Does this mean Dear Tommy is finally nearing release? The cynic in me stifles a, "probably not," primarily based on the fact that three days ago, The Chromatics released this video and announced their first tour at pretty much the same time. I'm effectively in the middle of a concert ban, with only Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats and The Veils being previously cited exceptions. I might add The Chromatics to that list as well. Might. It's a slippery slope, and like everything else in life, I find an acting inertia in concert going, i.e. once I start I can't stop, but now that it's been months since I've been to one, I'm out of the habit and reticent to start up again. It doesn't help that Johnny Jewel and company are playing The Wiltern here, not a bad venue, but certainly one that seems bigger than they require.
Finished my Deadwoods rewatch two nights ago. Wow. I had forgotten a lot of Season 3, especially how it ended. I remember wincing at how unresolved the show was, but it's even more open-ended than I remembered. Good thing this is coming soon:
Playlist from 2/20:
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Pink Floyd - Obscured by Clouds
Faith No More - Angel Dust
Jaye Jayle - No Trail and Other Unholy Paths
Jeff Angell's Staticland - Eponymous
Playlist from 2/21:
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Young Widows - Old Wounds
Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire
Card of the day:
Sensitivity curbed by emotional intelligence. Creation, and perhaps, destruction.
Currently in love with Louisville, KY band Jaye Jayle's 2018 record No Trail and Other Unholy Paths. This was produced by David Lynch's long-time music supervisor/collaborator Dean Hurley, and pretty much blew me away from first spin. Think Mark Lanegan/PJ Harvey vibe, but with some dirgey Doom goodness thrown into the mix, I can't wait to go through the band's back catalogue, available on their bandcamp HERE.
Jaye Jayle's music - or at least on this album - totally fits in with my visual life at the moment, because tonight K and I are scheduled to finish Season 3 of Deadwood. I've watched the series before, although I haven't seen Season 3 but the one time, back in the aughts. This viewing has kind of been like seeing it for the first time again. I'm amazed at the pot boiler the show is building out of the Hearst/Swearengen-Bullock skirmish, and I can't wait to finish this out and then keep my fingers crossed 24/7 that the movie we have now actually seen pictures of in EW really does come to pass. Seems impossible at this point that it wouldn't, but you never know...
NCBD: Not a whole lot today, but a new issue of Seven to Eternity is always a reason to celebrate, and D.J. Kirkbride's Errand Boys comes to a rip-snortin' finish with issue #5!
Playlist from 2/19:
Pink Floyd - Works
Young Widows - Old Wounds
Jaye Jayle - No Trail and Other Unholy Paths
Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog
Algiers - Eponymous
The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I
Chris Connelly - Artificial Madness
Beck - Odelay
A few nights ago, K and I watched the 1986 film At Close Range, directed by James Foley and starring Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, Chris Penn (looking a lot like Jason Mewes back in the day), Keifer Sutherland, Crispin Glover, and Mary Stuart Masterson. I can remember this film for as far back as I can remember; seeing the television trailers for it as a kid, glimpsing the VHS box at the general store that served as our first video rental outlet (well before Blockbuster or Hollywood existed); but I never actually saw the movie. However, we noticed it's on Prime right now, so I finally pulled the trigger. Not bad; early 80s teen angst/crime mash-up. Interesting to see Christopher Walken before he settled into being Christopher Walken in every role. Also, interesting to see Keifer Sutherland before he was a name brand - he has all of about two lines. Glover and Sean Penn both deliver as usual, and Mary Stuart Masterson does a good job with some of the more uncomfortable scenes. All in all, I'd give it 3.5 out of 5.0.
The soundtrack utilizes the opening, instrumental portion of this Madonna track as score, so we hear it a lot. It served as a serious nostalgia trigger for me, so by the point in the film where they bring in the vocals, I was certain I'd heard it before and placing it was driving me nuts. Now Live to Tell is stuck in my head, or the opening notes are, at any rate. There's not a lot of Madonna I really dig, but I think this track is going onto that list.
Playlist from 2/18:
Pink Floyd - Animals
Young Widows - Old Wounds
Deftones - Gore
Faith No More - Sol Invictus
Pink Floyd - Works
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Emotional intelligence with a penchant for secrets and introversion. I think it's time to pull myself out of the hole I dug for myself while sick over the last week. Today = Writing session.
To say I have been waiting for an adaptation of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter Witch for a long time is an understatement. Mr. Brown and I read this back in the mid-90s and I've been a fan since (though I could definitely use a re-read). I remember Terry Gilliam was attached for a while, and Johnny Depp and Robin Williams were set to play the Angel Aziraphale and the Demon Crowley, though which was set for which I can't remember anymore. Regardless, the fact that we're finally getting Good Omens, and as a series no less, makes me very happy. The title sequence was revealed recently and watching it, I feel anticipation unlike any in a while. I just wish this could have come to fruition while Mr. Pratchett was still alive.
Playlist from 2/18 was non-existent.
The penultimate episode of True Detective, Season 3 aired last night and it was HUGE!!! I won't spoil anything here, but this season has been masterful.
Also, Episode 5 of Rick Remender's Deadly Class aired on SyFy and it pretty much left me speechless. This has been such an amazing adaptation of a comic, probably the best one I've ever seen, and all the glory is owed to Mr. Remender. In the back matter of the most recent issue of the Deadly Class comic, Remender talked on how he surrendered sleep and freedom to be the show runner on Deadly Class, and he's filled out the story in the comics with much love. Nothing has been added that doesn't expand the source material organically, and the actual ratio of straight adaptation to screen has been fantastic. Episode 5 was the Vegas episode, and the use of animation here was amazing. Reminded me of The Wall, a bit. SO freaking good.
Card of the day:
Okay, many will say I probably should remove this card from my mini Thoth deck, but I left it in and drew it, so I'm stuck interpreting it. Hmmm... I've said this before recently and not followed through, but perhaps I should pull some Crowley off the bookshelf in my room and peruse for inspiration?
New track from Perturbator, who had previously stated he was done with the synth wave thing. This is definitely something different, and I'm hoping only one facet of what will be a widely different adventure for the musician, who is perhaps just as equally ambitious as he is talented. A good thing, for sure.
As for pre-orders, there's nothing listed on either the Perturbator or Blood Music bandcamps yet, but when I find something, I'll be sure to post it here.
Back in 2006, Scottish write Alan Campbell messaged me on myspace - remember that? - and, having noticed I talked about the work of China Mieville a lot, asked if I'd heard of his debut novel, Scar Night. Set in a city that hangs on massive chains above a bottomless pit, I really didn't need to read any more than that to seek the book out. Thus, my love of Campbell's Deepgate Codex series was seeded. Four books and five years later, I saw an announcement for a new novel and series go up, Sea of Ghosts: the Gravedigger Chronicles, Book One. Only problem was, for years I could not seem to get the book in the U.S.
At some point Sea of Ghosts fell off my radar, and remained obscured to me for some time. Now, a few weeks ago, I finally ordered a copy and, having received it yesterday, began reading it. It's good to be swaddled in Campbell's lush, fantastical prose again.
There's not a lot of fantasy I like, primarily because, from my experience, most of the genre is made up of authors who love Tolkien and want only to write inside his tropes. Hence, no matter how many people I drive mad with my resolve, I will never read or watch Game of Thrones. I'm sure they are excellent, but Knights and Dragons are most assuredly not my thing. It's been done to death. Mieville's take on fantasy - where everything is his own creation - is more my taste, and I'd add Campbell and Peter V. Brett as similar contemporaries. Campbell's Deepgate Codex plays with the textures and aesthetics of Steampunk, for example, but never feels the need to limit itself by those aesthetics, preferring instead to incorporate them into the author's own unique world-building ideologies. And with his undermining explorations of the tenants of religion, political power, and military intelligence, Alan Campbell's aesthetics always engage and expand my own imagination, and quite often make me smile. I'm excited as pie to be back in one of his worlds again.
Playlist from 2/16:
David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
David Bowie - Station to Station
Beastmilk - Climax
Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch - An Attempt to Draw Aside the Veil
Red Rider - As Far As Siam
Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome
Pink Floyd - Animals
Frankie Goes to Hollywood? You mean, like Relax? Yep. How did that happen? Well...
Two nights ago K and I watched Body Double for the first time. I LOVED this flick; possibly my favorite De Palma film, or at least right behind Carlito's Way. Body Double is early, macabre thriller De Palma, and its tone is compelling and unapologetic for turning the camera's eye on a protagonist that is as seedy as he is well-intentioned. In the film, there's a sequence that utilizes pretty much the entire track Relax, and seeing it I remembered encountering the LP Welcome to the Pleasuredome on the shelves of a thrift store back in the oughts. The album art and design was involved, and I remember thinking it looked as though this band I only knew the one track by - a track I liked very much - may have had ambitions on a level similar to groups like early Genesis, or Pink Floyd. I'm not sure why I didn't buy the record that day in the thrift, but I'd always meant to get around to listening to a full album by Frankie, partially just because I don't know that I've ever spoken to anyone else who had.
So, spurred on by Body Double - a film I really can't say enough good things about - I used the good ol' Apple Music to listen to Pleasuredome yesterday. Verdict? Hmmm... not sure. Ambitious? Yes. Nobly so? Maybe not. Bloated with its own regard? Probably.
I may get back around to re-engaging with Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Welcome to the Pleasuredome some day, but in the meantime I'll still crank Relax whenever I hear it. Like now:
Card of the day:
I'm hoping this points to being back to all cylinders, and not the fact that in order to finally extricate this damnable flu, I need the help of a trained professional. I'll know by the end of the day, I'm sure.
Spending my morning with Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, aka Fitzcarraldo. This is one of the most impressive motion pictures ever made. Period. I'm planning on following up the film with a viewing of Les Blank/Michael Goodwin's The Burden of Dreams, the documentary about the making of Fitzcarraldo. If you've never seen these films, what's so amazing is this: in Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, the titular character, as played by the always brilliant Klaus Kinski, is a would-be entrepreneur in the early 20th Century Amazon with one great dream in life: to build an Opera house in Iquitos, a small city in the jungle. To fund this, Fitz's plan is to become a Rubber Baron by exploiting the one region of rubber trees still unclaimed in the area - unclaimed because the rapids in the Ucayali River that leads from the Amazon directly to the region are unnavigable. But Fitz has a plan.
The Plan: To sail upstream on the neighboring Pachitea River, then pull the boat over the narrow strip of land that separates it from the Ucayali. From there, Fitz reasons they can sail down the Ucayali into the region of rubber trees, gather his workers' yield, and haul it back up to the crossover point, it's just a matter of short trips for his steamer up the Ucayali, and the work of transporting his crop back across to the Pachitea.
But, you know, first they have to actually pull a streamliner over a mountain.
So how do you film that? Well, you have to actually do all of it. As in, Herzog had to actually pull the steamer over the land, which required blasting. The Burden of Dreams chronicles the reality of a filmmaker willing to do the same fantastic feat he requires of his fictional character. It is massive, awe-inspiring, and the very best kind of creative insanity, to say the very least.
Playlist from 2/14:
Pink Floyd - Animals
Corrosion of Conformity - No Cross No Crown
Black Sabbath - Eponymous
The Pack A.D. - Unpersons
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Mike Patton - Mondo Cane
Card of the day:
Seems to line up with my viewing this afternoon. Something this inspirational will usually help charge the batteries right before a new endeavor.
My health is much better today, which means I'm back to work. It's been raining here in LaLaLand off and on for days; today the heaven water is planted firmly in the 'On' position, which is cool with me. I always get a kick out of what heaven LA rain does to the city - green sprouts up everywhere instantaneously, as if all this plant life you didn't even know is there has just been waiting for a few drops to come back to life and flourish. And the LA river? Right about now you could probably take a canoe to it.
NCBD this week; I haven't been in to pick up my books in weeks, so despite tracking what came out each of the last few Wednesdays in these pages, I haven't picked up a single one. This week was a big one though, so I'll probably head in today for this, along with everything else:
Second Arc conclusion is bound to be a doozy; firmly the book I look forward to the most each month. No offense, TWD, you're still up there, too:
Soooo good! The idea that we are living in a world with a monthly Criminal book is invigorating beyond description:
And forgot that this hit last week:
Playlist from 02/13:
Secret Chiefs 3 Traditionalists - Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini
Pink Floyd - Animals
Jimi Hendrix - Axis Bold As Love
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Card of the day:
Ah, the extra card. Most people take these out, I leave them in. That said, I've never drawn this before so I've never had the occasion to research it. If you do a little quick reading, this is the Unicursal Hexagram Crowley used in Ritual situations. It is a symbol of Crowley's 'religion,' Thelema. Not sure what this is saying; perhaps I should take a few moments today and peruse some of my Crowley texts, just to see if anything relevant bites.
Well, it's been a few days. In fact, the interim between today's post and my previous one on Sunday is the longest I've gone without posting since I began the new format of this page shortly into 2018. This plague I have is no joke, and to top it off we're short at work, so I've had to go in the last few mornings. It's been half-sick days all week, which isn't bad, but half measures apparently are not going to give me the rest I need to beat this, so today I am just off, period.
I'm starting the day re-watching the above Emma Ruth Rundle documentary that Sargent Housedropped last week; makes me want to move back to the Midwest, if I'm being truthful. Although, if I'm being honest, many fleeting glances into other people's lives inspire that reaction in me; from visits home, to contemplation of friends who have beautiful homes and pay less in monthly mortgage payments by half than I pay to rent a small two-bedroom, to the idea of thunderstorms owning an entire season. The early scenes in this doc, those with everyone in the bar, even just the shot of the street outside the bar for that matter because there aren't bars in LA like that, these scenes make me homesick. Then again, I remind myself, it's only one aspect of myself that pines for these things, and as green as the faraway grass of Chicago, or Dayton, or Louisville looks from here in Los Angeles, I'm well aware I have a pretty awesome life set up here. Cost of living is a big check in the CON column, but there's a lot of PROs as well. This is the mental and emotional cost of daily life: the balancing act between all the wants and needs inside us. And I do a pretty good job, for the most part.
This doc also made me remember how much I like Young Widows. Been a while; you'll notice they begin to populate my daily listening again below.
**
Here's a shocker I just found out yesterday because I don't pay any attention to music award shows: High on Fire won a Grammy on Sunday. Holy shit; hell hath frozen over. And as much as I hate to solicit for a paradigm I detest, here's their acceptance footage, because even after watching it twice, I still can't believe it. That said, I feel like this is an Oscars-like, making-up-for-lost-time awarding, because although I dig Electric Messiah, I feel as though the band's truly groundbreaking and undeniable work is well behind them. Still, who'd have thought, eh? Better late than never...
Having now crested the half-way point in Ramsey Campbell's Alone with the Horrors, I've returned it to the shelf and decided to re-read a few of the stories in Thomas Ligotti's debut collections Songs of a Dead Dreamer/Grimscribe. There's a definite pedigree here; Ligotti is clearly influenced by Campbell, although not in an overly direct way. But there are some aesthetic through-lines I am interested in exploring here, and I'm enjoying this strange little path I've discovered for myself through some of the foundations of short-form modern Weird/Horror. It's definitely helping me understand tone and craft better.
I've watched quite a bit during my sick time. First up, Anthony from The Horror Vision recently gifted me a copy of Scream Factory's Scream Queens Double Feature: John Carpenter's The Fog, and Joe Dante's The Howling. It'd been a couple years since I'd seen The Howling, and I was curious to see the difference the transfer would make, so before watching it I did a quick A/B with my old DVD copy.
Wow. Folks, this is dangerous. Having only recently been converted to the merit of upgrading to Blu Ray - because I refuse to rebuy my collection on another format - I have to say, the difference is huge. So I watched The Howling and was enraptured by the clarity. I also did some reading about transfer technology and what not (Blu-Ray.com is a near limitless source for that), and I have to say, I won't be replacing everything, but some films for sure. Army of Darkness for instance, or at least the DVD copy I have of the Director's Cut, is a laughable transfer; seriously, this was one of the first films I noticed issues on, two years ago when I excitedly sat down to show K the original Evil Dead trilogy. We made it to the third installment and I realized the picture was so bad it looked like we were watching the film on a crappy old tv in 1978 during an electrical storm. I mean, it's garbage.
Army of Darkness isn't a film I can't live without; it's easily my least favorite of all Ash Williams vehicles, but it's an iconic gem and one I want in my collection. But not this terrible transfer. Because, the idea isn't about constantly upgrading and rebuying, it's about Film Preservation. And while I'm not sure if I have to nitpick over the differences between the $10 AOD Blu Ray that Scream Factory released and the $30 one, having all three versions of the film is important to me, so it's going to have to be the $30. But that purchase is down the road, perhaps when one of SF's sales comes up. I'm still trying like hell to save money, and doing a fairly good job doing it, which is precisely why all the information available about transfers and clarity is, as I said at the outset, dangerous.
After The Howling, I changed pace and watched Jim Jarmusch's Paterson. Wow. One of the best films I've seen in a while, and one of my favorite of Jarmusch's to date; he has such a sense of forgiveness, community, and humanity that comes through in his work, that I feel like this film actually helped heal some black, sticky stuff that was left inside me after a falling out I had back in August last year. So good. I'm not posting a trailer, because there's no way a trailer could tell you anything about this film. Just watch it; Paterson is an Amazon-funded film, and thus available on Prime for free.
Next, I finally got around to Werner Herzog's Nosferatu: The Vampyre. I don't always understand or gel with Herzog's style, but he has such a knack for balancing pragmatism with artistic flourish that I always enjoy his films, even if only after they've ended and I'm re-thinking them. That might be the case here. Let's stick with the poster thing, I'm starting to hate trailers:
Finally, with all these long stretches of time on my hands, I thought I'd get around to one of the longer flicks that has been on my list forever, namely, Derek Cianfrance's 2012 MASTERPIECE, The Place Beyond the Pines. This film was enormous to me; a familial crime epic that blew me away and capped my cinema for the day yesterday because, how the hell do you follow something that BIG? And hell, Mike Patton does the score, and I can say this not just as a fan of his but as a fan of cinema scores: fantastically done, Mr. Patton.
Playlists have been tiny, so instead of doing a day-by-day, I'm summate thusly:
Playlist from Sunday, 2/10-Tuesday, 2/12:
SQÜRL - Paterson OST
David Zinman, Dawn Upshaw & London Sinfonietta - Gorecki: Symphony #3, Op 36 "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs": I. Lento - Sostenuto tranquillo ma cantabile
Young Widows - Settle Down City
Young Widows - Old Wounds
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Windhand - Eternal Return
Morphine - The Night
Secret Chiefs 3 Traditionalists - Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini
Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch - An Attempt to Draw Aside the Veil
John Carpenter - Lost Themes
Card of the day:
I'm hoping this is a reminder of the past few days, and not a harbinger of more oppressive illness to come.
If you read the notes available in the description panel for this on youtube (or just go HERE and read it in full), the ideology, methodology, and execution the band describes for conceptualizing and producing Life Metal is staggering. Add to that the fact that this is an entirely analog project - I love the line in the description about the "air coming off the speakers in front of the microphones" - with the analog Master Steve Albini doing the recording duties at Chicago's Electrical Audio, and I haven't been this excited for a Sunn O))) record since Monoliths and Dimensions. I need a pre-order link NOW!
I've been sick as all hell the last few days; Saturday I didn't even leave my bed. During that time Had ample time to pick at the video cue. Here's what I watched, all of it excellent:
And a Sabbath Documentary named Black Sabbath: In Their Own Words, that is streaming for free on Amazon Prime. I couldn't find the trailer on youtube, but you can view it on Amazon HERE.
I also watched There Will Be Blood again for the first time in a long time. Totally holds up (not that I expected anything else):
Oh! And I can't forget this video Mr. Brown linked me to. A fantastic exploration/interpretation of Twin Peaks Season Three that shed a lot of new light and convinced me the premise of the video's title is 100% correct. Well, as 100 % correct as you can be interpreting David Lynch's work:
Playlist from 2/09 was non-existent.
Playlist from 2/08:
Flying Lotus - You're Dead
Bob Mould - Sunshine Rock
HEALTH - Vol. 4 :: Slaves of Fear
The Blueflowers - Circus on Fire
Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Grinderman - Grinderman II
Ghost Bath - Moonlover
Card of the day:
Always good to see Netzach! I'm interpreting this card, it's six pristine wands overlaid by one roughly hewn but bursting with power one, as the insight I'll have from writing in my current diminished health capacity. We'll see.
Wow. My good friend Jacob messaged me a few weeks ago about the then-just released split EP Minsk and Zatokrev released at the end of 2018. Minsk is pretty much always a sure thing, but I'd never heard Zatokrev before. And now I am a fan.
You'll notice a binaural beats album on the playlist from yesterday. I have a weird suspicion about these; that they're a pop psychology/new age product made from something valuable. Way back in 2001/2002, when I was in The Yellow House, I had a pretty good makeshift studio setup in the basement of the house where we practiced, Joup's Joe Grez's original Palos Hills, two-story home. He lived there with two other guys he rented to as roommates, and we had the basement as our rehearsal/studio space. It was the early days of Pro Tools being available for laymen, and I was fresh out of Colombia College with a minor in sound recording. We had a pretty sweet monitor situation in the basement, but also had some big ass stereo speakers, located at opposite ends of the room. I was deep diving into Magick, the Occult, and all things related, and had stumbled across the waveform science that eventually begat Binaural Beats. I was fascinated and began conducting experiments, first on myself with headphones, then Grez became intrigued and asked to take part, then I began expanding my horizons, broadening my experiments to unknowingly include guests to the house. We'd often finish practices and end up with friends hanging out, and for a while they became involved. Nothing malevolent at all, but interesting...
Here's the deal: Theta Waves occur from 3 to 8 Hz, and are the frequencies of dreams, memory, and intuition. And the brain does a funny thing; if you apply a frequency to the brain using, let's say headphones, the brain will match it. Now, speaker responses are normally from 40 to 4k Hz, so speakers - which are transducers, that is they take one form of energy and turn it into another form, in this case sound waves to electricity - cannot at this point in time be made to physically handle sound waves outside of that range. So how do you apply 4 Hz to the brain and induce Theta state? Well, the brain does another funny thing; if you put 48 Hz in one ear, panned hard right, and 44 Hz in the other panned hard left, the brain splits the difference and matches 4 Hz. Crazy, right? So back in The Yellow House studio, I'd do this to myself and try and induce unease, nausea, joy, trance, etc. And I started doing it to visitors when they'd hang, put Hi-Beta waves (15-22 Hz) through the room by using a tone generator to pan 60 Hz through hard right and 72 Hz through left and watch too see if people began to feel irritated or high strung.
They did.
Anyway, it's been a while since I've utilized this. I have a meditation tone I constructed in Pro Tools a few years back, but other than that it's usually difficult for me to do that kind of thing with my now antiquated set-up. I've been wanting to get back to dreaming and dream journaling, and Lucid Dreaming has long been elusive to me - I've done it exactly once that I'm aware of. So when a co-worker who has a kind of pop 'metaphysical bent' to his interests told me he'd started using binaural beats to induce Lucidity in dreaming and it worked, I figured why not. I listened to this yesterday during the day, no where near the hour I went to bed, but I did have a pretty insanely vivid dream right before I awoke this morning, so maybe it will work.
Playlist from 2/06:
Ghost - Infestissumam
Bob Mould - Lost Faith (Pre-release single)
Bob Mould - Patch the Sky
Binaural Beats - Lucid Dreaming
Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun
Bigod - Minsk & Zatokrev
Card of the day:
Interesting. I have a meeting this morning this could be relevant to. The dissolution of old paradigms to make way for something new...
Sing it brother! Talk about hitting the f*&kin' nail on the head. Bob Mould has always had a knack for hooky, endearing, emotionally charged melodies, especially on his choruses. This is no different, but Lost Faith is also bleaker than anything he's done in a while. Love the accordion on the end of the track, and as far as videos go, I'm not usually a fan of videos with the artist standing in the camera, aping playing their instrument, but here the aping is intentional, and, what's more, powerful. Because Bob wears his age on his sleeve and it helps. It helps someone like me, who lost his aging reference just over three years ago and is looking for someone to help him navigate the onset of the back-end of his system's course.
Mr. Mould's new record, Sunshine Rock, is out on Friday from Merge Records. Order it HERE.
The name of the game today is one step back, anticipation for two steps forward. Let's see if that pans out in today's card when I get to it below.
I've been on a bit of a Ghost kick lately, and I was surprised to find I've come back around to Prequelle with a considerably kinder regard. In fact, it's actually working its way up to ranking in with the rest of the Ghost records. Still my least favorite, but I'd imagine I'm finally looking at it as an album in its own right. Also, all the Ozzy solo stuff is probably curbing my expectations mixing them with reality.
My current favorite track.
Watched Velvet Buzzsaw two nights ago. Really dug it. Dan Gilroy pairs with Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo again, adding Toni Collette, Natalia Dryer, Zawe Ashton, John Malkovich, and a bunch of other great talent to turn in a funny little romp through the world of high class/high cost Art and turn it into... a slasher flick. I mean, it took a while for that to happen, but there's a point where I became lucid in the midst of a classic slasher trope and realized, "Holy cow, this is a slasher flick with Art as the killer!"
That idea alone should be enough to get you to watch it. For me, there's also the fact that I adore the way Gilroy shoots nighttime Los Angeles. He has an eye for catching its beauty, as previously seen in the fantastic Nightcrawler. The trick, I believe, is to shoot LA at night, because at night it is beautiful. During the day LA is, for the most part, gross.
Playlist from 2/04:
Joy Divison - Closer
Skid Row - Slave to the Grind
The Devil and the Almighty Blues - II
Ritual Howls - Turkish Leather
Playlist from 2/05:
Ghost - Infestissumam
Ghost - Prequelle
Boy Harsher - Careful
King Buffalo - Longing to be the Mountain
Battle Tapes - Form EP
Ghost - Opus Eponymous
Card of the day:
While there was nothing lazy about my night last night - I spent it hardcore cleaning/rearranging stuff in the apartment that had gotten out of hand - I did not write. This is a reference to that. Also, in reading around online to expand my interpretation, I'm reminding this is an 8 so it corresponds to Hod, which is all about structure and logic, which had a lot to do with my impromptu organizing jag yesterday. Today? Write!
