WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Bobb Trimble and the Flying Spiders live at WFMU (mp3's)

<-- Bobb Trimble (r) with Gary War on guitar and Nick Branigan on drums. Along with Kris Thompson on bass and Karina DaCosta on vox, you've got The Flying Spiders, photographed here in the WFMU live room (by Tiffany Camhi)

In his early 20s, Bobb Trimble self-released two surreal psychedelic folk albums: "Iron Curtain Innocence" (1980) and "Harvest of Dreams" (1982). He played a handful of shows around the local Worcester, MA area with teenage backing bands The Kidds and The Crippled Dog Band, then disappeared. Meanwhile, his recordings lived on as sought-after collector's items, and inspired countless contemporary artists like Ariel Pink and Gary War. In 2007, Secretly Canadian reissued both Bobb Trimble albums, inspiring Bobb Trimble's Flying Spiders to come together for a series of special shows, including the Homegrown psychedelic music festival taking place this July in Boston. Backed by the Flying Spiders, Bobb Trimble made his NYC-area debut last Thursday at the Rose Live Bar, and it was quite an event (you can read more about it at Vanity Fair). The next day, they stopped by WFMU to pre-tape a live set that aired on yesterday's episode of Talk's Cheap.

The set included a bunch of classic songs from Bobb's two official albums, but it also included four songs that had never been released stateside. We're psyched to be able to share live versions of "Live Wire, Live Wire", "The Camel Song", "Angel Eyes," and "Undercovers Man" (mp3's all of 'em) here on the Free Music Archive.

Free Music Archive (in the) news (MP3s)

The Free Music Archive, a new collaborative project from WFMU and friends, has almost doubled in size since launching in beta this April. With nearly 10,000 curated mp3s, there's a lot to scope out, which is one reason I've been relatively absent from Beware of the Blog recently. Well, I'm back with this weekly feature that aims to highlight some "hot new added". Of course I'd rather just highlight everything, but you can keep tabs on that yourself by subscribing to the FMA's Recently Added RSS feed. Or follow us on twitter. Anyway, let's see...

Fellow curator KEXP is adding new tracks as I type, and I just had to re-post this, from Portugal's progressive kuduro group Buraka Som Sistema: Sound Of Kuduro/Luanda-Lisboa (Live at KEXP) (mp3)

Climax Golden Twins stopped by ISSUE Project Room last week, and brought some Sublime Frequencies videos with them to boot. If you're kicking yourself for missing out on the show, at least there's this archive of the CGT set (follow the link for the mp3).

The world's greatest insurgent country label, Bloodshot Records, shares promo tracks from the likes of Andre Williams, Dex Romweber Duo, and Jon Langford/Sadies/Waco Brothers. They've also curated a selection of archival recordings from their Bloodshot Revival series, like this 1960 song by The Sundowners - It's My Way (mp3)

Doncbruital did an excellent write-up of Montreal's Grand Trine, who originally released the warped anthem "Monochromatic Youth" (mp3), on cassette. Read more about them via the FMA here.

Podcaster Macedonia spotlights a world of hip-hop and electronic goodies from California to Budapest. Check out "With Or Without You" (mp3) from a free EP by Opio of Souls of MIschief, and "Funny" (mp3) by Hungarian artist Suhov via the BudaBeats label.

..and hey! The FMA was recently covered in The Wire, and in Billboard Magazine (where Vivian Girls were featured alongside Mudboy!?!?). Here are some other nice write ups that you can read on the internet:
The Portland Mercury called the FMA "incredibly awesome". Portland OR is also home to curator KBOO
CNET | Paid Content | Pitchfork | The Daily Swarm | and an in-depth g-chat interview by Rhizome Magazine

WFMU & Barbés Records present: Cumbia night at The Bell House, July 5th (mp3)

WFMU and Barbés Records are joining forces to present two of North America's pre-eminent cumbia bands: Very Be Careful from LA and Chicha Libre from Brooklyn. They'll be joined by DJs representing both old school and digital cumbia.

Cumbia became popular in Colombia in the 50s, and its mix of indigenous and African rhythms quickly spread to the rest of the world. In the 70s, Peruvians introduced psychedelic electric guitar and renamed the music Chicha, while Mexican musicians added rock drums and synth to create Sonidero, and Argentineans introduced the Keytar to create Cumbia Villera.
    In the past 5 years, a worldwide cumbia resurgence has infiltrated rock, hip-hop and electronic music. From Monterey's rebajada to Buenos Aires digital cumbia, young musicians are recycling their grandparents' music and launching a global musical rebellion.
 
