It had been a minute since I'd pulled out Polica's 2012 debut Give You the Ghost. I don't really know all that much about this group/performer, and I'd forgotten how much I like this album. Above is the stand-out track, but really, the entire record plays like a cohesive whole. In the interim since I've checked in with Polica - yeah, it's been a minute - they've released quite a few records. I'm just starting to go through them now.
NCBD:
Another big pull list this week. Jesus Marvel, take my money:
As I suspected, we're closing in on the end of Nick Spencer's run on AMS, and looks like a lot of great stuff is happening. While I've been reading this, I've also been re-reading my old school, 80s Spidey comics, and I can kind of see how the current, post Brand New Day continuity is winding its way back to the one I grew up with. I don't love all of it - I especially don't like the retconning of Ned Leeds and AMS #289 which is HOLY in my opinion - but I can live with all of it just out of curiosity as to how this will land and, subsequently, how the new iteration of the title that kicks of at the end of the summer will play out.
I bought the first issue more out of resale ideology, but I'm curious enough that I might pick this up.
Another one that I'm not certain I'll actually be buying, but I'm curious enough to consider it, simply because I still love Flash Thompson in a Symbiote suite, and if I can't have him in Venom, I might just follow him here. Honestly though, at a glance, all these other Symobiotic characters feel superfluous at best.
Loving this book and this issue probably wins for the best cover this week.
The finale to what has been an eloquent and downright beautiful exploration of how human beings relate to their own mortality.
Yet another that I'm not entirely sure I'm interested in buying. I'm looking forward to the upcoming Netflix series - I'd be looking forward to it more if there was Hordak or a Slime Pit involved - but the prospect of a comic based on what has historically been a completely under-represented and almost ignored property from my childhood looks pretty good on 'paper' at the moment.
The first issue didn't blow me away, but I'm interested enough to try number two.
Still digging this weird SciFi/Horror/Action mash-up.
This cover RIPS! Hot damn, it's nice to hear such a spot-on cover of a song I love by a band I despise, especially since I don't have to have Dave Mustaine sing it, replaced instead by the inimitable Troy Sanders.
Watch:
A friend at work recommended this new HULU flick directed by John Lee.
HULU is a platform I generally don't use all that much; incorrectly or not, I associate them with being a bit more 'family friendly' than aligns with my tastes, despite the fact that they have long been a sponsor of Beyondfest and pull out a lot of stops for Horror come every autumn with their HULUween. Still, with the new seasons of American Horror Story and its brand new spin-off American Horror Stories both moving to the 'FX on HULU' status, as well as their ongoing relationship with Blumhouse - mostly to middling results from what I've seen - they're definitely trying to keep abreast of the genre. And now, holy cow: False Positive is A24!
(Have I mentioned that I'm starting to fear Horror is becoming too mainstream? No? Well, that's a discussion for another time, then).
So yeah, False Positive stars Ilana Glazer, Justin Theroux, and Pierce Brosnan, and it is creepy A.F. I will say, this isn't the A24 I'm accustomed to, exactly. There's a reductionist quality insofar as it feels more like a Blumhouse "Into the Dark" - which I think of as the calibre for the new "TV movie" format for the streaming age - than it does the A24 we see get theatrical treatment. Still, this is high-quality stuff, and it's definitely up there with the better flicks I've seen so far this year.
Playlist:
The Kills - Midnight Boom
Chairlift - Something
Ministry - The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste
Tape Waves - Bright
Anthrax - Spreading The Disease
King Woman - Celestial Blues (pre-release singles)
King Woman - Doubt EP
Sunken - Livslede
Spotlights - Love and Decay
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full
Perturbator - I Am the Night
Perturbator - Dangerous Days
King Woman - Created in the Image of Suffering
Silent - Modern Hate
Various - Twin Peaks (Music from the Limited Event Series)
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 1
Card:
Bull in a china shop, that's how I always read this card at first. I'm regrouping my strategy on this Nosleep serial I'll be posting soon (but not today). Don't want to come out of the gates strong and crawl to the finish line.
Holy cow! A new King Woman track dropped two days ago and it's a doozy! Bloody Disgustingt mentioned an Elizabeth Bathory vibe, and while I definitely see that, even more I see the influence of Joe Begos's Bliss. Either way, Celestial Blues is out July 30th on Relapse Records, and you can pre-order it HERE.
Watch:
After watching Cody Calahan's Vicious Fun last night, I'm thinking this may end up as my favorite movie of the year. If not numero uno, it's up there. What is for sure, at least thus far, is Ari Millen - who some will know as Mark/Ira/Rudy/a bunch of other clones on Orphan Black - seems cinched as my favorite performance of the year
This one's a BLAST, and I can't recommend it enough.
Playlist:
The Kills - Midnight Boom
The Kills - No Wow
Entropy - Liminal
The Casket Lottery - Survival is for Cowards
King Woman - Celestial Blues (pre-release singles)
King Woman - Created in the Image of Suffering
Emma Ruth Rundle - Marked for Death
Mrs. Piss - Self-Surgery
King Woman - Doubt EP
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Led Zeppelin - I
Led Zeppelin - IV
King Woman - I Wanna Be Adored (single)
Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory
Chairlift - Something
Polica - Give You the Ghost
Turquoise Moon - Sunset City
Card:
Crash Course? Brain Surgery? Either way, I will try to keep my wits about me today.
