Death Folk Country

 

From Windhand singer Dorthia Cottrell's second solo record, Death Folk Country, released last week on the always fantastic Relapse Records. You can order a copy HERE. 

I'll admit that I don't know Dorthia's first solo record, 2015's self-titled, as much as I should considering I'm such a huge Windhand fan. In fact, I don't think I've listened to that one since it came out. I jammed Death Folk Country last week and it really hit the spot, and now, spending time with both records this morning, I can definitely draw a parallel: Cottrell's solo acoustic records are sort of to Windhand what Alice in Chains' every-other-album, acoustic EPs were to their proper albums. There's a strong vein of Cottrell's aesthetic that informs Windhand's sound and imagery, and those elements are on full display in these stripped-down arrangements of acoustic, peddle steel and the other various atmospherics touches Dorthia peppers these records with. As an artist, there is a bleak beauty to Dorthia's music - both in those aforementioned arrangements and in her vocals/melodies, and all of it ties together nicely into that over-arching aesthetic. 

Also, can I say that I love the album title Death Folk Country because I actually think that's a perfect descriptor for the music she makes in her solo career, and on this new album in particular? I guess I just did.
 

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NCBD:

Being that I was off work the last two days while K and I hung out in Dayton, OH, Wednesday feels a bit like Monday, and I'm starting my week with a pretty awesome NCBD. Here are my picks:

The final issue of the ill-fated Donny Cates, Ryan Ottley Hulk series. Most folks seem to hate this one, but I loved it and am sorry to see it go. Cates and Ottley took some HUGE swings here, and although Cates jumped off a few issues back, I feel like Ottley's done a great job maintaining the tone. Really hoping to snag this Skottie Young cover.

The end of Sins of Sinister. Despite what I perceived as a rough start, the Hobby Store SciFi of the last few issues has endeared SoS to me quite a bit. Up next for the X-Books, "Before the Fall." Not entirely sure what this will consist of, and I doubt I'll read all the titles, but there are a few that look as though they will interest me.

Being that I have not been reading the tie-in "Event" book, The Armageddon Game, I kind of feel like I've lost my compass for the ongoing TMNT series. Hoping that gets alleviated soon. 

LOVE this cover so much - total throwback to the earliest days of TMNT and, in a broader sense, early 80s indie comics in general. 

Halloween in the world of WTFPFH? Sign me up! This one's world is really starting to open up, and I'm curious to see more people and places through the eyes of characters outside the now-defunct Academy.

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Watch:

A few days ago, Bloody Disgusting posted the trailer for a new Slasher flick called The Curse of Wolf Mountain.

 

Some cool imagery here, and I'm definitely curious as to the story. That said, I'm not going to lie: when I see an indie flick - especially if it's a Slasher - that has people like Felicia Rose, Robert Englund, Bill Mosley, or in this case Tobin Bell and Danny Trejo, I become a bit weary. These good folks are genre icons who earn a considerable chunk of their living doing cameos in any movie that can afford them. Their names then bolster the perceived appeal of those flicks. Nothing wrong with any of that, except sometimes it seems like those flicks don't have a hell of a lot going for them besides the cameos. Wolf Moutain's trailer is ambiguous enough that I cannot properly "read" much about it quality-wise, so we'll have to wait for the film's release on May 9th to find out. That said, as I stated at the top, with some of what we're seeing in this trailer, Wolf Mountain has a very real chance of being a solid modern Slasher along the lines of Random Acts of Violence or The Ranger.

 

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Playlist:

Television - Marquee Moon

The Sword - Age of Winters

Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle

Funkdoobiest - Brothers Doobie

Guordan Banks - Keep You in Mind (single)

NIN - The Slip

Ruby the Hatchet - Planetary Space Child

Gang Starr - Hard to Earn

Telekinetic Yeti - Primordial

Windhand - Eponymous (reissue)

 

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Card:

When I travel, I always have my mini Thoth deck that Missi gifted me years back in my bag. However, when I went to do a Pull this past Monday from Dayton, OH, I couldn't find the deck. Now, I knew it was in the bag - this is a multi-compartment backpack, and I've become fairly convinced there's a portal to some small space dimension in the damn thing, so that items disappear, then reappear later. This was the case with the mini Thoth, as I found it yesterday while packing for our return trip. Anyway, this morning I felt like those cards had something to tell me, and when I pulled them from the small cloth pouch they live in, one card was turned over atop all the others.

