New Music from High on Fire!!!

Now that's what I'm talking about! The title track from Cometh the Storm, High on Fire's ninth studio album, out next Friday, April 19th on MNRK Heavy. Pre-order HERE.

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Watch:

I've been busy as hell with regular work stuff and with watching movies and reading comics. Sounds like a great first-world problem, eh? Let's talk about what I've watched.

First, the Soska Sisters' new film Festival of the Dead is a Tubi exclusive and is now up on the streamer, ready to watch. A sequel to George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, this was a blast. 

The first ten minutes or so feel a bit like an NBC family morality flick, but Festival of the Dead very quickly asserts itself in the Romero tradition and does not look back. Loved some characters, loved watching others die in horrible ways, this one is fun and gory and just a good time in general. Don't let those first ten minutes fool you. 

Next, K and I caught Kiah Roache-Turner's Sting last night at the local cinema. Wow! This one is fantastic, too!

I've mentioned before that I have a bit of a spider phobia, and this one definitely plays on that. The FX are great, and the overall pace and tone here make for a great theatrical viewing. One thing I definitely noticed is there appears to be a huge chunk missing from this film (concerning the Bug Brothers, for those who've seen it), and I can only imagine the studio made the filmmaker trim a section to hit a specific run-time, and that's what came out. The film doesn't suffer for it, but it's pretty obvious. If anything, will make for a great extra feature on the eventual Blu-Ray.

There's a great interview with Sting's Creative Director about the practical FX in the film up on Bloody Disgusting HERE.

Finally, Shudder recently dropped the directorial debut by Alberto Corredor, a film titled Baghead.

Ostensibly a Talk to Me clone, this is still a pretty great first film. It's shot well, the lighting is great, and the location is an old Irish Pub that really steals the show, so it was pretty easy to enjoy this one despite any shortcomings. 

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Read:

As I type this, I'm finishing up my re-read of Chris Claremont and John Byrne's "Dark Phoenix Saga." I'm reading this in Classic X-Men, the way I bought it at a comic show at a Knight's of Colombus Hall somewhere in southern Illinois way back in... I don't really know when. Late 80s? Early 90s?

One thing I've noticed with these Classic X-Men issues is I actually prefer the cover art for a lot of these reprints to the original issues. Here are two great examples:

Above is John Byrne's original cover for Uncanny X-Men 134, while below is his cover for the reprint.

The original is good, but this second version is haunting in my opinion. There's something so chillingly cold and cosmic about Master Mind's eyes, hollowed out by an injection of Chaos by Phoenix. The fact that his slack-jawed, empty visage is so far up in the foreground and that Phoenix is more or less just an outline filled with the same cosmic imagery really ties this together, as does the cool greenish-blue color palette, which helps add a clinically void feeling to this entire tableau. This could be a poster, as far as I am concerned.

Next, the climactic chapter of the saga, Uncanny X-Men 137:

This has been a classic, iconic comics image since I began collecting in 1986, and while it is great - the massive yellow ad copy taking up the upper fifth of the page doesn't really help matters - it pails in comparison to the one on the reprint, Classic X-Men 43:

This one is a lot less dramatic of a moment than the first, so I can't quite figure out why I like it better. Again, the color palette is definitely more to my overall liking, but also, despite the fact that the original image is much more of an 'action' image, this one feels like a moment stolen from the finale of the issue. I think this is a case of the technology being better and the image simply being overall more crisp. 

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Playlist:

Turnstile - Glow On

Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers and Queers

Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She

Zen Guerilla - Positronic Raygun

Yawning Balch - Volume One

Trombone Shorty - Too True

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Data Doom

Man Man - On Oni Pond

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Ten of Cups

• Eight of Swords

• Seven of Cups

Lots of emotion in this Pull. The pinion here, I think, is the Eight of Swords, as reading center-left-right, that is the middle card. This makes sense in that I've been prone to mood swings based on a certain person in my life; Ten of Cups is emotional maturity, Seven is Victory over emotion, but Eight of Swords can be read as Interference, that there's always some of that keeping me from being victorious over my emotions nad balancing them maturely in the face of trying situations. 

Maxxxine!

 

I woke up the morning of the Eclipse with the B-Side of Soundgarden's final album Down on the Upside. Giving this one a spin always takes me back.

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Watch:

Ti West's Maxxxine finally gets a trailer! Yeah, I know I always bitch about trailers, but I am so excited for this one there was no way I wasn't watching it at least once.

I don't need any press to get me pumped for this one, as to say I've been waiting for it since that first after-credits tease at the end of Pearl's credits would be an understatement. I've been a West fan since I first saw The Roost back in 2005; I remember waiting what seemed an eternity for House of the Devil, and seeing him get a huge boost in the Horror community from that movie. That boost was nothing compared to the one he's had with this X trilogy, and I fully expect Maxxxine to further that. 

July 5th cannot come fast enough.

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NCBD:

Fairly big week and I'm pretty psyched for some of these, especially 

This issue will round out the second volume of Jeff Lemire & Gabriel H. Walta's Phantom Road. This book is getting weirder and weirder. 

The Penultimate issue of Al Ewing & Luciano Vecchio's Resurrection of Magneto. I've LOVED this one, and I'm super curious to see how it resolves, even if I most likely won't be sticking around afterward. There's such an interesting 'metaphysical' aspect to this book, and where that can often go wrong and incur a big eyeroll, Ewing always does that kind of thing correctly.

Starscream verses Soundwave? F**k yeah! 

Christopher Yost and Val Rodrigues's Unnatural Order ends its first arc with this fourth issue. Great series so far; I'm digging the blend of Pre-history and future space, Vikings and Picts and Tech. Kind of a throwback, in some ways, to a lot of 80s SciFi Fantasy comics.

Despite my initial misgivings, I really dug the first issue of What if... Carter Burke had lived. Looking forward to where this is going.

Also, I thought I'd try a new book that technically came out last week:

I don't know anything about this one, but the title grabbed me right away.

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Playlist:

Soundgarden - Down on the Upside

Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Talk About the Weather

Drug Church - Hygiene

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

Thee More Shallows - More Deep Cuts

Final - Solaris

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Some friends drove down from Chicago this past weekend and, after hanging out for the weekend, we drove out to Paducah, KY for the Eclipse on Monday, April 8th. From that location, we experienced totality, which was crazy awesome. Totality lasted for about two minutes; during that time, I made sure to pull one card. 

Six of Swords. In the Thoth deck, this card is "Science;" it can indicate objectivity and clarity, a healthy balance of emotions and intellect. Also, this card may indicate a good time to make a decision.

In my grimoire, I also have this added, "I can see clearly now the rain is gone." I find that last bit particularly interesting, in that it's been raining all week, and literally just seems to have stopped. 

Other attributes for this card include Innovation and experimentation.

I'm a Monkey Man

I've been 'off' for a few days while some friends were in town, so I'm behind on some stuff from last week. First, this Orville Peck/Willie Nelson track that dropped last Friday and makes me super happy. To hear these two together is just... wonderful. I love how Willie does these tracks with the younger generation of real country stars to welcome them in - he did a similar one with Kacey Musgraves a few years back.

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Watch:

I saw two flicks in the theatre late last week. First up, Arkasha Stevenson's The First Omen. 

 

This was not for me, but then, I pretty much hate the original Omen as well. If you dig that one, you'll dig this (I think). Stevenson and her team - which includes cinematographer Aaron Morton (Evil Dead 2013; No One Will Save You) and Composer Mark Korven (The Witch; The Lighthouse) go out of their way to evoke the 70s tone of the original film, so this definitely feels as though it takes place in that world. Also, Nell Tiger Free does a great job as the lead. My problems really revolve around the script, but like I said, if you dig the original, I think you'll dig this. If you're on the fence and have it in mind to see only one Catholic/Nun Horror flick this summer, I'd go with Immaculate. It's just a better movie, in my opinion.

Next up was Dev Patel's Directorial debut: Monkey Man!

 

Dev Patel wrote/directed/and starred in this one, and it is quite the debut. A visceral fable of Haves and Have-Nots set amidst India's hard-line class division in a fictionalized version of Mumbai named Yatana, Patel plays "The Kid," a man orphaned by corrupt politicians as a child who has now grown up with only one guiding star in his sky: revenge. 

See it in a theatre if you can. The choreography and score by Jed Kurzel will light you up for days.

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Read:

I started a re-read of Chris Claremont's Uncanny X-Men this weekend. I've done this before and fallen off rather quickly, so this time I'm really going to try and stick to it. A few years ago (more than a few), I found a huge stack of single issues at a thrift store in Harbor City, CA, all in the mid 100s, and I've never read most of them. My readership began as a kid in the 80s, right around issue 211, and although I still have a bunch of holes in the run, I'm going to go through what I have. Starting with a bunch of issues of Classic X-Men; the monthly reprint series that ran in the 80s as the title became more popular, bringing hard-to-find storylines like The Dark Phoenix Saga back for newer fans to read. So that's exactly where I started.

Reprinting Uncanny X-Men #130

Reprinting Uncanny X-Men 131

While I do own a beat-up copy of The Phoenix's first appearance in Uncanny 101, I'm not even 100% certain I've ever actually read the entirety of the Phoenix Saga, so this is a great place to begin; I picked these Classic X-Men up years ago at a comic convention and really need this re-read to figure out what I've missed. As well as I know a lot of the lore and history, some of that was no doubt absorbed via years of fandom. It'll be very cool to actually experience Claremont's run.

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Playlist:

Revolting Cocks - Beers Steers and Queers

Miranda Sex Garden - Carnival of Souls

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk Vinyl)

Chelsea Wolfe  - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

Anthrax - Persistence of Time

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse

Turnstile - Glow On

Beck - Odelay

Rollins Band - The End of Silence

Brigette Calls Me Baby - This House is Made of Corners EP

Amigo the Devil - Yours Until the War is Over

The Tiger Lillies - Bad Blood  + Blasphemy

Tom Waits - Rain Dogs

Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven

Mannequin Pussy - Drunk II (single)

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New Music from Better Lovers!

No idea if this is an advance single from a forthcoming record, but I LOVE this!

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Watch:

Despite growing up in the '80s and early '90s as a huge fan of Chris Claremont's X-Men I was a touch too old to ever encounter the X-Men cartoon that ran in the '90s. My girlfriend on the other hand, was a fan, so when Marvel announced the new season of X-Men '97 premiering on Disney+ last month, she was excited. I knew I would watch this with her, but I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it. Well, I'm pretty damn happy to report that after sitting down to watch the first episode last night and not breaking away until we'd watched the first four, she was over the moon and I was very pleasantly surprised.

Of course, the cartoon is still largely based on that first Blue Team/Gold Team design era for the X-Men, heavy Jim Lee, and that's not my favorite era by any means. That said, I was pretty impressed how they worked in both the Madelyne Pryor/Nathan Summers storyline and the LifeDeath story with Forge and Storm. I'm 100% in.

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Watch:

I think there was a very specific chain of events that led to me liking that X-Men 97 cartoon yesterday. Let me retrace that here.

First, I watched this Cartoon Kayfabe video:

I've made no bones about how disappointed I've been with the current state of the X-Titles. I was off reading them for close to a decade when I fell back into the Hickman Powers of X/House of X, and really, I think even after he left the books were fabulous for about the first year. But of late, as the Krakoan era is winding down, I've begun to loathe the overall franchise. Something about this video made me realize that I have strong, good memories even of the bad comics I've read, and I think that really helped boost me up for the cartoon. 

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Playlist:

Turnstile - Glow On

Rollins Band - The End of Silence

Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Godfodder

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

Oranssi Pazuzu - Live at Roadburn 2017

Dödsrit - Nocturnal Will

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The Acid Machine !

Whoah. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon Brazilian Stoner/Doom/Desert Metal band The Acid Machine two days ago, but hot dam! These guys kick some serious ass! New album Mushrooms is out April 12th. You can listen to/support the band at their Bandcamp HERE or by clicking the widget above. 

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NCBD:

Another short week on the Pull. Not a bad thing. Here we go:

The third issue of The One Hand. I'm already hooked on this and sister title The Six Fingers; I really enjoy the world Ram V and Dan Watters have built here. 

I'm planning a re-read of Void Rivals sometime soon, so I don't have a lot to say about this one other than I'm still loving this series. That cover is classic 80s SciFi/Fantasy comics, too!

Even though I don't have a bad thing to say about Gerry Duggan's X-Men book, I'm honestly no longer enjoying seeing any X-Book come up on my list. I just can't wait for this Fall of X to be over, so it can do its next thing, and I can leave that alone.

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Watch:

From what I saw of this trailer, Cuckoo looks insane in the best possible way.

There is a moment in this that gave me some of the best chills I've had in some time. Very much looking forward. Writer/Director Tilman Singer's previous film Luz gets some great accolades, yet somehow I've yet to watch it. Gonna have to fix that soon. 

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Playlist:

The Cure - Disintegration

Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery

Chasms - On The Legs of Love Purified

Brown Whörnet - Stroke the Apechild

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk version/Vinyl)

Zombi - Direct Inject

Iron Monkey - Spleen & Goad (pre-release singles)

Spotlights - Seance EP

Lustmord - Much Unseen Is Also Here

Rollins Band - The End of Silence

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Five of Swords

• Four of Pentacles

• IV: The Emperor

Numerically speaking, this is one Five and Two Fours, which suggests Stabilization after Damage. Taking the Suites/Faces into account, that's Earthly structure kicking back in after a hit to the Intellect, and we see that structure is a direct draw from the paradigms or "rules" that govern all life. 

The news of Ed Piskor's death really messed me up for the last two days. I know it seems weird that someone I don't know personally could have that effect on me, but it did. I think part of that came from seeing how the bridge away from his ultimate choice disappeared behind him. There's no way to say whether he did what he was accused of, and now, there never will be. This entire episode sent me into a bit of existential crisis because it further proves what I am having a very difficult time acclimating into my own operating system - the Internet is just not a good thing for human beings and human society as a whole. There's seemingly no way to turn back now, but faaauuuuhhhccckkkk - we're already being ground beneath the heel of a 'Robot Overlord;' look no further than the interface before you. 

The cards are a welcome reminder to look past this modern overlay, at the fundamentals of being "human." Seek a stabilizing path forward with that. Easier said than done, but whatever. It's that or give up, which I don't think I have it in me to ever do. 

Art Brut - Lost Weekend

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Man, it has been a minute since I listened to Art Brut! Back in 2011 when Brilliant! Tragic! came out, Mr. Brown sent me this record and I couldn't get enough of it for a few months. I'm not really sure how these guys slipped so far off my radar. 

Here's the thing: I haven't had a functioning in-home CD player in probably close to six or seven years now, and when the one in my L.A. car died circa 2018, I all but stopped listening to anything on the format. Add in a general malaise at the format's planned obsolescence that has finally begun to arrive. 

This past week, I found an old DVD player that works perfectly as a dedicated CD spinner. Since then, I've been enjoying a joy-ridden free fall through my fairly extensive collection, re-discovering music I'd forgotten about at every step.

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Watch:

I'm just going to leave this here. Man, this is f**king me up.

RIP Ed. 

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Playlist:

My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult - Final Blindness (45 Single)

Protomartyr - Under Color of Official Right

Brown Whörnet - Radio Album

Art Brut - Brilliant! Tragic!

How To Destroy Angels - Eponymous EP

The Acid Machine - Mushrooms (pre-release singles)

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New Music from Ben Frost!

I've been loosely following Ben Frost since 2009's By the Throat. I cheered for him when he landed the score to Dark - one of my all-time favorite shows. I didn't realize he had a new record coming out, but now that I've heard Scope Neglect, it's almost certainly going to make my favorites of the year list, just strictly based on how absolutely different it is from everything else he's done. 

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Watch:

I am happy to report that Andrew Lobel and Michael Mohan's Immaculate is a fantastic time at the theatre, and I absolutely love and adore them and the studio for releasing this one Easter weekend! What do the dissenters say about that?

Well, that's a bit much. Not sure a movie could ever be *ahem* pure evil, but then, these people are prone to embellishment, yes? Either way, I very much enjoyed this one and put up a new episode of The Horror Vision Presents: Blood & Coffee on it.

I'm developing the Blood & Coffee series as a series of short, spoiler-free video reviews I can knock out by myself when the other members of the show are indisposed or not interested in the flick. I think Immaculate is getting a bit of resistance from the Horror Community simply based on Sydney Sweeney, however, as I talk about in the review, she was instrumental in this one getting made, so while I'm not about to sit through a lot of what she's been in so far, she's A-OK in my book.

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Read:

I finished Malcolm Devlin's And Then I Woke Up on Saturday. Fantastic book. Reminded me a lot of David Moody's Hater.

And Then I Woke Up is a really interesting angle on the now pretty saturated Zombie/Hate Virus trope, and definitely feels like it breathes some fresh life into the subgenre. If you're a fan of those types of stories, give this one a go. I think you'll dig. Reiterating a hearty "Thank You!" to my Horror Vision co-host Ray for gifting me this one. 

Next up: A re-read of Ivy Tholen's Tastes Like Candy, which I read for the first time last year and LOVED. Imagine my delight when, a few weeks ago, Ms. Tholen announced a sequel is heading our way on April 22nd!

Couldn't be more excited about this one!!!

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Playlist:

Ben Frost - Scope Neglect

Zombi - Direct Inject

Money Mark - Mark's Keyboard Repair

Miranda Sex Garden - Carnival of Souls

Man Man - Life Fantastic

Local Natives - Gorilla Manor

Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food

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Card:

Back to Aleister Crowley and Lady Freida Harris's Thoth deck for the Pull today:

• Ace of Disks

• X: Fortune

• VI: The Lovers

The struggle against the process of monetary enlightenment is difficult, but not without reward. Lean on someone else. 

Gwar - Stalin's Organs

 

One week ago on the 23rd of March was the tenth anniversary of Dave Brockie's death. A decade. That's nearly a third of how old 1995's Ragnarok is. I wanted to do something to commemorate Oderus Urungus's exile from our slovenly realm, but I was in the middle of Man Man week, and posting this past week has been tenuous at best. Anyway, we miss you, Oderus. Earth hasn't been salaminized since you went away, and I'm sure a lot of the folks who read this page would agree that we could really use it right about now.

 

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Watch:

I was on the fence about this one, but seeing a post by Beyondfest earlier today, I bought tickets for tomorrow afternoon:

 

I think I have a phobia of Catholic Horror - weird because I wasn't raised Catholic, although I did attend the odd service as a kid. But there's just something icky about all the pageantry and regalia. This is getting a lot of word of mouth, and a lot of that is making Sydney Sweeney look like a philanthropist for getting a film that has apparently been languishing unmade for over twenty years. I have no idea who she is, but I'm definitely intrigued. Perfect weekend, too. 

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DwC:

Mike Shinabargar and I started a new show! Drinking with Comics Presents: DRUNK on ENERGON!

Once again, I had a lot of fun with this one. I'm absolutely in love with Kirkman's take on these properties, and it gives me great joy to sit around and discuss them with my oldest friend from the Realm of  Comic Shops!

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Playlist:

Grand Ducy - Petite Fours

Brand New - Daisy

Zombi - Direct Inject

Rollins Band - End of Silence

Money Mark - Mark's Keyboard Repair

Ministry - Houses of the Molé

Suicide - Eponymous

Miranda Sex Garden - Carnival of Souls

NIN - The Fragile

Fantomas - Suspended Animation

Gwar - Ragnarok

Metallica - Hardwired... To Self Destruct

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muukalainen Puhuu

Justin Hamline - The House With Dead Leaves

Allegaeon - Iridescent (single)

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

Various - Satan's Proto Discoteque (mix CD circa 2000)

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE. Also, Grimm recently launched a Kickstarter for his new deck, The FaeBound Tarot, which you can marvel at and acquire HERE.

• Page of Swords

• Kind of Swords

• Two of Swords

This makes PERFECT sense. I have felt like fighting EVERYONE for the last few days, and I'm not entirely sure why. 

New Music From Arab Strap!

 As usual, huge thanks to Mr. Brown for sending me this, as I've had me 'ead in me arse for the last couple days, and did not see this drop. We're getting awfully close to that new album I'm totally fine with it 👍don't give a f*** anymore 👍 dropping May 10th on Rock Action Records. Pre-order link right HERE. 

Glad to have these guys back for another record; I mean, Aidan and Malcolm went into hiatus while W. was in office, so I kind of thought they might leave the fuckin' planet with what's currently happening. 

This has to be just about my favorite music video since some of the old Liars stuff. 

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Watch:

I had an Ivan Kavanagh double-feature last night. I started with his 2021 film Son:

And then moved on to 2014's The Canal:

I'd seen both of these films previously, but I was happy to go back and revisit them. Both are fantastic; unflinching would definitely be a word I'd use to describe Kavanagh's style. There's a visceral slap to Kavanagh's vision - it sounds a lot like the sound of wet flesh against brick. It's almost mean, but that interpretation is undercut by the lengths to which this filmmaker goes to show the fragile humanity of his protagonists. We see this with Rupert Evans' David in The Canal, and we see it perfected with Andi Matichak's Laura/Anna in Son. There are moments in Son that nearly bring me to tears and the visceral gore that follows later in the film kind of bounces off those soft, quieter moments. Mr. Kavanagh doesn't come across as wanting the terrible acts we witness on screen to befall his characters; instead, it feels as though he's trying to guide them out of the fire to safety.

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Playlist:

Rollins Band - The End of Silence

Run-DMC - Raising Hell

Slayer - Show No Mercy

Beck - The Information

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me OST

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE. Also, Grimm recently launched a Kickstarter for his new deck, The FaeBound Tarot, which you can marvel at and acquire HERE.

• Ace of Swords

• XX: Judgement

• Knight of Swords

A breakthrough of Intellect - something I feel like I can totally use but is definitely eluding me while I wallow in some unwelcome self-doubt - leads to a rebirth of energy synthesized from the balance of Will and Creativity.

Man Man Week

 

Bringing Man Man week to a close with a live quarantine rendition of the second track off 2020's Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between. So cool to see this done live in this way; reminds me a lot of the Low Cut Connie quarantine sessions. 

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NCBD:

Once again, another Wednesday, another New Comic Book Day! Short stack this week, but three books I'm excited for. 

Loving this series, and after Cobra Commander #3 last week, I am really wondering where Zartan is going to show up. My money is on this book - I have a definite idea who he may be impersonating. Chances are good, though, that we may not know until considerably further down the line. Either way, I'm super psyched to read this one.

Newburn Series Finale! Can't wait to go back and re-read it in a tight burst. I've really enjoyed Zdarksy and Phillips' street-level story, and while I'm sorry to see it go, there's always something satisfying about a finite series. 

The cover promises a lot, but somehow, I'm just afraid of more gobbledegook. We'll see.

We oscillate back to the villain of the story. I'm really digging The Six Fingers and The One Hand. I wish Image had advertised this better because I know a lot of folks who would have dug these two interconnected miniseries but had no idea they existed. 

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Watch:

After a failed attempt on Monday, K and I made it out to the theatre for Rose Glass's new film Love Lies Bleeding.

 

What an absolutely original film. The closest thing I can think to compare it to is No Country For Old Men, but even that falls shy. Watching this film, I kept thinking, "How does one come up with a story like this?" All the disparate elements - Love, bodybuilding, murder, gun running, cops on the take... it's just fucking glorious.

Also, second movie I've seen in the last six or so months that uses Throbbing Gristle's "Hamburger Lady". VERY effective!

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Playlist:

Zombi - Direct Inject

Underworld - Lovely Broken Thing

Underworld - I'm a Big Sister, and I'm a Girl, and I'm a Princess and this is My Horse

Various - Mix CD circa 2007

Fela Kuti - Opposite People

Fela Kuti - Sorrow, Tears and Blood

David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars Motion Picture Soundtrack

Man Man - Six Demon Bag

Various - Satan's Discoteque Sweet and Salty (Mix CD circa 2008)

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Man Man Week: The Fog or China

From their 2004 debut, The Man in the Blue Turban With a Face, we have yet another example of how versatile this group is. I love the elements they draw from Tin Pan Alley and 50s Doo Wop, fusing them with something all their own.

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Watch:

Paul Duane's All You Need is Death proved to be one of the highlights of this past year's Beyondfest lineup, and now it's finally being released worldwide. I can vouch for this trailer - it does not give away the movie. 

 

Having seen the film, I can tell you to try your best to see it on the big screen. Duane's approach to Horror thrives on an almost subconscious, microcosmic level while also employing some really big, frightening images. This combination works so well on the big screen, with a professional theatre audio system, especially in regard to Ian Lynch's score, which I can only hope someone releases on vinyl.

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Read:

I've been pretty scattered lately and have not been very successful in reading. I'm chipping along at Malcolm Devlin's Then I Woke Up, which is excellent, but my attention's compass is wonky, pulled from due North by all manner of interfering metals. That said, I recently picked up the missing issues of two early 00s comic series I've been dying to dive into.

First, Mike Baron and Mike Norton's The Night Club, which I'd been missing the final issue of since I picked up the series back in 2005:

Next, from right around the same time, Keith Griffen's Tag.

I'm using the image of the Deluxe Edition Boom! eventually published, however, I was interested in the original issues, as I had two of the three. There was a subsequent series, Tag: Cursed, that I haven't read, but the first two issues of this first one always stayed with me. Ostensibly a zombie story, Tag is a pretty interesting take on what was even a bloated subgenre back in 2005, only two years after The Walking Dead comic started, the same year George Romero returned for a fourth time to his original continuity with Land of the Dead. Tag presupposes an infection you can pass by tagging another person. The pull quote on the top of issue two says it all:

Very much looking forward to reading both of these once I get my head on straight again. 

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Playlist:

All Hell - The Howl (single)

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muukalainen Puhuu

Waste of Space Orchestra - Syntheosis

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Glasgow Eyes

Man Man - The Man in the Blue Turban

Lustmord - Much Unseen Is Also Here

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE. Also, Grimm recently launched a Kickstarter for his new deck, The FaeBound Tarot, which you can marvel at and acquire HERE.

One card today, because I haven't touched the deck in a while and wanted a generalized, "this is the 48 year of your life" kind of reading.

I went with the lighting I'm working in at the moment, too. It felt appropriate. Knowledge above salvation. Sounds great.

 

The closing track from 2014's On Oni Pond. This song goes to some strange places—nothing new for Man Man—and maybe it just has a slightly heftier impact at the end of the album. Either way, it's another iconic track.

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Watch:

The whole Clarksville edition of my family went out to the movies yesterday to see Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Overall, the film is not nearly as good as its predecessor Afterlife, but it was fun. 

First, what I liked: I dig the new cast, especially when we still get this much of the old cast. Frozen Empire has a nice mix of both. A few too many kids thrown in, but it works. I loved seeing Patton Oswalt - always do - and I really loved seeing Kumail Ali Nanijani have a much bigger part than I anticipated. I really like that guy. Overall, the story was pretty good, but here's where my biggest problem is: the movie is under two hours long, but I swear to you, I felt like I was watching it for four hours. The script is just wonky in places. Also, this one relies SO much on nostalgia that it becomes a touch obnoxious (the same library ghost? Really?).

Overall, I'll see more of these if they make them. I love seeing Winston as the philanthropist funding the Ghostbusters, and I love the ideas they toy with regarding expansion. This is the path I always thought the original sequel should have taken. 

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Playlist:

Man Man - Life Fantastic

Tamaryn - The Waves

Dum Dum Girls - Too True

Ritual Howls - My Friends Bury Their Souls for the Devil to Find

LCD Soundsystem - Eponymous

Yaz - Don't Go (single)

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

Los Saicos - Demolición/Lonely Star (single)

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me OST

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Man Man Week Day Four: Life Fantastic

 

Life is truly fantastic, even as fucked up and dark as it can get out here in 2024. But I turn 48 today and I'm happy to still be here. It's... fantastic!

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Man Man Week - Harpoon Fever (Queequeg's Playhouse)

 

From 2008's Rabbit Habits. THIS is the song that sold me to just how odd this band is. I mean, the boneyard percussion and vaudvillian creep-outs are one thing, but juxtaposed with the bizarre digital freak-out near the end of this song, well, it's old, it's new. It's unlike anything else (accept maybe a shared DNA with Mr. Bungle's "Desert Search for Techno Allah").

 

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I caught the trailer for In A Violent Nature about a month ago at the theatre when I went to see Stopmotion, and it completely threw me at first. I seriously thought for a minute that the long-standing F13 legal battles had silently resolved and someone made a new film for the franchise in secret. Not the case, but that's probably a good thing. 

Writer/Director Chris Nash's feature film debut looks Brutal!  Total Video Nasty DNA. Hitting theatres May 31st, I will definitely be putting my arse in a seat at my local to watch this. 

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Playlist:

Zombi - Direct Inject

Zombi - 2020

Goatsnake - Black Age Blues

Anthrax - Among the Living

United Future Organization - 3rd Perspective

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE. Also, Grimm recently launched a Kickstarter for his new deck, The FaeBound Tarot, which you can marvel at and acquire HERE.

• Six of Pentacles 

• XX: Judgement

• Wheel of Fortune 

Earthly plateau - things are right where I want them in some respects, but XX shows it will be a balancing act to keep them there. The Wheel confirms this, but suggests it won't be quite as difficult as I think it will be. 

It's Man Man Week! Black Mission Goggles

Mr. Brown turned me on to Man Man back circa 2006 with the release of Six Demon Bag. This was right before I moved from Chicago to L.A. I quickly became obsessed with the way the band dabbled in Tom Waits' boneyard percussion and Mr. Bungle's no-warning non-sequiturs, all while still saying melodious and, dare I say, downright tender at times. A definite Vaudvillain undertone permeates their sound, and once all that is fused together, well, you get something like the above track, taken from the aforementioned second full-length. If I wasn't convinced with Six Demon Bag, then 2008's Rabbit Habits did it, their sound further fermenting into something wholly original and 100% endearing to folks looking for something unlike anything else. Then, three years later, Life Fantastic came out, and it quickly became the soundtrack to my life and one of my all-time favorite albums. 

Oddly, despite loving On Oni Pond, something had gone out of the band for me. Looking back on it now, this is entirely on me. I did that thing I sometimes do where I let the fact that Man Man had caught on as an Iconic Hipster "It Band" affect how I felt about them. I just kind of stopped paying attention and, amazingly enough, listening to even the albums I already cherished. Over the intervening years, I've kept up a bit - like the littlest bit one can - but my life completely changed and I forgot how much Man Man's music meant to me. Then, two days ago, after the announcement of the new album in June, I threw on Life Fantastic, and it all came flooding back to me. I just couldn't turn it off. 

It makes me sad that I lost the piece of myself that identified so strongly with this band, but that piece has definitely come crashing back, as you'll no doubt notice from my playlists. So let's do a Man Man week and revel in some of the absolutely beautiful, insane, amazing music we've received from Honus Honus and crew to date while looking forward to what we have coming in just a few months' time.

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Watch:

I left my Tim Burton fan club card behind a loooong time ago, but there's no way I'm not getting excited about this.

I don't think  Beetlejuice or Edward Scissorhands ever meant to me what it did to a lot of folks, but I dig them. Especially the former. The original Beetlejuice is just a crazy fucking movie, and I'm hoping Burton can put aside being Tim Burton long enough to make this what it should be. As in, CRAZY!!!

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Playlist:

Man Man - Life Fantastic

Man Man - Six Demon Bag

Man Man - Rabbit Habits

The Babies - Our House On the Hill

Brigitte Calls Me Baby - This House is Made of Corners EP

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Talk About the Weather (single)

Metallica - Lux Æterna (single)

Metallica - Hardwired... to Self-Destruct

Lustmord - Much Unseen Is Also Here

Zombi - Direct Inject (pre-release singles)

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New Music From Man Man and Alien Romulus Gets a Teaser!!!

 

New music from Man Man! From the forthcoming album Carrots on Strings, out June 7th on Subpop. Pre-order HERE.

Man, after Ryan Ketner showed up in Josh Forbes' Destroy All Neighbors two months ago, I've been lamenting not having more than one Man Man record in nearly ten years - 2020's Dream Hunting in the Valley In-Between was the first record since 2013's On Oni Pond, which just feels like a lifetime ago. Anyway, here we are - a new record and an insane new song that sounds, at times, like something from Six Demon Bag. I'd love to see whatever the band looks like live again - last time was for 2011's Life Fantastic and they were awesome! Shit, I'll even put aside my crippling dislike of "John Travolta" for them.

 

I think...

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Yes!!!!

The Blood! The Screams! The ambiguity - this is everything I want in both a teaser and a new Alien movie directed by Fede Fucking Alvarez! 

I have the highest of hopes that Fede has been allowed to bring to Alien what he brought to Evil Dead - an unflinching, brutal approach. Alien doesn't, by nature, allow the creator to shy away from a certain level of brutality, but come on, let's make this as horrific as possible! Let's merge the nightmarish approach of Alien Resurrections - which does indeed suffer from a lot of craft issues but overall has some of the most terrifying ideas and images of all the films - and the non-stop attack of Aliens. If anyone can do it, Mr. Alvarez can. 

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Playlist:

Yawning Balch - Volume One

Ned's Atomic Dustbin - God Fodder

Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Bite

Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Are You Normal?

Ned's Atomic Dustbin - brainbloodvolume

Chris Brokaw - Puritan

Amigo the Devil - Yours Until the War is Over

Man Man - Life Fantastic

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE. Also, Grimm recently launched a Kickstarter for his new deck, The FaeBound Tarot, which you can marvel at and acquire HERE.

• Page of Swords - Stop. Breathe. Assess. Applies to both my life at this very moment and my character's.

• Queen of Wands - Unceasing female energy. Know when you're fighting just for the love of fighting. Definitely Lisa's (my character)

• VII: The Chariot - Emerging Victorious from a trying time. Again, this applies to both me and Lisa. 

K has a low Vitamin D deficiency, and that means I have been tasked by her doctor with giving her inter-muscular Vitamin D injections once a week for the next four weeks, starting today. Have I mentioned how absolutely terrified of needles I am? 

In terms of Lisa, she will emerge victorious, but only at the cost of a major compromise. Once again, I read this as an acknowledgment that I'm on the right track.

Moon Wizard - Luminare

I'm not even certain how I stumbled across Moon Wizard, but hot damn am I glad I did. I LOVE this band! New album Sirens came out a few weeks ago and you can click on that Bandcamp Widget above or this link HERE and support these guys!

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NCBD:

Pretty big haul today. Let's get into it:

Two issues of Army of Darkness Forever remain after this one, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the three disparate timelines - Ash in the future, Evil Ash in the 90s, and Sheila in the Medieval Army of Darkness timeline - all coalesce. 

This Cobra Commander series is the best damn thing since sliced bread. My Drinking with Comics cohost Mike Shin stole a peak at this one while putting it on the shelves at his shop, and without revealing anything, his "Damn," pronouncement has me giddy A.F. for tomorrow.

Love the cover. I was happy to learn that Larry Hama's seminal G.I.JOE: ARAH is making such a triumphant resurgence, and I'm happy to do my part. Even with an almost 200 issue gap in my reading, I'm digging returning to the book that turned me into a hardcore comic fan. 

Johnny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling. With old buds John Constantine and Alec Holland's Swamp Thing back together again, what madness awaits? We shall see...

I feel like the second issue of this just came out. The other side of the Fall of X coin, I'm digging Al Ewing's approach to this a lot. As I mentioned in a recent episode of Drinking with Comics, this shares some DNA with his 2021 Defenders series, of which I was a pretty big fan. 

Hate to see this chapter in Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino's Bone Orchard Mythos go, but with the world-building going on in the previous two issues, I'm psyched that however Tenement ends, it will pave the way for future great things.

Not gonna lie, I'm pretty skeptical about this one. That said, I've come this far not to finish this whole Fall of X thing out, and the four-issue X-Men: Forever appears to be the caboose on Kieron Gillen's train, so let's do this, for better or worse.

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Watch:

Fede Alvarez, I'd follow you into hell, because tomorrow...

Is today...

Can't F**kin' wait! 

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Playlist:

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny

Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She

Moon Wizard - Sirens

The Obsessed - Gilded Sorrow

Goat Snake - Black Age Blues

Yawning Balch - Volume One

Fvnerals - Let the Earth be Silent

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE. Also, Grimm recently launched a Kickstarter for his new deck, The FaeBound Tarot, which you can marvel at and acquire HERE.

• IX: The Hermit

• Queen of Pentacles

• Five of Cups

There's the Hermit in first position again. That's two days in a row, so let's look a little deeper into it. From the grimoire: "Dark & lonely period of gestation. Fetal; a re-grouping. This is EXACTLY where I'm at after two days of working on the last act of the novel. It's uncanny. The Queen of Pentacles - or the Emotional aspect of Earthly concerns is my protagonist Lisa exactly. The Five of Cups is the Emotional Conflict she is soon to be crushed under in determining how best to survive the events of the novel's final conflict. I don't necessarily see guidance for my way forward in these cards, but they definitely feel like a nod to the fact that I'm on the right path. To quote Deputy Hawk: 

"You're on the path. You don't need to know where it leads. Just follow."