God Bless the Coachwhips! The terminal primal garage rock psychotics of John Dwyer (Pink and Brown, OCS, and now Yikes!) receive a final epitaph in this double dose of unreleased songs and b-sides with a DVD of live house party insanity. The Coachwhips as a concept were a live fast die young kind of band (Dwyer's got many hands in many pots to keep Coachwhips going full time), but they were best experienced live. We still have fond memories of seeing Dwyer dance on the fire pit at the Eagle while nonchalantly ripping out some hellish Bo-Diddly style guitar licks and looking at us like "what, this? it ain't no thang". Alas that footage isn't on the DVD, but you do get to see an awesome bar brawl where a dude gets brained by Dwyer's guitar before he gets the Coachwhips beating of his life. If this was on YouTube, we'd watch it a million times. RIP Coachwhips!
In the two years since we last heard from Coelacanth, other drone based groups have unleashed hundreds of cd-rs of extended vibrations, treated field recordings, and fucked-up droning noise; and Coelacanth could have easily fallen into that camp, releasing any number of perfectly adequate live recordings. But they didn't. Instead, Loren Chasse (Thuja, Blithe Sons, Of, Child Readers, and many things Jewelled Antler) and aQ's own Jim Haynes chose to labor on the details of their recordings so that every timbre, every drone, and every tactile grain of sound was perfectly aligned with the sounds of their elemental objects and particular environments. In the world of Coelacanth, there are rocks, rust, sand, leaves, strobe lights, weird electrical devices, shortwave, and plenty of oceanic field recordings (in honor of the fish they're named after); and from those sounds, Coelacanth creates multiple layers and deep textures, all together in a mesmerising tapestry of sub-aquatic abstractions and chiming reverberations. Perfecting their tactile dronework was just the beginning in preparing for their fourth album Wrack Light In Copper Ruin, as they also began collaborations with the film/sound artist Keith Evans in finding a visual corrolary for their sonic abstractions, utilizing breathtakingly hypnotic film and video installations to compliment Coelacanth's music and vice versa. Evans is also a member of Silt, a multimedia collective that specializes in elaborate multi-projection / kinetic-sculpture installations -- one of which was featured at the Whitney Biennial back in 2002. Given that Evans has previously worked with Chasse for a Thuja performance in Scotland a couple years back, a Coelacanth / Keith Evans pairing seemed logical.
So, Wrack Light In Copper Ruin is both a CD and DVD, with the audio portion finding Coelacanth not only collaborating with Evans on some of the recordings, but also Matmos who had asked Chasse and Haynes to join them for part of their 96 hours of performances at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Underwater bell tones, raked stringed instruments, ringing glass harmonics, and gaping drones saturated in a density of texture so complex that it almost sounds like an acoustic version of a Fennesz album! The DVD features Evans' jaw-dropping video work: abstract undulating landscapes of refracted light, all scored to a subtle Chasse / Evans remix of the sounds on the CD. The rippled linear patterns seem innocuous at first; but like the hypnotic primal power of fire, it totally sucks you in. So gorgeous!
A totally over the top, drug drenched, swirl of chaotic visuals known as The Invasion Of Thunderbolt Pagoda, a 1968 psychedelic film created by Ira Cohen, with a completely gorgeous abstract soundtrack by Angus Maclise, Tony Conrad, Henry Flynt among others. Recently screened at the Whitney Museum, available here for the first time on DVD, color corrected (and OH! the colors...) and transferred from 16mm.
Creepy sepia toned footage of a barefoot little girl walking through the woods, jungle tribes digging in the mud, unearthing a mysterious bug eyed shaman, intercut with tripped out kaleidoscopic collages of blinking eyes and naked ladies dressed up like ancient forest dwellers or aliens, all engaging in strange rituals and some super strange spasmodic dancing. And that's just the intro!
The actual film is a dizzying blend of wild costumes, incredible makeup and super saturated colors, filmed through all sorts of distorted funhouse mirror lenses or filmed through rippling water, or sheets of mylar, everything twisting and shimmering, shapes shifting, bodies writhing, cartoonish animal costumes, a totally over the top acid fried TRIP. Take a step back and it's a bunch of wild drugged out hippies, spending a weekend drugging and drinking and dressing up, but look deep, and it's easy to get sucked in ad get lost in the spinning dizzying whirl of colors and characters. The soundtrack is incredible, a buzzing raga like expanse of slowly mutating, endlessly drifting vocal shimmer, sounding a lot like AQ faves Grouper or Valet. Worth it even if you just wanted to turn your TV off and listen to the druggy dreamy sounds, but then you'd miss out on the retina melting visuals, as close as some of us will ever get to a bonafide acid trip for sure.
Gorgeously packaged, with TONS of extra goodies. Two alternate soundtracks, one from Sunburned Hand Of The Man, the other from Acid Mothers Temple SWR, a new short film by Ira Cohen created from never before scene 16mm outtakes, with a new soundtrack, a slideshow of mylar photographs with a soundtrack by Angus Maclise and director's commentary by Ira Cohen.
Also includes a big booklet, packed with tons of tripped out imagery including stills from the film and mylar photos by Ira Cohen. Also poetry by Maclise and Cohen, as well as liner notes and critical texts. So awesome. And we've just recieved the last ten copies we're gonna ever be able to get, so buy now or never...
What to say about the mighty Converge? Not sure I can top Allan's description from a few lists back:
"Pummelling, complex, and super heavy. There's dizzying changes and lots of textures, from razor-sharp guitar riffing to theremin squiggles to throat-shredding screams. Going beyond your usual technical metal/hardcore brutality, Converge utilize Shellac/Slint style post-rock style dynamics and non-screaming vocals as well."
