How about some music from The Kills to kick off our week? Kinda fits with one of the trailers below, so why not. Also, I was inspired to dig out Midnight Boom for the first time in quite a while yesterday and it's probably not going away any time soon. The Kills been absent from my listening habits of late, time to change that. I love this album.
Watch:
I was finally able to sit down and watch Damian McCarthy's feature film debut Caveat the other day on Shudder. WOW. If Censor is almost guaranteed to end up in my top ten of 2021, I'd say the same for this one. I absolutely loved the suspense Caveat creates and sustains with limited location and budget. I can't wait to see what McCarthy does next, especially since this will no doubt net him a bigger budget:
Also, a couple of HUGE Horror Movie trailers dropped since my last post. First up, Halloween Kills, which, as I've stated here previously, I have some reservations about, but will definitely be plopping my arse into a theatre seat opening weekend, regardless:
Next, a movie I have no idea what to expect from but am pretty excited for nonetheless.
Finally, this isn't a movie, but I've been waiting for it for a while now:
Playlist:
Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments
Pixies - Trompe le Monde
Pixies - Doolittle
Valkyrie - Fear
Pixies - Beneath the Eyrie
The Kills - Midnight Boom
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
Zen Guerilla - Positronic Raygun
The Darts - I Like You But Not Like That
Deafheaven - 10 Years Gone
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When things are too good to be true, we second guess them? This is (maybe) a direct commentary on my hemming and hawing about putting my first story on Nosleep. I know the story is good, however, I keep second-guessing how it will fit in with their guidelines. I'm posting the first installment Tuesday no matter what, so I guess we'll see. And with so definitive a statement, why worry?
I really dig this new single by The Joy Formidable, a band I don't know all that much about. Not sure if this is the precursor to a new album from the band, but I'll be investigating their back catalog now, so either way, it's all new to me.
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It's been a few days since I posted here. Busy as hell. I did find time to watch a few things this weekend, however, the thing that I must discuss is last week's season two opener of Shudder's Creepshow. I can't express how much this episode lit up all the goodwill in my brain. It had everything, including a full-on entry into the Evil Dead mythology, which I don't think any of us were expecting.
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Next up, Mike Wellman and I have returned with Drinking with Comics! It's been difficult to bring this show back, as it's primarily a live show with an audience that, well, for obvious reasons we can't do at the moment, however, for the moment, we're going to do a weekly NCBD round-up on Thursday nights. It will stream live on our FB page, then appear Friday morning on youtube. Here's last week's episode, where we talk Man-Thing, Stray Dogs, Shadecraft, and even find some time to dig into Tomahawk's new record because, you know, you gotta listen to something while you're reading all those comics:
Playlist:
The Replacements - Tim
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Small Black - Duplex (single)
Run the Jewels - RTJ4
Suburban Living - Always Eyes (single)
Godflesh - Pure
Satanic Planet - Baphomet (single)
Tomahawk - Tonic Immobility
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
Human Impact - EP01
Megadeth - So Far, So Good... So What!
Pixies - Doolittle
Flogging Molly - Float
Zombi - Cosmos
S.O.D. - Speak English or Die
Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wraith of the Easter Bunny
Howard Shore - Crash OST
AC/DC - Highway to Hell
Ghost - Meliora
The Bangles - All Over the Place
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Here's a fella I see quite a bit on these daily pulls. Time to take control of the more willy-nilly, emotionally compromised elements of my Work and steer things back in an orderly direction.
I bought a new phone this past weekend. It was time. One of the new features on Apple Music that is cribbed from Spotify is when an album you're listening to ends, they throw a bunch of songs at you that the almighty algorithm finds based on what you just listened to. This is a little cool and a little lame. Lame, because Nick Cave dredged up a bunch of really bad stuff the other day, cool because after I spun through Soul Coughing's Irresistible Bliss this morning, Apple went into Cake's "Frank Sinatra". One taste of that track and there was no way I wasn't going all the way through Fashion Nugget, one of my favorite records from the 90s. Here's the thing though. I count myself a Cake fan because of how much I love this record, but I'm not really familiar with their other stuff. So when this particular version of Nugget ended with a live version of "Jolene", I was floored.
This track is amazing.
Anyway, I'll finally be digging into some more of Cake's discography after this, so I'm pretty excited. It's not every day I get to have a band from my past feel so new to me (I think that's why I play so coy with some bands in the first place).
NCBD:
Only a few titles this week on NCBD, but that's fine. Last week was a killer.
