Rein was the first act we caught at Cold Waves 2022 last weekend. Amazing set - to get up on stage and perform without the solidarity of a band, or even a single other musician, always impresses me. Doubly so for Rein, who really just exudes naturally compelling confidence in the world her music and video accompaniment creates, kind of a Cyberpunk Punk Dark Wave. This is one of my current favorite tracks on 2020's Reincarnated record. The percussive synths that slip in at about the one-minute mark, and then continue to percolate throughout the song really get my imagination flowing, much like the closing synth "fireworks" on NIN's Terrible Lie, one of the first tracks that made me experience what I now realize is synesthesia.
Rein's official site is HERE and the Bandcamp is HERE.
Watch:
Netflix dropped a new trailer for Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, the anthology series coming on October 25th. I'm not sure if I'm going to watch this trailer or not, but as always, I post this here to spread the word and so I have it in posterity:
I cannot wait to watch the Panos Cosmatos episode.
Read:
One of the first posts I saw on social media this morning belonged to Nathan Ballingrud, author of The Visible Filth, aka Wounds. The post announced the UK version of the book, to be published by Titan Books in March 2023, with this gorgeous cover by Vince Haig.
I had NO idea this was coming, so imagine the joy I felt seeing this first thing on my first day off while working in LaLaLand. The US edition - coming three days before my birthday next year - is no slouch either:
On this side of the pond, The Strange comes to us courtesy of Saga Press. This is Mr. Ballingrud's first novel. That seems insane to me, but I would imagine that is because he is so adept at building worlds in short-story form, that everything I've read by him resonates with the same sacred gravity that novels do.
Flew into Chicago Midway this past Friday. Always amazing to be in Chicago, more
so now that I live so close. I flew back out three days later on Monday, back to LaLaLand to work for two weeks. Of course, my boss is awesome, and when he asked me to cycle back in for a week to help out in-house, I asked if I could A) time my stint to coincide with Beyondfest, and B) if I could stay the entire two weeks of the fest. Once a patron of the festival himself (and the person who originally introduced me to it way back in 2012), he replied of course.
It's cool being back in LaLaLand, even if everything about the texture of the city reminds me why I left. There is garbage literally everywhere. Living here, you start to become desensitized to stuff like that; it's a mental and emotional survival skill to ignore crises like that. But once you're away for even a little while, you see it for what it is: an indicator that the population has given up because the civic leaders either don't care or have given up, and infrastructure suffers. This entire city just seems sad to me now. Filthy and dying. Of course, there are still bright bastions of joy housed here, a focal point for so much creative energy for so long now, but the top-heavy corruption that (probably) began with the old studio systems has finally evolved into something of an apex, and it doesn't look good.
Glad I got out but kept a tie. Nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live here (anymore).
But Chicago! Oh, the majesty! I had not driven on Lake Shore Drive for easily two decades, and I did so Saturday night, up to the Chicago Metro for Cold Waves X Day 1. We arrived late and missed the first few bands, but Rein was fantastic, Stromkern also fantastic, and Revco... well, talk about a dream come true, to finally see one of my favorite and most influential bands since Mr. Brown turned me on to them in High School. The night was perfect. The setlist:
Cattle Grind
Physical
Stainless Steel Providers
38 (with Richard 23)
Crackin' Up
Attack Ships on Fire
Something Wonderful
No Devotion
Beers, Steers and Queers
Do You Think I'm Sexy (with Duane Buford and Richard 23)
I might have mixed up the order a bit, but those are the songs.
Watch:
My first Beyondfest screening is tomorrow night at the Aero in Santa Monica. Dario Argento's Dark Glasses:
I'm pretty psyched. After that, Saturday a bunch of us scored free tickets to Trick R' Treat on the big screen at the Hollywood Legion Theatre. Director Michael Dougherty will be in attendance for a Q&A. Pretty psyched.
NCBD:
Despite the fact that I will be visiting The Comic Bug on this trip, that's not until next week, and I won't be picking up any of the titles I have on my regular pull list back at Rick's Comic City in Clarksville. So this is what will be sitting in my box from this week when I get back to TN:
And Declan Shalvey's new book, Old Dog:
Mr. Shalvey is writing and drawing this, so I am very excited. I've been a fan of his since his work with Warren Ellis, particularly their six-issue run on Moon Knight (the definitive modern run, in my opinion) and Injection, one of if not my absolute favorite ongoing independent comic series in recent memory. Couple that with the writing chops he displayed with 2019's graphic novel Bog Bodies, and Old Dog feels poised to be an immediate obsession.
