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« November 2009 | Main | January 2010 »
Suck it, 2009!
2010, you sweet thing! Come here and give me some sugar...
My wife Janet and I are once again filling in for Shut Up, Weirdo (Fridays, 6 PM) tomorrow, Jan. 1, 6 PM. We'll be asking you what you intend to do with the next two years. considering the world is officially scheduled to end in 2012. The live-line into the studio is 201-209-9368
Christ T. hosted WFMU's first regularly-scheduled phone-in talkshow, Aerial View, for sixteen straight years beginning in 1989.
I've put this off for way too long... it's just cuz too much awesome music happened in 2009 and I think it's more than any single human could possibly digest in one year. Trust me, I've tried -- I have to have this sadistic urge to try to absorb everything. It's a problem. It's an addiction. But hey -- music is the healthiest addiction around, so might as well binge on the choicest sounds! I discovered a lot of these favorites through WFMU's music library; its endlessly inspiring New Bin curated by Mr Brian Turner, and WFMU's multi-talented DJ arsenal who bring the musical universe to contextualized life On The Air.
I've also discovered countless new favorites via the Free Music Archive, through tips from fellow curators and music fiends and browsing the net for the best Creative Commons audio. The FMA's library of freely download-able, curated mp3s has tripled in size since we launched in April, and I've listed some of my favorite selections below, more are on the way. Happy 2010 everybody!
= hear more of the artist's music on the Free Music Archive
♫ = a streaming archive from Talk's Cheap, my radio show here on WFMU
10 ALBUMS
| Karl Blau - Zebra (K Records) ♫ "Gnos Levohs" |
|
Anti-Pop Consortium - Fluorescent Black (Big Dada) ♫ "Get Lite" ♫ FMA's APC Remix Contest |
|
| Mirrors - Something That Would Never Do (Violet Times) ♫ "You Me Love" |
Matias Aguayo - Ay Ay Ay (Kompakt) ♫ "Menta Late" ...this is like candy |
Continue reading "Jason Sigal participates in 2009 listmaking" »
Give the Drummer Some's
Favorite Downloads of 2009
When I started Mining the Audio Motherlode, my desire was to share the musical mind-blowers I'd been finding while searching online for tracks to play on my radio show. As I unearthed one gobsmacking gem after another, I realized that keeping these revelations to myself would be a violation of WFMU's sacred oath to proselytize on behalf of groovy music from every street corner. Since January, Beware of the Blog has been the perfect soap box and Mining the Audio Motherlode the perfect megaphone. Over the past 47 weeks, it has been my pleasure to serve up links to nearly 400 amazing full-album downloads. This 48th edition presents the best of the best: my personal favorites along with the top five readers' selection.
Here's to more ear-boggling discoveries in 2010!
MINER'S CHOICE: Top Seven (Eight) Downloads of 2009
On a Whole Other Plena
Cortijo y Su Combo ~ "Baile con Cortijo y Su Combo"
(Blog: Flageolette)
Massive Tracks from '49
Orquestra Afro-Brasileira ~ "Obaluayê!"
(Blog: Oro)
From the album: Índia (mp3)
Like Bourbon for Your Ears
Romica Puceanu ~ "Cine Nu Stie ce-i Doru" (and lots more!)
(Robert Gargfias archives at UC Irvine)
From the album: Cine Nu Stie ce-i Doru (mp3)
Is There a Dumber Genre Name than "Blue-Eyed Soul"?
Various ~ "Country Got Soul": Vol. 1 & Vol. 2
From Volume 1: I Hate Hate (mp3) by Razzy
(Blog: My Blog Too)
St. Louis Free Jazz Meets Ghanian Percussion
Mor Thiam ~ "Dini Saffarrar"
(Blog: You Got a Problem?)
