2019: April 24th - New Mark Lanegan Band!

From the forthcoming record Somebody's Knocking, out October 18th on Heavenly Recordings, who have a wealth of information about the making of the album and some great quotes from Lanegan HERE. You can pre-order Somebody's Knocking HERE, though at this point it's only for digital. Hopefully when we get another track, there will be a vinyl link for pre-order as well.

Coincidentally, I dug Bubblegum out recently and played the hell out of it for a day or two. Such a great album. I didn't realize there was a new Lanegan Band record in the pipes. Excited.

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The new Fangoria hits the shelves today. I have a copy on reserve at the Comic Bug, but after today I'm going to subscribe. There's a fantastic episode of the Shockwaves podcast from the last week or so with Fango editor-in-chief Phil Noble, where besides discussing all kinds of horror goodness, Noble talks about how, at this point, the revamped Fangoria is an expensive labor of love, and honestly, just spending the last few months with issue #2 I can see it. I make no bones about falling out of love with the previous incarnation of the magazine, which I thought Rue Morgue surpassed as the only 'need to read' horror zine on the stands some time in the early 00s. That said, Rue Morgue is still pretty damn cool, but Fangoria is back in a big way. Plus, between Fango and Ruck and Lark's Lazarus, I am LOVING the return of the prestige, quarterly format. So subscribing and supporting the mag at the source seems like the best thing to do if I want it to continue, which I do. You can subscribe too, if you click THIS link.

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Playlist from 4/23:

Boy Harsher - Careful
Bauhaus - Vol. 1
Melvins - Houdini
Soundgarden - Super Unknown
Cocksure - K.K.E.P.
Cocksure - T.V.M.A.L.S.V.
Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor
John Carpenter & Alan Howarth - Prince of Darkness OST

No card today.

2019: April 23rd: Boy Harsher Audiotree Performance

Interesting this pops up in my youtube feed this morning, as I spent a good deal of time yesterday listening to Boy Harsher's Careful, reflecting on how much I love this damn record. Having seen them live last year as my introduction, I could watch these two for hours. Something about them is completely enthralling. It doesn't really come out here, I think, because there's just one song, and not enough for them to warm up.

Also, maybe it's because K and I finally finished Bates Motel - awesome through and through, by the way, although none of season seasons 4 or 5 can match the pacing of three - but Augustus Muller looks a bit like Norman Bates in this video.

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NCBD tomorrow! I'm caught up and back in the flow, so here's my picks for the week:

Finally! Still one of the most intriguing books I read.

Having just caught up and read #3, it's no surprise Brubaker and Phillips' ongoing is one of my favorite books on the stands at the moment. I was way late to the Criminal Empire, many thanks to my good friend Joe Baxter for turning me onto the regular book. I'm hooked.

Shit. I missed issue 2, which means when the original Punk's Not Dead ended, I forgot to re-up the pull service on this second volume.

Big things ahead for this book and I can't wait.

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Playlist from 4/22:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Melvins - Houdini
Melvins - Stoner Witch
Boy Harsher - Careful
Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers, and Queers
Misfits - Earth A.D.
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Sunn O))) - Kannon
Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor

No card today.

2019: April 22nd - New Helms Alee Track!

From the forthcoming album Noctiluca, which drops on Sargent House this Friday! Can't f&*king wait! Pre-order physical HERE or digital HERE.

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The new film by It Follows director David Robert Mitchell drops on Amazon tomorrow (it was originally slated for today, but apparently got pushed back a day). I'm unclear if this will be available to rent or just buy. It's also playing a limited theatrical run in some city Monday through Wednesday this week. I've only known about this for about five days, and I've avoided all trailers or media, though I'm posting it here. It Follows is one of those films that immediately blew me away; I've never understood all the negativity thrown at that film. Also, The Myth of the American Sleepover was a great first film, so in my opinion, David Robert Mitchell is definitely someone I'm interested in keeping up with.



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Playlist from 4/20:

Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
Faith No More - King for a Day
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Windhand - Eternal Return
Zombi - Shape Shift
Paramore - Riot
The Rolling Stones - Tide High and Green Grass
Michael Parks - The Best of Michael Parks

Playlist from 4/21:

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Windhand - Soma

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Card of the day:

This feels good, because I have two major things waiting to land, and I've been on shaky ground with both.

2019: April 20th - Swamp Thing Teaser

This dropped a few days ago, but I haven't had time to post here. There's an article on Bloody Disgusting - I think - that mentions this show is going to be pulling a lot from Alan Moore's seminal run on the book, the one that not only redefined Wrightson and Wein's character, but arguably the comics industry in general. If I hadn't witnessed that insane Doom Patrol sequence I posted a few weeks ago, I'd probably be a lot more skeptical of this. As it stands, that's two shows on the DC Universe app that I want to give a shot. That said, I don't know that I intend on subscribing to a DC streaming app regardless of whether or not they bring up a show with Jesus handing out free passes, so I guess I'll wait and see. Still, kudos to DC on finally getting something going, because I happened to see about ten minutes of that JLA movie on cable in a hotel recently, and all I can say is, no thanks.

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My trip to the comic shop did NOT decimate my wallet, and now I've had a morning's worth of new books to read. My favorite this month? The return of Rucka and Lark's Lazarus, but in a quarterly, prestige format, with a shit ton of back matter:

Also, there's two big conflicts - probably wars, actually, coming in two of my favorite titles, and while  I'm pretty excited, I'm also a little afraid of the body count that may follow as a result:

I'm especially concerned about what's coming in TWD. With issue 200 on the horizon, my prediction remains that Rick Grimes will die, probably before the anniversary issue, just because Kirkman likes to defy expectation.

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Didn't get to watch The Last Drive-In last night, so K and I will be watching Joe Bob this evening. Can't wait! And I've never seen either of the films he played this week.





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Playlist from 4/18:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Drab Majesty - Careless
Drab Majesty - Ellipses (Pre-release Single)

Playlist from 4/19:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Grand Duchy - Petite Fours
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Odonis Odonis - Reaction EP
The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose
Canadian Rifle - Peaceful Death
Ghost - Opus Eponymous
Faith No More - King for a Day
Thought Gang - Modern Music

Card for the day:

I really need to do a deep dive on this card. I'll not waste time with another abbreviated interpretation right now. Needless to say, I suppose I'm supposed to control my emotions, but that just doesn't seem to fit right now.

2019: April 18th -New Track from Cold Showers!

You know, just between Felte Records, Sargent House, and Dais Records I would be in musical heaven. Case in point today, here's a new track from Cold Showers' upcoming album Motionless, out May 24th on Dais Records! You can pre-order the album HERE.

Speaking of pre-ordering from Dais Records, the link to pre-order Drab Majesty's upcoming Modern Mirror landed in my inbox earlier today. Really excited for both these records. I already snagged my copy of the clear red vinyl, but there's plenty of vinyl, CD, whatever left if you go HERE.

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I can't remember if I've posted about the band Skating Polly here before or not, but the deeper my dive goes into this group, the more I think they may single-handedly usher in a return of the early 90s music sound. A good friend of mine has been chronicling their live shows with his camera for a while now; I saw the photos yesterday and they are awesome. And the band really looks like they sound, that is to say, even while they're paying homage to old Breeders, Nirvana, Pixies, whatever, they breathe a new life into it. Can't wait to see where their career takes them. Here's their website.

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Playlist from 4-17:

Joe Mason - Music for Unrealized Cartoons

Secret Boyfriend - Furnishing the Void

Sleep - The Sciences

Joseph Lo Duca - Evil Dead 2 OST

No card today.

2019: April 17th - New Earth Track!

From the forthcoming album Full Upon Her Burning Lips, out May 24th on the frankly at-this-point unbelievable Sargent House. Pre-order physical HERE and digital HERE.

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First day back in LALALand was a doozy. All the cliches: traffic, meetings, yuppies, hipsters, douche bags. I suppose this all seems exacerbated by the fact that I want to live in North Bend! All in due time. Talk about life goals.

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NCBD today, and I'm so behind I don't even want to know what comes out today. I haven't been able to get into the shop in at least a month - yeah, I blog about what's coming out but my schedule has prevented me from stopping in so all that great stuff is just accruing into a massive bomb that is going to explode in my wallet, creating a black hole that will empty it.

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Playlist from 4/16:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Brand New - God and the Devil are Raging Inside Me
Skating Polly - Queen for a Day (Audiotree Live)
Algiers - Underside of Power
Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog
Helms Alee - Sleepwalking Sailors

Card of the day:

This is telling me to continue to focus, as I did yesterday, on honing one of two stories to send into an open submission I've been waiting to see for a while. Information flowing quickly, which definitely means not to stall or overthink it, even if I am overhauling one of the two stories completely. Then I can dip back into Ciazarn.

New Drab Majesty!

I knew this was coming sometime soon, but wasn't sure when. And here's another case where I can't figure out how to pre-order vinyl! Well, for the time being, just double tap the embedded bandcamp player or click HERE and you can pre-order the digital.