Is this new single the harbinger of a new Besnard Lakes record? I certainly hope so. LOVE this; it's the Lakes at their Dreamiest, and they can get pretty damn dreamy. Then it kicks in and you feel like you're soaring through the clouds. Guess they picked the perfect title.

You can buy the single over on the group's Bandcamp, HERE.

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NCBD:

First morning back after our mini vacation in Mississippi and I had a fantastic Comic Pull to look forward to. Let's get into what I brought home from Rick's Comic City yesterday! NOTE: I wrote all this before I picked up my comics yesterday, I just didn't have a chance to post this one until today.

I CANNOT wait to read Cobra Commander #5! Everything has been leading to this, and with the Destro and Scarlet mini-series starting in June, this should set us up for some interesting developments in Robert Kirkman's Energon Universe!

Still really digging this return to Vertigo with John Constantine: Dead in America. The book has been a road trip across the States for JC, and I'm not sure if that was done since Brian Azzarello's run back in the early 00s. There are so many ghosts for a wayward Con-Man/Magician to tap into in the depths of this country, and so far, we've seen some doozies in classic Vertigo commentary-but-not-commentary style.

The final issue of Fall of the House of X. That just leaves Rise #5 next week and X-Men 35 the week after. Then I. Am. Out. Whewwww. I will say that I've decided to sell off a lot of last year's six months' worth of X-Tiles, but I'm not going to part with Fall. I haven't loved this series, but it's worth keeping for no other reason than the cover of Issue 2. Plus, I'd say Gerry Duggan has done a great job dealing with the steaming plate of >>>> Gillen and the Editorial Department handed him. 

What can I say other than I miss this book so much when it's away, that I'm always super happy to see it when it comes back.

The cover says it all: Springer!

Ash continues his trek through the future to find his way back to the past. Not gonna lie - turning one of the three Necronomicons into a demon baby reeks of Grogu, and while I consider myself a fan of both the Mandolorian and Grogu, I've begun to roll my eyes at the proliferation of the 'child' character in genre as a result of Grogu's popularity. 

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Watch:

Upon returning home last night, I found a couple packages waiting for me. One was a recent Vinegar Syndrome order wherein I purchased BluRay copies of Ted Geoghegan's Brooklyn 45 and Lorcan Finnegan's 2016 feature film debut Without Name. I can't wait to tear into both of these, but it'd been a couple years since my first and only other viewing of Without Name, and I'd spent a large part of my reading time during the trip to MS reading about Folk Horror, so that proved to be my priority. 

The film is brilliant; a quiet contemplation of the haunted nature of the Irish Countryside, but what I really want to talk about here is the transfer, because this one is fantastic! I wish I could find a still or two from this one - a lot of times, BluRay.com will have side-by-side screenshot comparisons from different releases, but Vinegar Syndrome's release is still young, so that's not yet the case. Please believe me when I tell you that VS did an absolutely stellar job with this film. 

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Playlist:

Tangerine Dream - Strange Behavior OST

Tangerine Dream - Electronic Meditation

Rodney Crowell - Tarpaper Sky

The Jesus Lizard - Down

Big Black - Songs About Fucking

Frank Black and the Catholics - Eponymous

Barry Adamson - Cut to Black

Cocksure - K.K.E.P.

Robot God - Portal Within

Melvins - Tarantula Heart

Saigon Blue Rain - Oko

The Cure - Disintegration

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk)

Pastor T.L. Barret and the Youth for Christ Choir - Like a Ship Without a Sail

The Bangles - Different Light

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The House That Agnes Built

 

One of the shorter tracks on Amigo the Devil's latest record Yours Until the War is Over, however, I wanted to post "Agnes" because, in listening to it a few times in a row last night, I realized I'd kind of glossed over this track on previous listens. The arranging here is subtle but fantastic. You can head over to the official Amigo the Devil website HERE to order the album.

 

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Watch:

We released a new episode of Drinking with Comics a few days ago. In this episode, Shinabargar and I discuss one of our favorite Batman stories of all time: Grant Morrison and Klaus Janson's Gothic.

 

Also, on the new episode of The Horror Vision that dropped today, we deep-dive into Lars Von Triers' The House That Jack Built. As has become our standard, the YouTube version of the show has a full array of visual accompaniments if you want to "hear" it there.

Here's a spoiler: I hated this film. Despite that, I found some really cool ideas in it to discuss. 

