...is by the Stone Temple Pilots guy Scott Weiland. Listen to it streaming here (if you dare).
The first song had me thinking that he just might pull it off, but then...it was hard to listen to "I'll Be Home For Christmas," which you can listen to/download
without spitting out my eggnog in laughter. The absurd crooner vibrato and wavering pitch of the former rocker/junkie/jailbird is backed by "sophisticated" orchestrations, pseudo-calypso, cheezy Casio drum-machine lounge, and even the whitest kind of Jimmy Buffet-reggae. Won't knock out Dylan's xmas atrocity as 'worst holiday album ever by a rocker,' but Bob does now have some serious competition. Merry Kissmyass!
The Elvis Experience with Buddy Love is a curious bit of Elvis-iana from Spain. Apparently it's yet another E impersonator, but one that raises a number of questions: why does he go by the name Buddy Love, the name of a Jerry Lewis film character? What's with that picture (taken from his MySpace page)? Is he doing a Buddy Holly impression on "True Love Ways"? And why does he start this CD-R (presumably sold at shows) with four obscurities, then a Peggy Lee cover, instead of Elvis classics? Maybe those songs where big in Spain. "Edge Of Reality" is totally great, tho, it shouldn't be obscure - this late-period b-side from a forgettable film had me seeking out the original (see vid below). Would go well on a psychotic-themed playlist with Porter Wagoner's "Rubber Room" and The Cramps "Can't Find My Mind."
Buddy's accent and not-entirely-complete grasp of English does come thru on the slower numbers like "Fever," where he sings lines like: "fever started out ago." And on "Viva Las Vegas" is he singing "Fever Las Vegas?" Weird how he doesn't do many of the famous songs - I had to use an internet lyrics search to find what some of these songs were called, and I thought I had a fairly good grasp of The King's career. Guess I don't know as much about him as I thought...and I've even been to Sun Studios, Graceland and his childhood house in Tupelo. The Elvis Experience with Buddy Love
01 Pocketful of Rainbows 02 It Hurts Me 03 Young and Beautiful 04 Edge Of Reality 05 Fever 06 Flaming Star 07 Are You Lonesome Tonight 08 Memories 09 Forever My Darling 10 She's Not You 11 Rubberneckin' 12 True Love Ways 13 Separate Ways 14 Viva Las Vegas 15 My Boy
And if anyone wants to buy me a Christmas present, holy crap, check THIS out - it's the female Eilert Pilarm!
Jeff Kolar's "Start Up / Shut Down" is a free 'net-label two-track single creating solely from: "Window and Macintosh operating system event sounds. This project features remixed material sourced from Microsoft Windows (3.1, 4.0, NT, 95, 98, Me, XP, Vista, 7, 8) and Macintosh OS (10.0 Cheetah, 10.1 Puma, 10.2 Jaguar, 10.3 Panther) operating systems."
The glitchy abstract electronica of "Start Up" certainly doesn't sound like anything you would expect to hear coming out of computers, unless you threw a bunch of 'em into a full bathtub and recorded their dying screams. "Shut Down" is really nice, a sci-fi drone-fest - easy-listening music for robots.
Mr. Kolar is the man behind "Other Voices," the sound piece made from homemade radios we wrote about earlier this year.
Like I said: "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." Part 1 and Part 2 of this series have been two of my most-downloaded collections, so here's a third batch - with suggestions from some of you - of wild 'n' wooly '70s/'80s devolved covers ranging from hardcore slammers to New Wave synth nerdiness to art-damaged tune destructions. You'll probably recognize a few famous things here, but there's plenty of obscure-but-great ripped-from-vinyl rarities as well. Weirdly enough, there are not one, but two electric violin-based tracks here: Walter Steding, and Nash The Slash. And, seriously, when was the last time you listened to the Plasmatics?
Put your hands in your pockets and commence pogo dancing...NOW!
1. Dead Kennedys "Viva Las Vegas" 2. Walter Steding "Hound Dog" [Robert Fripp on guitar] 3. John Cale "Heartbreak Hotel" [live, with possibly Brian Eno, Kevin Ayers, Mike Oldfield) 4. Judy Nylon "Jailhouse Rock"
5. Frank Sumatra And The Mob "Telstar" 6. The Plasmatics w/Lemmy "Stand By Your Man" 7. Nurse With Wound "Antacid Cocamotive 93 ["The Locomotion"]" 8. Brian Sands "Baby You're A Rich Man" 9. Dictators "I Got You Babe" 10. Hüsker Dü "Love Is All Around ["Mary Tyler Moore Show" theme]" 11. Talking Heads "Love Is All Around" (live) [The Troggs] 12. Pure Hell "These Boots Are Made For Walking" 13. Ronny "If You Want Me To Stay" 14. The Plugz "La Bamba" 15. Brian Eno "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" 16. Nash the Slash "Dopes on the Water" ["Smoke On The Water"] 17. Implog "On B'way" 18. Hüsker Dü "Eight Miles High" 19. Plasmatics "Dream Lover" 20. The Stranglers "Walk On By" Thanks to those of you who suggested some of these.
Jazz legend Charles Mingus needs no introduction, and if you don't know the name of writer Jean Shepherd, you probably know of his works, e.g. the 1983 film "A Christmas Story." None of which will prepare you for this 12 minute hunk of twisted circus jazz and dark humor, the kind of spoken word/music surrealism that Joe Frank does, but this is from 1957. From Mingus' album of the same name, prepare thyself for..."The Clown":
I can think of no better way to spend seven-and-a-half minutes then with this stupendous stop-motion animation/sound & audio collage by Los Angeles' Janie Geiser. Like if one of Joseph Cornell's shadow boxes was animated by the Brothers Quay:
Halfcast Podcast, who made all those bee-YOO-tee-ful outsider-music videos for us last month, have returned with a hilarious Yuletide chestnut featuring the late, beloved Wesley Willis. Merry Christmas!
The use of the also late, great Del Rubio Triplets in the Wesley Willis video prompted me to revisit that magic moment from their appearance on the Pee Wee Herman Christmas special:
Ah, the Del Rubios. I miss 'em. Saw at the old Rhino Records store late '80s. They were well into their 60s at the time, in their trademark miniskirts and gogo boots, and were so chatty and friendly they spent half the time talking to the crowd. Actually, when I saw Wesley Willis in the late '90s he also spent half the time doing other things besides playing music. It was at the Luz de Jesus Gallery, to promote his show of identical-looking pictures of Chicago cityscapes, as obsessively repetitious as his music, and in lengthy stretches between songs, he'd grunt things like "kick a camel's ass," and have girls come up from the audience to head-butt him. Good night, sweet prince(esses).
Gnarboots are a completely ridiculous band from Central California that play a variety of styles with a surprising amount of skill, considering the fact that they're a buncha immature smart-asses who take nothing, including themselves, seriously. A stance I support in theory - the problem is that sometimes amusing oneself doesn't always translate into amusing others. This album, however, is a loveable mutt that I liked even better on second spin. The Dead Milkmen of a new generation? Sayeth they: "...it is a weird album and we are a weird band. We have a bunch of birthday songs on there (including a hardcore punk song) as well as a cover of the Kelly Family's "Aint gonna pee pee", a cover of the Christian band Lust Control's anti-masturbation song, "The Big M." There's a ska song about Joey Lawrence, punk songs, electronic songs, hip hop songs, and other weird things." I like the old chacha record samples. And it's all free!
GnarbootsHappy Birthday 1. Birthday 2 2. Doggy Door 3. The Big "M" 4. Interlude 5. Fantasy 6. WE.R.ALL.GNARBOOTS 7. Special Day I 8. Ain't Gonna Pee-Pee My Bed Tonight 9. Today Is My Birthday 10. Nerds 11. Interlude 12. I Want To Be Joey Lawrence 13. You're So Rude 14. Birthday 3 15. Monica Birth 16. Police of Fashion 17. Special Day II 18. Welcome to my Birthday Party
...is by the Stone Temple Pilots guy Scott Weiland. Listen to it streaming here (if you dare).
