Funky and creepy at the same time, the score to Dario Argento‘s 1975 classic giallo movie Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) is a great one. Claudio Simonetti’s Goblinreleased this version a few years back with new performances of the classic material Simonetti made with the original members of Goblin and also with live versions and alternate cuts.
The main theme, “Profondo Rosso,” combines Simonetti’s clockwork synths with church organs, funk bass, and prog-rock drumming. “Death Dies” could fit into any 1970’s action film with its urgent piano chords, TittaTani‘s car chase drums, and BrunoPrevitali‘s groovy guitar squalls. Federico Amorosi‘s bass on “Mad Puppet” is like lava bubbling under a dormant volcano until about the three-minute mark when the tune becomes a chilling walk through what normally is a groovy neighborhood but now feels slightly…wrong.
“Deep Shadows” is bizarre with its quirky synths, Previtali’s shredding, and the rhythm section breaking the tune open into a prog-rock jam. A live version (from 2000) of “School at Night” follows, with its creepy child sing-song vocals and music box chimes, and it flows into live versions (from the same show) of “Mad Puppet” and “Profondo Rosso.”
Rounding out the album are alternate versions of “Death Dies” (from 1992) and “Profondo Rosso” (from 1990). Both are harder, faster versions. Simonetti’s piano work on “Death Dies” is especially frantic and jazzy. The version of the main theme (which is also another live cut) is even called the “rock version” and has bigger drums and guitars with a bit more distortion than usual. Plus, Simonetti goes nuts on his keyboards by the end of it.
It’s a great score, especially if you love giallo movies, Goblin’s work, or progressive rock.
This 2004 collection from Cherry Red Records covers music made by living legend composer Ennio Morriconefor films in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. It’s a wild, trippy mix of music for thrillers, erotic comedies, and crime films.
It starts with three tracks from one of the best giallo films ever made, Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. The theme, “Plume di Cristallo,” begins the journey into a dark, shadowy world with creepy, child-like vocals, tinkling crystal bells, and acoustic guitar that’s both warm and chilling at the same time. The lovely, almost waltz-like “Non Rimane Piu Nessano” and the jazz freak-out “Corsa Sui Tetti” (which sounds like a fight inside a dark club) follow.
After that we get two from another Argento film that Morricone scored – Four Flies on Grey Velvet – “Come Un Madrigale” (which reminds one of a winter stroll through a bleak yet beautiful city park) and the film’s main theme – which incorporates both gospel and circus music elements…because Morricone is a bad ass.
Up next are tracks from the film One Night at Dinner – “Sauna” (which is luxurious as you’d hope with sparkling xylophones), “Alla Luce Del Giorno” (with plenty of psychedelic keyboard work, meaningless vocal sounds, and psych-pop guitar), and “Uno Che Grida Amore” (in which you can hear touches of his spaghetti western soundtracks – the piano – and lush strings mixing with jazz drums).
We’re off to the film Forza G with the smooth and lush (Those strings!) “Sospeci Fra Le Nuvole” and the film’s main theme with its sweet jazz drumming. “L’assoluto Naturale” (from She and He) follows with haunting French horn backed with simple acoustic guitar chords to produce a haunting effect. The short, action sequence-ready “Studio Di Colore” (also from She and He) could fit into nearly any bank heist scene.
The main theme to “Indagine Su Un Cittadino Al Di Sopra Di Ogni Sospetto” (Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion) is track on this record most like one from Morricone’s spaghetti westerns with its mouth harp, quirky piano chords, and clockwork percussion. “Terazza” (from the 1977 comedy Il Gatto / The Cat) has poppy lounge organ mixed with sexy, slithering beats and slightly Latin horns. The closer is another track from Il Gatto – “Mariangela e la Seduzione” – which belongs on your next make-out mix tape because it’s practically the sounds of a woman having a long orgasm while lounge jazz plays behind her.
This is a must for film score buffs, fans of Morricone’s work, or psychedelic jazz. Morricone is a true maestro and his influence on music and pop culture is phenomenal.
Mexico’s Le Bucherettes manage to combine psychedelia, garage rock, snotty punk, and disco fever all into one band. Their third album, A Raw Youth, covers everything from pre-2016 election anxiety to serial killers.
