Sunday, October 30, 2022

New Music From †††


I've always dug Chino Moreno's other band, †††, but for whatever reason, their music has never hit me the same way the Deftones does.

This song changes that completely.

The Crosses store is located HERE. No pre-orders up for the forthcoming album Permanent.Radiant, but you can still grab a standard black vinyl edition of the recent Initiation/Protection EP that dropped a few months back.




31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat
10/2 - Barbarian
10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)
10/4 - Phenomena
10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)
10/6 - The Dark Backward
10/7 - Sick/The Beyond
10/8 - Werewolf By Night
10/9 - Something in the Dirt
10/10 - Let the Right One In Episode 1/Lux Aeterna
10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty
10/12 - Smile
10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)
10/14 - Halloween Kills
10/15 - Halloween Ends/Ed Wood/Plan 9 From Outer Space
10/16 - Spider Baby/101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments/Night's End/Behemoth
10/17 - Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18 - Random Acts of Violence/Two Witches/Let the Right One In Episode 2
10/19 - Footprints on the Moon/976-EVIL
10/20 - Alison's Birthday/Tone Deaf
10/21 - Elviria's Haunted Hills/Popcorn
10/22 - Resolution
10/23 - The Endless
10/24 - VHS 99
10/25 - Tigers Are Not Afraid
10/26 - Bliss
10/27 - Deadstream/Host
10/28 - The Convent
10/29 - Lot 36 (GDT's CoC ep. 1)/George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead/Return of the Living Dead

I had completely forgotten that Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities landed on Netflix this past week. Totally blown away by the first episode. Directed by GDT's frequent Cinematographer, Guillermo Narravo, Lot 36 is not for the faint of heart. I'm really digging this darker tone Del Toro's work has had of late (it's always been dark, but I feel like starting with his Nightmare Alley, there is a fatalistic streak that's just nasty enough to be titillating, but not far gone enough to be mean.)


The list of Directors GDT enlisted for this is pretty fantastic as well, so I'm thinking every episode will be an immediate classic.




Read:

Sometime in the past week and a half, I sat down and did my annual reading of Rick Spears and Rob G.'s Teenagers From Mars.


I really can't love a comic more than this one. A light-hearted tale of small-town pandemonium against comic books and youth culture, I'm always shocked to remember this originally came out in 2003, as it seems a product of the 80s or early 90s, which I think is when the story takes place.
Either way, this one is such a friendly amalgamation of all the things I love: Comic Books, Horror Movies, and Punk Rock, and although it doesn't take place on Halloween, with its zombie face-paint party and grave-robbing subplot, it certainly feels like it does.

Unfortunately, I still can't find my copy of my other annual Halloween read, James O'Barr's original graphic novel The Crow. So many of my books remain packed until I buy bookcases, so this year, I will have to push that reading off. 




Playlist:

Electric Wizard - Wizard Bloody Wizard
Bexley - Female Hysteria (single)
The Cure - Seventeen Seconds Deluxe Edition*
The Nukes - Why Things Burn
Cough & Windhand - Reflection of the Negative 
Various - Joe Begos' Bliss Playlist
Zombi - Shape Shift
Pilot Priest and Electric Youth - Come True OST
The Misfits - Static Age

* I don't normally denote deluxe editions here, but I have to say, the live tracks that more than double this release's size are fantastic. 




Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.


Trust my inner vision during the process of finalizing this current project I'm working on will bring it to fruition. 


Another reminder that we're down to the last hours to get in on Grimm's Kickstarter for The Art of the Bound Tarot hardcover art book. Back the project HERE.

Friday, October 28, 2022

New Music From Fever Ray!


This dropped a few days ago and I totally missed it. New music from Fever Ray, and if what I read is accurate, this track reunites Karin with her brother Olof, effectively making this a The Knife reunion!




31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat
10/2 - Barbarian
10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)
10/4 - Phenomena
10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)
10/6 - The Dark Backward
10/7 - Sick/The Beyond
10/8 - Werewolf By Night
10/9 - Something in the Dirt
10/10 - Let the Right One In Episode 1/Lux Aeterna
10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty
10/12 - Smile
10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)
10/14 - Halloween Kills
10/15 - Halloween Ends/Ed Wood/Plan 9 From Outer Space
10/16 - Spider Baby/101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments/Night's End/Behemoth
10/17 - Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18 - Random Acts of Violence/Two Witches/Let the Right One In Episode 2
10/19 - 976-EVIL
10/20 - Alison's Birthday/Tone Deaf
10/21 - Elviria's Haunted Hills/Popcorn
10/22 - Resolution
10/23 - The Endless
10/24 - VHS 99
10/25 - Tigers Are Not Afraid
10/26 - Bliss
10/27 - Deadstream/Host

Deadstream has been on my radar for a while, but when I saw the trailer at this year's Beyondfest, I felt certain the film wouldn't be for me. Movies that feature influencers/youtubers as unlikeable protagonists who eventually receive a comeuppance don't usually make up for actually having to follow them through the first act-and-a-half. I wrote a bit more extensively about this in my Letterbxd review HERE, but suffice it to say, I ended up really liking this flick. 

