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. Gentlemanly Repose: Confessions Of A Debauched Rock 'N Roller by Michael Ruffino

Occupying that coveted thirteenth position this week. On Ken's advice I picked up this book, and although I haven't finished it yet (i've got about ten pages to go and I bought it yesterday!), yes Ken it is the best Rock 'n Roll bio ever written. The best ever! Who knew that Ruffino was such multi talented guy? Besides being a walking chemistry set and a monger of three chord drunk rock, He also is a seriously great writer. I declare that the Unband revival of the early twenty teens starts now! Buy the book! See the movie! Listen to the records. It's more entertaining than Spinal Tap! It's all true and it couldn't of happened to 3 more all american boys. Make sure you go out and get a case of beer on your way home from the book store. (S)

12. The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist

Back in the 80's/early 90's, Petter Bagge's Hate and Dan Clowes' Eightball were the go-to comics for the with-it kids. Full of pop culture references and mean-spirited characters doing mean-spirited stuff, both books basically presaged the entire attitude of the internet: mock everybody, especially yourself. Clowes was the quirkier of the two, and as the decades ensued, his work got darker and funkier. Also he wrote Ghostworld. And now there's a book that collects odds and sods and rare stuff and offers some insight into the man behind the 'toons. Awesome! (K)

11. Milk Music: Beyond Living

I first heard these guys live on WFMU. I ordered a record and never got it in the mail. Than I emailed the guy and told him i'd pick one up at an L.A. show… I got drunk and never made it. So finally this week I stole it off the interweb. Warm fuzzy Blue Cheer guitar playing up against some faster punk type tempos. They get compared to Dinosaur Jr. allot but I'm not so sure about that, It's like sitting in a parked car in the rain kind of music…smoking grass. Beyond Living is on lot's 2011 best of lists (on a few of the same blogs that voted Demonology worst of 2011!). The Lyrics are a little buried on the version I downloaded but they are belted out with lots of white boy soul. I went to a wedding a few years back with a future member of this band. His name is Charles and he was/is in a killer punk crust-core or something like that band called Son Skull. They are great too. Olympia Washington has a great scene right now check out Weird TV as well. (S)

10. Kristofer Astrom - From Eagle to Sparrow

Swedish counrtry-folk brooder. Sparse and excellent record. I think this dude was in a death metal band once. But weren't we all? (K)

09. Jiro Dream's Of Sushi

If your fanatical about sushi andJapan go see this in the theater (Lady Swilson and I did). if not wait for it to come on television. But it's worth the watch. It's less of a documentary and more of a meditation on the man and his sons who make the best sushi in the world. That's no easy task! It's a very simple thing sushi. If you can take it to the highest level your a true artist and maybe a genius. (S)

08. Popatopolis

Jim Wynorski is a B (and C and sometimes Z) movie auteur who delivered big, crazy thrill-rides in the 80's and early 90's (Chopping Mall, Screwballs, Lost Empire, Not of this Earth) filled with blood, beasts, and boobs. 25 years on, he's still at it, although he's basically been reduced to peddling shot-on-video softcore garbage for late-nite cable. Quick n' dirty documentary Popatopolis (named after one of his many aliases) finds him balls-deep into a steep decline, making 2005's Witches of Breastwick in three days for no money, utilizing a guerilla crew and a quartet of pissed-off, put-upon actresses, one of which happens to be porn performer Stormy Daniels. It's a great glimpse into the abyss of no-merit movies, and even though he knows the doc is putting him in a decidedly harsh light, it's very clear that Jim could not care less. After all, "There's a lot of hot chicks in this movie." He does have a point. (K)

07. Flower Travellin' Band

Is this video some kind of early nineteen hundreds scientific exhibition footage of a barbarian planet?!!!? I usually break out the Flower Travellin' Band in the spring time. They possess an exuberant, coming of the equinox like fire, sabbath raga mayhem, sunshine nightmare, that really captures the vibe here in Lost Hell's Angeles……we are right across the pond from Japan and Japan is always in the air at the Swilson ranch (a.k.a The Mind-warp Pavilion, a.k.a Orgonon West) because Lady Swilson is of (part) Japanese decent and we turned it up a notch this week with a movie about sushi. (S)

06. Stanley Black - Satan Superstar

If your problem with vintage lounge music is that it isn't satanic enough, I have the answer. Brit piano tinkler Stanley Black released this kooky orchestral grinder in the early 70's. It's full of horror-themed orchestral jams, heavy on the dark brass and demon-screeching strings. Plus the devil's on the cover in a leisure suit! (K)

05. Bad Sports: Kings Of the Weekend

In my blog stumblings this week, looking for info on Milk Music I discovered these kids on lot's of best of 2011 lists. Bad Spots hail from Denton (the hip part of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area). They play 1,000 year old punk party rock and they play it well and well........ It's the weekend! (S)

04.Fingerbobs - British kid's TV show from the early 70's, featuring some dude's fingers dressed up as mice and chickens and whatnots. Backed by gently-plucked folk guitar, this might be the most gentle (and hypnotic) example of children's TV programming I've ever seen. Check it out next time you're trapped on the Couch of Woe. Bonus: there's a soundtrack CD from Trunk Records! (K)

Flyin' Cut Sleeves Trailer from Henry Chalfant on Vimeo.

03. Flying Cut Sleeves

This documentary about south bronx street gangs, shot in the 70's and 80's but not completed until the 90's, focuses mostly on the Ghetto Brothers and some Savage Nomads and Savage Skulls, following up where the outstanding 80 Blocks From Tiffany's left off. I'm on a South Bronx in the seventies kick right now. Something about the post-apocalyptic, post-counterculture, post-Panther, post-Young Lords, outlaw biker, pre-crack, pre-hip-hop, urban youth gone wild in a war zone elements of the story and the time capture the Swilson imagination. Warriors come out and play! Than grow up and try to help there community. I admire and respect the character of the people featured in this story. I'm sure you will too. (S)

02. Ladyhawke's homage to Eyes of Laura Mars

Ladyhawke's music is pure 70s/80's throwback synthrock, hook-heavy and awesomely cheeseball. It' s like an ABBA/New Order cocktail. Black White and Blue is the first single from Ladyhawke's upcoming album, Anxiety, which is clearly going to the be summer jam of the year. The video is an homage/tribute/remake of 1978's sort of amazing Eyes of Laura Mars, a "thriller" that finds edgy fashion photographer Faye Dunaway envisioning a series of murders with her fashion shoots before they happen. First see the movie, then watch the video. And fuck it, then watch Ladyhawke, the movie with Rutger Hauer. And then buy this record and listen to it. There's your weekend. (K)

1.Ghetto Brothers: Power Fuerza

It's rare I listen to anything now and feel like I'm hearing one of my favorite records of all time for the first time. It happened this week! Some of the coolest characters ever, making some of the most beautiful music. I love it! The vocals have no identity it's like the whole band is is singing in unison, like a whole culture, the whole gang. You like a good back story ? How about this one. The Ghetto Brothers were first and for most a street gang. Not just any gang, the most powerful gang in the South Bronx. Lead by a Puerto Rican jew (Epstein from welcome back carter? that was Brooklyn) named yellow Benji. When a good friend and fellow gang member Black Benji was killed trying to stop a gang fight. Yellow Benji decide enough is enough and organized the Hoe avenue truce. It was a gang treaty in the south bronx that lead to a relative peace among the 1,000 plus Bronx gangs and hip-hop music itself. The Ghetto Brothers made this one and only masterpiece. It's a mix of Latin funk, Beatle harmonies (they where in a group prior to this called the Junior Beatles!) and even a little Grand Funk thrown in. It's just perfect! (S)

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. George Harrison - Beware of ABKCO

All advanced demonological roads fortunately and unfortunately lead back to the Fab Four. Everybody listened to them back in the daze, from Buffalo Springfield to Black Sabbath. It was the one thing almost everybody agreed on. George, the coolest and most understated of gang, recorded these demos for his "All Things Must Pass" record. It's nice to hear these tunes before that lovable megalomanic Phil Spector got his hands on 'em. (S)

12. James Levy and Blood Red Rose

I don't really know anything about James Levy except that he's a singer-songwriter type from Vermont. I don't know much about Alison Pierce, either, expect that she's one-half The Pierces, who do that accordian-driven goth-pop theme song to the Pretty Little Liars TV show. What I do know is that Levy and Pierce - as James Levy and Blood Red Rose - have a new album out, Pray to Be Free, and it's lead-off single, Sneak Into My Room, is amazing. If you dig Nancy n' Lee - or Serge n' Jane - you'll love this. Harmonies so sweet it makes me wanna cry. The album isn't quite as good as the single (is it ever?), but still, well worth checking out. (K)

11. Portable Darkness: An Aleister Crowley Reader

If you've ever tried to trudge through Crowley's writings without being a full blown occultist freak, than you know how impossible it is to access what the cat was all about. Well the Portable Darkness is your 3 day pass. It's a small collection of his writings on his favorite subjects: Qabalah and Magick, Yoga and Magick, Sex and Magick, Magick and Law, and Lies. In laymen's terms he was a proto Freek reacting very psychedelically to the very un-psychedelic attitudes of post victorian England. Well worth putting aside any anti-new age sentiments that one might have for the few hours it takes to read this. (S)

10. Lonnie Mack - Untouched by Human Love

In 1963, country/blues/rockabilly pioneer Lonnie Mack released an instrumental single called "Wham" that leaned so heavy on the tremelo bar that rock n' roll basically just decided it was his deal and started calling it the "Whammy Bar". Lonnie went through many different stages and styles in his career (he's still alive and well and whamming it up but good), but 1969 was definitely one of high points, when he released two great albums, Glad I'm in the Band and Whatever's Right, full of his aggressive, soul-powered guitar and poppy, hook-heavy, bloozy, hippie-rock. Check out the killer "Untouched By Human Love" from Whatever's Right for a prime example of Lonnie's signature style. (K)

9. The Unband

Thanks To Ken, Swilson finally discovered the Unband and you all should too. Where were these guys all my life? Very Hot hot this week! (S)

8. Farrah. Sometimes you forget, seeing that the 70's are drifting further and further away, and then you stumble on a photo of her and it all comes back to you. The golden-haired goddess of the Me Generation, now and forever. (K)

7. Gypsy Girl (1966)

Hayley Mills stars as the emotionally stunted Brydie White who takes to burying dead animals in a church cemetery after the shooting death of a child hood friend. The town comes unglued and drives Brydie to take up with a band of Gypsies…sorta. This is a weird movie, it's got a great energy.(S)

6. Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008)

Great documentary about the sweet-spot in Hollywood (late 20's to late 30's) when the movies really WENT FOR IT, and films were filled with vice and debauchery of all kinds, before the Hays Code "cleaned Hollywood up" and left America to suffer through a decade or two of Mickey Rooney and Doris Day. There's also a corresponding book. I haven't read it yet, but I'm sure it's just as illuminating. It's available on Netflix and Amazon as part of the "Forbidden Hollywood" pre-code collection from TCM. (K)

5. Lantern - Burned Youth

Mellow, Exile on Main Street, pop-a-delic , swaggering, sing-a-longs from the urban backwaters of Philadelphia. Shake The 8-Ball the future Is always hazy.(S)

4. Doug Jerebine is Jesse Harper

Jerebine was a 60's garage rock hero in his native New Zealand, known for his impressive, inventive, and whacked-out guitar style. In '69 he split NZ and moved to London, where he changed his name to Jesse Harper (JH - you know, like Jimi Hendrix!) got a band together and released a demo of heavy, Hendrix-y psyche-rock. The demo was a winner and Doug/Jesse was being courted by major labels, but the dude had an epiphany - as many did back then - and split for India, where he joined the Krishnas and vanished from the rock n' roll map for over 30 years. Luckily, acetates of the demo survived and have been released once or twice over the ensuing decades, most recently by Drag City (home of the Jimi Hendrix of comedy, Neil Hamburger) ensuring Doug's status as a well-deserved cult-rock hero. Loud, wild, groovy, and seriously far-out, "Is Jesse Harper" is a tantalizing glimpse into what was and what could have been. (K)

3. Edgar Winter Group - They Only Come Out At Night

Did you guys know that every song is really good on this record? I didn't until this week. Not just Frankenstein and Free Ride ( those are still the best tunes but..). It's real beer can in the afternoon jammer. Great if your unemployed on a hot March afternoon. (S)

2. The Eccentropedia

Headpress is one of the most consistently inventive/alarming book publishers in operation (they even released a book by yours truly once). Almost everything they put out is aggressively weird/awesome, and their latest release is no exception. The Eccentropedia promises over 500 pages (!) of real-life weirdos:

" The most comprehensive book on eccentrics ever published. Everyone from George Adamski, ufo contactee, to Nicolas Zuniga Y Miranda, self-professed ‘President of Mexico’. Entries include both the contemporary (Michael Jackson) and the less familiar (Martin Van Butchell, dentist). An A-Z of eccentrics! 266 true stories of the most original and outrageous people on earth, from bad poets to transsexual evolutionary theorists this encyclopedic guide covering ancient times to the present, includes reams of material never seen in book form before. Famous eccentrics like King Ludwig, Salvador Dalí and Howard Hughes rub shoulders with a host of lesser-known, but equally colorful, characters in these - mostly - life-affirming stories. There are unsuspected parallels and connections throughout creating an alternative, off-kilter history of the world."

Sounds great, right? The book comes out in June, but you can pre-order it (in various editions) now, and you can take a peek inside, at the Headpress site. (K)

1. Ronnie Montrose -R.I.P.

Ronnie started out as journeyman guitar player and session musician, He played on Van Morrison's "Tupelo Honey" and Edgar Winter Group's "They Only come Out At Night" before starting Montrose With Sammy Hagar. He had a very heavy, straight to the throat , no frills, bring the fire way of playing the guitar. A wizard a true star. He was 64. Rest In Peace Ronzo. (S)

Demonic DVD (of the Week)

We Like to Drink, We Like to Play Rock N’ Roll
Gringa Productions

This is the story of The Unband, three drunkards from upstate Massachusetts who formed a ramshackle party band in college and just never had the good sense to quit. The Unband took ten years to get nowhere, and this film shows you exactly how that happened, with all the attendant Spinal Tap-ish moments along the way, including their very own Yoko, who does, in fact, finally break up the band. Rock n’ roll really is a loser’s game, and this entertaining slice-of-life proves it. Highly recommended.

- Ken