Exister Exhuma

As I wrote about last week, I'm really only now getting to know Exister, the late Luis Vasquez's final album. Go figure - the one that didn't make that big of an impression on me upon its first release has become my favorite. 

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Watch:

I finally got around to watching Jang Jae-hyun's Exhuma on Shudder. This was on quite a few "Best of 2024" lists I saw and I must say, that ranking is well deserved. Here's a trailer that happily tells you very little of what to expect.

This felt more like short, episodic premium television series stuck together into a film, a bit like Demián Rugna's Terrified, so that's not a bad thing. I really enjoyed Exhuma, although I ended up breaking it into two viewings. The sad state of my life at this time is it's pretty difficult to garner 134 minutes to sit still and watch a film. Sucks, but it's my current version of reality. 

Highlly recommended. 

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Read:

I found a pretty interesting interview with Weird Fiction/Horror Author T.E.D. Klein. This man's work was all but lost, with beat-up paperbacks from the 80s/90s going for absurd amounts of money on auction sites, so until a few years ago, I'd only ever read "The Events at Poroth Farm" (1972). Thanks to PS Publishing/Drugstore Indian Press's diligence in bringing Klein's work back into print, I finally acquired and read The Ceremonies in 2022 and loved it. Still haven't gotten around to Dark Gods, however, that'll probably happen this year.

Read the interview HERE. 

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Playlist:

Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

Deafheaven - 10 Years Gone

Drug Church - Prude

Drug Church - Hygiene

Nothing - Guilty of Everything

Entropy - Liminal

Sun O))) - Monoliths and Dimensions

The Soft Moon - Exister

Ruin of Romantics - Velvet Dawn

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Card:

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

• IX: The Hermit

• I: The Magician

• IV: The Emperor

Hunker down and make some Magick!

Saying Goodbye to The Soft Moon (One Year Late)

A week or so ago, I saw a post on social media that alarmed me - Luis Vasquez, the singular voice of The Soft Moon, died a year ago! I had no idea...

When I realized I hadn't posted anything from this band since the day after seeing them live in 2018, I guess it makes sense that they were far enough off my radar that I missed the news of Vasquez's passing in January of 2024 and for, you know, the entire remainder of the year. I was in L.A. for the entirety of January 2024, but pulling last year's Moleskin off the shelf, I see that I spent January 18th at Santa Monica Brewworks with my good friend Chris. Looking at my post from that day, I didn't find a serendipitous dalliance with The Soft Moon's music, and scrolling through their discography, I realized I'd kind of tuned them out after 2018's Criminal. 2022's Exister only shows up three times in my daily playlists on this page. 

It also makes sense that I never saw the short film "Stupid Child," a kind of tense noise interstitial for one of the tracks from Exister. This is possibly the most harrowing thing Vasquez had a hand in - the video to "Needs" is pretty fucked up, but I'd say this tops that easily. 

Glad I got to see The Soft Moon live. Great band that had so much more in them. Fuckin' Fentanyl. 

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Watch:

K and I are currently rewatching Yellowjackets seasons one and two as prep for the new season starting on Valentine's Day. Rewatching, I realize there is so much of season two I somehow completely forgot. 

K typically conks out earlier than I do, so after she falls asleep, I've been continuing my first rewatch of Twin Peaks: The Return since 2018. 

I'd never watched The Return directly after the original series before, and honestly, I don't know that I'd do it this way again. There's such a marked difference between the two; every time I watch the original, I fall in love with it all over again, so to switch gears and jump headlong into the follow-up that is not really concerned with being a follow-up at all felt a bit jarring at first. In fact, after the first two episodes, I was starting to think I didn't like The Return. That feeling didn't last that long, though. By the time I got to episode three or four, my brain had caught up, and I had reemerged. 

There's so much about The Return that I love, but first, I have to remind myself that this is 100% a creative vehicle for David Lynch - really his last large-scale vehicle - and he used it to shoot what many TP fans felt was idiosyncratic content that had nothing to do with the answers and resolutions they'd been hoping for since the second season finale aired on June 10, 1991. Lynch famously did things 100% on his own terms (except with Dune, and look how that turned out), and continuing what he'd started and begrudgingly lost control of nearly thirty years ago was definitely not on his "to do" list. I've definitely spent some time wondering what might have been had the show continued, and as usual, those contemplations only yield one result: Better to leave 'em wanting more than to overstay your welcome. Still...

So it took a bit to recalibrate myself coming into this rewatch of The Return, but now I'm 100% in. Friday night, I watched episodes seven and eight, and I was once again struck by (of course) episode eight's absolute grandeur. I woke up the next day wanting to read some critical writing on the series. Happily, I found some excellent articles. 

