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."

Blood Incantation - The Stargate

2019's Hidden History of the Human Race put Blood Incantation on a lot of people's radar, mine included. I dug the record, but probably not as much as the legions that ranked it as or near their album of the year. Since then, they'd fallen off, as I'm not even certain I knew they had a 2022 record (Timewave Zero; named after Terence and Dennis McKenna's theories of novelty and emergence, which I was once obsessed with). Recently, Mr. Brown mentioned these guys had a new one, so I sought out this year's Absolute Everywhere on Apple Music earlier today and gave it a listen. Then I went looking for a track to post and saw I had no actual idea how ambitious this band is. Holy shit. Tangerine Dream? Michael Ragen, DP for Panos Cosmatos' The Viewing? Knights? Space Ships? Cosmic Horror???

What the absolute fuck? There are moments on this album that are among the heaviest things I've heard, and moments that remind me of 90s electro-psychedlic group The Orb. Mind thoroughly blown.

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Watch:

Holy smokes! Steven C. Miller's Werewolves hits theatres this weekend, and after seeing it Thursday night, K and I are both chomping at the bit to see it again! A LOT OF FUN!!

This movie 100% knows what it is, shortcomings and all, and just leans into it. There's a lot of macho shit in the opening few moments, which rubbed me a bit wrong at first. Then there's a scene where Grillo's character is introduced as a Micro Biologist, and I suddenly understood the M.O. here - Werewolves is essentially a Stallone flick from the mid-80s, and realizing that freed me to embrace it for the insane ride that it is. Once we move past the handful of transformations we see - remember the set up here is that a Super Moon is going to cause BILLIONS of people to become werewolves for one night - most of the FX are gloriously practical. 

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Playlist:

Final Light - Eponymous

Dance with the Dead - Dark Matter E.P.

Dance with the Dead - B Sides: Vol. 1

Drug Church - Prude

Sort Sol -w/ Chelsea Wolfe - Life Took You For A Freq. (single)

Sylvaine - Nova

Fen - Epoch

Ulver - Liminal Animals

Antibalas - Where the Gods Are in Peace

Moon Wizard - Sirens

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

Windhand - Eponymous

Shellac - To All Trains

Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun

Sumerlands - Dream Killer

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Card:

Today's card:

Here are two little bits from the Grimoire:

"Intense passion to create, but its children are monsters."

And the equally intriguing, if far more vague:

"The Darkness of the Raging Sea."

The second bit is an obvious observation from The Book of Thoth, truncated from Crowley's meaningful (less?) meanderings about the background of the card's image. To me, the "Seven-ness" of this card hits the lights first; completion. But this is a warning, and that's to "Understand the solutions" you employ to achieve that solution, as you may solve one issue and create something worse, hence the choppy waters.

Ulver - Hollywood Babylon (haha)

I have no idea how to process the new Ulver record, Liminal Animals. The haunting atmospherics and Black Metal asides are gone in favor of... 80s keyboard lounge? What the absolute fuck? I played the entire record through with my jaw firmly agape, and then I hit track #6, "Hollywood Babylon," and thought, "this has to be a piss-take." But looking around online, I don't think it is.

Admittedly, there's a whole slew of Ulver's career I have no experience with, and reading around online a bit, Liminal Animals appears to be part of a long evolution. I made it all the way through the record, and while I still have trouble reconciling this being the same band that did 

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NCBD:

Small pull this week:

Once again, I seriously forgot about this book until seeing it pop up again. There have been a number of recent series that have kind of etched it into my brain that long-form is dead; the best books are those that get in and get out. Not to say the opposite isn't true, but when you take a book like The Walking Dead - possibly the last long-form series not Big Two I read and loved, it did not suffer from all the hiatus breaks. I really feel like that is killing some series for me. That said, I've hung in this long and enjoyed WTFPFH?, and I'm not going anywhere now. 

