ROAD MUSIC

The Honda car company cut grooves into a California highway so that it produces the "William Tell" overture (aka the "Lone Ranger" theme) as you drive over it. Saw this video on the news last night and found it on Advertising Age's website:

My Tires Must Be Flat, the 'William Tell' Overture Sounds Out of Tune

Japan already did this last year, as this article reveals. There's something rather flatulant sounding about the music in the video. A similar concept, an "asphaltophone," was created in Denmark in 1995, and Korea has a road that plays "Mary had A Little Lamb."

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The California road was supposed to be paved over yesterday so I guess I missed it. Cool idea, hope more music like this gets created. How about a big area out in the desert somewhere with lots of these grooved song-roads, all in tune with each other, where anyone can go and drive around on 'em all day?

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BARACK 'N' ROLL

Regardless of what you think about Barack Obama's politics, you must admit that the man is a pop-cultural phenomenon. Has there ever been an American politician who has had so many tribute songs written for him? I've been collecting as many of them as I can find, figuring they're going to be a weird piece of history. And, believe me, it doesn't get much weirder then this one.

Don't know who Buddy Lewis is, but this tune is the funniest, retarded-est bit of Barack 'n' roll I've heard thus far. Because Obama is of mixed race, he did a parody of Cher's '70s hit "Half Breed." Tasteful, eh? Wait, it gets even better: he sounds like a middle-to-old aged Texas trucker, his karaoke backing track is pure cheese, and the video is ridiculous (I recorded the audio from the video). His lyrics are funny, and he sounds like he's having a good ol' time.

Bucky Lewis "Half Breed" mp3
Bucky Lewis "Half Breed" video

I won't describe this one - you just gotta hear it. Not as "outsider" as "Half Breed," but still very odd and funny:

Clare and the Reasons "Obama Over The Rainbow"

"Half Breed" got me thinking - if Obama is only half black, why is he called "black"? If you're half-white, couldn't we just as easily call him "white"? Let's try it! We'll get everyone asking:

Is America ready for a white president?

Won't he just be pushing the "white agenda"?

MORE MUSIC FOR WEIRDOS

He promised, he delivered. Last June, a Maniac of the highest order named Chris made available a treasure-trove of musical sickness for all of you good people, and said there might be more on the horizon. Sho' 'nuff, he's compiled another CD's worth of novelty, outsider, groovy oldies, celebrities, New Wave oddities, mashups, and unclassifiable audio oddities.

Music For Weirdos Volume 5

Thanks again, Chris!

A Kaleidoscope of Meaningless Ectoplasms pt.2

We first wrote about filmmaker Ed Wood here, but let's get into his 1953 feature debut, "Glen or Glenda." "Plan Nine From Outer Space" is the film Wood is most famous for, but "Glen or Glenda" might be my favorite. It's not genre sci-fi/nudie/exploitation like Wood's other stuff. Actually, I don't know what the hell it is. It's usually described as a ground-breaking look at cross-dressing. Well...sort of. Documentary realism is mixed with pure surrealism that doesn't really have anything to do with the subject, such as the weird devil guy (pictured), a taunting little girl, and Bela Lugosi in a mad scientists' lab. These characters don't seem to be real figures in Glen's world, or even figments of his dreams, but rather are symbols of...something.

Wood isn't ranked with the film world's prime surrealists, but these scenes are pure David Lynch, complete with ambient drone soundscapes. Divorced from the visuals, they make for fascinating listening.

"Bevare!" (Bela Lugosi)
"Pull The String" (Bela Lugosi)
Little Girl

Contrast the above clips with this amusingly straight-faced narration describing Glen's dilemma:

Glen or Glenda narration

UPDATE: LARGE HADRON RAP

Thanks to this page, we now have a good quality mp3 of the particle physics rap song we wrote about here, as well as the lyrics, and the vocal track (!) for you remixers/mashupers. I took down the crappy quality mp3 and uploaded the good quality mp3.

THE FLY: THE OPERA

Playing now in Los Angeles until Sept. 27. David Cronenberg (!) directs; conducted by Placido Domingo(!!); music by Howard Shore, who did the score to "Ed Wood", among others. Not a musical, not a joke, but an actual fat-ladies-in-Viking-hats opera. About a dude who turns into a fly. Could I make this stuff up?

Cronenberg, of course, directed the '80s film remake, but the opera's set in the '50s, a la the original Vincent Price film.

The Fly: The Opera

No word yet about a soundtrack album, and there's no music on the website (except heard in the background of some documentary clips) so here's a classic piece of early '60s rock'n'roll sickness inspired by the film:

The Monocles: "The Spider And The Fly"

French lounge combo's weirdly sultry femme fatale Cramps remake:

Nouvelle Vague: "Human Fly"

There's even a song saluting the sequel to the original '50s film, by '80s horror rock legends:

The Misfits: "Return of the Fly"

Finally, a killer spooky surf instro from one of Northern California's premier '60s garage revivalists:

The Mummies: "The Fly"

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!!

The '90s cartoon "Ren and Stimpy" was great for many reasons, and one is the music. So I was delighted to read that some industrious fans have compiled two volumes worth of music used in the show for your free downloading pleasure - an absolutely ridiculous seven (7) hours worth! It's mostly '50s library scores of every possible genre, from noir to ethnic to sci-fi to (of course) cartoonish silliness. Haven't heard all of it (will I ever?) but a lot of it seems to be cheerful suburban background music, full of post-war Space Age optimism, perfect for school documentaries.

I couldn't find any mention of him on the show's imdb page, but I think I read somewhere that WFMU's Irwin Chusid was the music consultant. Can anyone confirm this?

Ren & Stimpy Production Music Part 1
Ren & Stimpy Production Music Part 2

This treasure trove comes to us courtesy to two pretty rad looking blogs: DigitalMeltd0wn and Secret Fun Blog. While listening to the music, you might want to peruse the incredible archives of '50s ad art at Plan59.com. I recently blew at least a half hour of work time checking out pics like this one:













Yet another big thanks to solcofn!

THE CHRISTIAN RAMONES

"All-acoustic hybrid of evangelical Christianity and the Ramones." Can this possibly be for real?

The Christian Ramones

"Gabba-gabba pray."