WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 156

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

Hey, no one gets how the Interwebs is all about getting stuff for free. Mining the Audio Motherlode is nothing if not a blissful survey of spectacular sounds that cost you nothing but the time it takes to snag 'em. Saving you time as well as legal tender, your faithful Miner does all the hunting and gathering, inspecting the wares at many hundreds of music blogs—so you don't have to!

Now the Miner comes to you, illuminated helmet in hand, asking for a small contribution to the cause. You see, the Motherlode is a labor of love: For 50 weeks a year, the Miner provides the labor; for these 2 weeks, it is incumbent upon all Motherlodes to provide a little love.

Take a moment and drop a few coins in the virtual tip jar below. Help  us get raise 100% of our goal and get ready for another cornucopia of sonic delights next week.

 

As a gift to you readers and listeners of my radio show, Give the Drummer Some, I have produced Going Out of Their Heads, an insane, 2-CD assemblage of whacked-out warblers, psychotic singers and loony tunesters, losing it before your very ears. (This follows an '05 compilation I created called Loony Tunes, which is available here for free!) To receive this handmade, one-of-a-kind collection, please make a pledge, above, of $75 or more. Thank you.

Big THANKS to Holly in NC for adopting the Miner for 2012!

A Peek Into The Antique Phonograph Show

FMU is full of luddites, but Mac tops them all. As usual, tonight he'll be playing songs only on wax cylinder and other playback devices from the earliest era of recorded sound. But tonight's special, because he's raising money for our marathon! Listen in and support tonight at 8. Thanks to Yvonne for filming.

A Peek Into The Antique Phonograph Show With Mac on WFMU! from WFMU on Vimeo.

Oscar Hangover And The Great Whatsit

Perhaps the only remarkable thing about the 2012 Oscars™ telecast was that it featured no 'Illuminati' symbolism whatsover. Not that it didn't have a chance. With this year's passing of Elizabeth Taylor, we could have had Cirque de Soleil perform a tribute to the spectacular entrance of the screen goddess in Cleopatra, but instead they opted for pushups in front of the crop dust scene from North By Northwest. And when the annual death montage rolled by, Taylor was put on the same level as some guy from marketing.  

There's nothing I can write that a man riding a flying aligator can't express better

 Seriously, I was trying to think of what I wanted to say this week, but this animated gif is more eloquent than I could ever be. We're halfway through the WFMU marathon now and I felt I should take this opportunity to talk about how great FMU is, and how lucky I feel to play my small role in this cultural pirate utopia, but, you know...this guy is flying through the air riding a goddamn alligator. An alligator of all things!

Web 0.0: Douglas Adams’s Hyperland

By Tom Keiser

Hyperland (Douglas Adams)

What's on today on Network Awesome

When did you first hear of the Internet? Was it when you were in college, and finally saw a way to connect with people without a huge long distance bill? Were you in high school, and found out you could skip hours of ungodly research at a library when you could look something up on one of the first search engines? Or, was it in 1990, when you turned on the BBC and watched a documentary hosted by Douglas Adams and Tom Baker, entitled Hyperland?

Hyperland posits that Modern Man, in the guise of Douglas Adams, would be so tired of the dreck on television, that he would strive for a better way to put his free time to good use. Adams uses The Price Is Right to mark the nadir of popular culture. It makes you think how far we’ve come in twenty years.

Adams falls into a dream sequence, which starts with him taking his television to the local dump. It is there

Footage from Andy & Frangry's Marathon Show

Kudos to Yvonne for filming.

Shut Up Weirdo With Andy And Frangy with Co-host Michele WFMU 2012 Marathon Show from WFMU on Vimeo.

Homayun Sakhi and the Rubâb

Homayun Sakhi, Mukhtor Muborakqadomov, Sirojiddin Juraev, Salar Nader, "Zuhal's Song," Music of Central Asia Vol. 9: In the Footsteps of Babur: Musical Encounters from the Lands of the Mughals

From a region known for its virtuoso musicians, Homayun Sakhi stands out as the world's leading player of the Afghan rubâb. To listen to Sakhi play the rubâb results in near-hypnosis, and watching clips of his playing shows how charismatic and brilliant a performer he really is. Sakhi is making a rare appearance this week, allowing New Yorkers to experience just how brilliant a performer Sakhi is. The deftness with which he handles the rubâb makes it near impossible to detect where the player ends and the instrument begins. The rubâb itself has a rich and earthy sound, with each note standing alone. Homayun Sakhi hails from Kabul, a city whose music had come under the influence of the Persian, Indian, and Central Asian traditions. At ten years old, he began studying the rubâb under his father's tutelage. His father himself was a disciple of Ustâd Mohammed Omar, the most renowned rubâb player of the 20th century, whose musical lineage can be traced back over a century to the revered North Indian court musicians imported to Kabul by Amir Sher Ali Khan. 

