BIT PARTS

Dave Reda's "Bit Parts" is a sick and twisted gore flick that harkens back to the good old days of the '60's, '70's, and early '80's. It's part H. G. Lewis and part some forbidden fruit of a horror movie you would pick up to rent at some dilapidated, sleazy, run down video store on the wrong side of town...but you don't care because you have the greasy old video tape in your hands and you're on your way home anxious to pop open a beer and see just what kind of ghastly treasure you've unearthed this time...

BIT PARTS is a relatively new movie. It looks good, has a decent soundtrack, but feels slimy and reeks of the stench of death and grimy production.....just like a gore flick should be!!!! Approach this movie with no pretensions and leave your logic at the back door. Now you're ready for a good old time...

Meet Dr. Kranston, a creepy, filthy-looking plastic surgeon. His daughter was horribly disfigured in a car accident. He takes it upon himself to reconstruct her, to make her pretty again...but how? By using models of course! He takes the eyes from this one, the nose from that one, the breasts from the other one...
Dr. Kranston is an odd, delusional character. His presence brings to this movie a morbid, southern-gothic feel that will keep your eyes glued to the screen. Most of the acting is ok and the characters are fleshed out and believable. But there is one thing that grates on the nerves.....Dr. Kranston's daughter's screeching voice! You'd think she was trying out for an old John Waters movie for christ' sake but that's ok because I loved this movie! They just don't make them like this any more!

Give this one a good look. It's a bit extreme so love it or hate it, at least you will walk away feeling something.

AT THE DRIVE-IN: "Relationship of Command"

At the Drive-In's "Relationship of Command"(2000). This is the only album I have by this band. I have only heard a small amount of their other material, but this album is constantly finding it's way into my CD player somehow. At the Drive-In are a highly emotive mix of punk and prog-metal. They sound like a strange marriage between a revved up Fugazi and the, heavy, progressive, sci-fi metal of Voivod. The vocals alternate between quiet and contemplative and outright ferocious, and the music is fast, heavy, complex, and dizzying. It is all held together by underlying sense of melody and highly infectious choruses. Combined with askewed, bizzare lyrics and the unrelenting pace and disorienting feel of the music, you feel overwhelmed and exhausted by the end of the album, yet you can't get the songs out of your head and you want to come back for more. Some of my favorite tracks are "Arcarsenal", "Sleepwalk Capsules", "Cosmonaut", and "One-Armed Scissor". Highly recommended.

Here's the video to "One Armed Scissor" and a live performance of "Cosmonaut". Enjoy!

MOSE ALLISON

Mose Allison was a highly innovative jazz singer/piano player from the Mississippi Delta in Tallahatchie County. He started recording music in the late 1950's. His music, an ultra-modern fusion of jazz and blues, was way ahead of it's time. The lyrics are very cynical and pessimistic, in stark contrast to the mid-to fast paced jazz/blues. The music does convey a certain sense of helplessness though. It is in a minor key, and conveys the feeling of being caught in a world spinning out of control. Mose Allison's vocals are highly detached, almost spoken, and are a desperate cry for help in a world that is too fast paced for people to notice what is going on around them. His dry style is somewhat similar to the vocal delivery of Tom Waits. He has influenced a huge range of artists, from Blue Cheer to The Rolling Stones.

A great place to start if you're curious is the 20 track CD "The Best of Mose Allison". Every track is great. You can't go wrong with this one.

Here's "Stop This World" and "I Don't Worry About a Thing", two of my all time favorite songs. Hope you like 'em.

Stop This World - Mose Allison

I Dont Worry About A Thing - Mose Allison

MARK OF THE ASTRO-ZOMBIES

Ted V. Mikels' MARK OF THE ASTRO-ZOMBIES. Mind-numbing, gleeful fun! A sequel of sorts to his ASTRO-ZOMBIES movie of the late 1960's, this new one has several twists that will keep you guessing, the worst special effects in the galaxy, and the most wooden, horrendous acting I've ever seen! Just suspend all disbelief and you'll be ok. And keep your copy of THE MISFITS WALK AMONG US cd close by.....you'll want to blast it during certain scenes of this movie.

In the first ASTRO-ZOMBIES, Dr. Demarco, a mad scientist, created a zombie that could kill on the demand of a radio frequency. Well, it seems now, 30 years later, that reptilian aliens from outer space have intercepted his idea and they have a whole slew of astro-zombies aboard their space ship and it's landing on earth as we speak! They unleash their astro-zombies all over the place with one goal: To KILL! And kill they do.....hordes of them hacking up innocent civillians with machetes in broad daylight in the middle of the city!

Of course, the government gets involved.......how do they stop this? And there's TURA SATANA (Faster Pussycat Kill Kill!) to deal with.. She's EVIL and she has Dr. Demarco's ORIGINAL astro-zombie recipe and she's selling it to terrorists!

It looks like the world is doomed.........the reptile creatures are paralyzing humans with laser beams and abducting them into their ASTRO-ZOMBIE army!

"With just a touch of my burning hand,
I send my astro zombies to rape this land,
Prime directive, exterminate the whole human race"------ THE MISFITS

What fun!!!! Of course the good aliens have to show up in their space ship and kill the bad guys and ruin the day for everybody but that's ok! It's still a good movie...

Astro Zombies - The Misfits

MOTORHEAD: THE ACE OF SPADES

Motorhead. No matter if you love 'em or hate 'em, you can't deny their influence on metal and hard rock in general over the past three decades. After leaving the space rock band Hawkwind in the early mid 1970's, Lemmy came foward on his own in full force with Motorhead. With a biker image, blazing fast tempos, deafening guitars and growling vocals, biker metal was born, and rock and roll became exciting again. Not until the insurgence of punk in the late 1970's would there be anything that approached their energy.

Here's one of my favorite tracks, the classic "Ace of Spades".

ORANGE GOBLIN

Orange Goblin are a heavy stoner metal band that came out around 1997. They have released six albums so far, my favorites being "The Big Black"(2000), "Coup de Grace"(2002), and "Thieving From the House of God"(2004). Their sound can best be described as seamless fusion of Kyuss, Motorhead, and Black Sabbath. In other words, no holds barred balls to the wall acid burned hippie biker metal with a tinge of horror thrown in for good measure. The vocals are always solid...they sound like a cross between John Garcia of Kyuss and Lemmy of Motorhead.

All three of these albums differ greatly from each other, but the same attitude runs through each. "The Big Black" is a heavy, trippy, sprawling, stoner space rock epic. "Coup de Grace" keeps the stoner rock but adds a hefty dose of biker metal and punk to the mix. John Garcia of Kyuss even does guest vocals on two tracks: "Jesus Beater" and "Made of Rats". They also do a very faithful cover of The Misfits' "We Bite"! On "Thieving from the House of God", they still keep on the stoner side, but have mellowed out a bit. They draw on more traditional '70's rock for this album, creating a more melodic, yet still potent sound.

I highly recommend all three of these albums. They are not perfect, because Orange Goblin tends to wonder off and lose focus on longer tracks, which is nothing to complain about because there's only a few. I would start out with "Coup de Grace" because it is the strongest of the three.

'Til next time,
As John Garcia sings in "Made of Rats"...

"If it seems like I'm sinkin',
and I'm talking to the back of my hand,
it's because I've been drinkin',
cuz I don't understand..."

Here's "Scorpianica" from "The Big Black", "Monkey Panic" from "Coup de Grace", and "Some You Win, Some You Lose", from "Thieving from the House of God". Enjoy!

DANZIG 2: LUCIFUGE

"Danzig 2: Lucifuge" (1990) . This is my favorite Danzig solo effort of all time. Anybody familiar with his work with The Misfits and Samhain will know that his solo material is good but not up to par with his early stuff. This album, however, is an exception.

Everything you love about Danzig is here. The dark, horror inspired lyrics and his incredible Elvis meets Jim Morrison voice. The difference is, instead of drawing on punk and goth, he draws on the blues and '70's blues rock. This album is every bit as potent and energetic as any of his work with Samhain or The Misfits.

The song writing is incredible. There's straight blues ("Killer Wolf" and" I'm the One"), a 1950's crooner ("Blood and Tears"), early AC/DC libido driven blues rock ("Devil's Plaything"), and just pure campy shock fests ("Long Way Back From Hell" and "Snakes of Christ"). The production by Rick Rubin is top notch. It brings to mind the same retro feel as The Cult's "Electric".

If you've ever had any doubts about Danzig's solo material give this one a try. You won't be disappointed.

Here's "Devil's Plaything" and "Killer Wolf".

THE GORE GORE GIRLS

"Nothing has ever stripped your nerves as screamingly raw as THE GORE GORE GIRLS!" So goes the promo for this Herschell Gordon Lewis splatter fest.....and for once the teaser is dead-on because you will be needing a shower, some psyhco-therapy, and a barf bag(if you're the squeamish type) after you've feasted your eyes on this blood feast to end all blood feasts!

Made in 1972 at the end of H.G Lewis' career as a filmmaker, THE GORE GORE GIRLS pulls no punches. H.G. Lewis(a.k.a "The Godfather of Gore") was embittered with film-making at the time so he made a gore film that would be his most extreme and memorable and yet poke fun at all the trappings of the genre.

And extreme it is! This movie is all out gore. There is no point in mentioning the plot, and the acting is wooden and overdone simultaneously....by far the worst acting ever in an H. G. Lewis film.

So here's the deal. Go-go dancers are being gruesomely murdered in ways unheard of and we are shown every deep red detail. The camera does not flinch. It stays glued on the mayhem, and you have no choice but to watch more. You will see eyes gouged out, faces deep-fried until the skin melts off, brains and intestines everywhere, faces burned with irons, buttocks tenderized with a meat tenderizer until they bleed, nipples cut off with scissors(white milk comes out of one, chocolate milk comes out the other).....you get the point.
There is a detective out there looking for the killer somewhere, but the way this movie is made, you don't care if they find the killer or not because it's just gore gore gore all the way through!
Do you have the nerve to tackle THE GORE GORE GIRLS? I hope so, because if you don't, you're missing out...
'Til next time,
"I ain't nothing but a gore hound"

Here's a hilarious go-go dancing clip from the movie:

OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY: "STAY HAPPY"

Outrageous Cherry are a great retro psych rock band that has been around since 1994 or so. Their sound is a cross between downer hazy sweet psychedelic pop, heavy space rock a la Hawkwind, and high-gloss 1970's glam. Their music can be deceptively innocent...with almost a Beach Boys "Pet Sounds"era vibe mixed with the feeling of having taken one too many trips and you are staring into the abyss trying not to fall in.

Their latest album, "Stay Happy"(2006), strays away from the blistering space rock of a few of their previous efforts. It is a masterpiece of straight 1960's psych pop and 1970's glam. The vocals are detached and the lyrics are as cynical and paranoid as ever. The songs have that glossy, hazy, smoke-filled 1970's feel, and some bring to mind the work of "Slider" era T-Rex especially "Solid Sound Gangster". There's not a weak track on here. Highly recommended.

Here's two tracks from "Stay Happy". "Solid Sound Gangster" and "New Creature". Enjoy!

SPIRIT CARAVAN-"The Last Embrace"

Spirit Caravan. Anybody out there ever heard of this band? They are led by ex-Saint Vitus and Obsessed singer Scott "Wino" Weinrich. Like the two bands he came from, they are doomy stoner metal, but Spirit Caravan has a more unique sound than the other two. Filled with earth-moving riffs and grooves, a small dose of Sabbath worship, and gloomy introspective vocals, Spirit Caravan were a band to be reckoned with. The songs are mostly mid-paced so they don't fall in the same rut of sludge as some other doom metal bands. The best way to describe them would be to imagine a cross between the heavy, early Soundgarden and Motorhead.

"The Last Embrace" is a sprawling two-disc set covering most of Spirit Caravan's short but fruitful career. It's a good place to start if you're curious.

Here's "Healing Tongue" and "Cosmic Artifact". Enjoy!

THE SADIST

Who the hell is this guy with the ugly mug? It's Arch Hall, Jr., the worst rockabilly singer of all time! I've seen WILD GUITAR and I swear, he cannot carry a tune to save his life!! And his acting! It's just as bad as his singing, or so I thought........

Then this movie THE SADIST caught my eye. It had gotten some good reviews but I was highly skeptical..... but I broke down and bought it and it blew me away!

Made in 1963 by James Landis, THE SADIST is one hell of a suspense movie that never lets you off your guard. An escaped homicidal maniac and his girlfriend are hiding out in the middle of the desert at an old gas station. A group of teachers are on their way to a baseball game, but they start having car trouble. And guess where they take it to get fixed? In the hands of DEATH they are...The teachers wind up being held hostage for their car. Charlie (the escaped maniac played perfectly by Arch Hall, Jr.) and his girlfriend need it to move on.. One of the teachers knows how to fix cars a little so once the car is fixed everyone will be ok. Or so we think.....But you see, Charlie is, for lack of a better phrase, a sick fuck. He tortures these poor people and makes them squirm, and kills them off one by one. And he loves it. His girlfriend backs him up.....they have no remorse. They don't even really want the car!

For most of the movie, all you do is watch these people come to their end in a stark black and white desert landscape and it grates on your nerves you need a cigarette because this movie is way ahead of its time and you have to see what happens next so you stick it out until the end then you go get a drink somewhere to wind down........Well, what are you waiting for?

Siouxsie and the Banshees "Red Light"

I'm no huge Siouxsie and The Banshees fan, but there's something about the stark minimalism of this song and the album it came from, "Kaleidosope", that I love. This song's been creeping around in my head all day at work. Here it is..."Red Light".

THE CORPSE GRINDERS 2

LOTUS CAT FOOD: FOR CATS WHO LOVE PEOPLE.

Has any one seen the first CORPSE GRINDERS from 1972? It's a doozy.....slow, poorly acted, too low budget for its own good, but great entertainment! A couple of people decide to make cat food from human corpses by using a corpse-grinding machine. Cats start attacking people, the criminals get caught, and the corpse grinding machine turns the bad guys into cat food . The end. Ho hum............

But now, there's CORPSE GRINDERS 2 !! Made by the same director, TED V. MIKELS, but stepped up a bit for the 21'st century, there's plenty of new twists involved. Let's get one thing out of the way first. This is a TED MIKELS movie so the acting is going to be terrible and the production bad but the plot will be very imaginative......

And what a story it is! It opens with scrolling text just like you would see in Star Wars.....two planets are at war.........THE DOG PEOPLE and THE CAT PEOPLE.......a big spaceship battle ensues...THE CAT PEOPLE are losing and they need food...they look to the planet EARTH for help.

Cut to a seedy warehouse district. Two brothers are hard at work rebuilding their uncle's cat-food factory, LOTUS CAT FOOD. They think turning corpses into cat food sounds like a great idea......what a moneymaker!!! So they fire up the old corpse grinding machine, make some shady deals with embalmers, cremators, and grave-diggers, and they're all set!!!!!

The cat food business is booming! The corpse-grinding machine gets tons of attention in this movie! A corpse goes in one end and ground meat comes out the other.......over and over and over...

Cats start attacking humans then THE CAT PEOPLE come from outer space.........

What happens next? Well, you'll have to watch the movie!

I highly reccomend this one, especially if you're a fan of cult cinema......DOLORES FULLER makes an appearance and so does LIZ RENAY......big stars for Ed Wood and John Waters, respectively.

ENJOY!


Buy It Now!

THE SWANS

The Swans are a unique down-tempo, brooding art rock band that peaked in the late'80's & early '90's. Their two best works are "The Burning World"(1987), and "White Light From the Mouth of Infinity"(1991).

"The Burning World" is a dark, quite, brooding record with Michael Gira's deep, gloomy voice and Jarbo's beautiful yet haunting background vocals creating a soothing, pitch as black soundscape. The vibe from this album is somewhat akin to The Doors on downers, played at a slower speed.

Their follow up album, "White Light From the Mouth of Infinity" is more of an uplifting effort. Instead of the soft, acoustic sounds of "The Burning World", you are greeted with walls of guitars, keyboards, and an almost spiritual background chorus. M. Gira's vocals are depressive and cynical as ever, and they offer a stark contrast to the music....lifting you up and bringing you down at the same time.

I highly recommend both of these albums, and if you like what you hear, venture out and get some of their later stuff. You can also check out THE WORLD OF SKIN, a side project that Jarbo and Gira did between Swans albums.

Anyway, here's "Power and Sacrifice", from "White Light From the Mouth of Infinity", and "God Damn the Sun", from "The Burning World". Enjoy!

THE SWORD: "Age of Winters" and "Gods Of the Earth"

The Sword. Borrowing a few ideas from doom-maestro's Black Sabbath and Pentagram and mixing them up with speed metal a la early Mettalica and Slayer, these guys blew me away about a year ago when I picked up "Gods of the Earth"(2008). Let me tell you, that is one hell of a heavy disc. It's dizzying at times with non-stop pummeling guitar work, crushing riffs, slightly detached Ozzy-esque vocals, bizarre high fantasy lyrics, and non stop head-banging grooves throughout. It's hard to pigeon-hole this band...they are masters of the heaviest of both '70's and '80's metal at the same time. If there is such a thing as wearing out a CD I have come close to it with this one.

The Sword made it big I believe when they got a song from their first album, "Age of Winters"(2006), on Guitar Hero 2. The song was "Freya". While not as great as "Gods of the Earth", "Age of Winters" is still a pretty solid album. It's not quite as fast paced, and the vocals sound repetitive after a while.

It scares me that "Gods of the Earth", being only their second release, is so good. Either their next album will be a gift from god, or they will crash and burn. If and when they come out with a third album, I hope it will blow me away and take me back to the metal church where I belong....until then, we just have to watch these videos....

"How Heavy This Axe", "Maiden, Mother, and Crone", and "Freya".