Showing posts with label Prog-rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prog-rock. Show all posts

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Top 13 (of the Week)


Sure,you know what's cool. But do you know what's really fuckin' FAR OUT? That's where Advanced Demonology comes in. Every week, (K)en and (S)wilson trudge through the murky waters of the pop culture hellscape, dredging up sparkly morsels of wonder. These are the result of our latest foray into the world of the weird, our wildest, wiggest-out picks of the week. Call it our 13 Point Program.

13. Cannibals of the Old West
Earlier this week, Mental Floss posted a hair-raising guide to people eatin' cowboys. As if the west wasn't wild enough, you had screwballs like Liver Eating Johnson (!) and Alfred “Colorado Cannibal” Packer to deal with. Most of 'em got hanged, but one ended up sheriff!  (K)

12. Tekeshi Terauchi & the Bunnys
Know for his wild frenetic Ventures inspired guitar playing, Tekeshi Terauchi takes a wild stab at the classics. Play this when you want to impress your friends with how cultured you are. (S)

11. Chico No Face – Big Time
New band of Canadian garage-sike slackers. Not only is this jam a perfect slice of post-Stooges snot-pop, but the video seamlessly merges the band into a wasteland of 80's VHS garbage. Groovy. (K)


10. Frumpy - Frumpy 2 (1976)
I don't got Frumpy 1 , I only got Frumpy 2. This a great example of good prog and an example of a bad name. Who the hell wants to hang with a band called Frumpy? no matter what the music sounds like. (S)


9. Vigilante Force
Saw this redneck revenge flick earlier this week, and it really shook me up. Jan Michael Vincent lives in a small town that is suddenly overrun by lawless rowdies when an oil rigs goes up. All the cops in town get shot up, so instead of hiring more trained police, the mayor asks Jan to ask his psycopathic big brother (Kris Kristofferson) and his gang of loony Nam vets to ride into town and establish law and order. There's no way that can go wrong, is there? Total mayhem ensues. I can't believe this was rated PG, it's wall-to-wall ultraviolence. Plus, 70's Victoria Principal! (K)



8. Akira Ishikawa & Count Buffaloes - Uganda (1972)
Now I just read someplace that this duo was a krautrock Japanese band?!?! That's blowng my trip a little. I don't know much about them except they are thinking  maybe about going back to Africa even though they have never been there before, and although yes,  there are technically grooves going on, Africans wouldn't make music as anti-groovy as this! Like if Blue Cheer broke into a high school musicology class, got a hold of some congas and dropped a tab of brown. This whole thing was clearly thought up and recorded in one blissed out Japanese afternoon (good band name there). (S)


7. Les Momies De Palerme
I'm not usually one for ambient music because I live in the city, so there's ambient music already happening everywhere I go. How much more can my fuckin' brain take? But Les Momies De Palerme (The Mummies of Palermo!), is an exception. Primarily because they're French chicks, but also because their basement synths and alleyway field recordings are unsettling and groovy in the best way possible. The soundtrack to a sleazy super 8 movie that never ends. (K)


6. Lowell Fulsom - Tramp (1967)
Lowell comes from a long line of lovers. He says so in the song.  If you put this much personality into a record today, nobody would believe you. Lowell is considered one of the cornerstones of West coast blues. Yeah, they even get the blues in California. (S)


5. Ike & Tina - River Deep Mountain High Promo
I've watched this clip like a million times. The syncopated dance moves, Ike smacking the fuck out of an acoustic guitar (what?), everybody's crazy-intense stares...there is violence and unbridled lust simmering just under the surface here, and it threatens to erupt through the entire performance. This is about as metal as you can get, really. (K)


4. Malcolm Cecil - Radiance (1981)
This guy has the dubious honor of building the worlds largest home-built synthesizer. He was also part of the amazing duo Tonto's Expanding Head Band. He made one solo Lp and it's a mellow synth-o-thon guaranteed to relax and cool even the most warm of warm jets. Flute fans will enjoy the cameo appearance of new age flute star Paul Horn (S)


3. Harlots of 42nd Street
Anybody who's into the New York Dolls (which is everybody, as far as I know), has heard of these dudes. They were the Dolls' fiercest competition, just as skinny and rockin' and obsessed with girls' groups and Motown. Of course, David J always professed that they were actually truck hauling thugs under the tight pants, not unlike those bruisers in Mud, but this painfully brief footage suggests otherwise. Mistakenly labeled the Dolls, this is the only known footage of the Harlots playing in Central Park in '73. It's only 32 seconds long, but it's awesome. The long-gone supervillains of first-wave glam! (K)


PS: here's their non-hit, Spray Paint Bandit.