New music from Chasms, whose new album The Mirage comes out February 22nd on the always amazing Felte Records. Pre-order it HERE, and see them live if you can, as they are wonderful.
Subterranean Press has a very limited number of copies of Warren Ellis' novella Dead Pig Collector, something I have been wanting to read for years but forgot about some time back while waiting for a physical copy to emerge. Said copy has emerged, but the door is closing quickly. Order it HERE.
February is Women in Horror month, and to kick things off, K and I hosted 3/4ths of The Horror Vision crew this past Saturday for a viewing of Jen and Sylvia Soska's American Mary. Damn, I love this film. The empowerment that comes through the story and performances is intoxicating, and seeing it again has me even more excited for the Soska's upcoming remake of David Cronenberg's Rabid, about which there is a pair of marvelous articles in the latest issue of Fangoria Vol. 2.
You can listen to the newest episode of The Horror Vision on Apple, (although I think there's a lag in the episode uploading to Apple at the moment) Spotify, Google Play, or our website.
Playlist from 2/03:
Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch - Concerning the White Horse (on repeat for like an hour while I finished the new story)
Boy Harsher - Careful
Card of the day (despite the fact that the day's almost over; I'm curious):
Perfect and funny for so very many reasons at the moment.
I saw ATW's name on a movie I watched recently but I can't quite place what it was. I thought for sure it was Dead Wax, but I can't seem to find any acknowledgement of that online. Either way, these guys are pretty great and it's good to see them breaking through to a larger audience.
It's been a wicked weekend of hard rain in Southern California. We needed it. Wish it would continue, but there's the sun, already poking out from behind the clouds, drying up all the moisture. The rain always inspires new creative bursts in me, and the second story for my inevitable follow-up to A Collection of Desires is in the bank. Can't wait to see what comes next.
Earlier last week, I picked up Ramsey Campbell's Alone with the Horrors again. This is a collection of Campbell's short fiction from 1961-1991. I've had this for years, inspired to purchase it after a customer from back in my border's days recommended I read the short story Again. That story made quite the impression on me, but during my initial attempt at reading the entire volume, I've only ever made it through a handful of the other tales. Early last year I began again, re-reading those first few stories, but once again moved on. Now that I've returned to Alone with the Horrors a third time however, I am finding it hard to put down. The stories are fantastic; bleak and grey like the skies in the author's native Britain, with an often cold and terse style that matches the somewhat frumpy aesthetic Britain seemed bathed in during the 70s/80s. In particular, the story The Brood, from 1976, impressed me. My intention is to read a few tales from this one in between novels, the next of which will be Gemma Files' Experimental Film.
Playlist from 2/02:
Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz
Black Sabbath - Vol. 4
Black Sabbath - Eponymous
Ozzy Osbourne - Ultimate Sin
Skid Row - Slave to the Grind
Card of the day:
These pulls are all tied up in a personal drama with a friend. This will hopefully work itself out over the next week. Good to see the Six of Wands again, though.
Although Chrysta Bell and David Lynch released the album This Train back in 2011, they've just dropped a video for closing track The Truth Is a few days ago. Really cool video that should serve to remind us how we all have different masks we wear to navigate the world around us. Why is that? Well, maybe one day that won't be the case, but for now, many humans are still obsessed with hating anything different than they are. Must be a sad existence, that, as although I was never wired to hate anybody except maybe ben stiller and jim carrey, I wouldn't be able to find the time for it. And maybe that's the key: fill your mind, body, and soul with things you love, and you won't have time to hate.
Today is my three year anniversary of meeting K. What an amazing three years this has been! We love and support one another, she's my devoted first listener/reader, and gobbles up as many horror movies as I can cram into our daily lives. K - I Love You. Thank You for making my life complete.
Playlist from 1/31:
Joy Division - Still
Skid Row - Slave to the Grind
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Red Rider - As Far As Siam
Ennio Morricone - The Thing OST
Card of the day:
I already know what's stagnant and poisoning the well; I had to post-pone taking care of it because of the end-of-the-month scheduling at work. Perhaps next week. I can feel it though, and this run of what I think of as the 'murky waters cards' is only proving it.
I was super psyched to receive an alert yesterday afternoon that Detroit's Ritual Howls are releasing a new album in March! What's more, there is an awesome, limited edition that includes a splatter vinyl of the record accompanied by a hardbound book that documents all of the band's lyrics through the years, as well as tour photos. I ordered mine as soon as I saw it and if you wish to do the same, or maybe just pre-order one of the other versions of the album from the always wonderful Felte Records, here's the link.
Having tackled the setback with the chapter in Shadow Play, things are going great! Still reading it aloud to K, and meanwhile I unexpectedly began a new short. It's the first time I've ever written "Detective Fiction" and I feel like it's going pretty damn well. Of course, this isn't your ordinary Detective story. You'll see...
Playlist from 1/30:
Melvins - A Senile Animal
Wasted Theory -
Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz
Skid Row - Slave to the Grind
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Wasteland
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - The Night Creeper
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Ritual Howls - Into The Water
Card of the day:
Keeping it short because, as the card says, Stagnant waters rot.
