"America's Most Nonsensical Band"

Continuing our survey of Spike Jones-like comedic music from the 78rpm era (we've already checked out Irving Aaronson and Borrah Minevitch & His Harmonica Rascals) comes this album surveying the long, prolific career of one of the greatest novelty/oddball groups of the era, the Korn Kobblers (no relation to that Korn). During their 1940's heyday, they were a constant presence on the radio and concert circuit.

Apart from the lyrical nonsense of songs like "Horses Don't Bet On People" ("horses don't have no remource-es...") and "I'm My Own Grandpa" (a song that really does my head in trying to follow it), their musical attack was a mad riot of frantic Dixieland horns, barrelhouse piano, furious drumming and, well, look at that tricked -out washboard, festooned with "electric auto horns, siren, klaxon, doorbell, whistle, woodblock, and twenty-one auto and bicycle horns." Song styles range from hillbilly to cosmopolitan swing, from children's music to Irish dialect humor. Essential.

The Korn Kobblers


1. When You Wore A Tulip 2. Up In The Balcony 3. Myrtle The Turtle And Flip The Frog 4. Five Foot Two, Eyes Of Blue 5. I'm My Own Grandpa 6. I Can't Get Offa My Horse 7. If You're Cheating On Your Baby 8. Oh You Beautiful Doll 9. I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate 10. The Light Turned Green (And The Light Turned Red) 11. Drifting And Dreaming 12. Ain't She Sweet 13. Since They Stole The Spitoon 14. Trumpet Blues 15. Never Make Eyes (At Gals With Guys Bigger Than You) 16. We Got To Put Shoes On Willie 17. Horses Don't Bet On People 18. Clancy Lowered The Boom 19. Why Did I Teach My Girl To Drive 20. Dardanella 21. Don't Shoot The Bartender (He's Half Shot Now) 22. Don't Give Me No Goose For Christmas, Grandma

If you want more, hezzie.com can hook you up with plenty more CDs and DVDs.

Stairway to Gilligan's Island

To celebrate the legacy of the recently deceased Sherwood Schwartz, creator of a favorite childhood TV show of mine, "Gilligan's Island," here's another one of my childhood faves, the ingenious proto-mashup by a San Fran band, Little Roger and the Goosebumps:

"Gilligan's Island (Stairway)"



(Thanks to WFMU!)

THE EVERYDAY FILM: THE FIRST 4 ALBUMS

The Everyday Film has a new, er, "song" - for lack of a better word - up on iTunes called "Emotional Margin Call." Go buy it! After all, he (she? they? it?) gave me permission to post his first four releases here.

Music doesn't usually scare me. But as I wrote when I reviewed the first two albums:

"The Everyday Film's album "The House I Used To Turn Into" was, on first listen, one of the most disturbing things I've ever heard (and maybe on second and third listens as well.) Much of it isn't what most people would even think of as music: a vocoder-ized voice pitched way down loooooow mutters cryptic non-sequiturs, interrupted by brief shards of industrial music-like sounds. "Song" titles include: "The Boy In The Wall," "We Don't Exist Yet," "Budgeted Out The Perverted," and "A New Class of Paranoia." The final track on the short album (27 tracks in 15 minutes) is the sound of some poor soul begging for his life while Mr Vocoder Voice mumbles banalities like "relax in the sun...take a vacation...take a 'me' day..." over unsettling electronic drones. That's entertainment!
Not to scare you all off, but it can be a fascinating, sometimes funny headphone experience, and a wicked beat even turns up...A 12 minute follow up CD...seems slightly less creepy, and the song titles aren't as twisted. It'll still be dismissed as sick shit by 99.9% of the population, tho."
The Everyday Film - First 4 Albums

The Everyday Film mails CDs to my PO box from time to time, and I get the occasional email from him, but I still don't have a shred of biographical info on him , or pictures, and the return addresses have been from different states each time. I used to call him "the Jandek of electronica," but, as one of you commented, he seems to be far more reclusive than even that notoriously shy outsider. There's no longer even a website for the band, so, for now, this is the only place to get these releases. Thanks very much to The Everyday Film for letting me post these here.

New Wave Covers For Oldies Lovers - Part 2

As I wrote in PART ONE, "During the upheaval of the late '70s/early '80s punk days, there was a real changing-of-the-guard feeling that led many groups of the time to cover classic oldies from the sacred rock 'n' roll canon in an irreverent (if not downright disrespectful) fashion. One of my recent obsessions is to to collect as many of these as I can find..." And why not? It's fun, weekend/summer barbeque music for maniacs. There's even a surf music section.

New Wave Covers For Oldies Lovers, vol2

1. The Toy Dolls - Blue Suede Shoes
2. The Minutemen - Ain't Talkin' Bout Love
3. Lene Lovich - I think we're alone now [Japanese version]
4. The Plastics - Last train to Clarksville
5. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Tighten Up [These guys, featuring Ruichi Sakamoto, actually reunited to perform (at the Hollywood Bowl) for the first time in 30 years; hope they performed this one, it is absolutely bonkers]
6. Zoogz Rift - But The Picture Has A Mustache ["Inna Gadda Davida"]
7. The Fibonaccis - Purple Haze
8. Black Randy & The Metrosquad - Say It Loud (I'm Black And I'm Proud)
9. James Chance & The Contortions - I Can't Stand Myself
10. Devo - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
11. Sun Yuma - Subterranean Homesick Blues
12. Comateens - Summer in the City
13. Bakersfield Boogie Boys - I Get Around
14. Nash the Slash - Dead Man's Curve
15. Zoogz Rift - Walk Don't Run
16. C. Newman & Janet Smith - California Girls
17. Lemon Kittens - Shakin' All Over
18. Pere Ubu - Pushin Too Hard
19. Butthole Surfers - American Woman
20. The Better Beatles - Paperback Writer
21. The Flying Lizards - Money (That's What I Want)
22. Gina X - Drive My Car
23. Sex Pistols - My Way

THE MUSIC FOR MANIACS MORNING ZOO!!!!!!

Good mooooooorning, maniacs! Mr Fab with ya. Got the traffic report comin' right up, but FIRST, two albums by American morning radio personalities we're GIVING away to the FIRST THREE CALLERS right here on the Music For Maniacs Morning Zoo!!!! *hooting, hollering, and cowbell noises*

First up, an album from 1989 by Johhny B, big fave outta Chicago. He does it all - slick '80s pop, blues, and wild rock! He's a rebel - you won't see HIM on MTV! Gotta love that "Moo Moo" song about a guy who broke into the zoo to do it with a cow! I mean what's crazier, a perv with the hots for a bovine, or a zoo that has boring animals like cows? I can see them for free if I drive thru the country! What else they got, cats and dogs?!

Jonathon Brandmeier

1. When Friday Comes

2. You Won't See Me On MTV 3. How, How, How (The White Boy Blues) 4. Nothin' In My Mind 5. Breakin' Up Isn't Hard To Do (With Someone Like You) 6. The Moo-Moo Song 7. Country Music Star 8. Good Sturdy Woman 9. How'm I Gonna Be A Dad? 10. Makin' Love In The Aid-Ees 11. Sweet Home Chicago 12. Just Havin' Fun 13. We're All Crazy In Chicago 14. JB Reprise

Here's a more recent album courtesy of Reno, Nevada's home for country music, K-Bull. Country music song parodies, weee doggies! My fave's "Time Marches On," a pretty scathing satire of them country folk. All in good fun, folks! And that's "no bull!"

Teflon Cowchip Band "Bullfoonery"

1. JJ Got Run Over By A John Deer 2. Any Woman Of Mine 3. Frankenstein 4. Fever Blister 5. Cheese And Macaroni 6. C-H-R-I-S-T-Y 7. Girls Do

It All The Time 8. Bigger Than A Buick Regal 9. Time Marches On 10. Homeless 11. Paddle My Bum/Dust On His Bottom/Any Woman Of Mine At Christmas Time

Okay, these albums might not be that funny. As sociological documents, however, they're priceless.

Thank (or blame) frequent contributor windbag for the Teflon Cowchips!

New Wave Covers For Oldies Lovers - Part 1

My previous post featured kooky versions of punk classics, kind of the flip side of today's post:

During the upheaval of the late '70s/early '80s punk days, there was a real changing-of-the-guard feeling that led many groups of the time to cover classic oldies from the sacred rock 'n' roll canon in an irreverent (if not downright disrespectful) fashion. One of my recent obsessions is to to collect as many of these as I can find. Thank God(zilla) for this blog - this is now not just some obsessive/compulsive behavior - it's a blog post! I'm part of the New Media, not just a weirdo spending his free time making obscurely-themed cassette mix tapes! And the result: strange, funny, experimental, pop, sometimes just stoopid ridiculous, unpredictable wonderfulness - this stuff's more punk than punk.
New Wave Covers For Oldies Lovers: A MusicForManiacs Collection

01 flying lizards - sex machine
02 The Better Beatles - PennyLane
03 Devo - Secret Agent Man
04 Karel Fialka - People Are Strange05 Bauhaus - Telegram Sam
06 Silicon Teens - Memphis Tennessee
07 The Raincoats - Lola
Rolling Stones section:
08 David Bowie - Let's Spend the Night Together
09 Neonbabies - Jumpin' Jack Flash
10 Nash the Slash - 19th Nervous Breakdown
11 Polyphonic Size - Mothers Little Helper
12 Bakersfield Boogie Boys - Get off my cloud
13 The Residents - (Can't Get No) Satisfaction
14 B52s - Downtown
15 Klaus Nomi - The Twist (live)
16 Wall of Voodoo - Ring Of Fire (live)
17 Bakersfield Boogie Boys - Okie from Muskogee
18 The Dickies - Nights in White Satin
19 The Slits - Heard It Thru the Grapevine
20 Ebn Ozn - Rockin' Robin
21 Jah Wobble - Blueberry Hill
22 Drinking Electricity - Shaking All Over
23 Ronnie And The Rhythm Boys - Hey Joe


I'm pretty sure I got some of these tracks off of blogs like Egg City Radio and Mutant Sounds, so thanks to them, and whoever else needs to be thanked. Part two coming at ya soon.

MusicForManiacs Guest DJs On "Stray Pop"

Stella has been hosting the show "Stray Pop" on Los Angeles' KXLU for over 30 years, and has interviewed a who's-who of punk/alt rock royalty. So for my appearance last year, I brought up a passel of punk-related weirdness, e.g. lounge-y, and foreign/ethnic covers of punk classics, punk songs performed by children, animals "singing" death metal, and, yes, a song from "Pink Panther Punk" (an album I got from Way Out Junk). 75 minutes of such nonsense!

I had written out the whole playlist, with links, but Blogger "experienced technical difficulties" and I lost the whole damn post. I just can't write it all over again, I really can't. *sob* If, whilst listening, you don't quite catch my back-announcing and want more info on something I played, feel free to leave a comment (*shakes fist at sky*)

Mr Fab on Stray Pop

This happened back in August of last year, but took so long for me to post here cuz I had to wait to get a tape of the show from Stella and edit it 'n' stuff. Yes, a tape. Expect hiss and all that good stuff.

PYONGYANG ROCK CITY part 3

This is our third and final look (part one, part two) into the most impenetrable culture in the world - so impenetrable that even these three albums we're offering are just what they want you to hear. Who knows what's going on in the hinterlands.

Our man from kitschstortion who sent us this music from who-knows-where (I have no idea how to get North Korean music apart from actually going there) says about today's album: "All songs are versions of the unofficial North/South Korean national anthem "Arirang." Maybe so, but there's a lot of musical diversity here. Certainly doesn't sound like one song played over and over.

Korean Folk Songs - "Arirang"

1. Arirang [a ponderous waltz]
2. Yongchon Arirang [in 5/4 time]
3. Milyang Arirang [also in 5/4 time; you'd think unusual time signatures would be too decadently Western]
4. Arirang Echoed Through Jiansanfeng [cheezy disco; love those syn drums!]
5. Song of Arirang [another slow epic waltz until 4:40; then it mutates into crazy swing]
6. Chol Pass Arirang
7. Arirang of Army-People Unity [this rousing march - the sole male vox here - is what I expect Communist propaganda music to sound like]
8. Arirang of Happiness [happy indeed; this and the following songs are chirpy pop]
9. Arirang of Reunification
10. Arirang of Prosperity

If you're as fascinated by this strange, lost world as I am: "Here is another article regarding Pyongyang pop. Also, this youtube channel has a great deal of material shown on the DPRK television station (KCTV) in Pyongyang, including live performances, news reports, and... comedy shows. Note: the account holder is a DPRK apologist; there is a small and uneasily penetrated community of them online." Thanks again comrade, er, kitschstortion!

R.I.P. Wild Man Fischer

Damn, we've been losing too many strange/outsider greats lately - in the last six months or so, Captain Beefheart, Zoogz Rift, and now Larry "Wild Man" Fischer have died. Fischer was the paranoid schizophrenic Frank Zappa introduced to the world in the late '60s when he discovered Larry walking down the Sunset Strip hollering his songs at the top of his lungs. He was 66, way too young, but he had heart problems, and a difficult life.

Fun-To-Know Fact: Rhino Record's first ever release was a single of Fischer bellowing out acapella "Go to Rhino Records/on Westwood Boulevard!" Apparently he used to hang around the now-closed store all day. Would there have been a Rhino label without Fischer?

PCL Linkdump has a great post: links to the documentary about Fischer that came out a few years ago, and two whole albums for your downloading pleasure, including an early Zappa-era one, "An Evening With Wild Man Fischer", and one recorded with Smegma in 1975 when those infamous crazies were still in Pasadena in the Los Angeles area before they absconded to Oregon. When I first wrote about this post, I said that the Smegma album "features a fantastic 15 minute destruction of Gladys Knight & The Pips' "Midnight Train to Georgia."


Here's a Wild Man Fischer mashup by RIAA from the "Schizophonia Suite" EP:

Kill Your Merry Go Round: featuring Wild Man Fischer's "Merry Go Round" and "The Wild Man Fischer Story," Lou Reed "Kill Your Sons" (inspired by Reed's teenage shock therapy treatments); C Dott "Merry Go Round"

KUMBIA QUEERS

Kumbia Queers are an all-lesbian Latin American band that cover punk, New Wave, heavy metal, and pop classics in the style of Columbia's great gift to the musical world, cumbia. They change the lyrics to reflect their interests, e.g.: Madonna's "Isla Bonita" becomes "La Isla con Chicas" ("The Island of Girls") and Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" is now "Chica de Metal," that is: "Metal Girl" (or "Chick").

Punk classics. Cumbia style. With lesbian lyrics. Does it get any better?!

Well, it could get a little better. Over the course of the entire album, it's apparent that their singing is merely okay, and that they favor the same tempo throughout (some songs could use a little speeding up.) But when that "Iron Man" riff slams down, joined by Latin percussion and cheezy keyboards, all is forgiven.

Kumbia Queers "Kumbia Nena"

01 - Chica De Calendario
02 - Que No Quede GuÌeya (Grupo Bronco, a popular Mexican band)
03 - Kumbia Dark (The Cure "Love Song")
04 - El Veraneo
05 - Mis Botas (Nancy Sinatra)
06 - La Isla Con Chicas (Madonna)
07 - Chica De Metal (Black Sabbath)
08 - La China Es Cumbianchera (Ramones "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker")
09 - Kumbia Zombie

And I threw in a bonus track, this excellent mashup:

Kumbia Queers vs Beastie Boys - dj Guztavo

"I've Got To Do My Penis Thing": Mr Fab's Mania For Maniacs

I usually update this blog every few days. It's been weeks since my last post, but I think I've got a pretty good excuse: I was sick to the point of (temporary) (I hope) madness. Two trips to my doctors' office, two visits to the emergency room, a high fever that ran for weeks, delusions, hallucinations, fever dreams...welcome to hell, enjoy your ride!

This is going to sound like a joke or something, but I really was tortured one restless night by a reoccurring punchline made by comedy writer Andy Breckman on his WFMU radio show "7 Second Delay": "Is this going to be a long story?" I don't remember what the set-up to the joke was, but Breckman's voice delivering that line kept bouncing around my head like a pinball in a pinball machine. I know this sounds funny, but I thought I was going nuts. I was also tormented for what seemed like several days by a song from my daughter's favorite show, "Yo Gabba Gabba!" Excellent kiddie fare, but I couldn't get the song out of my head, even deliberately trying to replace it with another, more innocuous one by humming something else whenever the bad song came back.

Brian WIlson recorded the noise-fest "Mrs O'Learly's Cow" with the Beach Boys to replicate the sounds in his head (as he said) when he was on the verge of a mental collapse in 1966. This is an unreleased bootleg, which I prefer to the cleaner official version Wilson released on his "Smile" album from a few years back. I thought of this track often during my illness, knowing, if even for a brief period, what Wilson was going thru:

After taking medication for a headache that left me unable to sleep and clutching my head like a Joan Crawford melodrama, I suffered an allergic reaction that had me sticking out my tongue as far out as it could go. Painful, tho it probably looked kinda funny, like Gilligan after a witch-doctor put a curse on him. This was alternated with my jaw clenching down so tight I couldn't open my mouth, and had difficulty breathing. Which did not look funny. Scared the poop out of me and my wife.

At one point in the hospital I started taking off my pants. My wife asked what I was doing. I replied "I've got to do my penis thing," apparently referring to peeing in a cup for a urine test...which I had already done. Fortunately, Mrs Fab convinced me of this, and thus spared me from soiling the exam room. Once I was furiously pounding away at my iPad, then gave up my internet search. Mrs Fab saw that I had been searching for something like "zxcvcxznnx nxcvbmvcxcvv." Apparently, I couldn't find it. So I sternly asked her to tell me "the story of the sick boy." I also said to her at some point, "They're giving me three-to-one odds," and left it at that. And I repeatedly grasped at things that weren't there, then was surprised to find that I had been grasping at air. I swear I saw 'em...

This is what my wife told me, as I don't remember most of these episodes. I'd always thought of the mentally ill - those poor souls pushing shopping carts down the street, mumbling to themselves - and folks like me as being poles apart. It's pretty alarming, then, to find how quickly and easily I slid into a li'l bit o' madness. It's been over three weeks since it started and lemme tell you, am I glad to be here. I appreciate simple things like a good nights' sleep and eating solid foods. I'm not 100% percent, but, as the doctors never could come up with a diagnosis, I'm just assuming I'm getting better since my symptoms have largely disappeared.

This song Grant Hart wrote for Husker Du in 1984 for their classic "Zen Arcade" album came to mind on more than one occasion during this period: "What's going on...inside my head?!"

On the positive side, I've lost weight (The Amazing Mystery Illness Diet!) And I will one day return to blogging. See ya soon.

PYONGYANG ROCK CITY part 2

Part one of our attempt to penetrate the nearly-impenetrable culture of North Korea explored the "pop" songs of the World's Strangest Country. Today, we're getting all high-culture and whatnot, with one of the "Five Great Revolutionary Operas," "The Flower Girl."

The plot concerns a poor girl's attempt to deal with her evil landlord. Ghosts are, apparently, also involved. Supposedly written by North Korea's founder Kim Il-Jong, it was one of a series of operas "...intended to promote the communist ideology, by incorporating themes such as the class struggle against the bourgeois." Attention: cabaret singers! How catchy toe-tappers like "Covering 280 km Road after Leaving the Home Village" have not entered the standard showtune songbook, I do not know.

Mansudae Art Troupe: "The Flower Girl"

I guess I was expecting this to be more folkloric, like Chinese opera with it's clanging percussion and shrill vocals. It actually sounds pretty Broadway, all melodramatic string orchestrations and emotional music-theater vocals. Not nearly as relentlessly peppy as the pop songs. Goes down smooth, as good propaganda should.

Recently, She Walks Softly posted some amazing photos, and a link to a documentary shot surreptitiously in North Korea. Truly, some must-see viewing.

Thanks again to kitschstortion!

R.I.P.: Randy 'Macho Man' Savage

Pro wrestling legend Randy 'Macho Man' Savage just died in an auto accident, it was announced today. Which makes now as good a time as any to post his rap album from 2003.

Yes, you read that right. This ridiculous album makes no sense on any number of levels, but one particularly curious thing about it is that fact that it came out so long after the peak of Savage's (and wrestling's) '80s popularity, and the heyday of '80s novelty rap. By the '90s, hip-hop was mostly overrun by gangstas, and the dubious prospect of an entire album by a rapping wrestler seemed even more ludicrous by 2003. At least this album isn't quite as bad as the one Dee Dee Ramone made - one of the the world's great rock 'n' rollers was, as Dee Dee King, the world's worst rapper, making Vanilla Ice sound like Ice Cube.

Needless to say, Savage's gruff, mush-mouthed vocals are no treat, and his lyrics are laughably lame - imagine, a 50-something white guy rapping about chillin' in the club with his crew and gettin' with the ladies, when he isn't dissing Hulk Hogan (ha!) and boasting about his wrestling prowess. He even has a dead-homie song. The music tries to be relevant with hard-rock guitars trying to pump up the tracks like an athlete's body on steroids. R'n'b chicks crooning absurd lovey-dovey lyrics attempt to up the sexy romance (?!) quotient, and actual known figures from the hip-hop world like DJ Kool show up to collect a paycheck and perhaps inject some "street" credibility into the mess. Just when I start to ask myself, "Why the hell am I listening to this abortion?," Savage drops another rhyme so mind-bogglingly dumb that I find myself compelled to keep listening. Be a man, I tell myself. R U ready? Feel the madness!!!!

Randy Macho Man Savage - Be A Man

1. Intro
2. I'm Back
3. R U Ready
4. Hit the Floor
5. Let's Get It On
6. Remember Me
7. Tear It Up
8. Macho Thang
9. Be a Man
10. Get Back
11. Feel the Madness
12. What's That All About
13. Gonna Be Trouble
14. Perfect Friend

PYONGYANG ROCK CITY part 1

The more North Korea tries to hide from the world, the more the world becomes fascinated.

I'd never really thought about music from the DPRK because the country is so closed off to outsiders that I figured nothing could get in or out. Well, awesome new super-pals over at the Kitschstortion blog have recently sent us a treasure-trove of music that lets us peek over the fence into the Strangest Country in The World.

How strange is it? Dig this: all North Korean kitchens have radios permanently tuned to official government channels, and you can't turn them off. So saying these songs in today's album are the DPRK's greatest hits isn't really saying a whole lot - after all, you don't have much choice. But nonetheless, this first collection is what's rockin' the streets of Pongyang, which is pretty much the only city visitors are allowed to see (heavily escorted, of course.)

