Here's me phoning one in a bit, as I had the flu for a week and didn't feel much like writing about anything. I no longer own a Zen Micro (which started malfunctioning within a week of the warranty expiration) but I won't say which player I do use now, as the last time I did the comments section turned into an iPod defense/bashing session (and people asking me questions like "what do you use as a jukebox program?"), which I guess I started. To put it simply, if I still did a weekly show on WFMU, this is some of what I'd be playing:
Bayan Mongol Variety Group
Originally posted on the Waxidermy blog in August 2006, then re-posted on Prog Not Frog, where I found it. So good that it warrants re-re-posting here. Released in 1981.
Bleak - Austere I & II
Epic, atmospheric Black Ambient from California 2004. Neo-classical nightmare music. Forget the genre labels and just listen to it.
Born Heller
Folk duo featuring the haunting voice of Josephine Foster, CD from 2004. Where Shirley Collins and the American plains meet; gloriously languid and more than a little bent.
Good Times | I Am a Guest in Here
Franz de Byl - Und
NWW list obscurity (Germany 1972) that was recently made available again on vinyl. Most of the tracks are surprisingly standard post-psychedelic folksinging. This song, however, is great.
Birthday (The World's Gates) (File removed upon request of author)
Kuusumun Profeetta
Mellifluous, hypnotic, jazzy space-rock from Finland. Vocalist Mika Rättö, a formidable talent in the contemporary Finnish underground, is also a member of Circle and Rättö ja Lehtisalo. CDs available on Ektro Records. K.P. @ MySpace and Last.fm
Leaden
Italian Depressive Black Metal. This track is from their first, self-titled full-length from 2004. Oddly engaging and crammed with lo-fi weirdness.
Marianne Faithfull - Rich Kid Blues
Recorded in 1971, while Marianne was living on a wall in Soho, a homeless junkie and anorexic. Not released until the mid-80s, several years after the success of Broken English. A lost masterpiece, with some chillingly frail renditions. Beware of Darkness | Rich Kid Blues
The Platina - The Girl With the Flaxen Hair
Progressive jazz-rock from Israel 1976. CD on the MIO label.
The Revolutionaries
Great 70s Jamacian dub featuring Sly and Robbie. The Revolutionaries were the house band for Channel One records. These tracks are from the CD Drum Sound: More Gems From The Channel One Dub Room - 1974 to 1980. Kunta Kinte Version One | Swell Headed
Rufus Zuphall
Legendary Krautrock band from Aachen (later the home base of H.N.A.S.) To call them the German Jethro Tull underestimates the cool originality of their records, though the label is not wholly innaccurate. This amazing song is the opening track is from their debut album, Weiß der Teufel (1970).
Vangelis - The Dragon
Obscure early Vangelis recordings produced by Giorgio Gomelsky, recorded in 1971, not released on LP until 1978. Full-band instrumentals that play like great outtakes from the Aphrodite's Child 666 album.
Vegas Martyrs
Yes—the Vegas Martyrs are great—as this track will attest (also see my post from 2 weeks ago.) Black Noise from NYC, this selection from the Hospital Productions 2007 vinyl compilation Tiger Tongue Pussy Cactus - Terminal Fantasies For Malefic Youth. Outstanding.
Thanks for the follow up on the Martyrs, and all the rest.
Posted by: Jerod Freitag | March 25, 2008 at 07:18 PM
Live set on WFMU from the Vegas Martyrs here:
http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/20153
recorded 8/22/06.
Posted by: Brian Turner | March 26, 2008 at 12:10 AM