I Care Because You Do, Wolf Boy

Aphex Twin's 1995 ... I Care Because You Do was once an almost nightly staple of my listening, but it's been quite some time since I'd spun this one. Felt really good to reconnect. 

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Watch:

I'm a pretty big fan of a number of Brad Anderson's middle-career films, but at some point, I fell off. Vanishing on 7th Street didn't do for me what I'd hoped, and Anderson's follow-up, The Call, admittedly did not get a fair shake due to my allergic reaction to the lead actress. All that aside, I LOVE Transsiberian and Session 9 - both of which Anderson wrote and directed, and The Machinist holds a special place in my heart despite the twist. When I stumbled across the trailer for upcoming Worldbreaker, I was interested - I don't know that Anderson has done anything like this before, and that alone puts it on my list.

This is getting a theatrical release, but I'm not sure if I'll be getting it here in Clarksville or not. Either way, I'll definitely check it out once I'm able. 

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Read:

A few weeks ago I had my local independent book store, Clarksville Book Shoppe, order me a copy of Nat Cassidy's 2025 novel When the Wolf Comes Home. I'd heard a lot of good things of late, and decided I felt like walking into a well-received, recent Horror novel absolutely blind. 

This definitely fit the bill.

Cassiday's prose is sold. Like, SOLID. His ideas are unqiue and, even though a couple things in this one rubbed me a little wrong, overall I really enjoyed it and 100% recommend it to fans of contemporary Horror. 

Not a werewolf novel, but also not entirely not a werewolf novel, the shapeshifting in this book has a very unique mechanism behind it; one that opens the story up to a much larger arc than first apparent. His characters are deeply developed and as real as characters get, and because of that, there are a couple of moments throughout that really hit me hard and made me set the book down before continuing for a day. Some harrowing circumstances befall Nat's characters, and he makes us love them enough that it hurts. 

That's great writing, isn't it?

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Playlist:

Radiohead - Kid A

Radiohead - Amnesiac

Radiohead - Hail to the Thief

Tool - Aenima

Alice in Chains - Eponymous

The Soft Moon - Criminal

Fever Ray - Eponymous

Gylt - I Will Commit A Holy Crime: Tandem

Chicago Underground Quartet - Good Days

The National - High Violet

Aphex Twin - ... I Care Because You Do

Sunn O))) - Metta, Benevolence BBC6 Live: On the Invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs

QOTSA - Songs for the Deaf

Fever Ray - Radical Romantics

Roxy Music - Eponymous

NIN - Pretty Hate Machine

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Card:

One of my favorite cards in the Crowley/Harris Thoth deck, XVII: The Star.

Basically,  a "go for it," situation. 

Thank You Judge

 

From David Lynch's 2001 collaboration with John Neff, BLUEBOB. This song cracks me up. There are lots of little things to notice the more you hear it, and all of it lands for me. One thing people often forget is just how damn funny David Lynch was. 

This is long out of print, and the version you can download from Bandcamp HERE has a slightly different track order. Glad I grabbed this the second it went on sale back in the day - I'll be buried with my CD copy. 

(Please! Someone release this on vinyl!!! Sacred Bones - I'm looking at you!)

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Watch:

Knowing nothing about YouTuber Markipliars, Game designer David Szymanski or his creation Iron Lung, I went to my local Regal and saw the premiere of Iron Lung last night.

I believe I mentioned this here a few weeks ago, when, upon exiting the aforementioned theatre, I saw the poster below, looked up the screening times and saw it had already almost sold out for the entire weekend.

That shit just doesn't happen in Clarksville. I mean, closest I've seen is the last two Terrifier films, but even those didn't sell out a month in advance. So there's hype, and it took some reading to figure out why. Pliars' YouTube channel is among the largest and most successful. Not necessarily a good omen, but I decided to abstain from anything else he's done until I've seen the film.

So how was Iron Lung?

Let's talk about a different movie instead, shall we?

Maika Monroe has just been on fire the last few years, and this new Blood Covenant anthology film looks like it will fit right in. I really dig this trailer and can't wait for a release date. Honestly, I'm just happy to have a new trailer drop for something I'm looking forward to. Despite a couple great films in January, 2026 is feeling like a bit of a dry year for Horror so far. 

Read more about Blood Covenant over on Bloody Disgusting HERE.

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Playlist:

BLUEBOB - Eponymous

Daydream Twins - Solstice For Embodiment

Mars Red Sky & Monkey3 - Monkey on Mars EP

Sunn O))) - Metta, Benevolence BBC6 Live: On the Invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs

Sunn O))) - Domkirke

Deadmau5 - Random Album Title

Alone in My Room - II

The Veils - Total Depravity

Helmet - Aftertaste

Self - Porno, Mint and Grime

The Afghan Whigs - In Spades

Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun

Chelsea Wolfe - Birth of Violence

White Lung - Paradise

White Lung - Premonition

Radiohead - Kid A

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Card:

• Eight of Cups: Indolence

• III: The Empress

• Knight of Disks

See how card 1 is Indolence - lack of motivation, and card 3 is Knight of Swords, literally motivation. I've been teetering between long bouts of inactivity writing and some really good days (like today) at the keyboard. Sounds like a pendulum, eh? What's the deciding factor? I'm way too engrossed in my day job. That shit isn't me, but it's owning me lately. I worked extra hours multiple days over the past week, and didn't take a lunch or barely move away from my desk for a week. I need to put that back in its box. I took a good step toward that today, and will make sure to do so again tomorrow. They want to own you - Don't let them!!! 

New Music From Sunn O)))

 

From their upcoming self-titled album, out April 3rd on Sub Pop Records. Pre-order HERE.

I'm catching up on a bunch of new music released while I was in the throes of the back-to-back Bowie and Lynch tribute weeks. Not sure when Sunn O))) moved to Sub Pop, but it's weird not seeing their name with Southern Lord. Either way, I'm definitely in the market for a new record from these guys. I kind of check in on them every so often, with Grimm Robe Demos and 2009's Monoliths and Dimensions so far being the only ones I feel truly attached to. For me, it's all about the arranging Anderson and O'Malley add to their core concept of pitch-black drone metal, and "Glory Black" gives me hope that this album may incorporate some new ideas and instrumentation into the classic Sunn O))) sound.

 

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Watch:

We got hit with a "whopping" 2.5" of snow in Clarksville this weekend. I put that in quotes because, being from Chicago, 2.5" shouldn't really be that big of a deal. In a state that doesn't get very much snowfall, though, it is a big deal, and our town's effectively been shut down since Saturday. So K and I sat around and watched movies all weekend. One of those was a first for her and a second timer for me - Martin McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths.

When I watched this for the first time, back around 2014 or 2015, I didn't realize it was essentially McDonagh's version of Adaptation. I don't say that to take anything away from either film - both are brilliant. But where Charlie Kaufman's Adaptation is very 'heady,' Seven Psychopaths is manic and fun. Hilarious at times, really. The cast is a dream cast (Tom Waits!) and the juxtapositon of Los Angeles with Joshua Tree reminds me of an era of my life where I spent a lot of time driving back and forth between the two, staying out in the desert and really getting into a creative groove - which is all the main character in this film - Colin Ferrell's Martin - needs to do to solve all his problems. Well, not all his problems.

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Read:

I've mentioned my reticence to engage with Scott Snyder's Absolute Batman in these pages before; I've read three issues thus far - Daniel Warren Johnson's Annual, the Ark M special, and issue 16 of the ongoing Absolute Batman series. We've reviewed all of these on Drinking with Comics and my cohost Mike and I are pretty much in agreement - the writing's not great. There are some great ideas here, but also, the pull with this one is very much something I recognize as zeitgeist. Will I ever re-read them? Will the fascination outlast the fervor?

Conversely, I don't think I'd ever have considered reading Absolute Wonder Woman until I realized Hayden Sherman is doing the art. I've become a huge fan of this man's work over the last year. Titles Batman: Dark Patterns and the insanely creepy Into the Unbeing introduced and endeared me to Sherman's unique style, and when I saw he was drawing the Absolute version of Diana, I was intrigued.

This book is fantastic! Not your standard take on the character at all, which is great, because this is one of those DC icons that just does nothing for me. Here, Kelly Thomspon writes Diana in a manner that relies heavily on ancient Greek Mythology. Diana was taken from the Amazons at birth and given to Circe in Hell. Circe raised her, teaching her all of her Hecate-worshipping dark magick, and Diana rides the resurrected skeleton of the Pegasus instead of some invisible plane.

I can't stress enough how, despite this being a character I have never been able to take seriously before, Kelly Thompson has dashed those prejudices on the rocks. 

Best of all? Sherman gets to draw a lot of what I really love from him -giant, fleshy monsters! 

I won't be reading this monthly, but I'll definitely be following it in trade.

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Playlist:

David Lynch - The Air is on Fire

The Caretaker - An empty bliss beyond this world

Various - Twin Peaks (Music from the Limited Event Series)

PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her

USSA - The Spoils

Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow

Saigon Blue Rain - Oko

Sunn O))) - Glory Black (pre-release single)

Mars Red Sky & Monkey3 - Monkeys on Mars EP

Chrystabell & David Lynch - This Train

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Card:

Putting aside Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot again today (which you can buy HERE) to work with my Thoth deck. That's really where my head and heart have been at. 

The Princess of Cups has always felt like a very gentle card to me. Nurturing in a way most other cards in this deck (or most decks) are not. There's an embrace here, reminding us of the importance of love and understanding, but there's also a nod to methodology and escaping the interior for a bit of the exterior once in a while. Princesses are a creative court, and this card tells me to nurture ideas as though they were loved ones. 

Seven Days of David Lynch Day 6: Falling for Industrial Symphony No. 1

From the Lynch/Badalamenti-produced 1989 album Falling. A modern masterpiece, in my own humble opinion.

One of the tracks that doesn't appear in Lynch's cinematic work, but is just as beautiful and haunting as those we grew to love with Twin Peaks. 

I had this on disc in the 90s and finally upgraded to vinyl when Sacred Bones released it a few years ago. I've put the link HERE because even though it's currently sold out, there's a "Notify Me When Available" button, and although I'm not sure if Sacred Bones actually represses their releases, it's worth a shot.

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Watch:

It's taken me what? Twenty or so years to figure out I could search for and probably find David Lynch's Industrial Symphony #1 on YouTube. 

Special thanks to DinosaurVideoDV's channel for upscaling and uploading this to their awesome channel. Check 'em out HERE and give a follow if you dig.

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Read:

I broke out Chris Rodley's Lynch on Lynch and began rereading the Twin Peaks chapter. I was actually trying to remember what critical writing on FWWM I owned. I know I have issues of Wrapped in Plastic that analyze and pontificate on the film, but I really wanted to read something where Lynch himself speaks about the prequel. 

I'm always very grateful for Rodley's books (the Terry Gilliam one is also fantastic), because he's an interviewer with an agenda similar to my own, but also, he really knows how to put his subjects at ease. David Lynch speaks so casually in this book that he can sometimes digress into elements that, while they may not necessarily be relevant to the question at first glance, end up creating a much more satisfying read. Lynch is often like that in interviews, but the only other place I've ever 'heard' him sound so "off the cuff" is in his biography collaboration with Kristine McKenna.

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Playlist:

Julee Cruise - Floating Into the Night

Chrystabell & David Lynch - Cellophane Memories

Thought Gang, David Lynch & Angelo Badalamenti - Thought Gang

David Lynch & Marek Zebrowski - Polish Night Music

Perturbator - Dangerous Days

Perturbator - I Am the Night

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks OST

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks FWWM OST

Radiohead - Kid A

Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God Chapter 1

Loathe - I Let It in and It Took Everything

Loathe - Gifted Every Strength (single)

Etta James - The Second Time Around 

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Card:

Playing with the Thoth a lot again over the weekend. 

• Knight of Wands

• 5 of Cups: Disappointment

• XIII: Death

"Be decisive, your feelings have changed, so act fast and make the change."

It's always said that the Death card may be the most misunderstood in the Tarot, but I'd say in Thoth, a lot of the 'negative' cards are also misinterpreted. It's our natural reaction to think of things like disappointment and failure as 'bad,' however, the Universe is indifferent, and in the grand scheme of things - the 'long game' of our lives - disappointments and failures are part of the ebb and flow that evolves us. 

This pull shows that clearly. Things have changed, but we tend to cling to what we know, even if it's gone south. Recognize this and be decisive, make a change and evolve. Easier said than done. 

I'm not entirely sure what this is alluding to in my own life, if anything. I've been looking at my recent obsessive workings with Thoth as development of an institutional language with the deck. I've always kind of had one, but that relationship appears to be deepening of late, and for that, I'm excited. In that way, I'm looking at this as a generalized 'story' that will help me further understand the deck overall, and these three cards in particular. 

Seven Days of David Lynch Day 1: BLUEBOB - Blue Horse

 

This coming Friday marks the one-year anniversary of David Lynch's death. You know what follows in these pages. Starting Seven Days of David Lynch today, with a favorite from Lynch's collaboration with multi-instrumentalist/Producer John Neff, BLUEBOB.

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NCBD:

Big week, and I've already received a warning not to flip ahead in the finale for Dreadnok War, so I'm psyched. Let's get into it!

Creeping up on issue 30. Wow. Kirkman is building something great, and I'm here for it. 

Not a lot to say about the new creative team on TMNT so far. And that's not a bad thing by any means. The art is insanely good, and the writing feels like we're building to go somewhere interesting, so I'm just sitting back and waiting. Which, with the turtles, is always fun.

The one non-80s IP this week, and I'm happy as hell to have the respite. I love Jeff Lemire's Minor Arcana!

So weird that such a large part of my monthly pull is now centered on the toy properties I loved as a kid (and still love, let's face it). 

Whatever happens in this one, I have a feeling it's BIG! Great way to end Dreadnok War, which has really served as a revitalization for the Energon Universe's version of the Joes for me. 

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Playlist:

David Bowie - A Reality Tour (Live)

Faith No More - Album of the Year

Peeping Tom - Eponymous

David Bowie - Low

David Bowie - Reality

Helmet - Aftertaste

IDLES - CRAWLER

Agriculture - The Spiritual Sound

Blood Incantation - Absolute Everywhere

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Card:

Just one card from Thoth today. I've been pulling at least one a night, independent of my Hand of Doom spreads. I've felt a reconnection to this deck of late, and I can feel myself growing into it in an even more substantial way than before, which is saying something, because I've now had this one for over twenty years. 

• Prince of Cups: Today, especially, don't undervalue pragmatism when dealing with Earthly matters. Vague, but I'll take it. There's also the intimation of making a decision and acting on it quickly. 

Hallo Spaceboy

 

From 1995's Outside. Or rather, this is a remix of the song on Outside. A remix that leans heavily into 90s electronica and really makes it work. I mean, I prefer the album version, but this is definitely a cut above what a lot of other established artists were doing to keep up with 'the new sound' at the time.

Also, is that Pet Shop Boys' singer, Neil Tennant, singing on this track? 

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Watch:

Last Thursday, I saw Johannes Roberts' latest film, Primate. Can't recommend it enough, but it's not for the faint of heart, that's for sure. The Horror Vision did a spoiler-free review:

We're only two weeks into the year and I already have one film I feel pretty strongly about as far as a "Best of 2026." Always a good sign.

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Playlist:

Double Life - Indifferent Stars

Helmet - Aftertaste

Coleman Hawkins - Wrapped Tight

Tamir Hendelman - I Saw Three Ships (single)

David Bowie - Heroes

Chicago Underground Quartet - Good Days (For Lee Anne; single)

Carepenter Brut - Leather Temple (single)

Johnny Griffin - The Cat

David Bowie - Reality Live

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Card:

Setting aside Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot 9which you can buy HERE) to work with Thoth for today's card.

Control desires. Or maybe, don't control them? I think one of the things I've taken away from this card over the years is a juxtaposition with Chaos Magick's edict not to let the lust of result hamper the chances of achieving what you want. This is pertinent in everything, although I didn't have anything specific in mind at the time I drew, so I'll be reflecting on this card all day today.

Steve Moore - Cinematic Horror: Whispers from the Well

Steve Moore released a new album last week that I only discovered last night by accident. Cinematic Horror: Whispers from the Well is a deep dive into sonic spectral hauntings as only Steve Moore can provide. I'm not really sure what the deal with this album is or how to purchase it. Published by Sonoton Music, you can access it on the usual streamers or on their site HERE. It's not on Moore's Bandcamp, and I can't find anything written about it, so I'm not sure if these are completely new compositions or if this might be a culling of Moore's work from previous OSTs I am not familiar with. I have all his Joe Begos stuff and a large chunk of Zombi in my library, but looking over his credits, there's a lot more I can't wait to get to know, starting with this.

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Watch:

I saw a poster for Mark Fischbach's Iron Lung recently, and was surprised when I saw the trailer:  

Major Panos Cosmatos vibes off this, so I'll definitely be catching it in the theatre when it opens on January 3oth. Even more absurd - after typing that last sentence, I picked up my phone and went to order tickets only to find that almost the entire Thursday 1/29-1/30 screenings are sold out. Clearly, I am behind on this...

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Playlist:

Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow

Imperial Triumphant - Imprints of Man

Imperial Triumphant - Goldstar

The National - High Violet

The National - I Am Easy to Find

The Besnard Lakes - ...are the Ghost Nation

Meg Myers - Sorry

Deftones - private music

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Card:

Taking a break from Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot (which you can buy HERE), as my Tarot work independent of these pages has led me back around to Crowley/Harris' Thoth deck:

• 0: The Fool

• 10 of Cups - Saitey

• 7 of Cups - Debauch

Beginning again can lead to fulfillment, but be sure to see where to stop.

Not really sure where this applies - work maybe. 

Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow

More fabulous Dungeon Synth from Mountain Realm, distributed by Cryo Crypt Records. I LOVE this one - there's something about the synth tones employed that induces a wonderfully dreamy lethargy in me. You can grab the digital for $5 over on Bandcamp. Perfect for what I've been reading (below). 

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Watch:

Well, Stranger Things is over. I feel like, overall, Season Four is still my favorite. Five had some ups and downs for me, but I think a lot of that had to do with the release schedule. 

Those first four episodes Netflix dropped around Thanksgiving blew me away - especially the very end of four. Then the three we got last week... I feel like the creators had to slow things down to address a lot of dangling character threads that probably could have been woven more evenly throughout the entire season. And those Christmas episodes could have easily been one long episode instead of three. But the finale made up for it. Not necessarily the Vecna-related stuff, which was fine. What the Duffers did REALLY well, though, was all the after-the-final-battle stuff. K and I sobbed, and it felt great. 

We're recording a full-spoiler discussion on the final four episodes this weekend, so that will go up next week. In the meantime, here's our discussion of Season Five, episodes 1-3.

Overall, I really loved the entire series. Totally worth the hype. 

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Read:

I blew through the second book in Nathan Ballingrud's Lunar Gothic Trilogy, Cathedral of the Drowned, and I can honestly say this was the best novel I read in 2025.

Ballingrud's marriage of Horror, Weird Fiction and Science Fiction/Fantasy is seamless and unparalleled, primarily because, over the course of his career, he has honed his prose into a tight and ethereal style that so confidently conjures abstractions he can put you anywhere he can imagine. This novel continues the story begun in 2024's Crypt of the Moon Spider, advancing the race of sentient but eerily quiet Moon Spiders and further exploring the bizarre, reality-shifting properties of their webbing. Ballingrud takes us from the horrors of the Moon to a burgeoning gang war in Red Hook, New York, to Jupiter's Io moon, all teeming with life, gore and questions of what it means to exist as a sentient being. 

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Playlist:

Radiohead - OK Computer

PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love

Idles - Crawler

Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World: The Songs of Rodney Crowell

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads

Year-End Maintenance

Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow

Ulver - Neverland

Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain

U2 - War

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Card:

One Card for 2026 pulled on NYE:

I've been studying the Thoth deck again for the last few weeks, so I felt it only right to do my New Year Pull with that. This is a definite nod to take the high view; avoid knee-jerk reactions and try to see things from a macro perspective. Use insight, intellect and Will, not emotion. 

lords. - bleeding out

 

I've been growing increasingly obsessed with lords.' single "Bleeding Out," perhaps because I can find next to nothing about them online. This song has the proverbial "it," even if I can't really explain what that it is. It's a feeling. A lonely, haunted exploration of desolation, doom and despair, but also an infectious, cyclical, creepy energy that keeps it moving and pulls you in. Well, it pulls me in for sure. I wish I could post a Bandcamp or something, but other than a Soundcloud and an Instagram, there's no trail for these guys, which just makes it even creepier in an age of oversaturation and instantaneous communication. 

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31 Days of Halloween:

While in L.A. this past Saturday, I had the distinct pleasure of visiting two places I had never been before. The first is Gardena Cinema. This is a family-owned, single-screen theatre at 14948 Crenshaw Blvd, Gardena, CA 90249 that, while I lived here, was a first-run theatre that only played big Hollywood movies. Franchises and the like. They had an all-day Universal Monster-thon and some friends and I had the pleasure of seeing Jack Arnold's Creature From the Black Lagoon in Real D 3D. 

I've loved this flick since I was a child, and it's one of Kirsten's favorites, too, so I've seen it a lot. After seeing it restored in 3D, I can honestly say I feel like I've just seen it for the first time. The restoration and conversion must have been a painstaking but rewarding process, as this just looks so good!

Next up, I finally made my way to Vidiots in Eagle Rock. Part video rental store, part theatre, I'd been wanting to hit this place up since it opened in June of 2023, a little bit less than a year after I moved. I feel like the heavens must have aligned on this trip, because while I would have been willing to go see pretty much anything there, it turns out my visit coincided with a screening of one of my all-time favorite films, Luky McKee's May.

I have no trouble admitting that as the movie began, I almost burst into tears. I love this one so much, and to see it on the big screen after all these years, side by side with some good friends - two of whom had never seen it before - was an experience that will resonate for the remainder of my life. 

1) Incident On and Off a Mountain Road/The Funhouse

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1 Ep 4, "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone"/Cabin in the Woods

3) Satanic Hispanics

4) Creature From the Black Lagoon 3D/May

5) The Strangers

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Playlist:

lords. - bleeding out (single)

Drug Church - Prude

Maddie & Kenta Yacht Rock Playlist

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

NIN - I'm Afraid of Americans (single)

David Bowie - I'm Afraid of Americans (single)

David Bowie - The Stars (Are Out Tonight) (single)

Ozzy Osbourne - Tonight (single)

NIN - With Teeth

Faetooth - Labryinthine

Mark Ronson & RAYE - Suzanne (single)

RAYE - My 21st Century Blues

Gylt - I Will Commit A Holy Crime Tandem

Blanck Mass - Animated Violence Mild

The Cure - Alone (single)

Drain - ... Is Your Friend (pre-release singles)

The Bronx - American Heartattack (single)

Dreamkid - Chrissy (single)

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Card:

While I'm traveling, I'm using the mini Thoth Deck that Missi gifted me many years ago. Still, I have to offer a reminder that creator Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot has been my day-to-day deck for over a year now (buy HERE), and Grimm's new deck, the Eldritch Lace Tarot, is up for funding right now on Kickstarter HERE.

Just the one card for today, a reminder to hit the ground running on my book as soon as I return to my daily life later today. Traveling back from L.A., I will say, I kept the thread going by writing two of the four days I was gone. Small sessions, but some important groundwork was laid, and I need to continue that today and tomorrow, despite the shit storm that is likely waiting for me 'at the office.'

The Jeff Healey Band - Road House (The Lost Soundtrack)

Weird rabbit hole yesterday wherein I saw The Jeff Healey Band's The Lost Roadhouse Soundtrack had recently been released. This immediately sent me to YouTube, where I found and watched Healey's 1988 Network television debut on the old NBC Lettermen show and although I saw it when it aired and have seen it a handful of times since, I was once again completely blown away. It's hard not to be. This, in turn, led to my discovery of a forthcoming Jeff Healey documentary, See the Light.

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Watch:

Looks like this one is in pre-production, but still hopeful for a 2025 release. Nice crop of interview subjects (Steve Cropper!), and a really love realizing that there seems to be a healthy 'Cult of Jeff' out there. I've talked about this here before, but being a consummate Lettermen fan from a young age, I was exposed to Healey throughout the 80s on the show and he always blew me away. I didn't turn out the biggest fan of The Blues as a genre, however, key songs and artists from that era made an impact on me, Healey perhaps more than most. 

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Playlist:

Preoccupations - Ill At Ease

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

Zeal & Ardor - Eponymous

Pinky Tuscadero's Whiteknuckle Assfuck - Halfway to Honky Heaven

Dum Dum Girls - Too True

George Michael - Faith

Prince - Sign O' The Times

Various - The Daptone Super Soul Revue LIVE at the Apollo

Various - Cowboy Bebop OST

Anthrax - Among the Living

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Rendition Was In)

The Fixx - Reach the Beach

Huey Lewis and the News - Sports

The Jeff Healey Band - Road House (The Lost Soundtrack)

Led Zeppelin - I

Sha Na Na - The Night Is Still Young

Orville Peck - Pony

Led Zeppelin - IV

INXS - Kick

The Plimsouls - Everywhere At Once

Drab Majesty - Careless

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Card:

Such a beautiful card. At times, this is my favorite in the deck. There is a cosmic or eternal renewal association with this card, and that's what I'm connecting to at the moment. I'm not sure how that fits into my current day-to-day, but as usual, when stymied, I keep my eyes peeled. 

New Music From Ghost!

Posting, but not listening. New albums Skeletá is out this Friday, 4/25, and although Loma Vista hasn't shipped my vinyl yet - I'm not sure what they are waiting for - I'm holding out until I can at least listen to the entire record on Apple.

 

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NCBD:

Fantastic pull list this week! Very excited to hit the shop tonight. Here's what I'll be reading later today:

Jeff Lemire's Minor Arcana returns, just in time to line up with my Gideon Falls re-read, so I am very much into more Lemire. Plus, this book has been very cool. Atmospheric the way Lemire does so well.

Still one of the strangest books I've read in quite some time, Into the Unbeing continues to confound and delight me. Macrocosmic Body Horror.

Even though I've cooled on Skybound's iteration of Joe, I'm still looking forward to seeing the confrontation promised by this cover.

Two left after this one. Damn, I'm going to miss this book. 

Dust to Dust has really turned out as a sleeper. I don't hear much about other folks reading this book, but I know they're out there. 

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Watch:

I haven't had a chance to say it here yet, but Ryan Coogler's Sinners is an exceptional film, and a breath of fresh air in what started out a strong year for Horror with Presence, Grafted, The Dead Thing and The Monkey, but quickly became stale. 

Sinners shares some structural DNA with Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn in that it both films are actually two movies glued together in the middle with blood. What I love about this is that is the world, right? There's the everyday world where you're robbing a bank or driving around, collecting down-on-their-luck musicians to play at your new Juke Joint, and there's the world where something unnatural arrives and takes you into the netherworld. 

With Sinners, the detail is fantastic. You can feel 1930's Southern heat, the sticky humidity, and the life to which these characters live to their fullest, even when they die. Very cool film that I recommend everyone up for a field trip take in on the big screen. The soundtrack through the theatre speakers alone is worth the trip.

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Playlist:

Dreamkid - Daggers

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk)

Windhand - Eternal Return

Moon Wizard - Sirens

Telekinetic Yeti - Primordial

Mars Red Sky - Eponymous

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

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Card:

Back to the Thoth deck today for a quick, one-card pull:

From the Grimoire, "How true are you to your inner aspirations and will?" 

Follow They Will...

Daredevil: Born Again Trailer

I woke up with this in my head this morning and had to post. Such a gorgeous song! 

From Man Man's 2008 album Rabbit Habits, now a certified classic in my book. Check out Man Man's website HERE.

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Watch:

It feels like a long time since I cared about anything Marvel has done on the large or small screen. I recently tried to pick up Secret Invasion, where I left off before the strike and just found I couldn't care less. This, however, has my blood up: 

I'd previously read the new Marvel Daredevil continuity would eschew any connection to the previous Netflix series, but that does not seem to be the case. Also, holy cow, is that the White Tiger we see? Also, fucking awesome to have Bernthal return as Frank Castle. March 4th I know what I'll be watching!

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Playlist:

Primus - Frizzle Fry

Rollins Band - The End of Silence

Mudhoney - March to Fuzz: Best Of and Rarities

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

Carpenter Brut - Blood Machines OST

Drug Church - Hygiene

Aidan Baker & Dead Neanderthals - Cast Down And Hunted

Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror

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Card:

Today's card is the Queen of Cups:

The emotional aspect of emotion, so this is a card that often needs a qualifying pull. Deals with deep, emotional realms of the personality. Associated with Binah, the Mother. Can indicate finding answers in dreams and/or imagination.

David Bowie - Black Star

Released 9 years ago today. It was a Friday, and no one realized that in three days David Bowie would be called back to his ancestors in the cold, black void of space. I'm wondering if this video is modeled after his home planet?

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NCBD:

Oh man, I am psyched for this week's books! Let's get into it!!

Back in November, the first issue of David Ian and Rebekah McKendry's Barstow took me by surprise and blew me away! The desert can certainly be a creepy place, and Barstow leans into that all the way. Can't wait to see where this goes!

Bruticus vs. Devastator? 'Nuff said! This has me twitching with anticipation that HasbroPulse might be gearing up to release a Combaticons set similar to the Constructicons one they did last year. I could let Devastator lads pass me by, but Swindle, Vortex and their crew are probably the only merger set I would love to own. The original versions just never did the character designs on the cartoon and comic book justice. To have a Swindle or Onslaught that actually look like the characters... that would be amazing.

I read the first issue of Dan Watters' Batman: Dark Patterns last month and really liked it. Watters has become go-to writer for me; I won't read everything he does for the big two, but I think I'm 100% up on everything he's released that's creator-owned. I'm digging these one-off Bat-series, though, so I'm back on Patterns this month for another round. 

This book is just f*ckin' nuts! I don't know where we're going or how we ended up where we are (what a fantastic final page last ish!), but I'm hooked once again. Boss and Rosenberg have a punk rock dystopian epic on their hands. 

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Watch:

Rejoice! Vinegar Syndrome announced the Blue Ray for Ryan Kruger's Street Trash!

 

I pre-ordered mine as soon as I saw the announcement; this SEQUEL to the 1987 original came in at number six on my Top Ten Favorite Horror Films of 2024, which can be heard over on the latest episode of The Horror Vision. 

Here's the VS order link.

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Playlist:

Nothing - Guilty of Everything

Nothing - The Great Dismal

Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She

Chrystabell & David Lynch - Cellophane Memories

David Bowie - Heathen

David Bowie - Black Star

The Jesus Lizard - Rack

Hall and Oats - Greatest Hits

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Card:

Today's card is the Knight of Wands:

The Firey aspect of Fire, or the Willful aspect of the Will, which feels convoluted or redundant. What does A.C. say about this one in his Book of Thoth?

"The moral qualities appropriate to this figure are activity, generosity, fierceness, impetuosity, pride, impulsiveness, swiftness in unpredictable actions."

This card implies a quickening and might warn about going off half-cocked. Things have to get done, but be careful how to do them. Impetuous actions don't often work out well, and impulsiveness can be a good thing, but it can also lead to a bad end. 

Knower - Do Hot Girls Like Chords?

After posting about  Genevieve Artadi last week, my friend Garrett introduced me to the band Knower. While yes, that is a terrible name, this is a fantastic band, and Ms. Artadi provides vocals. I really don't know anything beyond the two tracks Garrett shared with me so far, but I'll be digging today.

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Watch:

I wasn't interested in this one until I saw John Carpenter is doing the score. 

Not a bad looking flick by any means, and odds are I would have gone to see it in the theatre just to go. The movie pass really makes that a no-brainer. But A24 has achieved that same connotation with me that Touchstone Pictures did in the 80s and Fox Searchlight did in the 00s - they have such a specific tone MOST of the time that they begin to feel as though there is an A24 checklist behind the production of each one. Again - there are definite exceptions to this. Most of their BIG releases still feel unique and important. But a lot of the 'fodder' that fills the calendar between those releases feels... rote. Will that be the case here? Well, I don't know, but I'm down for a non-Carpenter film scored by Carpenter, so I'm in.

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Playlist:

Final Light - Eponymous

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

Willie Nelson - Pretty Paper

James Last - Christmas Dancing

Various - I'll Be Home for Christmas

Calexico - Seasonal Shift

Rodney Crowell - Christmas Everywhere

Bing Crosby - Merry Christmas

The Bangles - All Over the Place

Dreamkid - Daggers

The Smashing Pumpkins - Luna (single)

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Extra Acme

Nat "King" Cole - Christmas with Nat King Cole

NIN - Pretty Hate Machine

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Card:

Today's card for study is VII: The Chariot.

Here's what I have written in the Grimoire for this one:

"The Chalice/Grail - origin of ideas (mushroom???) origin of Imagination and with it, Creativity."

This card represents a new idea or path as the outcome of an ordeal. Whereas The Fool is fresh, this is a beginning rooted in what came before, hence the chariot imagery. A vehicle, which can also be a door or method of transport.  Seeing this means you should get excited, but you should also recognize that change is coming.  

Crowley offers this, which I quite like:

"The canopy of the Chariot is the night-sky blue of Binah <THe Great Mother>. The pillars are the four pillars of the Universe, the regiment of Tetragrammaton. The scarlet wheels represent the original energy of Geburah which causes the revolving motion."

It's good to encounter passages like this in The Book of Thoth, as so much of it is nonsensical, Crowley talking a lot to convince everyone how much he knows that we don't. He also equates this card to Cancer, and while I don't traffic in Astrology, he continues, "Cancer is the cardinal sign of the element of Water, and represents the first keen onrush of that element." This fits my own interpretation, so I wanted to double-down and mention it here. 

Adorable Vendetta

 

I Watched Nowhere again last night, this time with K, and it turns out it was Director Greg Araki's birthday! Wow, I guess it's kind of kismet that I fall in love with this movie now. Such an amazing soundtrack - the CD for which hauls a cool $99 on eBay - and of the countless incredible songs and artists represented - minus hole and filter - "Vendetta" by Adorable really stands out. A bit of research shows that this band kind of got swallowed by time and the digitization of the music industry because aside from people posting this on YouTube, it is, ahem, Nowhere to be found.

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Watch:

I followed Nowhere with Alex Cox's Repo Man. A classic, yes, but one I've only ever watched one other time, and that was in 2018! 

I don't know how I missed out on Repo Man in the 80s, 90s, 00s, and most of the 10s - hell, I saw Cox's Straight to Hell more than a decade before I saw this - but Repo Man made a pretty deep impression on me upon first viewing and more than lived up to that watching it again. Perfect double feature with Nowhere.

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NCBD:

This week's pull:

Every issue I've read of Epitaphs From the Abyss has been fantastic, so really looking forward to continuing the anthology vibes this month!

Si Spurrier's Hellblazer epic comes to a close, and yes, while we knew Morpheus would be appearing, I didn't expect to see the pre-Daniel version. Can't wait to see what this is about and how this tale concludes.

Not super jazzed about this book, but I'm still going to give it the benefit of the doubt. Seriously though - put Baroness back in the tight black leather already, will ya?

This cover instantly sells this issue. I think Jason Aaron's TMNT has now moved to monthly, but I knew that was coming. So far, I'm not going anywhere.

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Playlist:

John Harrison - Day of the Dead OST

Pixies - Doolittle

Pixies - Come On Pilgrim

Pixies - Bossonova

Chat Pile - Cool World

The Los Angeles League of Musicians - LA LOM

Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

Justin Hamline - The House With Dead Leaves

The Soft Moon - Criminal

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Today's card for study is the Prince of Cups:

"Emotional depths honed by intellect."

The airy aspect of water, or the intellectual side of emotion. What's that you say? "Intellectual side of emotion sounds like an oxymoron?"

Yes.

That said, this card should be taken as a reminder to strive to not let our emotions get the better of us, or a clue that our reason is clouded by emotion. 

Morphine

 

From 2000's The Night, Morphine's final album. Excellent track to close out their discography and career, even if their end came way too early. I'm realizing tonight that this past July 3rd marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of Mark Sandman's death. Twenty-five years... 

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Watch:

Seeing that Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury's new film The Soul Eater hit VOD yesterday made me extremely excited. I didn't even know they had a new film on the way. 

There is no way I'm posting a trailer here; this film is NOT what you think it's going to be, and I can only imagine the trailer will give something away. Regardless, if you're a fan of Bustillo and Maury's work (Inside, The Deep House, Livid, Among the Living), I think you'll agree The Soul Eater is a worthy addition to their body of work. If you're unfamiliar, give it a shot. These guys make really great Horror films, and Simon Roca's cinematography is fantastic to boot!

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Playlist:

Nirvana - Dive (single)

NIN - Year Zero

Crippled Black Phoenix - The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

Amigo the Devil - Yours Until the War is Over

Drug Church - Prude

Ozzy Osbourne - Patient No. 9

Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit Vol. 1

Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun

Morphine - The Night

Prince - Sign O' the Times

The Bangles - Angels Don't Fall in Love (B-side to Walk Like an Egyptian single)

Smashing Pumpkins - Drown (single)

Sonic Youth - Washing Machine

ten Athlone - Street Trash (single)

Dreamkid - Daggers

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Card:

Today's card for study is XVII: The Star:

Yeah, I know I usually kind of poke fun at Crowley's writings on these cards, but this is one I actually really like his entry for. Nuith - the Lady of the Stars. Allow me to quote directly from The Book of Thoth:

"The Universe is here resolved into its ultimate elements... Behind the figure of the goddess is the celestial globe. Most prominent among its features is the seven-pointed star of Venus, as if declaring the principal characteristic of her nature to be Love. From the golden cup she pours ethereal water, which is also milk and oil and blood, upon her own head, indicating the eternal renewal of the categories, the inexhaustible possibilities of existence."

This is everything. I've come to realize that while the Thoth Trumps build toward the climax of Crowley's Magickal worldview, to me, The Star is the essence of life. Maybe not of reality, but of life as we know it as humans. Perpetual renewal. The image shows Nuith, the cosmic mother, essentially bailing the waters of life over herself. She is literally awash in the essence of life. This is a coded representation of humanity - we're supposed to renew. To bail. Instead, we situate and stagnate. This card is a reminder to live Life. 

From the Girmoire: "Create unto and within yourself a Universe, shaped of your strengths and built upon your accomplishments as a foundation."