Sunday, July 14, 2024

Nox Novacula

From the upcoming album Feed the Fire, out August 2nd on Artoffact Records.

I'd never heard Nox Novacula before, but I'm digging both this song and the video. You can pre-order from the band's Bandcamp HERE.

Watch:

Friday night, I finally saw Kathryn Bigelow's first film, 1981's The Loveless.

Willem Dafoe's debut performance and you can pretty much see that he's going to be a force to be reckoned with. I LOVED this film and have to wonder if it wasn't also an influence on David Lynch, which kind of blows me away, as I'd always thought of Kathryn Bigelow's most important work coming after Lynch's, but this would definitely rearrange that.

Also, hot damn is this a great soundtrack. Robert Gordon - who plays Davis in the film - lays down a Rockabilly extravaganza the likes of which I'd not heard before. There's stuff here that bridges the greaser/beatnik aesthetic, which kind of runs together socially a bit during the 50s before counterculture became driven by capitalism.

Can't recommend this one enough, and it's currently included with prime. Would make a fabulous double feature with either Paris, Texas or, as I chose to do Friday night, Lynch's Wild At Heart.

Read:

I finally got around to reading Dan Watters and Lamar Mathurin's four-issue Cowboy Bebop series, which Titan Books published a few years ago.

Really fun stuff. I'm sure I've talked about this here before, but even though I don't go in for very much animation, the original Cowboy Bebop cartoon is one of my favorite things of all time. Also - and this was a total surprise at the time - I really liked the live-action Netflix show this series is based on. Watters really captures the spirit of both shows, and Mathurin just nails the perfect blend of how the characters look in the cartoon and how they look played by actors. The story revolves around - what else - a heist and a bounty, but snakes into some serious Grant Morrison territory just enough to have made this feel unique but still very much in the spirit of the show that does indeed transcend the genre.

You can order a trade of this direct from Titan Books HERE.

Playlist:

Tim Hecker - Infinity Pool OST

Mars Red Sky - Eponymous

Brainiac - Predator Nominate

Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon

Blut Aus Nord - The Mystical Beast of Rebellion

The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir

Eagulls - Eponymous

Megadeth - So Far, So Good... So What?

Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart

Justin Hamline - The House With Dead Leaves

Zeal & Ardor - Wake of a Nation E.P.

Death Valley Girls - Under the Spell of Joy

Forhist - Eponymous

Fen - Dustwalker

Donny McCaslin - Beyond Now

Suicidal Tendencies - Controlled By Hatred/Feel Like Shit... Déjá-vu

Deafheaven - Sunbather

Card:

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

• XVII: The Star

• Eight of Pentacles

• IX: The Hermit

XVII is a much needed reminder - "Create unto and within yourself a Universe, shaped of your strengths and built on your accomplishments as foundation."

Eight of Pentacles - Earthly transformation, and IX is the concentration needed to achieve it. In other words, finish the book!!!

Shawn C. Baker

Pages