Aleksei

Music

1. Mudhoney box set (Reprise era)

   • Contains three albums: "Piece of Cake" (their first major label album), "My Brother The Cow" (described as "underrated" and leaning into the more metal side of grunge), and "Tomorrow Hits Today" (which features a song in the movie "Black Sheep")

   • Noted that the band took a huge advance from Reprise, recorded it cheaply, and kept the money to buy houses

2. XTC - "The Big Express" (implied, not directly named)

   • Described as "super underrated" and from their middle period where they went "full studio mode"

   • Features songs "Wake Up" and "All You Pretty Girls" (described as "the only acceptable sea shanty song")

3. Salesmen's Painting

   • Described as a "proto-industrial noise rock" band from Austin, Texas

   • Mentioned as something the speaker has been looking for their "entire life"

4. Volcano Suns

   • Formed by a Mission of Burma member after that band broke up

   • Released on Homestead Records, which the speaker specifically collects

5. Uzi - "Sleep Asylum"

   • Described as "one of the most underrated records in the world"

   • Also on Homestead Records

   • Speaker buys copies to give to friends

6. The Filth of Mankind

   • Polish crust punk record from around 2000

   • Described as "metal leaning crust punk from Europe" about the apocalypse

   • Speaker's "favorite crust punk record ever"

7. Scratch Acid box set

   • Released by Touch & Go

   • Described as a huge influence on Chat Pile and "a little underrated"

   • Mentioned as "the first band to do the type of music that we are doing"

   • Referenced as an influence on Nirvana (Kurt Cobain wanted Nirvana to be a "Scratch Acid rip-off band")

8. Von Bables - "Family Album"

   • Described as a folk project by Dawn McCarthy and the lead vocalist/songwriter from Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

   • "Incredibly haunting, beautiful" folk songs

   • Speaker described it as the best album in their catalog

9. Sly & Robbie - "Dub Experience"

   • Described as "heavy dub reggae" with "great electronic shit"

   • Favorite track mentioned: "Computer Malfunction"

   • Speaker calls it "the best Sly & Robbie release"

10. Christmas (band)

    • Described as "incredible" early alternative "120 Minutes type music" with "a Proggie element"

    • Speaker expresses hope that a reissue label will re-release their music

Movies

1. The Dice Man / Dice Rules

   • No significant description provided beyond implying it's controversial

2. Prairie Home Companion (Robert Altman)

   • Described as Altman's last movie

   • About an old radio production that's "all falling apart" with "some guy coming in to make sure that it shuts down"

3. The Fear (VHS)

   • Described as "probably one of the worst movies I've ever seen"

   • About people at a retreat with a wooden dummy man named Morty that was the cabin owner's "childhood fear"

   • Noted to have "an amazing horror core soundtrack"

4. Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet)

   • About a fumbled bank robbery to fund a partner's sex change operation

   • Stars Al Pacino and John Cazale, described as "acting at its finest"

5. All The Haunts Be Yours Volume 2 (Severin Films box set)

   • Collection of 24 folk horror ("folk core") films

   • Includes "November," described as a recent great film with "great black and white cinematography"

   • Features strange folk elements like "this contraption man" that walks around

6. Internal Affairs (Mike Figg)

   • Stars Richard Gere as a "crooked LA cop turning on the charm and conning all these people"

   • Described as a "long con game" and "a masterpiece"

   • Directed by the same person who made "Leaving Las Vegas"

7. Sudden Death (Jean-Claude Van Damme)

   • Features JCVD "fighting Powers Boothe in a hockey studio"

   • Mentioned that Van Damme called it his first "A picture" (moving up from B movies)

8. The Cell (Tarsem Singh)

   • Stars Jennifer Lopez and Vincent D'Onofrio

   • Praised for visual effects, especially "in-camera stuff" using "sets and costuming rather than tons of CG"

   • Director described as "one of the most visually interesting directors" who came from "the music video world"

9. Knight Riders (George Romero)

   • Features Tom Savini in an acting role

   • Described as "a gentle drama about these people and this troop of like motorcycle jousters"

   • "Touching and amazing despite the premise"

   • Called "super underrated" and "his second best after Day Of The Dead"

10. Trick or Treat

    • About a dead satanist rocker whose soul comes out of his final demo record

    • Features a metal head kid who plays the record and summons the rocker's spirit

    • Contains the song "Rock and roll, gonna, gonna steal your soul"

    • Directed by Charles Martin Smith

11. Twin Peaks (David Lynch)

    • Box set that includes the first two seasons, "Fire Walk With Me," "all the missing pieces," and "the return"

    • Lynch referred to as "the late great David Lynch the master"

12. Daii Goth (Japanese ghost stories)

    • Includes "The Snow Woman," "The Bride From Hades," and "The Ghost Of Yatsua"

    • Mentioned as a "blind buy"

13. Carol (Todd Haynes)

    • Stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara

    • Speaker hasn't seen it but mentions it's highly recommended by friends

    • Mentions liking Haynes' "Mad Asimber" (likely "May December")

Books

1. Angels by Dennis Johnson

   • Described as a "crime fiction novel" that is "very challenging and fucked up"

   • Includes the quote: "The hardest thing in the world is to live in an unbroken circle of pain and not become the pain itself. To retain some sense of compassion and love in the face of overwhelming suffering."

written for drivers who see the ambulance in the mirror.