking about this, I realize that I hold her music in a sort of sacred regard that feels as though it might become deluded if I overdo it. Probably not the case, in reality, however, it is what it is. Here's one of my favorite songs from her seminal 1995 album To Bring You My Love.

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Read:

I dug out my copy of Weird Walk issue #2 recently and began re-reading it as research for the new podcast off-shoot my Horror Vision co-host Ray Larragoitiy and I are doing. Stick & Stones is a sidebar deep-dive into Folk Horror, which is a sub-genre I've been enchanted with (pun intended) for the last few years, although until recently, I always referred to most of these flicks as "UK Occult Films." 

Weird Walk is an indie zine in every sense of the word, but it's a class act and chock full of fascinating ruminations on the haunted underpinnings of the British landscape and society. Highly recommended - you can order it HERE and follow their podcast HERE or wherever you get your podcasts! 

Oh yeah, and as of yesterday, there are two episodes of The Horror Vision Presents... Sticks & Stones: A Folk Horror Discussion up. The newest one deals with Stephen King's Children of the Corn - story and movie - and Chad Crawford Kinkle's Jug Face. The first episode sets up the series with a discussion of Kier-La Janisse's Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, then compares and contrasts Avery Crounse's Eyes of Fire and Robert Eggers' The Witch. Also available wherever you get your podcasts.

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Playlist:

The Yellow House - Live at Southgate House

Darkness Brings the Cold (The Forest Children) - Human Me

Ween - Live In Chicago

PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love

Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit

Brand New - Daisy

Ministry - Filth Pig

Soul Coughing - El Oso

Cypress Hill - Black Sunday

Cypress Hill - Back in Black (pre-release singles)

Steve Morse - Mind's Eyes OST

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Card:

Reaping the rewards of good decisions.

2018: February 11th 1:41 PM

Late wake-up after a long night. Began the day with some PJ Harvey, courtesy of Season 2, Episode 1 of Peaky Blinders. Which is excellent (Thanks Tim & Lisa).



I have a feeling this album, which I haven't listened to in a while, more often than not being drawn back time and again to Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea and Uh-Huh Her, not for any reason other than To Bring You My Love is such an incredibly immersive experience for me, it does not mesh well with daily tasks, routines or whatnot. No, To Bring You My Love is the kind of album that I have to sit down to by myself with a buzz and give over to. So there's pot in my future apparently then.

Playlist from the 10th

The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup
ZZ Top - Tres Hombres
Touche Amore - Eponymous
Helmet - Aftertaste
The Veils - Nux Vomica
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
FNM - Angel Dust
Barry Adamson - Oedipus Schmoedipus

Card of the day:

This one again, eh?

New PJ Harvey

PJ Harvey released this song as support for the last remaining British resident held in Guantanamo Bay. Waay more information here on Stereogum.

I had to repost - Love Harvey and this is likely to set me on a binge with her music. First up, uh huh her, most likely followed by my favorite and the one I always go back to the most, Stories From the City Stories from the Sea.