WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Bhob Rainey, curator of online musics

The following comes to us from our friend Bhob Rainey:

As much as I enjoy records and even CDs, SACDs, and the like, I’m pretty damn happy that so much music can be streamed and downloaded in high- or very-close-to-high-quality digital formats. Sites like Bandcamp and SoundCloud have allowed a great deal of interesting music to live and propagate on the internet at no cost to artists of all stripes. And it bears mentioning that these sites and their embeddable players are far more pleasant to use and look at than some of their predecessors.

The problem with the Bandcamp and SoundCloud models (and a great deal of the expiring Web 2.0 revolution), however, is that empowering individual artists comes at the expense of the power of curation – the kind of curation traditionally done by record labels, independent record stores, and local radio stations.  We see a natural response to this gap from individuals who post music on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc., because, after all, given media to share, we humans share media. But we are still left with a growing set of endpoints – you reach an artist’s Bandcamp, blog, SoundCloud page, etc., and your path to the next artist starts back at Google or whatever online tastemaker got you clicking – leaving many artists’ pages dangling in rarely-traveled airspace.

In a short time, this will change. I have no doubt that platforms and incentives for curation will better map the experience of online media exploration. In the meantime, I wanted to start gathering URLs for streamable, downloadable, experimental (to use a broad, if inaccurate term) music and put those in one place. I put out requests on Twitter and Facebook and received quite a few URLs from people that I previously knew nothing about. For now, I’m listing them here, basically in the order they appeared. I’m sure there are many more out there, and I’m hoping that people will add them to the comments section of this post.  And I’m sure the artists would appreciate positive comments from people discovering their music for the first time.

Let the list begin.

 

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 106

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

WFMU, the non-commercial community radio station that hosts Beware of the blog, is smack dab in the middle of its annual two-week fund-raising marathon. Despite the economy remaining in the crapper, WFMU continues to thrive and evolve—purely on the strength of listener/reader contributions.

If you haven't yet made a donation to WFMU, tear yourself away from the magnificent offerings in this week's Motherlode to send WFMU ten measly bucks. Or fifty.

Despite being personally unemployed for two years now (I got laid off during WFMU's 2009 marathon) I've dutifully pumped out these Mining the Audio Motherlodes virtually every week simply because sharing music is an honorable and deeply pleasurable thing to do. So now I ask you to do me the honor and pleasure of making a contribution of any amount to keep WFMU, Beware of the Blog, and Mining the Audio Motherlode hale and hearty for the rest of 2011. 

Regular Motherlode visitors please note that a $75 pledge to WFMU will automatically get you a copy of Love Your Motherlode, Again, a full-length CD presenting the most wonderful tracks from my favorite album presented in the past 12 months of Mining the Audio Motherlode. (Just go to WFMU's marathon page, and be sure to check off "Doug Schulkind's Love Your Motherlode, Volume 2" when you make your pledge."

Plus: You can be the first person on your block to "adopt" the iconic Miner.

Give a little something...

 

Asiko Rock Group  ~  "Asiko Rock Group"
(Blog: ID Reverberations)

Lagos Inferno
"Loud, demented, afro-funk from Nigeria."
(Cassandra, from ID Reverberations)

"Loud, demented, afro-funk from Nigeria"? Are you trying to kill me with excitement? Are you trying to make me explode? Yes!! You are.
(Peskypesky, commenting at ID Reverberations)

 

Charlie Nothing  ~  "The Psychedelic Saxophone of Charlie Nothing"
(Blog: Magic of Juju)

Being and Nothing
"Do NOT download this if you are musically timid, on medication (the prescribed kind, that is), or have a severe case of tinitis, or your ears may begin to leak copious amounts of fluid. Apparently Mr. Nothing dropped some blotters just before this recording was made for the Takoma label (C-1015) back in 1967. There, you have been warned. Enjoy!"
(Rugrat at Basement Rug)

Various  ~  "Cumbias et Tamboritos du Panama"
(Blog: Listen to Your Ears)

Idiom Savants
"Panamanian music is among the most exciting in the whole Afro-Latin area. On the Afro end are the voices-and-drums tamboritos, sung and played superbly here by groups of young women. The fiddle-and-percussion cumbia and guitar-backed mejorana are both real Creole idioms, whose Spanish and African elements are both crucial. Then there's the carnival music of the diablitos, and oddest of all, the howling gritos of the midnight hours. This is the real thing, taped before the tradition began to fade. It is also the only album devoted to this wonderful idiom, and capped by a charming piece of Choco Indian flute playing.."
(John Storm Roberts, in the liner notes to Street Music of Panama, reissued by Original Music)

The Politicians  ~  "Psycha-Soula-Funkadelic"
(Blog: Hard…Raw…Deep…Funk)

Barack HUSSEIN Obama, Tea Party motherfuckers
"This is pure, unadulterated hard heavy funk in the style of early Funkadelic, early Ohio Players and those sadly underrated soul bands out of the Invictus stable (100 Proof Aged in Soul, Flaming Ember). The Politicians were in fact the Invictus house band and trombonist McKinley Jackson was in practice its head. This album, originally released under the title "The Politicians featuring McKinley Jackson" in 1972, came into being after Jackson's contact with Funkadelic—he can be heard on Funkadelic's 1971 tune "Back in Our Minds." Impressed with George Clinton's entire Thang, he wrote and recorded "Psycha-Soula-Funkadelic," a heavy funk track washed in psychedelic gimmicks."
(Wino, at Electric Mud)

 

Eugene McDaniels  ~  "Outlaw"
(Blog: You Can Get With DISS...)

La Luh Luh La La, La Luh Luh Luh Luh Luh La La, La La La La La La La La, La La La La La La La La, Smoke a Joint
"'Like many other Americans of the era, something happened to Eugene McDaniels between 1965 and 1970 that transformed him from Gene McDaniels to "Eugene McDaniels the Left Rev. Mc D". The former Mr. McDaniels was a clean-cut soul singer in the mold of Jackie Wilson that enjoyed minor commercial success in the early '60s with songs like "A Hundred Pounds of Clay" and "Tower of Strength"; the reinvented Reverend posited himself as a fervent voice of protest, recording a pair of now-classic records for Atlantic in 1970 and 1971. But where many other artists dabbled in the counterculture to explore different ways of presenting their image or to take advantage of looser codes of moral conduct, McDaniels fully embraced the movement's radical politics -- so much so that then-Vice President Spiro Agnew allegedly called Atlantic to issue a verbal cease-and-desist order upon the release of his second record (Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse) for the label.
(Scott Hreha, at PopMatters)

 

 

Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays 6-7pm, on WFMU and Fridays 9 to noon—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio.
Send your email address to get on the mailing list for a weekly newsletter about the show, the stream and Mining the Audio Motherlode.

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

 

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 105

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

If you took all of the dollar bills you saved downloading the music presented in these pages each week and placed them end to end—Stop!—you'd be wasting precious time that you could be downloading the music served up below. But hey, while you've got that cash laying about, please take a couple of precious minutes to toss WFMU some badly needed cash.

Please go to WFMU's pledge page and make a contribution now. If you pledge at the "premium" level ($75), you qualify to receive a copy of Love Your Motherlode, Again, my personally handcrafted full-length CD of favorite tracks culled from the best LPs presented in Mining the Audio Motherlode over the past year. Whatever amount you can donate to WFMU will be gratefully appreciated. Please ruminate on all the amazing music you've been turned onto here, and than do a good turn and make a donation to WFMU. Thanks.

Another happy Mother(lode)'s day ...

Omar Khorshid  ~  "Tribute to Oum Koulsoum"
(Blog: Record Fiend)
[password = record-fiend.blogspot.com]

To Oum With Love
"As its title suggests, Tribute to Oum Koulsoum features instrumental versions of songs (mostly composed by Mohammed Abdel Wahab) made famous by the Egyptian chanteuse. If anything can equal the power of that lady's voice, it's Khorshid's guitar. From concert photos that I've seen, Khorshid appears to have been typically backed by a group that included an accordionist and two percussionists on hand drums. That seems to be the case on this album and on most of his other recordings from his 1973-1977 peak period as well. The accordion sounds like it has been run through some kind of effects box. Although it occasionally has a dated 1970s cheesy synthesizer sound, for the most part it provides the perfect foundation for Khorshid to go off on his amazing solo flights, while the drummers provide some fantastic polyrhythms. Words really can't do these stately performances justice."   (Commentary from Record Fiend) 

 

Little Beaver  ~  "Party Down"
(Blog: Joe Blow the Sample King)

Damn!
"The guitar work is the real star of the piece. It manages to be tidy and relaxed, embellishing the groove with a minimum of fuss while always adding to the vibe of the track. Although most of the music featured concentrates on life's good times, on the albums few slower and sadder tracks - like "Joey" and "I Feel Like Crying -the guitar proves more than able to express sorrow and sadness. And Little Beaver's voice, although not as versatile as his playing, always connects with the themes and emotions of the songs."  (BBC review by Matt Harvey)

Trio Nagô  ~  "Trio Nagô"
(Blog: Boss Brasileira)

Pop Goes the Threesome
"Trio Nagô was a musical group that was very successful in Ceará in the fifties, and almost unknown to current generations. The trio began to take shape in 1948 when Mario Alves de Almeida and Epaminondas Souza, who has sung in Ceará Radio Club, met Evaldo Gouveia. In 1954, the Trio was awarded the Prize Roquette Pinto "Best Vocal Ensemble." This album is a collection assembled from songs originally recorded on LPs and 78s. Some songs bear the imprint of the mischief and good humor characteristic of the Cerense people...."  (Vasco Arrudo's description—via Google Translate, with edits—at Opovo Online)

Paul Bowles  ~  The Voices of Paul Bowles"
(Blog: Spirits & Spices)

Expatriate Games
"Curated by Claudia Gould and Stephen Frailey, ‘The Voices of Paul Bowles’ is an audio portrait combining some of the composer’s music with readings from his own texts, Moroccan traditional music and location recordings from Tangier and Morocco where he lived from 1947. The most striking device is the handsome and warm voice of Bowles reading through his writings. Also notable are the lively field recordings of folk local music Bowles made himself in 1959 (tracks #01, 03, 06 & 09). The simoon (my conjecture) heard at the end of ‘The Garden’, track #08, is a short but evocative recording of a North Africa typical wind. Bowles own compositions are exquisite vignettes full of humour and wit. A microcosm in itself, a day in the life of Paul Bowles, the tape starts with the muezzin’s morning call to prayer and ends with dogs barking at sunset, an amazing barking chorale recorded amid the rising desert wind. A poignant conclusion to an utterly beautiful tape."  (From a description at Ubuweb)

 

Lowell Fulson  ~  "Tramp"
(Blog: Beco de Blues - Ex - Blues & Blues)

Hobo Chic
"'Lowell Fulson's comfortably laid-back but groovin' soul-blues workout "Tramp" quickly became one of his biggest hits (and fared even better in a cover version by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas), and this album (released to tie in with the single's success) finds Fulson following a similar stylistic path. While most of Tramp's tunes lean more heavily on traditional blues structures than the title tune, Fulson was obviously aiming for a funky ambience rather than the heavy emotional crush of the deep blues, and his clean, uncluttered guitar solos are warmer and more approachable than the typical Chicago-style axe work of the day. There's a sly playfulness to this material that's winning, and even the most down-and-out songs here display a light touch and creative intelligence that sets Fulson apart."  (Mark Deming, at AllMusic )

 

 

Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays 6-7pm, on WFMU and Fridays 9 to noon—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio.
Send your email address to get on the mailing list for a weekly newsletter about the show, the stream and Mining the Audio Motherlode.

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

 

Friday at Amoeba SF: WFMU broadcasts KUSF, Many Stations Join In

Feb.18th: WFMU's Billy Jam takes his show live to Amoeba Records on 1855 Haight Street in San Francisco from 3-6PM ET to host live DJ sets by KUSF 90.3 FM DJs! The sets are a chance to hear KUSF DJs play after the announced sale of the station's broadcast license on Jan. 18. KUSF's Irwin (Sleeves on Hearts), Carolyn, Stereo Steve, Jantine B., Harry D. (In The Soul Kitchen), and DJ Schmeejay (Radiodrome) are scheduled to spin records from 12 noon-3 p.m. Pacific Time. WFMU has set up a network to broadcast the sets on stations around the country. Announced stations include KZSU (Stanford, 90.1 FM), KFJC (Foothill College, 89.7 FM), KXLU (Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, 88.9 FM), WXYC (Chapel Hill, N.C., 89.3 FM) KDVS (Davis, CA., 90.3 FM) KVRX (91.7 FM in Austin, TX), KALX (90.7 in Berkeley CA), KRFP Moscow, Idaho (Free Radio Moscow, 92.5 FM),  WITC (91.7 FM Cazenoivia, NY), WCBN (88.3 FM in Ann Arbor, MI), and WREK (Atlanta, 91.1 FM) in addition to WFMU (New Jersey, 91.1 FM). Former KUSF DJ Billy Jam, now at WFMU, organized the event and will MC it along with WFMU's Gaylord Fields. Jam told RadioSurvivor.com that the event is, “to celebrate the greatness that was (and hopefully soon again will be) KUSF on the FM dial where it deserves to be. There will be six KUSF DJs doing half hour sets each … and I have asked them all to include as many KUSF 90.3 FM celebrity IDs and 'drops' as possible so it sounds like the good ol' KUSF pre-Jan. 18, 2011. But mostly, the goal is to further raise awareness and help fight the good fight to save KUSF.”

The University of San Francisco announced it was selling the broadcast license for KUSF 90.3 FM on Jan. 18. That morning at 10 a.m., the university shut down KUSF without notice and turned the signal at 90.3 FM over to the University of Southern California's Classical Public Radio Network. The radio signal was cut, the broadcast went static, and DJs were escorted out of station headquarters. In the weeks since, a wide array of voices has spoken out against the proposed sale including the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, California state senator Leland Yee, the San Francisco Democratic Party, the USF Faculty Association, Yo La Tengo, and The Kronos Quartet. All have spoken against the proposed transfer of the 90.3 FM license to non-local entity, the University of Southern California, which already owns five other terrestrial broadcast licenses. The coalition of volunteers working to save KUSF 90.3 FM now has more than 7,300 members. The group’s Facebook page has already received over 1.3 million post views, which has helped fund the legal costs to file a Petition to Deny the pending license transfer with the FCC.

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 104

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

Forget quantity, it's the quality of free music available online that continually blows me away. As I make the rounds of the hundreds of vital album-sharing blogs on the Web, it's like ducking into the private listening room of one music obsessive after another, being treated to an endless succession of long-lost rarities and never-forgotten treasures.

Listening to WFMU Radio is a lot like that. Every few hours, a different music-besotted host takes over the airwaves to pour out the guts of their record collection, just for the Richard Hell of it. Maybe the most astonishing part of all this music sharing is that it costs nothing to partake. Bloggers spend gobs of time, posting their latest favorite albums—often with full scans of artwork and mini-essays about each track; DJs spend whole lifetimes (and bank accounts) scouring dollar bins and rare record auction lists to pad their weekly playlists.

While bringing all this music to you—here at Beware of the Blog and on WFMU—is a labor of love, is does not come without significant cost. That's why it's vital that once a year, during fund-raising time, listeners and readers alike step up to the collection plate and make a vital contribution.

For Mining the Audio Motherlode fans, I am offering a thank-you gift for your donations. Love Your Motherlode, Again is a full-length CD containing the mind-blowingest tracks from my favorite downloads offered during the past year of Motherlodes. Go to WFMU's Marathon pledge page and give at the "DJ Premium level." (Look for this CD under the Tuesday offerings.)

Once you've done a little giving, be sure to do a lotta taking, as this week's crop is amazing:

 

Give it to me baby ...

Dzhavanshir Kuliyev  ~  "Music from Segei Paradjanov's film Ashik Kerib"
(Blog: Flash Strap)

Sheesh! Kerib
"Here is something you won't find anywhere else, fellows and friends: The soundtrack to Sergei Paradjanov's sublime Soviet-Armenian film Ashik Kerib. An Azerbaijan folk tale of a minstrel's intense journey told in poetic imagery, the film is damn near chock-a-block and wall-to-wall with blistering lute workouts, Azerbaijani traditional and spiritual musics, mystifying juxtapositions, otherworldly atmospheres, the occasional electronic flourish, and generally brilliant sound design. Watching the movie, I found myself breaking into a cold sweat. It's not quite Paradjanov's best film (such an honor would go to Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors and/or Color of Pomegranates, although I would still venture to declare Ashik Kerib an unequivocal masterpiece), but here his always-beyond-genius use of imagery is augmented by Dzhavanshir Kuliyev's work on one of the best, most relentless soundtracks I've ever heard."   (Flash Strap, at Flash Strap)

 

Maki Asakawa  ~  "Asakawa Maki No Sekai"
(Blog: For the Dishwasher)

Smokin'
"Having to describe Asakawi Maki's music is an impossible task. Mix some Billie Holiday and Nina Simone in with a cup of Nico, then add to taste a couple of cartons of cigarettes along with a few bottles of sake, dress it in all-black, throw the concoction inside of a dank Japanese jazz club...and you still don't have Asakawi Maki. It's probably going to take some listening on your part."  (Leclisse, at For the Dishwasher)

Bernard Purdie  ~  "Soul Is... Pretty Purdie"
(Blog: Milk Crate Breaks)

"World's Most Recorded Drummer"
"A wild one! After the straight hard funk of some of his earlier recordings as a leader, Bernard "Pretty" Purdie breaks out here in a compelling album of soul jazz tracks done in a number of styles. The approach is sort of big studio funk – with some cuts that have a harder sound, and others that open up in a groove that's gotten a lot more complicated than the early days. Horace Ott arranges, conducts, and plays electric piano, and Richard Tee plays organ on a number of cuts – but the real charmer is Purdie, whose work on drums is always great! Funky tracks include "Heavy Soul Slinger", a medley of "What's Goin' On" and Ain't No Sunshine", and "Good Livin'". Also features a cover of Aretha Franklin's "Day Dreamin'", plus the extended "Song For Aretha," which is Purdie's extended tribute to Aretha (with whom he'd recorded), and one that features a very strange monologue!"  ( Dusty Groove blurb)

Cheikh Imam  ~  "Chante Negm"
(Blog: Afro Soul Descarga)

Pre-Pre-Revolutionary Egypt
"The story of Richard Nixon's laughable skedaddle to the Middle East in June of 1974 became rich fodder for the duo of Ahmed Fouad Negm, a poet and folk hero who spent nearly two decades in prison for his subversive writing, and the blind troubadour Sheikh Imam Eissa. Together they wrote and performed songs lauding Che Guevara, denouncing the war in Vietnam and mercilessly ridiculing every Egyptian leader since 1962, when they began their partnership."  (Read more from my July 2, 2008 post at Beware of the Blog)

 

Jackie McLean  ~  "'Bout Soul"
(Blog: My Generation)

Tintinnabulation!
"'Bout Soul does not mean the same thing as soul-jazz, as the opening track "Soul" makes abundantly clear. Written by Grachan Moncur III and poet Barbara Simmons, "Soul" is a tonally free tone-poem that features Simmons' spoken recital. It's about what the concept of soul is, not what soul music is, and that should not come as a surprise to anyone acquainted with Jackie McLean's work. Even as his Blue Note contemporaries were working commercial soul-jazz grooves, McLean pushed the borders of jazz, embracing the avant-garde and free jazz. 'Bout Soul is one of his most explicit free albums, finding the alto saxophonist pushing a quintet...into uncompromising, tonally free territory. This is intensely cerebral music that is nevertheless played with a fiery passion."  (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, at AllMusic )

 

 

Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays 6-7pm, on WFMU and Fridays 9 to noon—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio.
Send your email address to get on the mailing list for a weekly newsletter about the show, the stream and Mining the Audio Motherlode.

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

 

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 103

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

With WFMU Radio's once-a-year fundraiser is set to kick off at the end of this month, I'm hoping that all partakers of the Motherlode will take a moment or two to ponder all the miraculous music offered in this space over the past year. (Ponder, shmonder, you can easily just scroll back through all the Motherlode posts in just a few minutes.)

Now is not the time to make a big plea for your small donations—I'll be doing that soon enough. Right now, I'm too busy culling my favorite tracks from the past year of posts for a new fund-raising compilation I'll be offering called Love Your Motherlode Again. (Last year's Love Your Motherlode collection was a smashing success.)

In the meantime, have a peek at this week's batch of sonic delight:

 

Five times wonderful ...

Purpose  ~  "The Purpose Is the Blues…"
(Blog: Tyme-Machine)

Purpose-Driven Jams
"The simple, heavy and monstrously funky back beat of the opener “Dustcracks, Bugs and Roaches,” a lament about inner city living conditions, is worth tracking this record down in and of itself...."   (Michael, at Melting Pot)

Ray Barretto  ~  "Señor 007"
(Blog: Hippy DJkit)

Agent HardHands
"This is one of Ray Barretto's rarest albums. A killer 60s set of James Bond inspired Latin boogaloo jazzy numbers. These are all heavy hitting latin dance cuts. One of my favorite Ray Barretto albums of the 60s, a real gem from the pre-Latin Soul years! The album's a clear attempt to cash in on the cash in on the James Bond craze of the time, issued by United Artists, who were releasing the Bond films, but also had Ray under contract during the period too. But despite that simple gimmick, it's a great little set with a quality level that goes way beyond Bond soundtracks, or the usual from Barretto at the time! The tracks are all hard and groovy, with an excellent jazz feel with some killer arranging from Ray that's right up there with the work he did for his legendary Charanga Moderna album!"  (dj fanis, at Hippy DJKit)

 

Hongthong Daoudon  ~  "Huai Abanibi"
(Blog: StereoMono)

Good Night and Good Luk Thung
"Hongthong Daoudon is a luk thung and molam singer from northeastern part of Thailand. This late 70s-early 80s album however is in large parts Western influenced Thai funk that wouldn't sound of place on one of the ZudRangMa compilations. The title track is a cover version of Israel's winning contribution to the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest, Izhar Cohen & Alpha Beta's "A-Ba-Ni-Bi." This song was apparently a huge hit in Thailand, and Monrakplengthai's curator Peter says he would still hear the song playing around Bangkok even today. He's also uploaded Onuma Singsiri's version of the song so go listen to that as well!"  (Á Go-Gojira, at StereoMono)

Rahul Dev Berman  ~  "Raton Ka Raja" and "Ehsan"
(Blog: Music from the Third Floor)

Lip-sync-a-delic
"At the time of writing, tattered copies of these 2 EPs (along with an admittedly sought after single from 'Apradh') are up for grabs on eBay. Starting bid? A measly US$320. Call me funny, but I find that kind of ridiculous. Therefore: 2 MEGA RARE RAHUL DEV BURMAN SOUNDTRACKS! 8 PRE-RECORDED SONGS VALUED AT US$32 (MIN.) EACH! FREE FOR THE TAKING!! And take them you should, as both Raton Ka Raja and Ehsan are excellent, and as the latter includes the coolest version of "Pata Pata" ever made."  (PC, at Music From the Third Floor)

 

The Voices of Bluegrass  ~  "Hung Up On…"
(Blog: Visit Me in Music City)

Hung Well
"An interesting point about The Voices of Bluegrass is the sound they have developed. We at Revonah Records call it a new sound in that a lot of the songs that Steve [guitarist, lead singer Steve Walker] has written represents a type of music which is beginning to emerge on the Bluegrass music scene. At the same time the boys are able to deliver a great traditional sound which also has a lot of appeal to many Bluegrass fans both old and new."  (Paul Gerry, liner notes )

 

 

Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays 6-7pm, on WFMU and Fridays 9 to noon—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio.
Send your email address to get on the mailing list for a weekly newsletter about the show, the stream and Mining the Audio Motherlode.

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

 

Each One Will Be Packaged Inside of a Real Human Skull

Brilliant: Noise robots! The drummer for one of my old bands made this, been laughing about it since he showed it to me:

Kickstart R. Stevie Moore // show tonight w/ Deerhoof! (mp3's)

When home recording pioneer R. Stevie Moore left New Jersey last year to return to his birthplace of Nashville TN, it left a void in our hearts here at WFMU, where R. Stevie is a former DJ and our most frequent live guest. Fortunately, we now have the opportunity to lend a hand in his first album since returning to Nashville.

RSM has been doing the "Direct-to-Fan" thing since way back before the Internet came along. So this feels like a natural step for the DIY icon to be going the crowd-funding route via Kickstarter. RSM is also an innovator in home video since before the days of YouTube -- he now shares over 400 videos via RSMTV. The video for our hero's Kickstarter campaign finds RSM swingin his guitar around Nashville past sights like the Parthenon replica, the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, and the Batman building.

R. Stevie Moore's been keeping busy in Nashville, as a 2-hour special appearance on WRVU-FM's Loud Love program can attest (click the link to listen). It's no surprise for the man who's been recording constantly since the 1960s, building a cult following that seems to be growing exponentially in our interconnected online era. One fantastic example is the free ongoing tribute project from Sick Of The Radio, which has now reached 8 volumes and over 200 contributions including some prominent followers like Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Throwing Muses, Jad Fair, Jason Falkner, Penn Jillette (Penn & Teller), Dave Gregory (XTC), and James Richardson of MGMT. To further this spread of his music, R. Stevie Moore has kindly offered two tracks off of his recently released REPLICA series under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. REPLICA is available in three volumes via iTunes: vol 1 / vol 2 / vol 3

For those in the Nashville area, catch a rare live performance TONIGHT when R. Stevie Moore opens for Deerhoof at the Mercy Lounge!

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 102

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

A particularly sweet brew bubbled up out the horn of plenty this week. Here take a break from shoveling ice chunks and have a nice long sip:

Issued on Spark in the UK in 1970, this Eartha Kitt LP delivers not an ounce of cabaret purring and a ton of unabashed folk-rock earnestness.  • • •   Kip Hanrahan's series of collaborative gems on American Clavé hit a high note with this release of poet Paul Haines' texts set to sound.  • • •  As if blogger Moos over at the astonishing Global Groove doesn't share enough out-of-print magnificence, he occasionally goes above and beyond by hand-picking special compilation offerings. This latest production, a mariachi masterwork, is not to be missed.  • • •  While most of the globe suffered through a dance-music drought through much of the '80s, maybe the best tracks of the decade were emanating from Johannesburg. Spin the 21 cuts on this compilation straight through and it will be the best party you throw all year.  • • • Fans of Frank Lowe's October '77 duetistry with Euguene Chadbourne (Don't Punk Out) will love this larger ensemble live gig recorded that same month. Numerous accounts cite this as John Zorn's first appearance on record.

Slurp, slurp...

Eartha Kitt  ~  "Sentimental Eartha"
(Blog: Don't Ask Me . . . . . I Don't Know)

Down to Eartha
"Eartha Kitt's Sentimental Eartha is a ten-track album of psychedelic-tinged love ballads. Standout tracks include three recorded earlier by Donovan: "Catch the Wind" (his debut single!), "Hurdy Gurdy Man," and "Wear Your Love Like Heaven," in which Kitt's smokey, sultry voice is used to optimum effect. The tracks on Sentimental Eartha also include another favorite from the 1960s, in this case "My Sentimental Friend" by Herman's Hermits. The rest of the disc includes lesser known inspirational and sentimental songs, all of which combine to make a well arranged and cohesive collection. Creative song selection makes this disc a true find."   (J.T. Griffith, at All Music)

 

Kip Hanrahan/Paul Haines  ~  "Darn It"
(Blog: Never Get Out of the Boat Redux)

Words on Music
"…Darn it! Strings together an outrageous number of artists performing one after another in a polyglot line that stretches from Paul Bley’s solo piano ‘Threats That Matter’ through funky dance numbers by Greg ‘Iron Man’ Tate to a duet by trombonist Roswell Rudd and Canadian poetry Paul Haines, ‘Etait Dans La Nuit.’ Even its beautiful package, designed by artist / film maker / musician Michael Snow (who also contributes a lovely piano piece) enforces the compilation’s linearity, unfolding into a long accordion of personnel and poetry... Darn it! Overcomes stylistic impediments successfully, reveling in the way Haines’ terse writing can endure so many different kinds of interpretation."  (John Corbett, in Downbeat)

 

Various  ~  "Besos de Tequila: Masters in Mariachi"
(Blog: Global Grooves)

El Mejor de lo Mejor
"Why don't you go out to buy a bottle of mezcal, lemon and some seasalt. Then, invite a couple of good friends, put on this Mexican collector and open up the booze. A lick of salt, a shot of mezcal and a bite of lemon to maximize the thrilling effect. Aaaaay aaaay aaaay, llego borracho el borracho. Some of the songs used in this compilation were downloaded from the great blogs of our colleagues, Holy Warbles and Música Popular Mexicana, some are my own. Hope U like'm."  (DeeJay Moos, at Global Groove)

Various  ~  "Soweto Street Music"
(Blog: Freedom Blues)

Mbaqanga on a Can
"A nice collection of mostly mbaqanga & jive from the early '80s released from Audiotrax in '84. I always wondered why they titled it "street music." Not many  informations that I could find about the artists, except the Super Tens at (the always informative Electric Jive). You don't need much anyway. The bands are jiving, their music sublime."  (Nauma, at Freedom Blues)

 

Frank Lowe Orchestra ~  "Lowe & Behold"
(Blog: Lucky Psychic Hut)

Lowe How the Mighty
"Frank Lowe's Lowe and Behold provides a snapshot of a particular intersection of New York improvisation in the late '70s - AACM/St. Louis-BAG transplants Phillip Wilson, Joseph Bowie and John Lindberg; free jazzers Lowe, Billy Bang, 'Butch' Morris and Arthur Williams; and young upstarts John Zorn, Polly Bradfield, Eugene Chadbourne and Peter Kuhn. (Until the 'Twins Version' of 'Lacrosse' was unearthed for the Parachute Years box, this was Zorn's earliest appearance on record.) Captured live in October of 1977, this long-out-of-print gem captures a scene in a state of flux. Here were musicians working out ideas that would work their way into conductions, game theory pieces, and the free jazz large ensemble vocabulary...."  (Michael Rosenstein, at Squidco.)

 

 

Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays 6-7pm, on WFMU and Fridays 9 to noon—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio.
Send your email address to get on the mailing list for a weekly newsletter about the show, the stream and Mining the Audio Motherlode.

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

 

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 101

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

The Miner stands before you today to proclaim that the state of our union is funky. Deeply, unabashedly, relentlessly funky:

The beneficent Yotte over at Adventure-Equation is planting a heady garden of Sun Ra rarities, Kieran at Big Head Stevenson has been basking in the incandescence of Nigerian electrofunk, Defeated Sounds's Dr. Nick has come ashore with Fijian prog rockers in tow, Gadaya keeps slinging old-time platters at Times Ain't Like They Used to Be (and at the World's Jukebox, too!), and Inconstant Sol's new stablemate Owombat has plopped some pungent beauties all over the pasture. (OK, like, time for a standing ovation.)

 

 

Some shovel-ready projects...

Sun Ra & His Outer Space Arkestra  ~  "A Fireside Chat with Lucifer"
(Blog: Adventure-Equation)

Outerworld, Meet Underworld
"Great title, great cover, great long, weird, freaked out title track, great protest cut on side one, lighthearted in a way but using much stronger language than a fundamentally conservative guy like Sun Ra usually would ("It's a motherfucker/don't you know/if they push that button/your ass got to go—what you gonna DO without your ASS?").  A lot of this has been reissued on the better-known "Nuclear War" LP but this is the original and, if you ask me, the better version."   (Comments from Rushomancy at Rate Your Music)

 

William Onyeabor  ~  "Tomorrow"
(Blog: Big Head Stevenson)

Will.He.Am
"William Onyeabor studied cinematography in Russia for many years, returning to Nigeria in the mid-70s to start his own Wilfilms music label and to set up a music and film production studio. He recorded a number of hit songs in Nigeria during the '70s, the biggest of which was "Atomic Bomb" in 1978...a unique slice of stripped down spacey, lo-fi funk which is unlike any other Nigerian music being made at the same time. [FYI: "Atomic Bomb" is also available at Big Head Stevenson: here.] William has now been crowned a High Chief in Enugu, where he lives today as a successful businessman working on government contracts and running his own flour mill."  (From Quinton Scott's track notes to Nigeria 70: The Definitive Story of 1970s Funk Lagos)

 

Mantis  ~  "Turn Onto Music"
(Blog: Defeated Sounds)

Bus Ride Ballads from Suva
"This now, my dears, is a real treat for those who appreciate the good old psychedelic music maybe away from those who were the usual fees established in the U.S. and the UK. The Mantis is in fact formed in Suva, Fiji, and this, from what I know, should be the only record they released, from which they extracted a handful of individuals. The sound is very interesting and well chosen, with doses of funk spilled on the tracks with both hands. However do not expect to find a revelation folk, as the album was recorded in Wellington, New Zealand, where the group was established."  (Comments, via Google Translate, from Dr. Nick at Defeated Sounds)

Various  ~  Old-Time Fiddle Music From Kentucky"
(Blog: Times Ain't Like They Used to Be)

Gettin' Lucky in Kentucky
"These three LPs were issued in 1980 by Morning Star Records, a short-lived record company owned by Richard Nevins, who would continue Nick Perls' work with Yazoo Records a few years after. It's a superb compilation of 78rpm records of Kentucky string bands made in the 1920's and 1930's for Gennett. Like Nevins said: "As the Mississippi Delta is to Blues, Kentucky is to fiddle music, banjo playing, and classic old ballads and songs.""  (Description from Gadaya, at Times Ain't Like They Used to Be.)

 

Urs Blöchlinger Tettet ~ "Neurotica"
(Blog: Inconstant Sol)

Swiss Mister
"He was born in 1954 and became an autodidact on guitar and trumpet before he turned over to saxophone. Later he studied in the conservatory for a short time but quit before the diploma. He was involved and wrote music for theater and movies. His musical partners were among others George Gruntz, Carla Bley, Hans Koch, Martin Schütz and Fredy Studer. Described as a sanguine melancholic he committed suicide in 1995."  (From a comment by onxidlib in response to another Urs Blöchlinger album posted at Inconstant Sol.)

 

 

Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays 6-7pm, on WFMU and Fridays 9 to noon—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio.
Send your email address to get on the mailing list for a weekly newsletter about the show, the stream and Mining the Audio Motherlode.

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

 

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 100

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

Crikey! Mining the Audio Motherlode has gone and hit the century mark. This week's installment marks this 100th since I began this great sound-scouring adventure two years ago. This series of posts began as a means for sharing all the amazing music I was tripping over while searching online for tracks to play on my radio show, Give the Drummer Some.

Since these Motherlode posts started, I've gotten laid off from a long-term job in publishing, gone back to school to finish the degree I started more than 30 years ago, pulled up stakes and moved from Brooklyn to Pittsburgh (two blocks away from Jerry's Records!), and launched a 24-hour freeform web stream for WFMU called Give the Drummer Radio (listen now: here). Through thick and thick, a new Mining the Audio Motherlode has been published virtually every Wednesday at noon, serving up my own highly personal survey of the best offerings throughout the album-sharing blogosphere.

Last June, I re-posted my favorite records offered in the Motherlode records through the first half of the year. So, for this post I'd like to resurrect my top selections of the past six months or so. Please take a moment and share with me in the comments your favorites of 2010.

 Here's to the next 100...

 

Ola Belle Reed  ~  "Ola Belle Reed"
(Blog: Bill's Blog: Great Bluegrass Music)

Voice of the Ages
"Ola Belle Reed possesses the rare ability to see the natural unity of an ideal and of its necessary translation into life-action. All her idealistic verbal expressions have their counterparts in the practices of everyday life.... Since any true radical's battlefield is provincialism and bigotry, Ola Belle has come to deplore many of the recent tendencies of country musicians to become ardently chauvinistic about their tastes in old-timey, bluegrass, etc. to the exclusion of all other music. This development runs directly counter to Ola Belle's affirmations of music as a unifying and comradely tie among people."   (From the liner notes)

 

Various  ~  "Rockin'  Hillbilly Series
Volumes 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
(Blog: Western & Bop)

Southern Fried
This massively appealing set has been dosey doeing on and off the Bloggernet for a few years now. Huzzahs to W&B for giving it a go. Ten discs. Thirty-two tracks apiece. Every one a killer. Well, what are you waiting for? Stop reading this and go git 'em. No really, I'm not going say anything particularly pithy here, so just go. Go already! (Unbelievable... you're still here.)

 

Tenore de Orosei  ~  "Amore Profundhu"
(Blog: We Love Music)
{Annoying pop-up ad, but worth it}

Sardinian Splendor
This ancient style of polyphonic singing originated on the island of Sardinia.  Otherworldly and breathtaking. (This is the second appearance by this group in the Motherlode. The previous entry appeared in the first-ever post.)

Tak Shindo  ~  Mganga!"
(Blog: Le Blog de Granulet)

Exotic, Ah!
A perceptive, meticulous ethnomusicologist, Tak Shindo paid the bills by writing  scores and assisting music production in Hollywood (he apprenticed with Miklós Rózsa). Born in Sacramento, Shindo had been interred in the concentration camp for Japanese Americas at Manzanar for two years before joining the service in 1944. Record collectors revere him for his string of evocative ethnographic releases, including this gorgeous treasure, from the late 1950s.

 

Lincoln Chase  ~  "Chase 'n You"
(Blog: El Reza)

Wooshp, Oom, Sff - Ahhhh!
Lincoln Chase, manager for and songwriting partner with Shirley Ellis, was the "Lincoln" name-checked in Ellis's playful, rhyming evergreen The Name Game (remember the lyric: "Lincoln, Lincoln, bo-Bincoln, Banana-fana fo-Fincoln, Fee-fi-mo-Incoln, Lincoln!") Chase also scribed hits for such headliners as Ruth Brown ("Mend Your Ways"), LaVern Baker ("Jim Dandy") and Big Maybelle ("Rain Down Rain"), but familiarity with any of these R&B tracks won't prepare you for this 1973 album—Chase's lone release—of twisted soul/funk oddities that sound inspired equally by Melvin Van Peebles and Eugene McDaniels.

Kent Gomez & His Orchestra  ~  "My Ghetto"
(Blog: Mo-File) Montuno Monster

"Kent Gomez's "My Ghetto" is a seriously whacked-out descarga-type thing where Kent's piano moves all over the place as he charges from classical to jazz then back to Richie Ray style over a pounding rhythm, very acid jazz."
(Dave Hucker, from The Beat ]

 

 

 

Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays 6-7pm, on WFMU and Fridays 9 to noon—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio.
Send your email address to get on the mailing list for a weekly newsletter about the show, the stream and Mining the Audio Motherlode.

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

 

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 99

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

Greetings from Snowpocalypse II. The white fluff here in Pittsburgh is more picturesque than paralyzing, but it still provides a great excuse to stay indoors and trawl online for free music. Given that all but one of the 50 U.S. states currently has snow on the ground, that means there's a lot of Stateside shut-ins looking for something to do. For your diversionary pleasure...

Bruce Jackson—former president of the American Folklore Society and author of Wake Up Dead Man: Hard Labor and Southern Blues—recorded "smooth" country bluesman Eugene Rhodes at the Indiana State Penitentiary in '62.  • • •  Valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer teamed up with guitarists Jim Hall and Jimmy Raney to form an oddball front line on The Street Swingers, a unexpectedly off-beat session from '57.  • • •  A national treasure in the U.K., the late folksinger Fred Jordan didn't make his first LP until the age of 44. The 1972 long-player referenced here was recorded eight years after that.  • • •  The combo flipping the most lids during Chicano jive craze in 1940s L.A. were Don Tosti's Pachuco Boogie Boys. (This Arhoolie collection will put your lid in the next county.) Tosti's classically trained ivories-pounder, Eddie Cano, later changed coasts and became an in-demand  player in the Afro-Cuban jazz craze in 1950s NYC.  • • •  Twelve separate volumes of fuzz, prog and rock from East Germany (and nearby Poland, Hungary, etc.) were released under the Hallo title by the GDR's state record label Amiga. This collection of Stasi stompers comprises Volume 5.

 Let it snow, let it snow...

 

Eugene Rhodes  ~  "Talkin' About My Time"
(Blog: Hard Luck Child's Juke Joint)

Some Like It Smooth
"If there is a more obscure country blues artist than this fellow, then he is probably locked up somewhere, as well, one hastens to add, because that was the situation when blues scholar Bruce Jackson first discovered Eugene Rhodes. He was doing a ten- to 25-year stretch at the Indiana State Prison, which was where a remarkable album was recorded of 15 songs and a little talking that was eventually released on a label even more obscure than the bluesman, if such a thing is possible."   (Eugene Chadbourne, in AllMusic.com)

 

Bob Brookmeyer/Jim Hall/Jimmy Raney  ~  "The Street Swingers"
(Blog: Jazz Is My Life)

Not the Usual Arrangements
"The interplay between the two guitars is endlessly intriguing, and it speaks volumes that when Brookmeyer plays piano nobody ever gets in anybody's way-generally it's hard enough for one guitarist and a pianist not to step on each other's toes. Hall's "Arrowhead" is a minor masterpiece that foreshadowed the classic work he and Brookmeyer would soon do with Jimmy Giuffre."   (Duck Baker, JazzTimes)

 

Fred Jordan  ~  "The Frost is on the Pumpkin"
(Blog: Gonzo-Archive)
[Password = gonzoFJFO]

Workman Life Effort
"In the autumn of 1959, Fred attracted the attention of participants in the folk song revival when he appeared at the English Folk Dance and Song society’s festival wearing his everyday clothes – heavy boots, leggings and weather-defying hat. His singing drew immediate acclaim. Since then he has appeared with increasing regularity at concerts and clubs, with other country singers and also with revival performances. He enjoys concert and club work, where he sings with the straightforward ‘professionalism’ and unselfconsciousness common to most country singers. As a folk singer he may be classed with the best – and that best includes Harry Cox, George Maynard and Phil Tanner. Though he is still a young man he has the essential style of this older generation. His musical sense is very highly developed; his ability to make small rhythmical changes to suit the words of songs is marked and his use of melodic ornament is subtle and skillful. the quality of his voice may seem strange at first hearing, but it is not unique, and there is nothing here of an old man’s quaver, for Fred Jordan is in his prime."  (Liners for Songs of a Shropshire Farm Worker)  

Eddie Cano  ~  "A Taste of Cano"
(Blog: Listen to Your Ears)

Reish of Mucho Piano! from '62
"Los Angeles pianist Eddie Cano was one of the most exciting Latin jazz musicians of the 1940s and 1950s. A Mexican American born in 1927, he began as a bassist, taking lessons from his grandfather who had worked with the Mexico City Symphony. Cano was alto trained in classical piano, and he expanded his talents further when he discovered jazz. After his discharge from the army, he made his professional debut with the Pachuco Boogie Boys in 1947. It was then that his rhythmic style came to the attention of singer and bandleader Miguelito Valdés, who had brought Chano Pozo from Havana to New York in 1946. Valdés brought Cano to New York in 1947. For two years Cano played for Valdés and sat in with Tito Puente, Machito, and Noro Morales."   (Raúl A. Fernández, from Latin Jazz: The Perfect Combination)

 

Various  ~  "Hallo, Nr. 5"
(Blog: Blue Beat in My Soul)

The Other Side of the Wall
"Crazy album from former East Germany! Psychedelic prog groove with fuzz, organ and heavy breaks."   (Electric Looser at Blue Beat in My Soul) 

 

 

Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays 6-7pm, on WFMU and Fridays 9 to noon—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio.
Send your email address to get on the mailing list for a weekly newsletter about the show, the stream and Mining the Audio Motherlode.

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

 

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 98

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

As we embrace the mad cacaphony of 2011, I am thrilled to continue cliff-diving into the ocean of free online music with you as I begin a third year of Mining the Audio Motherlode. (You can scroll back through all of my old columns via this link.)

Often the last person in my zip code to embrace new technology, I limped along online with a gerbil-powered dial-up connection for years—never even sniffing an MP3, let alone downloading one—until finally switching over to a high-speed cable modem in 2008. Then, with the ever-proliferating landscape of full-album-sharing blogs suddenly traversable, I started a mad dash that continues to this day, monitoring many hundreds of amazing sites daily for each new offering of sonic splendor. Mining the Audio Motherlode bears the fruit of this pursuit, yanking the branches down low for ravenous plucking.

In this week's bushel: (1) A brilliant Brazilian iconoclast's early bossa deconstruction; (2) a studioful of Swedish avant savants creating epiphanic mayhem; (3) the complete 30-volume set (wow!) of Boppin' Hillbilly comps; (4) sweet ditties from a Tennessee rambler who wound up in Alaska; and (5) a collection of somewhat creepy, totally compelling soundtrack-like pseudo-jazz audio explorations made by an coterie of Italian session musicians.

 Dive head first...

 

Jocy de Oliveira  ~  "A Música do Século XX"
(Blog: Mundo Estranho De PB)

ExperiMental Bossa
"When I discovered that this album existed was in despair. I am a fanatic for the work especially of composers of contemporary music and avant-garde Brazilian 60s and 70s. It was a big fan of the work of Jocy, but never could imagine that she had flirted with popular music on disc. Can not remember where did I hear talk of that work ... Logo sought a collector who had a copy on cdr that graced me with a copy. Later, I befriended a great researcher of exotic music, obscure, avant-garde, revolutionary and bizarre world. A true expert who now have as my teacher. YUPO TOZUKA. He had nothing more and nothing less than six copies on vinyl this pearl, which kept the order to pass for true connoisseurs of the work of Jocy. Feared see this disc set as a mere curiosity in derogatory Japanese catalogs."   (Paulo Beto at Mundo Estranho PB) 

G.L. Unit  ~  "Orangutang!"
(Blog: Ezhevika Fields)

(Oran) Gu Tang Clan!
"Heralded by chirpy field recordings that are later mimicked by clarinets, flutes and soprano saxophone, "Waves" lets an easy swing grow out of heaps of dissonance, reveling in the incongruity of straight-time rhythm, chordal comping and continuous commentary from flutes, tambourines, cello, and reeds. Lindquist's post-Coltrane tenor has a burnished keening sound, providing a deep gutbucket bottom to what might otherwise be a top-heavy, high-pitched ensemble. Segments seem like snapshots from a larger whole, snippets of unison lines from trumpeters Peter Hennix and Torsten Eckerman ringing bell-clear while a chorus of yells and a rhythm section trying to find its footing tug melody into the morass. Norlén and pianist Allan Wajda lean towards post-bop, in the face of folksong skronk from Nordstrom's alto and bassists and drummers following the saxophonists' cue. A brief singsong theme and a Cherry-esque fragment emerge only to be buried by seashore sounds. The title track is the most massive of the set, Lindquist doling out repetitious tenor honks to fill out the ensemble as Spångberg thrashes around."   (Clifford Allen from Paris Transatlantic)

 

Various  ~  "Boppin' Hillbilly"
(Blog: Western & Bop)

Worth the Effort
Volumes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30
  

Jimmy Simpson  ~  "The Oilfield Boy Sings Kiana Kid and Other Favorites"
(Blog: Time Has Told Me)

Just Jimmy from Juneau
"A big man, six feet tall, Jimmy had definite stage presence and a gift of gab that enabled him to enjoy a side-career as a disc-jockey for most of the fifties and early sixties. His records were released on an array of small labels that continue to fascinate collectors – Republic, Hidus, Jiffy, Big State, Caprock, and his own Sourdough – but included a brief run with Starday as well. Along the way he managed to get in appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, the Louisiana Hayride, and the Big ‘D’ Jamboree, with a wide array of country music characters, musicians, songwriters and disc jockeys : Jim Denny, Jack Rhodes, Harlan Howard, Slim Willet, Hank Harral, Tillman Franks, Willie Nelson, and Don Pierce, to name a few."   (Xavier from Bopping.org)

 

Tony Iglio  ~  "Drug Store"
(Blog: Mondo Ribelle)

Say Yes to Drug Store
"Unknown Library LP by Iglio and his band. Full of weird exploito-psych-jazz, Ive never come across this artist or label, must be his only release I reckon. Anyway, it's rare, it looks great and it sounds wild."   (Anonymous commenter at iueke.com) 

 

 

Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays 6-7pm, on WFMU and Fridays 9 to noon—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio.
Send your email address to get on the mailing list for a weekly newsletter about the show, the stream and Mining the Audio Motherlode.

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

 

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 97

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

Eschewing the typical end-of-year "Best Of" or "Top Ten" conceit, today's final Mining the Audio Motherlode of 2010 is content with sharing just another quintet of standard-issue high-quality recordings. (Plus it's always fun to work "eschewing" into any sentence.) So chew on these virtual licorice pizzas while you chill the bubbly for New Year's:

Spinning Los Strwck's fuzzed out pop on the radio always draws raves from listeners, but how the hell do you pronounce the name?  • • •  If Mother Earth had a voice, it would sound like Ola Belle Reed's. Weather-beaten and wise, Ola Belle's clarion delivery hangs in the air long after the music stops. A primal force of nature.  • • •  Kent Gomez's My Ghetto, from 1968, is a non-stop salsa thrill-ride: While the roiling horn section slashes and burns, and the driving percussion unit infuses hypnotic clattering, it is pianist Gomez's own montuno-drenched vamping that propels the fiery mix through breathtaking swoops and swells.  • • •  Coined by Gunther Schuller in the late '50s, the term Third Stream came to identify a burgeoning development in music synthesizing composition-driven jazz with concrete "classical music" elements. While much of the coverage of this "serious" or "academic" style of jazz has been overtly condescending, a tremendous body of provocative and, at times downright revolutionary, sounds were produced during the movement's heady early days. Released in 1963, the rather self-importantly titled collection Outstanding Jazz Compositions of the 20th Century is a landmark collection of vital works. Do not miss this one.  • • •  The music on this last selection isn't jaw-unhinging, but the album's cover is! The recording presents the sounds of Pastoril, the stylized theatrical celebration of the birth of the baby Jesus—common at Christmastime in Brazil's northeastern Pernambuco region—which involves, inexplicably, the profane buffoonery of a character in the person of a clownish, dirty old man. (If you're dying to know more, go here.)

 Happy gnu ears from your friends at the Motherlode...

 

Los Strwck  ~  "La Doctoriza"
(Blog: Sangrepesada)

Do Drink the Water in Guadalajara
"For the last 15 years I have been trying to find out what Los Strwck translates to in English to no avail. I suspect it loosely means "Mariachi Fuzz Box." I found this LP in East L.A. in the early '90s and it's dropped many a jaw over the last 15 years. The tunes start innocently enough, sounding like a band that might walk in to the local Mexican Restaurant on any given Friday night, hoping for tips from half drunk patrons. But the guitarist has a surprise in store. He is ELECTRIFIED……and he has a fuzz box, and you can bet he's gonna use it Amigo. I'd pay big bucks to have seen the faces on those unsuspecting diners as chainsaw sounds lurched out and strangled them mid-enchilada.This band has other LPs….lots of other LPs….but none of them sound like this. Grab some chips and the hottest of hot sauces and enjoy."   (HawthorneWingo, from Waxidermy) 

Bonus: Hear tracks from Los Strwck's 1970 LP La Suegra here.

Ola Belle Reed  ~  "Ola Belle Reed"
(Blog: Bill's Blog: Great Bluegrass Music)

Voice of the Ages
"Ola Belle Reed possesses the rare ability to see the natural unity of an ideal and of its necessary translation into life-action. All her idealistic verbal expressions have their counterparts in the practices of everyday life.... Since any true radical's battlefield is provincialism and bigotry, Ola Belle has come to deplore many of the recent tendencies of country musicians to become ardently chauvinistic about their tastes in old-timey, bluegrass, etc. to the exclusion of all other music. This development runs directly counter to Ola Belle's affirmations of music as a unifying and comradely tie among people."   (From the liner notes)

 

Kent Gomez & His Orchestra  ~  "My Ghetto"
(Blog: Mo-File)

Montuno Monster
"Kent Gomez's "My Ghetto" is a seriously whacked-out descarga-type thing where Kent's piano moves all over the place as he charges from classical to jazz then back to Richie Ray style over a pounding rhythm, very acid jazz."
(Dave Hucker, from The Beat ]

Various  ~  "Outstanding Jazz Compositions of the 20th Century"
(Blog: KingCake Crypt)

Close Enough for Jazz
"Outstanding Jazz Compositions of the 20th Century brings together the compositional genius—and perhaps in some cases the directorial and planning genius as well—of J.J. Johnson, John Lewis, Jimmy Giuffre, Duke Ellington, Teo Macero, Teddy Charles, George Russell, Bob Prince, Harold Shapero, Charlie Mingus, Milton Babbitt and Gunther Schuller. It is a group from greatly dissimilar backgrounds who, ten years back in their careers could not have conceived of this collection of performances. What brings them all here in this two-record album is a common dedication to creativity, to vitality, to life and to a posture dead set against the banal, the orthodox and the predictable."   (From the liner notes by Ralph Gleason)

 

Faceta  ~  "Pastoril do Faceta"
(Blog: Flabbergasted Vibes)

Clowning Around
"Ever since my narrow escape from John Wayne Gacy's ice-cream truck in the 1970s, I have had a phobia of anything that mixes clowns with music. So it took me a while, many months if the truth must be told, of having this album sitting in my house propped up against a stack of other records, with its delirious clown face staring up at me, before I could bring myself to play it."   (Flabbergast, at Flabbergasted Vibes) 

 

 

Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays 6-7pm, on WFMU and Fridays 9 to noon—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio.
Send your email address to get on the mailing list for a weekly newsletter about the show, the stream and Mining the Audio Motherlode.

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

 

Dylan Going's "Best of 2010" Awards

Best Book on the Cultural History of the Vocoder: Dave Tompkins' How To Wreck A Nice Beach (Stop Smiling Books)

Most Based Performance: Lil B's New York debut at Santos Party House

Best Solo Black Metal Record On This List: Horn -Distanz LP (Black Blood Records)

Best E-40 Double Album: E-40 - "Revenue Retrievin"

Best Surprisingly Thrilling Performance: Merzbow live at Issue Project Room

Best Drug Use Anthem: Tonetta - "Drugs Drugs Drugs" + 777 Vol I & II LPs (Black Tent Pess)

Best Comeback Tour and Record: The Swans comeback tour and record (Young God)

Most Happenin Digital Dancehall Crossover Internet Release: South Rakkas Crew - The Stimulus Package Digital Release (Mad Decent)

Best Use of Mens High Heels: Humanbeast - Queer Marriage Cassette (Gross Domestic Product)

Best Small Press Celebration of the Ecstasy of Masculinity: Straight To Hell Issue #67

Best English Three Song Dance Music EP with Chipmunked Vocals: Girl Unit - Wut (Night Slugs)

Least Likely To Leave My Ipod: Natalie Storm & Sticky - "Look Pon Me" (Mixpak) + Songs 2 Fuck and Fight 2 (Federation Sound)

Best Opening Credits: The "Enter the Void" opening credits

Best Promotional Mask: The Waka Flocka Mask

Best Chicago Utilization of Italian Synth Rock Influence: Ga'an - s/t Cassette (available for download on Records on Ribs)

Best Dylan Going Favorites on the Free Music Archive (click here or after the jump):

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 96

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

Like moths to a flame, like a tongues to a cold sore, so it is that every musical artist who ever lived is drawn, inexorably, to record a Christmas album. And, like tongues to a burning yule log, we here at Mining the Audio Motherlode are compelled to track down every last Xmas-themed platter in search of the least unbearable.

Why, only 364 days ago we convened on this spot for this very purpose, slinging a slew of vinyl slabs that, surprisingly, are all still downloadable. (See 2009's Christmastime Motherlode here.)

When you're done stuffing your stockings with last year's selections, cock an ear toward the assembled specimens in this year's batch of seasonal fare:

 

Tim Dinkins  ~  "Christmas on the Moon"  (Blog: Way Out Junk)  • / •  Various  ~  "Siku Ya Christmas"  (Blog: Afro Slabs)
Kitty Wells  ~  "Christmas Day With Kitty Wells"  (Blog: Lonesome Lefty's Scratchy Attic)  • / •  Tuna Netra's  ~  "Christmas Songs"  (Blog: Madrotter)
Various  ~  "Bummed Out Christmas"  (Blog: Dr. Drake's Christmas Music)  • / •  Mariachi de Román Palomar  ~ "Navidad con Mariachi"  (Blog: Música Popular Mexicana)
  

Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays 6-7pm, on WFMU and Fridays 9 to noon—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio. Send your email address to get on the mailing list for a weekly newsletter about the show, the stream and Mining the Audio Motherlode.

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 95

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

In my estimation, each of the recordings surveyed here is a crucial document, a precious historical treasure. Plunge your ears into this loamy lea of humanity and tell me you don't dig them, too...

Flipping the Brazilian dictatorship a middle finger would've been too prosaic for Tom Zé, so he used the cover of his 1973 release Todos Os Olhos (see below) to present the censors with a decidedly more eye-opening anatomical region.  • • •  There's no question that the hard rocking, sideburn sporting lads of La Revolucíon de Emiliano Zapata would have enjoyed even greater success had they not turned down an invite to perform at Festival Rock y Ruedas de Avándaro (i.e., "Mexico's Woodstock") in 1971.   • • •  After serving as guitarist in Sugarhill Records' house band, Skip "Little Axe" McDonald connected with fellow Sugar Hillers Doug Wimbish and Keith LeBlanc to form Tackhead. One side project resulted in the Adrian Sherwood–produced electronica/roots LP The Wolf That House Built, which reaches past James Brown and P-Funk to the Mississippi Delta for inspiration—and samples.  • • •  Your tax dollars at work: In 1973, the Library of Congress produced a stunning documentary account of one Appalachian family in words and sound. Comprising two records and a near-full length book, The Hammons Family continues to be a monumental achievement.  • • •  With the launch of LaTasha Nevada Diggs and Greg Tate's literary mag Coon Bidness, I though it would be appropriate to revisit its namesake, the late Julius Hemphill's landmark album from 1975 .

 Deeper, deeper, deeper...

 

Tom Ze  ~  "Todos Os Olhos"
(Blog: Mopho Discos)

Funky Butt
"His second record, Todos os Olhos, was released during the height of the censorship period in Brazilian music, during the dark years of the military dictatorship. It featured on the cover a blurry picture of what looked kind of like an eye... but in fact was a marble stuck in Tom’s ass... a “fuck you” to the dictatorship..."   (David Byrne, from Luaka Bop: The First Ten Years)

La Revolucíon de Emiliano Zapata  ~  "La Revolucíon de Emiliano Zapata"
(Blog: Weird Brother)

This Guitar Is Loaded
"Probably one of the best pieces of Latin American psychedelic rock ever made. This self-titled LP is the legendary 1971 debut by Mexican band La Revolucíon de Emiliano Zapata. These acid rockers let it all hang loose as fuzz guitar rips through nine excellent tracks with English vocals. With song titles like "Nasty Sex" and "Shit City" (Ciudad Perdida) you just can't go wrong."   (Widely circulated p.r. copy)

 

Little Axe  ~  "The Wolf That House Built"
(Blog: Earls Psychedelic Garden)

Blow Your House Down
"The first ambient dub blues album. Sorry, Moby."
(Mark Montgomery French, at Uppity Music]

The Hammons Family  ~  "A Study of a West Virginia Family's Traditions"
(Blog: Times Ain't Like They Used to Be)

Aurual History
"This LP, subtitled "A Study of a West Virginia Family's Traditions," is an attempt to describe with sounds, words and photographs, the life and folklore of a rural Appalachian family, whose ancestors came from Britain and were early pioneers and settlers in Kentucky and the Allegheny mountains. Music was an important part of the family life and the album includes many banjo and fiddle tunes along with ballads and stories."   (From the liner notes)

 

Julius Hemphill  ~  "Coon Bid'ness"
(Blog: ... którędy pójdą dzicy święci)

Blast from the Passed
"Side one...works as a single composition. The opening piece, “Reflections,” begins with a slow lament, the three horns and cello creating dark, rich harmonies and utilizing a subtle vibrato to underline the music’s pathos. “Lyric” continues in this vein; then the space begins to open up. Hemphill, it seems, likes to work with several layers of sound, to slowly take them apart – to the point of near dissolution – then to put them back together again (though not necessarily the same as they were before). This is what happens during “Lyric” and also during “Skin 1.” The latter piece especially works its way into some very free space. Then “Skin 2” offers alternate choices as to the side’s resolution; yet there is no real resolution, only lingering afterthoughts. “Hard Blues” (side two) is an unreleased track from the sessions that produced Dogon A.D."   (Henry Kuntz, at Bells) 

 

 

Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays 6-7pm, on WFMU and Fridays 9 to noon—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio.
Send your email address to get on the mailing list for a weekly newsletter about the show, the stream and Mining the Audio Motherlode.

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

 

Vote for WFMU's Ichiban Rock 'n' Soul stream

WFMU's Ichiban Rock 'n' Soul stream was nominated as a contender for Radio-Info.com's Greatest Greatest Hits Station listener poll.

Click here to vote (do it by the end of December)! WFMU's Ichiban is listed under the "New Platforms" category.

And of course, if you've never taken a listen to WFMU's alternate programming streams (which run 24-7), check 'em out sometime:

Ichiban Rock 'n' Soul

Give the Drummer Radio

Do or DIY stream

UbuWeb stream

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 94

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

Records are like onions: They're spicy when raw, sweet when really cooking, and sometimes, when you get too close, they make you cry. Read on about this week's bushelful...

You don't have to be a pro hoops fan to know there's no more bizarre pairing of words in the English language than "Utah" and "Jazz." You may find "Finnish" and "Jazz" to be a close second, but not after diving ear-first into the thrilling, anthemic title cut on Heikki Sarmanto's Flowers in the Water.  • • •  As much an historic document as it is a pop album, Dom Salvador e Abolicão's Som, Sangue e Raça was a vital early statement in the social and cultural Black Rio Movement.  • • • Cultural historians in Jamaica value Sonny Bradshaw's contributions as journalist and radio presenter even more than his pioneering music.  • • •  Now better known for their vocal experimentations, audio alchemists David Moss and Baird Hersey are featured on their instrumentation of choice (percussion and guitar, respectively) on this compelling late-'70s collaboration.  • • •  Bingeing on Jesus instead of heroin (OK, maybe a little of both) these lads from Edinburgh produced an album that might've served nicely as the soundtrack to the imaginary film Godspotting.

 

 Recordspotting...

 

Heikki Sarmanto  ~  "Flowers in the Water"
(Blog: Hoochie Coochie Presents Jazz)

For a link to download the full album, go here and scroll down

Let It Grow on You
"Freedom, power, honest directness, abandon tempered only by the control of those, who know what to say and how best to say it. That is what I hear in this album. The first track seemed so strong that I wondered how they were going to follow it up. But they did, with well written selections and strong solos, and with a swing, a feeling of rhythm that makes this music of value to me.... Finland may be a white spot on your jazz map, but this record should convince you that this deplorable fact most certainly is not due to lack of talent, and EMI is to be commended for bringing this marvelous helping of Finnish jazz to the attention of the world."   (Art Farmer, from the liner notes)

Dom Salvador e Abolicão  ~  "Som, Sangue e Raça"
(Blog: Flabbergasted Vibes)
[password = vibes]

Orgulho Negro
"This isn't just a seminal album recovered by the meticulous work of researcher Charles Gavin (Titãs). It is an estuary. All the black rivers that would form Brazilian funk/hip-hop flow through it. Led by Paulista pianist Salvador Silva Filho - Dom Savlador - Som, Sangue, e Raça from 1971, one year after the explosion of Tim Maia on the scene, catalyzed the bossa nova and jazz background of its leader with the rhythm and blues of its members like saxophonist Oberdã Magalhães, nephew of samba-enredo master Silas de Olvieira and future leader of Banda Black Rio, who since the group Impacto 8 (which had, among others, Robertinho Silva on drums and Raul de Souza on trombone) had already been trying to reconcile MPB with Stevie Wonder and James Brown."   (Tárik de Souza, review translated from Portuguese)

 

Sonny Bradshaw Seven  ~  "Do It Reggae!"
(Blog: Jeckroots DJ)

Jamaican Me Happy
"Trumpeter and bandleader Sonny Bradshaw was one of the last links to the big band craze that took the Jamaica during the 1940s and which made possible the development of Music. His contemporaries, saxophonists Tommy McCook and Joe Harriott, were colleagues in his All Star Band. Although he is primarily associated with the trumpet, Bradshaw was a multi-instrumentalist who also played piano, clarinet, trombone and saxophone. He was a renowned composer, arranger, producer, creator of commercial, professor, president of the Jamaican Federation of Musicians, and broadcaster and music journalist. He was a true musical pioneer who devoted more than six decades of his life to ensure that Jamaican music and especially jazz was always maintained and accessible to all."   (Edited portions of an obit that appear at Invasão Jamaica) [Translation: Google]

David Moss/Baird Hersey  ~  "Coessential"
(Blog: Mutant Sounds)

Imps-Improvisations-Provisos
"Anyone who has witnessed a live performance by David Moss can testify that he is a dynamo, ranging freely over his iconoclastic and still expanding percussion kit, blowing trombone, and vitally combining his voice with the music his hands and feet create. David insists on spontaneity, and never seems at a loss for proper inspiration. In many ways Baird presents contrast; he is the composer and organizer, and next to the unaffectedly flamboyant percussionist he can appear almost retiring. But Baird is also a player, a new music jammer in fact, and when the responsibilities of leadership are lifted, as they are on Coessential, his instrumental command and improvisational strength bursts forth. Not a bad blending of musical personalities, which suggests why this album works so well."   (Bob Blumenthal, from the liner notes)

 

The Gospelfolk  ~  "Prodigal"
(Blog: Heavenly Grooves)

Xian Rock
"A major ‘60s garage/psych rarity here. Even the embarrassingly inept Emblem production values cannot stifle the raw punk enthusiasm of these five young men from Scotland. Within the genre that includes the likes of Them, The Troggs, The Chocolate Watch Band, The Standells, and all those other bands that appear on Nuggets compilations, The Gospelfolk have provided a solid Christian response. A track by track analysis is in order here. The title cut uses a classic ‘60s punk Farfisa organ motif as it tells the story of the prodigal son’s return. The psychy raw fuzz and dissonant organ of ‘Emily’ follows, sounding like Velvet Underground playing in your closet with the door shut. The massive reverb of ‘No Sad Tomorrow’ makes it a garage rocker’s dream, while ‘Be In Time’s savage fuzz riff comes across as a sanctified electric ‘Wild Thing’. ‘Cosmopolitan World’ is swinging jangly pop, then on to the rudimentary basement jam of ‘Thank You Lord’. What remains are the album’s four ballads and oddly enough the strongest cuts on the lp, all vibrant with the warmth of raw electric guitars, solemn organ, and endearing harmonies."   (Ken Scott, Archivist) 

 

 

Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays 6-7pm, on WFMU and Fridays 9 to noon—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio.
Send your email address to get on the mailing list for a weekly newsletter about the show, the stream and Mining the Audio Motherlode.

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

 

Pledge to WFMU now to send Ken up with helium!

WFMU is taking pledges RIGHT NOW to send Station Manager Ken aloft with helium balloons! Pledge now to help us reach our goal by noon! For every $1000 we raise, we'll fill up a balloon and tie it to Ken, who is in the WFMU parking lot in his favorite lawn chair. If we're successful, Ken will lift off!

Click here to pledge or call 800-989-9368! Live video feed of the whole debacle below, and photos from the parking lot scene here (courtesy of Jeff Moore)...