#doug shaw

[dustedmagazine]

Weak Signal — Fine (12XU)

Weak Signal has been my pick for “best rock band you never heard of” for a few years now, and this fourth full-length only strengthens the argument. It pulls their clanking, grinding VU-ish drone in new and intriguing directions—an acoustic blues folk a la Aquarian Blood, a guitar-heavy clangor akin to Crazy Horse—without sacrificing any core competencies. It adds some guests, including Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, Doug Shaw of Gang Gang Dance and Cass McCombs, without diluting the locked in synchrony of its three founding members.

To review, Weak Signal is a three-piece led by Mike Bones who is linked to some cool NYC noises via an association with Endless Boogie and a stint with Soldiers of Fortune (Kid Millions is also a member). Sasha Vine plays mostly bass, but also a little violin and sings. Tran, the drummer, also sings. They’ve been a band for about seven years, and Dusted has favorably reviewed two of the three previous albums, 2021’s Bianca and 2022’s War on War.  

Fine is an advance for Weak Signal but not a shock. Though most of its songs sound very much in line with previous albums, it diverges in some fruitful ways. Both “Out on a Wire,” and “Baby” begin in a frenzy of feedback and improvisation, beginning side one and side two of the vinyl edition in exhilarating freefall.

“Out on a Wire” coalesces eventually into Weak Signal’s trademark vamp, a dissolute cousin to “Peter Gunn” that slinks and struts and smirks and all but has a lit cigarette dangling from the corner of its mouth. And yet, it’s pure rock and roll, this cadence, full of menace but also vibrating with heart and vulnerability, talk-sung with bracing cynicism but sweetened by boy-girl harmonies.

“Baby” is more of a surprise, because once the din lets up, a softer aesthetic emerges in jangling folk acoustic chords and soft lyricism. It’s an appealing shift, and it continues through “Terá Tera,” a fragile, pretty but deeply felt cut that puts me in mind of other unplugged psychedelic garage rockers: Aquarian Blood, The Duchess and the Duke and the Gris Gris’ Greg Ashley’s solo work.

The best cut, though, is “Wannabe,” a blown-out guitar-psych tune with shades of ragged glory. That’s the one where Cass McCombs guests, and if it’s him letting the long notes fly at the beginning, they should consider offering him a full-time gig. If Weak Signal’s songs have had a flaw up to now, it’s been a certain dank claustrophobia. This cut blows the doors down and lets some light in.

Weak Signal entertainingly imagines life as a Brian Jones-style figure in “Rich Junkie,” tapping into a pre-digital fantasy of rock ‘n roll excess (and financial rewards). Though spiritually part of a strung-out but brilliant lineage, Fine will likely never buy a mountain villa for anyone involved. It’s just another good one from a band you ought to know but probably don’t. Why not fix that right now? You owe it to yourself.

Jennifer Kelly

[heckcareoxytwit]

The Quiet Council and the Five variant covers by Phil Noto

Quiet Council variant covers by Phil Noto

Immortal X-Men #1-18 and X-Men Forever #1-4

Magneto (Erik Lensherr) = Immortal X-Men #1, March 2022

Mister Sinister (Nathaniel Essex) = Immortal X-Men #2, May 2022

Destiny (Irene Adler) = Immortal X-Men #3, June 2022

Emma Frost = Immortal X-Men #4, July 2022

Exodus (Bennet Du Paris) = Immortal X-Men #5, August 2022

Sebastian Shaw = Immortal X-Men #6, September 2022

Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) = Immortal X-Men #7, October 2022

Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde) = Immortal X-Men #8, November 2022

Mystique (Raven Darkholme) = Immortal X-Men #9, December 2022

Professor X (Charles Xavier) = Immortal X-Men #10, January 2023

Storm (Ororo Munroe) = Immortal X-Men #11, May 2023

Colossus (Piotr Rasputin) = Immortal X-Men #12, June 2023

Cypher (Doug Ramsey) = Immortal X-Men #13, July 2023

Krakoa = Immortal X-Men #14, August 2023

Selene (Selene Gallio) = Immortal X-Men #15, September 2023

Hope Summers = Immortal X-Men #16, October 2023

Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur) = Immortal X-Men #17, November 2023

Jean Grey = Immortal X-Men #18, December 2023

Proteus (Kevin MacTaggert) = X-Men: Forever #1, March 2024

Elixir (Josh Foley) = X-Men: Forever #2, April 2024

Tempus (Eva Bell) = X-Men: Forever #3, May 2024

Egg/Goldballs (Fabio Medina) = X-Men: Forever #4, May 2024

[catboy-sinister]

quiet council my beloved

[comicwaren]

From X-Men: Forever #003, “Unhappy In Their Own Way”

Art by Luca Maresca and Federico Blee

Written by Kieron Gillen

[mxrvellous]

Inferno (2021) #4

[brokehorrorfan]

Fright-Rags has a Hocus Pocus shirt designed by Zachary Jackson Brown available today only. Priced at $25, it will ship the week of September 27.

[splooosh]

“Dumas kills”

Doug Rice

[x-manson-annotated]

X-Manson Annotated Chapter Three - Part 9 - THE ACCUSATION

I'm going to level with you. If you weren't already put off by this story, this section might seal the deal for you. This section deals with Emma Frost being placed at the center of a scandal where she is accused of sexually abusing her students. It's awful, but it is integral to understanding the world of this story. This will be the last section of Chapter 3.

tw for that, and tw for mentions of attempted suicide.

I'd like to know who this "Weedy Looking Man" is. My assumption is it is the X-Manson version of Trevor Fitzroy.

Like i said, this section isn't pretty. I am of the mindset that nothing happened, but this section will bring to the mind of some people the Satanic Panic and Q Anon conspiracy theories popular among the right wing.

Shinobi Shaw, the son of Sebastian Shaw.

*also, Doug and Marie-Ange are insufferably cute.

**Pot's legal in the United States as of 1990.

This feels like an outlandish parody until you realize that conservative media is exactly like that.

"She knew what could happen to teenaged girls" What the fuck does that mean? That feels close to "Well, you saw what she was wearing. She probably wanted it." It's a cryptic, weird thing to say.

This feels like a reflection of something you would see a lot of later in the 2000s. Ultimate Marvel used to do this thing where psychics would read minds and there would be a joke of "Oh, stop thinking about me naked." or "I wasn't thinking about it until you told me not to think about it." Shit like that. This feels like a more realistic take on how that might feel with someone with psychic powers. It isn't some kind of fun jokey thing for them. It's horrifying.

*I'm detecting a reoccurring argument between them with this line from Marie-Ange.

**That's an incredibly strange way to speak about someone, Douglas.

***She's not wrong for thinking that.

But let's focus on the thirteen students who put forward accusations against Emma.

I can't imagine who they might be. Possibly this world's version of the Hellions, sans Marie-Ange?

What were they arrested for?

Holy shit, Disney is not pissing around when it comes to copyright in this universe.

This makes sense about why Xavier kept his class sizes on the smaller end. Easier for him to be more personable and manipulate the students.

I wonder how much of that is coincidental and how much of it was orchestrated by Xavier.

The system failing to work.

She finds it difficult to maintain romantic connections if she doesn't have access to her psi-ablities? Difficulty reading the emotions of others? Autistic Emma Frost?

A full lobotomy with a gun killed her psychic abilities?

It's interesting that there are still mutant education systems in place in public schools.

I have no idea who this man is meant to be.

Also the "Roy Cohn Professor of American History" Roy Cohn? like the lawyer and all-around bastard who adored Joe McCarthy.

The Hinckley Law. This immediately puts me in mind of the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley Jr. Reagan was never Presiden in this Au, so is it possible that Hinckley attempted to assassinate him when he was running for Governer of California?

Furthermore...Did Ronald Reagan destroy Hinckley's personality?

You can tell this is fantasy because the American Left is presenting a unified front against Conservatism.

Mary Jo Kopechne was a mutant with gills!

The pear-shaped man is Sebastian Shaw. This feels like an accurate way to describe the man.

I feel like the molestations stopped around when Emma took over the school. Good god.

Sebastian, his nose heavy with clotted phlegm and coke: how can any red-blooded American man learn in the company of disgusting WHEMEN!

This feels like something from the McMartin Pre-School Scandal where kids were essentially coerced by law enforcement into making up bigger and bigger lies about satanic ritual abuse.

Example Below from the McMartin Preschool Trial's wikipedia page:

Some of the abuse was alleged to have occurred in secret tunnels beneath the school. Several excavations turned up evidence of old buildings on the site and other debris from before the school was built, but no evidence of any secret chambers or tunnels was found. There were claims of orgies at car washes and airports, and of children being flushed down toilets to secret rooms where they would be abused, then cleaned up and presented back to their parents.

The Cuban cigar angle feels like a nod to the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal.

*This reads like a modern day Trumper losing his shit.

**If you cared about your family's "Good Name" you wouldn't have named your son "Shinobi" you insufferable goddamn weeaboo.

Sebastian: the rich of america are entitled to live as kings! We are not unlike gods!

The mad philosopher Scalia. Is Antonin Scalia a supervillain in this universe?

*Again, you can tell this is a fantasy because we have the misfortune of having had Scalia on the Supreme Court.

Insane.

"That he knew of". I want to know more about what kind of Anti-Psi protection exists in this world.

All this kind of bums me out. I mean, i guess i'm happy about an au where Doug's doing kind of alright after a tragedy. But him becoming this big tech bro kind of sucks to me.

It's kind of cool that he turned Apple into a co-op. I guess.

[why-i-love-comics]

Immortal X-Men #13 - "Deadlocked" (2023)

written by Kieron Gillen art by Lucas Werneck & David Curiel

[tournament-of-x]

The Hole

Contestants Index

[pantonaut]

[evilhorse]

Manhunter #9

[heckcareoxytwit]

The Quiet Council members are squabbling as usual when Emma suggests for democracy which Exodus disagrees. Then, Doug Ramsey stands up to give a big speech about the change of policy as an evolution until Krakoa grabs him with the vines. Hope Summers gets angry with Krakoa and she uses her borrowed language skill to talk to the tree. However, it turns out that Krakoa has become too overprotective of Doug as it dragged him down to The Pit to keep him inside in case of something bad is going to happen to him.

Immortal X-Men #13, 2023

[catboy-sinister]

Currently rotting, so I present:

The Quiet Council playing Minecraft

Charles: Tries to establish a community with order and rules, fails horribly. Forgets that it's just a game and gets way too involved in Minecraft Server Politics. Eventually just closes the server.

Erik: Hangs out with Ororo. Illyana or Beto probably showed him the game so he knows what he's doing, but he's here to relax. Way too sick of Charles to help him.

Apocalypse: Uses his Celestial tech to play because his hands are too large for normal human tech. Still can't run shaders.

Irene: Sits by Raven and tells her what she needs to do. Just happy to lay her head on her wife's shoulder, and to ruin Charles's day.

Raven: Gets competitive, immediately wants the best gear. Keeps stealing Charles's stuff when Irene tells her he won't notice. Describes the beautiful things she sees in detail to Irene and builds a flower garden for them both.

Nathaniel: Spends the entire time making his skin. When he does get into the game, he griefs Charles's house and then harrasses Apocalypse with TNT. Eventually gets bored, sets his game to creative, and blows up everything.

Emma: Collects all the types of cats and spends time building a beautiful base with Kate. As in, Kate gets the resources and builds the base, while Emma gives directions and adds details

Kate: Pretty good at the game. Harrasses Shaw and griefs his village. Loves resource gathering and mining.

Sebastian: Spends his time levelling up villagers and turning them to zombies + curing them so he gets the best deals.

Selene: Doesn't understand the villagers are NPCs, so she sets up a cult in a village to worship her. Secretly, she gets a little attached to them. She also builds plenty of Iron Golems.

Hope: Probably a Minecraft pro. Basically speedruns the best gear and farms while dragging Bennet along with her. At first, she tells Bennet to get her resources, but after he keeps getting lost/dying she just does it herself.

Bennet: Has no idea what's going on, but follows Hope around and does what she says. Easily gets lost without her. He likes the armor and weapons, he feels like a knight again.

Piotr: Collects a bunch of animals, and has an army of dogs. I imagine he names them after flowers and dyes their collars to match. Of course sets up large farms.

Kurt: Doesn't really know how to play the game. Tries to help Charles at first, but eventually goes out on his own or helps Piotr on his farms.

Ororo: Hangs out with Erik. Charles kept asking her to help him build a community but she was more interested in building and mining with Erik.

Jean: Knows how to play through Rachel and Teen Cable. Probably tries to sneak Scott onto the server but he says no. Also tries to help Charles but gets sick of him.

Doug: Secretly competing with Hope. Failing miserably, but he's still having a great time.

Krakoa: Asking Doug questions about the game. Eventually tries to recreate Minecraft biomes on the island. It becomes a major emergency because suddenly skeletons and zombies are appearing at night and attacking mutants.

[jazzdailyblog]

Jimmy Raney: The Subtle Master of Cool Jazz Guitar

Introduction: In the annals of jazz history, few guitarists have made as profound an impact as Jimmy Raney. Born James Elbert Raney ninety-seven years ago today on August 20, 1927, in Louisville, Kentucky, Raney’s career spanned five decades and was marked by a distinctive style that helped shape the sound of cool jazz. Known for his quiet yet intensely expressive playing, Raney was a master of…

[nerds-yearbook]

The Sportsmaster (II) first appeared in Manhunter 17#, cover date September, 1989. He was created by Kim Yale, John Ostrander, and Doug Rice. ("Turf", Manhunter 17#, DC Comic Event)