WFMU's Beware of the Blog

In Memory of Earl Eugene Scruggs

To commemorate the passing of legendary and influential banjo stylist (as well as wicked guitar picker) Earl Scruggs this week at age 88,  let's play this complete Martha White Flour program from June fourth, 1953. It features one of my favorite Flatt & Scruggs numbers, "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke"  and many other pieces. You can also take a look at this same song performed on one of the episodes of their television show, and more, right after the jump.

Martha White Show

I wish I could lay hands on a pithy quote from Mr. Scruggs himself, at this short notice, but I will at least pass along this story from the autobiography of Charlie Louvin of the Louvin Brothers.  We join Charlie as he talks about their early pre-fame days on the radio, where they briefly went by the name "The Foggy Mountain Boys" (along with two other fellas):

  "The funny thing was, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs came up with the same name later, and when they broke up, they had a lawsuit going about who owned the rights to it. Lester thought it should be Lester Flatt and the Foggy Mountain Boys, and Earl thought it should be Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys. Well, one night, I ran into Lester backstage at a show we were playing together, and I said, "Lester, what in the hell are you boys doing suing each other?"

  "Well," Lester said, "Earl claims the name belongs to him because he wrote the 'Foggy Mountain Breakdown'. And I say that I came up with the name before he even wrote that song."

  "Shit," I said, "it don't belong to either damn one of you."

Decoder Knocks You Over

By Robert Ham - Movie - Decoder (Muscha, 1984)

What's on Network Awesome today?

To understand the power that a film like Decoder can wield over the people watching it, try this experiment: turn down the brightness on your computer screen until it is completely blank (or for the low-tech version, just shut your eyes while the video plays). Even if you don't have a working knowledge of the German language, the Foley effects, atmospheric sound, and background/foreground music meshed with the tone of the dialogue should orient you to the action happening on the other side of your eyelids and disorient you in equal measure. The disgusting squish of the bottle of condiments, the sexy throb of Soft Cell's "Seedy Films," the chirpy swing of the Muzak played in the fast food restaurant, and the squelching fritz of the lead character's sonic experiments will combine to leave you feeling jelly-limbed and slightly nauseous.

Lip-synched Music Videos Made in Northgate Mall, circa 1980

Via Ari Spool of Impose mag.  Many more video clips from this stash here.

DJ Handi's Archive Picks: Bags, Feeds, & Twerps

Nardwuar had Alice Bag of The Bags on The Human Serviette Show. The Bags were one of the first Los Angeles punk bands. The group started performing in 1977, with grocery bags over their heads. This stopped when Darby Crash of the Germs went onstage and ripped Alice's bag off. In Nardwuar's interview, Alice discusses, among the topics, meeting a young, world famous singer, before Nardwuar plays The Bags "Survive."

Tomorrow, from 6-9pm, Rob Weisberg will have Attwenger on Transpacific Sound Paradise. This band specializes in performing thrash renditions of Alpine polka songs. Rob played their "Duamasche."

Evan "Funk" Davies played a reissue of the early 1970's funk band Two Things In One after a track from their contemporaries, the blues-rock group Smith. Two Things In One were from the California Bay Area, and recorded raw but melodic grooves.

On Tuesday, April 3rd, from 3-6pm, Brian Turner will have Australian punk band Feedtime, as well as the guitar pop of fellow Australians The Twerps. The raw sound of the 1980's Feedtime cast an influence on the early-1990's Seattle grunge scene. Liz Berg played Feedtime's "Motorbike Girl," and Martha played "Anything New" by The Twerps.

Some live vidoes of Hijokaidan

All hail Hijokaidan! Infamous pioneering Japanese noise destructionists centered around founder Jojo Hiroshige, the collective in various forms have used volume, cacophony, and narry a hint of "musical" sound to bludgeon their audience into a masochistic submission. Below, a collection of some very delightful live performances, most featuring regular members Junko and Toshiji Mikawa of the similarly demented Incapacitants. More noise, less music: bring forth the melee! Someone get them back for a stateside show already.

