Amoeba berkeley Staff

Coin Coin Chapter Five: In The Garden (CD)

Matana Roberts
Excellent addition to the Coin Coin universe composer, poet, improviser, and artist Matana Roberts has been building for the past thirteen years. This release challenged how I listen and taught me so much about storytelling, experimental jazz, and modern composition. Read more

I Killed Your Dog (LP)

L'Rain
I've been fascinated with L'Rain ever since I discovered her sophomore release Fatigue in 2021. On this newest record, she remains uncategorizable, incorporating snippets of jazz, folk, R&B, pop, and more, painting a sonic picture of shapes and sounds that I find uniquely playful. Read more
Erok
Amoeba Berkeley

Blue Jeans Monster (1991) (BLU)

If you were curious about Golden Harvest one of the wildest companies from Hong Kong cinema, this would be a great entry point. Blue Jeans Monster steals from Robocop, Dead Heat and the 70s Incredible Hulk. It all gets triggered by a magical cat and some lightning. Read more

Messiah of Evil (BLU)

a bizarre film made by the couple responsible later for Howard the Duck. Marianna Hill from the scuzzy cult freakout The Baby is great in this. Read more

Zombie Flesh Eaters (LP)

Fabio Frizzi
brain melting groovy tones by Italian funk master and soundtrack aficionado. Read more

Films of Doris Wishman: The Twilight Years (BLU)

The films of this indie female film maker are clunky and yet sexy in an H.G. Lewis kind of way. John Waters is a fan and so am I. Read more
E. Lit
Amoeba Berkeley
Music and movies / Movies and music

Wino From Another Planet (LP)

Wino Willy
I've generally been a fan of the releases from MarQ Spekt's Grilchy Party imprint, but this album from New Orleans producer Wino Willy surprised me in a major way and far exceeded my expectations. Wino Willy has been quietly crafting quality albums for a bunch of modern rap talent over the last year, with solid full length collaborations with Him Lo, Pro Dillinger, Daniel Son, Rahiem Supreme and Maze Overlay amongst others. This solo offering from Wino Willy is his most definitive statement as a producer to date, and highlights his spacey and jazzy production while pairing it with a nice variety of ill MCs. Along for the ride are billy woods, Da Buze Bruvaz, Fatboi Sharif and Gabe 'Nandez to name only a few. While all of the MCs hold their own over Willy's beats, I was especially excited to hear new verses from MarQ Spekt, who's been MIA on the mic for many years. I was very impressed with how well Wino Willy managed to cater his production to the diverse cast of rappers here, with beats ranging from traditional to abstract without sacrificing the sequencing or flow of the album. Top quality product and looking forward to more releases from Wino Willy in 2024. Read more

Mother's Day (1980)

In my tenure at Amoeba Berkeley, I had the pleasure of working with an awesome guy named Bruce Anderson. Bruce had worked at a movie theater for many years prior to his time at Amoeba, and we used to bond over our mutual love of B-movies and backwoods horror. Bruce's favorite of all time was "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," but the other two movies that he'd often talk to me about at length were "Mother's Day" and "The Unseen." I'm not generally not a huge fan of Troma movies, but I definitely side with Bruce on "Mother's Day," which dishes out an exceptional mix of twisted horror and black comedy while poking fun at the slasher genre before slashers even became popular. This gorgeous 4K from Vinegar Syndrome really gives this movie the treatment it deserves, with outstanding picture quality and audio accompanied by an abundance of special features. Bruce is no longer with us, but every time I throw this disc on, I can only imagine how excited he would have been about it. Read more

Monster Squad (1987)

Unlike 98% of horror movie fans, I was not a kid that grew up watching "The Monster Squad". And as far as Fred Dekker's movies go, I've always considered myself a bigger fan of "Night of the Creeps" than this one. I decided to revisit "The Monster Squad" last year when Kino reissued it on 4K, however, and found myself enjoying it a lot more than I remember. It's clearly a kid's movie, complete with a "PG-13" rating, but it has spooky creature effects and profanity that would probably merit an "R" in 2024. What really sealed the deal for me were the amazing documentaries included in this release, which feature interviews with the most of the kid actors in the movie, who reflect upon it as adults. Great work on the restoration and packaging as well. Read more

Spider Labyrinth (1988)