The Ten of Disks can be a murky card on its own; are we talking about monetary wealth or amassment? Define wealth?  Most likely, as this is the Disks or "Earth" suit, however, there's more to Malkuth than just coins. Bearing this in my, next, I shuffled and pulled two accompanying cards to clarify the reading:

Swift action or, perhaps more appropriately read Conflict,  can be the deciding factor that helps achieve completion. 

Loud and clear - I've had a couple days off from writing, as there was zero time on our trip (that's not usually the case; I normally make time wherever we go), but I need to finish this short story I've had poised for completion today and get it submitted to the short story market it's intended for.

 

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Isolation: Day 154 Darling 666

 Holy cow! Dorthia from Windhand has a new band with Gina Gleason from Baroness? Count me in!

**

I was pleasantly surprised by not one but two movies yesterday. First up, We Summon the Darkness, which I'd originally blogged about my plans to rent a few months back when it first premiered on VOD. That never ended up happening, and the flick fell off my radar until Jonathan Grimm alerted me to the fact that it hit Netflix recently.

 

 This flick is 100% worth your time. I loved it; yes I saw a big WTF moment coming a mile away, but I think the filmmakers knew most folks would and added an extra little twist that I did not. Plus, who cares about twists when the characters, setting, mood, and overall layout of the film is this fun. We Summon the Darkness is a really good time that doesn't take itself too serious and knows how to get down and dirty in the mud and blood with Satan!

Next up, Host on Shudder. This is a 56 minute flick that was filmed during COVID shelter-in-place on Zoom. 

Yes, that's right. On Zoom. I know what you're thinking; stop thinking it. This one's scary as hell and quite a good time.

Granted, I watched Host in my ideal setting: alone, stoned, with all the lights off and totally focused on the film. It's 56 minute runtime helped in that, because these days an uninterrupted movie is almost an impossibility. 

**

Playlist:

Santogold - Eponymous

Perturbator - Dangerous Days

JK Flesh - Depersonalization

X- Under the Big Black Sun

X - Los Angeles

Dead Swords - Enders

Iress - Prey

Iress - Flaw (pre-release singles)

Card:

Back to the Raven Deck for this morning's Pull:

Old rules reassessed and rewritten? Or get off your lazy ass? I did a fair amount of work getting back into the sequels for Shadow Play over this past weekend. Not a lot of writing; mostly digging in and re-reading the bible for the series, plus the copious amount of notes I have on it. Feels good. That said, the Tower pops up to remind me that although I told myself I would send a query letter a day, it's been at least three days since I actually have, so I need to get back on that ASAP.

2019: March 11th

I'm about a week late on this one, but there's a new video for one of my favorite tracks on Windhand's 2018 opus, Eternal Return. Oh, who am I kidding? They're all my favorite tracks on this record. Awesome video, as well.

If you grew up in the 80s and 90s like I did, surrounded by shelf upon shelf of mass market paperbacks in the local library and Kroch's and Bentano's, and whatever that other bookstore in the mall was, you know, before the advent of big box, stand-alone bookstores, then you might have an inherent understanding of the horror paperback boom that permeated the pop literary world. You might have an understanding, but probably not of the scope of that boom. Unless you've read Grady Hendrix and Will Errickson's Paperbacks from Hell, in which two things probably happened:

A) You had an extremely entertaining romp through the history of Horror Literature and understand its timeline a hell of a lot better
B) Since reading Hendrix and Errickson's tome, you find yourself occasionally scouring the internet for copies of some of these lost gems, only to find prices repugnant.

But fear not! Valancourt Books has begun a Paperbacks From Hell reprint series - which you can subscribe to - that in most cases will feature the original paperback artwork. For myself, the price point of $16.99 for a MM paperback is better than eBay pricing but still too much for me to pull the trigger, but then again VB has not really solicited any of the titles I want yet, so I'm still keeping my eyes open for some goodies I spied in Hendrix's tome.

BTW - Errickson is a fantastic curator and played a large part in amassing the subject matter of PfH, and his Too Much Horror blog is definitely worth following.

So what are the paperback gems from days gone by that I'm interested in?