Where We At

Smiles of a Summer Night

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 31

Earcandy for your eyes

After about half a year of turning into a couch potato, the month of March provided enough artistic fire power to transform (((unartig)))'s rusty bones into a 'forever 21' Duracell bunny again. If you like all things dark, moody, heavy and melancholy, then the below journey through Brooklyn's underground sphere won't disappoint you.

Yosh of Bloody Panda fame live at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn on March 15, 2012.

more darkness below

Newly Uploaded Bouton Rouge TV Footage of Classic Psych Bands

Mike Sin pointed this one out to WFMU staffers a few days ago to much excitement.  This Youtube Channel posted a ton of complete live sessions on France's TV show Bouton Rouge.  15 Minute sets from the likes of Fairport Convention, Grapefruit, Procul Harem, Small Faces, etc etc etc.  God bless the internet.

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 160

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

Long-time readers of the Motherlode (and listeners of my radio show Give the Drummer Some) are well familiar with my near-hysterical schoolboy infatuation with South African music. In my nearly four decades of music discovery, no other sounds on the planet have thrilled me as deeply as the recordings of South African artists—in large part, the music produced by those in exile during the last thirty years of the the Apartheid abomination.

Well, it pleases me immensely to report that now this particular area of music has been paid near-miraculous tribute by artist/archivist Siemon Allen in a new post at Electric Jive. Assembled in two long sets, with rich annotation for each selection, Allen's "In Exile" presentation paints a portrait at once devastating and uplifting. Go hear and see for yourself.

    
Various  ~  In Exile
(Blog: Electric Jive)

Umkhonto we Sizwe!
"For purposes of definition, exile music here covers a thirty year period from 1959 to 1990, during the heart of the apartheid years. This survey is by no means comprehensive, nor is it representative of all South African exile artists or even their ‘best’ work. Rather it is a collection of some of my favorite, more personal tunes. Tunes that for me capture some of the darker but also more ecstatic moments of exile. The alienation, isolation of the foreign experience is evident on many tracks, especially the solo performances. But at the same time, so are fragments of cultural memory, various phrasings, quotes of the majuba sounds of the 1950s, that instantly recall a distant home. Often the fragments gives way to moments of ecstatic joy and build in strength to challenge the darkness."  (Description by Siemon Allen, at Electric Jive)

EUC on ESP TV# 15

Here's a clip from EUC's performance on E.S.P. TV #15 airing April 10th on Ch 67 Time Warner/84 RCN in Manhattan...

 

and tune in TONIGHT for E.S.P. TV #14 featuring Xeno and Oaklander. Airing at 10pm on Ch 67 Time Warner/84 RCN in Manhattan.

Coming soon....E.S.P. TV #17 starring Jandek...

From the Country that Brought You Lutefisk and Vidkun Quisling

I’ve written before (somewhat incoherently) about the Norwegian black metal scene—Until the Light Takes Us, Lords of Chaos, the murder of Mayhem’s Euronymous—but it’s thanks to WFMU’s Music Director Brian Turner that I know how to vote to get Euronymous’ picture painted on the tail of an airplane of the Norwegian National Airline.

Apparently, they’re having a contest—in Norwegian!—to vote for the dead famous Norwegian who most deserves to have his or her portrait painted on a plane. There are so many dead famous Norwegians (“The only famous Norwegian is a dead Norwegian”) that they have to have four separate contests! Euronymous is currently in FIRST PLACE in the voting to have his portrait on a plane that flies in and out of Oslo,  beating out the likes of Grete Waitz and King Olav V.

You should totally vote for Euronymous! Just remember, his real name was Øystein Aarsteth. You just go to the Oslo page of the website, find Øystein’s name, and click on the heart to the right of it. Yes, it’s in Norwegian, but it’s really not that hard. And also, don’t be trying to vote more than once; the Norwegians play fair and square, and they know if Du har allerede stemt.

And in case you need a reminder, here’s why Euronymous deserves to be painted on an airplane.

The Language of Humanity: Jerzy Kucia

by Daniel Creahan - Watch - The Films of Jerzy Kucia

What's on Network Awesome today?

Jerzy Kucia’s work occurs in a world held at arm’s length from reality; the familiar forms of humanity -- our bodies, accessories, instruments -- all remain in the foreground, but floating in a vague disconnect from each other, lending each other a weight not always possible in the linear approach of traditional animation approaches.  Even time and movement find themselves removed in a way that’s startlingly refreshing, and, perhaps more notably, remarkably vocal.

DJ Handi's Archive Picks: Sad Macaroni

Bob Brainen played "The Sad One," a 1967 track by New Orleans guitarist Eddie Lang, from the newly issued Mr.Joe's Jambalaya & Loaded Down With The Blues.  Eddie's real name was Eddie Langlois, and he was influenced by and recorded with Guitar Slim. Ted Barron played a 78 rpm recording of Slim's "Troubles Don't Last."

Frank O'Toole played music from Macaroni, the new Bobby Conn album. Here, Conn continues to do what he has done best for fifteen years: creating synergies of 1970'a art rock and glam and 1980's new wave influences.

Brian Turner had guitarist Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth on his show. Ranaldo released his first rock-context solo album, Between The Times And Tides this week. Here is his live set, his band here consisting of guitarist Alan Licht, bassist Irwin Menken, and Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley, 

Next Monday, March 26, from 6-9pm, Dan Bodah will have Cuddle Magic as his guests. Cuddle Magic is an ensemble with up to nine members, and mix folk, minimalism and world music into whimsical but complex songs. Irene Trudel played "The Packaging," one of the band's tracks. 

 

"There is no pilot" - Laurie Anderson on "Good Morning Mr. Orwell"

On January 1, 1984, PBS aired Nam June Paik's "Good Morning Mr. Orwell." The entire concept, of PBS airing a series of bizarre happenings with artists ranging from Salvador Dali to Oingo Boingo, is pretty hard to imagine nowadays. Actually watching clips from the program is even stranger. A collection of clips from the program can be seen here, and gives a slight taste of what it must have been like to watch the program back in the day. John Cage plays amplified cactus with Takehisa Kosugi, Oingo Boingo is...Oingo Boingo, and Allen Ginsberg chants a sing songy tune with Arthur Russell on cello. The most striking piece, though, is Laurie Anderson's solo piece, "The Language of the Future." The piece also appears on Anderson's wonderful release, "United States Live." Her 1984 T.V. performance is transfixing: 

 

"Man, oh man, you know, like, oh man! It's so...digital!" And she just meant that the relationship was on again, off again, always two things, switching, current runs through bodies, and then...it doesn't. It was a language of sounds, of noise, of switching, of signals. It was the language of the rabbit, the caribou, the penguin, the beaver, a language of the past. Current runs through bodies and then it doesn't. On again. Off again. Always two things switching. One thing instantly replaces another. It was the Language of the Future."

Live Go-Go In The 80's/90's

Earlier this week, I came across some amazing live go-go videos from the late 80's and early 90's on YouTube. Growing up near D.C. (I lived an hour away), I can remember as a kid on one particular occasion seeing a flurry of kids in go-go bands playing on every corner, homemade junk percussion in tow and some insanely intense, rich grooves. It's the sub-genre's distinctive rhythms that drive the music into something focused almost purely on the percussive interplay and call-and-response participation; describing the sound is difficult to put into words, but once you hear it, you know what go-go is.

The style has been intensely regional, very rarely breaking through to the mainstream outside of D.C., save for maybe E.U.'s "Da Butt" being used in Spike Lee's School Daze or Amerie's 00's R&B hit (and best pop song of the last decade, in my opinion) "1 Thing." I was a little oblivious to go-go as the 90's and 00's wore on, but looking back and listening/watching these performances, I'm struck by just how intensely gritty and funky these bands were in the genre's prime. Enjoy:

Chuck Brown And The Soul Searchers:

In Praise of Miller (on Miller)

I work about three blocks from Henry Miller's childhood home: 662 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.

