Isolation: Day 137

Mr. Brown had to remind me several times to look up Low Cut Connie, and when I finally did, I understood and became extremely thankful for his persistence. So far, 2015's Hi Honey is all I know, but MAN is it a fantastic album. This is a tie for my favorite track - so far - with Royal Screw, which I might just post here tomorrow.

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As of yesterday, my short story Pentagram Girls is available to read for free on Wattpad, just follow the widget below:



If you dig the story, you can follow the widgets to the left to order the book - I have a 'quarantine special' of $.99 for the Kindle copy running now, so that's a pretty great deal, if I do say so myself. Also, that fantastic cover art is from my good friend and often co-conspirator Jonathan Grimm. If you dig his art, check out his site HERE.

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Playlist:

Primus - Frizzle Fry
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs
The Blues Brothers - Briefcase Full of Blues
Orville Peck - Pony
Baroness - Gold and Grey
Nothing - Guilty of Everything
Joy Division - Closer
Black Sabbath - Sabotage
Dead Swords - Enders

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Card:

I keep getting this card because I shake my head like I understand and heed the advice contained therein, then turn around and do the exact opposite.

Isolation: Day 136

It was a real disappointment to learn that Shane Carruth - whose films Primer and Upstream Color are among the best films made in the last twenty years - is not a very cool person. I won't go into everything, but aside from numerous accounts of his assholery to everyday people, it appears that he may have made public certain aspects of his estranged relationship with director Amy Seimetz in a weird attempt to sabotage the release of her new film, She Dies Tomorrow. I'm not sure this is exactly what's going on, but regardless, I wanted to see this film before all this happened, now I'll be making it my Friday night watch next week when it drops on the 8th, just to help bump the film's numbers. Looks awesome, and seeing Jane Adams and Tunde Adebimpe from TVOTR is just too good to be true.

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K and I caught up to the current episode of HBO's I'll Be Gone in the Dark last night. This show is a powerhouse of emotion and terror, and although I usually don't have the stomach or nerve for true crime - I prefer my horror to have at least a dash of supernatural so it doesn't color the world around me any darker than I already perceive it - this is one I would recommend to everyone. I've loved most of what Michelle McNamara's husband Patton Oswalt has done since someone turned me onto Feelin' Kinda Patton in the mid-00s. To see this side of his life, and the lengths Michelle McNamara went to hunting a decades-old killer, it's inspiring.



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Playlist:

Primus - Frizzle Fry
Count Raven - Storm Warning
Angel Witch - '82 Revisited
Testament - Titans of Creation
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey

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Card:

Another pull from my beautiful new Raven Deck:

So I'll be paying more attention to my intuition.

Isolation: Day 136 - New Sumac

A couple years ago, I caught Sumac live opening for Converge. Fantastic band. I kind of forgot about them after that, but with this lead track off their forthcoming album out October 2nd on Thrill Jockey - Pre-order HERE - I'm all in.

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NCBD:

Finally! We haven't been waiting for this new Brubaker/Phillips graphic novel for very long, but it's felt like a millennium! These guys are aces, and if you subscribe to Brubaker's email newsletter, you will have seen his announcement that they are releasing three original graphic novels over the next year as part of a new series. He hasn't released all the details yet, but he did include a few pages of the finished product, and it looks fantastic. Of course.

I'm a bit on the fence with this one, but I'm absolutely down to give Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips' That Texas Blood the benefit of a few issues to lock into place.

I LOVE this cover! So old school, black and white TMNT. This book just gets better and better, breaking new ground with world building no longer beholden to the old iterations.

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Playlist:

Mitch and Ira Yuspeh - Seven Doors of Death OST

Godflesh - Streetcleaner

Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey

JK Flesh - Depersonalization

Baroness - Gold and Grey

Blueneck - Repetitions

Primus - Frizzle Fry

Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

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Card:

I was super excited to draw a card this morning from my new deck, one my good friend Missi colored for me. The deck is just the Major Arcana, but that's super cool. I know a few people who only draw with the Majors, and I've kind of always wanted a deck to do that with. Broadstroke answers can be insanely helpful.

Of course I shuffled the hell out of the deck - I could feel the energy Missi put into these things - and what card flips out on its own and lands face up in front of me? The Fool, of course, because I'm beginning a new journey with a new deck. Not replacing my beloved Thoth, but adding to it, in a way.

I've never been one to have multiple decks, but this is special and I love it. Look at how gorgeous this card is! I'm christening this deck the Raven Deck, after Missi. 

Isolation: Day 135 - Kilroy Was Here

I was elated to see this trailer yesterday. Ever since Tusk, I've been on the outs with Kevin Smith; I used to be a huge fan of his films and his podcasts. Even when his material wasn't great - Clerks II - I always gave him the benefit of the doubt, simply because I'd heard him talk about his creative process and the industry numerous times in person or on his podcasts, and always considered him an aspiration. The thing about Tusk that sunk that boat was despite the fact that Michael Parks gives a fantastic performance, and the cinematography and set design is fantastic, it felt stupid and ill-conceived, not to mention a total tonal mess. Why didn't he get the benefit of the doubt that time? Well, in the year or two before Tusk, Smith began talking about how pot had become a major part of his creative process, allowing him to follow through on ideas he normally would have dismissed. Guess what? That's not a good thing, to jettison your internal quality department by way of inhibition dampening drugs. Hey, I'm no angel. I drink and smoke often. That said, I rarely work on major projects when under the influence. I might get a breakthrough idea while stoned - that happens somewhat often - but I also know when I sober up what to discard as fanciful crap and what to keep. Tusk feels like a pretty good idea that went off the deep end, I'm guessing due to Smith's state of mind while writing it.

All that aside, Kilroy looks FANTASTIC. I'm super happy to be excited about a Kevin Smith project again, especially one that's horror.

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I received my copy of Eibon Press's The Beyond #1 yesterday, and I'm excited to confirm that this is not a straight adaptation of Lucio Fulci's film. There's a lot of background here, with the issue ending where the film begins, so that we get an interesting backstory for Schweick and Liza. Very cool, and the art is just fantastic in all its gory goodness!

The fourth issue finale comes out this Friday, and I'm pretty sure I'll be ordering the rest of the series then. Eibon Press's Fulci page is HERE. If you dig Fulci, support a truly independent company!

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Playlist:

Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Metallica - Master of Puppets
The Stooges - Funhouse
The Smiths - Panic (Single)
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
Brainiac - Bonzai Superstar
Savages - Silence Yourself
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey

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Card:

Lots of feminine energy this week so far. Makes sense. 

Isolation: Day 134

Following up yesterday's Sunday Bandcamp feature of JK Flesh's 2012 Posthuman with his newest release. Depersonalization dropped at the beginning of the month on Hospital Productions, a label I am completely unfamiliar with. Buy on cassette HERE.


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After watching that video of Henry Rollins geeking out over Rhino's 50th Anniversary box set of The Stooges Funhouse, I knew there was no way I was going to spend $400 on it, so I did the next best thing. My copy of Raw Power on CD disappeared a few years back, so I decided to finally replace it with Vinyl. Huge bonus, too, because without even realizing it, the copy I picked up has four sides - the complete 1973 Bowie mix, and the complete 1997 Iggy mix, both remastered, both sound great.

Bowie Mix:


Iggy Mix:


There's some insane differences between the two mixes, and where I used to prefer the Iggy mix hands down - it's the first way I ever heard the album - after spending part of Friday night comparing the two side by side, I think I'm split perfectly down the middle. The one huge sticking point has always been Penetration, which I prefer with the chime. However, the remaster of Bowie's mix shows what older copies on disc don't - the chime is there, and slowly creeps into the mix, where in the Iggy mix, it's pretty much in your face from the jump. Both have merit, especially when you factor in some of the insane levels Bowie mixed Pop's vocals at. Having Iggy sit that far on top of the mix doesn't always work, but on a few tracks, it gives the music an even more intense feeling of chaos.

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Playlist:

Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power
My Bloody Valentine - MBV
Discharge - Never Again
Heads. - Push
Gösta Berlings Saga - Konkret Musik
Baroness - Gold and Grey
La Hell Gang - Thru Me Again
The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
Mannequin Pussy - Patience
Godflesh - Streetcleaner
JK Flesh - Depersonalization

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Card:

Taming creative force with strategy. This is PERFECT, as Saturday I put myself in a bit of a tizzy in regards to what I'm doing with the new book. There's so many avenues out there for authors now, but it's hard to figure out exactly what to do. This leads to stalemate, a feeling of paralyzed frustration that comes from the paradox of choice. Weathering this will be no small feat, but it is possible.

Bandcamp Sunday: JK Flesh

There's a great interview with Broadrick on daily Bandcamp HERE.

Isolation: Day 131 New Jaye Jayle!

Another track from the forthcoming album Prisyn, out August 7th on Sargent House. Pre-order HERE.

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I've had Fulci on the mind of late. Yesterday after work I threw on The Beyond, and my love of this flick - which is still pretty new, as previously I just did not get it at all - prompted me to go to Eibon Press and finally order one of their Fulci comics, specifically the first issue of The Beyond, the signature edition that comes with the premiere of the US version of the film's soundtrack by Mitch and Ira Yuspeh.



The edited, US version of the film, re-titled 7 Doors of Death, was the only one available here until Quentin Tarantino helped Grindhouse Releasing put out The Beyond in its original form in 1996. The 7 Doors of Death version eschewed Fabio Frizzi's soundtrack for one by the Yuspehs.

The comics Eibon Press makes all look fantastic. I've been curious about their Fulci stuff for a while, but I've been unsure if the books are simply adaptations of the films or extensions of them, the latter what I'd be interested, the former not so much. Either way, the inclusion of the score on this package - even if its not vinyl - is what ended up sealing the deal for me. And worse case scenario, I have a cool comic based on the film, too!

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Playlist:

Stereolab - Mars Audiac Quintet
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs
The Smiths - Meat is Murder
La Matos - Summer of '84 OST
M.I.A. - Arular
Baroness - Gold and Grey
La Hell Gang - Thru Me Again
House of Pain - Same As It Ever Was

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Card:

I get it. I've been tempted to tinker with the finished product. I've seen this card enough lately to know I should just leave it alone and concentrate on moving on.