Found footage films are a dime a dozen, however, when done right they may be the last corner of Horror capable of truly frightening me. I'm not talking about jump scares or gross-outs, I'm talking about the Magic that occurs when a film truly inspires sustained and palpable fear in me as a viewer. 

 

After this and the To Hell and Back segment they did for V/H/S/99, I can't wait to see what Joseph and Vanessa Winters do next.
 


Watch:

Servant's fourth and final season lands in January, and they've dropped a trailer. I'm posting this, but probably not going to watch it.


Damn, I love this show. Hope it goes out with a "Bang."




Playlist:

A001 - Necro (single)
Type O Negative - Origin of the Feces
The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose
The Veils - Total Depravity
Fever Ray - What They Call Us (single)
The Knife - Heartbeats (single)
The Knife - Full of Fire (single)
Various - Joe Begos' Bliss Playlist
Electric Wizard - Dopethrone
Electric Wizard - Wizard, Bloody Wizard
Bad Looks - Bad Looks Single




Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.


The results I'm after will only be achieved through a combination of Will and Emotional detachment/clarity.

Also, only four days left to get in on Grimm's Kickstarter for The Art of the Bound Tarot hardcover art book. I'm throwing down today, you should too if you dig the art on these glorious cards. Back the project HERE.

Thursday, October 27, 2022

Antonio Sánchez feating Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross


New music from world-renowned drummer Antonio Sanchez. This is the first single off his upcoming Shift (Bad Hombre, Vol. 2) album, and it features Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. You can order the new album  HERE.




31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat
10/2 - Barbarian
10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)
10/4 - Phenomena
10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)
10/6 - The Dark Backward
10/7 - Sick/The Beyond
10/8 - Werewolf By Night
10/9 - Something in the Dirt
10/10 - Let the Right One In Episode 1/Lux Aeterna
10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty
10/12 - Smile
10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)
10/14 - Halloween Kills
10/15 - Halloween Ends/Ed Wood/Plan 9 From Outer Space
10/16 - Spider Baby/101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments/Night's End/Behemoth
10/17 - Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18 - Random Acts of Violence/Two Witches/Let the Right One In Episode 2
10/19 - 976-EVIL
10/20 - Alison's Birthday/Tone Deaf
10/21 - Elviria's Haunted Hills/Popcorn
10/22 - Resolution
10/23 - The Endless
10/24 - VHS 99
10/25 - Tigers Are Not Afraid
10/26 - Bliss

No matter how many times I watch Joe Begos' Bliss, it just gets better and more inspiring. 


There are ideas in this film that I think rank among the greatest contributions to the modern Vampire myth, and the execution only helps seal that. My big regret from this year's Beyondfest was that I already had tickets to see Zeal and Ardor at the Echoplex when Begos' new film Christmas, Bloody Christmas screened. That's the first of his films I haven't seen on the big screen at Beyondfest since a bunch of friends and I saw Mind's Eye, which sealed my love of his aesthetic.




Watch:

I finally got to see Moonage Daydream on the big screen. This was one I almost missed, but with my good friend Grez in town, we headed into Nashville to the wonderful Belcourt Theatre and saw a late showing. 


So how is it? Fantastic. Not a documentary with a narrative so much as it is a constantly evolving series of clips - interviews, performances, personal journal stuff - a slightly linear trajectory through David Bowie's life as an artist, or perhaps rather, a series of artists, dappled with some intimate peaks behind the thin, white curtain at the man behind those personas. Built for the big screen.




Playlist:

King Woman - I Wanna Be Adored (single)
The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored (single)
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Type O Negative - Dead Again
Lindsey Buckingham - Gift of Screws
David Bowie - The Next Day




Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.


Pretty straightforward. 

Only five days left to get in on Grimm's Kickstarter for The Art of the Bound Tarot hardcover art book. I'm throwing down today, you should too if you dig the art on these glorious cards. Back the project HERE.