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Playlist:

Mountain Realm - Frostfall

Duga-1 - Abyss

The Raveonettes - In and Out of Control

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

Trombone Shorty - Too True

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Nell' ora blu

Dr. John - Locked Down 

Amigo the Devil - Yours Until the War is Over

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Man Man - Alibi

 

From Carrot on Strings, out on June 7th. Pre-order from Man Man's Bandcamp HERE. 

LOVE having these guys back.

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Play:

When I first heard of Puppet Combo back somewhere around 2017 (I think), it was in reference to a game called The Glass Staircase that seemed to have major Suspiria vibes. I did not own a game console of any kind, and I hadn't played a video game since the original Nintendo system (other than some DDR at arcades and a DDR enthusiast friend's house). I dug Puppet Combo's aesthetic so much I bought the game from their website for the computer, and struggled through attempting to play it with the direction arrows on my Mac.

Needless to say, I didn't get far.

Thus, a few years ago when I saw PC's name pop up with the announcement that their games were going to begin porting over to consoles, I bought a Switch solely to play them. First up - Nun Massacre, a game that I've mentioned here before scares the living shit out of me when I play.

Since then, there have been a handful of releases, and I've loved them all. Now, finally, The Glass Staircase is coming to Switch. I know what I'll be doing on May 24th (actually, I'll be driving to Chicago, but I'll probably stay up late the night before to download the game). 

Also available for other consoles as well; read the full article that put me in such a good mood this morning over on Bloody Disgusting HERE.

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Read:

Over on The Horror Vision, we recently resurrected Sticks n' Stones, our Folk Horror show that Ray and I started in 2022 with two episodes and then kind of let slip away. A lot happened in 2022, and I'd wanted to bring the show back for a while. Finally, our cohost Anthony (AKA Butcher) brought this up recently, and we recorded a new episode. In prepping for that, I began not only rewatching many of the films in Severin Film's BRILLIANT box set, All the Haunts Be Ours. I also began reading the anthology book that came with the set, All The Haunts Be Ours - edited by documentary filmmaker Kier-La Janisse. 

This turns out to be perfect reading for our first morning in Laurel, MS, as the Air BnB K and I are staying in is referred to as "The Hobbit House." While I haven't really been a fan of Tolkien's work since I was a child, the vibe fits with my reading and this current "Folk" state of mind. Also, I went back and pulled out an old issue of the Weird Walk Zine I've spoken about here previously.

This is a favorite for getting me into the "Folkloric" state of mind; the essay on John Constable's paintings by Justin Hopper, complete with Bauhaus song name chapter stops, really helps. 

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Playlist:

The Raveonettes - Return of the Grievous Angel (pre-release single)

The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust

The Raveonettes - Pretty In Black

Amy Winehouse - Frank

Run the Jewels - RTJ4

Searching For The Sons of Sam Podcast

The Damned - Night of the Living Damned

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

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Card:

Another single card today, this time from my travel Thoth deck that Missi gifted me years ago:

This feels about right, not only because our accommodations are so wonderful (Link to the Hobbit House HERE), but because Laurel has so many trees! The oxygen here is off the charts; what more could beings who live off the stuff ask for? Not much, because we feel wonderful because of it. Let the luxurious reinvigoration begin!

New Music from The Raveonettes!!!

The morning my vacation begins, I wake up to find not only new music from The Raveonettes—a Gram Parsons cover, no less—but a full album of covers up for pre-order over on Cleopatra Records and a tour announcement! Regarding that pre-order, there's GLOW IN THE DARK VINYL! Man, this just gets better and better. Pre-order The Raveonettes... Sing on vinyl HERE (while it lasts).

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Watch:

K and I went to see the new Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black last night, and while there are probably some issues I could cite with the film, none of them matter. We loved it! 

I thought Marisa Abela did a great job, especially with the singing, and overall, I just really loved seeing this story brought to life on the big screen. Add to that an original score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, and getting to hear not only Amy's songs on a theatrical sound system, but a new Cave/Ellis track composed for the film, and I was in heaven. According to the film's director:

"I watched him sit at the piano and just sort of conjure up this incredible song, which is now at the end of the film."

If you love Amy Winehouse's music as much as we do, see this on a big screen. Your heart will swell and burst, and it will feel wonderful through the tears.

