// Category Archive for: Culture Shock

Music Review: Lows In The Mid Sixties, Volume 54: Kosmic City Part 2

By Melissa Bratcher

Who doesn’t love Record Store Day? Piles of picture discs, odd singles, repressings of things you’ve always wanted but couldn’t shell out the car payment-prices for on Ebay. Numbero (an offshoot label of the amazing Numero Group) is releasing Lows In The Mid Sixties, Volume 54: Kosmic City Part 2, on vinyl for Record Store Day 2015, and it is . . . odd.

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SXSW Movie Review: Welcome To Leith

By Brad Henderson

If you’re an actual human being with dignity, you already know racism is a terrible thing. Well, if you’re racist against racists then I guess that’s OK. . . or stupid people. Hell, I’m a racist then.

We all know it exists but I think the world is unfamiliar with how bad it is sometimes. The news doesn’t broadcast a lot of these kinds of things. One person I think people are definitely unfamiliar with is Craig Cobb. I’d heard of Cobb before seeing Welcome To Leith, but this film showed me who Cobb really is. A lot of words come to mind trying to describe Cobb, but to put it simply: he’s a fucking racist. A big one.

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Blu-Ray Review: Mark Of The Devil

By Less Lee Moore

The original German title of Michael Armstrong’s infamous Mark Of The Devil was Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält, literally translated into Witches Tortured Till They Bleed. It’s a horrifying, yet accurate title for a movie that contrasts lush scenery and exquisite period costumes with some of the most excruciating scenes of torture ever put on film.

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DVD Review: Wrestling With Satan

By Jeffery X Martin

One of the fascinating things about Christianity is you can do anything and call it a ministry. Hand puppets. Being a clown. Fixing cars. Shaving. Do it in the name of Jesus Christ, and it is a fully sanctioned activity done for the benefit of the Church Universal.

It makes sense, therefore, that there could be a professional wrestling ministry. The documentary Wrestling with Satan spotlights a six-year period in the history of the Christian Wrestling Federation (CWF). Led by the charismatic Rob Vaughn, who performs under the name “Jesus Freak,” the CWF is an actual independent wrestling company. His stable of wrestlers is highly trained and works well in the ring. Wrestling fans will appreciate the fact that the only special feature on the disc is comprised of seven bonus matches.

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Music Review: Psychic TV, “Alien Be-In” Remix EP

By Ben Van D

For many, Acid House is inextricably linked to a place and time—the dim, sometimes garish, and impossibly vibrant rave culture of the early ’90s. It harkens back to an intoxicated era of manic excess, quasi-spiritual tribe mentality, and devastatingly harsh comedowns. If you missed it, imagine Cirque de Soliel performing in 1960s revival costumes in an underground parking lot at twice the BPM through a set of broken speakers.

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Best Of 2014: Jeffery X Martin

True Detective

This was a shit year. It’s hard to find a “best” thing about a terrible time frame, so it’s no surprise that my Best Of list is exceeding dark. We are the times, and times is hard, Missus Lovett. But my choices, all of them, provide small glimmers of hope, muted rays within the coal dust, a little something to grab for. In a year like 2014, it’s the best I can do.

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Music Review: Alain Goraguer, La Planète Sauvage (Fantastic Planet) Original Soundtrack

By Noreen Sobczyk

OK, full disclosure: as a sort of sommelier of the strange, I’m embarrassed to say I had never seen La Planète Sauvage (a.k.a. Fantastic Planet) until recently. But never fear, because this should prove to even the most jaded, freaky, boogie children that it’s never too late to discover something mind blowingly cool. If you haven’t seen this gorgeously animated Science Fiction philosophical allegory, seek it out immediately. Do not pass go; do not collect 200 dollars.

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DVD Review: President Wolfman

By Brad Henderson

Ambitious. That is the word that constantly comes to mind when trying to describe President Wolfman.

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Music Review: Various Artists, Country Funk II, 1967 – 1974

By Melissa Bratcher

If you’re like me, the first thing you think when you hear the name “Kenny Rogers” is “that guy sure does bring the funk.” Perhaps, though, you don’t, and honestly, I didn’t either until I heard his track (with The First Edition) “Tulsa Turnaround” on Country Funk II, 1967-1974. “Tulsa Turnaround” is a swoony slow ride about an “Omaha honey” who learned the Tulsa Turnaround from someone called “Funkybutt,” I believe. I never did learn exactly what the Tulsa Turnaround is, but I did glean this nugget of information from the song: “If a man’s gonna eat fried chicken/he’s gonna get greasy.” It’s a pretty damned amazing song, and would be great on a soundtrack for a movie where there are car chases and someone is called “Rooster.”

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Never Get Off the Boat: X Goes to Las Vegas, Part Two

By Jeffery X Martin

Part One

My name is X. I write all the time. I don’t get out much. So when I got the opportunity to go to Las Vegas, I jumped on it, hoping to have a good time and gain some new experiences.

Well, what happens in Vegas can stay in Vegas for all I care.

If you asked a poor white kid where a rich person lives, he or she would draw you a picture of The Bellagio.

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