Like a cross between cartoon soundtracks and free jazz, side 1 of this 1987 cassette-only release is a sprawling smorgasbord of countless samples and snippets of prior Rift releases mixed into a 44 minute sound-collage. Hear the album Trouser Press called: "patience-defying"! Casios, Chipmunk voices, backwards voices, video-game-like bloops 'n' bleeps, some things resembling actual rock music, and what sounds like 5 records playing at the same time...Fun stuff!
Side 2 is a found tape Zoogz claims was rescued from a garbage bin. It's a side of a polite jazzy group apparently called the Transients covering Beatles and (some fairly obscure) solo Beatle songs. That story might be more believable if the voices weren't so obviously sped-up. And then there's their, er, "cover" of "Revolution No. 9" which gives it all away. Still, judging by this set, Zoogz & Co. could have worked as a Holiday Inn lounge band. And who knows, maybe they did.
Zoogz Rift: "Son of Puke" - in 2 files, Side 1 and 2, just like a real tape.
Much thanks to maniac Michael B. for sending this rarity our way.
Our pal Cat A. Waller has assembled another great batch of oddities, novelties, and cheese with a yule-time spin and I'd love to break it down for you, but Cat fears the copyright nazis, and would rather you just download this beast and check it out for yourself. Actually, a lot of it is quite old, so it's probably ok, but hey, can't be too careful nowadays. I can tell you that it's ingredients include: polka, lounge, the voice of Mr Magoo, holiday hillbillies, some helpful radio Public Service Announcements, some vintage burlesque naughtyness, a well-known indie rock band covering a song-poem, and a quite inexplicable number about a prog-rock star in his own winter wonderland. A wildly entertaining assortment that helps to make the season bright.
Cat's other collections, and a great discovery (The Ghostly Trio album) are also available here: Cat A. Waller's Xmas mixes
Last year, I reported on the latest sightings of sicko songsters in our society. Not only are they still at it, but some serious competition has joined them. Maniacs rejoice!
Bretts Milk "Daddy's Breath" (release date: Oct. 15) is creepy electronic "pop", like '80s New Wave gone evil. At its most subtly atmospheric, it suggests the darker side of Barnes and Barnes. Upbeat tracks resemble dance music that no-one in their right mind would ever actually dance to. Vocals, sometimes distorted, sound like the Singing Resident in need of a psychiatrist. Or an exorcist. Great fun!
That Ostrich Von Nipple album was probably my fave new release of last year, so am thrilled to hear him guesting on this equally brilliant album. Occasional guitarist for The Residents, Nolan Cook, who also appeared on Von Nipple's LP, applies his twisted 6-string shenaniganshere as well.
Perhaps an even stronger contender for album-of-the-year (so far) is Macula Dog's self-titled release. Someone on their Bandcamp page says "It's like the Residents performing covers of Oh, No!-era Devo inside the universe of Pee Wee's Playhouse," thus saving me the trouble of writing a review - I was going to compare this great band to those very same folks, including Pee Wee!
Macula Dog[listen for free, Name-Your-Price download] If your head isnt caving in yet from all this elegant eccentricity, it very well may after witnessing this stupendous 9 minute video from another avant-tarde veteran, Petunia-Liebling MacPumpkin and her Electric Phantom posse. So impressed was I by the surreal hallucinations and audio manifestations of the vid that I just had to subject Ms. MacPumpkin to a brief interrogation.
Petunia-Liebling MacPumpkin - "Veggie Medley": the vegetables will get you if you don't watch out!
- Do you do all the visual effects/photography yourself? If not, would you like to give a shout-out to your collaborators?
Melody McGinn the caretaker at Electric Phantom does the majority of the visual effects/photography/editing. In this particular story however, Jimmy L. Wright made all of the veggies, Alien and Halbert (the dog). Jodie Lowther created the "set" for part 4, and Frederick Barr the "set" for part 2.
- Where do you shoot your videos? Do you have a studio?
We shoot the videos on greenscreen at Electric Phantom.
- You are in Florida, correct? Is there any strange/experimental art/music scene near you?
Yes! From Orlando originally and now in Gibsonton. hahha I believe there is a noise scene around here, but I don't go out much.
- Do you plan on releasing this music, or is it only the soundtrack to the video?
Oh it's already been released..One more video to go and the album has been completely visualized. http://www.electric-phantom.com/merch.html
- Do you (like me) not really like vegetables, and this vid expresses your fear/guilt having been raised by your mother always trying to get you to EAT YOUR VEGETABLES?!