DJ Handi's Archive Picks: Marathon--Round One!

It's marathon time! I am not going to ask you for money, but when WFMU DJ's do, some special events are planned. Pseu Braun, with co-host Gaylord Fields, will have Yo La Tengo on Pseu's Thing With A Hook, tonight at nine. The band, long tome friends of WFMU, will play your requests as you pledge. Bob Brainen played the group performing "Mr Tough" live at the station in 2006.

Monica talked about preparing for the marathon, and then played music by Harry "The Crown" Hosono, and Wendy Rene. Rene's real name was Mary Frierson, and was given her stage name, when recording for Stax, by Otis Redding.

John Allen played "All About Money" by Spontaneous Overthrow from Personal Space: Electronic Soul 1974-1984, a compilation of personally produced music.

The marathon began on Monday, and DJ's started giving musical pledge prizes and playing tracks from these premiums. Liz Berg played Dicky Design. Irene Trudel, Misty Roses. Scott Williams played "I Want To Take You On A Sea Cruise" from Gary Wilson's Forgotten Lovers album.

In Praise Of Burmese

I recently sang the praises of San Francisco's Burmese's grinding, ugly Lun Yurn album on this blog, but the band's continually underrated status in spite of their near 14-year existence means the call is out for some further celebration (the band's Facebook page includes an exhaustive history of the band's various, ever-changing formations).

Burmese are a vicious, hideous band, in that there's nothing comforting or subtle about their attack. While the noise-rock tag has been thrown at any band with the slightest hint of fuzz or whatever constitutes "edge" these days, it's beyond refreshing to see an act in this sphere use sonic confrontation in the most repulsive way imaginable. The dual-drums/dual-bass onslaught is absurdly gargantuan, and now with the incomparable Tissue on vocals, the grindcore/power violence/death metal/power electronics monstrosity they've worked themselves into has seen no equal. Why aren't these guys bigger? Probably because there's no safety net here, just pure, vile antagonism, which, it should be said, is what one should demand from "noise rock" these days.

These are absolutely terrifying, insane times we're living in, and Burmese seems to sonically channel that turmoil fantastically. Don't believe me, check the live attack:

Interview: Roy Montgomery

It's been over 30 years since Roy Montgomery's recorded debut -- the Pin Group's "Ambivalence" 45, issued as the first single on Flying Nun Records in 1981 -- and he remains as intriguing and understated a player as ever in New Zealand's subterranean avant-rock culture.  With PG and subsequent outfits, like the Shallows and Dadamah, his guttural baritone and basic sturm-and-drang strum helped shape the inimitable post-punk of "the NZ sound," as popularized by Flying Nun and those associated with it.  In the years since, he's collaborated with or released songs alongside noteworthy musicians and projects such as Bardo Pond (under the name Hash Jar Tempo), Flying Saucer Attack and Grouper.  Montgomery has also single-handedly fashioned a wide discography of meditative instrumentals -- beautifully landscaped compositions that combine the loping, churning whorl of Krautrock with the fundamentals of minimal composition to yield a remarkably personal and cinematic hum.  The Christchurch-based musician took a moment to answer a round of questions by e-mail last month.

Eric Cecil/WFMU: Can you describe the formation of Pin Group?

Roy Montgomery: The band evolved over the period of a year or so, starting with a four-piece known as Compulsory Fun which featured Ross Humphries on vocals, Tony Green on drums, Dave McKenzie on bass and myself on guitar.  Dave departed after our first and only performance.  We then regrouped as Murder Strikes Pink with Ross shifting to bass and a friend called Paul Champion taking on vocals.  I think we may have performed three times.  This was during 1980.  When Paul left we went into recess, so to speak.  Throughout this period I had been conferring regularly with a poet friend called Desmond Brice, who half-seriously went by the name Jim Despondent at the time.  He produced screeds of rather dark and gloomy verse (think Doors meets lapsed Catholic) and passed them generously around to people including myself.  When my band activities stopped I set about trying to write music to his lyrics with him playing bass.  While we found our instrument-playing styles incompatible the songwriting seemed to work so I asked Ross Humphries to take up the basslines and we persuaded former Vacuum Band drummer Peter Stapleton to moonlight while he was still doing the odd Victor Dimisich Band show.  Desmond agreed to keep feeding lyrics as and when required.  The first two Pin Group singles have lyrics by Desmond on all tracks.  Gradually more and more lyrics came from the band members.

Andy to be Crucified on Vinyl Cross Next 7SD

It's true, pledgers to 7 Second Delay raised enough money last Wednesday to win an enviable prize - Andy will be crucified on a vinyl cross that's been kicking around the station, largely unused for years. More info here.  Video by Yvonne.

 

7 Second Delay! WFMU Marathon! from WFMU on Vimeo.

E.S.P. TV Episode #9: Erica Magrey and YOU

Going back a bit, as we prepare the new E.S.P. TV episode #12 taped last week at Roulette in Brooklyn for their Xperimental Love Fest, to bring you this...

E.S.P. TV #9 taped late last year at The Schoolhouse and featuring performances by Erica Magrey and Brooklyn synth duo YOU. Animations also by Clara Kim and Amy Lockhart courtesy of Aboveground Animation and video by Ania Diakoff.

 

Marco Fusinato

 

 

Billy Strange - 1930 - 2012

Billy Strange passed away this morning. You might not know the name, but you certainly have heard his sound. He was one of the greatest session players of all time. Along with names like Carol Kaye, Jack Nitzche and Tommy Tedesco, Strange and his guitar appeared on thousands of hit records without credit. His strumming on Nancy Sinatra's version of Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) remains popular, as does his work on Pet Sounds, not to mention those horns he insisted swell at the end of These Boots Are Made For Walkin'.

Unlike some of his contemporaries dabbling in the solo-instro LP racket (Al Caiola et al), Strange's LPs were not generic. Super Agent File is a choice example of a solo album that contains a unique spark that his fellow Wrecking Crew members rarely showed on their solo efforts. My personal fave might be his rare soundtrack tie-in album for the regional Lloyd Thaxton Show out of Los Angeles. Strange was also the anonymous fifth member of The Ventures. Below is a track by The Ventures that Billy Strange composed. He was one of the greats.

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 155

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

Your faithful Miner is taking a couple of weeks off during the WFMU Marathon to hammer home that the Motherlode—and the blog that publishes it—are nonprofit, labors-of-love in need of your financial support.

Take a moment and count up all the $$ this weekly offering has saved your music budget, then use the pledge widget below to make a small offering of your own to support WFMU, the radio station that makes this all possible.

 

As a gift to you readers and listeners of my radio show, Give the Drummer Some, I have produced Going Out of Their Heads, an insane, 2-CD assemblage of whacked-out warblers, psychotic singers and loony tunesters, losing it before your very ears. (This follows an '05 compilation I created called Loony Tunes, which is available here for free!) To receive this handmade, one-of-a-kind collection, please make a pledge of $75 or more. Thank you.

Ode To Spade (MP3)

    

Tommy Graham  -  Ode To Spade  (2:14)

If you believe the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture, pioneering western swing band leader Spade Cooley was born on this day in 1910.  Plenty of other web sources list Cooley's birthdate as December 17, 1910, though, and I'm not sure who to believe.  Regardless of exactly when his birthday is, it's a fine day to share with you this tribute 45.

Cooley enjoyed a long and prosperous career in radio, films, television, records and live performances, but remains quite notorious for the fact that he was convicted of murder in the first degree for the extremely brutal slaying of his wife Ella Mae in 1961, following which he received a life sentence. 

Ode To Spade is Tommy Graham's Spade Cooley tribute disc, released shortly after Cooley's fatal heart attack on November 23, 1969 following a performance.  The show, performed during a 72-hour jail furlough, was held at the Oakland Auditorium, now known as the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, which was recently in national news when members of Occupy Oakland attempted to take over the long vacant building and use it for their headquarters.  Graham and Cooley were both inmates at the Vacaville Medical Center, and became friends while incarcerated.

For the most detailed and extensive report on the rise and fall of Spade Cooley, I highly recommend John Marr's Murder Can Be Fun #19, available for a mere $2 plus a modest $1 shipping charge.  The Michael McMahon illustration above appears there, and it can also be found in an issue of Lowest Common Denominator, the former house organ of WFMU.

10 Seconds from Every Top-100 Song Ever + A Free Cut-up Software!

1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011

In 1959, Billboard began releasing their annual charts of the top 100 songs of each year.  Here are mp3s with 10 seconds of every single top 100 song ever.  Follow the lists along with the music on this site.  There are some errors here, so bear with me and do point out major imperfections in the comments.  If you've been following my column in the past, all of these mp3s are improved versions, with crossfades in between tracks and smarter choices of clips.

I produced these supercuts with a software that Frederic Cornu and I developed together.  Fred is a genius and I'm eternally grateful to him.  This software is VERY SIMPLE to use and 100% FREE.  It simply takes a music playlist of your choice (from iTunes or a similar program), finds the loudest point of each song and stitches all the songs together.  These supercuts are useful to condense information and I think they're totally beautiful too.