Apparently I got in on this one right at the end; Issue Five is the last solicited for the time being. I never did find issues 1-3, so I can only judge by last month's issue 4. I dig Cruel Universe, but maybe not as much as I do Epitaphs From the Abyss. 

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Watch:

Noirvember may be over, but K and I have been so impressed with the selection on the Criterion Channel that I renewed the subscription, and we continued our Noir playlist with Otto Preminger's 1944 masterpiece Laura. 

One of the main characters here is named Waldo Lydecker. If you're a Twin Peaks fan, you know my ears instantly perked up at this. Obviously, David Lynch and/or Mark Frost dig this film. Totally see why. What a fantastic Whodunit. There's a stubbornness to Dana Andrew's Detective Lt. Mark McPherson is extremely gratifying to witness as you go down the rabbit hole on this, ahem, "Who killed Laura" case. And for her own part, Gene Tierney's Laura is fantastic as the victim. Also, Vincent Price is almost unrecognizable as a kind of high-society infiltrating rube - his voice is the giveaway.

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Playlist:

Black Pyramid - The Paths of Time are Vast

Melvins - Tarantula Heart

Shellac - To All Trains

Various - Learn to Relax! A Tribute to Jehu

The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

Venamoris & Dave Lombardo - Winter's Whisper (single)

Venamoris - Drown in Emotion

Ulver - Liminal Animals

Dreamkid - Eponymous

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Card:

Today's card for study is the Prince of Disks.

I don't have much in the ol' Grimoire for this one, and what I do have doesn't exactly add up. Let's look at what Crowley has to say... okay, that's a bit of astrological gobbledegook, too. Let me see if I can parse some of this down.

To start, both my own notes and A.C.'s start with "The Airy aspect of Earth." Okay, now my notes are becoming a little clearer; as I'd written, "Swords (Air) for pragmatism can be a bit of a cunt for matters pertaining to money and stability."

I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that I asked an intercontinental moving company for a Clarksville to Melbourne, Australia quote yesterday...

Consulting another text I sometimes use to interpret Thoth, Hajo Banzhaf and Brigitte Theler's Keywords for the Crowley Tarot, I see references to cycles, and that immediately makes sense; this card reminds us that we go through our micro versions of the planet's macro Seasons. The Bull is fertility and power. Cycles don't imply stability, and that gels with my comment above. The important thing here is to realize this card is a pinion card; it works best read in a chronology with other cards.

First Knight of Noirvember

 

Continuing the Noir theme for November, I can't think of a more Noir track than Barry Adamson's The Big Bamboozle, from 1993's Oedipus Schmoedipus.

 

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Watch:

I continued Noirvember this past weekend with a handful of first-time watches. First up, Fritz Lang's 1953 The Big Heat.

This one knocked my socks off. Glen Ford is absolutely fantastic in the role of Sgt. Dave Bannion and a young Lee Marvin chew up the scenery and spit it out on your shoes, man! Everyone here is a hard case, and it works because they all really inhabit that space and energy. Some of the violence shocked me a bit for '53, and overall, there's just such a nihilistic tone that the black-and-white cinematography feels etched into the screen as it moves. I'll definitely be adding this to the collection at some point, although, having watched this on the Criterion Channel, I would have assumed they put out a BR. That does not seem to be the case.

Next up, one I've heard about forever. Edgar G. Ulmer's Detour, from 1945.

Once nearly lost, Detour is considered an important film by the historical archives. Tom Neal plays Al Roberts, a frustrated nightclub piano man whose girlfriend leaves him in NYC for dreams of stardom in Hollywood. Eventually, Al decides to follow by hitchhiking across the states. He makes it as far as Arizona, then ends up embroiled in a pretty dicey situation he can't help but make worse with every decision he makes. Constantly giving him more slack for the noose is Ann Savage as the enigmatic Vera. Damn folks, this dame is merciless!

The chemistry here is fantastic, and at one hour and six minutes,  Detour is a short film and thus made a great second film in a Friday night double feature. 

