Blood Incantation - The Stargate

2019's Hidden History of the Human Race put Blood Incantation on a lot of people's radar, mine included. I dug the record, but probably not as much as the legions that ranked it as or near their album of the year. Since then, they'd fallen off, as I'm not even certain I knew they had a 2022 record (Timewave Zero; named after Terence and Dennis McKenna's theories of novelty and emergence, which I was once obsessed with). Recently, Mr. Brown mentioned these guys had a new one, so I sought out this year's Absolute Everywhere on Apple Music earlier today and gave it a listen. Then I went looking for a track to post and saw I had no actual idea how ambitious this band is. Holy shit. Tangerine Dream? Michael Ragen, DP for Panos Cosmatos' The Viewing? Knights? Space Ships? Cosmic Horror???

What the absolute fuck? There are moments on this album that are among the heaviest things I've heard, and moments that remind me of 90s electro-psychedlic group The Orb. Mind thoroughly blown.

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Watch:

Holy smokes! Steven C. Miller's Werewolves hits theatres this weekend, and after seeing it Thursday night, K and I are both chomping at the bit to see it again! A LOT OF FUN!!

This movie 100% knows what it is, shortcomings and all, and just leans into it. There's a lot of macho shit in the opening few moments, which rubbed me a bit wrong at first. Then there's a scene where Grillo's character is introduced as a Micro Biologist, and I suddenly understood the M.O. here - Werewolves is essentially a Stallone flick from the mid-80s, and realizing that freed me to embrace it for the insane ride that it is. Once we move past the handful of transformations we see - remember the set up here is that a Super Moon is going to cause BILLIONS of people to become werewolves for one night - most of the FX are gloriously practical. 

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Playlist:

Final Light - Eponymous

Dance with the Dead - Dark Matter E.P.

Dance with the Dead - B Sides: Vol. 1

Drug Church - Prude

Sort Sol -w/ Chelsea Wolfe - Life Took You For A Freq. (single)

Sylvaine - Nova

Fen - Epoch

Ulver - Liminal Animals

Antibalas - Where the Gods Are in Peace

Moon Wizard - Sirens

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

Windhand - Eponymous

Shellac - To All Trains

Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun

Sumerlands - Dream Killer

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Card:

Today's card:

Here are two little bits from the Grimoire:

"Intense passion to create, but its children are monsters."

And the equally intriguing, if far more vague:

"The Darkness of the Raging Sea."

The second bit is an obvious observation from The Book of Thoth, truncated from Crowley's meaningful (less?) meanderings about the background of the card's image. To me, the "Seven-ness" of this card hits the lights first; completion. But this is a warning, and that's to "Understand the solutions" you employ to achieve that solution, as you may solve one issue and create something worse, hence the choppy waters.

Butthole Surfers Week Day 3:

 

I had to pause Butthole Surfers Week for traveling back home to Tennessee, but now that I'm here, let's get right back to the madness. Did you know the original name these guys had was The Inalienable Right to Eat Fred Astaire's Asshole? You probably did, however, it makes me happy just to type that here.

 

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Watch:

I had the chance to re-watch two movies last week that share a love of color and intention. 

This was a bit of a distracted viewing; I stumbled across Mandy playing on Shudder.TV and let it roll while I edited last week's episode of The Horror Vision Presents: Murderboard - A True Detective Night Country Discussion, pausing from my duties to soak up key moments. At this point, Panos Cosmatos' sophomore feature is so much a part of me that I've become holographically entwined with it. That is to say, I can watch a little and it contains the entire film.

Ryan Gosling's only Writer/Director feature to date, every time I watch Lost River, my love of the film and its characters deepens. Missi and I did an Elements of Horror on this one, listen to it HERE.

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Playlist:

Ready for the World - Oh Sheila (12" single)

Robbie Dupree - Steal Away (single)

Nabihah Iqbal - Dreamer

Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Boards of Canada - Geogaddi

Boards of Canada - In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country EP

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Data Doom

The Bronx - (II)

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Card:

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

• Five of Pentacles

• Queen of Cups

• Eight of Pentacles

For Absent Friends

I don't think I ever noticed how much this track from 2002's Deliverance resembles Alice in Chains. It's the guitar, 100%. Has that woodsy, almost campfire sound Jerry Cantrell gets to his playing when it veers forlorn and reflective. Absolutely stunning, regardless of the comparison. I always teeter back and forth between Deliverance and Blackwater Park as the crowning jewel of Opeth's "mid" period.

