New Music from Oranssi Pazuzu

From a still unannounced forthcoming album due October 11, 2024, on Nuclear Blast Records, I don't think I can dig a band more. After discovering these guys within the last year, I'm falling head over heels for Oranssi Pazuzu and this new single only further cements that.

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Bungle:

This... is an unexpected miracle:

Quote Unquote 1991-1999 is a 6 LP vinyl boxset that includes remastered editions of Mr. Bungle's original three Warner Bros. albums: 1991's Eponymous, 1995's Disco Volante, and 1999's California. All three of those records rank among my favorite, most influential pieces of music. Disco Volante—despite the fact that I haven't listened to it in some time—remains one of my favorite pieces of music ever recorded (right behind Fantômas's Delirium Cordia). Here's the solicitation for the boxset:

"6LP boxset of Mr. Bungle's three legendary albums on Warner Records: Mr. Bungle, Disco Volante & California. Each album comes as a 2LP Gatefold, all packaged together in a metallic foil box. Mastered by Scott Hull exclusively for vinyl from the original mixes (some for the first time ever). Features two alternate takes of inter-program material from the Bungle archives"

I'll say this was a little confusing to order because everything I found linked to this release navigates back to Rhino Records' page for their 1000-copy yellow vinyl variant that sold out instantly. I scooped up my standard vinyl copy from Acoustic Sounds, HERE.

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Read:

Traveling again, so I'm stalled out on Stephen Graham Jones' Don't Fear the Reaper because I didn't want to carry a Hardcover book with me this time, so I'm picking at Clark Ashton's Smith's story "The Black Abbot of Puthuum."

Smith's prose is hit-or-miss with me; his "The Door to Saturn" is one of my all-time favorite Fantasy stories. The Black Abbot is one I've attempted to read before and not made it through, so we'll see how it fairs this time.

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Playlist:

Black Sky Giant - The Red Chariot

Zeal & Ardor - GREIF (pre-release singles)

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets

This Movie Saved My Life Podcast - 1994: A Year in Cinema, Part 1

The Bronx - II

LCD Soundsystem - Eponymous

Wham! - Make It Big

Huey Lewis and the News - Sports

Talking Heads - Remain in Light

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band - Night Moves

Boston - Eponymous

The Doobie Brothers - What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits

Underworld - Beaucoup Fish

Scissor Sisters - Eponymous

David Bowie - Hunky Dory

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Card:

While traveling, I have my trusty mini-Thoth deck that Missi gifted me once upon a time. Love this deck. Here's today's Pull, followed by a caveat:

• Queen of Cups

• Ace of Swords

• Seven of Wands: Valor

Emotional or "Watery" Aspect of Emotion, Intellectual Breakthrough and Victory (Netzach). This seems to tell of an internal accomplishment; a breakthrough with one of the (many) things bothering me. This has been affecting my sleep for some time, which is one thing to deal with when you're home and work from home, quite another when you're on the road. 

Caveat: Before I retrieved my travel deck, I found an online "Daily Tarot Reading" site. Here's that spread:

• XV: The Devil

• I: The Magician

• XVI: The Tower

Talk about a different reading! This suggests my day will be filled with Tension, and that I'll be looking to tear down the old and start anew. I post this here just to record the data, as I really put no faith in an online reading service. 

New Music from Zeal & Ardor!

From the forthcoming album GREIF, out Agust 23rd. Pre-order HERE.

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Watch:

Last night, I had the privilege of watching an advance copy of Director Chris Cronin's new film The Moor. Here's a trailer:

I cannot give a film a higher recommendation than I give for this one. The Moor is suspense with a pure Horror center. Ostensibly a slow-burn about child abduction and the aftermath, this one really dances a fine line with the inherently 'thin' moors that turn England's North into a place not easily tread by humans. I won't say whether it ever crosses that line, however, Cinematographer Sam Cronin really delivers the vast and sweeping eeriness of the Yorkshire Moors. Add to that the haunting score by Nir Perlman and this one has a strong otherworldly feel that will suck you right in and hold you until the end.

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Playlist:

Zombi - Direct Inject

Revolting Cocks - Beers Steers and Queers

The Besnard Lakes - ... Are the Roaring Night

Shellac - To All Trains

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Card:

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

• XIII: Death

• Nine of Swords

• Two of Pentacles

Change, climax and partnership. A direct reference to something that has been driving me near-to-mad the last few days. I'll leave it at that for now.

 

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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