2018: March 2nd 6:08 PM

This is late compared to how I've been posting here. Long day.

This week I'm filling in for KJVM on the Joup Friday Album. This installment's a bit of a departure for me. Read it HERE and welcome the weekend in with a theatrically evil 80s Metal icon, for better or for worse.

Playlist from yesterday seems 100,000,000 light years away, and I didn't take very good notes, so here goes from memory:

High On Fire - The Art of Self Defense
Sleep - Volume 1
High On Fire - Luminiferous
High On Fire - Blessed Black Wings
Sleep - Dopesmoker (Vinyl, which alters the experience by having to flip the side four times and remove and replace one record with another once)
Preoccupations - Eponymous
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

Was March 1st national Matt Pike day? Seems like it might have been.



Card of the day for today, which might be viewed a moot point at 6:16 PM, however you can learn a lot about Divination from reverse-engineering a draw:

From the Grimoire: Will indicate failing to achieve a goal. Paired with the 8 or 9 of Swords (which I did, drew two more cards and one was Interference) may indicate treachery. Or "Won't get the job." Hopefully that's not pointing toward the apartment we just applied for.

2018: March 1st

February's final playlist:

Deftones - B-Sides and Rarities
The Animals - Retrospective
The Soft Moon - Criminal
The Soft Moon - Deeper
Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss
Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets
Deafheaven - Roads to Judah
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Grand Duchy - Petit Fours
The Soft Moon - Eponymous

The new Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying is up. Click this big ol' Red thing HERE to read it on Joup.

Card of the day:

Not a lot in the Grimoire on this one. This is one of two cards I've always gone back and forth associating with someone from my past. That's problematic though; you can't assign one card to represent people. Two? Maybe. So what's that telling me? Nothing, really. Not on that track. In other interpretations I'd have to say the Wand of Earth is telling me to watch my money, which is in flux at the moment, which is being pulled in several directions: a hefty tax bill, the imminent move, and a rather large, long-term investment. All that said, I think the Princess here is telling me to act with conviction when the time is right and not be afraid to fork down the green.

2018: February 28th 9:13 AM

Woke up to Sade in my head, so I popped the Deftones version in on my morning drive:



I suspect I will get around to the original version later tonight.

Playlist from yesterday:

Grotus - Mass
Broadcast and the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
Windhand - Soma
Windhand/Satan's Satyrs - Split

Card of the day:

From the Grimoire (which really does need expanding, I just haven't had the time during these morning posts):

Enlightenment. Joy, Revelation; Dance.
The Triumph of the Spirit (which seems especially pertinent in a block of stressful days)
Entry portal to XX Aeon. "Taking the Pill will open your eyes."

Actually, that last bit seems very pertinent, as today I will be seeing my Pulmonologist and beginning my treatment regiment - most likely in pill form - for the Sarcoisdosis that I learned last year has been occupying more and more of the cells in my lungs for, oh, the better part of at least ten years now. No idea where it came from, but it's advancing rapidly now, or at least more rapidly than it has yet. It's known to affect the eyes and yep, definitely feeling that. Also, upon my last visit to the Pumonologist, he asked if I experienced random rashes, which I did not. Now, starting a few weeks ago, I have a nasty little bugger on my right foot. It's time to kick this out before it begins affecting my heart and/or liver. The treatment, Prednisone, will possibly lower my immune system, so I'm kind of expecting to get sick once or twice, but we'll see. So if the day's pull is telling me the pill might open my eyes, is it possible the steroid might have an expected mental effect?

We shall see. Wish me luck.

2018: February 27th 8:48 AM

There was indeed music in my head this morning, however I have forgotten what it was. In lieu of that, here's what I'm starting my workday with:



The same way I'm dipping back into 80s music to try and recontextualize it, I'm also moving back among the more recent cobwebs of the 00s - especially the late 00s - and attempting to re-engage with a lot of the music I was into at the time but have since let slip by the wayside. This album is a great example of that; I've never stopped liking Broadcast and the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age, or either of the two groups' individual work, I've simply found less time and impetus to fully surrender to the more spooky, occult soundscape-y areas of my collection. When I was into this in 2009-2010 I was not only very interested in the Occult, I practiced it a lot. This means music such as this was perfect for creating and sustaining altered states and temporal anomalies. The only temporal anomaly I experience now are on the dreaded 405. Will re-engaging with this music segue me back into a more occult-involved day-to-day? Maybe. I suppose it's no accident that I start doing daily Tarot readings and this music pops back onto my radar. It's life - let's see where it goes, shall we?