In a few minutes, you can easily make supercuts of your music collection, even if you are a luddite.  Download the file below, unzip the folder and click "Run Supercut-O-Matic"...there'll be a button to press in the program to give you further instructions.

UPDATE!  You can get improved versions of the Supercut-O-Matic at this link.  The new version gives you more options, such as changing the size of each clip, the crossfade, and more!

Download Supercut-O-Matic for Mac (2mb zip file)

Download Supercut-O-Matic for Windows (3mb zip file)

Source code for Linux

Once you've made your files, send them to me (contact info is provided in the program's helpme file) and I will release YOUR MUSIC on a CD!  Do you have a completist collection of yodeling music, blues singers, minimal-synth, presidential speeches or tuba solos?  Use Supercut-O-Matic and SEND ME THE RESULTS!  Please do contact me with any feedback.

"Supercuts Supercut", a CD with the best submissions I get, is available to anybody who pledges $75 or more to my radio show in the current WFMU fundraising marathon!  Use the widget below to pledge to the greatest radio station on the planet and help us broadcast for another year.  Also, if you pledge $30 or more to my show, I will remix a top 100 song of your choice LIVE on the air.

2012 Marathon Underway! Daily DJ Premium MP3 Samples & More At *New WFMU Tumblr*

WFMU's 2012 Marathon is officially underway! Tune in now through March 4th to hear all your favorite DJs doing their thing to the utmost with special co-hosts, swag, and prizes galore.

We've also put together a fine batch of DJ Premiums. Any of these handcrafted CDs are available for a pledge of $75 or more.

Unlike in previous years, we won't be posting DJ Premium samples to this blog.

Instead, you can sip on daily mp3 teasers at the shiny new WFMU Marathon Tumblr. There, you'll also find a freeform mix of music, animated gifs, hyperlinks and mixed up media from throughout WFMU's extended universe. We're using this fluid format to highlight the many layers of WFMU's annual radio party without overwhelming our regular blog readers.

We hope you'll tune in to the tumblr, and help spread the word!

pictured: WFMU's Flexi-Disc Postcard || Swag

People Of The North's New LP Reviewed

People Of The North (Kid Millions and Bobby Matador of Oneida, with appearances by Shahin Motia and Barry London of the same fame) have taken the earthly delights of their first LP, "Deep Tissue", and launched it through the stratosphere and into the chaos of the outer reaches with "Steep Formations".POTN's previous LP, "Deep Tissue", is rooted in the sun, sea, earth, and sky, suggested particularly by "The Vastest Island" and "Summer Leaves", whereas "Steep Formations" fills the void of outer space with wind-swept organ and synth tones and drums that roll and pound like a meteor storm. The album art for the two POTN LPs focus on the surreal in nature (trees, it seems, in particular) with "Deep Tissue"'s rich, wooded forest, and "Steep Formations"'s gnarled, twisted tree, pointed upwards and into the skies above. You are about to be cast into otherworldly sounds - prepare yourself!

"Steep Formations" is a double LP consisting of two pieces; "Border Waves" parts 1 and 2, and the title track "Steep Formations", each track encompassing two sides of both LPs respectively. The album opens with the hum of a synth, and seconds later, fierce, epic drums hit with a sonic blast while the synth and organ swell and peak in part one of "Border Waves". The pace waxes and wanes as the piece progresses but never halts, slowly ebbing out. The sci-fi infused synth kicks out the second part, followed by a reprise of pummeling drums, bringing "Border Waves" to a climax before subsiding into drawn-out organ drone.The drone continues in the title track, "Steep Formations" like an awakening beast. Consistency is the key for this second piece of the record; the ascending glacial texture through oscillations of sound create an ethereal, albeit intense atmosphere that envelops the cosmos and evokes the sublime for the following thirty-odd minutes.

It is a difficult record to listen to at first by being frightening, overwhelming, and beautiful at the same time; and clocking in at well over an hour through four sides of an LP, it's a lot to swallow. Utilize the free download of the "Steep Formations" LP and go forth to embrace the incredible force that is People Of The North's "Steep Formations", best enjoyed amongst the splendor of the outdoors. It will change your life. It's a beautiful thing, and no one should miss out on it.

Puff Tube's Quark, Strangeness, & Charm

I always thought it was a bit of a bummer that while I was enjoying myself at Hawkwind's Strange Daze festival somewhere on the other side of the ocean (well, Paris) Princess Diana was being hunted down by a pack of wild journalists. While at the fest I traded some high end beers to the guy that ran Ceres Records for a copy of Assassins of Silence, his Hawkwind tribute compilation. The most astounding piece of music on this disc was Puff Tube's version of Quark, Strangeness & Charm. Enjoy: