Angel Olsen - Big Time

 

New Angel Olsen. 

Despite seeing a lot of praise for Ms. Olsen in my peripheral for years, she wasn't really on my radar until my cousin Charles professed his adoration for her 2019 album All Mirrors, which is fantastic. This new single feels like it hits a sweet spot between Patsy Cline and Sharon Van Etten, and I dig it. The new record, Big Time, is out June 3rd on Jagjaguwar, and you can pre-order it in whatever form you chose HERE.

 

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Dollar Bin:

Well, how about this one, huh?

I still have a copy of one issue from the Temple of Doom adaptation Marvel did at the time of the film's release, but I don't even think I'd heard of this Further Adventures of... book before, although it's no surprise this existed based on how popular the Indiana Jones flicks were. I found five or six of these in the dollar bin last week, and although I haven't had a chance to actually read any of them yet, I've spent a few spare moments flipping through them, and they're great.

This particular mid-to-late 80s cover format for Marvel Comics is always going to be my favorite; I love the placement of the logos, the Marvel Comics Group banner along the top, and the character box in the upper left-hand corner. Just seeing these makes me feel happy.

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Fleeting:

Blut Aus Nord recently repressed their first Memoria Vitusta album and it's available on their Bandcamp in a gorgeous "red with subtle yellow marble" that will undoubtedly be gone quickly, maybe before I finish typing this.

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Playlist:

Rammstein - Zeit

Bloc Party - Alpha Games

Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man

Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin

Jim James - Eternally Even

Jerry Cantrell - Brighten

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Card:

Oh yes. It will take me strength to get through this day.

Hatching Rammstein's Angst

 

Easily one of my favorite videos to come out in years. I'm hot and cold on the band - I love when they release stuff like this and it gets me excited, but the excitement usually dissipates pretty quickly. Still, this is pretty freakin' awesome, regardless of the album's ultimate longevity with me. That new album, by the way, is Zeit, and you can order it HERE.

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Watch:

I had the unusual thrill of seeing this at, of all places, my local AMC theatre this past Saturday:

 

Hanna Bergholm and Ilja Rautsi's dissection of Finish Suburban perfection was equal parts Todd Solondz/David Cronenberg, and I loved it. For the new episode of The Horror Vision Horror Podcast, we begin with a spoiler-free reaction and then roll into an all-out discussion.

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Playlist:

Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain

Lead Into Gold - The Sun Behind the Sun

Odonis Odonis - Post Plague

The Cure - Pornography

Calexico - El Mirador

Second Still - Equals

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Card:

I'm definitely feeling an abundance or wealth of ideas of late, and I'm attempting to hold back the desire to switch gears from what I'm currently working on. 

Masking Threshold

 

Mastodon's Hushed and Grim kind of fell off my radar these last few months, so nice of these guys to unleash a video for one of my favorite tracks on the double album and put it back in sight. The intro to this song is insane, and then it kinda just glides into a super soulful (for metal) verse and becomes one of the catchiest songs on the record.

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Watch:

I'm hoping to hit a couple flicks at the virtual arm of Kansas City's Panic Fest this year. Johannes Grenzfurthner's Masking Threshold is top of my list:

 

You start a trailer with a John Cage reference and then move into talking about anechoic chambers and you have my attention.

 

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Playlist:

Ash Ra Tempel - Friendship

Eagulls - Eponymous

Testament - The New Order

Soundgarden - Superunknown

Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger

Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror

Mothership - High Strangeness

Joseph Bishara - Malignant OST

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Card:

Uncanny. I'm not going to go into details, but this is a PERFECTLY timed reminder to keep the peace. 

Rebel Rebel

 

I've been listening to the live double album David Bowie released from the Reality tour. Not only is Reality my favorite Bowie album, I think A Reality Tour is my favorite Bowie live album, as well. Such a great, career-spanning selection of songs, and some especially insightful new versions of old favorites and deep cuts, the best of which might just be this re-working of "Rebel Rebel", the studio version of which was included on a later edition of Reality as a bonus track.

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Watch:

I can't wait for Friday. Seeing Joe Bob and Darcy kick off a new season will be like old friends having a party after time away, and my Last Drive-In text threads - Tommy, Ray and Missy - are always a welcome respite. 

 

My bet is we finally get Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which hit Shudder for the first time since I've been subscribed (2018) and leaves the service on the first of next month.

 

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Playlist:

Calexico - El Mirador

Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses

David Lynch - The Big Dream

Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch - Censor OST

Testament - The New Order

Download - The Eyes of Stanley Pain

Puppy Gristle - Eponymous (Thanks, Klint!)

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Card:

The mass of all my possessions occasionally weighs on me. Yesterday was one of those days.

Perturbator & Johannes Persson are Final Light - In The Void

 

Perturbator and Cult of Luna's Johannes Persson have a new project called Final Light and the first track is F*&king awesome! Imagine Dangerous Days with deep, guttural vocals and you'll have entered the ballpark. I anticipate great things from this one. You can pre-order the album from Red Creek HERE.

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Watch:

I saw Robert Eggers' The Northman this past Saturday. I was sober, however, as my cohost Ray and I discuss with Seattle University's Professor of Film John Trafton on the newest episode of The Horror Vision Horror Podcast, the film produced in me a pretty intense altered state. Because of this, I went back yesterday and saw it again, this time stoned AF.

I can't even begin to explain the hallucinatory effect Robert Eggers' films have on me, and this one really ratchets that up. I know some of you aren't ready to hit a theatre just yet, and I don't blame you. That's not going to stop me from suggesting if you're at all on the fence for returning to the big screen, this would be a pretty great film to do it for. 

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NCBD:

Here's this week's haul for NCBD:

Yes, I am a glutton. There is a new Amazing Spider-Man and I am going to read it, even though it is probably going to come out 9 times a month. 

I know nothing about this, but the title caught my eye, so I'll give the first issue a whirl.

Finally! The now long-awaited finale of the Miller-esque dystopian near-fture TMNT saga!

I've largely missed the boat on Chip Zdarsky, but I'm glad I've gotten in on Newburn from the jump. This collaboration with Jacob Phillips has so far, been a fantastic, terse crime comic. 

Still not sure how I feel about Frank Castle becoming The Hand's new "murder messiah" or whatever the hell, but I didn't hate the first issue, so I'm coming back for #2.

Saga! 'Nuff said!

I'm going out on a limb here. When I saw the words "Industrial Horror" on the solicitation for this, the 12 issue of a 16 issue run for the current Swamp Thing iteration, I put it on my list. I'll need to (hopefully) pick up issue 11 as well, as from what I see online, this is the second part of a story called "Jericho's Rose." I know nothing about this current ST title, but again, that cover above combined with those words... I have to give it a chance.

Aaaaannndddd... it appears I've become a pretty big Donny Cates fan and am continuing on with his Thor, especially after reading that, A) this month's issue has Odin's funeral and a Beta Ray Bill story, and B) next month this and Cates' fantastic Hulk series SMASH together. 

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Playlist:

Blut Aus Nord - Deus Salutis Meae

Negativeland - DisPepsi

Calexico - El Mirador

David Bowie - A Reality Tour

Alice in Chains - Sap

Orville Peck - Bronco

Judas Priest - Firepower

Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance 

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Card:

Poignant. I've been thinking A LOT about how much I love the woman I'm with, and how, despite the delays, I am looking forward to starting a new life with her OUTSIDE of LaLaLand. It's a push/pull - I'm going to miss a bunch of stuff here, but not enough to stand up against what we have planned for our home. 