VERY BE CAREFUL (pic L, live in Japan, via myspace) is a homegrown Los Angeles band that plays Colombian Vallenato music. They keep the music rootsy with the use of a traditional instrumentation of accordion, guacharaca, bass, caja vallenata and cow bell. They have the drive, energy and overall attitude of the best punk bands, which has helped them gain and retain a faithful audience whose dancing owes more to pogo than it does to cumbia.
    Very Be Careful has performed at clubs and festivals all over the world. They come to NY only once a year, so dont miss them!
    Listen to Very Be Careful spinning records and chatting live with DJ/Rupture on Mudd Up last year.

CHICHA LIBRE (pic R) play Peruvian chicha music, a style that is loosely inspired by Colombian accordion- driven cumbia. It incorporates the distinctive sounds of Andean melodies, some Cuban influence, psychedelic rock, and the modern sounds of surf guitars, farfisa organs and wah pedals.
    Chicha Libre is a Brooklyn-based Franco-American group that has toured all over the US, and they're becoming popular in Peru, the birthplace of Chicha music, where the band has appeared on various magazines and tv shows. They have been invited to play a series of concerts in Lima this fall, with legendary Chicha band Los Shapis.
   Listen to "Six Pieds Sous Terre" (mp3) from ¡Sonido Amazonico! (Barbés Records 2008)

Cumbia! Cumbia! With Very Be Careful & Chicha Libre
Sunday July 5th, 8:00pm
@ The Bell House [149 7th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, Brooklyn, NY (map)]
Adv. Tickets:  www.thebellhouseny.com

ISSUE Project Room: NYC Soundwalks 6/7/09

ISSUE Project Room, Brooklyn's progressive non-profit performance space, has put together the most interesting walk-a-thon we've ever heard:

 On the afternoon of Sunday June 7, a group of visionary artists will lead sonic excursions throughout New York as part of a rare live sonic arts experiment — the ISSUE Project Room Soundwalk-a-thon — a fundraiser and collective public inquiry into the connection between urban space and our collective sonic imaginations.

You can sign up to...
* Bang a Gong for Issue with Swans co-founder and WFMU's favorite drummer, Jonathan Kane.
* Walk through the Brooklyn Botanical Garden contemplating the simulated sound of tinnitus with Anthony Coleman.
* Explore the sounds of Gowanus with Marc Ribot.
* Join a game of urban "telephone" -- the Tin Can Telewalk -- led by Marie Evelyn and WFMU DJ Kurt Gottschalk

There are 20 options to choose from, but you don't just have to pick one! You can experience them all in the disruptive We would like to run past all your walkers, opposite their direction, while screaming songs walk led by friends of the station Flaming Fire. And if you won't be able to attend, you can pledge your support to those who can.

...Speaking of ISSUE Project Room, have you heard their recent contributions to the Free Music Archive? Here's a recent highlight from James Blackshaw, live at ISSUE Project Room on March 7, 2009 excerpt (MP3)

Check out IPR on the Free Music Archive for Meg Baird's set from that night, along with IPR-curated audio from Elliott Sharp, Arthur's Landing, Stars Like Fleas, Carlos Giffoni & Okkyung Lee, Alex Waterman, Arthur Doyle, Teeth Mountain, and much more.      (photo via Urban Zen Sound Meditation and Labyrinth Walk  led by Eric A. Dah)

Robert Lippok & Beatrice Martini interview w/ Daniel Blumin + "Branches" (mp3)

Daniel Blumin writes: Spring has finally sprung. Phil Spector has gotten his comeuppance. But something's still missing, eh? If that something is "Branches", the exclusive electronics & harp improvisation by To Rococo Rot member Robert Lippok and Italian harpist Beatrice Martini, recorded for Daniel Blumin's WFMU radio program, not to worry. It can be downloaded from the Free Music Archive and also right here:

Robert Lippok & Beatrice Martini - "Branches" (mp3)

For an email Q & A with Lippok and Martini about the hauntingly dreamlike piece, the new to rococo rot album, future projects, and life in East Germany, read on! Happy Springin'!

Sightings playing Saturday's WFMU Free Music Archive concert w/ Thee Oh Sees, Excepter, Pink Skull (mp3s)

As we continue to tweak WFMU's emerging social music website The Free Music Archive, we've just been informed that Catatonic Youth disbanded this weekend and canceled all future shows, including Saturday's Free Music Archive launch party. With this bummer news comes the awesome news that Sightings has been added to the bill.

Over the last decade the Hoffman/Lockie/Morgan trio has become one of thee live bands to see in NYC, taking cues from everything from early Neubauten to Japanese blowout psychedelia to cave-dwelling dub and even minimal house, all contained within a traditional guitar/bass/drums format. Sightings channel it all via noisy, organic rock with weirdly structured songs developed through a keen and alien vocabulary that constant playing and recording has developed to today's state of the band. Five years ago people first started to talk about them reaching new peaks, but they've only kept adding fuel to the fire and are really are destroying more every show.

This is music best heard live. Sightings damn near blew my mind opening for The Dead C last year at The Bowery Ballroom, and I'm looking forward to hearing them through The Bell House's excellent sound system.

Every band will be getting a full sound check, and don't forget that we're broadcasting live starting at 8pm ET! We're also recording multi-tracks, and high-quality live recordings from this show will be just a handful of thousands of free, legal mp3's you'll soon be able to download from FreeMusicArchive.org.

7pm DJ set from WFMU Music Director Brian Turner

8pm Pink Skull (Philadelphia Kraut-House, RVNG Intl.)
listen: Pink Skull - Unicorn Harpoon (mp3) from Zeppelin 3 (Free News Projects 2008)

9pm Sightings (NYC kinetic noise-rock)
listen: Sightings - Perforated (mp3) from Through The Panama (Load Records 2007) co-produced/engineered by Andrew W.K.

10pm Excepter (Brooklyn electronic-improv)
listen: Excepter - Kill People (mp3) from Debt Dept (Paw Tracks 2008)

11pm Thee Oh Sees (Johnny Dwyer's newest shit from San Francisco, w/ a new album on In The Red Records)
listen: Thee Oh Sees - The Freak Was Clean (mp3) from the oop Peanut Butter Oven 12'' EP (Awesome Vistas 2008)

Saturday April 4th, doors 7pm, 18+  @ The Bell House: 149 7th St, Brooklyn [map]
admission: $10 adv. [tix here] or a roll of the dice

WFMU-curated Free Music Archive Party 4.4.09 @ The Bell House (mp3s)

WFMU is throwing a launch party for FreeMusicArchive.org on April 4th at The Bell House in Brooklyn. There'll be live music from Thee Oh Sees, Excepter, Catatonic Youth Sightings, and Pink Skull, a DJ set from WFMU music director Brian Turner, a live broadcast booth, dub pies, libations, mayhem, special guests and the unleashing of positive post-WFMU-marathon energies.

The Free Music Archive will combine the curatorial approach that stations like WFMU have played for the last few decades, and the community generated approach of many current online music sites. It'll be a valuable resource for those in search of legal audio; each track will have a clear set of rights associated with it, as determined by the artist, letting podcasters, bloggers, remix artists and music fans know what uses the rights-holders will and will not allow. The project began here at WFMU, but we are just one of several curators who've been gathering audio for the Free Music Archive, freeing archival audio into the public domain, adding to the Creative Commons and building an open forum for participation that we're very excited to share with you. Stay tuned to our pre-launch blog for more previews and announcements as we get closer to launch. In the meantime, here's the launch party info:

WFMU Presents: FreeMusicArchive.org Launch Party
Saturday April 4th, doors 7pm, 18+
@ The Bell House: 149 7th St, Brooklyn [map]
admission: $10 adv. [tix here] or a roll of the dice
Thee Oh Sees / Excepter / Catatonic Youth Sightings / Pink Skull

11pm Thee Oh Sees
John Dwyer's latest project, based out of San Francisco, with a new album on the way from In The Red. The(e) Oh Sees is not to be confused with OCS (Dwyer's backporch underwater psych-folk collabo with Patrick Mullins of Burmese). This is more akin to the Coachwhips but with more breathing room and crazy Pink-and-Brown rhythms.
listen: Thee Oh Sees - The Freak Was Clean (mp3) from the oop Peanut Butter Oven 12'' EP (Awesome Vistas 2008)

10pm Excepter
Experimental electronic-improv 6-piece from Brooklyn, with records on 5rc, Load, Fuck It Tapes, Fusetron, Paw Tracks, and their own Excepter Records. They document their notorious live shows in a/v formats at pod-o-matic, and the latest mind-melting vid from Excepter's 17-hour Election Day performance can be found here.
listen: Excepter - Kill People (mp3) from Debt Dept (Paw Tracks 2008)

9pm Catatonic Youth
"Control My Gun" was my favorite song of last year. Listen to it! Catatonic Youth is a solo recording project, but 3 catatonic youths will be performing for this show, their east coast debut.
listen: Catatonic Youth - Control My Gun (mp3) from World's Lousy With Ideas Vol. 5 7'' (Almost Ready Records' 3-way split w/ Christmas Island, Dan Melchior Und Das Menace)

[UPDATE 4/1/09: Catatonic Youth has disbanded and had to cancel the show. Sightings has been added, more info here] listen: Sightings - Perforated (mp3) from Through The Panama (Load Records 2007)

8pm Pink Skull
Kraut-influenced house music from Philadelphia, "for those who love drugs and disco/fans of zongamin, soccio, faust and DC recordings." Pink Skull are awesome DJs and remix artists, and they'll be performing with a full band for this show.
listen: Pink Skull - Unicorn Harpoon (mp3) from Zeppelin 3 (Free News Projects 2008)

Bird Names: For The Love of Rod Blagojevich [2005] (mp3s)

With his impeachment trial underway in Springfield, IL, Governor Rod Blagojevich ditched town for NYC to make a series of uneventful television appearances. Not exactly the most inspiring politician to come out of Illinois recently.

Chicago's David Lineal begs to differ. On the website for his avant-pop troupe Bird Names, Lineal explains, "Blagojevich fascinates me because he is not a man but rather UNADULTERATED FORM". In 2005, Lineal devoted three days to a bizarre work of auditory fan fiction, and this entirely imagined, unreciprocated relationship with the governor begat the following six songs:

FOR THE LOVE OF ROD (.zip) w/ liner notes [.txt)
1. Rod's Theme (mp3)  |  2. Ride Rod Ride (mp3)  |  3. We Toast To The Governor's Hair (mp3)  |  4. Sadie Hawkins Dance (mp3)  |  5. Rod At Leisure (mp3)  |  6. The Great Rod Inside (mp3)

When the seat-for-sale story broke, Lineal made the mp3s available at the Bird Names' music page along with this Note About FOR THE LOVE OF ROD (txt). The tracks will also be released on cassette by the Really Coastal label. You can read more about this recording in the Chicago Reader, where Lineal was interviewed by Bird Name'r Liam Warfield.

Bird Names are currently on tour, making their way towards WFMU where they'll be recording a live set for the 2/17 episode of Talk's Cheap.

Max Tundra Live at WFMU (mp3)

London's electro-pop mastermind and Domino Records recording artist Max Tundra (aka Ben Jacobs) made his official USA debut last week, and it all started with a live set here at WFMU. The set was recorded on Jan 15th, and broadcast on yesterday's episode of Talk's Cheap.

When artists stop by the wfmu live room, they usually want to know about typical backline items like drums and amplifiers. Max Tundra was more interested in our toy piano and an ancient accordion. He layered glockenspiel, melodica, casio synths etc on top of his meticulously spliced beats and live vocals. Improv isn't necessarily what I'd been expecting from Max Tundra, but I should've known better -- in our interview Ben revealed that he had played in North America before, at a jazz festival in Nova Scotia. I suppose that different people will hear different things in Max Tundra's music; each song is so chock-full of hooks and ideas that one listen is never enough. I definitely recommend listening in headphones

Max Tundra Live at WFMU
Engineered by Matt LeMay and Jason Sigal on Jan 15th, 2009
Broadcast on Talk's Cheap Jan 20th, 2009 [playlist]
1. Which Song  |  2. Lysine (mp3)  |  3. Orphaned  |  4. Labial  |  5. Lady Madonna (instrumental cover)

"Which Song" and "Orphaned are from 2008's Parallax Error Beheads You, while "Lysine" and "Labial" are found on Max Tundra's previous album, 2002's Mastered By Guy At The Exchange (so named because it was in fact mastered by a guy named Guy at a place called the Excange). On that album, "Lysine" and "Labial" featured vocals by Ben's sister Becky Jacobs (who now sings in Tunng). Ben claims that he has since honed his voice through rigorous karaoke; he is the lone vocalist on his new album Parallax Error Beheads You, and it was a treat to hear his vocal take on the old favorites.

In between albums, Max Tundra has done official remixes for Von Südenfed, Mogwai, The Strokes, Kid606, the Pet Shop Boys, and many more. He approaches even his own compositions through the eyes of a remix artist -- songs like "Orphaned" seem to be built entirely upon samples of his own music.

Max Tundra also hosts a weekly radio show on London's ResonanceFM 104.4. Max Tundra's Rotogravure airs every Saturday at 2:30pm UK time (that's 7:30pm east coast USA time), playlists here. In 2007, Max Tundra did a Listener Hour here on WFMU, here's the playlist and archive. He's off to tour Europe, hope to see him back in the US again soon!

Jason Sigal thinks 2008 was Great (mp3s)

Remember 2008? I know I do. Here are the ALBUMS that have stood the test of time for me:
*Kurt Vile - Constant Hitmaker (Gulcher) // listen to Space Forklift mp3

*Max Tundra - Parallax Error Beheads You (Domino)  // listen to "Orphaned" in real audio

*Lazy Magnet - He Sought For That Magic By Which All The Glory And Mystic Chivalry Were Made To Shine - or - Is Music Even Good? (Corleone Records) (album title of the year?)  // listen to "Masters of Science Fiction" mp3

*Mahjongg - Kontpabb (K Records)  //  listen to "Tell The Police the Truth" mp3

*Brooklyn Academy - Bored of Education (Sowl Productions)  //  listen to "Black Out" in real audio

*Human Eye - Fragments Of The Universe Nurse (Hook Or Crook)  // listen to "Slop Culture" in real audio

*Bird Show - Bird Show (Kranky)  // listen to "BRDDRMS" in real audio

*Lucky Dragons - Dream Island Laughing Language (Marriage Records)  // listen to "Morning Ritual" mp3

*Tommy Jay's Tall Tales of Trauma (Columbus Discount) reissue  //  listen to "I Was There" mp3

*Arthur Russell - Love Is Overtaking Me (Audika) reissue  //  listen to "This Time Dad You're Wrong" in real audio

My two favorite SONGS of the year:
A) Catatonic Youth - "Control My Gun" from The World's Lousy With Ideas vol.5 (Almost Ready Records) [real audio]
B) Mahjongg - Free Grooverider from the Selector Dub Narcotic 7'' [real audio]

                                                                                                            ...much more nostalgia after the jump

Barnacled Live on WFMU (mp3s) (video)

Last Tuesday's episode of Talk's Cheap featured Barnacled, an avant-jazz super-group from Providence RI. They have a new album on ESP-Disk called Charles, and played the following set before their record release party at the Bowery Poetry Club with Alan Sondheim and Septimania.

Barnacled Live at WFMU on Talk's Cheap 12/16/08 [playlist] engineered by Trent Wolbe
1. Title (mp3) opening track to Charles
2. Polyurethane (mp3) from Charles
3. Slappodrome (mp3) a Nicotina and the Legs song (see below)
4. Vulcanizing Society (mp3) orig. from the 7'' on White Denim

Lineup: Frank Difficult - Electronics/keyboard // Michael Jeffries - Baritone sax // Matt McLaren - Drums, percussion // Alec K Redfearn - Accordion, Jaw's harp // Ann Schattle - Horn in F // Erica Schattle - Bassoon // Chris Sadlers - Bass // Nicotina - Guitar // (thanks to Alto Sax player Jason McGill for cordinating the session, though he was unfortunately not able to attend)

live tracks posted under a Creative Commons license, photo (cc) Trent W
read more after the jump...

Free Music Archive contributor preview: Phoning It In (mp3s)

Phoning It In is the world's premier live-music-over-the-phone radio program. Dj talksonthephone has hosted hundreds of amazing performances from a wide range of artists including Marissa Nadler, BBQ, Daniel Higgs, Dan Melchior, Gary Wilson, USA is a Monster, Avarus, Fursaxa, R Stevie Moore, Daniel Johnston, and Jad Fair. With the motto "Lo-Fi is the Right Fi",  Phoning It In strips artists of any stereo pretensions and bass frequencies, and sets them free to perform in an environment of their choosing -- a bathtub, a friends' basement, any place that has a land line (cell phones are not allowed!). A particular favorite of mine is Times New Viking phoning it in from a concert at the Taco Ninja/Cafe Bourbon Street in Columbus, OH, with the sound bouncing off the tiny venues walls through telephone wires and broadcast limiters smashed to blissful bits.

Phoning It In was born in January 2005 on 88.1-FM BSR in Providence, RI, where the flagship show is currently hosted by Gabe. The show's founder Nadav migrated to 88.1fm WMBR in Cambridge, MA, and recently moved to Davis, CA where he hopes to be back to the airwaves before too long. You can listen to every single past show from both stations in at Phoningitin.net, where each show is complemented by links and a set list. Some of the best PII performances will also be shared under Creative Commons on the Free Music Archive. While we put the finishing touches on our Free Music Archive website, Nadav offers four highlights from PII's first season 

Mount Eerie [setlist & details] [mp3]
Only the third episode of Phoning It In, following the Mountain Goats and Jolie Holland. An ecstatic run, and it only got better. Does Phil Elverum really need an introduction?

Lettuce Prey [setlist & details] [mp3]
One of the more obscure shows, even by Phoning It In's standards, especially since this page is practically Lt. Prey's only remaining web presence. Mike Lenert has only a handful of easily available releases, all well-worth tracking down, including an LP on Catsup Plate. A former member of well-regarded Philly psych band Caterpillar, and sometimes the Lilys, Mike's solo stuff both predates and supersedes most everything called psych-folk nowadays. Fragile, trebly, and perfect.

David Kilgour [setlist & details] [mp3]
Again, no introduction should be necessary. Some tunes from David's most recent solo release at the time, on Merge, and a classic Clean cut!

Steven R. Smith [setlist & details] [mp3]
If you enjoyed Steven's WFMU performance from a few weeks ago, you're sure to enjoy this. An early, rare performance from this Jewelled Antler stalwart. Pretty much just Steven wandering around a room full of instruments (seemingly, anyway), except EPIC.

Gwilly Edmondez: New Music and Listener Hour (mp3s)

News from Gwilly Edmondez HQ, in anticipation of his WFMU Listener Hour tomorrow morning

"Ernst Epidermis" is the new album from Gwilly Edmondez. It will be posted as a free download from WFMU's Free Music Archive (via Gwilly's Kakutopia imprint). For this outing Gwilly revisits an old creative haunt, the East Coast main line train. Flinging samples and loops around like lead confetti, Gwilly re-integrates the vocal frontings of yore into a melée of popular anarchy. Four tracks from the album are posted here as a sneak preview...

Gwilly Edmondez - Gripes Cloy (Apparently) (mp3)  |   Scored For Ludo (mp3)  |   Walken's Kiss (mp3)  |   What Do People Do All Day? (mp3)

Also coming soon from Kakutopia is a brand new album from Tony Gage, his first since the Tall Pony split. Here is the whole of Tony Gage's "Bad Day At The Office" (mp3), which closed out Gwilly's Listener Hour but had to be cut short because he ran out of time.

Steven R Smith Live on WFMU + Interview w/ Daniel Blumin (mp3s)

DJ Daniel Blumin writes:

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, many are going to want to do some fortifying before embarking on "the journey home". Some may turn to drink, whilst others may consider more sensible pursuits, such as catching up with recent live sessions in the bountiful archives of WFMU. Of course, those choices are not mutually exclusive, but if one just absolutely had to choose, I'd heartily recommend the latter. Here's one perfectly dapper reason: a few weeks ago, Steven R. Smith, best known for his work in Mirza, Thuja and solo as Hala Strana, recorded a corker of a solo session for my show at his Worstward Studios in L.A.

Smith has been affiliated with San Francisco's Jewelled Antler collective since its inception in the mid 90's. More recently, he has been recording solo as Ulaan Khol and under his own name. Smith has released haunting re-imaginings of Eastern and Central European folk music and experimental psych excursions for a wide array of labels such as Emperor Jones, Digitalis Industries, Important and Soft Abuse. Though parallels can be seen in the work of Alastair Galbraith, Flying Saucer Attack, and Popol Vuh, Smith is brewing up his own brand of hazy, big-sky worthy rumble. The session tracks were recorded to a 4-track cassette without any overdubs or post-production. Smith played a couple of electric guitars and a spike fiddle and used loops of an organ, a hurdy gurdy, and a piano to glue it all together. The live recording begins with overdriven guitar and drifts and coils along slowly evoking a ghost town in the American West where the desolation itself is the badass hero. Beautiful!

Steven R. Smith - Live set recorded at Worstward for Daniel Blumin's show Oct 12, 2008 [playlist]
Untitled 1 (mp3)   |  Untitled 2 (mp3)   |  Untitled 3 (mp3)   |  Untitled 4 (mp3)

What’s more, you can read on for my interview with Steven where we talk about the WFMU session, Jewelled Antler, instrument building, forthcoming releases, and sundry other topics for those young and old who need a little pick-me-up before plunging headlong into the abyss of distant cousins, Uncle Frank's inappropriate innuendo, and gluttony. Godspeed! (interview w. Steven R Smith after the jump)

Free Music Archive preview: SF Bay Area (mp3s) (video)

With one month to go before the launch of WFMU's Free Music Archive, we'd like to offer a preview of some of the sounds that we'll be hosting from that progressive hub of foggy creativity known as the San Francisco Bay Area. This post is part of a series of Free Music Archive regional previews that has so far hit Portland OR, Los Angeles CA, Chicago IL, Providence RI, Philadelphia PA, and Columbus OH.

Now we head to the Bay Area in honor of Billy Jam/Put The Needle On The Record's second remote broadcast from Oakland CA, which is going live at 3pm east coast/12pm pacific on these here airwaves. We'd also like to shout out Creative Commons, the San Francisco based non-profit that adapts intellectual property law to fit the digital era. Creative Commons licenses help make the Free Music Archive possible, as they do for the SF-based archive.org and Creative Commons' own ccMixter.

Read on to find mp3s from some of the many Bay Area artists who'll be sharing some of their work via the Free Music Archive: Chief Boima, Citay, Cryptacize, Death Sentence: Panda!, Thomas Dimuzio, Gigante Sound, Hank IV, Kowloon Walled City, Negativland, Nodzzz, Oaxacan, Thee Oh Sees, Bob Ostertag, The Pets, Sic Alps, Sir Lord Von Raven, Kelley Stoltz, T.I.T.S., Wildildlife, Wooden Shjips, Xiu Xiu, AND MORE!!!

Lend your TV to Brian Joseph Davis' OST (mp3)

We're big fans of the work of multimedia collage artist Brian Joseph Davis. Music Director Brian Turner did a nice writeup of Davis' CD compilation The Definitive Host, released last year by Canada's Blocks Recording Club, and a track from that album can be found on WFMU's Free Music Archive Sampler vol.1. Davis' download page reveals that he plans to make his "entire catalog available through the Free Music Archive" when our new site launches this December. In the meantime, we're psyched to share audio from a recent performance of Davis' newest project, Original Soundtrack.

Description from brianjosephdavis.com: Original Soundtrack is a live performance of 20 television sets and DVD players. On each DVD player is a different, commercially available movie left at its "menu" stage. The DVDs all feature endlessly looping musical cues (this is a design feature found on approximately 50% of all DVDs).

Performed using a customized mixer, loops are combined and stacked, resulting in a slightly unstable but scored 90-minute performance that moves from psyched out strings to destroyed funk and beyond.   

Featuring selections from: Carter Burwell, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Hermann, David Holmes, Goblin, Cliff Martinez, Ennio Morricone, Giorgio Moroder, Walter Murch, Popol Vuh, Howard Shore and others.

Audio from the October 4th performance @ AR Williams Machinery Building in Toronto, as part of the Nuit Blanche cultural festival
Brian Joseph Davis - Original Soundtrack: Work for 20 DVD Players:  1 (mp3) | 2 (mp3) | 3 (mp3) | 4 (mp3) | 5 (mp3)

Upcoming performances of Original Soundtrack:
November 14-15th, 2008 at the Charles H. Scott Gallery, Vancouver.
December 3, 2008 at Issue Project Room, Brooklyn, NY **BRIAN NEEDS TO BORROW YOUR TV!! Contact Brian Joseph Davis if you're in Brooklyn and you can help out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license. Composed and performed by: Brian Joseph Davis October, 2008, Produced by Jakob Thiesen. Photo credit: Tim Shore

Harmonia live at All Tomorrow's Parties on WFMU (mp3s)

Now that the All Tomorrow's Parties hangover has run its course, we've been psyched to offer some auditory highlights from the first-ever East Coast installment of the festival...

