In memorium Alex Chilton

I was shocked to hear of the death of Alex Chilton tonight. I don't know how this got past me. Chilton, of course, fronted Big Star, one of the most under-appreciated bands of all time. Apparently his death came just days before Big Star was to perform at the SXSW music fest.

Obsession Various Artists

If you can find it, this collection of rare psych recordings from around the world is a precious treasure. Collecting artists from Turkey to Peru, Obsession is a rollicking pleasure from beginning to end. Quarteto Nova Era’s ‘De Repente’ and ‘Murituri’ by Arnaud Rodrigues are as good as anything recorded by Os Mutantes. The wah-licking ‘Osman Pehlivan’ by Arif Sag and ‘Hor Gorme Garibi’ by Erkin Koray kick out the Turkish jams motherfucker! Finally, Jean Paul “El Troglodita’s” ‘Everything is Gonna Change’ takes us ever higher with its horn-infused psych-funk freak out. Definitely out there! For adventurous music fans.

Hows about a listen

Charles Earland Dynamite Brothers

A great soundtrack to an obscure 70’s kung fu blaxploitation flick. I can hardly think of anything better than a platter of tasty B-3 grooves artfully layered over a fat n funky bass with a soulful smattering of horns. Just close your eyes and you can see the car chases, the flying roundhouses, the squalid ghetto, the pimps in their finery, and those afro-heavy babes in their halter tops and bellbottoms.

Get your groove on with: Betty’s Theme, Shanty Blues, Kungfusion, and the silky smooth Incense of Essence. Right on Soul Brother!

Chris Bell

When I think of the public adoration heaped upon mainstream “artists” the likes of Avril Lavigne, or Ashley Simpson, or Justin Timberlake, it sickens me that artists possessed of a true pop genius, Chris Bell for instance, remain virtually forgotten.

Bell’s posthumous release I am the Cosmos collects tracks recorded in the years between his departure from Big Star and his tragic, untimely death in 1978.

These songs are powerful and sweet, highly reminiscent of Big Star's #1 Record. Top tracks include the title track, the plaintive Speed of Sound, and the delicate pop of You and Your Sister.

Luciano Ercoli

I recently watched Ercoli's Death films. Both are above average giallos, but what really allows these two particular films to stand out are the superb scores by Stelvio Cipriani and Gianni Ferrio. In fact Ferrio's score for La Morte Accarezza a Mezzanotte is one of my all time favorite soundtracks. Judge for yourselves:

Bronson

I watched Bronson last night. Holy shit what a great movie. The hitherto unknown to me Tom Hardy turns in a star-making performance, ala Russell Crowe in Romper Stomper or Eric Bana in Chopper, playing Michael Peterson aka Charles Bronson, England's most violent criminal. Take away the super-stylized direction and you are still left with Hardy's amazing performance. Eye opening.

Check out the trailer:

Hayes, Parks, and the Bar-Kays

A groovy behind the scenes look at the making of a soundtrack classic

Franco Micalizzi

Franco Micalizzi created some of the best soundtrack music. Here he conducts a live orchestra through his amazing La Banda del Gobbo.

I'm a huge Mitchell and Webb fan. Here are two of my favorite sketches.

Colin Blunstone

Gorgeous song and vocal from former Zombies frontman

Burnin' Red Ivanhoe Purple Hearts

Wolf People Tiny Circle

Rockin my world

Three bands I stumbled across on youtube that are absolutely rocking my world right now:

Blast from my past #1

Nice performance of my favorite track from an old fave

Coffy

I know, I know...Superfly and Shaft! kick ass. I'm not taking anything away from Curtis or Isaac, but for my money the grooviest blaxploitation soundtrack ever is Roy Ayers' Coffy. From top to bottom this soundtrack is funky, smooth, and indelibly groovy. The flick isn't so bad either. Pam Grier is smoldering is this classic revenge story. Check it out!

This is an excellent sampler of some choice cuts from the soundtrack. Dig it!

Jean-Pierre Melville

One of the grooviest directors in the history of French cinema has to Jean-Pierre Melville. I love his stylish ganster noir films from the 50's and 60's, particularly Bob le Flambeur, with the delectable Isabelle Corey, Le Deuxieme Souffle, starring Lino Ventura, Le Samouri, with a stoic Alain Delon, and many others.

Melville first came to reknown for his adaptation of Jean Cocteau's Les Enfants Terrible. He also directed L' Armee des ombres about the French Resistance against the Nazi occupation.

Recently, Criterion has been releasing a number of Melville's films on DVD. Well worth it.

Here's a groovy behind the scenes look at Le Deuxieme Souffle:

Goblin

I was thrilled to find this vintage performance by the incomparable Goblin on YouTube! Enjoy...it's groovy!

Ross MacDonald

About 12 years ago I discovered pulp fiction with a bang! I ploughed through all of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson, David Goodis, et al, with speed and passion. I worked at a bookstore at the time and, thanks in large part to the great reissues of these authors and many others on the Black Lizard Vintage Crime label, I found a new passion.

Over the next few years I cooled off some, but still read the odd Chester Himes or Cornell Woolrich novel. That is until about two years ago when I finally got around, no telling why it took so long, to reading my first Ross MacDonald novel.

All those great books came flooding back. MacDonald's novels, featuring Lew Archer, are so immensely enjoyable that I struggle to find the words to describe how much I like them. I am now about halfway through the 20 Lew Archer novels that MacDonald blessed us with and am sad that I can see a time in the near future when I won't have 

any new ones to read. Any fan of noir, detective fiction, crime fiction, or great American novelists will love these books.

Ah Ross, I hardly got the chance to know ye.  

Zardoz

I love the mess film director's can make when given carte blanche (see Cimino's Heaven's Gate). High on the success of Deliverence, John Boorman busted out this groovy, existential, psychedelic science fiction picture in 1974 starring Sean Connery in one of film's worst ever costumes. 

Now some people hate this film, but I love it. Not necessarily because it is a great movie, but because it is visually impressive(check out the costume), and

 just so trippy!

Yeah, Boorman made better movies(Deliverence, Point Blank, Excalibur, Hope and Glory), but I will always have a place in my heart, if not my DVD collection for Zardoz.

Guns are good! The penis is evil! All hail Zardoz!!!

Un Omaggio

Calibro 35 is a contemporary band that plays new, original music that sounds just like music from Italian cop movies of the 70's. I guess they are to Cipriani and Micalizzi what Zombi is to Goblin and John Carpenter. Check them out! They are Molto Fresco!