Actually Im a vegetarian but I had the same exact experience with meat. Maybe this is revenge.
Back in the days of Los Angeles' wild-n-whooly pre-punk "Freak Scene", The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo were filling large theaters with their outrageous performances. And if you think that name sounds familiar, yes indeed, Danny Elfman would eventually inherit the group from brother Richard and pare it down to the hugely successful band Oingo Boingo, who would then in turn serve as the springboard for Elfman's even huge-er career as a soundtrack composer. Somewhere in the world right now, the theme to "The Simpsons" is playing. But this was Elfman's first score, and possible his best, an utterly weird, wacked-out, and wonderful assortment of short instrumentals ("Factory" wouldn't sound out of place on The Resident's "Commercial Album"), and theatrical vocal numbers from Elfman (as the Devil); star Susan Tyrrell, an actual Oscar nominee who made the admirable decision to toss away movie-star life to make films with the likes of Andy Warhol and John Waters; and - yes! - Herve Villachaize, the little fella with the thick accent who played Tattoo on Fantasy Island, who can be heard in the "Finale." Also featured: "Yiddishe Charleston", which sounds just like its title: a Jewish boogie-woogie; the Dr. Demento swing-era standard "Pico and Sepulveda," and the amusingly flatulent nonsense vocals of performance artists The Kipper Kids (one of whom is married to Bette Midler?!) sung over some vintage jazz novelties. All of which perfectly complements big brudder Rick Elfman's hysterically surreal, non-PC classic midnight movie. The year was 1977: Richard was retiring from the group to pursue a video career, and Danny was ready to steer it from its glam-era theatrical origins into New Wave rock band territory. Nothing here really sounds like Oingo Boingo, tho. Much to this album's credit, it doesn't really sound like anything you've heard before.
Various versions of this soundtrack have been released over the years. This is the most complete.
Former drummer for Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, Robert Williams, followed up his debut solo EP with this 1982 full-length. He's still joined by some Zappa/Beefheart sidemen, (e.g.: Bruce Fowler's mighty trombone) but he's deffo moving towards a more commercial New Wave direction here. On side 2 that works just dandy."Gotta Be Nice," featuring Danny Elfman and two Go-Gos (Charlotte Caffey and Jane Wiedlin), should have been playing out of every store in the Galleria. "Grinding The Gears," featuring Hugh Cornwall of The Stranglers, is likewise killer. The tribal throb of "Hungry" is reminiscent of Adrian Belew's classic "Big Electric Cat."
Side 1 is a bit problematic, however, what with it's blatant Police-isms sounding desperate for KROQ airplay. And William's sometimes corny lyrics (on both sides) can be an issue. And yet, amidst all the late-period Devo synths, hard rock gee-tars, and four-on-the-floor beats (this guy once played Beefheart's notoriously tricky rhythms?) is a wacked-out cover of Beatle George's "Within You Without You," complete with hazy sitar-ish sounds, odd time signatures, and an incongruously funky poppin' bass. You can take the boy out of '70s prog... Perhaps A&M Records wasn't the suitable label for this album. Or perhaps Williams lacked an outrageous enough personality (and stage name) to make it as a New Wave punker. But whatever the reason, with neither the Freak Scene nor the Valley Girls buying this album, it died a quick death, never getting a digital reissue. My 99 cent used vinyl copy was in great shape. Williams would not make another solo album for many years. ROBERT WILLIAMS "Late One Night"
Anyone who played in Captain Beefheart's Magic Band is of course an automatic A-lister in the avant/strange music world. So it's no wonder that late-period Magic Band member Robert Williams' debut solo release, a four-song EPfrom 1981, is chock-a-block with strange music superstars: a couple of DEVOs, a slew of Zappa/Beefheart sidemen, even Robbie Krieger of the Doors. And the music is quite nice, too, moving into (slightly) more commercial New Wave territory with its' integrity intact. But unfortunately for Williams, his 1997 public humiliation on the hugely popular (and still running) "Judge Judy" show is what he will always be best known for, at least until reissues of "Doc At The Radar Station" knock Bruno Mars off the charts. Williams toured with PiL, and attempted to sue no less than Johnny "Lydon" Rotten himself. To put it in strictly legal terms, he did not win.The complete episode is no longer available on-line, and the short clips that are up don't do it justice, so you'll just have to trust me when I say that it was one of the most howlingly funny moments in TV history. Poor li'l fella. He does deserve to remembered for his music, not just with the Cap'n, but on his solo records, and with Eazy Teeth, who made one great experimental synth-punk single in 1980 that featuredTito Larriva from the Plugz on vocals, included here. Also: 2 tracks from his fine 1998 album that is in print, "Date With The Devils Daughter": "Hello Robert," which features some hysterical (in all senses of the word) answering machine messages from Wild Man Fischer, and "Frank and Don and Me", feat. guitarist Jeff Morris Tepper from his Magic Band days. Not bad for a "nudnik."
