Asparagus (1979) Suzan Pitt

Hand drawn over a span of five years, Suzan Pitt's animated short Asaparagus was released in 1979. Full of lush saturated colors and heavily sexual symbolic scenes that flow effortlessly and dreamlike amongst a surreal backdrop that is also in near constant motion. Non linear, the film presents many questions and leaves much to be interpreted by the viewer themselves.

Asparagus found an additional audience when it played at early midnight runs of David Lynch's similarly surreal and symbol heavy debut film Eraserhead. Pairing the films together was a genius move.

Asparagus (1979)

Persistence of Vision 

Suzan Pitt a film
by Blue and Laura Kraning

Godflesh - New Orleans - 1991

Godflesh 

delivering their heavy sounds 

in a live performance
at Tipitina's

New Orleans, Louisiana 

on the 10th of April, 1991.

This footage is from the US version of the 

Grindcrusher Tour 1991, 

featuring the line up of 

Napalm Death, Godflesh, and Nocturnus.

The Dante Quartet!!! (1987) Stan Brakhage

With Dante's The Divine Comedy serving as inspiration, Stan Brakhage's short The Dante Quartet!!! took six years to complete and was released in 1987. Broken up into four parts, titled Hell Itself, Hell Spit Flexion, Purgation, and existence is song; the film's creation was a laborious process with Brakhage painting directly onto existing film stock. He would add thick, extra layers on top of the emulsion; incorporating his own hand crafted design to the stock.

Wikipedia offers this additional insight on The Dante Quartet!!!: "Adrian Danks, writing for Senses of Cinema, described the film as offering 'an obscure, off-centre and idiosyncratic perspective that is difficult to conceive – at least initially – as anything other than a glorious celebration of the experiential and material possibilities of film stock and projected light.'"

Submit to Me (1985)

With a soundtrack highlighted by the abrasively beautiful Butthole Surfers track "Cherub," Richard Kern's 1985 short Submit to Me provides both brain and eye fulls of darkly sexual and weird entertainment. Featuring Lydia Lunch, Lung Leg, J.G. Thirlwell, and others and written, produced, and directed by Kern. A "friend" told me this short always reminds him of Midwest winters in the mid 80s, gobbling a handful of speedy blotter acid, and kicking back for some mind expanding viewing.

Red and Rosy (1989)

Frank Grow's 1989 short Red and Rosy is a recommended trip into a demented world involving drag racing, animation, found footage, monsters, and thick surrealism; all served and displayed in a dreamy/nightmarish black and white.

Steel Pole Bath Tub liked the film so much that they used stills from Red and Rosy as cover artwork for their Lurch record. I cannot confirm 100% but I believe the robotic monster was created by Mark Pauline and his skilled craftsmen of the apocalypse at Survival Reseach Labs.

Highly recommended!!!

Can - Soest, Germany - 1970

Can
from the Rockpalast Archive
Mixed Media Show
Soest, Germany
1970, Winter

0:00:00 - 1. Intro
0:00:00 - 2. Sense All of Mine
0:04:50 - 3. Oh Yeah
0:23:20 - 4. I Feel Allright
0:36:43 - 5. Mother Sky
0:43:09 - 6. Deadlock
0:48:17 - 7. Bring Me Coffee or Tea
1:08:28 - 8. Don't Turn the Light On, Leave Me Alone
1:13:35 - 9. Paperhouse

Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970)

Werner Herzog's 1970 film Even Dwarfs Started Small (Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen) is a bold. brutal, and black and white look at an unnamed institution which is populated and run entirely by little people. The inmates rise up and turn the tables on those in charge and in doing so take their newly won freedom much farther, into an equally harsh anarchy. Many of the scenes push buttons and elicit strong reactions, others make the viewer question meanings of what's being displayed. Especially recommended for fans of Eraserhead or El Topo.

A Dying God - Celtic Frost Documentary

A Dying God is a 2008 documentary on Celtic Frost 

made for Swiss television by Adrian Winkler. 

The band is followed during their 

2006 - 2007 "Monotheist" World Tour 

and features performances plus interviews 

with the band members.

Pig Destroyer - Brooklyn - 2014

Pig Destroyer 

at Saint Vitus Bar, Brooklyn 

11 January 2014 

Melvins - Salad of a Thousand Delights (full show, 1991)

  The Melvins ripping it up at the 

North Shore Surf Club, Olympia, Washington, 

May 16, 1991.

1. "Antitoxidote"
2. "Euthanasia"
3. "Zodiac"
4. "Oven"
5. "If I Had An Exorcism"
6. "Boris"
7. "Kool Legged"
8. "Wispy"
9. "It's Shoved"
10. "Anaconda"
11. "We Reach"
12. "Hog Leg"

Do Not Panic - Hawkwind Documentary

The psychedelic, space rock sounds of Hawkwind are examined in this documentary. Started in London 1969, the band has undergone several line up changes through the years including Lemmy Kilmister as bass player/vocals from 1972 to 1975. After he was kicked out, he then formed the iconic heavy metal act Motörhead. 

Hawkwind's live show was truly a "trip" where the wild music compounded with lights, strobes, and for a period during the 1970s, an often nude statuesque dancer Stacia. Also notable is the musical dna link that Hawkwind provides between the hippie and early punk worlds.

Can - Documentary on the German Band

This is a documentary on the German band Can, compiled by Rudi Dolezl & Hannes Rossacher. Formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968 with a sound that mutated from track to track, they created incredible music that influenced musicians such as John Lydon + Public Image, Pavement, and the Butthole Surfers.

Crimes of the Future (1970) - early David Cronenberg

Crimes of the Future is a David Cronenberg short from 1970. It involves some sort of medical institute or clinic in an odd, uneasy dreamlike world were all the women are dead and a skin disease has ravaged the population; who behave in a less than rational manner. This "creative cancer"/body revolt and evolution is another theme Cronenberg would return to often throughout his later films. The soundtrack is a highlight with bursts of low key yet abrasive, dissonant noise compromising the bulk. Non linear and also perhaps too slow moving for some viewers, this is a curious glimpse into Cronenberg's creative chrysalis of themes and visuals.

Stereo (1969) early David Cronenberg

From David Cronenberg, this skillfully created short from 1969 involves a group of subjects at "the Institute" who receive experimental brain surgery in order to create heightened powers of telepathy or extra sensory perception, are encouraged to also include sexual exploration and the results. Similar themes of medically induced negative side effects would continue and are found in many of his later works such as Shivers, Rabid, The Brood or Scanners.