Messages

76

Non-Music Shit / Re: Movies I've been watching

« on: January 24, 2014, 05:37:29 PM »

I had today off and I'm trying to get over a cold, plus I had to wait around  for the hot water tank repairman (again!) AND ridiculous low temperatures so the last two days have been good days to watch movies.

Yesterday:
Watched Incredible Petrified World. I knew it was going to be terrible when I saw Jerry Warren's name in the opening credits. Sure enough I fell asleep it was so boring. Next... Watched The Trip w/ Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Dennis Hopper. I love this movie, esp. the scene where Peter breaks into a house and pours the little girl a glass of milk. On a purely technical level, Easy Rider is the better film but I much prefer to watch the Trip or Psych-Out. Wrapped it up by watching Bird with the Crystal Plumage -- another long time favorite. I love how many of the minor characters have quirks like weird accents. This may be my favorite giallo ever.

Today:
Watched Mundo Depravados while eating breakfast. It's like a slightly more perverse Dragnet where Friday and Gannon are less intelligent but more enthusiastic about seeing boobs. Tempest Storm looks surprisingly less like a drag queen than she does in photos I've seen. Then around lunch time watched Black Candles. Mega f*cked up. All kinds of occult euro-weirdness, including lesbian scenes, a memorable scene with a goat, and lots of characters flicking their tongues around. Really weird. I think it's more unsettling than the Exorcist or the Wicker Man and it's for all the wrong reasons really. Followed that up with long time favorite Weekend with the Babysitter. If it's about a man's affair with a babysitter, why do we only see the kid she's babysitting for like a minute? Who knows... I love the music and dialogue in this, but it's damned hard to explain the appeal to other people. Then watched another long time fav -- Red Spirit Lake. Anyone else seen this? If you like Richard Kern, Beth B, Nick Zedd, then you'll probably love this piece of shot-on-video art/sleaze. It's got aliens/angels, allusions to witchcraft, fisting, and Holly Adams (I think) with a ridiculous fake southern accent. Finally broke up the monotony by putting on Bedlam w/ Boris Karloff. It reminded me a little of Freaks (but set in Ye Olden Tymes), but ultimately I got bored. Probably fried my brain with too much TV...

77

Music Shit / Re: What Are You Listening To And What Do You Have To Say About it? PART VI

« on: January 24, 2014, 05:03:50 PM »

Bauhaus also openly mocked "goth" fans/bands in interviews, if I correctly recall. -- k.

A long-running in-joke in the goth community is that you avoid the "g-word" at all costs. There's a lot of history of bands (Banshees and Sisters especially) avoiding the tag.

Errrr as someone who lived through death rock, believe me it was beyond LA, London, whatever. There were death rock bands in SF, like Lethal Gospel and a few others too  horrible to remember. There were a few in the Northwest. There were a couple in Sacramento. There were bands like Theatre of Ice who cropped up in godforsaken places like Fallon, Nevada (look it up on a map). Like any genre of music at the time, few of these bands ever hit vinyl. Some put out a demo cassette. Most of them went unrecorded and the only way you'd know about them is if you lived through it or did some very intense research in zines. -- SSR

So true. Most big cities had a few bands but many didn't record anything but demos. Living in Detroit, I was only aware of a handful of bands until the 2000s.

Oh yeah, sure. More lyrically than anything else, though you can hear it on a song like Tales of Terror. They would never have called themselves Death Rock nor would have been called it by people thems days. They liked their beer and acid too much and had more Dead Boys/NY Dolls in them style-wise than they did Christian Death. I think that they were much closer to glam metal than Death Rock. Their influences were pretty similar to that of Faster Pussycat, Motley Crue, etc. In fact, Rat's Ass "borrowed" my Smack and Hanoi Rock records. -- SSR

Glam and hair metal influences were common in those days. Lords of the New Church had a somewhat glam sound. The Flower Leperds too. I knew lots of metalheads that listened to Sisters and the Cult. Detroit had a band with that crossover sound -- Murder Style. Also many venues that hosted gothy bands also put on concerts by Circus of Power, LA Guns, Bang Tango, etc. I still have tapes by those bands. You can see how the two genres merged in bands like Jane's Addiction, The 69 Eyes, and Wednesday 13.

Absolutely it was called Death Rock.  That's the name I called it in 1981.  I didn't know the term "goth" till several years later. -- Old Kyle

100% correct. Goth is an after-the-fact genre name. No one back then called Birthday Party, Siouxsie, etc. goth. -- SSR

We called Christian Death and 45 Grave deathrock. Deathrock was pretty much defined as music that was meant to offend by seeming sacrilegious or satanic (fake or otherwise) and seemed related to shock rock. It still retained punk rock energy and deathrock bands often played on bills with punk bands so it remained different from stuff like Venom and Mercyful Fate, which I listened to too. Christian Death had definite occult undertones and 45 Grave had songs like "Evil" and "Insurance from God". I didn't really consider Kommunity FK a deathrock band at the time, but Samhain and Mighty Sphincter were.

We also used the term goth around 1987. Goth applied specifically to Sisters, the Cult, the Mission, and especially the lesser known bands that followed in their wake like Nosferatu, Rosetta Stone, The Wake, Meridian, etc. Goth bands sounded more commercial and dressed in fancy imported clothes. We followed those bands by reading Propaganda magazine. Anne Rice's books were a big influence around that time too.

My friends and I listened to all of that stuff, plus punk rock, new wave and post-punk, some industrial (Skinny Puppy, Minsitry, Cab Volt), Depeche Mode and the Smiths. I was the weirdo in my group of friends that listened to more punk and metal and less new wave. There was no internet so our main sources of information were MTV, Rolling Stone, the Trouser Press Record Guide, and especially conversations with older punks at records stores and Noir Leather.

Basically, it is all punk rock. Death Rock girls were usually cute and rich, however by the time you were able to remove enough of their clothing to see skin, they'd hit their curfew and had to go home. -- SSR

Hey now -- behave yourself!

78

Non-Music Shit / Re: Movies I've been watching

« on: January 19, 2014, 07:53:23 AM »

Death Race 2000 Great Exploitations. Bi curious to see how awful the 00's remake was.....

Don't be.

In a eco-horror sci-fi kinda mood.


Prophecy (1979)

A fun silly B-movie by an A-name director.

I always get Prophecy mixed up with Embryo -- mostly because of this poster!

79

Non-Music Shit / Re: Recommend gothic and spooky japanese horror flicks of the 60s

« on: January 19, 2014, 07:46:42 AM »

Guess I'm kinda looking for japanese films that equal the gothic italian shockers from Mario Bava of the same period.

Yeah. When I think of gothic -- I think of Hammer horrors, movies with Barbara Steele, and Edgar Allan Poe adaptions -- usually with Vincent Price. I'm not sure how widely that stuff was shown in Japan in the 1960s. Even a lot of the things I expect to see in a gothic shocker -- castles, candleabras, painted portraits of dead ancestors at the top of staircases, family crypts below the ancestoral home, doctors trying to restore their daughters' deformed faces -- would have seemed like really alien concepts to the Japanese.

I'll have to check out Horrors of Malformed Men though -- I don't think I ever saw that one and I like a lot of Synapse stuff.

80

Non-Music Shit / Re: Movies I've been watching

« on: January 19, 2014, 07:28:52 AM »

A couple days ago I dragged out the VHS tape for the Uncanny while waiting for the hot water heater repairman (a frequent thing this time of year in Detroit). I don't think I ever watched this since I bought it from a video store closing down years ago. It's a 70s (very) British suspense thriller. There's a great cast -- Peter Cushing, Ray Milland, Samantha Eggar, Donald Pleasance -- but it's ultimately too tame. It reminds me of the 70s Charlton/Gold Key comics I read as a kid, like Grimm's Ghost Stories and the Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves. The "shocks" are not shocking and even the little bits of blood are shown only for a fleeting instant. I couldn't finish it. Maybe I'll try again in another 10 or 15 years...

I found Return to Oz on VHS at the thrift store yesterday. Forgot or didn't know that Dorothy was played by Fairuza Balk from the Craft.  I saw this in the theater when I was much younger and remembered it seemed dark and surreal and guess what... it still seems dark and surreal. An evil queen that wears other people's heads, a talking chicken, claymation gnome/rock king, electro-shock therapy -- don't go into this expecting it to be like the classic w/ Judy Garland. Great cast too -- Piper Laurie (from Carrie) as the Aunt, Jean Marsh (from Hitchcock's Frenzy) as the evil queen, etc.

Also thrifted two 70s kung fu VHS yesterday. I watched the Shaw Brothers one this morning -- which has the unlikely title of Dirty Ho -- amazing if you're into this sort of thing. Great characters, comedic moments, long complex fights. The really abrupt ending threw me off though -- maybe it was edited for US distribution or something? The tape says Lion, but it looks just like one of those cheap*ss Xenon/Arena Shaolin/Dolemite/Wu Tang tapes.

81

Music Shit / Re: What Are You Listening To And What Do You Have To Say About it? PART VI

« on: January 19, 2014, 06:40:24 AM »

For the last two days I've been listening a lot to the Mob -- Let the Tribe Increase. It reminds me of Subhumans UK -- 29/29 Split Vision (but prefigures it), but also I can hear the influence of Wire's first two albums, Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, and maybe early Fall. Many people lump them in with Crass because band members were friends, but they don't sound like Crass. So great -- underrated and understated.

Also, got the Swans -- The Burning World on cassette at a thrift store about a week ago and finally listened to it yesterday while doing/putting away laundry. I don't think I've listened to it in years, even though I have it on vinyl. I forgot how much I love this! Even though I love Greed, Holy Money, etc. I think this may be my favorite Swans album because it's so varied. It used to be seen as their "sellout" album -- but the arrangements are beautiful and you still get Gira's great atonal voice, slow tempos, etc.

Cool! Never heard this...

82

Non-Music Shit / Re: Recommend gothic and spooky japanese horror flicks of the 60s

« on: January 15, 2014, 08:53:39 PM »

Yeah! Onibaba and Kwaidan are definitely the high points.

Have you seen Goke, Bodysnatcher from Hell yet? I was expecting it to be campy, and it was a little, but it was really unsettling with a very cynical and downbeat tone that I wasn't expecting. It's not gothic or supernatural in a traditional sense though. It's worth seeking out if you haven't seen it.

Trash Palace carries the "Ghost Cat" movies and while they are not as great as Onibaba and Kwaidan, they have similar imagery.

I hope that helps 

83

Music Shit / Re: terrible reviews of amazing bands

« on: January 15, 2014, 02:24:57 PM »

I never understood why Morrissey hated the Ramones so much, but loved the Cramps and the New York Dolls. Makes no sense to me.  I'm not saying you have to like all three, but it seems to me that they had a similar sound and aesthetic, especially considering that period in time.

84

Music Shit / Re: School me on deathrock

« on: January 06, 2014, 04:25:55 PM »

Cracker -- you seem to be under this weird impression that I'm a teenager or something. I just turned 40 last week. I remember the 80s pretty well. Granted Detroit was probably pretty different than California in the 80s...

85

Non-Music Shit / Re: what are you reading?

« on: January 06, 2014, 04:10:58 PM »

I'm finishing Justine by the Marquis de Sade which reminds me of both the Perils of Pauline and the book Pamela which I had to read in college.

Just before the holidays I started reading The Covert War Against Rock (Feral House). Among other interesting tidbits, I learned that Mark David Chapman was linked to John Hinckley, Sr and visited Kenneth Anger before assassinating John Lennon. Weird. It also dips heavily into Vietnam and the Kennedy assassinations.

I also started reading The Old Magic of Christmas which explains the pagan origins of Christmas -- the significance of mistletoe and holly, Santa's elves, Krampus, and lots of German/Scandinavian/Celtic stuff. I'll probably put it away and pick it up again next November.

I've got a stack of Jim Thompson novels I found at the thrift store that I haven't read yet -- South of Heaven, The Getaway, The Criminal, The Transgressors, Now and On Earth, The Alcoholics, and A Hell of a Woman. Anyone wanna weigh-in on which of these is best?

86

Music Shit / Re: Bands/Musicians With HUGE discographies and the best starting point

« on: January 06, 2014, 03:48:03 PM »

I'd like a primer on the Legendary Pink Dots catalog -- what's a good starting point and maybe an overview of how their sound changed (if it did).

87

Music Shit / Re: School me on deathrock

« on: January 06, 2014, 03:40:40 PM »

Who cares, other than you with dead buddies? "goth and heroin killed my friends." One of the dumber digressions I've seen on this board in a while.

Yes, it has been a while since you went on a goth and drugs are cool digression.

It is stupid to argue that there was a lot more going on than drugs in the 80s LA goth scene, just like it is stupid to argue that the Mystic Records catalog does not hold your interest.

Well, considering that's not what was being argued, by anyone... the point was that post-hardcore people experimented with a lot of their pre-punk influences, incorporating it into their projects, which is not a shocking revelation, but an obvious and well known historical fact.

I get it, heroin ravaged the scene. That makes sense, it tends to do that. Maybe you guys think all of the music from that place and time is shit. You have the right to that opinion. The suggestion that goth music spontaneously erupts out of people who use heroin is absurd, and easily debunked.

Getting upset when people talk about music they like because you associate it with hard time you lived through... I dunno, seems a little whiny to me? Unless members of these bands like sold dope that killed your friends, or tuned 'em on to the drug, then by all means, dish away, I'm sure that'd make for an interesting read.

Heroin kills. I get a little bored and sick of hearing people rag on addicts because they got too caught up in their vices. While I know personally that it sucks to lose people to hard drugs. It really is brutal and fucked. How do you think it is for those who are the ones who actually wind up dead or in prison? You think it's nice for them?

Right. I won't bother to contribute to any discussions of power-pop or free jazz because I know I have nothing to add. Instead I'm passionate about deathrock and post-punk which I always feel gets maligned in favor of more straight punk sounds. I like punk and hardcore too -- other threads will show this. The thread is called "School me on deathrock" right? I feel like I've given as much worthwhile info as fine ham abounds, Dick, and DJ Rick -- info about older and recent bands. There's no reason to get butt-hurt about drugs and "revising history" in a thread that's clearly about music you don't like.

88

Music Shit / Re: Bands/Musicians With HUGE discographies and the best starting point

« on: January 06, 2014, 03:18:09 PM »

Herb Alpert
The Ventures

Start with Ventures in Space. Some tracks are even more fun if you change the speed to 45. Then proceed to Knock Me Out!, Guitar Freakout, and maybe Underground Fire if you like cheesy exploito-psych sounds. I'm pretty sure some B-sides of the 45s aren't on the albums but are worth picking up for cheap. Actually I don't think I paid more than $3 for any Ventures stuff. The Play Along with the Ventures album is worthwhile if you never learned to play guitar.

89

Music Shit / Re: School me on deathrock

« on: January 06, 2014, 12:19:25 PM »

Perfect timing! New interview w/ Kommunity FK's Patrik Mata, inc. the topics of influences, drugs, Discharge and Mystic Records.
http://www.cvltnation.com/interview-deathrock-band-kommunity-fk/

90

Upcoming Shows/Tours/Events / Re: New York's Alright 2014

« on: January 05, 2014, 05:04:00 PM »

If I knew for sure we could make this show we totally would -- New York's kind-of a drive from Detroit though so........

I'm still hoping that Belgrado and/or Anasazi add Detroit tour dates. Def give us updates for sure!