WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Conet Project MP3s

Hard core WFMU Listeners are probably familiar with The Conet Project, a four CD set of shortwave recordings of "Numbers Stations." Now the entire set can be downloaded directly from Irdial, here. Numbers stations have been used by various international spy agencies to communicate with the agents in the field. A typical numbers station will repeat an endless series of numbers, only a tiny portion of which actually carry any meaning. It's the needle-in-a-haystack approach to secure encryption. Via One Man Safari.

1,159 Naughty Words

I've long been in favor of the FCC issuing a list of words which are no longer allowed on radio and television. I think it would actually make it easier for DJs to express themselves on the ordinary (but currently banned) topics of sexuality and excretion. But after seeing this list of 1,159 banned words from the National Football League, I'm having second thoughts. And what the hell is a "420" or a "deaper?"These are the words that the NFL wont print on their popular personalized NFL jersies. Full story here, via outsports.com.

Inuit Mittatin

Inuit Mittatin is Inuktitut for “That’s Funny” and is also the name of my favorite television show. Airing Thursday nights here in Canada on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network or APTN, Inuit Mittatin’s official description reads "This program sets out to find the funniest, quirkiest Inuit in the communities of Nunavut. What is so distinct about Inuit humour? What role does humour play in Inuit life?".

If I had to write the blurb it would read “This program is a lunatic Inuit woman running all over the barren north making up songs and inviting us along as she sinks deeper and deeper into dementia”.

If you get APTN, watch this show. If you don’t, I’ve done my best to furnish you with some clips. I had to point my digital camera at my TV so it’s not as HD as possible, but the audio is good. These are all 2-6MB WMV.

The theme.
Trip to hotel. In this clip she travels to a hotel and visits the Queen Elizabeth Suite. The creep showing her around claims the queen stayed here, I’m not so sure. I swear the edit from an offer to see where the Queen drank tea to a shot of the toilet was how it aired.
Stand up comedy. Here we see the ultimate joke, it is both a lawyer joke AND a Newfie joke.
Oh Canada. This lesser sung version of Oh Canada is followed by a brief God Bless America and then what I think was a request for a new chair from the Canadian government.
Cracking eggs. Cracking eggs in front of some kind of studio audience.
Dream sequence. It’s not all fun and games on Inuit Mittatin, they finish every episode with a short soap opera called “As Nunavut Turns For The Passionate and Devious”. We see our host turn thespian in dream sequence featuring bingo and closing doors with feet.

Technophobes, let's catch up!

You may have heard of HDTV, the logo of which crawls across the bottom of the tv screen at the beginning of JAG. It means "high definition television". I know 'cause I got dragged to Circuit City a few weeks ago and they had a whole bunch of those sets. Not only can you not afford it this year, you can safely assume that you'll never shell out the extra cash for the special version of cable you have to get to see the HDTV signal, so bump that. Fortunately, someone had the good sense to answer the one burning question you'd have about this new technology: "Which celebrities look hot and which ones look tore the hell up on HDTV?" .

Like you technophobe,I don't have an iPod, although I'll probably want one some time in our bleak robo-future. But for now, I can take comfort in the fact that I'm not missing much in the world of podcasting (save for 'FMU of course...). From what I've gathered, podcasting hasn't gone much beyond the archived podcasts of an ongoing game of Dungeons and Dragons , people in their carpools making small talk, and some guy getting his ass waxed (mp3)  Signing off from my dial-up! xoxo

Imagine...

Dubya singing Imagine and Walk on the Wild Side (MP3). Here's the collection it came from. More Dubya remixes here. Thanks to Listener Michael.

Do Geese See God?

Here's an MP3 of Palindromes, performed by Baby Gramps on WFMU in June of 1988, hosted by Nicholas Hill. Baby Gramps is a Seattle based performer who is best described as a cross between Popeye and a Tuvan Throat Singer. This track is his crowd-pleasing ode to palindromes, words, phrases (or in his case, entire books) that are spelled the same backwards and forwards. Not to be confused with the current Todd Solondz movie.

And a 1, 0, 1, 0...

Staying on the squeezebox theme - whether you knew it or not - the world has been waiting for an all-digital modeling accordion.

She Be She Strike

Eskimo Radio MP3s: Ayatollah Khomeini, You Are My Sunshine, Labatt's Beer Ad, Heart of Stone, Marijuana Humor.

The story and the tapes began circulating around the cassette underground in the early-eighties: an Inuit Radio station operated in Northern Canada by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) was vacated by its regular staff due to a CBC strike, and the station was temporarily programmed by its Eskimo janitor and his buddies. The phrase "She Be She Strike" (CBC Strike) can be heard repeatedly on portions of the tape which are not excerpted here, but the truth may never be known until the language can be identified and a native speaker translates the entire recording, hint hint.

The story isn't too far-fetched though; the CBC operates dozens of Inuit radio stations through it's Northern Service, and the record shows that they've had their fair share of strikes over the years. You can listen to some of the Inuit stations over the net these days, like this daytime-only station (Windows Media feed).

Red Hash Revisited

I'm extremely excited about the forthcoming reissue of Gary Higgins' Red Hash, one of the pinnacles in lost-soul beardo psych/folk records out there. Tony Coulter's been playing this record for years, and more recently I've been hearing its praises sung to me by several of the people whom I generally sit up and take note of when they crow about something they deem a musical treasure, namely David Tibet of Current 93, Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance/Comets On Fire, and my friend Zach Cowie. Zach, one of the most passionate dudes I know when it comes to music, made it his mission to track Higgins down after Chasny gave him a burn of the LP as a gift. Higgins' soulful acoustic opus Red Hash was born in 1973 after years of kicking around the NYC folk-rock club scene, backing up people like Gary U.S. Bonds, even playing with Simeon pre-his Silver Apples days. After an unfortunate pot bust, Higgins was sentenced to two and a half years in the pen, and as a direct result of that, a 40 hour recording session ensued in the time prior to his incarceration. One listen to "Thicker Than a Smokey" (MP3) and you immediately are sucked into the world of someone who feels a last chance at getting his feelings down in his music, maybe forever. It's gorgeous, pure, ultra-personal stuff that I became immersed more and more in with each listen. Last year Zach excitedly told me "I found him!" He not only called every Gary Higgins in the phone books of Connecticut where he allegedly resided, but wrote to every Gary Higgins he could find in the country. Band members have been reconnected, Higgins made a quick one-song appearance during a recent Six Organs show at Tonic, and word is a full-fledged release show with members from the original band line-up is in the making. Drag City (the label which thankfully Zach has landed at) reissues the disc July 26th.

Monica's Disco Panel

My own personal disco mentor and WFMU DJ Monica hosted a panel discussion on Disco April 28th at the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts. Interesting article by David Hinckley in The Daily news here. And while you consider radio's non-role in Disco, download another Baccara track "Koochie-Koo" or this classic seven inch by The Funktionaries "Deutschland Uber Disco" (MP3s).

He hunches in Heaven. Hasil Adkins dead at 67.

Few people can really claim to be the "Wild Man of Rock & Roll." Hasil Adkins walked the walk as well as talked the talk, and hearing "We Got a Date" for the first time with it's lo-fi, distorto  pounding and maniacal shrieks and cackles over the prospects of cutting his impending date's head off (only *one* of the decapitation-themed songs in his repertoire) quickly set the bar to which anyone else claiming to be "demented" had to rise to. Below is the sad news as reported by the AP. Sad news for us, good news for chickens and women who want to keep their heads.

SOME RECOMMENDED RELATED LINKS:
Interview with Miriam Linna of Norton Records on Haze, originally from Maximum R&R.
Rocktober Magazine article.
Hasil's last radio appearance on WFMU, interview with Dave the Spazz on his Halloween show, 2004.(Real Audio).
Deuce of Clubs interview with Hasil from 1995

Podcast Number Fifteen: Coffee To Go

We launched our fifteenth podcast today, Noah Zark's podcast of underground, unreleased hip-hop, Coffee to Go. This is our second podcast-only show and our first podcast-only music show. You can download the MP3 of the first Coffee to Go here, and you can sign up to receive all future shows (and our 14 other podcasts) on our podcast page. You can also listen to Coffee to Go as a streaming archive on this page. There will be a new MP3 of Coffee to Go every other Wednesday at Noon, starting today. Noah describes his new show:

"When it comes to hip-hop, radio either supports the major label funded sounds or the independently released up & comers. Where do unsigned acts go? Look no further; "Coffee 2 Go" is THEE spot to drop your most raw and grimey unmastered demos! The half-hour shows are hosted by Noah Zark, DJ BrownBum and The Custodian Of Records. Download the MP3 of the show every other week as a new batch of tracks gets their due! A new edition of the show will be available for download or streaming every other Wednesday."

Original Hater

Canada's own GX Jupitter-Larsen needs no introduction to noise aficionados. His project The Haters has been exploring decay and nihilism in sound for over 20 years. Some of his projects have included amplified staple guns, replacing the tone arm and cartridge of a record player with an amplified toy shovel and designing noisy and destructive items with Survival Research Labs.

Here's a clip showcasing Haters alternatives to the playback of pre-recorded music (quicktime - right click and "save target as" on your PC)

GX also has a spot on the web for some short video clips of his projects here. 

ADDENDUM!! GX was kind enough to write in: As ALTERNATIVES TO THE PLAYBACK OF PRE-RECORDED MUSIC. It really does means a lot; thanks. There's just a little something I want to bring up. If I may be so bold as to to point out a correction I think should be made: to call me or The Haters "Canada's own" is very misleading. First of all, I am a US citizen. I might have grown up there, but I haven't been back in over 20 years. Secondly, The Haters actually started in New York City when I lived there in 1979, before I went back to Vancouver to go to film school. Actually The Haters were based in San Francisco two times longer than in Vancouver. For two years (1991 & 1992) The Haters were actually based in Bordeaux France (where I was living at the time). Forgive me if I seem piety over this. Thanks again.

ALL THE BEST GX (back in Hollywood where he belongs)

Jersey City: Get Laid, Be Happy

Hot on the heels of being dubbed America's eleventh sexiest city, WFMU's hometown of Jersey City has now been crowned the country's third happiest place to live. Not to mention that we are the single most happy city on the entire eastern seaboard! Sez volunteer Therese, who notified us of our new distinction:

First we're the 11th sexiest, now the 3rd happiest.  Or maybe we're the third happiest because we're the 11th sexiest?  I'll leave that to the statisticians to determine..

What's not to be happy about? Our mayor is affectionately known as Diaperman, we're sitting atop a bubbling cauldron of toxic chromium and the Muslim and Coptic Christian communities are buddies once again! We're Happy! Living Happily! Now we're veritable heroes of happiness! (MP3s)

Article here.

Copyright debate

Cornell University recently hosted a spectacular debate surrounding the issues of copyright and filesharing, with a cast and crew of intellectual property superstars on both sides of the fence: heavyweights from academia, RIAA, MPAA, Napster, EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), and NBC/Universal hashed it out for over 3 hrs.

Streaming video (Real Player) available here (via Cornell University).

Or, check out this page for downloadable MP3 torrents of the debate, along with some links to articles pertinent to the digital copyright controversy.

State of the Art Cheesy Euro Disco

Is Vitalic the current incarnation of Baccara and Dschinghis Khan or am I just a sucker for rotating engine blocks, silver go-go boots and air guitar? Watch the video for his song My Friend Dario and judge for yourself (edited Quicktime movie). At first I thought that this video was one of those new-fangled fake viral movies put out by some net-slumming corporation to hawk its wares (in this case, some new kind of car engine). But no, it appears that Vitalic is really a Frenchman named Pascal Arbez who is committed to carrying the mantle of ridiculous European disco into the 21st century, his football helmet held high.

Pray For Refreshment

Want to pray for President Bush but dont know where to begin? Just click here for the Presindential Prayer Team's website, which provides up-to-date prayer guidelines pertaining to the prevailing agenda and itinerary of the executive branch. It's kind of like buying one of those books of sample lottery numbers if you can't think of a lottery number of your very own. On the President's current prayer agenda: praying for "refreshment" at the presidential ranch in Crawford, Texas, and praying for the removal of roadblocks standing in the way of confirming capable judges, whatever the hell that might mean! And be sure the check out the Presidential Prayer Team radio spots, including this one (MP3) about how God protected George Washington despite being shot four times! You could become immortal too, if you would only join the Presidential Prayer Team!

"I Am 16 Going On 17..."

Who ever thought that the Sound Of Music's sweet coming-of-age song cautioning against "eager young lads and rogues and cads" and "bachelor dandies, drinkers of brandies" could share the same sentiments as those expressed by 16 year old Nicole in her Hot 97 Hookup profile?

Hi, I'm Nicole. Age 16.
I live in: Fort Lauderdale
My measurements: 5' 6'' 140lbs  im not 15 im 16 goin on 17
Favorite artists: g-unit, mariah carey, jigga, nas biggie, elehant man, sean paul, vybz kartel,usher luda anybody whos hot
What I'm looking for: Lets see......... first i dont want nobody shorter than me. i dont want a dumbass nigga ya know but u aint gotta b a braniac. gotta have goals in life and keep in shape.good lookin nice rommantic and gotta have some freak in him.

Turn-ons: Sexy lips and eyes they dont gotta b  nice color but first thing i notice is the eyes then lips
What turns me off: liers cheaters ones who dont take care of themselves crack heads fake thugs bad breath stupid niggas.
Why others find me interesting: nice personality. im always makin people laugh. im wat they call the life if the party.
Michole (right) from the Bronx hasn't updated her profile yet but she'll get to it just as soon as she's done directing traffic in her Coop City living room.

Truck Route 1 & 9

April is the cruelest month. April is also National Poetry Month. Here's one I wrote. Write your own.

Truck Route 1 & 9
just before ten,
headed to Jersey City.
Smokestacks below,
Bayonne right -
left lane closed.

Simpsons MP3 Free-for-all!

More than 100 songs from The Simpsons, organized by season. Get 'em here.

Via Metafilter