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. I can read the goddamn NME again! You know, back in the 80’s, one of the highlights of my high-school week was stopping by ye olde newsstand and picking up the latest issues of NME, Melody Maker (RIP) , and Sounds (RIP), the UK’s weekly music papers. Back then, whatever was happening in music happened there first, and it was pretty thrilling to read about future–legends like Zodiac Mindwarp, Jesus and Mary Chain, Manic Street Preachers, Oasis etc. when they were still grubby local bands. Said olde newsstand gave up on the rock weeklies decades ago, and I think the last time I had my hands on an NME (now glossy, used to be newsprint) was 2002-ish. But Stacey just bought us the new Ipad, and turns out, you can get digital subscriptions to the NME on the Ipad for $20.00 a year. Sweet. Now I can join the hype wagon again, get super into a band for 6 months, and then abandon and slag them as soon as they start getting popular! Just like in the good old days. Except now probably Lush won’t be in the cover every week, getting into antics.  They probably have health insurance and sensible shoes by now. (K)


12. Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974) - This is a killer chase film!!! The cast oozes charisma, Susan George (sexy as all hell!), Peter Fonda (cool as all hell!), Adam Roarke (intense as all hell!) and Vic Morrow (foreshadowing his death by helicopter as hell??).  Non-stop action! Complete with a post-Easy Rider 70's ending (spoiler alert). (S)

11. Dennis Fridulin Canadian loner-rock practitioner who released a gentle—yet-unsettling album of downer-folk, Lay By Me, in 1978. Don’t know what happened to him after that, but the fact that he’s virtually non-existent on the internet suggests something terrible happened. Probably bears or Satanists got him. If you ever get the chance, check out his album. It’s like falling asleep on your weird uncle’s couch while he’s out on a tear somewhere. Comfortable and cozy now, sure to cause you distress later. (K)

10. Night Birds - None of the great hardcore punk of the last 20 years have actually played hardcore itself. Mostly they play some other form of music with a hardcore intent, to a suburban hardcore audience. This is not a Jab by the way, just an observation. Night Birds are no different, basically they fuse balls to the wall punk intensity, with a Molotov cocktail of surf rock and good, old fashioned, fraternity woolly-bully type headbangs, at 90 mph.  It's really "freekin"  fun!  P.S. they are from the Jersey shore, same as Swilson! (S)

9. Speaking of Swilson, I think he should play here. Slab City is in the Colorado desert. Basically it’s a lawless city of squatters and RV dead-enders, full of freaks, outcasts, and desperate desperadoes of all shapes and stripes. It’s like a pre-post apocalyptic wonderland! If Helter Skelter (or the Road Warrior, or the Walking Dead) ever goes down for real, the residents of Slab City will be fully prepared to reap the whirlwind. If you’re looking to get really, really lost, you know where to go. (K)

8. Amebix - I love crust punk. Everything about it. I just never had the balls to drop out and live  in a squat, beg for change , spend it on dope, than blame society.  It takes a certain kind of abusive parent or a strangely twisted sense of entitlement to fully embrace the life style. You can , on the other hand, enjoy the bands form a distance, which are all great! Amebix is considered by many to be a seminal crust punk band. It's Motorhead meets Crass. Fuckin awesome man! (S)

7. Inez Foxx was a semi-successful R&B singer in the mid-60’s, but she really hit her stride with her one and only album, 1973’s Inez Foxx at Memphis (Stax/Volt), an album full of hard, greasy funk and groovy soul-sister wailing. What a bad-ass. Where’d she go? What’s she doing now? Who knows, but where/whatever it is, I’m assuming it’s fonky. (K)

6. Jim Carroll – The Basketball Diaries.  Poetry is officially dead and Jim Carroll might be world's  last great poet. If you've only seen the film version of the Basketball Diaries do yourself a favor and read the book. It's fucking hilarious. Something the film is not! Here's  the thing, drugs are fantastic for kids to do. Dope totally fits in with the search for identity and the meaning of life. Only problem is some drugs are horribly addictive. Your lust for life and the search for man's ultimate meaning becomes a search for 20 bucks, so you can buy yourself a daily ticket away from the worst flu-like symptoms you could ever imagine.  Basketball Diaries doesn't balk from this comedic irony. (S)

5. Ritual America: Secret Brotherhoods and Their Influence on American Society: A Visual Guide. New book from Feral House (and co-authored by Feral’s head honcho Adam Parfrey) that blows the lid on the hiding-in-plain sight secret societies that lurk in every American city and town. What’s with the Shriners and those fezzes? What the hell is an Ecumenical Pancake Breakfast? All questions are answered, and with ample photographic evidence. Just be aware that if you read this, you won’t just be on to them – they’ll be on to you, too. (K)

4. Pacifico - A beer named as such because the brewery is on the Pacific ocean in the port city of Mazatlan, Mexico. It's a great way to power through the "spring ahead" time change. Add a little lime. (S)

3. Megaton Leviathan – I don’t even know how to describe these dudes. Sure it’s heavy and lumbering and doomy, but it’s also pretty tranquil and meditative and hook-y. Is this the birth of Easy Doom? (K)

2. Into the Deep: America, Whaling & The Word - Like or not the Whaling industry shaped america. It certainly shaped New England (Ken's home turf, and the home land of most of my ancestors). This PBS documentary delves head first into the subject with the riveting tale of the Essex, the doomed Nantucket whaling ship that served as the inspiration for Moby dick, as the central character. I also learned what a "Nantucket Sleigh ride" was, besides a record by Mountain. (S)

Watch Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World on PBS. See more from American Experience.

1. Teenage exorcists! Clearly, their dad ruined ‘em but good, but forget the tragic/goofy aspects of this loony tale and just dig the aesthetics of it: three hot teenage sisters who, for a nominal fee, will drop by your place and exorcise any “demons” currently infesting your rotten soul. Swilson, we gotta get these chicks on the show! (K)