From possibly the greatest album of the 1980s. This will probably be taken down by the estate, even though I'm not trying to do anything here other than spread love for one absolutely amazing song. Listen to the keys below the surface. Also, just listen to the way this song does a complete transformation halfway through. I would be hard-pressed to think of a song that sounds more progressively 80s, and by that I mean it doesn't sound dated. Or nostalgic, exactly, but still futuristic, in the way that 80s Psyber Punk still feels futuristic, even though we've moved beyond or outright incorporated so much of its textures into the fabric of our everyday world.
NCBD:
HOLY SHIT! How are these covers just getting better and better? I believe this is the penultimate issue of the series, and I will most definitely be sad to see it go. I'll now follow Daniel Warren Johnson anywhere he chooses to go.
Issue #1 of Red Room has been banging around in my head for the last month, and I'm psyched to jump back into it with the second issue!
I didn't realize That Texas Blood was returning so quickly! Very cool; I loved the first arc and can't wait to jump into the second. A suitable replacement for Southern Bastards (for the moment).
The finale! I'll probably be re-reading this series start to finish now that it's done.
If that cover doesn't evoke Clive Barker, I don't know what does.
Playlist:
Atrium Carceri - Kapnobatai
White Zombie - Astro-Creep 2000
White Zombie - La Sexorcisto
Not a lot of music today, as I was fully enraptured with the 22nd installment of Bret Easton Ellis's The Shards. This is not only the best thing he's written - hard for me to say that considering how much I love Lunar Park - but his readings have become wickedly engaging. The interplay between Abby Malory and young Bret blew me away.
Card:
So, I canceled the meet-up with my old friend and postponed the posting of my nosleep serial. Lots of reasons to go ahead with both, and as this card suggests maybe I should have. The meet-up was a little outside my control, the nosleep postponement was all me second-guessing myself. Bad idea? Maybe, but I genuinely think there is something bigger the post can be than what it is. Better. I'll give it a week. Then it's on.
This song will never get old. One of the first Zeppelin songs I heard, back in high school when I discovered them, and still a favorite.
Watch:
I finally saw Kurtis David Harder's 2019 film Spiral yesterday on Shudder:
Really dug this one. Great flow; this film really makes you feel a mounting expectation for evil, and then delivers with a totally nihilistic ending.
Playlist:
Pixies - Trompe le Monde
The Kills - Midnight Boom
The Black Keys - Magic Potion
Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain
The Fixx - Reach the Beach
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I
Card:
Continuing a return to my original Thoth Deck:
With my Reddit Nosleep series starting today and a meet-up with an old friend wherein I may pitch a collaborative project just because I love working with the person and haven't in a looong time, I'm definitely starting some journeys.
How about some music from The Kills to kick off our week? Kinda fits with one of the trailers below, so why not. Also, I was inspired to dig out Midnight Boom for the first time in quite a while yesterday and it's probably not going away any time soon. The Kills been absent from my listening habits of late, time to change that. I love this album.
Watch:
I was finally able to sit down and watch Damian McCarthy's feature film debut Caveat the other day on Shudder. WOW. If Censor is almost guaranteed to end up in my top ten of 2021, I'd say the same for this one. I absolutely loved the suspense Caveat creates and sustains with limited location and budget. I can't wait to see what McCarthy does next, especially since this will no doubt net him a bigger budget:
Also, a couple of HUGE Horror Movie trailers dropped since my last post. First up, Halloween Kills, which, as I've stated here previously, I have some reservations about, but will definitely be plopping my arse into a theatre seat opening weekend, regardless:
Next, a movie I have no idea what to expect from but am pretty excited for nonetheless.
Finally, this isn't a movie, but I've been waiting for it for a while now:
Playlist:
Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments
Pixies - Trompe le Monde
Pixies - Doolittle
Valkyrie - Fear
Pixies - Beneath the Eyrie
The Kills - Midnight Boom
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
Zen Guerilla - Positronic Raygun
The Darts - I Like You But Not Like That
Deafheaven - 10 Years Gone
Card:
When things are too good to be true, we second guess them? This is (maybe) a direct commentary on my hemming and hawing about putting my first story on Nosleep. I know the story is good, however, I keep second-guessing how it will fit in with their guidelines. I'm posting the first installment Tuesday no matter what, so I guess we'll see. And with so definitive a statement, why worry?
Oh, 1990s music videos - so very easy to spot even if you don't know the song.
I've had this one in my head for about a week, and it's nice to be kind of obsessed with the Pixies again! I read something recently that posited that, with Kim Deal's reduced input on Trompe le Monde, it's essentially pretty close to a solo Frank Black album, and thinking about that while spinning through it multiple times over the last few days, yeah. I can totally see that. Really matches up to that first Frank Black solo era (in my thinking, that's Frank Black - Eponymous up to and including Cult of Ray).
Watch:
Censor dropped recently and I finally had a chance to watch it last night. Wow. I am so impressed with this flick, the feature-length debut by Writer/Director Prano Baily-Bond. Visually, this one has such a distinctive look, largely because of the lighting. Censor takes place in the 80s - during the Video Nasties era to be specific - but the film doesn't play up the 80s-ness that a lot of other films would. Instead, it lives and breathes in the textures of analog, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the set design and approach to the lighting. There are also ongoing tweaks to the aspect ratio, which sneaks up on you at strange moments and really adds to the otherworldly feel Baily-Bond executes in every single shot. At no time does this film rest on the laurels it establishes simply via subject matter. And Raised By Wolves's Niamh Algar kills it in the lead.
Also, goddamn Michael Smiley is fantastic in EVERYTHING.
Well, The Moon card literally lept out of the deck at me when I went to do my pull, so I guess I'm misunderstanding or missing something. I have to say, I feel perpetually overwhelmed by Tarot lately.