Japanese Fuzz-Freakout with African Percussion
Uganda, "Uganda
(Blog: Crotchbat)
Stunning Unheard Nigerian Gem
Yusef Lateef ~ "Hikima (Creativity)"
High Life (mp3) | The Mood (mp3) | C.N.C.S. (mp3) | Koroso (mp3)
North Africa (mp3) | Blues Revised (mp3) | Mud Theatre (mp3)
READERS' CHOICE: Top Five downloads of 2009
Apex of Zambian Afro/psyche
Witch ~ "Lazy Bones"
(Blog: Crotchbat)
Aboriginal Country Music. Who Knew?
"Various ~ "Buried Country"
(Blog: Uncle Gil's Rockin' Archives)
Holy Grail for Drummer Lovers
M'Boom ~ "Re:Percussion"
(Fat Toro)
[Scroll down to Comments for working link]
Cult Hero of Polish Jazz
Krzysztof Komeda ~ "Astigmatic"
(Blog: Pan Mietek)
Greatest Japanese (Soft) Rock Album Ever?
Happy End ~ "Kazemachi Roman"
(Japanese Rock for Fucks Sake)
From the album: Taifuu (mp3)
Forty years ago today, Richard Nixon signed into law new federal safety guidelines enacted in an effort to make coal mining a bit less lethal. The Federal Coal Mine Health And Safety Act was passed in the aftermath of a 1968 coal mine explosion in Farmington, West Virginia that took 78 lives.
For the first time, the government set standards for maintaining equipment and supplying fresh air to miners. In addition, underground mines were required to be inspected four times per year and all safety violations triggered mandatory fines.
So far, so good. Unfortunately, on December 30, 1970, exactly one year after the new legislation passed, tragedy struck again in the form of an explosion at the Hurricane Creek mine, 5 miles outside Hyden, Kentucky.
Once again I have conducted an extensive computer analysis of my playlists from the past year to see which songs and albums I played the most in 2009. Then, I re-arranged the computerized results based on how much I actually liked everything (since, for various reasons, sometimes the records and CDs that I end up playing the most may not always be the ones I liked the most). Releases are grouped into four* categories: new full-length albums, singles and EPs, various artist compilations and reissues by a single artist. Take a look, and please leave your thoughts and faves at the bottom of this post.
(All listen links are pop-up players from the WFMU Archives. Check out all the Best of 2009 lists!)
Evan "Funk" Davies's Top 29 of 2009*
|
1. Cyclone 60 Instant Classic (Self-released) Listen to "Dinosaurs" |
2. Tinted Windows Self-titled (S-Curve) Listen to "Doncha Wanna" | |
|
3. Reigning Sound |
|
4. Art Brut |
|
5. Fallen Leaves |
|
6. Dennis Diken with Bell Sound |
|
7. The A-Bones |
|
8. The Upper Crust |
|
9. Hex Dispensers |
|
10. Valley Lodge |
(the other 19 are after the jump, along with singles/EPs, collections and re-issues)
Check out more DJ top ten lists here.
This year, it's all about economy. Short-winded, powerful films (and some joyously revisited schlock.) Disturbing is the keyword. And if you can't say it in under 102 minutes, you're a chump and your camera should be taken away.
All titles (in films and music) are 2009 releases unless otherwise noted.
Bug - On the insistent recommendation of a close friend, I checked out this film from 2006, the latest feature by great director William Friedkin (The Exorcist, Sorcerer.) I'd poo-poohed it for a few years because of the high positioning of mainstream talent; I have a lot on my viewing plate, and Harry Connick, Jr. does not draw me into a theater seat necessarily. Ashley Judd, however, proves her mettle as a beaten-down cigarette hag who's sucked into a world of psychological terror by a mysterious drifter. Gloriously claustrophobic, but also punchy and colorful, Bug is a masterpiece. I'm not even sure it's a horror film in strict genre terms, but who cares.
Splinter (2008) - Wow. A shocking and super-inventive gore/body-horror film, that does for now what Cronenberg did for the 70s/80s. As with most of the titles on this list, Splinter hits the ground running and never stops. Ewwww Ewwww EWWWW but I am so hopelessly compelled.
Werewolf Woman (1976) - Just when you're sure you've seen every weird-ass cult holy grail that exists, a movie like Werewolf Woman comes along. Right around the time that I was graduating elementary school, some sick-minded, exploitation-film-making fuckers were tearing their hair out over this, their ART. Werewolf Woman is super-special, kids. See my previous BoTB post.
Killer's Moon - A cheerfully weird escaped-mental-prisoners scenario from the UK 1978. You have to have a certain love of poorly made films from this era to truly appreciate Killer's Moon; there's a lot to laugh at, amidst the almost banal scenes of murder and rape. Chilling and ridiculous in one breath. It's all about tone, and you either get it, or you think films like Killer's Moon are a waste of time....
Deadgirl - Since political correctness has fallen hard from fashion, I guess it's okay to praise a movie like Deadgirl. WB-style boys coming of age, and wrestling with the tough questions, like whether or not to rape a found, bound, female zombie. See my expanded notions over at the My Castle of Quiet blog.
Shuttle - I didn't want to like Shuttle. Parts of it were downright annoying, but ultimately it resonated with me for its impersonal, ice-cold brutality. The ending left me gap-jawed. Again, see the MCoQ blog for my thoughts when this one was fresh in my mind.
Fiend (1980) - I waxed ecstatic over Don Dohler's Fiend right here earlier this year. For fans of bent, highly original, shoestring-budget American cinema, Fiend is a must see.
Morgue Story: Sangue, Baiacu e Quadrinhos - Again, this BoTB post from June relates my freshest thoughts about Morgue Story. It's a wonderful film, that could, given wider release, introduce necrophiliac comedy as an acceptable subgenre. People cheered this movie; by far my favorite of the 2009 SF Indie Another Hole in the Head Film Festival.
House of the Devil - AJ Bowen, star of The Signal, returns to creep me out again in this very well made love-letter to early 80s American horror. Also starring freaky-film legends Mary Woronov and Tom Noonan, who both gleefully devour their roles. See the McoQ blog post.
Pontypool (2008) - Someone really loved zombie/plague scenarios, and the Burroughsian concept of "the word as virus" (though in this case, infectious words are spoken, rather than written.) Stephen McHattie resonates as a DJ trapped on the air, trying to figure out the ascending chaos outside. The image of an intern banging her head repeatedly against soundproof double glass has special meaning to all of us here at WFMU.
Music:
Telecult Powers - assorted releases (2008-9) | Grasshopper - Kindertotenlieder | Slasher Risk - assorted releases (2007-9) | Raspberry Bulbs - Finally Burst...With Fluid | Vordr - MLP | Spite Extreme Wing - Vltra (2008) | Jabladav - Atta Vinter | Liturgy - Renihilation | Crazy Dreams Band - Separate Ways | Ritualistic School of Errors - Sweat Stained Fancy Heaps for First-Rate Ladies | Nuit Noire - Fantomatic Plenitude (2007) | Cotton Museum - Pus Pustules LP | Circle of Ouroborus - Tree of Knowledge | Absu - Absu | Coil / TNB / Vortex Campaign - The Melancholy Mad Tenant (LP reissue) | Yellow Tears - The Pissmop (2008) | Arckanum - Antikosmos & ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ (2008-9) | Bee Mask - Hyperborean Trenchtown | Beherit - Engram | Kommissar Hjuler und Mama Baer - assorted releases | Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix | Spill - Where You Aren't | The Decapitated Hed - Subversive Club Processes | Aluk Todolo - Finsternis | Diamatregon - Crossroad (2008) | Caldera Lakes - assorted releases (2008-9) | Sword Heaven - assorted releases | Enslaved by Owls - I & IV | Krisiun - Southern Storm | Talk Normal - Sugarland | Chaos*CM*Majik - Cry of the 12th Aethyr | Physical Demon - Pulse Maggot | Umberto - From the Grave... | Incapacitants - Tight & Burning Orange (2008-9) | Jed Hershon - The Nine Rings of Hell | Explosive Improvised Device - Kunlangeta (2010) | Josh Lay - True Mask | Infernal Stronghold - Godless Noise
To see other WFMU staffers' year-end lists, click here.
* White Magic's New Egypt was one
of the more exciting records I heard in 2009 -- effortless, with Mira
improvising vocals and yipping over a hazy, driving trance groove
that's like an Alicia Keyes locked groove on a turntable immersed in
laudanum
* I haven't gotten to the bottom of Oneida's Rated O
yet -- not sure if it has a bottom, really. Three CDs of neo-prog
noise rock wherein our pseudonymous heroes reinvent the rock opera for
the post-Merzbow age.
Don’t tell me that magazines are always folding, just because they always are. Yes, but! This year,
many more magazines folded than launched, and lots of them were magazines where
my friends worked. Or where I worked. I have now ended my 16-year dayjob career
in periodical publishing and moved on to another field, because—face it—print
is going … going …
1. Nickelodeon—Publisher
of wayward cartoonists and home of the great, great comics editor, Chris Duffy. Sluggo
and I both happily freelanced for Nick Mag, and it was a lot of fun. Alas, no
more.
2. Craft—Oh, I
liked Craft. I even made things that
it showed me how to make. The last issue made me sad, because it looked so much
like they were just burning off inventory stories. So, yeah, now they’re a
website or something. Whatevs.
3. I.D.—The
American international-design one, not the British one-eyed fashion one. 55
influential years, home of the Annual Design Review competition. Who’d a thunk
it?
4. Gourmet—The
hoity-toitiest foodie mag of all. Shock-horror at Conde Nast when that plug was
pulled. And the Gourmet Today cookbook
was just published, with a sad coverline promising a free year’s subscription
to Gourmet mag. What are they gonna
do, send them Bon effin’ Appetit instead?
5. Editor &
Publisher—Another venerable title. But who needs ‘em, now that there’s no
longer any editing or publishing going on?
6. Kirkus Reviews—I
loved the cranky, crabby, snarky reviews the best. Turns out they paid their
reviewers twice the going rate: $50 per review, as opposed to $25. How many
reviews would you have to write in a year to equal a minimum-wage job? 302 at Kirkus, 603 everywhere else.
7. Vibe—Yeah, I
know, but still. Although I’m glad now that they never got back to me when I
sent them my resume earlier this year. Plus I hear their big plan to increase
circulation was to distribute free to hair salons.
8. Cookie—Do I
care about Cookie? Not so much,
except that it was profitable, and supposedly successful, and Conde-Nast killed
it anyway. So what does a magazine have to do to stay in business, then? Or is
there no hope?
9. Mandate, Playguy,
Torso, Honcho, Inches—What kind of world is it that can’t support gay porn
magazines? A world full of online porn, apparently. Oh, well.
10. I can’t even decide
what to put for #10. There are about 400 other magazines to choose from, so
pick your own dead favorite. Print is starting to seem a little ridiculous,
even to me—and yet I’m going to miss it.
Here's a rather awful Christmas 45 I picked up recently.
The unknown lead singers, the apparently tiny and local record label (with the address right below the logo), and the overall sound of the thing all point to this having been a vanity release.
But then there is the presence, on backing vocals, of The Jordanaires (joined here by the sadly unheralded "Millie"), and the fact that each side of the record features publishing by one of the giants of the industry.
So the pedigree on this record is a mystery to me, and I'd love to hear from anyone who knows more about it.
On the other hand, the actual contents of the record speak for themselves. Linn and Linda fairly demand that the listener's tear ducts let loose with their rendition of "Christmas Orphan". Then, on the flip side, the sing of a much happier "Merry Christmas Time", except that I don't really discern any difference between their tone, feel or any other aspects of their performances, in listening to the happy and sad sides of this record.
1.) Linn and Linda with the Jordanaires and Millie - Christmas Orphan (MP3)
2.) Linn and Linda with the Jordanaires and Millie - Happy Christmas Time (MP3)
Christmas Orphan Label (JPG) - Happy Christmas Time Label (JPG)
"Nature is not fixed but fluid. Spirits alters, moulds, makes it. The immobility or bruteness of nature is the absence of spirit; to pure spirit it is fluid, it is volatile, it is obedient. Every spirit builds itself a house, and beyond its house a world, and beyond its world a heaven. Know then that the perfect world exists for you. For you is the phenomenon perfect. What we are, that only can we see. All that Adam had, all that Caesar could, you have and can do. Adam called his house, heaven and earth; Caesar called his house, Rome; you perhaps call yours, a cobbler's trade; a hundred acres of ploughed land; or a scholar's garret. Yet line for line and point for point your dominion is as great as theirs, though without fine names. Build therefore your own world. As fast as you conform your life to the pure idea in your mind, that will unfold its great proportions. A correspondent revolution in things will attend the influx of the spirit. So fast will disagreeable appearances, swine, spiders, snakes, pests, mad-houses, prisons, enemies, vanish; they are temporary and shall be no more seen. The sordor and filths of nature, the sun shall dry up and the wind exhale. As when the summer comes from the south and the snow-banks melt and the face of the earth becomes green before it, so shall the advancing spirit create its ornaments along its path, and carry with it the beauty it visits and the song which enchants it; it shall draw beautiful faces, warm hearts, wise discourse, and heroic acts, around its way, until evil is no more seen."
Ralph Waldo Emerson / Nature
Seeing as I'm snowed in here in the mountains this Holiday Season I felt a need for a summery warm kind of blog this week, as opposed to yet more seasonal and Xmas things. So I dipped into my field recordings for a recording of a very hot humid summer night in July 2008. Thus, here is a segment from that nature piece.
May it warm you through some cold winter nights to come! Cheers!
And a Happy New Year!
the MP3: Hot July Night
1. Gories/Oblivians reunion show at the Majestic and afterparty at Muffy
Kroha’s, Detroit.
Hey guys! What's up, well sheeeit man.
As people consume content in smaller pieces and the influences from which content-creators draw their inspiration become more varied and well-integrated into finished works, things have settled into different categories than they're usually put into.
When I wander out into the new, overflowing marketplaces of digital and physical content, I find myself chasing not a scene, genre, or production aesthetic. I find myself chasing EMOTION. BIG, shining, unmistakable emotion. Lindsey Buckingham might call it BIG LOVE. In a world full of the pulpy asscrap shit out of a million boring Macbooks, the only things that consistently rise to the top of the pile are the sentimental ones. They come from associations drawn in formative years, from tunes attached to specific occasions or great sound systems. Like: the first time someone slipped you some tongue, in the back of the car with the best stereo you've ever pumped to, all in front of shimmering fiery spectacle of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, and you're pretty much there.
So here is the best shit from 2009, the stuff that cut into me the deepest, OK?
Click on the links below the titles to hear the songs as they appeared in my shows over the year.
Continue reading "The Most Emotional Things That Came Out in 2009 " »
I'll be filling in for Shut Up, Weirdo (Fridays, 6 PM) tomorrow, Christmas Day, and my wife Janet will join in the festivities as we down one Nog-a-Sake (Egg Nog & Sake) after another and ask how you Trim-a-Tree. If you celebrate Christmas you've probably agonized over the multitude of approaches to the Christmas tree: Real or artificial? If you favor a real tree do you go and cut it down yourself? Or head off to the nearest corner lot? And is it a Noble Fir or nothing? If you prefer artificial do you want a realistic-looking one or something that screams FAKE, like those shiny aluminum trees back in fashion? What about lights? Clear? Colored? Flashing? Steady on? And then there's garland, tinsel and ornaments... Jesus Christ! We'll also ask what a WFMU Christmas tree would look like. Call 201-209-WFMU (9368) 6 - 7 PM. Click on the thumbnail to see a tree my mother helped decorate sometime during her teenage years...
I love Arnold Stang. During the filming of It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), Spencer Tracy laughed every time Arnold Stang said good morning to him. It wasn't that Stang was "always on," although he could be when he wanted to, but Stang was just unintentionally funny all the time. When he actually tried to be funny it was doubly hilarious. Stang feigned confusion and indifference about Tracy's incessant laughing, "I guess he found me amusing," he said. It is hard to believe that anybody in his presence wouldn't.
Arnold Stang had the look of a bird, the voice of a Bowery newsboy and the ability to upstage the biggest comedy stars of his day. His radio, television and film career had him right in the thick of many amazing and often very weird productions. His voice is one of the most distinct and unmistakable in the history of show business. He will turn eighty-two years old later this year.
Give the Drummer Some's
6 Favorite Downloads from the MP3 Blogosphere
The Miner knows you'd rather stick a moray eel in your ear than hear one more Xmas hummable. But here's the thing: Seasonal music doesn't have to be a pain in the cochlea. Avail yourself of any of the Santa-specific items offered below and you're guaranteed a merrier derriere, which you'll be shaking double-time through New Year's.
[Here's your last chance to get in on the Mining the Audio Motherlode Readers' Choice selections. Go through every downloads posted in 2009 (see all 46 volumes in one long continuous post, go here) then either e-mail me your lists of faves or just leave them in the comments below and I will compile them into a Top Five, to be posted along with the Miner's Top Five picks.]
Merry Funky
Various ~ "Soul Santa by JBX"
(Web page: Daptone Jukebox)
Merry Brewski
Lil Wally ~ "Dance Around the Christmas Tree"
(Blog: Christmas Yuleblog)
From the album: Nuttin' for Christmas (mp3)
Merry Stylee
Various ~ "Christmas Stylee: Sir Coxsone Family Album"
(Blog: You & Me on a Jamboree)
Merry Ooh-wee
Various ~ "A Million Dollar$ Worth of Christmas Doo-Wop"
(Blog: Jean's Music Blog)
From the compilation: Cowboy Santa Claus (mp3) by Bill Lacey & Group
Merry Adi
Adi Bing Slamet ~ "Christmas Songs, Volume 1"
(Blog: Madrotter)
From the album: Kesukaan Bagi Dunia (mp3)
¡Merry Sí Sí!
Various ~ "Navidad en Cuba"
(Blog: L'Ostia Latin Jazz)
This time last year, San Francisco's Wooden Shjips
released a Holiday Cassingle featuring psychedelic covers of "Auld Lang
Syne" and "O Tannenbaum". The 4-piece -- who famously gave away all 300
copies of their debut 10'' -- offered free mp3 version of the cassingle
to the WFMU blog, posted by Brian Turner here.
Meanwhile, the 100 physical copies of the cassette sold out in no
time, and -- in the spirit of The Holidaze -- all proceeds went to the San Francisco Food Bank.
This holiday season, Wooden Shjips' guitarist and vocalist Erik "Ripley" Johnson is continuing this tradition. He sent over an mp3 from his new project Moon Duo, a re-imagined "Silver Bells" with a bit of Hawkwind's "Silver Machine" thrown in the mix: Moon Duo - Silver Bells (mp3)
Moon Duo have also put together a new benefit for the SF Food Bank, in collaboration with Zola Jesus, Gary War, and Sacred Bones Records. From the Moon Duo blog:
We are auctioning off three one-sided holiday 12" LPs manufactured by Sacred Bones records. They are part of a private press batch, created as a limited-edition holiday gifts and not available for sale anywhere! Proceeds go to the SF Food Bank.
The exclusive tracks are:
Moon Duo - Winter (Rolling Stones cover)
Gary War - Grounds for Termination (Phil Gone Mix)
Zola Jesus - No Time
More info on the auction pages [1] [2] [3]
The auction ends Christmas Eve, and to get us all in the holiday zone, here's BT's original post of the 2008 Wooden Shjips holiday cassingle, which we the Shjips have kindly allowed us to share via the Free Music Archive under a Creative Commons license. There's more Wooden Shjips on the FMA here, too, from WFMU's Primavera Sound and ATP-NY'08 broadcasts. You can donate directly to the SF Food Bank here.
