2018: November 30th - NEW GRIMES!!!

Wow. Just wow. I saw this dropped last night, stopped everything I was doing, put in headphones and closed my eyes, went off to Grimes World. The textures at work in this song feel three-dimensional, no doubt based on her use of the stereo field, as well as a knack for choosing sounds of all kinds - many not traditionally 'musical', and using them to really fill out the sonic space. If this is any indication of the new album, it is going to be a perfect step forward from Art Angels.

Re-watched Hereditary a couple of nights ago. My god, even though Mandy is probably my favorite film of 2018, this is far and away the best film. It lost none of its ability to traumatize me, and really opened up more interpretation-wise with this second viewing. I'd imagine I'll be talking a lot about this come our 'year's best' episode of The Horror Vision. Two observations:

1) Toni Collette had certainly better at least be nominated for best actress.
2) Watching the deleted scenes, you see how good writer/director Ari Aster is at 'killing his darlings.' Not that any of the deleted scenes were darlings necessarily, but watching what he shot and then removed, you see how he was originally trying to flesh out Peter and Steve's characters more, and how he pulled back and gave us only what we needed. The inclusion of any of those deleted scenes would have, in my opinion, hurt the movie's power, so Aster knew exactly where to draw lines and how to intuit when he had enough.

Pretty impressive for a first movie.

There's some criticism out there that Gabriel Byrne's Steve in particular, is a poorly written, two-dimensional character. I for one disagree. He is exactly what the movie needs him to be. I stuggle with this some time in my own work, the idea of adding more to make sure my point gets across, or to ensure a character is 'fully realized.' Then I watch something like this and see that with restraint great things can come. Spaces in the character can evolve, spaces that draw people in the way the people in their life do. We all interact every day with people we only know in one particular role, or way, and it doesn't diminish their role or strength in our lives. Why wouldn't the same be true for characters in a film?

For a counterpoint, watch Rob Zombie's Halloween - RZ spends so much time ensuring that we understand William Forsythe's Ronnie is white trash that it becomes overkill and, frankly, derails the movie.

Playlist from 11/29:

The Doors - Strange Days
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Kylie Minogue - Fever
Cocksure - Be Rich
Emma Ruth Rundle - Marked for Death
Grimes - We Appreciate Power (Single)
The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night

Card of the day:

Another card I see a lot. I'm curious if this convergence of regular cards I've pulled during the year are rallying to clarify a point I've missed?

2018: November 29th

A few weeks ago Chasms released the single "Divine Illusion." To read about the track on their bandcamp, the revelation that the track was a closing chapter to their shoegaze/industrial sound. What could possibly come next? Well, listen. I don't necessarily know what you call this, other than beautiful. Can't wait for the album. Pre-order HERE on Chasms' bandcamp.

Playlist from 11/27:
Ghost - Meliora
Mastodon - Once More Round the Sun
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
Lebanon Hanover - Let Them Be Alien

Playlist from 11/28:
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Deerhunter - Microcastle
The Doors - Strange Days
Mastodon - Once More Round the Sun
Ghost Cop - One Weird Trick
Thought Gang - Eponymous

I pull A LOT of sevens. I don't know if this was always the case, or if now that, for about the past year I have been doing mostly daily pulls, it's just more obvious. Probably the second. Netzach is one of the Sephiroth I feel a natural inclination to, that one step beyond the perfection of Tipareth, which represented a certain time and place in my life that is now past. This is the Post-Self Number for me, in a way, as I count that bygone time/place as the first real iteration of this version of this ego-scaffolding I call 'me'. Now, what's that mean for today? Well, despite it's negative facade, I don't think this is a negative card at all. I think today's pull is just reminding me I'm Post that previous self, and this in turn will prevent me from doing what has been increasingly tempting to me of late, namely making music. I haven't picked up a guitar in close to two years maybe. Well, there's been maybe two dalliances with the acoustic that sits on a stand in my living room, but that's it. Nothing serious and no intentions. A lot of the music I'm listening to now has been inspiring my musical drive, but it's on Shut Down. I've made the deal with myself that when I finish the book, I'll maybe spend a little time on music.

Maybe.

2018: November 27th

New Le Butcherettes! Very 90s sounding, not in a bad way. New album comes out February 1st.

New episode of The Horror Vision went up on Sunday. You can find it on Apple, Spotify, and Google Play, as well as at TheHorrorVision.com. This episode is our reaction/interpretation of Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria remake. Other topics include The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Shudder's Dead Wax (which I LOVE), and the Indiegogo for The Barn II, which is fully funded as of 11/21 and now Indemand, which apparently means you can still contribute and secure cool rewards. I still haven't seen the first Barn yet - it's been on the list for at least a year if not two now, so what the hell am I waiting for, right?

NCBD this week isn't as light as last week, but it's light. Check out this gorgeous cover for TMNT 88:

Die! Die! Die! has been hit or miss with me so far, but the opening discussion between two high level US government officials in issue #4 may have permanently endeared this book to me. It's kind of a more violent, more philosophical approach to GIJOE and I find myself wondering if that was the goal. The real shocker here is that Stray Bullets Sunshine and Roses is on issue #40. Where the hell does the time go? It wasn't that long ago that David Lapham's brilliant B&W crime comic had been on hiatus for 9 years and we were jumping at joy with the announcement of its return via Image. Now we're 40 issues in on the second or third volume of this new series. And you know, it's still awesome.


Playlist from 11/27:

Monolord - Rust
Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
The Knife - Silent Shout
Mudhoney - Digital Garbage
Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Punks Unite
Ghost - Infestissumam
Godflesh - Post Self

Card of the day:

Gonna be an emotional day? Doesn't feel that way. There's a passivity here when it's water on water, however the passivity acts as a perfect transformer for other energies, maybe some that lack emotion.

2018: November 24th

New Tennis System! This isn't up on their bandcamp yet, so I'm thinking we have a new release on the way!


Spent Thanksgiving morning watching Sophie Huber's Harry Dean Stanton documentary, Partly Fiction. Really cool. There's a great segment with David Lynch, one with Kris Kristopherson, and even Debby Harry. And it's fantastic watching Stanton break into song, especially Everybody's Talkin', by Harry Nilsson




From 11/23
The Fixx - Shuttered Room
Harry Nilsson -
Harry Nilsson -
Opeth - Deliverence
Opeth - Blackwater Park

Card for the 11/23:

And for today:

No time to really dig into an interpretation for this now as I'm off for work. But at a glance, Dominion to Defeat doesn't necessarily constitute a bad thing, just a need to re-direct energies.

2018: November 22nd

One of the best songs of the 90s, hands down. I unexpectedly realized I still had one more 33 1/3 that Brown lent me to finish before my trek home to Chicago in two weeks, so last night I started Gina Arnold's entry into the 33 1/3 series, a kind of contextualization of Liz Phair's seminal indie rock album, Exile in Guyville. More the story of the fictitious Guyville (not so fictitious) and the gender politics of the early 90s indie rock scene than the story of the album, and that's good. So far this is a fascinating read. Also, digging back into the era that surrounds this record made me reconnect with Never Said and Guyville in general, a song I've loved and an album I dig for a long time now, but one that hasn't received any recent rotation space in my audio life.

Joe Bob Briggs returns to Shudder tonight with Dinners of Death! I have to work early tomorrow, so I don't know how much I'll see tonight, but hopefully this will remain on Shudder in perpetuity, much like The Last Drive In has since back in the spring.



Last night I watched three-quarters of the Shudder original Dead Wax. LOVE this. Written and directed by Graham Reznick, whose name anyone familiar with Larry Fessenden's Glass Eye Pix will recognize as most often helming audio departments on films. Great debut that's essentially a movie chopped into 10-18 minute episodes, Dead Wax is about a legendary record that does strange things to reality when played and the people who have sought it through the years. Think John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns, but the world of rare record collecting instead of film collecting and you'll be in the ballpark.




Playlist from 11/21:

David Bowie - Low
Frankie Valli - Can't Take My Eyes Off of You (single)
Deaf Heaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Bell Witch - Longing
Testament - Demonic
Boy Harsher - Face the Fire (pre-release single)
Boy Harsher - Lesser Man
Chasms - On the Legs of Love Purified

Card of the day:

This is a direct response something outside of writing, so I'll take the advisement in silence.

2018: November 21st

Just realized I never posted the latest Drinking with Comics video last week when it dropped. The goal from here out is to shoot these and get them up on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, and the DwC website as audio-only podcasts, then get the video up the following week. The video always takes a lot longer, and the show has more patrons as a pure podcast anyway, so I figured this was the optimum way to do it.

Hoping to do a 28 Days/28 Weeks Later double feature this weekend. I actually work both Friday and Saturday, so that limits what I can watch, and I'm still working through Sabrina (on Episode 5), which I need to get through for a forthcoming episode of The Horror Vision. Also, regarding THV, we're scheduled to do our Suspiria 2018 episode this Saturday, so hopefully I'll have it up later that day or Sunday. A little late to the game, but it's been hard to align schedules; as it is only three of the four of us have seen the film, so we're already down a man for this particular one. But there's A LOT to talk about with this film, on its own and juxtaposed with the original.

Playlist from 11/20:

Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
Iggy Pop - The Idiot
Ghost Cop - One Weird Trick
Tom Waits - Swordfish Trombone
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Boy Harsher - Face the Fire (single pre-release)
Boy Harsher - Country Girl
The Fixx - Shuttered Room
Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper

No card again today.

2018: November 20th

From Iggy's debut record The Idiot. Reading that Hugo Wilkcen 33 1/3 on Low really opened my eyes to a lot about this album as well (Station to Station also). Wilcken really goes in depth on these two records because they give a lot of context to what Bowie was into doing with music at the time. I'd never realized that the musicians involved in both Low and Station to Station often recorded not knowing which album the tracks would wind up on. Considered in that context, it really changes the way I hear both.

Having finished Low, I started reading the copy of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book that my Horror Vision/DwC co-host Chris gifted me a couple of months ago. So far, pure Gaiman and arriving just at the right time, when night falls early.

Playlist from 11/19:

Opeth - Ghost Reveries
David Bowie - Low
Gavin Bryars Ensemble - Bryars: The Sinking of the Titanic
Iggy Pop - The Idiot
David Bowie - Station to Station
The Fixx - Shuttered Room
Opeth - Deliverence

No card today.