WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Night Train (MP3)

Ames Brothers  -  Night Train  (2:24)

If the liner notes of this 1960 Ames Brothers LP are accurate, their version of Night Train represents the first vocal version of the song ever recorded.  To be honest, until I found this record at the local Goodwill store a couple of weeks ago, I didn't know anyone had ever done a vocal version of the tune. Well, there's James Brown's spectacular 1962 King records version which has vocals but those consist mostly of the name of the song interspersed with city names and that's a different approach than the traditional verse-chorus technique employed here by the Ames Brothers.

The song was originally recorded by Jimmy Forrest in 1952 and loosely based on a riff cooked up by Duke Ellington's sax player Johnny Hodges, who used it on his 1940 release That's The Blues Old Man.

As for the Ames Brothers, you might scratch your head and wonder what the hell they (or their producers) were thinking as their smooth bland vocals don't mesh very well with the brooding and atmospheric instrumental track in the background.  The whole thing is such a headscratcher, I thought I'd put it up for your listening enjoyment.  Or misery.

Radio Ads and PSA's - The Old, the Outdated and the Weird (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 34) (MP3's)

This week, I went digging around in the corner of the catacombs where I keep stacks of radio ads and PSA's, and dug up a batch of 20-30 year old spots, on four different tapes, which are from a variety of very different times and places.

First up, four 1981 PSA's from the US Customs service, two featuring the dulcet tones of Lorne Greene, and two featuring (a less-than-involved) sounding country singer Terri Gibbs:

Four US Customs Service PSA's (MP3)  | Front of Tape Box (JPG)  | Back of Tape Box (JPG)

Here are three ads from Computerland, with bargains that can hardly be believed: Imagine saving $400 on your purchase of an IBM computer, with enhanced keyboard, DOS and 640 K of RAM, all for only $1999! Where do I sign up????

Three Computerland Radio Ads (MP3)  

Next up, a dozen ads, in a variety of lengths and styles, telling people about the 1982 Tax Filing Season, and the things you might want to know. You'll hear from Lyle Waggoner, Fernando Lamas, Mason Adams, Michael Warren, James Gregory, Anthony Geary and Sarah Purcell, from a recent retiree and from a snooty aunt, among others:

Twelve 1982 IRS Filing Season Radio PSA's (MP3)  |  Tape Box (JPG)

I've saved the best/weirdest/most unexpected for last. When I saw "Land-O-Lakes" on the box, I initially thought it would contain butter or other dairy ads. Not quite, as a closer look at the box indicated (although the box indicates only four ads). This set of eleven ads is from the Land-O-Lakes Co-Op, and feature ads for a variety of products to help your pigs, hogs, calves, cows, and other farm issues. There's some good listening here!:

Eleven Land-O-Lakes Co-Op Radio Ads (MP3)  |  Tape Box (JPG)

Monster Songs and Stories from Sesame St. and Environs

"Lakes, carillons, / Pools and bells, / Fifes and freshets, / Harps and wells; / Flutes and rivers, / Streams, bassoons, / Geysers, trumpets, / Chimes, lagoons. / Hear the music, / Drink the water, / As we poor lambs / All go to slaughter. / I love you Eliot. / Good-bye. I cry. / Tears and violins. / Hearts and flowers, / Flowers and tears. / Rosewater, good-bye."                          Kurt Vonnetgut / God Bless You Mr. Rosewater

As a follow-up to one of my other puppet-monster-related posts, this week I had a hankering for some brightly-colored furry monsters and friends, they're "clumsy but not scary." The first one featuring the lovely music of Samuel Pottle, followed by some Carrol Spinney and Bob McGrath, in two cuts from Big Bird's 'Birdtime Stories' lp. We'll close this short set with a teaser cut from the beginning of Jim Henson's 'Muppet Musicians of Bremen' album. Expert voice work, music, and production all around as usual. Happy All Hallow's Eve!

Sesame St. Monsters: Games Monsters Play          Grover: Be Kind to Monsters       Oscar: The Three Billy Goats Gruff         Bob McGrath: The Emperor's New Clothes (edit)         The Muppet Musicians of Bremen, pt. 1

Greetings from the Motor City! 34-track Detroit Mixtape from The Beehive Recording Co. (MP3s)

The Beehive Recording Company is an incredible resource for quality, hand-crafted music from Detroit. They call it pop cuz it's damn good music, but Beehive is out to preserve a contemporary snapshot of everything from R&B to Russian folk, instrumental jazz to abstract hip-hop, electro-punk rock to the best kinds of avant weirdness.

Detroit really sounds like a city where artists can pursue their vision, and Beehive is the singular vision of Stephen Nawara, a lifelong musician who's played in bands like the Detroit Cobras and Electric Six. He founded Beehive after going through the major label system, finding that it wasn't fair to artists, and deciding to start something that could really make a difference for Detroit's vibrant local music community. Beehive offers in-kind recording sessions at "Studio Bee," then gives each artist a platform to a wider audience through beehiverecording.com where you'll find many more free mp3s by each of the artists featured on this sampler mixtape.

We're pleased to welcome The Beehive Recording Company to the Free Music Archive with this 34-track Detroit Mixtape! I'll let Beehive's "King Bee" Stephen Nawara take it from here:

Greetings from the Motor City! Here in beautiful Detroit, Mi., a new direction for the music industry has taken root and what you are about to experience is but a small sample of work from the countless musicians found here within the city limits. The Beehive Recording Company opened its doors on the Fourth of July, 2010, allowing bands and songwriters to come into our studio and record up to 3 songs for free. When the recordings are completed, artwork is provided to turn their compostions into digital singles complete with an A and B side. Afterwards, the singles are posted on our website, free for our members to download. Any genre of music is welcomed and encouraged, though bands that try to imitate the Top 40 sound, void of colloquialisms, are never welcomed. It is our mission to find what is unique and different about the environment that surrounds us and the more we look; the more we find. After 2 years, over 50 singles have been released, our membership has risen to over 3,000 people from around the world, and our songs have been downloaded over 10,000 times. This has been done with no advertising, exhibiting the raw demand from both performers and audience alike, to find relief from the antiquated ways of the current music industry. Through the practice of 'in-sourcing', Beehive acts as a magnifying glass to Detroit's intricate culture. Not only do musicians benefit from the exposure we are able to provide, but local painters, photographers, and designers have also gained larger audiences by contributing their work to Beehive. From generation to generation, Detroit has been a source of boundless creativity from jazz to blues, Motown to punk, and funk to techno. A town that has been the birthplace of many genres of music as well as the source of a persistent flow of musical stardom like Madonna, Alice Cooper, Bob Seger, Jack White, Iggy Pop, Eminem, Aretha Franklin, and so many others. Though the attention of the press comes and goes, the energy and determination that belongs to our artists is relentless and it is the duty of Beehive to capture as many of these sounds as possible. As this idea continues to grow, we hope to have new Hives pop up in other cities across America, encapsulating what makes their city unique. So please become a member today and help encourage the growth of this new idea. It costs nothing, it is easy to do, and the only notifications that we send out is to show our gratitude when one donates to our cause. Now sit back, relax, and enjoy the free sounds of The Beehive Recording Company, "Detroit's Hand Crafted, Quality, Pop Music!"   - beehiverecording.com

Strange, Heavy Psychedelic Guitar Shreddage at a Thai Family Event?

Thx to Richard Kamerman for the tip. Also. The double-necked guitar.  It's actually a phin.

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 47

Earcandy for your eyes

Death Grips played Villain in Brooklyn on October 19, 2012.

After the break: On The Might of Princes at Saint Vitus, Chain of Strength at The Acheron, Savages at Public Assembly, Virginia Plain at Union Pool, Prong on a boat, Yakuza at Saint Vitus and Theologian at 285 Kent.

WFMU's 31 Days of October is getting scary!

October is getting really scary for us here at WFMU... The month is nearly over and we have yet to hit the 50% mark for our silent fundraising goal! Help save the station from insolvency with your pledge.

Snag our new turntable t-shirt (designed by Nick Dewar) for a pledge of $50 or more.

Better yet, grab the shirt AND our incredible holiday music compilation, "WFMU's War on Christmas" for a pledge of $100. The holiday comp has an exclusive, unreleased version of "Jesus Christ" by Big Star, plus tracks by James Pants, Klaus Nomi, the Reigning Sound, and more!

 

 

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 188

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

Free ride. Free love. Free Bird. Free Mumia! Free to be you and me. Radio Free Europe. Freestyle. Free Soil Party. Free speech. Free your mind and your ass will follow. The Free Design. Free jazz. Free credit report. The truth shall set you free. Free love. Free range chicken. Free verse. Free radicals. Free trade agreement. Free throw. Free association. Free spirit. Born Free. World B. Free. Butterflies Are Free. Duty Free. Scott free. Freddie the Freeloader. Detroit Free Press. Footloose and fancy free. The best things in life are free. Drug free school zone. Free Willy. Keep on rockin' in the free world.

There's a world of great free stuff out there if you know where to look. For great free music, just keep visiting Mining the Audio Motherlode every Wednesday and see what I've dug up. If you appreciate my efforts on your behalf, take a moment and make a small contribution to freeform radio WFMU which makes this all possible. Thank you.

    
David S. Ware  ~  From Silence to Music
(Blog: Inconstant Sol)

From Music to Silence
"So Ware leaves this earth a victor. In a world where conformity is prevalent and privilege from the beginning is usually what guarantees success, he managed to change the history of jazz through authenticity and substance."  (Closing paragraph of Matthew Shipp's elegy for David S. Ware)

 

 

Harry Simeone Chorale - It's Alaska [19??]

Last post I did a review of an LP from 1959 celebrating Hawaii as the 50th United State. Well, this week I've got an LP celebrating the (fabulous) 49th state, Alaska ("the last frontier" as some refer to it and as it's referred to on the record). This is a very, very obscure title. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it's completely lost to history. Apparently, it's the original score for a quasi-Broadway musical production by the same name, though very little about it (or this album, for that matter) comes up doing a quick Google search. I'm actually not 100% sure when this was released, either. Some indicators point to 1959, but some online sources point to the early- to mid-60s. My best guess would be '59-'60, though. It wouldn't make sense for it to be released too long after it became a State, and that was in 1959 too (January 3rd, to be exact).

In line with the era's commercial tradition, but unlike last week's LP (unfortunately), this one has first-class pinup cover art (possibly some of the best I've ever seen), and, despite the cold Alaskan climate, she still decided to show off some gams! How nice of her! Something else I find interesting about this record is that it was composed by Elizabeth Firestone Willis who, as it turns out, was the wife of Charles F. Willis, the president of Alaska Airlines from 1957 to 1972. I don't know whether, or how much, the Alaskan aviation industry was financially affiliated with this record or the production, but there was certainly a direct connection.

Let's Go To Alaska | We're On Our Way | Come See A Land | It's Alaska | Golden Nugget Saloon Sequence | Anchorage Town | Under The Starlight | Remember Alaska | Otto Von Kotzebue | Swingin' Sleigh Ride | That's What Happy Is For | It's Alaska (Reprise)

Really, put simply, this album would be hit or miss for most people. It's got an obvious showtuney thing going on with it, but considering it was composed for a musical production, I wouldn't expect it to deviate too far from that general format. Other than that, the songs are catchy and sugary-sweet, almost like vintage TV jingles. Well-distinguished from the rest of the material, however, is one track that clocks in at over nine minutes, consisting of a skit in the "Golden Nugget Saloon" in which Nugget Nell recounts her life struggles and how she ended up in Alaska. I was cracking up in my seat listening to this, in part because it's kind of cheesy, but mainly because its lyrics would probably be a good PG-13 by today's standards. I don't want to give it all away, but there's talk of polygamy, prostitution and more. If you listen to one thing on this entire album, make sure it's the "Golden Nugget Saloon Sequence" (track #5), I highly doubt you'd be disappointed.

Children's Day at the Morgue

 

Sheldon Allman has been mentioned before on this blog in 2006, wherein we were informed about his history as an actor and singer in the 60s, notably appearing on The Fugitive, and The Twilight Zone.  It was also made known that Allman did a record called Folk Songs for the 21st Century and he did music for an episode of Mr. Ed, writing and singing two songs as the voice of the talking horse, among many other things.  What wasn't mentioned was that he also worked with Bobby Pickett on two horror themed musicals, and more importantly, he did an exceptional monster record called "Sing Along With Drac".  I did an interview with Count Loachfillet a few years ago, and he turned me onto it.  It's a killer!   Above is a youtube clip where the uploader (incidentally considering the recent post) mistook him for Thurl Ravenscroft (good company as far as I'm concerned).  

Mittnocchio (MP3)

(Image from Nomadic Politics)

WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio stream recently aired 30 classic Rough Mix radio productions by master mixologist Steinski, which originally aired on the station back in 1995. (You can hear archives of all those programs and more via this page.) Now Steinski has brought to life an all-new creation, just in time for the election. He calls it:

Mitt vs. The Truth

(Note: Though just a word or two are NSFW, the subject matter is itself entirely offensive.)

Ancient Times: An Interview with Phil Elverum

 

Over the past decade and a half, Phil Elverum has proved himself not only as a figure of great, transformative, and original music, but as a person who has set their own clear path within an increasingly commodified, corporatized independent music world. Handing almost every aspect of his music, from writing and recording songs to arranging art and printing the vinyl, Elverum has established an individualistic musical identity that continues to inspire.

2012 has proved to be a great year for Elverum, with two brilliant full-length albums, (Clear Moon and Ocean Roar, respectively) released. You can catch up with Phil at his brilliant Twitter account here or at the PW Elverum & Sun site here. The interview is after the jump.

Something Engaging & Trasformative: An Interview with Vicki Bennett

Vicki Bennett has been making audio and visual collage since 1991, when the internet was a fetus and you probably didn't own a computer. She creates her work with the nom de plume People Like Us. It's a moniker that speaks to the role of the collective and popular culture in her work, and a need to belong. Using collage as her medium, she creates audio recordings, films and radio shows that mix and manipulate original sources from both experimental and popular media. Her work has been shown at Tate Modern, The Barbican, Sydney Opera House, Pompidou Centre, Maxxi in Rome and Sonar, and she's hosted the WFMU radio program Do or DIY since 2003.

Plus, she's a judge for the Past Re-Imagined As the Future remix contest with the Free Music Archive. In this Q&A, Bennett shares that she's hoping to see works that are engaging and transformative. As you comb through the materials in the Prelinger Archives, she reminds us that these videos aren't just about the past, but also about the present, the future, and something timeless.

What first drew you to the practice of AV collage art?

That there is a huge palette to choose from which means you can get started right away. I've been making collages since I was about 16. I found that I like working with audio and imagery with previously existing conceptual/contextual associations, because it allows me to redirect the focus of these associations into new stories, like a conductor or director. It also appeals very strongly to my surreal, subversive sense of humour - being able to turn things upside down. Collage has a very long history and made huge statements, just by taking what already exists and representing it in a new or different way - it has frequently been political or politicized. Collage is not just about putting random images together, collage is about composition, editing, and language. It exists everywhere since all languages are a collage of content that already exists.

 

How has changing technology influenced your practice?

 

The coming of broadband, file sharing platforms, and the affordability of high speed computers and editing software around 2000 changed everything for me. No longer was I reliant upon finding things locally to work with or borrowing other people's dat machines or cassette four tracks - suddenly I could multitrack and edit in the way I always wanted to. I was waiting for 10 years to do things how I really imagined.

 

When did you first encounter the Prelinger Archives? How has it played a role in your work? 

 

As soon as I got broadband in 2000. This really changed not only the way I thought about making work but also opened my mind to just how much things were going to change now that people could share, exchange and converse. This was around this time that Brewster Kahle persuaded Rick Prelinger to share some footage online for free at archive.org. Before this I was really in a difficult position sourcing well transfered moving image - dependent on vhs rips from things from video and tv. The films Rick shares are beautiful quality with wonderful images, subjects and messages. I downloaded one film from archive.org and emailed Rick and thanked him. Then I sent him a big package of CDs and we started corresponding. We were in touch for years on a daily basis exchanging ideas and so on. I made many films and two live performances entirely from Rick's films.