German supergroup Harmonia = the pioneering ambient-electronic duo Cluster (Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius) + Michael Rother (of Krautrock legends NEU!). The group began in 1973, and originally called it quits after their 1976 album Tracks and Traces, which featured Brian Eno. But the original Harmonia lineup reunited last year, and put on an amazing show at September's All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Monticello, NY. The set was a universal highlight among many festival goers and fmu listeners -- hear it for yourself here:

Harmonia - Live at ATP NY part 1 (mp3) part 2 (mp3)

Keep an eye on the Free Music Archive pre-launch blog for more hi-fi ATP audio, and be sure to check out Doron's ATP recap for a great wfmu-family slideshow. photo credit: relaxing.

Others in this series so far: Low | Growing | Brian Jonestown Massacre | Wooden Shjips

DMBQ and Monotonix: live @ WFMU Record Fair (mp3) (video)

What were we thinking unleashing two of the world's most hazardous rock groups -- Tel Aviv's Montonix and Tokyo's DMBQ -- on the WFMU Record Fair this past Sunday? Well, we had both group sign declarations -- in blood -- assuring us that they would not set any fires. But they still nearly managed to bring the Record Fair to a grinding halt with their predictably unpredictable antics.

Monotonix kicked off the whole mess with vocalist Ami Shale immediately dumping a full trashcan on the drummer's head. After scaling the walls of the Metropolitan Pavilion, Ami disappeared into the crowd. Soon he resurfaced on the other side of the room, ready to jump...

(video by kreuhnkohrman)

(read more, plus video + audio after the jump)

Low live at ATP on WFMU (mp3s)

This set from Low is a great way to start the week as WFMU continues digging through our recordings from All Tomorrow's Parties NY. Joined by new bassist Steve Garrington, Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker's trademarked brand of slowcore stunned the audience into a reverential bliss. Although it did sort of seem like everyone was robotripping all weekend..."Man it must be awesome to get the security gig on this festival," Alan observed from a security guard's perspective, "Half these guys I don't think they can lift their arms over their head". Then he invited the crowd to a 10:00a.m. jog the following morning. I totally woulda been there but my arms and legs kept me down.

Low live at All Tomorrow's Parties in Monticello, NY, 9/20/08

1. Candy Girl (mp3) | 2. Murderer (mp3) | 3. Pretty People (mp3) | 4. (new song) -- sorry, can't post this "work in progress" but it sounded great! | 5. Always Fade (mp3) | 6. Tonight (mp3) | 7. Walk Into the Sea (mp3) | 8. Breaker (mp3) | 9. Canada (mp3) | 10. Argument With Myself (mp3) | 11. (banter) (mp3) | 12. Hatchet (mp3) | 13. Santa's Coming Over (mp3) | 14. Shots and Ladders (mp3)

Photo of Alan (c) Relaxing. Photos of Mimi and Steve (c) Nariposa. Live recording posted under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 United States license.

Other recordings in this series so far: Growing | Brian Jonestown Massacre | Wooden Shjips ...stay tuned for more!

Growing live at ATP on WFMU (mp3)

Now that we've exterminated the bedbugs, we're excited to share some auditory highlights from WFMU's All Tomorrow's Parties broadcast. The idyllic festival made its East Coast debut last month at Kutsher's Country Club in Monticello, NY. We'll be sharing auditory highlights in hi-fidelity stereo-sound (including portions that were logistically impossible to broadcast) on Beware Of The Blog and on the Free Music Archive pre-launch blog.

First up is Growing, a Brooklyn-based duo formed in Olympia, WA back in 2001. Like many ATP groups, Joe Denardo (left) and Kevin Doria (right) took the stage strapped with guitars. But they ran them through a network of electronics to produce very un-rock-like sounds, navigating the controls on a trip through the outer rings. Doron cited Growing's set as his favorite of the festival in his ATP Recap (check out the slide show!), and he's not alone. If you like what you hear, The Social Registry just released their new full-length titled All The Way. It's Growing's third piece o' material for the ny-based label, and there's plenty more stuff to check out in Growing's vast discography (not to mention Doria's side project Total Life).

Growing - Live at All Tomorrow's Parties NY on WFMU 9/20/08 (mp3)

The broadcast was engineered by Trent Wolbe, and is shared noncommercially under a Creative Commons license. Photos (c) Alex Tyson via Flickr.