New Blogger: Chris from L.A. RECORD

Hello, Obey—my name is Chris Ziegler and I’m the editor/publisher/co-founder of L.A. RECORD, an independent DIY print magazine covering music (and art, film, books and other awesome weirdos as we come across them) here in Los Angeles. I have also been doing lots of interviews here at Obey. I wanted to do a quick post to actually introduce myself and I figure giving you a little tour of some of YouTube’s weirder artifacts might be a good place to start.

COSMIC SLOP – PART 1

 

This is the first chunk of a pilot episode of what could have been the greatest TV series ever made. As the intro says: “Beyond the Twilight Zone … further than the Outer Limits …” is Cosmic Slop, the Funkadelified twist-ending sci-fi serial with a giant floating George Clinton head narrating.

OLD SCHOOL SAFETY VIDEO – ORIGINAL

 

This is possibly the best found-footage music video on YouTube. Commissioned to warn you about the dangers of getting sucked into some nonspecific industrial machinery, this ended up being some kind of sci-fi deep soul outsider masterpiece. Reminds me a lot of Annette Peacock, who made music like this and got an offer to sign with David Bowie’s management co. (Which she refused, as the story goes.) I wish this was cleaned up and put on a 45, complete with agonized screams.

ANATOLY PETROV – POLYGON (1977)

 

Soviet-era animation never really got an American audience, possibly because of the whole Cold War thing, but it definitely deserved one. The kid shows are about a chain-smoking unemployed wolf, the propaganda cartoons (which I can’t find online anymore) are some crazy mix between John Carpenter and the old Spiderman TV show and then there’s sci-fi high art like this. If you are a fan of La Planete Sauvage or similar films, start checking out Eastern Europe.

SUUR TOLL – 1980

 

This is another heavy psychedelic Eastern European animation, this time from Estonia. If the soundtrack wasn’t already completely stark and terrifying, this would go perfect with something by Sleep, Earth or Om.

COFFIN JOE – AT MIDNIGHT I’LL TAKE YOUR SOUL OPENING SEQUENCE

 

Coffin Joe is a freak for the ages. Brazilian director Jose Mojica Marins started shooting his own low-budget high-intensity horror films and ended up starring in them when the original actor cast as obsessive mortician Coffin Joe bailed—and thus a legend was created. This is his very first Coffin Joe film, and if it seems tame, trust me that they get way WAY weirder from here. He was always battling government censorship and at one point he took everything he’d been forced to cut from his movies and released it as one mind-grinding fuck you called Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind.

ROKY ERICKSON – TWO HEADED DOG (LIVE 1980)

 

Roky Erickson is one of my favorite humans. You might know him from the documentary You’re Gonna Miss Me, which is a good recap of his story: started with all-time killer garage band the 13th Floor Elevators, thrown into a mental hospital after getting busted with a few joints, ended up in the same high-security prison with serial murderers and came out making songs like this. Nobody can write a love song like Roky and nobody can write about monsters like Roky. This is the second type of song. If you like this, you should find everything he ever did—that’s what I’m doing!