“Shave the Pride” gets it off to a loud, wild start with lead singer Terri Gender Bender belting out lyrics about anger and arrogance (“The size of your rage drowns my urge for lovin’.”). “Mallely” has the disco synths of Jamie Aaron Aux and the powerful drumming of Chris Common throwing you into dance fits. “Reason to Die Young” has Gender Bender claiming there’s “no sign of life in this hell hole,” but her assured vocals feel reassuring. Her Iggy Pop influence can’t be denied in her vocals and stage presence, and it’s in full view on “La Uva” (“The Grape”) in which Pop sings guest vocals with her. It’s a wild, Pixies-like track with its ebb and flow of volume and controlled, distorted chaos. “Sold Less Than Gold” is a lyrically brutal song about child slavery that’s almost disguised as a pop song with its bright synths.
“Stab My Back” is a giant middle finger to a man who once tried to keep Bender down. It’s like a Yeah Yeah Yeahs song combined with a kick in the nuts. “They Fuck You Over” has Bender drawing a line in the sand against the 1% (“‘Winners’ never touch skins. They know how to eat like bulldogs. They fuck you over…I try to manage this game by doing the worst that I can.”).
“Witchles C Spot” is a bold, almost Metric-like tune about toxic love, fetish sex, and obsession. It’s sexy, scary, and sinister all at once. “The Hitch Hiker” is about a serial killer, and might be an ode to the 1986 film The Hitcher. “Lonely & Drunk” is a powerful build up of synths, drums, and weird bass as Bender’s vocals slither out of your speakers as she sings about bad decisions made during bad times. The bizarre title of “Oil the Shoe if the Critter Knew Any Better” is perfect for the weird lyrics about ghosts, eating your vegetables, and how screwed up a relationship can be if one doesn’t face fears. The closer, “My Half,” is a warped song about love and possibly Bender’s Electra complex with guest guitar and synth-bass work by John Frusciante.
It’s a wild, weird record. Le Bucherettes were on my list of bands to investigate for a while, and I’m glad I finally got around to it. You should, too.
It’s easy to forget that Jailbreak was Thin Lizzy‘s sixth album because Jailbreak was their commercial breakthrough and is so good that it often overshadows some of their earlier work.
The title track kicks off the album, and it’s essentially a line in the sand for every rock album that came after it. If you’re a rock band currently practicing in a garage or basement, you need to hear “Jailbreak” and realize that you had better come up with an opener with as much fire as this or your band is already doomed. Good luck with that, by the way, because matching the crunchy groove of it is nearly impossible. The groove on “Angel of the Coast” is almost as jaw-dropping. Drummer Brian Downey doesn’t screw around on this or any other track. The slight bluesy sound of “Running Back” (with nice keyboard additions by Tim Hinkley) is a nice switch-up by the band.
The way Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson‘s guitars play off each other on “Romeo and the Lonely Girl” is impressive in its subtlety and talent. “Warriors,” a song about drug addicts, has vocalist / bassist Phil Lynott singing and playing with swagger. I can’t figure out how he keeps up his killer bass line while singing like Iggy Pop, and the guitar solo on it is a thing of beauty.
“The Boys Are Back in Town” is, of course, their biggest hit in the United States (and pretty much everywhere else). It shouldn’t surprise anyone, really. The beat is straight-up rock, Lynott sings about guys everyone knows, and Gorham and Robertson’s guitars play for the cheap seats. “Fight or Fall” could almost be a Steely Dan track with it’s jazz guitar and drum touches. “Cowboy Song” is a rocking ode to rodeo riders, cattle wranglers, and heartbreak. The closer, “Emerald,” has enough guitar shredding for two albums, let alone one song. Remember how I suggested you should try to match “Jailbreak” when opening your album? It wouldn’t hurt to close with something as excellent as “Emerald” either.
Jailbreak is a classic that actually wasn’t heralded much in its time until “The Boys Are Back in Town” won the NME Award for Best Single in 1976. It has since grown to influence hundreds, if not thousands, of other bands, and to blast out speakers around the world.