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Watch:

Over the course of two nights last week, I watched and rewatched Panos Cosmatos' entry in Guillermo del Torro's Cabinet of Curiosities. 

 

To say The Viewing is my favorite installment of Cabinet would be an understatement. I liked all of them to one degree or another, and even the ones I connected with least - unexpectedly, both H.P. Lovecraft adaptations - rank as extremely well-made genre films. But The Viewing is something else entirely.

 

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Read:

Seeing the announcements for Stephen Graham Jones' Don't Fear the Reaper, I finally ordered a signed Hardcover edition of last year's My Heart is a Chainsaw from the wonderful folks at Jones' home store, Boulder Books in Bolder Colorado. Chainsaw was the first volume in what Jones has dubbed his Indian Lake Trilogy, and Reaper continues the story. Here's the solicitation from Jone's publisher, Simon and Schuster:

December 12th, 2019, Jade returns to the rural lake town of Proofrock the same day as convicted Indigenous serial killer Dark Mill South escapes into town to complete his revenge killings, in this riveting sequel to My Heart Is a Chainsaw from New York Times bestselling author, Stephen Graham Jones.

Don't Fear the Reaper is out February 7th, and you can pre-order it anywhere. I'm sure I'll be ordering a signed one from Boulder Books, and I'll probably ask for the personalized option this time. To good to pass up.

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Playlist:

Barry Adamson - Back To The Cat

Opeth - Deliverance

Raveonettes - Chain Gang of Love

Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse

With Strangers - A Love That's Gone (single)

Preoccupations - Arrangements

The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic

The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic/Cenozoic

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

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Card:

Returning once more to the Raven Deck for a quick pull to establish the week:

Reading this as a reminder to keep things fluid this week. I had a great writing session this past Saturday where I dug heavily back into Shadow Play Book Two, and then a massive, three-plus hour one again Sunday to further that. Raven's telling me to enjoy this, but be open to other projects that might need attention this week.

Rein - Puppetmaster

Rein was the first act we caught at Cold Waves 2022 last weekend. Amazing set - to get up on stage and perform without the solidarity of a band, or even a single other musician, always impresses me. Doubly so for Rein, who really just exudes naturally compelling confidence in the world her music and video accompaniment creates, kind of a Cyberpunk Punk Dark Wave. This is one of my current favorite tracks on 2020's Reincarnated record. The percussive synths that slip in at about the one-minute mark, and then continue to percolate throughout the song really get my imagination flowing, much like the closing synth "fireworks" on NIN's Terrible Lie, one of the first tracks that made me experience what I now realize is synesthesia. 

Rein's official site is HERE and the Bandcamp is HERE.

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Watch:

Netflix dropped a new trailer for Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, the anthology series coming on October 25th. I'm not sure if I'm going to watch this trailer or not, but as always, I post this here to spread the word and so I have it in posterity:

 

I cannot wait to watch the Panos Cosmatos episode. 

 

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Read:

One of the first posts I saw on social media this morning belonged to Nathan Ballingrud, author of The Visible Filth, aka Wounds. The post announced the UK version of the book, to be published by Titan Books in March 2023, with this gorgeous cover by Vince Haig. 

I had NO idea this was coming, so imagine the joy I felt seeing this first thing on my first day off while working in LaLaLand.  The US edition -  coming three days before my birthday next year - is no slouch either:

On this side of the pond, The Strange comes to us courtesy of Saga Press. This is Mr. Ballingrud's first novel. That seems insane to me, but I would imagine that is because he is so adept at building worlds in short-story form, that everything I've read by him resonates with the same sacred gravity that novels do. 

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Playlist:

Joe Begos' Bliss Playlist

Revco - Beers, Steers and Queers

The Afghan Whigs - How Do You Burn?

Preoccupations - Arrangements

Misfits - Static Age

The Cramps - Stay Sick!

Rein - Reincarnated

Alice in Chains - Dirt

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Card:

Strength and courage fortify for an upcoming breakthrough that may change things.

Julee Cruise - Into The Night

 

Here Julee Cruise's haunting vocals and Angelo Badalamenti's equally compelling music provided the soundtrack to one of my favorite scenes from Twin Peaks, Season One: The hike to find Jacques Renault's cabin! 

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Watch:

To once again refer back to that Netflix trailer dump from last week; GDT and Panos Cosmatos working together as part of a GDT anthology series?

 

Sold! Also helming episodes are Jennifer Kent, David Prior, Guillermo Navarro, Keith Thomas, Catherine Hardwicke (on a thus-far untitled episode that has H.P. Lovecraft credited as a writer), Vincenzo Natali, and Ana Lily Amirpour!

