You put a chick in a gas mask and lingerie and I'm THERE! Seriously, I'm sure none of this imagery will actually tie into the story of American Horror Story season 8: Apocalypse, but it's cool as all hell. I've always been pretty hot and cold with the show: still haven't seen Freakshow or Coven, had pretty much given up until Hotel and Roanoke, both of which I loved, so I'll definitely be watching the new one.
8/07:
Cypress Hill - Eponymous
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
True Widow - AVVOLGERE
Steven Moore - The Mind's Eye OST
Cards from the last three days:
Knight of Swords was today's pull, and interestingly enough, I'd been anticipating each of the previous two days. Hence, I thought I'd read them all together as a spread.
Endeavors large and exploratory end in abrupt disappointment, only to have a contrary result arrive swiftly on that disappointment's heels. So one step back, two steps forward, so to speak.
How have I never posted this song before? SO good.
I watched Horsehead last night on Prime. I was really looking forward to this "Art House Horror" flick that keeps popping up in my periphery. I dug it visually, but I don't know that I loved the movie overall. Definitely worth watching - there's some gorgeous set design and costumes. But it seemed a bit style over substance.
Playlist from Sunday, 8/05:
Emma Ruth Rundle - Medusa (single)
Suburban Living - Video Love (single)
Windhand - Grey Garden (pre-release single)
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Christine - Sam Was Here OST
Card of the day:
You know, I pulled a card this morning, but I have no idea what the hell it was.
Time for some Shudder curation. I watched two movies last night. Well, one and a half. The first I LOVED. Above is the very Carpenter-esque theme from Sam Was Here, a really cool, very understated psyche-out in the California desert. Having spent a pretty good amount of time out there, I related. That wasn't the only reason I dug the film though. But to go into that, with this movie, would be venturing into spoiler territory. I'll leave it at, "Definitely recommended" and move on.
The second film I attempted to watch and gave up on was 1979's The Visitor, which is one of the 'evil child' movies that came in the wake of The Exorcist's success. This one was painstaking, despite the cast being STACKED with a young Lance Henrikson, Shelley Winters, Sam Peckinpah (yep), and John Huston. Yes, JOHN HUSTON. I have no idea if intermittent internet outages and a recent predilection for sleep at an early hour on Saturdays had anything to do with my impatience, but I could not make it through this one. I may try again at some point. Cool poster, though:
Finished The Deer Park by Norman Mailer. I ended up giving it a three-star rating based on what I interpreted was a failure of the narrative device the author uses. I've got a short review on Goodreads HERE. From there, I've moved back into a book I started earlier in July but put aside to press through the Mailer. Exploring Short Dark Fiction is a series published by Dark Moon Books, each one of the two currently available a contemplation on a highly regarded writer, with three's Primer to Nisi Shawl due out later this month and a fourth on the way before year's end. Number two is A Primer to Kaaron Warren, a highly regarded Australian author I would recommend to fans of Neil Gaimen, John Crowley and even Tim Burton. I'm a little over halfway through the stories and love them, and am looking forward to the wealth of supplemental material in the back of the book!
Playlist from Saturday, 8/03:
Justin Furstenfeld - Songs from Open Book
Windhand - Grey Garden (pre-release single)
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer
True Widow - AVVOLGERE
Windhand/Satan's Satyrs - Split
And the playlist from 8/04 was all vinyl!
Black Sabbath Vol. 4
The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night
Nothing - Guilty of Everything
Joy Division - Closer
Card of the day:
From the Grimoire: "All troubles and disruptions have been necessary to grow. The growth is a Victory, as not everyone makes it out of the Strife and Chaos of the fives."
Very relevant, and the cards continue to illustrate that, as this is the second time in just over two weeks I've pulled this one. The last time was HERE, and you'll see I tie Victory's appearance into the strife of working on my latest short, Please Believe Me, which still is not finished, primarily because I've unfortunately only written twice in the last week. Never a good thing, the exhaustion inertia I've carried since last week's on-call shift has turned into regular old 'out-of-the-habit' inertia. I spent the day yesterday cleaning and reading instead of writing. NOT acceptable. The appearance of this card again creates a bit of a loop, so that I will use it to signal my return to beast mode, and today I will finish Please Believe Me, re-script the first half of the first issue of The Legend of Parish Fenn (I may post sample art soon - it's f*&king incredible!), and get a bit more done on the new idea artist extraordinaire John Grimm and I had recently.
This absolutely made my day! I've had a feeling for a while that a follow-up to one of my favorite records of the last ten years, Grief's Infernal Flower, was due, especially after that split 7" with Satan's Satyrs earlier in the year.
Listening to Grey Garden for the first time, my initial observations are:
The bass sounds like a fucking motor tucked into just the right spot beneath those twin guitars; reminds me a bit of the bass on my favorite tracks from Soundgarden's Superunknown.
