New Music From PJ Harvey!

 

PJ Harvey released the second advance track from her upcoming record I Inside the Old Year Dying a few days ago, and after listening to that and first single "A Child's Question, August" a few times these last few days, I have gained quite the anticipation to hear the entire record. So far, this one strikes me as having as much not to do with her previous albums as it does incorporate a kind of sum-total of her entire oeuvre. Yeah, that's kind of a c-u-next-tuesday word for a music or film blogger to use; don't care. When you talk about Ms. Harvey, you gotta class the place up a bit. Pre-order the new album directly from the artist HERE.

---

---

---

Watch:

The full trailer for Yorgos Lanthimos's new film Poor Things dropped earlier today, and despite my swearing off trailers, once I saw the still, I had to watch it (part of this decision was based on the fact that I find it doubtful the trailer for one of Lanthimos's films could ever betray its intentions. Judge for yourself, if you dare!

 

What the hell, right? A cast stacked with impeccable actors for a twisted twist on the Frankenstein story? I'm finding it difficult to formulate any opinion on what we see here, other than it will no doubt be as unique and engrossing as this director's other films. I now know where I will be on September 8th.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Low - Trust

Slowspin - Talisman

Nabihah Iqbal - Dreamer

Drab Majesty - Modern Mirror

Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

PJ Harvey - I Inside the Old Year Dying (pre-release singles)

Ike and Tina Turner - Live? The World of Ike & Tina

Colter Wall - Imaginary Appalachia

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Gila Monster/Dragon (pre-release singles)

Bria - Cuntry Covers Volumes 1 & 2

White Lung - Paradise

Soft Play - Are You Satisfied

Steve Moore - Christmas, Bloody Christmas OST

The Plimsouls - Everywhere At Once

            

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

My first Pull since returning from my Chicago trip, and it's almost identical to one my good friend Missi asked me to help her read the day before. How's that for awesome?

•  On the Tree of Life, The Empress is the first Trump to connect two pillars, from Chokman to Binah, the act of transforming Knowledge into Understanding. Not always easy. This is a card that, while it does not touch the superstate of Kether - the white hot room, as Grant Morrison would say - does represent a process of making the intangible tangible, collating and processing information to produce a result. 

• Ace of Wands - Willfull Breakthrough

• Seven of Pentacles - Earthly victory; accomplishment. Completion and the exhale that follows.

When I string all this together, I see a message that suggests hard work, but not necessarily of the physical kind. In my own terms, this is telling me I have to do more conceptual work, more mental hammering of narrative logistics. This will produce results. 

 

---

---

---

New Music from Drab Majesty!

 

From the forthcoming EP An Object in Motion, out August 25th on Dais Records. Pre-order HERE. I'm hoping this EP - DM's first release since 2019's Modern Mirror - herald's a full-length somewhere in the immediate future. For the moment though, I'll take what I can get. 

---

---

---

NCBD:

Small Pull this week, and I won't be back in Clarksville to hit Rick's Comic City to grab it until the weekend, but I'm pretty psyched to read both these books:

The cover speaks volumes - Peter attacking Kitty? I haven't really followed any books with either of these two in decades, so I'm curious where they're at.

Do I love this cover? HOT DAMN, yes I do. Seeing Tony Stark's iconic armor visage applied to the anti-mutant Sentinels is... breathtaking. 
            

---

---

---

Watch:

While I have grown to ignore trailers for movies I am anticipating and therefore have some general knowledge about, I'll still watch trailers for upcoming films I haven't heard of before. Thus was the case with Bruce Wemple's new film First Contact. Here's the trailer (which I only watched half of):

            

I posted about Wemple's previous film, Monstrous, here sometime last year. A flick I had a decent amount of expectation for, but which fell a bit short. Definitely cool enough to pique my interest for his next flick, which, after seeing about half this trailer, I have to say looks like it might be influenced by the writings of Laird Barron. This one popped up on VOD yesterday, and it's a $3.99 on Prime, so I'll definitely be giving it a go sometime soon.

---

---

---

Playlist:

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Gila Monster/Dragon (pre-release singles)

Bria - Cuntry Covers Vol. 2

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

M83 - Fantasy

Drab Majesty - Vanity (single)

Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance

Low Cut Connie - Sleeze Me On (single)

Various - Jonathan Grimm's Dark & Weird Bluegrass Playlist

Nirvana - Nevermind

Nothing - Downward Years to Come

---

---

---

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Dragon!

 

New King Gizzard and the Lizzard Wizard! Many thanks to my friend Josh who recently reminded me to check these guys out, as they'd been on my radar for quite some time and I still had not heard them. Loving the 2019's Infest the Rats' Nest record, and now both these new songs from the forthcoming album

Petrodragonic Apocalypse or Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of the Merciless Damnation, which you can pre-order directly from the band HERE.

This one starts out with a King Crimson-like intro and then turns into all-out thrash for most of the song, and boy does that combination work! Also, I love that both this and the previously released Gila Monster go right into one another. If the entire album has that 'one long track' feel, I think it will just up the overall power the band has set to capture and display with this record.

Oh, the video begins with a photosensative warning - do not take lightly; you may not want to watch this if you think there's a chance it could induce seizures. It is an unfortunate effect of awesomeness that it sometimes messes with our, ahem, lizard brains.

---

---

---

Watch:

A new trailer for A24's Talk to Me dropped. As is my current custom, I'm posting it here but not watching it. Have heard some good things about this one, and favorable experiences watching A24's Bodies, Bodies, Bodies and Beau is Afraid have definitely staved off the burgeoning tendency to roll my eyes - temporarily at least - at the "Elevated Horror" assessment that fans have tirelessly attributed to the company (I recently saw someone wearing an A24 t-shirt). 

  

Out July 28th, pretty sure this one is going wide. Can't wait to see it, as early reports suggest directors Danny & Michael Philippou hit this one out of the park!!!

 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Bria - Cuntry Covers Vol. 2

The Smiths - God Save the Queen

Phil Collins/Genesis - Collins. Phil Collins Playlist       

Ghost - Impera

Orville Peck - Bronco

Ganser - Odd Talk

Ghost Cop - End Credits

Spotlights - Seance EP

Nabihah Iqbal - Weighing of the Heart

Witchfinder - Forgotten Mansion

Low - Trust

Low - Poor Sucker (single)

M83 - Fantasy

Dorthis Cottrell - Death Folk Country

Les Discrets - Prédateurs

Prey - Iress

Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars

 

---

---

---

X's For Eyes... And That's All

 

I have always carried a torch for a handful of songs from the Phil Collins/80s Genesis catalogue. I know, I know... I don't care. These songs are in my DNA from early life exposure. Also, weirdly enough, a lot of comic book memories are attached to some of them, this one in particular. Not necessarily specific issues, but eras.

The year Tonight, Tonight, Tonight came out - 1986 - was the year I first started reading comics on a regular basis with Larry Hama's G.I.Joe issue #49. The same year, this song appeared in a Michelob television commercial. Something about that commercial primed me to be both a Ministry fan and a Bret Easton Ellis fan, though it's difficult to explain the latter half of that statement. (Ministry's Everyday is Halloween would score a - get this - Old Style Dry commercial, just two years later. My memory so clearly stated it was a Bud Dry commercial that I would have put money on it. Also, who remembered that Old Style had a "Dry" beer? Not me, and probably not Dennis Farina, either. I mean, if he was still alive...)

---

---

---

Play:

The New Puppet Combo game Stay Out of the House drops June 16th! I've already pre-ordered my copy for Switch. Why? Check out this gnarly trailer:

Oh man, I need to double-down on No One Lives Under the Lighthouse, which I played the hell out of for the first week and a half and then haven't really had time for since.             

---

---

---

Read:

Blew through Laird Barron's third Isaiah Coleridge novel, Worse Angels and, exactly as instinct suggested, it went from a 4-star to a 5-star rating simply because I did not reread Black Mountain (Bk 2) first. Love this series, and it's put me in mind of tracing some of the recurring characters, so the instant I finished it, I picked up Barron's 2015 novella X's for Eyes.         

I've only read this particular Barron book once before when it first came out, and it's not a Coleridge novel, however, Tom Mandibole makes an appearance, and since he is a major force in Worse Angels, I really wanted to work backward on his character. The first memory I have of him is "More Dark," the closing story in Barron's 2013 The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All collection, where - in my mind at least - it's heavily implied he is a riff on author Thomas Ligotti. I read Barron's work as it's released, and in the past, I haven't kept notes, so I'm hazy on where and how often Mandibole has appeared. Hence the 'working backward.' At any rate, Mandibole shows up in the first two pages of X's For Eyes, as does Sword Industries, the Labrador family and who knows what else. So I'm in the right place until The Wind Began to Howl (Coleridge Bk 3.5) arrives.

 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Lustmord - Berlin

Low - Double Negative

Ganser - Odd Talk

Les Discrets - Prédateurs

Godflesh - Post Self

Danzig - Danzig III: How the Gods Kill

Alice in Chains - Sap EP

Soundgarden - Superunknown

Huey Lewis and the News - Sports

Phil Collins/Genesis - Collins. Phil Collins. Playlist

Pastor T.L. Barrett & the Youth for Christ Choir - Like a Ship (Without a Sail)

Ministry - Moral Hygiene

Yeruselem - The Sublime

Pigface - Pigface Live 2019 vinyl

            

---

---

---

Card:

Heading to Chicago today, so here's a card from Missi's Raven Deck to see me on my way and plot the course of the trip:

Things change; long-standing certainties switch polarity. Life is change, so embrace change. Kill. Your. Darlings.

 

---

---

---

The Boogeyman

A few weeks ago, Mr. Brown asked me if I'd ever heard the Chicago band Ganser. I had not. I added a few records in Apple Music but didn't actually hit play on one until last week.

Instant adoration.

The album I'm currently obsessed with is 2018's Odd Talk, and the song on that album that gets the most play is also the first song on this live Audiotree session the band did in 2020, "Satsuma." Watching them play live is literally thrilling, especially guitarist Charlie Landsman. I love everything about this band, but I love Charlie's guitar the most, as it conjures White Lung, US Maple, Assembly Line People Program, and Erase Errata, to name a few bands I've carried on love affairs with in the past. 

Ganser is on the always fantastic Felte Records, and you can check them out on the label's site HERE or the band's Bandcamp HERE.

---

---

---

Watch:

Last night K and I caught the first screening of Rob Savage's new film The Boogeyman. This is based on an adaptation of Stephen King's short story, "The Boogeyman," from his Night Shift collection. I've read the story, although I had no memory of it at the time of the screening, so I was free to judge the film simply as the film. In that context, and ultimately in any other, The Boogeyman is a damn solid monster movie. Here's the trailer:

          

What goes right with this flick? Pretty much everything. In many respects, this is a by-the-numbers Horror flick, but Savage - whose breakthrough was 2020's Host (the Zoom movie, which I love) - is showing himself to be an auteur at heart, so there are enough personal touches and 'aberrations' from the formula that while The Boogeyman feels familiar, it also feels different enough that you won't be bored. The third act really sealed the deal - it's fantastic.

Also, and this is the smallest of spoilers, if at all, but I found it very cool that actress Seylan Baxter, who played the Medium in Host appears in this film in a youtube video on Seances one of the characters watches. It's little touches like that I always appreciate in a filmmaker's work.

  

---

---

---

Read:

After seeing the film The Boogeyman, I woke up this morning and re-read the story in Stephen King's Night Shift.

The story strictly follows Billings's visit to Dr. Harper's office, where he avails himself of his guilt. That's it. So the film is an adaptation and expansion of the story, and in that, it's pretty fantastic in what it accomplishes, using King's story as the seed for a larger world that's really only hinted at between the lines of the story.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Radiohead - The Bends

Ganser - Odd Talk

Lustmord - Berlin

Boy Harsher - Burn it Down (single)

Boy Harsher - Careful

Code Orange - Grooming My Replacement/The Game (single)

Code Orange - Underneath

            

---

---

---

Card:

From Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris's Thoth deck:

• Prince of Swords - The "Air" of Air, or doubling down on conflict

• 2 Change - The Ebb and Flow.

• Princess of Wands - Physical act or manifestation of Will

Cut and dry, once again. Of course, that's because it's all in the interpretation, and the interpretation is steeped in what's on your mind. I know exactly what's on my mind, and it's writing. Hence, why all of this week's Pulls have concerned my Art. 

I've had two decent days getting back in the saddle; nothing stellar, but that's the ebb and flow mentioned above - I have to take the good with the bad, especially when overcoming the inertia of having not written in a bit. It's easy to get discouraged, but you just have to apply your Will and fight that part of yourself that wants to be lazy, or is looking to be discouraged. Frustrations be damned, a breakthrough will come!!!

 

---

---

---

New Music From The Mysterines!

 

 

The Mysterines dropped a new single yesterday, and I'm hoping it's the herald for a new album! 2022's Reeling easily made it into my ten favorite albums of that year, and as that was my jumping on point with the band, I'm anxious for more. In the meantime, hit their Bandcamp HERE.

---

---

---

Watch:

Last night K and I had the extreme pleasure of watching Jon Wright's latest film, Unwelcome. Here's the trailer:

I'd only seen the director's 2012 film Grabbers, which is a riot, so I had no idea what to expect with Unwelcome. Well, this one shot to the top tier of my favorite flicks released so far in 2023. The characters are instantly likable and relatable - very important. Also, the effects are fantastic and the storyline really draws you in. Reminded me a bit of The Hallow, what with the rural Irish setting and use of Celtic Folklore. Unwelcome is a $3.99 rental on Amazon at the moment, and absolutely worth spending the dough on - highly recommended.

 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Queens of the Stone Age - In Times New Roman (pre-release singles) 

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Infest the Rats' Nest 

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Gila Monster (single) 

Ganser - Odd Talk 

High on Fire - Snakes for the Divine 

High on Fire - Death Is This Communion 

Spotlights - Seance EP 

Spotlights - Love & Decay

Joan Jett - Album

Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot

 

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

 

•Ten of Swords - Completion of challenge

• Ace of Pentacles - Breakthrough in Earthly matters

• Ace of Wands - Breakthrough of Will or through Will, which is the case here, I think.

More cosmic writing advice, which is paying off. I went to my coffee shop to ice out the world and focus. I've begun writing at home quite a bit, but being I was stagnant for several days (almost a week), I needed to jump-start the old attention span. It worked, but only too well. 4.25 hours of sleep last night; I'd gotten used to close to 8 for the last few weeks. Thus, Breakthrough of Will.

---

---

---

New Queens of the Stone Age - Carnavoyeur

 

More new music from next month's new Queens of the Stone Age record, Times New Roman, available for pre-order HERE.

My friend Josh alerted me to this one, and I have to say, his "I hear Bowie" observation is spot-on. Not necessarily in how the song sounds (although there's that), but more in the type of experimentation the band's doing. Really cool stuff.

---

---

---

NCBD:

Nothing in my pull this week, however, issue #3 of Pat O'Malley's Popscars drops, and I'll definitely be picking that up and adding the book to my Pull.

Now published by Sumerian Comics - formerly Behemoth Comics, the fine folks who published Andy Leavy and Hugo Araujo's Osaka Mime, not to mention the Turbo Kid and Spare Parts tie-in books. I met Pat back in 2022 at The Comic Bug when he was in signing issues 1 and 2 of Popscars, then completely independently published. I bought those issues, LOVED them and was supposed to have him on A Most Horrible Library, but then, well, I don't think we've done an episode since. He reached out recently and I need to get back to him and extend an invite to come on my functioning show, The Horror Vision, so he can talk about the book.

Here's the solicitation description:

"Popscars is a gritty Hollywood revenge story about a vigilante badass in a pink ski mask and the famous Hollywood movie producer she is out to kill, who also happens to be her estranged father. In Hollywood revenge is best served in front of an audience. As our pink ski masked killer pushes her way through a Hollywood crowd, prepared to take her shot at her movie producer father, she's quickly swept into a brand new revenge plot orchestrated by her own unsuspecting target."

 

I love the imagery in the book, and the seedy nature of, well, all of it. An exploitation book about exploitation flicks is, by its very nature, a fantastic story.

 

---

---

---

Read:

I surprised myself by putting off my re-read of Stephen Graham Jones's My Heart is a Chainsaw after I noticed that my copy of Laird Barron's The Wind Began to Howl is due to land any day, and that technically, this book is labeled as "Isaiah Coleridge Novel #3.5." 

Interesting... and also probably a shorter read than clocking through Chainsaw and its follow-up, Don't Fear the Reaper, both of which I'm dying to read. But I've also been chomping at the bit for more Coleridge, and more Laird Barron in general, so I started re-reading Isaiah #3, 2020's Worse Angels.

I've read Coleridge books 1 and 2 twice each, or actually three times on book one, Blood Standard, but Worse Angels just the once, so this is a welcome return to a book that kinda blew me away (like they all do). Also, I'm eager to read it without reading book 2 Black Mountain, in close proximity. I love the entire series, however, Black Mountain was just something else, and because of this, I feel like it warped my only experience with Angels so far. Not this time...

 

---

---

---

Playlist:

QOTSA - Era Vulgaris

High On Fire - Snakes for the Divine

Decima Victima - Los Que Faltan

The Mysterines - Begin Again (single)

Killing Joke - Fire Dances

Tangerine Dream - Sorceror OST

            

---

---

---

Card:

Had an inkling to pick the Raven Tarot Deck back up and pull a single card. Here we go:

Temperance, or "Art" in Crowley and Harris's Thoth deck. Another small goad to get my ass back in gear, as my lethargy has crept through the weekend and into the middle of the damn week now. We've had a steady stream of vendors out to the house for various reasons over the last few days, and that continues today. Also, I am once again completely enraptured by Laird Barron's Worse Angels. That said, I need to develop a curriculum. One thing I was pretty taken by in Ivy Tholen's Tastes Like Candy - I mean, besides the awesome Slasher story - was main character Violet's practice routine with her violin. It reminded me of the benefit of commitment to the craft. I've been wanting to work up a schedule that includes not only writing - and of course reading has to be in there - but also guitar, as I've felt a pull back to that after nearly a decade ignoring what used to be my muse. 

---

---

---