MUSIC FOR DOGS

No, not music about dogs - there have been plenty of classics in that catagory, from Elvis' historic "Old Shep" to George Clinton's "Atomic Dog" - but music for dogs. Dogs have been man's companions for millenia. Since when did we decided that they needed music? Well, according to Thai dog groomer and trainer Anupan Boonchuen, "music improve(s) the mood of dogs he grooms." And so he launched:

DogRadioThailand.com - "...The programming on dogradiothailand.com is mainly Thai pop music, but Boonchuen plans to expand offerings in which the disc jockey will "talk to the dogs in Thai," and canine listeners will be encouraged to respond. "If we play a slow song, we may have the DJ howl," he said, "because dogs howl, too, when they hear sad sounds."

Get with it, Thailand! You're way behind the kooky New Age crowd here in Los Angeles: "Songs To Make Dogs Happy" (listen here) "is the first qualitatively and quantitatively researched musical CD, based upon 200 canine participants' responses to what THEY would like to hear in songs! The Laurel Canyon Animal Company and Dr. Kim Ogden, a nationally known Intuitive Animal Communicator, worked together to create music dogs love to listen to!"

Scroll down The Laurel Canyon Animal Company's website and you'll also find music by, and for, parrots, cats, Koko the gorilla ("Most of the song lyrics are taken from conversations with Koko. She personally reviewed versions of each song before the recordings were finalized"), and...pink dolphins of the Amazon? "Music of the Pink Dolphins" required no less then three animal "communicators": "...a musical adventure directed and guided by the the Dolphins themselves...People who spend time with Dolphins experience an amplified sense of intuition, wisdom, compassion, peace and higher guidance." Ya think, say, eminem's music has ever been able to "attune your intuition"? Arf.

THE FIRST REMIX?

Excellent new weird-music blog Dinosaur Gardens (contributers include Mr Evolution Control Committee, and the guy from the great local (L.A.) Space Age theremin-a-go-go combo Seksu Roba) posted a 1968 recording by the father of Minimalist composition, Terry Riley, that just might be considered the first remix of a pop song: "...the proprietor of a local discotheque asked Riley to compose a piece to be played in his club, and Riley obliged  —  but with a version of Harvey Averne's "You're No Good", a single off Averne’s 1968 Atlantic LP Viva Soul..."

The result is 12 minutes of tape-looped lunacy, with sine-wave and Moogs thrown in here and there as well. Was this actually played at the disco? And did anyone dance?

And who knew there was a soul-man named "Harvey"?

Terry Riley "You're Nogood"

A CELEBRITY TRIBUTE TO THE PIXIES

For you Pixies fans who want some spit-Pepsi-on-computer-screen laffs, check out Matthew's Celebrity Pixies Tribute page, which features the tunes of Mr. Black & Co. as performed by the likes of

Prince "Hey" Hey, I like this as much as most of Prince's own recordings

Jimi Hendrix "Vamos"

The Beach Boys "Levitate Me" - a "Pet Sounds" outtake?

As with Gabba, the group we covered last week, the humor lies somewhat on your familiarty with the group being satirized, in this case, The Pixies (dig Jimi's intro to "Vamos"), but the impressions and performances are good enough to tickle even non-Pixieheads. The Sinatra-ized version of "Monkey Gone To Heaven," however, is partly amusing because he doesn't sound anything like Frank, and the synthesized horn section makes it all sound like a really bad lounge act. Even when it's bad it's good.

ABBA ABBA WE ACCEPT YOU...

If British quintet Gabba simply played Abba songs in the style of the Ramones, that would be amusing enough. And sometimes they do do that, but other songs are more like pastiches of both groups' styles merged into an inexplicable whole, with references to numerous songs combining to form what I guess one could call original compositions. Such as "Hej Ho Disco", available from their MySpace space.

British dj Bud The Weiser has put together a swell 20 minute mix of Gabba tunes here (second one down). Listen sharp - there's numerous quotes that only a real Ramones fan will pick up on, but even if you just arrived on planet Earth recently and know nothing of Da Bruddahs, or those Swedes, the hi-NRG rock'n'disco should have you slammin' around the house anyway.

ROLL OVER, CHUCK BERRY

Bellybongo, as some of you may know, is a rare-album mp3 site run by a Scandanavian guy, and is highly recommended to fans of '60s/'70s audio oddities. But Mr Bongo really outdid himself with this album by The Note-Ables, a '70s quartet from parts unknown, USA, who are indeed noteable for their almost complete lack of skill in any area of singing or instrumental performance. Neil Sedaka, Glen Campbell and The Beatles all get steamrollered by an out-of-tune guitar/accordian attack that resembles The Shaggs on speed. Old swing tunes merge into what is allegedly the surf classic "Pipeline," but sounds more like a very wrong version of "Wipeout." The band sounds like their having a great time, however, and their energy level and enthusiasm is infectious.

The Note-Ables "Roll Over Beethoven" - The opening moments contain some of the most inspiring guitar work heard in years.

But who is "Shikowski"?

HAPPY ROBOT MUSIC

Ian Sherwin of Birmingham, UK seems like a decent chap: according to his website, "He has worked with a wide variety of schools and groups, and has a lot of experience working with young people with learning difficulties and behaviour problems. Ian mainly works with young people introducing them to using computers and software to record and produce original music." So why does he do such terrible things to toys?

By taking exisiting electronic musical and sound toys like Speak and Spells and rewiring them ("circuit-bending") Sherwin takes wholesome artifacts of childhood and warps them into noisy unpredictable electronic musical strangeness that might frighten your kids. Or enthrall them. I wouldn't mind having a "glitch-switch" or a random-sound button on my synths.

"Speak and Math"
"Talk n Learn Animals" - "This is the lion: SKRREEEEEECH!!!"
"My Little Keyboard"

Like what you hear? "Please get in touch if you would like to pre-order any of the units featured on this page" and he'll make one for you.

Now when's he gonna jam with Toydeath?

KID'S POW-WOW SONGS

One of the most unexpectedly wonderful albums I've bought recently is "More Kid's Pow-Wow Songs" by a Native American group, The Black Lodge Singers. I say unexpectedly because I don't know much about American Indian music and had never really listened to it too carefully, but how can you not like hearing songs about Scooby-Doo or Spongebob Square Pants sung in traditional drum-and-chant style? Apart from the novelty value, the performances - really soulful singing and compelling rhythms - are terrific.

Not surprisingly, the group, led by Kenny Scabby Robe (Scabby?) of the Blackfeet people, is one of the most popular trad groups on the pow-wow (intertribal gathering) circuit. The fact that he recruits band members from among the ranks of his 12 (!) sons certainly means he's aware of what the kids are into - this is volume 2, with hopefully more on the way. Can I request the "Speed Racer" theme?

Black Lodge Singers: "Kid's Pow-Wow Songs Medley"

2 .TP CISUM SDRAWKCAB

The guy I wrote about recently who sings "Stairway To Heaven" backwards asked that it be removed from the inter-webs. Yeah, well, who needs him? Thanks to Maniac mwmiller, we've got something you might like even better, so go to this-here site:

Bill Lamphier's Mystery Tune

ART LIKES HIS MOTHER

It's Mother's Day soon here in the US of A, and I can't think of a better salute to our mommies then a tune by Madison, Wisconsin's most famous outsider, Art Paul Schlosser, who we first met here. I don't if Mama Fab would really appreciate it, though - she never seemed too amused when I would play my 12" of Mr. T's rap song "Treat Your Mother Right." But it's the thought that counts!

Right...?

Art Paul Schlosser - "I Like My Mother"

UPDATE: Big thanks to that legend "anonymous" for this swell video of Art Paul performing "I Like My Mother" live on the street.

GUYS SINGS "STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN" BACKWARDS

A Dutchman who obviously has a lot of free time on his hands named Jeroen Offerman learned how to sing Led Zep's "Stairway To Heaven"... backwords. It took him three months. Then he videotaped himself singing it and played that backwords. Just the kind of utterly pointless behaviour that makes life worth living!

"Neveah Ot Yawriats"

SO I SAW DANIEL JOHNSTON LAST NIGHT...

...perform for free - free! You can't beat that! - at Amoeba Hollywood. And it was, quite simple, utterly wonderful. If you've been put off by the possibility it will be just a freak show, forget it. It was 35 minutes of top-notch tunesmithery performed albeit a bit clumsily at times, but I couldn't imagine it any other way. He doesn't play that way to be indie-cool or low-fi or whatever. He's playing the best he can, and he even apologized a couple of times for his nervousness and "amateurness." A large supportive crowd would have nothing of it, however.

Before the show, the store actioned off an original Johnston artwork to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims. It depicted many brightly-colored skulls and captions proclaiming that the Devil is "a drag." It went for $550.

Having just seen the documentary film, "The Devil and Daniel Johnston," I was prepared for the worst - it depicts his mental condition as deteriorating. But the Daniel I saw last night looked fairly healthy, hair neatly trimmed, sporting an oh-so-hip goatee, and a "Hi, How Are You" tee-shirt. He was in good spirits as he performed solo guitar and piano renditions of songs that, in other hands, probably would have been done in a jangly-guitar '60s pop style. The ghost of his beloved Beatles and three-chord classics like "Needles and Pins" seemed to haunt the compositions played last night, even as he dropped in lines like "I'm just a psycho trying to write a song." He good-naturedly put in time at the autograph table later.

Some may have been disappointed that he didn't have a nervous breakdown on stage. Ah well, they just had to make do with one fine tune after another, like:

"Frustrated Artist"

TEA PARTY: VINTAGE REEFER SONGS

I certainly was surprised to see the news that Mexico is planning on legalizing drugs for personal use. Any drug: heroin, pot, LSD...hell, snorting elephant tranquilizer, for all I know. It should be an interesting experiment: will they now have to worry about illegal Americans crossing the border?

Which reminded me of this page that features some great vintage jazz recordings. Some of the greatest legends in jazz, like Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, and Ella Fitzgerald, sang weed's praises. Now, I don't indulge in anything heavier then a martini, so I'm not endorsing anything here. I just love the spooky feel of jazz recordings of the '30s and '40s - the far-away sound of low-fi 78s, and hipster slang like "viper" (pothead), "blowing gage," and "smoking tea."

The Barney Bigard Sextet: Sweet Marijuana Brown
Bea Foote: Weed

UPDATE: Or not. As Scott pointed out in his comment, now Prez Fox is reconsidering.

BEA ARTHUR: AS NASTY AS SHE WANTS TO BE

If I wasn't married I'm sure I wouldn't have considered seeing Bea Arthur's one-woman show "Just Between Friends." Not that I have anything against the famed actress, star of TV classics like "Maude" and "The Golden Girls." I just figured it would be an evening of songs done in her froggy voice and show-biz anecdotes, but Mrs. Fab wanted to go, and so we did. And, whatdoyaknow, I quite enjoyed it, if, for no other reason, some of those songs and stories where, well, filthy. Not even those rappin' grannies I wrote about recently had anything on this 70-something bad girl. She remade some nasty old blues tunes that can be found on compilations like "The Copulatin' Blues" such as this ode to furniture sales:

Bea Arthur: "If I Can't Sell It, I'll Keep Sitting On It" - as well as a bonus anecdote about an unnamed actress' personal hygiene that would make Leoncie blush.

FROM POL POT TO HIP-HOP

Continuing our series of posts about unlikely rappers: Did the founders of hip-hop music in the '70s ever imagine that one day their music would teach the Cambodian people their horrifying history? Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash et. al. would have been open-mouthed in shock if they heard that a bootleg of a rap album recorded by a Cambodian-American youngster in his parents' garage would do just that. Much to praCh's amazement, his debut album, little known beyond Long Beach, CA's Cambodian community, became the number one album in the land of his birth. It served the dual purpose of schooling Cambodians in American-style hip-hop, and telling some grim truths about dictator Pol Pot's murderous regime.

praCh: "The Great Escape" - A gripping account of his family's escape from Cambodia
praCh: "Ah-Yei (Khmer Rap)" - performed entirely in the Khmer language

RAPPIN' GRANNY

After the Gangsta Fag post a couple of days ago, someone posted asking about other oddball rappers from demographic groups one normally wouldn't consider in hip-hop. I immediately thought of my Valley homegirl Rappin Granny (aka Vivian Smallwood). Tired of the kids blaring a music she hated, she decided to fight back with her own rhymes.

I don't know who the original rappin granny was, but this is not the one who appeared in the 1985 film "Rappin'", or the different rappin granny who was in "The Wedding Singer." Nor is she Fruity Nutcake, the New York white lady who has appeared on Howard Stern. Wow, there could be a best-of-rappin-grannys compilation.

Here's footage from one of Ms. Smallwood's many TV appearances. The music may be 50 Cent's, but the lyrics are largely hers. She even, er, shakes her booty. Granny got back! (sorry) Was there really a show called "America's Most Talented Seniors"?

Rappin Granny "In Da Club" - Well, Shirley Jones seems to enjoy it.

ROCK ROCK ROCK ROCK ROCK'N'ROLL HIGH SCHOOOOLLL...

...sang the Ramones, and few schools rocked like the Dondero High School A Capella Choir, of Royal Oak, Michigan. For 35 years Rick Hartsoe has been the Choir Director, aided and abetted by energetic instrumentalists, also culled from the student ranks.

Sadly, not only is Dondero High closing, but so is Otis Fodder's 'net-label Comfort Stand - a generous heaping of Dondero High's annual performances are Comfort Stand's last offerings.
There are many gems here, but check out this cover of Boston's

"More Than A Feeling" - the arena-rock bombast of the original is transformed through the choir's singing, handclaps, and more low-key (but still energetic) arrangement into an innocent campfire singalong. Just charming.

Don't know what Otis will be up to now, but I hope it means completing another Bran Flakes album of thrift store record-inspired mashups. And as for the beloved Mr. Hartsoe, he, like the school, is retiring.

O.G.: ORIGINAL GAYS

Gangsta Fag

Well! That says it all, doesn't it? Countless rappers, inspired by NWA's "Straight Outta Compton," have filled their music with anger, violence, and curse words, but it's usually been directed at gays, not from them. Gangsta Fag's Twisted G, however, has come straight (well, as straight as he can be, har har) outta New York with music that goes after gay-bashers with a baseball bat. He has the requisite street credentials (prison time, etc), and claims he used to rob and rape crack dealers! That'll teach 'em.

From an interview on his website: "Q: Is it true that most of your fans are straight men?
Twisted G: Yeah that shits very true...Straight people find it disturbing, repulsive, and incredibly fucking hilarious. They love the shock factor and that's cool too! But if you find yourself singing all the lyrics and dancing to it around the house all the time, than yeah, you are a mutha fuckin fag and that's cool too baby!"

Gangsta Fag: "Run From The Faggots"


Thanks to Radio Clash

POP SURREALISM...

...is how books like this one describe some contemporary underground ("lowbrow") artists who's surreal scenes are populated not with melting watches and guys in bowler hats, but with images from contemporary culture. And "pop surrealism" is not a bad description for the work of some mash-up music types. They don't just make a dance club novelty by, for example, putting a Fifty Cent acapella over a rock track (not that there's anything wrong with that), but plunge you into a dream-logic landscape, creating psychedelic audio collages that can make your head spin.

Case in point, DJ Earlybird, aka The Flying Soccer Moms aka Beaufort Kissdrivel aka Uganda. "Serge Gainsbourg vs Elvis feat. Dolly Parton" takes Monsiour Gainsbourg's late-'60s porno-funk grinder "Je t'aime...Moi Non Plus" and inexplicably mixes it with spooky Elvis wails (from "Blue Moon") and Ms. Parton's high-and-lonesome cries. Do not listen to this one while driving or operating heavy machinery (Ya gotta go here, third one down)

Aber N. Stein: "Voodoo Dick" (Click here, second one down) - in a fit of major cleverness, Mr. Stein takes Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" guitar riff and twists it into Led Zeppelin's "Moby Dick" and "Stairway To Heaven." Guaranteed to make the stoners in your life say, "Duuuuuude..."

And while we're at it, RIAA presents what is quite possibly the silliest, most ludicrous mashup of all time:

"Johnny SKAsh" which mixes the Man in Black's "Folsum Prison Blues" with Bad Manners' version of Mancini's "Baby Elephant Walk," some Skatalites, Wall of Voodoo (both doing "Ring of Fire") and more cartoonish sound effects this side of a Spike Jones record.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF MOUSTACHE-ROCK

Mike Watt recorded a great rocker a few years back that went, "The kids today must protect themselves against the '70s." And this 1977 video by Danish group the Tommy Seebach Band, a riot of facial hair, cheesy choreography, and ludicrous lip-synching and mugging for the camera, is Exhibit A why Watt was right. Or, perhaps, wrong, for our perverted purposes. I'd watch more MTV if they showed stuff this bizarre.

The song they're playing is another version of "Apache," the surf guiter instro made famous by 6-string kings like Jorgen Ingman, The Shadows, and the Ventures, but here given a soft-core Euro-disco arrangement. It may seem hard to believe that this song would have anything to do with hip-hop history, but, as all crate-digging headz know, Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band did a funked-up "Apache" that became a break-beat classic. This one, however, is a lot more funny:
Tommy Seebach Band: "Apache" (video)

LEONCIE: THE CHARO OF ICELAND

Bosoms! Lots of makeup! Wildly dramatic trilling! Casio-riffic no-budget music! It can only be that "icy spicy" babe Leoncie. Did I mention bosoms? As Miss Thing herself says, "A Little Bit Of My Cleavage Shows, And Then The Icelandic Volcano Explodes. Boooom!"

Forget yer Bjorks - Leoncie may be from Iceland (while claiming Indian heritage), but there all similiarities end. She writes and records her own music, even makes some of her own outfits, while performing everything with the breathless enthusiasm and relentlessly up-beat optimism of old-fashioned show-biz, even though her lyrics can turn baffling ("Radio Rapist"?) or, as in the case of "Satan City," which she claims is based on a real Icelandic nighborhood, nightmarishly surreal:

Leoncie "Satan City" - a place so offensive to her devoutly Christian sensibilities she claims they're "fucking on the street." Come on everybody, clap your hands! (But mind the abrupt ending.)

Many of her songs are about love. Or, more accurately, lust. Not for the easily embarrassed:

Leoncie "My Icelandic Man" - Wow, I wonder how she performs this one live. Hey, you two, get a room!

This page has more mp3s on the bottom, including her "headbanger" number:

Leoncie: "Wrestler" - And, yes, it's about wrestlers. Get this woman a tv appearance NOW!

SCANNER MUSIC

This website tells you how to rig your computer's scanner to play stuff like Beethoven's "Fur Elise" as this video demonstrates:

scanner: Fur Elise

Be a hit at your next office party! However: "use at your own risk. The author assumes no liability for any damages incurred by its use..."

TERRY KNIGHT: THE PHIL SPECTOR OF THE MID-WEST

Crass, outrageous, unpredictable, Terry Knight was all showbiz. Before being stabbed to death in 2004, he had worked with everyone from ? and the Mysterians to Ed McMahon. If he's remembered for anything, it's for his involvement with early-'70s arena rockers Grand Funk Railroad. But, as Barry Stoller reveals in his biography "I (Who Have Nothing): The Terry Knight Story," Knight had a surprisingly diverse portfolio in the '60s - dj, singer, songwriter, producer, record company exec, in styles from raungy garage punk ("Comin' on Back To Me" is a classic "Nuggets"-style rocker) to shmoove EZ-listening. And it's almost all out-of-print. Today's guest post tells the tale of Knight's brief production/A&R career at Cameo-Parkway. Take it away, Barry!

Knight never intended "I (Who Have Nothing)," his breakout national hit
with the Pack and his first foray into lounge music, as a 45. The
decision rested with Neil Bogart, president of Cameo-Parkway, the
company which distributed Terry Knight &The Pack's locally-produced garage records. When
the tune hit, Knight immediately seized his chance and submitted to the
influence of C-P (and Richard Rome, C-P staff arranger, who produced the
string-laden ballad).

"Comin' Back To Me" (by the Alabama garage band, Rites of Spring) was
Knight's first production duty with C-P (and his second ever with a
group other than his own). Essentially, he 'saved' the Rites of Spring's
failed 45 attempt, initially a demo, by supervising the re-recording of
the vocals which featured new lyrics. The tune, released while "I (Who
Have Nothing)" was still on the charts, bombed.

"If Love Is" was a vanity project for 'Dandy' Dan Daniel, a DJ at New
York's influential WMCA-AM. On this, Daniel's third C-P 45, 'Dandy' Dan
emotes Rod McKuenesque poetry over a backing track originally intended
as a Knight solo session. The music was written by Knight with
assistance from Rome; the lyrics are probably Knight's. The backing
track was recycled on a subsidiary C-P easy-listening album by the
International Pop Orchestra. Summer 1967, one of the last C-P releases.

Knight composed "The Incident Theme" on the set of the movie (which is a
malignant kicker) shortly after C-P folded in a flurry of lawsuits
between Allen Klein (who leveraged a buyout of the label) and Bogart
(who fled the label with several newly signed groups and producers plus
a stack of masters which surfaced in a variety of contexts). Knight was
managed by Ed McMahon at the time and McMahon had a part in the flick.
Promoted on the Tonight Show. Arrangement by Charles Fox (who did the
score for Barbarella shortly after). November 1967.

After The Incident bombed, Knight and McMahon went separate ways. Knight
was without a recording or production contract until early 1969. The
rest is heavy metal history.

- Barry Stoller
Utopia 2000

A-WHOOPIN', A-HOLLERIN' AND A-EEPHIN'

A reader asked if I had any "eefing" records after becoming intrigued by this wonderful NPR story that aired a couple of weeks ago. 'Deed I do, from an old vinyl album I got out of the library 10 years or so ago and taped called "I'm On My Journey Home." It's one of the strangest folk music collections I've ever encountered, and eephing, a vocal style that vaguely resembles a hillbilly form of human-beatboxing, is only part of it.

Has anyone made an eephing record in last 40 years? It may be, as the NPR story suggests, a lost art.

Jimmy Riddle: Eephing
Joe Perkins with Jimmy Riddle: Little Eephin' Annie - taken from the NPR story; this record actually charted in 1963

These other oddities from "I'm On My Journey Home" are vocal pieces that fall into the may-not-actually-be-music category, but are delightful nonethless:

Leonard Emanuel/"Red" Buck Estes - "Hollerin'" & "Whoopin'"
Lindy Clear/Ben Rice - "Ringing The Pig"/"Spelling From The Old Blue-Back Speller"

DAN TREACEY'S DARK PLACES

"I don't believe anyone's born bad, I don't believe anyone's born sad, but some people are born...mad."

So sings England's Dan Treacey on the brand-new album "My Dark Places" by his band the Television Personalities, their first since the early '90s. Why the long wait? Well, in the '80s, Treacy sang about Pink Floyd founder/mental case Syd Barrett, and in the '90s he practically became him. Trapped in a downward spiral of homelessness, drugs, crimes to pay for drugs, institutionalization, rinse, repeat, Treacy "lost the plot," as he sings in "I Get Sick Again," one of his new songs. He didn't play music for years, until prison nuns got him some instruments. He sent out an e-mail after being released in 2004 announcing his desire to return to music, and fans staged a benefit to buy him studio time. Which I find genuinely heart-warming.

The new four-piece lineup features fellow original member Edward Ball and is playing around England. I wonder if the album is sequenced in the order it was recorded - it starts off a shambling mess. Imagine Wild Man Fischer fronting the Shaggs...an exaggeration, but only a slight one. But the performances quickly grow more confident, and miserable songs like "All The Young Children On Crack" give way to some happy-sounding tunes like "They'll Have To Catch Us First," a groovy bit of '60s a-go-go Mod pop that could get easily get a be-miniskirted Twiggy frugging, although, like the rest of the album, the playing is little ragged, and vocals are hardly pitch-perfect.

Elsewhere he salutes another '60s fave, The Velvet Underground, over a Casio beat, Wesley Willis-style; paraphrases the reggae classic "Uptown Ranking" by singing "Uptown top wanking," announces "Don't be fooled by the rocks - I'm still Danny from the block!" and delcares "The king's got his crown back, back on the throne" to applause sound effects.

The sadness always returns, though. In "I Hope You're Happy Now," Treacy moans, "I hope he's everything you wanted me to be...". Treacy was apparantly so overwhelmed to be playing music again, he would break down crying in the studio, and he certainly sounds like he's on the verge of doing just that throughout "My Dark Places."

Television Personalities: "I'm Not Your Typical Boy" - a lovely Daniel Johnston-esque piano ballad cloaked in sincerity, humility, and humanity.

TOTALLY RAD

The film "Dangerous Men" has become something of a phenomenon here in Los Angeles since it first appeared on screens last September. To quote an imdb review, "What is to be said about the movie that would make Ed Wood vomit with rage?... Filming began in 1985 only to be shut down ...then in 1995 to be refinanced and reshot in a desperate attempt to resolve the "story" with different characters of no logical connection!" As another reviewer describes it: "mountains explode, people grow beards in 3 seconds, men read from scripts that are plainly visible in the shot, bad guys get knocked out by scalp massages, women transport knives in the cracks of their buttocks, plots are abandoned ten minutes after being formed, title sequences contain no other name than "John S. Rad," nude men dance with cedar leaves in the desert, the same "punch...ah!" sound effect is used 24 times in a 30 second period."

The auteur of "Dangerous Men," one John S. Rad (aka Yeghanehrad), who did the music for the film as well just about everything else, has taken the show on the road to a few other cities, and to whet your appetite, has written a new song...just for you! Life getting you down, friend? Yeah, well, I bet even the most miserable sad-sack couldn't listen to this "song" without erupting into uncontrollable giggle-fits.

John S. Rad: "Dangerous Men"

EXOTICA: NOW!

I was in a used/collectable record store a year or two ago when I overheard two store employees talking about the lounge/exotica revival of the '90s: "Boy, that came and went in no time, didn't it?" Er, not quite. Yes, record labels exhausted their archives of oldies they could repackage, and the media moved on to other things, but many of us carried on just as as we had before my local mall opened and closed an Ultra-Lounge store.

If tiki/lounge is dead, someone forgot to tell Shag - the man's not just an artist, he's a cottage industry. Tiki/lounge asthetics have infiltrated the mainstream. In fact, the above-mentioned mall recently opened a Hawaiian/tiki themed store. Am I going to be too hip and complain about this? Nu-uh. I remember '80s decor fads that make tiki, no matter how trendy, infinitely preferable. Nagel prints, anyone? Didn't think so.

It's probably wise to not try and recreate the '50s as much as update them, as a new mashup cat named The RevTed has done with this Henry Mancini vs Beach Boys mix:

The RevTed: "God Lujon Knows"

In the mashup world, "God Only Knows" is known as the Acapella of Death - many mixers have been drawn to its beauty, only to have their tune dashed upon the rocks of harmonic difficulty. The Rev does as good a job as anyone.

England's Voodoo Trombone Quartet actually started off as one-man mashup machine Braces Tower before hiring so many musicians to realize his exotic big-band a-go-go fantasies that they are now far more then a quartet. And trombones ain't the half of it.

Voodoo Trombone Quartet: "Monster Island" - from their album. Only available on a British label for now, unfortunately, crammed as it is with swank numbers like "Voodoo Juju" and "Your Pleasure Is Our Pleasure."

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.

PAUL LOWRY: UNKNOWN GENIUS

Years ago, a British radio man/mad genius named Paul Lowry took existing recordings of popular favorites and used all manner of studio trickery to turn them into insane, hilarious "remixes": tape looping, interjecting sound effects, Chipmunk-like vocals, tape speed manipulating...the man would stop at nothing. The recordings, apparently never released, are similar to the music-concrete the avant-gardists were doing at the time, but filtered through a Spike Jones sensibility.

Reading, England's DJ/mashup loonies Pilchard (aka The Fruntroom 5) received a tape of Lowry's work thinking it was, in fact, the work of Spike Jones. But Spike was a performer - he did everything with a live band. This is clearly tape/studio tomfoolery, though very much influenced by Jones's brand of wacky musical comedy. Lowry even uses some of the same music as Spike - classical war-horses like the "William Tell Overture."

Unfortunately, little is known about Lowry. When I asked Pilchard for more info, he wrote, "There aint no chance - the guys dead. He was called Paul Lowry. The woman that gave me the tape is senile...He played on the radio - that's all I can tell ya. Actually-come to think of it-musique concrete MAY have been written on the tape. There's another geezer mentioned in the notes which alas I no longer have, jog me memory.. I dunno, I'll try track the old girl down." We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Paul Lowry

1. "I Got Rhythm"
2. "William Tell Overture"
3. "Sabre Dance": sounds like live pots'n'pans percussion; brilliant tape looping at one point
4. "Rudio Nasrael" (??): some mighty impressive belching in this one.

Kudos to Pilchard for performing some serious audio restoration on the tape.

UPDATE June 10, 2007: We still don't have much info on Lowry, but Ted from Redding CA confirms hearing "William Tell Overture" on a tape of BBC radio broadcasts, so it appears that Lowry, indeed, did these for the BBC.
UPDATE June 13, 2007: I wrote to the BBC. Their reply: "I note your interest in a gentleman called Paul Lowry who may have been employed by the BBC. Having checked our database, we have no contact details for anyone of this name." I'm starting to wonder if his name was, in fact, Paul Lowry. Maybe that was just the guy who owned the tape that fell into Scott Pilchard's hands...UPDATE July 8, 2009: All tracks now available HERE, thanks to Doklands, who also informs us: "I managed to identify the "Rudio Nasrael" track - it's the theme to the BBC show "Radio Newsreel", also known as "Imperial Echoes" and written by Arnold Safroni.

WEIRDPUNK L.A.

"WeirdPunk L.A": an album's worth of "weird-punk" from the Los Angeles underground.

Though hardcore, the fast, furious, guitar-driven form of punk, and it's attendant spikey-haired stage-diving audience, has been extensivly chronicled, and commercial radio-friendly New Wave acts live on in '80s club nights and hit compilations, another side of the late '70s-early '80s scene has largely been overlooked: the intelligent, intellectual, experimentalists. They're sometimes called "art-punk" and, yes, many of these groups had art school backgrounds, or played galleries as often as clubs, but really, isn't all music art? "Synth-punk" is another common term, but not all these groups used synths. The common thread was that they were, whether naturally or by design, weird.

Herky-jerky rhythms! Synth squiggles! Sarcasm! Featuring out-of-print (or never-in-print) classics from The Screamers, Wall of Voodoo, Oingo Boingo, The Suburban Lawns, and lots of great bands you never heard of.

UPDATE 8-6-12: Back on line here!

1. The Screamers: "Veritgo"
2. Wall of Voodoo "Red Light"
3. Suburban Lawns "Flavor Crystals"
4. Slow Children "Spring In Fialta"
5. Oingo Boingo "I'm Afraid'
6. Food And Shelter "Changing My Mind"
7. Nervous Gender "Fat Cow"
8. Rick Potts Band "Platform Swimfins"
9. Fibonaccis "Slow Beautiful Sex"
10. Bob & Bob "We Know You're Alone"
11. Karen Lawrence & The Pinz "March Of The Pins"
12. Abecedarians "Benway's Carnival"
13. Red Wedding "Drums"
14. Man Child "Mad Dream"
15. Bakersfield Boogie Boys "I Get Around"
16. Monitor "Beak"
17. Susan Rhee & The Orientals " I Love You I Hate You"
18. Irritators "Whack The Dolphin"
19. Din "Respond To My Thoughts Only"
20. Chuck Wagon [of The Dickies]: "Rock and Roll Won't Go Away"
21. Humanoids on Parade "Humanoids on Parade"
22. Bad Religion "...You Give Up"

JAPANESE MARIMBA PONIES

The J Marimba Ponies are not small horses, but they are small people - children ages 4-12. And they do indeed play marimbas and other percussion instruments with astonishing speed and skill, considering that the instruments sometimes seem to tower over them. They don't read sheet music, but play from memory such wholesome fare as classical classics and Disney tunes. Check the video for:

"Sabre Dance"

Thanks to Roman for the tip!

THE NOVACHORD - THE LOST SYNTHESIZER

Although not as widely used as the theremin, the Novachord was another early electronic instrument often used to creepy effect in sci-fi/horror soundtracks. I first heard the Novachord on one of my favorite '50s exotica records, "Polynesian Percussion," by Lawrence Welk's bandleader George Cates. I figured it was just an electric organ, like the Voxx or Farfisa. It had a fascinatingly sleazy sound that I fell in love with, but rarely heard again. Now I know why. According to Synthmuseum.com, "The Hammond Novachord was first marketed in 1939, and was on the market until 1942. 1069 of them were created before World War II brought an end to production...they are quite rare. It is unknown how many still exist, and of those that do, few of them are operational due to the immense amount of tubes and capacitors, etc. they require. The device weighs five hundred pounds, and is as large as two spinet pianos..."

One brave soul who spent countless hours painstakingly restoring a Novachord was Phil Cirocco, whose "Novachord Restoration Project" page has extensive documentation of his labors as well as many fine mp3s, like this bit of soundtrack music from an episode of the old TV show "Outer Limits":

Harry Lubin: From "Demon With A Glass Hand"

Cirocco's conclusion after completing the project: the Novachord is, in fact, a synthesizer. Lacking the pitch-bending and abstract sound capabilities of Mr. Moog's creation 25 years (!) later, the Novachord thus was played like a conventional keyboard, albeit a somewhat odd-sounding one.

Cirocco's own solo Novachord music takes full advantage of the instrument's unique timbres - his short instrumentals have an Eno-esqe scope and feel that drop the listener into a pleasingly alien landscape.

Phil Cirocco: Improvisation #3

An album is in the works.

THAT SONG-POEM JUBILLEE pt. 2

February is Black History Month. And what better way to celebrate then with some more song-poems? Dick Kent sung many song-poem "classics" like the surreal masterpiece "Octopus Woman Please Let Me Go." But here he dons blackface (figuratively speaking) to give a little soul pride to his, ahem, "brothers":

Dick Kent "On Blackness" - Hey, if a song-poem company didn't have any black singers, what are ya gonna do?

Bonnie Graham "He's My Chocolate Baby" - Features the kind of surprising twist that no mainstream performer would have been able to get away with in the '60s.

Thanks to the tipster who pointed out this song-poem mp3-fest here.

THAT SONG-POEM JUBILLEE

Had a request for some Rodd Keith songs-poems. Song-poems, as extensivley documented on Phil Milstein's crucial American Song-Poem Music Archive, were lyrics sent in by anyone with the money to have them set to music by "today's top musicians and singers!" And Rodd Keith(aka Rod Rogers, Cleveland Becker, Lindon Bridges, etc) was perhaps the genre's greatest singer/songwriter of lyrics so awkward (or awful) that few mortals would even attempt getting a good song out them, much less actually succeedding. (Since the ASPMA has taken down their mp3s, I'll put up a few.)

Case in point, this well-meaning, if corny mid-'60s social statement that Rodd infuses with noir atmosphere:
Rodd Keith: Los Angeles City Lights
now available on a new Keith collection, "Saucers In The Sky."

From the sublime to the, well, you know...'60s electronics-a-go-go:
Rod Rogers and the Swinging Strings: That Martian Jubilee

Tragically, Keith died when he fell (was pushed? jumped?) from an LA freeway overpass on to traffic in 1974. Thanks to his son, saxophonist Ellery Eskelin for preserving his music. And, of course, thanks to the anonymous Middle Americans who forked over the 200 bucks or so to have their doggerel set to music, without which the song-poem phenomenon (or today's post) wouldn't have been possible.

WILLIE NELSON LOVES GAY COWBOYS

The phrase "jaw-dropping" was invented for things like country legend Willie Nelson's new song. No doubt inspired by the recent hubbub over "Brokeback Mountain," Nelson recorded an apparently sincere ode to gay cowboys, only available from iTunes. Although it had me gasping with startled laughter, Nelson's straightfaced delivery of the startlingly blunt lyrics doesn't sound like the work of a jokester, unless his tounge is so far in cheek it went over my head (now there's an interesting visual). And I thought his reggae album last year was unusual. Wow, keep smokin' Willie!

Willie Nelson: "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other"

I wasn't too surprised to learn that the song was written (back in 1981) by Ned Sublette, for he's a (jolly good) fellow with strange ideas about country music. In 1999, for instance, he released an album called "Cowboy Rhumba," a country/Cuban music fusion.

Ned Sublette: "Ghost Riders In The Sky"

And what's the big deal about "Brokeback Mountain" anyway? Andy Warhol did that scene 35 years ago in "Lonesome Cowboys."

GIVE 'EM VD

UPDATE 1/12/12 - Now back up online.

Mr Fab's "VD (Valentines Day) Mix":

A 30 min. narrative mix of '50s spoken word + music records. Featuring Nat King Cole, Ken Nordine, Rod McKuen, Jack Webb, Laurence Harvey, The Shangri-Las, Sal Mineo, Sinatra, and some surreal thrift-store records you haven't heard of.

Don't give 'em flowers and candy again, give 'em VD!

Mr Fab's "VD Mix", that is!

THIS MUSICIAN IS A REAL HAM!!!11!LOL!!

Barry Schrader, a music professor and composer at the California Institute of the Arts (I TOLD you, for short it's "CalArts" NOT "CIA" please) volunteers at a pot-bellied pig rescue center called, er, Little Orphan Hammies. As I noted in December in the sampled-pigs-christmas album post, there was a brief fad in the '90s where it was thought by some that baby pigs would make fun pets. Then those cute little guys turned into monsters weighing hundred of pounds, and were not wanted any more.

Until now!

Duke, an especially musical pig, can be briefly seen here playing a xylophone with a mallet held in his mouth:

"Duke's Tune"

This Los Angeles radio piece explains more, and features Duke's performing, as well as Schrader talking about his own recording made entirely from the melodic material of Duke's performance. Which you can hear here:

Barry Schrader: "Duke's Tune"

It's nice music, no offense Mr. Schrader, but I'd really like to hear/see more of Duke.

IF LIFE HANDS YOU A CRASHING COMPUTER...

...make lemonade. Or a song that samples the sounds of a computer crashing, as 99 folks did in a contest sponsored by Gizmodo, a "gadgets weblog." A fellow named LO2 crafted a funky break out of the sounds, adding his own funny nerd-core white rapping:

"Crizzash" - "...damn, that's where all my good porn was stizz-ashed!"

HOOKED ON HASSELHOFF

The word "cheesy" barely begins to describe this laff-out-loud video of Hoff (aka The New Shatner) doing the goofy '70s bubblegum tune

"Hooked On A Feeling"

...which answers the musical question, "What would a music video look like if it starred a kitschy TV actor, was made by an amateur public-access director, and everyone was on acid?"

OOGA-CHAKA-OOGA-CHAKA!

Alright, Just One More Punk-Rock Accordian Post...

Martin White from England sez, "In October 2003 I bought myself a 72-bass piano accordion. Since then I have used it to terrorise the internets with alarming renditions of popular melodies. I take requests." He's posted dozens of unaccompanied under-rehearsed accordian instrumentals, covering everyone from ABBA and Hall and Oates to Nick Cave and Nirvana. And he "covers" Cage's "4'33" " (yuk yuk). This take on the Human League's classic had me chuckling:

"Don't You Want Me" - Throw this over a 2-step drum beat and we've got a new polka standard.

But when he does rehearse he can create wonderful original tunes, like this Robyn Hitchcock-like gem:

"In The Evil Castle" - still just accordian, but with overdubbed vocals this time.

Thanks to the essential Radio Clash podcast for the tip. The latest episode of RadioClash is an all-outsider music marathon, by the way.

DISNEY DOES DEVO...

...Or is Devo doing Disney? Devo, one of the greatest, most influential bands of the original punk era, made a career out of weirdness, but this is pretty insane, even for them: producing a group called Devo2.0 for Disney who are children, ages 10-13, performing old Devo classics. The five-piece co-ed combo, hand-picked by the Spuds themselves, clad in Devo's trademark energy domes (do NOT call them "flowerpot hats" thankyouverymuch) received instrumental assistance from Devo on the album, but will be playing their own instruments when they hit a shopping mall near you. This is either the most brilliantly subversive or depressingly corporate thing Devo has ever done.

Disney has plans for kiddie versions of other classic band line-ups - coming soon, The Go-Gos.

Release date: March 14, 2006. Sound clips on the Disney website. So if you've ever wanted to hear a 12-year-old girl sing about her "uncontrollable urge," now's your big chance.

ROLLER-SKATING, BIRD-PUNCHING THEREMINIST

Pamelia Kurstin plays the theremin. But she doesn't just flail around and make wacky noises. Armed with delay foot pedals, she performs stunning solo theremin improvisations similiar to what Robert Fripp did on guitar-and-tape-effects "Frippertronics" recordings like "Let the Power Fall." She used to perform with her then-husband as The Kurstins, a Moog-theremin-drums trio, who I saw perform in 1998 at a tribute to the man who built her "ax" - Bob Moog himself, who gave a nice talk. I shook his hand that night. Anyway.
In case you didn't catch her in-studio performance yesterday on Irwin's WFMU show, check out this nine-plus minute:

Improvisation

Irwin played records as well, such as Led Zep's "Immigrant Song," and two Beach Boys tunes while Pamelia improvised over them, displaying a keen sense of pitch on her notoriously difficult instrument:

God Only Knows

I don't know what that bird-punching business means, though. That's just what her website says.

AUCTION ROCK

What's the fastest, most energetic music you've ever heard? Ivo Papasov's Bulgarian wedding music? Napalm Death's speed-metal? Yeah, well then you've never heard that pride of American folklore, the auctioneer. Technically, he's not a musician or singer - he has a job to do, and that's sell things at an auction. A real auction, not this eBay jazz. And we're not talking snooty silent city auctions either. Country auctioneers that sell produce, farm equipment, family estates, or, in today's case, livestock. I attended one auction in rural Colorado that sold anything that wasn't bolted down. The guy I saw there was good, but today we're celebrating the champs - the winners of the Livestock Marketing Association's annual World Livestock Auctioneer Championship. You can buy CDs and DVDs of entire shows, or just listen to mp3s of champs like 1964's

Cecil Ward - If you think this guy's insane, brace yourself for 2000's

Max Olvera - All acapella performances. Who's up for doing a remix?

SHRIMP ATTACK!

Don't be alarmed: Shrimp Attack is simply the name of a Stuart Hyatt's music and visual art project in collaboration with developmentally disabled youngsters from Florida's Eckerd College Ransom Arts Center. As many as fifty people are part of this collective - artists and musicians as well as the students, who write and sing their own lyrics, which range from the positive ("I'm Okay") to the Halloween-worthy "House of Dead Bodies." Unlike other similar projects like The Kids of Widney High or the How's Your News gang, the "special music" from these "special kids" is, well, more musical, with the vox/lyrics almost taking a backseat to the tunes. Which, as in the case of today's mp3, are very tuneful indeed:

Shrimp Attack: "Good"

LENNON GOES LOCO

From Venezuela comes "Cachicamo con Caspa y Leiko el perro de la IIIII dimension", which I believe translates to "Cachicamo with Caspa and Leiko the dog of the fifth dimension." The Fifth Dimension? The '60s group that did "Up Up and Away?" Nope, these nuts do off-kilter piano merengue versions of well known Latin-American tunes, and a few internationaly known ones like John Lennon's

"Imagine"

You can download the entire album here. Limp Bizkit and Sublime also get the treatment. Ay yi yi!