Michael McDowell's The Elementals because I am really interested in his Blackwater series, based on the fact that of all the books in Paperbacks from Hell, Blackwater sounds like it might be solid literature. Before beginning a series, however, I'd rather my introduction to McDowell's work be a stand-alone.

Because the pen name Peter Saxon is awesome, and because The Guardians series sound like a lot of fun.

Because the cover is subtle yet absurd and reminds me SO Much of my childhood, when covers like we find on all these books were the wallpaper to my life:

And finally, because I remember holding this one in my hands at a young age back in the early 80s at and almost checking it out of the Worth, Il public library, but never actually doing so.

Satanic Rock bands. Sounds like a great double feature when I finally get around to Hendrix's latest novel:

Playlist from 3/10:

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night
Exhalants - Eponymous
Firewater - The Ponzi Scheme
Earth - Phase 3 - Thrones and Dominions
John Cale - Black Acetate

Card of the day:

This is a very emotional card in respect to Earthly matters. There's revelation, although it might be confused at first. There's no inherent conflict, except maybe that of emotion taking over for a bit. Not really sure what this is in reference to, but I'll keep my eyes open today and try not to let emotions get the better of me.

2018: November 2nd - New Windhand Video for Red Cloud

Apparently this new Windhand video dropped on Halloween but I missed it. Here now, I present Red Cloud for your viewing pleasure. Great that they basically made a Hammer Horror short for it.

With all the spins I'm clocking on Eternal Return since it's release last month, I came to an interesting revelation. While definitely having their own sound, Windhand's sound could be elevator pitched as Carly Simon singing over early 90s Melvins. Not accurate, but I think it gets you there. As an interesting side note, I never really cared for Carly Simon before, but now I think I dig her.

If you live in Los Angeles, David Lucarelli's brilliant Dr. Zomba's Ghost Show, an old-time theatre experience is back for its final show this Saturday. I caught this a few months back during Fringe Fest - very much worth seeing. You can get tickets HERE and check out the trailer below:



And here's a clip of David talking about the origins and ideas behind Dr. Zomba's on Drinking with Comics:



Playlist from 11/01:

Weeknight - Post Everything
The Misfits - Static Age
The Final Cut - Consumed
Ennio Morricone - Black Belly of the Tarantula OST

Card of the day:

Well well well. Two days in a row, eh? I don't have time to dig deeper at the moment, however I pulled a clarification card and received this:

Swift action toward goal. This feels ambiguous at the moment, or maybe I'm just having trouble betting up my brain on the cusp of a three-day work weekend that starts eight days in a row. For now, I'll take it as a prompt to accelerate my work on making the book materialize, and leave it at that.

2018: October 13th

The closing track from Windhand's Eternal Return, my current musical obsession.

Zeal and Ardor tonight at the Roxy! Can't wait. Normally I'd show up a bit later and hang at the bar, but K wants to get there early, grab a spot by the stage and hang there all night, so it'll be front-and-center for one of her favorite bands. We saw them last year at the High Hat and hot damn! what an awesome show. Not a huge fan of The Roxy, but I'm happy as hell to see them growing into bigger venues.

31 Days of Horror continued with George A. Romero's Day of the Dead, primarily because I ordered the bare bones, director's cut Blu Ray for Land of the Dead - a movie a saw opening night in '05 and did not like very much. In spite of this, I've decided it's time for reassessment, and my friend Anthony swears the Theatrical was unlikeable because of studio edits which the director's cut corrects. We shall see...

31 Days of Horror:

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead

Playlist from 10/12:

The Final Cut - Consumed
In Solitude - Sister
Alice in Chains - Eponymous
Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
Steve Moore - The Mind's Eye OST
Windhand - Eternal Return
Zeal and Ardor - Devil is Fine

Card of the day:

Probably because the prospects of doing any real writing this weekend are slim. Boo social activity!

2018: October 9th: New High on Fire

With all my elation at Windhand's Eternal Return dropping last Friday, I forgot High on Fire's new album Electric Messiah also hit the 'shelves.' After giving it a couple spins I dig it - Matt Pike and crew didn't reinvent their wheel here, but there's some digging around inside the confines of their patented sound that there's some growth here. As usual, it's pummeling and a bit exhaustive. Not a bad thing.

