Jon Spencer live

 

Jon Spencer and his new band hit KEXP for a live set that absolutely fucking RIPS! Special guest Ty Wagner. Really great stuff.

 

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Watch:

I picked up two Blu-rays this weekend that had been on my list forever, and when I noticed one had Sold Out on the manufacturer's website, I sprung into action. Both are, as you will see, the progeny of arguably the largest of the boutique companies specializing in the odd and exploitative film restoration, namely Vinegar Syndrome. I've learned that, with VS's business model, once the print run is tapped out, the secondary market can be brutal. 

First, Carter Smith's Swallowed:

I'm not posting a trailer for this one because I'm not sure how one can exist without giving away details best left served cold to an unknowing viewer. Watched this one last night, my second viewing since this came out and made my "Best of 2023" list over on The Horror Vision. 

I really like this film. In fact, after watching writer/director Carter Smith's Passenger recently, I'm finding that I really like his films in general. I closed the viewing last night by watching the interview supplement on the disc, and I found him likable and quite educational in terms of explaining his films in the context of how he went about getting them made. 

Next, Tammy and the T-Rex, also from Vinegar Syndrome. No problems posting a trailer for this mad-cap little monstrosity because it is what it is from the jump: a teenager's brain transplanted into a T-Rex out for revenge on the mad scientist and his goons who killed his human body:

I originally saw this one at Beyondfest back in 2019, and I'd been meaning to pick it up on disc since Vinegar Syndrome released it the following year. Total oversight, now corrected, because I just cannot let this one sell out and be lost to time. 

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Playlist:

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

Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

X - Los Angeles

X - Under the Big Black Sun

Butthole Surfers - Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac

Gerry Rafferty - City to City

QOTSA - ... Like Clockwork

Them Crooked Vultures - Eponymous

QOTSA - Era Vulgaris

The Smiths - The Queen is Dead

The Jesus Lizard - Rack

Shellac - To All Trains

Tennis System - Technicolor Blind

The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust

Perturbator - Dangerous Days

Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God Chapter 1

Placebo - Meds

A Perfect Circle - Mer De Noms

Ministry - Animositisomina

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

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Drinking with Comics Volume 4, Episode 50!!! Plus - Melvins!!!

Melvins 1983 (Buzz and original drummer Mike Dillard at it again. Pre-order the upcoming album Thunderball from Ipecac Recordings HERE.

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NCBD:

Short pull this week, and I only just realized today is Thursday, not Wednesday, so I guess I won't be grabbing these until probably next week:

Good lord, that cover! Already 8 strong issues in, and Epitaphs from the Abyss is everything I want in a Horror Anthology comic. 

Love the cover, but still not really feeling this book. Fan inertia, take me away...

Due to the Diamond bankruptcy and subsequent fiasco, I still haven't acquired issue two of the McKendry's Barstow, so I'm hoping this is in my box today but honestly won't be surprised if it's not. 

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Watch:

Speaking of comics, I've fallen out of the habit of posting Drinking with Comics here since I brought it back a little over two years ago, but Volume Four, episode 50 is a doozy! Mike Wellman returns to talk about his new comic strip, A Shadow Called Danger. He brings artist/director Bradley Rader along and Mike Shinabargar and I have a great time talking politics, the comics industry and Mike's sobriety! 

It was really good to have Mike back on, and the "Meeting of the Mikes" felt epic to this man who loves them both dearly!

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Playlist:

Van Halen - 1984

Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Led Zeppelin - Presence

Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Them Are Us Too - Remain

Dead Milkmen - Quaker City Quiet Pills

Yerusalem - The Sublime

Nothing - Guilty of Everything

GoGo's - Vacation

Dream Theater - Parasomina

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Card:

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

Loud and clear.

The first or middle card here jumped out of the deck during the shuffle. I'm a touch hungover this morning, so everything feels slightly pained. I drank five or six beers last night and was thinking, "I should stop drinking five or six beers every night," and then the Nine of Cups. Here's a case where the image on the card - which is specific to this deck - spoke directly to me. The other two cards were pulled as clarification cards. 

Four of Cups (from the grimoire): "An emotional idea or institution that has grown beyond the original balance/harmony of its conception."

Page of Wands (from the grimoire): "Baggage."

Well, that's my drinking in a nutshell. Might be time to dial it back. Five or six beers a night every night is, me thinks, too much. 

New Music From Peter Murphy!

 

I haven't ever really kept up with Peter Murphy's solo career, just dabbled here and there. This, however, may remedy that. Love this track. Out May 9th on Metropolis Records; there doesn't appear to be a pre-order link for Silver Shade yet, but check out the Metropolis site HERE.

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Watch:

I had a bit of a New Wave French Extreme binge over the weekend. Starting with my first rewatch of Maury and Bustillo's Inside:

Next up, Fabrice Du Walz's 2004 Calvaire, or The Incident, which the good folks at Yellow Veil cleaned up the transfer on and re-released last year via their partnership with Vinegary Syndrome.

 

I love both of these films intensely. Inside is one of my favorite Gore Flicks ever, and Calvaire is just so... patient. Finally, finished it off by ordering a copy of High Tension on Blu-Ray (had no idea it was out of print, and despite my many issues with the film, it's a seminal, import work AND boasts a fabulous score by one of my favorite composers, the late François-Eudes Chanfrault) and my second ever viewing of Pascal Laugier's Martyrs.

Man, NOT for the faint of heart. This film only proves to be something I can recommend to others based on the final moments of the film, even though it is an excellent film that very much has something to say. Everything that comes before the end is masterfully accomplished, but it's... a lot. 

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Playlist:

Witchfinder - Hazy Rites

Witchfinder - Forgotten Mansion

Melvins - Tarantula Heart

Sunn O))) - Domkirke

Nothing - Guilty of Everything

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Dreamkid - Eponymous

Michael Kiwanuka - Small Changes

Michael Kiwanuka - KIWANUKA

Vaguess - Bodhi Collection

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Calexico - More Cowboys In Sweden (Live)

Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 1

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

Childish Gambino - Because the Internet

Outkast - The Love Below

Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands 

YERÛŠELEM - The Sublime

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D'Nell - I've Read About it

 

I have not thought about D'Nell or their 2005 Trip Hop/Soul Masterpiece 1st Magic in probably a decade. I ask myself, how is that possible? The moment I thought of it, out of the clear blue sky Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I sought it out, only to find it absent from Apple Music. It's apparently on Spotify, but I only sub to that around October to have access to my four-hour Halloween playlist, so instead, I had to resort to listening to it on youtube.

I hate doing that. I mean, FUCK ads, right? 

Anyway, I'm sure the old burned disc I had is on one of the spindles of burned discs I've hung onto since the '00s. Will it still play? Doesn't matter, because I tracked down a vinyl copy of 1st Magic on Discogs and bought it. Shipping from Germany included, and it came to less than I've paid for some new, domestic records. I cannot wait to get this on my turntable! I know so little about D'Nell - my good friend Ray turned me onto them back circa 2006 or 2007, and it soundtracked the next five or so years of my life pretty heavily. Then... it just fell off my radar. I can't explain the size of the smile on my face listening to this last night and again first thing this morning. 

Such an amazing record.

 

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Watch:

I'm too exhausted to explain what I know about Backrooms - I don't know so much more than I do - but after my friends Maddy and Kenta introduced me to this and Kane Pixels, in general, this time last year, I haven't thought that much about it. 

Until now.

That book I'm currently reading? Coup de Grace? Really reminds me of this, so I've been thinking about it again. I need to carve out some time to sit down, smoke up, and just try and watch as much of this as I can. Also, there is some definite second-generation Hauntology going on in these. Analog ghost worlds, baby. Analog Ghost Worlds...

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Playlist:

D'Nell - 1st Magic

United Future Organization - 3rd Perspective

Secret Chiefs 2 Traditionalists - La Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomimi

Calexico - More Cowboys In Sweden (Live)

Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 1

Ethel Cain - Preacher's Daughter

The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer

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Sunn O))) - Alice

 

Currently becoming re-fixated on Sunn O)))'s 2009 EPIC Monoliths and Dimensions. This was my introduction to Sunn O))); I'd seen references to the band on the Freak Angels Whitechapel board (RIP) that had me curious, so I was primed. I was a subscriber to Wire magazine at the time, and their April 2009 issue had Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson on the cover for the release of Monoliths, so that was my inciting incident. The rest, as they say, is history. I've kept up with the band to a degree, but nothing I've heard by them has ever hit me as hard as the arranging on this one. 

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NCBD:

More excited about this week's pull list than any in a while; that could all drain away if Diamond continues to lag on actually getting the books still entrusted to their care into shops. I'm waiting on three books from the new year - What's the Furthest Place From Here #21, Barstow #2, and TMNT #6. I understand that the company is struggling, but come on.

Okay, enough bitchin' already. Let's get into this week's books!

LOVE this alternative cover for Batman: Dark Patterns issue 3. Chances are I won't be able to snag this, but that's okay, because the A Cover is pretty bad ass, too.. Really digging this book, though. Dan Watters drums up another really well-done series, with some truly crazy ideas that work definite elements of the Horror genre into a Batman comic (always my favorite Batman stories!)

Thundercracker and Skywarp - I love spending so much time with some of these Gen One characters again. Always dug all three of the original Decepticon planes, but Starscream usually gets all the screen time.

New book by Luther Strode/Spread scribe Justin Jordan. Looks like an occult-tinged, super violent revenge story. Here's the solicitation from League of Comic Geeks:

"Harley Creed is a bad man. He used to be worse. A violent ex-con with a string of brutal crimes in his past, he only wanted one thing when he finally walked free from prison: to leave Briar Falls, WV, behind and disappear forever. But Harley’s hometown has a strange way of swallowing people whole—call it a consequence of the low-level folk magic that has permeated its darker corners for generations. And now that Harley has returned, pent-up vengeance for his past crimes is about to come roaring back. Somebody has put a hex on him—and Harley has seven days before he dies in twisted, screaming agony. To reverse it, Harley must find and kill his unseen enemy before their curse can reap its terrible end. But in Briar Falls, there's no shortage of suspects—and Harley is coming for them all. If can't have peace, at least he can have revenge."

I haven't read a lot of Justin Jordan's work, which is an oversight on my part. I miss the guy's voice - Luther Strode is so very near and dear to my heart. Can't wait to give this a shot.

Part two of Zac Thompson's super weird, super creepy Science Horror Into the Unbeing! Been waiting for this one. 

This, like all Z News, will be on hold at my shop in Chicago, so it'll be a minute. Just knowing this is out there waiting for me makes me smile, though.

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Play:

A Metroidvania based on the Beast of Gevaudan? Sign me up!

Hitting Switch this summer. Read the full skinny over on Bloody Disgusting!

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Playlist:

Tangerine Dream - Sorceror OST

Gazelle Twin - Fear Keeps Us Alive (Beak> Mix; single)

Windhand - Eponymous

Boy Harsher - Careful

Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Dreamkid - Eponymous

Sunn O))) - Monoliths and Dimensions

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

D'Nell - 1st Magic (truncated, youtube playlist version*)

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* See tomorrow's post

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Card:

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

• IX: The Hermit

• Nine of Swords

• Two of Pentacles

Isolation can seem like a good thing for perspective and concentration, however, it can lead to overwhelmingly destruction thoughts. If this occurs, confide in another. 

Exister Exhuma

As I wrote about last week, I'm really only now getting to know Exister, the late Luis Vasquez's final album. Go figure - the one that didn't make that big of an impression on me upon its first release has become my favorite. 

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Watch:

I finally got around to watching Jang Jae-hyun's Exhuma on Shudder. This was on quite a few "Best of 2024" lists I saw and I must say, that ranking is well deserved. Here's a trailer that happily tells you very little of what to expect.

This felt more like short, episodic premium television series stuck together into a film, a bit like Demián Rugna's Terrified, so that's not a bad thing. I really enjoyed Exhuma, although I ended up breaking it into two viewings. The sad state of my life at this time is it's pretty difficult to garner 134 minutes to sit still and watch a film. Sucks, but it's my current version of reality. 

Highlly recommended. 

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Read:

I found a pretty interesting interview with Weird Fiction/Horror Author T.E.D. Klein. This man's work was all but lost, with beat-up paperbacks from the 80s/90s going for absurd amounts of money on auction sites, so until a few years ago, I'd only ever read "The Events at Poroth Farm" (1972). Thanks to PS Publishing/Drugstore Indian Press's diligence in bringing Klein's work back into print, I finally acquired and read The Ceremonies in 2022 and loved it. Still haven't gotten around to Dark Gods, however, that'll probably happen this year.

Read the interview HERE. 

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Playlist:

Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

Deafheaven - 10 Years Gone

Drug Church - Prude

Drug Church - Hygiene

Nothing - Guilty of Everything

Entropy - Liminal

Sun O))) - Monoliths and Dimensions

The Soft Moon - Exister

Ruin of Romantics - Velvet Dawn

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Card:

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

• IX: The Hermit

• I: The Magician

• IV: The Emperor

Hunker down and make some Magick!

Cherubini - Requiem in C Minor

 

One beautiful piece of music I've often taken for granted.

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Watch:

Friday night, I watched Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me on Joe Bob Brigg's The Last Drive-In Patreon. I'd seen this posted on the Patreon a while ago and had been saving it. Couldn't think of a better time; I'm two-thirds through my rewatch of Twin Peaks The Return and wanted to slow the roll on that. It's definitely gained momentum fast while watching, and I backed off to kind of savor it. 

The original air date of this one was March 6, 1999, on Joe Bob's Last Call. One of the cool things about the Patreon is even though Joe Bob's old shows were basic cable and, therefore edited, the films they put up are the whole enchilada.

I can't say I agreed with most of JB's commentary on the film. However, it was '99, and Twin Peaks was a distant memory to pop culture at large (not to me and my friends; Brown, myself and two other friends would make our first sojourn to the Twin Peaks Fest (RIP) in Washington state a year later in 2000), so without a fresh rewatch of the series - which would have been somewhat hard to do unless you had the Worldvision VHS box set I'd had since it was released in 1993 for $99.95 (had to look the release date on that one up), you probably hadn't seen the series since it originally aired in 90/91 or perhaps when the Bravo network reaired it in 1993. So FWWM would make even less sense.

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Read:

Speaking of surrealist Horrro, I finally got around to starting Sopia Ajram's Coup de Grâce.

Here's the description lifted directly from Goodreads:

A mindbending and visceral experimental horror about a young man trapped in an infinite Montreal subway station, perfect for readers of Mark Z. Danielewski and Susanna Clarke.

Don't remember where I first heard of this one, but I'm enjoying it so far, even though I'm still having a lot of trouble concentrating on prose at the moment. 

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Playlist:

Frank Black - Teenager of the Year

The Jesus Lizard - Down

Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante

Japandroids - Celebration Rock

Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh

Loathe - I Let It In and It Took Everything

Flogging Molly - Float

Riccardo Muti - Verdi: Requiem & Cherubini: Requiem in C Minor

Wolves in the Throne Room - Crypt of Ancestral Knowledge EP

Wolves in the Throne Room - Diadem of 12 Stars

Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen

Blut Aus Nord - The Mystical Beast of Rebellion

Boston Baroque, Conductor: Martin Pearlman - Chrubini: Requiem in C Minor

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Card:

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

• Two of Pentacles

• Two of Wands

• Four of Wands

Stability ahead.

Testament - Electric Crown

Earlier this week, I fell into a pretty hard jag listening to Testament's older records and it made me realize just how underrated these guys were, historically speaking. It definitely seems like their status has elevated with time, which is great

 

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Watch:

K and I caught Heart Eyes at the local theatre last night, and while I've definitely grown a little weary of Michael Landon's 'quirky' tone, this is a super fun popcorn Slasher.

Heart Eyes is almost exactly 50% Romantic Comedy, 50% Slasher flick. That's a weird mix, but it mostly works. It's heavy on the 'cute' factor, which is where I occasionally lost my patience with the film, but mileage may vary. I think Josh Ruben's directing anchored this one from floating too far out into quirkyville. 

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Playlist:

Dungen - Ta Det Lungt

Sunn O))) - Domkirke

Frank Black - Teenager of the Year

Revocation - Confines of Infinity

Mastodon & Lamb of God - Floods of Triton

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction (pre-release singles)

Hangman's Chair - A Loner

David Bowie & NIN - Back in Anger

Testament - The Ritual

Disincarnate - Dreams of the Carrion Kind

Testament - Practice What You Preach

Chrystabell & David Lynch - Cellophane Memories

Various - Twin Peaks (Limited Event Series Soundtrack)

The Soft Moon - Exister

PAIN - You Only Live Twice

Rammstein - Eponymous

Testament - Low

Testament - Souls of Black

Genevieve Artadi - Forever Forever

Blood Incantation - Absolute Everywhere

Emma Ruth Rundle - Marked for Death

Spotlights - Love & Decay

Foster the People - Torches

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Card:

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

For whatever reason, I have zero perspicacity to interpret today's pull at this time, so I'll just leave it here for now and maybe look back later. 

Revocation w/ Travis Ryan - Confines of Infinity

I saw both of these bands live back in 2014 at the Summer Slaughter Fest at Hollywood's House of Blues. Both made a great impression, but it was Revocation that really hit. Cattle Decapitation was great, but my history with the band starts and stops with that show. Digging this collaboration between Revocation and C.D. singer Travis Ryan.

No word if this heralds a new Revocation album, but they're about due based on their past release schedule. This reminds me a bit of the Mastodon/Lamb of God collaboration a few months ago. 

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Watch:

I completely forgot about posting this trailer for Oz Perkins' The Monkey:

I LOVE this trailer! Man, Oz has really had some unbelievably cool marketing for these last two flicks, and I think it has A LOT to do with why these are so successful. So while blumhouse continues to be the trailer bane of the Horror Fan's existence, Neon has really risen to the occasion and will hopefully lead other distributors by example. There's no way The Monkey doesn't smash the box office, and this trailer has a lot to do with the hype.

Also, some pretty great full page inner front cover and back cover ads in the most recent Fango for this, too:

See? These are fantastic!

There's been such a 'vibe' for both The Monkey and LONGLEGS, and that vibe ads to the success. PLEASE let others learn this lesson. Don't make me NOT want to see your movie with the marketing for it (cough*blumhouse*cough).

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Playlist:

Foster the People - Torches

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

Swans - To Be Kind

Frank Black - Teenager of the Year

The Soft Moon - Criminal

The Soft Moon - Exister

Final Light - Eponymous

Blood Incantation - Absolute Everywhere

Testament - The Ritual

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Saying Goodbye to The Soft Moon (One Year Late)

A week or so ago, I saw a post on social media that alarmed me - Luis Vasquez, the singular voice of The Soft Moon, died a year ago! I had no idea...

When I realized I hadn't posted anything from this band since the day after seeing them live in 2018, I guess it makes sense that they were far enough off my radar that I missed the news of Vasquez's passing in January of 2024 and for, you know, the entire remainder of the year. I was in L.A. for the entirety of January 2024, but pulling last year's Moleskin off the shelf, I see that I spent January 18th at Santa Monica Brewworks with my good friend Chris. Looking at my post from that day, I didn't find a serendipitous dalliance with The Soft Moon's music, and scrolling through their discography, I realized I'd kind of tuned them out after 2018's Criminal. 2022's Exister only shows up three times in my daily playlists on this page. 

It also makes sense that I never saw the short film "Stupid Child," a kind of tense noise interstitial for one of the tracks from Exister. This is possibly the most harrowing thing Vasquez had a hand in - the video to "Needs" is pretty fucked up, but I'd say this tops that easily. 

Glad I got to see The Soft Moon live. Great band that had so much more in them. Fuckin' Fentanyl. 

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Watch:

K and I are currently rewatching Yellowjackets seasons one and two as prep for the new season starting on Valentine's Day. Rewatching, I realize there is so much of season two I somehow completely forgot. 

K typically conks out earlier than I do, so after she falls asleep, I've been continuing my first rewatch of Twin Peaks: The Return since 2018. 

I'd never watched The Return directly after the original series before, and honestly, I don't know that I'd do it this way again. There's such a marked difference between the two; every time I watch the original, I fall in love with it all over again, so to switch gears and jump headlong into the follow-up that is not really concerned with being a follow-up at all felt a bit jarring at first. In fact, after the first two episodes, I was starting to think I didn't like The Return. That feeling didn't last that long, though. By the time I got to episode three or four, my brain had caught up, and I had reemerged. 

There's so much about The Return that I love, but first, I have to remind myself that this is 100% a creative vehicle for David Lynch - really his last large-scale vehicle - and he used it to shoot what many TP fans felt was idiosyncratic content that had nothing to do with the answers and resolutions they'd been hoping for since the second season finale aired on June 10, 1991. Lynch famously did things 100% on his own terms (except with Dune, and look how that turned out), and continuing what he'd started and begrudgingly lost control of nearly thirty years ago was definitely not on his "to do" list. I've definitely spent some time wondering what might have been had the show continued, and as usual, those contemplations only yield one result: Better to leave 'em wanting more than to overstay your welcome. Still...

So it took a bit to recalibrate myself coming into this rewatch of The Return, but now I'm 100% in. Friday night, I watched episodes seven and eight, and I was once again struck by (of course) episode eight's absolute grandeur. I woke up the next day wanting to read some critical writing on the series. Happily, I found some excellent articles. 

First, this article HERE on the Wrong Answers blog, where Abigail Nussbaum makes some excellent points about what I have long felt is both the saddest and most remarkably compelling aspects of the series, namely how well it mirrors the disappointments of life. The lyrics to Eddie Vedder's contribution to The Return's soundtrack sums this up beautifully:

Next, Crypto-Kubrology's article on Medium reminded me of a theory I'd read about once before, shortly after the series aired. Namely, that episodes 17 and 18 may very well have been intended to be watched at the same time. 

As a huge fan of The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka, this idea makes me giddy with anticipation, and while Zaireeka has become all but impossible for me to orchestrate listening to properly, 17 & 18 will simply require I muster the wherewithal to carry the tv in my office downstairs and set it up next to* the one in the living room. I have at least three Blu-Ray players, so no problem there.

White The Return may be unlike the original Twin Peaks in most ways, one thing the two series share is the ability to reward repeated viewings with ever more mystery. 

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*Although Cryto-Kubrology's screenshots make me wonder if the screens would be better served stacked as opposed to side-to-side, but I'll take what I can get. 

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Playlist:

The Veils - Asphodels

Frank Black - Teenager of the Year

Frank Black - Cult of Ray

Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues

Sleep - Dopesmoker

High On Fire - Blessed Black Wings

Various - Twin Peaks: Music from the Limited Event Series

Crime Weekly Podcast - Rey Rivera (part 2)

Laura Cannell - A Compendium of Beasts Vol. 1 EP

Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hot!

Amber Mark - 3:33am

Apple Music Playlist: February 2, 2025

The Soft Moon - Criminal

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Card:

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

• VI The Lovers

• Six of Pentacles

• King of Pentacles

Surface reads are always something I avoid, almost to the fact that sometimes I feel like I tend to resist instances where the cards attempt to convey something simply. I'll not make that mistake today. The Lovers is an obvious nod to K and I celebrating out 9th anniversary this past Saturday. Six of Pentacles is a reminder of the stability I have now, a goal I set and accomplished with no small degree of Will. And King of Pentacles is both a nod to giving more attention to everyday Earthly matters (Malkuth), and that I need to listen to more Sabbath; kinda slacking off lately.

Frank Black - Teenager of the Year 30th Anniversary

You know you're getting up there when your favorite, most influential post-High School albums start turning 30. How is Teenager of the Year three decades young? I mean, seriously? 

Last weekend, K and I drove up to Chicago for a few days. Saturday night I met up with a bunch of old friends and saw the first night of Black's Teenager of the Year 30th Anniversary show at the Metro. Mr. Brown was in attendance, and it felt like such a full circle moment - Brown was the friend who got me into so much of the most influential music of my twenties. In 1995, I'd gotten out of a three-year relationship begun in High School.

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Watch:

Last Thursday, K and I had the distinct pleasure of catching Steven Soderbergh's new film Presence.

Not posting a trailer, partially because I haven't seen one and don't have the time to vet one of spoilers, partially because I LOVE the posters they've released for this film. Soderbergh is always a class act, and his film about a haunted house is exactly what you'd expect by being nothing you would expect. 

This film blew me away, and I implore any even remotely interested parties to seek this one out while it's still on the big screen. Mind you, this isn't a movie you have to see on the big screen, like The Substance or Nosferatu. However, the camera flows across that massive screen in a way that just intoxicates. In a way, this isn't a "Horror" film in that Horror films generally unfold via events, and there are not a lot of events here. This is a character study of a family first and foremost. That said, when things get fucked up, they get really fucked up. Presence has one of the most disturbing concepts in it I've seen in some time. 

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NCBD Addendum:

I wasn't going to pick this new SIKTC: Book of Cutter one-shot up, but due to this rolling disaster that is Diamond Distribution, my take-aways from Rick's felt pretty light on Wednesday, and I admit, I was very curious to learn more about the SIKTC mythology, which this book pays off with in droves.

Loved it. More prose than graphic fiction, Book of Cutter really delves into the order of St. George's history while also advancing Maxine Slaughter as a soon-to-be major player in the ongoing SIKTC book. Reading this made me excited about the overall world-building in a way I haven't been since shortly after realizing I love the flagship book but not necessarily the ancillary titles. Might be time to revisit House of Slaughter...

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Playlist:

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

Jim Williams - Titane OST

Ben Salisbury & Geoff Barrow - Archive 81 OST

Portishead - Third

The Inmates - Runaway

Blood Incantation - Absolute Everywhere

Blood Incantation - Timewave Zero

Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

Sleep - Dopesmoker

Foster the People - Torches

Bauhaus - Go Away White

The Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues

Sunn O))) - Monoliths and Dimensions

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Deafheaven - Magnolia

 

So much music unfurled while I was doing David Lynch week and then in Chicago for three days. Shit, I haven't even mentioned the Frank Black Teenager of the Year 30th Anniversary I attended yet. I'll get to all that, but first - holy smokes! I'll tell you that, while I LOVE Infinite Granite, I was hoping that would prove a detour. I don't need the Deafheaven to only play brutal music, but to me, the mix they achieve on Ordinary Corrupt Human Love is perfect. Regardless of what we get on Lonely People With Power, out March 28th (pre-order HERE), "Magnolia" fills me with faith that, as my cousin Charles' friend Dave predicted, the band made Infinite Granite for them, and it had nothing to do with their overall ambitions/directions. 

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NCBD:

This is a new Rick Remender book. I've missed out on the last few he's released; hell, I've actually not read anything he's done since A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance, so I'm due. I tried the first issue of a few series since then and didn't really 'feel it,' so here's hoping The Seasons moves the needle.

Published through Remender's Giant Generator, I grabbed the first issue of Dust to Dust and dug it, so I'm coming back for more. Unfortunately, this Diamond bankruptcy is killing my shop, and I've already heard this is outstanding, much the same as the latest issue of What's the Furthest Place From Here has been for weeks now. 

Also confirmed as delayed due to Diamond's BS. I'm still really on the fence with Mark Spears' Monsters, but I figure I'll round out the first four-issue arc and reassess after. 

This is one I'll need a full re-read on once it's all out, but I've been enjoying the hell out of this second Last Ronin series. I've said it here before, but the dystopian Frank Miller-isms of this series really scratch an itch. An itch for when Frank Miller wasn't a douche bag. 

This cover is the stuff from which dreams are made. 

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Watch:

I caught the trailer for Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk's Hell of a Summer on the big screen last week, and it kinda blew me away. 

Yeah, it's more throwback, but I don't care. This looks fantastic.

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Playlist:

Moon Wizard - Sirens

The Veils - Asphodels

Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

Nothing - Guilty of Everything 

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Card:

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

Remember your Art (XIV in Thoth) when bogged down in Earthly matters. Enlightenment lies in balancing the two. 

David Bowie/NIN Hurt

 

Full disclosure. While I am a NIN fan, I've never really been a fan of The Downward Spiral. That's unbelievable to some, and honestly, it's not for the best of reasons. Thanks to a friend's older brother, I found Pretty Hate Machine six months to a year before the Broken E.P. came out, and it was just such a different sound than anything I'd heard before that I was immediately obsessed. Broken's switch to guitar-driven industrial metal confused me, but the band still felt fresh and like it was "mine."

When "Closer" hit the radio two years later and suddenly every jock and cheerleader in school became a super fan, I got salty. Because of this, it took me years to ever give The Downward Spiral a fair listen. Cunty, but what can I say? Seeing a Geo Tracker full of football players ahead of me in a Taco Bell drive-through one Saturday night in 1994, "Closer" blaring while one 'round-the-waste flannelled Quarterback jumped up and down and screaming, "Nails, man! Nail!" just put me off.

After eventually going back later in life to try and reassess, I still found I didn't care too much about TDS. When David Lynch talked lovingly about the album in the March 6th, 1997 issue of Rolling Stone (dedicated to Lost Highway), I tried again. 

Nothing (pun intended).

Eventually, I've come around to some of the record. However, both The Downward Spiral and its follow-up, The Fragile, are albums I never feel moved to listen to, and arguably the most famous song off TDS, "Hurt," has always been a particularly sore spot for me. "Hurt" sounds like a cheaper version of "Something I Can Never Have," still a masterpiece in my mind. "Hurt" has always struck me as egregiously sad, with the lyrics often evoking a one-upmanship technique. Sort of a proto-emo Madlib exercise, if you will. I'm not saying I'm right - I realize I am almost definitely wrong; that my bias stems from very much the wrong place; my high school, elitist "I liked that band first" mindset is bullshit. However, I feel how I feel. I continue to try, but nothing really moves the needle.

Until now. 

Over the weekend in Chicago, I stopped in a record store and found this in the Bowie section.

I've had a hard time establishing what exactly this performance was. The cover says, "Live Radio Broadcast," however, from the little bit I've seen online, this appears to be a soundboard recording taken from a full live set of the '95 tour, where Bowie and NIN each do a set and overlap on several songs. The thing here is it sounds to me like, on "Hurt" for example, it's Bowie's band doing the song and Trent joining them (which seems to be backed up by the video I posted above). Maybe because of this, I LOVE this version of "Hurt." I mean LOVE. The track listing is spectacular, with the older Bowie songs being reworked with the Outside era's aesthetic; in particular, this makes "Look Back in Anger" and "The Man Who Sold the World" very interesting. 

SIDE A:

Hello Spaceboy

Scary Monsters

Look Back in Anger

Wish (NIN)

AndyWarhol

SIDE B:

The Man Who Sold the World

Hurt

Terrible Lie

March of the Pigs

Closer

A word on the track order. Being a bootleg, I'm not sure if the compiler mixed in NIN's performance of "Wish" with an otherwise Bowie-centric side to further give the illusion of a completely unified performance; that was certainly my excited read upon first seeing this in the shop. Either way, I'm super psyched to have this and have already listened to it a number of times since returning home from my weekend in Chicago last night.

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Watch:

Sasha Rainbow's Grafted is now on Shudder and, oh man, I cannot recommend this one enough!

I'm already thinking of this as 'this year's The Substance.' Although it's not quite as cinematically bombastic as Coralie Fargeat's film, Grafted is a super fun, super gorey Body Horror Film with a weirdo score by Lachlan Anderson and an outstanding visual aesthetic that visually works the film's metaphors into color palette, setting and design.

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Playlist:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light

JD McPherson - Nite Owls

Miranda Sex Garden - Velvetine single

L.A. Witch - Eponymous

Crime Weekly - Rey Rivera (part 1)

Bandsplain - Talking Heads (part 1)

Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets - Indoor Safari

Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food

The Cactus Blossoms - Every Time I Think About You

David Bowie - Outside

NIN - Not The Actual Events

The Jesus Lizard - Westside (single)

Bandsplain - Talking Heads (part 2)

Anthrax - I'm the Man EP

Testament - Demonic Refusal (single)

Vanessa Williams - Dreamin' (single)

David Bowie & NIN - Back in Anger 

Deafheaven - Magnolia (single)

Deafheaven - Black Brick (single)

Deafheaven - Roads to Judah

David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Freaks)

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The Jesus Lizard's Yellowjacket's Season Three Trailer

Another new stand-alone track from The Jesus Lizard? Holy smokes - something's brewing.  

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Watch:

Yellowjackets season three is right around the corner, and we have a new trailer! One I almost didn't post because of their choice of music - come on folks, do we really want to bring back the 00s trailer trope of using *ahem* drowning pool's let the bodies hit the floor? 

Very excited. Apparently, a lot of folks thought the second season dried the show out. I did not. Aside from the heartbreaking death I wish didn't happen (but 100% applaud the creators for having the stones to do so), I haven't a single complaint. 

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Playlist:

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks Season Two OST

Spoon - They Want My Soul

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

Bohren and der Club of Gore - Sunset Mission

Zeal & Ardor - GREIF

Black Sabbath - Vol. 4

Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

Nothing - The Great Dismal

The Cactus Blossoms - Every Time I Think About You

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Card:

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

• Seven of Cups

• IV: The Emperor

• Page of Swords

Emotional stakes at the hands of perceived oppressors trigger impetuous reactions. Don't give in to the pull of chaos. Breathe.

Very fitting for multiple reasons, some having to do with work, others the point that the main character in Black Gloves & Broken Hearts actually uses a mantra I learned from my good friend Missi.

"Just. Breathe."

Goodbye, David Lynch

 

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ƎU⅃ᗺᗷOᗷ - Moutains Falling

From David Lynch and John Neff's 2001 BLUEBOB album, technically titled ƎU⅃ᗺᗷOᗷ, but I don't know a good way of typing that stylization outside of the clunky cut-and-paste from other websites, and then, see, you get comic sans or whatever that is. 

One of my favorite albums ever, and "Mountains Falling" is probably my favorite track. There's something so eerie and beautiful about the guitar, about the entire song. Very compelling and wonderfully utilized in Mulholland Drive. 

Tomorrow will bring us full circle on David Lynch's passing, and although technically the week-long celebration would end today, I'm extending it to Thursday for symmetry. That said, I wanted to start to get back into regular posting.

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NCBD:

This week's pull list from Rick's Comic City:

And then there's last week's books, which I completely forgot to post. How is that possible? More on that in a second.

Okay, so yeah, how did I forget to post last week's books? Well, besides being so busy at work that I didn't even make it into the shop until Thursday night, and that was only to give myself some normalcy after spending the day with the news of David Lynch's passing? There's something else at work here, though.

I recently realized I no longer have a tent pole book. I like everything I'm reading, but there's nothing that I absolutely cannot wait to read. This is always a rough patch because the older I get and the more media changes, the more I become concerned that one of these patches might stick. That seems unlikely, but even if an indie book really grabs me at some point in the near future, chances are it will either be a limited series or will be released in seasons, with gaps in between. I miss having something that really drives me. There was Preacher,  Stray Bullets, and The Walking Dead. Most recently, it was the Krakoa-era X-Men, and after that, I thought for sure the Energon Universe would carry the torch, but that's just not happening. With the exception of DWJ's Transformers, my favorite books last year were all indie titles that were published sporadically or as mini-series. Of everything I read, SIKTC comes closest, but goddamn, these hiatus intervals! Hahaha. I know JTIV is busy working on a lot of books people love - myself included - but that just means there's only sporadic consistency with all of his stories.

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Watch:

I really just found myself wanting to hear David talk today. About anything. How cool, then, that I found this:

 

From the Simple Tom YouTube Channel, which I recommend you check out. The full video for this is in the description.

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Playlist:

Man Man - Rabbit Habits

Man Man - Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between

Circle Jerks - Group Sex

The Halloween Scene - Pitch Black Manor

The Cure - Songs Of A Lost World

The Cure - The Head On the Door

David Bowie - Station to Station

David Bowie - John I'm Only Dancing (Sax Version; Single)

David Bowie - Low

David Bowie - Tonight

Raven Chacon - Los Subliminados (single)

Drug Church - Prude

David Lynch & John Neff - BLUEBOB

David Lynch - Crazy Clown Time

David Lynch & Marek Zebrowski - Polish Night Music

David Bowie - Reality

David Lynch - The Big Dream

Various Artists - Twin Peaks The Return: Limited Event Series OST

Various Artists - Twin Peaks The Return: Music From the Limited Event Series

David Bowie - Stage

Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me

Zeal & Ardor - GREIF

Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire

James Brown - Funky People Vol. 3

James Brown - Hell

Hemlocke Spings - going... going... Gone!

Rina Mushonga - Narcisc0 (single)

Jocelyn Montgomery & David Lynch - Lux Vixens: The Music of Hildegard von Bingen

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks Season Two OST

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.

• Knight of Cups

• XIV: Temperance (ART in Thoth)

• Ace of Pentacles

Couldn't be clearer. Emotional despondency at the loss of an Artistic influence should inspire a breakthrough in Process (the alignment of time and resources, both the Earthly realm of Pentacles). I'm planning on ending my period of obsessive mourning tomorrow with a full-on bounce back into Creative Fire

Rockin' Back Inside My Heart

From Julee Cruise's 1989 album Floating Into the Night, co-written and produced by David Lynch and  Angelo Badalamenti. Nothing can compare to how this and As The World Spins are used in the original Twin Peaks series. 

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Twin Peaks The Return

I still just can't get enough of this scene. 

I just finished my rewatch of the original Twin Peaks and will be moving on to The Return (saving FWWM a bit further down the road, maybe right before the final two episodes of The Return; I should do it now, but it's too dark for me at the moment). Really looking forward to this; I only rewatched The Return once in full, back in 2018. 

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Jocelyn Montgomery, Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch - And Still

Jocelyn Montgomery transcends two very particular elements I love - David Lynch and Miranda Sex Garden - a band that could easily be described as Lynchian. 

Published in 1991, MSG's debut record Madra consisted of Katherine Blake, Kelly McKusker and Montgomery performing acapella. Shortly after this, Jocelyn left the group and began working on solo material. The single "And Still" was the single collaboration between Montgomery, Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti that preceded the full album Lux Vixens. Lynch produced the album. and John Neff engineered. 

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David Lynch - Wishin' Well

 Another of my favorite tracks from David Lynch's The Big Dream. I love the motion of this song, it's somehow spooky and playful.

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David Lynch & Marek Zebrowski - Night (City Back Street)

From the 2015 album Polish Night Music, written and performed by David Lynch and Marek Zebrowski. You can practically see the manhole covers belching voluminous, silent vapor.

Listening to this the other night with a head full of smoke, I felt like the very air before me might open to reveal a portal to the pitch-black winter streets of Łódź.

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