Isolation: Day 140 - Vólan!

Vólan is a band from Moscow I'd never heard of until this morning when this live session from Audio Tree popped up on my youtube feed. Pretty awesome! You can hit their Bandcamp HERE for more music and merch!

**

I'm a pretty big fan of Robert S. Wilson's Nightscape Press, and as such I backed their recent Kickstarter HERE. I'd actually meant to post about this earlier, but there's still twelve days left, and even fully funded, this is absolutely worth contributing to. Nightscape is a fantastic and fully independent publisher, and my hope is they will be around for many years to come.


Previously, I've mentioned Nightscape's brilliant Ashes and Entropy anthology - easily one of the best books I read last year. I also recently picked up Dark and Distant Voices, Nightscape's short story collection by Tim Waggoner. I'm only one story in - ALL my pleasure reading is on hold as I work on final edits of two different versions of my forthcoming novel (I'll explain that at some other point). The point is, Mr. Wilson runs a top shelf company who deserve our support.

**

Playlist:

The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose
Aerosmith - Pump
Motörhead - 1916
Nirvana - Nevermind
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
Urge Overkill - Saturation
**

Big picture.

Isolation: Day 139

The beginning of this song is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've heard on piano. I fell down a bit of a Don Shirley rabbit hole yesterday, and in doing so, came across again some articles that posit 2018's Green Book was a racist film. THIS is the problem with the left; everything is a problem. Every man's a rapist. Every white person is racist. Four years of captain goatfucker in office and everyone loses their fucking minds. The way forward is not to one extreme or the other. It's COMMON SENSE. Until the day this prevails (not holding my breath), I'll use music like this to remind me how beautiful the world is by listening to music like this. Thank you, Don Shirley.

**

The Final episode of HBO's I'll Be Gone in the Dark aired last night. Slightly anticlimactic, but of course that's the bane of most True Crime.

Next up, we're finishing the last half of the final season of Breaking Bad. halfway through, I realize there's a reason I've put off revisiting this show. The emotion destruction that accompanies Season 5 Part 2 is unlike anything else I've seen in serialized television. I love this show for the craft, the concise nature of the storytelling, but it really beats me up.

After that? I think we're going to do one both K and Mr. Brown have recommended to me - Halt and Catch Fire.



I've been looking forward to this for some time, so even though there's a boatload of shows to dig into, this one is next.

**

Playlist:

Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
Led Zeppelin - Coda
La Hell Gang - Thru Me Again
Roly Porter - Kistvaen
The Jesus Lizard - Head
Jeffery Alan Jones - Most Beautiful Island OST
François-Eudes Chanfrault - Computer Assisted Sunset
Ghost - Opus Eponymous
Ghosts of Glaciers - The Greatest Burden
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Underworld - Beaucoup Fish
Don Shirley - Don Shirley's Best
Don Shirley - Total Expressions

**

Card:

Time to pay closer attention to the rules for a bit, especially those I place upon myself. Things may have gotten a bit loosey Goosey of late, with Quarantine-Fatigue, or possibly from the contemplation of actually making it through the tunnel and out into the light again.

Sunday Bandcamp: Dead Swords

Holy shit, where has this been my whole life? I stumbled across New Jersey's Dead Swords while tripping off this awesome record that Heaven is an Incubator posted a few days ago. Talk about an algorithm!

This album goes deep, so strap on some ear goggles and disappear to another dimension.

Isolation: Day 138 The Royal Screw

I cannot get enough of this album! It is perfect, and this song is probably my favorite (I'm rotating through the track list day-by-day). The drum sound on this record is a total throw-back to old school Rhythm and Blues, while having the advantages of modern technology. The alto sax that peppers through the verses evokes Boots Randolph, while the chorus horns hit hard and serve as a good-natured reminder that former Dap-King Thomas Brenneck produced this collection of perfection. Finally, the vocals are perfect - striking a bit of an evocation of classic Van Morrison while still being completely Adam Weiner, snark and energy going full throttle.

**

Last night K and I watched the indie film Cosmos. Loved it! In fact, I kept thinking "I never knew astronomy could be so riveting! This reminded me of Darren Aronofsky's π, not in style or tone at all, but simply because the filmmakers made something most people see very little in and make it thrilling (in π it's math).



Cosmos was directed by brothers Elliot and Zander Weaver and stars a total of four freakin' people, and it's one of the best examples of 'more with less' I've seen in a while. True, the score is definitely heavy, and really helps to dramatize situations that might have had slightly less impact, but overall, this one get a four-and-a-half star from me.

The Weavers' production company is Elliander Pictures, website is HERE.

**

Playlist:

The Thirsty Crows - Hangan's Noose
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
Run the Jewels - RTJ4
JK Flesh - Posthuman
Dead Swords - Enders
Low Cut Connie - What Has Happened to Me (pre-release single)
JK Flesh - Depersonalization
Baroness - Gold and Grey
Led Zeppelin - How the West Was Won

**

Card:

Turning once again to the Raven Deck, I get a nod to follow my instincts. I think this card is a vexing counterpoint to the 4 of Wands' continuous advice.

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.

**
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.

**

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

**

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.

**

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.



**

Playlist:

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

**

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.

**

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.

**

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

**

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.

**

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!

**

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

**

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.


**

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.

**

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

**

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.

**

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!

**

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

**

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.

Isolation: Day 131

I've had The Smiths on the brain of late, particularly The Queen is Dead, and even more particularly this song. I love Morrissey's lyrics, but even more, I love his delivery of the lyrics. "Dreaded sunny day, so let's go where we're happy, and I meet you at the cemetery gates" is a hysterically subtle indictment of 80s Goth culture - a considerable part of the band's fan base - that is beautifully countered by genuinely thought provoking and despondent lines like, "All these people, all those lives, where are they now? With loves and hates and passions just like mine, they were born and then they loved and then they died."