Converge are probably one of, if not our favorite metalcore bands ever (along with Coalesce, Heaven Shall Burn, From Autumn To Ashes and a few select others) and have continued to progress musically, taking their Slayer meets NYHC to completely new and original places.
This DVD basically chronicles the hundreds of live performances from 1994 to the present. It's cool to see this stuff live, it's way more palpable and dangerous, and the virtuosity takes a back seat to the sweat and aggresion and fury and chaos and fun. Swirling pits and bouncing band members and flailing stage divers. Recorded at huge festivals, little clubs and tiny low-ceilinged basements. Super intimate and really cool. Two sided disc, with the first side being the feature, 20 or so songs, recorded live all over the world, some on film, some on video, all varying degrees of sound/picture quality, but all furious and awesome to watch. The bonus footage on side 2 is three entire live shows as well as a super arty music video.
A dvd and a cd packaged in super jewel case, this is the latest from our favorite Japanese genre-defying pop genius, Cornelius. The dvd features a video clip for every song off of Cornelius' last album, Point. This is cool for two reasons: 1) Point was an awesome album, and 2) if you've ever seen Cornelius live, you know that video art plays a big part in his show and it's great stuff. And when you're done with the visuals (including the bonus TV commercials), there's the whole 'nother extra audio cd featuring a dozen remixes of Point tracks done by fans!
Oakland hiphop crew The Coup -- longtime AQ faves whose 2001 Party Music album was one of the most fun and funky "political" rap records ever -- offer up a DVD of stuff from their archives. It contains seven of The Coup's music videos from over the years, along with an interview with crucial Coup members Boots Riley and Pam The Funkstress, and a fascinating documentary film co-directed by Boots, shot on tour in South Africa! Plus "hidden stuff".
This IS The Best Coup DVD Ever! It's the only Coup DVD too, of course...but though they're joking with the title it is a swell item for Coup fans or anyone who wants to learn more about their radical rap politics. (Note: the back cover seems to indicate that this material is spread over two dvds, but it's all on one.)
Hallelujah!!! All of you folks already well-versed in the much-more-than-comedy duo of Jim Coyle and Mal Sharpe, you know this is the one you've been waiting for! If you've not yet gotten your introductory dose of their genius antics, this is a perfect place to commence your schooling. For a brief spell in the early '60s -- waaay back before everyone and his mother became acclimatized to guerrilla 'man on the street' style pranks -- these two sharp dressed gents were wreaking havoc in and around SF, blindsiding pedestrians along Market Street. Their unflinchingly methodical mischief was an effortless razor sharp blend of social criticism, surrealism and utter hilarity. Often their verbal interrogation would take on somewhat sinister and/or downright subversive undertones. Indeed, theirs was a much more refined and thought provoking mind-boggle than the recent parade of heavy on the obnoxious, gross out factor peeps such as the Jerky Boys or Jackass crew. Sure much of Coyle and Sharpe's antics may seem tame by today's standards, but simply put, their perfect balance of lightning quick wit and stoic straight-facedness has seldom been matched, let alone bested.
Released on the Sharpeworld label run by Mal Sharpe's daughter Jennifer, this fantastic four disc set comes pretty much straight from the horse's mouth... well, at least one of the two horses' mouths. Sadly Jim Coyle passed away in 1993, but in the years since his passing his cohort Mal Sharpe and their legions of diehard fans (including one Henry Rollins) have kept the Coyle & Sharpe magic alive. Sharpe compiled the proceedings here which include a Best of '63 collection recorded off the radio on New Year's Eve '63, a reissue of Coyle & Sharpe On The Loose (originally released in 1995 on Rollins' 213 label), a third cd of recently unearthed raw recording odds'n'ends with their earliest known recording from '61 plus 'Coyle & Sharpe Get Arrested' (yes, really!), and finally a dvd of the pair's 1965 pilot TV show The Imposters (the socialite dinner party and employee evaluation segments are particular viewing treats). This is truly a case of that old truism "they don't make 'em like they used to"! These 2 Men Are Imposters is a genuine treasure trove. Highly recommended!!
Hot damn! Finally more readily available and on dvd no less, this video documenting one of the most unhinged rock spectacles ever -- the legendary free Cramps concert for the patients at the State Mental Hospital back in 1978 -- has been circulating in increasingly poor quality vhs copies for ages! If you've seen it, you'll know what a cause for 'celebration' this is. If you've yet to see it, Cramps fan or not, you're in for a helluva blisterin', jaw-droppin' time in front of your television. No, the quality's still not all that great, but that only adds to the wild grittiness of the viewing experience. Lux Interior and Poison Ivy are in top down'n'dirty form. During the course of the performance, the lines between patient and band are swiftly blurred and eventually obliterated. This is as punk as it gets!
We love Mr. Show. And we LOVE David Cross. And we loved his double cd on Sub Pop, And now we LOVE this DVD. I threw it on only expecting to watch a little chunk of it, but we ended up watching the whole thing and laughing hysterically the whole time. It's not a concert film, in fact there's very little stand up at all, it's more like a tour video, documenting the travelling, and the fans, and the freaks, and the drunks, and the club owners and Cross's unique response to all of them. Highlights include a segment where he hands the mic to a girl in the crowd mid set so he can go take a piss, and the part where he spends an entire set talking about the asshole club owner, who then tries to kick him out after the show, while Cross draws it out as long as humanly possible, tormenting the guy. So uncomfortable. But so brilliant. The whole thing is like that, so uncomfortable it's funny!
We already knew Chris Cunningham was scary. Or was at the very least capable of conjuring up some scary images. C'mon, had you EVER seen a video as absolutely frightening as Aphex Twin's "Come To Daddy"? We thought not. Well, it seems appropriate then that this new video finds Cunningham and Richard James together again, and rest assured that "Rubber Johhny" almost makes "Come To Daddy" seem like a Backstreet Boys video. This time instead of lots of demented children with James' face, James plays the deformed and wheelchair bound Rubber Johnny, who lurks in the darkness where he is kept alone and locked up, peeking from behind walls or hunched over in his wheelchair pushed into a dark corner. The whole thing is a rapid fire series of shots and quick cuts, shot entirely in night vision it seems like, and we only get brief glimpses of Johnny, but every one offers a little more and each glimpse is more horrifying than the last. Holy fuck! What is it with these guys? And how the hell do they do it? This is absolutely amazing. Someone has to get Cunningham to make a movie. We can hardly imagine how insane that would be. And also, if the "Rubber Johnny" video wasn't enough, the book it comes packaged in features image after image of some of the most disturbing and fucked up photoshop EVER. Lots of armpits and buttholes and foreheads and scrotums all chopped and seamlessly assembled into some of the freakiest sort-of-human- creatures you will ever see. Eeeuw.
You know you need this! All of Chris Cunningham's best videos, including the two he did for Aphex Twin, the completely demented and super un-sexy Windowlicker video, and the pants-shittingly terrifying video for "Come To Daddy". Also includes the gorgeous Bjork-as-sexy-robot video for "All Is Full Of Love", and videos for Autechre, Portishead, Madonna, Leftfield, and Squarepusher. Bonus footage includes a making of the Bjork "All Is Full Of Love" video, two video installations with music by Aphex Twin, commercials for Playstation, Nissan, and Levi's, a "bleeped" version of the "Windowlicker" video, and a huge book with photos, storyboards, drawings, record art and interviews.
Dance mixes of Current 93? Really? Yup, this is a dual disc CD/DVD combo with remixes of the Current 93 epic Black Ships Ate The Sky. JG Thirlwell (aka Foetus) offers up two industrial strength remixes, which are pretty much identical in terms of sound although one is a couple of minutes longer. The hammering drum machines and dense electronic overdrive recall the Al Jourgensen / Paul Barker productions of the Wax Trax! sound, with David Tibet ominously reciting the title of that aforementioned album. Matmos delivers a remix of that same track giving it a slippery funk that David Tibet's voice has never experienced before. The Matmos duo also rework Antony's contribution to that very same album. The DVD features two videos produced by Cam Archer.
48 page book.
10 animation DVD.
30 song soundtrack.
Some of the dissidents:
Melvins
Grant Hart
David Yow
Jon Spencer
We have been waiting with baited breath for this since we first heard rumor of its impending release. 2 cds of newly discovered and previously unreleased live recordings by enigmatic folk legend Karen Dalton! Recorded in 1962 by Joe Loop, a musician who owned and managed an influential night spot in Boulder, Colorado called "The Attic", these intimate recordings capture the raw talent of Dalton's smoky delivery and sparse 12-string guitar and banjo arrangements. While not as solid a set as her debut recording released 7 years later, these sessions offer us a feel of what it was like for traveling folk musicians during the heyday of the folk revival, who literally had to sing for their supper. Working out unique arrangements of tunes by Fred Neil ("Blues On The Ceiling" and "Red Are The Flowers"), Ray Charles ("It's Alright", "Blackjack") and traditional folk blues such as "In The Evening" and "Pallet On Your Floor", this is a shining example of an artist in her element, lost in the delicate emotive possibilities of performing songs so close to her heart. Includes a DVD of early film footage of Dalton performing, some of which was on the last import reissue of It's So Hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You The Best, but in a friendlier format than before. It also includes home movie footage from when she lived in Summerville Colorado most likely around the same time these sessions were recorded. So Beautiful!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Deluxe import reissue from French Label Megaphone of Karen Dalton's legendary first album and one of our favorite records ever. Considered the "Queen" of the Greenwich village folk scene of the sixties, Dalton was no protest singer but a highly nuanced interpreter of traditional folk songs as well songs by her contemporaries such as Dino Valenti and Fred Neil. Slow and sedate, her vocal delivery recalls Billie Holiday's, thick as smoke and tinged with hurt, while her sophisticated guitar and banjo playing hangs on every turn of phrase. Such deliberately paced performances however made playing with bands difficult. Often racked with stage fright, she performed rarely for audiences instead opting just to play at social gatherings with friends. It was at one of these gatherings that Nicholas Venet, who produced many of the best sixties folk records, recorded her with the promise that it was just for his personal collection. How lucky we are, he did not stay true to his word. It's amazing this magical recording was done in a single take. A devastatingly beautiful performance!! What's even better is that this reissue comes with a DVD of rare live footage including a performance of her singing "God Bless The Child".
Our only complaint is that her underrated second album (and only other recording), In My Own Time was not included, which would make the expense of this release even more worthy. Hopefully with the recent White Magic single which covers her version of "Katie Cruel" from In My Own Time, and the popularity of Devendra Banhart (whose signature warble was cribbed almost entirely from Dalton), we'll be seeing that reissue soon enough. Of course this is absolutely recommended!!!
This is definitely the week of former Galaxie 500ers, isn't it? Let's take a peek at where two of the three are at these days (for the other third, check out the Luna review this AQ list), shall we? We've not heard from them since their 2000 collaboration album
Geez, we knew these punks were popular but had no idea how popular. They get a whole DVD documentary? Well I guess they were on Ozzfest! This dvd is definitely for the fans, so little need here to explain who DC's Darkest Hour are to those who don't know (in a phrase: brutally rippin' Maidenesque metalcore). If you're a fan, you should enjoy all the tour stories, behind-the-music interviews, crazy live footage (from totally pro-shot concerts to archival home vids, including their first ever show in '95) found on this action-packed "thrashography". Aside from their trademark full-bore live action, you'll be entertained by the drunken, beefy Ozzfest fan who insists on having the entire band autograph his white t-shirt with black markers, which they do with a great deal of enthusiasm. Then there's the life-size cardboard cut-out of George Bush that haunts them throughout their 2001 tour... Yeah Darkest Hour seem like fun guys, so more power to 'em.
A beautiful document from last year's On Land festival, the Root Strata curated gathering of artists and sound artists and musicians. This particular set featured gorgeous home solarized super-8 film shot by John Davis throughout Northern California, while Davis and Maxwell Croy, one half of the duo that runs Root Strata, created their own complimentary soundtrack, a soft hazy dronescape of bowed strings, layered vibrations and hushed, barely-there melodies.
The images are really quite evocative, all washed out and softly distorted, like home movies, they have that sort of faded memory feeling, images of a lost time, and the solarizing process only further enhances that element, the slow shifting landscapes peppered with solar flares, deep red glows, the colors super saturated, flowers become miniature suns, fields of grass look like stained glass, or fields of green stars, all manner of foliage becomes more about texture and color, just softly swaying stretches of hazy burnt out shades of soft white, deep yellow, warm browns...
And the music perfect suits the images, tranquil and impressionistic, long tones underpin soft shards of melody, like a muted raga, the buzz blurred and smoothed out into gauzy streaks of sound, a koto gives the music a distinctly Eastern vibe, the tones like swells on a sonic sea, meditative and mesmerizing.
LIMITED TO 120 COPIES! Housed in a cool oversized hand silkscreened jacket, with a printed insert and a strange accordion like inner dvd-sleeve.
You know when you buy a present for your boyfriend (or girlfriend) and it's really so you can enjoy it yourself -- also fondly called Homer Simpson gifting? Well, I have to admit my own HSG guilt, the gift being this Miles Electric dvd. Honestly, I wasn't really sure what to expect. But man, am I glad I bought it for "our" enjoyment. It's an incredible look inside later period (electric) Miles Davis. With in-depth and well-edited interviews of his Isle Of Wight era musicians (Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea) as well as Carlos Santana, and others, this documentary explains how the Electric took shape in the eyes of Miles, in the studio (with Bitches Brew) and in juxtoposition to the acoustic jazz establishment from which Miles' electricity exploded to a seriously unprepared audience.
The unfolding dramatization culminates with the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival performance by Miles and his septet before 600,000 festival-goers in its 38 minute entirety. Some extra talking head style interviews give further explanation of Miles at that time. The film itself could be critiqued at length, though its interviews render such a full story, there should be no doubt of this documentary's importance.
Right off the bat, I'm not sure whether this video from Death Squad is more of a stupid spectacle like MTV's "Jackass," or an Industrial production worthy of comparisons to autopsy-film era SPK, or as a very sad piece of confrontationist art that purposefully seeks to terrify its audience. The simple fact that Death Squad -- the former moniker of San Francisco's Michael 9 --
The first portion of this video is a live documentation of a performance Death Squad gave at The Lab back in 1999 called "Intent." After starting off with a backing tape of� blasting screeches and power electronics / death industrial noise accompanied by two video projections of medical footage, war atrocities, and putrefaction, Michael switches on lamp revealing that he is at a desk, with a small box of razors, a syringe, a gun, and a box of bullets. The assumption is that the needle is for heroin, and Michael taps his arm and shoots up. As the backing noise increases in intensity with higher frequencies, he picks up the razors and begins slicing his forearms. Michael then proceeds to load the gun, knocks the desk over, and menacingly stalks through the space, screaming and pointing the loaded gun at members of the audience. At this point, the documentation of the performance gets rather vague, as you can't really see Michael acting out his agressions on the audience. Yet, there are plenty of people quickly leaving the space, and the video also contains several written confessionals from members of the audience decrying this performance. The second video is almost tame in comparison, situated much more within the aforementioned SPK agenda of exposing society's "cathedral of death" as public spectacle in which catharsis is actively pursued, but never actualized.
Michael 9 seems to truly believe that there are *no* absolutes in culture and society, thus there is no one that can wield a moral judgement, claiming that his performances are not art. If Linda Montano and Tehching Hsieh can qualify their shared life from 1983-1984 in which they were physically bound together by a rope, as art, then shouldn't Michael 9 be able expose his nightmares in a public venue? As art? I can't honestly say whether I approve or disapprove of this work, which left me quite uncomfortable and disturbed, even in witnessing it through the safety of a television. And I can't say if I would have shit my pants had I personally witnessed Death Squad's "Intent" performance at The Lab. But it's quite possible. Proceed with caution.
We consulted our calendar and it told us that this month we'd see a new Decemberists dvd, and what do you know, it spoke the truth! Despite the dvd's title which made us think it would be some sort of how-to manual, A Practical Handbook is packed with lots of fan pleasing goodies such as a documentary, a complete twelve song long concert at Roseland Theater in Portland, OR from November 2005, and five music videos for their songs "The Tain", "The Bachelor And The Bride", "16 Military Wives", "The Soldiering Life", and "Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect".
Whoa, who has the hippest teachers in the universe? North Haven Community School! This sure wasn't a part of normal elementary school curriculum back when we were all whipper snappers, was it? Last year out in Maine, the kids at this small kindergarten to grade 12 school presented a ballet set to the music of Deerhoof's Milk Man album! Music and drama teacher Courtney Naliboff came up with the idea and transcribed the music and conducted the orchestra, while art and P.E. teacher Ken Jones took care of the choreography (which involves a rolling bowling ball among other things). Yes, it's adorable. Yes, the music is perfect for this age group. And yes, please allow a loose definition of the term 'ballet'. Think: more freely interpretive body movements than en pointe, plies and pirouettes. What an amazing way to take inspiration from the endlessly creative sounds of one of our favorite bands. Delightful for kids of all ages! This dvd is professionally shot and edited (or looks like it), looks great, sounds great, and is definitely fun to watch. The folks in Deerhoof must have been waaay stoked when they first saw this!!
We love the Deftones. They always seem to get lumped in with all that jockish Warp Tour nu-metal, but sort of like with Tool, there's no good reason and it's so completely off the mark. So try to approach this band, and specifically this record, without all that baggage, and you will be blown away. The Deftones take churning slow burning metal pummel and stir in a healthy dose of Depeche Mode and Cure obsessed brooding moody gloom, and it's such a perfect mix. Check out their record White Pony and you'll know exactly what we mean. This one might be more for already fans, but folks into moody heaviness might really dig this. Especially as the majority of the cd is covers, and they're the sort of covers that will have your high school / outcast goth / smoking section / mixtape self all in a froth. Covers include: Cocteau Twins' "Wax And Wane", the Smiths' "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want", Duran Duran's "The Chauffeur", the Cure's "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep", Sade's "No Ordinary Love", Helmet's "Sinatra", Lynrd Skynrd's "Simple Man", Jawbox's "Savory" as well as a handful of re-recorded originals. So amazing! Also includes a DVD of all the videos as well as a bunch of live stuff and weird old rare footage. Packaged in a gorgeous hardcover book-style sleeve, with tons of liner notes and photos.
Oooooooh aren't you a saucy one?! Trashy garage rawk fans, we know you're happy to see this come 'round the bend. The always scantily clad Demolition Doll Rods will rev yer Detroit psychobilly engines with this live dvd of the trio letting themselves go in Madrid last year! Whoa nelly, the front cover tells it all! Check out that package. Ahem, the only thing missing from the photo is all the sweat the gang pumps out while they're stompin' shoutin' and workin' it on out!
Wow! Wow! Wow! What a treasure for any Dengue Fever fan!!! Sleepwalking Through The Mekong is a deliriously wonderful dvd+cd set featuring a fascinating documentary / travelogue film of their Cambodian tour (and homecoming for lead vocalist Chhom Nimol), lots of bonus footage, and an accompanying soundtrack compilation that's alternately dreamy and electrifying! Check out the full throttle rendition of familiar favorite "New Year's Eve"! Featuring performances by not only the stars of the show Dengue Fever, but also Cambodian master musicians Sinn Sisamouth, Ros Serey Southea, Khee Sokley, Meas Samoun, Kong Nai and Tep Mary. Need we say more? Absolutely breathtaking and essential!
Final glorious missive from Austrian militaristic folk / post industrial / dark ambient outift Der Blutharsch. Ex members of The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud and former collaborators with Death In June, DB carved out a truly unique and musically diverse niche in a genre rife with problematic politics and unoriginal ideas. The music of Der Blutharsch was and is a seemingly impossible mix, taking the apocalyptic folk of Death In June, the Teutonic metallic stomp of Rammstein, the clattery industrial caberet of Einsturzende Neubaten, the swampy fire and brimstone dirge of Sixteen Horsepower and the dramatic gothiness of Sisters Of Mercy or Bauhaus and crafting all of those disparate elements into something dark and delightfully dreary, creepy and sometimes truly harrowing. Their sound has gone from dark ambience to industrial clatter to dramatic doom, and have now arrived at a sound that is even more difficult to describe. We once wrote that the music of DB sounded like "Dead Can Dance with the vocalist from Rammstein, performing in the forest, covering the Comus record in its entirety, backed up by a military drum corps. Or some impossible mixt of Current 93, Magnetic Fields, World War 2, In The Nursery, Ennio Morricone, a gypsy caravan and every great black metal intro ever" and that still pretty much sums it up. BUT, somehow, for their last hurrah, they've managed to sound even more bizarre and unique and all over the map. The core sound is still dark and droning, but the rock element is much more noticeable this time around, with a seemingly omnipresent churning low slung bass weaving a dense framework of rumbling low end, supporting doom laden soundscapes constructed from moaning cellos and martial snares, wartime sound samples and military speeches, pounding rhythms and dramatic teutonic vocals, gypsy violin and distorted guitar. But even within this industrial doom rock framework, DB manage to inject all sorts of really unexpected twists and turns, one track sounds like some hellish take on a Morricone spaghetti western with little bits of blackened twang, and another even sounds like a lost track from some sixties girl group, albeit in this case, swathed in dark sonic swirls and all sorts of rhythmic interference. So amazing and strange and totally mesmerizing. It's sad to think this is the last we'll hear from Der Blutharsch.
Packaged in a gorgeous all black, letter pressed sleeve, with a little sprig of edelweiss in full color, black text on a black background. Quite striking.
Plenty of folks hated the movie House Of 1000 Corpses. We weren't among 'em. Sure it was a bit of a mess, a little confused, and borrowed HEAVILY from the classics (Last House On The Left, The Hills Have Eyes, and especially The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). But so what?!?! It was a GREAT looking movie. It was fun and gory and gross and pretty wild. One of the problems was putting it up against all the blockbusters, marketing it like a big movie, instead of letting it build momentum and exist as an art house flick, where it belonged. And part of that had to do with the celebrity status of first time director Rob Zombie, of the band White Zombie. The famous rock band, MTV, and all that, the studio probably smelled big bucks. But let's be honest, part of it had to do with the fact that it was not the greatest movie. But that said, imagine you were a total horror movie obsessive, seventies freak, wrestling fan and metal musician, and you were given $7 million dollars to make a horror movie. Doubt I could come up with anything nearly as cool and creepy and evocative as House Of 1000 Corpses. So yeah, we were predisposed to dig the sort-of-sequel The Devil's Rejects. But we had no idea just how much we'd love it. Fuck! This movie totally kicked our ass. Not only was it way more grim and violent and brutal than HO1000C, but the soundtrack was absolutely killer!! First a bit about the movie. Way darker and SO VIOLENT. So violent in fact it's a bit hard to believe they got away with just an R rating. A bit less over the top and outrageous than HO1000C, but definitely more confident, none of those debut feature mis-steps, and a much tighter story arc, and lots of cool cult movie legends (Pee Wee Herman's girlfriend Dottie as a hooker! The Hills Have Eyes' Michael Berryman as the pimp's sidekick / janitor! Sid Haig again as the creepy Captain Spaulding) as well as an amazing bit when the sheriff calls in a very fey Gene Shalit like movie expert to discuss the Marx Brothers films! So funny! The crazy part is how blurry the line is between good and evil. The titular Devil's Rejects are definitely evil and reprehensible, but they're also sort of cool. And bad ass. Albeit in a morally repugnant way. And when the tables are turned, you actually feel sort of bad for them, and hope they'll be able to turn the tables again. And the Sheriff who hunts them down, well he's maybe just as bad. Only difference is he has a badge. Anyway, the movie is bleak and brutal, dusty and sun baked, unlike most 'horror' movies, most of the action takes place under a hot summer sun, and the film stock, the look and feel is all very seventies. So evocative of our youth, which is part of why the soundtrack is so great. Unlike the first movie, where due to budgetary restraints, Zombie was forced to write and record much of the music himself, these tracks were obviously lovingly and carefully chosen, and in the context of the film they are so so perfect. You don't really expect to hear these songs as the musical accompaniment to such utter brutality. The opening credits, a series of stills set to the Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider", hits so hard, the lyrical refrain of "Not gonna let 'em catch me, no" and the weird moody vibe of the song, as well as the almost jaunty guitar solo, is so weirdly perfect as we watch the Rejects make their getaway. The rest of the soundtrack is packed full of seventies classics, that while being perfect in the film, also play so well as some fucked up seventies eight-track mix tape. Three Dog Night, Elvin Bishop (whose track gets discussed in the movie!), The James Gang, Joe Walsh, David Essex as well as some classic oldies from Otis Rush, Kitty Wells, Buck Owens and the mysterious (and totally kick ass) Banjo And Sullivan, a lower tier 'fictional' honky Tonk band who meet their untimely demise in the movie. The biggest surprise had to be the tracks from Terry Reid. So haunting and achingly beautiful. We knew that he was once the first choice to sing for Led Zeppelin, but the more country tracks here are fucking fantastic. So gut wrenchingly beautiful. The Reid track "Seed Of Memory" plays over the final credits and had us totally choked up. Wow. And you might wince at the inclusion of "Freebird", and you might skip it when you're listening to this disc, but in the context of the movie, and the time the stuff in the movie suppossedly took place, it's perfect! Anyway, it must mean something that with the hundreds of records we have to listen to every day, we keep throwing this one back on. And we're pretty sure we're gonna to go see The Devil's Rejects AGAIN this weekend!! Various soundbites from the film are interspersed between the tracks as well as a couple Banjo And Sullivan radio spots, and this is one of those dual discs, with a cd on one side and a DVD on the other. The DVD features a 30 minute making of The Devil's Rejects short, a bunch of trailers, and you can listen to a Dolby DVD-audio version of the soundtrack accompanied by a slide show of stills from the movies as well as behind the scenes photos.
This review only really needs to be about one sentence long. Maybe two. Let's see... BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR!!! Ahem, okay, how about, best horror / gore / exploitation movie in the last TWENTY YEARS! Needless to say, we LOVED this movie. We loved the soundtrack too, and the score! It was pretty much a gore-splatter-horror bullseye any way you sliced it. We were preparing to review this when we realized we sort of already did when we reviewed the soundtrack a while back. So here's what we had to say about the movie:
Plenty of folks hated the move House Of 1000 Corpses. We weren't among 'em. Sure it was a bit of a mess, a little confused, and borrowed HEAVILY from the classics (Last House On The Left, The Hills Have Eyes, and especially The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). But so what?!?! It was a GREAT looking movie. It was fun and gory and gross and pretty wild. One of the problems was putting it up against all the blockbusters, marketing it like a big movie, instead of letting it build momentum and exist as an art house flick, where it belonged. And part of that had to do with the celebrity status of first time director Rob Zombie, of the band White Zombie. The famous rock band, MTV, and all that, the studio probably smelled big bucks. But let's be honest, part of it had to do with the fact that it was not the greatest movie. But that said, imagine you were a total horror movie obsessive, seventies freak, wrestling fan and metal musician, and you were given $7 million dollars to make a horror movie. Doubt I could come up with anything nearly as cool and creepy and evocative as House Of 1000 Corpses. So yeah, we were predisposed to dig the sort-of-sequel The Devil's Rejects. But we had no idea just how much we'd love it. Fuck! This movie totally kicked our ass. Not only was it way more grim and violent and brutal than HO1000C, but the soundtrack was absolutely killer!! The whole movie is way darker and SO VIOLENT. So violent in fact it's a bit hard to believe they got away with just an R rating. A bit less over the top and outrageous than HO1000C, but definitely more confident, none of those debut feature mis-steps, and a much tighter story arc, and lots of cool cult movie legends (Pee Wee Herman's girlfriend Dottie as a hooker! The Hills Have Eyes' Michael Berryman as the pimp's sidekick / janitor! Sid Haig again as the creepy Captain Spaulding) as well as an amazing bit when the sheriff calls in a very fey Gene Shalit like movie expert to discuss the Marx Brothers films! So funny! The crazy part is how blurry the line is between good and evil. The titular Devil's Rejects are definitely evil and reprehensible, but they're also sort of cool. And bad ass. Albeit in a morally repugnant way. And when the tables are turned, you actually feel sort of bad for them, and hope they'll be able to turn the tables again. And the Sheriff who hunts them down, well he's maybe just as bad. Only difference is he has a badge. Anyway, the movie is bleak and brutal, dusty and sun baked, unlike most 'horror' movies, most of the action takes place under a hot summer sun, and the film stock, the look and feel is all very seventies. So evocative of our youth, which is part of what makes it so scary and creepy and fucking great.
And like we said, the soundtrack is so AMAZING. Check the review elsewhere on the AQ website. And the score too!
This double dvd set is the unrated director's cut so it's even more violent and disturbing, which is obviously a good thing. Includes commentaries from director Rob Zombie, and stars Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, and Sheri Moon Zombie, blooper reel, full versions of all the commercials and television shows seen in the film (The Morris Green Show, Mary The Monkey Girl commercial, Spaulding Christmas Special commerical, etc.), Otis FIrefly's "Cheerleader Missing" home video, a Buck Owens video (the one you see in the hotel room), deleted scenes, make-up tests, Matthew McGrory tribute (McGrory played Tiny in both House Of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects and passed away this year), trailers, TV spots, a 6.1 DTS ES digital audio mix and a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround mix. Phew. Disc two contains a two hour making of, featuring footage from the set, pre-production, behind the scenes, interviews, and all sorts of other goodies.
Whoo-hoo. Live Devo. Wait...live in 1996? Can these aged spuds still whip it like they used to back in the '70s and '80s? Well you gotta get this dvd to find out, though we can tell you we didn't not enjoy screening it, all the songs here are classics after all ("Girl U Want", "Mongoloid", "Uncontrollable Urge", "Jocko Homo" and a bunch more). Though it was a bit strange seeing 'em doing their thing in the daytime (in bright California sunshine even!) at an outdoor festival in front of a huge crowd. Most other Devo documents we've seen are more, shall we say, mediated by the band's unique, fucked aesthetic. Here they have less control over the presentation. Which reminds us, this dvd has the multiple camera angles feature. Also supposedly there's a band interview on here, but we couldn't locate it in the menu.
Spuds rejoice: it's live Devo, 1980! One of the best bands ever at the height of their powers, playing their "hit" songs to a stand-offish audience at the Phoenix theatre in Petaluma, California. However, spuds also bewarned: with an insanely abrasive edit of scrappy video footage, it's hard to watch this baby all the way through in one sitting -- even for us die-hard fans! Despite this, and the fact that you can tell the band takes awhile to warm up on stage, when they do, holy spudboy, watch them go! A high note is their cover of "[I Can't Get No] Satisfaction". This particular performance reaffirms that it may possibly be the most amazing cover of all time. Also great performances of "Pink Pussycat", "Girl U Want" and "Freedom of Choice"... Instrument note-worthy are Bob Mothersbaugh's cloud-shaped guitar and Gerald Casale's custom bass.
This is in the dualdisc format, meaning you get the video on the dvd side of the disc, as well as an audio-only version on the cd flipside. And, as a bonus, there's footage of Dove, The Band of Love (Devo's easy listening alter-ego that a lot of Devo fans didn't seem to "get", somehow) performing three songs live, also from 1980!
We've reviewed a bunch of fine DVD releases over these last few lists, but out of 'em all, my pick for the raddest has gotta be this Devo DVD. Of course, they're probably in my (Allan's) top five bands of all time list, so I'm somewhat biased already.
Lots of Devo fans may have seen much of this already on video tape or even laserdisc (there's several clips included here of the Devo boys explaining the virtues of the futuristic laserdisc format) but now you can see that stuff again, and more besides, on this DVD. You get the original Kent State post-graduate student film In The Beginning Was The End: The Truth About De-Evolution, that started it all and introduced the world to such characters as Booji Boy and General Boy and some mighty odd and awesome pop tuneage. Then there's pretty much all of Devo's pioneering, wigged-out music videos, from Come Back Jonee and Satisfaction through Whip It and Girl U Want to Through Being Cool, Love Without Anger, and Peek-A-Boo. And more. All amazing, fairly low-budget (rubber masks galore), and completely cracked. A couple of the songs from the tail end of their recording career aren't so hot but that's a small fraction of the mostly-genius-stuff on here. Then there's the special features, which include an historic b&w video clip from the first ever Devo gig (1972!), a bonus video (Bruce Connor's Mongoloid), an interview with Devo video collaborator/instigator Chuck Statler, still photo galleries of Devo memorabilia that are so extensive you have to watch 'em in slow motion, and -- perhaps best of all -- a bonus audio commentary track for the majority of the disc done by chief Devo spuds Gerald V. Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh! That alone makes this pretty much essential to all true Devo fans, even if you already have the original stuff on video cassette. Hours of de-evolved fascination and fun await, an incredible dose of Devo philosophy, history, music and visuals.
WTF?! Dinosaur Jr Live In The Middle East? Well, sort of... not in the geographical region, mind you! No, the Middle East in question here is a music venue in Boston, MA, and it is only one of the many locations at which the footage on this dvd was actually shot. It documents Dinosaur Jr's triumphant December 2005 reunion tour on which the original lineup dusted off all the old faves and tore into them with all the electricity, volume vim and vigor that we were hoping for. Lots of behind the scenes footage and bonus interviews with fellow veteran rockers Steve Albini, Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Kevin Shields, Mike Watt, Sonic Boom and uhhh, Matt Dillon.
Anyone who heard Discordance Axis's last full length, The Inalienable Dreamless, knows that they weren't your average grind band. They were heavy and complex and intelligent, with thoughtful lyrics and an amazing design sense. They just seemed to do everything better than their fellow grinders. Unlcear why they decided to call it quits but they did and left us wanting more. So the more they've given us is this live document of their last Japanese tour. And it's as challenging as their records. Edited in a way that parallels their ultra jagged and complex songs, with seizure-inducing jump cuts, freeze frames, distortion, pixelization and all sorts of other effects passing by in a flash. Exhausting and exhilarating. Also included is their 'proper' video which is edited in a similar fashion, except it utilises television style inconsistencies to make their video look like a mix between scrambled porn and a bootleg live video. Extras include a discography, photos, artwork, and even tablature!!
Issue 1.5 of the infamous Doomed Nation dvd magazine, we only got 5 copies of this, already our of print according to the guy who makes these, so once these are gone they're gone for good.
Just like volume 2 (reviewed elsewhere on the AQ site) this is jam packed with tons of doom and sludge and all sorts of downtuned brutality. Just look at the bands: Sleep, Saint Vitus, Indian, 16, Buried At Sea, Sourvein, Hidden Hand, Jumbo's Killcrane, Meatjack, Rwake, Fistula, Terminal Lovers and more. Videos interspersed with clips from eighties teen movies, Godzilla movies, horror movies, super lo-tech, but totally killer!
Limited to 666 copies, each one hand numbered, pretty sure we can't get more, so act fast. Comes in a white dvd case, with killer blood splattered artwork, and all sorts of flyers and stickers inside!
The Relapse Contamination fest just plowed through town, so for a couple days, our store was jam packed with bell bottoms, greasy long hair, bizarre facial hair, tattoos, piercings, beards beards beards and of course lots of bands hawking all kinds of crazy tour shit. On tour with the bans was the guy responsible for the legendary Doomed Nation video magazine. We managed to get about 20 copies of the almost out of print volume 2 (limited to 999 copies, and 999 upside down IS 666 after all...) and it is fucking awesome! Doom freaks will already be diving for the buy button. And you should too if you hope to get your grimey mitts on one of these. Here's the lineup: SUNNO))), Ufomammut, Buried At Sea, Indian, Ramesses, Church Of Misery, Weedeater, Lair Of The Minotaur, Venomous Concept, and more.
And these aren't just live clips. Well, some are, but most are real videos, filmed with weird effects, interspersed with all manner of fucked up imagery, and all the videos are sort of strung together with tons of super gory horror movie clips, the whole thing is pretty lo-fi and ghetto, but really well done. Definitely essential for all you doomlords and doomladies, just look at the band list fer chrissakes!!
LIMITED TO 999 COPIES, not sure we can get more, so act fast. Comes in a clear dvd case, with killer blood splattered artwork, and all sorts of flyers and stickers inside!
Like we mentioned in the review of volume two, it's easy to tell when it's time for another Doomed Nation dvd. Suddenly the store is filled to overflowing with band dudes, and everywhere you look there's nothing but denim and leather, spikes and studs, tattoos and piercings, and acres and acres of facial hair....
Which is precisely what happened today, and thus when the pot smoke cleared, we had a heaping handful of dvds, volume three of the always amazing Doomed Nation series, featuring tons of amazing videos and live clips from the best of the doom underground. Loads of AQ faves, and a handful of bands we had never heard, or at least heard very little from, as well as a short attention span barrage of movie clips and snippets of TV shows filling up the spaces between the doom, and in keeping with the theme of the artwork, an old woodcut of a mass hanging, most of the clips are indeed of hangings, some funny, some gruesome, from horror movies and period dramas, all sliced and diced and shot rapid fire and scattershot all around massive slabs of bulldozing doom.
Up first, an amazing live clip of AQ faves Baroness (lots of beards, mostly shirtless) in full on blown out post rock mode, these guys are so amazing. We can never get enough. And from there on out it's a relentless river of doom, and other assorted heaviness, some archival footage of a shirtless (and pantsless) GG Allin, Black Tusk, who we've never heard before but who are appropriately sludgy and heavy, Facedowninshit, live totally tearing shit up, a super pro Goatwhore video, very dangerous for the epileptic and light sensitive, Raise The Red Lantern who are super awesome, with killer lights and the most active and chaotic stage presence of the bunch, Saint Vitus live, reunited in 2003 with Wino (we also have a dvd of the whole show for sale! See elsewhere on the list), Swarm Of The Lotus with a super intense and gorgeously gorey and creepy video (at least the parts without the band) and a singer who keeps his glasses on, which we always love, some awesome live footage of Grief, killer lo-fi live footage of the mighty Buzz-Oven practice space jams from Black Cobra intercut with, you guessed it, tons of snake footage, as well as clips from Indian (a strangely brief, bordering on non-existent blip of a performance), Rwake, Hawg Jaw, Asschapel, Hope And Suicide, Stereochrist and Mala Suerte!
LIMITED TO 2007 COPIES, each one hand numbered, packaged with super striking blood splattered cover art...
