The Red Crayola's "The Parable of Arable Land" is a free form, psychedelic, noise art masterpiece from 1967. Guitar, bass, and drums carry the music, but it is surrounded and enveloped in a cacophony of other noises and instruments played in a somewhat haphazard fashion. This album in a way is a do it yourself incursion into free jazz and psychedelia, with an underlying 1960's garage punk feel throughout. This album consists of several free from instrumental tracks, or "free form freak outs", with hooky, trippy, and sleazy 1960's garage punk classics embedded between the freak outs. The actual songs on this album and bring to mind early Cramps, especially with the vocals. A few of my favorite tracks are "Hurricane Fighter Plane" and "Pink Stainless Tail". Truly brilliant, or misguided noise where the musicians are too stoned out to even play their instruments properly...which one best describes The Red Crayola? I personally think they are brilliant, but listen to the two tracks below and decide for yourself.
Let me know what you think. "Parable of Arable Land" is an album that's not too expensive and fairly easy to find. Highly recommended.
Sun Ra and his band (The Intergalactic Solar Arkestra, or whatever other name Sun Ra sees fit for them at the time) have cranked out some amazing space jazz music over the years. His early works from the 1950's are more straightforward, lean, mean, clean, and vibrant futuristic space jazz. His later works from the early to mid 1960's and on through the 1970's are frighteningly beautiful, mind blowing free jazz/space music and psychedelia suited for a millennium that has yet to come. There is a movie from the 1970's called "Space Is the Place" about his work from this highly adventurous time period that I will review soon.
Today, however, I want to focus on an early release of his, the traditional yet futuristically charged double album "Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth/Interstellar Low Ways"(1956). This is, like I said, a more traditional work, but at the same time it is a vibrant, tuneful, meditating and dark...exploring the realms of outer and inner space while staying within the confines (and joyously bending them at the same time) of traditional jazz music. Not nearly as out there as Sun Ra's later material, it is still a warming, campy, futuristic masterpiece, and the best place to start if you want to get into Sun Ra. It is the first Sun Ra CD I bought, and it remains my personal favorite of his.
Ornette Coleman's 1960 masterpiece "Free Jazz" is a startlingly innovative jazz album. It features two jazz quartets playing at the same time, improvising, and playing off of each other. The album consists of one song, clocking in at around forty minutes. On first listen, it is highly chaotic, but on repeated listenings it is frighteningly beautiful. Out of the chaos comes a beautiful, natural order as you listen to the instruments playing off of each other, and the solos are incredible. There is an organic sense of melody that holds everything together. You hear something different every time you listen to it. In a way, "Free Jazz" reminds me of the action painting and abstract expressionism of the work of Jackson Pollack. In fact, one of his paintings are featured on the cover. Highly recommended, for the adventurous music listener only.
I'm a huge fan of Ornette Coleman's work. All of his albums are beautiful and challenging. His music is harmolodic, a phrase he coined himself. It goes against traditional scales and key signatures. You play what you feel and hear, and out of the chaos comes order. A modern day example of this would be the adventurous, difficult to replicate guitar playing of Greg Ginn from Black Flag.
Here is a ten minute excerpt from "Free Jazz". Enjoy.
Just one more retro doom metal track. It's from doom maestros Pentagram, their song "Death Row" from their mind blowingly heavy and addictive 1985 album "Relentless". One of my all time favorite songs and albums. If you don't have this one, drop what you're doing and pick it up now. Their adrenaline fueled influence on stoner and doom metal is tremondous.
Ok. Just in a retro doom state of mind today. Had a long day out and about, more than the usual weekend's errands. So I'm finally home, a gloomy day, was warm earlier now it's raining and cold....some wine and a good meal....relaxing with some early Black Sabbath, their first album. Fits my mood and it's a classic, hands down. Enjoy a little Sabbbath on your Saturday night or early Sunday mourn.
The Cult's "Electric"(1987) is one of my all time favorite albums. It is quite possibly The Cult's best effort, and my personal favorite of theirs. Parting from their goth-rock past, "Electric" is straight ahead, heavy, unpretentious, starry-eyed, libido driven 1970's blues rock. Rick Rubin's production gives the album a glossy, yet heavy and fiery sound. Ian Astbury's vocals and Billly Duffy's guitar work are scorching, and the songwriting is incredible. A few of my favorite tracks are "Wildflower" and "Lil' Devil". All tracks are extremely addictive, however. The only song I could do without is their cover of "Born to Be Wild". All in all, "Electric" is a ferocious, adrenaline fueled, classic rock and roll album that should not be missed by anyone. Highly recommended.
Harvey Pekar's excellent comic book 'American Splendor" was responsible for getting me out of superhero comics when I was a teenager and into the more experimental comics that were out there, waiting for me to devour them. This comic book also turned me on to a lot of great books and authors that I never would have thought about reading otherwise such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, James Joyce's "Ulysses" and Eugene Zamiatin's incredible dystopian novel "We".
"American Splendor" is an autobiographical comic book about the life of Harvey Pekar. The first issue was published in 1976. Harvey writes about the mundane, day to day activities of life, but treats them with drama and makes them significant. He has an uncanny talent for unearthing the unseen beauty of day to day existence. Pekar is well founded in realism(psychological and physical). His stories can be a sort of an elaborate stream of consciousness monologue about his innermost thoughts or something so simple as walking to the store to buy a loaf of bread. You walk away from his work with a greater appreciation for life and with your eyes open to things in your own life that you've never really paid attention to before. He does not idealize himself or any of his characters. All of these stories and characters come from his real life. Harvey only writes the stories. He gives his artists photos and rough thumbnails of how he wants the images to flow.
Harvey Pekar got into comics when he started hanging out in the 1960's with underground comics artist Robert Crumb, who would illustrate many of his stories. He has survived numerous bouts with David Letterman on TV, cancer, and even having an excellent, surprisingly faithful movie made about his life and comics. I will review this movie soon. I just have to watch it again to refresh my memory of it. He is still writing "American Splendor". Currently it is being published by Vertigo, a DC Comics imprint.
His comics, especially his earlier ones, can be hard to find at times. Many of them had small pressings. The best place to start would be any of the numerous paperback collections that are out there.
NevousNorvus. I first discovered his music in John Water's insane cult film "Female Trouble". The song was "Dig" and it cracks me up in disbelief every time I hear it. Nervous Norvus, starting in 1956 crafted jittery, sometimes annoying but always addictive novelty music with a hepcat attitude and way out there beat lyrics that verge on dada. I love his stuff. His first single was 'Tranfusion", a deranged song about the dangers of reckless driving. He followed with the nonsensical"Dig", the science fiction, beatnik opus "The Fang", and other singles. He kept recording throughout the 1950's. By the time 1960's rolled around, his life sank into mystery. He passed away in 1968 from cirrhosis of the liver.
Here's a sampling of his lyrics, from "The Fang": "I got a be-bop cat, man, a real stingaree And a solid gold keychain down to the knees And real nervous pegs with a crazy crease I'm the Fang "
I have a small handful of his singles that Ive downloaded from the internet here and there. There is a comprehensive CD collection of his works called "Stoneage Woo" on Norton Records that I'm going to have to break down and buy soon. There is a great article on Nervous Norvus you can read here. Hope you get as much of a kick out of his stuff as I do.
David Cronenberg's "The Brood"(1979) is an unsettling and intense film of psychological and biological horror. The movie is about a family of three that is being torn apart by mental illness. The wife, Nola (eerily and masterfully played by Samantha Eggar) is in a mental institution and only gets to see her child Candace(well played by Cindy Hinds) on the weekends. In the meantime, the husband Frank is doing his best to keep the relationship with his wife afloat. When Candace comes home after one weekend, Frank sees scars on her back and he thinks his wife has been beating her. Outraged, he wants to stop his wife from seeing her child, and this creates all kinds of torment and anguish for everyone in the movie.
You see, Nola's psychiatrists' practice is unique. He encourages his patients' minds to manifest their problems in an external, biological form. One patient of his was beaten by his father. When he is in therapy sessions, welts inexplicably appear on his body. With Nola, the anger she has with her husband and the outrage of not being able to see her child manifests itself in a grotesque, unbelievable form. She gives birth through external sacks on her belly, outside the womb, to bizarre creatures that look similar to her daughter Candace. These creatures have sharp teeth, no naval, and no pupils. Their faces are slightly deformed. She psychically controls these creatures...they do her subconscious bidding. Whenever she is angry, they go out and kill the object of her anger, and they kill quickly and viciously, without remorse. The sight of these hooded child-like creatures popping up out of nowhere and going on a murder spree is very unsettling, and creates a sense of uneasiness throughout the entire movie. Frank and the psychiatrist Dr. Hal (played by Oliver Reed) must stop the killings and get Nola's anger under control. But how?
This a very intense personal movie. Writer/director David Cronenberg was going through a custody battle for his child during the making of this film The mood is dark and foreboding. You can feel Nola's pain at not being able to see her child, and you can feel that Frank still loves her. He strongly disagrees with Dr. Hal's unorthodox, damaging treatment and he truly feels for her. Put this against the backdrop of Nola psychically killing her mom, dad, and Frank's mistress-to-be, and the horror of her uncontrollable anger. How do you deal with a loved one whose behaviour is beyond control? And what do you do to protect your child and yourself? What is the right thing to do?
The ending to this movie is very saddening and violent. I don't want to give away what happens, but it leaves you with an intense, sinking feeling that is not easy to shake. This is not a feel good movie by any means. The horrifying, discordant, violin laden soundtrack by Howard Shore does not help. It is a brooding, emotional roller coaster ride of a movie that is not easy to take, but it is still a masterpiece of horror that should be experienced at least once.
David Cronenberg is one of my favorite directors. His movies, in some shape and form, are about the deeply psychological and physical horrors of the body or mind turning against itself. This makes his movies more terrifying and all the more real that your standard horror or science fiction fare. After you watch 'The Brood", you should check out "Videodrome", "Shivers", and "Naked Lunch", three more of my favorite Cronenberg films.
Ok. I've just stumbled upon a blog that I'm dying to tell you about. I just came upon it over at The Lightning Bug's Lair. The name of the blog is The Horrors of It All, masterfully done and ran by a gentleman named Karswell. His blog is dedicated to pre-comics code authority comics of the 1950's. I love these comics. They are dark, subversive, and intense, with well written edge of your seat stories and artwork that bleeds with detail and is filled with a sense of urgency. I love the EC comics from this time period such as "The Vault of Horror", 'Tales from the Crypt", and "Weird Science". Karswell offers you these entire, brilliant comics stories uncut and page by page, to read at your leisure He even offers you the original advertsiments from these comics as well. There is an excellent sense of nostalgia in this blog. Head on over to "The Horrors of It All" and give it an eye full. I'm sure you will like it.
I myself am a longtime comics fan with no comics collection at the moment. Comic collecting is an expensive hobby. I had to sell a lot of my comics to buy my first car and to give me some much needed space. The rest were damaged by a fire, and I eventually and reluctantly had to get rid of all of them. My favorites are not only the pre-comics code horror, sci-fi, and crime comics. I also love the 1960's Marvel Comics and the more adventurous DC titles such as "The Watchmen" and "V for Vendetta". I also love the ingenious black & white indie comics such as 'Zot", 'Flaming Carrot","Cerebus", and "American Splendor". I also enjoy those subversive , underground comics from the late 1960's through the 1970's, such as "Zap Comix". Eventually. I hope to rebuy all of these in slick, paperback or hardcover editions.
Anyway, go check out "The Horrors of It All", and I'll see you back here tomorrow.
I don't know what is. I guess I'm just sick of the gloomy cold days of winter and I'm longing for brighter, sunnier days and the opportunity to head down to the beach the first chance I get. I've been listening to a lot of Astrud Gilberto lately. Hers is the perfect music to fit my longing for the warmer, brighter days ahead. Her voice is sultry, soothing, and sexy. Her music is perfect, laid back, and sophisticated Brazilian bossanova and jazz. I cannot recommend her music enough. It transports you to a different world, puts you in a better mood, and whisks you away from your day to day troubles. There is a lingering sadness in her work, but that just adds to the sophistication and appeal of her music. The song she is best known for is "The Girl from Ipanema", a masterpiece, one of the best songs ever written. The best and really only CD you need by her is the compilation "Compact Jazz: Astrud Giberto" released by Verve in 1990. I can't get enough of this CD.
Here's "The Girl from Ipanema", a duet sang with her husband. His vocals are in Portuguese, hers are in English.