2. My Solid Ground - My Solid Ground (1971)
Seth the Cyclopian drummer from Swilson tossed this one my way. We could argue semantics on wether this is progressive rock or krautrock but we would be blowing the trip, man. And What a trip it is. Nothing about this lets you off the psychedelic hook. Like taking mescaline and looking in the mirror, sometimes horrifying sometimes beautiful, all depending on your state of mind. (S)

1. Fathom
Here's the problem: there's so much music out there, how the fuck can you find stuff you like when you have to wade through hundreds and hundreds of bands and thousands of songs? We're not gonna live forever, after all. Blogs are good, but you gotta sit there and fucking read them. Ain't nobody got time for that. Well, here's a good solution. This handy site works simply but effectively. You search on a band you like (for clarity's sake, let's go with Hellhammer). It finds the band, starts playing one of their albums, and all around it, similar albums pop up: Possessed, VenomMidnight, Darkthrone, etc. Now click on Darkthrone, it'll hip you to Mayhem, Marduk, Bathory and Immortal. Immortal gets you Dark Funeral, 1349, Tsjuder, Demonaz, and Taake. Who? Exactly. See what I'm saying? Check it out, it's goodtimes. (K)

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Top 13 (of the Week)


Sure,you know what's cool. But do you know what's really fuckin' FAR OUT? That's where Advanced Demonology takes over. Every week, (K)en and (S)wilson trudge through the murky waters of the pop culture hellscape, dredging up sparkly morsels of wonder. These are the result of our latest foray into the world of the weird, our wildest, wiggest-out picks of the week. Call it our 13 Point Program.


13.Scorpions - In Trance
I dig the Scorpions but I  haven't gone over them with my Advanced Demonological fine toothed comb. I had recently been enjoying the early stuff because I realized that they are basically a Krautrock band and I love Krautrock. I also was familiar with some of the early 80's "Metal" records, who isn't, but I missed this mid period when they became "Hard Rock". I had Virgin Killer, I bought it like every good creep does just to shock people, but the record to get from this period is In Trance.  Wow! Pure proto-NWOBHM way better than Deep Purple, kinda like Sad Wings Of Destiny Judas Priest. It vacillates between total depression and complete unbridled lust. That's why it's a hit with the teenagers.  Old news to some new news to me. (S)




12. Kenneth Higney – Attic Demonstration
Just picked up this crucial reissue from One Kind Favor Records and it's full-on amazing. Ken Higney is a spaced-out crooner from Nowheresville,  and Attic Demonstration is his cry for help. Recorded in 1975, but something tells me it could have been recorded in '81 or '97, and it would still sound exactly the same, like the Shaggs had a big brother who was locked in the closet for a long time and now he's out and he's got a guitar. Run for your life! (K)




11. Them - Now and Them
Who's interested in Them after Van Morrison? The Answer: Nobody. Which is a shame because yes, the magic of the Irish pub blue eyed soul is completely gone, but in it's wake the post-Van Them churned out TWO mammoth acid rock monsters that belong high up in the british psychedelic cannon with  my friend jack, my white bicycle, and matilda mother.  The first being "Walking in the Queens Garden" a brain hemorrhaging LSD stomper, the second, an almost, and I mean almost, kraut-rock (before there was such a thing) grooving "Square Room".  On a weird side note the  the post-Van Morrison Them,after recording a Swedish Only Lp(?) produce by Kim Fowley (look for a review on a future Top 13),  relocated to Amarillo Texas!! I guess at the time it was better than Northern Ireland?(S)





10. Demon Lover Diary
Speaking of 1975, this grungy, lo-fi documentary follows a group of regional filmmakers as they attempt to make a low-budget backwoods horror flick called Demon Lover. Everything goes wrong and things turn ugly. It ends in a hail of shotgun fire. This is woozy, fuzzy, doomy, and groovy. It's also way more entertaining than the actual movie they were making. (K)



Demon Lover Diary (1980) from Film Ape on Vimeo.


