Not really. But an East Coast accordionist has released a collection of Philip Glass covers. Some solo, some of it sounds overdubbed, no other instruments. This shouldn't work in a million years, yet it does, and quite brilliantly at that. It's no gimmick - the guy's got some serious squeezebox skillz, and the surrealism of making 20th classical music sound like a Balkan village dance is an unexpected bonus.
What Capitalism Was - Plays Philip Glass on Accordion
1. Japura River
2. Facades
3. Cloudscape
4. Aria from Act III of Satyagraha
5. Floe
6. Etoile Polaire
7. Subterraneans
8. Resource
9. Knee 1
And you thought that the Dead Kennedys were a strange choice for an accordion tribute...
UPDATE 11-13-10: My email IS now working.
My email (mail@m-1.us) isn't working. If you've written to me in, I dunno, the past week or so, I probably didn't get it.
Nice not to get all that spam, tho...
Skrewdriver are one of those bands more heard of than heard. As members of the Class of '77 British punk scene, one of the most celebrated movements in rock history, you'd think they'd be in the history books (they even did a Peel session), but a hard-right turn into Nazi/KKK territory had them written out as if they never existed. Their status as the premier neo-Nazi skinhead band has gained them a certain amount of notoriety, but I don't know of any record guides or rock history books that mention them, nor did I ever hear them on alt/college radio.
Sure, they're not that great, but plenty of other lesser UK punkers got ink. Hmm. Since when has rock 'n' roll been about upstanding citizenship? I wanted to know what they actually sound like. (Disclaimer: Nazis are bad.)
Their debut "All Skrewed Up" is decent raw, basic punk with a few unexpected, unpleasant forays into mainstream rock. There's not a hint of racism in this original line-up, tho their propensity for dumb lyrics was already coming to the fore on songs like "Gotta Be Young." As if anyone has a choice about their age? Duh. But it is a catchy tune:
Skrewdriver "
Gotta Be Young"
Bandleader Ian Stuart Donaldson dissolved this lineup, and re-emerged a few years later with a new-and-unimproved Skrewdriver that now openly embraced Nazi, anti-semitic, racist ideologies, with lyrics as un-poetic as slogans shouted out at a political rally. The irony of declaring themselves strongly patriotic Brits while supporting that which tried to destroy Britain in WWII is, of course, lost on them. And then there's the puzzling hatred of Communism. Why support one bloodthirsty dictatorship while condemning another - professional jealousy? (Har har!) The music didn't advance, even if the punk scene had. Still, they could come up with the occasional memorable melody:
Skrewdriver "White Power"
After this period, there wasn't much gas left in their musical tank. 1984's "Hail The New Dawn" album starts off with some exciting rockers:
Skrewdriver "Before The Night Falls"
before tedium sets in: dull production, plodding tempos, and weak songwriting won't whip up a race war any more then the tiresome repetition of lyrical themes that blunt the shock value after a while. Meanwhile, the oi! scene in British punk was moving in the opposite direction - faster, louder, and more engaged with the public, as Skrewdriver retreated into the neo-Nazi subculture.
I can see how a group like this might have caused some alarm in the '80s, but it all seems fairly toothless, even a bit pathetic now. Donaldson's death by car crash in 1993 ended the band, and the Nazi skinhead scene, tiny to begin with, became increasingly marginalized to the point that it's now practically invisible to the general public. Good night, Adolph...
I return to Radio Misterioso for 2 solid hours of wild 'n' wacky musics this Sunday, 8pm, Pacific Standard Time.
I'll be joining host Greg "Spacebrother" Bishop playing lots of goodies I haven't had the time to feature yet here on M4M. So even for regular readers of this here web-log it'll be mostly unheard stuff.
Spinning all the platters that matter (or should that be "madder"?)
It's been far too long since I've posted any '50-'60s surf/garage/tiki trash 'round these parts, so dig this thirty-three -count 'em- THRTY-THREE track comp of sleazy-listening gems. You've got Latin spitfire La Lupe utterly demolishing "Fever," a theremin-driven rocker called "Shock Treatment," that ultimate bachelor's anthem "The Devil's Pad," and "The Devil's Blues," in which we learn that "Satan's not square." And lots of songs with "voodoo," "bongo," and/or "rock" in the title. Makes me glad to be alive.
I actually own a couple of these records, such as the afore-mentioned "Fever" and Ralph Marterie's pseudo-Arabic "Shish Kabob," but for the most part these are mighty rare, otherwise un-comped (so far as I know) oddities by no-one you've heard of.
The Lavender Jungle
So, a topical 30-year-old punk rock song is relevant again. Who'd have thunk it? Of course, Jerry Brown isn't quite the same hippie-fied "Gov. Moonbeam" that he was in the '70s. For one thing, he has a lot less hair now, and he isn't dating Linda Rondstadt (so far as I know). And yes, this portrait of Brown is the official one that hangs in the California state capital. I've seen it! Quite a contrast to the formal, staid governor's portraits that come before and after it.
As we wrote back in '06: "
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. 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 s
olo. Yep, just squeeze-box, and singing that's a darn good impression of DK's vocalist Jello Biafra. From the album "Fresh Duck For Rotting Accordionists":
Duckmandu: "California Über Alles"
or, for you classical music buffs:Duckmandu: "California Über Alles" (string quartet version)(What the heck does "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables" mean, anyway?) ".
New to Zoogz? Start HERE.
We've come to end of our brief survey of the wildly prolific and imaginative Zoogz Rift. Remember, you can now send away for an inexpensive set of his (almost) entire output if this has whet your appetite. I certainly would be interested to hear what albums like "FUCK GOD, FUCK YOUR MOTHER, FUCK ALL YOUR BULLSHIT AND FUCK YOU" are like.
This 1990 collection starts with "Kasaba Kabeza," a groovy funk instrumental that gets increasingly twisted. The sax/trombone interplay towards the end of this song suggests a particularly woozy brand of Minimalism. Even at 19 minutes this track isn't too long. One of Zoogz' best.
"Bowl of Gregmar" could be white-boy bar-band blues, were it not for the misanthropic lyrics and industrial-grade guitar solos. "You Can Count On Us" is a savage, funny Traveling Wilburys parody, tho I doubt that today's kids know who they are/were. No matter, proceed to the boss title track, a pogo-riffic instrumental that could almost be early Devo with a jazzy horn section. Top stuff.
This album is subtitled: "Music For Obnoxious Yuppie Scum." Does that mean that he thinks that obnoxious yuppie scum would actually like this music? Give this album to your BMW-driving Wall Street friends today!
Zoogz Rift: War Zone
Windbag, a frequent contributor to this here web-log, hails from Salt Lake City in Utah, the seat of the Mormons aka The Church of Later-Day Saints (The LDS). Thanks to him, we have a plethora of Mormon-culture artifacts, such as:
"Sons of Provo," a hilarious mock-umentry film about Everclean, a Mormon boy band. The soundtrack is not only a spot-on parody of those psuedo-r'n'b teeny-bopper groups, but a gentle tweaking of the impossibly wholesome squeaky-clean image of the LDS. Jokes from the film like the band recruiting a new member from his job in the scrapbooking department of a crafts store might not seem too crazy, but this is a religion that traditionally has not allowed even a hint of rebellion or free expression. Anyone who leaves the church is sometimes shunned by family and friends, so any satire is a bit radical.Everclean "Everclean" - "...like Listerine"
Everclean "Dang, Fetch, Oh My Heck" - How to swear in Mormon; quite a lot of musical diversity in this track
The Saliva Sisters, a female song-parody trio, would seem to have slightly more pointed spoofs of Mormonism, and the state of Utah in general, on their album "Delusions of Granger." But their "Spit Happens" album doesn't get specific - songs like this Led Zep parody could apply to department store-obsessed housewives anywhere:
The Saliva Sisters "Stairway To Nordstroms"
This brilliant acappella rendering of the theme to "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" has nothing to do with Mormon life (near as I can tell), but it is Halloween-appropriate:
The Saliva Sisters "
Hitchcock" - These gals can sing, no?
So what is it that they're all satirizing? Brace yourself for a full album of...(dramatic sting) singing children!!
Songs For A Mormon Child - Delightful moppets shriek out hits like "I'm A Mormon," "I Want To Be A Mother" in which a little girl claims to want "...4, 5, 6 babies", and (gotta love this title) "Hey Everybody! It's Family Night!" You've been warned...
Thanks windy!
No, not Bela Lugosi. But how great would that have been? "Bela Does Broadway"..."Doin' The Twist With Bela Lugosi"...Alas! It never happened. But Christopher Lee has a new-ish album out, and at 87 years of age, he's practically as old as Dracula himself.
Charlemagne: By the Sword & The Cross is billed as a heavy metal/symphonic album but, really, it sounds more Broadway than anything else. And, as if you couldn't tell by the album/song titles, it's a concept album, set it medieval times. Christopher Lee goes campy epic metal? Totally rad, of course. How could it not be? A monumental kitsch epic.
No, he doesn't wail like Ozzy, but he really does sing. Well, sorta. He tries.
Christopher Lee: Act IV - The Age of Oneness Out Of Diversity
New to Zoogz? start HERE. We're in the home stretch - I only have one more album of his after this.
Torment is right. This 1989 release kicks off with a track by a clearly frustrated Rift bemoaning his increasingly diminished place in the music industry, and other songs boast primo pissed-off rants. "Dead Planet Earth" features a plethora of ethnic percussion and even a rain stick - Zoogz goes "world-beat"! "The Secret Marines Sex Kitten Beach Party," one of the most uproariously surreal spoken-word + music tracks Rift has ever done, recounts a boy's hilariously gruesome trip to the doctor.
The Tom Waits-ish "Meet Me at Stinky's" is a new direction for Rift, as is "Low Life," for overdubbed pianos (and no other instruments). "Let A Man Come In And Eat The Popcorn, Pt. 47 & 93" is a James Brown parody/tribute. And "Defecation Rainbow" is a helluva title, isn't it?
Apart from the usual furious punk/jazz instros with their blistering guitar work and Jonathan "Mako" Sharkey's synth mayhem, there are some songs that could almost be normal rock ballads. The instro "Candy Girl" is as happy and catchy as it's title would suggest - bubblegum fusion?
Zoogz Rift & his Amazing Shitheads - "Torment"
Jimmy McMillan, representative (and possibly only member) of The Rent Is Too Damn High Party, is running for governor of New York. He'd get my vote. He's got a lot going for him:
- his super-fly facial hair.
- the fact that he once walked all the way from Brooklyn to Buffalo.
- his prodigious use of clip art.
- his funky synth-and-drum-machine tunes. Every song is about how the rent is too damn high. ("You Never Cared" has a particularly illin' groove.)
Jimmy McMillan - The Rent Is Too Damn High (10 songs)
The election is this Nov. 2. Don't let me down, New Yorkers!
Who's that? The voice seems to be coming from...no, it can't be...the piano is talking!
Peter Ablinger: Deus Cantando (God Singing)
Fortunately, this 
is a nice possessed piano: it's reading from the "Declaration of the International Environmental Criminal Court," not telling you to "Get out!"
Thanks to computer trickery by Berlin-based composer Peter Ablinger and technical assistance from Winfried Ritsch, the piano only appears to be talking. If you can't quite make out what it's saying, check this page with a video where you can read the text along with the music. Ablinger used to write original music for sampled recordings of speech (fascinating audio tracks on the bottom of this page) until he hit upon the idea of piano and speech intermingled. Just in time for Halloween.
(New to Zoogz? Start HERE) If you thought Zoogz was getting soft with last week's offering, this 1988 release should reassure you that Mr. Rift has not mellowed. The first half of this smokin' album is live in Europe, reprising favorites like "Heart Attack," "Mongoloid Middle America," and "When My Ship Rolls In."
Then the studio half: the lovely instro "Puke Island Paradise;" then the title track, one of Rift's trademark rants, this time directed at the likes of pretty-but-empty-headed bimbos; "Tender Romance Sequence," more of a skit than a song, is nutty x-rated surrealism; the film "Freaks" gets sampled; "A = a" is one of Rift's most furious rockers; trombones, vibes, and shrieking guitars prance merrily about and a good time is had by all. Zoogz himself has said that it's "containing some of my best studio work." It certainly makes this cretin happy.
Zoogz Rift "Murdering Hell's Happy Cretins"
Don't know Zoogz? Start HERE! But even if you do think you know him, you'll be surprised by this 1988 album - there's no spoken word surrealism, no screaming fits, no rude language. There is alot of nice singing, some Tim Buckley covers (!?), and plenty of instrumental action that is no longer zigging and zagging at break-neck tempos. No, The Amazing Shitheads come off almost like a loose jam band here.
The eminently hummable "When My Ship Sails In," written by band member John Trubee, is as gorgeous a melody as Zoogz ever recorded. The closeset thing here to the old surrealism is the title of the 20+ minute jam "The Enigmatic Embrocation Of Mrs. Compost Heap," and the fact that accordionist Rocky Howard keeps derailing the proceedings to quote from songs like "The Godfather Theme" and "Beer Barrel Polka." Accordion polka on a Zoogz Rift album? That might be the most shocking thing he's ever done. But I guess even misanthropic paranoid cynics have their good days.
Zoogz Rift: (Nonentity) Water III
.
Don't know who this Radio Crack fella is, but he's got lots of media cut-ups/sound collages. And they don't get much funnier then this one, featuring the world's most powerful person. And Barack Obama.
Radio Crack: Obamarah
The Everyday Film is the Jandek of electronica: secretive, musically unique and disturbing, and completely in his own universe. I don't even know where he (they?) are from anymore - every package I get from 'em seems to have a different return-address. And the most recent CD is 26 second long. Yep, he went to the bother of making a cd, packaging it, mailing it...all that work for 26 seconds. Top that, Jandek!
The track makes up for it's short length in sheer shock value. As usual, vocals are so distorted it's hard to tell what's happening, but apparently he's in surgery: "That's me on the table."
The Everyday Film: "Multiple Women" - It's a sneak-preview of a forthcoming album. .
Don't know Zoogz? Start HERE! Otherwise, let's dive into a 1987 release that, although it's pretty quirky by the usual standards, is as close to a straight-ahead punk/rock album as anything Zoogz & His Amazing Shitheads ever did.
A few songs are pretty out there, however. And the nearly-7 minute epic "Ah Peek In Duh Devil's Secret Hell Files" is waaaay out there, one of the nuttiest things I've ever heard from Zoogz. At one point, he even parodies Beefheart and Zappa's style to most amusing effect. And the impressive title song, for (at least) three electric guitars and no other instruments is some kind of demented string quartet/chamber music.
Zoogz Rift: Water II (At A Safe Distance)
We're only skimming the surface with all these Zoogz posts - he released far more music then I have in my collection. Although this stuff is out of print, Rift himself, thru his son Aaron, is selling for ridiculously low prices a data cd and dvds containing most everything he ever recorded. Faithful reader Steve took the plunge (all right, no more water puns) and sent away for them: "I've received everything from Aaron as advertised! ...I've found that the dynamic range is a bit better than the generally available album rips." He also reports that there are numerous bonus tracks for each album, although, strangely, one track that was originally on an album might be missing (or was it's title changed?). It's bare-bones (no art work), but considering how much you get for so little money, I'd still say it's a great deal. And since Zoogz has so many health issues, I'm sure he could use the money.
(Thanks, Steve!)
How do you follow a debut 4-disk (plus bonus disk) boxed-set album? By not even putting out an album, but an on-line musical game.
The Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra first graced our pages years ago when I wrote: "I don't detect anything particularly satanic about this good-natured band, nor are there any puppets in evidence. For that matter, it's not much of an orchestra - one man largely handles the music, a "mad scientist" whose robot creation sings lead. Therefore, it's the perfect name for this bizarre, funny bit of musical dada."
Their latest project is a multiple choice Name That Tune game, featuring hilariously devolved covers of pop hits, performed as only a mad scientist and his random-sense-of-pitch singing robot can perform them. Thanks to the SPO themselves, we offer here EXCLUSIVE!!! mp3s of some of the songs featured in the game. Otherwise, there are no downloads (yet).
Who did the originals of...
Blaze of Glory - with toy piano!
Werewolves of London (It is getting to be Hollow-Weenie time)
I Can't Go For That
Where Is my Mind
Are there prizes if you guess correctly? Why, of course - you win the greatest gift of all. No, not love: free mp3s of weird music! What more could you want?!
There's plenty more good listening on the three (soon to be four games) that are up now. Thanx to Professor J. and SPO-20!
Not really. But an East Coast accordionist has released a collection of Philip Glass covers. Some solo, some of it sounds overdubbed, no other instruments. This shouldn't work in a million years, yet it does, and quite brilliantly at that. It's no gimmick - the guy's got some serious squeezebox skillz, and the surrealism of making 20th classical music sound like a Balkan village dance is an unexpected bonus.