I had somehow never seen "Spider Labyrinth" prior to this release, though I'd heard that it was one of the great unsung Italian horror movies of the late 80's. The movie pretty much blew me away, with tremendous atmosphere reminiscent of Dario Argento mixed with elements of Lovecraftian horror. I was also stunned by the picture quality on this restoration from Severin, which truly restores this gem to something that likely looks better than when it was first released in theaters. Definitely a worthy blind buy for Italian horror aficionados. Read more

Punk Rock B-Boy (CD)

Buck 65
Buck 65's return to form in the last few years has been a major inspiration to me, and his series of home run projects continues with this album. "Punk Rock B-Boy" is not as focused an album as his "Super Dope" project from last year, but the free-flowing feel of the songs on display here is creative and full of fun nods to old school hip hop. The drums are once again immaculate, with eccentric breakbeats that could only be the product of serious record digging. The sampling throughout is a breath of fresh air as well, with some cool lo-fi blues samples and traditional funk riffs keeping the tempo of the album upbeat. Buck's oddball raps are loaded with wit and character, with songs bemoaning sugar addiction, odes to digging at record stores, and traditional rap braggadocio delivered with that signature Buck 65 weirdness. And to top everything off, Buck released this album back-to-back with a full collaborative album with doseone & Jel, "North American Adonis", which ranks highly amongst my favorites of 2023 as well. The man simply can't be stopped. Read more
Kurt
Amoeba Berkeley

Sparagmos (LP)

Spectral Voice
This will go on my best of the year list for 2024. Everything about this album is top tier doom. Plenty of catacomb atmosphere , nasty animalistic roaring guitar, ritual beast like drums and sick vokills. One glorious sophomore album. Read more

Make Them Beg For Death (LP)

DYING FETUS
This is one solid death metal album that hits all the right notes. It is hard for me to believe that it has been 20 years since I first heard these guys on a relapse cd sampler, but in that time these folks have been busy refining their skills. Make Them Beg for death is full of heavy slam like grooves and hooks, great vocals and just enough solos. Over all a very strong album and one I find myself listening to on a regular basis. Read more

Om Hundrede Ar (LP)

AFSKY
A black metal album that delivers on the atmosphere and strong compositional songs. This is the real deal folks. Another one for my albums of the year. Read more

Deformity Adrift (LP)

NIGHTMARER
This album is crushing. It breathes out a forbidding stench of filth, doom and despair. The art is excellent. The mix is perfect. This is death metal done right. This too will go on my albums of the year list. Read more

The Enduring Spirit (LP)

TOMB MOLD
This band could have played it safe and made OSDM standard album #4. However, They choose to try a different approach. They took all the great tech nerd parts of VOIVOD and late era DEATH, yet never wondered into a watered down version of metal. I am looking forward to hearing where they will go next on their exploration of the creative spirit. Read more

Crypt Of Ancestral Knowledge

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM
Excellent. This is true in spirit and real black metal. More please. Read more

Chaos Horrific (LP)

CANNIBAL CORPSE
Did you like/love the last album? You will like/love this one too. I don’t mean any disrespect. I am in awe that year after year [33 of them] , album after album [ this is number 16], riff after riff, they keep it heavy, gross and deliver quality death metal. In short this is another solid album that shows the craftsmanship and characteristic trade mark of Cannibal Corpse. Read more

Nocturnal Vampiric Bewitchment (LP)

AZATHOTH’S DREAM
Upon first glance/ listen, I would have sworn that Azathoth’s Dream was an obscure 90’s band from France. Low a behold they are a modern day USBM from Pennsylvania. While the production is not as raw as some L.L.N. material nor is it as icy as their counter parts to the north this is a solid album that fully captures the imagination of the band and transports the listener to another night filled place, full of shadow, swamps, and eerie things. Read more

Conversations With Myself (LP)

BILL EVANS
Elegant, classy, full of soul and spirit Bill Evans is always a pleasure to listen to. On this particular recording Mr. Evans used Glenn Goulds piano and the technology of the day to overdub himself playing, hence creating a conversation with the notes, keys and so on. Make no mistake this is not simply a gimmick album, but a wonderfully complex musical jazz album of the highest order. One last note this stunning reissue features the captivating track “N.Y.C.’s No Lark” an homage to his friend Sonny Clark who died way too early. Read more