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Read:

Now that I have acquired all three issues of DC's Black Label The Bat-Man: First Knight, I finally read the entire storyline in a single sitting over the weekend. Perfect for Norvember!

Writer Dan Jurgens really thought out and researched what a Batman story set in 1939 would look like. The overall story centers around a mysterious ring leader known only as The Voice. From the shadowy comfort of closed quarters, The Voice is conducting a series of hits on city officials - Councilmen, the Mayor, even the Police Commissioner. The perpetrators seem more than human, and people are scared. 

In the background, helping to ramp up the tension is the world of 1939. The world is still reeling from the first "Great War." Uncertainty is everywhere, and to make matters worse, the cunt with the funny mustache is threatening the Jewish people of Europe. America sits on her hands, wishing against the inevitable. Hate spreads quickly, though, and travels on the wind. Hate crimes are on the rise in Gotham, and people are scared and frustrated. Sounds like a proper powder keg, eh? 

Jurgens does some really interesting things with The Bat-Man's supporting cast - Bruce is new to this and none of the confidants we're used to are anywhere to be found. Well, except Gordon. Tried and true, that man.

As you can see, I ended up with a cross-section of the different covers available, but that's fine by me. Each gives a different aspect of the tone series artist Mike Perkins has created here - with no small contribution from colorist Mike Spicer. This book really conveys the era - from the shop signs that line the streets of Gothamn, to the filth that clings to the buildings, shanty towns and alleys, First Knight really puts you there. 

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Playlist:

Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire

Godflesh - Us and Them

Godflesh - Songs of Love and Hate

Raffertie - The Substance OST

Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon

Genghis Tron - Board Up the House

Sumerlands - Dreamkiller

Justin Hamline - The House with Dead Leaves

Godflesh - Post Self

Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God Chapter 1

Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar

Fvnerals - Let the Earth Be Silent

The Soft Moon - Criminal

Crystal Castles - II

Drug Church - Prude

Fugazi - Steady Diet of Nothing

Fela Kuti - Sorrow Tears and Blood

Mrs. Piss - Self-Surgery

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

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Card:

Today's card is the Five of Cups, or as Crowley dubbed it, "Disappointment."

An important note from my notes on this card: "Examine your expectations." I believe this is the root of the card for me. I can and will go into a little bit of whatever A.C. has in The Book of Thoth, but the older I get, a lot of the "in-depth" elements of association with Tarot feels... cunty. Or to quote Mr. David Byrne, "When I've got nothing (else) to say, my lips are sealed." I increasingly get the feeling that Crowley would have talked for days about any card in the deck if allowed, which means a lot of what he'd have to say would be, ahem, bullshit double talk. But then, the man sold his own semen as a "Health Elixir," so of course that's what he'd do.

The root of this card isn't the disappointment; it's understanding disappointment as at least partially the disappointed one. Five's are Geburah, severity. These are demanding cards (which makes me wonder if the card is the one that's disappointed; is drawing it a scolding?).

Surprisingly, Crowley must, at least in part, agree that this is a simple card. Severity indicates simplicity, in a manner, so that tracks. 

Like in Trump 12, The Hanged Man, we once again see the inverted Pentagram, the triumph of Matter over Spirit. That's a disappointment. 

Street Trash, Baby!

 

You can grab this and a bunch of other Ten Athlone goodness directly from their site HERE. From the Street Trash E.P. by Ten Athlone.

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Watch:

Ryan Kruger's Street Trash is, indeed, fantastic. In fact, it's jumped the top ten line and landed somewhere in the center. It's goopy, gory, bombastic and a lot of fun. Also, the characters are fantastic!

I really can't say enough good things about this one. It's true to the 80s Exploitation roots, not over-done production-wise, walking a line between bare bones and full-bore, which is great. It leads to fantastic practical FX right in line with the original and a very DIY underbelly that endears the film and its characters to you even more. 

