Saint Maud and Her Zodiacal Light

There's a reason Sunn O))) named a song after Earth founder Dylan Carlson.  

I'm largely unfamiliar with Earth except for this album, which I picked up shortly after its release in 2014, and which became ingrained in my psyche in 2015 as I listened to it over the course of a year where my life imploded and then put itself back together (better). This song, in particular, and Rabia Shaheen Qazi's lyrics and delivery really resonated with me at that time. 

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Well look what finally found its way to a platform where most people can actually see it:

 

I've had a lot of misgivings about this flick and the interminably long build-up to its release. First, A24 makes great stuff, however, I've developed a growing awareness of the films they release that seems to have the express intent of being 'the next Hereditary.' Seeing the Saint Maud trailer for the first time a little over a year ago marked the beginning of this suspicion and the feeling has only escalated since. 

Next, to have bypassed the usual VOD platforms where the everyman fan can pay to rent the film, A24 instead made a deal with West Coast cable channel Epix, where the film has remained exclusive for the last several months. 

Really? Being that no one I know that doesn't live in California has ever even heard of epix, I don't know where - if anywhere - this film was available elsewhere in the country, but I consider this a frustrating manuever on A24's part. I mean, all is forgiven if this helped put the film and its writer/director Rose Glass in a good place in a world where movie releases have become increasingly uncertain and unprofitable. 

Anyway, regardless of these misgivings, I watched Saint Maud yesterday. My reaction?

Wow. 

When religious lunacy replaces addiction, bad things happen. That's all I'll say, other than I really dug Saint Maud, and although I don't really feel as though the way A24 handled its release was warranted, the film is definitely worth watching if you're a fan of the more psychological take A24 tends to curate for their release.

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Playlist:

Earth - Primitive and Deadly

High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings 

Type O Negative - Dead Again

Windhand - Eternal Return

Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit

Algiers - The Underside of Power

Arctic Monkeys - AM

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Federale - No Justice

Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love (single)

David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Freaks)

The Dandy Warhols - Playlist

Cutting Crew - (I Just) Died in Your Arms

Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years

Corniglia - Eponymous

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Yes. Perfect pull, as the paradigm of the past year died yesterday when, for the first time since early March, 2020, I walked to my coffee shop writing spot and put in a solid writing session. It felt awesome, and I'm going back today!

The Green Knight Full Trailer

More Type O from their final album, and if this isn't a case of the best goddamn final song for a band's career, I don't know what is. I still get chills every time I listen to it, and I've been listening to it a lot. 

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I feel like I may be the only person I know that didn't give very much of a toss about the teaser for David Lowery's The Green Knight that A24 released last year. Earlier this week the full trailer dropped and I have to say, I still don't know that the glimpses of the story that peek through are catching me, however, visually it looks as though we may finally have a companion to the ergot-infused witchery of Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army:

 

There's something so sublime about the imagery here and the narrative it suggests. I'm reminded of Ben Wheatley and John Boorman simultaneously. This may be a reason to head back into a theatre. Maybe.

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Playlist:

Type O Negative - Dead Again

Sampa the Great - The Return

Viet Cong - Eponymous

The Police - Outlandos d'Amour

Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese

The Smiths - Meat is Murder

Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers + Queers 

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When you have all the bloody pieces but just can't get things to work out quite right, that is when Ruin threatens. Which feels more than a little accurate in terms of money and potential residences to be purchased. 

The Web Thread

 

From one of the finest albums ever made.

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NCBD: 

Anything Declan Shalvey has a hand in I will read. I'm stoked that the artist of one of my favorite series (Injection) is also a kick-ass writer!

Thus far, this alternate "What If?" book has my attention. I adore the OG spidey black costume, even before it became Venom, so this is cool to see.

YES! Summer camp slasher - 'nuff said!

I almost forgot about this series; I feel like its release has been a touch sporadic. No matter, three issues left after this one. Aquatic Horror never felt so good.

This series is gorgeous. Really digging it, and if I can get my hands on this variant cover, all the better. 

Loved issue #1, let's see how #2 is.

Marvel is really monetizing Spider-man these days, but I've become a sucker for Nick Spencer's take on the book, even if it is jam-packed with more plot than you can shoot a web at.

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Playlist:

Prédateurs - Les Discrets

Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen

Zeal and Ardor - Wake of a Nation

Christopher Young and Lustmord - The Empty Man OST

Various - The Void OST

Neil Young - Essentials

Dead Again

I missed posting for the anniversary of Peter Steele's death back last month, but the Drab Four have been on my mind. 

It's funny, over the last few years I've fallen into the habit of almost exclusively listening to Type O in the Autumn. Which is weird, because if I was forced to name a 'favorite band' it would probably be them (or Ozzy-era Sabbath). The reason for this weird confinement of their music is something I have been aware of, but not really analyzed.

Until yesterday.

In listening to Type O's final album, 2007's Dead Again, I realized the reason I largely reserve their music for Autumn is that out here in California, we do not have any of the recognizable features of my favorite season. October feels a lot like August, feels a lot like April, etc. After living the first thirty years of you life in the Midwest, the seasons become ingrained in you, in your thought processes and emotions and all kinds of other inner-working, hard-wired stuff. When I moved to the west coast about a year before Dead Again was released, I had to get used to the lack of burning leaves, thunderstorms, and a general sense of what I'll rather dramatically call 'the dying time.' Thus, I established early on a sort of "Internal Autumn" ideal, almost a mantra for my favorite time of year. This usually kicks in during the start of September and lasts through the first week of November. It's how I convince myself that I'm living in Autumn when I'm really not, an homage to the way I lived the years of my life that shaped me. This works, however, I think the inner autumn thing has become more difficult to sustain the longer I'm out here, that much further away from the experience of a real Autumn. Thus, I came up with this idea that if I reserved Type O - still the most Autumn band for my money - exclusively for that time of year, it would help sell this whole charade.

And as is often the case in psychoanalyzing yourself, now that I've picked this apartment, it feels freeing, because I WANT TO LISTEN TO TYPE O NEGATIVE ALL DAMN YEAR LONG.

So let's start here with Profit of Doom, the third - and possibly weirdest - track from Dead Again. 

Damn, Pete. We fucking miss you.

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One of the movies I've been waiting for this year is Maximiliano Contenti's Red Screening, AKA The Last Matinee. I don't know a lot about this one, but check out this bee-oootiful trailer:

I've become quite a sucker for Neo-Giallo, and Horror flicks that take place in movie theatres always work good for me, so I'm jazzed for this one, which will be in theatres on August 6th and VOD August 24th.

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Playlist:

Voyag3r - Doom Fortress

Lantlôs - Lake Fantasy (pre-release single)

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Type O Negative - Dead Again

Anthrax - Among the Living

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Card:

 The 8 of Wands always feels like it's a premonition of good things to come, creatively. I need that right now; things have been slow and syrupy and I need to get myself moving again. The idea is in another week or so, since I am now fully vaxxed, I'll begin walking to my writing spot again. This should help me get back on track, so hopefully the card is a good omen.

Consider Your Health Before You Rust

 

Collaboration between NIN and Health. 

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A new show by the creators of Dark? I'd heard about this last year, but completely forgot about it. 

 

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READ:

You may know C. Robert Cargill's name best as the co-writer of 2012's brilliant Horror movie Sinister. He's also a novelist, and although I'm unfamiliar with most of his work, I began his new novel Sea of Rust recently and can tell you it is fantastic.

The novel takes place in a world devoid of humanity. It's our world after the AI war that wipes us out, after AI factions off into super mainframe intelligence - there are two and the denizens of the novel refer to them as OWIs, or One World Intelligences - and rogue robots who fight for the freedom not to succumb to the edict of trading their selfhood for the ease of becoming part of the hivemind. There are so many analogs to our world here that it's crazy; from the Corporatization of everything to individuality in the age of our own accelerated (social media), that the book has an uncanny ability to feel in harmony with our lives even during the, frankly, pretty damn well-written action sequences. I'm really digging this one, and am moving Mr. Cargill to my 'pay attention to everything he does' list.

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Playlist:

Turquoise Moon - The Sunset City

Myrkur - Folkesange

DJ Muggs the Black Goat - Dies Occidendum

Ennio Morricone - The Thing OST

Judas Priest - Painkiller 

Kate Bush - The Dreaming

Zeal and Ardor - Devil is Fine

Waxwork Records - House of Waxwork Issue #1 OST

Led Zeppelin - Eponymous

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Ah, restraint. Thank you for the reminder. Here's the mantra for when I'm scouring ebay for things I do not need: I WANT A HOUSE. 

Stranger Things Season 4 New Teaser!

Goddamnit, does it feel like forever since Stranger Things Season 3? It sure does to me. The good news is, when Season 4 gets closer, K and I have a full rewatch of the entire series planned. 

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Started the day yesterday with some Effigies. Been a minute, almost forgot how much I love these guys. Old school Chicago punk rock - still hits as hard as it does now as it did when I first heard it in the early 90s.

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Everyone in my house had their second shot yesterday, and just like the first one three weeks ago, it's rendered me nearly immobile. That's a bit of an overstatement, however, I took a nap afterward and woke up feeling like chewed-up dog biscuits, so I'm off work again today. The morning marine layer is pretty intense outside, so the air is cool and charged with the Ocean. Windows are open, I'm breathing fresh air, and from somewhere nearby Cindy Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" is playing. If I felt up to going to get some eggs and corned beef hash this would be a perfect morning.

While sitting in bed this morning, I'm doing some reading, going back and reading the afterward sections on two graphic novels I've read in the last month and absolutely loved:

Eibon Press's Bottomfeeder is a heartfelt work of sleazy Grindhouse Horror and I could not have loved it more. There are moments I can only call, "Stark raving terror" that are unlike anything I've seen in a comic (or a film) before. That said, it's also a class act; this is exploitation for exploitation's sake, however, it's clear to me that Stephano Romano, Shawn Lewis, Patrick Carbajal and everyone involved weren't just out to fill the pages with hateful dissonance, but to tell a fucking awesome story, as well. There's a lot of love for late actor Joe Pilato, who was originally attached when this was a screenplay, and who gave his blessings for the use of his likeness as the main character, Detective Joe Angell. You read this gnarly romp through tits, blood, and guts and then turn to those final pages and read Lewis and Romano extolling their love of Pilato as a  friend and mentor and you get a little teary-eyed. Because Bottomfeeder is something unlike anything else, and that uniqueness makes for a special experience when you consume it. The Horror is real, meaningful, and executed masterfully.

Pun intended.

You can hear Chris Saunders and I interview Jay Fotos about his fantastic Rising Rebels graphic novel over on the A Most Horrible Library podcast. I read the book three weeks ago, after my first dose of the vaccine, but I had yet to go back to finish reading the extensive afterward section. There are author's notes that trace everything from the original impetus for Rising Rebels to the monster designing process but there's also a collection of Danny Marianino's 80s Once Upon A Time column, which is among the finest retrospective romps through the era of my childhood I've read. 

My opinion is any diehard Horror fan would love both of these books, so if that's you, you can pick up Bottomfeeder over on Eibon Press's website HERE, and Rising Rebels is probably most readily available from Jay Fotos's eBay Store HERE.

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Playlist:

The Effigies - Remains Nonviewable 

Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain

Neurosis - Given to the Rising

SURVIVE - Mnq026

Genesis - Invisible Touch

Ice-T - Power

 

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Exactly what I will need to get through the next two days and hit the ground running on Monday. My mantra: Keep your eyes on the prize: two weeks from yesterday I will be sitting on the patio at a local brewhouse drinking a pint of beer.

The Empty Spoils of Power

 

This one's been in my head since I broke out Ice-T's sophomore record Power a few days ago. Interesting how something that, technologically speaking, sounds so archaic, could be so catchy. Is there hope for those old-school 80s sounds yet? You know, the ones that came preloaded on consumer-grade Casio keyboards by the time we hit the mid-90s? The Night Court bass, Pan Pipes and the like? Maybe. I believe that's what a contingent of artists that hovered around the moniker Hypnogogic Pop attempted in the 00s, but in many cases, that attempt failed. IMO. Hearing this track now though, perhaps the time is ripe for someone new to come along and reclaim some of these weird 80s textures.

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Having read the two comic series as they came out, the first in 2014, the second a year or two ago, I enjoyed Cullen Bunn's The Empty Man, so when I saw there was a movie, I became both excited and hesitant. Then I saw Lustmord did the OST, and I knew I had to watch it.

I dug this one. The ending fell a bit flat for me, but overall, Director David Prior really conveys a heavy sense of forbidding that was a blast to experience. There's a great sense of dread - made palpable at times by Lustmord's brand of creepy cosmic textures. The funny thing is, in watching this, I don't believe it felt so much like an adaptation of the material from the comic, as much as it did the comic if it had been a novel by Laird Barron. 

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Playlist:

 

Christopher Young and Lustmord - The Empty Man

High On Fire - Blessed Black Wings

John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST

ILSA - Preyer

Roy Ayers - Ubiquity

 

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 I'll be paying special attention to Big Ideas today.