Producer Jack Endino really brought Dorthia's vocals up in the mix here, and that's fantastic news.
The artwork, by Arik Roper, is beautiful beyond words, and somehow reminds me of the writing of Clarke Ashton Smith.
Eternal Return is slated to release on October 5th; pre-order it on Relapse Record's website HERE.
Playlist from yesterday:
Shockwaves Podcast 101 - Tubular Bells
Shockwaves Podcast 099 - Graham Skipper
Tennis System - Pain EP
I'm sure I'm forgetting something I listened to, because I find it hard to believe that other than that Tennis System it was all Shockwaves, but work was nuts, so it took me a while to chew through most of two whole hour-plus podcasts.
I took K to see one of her favorite musicians last night, again at the Hotel Cafe. This time it was Justin Furstenfeld of the band Blue October. Justin does this "Open Book" show that's him on a small stage, telling stories from his life and accenting them with acoustic songs. I can't confess to being much a fan of the band, but as a low-key performer he was endearing and has a pretty great voice. This stories run the gamut from funny to hard-life-lessons-wrought, and in discussing being put on Paxil at 15, he solidified a theory I've had for a while now: the reason I can't directly relate to a lot of the music from the 00s is because that was the first generation of 'rock stars' - take Justin as an example of what that means today - raised on pharmaceuticals (ie anti-depressants) and, having never had that experience, it creates a palpable rift between them, their music, and me.
Card of the day:
From the Grimoire: "Big Change; think things through."Not certain what this is referring to, but I have a feeling I will know by the end of the day. Always good to have a forewarning against acting impulsively.
In just two days of sporadic listening, and after an initial and unfair dismissal upon its release earlier this year, The Body's I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer is shaping up to be in my top ten if not top five of 2018. This is a POWERHOUSE of an album, and
The new and final of my Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying installments is up HERE - I'm hoping my fellow writers at Joup jump on this column and make it their own. It probably will no longer be a regular publication, but irregular's just as good.
Playlist from Wednesday, 8/01:
Shockwaves Podcast 104 - Paul Tremblay
Tennis System - Pain
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Johnny Marr - Call the Comet
The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer
Ministry - Dark Side of the Spoon
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
The Veils - Total Depravity
Card of the day:
This was apparently my friend Missi's pull today too. I don't have time to decode right now, but it's interesting we both received it.
Another fantastic Airiel song that the boys played Sunday at the Echoplex. Yes, I'm still living off the energy from the show - I'm waking up with Tennis System as I type this.
NCBD: The return of Rick Remender and Jerome Opena's Seven to Eternity!!!
Playlist from yesterday:
Algiers - The Underside of Power
Airiel - Winks & Kisses: Melted EP
Airiel - Molten Young Lovers
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Ministry - Dark Side of the Spoon
The Go Go's - Vacation
Also, broke back into the Shockwaves Horror Podcast and I am certifiably sold on it now. Episode 104 has an interview with Paul Tremblay, whose 2015 novel A Head Full of Ghosts should be on every Horror Hound's reading list. Best take on a possession story in ages. And... in discussing his literary peers, Mr. Tremblay mentions that one of my favorite recent novellas, Nathan Ballingrud's The Visible Filth, just wrapped filming with Babak Anvari at the helm, the release date slated for March, 2019. I could not be more excited for that!
Card of the Day:
Can indicate Occult Study. Interesting, as I've just begun a re-read on Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham's Nameless, and long-time readers here will remember I got into a little bit of trouble doing occult research/annotations for that series back when it came out.
Sunday night Tennis System killed it at the Echoplex! We missed the opener Topographies, walking in and only hearing their final song, which was great. Tennis System came up next and swift, which was nice. I'm not one to hold up a phone for video or photos at shows, but Such A Drag is important to K and I, so I knew I was going to catch that for sure (she stayed home due to work in the morning; I had already arranged a late start). When they went straight into one of my favorite songs from the new EP afterward, I figured I'd finish what I started.
The real surprise was the headliner, Airiel. This was a Part Time Punks show, as most if not every Sunday night is at the Echoplex, and Airiel's front man Jeremy Wrenn commended PTP founder Michael Stock on bringing them out to the West Coast after a ten year hiatus. These guys were humble, and they were fantastic. If you dig old albums by The Cure, The Smiths and especially the Cocteau Twins, check them out. Here's a great place to start:
Playlist from the last two days, more or less:
Ministry - Dark Side of the Spoon
Badfinger -
Tennis System - Pain EP
The Veils - Total Depravity
Write Dark Things playlist
Airiel - Winks & Kisses: Melted EP
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
Tennis System - Technicolor Blind
