New Music from †††!!!

††† dropped the title track from their new album! You can snatch this up directly from the band HERE. I'll admit the way ††† have been releasing songs, I was a bit confused as to what was the EP and now the full-length. Either way, it's good to have Chino's "other" band cranking music out, as their nine year hiatus left me wanting a lot more.

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) When Evil Lurks/VHS 85/Adam Chaplin

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 6 "Collection Complete"

3) VHS

4) All You Need is Death

5) Slashers (2001)

6) The Beyond/Phenomena

7) The Convent

8) Evil Dead 2

9) The Autopsy of Jane Doe

10) Totally Killer

11) Ritual (Joko Anwar)/The Final Terror/Grave Robbers

12) Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (w/Joe Bob)

13) Never Hike Alone/Never Hike in the Snow/Never Hike Alone 2

14) Puppetman

15) Creepshow Season 4 Episode 1

16) Return of the Living Dead

17) Don't Look Now

18) When Evil Lurks

19) Barbarian

20) Demons 2/All Hallows Eve

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Read:

While I'm still dabbling away at the last ten percent of Clive Barker's The Scarlet Gospels (I hate to say this, but it's awful beyond what I ever could have imagined), I couldn't help but begin reading Weird Walk's new, collected tome. 

If you are not familiar with Weird Walk, it's a British zine whose contributors walk the countryside in an effort to reconnect with the natural world of their ancestors. The ideology behind this often has to do with a hauntological approach to innoculating the failings of the present with the knowledge of our past. To quote the book's preamble:

"In Britain today we live in thrall to timetabels and technology, our lives increasingly scheduled and surveiled. Much of the population live in towns and cities (83 percent as of 2019), disconnected from the rural lives of our ancestors...The accepted notion in our modern present is that any kind of magical thinking... belongs to an older age...We are conditioned to push back against any sense of innocent bewilderment with nature and it's mysteries... If ubran and suburban surroundings reinforce this desacralised thinking, it follows that a shift to more pastoral realms might be a first step towards opening the door to re-enchantment."

As I said, the initial format of Weird Walk is an almost pamphlet-like paper zine. Seeing the content recreated in this gorgeous hardcover brick feels like a massive accomplishment for intellectual thought; the kind of victory that, in 2023, feels far too scarce.

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Playlist:

My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult - I See Good Spirits and I See Bad

Cristobal Tapia De Veer - Smile OST

Bauhaus - Burning From the Inside

Prince - Sign O' the Times

Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh

Rein - Reincarnated

Halloween Spotify Playlist

Ulver - Teachings In Silence

††† - Good Night, God Bless, I Love U, Delete

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Card:

During my recent travels I had to rely on the Mini-Thoth deck my good friend Missi gave me. It'd been a minute since I'd used this one; I carry it with me daily, however, my daily Pulls usually occur at my desk, and I have my Bound Tarot and full-size Thoth there, so I hardly ever pull the travel deck out of my backpack. Using it again, I realized I have a bit of a disconnect from the cards, so I'm trying to remember to use it at least once a week.

Lots of big themes at play today. We have Change, Will and - in this case at least - I'm reading Trump IV as Exploration. This fits. My parents are in town, and we're looking for a house for them now that theirs is sold. The deadline is coming up fast, so there's definitely a feeling that our shoulder is against the grindstone (moved by Will alone). My Father is expressing doubts they can pull this off, but I have no doubts whatsoever - here's our path forward. Heed the cards.

Picture 

New Music From †††

 

I did not realize we had a new full-length on the way from Chino Moreno and Shaun Lopez's †††, but Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete. officially drops on October 13th. Pre-order Here.

This one took me a minute to warm up to, and I'm done with it until the full-length arrives, simply because with †††, I really feel the context of an entire recording makes their songs that much stronger.

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The Vinyl High:

A couple new acquisitions showed up on my doorstep last week. First up, Bohren and der Club of Gore's 2000 MASTERPIECE, Sunset Mission:

This is one I've wanted for quite some time. Available HERE on the Pias label's website; I'd seen a few complaints on Discogs about this pressing being noisy, but not my copy. Pristine, Sunset Mission was made to be heard on vinyl. This one is kind of the nexus of everything I love about the music in Twin Peaks and everything I love about the music in Cowboy BeBop, so finally acquiring it on vinyl kind of completes a bit of a trilogy for me, I guess. 

Next up, John Harrison's Soundtrack for George A. Romero's Day of the Dead:

I honestly don't know how I passed this one by for so long. I'd actually forgotten Waxwork Records released this until two Fridays ago when I watched the Joe Bob Brigg's Last Drive-In season finale, where Joe Bob and Darcy not only played and talked about Romero's third entry in his original Zombie trilogy but also had a small cast reunion with Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander and Jarlath Conroy. I'd already been thinking about Boards of Canada a lot recently, in that I started following the BOC fan Instagram page, where one post kind of marveled over all the negative reactions to 2013's Tomorrow's Harvest. Easily my favorite album by BoC - which is really saying something because I have deep connections to most of their records - not only did I never understand how so many people didn't like this, I doubly didn't understand how 80s Horror fans don't like Harvest, because it plays so much like a Carpenter/Romero score. This is especially true of Harrison's work on Day of the Dead, where most of Harvest would seemingly be right at home following the opening track of the movie.

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Playlist:

Sigur Rós - Ágœtis Byrjun

John Harrison - Day of the Dead OST

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

Witchskull - The Serpent Tide

The Cure - Pornography

Fabio Frizi - House By the Cemetery OST

Bohren and der Club of Gore - Sunset Mission

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Card:

• Six of Disks Success

• Princess of Disks

• Three of Cups: Abundance

This feels like a direct response to yesterday's Pull, as a lot of my reservations disappeared as soon as I started really applying my force of Will to make progress and achieve success in a few chapters that seemed hopelessly lost a day or so ago.

 

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††† - Sensation

 

Really digging this new ††† PERMANENT.RADIANT EP, especially of late, opening track Sensation. The chorus has an epic slamming that kind of marries a slow, sensual plod ala When the Levee Breaks (not quite, but ballpark) to what sounds like the fanfare of some futuristic stadium rock. Add onto that all the swirling keys, guitars, and some cool vox FX on Chino, and you get a fantastic album-opener and lead-in to that brilliant first single, Vivien. 

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Watch:

Since it was only in the theatres for about a week, we missed David O. Russell's Amsterdam on the big screen but finally caught it on HBO Max last night.

 

This is the film that failed so hard at the box office - undeservedly so, in my opinion - that I've heard titterings about it being the death knell for anything that could be called an "adult drama" rolling out big and wide at theatres. If that's true, it sucks. I'll be sure to be more diligent about getting out to see those films on their first weekend because that might be all we get while Marvel and their clones - some of which I also am a fan of - further strengthen their stranglehold on every big screen in the major movie houses.

I think back to Autumn/Winter 2007. I'd been in L.A. a little over a year, and the Regal Cinema at the Rolling Hills Terrace on Deep Valley Drive was my perpetual weekend spot, primarily because they had a killer Soundsystem and were not afraid to turn it LOUD. That year, I saw so many great films - none of which were, if I remember correctly - genre. No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, and Charlie Wilson's War, spring immediately to mind. I can't help wondering if we'll ever see a roll-out of non-franchise films like that again. 2019 was a brief return to form; however, the pandemic may have been the real death knell for non-event films, the kind where two adults go to see a film unattached to properties or characters they are familiar with. And there's nothing wrong with big-budget, superhero blockbusters - I just hope that's not all there is to choose from on the big screen. Because I love seeing quiet, contemplative films like The Banshees of Inisherin at the theatre as much as I do whatever the next Avengers or whatever.

But I totally side-stepped my own set-up with my maudlin reverie. How was Amsterdam? Pretty damn good. I'll specifically say that Christian Bale is fantastic, as are all the performances. The script is a bit overly ambitious and the plot suffers from that, so there were moments where I was a little annoyed at what began to feel unmanageably dense, but those performances really anchored the film for me. 

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Playlist:

Metallica - Kill 'Em All

Metallica - Hardwired... To Self-Destruct

Zeal and Ardor - Firewake (single)

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

Lustmord - Dark Matter

SQÜRL and Jozef Van Wissem - Only Lovers Left Alive OST

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Card:

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

It will require an effort of Will to make the breakthrough that will move me into the next phase of a project. 

New Zeal & Ardor!!!

 

Excited to see that, apparently, Zeal and Ardor are now on Sub Pop Records. With this kind of state-side distribution, it should no longer cost an arm and leg in shipping to order their records! Perhaps it was to celebrate that contract, the band just released a two-song single!

What a great day to wake up to! Last few days, no lie, my stress level has had me hovering at the "punch a hole in the window" stage. But I woke up a little while ago feeling fairly refreshed, and now I'm putting the finishing touches on this post, drinking coffee and listening to the new ††† EP, PERMANENT.RADIANT that dropped, counting the hours until I can hit play on Joe Begos' new flick, Christmas Bloody Christmas, now probably my most anticipated film of the year. I'd wanted to drive to Chicago to see it, but after spending $500 at the dentist over the last week, there's just no feasible way to swing that. My hope, though, is that, like Terrifier 2, it makes enough $$$ at the box office this week to see a bigger roll-out next week. If that happens, it's bound to end up here. 

If you need help figuring if Christmas Bloody Christmas is playing by you, here's the link Begos put on his IG - it literally lists every theatre the film is playing. So crazy that, with all the smaller cities its rolling out to, it didn't come to Clarksville. Our Regal, which is pretty good and had Terrifier 2 for almost a month, had the new Martin McDonough and the George A. Romero Dawn of the Dead 3D, but instead of lining CBC up, they still have Prey for the Devil? WTF?

Life is good. If you're having a tough time at any point today, stop and think about the people and the stuff you love. It will HELP!

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Watch:

New Brandon Cronenberg film? Sign me up.

 

I cannot overstate how unbelievably happy I am that we only had to wait about three years for the third film from Brandon Cronenberg. Possessor is still one of my all-time favorites, and with this cast and premise - what little of it may or may not be clear from this trailer - Infinity Pool looks likely to rank pretty high with me as well. Out January 27.

Neon is just a fabulous company, isn't it?

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Playlist:

Fvnerals - Let the Earth be Silent (pre-release singles)

Fvnerals - The Light

Final Light - Eponymous

Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell

Federale - No Justice

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

The Mysterines - Reeling

H6LLB6ND6R - Side A

Metallica - Hardwired... To Self-Destruct

Metallica - Kill 'em All

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Card:

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

Ask and ye shall receive your answer: I usually don't specify when I pull, but today I focused on my recent re-engagement with Shadow Play Book 2. The writing comes and goes, mostly rewarding while I'm doing it, then frustrating after. But I keep wondering if this is actually going to work. Well, apparently, if I am strong enough to persevere, I will get my outcome.

††† - The Epilogue

This new video by ††† came to my inbox last week, however it was quickly forgotten as email continues to become something that, except with a few exceptions (My marvelous correspondences with Joup's Chester Whelks to name one of those I cherish), just annoys the hell out of me. Fast forward to now where I sit writing in the starfuckers up the street from my crib, and as Intronaut's Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones) ends yet another iteration and I dig through my ipod looking for something to take the weight off this one album I've listened to about thirty times in the last twenty-four hours (don't want to wear it out) I realize it's been a while since I've injected myself with the beauty of The Deftones' Koi No Yokan. This in turn reminds me about ††† and thus, here... we... are.

Now, back to the novel!