It's just so damn good.

The Smith are a band that, when I'm into them, I feel my love for each song and album deepen with each listen.

**

Last night, K and I finished Dark Season Three.

Holy. Shit.

In the interest of understanding the insanely well-written intricacies of this series, we'll be starting season three over again tonight. This time, however, we're going to follow every episode we watch at night by listening to the Digesting Dark podcast episode pertaining to the episode. These guys really know the show, and both K and I are really looking forward to having some third person insight into this one, because no one else we know is watching this, and it BEGS to be discussed.



**

Last week, the Maniac Cop trilogy dropped on Shudder. I've been wanting to see the original for years but haven't had much luck. As far as I knew until Arrow's recent release, the Larry Cohen created, William Lustig-directed Action/Horror classic had not been in print for quite some time. How was it? Exactly what I expected, and wonderful for just that reason. It's not everyday you have Bruce Campbell and Tom Atkins in the same flick.



**

Playlist:

The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
Tamaryn - The Waves
The Soft Moon - Deeper
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine - White People and the Damage Done
Me and That Man - New Man New Songs Same Shit Vol. 1
The Stooges - Funhouse
Steve Moore - Bliss OST
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band


Card:

Big influences spur a new project. Yes. Very big. Not a new project, but a new direction for the current book as I've decided to take a completely different tack than I was originally planning.

Isolation: Day 130

Mr. Brown sent this video to me yesterday and it absolutely made my day! Henry Rollins' excitement for music is an enjoyable thing to experience, and watching this has made me miss listening to his radio show on Los Angeles Public Radio KCRW (Link directly to his show, where past episodes are streamable HERE). The show used to be my regular Saturday night thing, but that was years ago, and as soon as KCRW moved him to Sunday at 9:00 PM, it killed my patronage. I've been meaning to make a habit of streaming the shows the day after, and I think this video was just what I needed to finally make that happen.

As far as the subject of the video, Rhino's Funhouse 50th Anniversary pressing - it's awesome for sure, but not something I'd shell out $400 (plus, as Brown pondered in a text, what about shipping on a box that size?). Still, it's a pleasure to hear Rollins geek out about that which he loves, and it's definitely infectious.

**

Two nights ago I woke up from an after-work nap and found K about fifteen minutes into a movie I'd never heard of before. I sat down and ended up getting sucked in, especially when I saw that Hannah Gross and DAVID CRONENBERG both had roles in the flick (as does Aaron Poole). Albert Shin's Disappearance at Clifton Hill is a weird little flick, visually gorgeous, and with definite Lynch influence. Until I looked the film up, as we were watching it, I began to suspect it might be a Brad Anderson film, as Clifton definitely feels like something Anderson might have done around the time he made The Machinist or Transsiberian.



The film is currently streaming on HULU, and is definitely worth your time.

**

Playlist:

François-Eudes Chanfrault - Computer Assisted Sunset
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Melvins - Houdini
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
The Stooges - Eponymous
The Stooges - Funhouse

**

Card:

Too much to get into at the moment, but let's just say I re-thought the book and am going to try something a little bit different with it than I originally intended.

Isolation: Day 129

Kind of a slow news day, so to speak, so I landed on this via Brooklyn Vegan. Apparently, Metallica has been doing "Metallica Mondays" which sounds like some weird food theme at a Chili's restaurant, but is actually a kind of cool quarantine coping mechanism the band has been doing for their fans. As my interest in this band stops after about 1988, this video is of particular interest to me. 1983 at Chicago's Metro? As a young metalhead in the 90s who would go on to frequent shows at the Metro, this is the kind of show I often dreamed of having been able to go back in time and see. Now, thanks to Metallica, I can. You have to get through a rather annoying minute or so of Lars talking about... not really sure, but I have to admit it. As hard as I am on these guys, they often come off pretty cool to their fans.

**

NCBD tomorrow is another short lister this week. Action Lab's Sweet Heart #2 finally hits the stand - this was another one I'd mentioned a few weeks ago, only to realize I had my dates completely out of order.

Other than that, the first issue of a new Image book called Bliss caught my eye recently:

The cover art is obviously gorgeous, but what really has me curious is this book's solicitation description from Image that ends with, "Breaking Bad meets Neil Gaiman's Sandman."

Huh?

The first issue of a two-arc maxi-series, I might just pick this one up. (Yes, I'm still attempting to limit taking on new books. No, it's not always easy.)


**

Playlist:

Cypress Hill - III: Temples of Boom
Soundgarden - Super Unknown
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
Sleep - The Sciences

**

Card:

The urge to do bad is often extremely strong. It's part of the flow of life to balance that out with positive stuff.

Isolation: Day 129

16 is new to me, but I'm digging their new albums Dream Squasher, just released on Relapse Records!

**

Saturday we ended up having an impromptu Danny Boyle double feature. It started with his latest film Yesterday, which is absolutely fantastic. I'm not a very big Beatles fan, but I can definitely recognize the impact they've had on the world, so the idea that their music would disappear is a pretty interesting one, especially when your main character is the only person on Earth who remembers it.



Once Yesterday, I followed up an itch I've been meaning to scratch for quite some time now, and put on Boyle's 2011 Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire. I hadn't seen this one since it was in the theaters:



Slumdog holds up 100%. Loved it.


**

Playlist:

Cypress Hill - Elephants on Acid
16 - Dream Squasher
Coheed and Cambria - The Aftermath: Ascension
Various - James Brown's Funky People Vol. III

Card:

New, big things.

Sunday Bandcamp: Dead

An awesome two-piece I found while snooping around at the Wäntage USA label's Bandcamp page. These chaps are from Australia, and they make some heavy freakin' tunes.