Napalm Death Tiny Desk Concert Fundraiser for NPR!

'Nuff said.

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Watch:

Mourning the loss of Sam Neil, and while there are a ton of genre flicks my mind goes to on reflex, I thought I'd post a trailer from a somewhat recent favorite of his I discovered thanks to Mr. Brown. 

Taika Waititi doesn't always blow me away, but this one definitely does.

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Read:

I finally caught up on Chris Condon, Andrew Ehrich and Charlie Adlard's Of the Earth. Man, this is easily sitting in my top five comics of 2026.

This is sweet Charlie Adlard widescreen comics, and the story by Ehrich and Condon is fantastic. There's a great interview on Fangoria HERE, and we review the first issue on Drinking with Comics HERE. Suffice it to say, major The Thing and Blood Simple vibes, and if you're as big a fan of both of those films as I am and you wonder what the intersection where they meet looks and feels like, look no further.

There's some fantastic prose in each book, as well. Excerpts from a book that gives more context to the Wildcatter myth. This is a monster book, folks, and it is extremely effective thus far.

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Playlist:

Judas Priest - Stained Class

Savages - Silence Yourself

Savages - Paranoid/Prayer (single)

C.na - Eclipse Mechanism (Instrumental) (single)

Anthrax - State of Euphoria

Squarepusher & Z-MACHINES - Music for Robots EP

Chappell Roan - The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess

Chappell Roan - Good Luck Babe (single)

Devil Master - You Worms' Vein Dilusions (single)

Devil Master - Ecstasies of a Never Ending Night

Lard - The Last Temptation of Reid

Thou - Summit

John Cale - Fear

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Card:

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

• Page of Swords

• Nine of Cups

• Nine of Swords

The card that's really sticking out here is the Nine of Swords, known as "Cruelty" in the Thoth deck. I ended up in the ER yesterday morning with what I was told by the attending physician is the worst pain known to humanity, male or female. I didn't know what it was when I went in, but goddamn, was I in bad shape. I do not exaggerate when I tell you I did not possess control of my body for a good three hours. I surrendered that control to the pain. It had me do things I could only observe as if from outside, through a misery-frosted window. I have a fairly high pain threshold, and I tend to handle my pain with obstinate stoicism, but not yesterday. No. A kidney stone brought me down. I was screaming, growling, puking, writhing like a man possessed. In fact, I would not be the least bit surprised to learn that in the Middle Ages, people confused kidney stone symptoms with demonic possession. 

Again, not embellishing here at all.

The Page of Swords and Nine of Cups indicate that all this torment wasn't for naught. I believe I'll have some major insights in the coming days as I continue to convalesce (I haven't passed it yet, but as of writing this at 8:35 PM Thursday night, I have not been in pain since the early afternoon).

New Music from Queens of the Stone Age featuring Nikki Lane!

Holy cow! New QOTSA and it features Nikki Lane! No idea if this heralds a new album on the horizon, but it's been a few years since In Times New Roman, so I'm guessing we'll see something sooner than later.

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NCBD:

Great pull this week, with a couple of last-minute surprises!

Still walking that road to SIKTC 50. Digging this series - LOVE this cover - but as I've mentioned before, I'm in need of a reread all around to really cement some of the finer points of the rather intricate continuity that runs between all these books.

I cannot believe that, after re-reading the entire series last week, it ended up timed to coincide with the release of a new Rachel Rising one-shot!

The climax to our introduction to the energon-fueled Dire Technology of Crystal Ball. Smart money says this issue ends with Destro making a deal with the lord of illusions, but we'll see. 

Tracking to be in my top five of the year. I LOVE If Destruction Be Our Lot. So much!

Crap! A reminder that I completely forgot issue 2 of Chris Condon, Charlie Adlard and Andrew Enrich's Of the Earth! I mean, I walked into Rick's last month expecting it, but apparently their copies were damaged, and I guess they never got more. 

As has become my inadvertent habit, I just read the previous issue of Savage Sword a few days ago, so it was no surprise to find this slated for today. I don't know exactly how that happened, but I have kind of marveled at my unconscious mind's accuracy with this pattern. 

Here's another one I didn't see coming! New Last Ronin one-shot! Interesting, as just before seeing this, I decided to cancel my TMNT pull for this month's number 20, which is actually the 300th "Legacy" issue. I hate all this Legacy counting, but whatever, at this point I'm used to it. I will, however, still be picking up one-offs like this.

