Douglas Arney's new video for Diminished Men's "Kudzu Mine" is a handy reminder that the album from which it originates, Vision in Crime (Abduction Records), is one of the best out of Seattle this year. As I wrote in The Stranger earlier this year about Vision, "These guys manifest the mystery of their idiosyncratic sound world with the surgical precision and artful ruthlessness of a Bond villain." On this highlight from that LP, the core trio of Dave Abramson, Steve Schmitt, and Simon Henneman are augmented by saxophonists Neil Welch (Bad Luck) and Skerik (DRKWAV). They help to launch "Kudzu Mine" into a twilight zone of humid, nocturnal gamelan-inflected, crime-film jazz that has few parallels in this region's music scene. The track builds from an intro of subliminal intrigue into a multi-colored explosion of celebratory chaos. If there's ever a sequel to Apocalypse Now, "Kudzu Mine" should be on its soundtrack.

For the video, Arney used footage from The Giant of Metropolis, Silent Snow Secret Snow, The Snow Creature, and Life on the Abyssal Floor. The turbulent, disturbing images complement the song very well.