Windhand (Parker Chandler – bass, Dorthia Cottrell – vocals, Garrett Morris – guitar, Ryan Wolfe – drums) say they’re from Richmond, Virginia, but I think they secretly might be from Hyperboria, Jupiter, or beyond the Black Veil of Space and Time due to the heavy riffage they unleash on their 2015 record Grief’s Infernal Flower.
The opener, “Two Urns,” unleashes enough doom bass by Chandler to power a mission to Mars and soon Cottrell’s incense voice wraps around you like a black velvet cloak, Wolfe pounds out the rhythm of your jittery heart, and Morris shreds open your eyelids. If that’s not enough power for you, don’t fear. “Forest Clouds” comes next and it’s the sound of Tolkien ents marching toward a battle with orc troops from Mordor. Cottrell sings about something dark waiting to awaken from an eight hundred-year sleep. I love how Cottrell’s vocals have a quality that lies between sexy and menacing. She can sing strange incantations, dire warnings, and tales of mystery and the fantastic with equal skill.
Not dark enough? The title of “Crypt Key” should cheer you up. It starts with an acoustic guitar over synths that sound like a faint wind, but then turns into powerful sludge. Cottrell’s vocals on “Tanngrisnir” (a song about one of the goats who pull Thor’s chariot) are layered with just enough reverb to make them spookier than normal, and Wolfe’s drums sound like he’s been transformed into a giant doom metal centipede. “Sparrow” is almost a blues ballad. It’s a nice center to the album that lulls you into a peaceful place amid the dark creatures that lurk throughout the album.
“Hyperion” is the most upbeat song on the record – not necessarily by the lyrics, but definitely by the beat and straight-forward rock riffs by Morris and Chandler. I’m not sure if “Hesperus” refers to the Greek god of the planet Venus / the Evening Star or the poem The Wreck of the Hesperus by Henry Longfellow, but both are appropriate for over fourteen minutes of great stoner metal. Chandler’s bass and Wolfe’s drums are like primordial monsters rising from the depths to bring down a sea vessel, and Morris’ guitar and Cottrell’s vocals seemed designed to herald the arrival of a Venusian god. It abruptly ends, much like the fate of the ship in Longfellow’s poem. “Kingfisher” is about the same length as “Hesperus” and just as heavy. Cottrell sings about something or someone, perhaps even her, being “all-seeing, all-knowing” while Morris throws down riffs powerful enough to probably make him levitate. The album ends with “Aition” (a term for how religions explain the origin of a myth or legend), leaving one to think that the end of the record is actually the beginning to another journey…and Windhand does have another album coming out this October.
It’s a solid record of stoner metal that isn’t angry but certainly is menacing.
I’d heard of Chile’s psychedelic / shoegaze rockers Follakzoid years ago, but hadn’t picked up any of their material for reasons unknown to me. Lo and behold, they were on the lineup for the 2018 Levitation Music Festival in Austin, Texas, so I made sure to get tickets for their set (which did sell out). I’m glad I did because their set was one of my top three for the whole weekend, and I left determined to dive deep into their catalogue.
I’m starting with their last record, III, which is only four tracks, but the shortest is just over nine minutes long. It’s a mesmerizing, mostly instrumental mix of ambient synths, krautrock guitars, precision drumming, shoegaze fuzz, and misty psychedelic vocals.
“Electric” opens the album and lets you know that Follakzoid’s drummer is apparently a cyborg, because I don’t know how else he can keep up such a sharp beat for over eleven minutes. The song might be the closest I ever get to floating in zero gravity. The guitars range from hardly being there to surging toward you like a thunderstorm. “Earth” is a little jostling at first with the crunchy, jagged guitars but it grows into a tribal meditation with heart-pumping drums and drone synths. The song ends with weird bleeps, bloops, and what sound like synthesized animal and weather noises. “Piure” (named after a rare seafood in Chile) seems to melt like a candle over a skull over the course of nearly thirteen minutes. The last track, “Feuerzeug” (German for “lighter” or perhaps anything use to light a fire), has this mantra-like guitar riff that will float through your mind for days. Follakzoid stretched this nine-minute track into nearly twenty minutes when I saw them in Austin earlier this year, and it was amazing. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that it was mind-altering without the need for any kind of hallucinogens or even booze.