The Autumnal has been a great Horror title so far, and I'm definitely anxious to see where it's going. Kind of a mash-up of Folk and Ancestral Horror, but with a decidedly more modern feel.
I picked up issue one of Night Hunters a few months back on a whim when I noticed the unmistakable art of Alexis Ziritt. You may know Ziritt's work from Black Mask's 2015 limited series Space Raiders. Hard to say what's going on in Night Hunters after only one issue, but whatever it is, I dig it. From Floating World comics, who are super indie, so give them the benefit of the doubt and pick this one up if you see it at your local comic shop.
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I caught David Keating's Cherry Tree on Shudder yesterday after work and enjoyed it quite a bit. Pretty cool little flick, but then these smaller, English/Irish films tend to be my jam.
The make-up at the climax has a definite Nightbreed-era Barker feel, which was cool and added to an already very cool atmosphere.
It's hard to believe it's been five years since 2016's The Uncanny Valley, the last album from Perturbator. It seems a lot longer. Sure, there's been an EP and two B-sides/remix discs, but to me, James Kent's Perturbator lives and breathes in the album format. Now, here's the first track of forth-coming Lustful Sacraments, out May 28th on CD and digital, June 25th on Vinyl. You can pre-order those from Blood Music HERE; I was lucky enough to catch one of only 125 of the picture discs!
Let's talk about the new track. I'm reminded of old Nitzer Ebb a bit, early 00s Miss Kitten and the Hacker, and of course, that danger-soaked, percolating blood percussion we all know and love from Kent's previous Perturbator releases, although here there's an underlying wash of 80s dark sparkle and seething industrial menace. In other words, as he promised, this record sounds like it most definitely will be unlike the others.
Good. Let's push things forward...
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I caught Natasha Kermani and Brea Grant's new film on Shudder yesterday afternoon. Very good. Would make a good double-feature with Amy Seimetz's She Dies Tomorrow.
I won't lie, there's a part of this new wave of existential Horror that makes me a little suspicious. The musings of films like She Dies and now Lucky reminds me a bit of those Existential comedies of the late 90s/early 00s. You know, that loose sub-genre or movement that began with Being John Malkovich - a film I can't say a bad word about - and continuing on into Michel Gondry's films and the wake of films that tried for the same tone. That particular movement reminds me a lot of new-age spiritualism, as it's more about the packaging than the actual philosophy. In other words, it's fun to look like we're contemplating philosophical conundrums and the like, but we're not really going through the work of actually contemplating them. I'd wager I'm probably wrong about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind because, despite the fact that I did not explicitly mention that film by name here, it springs to mind as the actual start of this Cosmetic Existential Genre, so to speak (I always give anything with Jim Carey a bad rap, just because I don't like Jim Carey).
But I've really shifted from my original point, haven't I?
Lucky is a unique take on a Slasher flick, and I dig the mechanics of what Grant (writer/star) and Kermani (director) have set up for the film. It's a skosh reminiscent of the first Happy Death Day, but not in any way that feels uncouth. However, it's this how the filmmakers dress these mechanics and where it actually goes in the end that felt a little 'huh?' to me. Perhaps I am primarily preoccupied with trying to discern if the point of the film was all men are rapists/abusers. I hate that my mind went there immediately upon completion of the viewing, and it may not even be the film's fault, but that's definitely something that's still in the air, and it troubles me because, you know, I'm neither of those things. Nor are my male friends.
Anyway, you can see by my train of thought that Lucky did exactly what a good film should do, and that's make you think. So hats off to Lucky, and really, between this and 12 Hour Shift, Brea Grant is definitely becoming one of my favorite new filmmakers.
Playlist:
David Bowie - Heroes
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
Opeth - Blackwater Park
PM Dawn - Set Adrift on Memory Bliss (single)
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country
The Cure - Pornography
Blanck Mass - In Ferneaux
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Listen to what those who know more about things are trying to tell you, a reminder we can all use from time to time.
It's strange to me that, for all the time I spend listening to the artists on Sacred Bones, I somehow never heard Blanck Mass before yesterday. I'd seen the name, but somehow I just never clicked a link or happened upon anything organically. That changed yesterday when I somehow realized that Blanck Mass is the solo project/primary focus of Benjamin John Power, or as I knew him, one half of Fuck Buttons. I'd lost track of Fuck Buttons these last few years, and it's hard to believe it was a decade ago that I saw them at LA's Troubadour, where they blew my mind and ears in a volatile set of insane noise/techno/edm/soundscapery. Upon learning of Blanck Mass's pedigree, I started with this, the first single from In Ferneaux, out tomorrow on Sacred Bones. I then went to 2019's Animated Violence Mild and proceeded to absolutely fall in love with it. I mean, I listened to this fucker at least five times in a row over the course of my workday.