I walk by it on lunchbreaks.  Sometimes I stroll by after I clock out.  Outwardly, the building itself has no real significance.  It's an unassuming redbrick three-flat with an unused ground-floor store front.  There's little to distinguish it from any other building on the block, but I keep going back.  I'm in awe of its cultural importance.  I'm in awe of Henry Miller.

The old goat's account of "the neighborhood" is one of many repetitive, hypnotic constants in his writing.  His Fourteenth Ward appears promimently in several of his best works -- in essays, memoirs, novels, etc. -- so whenever I pass the rising redbrick, I immediately succumb to a dizzying carousel of comparisons: Miller's Williamsburg vs. its modern counterpart, his Brooklyn vs. others', his struggle to break through a square existence vs. my looming 5 p.m. beer urge. 

Bones, Drums & Bass: CRAWL is 1-Man Blackened Doom from Texas [MP3s, Video]

Crawl is a one-man experimental sludge project from San Antonio TX. With his vocal mic shrouded in a parastacoidean mask, Emperor Crawl drums with one hand while. With the other, he controls a home-built bass string instrument made of actual bones. He likes to build things, he says, and to run sound through a wall of amps. The result is eloquently blackened doom with nods to Khanate's Things Viral and Sunn O)))'s Black One.

I stumbled into Crawl's incredible live performance at Sux by SuxWest, Austin's second-annual anti-sxsw noise festival. I'd originally biked to way out Bernadette's for Rat Bastard and the supremely funky Olneyville Sound System, who were at the top of their game in duo form. Crawl's set was an unexpected highlight of my time in Austin, and left the entire room stunned. After our applause faded into an uncomfortable silence (yo where's the DJ?), Emperor Crawl removed his mask to let us know that he does not have any merch— but! There is this demo recorded in 2010 that you encouraged to download and share:

A photo of Crawl's bass string instrument and video of an earlier Crawl performance after the jump...

KinkZoid

Tony Coulter here, hoping to shine a light on a fine but little-known duo dubbed KinkZoid. Formed in 2005, KinkZoid consists of Steve De Chiara -- formerly of Chicago's great Blitzoids -- and Greg Chapman. Like the Blitzoids, echos of whose sound are very much in evidence, KinkZoid records avant-outsider songs that blend Rock in Opposition--style prog with Residential goofiness, and mix humour with anger and despair. Below the fold, you'll find my favorite tracks from their five releases to date. Give a listen and help keep true, inspired weirdness alive.

Xeno and Oaklander on E.S.P. TV #14

Xeno and Oaklander played at last week's E.S.P. TV live taping at Present Company in Brooklyn alongside EUC, a 3D video by Ken Jacobs, "Gift of Fire: Nineteen (Obscure) Frames That Changed the World", and "Trans Trans" by Bradley Eros and Tim Geraghty.

Here's a sneak peek of Xeno and Oaklander's performance. The full episode airs next Tues. Mar 27 at 10pm on Ch. 67 Time Warner/MNN4 in Manhattan. More info at www.esptvnyc.com

 

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 159

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

Allow your Miner to indulge his first love, a little creative improvised music for a hump-day stroll through Motherlodesville. You can call it jazz if you like, but I find that term pitifully inadequate. (I could just go with personal hero Yusef Lateef's description of the music as "autophysiopsychic," but writing the explanation would eat into my precious listening time. Suffice it say that the five albums presented here provide some thrilling and lovely moments. Collect them all!

 

 

    
Max Roach/Archie Shepp  ~  Force (Sweet Mao/Suid Afrika 76)
(Blog: Free the Music)

Sweet
"This exceptional double-album of duets with Archie Shepp helped inaugurate Max Roach’s own revolutionary cultural program. Over the ensuing years, he purposefully connected with the younger generation of adventurous jazz musicians, engaging in a series of stellar duets with Dollar Brand, Anthony Braxton, and Cecil Taylor. Roach not only reinvigorated his own music and pushed his playing to dazzling heights, he proved himself (at least) the creative equal of his esteemed partners."  (Description by Destination: OUT)