III isn’t so much an album as it is a sensory experience. It can carry you away if you’re not careful, which might not be a bad thing depending on the kind of day you’re having. This album would’ve been in my top 10 of 2015 if I’d heard it then.
Keep your mind open.
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Detroit rapper Danny Brown wasn’t on my radar until I saw him listed on the 2017 Pitchfork Music Festival lineup. I went online to research him and hear some of his stuff, and I was intrigued by his voice (sort of a high-pitched, nasally punk rock vocal) and flow and stunned by his brutal honesty about himself, his addictions, his neighborhood, fandom, and the music industry.
Starting with “Downward Spiral” (the title of which essentially describes Brown’s journey throughout the record), the album opens with warped beats that somehow mix dub, psychedelia, and industrial doom. Brown openly discusses how his drug use keeps him from getting an erection during a threesome, nearly burning down his house after falling asleep with a lit cigarette in his hand, and how “Your worst nightmare for me is a normal dream.” “Tell Me What I Don’t Know” builds like a Bloc Party track with its electronic beats and dancehall whistles as Brown laments (in a deeper vocal range, no less) how drug dealing is a “Never ending race, chasing cash. One lane going wrong way ’til I crash.” and “Shit is like a cycle. You get out, I go in, this is not the life for us.”
Brown lets us know that fame isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be on “Rolling Stone” (“Bought a nightmare, sold a dream. Happiness went upstream. Blame myself, I had no control. Now I’m living with no soul.” “Really Doe” is a who’s-who of modern day rap stars with Earl Sweatshirt, Kendrick Lamar, and Ab-Soul all contributing verses. “Lost” details how Brown has gone from dealing cocaine just to get by to now using it for fun after being famous enough to afford it.
“Ain’t It Funny” was one of the wildest singles of 2016. In it, Brown raps about how drugs have screwed up his life, the Devil is always whispering in his ear, and how many of his fans love him for having such a screwed up life and secretly hope he never kicks the addictions that he wishes he could ditch. “Golddust” continues this theme (and even brings in some rock guitar) as Brown raps, “Myself I don’t know no more. Numbing up with drugs to suppress these feelings, praying to the heavens, letting these devils get the best of me.” and “Got to the point ain’t gotta buy drugs. Niggas just give ’em to me. Yeah, they think they showing love, and that’s what’s up. Kinda fucked up. Now I do it way more than I used to.” “White Lines” has Brown confronting the real possibility that he’s going to die of a drug overdose any day now. The beats on it stumble around like a drunk and the weird synths reflect his state of mind. “Pneumonia” is a thick bass track about partying in New Orleans, getting laid, and getting high (in no particular order).
Brown keeps partying with “Dance in the Water,” in which he gives directions for a twerking contest. It has the most danceable beats on the record and proves that Brown can write a floor-filler club banger if he wants. Kelela sings in the hook on “From the Ground” while he raps in his mellow low tones about how far he’s come from writing his rhymes on a paper bag to now touring the world. “When It Rain” is one of Brown’s biggest hits off the album, and he’s downright dangerous on it. He raps about the dangerous of inner city living in Detroit, being lucky to be alive, and drawing a line in the sand to challenge lesser MCs. That being said, “Today” has Brown admitting that he knows he can die any time from either his drug use or violence in his hometown.
If you’re not sure what “Get Hi” is about, then you haven’t been paying attention to the rest of the album. Brown openly admits how much he loves weed and uses it to eliminate the stress of money problems, girlfriend problems, landlord problems, or any other problem, really (although the hidden message is how Brown’s love of the herb only contributes more to how screwed up his life is). The addition of Cypress Hill‘s B-Real on the chorus is a nice touch. The album ends on an up note with “Hell for It,” with Brown rapping about how hard he worked to get where he is (“I was hustling, scraping up, and saving just to catch a twelve-hour bus to NY, sleeping on the floor in studios asking God ‘Why?'”) and how he won’t give up despite knowing that fame might kill him.
I don’t want you to read this and think I condone drug use or dealing drugs. I don’t. I do, however, condone honesty and truth. Danny Brown delivers both with unflinching detail on Atrocity Exhibition. Truth is often missing from music in return for a fast buck and a one-hit wonder. Thankfully, we have artists like Brown to keep us real.
