Exhalants are a band I recently discovered via KXLU. Their 2018 Eponymous album shot to my top ten of the year the first time through, the same way Protomartyr's Under Color of Official Right did four years ago. That's really where comparisons end between those two, although they both hail from a still-vibrant indie scene that hasn't been dashed by The Spectacle's appropriation of the label as a 'genre' that includes bands who dress like they traveled here from 1930s Poland. Exhalants remind me a bit of Shellac, the Jesus Lizard, and an entire smattering of bands from the mid-to-late 90s that comprised the Touch and Go/Drag City/Thrill Jockey scene and made honest, insanely creative music unrestricted by genre trappings or rockstar agendas. Go to their Bandcamp HERE and support this awesome independent band (Hurry - there's only 9 of the random colored 180 gram vinyl editions left of the album because I just bought one).
The Drinking with Comics crew had our pre-show meeting last night. This has become something I always look forward to, as we sit around, drink beer and have dinner and swap books so we can all have read the same stuff for the show. Yesterday Chris brought a new book called Blackbird I had heard of but not read, and I IMMEDIATELY fell in love with it. Look at this art:
I don't buy books just for the art either, which is probably why after looking at #1 upon release last month I passed on it. That said, after reading the first issue last night, I am anxiously awaiting 3PM so I can hit the Comic Bug and pick up my own copy of #1 and #2, which comes out today. Also for NCBD, a continuation of Cullen Bunn's 2014 mini-series The Empty Man. Loved this when it was monthly four years ago, and was always kinda hoping in the back of my mind that it would continue.
Playlist from 11/06:
Ghost Cop - EP
Exhalants - Eponymous
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
Tom Waits - Bone Machine
Tom Waits - Swordfish Trombones
Steve Moore - The Mind's Eye OST
I'd never heard of Ghost Cop until the most recent newsletter from comic's scribe Warren Ellis, which you can subscribe to HERE and which will make your life better. The Eponymous EP is excellent, really atmospheric electronic music that reminds me of a lot of the more electronically inclined groups and artists I submerged myself in during the 00s. Look for some of that stuff to float back up to the surface of my listening habits.
If you visit Ghost Cop's bandcamp, their new album is up for pre-order.
Lots of Deadwood news yesterday, and as it so happens, the moment K and I finished 31 Days of Horror, we jumped directly back into season 2, so this is perfect timing. This is K's first go-through with Swearengen and the crew, my second or third. I figured out I'd previously watched roughly the first season and a quarter multiple times, but I don't think I've ever gone through the entire cycle more than the first time, which was after it aired. This might be my favorite non-Twin Peaks show folks. Swearengen is easily one of my favorite characters, but the idea of revisiting these folks ten years down the line show continuity wise with a movie is bittersweet; still not sure why HBO/Milch didn't just keep going in the first place. It's always difficult to go home again. Twin Peaks did it well, by becoming something the original show was not. In my head, I consider Season Three of that show more a new 18-hour DavidLynch movie than a revival of Twin Peaks, which it certainly is in some respects but... I digress
Looks like almost the entire cast is coming back for this Deadwood movie, and I don't want to sound like I'm not elated to have a chance to see these folks again, it's just timing, you know? Still, excited.
Playlist from 10/05:
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
Preoccupations - Eponymous
Preoccupations - New Material
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Ghost Cop - Eponymous EP
Tom Waits - Mule Variations
Tom Waits - Swordfish Trombones
Card of the day:
Fire of Fire - Pure, communicative leadership. Ideas. Can represent highest idea - again, exactly what I'm aiming at with Shadow Play, and book one is where it starts. It doesn't matter that this is 8 years since I started it (with a year off in the middle, which made me a much better writer), it has to be perfect so it sets up the bigger picture, which is kind of so big - to me - it feels unwieldy.
It's been quite some time since I went on an honest-to-goodness Tom Waits kick. Probably the last time was about four years ago when Mr. Brown lent me the 33 1/3 book David Smay penned on Swordfish Trombones. Anyway, I feel a full-on Waits jag coming on, so here's first salvo.
Over the weekend K and I watched the newest Jane Mansfield documentary, Mansfield 66/67. Fantastic! Along with the legendary actress, the film also serves as an exploratory dispatch into Anton Lavey and the Church of Satan, so it's fascinating. I've always bristled at Satanism, which of course has nothing to do with the devil and everything to do with worshipping yourself, which I feel leads to rampant Narcissism. That said, I've also always had a soft spot for Lavey as a public figure. The hilarity that the man instills to those that 'get it' is epic. This is especially apparent in the documentary, as the film spends a lot of time talking about and interviewing people from Mansfield's life about the supposed 'curse' Lavey is said to have put on Jane and her husband at the time (both of whom died in that nasty, Chihuahua-killing cash), all the while showing him dressed in his devil suit, little more than stylized PJs. Lavey was laughing at everyone that took the 'evil' aspect of his publicity push seriously, because he's telling you up front it's a joke by dressing like that.
Not a lot of folks got it though.
Playlist from yesterday:
The Veils - Total Depravity
The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Roni Size - New Forms (disc #1)
Darkness Brings the Cold - Devil Swank, Vol. 1
Card of the day:
Threes are solid numbers, and it takes a foundation to acquire abundance. This is the path I've set myself on; there are SO many distractions vying for our money, my job for the next year is to minimize what I allow myself to purchase because I'm starting to think about the need for a foundation in the physical plane, ie a domicile.
Has it really been two weeks since I saw Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds? That show and the Bad Seed's performance of Shoot Me Down inspired me to pull out the B-Sides and Rarities, three volume box set released back in 2005. It'd been a while since I really dug into this one, so I put the three discs in the ride and have been flirting with it on a somewhat regular basis. I forgot how much I love some of the songs on these discs! Come Into My Sleep is one of my favorites; originally released as a B-Side to (Are You) The One I've Been Waiting For?, from 1997's The Boatman's Call. This is classic Bad Seeds suave - the vibes carry the song, nice slinky bass line from Martyn Casey and Cave's trademark literary lyrics. So good.
On the exact other side of the musical spectrum, Mr. Brown sent me a link to a fantastic article on the 30th anniversary (eek!) of ...And Justice For All. Read it HERE. I might detest the band now, but I didn't then; Justice is where I draw the line, although I seem to waiver between thinking it's genius, and rolling my eyes at four white guys playing like they have sticks up their bums. Either way, it's musical history at this point, and the article's well worth a read. Also, the remaster really brings out the vocal effect Hetfield used on his voice in the verses for Eye of the Beholder, which changes the feel of the song a bit from what you probably know.
Just finished the second issue of Sam Keith's Batman/The Maxx crossover. Man, I think this is shaping up to be a proper sequel - or at least continuation - of the original Maxx/Julie storyline that disappeared after issue #20 of the original Maxx comic. If you read that book and can remember back to the mid-90s, issue #21 jumped ten years into the future, jettisoned Julie and Maxx (for the most part), and focused on an older Sarah, a man named Norbert, and Iago, the giant Banana slug. This new series seems to be following Maxx and Julie several years down the road from that twentieth issue, with Maxx reiterating several times that he had long ago lost contact with Julie. Admittedly, it's probably been six years since my last re-read of the original series, so I might be mixing some of this up. I think I'll start another re-read now, to accompany this new series. If you're curious about the timeline, as always Comic Vine is a great resource. HERE's their page for The Maxx.
And look at this cover gallery for #2.