Computer Blue

 

I'm probably not going to do a full 7-day Prince thing here, because it's been super difficult for me to post seven days in a row for a while. Still, one wasn't enough. I've come to realize that, although I consider Prince a major musical force, and I LOVE some of his music, not all of it is for me. I tend to stop after the 80s - the New Power Generation is all great on paper, but it just doesn't do a lot for me. I think that's the jazz and modern soul vibe that comes into his work at that point. The Prince that really affected me did so because of its strange Punk (more in ethos than sound)/Soul/New Wave hybridization. Nowhere is that more dominant than on the iconic Purple Rain record, which I've argued elsewhere is the Philosopher's Stone album of the 80s.  The entire record still blows me away, nearly forty years after first hearing it as a kid. One of the tracks that I've really grown to appreciate is "Computer Blue."

This song always just blows me away. It has such a strange structure, and where it starts compared to where it ends circumvents all logic, but really feels inevitable. 

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Watch:

I was never really much of a Christina Ricci fan - nothing against her, but my first and maybe (?) only exposure to her before was Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, and I hate everything about that movie - except the set design, which isn't nearly enough to save it - so that's probably what sticks in my craw. But Yellowjackets changed that, as her Misty Farmer is a BRILLIANTLY executed character. So, seeing a new Horror movie on the horizon with her kind has me interested:

Man, I hope this as good as it looks. Love the 50s kitsch - which Ricci is just perfect for - juxtaposed with what looks like some kind of slimy Demonic horror. Also, this one's directed by Chris Sivertson, who broke into Horror and cinema in general collaborating with Lucky McKee on the original All Cheerleaders Must Die short back in 2001, and then remade it with McKee in 2013.

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Playlist:

The Mysterines - Reeling

Alice in Chains - Sap

Kate Bush - Running up that Hill (single)

Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain

Prince - Dirty Mind

Prince - Originals

Anthrax - Among the Living

Goatsnake - Black Age Blues

Sepultura - Quadra

Testament - The Legacy

The Jesus Lizard - Goat

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Card:

It can be difficult to maintain enthusiasm, however, persistence and a good attitude pay off.

RIP Prince - Six Years Gone

 

From 1987's Sign O' The Times, probably my second favorite album by Prince, who died six years ago today.

Something about this album, and this song in particular, really conjures all of the tones and textures, smells and sensual impressions of 1987 to me (it's not exactly readable as 1987 in my head, but when I figure where I was in my life, the specific things I remember about my parents' home at the time, I know it's 1987-1988). There's an underlying tone or ambiance to this track that feels very specific to that time, even though I do not believe I ever heard this song at that time.

This isn't unparalleled. The recording technology of the time - the sonic signatures of microphones, whether you're aware of them or not - definitely inform the era. Also, the keyboard patches, the drum sounds, all of it adds up to a certain era in the recording industry. That's not magick, and it's not B.S. It's fact. I'm assuming that has a lot to do with why this song impacts my memory so drastically. But it makes this album particularly important to me now, so many years later. It's like a time machine, because I can literally smell my parents living room - where I snuck up to watch Friday Night Videos - when I hear this song. 

Weird. But cool. Very cool. Thank you, Prince. Whether you realized it or not, you instigated time travel. 

 

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Watch:

 

I had no intention of watching this flick until I did. It is fantastic, and probably directly responsible for my purchasing tickets to see Anthrax in late July (if I still live here). Mr. Brown and I saw Anthrax - with opener White Zombie - in 1993 at Chicago's Aragon Brawlroom for the Sound of White Noise tour. This means I've never seen Anthrax with original singer Joey Belladonna. 

To say I am excited would be an understatement. It's not going to keep me from moving, but if I am still here - because I'm thinking even if we find something in Tennessee in June, closing will dictate we're still in LaLaLand by the time of this show - I can't wait. At the freakin' Palladium, no less. 

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Playlist:

Various Artists - Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath - Master of Reality

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Midlake - The Courage of Others

Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther

Led Zeppelin - Coda

Peter Gabriel - So

Prince - Sign O' The Times

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Wolves in the Throneroom - Two Hunters

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Card:

A little concerned that, along with yesterday's draw, there seems to be some sort of conflict on the horizon.