Somehow I totally missed this stunning single the Whigs released in 2017.
Watch:
Maika Monroe is really on my radar of late. True, she was fabulous in both The Guest and It Follows, and both were years ago. Seeing this year's Watcher a few months back at a Beyondfest screening, she really stole the show. And now this:
I signed up for Paramount + again recently so K and I could finish Evil, Season 3, and looks like I'll probably hang onto it a bit longer to catch this on Friday, October 7th.
Playlist:
Various - Return of the Living Dead Soundtrack (Playlist)
The Cramps - Songs the Lord Taught Us
The Cramps - Psychedelic Jungle
The Misfits - Legacy of Brutality
Idles - Joy As An Act of Resistance
Melvins & Lustmord - Pigs of the Roman Empire
Card:
Re-engaging with Magick this weekend could lead to a breakthrough, but it may also lead to Ruin. I'm pretty sure I know exactly what this is talking about, and my intention remains to stay away.
I discovered Idles two days ago completely by accident. I think.
Since setting up a work-from-home office in our new house, I've been using Spotify more than I ever have. I'll always prefer Apple Music for most things, but there's some great stuff about their competition, too, one of which is how bands will just show up in your 'feed' based on their algorithm. I know a lot of folks hate that word and practice, however, I have found that, while I would never want to solely rely on an AI to find me music, they sometimes come up with some good stuff I had otherwise missed.
Case in point, Idles appeared on my landing page yesterday and I have no idea why. But upon hearing "Never Fight a Man With a Perm" for the first time, I was in love. The album that song is on - Joy As An Act of Resistance - is start-to-finish fan-fucking-tastic!
This video of them performing Never Fight A Man With A Perm literally gives me chills. This is a band that the architects of the BBC's Hyundai/ Mercury Prize in 2019 never would have dreamed would be performing on this stage; seriously, the incongruency of the elaborate look of the set with this snarling mess of a band brings tears to my eyes and joy to my heart.
Watch:
New Lucky McKee? YES!
I'm betting money this will be announced next week along with the second half of Beyondfest's tenth-anniversary line-up.
Read:
An unexpected surprise yesterday at the comic shop:
With allusions to the works of both Dickens and Dan Simmons, and probably the most refined interpretation of Occult Victorian England since Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s seminal work From Hell, I am totally in for the ride on El Torres and Joe Bacardo’s new comic Phantasmagoria! Also, the title is quite possibly my favorite word in the English language, so bonus points on that. This one is from Scout Comics' Black Caravan line, which is really starting to beef up their presence in the Horror Comic Continuum.
Playlist:
Idles - Joy As An Act of Resistance
Idles - Brutalism
Sleaford Mods - Spare Ribs
Pailhead - Trait
Misfits - Static Age
Misfits - American Psycho
Godflesh - Pure
Revolting Cocks - Linger Ficken' Good
Card:
Back to Missi's Raven Deck for a single card signifier today:
Equilibrium for sure. Yesterday everything was out of whack, and I'm weary of bringing that with me into today. I'll take this as a reminder of yesterday's pull - even keel. Weight (wait?) and measure.
This one had me with the opening spoken word segment, dipped a bit, then picked way back up at about 2:20. It's been really interesting watching the Pixies pick back up and add to their legacy. I'd still REALLY like another Frank Black, Black Francis, or Catholics album (that'd be my #1 want), but Pixies have continued to evolve. Most bands like this just swim in circles and relive their glory days. Not these guys (and gal).
The new album Doggerel is out on September 30th; pre-order HERE.
NCBD:
Kind of a big week for NCBD. Here's my planned haul:
Not sure I'll be keeping up with this new Alien series; I dropped off the previous one after the first story arc, figured I'd grab the #1 and reassess.
This new Ghost Rider title is really hot and cold with me. None of the issues have been bad, but a few were spectacular. Wolvie guest-starring so soon isn't really a good sign in my book, but both titles share Ben Percy as a writer, so maybe that's all it is. Either way, c'mon Ghost Rider - "Thrill Me."
I LOVED that last week, Gerry Duggan had the opportunity to write an X-Men issue that didn't solely deal with Judgement Day, which, as I suspected, is beginning to wear on me. I'm hoping the same for this lastest issue of Immortal X-Men. I'd really like the Sebastian Shaw issue to deal with Shaw's place in the bigger picture of Krakoan politics.
Still having lots of fun with this Moon Knight series.
And talk about lots of fun. This one is just fantastic (pun intended).
This wins "Cover of the month" award, for sure.
Tried and true, that's IDW's TMNT.
Of the two books I began simultaneously earlier in the year that bear more than a little resemblance to one another - A Town Called Terror and West of Sundown - West of has ended. Or at least, the first arc has. I enjoyed that book, but I'm not 100% I'll be back if it returns. The same can be said of this one; it's not bad, I'm just not convinced. We'll see; this issue is most likely ending the first arc, so I'll do a re-read and make a decision then.
Read:
With a surprising number of "Gloryhole Horror" flicks hitting streaming lately (2, but still, that's quite a bit considering the subject matter, eh?), The Horror Vision held a very Special episode: our Glorious Gloryhole Death Match. One of the unexpected joys of doing that episode (there really were no others), was discovering the H.P. Lovecraft/Hazel Heald novella Out of the Aeons, which has never been in any Lovecraft collection I have previously owned. I took a brief respite from Sandy Macnair's Carspotting to read about the origins of Ghat (see Glorious, the winner by far of the aforementioned death match) in the Cthulhu Mythos.
Out of the Aeons is available on Kindle for $0.99. First published in 1935 in Weird Tales, I'm really having trouble believing I'd never heard of this one before.
Playlist:
Revolting Cocks - Linger Fickin' Good
The Cure - Carnage Visors
The Cure - Faith
The Verve - Eponymous EP
Type O Negative - October Rust
Type O Negative - World Coming Down
High On Fire - Blessed Black Wings
Godflesh - Post Self
Godflesh - Pure
Type O Negative - Origin of the Feces
The Afghan Whigs - In Spades
The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen
The Afghan Whigs - 1965
The Twilight Singers - Blackberry Belle
Calexico - Garden Ruin
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry
The Afghan Whigs - Do the Beast
Idles - Joy As An Act of Resistance
Ginger Wildheart - The Year of the Fanclub
Miss Piss - Self-Surgery
Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spin
Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
Everything this morning is about approaching things with balance, adaptability, understanding and a keen eye. So something needs a closer look it would seem...
I was holding off on listening to the singles The Afghan Whigs have released from the upcoming How Do You Burn, however, I'm seeing them this coming Saturday night, so I broke down and started getting to know them. Being that the album drops this Friday, September 9th, I'll have all day to listen to it. So far, really great stuff. Not sure it will top In Spades, but that would be quite the feat.
Getting psyched to see "The Revolting Corpse" at the end of the month, courtesy of Mr. Brown. I'm not entirely sure who will be on stage, but either way, it's sure to be amazing.
Watch:
K and I wrapped up Evil season 3 on Paramount Plus the other day. As always, this show leaves an ENORMOUS void when it's off. I have a feeling the next season may be the final; either way, with the low-grade anxiety Netflix is resonating with its coy attitude toward Sandman's renewal, it's good to know that the next season of Evil has already been announced.
Next up, Feud!
We'd been meaning to watch this since it aired back in 2017, and our timing proves fortuitous, as a quick look-up on IMDB surprised us with the listing for an upcoming season two slated for next year.
Read:
I finished Irvine Welsh's Marabou Stork Nightmares. Jesus. This was easily his darkest book, and that's bloody well saying something. Still, I loved most of it; it always feels like slipping into a favorite Marathon Shirt when I tackle one of Welsh's novels, and despite several absolutely soul-searing scenes, this was no exception. Next up, Welsh's long-time friend Sandy McNair's tell-all book Carspotting: The Real-Life Adventures of Irvine Welsh.
Like Marabou, I've had this one for over a decade. After this, I'm thinking I may re-read Welsh's 2006 novel Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chiefs, which I haven't read since it came out.
Playlist:
King Woman - Celestial Blues
Charles Bradley - Changes
Cocksure - Corporate_Sting
The High Confessions - Turning Lead Into Gold with the High Confessions
Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance
Willie Nelson & Leon Russell - One For the Road
The Black Angels - Eponymous EP
The Black Angels - Death Song
The Afghan Whigs - How Do You Burn? (pre-release singles)
It was not until just last week that I realized Melvins had collaborated with Lustmord on an album. THIS is mind-blowing stuff.
NCBD:
We start this week's NCBD with the final issue of Moon Knight: Black, White & Blood.
I Love this series. When they first announced they were doing one of these BW&B for Moon Knight, I was surprised. I'm hoping they do some other left-of-center characters, and that it wasn't just the Moon Knight Disney+ series that spurred this particular title. I'd love to see a Taskmaster or even, hell, a Wilson Fisk, Kingpin BW&B. Come on Marvel, let's see what you got!
One of my most anticipated series since the previous issue. This one is such a great heir to the Neil Gaiman/Vertigo legacy.
Being that issue 3 just came out last week, I'm not entirely sure this will land today. We'll see. Either way, this series is worth the wait.
I feel like it's been quite some time since the previous installment of West of Sundown. That's not really true, I think I've just, you know, moved across country and completely restarted my life since issue 4. Can't wait to read this next chapter.
Probably my favorite cover with Scott Summers on it EVER.
Read:
There was a time when I bought every novel Irvine Welsh released the day they came out. That stopped after his 2012 Skag Boys. Not because I don't love Welsh's work. On the contrary, his prose is a HUGE influence on my own, and being that I had shifted to working on a genre series, I was afraid that influence would hinder my completion of the first Shadow Play novel. Shadow Play ultimately took another seven years to finish, starting and re-starting it. In between, I cranked out a lot more genre work, always keeping Welsh at bay.
Last Sunday, the damn burst.
I'm a saver - if I discover an author who already has a few novels on the shelf, I'll always save one. So was the case with Welsh's 1995 novel Marabou Stork Nightmares. Well, after learning Welsh had just released a follow-up Ray Lennox novel to Crime with The Long Knives. I realized I've now missed five Welsjh novels including this one. To quote Lebowski, "this will not stand!"
So I cracked open Marabou and cannot put it down.
It's crazy to think this was Welsh's second published novel. The narrative is written in the same kind of experimental fashion that Filth is - I don't want to try and explain it here, but needless to say, Welsh finds a pretty insane way to move between main character Roy Strang's coma-narrative and his real life and what he hears while he's inside the coma, bubbling up just below the surface of waking. Which Roy does not want to do. I love Welsh's work so very much, I can't believe I've been away from it this long.
Playlist:
Pink Mountaintops - Peacock Pools
A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
Megadeth - Rush in Peace
Melvins & Lustmord - Pigs of the Roman Empire
Anthrax - Attack of the Killer Bs
Patty Smythe - The Warrior (single)
The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Paleozoic
Scott H. Biram - Nothing But Blood
Amigo The Devil - Born Against
The Mysterines - Reeling
Young Widows - Settle Down City
Breather Resist - Charmer
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
The way that I will choose to accomplish something will usher in notable change, part of which will be condemnation by someone I respect.
I've got a BIG new project in the works, and I'm pretty sure a lot of people - not necessarily people I know - will give it a big eye roll just for what it is. Unfortunate. "The work that transforms the medium."
Some old Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds for this Saturday morning. Live from 1986, no less!
Watch:
I have been waiting for this one for quite some time:
When I first read Grady Hendrix's My Best Friend's Exorcism, back in 2018 or so, I immediately bought it for like ten of my friends. I love that book - at the time I finished it, I ranked it as my third favorite novel, behind Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Bret Easton Ellis' Lunar Park. I don't know if that ranking would hold up, but maybe. It's a fabulous flick, and with Freaky's Christopher Landon Producing, I have a very good feeling about this adaptation.
Playlist:
S4lem - King Night
S4lem - Yes I Smoke Crack EP
Revolting Cocks - Linger Fickin' Good
Lustmord & The Ocean - Primal (State of Being) EP
The Ocean - Heliocentric
The Ocean - Anthropocentric
The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic
Lard - Pure Chewing Satisfaction
Lustmord - Hobart
Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me
Metallica - Garage Days Re-Revisited
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Distant Sky (Live in Copenhagen)
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - From Her to Eternity
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Kicking Against the Pricks
The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic
Pink Mountaintops - Peacock Pools
Deftones - No Koi Yokan
Ghost - Mary on A Cross (slowed + reverb) single
The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir
Brenton Wood - Brenton Wood's 18 Best
Seasurfer - Zombies
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Disassociation
Card:
Late night Thoth Spread:
Pulled this while up late, finally attempting to get a small NFT venture off the ground. Immediate recognition, but I don't know anything about this world. I need to lean on my good friend Billy Big Beak in order to navigate what's happening. So the reading is pretty clear - what can look like success can actually be a load of BS.
