The Raveonettes Live at Chicago's Bottom Lounge, June 10th, 2024

 

I drove into Chicago over the weekend and saw The Raveonettes play the Bottom Lounge on Monday night. The video above is from George Devereux's YouTube channel - lots of awesome videos like this one over there, so mosey on over, check it out, and perhaps give the man a follow. 

Anyway, this trip was 100% last minute. Upon returning from Chicago on May 27th, I realized The Raveonettes were only playing ten dates on the tour to support their new covers album, "The Raveonettes... Sing," and Chicago was the closest to me, so I made a snap decision to buy tickets and attend. 

The Raveonettes have long been one of my favorite bands, but before they held such a lofty status in my heart, I passed a couple of opportunities to see them. Then, living in L.A. for the period over which they released no fewer than six records—three of which are my favorite by the band—I missed every opportunity to see them, where they often played the gorgeous El Rey Theatre. 

I really don't know what I was thinking - there was a large part of my life in the city of broken angels where we had so little money (or so I thought!) that I didn't go to hardly any shows, but whatever. The point is, having the band then all but disappear after 2017's 2016 Atomized kind of broke my heart. When I saw this tour, I knew I had to see them. And, of course, I was right. They were miraculous live!!! I broke into small sobs probably ten times during the show - there's something about Sharin Foo and Sune Rose Wagner's vocal harmonies and melody lines when combined with Wagner's Rock-a-Billy-meets-Robert-Smith guitar lines that overwhelm me with emotion, even more so live. Here's the setlist, courtesy of Setlist.FM.

1) When Night Is Almost Done

2) Hallucinations

3) Lust

4) Dead Sound

5) Blush

6) Railroad Tracks

7) Love Can Destroy Everything

8) Attack of the Ghost Riders

9) Veronica Fever

10) Do You Believe Her

11) My Tornado

12) The Enemy

13) Endless Sleeper

14) Sisters

15) Heartbreak Stroll

16) That Great Love Sound

17) Recharge & Revolt

Encore:

18) Remember

19) Love In a Trashcan

20) Aly, Walk With Me

 

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Watch:

Although I've been avoiding everything released leading up to seeing Osgood Perkins' new film LONGLEGS, last week I caught the full trailer in the theatre. I'm posting it here and can 100% say I actually think this is one of the best trailers I've seen in years. They show so many intriguing, disconnected images that it revs up the desire to finally see the film, but gives away absolutely nothing. There's a big, obvious "gottasee" that happily dances around with the utmost tact. That said, I'd still prefer to not see it again. I just want this movie here now!

Also, just have to say, although I haven't been a fan of Perkins' other films, this one really has me excited, and pictures of him wearing a Mr. Bungle T-Shirt at a recent premiere only strengthen my resolve to give him and this film a fair shake.

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Playlist:

Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A.

The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust

The Raveonettes - Raven in the Grave

The Raveonettes - In and Out of Control

Bandsplain Podcast - Alice in Chains

Willie Nelson - The Border

The Raveonettes - Pretty in Black

The Raveonettes - Whip It On

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New Music from The Raveonettes!!!

The morning my vacation begins, I wake up to find not only new music from The Raveonettes—a Gram Parsons cover, no less—but a full album of covers up for pre-order over on Cleopatra Records and a tour announcement! Regarding that pre-order, there's GLOW IN THE DARK VINYL! Man, this just gets better and better. Pre-order The Raveonettes... Sing on vinyl HERE (while it lasts).

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Watch:

K and I went to see the new Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black last night, and while there are probably some issues I could cite with the film, none of them matter. We loved it! 

I thought Marisa Abela did a great job, especially with the singing, and overall, I just really loved seeing this story brought to life on the big screen. Add to that an original score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, and getting to hear not only Amy's songs on a theatrical sound system, but a new Cave/Ellis track composed for the film, and I was in heaven. According to the film's director:

"I watched him sit at the piano and just sort of conjure up this incredible song, which is now at the end of the film."

If you love Amy Winehouse's music as much as we do, see this on a big screen. Your heart will swell and burst, and it will feel wonderful through the tears.

