Eating the Flesh of Robots

One of the records Mr. Brown lent me in our recent record swap is The Flesh Eaters 2018 album I Used to Be Pretty. Holy cow, is this a burner of a record! If you dig the track above - my favorite at the moment - check out the entire record.  

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Watch:

I've been in a bit of a rut with watching anything other than Happy! the last few days, and when I finished season one, I found I wanted something more. One of the things I found is Netflix's Love, Death + Robots.

I have watched this show before, although not in any consistent capacity. I've had Sci-Fi on the brain, though, and my decades-long avoidance of most animation that's not Cowboy Bebop seems to be falling away - never understood what that was all about, anyway - so this slotted in nicely.

Previously, only a few of these really left an impression, particularly Season Three's In Vaulted Halls Entombed, which I've watched quite a few times since it came out a year-and-a-half ago (the whys of my obsession are obvious if you've seen it). This time, however, I'm playing through entire seasons and really enjoying what I'm seeing, particularly The Very Pulse of the Machine, Life Hutch and The Drowned Giant. Oh, and Three Robots. Yes, that's a fantastic piece of post-apocalyptic satire right there. 

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Read:

I finished Richard Kadrey and Cassandra Khaw's The Dead Take the A Train and am definitely placing it among my favorite novels of the year. So much fun, and all while being Hellraiser/Evil Dead level GOREY! This is the first book in a series, and I'm down for all of them that follow. 

Still riding high off that, I ordered Cassandra Khaw's Nothing But Blackened Teeth and started that. 

Look at that cover! 

About a quarter of the way through, and I can say Ms. Khaw may be one of my favorite modern Horror writers. She has a descriptive flair I am head over heels in love with, and her characters feel so very real. The set-up here is fantastic, with a wealthy twenty-somethings friend paying for his small group of friends to stay at a supposedly haunted ancient Japanese estate. I can already tell things will probably get Hellraiser-level bloody, and with a narrator I'm not entirely sure I'd consider reliable, all kinds of hell seems poised to break loose.

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Playlist:

David Bowie - Black Star

Donny McCaslin - Beyond Now

Sen Morimoto - Diagnosis

Opeth - Blackwater Park

Zombi - 2020

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Card:

I'm finding I don't have the bandwidth at the moment to concentrate on involved Tarot readings, so I've been utilizing Missi's Raven Deck for single-card Pulls. Here's today's card:

On the lookout for obscured influences or hidden agendas, so that's (sadly) a "work-related" reading. Also, and perhaps more probable, what am I missing?

Shoplifters of the World!

 

I've been on a bit of a Smiths kick lately, and it was cool to see David Fincher's new film The Killer pretty much use their greatest hits as the soundtrack for the titular character (to say nothing of the brilliant Rezner/Ross score).  Now, let's talk about that movie...

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Watch:

I had somehow missed that a new David Fincher movie was on the horizon until just a week or two ago. I knew nothing about The Killer going in except it was Fincher directing from a graphic novel I am unfamiliar with and that Michael Fassbender would star. 

Everything about this flick worked for me, from how Fassbender's character dressed like Raoul Duke to the pop culture references on his IDs.  The lighting was to die for, and Erik Messerschmidt's cinematography was soft and fluid, even during the brutal scenes (Messerschmidt also shot Mank for Fincher and, more memorable to me, The Empty Man back in 2020). The Killer was a total homerun for me - possibly my favorite non-horror flick of the year. 

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Read:

After hitting Amazing Fantasy in Frankfort, IL for my secondary pull there (mainly consisting of stuff I had trouble finding here in Clarksville for whatever reason), I was able to catch up on Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows' The Ribbon Queen.

This book is super gnarly as far as the kills, and that's part of what makes The Ribbon Queen feel right in line with all the books Avatar pu that company published in the mid-to-late 00s. This one's a Horror story on the surface, with underlining themes that touch on a host of modern issues, particularly those surrounding Police. As usual, Garth knows how to cut the shit and exploit the fallacies of both sides of the argument. 

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Playlist:

Blackbraid - Blackbraid II

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Data Doom

BABADNOTGOOD - IV

Jamiroquai - Return of the Space Cowboy

Jamiroquai - Canned Heat (single)

The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs

Danko Jones - We Sweat Blood

David Bowie - Outside

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

Screaming Females - Desire Pathway

Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting

NIN - With Teeth

Goatsnake - Black Age Blues

Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop OST

Hexis - Aeternum

Code Orange - The Above

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Card:

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

• Six of Swords - Greater objectivity required

• Three of Cups - Family. Together

• Six of Cups - Emotional Balance

I love seeing these spreads that are so exactly the hammer on the head of a pin currently sticking out of my life. Moving my parents almost feels bleak right now; there's a level of having to accept that they won't be out on time (this Friday) and will need to pay the extension to stay. They are inbound to us now, coming down for another round of house hunting. The spread tells me to shove all my defeatist bullshit into the corner, remain objective and balanced, and that will eventually create stability.

It's a Wonderful Knife

Budos Band live on KEXP - talk about a great way to kick off the weekend!!! 

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Watch:

Last night, I headed out to my local Regal to see the new film by Freaky writer Michael Kennedy. Directed by Tyler MacIntrye, It's A Wonderful Knife had been on my radar since I made a last minute decision to miss it at this year's Beyondfest. Here's a trailer:

I LOVED this movie! Ostensibly this one is an intentional hybrid of the Hallmark Holiday movie formula and the Slasher formula, and if that doesn't sound like it would work, it most certainly does! This one gave me all the feels, and looks like it opens wide for the rest of the week (until next Thursday by us), so if you're in the mood for a, uh, feel-good holiday slasher, this is it!

I recently resubscribed to Netflix so I could watch The Fall of the Hosue of Usher. As luck would have it, the timing is advantageous for several reasons, one of the biggest of which is the release of David Fincher's newest film, The Killer today! Here's the trailer (which I won't be watching; I know NOTHING about this film):

I've only been remotely aware of this one in the run-up to its release, and I relish the chance to go in 100% blind on such a big Director. 

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Playlist:

Ghost - Impera

Crystal Castles - II

Rina Mushonga - In A Galaxy

Nabihah Iqbal - Dreamer

Screaming Females - Desire Pathway

Fvnerals - Let the Earth Be Silent

Faetooth - Remnants of the Vessel

David Bowie - Outside

Drug Church - Hygiene

Deftones - Gore

Oranssi Pazuzu - Live at Roadburn 2017

Gazelle Twin - The Entire City

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Card:

Just one quick pre-travel card from my portable Thoth deck:

Perfect. The beginning of a new journey. 

Falling From the House of Usher

 

I'd never heard of British electronic artist Sampha until Mr. Brown messaged me about him a few days ago. Upon checking out his new album Lahai, I'm sold. I'm always looking for the next Burial, and although in no way would I compare this record to Untrue, there's definitely some shared DNA. Spacious, floaty and a beautiful approach to the vocals and backing textures, this record drifts along at a slow speed so you can be sure to catch all the gorgeous sonic scenery that populates each track. Throw in some really tight bass lines and beats to boost the tempo now and again, and this one is a perfect late-night, winding-down record. You can pick this one up at the shop HERE.

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Watch:

I watched the first two episodes of Mike Flanagan's The Fall of the House of Usher on Friday and quickly dismissed the show as "not for me." I have issues with the last few Flanagan Netflix projects and am actually looking forward to him shaking up his paradigm with his new deal at Amazon. 

Yet, I kept thinking about it all day Saturday. So I went back and watched two more. I was destined to finish this anyway, as we're recording an episode on it for The Horror Vision this coming Thursday night. Regardless of that, episodes three and four smoothed over some of the rough edges. Then, yesterday K started the show from episode one, and I sat through 1-4 for a second time. Not sure what my problem was on Friday, but I was 100% wrong. This one is fantastic!

One of my initial problems was that the creators seemed hellbent on critiquing the "Hedonism of the Rich," which, to me, is a moot point. We're well over a decade into kardashians and their public sex tapes/church scams/meltdowns. It's old news. The first two episodes of Usher really spend a lot of time making this point, and it feels goofy. Also, since Midnight Mass, Flanagan's characters spend a lot of time making grand soliloquies, and for me, they don't always work. 

These are minor grievances, though. 

One of the things I'd forgotten about Flanagan's style is he plays a long game, dropping bits that seem inconsequential or startling for the sake of being startling at the time and really don't come together until the end. This has been in his work almost from the beginning; I first discovered him by randomly watching Absentia circa 2012. That one put his name at the top of my "Directors to watch" list so that, in 2013, when Oculus hit theatres, I sat alone in a theatre on opening day. Oculus was definitely one I had to adjust to; my first viewing was, a lot like watching these first two Usher episodes, an exercise in frustration for me because I was rushing the story. When I eventually rewatched Oculus on video, I realized it was fantastic and essentially the template for everything the Director would do going forward. 

Also, it seems this "watch the first half and then watch it a second time before you continue" is a sound strategy for Flanagan's work, as in looking back through old posts here, I found THIS about The Haunting of Hill House:

"K and I plowed through the first five episodes of the Netflix/Mike Flanagan epic The Haunting of Hill House. I was a bit uncertain at first, but quickly came around. It has Flanagan's time weaving technique, the one that makes Occulus so unique. I dig it, probably not as much as I'd hoped I would, but for watching five episodes in a binge -something I haven't had the time to do in forever - it was good. We wanted to make it through the first five because an article popped up last week HERE on Bloody Disgusting where Flanagan suggests people watch the first five, then go back and watch them again before continuing on to episodes 6-10. This is based on a revelation in ep. 5 that changes the way you will see things in the first half if you watch them again with that in mind."

The point of all this, then, is to tell you that if you haven't watched this one yet, and if you can find the time, watch episodes 1-4 of Usher once, then restart them and continue through to the end. I'm about halfway through six and extremely invested; none of my previous complaints have even occurred to me since that first failed viewing on Friday.

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Read:

In order to fully appreciate Flanagan's adaptation of Poe's work, I also picked up a $1.99 Kindle "Complete Works" for Poe, as my hardcover copy has long ago been lost to the aether, and all I still have is the paperback copy of the 1980 Signet Classic edition I've had since High school:

There are quite a few cheap Kindle editions of the complete works, and all of them will contain the main stories adapted here. So far, I've re-read Usher and The Masque of the Red Death, and it's been quite interesting to see what Flanagan and his writers pulled from each for the show. I'm looking forward to diving into Murders in the Rue Morgue next. 

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Playlist:

The Misfits - Collection I

The Cramps - RockinnReelininAucklandNewZealandXXX (Live)

Cocksure - TVMALSV

Anthrax - Among the Living

The Cramps - Smell of Female (Live)

Deafheaven - New Bermuda

The Heartwoods Institue - Unburied Bane (thanks, Tommy!)

Deth Crux - Bloody Christmas (single)

Bryce Miller - City Depths

Seashore Darkcave - Synthtales

Ulver - Teachings In Silence

Ulver - Bergtatt

Silent - Modern Hate

Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell

Loathe - I Let it in and It Took Everything 

Gazelle Twin - Black Dog

Umberto - Prophecy of the Black Widow

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Nicolas Winding Refn's Copenhagen Cowboy

 

I'm fairly certain I posted this track here at some point in the distant recesses of the past. This is the track that made me a fan of Ms. Jesus. Reconnecting with her music of late (via that old iPod), I was pleased to see she released an album this year. 

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Watch:

Holy smokes. Nicolas Winding Refn has a Noir releasing on Netflix just after the new year?

I cannot wait for this. Despite the fact that I still have not finished Refn's previous series, the "We'll release that but f*&kin' bury it so no one knows it's on here" To Old To Die Young that Amazon 'released' on Prime back a few years ago. I really dig the series, however, when I copped to the fact that it is an exercise in one of Refn's favorite philosophical mantras, namely - It's so beautiful you will want to watch it, but it's so ugly you'll have trouble doing so - I nodded in understanding but moved away and haven't yet gone back to it. This will probably be the same, but I'm game regardless.

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Read:

Two days ago, I restarted my reread of Nathan Ballingrud's Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell collection. I blew through the first four stories - all as fantastic as I remember them from my initial reading several years back upon the book's release - and when I got to Visible Filth, I'm telling you. This is just one of my favorite pieces of prose ever. I fall so hard into the narrative, and every sentence, every sentiment and setting and character arc, they are all satisfying on a level not much else is. What I did not remember from that first reading was how absolutely glorious the final story in the volume is. The Butcher's Table - so named after a pirate ship that crosses from the Gulf of Mexico to the black seas of Hell, is nothing short of a masterpiece. With a remarkably wide and diverse cast that runs the gamut from the Egalitarian members of a refined Cannibal cult and a Secret Order of High Society Satanists, all the way down (or is that up?) the food chain to cutthroat Pirates and hired Victorian Dock Scum, this story winds itself taut and then literally springs to a conclusion that is satisfying right down to the final sentence. The Butcher's Table also showcases Mr. Ballingrud's ability to write in any timeline. 

If you've not read this, please do yourself a favor and do so. I've already posted the US cover to Wounds multiple times, so in the interest of seeing something new and awesome, here's the Turkish cover, where the book was renamed The Atlas of Hell.

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Playlist:

The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing - Now That's What I Call Steampunk, Vol. 1

Zola Jesus - Stridulum

Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands

The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing - Eponymous

Bat For Lashes - Fur and Gold

The Knife - Silent Shout

TVOTR - Return To Cookie Mountain

TVOTR - Staring at the Sun EP

Drab Majesty - Careless

Shellac - Dude Incredible

Vaguess - The Bodhi Collection

Rodney Crowell - Christmas Everywhere

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Card:

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

The outcome of a material endeavor, possibly with an accomplishment.

New Music From †††

I've always dug Chino Moreno's other band, †††, but for whatever reason, their music has never hit me the same way the Deftones does.

This song changes that completely.

The Crosses store is located HERE. No pre-orders up for the forthcoming album Permanent.Radiant, but you can still grab a standard black vinyl edition of the recent Initiation/Protection EP that dropped a few months back.

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31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat

10/2 - Barbarian

10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)

10/4 - Phenomena

10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)

10/6 - The Dark Backward

10/7 - Sick/The Beyond

10/8 - Werewolf By Night

10/9 - Something in the Dirt

10/10 - Let the Right One In Episode 1/Lux Aeterna

10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty

10/12 - Smile

10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)

10/14 - Halloween Kills

10/15 - Halloween Ends/Ed Wood/Plan 9 From Outer Space

10/16 - Spider Baby/101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments/Night's End/Behemoth

10/17 - Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

10/18 - Random Acts of Violence/Two Witches/Let the Right One In Episode 2

10/19 - Footprints on the Moon/976-EVIL

10/20 - Alison's Birthday/Tone Deaf

10/21 - Elviria's Haunted Hills/Popcorn

10/22 - Resolution

10/23 - The Endless

10/24 - VHS 99

10/25 - Tigers Are Not Afraid

10/26 - Bliss

10/27 - Deadstream/Host

10/28 - The Convent

10/29 - Lot 36 (GDT's CoC ep. 1)/George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead/Return of the Living Dead

I had completely forgotten that Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities landed on Netflix this past week. Totally blown away by the first episode. Directed by GDT's frequent Cinematographer, Guillermo Narravo, Lot 36 is not for the faint of heart. I'm really digging this darker tone Del Toro's work has had of late (it's always been dark, but I feel like starting with his Nightmare Alley, there is a fatalistic streak that's just nasty enough to be titillating, but not far gone enough to be mean.)

The list of Directors GDT enlisted for this is pretty fantastic as well, so I'm thinking every episode will be an immediate classic.

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Read:

Sometime in the past week and a half, I sat down and did my annual reading of Rick Spears and Rob G.'s Teenagers From Mars.

I really can't love a comic more than this one. A light-hearted tale of small-town pandemonium against comic books and youth culture, I'm always shocked to remember this originally came out in 2003, as it seems a product of the 80s or early 90s, which I think is when the story takes place.

Either way, this one is such a friendly amalgamation of all the things I love: Comic Books, Horror Movies, and Punk Rock, and although it doesn't take place on Halloween, with its zombie face-paint party and grave-robbing subplot, it certainly feels like it does.

Unfortunately, I still can't find my copy of my other annual Halloween read, James O'Barr's original graphic novel The Crow. So many of my books remain packed until I buy bookcases, so this year, I will have to push that reading off. 

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Playlist:

Electric Wizard - Wizard Bloody Wizard

Bexley - Female Hysteria (single)

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds Deluxe Edition*

The Nukes - Why Things Burn

Cough & Windhand - Reflection of the Negative 

Various - Joe Begos' Bliss Playlist

Zombi - Shape Shift

Pilot Priest and Electric Youth - Come True OST

The Misfits - Static Age

* I don't normally denote deluxe editions here, but I have to say, the live tracks that more than double this release's size are fantastic. 

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Card:

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

Trust my inner vision during the process of finalizing this current project I'm working on will bring it to fruition. 

Another reminder that we're down to the last hours to get in on Grimm's Kickstarter for The Art of the Bound Tarot hardcover art book. Back the project HERE.

Rein - Puppetmaster

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.

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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. 

 

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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. 

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Playlist:

Joe Begos' Bliss Playlist

Revco - Beers, Steers and Queers

The Afghan Whigs - How Do You Burn?

Preoccupations - Arrangements

Misfits - Static Age

The Cramps - Stay Sick!

Rein - Reincarnated

Alice in Chains - Dirt

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Card:

Strength and courage fortify for an upcoming breakthrough that may change things.

Even Paper Girls Need to Rock N Roll

 

I'll never forget the first time I heard Metal Church. My second concert ever was at the World Music Theatre in Tinley Park, Il. 1991, Operation: Rock n' Roll. Metal Church (The Human Factor Tour), Dangerous Toys (Hellacious Acres), Motorhead (1916 Tour), Judas Priest (Painkiller Tour), and Alice Cooper (Trash). As we exited the amphitheater, we were handed cassette compilations that featured a song from all the bands that played, plus Cycle Sluts From Hell, Alice in Chains, and I don't remember who else.

Unfortunately, I don't think I still have this tape, despite having a box filled with tapes that I've lugged with me across the country twice now. Regardless, the Metal Church song on this was "Date With Poverty," and thus, my constant revolutions of this tape burrowed it deep into my brain. 

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Watch:

We finished the regular season of Netflix's The Sandman, then were super happy to see the bonus episode drop with two stories culled from the third TPB collection Dream Country. Both Dream of a Thousand Cats and Calliope were every bit as faithful adaptations of the source material as the overall show was. I really hope they renew this one.

Incidentally, a new episode of The Horror Vision went out today. We do a spoiler-free reaction to The Sandman, and talk about a whole bunch of other things as well, from my first viewing of Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem, to seminal 80s flick Popcorn, to the unique and disturbing films of Andrey Iskanov. Check it out in that little widget just above and to the right, and if you dig, follow us on your favorite Podcast Platform. 

Next up, the first episode of Paper Girls. I am a HUGE fan of the comic, but this first episode felt like the show was cramming A LOT into one episode. Still, I'm in for the haul, so hoping it smooths out a bit. 

This is another one I really hope hits its stride; Brian K Vaughn fans already had one heartbreak in the last twelve months with Y The Last Man being tossed out after only one season, so hopefully, Paper Girls will hit its mark and find an audience:

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Read:

I finished T.E.D. Klein's The Ceremonies yesterday. Wow. What a book. It's always fantastic to find a literary Horror novel, and this is definitely that. The Ceremonies breathes for a large part of its 600-page length, and the story is all the better for it. This is the kind of prose I love most, where the author isn't concerned with hitting beats or creating a page-turning momentum. The story unfolds slowly, primarily with character development, and when things climax in the final 50 or so pages of the book, it feels well-earned.

Loved this. Can't wait to grab Dark Gods, also recently republished by PS Publishing. Also, a note in reference back to my original post about this edition of The Ceremonies when I first received it: despite my fears, the spine on this one actually held up beautifully. Way to go, PS! You guys rock, thank you for bringing Klein's work back into print, I was getting dangerously close to paying upwards of $50 on eBay for a beat-up old MM paperback copy of Dark Gods before you swept in and saved the day.

Unfortunately, I realize now I missed out on a gorgeous Hardcover with Slipcase edition, but that's okay. 

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Playlist:

Various - Every Day (Is Halloween) Small Cat, Big Yard Playlist

Various - Bret Easton Ellis' The Shards Playlist

Underworld - 1992-2002

Tangerine Dream - Phaedra

Metal Church - The Human Factor

Big Business - Here Come the Waterworks

Various - Return of the Living Dead Soundtrack

King Woman - Doubt EP

Sharon Jones and the Dap Tones - Give the People What They Want

The Devil's Blood - The Thousand Fold Epicentre

Anthrax - Worship Music

Forhist - Eponymous

David Lynch and Mark Zebrowski - Polish Night Music

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

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Card:

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

Revelation can Strengthen Will, however, Emotional persistence can hamper Will. I'm not entirely sure what this is speaking to at the moment, but I'll do some reading later today and see if I can't get a better read on this. 

Julee Cruise - Into The Night

 

Here Julee Cruise's haunting vocals and Angelo Badalamenti's equally compelling music provided the soundtrack to one of my favorite scenes from Twin Peaks, Season One: The hike to find Jacques Renault's cabin! 

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Watch:

To once again refer back to that Netflix trailer dump from last week; GDT and Panos Cosmatos working together as part of a GDT anthology series?

 

Sold! Also helming episodes are Jennifer Kent, David Prior, Guillermo Navarro, Keith Thomas, Catherine Hardwicke (on a thus-far untitled episode that has H.P. Lovecraft credited as a writer), Vincenzo Natali, and Ana Lily Amirpour!

 

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Playlist:

Julee Cruise - The Art of Being A Girl

Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks...

Def Leppard - Hysteria

Angelo Badalamenti - Dark Space Low (Hour-long version HERE)

Yard Act - The Overload

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Card:

The watery, or emotional aspect of our Earthly drives/desires/needs. This is a presumption since I won't be house hunting in Tennessee for about another week, but I think this is a good reminder that we have to temper our emotional drive to get the hell out of California with the pragmatic realities of actually doing this smartly and successfully.

Also, the Queen of Disks always reminds me to survey my 'Kingdom' and appreciate where I am and how I got there, especially the people in my life who have helped. If you're one of them - and you very well might be if you're reading this and I know you - thank you. You've helped bring me to this point in my life.

Julee Cruise Sings King Dude

 From the Split Single Sing Each Other's Songs for You, on which King Dude does a very sedate but ultimately charming version Rockin' Back Inside My Heart.

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Watch:

Continuing on that Netflix Trailer dump from a few days ago:

 

"From the creators of Dark." That's all I needed to know to get excited about 1899, which I feel like I've been waiting on for a really long time.

 

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Read:

One of the things I've been meaning to do for a couple years now is to begin re-reading Wrapped in Plastic magazine. This was a Twin Peaks/David Lynch-focused magazine published from roughly 1992 to 2005 by Craig Miller and John Thorne. In the wake of Julee Cruise's death, I decided to pull out issue 61, which has Cruise on the cover and chronicles the 2002 Twin Peaks Fest, which she attended as a guest.

In doing this, I realized that the first issue Cruise appeared in, October 1993's issue 7, was one of the early issues that came out before I knew about the magazine. My collection runs issue 16 through the final issue, June 2005's issue 75, with a reprint of issue #1. I never made it around to filling in those gaps, and obviously, with Cruise's death, the going eBay price is, for the moment, astronomical. That said, issue 7 has a gorgeous cover, and I wanted to post it here:

Wrapped in Plastic was a HUGE part of my life for about ten or eleven years, and I flip through the issues often, however, I haven't really read one in ages.

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Playlist:

Julee Cruise - Falling

Julee Cruise - The Voice of Love

Julee Cruise - The Art of Being a Girl

Kate Bush - The Dreaming

Ghost - Impera

Battle Tapes - Sweatshop Boys EP

Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen

Mike Doughty - Live At Ken's House

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Card:

Dipping once again in Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot for today's reading:

My general definition of the Four of Swords is based on Crowley and Freida Harris' Thoth, which subtitles the card as Truce. That said, I've decided I am not going to look at the Bound Tarot in the 'learned tradition of tarot, but in a more personal interpretation. 

Decisions that hang heavy over your head: this card evokes a tough decision that will open the door for indecision to immobilize you. I'm not sure if this has to do with something coming up at work, or our impending trip to Tennessee in about a week's time, when we will begin looking for our new home. Our pre-approval came back as a win yesterday, so with that out of the way, we really just have to get there and try and find something. By the looks of what we're seeing online, our new focus in Clarksville may mean we have to decide between several places, all of which seem fantastic. I can see how that would be a crippling decision.

(Obviously, most if not all of the homes we're seeing now as available on our Real Estate Agent's portal are going to be under contract before we get there, however, what we are seeing is an indication that there are a lot of places that will tug at our heart strings.)

You can buy a set of these amazing cards on Grimm's site HERE. 

R.I.P. Julee Cruise

 Talk about bad news to wake up to. Julee Cruise's voice and visage has been a part of my inner world ever since the night Twin Peaks Season Two Episode 14 aired; losing her to suicide at 65 feels a bit like a seismic shifting of my personal history's plates. The old world is definitely slipping away. In keeping with my recent M.O., thus beginneth Julee Cruise week.

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Watch:

Amidst a lot of discussion about the "Whole Season at Once" business model beginning to fail (see the cancellation of Archive 81), Netflix dropped a handful of great trailers the other day, as if to remind us of their potency.

We'll see. However, any reservations I have about their adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Sandman - arguably one of the greatest comics of ALL TIME, this trailer has me salivating for August:

Wow. I mean... I am almost speechless. Here's to hoping it's as good as it looks; Locke and Key looked pretty good when the first trailer dropped, as well, but I quickly forgot everything about Season One due to a lot of the changes and found myself thinking I should just re-read the series the next time I want to visit Lovecraft (not bloody Matheson!).

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Read:

This past Wednesday, Zeb Wells and John Romita, Jr.'s Amazing Spider-Man #3 hit the stands. This is Legacy issue #897. I've Liked this series so far, but this issue... Jesus. This is the best Spider-Man comic I've read in... well, a long time. 

There's a visceral pulse to this one that I definitely did not expect; watching Tombstone - a character I've loved since his introduction back in the 80s, circa Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man issue #139 - beat the living daylights out of a defenseless Spider-Man really affected me, as did his childhood origin.  I was really only planning to read this book until #900, but if Wells keeps this up, I'm not going anywhere.

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Playlist:

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust

Mike Doughty - Live at Ken's House

Kate Bush - The Dreaming

Windhand - Split EP

Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror

Orville Peck - Pony

Pixies - There's a Moon On (pre-release single)

Kensonlovers - Keep Rolling (single)

Grand Duchy - Petite Fours

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Card:

A nice warning about the gathering slothfulness I've been so afraid of for a while now. I'm not writing enough. I need to remedy that.

RIP Prince - Six Years Gone

 

From 1987's Sign O' The Times, probably my second favorite album by Prince, who died six years ago today.

Something about this album, and this song in particular, really conjures all of the tones and textures, smells and sensual impressions of 1987 to me (it's not exactly readable as 1987 in my head, but when I figure where I was in my life, the specific things I remember about my parents' home at the time, I know it's 1987-1988). There's an underlying tone or ambiance to this track that feels very specific to that time, even though I do not believe I ever heard this song at that time.

This isn't unparalleled. The recording technology of the time - the sonic signatures of microphones, whether you're aware of them or not - definitely inform the era. Also, the keyboard patches, the drum sounds, all of it adds up to a certain era in the recording industry. That's not magick, and it's not B.S. It's fact. I'm assuming that has a lot to do with why this song impacts my memory so drastically. But it makes this album particularly important to me now, so many years later. It's like a time machine, because I can literally smell my parents living room - where I snuck up to watch Friday Night Videos - when I hear this song. 

Weird. But cool. Very cool. Thank you, Prince. Whether you realized it or not, you instigated time travel. 

 

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Watch:

 

I had no intention of watching this flick until I did. It is fantastic, and probably directly responsible for my purchasing tickets to see Anthrax in late July (if I still live here). Mr. Brown and I saw Anthrax - with opener White Zombie - in 1993 at Chicago's Aragon Brawlroom for the Sound of White Noise tour. This means I've never seen Anthrax with original singer Joey Belladonna. 

To say I am excited would be an understatement. It's not going to keep me from moving, but if I am still here - because I'm thinking even if we find something in Tennessee in June, closing will dictate we're still in LaLaLand by the time of this show - I can't wait. At the freakin' Palladium, no less. 

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Playlist:

Various Artists - Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath - Master of Reality

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Midlake - The Courage of Others

Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther

Led Zeppelin - Coda

Peter Gabriel - So

Prince - Sign O' The Times

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Wolves in the Throneroom - Two Hunters

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Card:

A little concerned that, along with yesterday's draw, there seems to be some sort of conflict on the horizon. 

Mark Lanegan Covers Alice in Chains

 

Alice in Chains' "Nutshell" has always been a devasting song to me anyway, but hearing Lanegan sing it a few days after learning of his passing, well... damn. That's about all I can say.  

Thanks to Mr. Brown for sending this one my way.

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Listen:

New Greg Puciato record in June, and the lead single is f*&king fantastic!

 

I've become quite a fan of Reba Meyers over the last two years, and even though I didn't dig that new Code Orange single that dropped a few months back, I dearly want her making music in my life. Her presence her only makes this an even better song than it already is. Mirrorcell is out June 22nd on Puciato's own Federal Prisoner label, and you can pre-order it HERE.

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Watch:

Serial killer stories are not my bag, however, THIS is fascinating:

 

K and I mainlined Netflix's The Sons of Sam over the last two nights and I have to say, I nearly fell down a rabbit hole. Here's a case that sits at the very heart of the "Satanic Panic" era of our country's history. Watching this put me on a precipice of re-reading Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Fatale, which definitely dovetails with that dark, post-60s vibe I find so fascinating.

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Playlist:

Zombi - Digitalis

The Jesus Lizard - Liar

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine

sElf - What a Fool Believes (single)

Firewater - The Ponzi Scheme

The Twilight Singers - A Stitch in Time EP

Greg Puciato - Lowered (pre-release single)

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Card:

How perfect is this, what with all the Satanic Panic stuff I've ingested over the previous few days:

Take your influences where you find them, it's not wrong to follow your intuition.

80s Metal Week Day #5: Bon Jovi - Livin' On a Prayer

 

This song is an absolute classic. It's not going to profoundly affect any of our lives, but damn if it isn't a near-perfect pop-rock ditty, with some outstanding production work from Bruce Fairbairn, who also brought us Aerosmith's Pump, AC/DC's Razor's Edge, and The Cranberries' To the Faithful Departed, along with a whole host of other records in his career.

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Watch:

After hearing nothing but good things about Netflix's new show Archive 81, K and I decided to take a breather from Cobra Kai (about a quarter of the way through the new season) and give this a try:

 

So far, we both really like it. Creepy, and filled with things that totally pique the analog fetishist that I locked away inside myself long ago when moving forced me to get rid of a lot of the old equipment I had. Also, and this is always a plus, Archive 81 is super creepy. Two eps in and we dig.

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NCBD:

Another week packed with new comic book goodness:

We're getting really close to the end. The last two issues were jaw-droppers, let's see what Messrs. Remender, Craig and Loughridge have in store for us this week.

Really digging this book. It's not reinventing the wheel, but I definitely feel Block and Stark in its DNA, which in and of itself isn't unusual for a crime comic, but when you've got Zadarksy and Phillips driving, there's sure to be some intense crime drama.

All praise Saga, it hath Returned!!!! I could not be happier about this, however, I have not had a chance to really get my re-read of issues 1-54 going, so that kinda sucks. I'm not about to wait to read this until I do, however, that would have been my preference.

How could you not love a book with this cover? 

Speaking of covers, for someone who never really gave two squash about them before, I'm becoming a bit obsessed. This would probably clock in as my favorite thus far from either of the Two Moons story arcs, and even though I'm finding this one hard to read month-to-month, seeing this makes me want to allocate some time this week to re-read this second arc.

You know, when I saw that "Captain Krakoa" crap in last month's solicitation for X-Men issue 6, I rolled my eyes. Turns out I was wrong - it's not what it seems, and it's awesome!

Here's a new one I'll definitely be subscribing to through my shop - a continuation of the Netflix series, which was unjustly canceled before it could really even get going.

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Playlist:

Odonis Odonis - Spectrums

Ministry - The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste

Lard - Pure Chewing Satisfaction

Burial - Antidawn

Burial - Untrue

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet

James Brown - 70s Funk Classics

Ghost - Call Me Little Sunshine (pre-release single)

Atrium Carceri - Kapnobatai

Lustmord - Dark Matter

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Card:

Yeah, something is standing in my way, and it's totally me.

A Question of Hawkeyes

 

Hawkeye put this on my radar, and I could literally listen to it all day. Depeche Mode has always been one of those bands that confound me in a way. I've loved pretty much all of their singles since I was a kid and first heard People Are People, but whenever I try to get into an entire album, they always fall flat for me and I just go back to the singles. Because of this, I am completely unfamiliar with large swathes of their discography, and A Question of Lust falls into that category. 

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Watch:

Speaking of Hawkeye, I finally caught up by binging all six episodes in 24 hours. I absolutely loved this one. 

I am SO excited for the street-level aspect of the MCU that we're seeing here and which, I believe, will now continue in the Spider-Man series. Plus, I WANT A NEW SERIES WITH CHARLIE COX'S DAREDEVIL!

Ahem. Apologies, but that's been building for quite some time. As excited as I was for the third season of the Netflix Daredevil show to do Bullseye, I never bothered watching it because the series had been canceled by the time it arrived. Now, I can go back and rewatch seasons one and two, then go right into three.

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NCBD:

A decidedly light NCBD, and I'm going to try to keep it that way.

I tried reading that Ram V Swamp Thing series that began at the beginning of the year, but I just couldn't hang with it. This, however, is Jeff Lemire and Doug Mahnke in prestige, Black Label format. Can't be missed. 

The fifth and final issue of the recent Kang The Conqueror series ended a bit ambiguously, but I guess that's what happens when your narrative twists in and out of time like Kang's does. Either way, there were moments of absolute, 70s Marvel brilliance in it (issue 4 especially), and I'm a card-carrying Kang fan, so there's no way I'm missing whatever this is.

Another new Stray Dogs comic! This is only a two-issue reexamination of the events of the first series from different angles (how do I know that? Listen to Chris Sanders, Adam Marcus and I interview the writer Tony Fleecs HERE), but any Stray Dogs is great Stray Dogs, so I'm in. Oh yeah, and here's another variant cover I'll never score.

While we're on the topic of comics, I realized I left off two HUGE entries to my favorite comics of 2021 list, so I've added them as addendums on the original post. 

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Playlist:

Fleet Foxes - A Very Lonely Solstice

Fleet Foxes - Eponymous

John Coltrane - Blue Trane

The Hacker - Rêves Mecaniques

Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon

Eldovar - A Story of Light and Darkness

Adam Egypt Mortimer - The Obelisk

Pilot Priest and Electric Youth - Come True OST

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Card:

A vital engagement with a project, new or old, head-on.

Perfectly describes my Tuesday, let's see if I can't carry that into today.

Diz and Bird @Carnegie Hall

 

How about a change of pace? It's been a minute since I've listened to any Bird, but all the references and music in Netflix's Cowboy Bebop stoked my thirst for some, so let's go live.

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Watch:

I am overjoyed to report that both "big" watches I had this week - each with their own initial apprehensions on my part - are just fantastic. First up, Ghostbusters: Afterlife blew me away. This past Saturday, K and I accompanied some friends to the local AMC and grabbed tickets to see this one in the Dolby Atmos theatre. Here's the trailer, which is old news now. I never posted it here before now because I had such strong reservations about the film, all of which were completely unfounded and proven wrong.

 

Next, yes! Yes! YES! Netflix's Cowboy Bebop adaptation is fantastic. Against all odds, this one is eventually going to occupy a spot on my shelf next to the various home video iterations I have of the original series. Because I've posted everything else I can think to post for this one, here's a clip ET dropped a few days ago: 

 

The care with which all the actors approach playing these iconic characters is bar none; so many nuances went into these performances and that makes them an utter joy to watch!

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Playlist:

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

Unto Others - Mana

The Ocean - Fluxion

Mastodon - The Hunter

Infectious Grooves - The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move

Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man

Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker - Diz 'N Bird At Carnegie Hall (Live)

Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop OST

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Card:

Two things to watch out for today, one good, one bad: bling impulses (may have to do with anger caused by stress and the things that can come out of my mouth at potentially inappropriate times), and creative inspiration, which is always welcome.