WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Pussy Galore - Maximum Penetration VHS

Years later, after numerous imitators and front-man Jon Spencer's 90's Alternative Nation-esque stardom with his ubiquitous and hyped Blues Explosion excursions, one might sometimes forget just how completely radical and unhinged Pussy Galore were in their prime. Whether or not they were in on the nihilistic excesses is besides the point; they ruffled feathers (including rather infamously those of the more PC sectors of D.C.'s punk scene) and had the caustic sound to back up the bile. I'm sure I don't need to sell them in this space as I'm sure WFMU fanatics are well aware of the band's ability, but it bears sharing this great, grimy, scratchy VHS rip of the band tearing into their audience circa 1987. I'm still bummed that I missed their one-off reunion opening for Yo La Tengo last December, so this will have to suffice in the meanwhile. Ain't it always that way. Sigh....

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 42

Earcandy for your eyes

Gehenna live at The Acheron in Brooklyn on August 10, 2012.

After the break: The Coffin Daggers

A Few Net-Art Sites that have Taken My Fancy Recently

I know, many of our readers here are averse to the idea that animated gifs are art.  But still, whenever I see some clever web app, regardless of how crassly novel it is, I always get super jealous them sheer hard coding skills.  Here are a few cool interactive and creative sites I've come across recently.

You Are Listening To is a website that mashes live police radio streams from a variety of cities with drone and ambient music sourced from Soundcloud.  Sounds excellent, and it's very addicting!  Listening for an hour or so the other day, I heard radio from a car chase in progress, a man trapped in an elevator and some cop complaining about how bad traffic is.

PointerPointer is a web-app that detects where your cursor is and then pulls an image with a person pointing at your cursor from a huge library of party shots.

The Museum of Endangered Sounds lets you click and listen to sounds from defunct technologies.  56k modem login sounds, fax machines, Speak and Spell toys, etc.

Staggering Beauty is a site where you...ummmm....make this little worm guy rave....trust me on this one.

The Blonk Organ is an interactive instrument that samples Jaap Blonk.  He's one of my favorite extended vocalists...by which I mean, yes, all those sounds are produced by his mouth.

Tug of Store is a very ad-friendly app that lets users debate in realtime over whether a product sucks or not by playing a virtual tug-of-war game.

Though I've not heard of it being implemented, Upside-Down Ternet is a funny prank - you can set up your wireless router so that anybody who uses your wireless network (ie, cheapskate neighbors) sees all the images on websites they look at flipped upside down!

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 178

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

If you're new to the Motherlode, let me take a moment out of my maniacal head-long search for great music to explain. For the past 25 years I've produced a radio show for WFMU. The station's format is nominally freeform, which essentially means there is no predetermined format. Each DJ on the air makes their own idiosyncratic choices of what to say and play, and for the duration of that show represents exactly what WFMU is. For me, WFMU represents the opportunity to share my own personal musical epiphanies in a communal setting.

In recent years, my search for sounds to share on the radio has led to the ever-widening online universe of music-sharing blogs. Mining the Audio Motherlode is weekly survey of my favorite such discoveries. Let me know what you think.

 

Getatchew Mèkurya  ~  ???
(Blog: Awesome Tapes from Africa)

Titanic Tenor
Listen for ten seconds to any solo by this titan of Ethiopian saxophone and his primary influence seems obvious: free-jazz apostle Albert Ayler. But Mèkurya, only a year older than Ayler, actually began playing professionally when his American counterpart—whom he has never heard—was still taking private lessons. Chronologies aside, the abundant points of comparison are separated-at-birth spooky. They both play with a strained, breathless attack; a chanted-not-sung delivery; a wildly oscillating vibrato; and a pacific lyricism thinly veiling a molten spirit.  (Description from my Favorites of '03 page)

 

Russ Garcia - Fantastica (1958)

This late '50s album by Russ Garcia, originally released on the Liberty label, wholly epitomizes the values of Space Age Bachelor Pad music -- very dated (but very fascinating) cover art and some of the most unusual sounds on Earth (or elsewhere!), along with that essential Atomic Age vibe that pop music from the time period captured so damn well. In many ways, this album also sounds so far ahead of its time that it would still be considered innovative even by today's standards.

I've heard this straight-through on more than several instances and all I can say is that this is a really incredible record. It is so incredible, in fact, that I fear no words could possibly do it justice. Listening to it will ultimately give you the impression you need, possibly even more so with this album than any old "average" one. This is mostly an instrumental adventure (except for the occasional abstract female vocal), and it is not quite as Big Band as some might be led to believe. Fantastica incorporates a great variety of sound effects, including tape manipulation and gelatin water (more on that in a minute..), as well as orchestral arrangement. The orchestra, however, is used in a wildly different fashion than what is generally associated with the early years of stereophonic sound. I think I can hear tinges of Varese-like meanderings and some of the more bizarre modern classical stylings worked into this, which is rare considering that Fantastica was really a "mainstream" effort. Also worthy of note is that, of music from space age, this is probably one of the most effective albums in terms of "taking you away from Earth" -- the spaced out exotic/impressionistic atmosphere is so thick you can cut it with a knife.

Listen below...

DJ Premier and Pete Rock run down the stories behind their classics

A huge, huge thanks to my pal Gabe for directing me toward this interview with DJ Premier and Pete Rock in which the two legends relay wonderfully detailed stories behind the creation of some of their most notable records. In my mind, they are hands down the two most important producers in 90's hip-hop (and both top my list of favorite hip-hop producers of all-time, along with Large Professor), and thus this sit-down is indispensable for any fan of the genre circa the early to mid 90's. Here how Rock ghost-produced A Tribe Called Quest's "Jazz (We've Got)", how an overbooked Premier crafted Biggie's "Unbelievable" at the last minute, how Jeru The Damaja's "Come Clean" was nearly a more expansive sonic affair, how Premier scrapped his original production of Nas' "Represent" during the recording of Illmatic after being floored by Rock's work on "The World Is Yours," how Diddy infamously jacked Rock's ideas for Biggie's "Juicy" without giving proper credit....shit, the whole thing is a treasure for any serious head. This chat was available as a bonus on a DVD release documenting a battle/show Rock and Premier undertook in Japan. Without question, this is essential viewing:

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 177

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

In the realm of record collecting, valuing obscure for obscure's sake is pretty lame. If that impossibly rare disc you just liberated from a dusty dollar bin is impossible to listen to, what's the point? Nevertheless, there's an undeniable thrill that comes with unearthing some vinyl marvel that few before you have laid ears on. The quintet of offerings in today's Motherlode are all new to me, and judging by the dearth of information available online, they will be new to most readers, too.

Even my old standby of searching WFMU's mile-deep playlist database revealed next-to-nothing. Only one of the five LPs—the loopy, psycho-electronica from Emil Richards (see below)—made an appearance. So quick, drop these beauties into your MP3 player, then call up WFMU and stump your favorite DJ.

 

Bidon K  ~  Bidon K
(Blog: Boxes of Toys)

Speciak K
"A collective of three percussionists that play regular percussion in addition to modified/invented percussion instruments and electronics. Interesting stuff. Gets pretty out there on a few tracks with the electronics! Fans of Pierre Henry, Nurse with wound, Stockhausen, etc should take note."  (Description taken from promo copy for an old posting at Collectors Frenzy)

 

Ode To Mary Jo (MP3)

  

Marvin Solley  -  Ode To Mary Jo

 On July 18, 1969, Mary Jo Kopechne left a Martha's Vineyard party with Senator Ted Kennedy, who piloted  his Oldsmobile 88 off the side of a nearby bridge and into the water below.  He managed to escape, but Kopechne drowned in the car.  In an act of indefensible cowardice, Kennedy fled the scene and did not get around  contacting the police until 10AM the next morning.

It's somewhat amazing, but people were still recording songs about the event 11 years later.  Well, maybe not people in general, but Marvin Solley.  Solley ratchets up the intensity factor by beginning his song with sound effects of a car skidding out of control and plunging into the water.

A few other songs about this tragedy can be heard in previous BOTB posts.

You Can Do a Lot of Livin' on a Credit Card! (MP3's)

Here's a fun little record that came out on the Meloclass Label, all about the often-addressed dangers of starting to buy more than you can afford, via the credit card.

Meloclass turns up in the American Song-Poem Music Archives listing of song-poem labels, but I have two records on the label, and neither of them - at least not their respective a-sides - strike me as being song-poems. 

To be sure, there is some overlap. One of the writers of today's record (Gordon Vanderburg) shows up with songs on several other song-poem labels, including one where he composed several offerings on a Las Vegas-themed album, all performed by the great Rodd Keith. 

But in that case, and in the case of the Meloclass songs, it seems more likely that the song-poem companies were being employed to turn out records of completed songs, often written by a song-writing team, rather than submitting lyrics to have music written to order. It's a key difference between a song-poem and a vanity recording.

And in this case, I really wonder if this (and the other Meloclass record from my collection) are neither song-poems nor vanity records, but legitimate attempts at novelty records. There is a higher level of professionalism in the writing of "Credit Card", for one thing, and for another, the artists listed on the labels of these records show up nowhere else in the song-poem discography. 

All of that is just obsessive speculation, from this obsessive collector. Here is the song itself, a charming performance of "Credit Card" as sung and played by Richard House and the Five Fellows: 

Richard House and the Five Fellows - Credit Card (MP3)  

The other Meloclass record to which I've referred, a truly engaging song written tribute to a Marine, from his fellow Marines, performed in a truly unique and ridiculous fashion, and titled "Friendly Melvin", can be found here. 

The flip side of "Credit Card", with the same co-writer, is considerably less interesting, and muddies the waters considerably by sounding very much like the product of the Globe song-poem factory, while still credited to The Five Fellows, this time joined by "A Girl".  

The Five Fellows and a Girl - If I Didn’t Have You (MP3)  |  "Credit Card" Label (JPG)  |  "If I Didn't Have You" Label (JPG) 

Interestingly, the single of "Friendly Melvin" also features a flip side credited to the same group as on the A-side, yet like this record, the flip side sounds like a song poem, the flip features a different vocalist, and the performers heard on the two sides do not sound remotely similar.

The Elusive John McFarland

"...He clutches the piano ouija-board style until he finds a musical figure that 'feels good' and proceeds to play it 'til it turns into a song, grabbing a little of 'this' with his left hand and a little of 'that' with his right."

The main thing, I think, that I was attracted to during my early exploration of Martin Denny's 'exotic' period records was the 'otherness' of certain pieces, the almost total divide between the 'real' world of the late 1950's and the interior headspace of an Easter Island-like 'lost world', pregnant with mysterious pauses and sounds hard to identify. When it worked I was briefly transported, and even now, many years later, and with a much better grasp of arranging and recording they still have grains of that magic in the grooves. As much as I enjoy Les Baxter, and some of the other better-quality purveyors (not to fault, however, the occasional rock-bottom rip-off exotica lp that actually delivers some action), I've found precious few moments on wax that can get near to that strange little meta-world of Denny's. The album under discussion today is one of the big exceptions.

Here's a taste of "Provacatif / Nine Exotic Motifs" by Mr. John McFarland to whet your appetite for more after the jump -                                           Head Hunters

Daffy’s Inferno: An American World War II Propaganda Revue in Seven Chapters

by Joe DeMartino - Collection: US WWII Cartoons

What's on Network Awesome today?

Beyond a few broad, core truths (the Nazis are Evil, the Axis are a Threat), propaganda is by its very nature filled with falsehoods, exaggerations, and lies. It reveals far more about the country that created it than its actual target. In the following cartoons, which cast the most popular animated characters of the time into situations both comic and nightmarish, the concerns of World War II America are laid bare: it's scared, defiant, and strangely obsessed. 