Order In Ferneaux or any of the other Blanck Mass records - all of which I plan on getting around to sooner rather than later - from Sacred Bones HERE of the Blanck Mass Bandcamp HERE.
Watch:
I haven't been in much of a Horror mood of late, however, yesterday I came home and took my near-customary Thursday nap on the couch with Shudder TV's Slashics channel on. When I woke up, I did so in time to catch Preston DeFrancis' 2018 Slasher-esque Ruin Me. I quite liked this one and; Ruin Me definitely plays with tropes we've seen before - maybe too much of late, hence why it took this long and happenstance to get me to watch it - but it's really good at what it does, and it has enough of a fresh spin on the Slasher/Extreme Haunted House set-up to make it unique and interesting. And no, it's not actually a 'haunted house,' but you'll see what I mean when you watch it. Which I'm recommending you do.
Playlist:
Blanck Mass - Starstuff (Single)
Blanck Mass - Animated Violence Mild
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - Carnage
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
How to Destroy Angels - Welcome Oblivion
Jim Williams - Possessor OST
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Perseverance in the face of frustration and or routine. This final final final edit on Murder Virus is killing me, but it will pay off HUGE in the end, making the book that much tighter, and thus I hope, compelling and enjoyable, with a healthy dose of "WTF?!?" thrown in for good measure come the fourth part. Still, reading the same book four times in as many months can be pretty fucking difficult, even if it is something you consider quite possibly your best work to date.
This made me laugh out loud. Wow, I love Jello Biafra!
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Can't wait, even if the first season of Shudder's Creepshow was a bit of a mixed bag.
Playlist:
White Lung - Paradise
Nothing - The Great Dismal
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Nothing - Downward Years to Come
Orville Peck - Pony
NIN - Add Violence
How to Destroy Angels - Welcome Oblivion
Genghis Tron - Board Up the House
The Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
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Ebb and flow, which is exactly the tactic I'm currently using to balance between another final (for real this time!) edit on Murder Virus, and working on Shadow Play Book Two. This is not normally how I work; jumping between books prevents momentum. However, I received the proof for MV and reading it as an actual book - as opposed to a document on a screen - is a lot of edits to the surface. Which is a good thing.
New Mogwai! From the forthcoming album As The Love Continues, out February 13th. Pre-order HERE.
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Last night, K and I finished watching the Night Stalker documentary that dropped this week on Netflix. Serial killer stuff is normally outside of my comfort zone, however, after moving to LA in 2006 and hearing a good friend talk about what it was like to grow up here as Richard Ramirez held the city hostage for the better part of a year has proved motivation for a fascination that overcomes my squeamish nature when it comes to this type of thing. That, combined with the fact that once you start watching this series and see that director Tiller Russell places the two Police Detectives who hunted Ramirez as the main characters, this was a great documentary that didn't leave me feeling dirty.
As much as I love AHS 1984, I still have issues with the fact that they made Ramirez a character I ended up rooting for (to a degree).
While flipping around Bloody Disgusting earlier I saw they finally released a trailer for Christopher Smith's The Banishing. I'm very much looking forward to seeing this one on Shudder in March, just a couple of days after my forty-fifth birthday no less.
Playlist:
The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Michael Kiwanuka - KIWANUKA
David Bowie - Reality
Mogwai - As the Love Continues (pre-release singles)
Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Loathe - I Let It In and It Took Everything
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Another signifier for the end of my current project, which will lead to the publication of my next book.
I received the cover art this week from Jonathan Grimm - it's BAD ASS! I can't wait to share it.
Talk about an album that defines a year in my life. INXS's Kick was everywhere in 1987. I was eleven. I remember some stroke popular kid in my 4th grade class telling me in gym class how his father brought him home, 'the album all the college kids are listening to,' and brandishing the cassette. I assumed it was something stupid because this kid was my antithesis. However, I was wrong, it wasn't stupid at all. To this day, Kick and U2's The Joshua Tree still sound to me the way I physically felt at that time in my life, which is a really cool and kind of spooky thing, like my cells rearrange to some pre-recorded configuration when those sounds are re-introduced to my brain. No where is that more true than on this particular song.
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Keola Racela's Porno dropped on Shudder this past week. This is one I'd been waiting on for a while; I almost went to a screening at some point, pre-COVID (I think - that seems so long ago now, it's like some hazy, undiscovered country). Anyway, I'll be reviewing this one later today on a new episode of The Horror Vision, which will go up Monday, however, let me just say - I really liked this flick, and it had one of the hardest to watch scenes EVER.