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Playlist:

Various - The Void OST

CCR - Cosmo's Factory

Chris Isaak - Heart Shaped World

Lustmord - Much Unseen Is Also Here

Amigo the Devil - Everything is Fine

Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats - Nell' ora blu

Jim Williams - Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched OST

Sunn O))) - Monoliths and Dimensions

The Damage Manual - Limited Edition

White Zombie - Astro Creep 2000

Shellac - 1000 Hurts

Pink Milk - Ultra Violet

Pink Milk - Night on Earth

Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

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Card:

A quick one-card draw for travels today:

XVIII: The Moon - I typically relate this card to "the unseen"; however, it can also mean relinquishing fear. Not sure if that's a nod toward anxieties I hold at work or maybe about our drive to MS today, as our destination is currently part of the "Gulf Coast Storm" area with heavy flooding. I'll take this to mean proceed, but keep up on the alerts (Which would be 'unseen' if we ignored them, which I am wont to do).

Watch Song

 

Seven just wasn't enough. We miss you already, Steve!

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Sefven Days of Steve: Day 7

We bring Seven Days Celebrating Steve Albini's career with a track from what is, in my opinion, one of the greatest production statements in Independent Rock history. Really, The Jesus Lizard's Goat, Liar and Down are all neck and neck for that honor, all produced by Albini. 

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NCBD:

Pretty robust week, considering how I've downsized. Here we go:

I could have sworn this book ended with issue five, but here we are at #6, and the end isn't for another month yet. 

Love this cover. Feels like this book was on a little hiatus, glad to have it back. 

This Untold Destiny of the Foot Clan book is proving to be considerably better than I originally anticipated. LOVING the art by Mateus Santolouco, so I'm here for that, at the very least. But I'm really interested in seeing where this Casey-Jones-with-the-bad-guys subplot goes, and overall, I dig seeing a continuation of The Foot's story without Shredder. 

I'll just eat my words and say this now: so far, I love this book. I'm still not hip to ANYTHING Marvel has done with Aliens in comic form, but this? This is a really cool "What If" continuation of Cameron's Aliens.

So checked out on these. Last issue of this series, which means it should just be two issues to go before I can get out of the X-books altogether. 

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Watch:

The first teaser trailer for Francis Ford Coppola's upcoming Megalopolis dropped earlier in the week. 

This is as far as I'll be going with trailers on this one. This film is slowly creeping into the role of one of my most anticipated films of the year. To read some of what FFC has said about this, I think this could be one of his greatest films (after Dracula and Apocalypse Now, of course).

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Playlist:

Various - The Void OST

Graveyard - Lights Out

Yerusalem - The Sublime

Lustmord - Much Unseen Is Also Here

Ian Lynch - All You Need Is Death OST

Adam Egypt Mortimer - The Obelisk

Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She

Amigo the Devil - Everything is Fine

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Card:

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

• IV: The Emperor

• Knight of Pentacles

• Ace of Cups

Action; approach Earthly concerns with Intelligence, and an emotional breakthrough will follow. That's a bit fortune cookie vague for a reading, but I'm spent. 

Seven Days of Steve: Day 6

For these final two days of Steve Albini celebration, I wanted to highlight a few of the albums that his production made him sort of an extension of the band. So we start with Pigface's debut album, Gub, released thirty-three years ago next Tuesday. If I remember my history correctly, that's Albini tweaking knobs and creating those whirling synthesizer tones on the track. 

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Watch:

A short teaser for David Cronenberg's upcoming film The Shrouds recently dropped. It tells us nothing, and I'm fine with that. 

This ends up being superfluous, as there's nothing that can make me more excited to see David Cronenberg's new film more than the fact that it's David Cronenberg's new film. Still, I like to post stuff like this here for posterity's sake. Here's a synopsis:

"The Shrouds” centers on Karsh, 50, a prominent businessman. Inconsolable since the death of his wife, he invents GraveTech, a revolutionary and controversial technology that enables the living to monitor their dear departed in their shrouds. One night, multiple graves, including that of Karsh’s wife, are desecrated. Karsh sets out to track down the perpetrators."

Cronenberg's previous film, Crimes of the Future, turned a lot of long-time fans off, but I found it thrilling. One of the only truly transgressive feeling Cinema viewings I've had in a long, long time. 

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Playlist:

Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - Nell' ora blu

Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - The Night Creeper

Bossk - .4

Pigface - Gub

Big Black - Songs About Fucking

Robot God - Portal Within

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Card:

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

• Five of Swords

• Queen of Swords

• Seven of Swords

What's with the three-card suits the last two days? Weird. Not the best picture I've taken, but I find the white of this Bound deck makes it a bit tougher for me to photograph. Anyway...

Swords are all about Air, Intellect and, in a practical sense, relationships. Fives are Conflict, Queen Emotion and Seven's completion (Netzach - Victory!). In other words let passion guide the argument to a solution, or, perhaps more pragmatically, if they won't listen, scream at them.