If you’re like me and eager to hear Ladytron‘s upcoming album and catch them on tour for it, their 2009 release of Live at London Astoria 16.07.08 is a great morsel to tide you over until the new record’s release and subsequent tour. The show was a rescheduled gig for one that had to be cancelled a couple months earlier due to a power outage. The band’s urge to make amends with fans can be felt throughout the power of the entire set.
The live album starts off with a robotic version of “Black Cat” with lead vocals in Russian. “Runaway” follows, bringing dark wave-like bass and great echoed vocals. The guitars and droning synths on “High Rise” might induce vertigo if you’re not careful while listening to it. “Ghosts” has some of my favorite Ladytron lyrics, “There’s a ghost in me who wants to say, ‘I’m sorry doesn’t mean I’m sorry.'” It’s a spooky song about relationships, quite possibly involving at least one lover who is dead.
“Seventeen” is one of my favorite Ladytron cuts, and it’s one of the most damning songs about the fashion industry ever (“They only want you when you’re seventeen. When you’re twenty-one, you’re no fun.”). The live version is thumping with synth bass. “I’m Not Scared” hits hard with bright synths blending with rock drums. “True Mathematics,” with more great Russian vocals, hits even harder. I hope they play it on their next tour, because it’s outstanding. “Season of Illusions” is a bit lighthearted, but don’t worry because “Soft Power” drops you right back into the dark with synths that sound like they’re being played in a tomb. “Playgirl” was a big hit for the London crowd, judging from their reaction when Ladytron announces it’s the next track.
“International Dateline” is practically a goth love song, and “Predict the Day” surprises you by starting with whistling and then unloading sticky synth bass and sexy beats. “Fighting in Built Up Areas” is another Russian vocal treat, and “Discotraxx” would do Giorgio Moroder proud with its slick electro dance beats. They dedicate “The Last One Standing” to everyone who was at the show that was cancelled months earlier.
They chose “Kletva,” “Burning Up,” and “Destroy Everything You Touch” for their encore. It’s a nice end to a fun show. They originally just release 100 copies of it at the show, so I’m glad they put it out for wide release. You should be, too.
Keep your mind open.
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Full of wonderful fuzz and lovely vocals, the Duke Spirit‘s Bruiser begins with the rock solid “Cherry Tree,” a song about regret following a break-up. All the guitars on it surge with power as lead singer Liela Moss claims she doesn’t look back on the past with hope, but we all know otherwise. “Procession” flips the story a bit, with the former subject of Moss’ affections acting like he’s cool with everything, but her knowing that he’s on the verge of cracking at any moment. “Villain” has lovely piano and vocals by Moss while Oliver Betts puts down beats that are harder than you realize at first. The song’s about two people who know they’re probably bad for each other, but will most likely hook up regardless of that fact.
In case you haven’t guessed by now, the name of the album hints to the many songs on the record about the dangerous side of love, lust, and attraction. “Don’t Wait,” about the struggle to let go of someone after they’ve left (“Oh such a heavy love rolls out like a blanket. Why must it fold up on me?”) has that great mix of rock, shoegaze, and soul that the Duke Spirit do so well. Marc Sallis struts his bass stuff on “Surrender,” in which Moss sings that she just wants to surrender to a lover. Moss’ voice is already seductive enough, but it’s borderline devilish when she sings lyrics like “Oh the weather got worse , so you’ll have to stay here.”
“Bodies” has another slick Sallis groove that paves the way for shoegaze riffs from Luke Ford and Toby Butler. There’s a short piano breakdown in the middle that catches you off-guard before Betts and the rest wallop you upside the head. “Delux” has organ and glockenspiel that ticks like a music box and warnings from Moss to a lover to keep his eyes and hands on her instead of someone else.
“Sweet Bitter Sweet” seems to be about sex with lyrics like “I’m coming with you, for there’s nobody else,” but you can never be sure with Moss’ writing. She can be deceptive and her use of metaphor is top-notch. It’s sexy even if it isn’t about sex. I’d be a gibbering idiot if she sang this to me in a smoky bar. Well, I’d be a gibbering idiot if she just walked into a room with me, but that’s beside the point. In “Running Fire,” Moss tells a lover that he can chase a future he can never fully grasp or he can return to the moment (and her) and be much happier. Ford and Butler shred on “Everybody’s Under Your Spell” (which has a great burn-out / fade-out at the end.
“Northbound” has some of Betts’ best beats on the record while Moss sings about a bad day becoming a better day as she realizes she’s going to end it by seeing her lover. “Homecoming” has a similar theme, but Moss can’t help but wonder if her happiness is an illusion.
Love can be bruising, but bruises and scars are sometimes the remains of a hard-fought but worthy battle. Bruiser and the Duke Spirit show us that love is worth it. Love is the thing for which we should all fight. What else is there?
By the way, certain versions of this album have bonus remixes of “Procession” (by Gary Numan, no less), “Cherry Tree” (by SONOIO), “Bodies” (by Black Onassis), and “Don’t Wait” (by Loose Meat).
Recorded sometime between 1965 and 1967 and originally released in 1971, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band‘s Mirror Man album was a bit of a hot mess when it was released. It was compiled of four tracks taken from a recording session that was supposed to be for a double album called It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper that was never finished or released due to them being dropped by their label (Buddha Records). According to John Platt’s liner notes for this 1999 re-release, “In 1971 someone at Buddha reviewed all the extant tapes, and a decision was made to issue a single album’s worth of material under the title Mirror Man. What they chose were the three live-studio cuts plus ‘Kandy Korn.'” The Mirror Man Sessions includes those four tracks as well as five more previously unissued cuts by the good Captain and his lads. The four original tracks were also placed in an alternate order than the original album “for aesthetic reasons” that Buddha Records claims “for the time being at least…is as close as we can reasonably get to the Captain’s original intentions.”
The four original tracks are (in this album’s order) “Tarotplane,” “25th Century Quaker,” “Mirror Man,” and “Kandy Korn.” I’m not sure anything I can write would do justice to “Tarotplane.” It’s a nearly twenty-minute psychedelic freak-out masterpiece with the Captain’s harmonica, shinei, and vocals sounding like a warped, scratched 78rpm record you found in the back of an old blues honkytonk. “25th Century Quaker” is so freaky that its beats from John French sound like a bag of oranges rolling down the stairs.
“Mirror Man” starts out with some of Captain Beefheart’s signature grungy harmonica work before Jeff Cotton and Alex St. Clair Snouffer‘s guitars let loose with warped chords that sound like they’ve been left out in the sun all day. The Captain’s vocals are either distant and funky or sound like they’re coming through a damaged megaphone. “Kandy Korn” is, on its face at least, about the waxy, sugary Halloween snack (“They look so good, I wanna eat ’em.”). I’m willing to bet it’s about something else, but I’ll let you make the call. It melts like candy on the roof of a VW van, and it practically sends you into a trance around the three-minute mark.
“Trust Us (Take 6)” has the Captain encouraging all of us to trust not only him and the Magic Band, but also people outside our comfort zones. The rhythm of it is more urgent than you realize at first. It becomes a toe-tapper and lingers a bit in jam band land. It also has a neat fake fade out and fade in that I’m sure has fooled many DJs in its time. It gets more warped the longer it goes. “Safe As Milk (Take 12)” is one of the Magic Band’s biggest hits. It has a cool, weird groove to it that’s hard to describe and the right amount of fuzz without being overwhelming. The Captain’s vocals are playful and you can tell that his singing style influenced everyone from Tom Waits to Mike Patton and Les Claypool.
“Beatle Bones N’ Smokin’ Stones” is an obvious poke at the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. The Captain has fun with “Strawberry Fields Forever” lyrics (reverbed and stuttering) and Keith Richards’ blues riffs (turning them into almost calliope music). “Moody Liz (Take 8)” has near-country guitar licks that transform into psychedelic oddities. The lyrics are barely recognizable, but that’s okay because the track is more a showcase for Cotton and Snouffer’s bizarre yet fascinating guitar work. The album ends with “Gimme Dat Harp Boy,” and the Captain getting to strut his stuff on harmonica while the Magic Band drives the funk bus.
This might not be the best place to start your Captain Beefheart musical journey, but it’s essential listening if you’re a fan of his work and psychedelic blues.
