Hey I'm Jason Mantzoukas, I'm here at Amoeba and this is What's in My Bag.
I literally had to stop because I could not fit the final record in the bag
and I was like, this is embarrassing.
Oh god, it's packed so tight.
One of the first records I found was this Nass El Ghiwane record.
It's a Moroccan band. A traditional blend of like Berber and Gnawa musicians
who became popular in Morocco for kind of almost protest music.
Oh no, you know what was the first record I found? The Tshetsha Boys.
This is one of those things that the internet facilitated.
I found a video of people in clown masks
doing these incredibly elaborate crazy dances
with this insane-o, repetitive kind of dance music.
It's pretty bananas. Ok.
This is Khun Narin Electric Phin Band. This is a Thai street band. Well, play it now...
Ok, so you get it, right? Play the video too, play the video too.
This is the kind of thing that, like, all I want is to be wandering around someplace
then come upon these guys playing this music, like just out in the open.
I love, conceptually, the idea of not just a street band playing a mix of traditional and electric instruments
but like, deeply intense psychedelic music just being shredded on the streets. I love this.
I was gonna talk about the band Konono No. 1, a street band from the Democratic Republic of Congo
who are also a mix of traditional and electric instruments.
Here, Photoshop the 'Congotronics' record.
Ok, they've re-released Gal Costa's 'India' record
and I didn't just pick this because there's a vagina on the front and there's boobs on the back, but...
But also, Gal Costa, like one of the true angelic voices of Tropicalia.
This is a beautiful record. Mr. Bongo has put out this reissue
This is a great record, just everybody check it out, guys. Gal Costa. Vagina. Boobs.
The Meters, 'Look-Ka Py Py'
This record is... ooh, it's a collector's limited edition high-quality colored vinyl.
The Meters, seminal New Orleans funk band, Neville Brothers, ba ba ba.
Zigaboo Modeliste is the drummer in this band and is maybe the best drummer ever, in the world.
Just like the funkiest... put this record on for a party, put this record on to chill out and relax.
This is like Top 10 records of all time for me.
Ok, so... hmm, hehehehe, oh.
I'm not going to talk about this.This is just a great record. Ethiopian keyboard music.
This is one of my mom's favorite records. This is a nostalgia choice.
Just we played this record all the time
and I have a deep fondness for Van Morrison's voice as a result.
Also the movie 'The Party,' which I found on VHS.
Oh boy, come on guys, there's a whole VHS section in this store. Get on board.
This is a movie that my dad was like, 'this is a very funny movie.'
Turns out it is an incredibly funny movie.
This is $1.99, which seems expensive.
I would pay $1.99 for a VCR, and this should come with it.
Rick and Morty is the best comedy on television currently. Period, end of story.
Maybe, just maybe.
Staff pick by Seamus. Guys, well done Seamus. You get it.
I always go to the staff pick section.
Amoeba is gonna hire the smartest nerds who want to show you how smart and cool they are.
So why not look through their pics first.
It's probably a bad time to mention it, but any astronauts you guys had in orbit are definitely dead.
'Deadwood,' one of the best television shows of the last 25 years.
You've got your Wires, you've got your Breaking Bads, you've got your Mad Mens
all of which I love, but for me, 'Deadwood,' number one.
Hey Al, any reason I can't share with Dan the proceeds of the talk me and you just had
about me taking over for Persimmon Phil?
Yeah, keep Dan in the dark.
This is all about David Milch.
This is all about the unparalleled writing of the series creator.
If you get this box set, there is a behind-the-scenes section where it shows how David Milch writes
which is, he lies on the ground and he dictates the episode.
So he's saying out loud all the lines of dialogue and someone is transcribing it on a giant monitor.
It is, hands-down, one of the craziest things you'll ever see.
'If we get this thing on its feet...' lose 'believe me.'
'If we get this thing on its feet' comma.
This is the movie 'Love Actually.' Guys, undeniable movie.
This right here is romance.
Why don't you come back and sleep at our place?
Yeah.
But there's one problem.
What?
Well, we're not the richest of girls, y'know.
We just have a little bed.
And we can't even afford pajamas.
Alright, this movie's called 'A Prophet.'
It's a Jacques Audiard movie from 2010, I think I looked.
This is just like a super-intense French crime prison gangster thriller.
The reason I love this movie is because I had no idea what it was about when I went and saw it
and was blown away.
Now I'm telling you it's terrific so when you watch it you're gonna be like, it wasn't that good.
This is Destroyer's 'This Night.'
I would have picked 'Streethawk: A Seduction.' That record is not in stock.
I don't think that's come out on vinyl. I should've just gotten the CD.
Why didn't I pick up the CD and talk about it?
Y'know what.
Here's Destroyer's 'Streethawk: A Seduction.'
Dan Bejar is... I'm actually not sure. I'm saying Dan Bejar. B-e-j-a-r is how you spell it.
Still holding a fake version of it right here.
He's one of the principle songwriters in the New Pornographers or he was.
He has like a singular rock-and-roll voice.
Guys, I can't speak highly enough about Destroyer.
Also, randomly, the only person that I ever feel like
anybody who's ever been, like, 'oh you know who you look like,' is Dan Bajer.
Kinda see it, right? It's a little bit there.
Also, now put on the other side of me a picture of Jose Gonzalez.
And now move them around a little. Shuffle them around. Can you tell which is which?
Just this year, they've put out Alice Coltrane's holy music.
Amazing jazz harp player.
Massive kind of spiritual leader.
John Coltrane's wife, Ravi Coltrane's mother, all of these things.
And for much of her later life she was doing kind of holy music.
Anyway, it's pretty fantastic.
This Big Thief record 'Capacity.'
Absolutely amazing Brooklyn band. This is just like a heartbreaking record.
The song 'Mary' from this record is so far my favorite song of the year.
I wanted to talk about My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless' but it wasn't there.
This is the My Bloody Valentine record they just put...you know what, fuck that though.
Y'know what, it's a cassette. This is my favorite record of all time.
Dave Anderson played this for me in a dorm room when it came out in college
and it straight-up blew my mind. And I've listened to it probably almost weekly since then.
This record is just tremendous.
Kevin Shields, layers of metallic shoegazy bliss. This record is phenomenal.
This cassette. A lot of post on this episode.
This is Joni Mitchell's 'Hejira.' I listen to it almost every night
for the better portion of 12 years.
If you search Joni Mitchell right now
you'll find her playing autoharp on the Dick Cavett show in front of rapt audiences
with this kind of beautiful, high, angelic voice.
A voice that Joni Mitchell hated, so much so, and you can see here she's got a cigarette
that she spent years abusing her voice with cigarettes and alcohol
so that she could literally alter her voice.
If you're a Jaco Pastorius fan
the most beautiful, lyrical instrument on this record
might not be Joni Mitchell's voice, it might be Jaco's bass.
It's, like, beautiful. Yeah, Joni, Jaco.
If you like that and you want to know more about Jaco Pastorius
you can watch this Jaco Pastorius documentary.
I like originals.
Jaco was an original.
I'm not even sure if it's available on DVD. It might just be a streaming thing.
But, you know what, come on down here and look for it. You'll find something.
Speaking of amazing documentaries, 'Touching the Void.'
Hold on, this is a staff pick from Neil.
His commentary is 'crazy tale.'
Unless that's Neil's last name. Neil Crazytale.
Here's the setup of the movie, ready? This is a documentary.
Two guys on a mountain. They're trying to scale this face of a mountain that's never been scaled before.
They get caught in a storm. They don't have satellite phones, they don't have any of this stuff.
They are running out of food. One of the guys falls and breaks his leg.
They are connected by 300 feet of rope.
The healthy man is lowering the man with a broken leg down the face of the mountain
300 feet of rope at a time.
They're in such visual whiteout that the healthy man
doesn't realize it but he lowers the broken-legged man off the side of the mountain
so he's dangling in midair.
And finally, the healthy man has no choice, he cuts the rope.
Broken-legged man falls. He's hanging off the side of a mountain.
Guys, he doesn't just fall to the ground, he falls to the ground into a crevasse
which is a vertical cave. Guys, this fucking movie.
There is something about crevasses
They have a dread feel. Not a place for the living.
This is the Hop Along record from last year.
I love this record. This was one of my top records of last year.
The lead singer has one of the most versatile, most amazing voices in rock and roll currently.
I'm somebody who is... and no singer wants to be told this
I don't pay attention to words at all.
But voices to me are instruments. And no offense to these people who are
spending an immense amount of time writing songs that are meaningful to them.
I think these records are beautiful
and what I find most compelling is the characteristics of their vocals.
'Howard The Duck.' The first Marvel movie. True story.
If you want to see like a topless duck lady with tits in a bath, watch 'Howard The Duck.'
We did this on the bad movies podcast that I host called 'How Did This Get Made?'
which is why I grabbed it, because it allowed me to get that plug in, y'know, frankly.
But this is a straight up bananas movie.
You're three feet taller than I am.
I just can't resist your intense animal magnetism.
Whoops.
And this is it, this is the last choice. This is a movie called 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle.'
1973 Peter Yates movie. This is a Criterion Collection blu-ray. Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle.
This is a movie that is about small-time guys who are sticking up all these Boston banks.
There's long periods of real tense quiet.
If you watch movies like 'The Town'
or the Dennis Lehane books and movies that are based on those books
there's a lot of this movie influencing those movies.
April fool, motherfuckers.
I have a particular fondness for this movie because all of the bar scenes
are shot in the bar where my grandfather was a bartender.
And he is oftentimes in the background of those shots.
That's how this movie came into my life
and then, as an adult, I remember seeing it and being like, oh that movie is amazing.
So it's called 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle' and it's truly a lost gem.
We blazed through it all.
Thank you so much for talking with us today.
Thank you. And I know this is important.