Playlist:
Revco - Beers, Steers and Queers
Revco - Bix Sexy Land
Revco - Linger Fickin' Good
Revco - You Goddamned Son of a Bitch
Thee Sacred Souls - Eponymous
Stereolab - Pulse of of the Early Brain (Switched On Vol. 5)
The Flamingos - Best of Playlist
Rein - Reincarnated
Idles - Joy as an Act of Resistance
Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Brain Telephone
Stromkern - Armageddon
Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit
Joe Begos' Bliss Playlist
Misfits - Static Age
Dio - Last in Line
Card:
I haven't had the time to write or post an entry here (been working on this one since Monday), but I have been doing daily pulls:
Tuesday, 9/27/22:
Wednesday, 9/28/22:
Thursday, 9/29/22:
No time to try and read these all now, let alone write anything down, but I always try to record these here for posterity's sake.
Thirty years ago today. I'm floored.
I really wanted to pick up the new vinyl release to commemorate the anniversary, however, I cannot stand that the original track order was, at some point long ago now, changed. "Down in a Hole" originally occupied the second-to-last track on the album, preceding the equally powerful "Would?" I still have my original Compact Disc from 1993 - the one that came in the long cardboard box, as CDs used to. I think I even still have the front of that box somewhere. It hung on my closet door for many, many years.
Later versions of Dirt shifted "Down in a Hole" to track number four, placing it between "Rain When I Die" and "Sickman." I suppose if I could ever find evidence that the rearranging came at the band's behest, I might be okay with it, but there's nothing online about it, so I just continue to revere the version I know.
(even if the band did do the rearranging, it would probably ultimately prove to be a case similar to the Donnie Darko director's cut; yes, I know Richard Kelley wrote that opening scene to INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart" - after reading him talk about it, you can pretty much spot right away how the flow of the images fits that song better. However, for me, it's "Killing Moon" that will always belong there and resonate best.
Back to Dirt's anniversary for a moment, Mr. Brown MADE MY DAY yesterday when he sent me a text that on the official AIC site, this has come back into print:
I'll never forget the first time I saw this. High School, Mr. Brown wore it to school. I LOVED this shirt from the moment I saw, it and, a few years later, he gave me his shirt. I have always loved the long-sleeve black band shirt make and model, and this... this was my favorite. I wore that fucker up until about ten years ago when it had become so degraded, I had to relegate it to "sleep only." When I moved from my two-story, two-bedroom townhome I rented in San Pedro to an 1100-square-foot apartment in Redondo Beach, I purged A LOT of stuff. This shirt was practically in pieces, large holes throughout the body, so sadly, I cast it into the aether.
And now, once again thanks to Mr. Brown, I'll have a brand-spanking new one. Not gonna lie - pretty freakin' excited!
We lost a treasure when Charles Bradley died, five years ago today. I cracked out Changes a few weeks ago - it'd been a minute, and I'd forgotten just how awesome this man's music is.
Watch:
I've not seen any of the films M. Knight Shamalan has released since his career's first iteration. I stopped before The Happening, and never really looked back. I've always thought M. Knight became a product of his own signature, so to speak. I don't think this was entirely his fault - the Sixth Sense created an expectation that all of his films would have that famous M. Knight twist, and of those original films, only Signs reigns worthy of revisiting in my head (granted, I've not revisited any of the others, but maybe one day). However, I am a HUGE fan of Servant, the show he brought to Apple TV, and thus, I'm willing to give him a chance. Also, and what I didn't know when I first wrote this, Knock at the Cabin is an adaptation of Paul Tremblay's The Cabin at the End of the World.
Sold.
Extra sold when I see Rupert Grint is involved.
I'd seen some of the Harry Potter flicks previously, due to my ex being a big fan. I liked the third one, largely due to Gary Oldman. The rest I have next to no memory of, so my love of Grint stems from his portrayal of Julian on Servant.
The film looks extremely tense and, though I stopped the trailer about two minutes in, sets up a pretty big "What the hell is happening here?" I haven't read the novel but have been meaning to since finishing Head Full of Ghosts back around the time its follow-up came out.
Playlist:
Melvins & Lustmord - Pigs of the Roman Empire
Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Sepultura - Beneath the Remains
Charles Bradley - Changes
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - Give the People What They Want
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
Yesterday marked the 22nd anniversary of Type O Negative's World Coming Down. I can still remember driving to Threshold Music in Tinley Park to pick it up that first day, smoking up before driving home with it blasting in my minivan. It still haunts me today, as it did then, that my friend Jake did not live to hear the follow-up to October Rust.
The title track will always be my favorite among WCD's 13 tracks (if you count Skip it, and we are); this one is an emotional jackhammer.
Watch:
Current obsession:
This show just gets Chicago perfectly.
Read:
Currently splitting my time between two short story collections that couldn't be more different:
First, Irvine Welsh's The Acid House. I started this with my third-ever reading of "A Smart Cunt", the novella that rounds out this collection. This was the first story by Welsh I ever read, back in the 90s. It made an enormous impression on me then, and still does now. From there I cherry picked a few other stories: "Snuff," "Snowman Building Parts for Rico the Squirrel,""Sport For All," "The Granton Star Cause," and the Eponymous story, "The Acid House." I am very much enjoying this return to Welsh's writing, and can't wait to dip back into this for more.
Then this morning, inspired by the encroaching Halloween season, I went looking for my Ramsey Campbell Alone With the Horrors trade paperback I have, but couldn't find it. I haven't bought bookshelves for the new house yet, so a lot of my books are still in boxes. I gave a perfunctory search, but when I stumbled across Nathan Ballingrud's Wounds:
As I've related here previously, although I have the original, softcover novella The Visible Filth - the novella Babak Anvari's film Wounds is based on, I picked this new volume up as soon as it hit the shelves in tandem with the release of the film. I've read The Visible Filth at least three times, but the other stories packaged with it in this particular volume have all only received one go-through. Until now, that is. So yesterday I started my day with The Atlas of Hell, a story that feels so much like Clive Barker to me, yet still stands tall on its own thanks to the clean and precise ton of Mr. Ballingrud's prose. I plan on picking through this one a story at a time over the coming month, and maybe going back and re-reading the stories in Ballingrud's first collection, North American Lake Monsters as well, if I can get around to finally watching the rest of the series based on that book HULU did a few years ago. Previously, I'd only watched two episodes of Monsterland (produced by Anvari), not because they weren't great, but maybe because the two I saw were ultra disturbing. In a good way, but also in a real way. Which is the goal, however, sometimes you have to work up to that sort of thing.
Playlist:
Ozzy Osbourne - Patient Number 9
The Cramps - Stay Sick
The Dead Milkmen - Beelzebubba
Misfits - Static Age
Type O Negative - World Coming Down
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
The center and left card go along with the rejection notice I received this morning for a short story I submitted to a Horror Anthology last week. I'm having trouble figuring out the Queen though... or maybe I'm not.
I'm still partial to Nergal's other project, Me and That Man, but he's an interesting guy and I tend to check out most of what he does, even if the Behemoth stuff usually doesn't really light my fire.
I will say, the setup here is impressive. Seeing the Sigil drawn Sky-large atop the building, staring up at the sky, you really get a feel for Nergal's ambition.
NCBD:
I'm still wishy-washy with this "Event," however, issue 4 was pretty awesome, and Judgment Day is slowly moving in unforeseen directions, so I continue.
Love this book. Shaolin Cowboy: Cruel to be Kin is the perfect vehicle for Geoff Darrow to go absolutely crazy with his insanely complex and beautiful art.
For my money, keep this book centered around Clea Strange.
I'm not really sure what this is, but I'm buying the first issue based on my love of the original, 80s Xterminators series (which I know will have nothing to do with this), and the idea that maybe an all-female X-book will tap into the majesty of the now classic Uncanny #244.
Having meant to listen since it dropped last week (is that right?), I woke up at our Air BnB in Dayton, Ohio and walked over to get coffee at Ghost Light with the new Daptone Records band Thee Sacred Souls. So this song was not only my first impression of the album, but the day and the city of Dayton, five and a half years since the last time I visited.
It was perfect.
You can order the elf-titled album HERE.
Watch:
In honor of the fact that Yellow Veil just announced an HD remaster BR of one of the lost French Extreme flicks:
I really enjoyed this flick, and can't wait to revisit it. Must be going on 17 or 18 years since I saw it last, back when I ordered the disc through the mail via Netflix's old business model. Director Fabrice du Welz's other film from that early 00s period, Vinyan, has long been a favorite of mine, and although both Vinyan and Calvaire are lumped in with the New French Extreme, I feel that's a bit of a misnomer, as neither even begin to approach the extremity present in other films of that 'genre.'
You can read more about the Yellow Veil unveiling on Bloody Disgusting HERE.
Playlist:
Ozzy Osbourne - Patient Number 9
Joy Division - Substance
Joy Division - Still
Melvins - Stoner Witch
Pinebender - Working Night to Wolf
Rough five-hour drive from Clarksville to Dayton. I mean, the drive last weekend to Chicago was longer but 100% enjoyable. Last night, we left at 4:00 PM and didn't arrive until 12:00 AM. Lots of down-to-one-lane construction on I-75 and terrible roads to boot (not as bad as AZ or NW, but still). Here's the playlist that got me through my oft white knuckling:
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