Wrath

During a parable about the idiocy of signing a non-aggression pact with a man who is a wolf AND a Nazi, the Three Little Pigs run into the eldest pig’s house, which is made out of bricks and heavy cannons. There’s a sign on the door which says: “No Dogs Allowed”, except “Dogs” has been crossed out and

Dirty Beaches, Live on WFMU

Obviously, you start with Suicide.  Then you hit the dusty highway & head backwards, about 15 years.  On the way, you stop at a Howard Johnson's where you pick up smokes and an underage girl.  Leaving, you spot a shoebox on the ground - it's filled with a stranger's snapshots, postcards and love-letters.  You take it, because this will contain your memories.  Heading back to the future, you make a pitstop in downtown NYC ca. 1981, just to wash up.

Now that you've got the basic ingredients for Dirty Beaches, you just need the right chef.  He is Alex Zhang Hungtai, a bi-coastal Canadian of Taiwanese birth and no place of his own.  Though currently, Montreal seems to be doing quite nicely.

Alex and guitarist Shub Roy recently made their first visit to WFMU, and I'm the lucky sumbitch who got to host & record them, while trying not to get drool on their sweet gear.  Korg MS-10 synth!  Ace Tone analog delay!  A homemade fuzz pedal!  Real nice mic too, I forgot to ask what that was.

 

Anyway, we're all real excited to share their live set with you, including an interview where we learn of other things happening in Montreal, and some upcoming releases, including 2 of Alex's film soundtrack projects.  An Italian horror film!!

Check out the video of their performance, and here's more Dirty Beaches on the Free Music Archive.

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 41 (NSFW edition!!)

Earcandy for your eyes

Tinsel Teeth live at Death by Audio in Brooklyn on July 28, 2012. These Rhode Island natives are amongst the most 'physical' performers currently out there. This video is NOT SAFE FOR WORK. Consider yourself warned. Punk is dead? I don't think so.

After the break: Doomsday Student, formerly known as Arab on Radar...

Six Killer Dancehall Vids from the Early '90s

Lately for my radio show I've just been picking through FMU's massive LP collection for hours and hours.  Very labor intensive, but I've found a lot of amazing stuff, and a surprising amount of dancehall from the late '80s onward.  Snagga is this fella I found who does a mean Snagglepuss impression with some killer keyboard presets and drum sounds.  And there began my youtube K-hole...But let me start with my favorite - I've watched Natty Dread (on the top right) at least 25 times this past week.

More videos below...

Sportsy Talk: Olympics Update!

Mitt Romney, former head of bribery-ridden Salt Lake City Olympics 2002, started off his Big World Diplomacy Tour (Three Whole Other Countries!) by pissing off his first hosts so much that the Prime Minister of England dissed him in public. Score!

Just because the London Games have involved social cleansing, Brand Police,  a ban on fish and chips without the fish, strikes, threatened strikes, security failures, rooftop rocket launchers, a battleship in the Thames, official mascots with security camera eyes that “record everything,"  a logo that looks like a sex act, the worst font ever of the 21st Century, empty seats, insulting flags, inappropriate remarks about beach volleyball, and badminton scandals, it doesn’t mean they’re not, you know, well-organized.

Then there was the Opening Ceremony. You’d think Mittens would have liked that Opening Ceremony, with its salute to the Poors Who Knew Their Place back in the England of the Industrial Revolution. The part he probably would not have liked was the part we didn’t get to see here in the US—the tribute to the victims of the 7/7 attacks. London won the right to host the 2012 Olympics on July 6, 2005, and on the next day terrorists detonated four bombs on London subways and a bus, killing 52 non-terrorists and wounding 700. The two events are linked in people’s minds, and the ceremony featured a moving version of the hymn “Abide with Me” sung by Emeli Sande, and a dance choreographed by Akram Khan. I couldn’t figure out why NBC cut this part of the program to run some stupid interview with Ryan Seacrest and Michael Phelps—which they reran the other night!— because I thought the point of American news media was to keep us in a constant state of fear about terrorism, and wouldn’t a tribute to terror victims help with that? But then the next day NBC said they cut the tribute because it “wasn’t tailored for the US audience.” So now I know that the main goal of American media isn’t to keep us frightened, it’s to keep us ignorant.

Here's the censored part of the ceremony: