J-Rocc: The Deffest MC With Cerebral Palsy

"Heart Of Stone," a 6-song free download ep by 19-year-old Australian rapper Justin Lampson aka J-Rocc, is one of the most amazing things I've heard lately. Anyone with the slightest interest in outsider music will want to take an immediate listen.  After all, you don't hear someone with cerebral palsy rapping too often.

J-Rocc (not to be confused with the similiarly-named Beat Junkies dj) speaks and raps slowly, and with great difficulty. I didn't even understand much of what he said at first. Not until the second song was I able to pick up on his lyrics.  But he genuinly does have more flow then some rappers I've heard.  And he has something to say, kickin' straight positivity, even as he faces some harsh realities.  No bitches 'n' bling here. The Syndey hip-hop scene really came thru - the beats are fresh, and the guest emcees who join him on a few songs don't make a big deal about his condition.  With a refeshing lack of well-meaning, but ultimately condescending cheerleading/pitying, they simply treat him like he's one of the gang. 

That's Tjupurru posing with J in the pic.  We wrote about his odd excursions into avant-funk didgeridoo music a while back.

J-Rocc "Heart Of Stone"

http://www.reverbnation.com/jrocc
https://www.facebook.com/jroccmusic


Thanks to Lee Ashcroft, the man who introduced Bernie Sizzey to the world. (Bernie's got a new album out, too, by the way.)

The Most Expensive Album in History! Dan Bull's "Face"

UK's Dan Bull released a compelling rap album in 2009 called "Safe" that dealt with the excruciating life of suffering from the autism spectrum condition of Asperger's Syndrome. At the time I said "Can someone in England please put a suicide watch on this guy?"

On March 19th, his excellent follow-up album "Face" will be released, it's sole copy for sale for a mere £1,000,000. A bargain! But even if you don't want a hard copy, you can download it here for free, or pay what you want:

Dan Bull "Face"

Fortunately, he sounds in much better shape, bustin' rhymes on subjects that wouldn't occur to most MCs, like America's health care crises, for example. Life is still difficult, but as he says in the song "Medicine Ball": "What doesn't kill will not make you stronger/but at least you're going to live a little longer." The wittily-named "Portrait of the Autist" is an inspiring anthem, admitting that Aspergers' is still a bitch ("can't talk to anyone...My mind's wired a different way"), but he exhorts his fellows to "Be autistic and proud."

The music is as solid as the lyrics, with one exception: the corny "John Lennon," whose lyrics are simply strung-together song titles. Otherwise, Bull's flow is as sharp as ever, and the thing rocks from start to finish. For someone who's "mind's wired a different way," Bull makes a helluva lot more sense then most.

The Musicalness of Dan Ellsey

Hyperscore is software originally intended by its creators at MIT's Media Lab as a toy for children - they would draw and paint on the monitor and music would result. But then Media Lab's Tod Machover introduced it to disabled folks like one Mr. Dan Ellsey of Boston.

Quoth this LA Times article: "Born with cerebral palsy and unable to speak, he (Ellsey) was forced to communicate with a clumsy headset that pointed to letters to spell out words. He had little control of his body movements. He was in his early 30s, had never been more than five miles from where he was born and seemed doomed to spend a cocooned life in the hospital.

The Media Lab scientists designed a more refined headset for Ellsey that not only inspired him to compose (he turned out to have interesting musical ideas) but even allowed him to perform by controlling tempo, loudness and articulation. He blossomed, and Ellsey, while still a severely affected cerebral palsy patient, has become an active participant in the Hyperscore program, performing, making CDs and teaching other patients."

You can listen/buy his album "Masterpiece," featuring such interesting song titles as "My Musicalness" and "Our Musically":

HERE

So what's it sound like? Like instrumentals using synthetic versions of familiar sounds (strings, piano, drums) in unfamiliar ways - it all sounds a little off-kilter, like a drunken jazz band playing songs that unexpectedly lurch from part to part, then stopping in their tracks to repeat a passage over and over - not in a Minimalism sense, more in the needle-stuck-in-groove sense. The un-relaxing song "Relaxation" has an insistent snare drum relentlessly pounding away irregular rhythms. My fave on the brief (17 minute) collection is the accurately-named "Thrilling Trills." Music of no known genre.

