2019: May 28th Earth - Datura's Crimson Veils

Full Upon Her Burning Lips, the new album by seminal Doom/Stoner/Grunge band Earth dropped last Friday, and it's fantastic. First track, Datura's Crimson Veil is a one of the best lead-ins of the year. I was late to the party with Earth; 2014's Primitive and Deadly was the first album I got into by the band. That record had a very particular meaning to me at the time of its release, and the sound of Dylan Carlson's guitar on that record is forever ingrained in my psyche in a very positive way. It's no surprise then, as Full Upon... feels like a direct follow-up to Primitive (not necessarily a given with a band that has been around this long and reinvented itself as time has gone by; think Swans), I was immediately taken with the new album's sound. You can order directly from Earth's label Sargent House from anywhere in the world via their shop's web portal HERE.

**

I finally dragged myself to the coffeeshop on Sunday and put in a solid couple of hours writing. It wasn't the most productive day, but the first day back after a hiatus never is. That's not what it's about; you have to re-establish the ritual and the inertia. Then yesterday knocked me back a peg. No problem, because as I write this I already feel as though today will be a productive day, I'll simply have to work for it.


**
Playlist from 5/26:

Mastodon - Once More Round the Sun
Minsk - The Crash and the Draw
Minsk & Zatokrev - Bigod
The Cure - Disintegration


Playlist from 5/27:

Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours
The Doors - LA Woman
Drab Majesty - The Demonstration
James Brown - Hell

Card of the day:

With so much time off from writing, I'm frustrated by too many ideas, by being over-worked, and losing sight of my ability to organize. I have to take the first steps to introduce order - in this case the ritual of writing - and just suck it up until I am 100% back on track.

2019: Numenorean - And Nothing Was the Same

My good friend Tori recently turned me onto Canadian band Atmospheric Black Metal band Numenorean. Now, those qualifiers I placed before the band's name - which I culled straight off the tags on their Bandcamp - approach a description of Numenorean, but they certainly do not define the band. The new album Adore, recorded over the span of three years and released recently on Seasons of Mist, is an exploration of the crossroads of so very many different musical styles within the ever-widening sky of 'Metal' and 'Shoegaze'. Numenorean have a very unique sound that encompasses elements of so many ideas. The first two tracks have definite moments that make me flashback to The Cure's Disintegration. I hear Deafheaven, Fenn, old school Iron Maiden, Second Wave Black Metal, etc, etc. The point is, the record is fantastic and if you agree, spread the word!

**

A little over a quarter of the way through Gemma Files' Experimental Film, the book has slipped its spell over me completely. There's nothing genre here; back in my bookstore days, I would imagine this shelved under Fiction/Lit instead of Horror. There's nothing wrong with genre. In fact I love it, read it, and write it. However, there is a different feel to more literary works that utilize Genre ideas. Experimental Film is one of those. Files brings you into her First Person Narrator's world, rife with the onset of Middle Age, an Autistic Son, and a career path that requires a lot of spec work and not much in the way of compensation. This of course complicates the other aspects of her life. The over-arching narrative drive, that there is an isolated house in Northern Canada where a millionaire's wife may have used early, highly volatile Silver Nitrate Film to accomplish Occult Phenomena in the  early Twentieth Century, is seeping in around the edges, and how any of the former relates to the latter, other than it's our Narrator's obsession and attempt at making a mark in the Academic world researching it, is unclear at this point. What is clear, is that the dark things I can feel on the horizon of this novel will occur in the same clearly written and beautifully rendered examination of occurrence as the daily ups and downs of the Narrator's life. Call it a slow burn if you want; Experimental Film reminds me more than a little bit of the work of Bret Easton Ellis, and I am enjoying it very, very much.

**

Watchlist from 5/25 was the remainder of Season One of Ozark, on into the first two episodes of Season Two. Jesus, this show is strong; it remains to be seen if Season Two will weave so many dramatic plot points together as Season One, but it's certainly off to a good start.