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Second Still - Altar

 

The bass guitar at the end of this track is like some heady hallucinogenic concoction. Man, I forgot how much I love Second Still, whose Bandcamp is HERE.




31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat
10/2 - Barbarian
10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)
10/4 - Phenomena
10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)
10/6 - The Dark Backward
10/7 - Sick/The Beyond
10/8 - Werewolf By Night
10/9 - Something in the Dirt
10/10 - Let the Right One In Episode 1/Lux Aeterna
10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty
10/12 - Smile
10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)
10/14 - Halloween Kills
10/15 - Halloween Ends/Ed Wood/Plan 9 From Outer Space
10/16 - Spider Baby/101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments/Night's End/Behemoth
10/17 - Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18 - Random Acts of Violence/Two Witches/Let the Right One In Episode 2
10/19 - 976-EVIL
10/20 - Alison's Birthday/Tone Deaf
10/21 - Elviria's Haunted Hills/Popcorn
10/22 - Resolution
10/23 - The Endless
10/24 - VHS 99
10/25 - Tigers Are Not Afraid




NCBD:

All hail NCBD!!!

Spidey vs. Hobgoblin? 'Nuff said.


Loved the first issue more than I liked most of what they've done with the new series on Shudder. Let's go issue two!


A new Wytches story? Sold. 

Okay, let's see just how "Earth-shaking" this finale is.


Werewolf By Moon Knight? So this is picking up where the story in last week's Crypt of Shadows left off. Super cool. After all, 'tis the season for Werewolves.


It's come to my attention that at some point, this book is likely to switch back over to following Stephen Stange. Nothing against ol' Steve, but I'll be cutting at that point. This arc with Clea, however, continues to surprise and delight me.


First issue of this new Horror Anthology was pretty great. R.L. Stine was after my time reading books for Young Adults, but I always appreciated the fact that his stuff seemed to serve as gateway horror to so many just a few years younger than me. By the looks of this book, Stine is moving his audience age up to a considerably more mature demographic, and if it maintains the level of the first issue, count me in.


I really dug the first issue of this re-branding of the way old X-Terminators idea, so let's see where this goes.




Playlist:

Dance with the Dead - Into the Abyss
Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim
The Final Cut - Consumed
Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
Second Still - Equals EP
Les Descrets - Prédateurs
Perturbator - Nocturne City EP
Perturbator - Dangerous Days
King Woman - Celestial Blues




Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.


Encouraging words to make a decision and pull the trigger on sending out this new story I finally finished but am fussing with.

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Beastmilk - Death Reflects Us

 

A little Beastmilk for your Tuesday morning, from their 2013 album Climax, a start-to-finish solid album. 




31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat
10/2 - Barbarian
10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)
10/4 - Phenomena
10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)
10/6 - The Dark Backward
10/7 - Sick/The Beyond
10/8 - Werewolf By Night
10/9 - Something in the Dirt
10/10 - Let the Right One In Episode 1/Lux Aeterna
10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty
10/12 - Smile
10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)
10/14 - Halloween Kills
10/15 - Halloween Ends/Ed Wood/Plan 9 From Outer Space
10/16 - Spider Baby/101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments/Night's End/Behemoth
10/17 - Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18 - Random Acts of Violence/Two Witches/Let the Right One In Episode 2
10/19 - 976-EVIL
10/20 - Alison's Birthday/Tone Deaf
10/21 - Elviria's Haunted Hills/Popcorn
10/22 - Resolution
10/23 - The Endless
10/24 - V/H/S/99

Well, another year, another VHS film. At first, I thought I was going to hate this one as much as the previous entry, but Johannes Roberts' Suicide Bid and Joseph & Vanessa Winter's To Hell and Back proved to be pretty great (Suicide Bid especially), and Tyler MacIntyre's The Gawkers won me over despite having the most unlikable characters I've seen since the Adam Wingard's Tape 56 in the original V/H/S. I know that's the point, but these characters - like so many in the V/H/S franchise - are so despicable, not even watching them die horrible deaths doesn't make up for what they put you through.


I'm also aware that the entire aesthetic of these films isn't really congruent with my tastes, so there's a definite disconnect there as well. All in all, despite how I feel about the series as a whole, I'd say they're all definitely worth watching, despite what I would call diminishing returns.




Playlist:

The Teardrop Explodes - Kilimanjaro
Steve Moore - Mind's Eye OST
Joy Division - Still
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland
Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous
The Northern Boys - Party Time (single)
David Bowie - Earthling
Sour Deluxe - Manchester (single)
The Blues Brothers - Rubber Biscuit (single)
Lynard Skynard - Gimme Back My Bullet
Lynard Skynard - Street Survivors
Kermit Ruffins - Chicken and Dumplings (single)
Dr. John - Gris Gris
Sylvaine - Nova
Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out
Beastmilk - Climax
Youth Code - Eponymous
David Lynch & Marek Zebrowski - Polish Night Music




Card:


Feeling it. For real. 

Friday, October 21, 2022

No Animal Escapes


Been a minute since I threw on some Youth Code. Still love their 2013 eponymous debut. Skinny Puppy vibes big time.




31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat
10/2 - Barbarian
10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)
10/4 - Phenomena
10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)
10/6 - The Dark Backward
10/7 - Sick/The Beyond
10/8 - Werewolf By Night
10/9 - Something in the Dirt
10/10 - Let the Right One In Episode 1/Lux Aeterna
10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty
10/12 - Smile
10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)
10/14 - Halloween Kills
10/15 - Halloween Ends/Ed Wood/Plan 9 From Outer Space
10/16 - Spider Baby/101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments/Night's End/Behemoth
10/17 - Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18 - Random Acts of Violence/Two Witches/Let the Right One In Episode 2
10/19 - 976-EVIL
10/20 - Alison's Birthday/Tone Deaf




Playlist:

John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST
Youth Code - Eponymous
Skinny Puppy - Too Dark Park
Attrition - In the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts
The Soft Moon - Exister
Dance With the Dead - B-Sides, Vo1. 1

Thursday, October 20, 2022

The Days of Swine and Roses

 

I'm sure I've posted this particular MLWTTKK track here before, but it bears repeating. So much awesomeness. 




31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat
10/2 - Barbarian
10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)
10/4 - Phenomena
10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)
10/6 - The Dark Backward
10/7 - Sick/The Beyond
10/8 - Werewolf By Night
10/9 - Something in the Dirt
10/10 - Let the Right One In Episode 1/Lux Aeterna
10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty
10/12 - Smile
10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)
10/14 - Halloween Kills
10/15 - Halloween Ends/Ed Wood/Plan 9 From Outer Space
10/16 - Spider Baby/101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments/Night's End/Behemoth
10/17 - Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18 - Random Acts of Violence/Two Witches/Let the Right One In Episode 2
10/19 - 976-EVIL




Read:

After finishing Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt on Friday, I surprised myself by digging out Todd McFarlane's sequel, the first five issues of his short-lived fourth Spider-Man series first launched in 1990 at the height of the artist frenzy that led McFarlane, Leifeld and a bunch of other in-demand zeitgeist artists to split off from Marvel and start Image Comics. 


"Torment" is a thinly written and now artistically dated sequel to Kraven's final story, wherein a villain named Calypso uses Voodoo to control Dr. Kurt Connors' deadly reptilian alter-ego The Lizard to attack Spider-Man. It's not terrible, but it's kinda close to terrible, especially the way Todd makes every issue start with narration that leads into the phrase "Rise Above it all" on the opening credits-splash. By issue two this gimmick felt forced, by issue five I could barely keep my eyes from rolling out of their sockets. Not to be a dick; this was McFarlane's first job as a writer, and I think that shows and was done better than a lot of first-time writers would have done. What doesn't help things is how busy his art is. Yes, it's awesome in terms of style, ideas and proportions, but there's just so much going on with each page that often, I just read the words and flipped to the next page instead of giving myself a headache trying to ascertain just what impossible contortion Spidey or the Lizard were in as they fought across a good half the pages in the overall arc. 


The first two arcs in this series had a huge impact on me when they first came out, however, for the most part, they have not aged well. That said, it's been at least 30 years since I've read these, so I figured why not? I'll probably go directly into the Wendigo/Wolverine storyline that follows Torment in issues 6-10. that was my favorite. I'll report back if that one holds up better.
 


Playlist:

Various - Every Day (Is Halloween) Chicago Industrial Playlist
Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror
Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Here Lies Lucy - Heaven or HLL EP
Fantômas - The Director's Cut
The Soft Moon - Exister
The Cure - Pornography
London After Midnight - Kiss (Club Mix) single
Carpenter Brut - Blood Machines OST




Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.


Loud and clear. I have already realized that I've constructed a bit of a creative trap for myself lately, and a lot of it has to do with what these cards are very visually, on-the-nose saying: I'm drinking too much and it's tying my hands on my creative pursuits. I need to chill and get back into the routine I had going in September: Wake up by 8:00 AM so I can punch-out by 4:30 PM, then head out and spend at least an hour-and-a-half writing.