Herbie Hancock - Death Wish (1974)

RIP Micheal Winner. A big man that said what he thought oblivious to how it would be construed. He made quite a few stinkers when it came to movies but also some pretty solid fare as well. The Mechanic, The Sentinel and the urban revenge classic Death Wish. Below is the score by Herbie Hancock. A fine example of Hancock's electric style showing restraint and being applied to tense, dramatic scoring.

Herbie Hancock - Death Wish OST

Cops - Demo (2012)

On the surface, Cops are a bunch of hardcore punks who enjoy Crossed Out and Suppression as much as the next guy and their band certainly reflects that. But scratch beneath the surface and it begins to show a much nastier side. Squelching little synths and electronics underpin the breakneck guitars and drums giving away a knowing nod to power electronics and noise. Maybe not really anything new in the world of power violence and grind but certainly integrated far better into the Cops sound than most. I have included both demo's in the link below. I don't know if they have anything else available, what little there is is well worth your time. I came across this on the always awesome Terminal Escape.

Cops - Demo I and II 

Casualties Of Jazz - Kind Of Black (2004)

It doesn't really get any simpler than this. Instrumental jazz trio cover Sabbath classics. That's nine Black Sabbath standards filtered through drums, double bass and Hammond organ. Its a superbly laid back listen with a ton of groove and some ingenious instrumentation. Well worth your time.

Casualties Of Jazz - Kind Of Black

Sho'nuff Grooves Vol.2

I recently put together another mixtape for the night me and my good friend Macky are responsible for. Its basically us playing all the stuff we like while drinking cocktails and showing a whole host of awesome cinematic treats on a big screen. People get drunk, play air bass and dance in front of images of women being hacked up and dudes being dudes. Its pretty fun.

Sho'nuff Grooves Vol.2

The mix features a pretty good cross section of everything we touch upon, Kiss, Oingo Boingo, The Time, Joe Tex, Stevie Wonder, NWA and loads more. There is also a Sho'nuff Grooves Vol.1 available here.

Fabio Frizzi - City Of The Living Dead/The Beyond Soundtrack mixtape (1980/81)

Everyone knows Goblin. Of course you do. Goblin are awesome. They are generally the first name when you think of 70's/80's Italian cinema's defining composers. Just behind Goblin ( and in no way inferior) though was the one man genius of Fabio Frizzi.

As a frequent collaborator of Lucio Fulci he is responsible, in my opinion, for a lot of the atmosphere Fulci had in his films. The theme from Zombie Flesh Eaters set to the shot of the undead shambling across the bridge into Manhattan was a pretty important image from my youth. From there, I began investigating the world of Italian cinema and horror. The first call, via the patronage of Necrophagia, was The Beyond. Closely followed by The City Of The Dead. I can safely say I have never looked back since. So to celebrate the awesomeness of Frizzi's work here are both these soundtracks zipped up. I would highly recommend the films themselves. Alongside other Fulci gems like Manhattan Baby and the afar mentioned Zombie Flesh Eaters.

Fabio Frizzi - The Beyond/City Of The Living Dead OST Mix

Graham Central Station - Mirror (1976)

Larry Graham has got a fair few decent things going for him. He was a key member of Sly & The Family Stone, he is often credited with pioneering the slap technique applied to electric bass and he also worked with Betty Davis, Tower of Power's horn section and The Pointer Sisters. Amongst all this, he found time to form Graham Central Station back in 1973 with various musicians picked out of Jefferson Airplane, Santana and Hot Tuna. Mirror show cases this collectives combined playing skills on many levels. Some of the tightest and most energetic playing you are likely to hear.

Graham Central Station - Mirror

FUCK!!!! Some tight ass playing right here!

Courtesy call

If you like something and download it, not to sound like a nag, then it would be nice if you left a comment. Good, bad, abusive, whatever. I do invite it. I always try and leave a comment on stuff I get from other blogs, I reckon you should to.

Gone - Lets Get Gone Real Gone For A Change (1986)

From the dope addled mind of Black Flag and SST head honcho, Greg Ginn, came Gone back in '86. A vehicle for his complete wig out, free-jazz obsessed, hippy rock dreams. This is early 70's stadium jams transposed to 1980's van tours and shitty basements. Its awesome. I have always been a fan of Flag's "The Process Of Weeding Out" and after watching the Reality 86'd documentary I was reminded of how much fun this record is. So I dug it out, spun it in the car to work a few times this week and am sharing it here now. Bonus note, until recently I had no idea it was the almighty rhythm section of Andrew Weiss and Sim Cain. YES!

Gone - Lets Get Gone Real Gone For A Change

This is not punk rock!

Return To Forever - Romantic Warrior (1976)

How shit am I at updating? Illness, financial struggles and good old fashioned laziness have prevented me from posting for a while. This is a stop gap while the next few posts are being finished, which seems almost disrespectful towards Chick Corea.

Return To Forever - Romantic Warrior

Return To Forever was Corea's baby. He assembled Stanley Clarke, Lenny White and Ali Di Meola together and created this superb album. Blatantly the ever evolving, fusion outfits greatest work in my stupid and pointless opinion. I really don't know enough about jazz to comment loads on it. But for the past 8 years this album has always been played at HQ. Do yourself a favour and get involved.

Charlie B has a Death Wish

Charles Bronson, actor, weather worn face of steely determination and laconic style. Micheal Winner made loads of cash of him. The reason why? Well Bronson starred in a film called Death Wish. Winner's greatest achievement. Adapted from a novel by Brian Garfield. This film went on to spawn some pretty shit sequels but the original 1974 version is still a favourite of mine. You can read all about it elsewhere on the Internet so I won't bother regaling the tale and plot.
The soundtrack is the main point of this post. Composed by Herbie Hancock, who got the job due to Micheal Wiener's girlfriend at the time ( Sesame Street's Marie) being a big jazz fan and going on about the Head Hunters album to the fat prick. This soundtrack perfectly suits the mood of the film, using the basic setup of The Head Hunters sound and stripping the wilder elements away he created a very sparse but striking accompaniment to the onscreen retribution.
So read the above wankery and download it below.




Death Wish - OST

on a related note, here is the discography of Charles Bronson, the awesome 90's power violence/hardcore band that pissed people off, had lots to say and made a right racket. Loads of samples from Bronson films and other things, lots of shouting and a nice snotty attitude to match.



Charles Bronson - Discography

Tons of Bronson fun can be found at the suitable amusing Don't Mess With Charles Bronson blog.