Showing posts with label The Mars Volta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Mars Volta. Show all posts

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Smile

 

I completely forgot about the fact that a new album from The Mars Volta dropped back in... early August? Really? Holy smokes am I behind. Having only heard the one other single I posted sometime back in late June/early July, I have no context for the album, however, this particular song as a single? Not a criticism, but definitely a head-scratcher. I can only imagine the impetus for this may well have been the images for the video. Either way, I'll be making the full plunge into the entire album later today. 

You can order the new, self-titled album from the band directly HERE.




Watch:

I headed out to the local Regal Cinema last night to cross another recently released Horror film off my list. To my complete and utter surprise, Smile is absolutely fantastic. 


No disrespect to first-time Feature director Parker Finn, who totally knocked this out of the park. My misgivings with the film had to do with the trailer - I just thought it looked like something this totally is not (which is why I'm only using a poster here)!  

Smile is creepy, atmospheric, and, at times, genuinely frightening. Sosie Bacon's frenetic terror at seeing something no one else can makes Elizabeth Moss's in the 2019 Invisible Man look almost calming. We basically watch anxiety and fear eat a woman alive for an hour and a half, and it's glorious for all its moments of, literally, sheer terror. HIGHLY recommended in a theatre, as the score and sound design are top-notch.




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 - Lux Aeterna
10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty
10/12 - Smile

I'm not being completely accurate with the days while I was in LA - there wasn't time every day to watch movies, so on other days when we top-loaded extra flicks, I've taken generous liberties and spread them around to fill in the gaps. From here out, however, it's day by day!




Playlist:

Ritual Veil - Wolf in the Night EP
Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments
Final Light - Eponymous
Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim
Sylvaine - Nova
Miranda Sex Garden - Suspiria
Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses 




Card:

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


Staying grounded can lead to healthy returns, both emotionally and economically.

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

The Mars Volta - Blacklight Shine

 

Holy cow - NEW MARS VOLTA! This news still caught me by surprise, despite the fact that Mr. Brown sent me a message yesterday about a show at Chicago's Aragon Brawlroom in early October. I'm hoping this heralds a new album on the horizon, which it almost certainly does because even though this official video for "Blacklight Shine" is over 11 minutes long, well over half of that is the percussive section that accompanies the images of dancers; the actual single on streaming services isn't even three minutes in duration, and thus, just about the shortest Mars Volta song that's not a 'lead-in' track EVER. Oh yeah, how cool is it that Omar directed the video?




NCBD:

Since I'm traveling, a lot of these will be waiting for me in my pull box back home. Some of them, however, are books I haven't yet added to my official list, and instead have been scooping up off the shelf with reserve the last few months. Those, I'll be stopping at a local shop to pick up. I'll probably go with Rick's Comic City.


I'm still reeling from how awesome issue three of this new iteration of The Amazing Spider-Man was; hoping number four continues on the same path. There's really something classic about seeing Spidey duke it out with a bunch of street-level hoods, even the goofy ones like the Rabbit or whatever the chick with white rabbit ears calls herself. 


Three issues of Deadly Class remain after this one. I'll admit, because of all the time jumps in "A Fond Farewell," I began to lose my compass as to where we were a few issues back, but I'm assuming this comes from not seeing the big picture to the final arc yet, and also, reading it monthly.


The final issue of Homesick Pilots, and another one I kind of got lost in a few issues back. I'm planning a series re-read as soon as I get home. This book has been nuts in the best possible way, and there is nothing else out there that even remotely resembles it. I mean, Grunge-era haunted house ghost mech suits employed by the military to fight other ghost mech things? It even sounds nuts. I'll miss this one, but I'm always glad to hold a completed story in hand and relish its completion. Better to leave 'em wanting more than to overstay your welcome.


The first issue of I Hate This Place was great. Let's see where we're going, because all signs point to cattle mutilation - which is disgusting and terrible, but a part of alien mythology that always fascinated me for all its oddness. I mean, why cattle? Regardless, I'm digging the way this one seems to be mixing that Alien lore with haunted houses and a classic slasher set-up. Kind of a kitchen sink aesthetic, which can be tricky, but so far here, has me intrigued.


Do I even have to talk about how I wait for every issue of Kieron Gillen's Immortal X-Men with bated breath? I thought not. On my pull, but I'm picking it up anyway, cuz there's no way I want to wait. 


I feel like the art in this Moon Knight book is getting a bit cartoony, which is something I usually don't go for in comics (there are exceptions and East of West springs immediately to mind), but so far, I love what MacKay is doing with the characters, so I'm hanging on.


A new limited series continuing one of my favorite one-off storylines from back in the early 90s? 