Ryan Kruger's Street Trash is a $4.99 rental on Prime at the moment. If you're a fan of Pschyo Goreman and/or Hobo with a Shotgun, definitely give it a try. If you don't know either of those films but you want to get your weird on, this will do nicely.

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Read:

My reading has been sporadic at best of late, but I've failed to post about it here. After blowing through Laird Barron's new collection, Not A Speck of Light (from Badhand Books HERE), I side-stepped directly back into his previous collection, 2016's Swift to Chase.

Barron's work brings out the obsessive in me, and I'm reading these stories with the Laird Barron Mapping Project never more than a click or swipe away. There are all kinds of weird connections I've felt the edges of previously but not fully grasped. Also, somehow I never really understood the concept that some of the stories take place in what is called Barron's Antiquity Universe, so I'm gearing up to read all of those in a row soon. But first...

As I finish the last few pages of Swift's final story Tomahawk Park Survivors Raffle, I'm also about halfway through Ivy Tholen's new Slasher novel Mother Dear:

Once again taking place in the town of Belldam, Texas, Mother Dear is rife with the kind of under-the-radar social commentary I've come to expect from Ivy's books. The characters - while unlikeable - are so perfectly engineered that they feel like archetypes and actual people I know all at the same time. The opening death is magnificent, and the insidious manner these spoiled, rich folks burrow into my brain via their "first world, 1% problems" reminds me a bit of Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho in approach, if not actual execution. 

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Playlist:

John Carpenter - Lost Themes IV: Noir

Ghostland Observatory - Sad Sad City (single)

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust

Sumerlands - Dreamkiller

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

Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire

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Card:

Today's card is XII: The Hanged Man.

My big take away with this card has always been Four points over one, or reason triumphs over spirituality. Dark ages begin or dreams tripped up by rational thought. This doesn't have to be a bad thing, and I think this card is especially dependent on those around it in a pull. 

In his The Book of Thoth, Crowley writes extensively about this card. A lot of it is the usual impenetrable associations to Elemental forces, initiation, and Astrological forces. One idea that stands out is sacrifice, but not just standard sacrifice. Sacrifice as a form of Baptism or Death. This is, after all, the card of the "Dying God."

Godflesh's Streetcleaner turned 35!

 

This past Wednesday, Godflesh's seminal album Streetcleaner turned 35! That's three-and-a-half decades since this blistering slab was released upon an unsuspecting world. 

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Watch:

Last night, I showed K Fabrice Du Welz's 2008 film Vinyan. Homework for an upcoming episode of The Horror Vision Presents: Elements of Horror.

This is a favorite from the 00s, a film I own on DVD but haven't watched in quite some time. I think I originally saw this via Netflix back in the USPS days, immediately purchased a copy, rewatched, then did not watch again until a viewing in 2021 that I have no memory of (but posted about HERE. THIS is why I maintain this site!). Regardless, the film has stayed with me quite clearly ever since; it's a haunting journey into loss and madness, and Rupert Sewell and Emmanuelle Béart give powerful performances that really drive home the horror of their situation - which keeps getting worse. Basic synopsis from IMDB

"A couple are looking for their child who was lost in the tsunami - their search takes them to the dangerous Thai-Burmese waters, and then into the jungle, where they face unknown but horrifying dangers."

Even without children, the setup strikes me as particularly horrific, but when you add in the 'we're in over our heads and probably in terrible danger" of the approach the characters take, contracting local gangsters to take them into Burma, the tension continually increases. 

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Playlist:

The Cure - Songs Of a Lost World

Neon Nightmare - Faded Dream

Godflesh - For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)

Feel the Knife - So Raw... So Nasty... So Hideous

Dreamkid - All Thriller, No Filler

Dreamkid - Daggers

Frankie & The Witch Fingers - Data Doom

Godflesh - Streetcleaner

Melvins - (A) Senile Animal

The High Confessions - Turning Lead Into Gold with the High Confessions

USSA - The Spoils

Self - Breakfast with Girls

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Vol. 1

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Card:

Today's card is the Ten of Wands, affectionately dubbed "Oppression" by Mr. Crowley.

