Mark Lanegan - Skeleton Key

From Straight Songs of Sorrow, the new Mark Lanegan out May 8th via Heavenly Recordings. Pre-order HERE. Apparently, this record is "closely aligned" with Lanegan's forthcoming memoir Sing Backwards and Weep, out April 28th. Pre-order that HERE or HERE.

I can't wait to read that book!

**

Over the weekend, in the interest of starting something new and mostly unknown, K and I started Netflix's Black Spot, which comes to the US via France.


BLACK SPOT trailer season 1 vfsta from MEDIAWAN RIGHTS on Vimeo.

Although highly derivative of Twin Peaks, Dark, and True Detective Ssn 1, I'm enjoying Black Spot quite a bit; it borrows heavily from all three aforementioned shows, but is definitely its own thing. I'd definitely recommend it for fans of those shows and thrillers in general. I've seen references now to both this and Dark as belonging to a genre being called "Into the Woods," and although genre splitting and tagging can become tiresome, I kinda dig that. Suffice it to say, Black Spot is creepy, extremely well lit and well shot, and the voice they've given to the forest is mysterious and exciting.

**

This happened last night and I am still unable to completely wrap my head around it:

Apparently, in honor of Relapse's 30th Anniversary, they chose people who pre-ordered records in the past few months and randomly awarded them these nifty golden tickets. What's it good for?

Whoah. I don't know that I've won anything since 1991, when I called Chicago's seminal Rock statin The Loop and won 10 free lawn tickets to see Guns n' Roses on their Use Your Illusions tour. Of course, I never got to cash those in, because two nights before that Chicago show, Axl jumped off the stage in Cincinnati, OH and clocked a dude with a camera, subsequently landing in jail.

One reason why I've always disliked Axl.

Anyway, looks like I have a lot of vinyl coming my way this year. Very cool. Thank you Relapse Records and Happy 30th Anniversary - here's to 130 more (at least)!

**

Playlist:

The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium
Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Digipak)
Mol - Jord
Various Artists - The Void (OSM)
Frederic Kooshmanian - Black Spot (OSM)
Me and That Man - Songs of Love and Death
Burzum - Filosofem
Grimes - Miss Anthropocene
Greg Dulli - Random Desire
Various Artists - Garage Rock (Compilation used in Black Spot)
Slayer - Show No Mercy
Nothing - Guilty of Everything
The Gutter Twins - Adorata
Chris Isaak - Heart Shaped World
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The Night Creeper

**

Card:

I've done a few pulls over the last few days that haven't been logged here, almost all of which have been Swords. The Nine of Swords - Cruelty has followed me a bit. Swords is the Suit I know the least in the Tarot, and this card in particular is, at a glance, always tempting to fear based on face value. However, from the Grimoire:

"The airy nature of Intellect, it is difficult for Swords to rest. Rabid analyzation and thinking in general can produce a loop that one becomes trapped in, the ultimate revelation that Nothing really leads Anywhere and in the end, there is Nothing."

Now, juxtapose this with a clarification card I drew and an interpretation begins to take shape.

Reality is breaking a bit, as Chuck Wendig's Wanderers escalates into a pandemic that cuts a massive swathe through the human population. Oh, and the disease's origin? Bats.

Can you see how that would start to saturate my reality? Also, it was the day after I started reading this book that the first really scary images from China began to appear back in January, and since, well, the arc of the book has been so parallel to the arc of real life (except, thus far, we're on a MUCH smaller scale) that I've had a lot of time to reflect on everything. Interestingly enough, long periods of time reflecting on everything, on all of our existence, leads to the ultimate understanding that Nothing is at the heart of it. Humanity holds itself up by the bootstraps, and although there are more good than bad humans - I think - if things go ugly, it doesn't really matter for the overall organism of the Planet Earth. In fact, it might be better for Her if we were to largely die off. I hope not, because there's a lot of humans I really like - including myself. But then, it's one thing to have an objective view of an extinction event, it's quite another to be able to conduct yourself that way.

Happy Twin Peaks Day!

Greg Dulli Random Desire Out Today

Greg Dulli's new solo album Random Desire is out today, and as I sit here this morning listening to it, it's fantastic and will no doubt jump start a binge on his various projects. This is the first of Dulli's solo albums I've listened to, and I'm remedying that as well. 2005's Amber Headlights is cued up and ready to roll in just a little bit.

**

Last night while reading Chuck Wendig's Wanderers, the book jumped from a solid three to an all-out five. Page 392, just over the half-way point. Game-changing development I did not see coming. At all. This book is about so many things, such an intricately crafted puzzle that also, reads in an eerie harmonic with events unfolding in China. This real-life effect is a first for me with a novel, and it's adding a layer that is as disconcerting as it is riveting.

I am so utterly infatuated with this novel now and fully intend on reading more of Mr. Wendig's work.

**

Playlist:

Antemasque - Eponymous
The Mars Volta - De-loused in the Comatorium
Drab Majesty - Modern Mirror
Drab Majesty - Careless
Myrkur - M


**

Card:

Appropriate, yet a bit harrowing based on all the "Age of Horus" that comes up in a lot of the research I've been doing for Shadow Play Books 2 and 3, particularly ideas I'm playing with from Donald Tyson's essay, Enochian Apocalypse, which I first encountered in Disinformation's Modern Occult Tome Book of Lies, but which is readily available online HERE. I fully realize Tyson's work here is complicated in its presentation - read some valid critiques of it HERE - but the idea of Crowley cracking open the Watch Towers and poisoning humanity's collective unconscious just before the start of WWI is as chilling as it is fascinating.

Porridge Radio - Sweet

From Every Bad, out on Secretly Canadian March 13th. Pre-order HERE.

My cousin Charles turned me on to Porridge Radio while I was in Chicago, and they made a huge impression pretty much from the moment he hit play on "Sweet." I immediately felt an Eagulls vibe from their music, and being that lately, I've had frequent lapses into "Where are they now?" reveries concerning that band, this comes at just the right moment.


**

The good folks at Omnium Gatherum - publishers of Robert Payne Cabeen's brilliant novel Cold Cuts, just put up a cool title sequence and I had to post it. Love this.



**

It's time once again for...

Season Four, Episode Six, "Sanguinarium" guest stars Richard Beymer and puts him at the heart of a Medical Coven of Black Magick Practitioners. That sounds a bit mixed up, but keep in mind, this is back in the days when television writing didn't have to do super accurate research on things like Black Magick, witches, etc., in order to incorporate them into a major network show. Thus, a lot of lore gets its wires crossed. That's fine for the era, but would no doubt be chased out of town today (ever read an article by one of the Occult practitioners who rally against Hereditary for the allowances the film makes with Paimon?). "Sanguinarium" is a pretty cool episode that takes Mulder and Scully through a world that is equal parts plastic surgery and black magick, and its bloody, a bit more gorey than I would have expected, and fun. Plus, Ben Horne. Always a win.

**

Playlist:

Antemasque - Eponymous
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions - Mainstream
Porridge Radio - Every Bad (pre-release singles)
Porridge Radio - Rice, Pasta, and Other Fillers
20 Watt Tombstone - Wisco Disco
Algiers - There is No Year
The Great Old Ones - Cosmscism
Barry Adamson - As Above So Below
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland
Ulver - Nattens Madrigal
Ulver - Teachings in Silence

**

No Card today.

Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol

A couple of night ago in the Southwest Suburbs of Chicago, some dear friends hosted a party in mine and K's honor. During this event, I saw a youtube clip that, well, dropped my jaw.

The context, besides liquor, was that Mr. Celentano is quite an interesting fellow when you read about him; he is credited as having introduced Rock n Roll to Italy. All my friend Amy told me as this song began was, to quote Celentano's wikipedia page, "...was written to mimic the way English sounds to non-English speakers despite being almost entirely nonsense."

Sold.

I love everything about this, especially the colors and, um, the fit of Celentano's pants. From someone who was born over half a decade after the 60s ended, this is as much my broad stroke impression of that era as "Prisencolinensinainciusol" is a broad stroke of English. Reminds me a bit of an Italian, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," although I can't quite put my finger on why that is.

**

If you've followed these pages for the last few years, you know I'm a fan of Kristen Gorlitz's Relationship/Horror comic The Empties. The new Kickstarter just went up a few days ago for the final, collected volume of the book. Support it if you can - this is a fantastic indie comic, and something I think will eventually make a killer movie.



**

NCBD:

A typically light week, although I find myself in the mood to read some comics. I may pick something up on Kindle, depending what's on sale:

**

Playlist:

Black Sabbath - Children of the Grave (Cassette)
Black Sabbath - Sabotage
Boards of Canada - In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country EP
Bohren and Der Club of Gore - Patchouli Blue
Metatron Omega - Evangelikon
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
Blut Aus Nord - 777 Cosmosophy
Edu Comelles and Rafa Ramos Sania - Botanica De Balcon
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - In Summer EP
Stevie Wonder - Greatest Hits
Slayer - Live Undead
Testament - The Gathering
The Great Old Ones - Cosmicism

**

Card of the day:

You spend a couple of days off laying out a perfectly functioning brain and emotional state, then you return to work and someone puts two blades straight through everything you worked so hard to shore up.

Me and That Man - By The River

I wanted to post this a few days ago, but with the continued irregularity of my schedule, I've got all kinds of cool stuff piling up. Anyway, By the River is yet another fantastic offering from forthcoming New Man, New Songs, Same Shit Vol. #1, which is out March 27th on Napalm Records. Pre-order HERE.

**

I recently purchased a Kindle compendium of H.P. Lovecraft's works. It's coming in handy on our short stint to Chicago, where we surprised the hell out of my folks for their 50th Anniversary. The book I'm currently reading back home in LaLaLand is still Chuck Wendig's Wanderers - it's awesome, it's just hefty and my time has been erratic - but as an over 700 page hardcover, there was NO way that was coming with me on the trip. Also, my time in my hometown is usually pretty full, so I didn't really expect to have a lot of reading time. So, I've been picking away at re-reads of a few quintessential Lovecraft stories.

First up was The Call of Cthulhu. I re-read this one every couple of years, and I still believe it is both Lovecraft's best writing and my favorite of his works. I've probably said it here before, but the opening paragraph always leaves me in awe:

The remainder of the story is always a joy to read, as it more or less bears out this first paragraph, bringing the reader into events that begin mundane but develop into terror of a truly cosmic proportion.

Next is The Dunwich Horror, which it'd been quite some time since I'd last read. I wanted to re-read this now that Richard Stanley has announced it as his next Lovecraft adaptation in what hopefully will end of a trilogy.

**

Playlist:

Slayer - Live Undead
Myrkur - M

Also my cousin, my friend Amy and my friend Joe all turned me on to a lot of random music that will no doubt be incorporated into my playlists over the next several days. The Babies, Porridge Radio, Gene, Cornershop, and Lloyd Cole, to name a few.

**

No card today.

New Myrkur/New Hillary Woods

I love that the resurgence of Folk Horror has grown out of and subsequently helped perpetuate a return of Folk sentiment in other areas of culture, particularly music. Myrkur's Sophomore release M made my "Best of" list back in 2015, but I've not followed her since. That sometimes happens with Best of lists - albums make an impact when they're released, but the time and place of that impact may fade or transfer as the moment disintegrates, giving way to all the other new music that I'm constantly finding. Anyway, I stumbled across this new single this morning, and immediately remembered why I dug Myrkur so much.

You can pre-order the new Myrkur album, Folkesange, HERE. It drops March 20th on Relapse Records.

Speaking of Folk-ish Female musicians, how about a double-header? A new Hillary Woods dropped a few short moments ago, and it fits in nicely along Myrkur, further illustrating this Folk-flavored resurgence.



Ms. Woods' new album, Birthmarks, drops one week before the Myrkur on Sacred Bones Records. Pre-order HERE.

**

New episode of The Horror Vision is up! This episode, we watch and react to Jon Wright's delightful Grabbers, an Irish monster movie with a drunken twist that I personally loved.



Other topics include but are not limited to: AHS, Shudder's The Marshes, Osgood Perkins' Gretel and Hansel, the premiere of Netflix's Locke and Key, and Vault Comics' The Plot and Black Stars Above, two horror comics getting seemingly NO attention. Both are awesome.

Also available on Apple, Stitcher, and Google Play.

**

Between work and having a few days off with my buddy Dave to hit two of the three LALA Land Mr. Bungle reunion shows, I haven't posted much of late, and I realized yesterday that I forgot to log the most recent episode of The X-Files I watched for Mr. Brown's list. Let's remedy that, because it was a good one: Season Four, Episode Two.

This is the one, folks. This is the episode that legendarily aired once and was never re-run on Network TV. I never saw it back in the day, or rather I think I saw the final few moments on a VHS recording a friend made, but I never had the context for those final images. Regardless, this one is really F'ed up. Home is violent, gross, filled with disturbing sexual imagery and concepts, and, maybe worst of all for Normal 90s America, just plain weird. After finally seeing it, I will say that if you strip all the hype/legend away, I'd say it's one of the best episodes of the show I've seen so far. Great writing, directing, acting, everything. The lighting in the farmhouse of ill repute is spectacular, and although the whole sordid mess owes a little to Tobe Hooper's original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it really stands on its own two legs as a great piece of serial television, regardless of the era.


**

Playlist:

sElf - Gizmodgery
Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss
Boy Harsher - Careful
Anthrax - Among the Living
Antrax - Stomp 442
Corrosion of Conformity - Animosity
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Damn the Torpedoes
Testament - The Gathering
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Suicidal Tendencies - Controlled by Hatred/Feel Like Shit... Deja Vu
sElf - Super Fake Nice EP
Chris Isaak - Heart Shaped World
Myrkur - M
Slayer - Live Undead
Slayer - Decade of Aggression
Edu Comelles and Rafa Ramos Sania - Botanica De Balcon

**

No card.