MUSICAL FULFILLMENT FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

My home computer has died, hence, I'm writing this from work (looks nervously around). So, for the time being, I can't post any mp3s you nice folks have been sending me, or record any vinyl. That ever-growing pile of thrift-store records will have to wait. That's okay, there's plenty of stuff a-happenin' in the vast inter-webular 'net-lands out there that I can finally get around to reviewing, e.g.:


Full-Life is a Portland, OR-based center that provides "fulfillment for people with disabilities," and one of their activities is music. Thanks to the good folks at CLLCT, they have two internet releases, the electric guitars/drums raucous rave-up "Tennessee Madonna & the Full Life All Stars," and a kind of solo album by female singer Polka Dotty, accompanied by acoustic guitar. What Dot's singing lacks in pitch is more than made up for in heartfelt lyrics and emotional performances. And I think the "oh yeah" guy's best song is the third one, with it's cool tribal drumming and powerful chord changes. Sonic Youth, step off.

After listening to stuff this pure and beautiful, I don't want to listen to "normal" music (it seems so artificial) or angry music - these are the kind of people we look upon with discomfort and pity, but the sunny outlook here makes the rest of us all seem like a buncha goddamn whiners.

The Full Life All-Stars

01 Portland is the Sweetest Things
02 I wish I was in Tennessee
03 California Girls
04 Mexico Radio
05 Grunge Rock Out
06 Start Singin'
07 Just Singing a Song
08 Workin Blues
09 Oh Yeah
10 Oh Yeah O Yeah
11 Oh Yeah Oh Yeah Oh Yeah
12 Oh Yeah Oh Yeah Oh Yeah Oh Yeah
13 Holiday Song

A CRAFTY LADIES CHRISTMAS

I'll be posting Christmas music for the next week or so, and it doesn't get much better than this 11 minute, 7 song 7" recorded by the participants in the arts program of the San Francisco Recreation Center for the Handicapped. The musical backing seems pretty professionally played, in contrast to the vocals of the handicapped folks.

It kicks off with a version of "Rudolph The
Red Nose Reindeer" scored for xylophone and
sad horn - very evocative combination. Much
of the remaining tracks feature only piano 

 accompaniment, which gives it a kind of
church pageant feel; there's a real sweetness
to "O Christmas Tree,"  like if 'A Charlie
Brown Christmas' was now starring old people.
"I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas" (hey, a Spike Jones cover!)
features a full band, with the unusual lineup of
xylophone, percussion, and...organ? guitar?  I'm not sure.

A CRAFTY LADIES CHRISTMAS

TEENAGE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY METAL MESSIAH

"Based in Turners Falls, MA, Flaming Dragons Of Middle Earth are the brainchild of visionary wheelchair-bound ‘band shaman’ Danny Cruz, who leads an ensemble of rotating non-musicians, artists, oddballs, kids with Down Syndrome etc in weekly jams at a community resource centre..."

The vinyl-only release "Seed of Contempt," another one from Feeding Tube Records, is a true outsider-music artifact, an astonishing blizzard of unrestrained audio mayhem played by kids who aren't trying in the slightest to be cool, professional, or show-biz. 'Twas all mastered off of live cassettes. I'll let Danny himself explain:

Flaming Dragons of Middle Earth "Not Really Causing A Fire"

Like a lot of teenage boys, Danny loves heavy metal, and indeed, there is a Sabbath riff somewhere in this minute-long shard of broken sound:

Flaming Dragons of Middle Earth "Speed Kills"

but apart from all the metal references in both the music and the album's artwork, Cruz' mentions of avant-jazz legend Sun Ra implies that not all of the free-form lunacy in these grooves is simply the result of jam-session sloppiness. And certainly Cruz' description of his "apocalyptic improvisational lyrics" could apply to the music too.

