Thursday, September 28, 2006

Matalo!



Cesare Canevari's psychedelic western - up there in terms of surrealism and agit prop with Giulio Questi's Oro Maldito - is a one of a kind spaghetti western from the tail end of the film cycle. The only western you'll ever see with dueling boomerangs and solarized trip sequences. It's really quite a spectacular film.

The soundtrack is even more impressive. Crippled Dick Hot Wax! released the title theme (in the clip above around a minute and 23 seconds in) on a 7" in the late 90s. It's culled from the tailer (above) and the sound quality is horrible. I've got a clean copy of the track and will post it in the coming days. (The Score Baby Blog has the Crippled release of the song for download. Look at the links.)

Accion Mutante



Will someone please just release this state side already?!?! I'm sick to death of watching my VHS dupe from 1998. And that Canadian DVD release was just wretched. If you're not familiar with Accion Mutante (Mutant Action) it was Alex de la Igelsia's (Almodovar's protege and director of the acclaimed Perfect Crime and the upcoming adaptation of The Oxford Murders) first real success. A zany sci-fi sarcasm bomb directed towards late 90s excess. A team of "mutants" (hunchback, Siamese twins, giant, dwarf) attack a society obsessed with body image, weight loss and health. Hilarious and beautifully shot.

It's Gonna Be Rockin'

Dusty Star



Just so good. The ink work is gorgeous and the story snaps.

Lost and Lost Again

Best dreams: Records that don't exist. Tapes actually.

Had these dreams high school through college. I'd wander into a record store and find an album that didn't exist here. I'd buy it and the when I woke up I'd search my collection for it knowing the whole while it was a dream but praying it wasn't. (There were several record stores I haunted in those "dreaming lives": the NYC one under the train station near NYU, the mall one that seemed to have an endless supply of those cheap tapes with the slice cut out of the side, the one in the hollowed out tree.)

Over the years I "purchased" the following non-existent albums:

Arcadia "Shadow of a Tiger" - Duran Duran side project E.P.
The Cure "Rain Days" - an album prior to "Japansese Whispers" and similar in terms of keyboard use.
The Cure "Falling" - B-sides and unreleased tracks from the "Disintegration" sessions.
Depeche Mode "Everyone Remembers Me" - post-Violator but pre-"Songs..."
Depeche Mode "Love is All"
New Order "Family"
New Order "Cause and Effect"
Oingo Boingo "Outer Sounds"
Revenge (New Order bassist Peter Hook's side project) "Steel Rat"
Severed Heads "Big Saints" - more "Rotund..."-ish tracks.
Severed Heads "Exploding Bigots"
Thrashing Doves "Stains" - great follow up to their brilliant debut as opposed to that other one.
Top "Version 2" - They had one album "Emotion Lotion" and I dug it in H.S.
Xymox "Windows to the Soul" - "Twist of Shadows" follow up, not that dancey thing.
Xymox "Listening"

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Sci Fi Sigor Ros Meets Ghostly Hermaphrodite

Heartbeats


Pass This On


Like A Pen


I know I've been going overboard on the YouTube vids but I just need to put up these The Knife's clips. Who are The Knife? "...precise, particular, dark, occult, funny-peculiar, funny-ha-ha. This Swedish brother-and-sister duo work mostly on their own in splendid isolation; they release music on their own label, licensing it to selected partners around the world, so they have to answer to no one. They have only ever played live once because they’re still wrestling with the old conundrum of how to present ‘computer music’ in an interesting way on the stage. Within the steely electronic pop of their last album Deep Cuts lurked songs about women’s rights and the duty of good citizens to pay their taxes. For their last set of pictures they dressed as gymnasts. " -- from The Knife.net

Psychic Soviet


The history of the world foretold in just 300 pages by Ian Svenonius (Nation of Ulysses, the Make Up, Weird War, Cupid Car Club). Vampires, Beatles vs. Stones, Seinfeld. Get your acacred on.

Silicon Teens


The late great Frank Tovey (Fad Gadget) and friends in Daniel Miller's (Mute records) on-off fake electro pop band.

Logan's Run with guitars


I just have a thing for Logan's Run fashion - never fully recovered after seeing it when I was eight. My other thing is for wacked out guitars that are supposed to look more machine than instrument. This one looks like an entire lab bench was soldered on. When the Apocalypse comes, as indeed it shall, the stormtroopers of the End Times will look like Real Life in this video.

Darkel


JB Dunckel's solo album's out and it's just as brilliant as you'd expect half of AIR to sound. The first single's a folksy, 60's psych pop breezer - it's dawn in the bull rushes with a joint and headrush. There are the minimal synth tinkerings - Dunckel worships at the alter of Kraftwork of DAF - and he sings a fair deal as well with a voice that's reedy and light. Spacey and dubby, it's perfect for tea.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Prototypes



No it really doesn't get any better than Prototypes' "Gentleman."

Saturday, September 02, 2006

The Sounds of Italian Cinematic Groove (MP3 Series) - Part I: Gianni Ferrio



"Step by Step" by Gianni Ferrio
Download here

Gianni Ferrio's been scoring Italian films since the mid-60s. His style is diverse, ranging from funk to westerns, and like many composers during Italy's cinema "heyday" during the '60s and '70s he was adaptable. His body of cinema work (he also recorded with a number of vocalists including Mina, James Taylor and Ellis Regina) runs the gamut from spag westerns (Ringo e Gringo contro tutti (1969) and Lo chiamavano requiescat Fasthand (1972)) to gialli, sleazy exploiters (Frau Wirtin bläst auch gern Trompete (1970)) and Italian cop flicks like 1974's Poliziotta, La (The Policewoman) from which this track is taken. It's a funky instrumental -- whispered vocals, chunky bass and tons of slinky keys -- and a perfect introduction to the sounds of Italian cinematic groove.

7" RCA (b-side of "Almost Love")

Friday, September 01, 2006

Black Dog

Seeing the "Black Dog" is often considered a portent. Mostly it's a bad omen. Truckers swear that if you see a black dog running alongside your rig it's a sign that a) you need sleep or b) something bad is about to go down. Two friends of mine have seen the black dog -- both are alive and well. Here are the encounters:

K. M. - Black dog seen staring into bedroom window at parent's house while a teen. Circa 1991.

T.M. - Black dog seen running along side truck around two in the morning while on way to Vegas. Circa 1998.