Blu-Ray Review: Fernando Di Leo: The Italian Crime Collection, Volume 2

By Brad Henderson

Many people either don’t know the name Fernando Di Leo or have never seen any of his films. Aside from filmmakers and cinephiles, his name doesn’t come up too often, but I’m here to change that. Raro Film has recently released a second volume of their Fernando Di Leo Italian Crime Collection. Aside from being a balls-out release, the transfers are outstanding.

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Blu-Ray Review: Jug Face

By Brad Henderson

Every so often we get a horror film that is completely original and stands out from the rest. Jug Face is a film unlike anything you will see this year (or even the upcoming years) in the horror genre.

The Pit Wants What It Wants.

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ICYMI: November 15, 2013

New this week on Popshifter: Brad likes Evidence just fine, but he likes Blood way more; Hanna gives a detailed review of four new vinyl reissues of Nikki Sudden and Jacobites albums; Melissa explains why Cate Le Bon’s Mug Museum won’t be for everyone; Jesse rates the wizard rock-iness of two advance tracks from the upcoming Warfaring Strangers: Darkscorch Canticles comp; and Less Lee not only has the lowdown on great new releases from Sleepies and Fuzz, she also has a lot of good things to say about new-to-video releases Broken and Byzantium, as well as Short Term 12, which screens for Toronto audiences starting tonight.

Music Review: Fuzz, Fuzz

By Less Lee Moore

Ty Segall gets a lot of—admittedly deserved—attention. But what of his constant cohorts? Segall's latest project, Fuzz, includes two of them and it's killer. Fuzz is comprised of Roland Cosio (drummer for Epsilons) on bass and Charles Moothart on guitar (The Moonhearts and live guitarist for Segall) and what's this? Ty Segall on drums and vocals. Aw yeah.

Right away you can tell that Fuzz's self-titled release owes a lot to the past when it credits Chris Woodhouse with “Recording, Mixing & Wizardry” and includes lyrics like “Still we ride the burning ship/ride the ship cause we can't quit.” Not to mention the mind bending cover art. True to form, “Earthen Gate” opens with staccato dissonance and sounds straight outta the stoner '70s before it speeds up into quasi-metal territory, with flashes of Pink Floyd pre-The Wall. The album is not a parody, though, and that lack of self-consciousness makes it eerily timeless.

“Sleigh Ride” (of the aforementioned burning ship lyrics) is so captivating musically that the lyrics are almost secondary. The slow, mesmerizing “What's In My Head” includes a chills-inducing vocal performance from Segall, drawing the word “saw” out into four delicious syllables, and a thrilling guitar coda. Segall's banshee shriek permeates the heavy but tight “Hazemaze” and just when you think it's over, it comes storming back with an awesome guitar/bass melody propelling it forward.

“Loose Sutures” is the showcase showdown of the album. Dig the multi-tracked harmonies on the word “run.” Then marvel as a guitar solo introduces an extended jam, a bowed guitar bit, alternating bass and drum solos, and then yet another jam. It's kind of astonishingly good. You can only get away with this if you can play really well, and these dudes can.

“Preacher” presents a pounding sonic assault and a downright threatening guitar sound. Mootheart takes lead vocal duties on “Raise,” with a bluesy beat, harmonies from Segall, and some interesting lyrics (“He raised the sun up high/and left us all to live or die/he lets the babies die and mothers cry/what's his side?”).

Live performance of “One”

The instrumental “One” feels cinematic in scope, a constant building of tension, only relieved with intermittent periods of epic drumming and chord changes, ending with an amazing flourish.

It's hard to believe all this goodness is contained within only 37 minutes. And yes, Segall's as good of a drummer as he is a guitarist and singer. Don't miss out on Fuzz.

Fuzz was released by In The Red on October 1.

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Music Review: Fuzz, Fuzz

By Less Lee Moore

Ty Segall gets a lot of—admittedly deserved—attention. But what of his constant cohorts? Segall’s latest project, Fuzz, includes two of them and it’s killer. Fuzz is comprised of Roland Cosio (drummer for Epsilons) on bass and Charles Moothart on guitar (The Moonhearts and live guitarist for Segall) and what’s this? Ty Segall on drums and vocals. Aw yeah.

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Movie Review: Short Term 12

By Less Lee Moore

Short Term 12 opens and closes with a group of counselors relaxing outside the at-risk youth foster care facility where they work. Mason (John Gallagher, Jr.) shares a humorous story while Grace (Brie Larson), one of the female counselors, seems skeptical of Mason’s ability to convey the story accurately and without embellishments. They are soon interrupted by Sammy, a resident trying to run away as fast as he can. These bookends hold a lot of emotional wreckage between them, but also indicate that despite all the suffering, life can and does go on and in some cases, does get better.

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Music Review: Sleepies, More Humans EP

By Less Lee Moore

Brooklyn’s Sleepies are back with a new EP and it’s a good one. Though not as sonically varied as last year’s full-length Weird Wild World album (review), it does establish a definitive sound for the band, giving us even more to look forward to with their next release.

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Blu-Ray Review: Byzantium

By Less Lee Moore

I think it’s safe to say that Neil Jordan has a fondness for vampires. Byzantium is his second film about them, and although I haven’t seen Interview with the Vampire in a long time, I feel confident in stating that Byzantium, while dealing with similar themes, is superlative in every way.

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DVD Review: Blood

By Brad Henderson

Cop movies are always a difficult thing to pull off. Although there are comedies, action, and sometimes horror cop movies, the most common are cop dramas. To actually pull off a cop drama, a few things are needed in order to keep your audience alert and occupied with what is actually going on.

Blood has these qualities. A cop drama needs not only characters, but good characters. In a short amount of time, we need to establish them and give them history. We need to know that they work well together as well as if they are friends.

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Their Dice Go To 20 & Amps To 11: D&D-Inspired Rock Album Out In Early 2014

By Jesse Greener

Wearily, you think back on your expedition from adolescence. You left with a small band of companions in search of epic adventures and righteous tunes. But, one after the other, members of your party were charmed by false promises of prosperity and now pray with the masses at the altars of security and mediocrity. Alone, you fought on, but in time fatigue and despair overtook you. To your horror, the moment you laid down your axe you too were quickly surrounded by fools, thieves—and worse—their popular music.

Weary traveler, your suffering has been noted; your prayers have been heard. A rain of fire is coming to the system that entrapped you. And it comes in the form of a Wizard using his Stone Axe to summon a new ’70s rock compilation: Warfaring Strangers: Darkscorch Canticles.

This new compilation, to be released in March 2014, is brought to you by Numero Group, an archival record label that goes to great lengths to unearth long-forgotten or under appreciated music, film, and photography for a second airing. Warfaring Strangers is their latest genre-defining compilation of “wizard rock.” The album will feature 16 bands from the ’70s with names like Stone Axe, Medusa, and Wizard. But the awesomeness doesn’t stop there. The music will be presented with authentic, amateur Dungeons & Dragons inspired artwork released on vinyl and CD, with rich embellishments.

In advance of this epic endeavor, two songs have been released: “Sorcerer” by Junction and “Warlord” by Wrath. Both are well-produced recordings with an authentic ’70s sound.

“Sorcerer” is classically classic rock a la Hendrix, featuring a mix of cool straight-ahead riffs, catchy choruses and selective use of tasteful delay on the vocals. Three swords and one dagger out of 5.

Wrath’s “Warlord” is faster, featuring an enjoyably active drummer who is only undermined by the flat drum sound, which plagued many ’70s-era recordings. This is made up for by the experimental vocals, with a hint of anti-war morality. Four swords and one healing potion out of 5.