Nothing Cover Low

Via Brooklyn Vegan. This comes less than a day after my good friend Jacob text me that he had ordered me a copy of Nothing's new album, which is available here and from the little bit I've heard, every bit as fantastic as Downward Years to Come, which was my introduction to the band somewhere around a year ago.

Thank you Jacob! And thank you to Relapse for continuing to promote this wonderful band.

Transformers: Regeneration One - The Epic Conclusion

I really hate to see this book go! Seriously, for the record I very strongly dislike the movies. I watched the first one in the theatre and almost had a freakin' seizure from rolling my eyes so much. Hate would probably not be too strong a word. But Simon Furman's run on this, the twenty-years in the making conclusion to his late 80's/early 90's run on the classic Marvel comic is fantastic. It's also the topic of discussion in this week's edition of Thee Comic Column over on Joup!

Liars - Mess on a Mission - Video

My god, every time Liars put out a new record they also throw down a video that blows my mind. Case in point.

Swans - To Be Kind Trailer

I cannot wait for this record. Swans' 2012 magnum opus - and yes that word is overused but NOT in this regard - The Seer really just blew my fucking mind when I heard it in the early part of 2013 (I've mentioned here recently that had I heard it in '12 it would have been #2 on my year end list). I've felt a bit removed from current music lately but this is something that I am really looking forward to, to the point that this is without a doubt a 'day of release' buy for me.

Apparently this trailer is for the DVD available with the deluxe edition of To Be Kind, out May 13th via Young God Records/Mute.

Can't wait!

Garth Ennis & Facundo Percio's Caliban

image courtesy of www.geekpr0n.com

... is the topic of discussion in this week's edition of Thee Comic Column, right over here on Joup.

Sequart's Documentary about Chris Claremont's Epic Run on Uncanny X-Men

image courtesy of Marvel.com

...is out and ready to watch. I ordered my copy last night and wrote this week's Thee Comic Column about it. Available on Joup!

Rue Morgue Celebrates 25th Anniversary of Prom Queen's Murder

image courtesy of hemlockbooks.co.uk

The newest issue of Rue Morgue is on the newsstand and as you can no doubt discern from the picture it has a nice, juicy Twin Peaks cover story in honor of the 25 year anniversary of the night Special Agent Dale Cooper opened that mason jar of scorched engine oil and entered the waiting room via Glastonbury Grove and its circle of twelve sycamore trees. Now, if you've been reading about Twin Peaks for a long time as I have - pretty much since it aired - the Rue Morgue story is not too much that you haven't heard before. But it's done really well and there are some unique insights by Ray Wise, Sheryl Lee and Jennifer Lynch. And unlike Fangoria, which sadly pretty much blows - or at least did the last time I checked - Rue Morgue is a fantastic horror mag that I don't get to read often enough. There's also a great article on Oculus, a movie I think I was unfairly dismissing due to billboard proliferation around LA but after reading said article I'm actually looking forward to.

Karl Urban's Brief Message RE: DREDD Sequel

Once again, props to Mr. Whelks for throwing this little video my way. I signed the petition - LOVED Dredd. If you did too, go HERE and sign!

WEEN circa 1996 on Australian Radio

"Here on the Chocolate hotline..."

If you click on the previous WEEN link I posted this week, "Beacon Light", and follow the link that Chester Whelks left in the comments you can read about Aaron Freeman's upcoming record. I miss the hell out of WEEN, but I want them all to live great, healthy lives too. So I'm behind Aaron and can't wait to hear the new record.

"Eating a Lobster Hoagie on my house boat" - fan-fucking-tastic!

Liars - Darkslide

Humor me. Put on some decent headphones and listen to this track, then tell me how you feel with a comment.

Drinking w/ Comics Issue #4

In issue #4 of Drinking w/ Comics Shawn and Mike welcome Sara and Erin, the show's new 'Science Officers". They drink the new Goose Island 312 Urban Pale Ale and wax philosophical about Warren Ellis' new Moon Knight, Garth Ennis' Red Team, Matt Kindt's 3 Story and days gone by when Marvel's New Universe turned a family of four into the amorphous horror known as... Fami-leech! Plus: The threat of Tony Montana makes its presence known!

WEEN - Beacon Light Live

There are days when I miss WEEN so much it hurts. This is one of those days. Listening to Pure Guava, thinking about how awesome this band is.

