Money Mark - Hand in Your Head

From Money Mark's 1998 album Push the Button. One fine little tune to brighten your day. Had this man on my mind since watching that B-Boys doc on Apple, and it's been a while since I revisited this. So good.

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NCBD:

Are those... Sharkticons? Oh man! DWJ and team know exactly how to get me excited before I even hold the book in my hands.

The return of Jeff Lemire & Gabriel H. Walta's Phantom Road! This is long overdue, and I'm dying to re-read the first ten issues and pick right back up where we left off. So many burning questions with this one.

I'll admit, when this book flipped to the second arc last issue and I saw it involved that ventriloquist dummy character from Batman's classic rogues gallery, I was unconvinced. But Watters and Sherman left me completely agog by that issue's closing page, so I'm psyched to be back!

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Watch:

There's really only about 3% of stuff on Netflix I care about, and one of those is Love, Death + Robots, which is returning May 15th for Volume 4. Here's a teaser:

I've watched the first three volumes countless times, but I still somehow have the feeling I have not seen it all. This was a show I used to fall asleep to back in Redondo Beach when I first became enamored with it, so some episodes have a real 2:00 A.M. haze to them. That said, there's something particularly envigorating about viewing Science Fiction from a liminal conscious state, and I'm pretty sure that has added to my high regard for the show.

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Playlist:

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

The Jesus Lizard - Rack

Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 1

Neverly Brothers - The Dark Side of Everything

Sumerlands - Dreamkiller

Sqürl - Third Man Records Session

Beastie Boys - Check Your Head

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Card:

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

• Two of Swords

• Four of Cups

• King of Pentacles

As I've said here before, one of the many things I love about Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot is the imagery he uses is so particular to me, so invested in meaning, I can sometimes just read these based on what I see and not the learned associations of the number/suite/arcana. In this case, I'm hearing loud and clear I should pursue a new musical idea I have. Heard, chef.

Reba Meyer's Solo Music!

Reba Meyers' solo record to follow this, her second single, later this year! Super good news. I love Meyer's work, but Code Orange has slowly drifted into realms that, while I'll continue to give them a chance to come back, are far afield from what I listen to.

Check out Meyer's BandCamp HERE. Also, a short interview with her can be found HERE.

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Watch:

Have not had time to watch much in the last week or so. Three series have been competing for my time and heart: Severance, Yellowjackets Season Three, and a combination of Daredevil: Born Again and a rewatch of the original Daredevil Netflix series, currently nearing the end of the first season. I did, however, have occasion to watch the 2020 Spike Jonze documentary Beastie Boys Story, which I cannot recommend enough, even if you're not a fan. 

The format here is Mike D. and Adrock on stage in front of a live audience, with Spike Jonze controlling images and footage on a movie screen behind them as they talk. The show is an intimate, no-holds-barred look at their history, and I cannot commend Diamond and Horowitz enough for facing some of their uncomfortable moments head-on. Also, the love and admiration on display between these two for each other and their fallen comrade Adam Yauch makes for a beautiful framing device for the group's history. Lots of stuff here I didn't know, and I grew up a pretty big fan in the 90s.

And, of course, I had to follow that up with Fight for Your Right (Revisited), which I hadn't watched since it was released. 

So much fun just spotting all the cameos, and, of course, even though I'm not generally a fan of most of these gentlemen's brand of humor, here, applied to a topic that resonates, it's just a blast.

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Playlist:

Pink Floyd - UmmaGumma

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Data Doom

Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Oz

Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta I: Fathers of the Icy Age

Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars

Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las Vegas

John Carpenter - Big Trouble in Little China OST

Dreamkid - Daggers

Skid Row - Eponymous

Flying Lotus - Spirit Box

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

Alegeaeon - The Ossuary Lens

Cibo Mato - Stereotype A

Captain Jack - Pure Electric

Beastie Boys - Check Your Head

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Card:

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

• Ace of Cups

• XIII: Death

• XVIII: The Moon

Everything starts with or includes transformation of late. Big things on the horizon, I think. Lots of conversations in my life at the moment pertaining to work, home and family. This just tells me something needs to change, but it may not be the most obvious thing.

Mclusky

Mclusky is the closest thing I've seen to the old Butthole Surfers. Thanks to Mr. Brown and Jacob for sending this my way, because this band was not on my radar at all. 

New album, "the world is still here and so are we" is out now on Ipecac Recordings; order a copy HERE.

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NCBD:

I love that this week's pull is two super indie Horror books and one major. Makes me feel like maybe the indie comics world is making a new push. Let's do everything we can to help it succeed.

Barstow is so goddamn odd and I have loved every freakin' minute of it. A Desert X-Files analogue, except darker, weirder and a helluva lot bloodier than Mulder and Scully ever saw. This appears to be the final issue, but damn would I love to see a 'second season.'

I know nothing about Plague House by Michael W. Conrad and Dave Chisholm, but Oni Press has really been knocking it out of the park lately, so I'm on board to check this out. Here's the solicitation blurb from League of Comic Geeks:

"Thirteen years ago, Orin McCabe was a family man living a privileged life in the suburbs. Today, he’s condemned to death row for murdering his entire family in an unexpected fit of hammer-wielding brutality. In the aftermath of his heinous crime, it’s fallen to a trio of eclectic, but dedicated, ghost hunters—Jacob, the holy man; Holland, the skeptic; and their leader, Del, a true believer in the occult and worlds beyond—to surveil the abandoned McCabe home in search of proof for the existence of the undead . . . and whatever supernatural source may have possibly fueled McCabe’s inhuman massacre. But this ill-matched and uneasy squad of investigators is about to discover something much more terrifying than any ordinary spirit. . . . Something much more pernicious, much more contagious, that if not contained, could take full advantage of America’s unquenchable appetite for violence and deliver a plague of blood unto us all . . ."

Sounds f'king awesome, right?

Finally, thinking of picking this up:

Larry Hama's GIJOE: ARAH is doing this weekly event "Silent Missions," and while I probably won't pick up the all, I have a soft spot for Beach Head, so I'm in on this one.

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Watch:

I caught the trailer for the new film by Talk to Me's Danny and Michael Philippou once in the trailer last month and it was enough to convince me that I would henceforth be in rabid expectation. 

Great title, too. The Philippou's are fantastic filmmakers who earned their first hit and will likely continue to make them. There's an interview with the brothers up on Indie Wire that I haven't had a chance to read and likely will avoid until after the film's theatrical release on May 30th, which you can bet your arse I'll be sitting in a seat at my Regal for.

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Playlist:

Pink Floyd - Umma Gumma

Alice Donut - Dry Humping the Cash Cow

The Kills - Live at Third Man Records

Arcade Fire - Everything Now

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

Melvins - Thunderball

Mclusky - the world is still here and so are we

Various – The Daptone Super Soul Revue Live! At The Apollo

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Card:

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

• XXI: The World

• VIII: Strength

• King of Pentacles

XXI: The World (The Universe in Thoth) can sometimes indicate a happy ending. Combined with Strength and King of Pentalces - financial security - indicates, to me at this time, stay the course and things will work out. Really interesting developments after my recent pontifications on work and corporate life (anti-life), and I can't help but feel this pull is a direct response. 

Hangman's Chair Live at Hellfest!!!

 

Another fantastic live performance as posted by the fantastic ARTE Concert YouTube page.

I'm super new to Hangman's Chair - I discovered them by way of singer Cédric Toufouti's work on Perturbator's Lustful Sacraments - so I had no idea they were big enough for a crowd like this. Always nice to see a band you're sweet on getting an ocean of love at a live performance. 

I've posted recently about the band's new album, Saddiction, which you can pick up from Nuclear Blast HERE.
 

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Watch:

I really think I need to spend a little more time talking about Severance than I did the other day. This is, for me, the most important show I know of at the moment.

This show is an allegory for the ramifications of the Corporate paradigm we live in and its effect on human beings, and it's a damn good one, at that. It's really made me reflect on my life and my job, which is becoming so all-consuming that it's affecting my writing, my sanity, and maybe my overall person. I have dreams that express the fear I'm being slowly brainwashed into one of these fucking corporate pod-people, and it's terrifying. 

One of the major plotlines of Severance is how the "Outties" - i.e., the person when not at work- basically sell their "Innies" into slavery. Of course, the Outtie does not go unscathed. I've only seen far enough (season 2, episode 2) into the show to get a feel for one character's home life, but it's clear they are not happy. Because, of course, to draw a really strong comparison from Severance to a film I love:

You cannot treat one aspect of yourself poorly and not expect it to affect the overall organism. 

This is an exaggerated pretense of how I feel about my work-life balance, a term that in and of itself makes me crazy. I spend far too much of my time working, thinking about work, solving my Innie's problems, and in this way, I feel like, just as The Substance is a remarkable allegory for beauty and self-worth, Severance is an allegory for the trade-off we make for money, status and all the other trappings of 'success.' To many people who know me, I might appear successful. In my own mind, however, I realize the damage the trade-off is doing. 

Word.

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Playlist:

Ministry - The Squirrely Years

Tim Hecker - Infinity Pool OST

Flying Lotus - ASH OST

The Veils - Asphodels

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil

Heilung - Lifa

David Bowie - Outside

Metallica - Kill 'Em All

Slow Crush - Aurora

Low - Trust

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Card:

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

• Queen of Cups

• XVI: The Tower

• Seven of Wands

Look to your dreams for what comes after the Fall. Of special note may be causes previously thought irrelevant.

Ministry - The Squirrely Years

 

I had heard Uncle Al was bringing the band out on the road to play the material from the 12" Singles/With Sympathy era, but I didn't realize that meant we were going to get a fully reworked release of the most iconic tracks. That's right - Ministry: The Squirrely Years Revisited is out and it's pretty damn good. 

