Deadguy - Knife Sharpener

 

From their first album in 30 years, Near-Death Travel Services, out June 27th on Relapse Records. I pre-ordered my copy from the Relapse Store the second I saw the announcement last month. Love these guys, and I love this video! The False Metal asteroid made me laugh out loud!

It's difficult to put into words the joy seeing Deadguy reunite instills in me. These guys were one of the few bands from the old Victory Records that made a positive impact on me. In fact, Fixation on a Coworker became something of a legendary album for my friends and I at a time when there wasn't a lot of metal besides Ministry or Mike Patton projects that we cared for. I've carried the CD copy Subculture Magazine sent me to review with me since I received it blind back in '95, and seeing them reunite last year in Brooklyn and now having a new full-length on the way in just a few weeks... it feels great. 

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Despite an INSANE level of curiosity, I am abstaining from watching this trailer for now. I'm not sure I ever thought The Black Phone needed a sequel, but after reading a bit about this, I have to say, I'm in.        

I'm sure I'll see this a bunch of times at my local theatre, but for now, I'll push past it and hope I can just be surprised. I will say, in the little bit of the synopsis I read, they mention a "Winter Camp," and I thought that was an amazing twist on the Summer Camp trope. I'm curious if it's ever been done before. I brought it up at the comic shop and one of the guys mentioned The Lodge and The Shining, but while those are winter-based, they're not 'camps.' The more I think about this - and it will still require some research to confirm - this may be a one-of-a-kind concept here. 

Derrickson and Cargill - I really don't think this can go wrong.

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Read:

As K and I continue our rewatch of Daredevil, Season Two, my fascination with John Bernthal's rendition of Frank Castle has me jonesing to re-read some of the old 1980s Punisher comics I was obsessed with back in the day. So, Tuesday night after we finished Season Two, Episode 7, K retired for the night and I spent some time pulling out short boxes.

I'd forgotten that Stephen Grant wrote the original 1985 Punisher mini-series that served as the set-up for the ongoing one that kicked off in 1987. The ongoing was my introduction, but a large part of my catalyst for picking that up was seeing Mike Zeck's cover art on the wall behind the counter at my first comic ship, Worth, Illinois' Heroland (back when it was attached to the Post Office on Harlem and 111th). Mike Zeck is a criminally forgotten artist who did the art for two of my favorite series from the 80s - this Punisher mini-series and J.M. Dematteis' Kraven's Last Hunt, which I've waxed on about in these pages several times.

I eventually picked up all five issues of this mini at comic book shows scattered around Illinois - they used to host them at Knight's of Colombus Halls - and they quickly became prized possessions. It's been quite some time since I've read these, though, so it's great to go back to them now. 

The story starts with Castle behind bars at Rikers. A run-in with Jigsaw and a failed assassination during a prison break put Castle in the debt of an organization called The Trust. The Trust says they just want Frank to keep doing what he's doing and they'll fund it - but Frank knows there's another shoe bound to drop, and he's packing enough ammo accordingly.

It wasn't until a couple of years ago that an off-hand comment in something I read made me realize how inherently 'Right Wing' the concept of the Punisher is. Although, I'd argue there's an element of Common Sense here as well - Common Sense being my political predisposition in comparison to the two parties of nonsense we currently adhere to in this country. Still, there's no denying that the origins of this character - and certainly the early comics - leaned that way. Yet, just like Marvel has done with Frank's current incarnation in Disney +'s Daredevil: Born Again, there's complexity here that undermines this interpretation. 

That Marvel was able to 'take back' the Punisher logo in Born Again after its unfortunate "Scared Blue Line" association since that infamous photo of a cop's lock screen as he waits outside the Uvalde school shooting while children die is nothing short of a fucking miracle. Not everyone will agree with me on this, but I thought the fact that Marvel addressed this head-on in Born Again was ballsy, poignant and honestly took a lot of guts. I'd be curious to know how many Police officers started the show with a sense of excitement and then bounced once they saw the turn it took with Fisk's private army of corrupt police. The distinction here is perfect - a truly thin blue line that, just as in our reality, takes care to separate the good cops from the bad ones. Anyone offended would seem to be taking the wrong side from the jump.

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Playlist:

The Henry Rollins Show - The Stooges (2007)

The Henry Rollins Show - Marilyn Manson & Peaches

Danzig - I Luciferi

Ghost - Skeletá

Black Sabbath - Vol. 4

Brand X - Morrocan Roll

Ministry - Box

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Deadguy - Knife Sharpener (pre-release single)

Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell

OOIOO - Gold & Green

Man Man - Life Fantastic

Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician

Murder Inc. - The Complete Murder Inc/Locate Subvert Terminate

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Card:

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

• Three of Cups

• IX: The Hermit

• Queen of Cups

The Strength of Two is equal to Three, especially after coming back from a lonely gestation period. Return to a realm of deep Love and Understanding.

Feast of Wire, NCBD

 

From Calexico's fourth studio album, Feast of Wire. This one is a masterpiece. Well, most of Calexico's records are, but as I listen to this track while typing these words, I remember exactly how I felt the first time Mr. Brown played it for me back in 2003. Which is fitting, as I'm listening to Mr. Brown's copy of the record, which he lent me during our previous record swap and I only just acquired a new turntable that easily plays 45 RPM. Now that I can play this, it won't be leaving my 'on deck' pile until we switch out again at the end of the month. 

Hot damn is this record fantastic!

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NCBD:

Last week I walked into Rick's Comic City in Clarksville and realized a kind of comic book apocalypse had come to pass: with Diamond now bankrupt and liquidated, their POS system, Comic Suite, is defunct. My Drinking with Comics co-host Mike Shinabarger had mentioned this was coming a while ago; however, I didn't fully understand the implications until last week. Stores now have no computerized way to assign books to customers' pulls, order specific books for customers, and a whole mess of other complications. So it's anybody's guess if I'll be able to pull down the books I flag each week, especially the upcoming new titles beginning over the next few weeks. Apparently, there's no good substitute for the software, either.

Here's what I'm hoping to bring home today:

Issue three of this creepy A.F. haunted house story that we now know is a lot more than just a haunted house story. 

This book is growing on me more and more. That said, I've just realized my copy of #1 is going for a pretty penny on eBay, and I have a rather gratuitous purchase on a loop in my head, so I may be parting with that.

The finale of this odd little book about the Jersey Devil, a subject I have long had a great deal of fascination for. I'm not entirely sure what the deal is with this book; i.e., is it based on actual historical figures that factored into the origin of the Jersey Devil myth, or if this is just James Tynion playing with history and folklore? Either way, I've enjoyed the book quite a bit. 

Mindbender's revenge. 'Nuff said! Love this cover. 

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I'm not sure how I discovered this Captain Beefheart interview on Lettermen, but for whatever reason, it just felt right today:

 

It's crazy how much he looks like my Uncle Phil. Also, this is 1983, and before I watched the old NBC show that I became such a fan of in the mid-to-late 80s, staying up, watching it with my Mom (always Magnum P.I, and this). 

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Playlist:

Emilie Leviensaise-Farrouch - Censor OST

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

Stereolab - Instant Holograms On Metal Film

John Corigliano - Altered States OST

Calexico - Feast of Wire

Sqürl - Third Man Records Sessions

Exhalants - Atonement

Federale - Reverb & Seduction

Decalius - Dehumanizing Loneliness

Black Pyramid - The Paths of Time are Vast

Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Amoeba Music What's in My Bag? - Tony Hawk

Comic Tropes - The Worst X-Men Run

The Clash - Sandinista!

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

Led Zeppelin - In Through the Out Door

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Card:

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

• Two of Pentacles

• XXI: The World

• Knight of Wands

Collaboration opens up new opportunities that will reshape and reinvigorate the Will. 

Jesus Lizard LIVE!!!

Live from Birmingham, Alabama, courtesy of the Live from Birmingham YouTube channel. I have been meaning to head down to Birmingham since moving just over three hours from it. This would have been perfect! Drat! Oh well, 

Seeing a bearded Yow brings a smile to my face. Weird to have that opening drum hit on Seasick hit and not see him throw himself into the crowd. NOT a criticism - I stopped crowdsurfing a long time before he did. 

Live from Birmingham's mission statement (from their YouTube page):

"LIVE FROM BIRMINGHAM is the home of Subcarrier, an Alabama Public Television production filmed and recorded at SATURN in Birmingham, AL, featuring performers from across the musical spectrum. Subcarrier is the continuation of WE HAVE SIGNAL, a project active from 2008 until 2015 when the world-famous venue BottleTree closed."

I've added Saturn to my venues to watch list. 

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I've been sick and largely offline, so I completely forgot that GDT's Frankenstein received a trailer the other day. My good friend Chris Saunders messaged me a reminder, though, and after watching it, well, I am speechless:

 

I will be shocked if this doesn't claim my best-of-the-year spot. That said, is this going straight to Netflix? Because that would be a goddamn shame. This needs to be seen in a theatre!

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I've been sick all weekend, and in that time I blew Preston Fassel's Beasts of 42nd Street.

After my recent re-read of Our Lady of the Inferno and now this, Fassel is easily in my top five favorite authors at the moment. These are so insanely compelling, even if dark A.F. Our Lady is dark, but not in the same way Beasts is. Man, this really took me some place not very nice, but it was a hell of a ride, and I'll definitely make the trip again. Here's the solicitation blurb from publisher Cemetary Dance's website. Important to note that while this is readily available to order from the bezos corp, Cemetary Dance lists it as Out of Print. So grab it now:

"In the kingdom of the damned that is 42nd Street, there’s no lowlier subject than Andy Lew. An unrepentant junkie, voyeur, and degenerate, he’s only tolerated by the more dangerous men around him because he keeps the projectors at the Colossus theater running on time, entertaining them with the most extreme horror cinema money can buy. 

"There’s something unique about Andy, though. He owns a movie. It’s the only one of its kind. No one knows who made it. Only he knows where it came from. The woman it stars is beautiful beyond imagination—and the images it depicts are more nightmarish than the darkest depths of Hell. The beasts of 42nd Street will do anything to possess it, but there’s something they don’t understand. Andy loves the woman in the movie—and he’ll go to any lengths to protect her… A savage love letter to 70s exploitation cinema and a biting satire of toxic fan culture, Beasts of 42nd Street makes horror dangerous again as it ventures into the mind of a psychopath like no other— one that will have readers recoiling even as they keep coming back for more."

I LOVED this novel. It plays with so many ideas from the 42nd street mythos - snuff, projection reel theft, Satanic Panic, Police conspiracy - bundles them all together in a brilliant, engaging story that takes you into the alleyways of late 70s Manhattan and plays with your sense of the world as we know it. Or think we know it. 

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Playlist:

Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands 

White Rune - The Spell of Eternal Fire

Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta I: Fathers Of The Icy Ages

Federale - Reverb & Seduction

Genghis Tron - Dead Mountain Mouth

Emilie Leviensaise-Farrouch - Censor OST

Blut Aus Nord - Ultima Thulée

Ruin - Plague Transmissions, Vol. 1

Tangerine Dream - In Search of Hades: The Virgin Recordings 1973 - 1979

Pink Floyd - Ummagumma

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Card:

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

• Ace of Swords

• IV: The Emperor

• Eight of Pentacles

A breakthrough of Will that successfully affects the "rules" of whatever the objective is will require intense concentration and dedication.

Another reminder for me to get back up on my horse and stop resting on my laurels. 

New Music from Year of No Light

 

After falling pretty hard for Year of No Light's 2021 album Consolamentum, these guys have been off my radar for a while. Last week I went deep-diving my Apple Music stores on my phone and ran into that album, spun it a couple times in one day, then this week realized they released a single-track E.P. recently. And let me say - Les Maîtres Fous does not disappoint. At just under 30 minutes, this track goes all over the place in the best possible way, building from literally nothing to some epic, bombastic heights. Out on The Ocean's Pelagic Records, you can order yourself a copy from the group's Bandcamp or the Pelagic webstore that suits you best.

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The trailer for Joe Begos' Jimmy and Stiggs finally came out and HOLY F**KING SH*T!!!

My most eagerly anticipated film of the year. I will drive to see this on the big screen in August if I have to, no problem. The great thing about seeing the "Eli Roth Presents" tag is that, about an hour after I saw this at home, I went to the theatre and saw a slightly shorter version of this trailer play before the Philippou Brothers' new film, Bring Her Back.

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And let's talk about the Philippou Brothers' new film. While their first film, Talk to Me, is a banger in every sense of the term as I define it. Bring Her Back is not. 

This is drab, dour and dark in a way that will seep under your skin and play with your anxiety. This one burrows deep and really picks at some taboo terror. I have several friends who have compared it to Ari Aster's Midsommar, and I can't argue that. Difference between my comparison and theirs is part of theirs hinges on the "I don't think I will ever watch that again." 

I would see Bring Her Back again tomorrow if the opportunity of fancy arose. 

This is going to be in my top ten for sure, possibly top five. I'm further in awe of the Philippou Brothers and cannot wait to see what they do next. 

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Playlist:

John Carpenter w/ Alan Howarth - Big Trouble in Little China OST

Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell

Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Deftones - Koi No Yokan

Comic Tropes - How Marvel Comics' Editors Ruined Hobgoblin

America - Sister Golden Hair (single)

Slow Crush - Aurora

Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands 

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Card:

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

• Page of Cups

• XIV: Temperance (ART)

• Nine of Swords

First, I love Grimm's portrayal of XIV, because even though I always associate this card with Thoth's Art instead of the classic Temperance, I can see how Crowley got to the change, and Grimm's illustration here embodies it. The Dark Arts - You must temper them. 

While my entry in the grimoire for Princess or Page of Cups leads off with "Dreams can become reality," it's really all about focus. This is Malkuth, and to transcend it, focus is important. Certainly the dark arts are a form of focus and an expression of Will, and with them, the climax of the Nine of Swords can be achieved.

All of this is really a fancy, Yungian way to say focus and work hard - hard enough for the work to be mistaken/categorized as Magick, and you can accomplish your Earthly goals.

I'm sure it will come as a surprise to no one who reads these pages that I immediately equate this with my writing, as with BG&BH finished, I find myself wondering if I should proceed with publishing it through my Horror Vision imprint, or possibly shop it to agents/publishers. 

All Waves Lead to NCBD

 

From Greg Puciato's 2022 solo album Mirrorcell, which I've been revisiting of late. I'm not sure this final track on the album made as big an impression on me with previous listens, but yesterday it really hit. I love a good outro track, and this one is fantastic; it builds and then explodes and ebbs out. 

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NCBD:

A considerably more robust week than last, here's what I'm bringing home for NCBD:

I can't say enough good things about Tyler Boss and Adriano Turtulici's Giallo-flavored You'll Do Bad Things. Issue three puts us at the halfway mark, and things are bound to get even more f*ked up as the story progresses. 

I never realized how much Skuxxoid kind of looks like Star Wars bounty hunter Bossk, but the resemblance is definitely there in close-up. I thought this guy died an issue or two back, but he's apparently the featured character this issue, so we'll see if that means ol' Skuxx is actually harder to kill than we thought, or if we're going back in time for context on something in the currently storyline. Either way, count me in. Oh! Also, spoiler, but the solicitation for this one mentions the introduction of some other characters I can't wait to see the Energon Universe's take on:

The breakout fan-favorite of the Energon Universe takes center stage. Who is Skuxxoid? What is Skuxxoid? This issue answers all your burning questions and more! Plus, the FIRST APPEARANCE of Wreck-Gar and the Junkions!

