Isolation: Day 54 Nice Cave TeeVee

A couple weeks ago, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds announced their youtube channel would be going 24/7 with streaming content. This morning when I checked my subscription page (have I mentioned how much I hate the layout of the most recent youtube overhaul? It happened a few months ago, but I used to meticulously curate the landing page, which displayed a single, horizontal row of each channel subscribed to, history, recommendations, and trending, the category I couldn't give less of a toss about) I noticed the little "Live" icon in the bottom left-hand corner, clicked over and caught part of an in-studio segment from Henry's Dream. Not sure about you, but the idea of 24 Hour Bad Seeds makes my heart swell.

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Last weekend, I made serious progress in a project that I've been putting off for some time, transferring all of my comics out of long boxes and into short boxes. Oh, the humanity!

I'm about 80% finished. To be brutally honest, I've divested myself of quite a bit of my collection, and when all is said and done, I will still end up with 24 short boxes of comics! Madness! I've talked about this here before, the existential crisis that has held me in its grip since last September, this idea that all this stuff that I've accumulated ends up being the major "WTF was I thinking?" regret of my life. Maybe regret is a harsh word, but seriously, if I'd only adjusted to the digital thing sooner, I'd probably have at least double in my 'buy a house' fund. Add to this the idea that, as I go through a lot of these comics, even series and runs that I love, some of them I look at and know, "I'll most likely never have the urge/chance to read this again in my life." It makes me think about subscriptions, the current zeitgeist, and as such something I may eventually turn around on, too, but surely a better way to consume media. It's one of the reasons I hardly ever buy movies anymore (still some exceptions, of course). It's also one of the reasons I've started to dig digital comics, because they're generally cheaper, take up no space, can travel with you at all times, and thus, don't leave nearly the footprint, if at all.

Anyway, in spite and contrary to all this, boy am I ready for Diamond to get NCBD up and running again. I stopped in at the Comic Bug this past Saturday to pick up more short boxes - the store isn't open, but you can call on Wednesdays from 12-4 and Saturdays from 12-2 and make an appointment to stop in - and picked up the last remaining book in my pull, one I hadn't gotten to yet. TMNT 104. The issue served as a beautiful coda on everything that has come before, and felt especially poignant reading now, in the midst of such an unprecedented industry stall. The final pages actually managed to bring a joyful tear to my eye, and closed and resealed it in bag and board remembering why, in spite of everything I just said above, I still read some comics monthly, in physical form.

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Playlist:

Cocksure: Operation C.O.C.K.S.U.R.E
The Juan Maclean - Happy House (Matthew Dear Remix)
X- Under the Big Black Sun
Chris Isaak - Heart Shaped World

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Card:

Art!

Isolation: Day 52 Surprise You're Dead

I've been digging into Revocation's back catalogue on my writing sessions, and this FNM cover popped up at the end of 2011's Chaos of Forms. Great album, great cover!  My writing music has been an example of the pendulum effect I complain about everywhere else in life; if I told you to consider Revocation and Lustmord as two nodes on the graph, you'd get the idea, yeah? It makes for some interesting ideas, one of which pretty much just changed the entire course of the third act for the better! Now I'm chasing that down and preparing for the final edit, which seems a bit like the ghost house that I relentless walk toward but never achieve. I have faith, though. Faith, and a killer work ethic. And music like this to keep me properly motivated (That and gallons and gallons of coffee, which I think is starting to fuck with my nervous system).

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Bandcamp did another Artist Relief day this past Friday. I snagged the new, Digital Cocksure EP and a vinyl copy of their 2014 debut T.V.M.A.L.S.V., along with a copy of a single the Living Nudes released a while ago. I paid more for all three than asked for, because, while I didn't have a lot of money to throw at all the independent artists I love, I had some, and wanted to make it go as far as possible for the artists, not my collection.

So much new music this past week because of the Bandcamp relief, it was hard to narrow things down. I think I did pretty good, though.

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After missing it at last year's Beyondfest, I finally got around to watching Travis Stevens' Girl on the Third Floor. I dug this one quite a bit; reminded me a lot of a kind of cross between American Horror Story and The Shining.



Dark Sky films can pretty much do no wrong in my eyes.

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Playlist:

Revocation: Chaos of Forms
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland
Cocksure - T.V.M.A.L.S.V.
Blut Aus Nord - The Mystical Beast of Rebellion
Void King - Barren Dominion
Man Man - Dream Hunting in the In-Between
Perturbator - Dangerous Days
Lustmord - Hobart
Klangkarussell & GIVVEN - Ghostkeeper

IsIolaton: Day 48 Cracked Actor

Woke up with this one in my head yesterday morning. Originally appearing on 1973's Aladdin Sane, the version I'm specifically referring to here is the live version from Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - The Motion Picture Soundtrack. I picked the double album up in a cool CD package at a Fop store in London, circa 2004. To date, this is my favorite version of this song.

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Blew through Breaking Bad Seasons 1-3 and K asked to take a breather. It definitely has that effect, and while I'm loving revisiting this world, dark as it is, I also like the idea of spacing it out a bit, to further the effect I had watching it as it aired, broadcast gaps and all. We're not going to come anywhere close to building that kind of expectation-tension for K's first viewing, but a week off might help. With that in mind then, over the last few days we watched James Franco/JJ Abrams' 11.22.63. This adaptation of a novel by Stephen King is an 8-part mini-series on HULU, and although I had some small issues, overall it's great. 11.22.63 is also a rare bird, in that many times, I'll be enthralled by a show and then let down by its ending. In this case, my minor issues were along the way, and the finale was outstanding. Very much worth your time if you're in the mood for something finite.



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I finished both William Gibson's The Peripheral and Juan F. Thompson's Stories I Tell Myself. Both incredible books for totally different reasons (obviously). Gibson's terse prose and refusal to set an initial lay-of-the-land are both facets one must acclimate to, however, that happens fairly quickly because he really pulls you in with the story. And Thompson's autobiography on growing up with Hunter S. Thompson as a father can get a bit hard to read at certain points - most definitely not due to his writing, which is simple but profound - due rather to the veil his stories lift on an icon who many of us hold dear. The end of this one brought me to tears, and the involvement of Johnny Depp in memorializing HST should prove once and for all how awesome that man is, even if his filmography has pretty much fallen by the wayside.

As of writing this, I am ~75 page into Preston Fassel's Our Lady of the Inferno, which I have been wanting to read since I first heard of it, circa a year-and-a-half ago. I was hooked as of page one, and now I'm thinking this has the potential to really soar into a ranking in my favorite books of all time list.

If you're unfamiliar with Mr. Fassel, he writes the Corrupt Signals for Fangoria, easily my favorite column in the revamped mag (which is saying something, because each issue is a veritable treasure). So far, his debut novel is no less spectacular.

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Speaking of reading, as a sort of 'Quarantine Special', I've made the Kindle editions of my first two books $0.99 for the foreseeable future. If you've not read them, please consider giving one or both a chance. One is literary horror, the other the first book in a YA Horror/Suburban Fantasy series. I'm quite proud of both - I'm the first to know when something I write is shite. Also, I've been told both are good and, perhaps more importantly, fun:

 Link to buy A Collection of Desires

Link to buy Shadow Play Book One: Kim and Jessie

If you do take this chance to read them, please take a moment to give a star rating or review on Amazon, or really, anywhere books are sold or discussed. Thank you in advance!

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Playlist:

Revocation - Great is Our Sin
Revocation - Teratogenesis EP
Old Tower - The Last Eidolon
Alastor - Black Magic
The National - High Violet
The National - The Boxer
Various - The History of Northwest Rock Vol. 2 (The Garage Years)
Perturbator - Dangerous Days
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Burzum - Filosofem
Burzum - Thulêan Mysteries
Perturbator - I Am the Night
Pascal Rogé - Satie: 3 Gymnopédies
White Ward - Love Exchange Failure
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley
Code Orange - Underneath
Perturbator - Excess (Pre-release single)
Balthazar - Fever
Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars
My Morning Jacket - Z
Perturbator - Night Driving Avenger EP
Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 1
Alio Die and Lorenzo Montaná - The Threshold of Beauty
Misfits - Collection Two

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Card:

From the Grimoire: The Spark of Essence. I'm aligning this with the mammoth writing session I am about to embark on as soon as I post this. I took the day off to finish the second pass on this year's book, which is currently on track to be released in late Summer/early Autumn.

Isolation: Day 43 - Perturbator Hard Wired

There's a bunch of new music I could post, but I've been re-infatuated with Dangerous Days as we - hopefully - edge closer to a new Perturbator record. One that, according to the man himself, will not sound like this. I'm cool with that. Can't wait.

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I inadvertently began a Phantasm series rewatch yesterday. I've been working shortened hours, 6-12, so I get home and put a flick on the tube, something I've seen before so if I nod out during it won't be a big deal. I went with the 2018 Joe Bob Briggs Christmas presentation of Phantasm yesterday. This was a marathon of all the movies but Part Two, which JBB boycotts due to the destruction of a Hemi Cuda during the making of. I'm not a car guy, but fine. Anyway, I slept through some of Phantasm, which was actually pretty cool, as the film's creepy dream logic bored into my REM and made for an almost interactive napping experience. I woke for the end, immediately threw on my disc of Part Two, then made it most of the way through Three - which if I've ever seen I forgot most of - and intend on finishing the rest today. Before the return of Joe Bob tonight on Shudder! I'm not super psyched about the first movie or the co-host, but hopefully the second film he picks will be a winner, and hell, it's Joe Bob!

BTW - I absolutely ADORE Phantastm II and III.



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Playlist:

Brand New - Daisy
Brand New - God and the Devil are Raging Inside Me
The Temptations - Cloud Nine
Various - Motown Deep Cuts (Apple Music Playlist)
Zombi - Shape Shift
Code Orange - Underneath
White Lung - Paradise
Steve Moore - VFW OST
Spotlights - We Are All Atomic EP
Doves - Lost Sides
Doves - Lost Souls
Lustmord - Things That Were 1980-1983
Pigface - Fook
My Morning Jacket - Z
Diana Ross and the Supremes - Love Child
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Perturbator - Night Driving Avenger EP
Friendly Fires - Pala
Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart
Deftones - White Pony
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
Brand New - Science Fiction
John Zorn - Taboo and Exile
Perturbator - Dangerous Days

Card:

Last three days (because I pull every day, even if I don't post):

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Today:

I've had a lot of major influence over the last few weeks. A lot of Arcana and Court cards. Makes perfect sense, especially combined with the 7 of Swords Futility here, as being moved around by forces beyond our control can either make us feel manipulated and frustrated or empowered and ecstatic. And of late, we are all caught up in some pretty heavy, Macro shit that forces us to do or not do things based on variables we cannot control.

Mindful Habitation: Don't know what to believe anymore? The increasingly Orwellian nature of our Reality - where the State defines Reality - is the most frustrating and downright terrifying thing I have ever experienced. Don't know who or what to believe? Unplug the major News outlets and follow the impartial Science.

Isolation - Day 36 Jawbox: Breathe

One of the things I really dig about Apple Music is the fact that I can see what my friends who have it are listening to (as long as their setting allow it). My good friend Jacob, back in my second favorite State of Ohio, has amazing taste and has turned me onto quite a few unbelievable records. He also, sometimes, reminds me of music that has spun so far out of my orbit there was little to no way I was coming back to it any time soon. Jawbox is such a band. When I think of era-defining 90s music, Jawbox is one of the bands that comes immediately to mind. And yet, unlike other groups from that era, there is nothing about Jawbox that sounds dated in any way. Maybe that because they helped inspire pretty much every new generation of "Post Punk," or maybe it's just because they are transcendently fantastic. Whatever the case, it's been a very long time since I'd heard this record, and it feels oh so good to have it back in my ears.

Thanks, Jacob!

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My Blu Ray copy of Joe Begos' VFW arrived in the mail yesterday, and I'm hoping to get a chance to watch it this weekend. I caught this one at Beyondfest last year (talked about it on The Horror Vision HERE), and it's fantastic. If you haven't seen VFW and you dig old school Carpenter, Siege Horror, or bad ass old dude flicks, I would consider this one a must. Here's the trailer:



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Firmly entrenched in William Gibson's The Peripheral. I have only the very vaguest sense of what the hell is happening, but I'm hooked.

No one writes the future like Mr. Gibson, it's a proven fact.

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Playlist:

Nirvana - Bleach
Dee Lite - Sampladelic Relics and Dancefloor Oddities
Willie Nelson and Leon Russell - One For the Road
White Lung - Paradise
Code Orange - Underneath
Steve Moore - VFW OST
Carpenter Brut - Blood Machines OST
Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart
FMLYBND - Letting Go (Single)
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
Old Man Gloom - Seminar IX: Darkness of Being
White Lung - Eponymous
White Lung - Sorry
Tub Ring - Zoo Hypothesis
Doves - Lost Soul
Brand New - God and the Devil are Raging Inside Me

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Card:

Emerging from cloudy skies about troubled waters. Clarity lies not too far in the distance.

Isolation: Day 34 Code Orange

Mr. Brown turned me on to Code Orange's new record Underneath a few days ago, and it's been quickly becoming a staple. The album is all over the place as far as textures; so many influences in these guys that, in a way, I feel like they're the bridge between reclaiming some of the cooler elements in late 90s/early 00s metal - most of which was ruined by near constant narcissism and ostentatious infusion of hip hop aesthetics - and bridging those elements with the groove-heavy pioneering of mid-period Sepultura, the speed of and precision of DEP, as well as the latter's occasional penchant for incorporating glitch-like electronic elements.

Underneath dropped on Roadrunner Records recently; if you're interested you can order it HERE.

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Speaking of metal, yesterday I re-watched the Joe Bob Briggs presentation of Jason Lei Howden's Deathgasm. Man, I love this movie.



Letterboxd

Also, I finally watched the John Carpenter/Tobe Hooper anthology Body Bags. Not sure why this one took me so long to get around to. Fantastic. The cast really surprised me, with a slew of B-Level actors whose chops were never more apparent than at the direction of two Masters of Horror.



Letterboxd

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Playlist:

Killing Joke - The Fall of Because
Killing Joke - Night Time
Code Orange - Underneath
White Lung - Paradise
The Rolling Stones - Goats Head Soup
The Babies - Our House On the Hill

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Card:

From the Grimoire: "Saving Money." Fitting. Stimulus landed today and all but a tiny bit of it went directly into Savings. I'll stimulate the economy when we buy a house. In the meantime, a portion of the remainder of the government pay-off for ineptitude will be spent on Kindle editions of William Gibson's The Peripheral and it's recently released follow-up, Agency.

RIP Peter Steele - Ten Years Gone

Ten years. Unbelievable.