Carpenter's Classic "The Thing" Recreated w/ GIJOE's?

Yep. And it's awesome. Mr. Brown just sent me a link to an article on buzzfeed where Jack Shepard (assuming it's not the oxy-popping, dying on the island Jack Shepard) posted a link to this almost five years ago. The video itself, done by Simon Gesrel and Xavier Ehretsmann for the band Zombie Zombie, was originally uploaded to youtube in '08, so the question is how have I never seen this before and why does something this amazing only have 77K hits?

Spread the word. This is awesome on every possible level.

Black Lips - Nightmare Field

Look at the Black Lips, with the crazy switchblade choreography! Awesome!

I had started getting into The Black Lips a couple years ago and then kinda forgot about them. Within the last few months however, as internet chatter led up to the March 14th release date of their newest record Underneath the Rainbow, the have once again become ever more interesting to me. Now this video for Nightmare Field, which is the first video since Qui's marvelous Mucho Sex in America to really make me stand up and say, "YES!" Great song, great video.

Via the mighty Mxdwn!

The Conclusion to Garth Ennis and Craig Cermak's Red Team...

image courtesy of comixology.com

...was fantastic. I talk more about it in this week's Thee Comic Column on Joup.

New Trailer for Irvine Welsh's The Filth

I cannot wait for this film. I'm on the fence about re-reading the book - which is, like everything Welsh has ever written, phenomenal - before seeing this. Maybe after? The tone is of the adaptation looks perfect, kind of a cross between Trainspotting and Bronson. And McAvoy is fast becoming a "he's in it? Then I'll see it" kind of actor for me.

And I'll See You... Under the Sycamore Trees

From the "And I'll see you..." the vocals become almost too powerful to bear. Goodnight 25 years later (I say this realizing Cooper is still walking around inside the Waiting Room, lost, and that he will be until morning. No, until... 25 years later.

"Would you like a plate special?"

"Yeah."

Joup Team-Up! Chester Whelks & I Talk Twin Peaks

image courtesy of cogito-ergo-doleo.tumblr.com

The inimitable Chester Whelks recently asked me about doing a two-man article pertaining to the final episode of Twin Peaks for our beloved Joup. This, of course, in honor of the aforementioned 25 Years since Special Agent Dale Cooper entered the Black Lodge. The link below will act as a mason jar of scorched engine oil; click it and you will draw back a crimson curtain. We will be known to you then and ready to talk about our own individual experiences with the series and that massive, massive final episode.

kcoR s'teL

Happy Twenty-Five Years (Not for Dale Cooper)

Dale Cooper entered the Black Lodge (in story time) on March 26th, 1989. He's still there, with the good Laura. What's Bob been up to running around in Cooper's skin? Well, most likely he's killed Major Garland Briggs and Pete Martel, but other than that... Mr. Lynch or Mr. Frost, would you care to weigh in on this with say... A NEW SEASON? Netflix in particular has expressed interest. Or what about a season of True Detective that intersects with the TP timeline, much as the fabled X-Files episode where Dana and Mulder enter the Lodge in order to... no, let's not get diminutive. The simple fact though is, of course, us fans will take whatever we can get, even if it's just a Georgia Coffee commercial.

Thanks to the great Chester Whelks for forwarding the above video to me.

image courtesy of twin peaks.wikia.com

Liars "MESS" Out Today

New Liars record MESS was released today. The band is streaming it live on youtube for any who want to hear it before buying, however if you're familiar with Liars you know its grand before it even hits your ear. I cannot wait for the video from this record!

††† - The Epilogue

This new video by ††† came to my inbox last week, however it was quickly forgotten as email continues to become something that, except with a few exceptions (My marvelous correspondences with Joup's Chester Whelks to name one of those I cherish), just annoys the hell out of me. Fast forward to now where I sit writing in the starfuckers up the street from my crib, and as Intronaut's Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones) ends yet another iteration and I dig through my ipod looking for something to take the weight off this one album I've listened to about thirty times in the last twenty-four hours (don't want to wear it out) I realize it's been a while since I've injected myself with the beauty of The Deftones' Koi No Yokan. This in turn reminds me about ††† and thus, here... we... are.

Now, back to the novel!

Intronaut - The Welding

Mr. Brown sent me this album yesterday and I've not stopped listening to it since. Remarkable juxtaposition of heavy and melodic.

New X-Men: Days of Future Past Trailer

No, it won't be as good as the comic. But yes, I think it will be good in its own right. And just what do I base this on? Well, I didn't hate X3 as much as most (over-stuffed yes but they killed my two least favorite characters, Scott and Charles, so I was happy). And then First Class surprised the hell out of me. And honestly, I'm digging the translation of these characters to the big screen. Marvel has lit the fire under everyone who has perpetuity rights over their franchises to actually try and make movies that are smart, inventive and continuity-based and really, DOFP along with the near rapid-fire announcements concerning 2016's Xmen: Apocalypse would appear to be great steps along the road that Fox really wants to be a X-Men movie universe that rivals Marvel's movie universe. They'll never get it as good, but it's sure fun to see them trying!

New Swans Track - A Little God in My Hands

I'll admit, until 2012's The Seer I never had as strong an affection for a Swans record. Granted, there weren't a lot of their albums I knew, primarily because, and this may sound a little goofy, but at some point ten years ago or so I purchased the reissue of Cop/Young God/Greed/Holy Money and honestly, it scares me to this day. There is a malevolence that hangs over that record that really gets under my skin. I liken it to watching Silence of the Lambs - Lambs is an amazing piece of cinema that I love just for its craft, but the actual tone of the film - while perfect for the story - puts me in touch with one of the darker, more perverse nooks of the human psyche and I simply cannot go there very often. The same is true of SE7EN, which I love even more for its craft but which tends to absolutely demolish me, each one of my meager three viewings of that particular film sending me on a spiral of paranoid, hate and frustration that takes a few days to recover from. Now, the fact that filmmakers could do that to me with images and sound on celluloid either means I take movies waaaay too seriously or that they are extremely powerful examples of the art; I tend to interpret this as the latter but also know in my heart that it is actually more of a combination of both. The same is true of that early Swans stuff. I sought it out because I had read what an influence they were on Justin K. Broadrick and upon initial listening attempts to Cop/Young God/Greed/Holy Money I saw the influence, but I also caught a glimpse of a hell that seared my psyche and thus have only sporadically gone back to make new attempts at desensitizing myself enough to fully embrace those records.

And then there's the question if I should try to desensitize myself, but I'll leave that to a later day.

All that said Michael Gira and contributors have definitely refined the band with age. Despite my emotional handicap to the old music I've kept up on Swans as a cultural cornerstone and have ear marked the many iterations the group has gone through over the years. The Seer was a record that didn't make my best of list in 2012 because I didn't hear it until the very first days of 2013 and upon hearing it immediately thought that it would probably have ranked in at #2 on that just-published list at the time. The Seer is... all encompassing; a micro-verse in a record's form and something of a journey that I like taking on a somewhat regular basis. These are no longer the bowels of hell Swans take me to, merely some of the more... colorful suburbs of those fantastic realms.

According to the mighty Brooklyn Vegan Swans newest record, To Be Kind, is out on May 13th via Young God. I'll definitely not be waiting until January, 2015 to purchase it.

Gwar Cover Billy Ocean's Get Out of My Dreams

Not quite as epic as their version of Kansas' Carry on but pretty gnarly nonetheless. RIP Oderus!

RIP Gwar's Oderus Urungus

I took today off from work to celebrate my day of birthing with a few extra hours of that ever-disappearing natural resource we all take for granted - Sleep. When I woke up around 8:30 AM (yeah, that's sleeping in four whole hours for me) a text came through from Mr. Brown that informed me Oderus Urungus, the lead-singer of Gwar, had died yesterday.

Talk about the reverse of a birthday present.

And Speaking of Horror... More New Music from The Horrors

Via Brooklyn Vegan. So good to hear this new music from a band I had actually kind of lost track of for a while. There's a lot of new textures I getting from this new album thus far. Some Cold Wave elements fused to the bones of psyche-out, run through their Rough Trade/Factory influence, yet all tempered with some exemplary pop flourishes.

The Misfits w/ Michael Graves - Saturday Night

Oh, and how could I not tack this one on at the end? I don't love the second Graves-era Misfits record - Famous Monsters - as much as I do the first - American Psycho, from which the first three posts in this series were from and named after one of my favorite novels - but this is one of the highlights.

The thing with this era of The Misfits is in order to appreciate it you have to consider it a totally different band than the original line-up. You just have to. Or Glenn might show up and beat your ass.

Just saying.