 

I'm excited for this one, as the book is breaking up the story from the last few issues with something new, and the introduction of one of my favorite Joes (Beachhead) has me rife with anticipation as well.

Jeff Lemire's Minor Arcana has me pretty jazzed right now as well. This man is such an incredible Writer/Artist, and this book has his trademark brand of mystery just dripping from nearly every page.

I originally saw solicitations for the finale of the McKendrys' Dark Horse series Barstow last month, so I'm not sure if I was off or the distributor was. Either way, I can't wait to sit down and read this entire series start to finish. Such an odd and horrifying story.

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Watch:

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was due, and I finally got around to a re-watch of John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China this past Monday night. 

The only thing, this time, I watched it on Joe Bob Briggs' The Lost Drive-In Patreon, an old episode of TNT's Monstervision with an original air date of 10/19/97. The picture was pretty much atrocious, however, this version had extra scenes I did not recognize from the movie! Of course, there's another Carpenter film with extra footage that was added for television - Halloween - so this isn't that big of a surprise. Caught me a bit off guard, though, and helped make the experience better. 

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Playlist:

Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST

Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell

Year of No Light - Les Maîtres Fous E.P.

Greg Puciato - Fc5n E.P.

Airiel - Winks & Kisses: Melted E.P.

Sorry... - Your Smile Is Killing Me (Alt. Version single)*

Sorry... - Drowned in Misery*

Genghis Tron - Board Up the House

John Carpenter w/ Alan Howarth - Big Trouble in Little China OST

Rick Derringer - All American Boy

Godflesh - Post Self

Lard - Pure Chewing Satisfaction

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* Thanks, Tommy!

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Card:

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

• Queen of Cups

• Three of Pentacles

• V: The Hierophant

Emotions run high with the formation of an Earthly routine. 

The World Is So Good That Who Made It Doesn't Live Here

I finally had a chance to sit down and watch my copy of last year's Criterion Collection Gummo. Still one of the ugliest yet also most beautiful films I've seen, and the upgrade was just in time. I believe my previous viewing was somewhere circa 2019, at L.A.'s Egyptian Theatre, when Beyondfest brought Writer/Director Harmony Korine in to discuss the film afterward. I wrote about that experience HERE. My old DVD copy was just not going to cut it any longer.

One of Gummo's many joyful characteristics is its soundtrack, and while it led me to several fantastic artists in the early days of my infatuation with the film - I first saw it somewhere around 1999, I think - Mystifier is a band I'd previously not explored. 

Hailing from Brazil, these guys have a pretty interesting history. The song "Give the Human Devil His Due" comes from their 1996 album The World Is So Good That Who Made It Doesn't Live Here. How's that for a title, eh? The entire record is good, but so far this track is still the highlight (although that's very likely due to my identifying it with one of my favorite films).

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A Butthole Surfers documentary???? Yes: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt began select screenings in April!

Director Tom Stern has apparently been documenting the band since 1986, so this should be chock full O' historical moments that help cement this band's ironically insane tenure. I'm not sure where to see it at the moment, but I've subscribed to the film's YouTube channel, so hopefully, there will be some news soon. In the meantime, you can read more about the film on its official website HERE.

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Read:

Finally began tapping into the Weird Walk collection released last year:

This is a beautiful hardback book that compiles essays from the 'zine I've talked about here before. The authors cite everything from Jacques Derrida's writings on Hauntology to Julian Cope's The Modern Antiquarian as they set about discussing pre-history, deep time and their theory that to save the future, we must look back at the past. 

This won't be a 'straight-through' read for me. More likely, I will do an essay or two a week while I read other things on a daily basis.

