WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Polish Garage Nuggets Via Breakout

Forgive my ignorance connoisseurs of international psych-rock and historians of Polish music if I come across as ill-informed in this post about the band Breakout. I came across these folks, here led by the vocals of oft-member Mira Kubasinska, a little while back while searching for videos of the strangely-alluring-and-near-cornball-but-somehow-not lounge-jazz/doo-wop foursome from Poland, the Novi Singers. To make a short post shorter, I was instantly enamored with Breakout's "Poszlabym Za Toba," and true to its vivid constitution of everything great about late 60's heavy-psych/garage, I've gotten a good share of ecstatic feedback whenever I've decided to DJ this one out. The bass-drum groove has just the proper amount of funky sophistication tempered with a perfectly subtle smattering of raunch and clamor that really gets boiling once the guitar riff comes in. The flute interlude is the frosting on the cake, seeming initially like it may kill the momentum, but proving instead to be an effortlessly effective detour that really heightens the tension created as the refrain comes back in. "Gdybyś Kochał Hej" rides a similar groove, with this thick, fuzzy garage-pop masterpiece perhaps being a little more ebulant, while the sax-driven hints of Stax soul that pepper "Na Drugim Brzegu Tęcz?" suggest my favorite paradox of simultaneously "loose" and "tight" musicianship.

Sadly, I can only find scant information on the band in English, though their Wikipedia page suggests that "they were arguably the first group to play blues rock in Poland" and thus eventually ran afoul of social conservatives in the country who felt threatened by the band's embracing of Western ideology (however vague all of that might come across in their music). Their Discogs page similarly offers scant detail, but at least offers what seems to be a rather comprehensive run-down of their proper releases. Some of the later material I was able to find from Breakout traverses into more pedestrian or overly slick territory, but these early nuggets below stand unshakable in their steadfast ferocity. Anyone who can offer additional insight in this band, please feel free to offer up whatever information you've got. Enjoy:

DJ Handi's Archive Picks: Eurounderground

This week I'll focus on underground bands from 1970's Europe.

When the Beatles were breaking up and "singer songwriters" like James Taylor were replacing acid rock,  bands from Germany developed darker, far riskier music, sometimes labeled "Krautrock". "Brainticket" was one, played on The Fro Show by Jessie next to a remix of Can, also German. The two tracks work with flat, repetitive progressions to allow for improvisation. Notice, though, how Can emphasized small shifts in instrumental texture, while Brainticket exploited bad--trip nuance expressed though the vocalist's spoken word.

Amon Duul II were also German, and specialized in polished, layered space rock. Mike Van Laar played their "A Short Stop At The Trans-Sylvania Brain-Surgery" Watch them play live below, then compare this to the driving approach of England's Hawkwind. Fabio played "Orgone Accumulator" from the live Space Ritual album on Strength Though Failure. This 1973 track was recorded before punk, and is layered with electronic effects. But played next to the studio sophistication of the Amon Duul II piece, "Orgone Accumulator's" grind and urgency takes on a punk feel.

 

England's Canterbury bands used far more formal structures, mixing classical composition with jazz improvising. Scott Williams played "Rivmic Melodies" by "Soft Machine" (see video below) from a side long suite from their 1969 second album, which placed jazz soloing into short pieces. (Bonus, Scott played some more Brainticket earlier in the set). Henry Cow emphasized complex composition over improvising. Listen to "Half Asleep, Half Awake" played on Dan Bodah's Airborne Event.

 

Glam, blues-rock, proto-ambient and many other movements thrived in Europe in the early 70's. This post mainly dealt with music bridging the end of psychedelia and the start of art rock. We'll deal with other styles of the period in future posts.

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 15

August so far was a stellar month with a bunch of incredible performances, some of which are highlighted below.

DJ DJ, Quite Contrary: Kurt Gottschalk on Making Miniature Minotaurs

Every program on WFMU is a unique mixture of loam and silt, manure and peat, each lovingly tended to to bring the finest harvest of ephemera, flotsam and mixed metaphor that can be guaranteed. In this installment Kurt Gottschalk explains what makes his garden grow.

It's not like I don't have enough to do. I mean, I'd love to say my show flows like freestyle rhymes from the soul of some hookah smoking caterpillar or something, but it just isn't like that. I watch the DJs who have gone before me and admire the ease with which they ply their craft: Bryce moving through the library like the Silver Surfer with hiccups, sliding records from the wall while I panickedly prepare for my show; Dave Mandl sequencing songs as effortlessly as a Jack Bruce solo while I'm losing a game of hot potato with the new bin. I watch them in wonder and in awe.

I share with Bryce, Dave and many others at the station a love for improvised music. I play it on my show. I write about it. I spend my evenings going out with it and I share my apartment with thousands of hours of it. Sometimes I even attempt it. It's not the only music I like, or play on my show, of course. I have soft spots for The Carpenters, Kraftwerk and Arnold Schoenberg, to name a few. But listening to a masterful improviser makes me feel I'm living in the song “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”

But here's the rub: I can't improvise my show. Not for all the alligator clips on Canal Street could I improvise my show. My show is not a saxophone solo. It's a long, obtuse and haphazardly crafted essay in which I imagine I'm arguing beyond any rebuttal such ill-conceived propositions as “loud is the same thing as quiet” or “pianos sound better broken” or “sometimes melodies are nice.”

The way it works is this: I have a milk crate next to the sofa in my living room. Into it are thrown the pieces of a puzzle not yet taken shape: Ornette Coleman and Morton Feldman, Diamanda Galás and the Shirelles, Of Montreal and Thai Elephants, KISS and Prince, all tossed in, the reasons forgotten quicker than the jewel cases can break. Next to the crate is the legendary-in-mine-own-mind box of 45s I found, each of which will provide both bed music and thematic link in some indecipherable way for an individual broadcast. There they sit collecting dust until some Sunday night when I start molding them back into lumps of airtime designed essentially to further my desperate and unquenchable efforts to keep myself amused. Two different songs with the same title? Hilarious! The same trumpeter on three different tunes? Fascinating! People singing in different languages? Worldly! Every record is a sentence. Every set is a paragraph. Every program is a treatise which I'm not smart enough to understand. Or perhaps too smart, as I trust, gentle listener, are you.

And if, dear listener, you wonder why I might get testy about requests on occasion, it's simply because I don't have the intellectual capacity to switch gears in the way that would entail. It'd be like … well, it'd be like doing something that you don't have the intellectual capacity to do, I guess. I'd like to add that I of course do not look down on you, WFMU faithful, for failing to follow my fickle flights of fancy. No, in truth it is all an exercise in self-pity, a cry for help, a yearning to be noticed. But if in the process just one person says “Huh, maybe ELO weren't so bad,” then my work is done.

Illustration by Emma Ball

Blank Generation: Ivan Julian live at WFMU (mp3s)

via emcecil @ FMA:

In the Voidoids, he and Bob Quine comprised what was probably the fiercest guitar duo in punk's infancy.  And just last week, Ivan Julian turned in a solid WFMU performance on Terre T's Cherry Blossom Clinic as both he and his band tore through a number of covers and originals from his new alb, The Naked Flame (2:59 Records). 

Fans of his work in the Voidoids, Outsets and beyond will be stoked to hear that time hasn't tamed Julian one bit.  His guitar's still as sinewy and caustic as it ever was, and his band brings up the rear with some real panache.  They pull out a surprising and great cover of the Nuns' "The Beat," not to mention a haunting original, "You Is Dead."  Hell, the whole set's rife with those trebly strangulations that Julian harnessed throughout his time in LES's punk and no-wave heydays -- and those that son Austin Julian continues to harness in his own no-wave unit, Sediment Club -- but they sound just as vital as ever.  So have a listen, chum.  And don't forget to catch one of his upcoming live shows, three of which are with Radio Birdman's Deniz Tek (who'll make his own trip to WFMU's Three Chord Monte on Aug 25th):

August 20 - New York, NY - @ Highline Ballroom w/ APB
August 26 - Brooklyn, NY - @ Bell House w/ Deniz Tek
August 27 - Hoboken, NJ - @ Maxwell's w/ Deniz Tek
August 28 - Philadelphia, PA - @ Kung Fu Necktie w/ Deniz Tek

 

this post via emcecil at the Free Music Archive

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 128

 

 

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

Some lovely and oddball offerings populate the Motherlode this time around with tubas figuring prominently: Bob Stewart blows magnificently on Arthur Blythe's Lenox Avenue Breakdown (listen for his solo on the title track; Howard Johnson channels Jimi Hendrix on Gil Evans's big band interpretation of "Voodoo Chile"; and maestro Ransom Knowling weilds a "brass bass" in support of both Doctor Clayton and his "buddy" (Sunnyland Slim) on a number of mid-'40s blues sessions you won't want to miss.

 

 

 This group really blows...

 

Jack Wilcox Sowards  ~  "A Marriage of Clocks and Highways"
(Blog: Out of the Bubbling Dusk)

Quiet a Masterpiece
"Jack Wilcox was introduced to me by a good friend as a buried regional LP from my neck of the woods, maybe 3 years ago... a lost loner folk record that sounded like it was recorded by the angry son of a logger, trapped in Northern Idaho, a wayward intellectual youth washed out into the resignation of beer-can spray and icy roads of the soul... I liked the LP then, and still find something very appealing about it now. Allegedly recorded in an empty bar, Wilcox's voice is fragile but coarse, and his songs exude the dull ache of blue collar America's trappings and smoke filled particle board interiors. The whole trip may seem a little flat at first but I found a subtle edge to it all that only grew on me over time. For folk fans, it is most certainly something worth checking out."  (By J.D.F., at Out of the Bubbling Dusk)

 

Doctor Clayton & His Buddy  ~  "Pearl Harbour Blues"
(Blog: Don't Ask Me ….. I Don't Know)

Whoop for Joy
"Doctor Clayton was an American blues singer and songwriter who performed barefoot, wearing comically large, round glasses. Peter Joe Clayton was born in Georgia on April 19, 1898 (although he later claimed he had been born in Africa), and moved to St. Louis as a child with his family.  He had four children of his own and worked in a factory in St. Louis, while starting his career as a singer.  He could also play piano and ukulele, although he never did so on record. Doctor Clayton recorded six sides for Bluebird Records in 1935, but only two of those were ever issued.  His family all died in a house fire in 1937, after which Clayton became an alcoholic and began wearing oversized hats and glasses."  (By Xyros, at Don't Ask Me...)