"American Folk Music" is the most boring possible name for an album, but fear not! The latest release from veteran North Carolina wackos the Moolah Temple $tringband is anything but dull. They take songs from Harry Smith's venerable "Anthology of American Folk Music" and radically warp them by introducing such elements as exotic Middle Eastern-isms, clanging and banging percussion, incongruous '80s hip-hop style drum machine beatz, even a bit of rapping on one song, and mix them with the trad sounds of guitars, banjos, and a skillful fiddle that suggests that someone has been taking music lessons. The hideously/hilariously inappropriate combination of traditional folk music and Autotune (!) on "Farmland Blues" had me laffin' out loud. Also dig: the fuzz guitar crunch of "Little Moses" (even tho it goes on too long), and a version of "John Hardy" that might even be better than the Gun Club's? Scuzzy vocals are often distorted beyond recognition. "The Titanic," however, actually approaches mainstream respectability, complete with perfectly competent backing vox.
More Bandcamp weirdness ahoy! L.A. nutters Freshly Wrapped Candies have unwrapped an old album of theirs from 1989 chock full of hermetic, inscrutable DIY obsessions that, perhaps inevitably, are sometimes reminiscent of The Residents, esp. on songs like "Grandfathers' Rug". Other standout songs like the downright catchy "Think" and the Beavis and Butthead-ish "Pitter Pat" don't immediately suggest any particular influences. Organically strange, but not off-puttingly so. It emerges from the haze with its' humanity intact.
As we've learned from Stinky Picnic, child musicians like the word "stinky." But The Stinky Puffs weren't just any kiddie rockers - Simon Fair Timony (age 7 when the band was formed) was the stepson of Jad Fair of Half-Japanese, and one of his li'l bandmates was the son of Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth. If I was one of their fathers, I might be worried that one of their songs is called "Menendez Killed Their Parents."
On this 1994 release they fly thru 9 tracks in 13 minutes, first in the studio, and then live, backed by the 2 surviving members of Nirvana, and Ira Kaplan from Yo La Tengo. These kids got connections! It's surprisingly catchy and enjoyable. The kid's uninhibited sense of fun is certainly a contributing factor. And the songs sure don't overstay their welcome. The song "I'll Love You Anyway" is a heartfelt tribute to Kurt Cobain. A Little Tiny Smelly Bit of The Stinky Puffs
Donald Featherstone, the appropriately-named creator of those plastic reproductions of our pink feathered friends, has just passed away at the age of 79. As if being the father of the world's most notorious lawn ornament wasn't eccentric enough, Featherstone and his wife were also known for always wearing matching outfits! Now that is just the sort of weird, goofy, good ol' American trash culture that John Waters immortalized in his 1972 film. If you haven't seen "Pink Flamings," perhaps the ultimate cult movie, I sure as hell ain't gonna tell you about it. Let's just say that even tho I only saw it once - and this was back in the '80s, when the earths' crust was still cooling and dinosaurs walked the earth - a mere glance at the song titles of the soundtrack recall images that are permanently seared into my brain. So let's pay tribute to Mr. Featherstone with the suitably trashy soundtrack of '50s/60s rock, r'n'b, and easy-listening oldies that Waters used to underscore his characters foul (not to mention fowl) behavior. Some of these songs are as insane as any crazed early rock (e.g.: "Chicken Grabber," "Surfin Bird") while others, like the perfectly presentable "Happy Happy Birthday Baby," are used as ironically innocent counterpoints to the on-screen depravity. Plus! At no extra cost to you! Other "Pink Flamingos"-related audio oddities thrown into the file:
- Edith Massesy's single, which featured her "singing" a cover of the Four Seasons' "Big Girls Don't Cry," and a lovely original, "Punks (Get Off The Grass)." Massey had moved to the Venice Beach neighborhood of Los Angeles, and her thrift store was a popular hangout for local punks and weirdos, who recorded this with her in 1982. - Divine "You Think You're A Man" (7'' version); S/He recorded a surprising amount but I just have this one catchy bit of '80s disco.
- The Illuminoids "Satan Said Walrus Eggs," a mashup from 2007 that mixes Massey's "Pink Flamingo" dialogue with the Beatles, over a stomping beat from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. The Egg Lady meets the Egg Man, with special guest: Satan. One of the members of the Illuminoids was Howie Pyro, who took the name for his super-swell internet show "Intoxica" from one of the songs on this here soundtrack: "Pink Flamingos" + Bonus Filth
1. The Swag - Link Wray & His Ray Men
2. Intoxica - The Centurions
3. Jim Dandy - LaVern Baker
4. I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent - Frankie Lymon And The Teenagers
5. The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
6. Ooh! Look-A There, Ain't She Pretty - Bill Haley & His Comets
7. Chicken Grabber - Nite Hawks
8. Happy, Happy Birthday Baby - The Tune Weavers
9. Pink Champagne - The Tyrones
10. Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen
11. Riot In Cell Block #9 - The Robins
12. (How Much Is) That Doggie In The Window - Patti Page
Was just gonna re-up both sides of the outsider oddity that is Ah-Ah Allen's "Kick The IRS" single, but why stop there? Behold!
A weeTaxday Mix Ah-Ah Allen - Kick The IRS Ah-Ah Allen -Montana I'm So Proud of You F.U.2 - Tax Exile (late '70s fake-punk) Lenlow - To the Taxmobile! (classic mashup from 2004: Beatles vs Surfaris vs "Batman" theme) rx - Taxman Obama (The Prez "sings" the Beatles)
My fellow Americans! Remember, April 15 is the day to show Uncle Sam your love.
Zoogz Toozday returns with some re-up requests: the sick punk/jazz/prog of Zoogz Rifts' "Amputees In Limbo," "Island of Living Puke," and "Torment" are all back on-line. And if that still isn't enough scatological humor for ya, plug your nose and dive into this: TOILET TIDBITS courtesy of reader Duke Kola, who sounds like a pretty cool grandpa. He writes: "I made this mix (with a couple of changes) a few years back for my pre-teen grandson. Never fails to bring a few smiles to my face regardless of how many times I listen." Now this may seem like a somewhat dubious concept for a mix, but if you're gonna sing about such stuff, you've got to have: a) a sense of humor, and b) a lack of inhibitions, both of which are sterling qualities for an artist to possess. Not to mention the fact that you've pretty much thrown all commercial potential and radio play hopes out the window once you've gone down this path, another admirable move. And this is indeed a very entertaining listen, more so than I was expecting. I personally would have added the Bonzo Dog Band's "The Strain," but I'm sure we all have our favorites. ----------------------------------- 01. Amsterdam Dog Shit Blues - Mojo Nixon 02. Caca De Vaca - Joe 'King' Carrasco 03. Snake Bit and Can't Shit - Root Boy Slim 04. Constipation Blues - Screamin' Jay Hawkins 05. Somebody Just Poop - Goofy 06. Somebody Farted - Bobby Jimmy 07. Fart - Breetles 08. I Can't Stop Farting - The Queers 09. Old Fart At Play - Captain Beefheart 10. The Phantom Windbreaker - Red Bovine 11. Pissin' In The Wind - Ernie Payne 12. Pissin' On Your Steps - Del the Funky Homosapien 13. Wee Wee - Abner Jay 14. Piss On the Wall - J. Geils Band 15. Urine Your Out - Prehistoric Cavemen 16. The Thing From Uranus - Sloppy Seconds 17. Shit Don't Stink - TMA 18. Shit For Brains - Nervous Eaters 19. Bag of Shit - Sean Price 20. Shit Can Happen - D12 21. Shaving Cream - Byron Lee 22. Disco Defecation - Flash Bouyancy 23. The Slurf Song - Holy Modal Rounders 24. When the Shit Hits the Fan - Circle Jerks 25. Piece of Crap - Neil Young 26. My Shit's Fucked Up - Warren Zevon 27. Why Does It Hurt When I Pee - Pancho and Sancho 28. I Ain't Gonna Piss in No Jar - Mojo Nixon 29. Don't Eat the Yellow Snow - Frank Zappa
In 1953, the late Maila Nurmi aka Vampira invented that beloved American tradition, the TV horror host. Did other countries pick up on this concept? Low budget local stations filled their late night or weekend afternoon slots with crappy old movies, usually, but not always, of the monster variety. The shows were hosted by a smart aleck in a costume traipsing about a cobwebbed castle/ laboratory/etc set, interrupting the proceedings to make jokes, perform in skits, read letters from viewers, perhaps interact with other cast members/puppets, or, in the case of Cleveland's Ghoulardi, blow things up. And many of them made records: Vampira, her bastard offspring Elvira, John "The Cool Ghoul" Zacherle, and the lass featured below, who made one of the most perfect 45s ever.
