White noise. Too much. I’m sure you understand; sometimes electronic music gets to be overwhelming. The singles, remixes, edits, re-edits, collabs, DJ sets and full artist albums pummeling you at lightning speed; we live to keep pace, but somehow, in all the flurry, forget from where the whole mess spawned. That once upon a time, genres were merely one unhyphenated word, sans sub-genre and sub-sub-genre. That it was all just…experimental. Or incidental. Or, simply, electronic.

So let’s take it back a bit, shall we?

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Delia Derbyshire – Ziwzih Ziwzih OO-OO-OO [1968]

Mother of the Dr. Who theme song. Member of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Total tech-wizard revolutionary. Seriously, what else is there to say: electro wouldn’t be electro without Delia Derbyshire. This girl is my hero.

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Delia Derbyshire and/or Daphne Oram – Found Recording [approx. mid-1960s]

Unearthed by Mark Ayres after Delia’s death, this snippet went unheard for so long, no one’s totally sure when it was made—or whether Delia’s truly the creator. Though it’s clearly her voice asking us to “forget about this, for interest only”, some speculate that the track might actually be the work of collaborator Daphne Oram. Either way: this shit was made near the mid-60s, and it sounds like something XLR8R would flip over tomorrow.

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Raymond Scott - Cindy Electronium [1959]

Bandleader, commercial writer, inventor…and unwitting electro pioneer. Raymond Scott not only broadened the voice of musique concrete (and subsequently disco, house and techno), he also built the sequencers necessary to create the compositions. He may not be as revered as, say, Robert Moog, but his work was certainly as crucial; without Scott, we’d have never had the Electronium, a random sequencing machine that paved the way for all those ER-1s and 303s racking up the bucks on eBay.

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So hey…I get it. The kaiju ain’t for everybody. It’s cool. Even if you like toys, you still may not like/get/appreciate/whatever that specific sort of toy that a lot of us chatter about here on the Bloglin. ‘Kaiju’ is even too specific a word to use, though I’ll continue to do so.

Really, it’s more like Japanese Vinyl Toys but then again, not even. Super Limited Mostly-Japanese Often-Handpainted Vinyl Toys. That are—most of the time—mind-bogglingly expensive. And very hard to get, even for die-hard fans.

But, for our purposes, we’ll just keep saying Kaiju. You may or may not get it, and—again—that’s totally cool. It’s actually one of those things/hobbies in which even folks who LOVE lots of stuff about it can get lost and sort of pushed out of the way (what a weird sentence). Similar—I guess—to vintage vinyl collecting, it can get very competitive, very expensive, and very personal very quickly. SO, well, if you don’t get it…maybe you’re lucky.

Enter Zollmen. Zollmen is a Hokkaido-based vinyl toy company that is, well, controversial. To call something ‘controversial’ is to imply that a lot of people are talking about it…that’s not exactly what I mean. Let’s face it: however expansive a super nerdy, insular, hyper-obsessive community can feel from the inside, from the outside, it’s usually just a couple handfuls of dudes. Which is exactly what I mean to say here: Zollmen is a controversial and hot topic of debate among a handful of super excitable dudes. For the most part.

Why is this company so controversial, you ask? Well, the main reason is because everybody’s bonkers for their toys. The second reason (it’s all becoming so clear) is that there are very-very few copies of each version made, making them super hard to get. And O Ya: the cadence of Zollmen releases is pretty high. And O Ya: they are on the expensive side. And O Ya: It seems that they could really give a shit if you get a chance to stay complete on their toys or not. And O Ya: Most of their releases are sold by lottery, and—as with all things—the folks who DON’T get a chance to buy something new are always more vocal than the folks who do. Simple economics: limited supply, limitless demand. And there you go. Controversy. Give it a key-taur and send it on tour.

I for one tend to want to stay out of such debates, and instead just celebrate the toys themselves. Mostly because the heartache of ‘chasing’ some of the rarer toys is too much for me to bear. My hat goes off to the loyal lottery enterers…what swings! What drama! What agony!!

Anyway, I’ve posted about a few of their toys before: King Pepora and Zudon. Twerps!—way back in the day—was pretty excited about Frank Kozik’s paintway of the Galtan, one of their older sculpts, too. In addition to those awesome toys, there’s also the MG5, a gorilla with missle-nipples; Mad Baron, an awesome robot-dude; Maza, a super-hard-to-get-but-amazing flying saucer monster, and a few other odds n’ ends ‘Omake’ minis that I’m being lazy about.

The cool thing about Zollmen for me is more or less the grotesque-ness of the sculpts. They are at once super bootleggy, super-rough, and super-complex, which I think makes for a toy that at least ‘feels’ substantial. I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing a Maza in person, but I can only imagine how pocky and nasty that pitted flesh feels. It sort of gives me shivers just thinking about it.

Controversial or not, they are awesome, and—again, for me—they are the epitome of modern Kaiju: Gross, Scary, Wacky, Fun, Beautiful, and Confusing…all at once. Perfect.

More Photos after the jump. You can also check out the Zollmen Flickr Pool and  Zollmen Galtan Flickr Pool for more.

(There’s also the whole Fancy Toy, Badzilla, Bobongo [not even sure if that's his 'real' name] stuff that I’m not mentioning…but, well, I’ve just never really seen them in person, so I figured I’ll keep my mouth shut and let someone else be the judge.)

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No snow storms or volcanoes can stop Sinden from pummeling Santos, Chinatown’s premiere venue!
Come prepared for a full night of bass heavy anthems courtesy of Sinden, Portugal’s Zombies For Money and our hometown trouble makers, Trouble & Bass.

Sinden recently started his own imprint, Grizzly which is devoted to such genre-bending releases as his latest Marauder EP with SBTRKT. As for Zombies For Money, if they still don’t ring a bell then please get familiar with Trouble & Bass’ fifth installment of their Smashcasts.

Saturday May 1st, 1opm
Santos Party House
100 Lafayette St.
New York City
$7 RSVP/ $10 before 1am

Ceremony – Rocket Fire (2010) [Killer Pimp] // Grade: B

Paul Baker and John Fedowitz have been around kicking the Shoegaze revival tip well before it became en-vogue a couple of years back. As two thirds of the criminally under-appreciated Skywave, who were already wrapping audiences in blankets of distortion while most nu gazers were first discovering that there was a whole world of fuzz beyond Loveless. Since putting Skywave to rest, bassist Oliver Akerman has gone on to form the more hard pounding and celebrated A Place to Bury Strangers, while Baker and Fedowitz have toiled in a bit more obscurity with Ceremony, a band that very much picks up where Skywave left off.

On their 3rd full length, Rocket Fire, you will find no epiphanies or broken ground but that isn’t per-say a bad thing. Ceremony, to me, have always been a band very much about celebrating and creating for a bygone era and fan, Rocket Fire cements just that. After my umpteenth spin of this record, I think I’m finally starting to grasp why Ceremony hasn’t broken through quite the way many of their fellow Nu Gazers have. Rocket Fire, like all of Ceremony’s catalog isn’t written or produced to appeal to the throngs of kids lapping up what The Big Pink or The Pains of Being Pure at Heart throw out at them; but rather those of who grew up listening to Blind Mr. Jones, Catherine Wheel and The Pale Saints. There’s absolutely no twist or “tell” so-to-speak that places Rocket Fire in this Millennium. Maybe I’m showing my age here, but songs like “For Her Smile” and “Someday” aren’t revivals of anything, they’re pure taps into the time stream of the mid-90s and that’s what makes Ceremony so enjoyable and interesting… Sure you may have heard this all before, but I bet you’ve never heard it from a band so blissfully caught out of time. And if you care and are listening carefully enough, that’s pretty revolutionary in it’s own right because earnest authenticity and strong song writing rarely fall hand in hand as we may like them to.

Yo! Welcome to Press Start, where every week I’m going to barf up the Top Five things that happened in the world of video games that hooked my ass. I’m a bit eccentric, and so the choices may be as out-there as they are obvious. I welcome any and all dudes and dudettes to get in on the shit and comment with their own favorite happenings of the previous Monday through Friday.

#1: Master Chief Sleeps With the Devil
Aiight, it really isn’t Master Chief that’s sleeping with the Devil. It’s his creators, Bungie. This week the studio announced that they had signed with Activision, and they were taking their shit multiplatform. That means that Sony is shitting their pants with glee at the prospect, and Xbox nerds are hyperventilating and barfing into their Spartan helmets. I don’t really feel the Halo games, but nevertheless this is a god damn big deal. Activision already owns fucking Blizzard, and dance in money and virgin’s blood from World of Warcraft alone. God knows what this is going to do for them.

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#2: Link, Samus and Megaman Invade Super Mario Brothers
Probably the sickest thing I came across this week was a mash-up of original Super Mario Brothers with a bunch of other nostalgic characters that gave me an 8-Bit boner. It’s finally answered the question “What the fuck would hopping around the Mushroom Kingdom feel like as Megaman?” For anyone who grew up on shitty flickering screens and blowing in cartridges, this shit is where it’s at. Check it out over at Mario Crossover.

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#3: Dead Space 2 Goes Fucking Viral
I have a serious ass-crush for the original Dead Space. It was like Event Horizon meets Aliens meets Resident Evil 4. It was the sort of tense experience that had been missing from shit like Resident Evil since the franchise went run-and-gun, or back when Silent Hill used to give me nightmares.

This week some really fucking strange letters arrived at some gamer’s house that stem from the Dead Space universe: a creepy rorshach test, a letter from a doctor, and a bloody envelope. Now usually I’m pretty burnt on viral shit, but I can’t help but dig on this. Especially since it is leading up to a bunch of new information regarding the sequel.

Fuck, EA, I’m madly in love with your franchise. Send me creepy letters! I’m your biggest fan.

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It’s finally official (I’m printing up the photos as I type) my first solo art show is coming up. It’s at Fuse Gallery in Manhattan on Saturday, May 22nd and runs through June 19th.  I know that is almost a month away, but mark your calendar now! The opening reception will be from 7pm-10,pm on the 22nd  and I will be reminding you about that tons between now and then.

For the show I shot with many of my favorite adult models using plastic Holga camera (with film and Polaroid).  And due to the he multiple exposures of the models melt into each other, I’m calling the show Melting Flesh.  The above image on the invite is of Zoli and the one below is of Masuimi Max are just some examples of what to expect.

I’ll be displaying 19 framed panoramic images from 11 x 19 inches to as big as 2 by 4 feet from the 120 film and the one of a kind Polaroids.  All frames are hand made metal by Sullivan Walsh.

Opening Reception: Saturday May 22nd, 7-10pm
Fuse Gallery
93 2nd Ave
New York, NY

A few days ago L.A. Record premiered my new video for Dinowarlus‘, “Electric Car Gas Guitar” just in time to kick off the band’s West Coast Tour! This is my second video for Dinos/Walruses, the first one being “BEAD” which dropped back in January along with their album % on Brooklyn’s Kanine Records.

L.A. Record called it a “a little piece of punk prismatic spills out hard and fast like a glowstick melting in a fiery flame.” Fix your eyes upon it and see whether or not you agree!

If you want to get to know the man behind this jam, check out the Bloglin’s recent interview with Dinowalrus’ Pete Feigenbaum in which he reveals trade secrets like his passion for optical theramins and “totally haywire laser noises.” And who could forget the time Toilet Cobra interviewed Pete for The Creepy Touch with his little puppet friend Captain Walrus? I certainly can’t, and I’ve tried! Oh, how I have tried.

If you’re in L.A., check out Dinowalrus this Saturday at The Smell where they’ll be playing with Foot Village, Signals, Tempo No Tempo and Ezra Buchla (of The Mae Shi and Gowns). Should be epic!

P.S. I’m getting back to serving up some hot Kill With Video mess on the regular starting this Tuesday…you’ve been warned!

Serena-Maneesh – No. 2 Abyss In B Minor (2010) [4AD] // Grade: A

An agressive, hysterical My Bloody Valentine: that’s Serena-Maneesh. So much about No. 2—the Norwegian band’s second album but first for 4AD—sends me careening back to Loveless, back to high school and college, back to all those albums that popped my eyes open wide. The luxury of youth; it’s rare now, years later, to hear music that takes you to that same awestruck place, but here’s the latest Serena-Maneesh, totally knocking me over.

And though some of this wide-eyed wonder is, I’m sure, Isn’t Anything sense memory, No. 2 isn’t just some snap-and-lock repeat of shoegaze as a whole. It’s less rehash than reinvention; singer/mastermind Emil Nikolaisen may chip off bits of MBV, Primal Scream and Lush, but they’re crumpled with an overwhelming mania, all new-wave microedits and jittery drum fills, that’s nothing but the band itself. “Reprobate” and its catchy haywire chorus, the simmering garage of “Blow Your Brains Out In The Mourning Light”, “Honeyjinx” coming in like deathwish arena metal. Now contrast all that with the psych-trance lullabye of “Melody for Jaana”, a sweet little nothing to temper all the bittersweet panic—when Serena-Maneesh takes it down, they take it way down.

But that’s just the music. The easiest thing to describe. SM2 carries a certain intangibility, an air of, what is that, reminiscence? boiling with the heat of a thousand suns. And maybe all that depends on how old you were when you discovered Kevin Shields and Bobby Gillespie, how and when they spawned a revolution in your life, if you even care to find something that feels exactly that fresh and new and clean. Because A Sunny Day In Glasgow reminds you of a time, right? But Serena-Maneesh completely embodies it, then twists it all modern and heavy for you to marvel anew. No. 2 is an album to be felt, not heard. And that alone is worth its weight in gold.

Don Henley – Boys of Summer

Phil Collins – Take Me Home

Joe Jackson – Steppin’ Out

Mike McDonald – I Keep Forgettin’

Supertramp – The Logical Song

I’m pretty sure this is the first professionally captured audio and video from Soundgarden’s first reunion show from a couple of weeks back. I love that of all the songs they played that night, “Beyond the Wheel” is what they chose to share first to their fans.

They sound pretty damn good for a band that hasn’t played together in over a decade if you ask me. Chris Cornell isn’t hitting the high parts quite like he used to but it’s close enough and the return of the long hair is just a huge added bonus.

P.S. If you’re sick of the Soundgarden reunion posts, tough noogies!