Blather:

October 09, 2008

The Mix Machine #6: World Famous Supreme Team Anniversary Show (MP3s)

World_famous_supreme_team Hello and welcome back (a 1 2, a 1 2) to The Mix Machine.
Turning this week over to DAVO who shares with us...

THE WORLD FAMOUS SUPREME TEAM ANNIVERSARY SHOW

1. World Famous Supreme Team Anniversary Show (46:45)

Back in the day... ummmmm...... Really BACK IN THE DAY.........

When hiphop was being birthed at some parties in BoogieDown or DoOrDie, or the Bridge, or Moneymakin' (gotta make sure to be reppin' the most expansive birth canal known outside ancient Sumara, etc)... before the "crabscratch" was named, before the street DJ's and MC's went PRO... FunkyFreshRadio usually meant listening left of the dial in NYC- FMU/KCR/USB/PKN/ETC- and the megablasts of BLS/RKS/KTU. LOT'S of choices (Believe me, cuz I live in Portland, Oregon now)...

My favorite was WHBI 105.9 from Jersey. In addition to the Awesome Twosome and Afrika Islaam, there was the weekly dose of The World Famous Supreme Team, made famous (WORLDWIDE) by Malcolm McLaren on his mega-hit Buffalo Gals. They were anything but slick, yet in all their glory totally rocked the latenites of post-girlfriend misery and pre-girlfriend elation that marked that year for me.

Please enjoy this recording. 46 minutes of their "anniversary" show from 1982. 46 minutes of lofi Placenta from the hiphop birthcanal, recorded on my rescued from the trash Panasonic boombox using Realistic Supertape.

Coming soon-early DJ Red Alert and BDP live on the radio....

~ Davo


The Mix Machine is a weekly dive into classic hip hop, freestyle, disco and dance mixes. MP3s encoded at 320k from source with no processing. Embrace the tape hiss and record crackle.

Free Music Archive Sampler CD vol2 (MP3s)

Cover WFMU presents Selected Sounds from the Free Music Archive Vol. 2. Coated in a cool wintry blue, this second volume features an all-new set of sounds from Silver Jews, Vivian Girls, The Ex+Getatchew Mekuria, Old Time Relijun, Indian Jewelry and more.  The compilation includes tracks off some of our favorite commercial releases, as well as previously unreleased exclusives from the WFMU live room and Free Music Series.

These are just a few of the thousands of tracks that will be freely available under Creative Commons licenses when the fully interactive Free Music Archive website launches this December.  All tracks appear courtesy of artists and labels who have benefited from a progressive approach to distribution and intellectual property in the digital era, and we're designing the Free Music Archive to support this approach.

We'll be handing out free copies of the CD at tonight's Free Music Series concert feat. Wire & Times New Viking (it's sold out but we'll be broadcasting live from the Fillmore NYC). We'll also save some copies of the FMA Sampler CD for the WFMU Record Fair, which is just around the corner (Oct 24-26).  If you are unwilling or unable to procure a physical CD, you can download the compilation, along with accompanying artwork by Greg Harrison.

Selected Sounds from the Free Music Archive vol. 2
>> DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE ALBUM w/ ARTWORK as a .zip (.zip) <<

Tracklist:
1. Kurt Vile - Freeway (mp3) from the album Constant Hitmaker (Gulcher Records 2008)
2. Sic Alps - Message From the Law (mp3) from the albums Description of the Harbor (Awesome Vistas 2007) and A Long Way Around to a Shortcut (Animal Disguise 2008/Drag City 2009)
3. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Jules Lost His Jewels (mp3) from Worn Copy (Paw Tracks 2005)
4. Bird Names - We Want To Be Old (mp3) from On Opaque Things (Pecan Crazy 2006)
5. Borful Tang - John And Mary: The Restaurant (mp3) from Root (Snurp 2005)
6. Mary Halvorson & Weasel Walter - Rare Vodka From The Fourteenth Century (mp3) from Opulence (ugEXPLODE 2008)
7. Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex & Guests - Eyeway Setenafegagn (mp3), based on a Sudanese traditional song, from the live album Moa Anbessa (Terp Records 2006)
8. Dälek - 3 Rocks Blessed (mp3) Live at WFMU on Mike Lupica's show July 11, 2002
9. Illusion of Safety - I Could Be Wrong (mp3) from an unreleased recording (2008 Finite Material Context). Virtual and acoustic guitars: Daniel Burke
10. US Girls - Buzz Chant (mp3) from the Ladyz In Noyz 3xCD compilation (Spleencoffin 2008)
11. Indian Jewelry - Swans (mp3) Live at WFMU on Liz B's show July 7, 2008
12. Plastic Crimewave Sound - I Feel Evils (mp3) from the album Painted Shadows (A Silent Place 2008)
13. Old Time Relijun - Cold Water (mp3) Live at Southpaw, Brooklyn for WFMU's Free Music Series Oct 13, 2007
14. Teeth Mountain - Keinsein (mp3) from their Shdwply/Infinite Limbs LP / Nail In The Coffin CD-R (2008)
15. Black Pus - Land of the Lost (mp3) from Black Pus IV: All Aboard the Magic Pus, recorded by Hundred Arms in Providence, RI (2008)
16. Fósforo - Desconocido (mp3) from the Macondo EP (Raya Records/Vagalumi Music 2007)
17. Silver Jews - Horseleg Swastikas (mp3) Live at WFMU on Benjamin Walker's Theory of Everything Sept 8, 2008
18. The Yolks - I Do What I Do (mp3) from the Introducing...7'' (Criminal IQ 2008)
19. Vivian Girls - Tell The World (mp3) Live at WFMU on Choking On Cufflinks Sept 6 2008 (cd-r)

The mp3s in this post are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Uited States license except tracks 1 and 15 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 United States, and track 7 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Netherlands

Vol. 1 is still available for download here, with tracks from Lucky Dragons, Dan Deacon, Citay, Fursaxa, Kinski and more!

October 08, 2008

What Is America? We Don't Know Yet (mp3s)

Chevycover 1. Experience (2:29)
2. Now that's MORE Like It! (0:32)
3. Innovation (3:04)
4. Something Big Is Coming (2:32)
5. Rolling Emotion (1:24)
6. Concours (2:50)
7. Fun and Functional (2:09)
8. Chevrolet Proud (3:31)
9. What Is America? (2:26)
10. America in Motion (6:11)
11. Those Wonderful American Chariots (4:43)
12. Chevrolet Americana (2:16)
13. America the Beautiful Finale (3:58)

Those words in the title of this post introduce Side 2 of THE CHEVROLET EXPERIENCE, a souvenir record of the auto maker's 1977 dealer convention in San Francsico, California. Ironically, they also speak to Chevrolet's abiity to figure out what the American consumer wanted to buy. With tiny Japanese imports making a splash in the American marketplace, Chevy went big and paid the price when an OPEC oil embargo sent gas prices soaring. Sound familiar?

This is a strange little album in several ways, apart from the historical flop value. No fewer than three composers were hired to create the eight songs that make up side 1. "Now that's MORE Like It!" which was Chevy's 1977 ad theme, was written by Richard Behrke and Robert Ovies. "Chevrolet Proud" is a product of Hank Beebe. Everything else is credited to Wilson Stone and David Blomquist. As in most examples of design by committee, the content of side 1's musical production is all over the boards. "Experience" and "that's" have that advertising feel, while "Innovation" is ripped straight from THE MUSIC MAN and "Something Big Is Coming" is a trucker/CB culture tune.

You know, the many faces of America and a little something for everyone.

Continue reading "What Is America? We Don't Know Yet (mp3s)" »

Twistin' The Country Classics (MP3s)

Twistin_front In 1963, a studio band known as The Raiders recorded an LP of country twist material for Liberty Records.  The album, released at the peak of the nation's raging case of twist fever, combined familiar standards with more contemporary country tunes and re-interpreted them as hard-driving twist tempo instrumentals.

It should be pointed out that this band is completely unrelated to the much more famous Paul Revere & The Raiders.  Nevertheless, the country-twist Raiders did have one ace in the hole: their guitarist was Tommy Allsup, an Oklahoma native whose experience included a stint as lead guitarist for western swinger Johnnie Lee Wills, one of Bob Wills' younger brothers.  In addition, Allsup had spent much of 1958 and early 1959 touring and recording with Buddy Holly.  Allsup would go one to produce or play sessions for such big shots as Roy Orbison, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Charlie Rich, Johnny Paycheck and Hank Thompson, to name just a few.  Despite such impressive credentials, Tommy Allsup's name is probably most likely to appear in history books for the fact that on February 3, 1959, he lost a coin toss to Richie Valens.  AsTwistin_back_5 a result, it was Valens and not Allsup who died in the plane crash that also took the lives of Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper.

Kaw-Liga  (2:18)
Under The Double Eagle  (2:21)
I'm Movin' On  (2:10)
Jambalaya  (2:04)
Wildwood Flower  (2:03
Wabash Cannonball  (1:57)

San Antonio Rose  (2:05)
Slow Poke  (2:07)
Cattle Call  (2:38)
Ida Red  (2:03)
Sugar Foot Rag  (1:50)
Orange Blossom Special  (2:53)

Hungry for more country twist mayhem?  Go here.

October 06, 2008

My Favorite Musical Mystery

This tale is a bit long, but those of you interested in musical mysteries will likely find it interesting, and I really hope someone out there knows the answer to the one minor question I am asking and the big question at the end.

In 1952 (several years before I was born), my father purchased my family’s first reel to reel tape machine, a Berlant Concertone behemoth. When it arrived, it had on it a reel of tape, containing five studio recordings. My parents quickly recognized the voice on the first recording on the tape as that of Doris Day, but didn’t know the rest of the tunes, which included another female vocal, a male vocal with chorus, and two Latin flavored instrumentals. The tracks were banded, and you could hear studio chatter and references to mistakes, so it was clear that these were not released takes.

(Recent research done by my older brother and me (Hooray for The Internet!) has resulted in the information that these are all outtakes, all of which are from singles or albums released by a major record label in 1952. All of the released tracks we’ve been able to compare are subtly different than the versions on this tape. However, this is not the focus of my story today.)

Oddly, at the end of this reel, after quite a bit of blank tape (and, unbanded), there was a brief polka type performance played by an accordion and tuba duo. (There may actually be two accorianists, and we think perhaps this was also an outtake, due to the flub of a note near the end, by the tubist.) The end of the reel has broken and frayed over the years, leaving the piece without its last note, but aside from that loss, this duet sounds like this:

1.) Unknown – Accordion and Tuba Duet (MP3)

If anyone knows the name of this tune, or what album (if any) this recording might be from, my brother and I would be much obliged. That’s the minor mystery here, but the really fascinating piece didn’t reveal itself until much later, after we grew up loving and wondering about this tape.

In the 1970’s, we borrowed a 15 IPS four track tape machine, in order to make high quality copies of my family’s oldest tapes. While listening to this track, my brother said “there’s something else recorded here!” Sure enough, there was a vocal selection hidden underneath the polka, with what sounded like a mixed chorus singing a peppy little tune. The only thing I could clearly make out at the time was “open up the roof, let the stars shine” (although even that turned out to be inaccurate). The mix of two recordings was clearer with the equipment we had that day, but here’s an approximation of what we heard:

2.) Unknown – Polka with Something Else (MP3)

With the advent of high quality computerized sound manipulating equipment, I’ve been able to mess around with this track, to the point where, though it unfortunately sounds horribly processed, I can actually hear the entire thing (with almost no interference from the polka) and make out almost all the words. You probably won’t get the words from one listen – I’m still unsure of some of them. But as you’ll hear, the song starts out with a fairly ugly blast of horns or wind instruments, then is followed by a small mixed chorus, singing happily about being poor. I think these are the words:

“Holes in the roof and the ???

Can’t save for a ????

Oh, bo, diddle-ee-eye-dye, bum dum dye-dye

Holes in the roof, let the stars shine

I ain’t got a dime, but I got a sweetheart

We got a dog, can’t afford a flea

Oh, bo, diddle-ee-eye-dye, bum dum dye-dye

Ain’t got a dime, but ….. Got a ???….”

And that’s where the tape runs out. Here are two attempts at cleaning up this material. The first is not as annoying with processed sounds, but the second one, I think, has much easier to distinguish lyrics and vocals:

3.) Unknown – Buried Under the Polka (Processed) (MP3)

4.) Unknown – Buried Under the Polka (Heavily Processed) (MP3)

The big question, that’s been on my mind (and my brother’s) for decades now is: What Is This Song? Does anyone recognize it? Is it perhaps from another early 1950’s album? Or is it (as has been suggested for reasons I won’t go into) from a commercial from that era? Anyone who knows either the name of the polka, or more to the point, the name and source of this mystery song would be forever in our debt.

I hope you found this interesting.

(A side note for you reel to reel tape fans who might find this interesting. While the rest of this tape is recorded in whole track mono, playing this section on a both a standard stereo machine and a four track machine demonstrated that the polka music was actually recorded on the outside edges of the tape surface, while this background stuff was recorded on the two inner tracks, a set-up that would seem to have been impossible in the whole track mono and half-track mono era.)

