Hermeto Pascoal - Super Water Jam

WOW! MIND BLOWN! BEST YOUTUBE MUSIC DISCOVERY IN 2020.

Lo Five - The Art Of Living & Her Majesty's Coroner for Wirral - Esoteric Healing: friend or foe?

Another terrific album from Lo Five. It's influenced by family tragedy, the ever present threat of COVID in 2020, lockdown blues & Stoic philosophy. Their LP from last year Geography Of The Abyss was so fucking good it placed high in the end of year Space Debris charts.

Then there's this which I think is a Lo Five side project. You definitely gotta check this out. It's one of the best eerie experimental electronic things that the people have heard in ages. If The Caretaker has actually really retired I'd be happy if Her Majesty's Coroner for Wirral took up the slack of his workload & did like 80 LPs of this gear. Esoteric Healing: friend or foe? is just way too short! I want way way more! 

MORE MOVIES 36

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne (1981)
For starters electronic music pioneer Bernard Parmegiani does the soundtrack here. Don't worry he really gets there in the final fifteen minutes. Walerian Borowczyk was a polish porn, animation and surreal film director. This is a fairly mental plot that I cannot even begin to describe. It surprisingly had element s of gialli (black gloves), slasher (body count) and a whodunnit? (everyone in a mansion trying to figure out who the killer is). Bestest thing though is a bow and arrow murder. Even though it is in Victorian times but they had guns then so it's still an archaic murder weapon. Delirious demented transgressive fun. A must watch for Polish Art film enthusiasts

Nurse Sherri (1978)

Well when you have zero expectations the only was is up. I fucking loved this. It's an Al Adamson movie and after watching the great documentary Blood & Flesh: The Real Life & Ghostly Death Of Al Adamson, I was sure that I'd always avoid his product. Out of the blue though I bought this at the Vinegar Syndrome sale. I didn't want anything challenging or intellectual or political so I thought well tonight's the perfect night for Nurse Sherri. For a start this is an amazing document of the the times, the cars and streets. Imagine if Langdon Clay took film footage of the cars he photographed in the 70s. This would be it! This really is an eyeball treat for mid/late 20th Century cars and streets. I wouldn't have cared if there was a plot or not, they could have just driven through these streets in this array of vehicles and I'd have been happy. Don't forget the hair, fashions, architecture and interior design: A feast. I was looking at one building in total admiration building thinking it must have been some kind of funky club or bar but no it was a bank! The story here is wild. A cult leader dies but he supernaturally lingers on throughout the movie. There's some T but not really any A. We get dudes in business suits in the middle of the desert, a car chase, a car doing a spectacular tumble down a cliff with mucho pyromania, possession, chanting, saucy nurses, digging up graves, dudes with no eyeballs, sleazy doctors, psychiatrists quoting Yeats what more could you ask for? I really enjoyed this. If you like outsider art this is the real deal but done with aplomb. Late night movie of the week.

Hollywood Horror House aka Savage Intruder (1970)

Psych-sploitation meets Baby Jane histrionics meets slasher with all round good performances and quality cinematography and editing. Exploitation films never cease to amaze me with their sometimes high quality craftsmanship. An ageing ye olde Hollywood actress is living the retired life in a mansion in the hills after a successful but tumultuous career. She has a large staff and the temptation of alcohol is never far away. Enter her new wheelchair assistant Vic who seems to have quite the bad attitude. If you love shenanigans of the wrongest kind like relationships between a young man and someone who's old enough to be his grandma, phoney drug scenes, psychedelic-slasher flashback sequences, demented mannequin scenes etc. this is for you. This absolute curio is surprisingly watchable. Late Night Movie Of The Week.

 

Seven Blood Stained Orchids (1972)

Umberto Lenzi had a great run of Gialli. He's my favourite Italian film-director of all time, you may think that's outrageous but he had a bloody good strike rate. This film starts out of the gate with a burst of murders. At the five minute mark you are thinking this is going to be the highest body count in a film ever but they slow down a bit as the plot focusses more on the search for the murderer. One of the best things is that the murderer is called The Half Moon Killer. As far as giallo go Seven Blood Stained Orchids is right up there as one of his most conventional before Lenzi really went totally balmy with batshit crazy classics Eyeball (1975) and Spasmo (1974). Here is where the tropes were coalescing and consolidating into hallmarks of the genre, a peak era before it all got a bit tired. Anyway we've got shiny knives, beautiful and incredibly fashionable prostitutes, a murderer wearing black gloves, sensational mens fashions, belligerent/bad cops, gorgeous women being killed in various states of undress, dial up telephones, priests, amateur sleuths, spectacular cars, POV Kill scenes, interior design to die for, phoney drug addicts, even phonier hippies, odd pop culture, tape recording machines, an absurdly convoluted plot, a score from legend Riz Ortilani, stunning cinematography and don't forget the hairdos! 

Solamente Nero aka The Bloodstained Shadow (1978)

Classic Giallo! You gotta love one of the best giallo tropes: The murders are all connected to a dodgy painting. It's also got the other good stuff: Priests, wheelchair bound old people, J&B, OTT gay characters, hidden away adult simpleton children, dodgy psychics, red herrings, doll violence, a body count, backyard abortionists, childhood trauma...all that's missing is a blind man! One of the aspects that sets this Giallo apart is the Venice setting. There's boats, including a spectacularly thrilling action sequence but no cars. The grandeur is dilapidated. 1978 is further from the 60s than most films in this genre so the fashion is more beige, less outrageous but some we do get some splendid knitwear and hair. The psychedelic pop art and kitschy interior design is pretty much non existent. We do get ye olde churches, homes that are more like museums with way too many spooky artefacts, knight armour, weapons, sculpture and paintings everywhere. A classic 70s love scene ensues between the two main protagonists where they make sweet love on a rug by an open fire. The soundtrack is fantastic! I mean how could you go wrong with Stelvio Cipriani composing with Goblin members performing. I nearly forgot there's a shonky peadophile too. It's got the lot! Solamente Nero is directed by Antonio Bido who made that other wonderful and atypical giallo Watch Me When I Kill (1977). He seems to be undervalued in the general scheme of things in Italian cinema which is a shame because he made at least two classic films. 

The Late Show (1977)  

Charming 70s neo-noir. A mis-matched pair of misfits end up embroiled in a series of crimes. The duo of Lily Tomlin as Margo and Art Carney as Ira do tip top awry chemistry. These two are glorious fun with Ira being the ex-detective old codger and Margo as the off kilter but witty cat lady. It all begins when Margo's cat is catnapped. Shenanigans and hi-jinx ensue in this low key yet bloody gritty crime caper. If you love your 70s neo-noir, Altman, Allen etc. but you've never seen this, then you are in for a real treat.  

What Have They Done To Solange (1972)

This was the first Giallo I ever saw that was set outside of Italy. This one gets right to the gruesome point with the victims being stabbed in the vagina. The doctor shows us some graphically grim X-ray evidence post-mortem no less. What Have They Done... is set in a posh all girls Catholic senior college somewhere in picturesque England. Male teachers are sleeping with the students although it's pointed out at one stage "at least they're 18." Giallo staples like Glistening knives, black gloves, red herrings, sleaze, amateur sleuths plus an outfuckingstanding Ennio Morricone score are all present and accounted for. We also get naughty catholic school girls, row boats, bikes and a slice of quaint England. This flick is beautifully filmed, pretty cohesive plot-wise and put together elegantly. An almost classy Giallo! We get an early appearance from I Spit On Your Grave's legendary Camille Keaton along with Fabio Testi, Christina Galbó, Karin Baal etc. Late Night Movie Of The Week.

The Pyjama Girl Case (1977)

Strange, strange, strange! That's really saying something for a Giallo film. Well this flick is in that interzone of Giallo and Poliziotteschi. Once again we get the Giallo taken outside of Italy. This time it's Australia with the story being loosely based upon a famous unsolved Aussie murder. It's set in Sydney but it's almost like a post-apocalyptic film as the metropolis' streets are almost always deserted. They must have filmed it on Sundays. In the 70s everything shut down on Sunday in Australia. So city streets were empty. Sunday was for home, mass, junior football, roast or fish & chips if you were lucky.

The score here is Riz Ortilani at his most cheesy, disco and best. There are several hippy psych glam songs however performed by the mysterious & enigmatic Amanda Lear, who I thought was a man until I looked her up, that are fucking fabulous. So we get loads of empty, oh so empty, Sydney captured wonderfully by the cinematographer. Pyjama Girl Case is not full of your usual Giallo genre tropes. We do get the occasional red herring and a retired detective (Ray Milland) doing the real sleuth work for free as the actual cops have no idea what's going on. Much is made of the generational gap between the old timer and the trendy new detective's techniques. This is a pretty sophisticated film but while it does have a complex narrative structure it's actually fairly cohesive. This is more like a really bleak, brutal and nihilistic art film. You might need to give it a second watch too, just to get a handle on the nuances. Quite the surprise packet of a film. An absolute curio for adventurous film viewers.

Knives Out (2019)

Excellent, if a little slow, 10s update of the Whodunnit in a mansion genre. This is set in America and really could have been a four or five part prestige television series for FX or HBO. This star studded cast all put in sterling performances. Although I must admit to not being a Daniel Craig fan (can't fucking stand him) so it was a struggle to get used to him doing a southern American accent but hey I got there. Why didn't they just get a southern American though? Minor quibbles aside yes Don Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Collette, Christopher Plummer etc. are terrific. The real star here though is Ana Celia de Armas Caso who plays Marta the deceased multi millionaire's personal nurse. Was it suicide or was it foul play?  Don't expect a fusty old stuck in the house investigation. This is more like a modern tv crime drama dressed up as a whodunnit. Enjoy the ride that doesn't get too convoluted although perhaps the final explanation plot device could have been dropped to make this film more lean. 

Strip Nude For Your Killer (1975)

Edwige's Fenech's Hair!

That was going to be my review. All a Giallo enthusiast would need to know is all right there. Edwige is in it! She has amazing hair! This would also imply there is more amazing stuff like great fashion, glamorous 70s interior design and that Fenech probably gets naked at some point. The title then implies much more nudity & death Giallo style. See how 8 words is pretty much enough to tell you about this film. That would have been sufficient if I was in a certain mood but there is so much more to discuss here. This is a high point in nasty macho Giallo. Surely this was the lofty batshit crazy peak and the genre could only go down from here. 

It starts out with an abortion that goes awry: Let the nasty, sleazy and murderous shenanigans begin. Over-poured J&B, lots of nudity, lots of great 70s underwear, splendid swimwear for women, dodgy 70s swimwear for men, so much sleaze, fun phoney paint splattered gore, the fashion, OTT campy homosexuals, sleazy photographers, the bars, the pools, the saunas, the men who don't take no for an answer, the women who put up with it, violent lesbians, so much fluff muff, implied consensual incest, a killer in full black biker leathers complete with black gloves & helmet, darkrooms, photographic proof, a body count and more.