First, I finally made a list to keep track of what cards I'm using for the study. As I suspected, looking back at the entries since I began this at the beginning of August, I've retread several cards multiple times. My next post will examine what that might be trying to instill in me, for today, we'll just continue on the current course.

The Ten of Wands is an easy card in my head - Tens are the association of Malkuth, the Earthly plane. So we are oppressed by the physical realm, whether that means the limitations of our bodies, our money or lack thereof, whatever. 

Let's take it a bit deeper, though. 

In The Book of Thoth, Crowley goes on about all kinds of things I don't give a toss about feeding into my interpretation. One thing that hits home, though, is this:

"It is a Will which has not understood anything beyond its dull purpose, its "lust of result," and will devour itself in the conflagrations it has evoked."

Maybe we didn't need that entire quote because the idea I want to hone in on is the "lust of result." Anyone who has studied Chaos Magick knows this as the enemy. Whatever you want to achieve, your lust of result will get in the way. This to me, fits in perfectly with the idea I set out above, the kind of 'shackled by Malkuth," because what is that lust of result if not Malkuth exerting itself upon us?

Noirvember!

 

Yesterday would have been Ennio Morricone's 95th birthday. Sadly, the legend left us back in 2020, but here at the onset of Noirvember, I couldn't pass up posting the title theme from his score for Sergio Sollima's 1970 Città Violenta, AKA Violent City.

 

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Watch:

So yeah, I have so much fun with 31 Days of Horror every year that I've decided to pick up on another month-long theme for viewing. That's right - Noirvember is officially underway! 

This is the first time I remember hearing about this one, courtesy of an article on Bloody Disgusting last week. It sounds perfect for the early darkness of November (which is totally f**king with me this year, for some reason). We kicked this off last Friday night with a screening of The Cohen Brothers' stunning debut, Blood Simple!

I love this film. So stark, brutal and just dark, man. DARK! Every performance is a gem; so many little Cohen Brothers flourishes help endear this one. Perfect example - the incinerator out back of Julian's bar. I would argue this is as much a Horror film as it is Noir, but there's no need to argue because no matter how you classify Blood Simple, it's a powerhouse and a classic, perfect for kicking off Noirvember! (Also, I love how much this poster reminds me of my favorite poster for Lucio Fulci's House By the Cemetery).

Next up, Billy Wilder's 1944 seminal classic Double Indemnity!

Nothing I can say about this film that hasn't been said a million times by people far smarter than me. A masterpiece and seminal Noir that sits right up alongside Sunset Blvd. Stanwyck really brings it; she's seductive, cold and evil. And MacMurray - it's hard to believe he was largely known for comedies up to this point. He's just perfect (if a skosh overcooked). Plus, Edward G. Robinson as Keyes - one of my favorite characters in film history.

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Doc:

I absolutely love Drug Church's new record, Prude, so when a short making-of documentary popped up in my YouTube feed, I cracked a beer and hit play. 

Prud is a serious contender for my favorite album of the year, and although I only recently learned that Patrick Kindlon - who I was familiar with from writing comics - is also the singer of the group, I know very little else. Sometimes, learning anything about a band is a bad thing. With Drug Church, however, you can just tell by their lyrics that these guys walk it like they talk it. And filmmaker Dookie Meno did a helluva a job with this. Highly recommended. 

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Playlist:

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds

Melvins - Tarantula Heart

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Data Doom

Dreamkid - Chrissy (single)

Melvins - (A) Senile Animal

Morphine - The Night

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Blood Lust

The Cure - Songs Of A Lost World

Swans - The Seer

Tom Waits - Rain Dogs

Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hot!

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands

John Carpenter - Lost Themes IV: Noir

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Card:

Today's card:

From the Grimoire:

"Break the cycle! Pattern interrupt (is) a definite counter to this card's presence. Physically write down the object/cause of anxiety."

That's a HUGE part of this card for me. It's not just a meaning; it's a tactic. Not a lot of how I have learned to interpret the Tarot gets that pragmatic, but I'd like to get there. Beyond that, in The Book of Thoth, Crowley says, "instability in the very foundations of Matter. This reminds us of the 'intense strain' of physical existence.

Antibalas - NPR Tiny Desk Concert

 

During my recent jaunt to Chicago's Southside, Mr. Brown and I once again did a record swap, and one of the records he loaned me that I cannot stop playing is Antibalas' 2017 Where the Gods Are in Peace. Sounds like Fela Kuti reincarnated! So many parallels to my favorite Fela record, Opposite People/Sorrow, Tears and Blood (might actually be two albums, but I had them on a joint CD Sonny D burned for me ages ago). 

 

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Watch:

I did some homework last night for the next episode of The Horror Vision Presents: Elements of Horror. 1926's A Page of Madness

It's been a while since I watched a B & W silent film, so I figured the best course of action would be to isolate myself, turn off all the lights and get stoned. Check, check and check. Maybe too stoned, though. A large part of this played like I was back in High School at a friend's watching "Beyond the Mind's Eye" or something. You don't realize how much dialogue drives a film until you remove it. When I say there's no dialogue here, there aren't even subtitles. That's because the film does indeed share something with those stoner videos of the 90s. It's largely a succession of arresting images, so I just kind of sat back and let them wash over me. This was pleasurable; I can't say much about the 'story' other than it ends up, I think, having something of a twist. 

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NCBD:

This week's pull:

The inevitable "0" issue. I assume this rounds out the "Road Stories" arc that has taken us strolling through Erica's past. It also marks the start of another hiatus, which bums me out. Still, 

This is a new title for me, and I'm hoping to also grab issues 1-3 if they're still floating around the shop. Cruel Universe is the sister title to Epitaphs From the Abyss, which I professed my love for a few entries past. Both titles are part of Oni Press's revived EC Comics line, and I figured since I'm digging Epitaphs so much, I should give this a whirl as well. Plus, Oni Press is one of the oldest, most independent publishers I know of, so it's cool to support them here as well. 

Final issue! I've enjoyed this anthology quite a bit and will continue to be on the lookout for these B, W &B series. Or, for that matter, any Spider-Man mini-series I can get my hands on. I miss the ol' Webhead, but still not going to engage in the core books that come out like, every three days or whatever. 

Saga is heating up again! Didn't I just post something about how this book kinda lost something after the years-long hiatus? I might be eating my words real soon...

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Playlist:

Antibalas - Where the Gods Are in Peace

Spoon - They Want My Soul

John Carpenter - Lost Themes IV: Noir

John Carpenter - Lost Themes III: Life After Death

John Carpenter - Lost Themes II

John Carpenter - Lost Themes

16 - Dream Squasher

Melvins - Tarantula Heart

John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST

Genghis Tron - Board Up the House

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Card:

Today's card for study is the 8 of Wands, Swiftness:

Yeah, I know I said I was going to stick with the sevens, but I need to go back and draw up a map of what I've already done for this 'tarot study' segment that I feel has become another daily pull. When I picked up my Thoth to flip to the next Seven, Valour came up again right away (and yes, I had already shuffled since yesterday's). When I put that aside, Swiftness came up. Seeing this, I figured, what the hell? 

This is a Hob card, and Hod immediately brings to mind Splendour, but in The Book of Thoth, Crowley reminds us that being of Hod, the Eights share the same difficulties as the Sevens. Quoting directly from page 182:

"The position is doubly unbalanced; off the middle pillar, and very low down on the Tree. It is taking a very great risk to descend so far into illusion, and, above all, to do it by frantic struggle. Netzach pertains to Venus; Netzach pertains to Earth; and the greatest catastrophe that can befall Venus is to lose her Heavenly origin. The four Sevens are not capable of bringing any comfort; each one represents the degeneration of the element. Its utmost weakness is exposed in every case."

