Monthly Archives: January 2009

Otto or Up With Dead People Soundtrack Double LP

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I’ve read bits and pieces about this here and there, but WTF is it? A zombie movie? A goth-zombie movie? A movie about a goth who wants to be a zombie? A gay zombie porn flick? All the above? Bruce LaBruce directs Otto or Up With Dead People. I saw the actual phrase “gay zombie revolt against consumerist society” so I have no idea what this flick is on about. But the soundtrack is available in a double vinyl set and it is chock full of bewilderingly diverse sounds. Have a gander it at Amazon.com to see what I mean. By far, The Homophobes track, “Everybody’s Dead” is my favorite thus far. But I have to say, any band that dares call themselves The Pandas of Black Metal deserves at least a single listen.

This soundtrack is available from one of my favorite destinations on the web, Crippled Dick Hot Wax who for a time were putting out soundtrack sounds, the PopShopping series and other excellent oddities…but they have evolved into something a bit different over the years. I’m just glad they’re still a going concern. Check out their nice selection of mutated music, but especially the Rare Grooves section.

In the meantime, I await Otto or Up With Dead People to see what the hell Bruce LaBruce is on about. It does sound intriguing as I’m a fan of zombie films in general and mutant cinema as well….

Repulsion by Dinosaur Jr.

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I mentioned this one as part of the Wailing Ultimate compilation vinyl put out in the late 80s by Homestead Records…here’s a YouTube vid I dug up with J. Mascis and co. doing that very track live on the reunion tour. Sure, the sound quality is absolute crapola, but you get an idea of what the vinyl sounds like more or less….but I thought the soloing on The Wailing Ultimate version of this was much crunchier.

Early Dinosaur and Dino Jr. are pretty much the same bag, if you ask me, but it’s consistently good and the Homestead compilation mentioned previously shows J. Mascis had pretty well figured out what he wanted to do all along even at that early stage. I refuse to go to Dinosaur Jr. shows though based on reports of pain-threshold volume levels. I’ve got plenty of hearing damage without adding to the misery, thanks. I’ll settle for youtubity goodness like this.

Enjoy.


The Wailing Ultimate: Homestead Records Compilation Album

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Does anyone else even remember this one? In 1987, Homestead Records put out this hit-and-miss vinyl compilation, The Wailing Ultimate, featuring a pre-junior Dinosaur, Naked Raygun, and Big Black, plus a few future nobodies and the at-times-underrated Salem 66.

The Dinosaur track is the real reason to own this—“Repulsion” is a fabulous, moody cut that shows J. Mascis doing his thing years and years before anybody really took a shine to him in the mainstream media. Hear him showing off the same whine-n-crunch power long before he picked up a golf club on MTV. This one’s a tough find in some areas, but you can always pick it up used online via Amazon.com from a few nice reputable vendors including the venerable Newbury Comics.

Golden Records Vinyl/Cassette to MP3 Converter

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Golden Records is what I’d call a good entry-level vinyl-to-digital converter. If you have never tried to convert your vinyl records to MP3 or redbook CD formats, this is a great way to give it a try. Among the most attractive features of Golden Records is the normalizing function, which will give your new MP3s consistent volume for the entire album. Some of those indie/alternative albums like The Blasting Concept series and the amazing Homestead Records compilation The Wailing Ultimate are unfortunately the victims of wildly diverse recording and mastering techniques from track to track. Differing volume levels make listening to the tracks on MP3 a bit of a right pain in the arse—unless you use the normalizing function to make them all even across the board.

Audiophile purists won’t be so thrilled with normalizing as it can alter some of the dymamics of a song, but for most of us normalizing isn’t a bad thing at all. Golden Records is advertised as being designed specifically for vinyl and cassette transfer to MP3, including a handy set of fix-it features to get rid of clicks, pops and other artifacts.

If you’re an advanced audio nut you won’t need this software package, but Golden Records is great for anyone just getting started and needing a solution to get those all-time vinyl favorites running on your iPod in no time.