I definitely dig it - reminds me a lot of Lateralus. That said, listening to this removed from the context of an entire album that will eventually surround it makes me think listening to this would be like never hearing Lateralus and listening to Disposition. What this has done is make me anticipate the full album on a considerably more rabid note.
August 30th is soon.
**
Ticked off episodes 6 and 7 of The Boys last night. I was warned about the 'fingering' episode. Wow. This show is, as Butcher might say, top gear.
**
Playlist from 8/08:
Catherine Wheel - Ferment
Tool - Fear Inoculum (Pre-release single)
Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me OST
Twin Peaks Playlist
Revolting Cocks - Big Sexy Land
Revolting Cocks Trance Playlist*
Tool - Undertow
* Comprised of No Devotion, Attack Ships on Fire, Something Wonderful, and Can't Sit Still. Great writing playlist, even though I ended up getting f*ckall accomplished yesterday. Still, I showed up and put my ass in the seat.
**
Spread of the day:
Lots of strong, Feminine energy, lots of "Big Ideas" or Influences, and all Earth/Kingdom/Malkuth. Technically, 9s are Yesod, or Foundation, but that very much informs ten. Very good signs that, despite a frustrating day yesterday, I am on the right track.
I've kind of come to think of this band as the American version of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. In a very short period of time, Jaye Jayle have endeared themselves to me in a way few bands do. It's the 'Storyteller' aspect.
**
Unbelievably, after only three chapters I put Laird Barron's Black Mountain to the side. Nothing against the book, but I paused to reconsider re-reading last year's Blood Standard, the first Isaiah Coleridge novel. I tend to forget things - character's names and whatnot, and in the case of books like these, they're so f'ing pleasurable to read, why not? Anyway, while I paused to consider this maneuver, I picked up Damien Echols' High Magick, and it dovetails so perfectly with my recent rekindling of Magick Practice, that I'm going to knock it out before going back to the Barron books.
A fantastic book on Magick; probably the most approachable example I've seen since Phil Hine or Grant Morrison's old Pop Magick essay on his website, except Echols' book is even more approachable, without ever giving an impression other than he knows exactly what he's talking about. And this is great for me at the moment; there's such a sense of pragmatism, unlike any other author I've read on the subject of Magick.
**
Playlist from 8/07:
Shrinebuilder - Eponymous
Anthrax - Stomp 442
Algiers - The Underside of Power
The Flaming Lips - Hit to Death in the Future Head
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Waxwork Records - House of Waxwork Issue #1
Jaye Jayle - Soline (Single)
**
Today's spread:
Queen of Swords AGAIN! Couple this with Princess of Wands and we're looking at the Earthy Aspect of Fire - the Practical honing of Intellect - and the Watery Aspect of Fire - the Emotional temperance of that same Intellect. I'm trying to put together where my Intellect - some flexing of sharpened awareness or acumen - may have been exerted of late. Princess of Wands is a volatile card; I'm tempted to read this as a warning, that the path to those ten cups - an achievement in Earthly matters - will be rocky, but ultimately bested if I remain sharp like the Queen of Swords, who I believe I am going to take on as something of a Deity.
This just dropped on Sargent House's Youtube Channel, which is very much worth subscribing to, by the way. Described as a rough cut of a work in progress in the About section, I'm curious what this will become. Regardless, this band is ridiculous.
**
NCBD:
Look at the alt cover by Ray Fawkes! Regular series artist Andrea Sorrentino's covers are always fantastic, but this... this is hallucinogenic and ominous.
Okay, I know I said no more monthly series, but Simon Furman and Guido Guidi returning to tell a prequel to the original, Marvel/IDW Transformers/Regeneration One run? Regeneration One was one of the best monthly series I read in a decade, so I'm definitely getting this one. I don't read any of the other T-Formers books, but I've always had a soft spot for that old Marvel series - primarily when Furman's run really got going - and then R1. They mirror the latter seasons of the original cartoon and cartoon movie - the only Transformers movie, in my opinion - so this will be fun.
**
Playlist from 8/06:
Shrinebuilder - Eponymous
Uniform and The Body - Not Good Enough (Pre-release Single)
Tool - Opiate
Opeth - Still Life
Opeth - Deliverence
Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Interstellar Fun - Caves of Steel EP
Dean Hurley - Anthology Resources Vol. 2: Philosophy of Beyond
**
Today's spread:
The turning of a tide into a new Universe. Yeah, you could say that. In the process of converting The Horror Vision from just a podcast into a Publishing Imprint. Excited, and a little horrified. Which is good. The Universal Dance; evolution.
This new album from Uniform and The Body is shaping up to be on my year-end list again. Man, these guys really create a sonic space. This sounds like a cosmic Suicide to me, and it juxtaposes nicely with the first track released from the album a few months ago.
Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back drops next Friday on Sacred Bones. Pre-order HERE.
**
A few nights ago I received the Ronin Flicks Blu Ray copy of Richard Stanley's Hardware that I fought ordering for about two months and finally gave in to. This is a 4K transfer, and I've gotta tell you, looking at most of the scenes, I can't believe what an outstanding job this turned out to be. Also, the second disc is packed with extras that will probably take me forever to get around to. For $35, this turned out to be a steal.
I won't waste time posting a youtube rip of this beautiful scan here, so instead I'll post the theme song (again), from PIL:
**
Playlist from 8/05:
The Budos Band - Burnt Offering
Alice in Chains B-Sides Playlist
Opeth - Heart in Hand (Pre-release single for In Cauda Venemum)
Opeth - Deliverance
Opeth - Damnation
Opeth - Still Life
Alice Donut - The Untidy Suicides of Your Degenerate Children
**
Card of the day:
Another spread. I've doubled-down on my Tarot reading, so I'm trying to rebuild a more complex relationship with my deck. To do this, I pulled out Crowley's Book of Thoth and have been re-familiarizing myself with the cross-relationship between the Thoth Deck and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.
