WFMU's Beware of the Blog

The Modniks

Ya gotta love squaresville's interpretation of hipdom. Between all the beatink spoofs and just before the onslaught of Madison Avenue hippie craze cash-ins, Gold Key Comics tried a take-off on the Mod scene. The always wonderful Magic Carpet Burn has posted all of issue number one of the ludicrous ditty, The Modniks.

Stupid Comics has had a bunch of gems of late:

Paperback Cartoon Book featuring Fetus Humor

The Famous Archie Sex Scandal

Nabisco Comics

Underdog interacts wth Creepy Human Boy

Comic inspred by Animal Feed

Another Weird Guy Named Raymond: Raymond Taylor on "Wheel of Fortune", 1994

Perhaps I ought to make this a regular feature: deeply eccentric men named Raymond, victims of labored physical or cognitive mobility (or both) who make their way on to network or public access television.  Raymonds of great fearlessness, bravado even.  Raymonds who don't give the name Raymond a good or bad name...just an astonishingly weird one.

There's a chance I could have stopped at the single most glorious individual to have ever emerged from the blessed Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but what fun would that have been?  Meet Raymond Taylor, Wheel of Fortune contestant...and stalker.

Crust Lord Miroslav Tichý at ICP

Who was that old homebum creepin' on your lady-friend with that strange mess of cardboard in his dirty wrinkled hands? Those grimy fingernails...

His name is Miroslav Tichý and yes, he was taking a picture of your girl with that rotting cardboard camera.

Lucky for New Yorkers, the International Center of Photography will be housing the first North American museum exhibition for his wonderful photographs. His actual handmade garbage cameras will be on display as well. The show runs from today through May 9th. More Info can be found here and here.

Meet you there.

Selected photos and a trailer from the documentary "Worldstar" are below in the post.

Miami is So Raw!

Miami. It's beautiful, perfect weather, and is the home of the best drugs and Cuban food a person could ever want. Sadly, it's isolation makes it hard for music fans. Bands don't want to drive all the way down to Miami on their tour when they can only get a few shows. Life must be hard for all the record collecting teens in Miami.

Well right now the punks are taking back Miami and the stuff that's happening is super exciting. I went down last June for the first ever Miami Is So Raw festival and had maybe the best time of my life. Jacuzzi Boys brought the jumpin' garage rock, Melted Sunglasses punched the crowd in the face with haunting psychy punk, TeePee killed the ladies with soulful lo-fi jams, and Brian's Dirty Busines" was the most perfectly executed joke band I had ever seen. But the band that most stands out in this happening scene is The Electric Bunnies.



The Electric Bunnies have released a handful of singles, and have just released their debut LP, Through The Magical Door on Florida's Dying. The LP is beautiful from start to finish, the psychedelic magical grooves seem to try to tear apart what you already know of garage rock at the seams and sew it back together into something insanely awesome... and most importantly, the sleeve of the record folds out into an Electric Bunnies board game that you can play with all your friends! Totally worth it!

Electric Bunnies - The Green Octopus
Electric Bunnies - Cross The Street

International Harvester

First footage I've seen of this amazing Swedish psych powerhouse, a group that was founded around 1967 by Pärson Sound/Träd, Gräs och Stenar's Bo Anders Persson. Johan Kugelberg's recent Swedish Underground exhibit at the Kasher Gallery in Soho brought a lot of photo images of this era to life, and the sound of these three bands has had a big impact on me through the years so the new visuals are very welcome. It makes perfect sense that Persson started Parson Sound (which morphed into International Harvester upon opening for a Swedish Doors gig) after experiencing Terry Riley's residency in Sweden; the heavy trance element, flowing ethno-vibe and rock-riffery heaviness are well documented on the Silence label's Sov Gott Rose Marie reissue (still in print). It's a monster. Seeing TGoS some years ago at Tonic was also transcendent, despite the fact members were getting into their 70's (via Exdoomorbedoomed's YT page).

History of Chicago Music 1908-1980 (MP3)

 The history of recorded music in Chicago during the 20th century was broad and deep, traversing sonic areas both familiar and unknown.  The earliest crude recordings on Edison cylinders date back to the turn of the century and carry on through the rise of 78s, 45s and LPs cut at major studios like Universal Recording Co., RCA, and Chess by many artists who would become musical icons and household names.  But there was no shortage of smaller studios, like P.S. & Paragon, that had great recording equipment and incredible engineers like Malcolm Chisolm and Paul Serrano behind the consoles for ambitious, and lesser known but equally as talented musicians to lay down tracks at well into the '70s and beyond.

The City of Chicago asked its Cultural Historian, Tim Samuelson, along with my Numero Group colleague Rob Sevier and myself to create a 3 hour mix from the earliest sourced recording through 1980 - just before the rise of Chicago's house music scene.  Below is an MP3 of our mix we presented at Millenium Park's Audio Picnic series, it's an aural journey of a city whose recording output & legacy has influenced and changed the scope of the history of music around the world for centuries to come.  Enjoy!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

Continue reading this post to find the complete track listing...

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 52 (MP3s)

Give the Drummer Some's
6 Favorite Downloads from the MP3 Blogosphere

Here, friends, is another sextet of sonorous delights to add to your to-burn list. Get clicking:

(1) In 1968 Louis Armstrong had a private audience with Pope Paul VI. One wonders if Pops brought the Pontiff this sweet long-player as a house gift. ••• (2) After disbanding their pscyh combo Aguaturbia, the married duo of Carlos and Denise Corales formed the softfunk group Panal. At least they kept their clothes on for this record jacket. (Here, not so much.) ••• (3) Located near Colombia's Atlantic coast, Palenque de San Basilio was founded in the 17th century by escaped African slaves. Descendants of those fugitives make up a majority of the town's 3,500 residents—including members of the legendary drum troupe Sexteto Tabalá. ••• (4) Spaced-out vocals and fuzzed-out guitars are the hallmark of this sole effort from the Tropicália-era outfit Os Brazões. Gal Costa tapped them to be the backing band for her live shows back int he late '60s. ••• (5) The '70s rock band from Papua New Guinea Black Brothers, a beloved inspiration to adherents of the Free Papua Movement (and the band behind the nationalist anthem "Judgment Day"), sought refuge on Vanuatu in 1988 when things got to hot for them at home. ••• (6) I don't know much about the singer Bryony James, though an hour of obsessive Googling finally uncovered this line of text from an 1969 issue of the British music mag Gramaphone: "Bryony James is a promising American-born newcomer with a stylish sound midway between Cleo Laine and Marian Montgomery...well supported by the Laurie Holloway Quartet, augmented by bongos." Now I ask you, just how bad could any record be that is "augmented by bongos"?

(1)

Let Us Pray
Louis Armstrong  ~  "Louis and the Good Book"
(Blog: Mec Fais Tourner les Skeuds)
[Password = fucksarko]

 

(2)

Chile Today, Hot Tamale
Panal  ~  "Panal"
(Blog: Lost in Tyme)
From the album: El Humahuaqueño (mp3)

(3)

Roll On, Colombia, Roll On
Sexteto Tabalá  ~  "Los Reyes del Son Palenquero"
(Blog: Black Star Liners)

(4)

Gal Costa's Funky Crew
Os Brazões  ~  "Os Brazões"
(Blog: FM Shades)
From the album: Espiral (mp3)

(5)

Papua's Got a Brand New Bag
Black Brothers  ~  "Kaum Benalu"
(Blog: Madrotter)

(6)

Shirley Bassey-esque
Bryony James  ~  "Feeling Good"
(Blog: Quimsy's Mumbo Jumbo)
From the album: Our Day Will Come (mp3)

Listen for music from these and other incredible finds on
Give the Drummer Some, Fridays on WFMU, 9 to Noon (ET).

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

High Heels But No Soul (MP3s)

 
Lonzo & Oscar  -  High Heels  (3:07)

Billy Brown  (The Country Gentleman)  -  High Heels But No Soul  (2:49)

Paul Harper And His Westerners  -  High Heels And No Soul  (2:53)

       

The Adam-12 Fan Fiction Contest

Fan Fiction, aside from an ingredients panel, is the most marginal of literary genres. Since the 17th century when Cervantes' Don Quixote was sabotaged by amateur scribblers, Fan Fiction throughout the ages has clung to the underbelly of good writing like barnacles on the Starship Enterprise.

Last month I was challenged by Music To Spazz By Jingle Producer Nutley Sam Elwitt to partake in a literary joust of the schlubbiest kind: an Adam-12 Fan Fiction Contest. Adam-12 Fan Fiction really does exist and it's serious business. An unsavory bet was proposed wherein the loser had to do something so stupid it cannot even be mentioned on the pages of this blog.

Impartial arbiter WFMU air personality Gaylord Fields was chosen to judge the idiotic proceedings and the contest was under way. Two stories were submitted to Gaylord on New Year's Eve: Nutley Sam's Log #1262: The Incident and my Thank You Officer Malloy. The authors of the pieces were not divulged at the time.