Bob

October 05, 2008

Ralf Dörper's Eraserhead (MP3s)

Rd_eraserhead_front_2Ralf Dörper is best known as a founding member of Die Krupps and Propaganda, but his musical career started earlier, as a member of avant-garde punk band S.Y.P.H. in the late 70s. When S.Y.P.H. broke up in 1980 out of protest against the commercialization of the local punk scene, he recorded his first solo project, the 7" single Eraserhead on the Rondo Biermeier label. He also collaborated with Jürgen Engler under the name Die Lemminge, releasing one 7" single Lorelei in 1981 on the Pure Freude label. In 1983 these two singles were released by UK label Operation Twilight on one 12" as Ralph Dorper's Eraserhead. Not available on the blogosphere before, here it is for your listening pleasure (if your idea of pleasure is dark electronic music from Germany...):

MP3s:
1 Ralf Dörper - Assault (some sources claim this is his tribute to John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13)
2 Ralf Dörper - Eraserhead (obviously a David Lynch tribute)
3 Die Lemminge - Lorelei (a fantastic version of this classic 19th century German song, lyrics by Heinrich Heine)
4 Die Lemminge - Im Himmel (supposedly another Eraserhead tribute)

Die Lemminge also contributed a great song to the 1980 Christmas compilation Denk Daran!, available at Mutant Sounds. (This one is worth getting anyway, contributors include S.Y.P.H., Der Plan, Pyrolator, and Xao Seffcheque.)

October 02, 2008

The Mix Machine #5: Let's Jam (MP3s)

Lets_jam LET'S JAM

1. Let's Jam - Side 1 (30:51)
2. Let's Jam - Side 2 (31:06)

A classic Rodium Swap Meet Mix Tape for all you fly guys and fly girls.

The Mix Machine is a weekly dive into classic hip hop, freestyle, disco and dance mixes. MP3s encoded at 320k from source with no processing. Embrace the tape hiss and record crackle.

The Genius of Arrigo Barnabé

Arrigo13_2I have been obsessed with Brazillian musician Arrigo Barnabé ever since his song Clara Crocodilo was posted to On the Download a few years ago. The song was like nothing I had ever heard before- from the spastic Portuguese ranting to the atonal horn arrangements and joyous sounding female vocals. Every element of the song was so skewed in such a precise way. Fortunately, I was able to find the entire out-of-print album on Soulseek. It's a masterpiece that doesn't let up- a mix of Rock In Opposition, Zappa, Ornette Coleman, Magma and Brazilian pop.

Since Youtube first made its appearance, I have been searching weekly for Barnabé videos. A few videos finally popped up last year-  they were short clips of poor quality that caught Barnabé  playing the piano during  a reunion concert of his brother's post-punk outfit Patife Band. This was enough for me though...I had built Barnabé up in my head to such monumental proportions that it made my week to find a grainy little video clip of him performing. Over time, more Barnabé videos surfaced- all great little Barnabé morsels...but nothing from the late seventies/early eighties when he would have been performing Clara Crocodilo with a full band.

Until last week- finally! Someone uploaded a video of a 1979 performance of the Clara Crocodilo album. The renditions are a little looser than the album versions, but the energy is maniacle and off kilter. It was everything I imagined in my head during repeated listens of Clara Crocodillo- a festive dance of misfits, demons and pretty ladies with Barnabé as the ringleader. Now if I only knew Portuguese so I knew what the hell he was jabbering on about!

...Song starts about two minutes in. The possessed look on the female singer's face is amazing. Youtube version is here. Part 2 is here.

Barnabe has been active since the late seventies and has produced bizarre narrative concept albums, usually writing in a twelve-tone technique. Here is a brief sampling of gems from his catalogue...

Num Antro Sujo from A Saga de Clara Crocodilo
From a live 1999 version of Clara Crodilo which includes more strings than horns and slightly different arrangements.

Tubarões Voadores from Tubarões Voadores
Another highly inventive early record which revolves around the narrative of a flying shark. Some of this material goes into a Residents or Der Plan territory at times.

Dedo de Deus (com vânia bastos) from Suspeito
An odd foray into more late 80s dance and pop territory. Totally bombastic.

Miolo Mole from Gigante Negão
A late 90s return to his earlier sound

There were some efforts into more traditional sounds, although Barnabé's unique sense of melody always shines through. His most recent album, Missa In Memorian Itamar Assumpção, is a clasical composition dedicated to late Brazillian musician Itamar Assumpção, Barnabe's cohort in the Vanguard Paulista movement. Clips of the recording of this piece can be found here. You can hear tracks of the album from Barnabé's Myspace page here. More stuff can be found at his intentionally hard to navigate site here.

October 01, 2008

The Wonderful World of Music (MP3s)

Weze 1. The Wonderful World of Music (2:40)
2. Windows on the Square (2:12)
3. It's Easy (2:28)
4. Boutonierre (2:09)
5. The Good Doctor (2:16)
6. News Room (2:32)
7. The Man in the Blue Blazer (1:46)
8. Park Square (1:35)
9. On the Air! (1:38)
10. Nightwatch (2:13)
11. Account Exec's (2:16)
12. The Irishman (2:08)

Imagine if you could take the hustle and bustle of a popular AM radio station, the daily comings and goings of air staff, reporters, and salespeople, and somehow turn it into audio. That's exactly what W-EZE program director Robert R. Way had in mind when he composed these instrumentals in 1965 as a gift to the station's advertisers.

Way's name pops up online from time to time. After leaving W-EZE, the Georgia native worked full-time creating advertising jingles. In 1975 he left music and spent 20 years practicing clinical psychology. After retiring, he got back to his love of music and assembled the Robert Way Orchestra and Chorus, which continues to produce CDs of Way's original compositions and traditional American music.

Continue reading "The Wonderful World of Music (MP3s)" »

Al Oster and the Frozen North

Oster A sunscreen has yet to be invented that can block out the dizzy euphoria one feels after too many years in the Land of the Midnight Sun. Deep in the Frozen North, sequestered in the wild 27,000 square mile expanse that is the Great Yukon, one lone hillbilly is the rock & roll master of his snowy domain. Clubbed over the head by the Spell of the Yukon at an early age, Al Oster has spent his entire life singing about the majestic charms of the frozen wasteland to anyone who would listen. Oster's first 45 on his own Tundra record label is his best. He's still out there, decades later, warbling his chilly verses to the indifferent North Wind. The next time you have an opportunity to swing an Eskimo, raise a Popsicle to the Mr. Freeze of Rockabilly.

Midnight Sun Rock (mp3)
Next Boat (mp3)

September 30, 2008

Anti Static podcast returns!

Anti Mike Lupica is resurrecting his glorious Anti Static podcast during this crucial time, when we Americans are desperately in need of some light at the end of this tunnel we've burrowed ourselves into.

Remember mail order? Remember 'zines? Remember economic prosperity? Remember when mall graffiti and a New Bomb Turks t-shirt actually meant something?

Bring the '90s back! Well, at least get yourself a bi-monthly dose, courtesy of Mike. Head on over to our podcast page to reacquaint yourself with better times. Or click here to subscribe via iTunes.

September 29, 2008

People Like Us Summer 2008 Album Download, Volume 2

29sept08cdjustcover Here's the second installment of DO or DIY's end-of-summer audio sendoff, lap it up and enjoy, courtesy of People Like Us. If you missed last week's glorious handout, you can pick up the first album-sized volume of avant retard right here. And now... Volume 2:

Zip file (everything: MP3s, cover art jpgs, tracklist)

Cover art (jpg)
Tracklist (txt)

(MP3s)

1. It's Just Amazing
2. More Noice Noise
3. Dancing On Hot Coals
4. Bringing You The Best In 1970s Rock
5. Tijuana Frog Trot
6. Put The Hammer Down
7. Wouldn't It Be Noise

September 28, 2008

Chicha For The Jet Set (MP3s)

Los_mirlos One of my current favorite CDs is the incredible compilation The Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru, released last year on Barbes Records. I can't recommend it strongly enough, and you should really go out and buy it immediately, if you have not done so already.

Searching for more Chicha to satisfy my craving for irresistible good-times music, I recently found another compilation in a dark and dusty corner of the Internet. Called Chicha For The Jet Set, compiled by DJ Sonido Martines from Buenos Aires, it is apparently all ripped from vinyl 45rpm singles, and not available commercially (or on the blogosphere, for that matter). So here it is for free download, sure to cheer you up and get you dancing:

MP3s:
Amor Indio - Amor Indio | Los Esplendidos - Muchacha Provinciana | Los Clabeles de Pucallpa - Lamento del Maderero | Conjunto Génesis - Mi linda Haydee | Los Henry´s - Cumbia del Amor | Los Escorpiones - Los Sentimientos | Los Mirlos - La danza de los mirlos | Los Yabar Juniors - Marionetas | Grupo Rosado - El super corcho | Grupo Samoa - La Chinchilla | Amor Indio - Ave pa´ve | Manolo Avalos y su Conjunto Tropical - Cumbia la Cachaca | Mario Cavagnaro y Su Sonora Sensación - San Lázaro | Los Escorpiones - Igual me da | Manzanita - Serrano con orgullo | Los Iguales - Saca chaca | Los Mirlos - Lamento en la selva | Manzanita - Un sabado por la noche | Amor Indio - Chivato Bailarin | Los Iguales - El sonido de los mirlos

If you want more cumbias, check out DJ/Rupture's Mudd Up! show archives on WFMU. In fact, Sonido Martines dropped in twice in 2007 to answer questions and spin some music, on July 18 and on August 29. Listen to the archives and find out what the cumbia rebajada craze is all about. (My theory is cough syrup, but Sonido claims it has to do with bad batteries in Mexican sound systems.)

Red Sovine Family Feud - Part 2

Hopefully, Kliph won't mind if I hop on his Red Sovine bandwagon and post a couple of MP3's that will add a little extra context to his post from earlier today.   The post discusses the hilarious feedback he received from a trio of sisters who sang with Red back in the early 1970's.  Several years ago, I went on a major bender and bought all the Red Sovine 45's I encountered.  As a result, I have one of the records Red and the girls cut lying around.  I figured I'd go ahead and post the songs so you'll have something to listen to while you read the comments left by Red's former singing partners.  I note that the girls all indicate their birth surname was Worden and D. L. Worden (the girls' father, I assume) is named as one of the producers on the actual 45, so if they're impostors, at least they've done a little homework!

Red Sovine  -  Red's So Fine  (2:04) MP3

Red Sovine  -  Can I Keep Him Daddy  (2:53) MP3

Sovine_chart5230_a Sovine_chart_5230b

September 25, 2008

The Mix Machine #4: Dr. Dre and Tony A. - '88 Boom n Bass (MP3s)

Dr_dre_and_tony_a__88_boom_n_bass DR. DRE AND TONY A. - '88 BOOM N BASS

1. Dr. Dre and Tony A. - '88 Boom n Bass - Side 1 (30:11)
2. Dr. Dre and Tony A. - '88 Boom n Bass - Side 2 (30:39)

Another Rodium Swap Meet Mix Tape for the ears.

The Mix Machine is a weekly dive into classic hip hop, freestyle, disco and dance mixes. MP3s encoded at 320k from source with no processing. Embrace the tape hiss and record crackle.

September 24, 2008

WFMU at ISSUE Project Room - finale weekend (mp3s)

Ipposter_3 WFMU's month-long collaboration with ISSUE Project Room comes to its electrifying conclusion this Friday and Saturday with events curated by DJs Fabio of Strength Through Failure, and Trouble of This is The Modern World. ISSUE Project Room is located on the 3rd floor of the Old American Can Factory: 232 3rd Street at 3rd ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215 [directions]. Shows open at 8pm, $10 at the door.

Friday Sept 26th, curated by Fabio:
MICHAEL EVANS/KEN MONTGOMERY DUO: Michael Evans is an improvising drummer, percussionist, thereminist and composer whose work investigates and embraces the collision of sound and theatrics. He has performed with a wide range of musical talents throughout the world, including Jac Berrocal, EasSide Percussion, Fast Forward(Gobo), God is my Co-Pilot, Alexander Hacke (Einsturzende Neubauten), Gordon Monahan, Joe Morris, Evan Parker, William Parker, and the KBZ 2000.
   Ken Montgomery is a New York-based visual artist and "noisician" whose involvement in the cassette-culture and mail-art movements of the late seventies led to the creation, in 1989, of the first and arguably still the most important sound art gallery in New York City: Generator.  As a composer, by the early eighties Ken was creating multi-channel sound works often performed in total darkness.  More recently Ken has been focusing on visual art, collage, bookmaking, and international correspondence art.  As The Minister of Lamination (a.k.a. Egnekn) he is the world's foremost practitioner of Lamination Art.

LARY SEVEN - Since the late seventies, Lary has been building, soldering, photographing, recording, mixing, filming, playing, collecting, re-interpreting and creating in order to make something happen.  He's the founder of the Analogue Society and co-founder of Plastikville Records and Directart Productions Ltd.  Lary has released work on Touch, Diskono, Ectoplasm, Plastikville and Plastiktray records.  For this presentation, Lary Seven will have an extended and undefined interaction with a film projector. [website]

KENTA NAGAI works with acoustic and electronic sound, visual media and live performance. As a performer on the Shamisen, Nagai has appeared in numerous concerts at venues as diverse as the Sculpture Center in Long Island City and Carnegie Hall. He was composer-in-residence at The Cave Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn from 1999 until 2002. In addition to his work as a guitarist, Nagai is involved in creating multi-media, interactive performance and installations. [myspace]

Saturday Sept 27th, curated by Trouble:
LIGHTS make haunting enchant-folk with three harmonized female vocals. Take a listen "At Midnight" and "Branches Low" (real audio). They'll be bringing their own light show to this Lights show.  [myspace]

TEETH MOUNTAIN, from Baltimore, sports 4 drummers playing floor toms and one communal cymbal, distorted cello, singing saw, and electronics. "teeth mountain reminds me of tony conrad w/ faust if they tasted statan's metal!...statan = satan" -  comment by North Guinea Hills on Diane Kamikaze's playlist. Download: Teeth Mountain - Keinsein and Teeth Mountain - Black Jerusalem and from their s/t on Shdwply (LP) / Nail in the Coffin (CD) (mp3s shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States license) [myspace]

Celebrating 51 Years of Stereo (MP3)

Aflabel1 Demonstration of High Fidelity Stereophonic Sound (9:46)

In 1957, stereo equipment first became available for home use. Audio Fidelity records is credited as the first manufacturer of two-channel stereo discs in the United States, and this record represents their first take on creating a catalog demo. Chronologically, this should be contemporary to the undated ABC's of High Fidelity.

As pioneers of stereo recording, Audio Fidelity were the first to bring Louis Armstrong, Al Hirt, and Sergio Mendes to home stereo. They were also pioneers of stereo sound effects, thanks to the work of engineer and Audio Fidelity founder Sidney Frey. This Time Magazine article details how far he'd go to get a sound, and you'll find that lion roar, along with other Bronx Zoo snippets, on this recording.

These albums were intended for in-store use to show off the channel separation and three-dimensional quality of stereo equipment. Because Audio Fidelity got a head start on releasing stereo discs, their albums were routinely used for demonstrations, which helped to sell their stereo albums as well. Within a year, Warner Brothers, Capitol and Decca would catch on, producing their own demonstration albums and following the same template, with a mix of narrative, music and sound effects on side one and those record-selling catalog cuts on side two.

The album cover is not quite work-safe, depending on how you (or your coworkers) feel about pasties. By 1950s standards it's downright risque. The image you see is the record in its sleeve, an unusual printed polyetheylene bag.

Boo! Nazi Fascist Supremists! (MP3s)

Littlerocknine As Congress debates the finishing touches of the $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, its worth revisiting another bold action taken by our federal government on this date, September 24, half a century ago. While intervention by the feds 2008-style looks to be a big fat mulligan for Wall Street hustlers, back in 1957 the feds came down in a big way on the side of a very different group of American citizens.

MelonThe event in question took place in Little Rock, Arkansas, where that state's segregationist governor, Orval Faubus, was refusing to allow "negro" students to integrate that city's Central High School in compliance with the Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Ed. Beginning in early September, Faubus began playing a game of chicken with the Justice Department in Washington, hinting that he might admit the black children while stoking the venom of the growing white crowds surrounding the school. On September 24, President Eisenhower called Faubus' bluff, federalizing the Arkansas National Guard and sending them, along with the 101st Airborne, to escort the students to class. (Astonishingly, Faubus moderated his views so much over time, that by 1984, he had publicly endorsed Jesse Jackson for president!)

Mingus There has been much written about the crisis at Central High in 1957 and the fate of the Little Rock Nine, the students who ultimately integrated the school, but possibly the most significant commemoration of this key moment in the Civil Rights Movement came from jazz bassist Charles Mingus, who recorded "Fables of Faubus" less than two years later for his album Mingus Ah Um. Columbia Records, Mingus' label, refused to let the musicians perform the tune with the accompanying spoken lyrics, so, a year later, Mingus released his own version, "Original Faubus Fables," on the progressive Candid label, with the incendiary vocals included. Here is a portion of the lyrics:



Name me someone who's ridiculous.
Governor Faubus!
Why is he so sick and ridiculous?
He won't permit us in his schools.
Then he's a fool! Boo! Nazi Fascist supremists!
Boo! Ku Klux Klan (with your Jim Crow plan)

Listen to both versions:
Fables of Faubus, from Mingus Ah Um (Columbia, 1959)
Original Faubus Fables, from Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (Candid, 1960)

While we're on the subject of music and school desegregation:
Check out this disturbing pro-segregation tune, The School Bus, recorded in the 1970s by T. Tommy Cutrer. (Curiously, Cutrer was a longtime announcer for the Grand Ole Opry who went on to be elected to the Tennessee state senate, and would later lose a congressional election to a young Albert Gore Jr.).

The New King Of Truck-Drivin' Music

Sprague_simpson It's official:  Chris Sprague is the new king of truck-drivin' music.  His claim to this crown rests not on my word, though.  Instead, his status as the top dog of trucker music was proclaimed by the legendary Red Simpson at Sprague's recent show at Trout's, which is probably the last remaining true honky-tonk bar in Bakersfield.  Simpson, the artist behind such anthems as Nitro Express, I'm A Truck, and Truck Drivin' Fool among many other great tunes, has more than enough experience with truck-drivin' music to render his statement definitive.  In fact, he was so impressed with Sprague and his backing band (The 18 Wheelers) that he got up on stage and sang a few numbers with them, as seen in the photo on the left.

Sprague_cd_cover To date, Sprague has released two truck-driving cd's, both of which are well worth tracking down.  Despite the fact that Sprague has recorded several discs with his brother Frank (as the Sprague Brothers) and as the drummer in Deke Dickerson's Ecco-Fonics, his first truck-driving release (Hammer Down!) didn't come out until 2005.  A few months ago, he unveiled a superb follow up (Diesel Made For Two) on the Spinout label.  Both releases combine tasty originals with well-chosen covers and are brimming with meaty steel guitar riffs and the bracing sound of Fender Telecaster guitars.  The first two tracks below come from his new disc on the Spinout label and the following two can be found on his first release, Hammer Down! which was released on 18 Wheeler Records.

Chris Sprague  -  Diesel Made For Two  (MP3, 2:02)

Chris Sprague  -  Roll On Big Mama  (MP3, 2:43)

Chris Sprague  -  Diesel Smoke And Cigarettes  (MP3, 2:46)

Chris Sprague  -  Almost Home  (MP3, 3:07)

MP3 Truffles: Minds Renewed

After a month long sojourn in rural New Jersey (holla, Freehold!), I'm back to the old blogamawhosits world, and frankly I'm feeling a little left behind. That internet moves fast, I tell ya, and you have to be on top of the latest meme or you'll seem, you know, UNcool. So I spent the whole day today catching up on blogs, news, sudden underground phenomenons, and sarcastic nasty commentaries - and finally I discovered what I've really been missing. THIS:

Devil5Speaking of minds renewed, how about that Sarah Palin, huh? I am really into her education platform, especially because it means that high school history lessons may be replaced by a tape of Hilton Sutton's "The U.S.A. In Prophecy". I think his reconstruction of the Great Depression alone may teach us about the root our current financial crisis.
Listen to: "I Will Destroy Them Economically", "World War 2", "Intellectualism"

Aaboy If you subscribe to Sutton's revised history lesson, the most evil thing about the 70s wasn't Richard Nixon, but a young composer named Tom Wilson Weinberg. His album Gay Name Game was a direct product of the way-gay hey-day of the late 70s. His off-Broadway plays were a hit in Village, and he also wrote a little ditty called "Lesbian Seagull", which became legendary many years later as a meaningful moment for Beavis and Butthead (and Engelbert Humperdink). His second album, All-American Boy, is full of gay anthems - and an incredibly literal title track. If you like Tom's stylings, you can buy your own copy of the original vinyl recordings directly from the man himself. At only $5, how can you go wrong?  (via Waxidermy)
Work out to: "All American Boy"

If you really grooved to Hazy Osterwald Jet Set doing "Swinging London" on volume two of The In-Kraut compilations, then here's a real treat - a double album of his hits. While the trumpet sounds and composition of some songs will remind you of Mr. Acker Bilk, just stay tuned, as this album really does deliver a pounding dose of variety.
Listen to: "Tai-Weh", "New Mexico", "The Power of the Lord"
and possibly a lost Mel Brooks title: "Putz Den Schmutz Von Der Welt"

Follow the jump for some more lovely mp3 oddities from the past month or so.

Continue reading "MP3 Truffles: Minds Renewed " »

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Logo Contest 2008

  • Robin Hendrickson 6 - Contest Winner!
    WFMU held a logo design contest in June, and we received an outpouring of great submissions. Check 'em out!

Guitar Face

  • Gf36
    Scott Williams' tribute to the facial expressions that squeeze those notes out of guitars.