Devil's Music: The Satanic Panic Paranoia of Pastor Gary Greenwald

Anyone who was around in the 1980s, esp. music fans, remembers well the 'Satanic Panic' that swept that era, at least in America (did this happen elsewhere?). Apart from ruining lives by claiming that perfectly innocent people were killing children on Satanic altars (despite that fact that not one corpse was ever found), crazy fundies also waged war against pop music, seeking hidden and not-so-hidden messages from the Evil One hisself. They analyzed lyrics and album covers, and played records backwards, claiming that 'subliminal messages' effected human behaviour.  I wish humans were that easy to manipulate.  We could put on backwards messages saying: "Don't murder. Don't wage war. Stop watching 'American Idol' and listening to crap music." And the world would be a better place.

Orange County, CA pastor Gary Greenwald got a lot of mileage out of this hysteria, selling the sermon/lecture tape presented here, as well as appearing on tv. A friend of mine back in my school days videotaped one such appearance, invited us all over to watch, and we had a regular Prince of Darkness par-teee. Oh! how we joked about it for ages.  Not only did it not scare me off pop music, I remember thinking that the clip he played from "Animals" was pretty cool. Pink Floyd sez: thanks for the free publicity, Pastor Greenwald!

You had to have a good imagination to find these allegedly hidden messages. They'd play something backwards that supposedly said "Worship Satan, kill yourself, don't vote for Reagan," but all it sounded like to me was "Wurp-nya glurp, wobwob, yob rulb." Towards the end of part 1 of the tape and the beginning of part 2 you'll hear what happens when they played some Christian records backwards!

Apart from the unexpected nostalgia blast this tape gave me, there was another eye-opening moment. I realized: hey, that's where DJ Loberdust got the sample for his classic mashup "It's Fun to Smoke Dust (Queen vs Satan)"! I maintain that it really sounds like the backwards Freddy Mercury is saying "It's HARD to smoke marijuana," not "It's fun..." But that of course, would turn it into an anti-drug song, ruining the pastor's point.

Pastor Gary Greenwald: Rock a Bye Bye Baby 1
Pastor Gary Greenwald: Rock a Bye Bye Baby 2

Part 2 gets cut off, but he's just yammering on about how eeeeevil Jim Morrison was.  Thanks again to windy - you are truly doing the lord's work.

Well, Now, Who WOULDN'T Want A Free EP Of Saw Music?

They're not just for cutting down trees, y'know. In the hands of master musicians like Kev Hopper, when bowed the humble saw can produce lovely ethereal sounds, such as those featured on his EP "Saurus." It, like most of Hopper's recorded works, is now available for free download on his site, generous chap that he is. Of the EP's 6 tracks, the first five are for musical saw. "Soulkeepers" might be my fave track, with wordless female vox joining the saw for a 'Star Trek theme' feel.

Very late '80s, a friend of mine who worked at a record store pointed to an album by a band called Stump entitled "A Fierce Pancake." "You'd probably like this," he smirked. "It's this really weird kinda Beefheart British silliness. No one here likes it. " I bought it on the spot. Great album, esp. the American version with the single 'Buffalo' added. And Kev Hopper was the band's bassist.

No Stump, sadly, but other albums available for free dl on his site include the 1990 sample-fest "Stolen Jewels," which digitally grabs everything from banjos to African vocals - the cartoonish "Punch and Judy" and "Meantime," and the sound effects-laden "Chain Smokin'" are indeed jewels. 1999's "Whispering Foils" boasts great tracks like the Steve Reich-like "Skitch Pics," and "Mr. Chuff Chuff" which sports more saw, plus marimba and Brasilian percussion. I'm not sure what to make of "The Stinking Rose," a concept album about garlic (yes, the food garlic) and apparently no-one else did, either - it never found distribution.  Still, songs like "From Herb to Eternity" and the Kate Bush-y "Sulphur Symphony" are plenty yummy. Get 'em all here:

http://www.spoombung.co.uk/index.html

DOWN BY LAW: NYC PunkFunk '78-'84

Let's boogie to a collection of the greatest dance "hits" of what has been called the "No Wave" era of NYC music.  Late '70s/early '80s downtown Manhattan was bursting with alt-classical composers, free jazz, New Wave, performance art and, most notoriously, noise bands. Apart from downtown, hip-hop was getting started in the South Bronx and Queens and house music was growing. All of which would coalesce into the punk-funk (aka mutant disco) of the bands presented here. Never has "dance" music been so dark, noisy, and experimental. Unlike the earlier sexy funk of James Brown et al, this stuff is uptight, tense, full of punk's nervous energy. And if the disco they were playing uptown at Studio 54 was slick and glamorous, this music was low-budget, as dirty as a SoHo street corner.

Has there ever been a more inclusive music scene? Black, white, Puerto Rican; gay & straight; male, female, and undetermined; jazz, rock, avant-garde - everyone grooving together.  All you needed was a throbbing bass line and some cowbells and congas.

Most of what I know about the earlier New York Dolls/CBGB era I got from history. But this stuff, like the Suicide song featured here, I remember. Whilst visting my family back east, my cousins would take me to clubs like Area, Danceateria and yes, CBGBs (in the days when they didn't check IDs too carefully), I bought some of these records back in the day, I'd hear 'em on the radio. Bi-coastal rivalry meant that this music wasn't as acceptably cool as the hardcore punk scene raging around me in LA (remember Fear's "New York's Alright If You Like Saxophones"?  A song I loved, by the way) - but I dug it. I hadn't heard some of these songs in ages, but they hold up really well - it helps that not much music has been made like this since (no one plays percussion anymore?), so it still sounds fresh and fun.

DOWN BY LAW: NYC PunkFunk '78-'84

1. Fab Five Freddy "Down By Law"
2. Liquid Liquid "Cavern" (Perhaps the biggest "hit" song of this genre, and, yep, where Melle Mel got the music for "White Lines")
3. ESG "Moody" (oft, and I'm talking oft sampled band of three sisters/sistahs)
4. The Del-Byzanteens "My Hands Are Yellow (From The Job That I Do)" (History remembers this band for featuring future filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, but they actually were pretty cool.)
5. The Bush Tetras "You Can't Be Funky"
6. Lizzy Mercier Descloux "Wawa"
7. Dog Eat Dog "Rollover"
8. Cristina "What's A Girl To Do"
9. Kid Creole & The Coconuts "There But For The Grace of God Go I"
10. Konk "Elephant" (Speaking of Jim Jarmusch, Richard Edson from this band would act in Jarmusch's film "Stranger Than Paradise," co-starring another downtown scenester, John Lurie of jazzers The Lounge Lizards)
11. The Work "Nearly Empty"
12. Pulsallama "The Devil Lives In My Husband's Body" (This very large all-girl band featured future actress and Bongwater member Ann Magnuson)
13. Material "Square Dance" (featuring future producer-to-the-stars Bill Laswell)
14. The Dance "Do Dada"
15. James White & The Blacks "Almost Black 1" (Some of James White/Black/Chance's band quit to form Defunkt)
16. Defunkt "Blues"
17. Ike Yard "Cherish 8" 
18. 8 Eyed Spy "Motor Oil Shanty" (singer, in the loosest sense of the word, Lydia Lunch was previously in notorious noise band Teenage Jesus and The Jerks)
19. Loose Joints "Pop Your Funk"   (featuring '80s NY avant-disco mastermind Athur Russell)
20. Suicide "I Remember"

This scene is not forgotten - there are some good books that cover it: "The Downtown Book," "New York Noise," "No Wave", all of which make the point that music was just one element of the downtown scene - painters, photographers, filmmakers, dancers, and performance artists all got thrown into the mix.  No one seemed to do just one thing. And they also point out the scene's downfall: rising real estate prices that made Manhattan living impossible for starving artists, AIDS, and the inevitable mainstream absorption.

Oh, and the expression 'down by law' meant that you were hip, street-wise.  As Grandmaster Flash's Furious Five once rapped: "New York New York, big city of dreams/but everything in New York ain't always what it seems/you might get fooled if you come from out of town/but I'm down by law and I know my way around."

The First Man On The Moog

"Herbert Deutsche: From Moog To Mac" is shaping up to be the reissue of the year.  It's a long-overdue career retrospective of an electronic music pioneer who was Bob Moog's right-hand man. I was happy to see that "Jazz Images, A Worksong and Blues," the first piece of music ever  recorded using a Moog Synthesizer was included in this collection. And a pretty cool piece of space jazz it is - the almost 10 minute long 1965 landmark work also includes Deutsche's piano and trumpet skillz.

Except for an '80s drum-machine pop vocal misfire, the rest of the album is solid, including tape music concrete pieces dating to the pre-Moog early '60s, right up to some lovely recent songs for piano+theremin, with stops along the way for some space-age Shakespeare, a bit of operatic vox, and more future-jazz courtesy of a sax-enhanced version of the traditional black American lament "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child".

I digitized an 7" ep of Deutsche's that I bought at a used shop ages ago that apparently was meant to accompany a book about electronic music that Deutsche wrote in the '70s. Each side is only 5-6 minutes long, but it's plenty fun.  Side a features Deutsche's narration as he demonstrates basic tape functions, then creates a nutty tape loop.  Side b features narration-free instros, including some really wacked-out tape loopiness and a wicked bit of Moog funk.

Herbert Deutsche - three tracks

1. "Jazz Images, A Worksong and Blues" from "Herbert Deutsche: From Moog To Mac"
2. Synthesis side a:  "Tape Studies 1-4"
3. Synthesis side b:  "Tape Study #6 (A Branch of My Anguish)"; "Tape Study #6 (Circe)"; "Synthesizer Studies 1-3"
 

Creeps And Pervs Like Pop Music, Too!

There are no doubt scads of great releases in the Free Music Archive, but with hundreds (thousands?) of album downloads on the site, there's no way I can listen to even a fraction of 'em (any recommendations?).  I did luck out and stumbled across this goodie recently:

Amil Byleckie: Amil is Personal

described thusly: "The songs are all short form pop gems inspired by adult personal ads from the Providence Phoenix. This is genuinely bizarre recording."  And that's about the size of it. Short is right: the 20 songs here fly by in just over 17 minutes, and gems they are: most of the simply-played guitar and/or keyboard + drum machine tunes are quite good and catchy. Only drawback: that trendy indie "lo-fi" sound that can be so distracting.

And the personals themselves are pretty interesting, revealing the twisted, perverted worlds that lie beneath mainstream America. Even the "Charming Beauty" who starts off sounding pretty decent and normal slowly reveals herself to be a golddigger. Tho many of these songs are funny, some of this stuff is creepy, occasionally even a bit gross, but I admire the way Byleckie can take non-musical material like newspaper ads and craft some excellent pop tunes out of them.

Wild Man Fischer: "Wildmania!"

Paranoid schizo/sometimes homeless outsider legend Larry "Wild Man" Fischer sang the first ever release on L.A's pioneering maverick indie label Rhino Records, "Go To Rhino Records" in 1975, when Rhino was still just a record store, not yet the music-biz monster it would become. A version of that song is included on this 1977 album, the first LP Rhino ever released. And this Thursday here in L.A., Beyond Baroque is hosting a 2nd Annual (there was one last year, why was I not informed?!) Wild Man Fischer Pep Rally, which promises "live readings, performances, and rare film clips." Not sure what that's all about (readings?), but it's free.  Doubt I'll be able to make it, so if any of you-all do go, I expect a report, all right?

The late, great Fischer is in a good mood here. Parts of this album were allegedly recorded in the stands of Dodger Stadium during a baseball game.  Hmmm... Tho there's some crude rock backing on a few songs, many of these songs are sung acapella, just the way Frank Zappa discovered Fischer in 1968 when he was walking down the Sunset Strip hollering his songs at the top of his lungs. The 2-disk album that resulted, "An Evening With Wild Man Fischer" (never digitally re-issued) can be found elsewhere in blogland. In '75, Fischer hooked up with crazed pre-punkers Smegma for an awesome album, available HERE courtesy of PCL Linkdump. Then came the Rhino era - after this release Fischer hooked up with those wacky "Fish Heads" kids Barnes and Barnes for some excellent late '70s/'80s albums. Most of Wild Man's stuff seems to be out-of-print.  Actually, a lot of that wacked-out early Rhino stuff is OOP - we may have to focus on 'em in the future. So much weird music out there, and I am but one man!

Wild Man Fischer: "Wildmania!"

1. My Name Is Larry

2. Jimmy Durante

3. I Light the Pilot

4. Josephine

5. Do the Wildman

6. I'm a Truck

7. Sir Larry

8. Who's Your Favorite Singer?

9. Go to Rhino Records

10. Handy Man

11. Disco in Frisco

12. Do the Wildman (And Other in Dances)

13. I'm Selling Peanuts for the Dodgers

14. I'm the Meany

15. Wild Man Fischer Impersonation Contest

16. Guitar Licks

17. What Do You Think of Larry?

18. Young at Heart

19. My Name Is Larry (Reprise)

The Country/Eastern Music of Shoji Tabuchi

If you are a good, decent person, you will not laugh at a Japanese guy sincerely trying to sing American country hits.  The Dalai Lama (or Adam Yauch, were he alive) would probably comment that, hey, can YOU sing in Japanese?  Could YOU come over from a country with a radically different culture than the US and master a foreign music style? Could you, like, learn to play the koto or some shit? 

Well, obviously, I am not a good, decent person - I LOL-ed out loud upon hearing poor Mr Tabuchi sing "make loom in your heart for a flend." And you probably will, too, ya sick bastards. The debut album of this collection of country (and a couple easy-listening) hits by a Japanese fiddle player/singer does, at least, feature slick backing by Nashville pros to maintain some semblance of musical quality.

The night I was ripping this from vinyl I was musing aloud to the missus about how could this album have been released, by a major label, no less (ABC/Dot), and she suggested that it might have been a deliberate ploy, like the tax scam in "The Producers."  Which reminded me of record biz sleaze-bag Morris Levy. Otherwise, I have no explanation for the existence of this album.  But, hey, Tabuchi is having the last laugh on us - he's had a long-running show in that Vegas for old folks, Branson, MO.

 Shoji Tabuchi: "Country Music My Way"

A1 Orange Blossom Special

A2 Put Your Little Hand In Mine

A3 Uncle Pen

A4 Love Letters In The Sand

A5 Devil's Dream [instrumental]

B1 Lovin' Girl

B2 The Words Mean The Same

B3 Make Room In Your Heart For A Friend

B4 Time Changes Everything

B5 Somewhere My Love [instrumental]

This has been another wonderful Windy contribution.

What's 'Nilbog' Spelled Backwards?

LA's own Nilbog are the world's only horror-movie soundtrack cover band. Which is a cool concept, but they can also really play, they skip the cliched tunes (no "Psycho" or "Halloween" themes here), and bassist Bret is the man behind the Post-Punk Junk and Egg City Radio blogs. So good they should do real soundtracks.  Listen to 'em here..that is, if you ain't chicken:

Niblog The Band

Don Wardlow: The King of Casio Country

 

Here's something unique: a serious, heartfelt tribute to funnyman "Weird Al" Yankovic, performed by one guy on an electronic keyboard + drum machine (a Yamaha, actually, not a Casio), recorded onto hissy tape.

 

Don Wardlow is a blind, middle-aged Southerner who has uploaded over 150 songs onto his YouTube channel, mostly covers of country-western oldies. It's all pretty charming, but his originals are special - as technically crude as any outsider music, but genuine and sincere, and surprisingly catchy at times. "American Idle," a commentary on jobs being sent overseas and his own resulting unemployment, sports an excellent earworm of a chorus: 



 

Dig the Latin drum machine groove on another sad-but-true tale from Wardlow's life, about his "Miami Girl," "A song about a girl I dated from 1991-95, with an emphasis on her habit of spending everything I had."

 

There's lots more that I haven't had a chance to check out yet. Come on, Don, lay some mp3s on us, daddy-o!

 

Cz-, Cz-, Czech It Out: The Prague-Rock of Už Jsme Doma

Už Jsme Doma (that's easy for you to say) is the greatest Czech band that I know. Granted, they're just about the only Czech band that I know, since I have never Czeched out (sorry, I'll stop now) The Plastic People of the Universe, tho I know I should.  (Robert Christgau says that The Plastic Peeps are his favorite prog band, so that probably put me off them a bit.)