Last Thursday night I was handed a stunning and unexpected victory in the final hour of my radio show. I was fully expecting Nutley Sam's adventure to cop the prize but as Gaylord later elaborated, "Yes, it goes without saying that both stories accomplished perfectly what they aimed for -- in Sam's case it was intrigue and excitement mixed with camaraderie; in Dave's it was stultifying ennui and torpor . . . I was looking for the story that most gave me the Adam-12 experience . . . because [Thank You Officer Malloy] started off and went flat it reminded me exactly of an Adam-12 episode"

Here then are the entries in the contest; the winning story and its worthy runner-up. May Jack Webb have mercy on our souls.

Explosive Improvised Device, My Castle of Quiet session 20thJan2010

What sets Anthony Saunders' sonic creations apart from the hundreds of other performers using a table of pedals and mic'd-up metal accoutrements? For one, an intense performer's energy (which almost burst when I tried to make a few gig announcements—sorry, man, I still feel terrible about that!) Add to this a lifelong obsession with brutal sounds (including being one-half of Dataclast), combined with a true musician's meticulousness and finesse. The tentative, delicate passages in Explosive Improvised Device make the crashes and clusters that much more arresting. Power electronics to be sure, but informed by Bayle, Parmegiani and Varèse.

EID's My Castle of Quiet session will likely be released on tape or vinyl in the near future, but with Anthony's obsessive cutting, layering and EQing, there's almost no chance of the final release sounding quite like it does here ---

Terrify the Holy Hearts

The Woman Took Me To Her World and Blessed Me With Her Tongue

Thanks to Glenn L for making it all sound extra-purty for the airwaves.

Thanks to Tracy for making my crap photo of Anthony look like a still from Begotten.

EID's performance on WFMU-FM's My Castle of Quiet is shared by way of a creative commons attribution-non commercial-no derivatives license.

Ugly Kid Joe, No Longer an Influence in the Burbs, It Seems

Via Metal Inquisition
:

If You Liked the Beatles...

“Kiss always fashioned themselves as the Beatles on steroids”—Gene Simmons, Billboard, 10/3/09

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Singer/guitarist Parthenon Huxley, aka P. Hux, is “rock’s most underrated pop genius” according to the L.A. Weekly. Inspired as a kid by the British Invasion, Huxley’s melodies are ridiculously catchy. Think Beatles On Steroids: great songs, insane hooks, smoky vocals, and lyrics good enough to recite to your friends.—Publicity page for P. Hux

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[Charlie Bernardo’s] other duty is rhythm guitar which he attacks with a vintage classic rock sound through a Vox amp and Gibson SG guitar, which he affectionately refers to as the “Beatles on steroids” sound.—The Sketches’ web page

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Ryan and Matthew also gig with their own rock band in Omaha, Moses Prey, that has been described as “Beatles on steroids.”—Web page for Beatles tribute band Yesterday and Today

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It’s a muscular, track-by-track cover version of Meet the Beatles! that, as one Smithereens fan on Long Island told DiNizio last year, sounds like “the Beatles on steroids.”—Review of John, Paul, George, & DiNizio, by the Smithereens, Asbury Park Press, 01/12/07

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“That’s a good one. I remember when I first heard this, it sounded Beatles-esque. Like the Beatles on steroids.”—Keith Strickland on "Setting Sun," by the Chemical Brothers, The Onion, 4/21/08

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The raging “Nexus Icon” begins with a distorted staccato howl decrying celebrity worship, and segues into the disarmingly sweet-natured “Only Love,” which suggests the Beatles on steroids--or at least ephedrine.—Review of The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed!, by the Wildhearts, Spin, 1/28/04

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On “If You Want My Love” the band sounded like the Beatles on steroids, which was the way Cheap Trick sounded in their late ‘70s heyday.—Review of Cheap Trick gig in L.A., livedaily.com

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Sounds Like: The Beatles (on steroids...and cocaine...doused with gasoline and set on fire)—MySpace page of Those Bastards

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Man, those guys can move, and play and sing. They practically vibrate. They’ve got ants in their pants. They’re the Beatles on steroids.— Review of Prabir and the Substitutes gig in Washington D.C., DC Rocks blog

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The ballad Tomorrow’s Gotta Secret features slow, contemplative verses, with a powerful Beatles-on-steroids chorus.—Feature on Hot Action Cop, 3 Minutes, 49 Seconds blog

