NERVOUS NORVUS: THE FANG

Here is my absolute favorite Nervous Norvus song, "The Fang". I wanted to include it in my post I did about him a few months ago but I didn't have a source for the song then...now I do. You can read that post here. Now, prepare yourself for the maddest piece of beatnik dada you have ever heard...Nervous Norvus' "The Fang"! Click here to listen.

THE JONESES: PILL BOX

The Joneses were a glittery yet tough and honest Los Angeles punk band from the 1980's. They were not quite punk, not quite glam, but tough and unpretentious. I love the song "Pill Box". It is quite simply one of the cathchiest, most addictive punk songs ever written, and one of my all time favorites of the genre. Listen to "Pill Box" here. If you like what you hear, then pick up their compilation album "Criminal History".

MEL ROBBINS: SAVE IT

Here's a lustful and smokin' piece of rockablilly by the little known but ingenious Mel Robbins. This is yet another song made famous by The Cramps. Here's the original "Save It" (1959) by Mel Robbins. Irresistible.

MORGUS THE MAGNIFICENT

Morgus the Magnificent was an eccentric New Orleans late night television sci-fi and horror movie host from the late 1950's through the 1980's. He had the leading role in one movie called "The Wacky World of Doctor Morgus". This is one of the most maddeningly terrible and insanely untintelligible films of all time. If you're feeling really brave, you should check it out. Anyway, there is a song by blues man and New Orleans R&B master Dr. John called "Morgus the Magnificent" that is one of my favorites. It has a cooly innocent, campy appeal to it that never grows old. Here it is for your enjoyment.

Morgus the Magnifecent - Dr. John

LOST IN THE OZONE AGAIN

Here's "Lost in the Ozone" (1971) by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. Led by George Frayne, this band plays some ingenious, deranged 1970's country music. Pure, fun, wild, unbridled hardore classic country. I'm no huge fan of modern country, but I do like some of the really old stuff. This is country music the way it should be. Enjoy.

Lost In The Ozone - Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen

THE THRILL KILLERS

Ray Dennis Steckler's "The Thrill Killers"(1965). What a movie! It starts off as a dark, grim film noir-ish tale about the struggles of life in Hollywood, with some stilted overly dramatic narration. The story mainly centers around a struggling actor (played by Brick Bardo) and his wife (Liz Renay). Once the beginning narrative is over the plot shifts a little and we find ourselves in a dark, seedy hotel room. There is a man, Mort "Mad Dog" Click (played by Steckler himself) and a drunken woman in the room. It looks like they are about have an intimate moment together when Mort snaps, yelling "I hate people! People are no good!" The room is lit only by a flashing neon sign. Light and pitch black, light and pitch black. Mort stabs the woman with a pair of scissors, in time with the flashing of the sign. After he leaves the woman for dead, we hear on the radio that a serial killer has escaped from prison, and that three maniacs have escaped from a mental hospital.

Cut to a scene where a man and his girlfried are looking at a dilapidated barn that he is considering renovating. They go into the barn and are ambushed and terrorized by the three escaped mental patients. The three patients eventually make their way into a diner, and hold everyone hostage in the building, inculding the struggling actor and his wife. All chaos ensues leading to a wild chase scene in the desert mountains. But where is Mort "Mad Dog" Click? He is still around and shows up almost at the end of the movie, kidnapping Liz Renay. We have another breath taking chase scene on motorcycle and horseback, with a big, Wesern style shoot out at the end. Of course, Mort is killed, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Sounds like a fun movie right? It is. Steckler's black and white cinematography in this film is breathtaking. He may be a low budget director, but he uses the beauty of the desert for all it is worth. This is a movie that seems to cross genres. At first, you have a gritty noir film, then a psychologically suspenseful slasher movie, finally leading to a Western shoot out, high adventure chase movie. The last part of this movie reminds me of the action/adventure serials of old. There is a certain child like wonder that the last half of this movie holds. Steckler pulls off this sort of genre bending well, and the movie flows seamlessly. Finally, there is the acting. It is not great, but it has it's moments. Steckler's take on the character of Mort "Mad Dog" Click is especially sinister.

This is my favorite Ray Dennis Steckler movie. Out of all his works (Rat Phink a Boo Boo, Sinthia the Devil's Doll, etc.) this one is the most coherent and the easiest to watch. Highly recommended.

Here's the promotional trailer. It has very little to do the with the actual movie. It was just designed to get people into the theatres. It was originally supposed to be titled "The Maniacs Are Loose".

You can watch the actual movie trailer here.

