Without the cinematic accompaniment, John Carpenter’s music releases—Lost Themes, Lost Themes II, Lost Themes III: Alive After Death and Lost Themes IV: Noir—are, similar to the band Goblin, or the music David Lynch issued late in his life, sometimes frustrating in that one instinctually wants moving images to accompany them. This time around, Carpenter tries to bridge that gap—the artist is notorious for doing whatever the hell he wants to do, whenever he wants to do it—with Cathedral, the soundtrack to a graphic novel of the same name.
It was only a month ago that Fireball Ministry co-founder and guitar virtuoso Emily Burton graciously set aside some of her busy schedule to talk about her and all the current developments that are making her beam at the status of her influential, 27-year-old stoner rock band. (Read all about her successful litigation here.)
When we checked in with her for part two of our conversation, she was in much better spirits and game for talking about some of her movies of all time. For those who don’t live in the loop, musicians have extraordinarily long stretches between †venues, affording them some time to cozy up in a band, rewrite and rewrite and rewrite once again the band’s set list. Burton prefers the latter.
If your tastes in music are liberal and erudite enough to encompass Khanate and Yakuza, you are living in sin with each passing moment you fail to avail yourself to Kilter. The instrumental metal-jazz trio from Paris and Brooklyn is counting down the hours till Kilter’s new album, Ten Billion Years, arrives via Excursus Production on June 19.
“A concept album depicting nothing less than the birth and death of our solar system, Ten Billion Years unfolds with cosmic-level grandeur, its instrumental compositions exploring spaces between the sounds of John Coltrane, Sunn O))) and Meshuggah,” reads a statement in press materials about the release. That jibes with us; does it for you?
If you’re sold, mark your calendar for a week from today, when Bandcamp hosts a Ten Billion Years listening party a week from today at 1 p.m. ET. And with that sneak preview still a week away, The Bad Penny is casting the spotlight on the burgeoning band by featuring them in the latest installment of our Favorite Films series. If the title doesn’t give it away, the ongoing feature allows musicians to share their favorite movies ever (and we usually publish it on Saturdays).
Buckle up (especially in the case of the first selection) for the picks that Kilter’s Laurent David (electric bass, production); Ed Rosenberg III (bass and tenor saxophones); and Kenny Grohowski (drums) handpicked for their installment of Favorite Films.
Definitely more horror than comedy, Sam Raimi nonetheless made an indelible mark in a short film that was part of master-of-the-macabre John Carpenter’s 1993’s anthology, Body Bags. (Raimi made a couple of cameos in it; keep yer eyes peeled. Horror king Wes Craven also makes a cameo, and one of the main roles.)
Two months in, we’re still savoring the delicious drivel dealt by death-metal band Dying Remains via Merciless Suffering following its mid-September release. We’re also grateful to have recently connected with the Maggot Stomp band and chatted up vocalist/guitarist/bassist Damon MacDonald about its debut LP.
While we had MacDonald on the horn – or the Zoom, or the whatchamacallit – we picked his brain about movies, as we were armed with the knowledge ahead of time that he’s a fan of horror movies. Here are his choice picks:
1. The Thing (1982)
“The first movie that comes to mind is John Carpenter’s The Thing,” MacDonald said. “That was one of the first couple of horror movies I saw when I was young. I think I was 7, and my old man showed it to me, and I was like, ‘This is so cool.’ [My love of horror movies] started there.”
When asked whether he believes in the notion publicly proffered by notably untrustworthy director John Carpenter that there’s a way to determine whether the two guys at the end, MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Childs (Keith David), had become The Thing, he replied:
“There was a game that came out tied to The Thing on PS2 and Xbox in 2002 – and it’s been stated that it’s canon – and Carpenter made a jab by having MacReady alive at the end of the game. But it’s still just one of those things that are open to interpretation. You’re never going to figure it out. [There’s also the theory that] the whiskey [the characters drink at the end of the movie] was actually gasoline, but it’s like I don’t know if I buy it.”
When asked to identify his favorite scene in the film, MacDonald said: “The defibrillator scene when [a] stomach opens up and rips [the] hands off [another character is] so sick. It’s gnarlier than the [first] Alien scene with the [chest burst].”
(Go here to read my post-mortem on Anciients’ performance in Boise on Friday and why you should make every effort to see them on their current tour.)
Criticize awards all you want, but there’s something to be said for a band that has more hardware than they can carry with two hands. One of the more unlikely bands faced with this honor, problem or whatever you wanna call it is Anciients.
The Vancouver prog-metal crew snatched the Juno Award for Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year in 2018 for their second record, Voice of the Void; their debut, Heart of Oak, was deemed a long-listed nominee for Canada’s other major award for artists, the 2013 Polaris Music Prize.
Adding to their accolades, the complex, challenging band scooped up their second Juno Award for the same category mentioned above on the strength of Beyond the Reach of the Sun, released exactly one year ago. They beat out the likes of Spiritbox, Devin Townsend and other bands you’ve probably never heard of (PSYCH!).
Two days ago, Anciients initiated their first U.S. tour in eight years, dubbed “Quest Beyond Our Minds,” in Seattle. Call it a victory lap celebrating all the awards they’ve accumulated, a refresher course in their three reputed Season of Mist records and/or a jaunt serving to boost their latest Beyond the Reach of the Sun single, “Is It Your God,” their performances are a must-see for anyone who even remotely has an affinity for Anciients or their kindred spirits Opeth.
The Bad Penny touched base with Anciients vocalist/guitarist Kenny Cook mere hours before they took the stage in Seattle to pick his brain about various matters, including their concert tonight in Boise, which will mark the first time they’ve played in the potato pueblo in a dozen years.
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