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Watch:

I could tell you about the movie with Jenny Ortega and Paul Rudd that I went to see last night, or I can keep it clean and talk about how, despite my lifelong disdain for Ben "The Black Hole of Comedy" Stiller, my sister recently talked me into watching Severence on Apple TV and I absolutely love it.

Now, Stiller didn't create this, but he directed the first three episodes, and they were stellar! I mean, credit where it's due, folks. 

Created by Dan Erickson, IMDB sums the show up thusly:

"Mark leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives. When a mysterious colleague appears outside of work, it begins a journey to discover the truth about their jobs."

This show is DARK. The lives of each character are divided as their "Innie" and "Outie." The Innie's lives exist solely at the office, and while most of them cope by convincing themselves they are doing something great, one character is desperate to get out and cannot. She makes several resignation requests to her Outtie, but each falls on deaf ears, leading to an increasingly malevolent response.

Can't recommend this one enough. 

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Read:

Late last week, I finished John Dies At the End, and I'm happy to report it was absolutely fantastic. Such a fun read that has a pretty unique tone. Dave, the Narrator, has a particularly snarky approach to the world, and the titular John splits the difference between stupidity and heroism perfectly.

Next up: Adam Cesare's Clown in a Cornfield.

I was on the fence about this one, but my good friend Jesus sent me a copy a year or two ago, and with the movie coming out, I knew we'd cover it on The Horror Vision, so I figured a comparison between the film and source material would be in order. ~80 pages in, and I can say this is a very readable book. Not much has happened yet, but I'm enjoying it for sure. 

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Playlist:

Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound

Pink Floyd - Piper At the Gates of Dawn

Tool - Ænima

Ike Reilly - Poison the Hit Parade

Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

Skid Row - Eponymous

Skid Row - Slave to the Grind

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Card:

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

• King of Wands

• Two of Swords

• Ace of Swords

Mastering Will to stand or severe unproductive partnerships. Hmmm... I hate when I receive 'work advice' from the cards, but it's on point. 

 

I had kind of tuned Radiohead out by the time In Rainbows landed, but I'm not really sure why. My good friend Chester recently brought up In Rainbows being what he considered the end of the band's Golden Age, so I went back and gave it a couple of pretty deep listens. I definitely agree with Chester; In Rainbows, while nowhere near Kid A, OK Computer, or even Hail to the Thief, definitely feels more in line with those albums. I suppose at some point I need to test my prejudices against Radiohead's later output, which seems like it became interchangeable with York's solo career at some point and started sounding a bit like self-indulgent electronic noodling. 

Definitely check out From the Basement's YouTube page. A lot of really great performances like this one.

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NCBD:

I am super excited about all three books in this week's Pull:

Really digging Dust to Dust from Giant Generator and Image Comics, a kind of Dustbowl Horror Thriller from JG Jones and Phil Bram. This is apparently the penultimate issue; not sure if this will continue beyond issue #5, but it seems like it's a safe bet.

With the first issue of Into the Unbeing Part Two, this book became even weirder than it already was. That's not nothing. I'm definitely recommending this book to anyone who enjoyed Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach series as much as I did. 

I mentioned this a week or two ago, and my excitement has only grown. All hail Giallo-inspired everything!

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Playlist:

The Kills - Live at Third Man Records

Blind Willie McTell - Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order (Vol. 1)

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Witchfinder - Forgotten Mansion

X - Los Angeles

Alice Donut - Dry Humping the Cash Cow

Arcade Fire - Everything Now

Double Life - Indifferent Stars

Entropy - Liminal

Deftones - Koi No Yokan

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Hangman's Chair - Kowloon Lights

Really digging this new Hangman's Chair album. Here's one of my favorite tracks so far. You can head over to Nuclear Blast to order Saddiction on vinyl or CD.

 

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Watch:

I ran across the trailer for Joshua Erkman's debut feature film, A Desert on Bloody Disgusting, yesterday and instantly fell in love with the tone of the trailer - which I watched once and doesn't give much away.

Of particular note, The Jesus Lizard's David Yow is in the cast, which is casting I'm always happy to see. I'm completely unfamiliar with everyone else involved except the credited composer is none other than Ty Segall! Also, distributor Dark Sky Films tends to deliver greatness. 

Looking around online, I found one of co-writer/Director Joshua Erkman's previous films available on YouTube:

Looking forward to this one.

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Playlist:

Television - Marquee Moon

QOTSA - Era Vulgaris

Windhand - Eternal Return

Melvins - Hold It In

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction

Kowloon Walled City - Piecework

Conrad Schrenk & Thomas Lang - Yumaflex

Fvnerals - Let the Earth Be Silent

Moderat - II

Witchfinder - Forgotten Mansion

Barry Adamson - Oedipus Schmoedipus

Double Life - Indifferent Stars

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