These crazies hit the American college radio scene with this 1990 release and subsequent tours, and appear to still be going strong. "Uprostøed Slov" is an ADD-riddled affair that unpredictably veers from complex prog, to Residential high-voiced silliness, to hardcore punk - and that's just in the first song. What sounds like chimes, penny whistle,  violin, and marimba compete with aggressive rock instrumentation, and vocals that range from operatic to punk shoutiness. There's a humorous air to the performances that leads me to think that their lyrics are probably pretty funny, too. (Can anyone confirm?) Listen to, say, "Soubor opatøení" if you think you don't like "progressive" rock. It is some whacked-out, fun stuff - prog you can pogo to.

Už Jsme Doma: "Uprostøed Slov"

Central/Eastern European pop/rock seems to be either the cheesiest of Eurovision/schlager pop and techno disco, or, on the other hand, complex classically-inspired metal/prog rock and jazz. Is there nothing in the middle? Poland's Gameboyzz Orchestra spring to mind with their nutty video-game pop, but otherwise I'm stumped. Maybe the trashy fun of (some) American music is a reflection of our trashy culture. Or maybe we're just too dumb to know how to dance in 14/8 time...

Gershon Does Gershwin

Moog synth versions of Gershwin classics sounds like a pretty goofy excuse for an album, especially considering that album title, and the ludicrous cover art of George G. looking like an ABA player with that gi-normous 'fro. But this 1970 release is actually really good, reworking those tired old songs like "Summertime" with unexpectedly fresh, Space-Age arrangements. (Gershon Kingsley would write an oft-covered standard himself, "Popcorn.")  Bob Moog even stated in an interview that he thought that this was one of the best Moog-sploitation albums of that period, and I would agree - especially side two's "Porgy & Bess" medley (Proggy & Bess?).

Kinsgley clearly learned a thing or two about using sound effects in novel musical ways from his old partner, tape-loop wiz Jean-Jacques Perrey, when they were the duo that practically invented electro-pop with their groundbreaking 1966 classic "The 'In' Sound From Way Out."  On this album, Kinsgley is joined on some cuts by pianist Leonid Hambro.

Gershon Kingsley & Leonid Hambro: "Gershwin: Alive & Well & Underground"

Bobby Jimmy And The Critters‎– "Ugly Knuckle Butt"

Looks like I'm the only person in the world dedicating to preserving '80s rap novelty records.  I mean, someone's gotta do it, right?  There's a million histories of jazz, rock , punk/alternative, etc.  Will there be no-one to tell the story of L.A. radio DJ Russ Parr and his def comedy band Bobby Jimmy And The Critters?

"Big Butt" was the big hit, and it still amuses.  It should be noted that founding member of NWA (recently nominated for the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame!) Arabian Prince, and none other than Dr Dre himself are responsible for some of the songwriting here.

'80s electro beatz, a guy rappin' in a funny voice about big butts - come on, admit it.  It's fun stuff. Even if it's actually kinda awful. But that's funny, too.

Bobby Jimmy And The Critters ‎– Ugly Knuckle Butt

UPDATE 10/11/2012: Aw, durn, the song "Just 4 The Hell Of It" is a bad copy. Sorry. I'll see if I can record a better one.

A1		Knuckle Draggers Backing Vocals, Written-By – Kim Hairston	6:01
A2		You're My Women Written-by [Music] – Arabian Prince	4:28
A3		And The Flygirls Scream Written-By – Jeff Page	4:59
B1		Big Butt (Remix)	4:08
B2		Just 4 The Hell Of It Written-By – Arabian Prince	4:11
B3		Ugly Knuckle Butt Written-By – Dr. Dre

Captain Beefheart Karaoke Party: "Clear Spot"

As with the "Lick My Decals Off" post from a couple years ago, here are the instrumental tracks from a Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band album. In this case, it's the 1972 release "Clear Spot." An oddity in the good captain's catalogue, this one alternates the usual mad genius of songs like "Big Eyed Beans From Venus," (one of my favorite songs ever, not just by Beefheart) with attempts to be normal and commercial, tho there's nothing as egregious here as his mid-70's "Tragic Band" period. My eyes popped out when I was scanning the booklet to a recent Buckwheat Zydeco album, and saw a Captain Beefheart writing credit.  Yep, Buckwheat covered the perfectly presentable soul 'n' horns workout "Too Much Time" (tho the instro version is not featured here.)

In any case, it's another opportunity to revel in the complexity of the musical arrangements. Sing along with the Cap'n!

Captain Beefheart: "Clear Spot" Instrumental Tracks

1. My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains
2. Clear Spot
3. Crazy Little Thing
4. Dirty Blue Gene
5. Big Eyed Beans From Venus
6. Frying Pan
7. Sun Zoom Spark
8. Nowadays A Woman's Gotta Hit A Man
9. Low Yo Stuff
10. Booglarize

Hey Gals! Still Single? Go To 'Charm School'!

Gurlz nowadays, look at em!  Swearing, tattoos, wearing men's trousers instead of purty dresses.  Bring back the charm school, I sez! Like what Bess Rothman used to do in the '50s and '60s: have girls walk around with books on their heads so that they could learn to move gracefully, like proper ladies.  As Miss Rothman's authoritative male announcer sez on her "Charm With Cents" record:

"Poor posture habits might even be keeping YOU from getting dates.  Or be the reason your husband is looking to trimmer, slimmer figures."

This is one of my all-time favorite spoken-word records.  It's an amazing time-capsule of the pre-Women's Lib era, as well as an entertaining production, what with it's lush piano music, and occasional use of dramatic echo on the announcer's voice.  I've used it in sound collages, mash-ups, and dj mixes from the moment I bought it for a buck or so at a garage sale in the '90s. And it's a good thing I did buy it then, because I certainly couldn't afford it now. It's one of my secret weapons, but now I pass it on to you, dear Maniacs. And ladies, when you nab Prince Charming, remember who to thank, 'nkay?


Bess Rothman's Charm With Cents

1. Intro
2. Importance of Speech
3. Visual Poise
4. Theory of Color

ZOMBIE JAMBOREE 2012

WFMU's Twitter thingie posted a link to our collection of Caribean Hallowean from a few years ago, which was very nice, except that the album was off-line.  Since some of you have been looking for it (it is one of our most popular comps), I've put it back up, adding a number of bonus tracks in the process. After all, Devil's Night isn't too far off. Stagger over here: 

ZOMBIE JAMBOREE

Stormy Weather: The Meteorological Music of Nathalie Miebach

Continuing the concept for our last post of science data transformed into music, here's a remarkable project by Boston artist Nathalie Miebach that turns weather data into stunning sculptures and crazy musical scores.  And somehow the Violent Femmes are involved.  

Some of the scores have been brought to life by another gal from Bean-Town, pianist Elaine Rombola.  An album is planned, but 'til then, there are four free mp3s up for download on this page:

Sculptural Musical Scores

The piano pieces are short (around two minutes) and pleasant. "Storms" is busy, as one would expect, and "Journey" thankfully sounds nothing like "Don't Stop Believin'," but rather is low-key, reminiscent of Cage's "In A Landscape."

The other two downloads are both 17 minute-long interpretations of a hurricane. One is by the 6-member Axis Ensemble. I quite like the version by the Milwaukee chamber group Nineteen Thirteen, for cello, percussion, and drums. Really nice 'n' moody, like a waterlogged Gorecki Symphony No. 3. Produced by and performing on percussion is none other than Victor DeLorenzo of the Violent Femmes.  Sounds nothing like Lena Horne.

 

 

Particle Man, Particle Man...

So what's the big deal about scientists claiming that they think they've found the Higgs boson particle? It was the missing piece of the Standard Model of physics, and now that it's been (hopefully) found, it means that our general understanding of how the universe works is correct.  So that's pretty awesome. Let's celebrate by listening to music made by taking the mathematics of it all and assigning each number a musical value. The result is a very peppy tune for piano, bass, marimba, percussion, and xylophone sounds.

I find it kind of hard to believe that a sub-atomic particle sounds like a lounge mambo, but, hey, I'm no physicist. (And if sub-atomic particles really do sound like lounge mambos, well then the universe is far more wonderful than I ever imagined.) It's not very long - only about 2-and-a-half minutes - but the boson is a pretty small particle.

Domenico Vicinanza: Higgs Boson Sonification

This is not the first time we've featured music from the CERN/Large Hadron Collider posse. Four years ago we wrote about the "Large Hadron Rap," and back in '06 we covered the first band on the web. Brooklyn? Austin? Feh!  The CERN scene is where it's happenin', baby.

(This is still the only music blog with a 'science' category, right?)

Help A Brutha Out

Let's check the in-box, shall we?

"Dear Mr. Fab,
      Good day! I'm a reader of your blog and an ardent lover of exceptional music. For the past year, I have been on a relentless search for a very unusual band, and I am hoping that perhaps you could help. In short, about a year ago I chanced to hear two short songs that have haumted me ever since. The music was simple, strange, like a primitive Velvet Underground, with the words sung in a depressive monotone. It was definitely the lyrics that caught me the most, deadpan honest and sad, like a suicide note set to music- somewhat in the vein of Jandek. I wasn't able to catch the name of the band, but the primitive truth of it definitely fit the criteria of 'outsider' music. Despite a wide and varied knowledge of music, and a year of searching, I've yet to find them- my only hope is that by some chance another connoisseur will have been lucky enough to know of them. Is there any chance that you know the band I'm talking about? I seem to remember the lyrics were something like 'Everything I felt in life was someone else's bad joke', with the chorus 'All I wanted was a place in the sun.' This was the kind of music that changes your life, and I would be eternally grateful for your help in this. Thank you, and please keep up the good work.

Best regards,
Z. Colombino"

I wrote back: "Your description of the music/singer sounds like Beat Happening, but I don't remember any really depressing songs of theirs like that, the lyrics don't ring a bell" and he replied: "Yeah they are very reminiscent of beat happening, definitely similar to the twee-pop school musically. I've come to realize they defy classification- for any similarity they have with another band, they're completely different in ten other ways. If I had to guess the era I'd say late 70's-80's...I'd thought maybe Edinburgh post-punk at one point? Orange Juice is another very similar band."

And so we turn to you, dear readers. Anyone?

ZOOGZ TOOZDAY

The six hours of Zoogz Rift & His Amazing Shitheads mega-post from earlier this year is back on-line.

Country Music For Fat, Unpopular People

Meade Skelton is an outsider musician from Richmond, Virginia whose album  "They Can't Keep Me Down" mostly deals with his struggles with weight, and how no-one likes him, e.g.: "I Love To Eat (And It Shows)" and "It's Hard To Love Yourself (When Everybody Hates You)". He feels left out of the music world, loves mom and God, and doesn't like sleazy, degenerate rock 'n' rollers or too-cool hipsters (e.g.: the song "Proud To Be A Square").  His lightweight electric piano-driven songs lean towards the slick, commercial side of country music, and when he stays within his vocal range, he actually has an okay voice, tho hardly worthy of his own Elvis and Sinatra comparisons. Trouble is, he doesn't always stick to his range.

This album, so I'm told, is strongly influenced by Laura Branigan, of all people. Remember her, she did that "Gloria, I think they got your number" song?  Supposedly "Beautiful Lady" is a reworking of Branigan's "Solitaire," adding new lyrics about (of course) being fat and unwanted. 

There is some weak singing here and the songwriting occasionally gets terrible indeed, so it's easy to laugh at this guy, but there is also pathos in "They Called Me Porker," about the taunting he endured as a child. And some pretty smooth session musicians keep it all sounding almost respectable.

On "Songs of Love" he goes lounge - it's an album of mostly amateurish covers of standards, e.g.: "My Funny Valentine," but includes some originals, like the stalker-ish ode to actress Nicole Kidman, "Nicole, Will You Marry Me?" Wow, is this one a head-scratcher. Kidman may want to consider a restraining order. An unnerving yodel/voice-cracking vocal style pervades this album, and the stripped-down production reveals his uncertain piano playing. Oh, my ears! If "They Can't Keep Me Down" has you feeling sorry for the poor sap, "Songs of Love" will make you want to join the haters.