This interview with the author of a new book about Vampira makes the case that Nurmi was the ultimate hip chick, a bad-ass beatnik who was just too hot for mainstream tv audiences to handle. After listening to the podcast (not too long, even at an hour's length), I rented "Vampira And Me," a documentary from last year based on interviews with Nurmi. The late '80s/early '90s L.A. band Satans' Pilgrims are featured. I'd long known about the records they made with Vampira, but didn't realize that most of the 'lyrics' were taken from found religious tracts. "Tribute to Elvis," however, is Nurmis' own recollections of her friendship with The King, one of many celebs entranced by her proto-goth beauty.
Why did so much insane music come out of Ohio in the '70s? David Thomas of Pere Ubu cites the influence of a popular Cleveland horror host. Ubu, The Dead Boys, Devo, the Cramps (especially The Cramps), etc. were the Ghoulardi generation, kids weened on Ernie Anderson's anarchic character who played wild garage rock records, and would blow up things with firecrackers on the air, much to the dismay of the station management. Oddly enough, my first-hand memory of Anderson is after he quit Ghoulardi to be the ABC network announcer - that was his leering voice announcing "The Loooove Boat." (Filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson is his son.) The tradition lives on. Elvira's comeback show in 2011 was great, but short-lived, even with Jack White contributing a theme song, and even a brief on-air appearance. Quoth Ghoulardi: "Stay sick!" Horror Hosts - A MusicForManiacs Collection 01 Ghoulardi - "Intro" 02 Vampira - Genocide Utopia (with Satan's Cheerleaders) 03 John Zacherle - Dinner With Drac (the still-living/performing New York host made quite a few records; this was his most popular) 04 Tarantula Ghoul and the Gravediggers - Graveyard Rock (Portland's answer to Vampira was originally known as Tarantula Girl) 05 Bill Cardille - Chilly Billy's vamp (1971 Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater host) 06 Dr. Sarcofiguy - My Girlfriend Is On Fire (a few years ago wewrote about this contemporary cat) 07 Elvira - Zombie Stomp (from 1995) 08 Ghoulardi - "cool it with the boom booms" 09 Vampira -I'm Damned (with Satan's Cheerleaders) 10 Tarantula Ghoul - King Kong 11 John Zacherly - Monster Monkey 12 Count Floyd - Treat Her Like A Lady (parody of a '70s disco hit; the great Joe Flaherty playing the host of the fictional SCTV network's "Monster Chiller Horror Theater") 13 Ghoulardi - "acid " 14 John Zacherly - Come With Me to Transylvania 15 Elvira - Zombie Killer (with Leslie and the Lys) 16 Vampira - Tribute to Elvis (with Satan's Cheerleaders) 17 John Zacherly - Happy Halloween
All music that isn't classical, jazz or ethnic/folk is 'pop', meaning 'popular.' Except when it isn't. Here are some new releases you should run out and buy (and some not-so-new ones that I slept on) that have everything a pop song should have: brevity, melodic vocals, toe-tappin' beats, clean production, energy...heck, even danceability. Everything except actual popularity. Mostly these are tuneful tunes sporting very funny, clever lyrics (perhaps too witty for the masses), with a kouple of kooky kovers thrown in.
1. ac00perw - "Smells Like Teens": Nirvana re-imagined as sleazy Steely Dan-type '70s soft-rock. 2. Iggy Pop - "Monster Men (les zinzins de l'espace)": In 1997, The Iggster sang the theme song to a French kid's cartoon show called "Space Goofs;" how punk is that?! 3. Jens Lekman - "A Higher Power": great bad rhymes, from this Scandanavian's 2004 album entitled (speaking of Iggy) "When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog." 4. Larry Gallagher - "I'm Sorry for What My People Did to Your People": wickedly funny Tom Lehrer-esque satire, from the album "Can I Go Now?" 5. Maya Beiser - "Back In Black": from the new album "Uncovered" of massed overdubbed cellos playing instrumental versions of rock and blues hits; I'm not really sure why this exists. Dig the video of her cello-riffic cover of Led Zeps' "Kashmir" below. 6. One And Seven Eighths - "Pegasus (The Camping Waltz)": Most tracks on their album "Modern Camping Songs" are real nice ambient/abstract electro instros, but this brilliant novelty is the best thing that Viv Stanshell never did. 7. O-Type - "Stupido": New vinyl re-issue of this MX-80 Sound spin-off sounds like a lot of other '80s noise rockers, until the vocalist starts channeling a panoply of fascinating, horrific characters, e.g.: the hapless protagonist of this song, rendered in a 'retarded guy' voice at once funny and disturbing. 8. Sid Ozalid - "Elephant in a Sack": Frequent contributor Count Otto Black slipped us these short, silly tracks from one of his fellow Scotsmen, an oddball known more for poetry than music; from"Songs & Stories From a Suitcase", the 1982 EP by Sid Ozalid & His Legendary All-Stars. 9. Sid Ozalid - "My Tortoise Can Burst Into Flames" 10. Sid Ozalid - "This is the Story of the Missing Jacket" 11. Twink The Toy Piano Band - _{ ·_ U _· }_: The latest from the master of toy-tronica has a cute album cover/title ("Critter Club"), cute tarot-like cards of animals, cute song titles (all typographic symbols), but a decidedly more mature sound; the large supporting cast features a number of horn players, giving excellent tunes like this one an almost jazz feel. They grow so fast!
Judging by this incredible album, punk rock was invented in New York 20 years before the Ramones debut, by a black saxophonist playing instrumentals. You doubt me? Ladies and gentlemen, behold! the one album I've been dying to post here on our series of wild, post-war weekend-starters. Buddy Lucas "Shake Rock Rattle And Roll" (18 songs) If "lowbrow" music of the pre-rock crit era ever gets the respect it deserves, this album would be a Holy Grail collectible. I mean, just look at that artwork!
Your momma was wrong: sometimes you can judge a book by it's cover, and the pulp-paperback, late-night, lurid cover of this 195? album perfectly suits the music, which ranges from mid-tempo striptease grind, to all-out proto-hardcore rockers like "Stand Up" and especially "Stampede" that must have seemed fairly incomprehensible to a Fifties audience. Perhaps that's why Buddy "Big Luke" Lucas had to pay the bills with session work. That's him blowin' on Dion's "The Wanderer" and Frankie Lymons' "Why Do Fools Fall In Love," amongst many others.
Oh, and how do you know that a '50s recording artist is black? They're not pictured on the album cover! The pic of Mr. Lukas below was collected elsewhere off the inter-webs. The actual back cover of this album contains no info, just a black-and-white rendering of that Bukowski-drumming-with-Jayne Mansfield front cover drawing.
For a variety of reasons that I'll get into next week, I felt that the world needed more musical Sin! Sleaze! and Vice! So every Friday, I will endeavor to provide you hep cats 'n' flipped chicks with all manner of mid-century garage, surf/hot-rod, burlesque, novelty, rhythm 'n' blues, soul, lounge, b-movie ads and soundbites, and any other audio effluvia that can lead to the moral degradation of this once-great land of ours. Basically, if you can imagine Lux and Ivy spinning these platters in their leopard-skin draped den, sipping lethal cocktails, then baby, it's in. Let the weekend begin! I realize that this is not new territory, so I'll try not to feature anything that has already appeared on compilation series like "Nuggets," "Back From The Grave," "Wavy Gravy," "Las Vegas Grind," "Jungle Exotica," "Songs The Cramps Taught Us," "Lux and Ivy's Favorites," and rare surf collections. To increase the level of difficulty, I'm also trying to avoid songs /albums that are currently being featured by such music blog compadres as Office Naps, Surfadelic, The Devil's Music, and Titty-Shakers. That still leaves plenty, as I delve into regions other trash collectors might overlook - comedy albums that might have one good dirty song amidst the stand-up stuff, film soundtracks (see the Kenyon Hopkins track below) or easy-listening albums (e.g.: Enoch Light, Lester Lanin) that throw in one sleazy rocker, international releases that have only recently hit our shores, even recording off video for film songs never released on record. And there are still 45s that have not yet been comped. This collection is a sampler, a little taste of some of the varia-tease of sleazy-listening musics that we'll be exploring in the coming weeks and months. Aren't you happy that there really was a band called the Four Finks?