Playlist:
Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
Jenny Lewis - The Voyager
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Dissociation
Nabihah Iqbal - Weighing of the Heart
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full
Bölzer - Hero
The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic I Cenozoic
Sir Neville Mariner & Academy of St. Martin in the Fields - Amadeus (Complete Soundtrack Recordings)
Opeth - Deliverance
Dance with the Dead - B-Sides: Vol. 1
Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit Vol. 1
The Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop OST
INXS - Kick
Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power (1973 Bowie Mix)
David Bowie - Diamond Dogs
I also spent an entire morning at work yesterday diving into The Black Tapes podcast. Can't recommend this one enough. I hooked.
Set up in a wonderful homage to Serial's first season, The Black Tapes deals with Paranormal Research and all the familiar hijinx - ghosts, demons, portals to hell. But the story is told through an NPR/This American Life kind of lens and because of that, it resonates in a very different way.
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Threes and Swords - looks bad on the surface, but really, this is the cutting away of baggage in order to clarify and establish a firm foundation (fours). I've had two intensely productive days of writing and am clearing away a lot of the mental detritus that has had me clogged up these last couple months - fall out from world events, obviously - and am ready to end the year on the same mega-productive note that carried me through the first six months of it.
Here's one of my purchases. It's been a while since I posted anything by these folks, but they're Covers Vol. 5 is for sale on their bandcamp HEREtoday only and it included this little gem, which is one of my favorites from their ever-growing repertoire. You can also support Two Minutes to Late Night HERE.
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Yesterday I woke up with a splitting headache that lasted pretty much all afternoon, so I left work a wee early, had half an Inidca Pro Tab and dozed on the couch. While I flit in and out of sleep, the new, "WWII Haunted Nazi Boat" Shudder exclusive Blood Vessel played. I saw most of it, or at least to recognize its fun attempt at doing for Strigoi what Dog Soldiers is for Werewolves. I wouldn't say that I loved the flick, in fact, I'm not sure I liked all that much about it, but it's well made, if not exactly well written, and I'd definitely be interested to see what the creators do next.
After I'd woke and ridden out the last third or so of Blood Vessel, I hoped around and found a pair of Anthology shows I'd never heard of before and that were pretty good. Here's trailers, and I'll be posting a small piece on them over on TheHorrorVision.com later today.
Playlist:
Fen - The Dead Light
The Cure - The Head on the Door
Rollins Band - The End of Silence
Maggot Heart - Mercy Machine
Hall and Oats Greatest Hits
Opeth - Deliverance
Sinioa Caves - Beyond the Black Rainbow OST
For anyone who grew up on the Southside of Chicago in the 80/90s, you undoubtedly remember the more serious of the two Classic Rock stations at that time were 97.9 The LOOP and 105.9 WCKG, 'CKG as everyone called it. I found a lot of lifetime bands that way - Zeppelin, The Stones, etc., but there were also always Classic Rock artists - often ones who had gone solo after aging out of famous bands - that had a few songs amongst their singles that really resonated without turning you into a fan of the artist. My CKG Spotify playlist is kind of an odds 'n sods of such tracks.
A couple of these songs rank among my favorite songs ever, plus, they're fun. Double nostalgia - mine and that I inherited from older folks when I was younger, whose fervor rubbed off on me.
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The Princess of Cups has the ability to make dreams come true. This is a concept I think most of us in this world have forgotten about, so it's nice to see it here now, when everything seems held hostage by one big question, and so many of my own personal 'plates' from this year are still spinning.
New Zeal and Ardor dropped today! Six songs and Manuel Gagneux continues to evolve this project in ways that keep it feeling anything but stagnant or gimmicky. Love this band. Buy HERE.
31 Days of Halloween:
Last night I went up to Hollywood and visited my friend Keller for the first time since early March. Hollyweird is not exactly a place I want to be at the moment, but tucked away in his apartment, the petri dish of the streets is far removed, so it at least felt safe. We talked, played each other a bunch of music we'd been into or found since our last palaver, and then rounded out the night with my DVD copy of Filmrise's Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait. Keller had never seen this, didn't even know it existed, and what's more, he had only days before just watched the original TCM for the first time. He's a brave man, and a student of film, so he did the scholarly thing and watched the original with the 2003 remake. Full disclosure: While there are a few small things I liked about that remake, it is a film I abhor. I hate Jessica Biel's 'acting' and the film's and its denouement's insistent on plying her character with enough water to soak her white shirt to her flesh. I hate the way the extremely impressive scene that follows the bullet through the hitchhiker's head and out the back becomes transparent in the final frame and you can clearly see the actor has been replaced with a dummy (otherwise, it's an awesome shot). I know there's more I hate about the film, but that's what I remember and I've thankfully put the rest out of my mind.
But I digress. The original TCM is a classic, and we spent a good deal of time talking about its charms and strengths, then I showed him A Family Portrait - all in-depth interviews with the primary film's villains - Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, John Dugan, and of course, Gunnar Hansen. They tell stories about the film's set, and the absolute insanity director Tobe Hooper used to sculpt the set, mood, and performances of the cast.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait will blow your mind, and it is definitely the film that helped grow my appreciation of the original film into the holy reverence I hold it in (it's not a film I watch often, and I'm not a card-carrying, memorabilia-collecting fan, but when I do find myself in the mood to watch it, I do so in quiet reverence every time). I consider A Family Portrait and essential companion piece to the original film, and lo and behold, the entire thing is on youtube:
1) Tales of Halloween: Sweet Tooth/The Wolf Man (1941)
2) From Beyond/Monsterland: "Port Fourchon, Louisiana"/Tales of Halloween: "The Night Billy Raised Hell" & "Trick"
3) Mulholland Drive/Creepshow (1982): "The Crate"
4) Waxwork
5) Synchronic/Bad Hair
6) Dolls
7) Lovecraft Country Ep. 8/Tales of Halloween: "The Weak and the Wicked" & "The Grim Grinning Ghost"
8) 976-Evil
9) Repo! The Genetic Opera
10) Firestarter/George A. Romero's Bruiser
11) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 1 & 2/Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
12) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 3, 4, and 5/House of 1000 Corpses
13) Masque of the Red Death/Creepshow (2019) Episode 7/Creepshow (1982)
14) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 6 and 7
15) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 8 and 9/Roseanne (88) season 2 and 3 Halloween Episodes
16) The Mortuary Collection/Roseanne (88) season 4 Halloween Episode
17) Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning
18) Lovecraft Country episode 9/The Haunting/Roseanne (88) season 5 Halloween Episode
19) Lovecraft Country episode 10/Tales From the Crypt season 1 ep. 5 "Lover Come Hack to Me"
20) George A. Romero's Season of the Witch
21) The Omen
23) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait/Masters of Horror: "Sick Girl" (Lucky McKee)
New Creepshow animated special hits Shudder THIS Thursday, 10/29 - just in time for Halloween!
While season on of Shudder's Creepshow started out with a bang but kind of became a series of diminishing returns, I'm still of the opinion that any Creepshow is better than no Creepshow. Can't wait!
Playlist:
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - Confessions of a Knife
Ministry - The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste
Joy Division - Still
16 Horsepower - Low Estate
Crystal Castles - II
Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery
The Misfits - Earth A.D.
The Rollins Stones - Hot Rocks 2
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Grandiose ideas and the Will to transmute them from intangible to palpable.
An absolute stunner! This new All The Witches video released yesterday does that rare thing, it takes a strong emotional song and marries equally strong emotional imagery to it. These guys are truly a level above.
"Rats in Ruin" is taken from the album Nothing is Ideal, which is available for purchase HERE.
31 Days of Halloween:
Thursday Shudder dropped the new film The Mortuary Collection by Ryan Spindell. I wasn't expecting this one to be what it was at all. The Mortuary Collection is very much cut from the same cloth as Trick r' Treat, with a healthy dose of classic Spielberg. The music is swelling, majestic, and sometimes hammy, but only in the right places. Same with the story and acting, all around a knock out. If you're a Tim Burton fan, a Michael Dougherty fan, or a Neil Gaiman fan, this is for you:
1) Tales of Halloween: Sweet Tooth/The Wolf Man (1941)
2) From Beyond/Monsterland: Port Fourchon, Louisiana/Tales of Halloween: The Night Billy Raised Hell/Tales of Halloween: Trick
3) Mulholland Drive/Creepshow (1982): The Crate
4) Waxwork
5) Synchronic/Bad Hair
6) Dolls
7) Lovecraft Country Ep. 8/Tales of Halloween: The Weak and the Wicken/Tales of Halloween: The Grim Grinning Ghost
8) 976-Evil
9) Repo! The Genetic Opera
10) Firestarter/George A. Romero's Bruiser
11) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 1 & 2/Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
12) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 3, 4, and 5/House of 1000 Corpses
13) Masque of the Red Death/Creepshow (2019) Episode 7/Creepshow (1982)
14) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 6 and 7
15) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 8 and 9/Roseanne (88) season 2 and 3 Halloween Episodes
16) The Mortuary Collection/Roseanne (88) season 4 Halloween Episode
Also, yes, I am most definitely aware Roseanne is not a Horror film, however, their classic Halloween episodes from my youth fit perfectly into my 31 Days of Halloween, another reason I'm glad I modified the name and nature of this annual section. That season two Halloween special - the first the show did - is still a damn knock out, and I had not seen in since it aired in syndication way back in those original few years of the original show.
Playlist:
Type O Negative - October Rust
Mastodon - Once More 'Round The Sun
Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets
The Misfits - Static Age
The Misfits - Earth A.D.
Mastodon - Medium Rarities
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Reminding me to take care of the trademark proceedings I began recently for The Horror Vision after finding out someone else started a podcast of the same name a year after we did.
Struggling a bit to get into the recent Jaye Jayle, so I ended up going back to 2018's No Trail and Other Unholy Paths. That led me to this. Very cool to see them in action.
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Finally sat down and watched Z on Shudder last night. I really liked this one. There was some great, sustained tension, and one scene in particular really affected me in a way that resonated long after.
Also, K and I had a 'nefarious mansion' doubleheader across two nights over the long weekend. We kicked it off Saturday night with this classic which I had never seen but K swears by. She's totally right, too. April Fools Day is definitely not your ordinary 80s Slasher flick. Which, of course, made me like it quite a bit.
And Sunday night it was the always amazing Clue!
Love that one, as it's got such a great cast who all turn in iconic performances.
Playlist:
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
Nirvana - Nevermind
Zeal and Ardor - Vigil
The Clash - London Calling
The Obsessed - Lunar Womb
Ainoma - Necropolis
Brand New - God and the Devil are Raging Inside Me
Jaye Jayle - No Trail and Other Unholy Paths
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Okay, now this is getting crazy.
I have to dial back in. I did a fairly decent job tonight, hoping I can plow through after the return to work tomorrow. Back is better with some anti-inflammatory meds the doctor gave me, so that's not really an excuse right now.
Not sure anything could have made me happier than finding out that Mike Doughty has a new project named Ghost of Vroom. Doughty's solo career is great, but I've kind of always had trouble getting past the dissolution of Soul Coughing, a band I would count as one of the most influential bands of my young adult era. Being that Ghost of Vroom feels more like it's in that particular wheelhouse, I bonded with Rona Pollona pretty much immediately. Also, what a great concept for a music video!
The EP, Ghost of Vroom 2, drops on mod y vi records this month, and was produced by Mario Caldato, Jr., better known as former Beastie Boys DJ/Producer Mario C.!
Finally got to watch Frank Sabatella's The Shed. I really dug this one. It seemed like a love letter to Fright Night, without directly taking anything from it. Can't wait to see what Mr. Sabatella does next!
I just posted the trailer for this one a few days back, so instead, here's an awesome poster! The Shed is steaming on Shudder right now, go check it out!
Have to say, recently, there's been more than a few stories - movies, comics, books - that have made serious inroads in updating the zombie mythos, which is exactly what The Shed does for vampires, simply by going full-in on the classic Vamp lore. Nothing new here, except a new approach to handling the old bloodsucker tropes. Maybe others will follow suit?
Playlist:
Anioma - Necropolis
Faith No More - Angel Dust
The Clash - Combat Rock
Ghost of Vroom - Rona Pollona (pre-release single)
Another song from the forthcoming first solo album from former Dillinger Escape Plan/current Black Queen frontman Greg Puciato. Child Soldier: Creator of God is out October 23rd, you can pre-order it HERE.
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Saturday night, K and I checked off a box and watched Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland. Man, I remembered this one being way better than it is. While it's hard to fault any slasher that uses a garbage truck for its first kill, Teenage Wasteland is mildly entertaining, but essentially little more than a perfunctory set-up to deliver a series of mostly uninspired kills.
Yeah, it kinda all goes downhill after the garbage truck.
Friday, we did John Wick 3, and I continue to be amazed at how much I like these movies. The location scouting is unbelievable, and everything in the series, from the costumes, to the lighting, to the choreography, only helps establish a very unique and opulent atmosphere for unparralleled levels of violence to unfold within. Hell, not even Halle Berry - who is almost always a "No" for me, did a fairly good job.
