2018: June 30th

I know this track from the OST for a movie called The Devil's Business. This is a soundtrack I love from a film I have never seen (need to change that). Because of this slightly obscure relationship with the material, I forget about this one for long stretches, something triggers my memory (usually an early, gray morning - the somber tone of this track always fits with an early, gray morning) and I pull it out for a few days. I don't think I need to explain that that is exactly what happened this morning as I woke up tired, and dragged myself through the preparatory hygiene required for me to go into work.

While listening in the car, I knew that since my drive would only take me ~20 minutes, I'd want to continue with the album once I got inside, punched in and began the tasks of the day. When I went to Apple Music, however, I was bummed to find the soundtrack was not there. As a work-around I googled the first track and for the first time in memory realized it was not a composer, but a band. After another quick search I found the track I wanted to post (above) AND I found an awesome band I had previously never heard of, Crippled Black Phoenix.

Playlist from 6/29:

Best Coast - Crazy For You
Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Windhand - Soma

I also subscribed to Bret Easton Elli's Podcast on Patreon and listened to two fantastic episodes:

B.E.E. Podcast - 6/15/18 James Van Deer Beek - wherein they discuss a lot of things, including but not limited to the 2001 70mm redux, Roseanne, Me Too and the usual woes of the business.

B.E.E. Podcast - 6/28/18 Ben Fritz - really great discussion about the death of Sony and the state of the movie business.

No card today.

2018: June 29th

New Alice in Chains went up earlier this week. I haven't listened to it yet, not suer that I'm going to until I can hear it in the context of the new album (which I'm not even sure we need), but I figured I've posted everything else recent they've done here so I might as well do this too, if only for posterity's sake:



I was unofficially tagged to do this week's edition of The Joup Friday Album and it's up HERE if you'd care to take a trip with The Atlas Moth to open your weekend.

Playlist from yesterday:

Liars - Eponymous
PLANETS - The Dark Woods
David Bowie - Diamond Dogs
Wire - Pink Flag
Wrong - Feel Great
Slayer - Reign in Blood
Zombi - Spirit Animal
The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir



Card of the day:

Unkindness and a lack of empathy. Hmm... Definitely going to keep my head down today.

2018: June 28th

My friend Anthony recently turned me on to these guys. Powerful stuff.

Final issue of Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips' Kill or Be Killed came out yesterday. Great series. I didn't LOVE the end, would have found it more fitting with the severity of the series if it had ended at the end of issue 19, HOWEVER, I didn't not like having 20 end the series, and I get why they did what they did. Brubaker and Phillips have proven themselves so I don't question their work, I just enjoy it.

Watched a really cool little movie on Shudder last night. Sweet Sweet Lonely Girl is an exercise in both atmosphere and restraint, and it is definitely worth your time if you like retro, slow-burn films bristling with soft dread you know is going to go tits up before the end.

The new Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying is up HERE.

Playlist from Wednesday, 6/27/18:

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse
PLANETS - The Dark Woods
NIN - Bad Witch
FMLYBND - Letting Go
The Effigies - Remains Nonviewable
Protomartyr - Under Color of Official Right
Wrong - Feel Great
The Atlas Moth - The Ache of Distance
The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir

Card of the day:

Aim for the light and remain optimistic.

Trailer: Dead Center starring Shane Carruth

I am completely unfamiliar with Billy Senese and his 2014 debut Closer to God, but that's about to change. Just found this trailer via Birth.Movies.Death. - caught my eye when I saw Shane Carruth's name attached, as both Primer and especially Upstream Color are among the most thought-provoking films I've seen in years. One look at this trailer and I am sold!

Somehow I think both this and Mandy will be playing Beyond Fest this year. I really don't want to wait that long, but what an awesome environment that will be to see these in.

Panos Cosmatos' Mandy Trailer! Finally!

There is no film I am more excited about seeing in a theatre this year. When Cage is on he is on (granted that isn't very often). And, BILL DUKE!!!