This almost-lovely piano tune makes Daniel Johnston sound Top-40 normal:

Flaming Dragons of Middle Earth "Anarchists of Punk Rock"

HUMAN MUSIC ANTHOLOGY

Our pals over at Pleonasm have done future anthropologists and historians (not to mention weird-ologists of all stripes) the great service of collecting hours worth of audio oddities that mainly seem to have been recorded off of that most democratic of mediums, YouTube. There are four volumes (so far) of free downloads, organized by theme.

Vol. 1 Tongues - Largely spoken-word babbling and acapella singing, from Christians filled with the Spirit, to space-alien prophets, to drunks caught on camera, to a very funny bit of acoustic heavy metal. Tho there's plenty of unaccompanied vocals just dying to be sampled (check track #6), there's also some smooth-jazz, and blues w/ Peruvian Pan Flute. The Talking Heads named one of their albums "Speaking in Tongues," but another of their titles could apply here: "Stop Making Sense."

Vol. 2 Left Fieldists - Outsider music bonanza! Featuring such hits as: "You Tube Guy Sings About Prostitute," "Developmentally Disabled Guy Sings In Stairwell," "Song About Drinking Robitussin," "Down Syndrome Poetry," and an Asperger's Syndrome guy singing about his "Asperger's Girl." It's not all laffs, tho: "Man Sings About Infidelity" is a cringe-worthy confessional, and the "Song For My Deceased Wife" is pretty heart-wrenching.

Vol. 3 Extra Credit Songs - You can get school credit for performing music?! Damn, kids got it too easy nowadays! I would have loved that. There's a wide range of skills here, from inept singing or rapping American history or science lessons over karaoke backing tracks, to pretty professional-sounding original songs. The hip-hop/r'n'b (complete with Autotune!) "Digestion Song" is hysterical. A+.

Vol. 4 Antediluvian Moderns - Apparently an assortment of old folks. Haven't heard this one yet.

ALBUM DU JOUR #8: "Potato - 777"

Let's see what's in the Music For Maniacs mailbox, shall we?

"My name is Mark and I'm representing an artist that has a difficult time communicating in a way that makes sense. During the late 70s to late 80s this artist went as Potato, now he goes by Jerome Ron Dinkle. I am submitting his album "Potato - 777" (1988) with full permission from the artist. The album is comprised of Psychedelic Satire (very comparable to the Residents) which curves on the early side of noise. It's mainly comprised of vocals which is amazing due to the fact that Dinkle suffers from a "severe case of cleft pallet" which in turn gives the recording even an odder sound. This is the weirdest thing I've heard in a while..."

Potato - 777 (1988)

"...Feel free to post the entire album. By the time I ran into Jerome, he was residing in an assisted living community and had already given up on his pursuit in the arts. So I'm sure he will be delighted at the thought someone besides his friends are interested in his music."

Like the Everyday Film albums I wrote about recently, J.R.Dinkle is also from Texas, and his songs are also very brief (most a minute or less) featuring non-singing jibberish vocals and crude electronics. Unlike the scary Everyday Film, however, it's all quite silly and child-like. Residents comparisons are, indeed, apt - the Eyeballed Ones themselves would be proud of the better tracks here, like "Potato Party."

Tracklist:

1 - Sir Trumphet Stands Attention
2 - dirtfromlongbreakingoflandunderneathyouwatchingasallslipsthroughyourgraps
3 - Creeping Sunrise
4 - Potato Party
5 - Class of 777
6 - heysuesrideformine350fordor
7 - Clam Parade in Flesh of Sing
8 - RNR - Featuring Apprentice T Waine Edishun
9 - Thumn Mountian
10 - I Am The Rhinosorceress
11 - Twinkle Gums
12 - Randol Mill
13 - Today is The Joke, Tommorow is The Punchline
14 - Once Light Tickeled Shadow and Then it Consoled
15 - Twilight of the Year
16 - Notato
17 - Inch Allot Ah
18 - I am a Mountian When it Falls (Fly Away on the Wings of Love)
19 - Layase Fountian
20 - P.O.T.A.T.O
21 - I Am The Rhinosorceress (Club Remix)
22 - Cadillac Spring (Live at The Plop 1987)

IF DANIEL JOHNSTON WAS A RAPPER...

...he STILL wouldn't be as messed-up as Dan Bull, a 22-year-old self-described autistic, whose album "Safe" is so disturbing, it makes eminem sound like Doris Day. It's a mighty impressive debut, begging comparisons to The Streets, but if ya ax me, this dude's got much better flow. The music is similarly well-crafted.

It starts off fairly innocuous, with a wistful tale of summer, followed by a love song, and that's as happy as it gets - the lover spurns him, and he actually sounds like he's about to break down by the end of the song. From then on it's nothing but pain, alienation, loneliness, and dreams of oblivion to escape his torturous life. Happy New Year!

I don't get the "autistic" diagnosis, though. I thought autistics couldn't communicate? Dan Bull gets his thoughts across loud and clear. I hope it is a real mental health condition - otherwise, there'd be no excuse for a fucked-up lyric about "the day I die will be the greatest day since Sept. 11."

This tune is actually a catchy, musically up-beat, succinct (2 1/2 minute) rocker, if you don't mind lyrics that are along the lines of "mankind is doomed and we're all gonna die."

Dan Bull "Thistopia"

Listen to a lo-fi stream of all the songs here. Can someone in England please put a suicide watch on this guy?

UPDATE: Just got a note from the man himself, who clarifies: "I have a form of high-functioning autism (Asperger syndrome) that means I'm highly literate especially in contexts where I can plan out and write what I'm going to say - hence the wordiness of the album. It's social interaction, sensory overload and the resulting anxiety from these that I struggle with."

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)

MUSIC THERAPY FOR THE MENTALLY ILL

Adriano Primadei is a music therapist from Florence, Italy who has some interesting mp3s with his on-line article detailing his work with a teenage boy named Stefano. "His diagnosis is not clear...His language is very limited, bizarre and non-communicative. He is unhealthily attached to his mother and becomes distressed when she is absent. He tends to favour relationships with mainly soft objects...He shows different types of stereotypy, such as flapping his hands and rocking, and vocal stereotypy...in the form of babbling or small obsessively repeated melodic cells."

Primadei plays guitar lying flat on a table so Stefano can join in. Stefono's haunting, otherworldly vocals can be heard here:

Adriano Primadei & Stefano: Example2

Art Paul Schlosser - Inside Outsider

"Hi,I'm ART PAUL and although I admit I am a Christian this CD is not designed to make everyone give up there fun and only talk about Jesus but rather it is a fun music CD that I hope will help you understand better about Christianity.That God Loves you not God wants to destroy you."

Art Paul Schlosser has become, according to one Wisconsin paper, "arguably Madison’s most recognizable local musician," due to his painfully sincere lyrics, off-key singing, clumsy performances, and simple melodies. Which, of course, adds up to entertainment in my book - what's not to like about songs like "My Mother Is Reading A Book," "The Food Is Cool," and "Santa is Elvis"?

As the article points out, "do his fans “get” Art Paul Schlosser (if indeed there is something to “get”), or does he merely represent a subtle freak show, providing point-and-laugh amusement for drunk college students?...Is Art Paul Schlosser putting it on? Is he constructing his own image as a genial idiot savant whose childlike persona and amusing songs allow him to garner more money and attention than would otherwise be afforded someone of his limited musical skills? Perhaps yes, and perhaps not."

If he is a put-on, it's a remarkably consistent one - he's recorded numerous albums over the years. And yet, he certainly appears to behave like a show-biz professional - tv appearances, CDs, sites on MySpace, SoundClick, and garageband.com. Still, it's hard to believe someone would spend years faking songs like:

"Eat Nutriciously"

Maybe he has someone doing all this for him - he is married. Or maybe even "outsider" musicians are show-biz savvy nowadays. And "I Love My Mother" really is a great song, but I'm saving it for Mother's Day. Unless you want to buy it now - it's available through iTunes.