Amoeba berkeley Staff

Erok
Amoeba Berkeley

All Systems Go: The Neat Singles vol 1. Boxset (LP)

Various
There’s so many killer NWOBHM classics on here. If you need a crash course in all the bands that Metallica were influenced by and covered. You get Raven, Venom, Blitzkrieg and some obscure gems. Crank it up! Read more

Zero Woman-Red Handcuffs (1974) (BLU)

This is an insane ride in the Pinky Violence sub genre. You are in for some extreme violence, catchy soundtrack themes and hardcore nudity. It stars Miki Sugimoto. The poster paint colored blood splatters like nobodies business in this one! Read more

Arcana Rising (LP)

Coffin Storm
This is Fenriz’s new project that sounds nothing like his other bands Darkthrone or Isengard. Fenriz’s voice is infectious and blends well with the Manilla Road-esque soundscapes. Read more

Rolling Thunder (1977) (BLU)

This is a rare gritty revenge film that inspired Tarantino. It has William Devane with a sawed off shotgun and hook hand. His girlfriend is played by Linda Haynes (Human Experiments). Franklin from Texas Chainsaw makes an appearance toward the brutal climax. Read more

Revenge of the living dead girls. (1987) (BLU)

This one was a fun surprise! It’s a French zombie flick that blows the only other ones I can think of (Zombie Lake and Shockwaves) out of the water! It’s similar to Jean Rollin’s Grapes of Death but instead of contaminated wine, it’s milk that creates the zombie outbreak. Read more

Candy Snatchers 1973 (BLU)

This is a trashy Last House on the Left style scuzzfest that came out before the aforementioned classic. I had the bootleg VHS tape. It is based on a true kidnapping case that happened in Florida. Fair warning, It has a depressingly heavy subject matter if you can handle it. For sickos only! Read more

Nell’ ora blu (LP)

Uncle Acid and the deadbeats
This is an experiment worth checking out, it has dialogue with Italian actors. This album is basically an Italian crime film in audio form. Hopefully some visuals will surface but until then this for me is the record of the summer. Read more
E. Lit
Amoeba Berkeley
Music and movies / Movies and music

What Have We Done (LP)

Dillon & Batsauce
Dillon & Batsauce deliver another healthy offering of traditional jazzy hip hop loaded with character and eccentric personal touches. Batsauce's beats have that special lo-fi charm that come from a true love of crate-digging, while Dillon's humorous bars cover plenty of fun topics, including hooping with Isiah Thomas. Pretty much anything Batsauce-related is an instant recommendation from me, so please support these two on their album so that Dillon doesn't have to spend the rest of eternity in a purgatory surrounded by wack rappers. Read more

North American Adonis (LP)

Buck 65, Doseone & Jel
The fact that this project has finally seen the light of day is beyond exciting, and I am super stoked to be able to stock a limited quantity of the LP pressing at Amoeba Berkeley. Buck 65 and Doseone trade bars back and forth with a hunger and passion that's like traveling back in time to an earlier era of abstract indie rap. Jel's beats are super raw throughout, with gritty samples and drums that knock with reckless abandon. Three top talents of the game, operating in top form. Get yours before they're gone and going for money on the internet. Read more

BLIP (LP)

NAHreally & The Expert
The Expert has been on a very strong run of collaborative LPs with different MCs over the last few years, and continues delivering the goods with this latest offering with New Jersey rapper NAHreally. This album pairs The Expert's sample-heavy psych production with NAHreally's clever conceptual lyrics and witty observations of society. Highlights include "Rapper Hands", which highlights the various ways that rappers use their hands when they rap, and "Movement & Light", where NAHreally and Hemlock Ernst imbue inanimate objects with a variety of emotions. Exceptional production throughout as always from The Expert, and a great project all around. Read more

The Wound Is Not the Body (LP)

B. Dolan
A very solid offering of new tunes from Rhode Island rapper and Sage Francis affiliate B. Dolan. This is Dolan's first album since he was hit with serious health issues and underwent spine surgery during the pandemic, and you can tell that he put his all into the writing and music on this project. Ant, Small Professor, Widowmaker, HEBL and B. Dolan himself provide some great production, but it's Dolan's thoughtful bars and distinctive voice that really tie this album together. The song "The Last Temptation of Wile E. Coyote" hit me in a way that few cuts from 2024 have, using cartoon imagery to describe different people who are stuck in cycles of self-abuse. What really struck me about this song is that rather than throwing these people under the bus for their abhorrent behavior, Dolan offers a different empathetic take through his Wile E. Coyote metaphor, with each person being a genius in their own right but losing out as they pursue and invest in the wrong things. This LP is worth the price of admission for this song alone, but there are plenty of other great creative tracks on here. Hats off to you Dolan. Read more

The Chalice and the Blade (LP)

Yungmorpheus & Real Bad Man
Yungmorpheus has been earning himself a pretty consistent spot in my Music We Like reviews with his streak of solid albums, and this new collaborative project with producer Real Bad Man is another notch in his belt. Yungmorpheus kicks blunted bars with an air of culture and sophistication over Real Bad Man's synth-y soulful production. Boldy James, Blu, Kool Keith, Theravada and Fatboi Sharif drop by for some ill guest verses. No complaints here, just another casual killer album from Yungmorph in the tuck. Read more

Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker

One of my favorite underrated 80's horror gems gets the deluxe 4K treatment that it rightfully deserves from Severin Films. Featuring an absolutely batshit crazy performance from Susan Tyrrell, who should have gained more horror recognition for her psycho role in this, this movie is fun and engaging from beginning to end. It also can be interpreted as an early gay rights film, with a homophobic bigot antagonist and a lot of likeable homosexual characters trying to make things right. A great 4K restoration that's essential watching for any 80's horror or grindhouse movie fan. Read more

Nightmare Beach

Do we really need an upgraded edition of this obscure Umberto Lenzi Spring Break slasher movie? The answer is a definitive YES! This a very underrated Florida-lensed Italian slasher flick that is a super fun time for any genre film enthusiast who doesn't mind a bit of schlock in their movie diet. Featuring the great John Saxon and Michael Parks, who are both there to collect paychecks, this ridiculous horror film also features an electric chair motorbike and a soundtrack that's so 80's it hurts. Love to see gems like this get some 4K respect. Read more
Kurt
Amoeba Berkeley

Umbilical (LP)

Thou
Thou is a juggernaut of heavy music, heavy riffs and heavy subject matter. Umbilical is an excellent album. I can fell the anger, the doom and gloom. The heat of living in Louisiana, all the unsanitary beer soaked cigarette perfumed music venues where kids are exorcising their own frustrations, fears and energy by standing, grinding and bumping their sweaty bodies against each other like sardines in a can. Thou is one of the rare bands that have never disappointed me, and this album is no different. I can find no filler, I can find no faults, this is one album that is close to perfection. Read more

Nell' Ora Blu (LP)

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats
The creativeness and imagination to put together a highly atmospheric soundtrack to a made up “forgotten”giallo film is very impressive. But what is just as impressive, is the music contained within the album. Being a fan of many thriller - horror - giallo types of films, the music is one hundred and ten percent on point. This is the type of album that sparks one imagination and escapism, that is desperately needed in todays world. Read more

G.o.a.t. (LP)

ACXDC
Antichrist Demoncore deliver the goods with G.O.A.T. This is a band with one hoof planted in all things hardcore and the other hoof in the realm of grind. G.O.A.T. is excellent at being heavy, fast and unpredictable. In a genre that is hard to tell one song from the next ACxDC does an excellent job of writing songs that not only push abrasive fastness but actual songs that you can differentiate. Read more

Banished By Sin (LP)

Deicide
Much like Hypocrisy or Therion’s terrible art work, the A.I. generated art work for Deicides new album art is a hindrance to an otherwise solid mosh inducing death metal album. I remember looking at the cover and thinking oh boy this going to suck, but…It does not. Without sounding too repetitive, this is death metal that is not trying to be anything else but death metal. Benton and company have seemed to gotten a second wind and have been creating good metal again. Get past the art, instead dive into the furious blasphemy of Banished By Sin. Just make sure to get a neck brace, your going to need it. Read more

Cutting The Thraot Of God (LP)

Ulcerate
Atmosphere gets thrown around a lot in describing metal, and it is easier to hear when a band does it as opposed to writing about it. Sometimes you get the atmosphere of a cold fog while lost in the woods vibe, sometimes you get feel the being ripped to shreds by modern machinery or the sicking heat of a desert day while cooking a meal over a bonfire with no water in sight. Then there are bands like Amebix, Neurosis and Hell that have managed to create a unique sound with an atmosphere that is recognizable and wholly them. Cutting The Throat of God is a highly developed wall of sound that has a specific kind of atmosphere, melody, dissonance, and space between notes to create a highly listenable and dynamically heavy album of great metal music period. Read more

End Terrain (LP)

Locrain
Soundscapes and textures, mood and abstractions of storytelling via drone meeting tasteful synths by way of blackened post this or that. This is definitely avant-garde metal that has taken a left turn but not so far left that it is only harsh noise that leave your ears ringing for hours upon hours. There are many layers to this album and one that I find myself being able to auditorily revisit, experiencing different aspects of, over and over again. Themes of extinction by our own hands vis a vis pollution, greed, and destruction of the environment run rampant throughout the album, as well as a strange and diametrically opposing feel of hope. In short this is like watching the elder chief make gumbo in their kitchen without a recipe or any measuring cups. Moving, shaking mixing and throning in all kind of this or that. However it all works it comes together that the gumbo is so good you undoubtably will go back for seconds. End terrain is much like that gumbo. Read more