The wonderful folks at Sacred Bones Records are bringing us new old music from NY legend Alan Vega! According to the Sacred Bones site, "...Vega was constantly creating. That process naturally led to a wealth of material that didn’t see the light of day immediately when it was recorded, which came to be known as the Vega Vault. Mutator is the first in a series of archival releases from the Vault that will come out on Sacred Bones Records."
The first of these releases, Mutator, was recorded in 1995-1996, and it drops on April 23. Pre-order HERE.
I can't wait to see what else Sacred Bones brings out of the "Vega Vault" (LOVE that such a thing exists).
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I'm not super impressed with what I've heard from the new album, however, it slots nicely into the Rob Zombie wheelhouse and there will definitely be a time/place for it in my routine. That said, I love this animated promotional short:
Playlist:
SRSQ - Unreality
Tassilo Hagström - Berlin (single)
Alan Vega - Nike Soldier (pre-release single)
A.R.E. Weapons - S/T
Alan Vega - Saturn Strip
Perturbator - Dangerous Days
Queensrÿche - Empire
Lard - Pure Chewing Satisfaction
Jim Williams - Possessor OST
Angelo Badalament- Twin Peaks OST
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Emotional Jackpot. Power derived from Feeling. An oversaturation of emotion that while experiential, can cloud judgment and affect process.
Holy cow! This is the third single from the upcoming new album by Arab Strap? Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton's first album as Arab Strap in... a really long time! How did I miss that this was coming? The good news is the album is out March 5th on Rock Action Records, so it's not long now. The bad news? The vinyl is currently completely Sold Out. I'm hoping for a re-stock, so if you're like me, you'll be checking the Pre-order link for the next few weeks.
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Near the end of the newest episode of The Horror Vision Horror Podcast, Ray Larragoitiy asks Tori and me what we're excited about coming out in the next few months. I wasn't prepared for the question at that time and was pretty bummed to realize I could barely think of a thing. Seems like the COVID effect on productions has finally caught up to us. There are a few things, though. One of them is this:
Ben Wheatley's new film In the Earth should be along within the next few months (I hope) and I for one can't wait.
Playlist:
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - The Helm of Sorrow
Thou - Rhea Sylvia
Arab Strap - As Days Get Dark (pre-release singles)
I'll admit that I'm not nearly the Stereolab fan today that I was in the late 90s-early 2000s. I had quite the collection of their albums on CD, but eventually realized it was hard to listen to a lot of those records in any mind-frame other than a passive one. The textures of their music are amazing, but a lot of it ends up being 'mood' pieces. Kind of sonic wallpaper, as one friend put it. That's not a dig, however, my listening has become increasingly 'active' since I first fell in love with the band. Still, very cool to see they're releasing another of their Switch On series, which, if I remember correctly, are all B-Sides and rarities. In keeping with these past releases, and again emphasizing the sheer volume of music this group has released in the last several decades (quantifying how many decades will put me in danger of feeling frighteningly old) I'm not entirely sure if Super-It ever saw the light of day before, however, here today, it sounds pleasingly fresh.
You can order Electrically Possessed, the fourth volume in Stereolab's Switched On series, one HERE, it drops Friday.
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I have been wanting to see The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears for a couple years now, and it finally landed on Shudder, so I left work on time yesterday, loaded up a chillum when I got home,e and fell straight into this one:
The first 40+ minutes are a delight. After that, however, despite fighting like made to keep an open mind and positive outlook, this one devolves into what I would say is little more than aesthetic. I want to love this film, but a perhaps overly generous three-stars is all I could muster on Letterboxd. Still, Tears is GORGEOUS even as it tries your patience, and the OST is fabulous.
Ghost of Vroom - I Hear the Ax Swinging (pre-release single)
Ghost of Vroom - 2 (Single)
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Pretty gnarly advice for me and a friend (I think) on how we can get tripped up by our own thinking and expectations of what we believe is "going to happen" based on pre-existing experience, which emotionally, can masquerade as emotional empirical evidence, such a thing that is not to be taken on faith.
From the Grimoire: "Beware the mire of the mind; consciousness needs to flow freely, not become muddied by obsession. Push past what you think you know and be open to the Universal influence that can often reinvigorate our thoughts and practices."
I emerged from a mid-afternoon nap yesterday to a text from Mr. Brown alerting me to the fact that Mike Doughty and Andrew "Scrap" Livingston's Ghost of Vroom dropped a new track. "I Hear the Axe Swinging is from the forthcoming album Ghost of Vroom 1, out March 1st. Pre-order the album HERE.
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K and I started Penny Dreadful this weekend. Wow! I always suspected I would dig this show, and I don't know if my relationship with it is so good because our timing meant it dovetailed with my finishing Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, but this one is fantastic. There's an obvious debt to Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but Penny Dreadful is dark, disturbing, and often quite gruesome, and the show's ambitions to bring together so many iconic Horror personalities is really served well by in-depth research.
Playlist:
White Lung - Paradise
Melvins - Working with God
Sleaford Mods - Nudge It (single)
Lard - Pure Chewing Satisfaction
The Blueflowers - Relapse EP
Gwar - Scumdogs of the Universe
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland
Type O Negative - Origin of the Feces
Small Black - Duplex (single)
PM Dawn - Set Adrift on Memory Bliss (single)
The Bangles - Different Light
Van Halen - 1984
Def Leppard - Pyromania
Chuck Berry - Berry is on Top
The Raveonettes - In and Out of Control
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"Look unto yourselves for answers, as it is in your partnership you will find that which you seek."
This made me laugh out loud. Wow, I love Jello Biafra!
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Can't wait, even if the first season of Shudder's Creepshow was a bit of a mixed bag.
Playlist:
White Lung - Paradise
Nothing - The Great Dismal
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Nothing - Downward Years to Come
Orville Peck - Pony
NIN - Add Violence
How to Destroy Angels - Welcome Oblivion
Genghis Tron - Board Up the House
The Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
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Ebb and flow, which is exactly the tactic I'm currently using to balance between another final (for real this time!) edit on Murder Virus, and working on Shadow Play Book Two. This is not normally how I work; jumping between books prevents momentum. However, I received the proof for MV and reading it as an actual book - as opposed to a document on a screen - is a lot of edits to the surface. Which is a good thing.
No, I'm not talking about where all this freaky weather is eventually going to lead us, I'm talking about new music from Iceage! Seek Shelter is out May 7th on Mexican Summer. Pre-order HERE.
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K and I finally got back around to finishing His Dark Materials season 2 on HBO. Damn. This show is fantastic. The scope! I'm chomping at the bit to re-read these books, and since the three-book set that was so ubiquitous in the early 00s that sat on my shelf for over a decade went with the ex, I snagged a copy of the Omnibus that came out a few years back. After I finish Frankenstein, I believe I'll be digging into that one.
While I wait for the third and final season, I took to youtube to see if I could find anything documenting the two-part stage play adaptation that I saw in London circa 2004. This was all I could find, but it gives at least a little bit of an idea of what this looked like:
Playlist:
Genghis Tron - Ritual Circle (pre-release single)
Tomahawk - Eponymous
Airiel - Molten Young Lovers
Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars
Beach Slang - The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City
Queensrÿche - Empire
Melvins - Working With God (pre-release tracks)
Melvins - Houdini
Melvins - (A) Senile Animal
White Lung - Wild Failure (Single)
White Lung - Paradise
Genghis Tron - Board Up the House
The Raveonettes - Raven in the Grave
The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
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Something important is obscured, or for some reason I am just not seeing what is right in front of my face.