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Playlist:

Various - The Void OST

CCR - Cosmo's Factory

Chris Isaak - Heart Shaped World

Lustmord - Much Unseen Is Also Here

Amigo the Devil - Everything is Fine

Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats - Nell' ora blu

Jim Williams - Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched OST

Sunn O))) - Monoliths and Dimensions

The Damage Manual - Limited Edition

White Zombie - Astro Creep 2000

Shellac - 1000 Hurts

Pink Milk - Ultra Violet

Pink Milk - Night on Earth

Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

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Card:

A quick one-card draw for travels today:

XVIII: The Moon - I typically relate this card to "the unseen"; however, it can also mean relinquishing fear. Not sure if that's a nod toward anxieties I hold at work or maybe about our drive to MS today, as our destination is currently part of the "Gulf Coast Storm" area with heavy flooding. I'll take this to mean proceed, but keep up on the alerts (Which would be 'unseen' if we ignored them, which I am wont to do).

Brian Jonestown Massacre Cover The Raveonettes!

How freakin' awesome is this? I mean, I'd rather have had a new Raveonettes record drop, but I'll take an all-star covers version of their debut, no problem. The list of participants here is fantastic, so it was hard to choose a track. Rip It Off is available everywhere now - rejoice!

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NCBD:

I'm pretty pumped for this week's NCBD. Here's why:

Once again I'd like to acknowledge how full of shit I am when it comes to my constant refrain of, "I'm jumping off this Ghost Rider book." Issue 16 had another total Clive Barker undercurrent to it, and the Ghost Rider/Wolverine: Weapons of Vengeance continued that (in a way), even though it did not do what I keep hearing about, the Weapon Plus (formerly erroneously referred to as the Weapon X) program reinstating with technology culled from Hell itself by Infernal Labs. I mean, that concept could be so freakin' Metal! Will it? Maybe. Either way, I guess I'll be around to see.

Nothing but good things to say about this one. Every issue of SIKTC comes and goes so quickly, I'm constantly wanting more. And that cover! This is one of the variants, but I'm hoping to snag one; very reminiscent of those House of Slaughter "Body Bag" covers last year.

Love the new, post-Armaggedon Game direction TMNT is taking. Between recent issues of this, the recently completed Last Ronin: Lost Years going out on such a high note, and all the various plotlines at play, I feel like we've weathered the crossover/event storm and finally gotten back around to some solid month-to-month storytelling!

I was not going to read this new iteration of Uncanny Avengers, then I found out Gerry Duggan is writing it. For me, that makes it worth giving the book a chance. The playing field is certainly aligned to make this a great book: how does Captain America stand beside mutants before a world Orchis has pretty much engineered to fear and hate them? This isn't like the old school, 'feared and hated' throughline that has haunted the X-books since the beginning; mutants are now globally blamed for terrible crimes against all of humanity, so I'm thinking the term "race traitor" is going to get thrown in Cap's face quite a bit. Of course, one of the things that makes Cap an evergreen character is his resolute adherence to his principles in the face of any and all odds and injustices. None of that means the book will be to my liking, however, Duggan's X-Men is such an outstanding read, how can I not give this a chance?

X-Men: Red continues to be one of the three most fascinating Marvel books I've read in a loooong time. The sheer grandiosity of Al Ewing's approach here, where so much is unrecognizable as X-continuity and so much is new, cosmic ground, is often breathtaking. This month's A cover says it all: I was never a Nova fan, but his inclusion in this book, along with all these intensely fascinating Arraki characters (never mind that I can't remember any of their names besides Jon Ironfire) make a far more interesting dynamic than just a bunch of the same old mutants. Add to that Apocalypse's apparent return, and I'm quite certain this will be another outstanding issue. 

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Watch:

When the most recent issue of Fangoria showed up on my doorstep a few weeks ago, one of the first articles I read was Jacqueline Castel's "A Very Modern Prometheus," a conversation with Birth/Rebirth director Laura Moss about her new take on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Of course this put the film on my radar, so I was pleased to see an article on Bloody Disgusting this morning reporting the film hits Shudder this Friday, August 18th.

 

I love modern takes on the classic Frankenstein story. As per my new distrust of trailers, I turned this off at 1:11; I don't need to see any more to know I'll be watching this.
 

