Art Paul Schlosser - Inside Outsider

"Hi,I'm ART PAUL and although I admit I am a Christian this CD is not designed to make everyone give up there fun and only talk about Jesus but rather it is a fun music CD that I hope will help you understand better about Christianity.That God Loves you not God wants to destroy you."

Art Paul Schlosser has become, according to one Wisconsin paper, "arguably Madison’s most recognizable local musician," due to his painfully sincere lyrics, off-key singing, clumsy performances, and simple melodies. Which, of course, adds up to entertainment in my book - what's not to like about songs like "My Mother Is Reading A Book," "The Food Is Cool," and "Santa is Elvis"?

As the article points out, "do his fans “get” Art Paul Schlosser (if indeed there is something to “get”), or does he merely represent a subtle freak show, providing point-and-laugh amusement for drunk college students?...Is Art Paul Schlosser putting it on? Is he constructing his own image as a genial idiot savant whose childlike persona and amusing songs allow him to garner more money and attention than would otherwise be afforded someone of his limited musical skills? Perhaps yes, and perhaps not."

If he is a put-on, it's a remarkably consistent one - he's recorded numerous albums over the years. And yet, he certainly appears to behave like a show-biz professional - tv appearances, CDs, sites on MySpace, SoundClick, and garageband.com. Still, it's hard to believe someone would spend years faking songs like:

"Eat Nutriciously"

Maybe he has someone doing all this for him - he is married. Or maybe even "outsider" musicians are show-biz savvy nowadays. And "I Love My Mother" really is a great song, but I'm saving it for Mother's Day. Unless you want to buy it now - it's available through iTunes.

PAUL LOWRY: UNKNOWN GENIUS

Years ago, a British radio man/mad genius named Paul Lowry took existing recordings of popular favorites and used all manner of studio trickery to turn them into insane, hilarious "remixes": tape looping, interjecting sound effects, Chipmunk-like vocals, tape speed manipulating...the man would stop at nothing. The recordings, apparently never released, are similar to the music-concrete the avant-gardists were doing at the time, but filtered through a Spike Jones sensibility.

Reading, England's DJ/mashup loonies Pilchard (aka The Fruntroom 5) received a tape of Lowry's work thinking it was, in fact, the work of Spike Jones. But Spike was a performer - he did everything with a live band. This is clearly tape/studio tomfoolery, though very much influenced by Jones's brand of wacky musical comedy. Lowry even uses some of the same music as Spike - classical war-horses like the "William Tell Overture."

Unfortunately, little is known about Lowry. When I asked Pilchard for more info, he wrote, "There aint no chance - the guys dead. He was called Paul Lowry. The woman that gave me the tape is senile...He played on the radio - that's all I can tell ya. Actually-come to think of it-musique concrete MAY have been written on the tape. There's another geezer mentioned in the notes which alas I no longer have, jog me memory.. I dunno, I'll try track the old girl down." We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Paul Lowry

1. "I Got Rhythm"
2. "William Tell Overture"
3. "Sabre Dance": sounds like live pots'n'pans percussion; brilliant tape looping at one point
4. "Rudio Nasrael" (??): some mighty impressive belching in this one.

Kudos to Pilchard for performing some serious audio restoration on the tape.

UPDATE June 10, 2007: We still don't have much info on Lowry, but Ted from Redding CA confirms hearing "William Tell Overture" on a tape of BBC radio broadcasts, so it appears that Lowry, indeed, did these for the BBC.
UPDATE June 13, 2007: I wrote to the BBC. Their reply: "I note your interest in a gentleman called Paul Lowry who may have been employed by the BBC. Having checked our database, we have no contact details for anyone of this name." I'm starting to wonder if his name was, in fact, Paul Lowry. Maybe that was just the guy who owned the tape that fell into Scott Pilchard's hands...UPDATE July 8, 2009: All tracks now available HERE, thanks to Doklands, who also informs us: "I managed to identify the "Rudio Nasrael" track - it's the theme to the BBC show "Radio Newsreel", also known as "Imperial Echoes" and written by Arnold Safroni.

WEIRDPUNK L.A.

"WeirdPunk L.A": an album's worth of "weird-punk" from the Los Angeles underground.

Though hardcore, the fast, furious, guitar-driven form of punk, and it's attendant spikey-haired stage-diving audience, has been extensivly chronicled, and commercial radio-friendly New Wave acts live on in '80s club nights and hit compilations, another side of the late '70s-early '80s scene has largely been overlooked: the intelligent, intellectual, experimentalists. They're sometimes called "art-punk" and, yes, many of these groups had art school backgrounds, or played galleries as often as clubs, but really, isn't all music art? "Synth-punk" is another common term, but not all these groups used synths. The common thread was that they were, whether naturally or by design, weird.

Herky-jerky rhythms! Synth squiggles! Sarcasm! Featuring out-of-print (or never-in-print) classics from The Screamers, Wall of Voodoo, Oingo Boingo, The Suburban Lawns, and lots of great bands you never heard of.

UPDATE 8-6-12: Back on line here!

