Video from the 3rd Level: "Bill Hicks - 2009 in 1993"

Madlib - Speto da Rua: Dirty Brasilian Crates Vol. 1 (2008, Mochilla)

This is his latest and very difficult to find on blogs because Madlib and/or his crew are some of the most diligent at making them take down his stuff. Hip Hop Is Read had to remove the sample set for Madvilliany because he hadn't cleared all the samples. Doesn't this just reek of hypocrisy? Anyway, despite this, he's one of my favorites. From the Mochilla website:"In 2007 Madlib went with the Mochilla crew to Recife in the Northeast of Brazil. After spending three weeks there he came home and made six mixes. He named them Dirty Brasilian Crates Vol.1– 6. They are filled with jumps, cross referenced with Bossa, notated with Folkloric chants, pointed with Jazz. Lyrical, dirty and strikingly beautiful this is Volume 1." For an example of the Lord Quas blogapocalypse see here.

Moebius - Moebius 1: Upon a Star (1987, Epic/ Marvel)

His work inspired the name of this site. I thought it was important to begin sharing the work of the French artist from Random-Earth 2012 who had somehow gained knowledge of the Grubehrt Effect and other insights outside his multiplicity. Unfortunately, because of the dismissive status given to comics, few outside France noticed. After being serialized in the Heavy Metal beginning in 1977, his work was collected for the first time in the US beginning with this volume. Today, all of his work remains out of print there. A recent introductory documentary can be found here.

Deathspell Omega - Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum: Chaining the Katechon (2009, Norma Evangelium Diaboli / Ajna)

This new EP from the progressive black metal group from France features one twenty-two minute track with more content than most full-length albums. The more unusual or esoteric black metal gets, the more the genre improves. Of course, that's a given rule with all things in this garage. This EP was also issued as a split with French duo S.V.E.S.T. If your wondering what the Katechon is, look here.

Samples from the 3rd Level: Classic Hip-Hop Albums

Click on an album cover for a link to the original samples used. The definitive collection of links can be found at Ivan of Hip Hop Is Read's Hip Hop Sample Index here.

Video from the 3rd Level: "Iron"

Junji Ito - Uzumaki, Vol. 1 (2001, VIZ Media)

This essential horror manga involves a town whose inhabitants become victims of the unusual recurrence of spirals. Previously successful with the series Tomie, Ito juggled his dentistry job and his hobby (inspired by reading Kazuo Umezu's comics) well into the 1990s before both Uzumaki and Tomie were made into films. After this, he did Gyo which centers around the "death stench", a revolting smell first encountered in connection with creatures appearing to be bizarre fishes with scuttling, sharp metal legs. Gyo and Uzumaki have been recently reprinted by VIZ Media here.

Report from the 3rd Level: "Our world may be a hologram."

"...The idea that we live in a hologram probably sounds absurd, but it is a natural extension of our best understanding of black holes, and something with a pretty firm theoretical footing. It has also been surprisingly helpful for physicists wrestling with theories of how the universe works at its most fundamental level.

The holograms you find on credit cards and banknotes are etched on two-dimensional plastic films. When light bounces off them, it recreates the appearance of a 3D image. In the 1990s physicists Leonard Susskind and Nobel prizewinner Gerard 't Hooft suggested that the same principle might apply to the universe as a whole. Our everyday experience might itself be a holographic projection of physical processes that take place on a distant, 2D surface.

The "holographic principle" challenges our sensibilities. It seems hard to believe that you woke up, brushed your teeth and are reading this article because of something happening on the boundary of the universe. No one knows what it would mean for us if we really do live in a hologram, yet theorists have good reasons to believe that many aspects of the holographic principle are true."

- Marcus Chown from New Scientist

Ersen - Ersen (2008, Finders Keepers)

Ersen Dinleten, who along with Erkin Koray and Selda, recorded a form of Turkish rock known as Arabesk or Andalou Pop (a fusion of regional sounds and Western psychedelic rock and funk influences) in the 70s. This recent collection highlights the stripped down, three-piece, rock-break sound of his backup band Kardaslar which has recently created a renewed interest as a source of breaks and beats among DJs. Ersen's eclectic 40-year career has even more to offer, for those interested visit O Zamanlar here.

Various Artists - Kung Fu Super Sounds (2007, de Wolfe)

Cuts from the de Wolfe music library containing unreleased cues from films such as Invincible Shaolin and Dirty Ho along with other Shaw Brothers' classics from 1976 to 1984. Shaw Brothers viewing essentials mentioned in the liner notes: One Armed Swordsman, King Boxer, Killer Snakes, The Mighty Peking Man, The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, Enter the Seven Virgins, The Spiritual Boxer, Shaolin Challenges Ninja, and unquestionably Legendary Weapons of China and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. The rights to the Shaw Brothers catalog for the DVD market were bought by Celestial Pictures in 2000. Many of these classics are already available in other regions in their original form (minus dubs) and are slowly being released by Image Entertainment in the US. A list of what they've released so far is located here.

Instructions from the 3rd Level- "Where are the passageways?"

The story so far... all of the actual passage-ways into the tube's often mysterious destinations are found at the punctuation of each post's first statement. Some passage-ways are too big and require being broken up into parts. If so, these parts are found in the subsequent punctuation marks. All passage-ways at the end of each post are relevant, but were created mainly for the purpose of confusing the Bakalite. Don't forget to change into the appropriate clothing and watch out for the sparks.