New Music From PJ Harvey!

New single from PJ Harvey! Her first new music since 2023. No definitive album announcement, but I'm pretty sure it's coming. 

The concept for this is, well, a bit staggering. Here's a quote from the YouTube video that explains the genesis of the song:

"The song had already been taking shape as part of Harvey’s next album, when Professor Brian Cox invited her to write a song for his ‘Emergence' world tour. Recorded with a full orchestra at Miraval Studios in Provence, Voyager takes its name from the NASA probes launched in 1977, still traveling through interstellar space nearly 50 years on. The music highlights the interplay between swelling string arrangements and pulsing synthesizer signals stretching out into the cosmos: icy, ethereal, and pensive, yet threaded with an unmistakable humanity. Across it, Harvey contemplates our small, fragile place in the universe; a 'pale-blue dot', a flake of snow, dust in a sunbeam, and finds in that vastness a quiet plea to choose light and to choose love."

Polly Jean is always full of surprises. I love that. 

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Watch:

I guested on The Average Reviews again last night to discuss Sleepaway Camp, one of the great summer camp slashers ever!

We really had a blast with this, and I even picked up some insights on the film that had previously never occurred to me. 

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Read:

When I walked into the comic shop Wednesday night, I had completely forgotten that this was coming out this week:

Here's the solicitation blurb: 

"Legendary comic book creator John Byrne returns to the title he first drew 50 years ago, Uncanny X-Men, with this one-of-a-kind new graphic novel series, X-Men: Elsewhen. This three-volume graphic novel series picks up the story from Byrne’s original run, taking the characters in new and unexpected directions."

This is just crazy to me, and I tore through the first few chapters in short order. It had me GLOWING all night, because despite the lack of Chris Claremont, this felt exactly like that era of Uncanny X-Men, and it was fantastic to revisit.

There are two more of these coming to complete Byrne's new run. The really crazy thing is, Byrne did this for him. He started it and for most of the duration, worked on it without thoughts of publishing beyond his website, Byrne Robotics, which you can check out HERE.

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Playlist:

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

John Carpenter - Lost Themes IV: Noir

Algiers - Eponymous

Gnarls Barkley - Atlanta

D'nell - First Magic

Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST

John Carpenter - Prince of Darkness

John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Big Trouble in Little China

Mastodon - Emperor of Sand

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Card:

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

• Six of Pentacles

• Two of Wands

• King of Pentacles

Isolation: Day 170

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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Watch: 

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.

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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

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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.