Skelton has gained somewhat of a reputation on the internets thru his relentless self-promotion, often going by other names, claiming on message boards to be a "fan" of Skelton with a "need for Meade!" when it's pretty obvious that it's Skelton himself. Some are annoyed by this behaviour, others amused. But that's what's great about him - he has unwavering faith in his talent, and maintains an upbeat attitude towards life. No whiney goth or sensitive singer-songwriter stuff for Meade - despite the unfortunate circumstances of his life, he keeps a grin on his face.

He has some albums that he's selling independently, and since they're in print, I'm only gonna take a couple/few songs apiece from these two abums (the only two of his that I have).

Mead Skelton Sampler

1. Beautiful Lady
2. What's So Great About Rock N' Roll?
3. Your Old Hay
4. Nicole, Will You Marry Me?
5. My Funny Valentine

Want to hear more? 'Course you do!  Preview his albums on iTunes. And join the Mead Skelton Fan Club while you're at it! 2215 Floyd Ave., Richmond, VA 23220; (804) 359-0219.

UPDATE 9/24/12: We heard from the man himself: Meade would like you to know that he has a new album, likes and is influenced by Laura Branigan but not on this particular album, and does not go around spamming boards under assumed names. So there. I stand corrected.

From one of his other albums, here's the "hit" single, "Hipsters Ruin Everything":

The Dubuque Strange Music Society

The excellent Neon Lushell album that I wrote about recently was my first clue that strange things are afoot in Iowa. Turns out that it was just the tip of the iceberg: Dubuque experimental music maven Bob Bucko Jr. (aka BBJr) sent me a shoebox's worth of cassettes (and one vinyl), as well as a couple of 'zines, that all make a persuasive case for the Iowa experimental music scene. None of it sucks, much of it's exceptional.

You've got yer "A" list music cities that might be major (New York, LA, Berlin, London) or towns with smaller populations that, nonetheless, boast outsized musical reputations (Athens GA, Austin TX, Sheffield UK). And then you got yer "B" cities that no-one's paying any attention to, tho they have folks just as creative as can be found in any of the big boys. Dubuque falls into the latter - noise, ambient, drone, improv, rock, found sounds, all get thrown in the blender whilst steadfastly avoiding cliches. Mr. Bucko has prepared a sampler cd for free download for y'alls:


Personal Archives Digital Mixtape

This collection starts off with a track that resembles "rock" music, before moving into thoroughly unpredictable territory by such artists as Implied Consent, Dead Man's Lifestyle, Distant Trains, and more from BBJr. Instrumentals predominate, veering from crunchy distortion to chilled electronics, sometimes both. BBJr's "At The Bar" recalls '70s cosmic Moog records; Aisle's "crest, fallen" could be one of Nurse With Wound's abstract, but humorous collages, with Chipmunk-y vox over unidentified sounds. The Floating Cave track is an ominous drone that really did make me feel like I was in a deep, dark cave. And Aural Resuscitation Unit's "Dubbing An Arab" isn't the reggae remix of The Cure that one would expect from such a title; it does sound like a (heavily processed) skipping record that might be the Cure, but who can tell? Whatever it is, it's 16 minutes of trippy amazing-ness.

Some of my fave stuff from this scene is only for purchase, like this one:

"On and On We Sing Our Song"

Well worth the mere few bucks it costs for BBJr's fascinating loop-driven sound collages. The industrial-strength funk of "Time is Something" is also worth your pennies. And another band not included on this cd are the Glimmer Blinkken, whose downtown New York c. 1981 sound comes closest to "normal" music.

The history of the scene outlined in the "Ruix" 'zines reveal that many of these cats come from a typical metal/rock background.  So how did they end up here?  To quote from the zine's new blog: "Like most river towns, Dubuque is teeming with personality, and its residents utilize the cultural vacuum of the midwest to great effect. Without an academy to report to or the bored shrugs of scene- conscious youth to deflect, folks in Dubuque have cultivated a diverse portfolio of artistic expression." Do scenes like this exist all over?  Is there some crazy stuff in, say, Missoula, Montana that I should know about?

For further exploration:

http://personalarchives.bandcamp.com/merch
Captcha Records
Dubuque Strange Music Society
http://centipedefarm.com/
http://lation.org/feltcat/ and http://feltcat.bandcamp.com/