THE REVOLTING COCKS: DO YA THINK I'M SEXY

This an hilarious and ultra sleazy version of Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" by Al Jourgensen's (of Ministry fame) The Revolting Cocks. They play it straight forward at first and start cracking up towards the end. Much filthier than the original version, this song exudes so much sleaze it is legendary. Don't know what was going through Rod's head when he made this song to begin with. I crack up from just hearing the original, and The Revolting Cocks version puts me in hysterics.

"DO IT YOURSELF" THRIFT STORE ART

Here's something I found at a thrift store years and years ago. It was just a head of a woman with an afro and a disembodied hand that seemed to be coming out of nowhere right in front of her face. Just a simple black and white drawing that seemed to serve no purpose but to be manipulated..so I took it home and altered it with some magic markers with the above result. Primitive, but it hangs in my house to this day.

THE CRAMPS: LIKE A BAD GIRL SHOULD

Here's a song that just oozes sleaze...one of the sleaziest songs of all time and one of The Cramps' best. Here's "Like a Bad Girl Should" from their 1997 album "Big Beat from Badsville". Enjoy.

THE SISTERS OF MERCY: FLOODLAND

The Sisters of Mercy's "Floodland"(1987) is a masterpiece of dark, adrenaline fueled rock that superbly mixes drum machine and guitars with a chilling effect. Andrew Eldritch's vocals are cold, dark, yet emotive. His lyrics are fueled by paranoia, depression, and adrenaline. The sound on this album is huge, an epic, masterful, aural portrait of a cold, bleak world. The Sisters of Mercy will not cheer you up, but their music and lyrics are something we can all relate to in the struggles of day to day existence. These guys have been pigeon holed in the gothic rock genre, one in which they really do not belong. Their sound does not fit the trappings of that particular music. All you need is an ear for dark music and you will enjoy their work. It's hard to name a favorite track, although "Lucretia my Reflection", "Dominion/Mother Russia", "This Corrosion", and the stark and fragile "Driven Like the Snow" come immediately to mind. I can't recommend this disc enough...if you haven't heard "Floodland" before you should pick it up, and if you already have this one listen to it again.

Here's "Lucretia My Reflection", "Dominion", and "This Corrosion". Enjoy.

ELECTRIC WIZARD: SATURNINE

Here's "Saturnine", the rumbling, scorching, space-doom metal final track to Electric Wizard's masterpiece "Witchcult Today" (2007) It is an excellent album, one which I have touched on here before, but this track has rapidly become my favorite Electric Wizard song. Very fuzzed out, retro psychedelic doom sounding and speaker rattling, this album was recorded on vintage 1970's equipment and is chock full of crushing, addictive riffs that will melt your brain, and cool, trippy retro horror inspired lyrics. Listen to "Saturnine", and pick up "Witchcult Today" if you like what you hear.

MACY SKIPPER'S "BOP PILLS"

Here's some classic, seedy rockabilly. Macy Skipper's ode to amphetamines and rock and roll..."Bop Pills". Enjoy.

Macy Skipper - Bop Pills -

THE DEAD BOYS: SONIC REDUCER

The Dead Boys. Top notch, heavy, violently energetic, classic 1970's punk, led by vocalist Stiv Bators. Here's my favorite Dead Boys song "Sonic Reducer" from their debut album "Young, Loud, and Snotty". Crank it up.

SLO BURN: AMUSING THE AMAZING

Slo Burn was a band formed by Kyuss vocalist John Garcia after Kyuss' demise. The only album Slo Burn released was the four song EP "Amusing the Amazing" in 1997. Like Kyuss, Slo Burn is extremely heavy, desert stoner metal. Slo Burn's music is surprisingly good. John Garcia's vocals and range were growing stronger, and his sense of melody can be devastating. You can feel the desert sun blazing in all four of these songs. They are trippy, heavy, and soulful all at once. The production is not as strong as what you would hear on a Kyuss album, but that is ok. The music is strong and furious enough to overcome this problem. My two favorite tracks are "July" and "Pilot the Dune". Highly recommended. Here's "Pilot the Dune". Enjoy.

After Slo Burn, John Garcia would go on to form Unida and Hermano, both excellent bands and well worth seeking out as well.

THE BOSS MARTIANS: 13 EVIL TALES

The Boss Martians' "13 Evil Tales" (1996) is an incredible surf rock album. Their brand of surf music is very smooth, dark, and sophisticated, with a healthy dose of camp that never grows tiresome. Here's 'Coffin and a Six Pack" and "Tombstone". You only get to hear thirty seconds from each song, but it's all I could find.

Coffin And A Six Pack - The Boss Martians

Tombstone - The Boss Martians

BLOOD ORGY OF THE SHE-DEVILS

Director Ted Mikels' "Blood Orgy of the She-Devils"(1972). Cool title, huh? Sounds like the makings of a great b-film. Wrong. The title is very misleading. There is some blood, there is no orgy, and there are no she-devils. What you have instead is a low budget hodge-podge of a film about black magic and the occult. A subject like this in Ted V. Mikel's hands should have been a gold mine. If you are going into this movie expecting another warped masterpiece such as "The Corpsegrinders" or "The Astro-Zombies" you will be disappointed.

Here's "Blood Orgy of the She-Devils" in a nutshell. It is about Mara, a powerful witch who conducts seances and other such nonsense in her mansion. In this mansion lives her minions...I guess these are the 'she-devils'. They conduct ridiculous black masses and human sacrifices and the like, with some inexplicable, horribly choreographed dancing. Mara agrees to kill a diplomat for someone for money using black magic. She succeeds, and the people who planned the assassination decide to kill Mara because she knows too much about their operation and is too powerful to be left alive. They kill Mara and a few of her minions. Mara resurrects herself and seeks revenge on her killers. Eventually some do-gooders, practicers of white magic, find out what Mara is doing, and they have to drive out the demons that Mara has invoked in her mansion before all hell breaks loose.

Sounds like a decent plot, right? Maybe, but it is executed rather clumsily. This movie could have been condensed to thirty minutes and it would be ok. But it is packed with filler, haphazard scenes thrown together that make no sense and have little to do with the movie. The acting is worse than what you would usually expect. There is tons of screaming. "Blood Orgy of the She-Devils" seems like it could be a wild ride but it is not. With that being said, I still enjoyed this movie in a weird way. It's kinda fun to look at in all it's retro-cheese-occult grandeur. I enjoyed the ending. The last fifteen to twenty minutes is maddening, well worth putting up with the rest of the film.

Would I watch this movie again? Probably not. If you haven't seen any Ted V. Mikels before, steer clear of this one and watch "The Astro-Zombies", "Mark of the Astro-Zombies", and "Corpsegrinders 1&2". I recommend "Blood Orgy of the She-Devils" to die hard Ted V. Mikels fans and hardened b-movie fanatics only.

CAN YOUR HOSSIE DO THE DOG?

Here's "Can Your Hossie Do the Dog" by Del Raney's Umbrellas. Does this bring to mind The Cramps' "Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?" It should... this is the song that inspired it.

MASTODON: CRACK THE SKYE

Mastodon's latest release "Crack the Skye" is somewhat of a departure from the visceral heaviness of their previous works. It is slower, minus alot of the metal riffing that Mastadon is famous for, and features more melodic vocals. What you have instead is a sprawling, prog rock opus, filled with complex beauty.

How to describe the sound on this disc? It reminds of the heavy psychosis and dissonant psychedelic space metal of Voivod, circa "Dimension Hatross". There is a strong King Crimson influence, with highly experimental guitar work and complex time signatures. I also hear a strong Coroner influence with some dark, discordant, depressive mid-paced progressive thrash guitar playing. And Sabbath. Mastodon at times on this album channels the spirit of Ozzy, with some vocals sounding akin to his, and with some quality doomy frayed nerve endings riffing. What this album lacks in pure speed in aggression it makes up for in complex, beautiful. and frightening layers of sound. Listen to this disc on a good set of speakers or headphones. The production is very full and deep, and you won't want to miss any nuances. Lyrically, "Crack the Skye" is a deep, somewhat abstract, psychedelic science fiction concept album, akin to the sprawling concept works of Voivod. All the tracks are great, and once again, this an album that must be listened to as a whole as the songs flow into each other without breaks. Highly recommended. It is not the Mastodon you may be used to, but I promise that "Crack the Skye will not disappoint.

Coming Attractions...

Just reached three thousand hits as of today and counting. Thanks to everyone for their support, and when you stop by and read something you like or dislike, or just want to add your own thoughts, please leave a comment. I want to hear from you. With that being said, here's some reviews I have lined up for you, coming soon.

Mastodon's new album "Crack the Skye"

Ted V. Mikel's cult classic "Blood Orgy of the She Devils"

Ray Dennnis Steckler's black & white low budget horror fest "The Thrill Killers"

So stay tuned, and don't forget to hit that comment button.

MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT: CONFESSIONS OF A KNIFE

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult's "Confession of a Knife" (1993). This is the first album I ever heard by The Thrill Kill Kult and it remains my favorite. Their sound on this album is a very dark and evil drug induced form of dance music. It is very sinister sounding, laden with references to and fueled by sleazy retro 1960's through early 1980's b-movies, horror and exploitation flicks, and a campy love for the occult. They perfectly mix together evil dance grooves with guitar and keyboard tracks that sound as if they came from the bowels of hell and ingenious, perfectly chosen audio samples taken from nefarious b-movies and other sources that truly set the music ablaze with the flames of Lucifer. A few of my favorite tracks are: "Daisy Chain 4 Satan", a hypnotic and maddening ode to drug abuse, and "The Days of Swine and Roses", an ingenious song with a chorus of "Christian zombie vampires, I am the father, the father of nothing", with a repeated overlayed sample of Edith Massey from John Water's "Female Trouble"( if you haven't seen this movie, check it out now). Possibly the sleaziest song of all on this album is "Waiting for Mommie", a sweaty, perverted disco workout ode to Satan and incest.

All of the songs on "Confessions of a Knife" bleed together seamlessly and cohesively. This disc is designed to be listened to from start to finish in one sitting. If you don't, you will lose certain nuances at the end and beginning of each song. Not every track is perfect, but as a whole "Confessions of a Knife" is a masterpiece, my favorite Thrill Kill Kult album of all time. Give it a listen, it will not disappoint.

Here's "Daisy Chain 4 Satan"...


...and "Kooler Than Jesus". Enjoy.

THE CRUCIFUCKS

The Crucifucks were an intense and violently radical punk band formed in 1981. Their lyrics were extremely anti-authoritarian, full of shock value and loathing for the Reagan era of their time. Doc Corbin Dart's vocals are grating, high pitched and frightening. His lyrics are deranged and skewed stream of consciousness mayhem. The voclas take a few listens to get used to, but they fit perfectly with the music, which is always dead on heavy and original, not your typical hardcore/punk fare. Give their compilation album "Our Will Be Done" a listen. It is somewhat lengthy (29 tracks) and the quality of the songs is rather uneven. Despite these downfalls, however, "Our Will Be Done" is a great way to hear what this legendary band is all about. Two of my favorite tracks are "You Give Me the Creeps" and "Earth By Invitation Only". You can listen to "Earth by Invitation Only" below.

Earth by Invitation Only - Crucifucks

MARCY: JOIN THE GOSPEL EXPRESS

Marcy's "Join the Gospel Express". Unintentionally evil and frighteningly psychedelic children's Christian music. Evil in it's purest form. Give it a listen.

BLUE CHEER

Blue Cheer are an incredible heavy psych rock band that came out in the late 1960's, led by singer bassist Dickie Peterson. Their sound is euphoric, acid laced, blues based rock played at deafening volumes. They were known for blowing up amplifiers at some of their early performances. Blue Cheer, along with Black Sabbath, would greatly influence the upcoming genre of heavy metal. Whereas Sabbath specialized in doom, Blue Cheer specialized in more upbeat, brain melting euphoria. Their two best albums are "Vincebus Eruptum" and "Outside Inside", both released in 1968. "Vincebus Eruptum" has more of a straight forward and frenetic blues metal feel to it, while "Outside Inside" is more adventurous and psychedelic. Both albums are extremely heavy and highly recommended.

Here's a vintage performance of "Summertime Blues" from "Vincebus Eruptum"...


...and here's "Come and Get It" from "Outside "Inside". Enjoy.

Come And Get It - Blue Cheer

THE ZEROS

Here's some incredible, classic punk from around 1977 through 1980. The Zeros were a little known yet great American/Mexican punk band that were somewhat similar to The Ramones, both musically and lyrically, with an added touch of glam. Great harmonies and addictivly catchy and mindless tunes. Give their album "Don't Push Me Around" a listen. Great stuff, not terribly original, but solid classic punk throughout.

THE RAPE OF THE VAMPIRE

Jean Rollin's first full length feature film "The Rape of the Vampire" (1968) is a difficult to comprehend, experimental, and beautifully atmospheric, French black and white movie. This is the least accessible film I have seen of Rollin's. It is difficult to follow and the dialogue is ridiculous (fifty percent was improvised on the spot). The look of this film, the dreamlike logic (or lack thereof) of the story and imagery, and the moody experimental soundtrack are what make this movie tick.

This movie is actually two movies in one. In the first part, we follow four beautiful women who inexplicably think they are vampires. Are they really vampires, and how did they become what they are? They don't know. They don't have the usual phobias and weaknesses of vampires. They live in a mansion with a man that oversees them. One of the women is blind. There are disturbing looking crosses all over the property. They are always dressed in loose robes and worship a bizarre looking deity in the middle of a field. They like to loose their clothes at times. There are three visitors coming and their overseer tells them not to let the visitors try to cure them. When the visitors arrive, chaos ensues. They want to put the women in an institution or kill them. There are many bizarre scenes that unfold. One of my favorites is when the four vampires inexplicably start fencing with each other in a field lit by burning crosses. One of the vampires is accidentally killed in the playful fencing match. Eventually the three other vampires are killed. The last one to die does so after falling in love with and turning one of the three visitors. They are both shot dead in a starkly beautiful beach scene. The credits roll, the movie is over, then the movie starts again...part two.

The second half is where this movie really begins to spin out of control. All logic and convention are thrown out the window. Your patience is tried again and again. Yet you can't stop watching... This segment picks up right where the first left off, with our vampire couple dead on the beach. Their overseer comes to check on them. First, many hooded figures appear out of nowhere surrounding the man. Next, from out of the sea comes a vampire ship bearing the black lesbian queen of vampires and her minions. She kills the man, leaving him to die on the beach. The two dead vampires are stripped naked for no apparent reason. All three are left for dead. The dead overseer's blood trickles down the rocks, revivng the two vampires, and off they go. The other vampires who were killed in the first part of the movie have been resuurected as well.
It seems that the vampire queen wants to engineer a race of vampires. There is a cure for vampirism out there, but she does not want her minions to find out about it. Those that do are punished and killed. One female leader of the insurrection is stripped and flailed mercilessly ( on the beach of course). At about this point this movie deteriorates into maddening symbolism and senseless dream like imagery. I gave up trying to follow the story and just began soaking in the stark black and white, beautiful surrealistic images. Jean Rollin has a strong visual sense, and the power of his images are enough to distract you from the story anyway.

Before I knew it, the movie was over. Was I a changed person? No. Did I walk away from this movie thinking I had seen something great? No. I view this movie as more of a low budget art film. The look of this movie is all that impressed. I found myself really enjoying the soundtrack, which is an intense and unsettling blend between free jazz (Sun Ra came immediately to mind) and unnerving, discordant, screeching violins. If you haven't seen any Jean Rollin before, skip this one and watch some of his later, much stronger efforts first, such as "The Grapes of Death". If you like what you see, then dive into "The Rape of the Vampire". But don't say I didn't warn you.

INCREDIBLY STRANGE FILMS

Before the advent of the Internet there was a series of over sized trade paperback periodicals called Re/Search. They were about all sorts of bizarre counter-culture subjects, from strange outsider music to pranks to bizarre fiction, movies, and other off-the-wall treasures that you could find nowhere else. The Re-Search series flourished throughout the 1980's through the very early 1990's. Most were edited by V. Vale and Andrea Juno and featured articles, interviews, and essays by a wide variety of writers. My favorite of these books was "Incredibly Strange Films"(Re/Search #10, published in 1985). This book helped turn me on to wide variety of bizarre directors and films. Some in the book I already knew about, but this book helped me learn more about them and discover more of their films. Others I had never heard of, and I immediately and hungrily sought out their work.

"Incredibly Strange Films" is a real treasure trove of information on bizarre American cinema. It is chock full of in depth interviews with directors, essays, and other information on several pieces of classic and unheard of cult cinema, some of which you may have seen reviewed here. There is also exhaustive coverage of several cult cinema sub-genres, such as mondo films, women in prison films and LSD flicks. There are interviews and in-depth coverage of some of my favorite directors their lifetime production of films.

I will give you a list of some of the directors featured in this book, and the movies in parenthesis are the ones that have been reviewed here so far.

Russ Meyer (Faster Pussycat Kill Kill)

Ted V. Mikels ( Corpsegrinders 2, Mark of the Astro Zombies)

Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case 2, Brain Damage, Frankenhooker)

Larry Cohen (Black Caesar)

Herschell Gordon Lewis (Bloodfeast 1 and 2, The Wizard of Gore, The Gore-Gore Girls)

Ray Dennis Steckler (Rat Phink a Boo Boo)

Essay on Jack Hill's Spider Baby

There are a lot of movies featured in this book, many that I have yet to discover, and some that I have yet to share with you. Just pick this book up if you can. Even though it came out in the 1980's, I have not seen another publication to cover so thoroughly the joy and wonders of the American cult film.