WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Free Music Archive highlights 11/19/2009

Here are the crib notes to what's been happenin on the Free Music Archive (if you haven't been keeping up on the Free Music Archive via twitter, facebook, RSS, or the regular ol' home page. Feel free to chime in with more FMA rec's in the comments!

:: The FMA's Anti-Pop Consortium Remix Contest kicked off on Monday, and we've already received some pretty cool entries that we can't wait to share. The contest ends Dec 20th, go here to grab multitracks and get started on your own

 :: ISSUE Project Room's recent adds include new studio recordings from Ashtray Navigations and the Mick Flower/Chris Corsano duo. The venue has also shared recent live performances by artist-in-residence Alex Waterman, including a recent improv set with Ikue Mori (of DNA) and Ned Rothenberg, and a interpretations of Robert Ashley. October also saw an amazing Orchestra Carbon performance of Elliott Sharp's SyndaKit. Most recently, IPR features a live out-jazz excerpt from saxophonist/composer Matana Roberts (pictured at Right)

:: Late-'70s/early '80s UK DIY heroes Animals & Men share a new batch of recordings from their new 12'' on the Convulsive label, plus an unreleased set of songs from a session in Lyon, including "Oh Death" below

:: Dubbed To Death: Pushbin Lou features Volatil, an electronic/dubstep trio out of Argentina and the UK (article)

:: Drummers At the Forefront -- a feature on Zac Nelson's Hexlove project with other percussionist-composers like Black Pus, Soft Circle, and GDFX in the mix as well.

:: Spotlight on New York's premier avant-garde classical netlabel SHSK'H (website), including the track below from Japanese koto player Etsuko Shida

Anti-Pop Consortium Remix Contest

WFMU and The Free Music Archive are incredibly excited to announce a remix contest featuring Anti-Pop Consortium! NYC's legendary hip-hop innovators are sharing hi-fi stems & a capellas from "Reflections", a cut off their brand new album Fluorescent Black (Big Dada). After five exploratory years apart, Beans, M. Sayyid, High Priest and Earl Blaize have re-joined forces to craft what may be their finest work yet. Now they're making multitracks from "Reflections" available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license, and we can't wait to hear what you do with 'em!

You've got until December 20th to get in the running for prize pacakges courtesy of WFMU, the Free Music Archive, Anti-Pop Consortium and Big Dada. The members of Anti-Pop Consortium will pick the winners, and we'll post the remixes on the Free Music Archive for further remixing and deep listening. Materials + details after the jump...

Happy 9/11 with the Jesus Lizard (mp3 + stream)

Chicago post-punk rawk legends The Jesus Lizard reunited in 2008 and performed at May 2009's ATP vs. The Fans II: The Fans Strike Back in Minehead, England along with the likes of Devo, Killing Joke, and Sleep. By all accounts, and judging by the above photo, it musta been an incredibley intense show.

Fast forward to 9/11/2009. The Jesus Lizard take the stage at the Stardust Ballroom up at Kutsher's Resort in Monticello, NY for All Tomorrow's Parties second annual New York festival. In case we had forgotten, David Yow made sure to wish the audience a happy 9/11 repeatedly, throughout the set. And the reunited 4-piece launched into a blistering set of sharp-edged classics like "Mouth Breather", "Seasick", "Puss", even their TV As Eyes/Abstract Nympho Chrome cover (originally released on a Touch & Go 7''). The whole night, it felt like David Yow was gonna take his shirt off. It just had that out of control energy as he jumped in and out of the turbulent audience. Fans made their way on to the stage as well, and at one point I counted three of them all tearing at Yow's shirt, which had made its way to the elbows. But this time, the shirt stayed on.

The original Jesus Lizard lineup was in full force. Duane Denison's been playing in Th' Legendary Shack Shakers these days, and his razorblade riffs on "Mouth Breather" sliced through the gigantic Stardust speakers with precision. Drummer Mac McNeilly and bassist David Sims are a rhythm section in league with Shellac's Todd Trainer and Bob Weston. Just check out the intro to "Monkey Trick," a classic that brings back fond memories of WPRB Station ID's.

Stream the full set here or after the jump. Touch & Go has new remasters/reissues and a 7'' compilation available here, and if you're anywhere near NYC, you can catch The Jesus Lizard live this Monday November 16th at Irving Plaza. 

ATP-NY 2009: Akron/Family (mp3s)

Known for their ever-modular, Dead-style song-suites, Akron/Family's All Tomorrow's Parties set offers a concise and ecstatic version of the 2009 model Akrons. Joined by auxiliary percussionists from the Caribou Vibration Ensemble, the Williamsburg/Williamsport trio build from invocatory psychedelic lulls through multi-sectioned beardo epics into free Afrodelic frenzy: a hippie tempest in Kutsher's low-ceilinged dining room. Hot jams, people. Hot jams. - Jesse Jarnow

This set originally aired on WFMU and was engineered by Richard Rusincovitch. For more highlights from WFMU's All Tomorrow's Parties broadcast, stay tuned to the FMA's ATP-NY-2009 collection and this here blog. Thanks to ATP and Akron/Family

Photo of Akron/Family live at ATP-NY 2009 by Irene Trudel. You can share these mp3s non-commercially under these terms (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives).

ATP-NY 2009: Caribou Vibration Ensemble w/ Marshall Allen (mp3s)

Earlier this month, WFMU brought an all-star crew up to Kutsher's Country Club for the second annual NY installment of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival. For everyone who missed the live broadcast, we'll be archiving many of them for on-demand listening on WFMU's blog and Free Music Archive, starting this week. We've lined up a post a day from the likes of Deerhoof, Deerhunter, Atlas Sound, The Melvins, Grouper, Akron/Family, Black Dice, the Dirty Three (w/ Nick Cave!), and more surprises await.

Let's start things off with the 16-person Caribou Vibration Ensemble, which featured Marshall Allen of the Sun Ra Arkestra for this special festival performance. The heart of Caribou is Dan Snaith, a Canadian mathematician, who started his musical project back in 2000 under the name Manitoba. Following the success of the 2003 album Up In Flames, "Handsome Dick" Manitoba of the Dictators claimed ownership over the name Manitoba and threatened legal action. Snaith decided to change his name to Caribou "while on an LSD trip with friends in the Canadian wilderness" (source). Caribou sounds a lot like an LSD trip in the Canadian wilderness, led by a mathematician with a PhD and a penchant for laptop IDM. Snaith has taken an increasingly organic approach to live performance leading up to the formation of the Vibration Ensemble.

Taking the stage at the Stardust Ballroom on Sunday September 13th, the Vibration Ensemble included every musician who has ever been a part of a Caribou live performance -- from frequent collaborators like John Schmersal (Enon, Brainiac) and Kieren Hebden (Four Tet), to the one-off special appearance of the legendary Marshall Allen (current leader of the Sun Ra Arkestra). All-in-all, the ensemble includes four drummers, a 5-piece horn section, and a choir to bring every thunder and peak of Carbou's music to vibrant life. Engineer Rob Christiansen did a fantastic job mixing this set, we hope you'll enjoy these four selections (after the jump):

Free Music Archive highlights 9/9/09

Recent additions to freemusicarchive.org include...

Silver Apples live on The Stork Club, 1/24/1997! The pioneering group 60's duo reformed in the late 90s, and WFMU was one of their first stops along the way. The performance included this cover of Wilson Pickett's "Wait Till the Midnight Hour" (mp3), and you can read more about it here. Silver Apples is performing at Oscillations, "a festival of extraordinary audio-visual events celebrating new music, art and film," taking place right now in Belfast, Ireland. The lineup includes WFMU faves like Damo Suzuki, Blues Control, and Tropa Macaca, and we're excited to announce that Oscillations is curating a collection of recordings for the Free Music Archive!

Also taking taking place this weekend: WFMU's 2nd annual remote broadcast from All Tomorrow's Parties NY. Scott Williams put together this here round-up of some of the artists who'll be performing (including Boss Hog, Grouper, Akron/Family, Deers Hoof AND Hunter). Our collection of last year's performances includes this gem from Wooden Shjips, "I Can Hear the Vibrations" (mp3)

We recently added a boatload of digitized cylinder recordings from the Antique Phonograph Music Program, available for download here, along with recent live sessions from The Impediments, The Frightingales, Anavan, Josh Mease, Jeremy Wallace, Amen Dunes, Gato Loco de Bajo, Dark Meat, Graveyards, Davila 666, The Back CC's, NiCad, and Ethan Master of the Hawaiian Ukelele.

Reaching back into The Stork Club tape archives, check out recently-added archival performances by George Cartwright's supergroup Curlew, who also share a rare 1990s cassette, Live in the Netherlands, with founding member Tom Cora. Here's a track from that cassette, "To the Summer In Our Hearts" (mp3). Also originally issued on cassette: this 1995 live set from Quintron & Miss Pussycat (who recently served as gracious hosts to Sound and Safe's New Orleans remote broadcast).

Davila 666 live at WFMU (mp3s)

San Juan, Puerto Rico's Davila 666 brought their fierce Spanish-language garage-pop -- with gang vocals, tambourines, pop hooks, guitar licks, and all the fixins -- to the WFMU live room for a set that aired on Talk's Cheap this past Tuesday.

Caleb T and I recorded the set on July 22nd, as the group made its way through the NY/NJ area, on an ongoing tour that takes them all the way back around to Memphis for Goner Fest 6 Sept 24-27th.

Chatting with lead singer Carlito, he mentioned that -- prior to Davila 666 -- he and bassist AJ made "nasty gangsta rap" (in what I'm pretty sure is this group Ciencia Fixión). He also recommended some local PR punk contemporaries like Los Vigilantes and LopoDrido.

This is Davila 666's second cross-country tour. The first led to their signing to In The Red for their self-titled debut, released last year and chock-full-o-hits. They've also got new 7''s on HoZac and Douchemaster. They played the A-side of the Douchemaster 7'', "Pingarocha y la Diva Rockera", some new songs, and some jams from the In The Red release (like "Nueva Localizión", below).

Davila 666 live at WFMU on Talk's Cheap: 1. Pingarocha y la Diva Rockera (mp3)  |  2. Puto (mp3)  |  3. Ciudad (mp3)  |  4. La Kilel Bitch (mp3)  |  5. Muy Chistoso (mp3)  |  6. Lobo (mp3)  |  7. Nueva Localización (mp3)  |  8. Callejón (mp3)

Talk's Cheap Playlist  ||  Dávila 666 on the Free Music Archive ||  Dávila 666 Myspace (w/ tourdates, don't miss 'em!)

Free Music Archive highlights 8/5/09

The Free Music Archive is growing every day, with mp3s curated by WFMU and friends like KEXP, ISSUE Project Room, and dublab. Here are some recent highlights, and for more entry points, follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our Featured RSS

The legendary avant-folk/jazz label ESP-Disk' is back in action, and active on the FMA! They're sharing reissued tracks from the label's 1960s output (including Cromagnon, The Holy Modal Rounders, and Henry Grimes) plus new releases from Barnacled, Talibam!, and Arrington De Dionyso's Naked Future. Here's some afro-cuban "Sounds of the Ghetto Youth" (that's the name of the album and a link to purchase it) from the Har-You Percussion Group, a late-60s Harlem Youth program led by master conga player Montego Joe: Welcome To the Party (mp3)

Herr Professor of the True Chip Till Death mp3 blog has been curating weekly 8bit/chip-tune recommendations every Tuesday morning. Entries so far have included the banjo wielding Bud Melvin, gwEm and Counter Reset, an exclusive album from Starpause, and an Eastern European collective called AY Riders that centers around "an affordable competitor to the Commodore64 computer" known as the The  ZX Spectrum. Here's a ZX Spectrum track called Industrial Fucking Part 2 (mp3), by Yerzmyey from Poland. More from Herr Professor here.

KRAAK is a non-profit radical music organization from the Flemish underground. In early July, representatives Tommy and Steve were guests on Brian Turner's show, passing through for a Philadelphia KRAAK fest with Kurt Vile, Meg Baird, Jack Rose and US Girls. Along the way, they joined the FMA, where they're sharing promo mp3s from the likes of Es, Kiila, él-g, Silvester Anfang. Here's one from Bear Bones Lay Low, "Vomiting Bass" (mp3) off an excellent LP that recently accrued some heavy airplay on a trip throught the WFMU new bin. Also, some abstract acid-blues from Ignatz, "Silver moon...shine sun! sun! sun!" (mp3).

Recently-added WFMU live sessions include Theo Angell live on Maria Levitsky's show, Personal & the Pizzas live on Terre T's Cherry Blossom Clinic, City Center (Fred Thomas of Saturday Looks Good to Me) live on Choking On Cufflinks, The Pink Noise live on Brian Turner's show, Telecult Powers from Wm.Berger's My Castle of Quiet, Aaron Moore (Volcano The Bear) on Daniel Blumin's show, Unholy Two on Keili's show, and Tuvan throat-singing quartet Alash Ensemble live on Transpacific Sound Paradise.

We're also continually reaching back into the archives, incuding a trifecta of Brian Turner live sets from To Live & Shave In LA (Tom Smith's supergroup, often featuring Andrew WK, Thurston Moore, Weasel Walter, Mark Morgan of Sightings). Dan Melchior (und Das Menace / Broke Revue) also shared a few of his live sets from over the years, and with a pack of unreleased Melchior rarities, including this song "A Wizard Doesn't Need a Computer" (mp3)

If you like what you hear, please follow the links to the FMA for lots more free tunes and album purchase links.

Free Music Archive recent adds: Lucky Dragons, Thomas Mapfumo, Michael Stasis, Pre

A few of my recent favorites from the Free Music Archive (had a long list for this that I'll have to get to at a later date, but feel free to share your favorites!)

The FMA loves Lucky Dragons (Lukey Dargons and Sara Rara) for two simple reasons: 1. Their music and visual art taps into Earth's eternal hot spring of positive energy, and remixes its best elements, and 2. They return the favor by feeding it all back out into the world under Creative Commons. Lucky Dragons have a new 12'' out on the Teenage Teardrops label called Open Power (pictured R), here's Power Melody (mp3, one more on the FMA)

Among the recent adds from KEXP (who, as I type, are uploading more tracks by Obits, Ladytron, The Lights and NOMO), I'm particularly excited to hear from Idle Times. Based out of KEXP's homebase of Seattle, whose HoZac and Woodsist 7''s were played a bunch on WFMU. And it's incredible to hear new music from Thomas Mapfumo, the influential "Lion of Zimbabwe". In the late 1960s, he combined traditional mbira-based music with western instrumentation to create a powerful (and political) new musical style called Chimurenga. Tsuro Magena (mp3) is a track that'll appear on Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited's forthoming album Exile (titled as such because Mapfumo has been living in exile in Eugene, OR).

I first heard about Michael Stasis from Nadav of Phoning It In who, knowing my fondness for Ariel Pink and GBV, thought I might dig these mysterious home-recorded psychedlic folk-pop sounds. He was right! Take a listen to Air of Happiness (mp3, + one more on the FMA) from his self-titled cassette (pic L) on the Natural Resources imprint. It's on-sale at a few local record shops. I got mine at Other Music where it's hidden behind the counter and you have to ask for it by name as if it's made with pseudoephedrine.

New Jersey's own Pre has a new album of instrumental hip-hop beats called The Woodgrain Sessions. Here's one called Lampion (mp3), available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License so if you wanna do something with this beat, please go ahead and share it!

We're building an embeddable player for the FMA, but in the meantime, you can follow the links to freemusicarchive.org for more free mp3s from these artists (and thousands more), plus ways to donate/purchase their music if you like what you hear.

The Sediment Club: All-Ages NYC No Wave (mp3s)

<-- Amina and Austin from The Sediment Club (pic cc by Janel Guerrini)

Earlier this year, Kurt Gottschalk described seeing 4 young people -- who looked like they were born in 1990 -- playing music in the vein of No New York 1978. Could these teenagers even know about Teenage Jesus & The Jerks? he might have wondered. The group was opening for Brown Wing Overdrive at Cake Shop, and they called themselves The Sediment Club.

Oh! I realized that was WFMU / Free Music Archive volunteer Austin's band, and -- to answer Kurt's question (which I get the sense had already been answered by the end of the Sediment Club's Cake Shop set) -- Yes, they know their shit from James Chance to James Brown, everything under the Sun Ra. I found this out first-hand because Austin spent much of last summer digitizing WFMU live sessions for the FMA by the likes of The Magic Carpathians, Hat City Intuitive, and Alan Vega. On top of that, his parents played in groups like the Bush Tetras and the Voidoids, so they probably have some of the coolest record collections around. And the entire Sediment Club was excited to perform in the same WFMU live room that had recently played host to The Damned and Chrome Cranks (who Sediment Club member Amina cited as one of her favorite bands of all time!).

The Sediment Club meld their wide-raning influences into something original and great in its own right. The group features Austin on guitar and vocals, Lazar on bass and accompanying vox, Jack on drums, and Amina on synth. They played ten originals plus covers of Pere Ubu/Rocket From The Tombs (Life Stinks mp3) and The Residents (Hello Skinny mp3). Download 'em here or listen in-context from the WFMU streaming archive.

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