scene but not herd

Yesterday during a break from work I went to Tower Records and bought the new Midnight Movies album and the dvd of VIDEODROME. Thankfully I got off work early enough to make it in time to see Midnight Movies play live at Amoeba Records in Hollywood. My friend Suze went with me and on the drive up we listened to the album. The singer reminds me so much of Nico and the music can also be related to the Velvet Underground as well as Krautrock bands. I liked the album, but Suze was unimpressed. They played live for about 20 or 30 minutes and to a certain degree it is almost like a completely different band when compared to the album. They are much more raw live and to me that is always a good thing. Live, you can really get enveloped by their sound whereas the record sounds a little too reserved in comparison. Perhaps it is nice to be able to get two varieties of sound from the same band depending on your mood. Suze actually thanked me for bringing her to the show because she was impressed by them live. The vocals are good in either context, but the instrumentation really comes alive when you see them in person.

I haven't watched VIDEODROME since an uncut videotape was released a number of years ago, so I'm really looking forward to watching the Criterion Collection dvd of the film. Criterion always makes great packages and this one looks like it is loaded with extras. The packaging itself is very nice; the case is made to look like a videotape. The movie deals with issues of media, but that it is much too dry of a description because it is a very visually stylish film with plenty of sex and violence. Debbie Harry looks quite alluring and Rick Baker's special make-up effects are simply amazing and still put a lot of today's computer graphics effects to shame.