2018: June 27th

Finished Orphan Black last night. Wow. Great ending. Really satisfying. I mean, we're not talking Six Feet Under or Breaking Bad here, but really good. Loved this series. The above track was in the fourth to final episode, at Felix's Gallery show. Good stuff. I'll miss these characters A LOT. That said, coincidentally enough, this comes out today:

Comic adaptations that continue shows we love are hit and miss and even as good as they can be (Dollhouse), they're not the original. That said, I can't pass this up just because of the seemingly crazy synchronicity of K and I finishing the series a few weeks (at least) after SSN 5 hit Prime one day before the first issue comes out.

Playlist from 6/26:

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse
Radiohead - Kid A
Portishead - Third
Chromatics - Night Drive
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

Card of the day:

From the Grimoire: "Emerging victories from a trying time; big change; think things through."

Pulled this right before a friend at work walked in and expressed concern about a situation taking place. He keeps talking about jumping ship (my metaphor, not his, but the sentiment's there). I told him thought he should hang tight and assess, which this Pull backs up.

2018: June 26th

A lot of Besnard Lakes lately. There's a certain, "Midwest Basement 90s" vibe that I need to tap into for my next big project, code-named HSL, and it requires that tone. So I'm dipping my toes in the sound of Great Lakes Rock, piecing together a short story that utilizes the same tone and generally trying to re-connect with the inner, seventeen-year-old me.

Weird.

Playlist from Monday, 6/25"
The Besnard Lakes Vol. 1
Lebanon-Hanover - Let Them Be Alien
Ice Age - Beyondless
Svvamp - 2
Ministry - Dark Side of the Spoon
NIN - Bad Witch
Faith No More - Angel Dust
Fantomas - Delirium Cordia
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles


Card for today:

From the Grimoire: "How True are you to your inner aspirations and Will? Denotes upon appearance a situation to know yourself, what you want, and throw your self doubt and fear away." I find that rather lovely. Also, as we're now apparently counting up through the Wands suit, coming on the back of Dominion yesterday, I feel as though this is more affirmation for my goals, which I continue to pursue rabidly.

2018: June 25th 5:27 AM

The Veils on my mind again:



Playlist from 6/24:

Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Beachhouse - 7
Barrie - Canyons (Single)

Card of the day:

From the Grimoire: "Indicates you are in charge of the way your life is unfolding. Striking the harmonic resonance that sees events occur as we would like them to. Planning - Thoughtfullness - Mojo." - Spot on, as I've been giddy all morning thinking about the fact that I just finished writing a 75k novel (it's expanding a bit as I edit each chapter once more in Grammarly) in 7 months (6 when you figure I had about 1 month off for our move). I feel like everything is going exactly according to the plan I have set up. And that's a damn good feeling.

2018: June 24th

Heard this in-between songs on my headphones yesterday while writing in my CBTL. How often do you find music you want to immediately download and listen to in a public place? Not very fucking often, that's for sure. But there are exceptions to every rule:






Playlist from 6/23/18:

NIN - Bad Witch
Beach House - 7
Preoccupations - New Material
Barrie - Canyons (Single)
Ice Age - Beyondless
Underworld - Beacoup Fish

2018: June 23rd 12:44 PM

New NIN dropped yesterday. I haven't listened to anything on it other than that God Break Down The Door song, which I quite liked for all its Bowie-ness. Figured I'd post it hear - I'll probably get to it later today, but I'd be curious to see comments about what anyone reading this who listens to it thinks. Trent remains an interest of mine, even if his lyrical persona and the subsequent 'Reznorisms" sometimes - sometimes - leads me to sigh.



BIG week at the Comic shop this week. NCBD is always a joy, but this week I had new Deadly Class, new TMNT, second issue of Garth Ennis's A Walk Through Hell (which was freakin' awesome!), the new Black Science, finally got the second issue of sold out Tinsel Town by David Lucarelli, Calexit #3, and new Gideon Falls and Days of Hate, probably my two favorite books right now (besides TWD, Deadly Class and Stray Bullets, which rule without me having to say so). Both Gideon Falls and Days of Hate are really starting to ratchet up, so it kills me a bit to see Days is on hiatus until August, but what's two months in the grand scheme? Also, a little love should be extended for IDW's TMNT - it is such a fantastic on-going redesign of a property I've loved since it helped kick off the 80s B&W Explosion. Issue 83 was a fantastic tale, juggling multiple storylines and character arcs in as deft a fashion as ever (this book has just gotten better and better at doing that). The Pantheon is a great addition to the cast, especially as it's super clear they are VERY influenced by Neil Gaiman's The Endless, from the Sandman books.

As I believe I mentioned earlier this month, I went in on a monthly Shudder sub and, although I haven't explored it fully yet, it's really a great subscription. Last time I brought this up I believe I mentioned Interior. I'll add Follow Me to the list now, another superb thriller that I thought unfolded beautifully from one of the best 'inciting incidents' I've seen in a while. Girlfriend gives her boyfriend a handgun for Christmas, asks him to put it in his mouth and pull the trigger if he trusts her.

And I'll just leave you with that... and yeah, it's a Christmas movie. In a sense.

Note: I used the Spanish Movie Poster here, because I like this one the best, but the film is not a Spanish-language film. Just in case anyone reading has an aversion to subs. I do not, but I know some people do.
Playlist from 6/22:

Radiohead - Kid A
Servotron - Meet Your Mechanical Masters

Slim day on the music. Crazy work day and a humungous nap afterward.

Card for today:

From the Grimoire (which I suspect by its tone was cribbed from Crowley): "The first step from the perfection of one divides it into two.

2018: June 22nd 7:17 AM

Jesus. Friday, just in the nick O' time, eh? Here's a little Tom Vek to wake us up:



I've been having trouble sleeping, and when I wake up I feel - as I do now - as though my spirit was too far away from my body. Discombobulation. Whatever the case, it's making everything in my AM a chore. Also, waking up stupid has made me repeatedly unable to get my shit together long enough to do a pull with my beloved Thoth deck. That means I've been relying on my pocket-sized back-up deck, The Hanson-Roberts, more heavily than I would like. Nothing inherently wrong with the H-R deck, I just very much prefer the esoteric elegance of Lady Freida Harris' art over the H-R's, which is so 'classic tarot' that it's hard to hate but also a bit trite, if you ask me.

Playlist from 6/21:

David Bowie - Reality
Van Halen - Eponymous (Not the singles)
Tom Vek - Luck
Savages - Silence Yourself
The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed
Revocation - Teratogenesis EP
Wrong - Feel Great
Perturbator - Dangerous Days

Card of the day:

Wealth, as in a comfortable surplus of Earthly attributes. Also, the implication that we have directed our energies positively in order to get here. Sounds like a good omen to me as I crest into writing the final chapter of the T12 book.

2018: June 21st

There is a melancholic air to this song that absolutely floors me. I love it SO much. Corniglia is a band that I happened across on LA's music treasure, KXLU, one morning on the drive to work, and in the two or three weeks since I just cannot stop listening to them. The album, self-titled, is easily in my top of the year. One of the things I like so much about this is, in some strange way, it reminds me of the vibe I had in my head in the early 2000s - a kind of delicious airiness that translated to a gray hopelessness as I graduated College: the future loomed before me, I buried a friend, and I felt more alone than ever. The new Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying is up HERE and while it would seem to glorify a somewhat frightening moment in my life, it actually very much illustrates the loneliness I felt at that time. 2001-2002 was dark, and although I had an awesome band (The Yellow House) and awesome friends (particularly at that time Brown, Tim, Sonny, Grez, Dennis and Dave), I was somewhat adrift on a mindset so bleak that it spurred me into frequent drug use and several bouts of totally vapid sex, both very much unlike me. And some how, I hear elements of that hear.

I'm digressing, or maybe I'm not.

My point is that music is the same as all art in that, to modify a famous saying, the beholder gets out of it what they put in. That is to say, there is often baggage you bring with you when hearing a new band, new song, new album, and that baggage - snippets of color or image associations, emotions, whatever form it takes - shapes how you hear that music and, ultimately, what it will mean to you. What's even more interesting is your interpretation could be light years away from what was happening in the artist's head at the time - it doesn't matter. Having also made music and talked to people who got something out of it that I had never anticipated or intended, I can tell you that just the idea that something you made could have such a multi-textural effect on another soul is rewarding beyond description. So, while Corniglia may not have intended the melancholy associations I ascribe to their sound, I'm sure they won't mind if there music drives me to stay awake long past when I should have my head down, trying to capture in words something they have made me feel with their song.

Playlist from Odin's Day, 6/20/18:

Danzig 6: Satan's Child
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Freaks)
David Bowie - Reality
Nothing - Downward Years to Come
Various Artists - Reservoir Dogs OST
Corniglia - Eponymous

Card O' the day:

The Lovers again, and how it currently applies to my life is still escaping me. I need to make time to look further into this. Perhaps I will ask Missi.

2018: June 20th

I've been listening to the Lost Highway OST a lot again lately - it's never far from my ears - and I realized I don't think I've ever posted this track here blog before. Apple of Sodom, as well as Manson's cover of I Put A Spell On You, were the tracks that made me a fan of his. Previous to that, I actually disliked him quite a bit. The problem was, in the mid-90s when he first got huge, depending on what interview you caught with Manson, he might come off like a complete tool. Those were the interviews I saw initially, including one at Woodstock '94, which was right around the time Jeffrey Dahmer was killed in prison. During an interview with Empty-V, Riki Rachtman asked Manson if he felt sadness at Dahmer's passing and Manson went on some asinine diatribe about how a he felt a little piece of him had indeed died with the imprisoned serial killer. Now of course, I realize that Manson was probably fucking with the moronic VJ, while at the same time playing up the stupid image much of his fanbase at the time ascribed to him (the guy singing about worshipping no one but yourself liked to fuck with those who worshipped him). Whatever the motivation, as an early encounter with his persona, I rejected it. It wasn't until the Lost Highway OST that Manson's music music begin to seduce me, and dovetailing with that, a friend lent me his Autobiography, which fully revealed just how smart this guy was. Finally, a rebuttal Manson penned in Rolling Stone magazine post-Columbine, after being blamed as a catalyst for the event, was so well written and thought provoking, I plunged headfirst into his music. I really can only lay the 'genius' tag on two MM records - Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals, but the man is an icon and a really good motivator for self empowerment if you listen to the lyrics. A couple of years ago I recall finding a lot of strength in Superstar while my life was imploding around me and the person I had trusted the most repeatedly stabbed me in the back. I remember her commenting on me listening to Superstar a lot at the time, as if she felt threatened by it. She was right to feel threatened - it helped me stay afloat in one of the most tumultuous times of my life.

Playlist from 6/19:

Danzig 1
Belong - Common Era
Nothing - Zero Day (single)
Nothing - Downward Years to Come
Christopher Young - Hellraiser OST
Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar
Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
Various Artists - Lost Highway OST

2018: June 19th

Gorgeous new Beach House video.

Watched Evil Dead (2013) for about the fifth time last night, as K had never seen it. SO fucking good. Please Mr. Alvarez, make that sequel!!!

Playlist from 6/18:

Chasms - On the Legs of Love Purified
Wrong - Fee Great
Cocksure - TVMALSV
Beach House - 7
Nothing - Zero Day (single)
Them are Us Too -
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

Card today:

The Emotional Aspect of Air. Wielding the Will with emotional maturity. Knowing when to back off and when to be assertive.

2018: June 18th - New Music from Nothing

Wow! There's a new Nothing record coming soon.



Just realized that Season 5 of Orphan Black hit Prime - finally get to finish one of the best series I've seen.

Playlist from 6/17:
Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
Venue - Desireena
Guns and Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Cocksure - KKEP
Nothing - Guilty of Everything
Secret Chiefs 3 - Traditionalists -Le Mani DestreRecise Degli Ultimi Uomini

Card of the day:

Union. Duality. Harmony within. Uniting opposites or complimentary aspects. I'm not entirely sure how any of this applies to me currently; what I've listed is very surface reading, so I could dig a lot deeper. Not on a Monday, though.

2018: June 16th

I know I'm late to the game on this one, as I think Bad Witch came out over a month ago. I still dig NIN, but I haven't really been in a hurry to hear anything they've put out in a while. This is by far the most interesting track to me since Year Zero. I guess I'll finally be listening to the whole EP today.

Went into Hollywood and had a great creator meeting with Keller on T12 and our next project, which he's been outlining. I realized I've written an entire novel in just over six months. What's more, I actually did two passes on the first half. And this iteration is nearing completion. So in a week or two I had him the full T12 novel, he hands me the outline for HSL and we switch places for a while. I turn out half of HSL, he edits T12, then we swap again. T12 will definitely be finished by at least October if not earlier, and HSL will be halfway done by then. From that point he begins the third of our first batch, and we move into 2019, by the end of which we have three completed novels, the release schedule hopefully looking something like this:

October 2018 - T12 (these are all working titles, as I'd guess you would have assumed)
First quarter 2019 - HSL
Third quarter 2019 - #3

In between, I'm hoping to have a novel and another anthology. But this is all pretty ambitious, I'll admit. Still, if I get half of this done - which I will - I'll be happy.

Playlist from June 15th:

Chris Connelly - Phenobarb Bambalam
Andre Previn & London Symphony Orchestra - Samuel Barber: Adagio, Violin Concerto
David Bowie - Diamond Dogs
Run DMC - Raising Hell
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (side 2)
Gang Starr - Code of the Streets (single)
The Atlas Moth - An Ache for the Distance
Dee-Lite- Sampladelic Relics & Dancefloor Oddities
Deafheaven - New Bermuda

Card for the day:

From the Grimoire: "Can indicate missing/failing to achieve a goal." - So, ah, should I take that as a direct comment on the diatribe up top?

2018: June 15th

I recently dug out my disc copy of Phenobarb Bambalam, one of the earlier Chris Connelly solo albums. I'd forgotten how great this album is; Night of Your Life still holds such sway with me that it's often difficult to see past it.

I took my first day off writing yesterday for as long as I can remember back. It's no longer a matter of counting the days of my streak. Now I simply write everyday.

Playlist from yesterday:

Les Claypool - Of Whale and Woe
Andre Previn & London Symphonic Orchestra - Samuel Barber: Adagio, Violin Concerto
David Lynch & John Neff - Bluebob
Lustmord - Songs of Gods and Demons
Various Artists - Trainspotting OST

Two passages of note from the Grimoire:

"Life is about to get easier and brighter," and, "Create unto and within yourself a Universe, shaped of your strengths and built on your accomplishments as a foundation." - See my above observation about writing everyday. No wonder I pull this card so much. Also, no wonder it's my favorite.

2018: June 14th

Cracked this out yesterday. First time in a long while. Always really liked this album and this song.

New Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying is up HERE to read.

Playlist from June 13th:

Les Claypool - Of Whales and Woe
Deafheaven - Honeycomb single
Deafheaven - Canary Yellow single
Corniglia - Eponymous
Junior Jr. - Obligatory Demo
Nabihah Iqbal - Weighing of the Heart
Lustmord - Dark Places of the Earth
James Brown's Funky People - Part 3

No card today.

2018: June 13th - More New Deafheaven

After having our new bed delivered and waiting all night to sleep on something my feet don't hang off the end of, I knocked out for a paltry 3 hours and 57 minutes, only to lay awake until finally calling a fail and getting up for the day at just before 2:00 AM.

Sucks, right?

Well, I've been rewarded by a nice morning writing, some strong coffee (much more of that to come today) and... new Deafheaven!



I haven't listened to this one yet - the album is out in just 1 month on Anti- so I'm debating on whether or not to save Canary Yellow for within the context of the entirety of the new album, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love. Gonna be really hard to wait, though...

New issue of Garth Ennis and Goran Sudzuka's A Walk Through Hell today:

Finally finished Ash Vs. Evil Dead season 2 yesterday (I know, I know. What took me so long? I bought the fucker on Blu Ray the day it came out last year, watched a few episodes and then I don't know what happened. Anyway, started a rewatch last week, loved every second of it).

I'm plowing through Laird Barron's first Crime Novel, Blood Standard. I love all of this man's work - he's become my favorite working author. And Blood Standard is no exception - it is a fantastic romp through the fringes of the detective genre. Mr. Barron has all the nuts and bolts of what's expected down, so it's not that he's reinventing the wheel. But he maneuvers the tropes in a way that lays a solid claim to them. I'm not the most versed in the genre - my friend Joe knows a hell of a lot more than I do, but in our conversations, and in being a fairly wide-read person in other regards, I know the Ps and Qs of the detective story. Mr. Barron gobbles them up and spits them back out in such a surefire, staccato fashion that the book is an absolute joy to read, especially with such an interesting setting (Upstate NY by-way-of Alaska) and such a joyously violent protagonist (Isaiah Coleridge), who while a man well-versed in destructive forces, generally avoids them by being an unbelievably well-rounded and, thus real character. When Isaiah does snap though, wow.

Playlist from 6/12/18:

Sys Exe - Downride
Lebanon Hanover - Let Them Be Alien
Chris Connelly - The Tide Stripped Bare
Junior Jr. - Obligatory Demo
Rammstein - Herzeleid
Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night
Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Zombi - Shape Shift

Card for the day:

The completion of potential. The last card in the deck, so to speak, so a form of completion. Also, it'd be nice if the same literal interpretation that happened with Luxury yesterday happened with this one today.

2018: June 12th

I saw Hereditary last night. OUTSTANDING. See it in a theatre.



Playlist from June 11th:

Danzig - Danzig 7: I Luciferi
Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit
Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
Melvins - Stag
Terminal A - Fruits of Gomorrah E.P.
Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night
Goblin - George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead OST

Not to interpret too literally - although sometimes it's good to not shy away from doing that with the cards - funny I should draw this the day our new bed is being delivered.

2018: June 11th

My friend Duff and his band Junior Jr. released their first proper offering, Obligatory Demo, this weekend and it is fantastic. There's a rough-around-the-edges quality that might lead some folk to dismiss this out of hand, however - give it a few spins and you'll see, the song writing and performance are such that I expect Junior Jr. to evolve into a massive, massive band.

Playlist from 6/10/18:

Danzig - Danzig 7 I Luciferi
Alabama Shakes - Sound and Color
Lost Highway OST
Rammstein - Herzeleid

Card of the day:

Netzach, one step down the tree from the complete beauty of Tipareth, so there's longing, and maybe anarchy. And maybe that fits my mind frame at work right now, so I'll count this as a warning to curb my destructive thoughts.

2018: June 10th: A Banner Year for Horror

It's really shaping up to be a banner year for horror at the theatre. These are the two trailers that made my week last week, the Halloween was a complete surprise, I expected to not give a toss; add to them the surprise of the Suspiria trailer, and I'm psyched (this of course, doesn't even take into consideration all the gooey goodness that Beyond Fest will undoubtedly bring to LA in the fall. Yay!





Playlist from June 9th:

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night
Otis Redding - Tell the Truth
Ghost - Prequelle
Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
David Bowie - The Next Day Extra E.P

2018: June 9th

Well, Stranger Fruit by Zeal and Ardor is shaping up to be the best album I hear this year; pretty sure this is one of those albums that each song will take a turn rotating in as my favorite. Well done lads (and lady), can't wait to see you at the f*&king ROXY in October. Moving up.

Playlist from 6/08/18:

Ghost - Popestar E.P.
Lauryn Hill - MTV Unplugged 2.0
Underworld - 1992-2002 (disc 2)
Underworld/Iggy Pop - Bells and Circles
Ghost - Prequelle
Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous E.P.
Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit

Card for the day:

Hmm...

2018: June 8th

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!

2018: June 7th

My good friend Ray sent me an Apple Music link to this album quite some time ago and I only just now got around to working it in for listen - when I'm writing everyday as I have been, spending so much time dialed into a particular frame of mind, I curate everything I listen to pretty rigorously. Thus, trying something new - especially if it's something I'll love - might totally skew my routine. I tried two new things yesterday - Dessa's Badly Broken Code, which is fantastic but completely out of my element at the moment, and Nabihah Iqbal's Weighing of the Heart. The latter instantly bewitched me, and it fits right in where I need it to, so it's been on heavy, heavy rotation all day and will most likely stay there for some time. Above is my favorite track, thus far.

New Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying is up HERE.

Playlist from Odin's Day, 6/07/18:

Pigface - A New High in Low
oOoOO & Islamic Grrls - Faminine Mystique
White Ring & oOoOO - Roses/Seaww - Emotion Single
Dessa - A Badly Broken Code
Nabihah Iqbal - Weighing of the Heart
Zombi - Shape Shift
Ghost - Prequelle

Card of the day:

Take the high ground for perspective. That might come in handy during the 4 hour meeting I have today at work.

2018: June 6th

I have long loved My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, up to and including their masterpiece, Confessions of a Knife. After that... not so much. I've tried since high school to get into 13 Above the Night and never really cared for it. Likewise, I will periodically check in on one of the later records, usually to no effect. The other night though, I pulled 13 out after not hearing it for years and gave it a whirl and actually kind of dug a lot of it. It's no Confessions; doesn't hold a candle to any of their older stuff at all. But, I think I'm finally starting to hear what those who have recommended it to me for years hear... or I'm getting soft in my old age. Either way, a few more truncated listens and I grabbed Death Threat from Apple Music yesterday morning and listened to it twice in a row. Again, not the same vibe as the old stuff, but it fit my mood at the time, and it didn't seem so terribly far off from the Thrill Kill Kult that I love, all Satan and Sex and Drugs and SATAN!!!

Foxxxy Rockit is probably my favorite track so far, hence it leading off the post this morning.


Playlist from 6/05:

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - 13 Above the Night
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - Death Threat*
Venue - Desireena E.P.
Budapest Festival Orchestra - Igor Stravinsky - The Firebird-suite
Crystal Castles -
HIDE - Castration Anxiety
Christopher Young - Hellraiser OST
Queens of the Stone Age - Villains
Preoccupations - New Material

No card today.

The Bonus track from Prequelle. I didn't love this record the first time I spun it, now it's seriously grown on me. The throw was that Ghost has moved from a guitar-hook laden outfit to concentrating on vocal melodies. Also, bringing in the piano for basic song structure and composition. After Bible, the final track on 2016's Popestar E.P., I began to speculate that Ghost is working toward composing and presenting a Broadway musical. I am even more convinced of that now. As far as "It's a Sin," I've always dug Ghost's choice of covers, and this is no different. Fits perfect.


Playlist from 6/04:

Massive Attack - Protection
Ghost - Prequelle
Mastodon - Remission
The Soft Moon - Zeroes
The Smiths - Meat is Murder
Electric Citizen - Sateen
Viet Cong - Eponymous
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - 13 Above the Night
Underworld - Barbara Barbara, we have a shining future
Underworld - Barking
Burzum - Filosfem


Card for the day:

Wands can be seen as the creative spark, the Will of the Magus, the Living Spark or Essence. It's Will is tantamount, and you cannot hold it back. This sentiment perfectly describes my recent 'Oppression' at my own hands. I've a creative spark with this project I'm working on, bearing down on a deadline, but I've begun to feel restrained by it. I need to shirk that by taking some extra writing time and outlining this short story in my head, instead of oppressing that spark by blinding trudging along on T12, which I'll still work on daily, but perhaps just rope it back a bit; enough to sneak in some time on this new spark.

2018: June 4th - New Suspiria Trailer...

... and I'll be damned, it won't replace the original, but it looks like it could be a really good film on its own. I dig that they seemingly went out of their way to make it look and feel old school 70s Euro horror, or at least that's what I'm getting from this trailer. Reading the description, sounds like the plot got a tweak too, so that could further help make this new one its own thing. While I'm typically not in favor of remakes, a few great ones have come along that stand on their own. I'd say take for example Evil Dead 2013, but then we all know that's not a remake but, "another door the Necronomicon can open." Maybe there's some similar thread here.



Tom Yorke's score sounds great - I was kind of expecting noodley electro, I'm glad to see I've underestimated him.

Playlist from June 3rd:

Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Sleigh Bells - Tell 'Em (single)
Fen - Epoch
Ghost - Prequelle
Deafheaven - New Bermuda


Card of the day:

Relying on my back-up deck today, as I left the house in too much of a hurry to pull from my beloved Thoth. Queen of Cups - more emotion than you can shake a stick at. Doesn't feel that way thus far. We'll see.

2018: June 3rd

This song is brand new, yet it remind me SO much of the music from about ten years ago. There's a Bibio vibe, with a little Alice Walker and something else I can't quite put my finger on. The spacey tone really evokes a certain period in my personal history, and I find that really amazing, that either Vinyl Williams, or myself, or both of us already have a fledgling nostalgia for 2007. Weird. But any way you cut it, I love it.

Playlist from 6/02:

Otis Redding - Tell the Truth
Corniglia - Eponymous
Andre Previn - Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings, Op. 11
Various - Barber: Adagio, Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto
Ghost - Prequelle
Underworld - Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future
Vinyl Williams - Lansing (single)
Armando Perazza & Cal Tjader Quintet - Nica's Dream

Card of the day:

From the Grimoire: "Primordial urges underlying existence. The Lunar Pull on seemingly unconnected processes."

2018: June 2nd

I woke up late in the morning and spent a few hours trying to finish off Lords of Chaos; the book has become increasingly unpleasant (not the writing, but the subject matter) and the authors track Black Metal-related atrocities across the globe. It feels as though I'm reading a true crime book, and that's not a genre I dabble in because, frankly, I become too disturbed. At any rate, I may not finish the book, but if I do, I decided I need something to counter balance the negativity. The above musical suite is helping, as is the source of my discovery of it. Years ago David Lynch wrote a book called Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity. I bought it and was able to shake his hand and have him autograph it - one of those rare autograph opportunities I took advantage of - but never really read it. I'm doing so now, and it's magical. I love this man so much, he has been such a positive, life-affirming influence on me in every way. Reading the book and listening to Andre Previn and the London Philharmonic Orchestra's version of Weber's Adagio for Strings - which Lynch name drops in the book when briefly talking about The Elephant Man as an example of marrying music to picture - is almost too much beauty to reflect on, and it has definitely salvaged my mood after reading about misguided miscreants committing horrendous crimes in the name of non-existent deities.

Playlist from 6/01:

The Damage Manual - Limited Edition
Ghost - Prequelle
Ministry - Animositisomina
Zombi - Shape Shift

Card of the day:

The Fiery aspect of Air. I need to get my arse in gear and express my Will today, because thus far, other than this meager post, all I've done is consume.

2018: June 1st

This will turn your morning into a foggy mystery. Trust me. Some mornings are better that way.

I was tagged to do this week's edition of The Joup Friday Album - let me tell you about PIL's 1978 debut record Public Image: First Issue while the soothing vocal stylings of John Lydon coronate your weekend HERE.

Playlist from 5/31/18:

Corniglia - Eponymous
Cocksure - T.V.M.A.L.S.V.
The Soft Moon - Criminal
The Soft Moon - Zeroes
Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

And I drove home from work yesterday afternoon listening to Michael Stock's Part time Punks radio show, where I was introduced to a couple awesome groups, notably:

Temple of Angels - Lex Talionis
Otzi - Sunbeam
FACS - Silencing
BC35 & Bob Bert & Martin Bisi & Skeleton Boy & Alyse Lamb & Stu-Art Gray - Nowhere Near the Rainbow (embedded above)

Card of the day:

Inner conflict. What me worry?