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Watch:

I so want this to be good. I was a weekly BEE Podcast listener for years before Ellis surprised everyone during the pandemic by reading his work-in-progress The Shards every week, and I've listened to those broadcasts at least twice since. This is the perfect Ellis novel to adapt, in my opinion. There's just one thing giving me pause.

Ryan Murphy.

I was never a die hard AHS fan; I love the Hotel, Roanoke and 1984. I jumped off Coven after three episodes, was mostly happy with the first two seasons, and had mixed feelings about Double Feature. Whatever the Cruisin' knock-off season was proved the last straw for me, and watching all the low-brow, tabloid series he's pumped out since (with the exception of The Beauty), I just can't help but feel hesitant about this.

We'll see on August 5th, I guess. I'm really hoping it works, though. Ellis is one of my favorite Authors, he's written some of my favorite novels - The Shards is one - and there's not an adaptation out there that I favor. 

Help me Ryan Murphy, you're my only hope.

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Playlist:

Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST

Yerusalem - The Sublime

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun

Spotlights - Alchemy for the Dead

Ennio Morricone - Black Belly of the Tarantula OST

Boards of Canada - Inferno

Ghost - Skeleta

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

Mastodon - Emperor of Sand

Mastodon - Marrow Deep (pre-release singles)

QOTSA - Easy Street (single)

Spotlights - Seance EP

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Card:

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

• Five of Cups

• Knight of Swords

• Four of Swords

Grief. Drive. Rest.

I haven't talked about this yet, but last Friday I was diagnosed with Fatty Liver Disease. It's actually not as severe as it sounds, but I have to stop drinking beer and really change my diet for the next several months to allow my liver to heal. After that, I'm planning to scale the drinking back. I've been doing 2-6 beers a night for over 20 years, so this really isn't a surprise. And it's a lot better of a diagonsis than the scare that led up to this suggested. I can stop when I need to - K and I just did a three-week hiastus in March - but the thing is beer is my nightly ritual. I don't chase intoxication, I just LOVE beer. Good beer, of course. But part of that love now means I have to let it go for a while, so we can be reunited when I'm healthy again.

All my jokes about Keith Richards' liver have come home to roost.

Also of note, found this card face up in the deck after I laid out the cards above, figured that was worth interpreting. 

In light of the reading above, I'm reading this as growing pains, as I have many.

Sisters of Black Mountain!!!

 

My friend Justin recently interviewed LA's Sisters of Black Mountain on his Trailer Punk Podcast. The idea of an all-female, Giallo-inspired group hooked me, and I have to say, I'm currently digging on their music quite a bit. You can check out the band on Bandcamp HERE and listen to the interview HERE.

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NCBD:

This week's pull looks like it could have been from my early 80s childhood! Let's get into it!

So now, this is pretty cool. I've never had a chance to read this issue of The Amazing Spider-Man that introduced The Punisher, but I've seen the cover on the wall behind a hundred comic shops. These facsimile copies are really neat for getting your hands on pieces of otherwise prohibitively priced items.

Titlating cover, bringing back Dr. Arkville and all, but all I really want is to see what Megatron is turning into inside that chrysalis!

Second issue of MASK! Not much else to say yet, but I dug the ruined space bridge at the end of issue 1, so let's see where this goes!

I'm digging this Manchurian Candidate storyline with Snake Eyes primarily because it takes us allll the way back to near the very beginning of the original series. 

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Watch:

The Giallo City-Wide Fever recently popped up on my radar, and I've been thinking about it non-stop. Currently streaming on a "channel" I'd never heard of before, Midnight Pulp, I'm planning to grab a subscription this weekend so I can watch. Here's the trailer:

You can read more about this one over on Bloody Disgusting HERE.

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Playlist:

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven 

Vitriol - I-Vii

Gnarls Barkley - Atlanta

Low Cut Connie - Livin in the USA

Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST

Ghost - Skeleta

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell

Ian Lynch - All You Need Is Death OST

Mastodon - Blood Mountain

Russian Circles - Gnosis

3Teeth - Eponymous

Sisters of Black Mountain - Singles Playlist

Niro - Porto Venere (Thanks Tommy!)

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Card:

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

• Seven of Cups

• 06: The Lovers

• Nine of Swords

Too many ideas create anxiety, making it hard to relax. Seek the arms of your person to help. This is HUGE. For just over a week, I have had insane sleep anxiety, and it's driving me crazy. 

New Music from Low Cut Connie!!!

 

New Low Cut Connie, out today! Buy HERE.

 

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Watch:

Happy July 3rd, everyone! Also known as Return of the Living Dead day!

I'll be watching this tonight in celebration and jamming the vinyl soundtrack while I type this.

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In other viewing news, I rewatched Gavin Polone and Andrew Kevin Walker's much-maligned Psycho Killer the other night. I love this flick; no, it's no SE7EN, but holding it up against that film is like holding everything Shamalamadingdong does against Sixth Sense.  

I do think I figured out the elements that caused many in the Horror community to lambast this film.

    1) The egregious-as-hell scene with the tank semi that flips onto its side, takes out the fleeing female and then explodes. It's fun, but it's a bit much for a film that otherwise holds itself in a dead serious repose.

    2) The pregnancy subplot. Not needed AT ALL. 

Other than that, man, this one swings so fucking big and, I think, hits it out of the park with such an ambitious third act. Georgina Campbell is always fantastic, and James Preston Rogers is the stuff of nightmares. Oh yeah, Malcolm McDowell is fabulous as a sort of modern Aleister Crowley/Anton Lavey stand-in.

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Read:

I am just now, three months into the publication run, getting to read the unearthed and completed finale to Rick Veitch and Michael Zulli's Swamp Thing run from 1988/1989, published nearly 40 years later as Swamp Thing: 1989.

Original proposed Michael Zulli cover for issue #88

Cover to the recently released issue #88

Full disclosure: while I've been aware of the Veitch/Zulli run since I read the Moore run that Mr. Veitch penciled some of back in the early 00s, I've never sought it out and, in fact, I don't think I knew that Veitch walked away due to censorship by then newly combined Time/Warner entity that owned DC Comics, or that those issues never saw the light of day and, in some cases, went unfinished. This reminds me more than a little of that Warren Ellis Hellblazer issue with the school shooting that finally came out back, oh hell, a long time ago now. 

So why was DC so worried about Swamp Thing meeting a certain historic carpenter in 1989? Five words for you:

The. Last. Temptation. Of. Christ.

Here's Paul Schrader, who wrote the screenplay adapting Nikos Kazantzakis' novel, talking about the blasphemous aspect of the story:

   

The effect the film had on Swamp Thing is the big takeaway I have after reading Stephen Bissette's afterward in  Swamp Thing 1989 issue 88, and it makes a ton of sense, even if it is still deplorable. I was thirteen in 1989, but I remember the nightly news hullabaloo surrounding Martin Scorsese's film featuring Willem Dafoe as Jesus, Harvey Keitel as Judas Iscariot and David Bowie as Pontius Pilate. I wouldn't see the film until the early 00s, but I remember that people did not like the way Christ was portrayed, so while absolutely nothing blasphemous occurs in Veitch/Zulli's comic, no corporation was going to publish a comic with the cover above so soon after Scorsese's film.

So what did DC publish instead of the original Swamp Thing issue 88? Well, it's a bit confusing, but apparently Veitch/Zulli's issues 88-91 were shelved and never finished and instead, Doug Wheeler and John Totleben stepped in and continued the course of events that had played out through the early issues of Veitch's run, where Swampy is lost in time. Wheeler's 88 deviates by omitting the Elemental's meeting with Christ, which, again, really only treated the Christ man with the utmost respect.  

Funny that, as far as we've come to see this finally published, they still did not use that original Zulli cover. 

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Playlist:

Melvins/Helms Alee - Controlling Data for a Better Feeling Future

Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Dean Hurley - Anthology Resource Vol. 2: Philosophy of Beyond

sunn O))) - Loser

3Teeth - EndEx

The Dillinger Escape Plan & Mike Patton - Irony is a Dead Scene

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Dissociation

Spotlights - Love & Decay

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Card:

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

• Two of Swords

• Page of Wands

• Queen of Cups

Mastodon - Jaguar God

 

Thinking about this guy a lot lately.

 

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Watch:

Rewatched Richard Bates, Jr's Excision last night:

Still hits just as hard as it did the first time.

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Read:

Last week, I mentioned I'd begun a reread of Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers series for upcoming episodes of Drinking with Comics. I spoke of the pleasure I've found in realizing this doesn't just hold up, but surpasses my initial response upon reading it monthly upon release circa 2005. I also mentioned my surprise that, unlike last time when my favorite titles in the series would have skewed toward the more Occult-based characters (Zatanna, Klarion), this time, I found the two books I'd "tolerated" before now at the top of my favorites list. One of those is Manhattan Guardian; the other is Shining Knight. Shining Knight, in particular, has blown me away this time through, and nowhere is that more evident than in the third issue:

The issue begins with an FBI agent leading a specialist into the lock-up where the LAPD are holding Justin, the titular Knight, last of Arthur's Round Table, flung forward in time after a melee in Castle Revolving. They talk a bit about the Knight's Sword, which the expert classifies as coming from Deep Time, essentially confirming the Arthurian aspect, and then this happens:

I'm only really remembering some of the finer points in the series as I go, so this whole Civilization Iteration angle surprised me. I've always been fascinated by the idea that human civilization has come and gone in great swathes over the history of this planet, and to see Morrison so eloquently tie this idea into this series really made everything about it resonate even more than it already has. 

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Playlist:

The Caretaker - Theoretically Pure Anterograde Amnesia

Gnarls Barkley - Atlanta

Sisters of Black Mountain - Amdusias (single)

Sisters of Black Mountain - Spirits of the Dead (single)

Mastodon - Your Ghost Again (single)

Mastodon - Blood Mountain

The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir

Johnny Jewel - Ageless E.P.

Silencio - End of the Glass (single)

Chryta Bell - Sycamore Trees (single)

Mastodon - Emperor of Sand

Mastodon - Leviathan 

Metallica - Garage Days

Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons

Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars

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Card:

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

• VI: The Lovers

• Seven of Swords

• 17: The Star

Collaboration opens up new vistas that lead to enlightenment. 

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

The Caretaker - Theoretically Pure Anterograde Amnesia

I spent a lot of time with The Caretaker yesterday. From reading an old interview in an issue of The Wire from 2009, to listening to the entire Theoretically Pure Anterograde Amnesia boxset, which is waaaay OOP but available on Bandcamp HERE. 

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NCBD:

Wow - seems like every week's pull has been a doozy, and I've been cutting back. So many great creator-owned titles hitting the market lately. Here we go...

I did not love the six-part Quintesson War storyline, though I liked it more rereading it the other day than I did as it came out. Big shake-ups, HUGE really, so I don't know why I was left feeling... underwhelmed. 

I really should have waited for this one to hit trade, but I guess after DC holding it on for so long, I wanted to make sure I actually got my hands on it as soon as I could. 

The first issue of Red Roots had me. I mean, had me. Second issue was great, but also introduced an element of what miiiight be high fantasy? Let's see how #3 shakes out. I'm hoping for more of a Seven to Eternity than Tolkien vibe. 

The twists and turns in the new Condon/Phillips Weird Fiction/Mystery are great. Can't wait to see how this all comes out. 

And so the epic battle concludes! This book has been just the right kind of crazy, schlocky, video game fist-fight punch-em-up I'd hoped for when I signed on. Sad to see it go. 

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Playlist:

Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST

Trailer Punk Podcast - Torture Gallery Interview

John Carpenter - Lost Themes Vol. 1

Leather Strip - The Pleasure of Penetration

Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Boards of Canada - Geogaddi

The Caretaker - Theoretically Pure Anterograde Amnesia

Gnarls Barkley - Atlanta

Algiers - The Underside of Power

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Card:

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

• Two of Wands

• 05: The Hierophant

• Five of Wands

My point of view is my dogma. Break it in half and learn something new.

Seven Days of The Reverend Horton Heat - Day 4: Bales of Cocaine

From 1993's masterpiece, and the start of the three-album trifecta that would endear the Rev to me for life. The Full Customs Gospel Sounds of the Reverend Horton Heat was produced by Gibby Haynes, and I'm not sure you need to know anything more to understand this record. As with Liquor in the Front and It's Martini Time, I love every song on this record. This might be my favorite, though. 

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Watch:

Aaron, one of my fellow panelists from The Dread Broadcast, recently posted an interview with Hokum Director Damian McCarthy on his A&B Horror Movies show.

This is a fantastic peek behind the veil with one of my favorite modern Directors. Aaron always does great interviews, but this is one of the best. 

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Play:

I picked up Tormented Souls for Switch a few nights ago when I saw it on sale for $4.99. I don't remember how this one ended up on my wishlist, but looking at it now, holy cow. Check out the trailer:

Between the haunting piano and the mishapen, masked antagonist, I'm picking up major Fulci vibes! I'm planning to start playing tonight. 

I've recently become obsessed with recapturing the magic of Friday nights from just the last few years. It's funny how quickly feelings for a time and place slip away and recede into an "era." Specifically, I'm still reeling a bit with the echoes of Shudder canceling The Last Drive-In. Some of my favorite Friday nights since moving to TN have consisted of getting off work, writing, picking up burritos and heading home to drink beer and watch Joe Bob and Darcy. Once that final movie ends, if I'm able, I retreat upstairs and fire up a game. That's the intention this evening, when I'll pick something from AMC +'s TLDI catalog, watch and then fire up Tormented Souls for the first time.

Sounds like a killer Friday night to me. Hmm... maybe I'll even do House By The Cemetery (if it's still on there).

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Playlist:

Émilie Leviensaise-Farrouch - Censor OST

Ian Lynch - All You Need Is Death OST

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

John Harrison - Day of the Dead OST

Jozef Van Wissem and Sqürl - Only Lovers Left Alive OST

Boards of Canada - Inferno

Gnarls Barkley - Atlanta

Algiers - The Underside of Power

Darren Smith & Terrance Zhunich - Repo! The Genetic Opera OST

Flying Lotus - Yasuke

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Card:

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

• Ace of Swords

• 16: The Tower

• Ten of Wands

A breakthrough of intellect leads to an overturned habit. This, in turn, leads to an abundance of new focus.

Holy shit could I use this right now. 

New Music From Mastodon!!!

I don't know how I feel about post-Hinds Mastodon, but I'm willing to give it a chance. If this single is any indication, though Hinds will be missed, the band is a survivor.

No word on a new album, but they have a big tour with Deafheaven, so something is coming.

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Watch:

Check this out! Someone has been creating new episodes of the original Transformers cartoon series I grew up with, in an attempt to show Hasbro there is interest in bringing it back. The best part? I looks exactly like the old series and picks up where that final "Head Masters" mini-series left off!

I can't really wrap my head around how this is possible. Are they actually drawing and animating this stuff? Is this AI? The only discrepancies I notice are some of the voices, but even most of those are pretty damn close. 

You can dig in on the Fanatic Film Channel HERE.

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Plastic:

While randomly scrolling through IG last Friday, I discovered that my prayers had been answered. No, he's still alive and in office - I mean the other prayers. Yep - Mattel has finally released an updated MOTU Slime Pit!

Now it's called the Fright Pit - not exactly sure why - but I don't care. I've seen a side-by-side comparison to the original and this is bigger AND has green LED lights! I can't wait to put this thing next to my OG Slime Pit. This is truly my favorite toy ever and something so deeply ingrained in my pscyhe that, well, it's a little weird. 

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Playlist:

Revocation - Netherheaven

Boards of Canada - Inferno

Mastodon - Your Ghost Again (single)

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

Metallica - Kill 'Em All

Boards of Canada - Campfire Headphase

Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss

Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons

The Sword - Age of Winters

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Blood Mother - Eponymous (pre-release singles)

Mastodon - Your Ghost Again (single)

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

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Card:

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

• Ace of Cups

• 13: Death

• Five of Pentacles

Emotional breakthroughs bring change, but to fully give over to a change, you have to become unto a chrysalis. Everything must feed that change. 

Holy shit. This is literally an affirmation of something I've been struggling with in Shadow Play Book Two. Something I solved earlier tonight. 

When All Reason Departs, We're Left with an Onslaught

I was stopped cold when I realized the robotic vocal samples in this are direct quotations from Aleister Crowley's Magick: Liber ABA. 

There's a wonderfully dark throughline of spirituality gone awry on this record, and while I feel like I've only just started to scratch the surface, it's proving to have quite a hold on me. I listened to Inferno multiple times in a row yesterday, and each go 'round felt different.

 

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NCBD:

A light week and a welcome respite after last week's financial apocalypse at the store. I never got around to posting a "NCBD Addendum," but let's just say my wallet got hit upside the head. 

Is this new Event Horizon series bi-monthly? I had forgotten all about it. 

Finally caught up on issue 2 last weekend, so I'm primed for a new chapter in Andry, Daniel and House's Seaside Horror tale, Estuary!

DC is relaunching Deadman under the penmanship of Ice Cream Man's W. Maxwell Prince. I have the complete Kelley Jones Deadman on my shelf because it's Kelley Jones, so I'm not necessarily attached to the character. Still, I'm curious.

Love the cover, love the book. Fraction and Jimenez are tearing shit up in their Batman book, and I'm here for it.

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Watch:

I caught the trailer for Adam Wingard's new film, Onslaught, this past Saturday ahead of Backrooms. Looking forward to this one:

Serious (and obvious) Terminator vibes, and I'm okay with that. Wingard is a curious Director; I'm a huge fan of some of his work, other stuff... not so much. This looks like it will be a blast, and I'm not expecting anything other than unmitigated violence.

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Playlist:

Adam Egypt Mortimer - The Obelisk

Émilie Leviensaise-Farrouch - Censor OST

Ian Lynch - All You Need is Death OST

High on Fire - Death is this Communion

High on Fire - Cometh the Storm

Boards of Canada - Inferno

Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons

Revocation - New Gods, New Masters

Revocation - Netherheaven

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Card:

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

• Six of Wands

• 06: The Lovers

• Nine of Pentacles

Victory comes from a connection, collaboration, but not at the cost of independence. 

The World Becomes Flesh Here in the Backrooms

Friday, Inferno, the first Boards of Canada album in 13 years, came out. I drove to the theatre to see Repo! The Genetic Opera listening to it.

Saturday, I woke up and had a 1:30 PM screening of Kane Parson's Backrooms. I drove to the theatre listening to something else, planning to make my next engagement with Inferno more than just a thirteen-minute dalliance within which I could not fully grasp the entire eighteen-track sequence. Since first being introduced to The Backrooms by good friends circa January 2024, I'd struggled to pinpoint what, exactly, the show reminded me of. While rewatching it last weekend, I realized The Backrooms reminds me of a visual translation of Boards of Canada's music. There's the glitchy, fuzzy, analog technology represented in both, as well as that haunting liminal space, of transition, of between.

When my screening of Backrooms ended, I was shocked to hear "The World Becomes Flesh" from Inferno as the score for the film's end-credit crawl. Not only did that cement my anecdotal theory that Parson (née Pixels) was influenced by BoC's music, but the group held the release date of their first album in thirteen years to coincide with the release of the film.

Wow. Analog ghost worlds, baby. Analog ghost worlds...

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Watch:

Most everything I have to say about this is above. Well, except of course that I really dug the adaptation to the big screen.

Previous YouTuber-to-Director endeavors like Iron Lung and Skinamarink made me a bit nervous, but holy cow, Parsons delivered something that the others, in my opinion, did not.

He turned what is essentially a tone-piece into a cinematic motion picture. One of the best examples of what I'm talking about is character development. I think this was what I was most worried about, but he nailed it. Clarke and Mary are both fantastic characters, and it made Backrooms a much better film than I think anyone expected. This is an unparalleled success, and I can't wait to see where Parsons goes from here. 

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Playlist:

Boy Harsher - Careful

Napalm Death - Resentment Is Always Seismic (A Final Throw of Throes)

Boards of Canada - Inferno

Silent -Modern Hate

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mother's Milk

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

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Card:

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

• King of Pentacles

• Ace of Swords

• Three of Wands

Earthly matters may dictate much of my life and keep my brain running in the circles of coping with the world, but it only takes a moment of perfect mental clarity (read: vacuity) to kickstart a new adventure free from the confines of the daily 'grind.'

Lost Music from The Cramps!!!

From the upcoming historical anomaly Gravest Gravy, out on Midhaven Records. Pre-order HERE.

This is fascinating for multiple reasons. First, apparently, Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye worked on this, "tape restoration, editing, mixing, mastering and lacquer cutting duties (in partnership with Inner Ear Studios and Infrasonic Sound).

Here's part of the solicitation blurb from Midhaven's website:

“In October 1977, the Cramps ventured into Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee with producer and Cramps translator extraordinaire, Alex Chilton. The band had planned on recording their song ‘TV Set,’ as an A side, along with another track or tracks. Mr. Chilton told them the way he liked to work was to have a band record a lot of songs and from that they would pick the best of the bunch.[...] “What happened to the rest of the tracks from those auspicious days in October 1977? In 2026, Larry Hardy, owner and operator of In The Red Records, rappelled down, deep into the vast, sunless vault of the Cramps tape collection, and resurfaced hours later, disoriented and out of breath, but overjoyed with what he’d returned to topside with: six ¼” reels of tracks, mixed by Lux [Interior] and [Poison] Ivy..."

Wow. Just wow. I can't wait to get my hands on this one. Talk about a chunk of history.

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Watch:

Heading to see this in theatres tonight and I could not be more excited!

I don't remember when I first saw Darren Lynn Bousman's 2008 Repo! The Genetic Opera. Sometime around when it first hit video. I bought it pretty much instantly, and have watched it countless times since, although not for more than a couple years now. Last viewing was probably in a cemetery in Long Beach with a shadow cast a la Rocky Horror. It was awesome, but now it's time to see it in a theatre on the big screen for the first time!

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Playlist:

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

Boy Harsher - Careful

Émilie Leviensaise-Farrouch - Censor OST

Atticus Derrickson - The Black Phone OST

Burzum - Filosofem

Dark Providence Episode 1

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Card:

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

• Page of Pentacles

• Six of Cups

• The Hanged Man

Seven Days of The Reverend Horton Heat - Day 1: Is It Just Me?

Man, I pulled out a handful of old Reverend Horton Heat records the other day, and I was shocked at how something I love so much could have fallen so far out of my everyday world. It's Martini Time, Liquor in the Front, and Full Custom Gospel Sounds were a large part of my world back in the late 90s, and revisiting them made me realize I have to bring them back into my life on a regular basis. 

To start, I think I'm kicking off Seven Days of The Rev here on this page. First up: A Sabbath-inspired dirge from the 1996 masterpiece, It's Martini Time. Fuck - I was 20 when this came out. THIRTY YEARS AGO.

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NCBD:

Ying and yang on full display here lately. Not too long ago, I voiced forlorn sentiments about everything I read being IPs from my childhood, repackaged for adults. Nothing against that stuff, 'cuz, ya know, I love it, but I missed having a Preacher, The Walking Dead, Transmetropolitan, Vertigo series, etc. 

Now look at this.

As I mentioned last month, the first issue of a book taking the moniker Pretty Hate Machine has a lot to prove. I'm not sure we got quite that far, but the setup in issue one has me back for more. We reviewed this on Drinking with Comics HERE.

Now, the first issue of Red Roots? Best comic I've read all year, so I am definitely in on this one. Mike Shin and I reviewed this on Drinking with Comics HERE.

I still have to read the first issue of the 'long lost' Veitch/Mandrake Swamp Thing story from the 80s. I bought it, but somehow... misplaced it? Perfect excuse to read both of these back to back this weekend.

The "Quintesson War" ends, and we'll see if it's with a whimper or a bang. We talked about on DwC HERE, our disappointments juxtaposed with expectations.

 

A Condon/Phillips Noir - what more can you ask for?

One Energon Universe title and the rest, well, while I'm not ready to put any of these on par with Preacher or Walking Dead, you get the point. All nonexistent IPs prior to these books. Joy rainth down upon mine life like money from a One Wish Willow.

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Watch:

I rewatched Ben Wheatley's Kill List last night. One of my favorite films. Period. I love the characters in this film SO much. It's not just because I'm a huge Michael Smiley fan - Gal, Shel and Jay all really connect for me. They're the vital heart at the center of a vile black malestrom.

I enjoy listening to Mr. Wheatley talk about his films almost as much as I enjoy watching them. Case in point.