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 187

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

Got Indonesian psych? Radical French balladry? Iconic 20th-century experimentalism? Free-jazz power trios? Aussie folk warbling? Well you've come to the right place. Mining the Audio Motherlode prowls the free-music blogosphere in order to share the mindblowingest sounds around. To enjoy the fruits of this labor, take a gander at the quintet of gems on display below.

Freeform radio station WFMU, which keeps the Sterno ablaze under this sonic buffet, is holding a fundraiser and needs your help. If you've enjoyed leaving the legwork to us in order to "discover" great free music, please consider making a small contribution to WFMU using this safe, secure pledge widget. Thank you!

    
Pattie Sisters with Enteng & His Comets
(Blog: Madrotter's Treasure Hunt)

Entengled
"Often touted as the first ever Indonesian psych album, Enteng's guitar playing is just phenomenal on this one"  (Description by Henk Madrotter)

 

 

 

Sportsy Talk: Gay Techno Glowstick Music

Thanks to WFMU’s Internets dominance, we have now reached the furthest niche of nicheyness in Listeners, which is fans of the South Carolina Gamecocks. (Hi, Deep South!) The Gamecocks, the #3 #7 college football team in the country, are the subject of an extremely fine and hitherto unheard-of conspiracy theory, launched by fans of Georgia (another state somewhere outside the WFMU broadcast area) after the Bulldogs were humiliated by South Carolina in a game a couple of weeks ago. Georgia fans speculate that their distressing loss was due not to the Gamecock defense holding Georgia to just 115 yards rushing, but was caused by the Gamecock’s HYPNOTIZING GAY TECHNO GLOWSTICK MUSIC. That is, the music that was played in Williams-Brice Stadium to rile up the fans before the game. See for yourself:

  

(Thanks to Deadspin, my favorite sports site, for this.)

There’s not much to say except, as one Deadspin commenter pointed out, it’s more like Hypnotizing Gay HOUSE Glowstick Music. Also, I thought that bird (an actual Gamecock?) was totally fake until it slowly deflated at about 0:43.  And, also, there appears to be a guy whose entire job is to fan the bird. Our friend Nate says if he were in charge of music for the Georgia Bulldogs, he would have them play one of those super low-frequency things that would cause all the Gamecocks to evacuate their bowels, except that it would cause the Bulldogs to do the same, and also all the fans. And probably the bird, too.

Miss Jessica Is Pregnant (MP3s)

  

Radio Spot #1   (:26)

Radio Spot #2   (:59) 

The web site Rural Route Films decribes this low-budget backwoods hillbilly flick this way:  "Originally released under the unfortunate title Miss Jessica Is Pregnant (it was filmed under the title Spring Night, Summer Night), this 1968 portrait of poverty-stricken Appalachia represents a unique moment in the history of the American independent film.  Shot entirely on location in Southern Ohio, the story of a young couple, who may or may not share a father, marks the start of a movement in regional cinema that became increasingly popular through the 1970s and 1980s as filmmakers took up the task of exploring an America outside of Hollywood.  Today the film allows viewers a unique glimpse back in time, to witness the concerns and constraints of the "New American Cinema" when it was first taking shape.  That the film bravely confronts incest - the most taboo of all rural stereotypes - without prejudice makes it all the more singular."  The trailer, which features brief nudity, can be seen over on YouTube.

All of which kind of brings to mind a couple of jarringly weird "brother/sister love" country 45s that were blogged here long ago.

Marilyn Manson & The Spooky Kids (talking to a fake psychic!)

Of the wide oeuvre that exists from famous bands whose precocious demos seemed like the last thing that a major label would pick up and find to be marketable, so far as I know, Marilyn Manson & The Spooky Kids has got to take the cake.  This isn't to say that the music was bad per se, it's just that they amount to about the most unconventional way to cater to nefarious record labels imaginable.  Some of the demos included answering machine messages, readings of The Cat In The Hat, weird off-kilter drum machine ditties, and vulgar spoken word over pitch bent samples and backwards voices.  The Spooky Kids started out with the lead singer reading poetry while the would-be keyboard player, previous to being able to afford a keyboard,  would have his own little playhouse set up in the corner of the stage.  Madonna Wayne Gacy's little annex was made up of oversized building blocks and stuffed animals, and he would spend the entire time playing with army men, ignoring the audience.  Later on, the Spooky Kids would take their dark side of childhood affectations concept and go on to incorporate sadomasochistic cage play, chainsaws, homosexual antics, and reckeless pyrotechnics (their first drummer Sara Lee Lucas, quit after being set afire on stage).  Sometimes they would throw plastic bags full of chocolate into the crowd, other times they would throw out plastic bags full of cat shit.  

The Spooky Kids had a couple of side projects:  "Satan on Fire" and "Mrs. Scabtree".  Satan on Fire was a fake Christian death metal band, consecrated with the intention to infiltrate the Christian "club scene".  They had radio play for a song (that I have never been able to find) called "Mosh For Jesus".  Mrs. Scabtree was referred to as "not even performance art, just art".  Apparently they had a song where all they would do is name the women around town whom they knew had herpes.   They would paint their faces black and wear dresses, and insult the crowd most of the time.  

 

Murder Your Marilyn (64 minutes - many more links below the fold!)

The Elusive Thurl Ravenscroft Single: A 30 Year Search Comes to an End (MP3's)

Today's story begins with another story, from another time and place: It's 1982, and I'm in the music library of Northwestern University.  A few years earlier, I had been turned on to Casey Kasum's American Top 40, and I quickly found that following the charts tied in nicely with my expanding love of then-current pop music, my passion for playing with numbers (and math in general), and, in the years that followed, my burgeoning adoration and knowledge about the music of the '50's and '60's.

So it was that, when I went to a small community college a few years later, and my studies took me to Northwestern's library (mere blocks away), I quickly discovered that their music library had copies of Billboard Magazine going back to the turn of the century - not on microfilm, either, but the real thing. I soon began spending copious amounts of my overabundant free time copying the top 40 pop charts out of those Billboards - by hand, mind you (filling in endless sheets with numbers 1-40, then copying the positions from the previous two weeks in the margins (for use in adding the details later), typically while listening to cassette copies of the contents of my latest reel to reel purchases!) - starting with the year of my birth (1960), and quickly expanding forward. Then, when I wanted to find out more, I began copying the earlier charts, too, going back to the first printed top ten chart, from July 20, 1940. I also developed my own method of determining the biggest hits of the years, and played with the mathematics of the charts for hours on end. (Ah, those were the days - the binders of handwritten charts and math-play chart numbers still sit on a shelf in my office at home.)

Looking through all those magazines also afforded me the opportunity to look at the reviews, ads and other information about records which were released during all those years. This was wonderful for many reasons. Among many examples: I got to see what Billboard had said, upon reviewing all manner of records that I loved, such as "Mecca" the most peculiar and wonderful 45 ever released by that most peculiar and wonderful of early '60's singers, Gene Pitney. I got to follow the shameful way the trade paper fell in line with the Red Scare of the early 1950's. More to the point for this story, I also got to find out about records I would never have otherwise known about, due to them being mentioned in ads or reviews. This was great in terms of many different artists I was interested in, and I developed a lengthy list of records to look for, in the front of my chart binder, but it turned out to be particularly helpful in terms of one of my other quickly expanding passions of the time - collecting records by Thurl Ravenscroft.

Dr. Reginald D. MacNitt with more Psycholaxation (side two)

"All persons, living and dead,   are purely coincidental,   and should not be construed."  (Kurt Vonnegut)

"That is not dead which can eternal lie,  /   And with strange aeons death may die."  (H. P. Lovecraft)

{ PSYCHOPOMPOS :  The guider of souls,  another name for Hermes. }

      "May I come into your home,  and help you relax your mind and body?  Thank you."

      "If you don't mind, I will sit right here beside the couch on which you're lying."  (Reginald MacNitt)

This week I'm back to present side two of this relaxing disc. It's not so much that is an amazing relaxation course or groundbreaking in any way - it's the man's sweet delivery that forced me to eventually DJ him for the public. I think it's the preparatory material on each side, the first few minutes while he sets the stage for his work, that I find the most fun. Side one was presented here two weeks ago, and now let's plunge into the deep waters of side two.

Psycholaxation with Dr. Reginald D. MacNitt / side two

Scott Walker album preview

Machetes out December 3rd!