 

Tea and Symphony  ~  "Jo Sago"
(Blog: Hippy Djkit)

Hold the Scones
"Tea & Symphony gained a reputation early on, for their strange stage-shows and presentation which included as much theatrical as musical content. They were probably the first local group to perform at Erdington's legendary Mothers club that opened in August of 1968. This internationally famous venue that specialized in booking the top "progressive" groups, was previously known as the Carlton Ballroom where a number of local acts including The Moody Blues had got their start in the early 1960's. In 1969, Tea & Symphony toured with progressive blues outfit Bakerloo who were from nearby Tamworth in Staffordshire. Both groups were signed to the Harvest Records label in 1969 and Tea & Symphony were able to record under the direction of producer Gus Dudgeon who had previously worked with the famous Nottingham group Ten Years After and would later produce records by Elton John."  (By John R. Woodhouse, at Brum Beat)

 

Arthur Blythe  ~  "Lenox Avenue Breakdown"
(Blog: Mohaoffbeat)

Best Vibrato in the Biz
"Prodigiously talented as an instrumentalist and composer, alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe was one of the most innovative jazz musicians of the 1970s and '80s, and Lenox Avenue Breakdown, his Columbia Records debut, proves it. Blythe's ability to marry the best of the genre's traditions (he is equally versed in swing, post-bop, and romantic styles) with his avant-garde leanings is evident here. "Odessa," for example, a modal exploration, begins melodically, yet pushes further into free-jazz territory as the tune progresses. The angular bop of the title track is offset by adventurous soloing and unique instrumentation (flute and tuba add to the sonic palette here, along with guitarist James "Blood" Ulmer and drummer Jack DeJohnette)."  (By Frasco, at Mohaoffbeat)

[This download is in the lossless FLAC format. For 320 MP3, go to Music • Hertz)

 

Gil Evans Orchestra  ~  "Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix"
(Blog: Van Groove Express)

The Cool Grows Up
"Since I am an avid fan of Modern Progressive Big Band music, as well as progressive rock and jazz rock fusion, Gil Evans Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix released in 1975, is a combination of all those styles and I find it a spectacular performance. The highlight tracks for me are "Voodoo Chile," a tune best known for Jimi Hendrix's guitar wah wah-driven intro, the use of the most awkward instrument of them all the tuba, in place of the lead guitar is one of craziest things I have ever heard in recorded music…"  (By jjaysmoker, at Squidoo  )

 

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

Week in WFMU: 8/15 - 8/21

Readers: Sorry for late post this week!

Monday, Liz Berg welcomed pop duo High Places to her show for a morning wake-up call. Rob Barber and Mary Pearson, who have a new album entitled "Original Colors" forthcoming on Thrill Jockey, are in the midst of a U.S. tour and will come to Glasslands in Brooklyn this Thursday. Hear Liz's archive here! Her show is on every Monday from 9 AM to noon.

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Also on Monday, the Icelandic singer Kalli stopped by Irene Trudel's show to perform. Kalli, aka Karl Henry, traveled to Nashville to record his second solo album; the result is a dark and dreamy melding of folk and alt-country. Check out Irene's archive for the live set, and hear her every Monday from noon to 3 PM.

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Tuesday morning, legend of latin soul Joe Bataan joined Marty McSorley for a chat before a Central Park Summerstage show. The archive is up -- listen and learn more about Bataan's rich, 40+ year career. Marty can be heard on the web every Tuesday from 6 to 9 AM.

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On Diane's Peer Pressure! segment this week, she will be talking with Gaye Advert of The Adverts. Original Adverts bassist and punk icon Gaye will be discussing her life in punk rock, playing some of the music she is into nowadays, and taking your comments via the playlist. For the conversation and guest DJ set, listen to Diane's Kamikaze Fun Machine, Tuesday from noon to 3 PM!

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Archie Patterson, founder of the music magazine Eurock, fills in for Tony Coulter on his Give the Drummer Radio show. In the 1980s Archie also formed Eurock Distribution and the Eurock label, which released cassettes by artists including Ilitch, Pascal Comelade, and the Plastic People of the Universe. Listen to Archie's show on the Give the Drummer Radio stream, Tuesday from noon to 3 PM. You can also read Tony's interview with him for this-here blog.

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On Wednesday, Evan "Funk" Davies has live sets from TWO bands! First, French garage-pop sensations the Limiñanas, who put out two great singles last year and followed those with an LP on the Trouble in Mind label. They had Evan's #1 record of 2010, and will be at Cake Shop on Thursday the 18th. Then, post-punk heroes APB, who were Evan's first guests back in 2006, return for another great performance to celebrate the release of their latest album Jaguar. It all happens 8/17, from 9 PM to midnight!

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Thursday morning, join Jason Sigal and his guest Ami Dang, whose album Hukam has been on rotation at WFMU and on the Free Music Archive. Dang, a native of Baltimore, is trained in both voice and sitar -- she draws on Bollywood and North Indian classical music as well as the American canon. She performs at the Knitting Factory tonight (8/16), and comes to Talk's Cheap with a live percussionist 8/18 from 9 AM to noon.

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Fabio organizes a tribute to Conrad Schnitzler on Strength Through Failure, Thursday afternoon 8/18 from 3 to 6. Schnitzler, who passed away this month, was a key figure in the development of psychedelic rock, electronic music, and experimental music in Germany beginning in the late 1960s; Fabio, along with Schnitzler's long-time friend Gen Ken Montgomery, will air seldom-heard works including live mixing from Schnitzler's Cassette Concerts.

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On The Long Rally with Scott McDowell, Eleven Twenty Nine will come to perform a hot summer session. The guitarists Tom Carter (Charalambides) and Marc Orleans (Sunburned, D. Charles Speer & the Helix), plus drummer Michael Evans (God is My Co-Pilot), bring their blend of cosmic blues and psychedelic drift to the program. Friday 8/19, from 9 AM to noon!

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Lastly and not-to-be-missed-ly, Joe McGasko hosts pioneers Jean and June Millington of Fanny, the first all-female rock band to be signed to a major label in the early '70s. The Millington sisters are back with a new album, "Play Like a Girl," and will be talking with Joe and playing a few songs. Listen to them on Surface Noise 8/21, from midnight to 3 AM.

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Next week: Voyageurs will be on Liz's show, Marissa Nadler on Dark Night of the Soul with Julie, Digby Pearson of Earache Records will join Diane, and Do or DIY with People Like Us will have Osymyso! And more! Please consult WFMU's Upcoming page for upcoming special programs, anytime you wish.

When Koyxen Met Sensational

 

Noise and hip-hop often seem to stand at opposite ends of the musical spectrum, seldom touching, let alone fusing together as thoroughly as they do on Kouhei Matsunaga and Sensational's late 2010 Skam Records release, "Sensational Meets Koyxen." Here, experimental noise is conjoined to hip-hop, resulting in a high-energy album whose every track presents itself as an unrelenting audio attack.

Both musicians are formidable in their own right. Kouhei, based between his native Osaka and Berlin, has worked closely with Merzbow, the late and great Conrad Schnitzler, and Mika Vainio of Pan Sonic, to name a few, and continues to make waves with his off-kilter noisecore. Ex-Jungle Brother Sensational's debut, "Loaded With Power," was dubbed by one critic, "The most bold and experimental hip-hop record of the last decade."

With "Sensational Meets Koyxen," the disjointed raps of Sensational "fit" around Kouhei's controlled, deconstructed beatrs. The stripped-down electronics Kouhei produces are matched in vitriol by Sensational's snarling delivery of each line. Tracks like "323" provide a delicate balance between Kouhei's abstract beats and the bouncy, hyper-aggressive lines of Sensational, combining to make tracks so heavy your entire body quakes at the sheer weight of it all.

Sensational and Koyxen - 323

Sensational and Koyxen - 300

The album opens with "300," a demented, incredible mess of a song. This track represents one of the album's highpoints, with Kouhei contributing insane beats that play a slightly more prominent, critical role than Sensational's lines. Because, really, the strength of the album lies in Kouhei's ability to make his brand of hard electronics as interesting and urgent as any lines a hip-hop innovator like Sensational can spit.

"Sensational Meets Koyxen" is the follow-up to the pair's excellent first recording, "Sensational Meets Kouhei," released by WordSound in 2006 after being recorded in a single day Sensational spent in Osaka. The rawness and grit of "Sensational Meets Kouhei" remains intact, is perhaps even felt a bit more on "Sensational Meets Koyxen" – Sensational's always slightly wobbly, unbalanced delivery seems to mesh even more tightly with Kouhei's hard, bass-heavy electronic experiments.

Sensational and Koyxen featuring Black Chameleon and D - 368

The production and beats are even more sophisticated and certainly far, far weirder on this sophomoric effort from the two, with the penultimate "368" standing out as a particularly complex and bizarre track. "368" really gives Kouhei space to breathe and to explore, and while the tracks dominated by Sensational are certainly fun, the moments when Matsunaga takes center stage really make "Sensational Meets Koyxen" the challenging and strange album that it is.

My Birthday Veil; Alive and Kicking with Lady Piss, 8.5.2011

In a creative universe where everything but everything is postmodern, where citation of creative influences is unnecessary and irrelevant, where "might appeal to fans of ____" doesn't go the mile or two that it used to, what impassions me personally about a band? Why this one and not so many others? I'll try and delineate.... It's the casual earnestness, for one, the way Lady Piss just do, simply lay it down, jumping from one well-written, expertly crafted song to another, with notions of "rock" or "punk" or "metal" or "heavy music" casually abandoned in the face and favor of free-flowing creativity. This is what they do, this is who they are, and miles-above-average song composition and arranging is so very key to their presentation, and sets them obviously apart (to my ears) from the mass of bands on myspace, or Facebook, or wherever. Noel's intelligent, gloomily animated, on-key and fully immersed horror-host delivery of the lyrics and vocal element of the band also propel Lady Piss forward, in a way that simply eludes many bands of their ilk. It's just the right alchemical balance of everything—a perfect moment in time in the form of a rock band.

I hear echoes of The Birthday Party, The Jesus Lizard and many of my historical favorites in these seven songs, though none of that would matter a whit if the songs weren't so damn good and rendered with the irrefutable oomph of a mass UFO sighting. Any band that drives from Baltimore to New Jersey to play an unpaid session at 12:30 a.m., on a moderately popular show on a widely beloved radio station (that and one gig in Brooklyn two nights later) has the right stuff in carefree abundance, and the need (because to "want" is childish) to put their stuff forward in a forum like The Castle, where I made it very clear that I believed in them, supported what they were doing, and felt wholeheartedly that they had the ability to reach greater heights in their field. By now, it's my hope that most regular Castle listeners know that the invitation to an artist to perform live on the show is never extended flippantly, or without this core belief. Like many who have come before me, I choose to believe in music, and its performers, rather than God or such other misty intangibles.

So, enough leaden praise—you've got the point; here now are the songs. 

Expert and enthusiastic live engineering by Diane "Kamikaze" Farris. Colorful, high-impact manipulation of my band photo as always by Tracy Widdess of Brutal Knitting. You can pick up a copy of the Streaming e.p. (all six songs are featured in this set) by writing to Lady Piss on myspace, or through bandcamp, where you may choose to purchase a record with a free download code, or just grab the digital album—such greatness to be had for three measly American dollars. Endless gratitude to the band for making my birthday number 47 something more enjoyable than it otherwise would have been.

Early Japanese Animation – Part I: The Earliest Days

By Cory Gross

This article and video are the first part of our 5-day series on Early Japanese Animation. To read more go to NA Magazine and to see more of the films visit our Archives.

Why do anime characters have such big eyes? That is one of the most common questions asked of Japanese animation and it has one of the most unexpected answers: because of Mickey Mouse.

Animation as a popular medium had its start in Hollywood, from there filtering around the world clear across to the Land of the Rising Sun. How it infiltrated Japan, and how the Japanese in turn infiltrated animation, is a perfect microcosom of Japan's entry into the globalized economic and cultural world of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

Through the first half of the 19^th century, Japan was still secluded in the reign of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Effectively a military dictatorship with a well-defined class structure, the Shoguns restricted contact between Japan and the rest of the world. It is not proper to say that they were isolationist, for they did trade extensively with the Chinese, Koreans and Dutch. Rather, they were guarded and particular about working with “compatible” peoples. That did not include most Europeans or Americans.

This changed in 1852 when Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States arrived in what is now Tokyo Bay with an ultimatum to open the port to unrestricted trade on pain of canon-fire from his fleet of “black ships.” A treaty was signed in 1854 that shook Japanese society to its foundation. Unfair conditions, Western aggression and newly-introduced diseases provoked the population into wanting to confront the

Psychic Paramount live at WFMU (MP3)

Hard to believe Psychic Paramount have been around for ten years already, coming up out of the ashes of the late great Laddio Bolocko. Both on record and live, PP swerve between brutality and bliss: layers of textural distorto guitar action and color, throttling, mathy percussive pummel recalling great moments of This Heat gone into total in-the-red Japanese psych mode. Add Robert Fripp-like loops building and dismantling the songs themselves in bulldozer style, and you've got the makings of one killer progressive rock unit. This month's session on my radio show blasted into orbit at the moment of start-up; guitarist Drew St. Ivany matched the propulsive intensity of bassist Ben Armstrong and drummer Jeff Conaway with figures reminiscent of Achim Reichel, heavy repetition segueing into burnt intermission of collapsing rhythms, eerie space and then finally climbing upwards into another frenetic movement to close off the 30 minute set. St. Ivany tweaked the post-session mix, it's a scorcher! Thanks to the band, Mike from No Quarter and Ernie Indridat and Ruaraidh Sanachan for the engineering.

 

DJ Handi's Archive Picks: Under The Influence

We all know imitation is flattery. Duane and guests, Phenomenal Handclap Band, played "You Know" by Stone Coal White, an early 1970's funk band reissued this year on Cali-Tex, DJ Shadow's label. My first thought was this was a demo tape of later, funkier Curtis Mayfield And The Impressions. Listen to the vocals and lo-fi recording quality, and you'll understand why. Since I mentioned Mayfield, here is Terre T. on Cherry Blossom Clinic playing 1970's "Miss Black America."
 

Influences among artists is an advantageous thread for DJs. Frank Zappa  bought Edgard Varese records in his early teens. On the Fro Show, Jesse played "Dog Breath, In the Year of the Plague" from Zappa's 1969 Uncle Meat next to Varese's "Intégrales" The tracks sound different on first listen. But soak in how the high voices and the instrumental second half of Zappa's track about "stealing hubcaps" sound like the orchestral abstractions in Varese' piece. Zappa, and by extension Jesse, meld the inane with high art until there is no line separating them.

John Allen sandwiched "My Friend Rain" by the Sun City Girls between "Clang Of The Yankee Reaper" by Van Dyke Parks and "P.F. Sloan" by Jimmy Webb. Both Parks and Webb were California songwriters in the 1960s and 1970s. The Sun City Girls track may have more raw production and much looser harmonics, but the song structure is a good match with the two other tracks. What jumps at the listener, though, is John's risk taking: by placing "My Friend Rain" between the Parks and Webb, he changes textures, then changes back. John risks cohesion for variation and gets both. 

Influences are sometimes covert. On Busy Doing Nothing, Charlie played "Message From Home"  by Broadcast after Sergio Mendes And Brazil '66's cover of the The Beatles' "Fool On The Hill." The moods are opposite--light and airy followed by dark and creepy. But consider that Broadcast soaked themselves in 1960s soundtrack and lounge music before darkening those sources with modern electronic hues. Charlie's thread might not be as glaring as those above, but is surely present.

Once you throw out genre labels, the connections in music are endless.

Seeking out Peach Of Immortality

Having a few months back procured an elusive copy of Peach Of Immortality sole "proper" album as it were, the sardonically titled Talking Heads '77, I have been fascinated and transfixed by the motivations of Tom Smith (instigator and mastermind of the ingenious To Live And Shave In L.A.) regarding his second band (following the similarly elusive Boat Of), particularly how distinct an entity POI appear to be from Smith's idiosyncratic and singular work in TLASILA. Myself having been converted years back to TLASILA by their opus The Wigmaker In Eighteenth Century Williamsburg, as demented and ecstatic a listening experience as one is privy to come by (seriously, there's no turning back after experiencing this behemoth), I've always been intrigued when coming by mention of POI's under-documented existence.

While having operated in various forms of membership throughout the bulk of the 80's, the POI on the aforementioned TH77 LP from 1985 is at first notice much more restrained and studied that one might be used to from Smith, this prospect being especially arresting when one takes into account the splatter-punk-noise collages of TLASILA's 90's output (i.e. Vedder Vedder Bedwetter and "Helen Butte" Vs. Masonna Pussy Badsmell). On this particular recording, Smith and his collaborators (guitarist Jared Hendrickson and cellist Rogelio Maxwell) weave in and out of each other's aural space with distinct patience but concurrently with enough spontaneous unrest as to make for sessions that stand as anything but passive. A couple years ago, the Dead C joked that they were "The AMM Of Punk Rock" on their Future Artists LP, and I almost feel that moniker would make logical sense with POI, especially relating Smith's spasmodic tape abuse in this project which compares distinctly with the radio manipulation on AMMMusic.

As befitting the elusive nature of the 80's avant underground, POI recorded a plethora of material intended for releases that dishearteningly never saw the light of day. Here's hoping Smith or another passionate soul revisits these down the line. In the meantime, the glory of YouTube has some vintage footage of the crew in action:

The TH77-era configuration live on Arlington, VA public access, 1985:

A more "aggro" configuration performing at the D.C. institution 9:30 Club in 1987:

Recent WFMU New Bin Faves

Terrors - Lagan Qord (Weird Forest) Somewhere in the cold grey spaces between Amen Dunes and Kurt Vile live the faraway, mournfully woozy guitar ballads of Terrors, the home-recording project of Elijah Forrest, whoever that is (I'd like to know).  Lagan Qord is a CD & vinyl issue of 2 years' worth of cassette releases.  Check his cover of "God Bless the Child", which sounds almost like John Cale demoing tracks for Nico's Chelsea Girls sessions.(Scott Williams)

Clap - Have You Reached Yet? LP (Sing Sing) The best in Stones-y 1972 glam/garage/punk/rawk, from Manhattan Beach CA. Legit vinyl reissue by the Sing Sing label who also brought us power-pop / first-wave punk gems by Liquid Stone, Straightshooter, De Cylinders. And the bass player's name is Jim Morrison. Audio: "Middle of the Road". (Jason Sigal)

Asian Women On the Telephone - Chelsea Grandpa (self-released) Asian Women on the Telephone? My Lord, what would Yuri Andropov make of this mysterious pseudonym-attired bunch of miscreants? The tracks on this Moscow quintet's Chelsea Grandpa CD-R open up clogged passages in one's 3^rd ear by driving a motherfausting caveman club right through it. All the evidence required is on the falsetto-melt of "Scania-Man"/"Commandment 69" and the Flipper meets Can of "High Grade". Recorded live and released without any post-production, the mangled stew seems to emanate from somewhere between a state of visionary mental instability and a healthy sense of the absurd. Just try to get through the damaged guitar/keyboard/drums of "Feeling Round Dance" and the lysergic space portal of "Aspect-Son" without seeing a wood nymph on a tricycle wielding a battle axe. Hopefully this lunatic fringe will invade U.S. shores soon. Judging by AWOTT's video clips, the lo-fi free-psych-noise gurgitation-rock costume-drama is a killer spectacle! Come to think of it, I bet Yuri would be proud. You can download material (several albums worth!) via the Free Music Archive here! (Daniel Blumin)

Various - Play That Beat Mr. Raja Volume 1 (Cartilage) Totally boss French-compiled document of that Tamil film industry's greatest hits between 1977-1984. Well directed and curated assortment of Kollywood dancefloor busters that burst with genre-confusion, rawness and bubbly fun all around while being pulled in three directions by traditional Indian arrangements, Westernisms and the state-of-the-art (for the 80's) production techniques. Most recently Andy Votel's Finders Keepers has issued two volumes of one of the stars of this comp, Illaiyaraaja ("Vikram Vikram" MP3) but there's a wide assortment of greats onboard for this one. Audio: Agni Natchakhram "Raaja Rajathi" (Brian Turner)

Afuche - Highly Publicized Digital Boxing Match (Cuneiform) Possibly the last influences you might expect these days to come out of Brooklyn are indeed where the most fertile seeds get planted: Afuche's third disc (and first for Cuneiform) comes with a description sticker affixed to the case that bring up the likes of Zappa and Yes, admittedly not two major components of influence on the block these days. Magma and King Crimson have fared a bit better in injecting themselves into prog's 21st century, and quite often that influence finds itself dosed a bit with some rocket fuel as evidenced in bands like the Zs, Psychic Paramount or Upsilon Acrux. Hence, Afuche strut out their wild and wooly time signatures with a little fried production, but mostly lay back for some live-sounding straightforward compositions that allow for a fantastic array of sideways seepage: afro-cuban experimentalism, bareboned baritone sax, scratchy guitars, JB's-style get-down. Audio: "They're In There". (Brian Turner)

       Salyu x Salyu - S(o)un(d)beams - (Toys Factory) Just in time for another Planet of the Apes reboot, Cornelius is back. The name on the album might read "Salyu x Salyu," but the contents are pure Keigo Okayama, in the producer's chair and turning mild-mannered former teen-pop vocalist Salyu into the magnetic center of an immaculate stereo-panned wonderland. After the disappointing blurriness of 2006's Sensuous, the annoying-to-type S(o)un(d)beams returns the Shibuya-kei staple to the unpredictable harmony-laden otherness he accessed so magically on 1997's Fantasma and 2002's Point. If I understood Japanese, I'd probably be more excited by lyrical contributions from Yura Yura Teikoku's Shintaro Sakamoto. Salyu's rich voice ricochets Petra Haden-like amid bleep grids and allows Okayama a reason to get legitimately blue 'n' moody, like the dripping "Hostile To Me." The occasional funk experiment, meh. Still!  (Jesse Jarnow)

If 3 Was 6

Some purty pictures for ya, behind the curtain. All taken from record jackets -- 'cepting one iron-on. Why not have a look-see?

Cliff "Effin" Edwards AKA "Ukelele Ike": Night Owl (mp3)

Cliff Edwards - Night Owl

Cliff Edwards went from being a carnie and a saloon singer to one of the forerunners of ukulele music and scat in the '20s.  His style was known as "effin", in which someone would try to impersonate a kazoo or a trumpet rather than making jazzy shooby dooby sounds and things like that.  Also known as "Ukelele Ike" (that's how they used to spell it), Edwards came to prominence with his version of "Singing In The Rain", and is best known as the voice of Jiminy Cricket singing "When You Wish Upon A Star".  In addition to making appearances on The Mickey Mouse Club, Gone With The Wind, and various other acting, radio, voice over work, including a weekly vaudeville television show, he's also somewhat notorious for songs that were banned in their time such as "Paddlin' Madelin Home", "I'm Going To Give It To Mary With Love" and "I'm A Bear In A Lady's Boudoir".   Edwards and Buster Keaton propped each other up with overlapping binges to make music between filming.

On into the 40s, Cliff's corner of the music spectrum started to become more schmaltzy, where crooners like Bing Crosby and Rudy Vallee overtook the public's eye.  Ike was more or less forgotten after his heyday, and with Disney secretly supplementing his medical expenses (or habits), he died quietly in 1971, in poverty after a lifelong addiction to drugs and alcohol.  There is a Ukelele Ike LP with cover art by Robert Crumb from 1975 that emphasizes both the Disney and the dark side, but I think "Ukelele Ike" should be as familiar to the general public as Fats Waller.  "Night Owl"  is my favorite song in the world, and even though my ukulele sits in the corner waiting, should I ever pick it up and learn how to play it, it would be solely because of this song alone (that's what I bought it for).   Tiny Tim is great and all, but Ukulele Ike is for the children!

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 127

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

There are a couple of fantastic blogs I've been meaning to trumpet in this space for weeks now:

Around since May, Tim Abdellah's blissful Moroccan Tape Stash has a wonderful name (somewhat reminiscent of Awesome Tapes From Africa) that may sound like it has a narrow focus. But once you dive into the diverse sounds on offer, you'll soon grasp that the ocean of Moroccan music is wide and deep.

Speaking of deep, another site you should plunge into is Bodega Pop, which posted its first sonic treasure in May 2010. Scouring NYC's outer-borough cornershops the past decade for unusual music, your host Gary is now sharing with one and all the many fruits of his hunting and gathering. Thank you Tim and thank you Gary!

 

Late update:
Last evening on my radio show (here) I played an hour of jazz-besotted Indian music (and Subcontinental-infused jazz), including the only track I could find off Shankar Jaikishan's groovy collaboration Raga Jazz Style ("Raga Todi," which Eastern Eye had posted in 2008). Then late last night, someone (who I imagine heard the show) left a request for this LP at Holy Warbles — the most likely site in the universe where this audiophonic gem might possibly appear. Lo and behold, not six hours later, arrives a magnificent post delivering the whole album, cover scans, session line-up and complete details! Is there a more thrilling blog in this or any other universe than Holy Warbles? Thank you Øשlqæda!

 

 It's fun to share...

 

Bnate Houara  ~  "Bnate Houara"
(Blog: Moroccan Tape Stash)

Women Work It
"Marrakchi old-school women's party music - rollicking call-and-response singing with funky stratified rhythms on a variety of buzzy drums plus a brake drum or tea tray for some metal clang. This sort of group typically has some songs that roll from start to finish in the typical Moroccan 6/8. They have another type that begins in 7/8 and moves to 5/4, with the same melody stretched to fit into the new meter!"  (By Tim Abdellah, at Moroccan Tape Stash)

 

Phương Dung | Khúc Hát ân Tình
(Blog: Bodega Pop)

HBO? No, BHO!
"Every time I've gone to Chicago, and the one time I was in Montreal, I've picked up half a dozen to two dozen Vietnamese CDs, mostly pop music recorded in Vietnam before 1975—though I do have a relatively sizable collection now of Vietnamese rap, all recorded in the States. The pre-'75 stuff rarely disappoints. That said, it also rarely, in the words of my Minneapolis sound poet friend, Erik Belgum, "blows head off." Last weekend, however, I picked up something that definitely BHO."  (By Gary, at Bodega Pop )

 

Shankar Jaikishan  ~  "Raga Jazz Style"
(Blog: Holy Warbles)

Øשlqæda for President
Shankar Jaikishan, also known as S/J, were a duo of composers in the Hindi film industry who collaborated from 1949–1971. Shankar Singh Raghuvanshi was a native of Rajasthan, while Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal belonged to Bansda, Gujarat. Shankar Jaikishan, along with other artists, wrote 'everlasting' & 'immortal melodies' in the '50s & '60s. Their best melodies are noted for being raga-based & having both lilt and sonority. Shankar Jaikishan made a major contribution toward the development of jazz music in India and the new genre Indo Jazz. Their 1968 album Raga Jazz Style is the earliest Indo Jazz recording in India and the first to be released in stereo. On this album, considered to be one of the most innovative, S/J created 11 songs based on Indian ragas with sitar by Rais Khan.  (From Wikipedia)

 

Various  ~  "God Give Me Light"
(Blog: Ghostcapital)

Sanctafried
"Outstanding 78rpm gospel collection from Herwin Records, featuring knockout performances from a handful of both black and white sanctified singers of the day. As the liner notes say: "Unfortunately, very little is known about the artists in this album." I do know that I recommend it, highly."  (By nicholab, at Ghostcapital)

 

Various  ~  "El Gran Tesoro De La Musica Cubana"
Volumes 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
(Blog: El Negrito del Batey)

Havana Hold Your Hand
"El 2004 significó para la Egrem la celebración del 40 aniversario de su fundación y el 60 de la inauguración de los legendarios estudios de la calle San Miguel, posteriormente reconocidos como Areito, por donde desfilarían a lo largo de todos estos años lo más valioso de nuestros creadores e intérpretes, enriqueciendo con su arte el patrimonio que atesoran los archivos de esta casa discográfica, que como homenaje a toda esa historia musical, decidió asumir el ambicioso proyecto de conformar una colección capaz de brindar en ocho volúmenes, un amplio panorama de las diversas tendencias, géneros y estilos abordados durante seis décadas por esos músicos que tema a tema lograron construir una monumental obra orgullo de nuestra nacionalidad."  (From the Egrem catalog)

 

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The Fairbanks Flood (MP3)

Ted Harris  -  The Fairbanks Flood  (2:10)

In early-mid August 1967, heavier than normal rains caused the Chena and LIttle Chena Rivers to overflow their banks and flood "The Golden Heart City" of Fairbanks, Alaska.

The event was documented by Ted Harris on this 45rpm record.  The photos below were taken by Life magazine photographer Ralph Crane.

     

Heart Of Darkness: A Journey Into The Tour Bus of Chad Kroeger

About a year ago, I stumbled upon a video of Chad Kroeger giving a walk-through of his personal tour bus to a man who looks he would have gotten his ass kicked by Patrick Swayze in Road House. Within the nine minutes and eight seconds of the clip, Kroeger reveals **SPOILER** how the painting of Detroit in the bus is actually concealment for a television screen that shows trite clips from Anchorman and discusses the merits of hiring the best possible caterer for big rock gigs with our feather-haired host.

Please, enjoy.

 

 

Ganjatronics: Electronic Music for Electronic Music Skeptics

 

Ganjatronics is the two-man project of Doron Sadja and Justin Craun. I was initially suspicious of any group called "Ganjatronics," not least of all because my introduction to the group came in the form of Doron giggling a few months back about coming up with a name for some new side project. They settled on Ganjatronics as the silliest name imaginable for two serious artists out to jam and have a good time without the inhibitions of serious scrutiny or expectations.

Ganjatronics, though, is not just "silly." While definitely silly, the duo's music goes well beyond what the joke-y name seems like it should imply. They are making synth-and-beat-heavy electronic soundscapes that are interesting, introspective, and clever. The words "synth," "beat-heavy," and "soundscapes" generally imply, in my lexicon anyway, dumbed-down easy-listening for marginally hip stoners. Ganjatronics's music, while certainly acceptable to that demographic, goes way beyond that simple categorization.

Ganjatronics - Kill Club

Ganjatronics makes textural and hypnotic music, that transitions from light and airy moments to downright sinister ones. Tracks like "Kill Club" and "Gut Feeling," off of the "Dark, Cold, Alone" EP, are precise and meditative without feeling robotic or excessively cold. There's a sense that, at any moment, each song might totally breakdown into a chaotic free-for-all which, in the end, never comes. That kind of well-orchestrated tension keeps the tracks, which upon casual listen sound almost ambient, suspenseful, and exciting from start to finish.

Ganjatronics - Gut Feeling

"The Forgetting Stage," a two-single summer release available on Shinkoyo HERE is Ganjatronics's latest. The two tracks are far breezier than those off of "Dark, Cold, Alone," losing some of the bite that I liked so much in some of their earlier tracks. The resulting songs, though, are even cleaner and more restrained. "Top Down," in particular, weaves together a few simple elements to create a stunningly beautiful and almost tragic piece of minimalist pop.

Ganjatronics - Top Down

Ganjatronics, in "The Forgetting Stage," take tunes which should be, for me anyways, bland ambient tracks and somehow transform the familiar medium and style used into emotional narratives, transcending any sort of genre stereotyping. Instead, Ganjatronics's tracks stand comfortably on their own, with each song a perfect microcosm of exactly what I want to not only hear, but also feel, when listening to electronic music.