9. Spring - Sping (1971)
Mellow mellotron music from the UK in the early 70's. The first half of this sole output by the unknown "prog" act is pure bliss. Side two doesn't reach the dazzling heights of the A side but is still worth a spin. Track it down on any number of obscure-oh blogs on the inter-web. (S)



8. Anicent Wisdom – Deathlike
Speaking of Demon Lover Diary, those guys were super into Ted Nugent. But if I was going to remake the film – and I totally fuckin' would – Ancient Wisdom would provide the soundtrack. This is a whole new sorta black metal – semi-acoustic, grungy, pretty in spots, but still Satanic and grim as fuck. And it's about as 1975 as you can possibly get. (K)




7. Love - Black Beauty
Recored as a "solo" album for Buffalo records in 1973, it only made it acetate and stayed that way until now. High Moon records did a fantastic job of releasing this lost Love, soon to be classic. Arthur Lee and his gang of psychedelic brothers turn it on in a heavy drugged out funk mode, a little Hendrix, a little Sly, but all undeniably Arthur.  Boss!!! (S)





6. When Albums Ruled The World
Also speaking of 1975, remember when everybody consumed music via vinyl records? Double-albums, gatefolds, fold-out posters, picture discs, hiss, pops, crackles? Fuck man, good times. If you haven't already switched back to vinyl, this sweet, star-studded BBC doc will probably send you straight to the used record store. (K)




5. Imperial State Electric - Pop War
It's Nicke Andersson from the Hellacopters new band. And guess what? It rocks hard! Basically a sequel to Rock & Roll Is Dead. Consume with can beer only, no fancy bottles. (S)




4. The Slayer Mag Diaries
Back when I was a teenager, I wrote for a metal fanzine called Suck City. One of the other dudes who wrote for it was my old buddy Ian Christe, who, among many other notable things, now runs Bazillion Points Press. One of their latest releases is the Slayer Mag Diaries, which basically compiles 20 years of Norwegian extreme metalzine Slayer in a mammoth 800 page collection. Last weekend I had to go to LA to interview Alice in Chains for Classic Rock magazine, so I picked it up and read it on the plane. While the text is pretty basic (English isn't the Slayer mag dude's first language, after all), the interviews and splotchy photos and screwy logos and first-account reporting of the Norwegian black metal scene are all fascinating, and it inspired me to listen to a lot of really rippin' jams that I haven't heard for almost 30 years. Turns out Sodom and Destruction and Iron Angel are still awesome! Read this book! (K)




3. Rockabye Baby
So my daughter was born last weekend. She rules! She digs Sabbath and Kiss already and she doesn't even know it. Thanks to the Rockabye Baby rock 'n roll lullaby series.  I actually recommend these album to you non parents if you just want to put on some really soothing dinner music, or maybe if you've been up all night getting loaded and you need something to help you come down easy. Lot's of cool bands in the series. Collect 'em all! (S)




2. Lullaby – Satan My Master
Probably the weirdest band in the Slayer Diaries, and that's saying something. Lullaby is a pretty, flame-haired Brazilian chick who fronted a mysterious lo-fi doom/occult rock band in the early 90's. Big deal, you say, there's dozens of female-fronted doom-rock bands around these days. True, but you have never heard anything like this in your life. Her vocals are COMPLETELY INSANE. Listen to this and pretend she's hiding in your closet. Holy fuck. (K)



1. Hydra Vein - Rather Death Than False Faith
Ken turned me onto these guys just yesterday! Woah!! Really outstanding late 80's thrash,  with super weird guitar "solos". Things like Denim battle jackets, junior mustaches, and suicidal rage come to mind. I got to get me a Hydra Vein back patch because I'd rather be dead than have false faith, maaaaan….wait let me think about that one. (S)

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Top 13 (of the Week)


Sure,you know what's cool. But do you know what's really fuckin' FAR OUT? That's where Advanced Demonology comes in. Every week, (K)en and (S)wilson trudge through the murky waters of the pop culture hellscape, dredging up sparkly morsels of wonder. These are the result of our latest foray into the world of the weird, our wildest, wiggest-out picks of the week. Call it our 13 Point Program.

13. Edie Sedgwick – a Documentary Film
More like a mini-doc, part of a Warhol show on PBS, but I've been trying to figure out Edie since Ian Astbury started howling about her in the 80's. This concise clip helps to explain her spooky allure. Now I get it! (K)


12. Tombstoned
So somehow it took till 2012 (the year the world was supposed to end) for a doom rock band to name themselves Tombstoned.  Had to happen, right? The results are pleasing, like a Norse viking Beach Boys cursing to Valhalla, with blood on their faces and severed heads in the trunk. (S)


11. Disco Spatial Quebec 1976- 1984
The excellent blog Psyquebelique posted an amazing self-curated compilation this week of French Canadian space disco from the mid 70's to the mid 80's. Space Disco is thought to mostly be the work if Italians, but as this comp proves, Canada pumped out more than its share of the stuff. In fact, according to the blog, Montreal was the second biggest disco production hotspot in the world, after NYC. Who knew? Anyway, strap on your jet pack and get down to these far out sounds! (K)


10. 10CC
 I'm digging deeper into these avant 70's pop-o-dytes. Pretty goddamn groovy if you ask me. Thanks to Seth the cyclopian drummer from the west coast Swilson band for hipping me to this awesome tune and getting me to listen to all the records of theirs I've been stockpiling, and baby I'm amazed. (S)


9. Cleveland's Screaming
I love documentaries about obscure music scenes. This one covers Cleveland's hardcore punk scene from 1981 to 1983. Featured bands include non-household names like Starvation Army, Urban Mutants, and Zero Defects. Who? Excactly. Awesome stuff with lots of heart amidst all the screaming and smashing of things. (K)


8. Last Summer
You owe yourself a nice bummer in the summer in the middle of winter. Don't ya? Last Summer is it.  Sporting itself as a coming of age film staring the now obscure Catharine Burns, who scored an academy award nomination, Bruce Davison, Barbara Hershey, and Richard "John Boy" Thomas, but ends in a way that a precious few of us has ever "came of age" by becoming out right criminals. This is a really well made movie unlike almost anything else I've ever seen and will give you the creeps. The soundtrack is really cool, with members of the Modern Folk Quartet and The Band. (S)



7. 42nd Street Grindhouse Footage
I've never seen no-budget 70's softcore roughie The Rogue, and I'm not sure it's necessary to see it. But this short comp of scenes is notable for the killer shots of the long-gone grindhouses on 42nd Street.  Sure, the streets are safer now, but seriously, don't use miss the grime? (K)


6. Love - Reel to Real
It's 1975 and Arthur Lee was pretty much a solo act at this point, running almost exclusively on the fumes of his late 60's legendary genius status. Having blown almost every post Forever Changes opportunity due to drug use and erratic behavior, he's given his last and best shot at the big leagues by RSO, who front Arthur 100 grand to make this awesome record. It's funky, it's soul, it's freaky as hell, and has almost nothing to do with Forever Changes. It's really a lost soul classic. Pun intended. Lee would get a tour opening for Eric Clapton and Lou Reed but he would blow that with bad behavior and flippant remarks about RSO head Robert Stigwood. Some people are their own worse enemies I guess, but give this one a chance it's really good. PS: I never heard this song before I wrote White Witch Black Witch. (S)


5. Roky Erickson and the Black Angels – Night of the Vampire
Holy fuck! Professionally shot full-show of Roky doing his thing in '08! Yeah! (K)


4. BBJr - How to Fuck All Your Co-workers in One Sitting
Captcha Records is on the forefront of beautiful weirdness. Here is a good one if your in the market for a noisy free for all, that has the hallmarks of  the 2010's overground: free jazz, digital hiss, lo-fidelity, minimalist blues, free folk and punk rock presentation. The kid is from the mid west, I don't know what he's got angst his co workers and it's too soon to tell if he's fucked them, but he may have made an enduring record in the process. (S)



3. Edgar Froese – Sobornost
Tangerine Dreamer in his backyard, wailing on his scary synths for a German TV show. How can you be so nerdy and so cool at that same time? (K)


2. Buffalo Tooth
Are they a combination of the Australian rape rock of Buffalo and the bummer blues of Spooky Tooth? Maybe?  Hailing a from the  fuzz pedal flats of San Francisco,this pure stone groove. Reminds of something but what is it? Oh wait I remember now….drugs. (S)



1. Circuit Rider
Completely fucked-up, blown-out biker psych nightmare from Connecticut circa 1980. There's a certain group of folks who think this album is proof that Jim Morrison faked his own death. What it really proves is that Connecticut was full of dangerous acid-heads in 1980. (K)

Friday, August 3, 2012

Top 13 (of the Week)





Sure,you know what's cool. But do you know what's really fuckin' FAR OUT? That's where Advanced Demonology comes in. Every week, (K)en and (S)wilson trudge through the murky waters of the pop culture hellscape, dredging up sparkly morsels of wonder. These are the result of our latest foray into the world of the weird, our wildest, wiggest-out picks of the week. Call it our 13 Point Program.