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Playlist:

bunsenburner - Rituals

Telekinetic Yeti - Primordial

Mudhoney - 

Various - The Raveonettes Present: Rip It Off

Wesley Willis - Feel the Power

Mudhoney - Live at Third Man Records

High On Fire - The Art of Self Defense (remix/remaster)

Deftones - Gore

Blackbraid - Blackbraid II

Testament - Low

Testament - Demonic

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Card:

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

• Six of Wands

• XXI: The World

• XIX: The Sun

Six of Wands is a harmonization of Will, an achieved balancing point from which magnificent things can happen. Juxtapose that with The World (The Universe in Thoth-speak), and we see a massive overhaul of something coming up, especially when taken with The Sun, a card of revelations.

 

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Floating into the Night Reissued!

 

I'm sure I've posted this here at some point in the past, but it felt like the right thing to do this morning. From The Ravenonettes PERFECT 2011 album Raven in the Grave, this has long been one of my favorite songs by the band. That guitar just breaks my heart in the best way possible!!!

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Watch:

Sacred Bones just announced a new edition of Julee Cruise's 1989 album Floating Into the Night, her collaboration album with Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch. If you know the record, you know it's HUGE for Twin Peaks fans, as several of the tracks here went on to populate the soundtrack to the original two seasons of Twin Peaks. To promote the re-release, Sacred Bones produced this charming little video:

 

You can order a copy HERE; I was able to snag the Pink and Black Galaxy Vinyl, although I am uncertain if I qualified for the poster. Either way, I'm happy as hell to finally have this on wax without having to pay for an original pressing on eBay.

 

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NCBD Addendum:

On a lark, I picked up the first issue of Bliss on Tap Publishing's new series Killing Hope. I was not disappointed.

Written by Josh Barbee and Maloney, with art by Alex Cormack, who I was familiar with from 2020's Aquatic Horror mini-series Sea of Sorrow, Killing Hope starts out as a thriller then veers into what I'm guessing is going to be full-on Horror territory. It's a woman on the run from seemingly unstoppable forces, and I can't wait to read more!

Bliss on Tap is new to me, but a quick gander at their website shows they've got quite a few titles under their belt, with seemingly something for everybody.

 

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Playlist:

Blut Aus Nord - 777: Cosmosophy

Principles of Geometry - Lazare

Roxy Music - Eponymous

Colors of the Dark Podcast - Episode 61: The Boogeyman

Chamber of Screams, Clement Panchout & Mxxn - Murder House (Original Puppet Combo Soundtrack)

The Sword - Warp Riders

Faetooth - Remnants of the Vessel

M83 - Saturdays = Youth

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Card:

• Ace of Disks 

• Two of Swords: Peace

• Prince of Swords - The airy aspect of Air, or conflict with intellect

Resolving issues with spending money leads to further resolution of internal conflict. I think this is a tit-for-tat response to my current state of continual distraction. The internet is both a powerful tool and a siren that calls me away from my work on a regular basis. Fighting this over the last couple days has led to a huge breakthrough in my work. I was stuck on a final act, but I believe I now have it well underway and it's better than I first imagined!

 

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2019: May 21st: The End Covered by The Raveonettes

I've been on a Ravenettes kick for the first time in a while as of yesterday, and I had completely forgotten that one of my favorite bands covers one of my favorite songs. And their take is great; where the original takes you deep into some sandy cave in the Arabian Desert, the Raveonettes keep the psychedelic aspect but transport it to a subterranean cave that might have been stumbled upon while walking on the beach in some deserted, exotic location. So good.

**

I've already blown through 2/3 of Nathan Ballingrud's short story collection Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell, and wanted to slow down on it for a minute. Coincidentally, my friend Maddy and I have been attempting to do a synchronized read of Gemma Files' Experimental Film for quite some time - we got the book a year or so ago - and just haven't had a chance to lock schedules. Well, that changed Saturday, and as of yesterday I'm 60 pages in and HOOKED. I'll talk about this more as I go through it, but as of now, I see what the hype was about.

**

Playlist from 5/20:

Jeff Whalen - Man of Devotion
Jeff Whalen - The Alien Lanes
The Raveonettes - In and Out of Control
The Raveonettes - 2016 Atomized
Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat
Malcolm Middleton - Sleight of Heart


No card today.

The Raveonettes have a new album out!

Funny, just the other day I found myself thinking that there had to be a new Raveonettes on the way - they tend to release a record a year. And lo and behold, PE'AHI came out July 22nd. This is the first video - and yes, be careful of the strobe. It didn't affect me the way the NIN Came Back Haunted video by David Lynch did, but just be careful.