New Music From Arab Strap!!!

 

I'm writing this part of today's post on Tuesday the 23rd. I've been listening to Arab Strap for about the last two hours, so how weird is it that when I clicked over to youtube to find a song to post, I see that a new Arab Strap track dropped two hours ago, and a new album is out Februrary 9th! Holy smokes - Awesome! 

You can go HERE to Pre-order I'm totally fine with it 👍 Don't give a fuck anymore 👍 - yes, the emogis are part of the actual title! Check out this cover!!!

Love it! Man, it feels so good to have Malcolm and Aiden back. 

 

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NCBD:

The final of my "away pulls." Can't wait to get back home and pick the last few week's of comics up. 

So according to Image Comics' website, issue 16 is the Newburn series finale. That's a bummer, but at the same time, the storyline is twisting these characters' lives into such a knot, I'd mentioned recently that I couldn't possibly see how this book could last that much longer. Kudos to the creators for sticking to their guns and telling the story they set out to tell. 

We all knew he'd be back, but since Mags destroyed his backup, I'm pretty curious what version this resurrected one will take.

Another series ending soon. Tenement has been a fantastic ride, with the last two issues really pushing the storyline of the overall Bone Orchard Mythos forward. Can't wait to see what's next, but until then, I'm pretty sure these last few issues will be increasingly bizarre and horrific in the fashion only Lemire and Sorrentino can manage.

And yet another BOMBSHELL ending - the news that this title ends with the upcoming issue 150 hit comic news outlets recently. TMNT began again under the IDW banner back in 2012; I picked up the first issue and have enjoyed every single one since. The other end of that big news is that Jason Aaron is taking over the upcoming new title - still under IDW - but what I'm unclear about is if that book will begin a brand new continuity, or continue this one. I hope for the former but also pine a bit for the latter; it would be nice to drop a book from the pull and let this series just sit immortalized in time as the perfect gem it is.

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Watch:

Last night I finally got the chance to see Yorgos Lanthimos' new film, Poor Things. Even better, I got to see it with two good friends at the Los Feliz 3 Theatre. I've posted the trailer here previously, so here's a gorgeous poster:

The only other film by Mr. Lanthimos I've seen is Killing of a Sacred Deer, however, that is one of the best "What the absolute F*ck" viewings I've had in the last ten years, so it instantly endeared the creator to me, while also kind of made me a touch afraid of his work. There is something so all-consuming about Deer, that I've kept The Lobster and The Favorite at bay for years. 

That changes now.

I put a spoiler-free review up on Letterbxd HERE, but in a nutshell Poor Things is beautiful, odd, perverse, tender, vulgar and a touch transgressive, all coming together to make an utterly unique experience.

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Playlist:

Tar - Clincher

Tar - Holding Fast Hitting Long (Live)

The Bronx - V

The Bronx - (II)

The Bronx - (III)

Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet

Arab Strap - The Red Thread

Arab Strap - Philophobia

The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen

Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07

Carpenter Brute - Leather Terror

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Six of Swords

• Eight of Cups

• XVII: The Star

RIP David Emge

 

A Dawn of the Dead-themed post today in honor of David "Flyboy" Emge's passing this past weekend.

 

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Watch:

Classic scene from the greatest Zombie film ever. 

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Playlist:

The Cure - Pornography

Your Black Star - Sound from the Ground

The National - High Violet

Danko Jones - We Sweat Blood

Feuerbahn - The Fire Dance EP

Joy Division - Substance 1977-1980

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Data Doom

FACS - Still Life In Decay

Tar - Clincher 

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New Music From Chelsea Wolfe

More new Chelsea Wolfe, from the upcoming album She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, out February 9; pre-order HERE. This close to the release date, I'm not even going to listen to this single. I pre-ordered the vinyl and am waiting to sit down and listen start to finish, ripped to the gilly tits on marijuana. Been a while since I've observed that ritual for a new album, would like to get back to it. This seems like a fantastic place to start. 

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Watch:

I'm not even sure how I stumbled upon this last night, but after seeing the trailer and not being able to find anything on IMDB, I realized there was a link to the full film:

I know nothing of El Maestro, however, the trailer for A24's The Grind is equally one of the most beautiful and disturbing things I've seen in a while, so no doubt I'm watching this as soon as I can.

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Playlist:

Your Black Star - Sound from the Ground

The Damned - Evil Spirits

Darkness Brings the Cold - Devil Swank, Vol. 1

††† - Good Night, God Bless, I Love You, Delete

The Trapezoid - Reverb Nation Playlist

Various Mixed by DJ IF: Darkness Exhalation Mix Vol. 2

The Neighborhood - I Love You

FACS - Still Life in Decay

Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy (Single)

The Pixies - Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf - Single)

Grand Duchy - Black Suit (Single)

AFI - This Time Imperfect (Single)

The Bronx - V

The Bronx - Dead Tracks

The Bronx - IV

Tar - Clincher

The Trapezoid - Reverb Nation Playlist

Darkness Brings the Cold - Devil Swank, Vol. 1

Nobuhiko Morino - Verses: The Album

The Soft Moon - Eponymous

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Queen of Swords 

• III: The Empress

• XV: The Devil

Just recording this here for posterity; will hopefully be able to double back later in the day for interpretation. 

New Album From Lustmord

 

The first teaser for the upcoming Much Unseen Is Also Here, the new album from Lustmord, available on March 15. Pre-order from Pelagic Records HERE.

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Watch:

The other night, I fell asleep in my hotel room watching B.D. Clark's 1981 SciFi WTF Galaxy of Terror. Here's a trailer:

I'm not really sure how I feel about this one. First, great cast. Where else can you see Eddie Albert, Sid Haig, Grace Zabriskie and Erin Moran (Joanie from Joanie Loves Chachi) in a third-rate Alien knockoff. No disrespect - I'm sure everyone involved in this production knew what they were making when they filmed this. Still, this was a good time, even if the ending featured some pretty bad writing in the style of "Make it a bunch of indecipherable and abstract gobbledegook and people will think it's just too smart for them to understand."

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Read:

While at The Comic Bug two weeks ago, I flipped briefly through their back issue bins and found this:

I know NOTHING about Machine Man, even though this was put out in that magical comic book year 1984. This would have been when I was first dipping my toes into comics, and I know the cover layout for this era of Marvel Comics so well that it creates an instant nostalgia bomb in my heart. In this particular case, I just could not pass up this beautiful Barry Windsor-Smith cover. This is the perfect example of what I keep referring to as "Hobby Store SciFi," even without knowing the contents.

Reading this last night, I was shocked by a few elements of the book. First, one of the heavies is Arno Stark - the Iron Man of, ahem, 2020! That's right, this 1984 look into the future shows a lot of technological ideas that we can, now four years beyond the storytellers' mark, confirm never came to pass.

• Flying cars? Nope

• Cyborgs and tech-gangs? Not unless you count those Grinders who get magnets implanted in their skin

• Mega corporations that control the world... oh, well, I guess that one is pretty accurate.

A second shocker was Jocasta, the robot lady person I would know briefly from an Avengers annual published a few years after this book. This made me curious to look up just how much Machine Man has to do with the Marvel we've come to know in the years since this series. From what I found, the continuity here is designated as Earth-8410, and is not to be confused with Earth-616 Jocasta, who Ultron built as his, er, bride?

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Playlist:

Marilyn Manson - We Are Chaos

Finom - Fantasize Your Ghost

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine

The Trapezoid - Reverb Nation Playlist

Black Rainbows - Superskull

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Data Doom

Algiers - Shook

Turnstile - GLOW ON

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Nine of Wands

• XVIII: The Moon

• IX: The Hermit

Nine of Wands relates to The Moon in Thoth, as the Sun and Moon factor into the Croweley/Harris visualization for the card as motivating elements of the "Strength" of the card. One Wand (arrows in Thoth) supported by eight; driving force. The Hermit here suggests I need to take a solitary day and put all my effort into something that's been occluded to me thus far. I happen to know exactly what that is.

The Bronx - Put That in Your Peace Pipe & Smoke It!!!

I haven't seen The Bronx live in a lot longer than I thought. Way back in 2004, Mr. Brown, my cousin Charles and I discovered these guys at Chicago's Fireside Bowl when they opened for Dillinger Escape Plan on their Miss Machine tour, the first with Greg Puciato stepping in on vocals after original singer Dimitri Minakakis left the band. This was a fantastic show for many reasons - it was one of (if not THE) final time I attended a show at the Fireside (RIP); The Bronx were a f&*king revelation live that made me an instant die-hard fan, and Mr. Puciato began a reign of beautiful terror that proved he was up to the task of fronting the otherworldly machine that is D.E.P.

Anyway, shortly before flying out to L.A. a few weeks ago (I'm still here!), my good friends M-n-K surprised me by grabbing tickets to Alex's Bar's 24th Anniversary show with The Bronx, Negative Blast and R0BBER. Much like Tarantino's New Beverly Theatre, I lived in L.A. for 16 years and never made it to Alex's Bar, despite countless invites. So once again, I remedy that on this trip (I went to the New Bev last weekend). 

Interestingly enough, this appears to be a year of full circles. Last month my good friend Dave and I locked down a trip to Brooklyn in June to see Dillinger play Calculating Infinity for it's 25th anniversary. The singer for the show is Dimitri, and I couldn't be more psyched. I haven't been to NYC since 2014 (I think) and Dimitri was the frontman of the band when I was introduced to them opening for Mr. Bungle in 1999 at Chicago's Metro.

Full Circle indeed.

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Moment:

Jotting down some ideas last night at Santa Monica Brew Works, sipping on their gorgeous Nitro Irish Stout.

A good night. Met up with my A Most Horrible Library cohost, Chris, and caught up. We planned some new episodes, and I just generally unwound from a crazy work week.

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Watch:

I've never really been a Troma fan, so it follows that I've never really cared about The Toxic Avenger. Macon Blair, however, gets all my love, so when I saw he was writing/directing this reboot, I knew I'd been giving it a chance. 

Since first seeing Blair in Jeremy Saulnier's Blue Ruin, I've been a fan of both men. Blair's 2017 directorial debut, I Do Not Feel At Home In This World Anymore, is a high point in Netflix's original feature films and has a cast that just blows me away. Then again, anyone who puts David Yow in their film is aces in my book, and a quick perusal of this new iteration of Toxie's IMDB page shows Mr. Yow is once again on hand. Hell yeah!

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Playlist:

Damone - From The Attic

Damone - Out Here All Night

Mastodon - Leviathan

The Bronx - (I)

The Bronx - VI

Turnstile - GLOW ON

The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose

Scratch Acid - The Greatest Gift

The Bronx - (II)

The National - Conversation 16 (Single)

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• IX: The Hermit

• VIII: Strength

• Six of Pentacles

Rest and recharge, confirmation I'm spending my one day off this week in the correct capacity. 

Man, I LOVE every damn card in this deck. 

Chris Brokaw & Thalia Zedek - The Night Has No Eyes (Live)

 

I set out to post the Karl Hendricks cover that closes out Chris Brokaw's 2019 album Puritan - an album my good friend Seth literally just introduced me to on Friday, and that I was in love with an hour after hearing the opening track. This live version, although filmed a bit rough, blows me away. All the power of that album version, right there in a f*&king living room. Damn. 

As I went to type in the tags on this post, I noticed I'd posted about Brokaw before, back in 2014. Did not remember he was a contributing member of Wrekmeister Harmonies, but it doesn't surprise me in the least. Onward to a new musical rabbit hole!!!

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Watch:

When K and I recently rejoined Netflix, one of the oversights we corrected was rewatching and finishing Kevin Smith's Masters of the Universe: Revelations. Turns out we did so just in time, as there's a new chapter quickly approaching.

We both really dug Revelations and seeing as Hordak is coming to town in this new one, I'm fairly certain we'll dig this one as well. Hordak is my guy!!!

Now, Mr. Smith, please tell me we have a Slime Pit sequence in this one somewhere. 

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Playlist:

T. Rex - The Slider

P.J. Harvey - Rid of Me

Fugazi - Red Medicine

Fugazi - End Hits

Killing Joke - Eponymous

The Cramps - Psychedelic Jungle

The Ghastly Ones - A Haunting We Will Go

Perturbator - Bloodlust (single)

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Perturbator - Terror 404

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New Dandy Warhols!!!

New Dandy Warhols, from the forthcoming album Rockmaker, out March 15th. Pre-order HERE.

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NCBD:

Jesus. My box is going to be full when I return to Clarksville and pick up my books from Rick's Comic City. Here's what is being added to it this week:

Ash! Evil Ash! 1990s and the far-future. This one has it all, true believers!

Still one of my favorite books to read each month. 

The Deviant is such a gnarly book. Really happy this is going longer than what I originally thought was a three-issue series. 

What's the Furthest Place From Here goes on hiatus after the next issue, so I'm a bit bummed. That said, I can't wait to see how the current arc ends and where that puts us in Boss and Rosenberg's world.

The High Evolutionary returns! I'm not sure how exactly this ties in with the "Fall of the House of X;" doesn't matter because, again, the High Evolutionary.

Cobra Commander. 'Nuff said. I find it interesting that the main characters of this short, lead-in series are apparently Destro, Zarana, CC himself and Mercer. Man, Kirkman's Energon Universe is really going out of its way to do something different with this long-running property. 

Man, could we get a High Evolutionary/Cobra Commander crossover at some point in the future? Probably not, but it's nice to dream.

Additionally for today, the final issue of Enfield Gang Massacre will be in my Chicago Pull at Amazing Fantasy, and I'll probably grab these other two from the Comic Bug while I'm in the South Bay next weekend:

I had incorrectly assumed issue five of Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips' The Enfield Gang Massacre was the final chapter. Nice to see I was wrong and we get one more. Can't wait to get this from Amazing Fantasy and finally read the series start to finish.

I'm still not putting ARAH on my pull list, but for the time being, I'm enjoying seeing where this series and these characters have been since I last checked in on them circa 1991.

I thought I'd give this new Hellblazer series a chance. 

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Watch:

 

In. Totally in.

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Playlist:

T. Rex - The Slider

Fugazi - Red Medicine

Fugazi - 13 Songs

Fever Ray - Radical Romantics

The Knife - Shaking the Habitual

Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar

Danzig With Myself - Rockmaker (pre-release singles)

Mission of Burma - Signals, Calls and Marches

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Three of Swords 

• Four of Swords 

• Four of Pentacles

I continue to be fascinated by the frequency with which I draw Swords in this deck. I feel like these, coupled with the Four of Pentacles may point to my not using my intellect in regards to Earthly matters. Money? Possibly.