2019: April 4th - Jim Jarmusch's Zombie Film!

Jarmusch is doing a zombie movie? With Bill Murray and Adam Driver? Count me in! I mean, I am just about as burnt out on the Z word as one can be; I remember back in 2004 when my good friend Mike who runs Amazing Fantasy Comics in Chicago told me to read The Walking Dead, my initial reaction was, "Zombies are over done. Give me the first three Romero flicks, Return of the Living Dead, and Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, and I'm good." And that was before the real over-saturation occurred, before even Arnold Schwarzenegger had made a zombie movie. Now? Well, it takes a hell of a lot to get me interested in the living dead; there really has to be a unique and unexpected spin on the concept. The Night Ate the World definitely did that for me last year. The Walking Dead comic does it every month (hint: because it's not really about the zombies). Cinematically, comedies appear to have the highest success rate with me, i.e. Sean of the Dead and Zombieland, are two that I adore. But having just watched and LOVED Jarmusch's Patterson, the idea of him doing a Z flick with a cast like this, well, I'm very intrigued.

And hell, look what he did for Vampires in Only Lovers Left Alive, probably my favorite V flick since Coppola's Bram Stoker.

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Yesterday I listened to the Beyond the Void Podcast and absolutely loved it. I'd listened once or twice before, or so I thought, but had no lasting impression of the show. Not surprising: my memory is chewed and the amount of content I consume probably borders on insane. And there's so many podcasts out there, it's hard to nail down the good ones. BTV is definitely one of the good ones.

I started with BTV's top horror movies of 2018 episode, and wow. I mean, it wasn't just the thrill of our lists mostly lining up; hosts Alex and Britni both have a similar aesthetic, but beyond that, it was super cool to hear films like The Night Ate the World and Incident in a Ghostland given their due, because I feel as though both were largely absent from a lot of the 'best of' lists I saw last year. Really great 'cast and a ton of additional content on their site as well, so if you're in a horror discussin' mood, give these folks a listen.

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Playlist from 4/03:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Matthew Dear - You Put a Smell On Me
Brand New - God and the Devil are Raging Inside Me
Tricky - Maxinquaye
Martina Topley-Bird - Too Tough to Die
Twilight Singers - Too Tough to Die
Matthew Dear - Bunny
Sleep - Dopesmoker
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley


Card of the day:

Because I'm getting nothing fucking done, my even-steven level (6) has become unstable.

2019: April 3rd - Full Episode from Jordan Peele's New Twilight Zone

CBS timed this one right, eh? I haven't had a chance to watch this yet, but I figured I'd post it here for posterity's sake. Very intrigued; I'm imaging the Peele hosted/produced new spin on the classic anthology series will sit quite nicely in the cultural zeitgeist alongside his own films, Black Mirror, Electric Sheep, etc. 

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The new episode of The Horror Vision podcast went up yesterday. We talk about a bunch of flicks we've seen since the previous episode, and then the recently released Book of Monsters, the trailer for which follows the links for the show below:

The Horror Vision on Apple

The Horror Vision on Spotify

The Horror Vision on Google Play

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NCBD: I don't even know where to start. Despite keeping track of the releases in these pages, I haven't actually been to the shop in a couple of weeks, so I'm pushing wallet-death at this point, not to mention a very real chance I'll forget one of the peripheral titles not on my pull. If there were any. I don't remember, so I'm going to have to go through the last few week's NCBD posts here so I can stay abreast. Here's today's titles:

LOVE this book!

So good to have Paper Girls back in monthly form!

The description for this issue on Comics List ends with, "...dark times ahead." Oh man.

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Playlist from 4/01:

Brand New - God and the Devil are Raging Inside Me

Steve Moore - The Mind's Eye OST

Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit

Playlist from 4/02:

John Carpenter - Lost Themes

King Khan & The Shrines - The Supreme Genius of...

The Juan Maclean (Matthew Dear the Red Thread Remix)

Otis Redding - Live on the Sunset Strip

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland

Card of the day:

Same card as the last pull I did, a few days ago. This is no doubt because my previous interpretation was on the nose, and I have 100% ignored it. Yesterday after work was a much-needed nap and then I finished the edit on the new episode of The Horror Vision. Day before I got a little editing done (did some yesterday morning for that matter too, hence no post here, but I'm lagging. I need to get this to my First Reader before I leave for Washington on Sunday. Hopefully work will be a bit calmer today and I'll have the energy to come home and really knock out the final tweaking on the last five chapters. Because that's all that's standing in the way!

2019: April 1st - Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless

Because most days, Talking Heads' first Brian Eno collaboration Remain in Light continues to be the album in my head the moment I wake up. NOT a complaint.

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A long weekend of work set me back about a day on turning the book over to Missi - yeah, I'm remembering yesterday's Card of the Day, but there's still a few tweaks to be made. I spent about a good hour yesterday morning at 5:00 AM reworking the dialogue in a scene and it has resonated in my head since, so it's worth it.

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I was so tired last night when I skipped dinner and passed out, that I think I may have been speaking in tongues. Creepy, that kind of tired. Makes me feel like I'm not really here.

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Playlist from 3/31:

King Khan and the Shrines - The Supreme Genius Of...
Joe Mason - Music for Unrealized Cartoons
Plague Bringer - As the Ghosts Collect, the Corpses Rest
The Police - Outlandos D'Amour
Sleaford Mods - English Tapas
Television - Marquee Moon
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Windhand/Satan Satrys - Split EP
John Carpenter - Lost Themes

No card today.

2019: March 31st

I fell back into King Khan and the Shrines yesterday. Previously, I've returned again and again to the apparently well OOP The Supreme Genius of King Khan and the Shrines, one of the best damn compilations I've ever heard. It's not often I get into a band and am happy subsisting on a comp alone, but it happens on occasion, as it did with KK and the Shrines. Mr. Brown burnt said disc for me... hell, I guess back around the time I moved to LA, and it's been an on and off companion since. And although he also burnt me what probably amounts to the remainder of the band's catalogue, as well as plenty from Khan's two-man project, The King Khan & BBQ Show, The Supreme Genius of... has remained my go-to. The tracks just flow so. Damn. Good. Here's a live clip I found of another of my favorites:



That right there is Soul, baby. Khan and his cabal of collaborators have been a major force in taking back Soul from the mis-labelling of the music that began in the 80s and 90s, with crappy melodramatic balladeers. This is Sam and Dave, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding... the list goes on.

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It's one week until I head out to Spokane for work, and then only five days until I spend a long weekend in Seattle. Can't wait. Planning on staying a night in North Bend, a city I would ultimately love to live in, and you can bet K and I will be dining at Twede's, better known to Twin Peaks fans as the Double R Diner. This will be my fourth trip to Washington, the first since 2017. It's K's first, so I'm psyched to see her reaction to the state's beauty.

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Playlist from 3/29:
Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor
Brand New - Science Fiction


Playlist from 3/30:

Deftones - Koi No Yokan
King Khan and the Shrines - The Supreme Genius Of
Otis Redding - Live at the Whiskey a Go Go
Naked Raygun - Series #1
Naked Raygun - Series #2
Naked Raygun - Series #3
Naked Raygun - Free S**t! Live in Chicago
Dum Dum Girls - Too True
Helms Alee - Sleepwalking Sailors
Canadian Rifle - Peaceful Death
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
How to Destroy Angels - Eponymous EP

Card of the day:

Leaning toward an interpretation that juxtaposes The Magus with the source of its inspiration, Hermes Trismegistus, or the Messenger of the Gods Mercury, who Crowley refers to as, "Word of creation whose speech is silent." In other words, time to stop tinkering and send the book to Missi for that extremely important First Reader Experience.

2019: Ritual Howls - Mother of the Dead

What an awesome mail week! First, yesterday I received Rendered Armor, the new LP from Ritual Howls. Out on Felte Records now, this is a damned fine piece of music; when I pre-ordered the vinyl a few months back, I sunk in the extra couple bucks to receive the hardbound book. A retrospective of the Ritual Howl's existence thus far, the history is told in gorgeous B&W photography and set against a backdrop of all the band's lyrics. Holding the finished product in my hand I can tell you it is very cool. Love these guys so very much.

Second, on Wednesday, I received Shout Factory's Larry Fessenden Collection. I've wanted this for years, finally pulled the trigger on it. Four features - No Telling, Habit, Wendigo, and The Last Winter, as well as the short White Trash. No Telling was the one I'd missed - although I haven't seen Wendigo since the early 2000s, so it will be mostly like seeing it again for the first time - and after watching it last night I absolutely loved it. Maybe my favorite of Mr. Fessenden's (although I'll probably say that about all of them. No Telling is known overseas as The Frankenstein Complex, a title that's a bit too on the nose in my opinion, but me thinks this film serves as a harbinger for Fessenden's much-anticipated new film Depraved, about "...a disillusioned field surgeon who makes a man out of body parts and brings him to life in a Brooklyn loft."

Definite companion pieces.


The package is loaded with extras, many of which Fessenden introduces, and I intend on watching everything and in order of release! Can't wait.

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Playlist from 3/29:

Faith No More - King for a Day
Helms Alee - Sleepwalking Sailors
Nabihah Iqbal - Weighing of the Heart
Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor

No card today.

2019: March 28th: Helms Alee - Spider Jar

This new track from Helms Alee popped up in my youtube feed via Sargent House's channel. Wow. I know nothing of this band, but that changes today. From the forthcoming Noctiluca, out on Sargent House April 26th. Pre-order HERE.

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Shadow Play Book One: Kim & Jessie is finished. Well, the writing part. I spent a good four hours over the last two days tweaking the layout in Scrivener and Veullum, and it's almost right, but not quite. It looks like I'll be spending all day Friday watching 'how-to' videos for both programs, trying to dial in those last little nuances. Oh yeah, I've also secured my all-important First Reader! Thank You, Missi!

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If you're anywhere near my age - 43 - you remember a time before the Internet, when television required what we now refer to as Event Viewing. I'm not going to say that was necessarily better, but it's funny that, as we get further and further into the paradigm where we control the viewing experience 100% in most cases, there's still those of us who nostalgically long for an occasional movie or show to call the shots. I wouldn't want everything to revert to that paradigm because, hey, I'm freakin' busy, as I'm sure you are. But it's nice to have an event to look forward to every now and again. Shudder knows this. Joe Bob Briggs knows this. That's why, I am excited as all hell for tomorrow night and the inaugural Joe Bob Briggs The Last Drive In weekly Double Feature! I have no idea what JBB is showing, nor do I care. All that matters is that he is hosting.



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Playlist from 3/27:

Bonobo - The North Borders
The National - You Had Your Soul With You (Pre-release Single)
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Brand New - Science Fiction
Windhand - Eternal Return
White Lung - Eponymous
Tamaryn - The Waves

Card of the day:

Balance and Harmony. The imagery on this card, perhaps more than any other in the deck, instills in my chest a calm and peaceful feeling. The Star sifts the cosmic waters of the Universe, which in a way, is what artists do. I feel good. I feel on track.

2019: March 27th - New Music from The National

While even after multiple attempts, I really never developed a taste for The National's much-lauded 2017 album Sleep Well Beast, I am such an enormous fan of 2010's High Violet that I give everything they do a chance. Admittedly, You Had Your Soul With You probably dropped a while ago, so I'm posting it here well after the fact, but I've been careful about getting off on the wrong foot with I Am Easy to Find, the band's forthcoming album on 4AD. With some bands, pre-album release singles can create false expectations for the overall tone of the album. Despite this, something forced my hand this morning, and now I am very intrigued about the full album, which you can pre-order HERE.

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I've been cleaning a lot of music out of my iTunes to make room on my Mac Book, and this morning I was super freaked out to find I can no longer find my Twin Peaks Music Archive tracks. For those of you who remember this, roughly eight years ago, David Lynch released a massive archive of every music track used in the original show. This included all incidental tracks, and every variation of every track. I'm not entirely sure how I would have deleted these, and there's a chance I have it backed up on a secondary drive somewhere (please please please), but until then, I'm sweating it a little bit. Here's a taste of what I was looking for this morning:



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Playlist from 3/26:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light
PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her
Nabihah Iqbal - Weighing of the Heart
Finn Andrews - One Piece at a Time
Jaye Jayle - No Trail and Other Unholy Paths
Emma Ruth Rundle - On Dark Horses
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Brand New - Science Fiction
The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir
M83 - Saturdays Equal Youth

No card today.