31 Days of Horror continued yesterday with another first timer for me (we opted to save The Convent for tonight):

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species

Species is one of K's favorites. I'd never really had any interest in seeing it until I recently read that the monster was based on an H.R. Giger design - obvious, but I guess I just thought it was a case of Hollywood cribbing the design on the Alien monster. Either way, I enjoyed Species in spite of it being very 90s- everything from the camera work to the overwrought score reeked of X-Files influence. Forest Whittaker overdoes his role as this search-and-destroy team's empath, although I suspect that was the product of direction more than his personal choice. Also, the use of ground fog where there shouldn't be any is very much a trope of the 90s.

Playlist from 10/08:

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Automatic
Corniglia - Eponymous
High on Fire - Electric Messiah
High on Fire - Snakes of the Divine
God is LSD - Spirit of Suicide

I ended up baulking on finishing the second part of the novel last night due to sheer exhaustion. After work was reserved for a big ol' nap! Today's card for the day reflects my adjusted expectations:

Also, there's the balance of contrasts inherent in this card, which ties into the book's attempt to balance YA adventure-horror with a touch of a literary pedigree.

New Windhand Single Diablerie

Windhand dropped the second single off the upcoming Eternal Return, out 10/5 on Relapse. You can pre-order this HERE. I for one cannot wait!

2018: August 3rd - NEW WINDHAND!!!

This absolutely made my day! I've had a feeling for a while that a follow-up to one of my favorite records of the last ten years, Grief's Infernal Flower, was due, especially after that split 7" with Satan's Satyrs earlier in the year.

Listening to Grey Garden for the first time, my initial observations are:

1. The bass sounds like a fucking motor tucked into just the right spot beneath those twin guitars; reminds me a bit of the bass on my favorite tracks from Soundgarden's Superunknown.
2. Producer Jack Endino really brought Dorthia's vocals up in the mix here, and that's fantastic news.
3. The artwork, by Arik Roper, is beautiful beyond words, and somehow reminds me of the writing of Clarke Ashton Smith.

Eternal Return is slated to release on October 5th; pre-order it on Relapse Record's website HERE.

Playlist from yesterday:

Shockwaves Podcast 101 - Tubular Bells

Shockwaves Podcast 099 - Graham Skipper 

Tennis System - Pain EP

I'm sure I'm forgetting something I listened to, because I find it hard to believe that other than that Tennis System it was all Shockwaves, but work was nuts, so it took me a while to chew through most of two whole hour-plus podcasts.

I took K to see one of her favorite musicians last night, again at the Hotel Cafe. This time it was Justin Furstenfeld of the band Blue October. Justin does this "Open Book" show that's him on a small stage, telling stories from his life and accenting them with acoustic songs. I can't confess to being much a fan of the band, but as a low-key performer he was endearing and has a pretty great voice. This stories run the gamut from funny to hard-life-lessons-wrought, and in discussing being put on Paxil at 15, he solidified a theory I've had for a while now: the reason I can't directly relate to a lot of the music from the 00s is because that was the first generation of 'rock stars' - take Justin as an example of what that means today - raised on pharmaceuticals (ie anti-depressants) and, having never had that experience, it creates a palpable rift between them, their music, and me. 

Card of the day:

From the Grimoire: "Big Change; think things through."Not certain what this is referring to, but I have a feeling I will know by the end of the day. Always good to have a forewarning against acting impulsively. 

2018: April 25th 5:13 PM

Still riding pretty high off that Windhand/Ruby the Hatchet show the other night. Still recovering a bit from it, too. Here's another Ruby song, straight from the show the other night (I love how at 18:23 the person filming shamelessly zooms in on Jillian Taylor's bum).

Yesterday's playlist:

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction

Ruby the Hatchet - Planetary Space Child

Ozzy Osbourne - Black Rain

That last entry was a weird, off-the-cuff dalliance to see if a newer Ozzy album would be even remotely interesting. I'm not a huge fan of his solo stuff, but I grew up with it. Black Rain is produced well, the music isn't far outside of what you've come to expect from the Ozman, but the vocals are kinda meh. Not really a surprise. Funny how the night after I dine at the Rainbow Room - which was a staple of the 80s LA Sunset Strip Glam/Hair Metal scene, I listen to both Appetite for Destruction (for the first time in yeeeaarrss) and Ozzy.

Card of the day:

I drew this card early this morning to start my day. I don't feel very much in the way of stability or power though. 

