My good friend Amy posted a track by her nephew's new band on her socials the other day, and I was floored when I followed the link and hit play. Can't wait to hear more by Bedridden soon; this band rules! Buy the track and hit follow over on their Bandcamp HERE.
Watch:
Starting my first full rewatch of Twin Peaks since before 2017's The Return (which I've rewatched twice since it aired). This time, however, I am starting with Fire Walk With Me.
Watched it today; never fails to blow me away.
Playlist:
David Lynch and John Neff - BLUEBOB
Stan Getz - Focus
Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food
Made Out of Babies - The Ruiner
Lustmord - Hobart
Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me OST
Card:
For the first of my three New Year's Pulls, I used Missi's Raven Tarot for a single card to indicate where the new year will take me.
A paradigm shift! Good news. This leads me to believe I am on firm footing with the projects I am currently balancing. Let's revisit this for each of the next two days with my subsequent pulls.
I'm not a fan of the Black album. In fact, everything that came after that album makes me not want to be a fan of this band at all. However, I could never turn my back on those first four records by Metallica, especially Master of Puppets.
However...
The almighty algorithm saw fit to send 'Sad But True' my way Monday when an Alice in Chains record I was listening to on Apple Music ended and I didn't choose another one quick enough. I heard those opening chords and lingered. Then, before I knew it, I was into my second go-round with the song, actually physically restarting it after its conclusion.
Dare I say it, but this is a good song.
Nothing about 'Sad But True' is what I like about the music from this band that I like, but divorcing the song from its creators for a moment, I found there is almost a Doom vibe to this one. Also, there are some haunting elements in the choruses - not sure if those are keyboards or a guitar effect. Either way, I doubt I'll be jamming the whole record any time soon, but I've already added it to a playlist.
Watch:
I finally got around to watching Ivan Kavanagh's Son on Monday night. Jesus, this one is a rough watch. A very good film, freaky as all hell, but also there's some pretty disturbing stuff just below the surface.
This won't be for everyone. There's an undercurrent of abuse - it's not front and center or showcased, but it's discussed as the motive for certain events in the film, and that lingers. That said, I'm pretty squeamish with anything like that, and although this stayed with me, I can't say it did so in an overtly, or in any kind of discomforting way. What the film did do right was be well made and quickly paced, as well as take those unpleasant ideas and weave them into a pretty compelling and effective Horror film.
NCBD:
I feel like this cover says it all: This series is BIG.
Maybe it was binging the recent MOTU sequel series that primed for this, but I LOVE this cover. Total Skeletor.
This is the 1:15 variant for Ed Piskor's Red Room #3. I'll most likely not be able to get my hands on this particular variant, but it's awesome as all hell.
The end to an amazing series. Can't wait to reread the entire run, start to finish in a nice, tight burst. Talk about great characters!
Casey Jones! These "Best of" TMNT books have been among my favorite comics in years, and I kind of expect this one to go right up alongside the Raphael one from a few months back as the best of the bunch.
I'm not actually certain I will buy this one, but I just love the fact that these two bizarre ass characters have their own book. Five-year-old me would be ecstatic!
The throwaway panel of the High Evolutionary and the promise his presence brings is what has me coming back for issue 2, although I will say, rereading Grant Morrison's New X-Men has me feeling some major love for the corner of the Marvel Universe I wrote off due to 'strip mining' the characters a few years ago. Let's see where this book goes.
Playlist:
Jerry Cantrell - Atone (pre-release single)
Alice in Chains - Eponymous
Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog
Not a lot of full album rotation today as I leaned into a new playlist for the upcoming second episode of the new Metal Podcast I'm doing with Anthony and Tori from The Horror Vision. We're recording the new episode this coming Saturday morning, so it should be up this coming Tuesday. The topic? Well, if the playlist doesn't make it obvious, it's Thrash Metal.
Card:
Reminding me to leave the old paradigms (and projects) behind in the face of reconciliation with previous collaborators.
There's a reason Sunn O))) named a song after Earth founder Dylan Carlson.
I'm largely unfamiliar with Earth except for this album, which I picked up shortly after its release in 2014, and which became ingrained in my psyche in 2015 as I listened to it over the course of a year where my life imploded and then put itself back together (better). This song, in particular, and Rabia Shaheen Qazi's lyrics and delivery really resonated with me at that time.
Watch:
Well look what finally found its way to a platform where most people can actually see it:
I've had a lot of misgivings about this flick and the interminably long build-up to its release. First, A24 makes great stuff, however, I've developed a growing awareness of the films they release that seems to have the express intent of being 'the next Hereditary.' Seeing the Saint Maud trailer for the first time a little over a year ago marked the beginning of this suspicion and the feeling has only escalated since.
Next, to have bypassed the usual VOD platforms where the everyman fan can pay to rent the film, A24 instead made a deal with West Coast cable channel Epix, where the film has remained exclusive for the last several months.
Really? Being that no one I know that doesn't live in California has ever even heard of epix, I don't know where - if anywhere - this film was available elsewhere in the country, but I consider this a frustrating manuever on A24's part. I mean, all is forgiven if this helped put the film and its writer/director Rose Glass in a good place in a world where movie releases have become increasingly uncertain and unprofitable.
Anyway, regardless of these misgivings, I watched Saint Maud yesterday. My reaction?
Wow.
When religious lunacy replaces addiction, bad things happen. That's all I'll say, other than I really dug Saint Maud, and although I don't really feel as though the way A24 handled its release was warranted, the film is definitely worth watching if you're a fan of the more psychological take A24 tends to curate for their release.
Playlist:
Earth - Primitive and Deadly
High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings
Type O Negative - Dead Again
Windhand - Eternal Return
Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit
Algiers - The Underside of Power
Arctic Monkeys - AM
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Federale - No Justice
Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love (single)
David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Freaks)
The Dandy Warhols - Playlist
Cutting Crew - (I Just) Died in Your Arms
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Corniglia - Eponymous
Card:
Yes. Perfect pull, as the paradigm of the past year died yesterday when, for the first time since early March, 2020, I walked to my coffee shop writing spot and put in a solid writing session. It felt awesome, and I'm going back today!
