I'd completely forgotten about Future Islands until Julia Ducournea's Titane put them back in my head by using "Light House", from their 2014 4AD release Singles.
Play:
A couple years ago, I totally missed out on Mixtape Massacre. Now, the creators of that have a new game on Kickstarter, and by the looks of it, this one is a definite for me:
I'm really trying not to spend $$ on stuff like this, so there's a bit of a tug-o-war going on as I watch this. We'll see. Either way, I wanted to spread the word.
Playlist:
Allegaeon - Into Embers (pre-release single)
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Allegaeon -Proponent for Sentience
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Converge and Chelsea Wolfe - Blood Moon I (pre-release singles)
The Besnard Lakes - A Coliseum Complex Museum
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - The Good Son
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues
Lower Dens - Escape From Evil
The Neverly Boys - The Dark Side of Everything
TVOTR - Return to Cookie Mountain
Card:
Two days in a row, I receive positive reinforcement for a series of investments.
No More Tears turns 30? Shit man, I'm old. That doesn't mean I can't enjoy the hell out of his new, super cool video for one of the best songs on a pretty solid Ozzy album (his best, IMO). The version on the album was co-written by Lemmy - as were several other tracks - but did not feature him on co-vocals, although if memory serves this version with both Ozzy and Lemmy singing surfaced somewhere years later. Either way, I've always really liked this song, and the video is super cool. Reminds me A LOT of Daniel Warren Johnson's Beta Ray Bill series from earlier this year (that I'm still super hung up on).
NCBD:
Another great week at the Comic Shop - NCBD has really come to be something I look forward to with rabid anticipation again and being that I psychoanalyze myself constantly, I'm pretty sure this is a nostalgia blanket, something that I needed to reinstate in midst of 2020's uncertainty. Why else would I revert back to following Spider-Man so rabidly for 6 months, pick up a new Defenders series with a bunch of characters I know nothing about or are not particularly keen on, or fall back into an X-book? Being a Marvel Comics fan is what got me through the uncertainty of adolescence, and as such, I've apparently flipped that switch again in order to navigate middle age. Whatever the case, I start looking at what's hitting the stands as early as possible, assemble my list, and then wait with bated breath for Wednesday to come around.
Speaking of which, this week we begin with the return of a new friend I hardly had a chance to get to know before it up and disappeared back in the spring:
Definitely not something I normally go in for, I ended up really digging the first two issues of James Stokoe's Orphan of the Five Beasts, and I'd begun to fear it was never coming back. Speaking of returning titles...
I love The Silver Coin so much, and am extremely pleased it proved popular enough to continue on after what was originally supposed to only be five issues.
The Me You Love in the Dark - ghost fucking, huh? Based on the cover art, there might be trouble in paradise for our heroine.
Watch:
I've recently been getting into the films of Alex de la Iglesias. My end-of-night movie on Halloween ended up being his 2014 Heist-turned-cannibal-Witches flick Witching and Bitching. Here's the trailer:
This movie is completely fucking insane. I mean, the last twenty minutes is... well, spectacle filmmaking at its finest.
Here we are again. Remember what yer grandpappy telt ya, November brings the Opeth.
Watch:
Finally!!!
When they brought Fett into the second season of The Mandalorian, I was bummed. I mean, with the creation of Mando, it seemed a misstep to overturn Fett's death, because the brilliance of following another character in the beloved armor floored me as a simple and elegant solution to the problem of how to bring back one of the most popular characters in the franchise. By the end of that season, however, when I realized Fett would not end up a regular character on the show, I warmed to his presence. The masterstroke of setting up a new, Fett-centric show with the post-credits sequence on the final episode proved a masterstroke to me, and now, here we are! With Bossk people, Ree-Eyes, Sand People, Bib Fortuna and Gamorrean Guards a'plenty, I am super excited for this one. Bring it on!
Playlist:
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Mastodon - Hushed and Grim
Jerry Cantrell - Brighten
Type O Negative - Dead Again
HEALTH & Poppy - Dead Flowers
Boy Harsher - Careful
Boy Harsher - Country Girl Uncut
Slayer - Decade of Aggression
Card:
The shortest distance between two points isn't always the fastest. Swiftness can come by way of out-thinking a dilemma.
A little Misfits to round out the night on this All Hallows Eve, 2021. It's weird hearing this remastered version, I'm so used to the old cassette I had, I guess. Still, they didn't clean it up too much.
31 Days of Halloween:
1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)
2) The Mutilator
3) Demons
4) Vortex
5) Possession
6) The Black Phone
7) Slumber Party Massacre
8) Antlers
9) No One Gets Out Alive
10) A Nightmare on Elm Street '84
11) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010
12) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
13) Satan Hates You
14) Night of the Demons
15) Lamb
16) The Company of Wolves
17) There's Someone in the House
18) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
19) Titane
20) A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (9, 10, Never watch again)
21) Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (Same. Awful)
22) The Innkeepers
23)Muppets Haunted Mansion/Freaky
24) Halloween Kills
25) The House of the Devil/A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
26) Freddy Vs. Jason (Ugh)
27) Ghoulies
28) Titane/Boys From County Hell
29) Arachnophobia
30) Possessor
31) The Final Girls/Donnie Darko/Witching and Bitching
Thursday night, I returned to the Landmark Cinema in West L.A. for a second theatrical viewing of Julia Ducournau's Titane, now holding steady as my second favorite film of the year. I brought two friends, stopped into the closest thing LaLaLand has to a neighborhood joint next door afterward for a beer and some discussion. All in all a great night, and one that was made even better when, on my drive home, I tuned into KXLU and found Fistful of Vinyl doing an all Misfits-covers set. Holy smokes, some great stuff. You can check out the full playlist HERE. In the meantime, this cover of 'Skulls' by Vera Sola ranked right up there near the top of what I heard, and every song I heard was fantastic. Check out her Bandcamp HERE,
Watch:
My favorite show that K and I discovered in 2021 is Tony Basgallop's Servant. The experience we had watching this show was so fantastic - the casting alone won me over after about the first two episodes, especially Toby Kebbell, Lauren Ambrose and Rupert Grint, who probably proved to be my favorite character. It felt like we inhaled the first two seasons, and thankfully, before my free year of Apple TV+ runs out in March, they're dropping a new season in January! Here's the trailer, which no, I'm not watching:
If you haven't seen this, it's worth subscribing to Apple + for a month and binging it, maybe just wait until after all of this third season lands. And if you're put off by the fact that all the press says, "From M. Knight Shamalamadingdong, don't be. He is only the producer. This is Basgallop's baby, and the tone he holds for the 20 episodes that comprised seasons 1 and 2 is nothing short of breathtaking.
Plus, there's a pizza place named Jesus Crust. Come on!
31 Days of Halloween:
1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)
2) The Mutilator
3) Demons
4) Vortex
5) Possession
6) The Black Phone
7) Slumber Party Massacre
8) Antlers
9) No One Gets Out Alive
10) A Nightmare on Elm Street '84
11) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010
12) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
13) Satan Hates You
14) Night of the Demons
15) Lamb
16) The Company of Wolves
17) There's Someone in the House
18) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
19) Titane
20) A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (9, 10, Never watch again)
21) Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (Same. Awful)
22) The Innkeepers
23)Muppets Haunted Mansion/Freaky
24) Halloween Kills
25) The House of the Devil/A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
26) Freddy Vs. Jason (Ugh)
27) Ghoulies
28) Titane/Boys From County Hell
29) Arachnophobia
Playlist:
Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man
Motörhead - Ace of Spades
White Zombie - La Sexorcisto Vol. 1
Emilie Levienaise-Farrrouch - Censor OST
Pink Milk - Ultraviolet
Mastodon - Hushed and Grim
Deftones - Ohms
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Misfits - Collection I
Steve Moore - VFW OST
Card:
Having the feeling of deja vu as I struggle to come to terms with all the shit I have, how much I want to keep, how much I want to get rid of, and what I inevitably jettison that will come back to haunt me later.
A big thanks once again to Mr. Brown, without who I would not have realized Naked Raygun put out a new album on the resurrected Wax Trax Records! The album is called Over the Overlords and it's pretty damn good. Great to hear from these guys again.
Watch:
I really didn't think I was going to go for this live-action version of Cowboy Bebop, but after that first trailer and now this, well, holy cow am I in!
I love that they're still holding some cards close to their chest. Edward doesn't come into the original series until the ninth session - aptly titled "Jamming with Edward," so it's possible they might not show up in this first season. But I doubt that. A lot of the characters and images we're seeing in this new trailer and the previous one suggest this show is pulling very faithfully from the animated series, but it would be insane to wait to introduce the final person in the Bebop Ka-Tet until a later season, so I appreciate there's still some revelations to look forward to.
Speaking of trailers, howzabout this one?
My prediction, by the way, is that Eternals will not do very well at the box office, so it's good that this flick is poised about a month behind it. I have so many questions about where this Multiverse storyline will lead - we all do - so I'm chomping at the bit for this one.
31 Days of Halloween:
1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)
2) The Mutilator
3) Demons
4) Vortex
5) Possession
6) The Black Phone
7) Slumber Party Massacre
8) Antlers
9) No One Gets Out Alive
10) A Nightmare on Elm Street '84
11) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010
12) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
13) Satan Hates You
14) Night of the Demons
15) Lamb
16) The Company of Wolves
17) There's Someone in the House
18) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
19) Titane
20) A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (9, 10, Never watch again)
21) Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (Same. Awful)
22) The Innkeepers
23)Muppets Haunted Mansion/Freaky
24) Halloween Kills
25) The House of the Devil/A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
26) Freddy Vs. Jason (Ugh)
27) Ghoulies
Playlist:
Naked Raygun - Over the Overlords
Boy Harsher - Tower (The Runner pre-release single)
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch - Censor OST
John Carpenter - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST
So, apparently Boy Harsher made a movie called The Runner. Of course, there's an accompanying album as OST. This is the first track they've released off of it. Listening to it over and over today, all I can say is I cannot wait. Here's the trailer to the film:
31 Days of Halloween:
1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)
2) The Mutilator
3) Demons
4) Vortex
5) Possession
6) The Black Phone
7) Slumber Party Massacre
8) Antlers
9) No One Gets Out Alive
10) A Nightmare on Elm Street '84
11) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010
12) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
13) Satan Hates You
14) Night of the Demons
15) Lamb
16) The Company of Wolves
17) There's Someone in the House
18) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
19) Titane
20) A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (9, 10, Never watch again)
21) Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (Same. Awful)
22) The Innkeepers
23)Muppets Haunted Mansion/Freaky
24) Halloween Kills
25) The House of the Devil/A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
26) Freddy Vs. Jason (Ugh)
NCBD:
So, if this list looks familiar, it's because I accidentally posted this week's books last week. When I realized, I went back and adjusted the post. That said, last Wednesday's trip to the shop was super disappointing. However, today's will be glorious.
I ended up missing out on the Something is Killing the Children wave, however, I'm definitely grabbing this first issue of the new spin-off series.
If you had told me five weeks ago that I would be so psyched for the second issue of this new mini-series that reuses the name of my favorite X-Storyline of all time, I would have laughed.
I ain't laughing no more. After reading and loving House of X/Powers of X, and not wanting to read all the X-Books that came after it, and reading the solicitations that this is where Hickman's run ends, I am super into this one.
A book whose first issue I initially skipped, I went back and grabbed Primordial #1 a few weeks ago and ending up really digging it. When you consider how much I dug Lemire and Sorrentino's previous collaboration Gideon Falls, it seems like a no-brainer.
Super psyched for a new Two Moons story arc!
The final issue of this series. Not fantastic, but at a paltry 4 chapters, a fun little romp through nostalgia.
Playlist:
Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me
Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire
Boy Harsher - Tower (pre-release single)
Boy Harsher - Careful
Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man
Infectious Grooves - The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move