Playlist from yesterday:

Swans - The Glowing Man (disc 2)
Lantlos - .neon
Dio - Holy Diver
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot it in People
Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Casket Lottery - Survival is for Cowards (truncated listen)
Helmet - Meantime
Windhand/Satan's Satrys - Split (my vinyl arrived!)
Lawrence Whelk - Polks
House of Waxwork Vol. 2

Card of the day:

Balancing vigor with responsibility and action can be tricky. There's that lion almost running away with the Air of Fire's chariot again.

2018: February 26th 7:47 AM

Second day in a row, no music in my head upon waking. Although I began my day with Swan's Frankie M this morning, my work day started with Lantlos. Not sure if I've posted anything by them here yet, but wow, this album immediately endeared itself to me upon a friend recommending it several weeks ago. There's a definite similarity to Fen, another band I love. Lots of blue, jazz tones here, a definite somber, rainy feel.



Playlist yesterday was brief due to a large part of our Sunday once again going to the search for new quarters. And ladies and gentlemen, we may have a winner (though I've thought that before).

Black Sabbath - Eponymous
Bauhaus - In the Flat Field
Led Zeppelin - Eponymous
Led Zeppelin - IV

Card of the day:

Change or fluctuation. Let's hope so.

2018: February 25th 9:11 AM

No music in my head this morning and I'm enjoying the quiet by sprinting through a couple chapters from this very enjoyable romp through 70s and 80s paperback horror:

I've mentioned Paperbacks from Hell here before, I think, but as I've moved into the last third of Thomas Ligotti's first two volumes of short fiction I wanted to take a break and chew through something fun. This is it. Highly recommended.

Yesterday was insanely productive. My own first Horror Anthology will most likely be hitting print and digital in April. Titled A Collection of Desires after one of the stories in the book, it's seven tales of modern terror. I hope you'll give it a try.

Playlist from yesterday:

Grimes - Visions
Black Sabbath - Eponymous
Disasterpeace - It Follows OST
Anthrax - Worship Music
Prince & 3RDEYEGIRL - PLECTRUMELECTRUM

Watched the first episode of AHS My Roanoke Nightmare. While I loved Hotel and Murderhouse, I've largely avoided or been disappointed by a lot of AHS. This one already has me.

Card of the day:

One of my favorite cards in the deck, both visually and philosophically. From the Grimoire:

"Will synchronized with the imagination. Dreams become reality. Areas of life coming together, falling into place."

All good signs for the endeavors I am currently undertaking, all of which pertain to my writing, or Art.

Can't leave you without a song. This is as relevant as it is awesome:

2018: February 24th

Woke up with a kind of mash-up of two songs in my head. This is a weird one:



and



The Scorpions track being in there is somewhat bizarre because, despite the fact that our drunken celebration's late night playlist devolved into 80s Rock cheese, Scorpions was not a part of that. They have been on my mind intermittently lately, as I keep hearing Rock You Like A Hurricane on the radio at work.


Playlist from 2/23:

David Bowie - Blackstar
The Soft Moon - Criminal
Preoccupations - Eponymous
Preoccupations - Cassette
Melvins - Stoner Witch
David Bowie - No Plan E.P.
The Birthday Party - Hits
She Wants Revenge - These Things/Tear You Apart/Spend the Night/Black
Simple Minds - Life in a Day
Sinead O'Connor - I Want Your (Hands on Me) single
Prince - Sign O' the Times
Metallica - Garage Days Re-Revisited
Anthrax - I'm the Man E.P.
Proto Music: The Best of 80s Radio*
Skid Row - Eponymous
80s Rock Hop Scotch**
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
Elvis Presley - Simple Minds - single
Joe Walsh - In the City - single
Jerry Jeff Walker - Don't it make you Wanna dance? - single
Grimes - Symphonia IX (My Wait is U) - single
David Bowie/Bing Crosby - Peace on Earth
............

* This is a selection I made shortly after joining Apple Music, the week after Christmas when I flew home for my Uncle's funeral to be specific; it contains the songs I consider some of the essential radio fodder of my youth in the 80s:  Phil Collins, Don Henley, Golden Earring, Red Rider, Billy Squire, The Police and Peter Gabriel.

** This was a drunken Keller and I taking turns reminiscing about 80s rock we liked. The session included Dokken, Cinderella, Dio (who I have always staunchly disliked but may have warmed to last night thanks to Keller) and Tesla.

..........

You can see I've been slowly re-evaluating and re-contextualizing a lot of 80s rock into the sonic tapestry I weave around myself. Some of it only fits for nostalgia, some may have a place outside that nostalgia. We'll see.

Card of the day:

Nothing in the Grimoire on this one. Courage needed for victory to opposition.