You can check out more from Weird Walk on their website HERE.

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Playlist:

Pelican - Flickering Resonance

Rollins Band - The End of Silence

Rollins Band - Human (The End of Silence 1991 Demo)

TAD - Inhaler

White Lung - Paradise

Helmet - Meantime

The Ocean - Heliocentric

Young Widows - Old Wounds

Various - Learn to Relax: A Tribute to Jehu

Kamasi Washington - Lazarus OST

King Khan & The Shrines - What Is?!

Federale - No Justice

Idles - Joy As An Act of Rebellion

Anthrax - Among the Living

Mystifier - The World Is So Good That Who Made It Doesn't Live Here

David Bowie - Black Star

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST

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Card:

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

• Five of Pentacles

• Queen of Swords

• Page of Swords

Intellect over Earthly concerns, or perhaps this is better interpreted as Intellect to hone Earthly concerns.

New Pelican Album out Today!

 

Post-Metal - remember when that term was everywhere? Hydra Head Records (RIP) introduced me to a lot of great bands in the late '00s, and one of those was Chicago's instrumental tour de force Pelican. They've been off my radar for some time, but it feels good to rediscover them through a new release this morning!

You can order Flickering Resonance directly from Pelican's Bandcamp HERE.

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I've become increasingly into Asian Horror over the last few years, and one of my recent explorations therein is the Netflix adaptation of Haro Aso's Alice in Borderland Manga. 

I'm completely unfamiliar with the source material, but more than a few friends have recommended this to me, so I finally gave it a go and might be hooked. 

Ostensibly another entry into the Battle Royale subgenre, this one also has major Cube vibes right from the jump. I'm a big fan of deserted major cities on film, partly because it must be so hard to pull off, partly because the imagery is often gorgeous and prophetic, and this one opens with a fantastic example. I'm not attached to any of the characters yet, but the opening episode's "Rooms Countdown" sequence is very well done and insanely engaging. Did I actually bite my nails? I might have.

There are currently two seasons of Alice in Borderland on Netflix, with a third on the horizon. Apparently that's a bit of a concern for fans of the book, as Aso's work is completely covered in the first two seasons, but we'll burn that bridge when we get to it.

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Cast:

At some point I fell out of the habit of posting the new episodes of Drinking with Comics here, and I realized recently that's just dumb. Mike Shin and I did a new episode this week and it was a lot of fun, so here you go!

We talk this year's Energon Universe FCBD special, Daredevil: Born Again, and finish off our reading and discussion of Grant Morrison's Multiversity, which I still don't like, but at least found a way to stop hating. 

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Playlist:

Swans - The Glowing Man

PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her

Cartoonist Kayefabe - Jim Lee's Love Letter to Frank Miller

Cartoonist Kayefabe - First Appearance of Deadpool

Eitrin - Eponymous

Turnstile - GLOW ON

Black Flag - Everything Went Black

Black Flag - My War

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Undreamable Abysses

Blut Aus Nord - The Work Which Transforms God

The Untold Story of Transformers The Movie

Various - Learn to Relax: A Tribute to Jesu

The Damage Manual - Limited Edition

The Coffinshakers - We Are the Undead

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Card:

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

• Four of Wands

• Queen of Pentacles

• V: The Hierophant

Completion can, in and of itself, be a weakness. That's exactly where I'm at. After finishing Black Gloves & Broken Hearts, I was quick to jump back into Shadow Play Book Two and really made some progress for about a week, but now I'm just kind of living off the high of finishing a novel and having a super positive response from my first beta reader. I'm just so fucking happy with how this one turned out; I'm actually considering shopping it to Agents and Publishers. We'll see. In the meantime, The Hierophant completes the consideration by reminding that tapping back into something bigger than myself might help with the creative output. Or, it could be reminding me of the importance of the dogma of ritual, i.e. GO FUCKING WRITE!!!