Strip Nude For Your Killer was really pushing the boundaries of good bad taste but it somehow got away with it with colourful charm, incredible cinematography, absolute audaciousness and flashy direction. God knows what a bunch of kids in their early 20s would make of this today. I certainly would like to be in that viewing room and for the discussion afterwards.

Over the past 8 or 9 years I've been trying to figure out what film the following scene was from as it is an unforgettable moment in the history of cinema.

There's this sad fat guy Maurizio (Franco Diogene) married to the lesbian Gisella (Lia Amanda). One day Maurizio basically kidnaps a female colleague Doris (Erna Schürer) and speeds through the streets of Milan in a spectacular and quite lengthy set-piece of crazy driving through busy city traffic. He finally gets the woman into to his flat to try and have sex with her but she says no. Then he forces himself some more upon her so Doris says ok. But by the the time the obese Maurizio gets down to his giant white underpants he's already done his business. He cries that he's never been able to actually get to do it with a woman like he's some kind of sad victim. Doris who is unharmed and unfazed just laughs it off and says it happens to all men as he cries in a pathetic tantrum. She leaves while Maurizio is still having an episode. Next he's crying into and talking to his deflated blow up sex doll saying she is the only one he can do it with. This historic scene is only comparable to Joe Spinell in Maniac (1980) for a portrait of the sheer delirious lunacy of pathetic sexually dysfunctional men.

While Maurizio is vile he has tough competition with perhaps the sleaziest protagonist in a film ever Carlo (Nino CastelNuovo) the photographer for The Albatross Modelling Agency. Carlo starts out the film sexually harassing a woman he doesn't know and his bad behaviour is relentless right up until the final scene. This dude has absolutely no redeeming features and yet he wins. He's an accessory after the fact, for a laugh he strangles his girlfriend fellow photographer Magda Edwige Fenech who just laughs it off and then they have some more sex.

This film comes highly recommended but be prepared this was Italy 1975 style.    

Laying The Ghosts To Rest - Nick Edwards

NICK EDWARDS IS RISEN

Laying Ghosts To Rest is the 3rd excellent album in as many months from Nick [Ekoplekz] Edwards. We all thought he was winding up his career them bam three irresistible albums in a row. This one is the best too. In fact this might just be the finest recording Nick has ever done.

A personal history of electronic gunk is displayed here & moulded into shapes for 2020. The trakz here are less attached to the tyranny of the beat than the previous two albums. The LP meanders off into all sorts of cosmic, psychedelic, delicious, ecstatic, melodic, idyllic, dark and even somewhat familiar zones. Energie-Piek the 7th tune is spiritually like old School ambient-house complete with its vestiges of 80s electro along with the vibe of weary elation that the sun’s about to come up. Trak 8 Saturnine is just lovely amorphous ambient squiggling featuring euphoric synths.

Laying Ghosts... just feels loose like never before. Right now Nick’s at a creative peak where it seems he could go anywhere sonically & it would not be a mistake. Perhaps the title is a hint at where his brain-space is right now. Maybe he's letting go of his own artistic & aesthetic prejudices. All of his previous constraints and shackles. Perhaps Edward’s can see a new previously unimagined vision unfolding for his creativity. Laying Ghosts To Rest does feel very intuitive & that more new horizons are just awaiting his arrival. This music is brimming with the positive confidence of whatever's coming next is going to be well worth waiting for. I can't get enough of it. I’m so enraptured by Laying Ghosts... that it’s on constant reeeewind! round this house. Here’s to the future! The one we want. We can’t go back, we’ve travelled so far.

Movies 35 - The Crappest So Far

The Invisible Man (2020)
Great action horror that had me flashing back to the glory days of late 80s/early 90s thrillers. High octane and horrifying action. Since his lukewarm debut Insidious Chapter 3, Leigh Whannell's directing chops have skyrocketed with his previous film Upgrade (2018) and now this undeniable 2020 gem. While we always knew he was a fabulous writer, producer and right hand man to writer/director James Wan he has now come out of that shadow to become the powerhouse force to be reckoned with in Hollywood right now. I'm eagerly anticipating his next project. How many directors can you say that about in 2020?

The Bloodstained Butterfly (1971)
Stylish if a little off putting at the start as you slowly realise a third of the film is going to be spent in the courtroom. This is part police procedural too but there is just enough beautiful murdered women for it to qualify as a Giallo. The opening is pretty fantastic. After a somewhat lack lustre first half the intrigue then picks up to keep you from your ever present 2020 distractions for the second half. Is it just me or is the ongoing coffee gag so tedious and perhaps lost in translation? Many Giallo tropes with a nifty plot. For Gialli enthusiasts going deep into the genre.

If You Meet Sartana Pray For Your Death (1968)
If you can get past the smugness of Sartana (Gianni Garko) you are in for a Spaghetti Western treat. Garko's not half as smug as 60s icons i hate ie. Sean Connery (as Bond) and Clint Eastwood (as any fucking role he plays way beyond the 60s too). We get the stuff.... gold, stagecoach robbery, Gatling massacres, double crossing wives, coffins, coffin makers, saloons, card games, fast gunslinging, Mexican gangs, dynamite and more. There's also hints of mysticism amongst the nihilistic bloodshed which is odd. While this is the first film prepared as a vehicle for Garko as Sartana he appeared the previous year in Blood At Sundown as Sartana but was the antagonist. After this 1968 effort there were four official sequels and in true Italian style there were a bunch of rip offs or "unofficial sequels" which ripped off the name Sartana and his style.

Relic (2020)
SPOILER ALERT. Relic is the worst. This contains the most unconvincing dialogue and characters I've encountered since Lost Gully Road (2017?). Relic is so boring. Then when it attempts to come to life it's like two horror movies in one. Suspense just isn't built and you just wish all the characters would die via a scary monster but one of them is the monster (?). The filmmakers obviously like Jonathan Glazer's masterpiece Under The Skin (2013). Scarlett Johhaannssenn's alien character's human skin suit was a minuscule part of that great film but here Gran's is the whole movie (?). Oh who fucking cares don't waste your time on this bullshit! 

Phantasm (1979)
Great fun sci-fi/horror cult movie that is bananas entertainment. It was a first time watch for me and it was a strange experience. I've had the fabulous soundtrack since the 90s and always assumed the film was some kind of boring ghost story. Wrong. This is a very peculiar and unique horror flick inside a balmy sci-fi film. Or is it the other way around. Late night movie of the week.

The Candy Snatchers (1973)
A heist/horror flick of the darkest variety. This is an infamous near mythical cult flick that has been pretty hard to see until Vinegar Syndrome tracked down the actual owner of the film's rights and released it on blu-ray in the last 12 months. One thing I'm often amazed by is how great the cinematography is in many exploitation films. This 4K transfer is beautiful but that can't help the nasty subject matter. SPOILER ALERT! The best way to describe this is Family Plot (1976) meets Bay Of Blood (1971). I wonder if Hitchcock saw this movie? This is a whole lotta sinister wrong fun, a pure lost treasure. Not for those with weak stomachs but highly recommended.

_______________________________________

*Six films in over a month? What's going on in Space Debris land? Well I'm very distracted by all of the things. Mainly it's the politics but it's music too.

I've been listening to lots of music again. Going through my usual winter obsessions of Cabaret Voltaire, Suicide & Throbbing Gristle. Ghosteen Nick Cave's astounding masterpiece from last year is still enthralling me to no end. I'm also very impressed with two 2020 Nick (Ekoplekz) Edwards albums as well as all the ekoplekz archives and their final release Wrekage 2011-2019 which is a vital compilation of rare tracks. The new Moon Wiring Club remix album Tabitha Reverb is triffic plus recent things from Emily A Sprague, Katie Gately, Gabor Lazar, N Chambers, Sun Araw & C. Lavender.

I dug out those old Soul Jazz New York Noise compilations the other day along with No New York and Ze's Mutant Disco and fuck they're all good. They just make all that post-punk revival shit seem well just shit, which it is! I went through the entire hypnagogic 2010 cannon which was surprisingly still fucking awesome. I'm now going to go backwards through the other years. 2009 & 2008 if I recall properly are the other two peak years. After 2010 it all went glowstick & vaporwave & whatever else but the new crop just weren't as good. Also on the hi-fi have been other old or archival stuff from Prince, Steve Kilbey, Game Theory, The Chameleons, The Sound, A Certain Ratio, Circle X, feedtime, King Snake Roost, Lo Five, Assembled Minds, Global Communication, Fennesz, Pita, Burial, Basic Channel, Vladislav Delay, Danizindan Pojidon, Haruomi Hosono, Nocturnal Emissions, Clan Of Xymox, Ramleh, Merzbow, Manuel Goettsching, Ranil and more. Been listening to some 2020 archival comps like Join The Future: UK Bleep & Bass 1988-91 on Cease & Desist, Black Riot: Early Jungle, Rave & Hardcore from Soul Jazz, Cadence Revolution: Disques Debs International Volume 2 released by Strut Records and Pacific Breeze Volume 2 issued by Light In The Attic.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps featuring PRINCE

So I said to Emma "How about Prince doing Creep?" 
She said 'salright'

Then she said "Have you seen this?" I rolled my eyes at the thought of Tom Petty and Steve Winwood appearing on the same stage but hey Jeff's there with his warm and dulcet tones, George's cute lookalike-y son is on guitar and little ole legendary Prince is off in the fringes on the side somewhere. Halfway through I was thinking:

"Why on earth did they even invite Prince. They've let some other dude do the main guitar break what a waste! Tom Petty's singing is insufferable. This is some bullshit heritage rock boredom for lovers of The Last Waltz. For me there's TWO concert* Films: Stop Making Sense & Sign O The Times. The rest don't come anywhere near close! I can't even see Prince now, he's just lost amongst a bunch of rock bores. This is a bit shit"

At the 3 minute mark it looked like maybe Prince had left the stage but before I got way too grumpy the camera captures our invisible lil hurricane Mr Rogers Nelson majickly manifest into the limelight...and well here you go. This is your sonic treat of the week. OMG!!! The following 3 minutes are magnificent bliss. Dhani Harrison almost loses his mind at the guitar wizardry on display right before his eyes. When Prince cracks a smile it's pure gold because he knows he's feelin what we're feelin and that's that he is astonishing and the fucking best. PURE JOY. A GIFT.

*On audio I'm only into Velvets/Lou live plus every live thing Throbbing Gristle ever did.

CREEP - PRINCE

What the actual FUCK? Everybody knows Radiohead are a bunch of whiney bores but they once had a top tune. That tune was Creep which was at the intersection of a Pixies song & a Smiths song. So how could you go wrong? They didn't and everyone loved it.

This devastating Prince version turned up on my youtube algorithm (Bow down to the mysterious YT algorithm once again) and it has blown my mind! Prince isn't even trying here. Imagine what he could have done in full form but still this will give you chills down yo spine or as the kids say it's got all the feels. Is that what they say?

White Horse - Laid Back/EROTIC CITY - PRINCE

SPACE DEBRIS GOES TO THE 80s ELECTRO-FUNK DISCO & A PRINCE AFTER-SHOW SHOW

WHITE HORSE - LAID BACK (1983)

This classic early 80 electro jam only came to my attention in the late 90s during a couple of successive New Years Eve Parties at The Empress Of India Hotel in North Fitzroy where this got mixed in over some other tune that was a bit more hefty or sampled or something. I still love it though. A year or two later I found a cd single but I can't remember if it was a cover or maybe a 90s tech remix anyway...thanks to the terrific FX series POSE (2018) I rediscovered White Horse when it featured in a scene where Damon and Blanca meet for the first time on the streets of NYC. I had a rush and had to track it down.  

EROTIC CITY - PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION (1984)

The interwebs just told me that Prince loved that above tune so much that it inspired Erotic City but I recall a different story. He apparently told George Clinton that after going to a Parliament/Funkadelic gig he went home and wrote Erotic City. Anyway it's a much storied song for a B-side. In the 80s you bought the 7" & 12" even though you already had the LP because of the B-sides and extended mixes which were sometimes called a dub mixes. I had Lets Go Crazy (1984) on 7" single which had the shorter version of Erotic City, one of his best ever non LP cuts. This extended version is new to my ears and ooh I like. Sheila E does a guest verse. We also get crazy town Prince vocals pitched down, normal & up. Some chipmunk shit going on here! Party time!

Then I discovered this which was previously unreleased until last year. You may have heard it before because he gave the tune to Taja Sevelle in 1987. It was her debut single which came out on Prince's own imprint Paisley Park. Hearing this just made made my brain say "What are you doing? You could be spending you're remaining days on Earth tracking down every single scrap of audio detritus Prince ever recorded and you would be a much happier man for doing so!" Wouldn't U Luv 2 Luv Me is a fantastically narcissistic title. Also Prince doesn't get the kudos he deserves for inventing text spelling/language 20 years before we all had a mobile phone. This tune is bare bones demo-style Prince and sometimes that is best Prince. So last year some enterprising people put together a compilation of demos Prince recorded between 1981 & 85 called Originals. It features a bunch of tunes he gave to his protégées to record. How the fuck did I miss this release? It's got him doing Manic Monday, Sex Shooter, Make Up, The (Fucking) Glamorous Life, Love Thy Will Be Done & Nothing Compares 2 U amongst others. It's 2AM though....

Then there's this! Fuck me. Why didn't he release this as a single? I assume this is from 82/83 era. Was this ever released on anything official during the 80s? The frenetic pace is almost jungle-y. I can't tell if this has been fucked with 10 or 15 years later or if this is just as it was in the early 80s. His off-cuts are better than other artists prime-cuts. This is pure peak Prince and it's astonishing stuff. One of his best tunes ever. 

Mo Movies 34

RECENTLY RE/WATCHED

I have watched a lot more movies than this since the last movie post but I just didn't feel like writing about them. I reckon I started about ten movies that I abandoned as well. Then there's the nights where I scroll through all the streaming sites looking for something to watch then all of a sudden its midnight. The eternal scroll is somewhere between window shopping and choice paralysis. I'm also very mentally distracted currently by the authoritarian cult of regressive extreme left political activism which alarmingly makes 2020 resemble 1984 more and more with each passing day. Nobody seems to give a fuck, that's frightening. The show must go on though...

La Morte Negli Occhi Del Gatto aka Seven Deaths In The Cat's Eye (1971)
I accidentally bought this on the internet thinking it was the below movie. When the opening credits started rolling mentioning Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg I knew I'd got mixed up and had the wrong film. Too many gialli with the number seven, cats, eyeballs and death in the title, sometimes makes it a confusing genre to navigate. I didn't mind though I was quite intrigued. I mean Serge Gainsbourg as a Scottish detective come on everybody needs to see that! So this is set in a gothic Scottish castle. When? I couldn't say exactly maybe its the olden days but when Corringa (Jane Birkin) arrives at the estate by a horse drawn carriage she's wearing sort of modern mid 20th century clothing so it's an atemporal zone. None of that matters to the story which is pretty funny and perhaps needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Near the beginning we see what they call an Orangutan watching Corringa through a window but its definitely a man in a Gorilla suit though like Mighty Boosh's Bollo. Anyway there's a scary cat, burning of a bible, dungeons, secret passageways, kissing cousins, a black gloved killer, ye olde shaving razors, vampires (?), lesbians, red herrings, priests, tombs and inheritance issues. If you want a faux-gothic Giallo movie that's light and a bit silly then here you go.
 

Sette Scialla Di Seta Gialla aka Crimes Of The Black Cat (1972)
One of my all time favourite Gialli. This is set in the picture-esque city of Copenhagen, Denmark. Blind movie composer Peter (Anthony Steffen) becomes the amateur sleuth after his ex-girlfriend dies. The police don't think its murder but Peter knows better. I mean he's blind but even he can see its murder. Hold on to your hats we get overheard conversations, a modelling agency, a fashion house, adultery, a deadly cat, a phoney drug addict, sex photo extortion, silk shawls, 70s restaurants/bars, pet shops, a bus chase, a shocking death shower scene, blackmail, a white caped murderer, a body count, a butler, red herrings, tape recordings and more. Unusually we get an incredible set piece on a construction site (?) with the blindman Peter having to dodge murderous machinery whilst on dangerous scaffolding. This is an intense action sequence that sets this Giallo film apart. Highly Recommended.

The Jade Eyed Cat aka Il Gatto Dagli Occhi Di Giada aka Watch Me When I Kill (1977)
This is not your usual flamboyant outrageous fun Giallo. The tone here is quite serious. Its like Antonio Bido wanted to make a significant bleak revenge drama but he had to wrap it up in the genre of the day to get it made. You know things are different right out of the gate as the killer has white gloves. I know shocking right? This movie has to be seen if only for the death by gnocchi scene or are they dumplings? The amateur sleuth in this one is a recording engineer so surprise surprise we have lots of stuff on tape and phones. The soundtrack from Trans Europe Express is notable for its Goblin-isms but it gets particularly freaky when there are these amazing vocal-drone incantations which are very haunting. The Jade Eyed Cat is for Giallo enthusiasts who want to go deep into the genre.

Coherence (2013)
A good premise executed badly. A white upper middle class dinner party goes awry due to a comet passing during the evening. This causes a bunch of alternate realities ie. this dinner party with these same guests is happening across the road in the same house. First of all to make your horror/sci-fi/thriller flick watchable the characters or at least one or two of them need to be relatable, nice or sympathetic. I didn't care what happened to these dinner party guests because they were all dicks. Their reactions to this crazy uncanny scenario just didn't feel real or have enough hysteria. I feel like the movie makers just didn't think this whole concept properly through. Did something go wrong in the development stage? They needed to edit down the concepts and make it more minimal. If the realities were infinite why did it just come down to the actions and consequences of one character. Perhaps to give Coherence more coherence the comet should have just caused Emily (Emily Baldoni) to have one doppelgänger. It's got Xander from Buffy though so it was good to see him again. There was also another dude who looked exactly like him and I mean a whole other actor/character Kevin (Maury Sterling) which was not part of the parallel lives plot. So that was a bit weird. Twilight Zone, Black Mirror and a bunch of other films cover this conceptual territory a lot better. Don't bother pressing play on this at netflix.

Defcon-4 (1985)
A cult-y Canuxploitation flick produced by Roger Corman's New World Pictures. Defcon-4 starts out very promising but ends just alright. Three astronauts witness WWIII from their secret space station. They crash down to post-apocalyptic earth a couple of months later. One Astronaut Jordan (Kate Lynch) is knocked into a coma, one gets out of the aircraft only to be immediately killed while Howe (Tim Choate) makes it out alive but gets captured. Vinny (Maury Chaykin) a renegade takes Howe to his fort. There is a fascistic new world order and crazed cannibals on the loose. Everyone needs to leave this radioactive zone otherwise they will all die. The only hope is to get a boat to a safe zone in South America. I loved the opening 25 minutes in the space station but once we got to earth it was c-grade Mad Max (1979) all the way. Fans of the post-apocalypse sub-genre need to see this though.

The Sender (1982)
Pretty good lil Horror/Sci-Fi gem. Telekineses is the order of the day here. A young man mysteriously walks into a lake with rocks in his pocket but he is saved before drowning. John Doe #83 ( Željko Ivanek) ends up in a psych ward. What's going on in his brain though and just who the hell is he? The Sender's got a great tone and many terrific chaotic set pieces to put it right up there with that other similarly themed movie of the time David Cronenberg's masterpiece The Dead Zone (1983). There must have been something in the air at the time or was it just Stephen King's brain? Well worth a look.

The Suckling aka Sewage Baby (1990)
1990? While watching I was trying to guess what year it was made and I decided on 1985 or 86 but thought it could have been even earlier. It definitely has an atemporal vibe going on. Now this a batshit crazy movie but to add to that I think tubi's streaming service was fucking up. I was getting replays, flash forwards, flashbacks, scenes repeated more than twice and all kinds of glitches which made it feel like I was on an intense acid trip that was going down a dark and delirious path. It was like one of the most out there experimental cut up/loopy film experiences I've ever had. Now I'm eager to watch the actual blu-ray to see just how avant-garde this absurd monster flick really is. The Suckling is the story of a young lady and her boyfriend going to a brothel that seems to be in a time-warp to get an abortion (?). Yes you read that right. The coat hanger abortion takes place and the foetus is flushed down the toilet. Then all hell breaks loose as the foetus quickly becomes a mutant monster. This low budget flick contains some of the strangest cinematography, if you can call it that, I've ever witnessed. The mutant baby monster is pretty good though. This is well worth a watch for a bit of WTF? fun. Late night movie of the week.

Raw Force (1982)
This is a mega-mix genre mash up 80s stylee. It starts out with a bit of T&A and white boy kung fu. Then there's sex trafficking involving mad cannibal monks, ghostly kung fu zombies, a German baddie Hitler lookalike-y complete with wonky moustache, a decapitation, pyromania and even piranhas. It's all wrapped up in an exotic 80s action/adventure set in the south seas. Raw Force is nuts el-cheapo entertainment but one of the main protagonists of the film is just not quite who you want as the hero as he sleazes on to somebodies wife at the beginning and is lecherous towards her for the entire movie. Odd.

Bay Of Angels (1963)
The legendary Jaques Demy directs the legendary Jeanne Moreau in this peculiar existential gambling drama that takes a romantic turn even if it's a somewhat dark one. Moreau is absolutely magnetic as the mentally scattered gambling addict Jacki. She inhabits this character like she's lived it her entire life. Jacki's not necessarily likeable with her cold dark heart but you can't turn away as sometimes she reveals vulnerability. Jean (Claude Mann) the conflicted gambler who becomes enamoured by Jacki is also impeccably portrayed. Then there is France photographed in black and white which is stunning. Bay Of Angels is not just a character study par excellence it is movie making of the high calibre variety.

1984 (1984)
I don't want to write prescient because the George Orwell story Nineteen Eighty Four has been relevant to society ever since it was published in 1949. 1984 mirrors the stupidity going on right now on both sides of the political spectrum ie. The fascistic police state and the authoritarian left. Both of which are totalitarian. Although 1984 is a critique of what goes wrong with the regressive extreme left once left to their own devices. This cautionary tale is pertinent to this very minute. Big Brother style law enforcement surveillance is prevalent now days and in a lot of cases justice depends upon it. Cancel culture is right here as Winston Smith's (John Hurt) actual job. His job is to unperson people, wipe out any evidence that they ever existed. Sound familiar? Is George Orwell not taught in schools or universities anymore. I can't imagine many professors wanting their students to read this indictment of their extreme leftist doctrine of unfreedom of speech and compelled political correctness. What would happen if the kids realised they've diminished themselves as individuals at the behest of authoritarian groupthink?

1984's most applicable to today's situation with fake news and computerised manipulation of narratives towards your particular political bias despite the facts and the truth. Sorry, I mean we could all write an essay, a thesis or a phd dissertation on this subject and probably have. This really does feel like school but you know how you always used to say to teachers "What relevance is this going to have on my life?" I think a teacher/lecturer could confidently say this is probably the most relevant and useful topic you'll ever learn about in the education system.

What about the movie though Tim? Yeah it's a good lil disturbing dystopian drama with the good actoring and ace retro-future vibes. 2020's world is basically 1984's world with just a few cosmetic adjustments. The forbidden love story between Winston & Julia takes up a surprising amount of the movie. I'm not sure how much of the book that took up because I'm not sure I ever read the bloody thing to the end!

There's a surprising amount of full frontal female nudity from Julia (Suzanna Hamilton) for bush fans. No full frontal male nudity though. When was the last time you saw a man's cock in a mainstream movie? I recall Harvey's Keitel in The Piano (1993), Ewan's McGregor in that boring Greenaway movie and was there someone starkers in one of the Monty Python films. That's not a lot and perhaps I'm showing my age. As discussed recently on The Projection Booth Podcast seeing a man's penis on screen is still a rarity.

Everybody over the age of 15 should watch this movie. While these concepts are not news to me they might just well be for a 22 year old. If you are one of these people be prepared to have your life and world turned upside down as reality and the nefariousness of your government comes crashing into your face.

Top Of The Heap (1972)
This unique picture has been discussed on both The Movies That Made Me and Pure Cinema podcasts recently. I guess there's something in the air with all the George Floyd demonstrations and riots. Christopher St John writes, directs and stars in this wonderful piece of cinema. George Lattimer (Christopher St John) is an African American cop on the streets of Washington DC. He's been doin his job as a street cop on the nightshift for over 10 years. Lattimer becomes disillusioned after a white moron gains a promotion over him. Throughout the movie he becomes more and more unhinged as his work, family and social life spiral out of control along with his mind. He hates himself and the system.

There are two key scenes that make this relevant to today: He gets racially profiled by another cop after getting off a bus. The White cop doesn't realise Lattimer's a cop as he has a trench coat over his uniform. Lattimer has this coat on so as to not alienate himself from the black community and because he's become conflicted about his job. This scenario could have quite easily gone pear-shaped George Floyd stylee. Showing things haven't really changed with regard to police attitudes in fifty years. The trench coat over his police uniform mirroring images off today's news where cops are turning up to work in plain clothes in fear of their lives.

He gets into a fight with a bunch of black people who run the club where his mistress works as a singer. Black on black violence in America is an ongoing concern. It was pointed out to me recently that university studies have shown that African Americans are just as likely to be killed by other African American cops as white cops. This study totally shocked me when I read it the other day. So this was totally relevant.

Anyway despite the dark and serious social issue subject matter this movie is also a whole lotta nihilistic fun. Sometimes it is absolutely hilarious. One particularly memorable funny scene is when Lattimer turns up at his mistress's (Paula Kelly) place. She's so stoned she can't take his heavy vibe seriously so she mocks him by repeating what he's saying in soulful singing over her jazzy chords on acoustic guitar. This is comic gold that had me laughing out loud and it felt so real. The daydreaming sequences where Lattimer is an astronaut are off the wall and make up a substantial part of the film. Fans of 70s cars, fashion, music and interior design are in for an eyeball treat.

This is a visionary work of African American cinema that should be right up there with Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, Take One (1968), Cotton Comes To Harlem (1970), Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971), Killer Of Sheep (1977), Penitentiary (1979), Do The Right Thing (1989) etc.

Django (1966)
There was a time in the 90s when it felt like I watched every single Spaghetti Western ever made, well at least half, they made a lot of them. SBSTV also seemed to have a year where that was all they showed movie-wise. Good times. So I totally had Spaghetti Western fatigue. While I've remained enamoured by the soundtracks in the new millennium, I don't think I've watched one of these flicks since the 90s. Tubi has changed the movie watching landscape though. They have so many ye olde films, heaps of good ones. I thought signing up to Amazon Prime was great but tubi's even better and its free. So they've uploaded a motherlode of 60s/70s Italian westerns and not only that they seem to be great prints. I think they have a deal with Arrow Video so there's a bunch of Ringos, Djangos and Sartanas to watch. Everybody knows and loves Sergio Leone but now you get to watch the rest. I can't stand Clint Eastwood so its lucky they made over 350 spaghetti westerns not starring him for our pleasure.

Django is a great place to start because it's one of the best Spaghetti Westerns. Django (Franco Nero) turns up in a muddy border ghost-town dragging a coffin. All that's left in the deserted town is the saloon, the barkeep and his harem of ladies. There will be violence, quicksand, gold, Mexicans, racist Confederates, a western take on the trojan horse, much blood shed, revenge, a cemetery and quite possibly the greatest opening song ever in the history of film. Recommended.

Cemetery Without Crosses (1969)
You know you're in for a treat when Scott Walker sings the opening song of a Spaghetti Western! Well it's an Italian-French co-production innit. So what is a French Western called? A Baguette Western? Robert Hossein writes, stars and directs here. This is a tragedy with more tragedy followed by some tragedy. We get vengeance, more vengeance followed by some more vengeance. Maria's (Michèle Mercier) husband is killed and she wants vengeance but not just any old vengeance. She wants the posse who killed her husband to be humiliated in front of the entire town and that's just for starters. Along with the horseys in the desert we get the Spaghetti Western perennials: Lynching, a corrupt Sheriff, ghost towns, robbery, coffins, gold, fast gunslingers, minimal dialogue, cemeteries, mucho bloodshed, a dead dude on a horsey, nihilism, kidnapping, romance and of course revenge. This one is for the ladies. Cemetery Without Crosses is stylistically beautiful with a terrific story which makes this a gem and probably a masterpiece of the genre. Highly recommended. 

Ekoplekz Complete. Nick Edwards ReBegins.

Last year Ekoplekz aka Nick Edwards called it quits. As far as I know the Ekoplekz moniker is finished with. Edwards has been quite mysterious over the years appearing and disappearing on social media. A few months back I noticed he had popped up on Instagram only to disappear recently. In the last 12 months he also joined and then left twitter again (don't blame him, twitter's fucking toxic). Anyway during correspondence late last year with one of his record company people, I was told his fantastic 2019 tapes Metabolism and In Search Of The Third Mantra were to be the last new Ekoplekz recordings ever.

Ekoplekz is finished but you can't keep a good man down. Nick Edwards is back under his own name with a new digital album For Now, Our Desire Is Nameless. This one's on a more minimal tech tip. The opening tune Watching is a subtle repetitive minuscule lock groove that he has somehow made mellifluous. The Same is a lightly defective neo-cosmic jam. The push and pull rhythm of Old Things could have made it an absolute banger but it's like rhabdomyolysis has occurred and it's barely hanging on to its anaemic life. Definition is a standout tune that feels like a homage to the glory days of the Basic Channel/Chain Reaction milieu. Track 4 On Higher is supreme pulsating enviro-electronic-ambience. Screens has got to be the most minimal thing he's ever done as it shape shifts out of its psychedelic circular pattern and almost dissipates as it unfurls into tiny wisps of sound with a Carpenter-esque sting as the album's finale. Wow this is pretty fucking elevated stuff. It feels really meticulous but these are live improvised jams which makes me think he has mastered his craft to a sublime degree. 

Recently though there has been a whole lot of archival activity over on the Ekoplekz bandcamp page. Edwards has been putting every little bit of Ekoplekz's audio history up on this digital platform to properly catalogue and conclude the ten year Ekoplekz era. I believe this project is now complete. So for starters he has put up Volume 1 (2010) which was the first Ekoplekz release. By the time I became aware of this limited to 20 copies cdr and its abridged second edition of only 50 copies they had all been snapped up. Luckily someone uploaded it onto a sharity blog at the time and that's where the obsession began. Edwards describes this as primitive unproduced early demos recorded on a four track cassette.

Now if you thought it was hard to get your hands on Volume 1, it was virtually impossible to your hands on Doctrine: 789305 (2010). This private press tape of less than 10 copies was only given to his friends! Edwards says he never had any intention of this ever resurfacing again but some of his friends told him that it was one of his best recordings and urged him to release it. So voilà after finding the master tape at the back of a drawer Edwards has put it up on bandcamp for you to download digitally. His friends were right this is easily one of the best Ekoplekz albums. Doctrine: 789305 is full of splendid crunchy dubbed out no-fi electronic goodness. Ekoplekz hedz need to hear this!  

Volume 2 (2010) is the third Ekoplekz release and it was another private press cdr of just 50 copies. I've never heard this one either so I was pretty excited to see it on bandcamp. I gave up on ever getting a version of this album years ago. I know some of the tracks because they were on that Pontone mix which must have been done in late 2010.

I did not know this even existed. This 2012 recording might just be the ultimate Ekoplekz release. I fucking love these berserk noisy electronics and the two 20 minute tracks totally suit this delirious saga of radiophonica. Discogs has The Nunton Complekz filed as an artist name. I dunno, maybe it was an alias. Nick Edwards was quite fond of an alias like Ensemble Skalectrik, PLKZFX, Phlekz etc. Then there were his collaborations eMMplekz (with Baron Mordant), EKOCLEF (with Bass Clef), pHarmerz (with Farmer Glitch) and so on.    

If that wasn't enough for you or you already had those obscure early releases just hold on to your horses. On the first of this month Nick Edwards unleashed the motherlode of Ekoplekz rarities. Wrekage 2011-2019 is an hour and forty minutes of tracks that have previously exclusively appeared on other compilations. On the bandcamp page this compilation is described as "An anthology of orphans from the main discography." This is the most diverse collection of tunes ever issued under the Ekoplekz moniker. Wait for it...there is a cover of Syd Barrett's Late Night with vocals and psych guitars which is.....well, to put it mildly surprising.