WFMU's Beware of the Blog

I Knew It!

 Now that I work at the Think Tank, I read a lot of stuff written by Scientists and Experts, like this one study that was just published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, called “Dopamine D2 receptors in addiction-like reward dysfunction and compulsive eating in obese rats,” by Paul M. Johnson & Paul J. Kenny of The Scripps Research Institute.

So what the Doctors found was that rats that ate delicious, yummy BACON had the same addiction-like chemical responses in their brains as rats that do a lot of smack. And because it’s an animal study, the rats were subjected to excruciating pain, and they still ate BACON, just like they kept doing heroin when they were subjected to excruciating pain,   because they were ADDICTED. To heroin. And now also to BACON. And if rats can be addicted to BACON, why not humans, who also—some of them—do heroin, right? 

Some day the hog farmers of Iowa are gonna wise up, and when the BACON cartels control the bacon, then what are you gonna do? Eat so-called “turkey bacon”? I don’t think so.

 Thanks for reading my blog post this time, and may God bless.

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 61 (MP3s)

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

Two crucial blogs bounced back quickly after going dark last week: Chris Goes Rock, which has had more lives than a barrel of cats, returned almost immediately (under yet another new name), and Rockabilly Ranch, left for dead numerous times, has been similarly resuscitated. No such luck, though, with the excellent Seventeen Green Buicks, which just pulled its own plug. Fortunately, the 500+ items posted there are all still available! So don't mourn, get organized and go check out SGB's archives before the links are removed. (Here are a few of my faves therein: George Russell w/Don Cherry: Live at Beethoven Hall; Don Rendell/Ian Carr 5Tet: Dusk Fire; the Wildflowers NY Loft Jazz Sessions: 1/2/3/4/5.) With all the expanding, contracting and recombining of the music-blog universe, you either need a physics degree or Mining the Audio Motherlode to make sense of it all.

Jade  ~  "Faces of Jade"
(Blog: Tyme-Machine)
From the album: My Mary (More Than Ever) (mp3)

Beatles Besotted Cincinattians
Don't confuse the 1970 Fairport-ish trio Jade from Westminster, U.K. (whose lovely Fly on Strange Wings is also posted at Tyme-Machine) with this Fab Four–infused foursome from Cincinnatti—also called Jade, also from 1970. This cheery DIY effort is shotful with lush harmonies, perky clavinets, shimmering guitars and psych-y studio trickery. For the latter, look no further than vertigo-inducing "My Mary" (see MP3, above) which turns backmasking on its ear.

Chano Pozo w/Dizzy Gillespie  ~  "The Real Birth of CuBop"
(Blog: L'Ostia Latin Jazz)
[Password = Chumancera ]

Conga Line
The big bang at the origin of the Afro-Cuban jazz universe can be traced to the first slap of skin on skin when charismatic conguero Luciano "Chano" Pozo first joined Dizzy Gillespie's bop orchestra. The year was 1947 and Dizzy and Chano has co-written the first great jam of Latin jazz, "Manteca," and the sit-down-and-listen world of be-bop audiences suddenly got off its ass to dance.

Various  ~  "Amazônia: Cult Music of Northern Brazil"
(Blog: Black Star Liners)
From the album: Cabolclo de Pena (mp3)

What Possessed Them?
As the slave trade spread and Africans were converted to Catholicism around the world, new religions, like Santería in Cuba and Vodún in Haiti, began cloaking traditional Yoruba beliefs and practices within an overt worship of Catholic saints. Centered in Brazil's Amazonian interior, adherents of Umbanda cults display a similar syncretism. Included in this collection of 1975 field recordings are spirit-possession rituals that nobody will mistake for Sunday morning mass with the parish priest.

Morton Feldman  ~  "Durations I-V / Coptic Light"
(Blog: Don't Ask Me ..... I Don't Know)

Shape, Note Slinging
An odd pairing—Feldman's early '60s airy explorations into tone length, timbre and texture (Durations) with his final work for large ensemble (Coptic Light), a dense exercise in polytonality—but what the hell. Feldman's music has always necessitated an experimental approach to listening. Speaking of listening, dig the sublime "Durations III," a trio for violin, piano, and tuba.

Impacto Crea  ~  "Impacto Crea"
(Blog: La Music Latina)

¡Diga No a las Drogas!
Puerto Rico's legendary drug-rehab center Hogares CREA was the inspiration for more than just the name of this killer mid-'70s salsa outfit. A number of band members, including lead singers Cheo Feliciano and Frankie Hernández were graduates of the program.

Relaxace  ~  "Relaxace"
(Blog: Magic of Juju)
From the EP: Gamelan Jdou (mp3)

These Czechs Don't Bounce
Cross Prague with raga and you get the Czech Republic trio of Subcontinental music maestros who gathered in 1979 to form Relaxace. These days Vlastislav Matoušek is a shakuhachi flute master, Jiří Mazánka teaches tantric yoga, and Karel Babuljak is, if you believe what you read on the Internets, the "Don Quixote of Czech music." (What the hell does that mean, exactly?)

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

New Orleans Funky

I've never been to New Orleans, and most of what I know about the city is from popular culture, news reports, and documentaries.  I'm due for a trip, but I'm also excited for David Simon's new show Treme to give me more insight into what may be one of the US' least understood (from the outside), but most interesting cities.  I'm a big fan of Simon's, The Wire, and I'm ready for New Orleans to get some of the attention it deserves, something that in my opinion did a lot for Baltimore's notoriety on a global scale.

From Congo Square and folk tunes to 2nd line marches, its fomenting the roots of Jazz to influencing Ska, the flavor it adds to Funk and mainstream American Rap to the current Bounce scene in its various permutations, it has to be pound for pound the world's most influential musical city.

When I was in High School, Master P and his No Limit Records label were the giants of Southern Rap, the TRU album was definitely one of my favorites.  P's marketed images of gritty New Orleans street life primed me for the upcoming national release of a more locally flavored sound:

This peek into New Orleans project life caught my attention, but the song with the shuffling snare that paced the quickly edited video, had me hooked.  I must have gone straight out to the record store to find the CD, and remember being taken aback by the packaging when I came across the Pen and Pixel boxed CD cover.

 

I took the CD home, popped it in the player and out spit one of the most amazing album intros I've heard in my life, a Mannie Fresh produced tune:

Big Tymers-Intro (from Juvenile's 400 Degreez)

At the time, I didn't know anything about the style that influenced the album, but there was something about the stuttering hi hats and snares, the funky horn stabs, and the smoothed-out drawl in the vocal delivery that made this one of my most exciting personal musical discoveries ever.  It seemed old-school but fresh at the same time.  Drawing connections across continents, it had the same aesthetic appeal that Coupe Decale has for me today.

The album's producer, Mannie Fresh, one of New Orleans' more prominent contemporary music names, started out in the 80's creating New Orleans Rap and Bounce tracks, leading to his best known work with Cash Money.  This was the label that introduced, Juvenile, Lil' Wayne, and Birdman to the world (all who you can see at much younger and almost happily naive time in the above video.)

Many years later I am happy to see Bounce music, the bearer of the energy contained in that Juvenile album, make its way into the consciousness of music fans across the country.  If you want to hear Bounce from a bit of a historical perspective check from out a great mixtape series by Cocaine, Blunts, and Hip Hop Tapes, and definitely make regular visits to Nolabounce.com for updates on what's happening in the contemporary scene.

Oh, and Juve's still making videos:

'Gang' of Chirpy Americanophile Schoolgirls from Italy in the 1980's sing 'Happy' disco songs about the U.S.A. Their biggest hit = "Challenger"

For those of us who sorta 'came of age' in the mid 80's, the Challenger disaster was the archetypal you-remember-exactly-where-you-were-when-you-heard-the-news event.  Two years before and a few thousand miles away from where the Challenger would end up exploding, though, Anfrando Maiola and Stefano Cundari, the owners of a small Italian disco label called Memory Records, assembled a group of young school girls.  They called them 'Baby's Gang'.  They chose "Baby's" because the girls were all youthful (albeit not 'babies') and "Gang" because 'Gang' was a popular Italian Disco word for 'Group' (many "Gangs" occupied the Italo Disco scene--they generally were not at war with each other, though).  Baby's Gang's first and biggest hit was 'Challenger' in 1984, but they also charted in Europe with 'America' and 'Happy Song'.

I'm sure there were many songs written about the Challenger after its fuel tank ruptured on its tenth flight on January 28, 1986, killing all seven crew members.  Doubt any of them sounded like this though...

Baby's gang -challenger

And here's the 'Challenger' video:

Unknown Austrian band, "One Potato, Two Potato", 1980-1981

Chris Knox Benefit at Le Poisson Rouge May 6th, WFMU to Carry Sets

From Ben Goldberg:
On Thursday, May 6th, Le Poisson Rouge will be hosting a benefit for New Zealand musician Chris Knox, who suffered a series of strokes last year. The show comes on the heels of Merge Records' release of Stroke, a double album compilation of artists covering Knox songs with the proceeds going to benefit him and his family. All money raised for this event, save for a circa $2,500 base cost for direct club expenses, is going straight to the Knox family.

Chris Knox's presence and influence on New Zealand music can only properly be compared to the relationship between Caetano Veloso and Brazil, and Ali Farke Toure in Mali. His bands the Enemy and Toy Love were among the first and most highly regarded Kiwi punk rock bands, while his work in Tall Dwarfs and as a solo artist has influenced musicians far beyond his country's borders, as evidenced by the lineup for this show.

Performers at Le Poisson Rouge include Yo La Tengo, Portastatic, Kyp Malone (TV On The Radio), Claudia Gonson (The Magnetic Fields), comedian John Mulaney and Sharon Van Etten. Additionally, New Zealand will be represented by one of the only bands who can be considered a rival to Knox's influence, The Clean, as well as Dimmer, whose leader Shayne Carter is best known on these shores from his years of fronting the seminal Straitjacket Fits. In addition, we are pleased to announce the night will include a very special short acoustic performance by Jeff Mangum, the first public performance he will have done in over a decade since the final performances of Neutral Milk Hotel.

Tickets will be made available via Kickstarter.com on Tuesday, March 30th at noon.
Parts of the event will be recorded to broadcast on WFMU at a later date, as well as on New Zealand community radio stations 95b in Auckland and Radio 1 in Dunedin. Stay tuned to WFMU's site and Beware of the Blog for more details about the show as it gets closer!

Tall Dwarfs' "Turning Brown and Torn In Two" (1988):

WFMU's 2010 SXSW showcase archived

If you were out last Friday night, you may have missed the live broadcast of WFMU & Aquarius Records' 2010 SXSW showcase, held at Encore in Austin, TX.

Fear not, social butterfly, we have the whole dang thing archived for you to enjoy at your leisure:

With live sets from Pierced Arrows, Dengue Fever (pictured), Iron Man, Drunkdriver, Home Blitz, Moon Duo, Sonny & the Sunsets, and Shit & Shine, the night was killer! You can check out more pics and details on the playlist page for the showcase. Thanks to all of the bands for letting us post the archive!

We've got tons of other great archives from past live broadcasts at SXSW, ATP, Primavera Sound, the WFMU Marathon Finale, and more... check this page to dive in.

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 60 (MP3s)

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

Welcome back my friends to the Motherlode that never ends. Another half dozen outstanding audible treasures to choose from in this week's batch. Take your pick: Hippie pop-rock from Cali, hot jazz from a cool Swiss monastery, sock-it-to-you soul burners from Spanish Harlem, barrelhouse pianos pounded into submission, genre-defying experimentizotica from Brazil, and joyful noise Noise NOISE from the baddest free-jazz conflagration on the planet. Happy motherloding!

Various  ~  "California Acid Folk"
(Blog: Psych and Nuggets)

This Much Is Certain: "Oh Death" and "Taxim"
Originally a double-LP released on Penguin Egg, this trippy assortment includes a selection from Gram Parsons's International Submarine Band, Arthur Lee's homage to LBJ's younger daughter ("Luci Baines" with the American Four), three tunes performed by cult faves Kaleidoscope at the 1967 Berkeley Folk Festival, and a 17-minute session by the Byrds recorded off Swedish radio the same year.

Nathan Davis  ~  "Jazz Concert in a Benedictine Monastery"
(Blog: The KingCake Crypt)
From the album: Frog In' (MP3)

What, no Monk Covers?
Nathan Davis may just be the most underappreciated saxophonist of the past half century. Living in Europe for much of the '60s and ensconced in academia (as director of jazz studies at the Univ. of Pittsburgh) since 1969, Davis has blown under the radar for virtually his entire professional career. All the more mystifying when you stumble on stunning albums like this one, which Davis recorded live at Switzerland's Benedictine Monastery Maria Einsiedeln the summer before joining the faculty at Pitt.

Various  ~  "Big Bad Boogaloo: Latin Boogaloo From the Big Apple"
(Blog: Cuchyfritos)

La Alegría del Barrio
Don't hold the absurdly redundant subtitle—"Latin Boogaloo from the Big Apple"—against this absurdly good collection of Latin Soul crossover killers. You'll come for Colón, Palmieri and Barretto, but you'll stay for the lesser-known nuggets, particularly two recorded for the Speed label in 1968: "The Fuzz" by Dianne & Carole and the Latin Whatchamacallits and "Take a Trip" by the Latin Blues Band featuring Luis Aviles.

Various  ~  "Stomp 'Em Down: Piano Blues 1927-1937"
(Blog: Don't Ask Me ..... I Don't Know)
From the album: Ice Pick Mama (mp3) by Walter (Cowboy) Washington

Fickle Fingers of Fate
Vocalists like James "Boodle It" Wiggins, Spider Carter, and Ell-Zee Floyd get the credit for the gems on this comp of pre-war blues, but it's the piano playing that really dazzles.

Pedro Santos  ~  "Krishnanda"
(Blog: Brazilian Nuggets)
From the album: Dentro Da Selva (mp3)

Prepare Thyself for a Mystery
This completely unclassifiable artifact from obscure Brazilian percussionist Pedro Santos opens with strains of mariachi horns and closes with kitschy, catchy faux-African marimba noodling. The intoxicating totality of Krishnanda's myriad bossa/raga/exotica elements makes it surely one of CBS's most enigmatic releases of 1968.

Shibusashirazu Orchestra  ~  "Lost Direction"
(Blog: Jazz Archive)
From the album: Ee Janai Ka (mp3)

Performance/Art
Watching unsuspecting jazz-fest audiences be overcome by the controlled explosions of sound at shows by Japan's Shibusashirazu (loosely translates to "Never Be Cool") can be almost as much fun as witnessing the chaotic, frenetic, fantastic thrill ride taking place on stage. This free-jazz art-punk force of nature was featured in an earlier installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode.

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

Troubled Troubadours

Here's some good news for discriminating country music fans.  The fine folks at the Omni Recording Corporation have just released Troubled Troubadours, an extraordinary reissue compilation that concentrates almost exclusively on country songs from the deeply weird side of the tracks.  Topics include execution, murder, abortion, a pregnant woman's suicide, war and assassination.  And that's just the first four or five songs!

Most of the 27 songs here date from the late 1960s or early 70s and the changing times are reflected in many of the selections in one way or another.  A prime example is Henson Cargill's Daddy, What's A Tree? which focuses on a bleak future in the aftermath of an environmental apocalypse.  But that's practically a lighthearted romp next to Are They Gonna Shoot God? by Mark Slade.  And there are some fine songs about murder (Justin Tubb's The River Road Mystery), car crashes (Trooper Jim Foster's Four Chrome Wheels), the nut house (Dolly Parton's Daddy Come And Get Me) and the ravages of war (Arlene Harden's Congratulations You Sure Made A Man Out Of Him).

It's not all relentlessly depressing, though.  Two obscure Homer & Jethro tracks are present, and so is Autry Inman's loopy anti-hippie/protester anthem The Ballad Of Two Brothers.  Also on the menu are songs by Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams Jr., Porter Wagoner, Stonewall Jackson, and Roger Miller among others.  And the package comes with a nifty booklet full of rare period photos, label shots and illuminating liner notes.

The folks at Omni have spent the last few years assembling a pretty impressive track record with their reissues and compilations which have included two separate Porter Wagoner discs, one of which (The Rubber Room) collected most of Porter's oddest sides.  Other worthwhile projects have included collections by Johnny Paycheck (from his formative years with the Little Darlin' label), Dee Mullins, the Stonemans (3 LPs on a single cd!), John D. Loudermilk, Jimmy Driftwood and a two-disc retrospective on the Plantation label.  While most labels strive to avoid soiling their rosters with collections like these, Omni, thankfully, is one of a handful of outfits that forges ahead with conviction.

Here's a sample track from Troubled Troubadours, one that's been a long-time favorite at my house.  In 1971, Marty Robbins wrote and recorded The Chair, a hauntingly grim first person account of a prisoner's trip to the electric chair and the terrible jolts he feels when they throw the switch.  Perhaps the most amazing thing about this macabre tale is that it somehow made it all the way to #7 on Billboard's chart of Country Singles!

Marty Robbins  -  The Chair  (4:16, MP3)

The Joe E. Ross Scene From Slumber Party '57

Ooh! Ooh! Ever wonder what it would look like if Joe E. Ross reprised his Gunther Toody act from Car 54 in an unfunny soft-core comedy from the 70s? For today's rainy Tuesday matinee we have a clip from Debra Winger's debut vehicle Slumber Party '57.

Now go about your day like you didn't see this.

Two Australian Nuns Turn on Drum Machine to Ignite the Spirit

Among the sea of sound-a-like private-pressed Catholic lps that came out in the 1960's and 1970's, Sister Irene O'Connor's 1976 album stands out with its primitive drum machine and spooky, echo-laden vocals.  Released in 1976 on the 'Alba House' label, the dual-titled Fire of God's Love/Songs to Ignite The Spirit lp features several haunting and remarkable songs, including the three below.  In particular, the title track "Fire of God's Love" strikes me as so otherwordly and uniquely eerie that I wonder how far Sister Irene's O'Connor's seeming solipsism extended beyond music.  

Fire of God's Love

Mass-emmanuel (text_ i.c.e.l.)

Keshukoran

Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs

I recently had some long-delayed repairs done to my beloved Teac Reel-to-Reel machine, and as a result, I'm now ready to begin a project that I've wished to pursue for some time.

In my basement, there sit hundreds of reel to reel tapes. Most of them are there because of my close to 25 years of seeking out odd, wonderful, obscure or unexplainable recordings on reels. Whenever I've had the chance to buy old reels - either marked in some intriguing way or simply very old and unlabeled in any way - I've usually taken that chance. Sure, many of them turn out to contain nothing more than someone's classical collection, Herb Alpert records or simply blank, but a good percentage have something at least fairly interesting, and some of them are just amazing.

This last category has included dozens of audio letters, lots of advertising samplers, all sorts of family recordingsm as well as rare media recordings (radio and TV from the '50's and early '60's), to name just a few categories. There's even a whole batch of tapes from someone who apparently ran a nudist colony in the 1960's, containing his various radio appearances and other related recordings, promoting his business and explaining the concept. Collecting tapes is also how I was first introduced to Merigail Moreland, as well as the Star Ads, both of which I've shared here multiple times in the past.

Today, the contents of two of those tapes. These tapes are representative of the collection, although I don't claim them to be the best or most interesting. They are simply the first ones I grabbed from an at-best moderately un-arranged collection. I will continue to digitize tapes from this collection as one part of my series of posts.

The first tape, as seen in the back of the box, above, contains outtakes from a recording session for what I'm guessing was a slide show or a filmstrip presentation regarding the 1959 products from the Homko company, makers of lawn mowers and related products. Ads for 1959 Homko products can be seen here, and here.

This would appear to be from the tail end of a recording session, and I just love the guy's peppy voice, and some of the things that he says upon blowing a take. Following the Homko ad is a short segment of an advertising segment for something called Marhofer Meats.

1.) Unknown - Homko Narration (Outtakes) (MP3)

2.)  Unknown - Marhofer Meats (Fragment) (MP3)

Tape Box (JPG)

 

For completion sake, here are two brief (and not terribly interesting) segments which were also on this reel, recorded over one channel of the ad session, both featuring young people (the second one actually begins with some unidentified Asian music): 

 

3.)  Unknown - Candid Camera (MP3)

4.)  Unknown - Tape Recorder Demonstration (MP3)

 

The other of today's reels contains 12 advertisements for five businesses and six additional public service anti-drug ads. Based on the businesses involved, it appears that these were all produced in and/or for the Pacific Northwest and Alaskan markets. I'm not actually sure that the second batch is for a phone company - no company is named - but this seems the most likely customer. My favorite is the Grizzly Burger ad, particularly a line about Chicago, and the anti-drug ads. Anyone else think that might be Ken Nordine on the last one? And speaking of the last one, what is the person in the background humming? It sounds to me like the tune to "I want a girl, just like the girl who married dear old dad", but that can't be right, can it?

 

5.)  Unknown - Curtis and Campbell (Three Ads) (MP3)

6.)  Unknown  - A Phone Company (Two Ads) (MP3)

7.)  Unknown - Grizzly Burger Ad (MP3)

8.)  Unknown - The Old Spaghetti Factory (Three Ads) (MP3)

9.)  Unknown - Boone Ford Town (Three Ads) (MP3)

10.)  Unknown - Six Anti-Drug PSA’s (MP3)

 

Destination Subconscious: Cary Grant and LSD - by Kliph Nesteroff

"I knew Cary Grant very well and he loved ... what did they call it? Acid! LSD. He said he liked to take the trip." - Debbie Reynolds

"I learned many things in the quiet of that room ... I learned that everything is or becomes its own opposite ... You know, we are all unconsciously holding our anus. In one LSD dream ... I imagined myself as a giant penis launching off from earth like a spaceship." - Cary Grant

It was 1943. Cary Grant was starring in the motion picture Destination Tokyo; an action-filled wartime drama co-starring John Garfield and a deluge of racial slurs. While America was embroiled in the intense fighting of World War Two, Axis powers had surrounded the neutral country of Switzerland. Deep within these beleaguered boundaries, Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman was busy toiling away in a dimly lit laboratory, about to study the properties of a synthesis he had abandoned five years earlier. Hoffman was trying to devise a chemical agent that could act as a circulatory and respiratory stimulant when he accidentally absorbed lysergic acid through his fingers. While Americans sat in darkened theaters enjoying Cary Grant's portrayal of a submarine captain, Hoffman was experiencing accelerated thought patterns, polychromatic visions and an unbearable onslaught of intense emotion. This was the world's first acid trip. The discovery was soon to transform the life of one of Hollywood's most glamorous stars.

Cary Grant was the first mainstream celebrity to espouse the virtues of psychedelic drugs. Whereas novelist Aldous Huxley's famous 1954 treatise The Doors of Perception recounted his remarkable experiences with mescaline, Huxley was hardly mainstream - a darling of intellectual circles to be sure, but a far cry from a matinee idol. Grant was one of the biggest stars Hollywood had to offer when he jumped headlong into Huxley's Heaven and Hell. His endorsement of subconscious exploration, arguably, created more interest in LSD than Dr. Timothy Leary who was largely preaching to the converted.¹ Grant on the other hand was the fantasy of countless Midwestern women. He convinced wholesome movie starlets like Esther Williams and Dyan Cannon to blow their minds. When Ladies Home Journal and Good Housekeeping interviewed him, the topic of conversation wasn't Cary's favorite recipe or "the problem with youth today." Instead, Cary Grant was telling happy homemakers that LSD was the greatest thing in the world.

Celebrity Anti-Drug PSA's, Part Five of Five/The Big Wrap-Up

"Cash lies on his back on the earth, his head raised on a rolled garment. His eyes are closed, his face is gray, his hair plastered in a smooth smear across his forehead as though done with a paint brush. His face appears sunken a little, sagging from the bony ridges of eye sockets, nose, gums, as though the wetting had slacked the firmness which had held the skin full; his teeth, set in pale gums, are parted a little as if he had been laughing quietly. He lies pole-thin in his wet clothes, a little pool of vomit at his head and a thread of it running from the corner of his mouth and down his cheek where he couldn't turn his head quick or far enough, until Dewey Dell stoops and wipes it away with the hem of her dress."
William Faulkner / As I Lay Dying

And now, after spreading these out for as many months as I could, in order to savor them more fully, come the last eight in my initial big batch of Nineteen-Seventies Music Celebrity Anti-Drug PSAs. At least until I finally break down and put up the Mel Blanc ones. Being the crown jewels of that collection-I keep putting off the Blanc ones, but we'll get them up sometime this year. 

We begin with dear George Carlin, and one of the best of all of my Anti-Drug messages. Who better to lay it on the line in basic terms for the 'kids'? And of course we have at least one here who sounds like he recorded the spot on animal tranquilizers, rather dulling the effectiveness.

All together this will make 36 PSAs in this category, so if you like these, track back through my posts to get the whole set, as they're a great party stopper/enhancer.

 And the MP3s:    George Carlin     Jackson Browne     George Chambers     Billy Cobham     Deep Purple     Lamont Dozier     Bev Bevan (of ELO)     David Essex

Mainliner on Chicago Public Access TV

Julian Cope called them "the Banana Splits of noise"; Kawabata Makoto (Acid Mothers Temple), Hajime Koizumi and Asahito Nanjo (High Rise) kick out the jams on Chicago public access TV show Chic-A-Gogo in the late 1990's during a US Tour (thanks to Dylan Going for link).

Senator Eric in the Mix

Tuerie Du Senateur Eric Fin Decembre 2009 1

Looking at the recent history of Ivorian popular music you can start to trace out the political struggle of a nation trying to sort out a collective identity.  The core question is defining Ivority.  In the 70's Congolese musicians settled in booming cities like Abidjan and Nairobi dominating scenes and studios on both the East and West coast, eventually putting their stamp on African music across the continent.  Alpha Blondy's worldwide success led to Ivory Coast becoming a Reggae country. In the 90's things started to change, and Ivorians started to turn the tide with their homegrown dance musics now a dominating influence across Africa.

The above mix is so amazing to me. Senateur Eric a young Ivorian DJ (I think based in France) has one of the baddassest Skyrock blogs out there and through this he really shows how innovative and just damn good Ivorian DJ's are. Of course you can draw paralles to Detroit, etc, they add new ways of mixing that are distinct to their cultural and (perhaps) a nationalistic understanding of music.  They put their own spin on old forms to make a new sound and style all their own, just as all those innovators of electronic music did in the 80's, or that group of young San Francisco DJ's did in the 90's (Excelsior what up!)

This mix will give you good insight into how Coupe Decale works both in the studio and live at the club. If you can't tell, there is generally a standard constant sample running of a clave snare pattern with a 4/4 kick drum, and the improvisation happens over that. I love how he chops up the big tunes from the year and throws in starts and stops of intros and vocal bits. Plus the mixing is so clean and on point!  For a visual example of this improv style check the video below where a guitarist plays over a Coupe Decale beat. In my opinion this is African Digital Music culture at its best, I can't wait to see where we go from here!

WFMU @ SXSW 2010: Broadcast Schedule

We wouldn't try the pizza down here, but WFMU is getting amped up for our 2010 SXSW showcase tonight!

We teamed up with Aquarius Records from SF to bring a 14-band throwdown to Austin's club Encore (611 Red River). Swing by if you're in town!

We'll be broadcasting live starting at 8pm EDT, and here's what we plan to bring you (we hope to cram more in, but it depends on how long sets last):

8pm Liturgy

9pm Drunkdriver, then Speedwolf

10pm Home Blitz

11pm Moon Duo

12am Sonny & the Sunsets, then Shit & Shine

1am Pierced Arrows                                              

2am Dengue Fever

Have You Ever Been Jello?

  Tony Coulter here, with another parcel of vinyl goodies found since moving to Portland, OR late last summer. This time 'round, I'll be heavily focusing on soft sounds for mellow jello -- though righteous anger also makes an appearance. As always, I'll finish up with some eye candy -- or eye vegetables, if you prefer -- in this case, a mini-gallery of strange record covers.

Forward!

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 59 (MP3s)

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

A word of thanks to all you motherloders for coming through for WFMU in such a big way during our recent fund-raising marathon. Even in the throes of the Great Recession, WFMU listeners, Beware of the Blog readers and lovers of creative, unfettered cultural exposition shoved the cadaverous economy back in the closet and continued the party. We here at Mining the Audio Motherlode are happy to do our part by spiking the sonic punch on a weekly basis. As long as the full-album blogs keep posting mind-blowing rarities, out-of-print jaw-droppers and long-lost treasures, the Miner will keep digging them up so you can dig them too. Party!

Various  ~  "New Sounds of Africa: Phata-Phatas and Kwelas"
Volume 1  |  Volume 2
(Blog: Electric Jive)

Shebeen There, Done That
For South African music lovers, it is almost incomprehensibly amazing what is taking place over at the blog Electric Jive. Like jewels on cushioned pillows, one historic rarity after another is served up with abundant generosity and zero fanfare. The two collections referenced here are stocked with iconic performances by kwela maestro Spokes Mashiyane, a young Miriam Makeba and other other stalwarts of early township jive. Do yourself a favor and download every precious recording at this crucial resource.

Serendipity Singers  ~  "Love Is a State of Mind"
(Blog: Sir Psych's Psychedelic Shack)
From the album: Love to Love (MP3)

With Up People
The mighty wind emanating from the Serendipity Singers took a turn for the psychedelic on this 1967 LP for United Artists, the folky nonet's final album. Try to guess which track from this Bob Brainen included on his 2010 Marathon premium.

Cossi Anatz  ~  "Jazz Afro-Occitan"
(Blog: Hoochie Coochie Presents Jazz)

French Afro Free Jazz (or is it Free Afro French Jazz?)
Don't know much about this one, but its recent posting has quickened the pulses of veteran jazz-blog watchers. The combo here appears to comprise a quintet of second-wave French improvisers along with a Moroccan percussionist. The "Afro" in the album's title would seem to reflect the evident North African influences, but the reference to Southern France ("Occitan") is less clear. When I stopped keying the record sleeve's French text through Google Translate and started really listening, the exuberant, madly swinging melange was a thrill to behold.

Prince Mohammed  ~  "Bubbling"
(Blog: P.A. to da Reggae)
From the album: Jack Sprat (mp3)

Tiny Bubbles
Kingston-born George Nooks deejayed a string of discomix 12" records in the early 1980s under his own name as well as under the pseudonym Prince Mohammed—charting simultaneously under each at one point! His breakout track was the Joe Gibbs–produced "Bubbling Love," in '78 that was re-packaged four years later as the title track to this compilation LP. Soon after this album's release, Nooks took a decade-long sabbatical from the music biz, only to come back strong as a triple-threat: singer, producer and label owner.

Horden Raikes  ~  "King Cotton"
(Blog: Gonzo-Archive)
[Password = gonzoHRKC ]

Work of the Singing Class
Performing as a self-described "semi-professional" folk duo Horden Raikes, Brian Dewhurtst (now Preston) and Ron Flanagan released two albums, including this one, which bares the subtitle "Songs of the Working Classes During the Period 1750-1850."

Peregoyo y Su Combo Vacana  ~  "Peregoyo y Su Combo Vacana"
(Blog: El Stinkeyes)
From the album: Ola de Agua (mp3)

Teacher of the Year
Nicknamed after a song about a fish, Enrique Urbano "Peregoyo" Tenoric was, in the early 1960s, a high-school music teacher in Bueneventura along Colombia's Atlantic coast. Seeking to bring the kids "mellow folk music where God set down his contentments," Peregoyo formed a quintet that quickly became a widely popular regional combo, translating traditional cumbias and currulaos into modern, electric dance-floor-fillers. Must've been some wild school dances.

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

This Friday: WFMU & Aquarius Records at SXSW

Just a reminder WFMU will be broadcasting live this Friday night 8PM to 3AM ET live from Austin, Texas and our joint SXSW show curated by us and our pals from Aquarius Records in San Francisco! Liz Berg, Brian Turner, Scott Williams, Jason Sigal, Diane Kamikaze and AQ's Andee Connors will give you the play by play and simulcast live sounds from the massive 14 band, two-stage bill taking place at Encore (formerly Spiro's), 611 Red River right in the heart of downtown Austin. The show is open to badge/wristband types, but also to the general public for a mere $7! That's 50 cents a band! We're super-excited about being back and also excited about the bill (which is a pretty unique blend of the poppy, psyched-out, heavy and otherwise that seems catered to both FMU and AQ listener/customer tastes!) The lineup:

OUTSIDE STAGE
7p Liturgy
8p Speedwolf
9p Iron Man
10p Moon Duo
11p Shit & Shine
12m Pierced Arrows
1a Dengue Fever

INSIDE STAGE
7p Epileptinomicon
8p Drunkdriver
9p Home Blitz
10p Headdress
11p Sonny & the Sunsets
12a True Widow
1a Todd

We'll also have some FMU swag for attendees to check out, and the special-designed posters by famed UK artist Savage Pencil (pictured)! Click below for more on the bands, and some MP3s and links to sounds in general. If you're in Austin, we'd love to see ya.