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO HOWARD FINSTER

Although Rev. Howard Finster, a preacher from rural Georgia with little formal education whose paintings went so far as to become REM and Talking Heads album covers, may be America's best known folk artist, he also had a little-discussed musical side. The album "The Night Howard Finster Got Saved" is largely dedicated to spoken-word tracks, but there's some ace tunes on it as well. Singing in a high'n' lonesome twang, playing guitar, harmonica, and, in this case, piano, Finster's music should sound familiar to anyone who's heard the "O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack. Or perhaps, considering the berserk piano stylings of today's mp3, Bob Vido.

Howard Finster, Man of Visions, Now On This Earth - "Some of These Days"

Makes me wish I'd bought that Finster painting I used to see for sale at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Hollywood. I wasn't in the position to spend hundreds on art but it was great - a portait of a young Elvis with the painted caption "Elvis At Three Is A Angel To Me." The fact that it's "A Angel" and not "An Angel" is the clincher.

RIAA: "Recording Industries Are Archaic"

An album's worth of wacky mashups by RIAA.

"Recording Industries Are Archaic"

1. Intro: Bessie Smith "Me and My Gin," media clips
2. Obligatory Rap-Metal Mashup: Lyrics Born "Calling Out" vs Black Sabbath "Paranoid"
3. Here Comes The HotButter: Hot Butter "Popcorn" vs Ini Kamoze "Here Comes The Hot Stepper"
4. Itsy Bitsy Short Dick Man: 20 Fingers "Short Dick Man" vs Elektro-Sonic Orchestra "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"
5. Gold and Iron Mambo: Kanye West "Golddigger" vs The Lounge Brigade "Ironman," with Cypress Hill, Black Sabbath
6. Beastie Butt: Beastie Boys "Root Down" vs The Butthole Surfers "Sweat Loaf" with kiddie record, Lee Scratch Perry
7. Chris Rock's In The Place: Chris Rock "Defending Rap" vs Prodigy "Everybody's In The Place"
8. Setting Sail: Enya "Orinoco Flow" vs Chemical Brothers "Setting Sun"
9. It's Whiskey: Run DMC "It's Tricky" vs The Dubliners & The Pogues "Whiskey In The Jar"
10. Kraftplay: Kraftwerk "Computer Love" vs Coldplay "Talk"
11. The Shah Turns In His Grave: The Byrds "Turn Turn Turn" vs The Butthole Surfers "The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey's Grave"
12. Forty Days And Forty Nights: The Doors "Riders On The Storm" vs Michael Jackson "Billie Jean"
13. I Love Disco and I Hear It's Making A Comeback: Herbie Hancock "Bring Down The Birds," Petra Hayden "I Can See For Miles," Dee-Lite" Groove Is In The Heart,"
Vijay Benedict "I Am A Disco Dancer," media clips
14. We Want Your Ska: The Specials "A Message To You Rudy" vs Freeland "We Want Your Soul," Khia "My Neck My Back," Annette Funicello & Fishbone saying "Ska!"
15. There Is Not An Unusual Light That Never Goes Out:
Mr Fab sings! The Smith's "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" over Tom Jones' "It's Unusual"
16. Mad Confusion Time: The Temptations "Ball of Confusion," Beastie Boys "In A World Gone Mad" vs Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra "The Last Time"
17. Rise Above Circumstances: Black Flag "Rise Above" vs Elgar "Pomp and Circumstances"
18. Have You Seen Forever: Chi-Lites "Have You Seen Her," Beach Boys "Forever," Public Image Ltd. "Radio 4," MC Hammer
"Have You Seen Her," media clips
19. The Joy of Noise: Apollo 100 "Joy" vs Public Enemy "Bring The Noise"
Recorded on AcidPro mixing software 2004 - 2005.
Additional production (beats, sound effects, etc) by RIAA

PUNK ROCK ORCHESTRA

If you liked yesterday's post (or even if you didn't), here's more Bay Area zanies playing punk classics, classical style this time: The Punk Rock Orchestra. Their album isn't out yet, but tantalizing mp3 snippets are good for a few sniggers:

"Pretty Vacant" - The symphonic grandeur of the Sex Pistols
"I Hear The Rain" - The Violent Femmes for flutes
Schwartzenegger Über Alles - Like yesterday, The Dead Kennedys updated

DEAD KENNEDYS: THE ACCORDIAN ALBUM

Oakland, CA's Aaron Seeman plays accordian, for your weddings, parties, bar mitvahs, etc. He's in a Romanian folk music group, can play waltzes and polkas. Oh, and as Duckmandu he's recorded a note-for-note remake of the entire first Dead Kennedy's album, the punk rock milestone "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables." Completely solo. Yep, just squeeze-box, and singing that's a darn good impression of DK's vocalist Jello Biafra.

Form the album "Fresh Duck For Rotten Accordionists":

Duckmandu: "When You Get Drafted" - Note the updated-for-Iraq lyrics

THE HENDRIX OF THE JEW'S HARP

There are millions of great guitar and piano players in the world, but, quick, name a great jew's harp player. The jew's harp? That thing you stick in your mouth, pluck, and go boing boing boing? With the vaguely anti-Semetic name? The same! Meet Tran Quang Hai (also spelled Tran Hai Quang), Vietnamese-born music professor, folklorist, and jew's harp hero. (Hey, if there can be guitar heroes...)

His album "Jew's Harps of the World" does indeed survey various international jew's harp styles, though it mainly features those of Vietnam. Perhaps not melodic in the traditional sense, jew's harps are nonetheless capable of producing surprisingly diverse sounds and rhythms, sometimes suggesting electronic effects like distortion, wah-wah, and phase-shifting, though, of course, it's all acoustic.

Tran Quang Hai - "Souvenir A Alexeiev Et Chichiguine"

KASIER CHIEFS VOCAL CHOIR

Apparently the mother of one of the members of "indie-rockers" (whatever that means anymore) The Kaiser Chiefs is in a vocal choir, and they recorded this acapella version of one of their recent hits:

"I Predict A Riot"

A hoot if you're familiar with the original, just a really really strange church-type choir recording if you're not.

UPDATE: Thanks to Dave "Inhibitor" Hughes for sending us his "semi-mashup" of the original and choir versions of:

"I Predict A Riot"

which he recorded for a gamer's station WoR Radio. Apparently, they've been diggin' the sounds we lay down around here.