First, this article HERE on the Wrong Answers blog, where Abigail Nussbaum makes some excellent points about what I have long felt is both the saddest and most remarkably compelling aspects of the series, namely how well it mirrors the disappointments of life. The lyrics to Eddie Vedder's contribution to The Return's soundtrack sums this up beautifully:

Next, Crypto-Kubrology's article on Medium reminded me of a theory I'd read about once before, shortly after the series aired. Namely, that episodes 17 and 18 may very well have been intended to be watched at the same time. 

As a huge fan of The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka, this idea makes me giddy with anticipation, and while Zaireeka has become all but impossible for me to orchestrate listening to properly, 17 & 18 will simply require I muster the wherewithal to carry the tv in my office downstairs and set it up next to* the one in the living room. I have at least three Blu-Ray players, so no problem there.

White The Return may be unlike the original Twin Peaks in most ways, one thing the two series share is the ability to reward repeated viewings with ever more mystery. 

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*Although Cryto-Kubrology's screenshots make me wonder if the screens would be better served stacked as opposed to side-to-side, but I'll take what I can get. 

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Playlist:

The Veils - Asphodels

Frank Black - Teenager of the Year

Frank Black - Cult of Ray

Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues

Sleep - Dopesmoker

High On Fire - Blessed Black Wings

Various - Twin Peaks: Music from the Limited Event Series

Crime Weekly Podcast - Rey Rivera (part 2)

Laura Cannell - A Compendium of Beasts Vol. 1 EP

Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hot!

Amber Mark - 3:33am

Apple Music Playlist: February 2, 2025

The Soft Moon - Criminal

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Card:

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

• VI The Lovers

• Six of Pentacles

• King of Pentacles

Surface reads are always something I avoid, almost to the fact that sometimes I feel like I tend to resist instances where the cards attempt to convey something simply. I'll not make that mistake today. The Lovers is an obvious nod to K and I celebrating out 9th anniversary this past Saturday. Six of Pentacles is a reminder of the stability I have now, a goal I set and accomplished with no small degree of Will. And King of Pentacles is both a nod to giving more attention to everyday Earthly matters (Malkuth), and that I need to listen to more Sabbath; kinda slacking off lately.

Understanding the Day: A Solid Foundation

Another new single/new album announcement my travels have left me behind on. After seeing The Soft Moon live several years ago for their 2016 album Criminal, I can attest to the fact that, as much as I dig Anthony Vasquez and crew's albums, they're way better live. Regardless, I'm psyched for the new album, Exister, which drops 9/23 on the always amazing Sacred Bones Records! Pre-order HERE. 

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Watch:

Saw this dropped and wanted to post it here for posterity's sake:

 

As per usual, I am not watching the trailer, just salivating until 4:2 drops. I still just don't understand how every season of this show is able to get exponentially better than the previous.

 

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Read:

I'm not really getting a lot of time to read while we're out here. Since we arrived, it's been pretty hectic. We almost made an offer on a house last night, but there were two we were interested in that didn't hit the market until today, so we held off. Thing is, the one we almost made an offer on has an open house today, and so does one of the two that goes on sale today. So we could end up screwed. Fine. That'll suck, but I always read shit like that as "Wasn't meant to be." I'm not a believer in Fate, but I have reservations about EVERYTHING at the moment, so I'm happy to let the Universe act as an Equalizer.

No, not that Equalizer. Oh well, you get it. 

Anyway... I haven't had a chance to read much, but I will say, I burned through the comics I bought the other day at Rick's Comic City - GREAT Shop and SUPER nice people - and I cannot get Immortal X-Men #3 out of my head.

Characters I've always loathed and found nothing but boring:

1) Charles Xavier

2) Magento

3) Mystique

4) Destiny

Characters I now find endlessly fascinating: 

See 1-4 above.

I love the graphic representation Kieron Gillen and Lucas Werneck used to show us Destiny's Precognitive sight and at the same time tease possible future events. Also, I loved how big they went with the one future they did show us, simply because they're never going to show us it again.

What the hell is that? Giant Exodus possessed by The Phoenix Force eating Mr. Sinister (who manages to re-set the timeline first anyway?) This is some crazy shit, but the craziness is fleeting compared to the "game of thrones" going on and the character development. As Dave Buesing from Comic Book Herald points out in the most recent "Talking Krakoa," this is the first deep or probably even good character study on Destiny EVER in X-comics. That says a lot. 

