2018: May 17th 6:59 AM

Yesterday I dug out Eagulls' second album, Ullages, for the first time in quite a while. I really liked the album when it came out, but it was somewhat the wrong time for me to fully invest in it - I was still riding too high on the frenetic burst of their debut, and the dour vibe, while glorious, was perhaps too much of a downer at the time. Enjoying sadness can be tricky, and definitely requires a particular mindset; without that mindset there is no enjoyment, only Zoul. I mean, there isn't a proper enjoyment, more of a sulking. For me at least.

I stuck to it though, and it helped me process the tracks in a different context when I saw the band live about a month after Ullages came out; the band absolutely killed it, and all the new songs sounded fantastic, intermixed with tracks from the first record to inject a bit of pep and throb amidst the otherwise seriously downtempo tone. Going back to the record now, after some time away and inherent expectations have faded, I'm falling into the sullen British craft of the record and it feels exquisite.

Playlist from yesterday:

Jamiroquai - Return of the Space Cowboy
Eagulls - Eponymous
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
Eagulls - Ullages
Nachtmystium - Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. 2
Nachtmystium - Silencing Machine

Card of the day:

From the Grimoire, "Overcoming opposites - attraction. Recognizing what belongs together - union."

Check. A confirmation that K and I need to carve out a little more time together, as of late it's been difficult, with her Mom fully moved in and my writing constantly. Her birthday is tomorrow, and I intend to make this a very special weekend.

2018: May 15th 6:15 PM

First, because I've been All-Black Metal, All-the Time, let's do something as a pattern interrupt:



After I finished David Peak's Corpsepaint two nights ago I immediately ordered this:

Back when I worked at Borders, this always caught my eye. I'm so taken with exploring this fascinating subculture right now that I just can't look away, and I wanted some non-fiction to bolster and sustain the high that I still have from Peak's book.

Playlist from yesterday:

The Devil's Blood - The Thousandfold Epicenter

The Ocean - Aeolian

Venue - Desireena

Deafheaven - New Bermuda

Deafheaven - Roads to Judah

Card of the day today was:

An eight. Of course. The number of building. Because I've worked on T12 everyday for two weeks, and Keller and I are really building something, not the story per se, but also a system by which we intend to tell many stories, the next two after this one already slated.

2018: May 14th 8:38 AM

Falling down a black metal hole thanks to Corpsepaint, which I finished and weighs in as my fourth favorite novel of all-time.




Playlist from 5/12:

Darkness Brings the Cold - The Psychoangelic Crypt
Cocksure - TV
Cocksure - Corporate_Sting
Alkaline Trio - Crimson
Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle, Pt. 1
The Best of Ella Fitzgerald, Vol. 2

Playlist from 5/13:

Burzum: Filosfem

Card of the day:

Could be good news coming when I combine this pull with something my boss told me late last week.

2018: May 12th 8:07 AM

Here's a song I originally found back in the mid-00s and then lost track of. Recently, I spent a good amount of time looking for Salem's Dirt on youtube but A) although the video left a lasting impression in my head, I could not for the life of me remember the name of the track, and B) there are a lot of bands named Salem. Anyway, I get to Keller's the other day and he has a Grimes-inspired playlist on and I see Salem Redlights. This makes me think about my fruitless search and I go on a tear again, preempting our meeting just to try and find this song. And I finally find it, I think by googling some combination of the words, "Salem + Music Video + Garage". Creepy AF.

I don't know if Salem is still kicking. Back in 2006-2007, I spent a lot of time nosing around online for music. I was also reading Wire magazine rabidly, and between the two I found quite a bit of really left of center music. I'm not talking about System of a Down left of center - they're not - or even Mike Patton left of center. This was small stuff. It was also around the time I first heard the terms "Witchhouse" and "Hypnogogic Pop", which may have essentially been the same thing. Anyway, there's a lot of stuff that just kind of got swallowed with time, Salem being one of them. I stopped reading Wire after I left Borders (I'd have to drive to Amoeba to get it - need to look into reading it online), and started spending my time writing instead of snooping for music. The one site I found during the final years of that whole musical archeology thing that I stick to religiously is Heaven is an Incubator, because honestly, Tommy finds only great stuff and he finds a lot of it. Good to re-claim this now as something I can go to when I need a freaky vibe to catalyze a scene or idea.

I signed up for Tubi and finally gave Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem another chance and, holy cow, I really liked it. The last time I think my two major problems were we were still kind of coming off his lackluster Halloween stint, and I fell asleep during my viewing. This time I was wide awake in spite of starting the movie with some yawns, but it pretty much kept me glued. And I thought Sherri Moon Zombie did a really great, somewhat nuanced job in the starring role. So that kind of puts RZ's films back in the black with me, with only his Michael Myers-as-Jason Voorhees singular one of his I hate, and the first Halloween feeling pointless and mean.

Playlist from yesterday:

Darkness Brings the Cold - House of Sin 1
Cocksure - K.K.E.P.
Cocksure - Corporate_Sting
Nachtmystium - Doomsday Derelicts
Nachtmystium - Reign of the Malicious
Darkness Brings the Cold - IX
Lustmord - The Dark Places of the Earth
Nachtmystium - Addicts: Black Meddle, Pt. 2
Burzum - Aske

Card of the day:

Watery aspect of fire - temper Will with Emotion.

2018: May 11th 8:26 AM

New Arctic Monkeys!



The album is out now, and you can click HERE to go to Brooklyn Vegan and hear the entire album.

Playlist from yesterday:

Darkness Brings the Cold - Human Me
Arctic Monkeys - Suck it and See
Dead Cross - E.P.
Windhand/ Satan's Satyrs - Split E.P.
Darkness Brings the Cold - House of Sin, albums one and two
Teenage Wrist - Dazed E.P.

Card of the day:

The duality of the One. Two sides of the same coin. A marriage of alchemical elements. I'll choose to interpret this as I need to spend some time with my Baby, who I feel like I haven't seen ages due to work, my writing schedule and her having been sick for a week. Will remedy that this weekend. Happily.

2018: May 10th 10:46 AM

I only knew about the surprise Dead Cross E.P. because Tommy still runs the got-damned best music blog around over at Heaven Is An Incubator, otherwise, I would have missed out entirely. Here's an awesome new Dead Cross video!




The new Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying is up. Read it HERE.

Playlist from yesterday:

Chris Connelly - Phenobarb Bambalam
Chris Connelly - The Tide Stripped Bare
Nachtmystium - Man Made
Nachtmystium - Doomsday Derelict
Nachtmystium - Reign of the Malicious
Peter Gabriel - Us
Brand New - Daisy
Eagulls - Eponymous

No card today.

2018: May 9th 8:00 AM

Holy cow! Chris Connelly has a new record that came out earlier this year. And of course, it's fantastic.



Highly recommended literature:

I started this yesterday. Fantastic book. The character of Stigoi is so hilariously based on a certain Chicago Black Metal Musician who, while I love his music, is known for doing the kind of bastard shit Strigoi does. This just makes me like the book even more than I already do, with its urban-decay-as-lifestyle that often proliferates internally inside self-obsessed musicians in cities like Chicago (I know, I'm from and was a musician there for ten years).

Speaking of which, let's combine several topics from today's post:



Playlist from yesterday:

Darkness Brings the Cold - Human Me
David Lynch & John Neff - Bluebob
USSA - Eponymous
Alice in Chains - B-sides
Alice in Chains - Eponymous
Neon Kross - Darkness Falls
Ghost Bath - Moon Lover
Blut Aus Nord - Memorial Vetusta II - Dialogue With the Stars

Card for the day is coming from my back-up deck, the mini Hanson-Roberts:

I don't like this deck nearly as much - nothing wrong with it, it's just not my cuppa. I like my Thoth, but I hurried out of the house this morning and forgot to pull - this deck is pocket-sized and was something I found, so it lives in my bag for moments like this. As for the pull itself, XIX coming in hot on the heels of XVII The Star (yesterday's pull) suggests that while yesterday's writing session was a bit convoluted (occulted, to force a slightly square peg into a circular hole for the sake of the metaphor), today's will be better, with revelations aplenty.