Computer Blue

 

I'm probably not going to do a full 7-day Prince thing here, because it's been super difficult for me to post seven days in a row for a while. Still, one wasn't enough. I've come to realize that, although I consider Prince a major musical force, and I LOVE some of his music, not all of it is for me. I tend to stop after the 80s - the New Power Generation is all great on paper, but it just doesn't do a lot for me. I think that's the jazz and modern soul vibe that comes into his work at that point. The Prince that really affected me did so because of its strange Punk (more in ethos than sound)/Soul/New Wave hybridization. Nowhere is that more dominant than on the iconic Purple Rain record, which I've argued elsewhere is the Philosopher's Stone album of the 80s.  The entire record still blows me away, nearly forty years after first hearing it as a kid. One of the tracks that I've really grown to appreciate is "Computer Blue."

This song always just blows me away. It has such a strange structure, and where it starts compared to where it ends circumvents all logic, but really feels inevitable. 

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Watch:

I was never really much of a Christina Ricci fan - nothing against her, but my first and maybe (?) only exposure to her before was Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, and I hate everything about that movie - except the set design, which isn't nearly enough to save it - so that's probably what sticks in my craw. But Yellowjackets changed that, as her Misty Farmer is a BRILLIANTLY executed character. So, seeing a new Horror movie on the horizon with her kind has me interested:

Man, I hope this as good as it looks. Love the 50s kitsch - which Ricci is just perfect for - juxtaposed with what looks like some kind of slimy Demonic horror. Also, this one's directed by Chris Sivertson, who broke into Horror and cinema in general collaborating with Lucky McKee on the original All Cheerleaders Must Die short back in 2001, and then remade it with McKee in 2013.

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Playlist:

The Mysterines - Reeling

Alice in Chains - Sap

Kate Bush - Running up that Hill (single)

Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain

Prince - Dirty Mind

Prince - Originals

Anthrax - Among the Living

Goatsnake - Black Age Blues

Sepultura - Quadra

Testament - The Legacy

The Jesus Lizard - Goat

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Card:

It can be difficult to maintain enthusiasm, however, persistence and a good attitude pay off.

RIP Prince - Six Years Gone

 

From 1987's Sign O' The Times, probably my second favorite album by Prince, who died six years ago today.

Something about this album, and this song in particular, really conjures all of the tones and textures, smells and sensual impressions of 1987 to me (it's not exactly readable as 1987 in my head, but when I figure where I was in my life, the specific things I remember about my parents' home at the time, I know it's 1987-1988). There's an underlying tone or ambiance to this track that feels very specific to that time, even though I do not believe I ever heard this song at that time.

This isn't unparalleled. The recording technology of the time - the sonic signatures of microphones, whether you're aware of them or not - definitely inform the era. Also, the keyboard patches, the drum sounds, all of it adds up to a certain era in the recording industry. That's not magick, and it's not B.S. It's fact. I'm assuming that has a lot to do with why this song impacts my memory so drastically. But it makes this album particularly important to me now, so many years later. It's like a time machine, because I can literally smell my parents living room - where I snuck up to watch Friday Night Videos - when I hear this song. 

Weird. But cool. Very cool. Thank you, Prince. Whether you realized it or not, you instigated time travel. 

 

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Watch:

 

I had no intention of watching this flick until I did. It is fantastic, and probably directly responsible for my purchasing tickets to see Anthrax in late July (if I still live here). Mr. Brown and I saw Anthrax - with opener White Zombie - in 1993 at Chicago's Aragon Brawlroom for the Sound of White Noise tour. This means I've never seen Anthrax with original singer Joey Belladonna. 

To say I am excited would be an understatement. It's not going to keep me from moving, but if I am still here - because I'm thinking even if we find something in Tennessee in June, closing will dictate we're still in LaLaLand by the time of this show - I can't wait. At the freakin' Palladium, no less. 

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Playlist:

Various Artists - Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath - Master of Reality

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Midlake - The Courage of Others

Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther

Led Zeppelin - Coda

Peter Gabriel - So

Prince - Sign O' The Times

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Wolves in the Throneroom - Two Hunters

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Card:

A little concerned that, along with yesterday's draw, there seems to be some sort of conflict on the horizon. 

Type O Negative - Symphony for the Devil

 

I've never seen this before, but I'm sure I must have known it existed at some point. I've never been huge on band DVDs - a lot of time they just show you what dildos they actually are. that said, based on all the interviews and whatnot I've read from these guys back in the day, I'm confident enough that Type O won't be one of those, so I may fire this up later tonight. 

Thanks to Phil Zig for posting this on his Channel! Give the man a like and a follow if it suits you.

That's going to conclude the Peter Steele week because as it so happens, we have another anniversary to celebrate tomorrow. 

Day Tripping

 

Let's perform sacrilege: I'll take this version of any of these three songs over the original Beatles version any day of the week. 

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Watch:

 

 Holy shit, I got chills on that final image. Chills - and I have no attachment or experience with the Jane Foster Thor storyline from the books. Trust in Taika.

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NCBD:

Small haul this week. 

If that isn't the most Metal cover since Daniel Warren Johnson's Beta Ray Bill series last year, I don't know what is.

This cover has me extremely excited to see where Donny Cates is taking this book.

Speaking of books I need to re-read and catch up on, The Nice House on the Lake is long overdue for me to reconnect. I keep toying with the idea of just waiting until the entire thing is out, but I'm kind of chomping at the bit to see where the story has gone in the last two issues since it returned after hiatus, and also to re-read those first six books and see what I missed. 

I finally read last month's We Live: Age of the Palladions White #1 and Black #1. I dig it, might be bowing out, but I dig. I think the thing that endeared the first volume of this one to me was how it began as kind of a Girl with all the Gifts apocalyptic story and then, in the last pages of the final issue, became something totally different. Now that the new paradigm has been established, I'm not as interested as I was before. I'll always be thankful I stuck with that first series, though, just to see the transformation. 

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Playlist:

Various Artists - Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy

Sepultura - Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos (single)

Black Sabbath - Master of Reality

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Perturbator - Dangerous Days

Sepultura - Chaos A.D.

Alice in Chains - Sap EP

Sepultura - Quadra

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Card:

I've already been feeling as though there's a shake-up on the horizon. This makes me think it's sooner rather than later. 

Blood & Fire

From the Official Type O Negative youtube channel, here's Blood and Fire. Do yourself a favor and let the playlist take you directly into the track that follows it - hopefully, there won't be an ad - because really these two are two halves of an extremely powerful whole. I can still remember

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Watch:

Other than that first trailer that dropped last year for Stranger Things Season 4, I have avoided all subsequent trailers for the upcoming penultimate season. In keeping with this, I was not going to watch this trailer, either. 

 Then I did. 

 

Wow. I am blown away! This is the show that continually proves the exception to the rule: it's always as good as the hype that precedes and follows it. In fact, in my opinion, each season of Stranger Things is increasingly better than the last, so much so, that I would say this show doesn't get nearly the hype it deserves.

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Read:

I took a break from the Lovecraft and blew through Brian Asman's novel Man, Fuck This House. This is a fantastic Horror-comedy that plays with the Haunted House subgenre.

Great characters and a truly unique mechanical approach to how the house interacts with the unwitting family that moves in. The book really cozies you up to the characters and their lives, kicks off the festivities, then sprints for 60% of its length toward a fantastic conclusion. Very suspenseful, but never at the expense of its humorous tone. If you dig Grady Hendrix, you will definitely dig this. Plus, it's $2.99 on Kindle at the moment.

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Playlist:

Iwan Rebroff - Na Sdarowje (singt Weisen von Wodka und Wein)

Every Day (Is Halloween) - Playlist #3 "In Fear"

Beach House - Once Twice Melody

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Card:

Super appropriate as a reminder that, although I have to do some stuff at work this week I don't like to do, I need to be mindful of how I do it, lest others see me as a dick(tator).

(We Were) Electrocute

 

Continuing Peter Steele week, here's "(We Were) Electrocute," from 2003's Life Is Killing Me.

I've always wondered if this song was in some way about Milli Vanilli. I'm not really sure why.

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Read:

A Stephen Graham Jones Horror comic from IDW? Sign me up.

With cover art here is by Rafael Albuquerque, and series artwork by Davide Gianfelice (Northlanders, Greek Street, Ghosted), Bloody Disgusting reports this one as follows:

“Earthdivers unites four Indigenous survivors in an apocalyptic near future as they embark on a bloody, one-way mission to save the world by traveling back in time to kill Christopher Columbus and prevent the creation of America.”

Read the rest of the BD article HERE. 

Recent events very much on my mind, I can tell you that I LOVE this concept. Here's a rather lengthy video announcement IDW released earlier this week; it mentions several other new titles I'm ear-marking here, particularly Scott Snyder and Hayden Sherman's Dark Spaces: Wildfire.

You can read info on all nine new titles HERE.

Jones' last three books all blew me away, but My Heart is a Chainsaw proved a level up even for someone already so prolific and accomplished. I can't wait to see how his writing plays out in the graphic format.

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Playlist:

The Jim Carroll Band - Catholic Boy

Nurse with Wound - Soliloquy for Lilith

Tones on Tail - Everything!

Skinny Puppy - Last Rights

Nachtmystium - Addicts: Black Meddle, Part 2

Judas Priest - Painkiller

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

Slayer - Live Undead

Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror

The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir

Revocation - The Outer Ones

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Card:

I'll be keeping my eyes and my mind open for inspiration or knowledge from an unexpected or previously dismissed source. 

Peter Steele Interview

A pretty candid interview with Steele from '97. I LOVE the way he responds to the interviewer when he suggests that the then newly released October Rust is softer than their previous records.