GOZU (Takashi Miike); DVD
Surreal DVD (2003)
Takashi Miike's stark, "Yakuza Horror Theatre" presentation Gozu (2003) is an infernal cinematic nightmare of fear and anxiety, played out within a sepia-toned subterranean underworld abstracted to the point of outright parody. Like many of the director's more personal and idiosyncratic pictures, the plot is largely secondary to the uncomfortable atmosphere and wild sense of spectacle presented on screen, as Miike constructs an absurd and enigmatic story of a loyal Yakuza henchman struggling with issues of homosexuality, guilt and desire when he is required by his boss to "dispose" of his mentally unstable brother in arms. This incredibly personal and moral dilemma - in which the central character must juggle the greater notions of loyalty to his boss and the loyalty to his best-friend and mentor-like figure that he's obviously quite attracted to - creates a rift within the world of the film that plunges the whole story into suffocating surrealism, horror and the absurd.
FAUST Jan Svankmajer; DVD
Surrealist DVD (1994), New
"Faust" is a wonderful blend of real-time and stop-motion storytelling by a master of the surreal. An apparently ordinary everyman is led by curiosity into a dilapidated building which turns out to be a strange blend of alchemical laboratory, theater, and puppeteer's workshop. Suddenly, the man finds himself becoming the legendary Dr. Faust, selling his soul to the devil in exchange for magical powers. Jan Svankmajer is the true sorcerer here. He blends stage sets with real locations and seven-foot puppets with live actors, making magic of it all. Powerful, surreal, and more intelligent than any animation anywhere.
THE SAVAGE PLANET (1973); DVD
DVD Surreal Animation, New
This is a surrealist French animation from the 70s, and that's pretty much the sum-up of its description: Surreal, 70s, and French. Animations like this are quite rare, not only is it completely psychedelic, the intent was political in nature, though by these days the movie has toned down a bit. It is in fact a really pretty animation because of its use of colors and design, which for me is a lot more interesting than its historical value. For fans of animation of different types, it's a must see, but also for those who crave the underground psychedelic aspects of the 70s era.
MEET THE FEEBLES (1989) Peter Jackson; DVD
DVD; New
Cool puppetry and a whacked out plot make this New Zealand effort on par with some of the best cult films today. There are animals of all shapes, sizes, colors, and ethnicities; some are into money, others are into dancing, and then there are others who are into porn, coke, and feces. This film is rude, gross, demented, and hilarious. Peter Jackson's pre Hollywood glory days....ordinary people just don't make films this warped. Unfortunately, we will never see films of this quality from Peter Jackson again.
NEKROMANTIK 2 (Jorg Buttgereit) 1991; DVD
Limited Edition 2 disc box set (Barrel entertainment), New
This is quite a beautiful course of death, and I should like to think that those who became enamored of Nekromantik,also here should find a maggoty morsel or two, to satiate their rotten pallets. I certainly did. Necrophilia has no favorites, and this time around, the haunts are reserved for the ladies. And who ever said that a corpse is worse off in the tender and dismembering hands of a woman, than in a mans'? This destructive little thing tells the tale of Monika, a nurse, whose greatest wish when coming home,after caring for her patients, is to have an absolutely still and passive face to greet her lovingly. And what better cadaverous candidate, than good old Rob whose been nursing coffin-boards for the last five years? A beautiful relationship soon evolves, and in the loving hands of Monika, Rob soon learns how to part with those tiresome appendages one calls legs, arms and head. While I find the end sequence in Nekromantik rewarding and special, nothing had prepared me for the end sequence in Nekromantik 2. The first time I saw it, it blew me away. Even if you are a seasoned gore-hound, I can almost guarantee you that you have never seen an ending as bloody and bizarre as this! Fucking excellent! And of course the musical score is brilliant....
