Doughboys - Whatever

Doughboys

Montreal's Doughboys were simpatico with ALL and Mega City Four; hell, Wiz from MC4 even joined Doughboys for their last two records of punk pop. Led by ex-Asexual John Kastner, they made a go of it, making six LPs between 1987 and 1996. They are the kind of band I wish I had been familiar with during their heyday; their last three albums came out on A&M, not some indie with cruddy distribution, and their sound should have broken through as part of the alternative boom of the early 90s.

"Whatever" was their first album, originally released in Canada by MTL Records and Pipeline Records, and reissued in the States by Cargo Records. It's arguably their "punkest" record. The ten songs here blur by in just 28 minutes and, like their contemporaries from California and Hampshire, blazed a path for the sort of tuneful punk that'd be championed by No Idea and Boss Tuneage a decade later.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Shout! Factory in September

from "Weathering With You"

I've felt a bit underwhelmed in the past few months by Shout! Factory's releases, due in great part to the shipping issues they've experienced at their fulfillment facility. There are a great many titles that have come out recently that, in the past, I would have preordered direct from SF. But knowing they might arrive two or three weeks after the release date has really dampened my excitement. The last straw? I ordered a couple of steelbooks in their sale a couple weeks ago, both of which were in stock. The order's been sitting in pre-shipment for over a week. I'm sympathetic that COVID-19 has screwed everything up, but this sort of thing keeps me from spending money on anything other than that limited edition must have. Speaking of which...

ShoutFactory.com Exclusives

I don't recall seeing any sort of announcement on this program, and it's not like Shout! has put me on their media list yet, but at some point in July, listings for a pair of ShoutFactory.com exclusives popped up on the website. Limited to just 1,000 pieces, they've announced some pretty cool titles so far. July saw a Double Feature Blu-ray of "Caged Heat!" and "Jackson County Jail", along with a Blu-ray of 1985's "Streetwalkin'", featuring a young Melissa Leo. August brings a pair of Roger Corman exploitation Blu-rays in 1957's "Attack of the Crab Monsters" and 1978's "Deathsport". None of these are bare-bones releases; each Blu-ray features a commentary track as well as behind the scenes featurettes, trailers, etc. I'm all for driving traffic to the website, and all but the most specialist retailers would probably skip stocking these, so I'm in favor of the program. It looks like these release the last Friday of each month, so keep your eyes peeled.

September 1

Now let's dive in the ninth month with last year's "Children of the Sea" ("海獣の子供"). Based on the manga by Daisuke Igarashi, "Children of the Sea" sounds like a pretty decent fantasy adventure film: a girl and two mysterious boys meet in an aquarium and try to solve the mystery of the world's missing fish. If watching the trailer says anything to me, it's "whimsy". Longtime Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi wrote his first non-Ghibli score in 30 years for "Children...", so that's another mark in the plus column. GKids is awful about listing extras for their releases, but I'd assume we'd get Japanese and international trailers on the disc.

The first Scream Factory release in September is "Baba Yaga: Terror of the Dark Forest" ("Яга. Кошмар тёмного леса"), a Russian demon flick that came out just before COVID-19 went wide. Writer/director Svyatoslav Podgaevskiy's last film, 2018's "Mermaid: Lake of the Dead", had some really clever moments, and Slavic monster folklore always interests me. Whether it's rusalkas or the zmey or Baba Yaga, I'm willing to give anything covering this world a bit of my time. And, at a $19.99 list price, one isn't spending a lot to take a wag.

I have to assume that you, kind reader, are probably not the target audience for "Monster Hits: Rock & Rhyme With Elmo". That's cool; I'm still going to cover it. You get two - that's right, two! - hours of sing-along fun with Elmo and his crew. For folks with young kids and without HBO Max, this release is going to be a pandemic godsend. Just park the wee ones in front of the TV with this and let them sing until they can't sing anymore. No word yet on whether these come with a pair of noise-cancelling headphones for Mommy's quiet time.

September 4

It's the rare Friday release! It's concert footage of the classic lineup of the B-52s! It's the US Festival! It's only available on DVD!  "The B-52s: Live at US Festival" captures the Athens quintet at the tail end of their (arguably) best era, playing on the Saturday before Labor Day, 1982, in San Bernadino, CA. Shout!'s been releasing sets from US Festival for almost a decade now, and they've always been pretty well produced. If you want to nerd out, think about seeing the lineup from New Wave Day, 1982:

• The Police: I hate them, but they're at the tale end of the "Ghost in the Machine" tour, and they had the horn section from Sugarhill Records backing them
• Talking Heads: on hiatus, but had started recording "Speaking in Tongues" earlier in the summer
• The B-52s: had been touring behind the David Byrne-produced "Mesopotamia" all summer
• Oingo Boingo: "Nothing To Fear" had come out earlier in the summer, and they'd been opening for the Police
• The (English) Beat: "Special Beat Service" marked their 3rd album in five years, and the end of their classic lineup. Shout! put out a release in 2012 of the Beat's 1982 & 1983 sets at US Festival that's worth checking out
• Ramones: were the Ramones ever bad live? I could take or leave the "Subterranean Jungle"-era Ramones, but I dunno if they even played anything off that record, which they wouldn't start recording until December
• Gang of Four: "Songs of the Free" was their first record with Sara Bell on bass...I'm a fan

September 8

I've been hyped for "True History of the Kelly Gang" since seeing the trailer last year. Of course, it got released here in April, which meant I was not going to see it until the Blu-ray came out. This is a more-fictionalized version of the Ned Kelly story, told by Kelly to his (fictional) daughter. Ned Kelly was the subject of the first featuring length film, "The Story of the Kelly Gang" (1906), as well as a Mick Jagger feature AND a Yahoo Serious comedy that I saw in the theatre. The cast is top notch, starring George MacKay from "1917", and featuring the likes of Russell Crowe (fighting 'round the world), Essie Davis ("Mrs. Fisher's Murder Mysteries"), Nicholas Hoult ("About a Boy"), and Charlie Hunnam ("Undeclared"). There's some great Australian history at play, a great Aussie cast, and I hear the action scenes are really well executed. Sign me up for some bush ranging!

September 15

Much like the rest of the world, I really liked 2016's "Your Name" ("君の名は。"). "Your Name" became the highest-grossed anime film of all time, topping "Spirited Away" by $4 million. Writer/director Makoto Shinkai followed that success up with last year's "Weathering With You" ("天気の子"). It looks like it has a lot of the same sort of mood as "Your Name", and is set in the same world and time period as the previous film. So, based on nothing more than reviews at this point, I'd say, if you liked "Your Name", you'll probably like "Weathering With You". GKids is going full out on this release: you can choose from a DVD, a Blu-ray/DVD combo, or a limited edition steelbook Blu-ray/DVD combo. That steelbook also comes with a lithograph of the cover, which is nice. You'll get both the Japanese v.o. and the US dub, which features Lee Pace, Alison Brie, and Riz Ahmed, as well as trailers, interviews with Shinkai, and an overview of his ouevre. All in all, this should be one of the big releases this month.

I have no recollection of "The TV Set" coming out in 2006. While it wasn't a big budget film, it had a director whose work I followed (Jake Kasdan), a cast of people who I've always liked (Sigourney Weaver, David Duchovny, Judy Greer), the involvement of Judd Apatwo, and a plot about creating a TV show. It also came out the year before "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story", one of my favorite comedies of the past twenty years. So why didn't I hear about this until now, when it hits a lot of my sweet spots? Probably because it was put out by TH!NKfilm, the now-defunct NYC distributor also responsible for "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" and "Encounters at the End of the World". I recall them having really shitty reach; I had to go to DC to see "Encounters", and waited to see "Devil" until it was on DVD. At any rate, this is the reason Shout Select exists: an under-seen movie comes to Blu-ray, with the kind of extras that contextualize the film and give it new life.

September 22

I've lost track of where things lie with GKids reissuing the Studio Ghibli catalog through Shout! Factory. For example, I really thought they'd already put out 2013's "The Wind Rises" ("風立ちぬ"), the film billed as Hayao Miyazaki's retirement film. But I must have confused it with the earlier Disney release. Meh, it happens. At first blush, it looks like a fairly straight-forward reissue of the 2014 Disney release. This Blu-ray/DVD combo comes with the "Behind the Microphone" featurette, feature-length storyboards, trailers and TV spots. Added to this reissue is a new insert, and an episode from the documentary series "Hayao Miyazaki: 10 Years with the Master". The DVD reissue is missing those new extras, so I'd suggest going combo pack for this one.

Speaking of reissues: the first volume of "The Vincent Price Collection" is back! Originally released in 2013, this collected six of Price's American International films on Blu-ray for the first time. Having gone out of print a few years back, the secondary market for this collection has gotten nuts; I've seen it go for anywhere from $135.00 to $350.00. That's just wild. So it's nice to have it available again. The only change is the removal of the Vincent Price introductions from each film; a nice touch, to be sure, but hardly a deal-breaker. Additionally, 1964's "The Masque of the Red Death", previously only available in this set, is now available as a stand-alone Blu-ray. As before, "Masque" comes in both its theatrical version and extended version. Here's hoping that this means we might see additional stand-alone reissues!

September 29

Has it been 20 years since "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" came out in the cinema? It feels like it was only yesterday that we saw Mara Wilson take her final, glorious stroll across the silver screen, opposite the likes of Alec Baldwin, Peter Fonda, and Didi Conn. What a shame that director/creator Britt Allcroft wasn't able to present her original vision. We're now a step closer to realizing that vision, with this wonderful 20th anniversary edition. It's our first chance to see the deleted storylines, to listen to the actors and composer, to relive the glory of the summer of 2000. Were we ever so young?

Shout! Factory released a complete collection of "The Bob Newhart Show" back in 2014; I think I gave it to my then-girlfriend. Now all 142 episodes are being reissued, in all their mid-70s glory. I love listening to Newhart's standup from the early 60's (rediscovered as a result of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel"), and I prefer Bob as innkeeper in "Newhart" over Bob as psychologist in "The Bob Newhart Show". But, as far as sitcoms from this era go, it's pretty good...up there with "The Mary Tyler Moore Show".

We end September with the Scream Factory collector's edition of 2002's "Ghost Ship", or, as I never fail to call it, "Ghost Shit". I saw a matinee of this back then, hungover from work the night before and in between a morning and a night class. Everything about this movie feels like a off-brand version of another movie, from the obvious plot influence of "Event Horizon", to the poster almost completely copied from 1980's "Death Ship". The best part of "Ghost Shit" is the totally brutal opening scene; it's all downhill from there, with a cast borrowed from TV casts (AND Gabriel Byrne!). Of course, only Scream Factory could make this worth purchasing, with better extras than a film of this ilk deserves. Having now seen the "Thirteen Ghosts" release from July, I can better understand why Scream brought director Steve Beck's second and final film to Blu-ray.

What have we learned this month? Well, it's to appreciate that they can't ALL be winners. There's an audience for everything here, and it's ok that I'm not it. I'll be grabbing "Weathering With You" and "The History of the Kelly Gang" this month; any of the others can probably wait until a sale or a full-time job. We're back in 30 for more Ghibli steelbooks, Charlie Kaufman's "Adaptation" on Blu-ray, and the long-awaited "Friday the 13th" collection. Be there; aloha.

The Heptones ‎– Unreleased Night Food & Rare Black Ark Sessions

Summer time is the right time to roll down the windows, turn up the bass, and drive around listening to reggae as loud as you can stand.

In honor of that sentiment, as well as the unofficial end of summer coming today, here's a now-out-of-print collection of Heptones recordings, circa 1976, the great majority of which have never been released anywhere else. It's only been in the past couple of years that I've branched out to embrace any roots reggae or lover's rock. What I had previously dismissed as second-rate Bob Marley now opened up, in great part to all the dub I'd been finding cheap and listening to since moving to the PNW.

The Heptones were a remarkable trio of vocalists whose history together dated back to the late 1950's as a street-corner harmony group. They'd gather together in 1966 for their first recording sessions, cutting a trio of rocksteady albums for Studio One before slowing down their sound. They'd work with a variety of producers from 1971 to 1975, before convening at the Black Ark, Lee Perry's renowned studio, at the behest of Island Records to make "Night Food".

What's cool about these recordings are not only the outtakes from a group at the height of their powers, but also the intersection of so many awesome musicians backing them. Leroy Sibbles would leave the group within a year of cutting "Night Food", but you couldn't tell by the level of performance heard here. A key chunk of the Wailers would back the Heptones here, contemporaneously with the recording of "Rastaman Vibration". Credited as the Wailers All-Stars, the Brothers Barrett, Touter Harvey, and Chinna Smith all lay down some amazing riddims. Of course, the standout is the engineering of Lee Perry. This was one of the final sessions held at the Black Ark before Perry burnt it down. The production is just out of this world; the collaboration between Perry and the Heptones would continue into Perry's "Super Ape" and the final classic-lineup Heptones release, 1977's "Party Time". To me, this is a perfect jam for the last warm days of the year.

Discogs

Click here to download.

An indeterminate number of reflections on Sonic Youth's "Bull in the Heather" video

1. It took approximately 26 years for me to realize Kathleen Hanna was capering about during the video.
2. Kim Gordon should have sung every Sonic Youth song.
3. I hear Kathleen Hanna gave Thurston Moore a bloody lip while this was being filmed. Good.
4. Tamra Davis videos are always great.
5. In a video full of entertaining moments, the one that always stands out is Steve Shelley hesitating before picking up the beat again. It's like taking a breath, and it always gives me the giggles for some unknown reason.
6. This is my favorite Sonic Youth song, from my favorite era of Sonic Youth.
7. There's, what, four different narrative threads in the video?
1. The band playing live.
2. Kathleen Hanna dancing in the burly house.
3. Kim Gordon hopping on the bed, channeling Carroll Baker in "Baby Doll".
4. The kids running through the hazy field.
8. I went to Lollapalooza '95 specifically to see Sonic Youth because I liked "Experimental Jet Set" so much. Two girls from my neighborhood and I drove from suburban Baltimore to a horsetrack in West Virginia at the crack of dawn, stood out in the blazing sun all day, and never saw Sonic Youth because one of them got heat stroke. On the bright side, I saw Superchunk and the Jesus Lizard and Helium, all of which were awesome, bought some fake ecstasy that I now think was just a chewable multivitamin, and swore off festivals for the rest of my life.
9. There are strong links between Sonic Youth and Beastie Boys here, what with Davis directing and Hanna performing.
10. The fact that Tamra Davis hasn't directed a narrative film since 2002's "Crossroads" kind of blows my mind. She's always been one of my favorite video auteurs, she directed both "CB4" AND "Half Baked", and she coaxed a perfectly cromulent performance out of Britney Spears. She's done a ton of TV in recent years, and it's perfectly believable that she prefers that work, but I always thought she had a real strong feminist sensibility that showed through in her films, and that should have been grown more.
11. I'm fairly certain I taped this song onto an audio cassette when the video aired on "120 Minutes".
12. 1994 was the first year I was both into music and had access to MTV, the absence of which probably did more to shape my taste than anything else. Without regular watching of videos after school before that, I ended up buying magazines and zines to find out about what was out there. It meant I all but missed the punk breakout of 1994, viewing from the side of "selling out" and "no UPCs" instead of getting into Green Day. On the downside, viewing availability as a negative is the reason I wouldn't listen to the Ramones or Misfits until well in my 20s.
13. It's been well legislated long before I climbed back in the saddle, but, yeah, I still think Thurston Moore is a dick.
14. Is it appropriate to use "indeterminate" in the title of this blog when, eventually, it's going to end, thus negating its indeterminate status.
15. Am I even using "indeterminate" in a proper way?
16. Why aren't the two Crucifucks records in print? And, for that matter, why hasn't someone done a new pressing of the Crucifix LP? We have all the time and money in the world to tie up the pressing plants with a reissue of "Whipped Cream & Other Delights" (now on 220g vinyl!), but we can't get another 1000 copies of three of the best hardcore records from the 80s? Justice for Doc Dart!
17. I've officially run out of observations and reflections inspired by the "Bull in the Heather" video. Good day.

Killer Pussy - Bikini Wax

Lucy La Mode of Killer Pussy

By now, regular readers of the blog should know that the ol' Ape Mummy loves some raunch. It's what happens when you grow up watching John Waters movies and finding Tijuana Bibles in your grandad's footlocker. I still get a kick out sleazy, stylized music, whether it's the Cramps, Dwarves, Andre Williams, or Turbonegro. Does it still play as well in 2020 as it did even five years ago? I really don't know anymore; there's a disconnect in my mind between being drawn to smutty art and remaining sensitive to the sensibilities of people who I care about. I'm working on it. That's what I can do.

So...Killer Pussy. Not the most SEO-friendly name (or is it?). They came out of Phoenix, playing punky, porny new wave alongside bands like JFA, Sun City Girls, and the Meat Puppets. Over their initial five-year existence, they put out two 7"s and an LP, had a song on the "Valley Girl" soundtrack, and made their rep as funny and fun to watch. Their first 7", 1982's "Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage" got tons of airplay on KROQ and "New Wave Theater". Then they ended, not necessarily a one-hit wonder, but definitely a bit of a novelty. They would reunite over 10 years later, and would continue to gig locally until they called it a day in 2015.

So I'm digging through the crates at Bargain CDs Records & Tapes in Everett, and I find this reissue in their dollar bin. I'm kind of shocked it's there; it's not particularly rare, but I hadn't seen one since Oglio put together a collection of Killer Pussy's recordings in 1994. Of course I snag it, along with some Criterion laserdiscs and a trucker-themed country compilation cassette. It definitely has a real "fake punk" vibe to it. Of course I'm in love. It's like a poppier, female-fronted Feederz. Could you make this today? Probably, but not nearly enough people would get the joke.

Discogs

Click here to download.

White Cross ‎– Deaf, Dumb And Blind

White Cross (photo from Facebook)

Once again, I find myself behind the 8-ball, watching nunsploitation with nothing on the books for the following morning's post. Let's dig into the magic murder bag and pull out some classic American hardcore.

White Cross were from Richmond, VA, and always seemed like one of those bands I'd hear about but never hear. Pen Rollings played bass on their 7", "Fascist", a year before he joined Honor Role; the rhythm section on their LP, "What's Going On", would join the first incarnation of GWAR after White Cross broke up. White Cross had their greatest national exposure via their two songs on the first "We Got Power" compilation.

Grand Theft Audio put out this shiny 5" disc back in 1995, compiling the LP, the 7", and 12 unreleased cuts, circa 1984-85. I think it's a real cool snapshot of what was filtering out into the world from those early Black Flag/Bad Brains/DOA releases. All in all, you get 41 snotty circle pitters (that's a thing, right?) that haven't been reissued ever. Apparently, they're even still occasionally gigging around Richmond, featuring three of the four members and Greta Brinkman (L7, Wasted Talent) on bass. That's fun, right? I kinda wish I'd known 5-6 years ago; I totally would have booked them to rage out in some 50 person room in Baltimore.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Henry Fiat's Open Sore - Adulterer Oriented Rock

How about some of that old-tyme Swedish garage punk?

Henry Fiat's Open Sore are the yang to the Hives' yin. Both bands wear suits onstage, play garage rock, and generally act like cocks of the walk. But while the Hives can headline festivals, HFOS is better suited playing in the back of a dive bar. It's all gimp masks, three chords, and attitude, paving the way for bands like Carbonas, Black Lips, Sick Thoughts. Naturally, I loved finding this out in the wild for a mere $3. It's the kind of shithead punk that I just can't get enough of, slotting nicely with my Dwarves, Sniffany and the Nits, and Queers records.

This collection of the first four years of HFOS singles came out in 2002 simultaneously with the American reissue of their first LP on Berkeley's Coldfront Records. Coldfront was run by one of the guys who wrote/edited for Hit List magazine, and reflected that zine's focus on streetpunk, garage, and Oi! They were both short-lived and amazingly prolific, putting out close to 70 releases in just over 5 years. There are some great overlooked releases in that catalog: I'll write about their Wynona Riders comp in the future, and I love their various samplers, which capture a really fun slice of American punk rock. As for Henry Fiat's Open Sore, they went on hiatus around 2004, reappearing with an LP in 2008, then fully reuniting in 2019 with a pair of new records on Stockholm's Push My Buttons.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Post #200: Tragedy - No End In Sight

Tragedy at Thee Parkside, SF, CA, 2008 (photo by Brian Dooley)

When I restarted Primitive Offerings a few months back, it was, in part, because the 20th anniversary occasions had really started piling up for me. 2000 was a really good year, no? It was the first year I ever really lived on my own; the Baltimore Chop and I lived in a cruddy two-bedroom apartment out in Baltimore County after I got kicked out of college. We went to shows all the time, especially since they didn't drink at the time, so I could have a few and not stress driving drunk. There were countless great records that came out that year. And the movies...oh, the movies from 2000! "O Brother...", "Pitch Black", "Almost Famous", "Ghost Dog", "High Fidelity": when I wasn't at a show, at work, or back at school, I was probably in the theatre, turning a single feature in a double. So, yeah, for me, other than going all year without a date, it was a really good year.

2000 was the year the first Tragedy LP came out. I didn't know much about them. I knew this was the new His Hero Is Gone/Deathreat band, the fourth member was the guy who ran the Great American Steak Religion label, and they were out of Portland instead of Memphis. I had really mixed feelings about crust at the time. I loved the music and the politics; I hated the scene, so I figured, much like HHIG, I'd never see these guys, because I didn't want to be the only person there looking like a skinhead. What can I say; I was super-insecure about myself in 2000.

Flash forward a couple years to 2002. The Art Space and the Bloodshed open within months of each other, each one offering slightly different yet complimentary takes on DIY punk and hardcore. It was easier navigating city shows; I lived a block from Reptilian, worked at the record store when I wasn't at school, helped remodel and run CCAS. Tragedy's second LP, "Vengeance", comes out, and it carpet bombs everything. I couldn't help but pay attention. They go on tour, and I get to see them! The gang in Kerum had this verbal meme at the time, based on a review they received from a German zine. When something was awesome, they'd yell "HAMMER!" I spent most of Tragedy's set at the Bloodshed yelling "HAMMER!" and head banging.

Time goes on. Tragedy does a split with Sweden's Totalitär in 2003, tours Europe and releases a pair of re-recorded "Vengeance" tracks, then releases "Nerve Damage" in 2006. I was in a different headspace by then; I still loved the music, but I stopped going to shows, a newlywed trying to live a straight life for my spouse. Tragedy played the Ottobar behind "Nerve Damage". I didn't attend. I still rocked the CD I'd picked up from Reptilian's new store.

Five years pass. My wife and I split up. I move back to Baltimore. Tragedy plays the first day of Maryland Deathfest, on a bill with Cathedral, Buzzov•en, Lack of Interest, and Noisear. A buddy offers to sneak me into the show, but I bail to hang out with my girlfriend, who proceeds to berate me for not going to the show. But what can I say? I had work in the morning, and standing around during a bunch of bands I didn't love for one that I did didn't seem appealing. The next year, Tragedy releases "Darker Days Ahead", their fourth (and to date final) LP. It's much closer to the metal side of crust than the punk; I'm not in love with it. For me, the best part of the record is David D'Andrea's cover art.

Time keeps on ticking by. It's 2018. I live north of Seattle, having gone from Baltimore to Atlanta to the Pacific Northwest in the course of three years. I've been laid off from my job for close to a year. I've had a breakdown which led to hospitalization. I'm living off the kindness of family, food banks, and selling off records. Things are not great. I guess at some point I'd added myself to Ebullition's e-mail list, which announces a new Tragedy 12". I debate spending the little money I have on a record, then go with downloading the EP from Tragedy's new Bandcamp page. As indifferent as I was to "Darker Days Ahead", I am that thrilled by "Fury". It was a return to the form I expected.

So it's been almost two years to the day that "Fury" was released, and 20 years since the self-titled LP came out. To celebrate, I've put together the below comp for your listening pleasure. You get my three favorite songs from each 12", along with one song each from their three single releases. Everything is ordered chronologically, past to present. This is not at all complete; I invite you to track down all of their releases. Tragedy remains a powerful force in DIY music. I hope this helps explain why.

Click here to download.

The Criterion Collection in September

John Merrick: Not an animal

I'm watching "Life of Brian" again, maybe for the 10th time, and I start thinking about the duality between comfort and interest. I've watched each of the Monty Python films at least 10 times each (surprise!), yet there remains a long list of well-regarded movies I want to see, yet haven't. And it's not, like, "The Irishman" or "Parasite" or something that's released in the past 12 months that I might have limited access to. It's shit like "On the Waterfront", "Sunset Blvd.", "The Grapes of Wrath"...the films that AFI and Empire and BFI lists are made of. Or, for a more apt example, most of September's Criterion releases. At least I have an appropriate reason to make the time to see them now.

September 8

Let's start off with a pair of reissues for films that I'm already familiar with. I've owned previous Criterion releases of "Brute Force" and "The Naked City" for years now. They helped seal my fandom for the works of Jules Dassin. These, along with "Thieves' Highway" and "Night and the City", make up a quartet of the finest film noir ever released, as well as the last movies Dassin directed before being blacklisted in 1950. Both films rank amongst my top ten favorite crime movies, with the cinematography of William Daniels and Miklós Rózsa's scores being particularly standout. These are primo post-war, naturalist films that I can watch time and again.

But why the reissue? Well, both movies are now available on Blu-ray, with uncompressed soundtracks, 4K scans and restorations courtesy of the folks at Germany's TLEFilms FIlm Restoration & Preservation Services. This gives them the visual and audio edge over the previous Region B Arrow Academy releases. Even the DVDs get some sprucing up, with fresh high-definition transfers.

I would imagine, at the very least, that Criterion will also be providing "Thieves' Highway" with the same restoration treatment, hopefully next year. It would be an excellent capper on a restoration cycle of Dassin's film noirs that began in 2015 with the reissued "Night and the City".

September 15

I've started familiarizing myself with Claire Denis's work since getting blown away by "High Life" last year. I've been slowly watching her work, via everything from laserdiscs to streaming, and really digging what I've seen so far. What's really grabbed me about her body of work is that she focuses as much on the Mise-en-scène as she does the story and character. There's a great balance present that most directors are not able to find. She also works a lot with the theme of colonialism, something I find very interesting at present, due in part to the ongoing decay of the American Empire.

So 1999's "Beau travail" ("Good Work") is one of Denis's most acclaimed films, and one I haven't seen yet, so I guess it's good it's releasing the day after my birthday. A loose adaptation of Melville's Billy Budd, it transports the setting to modern-day Djibouti, and the characters from sailors to members of the French Foreign Legion. Denis's long-time collaborator, cinematographer Agnès Godard, oversaw the 4K scan and restoration for this release, which had previously only been available in North America via a 2002 DVD release from New Yorker Video. Also included are a conversation between Denis and director Barry Jenkins ("Moonlight") and the usual mix of interviews, trailers, and essays. I'm looking forward to finally seeing this.

September 22

I've never been exposed to the films of Francesco Rosi, the Italian director. But I've been digging into Italian film more during the pandemic, thanks in part to the occasional pickup from RaroVideo USA and having found a box of Mrs. Ape's foreign DVDs. I suppose I'm more open now than ever before to watching an almost four-hour film about rural Italy set in the years proceeding World War II.

"Christ Stopped at Eboli" ("Cristo si è fermato a Eboli") was originally made for and released on Italian state television in 1979. A northern anti-fascist artist is banished by Mussolini's government to one of the southern-most regions of Italy, Basilicata. Worlds collide as he encounters peasantry for the first time, leading him to embrace his medical education to aid his fellow villagers. "Christ Stopped at Eboli" makes its debut on Blu-ray with this Criterion release; it's also the first time it's been available as the uncut television version. There are some cool period extras featuring Rosi, who died in 2015, as well as a 2K scan and restoration and a fresh new English translation. This may not be something I immediately go out and buy, but I've now seen and read enough about it to be intrigued.

September 29

One of the best parts about these write ups each month is the ability to say, "I know NOTHING about this release, but it seems pretty cool." I know critics love to flex on their knowledge of everything and anything; I can dispense completely with that and just get into the joy of discovery. That's why I'm excited for the third volume of Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project. The previous volumes have opened me up to so many different eras of non-hegemonic filmmaking; I'd never have walked into a theatre to see one of these, but the double recommendation of Scorsese and Criterion is enough to pique my curiosity.

This release is a mix of fascinating Third World cinema, with releases from Cuba, Iran, Mexico, Mauritius, Brazil, and Indonesia. I'm particularly interested to check out "Lucía" (1968, Humberto Solás); its three storylines following women named Lucia through periods of Cuban upheaval sounds enthralling, and my limited exposure to post-revolution filmmaking in Cuba has always been enjoyable.

This set contains six DVDs and three Blu-rays, featuring 4K scans and restorations of each film. Scorsese introduces each film; these have always been really cool, providing insight as to why Marty reps each film and where they influenced him. Additionally, there's a documentary about "Lucía", featuring interviews with the director, his cast, and crew, as well as multiple interviews and essays.

Let's end September with a confession. I've never seen "The Elephant Man". I'll let that sink in.

I really don't even want to admit it. It's not like I don't like David Lynch. It's not like I'm not totally familiar with it. It's not like I haven't had 40 years to see it. But it's like I said at the beginning; there's opposition between comfort and interest. Yes, I totally could have seen "The Elephant Man" by now, but I probably just watched "Porky's" or "Dune" instead.

I suppose I'll rectify that omission now. Criterion's done a bang-up job with its Lynch issues over the past few years ("Blue Velvet" being a personal fav), so I expect this Lynch-approved 4K restoration will look amazing. Lynch and co-author Kristine McKenna also read from a portion of the 2018 memoir Room to Dream. There are a number of archival materials available, as well as trailers and radio spots for the initial release of the film. Finally, the addition of a 1886 letter to the editor of the London Times regarding John Merrick is the nice lil cherry on top.

"The Elephant Man" is my must have from September. The Dassin reissues can wait until a sale, or would make a most excellent gift. It's for the best that I can wait a bit on these, as the October lineup looks to be all must-haves. See us here in 30 for more Criterion.

None More Black - None More Black

None More Black, live at the Fest 7, 2008 (screencap by BlankTV)

I'll let you in on a little secret: I like the post-Kid Dynamite bands a lot more than I like Kid Dynamite.

Is it because I saw both None More Black and Paint It Black within weeks of each other on their first out of town shows? Is it because there wasn't overwhelming hype behind both bands when I saw them? They were just normal-ass bands, down from Philly, playing second support on hardcore matinees. They did, however, have superior pedigrees, and the new music ripped.

I want to say that None More Black wasn't even a full-time band when they came to Baltimore with this slab in hand. There was talk Jay was going to sing for Beau from Kill the Man Who Questions's new thrash band (which eventually became R.A.M.B.O.). So to see he and his brother Jeff show up, playing music more akin to something from No Idea than Havoc was a very pleasant surprise. There was more than a little Dag Nasty influence present, which I'm always going to get hyped for.

500 of these were pressed, all on black. None of the three songs here appeared on any future NMB releases; the band definitely slowed their tempo a bit once they signed with Fat a couple years down the road. I'd suggest going back and celebrating their entire catalog with a listen.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Ghostface Killah x Max Tannone - Ghostfunk

I've been fighting a sore shoulder and an ongoing headache for the past two days, which, oddly enough, makes it difficult to put ideas to pixels and talk about music. Forgiveness, please.

This is the chocolate and peanut butter of mash-ups for me. "Ghostfunk" is Ghostface Killah acapellas over afrobeat/highlife music. This shit works because of course it does. I'ma tell you right now that "Dear Psychedelic Woman" is a go-to mixtape track for me. It's a can't miss banger. I've only ever had this as MP3s, although it appears that there have been a few pressings on vinyl over the past nine years. If anyone wants to send me a copy for my upcoming birthday, I wouldn't say "no".

Here's where I point out that you can get "Ghostfunk" as a pay-what-you-want from Max Tannone's Bandcamp, and, reasonably, you should. I'm a big believer in actually paying for music, especially since there are platforms like Bandcamp which allow you to directly buy from the artist, thus ensuring they receive the greatest return on their work. Max's latest release came out in March, benefitting Food Bank for New York City. If you're into mash-ups, particularly remixes of 80s lover's rock, you'll totally be into "Trading WAV Sound System".

Discogs

Click here to download.