I've begun to read these weaknesses in Splendour and Victory as the weakness of the material world. The Earth is beautiful, and we can build Earthly victories, but all of it is a distraction from returning upward into the non-physical realms. Tiphareth has always been, to me, the pinnacle of what we can achieve and still be a part of the world. Maybe it's just the news this morning, but I feel like, as a species, we've left that behind for victories of common treasures. Fame, money, power, etc.

Drug Church - Mad Care

 

Man, 2024 will be the toughest year to whittle out a Top Ten list since I started doing Top Ten lists. There are quite a few albums that feel like my favorite of the year, and the new Drug Church is the chief among them. Never mind that I love Patrick Kindlon as a comic writer; I like him even more as the singer of this awesome f@cking band!

Pick up the record or some merch from Pure Noise Records HERE.

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Watch:

My copy of Severin Film's All the Haunts Be Ours, Volume 2, arrived late last week, and Saturday night I sat down and chose a first offering to watch from it. If you haven't seen the 'track listing,' it's too verbose for me to reiterate here, so follow THIS LINK.

Anyway, I chose Don Sharp's 1973's Psychomania. This was on Shudder for what felt like forever a few years ago, and while I think I caught some of it on a late-night Shudder TV jag, it made no impression other than the film looked like the era of its origin. Flash Forward to last night and the first thing I noticed upon hitting 'Play' was the pristine remastering Severin performed on this one. This comes as no surprise - the inaugural edition of All the Haunts Be Ours showed how serious Severin's approach is to applying their staunch approach to film preservation in the hallowed halls of Folk Horror. So, restoration-wise, picture and sound, this presentation of Psychomania is a pure pleasure to behold. That said, how's the film? Solid. There's a Hammer affectation here without all the trappings that come with Hammer Horror, which I am generally only a fan of for about a month every four to five years.*

My favorite part of this film, though? The opening credit sequence. I watched it three times before moving on to the rest of the film. It's spooky and gorgeous, and the wah guitar-driven score is perfect for capturing the mood and era of the film. Here it is below, albeit culled from YouTube, not Severin's pristine version.

Courtesy of The Other Side of Music's YouTube channel, wdzr. Check out the channel HERE or the blog HERE or HERE. A very interesting little corner of the web for Audio explorers.

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* I appreciate what they do; it's just not my jam.

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Playlist:

Cocteau Twins - Garlands

The Cure - Songs Of A Lost World

Dr. John - Gris Gris

Matt Cameron - Gory Scorch Cretins

Soundgarden - Superunknown

Soundgarden - Down on the Upside

Michael Jackson - Thriller (single; video)

Goblin - Fearless (37513 Zombie Ave)

Replicas - Gary Numan + Tubeway Army

Roxy Music - Eponymous

Drug Church - Prude

The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious

The Kills - Midnight Boom

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

Better Lovers - Highly Irresponsible

Turnstile - GLOW ON

Baroness - Stone

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Card:

Today's card for study is the 7 of Disks, Failure:

My only entry in the Grimoire is a sparse and foreboding, "A difficult period in material life," so let's see what Mr. Crowley has to say, shall we? 

In opening the Book of Thoth, I'm reminded how little time is spent on the "pip" cards*. Here's the entire entry on the card:

"The number Seven, Netzach, has its customary enfeebling effect, and this is made worse by the influence of Saturn in Taurus. The disks are arranged in the shape of the geomantic figure Rubeus, the most ugly and menacing of the Sixteen. (See Five of Cups.) The atmosphere of the card is that of Blight. On the background, which represents vegetation and cultivation, everything is spoiled. The four colours of Netzach appear, but they are blotched with angry indigo and reddish orange. The disks themselves are the leaden disks of Saturn. They suggest bad money."

The general sentiment here is to keep your wits about you; something today could go wrong.