SONIC YOUTH; Burning Spear (live) 7"
Limited 7" Promo single (1993)
Promo - Live Recordings From Melbourne Big Day Out Festival 1993 - Picture Sleeve
A1 - Burning Spear
A2 - Teenage Riot
B - Swimsuit Issue
MURDEROUS VISION / KURU “Blood-Brain Barrier” Split CD
CD (2003) Somnambulant Corpse
Murderous Vision begins with six tracks of their increasingly bleak death industrial soundscapes. "Stumble Upon the Scene" opens with murky synths, manipulated vocal samples, and unusual percussive sounds; "A Body Left at the Corrigated Dock" runs 11+ minutes of rumbling distortion and feedback with harsh distorted vocals and pounding low-end in the distance; "Face of the Kill" is quieter and uses lots of thin, fragile distortion with a subtle loop repeating at times; "Crushed, Then Removed" follows similarly but kicks up the rhythmic pulse and aggression factor tenfold, also utilizing some blistering distorted vocal shouts that lend a power electronics feel to things; "4th Day Stench" continues in a very similar but even harsher manner; and "Baby, It Ain't No Sin" closes with an unusual attack of harsh noise with hyper obfuscated vocals and lots of vibrating movement. The feel is definitely rooted in death industrial, but everything from flowing dark ambient to blatant hash noise is suitably represented herein. Kuru offers up four tracks in about 20 minutes, 10 minutes or so less than what Murderous Vision threw out. "Landing of the Gods" is fairly harsh rising and falling tones and some chaotic bursts with delay; "Dreamwalker" uses hums and drones with some almost melodic ringing tones to create a softer, more minimal and expressive track; "Collective Meat" is a good mix of dark ambient and harsh textures, creating a brooding atmosphere that is curious in that the sounds suggest that you may be hearing things that aren't really there; "Contaminating Opposites" is far quieter than the other compositions, with some distant abrasive distortion and sweeping low-end synth undercurrents - very cool; and the closer, "Resolve Into Totem", is a brief piece that infuses some melodic synths (under light distortion) into the mix. The CD-R comes in a DVD case with excellent packaging with cover printed in bronze on metallic card.
SONIC YOUTH; Нация Мечтателей (Nation of Dreamers) (1991)
LP (Russian bootleg release of 'Daydream Nation), Used
This is an awesome item for any Sonic Youth collector. The back story is that during the cold war, the USSR's governing powers placed restrictions on imports of some international musical recordings, specifically those from the USA. Thus began a Soviet phenomenon of “bone music” (roentgenizdat) – where bootleg recordings of music that had been banned in the USSR, would be lathe cut on to, and released as "flexi disc" records on discarded x-rays. This record is a direct recording pressed form a 'bone music' bootleg, released to Russian Sonic Youth fans who would otherwise not have access to this classic LP.
Released in Russia( read USSR) in 1991. The interesting thing about this, bootleg release LP, is that it has only 8 tracks on a single disc, instead of the original double LP, which contained 14 tracks. The person who produced the bootleg, supposedly just picked out the songs that they liked from the original LP. Apparently, they didn't have a copy of the original artwork,and so just took their own photos of a candle to try to replicate the original artwork, which were of course were the original Gerhard Richter paintings. The names of the tracks are in Russian on the backside of LP. The name roughly translates to "Nation of Dreamers".
Track listing in English as follows:
A1. Teen Age Riot
A2. Silver Rocket
A3. Cross The Breeze
B1. Eric's Trip
B2. Hey Joni
B3. Providence
B4. Candle
B5. Rain King
HAXAN: WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES; DVD
DVD (1922) - (1968 re-release)
Directed by Scandinavian filmmaker Benjamin Christensen, 'Haxan -Witchcraft Through the Ages' (1922) is a strange silent film depicting black magic, witchcraft, and demonology from the middle ages to the 20th century. Shot and presented in documentary form, the film is more akin to a pseudo-scholarly lecture with moving visual aids. Not as intense or as shocking today as upon its initial release, the film is filled with nightmarish images that are certainly profane and explicit, but also humorous. Yes, sex goes hand-in-hand with Satan, and Christensen's flamboyant portrayal of the aforementioned character, complete with flicking, wanton tongue, drives home the point (well, that and a peppering of nudity). Unique to say the least, 'Haxan' is a rather weird curio of a film with some incredibly atmospheric, somewhat graphic images, esp. for that era.
The 1968 re-release with an electric jazz-fusion score by Jean Luc Ponty and narration by William S. Burroughs is a treat in itself.
WISEBLOOD; Stumbo/Someone drowned in my pool
12" Single (1986), Used
WIseblood is the late 80's early 90's duo of Roli Mosimann (Swans) and JG Thirlwell (aka Jim Foetus, Clint Ruin). Stumbo is a pre-release 12" single from WISEBLOOD's 1987 LP 'Dirtdish'.
BORN LOSERS; Original Movie Soundtrack
LP (1967), Used
Born Losers is a 1967 American outlaw biker film. The film introduced half American Indian, Green Beret, Vietnam veteran Billy Jack. The film script was quickly written in the 60's designed to capitalize on the then-popular trend in motorcycle gang movies. The story was based on a real incident from 1964 where members of the Hells Angels were arrested for raping two teenage girls in Monterey, California.
This is the original 1967 release, credited to The Sidewalk Sounds, Terry Stafford and Summer Saxophones.
ROBIN FOX; A Small Prometheus
LP, New
Melbourne based experimental producer Robin Fox released this six track LP on 'Editions Mego' in 2015. An album of music created to soundtrack a dance piece developed with choreographer Stephanie Lake. As the label explains, A Small Prometheus explores “themes of combustion and heat dissipating in various physical systems,” using a synthesis of electronic and acoustic sources.
