Thursday, December 20, 2007

We Wish You A Scary Solstice

I'm taking some time off and will be returning in the new year. Thanks to all you great Maniacs out there - so much of what gets covered here comes from you, so keep them tips coming. And give yourselves a round of applause.

I'll leave you for the year with this really weird holiday number by some
enthusiasts of early 20th century horror writer H.P. Lovecraft performed, for some reason, in the style of Tom Waits. If you wanted to hear a version of "The First Noel" with new lyrics regarding foul-smelling fish-people, well hey, merry Christmas!

H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society: "The Worst Hotel"

From their album "
An Even Scarier Solstice," the sequel to the first album. Yes, two whole albums of Lovecraft-inspired Christmas music. As Louis sang, what a wonderful world.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

PHONE RECORDING ARCHIVE

"Here are a bunch of phone company recordings that I have recorded off of my phone." What kind of, well, maniac would go to this much trouble? There's at least 200 here:

Phone Recording Archive

Including such standards as "Your call cannot be completed," "The number you dialed is not a working number," and that old sentimental favorite "Please deposit 25 cents." Fans of The Replacements will enjoy:

"Please hang up and try again"

Any creative re-mixers in da house?



Thanks again to sol!

Monday, December 17, 2007

365 Days - Borborygmi

My latest (and last) contribution to the quickly-winding-down 365 Project is a collection of songs by amateur singing doctors singing about hemorrhoids 'n' stuff. Hey, it was all for charity.

Borborygmi

Sunday, December 16, 2007

FROM THE MIGHT-NOT-BE-MUSIC FILE...

...but is fascinating listening nonetheless, comes the Purrcast, a podcast consisting of nothing more then actual sounds of cats purring. Apart from functioning as soothing ambient music (of a decidedly bent nature), and scientifically revealing (there's actually a lot of complexity to these sounds when amplified - pump up the bass speakers and look out), it also drives cats crazy. Within seconds of playing 'em, two of our cats ran into the room, jumped on my lap, and looked around for the kitties. It was amazing.

Purrcast #3: featuring a cat named Other.


Friday, December 14, 2007

Wake Me Up When September 11 Ends

Station Manager Ken of WFMU hosted a "Remix Rudy Giuliani" contest in which contestants made music from sampled quotes of the former New York mayor and current presidential candidate. Out of over 50 entries, here's the winner: it features Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends," an instrumental version by Nader (appropriate band name!), and some NPR.

RIAA: "Wake Me Up When Sept 11 Ends"

But there were plenty of other class entries, like Gary Lambert's Beatles-inspired Revolution No 9/11. And my own missus made one! Her first one, she's so proud. It uses Ok-Go (you know, those treadmill-video guys).

Mrs Fab: "Here He Goes Again"

Monday, December 10, 2007

IT IS TO LAFF

"It Is To Laff" is an outrageous, gleefully tasteless various-artists free download album not for the easily offended. The guilty parties are all using pseudonyms, and for good reason. There's actually some well-produced stuff here, and some serious songs thrown in (as anti-comedic relief?) I wonder if people writing "LOL" really are laughing out loud, but I actually did with some of this stuff, like:

DJ M.Aynot Feed "
Get Ur Typewriter On" - Leroy Anderson's "The Typewriter," one of the great '50s sound-effects novelty records, goes ghetto. The opening seconds really did give me involuntary guffaws.

DJ LOL "Voicemail This Way" features a hysterical phone message; Is this for real? If so, where's it from?

SoulWacker "Smells Like Your Muddah" - Allan Sherman goes grunge.

"Turd Night!" deserves special notice as the most over-the-top insanely filthy piece of musical excrement to be flushed down the internet in recent memory, as Gwen Stefani and the formerly wholesome Bay City Rollers find their lyrics chopped up and re-arranged for scatological effect, amidst a flurry of rude sounds, song parodies, and deranged conversation. A messy masterpiece.

DJ Breakfast Burrito:
"Turd Night!"

"It Is To Laff" (also available here.)

Download it, print out the artwork, and makes copies for your loved ones - your holiday shopping problems solved!

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

YULETIDE ZEPPELIN

"Yuletide Zeppelin" is a medley of Led Zeppelin songs played Christmas stylee by a guy I'd never heard of before but am now a big fan. This track is ingenious. Mojochronic is a dude from Berkeley, CA who sez: "I happened to be playing a family heirloom glockenspiel when Zep's "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You" came on the TV...God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen was a something I had learned as a boy. It fit like hand in glove with Jimmy Page's guitar playing. That got the ball rolling..." And I believe this marks the first appearance of glockenspiels on these pages.

mojochronic: "Yuletide Zeppelin"


From the excellent new various-artists download album "Santastic III," compiled by djBC.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

EVIL, EVIL, EVEL KNIEVEL

Another boyhood idol rides off into the sunset: daredevil stuntman Evel Knievel, a name uttered in hushed awe on the playgrounds of my youth. Well, among the boys at least: when I was gushing over Evel to my too-cool big sister, she said she didn't really care for him. "Wha...what?," I gulpled. "Why don't you like Evel Knievel...?" "Too flashy." Pshh. Girls.

Years later, when I was interning at a company that sold videos of Evel documentary footage, I, as well as my boss and other interns, forged his autograph for the 8 x 10 glossy pictures of Evel we gave away if you joined the "Evel Knievel Fan Club" set up to promote the videos. Wonder how much those are going for on eBay..?

As this site proves, there's been a lot of Evel-inspired music. Here's some cheezy '70s vinyl I ripped last night by an utterly unknown singer:

Eddie Carr: "Evil, Evil, Evel Knievel" "
He's not a bird, he's not a plane/Is he a fool who's gone insane?"

The Bran Flakes: "Evil Knievel" Expertly samples words of wisdom from the man himself. Next year we should be hearing the first new album from the Bran Flakes in 5 years. Woo-hoo!