TITLES: DVD / VIDEO

HARVEY MILK Anthem DVD + 3" CD Chunklet
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. PLEASE DO NOT ORDER.

Anthem is a beautifully assembled live document from Harvey Milk, packaged together with a 3" CD of additional unreleased music. Harvey Milk are greatly loved here at Crucial Blast, their sometimes monstrous, sometimes fragile indie-sludge has entranced us ever since we were turned on to them with the Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men album. Their sound seems to draw from a weird combination of heartrendingly beautiful Codeine-esque slow-core melodies, ultra heavy, crushing sludge metal, ripping stoner rock raveups, and quirky post-punk/math rock type stuff, but the end product sounds pretty much unlike anything else out there. Harvey Milk totally predated the newish wave of crushing heavy melodic sludge, the sort played by bands like Floor and Jesu, and fans of those bands that haven't heard Harvey Milk yet are really missing out.
The Anthem set features a DVD containing three and a half hours of live footage from the band that spans their existence from their first shows in 1993 to the recent run of reunion shows, and the quality is excellent, with almost all of the footage shot on broadcast-quality cameras. The hightlight of this DVD however is the Atlanta show from 1994 where Creston alternately pounds an anvil with a sledgehammer and bellows into the mic, the anvil hits ringing in time with the rest of the band. Awesome.The accompanying 3" disc contains the four unreleased live songs, all later-period style stoner rock crushers, except for the last song, a dreamy, jangly, reverb soaked cover of R.E.M.'s "South Central Rain".
And then there's the awesome package design by Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O)))/Khanate, an olive DVD-case sized foldover sleeve with an abstract diecut and silver embossed lettering that folds out to reveal a two-part folder printed in silver metallic ink that has the discs attached to hubs on the interior folder, and extensive liner notes by Chunklet Magazine publisher Henry Owings. Amazing.
The DVD is NTSC Region 0. Released in a one-time pressing of 1,000 copies. Absolutely essential for fans of the glorious heaviosity that is Harvey Milk.

HATERS, THE Hater TV VHS VIDEOCASSETTE $9.98 RRR Video

Excellent cult A/V tumble down the rabbit hole with GX Jupitter-Larsen and The Haters, one of the most brain imploding US noise action groups around. Opening with an upside down performance of COCK E.S.P. style hijinks drowned out by a speak'n'spell machine dialoguing on the subjects of reality and irrationality, this RRRecords-issued videocassette blasts your retina with 45 minutes of Haters-related sounds, performances, and images beamed at you in true nihil-vision. Harsh free electronics, sheet metal orgies, and bizarre performance art all come together in a confounding analogue dream of post-industrial surrealism. PLease note: this is an NTSC VHS videocassette, and will not play on European/PAL systems! Comes in a hardshell case with cover.

LYCKANTROPEN DVD
Audio Savant/Vendlus Records
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. PLEASE DO NOT ORDER.

Here's the region-free (will play on North American players) DVD of a short film from Swedish director Steve Eriksson, featuring an excellent score from Ulver. The half-hour film is an extremely atmospheric, artistic Lynchian piece that documents vague paranoia and familial dysfunction. Despite the title, the werewolf theme in Lyckantropen is entirely symbolic, but there is a genuine sense of dread and fear dripping from almost every shot in the film, thanks to excellent atmosphere and camerawork. The soundscapes of Ulver - often relying on gorgeous drones and ambient wash mixed with their noir jazz influences, but sometimes punctuated by nervous, skin-crawling electronic noise - fits perfectly, while the carefully controlled lighting conveys with style the dingy surroundings and suburban isolation. This turned out to be far more enjoyable and interesting than we expected, and continues to spark discussion on the symbolism and meaning behind the film. This DVD is region free and has optional English subtitles, and includes a healthy side of special features, including the trailer, deleted scenes, "The Sound Of Wolves" which documents the recording of wolf sounds used throughout the film, a production slide show, and actor interviews in the form of "Reflections On Lyckantropen". Another bonus is the twenty minute interview with Ulver, documenting their transgression from black-metal, through folk, jazz noir, and glitch, to their current ambient style. All of this makes for a professional and well-presented release, and a film perfect for late night-watching. For the most part, it is a stripped down and atmospheric piece of work, with some truly dark and shiver-inducing moments.

VARIOUS ARTISTS Moby Dick compilation VHS VIDEOCASSETTE $9.98 RRRecords

A killer piece of handmade videocassette art from RRR, compiled in the mid-90's and packed with all kinds of random pop-culture debris collage, surrealist puppet skits, some inspired editing, frequent moments of awkward hilarity, and skull exploding live performances and footage from a feast of noise punk / improv-grind / harsh noise artists, including Emil Beaulieau, Big City Orchestra, Borbetomagus, Bulge, Die Todliche Doris, Dilaudid, F/i, Lance Gargoyle, The Haters, Japanese Torture Comedy Hour, Joiesko, LAFMS, Macronympha, Rougeux, Adam Spellman, The Whales, and John Wiggins. Yikes! This tape is 60 minutes long, and comes in a pink hardshell case.