Playlist from yesterday:
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - B-Sides & Rarities, Disc 3
Matthew Dear - Playlist (culled mostly from Black City)
Kate Bush - The Dreaming
Intronaut - Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones)
Metallica - ...And Justice For All
Weeknight - Post-Everything
Nine Inch Nails - Bad Witch
Health - Death Magic
Card of the day:
If The Fool is the beginning of the journey, The Magus is the moment the novice becomes acclimated to the idea that the journey is no longer a transitory one, but transformative. This is life, and life is what the cards attempt to guide us through, revealing secrets that are, generally, right in front of our face the entire time. Magick isn't special; for most of us most of the time, it appears magical, like fireworks in the sky, but if you can tap in and pay attention, all the answers are with you, you've just been conditioned to ignore or chosen not to see them. Maybe you've never learned that the answers are even there. The Magus can help.
As usual, I apply my interpretation toward my writing and take this as a signifier that my work on the book goes well; the answers to ALL the continuity problems have always been close at hand, it's just not until I slow down and actually methodically think about the situations and characters that the answers come clear. And for the most part now, they have. With minor re-writing (further proven they were nearby the entire time) I've managed to scrape off the 'passable' patina and find the golden road through the heart of my little story about shadows and reflections wanting to switch places with us.
One of my favorite live shows I saw in 2017 was Ritual Howls at the Echoplex. The show was fantastic, not just because the Howls absolutely killed it live, but because opening band Chasms - who I'd not heard at the time - held me mesmerized for the entirety of their set. The ethereal quality of Sky Madden and Jess Labrador's music stops time, transfixing moments into a fluidic-like substance that bubbles up around you in colors as you stand and stare at a stage that ceases to be a stage and instead becomes a portal.
Highly recommended live.
According to Chasms Bandcamp, this is the final track of their current shoegaze/industrial sound and a closing chapter on their time in the Bay Area. The band has relocated to Los Angeles (yah!), and 2019 will see the release of a new record on Felte. I can't wait.
Thanks to Kristen Renee Gorlitz - whose Kickstarter for her Zombie Romance comic The Empties, and who will be the guest on next Friday's Drinking with Comics, which streams live on the DwC facebook page - I've found an awesome new project on Kickstarter I just backed. The Murder Balloon! Check this out:
Four days left, so if like me, you love the idea of a vengeful clown inventing a Murder Balloon, click HERE and drop some $$$ - the rewards are worth it!
Playlist for 11/02:
Tones on Tail - Everything
The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic
Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - Wasteland
The Chameleons UK - Strange Times
Queens of the Stone Age - Villains
Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog
Blut Aus Nord - Memorial Vetusta III (Saturnian Poetry)
Chasms - Divine Illusion (Single)
Chasms - On The Legs of Love Purified
Card of the day:
My favorite card, the number 17, a beautiful portrait of the cosmos and the idea of ebb and flow, balance and harmony, and a guiding light. Reminds me that although last night I had appeared to write myself into a nasty little corner, this morning in the shower I thought my way out of it rather easily. Looks like she's bathing, right? I've come to suspect this card surfaces when I do my best problem solving, which is almost always in the morning, in the shower.
Apparently this new Windhand video dropped on Halloween but I missed it. Here now, I present Red Cloud for your viewing pleasure. Great that they basically made a Hammer Horror short for it.
With all the spins I'm clocking on Eternal Return since it's release last month, I came to an interesting revelation. While definitely having their own sound, Windhand's sound could be elevator pitched as Carly Simon singing over early 90s Melvins. Not accurate, but I think it gets you there. As an interesting side note, I never really cared for Carly Simon before, but now I think I dig her.
If you live in Los Angeles, David Lucarelli's brilliant Dr. Zomba's Ghost Show, an old-time theatre experience is back for its final show this Saturday. I caught this a few months back during Fringe Fest - very much worth seeing. You can get tickets HERE and check out the trailer below:
And here's a clip of David talking about the origins and ideas behind Dr. Zomba's on Drinking with Comics:
Playlist from 11/01:
Weeknight - Post Everything
The Misfits - Static Age
The Final Cut - Consumed
Ennio Morricone - Black Belly of the Tarantula OST
Card of the day:
Well well well. Two days in a row, eh? I don't have time to dig deeper at the moment, however I pulled a clarification card and received this:
Swift action toward goal. This feels ambiguous at the moment, or maybe I'm just having trouble betting up my brain on the cusp of a three-day work weekend that starts eight days in a row. For now, I'll take it as a prompt to accelerate my work on making the book materialize, and leave it at that.
For those of you who are long-time David Lynch fans like myself, this is track is an oldie. However, Thought Gang's A Real Indication - which is featured in the 1992 film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me - is receiving a breath of new life, as Lynch, Badalamenti (that's him doing vocals on this track, by the way) and Sacred Bones Records are making available Thought Gang's Thought Gang album for the first time. This is actually older news - I pre-ordered a "Monkey Fur" vinyl copy about a month ago and just received word it has shipped! You can grab a copy HERE, if you're so inclined, although I believe the Monkey Fur edition has sold out.
31 Days of Horror concluded last night with a whimper instead of the BANG! I had planned. Previously, I had arranged for today off and planned to stay up late and pack in at least three movies.
That... was ambitious.
I came home from writing last night close to 7:00 PM, sat outside with my devil mask on while K handed out candy to trick r' treaters, and read some comics. In ~40 minutes we had more candy goblins than I had in the entire 12 years I lived in San Pedro. It was awesome. Our entire neighborhood was crawling with costumed families, and seeing it brought me great joy. After we ran out of candy, K and I went inside to begin the night's viewings. Instead of leading with Lucky McKee's May - one of my all-time favorites movies period, let alone Halloween-related films - we couldn't pass up the chance to follow Tuesday night's viewing of Tod Browning's Dracula from 1931 with Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece, Bram Stoker's Dracula. As you can imagine, the two films pair quite nicely. After that, however, I was out. 4:00 AM wake-ups add up sometimes, and the sad fact is I can no longer fight through my tiredness like I used to when I was younger.
Ugh. Despite all the mental and emotional advantages that accompany ripening as a human being, sometimes age just plain sucks Charlie Brown.
Final 31 Days of Horror Totals:
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
10/15) Phantom of the Paradise
10/16) Candyman
10/17) Ghoulies
10/18) John Carpenter's Halloween
Let's talk NCBD. I hadn't been to the shop in three weeks, so all the tantalizing stuff I've written about for the last few Wednesdays was waiting for me in my pull. I won't reiterate on those, however, let's talk about what Mike put aside for me that I was originally intending to pass on:
The original Lucifer series that spun out of Neil Gaiman's Sandman was written by Peter Carey and drawn by Peter Gross. It ran 75 issues and told one EPIC story. I can't recommend this one enough folks, and I myself am due for a re-read, as I haven't read it since its monthly run. I've had real reservations about going back for another story with this character, especially since the television show came up and basically re-did Castle, but with Lucifer helping the LAPD solve crimes instead of the writer. I've since heard and fully believe the show is good for what it is, however I'm protective of series as amazing as the original Lucifer is, so I'm not interested in the show. Buying this new comic was nothing short of a leap of faith for me. After reading it though, you better believe, I have faith.
This was one of those first issues that drops you in and doesn't concern itself with giving you the lay of the land. NOT a complaint, as I love that when done well. And I really think this book is going to be done well. After all the seemingly disparate story threads introduced in Lucifer #1, I am damned intrigued at where this book is going, so much so I can scarcely believe it.
Also, having Kelley Jones do the variant cover was an A++ for me.
Playlist from yesterday:
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me
Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses
Ritual Howls - Into the Water
Various - Halloween Playlist
The Final Cut - Consumed
Specimen - Azoic
Jóhann Jóhannson - Mandy OST
Card of the day:
Perfect, considering I spent a large part of two days this past week dressed like him, and LOVED the new Lucifer series. Here's what it says in the Grimoire:
"Materialism over spiritualism."
Short and to the point, eh? Looks like I need to flesh that entry out. In the meantime, I'll regard this pull as a warning to not run up my cc this month the way I did last month. October is always an expensive time of the year for me because it is my favorite time of the year.
