Advanced Demonology 53: Blest Mess

This week, Ken and Swilson talk to Miss Chris from Jersey punks Blest Mess!

Plus: sweet jams galore!
Listen/download HERE!

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. Creeping Ivies
Scottish boy-girl riot squad. I think they're like a Bonnie and Clyde type situation. They kinda sound like 80's destructo-billies Deja Voodoo, only with a megaphone and a flamethrower. I just got the record, it blew out my windows and set fire to the rug. In a good way. (K)


12. Black Metal: Beyond the Darkness
Kinda an all around Black Metal reader. Pretty good for the most part, a few pretentious articles. Lots of great photos. It's a must have for the Demonology library. (S)

11. The Art of Harvey Kurtzman
Fun (if way too short!) mini-doc about the man who brought us the original Mad magazine. I remember reading reprints of the 50's version in the 70's – they gave 'em away with 'super specials', I think – and they blew me away. Amazing art and seriously subversive humor, especially for the 1950's. Later on he invented (or at least perfected) the boner comic with Little Annie Fannie. What a guy! (K)


10. Dead Native - Keep It Strange
Kinda Bluesy, kinda trippy, lot's of rhythm changes and weirdness.  I think the singer if he doesn't already own a pair, should get himself some leather pants. I mean that as a compliment. Unless it's just a bunch of fat guys in corduroy, I can't tell this video clip is kinda dark. (S)


9. Shoraiders
Basically if Bon Scott quit AC/DC around 1976 and they decided to replace him with a hot Finnish (?) chick, you'd have Shoraiders. “Just Try To Keep My Cool” is my new anthem! (K)

 
8. Erica
Loner, depressing bedroom synth pop from Brazil that will have you taking the entire bottle.The record sounds like it was written on the coldest cloudy day she could find in such a tropical place.  "Digging My Weeds" and "Don't Let Me In" are high-lights, or should I say low lights?  It's available on a groovy handmade cassette.  (S)


7. Adjust Your Tracking
New trailer for the (hopefully) soon-to-be-released doc about weirdos who collect VHS tapes. Like me, really. I am telling you right now that I have several large boxes of rare/cult VHS tapes in my basement. I don't know what to do with them. I'm not gonna fucking watch them, I just wanna pull them out every few years and look at them and think about the days when renting videos was your primary delivery service for movies. Goodtimes. The guys in this movie are way more hardcore than I am. I'm pretty sure they'd all kill you for a copy of Tales from the Qaudead Zone. (K)

 
6. Japanese Vapor Wave??
Vapor Wave, or better yet, Vapor Boogie is  some kind of Japanese take on chill wave. I think it's from Japan. I don't know but it's mysterious and I really like it.  It basically sounds like 80's funk pop played by lobotomized robots. (S)


5. Murderess
Holy fuck, an (almost, they've got a boy drummer) all-girl blackened crust band? Far out. The goddamn bass player has a four-row studded belt, an Electric Wizard t-shirt, and a leopard skin guitar strap. They did not make chicks (or bands) like this in the ol' dayz, man. (K)

 
4. Bronx Gangs Of The 70's on Google Maps
Want to know where The Javelins, Black Spades, Savage Nomads and War Pigs hung out in the 70's? Check on this awesome google map. It charts all the turf of all the top street gangs of the glorious South Bronx seventies. Warriors come out and play!! If your brave you can do a walking tour, or should I say running tour. (S)

3. Can The Documentary
If you like Krautrock (you like Krautrock), you gotta watch Can the Documentary. It's a documentary about Can, mothefucker. Let's do this. (K)


2. Lord Of The Logs: Designing the Metal Underground
yep you guessed it, a book dedicated to the history of Black Metal logos designed by Christophe Szpajdel. Need I say more? (S)

1. Yes Mistress
If Swilson was 25 right now and listened to punk rock instead of Hawkwind, this would be his band. Junk punks wreaking havoc with two chords and five dollar sunglasses. They have a new single out, “Gonna Get Arrested”, it's boss. Buy it. Better yet, steal it. That'll go with the theme. (K)

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. Barb Wire Dolls
If you base the quality of a punk rock band on how hot the girl lead singer is (and I do), then Barb Wire Dolls is the best new punk band in the goddamn world. I mean, holy smokes is this chick photogenic.  Their debut album, Slit, is out now. It's fun, poppy, snot-rock. The vinyl version is due out on  Jan 15th. Crazily enough, there's a doc in the works about 'em because they're the first punk band from Greece to make it (sorta) in the US.  Anyway, cool tunes, foxy chick, punk rock. It's can't-miss situation. (K)

12. The Visitors (1972)
You can tell right from the get-go this one is going to be a long slow bummer, 1972 Style. James Woods plays an ex-Vietnam vet who lives on a farm with his girlfriend, new born baby and an aging alcoholic father-in-law.  When they get an unexpected visit from a couple of his old army buddies who have an axe to grind about some shit that went down in 'Nam. Steve Railsback, who played Charlie in Helter Skelter, is as deranged as can be. (S)

11. Blood on Satan's Claw
I've been waiting decades to see this early 70's Satanic-shocker from Tigon, and it was worth the wait. Super creepy flick about kids in an 18th century British village pledging their allegiance to Satan, who stomps around like a mutant goat. I think Black Metal got it's whole schtick from this fucked-up movie.  Also, Linda Hayden is the most evil-looking 18 year old I've ever seen in my life. (K)

10. The Devil Loves Anal Sex
If anyone should know anything about the Devil and anal sex it's going to be gay porn star right? Joseph Sciambra was "saved" from gay porn and homosexuality by Jesus Christ. If you find this video compelling check out the rest of the story! (S)

9. Unknown Mortal Orchestra
UMO is a pop-psychedelic band from New Zealand and/or Portland (there probably isn't that much of a difference). Their second album, the cleverly titled “II” is out next month, and it's awesome, like the Polyphonic Spree on a hot dog budget jamming with Marc Bolan in a basement somewhere. Bonus: the cover has a naked Satanic chick with a sword on it. Double-bonus: pre-order the vinyl from the band, and get an art-print of said naked devil-childe to adorn your wall. (K)

8. Thy Courage Quail -Goblin's Gate
Really nice downer folk, good tunes, great banjo. Songs about being lost in the wilderness of life. "Old Fat Fox" is a highlight. (S)



7. Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings
Rack toys weren't good toys, they were the bullshit plastic junk they sold at the drugstore. They were also one of the greatest things about being a kid. Since they cost next to nothing, you could almost always convince your parents to get you a rubber Dracula or a Banana Splits kazoo. This far-out book collects hundreds of photos of these long-gone childhood trinkets. It's eye-popping and hilarious. I mean, really, a Police Woman Crime Lab Play Set? (K)

6. Puffy Areolas - 1982: Dishonorable Discharge
Brilliant! These serious down home rust belt belt freak out punks/pukes named themselves after something truly delectable, that doesn't get enough media attention, if yah ask me. My guess is that 1982 is the year these scumbags ( I mean that as a  term of endearment) were born?  Bongs explode and beer cans melt. (S)

5. Carny (1980)
I'm not sure why The Band's Robbie Robertson made and starred in a movie about carny hustlers, but he did, and it's great. Gary Busey is an evil clown, Jodie Foster is a teenage runaway, there's freaks and strippers and homicidal rednecks and hustles and hassles. Bitchin'. Really well made and cool flick. (K)

4. Black Science - An Echo Through the Eyes Of Forever
Like if Roky Erickson fronted the Cult or Guns "N Roses? Or maybe if the Replacements took acid as much as they drank? It's like cock freak out rock? it rules! it's really out of fashion to do this kind of thing right now whatever this thing is. This is some of the most out there shit in the out land I've ever outed. Do yourself a favor and spend the time on the lyrics they are fuckin' worth it: "Sitting out on your house, Watching hardcore U.F.O's , Drawing pictures playing solos till ten, are you amplified to rock?" If you order the "Chaos Magick Edition" of the CD the band promises to personally enchant the disc with a rare chaos magic ritual and they are not joking. The disc will arrive haunted! (S)


3. Krautrock: the Rebirth of Germany
Everybody loves Krautrock, ie weirdo German bands from the 70's who mixed rock with jazz, prog, punk and whatever else and made gonzoid experimental head-melter albums. But how did it happen, and who's to blame? This killer doc from the BBC tells the whole kooky story. (K)

2. Death Drug (1978)
This is a tough film to track down and an even tougher one to watch, but  it's worth it.  Philip Michael Tomas stars in an ant-PCP film. Only be careful, you might actually need to smoke PCP to numb the pain. (S)

1. Jessica Pratt
We didn't bother to do any end-of-the-year Top Ten lists because, honestly, there was so much amazing stuff this year that paring it down just seemed impossible to me. Clearly, we are in a rock n' roll Renaissance of some kind. But anyways, that being said, I do have a favorite album of 2012, and it's this one, the self-titled debut by Jessica Pratt. A singer-songwriter from SF, Pratt's plaintive folk songs are deadringers for long-gone hippie death goddesses like Judee Sill or Vashti Bunyan. Her album is haunting, eerie, melancholic, and amazing. I listen to it everyday. I believe I am bewitched! (K)

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. Sacred Alien 
I've been on an NWOBHM tear lately. The best NWOBHM is the most obscure NWOBHM. I don't know why, that's just the way it is. I used to see ads for Sacred Alien gigs in Kerrang! back in the early 80's. Sacred Alien? Sacred Alien?!  I think they used to wear make-up, like KISS. I didn't figure I'd ever actually hear them. You didn't get to hear everything in the world back then. Now you do. And what do you know? Sacred Alien are...well, a mess, but a fun one. Far as I know, they only ever released this single. (K)

12. Wicked Lady - The Axeman Cometh
The combination of Whiskey and LSD can only be the explanation for the stone grooves that emanate. Culled from demos and what not's from 1968 to 1972. British? I didn't bother to check but I'm taking a wild guess. It's Like a back woods black mass for lorry-drivers. (S)

11. Blank City
Swilson and I both wanted to be brooding NYC underground filmmaker Nick Zedd when we grew up. But who did Nick Zedd want to be? This excellent documentary traces the history of the "transgressive" super 8 film movement in NY to it's post-Waters 70's roots. It's filled with lots of vintage footage of Steve Buscemi and Vince Gallo and Debbie Harry acting in bullshit death hipster home movies in their early daze and interviews with all the heavy hitters. Really makes me want to make a Super 8 movie! (K)

10. Workin' Man Noise Unit
Speaking of lorry-drivers, run don't walk over to band camp and fork over your two pounds for these two releases. The most recent, Serious Power Hour and the almost just as recent, Drinkin' Stella to Make Music To Drink Stella to.  It's blasting no holds bar weirdo rock. A friday night of doom, gloom, noise, fun, sun,  dope, tits, ass, beer, hash, glam, guns, fucking in the streets and than back to work on monday morning. (S)



9. Huntress
I am sorry for this week's Top 13 being so metallic, but I've been writing a lot for Metal Hammer lately, so what the fuck, it rubs off. Anyway, heavy metal is at its best when it's at its most ridiculous, and Huntress is awesomely ridiculous. Thrashy power metal fronted by a woman in a barely-there superhero outfit? YES PLEASE. (K)

8. Neil Young & Crazy Horse Live At The Hollywood Bowl
Ok so it's not all obscurity here on Advanced Demonology. I love Neil Young and I wanted to go see him play with Crazy Horse and I wanted to go to the famous Hollywood Bowl. Neil was great. For a guy his age he's still got it in the voice and his guitar playing is amazingly psychedelic and searing. The band was full of energy and would blow away most bands half their age. The set was dominated by the newer stuff off of his upcoming Psychedelic Pill record. It's not all that inspiring and he's starting to rip himself off, maybe. So the songwriting is slipping a little. As for the Hollywood Bowl, nice place but made for classical music not rock and roll. It's too constraining with the orchestra seat set up, and it's tough to boogie down. Not that this audience wanted to boogie down, or get up on the good foot, or even bop till you drop. They seemed kinda pissed to be there? I don't go to many "arena" shows and this is going to be the last one for a long time. Nothing makes you feel more insignificant and part of the heard. Maybe that's good for the baby boomers but not for us Loner Rockers. (S)

7. French Accordion Music
The other day I picked up an album called Bal Musette by Andre Beauvois, His Accordion, and His Orchestra. It's got a couple dancing in a cafe on the cover. The guy's wearing a beret. The record cost me one dollar. I thought to myself, there is no way this record actually sounds like it does in my head. Then I brought it home, and it turns out it sounds EXACTLY like that. And now it is my favorite record of all time, and French Accordion Cafe Easy Listening (whatever you call it) is now, officially, where it's at. Break out the croissants and fromage,  c'est une bonne soirée! (K)

6. Dave Tarras - Yiddish-American Klezmer Music 1925-1956
This music speaks for itself and if you need an entry point into the ecstatic world of Klezmer than start with Dave Tarras. (S)

5. The Satanic Screen: An Illustrated Guide to the Devil in Cinema
This week's Advanced Demonology book club selection is Nikolas Schreck's exhaustive and authoritative guide to diabolical cinema. Packed with groovy photos, this unholy tome pretty much features every significant appearance of the devil in film up until it was published in 2001. Like many of Creation's books, it gets fairly academic in places, but what the fuck, where else are you going to find a whole chapter on Satanic silent movies from 1913-1929? Awesome stuff. As far as I know, it's out of print, but copies can be had on Amazon for about $25 and there's PDF's around. (K)

4. Halloweencollector.com
Mark B. Ledenbach is a serious Halloween collector. He runs a blog dedicated to help people find strange and exciting Halloween decorations from the past. His focus is mainly on the 1920's when Halloween wasn't a children's holiday it was for adults. So the decor form that time is particularly scary.  With it's dazzling gallery of pictures and it's informed histories I highly recommend browsing around this site even if you don't plan on buying anything. Scary eye popping stuff (S)

3. The 924 Gilman Street Project
Hardcore punk was the last non-commercial musical movement. Most of it was just a buzzy headache, but some of it was amazing (Misfits, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, DRI, DKs, GBH, Verbal Abuse, Discharge, Minor Threat, etc etc), and more importantly, it gave a whole lot of misfits and freaks something to believe in. the Maximum Rock n' Roll affiliated all-ages punk club Gilman Street is one of the longest-running, all-volunteer punk venues in operation, and if the spirit of hardcore punk is still alive, you can find it in there. This low-watt, high-energy doc is available from Jello Biafra's label. It's fun and informative and a lot easier than actually going to the club and getting kicked in the head by a 14 year old. (K)

924 Gilman St. Trailer New!

Scarred Films | Myspace Video

2. Timmy's Organism
My hip next door neighbor hipped me to this beautiful strangeness. Timmy Vulgar fronted some other weird rock bands and apparently is a well known artist. I don't know anything about that but Rise Of The Green Gorilla rules. (S)

1. Salem's Pot - Sweeden
This is a great way to spend the next 35 minutes. Just lay down on the floor and crank this until your mind snaps. (K)

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. Robots in Disguise
Sometimes it takes me awhile to catch up to things. Robots in Disguise is a British two-girl electro shocktroop, and their music is great. Snotty, punky, weird, danceable. Apparently they were on The Mighty Boosh a few times. That show gives me a headache. So does this band, really, but I like 'em. (K)

12. Hashpapi
presumably, This band was too stoned to even spell the name of the single correctly. This is the kind of righteous freak-out  you'd expect from a group called Hashpapi. It's mixed in such a way that I thought there was something wrong with the stereo. This band might be from Chile, but they sound like some slime that has bubbled up from the early 70's London Underground. I highly doubt there is more to come from these guys so enjoy the moment. (S)



11. Supertzar - Funeral Blues EP 
Been getting into lots of lumbering doom-rock this week. Dunno why. Probably the summer's fucking me up. Anyway, these Helsinki mopes do an outstanding job on this gritty, grimy, riff-tyrant of an EP.  Download it for free on Bandcamp and then spend the rest of the month in the basement staring at cracks in the wall. (K)



10. Boyjazz - Unlimited Nights & Weekends (2012)
Big riffs, Halford level vocals, swagger, good song writing, the only thing missing from this equation is a proper audience, a parking lot full of maniacs getting fucked up living for the party. Supposedly these guys have been around for a while and they toured with so and so and they used to be involved with who's it's what's it, but I can't tell what is real and what is fake anymore. All I know is that this fuckin' record rocks! (S)



9. From Beyond - One Year
Houston's space-doom freaks create a fairly breathtaking ode to The Singularity, AKA THE DAY THE MACHINES GAIN CONSCIOUSNESS (ETA 2035). Some folks think this event will usher in a brave new world with limitless possibilities. Others, like From Beyond, assume we'll immediately be enslaved by our robot overlords. Guess we'll just have to wait and find out which way it goes. For now, spend the next nine minutes rocking out to this thunderous track and prepare for the worst. (K)

8. Wigwam - Tombstone Valentine (1970)
A lost gem from Finland, produced by the king at the controls Kim Fowley. Great weirdo songwriting worthy of the tape loop in the trip out room. Lot's of guitars that sound like they are being sizzled in a frying pan or being played by many elves at once, not certain which.  Equally strange is a track by experimentalist Erkki Kurenniemi, "The Dance of the Anthropoids", dropped onto the record by Fowley for no explicable reason. (S)

7. Venera 13
The Curiosity rover is zipping around on the surface of Mars as we speak, which is good news, because let's face it, some of us are gonna end up living there. But did you know that in 1982 – not a particularly tech-savvy year – the Russians landed a probe, with the awesomely stoner-rocking name of  Venera 13, on Venus? Venus has an unbelievably harsh environment – temps hover at 900 f, and the sky is filled with acid – so anything that lands there will be destroyed within an hour. The Venera 3 lasted 57 minutes and was able to relay a few pics back to Earth before Venus claimed it. For a planet named after the goddess of love, Venus is mean as hell. (K)

6. Dark Carnival on youtube
In the 90's the bane of my existence (among a million other things) was always missing Dark Carnival live. I spent most of that confusing decade in the blue collar slums of Philadelphia where this band pretty much embodied what you thought cool was. Snotty obnoxious vocals belted out by an art damaged sexpot death goddess named Niagara (Destroy All Monsters) against a back drop of blistering Detroit rock 'n roll, by ex-members of the Stooges and sometimes the Dead Boys. Well, thanks to Interweb Inc.  you and  I can peek through a key hole back into time. By the way, youtube is Ron Asheton heaven. He's one of my musical heroes and I got to see him play once, thank god. But's it's just not enough, goddamit. Doesn't he look fuckin' sharp in this clip? And as for Niagara, she is pretty much what every girl around me at the time wished she could be. I don't know what's up with the other chick in the video. Do you?(S)

5. Mitch Hedberg mini-doc
Who didn't love Mitch Hedberg? He had Monster Magnet jokes! Mitch clocked out early a few years back due to a bad ticker, but the laffs live on. Scott Moran, who's working on a series of comedian mini-docs, posted this great video snapshot of Mitch, via his comedian wife Lynn Shawcroft, earlier this week. Good stuff. I miss him, he died. (K)

4. Easy Action - Friends Of Rock 'n Roll (2005)
I've been busy as hell this week having to do a bunch of stuff around the Mind Warp Pavilion to get ready for my trip back to the fatherland (New Jersey). I haven't had much time to explore new shit and I've mostly had the itunes on shuffle. Easy Action came on and I thought maybe you AD fans might not be hip to these guys. Jim Brannon,  who fronted  one of the only truly great hardcore bands (Negative Approach) and the magnificent Laughing Hyenas leads this band of Detroit vets (there is allot of Detroit around the Mind warp) in a group that I assume is named after the fantastic Alice Cooper record. Jim's voice is hard to take for a the duration  because it's so fuckin' intense, that's a good thing, but just hard to take for a whole record, i'm getting old, but he's older than me and able to bring it as heavy and real as this. Fuck!!!! (S)

3. It's the Collinson Sisters' birthday!
Greatest evil twin team in history. First twins in Playboy. From Malta, which...who knew that was a real place? Everything about them is awesome. I think they both married princes. They're probably on horses as we speak. Watch their finest hour, Twins of Evil, as soon as possible. It's amazing. (K)

2. The Street Sliders
In honor me NOT being able to go to Japan this week and instead going to the New York/New Jersey area, here is a bunch of Japs doing Tri-State junkie rock in the 80's and passing it off as pop. Kanpai! (S)

1. Last Shop Standing
New doc about indie record shops in the UK. I used to dream about going to London specifically to buy  records at Shades, the record store that used to advertise in Kerrang! Back then, there were hundreds of record stores in the UK. Now there's only a handful, but they're keeping the dream alive. If you dig vinyl (and you do, I know you do), you'll wanna check this out! (K)