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. Marthas & Arthurs - The Hit World of...
Gorgeous debut album from these Brit sunshine popsters who sound like the Mamas and the Papas frolicking in the park with ABBA. And not even doing drugs or anything, just flying kites and whatnots. This could be the soundtrack to your summer, but only if your heart is pure. If it's not, then probably the Drive soundtrack. (K)



12. Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution
A CBS news special aired in 1967 hosted by Leonard Bernstein. It was an attempt to try and give some "credibility" to what the kids were listening to. There are lots of back handed compliments from Lenny like he likes 5% of the music the kids make, but  95% is trash and he would never defend it.  It's really pretty amazing when you see it now, because more than anything else, it's a reminder that there really was a generation gap back then. Not now. Not today,  Mom and Dad like the pills and metal, just like YOU. (S)

11. Don Juan (1973)
So, who wants to see Brigitte Bardot and Jake Birkin cuddle naked and smoke cigarettes together? Awesome and available on Netflix PS: there's a lot of nudity in the European section of Youtube. (K)



10. WEED: Adventures Of a Dope Smuggler By Jerry Kamstra (1974)
Cool book about dope smuggling back went dope meant grass not smack and mexico wasn't a country about to be overthrown by head hunting cocaine barons.  It's really a travelog more then anything from  a person who risked it all to provide the holy sacrament of the love generation. Great photos of Mexico. (S)

9. Chesty Morgan on Blu-ray
Doris Wishman's Chesty Morgan flicks from the mid 70's, Deadly Weapons and Double Agent 73,  are two of the most hilarious, depressing spectacles you'll ever see. You've got Doris's trademark wonky direction and random camera angles (look, it's a shoe! Now it's a painting on the wall!), a depressed, aging, disheveled "star" with gross, sagging, seriously over-ripe melons, terrible dubbing (Doris didn't like Chesty's thick Polish accent) and some of the most godawful "fashions" you've ever seen. What's not to love? And now Something Weird has graciously unleashed both of these fleshy fandangos (as well as a third non-Chesty Wishman flick, The Immoral Three) on a budget blu-ray! Hooray! I dunno if these have been remastered at all, but Chesty's chesties in hi-def is about the scariest thing I can think of. (K)

8. Fern Kinney - Baby Let Me Kiss You (1979)
Hot! This smokes!!!! (S)

7. The goblins of Kentucky
Back in the 50's, there were reports of goblins invading a Kentucky farmhouse. The case was never solved, although (spoiler alert) anybody with a lick of sense assumes it was an owl. Well, goblins are running amuck in rural Kentucky once again, and this time, the guy who's being invaded has photographic evidence (sort of, but clearly not really). Regardless of what's really happening (probably owls again), the saga-so-far is lots of fun to read about. (K)

6. The Manx: Storms Thrashing Our Vessel
Imagine the apocalypse has come and gone and the U.S.A. has been broken apart into tribes. The average life expectancy is 23 and teenagers are pretty much running the show. Music is at the center of these neo-savages lives and it's ethno-musical linage is based on a distant memory of early 21st century heavy metal (Girndcore, Death Metal, Black Metal etc.). There is no electricity and all they have is acoustic instruments.  There is no more volume or distortion so to approximate it , the whole tribe belts out the songs of horror and hell in unison. If that scenario were true The Manx would be it. Storms Thrashing Our Vessel is like a field recording from the Mad Max future…. or maybe Waterworld. (S)



5. Cannibal tunes comp!
The great film-music blog Manchester Morgue has put together a groovy-gruesome comp with a man-eating theme. Anthropophagic Cookbook has both music from cannibal flicks (Cannibal Holocaust, Ravenous, Parents) and songs about cannibals (Toto Coelo's I Eat Cannibals, Slices of You by Electric Six, etc). Fun, ghoulish stuff. Download for free, and bon appetit! (K)

4. Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
Directed by the great Kenji Mizoguchi (Ugetsu) it's set in feudal Japan and follows a brother a sister's horrific journey through slavery and prostitution at the hands of the sadistic lord Sansho. Like all of Mizoguchi's films beauty and horror, hope and hopelessness race side by side unrelenting.  I'm not certain there is a story more painful than this portrayed on film. You'll pretty much feel better about your life afterwords. (S)

3. Starcrash lobby cards
The always-fun Space70 blog posted a generous sampling of Starcrash promo materials earlier this week, and they're a (laser)blast! Directed by Luigi "Contamination" Cozzi and released by Roger Corman, this bargain-basement space opera was bashed out in record time and splattered into theaters in just enough time to bask in the box-office afterglow of Star Wars. It stars the ridiculously hot scream-queen Caroline Munro, hippie preacher Marjoe Gortner, lots of dimestore robots and rubber monsters, and sexy space girls. Roger Corman re-released it recently as part of his cult-classics series, so be sure to check it out, it's goodtimes. In the meantime, gawk at these amazing lobby cards and stills. Not bad for a cash-grabbing rip-off! (K)

2. Lalo Schifrin : Dirty Harry Soundtrack (1971)
On Advanced Demonology we constantly remind you of how creepy the 70's were. I just re-watched Dirty Harry and holy smokes (!)  is it a creep fiesta. Dirty Harry himself is a creep (like a stoic Archie Bunker with a gun). The killer is a creep. The victims are creepy, and San Francisco seems like it's bubbling over with a racially charged psychedelic fear of civilization slipping away from beneath the sidewalk. But what I was most struck with this time seeing it was the soundtrack. It surges, swims,  grooves and jet propels us through this cinematic nightmare.  It's like the hippies, the brothers, vegas lounge act squares and Mantovani all showed up for a death of the 60's cocktail party hosted by Hunter S. Thompson. (S)

1. Late 70's Penthouse
I just bought an (almost) complete 1979 run of Penthouse Magazine and I've been poring through 'em all week. Penthouse tried their best to be "classier" than Playboy but the gross "forum" letters sprinkled through the mag sunk that battleship. Still, like Playboy, it's a great barometer for gauging what culture was all about in '79 - sex, stereos, disco, and murder. At least one (and usually a couple, sometimes all four) are plastered all over every page. And I gotta give 'em this much: their taste in naked women was impeccable. Great Donna Summer interview in the July issue, as well. (K)