Musically, it's very upbeat, slickly-produced pop, ranging from pretty ballads to near-disco beats. Synthesizers predominate, with wailing lead electric guitars sometimes thrown in. Lyrically, of course, it's all communist propaganda designed to reinforce your love of country and Dear Leader.

Korean Songs 1 - Both Paektu and Halla Belong to My Motherland

1. Glad to See You
2. Spring of Home Village
3. Song of Bean Paste [nice Asian synth melody; and that title really says it all, doesn't it?]
4. Song of Kimchikkaktugi [musically, could be '70s tv soundtrack music]
5. Song of the Half Moon [suggests a dreamy '50s ballad or Disney song]
6. Our Nation Is Best
7. Reunification Rainbow [check that poppin' disco bass]
8. Song of Mt. Pukak [polka party!]
9. Reunification Tondollari [some traditional-sounding percussion here; absurd backup vox]
10. Ojak Bridge of Reunification [again, this could almost be a disco soundtrack to some sleazy '70s movie, until the militaristic vocals kick in]
11. We Are One [oh man, love that trad. percussion/"Star Wars" sound effects duel at 1:52]
12. See You Again
13. Reunification of the Country by Our Nation Itself [Rousing! Makes me wanna march around the room!]
14. Both Paektu and Halla Belong to My Motherland

The Guardian ran an amazing series called "Pongyang Goes Pop" that follows a music journalist's investigation into the North Korean scene.

More to come! Thanks Kitschstortion!

The Stooges Go Polka!

Well, not polka, but this group from Chicago does play instrumental versions of Stooges classics on trombone and tuba (and drums). No guitars, tho it does sound rather dirty 'n' distorted at times. It also sounds really, really good.

The Ridiculous Trio Plays The Stooges

01.No Fun
02.Down On The Street
03.I Want to Be Your Dog
04.Dirt
05.She Creatures Of The Hollywood Hills
06.Scene Of The Crime / Death Trip
07.Not Right
08.We Will Fall

R.I.P.: DOLORES FULLER

"Dolores Fuller, the onetime actress-girlfriend of cross-dressing schlock movie director Ed Wood who co-starred with Wood in his low-budget 1950s cult classic "Glen or Glenda," has died. She was 88.

Fuller, whose show business career included writing the lyrics to a dozen Elvis Presley movie songs, died Monday at her home in Las Vegas after a long illness," sez the LA Times.

Co-author of some of The King's greatest tunes, like "Rock-A-Hula Baby," and "Do The Clam," memorably covered by The Cramps. Too bad she didn't stay with Wood, at least professionally. What a power couple they would have been - his movies, her songs...

I AM NOT AND YOU CAN TOO

Vermont's Jake Lions Band have very nicely offered up to us an excellent free album of lots of short (except for one 8 minute track), silly bits of electro-Dada. The non-instrumentals sport absurd lyrics sometimes sung in Chipmunk/cartoon-ish vocals. Like Zoogz Rift or Big Poo Generator, Lions and Co. mix smart, complex music with goofiness, thereby keeping pretentiousness at bay.

Check out lots more of his stuff HERE.

Jake Lions Band - I Am Not And You Can Too

Joy DIVAsion

I should hate this album, I really should. I bet a lot of people would if they heard it - it takes Joy Division instrumentals and mixes them with pop female vocals, and that's just plain sacrilege in some quarters. But, damn it, it pretty much works a treat. The final track with Diana Ross sounds out-of-key to my ears, but otherwise Ian Curtis' psychodrama supplanted by whiny pop tarts makes a surprising amount of sense, at least on a musical level. And, actually, some of these idiotic songs gain unexpected emotional heft as well, propelled by the passionate punk-derived instrumental tracks.

Sometimes the whole ridiculous-ness of it all makes it downright funny. And, you must admit, "funny" is not a word usually associated with Joy Division. Got to give The Netherland's mashup master Oki (who we previously featured HERE) credit for such audacity. Kill your idols!

Oki - Divas of Joy


oki - Love Will Crush Us Apart (Joy Division vs Paramore) - video by Instamatic from Tim Baker on Vimeo.

VINYL-PALOOZA #11: Ya No Hay Beatles! A Mexican '60s Garage Rock Fiesta

Closing out this month-long trip thru record-land, I present one final goodie - a various-artists 1960s mucho loco trip thru my Mexican garage-rock discoveries. I found some of these in the little mom 'n' pop store-front Latino music discotecas (music shops) that dot the working class neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Some of these records were still in the shrink-wrap, apparently bouncing around unwanted since the '60s. I bought most of these in the '90s, so I doubt there are too many left by now, but one never knows, does one? The usual sources (thrift shops, record stores) provided the rest.

These albums aren't always solid gold - there are boring ballads, or songs sung in English that make these groups sound like just another bar band. But the right combination of teenage hormones, unusual Latin influences, covers and originals can result in wild, fun, Nuggets-worthy trash-sterpieces.

So here's an hour's worth of garage, rockabilly, crazy screaming vocals, cool surf instros, and (this being a MusicForManiacs comp, after all) a few weird novelties. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Ya No Hay Beatles!

Los Locos Del Ritmo - Hey Joe
Hermanos Carrion - Todo A Su Tiempo (Turn Turn Turn)
Los Apson - Ya No Hay Beatles [I think the title of this original tune translates to something like "We Ain't No Beatles"]
Los Aragon - Tema do Los Monkees
Los Teen Tops - La Plaga (Good Golly Miss Molly)
Los Rockin Devils - Hey Lupe (Hang On Sloopy) [I have a great cassette by these guys/gal, but I can't be bothered with pulling out my boom box; in any case, Amazon has some highly-recommended CDs by 'em]
Los Rebeldos del Rock - Oh Mi Nina
Los Rebeldos del Rock - La Hiedra Venenosa (Poison Ivy)
Los Locos Del Ritmo - Si Ti Tengo A Ti
Los Apson - Viaje Submarino (20,000 Leagues)
Los Belmonts - Amarrado (Glad All Over)
Hermanos Carrion - Memphis
Los Locos Del Ritmo - El Fantasma
Los Locos Del Ritmo - Chica Alborotada
Los Apson - Twist Hawaiano
Los Hooligans - Despeinada
Los Hitters - Hanky Panky
Los Locos Del Ritmo - Pan con Mantequilla (Bread and Butter) [Oh, how the retarded vox on this make me laff!]
Los Crazy Boys - Corina Corina
Los Locos Del Ritmo - El Mongol
Los Apson - Senor Apache (Mister Custer)
Hermanos Carrion - Suzy-Q [throws in a bit of "Land of 1000 Dance" as well]
Los Aragon - Paren esa Musica [don't quit listening before you get to this absolutely hysterical number; "stop the music!!"]

VINYL-PALOOZA #10: Harmonic Synthesizer

We're stretching our all-vinyl month by a few days to accommodate this demo album of a 1974 synth (the only one made by electric piano manufacturer RMI) that featured digital capabilities. Wow, this one was years ahead of its time. I'd never heard of it, and I thought I knew my electronic esoterica, but apparently it was not successful, tho Jean-Michel Jarre used one. Sounds good, tho. I especially like the percussion effects on some tracks. "Non-pipe Organ" could be Keith Emerson at a cocktail lounge. And "Funky Wah" does indeed live up to it's name.

Of the three persons listed, only Mike Mandel seems to have had much of a career, playing jazz fusion with the likes of Larry Coryell in the '70s and early '80s.
Clark Ferguson/Mike Mandel/Carlo Curley – RMI Harmonic Synthesizer And Keyboard Computer
Thanks to Jake Lion, a cat whose own music we'll be featuring here soon, for the rip and link.