The name of this collection and the artwork come from an old nudie magazine spread (if you'll pardon the term, boom-tish!) featuring model/singer Bonnie Logan.
Alternate Link (courtesy of super-swell reader Soylent White Trash) 1. Official Warning (from "Blood Feast") 2 Rusty Warren - Do It Now [song extracted from a track-less comedy album by that "Bounce Your Boobies" gal] 3 Billy Mure - Supersonic 4 from "Porno Holocaust" 5 Willie Tomlin - Stroke My Yoke [I am fairly certain that this naughty R'n'B singer was not related to Lily Tomlin] 6 De Maskers - The Saint [mid-'60s Dutch band] 7 "Triple Terror Show" ad 8 The Four Finks - Rock-o-Nails 9 Ron Haydock and the Boppers - Rat Pfink [from the soundtrack to "Rat Pfink a Boo Boo" by the great Z-movie director Ray Dennis Steckler; this really is one of my favorite rockabilly songs] 10 The Deuce Coupes - Starter's Nightmare [anonymous studio cats on a "budget" label album; you'll be hearing plenty of those] 11 Scatman Crothers - Transfusion [Oh! happy day, when I found this 45 in a Las Vegas thrift store - the great comic actor covered the classic Nervous Norvous car-crash novelty song?! Wow, who knew - I probably skipped merrily about the shop holding it up: "look what I got!"] 12 Bill Black's Combo - The Wheel [Black was Elvis' original bassist] 13 "Mark of the Devil" ad 14 Lester Lanin - Guitar Boogie Twist 15 "fourteen Baby" 16 Enoch Light - The Gang at the Green Grotto 17 "Superchick" ad 18 Barbara Stanwyck - Take It Off The E String [predating our post-WWII time frame for this one, recorded off the video of the film "Lady of Burlesque"] 19 Ricky Vale And His Surfers - Soul Full of Surfin 20 B. Brock and the Sultans - 30 Lb. Beetle [another budget label mystery; one of a few mp3s found on this collection that I've had on a hard-drive for ages; I might be able to get a better quality - maybe - were I to try digitizing the album with my latest music software; it really is excellent trad-surf, despite the ridiculous Beatles cash-in angle] 21 "Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde" ad 22 Los Saicos - Demolicion [teen garage-punk from Peru (!?) from an excellent recent reissue] 23 Sil Austin - Fallout Lookit! The song titles are now telling a story: 24 Jerry Colonna - Hey Barmaid!! 25 Don Carson and the Casuals - Yes Master 26 The Daddy Os - Got a Match 27 Lonnie Duvall - Cigarettes [this short-lived soul singer was backed by Booker T & The MGs, no less, on this 45] 28 The Three Suns - Tequila 29 The Vagabonds - Walkin' And Talkin 30 Billy Mure - Drums of India [exotic rock remake of the old standard "Song of India"] 31 Brother Theodore - Horror of the Blood Monsters 32 Kenyon Hopkins - Let Me Out [from the soundtrack to "The Fugitive Kind" 1960; is that Pere Ubu's David Thomas on vox?] 33 The Vox Poppers - The Last Drag Thanks to Count Otto Black for the international nuggets - plenty more of those to come.
As a delightful addendum to the avant-'tard Tin Huey album we posted last week, a thoughtful Maniac (thank you, sir!) has sent us 4 more sides from the indie days of these Ohio oddballs. The "Breakfast With The Hueys" 7" from 1978 features an early version of the album's "Squirm You Worm," minus Chris Butler, who apparently hadn't joined the band yet.
The "English Kids" 7" from 1980 doesn't sound anything like the album or the other single. It's straight-ahead '77-style punk and power-pop.
Killed By Death posted a single by Butler as "The Waitresses," tho singer Patty Donahue had not yet joined. It's really quite strange! The Waitresses - "Clones"
I shall be returning to Radio Misterioso tomorrow (Sunday) night for two hours of maniacal music that hasn't been featured here (at least not yet). "In-depth conversations on the paranormal alternating with weird music. Live on Sundays 8-10 PM PST @ killradio.org" Have I mentioned here before that your host Spacebrother Greg is one of the authors of "Weird California"? That should tell you something.
This Ohio sextet's 1978 debut album was such a commercial disaster that their befuddled label Warner Bothers payed them to not record a follow-up. Which probably explains why I found my copy as a cut-out in the 48 cent bin sometime in the '90s. (I think every copy of this album that I've ever seen has been a bargain-bin cut-out.) Behold! A singular, highly entertaining mix of Bonzo Dog Band dada and Zappa/ Beefheart-style prog, but shot thru with punkish energy and a good-natured anything-goes spirit, leaving no doubt that these guys were from the same fertile fields that produced the likes of Devo and Pere Ubu. Ralph Carney's horns help make it a bit Oingo Boingo-esque. And what did they do with their bribe to go away? Some of the members, inc. Chris Butler and Carney (both of whose wonderful solo work has been covered here) moved to New York, and with the crucial addition of vocalist Patty Donahue, transmogrified into the far more successful New Wave stars, The Waitresses. Who I liked just fine, but for my money, the one-two punch of "Chinese Circus" into "Puppet Wipes" (featuring the memorable chant: "My car is filled with puppet heads!") is as good as it gets. It would be nice to hear that over the shopping mall sound system every year instead of "Merry Christmas, merry Christmas, couldn't miss just one this year" every now and then, wouldn't it? (new link:) TIN HUEY "Contents Dislodged During Shipment"
More indie album wonderfulness courtesy of sites like Bandcamp (and remember, you can always listen for free) from geniuses that would otherwise go unheard because no label in their right mind would ever give 'em a record deal. This time we're spotlighting colorful cartoonish craziness - after all, "novelty music" is not a bad word 'round these parts. To quote one of the album titles featured here, let's have fun:
Twink the Toy Piano Band "Miniatures Vol. 2": I can unhesitatingly recommend this brief, kooky album, performed on toy piano and other whimsical sound-making thingies. I actually think this is one of Twink's finest efforts of toy-tronic pop instrumentals. Price: FREE 1000 Needles: "Osiris": More toy tunes, this time from a band using modified Nintendo and Gameboys playing 8-bit melodies while guitars and drums rock along. Some great songs in this 7-track set that, as on the standout tracks "Error 537" and "Monument 101," skillfully mix rinky-dink electronics with rawk power. Price: $4 The Invertebrates "Let's Have Fun": Not a new release this time, but a re-issue of some classic New Wave post-punk weirdness from a criminally underrated San Fran combo who we first featured here a few years back when we posted a vinyl rip of their "Eat 'Em While They're Young" EP. That one's long gone off-line, but maybe it will get the re-issue treatment like this gem, which sports concrète andbackwards
tape effects, dada lyrics that sometimes sound like they're being sung
verbatim from magazine articles, B52s-ish femme vox and electric organ, and on one of the album's catchiest songs "Atilla The Hun," Jews harp, and a crazed percussion break. Price: $7 The Kominas "Wild Nights in Guantanamo Bay": I guarantee you've never heard any punk rock like this before: a Muslim American band hitting us with stuff like the Sex Pistols-quoting 'Sharia Law in the U.S.A,' campy sound bites, a great surf-punk song ('Ayesha') that ends
with a Muslim chant sound-collage, and a catchy funky rap song called (heh heh) 'Suicide Bomb the Gap.' Apart from courting controversy (and they did indeed get media coverage that scarcely described their music), there's actual good sounds here that break out of the punk mold, e.g.: the unique, rhythmically complex, kinda Caribbean-sounding 'Layla' (no, not that one). Price: FREE, but you'll probably end up on all kinds of watch lists for downloading it.
Carton Sonore "Modarn": And now for something completely different - a collection of musical fragments only seconds long that are meant to played on shuffle play, effectively creating a new song every time. Like Eno's "generative" works, it's never the same twice. Price: 1€
Thiaz Itch "Frivolurium": Like Carton Sonore, another funny Frenchman. The description tags tell the story: "carnivale,
circus,
comedy,
electro,
space-age-pop." Utterly delightful modern vaudeville cut from the same zany cloth as Twink...not to mention Perrey and Kingsley, Spike Jones, and Monty Python, who's "Bright Side of Life" gets brilliantly covered here. But this album is no child's play - it gets almost proggy in it's experimentation: the polka-esque "Splooshy il Chiocciolo" features everything from Chipmunk vocals to heavy rock guitar to fruity horns. My current Favorite-ist Album In The Whole Wide World. And remember, "don't step on my foreskin!" Price: 5 €
