New Music from Mars Red Sky!

From the upcoming album Dawn of the Dusk, out December 8th on MRS and Vicious Circle. For whatever reason, I can't seem to find a link to pre-order the physical media, but I'm sure that will arrive before the record's release. In the meantime, digging this new track.

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31 Days of Halloween:

My friends and I had the absolute privilege of rounding our 2023 Beyondfest out with a double feature at the lovely Los Feliz 3. 

First up, Documentarian Paul Duane's first narrative film, All You Need is Death. Please believe me when I say this one was revelatory! 

If you search go HERE, you'll see the inception of my stated fascination with "British Occult Films" - this is what I was using to discuss what has essentially become branded as modern entries in the resurgence of Folk Horror. Back when I was seeking out films like The Droving, Without Name, and the like in the wake of seeing Ben Wheatley's Kill List, Folk Horror hadn't yet become a household word, so English or UK Occult. Regardless of genre tags, these films were entries in a much more nuanced attempt to use the pre-Christian origins of modern society as the soil from which to mine Horrors born of folklore and the swirls mists of the pre-English, pre-industrialization world. That is very much the impetus for Duane's All You Need is Death, which explores the world of people who collect ancient folk songs. There's no trailer for this one yet, as in talking to Mr. Duane after the film he stated XYZ Films is releasing All You Need Is Death to the U.S. in mid-March. I'll definitely be watching for it, so when more info becomes available, I will post it here. In the meantime, here's a poster:

Next up was the new remaster of Maurice Devereaux's 2001 game show parody Slashers. This is one Terror Vision is putting out on BluRay in a couple of months. I couldn't find a trailer I could report, so here's the opening sequence:

This is a fun little gem from the early 00s and also, a movie my good friend Dennis had recommended to me over and over back when we'd hang out once or twice a week and watch flicks. I never saw it back then, and it had actually been on my mind about a week before Beyondfest announced this screening; fortuitous indeed.

The tally for 31 Days of Halloween so far:

1) When Evil Lurks/VHS 85/Adam Chaplin

2)Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 6 "Collection Complete"

3) VHS

4) All You Need is Death

5) Slashers (2001)

6) The Beyond/Phenomena

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Read:

I'm still slogging through Clive Barker's The Scarlet Gospels; truth be told, I haven't had much chance to read since I've been in LaLaLand, but there's also not a lot of excitement for me to finish the final 80% of the book. That said, I saw my A Most Horrible Library cohost Chris Saunders the other night, and as he always does, Chris gifted me a small handful of books he found thrifting. I'm mailing most back home to Tennessee so I don't have to weigh my luggage down with them, however, one that I'm keeping out in case I have some time and can't bring myself to return to the Gospels is this old gem: 

Originally published in 1990 and edited by Steve Niles long before he hit it big with 30 Days of Night,  I've seen this one around for years. I might have even had a copy at some point. Either way, what a great line-up of authors for one Anthology. Pretty excited to dig into this. 

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Playlist:

Led Zeppelin - Get the Led Out Playlist

Spotlights - Seance EP

Mars Red Sky - Dawn of the Dusk (pre-release singles)

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Data Doom

The Damned - Evil Spirits

Wire - Pink Flag

Pigface - Notes From the Underground

Gang of Four - Entertainment!

Drug Church - Hygiene

Gang of Four - Songs of the Free

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Talk About the Weather

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Card:

Sometimes, what looks like defeat is actually a breakthrough (if you're wise enough to see that). Not entirely certain what this is in reference to. I'm tempted to read everything as being about work at the moment, but that's just because I'm on-site in person and a little baffled by the manner in which things are changing. I guess we'll leave it at that.

Leaders of Men

 

I don't have a lot in me at the moment, so here's some old-school Joy Division, one of my favorite tracks from the Warsaw days.

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) When Evil Lurks/VHS 85/Adam Chaplin

2)Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 6 "Collection Complete"

3) VHS

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NCBD:

Here's what's waiting for me when I finally make it into a comic shop:

I still haven't started this series yet, so I will inevitably wait for all five issues to come out before I read. That kind of sucks, but the fact is this had a crazy low print run, thus my problems acquiring issue one (which I still don't have, hence why I haven't started it).

Finally: Apocalypse!!! I have no idea where this is going to lead; I'd originally expected old En Sabbah Nur to show up in X-Men: Red, where his wife is waging war on Storm and her people. Having him show up here has me questioning a lot of what I thought was going on. 

Daniel Warren Johnson doing a new Transformers comic that takes place in Robert Kirkman's Energon Universe? No way I'd miss this. I'm pretty selective with what I acknowledge, let alone spend time/money on as far as The Transformers; the only books I've read are the original Marvel comic and the Simon Furman continuation of that about ten years ago, Regeneration. Movie-wise, it's just 86 and the cartoons that predated it. Nothing else, so the fact that this ties into that world - or at least as far as I think I understand this Energon Universe - is a pretty big selling point. Of course DWJ at the helm is the other.

We finally get to see more of what Orchis is doing to Scott. There was a time I would have welcomed his torture, but call me crazy, Cyclops has actually become a pretty solid character in the post-Hickman continuity. I love how all the characters I found the least interesting or downright annoying are now stalwarts of my interest.

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Playlist:

Damone - From the Attic

Ruby the Hatchet - Fear is a Cruel Master

Umberto - Prophecy of the Black Widow

Spotlights - Seance EP

Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun

Young Widows - Old Wounds

Siouxsie & The Banshees

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No Sleeping at Beyondfest Triple Feature!

The only time I'd ever heard of Sleep Token before this past Saturday night was when my friend Josh asked if I'd heard of them, as his algorithm maintained a consistent recommendation. Driving back from a friend's house in Santa Clarita, my friend Bridget played several songs, and I almost instantly became intrigued. When Ray dropped me off at the hotel, I had a head full of smoke and laid down with their first album, Sundowning, on my headphones. I was transported somewhere I had never been before. This is the reaction I am most fond of with music, and based on that, I'm kind of an overnight fan here, despite the fact that some of the textures Sleep Token employs in its genreless music are coopted from styles of music I don't particularly care for. That said, in the context of this band's music and mythology, most of it works. 

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31 Days of Halloween:

Thanks to Beyondfest, I was able to kick off 31 Days of Halloween yesterday with a triple-feature over at the Aero. Here's what we saw:

 

Having just rewatched Demián Rugna's 2017 film Terrified, I wasn't entirely certain what I was in for with When Evil Lurks. Turns out, When Evil Lurks won the day. This film is relentlessly dark, it doesn't hold your hand, and it pays back what it demands of the audience with one of the most original and gnarly Horror flicks of the year, if not of the last few.

Next, the latest installment in the V/H/S series:

 

As I've stated here previously, this series is always a mixed bag for me. When I saw Gigi Saul Guerrero, David Bruckner and Scott Derrickson attached to direct segments in V/H/S/85, I had hope for a really solid anthology film, and I got one.

The one thing about the VHS that still wears on me is how they play with the mechanism of the format. Tracking lines, pops, squiggles, dither and interrupted interstitial elements - these contrived artifacts add little at this point, and I think take up far too much time. I know having these creates the VHS illusion. However, they're just such a given at this point it does nothing for me. I also thought a few of the shorts had some pacing issues, but overall, this is easily my favorite all-around entry into the series since the original. Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill's "Dreamkill" was easily my favorite here, with its bloody set pieces that felt right out of an early 80s Video Nasty.

 Finally, the night ended with Emanuele De Santi and Giulio De Santi's 2011 bloodbath, Adam Chaplain:

This movie would make an absolutely perfect double feature with Gabriel Bartalos's Skinned Deep. It's low on budget but a veritable "how to" lesson on shooting and FX when you have more Will than money.

As with last year's 31 Days, I'm aberrating my usual a-movie-a-day format due to the fact that I'll still be in a hotel room until the evening of the ninth. I always bring my firestick with me when I travel, however, working and seeing people come first, so I cannot guarantee I'll have the time every single day to watch something. With that said, Day #1 takes care of the next 3 days (not to say I won't try to watch something every day, it's just doubtful.

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Playlist:

Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST

Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh

Baroness - Stone

The Warlocks - Vevey Live

Sleep Token - Sundowning

Sleep Token - Take Me Back to Eden

Voyage - Paradise (single)

Voyage - Second Light

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Card:

I'm on the road, so all my Pulls will be from my mini Thoth deck for the next two weeks. Not a bad thing, but wanted to put up a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter until Tuesday, October 3rd. Here's the LINK.

• II: The Priestess

• Three of Cups: Abundance

• IX: The Hermit

Another pretty easy one - an abundance of emotion can lead to isolation. This is, I believe, another tip for dealing with issues at work. It's pretty easy to become overwhelmed and transported right back into the "Manager Mode" that made me successful while I was still living and working here in L.A. That's a mistake, and I appreciate the Universe's constant reminders that is no longer my role. 

Sonar Deceit

 

Thanks once again to Mr. Brown, I once again found an album that has immediately made my entire life better. The Damned's 2018 Evil Spirits is so good it's helped keep me afloat while I suffer from mild insomnia this first week in L.A. The Damned is a band I missed altogether when I was younger. Hell, it wasn't until sometime around 10 years ago that Mr. Brown came out to visit me, we hit Amoeba, and he picked up a three-disc set that included the first album, Damned Damned Damned, and I'm not really sure what else. This is the only Damned I knew until Sunday when, on the way to Cold Waves in Mr. Brown's car, he popped this in. I was blown away from the opening track, "Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow," all the way through to the last track, and I've listened to it almost every day since, sometimes multiple times. "Sonar Deceit" is, I believe, my favorite track, but the entire album is just so damn good, pun intended. The thing that

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Watch:

I had two nights to just kind of chill in my hotel room, despite the fact that doing so was exactly what I didn't want to happen (for a fairly heavy account of my pontifications walking the street of West L.A./Santa Monica, check out the most recent Every Day (Is Halloween) newsletter, which you can sub to HERE and comes complete with a playlist). I'm okay, though, and despite suffering from mild insomnia this last week, I'm maintaining and actually welcomed the respite. Here's what I watched while vegging in bed, NOT sleeping:

First up, Jeff Lieberman's 1977 weirdo slasher(?) Blue Sunshine. Here's the trailer:

 

This one is such a strange film; there's a fairly large scope to Blue Sunshine that kind of peters out at the end, but I love it nonetheless. The opening has stayed with me since the first time I watched it. Blue Sunshine is available on Blu-Ray from the fine folks at Film Centrix. 

 Next, I caught Mark Rosman's The House on Sorority Row on Shudder TV:

 

Not great, but then, it doesn't try to be. The House on Sorority Row knows exactly what it is - a film made to cash in on the early 80s Slasher craze, and in those terms, it does its job in a pretty entertaining way. There are elements of this that I really like to think were lifted from Henri-Georges Clouzot's 1966 film Diabolique, and that actually makes me like Sorority Row more than I probably should. 

Finally, in anticipation of seeing Demián Rugna's new film When Evil Lurks tomorrow at Beyondfest, I rewatched his 2017 film Terrified.

Another film that sets up a larger incident than it resolves, I dig this film quite a  bit but have never understood the proclamations that it's one of the scariest films of all time.  Terrified definitely hits a bunch of the "scariest scenarios ever" checklist (something under the bed you're sleeping in; dead child back from the grave, malevolent spirits watching you while you sleep, etc.), but I guess because I've seen all those before, it doesn't move the fear needle. That's not a criticism because most movies don't scare me. Not because I'm tough, but, you know, it's 2023 - we've seen a lot scarier shit in the real world. Still, a great film I recommend to all. 

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Playlist:

T. Rex - The Slider

Fvnerals - Let the Earth Be Silent

Bell Witch - Future's Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate

Joy Division - Substance 1977-1980

The Damned - Evil Spirits

Witchskull - The Serpent Tide

Godflesh - Purge

Dio - The Last In Line

Various - Every Day (Is Halloween) Playlist #7

The Damned - Phantasmagoria

Nerver & Chat Pile - Brothers in Christ split EP

Chat Pile - God's Country

IDLES - Joy as an Act of Rebellion

Wytch Finger - The Dance EP

FFS - Eponymous

Screaming Females - Desire Pathway

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Card:

I'm on the road, so all my Pulls will be from my mini Thoth deck for the next two weeks. Not a bad thing, but wanted to put up a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter until Tuesday, October 3rd. Here's the LINK.

• Six of Swords: Science

• Five of Swords: Defeat

• Three of Disks: Work

Wow. Really easy to read this one: The changes I'm trying to inspire being back at work on-site are just not going to happen and are not worth fighting about. That actually takes a lot of stress off me. 

It's Beyond Me, the Way That We Use it

If you know me, you will be surprised to see me posting an Eric Clapton track here. Outside of "Layla", I am NOT a fan. But a few days ago, Mr. Brown showed me Rick and Morty's "The Vat of Acid Episode," where they use this track from Clapton's 1986 album August for a hilarious montage sequence. This is full-blown, mid-80s, mid-life crisis EC, and it's... well, I can't really talk all that much shit about it at the moment because a combination of R&M and nostalgia for the world as it was in 1986 (to a degree) has it in regular rotation inside my head. This has made me question something about myself: my cynicism. I'll write more about this soon - I'm running on 12 hours of sleep TOTAL over the previous 72 hours, and I just don't have the mental capacity to explain my thoughts because, you know, it's in the way that you... yeah. 

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Beyond:

Tuesday night, running on next to no sleep, my friend Jesus, Horror Vision Ray and I attended the opening night of Beyondfest with Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's new film Kill. There's no trailer yet, so here's a poster:

This one BLEW ME AWAY. I’m fairly certain I won’t see a movie I like more over the next two weeks, maybe not for the rest of the year. Kill provoked a standing ovation and a whole lot of encouraging "fuck yeahs" from this guy right here. I felt like I was at a freakin' metal show it pumped me up so much.

Kill instantly became my third favorite action movie ever (Predator and Die Hard being one and two). Also, though I don't want to give too much away, Kill becomes something of a “reverse slasher” in the last half and is apparently the "bloodiest film to ever come out of India." Of that, I have no doubt. If you are lucky enough to get a chance and see this on the big screen whenever it comes out, do yourself a favor and do just that. Outstanding!!!

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NCBD:

Here's an amalgam of what will be waiting for me at Rick's Comic City when I return to Clarksville, as well as what I'm planning on picking up while I'm on the road:

Probably the book I am most anticipating this week. I really dug the previous arc of The Stuff of Nightmares, and from the brief synopsis I saw months ago that stated this is a Horror story that takes place at a Horror Convention - not to mention this Barbarian-homage cover - Red Murder really has me excited. Funny then, that when I first heard the creator Goosebumps had a Horror Comic on the way, I wrongfully dismissed it; I grew up a voracious reader, but born in '76, I was too old for that kid-driven series, and honestly, I was reading Horror novels from the Worth Library's paperback spinner racks that were probably way advanced for me at the time, subject matter-wise.

Not super sure what to make of Jean Grey number one, other than A) Louise Simonson has returned to B) Whatever happens after Fall of X, pretty sure Jean will be returning from beyond the grave as the Phoenix.

Newburn! That is all. 

LOVING this new Garth Ennis/Jacen Burrows Horror series. 

I know something about issue four of Robert Kirkman's Void Rivals that shocks me into almost placing it above Red Murder #1 on the anticipation scale.

Not going to lie - I need a full-series re-read to reestablish where we're at in What's the Furthest Place From Here. That doesn't lessen my fervor for the book; just makes it difficult to say very much about picking this up today. But pick it up, I shall.

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Watch:

Somehow, I missed the fact that a teaser for Issa Lopez's True Detective Season Four dropped a couple of months ago. I didn't miss this one, though:

So, you know my recent aversion to trailers? I couldn't help but hit "Play" on this; however, I cut out after about half. I mean, I didn't need to see anything at all ahead of time to know I was going to be all-in. I mean, have you seen Tigers Are Not Afraid? Set in Alaska and... well, that's about all I know about this one at this point, other than the fact that it stars Kali Davis, Jodie Foster, John Hawkes and Destro - I mean Christopher Eccleston, and has something to do with the operators of a research station disappearing. Sound familiar? Chances are this won't resemble John Carpenter's The Thing at all, and the comparison I'm actually referencing is the work of Laird Barron, which would fit right in with what I originally thought this show was going to be in Season One. Based on the appearance of a certain symbol, this season is apparently going to tie into one and three. Fine by me - world-build True Detective. Please! 

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Playlist:

Umberto - Prophecy of the Black Widow

Screaming Females - Desire Pathway

Le Butcherettes - A Raw Youth

Mastodon - Leviathan

Eric Clapton - It's In the Way That You Use It (single)

The Damned - Evil Spirits

Danko Jones - We Sweat Blood

Sandrider - Godhead

Blackbraid - Blackbraid II

Pale Dian - Feral Birth

Godflesh - Songs of Love and Hate

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets (1994 Edition)

Two Minutes to Late Night: Serpents of Christ

Johnny Marr - Somewhere (single)

Mutoid Man - Mutants

Feuerbahn - The Fire Dance EP

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Card:

I'm on the road, so all my Pulls will be from my mini Thoth deck for the next two weeks. Not a bad thing, but wanted to put up a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter until Tuesday, October 3rd. Here's the LINK.

• Eight of Swords - Interference

• X - Fortune

• Ace of Wands

Again, I'm probably too tired at the moment of Pulling and writing this, however, pretty sure this is a work-related issue. The 8 of Swords, combined with Fortune (The Wheel in other decks) which denotes change, and the Willful breakthrough intimated by the Ace of Wands leads me to believe there will be somewhat of a confrontation tomorrow and this is a reminder to handle myself with tact and professionalism.

Weird being on the job site again. 

Godflesh @ Cold Waves 2023!!!

 

This past Sunday, Mr. Brown, Missi Raven and I attended the 2023 Chicago Metro edition of Cold Waves. As with last year - the first one of these I'd managed to make it out to after almost a decade of wanting to - the event was fantastic. We arrived late, so missed several bands, which sucks, but I've been a bit worn down, so it is what it is. We did manage to see Sierra, who was fantastic, Paul Barker's Lead Into Gold, also fantastic and closer Godflesh.

Godflesh closed with"Spite," the opening track from their 31-year-old masterpiece Pure, arguably my favorite Godflesh album (depending on the day, I suppose, but it's up there). 

Here's a recent setlist from Montreal; Chicago's set was identical, except for the two encore tracks, which they didn't have time to play. No complaints - a fantastic sampling of their illustriously pummeling career.

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Watch:

Holy smokes. I did not know this was on the way:  

I've cooled on pretty much everything Mr. Cave has put out since Push the Sky Away. However, I still think he's a genius. And that genius began in a completely raw, primordial form with The Birthday Party, easily one of my all-time favorite bands. Seeing there's a documentary on the immediate horizon makes me insanely happy, even though it plays at my local arthouse theatre in Nashville, The Belacourt, from October 4th through the 8th, and I return from my trip on the 9th. 

Agghh!!!

More information - including all upcoming screenings - is on the movie's website HERE.

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Playlist:

Boards of Canada - Geogaddi

Boards of Canada - A Beautiful Place Out in the Country EP

Canyon - Empty Rooms

Nabihah Iqbal - Dreamer

Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire

The Damned - Evil Spirits

Damone - From The Attic

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Card:

I'm on the road, so all my Pulls will be from my mini Thoth deck for the next two weeks. Not a bad thing, but wanted to put up a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter until Tuesday, October 3rd. Here's the LINK.

• Eight of Disks - Prudence

• Ten of Cups - Satiety

• Three of Cups - Abundance

Seriously sleep deprived out here for my first full day in LaLaLand, I'll take this as a reminder to know when enough is enough. Prudence + Satiety = Plenty; have the sense to know when you're done and retire with that. I'd say that's letting me know that I should not work past my 8 hours today but rather return promptly to my hotel and catch a nap, as I'll be attending a 10:00 PM screening of Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's new film Kill tonight at Beyondfest!!!

New Music From The Dandy Warhols!!!

 

From the forthcoming album ROCKMAKER. No pre-order information up yet, so I'm not sure when this is coming out, but I'll definitely have my eyes open for more. In the meantime, digging the new track.

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Watch:

Thursday evening K and I went to the local theatre to see Bishal Dutta's debut feature film It Lives Inside. Here's a trailer:

I adored this flick. It doesn't reinvent the wheel; however, I'm all for seeing more culturally diverse Horror on the big screen, and this is where It Lives Inside offers a welcome new perspective for Horror fans. It also offers a really cool practical FX monster, one of my favorites in a while. 

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Read:

I was finally able to sit down and read Jeremy Haun & Jason A. Hurley's five-issue The Approach in one sitting yesterday. I'd been buying it monthly but had some trouble finding the last two issues. My good friends at Amazing Fantasy Books and Comics in Frankfort took care of that, though, and I started from the beginning and burned through this snowbound powder keg in less than an hour.

Fantastic series with art by J. Hervas, The Approach is a fantastic series that sets everything up in issue one, then just blows through to the end in an escalating storm of Terror and Violence, and I mean that in the BEST possible way. 

The TPB recently went on sale, collecting all five issues - you can grab it directly from Jeremy's website HERE.

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Playlist:

Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me OST

The Coup - Your Parents' Cocaine (single)

Lead Into Gold - The Eternal Present

Godflesh - Recent Setlist Spotify Playlist

WYTCH FINGER - The Dance EP

Godflesh - Songs of Love and Hate

Blut Aus Nord: Disharmonium: Nahab

Lustmord - The Others (Lustmord Deconstructed)

QOTSA - In Times New Roman

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Card:

Well, I'm on the road, so all my Pulls will be from my mini Thoth deck for the next two weeks. Not a bad thing, but wanted to put up a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter until Tuesday, October 3rd. Here's the LINK.

• 0: The Fool

• Princess of Cups

• Nine of Swords

A new journey begins; it will be difficult and emotional, but ultimately I remind myself any new journey is a good thing. Pattern Interrupt is a phrase I've been thinking of/talking about a lot lately. Fitting since I'll be on a plane to LaLaLand for two weeks, a few hours after this Post goes up. 

New Music from Chelsea Wolfe

It's unclear at this point if this new single is a harbinger for a new full-length Chelsea Wolfe album, but any new Chelsea Wolfe is fine by me.  

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Watch:

One of the features my friends and I scored tickets to for this year's Beyondfest is V/H/S/85. Here's the trailer:

While I've made no bones about the fact that I find these anthology series a mixed bag at best, to quote Nick Chaney from the Projexploitation Podcast, "Like it or not, I'm on its side." I love that these exist, and I actually became fairly excited for this entry when I saw that Gigi Saul Guerrero, David Bruckner and Scott Derrickson are among the Directors attached. 

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Playlist:

Ritual Howls - Virtue Falters

Baroness - Stone

bunsenburner - Rituals

Bluekarma - The Friction, the Pain

Stuck - Freak Frequency

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

Godflesh - Purge

Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch - Twin Peaks: Season Two

Angelo Badalmenti - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me OST

Various - Twin Peaks: Limited Event Series OST

Various - Twin Peaks (Music from the Limited Event Series)

Joseph LoDuca - Evil Dead 2 OST

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.  Just a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter right now. Here's the LINK.

• Knight of Cups

• Nine of Swords

• Ace of Cups

Pretty straightforward this morning: quite your bellyaching, toughen up and get on with it. I'm feeling a bit morose about heading out this afternoon for two-and-a-half weeks away from home. I'll be working in LaLaLand for most of that time, and despite being able to see my friends there and attending Beyondfest, a large part of me just doesn't want to go. I'll miss K, I'll miss our two cats and I'll miss our home. The cards remind me instantly that Pattern Interrupts are always good things, and I will return stronger than when I left. 

Jade Bird - Trick Mirror

 

I'd never heard of Jade Bird until yesterday, as finding this record proved pure happenstance, in the best possible way. During my afternoon writing session at the coffee shop, the music on my earbuds stopped just long enough for me to catch a snippet of "Trick Mirror." This track reminds me of something I can't yet place; the up-front bassline, Bird's soft vocals accentuated by a rhythmic cadence that soars at times with lush double tracking, and that ghostly reverb return that's pinned in the depths of the right channel of the mix. It adds up to a pretty compelling tune. 

"Trick Mirror" is taken from the 2021 album Different Kinds of Light, available on Ms. Bird's Website HERE.

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NCBD:

Here are my picks for NCBD today:

Saga! Like TMNT below, I'm behind on this one. Still, just seeing a new issue of Saga hit the stands brings a smile to my face. Still gotta make that twice-aborted re-read happen!

If this is only Part Three of "Showdown at the Easy Creek Corral," that means this issue is really just going to continue to crank the tension between Erica and Cutter, which is INSANE because it's already almost at the point of being unbearable! NOT a complaint, mind you, I'm just way more invested in this book than ever before - a feat for sure - and the creative team have set up a massive payoff. Talk about great serialized writing!

So far, Lemire and Sorrentino's Tenement is vying for my favorite spot out of all their Bone Orchard Mythos titles. Can't wait to read this and see where the new issue takes our band of trepidatiously misplaced travelers.

I'm behind on this series again, and I doubt I'll be catching up before my trip, so by the time I get back, I should only have to wait a week or so before I can read  TMNT 143, 144 and 145 in a burst. 

The first issue of Gerry Duggan and Javier Garron's new iteration of Uncanny Avengers was a pleasant surprise, so I'm hanging in for the foreseeable future. This might be the book where I felt the ramifications of the Hellfire Massacre the most. 

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Listen:

It was a great pleasure indeed for me to be asked on as a guest of John Trafton and Miles' Fortune's This Movie Saved My Life podcast. 

 

John, Miles and I talk all things Horror, with a particular emphasis on 90s Horror and 1998's Fallen, which I had never seen before. Here's the trailer:

Fallen is by no means a 'must-see' film, however, I definitely liked it better than most of those late 90s, post-Se7en serial killer movies. 

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Playlist:

QOTSA - In Times New Roman

Godflesh - Purge

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

Madlove - White With Foam

Lead Into Gold - The Sun Behind the Sun

Jade Bird - Trick Mirror (single)

Ash Borer - The Irrepassable Gate

WYTCH FINGER - The Dance EP

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.  Just a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter right now. Here's the LINK.

• Six of Wands

• Ace of Pentacles

• Ten of Cups

I inadvertently upset a delicate balance last night and can see my hard-fought plans - which have taken a few weeks to solidify - are in jeopardy. That's a bit of a hyperbolic statement: I'm trying to watch what I spend pre-LaLaLand, and I went ahead and bought a record on eBay. Nothing crazy expensive, however, finances are a delicate balance at the moment simply because we've depleted a lot of our 'home fund', and I really want to build it back up. The trip is going to have its financial footprint - work pays for all the travel and my meals, but I'm planning on being out and about as possible. So I'm reading this Pull as a gentle warning: No more late-night record buying for a while. 

I couldn't very well pass up Prince's Sign O'the Times, though. I used to have that, but it went out the door in my divorce.

C.O.F.F.I.N. - Give Me a Bite

Early last week, my good friend and former Schlitz Family Robinson bandmate Sonny V. sent Mr. Brown and I this track from Australia's Children Of Finland Fighting In Norway, or, C.O.F.F.I.N. The album, Australia Stops, dropped this past Friday, and I have to tell you, the whole thing freakin' kicks some serious face in. Give this one a listen on your favorite music streaming service, and if you dig like I do, you can head over to the C.O.F.F.I.N. Bandcamp page and pick up the album for a pretty easy $18.99 with a mere $5.00 shipping for U.S. Pretty sweet, right? Now, prepare to have your faces kicked!

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Watch:

Bring this on right freakin' now, please!

Last week I scored tickets to a handful of Beyondfest screenings, with more of the RSVP to follow. I'm in Chicago this Friday through Sunday, seeing Godflesh for Coldwaves on Sunday, then boots on the ground for work and debauchery in LaLaLand for two weeks. writer/director Kristoffer Borgli's Dream Scenario is, unfortunately, this year's festival closer on 10/10, so I'll miss it there. That said, this  should be hitting theatres nationwide. 

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Playlist:

Baroness - Stone

C.O.F.F.I.N. - Australia Stops

High on Fire - The Art of Self Defense

Goatsnake - Black Age Blues

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Nahab

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

Lord Huron - Long Lost

Ritual Howls - Virtue Filters

Belong - October Language

Boy Harsher - Careful

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.  Just a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter right now. Here's the LINK.

• XVIII: The Moon

• King of Pentacles

• Ten of Wands

Hidden Aspects of Earthly concerns will require a perfectly harmonized application of Will to harness/overcome. 

I'm not in a headspace to properly decode this today. I'm scattered, and that in and of itself may be where I need to apply that Will in order to make any progress. There's a slowly increasing hum of anxiety surrounding my upcoming 17-day trip away from home, 14 of those in LaLaLand. The last two trips have instilled in me a rising sense of unease when residing in L.A., and that's something I'm dreading.

That said, this trip will not be like the one last March; Beyondfest is back, my good friend and Horror Vision Co-Host Ray is taking a week off work to hang out, and I get to meet frequent Horror Vision collaborator and all-around awesome new friend John Trafton in person! Not to mention, all the other friends I will see. I've spoken here before about the importance of populating your life with Events, and that's definitely how these fall trips are set up, so there should be considerably less time spent sad and lonely in my hotel room, surrounded by the trash-littered landscape of West L.A., basically a post-apocalyptic city at this point. 

Ritual Howls - Dark Ceiling in Tennessee

 

How did I miss the fact that Ritual Howls released a new record back in May??? I'm not sure, but in a way, this is like finding a $100 bill in my pocket. Every track on this is awesome! Released by the always wonderful Felte Records back on May 12, you can order Virtue Falters from the group's Bandcamp HERE. 

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Watch:

Martin Scorsese, one of the last true auteurs from an age that is coming to an end, is known for high-end films. Killers of the Flower Moon looks to be no exception.

Despite the fact that this is an Apple Production, I'm going to assume Scorsese's name will be enough to put this film in theatres. One of the reasons I never bothered with The Irishman is it went straight to netflix and only played very limited engagements in the cinema. Let that be another reminder that netflix considers 'content' all the same; Scorsese's film was even keel with Marie Condo in their book. 

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Read:

I was overjoyed to score a four-issue set of Mark Verheiden's Aliens: Earth War at Rick's Comic City on Wednesday. Despite my love for Predator: Concrete Jungle and the original Aliens Vs. Predator comics Dark Horse published in the late 80s, I never really read their straight-up Aliens titles. Time for that to change.

What has me very excited about this book is the fact that Sam "The Maxx" Keith is the artist! I'm only one issue in, but so far, this direct sequel to James Cameron's Aliens is fantastic - far better than Alien 3, at any rate. Newt's here, Hicks is set up to come aboard, and Ripley is being dragged back out onto LV-426 again. Yeah, the repetition of the setup has since gotten old, but being that this was published in 1990, I'm very much okay with it here. 

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Playlist:

Agnes Obel - Aventine

Happyween Spotify Playlist

Various - Rocktober Blood OST

Ritual Howls - Virtue Falters

Ritual Howls - Into the Water

The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose

C.O.F.F.I.N - Australia Stops (pre-release singles)

IDLES - Joy as an Act of Rebellion

Lord Huron - Long Lost

Lard - Pure Chewing Satisfaction

La Hell Gang - Thru Me Again

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

Baroness - Stone (pre-release singles)

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.  Just a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter right now. Here's the LINK.

• Four of Cups

• King of Cups

• Page of Wands

All right, at a glance, cups by looking at the suits, I think I can read this as an overabundance of emotion that needs to be shaped by a clear-headed application of Will. Let's go deeper, though...

Fours indicate stability, but also, that stability can be a bad thing if it's status quo. 

King of Cups is a card I often read as a harbinger of Emotional Conflict. My grimoire entry for King of Cups has this in it, "emotional depths honed by intellect," and that definitely informs my initial read above.

Page of Wands - or Princess of Wands in Thoth - represents the physical aspects of Will, or the Earthly aspects of Fire. In other words, BAGGAGE. The Thoth card features a woman with a massive tiger wrapped around her - weighing her down. I'm always tempted to read that Thoth version as a fierceness that gets in the way - "Misguided Fire," I sometimes call it. This is the wrong approach - when you just keep at something without stopping to apply the other Aspects. Will without Intellect, Emotion and Resources can be destructive. 

End result: Pick your battles and keep your head about you; something will pop up that seems like the right solution, but it may only be the easy one. Very difficult not to apply this (as usual) to my writing. I've just reached a point where I'm entering the final scene of the book, so this is a reminder not to let the finish line confuse the path, which still must be laid a stone at a time, as opposed to rushed for lust of result.

Agnes Obel - Chord Left

Man, I love this track. Agnes Obel's 2013 album Aventine has become a recent favorite, and this is one of the best "intro" tracks on an album I've heard in a while. Her playing here very much reminds me of Michael Andrews's score for Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko, which I'm sure has a lot to do in winning my favor. But Ms. Obel's voice nestles perfectly inside her piano, and the whole thing just kind of sounds like the last of the evening light leaving the room, shooed off by shadows. 

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NCBD:

Here are my picks for this week's NCBD.

The previous four-issue Volume of the revamped Creepshow comic felt - a lot like the Shudder show they brought back a few years ago - pretty uneven. That said, with Garth Ennis and Becky Cloonan involved in this first issue, there's no way I'm passing it up.

I've just embraced that I'll be hanging out with Johnny Blaze for the foreseeable future. If nothing else, the covers continue to blow me away. Björn Barends continues to turn in what are probably the greatest modern Marvel covers. I've liked a lot about this book of late, with only a few misgivings. However, I'm not super stoked about Talia Warroad. She feels a bit much like the people who designed her did so from a half-informed idea of what a 'hot goth chick' would look like. 

This That Texas Blood tie-in/prequel/whatever slipped right by me last month, and it's been a bit of a hard road trying to seek it out after the fact. If nothing else, I've got my friend Mike in Chicago holding this one for me, as my shop in Clarksville doesn't seem to have access to it (my fault that I didn't realize it was imminent early enough to have them add it to my Pull). Anyway, wherever Messrs Condon & Phillips take this crazy world their creating, I will follow.

Finally - The Fisher King! Dying to know more about this guy. I have a sneaking suspicion that a certain red helmet and cape-wearing former villain may end up having something to do with him, but who knows.

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Watch:

Mike Flanagan's final series for Netflix is out on October 12th. An Adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. Here's the trailer (which I haven't watched):

I've been pretty adamant with myself that I won't be signing up for netflix until two things happen. For one, I'm streaming no new content (new movies on Shudder not counted) until the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike is over because I 100% think we need to side with the creators. netflix gets a double Fuck You for just being all-around cunts of late. Beyond that, I'm hesitant to re-engage with the streamer because, honestly, there's only a handful of their proprietary shows/movies that I actually like (anything non-proprietary, I can rent). Unfortunately, that handful consists of a handful of titles I LOVE: Brand New Cherry Flavor, Copenhagen Cowboy, and Stranger Things spring to mind, for most of which there will probably never be a physical release. That said, I'd previously figured I would wait until Stranger Things returns for its final season to re-up my subscription. 

But I forgot about Flanagan's House of Usher.

I love Mike Flanagan's work he did for this company. I don't know that I feel like I have to hold onto a subscription to rewatch any of that work. However, I really want to see his Poe adaptation. I'd be willing to bet the strike lasts beyond October 12th, so while I'm still not considering patronizing them (or any other streamers for that matter) again until after that eventual resolution, I may eat my words and re-up before Stranger Things.

We'll see. 

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Playlist:

Skinny Puppy - Last Rights

Agnes Obel - Aventine

QOTSA - In Times New Roman

Bluekarma - The Communication

Goat Snake - Black Age Blues

Low Cut Connie - Tough Cookies: The Best of the Quarantine Broadcasts

Electric Youth & Pilot Priest - Come True OST

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Oracle:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.  Just a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter right now. Here's the LINK.

Different feel to the picture because I typically spend my evenings bathed in Crimson light. For whatever reason...

• VI: The Lovers

• Seven of Pentacles

• IX: The Hierophany

Collaboration leads to an isolated success. Not sure what this one's trying to say. I have a collaborative project in the wings that's stagnant, so maybe it's a nod to go ahead and reach out on that today. Otherwise, if I squint, I can also interpret it as pertaining to the climax of the new novel, which looks like it will involve more than just the "Final Girl" on her own. I was unsure of doing that, but going it alone wasn't working for me, and this seems to suggest following a different path with it. 

Eagulls - Tough Luck

Man, I feel like the world was a better place when Eagulls were still making music. I never saw anything that explicitly stated they'd broken up, but 2016's Ullages feels like a looong time ago. Maybe one day they will heroically swoop in from the Post Punk aether and bring us another ten or eleven-track album of raw, angry British fire. Until then, love what they gave us.

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Watch:

This past Saturday, I had an impromptu French Zombie film double feature that began with a first-time watch of Yannick Dahan's 2009 IFC-released The Horde. Holy smokes, this movie is an adrenaline roller coaster:

I loved everything about this one, and can only marvel at the fact that other than my cohost Butcher on The Horror Vision, I don't remember hearing anybody talk about this one. Available right now on Tubi, this is SO worth your time, even if, like me, you fancy yourself 'over' the Zombie thing. La Horde is like 28 Days Later on weapons-grade meth. All the performances are intense, the set design is fantastic, and the characters are endearingly repulsive. Streaming right now on Tubi, but I'm definitely ordering the DVD soon (the bluray is OOP and pricey in the aftermarket).

When The Horde ended, I needed something to cool down with, so I went entirely the opposite route and re-watched Dominique Rocher's 2018 The Night Eats The World, which is currently on Prime.

 

This film definitely takes its cues from Romero's Dawn of the Dead, using one character to explore the quiet, sad side of a zombie apocalypse. This one's a bit of a heartbreaker at times, but its portrayal of human frailty is a beautiful reminder of the social aspects of our species and what would happen if we lost all access to other people. To this end, Anders Danielsen Lie gives a riveting performance.

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Playlist:

Witchfinder - Hazy Rites

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

X - Los Angeles

QOTSA - In Times New Roman

Steve Moore - Christmas Bloody Christmas OST

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

Type O Negative - The Least Worst Of

PC World - At Heaven's Gate (pre-release single)

Skinny Puppy - Last Rights

Mars Red Sky - Eponymous

Intronaut - Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones)

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Oracle:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE. Just a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter right now. Here's the LINK.

• Eight of Swords

• XIX - The Sun

• Nine of Cups

Eight of Swords often indicates change through conflict. Couple that with revelations promised by The Sun, and the Climactic, Emotional moment, and I think this pull is meant for someone I know who has been doing  A LOT of incredible self-discovery of late. 

David Eugene Edwards - Weaver's Beam

 

Late last week, David Eugene Edwards dropped another new track from his upcoming album Hyacinth. "Weaver's Beam" is DEE through and through, his ear still pressed firmly to the dark ghosts of the Earth, summoning energies in his music no one else is privy to in the music world (that I know of anyway). 

Hyacinth drops September 29th and you can pre-order it HERE.

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Watch:

Kurt Russel and John Goodman in a series that looks like it was at least partially inspired by Warren Ellis and John Cassady's comic Planetary, specifically issue #2 of the series, "Island."

 

This is the second trailer in the last week or so that has made me realize that the Kaju craze is kind of working its magic on me of late; I didn't grow up super exposed to Godzilla and his siblings, however, current approaches to the ideas - a genre I would argue was changed for the better after the original Cloverfield film -  really get me excited at the possibilities.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters drops November 17th on Apple TV.

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Read:

While in Chicago recently, I stopped in at Amazing Fantasy Books & Comics in Frankfort and my good friend Mike Shin recommended Robert Kirkman's new book Void Rivals. Already three-issues in, I'd seen the title but passed on it. Then Mike told me the book launched and, without warning, serves as the unexpected announcement that Kirkman and his company Skybound have secured the rights to Transformers and G.I.Joe, rolling out a new continuity called The Energon Universe. 

Void Rivals is also in this universe - Kirkman isn't just revamping the original franchise continuity, he's doing something completely new, incorporating his own creations as well. Thus, issue #1 of Void Rivals features a scene where the two characters - each a pilot from two warring races of space civilization living in "The Great Ring," crash land on a desolate planet and are forced to work together to survive. During their endeavors, they discover what appears to be a long-abandoned ship. When the two successfully reactivate the vessel, it transforms into Jetfire of the Autobots and flies off.

I was kinda of blown away. I mean, imagine had I picked up that first issue and discovered this reveal au natural, in the moment? If only. I'm 'spoiling' this now because three months in, I must be about the last person in Western culture who cares to find out. After reading those three issues, I immediately added Void Rivals and October's new Energon Universe: Transformers #1 - written and drawn by Daniel Warren Johnson, no less - to my pull.

I'm pretty psyched about this approach Kirkman is taking, primarily because it's not just another reimaging or reboot of the pre-existing properties. By weaving his own creations into this mythos, I really think we're going to be getting a very fresh take on two properties I love but that have largely been put through the reboot ringer. Plus, all this new, Kirkman-created mythology is very cool, lining up exactly with that 80s "Hobby Shop SciFi" I've mentioned in these pages multiple times before. 

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Playlist:

Zeal & Ardor - Eponymous

Steve Moore - Christmas, Bloody Christmas OST

Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror

Various - Joe Begos's Bliss Spotify Playlist

Ghost - Opus Eponymous

Eagulls - Eponymous

Godflesh - Songs of Love and Hate

16 Horsepower - Secret South

16 Horsepower - Low Estate

Rodney Crowell - The Chicago Sessions

Repugnant - Epitome of Darkness

Witchfinder - Hazy Rites

The Obsessed - Lunar Womb

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Nahab

David Eugene Edwards - Hyacinth (pre-release singles)

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Oracle:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.  Just a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter right now. Here's the LINK.

• XIII: Death

• Five of Cups

• XIV: Temperance (Art)

Five of Cups suggests storm and strife, and taken with Death and Temperance - which I always just read as Thoth's "Art," suggests this strife will lead to the end of an endeavor or, possibly, the patience required to continue with the endeavor. Straight forward, doubly so because two of my current backburner projects at the moment feel as though they are held together by the weakest of gossamer.