This spread then, largely introduces the idea that after moving on from the Queen of Swords and her perceptive but possibly misguided analysis, there is a futility with new ideas being sluggish, and uncooperative (the Knight of Disks). From Crowley, "These three cards (speaking here not of the three that I drew, but Atu XIII Death, XIV Art, and The Devil) may therefore be summed up as a hieroglyph of the processes by which idea manifests as a form."
No lie, I have two almost-finished short stories that are rooted in, what I feel, are really cool ideas, and which start and unfold in a way I am very happy with, but which I cannot end, and which have become more and more sluggish (again the Knight) as I try to resolve the problem. This means, whenever I'm thinking, especially of writing, I have two huge open loops distracting me. I don't want to take the time off from Ciazarn, but I very much need to address this soon, or I'm just collecting psychic debris, falling more and more out of tune myself; becoming the Knight of Disks.
I've been pretty persnickety towards Tool in recent years. With all the half-teased information about an album that never seemed to materialize, I remained skeptical even through last week's announcement of Fear Inoculum's imminent, August 30th release. When I saw that the band put up Hush, a song from their first EP Opiate which I have, for whatever reason, listened to a handful of times but never really gotten into, the new artwork - which is fantastic - I mistook it for a new Tool track.
Whoops!
Seeing Opiate on Apple Music this morning I decided to take a break from the Opeth binge I'm currently going through and dig in. In the meantime, here's that re-mastered audio for Hush. Shame on me for thinking after this long, Tool would release a 'single' ahead of the album's release. I'd actually prefer that, only twenty-four days out, they just wait and drop it all at once.
**
This weekend, I attended Midsummer Scream. Really cool Con. I'd definitely offer the criticism that they need to really step up their organizational parameters next year, but overall, very cool. Overall though, very cool. I was able to see a panel on Witchcraft and Magick - very timely as I've begun to move back in that direction myself - as well as Shockwaves podcast live, and a kind of post-script panel for The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell, which K and I are both fans of (K more than me, I thought she was going to explode with excitement when McConnell took the stage). The panel consisted of Moderator and Showrunner for the now bafflingly cancelled show, Kirk Thatcher; Michael Oosterom (Rankle); Mick Ignis (Edgar); Colleen Smith (Rose and Cousin Evie); and Darcy Prevost (Production Designer). Really fun panel, and they reminded us that McConnell currently has a youtube show called From the Mind of Christine McConnelland a Patreon.
**
Playlist from the last few days:
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets
Primus - Frizzle Fry
Ministry - The Land of Rape and Honey
Grimes - Oblivion
Dean Hurley - Anthology Resource Volume II: Philosophy of Beyond
**
Again! Three-card spread this morning:
Queen of Swords again! This time, I'm reading it as it's influence is moving past me, so I need to be ready for a new paradigm, one that may result in a steadying of my skills and mindset. This is great, in that I've got a couple of big decisions on the horizon, and making them from the right place mentally and emotionally should result in success!
I've been waiting this one for what feels like an eternity! Written by Grady "My Best Friend's Exorcism" Hendrix and directed by Chelsea Stardust, Satanic Panic is possibly my most eagerly anticipated film of the year. And now we finally have a trailer! This, along with Joe Begos' Bliss and a host of other films I can't quite bring to mind at the moment are all looking likely to play at Beyondfest this year, and I can't wait!
**
Recently, I wrapped up Robert S. Wilson's Ashes and Entropy Anthology from Nightscape Press. The final story, I Can Give You Life, by Paul Michael Anderson finished the book perfectly, and - I think - ended up my favorite story in a book filled with stories that rabidly competed for that title. Either way, buy it HERE and read your goddamn hearts out; Anthologies do not get any better than this.
And now, of course, I need a new book to read. Luckily, I have one I've been chompin' at the bit to get to for months. Black Mountain, Laird Barron's second installment in the Isaiah Coleridge novels, and three chapters in I can't put this one down.
**
Playlist from the last few days:
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets
Motörhead - 1916
Aerosmith - Pump
Anthrax - Sound of White Noise
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The Night Creeper
U2 - War
Tool - Undertow
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Pusher Man (Single)
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Mind Control
Frank Sinatra - Moonlight Serenade
**
Card of the day:
Okay, this one is definitely trying to tell me something, and I've been pretty lax on listening. A promotion at work and the first draft of Ciazarn has consumed most of my time. Today we're heading to Midsummer Scream, but I'm putting Crowley's Book of Thoth in my backpack so I can start digging into this one a little more earnestly.
I've been hearing about this one for months, so I was pretty excited to see Shudder drop the trailer. Not sure how wide a theatrical release it'll get, but I'll definitely make the attempt to see it.
Speaking of seeing things in the theatre, It Chapters One and Two director Andy Muschietti is curating a special run of classic horror films at Arclight Theaters all over the greater Los Angeles area. The roster is fantastic, and I'm going to do my damnedest to catch John Carpenter's The Thing and Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist on the big screen for the first time. Here's a link to the Event's page on the Arclight site, and in honor of my excitement, here's the trailers for two fantastic 80s horror films:
Playlist from 7/31:
Opeth - Watershed
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
Drab Majesty - Careless
The Devil and the Almighty Blues - II
The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer
Cibo Mato - Stereotype A
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland
Sleep - The Sciences
