Jameel Abdul Kebab "The Prisoner" (MP3)
No, not a Borat-esque character, but a reclusive Czech named Kamilsky (right) under one of his pseudonymns (another being Koonda Holaa and the Beechees); he's appeared here at WFMU a few times in various incarnations of the loose collective of experimental musicians revolving around the great Radon label. After wandering around the USA for some time in his RV, he finally settled in the high Mojave desert about 45 minutes from 29 Palms where a couple of weeks ago he and his fine dog hosted a pal and myself at his sunkissed 10 acres of Joshua tree-speckled earth. Needless to say, one completely forgets about life in New York *and* with human race (or roads or electricity for that matter), though finally connecting Kamilsky's home base with the overall vibe of his music in my mind was reward enough for the treacherous haul up to his pad (Hertz at LAX was thrilled to see my car returned covered in sand and coyote prints on the hood). Among Kamilsky's own path-crossings with living beings these days, he's spent some time down at the Queens of the Stone Age's desert studio joint recording a strange and beautiful record under the above monicker and I was lucky enough to take a CDR of it away. Unlike the Koonda stuff (which was based in strange loops, percussion, echoey vocal incantations and semi-industrial leanings), Kebab's affair is all crisp, acoustic, heartfelt desert balladry, albeit scattered with some pretty warped moments (think Lee Hazelwood via some of the more provocative Frogs ditties). This song in particular is a cover penned by Steve Mackay (then-and-now Stooges sax maniac who has collaborated with Kamilsky in some Radon-related projects) and is totally gorgeous. As soon as he gasses up his house and hits the trail again, try to get out and see him play.
Sonny and Linda Sharrock - Live on WKCR (MP3)
The late great genius guitarist with his wife and group known as the Savages, creating some truly mystic electric juju in the studios of Columbia University's WKCR on March 21, 1974. Sonny Sharrock: Guitar, Dave Arches; bass, Abe Speller: drums, Jose Santos: percussion, Linda Sharrock: voice.
Intro (MP3), Track 2 (MP3) 3 (MP3) 4 (MP3) 5 (MP3)
Erase Errata - Boris the Spider (MP3)
More radio-only sweetness, this time from an October 2003 John Peel session from San Francisco's great Erase Errata paying homage to another John (Entwistle, that is). Guitarist Sara Jaffe (who was in fact doing fill-in radio on WFMU before she split for the west and a few times since) has since departed the band to teach in Boston, while the Erratas thunder on (they were just in town for CMJ). Sara has also just released this CD which is a marked about-face from her electric guitar scrabble in EE but still completely excellent.
Below is a recap of all MP3-heavy posts in Beware of the Blog from the past month (seasoned and stuffed by Liz Berg):
- Clinton McClung shares some of his audio remixes, created using a regular old analog cassette tape player. His take on "Mr. Ed" will put you into a trance, of course of course.
- Practice your best cringe as Ken presents the worst comedy record of all time: Unkie Dunkie's The Baloney Slicer, recorded by a Jersey City butcher.
- If you didn't get enough scary out of Halloween this year, leave the lights on and listen to "The Curse of the Werewolf," "The Man Thing: Night of the Laughing Dead!", or "Dracula: Terror in the Snow!", all Marvel comics 45s from 1974. Thanks Megan!
- Sweden is a special place. Emphasis on special. To demonstrate this concept, Lukas has posted a smorgasbord of MP3s from a not-so-convincing Elvis impersonator and the vocally-challenged Anna-Lisa Ingemansson, both from the land of ABBA.
- And if that wasn't Scandinavian enough for you, head on over to this post, where John from Oslo has provided 36 different takes on "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt.
- Talk radio legend Bob Lassiter passed away this month after a long battle with diabetes. The Professor has provided a nice obit along with some of Lassiter's airchecks, available here.
- We still miss John Peel, and Lukas has kindly offered his ruminations on this legendary DJ, along with a great cover version of "Teenage Kicks."
- Tunes by a British housewife who was contacted by some aliens. As if you wouldn't record an album about it, too... Thanks to John from Oslo!
- Be sure to check out The Professor's latest AM and shortwave dialscans: this time he's got a ton of airchecks from overseas.
- Ken has posted an entire album by KPFA personality Henry Jacobs. Visit this post to get The Wide Weird World of Shorty Petterstein.
- More scary Halloween sounds are available right here, posted by Clinton McClung.
- Admit it, you could stand to know more about Grand Funk Railroad. Couldn't we all? Good thing Ken posted this educational record by Ernie Tucker, full of factoids and hyperbole.
- Lukas hands out another treat: Flossie and the Unicorns' "The Halloween Puppet Show" in MP3.
- Think you've got a superiority complex? Think again. Thanks to Kenny G!
- Clinton has written some amazing profiles of TV horror hosts: Vampira, Elvira, The Ghoul! Be sure to surf the article for some great sound clips.
The Kamilsky song is fantastic. The world needs more cracked desert blues of this type.
Posted by: Scott M. | November 02, 2006 at 10:31 AM
Good batch, and that ain't just talkin' turkey.
Posted by: norelpref | November 02, 2006 at 10:33 AM
Thanks for the Sharrock tracks! Great stuff. This is what blog should be for--posting rare material that you wouldn't otherwise know of.
Posted by: brad | November 02, 2006 at 11:28 AM
thanks a lot to post Boris the Spider of Erase Errata : WHAT This BAND : incredible !
i like a lot!
thx
Posted by: nouchema | February 06, 2007 at 04:47 PM