2018: April 24th 3:08 PM

Windhand blew the fucking door off The Roxy last night. So did opener Ruby the Hatchet, who I strongly recommend you check out. Here's a taste:



These folks were straight out of the 70s - the keyboard player had a shirt for The Band on and the drummer had a Funkadelic Maggot Brain one. Awesome! All-around good time.

Ate before the show at the 'legendary' Rainbow Room; this is the place where Lemmy from Motorhead famously drank most nights, and as an interesting dovetail there was a scene in The Last Days of Jack Sparks that took place there, so it seemed fitting. The Rainbow Room isn't great - I've lived in LA twelve years next week and that's the first time I've gone, not in a hurry to return either. But, they had a pretty good burger, and they had Ballast Point's Sculpin on tap - I usually don't go for fruit flavors in my beer, and I'm not sure if BP adds the grapefruit flavor or if the profile comes from the way they roast their hops, which I believe is the case with one of the Goose Island IPAs, but Sculpin has to be about the most drinkable IPA ever. Switched it up to Lagunitas IPA for the show once we arrived at the Roxy - also my compatriot and I each took two gummies - 'cuz, ya know, it's Windhand - and I was feeling pretty amazing by the time the band came out.

Playlist from yesterday:

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Windhand - Eponymous E.P.
Windhand - their half of the split with Satan's Satyrs
Windhand - Soma
Jucifer - If Thine Enemy Should Hunger
The Veils - Total Depravity

Card for the day:

A change in paradigm, eh?

2018: April 23rd 4:48 AM

Tonight! At long last, Windhand at the Roxy. I can NOT wait!



Dorthia Cottrell has one of those voices - it's one for the ages in my opinion. There's a haunted, cryptic quality that fits the music perfectly. And whether she's buried in reverb behind at wall of doom or upfront and exposed, it's the same.



Playlist from yesterday:

Etta James - Eponymous
Etta James - The Second Time Around
The Fixx - Phantoms
The Cramps - RockinnReelininAucklandNewZealand
Roy Orbison - Greatest Hits
The Soft Moon - Eponymous
The Thirsty Crows - E.P.
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Mind Control
The Veils - Total Depravity

Card of the day:

Ebb and Flow. From the Grimoire: "If we struggle against the seasons, we will fall. However, when you turn (change) with the ebb and flow, you will reach a stationary peace from which your actions can harmonize with the power of Life's turning wheel."

I take this as, "Stay Limber today, kid," so let me start with some stretches before I head off into the day.

2018: April 18th

Seeing Windhand this coming Monday at the Roxy. Psyched does not even begin to describe my anticipation.

Episode 6 of Dark sealed the deal; I can't tell any of these damn people apart half the time, but this show is gorgeous and I am deeply intrigued at just what the hell is going on. A friend at work just clued me in to the fact that there are some family trees online and I'm hoping that will help, because I love the show, but I keep getting extremely confused.

Playlist from 4/17:
Mudhoney - March & Fuzz (disc 2)
The Brains - Out in the Dark
The Jesus Lizard - Rash E.P.
The Stooges - Eponymous
The Soft Moon - Deeper
The Ocean - Aeolian
White Hex - Gold Nights

Card of the day:

Well, wouldn't you know. Two days in a row? Hmm... Perhaps I need to let something go? But what?

2018: March 3rd 6:38 AM

Woke up with this dirge by Windhand in my head:



Playlist from yesterday:

Sleep - Dopesmoker*
Monolord - Vaenir
High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings
Monolord - Rust

*On my iPod; trying to fill in the holes only knowing it on vinyl has left me with.

Card of the day:

See, with one big question in my life right now, one big change that is pending and taking a very long time to play out for answers, it has become extremely frustrating to do these pulls everyday. Yeah, I know Change is coming, I just need it to arrive already.

Windhand - Two Urns

Bad ass!

Windhand - Woodbine

I've never heard Windhand before, but I saw the album cover on Brooklyn Vegan here and had to know if it sounded like it looks. It does. What's more, from the opening note of this track I knew I loved it. Then the vocals kicked in and I REALLY LOVED it. Spectral, thick and heavy but melodic. Reminds me a little of The Work Which Transforms God-era Blut Aus Nord (the vocals more than anything else) meets Electric Wizard. Really cool. Here's the trailer for the album out soon on Relapse, and if you hit that BV link up top there's some more information on that always awesome site!