New full-length GREIF is out August 23rd. No pre-order yet, but I'll be watching like the proverbial hawk.
Watch:
This past Sunday, K and I met my parents at the local theatre to see Guy Ritchie's newest film, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Here's the standard trailer; it doesn't show too much:
Another super solid, big-budget action flick by Mr. Ritchie. This type of flick isn't usually my bag, however, I've maintained since the advent of the Pirates of the Caribbean films that there's room in my life for the occasional big-budget, studio action film if they sate certain personal affectations of mine. I couldn't specifically explain that other than to say, "I know it when I see it." Guy Ritchie almost always fits like a glove. I suspect that has A LOT to do with my love of his seminal film Snatch - one of my all-time favorite flicks, and I'm fine with that bias.
Whereas last year, I had moments that suggested I may not be able to cull ten new records for a list, this year I had no similar problems. LOTS of new music in 2022. What follows is the list of my ten favorite albums released in 2022.
Top Ten Albums 2022:
10) Beach House - Once Twice Melody
I've been a bit slow on the uptake with Beach House. While I've been partaking in their music for probably close to ten years, I always kept them at arm's length. In fact, it wasn't until two or so years ago that my cousin Charles recommended I give the track "Elegy to the Void" my undivided attention. That song, from the band's 2015 album Thank Your Lucky Stars, proved to be the track that opened an entirely new dimension to the band's music for me. Since then, every album that drops plays a slightly more important role in my year, culminating with this year's double album, Once Twice Melody, which, like Mastodon's Hushed and Grim last year and another 2022 album higher on this list, is a double album with NO fat. Every track is perfect, the order is essential, and it all builds into a fitting snapshot of the quieter moments of my 2022.
9) H6LLB6ND6R - Side A
Here's a first - H6LLB6ND6R is made up of the Addams family, who also have a film in my top ten films this year! The movie is likewise titled Hellbender, and just like this record, it's a really fresh take on what a stripped-down, independent project can accomplish. If this is bedroom-producing, I want more. Every track has a hook, and yet, the sludgy, pummeling goodness still hits hard. Add in an early Jucifer-vibe to the doubled vocals, and I just couldn't put this one down.
8) Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell
Everything Greg Puciato does moves the needle well into the red with me. Mirrorcell is no different. That first single, "Lowered" with Reba Meyers from Code Orange is a massive track, and really helped to define my year. The rest of the album takes the slightly fractured feeling of Puciato's first solo record, Child Soldier, and smooths it into a more coherent whole. I miss the f*ck out of DEP, but I can't really complain when their singer is giving us albums of this calibre.
7) Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror
Until Leather Terror, Carpenter Brut's records always felt like they were half-there to me. I dig several of them to varying degrees, and the OST to Blood Machines is fantastic (but that's a score, and thus, something a bit different than an album), but there's always been a... I don't know, call it a whimsy that sneaks into the vibe and leaves me a bit cold. But that's just me. I also think my regard for CB may have suffered by my being such a fan of Perturbator- anyone else working in that realm of "Synthwave" or whatever you want to call it felt a few notches behind.
But as I said, ALL of that is my own baggage, and should not be misconstrued as judgment against the extremely accomplished musician known as Carpenter Brut, who proves me 100% full of shit on this new album. This one SLAMS, the guest vocalists all do fantastic work, and the one-two of tracks "Day Stalker" and "Night Prowler" is something to behold.
Baggage ejected; can't wait for the next record!!!
6) The Mysterines - Reeling
My elevator pitch for this band is meant to evoke honor, and yet I realize it essentially sells the Mysterines short. "PJ Harvey singing for BRMC" is enough to convince folks to give this band a chance, but having listened to the record countless times and seen them live (my first post-vaccination show), a comparison like that does nothing to convey the raw gifts on display in Reeling's perfectly tight 13 songs. This is Rock n' Roll that lives and breathes with a confidence and cool that places it right up there in the lexicon of bands that will live forever - Iggy, Bowie, the aforementioned PJ and Motorcycle Club. A lot of that is owed to singer/guitarist Lia Metcalfe, who emotes a conjuration somewhere between Nick Cave's mystic knowledge and PJ's "Fuck U" attitude.
5) Final Light - Final Light
Brutal, majestic, mysterious: take the neon pentagram glow of Perturbator's music and wash it in the medieval blood of the north often associated with Black Metal and you still can't quite get close to capturing the sonic environment of this record. One thing's for sure though: It's a storm!
I've spent A LOT of time this year using Lustmord's various instrumental music as a soundtrack to my writing because of the doorways his musical manipulations open. Maybe more than anything else on this list, Final Light provides a very similar experience. There are dark places herein, but they're inspiring and beautiful and, if you catch them just right, they'll take you places you won't be expecting.
4) Sylvaine - Nova
I'd never heard of Sylvaine until I saw them open for another band on this list, and live they absolutely blew me away. When I fired up this year's Nova album I found that, just like that live show, this band's studio mastery creates an all-encompassing experience that is visceral and beautiful and at times, sad and scary. That's pretty much exactly what I want from my Post-Black-Metal-Folk-bands, and Nova shot to the top of that list the moment I hit play on this one.
3) Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous
To quote my good friend Keller as we stood in L.A.'s Echoplex this past October watching Z&A tear through 80% of the new, eponymous record, "These guys are truly post-genre." Yep. Every album just gets bigger and better. Can't wait for the next.
2) Ghost - Impera
I was not a super fan of Ghost's previous record, Prequelle, and while I've never stopped recognizing Tobias Forge's genius, his work doesn't always align with my taste or what I perceive as the promise whispered by those first two-and-a-half Ghost albums. So in the run-up to the release of this year's Impera, I had assumed this would be another quasi-disappointment.
Wrong. This is easily my favorite Ghost album behind Infestissumam. Something about the arranging and songwriting on this one - I'm not sure if it's because I'm at a place where I have reassessed and embraced so much 80s Hard Rock I once detested, but I feel elements of a lot of that here, only transmogrified into something sleek and modern. Side A closing tracking "Watcher in the Sky" is my favorite song by the band behind "Year Zero," as well as my second favorite song of the year, and it carries a lot of weight here. That said, every single track moves me and gets stuck in my heart, even the mellowest ones, because they all fit together into this beautiful puzzle called Impera and make for a thrilling snapshot of an artist who has still yet to tap into his reserves.
1) Orville Peck - Bronco
It is a rare breed, the musician who can follow up a widely praised - and deservedly so - debut album with an even better sophomore record, let alone one that is a double album. Orville Peck, however, knocked this one so far out of the park, Pony seems like it came out a decade ago. Bronco is thrilling, with every track outshining the previous in lyrics, melody, and above all instrumentation. Like Impera, Bronco takes what has come before and influenced it - in this case the pomp and circumstance of 70s country instrumentation - and weaves it into a beautiful portrait of the years that preceded the album and those yet to come. Also, like Impera, one of the songs on the A Side - in this case, "Out of Time" - is my favorite of the year. What a perfect fit to my exodus from California and my move to Tennessee.
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!
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?
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
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.
Fuck yes! I'm loving these new songs. These plus "Baphomet", whick K and I heard the band premiere live at the Roxy two years ago now, are going to make for a great new set of tunes.
Watch:
I'll be driving out to Montclair this evening for the Premier of Brandon Cronenberg's new film Possessor, and in celebration of that, last night I rewatched his first film AntiViral.
There is no other film out there like this film. It's a fucking masterpiece, and so much closer to reality than I can believe. However, I remember thinking the same thing when I watched it eight years ago, and since we haven't progressed into this future anymore in that time, I'd have to say Antiviral feels almost like an alternate timeline Earth, albeit one that really brushes up against ours.
Playlist:
The Veils - Total Depravity
The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - The Valley (pre-release single)
Zeal and Ardor - Tuskegee (pre-release single)
Ozzy Osbourne - The Blizzard of Ozz
Also, I don't want to sound like I'm kneeling before the algorithm, but this week's Apple Music "Favorites Mix" based on my listening turned out pretty sweet. I spent a good deal of time the last two days with Audible's Sandman adaptation - yes, I'm going through it very slowly to make it last, however, once I hit The Doll's House - my favorite Sandman story and one of my favorite stories ever regardless - I've been unable to get it out of my head.
here's that mix:
Card:
A nice inclination for my first night out in the world since this entire 2020 fiasco began. I can't pretend I haven't become a little agoraphobic again, and driving 54 miles out to spend an evening in a drive-in theature, while inherently awesome sounded, fills me with a small modicum of dread. Here's to holding this card's image in my head all day and using it to sooth any 'rough patches.'
I had not heard of Prospect previous to encountering the trailer on Bloody Disgusting earlier this weekend. Looks pretty good. I think Annihilation paved the way for more of this type of Sci Fi film getting major theatrical releases, and that's a good thing.
Zeal and Ardor absolutely killed it last night at the Roxy. Having seen them about a year ago at the Hi Hat, a smaller venue, this band proved it is going nowhere but forward. Very little talk between songs, except to express gratitude and joy at their 100th show and such an awesome turnout (if it wasn't sold out it was close), the ripped through pretty much everything you could ask them to. I was especially happy to hear Waste live, and they closed with a new song called Baphomet, which was fantastic. Also, like I may have mentioned a few months ago when I saw Windhand there, the Roxy really does a good job maintaining their beer taps. The Lagunitas Pils was exceptional.
Here's a video of Baphomet from Lowlands in August:
31 Days of Horror continued with the Director's Cut of Land of the Dead. I liked it about as much as I did the theatrical version back in 2005 on opening night, which is to say not very much at all. Recently, George A. Romero's widow announced he had left behind a lot of scripts. Now, not all of them are necessarily zombie movies. However, I've always been kind of bummed that George A. did such an amazingly cerebral take on horror - while creating a new monster/genre* with the zombie film, no less - devolved into the pretty straight up action film Land and then he re-booted the continuity with Diary and Survival of the Dead. I've not seen those last two, but as soon as I heard he was no longer continuing the original timeline, I was out.
Why?
I want to know what the world we were introduced to in Night of the Living Dead looks like 6 days down the line, 6 months down the line, 6 years down the line, etc. Romero deftly continues the evolution of that world in Dawn and Day, the former being, in my opinion, the best zombie film of all time, and the latter, despite some questionable acting and directing choices (Jamaican accent?), a great continuation of that evolution, for both the "monster" and the concept, but what's next? This is why I've always loved The Walking Dead comic series: the evolution of the world where this apocalypse has come to pass. Incidentally, I read once that Robert Kirkman's original title for The Walking Dead was Night of the Living Dead, or that the intention was to set it in Romero's universe (it's public domain).
31 Days of Horror:
10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead
10/13) George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
10/14) The Apostle
And yes, at the time of writing this I've already watched today's movie, the just-dropped new film by Gareth Evans, Netflix's The Apostle. The articles I read about this describe it as somewhat Lovecraftian. Man, that is one over-used term these days! There is nothing Lovecraftian about this film. That said, I enjoyed The Apostle, however it has an odd pacing that feels a bit over-stuffed at times. My guess is this was originally supposed to be a series, then while filming the pilot someone decided to make it a film, and they shot enough to complete it. The film handles its multiple storylines well, however it just feels like the first season of a show streamlined into a 2 hour and 20-something minute movie. Not a bad thing, but makes for a little bit of cumbersome viewing. Cumbersome might be too harsh, so let's just say it doesn't flow the way a film like this seems it should.
Playlist from yesterday:
Joh Corigliano - Altered States OST
John Carpenter - Lost Themes II
Windhand - Eternal Return
Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit
Tom Vek - Luck
Card of the day:
Confirmation of the dark side? Entering the night, exploring the darker aspects... of myself? Or something I'm writing? No real frame of reference for this one today.
New Zeal & Ardor today (I think; the album has not become fully available on Apple Music yet):
Playlist from 6/7:
Underworld - Pearl's Girl Single
Underworld - 1992 to 2002, disc two
David Bowie - Black Star
Venue - Desireena E.P.
Algiers - The Underside of Power
Card of the day:
Ahh, my absolute favorite card in the deck. This always connects me to a higher ideal, separates out the micro from the macro. And I definitely think I needed that this morning!
While this one is considerably more Black Metal, there's something about the atmospherics behind the main music that reminds me of Zen Guerrilla's Positronic Raygun - a little bit, but its there.
Most anticipated read coming up? My friend Anthony just leant me these and I am stoked to dig in:
Playlist yesterday:
Arctic Monkeys - AM
Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Afghan Whigs - Black Love
Soul Coughing - El Oso
Mr. Bungle - California
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Iwan Rebroff - Singt Weisen von Wodka und Wein
Swans - Glowing Man (Disc 2)
Card for the day:
Good. It's going to take ALL of my Will to make it through moving K's Mom this weekend. I take this card as a very good sign.
Holy smokes. Where have you been all my life? I get shades of Algiers here until the black metal influence rears its head and I'm in LOVE. Thanks to Jacob for sharing and then reminding me to actually listen to his link while I was off in submersion. Heading to Zeal & Ardor's bandcamp in a bit as they are bound to be a staple in 2017.