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Sounds Like: Kings Of Leon, John Forerty, Status Quo, Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Bon Jovi, Kiss, Gary Moore, The Darkness, Cheap Trick, Pearl Jam, ZZ Top, AC/DC, Hinder, Jimmy Barnes, Faith No More, Chilli Peppers, Grinspoon, Oasis, Stone Temple Pilots, Green Day, Metallica, Crowded House, The Living End, Choir Boys, Foo Fighters, Guns’n’Roses, Led Zep, Jet, Neil Young, Golden Earing, The Angels, Dragon, The Screaming Jets, The Beatles (on steroids), INXS, Status Quo, John Fogerty, Bon Jovi, etc.—MySpace page of Strange World

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Sounds Like: The Beatles on steroids!!—MySpace page of Blind for No One

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Unlike Paul and Linda, they layer on the buzzing Weezer guitars and make a racket. Think of it as Wings on steroids.—iTunes review of Big Little Eye, by the Golden Dogs

Trude Herr - Ich will keine Schokolade (video)

Here is a great clip from 1965, German actress and singer Trude Herr singing her 1960 hit "Ich will keine Schokolade" (I don't want chocolate).

YouTube: [link]

Temple Israel Senior Youth Group Presents: The Troubadors

Here's a nice album that a friend of mine found somewhere or other, knowing that it would be much to my liking. And he was right (and thank you very much, Stu!).

There's no indication of when this album was recorded, or where this Temple is or was located. I don't think I can add anything to what is written on the back cover, so I'll refer the reader to those notes, linked below.

1.) The Troubadors – Medley: Am Yisrael Chai, Esa Einay, Ho Ruach (MP3)
2.) The Troubadors – Rock My Soul (MP3)
3.) The Troubadors – Simee Yadech (MP3)
4.) The Troubadors – Dona, Dona (MP3)
5.) The Troubadors – Eten Bamidbar (MP3)
6.) The Troubadors – Sabbath Prayer (MP3)
7.) The Troubadors – Our Hands Are Strong (MP3)
8.) The Troubadors – Hana Avah Babanot (MP3)
9.) The Troubadors – Sabbath Queen (MP3)
10.) The Troubadors – Tzena, Tzena (MP3)
11.) The Troubadors – Finjan (MP3)
12.) The Troubadors – Yerushalayim Shel Zahav (MP3)
Troubadors Front Cover (JPG) – Troubadors Back Cover (JPG) - LP Label (JPG)

Punk Rock Scooby (1984)

Scrappy-Doo is apparently a Devo fan.

Big City Orchestra's 30th Anniversary / part two of two

   'It's gone!' sighed the Rat, sinking back in his seat again. 'So beautiful and strange and new! Since it was to end so soon, I almost wish I had never heard it. For it has aroused a longing in me that is pain, and nothing seems worth while but just to hear that sound once more and go on listening to it for ever. No! There it is again!' he cried, alert once more. Entranced, he was silent for a long space, spellbound.
  'Now it passes on and I begin to lose it,' he said presently. 'O, Mole! The beauty of it! The merry bubble and joy, the thin, clear, happy call of the distant piping! Such music I never dreamed of, and the call in it is stronger even than the music is sweet! Row on, Mole, row! For the music and the call must be for us.'
---Kenneth Grahame / The Wind in the Willows

The origins are mysterious, even to one who was in the band 25 years ago, but it is generally known that Big City Orch., or BCO for convenience, began in southern California in 1979 and moved north with some of its members and noise-music philosophy to its present operational base in the Bay Area. From then to now, a fair number of cassettes, films, records, videos and cds have consistently poured forth from this flexible  aggregation of artists. Many musicians and non-musicians answered the call, and today let's dip into a baker's dozen of rare older documents from their long history.

Canadian Love

Even though one-man driven, lo-fi, fuzzy pop outfits may seem "soooo 2009," there's something about Alberta's Makeout Videotape that seems to set them apart from the Wavveses of the world.

Makeout Videotape - Heat Wave from Ryan D. Anderson on Vimeo.

Makeout Videotape is comprised of only two people: Mac DeMarco, the nineteen year old songwriter/guitarist/vocalist, and a standup drummer who pounds away to compliment the driving rhythms of DeMarco's melodies. Somehow, with just these two people, Makeout Videotape makes more noise, and has a fuller sound than, most similar projects. The guitar is driven and poppy while the vocals are almost shockingly deep and soulful for a fresh-faced nineteen year old boy.
Part of the charm of this band is that despite the lo-fi buzz, the substance of the songs is super rich. DeMarco seems to clearly be a student of 60s pop and it comes through in the catchy, yet not simple, melodies. He wrote to me, "a couple guys I'm really really into include, Jonathan Richman, Arthur Russell, John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, all mostly poppy music I guess, I'm always trying to make songs like theirs but they never end up sounding that way hahaha." I was utterly charmed, and I hope you will be too.
You can download their debut ep, Heat Wave, from Unfamiliar Records, and they have a 7-inch coming out in February.
Enjoy these two lovely mp3s from Heat Wave:
Makeout Videotape - Slush Puppy Love
Makeout Videotape - Basketball Kids

From Mt. Angel Abbey to Olympia, with a Visit to My Closet

 Tony Coulter here, with a fourth post from Portland -- this time bringing you sights and sounds from Oregon and from that other solidly Northwestern state, Washington. All LPs, by the way, were found by me since moving here, and all tracks are things I would have played on FMU. As a special bonus, I'll also show you two strange artifacts I brought with me from my longtime Brooklyn home....

Before I get started, I should tell you that the image of Seattle's Space Needle seen above was created by Jim Cherry for the inside cover of a KYYX-FM compilation LP called Seattle Grown....

Anyway, enjoy!

The David Letterman Campus Radio Program - WAGO - 1969

With all the fun going on in the late night world and my having revisited some previous Late Nite talk show madness, here's a fun nugget. This is David Letterman's Muncie, Indiana campus radio program on WAGO - April 1969.

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 51 (MP3s)

Give the Drummer Some's
6 Favorite Downloads from the MP3 Blogosphere

Sandra Wright passed away last week at the age of 61. A classically trained vocalist, she came up in a Tennessee family rich with singers—one cousin was a member of the Spirit of Memphis gospel quartet, another was the blues icon Memphis Slim. Singing in church from the age of 4, Sandra graduated from Tennessee State with a degree in music. When her mother refused to let her travel to Europe with an opera company, Sandra connected with a local R&B group, Canned Souls, and recorded several singles, all before her 21st birthday. In 1974 Stax launched its subsidiary label Truth with Sandra's soulful "Wounded Woman," which was recorded, along with a handful of other numbers at the Muscle Shoals studio Broadway Sound. Sandra's records received no support from the floundering Stax, which wound up in IRS receivership a year later. (In 1988, the UK label Demon released Sandra's Truth singles on one LP. Find it—and two of her '60s tracks—below.) Forsaking the capricious life of touring and recording, Sandra settled into a 17-year run performing in regular rotation at Nashville's famed New Era Club. In 1992, a few years after forming her own group, Sandra rented a place in Vermont to be closer to her new production company and the New York studios. Sandra, who'd been raised in the Memphis projects, was taken with the natural beauty of the Green Mountains and decided to stay. Buoyed by enthusiastic audiences across the Northeast, Sandra became a fixture at festivals and benefits and developed a devoted following that now grieves her loss.

I never did see Sandra perform, but knew her as a beloved member of a circle of friends who, for the past two decades, have gathered in the Vermont woods for a wonderful pot-luck Thanksgiving. Her easy laugh, sardonic cheer, and outrageous deviled eggs will eternally be missed.

Sandra's friends have established a fund to help carry on Sandra's legacy: Please donate

Dearly Departed
Sandra Wright  ~  "Wounded Woman"
(Blog: Disco Soul Funk)

Bonus: Two singles not on the album:
Unbelievable ('68) (mp3) | Gotta See My Baby ('69) (mp3)

Conscientious Objections from Blues King
Willie Dixon  ~  "Peace?"
(Blog: Uncle Gil's Rockin' Archive)
From the album: I'd Give My Life for You (mp3)

Very Extremely Tight
Various  ~  "Tighten Up" (all eight volumes)
(Blog: You & Me on a Jamboree!)

Sagebrush on the Sertão
Moreno e Moreninho  ~  "Capelinha de Santo Reis"
(Blog: Exp Etc.)
From the album: Deus Menino (mp3)

 

Dangerous Blues
Various  ~  "My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama"
(Blog: Twilightzone!)

Swinging Free and Glorious
Paul Bley  ~  "Mr. Joy" (see below*)
(Blog: Lucky Psychic Hut)
From the album: Mr. Joy (mp3)

*This fidelity of this is warm but quite crackly. For a muddier but cleaner version, go here.

Listen for music from these and other incredible finds on
Give the Drummer Some, Fridays on WFMU, 9 to Noon (ET).

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode