Killer Instinct: Ten Psychotics With Style

Idea by Matt Keeley
With Contributions By . . .

Everyone knows that psychos in movies are good at one thing: killing. But honestly, that’s unfair. So many of these “homicidal maniacs” as some might call them have other interests. After all, are YOU just one thing? It’s time we set the record straight and give credit where it’s due, so here’s Popshifter‘s list of top multi-faceted murderers in alphabetical order because we don’t want to play favorites and take chances incurring their wrath!
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Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Hawk

By Noreen Sobczyk

Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell are well-known artists, each in their own right, coming from The Screaming Trees and Belle and Sebastian respectively. On their three collaborations thus far, the duo often resembles the lazy, hazy ease of bands such as Mazzy Star or The Cowboy Junkies.

While the Campbell/Lanegan collaborations are often gorgeous, Hawk proves that this formula might have worked best in one concentrated dose—perhaps as one release—instead of being portioned out repeatedly over multiple efforts.
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Concrete Blonde, Bloodletting 20th Anniversary Edition

By Noreen Sobczyk

Did you ever notice that Johnette Napolitano rarely, if ever, gets mentioned in those Top Women of Rock lists? Even if Concrete Blonde never had a good song on any album besides Bloodletting (which, rest assured they did), this album alone is enough to put her in the Top 20. Napolitano has the swagger, songwriting talent, and the vocal ability to assure her space as, perhaps not the Queen of Rock, but as a high-ranking member of the royal court.

On Bloodletting, Napolitano shows her vulnerability, desires, and strengths in spades on classic songs like the dysfunctional love song “Joey” (the band’s biggest commercial success); “Tomorrow Wendy” (a cover of the heartbreaking Andy Prieboy song about a friend dying from AIDS); and “Bloodletting (The Vampire Song);” one of the best vampire songs ever written, arguably second only to Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.”
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The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Dirty Shirt Rock ‘N’ Roll: The First Ten Years

By Noreen Sobczyk

Jon Spencer is a man of many faces. He is a crazed preacher proselytizing the electric gospel. He is a musical ringmaster with Tourette’s Syndrome repeatedly proclaiming, “the blues is number one.” He is the majestic mumbling Boomhauer of rock and roll. He and the Blues Explosion are here for one reason: to save rock and roll. And they do it repeatedly, as though it simply flows from their veins; as if they were born to do it. If you’ve ever seen them live, you know two things for certain: they take no prisoners and they are not fucking around.
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The T.A.M.I. Show, Collector’s Edition DVD

By Noreen Sobczyk

Perhaps you’ve seen some incarnation of this historic program via bootlegs, but this is the first time The T.A.M.I. Show (Teenage Awards Music International) has seen an official release. Little Steven has been quoted as saying “It’s the greatest rock movie you’ve never seen.” That may be debatable, but The T.A.M.I. Show sure is a treasure.
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Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, I Learned The Hard Way

By Noreen Sobczyk

Every music lover has undoubtedly been asked the same question at some point: “So what kind of music do you like?” It’s one of those tricky questions that sometimes results in a snarky answer, such as “the kind with melody and rhythm.”
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Everybody Was In The French Resistance. . . Now!, Fixin’ The Charts Volume One

By Noreen Sobczyk

When I first heard that Dyan Valdes (The Blood Arm) and Eddie Argos (Art Brut) were recording an album together, I was excited.

Argos always has plenty of humor and clever turns of phrase in his musical arsenal to fight the musical blahs. His antics with faux glam band Glam Chops even made Christmas music more enjoyable. So when I read Fixin’ the Charts was an album of answer songs I thought, “Well, that’s clever.”
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High School Record DVD

By Noreen Sobczyk

File under “seemed like a really good idea.” This film, which played Sundance in 2005, was essentially promoted as a tale of awkward high school students and their escapades of embarrassment. But it came off more like indie hipsters trying hard to act like awkward geeks in situations the director/writer (Ben Wolfinsohn) thought were terribly clever. As it happens, the film features members of No Age, Mika Miko, and Lavender Diamond. There was also a short cameo by Mike Watt (Minutemen).

It’s a bare bones budget film inspired by a short which is included in the DVD bonus features. Unfortunately one of the most clever moments of the film was extremely similar. Also unfortunate: the film is cast with actors who seemingly never bothered to learn to act. And the viewer is therefore never drawn in enough to forget they are watching a film. Perhaps the director is a fan of the punk rock film Suburbia (cast with local punks), and was emulating the same vibe achieved there by Penelope Spheeris. Or he might have been aiming for the kitschiness of Dave Markey’s Desperate Teenage Lovedolls. Odds are it was a riff on Napoleon Dynamite and Freaks and Geeks. High School Record falls short on all accounts.

This mockumentary opens with a performance by a male/female guitar/drums duo who made me curse the existence of The White Stripes. This band decides to film their art school classmates for a documentary which focuses chiefly on four high school seniors and their clumsy attempts at popularity and sex. The strongest component of the film is the short lived relationship between Sabrina and Caleb. Their dynamic is unique, engaging, and simultaneously painful to watch. Sabrina isn’t interested in Caleb’s attempts to make a space age cooking show for kids, and is embarrassed when he sports tinfoil shorts to school. That moment might have been brilliant if its intended effect weren’t already perfectly achieved by the donning of an infamously ridiculous polyester jumpsuit by Sam on an episode of Freaks and Geeks.

Overall, the film had several eclectic and funny moments. The trouble is that they were stretched out over 89 minutes chock full of unsuccessful gags and slow periods. Had the film been limited to 60 minutes, and the participants been a bit less precious, it may have been more successful.

You may order High School Record directly from the Factory Twenty Five website. You can also check out images and a clip from the film there or watch a trailer on YouTube.

It’s a Mod Mod World

By Noreen Sobczyk

I’ve always had a tradition of becoming obsessed with something. Not obsessed in the peeping-around-in-someone’s-bushes way, nor by writing famous people letters, or boiling some guy’s bunny, but becoming deeply engrossed in one particular thing. Be it music, film, or a book, there’s always something that strikes me and becomes my most prized form of entertainment.

When VCRs were first released I would rent the same videos over and over, never tiring of them. One of the first movies I watched ad nauseum was The Who documentary, The Kids Are Alright. Something about the movie had me hooked, and I particularly enjoyed the early clips, fast forwarding through the fringed Woodstock period.

One word kept getting tossed about: Mods.
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You Weren’t There: A History of Chicago Punk 1977 – 1984 DVD

By Noreen Sobczyk

You Weren’t There sheds light on the consistently underrepresented punk scene of Chicago. It wasn’t only in New York and Los Angeles that American freaks gathered together to listen to the latest records by punk bands in sweaty dive bars. This well-made and engaging film conveys the excitement many in Chicago felt about the new music bursting forth from the underground.
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