New Music From Arab Strap!

 As usual, huge thanks to Mr. Brown for sending me this, as I've had me 'ead in me arse for the last couple days, and did not see this drop. We're getting awfully close to that new album I'm totally fine with it 👍don't give a f*** anymore 👍 dropping May 10th on Rock Action Records. Pre-order link right HERE. 

Glad to have these guys back for another record; I mean, Aidan and Malcolm went into hiatus while W. was in office, so I kind of thought they might leave the fuckin' planet with what's currently happening. 

This has to be just about my favorite music video since some of the old Liars stuff. 

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Watch:

I had an Ivan Kavanagh double-feature last night. I started with his 2021 film Son:

And then moved on to 2014's The Canal:

I'd seen both of these films previously, but I was happy to go back and revisit them. Both are fantastic; unflinching would definitely be a word I'd use to describe Kavanagh's style. There's a visceral slap to Kavanagh's vision - it sounds a lot like the sound of wet flesh against brick. It's almost mean, but that interpretation is undercut by the lengths to which this filmmaker goes to show the fragile humanity of his protagonists. We see this with Rupert Evans' David in The Canal, and we see it perfected with Andi Matichak's Laura/Anna in Son. There are moments in Son that nearly bring me to tears and the visceral gore that follows later in the film kind of bounces off those soft, quieter moments. Mr. Kavanagh doesn't come across as wanting the terrible acts we witness on screen to befall his characters; instead, it feels as though he's trying to guide them out of the fire to safety.

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Playlist:

Rollins Band - The End of Silence

Run-DMC - Raising Hell

Slayer - Show No Mercy

Beck - The Information

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me OST

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE. Also, Grimm recently launched a Kickstarter for his new deck, The FaeBound Tarot, which you can marvel at and acquire HERE.

• Ace of Swords

• XX: Judgement

• Knight of Swords

A breakthrough of Intellect - something I feel like I can totally use but is definitely eluding me while I wallow in some unwelcome self-doubt - leads to a rebirth of energy synthesized from the balance of Will and Creativity.

New Music From Arab Strap!!!

 

I'm writing this part of today's post on Tuesday the 23rd. I've been listening to Arab Strap for about the last two hours, so how weird is it that when I clicked over to youtube to find a song to post, I see that a new Arab Strap track dropped two hours ago, and a new album is out Februrary 9th! Holy smokes - Awesome! 

You can go HERE to Pre-order I'm totally fine with it 👍 Don't give a fuck anymore 👍 - yes, the emogis are part of the actual title! Check out this cover!!!

Love it! Man, it feels so good to have Malcolm and Aiden back. 

 

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NCBD:

The final of my "away pulls." Can't wait to get back home and pick the last few week's of comics up. 

So according to Image Comics' website, issue 16 is the Newburn series finale. That's a bummer, but at the same time, the storyline is twisting these characters' lives into such a knot, I'd mentioned recently that I couldn't possibly see how this book could last that much longer. Kudos to the creators for sticking to their guns and telling the story they set out to tell. 

We all knew he'd be back, but since Mags destroyed his backup, I'm pretty curious what version this resurrected one will take.

Another series ending soon. Tenement has been a fantastic ride, with the last two issues really pushing the storyline of the overall Bone Orchard Mythos forward. Can't wait to see what's next, but until then, I'm pretty sure these last few issues will be increasingly bizarre and horrific in the fashion only Lemire and Sorrentino can manage.

And yet another BOMBSHELL ending - the news that this title ends with the upcoming issue 150 hit comic news outlets recently. TMNT began again under the IDW banner back in 2012; I picked up the first issue and have enjoyed every single one since. The other end of that big news is that Jason Aaron is taking over the upcoming new title - still under IDW - but what I'm unclear about is if that book will begin a brand new continuity, or continue this one. I hope for the former but also pine a bit for the latter; it would be nice to drop a book from the pull and let this series just sit immortalized in time as the perfect gem it is.

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Watch:

Last night I finally got the chance to see Yorgos Lanthimos' new film, Poor Things. Even better, I got to see it with two good friends at the Los Feliz 3 Theatre. I've posted the trailer here previously, so here's a gorgeous poster:

The only other film by Mr. Lanthimos I've seen is Killing of a Sacred Deer, however, that is one of the best "What the absolute F*ck" viewings I've had in the last ten years, so it instantly endeared the creator to me, while also kind of made me a touch afraid of his work. There is something so all-consuming about Deer, that I've kept The Lobster and The Favorite at bay for years. 

That changes now.

I put a spoiler-free review up on Letterbxd HERE, but in a nutshell Poor Things is beautiful, odd, perverse, tender, vulgar and a touch transgressive, all coming together to make an utterly unique experience.

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Playlist:

Tar - Clincher

Tar - Holding Fast Hitting Long (Live)

The Bronx - V

The Bronx - (II)

The Bronx - (III)

Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet

Arab Strap - The Red Thread

Arab Strap - Philophobia

The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen

Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07

Carpenter Brute - Leather Terror

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Six of Swords

• Eight of Cups

• XVII: The Star

Arab Strap - I Still Miss You

 

As we come upon the end of the year and I prepare to commit my ten favorite albums to print, I realized that I completely forgot Arab Strap put out a record earlier in the year. This is, I think because when the album came out I was simply not in the headspace for the band. Yesterday, however, I fell headlong into an Arab Strap Vortex that lasted the entire day. 

The song above was originally published on the OST for the cinematic adaptation to Irvine Welsh's The Acid House, which, if memory serves, was the first Welsh book I ever read. I'm way overdue on a Welsh catch-up jag, but that's a post for a different time (I used to buy every book he published the day it came out, however, being that his writing influences my own, and the projects I've been working on for the last few years are not necessarily compatible with that particular voice, I've eschewed the last four novels the man has published). Anyway, "I Still Miss You" is available on all streaming platforms via the 2016 eponymous compilation put out by record label Chemikal Underground. I own the Acid House flick on DVD, and this prompts me to dig it out and put it at the top of the pile for rewatching after I mop up the rest of my year-end viewing for 2021. 

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Watch:

Thanks to my friend Jun and The Comic Bug, I attended a private screening of Spider-Man: No Way Home over the weekend and was BLOWN AWAY.

 

This is everything a Spider-man fan could want and more.

 

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Playlist:

Dance with the Dead - Into the Abyss

Arab Strap - As Days Get Dark

Arab Strap - The Red Thread

Arab Strap - Mondays at the Hug and Pint

Arab Strap - Arab Strap

Arab Strap - The Week Never Starts Round Here

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Card:

Directly referencing my experiments in the world of NFTs. 

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

New Arab Strap!

Holy cow! This is the third single from the upcoming new album by Arab Strap? Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton's first album as Arab Strap in... a really long time! How did I miss that this was coming? The good news is the album is out March 5th on Rock Action Records, so it's not long now. The bad news? The vinyl is currently completely Sold Out. I'm hoping for a re-stock, so if you're like me, you'll be checking the Pre-order link for the next few weeks.

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Watch:

Near the end of the newest episode of The Horror Vision Horror Podcast, Ray Larragoitiy asks Tori and me what we're excited about coming out in the next few months. I wasn't prepared for the question at that time and was pretty bummed to realize I could barely think of a thing. Seems like the COVID effect on productions has finally caught up to us. There are a few things, though. One of them is this:

Ben Wheatley's new film In the Earth should be along within the next few months (I hope) and I for one can't wait. 

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Playlist:

Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - The Helm of Sorrow 

Thou - Rhea Sylvia

Arab Strap - As Days Get Dark (pre-release singles)

Alice in Chains - Dirt

The Veils - Nux Vomica

U2 - War

The Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets

The Soft Moon - Feel (single)

Joy Division - Closer

Nothing - The Great Dismal

Exhalants - Atonement

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Card:

 Taxes are good.

Arab Strap - Love Detective

Arab Strap's The Red Thread is one of the best album's I own (and I own a lot of albums). Kind of a Scottish version of Massive Attack's Mezzanine, but with more acoustic guitars, if that makes any sense.

UPDATE: Tuesday, 6/18 - what the hell's with my putting an apostrophe in albums?