If you don't know or remember, back in late 90/early 91, for three issues the world thought Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben were dead, and in their wake, Spidey, Grey Hulk, Logan and Danny Ketch as Ghost Rider took over to avenge their deaths. I haven't re-read this one in a long time, and it was clearly a gambit to boost sales on "The World's Greatest Comics Magazine" and garner ever more exposure for four of the most popular characters of that era (Punisher would fit that bill too, but he doesn't show up until the last page of the final issue in a kind of meta-commentary on the situation by writer Walt Simonson). 

Anyway, Marvel's doing a lot of these 'in-continuity' throwback series lately: iconic writers of the 80s and 90s go back and flesh out these classic eras. I've dug Symbiote Spider-Man by Peter David and the X-Men Legends that Walt and his wife Louise wrote for their OG X-Factor team, so of course, I'm giving this a try.


I hadn't been reading this current New Mutants until last issue, when "The Labors of Magik" storyline began. Look, reading the X-books in the 80s, I was... twelve when the original "Inferno" came out. It is still, to this day, the best X-Men Event or Crossover ever. Also, as a pre-pubescent male, The Goblin Queen and Ilyana Rasputin gave me something to live for in some ways, if you know what I mean and I think you do. So all of that is imprinted on me pretty deep. Thus, anything that references back to that storyline is immediately on my radar. They've toyed with this stuff before - wasn't Maddy or Magik or both Queen of Hell before? Or wasn't there another Inferno, before Hickman's new masterpiece that had nothing to do with Limbo or Magik at all? I believe so, but I ignored them. And if the first issue of "Labors of Magik" hadn't been as good as it was, I would have bowed out right away. But it was good, and I'm here again for part two.


Man, I remember when great indie books like Newburn were all I read. Now, they're kinda the minority in my monthly spending habit. Doesn't change the fact that Newburn is awesome, though.


HORROR. That is all. 

Being that this is the final issue of X-Men, volume five for Duggan and Larraz? I hope not, but being that A) this is the last issue before the now annual Hellfire Gala, B) this is the final issue before Judgment Day, and C) no writer/artist are listed in Comics CLZ for issues 13 and 14's solicitation, I'm inclined to think maybe. I hope not, as I've LOVED this run. Either way, last issue dropped a BOMB, so let's get to picking up the pieces.




Playlist:

Black Sabbath - Eponymous




Card:


There's no surprise to me that I pulled this one again today. Got the news that my boss's boss is leaving the company, and that puts my keeping my job once I move in question. 

I should clarify: I'd previously worked out that I'd be stepping down as Assistant Manager and taking a pay cut to focus on the international logistics side of my job, which exponentially increases every year and leaves me little time to actually 'manage' anyway. 

Receiving this news shook me a bit, but it really hit K hard. Which I totally get. But receiving this "Temper Emotion with Reason" message two days in row indicates that we shouldn't make the assumption that I won't be able to keep the job. We also shouldn't assume I will. We have to approach the entire situation reasonably, which I definitely had flashes of yesterday. We looked at a lot of houses yesterday, several with our Real Estate Agent Josh (who is awesome), and several more just using Josh's portal. Zillow and Google Maps to triangulate areas where we saw things we wanted to look at. During those drives, we saw a lot of industry here with positions open. When K dug around online after we got home, there's a lot of stuff out there - whether local or 'remote' - that I more than qualify for. And I won't lie - I got a huge ego boost from totally crushing my officiating speech/duties at my Sister's wedding on Saturday. So I know I could find something good. Maybe better. The downside to losing the position I have now - or rather the new version of it I would have upon moving - is that, despite the fact that it's challenging, once I drop the management side of things - which is KILLING me at the moment - my job will be very cush in that I will have a large workload that will keep me on my toes, but it's a workload I am familiar with and enjoy. 

We'll see. 

Thursday, December 8, 2016

New At the Drive-In!


Wow. Didn't see that coming. If new ATDI was in the works I was completely in the dark about it. And I'm glad, because this is a fantastic surprise for a dour Thursday evening. Read more about it from my source, Brooklyn Vegan.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Crystal Fairy - Drugs on the Bus


What do you get when you take Buzz and Dale from the Melvins, Omar from Mars Volta/ATDI/Antemasque and Teri Gender Bender from Le Butcherettes?

Fucking magic, that's what.

New record by this left-of-center super group out February 24th on Ipecac.


Friday, September 18, 2015

Antemasque - Providence



New band with Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler Zavala, perhaps best known for The Mars Volta and At the Drive-In. I've been into this record hardcore of late - easily one of the top releases of the year for me so far. Very different vibe from the guys' other bands (they're in more than the two mentioned above even). My first listen I knew nothing about Antemasque as it was a burn from Mr. Brown and I drove home from work mesmerized by something that I now can't understand how I didn't put two and two together. That said, I wouldn't trade that first listen for anything; it was freeing to hear the work of two artists I have grown to love without realizing it was them.

Entire record is fantastic and Flea plays bass on it. Weird, right? Again, you'd never know.