Playlist:
X - Los Angeles
The Clash - London Calling
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
The Babies - Eponymous
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
Boy Harsher - Careful
Brand New - God and the Devil are Raging Inside Me
Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
X - Wild Gift
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Ainoma - Manhunter
Ainoma - Necropolis
Card:
Referencing the importance of maintaining a clear head, especially when confronted with or analyzing former setbacks. This is a huge nod toward my thought process this morning in the car, where I kind of went over a previous project I'd let wane due to a reluctance on my part to bond with what I and a collaborator had come up with for an entry point to the story. Tossing that key point aside, respectfully, I think I have a much better idea. I just need to be careful how I explain that to the collaborator.
I have been in such an X mood for the last few weeks! Here's a favorite from their 1980 debut Los Angeles, surely the greatest album to reference my adopted hometown, out of probably a thousand songs that reference it. I need to dig back into Alphabetland soon, this year's all-original line-up X record, their first in some time.
Watch:
I'm working the weekend this week, so today is my day off! Other than writing, I'm hoping to squeeze in Frank Sabatella's The Shed, which just hit Shudder yesterday. I've heard good things about this one, and I feel like Shudder has been on a bit of a roll with new movies, so my hopes are high. Also, it's an RJLE release, and I don't think I've seen them release a bad flick yet. Here's the trailer:
Playlist:
Alice in Chains - Facelift
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
Santogold - Eponymous
Cults - Host (pre-release singles)
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine - We Created Putin (pre-release single)
Godflesh - Streetcleaner
Boy Harsher - Careful
Boy Harsher - Country Girl Uncut
Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers and Queers
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Public Image Limited - This is What You Want... This is What You Get
Oh Baby - The Art of Sleeping
The Clash - London Calling
The Clash - Combat Rock
Windhand - Eternal Return
Jaye Jayle - Prisyn
X - Los Angeles
Black Breath - Heavy Breathing
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Card:
The Tens are always rooted in the most physical senses. Malkuth, the world. For the Ten of Swords in particular, where the hilts of the Swords are arranged to represent the Qabalahistic Sephiroth and the blades converge on and shatter the Six - Tipareth or the Sun - the idea is if you fight long enough, the only outcome is destruction. This is an important reminder for me at the moment; my Beta Reader has Murder Virus, and I've encountered a situation where I need to do some more work on it to smooth out a considerable bump in the road. There's two paths I can take - one where I do a lot of work, and write and re-write several chapters, and one where simply re-ordering certain parts might do the trick. According to the Ten of Swords, the latter may be the better way.
Holy cow! Dorthia from Windhand has a new band with Gina Gleason from Baroness? Count me in!
**
I was pleasantly surprised by not one but two movies yesterday. First up, We Summon the Darkness, which I'd originally blogged about my plans to rent a few months back when it first premiered on VOD. That never ended up happening, and the flick fell off my radar until Jonathan Grimm alerted me to the fact that it hit Netflix recently.
This flick is 100% worth your time. I loved it; yes I saw a big WTF moment coming a mile away, but I think the filmmakers knew most folks would and added an extra little twist that I did not. Plus, who cares about twists when the characters, setting, mood, and overall layout of the film is this fun. We Summon the Darkness is a really good time that doesn't take itself too serious and knows how to get down and dirty in the mud and blood with Satan!
Next up, Host on Shudder. This is a 56 minute flick that was filmed during COVID shelter-in-place on Zoom.
Yes, that's right. On Zoom. I know what you're thinking; stop thinking it. This one's scary as hell and quite a good time.
Granted, I watched Host in my ideal setting: alone, stoned, with all the lights off and totally focused on the film. It's 56 minute runtime helped in that, because these days an uninterrupted movie is almost an impossibility.
**
Playlist:
Santogold - Eponymous
Perturbator - Dangerous Days
JK Flesh - Depersonalization
X- Under the Big Black Sun
X - Los Angeles
Dead Swords - Enders
Iress - Prey
Iress - Flaw (pre-release singles)
Card:
Back to the Raven Deck for this morning's Pull:
Old rules reassessed and rewritten? Or get off your lazy ass? I did a fair amount of work getting back into the sequels for Shadow Play over this past weekend. Not a lot of writing; mostly digging in and re-reading the bible for the series, plus the copious amount of notes I have on it. Feels good. That said, the Tower pops up to remind me that although I told myself I would send a query letter a day, it's been at least three days since I actually have, so I need to get back on that ASAP.
I've had The Smiths on the brain of late, particularly The Queen is Dead, and even more particularly this song. I love Morrissey's lyrics, but even more, I love his delivery of the lyrics. "Dreaded sunny day, so let's go where we're happy, and I meet you at the cemetery gates" is a hysterically subtle indictment of 80s Goth culture - a considerable part of the band's fan base - that is beautifully countered by genuinely thought provoking and despondent lines like, "All these people, all those lives, where are they now? With loves and hates and passions just like mine, they were born and then they loved and then they died."
It's just so damn good.
The Smith are a band that, when I'm into them, I feel my love for each song and album deepen with each listen.
**
Last night, K and I finished Dark Season Three.
Holy. Shit.
In the interest of understanding the insanely well-written intricacies of this series, we'll be starting season three over again tonight. This time, however, we're going to follow every episode we watch at night by listening to the Digesting Dark podcast episode pertaining to the episode. These guys really know the show, and both K and I are really looking forward to having some third person insight into this one, because no one else we know is watching this, and it BEGS to be discussed.
**
Last week, the Maniac Cop trilogy dropped on Shudder. I've been wanting to see the original for years but haven't had much luck. As far as I knew until Arrow's recent release, the Larry Cohen created, William Lustig-directed Action/Horror classic had not been in print for quite some time. How was it? Exactly what I expected, and wonderful for just that reason. It's not everyday you have Bruce Campbell and Tom Atkins in the same flick.
**
Playlist:
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
Tamaryn - The Waves
The Soft Moon - Deeper
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine - White People and the Damage Done
Me and That Man - New Man New Songs Same Shit Vol. 1
The Stooges - Funhouse
Steve Moore - Bliss OST
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Card:
Big influences spur a new project. Yes. Very big. Not a new project, but a new direction for the current book as I've decided to take a completely different tack than I was originally planning.
What a great way to kick off a holiday weekend, as Sacred Bones announces new, non-soundtrack music from John Carpenter! Read about the new 12" and pre-order it directly from Sacred Bones HERE, or from their bandcamp for 'no fees' day HERE.
**
Speaking of 80s Horror icons, over the past two nights, K and I watched A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Dead and Scream, Queen: My Nightmare on Elm Street, the new documentary on Shudder about the fall of the film's Final Boy Mark Patton's career after staring in the NoES sequel. The doc is great; it sheds light on a lot of questions that naturally arise in the wake of watching the film, and it really helps recontextualize a lot about 80s Mainstream Horror and Hollywood in general. Freddy's Revenge still feels rushed and stilted, however, previously every decade or so I re-watch it thinking it can't be as bad a I remember, and it always is. This time? Maybe in light of the revelations that have come out about the film, or maybe just because time has turned the nostalgia factor up for me - I've never been a huge Freddy fan beyond the original - but I didn't hate watching the film this time.
**
Playlist:
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Various Artists - The Void OST
The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir
The Atlas Moth - An Ache for the Distance
Soundgarden - SOMMS (Record Store Day Vinyl Exclusive)
Black Marble - In Manchester (pre-release single)
**
Card:
Generating positive energy shapes the world. As does negative energy. I've always been a believer in using positive and dismissing the negative. There's a fuckton of negative at the moment, so this is a nice reminder to take a deep breath and look past it.
You had me at "Cosmic Body Horror." The Beach House one drops on Shudder July 9th. That means I'll have two days of anticipated premieres, as on the 10th, Relic hits VOD. These last few years have been such an amazing time to be a Horror fan, and despite a segue into real-life Horror, 2020 appears to continue the trend.
**
Via Brooklyn Vegan (article HERE), the Sacramento Music Archive has made a Slayer concert from 1986 available on youtube. This is HUGE in my opinion; I saw Slayer a handful of time, but not before 1994's Divine Intervention, an album I pretty much despise based on what I feel are some pretty lackluster vocals. That said, my love of Slayer is primarily based on their two live albums - Live Undead and Decade of Aggression - both of which I consider among the finest live albums ever released. It's nice to hear something that kind of splits the span of those two records in half, as Live Undead was released in 1984 and DoA 1991. Admittedly not a huge temporal stretch, but in the evolution of arguably the greatest Thrash band of all time, an entire epoch of change spans the divide.
Thank you to the Sacramento Music Archive, whose website you can visit HERE.
**
Playlist:
Andy Fosberry - Death Ship 2047
Van Halen - Eponymous
Phil Collins - Hello, I Must Be Going
Soundgarden - Down on the Upside
Soundgarden - Super Unknown
Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
Cocksure - Operation C.O.C.K.S.U.R.E.
**
Card:
A solid foundation is what I'm working with on this current short story. That's not the issue. Pulling all the elements together into a cohesive whole is.
