Every Loser

 

A few weeks back, I hadn't even realized Iggy Pop had a new record until Mr. Brown messaged me about Every Loser. After a couple listens, I'll say it's a pretty solid album. Then I heard it again this weekend and it really grabbed me.

I haven't been all that receptive to the stuff Mr. Pop has done in the last ten years or so. The album with QOTSA as his band was okay, and although I did dig 2013's Ready To Die and his work with Underworld, neither held my attention for very long. Probably not the music's fault. This record, however, has something different: Producer Andrew Watt, the man that made the two most recent Ozzy Osbourne records. As good as those are to Ozzy, this is to Iggy. 

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NCBD:

NCBD picks! 

Yeah, I know I'm cutting back on what I buy, but I can't pass up a new Tynion book. Especially one titled Blue Book.

I skipped last week's Nightcrawlers, but the first Storm and the Brotherhood entry in Sins of Sinister was good, so I'm definitely picking up Immoral X-Men #1. 

Saga brings me great joy. 

Phantasmagoria has proven to be a sleeper hit for me, and I've next to no doubt that, once this issue is out and the series is tied up, it will end up on my 'Best Of' list for 2023.

Cutter Vs. Erika? 

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Playlist:

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - Land of Sleeper

Various - Fight! Playlist

Portishead - Third

Beak> - Kosmik Musik

Abby Sage - Smoke Break (single)

Abby Sage - The Florist EP

Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin

Perturbator - Dangerous Days

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Card:

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

Monetary conflicts that affect both K and myself at the moment. We're having issues getting our tax returns - which we did on the 8th - submitted due to some computer issues with the company we go to. I take this to mean hold steady and don't let it create conflict.

Isolation: Day 134

Following up yesterday's Sunday Bandcamp feature of JK Flesh's 2012 Posthuman with his newest release. Depersonalization dropped at the beginning of the month on Hospital Productions, a label I am completely unfamiliar with. Buy on cassette HERE.


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After watching that video of Henry Rollins geeking out over Rhino's 50th Anniversary box set of The Stooges Funhouse, I knew there was no way I was going to spend $400 on it, so I did the next best thing. My copy of Raw Power on CD disappeared a few years back, so I decided to finally replace it with Vinyl. Huge bonus, too, because without even realizing it, the copy I picked up has four sides - the complete 1973 Bowie mix, and the complete 1997 Iggy mix, both remastered, both sound great.

Bowie Mix:


Iggy Mix:


There's some insane differences between the two mixes, and where I used to prefer the Iggy mix hands down - it's the first way I ever heard the album - after spending part of Friday night comparing the two side by side, I think I'm split perfectly down the middle. The one huge sticking point has always been Penetration, which I prefer with the chime. However, the remaster of Bowie's mix shows what older copies on disc don't - the chime is there, and slowly creeps into the mix, where in the Iggy mix, it's pretty much in your face from the jump. Both have merit, especially when you factor in some of the insane levels Bowie mixed Pop's vocals at. Having Iggy sit that far on top of the mix doesn't always work, but on a few tracks, it gives the music an even more intense feeling of chaos.

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Playlist:

Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power
My Bloody Valentine - MBV
Discharge - Never Again
Heads. - Push
Gösta Berlings Saga - Konkret Musik
Baroness - Gold and Grey
La Hell Gang - Thru Me Again
The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
Mannequin Pussy - Patience
Godflesh - Streetcleaner
JK Flesh - Depersonalization

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Card:

Taming creative force with strategy. This is PERFECT, as Saturday I put myself in a bit of a tizzy in regards to what I'm doing with the new book. There's so many avenues out there for authors now, but it's hard to figure out exactly what to do. This leads to stalemate, a feeling of paralyzed frustration that comes from the paradox of choice. Weathering this will be no small feat, but it is possible.

2018: November 20th

From Iggy's debut record The Idiot. Reading that Hugo Wilkcen 33 1/3 on Low really opened my eyes to a lot about this album as well (Station to Station also). Wilcken really goes in depth on these two records because they give a lot of context to what Bowie was into doing with music at the time. I'd never realized that the musicians involved in both Low and Station to Station often recorded not knowing which album the tracks would wind up on. Considered in that context, it really changes the way I hear both.

Having finished Low, I started reading the copy of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book that my Horror Vision/DwC co-host Chris gifted me a couple of months ago. So far, pure Gaiman and arriving just at the right time, when night falls early.

Playlist from 11/19:

Opeth - Ghost Reveries
David Bowie - Low
Gavin Bryars Ensemble - Bryars: The Sinking of the Titanic
Iggy Pop - The Idiot
David Bowie - Station to Station
The Fixx - Shuttered Room
Opeth - Deliverence

No card today.

Underworld and Iggy Pop Released a Track Together!

"I put down my tray table, and snorted a gram of cocaine, until I got up my courage to say, 'Can I have your phone number?' And she gave me the phone number, that was the good news! But the bad news was, I got too stoned and I lost the number! The stewardess would have been better than the cocaine - I made an error in judgement!"

Iggy seems to be channeling Hunter S. Thompson here. And that is fucking awesome!

Iggy Pop Talks about new Iggy&The Stooges record

Props on Mr. Pop's ripping of the smashing pumpkins. Awesome!!!

I'll not lie and say I'm a fan of 2007's The Weirdness. In fact, I threw it out the window of my car I hated it so much (I know - I don't normally litter. I was making a point though and while that doesn't make it okay, it's something that happened in the spur of the moment). I'll not be buying Iggy and the Stooges' Ready to Die on April 30th unheard, however if this is any indication it might be worth picking up. And I'm super happy that the record is being released on Fat Possum Records and Mike Watt is still in the band, as is bad ass James Williamson (Raw Power baby!!!).