Then there's Mystique, I've never cared for her. When the original X-movies began to use her as a major character I always kinda scratched my head. Even for years after that, whenever I would dabble with an X-book again, I never bought Mystique's post-movies position as a now-major character. All that has changed. Hickman started it, and Gillen is CRUSHING it continuing this fascinating series.

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Playlist:

Smokey Robinson and the Miracles - 1957-1972 (Live)

The Blues Brothers - Briefcase Full of Blues

16 Horsepower - Low Estate

Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain

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Card:

Okay, based on my brief run-down of the last few days above, this is a sight for sore eyes. 10 of Disks: Wealth doesn't promise anything, but "A solid foundation" definitely equates to "A good home" in my mind, always has. So okay, let's go out and find a fucking house!

2018: September 17th

New Soft Moon remix by Imperial Black very much fits my mood today. I woke up with a taste for Industrial music, catalyzed by watching Julian Richards's Darklands. A document of its time, Darklands is sort of a 90s update on The Wicker Man, and is populated with some fantastic industrial imagery, reminiscent of the kind of thing Justin K. Broadrick uses for Godflesh records.

Screen cap from Darklands

Good flick, although much of the aesthetic of the 90s still seems overall cringe-worthy to me. But this definitely transcended those feelings. Darklands is available to stream on Shudder.

Finished John Palisano's excellent Night of 1,000 Beasts and before I jump into my next novel - Neil Gaimen's The Graveyard Book - I'm re-reading some Laird Barron as a pallet cleanser. Procession of the Black Sloth is one of those stories by Mr. Barron that I have read probably three or four times now, and I never grow tired of it. The tone borders on what I call Two A.M., flush with dim night-lighting and drunken reveries. It's a calm descent into terror and that's what I love about it and Barron's work in general.

Procession of the Black Sloth is available in Laird Barron's first collection, The Imago Sequence, which I cannot recommend highly enough.

Playlist from the last two days:

White Lung - Eponymous
Disasterpeace - It Follow OST
Canyons - Barrie single
Canyons - Michigan single
Canyons - Tal Uno single
Yob - Our Raw Heart
Legs Occult - Dark Rituals

Card of the day:

This I'm taking as a confirmation that I should follow my instinct and outline a new story bubbling around in my head. Oh yeah, that said, after putting it 'in the drawer' for a month, I came back to Please Believe Me and finished it the other night. Will be submitting it to a major Sci Fi magazine today or tomorrow, so keep those fingers crossed for me.

2018: April 14th 3:03 AM

Haven't been to bed yet. Drove into Hollywood after work, met up with Keller and talked shop for a bit before heading to the Teragram Ballroom in DTLA for The Soft Moon.

They were incredible. Here's the thing though, opener Boy Harsher - who I'd not heard of before - left a massive impression as well, almost too massive for The Soft Moon to top. Now, that sounds ridiculous when I re-read it, and really I think the exaggerated impact has to do with the fact that I'd never heard Boy Harsher before and they really just blew me away.


In love with this band right now.

Playlist from yesterday:

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus Dig!
The Red Chord - Clients
The Soft Moon - Criminal
Metallica - Garage Days Re-Revisited
Public Image Ltd - First Issue
Boy Harsher - Yr Body is Nothing

Card for the day:

Definitely sated on experience after this weekend: the Nick Cave movie Thursday, Soft Moon/Boy Harsher last night and tonight (because it's Saturday, even though I haven't been to bed yet) is Emily Kinney at the Hotel Cafe. Gonna be ready to lay low for a bit until Windhand in two weeks.

2018: April 13th 12:03 AM

Friday the 13th and I'm going to see the Soft Moon!!! Here's some awesome F13 stuff to enjoy:





New Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying is up HERE.

Playlist from Thursday the 12th (a mention that will become ironic later this year):

Odonis Odonis - Hollandaze
Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears
Ben Frost - By The Throat
Monolord - Rust
Pigface - A New High In Low
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Distant Sky (Concert Film)
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

Card of the day:

Always nice to see this one, especially when I just received the proof of my first book cover! Should I reveal it yet? Naw... not just yet.

The Soft Moon - Burn

Criminal, the new album from The Soft Moon was released earlier this month and so far, this is my favorite track on an outstanding album. Seeing these guys for the first time in April and I can't wait!

Tommy posted the pre-release Choke a few weeks back, check that out HERE.

The Soft Moon - Want

How did I miss this last week? I'll admit that I'm a little taxed on drugs and violence, however the frantic nature of the way this video is lit and shot fits the 'narrative'. Plus, I really like the Soft Moon.