 

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Playlist:

Julee Cruise - The Art of Being A Girl

Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks...

Def Leppard - Hysteria

Angelo Badalamenti - Dark Space Low (Hour-long version HERE)

Yard Act - The Overload

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Card:

The watery, or emotional aspect of our Earthly drives/desires/needs. This is a presumption since I won't be house hunting in Tennessee for about another week, but I think this is a good reminder that we have to temper our emotional drive to get the hell out of California with the pragmatic realities of actually doing this smartly and successfully.

Also, the Queen of Disks always reminds me to survey my 'Kingdom' and appreciate where I am and how I got there, especially the people in my life who have helped. If you're one of them - and you very well might be if you're reading this and I know you - thank you. You've helped bring me to this point in my life.

2018: October 21st

31 Days of Horror continued last night with yet another viewing of Panos Cosmatos's Mandy. Also, finished Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Hill House. Pretty damn tight. Being that this is a series, and they do kind of set it up for another season, I'll be curious to see where it goes.


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
10/17) Ghoulies
10/18) John Carpenter's Halloween

10/19) Halloween
10/20) Mandy

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds tonight. Can't wait! I've seen Cave solo and with Grinderman, never with the Bad Seeds. Not happy it's at The Forum, but we do what we must.

Saw the trailer for The Invitation director Karyn Kusama's new film, Destroyer. Looks fantastic, and Nicole Kidman looks as though she puts in the performance of her life.



Playlist from 10/20:

Windhand - Eternal Return
Black Sabbath - Volume 4
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Wasteland
Second Still - Eponymous
Bauhaus - In the Flat Field
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Card of the day:

Still one of my favorite cards. From the Grimoire, "Create within yourself a Universe."

2018: September 24th

'cuz I'm kinda obsessed with this man's brain at the moment. And because Mr. Cosmatos highlights an album his movie Mandy has had me wanting to dust off:



Playlist yesterday was a single album:

Ennio Morricone - Black Belly of the Tarantula OST

No card today - I'll get my shit back together again tomorrow.

2018: August 26th

Logged into youtube and found this in my recommended feed. I haven't watched it yet, but I can't wait to and wanted to share.

Late start both days this weekend; DwC took it out of me for most of yesterday, and today I'm just off. Also, bracing for a second showing of Panos Cosmatos' Mandy at the Egyptian, the first of which I missed catching a ticket for. I won't miss this time, especially because I want to bring my friend John with, who will be visiting, and who I want to do something insanely nice for, as his work on The Legend of Parish Fen is just ridiculous. Here's a taste:

That's a shrunken size, so it's a bit foggy, which the final art most certainly is not, but it should illustrate just why I am so excited about this project.

Time to get back to writing, but here's the playlist from the last two days (more or less):

Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun
Etta James - Eponymous
Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog
Stellar Corpses - Hellbound Heart EP
Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hot

No card today.

Also, I watched a handful of movies:

Liked, didn't love

Ridiculously delicious

Classic

Fell asleep and probably won't return

2018: August 22nd

My musical day yesterday was an interesting dalliance in a lot of what I spun in the mid-00s. This song... takes me somewhere. There's a definite tone there, one that I miss, but one that puts me in a totally different headspace from the one I need to be in to write what I'm writing. Hence 'dalliance.'

Playlist from 8/21:

Doves - Lost Souls
Chris Connelly - The Night of Your Life
Chris Connelly - Pentland Firth Howl
Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat
Fugazi - Steady Diet of Nothing
Atlas Moth - Coma Noir
Atlas Moth - The Ache of Distance
Chris Connelly - Artificial Madness
John Carpenter/Alan Howarth - Big Trouble in Little China OST

I missed out on scoring tickets to the LA-Premiere of Panos Cosmatos's Mandy at the Egyptian, as hosted by the Beyond Fest crew. First world problems, I know.

Card of the day:

An abundance of enthusiasm and intelligence that can quickly sap the heart from things. I think this is exactly where I was last night with my writing. Luckily, I recognized the futility quagmire, closed up shop and had a beer. This morning? I drove to work in silence (as I do when I'm having problems with massaging plot) and figured out where my problem was. Thanks Knight of Wands!

Panos Cosmatos' Mandy Trailer! Finally!

There is no film I am more excited about seeing in a theatre this year. When Cage is on he is on (granted that isn't very often). And, BILL DUKE!!!