Amigo the Devil - Once Upon a Time at Texaco (Pt. 1)

 

New music from Amigo the Devil's forthcoming album Yours Until the War is Over, out February 23rd on Liars Club Records. Pre-order HERE. 

Interestingly enough, there is no "Pt. 2" on the album. Hahaha. Leave 'em in suspense, eh? Brilliant.

 

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NCBD:

Short week, which is great when you consider that I haven't yet read everything from my four-week pull I picked up last week.

Really digging this Bloodrik series by Andrew Krahnke. Sad to see it go after only three issues. I know issue one sold out and had a second print run. Hopefully, that bodes well for a continuation (or anything from Mr. Krahnke) down the road.

Good lord - I feel as though it's been months since the first issue of Count Crowley: Mediocre Monster Hunter hit the stands. And in all that time, I still haven't completed my run of the second Crowley series or acquired the first. Series Writer/Creator David Dastmalchian is a heck of a busy guy, what's my excuse? (I guess my excuse is I'm a pretty busy guy, too).

New, three-issue crime comic from Ram V and Laurence Campbell. Crime Noir that might have a SciFi bent to it. I'm not really sure, but then again, I love going in blind. 

Great thing about picking up four weeks of comics last week, is it shortens the wait between issues! I just read X-Men 30 and loved it, so here we go again. Now with more Nimrod!

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Watch:

Rose Glass's Saint Maud was one of the movies that suffered the most from the jilted release schedule COVID caused, and although I did eventually get to see it - well after what should have been its theatrical release - the entire time I sat in front of my television I just kept thinking how much better the film would have been served by a big-screen viewing. 

I get the same "Cinematic" vibes from this trailer for Glass's new film, the upcoming Love Lies Bleeding. I know they released a new trailer this morning, however, I'm not watching that. I only really saw this one because it played before something I saw in the theatre recently. Good news is it really only solidified my goal of seeing this in the theatre:

The vibe I get from everything I know about Love Lies Bleeding so far reminds me a bit of the Cohen Brothers' Blood Simple. I'm not entirely sure why I say that, but there's a grime here that harkens back to that fabled debut. Whether that's entirely shy of the mark or not, I'm really looking forward to this one, which hits theatres on March 8th.

 

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Playlist:

Genghis Tron - Board Up the House

Melvins - Working the Ditch (single)

Melvins - Gluey Porch Treatment

Turnstile - Glow On

Turnstile - Nonstop Feeling

Pixies - Trompe le Monde

Pixies - Indie Cindy

Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon

Witchfinder - Hazy Rites

Yerusalem - The Sublime

Assembly Line People Program - Eponymous EP

Justin Hamline - A Veil for the Three Sisters (Un velo per tre sorelle) (single)

QOTSA - In Times New Roman

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Card:

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

• Eight of Cups

• Queen of Wands

• Three of Pentacles

In the Crowley/Harris Thoth Deck, the Eight of Cups is "Indolence," and can carry with it a connotation of low or lacking energy/vitality. This is a "Change," and reading these cards here as such, the transition to the Queen of Wands - The Watery Aspect of Fire, I draw on the "tame thyself" interpretation I'd long ago written in the Grimoire. Finally, Three of Pentacles suggests balance. Taken together, all of this suggests something of a crossroads. One of the things I'd hoped my month-long work trip would catalyze is a total change to my at-home protocols. I need to get over having to drive out to a coffee shop after work to write. I can easily use some of the built-in downtime of my WFH scenario to make incremental progress on any number of projects.

The Associate

This track popped up in Rose Glass's Saint Maud - which we review and discuss on the newest episode of The Horror Vision Horror Podcast, and it made me immediately pull out Down and pop it into rotation. Of the classic Lizard triptych of essential records - Goat, Down and Liar - Down usually comes in third for me. That said, it's still among the greatest albums of the 90s in my opinion, and it's always a good feeling to reconnect with their music, especially after encountering it in a modern movie. 

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NCBD:

I'm LOVING that Marvel is taking so much of my money every month for Amazing Spider-Man. Nick Spencer's run has me hooked, and as of this issue, it looks like Bagley is back on the art!

The Autumnal is one of those rare, truly unnerving stories that feels like it could very easily be picked up and turned into an A24-ish movie. Let's hope that happens eventually, but in the meantime, issue 6 left us in a place that suggests this week's #7 will be crazy!

This series is riding at about a 65% approval rating with me at the moment, but I've apparently locked back into Marvel fan-boy gear for the first time since the MCU's Civil War broke it, so I'm enjoying the hell out of that 65%. Also, Dane's anthropomorphic black goat-headed butler is named Phillip. I can't love that enough.

This series. Whoah. Timely; a much-needed window into what other people go through to get into this country. 

I HAVE to have this cover. Love Stray Dogs, and issue #3's cliffhanger has had me on edge at the mere mention of the series since last month. 

Another book I also wanted to mention is Osaka Mime. I was lucky enough to have Behemoth Comics reach out to my podcast A Most Horrible Library a while back and send us an advance of Andy Leavy and Hugo Araujo's Osaka Mime graphic novel. I really dug this book and seeing its release slated for this week, suggest people pick it up.

A black and white Urban Horror story set in Japan, here's the solicitation:

"When a couple are found brutally murdered in the Dotonbori District in Osaka, Japan, two detectives from the Supernatural Unit of the Osaka PD must hunt down and apprehend a dangerous and murderous Mime, a shadowy shape-shifter which can take the form of the last person it ate. How do you catch something so dangerous, that can hide in plain sight?"

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Watch:

This one snuck in under my radar, but looks fabulous! Featuring Raised by Wolves' Niamh Algar, the idea of setting a Horror story in the video nasty area already has me hooked, however, toss in the missing sister seen-in-a-movie bit that Ed Brubaker just played with in Friend of the Devil, and I'm super psyched for this one to drop on VOD June 18th!

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Playlist:

The Jesus Lizard - Down 

Soundgarden - Down On The Upside

Neverly Brothers - Dark Side of Everything

Ghost - Meliora

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

The Doors - LA Woman

 

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Card:

 

A good omen considering we have officially begun to settle back into a genuine sense of normalcy. K's birthday Dinner at Lazy Dog Cafe on the patio last night was the first time we'd eaten a meal in a restaurant in over a year. It felt nice to celebrate my Empress with such a marked occasion that signifies a return to life as we knew it B.C.

Saint Maud and Her Zodiacal Light

There's a reason Sunn O))) named a song after Earth founder Dylan Carlson.  

I'm largely unfamiliar with Earth except for this album, which I picked up shortly after its release in 2014, and which became ingrained in my psyche in 2015 as I listened to it over the course of a year where my life imploded and then put itself back together (better). This song, in particular, and Rabia Shaheen Qazi's lyrics and delivery really resonated with me at that time. 

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Watch:

Well look what finally found its way to a platform where most people can actually see it:

 

I've had a lot of misgivings about this flick and the interminably long build-up to its release. First, A24 makes great stuff, however, I've developed a growing awareness of the films they release that seems to have the express intent of being 'the next Hereditary.' Seeing the Saint Maud trailer for the first time a little over a year ago marked the beginning of this suspicion and the feeling has only escalated since. 

Next, to have bypassed the usual VOD platforms where the everyman fan can pay to rent the film, A24 instead made a deal with West Coast cable channel Epix, where the film has remained exclusive for the last several months. 

Really? Being that no one I know that doesn't live in California has ever even heard of epix, I don't know where - if anywhere - this film was available elsewhere in the country, but I consider this a frustrating manuever on A24's part. I mean, all is forgiven if this helped put the film and its writer/director Rose Glass in a good place in a world where movie releases have become increasingly uncertain and unprofitable. 

Anyway, regardless of these misgivings, I watched Saint Maud yesterday. My reaction?

Wow. 

When religious lunacy replaces addiction, bad things happen. That's all I'll say, other than I really dug Saint Maud, and although I don't really feel as though the way A24 handled its release was warranted, the film is definitely worth watching if you're a fan of the more psychological take A24 tends to curate for their release.

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Playlist:

Earth - Primitive and Deadly

High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings 

Type O Negative - Dead Again

Windhand - Eternal Return

Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit

Algiers - The Underside of Power

Arctic Monkeys - AM

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Federale - No Justice

Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love (single)

David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Freaks)

The Dandy Warhols - Playlist

Cutting Crew - (I Just) Died in Your Arms

Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years

Corniglia - Eponymous

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Card:

 

Yes. Perfect pull, as the paradigm of the past year died yesterday when, for the first time since early March, 2020, I walked to my coffee shop writing spot and put in a solid writing session. It felt awesome, and I'm going back today!

The Lodge!

The new episode of The Horror Vision is up! As I mentioned yesterday, we start out with a Spoiler-Free review of The Lodge!



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Speaking of Horror, here's a couple of upcoming horror trailers that caught my attention last week. The first, Saint Maud, looks promising, but also kind of looks like A24 fishing for another Hereditary. Either way, I'll give it a chance, because we all know trailers can make movies look more like other movies even if the film doesn't (nothing against Hereditary, I'm merely suspicious of derivative material):




Scare Package looks like it will, like a lot of anthologies, be hit or miss. Based on this trailer, I'll definitely give it a shot:



Also, look at the poster art for this one. Love it!

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Playlist:

Hall and Oats - Greatest Hits
Odonis Odonis - No Pop
Greg Dulli - Random Desire
Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Talking Heads - Fear of Music

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Card:

Might represent good news on the salary front. Which would be helpful in longer-termish plans I am making in my head.