2018: May 17th 6:59 AM

Yesterday I dug out Eagulls' second album, Ullages, for the first time in quite a while. I really liked the album when it came out, but it was somewhat the wrong time for me to fully invest in it - I was still riding too high on the frenetic burst of their debut, and the dour vibe, while glorious, was perhaps too much of a downer at the time. Enjoying sadness can be tricky, and definitely requires a particular mindset; without that mindset there is no enjoyment, only Zoul. I mean, there isn't a proper enjoyment, more of a sulking. For me at least.

I stuck to it though, and it helped me process the tracks in a different context when I saw the band live about a month after Ullages came out; the band absolutely killed it, and all the new songs sounded fantastic, intermixed with tracks from the first record to inject a bit of pep and throb amidst the otherwise seriously downtempo tone. Going back to the record now, after some time away and inherent expectations have faded, I'm falling into the sullen British craft of the record and it feels exquisite.

Playlist from yesterday:

Jamiroquai - Return of the Space Cowboy
Eagulls - Eponymous
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
Eagulls - Ullages
Nachtmystium - Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. 2
Nachtmystium - Silencing Machine

Card of the day:

From the Grimoire, "Overcoming opposites - attraction. Recognizing what belongs together - union."

Check. A confirmation that K and I need to carve out a little more time together, as of late it's been difficult, with her Mom fully moved in and my writing constantly. Her birthday is tomorrow, and I intend to make this a very special weekend.

2018: May 15th 6:15 PM

First, because I've been All-Black Metal, All-the Time, let's do something as a pattern interrupt:



After I finished David Peak's Corpsepaint two nights ago I immediately ordered this:

Back when I worked at Borders, this always caught my eye. I'm so taken with exploring this fascinating subculture right now that I just can't look away, and I wanted some non-fiction to bolster and sustain the high that I still have from Peak's book.

Playlist from yesterday:

The Devil's Blood - The Thousandfold Epicenter

The Ocean - Aeolian

Venue - Desireena

Deafheaven - New Bermuda

Deafheaven - Roads to Judah

Card of the day today was:

An eight. Of course. The number of building. Because I've worked on T12 everyday for two weeks, and Keller and I are really building something, not the story per se, but also a system by which we intend to tell many stories, the next two after this one already slated.

2018: May 14th 8:38 AM

Falling down a black metal hole thanks to Corpsepaint, which I finished and weighs in as my fourth favorite novel of all-time.




Playlist from 5/12:

Darkness Brings the Cold - The Psychoangelic Crypt
Cocksure - TV
Cocksure - Corporate_Sting
Alkaline Trio - Crimson
Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle, Pt. 1
The Best of Ella Fitzgerald, Vol. 2

Playlist from 5/13:

Burzum: Filosfem

Card of the day:

Could be good news coming when I combine this pull with something my boss told me late last week.

2018: May 12th 8:07 AM

Here's a song I originally found back in the mid-00s and then lost track of. Recently, I spent a good amount of time looking for Salem's Dirt on youtube but A) although the video left a lasting impression in my head, I could not for the life of me remember the name of the track, and B) there are a lot of bands named Salem. Anyway, I get to Keller's the other day and he has a Grimes-inspired playlist on and I see Salem Redlights. This makes me think about my fruitless search and I go on a tear again, preempting our meeting just to try and find this song. And I finally find it, I think by googling some combination of the words, "Salem + Music Video + Garage". Creepy AF.

I don't know if Salem is still kicking. Back in 2006-2007, I spent a lot of time nosing around online for music. I was also reading Wire magazine rabidly, and between the two I found quite a bit of really left of center music. I'm not talking about System of a Down left of center - they're not - or even Mike Patton left of center. This was small stuff. It was also around the time I first heard the terms "Witchhouse" and "Hypnogogic Pop", which may have essentially been the same thing. Anyway, there's a lot of stuff that just kind of got swallowed with time, Salem being one of them. I stopped reading Wire after I left Borders (I'd have to drive to Amoeba to get it - need to look into reading it online), and started spending my time writing instead of snooping for music. The one site I found during the final years of that whole musical archeology thing that I stick to religiously is Heaven is an Incubator, because honestly, Tommy finds only great stuff and he finds a lot of it. Good to re-claim this now as something I can go to when I need a freaky vibe to catalyze a scene or idea.

I signed up for Tubi and finally gave Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem another chance and, holy cow, I really liked it. The last time I think my two major problems were we were still kind of coming off his lackluster Halloween stint, and I fell asleep during my viewing. This time I was wide awake in spite of starting the movie with some yawns, but it pretty much kept me glued. And I thought Sherri Moon Zombie did a really great, somewhat nuanced job in the starring role. So that kind of puts RZ's films back in the black with me, with only his Michael Myers-as-Jason Voorhees singular one of his I hate, and the first Halloween feeling pointless and mean.

Playlist from yesterday:

Darkness Brings the Cold - House of Sin 1
Cocksure - K.K.E.P.
Cocksure - Corporate_Sting
Nachtmystium - Doomsday Derelicts
Nachtmystium - Reign of the Malicious
Darkness Brings the Cold - IX
Lustmord - The Dark Places of the Earth
Nachtmystium - Addicts: Black Meddle, Pt. 2
Burzum - Aske

Card of the day:

Watery aspect of fire - temper Will with Emotion.

2018: May 11th 8:26 AM

New Arctic Monkeys!



The album is out now, and you can click HERE to go to Brooklyn Vegan and hear the entire album.

Playlist from yesterday:

Darkness Brings the Cold - Human Me
Arctic Monkeys - Suck it and See
Dead Cross - E.P.
Windhand/ Satan's Satyrs - Split E.P.
Darkness Brings the Cold - House of Sin, albums one and two
Teenage Wrist - Dazed E.P.

Card of the day:

The duality of the One. Two sides of the same coin. A marriage of alchemical elements. I'll choose to interpret this as I need to spend some time with my Baby, who I feel like I haven't seen ages due to work, my writing schedule and her having been sick for a week. Will remedy that this weekend. Happily.

2018: May 10th 10:46 AM

I only knew about the surprise Dead Cross E.P. because Tommy still runs the got-damned best music blog around over at Heaven Is An Incubator, otherwise, I would have missed out entirely. Here's an awesome new Dead Cross video!




The new Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying is up. Read it HERE.

Playlist from yesterday:

Chris Connelly - Phenobarb Bambalam
Chris Connelly - The Tide Stripped Bare
Nachtmystium - Man Made
Nachtmystium - Doomsday Derelict
Nachtmystium - Reign of the Malicious
Peter Gabriel - Us
Brand New - Daisy
Eagulls - Eponymous

No card today.

2018: May 9th 8:00 AM

Holy cow! Chris Connelly has a new record that came out earlier this year. And of course, it's fantastic.



Highly recommended literature:

I started this yesterday. Fantastic book. The character of Stigoi is so hilariously based on a certain Chicago Black Metal Musician who, while I love his music, is known for doing the kind of bastard shit Strigoi does. This just makes me like the book even more than I already do, with its urban-decay-as-lifestyle that often proliferates internally inside self-obsessed musicians in cities like Chicago (I know, I'm from and was a musician there for ten years).

Speaking of which, let's combine several topics from today's post:



Playlist from yesterday:

Darkness Brings the Cold - Human Me
David Lynch & John Neff - Bluebob
USSA - Eponymous
Alice in Chains - B-sides
Alice in Chains - Eponymous
Neon Kross - Darkness Falls
Ghost Bath - Moon Lover
Blut Aus Nord - Memorial Vetusta II - Dialogue With the Stars

Card for the day is coming from my back-up deck, the mini Hanson-Roberts:

I don't like this deck nearly as much - nothing wrong with it, it's just not my cuppa. I like my Thoth, but I hurried out of the house this morning and forgot to pull - this deck is pocket-sized and was something I found, so it lives in my bag for moments like this. As for the pull itself, XIX coming in hot on the heels of XVII The Star (yesterday's pull) suggests that while yesterday's writing session was a bit convoluted (occulted, to force a slightly square peg into a circular hole for the sake of the metaphor), today's will be better, with revelations aplenty.

2018: May 8th 7:09 AM

One of my favorite tracks from one of my favorite albums. Had a massive writing day yesterday, and this was there to move me in over the finish line.

If you bought my book, read my book and like my book, please leave me a review. If you didn't like my book, you should leave a review as well. I'm all about the ying and the yang.

Playlist from 5/07:

The Birthday Party - Mutiny/The Bad Seed
Cocksure - K.K.E.P.
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
Boy Harsher - Yr Body is Nothing
Jesus Lizard - Shot
Deftones - Koi No Yokan
David Lynch & John Neff - Bluebob

Card of the day:

Always a pleasure to see this, one of my favorite cards.

2018: May 7th 7:41 AM

Now that my friend Chris's band The Thirsty Crows are on Bat Cave Records, he's been turning me on to all kinds of awesome music. Chief among this new influx of bands in my life is Neon Kross, the 80s-flavored second band of the singer for Rezurex. Darkness Falls is the first album I've sunk my teeth into from Neon Kross, and its fantastic start to finish. Wreckage particularly caught my ear with its homage to Flock of Seagulls' in the guitar parts.

Playlist from 5/06:

Alice in Chains - Facelift
Alkaline Trio - Crimson
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
2 new Ghost Songs via Metal Sucks (Faith and Dance Macbre)
Neon Kross - Darkness Falls

Card of the day:

The Emotional aspect of Will, read: temper your ambitions with emotional maturity and care.

The Endless Trailer (No, not Sandman related)

Been meaning to post this for a while. Looks intriguing.

My First Book Has Been Published!

My first book, an anthology of seven short horror stories, has been published! Purchase link below the cover image.

Link: A Collection of Desires
Description from the back cover:

"7 Tales of Modern Horror: A movie that kills and the app that lures its victims. The Angel of Terror bound to a suburban apartment building. Online dating! Snake worshipping murder fetishists and a kill-happy couple out to take revenge on their landlord! A Collection of Desires traffics in the horrors of the modern world; horrors that walk beside us by day, and creep inside our dreams every night."

2018: May 7th 10:00 AM

Hide is a band from my home town of Chicago that I discovered last night via Dais Records mailing list. I'm just beginning to delve into their work, but I find they scratch the itch left by bands like Throbbing Gristle, Excepter and, perhaps to a lesser extent but still in the ballpark, Skinny Puppy.

After people recommending it for years and me being a pig-headed hold-out, I've finally finished reading Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's The Long Halloween. Gave it 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads; sometimes I dumb.

(The reason I've long held out on reading The Long Halloween is everything I've ever read by Loeb - and granted all of it was well after this and Hush were written - was terrible. Not mincing words, and if you think I am, you try and make it through Ultimates, vol. 3. Go ahead, I dare you).

Oh! Finished Netflix's Dark last night. Holy mother of god, what an ending!!! Now, I need to construct my Dark murderboard so we can re-watch it and I can actually tell the characters apart.

Playlist from yesterday:

Converge - The Dusk in Us
Neon Kross - Darkness Falls
Alkaline Trio - Crimson
Bella Morte - Where Shadow Lie
Hide - Castration Anxiety

Card for the day:

The Earthy aspect of Water. From the Grimoire: "Dreams can become reality. Pay attention to your dreams. Focus thought through them, she can help you follow your intuition."

2018: May 5th 5:34 PM

Well, here's some fookin' Pogues because I met Garth Ennis today and he did a bumper for Drinking w/ Comics. Footage to appear sometime in the near future.



I'm not really one for autographs. In fact, one thing life has taught me, through my experience and those of others, is to avoid meeting anyone you are a fan of at all costs. Not entirely true, but a good rule of thumb. That said, there are a handful of writers/creators I just cannot pass up the chance to shake hands with and, in some cases, ask for an autograph. David Lynch was one, and my friend Lita Weisman helped make that dream come true at the release of his book Catching the Big Fish. Fast forward a number of years and I was able to meet Stray Bullets creator David Lapham. It's hard to overestimate the influence Stray Bullets has had on me, and I had Mr. Lapham sign a copy of the original issue #1, along with Young Liars #07, possibly my favorite comic book cover art EVER:

And today came Garth Ennis. Awesome Comic Shop 4 Color Fantasies in Rancho Cucamonga had an unbelievable deal for Free Comic Book Day, where for the paltry cost of $30, you could jump all the FCBD lines, get three items signed by Mr. Ennis, and you received a copy of either the first trade of Preacher - got it and the original issues to boot - or Punisher: Platoon, which I'd never read. Signing wise, I had a pretty hard time deciding what three items from the collection I would ask Mr. Ennis to put his Nom de Plume on, but I ended up going with three mid-90s heavies and the first three things I read by the man:

Playlist from yesterday:

Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
Chelsea Wolfe - Spun
The Raveonettes - 2016 Atomized
Monolord - Vaenir
Kings of Leon - Because of the Times

Also, although I haven't been in the habit of listening to podcasts for a while now, I'm drifting back into it a bit. I spent a good deal of time over the previous two days listening to Blumhouse's Shockwaves Podcast, which I can't recommend enough for horror fans. I jumped right in with 2017's Halloween episode, where Waxwork Records' founder, co-owner Kevin Bergeron and composer Douglas Pipes were guests. Really great podcast.

No card today.

2018: May 4th - New Alice in Chains!

How weird that the first time I dig out 2013's The Devil Put Dinosaurs here in a couple years and then write about it, is the same day that Alice in Chains drop a teaser of their newest song, presumably off an album not yet announced. And it's pretty good, too, this new track. Looking forward to seeing an album later in the year.

The new Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying went up yesterday, you can read it HERE.

Playlist from yesterday:

Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
Blut Aus Nord - What Once Was... Liber III E.P.
Brand New - Daisy
Brand New - Science Fiction
Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist
Thou - The House Primordial
Deafheaven - Honeycomb
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Perturbator - Dangerous Days

Card for the day:

Ah! My favorite card. Probably because I made serious progress in re-formating my writing ritual yesterday and thus, was able to accomplish quite a bit.

2018: May 3rd 6:28 AM

It is my opinion that Alice in Chains never had a bad album until The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here. Now, I like pretty much all the songs on this record, however, I find it difficult to listen to as an album, top to bottom. Maybe their time has run out, however the absolute Shock of finding that I really dug When Black Gives Way To Blue earned them a lot of respect in my eyes. In high school, pre-grunge, Anthrax was my band. After the influx of new material with the post-Nirvana wave, Alice was. Dirt made an ENORMOUS impression on me; I mean, there is no way to overestimate the effect that record had on me. And pretty much still does, although time and life experience has obviously diluted that experience. When Layne Staley died I felt what people felt when Cobain did. I followed Jerry Cantrell's two solo records and liked them to varying degrees, but something was, obviously, missing. A lot of time passed and then James Duval came in to the picture and I felt divided; I figured Cantrell was at least 50% of the band to begin with (at least), and his name did not have the 'branding' that AlC did, so why begrudge the guy? The test came down to the music, and I have to say, I dug Blue a lot. It's never been in regular rotation, but then again most Alice binges are sporadic events at this point and they usually center around the original albums. Recently I dug Dinosaurs back out and listened to it and found I really like it. The title track is especially haunting musically, and here's a video I'd never knew existed! The one thing that diminishes the track for me just a skosh is the slightly awkward rhyming couplet in the chorus, with "Jesus don't like a queer" working but only just - 'like' seems like a weak verb there. But that's nitpicking, which is okay when something is this good.

Playlist from 5/02:

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets
Prince - Sign O' The Times
Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
The Raveonettes - Ghost single
The Raveonettes - 2016 Atomized
Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here

Card of the day:

What is it with this card? Actually, now I know what all the recurrences of this one were warning me about - I'm not putting it down here, but suffice it to say it's something I have to solve and when I do, I will have a tiny influx of $$$.

2018: May 2nd 6:32 AM

So, obviously the consistency on these posts has begun to suffer a bit. My output here is still great, in my own obnoxious opinion, but it has wavered. This doesn't mean I'm losing gumption, or the new idea that held me in its thrall has gotten old, it just means shit has been hectic. So first, something a little less hectic:



Sign O' The Times is probably my favorite album by Prince, and one that holds me perpetually in its thrall; just hearing the opening notes of The Ballad of Dorothy Parker, with its odd, wobbly sustained keyboard note in the background and overly gated beat means I'll be immediately strapping this one in on the iPod at work in a few. From opening title track to the sexual juxtaposition of the two closers (Hot Thing is a one-night-stand sex romp, followed immediately by Forever in my Life which is something of an ode to settling down), Sign O' The Times IS 1987 to me, start to finish, in tone, themes and presentation, even if I probably only heard the title track at the time. Goes to show how every on the radio after its release was probably taking from it.

Anyway, I don't know if things have been more hectic or I'm just more scattered - well, #2 is definitely true - but I haven't been able to get a lot of work done on the T12 project. It's been a parade of responsibilities at work, even though I often don't feel like I'm doing much and the days are dragging, something that usually never happens to me. Friends say I'm just suffering from starting over in a new place, all my old protocols and procedures suddenly out the window. That must be it.

Playlist from yesterday:

The Ocean - Anthropocentric
Prince - Sign O' The Times
Prince & 3RDEYEGIRL - PLECTRUMELECTRUM
Boy Harsher - Country Girl E.P.
Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets
Black Queen - Fever Daydream
Kings of Leon - Only By The Night

Card for the day:

And there you go. I just interpreted this card as the ruins of an old paradigm for my good friend Missi yesterday - she also does a daily pull - and just like that, I'm taking a few paragraphs ago about the growing pains of an all-new situation and I pull the Ten of Swords to further emphasize that, yeah, rebuild dude.