VARIOUS ARTISTS OC/LA GRIND: Pure And Sick compilation VHS Videocassette $9.98 ScumProductions

We just unearthed a couple copies of this obscure DIY video compilation from the mid 90's, a serious blast-from-the-powerviolence-past, collecting all sorts of live detritus, show clips, and performance footage from a wealth of Southern California extreme hardcore/grindcore/stench/noise outfits, including Carcinogen (grinding crust gristle from members of Dystopia), Narcosis, Stapled Shut, funeral doomsters Morgion, Excruciating Terror, Gasp (Crucial Blast's favorite psychedelic powerviolence band ever!), psych crusties Dystopia, Dead America, Mange, Mindrot, Phobia, and Crom. OC/LA: GRIND is a totally DIY punk affair, with loads of video camera footage and blown recordings, but the grittiness of this video comp only adds to the total filth/noise vibe. The tape is packaged in a hardshell plastic case with a full color cover that notes the dates and locations of each band's footage.

SEAR BLISS Decade Of Perdition DVD $17.98 Red Stream

We can't get enough Sear Bliss over here! I've been seriously obsessed with their progressive, comsic, impossibly catchy trombone-augmented black metal lately. And since Hungary's Sear Bliss have yet to tour the US, we can turn to this rad DVD that has been graciously assembled by Red Stream, which doubles as both a high quality live performance vid and a fairly detailed documentary on the band's decade-long career. The DVD documents the band's 10th Anniversary show filmed in Budapest from February 2004, and the quality of this set is top-notch with broadcast-quality cameras and multiple angles, and a massive 5.1 Dolby mix. The band delivers ten songs from across their seven releases, with lots of material off of their Glory & Perdition album, and they are even joined onstage by Atilla Csihar (ABORYM/MAYHEM/SUNN O))) collaborator) at one point. Plus, as huge a fan as I am of Sear Bliss, I gotta admit that one of my favorite parts of this DVD is simply watching the trombone player holding his instrument and headbanging in tandem with the rest of the band when he isn't playing. In addition to the live set, we get lengthy interviews with the members of Sear Bliss, vintage footage of the band, and an extensive photo gallery. This is absolutely crucial for Sear Bliss fans, and we bet that Sear Bliss newbies would become as infatuated as we are with them after seeing that live set! The DVD packaging features incredible artwork from Gyula Havancsak. A terrific document for one of our favorite black metal bands, period!

PEOPLE WILL EAT ANYTHING documentary DVD $11.98 Acerbic Noise Development

Between 1999 and 2004, the tight-knit indie scene around Montgomery,Alabama begand to grow into a viable community of noisy indie rock bands, building momentum but eventually burning out after five years. This two-hour DIY documentary chronicles the rise and fall of the tiny but energized Montgomery underground music scene throughout these five years, initially focusing on The Ed Kemper Trio, a kickass noise rock group whose growing popularity outside of Montgomery becomes a sort of flashpoint for the local scene, and then extends to the lives and music of other up and coming bands in the community. Made up of in depth conversations with a variety of band members and local kids, People Will Eat Anything is a sometimes awkward,occasionally depressing, but always entertaining and inspiring (and quite funny!) look at the fragility of a small rural underground music ecosystem that thrived on it's inherent diversity and eclecticism. Aside from The Ed Kemper Trio, the documentary features live performances from Hematovore, Saragashum,Spiders And Flies,and many others ranging from noise rock to brutal metal to junkyard noise percussion. Anyone that has ever come from a small indie/underground/punk music scene will immediately identify with this film and its universal glimpse of the rural indie microcosm. Professionally filmed and edited, and released on DVD-R in a handassembled double-disc case,the people behind the project put a lot of effort into making this and it definitely shows.Thoroughly entertaining. In addition, the DVD comes packaged with an "original soundtrack CD" chock full of music from bands featured in the film, along with other Montgomery/Central Alabama groups, including Hematovore,Ed Kemper Trio,Gezoleen, and Saragashum. Recommended!

VOIVOD D-V-O-D-1 DVD $15.98 MVD/MusiquePlus

Killer DVD documenting the first decade of Voivod's existence and the band's classic original line-up of Piggy, Snake, Away and Blacky. The material collected here follows the band's evolution from their beginnings as a raw, quirky Die Kruezen-influenced Canadian thrash outfit to the godlike technicality and sci-fi avant-psych-metal of the bands masterpiece, Nothingface. This is hands down one of my favorite DVD releases of 2006...we've been needing this to come out for ages. D-V-O-D-1 is packed with everything a Voivod fanatic like myself could possibly want: the music videos for "Voivod", "Ripping Headaches", "Ravenous Medicine", "Tribal Convictions", "Psychic Vacuum", and their astounding cover 0f Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine"; live footage from performances in Montreal spanning 1986-1991; footage of the band recording Nothingface in 1989; behind-the-scenes video shoots for "Ravenous Medicine" and "Psychic Vacuum"; an artwork gallery; photos; and the killer remastered versions of the complete Morgoth Invasion cassette from 1984 and the Montreal Spectrum cassette from 1987. Awesome !!! Totally crucial for Voivod fans, can't recommend this DVD enough!