13. Stoned Jesus
How many times have you almost gotten off the couch (of woe) and formed a band called Stoned Jesus? Me too, man. Well, these lude snorting behemoths from the Ukraine have gone and fuckin' done it, and the results sound exactly how you'd expect: like a snowblind Sabbath lost in the woods, getting their frostbitten toes chewed off by mangy wolves. They have a new(virtual) record out, Seven Thunders Roar. You should get (download)  it. As we sometimes say here in Boston, wicked sick. (K)




12. Effects Database
Monster website dedicated to the wild wonderful world of guitar effects pedals. Outsider rock and roll would be nothing without these cool looking devices that basically fuck up your guitar sound, creatively of course. There are thousands of different pedals out there and the boutique pedal making market has really exploded in the new millennium. Navigating your way to the right choice of pedal for your stoner rock meets cuddle core death metal band can be daunting. This is your road map. (S)


11. Bonnie and Clyde 2012
So, Serge Gainsbourg has a hairy kid named Lulu (!). His music is bascially the same as his dad's: breezy, smoky, and sinsiter. And, also like his dad, he likes to collaborate with sexy blonde actresses. So it should come as no surprise that he would cover dad's classic “Bonnie and Clyde”, and that he would cast Scarlett Johannson in the Brigitte Bardot role. Tres cool, daddy-o. (K)


10. Camel - Mirage
Camel is becoming my go-to prog-rock band when I'm looking to feel really stupid by listening to smart music. Does that make any sense? Anyway… this record is amazing. It's as good as any Pink Floyd record of the day. Check out the last two minutes of "Nimrodel-The Procession-The White Rider" Awesome!  And for all you guys born in the 80's I included an 8-bit version that some psychopath did.(S)




9. Enceladus almost certainly has life on it
Forget Titan. Astronomers now think that Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, is the most likely place in the solar system to find some form of alien life. It's only 310 miles around and encased in ice, but there's water, water everywhere (even shooting out of the surface), and the water's got organic compounds in it. I'd say it's time to stop with all the fuckin' wars already and build a rocket to Enceladus pronto! (K)


8. Sylvain Sylvain (1979)
The New York Dolls are the like the Beatles for scumbags. All the members of this band are super cool in their own right. Sylvain Sylvain is basically the George Harrison of the bunch. Johnny and Johansen have always eclipsed Syl and although I've seen him live a few times and he rules, I never really got one of his records. It doesn't have the same swagger to the production (or lack thereof) as, say, L.A.M.F,  but the tunes are boss. Teenage News will have you and you girl/boyfriend dancing around the portable turntable. (S)


7. The earliest known recorded music...in existence.
It's an Edison tube recorded in 1888.  It's an excerpt from Handel's “Israel in Egypt” sung by a chorus of 400(!) and recorded (for whatever crazy reason) from the distance of 100 yards. I know, you want it to sound like something David Lynch would come up with. Well, it does.


PS: Some folks will tell you that this is not the earliest music in existance, that there's a paper recording from 1860 of someone singing vocal scales. While this is technically true, it's not actually music. And it sounds like some kind of terrifying ghost. (K)



6. Black Sabbath Live In Asbury Park New Jersey 1975
I've been a Sabbath fan since I was twelve. I wake up every morning and I wish that they made 20 records between 1969 and 1975 instead of five. But they didn't. I have even learned to like Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die.  This is the closest thing you'll get to a lost Sabbath record. It's a bootleg that sounds like it was pro recorded. The band is in top freak form and the concert took place about 4 miles from the town I grew up in New Jersey, but I was too young to go…..bummer. If you know anything about Jersey you can imagine the sea of feathered haired, doper, dirt farmers, that made up the audience. A tear comes to my eye.(S)


5. Bear Hunting in Siberia
This is a photo of a bear hunting unform used by maniacs in Siberia in the 1800's. Put all of that stuff together in your head: 1800's/Siberia/fucked up leather suit covered head to toe in spikes/bear hunting. How did anybody ever survive back then? Also, now that everyone knows this exists, how long until kids start showing up at Slayer shows dressed like this? (K)


4. Gems Off The Cutting Room Floor
I've been on the hunt for homemade super 8 films of kids in the 60's and 70's smoking pot.  It's an image that I find relaxing. Like some people like to watch sports, I like to watch people get high, I guess. So I'll be posting my findings on the Top 13 from time to time. This week's installment comes from Long Island, believed to be filmed around 1969 or 1970. (S)


3. Lui Magazine
Basically, Lui was the French Playboy. I'm sure you understand the implications of that. I don't understand it, but I LIKE IT. (K)


2. Drugs Are Like That
This really is the weirdest Anti-drug film ever made. It's like to Kill A Mocking Bird meets a Hasbro commercial made by NYU film school hippies on acid. I really don't know what to say about it. It's slightly abstract? What the fuck? I guess drugs are like that.(S)


1. A dingo eating a shark.
Just when you think Australia has run out of what-the-fucks, this happens. (K)