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Playlist:

The Sword - Age of Winters

Witchfinder - Forgotten Mansion

The Ocean - Anthropocentric

The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Atrium Carceri - Kapnobatai

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

The Cure - Pornography

NIN - With Teeth

How To Destroy Angels - Eponymous EP

High on Fire - Cometh The Storm

Melvins & Napalm Death - Savage Imperial Death March

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Card:

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

• 14: Temperance

• Page of Cups

• Five of Cups

Normally I'd try and go a little more in-depth on my pull, but it's way late and I'm tired. Art and Emotion. That's all I've got at the moment (but it's probably the two fundamental building blocks of "me," so that works). 

Taratoa Stappard's Mārama.

 

Napalm Death covering Slab. With backup singers! This shit is nuts. A big, thick slab of sonic knuckle in your face to kick off Wednesday. From 2022's Reesentment is Always Seismic (A Final Throw of Throes). I don't know how it's taken me until age 50 to get into Napalm Death, but it happened.

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NCBD:

A couple of "Maybes" I'm including today for various reasons. I'll explain as I go. Big week if I bring all this home.

So, apparently, I'd been buying this off the shelf, neglecting to sub, so I never ended up with issue 3. I dig it, but the books are starting to add up, so I'm tempted to let Thundarr go. We'll see. 

The end of the series. I can't say I've completely followed everything that's happened in Liam Sharpe's Spawn: The Dark Ages, but it's been profound to say the least. The homage to Wrightson's Frankenstein really helped win me over, but really, this man just makes beautiful, challenging art. Who would have ever thought you'd find that in a Spawn book? 

Condon and Adlard? Take my money.

Misommar meets Green Room? Really? That sounds insane. Add to it that Tynion is writing it and I'm in. 

Okay, I've seen this "Dire Wraith" technology or whatever it is (The Hallucinatory green stuff on the cover there) in the solicitations for some of the recent figures - all passes for me - and I'm curious to see how this goes down in the pages of GIJOE. I'm also loving the idea that Crystal Ball will be yet another independent faction in this total melee of factions. That's this book's strong point. It's not just Joe and Cobra. It's at least half a dozen agendas if not more by now (Arashikage, Dreadnoks, Raptor, Blud, etc). 

One of the funest books of the year, and one that has such a 'Summer vibe." Why? I don't know - maybe because when I was a kid in the 80s, summer sometimes meant hanging out at an arcade with friends, playing Double Dragon, and if there's one major pop culture entry in Death Fight Forever's DNA, it's Double Dragon. Jeez - just saying Double Dragon brings on a super strong nostalgia. No wonder I love this book. Which, incidentally, is SO much more insane than DD could ever hope to be. 

Writer Pornsak Pichetshote's graphic novel Infidel from a few years back was one of the genuinely frightening comics I'd read in years, so to see his name attached to the Absolute Green Arrow series being described as "A Horror book" really piqued my interest. 

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Read:

Last night I drove up to the Belcourt in Nashville to see Taratoa Stappard's Mārama.

I knew zero about this going in. Mārama takes place in 1859, North Yorkshire, where Mārama has traveled from her native New Zealand, the home of her Maori ancestors, to meet a man who claims to know her origins. Mārama is an orphan who never knew her parents, so the pull is strong. 

I have seen this described online as a Maori Gothic Horror, and that pretty much hits the nail on the head. This is a gorgeous film, but it is also infuriating. Colonialism is ripe for remembering, with so many in our modern age eager to either celebrate the worst history has to offer or ignore it. Ariāna Osborne is magical and intense as the lead; her unshakeable identity and fury are a balm for her would-be oppressors. 

Definitely support this on the big screen if you can - the costumes, sets and camera will work pay off dividends if you do. 

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Playlist:

Émilie Leviensaise-Farrouch - Censor OST

Atticus Derrickson - The Black Phone 2 OST

Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST
King Woman - Celestial Blues

The Sword - Age of Winters

The Doors - L.A. Woman

The Bangles - All Over the Place

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven 

Palesketcher - Jesu: Pale Sketches Demixed

Jesu - Lifeline EP

Jesu - Silver EP

M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

Blackbraid - Celestial Womb EP

Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

Burial - Untrue

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Card:

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

• 20: Judgment

• Nine of Cups

• 17: The Star

Renewal and fulfillment. I feel this after last. Genuinely - driving up to Nashville later at night is a pleasant drive, and sitting in a theatre I love watching a film I knew nothing about really helped put me back in my preferred perspective. Top that off with a short but powerful writing session beforehand, and yes, today I feel renewed.