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. Abandoned Suitcases of Insane Asylum Patients
Well, the title says it all, really. The Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane in Willard, NY, served and housed mentally ill patients from the 1910's until the end of the 60's, when it became the less sinister sounding Willard State Hospital. While clearing out some rooms in 1955, employees found a stash of suitcases brought there by patients and kept under lock and key for many decades. For some patients, the suitcase and its contents were their last connections to the outside world. In 2011, photographer Jon Crispin began a project: to photograph the suitcases and their contents. Fascinating, eerie, sad, and compelling. (K)

12. Viper Cobra
Glowing yellow and green raptors, sex dazed stoned blondes, the virgin mary, cool skulls, a flying rabbit shooting lasers out of his eyes at a moose! I'm describing the cover to Dinosaur Nation. The music itself reminds me of the Replacements on a date with Monster Magnet. I didn't think that would ever happen. Viper Cobra are from Rotterdam, so that might explain it.  (S)

11. Cerrone's Paradise
There once was a man named Cerrone. He was a weird, pint-sized Frenchman with a terrible mustache and a fondness for tinfoil tracksuits. Cerrone had a dream: to be the (French) King of Disco, and to have a harem of beautiful (French) Disco Chicks. If Cerrone had attempted such folly today, he'd be laughed at, humiliated, dismissed. But he did not attempt it today, he attempted it in 1977, and all of his dreams came true! (K)

10. Mother Dust - Volume 2
Outrageous bloody guitar freak-outs from modern day Krautrockers. I'm not sure about where Volume One resides, but you can score Volume 2 over at bandcamp. No other info avails.  (S)

9. Still-working 16th century monk automaton 
Looking for proof that demons once ran amuck amongst an unwary populace? Watch this. And then don't sleep for a week. (K)

8. Wire Demos 1976
Further proof emerges that Wire anticipated where punk was going  before it even really started. This is pre-razor sharp-ness Pink Flag. Young, loud and snotty. Heaping spoonfuls of Johnny Thunders, the Ramones and Black Sabbath.  One more cup of coffee brothers and sisters, head down to ghostcapitol and nick it. (S)

7. Idris Muhammed
Muhammed's 1977 album Turn This Mutha Out is heavy as fuck and smooth as silk all at once. If you dig flutes and the 70's and bad-asses and jazz-funk, you're gonna wanna ride this soul train hard. (K)

6. The Falcons
The soulful well from which Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett, Robert Ward, and Mack Rice sprang. What more do you need to know? (S)

5. Tina Aumont
Been awhile since we featured a Hippie Death Goddess. Tina Aumont (RIP, 2006) was an American/French actress who starred in many memorable Euro-spy, giallo, sexy-schocker and far-out art films in the 60's and 70's (Modesty Blaise, Torso, The Howl, Fellini's Cassanova, etc.) and was even in Jean Rollin's freaky Two Orphan Vampires in 1997. She was wild, beautiful, exotic. A true 70's supergirl. Check out Mondo-Macabro's mini-doc/interview below. (K)

4. Starbuck - Rock 'n Roll Racket
An apartment complex in Hollywood. Every thursday night is a potluck by the pool. Casseroles, California wine, California Grass, a little Bolivian, and a jello mold for dessert. You're 34, look like Burt Reynolds, and can score with some of the younger tenants.  (S)

3. White Hex
I can't figure out where they're from: Italy? Berlin? Australia? But then again, this is not the kind of music that stays grounded to one place. White Hex are narco-goths, playing a kind of drawling, intoxicating hypno-darkwave. This is probably what porn sounds like after you've gulped down a teacup full of hemlock. (K)

2. Aquarius Rising: The Rock Festival Years by Robert Santelli
Sure everybody knows about Monterey, Woodstock, and Altamont.  But what about the Festival Of Life, or the Atlantic City Pop festival? This book is an amazing study of all the major rock fests in the USA during the late 60's and early 70's. It's no wonder we didn't see these kinds of events reappear until 30 years later. They were all a mess. Financial and musical disasters. The baby boomers really knew how to misbehave and they all thought they were entailed to a free ticket. It's a riot of a read. An important edition to any Advanced Demonologist's library. (S)

1. Tomita
Isao Tomita is/was an early pioneer of electronic music. He began his career creating soundtracks for Japanese sci-fi cartoons in the mid 60's and then went on to reinterpret classical pieces with analog synthesizers. In 1974, he created his Grammy award-winning masterpiece, the Snowflakes are Dancing album. The album features Tomita's all-Moog renditions of Claude Debussy's tone paintings. I have no clue who Debussy is or what a tone painting is, but I am telling you that this record is THE FUCKING JAM. (K)