RIAA: 2 EPs (Radical, Intense and Awesome!!, Schizophonia Suite)

Beach party! Ingredients below.

RIAA: Radical, Intense and Awesome!!

1. Sweet Little Honda
2. Party At Punk Rock Beach
3.(I'm Not Your) Council Estate
4.It Is Such A Good Saturday Night
5. BollyHolly
6.The Dynamic Show Ever Being Gave
7. My Mic From Ipanema
8. Saturn's Outkasts
9. Valerie's Ghetto
10. Squeeze An Occasional Mic

Mashups/sound collages inspired by mental illness:

RIAA: Schizophonia Suite

1. Lionel Richie's Hamburger Penis
2. Satan Takes Me Away
3. Kill Your Merry Go Round
4. Gypsy Ghost Bitch
5. Frankenstein Computer Murder God
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1. Mikro "Mikrotronic Plasma," Velvet Underground "Sweet Jane," Hondells "Little Honda," Kraftwerk "Robots," "Beguine" from '50s album of percussion tracks "Rhythm + You"

2. Ramones "Surf City, "Glen or Glenda," Lords of Acid "Am I Sexy," Jan & Dean "Surf City," Midniters "Whittier Blvd," Minutemen "Party With Me Punker," Cupid "Cupid Shuffle," Kiss "Rock n Roll All Night," Belairs "Mr Moto," Carmets "Mr Moto" sound fx: Woody Woodpecker, Esquivel, Perrey & Kingsley, phrase "party at punk rock beach": 50 Cent, Technotronic, GenX, Beach Boys

3. Tricky "Council Estate," "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" Monkees, Manhattan Strings, Minor Threat, Gal Costa "Pais Tropical," drag race sound fx record, beat: Los Straitjackets "Squad Car"

4. Charlie Steinmann Orchestra "It Is Such A Good Night," Schooly D "Saturday Night," Bay City Rollers "Saturday NIght," Dead Kennedys "Police Truck," Wire "Dot Dash," Aaliyah "Rock The Boat," Bob Marley "Don't Rock The Boat," Corona "Rhythm Of The Night"

5. Jatin Lalit "Bali Haari," Dick Dale "Surfin Drums, Buddy Holly "Everyday," tablas: from Talvin Singh's "Abracatabla," B. Brock & The Sultans "30 lb. Beetle," Michael Mills "Satanic Messages in Rock Music," "J & H Productions"

6. "J & H Productions," Perez Prado "Salsa Rock," Coconut Monkeyrocket "Lolas" (beat), McCoys "Hang On Sloopy," "Island of Lost Girls/Nice Girls" ads, Wire "Map Reference," "samba" from "Rhythm + You"

7. Cadets "Standed In The Jungle," some d'n'b beat, Salt 'n' Pepa "My Mic Sounds nice," Getz/Gilberto "The Girl From Ipanema"

8. The Marketts "Saturn," Outkast "Hey Ya,"
Jan & Dean "Surf City"

9. Monkees "Valerie," Donny Hathaway "The Ghetto"

10. Anita O'Day "An Occasional Man," Beastie Boys "Pass The Mic" (instrumental mix), Sly & Robbie "Ballistic Squeeze," Arthur Lyman: sound fx

RIAA: additional beatz, sound fx
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1. Lionel Richie's Hamburger Penis: Commodores "Three Times a Lady," Throbbing Gristle "Hamburger Lady," audio from a documentary about mental illness that I got off of the Cake and Polka Parade blog

2. : versions of "Satan Takes A Holiday" by Tommy Dorsey ('40s Big Band), Rosengarden & Kraus ('50s Space-Age), and Anton LaVey, (founder of the Church of Satan)with female vocalist; Napolean XIV "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha Haa," Teddy and Darrel "They Took You Away, I'm Glad I'm Glad," Wild Man Fischer "The Wild Man Fischer Story."

3. : Wild Man Fischer "Merry Go Round," "The Wild Man Fischer Story," Lou Reed "Kill Your Sons" (inspired by Reed's teenage shock therapy treatments), C Dott "Merry Go Round"

4. : Alexandria Little "Jesus' Ring", Crystal Waters "Gypsy Woman," "Sonic Youth "Ghost Bitch," "Dead Kennedys "California Uber Alles"

5. : Francis E. Dec vs Henry Mancini "Background To Murder"

WE GET LETTERS

By request:

The Supersonicos: "Killing An Arab" - South America's finest do The Cure in a instro surf stylee.

rx: "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
rx: "White Lines" - more covers, this time courtesy of the genius of New York's rx, taking countless hours of George Dubya speeches, chopping 'em up, and making him sing U2 and Grandmaster Melle Mel hits.

Hurt 'Em Bad & The S.C. Band: "Monday Night Football" - the instrumental version of a song included as part of last week's "Curl Activate" collection of '80s novelty rap 12" singles, but without the novelty this time - just 9 minutes of bone-crunching Zapp-like funk.

Don't say I never did anything for y'all. Put me in your will!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP

BBC's Radiophonic Workshop, pioneers of electronic music & sound effects, would have been 50 years old this month if the Beeb hadn't dismantled it ten years ago. No matter - celebrations are afoot, such as plans for a boxed cd set, and:

this great article and video revealing how, among other things, a lampshade became an integral part of electronic music history.

The bad news: the recent death of the Radiophonic Workshop's Tristram Cary: "...credited by some as the father of tape music, originating tape music techniques in World War II. He’s notorious to the general public and sci fi fans as the composer of the music for the Daleks (pictured above, with pug) in Doctor Who (along with other music) — like an evil counterpart to Delia Derbyshire, who built the studio Cary would later use."

Tristram Cary "Trios" (excerpt) - from 1971; performers rolled dice to determine what parts they would play.

Bebe Barron, another pre-Moog great, also died recently. "The 1956 sci-fi thriller Forbidden Planet was the first major motion picture to feature an all-electronic film score — a soundtrack that predated synthesizers and samplers. It was like nothing the audience had seen — or heard. The composers were two little-known and little-appreciated pioneers in the field of electronic music, Louis and Bebe Barron." From the score to Forbidden Planet:

Love at the Swimming Hole - a romantic ballad
Battle With The Invisible Monster

I've always been a fan of the "Forbidden Planet" soundtrack (I taped it off the tv years ago) but have never seen any other recordings by them. Are there any? Supposedly they scored some short avant-garde films, but I couldn't find them on the YouTubes. However, you can see:

Sukho Lee of one of my fave local (Los Angeles) bands Seksu Roba, performing a boss tribute to "Forbidden Planet" to mark it's 50th anniversary on his tricked-out theremin.

And, right on time, Boston's dj BC has just released a dandy on-line remix/mashup tribute to the pioneers of electronic music called

"Art Raps"

which actually tames these notoriously abstract sounds by looping them into something approaching head-nodding accessibility, such as this take on Hugh Le Caine's 1955 piece:

djBC: Dripsody (remix)

Terry Riley, Jon Hassel, and others also get the treatment.

CURL ACTIVATE! Novelty Hip-Hop 12" Singles of the '80s

I was reading a story in the LA Times last week about a plane crash in Compton, and the photo of a witness to the crash caught my eye - what was that on his shirt? As you can see, it wasn't something suitable for a family newspaper. Good eye, Times editors!

I bet that guy would like these records. I sure do. They're pure low-budget fun, thoroughly funky and danceable, and blissfully uncool - not a cliche-spouting bling-bling gangsta in sight. Here's an album's worth of novelty/oddball hip-hop/funk 12" from the Jheri Curl era that I ripped from vinyl:

CURL ACTIVATE! (zippyshare link) 
CURL ACTIVATE! (divshare link)


1. Deryl With The Curl & DJ Curl Activator: "Curl Activate" (Jam-Kru Records) - samples George Clinton "Atomic Dog"
2. Akeem "The Dream" Olajuwon: "The Unbeatable Dream" (Las Vegas Records 1986) - Basketball star Olajuwon is saluted and contributes a few heavily-accented vocals; a shoe company is credited with co-executive producer - the lyrics mentions the shoe brand name three times; Dazz Band/Gap Band-type groove by the sports-obsessed Hurt 'em Bad, who is featured elsewhere in this collection with a football song. He also recorded a song about boxing, but that's if we ever get to volume two.
3. The Rappin Reverend Dr. C. Dexter Wise, III: "The Original Rap" (Fantasy Records, 1987) - Nice backing vox by The Heydons; Dr. Wise's brother Raymond is responsible for the one-guy-with-an-electronic-keyboard -and-drum-machine production. Holy hell, this is funny.
4. Chunky A: "Owww!" (MCA, 1989) - Comedian/talk show host Arsenio Hall's chubby musical alter ego. This spoof of Cameo's "Word Up" is really well produced, as opposed to the private-press primitivism of much of these other platters.
5. Chick Hearn: "Rap Around" (Outpost, 1986) - Basketball's greatest announcer gets sampled by Dave Bloom and Dave Gillerman, whoever they are. When I was a kid, I thought this record was genius.
6. Hurt Em Bad & The S.C. Band: "Monday Night Football" (Profile, 1982) - Zapp-like music, complete with vocoder.
7. Mac The Rapper: "What Is Love" (Shinola, 1987) - Featuring a computer's text-to-speech program, by Bob Mithoff, a soundtrack composer for the infamous Troma Film company ("Surf Nazis Must Die," "Class of Nuke 'em High," etc)
8. The Wilson Sisters & Speedy D: "The Magic Man" (Positive Music, 1988) - Yet another sports tribute, this one to Earvin "Magic" Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers, the dominant team of the '80s. Record has no info, but came with a bumper sticker.
9. Rich Little: "Presidents Rap" (Broadway, 1982) - No, the veteran comic impressionist isn't rapping - these are a few Reagan-inspired comedy sketches set over music that swipes from the Tom Tom Club's 1981 classic "Genius of Love."
10. The Coach: "Take It To The Hoop" (Zuma Jay, 1984) - Another basketball-inspired song from Los Angeles. As you may have figured by now, Laker fever swept LA in the '80s. Music by the unlikely Dennis Dragon of popular New Wave club band The Surf Punks. Wait, it gets even weirder - Dennis' brother Daryl, the "Captain" of '70s EZ listening superstars The Captain & Tennille plays synth!
11. Gerty Molzen: "Walk On The Wild Side" (10 Records, 1985) - The then-79 year old German screen star and opera/classical singer covers Lou Reed in a heavy accent, as an uncredited rapper throws in random quotes from Whodini's "Haunted House of Rock" and Grandmaster Flash's "New York, New York." Truly the reason why the letters "WTF" were invented. I saw her do this on "David Letterman" when this record came out. Instead of singing "doot da-doot" for when the colored girls sing, she sang something like "zabidy-doe, zabidy-doe." For a few shows later, Dave would ask his bandleader Paul Shaffer, "I'm in the mood for some Lou Reed. Can you play a little Lou Reed?" and they'd play a tape of Gerty singing "zabidy-doe, zabidy-doe." No, it's not on YouTube - I checked.
12. The Fat Boys: "Chillin With The Refrigerator" (Sutra, 1985) - Our final sports tribute, from one of the most popular rap groups of the '80s, The Fat Boys, featuring the late great Human Beat-Box. I was shocked to find that their albums are all out of print - they had four albums that went gold or platinum. Their subject here is football star William "The Refrigerator" Perry.
13. Bobby Jimmy & The Critters: "N.Y./LA Rappers" (Ruthless, 1988) - Another comedic rap group whose albums are sadly out of print; Bobby Jimmy (The Weird Al of rap) was Russ Parr, the morning dj on Compton's legendary KDAY - at the time, America's only 24/7 rap station. In fact, I'm sure that's were I first heard this. Produced by Dr. Dre for Eazy-E's label. Bobby Jimmy & The Critters had a string of popular rap parodies that were actually almost mainstream successes. The Ice T "Colors" parody on this one is particularly hilarious.

Words And Music For The Now Generation

Imagine Mrs. Miller fronting The Shaggs...

"Love...Wider Than The Ocean" is a 1972 private pressing by Mas & Hope Kawashima, two Japanese-Americans who sing and play their own hymns on side one. This one's my fave, clunky rhymes over primitive piano:

Mas & Hope Kawashima - "The Road of Life"

Quothe the liner notes: "Following the trend of the current Jesus Movement, these new, original songs express the feelings of young people searching for something to believe in and to hope for. The words and music are written for the Now Generation with their concerns for love, pollution, ecology, war, racial tensions and frustrations of living in a technological age."

Though perhaps not as charming as "The Road to Live," this tune is of interest for it's sheer ineptness: ham-fisted guitar, lyrics that don't scan - I literally cannot make either rhyme or reason out of this one:

Mas & Hope Kawashima - "Demonstrate, Demonstrate Your Faith" - advice for the student protesters

Side two finds them massacring the classics - in Japanese. Beethoven gets such an overhaul that maybe Captain Beefheart should do it and call it "Owed T'Joy" (har har!)

Mas & Hope Kawashima - "Ode To Joy"

The address listed on the back cover: 666 (!?!) NW 4th Ave., Ontario, OR.



Big thanks to li'l bro Paul Fab!

Raphi Does "She Blinded Me With Science"

From YouTube: "My nine-year-old son was diagnosed with autism at age three... and is completely nuts about 80s hi-tech musical wiz Thomas Dolby. Here he does his version of TD's biggest hit...on pretend instruments he made himself, and doing percussion, vocals and all instruments orally."

I recorded the mp3 off the video. It's a great performance, full of uninhibited energy, and is actually quite accurate - I swear he knows all the lyrics. Recording quality's not great, but that's not his fault.

Raphi "She Blinded Me With Science" (video)
Raphi "She Blinded Me With Science" (mp3)