From A Place to Bury Strangers' upcoming album Synthesizer, out October 4th on Death by Audio. Pre-order HERE.
The INSANE thing about this pre-order is there's a version of the album that comes with the electrical component to turn the album sleeve into a DIY synthesizer! How awesome is that?
NCBD:
My biggest NCBD Pull in a while. Let's dig right the f**k in!
What a salacious cover! Haha, this book has taken a really "off the rails" turn as of the last issue, and I'm here for it. Loving this cross-country journey with JC and his 'friends,' especially with all the weirdoes they meet along the way. Issue 6 really backed up my Shade The Changing Man: The American Scream comparison, and I'm happy to see where it goes from there.
Okay, going by the cover, we have A) Destro, B) the "Crimson Twins," and B) a metric sh*t ton of B.A.T.S. I can't think of a better formula for a Destro comic. After reading the second issue of Scarlett, I'm still not loving that book - but will definitely stick with it - but I am 100% ALL IN on Destro!
The final issue of Jeff Lemire's weird fiction opus to childhood, giant bug-men and, ah, crime.
Again, this cover just sells the F*CK out of this one. Am I the only one getting a visual homage to old-school issue #73 here? That issue was the kick-off to the original "Cobra Civil War," and this issue's solicitation on League of Comic Geeks begins, "WAR WITH SERPENTOR!" Good things await.
The final issue of what has turned out to be a very excellent mini-series that has me kind of rethinking my ideas about jumping off TMNT. I think I will be picking up Jason Aaron's new number one next week.
Another final issue to what also turned out to be a total sleeper for me. Loved the tone of this whole series: the stakes are high, but there's a touch of comedy in the lining. Well-played Mr. Riser!
The end of another arc for What's the Furthest Place From Here? Thinking of re-reading this again from the beginning, but I guess that would be better suited before it comes back in a few months. I haven't seen any solicitations for its return, but there's no way this is the end.
Watch:
This looks like it might be this year's equivalent to Titane. Seeing this trailer twice now,
I'm really excited about both the movie and the fact that, suddenly, Autuer Horror directors and the companies that distribute their films appear to be taking a much less revealing approach to cutting trailers.
Playlist:
Tones on Tail - Everything!
The Damned - Night of 1000 Vampires: Live in London
Zeal & Ardor - Wake of a Nation E.P.
T. Rex - Electric Warrior
Jim Williams - Possessor OST
Saigon Blue Rain - Oko
Various - Mulholland Drive OST
A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Two of Wands
• X: Wheel of Fortune
• Page of Swords
Partnership or duplicity? You can't struggle against the grain and hope to find out; you have to physically use your intellect—i.e., put it into action outside of your head—to root out potential deception.
Great. Another work pull. I hate that I've been absorbed into an uncomfortably corporate environment again, where everyone's actions are suspect.
From the upcoming album Feed the Fire, out August 2nd on Artoffact Records.
I'd never heard Nox Novacula before, but I'm digging both this song and the video. You can pre-order from the band's Bandcamp HERE.
Watch:
Friday night, I finally saw Kathryn Bigelow's first film, 1981's The Loveless.
Willem Dafoe's debut performance and you can pretty much see that he's going to be a force to be reckoned with. I LOVED this film and have to wonder if it wasn't also an influence on David Lynch, which kind of blows me away, as I'd always thought of Kathryn Bigelow's most important work coming after Lynch's, but this would definitely rearrange that.
Also, hot damn is this a great soundtrack. Robert Gordon - who plays Davis in the film - lays down a Rockabilly extravaganza the likes of which I'd not heard before. There's stuff here that bridges the greaser/beatnik aesthetic, which kind of runs together socially a bit during the 50s before counterculture became driven by capitalism.
Can't recommend this one enough, and it's currently included with prime. Would make a fabulous double feature with either Paris, Texas or, as I chose to do Friday night, Lynch's Wild At Heart.
Read:
I finally got around to reading Dan Watters and Lamar Mathurin's four-issue Cowboy Bebop series, which Titan Books published a few years ago.
Really fun stuff. I'm sure I've talked about this here before, but even though I don't go in for very much animation, the original Cowboy Bebop cartoon is one of my favorite things of all time. Also - and this was a total surprise at the time - I really liked the live-action Netflix show this series is based on. Watters really captures the spirit of both shows, and Mathurin just nails the perfect blend of how the characters look in the cartoon and how they look played by actors. The story revolves around - what else - a heist and a bounty, but snakes into some serious Grant Morrison territory just enough to have made this feel unique but still very much in the spirit of the show that does indeed transcend the genre.
You can order a trade of this direct from Titan Books HERE.
Playlist:
Tim Hecker - Infinity Pool OST
Mars Red Sky - Eponymous
Brainiac - Predator Nominate
Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon
Blut Aus Nord - The Mystical Beast of Rebellion
The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir
Eagulls - Eponymous
Megadeth - So Far, So Good... So What?
Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart
Justin Hamline - The House With Dead Leaves
Zeal & Ardor - Wake of a Nation E.P.
Death Valley Girls - Under the Spell of Joy
Forhist - Eponymous
Fen - Dustwalker
Donny McCaslin - Beyond Now
Suicidal Tendencies - Controlled By Hatred/Feel Like Shit... Déjá-vu
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• XVII: The Star
• Eight of Pentacles
• IX: The Hermit
XVII is a much needed reminder - "Create unto and within yourself a Universe, shaped of your strengths and built on your accomplishments as foundation."
Eight of Pentacles - Earthly transformation, and IX is the concentration needed to achieve it. In other words, finish the book!!!
I'm behind everything by a couple of days. Had a friend in town earlier in the week, and between catching up at work after a few days off, digging back into finishing Black Gloves & Broken Hearts after five days away at a crucial point in the novel, and recording podcasts for both MaXXXine and Longlegs, I just haven't had time to do anything else. So here's some awesome new music by one of my all-times. You can pre-order the new album RACK from Ipecac Records HERE, it drops September 13th.
Watch:
In the past week I have seen three movies that I expect will define much of 2024 for me. First, MaXXXine, which I've now seen twice on the big screen and am planning for another round:
I'm in the final stages of editing a HUGE episode The Horror Vision just did on this one. Ti West has been a favorite of mine since I first saw The Roost in 2005, and to see his very distinct filmmaking on the big screen for the first time since I caught The House of the Devil back in 2009 at the old Laemmle's on Sunset (after waiting for it for something like 3 or 4 years), but with a much bigger budget and not in a limited art-house release (I'm in Clarksville for hell's sake; I seriously doubt Hosue of the Devil played in Clarksville, haha) was an awesome experience. MaXXXine has some issues, but none that blind my love for it or the director.
Although I saw Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's Kill last September at opening night of Beyondfest 2023, I am counting my viewing this past Sunday on a big screen in Nashville as the first salvo of what may very well be my favorite film of the year.
This film takes the "Surprise, I'm getting married" trope of Indian Cinema and uses it to propel the best Action-Horror film I've seen since Dog Soldiers, easy. See this on the big screen if you can, and don't worry about the run time. It's a little over two hours, and I won't feel it AT ALL.
Finally, Oz Perkins' Longlegs... I'm not really sure how I feel about this flick after seeing it last night. It's fantastic, no doubt, but something about all of Perkins' films creates a disconnect in me.
You'll read this is the scariest movie of the decade. I think that's a bit much. But it is extremely unnerving, and everyone turns in a fantastic performance, especially Nick Cage, who defies all possible expectation and description with his performance.
The only other really big films I'm still waiting on for the year are Fede Alvarez's Alien: Romulus, Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis, and Robert Eggers' Nosferatu. I know there will be other, unexpected greats that filter in here and there, but for now, those are the horizon line. All in all, so far it's been a pretty great year, with Kill and Stop Motion duking it out for my favorite thus far.
Playlist:
Various Artists - The Void
High on Fire - Cometh the Storm
Dean Hurley - Anthology Resource Vol. 1: △△
Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes (single)
Scorpions - Rock You Like a Hurrican (single)
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• XIV: Temperance
• XX: Judgement
• Page of Wands
XIV is Art in the Thoth deck, a variation that projects a slightly different connotation for me. Having only used Thoth for the first 17 or so years I've been familiar with the cards, this recent switch is something I've not quite worked out yet. Art usually suggests synchronization, often of disparate elements into a pleasurable outcome. Temperance, on the other hand, suggests Balance, which is and is not the same. Seeing this card here and thinking about it, I take this as a definite nod to balance some of the uneven and, frankly, negative emotions/thoughts that have ruled my head of late. Taken with XX - ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES - and the Page (Princess) of Wands, or the Earthly aspect of Fire, I'd say this is a Pull that suggests I really have some work to do on myself in order to regain the mental/emotional balance I've kind of misplaced the last two weeks or so
A second 'single' from David Lynch & Christa Bell's upcoming Cellophane Memories album dropped yesterday, complete with an animated video by Lynch himself. So far, both tracks from this have defied all manner of expectations and/or predictions.
Cellophane Memories is out August 2nd on Sacred Bones Records. You can pre-order the album HERE.
NCBD:
I didn't post for NCBD last week because there was only one book on my list, and I didn't end up hitting the shot to grab it. Part of that is no doubt that, with only one issue out so far, Scarlett has not inspired the same kind of "Gottasee" that the Cobra Commander and Duke mini-series did.
On to this week, which is also a light one:
LOVE this cover for Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows' Get Fury #3. This has been a solid book so far; it's cool to see Ennis return to both Nick Fury and Frank Castle with his trademark flair for the violent and the grotesque.
The last couple issues of Daniel Warren Johnson's Transformers have really opened the book up, with new characters, new agendas and new subplots aplenty. I like that we're spending a lot of time with a good mix of Gen 1 and later characters and that in hindsight, the storytellers can really introduce anyone at any time, unlike the original Marvel comic that, while I love it, was more beholden to introducing and highlighting characters as they were introduced in the toy line.
Watch:
Neil Marshall has a new film on the way. Co-writer and star Charlotte Kirk leads the cast of what looks like a high-energy heist-gone-wrong flick.
Duchess hits VOD on August 9th; I haven't loved most of Neil Marshall's output over the last few years. Starting with 2020's The Reckoning, his films have seemed... safe? Not sure if that's exactly the word I want, but it will do. Last year's The Lair was a touch better, but really just beat-for-beat skinning of Dog Soldiers, with the story and action transposed to the desert where the characters fight demons (or whatever it was) instead of Werewolves. Still, I'll always give this man's films a chance, just based on Dog Soldiers and The Descent.
Playlist:
Ministry - Hopiumforthemasses
Double Life - Indifferent Stars (single)
Matt Cameron - Gory Scorch Cretins EP
Justin Hamline - The House With Dead Leaves
Amigo the Devil - Yours Until the War is Over
Moon Wizard - Sirens
Zombi - Direct Inject
Trombone Shorty - For True
Huey Lewis and the News - Sports
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Various - The Void OST
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
From USSA's 2007 album The Spoils. This was Duane Denison and Paul Barker's group and damned if I wouldn't LOVE to see these guys release another record. Every track is pretty tight, and when this came out, I remember feeling their next record would be even better. Alas, that never happened. That said, take it for what it's worth, but their Wikipedia entry does not refer to them in the past tense, so who knows...
In digging around, I never realized that Barker was a co-founder of a Synthesizer/FX manufacturer. HERE is a link if you're interested.
Watch:
My Fourth of July movie viewing was 100% a nod to the summers of my youth. After putting in an hour and a half writing and then mowing the lawn in ungodly heat, I picked my impromptu Trailer Park Boys marathon. My folks came over, and we made ribs on the grill. As I've aged, meat on the bone bothers me, especially when it's so much work for so little meat. Still, I'd let my folks pick and they turned out pretty good, so we masticated and then sat down to watch my second favorite movie of all time: Joe Dante's The 'Burbs!
Apparently, my Dad had never seen this before, and neither had K's mom. It was a pleasure watching this with them; their laughter only bolstered my own. Not that this one needs any help with me - after almost four decades of regular viewings, The 'Burbs never disappoints. Every joke lands, the cast is PERFECT, and Jerry Goldsmith's score provides the perfect sonic balance between sinister intentions and 80s suburban bliss.
At one point during the film, there's a clip of Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 on the tv, and seeing that I instantly made up my mind what my second feature of the evening would be. It'd been a few years since the last time I watched this one, so after The 'Burbs ended and my folks took off, I pulled out my DVD copy and fired up what I can still only describe as one of the most insane movies I've ever seen.
The only movie I know of that may have more screaming than TCM2 is Juan López Moctezuma's Alucarda. Seriously, I watched this once in San Pedro - also on the 4th of July, come to think of it, and with all the windows open, my ex became concerned the neighbors might call the police.
Ian Lynch's All You Need is Death Soundtrack/Score hasn't left the side of my office turntable since it arrived. This one haunts me on a regular basis. Yesterday, the first song on the second side especially hit me, possibly because it's been a few months since I last watched Paul Duane's fantastic film and the cinematic associations have weakened compared to the mental ones I've made with the music. This gets me thinking about THIS post over on Heaven Is An Incubator. Man, talk about hitting it right on the head.
Watch:
The older you get, the tougher it is to just be a person. I don't mean existing gets more difficult - though our bodies and our society definitely make that the case - I mean just operating inside the framework you've spent your life building out as "you." I've had a tough couple of weeks mentally as my job is absorbed and transmogrified inside a hollow corporate entity, and one of the things that brought me back from an emotional brink is Mke Clattenburg's Trailer Park Boys.
I know, I didn't expect any of this, either.
A lot of the 'healing' I find in this show comes right up front with the opening credits. If a more soothing, peaceful intro than Blain Morris's for TPB exists, I haven't heard it. Twin Peaks would be close, but that also carries with it a sense of foreboding. Morris's is pure grace, and it always brings my heart rate down a couple notches. Maybe this is because it reminds me of the time that I discovered the show, shortly after moving to L.A. in 2006, an era I now look back at forlornly as just before the post-apocalyptic era we live in today began.*
And of course, this theme song is the perfect precursor to whatever idiocy lies in wait on the other side of its final note. These characters are, in my opinion, one of the funniest comedies in existence. There's a lot that's over-the-top, but there's even more nuance that it's taken multiple viewings to catch. Julian's perpetual drink is, to me, Shakespearean in its design and continued execution, as is Ricky's inability to 'use his words' properly.
Don't even get me started on Conky or Sebastian Bach.
*Of course, I recognize that, as a middle-class, white male, the world has been shit for so many other people for so long and that I'm just morning my own personal apocalypse. Doesn't make it hurt any less, though.
Read:
Two chapters into Prof. John Trafton's Movie-Made Los Angeles and I am fascinated. This is easily the most academic long-form piece I've read in a very long time, and while it took my brain a few sittings to adjust, once it clicked, I found myself fascinated by all the behind-the-scenes history of Southern California that those of us boring in the late Twentieth Century take for granted as just always having "been that way." In particular, John's use of the palimpsest metaphor of Southern California in general, and Los Angeles in particular, is so graceful and spot-on that it makes me wonder what other cultural histories we've erased or submerged with modernity.
Movie-Made Los Angeles is published by Wayne State Press. I picked mine up at the wonderful Sky Light Books in L.A.'s Los Feliz neighborhood, but you can order this anywhere you order books. Also, and I've said this before and will no doubt repeat ad infinitum, check out some of John's essays over on his website HERE.
Avoiding activity - is this a reference to the fact that it's nearly 100 degrees outside and I feel like doing nothing but reading all day, or is this a reference to me being too lackadaisical about the situation at work?
From Valkyrie's 2020 album Fear, I dug this one back out recently, and although I did really like it at first introduction, I haven't really given it much play lately. That's changing - this is a fantastic record and one that seems stuck in my current rotation. Also, just realized Valkyrie released a follow-up in 2021 that I haven't heard yet. That's about to change...
You can check Valkyrie out on their Bandcamp HERE or on Relapse Records' site HERE.
Watch:
I skipped the Neil Marshal Hellboy film from a few years ago because, from everything I read at the time, Marshall's version of the film is not the one that ended up being released. Sure, David Harbour had huge shoes to fill (literally) stepping in as a replacement for Ron Pearlman, but Harbour's no slouch in my book, and I'd expect he did a great job. A few people I know who saw it gave it favorable reviews, but I just don't know - when I read that the Director didn't go to the review because he felt his film had been trifled with, well, I lost interest.
Now we have a whole new Hellboy coming in, and honestly, I'm excited (and I appear to be alone). I won't get my hopes up too high, but seeing that Mignola and Golden wrote the script and were heavily involved, well, that definitely bodes well. Also, hot damn if Jack Kesy doesn't almost look like Pearlman while in makeup. Here's the trailer that Bloody Disgusting posted yesterday; read their more in-depth article HERE.
Directed by Brian Taylor, who will forever be in my good book for the Crank films and HAPPY!, it's looking like Millenium Media has pulled off a great new starting point for more Hellboy films, especially seeing that they have definitively stated Hellboy: The Crooked Man is an R-rated Folk Horror Film.
Read:
The latest issue of Fangoria arrived late last week, and it's killing me that most of the articles inside are about movies I'm already chomping at the bit to see. The newsstand cover is Ti West's Maxxxine, but the subscriber cover is, well, apparently a secret:
I've looked around online, and although the embargo has been broken, it hasn't been broken much, and not by Fangoria itself, so I'm playing it cool and only going to post the cover as they have teased it. Regardless, I LOVE this.
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Four of Cups
• Ten of Swords
• Six of Wands
A solid foundation for emotional support during a climatic time that, ultimately leads to harmony.
Yeah, that's about as vague a reading as I've ever posted here. I'm dancing around shit I don't want to recognize at the moment, and the cards seem to understand that; like they're drawing it out of me. Which, of course, is what they do because the cards aren't magick, they're just windows into our subconscious.
Getting back into Loathe's 2020 record, I Let It In and It Took Everything, which I first fell in love with in early 2021. How did I go so long without listening to this? Sure, I've spun it a few times in the last three and a half years, but not as much as I should have, considering how obsessed I am with it at the moment. Can't wait for something new from these guys - they did release a counterpart record in 2021, the all-instrumental The Things They Believe, but I'm talking about a new, proper album. A lot of things I see online lead me to believe we can expect a new one any time now, so I'll be waiting...
Watch:
I watched Ben Wheatley's A Field In England last Friday. I'd made two previous attempts to watch this one over the last ten years or so, and failed both times. I never once considered this was the film's fault, just a failure on my own part to relinquish myself to the slow-moving, otherworldly specificity of Wheatley's vision with this one. It was decided recently that we would cover Field on an upcoming episode of The Horror Vision's Sticks N' Stones - our Folk Horror discussion vehicle, and in looking for a unique angle to take I had the idea that I would eat the last of some psychedelic mushrooms I've had in my desk for going on two years now.
A strategy was born, and I undertook the endeavor this past Friday night.
I'll save the details of this cinematic expedition for the episode of our show. For now, though, let me just say this was a perfect strategy, and while the mushrooms were not nearly as potent as they were two years ago (I should have frozen them!) they offered a deeper watch than I'd been able to achieve on those other two occasions.
A really fine film, and a marvelous score by Jim Williams, who is very quickly becoming my favorite working film composer today.
Playlist:
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Mudhoney - March to Fuzz
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Man or Astro-Man? - Defcon 5...4...3....2...1
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity
Loathe - I Let It In and It Took Everything
Loathe - The Things They Believe
X - Los Angeles
Pigface - Live 2019 Limited Edition Vinyl (Thanks, Mr. Brown!)
Tubby Hayes Quintet - Down in the Village (Live at Ronnie Scott's Club, London 1962)
Melvins & Lustmord - Pigs of the Roman Empire
John Carpenter - Lost Themes IV: Noir
Les Discrets - Prédateurs
Deadguy - Fixation on a Coworker
Pepper Adams - Encounter!
Oliver Nelson - The Blues and the Abstract Truth
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Jackie Wilson - Higher (single)
Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons - Can't Take My Eyes Off of You (single)
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Ace of Swords
• V: The Hierophant
• Knight of Wands
Intellectual breakthrough possibly arrived at via a spiritual state. The Knight of Wands may indicate that what stands in the way of achieving this enlightenment is an imbalance between the intellectual and spiritual/emotional states, which kind of defines what it is to be human, especially in the chaotic period of upheaval that usually predates a breakthrough or epiphany.
One of the coolest moments in last Sunday's Dillinger Escape Plan show at the Paramount Theatre in Brooklyn was when they played "Tearing" from Rollins Band's 1992 masterpiece The End of Silence.
There's a great write-up on Dillinger and Dead Guy's three-night stand over on Brooklyn Vegan, a site I used to love and frequent a lot more before they succumbed to the same pop-up ad malarky all sites seemingly succumb to now.
Watch:
K and I caught the new Tom Hardy movie The Bikeriders at the theatre. What is it with recent movies that are fantastic but have terrible names? Underwater? Bikeriders? Come on.
Ultimately, I won't give the film too much shit, because it was fantastic. Tom Hardy gives another nuanced performance and Austin Butler just nails the "Brooding, silent bad boy" archetype. Jodie Comer is essentially our lead character as the window into the world of Chicago's Vandals, and she also turns in a great performance. Then, we also have Michael Shannon, Boyd Holbrook, Norman Reedus, Emopry Cohen, Karl Glusman, and - maybe the best surprise - Damon Herriman; known to Justified fans as Dewey Crowe! It's an ensemble cast and a lot of damn fun, so I'd say if you can, catch it in a theatre. Plus, you get to see the Robert Eggers' Nosferatu trailer on the big screen.
This is another recent trailer that gives absolutely nothing away but still fills the screen with sounds and images that make me super excited to see this one when it releases this coming December. Now, if I can just manage not to see it more than once or twice before then...
Playlist:
Ghost - Infestissumam
Protomartyr - Under Color of Official Right
USSA - The Spoils
Tubby Hayes Quintet - Down in the Village (Live at Ronnie Scott's Club, London 1962)
Calexico - The Black Light
Forhist - Eponymous
Jim Williams - Possessor OST
Joseph Bishara - Malignant OST
Valkyrie - Fear
The Ravenonettes - Sing
Night Sins - A Silver Blade In The Shadow EP
Thou - Umbilical
Justin Hamline - The House With Dead Leaves
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Four of Cups
• Eight of Cups
• XX: Judgement
Emotional stability through the transformation of emotions during a pivotal sequence. In other words, we choose how we are going to interpret and let things make us feel. You can take things negatively, or you can put some kind of positive spin on it. Obviously, some things are just awful and can't be "spun" any other way.
This is definitely not for me today, but someone I know.
New music from Human Impact! This band's debut hit right around the time the pandemic began, and I remember it quickly became a fairly regular and significant piece of music for me. However, in the last few years, they kind of slipped from my radar. Now, their sophomore album Gone Dark drops October 4th on Ipecac; pre-order HERE.
New music from X as they announce their final album and tour! You can pre-order Smoke & Fiction from X's Bandcamp HERE.
Watch:
GORGAZMA - remember this name because this is a new Horror Production company whose debut short film, Pizza Panic Party, absolutely blew me away.
I love everything about this film, from the lighting, the music (score by Joseph Fucking Bishara!) and of course, the gore and FX. Holy smokes. I'm over the moon at the prospect of getting more from these folks. Talk about coming out of the gates swinging.
NCBD:
Heading out to Rick's Comic City after work today for this week's NCBD. Here's what I'll have waiting for me in my Pull:
Okay, well, this one isn't actually on my pull list yet. This will be the first monthly issue of Department of Truth released since I began reading it last year, shortly after the title went on hiatus. Honestly, I'm not certain I won't just wait for the trade - or at least that's what I keep telling myself.
For the man himself, a silver mask and a stunningly hot terrorist lady. Damn - while all this crazy Cobra shit goes on around Cobra Island and Springfield, with the multiple factions plotting against one another, Destro has his own agenda. Can't wait to see what it is.
The cover of this book is a testament to just how f*cking crazy it is.
"Road Stories" continues, and I'm curious where we'll end up this month. It's been a tiny bit anti-climatic to have this book come back from the insane energy of the previous arc with tales set in Erica's past, however, the character development is huge, and really, I think this is almost down time for her (and us) before shit really goes off the deep end with what comes next.
The solicitation for this issue has me kind of chomping at the bit:
"VOID RIVALS finally puts the "energon" in their corner of the Energon Universe!"
I had not even considered that, while all the other books have been about Energon discovery and acquisition, we haven't had any of it to speak of in Void Rivals. That's interesting, and I think the highly sought-after element is going to make quite a splash within the factions of the Sacred Ring.
Playlist:
Pepper Adams - Encounter!
Coleman Hawkins - Wrapped Tight
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us Is the Killer
Sunday morning I flew into LaGuardia airport and met up with my good friend Dave, who flew in from Chicago. We hired a car into Brooklyn, checked into the Brooklyn Hotel for two nights, and headed out to the Paramount Theatre to see the final of three shows that The Dillinger Escape Plan played here to celebrate the 25th anniversary of 1999's Calculating Infinity. This was the seventh time I've seen the band live since 1999, and the second time with original lead singer Dimitri Minakakis. Almost as big a draw for me was a reunited Deadguy, a band I found in 1995 as a writer for then-Chicago music magazine Subculture (how I miss you!). I had somehow gotten to be the magazine's dedicated reviewer for everything then new label Victory Records released. The problem was that I didn't really like most of what Victory put out. Deadguy was one of the few exceptions to that rule because, holy shit, did I LOVE Fixation on a Coworker from the moment I hit play.
Before the show we grabbed a bite and a few drinks at a local Brewery/Restaurant called Sound + Fury. Great stuff. I started with a Kölsch I didn't love - I think the barrel was low or the lines were off - but found much better results when I switched it up to their Quality Control Pilsner. I ended up drinking way more Pilsners on this trip than I normally do, but it was hot and I was bloated from general travel unease, so a thinner beer seemed the better option. Also, I'm on a total ban of IPAs at the moment, as they've just completely worn out their welcome for me.
The entire bar at Sound + Fury was populated by folks in Mr. Bungle, Ween and Melvins shirts. we struck up a little conversation and briefly met a couple from Chicago who, like us, had jumped on this show the second it was announced, fearing it would be a one-and-done. Doors were set to open at 5:00 PM I think, and by 6:00 PM, pretty much everyone there for the show had cleared out. We stayed behind; I hate to be that guy who only watches the bands I came to see, but also, I'm fucking 48 and I'd been awake since 6:00 AM - standing on a hard floor for four bands' set times felt... intimidating. Eventually, around 6:30 PM we headed over.
There were supposed to be two opening bands, the names of which I will withhold because I don't like to talk shit. But man, I did not like either. I also didn't like the third opener they added. There's something about metal that makes people think they can just base their band around decibels and blast beats, throw up the horns after every song, and the crowd will accept them.
Not this guy. Nope.
A couple hours into the show, the night was not going great. I was happy to be there with my friend, don't get me wrong, but I was getting drunk and I was getting tired. Then Deadguy took the stage. They played fantastic for a band that hasn't been a band in 30 years, however, the sound for them was the worst of the night. I mean, it was "Fire your sound guy now" bad. I was a little crushed.
When Dillinger took the stage the sound continued to be an issue. This was unbelievable; I mean, we're watching Bill Rymer hit his snare and not hearing it. Could hear the fucking kick drum loud and clear, though. Again, I don't like to talk shit, but there is a penchant in the live sound community - especially at metal shows - for sound techs to focus on the drum kit and forget everything else, or at least dial it in slowly. That's pretty much what happened, as the sound did get there eventually, but it took about four songs into Dillinger's set. Fine, whatever. By this point, Dimitri had worked his way to the back of the house and was delivering the refrain from Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy" from atop the soundboard. I actually found myself wondering if the sound guy thought Dimitri had come back to kick his ass, and that's why the sound suddenly improved.
The show was fantastic, and by the end completely blotted out the travesty from earlier in the evening. Dave and I hung around outside the Paramount for a bit and ran into that Chicago couple again. Rob and Jax. Great folks and it blew my mind to find Rob was also a graduate of Columbia College Chicago's Sound Program. What's more, he's actually using his education - he's the head sound guy at Chicago's United Center! We walked over to a dive someone online had recommended to Dave, The Brooklyn Inn and I instantly fell in love; a long space instead of wide, only a few quiet souls on hand, low lighting and jazz on the speakers. This was the second highlight of the evening. Rob and I talked about Columbia for quite some time, and I was thrilled to find he had studied live sound with one of my favorite teachers there, Jack Alexander. Jack was nuts, one of the most no-bullshit guys I met at the school, and I was bummed to find both he and another favorite, Jim Nudd, had passed away. Rob regaled me by explaining how the year Jack died, the sound crew at Lolapalooza - which he was on - peppered images of their mentor on the giant digital screen during the festival. I raised several glasses to that.
We ended up closing the place, I think. We scored some extremely salty Pastrami sandwiches at a little all-night bodega on the corner, then went back to the hotel and passed out.
On Monday, after a slow-moving morning, I heard Jazz or Hip-Hop everywhere we went in Brooklyn. Without any real destination, we had breakfast at a neighborhood place called Pearl's, then just walked around Brooklyn for a couple of hours. I always feel that's how I get to know a city—by walking. Later, we had dinner at a place called The Canary, then walked across the street to watch a jazz quartet at Drink Lounge. These guys were fantastic: Kit, Upright, Guitar and Alto Sax. Once they wrapped, we hiked a couple blocks down to a Jazz Vinyl Bar we'd passed by on the way to dinner - Kissa Kissa. The wall of vinyl in this place has to be seen to be believed:
We ended up closing this place, too, as the bartender Meno was a damn cool guy and our meandering conversations with him touched on everything from the state of the world to wine to music to Tennessee. The evening just melted away. A half-dozen pints of Night Shift Brewing's Nite Lite helped on this end, as well as the bottle of 2018 Loli Casado Jaun de Alzate Crianza Rioja Dave bought that I nipped at here and there. Wine is largely lost on me, and I'm fairly certain I have a tannin allergy, but it just felt right.
After closing out Kissa Kissa, Dave and I walked back to the hotel, and I realized I was kind of in love with Brooklyn Walking reveals so much of a place; I've been to NY two other times and have never been in a hurry to return. After this trip, Dave and I are already talking about when we can come back, maybe bring our girlfriends for two days and just haunt this wonderful borough.
More new music from Zeal and Ardor's upcoming new record Greif, out August 23rd. You can pre-order HERE.
Watch:
Joe Bob and Darcy did Joe Lynch's Suitable Flesh yesterday, and I really enjoyed it. I had some issues with the flick the first time I watched it, but still gave it a favorable review. This time, I think I understood exactly where Joe Lynch was coming from on this one, and it helped. Kind of an adopt-and-subvert approach to a Skinamax flick, flipping it on its head and injecting it with some real Stuart Gordon-esque Gore/Body Horror.
Afterward, I was stuck in the usual post-Joe Bob funk. I want to watch something, I want to travel back in time and get transgressive, or even just obscure, but I usually just don't know how. I searched around for a while on Shudder, then ended up on YouTube somehow, where I found this:
A total Halloween wanna-be, right down to the music, but it did the trick. I sorted through comics, drank beer and wallowed in the 80s Slasher genre like Jade Daniels would. To invoke the proper mood, I even spun Wild Dogs by The Rods before I started the flick. Needless to say, it was a good Friday night.
Read:
I've kind of fallen out of posting Drinking with Comics here, so I should correct that. The new DwC: Drunk on Energon went up yesterday. Mike and I talk about the three latest entries in Robert Kirkman and Skybound's Energon Universe: Scarlett issue 1, Transformers issue 9 and Destro issue 1!
Destro is the treasure here. In one issue, this book is already giving the recently completed Cobra Commander series a run for its money as my favorite of the Energon books.
Another fantastic new track from The Mysterines' upcoming Afraid of Tomorrows album, out this Friday, June 21st. You can pre-order the album HERE.
Watch:
On Tuesday night, K and I went to see the one-night-only re-release of Ti West's X at our local Regal. This screening was followed by a "sneak peek" of West's upcoming third film in the trilogy, Maxxxine.
The "sneak peek" was basically the opening scene of the film. The real talking point here is seeing X again on the big screen. This is my third or fourth time doing so, but first since watching Pearl. Talk about a prequel shedding some serious light on the original film!
K said it best when she wished for an article that might point to whether these were all written together. My understanding (based on what I remember from an interview West did on the Colours of the Dark Podcast HERE) is that upon arriving in New Zealand to film X, the cast and crew had to quarantine for three or four weeks, and during that time, West and Goth conceived and wrote Pearl. My guess is from there, they had ideas to continue Maxine's story and A24 greenlit it the moment they realized what a good thing they had going.
As I intimated above, watching X again for the first time since seeing the prequel, I have to say that Pearl's character resonates in a completely different and affecting way than when just experienced in the first film. There was already an element of that, thanks to the moments West steals in X to show the character's fragile longing (the "Landslide" scene). Now, however, Pearl becomes at once more frightening and more sympathetic—not an easy task for a filmmaker to achieve.
I've been a fan of Ti West since I first saw 2005's The Roost, thanks to my good friend Dennis' knowledge and knack for curation at the time. From the first mention of House of the Devil until the film's release, I waited for what felt like years, and I've watched the man grow as a filmmaker, always hoping for success on the level he has now experienced. There's a bit of a cultural fever pitch surrounding Maxxxine's release - one that seems to transcend Horror circles - and I can't wait to sit down and watch the end ofthe character's story play out surrounded by what I now assume will be a bit more people than I'm used to seeing at Horror screenings in Clarksville.
Hell yeah.
Read:
I finished FantasticLand several days ago and was pretty much left breathless. This one affected me deeply; I'm seeing shades of the worst humanity has to offer echo in my perception of the world around me, and it's a bit disorienting. Based on that, I decided to switch it up and finally dig into my good friend and Horror Vision cohost John Trafton's latest book, Movie Made Los Angeles.
This is exactly what I need at the moment: a scholarly discourse about the nuances and intangible nature of the Cultural Economy of Los Angeles and how it became the mythic location it is in the world's mind. I'm forced to slow down and really "chew" what I'm reading, which is a good thing. I can feel my brain working in ways fiction just does not utilize.
You can order this one anywhere books are sold. You can also check out John's writing on his website, Johntrafton.com. I recommend starting with one of these two articles right HERE or HERE.
Playlist:
Riz Ortolani Feat. Katyna Ranieri - Oh My Love (single)
Still riding near the top of my favorite albums of 2024 list is Amigo the Devil's Yours Until the War is Over, and what's that? This unstoppable force of storytelling goes and drops another new song at a live show last week. Mr. Brown sent that footage to me, and I'd planned to make it today's musical post; however, this 'Tour Bus Edition" popped up in my feed yesterday, and the choice was clear.
Head over to Liars Club Records to order the album OR the nifty new "My Body is a Dive Bar" T-shirt. I scooped that one up the moment I saw it.
NCBD :
Oh man, a fantastic-looking pull today. Let's not waste any time:
To say I have been waiting for Dan Watters' Destro book is an understatement of the highest order. I cannot wait to see where this takes us in the formation of Cobra, and what kind of relationship develops between the silver-visaged Scottish Laird and our dear, sweet Commander.
As I mentioned previously, I've really been enjoying hanging out with John Constantine again. I'm not sure if Dead in America is coming to its inevitable conclusion, but League of Comic Book Geeks has the series ending at issue 9, which is a weird number of issues for a series. Is it possible this may play out like Tynion's Nightmare Country and come back in a few months? We will see.
Okay, this second issue of Last Ronin II is starting to remind me of Jason Mrowski's older brother in his IROC. You know the type - he offers you a ride, then keeps pulling up just out of reach so you can't actually get into the car? Yeah. How many times have I posted this issue on a Wednesday?
And we come to the end of The One Hand, which really is only half the end of the story, because the final issue of The Six Fingers drops July 24th. I've really enjoyed this Neo Noir by Ram V and the aforementioned Dan Watters, and I'm hoping the books did well enough to warrant more stories set inside Neo Novena's seedy walls.
I caught up on this one over the weekend and am still really digging it. I love the commitment the modern TMNT universe takes to exploring new characters and not just using and reusing the old mainstays. Case in point: Shredder has been out of the picture since issue... what? 100? That's several years they've let Oroku Karai lead the foot and develop into a really cool character that stands on her own. Sure, she doesn't have the gnarly army her Grandfather Oroku Saki had, but like so many of the characters, her look as evolved and is still super sleek. The introduction of a secret sect of the Foot that has survived until now could have been exhausting, but this series is playing it smart and I am intrigued to see where this will go.
Watch:
This just made me incredibly happy:
Way jealous of the "Ceiling of Toys." Talk about living in a surreal environment.
Playlist:
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Mastodon - Once More Round the Sun
Amigo the Devil - Born Against
Amigo the Devil - Yours Until the War is Over
Man Man - Carrot on Stings
Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
Card:
One card from Missi's Raven Deck for today:
From the Grimoire: "Literally, "What comes next." To me in this moment, this denotes finalizing something I've been flighty on and moving onto the next project.
