WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Cool Objects that Poms Have Sex With: Mp3s from Richmond, Virginia

Speaking as a person who has consistently avoided living in places generally acknowledged as trendy, I'm always looking for exciting things coming from unexpected places.  If you tell me your band is from Austin, Portland or (God forbid) billyburg, I'll be hoping that your band sucks.  Your band probably does suck too.

So it was very refreshing to learn about the large amount of good music coming from Richmond, Virginia.  A lot of it seems to be amped up breakcore with a high tolerance for noise and general spazziness.  Jason from Richmond based CNP Records helped me put together this (by no means comprehensive) sampler of some of the town's more interesting exports.

Diamond Black Hearted Boy - Night One very interesting Richmond personality is Diamond Black Hearted Boy, a "post-hiphop artist who draws from the worlds of punk, hiphop, high art, disco, goth, industrial, and traditional african chant in his music and performance."  The myspace.  He's pictured below the fold in this article.

Narwhalz (of sound) - Pomeranian Redneck Snoopy Another of Richmond's most exciting artists is this pomeranian obsessed dude.  His noisy, gameboyed-out ADD beats glitch around faster than a gif animation on a myspace page.  He also runs a venue/gallery in town called Church of Crystal Light.  This dude is nuts, just look at his webpage and you'll see what I mean.  He also did the drawing to the right.

Hot Lava - Apple+Option+Fire I didn't know Hot Lava was from Richmond when I first heard them on Spleencoffin's Girlz of Noyz comp; all I knew was that I couldn't stop listening to their track, Ghosties, over and over!  Turns out they've got many more equally addictive songs.  Cutie indie-pop with psychy swirls, lyrics about video games and, most importantly, an endless supply of hooks!  Apple+Option+Fire is from the new LP Lavaology.  For those in NYC, Hot Lava will play Death By Audio in Brooklyn on January 10th.

Suppression - Maryanne Suppression's new collection of early records is out on CNP, but grind fans might also recognize them from releases on Noise Pollution, Slap-A-Ham, Pessimiser and Clean Plate.  Making this trash since 1992, Suppression continues to play primitive powerviolence but adds newer, noisier developments as well.  This particular track is a collab with harh noise freak Crank Sturgeon.  The extensive discog.

More excellent mp3s and a video below the fold...

New Song-Poem Project (MP3's)

The last few times I have posted Song-Poems, either here or to my own blog, I've received comments or e-mails from people requesting that I post more, or asking where to find more on-line song-poems, now that the American Song-Poem Music Archives site is no longer being updated (and now that it's MP3's are no longer available).

As a result, I've decided to start my own project, "Song-Poem of the Week", at my own blog. This began on New Year's Day, and I hope to continue it indefinitely. Primarily, I intend to use tracks from the many song-poem albums, 45's and 78's I personally own, but will probably move into those which I've received as files or tapes from other collectors, and perhaps those which used to be at the AS/PMA site. Feel free to make requests, either here or at my blog.

As a preview, here's a handful of song-poems I like a lot:

First up, a song which I did submit to the former MP3 page of AS/PMA, and an all time favorite of mine, a rave-up of a tune which, unlike most song-poems, deserved to be a hit:

1.) Jim Hall and the Radio Pals - Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Potassium (MP3)

Oddly enough, I've recently found another version of the above song, by a female singer, on another label, in a sedate, "adult contemporary" setting - a version which appears to predate this one! I'll get to that one at my site, one of these weeks.

Next, two songs by the sadly under-appreciated Cara Stewart, including one which would have been ideal a few days ago:

2.) Cara Stewart - New Year Song (MP3)

3.) Cara Stewart - Any Dance, Any Dance (MP3)

Finally, two songs sung by the ubiquitous (and frequently incognito) Sammy Marshall. "You Insulted Me", in particular, features some fairly tortured turns of phrase:

4.) Chuck Jones and the Links - Sputnik Hit the Moon (MP3)

5.) Ben Tate - You Insulted Me (MP3)

Enjoy!

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

Mae West - Way Out West

This bizarre 1966 album was the first attempt by Mae West for a showbiz comeback. Despite being an extremely talented playwright and acerbic comedic actress, Mae West's final attempt at showbiz triumph was not to be. This album featured West covering The Beatles, Percy Sledge and The Guess Who (to get technical, it is a cover of Chad Allen and The Expressions... to get more technical, it is really a cover of Johnny Kidd and The Pirates. The song is Shakin' All Over) among others. Some of it is surprisingly listenable. West's next two projects, motion picture duds Myra Breckinridge (1970) and Sextette (1978), are also considered camp classics. Listen to the whole album here.

Lee Ving vs. Tom Scott

In honor of Fear's slated Club Europa 2009 show in Greenpoint, Mark Morgan provides a clip of what was surely the most unlikely fusion of styles since Zorn played on Joe Piscopo's "Fat Boy":

Liz Berg's Best of 2008

Best New Releases (listen = real audio)

Dan Friel - Ghost Town (listen) - ecstatic electronic blitz

Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual (listen) - best spastic screeching lady of the year

Times New Viking - Rip It Off (listen) - irresistibly damaged 2 min pop songs

Monotonix - Body Language (listen) - that's spelled r-a-w-k

Sic Alps - US EZ (listen) - lo-fi catchy tunes

Teeth Mountain - Self Titled (listen) - pounding drums electronic fun

Various - Museum of Future Sound Vol. 2 (listen) - party music for robots

Gary War - New Raytheonport (listen) - mellow experimental songs for the future

Golden Triangle - Self Titled (listen) - if the B-52s were fronted by Mark E. Smith...

El-G - Tout Ploie (listen) - woozy strangeness from France

Hospitals - Hairdryer Peace (listen) - rock deconstructed

Dead Western - Soften Your Screams Into Sings (listen) - creepy, warped pop ballads

                          Growing - All the Way (listen) - bent electronics soaking in the sun

 

 

Bob Brainen's Favorite Releases of 2008

(In Alphabetical order)

New New Releases

Terry Adams - Love Letter To Andromeda (Clang/nrbq.com)

 

 

Awake, my Soul - Documentary Soundtrack (Awake Productions)

 

 

Fern Knight - Fern Knight (Vhf Records)

 

 

Inara George w/ Van Dyke Parks - An Invitation (Everloving)

 

 

Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet - One Dance Alone (Songlines Recordings)

 

 

Make A Rising - Infinite Ellipse And Head With Open Fontanel (High Two / Aum Fi.)

 

 

 
Stephen Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra - We Are MTO (MOWO Inc)

 

 

Vetiver -Thing Of The Past / More Of The Past E.P (Gnomonsong)

 

 
Willoughby - I Know What You're Up To (Sargeant)

 

 

Love, The Mastery Of... Kofi Ghanaba (Guy Warren) [MP3s]

Just a brief word acknowledging the brilliant and beloved master percussionist Kofi Ghanaba (Guy Warren), who died last week at the age of 85. Born Kpakpo Akwei in Accra, Ghana, in May 1923, his family was fascinated by America and his name was changed to Warren Gamaliel Akwei (in homage, one imagines, to U.S. president Warren Gamaliel Harding, who died suddenly two months after Akwei was born.) At the age of 14, performing now under the name Guy Warren, he played drumset in the Accra Rhythmic Orchestra and then a few years later in the legendary highlife outfit the Tempos, both with future trumpet star E.T. Mensah.

By the mid-'50s, Warren was living in the States and jamming with the likes of Lester Young, Thelonious Monk and other titans of modern music, becoming one of the earliest musicians from the continent to introduce African folkloric traditions to jazz. At first it was received mostly as a gimmick. Max Roach, who would begin incorporating African rhythms and percussion into his music in the early 1960s once remarked that Warren "was so far ahead of what we were all doing, that none of us understood what he was saying — that in order for African-American music to be stronger, it must cross-fertilize with its African origins." But as roots consciousness began to have an appeal in Black American culture, the real value of Warren's contributions became increasingly celebrated.

Before returning to Ghana (and taking the name Kofi Ghanaba, meaning "son of Ghana" in the Ga language) Warren released a number of highly influential percussion-based recordings like African Speaks, America Answers, which had a profound effect on American jazz musicians hungry for authentic African sounds. Randy Weston and Art Blakey both recorded cover versions of Warren's "Love, the Mystery Of," his musical rendering of Romeo and Juliet that was featured on the 1958 recording Themes for African Drums, which is provided here for download via the Soundological Investigations blog:

Ballad for Giraffes (MP3) / Waltzing Drums (MP3) / Blood Brothers (MP3) /
Love, the Mystery Of (MP3) / Talking Drum Looks Ahead (MP3) / Lady Marie Drums Suite I (MP3) /
Lady Marie Drums Suite II (MP3) / My Story (MP3)

The Drunken Driver (MP3)

Harley Ford  -  Drunken Driver  (2:54)

Just in time to serve as a cautionary tale for New Year's Eve, here is an MP3 that is specially tailored to scare the shit out of you and persuade you not to reach for the car keys after hitting the bottle.  Unless, of course, you're not particularly disturbed by the possibility that, while driving around drunk, you'll run over and kill two of your own children, which is exactly what happens to the narrator of this gruesome tune.

The best known version of this song is probably the one cut by Ferlin Husky for Capitol Records in 1954.  I'm not really sure if the Harley Ford version featured here came before or after Ferlin's recording.   A third version also exists.  Ricky Skaggs recorded the song and released it on an album that came out in 1997.

Top 10 Party Jams of 2008

I don't think any of these came out in 2008 but they certainly made my 2008 sparkle more than any other songs that came out this year.  There are some RealAudio and mp3 links in here so watch out.

Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)

Khan Edison vs Pearl Jam - Jeremy (2008 Dub)
Solange Knowles - Could've Been the One
Fleetwood Mac - The Chain and Bone Thugs n' Harmony - Wind Blow [essentially the same song]

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion [this is a whole album but whatever it's one big tripadelic party jam]

Sunscreem - Love U More (Slam Mix)
Taken by Trees - Sweet Child O' Mine

Bruce Springsteen - I'm On Fire (Cousin Cole's Bad Desire Mix)
Plastique Du Reve f/ Radical Resistance Cheerleaders  - RESIST
Annie - What Do You Want (The Breakfast Song)

10 Other Things That Made 2008 Gr8

ATP

Live Broadcasts from the Miracle Garden

40z and 45s with Marty McSorley
Rave Pinata
Drinking Beer On Top of a Winnebago Camper at Ms B's in Austin

Boredoms @ Terminal 5

Meat Beat Manifesto @ Highline Ballroom

Portal

Mirror's Edge

Pixeljunk: Eden

Lou Z's Top 10 Things I Heard in 2008

Mr. Lou Z (of the Push Bin and Tale of the Twelve podcast) checks in with his year-end list (all listen links point to real audio):

As with any of the lists that I do this changed in my head immediately after I wrote it. I kept everything to a full length or the entire list would be filled with dubstep 12"s.

1.  The Bug - London Zoo (Ninja Tune)
Poison Dart says it all. Listen

2.  Future Of The Left - Curses (Too Pure)
Where McClusky left off. Listen

3.  The Notorious Hi-Fi Killers - Which Side Are You On? (Rocket Recordings)
A great solid rock record from start to finish. Listen

4.  Allez Allez - Best Of Allez Allez (Eskimo)
Really great reissue. The remixes included are also killer. Listen

5.  Cave - Hunt Like The Devil/Jamz (Permanent Records)
Nice stoner jams from Chicago. Listen

6.  Flying Lotus - Los Angeles (Warp)
I also dig the video game. Listen

7.  2562 - Aerial (Tectonic)
Not too many really stellar dubstep full lengths this year. This was one of them. Listen

8.  Ben Frost - Theory Of Machines (Bedroom Community)
Great sit in the dark with headphones music and so much more. Listen

9.  African Scream Contest: Raw & Psychedelic Afro Sounds From Benin & Togo '70s (Analog Africa)
Lots of great African comps came out this year. This was my fave out of the bunch. Listen

10.  Benga - Diary Of An Afro Warrior (Tempa)
See number 7. Listen

Many more WFMU DJ Top Ten lists here.

Recent Faves from the New Bin

Modern day hardcore bands namedropping Void, Negative Approach and Die Kreuzen automatically throw down the money-where-your-mouth-is gauntlet, so when Austin's Total Abuse does all that and then the singer talks about how he likes to hide behind a wall of power electronics noise and intone to the audience dictator-like, I am skeptical. But with the new weed of HC bands like Fucked Up and Sex Vid (covering the Dead C for heavens sake) the combo of select history lessons in sound vs. conceptual rulebook out the window can't be anything but a kool and welcome cardioshock to the genre. Deranged Records' comp of Total Abuse's LP/7" and demos doesn't quite yield the Black Flag-meets-Whitehouse vibe that's been hinted (I haven't seen them live), but the off-the-rails HC destruction (esp. the smoking demos) has made me a huge fan. They are powerful, fast and noisy as hell and the singer's yowl does me just fine; and calling a track "Banned In Austin" might be funny, but sure doesn't sound like a joke.    "Eastern Thoughts" (MP3),     "Writing On the Wall" (MP3)

Crazy Dreams Band is the full-on rock outing of Ms. Lexie Mountain, who in the last several years has been the proprietress of one amazing stoned communal public patty-cake session with a rotating cast of ladies she calls her Boys. The CDB's self-titled debut for Holy Mountain finds Ms. Mountain somewhat of an equal leader of a tribe of clamoring sounds instead of free-association voices, and while many people are pointing to Royal Trux as a reference, it all sounds like a less-Euro, mudpit-wallowing Catherine Ribiero fronting a proggier Torch of the Mystics-era Sun City Girls. With someone totally unfraid to put the keyboard settings on "80's". Lexie's croon is magnificent in its melodic setting; there's still a lot of improvisation within the band (which includes Nate from Mouthus/Religious Knives) that allows her to take some flights of fancy, but hearing a much more "composed" element to her singing is a great thing I hope we have some more of in the future.    "Separate Ways" (MP3)

Speaking of falling between cracks, two great reissues this year: D.N.E.'s 47 Songs Humans Shouldn't Sing (Room 40) finally digitizes a limited-edition 1988 LP run by Australian visual artist Eugene Carchesio and is a cool assortment of colorful audio miniatures done with basic sax, guitar, and percussion assemblages. Not quite no-wave, not really jazz, it's simply a nice flow of sharp Venusian blues sketches that runs the gamut from heartfelt Derek Bailey plonk to the Microscopic Sextet stumbling down a French Quarter alley chased by Robert Quine. Not many heard this, but hopefully now more will.
  "Black" (MP3),    "Here" (MP3),    "Phenomena" (MP3),    "Sun" (MP3).

On the other hand, quite a few people heard the all-instrumental trio Gore in the mid to the late 1980's blasting out of Holland, but not enough people took the rulebook their laid down serious enough. Well, the Melvins did for sure, probably Godflesh too. They slotted themselves firmly alongside European tours of luminaries like the Butthole Surfers, Sonic Youth, Big Black, even charmed early Swans, and seemed destined for big things. Their Albini-engineered 1989 LP and split with Rollins Band probably netted them the most attention stateside, but the awesome Hart Gore was the slayer and thanks to Southern Lord's new 2LP/2CD reissue (tacking on Mean Man's Dream) you can not only hear how well these guys aged, but how totally ahead of their time they were. Hard-as-tacks percussion over muzzy/mathy Sabbath/St Vitus guitar workouts seem just what might be expected of a lot of the new heavies these days, but so few got it as right as Gore. Tons of bonus material added on, totally essential stuff.
   "Out For Blood" (MP3), "After (live)" (MP3)

What Did You Get For Christmas? (MP3)

Perhaps, like many others, you hoped to get a ring for Christmas. Perhaps, like the girl in today's song, you'd even been promised a ring. If so, I hope things turned out better for you than they did for the forlorn girl in Jimmie James' rather horrid Film City label song-poem 45.

Bob

Jimmie James - He Promised Her a Ring For Christmas (MP3)

45 Label (JPG)

Commercial Break - Prusakolep (video)

YouTube: [link]

Two Lumps of Coal for you Swine!

JK LOL, a truly blessed time to you and yours in this most special of seasons. OK, that just sounded sarcastic. Maybe I'm a bit bitter since this is the first Christmas I've EVER had to spend away from family and friends. But come to think of it, given my family, this might be a good thing. At least I'll be able to watch Lee Han Joo perform tonight. I guess he's a good replacement for the obligatory weird uncle in every family.

Regardless, it's true that these videos here are, technically speaking, lo-fi lumps of coal. On the left is a wild TV performance from Jagatara. I'm not really sure what's going on, but I do know that the punk rocker who seizes the mic and screams is none other than Sakevi of GISM fame. At first it seems like he's just rushing the stage, but the backup singers don't miss a beat so it's not really clear for a while whether the chaos is intentional. Definitely the sort of stage presence that deserves lo-fi tape quality though. On the right is a 1986 performance from German thrashers Kreator.

Next thursday look out for an mp3 laden scene report on Richmond, Virginia! But for now, more coal - a public access set with weird graphics from Government Issue, and trashed out footage of a No Comment set at Gilman Street.

Faves of The Frow Show, 2008

Jesse Jarnow, host of The Frow Show, presents:

My 10 faves of 2008 in no particular order:

- "Money," Apollo Sunshine, from We Shall Noise Upon (Headless Heroes). "Imagine"re-imagined for the meltdown. (youtube link) "Wonder what I'd do if everyone forgot what money was," they sing, getting their Simon & Garfunkel on. "With all that's happened, will we still play guitars?" they ask. Yes! And harmonize!

- One Bit Music, Tristan Perich (Canteloupe). The New York composer is all about anti-emulation, programming simple chips that are his instruments. Cantaloupe finally put out a first proper "album": a hard-wired chip with an 1/8" output, housed in a jewel case, chirping gorgeously.

- sonic Obama ephemera. What better way than to capture/remember the stupid/gleeful/awesome optimism of the campaign than stupid/gleeful/awesome tunes like Obama is Beautiful World by the Everyone Brothers Band from Japan, or the peaceful reggae of Barack Obama by Coco Tea? None, I tells ya.

- Soul Folk in Action, the Staple Singers (Stax). Similarly, the Staples '68 LP was meaningful commercial music angled directly at its time.  So happens that gospel about how "We've Got To Get Ourselves Together" and "Got to Be Some Changes Made" rings pretty addictively 40 years later. Also Pops Staples is still totally sweet.

- Heads Ain't Ready 7-inch, Oneida (These Are Not Records). The Brooklyn Brahs go full-frontal Deadhead, amping up two tunes the Dead recorded for their first album when they were already on speed and eating raw meat. Just feels right.

Doug Gillard on WFMU mp3s

Back on October 3rd of this year, unstoppable indie guitar crackerjack Doug Gillard sat in on my program to shoot the f-sharp and enthrall the listenership with a few acoustic versions of songs off his brand new release, Call From Restricted, available now on itunes. For your listening enjoyment, some mp3s from the program (many thanks to Jason Segal for the digitizing):

Time is Nigh

Gibraltar

Gogol Was Rollo

Last night word was, he popped onstage as a surprise guest at night 2 of Yo La Tengo's annual 8 Nights of Hanukkah shows to electric-fy some pop covers and stoked fans. In January you can catch Doug rocking a residency for four Wednesday nights at Piano's in NYC.    (live tracks posted under a Creative Commons license)

Wonderful and Obscure Christmas Stuff, Part Two (MP3)

Today's offering is a rarely heard Hawaiian 45, featuring a locally flavored Twelve Days of Christmas. This was taped off the air in Chicago more than 40 years ago. Other than subsequent broadcasts on this same local show, I've never heard this record broadcast anywhere. I'm not generally very fond of this song, but this version is wonderful.

Lucky Luck - The Twelve Days of Christmas (MP3)

The Top Ten Horror Films I Watched This Year

(also see my music list below the fold)

Year-end top-ten lists can be so...contemporary.  We have over a half-century of television, nearly a century of film, and centuries of art and music to explore and discover.  When faced with the staggering maw of creative history, whatever jazzed you in the last year can quickly lose relevance.  In addition, items that resonated during the last several months of the year inevitably take precedence over things that emerged at year's beginning.  Still, people seem to love these list dealies, and after musing over the concept a while, I think I've come up with a way to deliver the goods without betraying my ingrown disdain for the practice.

None of the films in this list are new, as in NOW PLAYING, though a few are relatively recent releases on DVD:

Calvaire (2004) - By far the best of the French-language xenophobic "dread of the country folk" horror sub-subgenre (also see Frontière(s), Sheitan.)  An itinerant singer/performer gets caught in a web of delusion surrounding a group of psychotic farmers who haven't seen an outsider in, well, a long time.  Tight and precise, Belgian director Fabrice Du Welz's first feature has not a single shot wasted and remains visually engrossing and dramatically tense throughout.  Look for an early cameo by Jean Rollin prodigy/French porn star Brigitte Lahaie.  The high-end cast also includes Laurent Lucas, a veteran of French thrillers like Lemming and Harry un ami qui vous veut du bien, and Philippe Nahon, who you may recognize from Haute Tension, or as Gaspar Noé's Butcher.  One reason this film ends up on a 2008 list is that it nagged at my subconscious until I watched it a second time—only then did I fully appreciate its brilliance.  Du Welz' new film, Vinyan, also looks quite promising.

Cloverfield (2008) - Part of the reason this film won me over was its not-so-metaphorical depiction of Manhattan as a big, giant trap (all you people who are loathe to leave the island will want to get out right quick when a gigantic, powerful monster attacks.)  Though I'm typically not a fan of CGI, the method used here is spare and effective, and the viewer is never over-exposed to the totality of the monster in question.  The narrative flows fast and stays unpredictable throughout, with shocks aplenty.  Cloverfield is proof that a great monster movie can still be made, with a minimum of means at that.

The Signal (2007) - Three directors collaborated on this technophobic/survivalist nightmare, and just when you thought the concept of a deadly, mind-warping electronic transmission was finished as a horror-film premise, these guys have kept it fresh.  The Signal gets off to a rocking start immediately and never stops moving (always a joy for me, as I'm often seen in my living room, 30 minutes into a film, shouting "where are the zombies?!?")  The story is consistently surprising, with loads of unexpected humor and plenty of the red, red kroovy for the gorehounds.

Naboer (Next Door) (2005) - A young, Norwegian professional, after an acrimonious breakup with his live-in girlfriend, gets unwillingly submerged in the dark, sensual world of two odd sisters that live next door.  The sisters' seemingly endless flat is a masterwork of set design, with dozens of doors and creepy rooms that suggest past horrors.  The whole film is remarkably claustrophobic and dense, in an unsettling "windmills of my mind" sort of way.   Next Door is also notable for featuring one of the most unusual, violent, but undeniably hot sex scenes in recent film history.

The Nude Vampire/The Iron Rose - Two of director Jean Rollin's 1970s films recently made available (Autumn 2007) as part of the Salvation label's ongoing Rollin collection.  Though the director's work is often much maligned as being cheap and cheesy, the fact is that his films are consistently visionary and compelling, especially when one considers that they are some of the most inexpensive productions to come out of France.  It's my understanding that Rollin works each film outward from a set of pre-conceived imagery, filling in the sometimes spare narrative as he goes.  If you like beautiful, young Europeans in 70s-mod fashion, sexy female vampires, crumbling chateaus and moody beach scenes, Rollin's films will not disappoint.  The Iron Rose (1973) is a minimalist piece about a young couple trapped overnight in a cemetery, while The Nude Vampire (1970), Rollin's second feature, reads like a cross between one of his vampire dramas and a classic Trek episode.

Wonderful and Obscure Christmas Stuff, Part One (MP3)

For the next four days, I'm going to post one rare Christmas track each day. In two of the four cases, including today, this will a unique recording. I will also continue to post some interesting Christmas material to my own blog.

Today's track comes from a home recorded reel of tape, probably from about 1966, featuring a family identified on the box as "The Krebs". There is quite a lot of family/Christmas recording on this reel, including some other songs, but the high point for me was this off-the-cuff version of the best song ever written, "Silent Night".

Although the harmonies and the degree to which they are in tune can be ragged at times, I really enjoy the way the family can immediately jump into four part harmony, as well as the at-times-almost Stride Piano accompaniment. There's something I find irresistible about this piece of homemade magic.

The Krebs - Silent Night (MP3)

(Beware of some nasty feedback at about the one minute mark...)