Two days ago Preoccupations released this video for Compliance. I don't even know what to say, other than I feel like someone has perfectly captured a nightmare I had several years ago. Incredible.
Another NCBD without much hitting the stands. I passed completely last week, might go in today for these:
Consistently fantastic and always on time:
We talked about this on Drinking with Comics a few months back. I read Chris' copy of the first few issues then, but never picked them up.
Infinite Dark is currently one of my favorite books. By far:
Might be the only book of the three Sandman Universe titles I started reading that I'm interested in continuing:
Outcast is one book I'm seriously close to dropping. It's not bad, I just don't know how much I care and I never read the issues as they come out, always after they pile up for a while:
Playlist from 1/30:
Pigface - Notes from the Underground
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Goblin - Dawn of the Dead OST
It's been a while since I threw any Pigface into my daily routine. This was always among my favorite tracks from the band.
True Detective surprised the hell out of me last night. I mentioned before how Jeremy Saulnier was originally enlisted to direct the entirety of season three, then split. Daniel Sackheim was brought in for episode three, and earned an executive producer credit on the episode, if not the series (not sure). But after that, the series' IMDB page remained suspiciously devoid of a director credit for the remainder of the season. Which had me a little bit worried.
Well, that worry proved unfounded. Creator Nic Pizzolatto stepped in for episode four in what I believe was his directorial debut, and he absolutely KILLED it. Best episode of the season so far, and such a great installment that I'm fairly certain I now feel completely confident the show is back on track after that disappointing second season. Such restraint on that ending, which made it absolutely EPIC. I'm loving the cast, especially Mahershala Ali, Carmen Ejogo, and Stephen Dorff. Oh and this guy. I totally feel for this guy, even while retaining my suspicions as well:
Playlist from 1/27:
Shane Carruth - Upstream Color OST
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity
Boy Harsher - Lesser Man
Algiers - Eponymous
Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir - Like a Ship (Without a Sail)
James Brown - Hell
Card of the day:
Lots of Swords lately, all lining up with my edgy mood. Currently, I have massive Cognitive Dissonance, but actually took the first step in (hopefully) fixing that last night. Because it is kinda ruining me in some regards right now. I've been volatile in my daily life, and that's not good.
How's that for a relaxing Sunday evening, eh? I've been hung up on a Dillinger binge again. This album... this freakin' album, I've been listening to it for almost twenty years, but I still don't think I fully grasp it. So gorgeous, and mind-bending, and dangerous. Speaking of Mindbending...
Two nights ago, I re-watched Shane Carruth's Upstream Color. Jesus, what a film. I remember the first time I put it on I instantly became spellbound. There's a fluidity to the storytelling that makes me think of it as a cinematic poem. I won't pretend I 'get' a lot of it, but after watching it, I dug around online for a while and arrived at some pretty interesting 'answers.' We need another film from this man. The Modern Ocean has been listed on his IMDB for a while; let's hope we get that sooner rather than later.
Playlist from 1/26:
Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch - Concerning the White Horse
Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch - Only Lovers Left Alive OST
Pinebender - Working Nine to Wolf
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Boy Harsher - Country Girl EP
Boy Harsher - Yr Body is Nothing
I'm a pretty big fan of Jim Jarmusch the filmmaker, and Only Lovers Left Alive is probably my favorite of his films. But Jarmusch also makes music: sparse, eerie, haunted music. Lately, as I've gone deeper into his musical collaborations with Jozef Van Wissem, I've found my favorite of their work is the OST for the same film. The Only Lovers Left Alive OST is a deep dive record; despite the epic rock-dirge of the opening track, embedded above, this album pulls me down into what feels like a sacred, cavernous place in my psyche. A place daily life makes it hard to get to often. It's a great feeling, to connect with myself through music like this, especially when it's not dependent on the application of mind-altering substances to get there. It's literally just 'Press Play and Go.'
This past week, K and I went through the first season of David Fincher's Mindhunter series on Netflix. It is fantastic. I've heard some folks say this is 'boring,' but I don't get that at all. Fascinating is the word I'd use. And I often avoid sequence, *ahem*, serial killer stories because they disturb me too much. Something about the way this one unfolds is very balanced though, so that even though you go a lot of dark places, it's not all there is. Can't wait for the second season.
Oh! And Hannah Gross - who I got to know as the lead in Dead Wax late last year on Shudder - is a co-star, and she is terrific!
Playlist from 01/25:
Tool - Aenima
Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity
Explode into Colors - Quilts
The Effigies - Remains Nonviewable
Boy Harsher - Careful
Gary Numan - Replicas
Boy Harsher - Country Girl EP
Curtis Harding - Where We Are (Single)
Specimen - Azoic
David Bowie - Low
Card of the day:
Loud and clear. See, what's happening is, when I finished the book and began reading it to K, I expected to find some problems areas that needed edits. I made it through a near-pristine first act, only to get four chapters into the second act (of three) and get caught up in a chapter that I have now been re-writing for five days. It's all there, I just can't seem to get it fluid. There's a social obligation we have today, and I'd been wondering if I should skip it to write. This tells me my hunch is correct.
Can NOT wait for this album to drop next Friday. It's streaming now on NPR HERE. If you haven't, see Boy Harsher live. They are enthralling.
Playlist from 1/23:
United Future Organization - 3rd Perspective
Post Stardom Depression - Prime Time Looks A Lot Like Amateur Hour
David Bowie - Blackstar
Deftones - Gore
David Bowie - Reality Tour (Disc 1)
Tin Machine - Eponymous
Ghost - Circe (single)
Playlist from 1/24:
Wasted Theory -
Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch - Concerning the White Horse (Pre-release single)
Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch - Only Lovers Left Alive OST
Cold Cave - You & Me & Infinity EP
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Drab Majesty - Careless
Tool - Aenima
Battle Tapes - Sweatshop Boys
Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis
Belong - October Language
Trust Obey - Fear & Bullets
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Tinderbox
Card of the day:
Guilt over a falling out; waters of friendship tainted. But is it poison, or can it be filtered back to purity?
Long my favorite track from 2003's Nocturama, until this moment I had no idea there was a video for this song.
Short post today.
Playlist from 1/22:
Morphine - The Night
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Apparat - Devil's Walk
The Police - Regatta de Blanc
Algiers - Eponymous
Pastor T.L. Barrett & The Youth for Christ Choir - Like a Ship (Without a Sail)
Godflesh - Post Self
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST
Card of the day:
Free, except for that one massive weight, which currently comes in the form of a chapter I encountered last night in my read-through of the novel to K; needs some serious work.
Apparat just released a new track from his forthcoming album Lp5, which drops via MUTE on 3/22. And get a gander at this gorgeous album cover:
One year ago I began treating this page as a more-or-less everyday ritual. It's been a very helpful tool this past year, so I intend to continue. In order to create a nice little harmonic loop, I thought I'd post the same Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' track that I did last year, because, from Her(e) to Eternity:
Playlist from 1/21:
Morphine - The Night
Gary Numan - Savage (Songs from a Broken World)
Windhand - Split
Pastor T.L. Barret and the Youth For Christ Choir - Like a Ship (Without a Sail)
Pastor T.L. Barret and the Youth For Christ Choir - Do Not Pass Me Pass Me By Vol. II
Bad Luck - Four
Cold Cave - Cherish The Light Years
Cold Cave - You & Me & Infinity
Soviet Soviet - Endless
Card of the day:
Happy at the fact that the book is done - minus what is looking like a pass of light editing - and I have finally begun to think about the next project. Also happy to have made these chronicles a successful ritual over the previous year. Here's to an infinite number of years continuing with it!
And then this! This is so close! I only just found out about this forthcoming documentary on the band Brainiac last month, but it feels like I've now been waiting for it forever.
Playlist from 1/19:
Plague Bringer - As the Ghosts Collect, the Corpses Rest
Plague Bringer - Life Songs in a Land of Death
Thou - Summit
Playlist from 1/20:
Calexico - Even My Sure Things Fall Through
Gordon Lightfoot - Gord's Gold
Card of the day:
The Airy aspect of Air, so the intellect of intellect, in a manner of speaking. Not sure how to apply this. The book is finished, and I've already read the first act to K. It feels GOOD. Little rough spots here and there, but nothing that can't be shored up as we go through it. I'll have to figure out if this card pertains to that, or the new project I've begun to brainstorm.
When I saw the title of this movie, I thought it was going to be a flick in the realm of Hobo with a Shotgun. But no. This, this looks Epic. LOVE this movie poster:
K and I finished Channel Zero: The Dream Door last night. Wow. Fantastic. I don't know that I've even mentioned the show in these pages yet; we watched the first season about a month ago - Seasons 1-3 are streaming exclusively on Shudder - and I was blown away by that, too. Harley Peyton is one of the Producers, and if you are a Twin Peaks fan from back in the day, you'll know his name as a major creative force on that show's original run, especially during Season 2. And Mr. Peyton's Peaks experience is definitely felt in Channel Zero. The first Season's finale so resembled the Season 2 finale of Twin Peaks that I was floored. This was homage, not an egregious repeating. And again, in The Dream Door's finale, we get some crazy Lynchian imagery. SO good. Can't wait to watch Seasons 2 and 3 - it's an anthology, hence our out of order viewing - but I'm now tempted to save those seasons because also yesterday, on this week's episode of the Shock Waves podcast, I learned Channel Zero has been cancelled.
The Cure - Seventeen Seconds
The Black Queen - Infinite Games
David Lynch - The Big Dream
Plaguebringer - As the Ghosts Collect, the Corpses Rest
Television - Marquee Moon
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Hallelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Eights are Hod. Splendor. Eights are tricky. Splendor can be interpreted as spectacle, and spectacle can be distracting. Literally, an Interference. This is a beautiful card, but its beauty is wrought with images of death and destruction, an unstable background, Chaos is close. I'm not entirely certain how to interpret this today. I have a large writing session coming up to snap a few last bits into place and then continue editing the book in Grammarly, chapter by chapter. After that, it's reading the full text aloud to K. Perhaps the interference I'm being warned about here is because for days I have just barely dodged the urge to start reading it now. I can't do that; even though I have a small checklist of images and bits to pepper back through the chapters, changing one thing, no matter how minutely, may cause ripples backward or forward through the story that then also have to be smoothed. Most of my focus is in the second act, but I do not yet know if that focus will end up requiring a smoothing out in the first act. So reading now would be counterproductive. Even though I want to.
Yep. That sounds like my Interference and as is often the case, it's from myself.