**

Playlist from 5/25:

Sunn O))) - Life Metal
The Veils - Total Depravity
The Yellow House - Refurbished
The Pogues - Red Roses For Me
The Police - Outlandos D'Amour
Isis - Celestial
Ghost - Prequelle

**

Card of the day:

From the Grimoire: "The Lunar Pull on seemingly unconnected processes." Well, we're currently in Waning Gibbous, the first phase after a full moon. So we're slowly moving beyond revelation. Also, this card has several 'face value' applications, the most obvious of which in terms of Magical Significance, is the Scarlet Lady riding the Seven-Headed Beast of Revelations. This is the destruction of what came before, and the approach to a new paradigm. There is also a transition from Severity (Geburah) to Mercy (Chesed). But really, all this is just me playing an endless guitar solo; showing off, because I don't have any idea how this card applies to me at the moment.

Or maybe I do...

2019: May 25th

Deep, murky dreams last night, the kind that follow you right up to the door that leads back across the wall of sleep. I woke up before my 6:00 AM alarm feeling the need to begin the day with Sunn O)))'s new album Life Metal, which I'd yet to spin since its release (was holding out for the vinyl). So far, these tracks actually scare me a little bit, which is awesome. There's something to the sound this time, something Steve Albini no doubt helped add to the thick, rolling fog metal of this behemoth. Sunn O))) actually sound more massive, if that is possible. Life Metal would make a perfect soundtrack to a re-read I'm planning for John Langan's The Fisherman, a book I had some issues with as far as execution, but which still stands as probably the scariest novel I've ever read, and has stayed with me on an almost daily basis for two years now.

Speaking of great Weird/Horror fiction, I was unbelievably happy to see Nathan Ballingrud announce on Twitter yesterday that his first collection of short stories, North American Lake Monsters, was just picked up by Hulu as an anthology series. Mr. Ballingrud's continued success is well-earned, and it's nice to see that happen.

**

The Watchlist from 5/24 was the final episode of Joe Bob Briggs' The Last Drive-In on Shudder. Joe Bob played Blood Harvest and Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, and while Hello Mary Lou is definitely better than the first Prom Night (its affiliation with the franchise apparently decided after the fact), I didn't much care for either film. However, that is totally not the point here. I watched these movies for Joe Bob's interruptions, and as always, he delivered. The Last Drive-In prom at the end of the episode was especially sweet and funny; can't wait for season 2, and I definitely find myself hoping there's a holiday marathon in the interim.

**

Playlist from 5/24:

Muggs - Dust

Pelican - Cold Hope (Pre-release single)

Pelican - Midnight and Mescaline (Pre-release single)

Faith No More - Angel Dust

The Raveonettes - Raven in the Grave

Melvins - Houdini

The Veils - Total Depravity

Card of the day:

Probably my favorite card in the Sword suite, this tells me I need to be very methodical today. I work, need very desperately to write again (still sick, still exhausted), and have plans to tape a new episode of The Horror Vision tonight. That's a lot to fit in feeling like I do. I'll need to be resourceful and above all focused.

2019: May 24th - New Pelican Track!

On June 7th, Southern Lord is releasing the newest album from Chicago Post-Metal group Pelican, and from the two tracks we've heard so far, Nighttime Stories looks like it is a serious contender for my top ten this year. I love the texture of this track; thick, sludgy, but not without melody and a certain swing in its step. You can pre-order the album HERE.

**

Two more episodes of Ozark season one down last night, so that means two to go, then I can finally begin Season Two. This show really holds up on second viewing, and I'm pretty sure its dark, foreboding tone, exceptionally well-written characters, and left-of-center plot twists will continue to impress me; Ozark is the kind of show that already feels destined for greatness.

**
Final episode of The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs on Shudder tonight, but, in case you haven't heard, it will be back. In my excitement, I looked up some old clips:



**

Playlist from 5/23:

The Cure - Disintegration
The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
Faith No More - King for a Day
Faith No More - Angel Dust

Card of the day:

I've never been a fan of this card. Frankly, it has always visually been intertwined with a former lover, and I'm one who usually shuts the door on the past pretty hard, so I'm never really enthused to receive anything in the way of reminders. But last year at some point, this card came up a couple times in close proximity, and in discussing it with my good friend Missi, she put something to me I'd never stopped to consider; basically, why? Why did the Queen of Wands have to be what I had come to think of it as? And this morning, free from any pull of the past, I uncover this card and think, "That's not what this is at all."

So then, the question remains, what is the Queen of Thoth to me?

Let's start basic. From the Grimoire: "Emotional Intelligence." Well, that in and of itself is sometimes as difficult to find as the Dodo; the waters of emotion run rapid when they run best, and sluiced through the right tributary, we may find it very difficult to apply any guidance to the rush toward conclusion. So then, when I pull this, especially today, where my day-to-day gig at the biorepository feels a bit out of control (mother business expanding exponentially constantly), I feel as though the eyes of this fiery lady are telling me to watch my mouth, which runs often, loud, and considerably unchecked at work.

Also, there's the related idea of the 'Consciousness in Spirit,' which I see pop up online when scouting around for other facets of this card. Consciousness in Spirit equates to Intensity of Purpose, which I have absolutely lacked for going on a week now, as work as been difficult and some passing bug has kept me feeling sick and run down for most of the week, even now when I'm through the worst of it. I read this as a need to get my ass back in gear; for the past two weeks, I've had a fantastic regiment of after-work writing and yoga going almost every day, then Sunday I woke up sick and ever since, I've haven't done either. The little bit of yoga I forced myself to do last night ended up making me feel amazing, and that's as good as any other reason to re-focus and re-acquire that Intensity of Purpose.

2019: May 23rd - New Drab Majesty!

A busy work schedule and the exhaustion that comes with being sick pretty much decimated my last few days; normally these would be two separate entries, but there are big things happening at my day job and I've been unable to take any time off, in spite of feeling like absolute crap. In that time, a lot has surfaced. The second track off Drab Majesty's forthcoming third album being one of the most eagerly anticipated (pre-order that record HERE if you haven't already).

The other most eagerly anticipated item that dropped was the first trailer for the ninth film by Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood:



Other than Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown, I've seen all of QT's films in the theatre. This is be no exception.

**

The trade paperback for Nightscape Press's Ashes and Entropy recently won the This is Horror Award for Anthology of the year award; I'd missed the boat on this one until yesterday when I received an email about it going on sale in the Publisher's webstore. I ordered my copy as soon as I saw the contributing authors list and cannot wait to dig into the contents. And that cover!

**

We're set to do another episode of The Horror Vision this coming Saturday, and in looking back at everything I've watched over the last month or so, I realized I really need to start a daily 'watchlist' section on these pages. So below is the first, which is really more of a catch-all for everything we've watched since Sunday. It's a lot, because as I mentioned above, K and I have both been sick since last Sunday, and although I've not missed any work, I've been leaving early and spending most of my time at home in bed, trying to beat this thing as quickly as possible.

Ozark, Season 1 episodes 1-5

Barry, Season 1 episodes 1-4

Prom Night - Ugh. Not good. (In retrospect, hoping this isn't one of the two features tomorrow on The Last Drive-In).

CAM - Would have been in my top films of last year had I seen it sooner. Shades of Lost Highway

Gerald's Game - A fantastic adaptation of a stellar Stephen King book. The end Lifetime'd it a bit for me, but totally excusable.

Pandorum -Not bad for Sci Fi horror, but suffers from early 00's spastic editing AND the most overdone twist ever. Seriously folks, what year was Fight Club? It's been done!

Single White Female - I'd never seen this and it's one of K's favorites. Solid 90s Psychological thriller. Would make a great double-feature with Pacific Heights.


Playlist from 5/22:

The Raveonettes - In and Out of Control
The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
(Lone) Wolf and Cub - May You See Only Sky
Big Business - Here Come the Waterworks
Hall and Oats - Apple Music Essentials
The Cure - Disintegration

No card today.

2019: May 21st: The End Covered by The Raveonettes

I've been on a Ravenettes kick for the first time in a while as of yesterday, and I had completely forgotten that one of my favorite bands covers one of my favorite songs. And their take is great; where the original takes you deep into some sandy cave in the Arabian Desert, the Raveonettes keep the psychedelic aspect but transport it to a subterranean cave that might have been stumbled upon while walking on the beach in some deserted, exotic location. So good.

**

I've already blown through 2/3 of Nathan Ballingrud's short story collection Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell, and wanted to slow down on it for a minute. Coincidentally, my friend Maddy and I have been attempting to do a synchronized read of Gemma Files' Experimental Film for quite some time - we got the book a year or so ago - and just haven't had a chance to lock schedules. Well, that changed Saturday, and as of yesterday I'm 60 pages in and HOOKED. I'll talk about this more as I go through it, but as of now, I see what the hype was about.

**

Playlist from 5/20:

Jeff Whalen - Man of Devotion
Jeff Whalen - The Alien Lanes
The Raveonettes - In and Out of Control
The Raveonettes - 2016 Atomized
Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat
Malcolm Middleton - Sleight of Heart


No card today.

2019: May 20th - Joe Bob Briggs on the Demons "Series"

As we entire the final week of Joe Bob Briggs' inaugural season of The Last Drive-In on Shudder, I thought I'd post one of my favorite clips from the man.

I didn't have cable growing up, so I never got to experience JBB in his previous iterations. I seriously don't think I'd ever even heard of him before Shudder brought him on last summer for that first, 25 hour marathon - the origin of this clip. I've fallen in love fast, though. After last week's episode (The Stuff and Street Trash), I actually threw on his Thanksgiving Dinners of Death to watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre with his asides (I missed the beginning of it during the original, Holiday airing). That's something I never thought I'd do - watch a film I respect as much as TCM more for interruptions than the film itself. But JBB is a fount of information, and despite the weakening of a viewings immersions with his interruptions, I've seen TCM many times, but never with the Joe Bob's annotations, which I'd imagine will add quite a bit of context to subsequent viewings, much the same as Brad Shellady's 1988 documentary Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait, which I love as much as the original film.

I'll miss Joe Bob in the off season; there's been something amazing about watching this live every week I'm able, and I'm sure I'll be revisiting these episodes throughout the interim between this and what I hope will be another season somewhere not too far down the line.

**

I was able to catch up on a lot of reading this weekend, and one of the comics I blew through several issues of was Gunning for Hits. This book - published by Image Comics - is fantastic, especially if you're a music lover. Writer Jeff Rougvie brings all the insight from a career producing some of the biggest and most influential bands in history - David Bowie and Elvis Costello to name a few - into the story of Martin Mills, former Government Black Ops Agent turned A&R man, signing bands in 1987 New York. What we have is a brilliantly entertaining and educational book that really shows how the industry used to work, woven in with dramatic situations that range from the on-the-road hi jinx of a newly signed band in the pre-Grunge era (think Noel Monk's 12 Days on the Road) combined with a whirlwind tutorial of the back-room goings on of the men who made the hits. And the back matter alone is worth the price of admission, where Rougvie further hashes out for the laymen just how that giant dinosaur system used to work.

Also, as you can see, there are a lot of allusions in the book for music nerds to get excited over.

**

Playlist from 5/19:

Melvins - (A) Senile Animal
Melvins - Stoner Witch
Hall and Oats - Essentials

Card of the day:

Careful consideration; be aware of anxious motivation, and those who might be anxiously motivated.