1. The Screamers: "Veritgo"
2. Wall of Voodoo "Red Light"
3. Suburban Lawns "Flavor Crystals"
4. Slow Children "Spring In Fialta"
5. Oingo Boingo "I'm Afraid'
6. Food And Shelter "Changing My Mind"
7. Nervous Gender "Fat Cow"
8. Rick Potts Band "Platform Swimfins"
9. Fibonaccis "Slow Beautiful Sex"
10. Bob & Bob "We Know You're Alone"
11. Karen Lawrence & The Pinz "March Of The Pins"
12. Abecedarians "Benway's Carnival"
13. Red Wedding "Drums"
14. Man Child "Mad Dream"
15. Bakersfield Boogie Boys "I Get Around"
16. Monitor "Beak"
17. Susan Rhee & The Orientals " I Love You I Hate You"
18. Irritators "Whack The Dolphin"
19. Din "Respond To My Thoughts Only"
20. Chuck Wagon [of The Dickies]: "Rock and Roll Won't Go Away"
21. Humanoids on Parade "Humanoids on Parade"
22. Bad Religion "...You Give Up"

JAPANESE MARIMBA PONIES

The J Marimba Ponies are not small horses, but they are small people - children ages 4-12. And they do indeed play marimbas and other percussion instruments with astonishing speed and skill, considering that the instruments sometimes seem to tower over them. They don't read sheet music, but play from memory such wholesome fare as classical classics and Disney tunes. Check the video for:

"Sabre Dance"

Thanks to Roman for the tip!

THE NOVACHORD - THE LOST SYNTHESIZER

Although not as widely used as the theremin, the Novachord was another early electronic instrument often used to creepy effect in sci-fi/horror soundtracks. I first heard the Novachord on one of my favorite '50s exotica records, "Polynesian Percussion," by Lawrence Welk's bandleader George Cates. I figured it was just an electric organ, like the Voxx or Farfisa. It had a fascinatingly sleazy sound that I fell in love with, but rarely heard again. Now I know why. According to Synthmuseum.com, "The Hammond Novachord was first marketed in 1939, and was on the market until 1942. 1069 of them were created before World War II brought an end to production...they are quite rare. It is unknown how many still exist, and of those that do, few of them are operational due to the immense amount of tubes and capacitors, etc. they require. The device weighs five hundred pounds, and is as large as two spinet pianos..."

One brave soul who spent countless hours painstakingly restoring a Novachord was Phil Cirocco, whose "Novachord Restoration Project" page has extensive documentation of his labors as well as many fine mp3s, like this bit of soundtrack music from an episode of the old TV show "Outer Limits":

Harry Lubin: From "Demon With A Glass Hand"

Cirocco's conclusion after completing the project: the Novachord is, in fact, a synthesizer. Lacking the pitch-bending and abstract sound capabilities of Mr. Moog's creation 25 years (!) later, the Novachord thus was played like a conventional keyboard, albeit a somewhat odd-sounding one.

Cirocco's own solo Novachord music takes full advantage of the instrument's unique timbres - his short instrumentals have an Eno-esqe scope and feel that drop the listener into a pleasingly alien landscape.

Phil Cirocco: Improvisation #3

An album is in the works.

THAT SONG-POEM JUBILLEE pt. 2

February is Black History Month. And what better way to celebrate then with some more song-poems? Dick Kent sung many song-poem "classics" like the surreal masterpiece "Octopus Woman Please Let Me Go." But here he dons blackface (figuratively speaking) to give a little soul pride to his, ahem, "brothers":

Dick Kent "On Blackness" - Hey, if a song-poem company didn't have any black singers, what are ya gonna do?

Bonnie Graham "He's My Chocolate Baby" - Features the kind of surprising twist that no mainstream performer would have been able to get away with in the '60s.

Thanks to the tipster who pointed out this song-poem mp3-fest here.

THAT SONG-POEM JUBILLEE

Had a request for some Rodd Keith songs-poems. Song-poems, as extensivley documented on Phil Milstein's crucial American Song-Poem Music Archive, were lyrics sent in by anyone with the money to have them set to music by "today's top musicians and singers!" And Rodd Keith(aka Rod Rogers, Cleveland Becker, Lindon Bridges, etc) was perhaps the genre's greatest singer/songwriter of lyrics so awkward (or awful) that few mortals would even attempt getting a good song out them, much less actually succeedding. (Since the ASPMA has taken down their mp3s, I'll put up a few.)

Case in point, this well-meaning, if corny mid-'60s social statement that Rodd infuses with noir atmosphere:
Rodd Keith: Los Angeles City Lights
now available on a new Keith collection, "Saucers In The Sky."

From the sublime to the, well, you know...'60s electronics-a-go-go:
Rod Rogers and the Swinging Strings: That Martian Jubilee

Tragically, Keith died when he fell (was pushed? jumped?) from an LA freeway overpass on to traffic in 1974. Thanks to his son, saxophonist Ellery Eskelin for preserving his music. And, of course, thanks to the anonymous Middle Americans who forked over the 200 bucks or so to have their doggerel set to music, without which the song-poem phenomenon (or today's post) wouldn't have been possible.

WILLIE NELSON LOVES GAY COWBOYS

The phrase "jaw-dropping" was invented for things like country legend Willie Nelson's new song. No doubt inspired by the recent hubbub over "Brokeback Mountain," Nelson recorded an apparently sincere ode to gay cowboys, only available from iTunes. Although it had me gasping with startled laughter, Nelson's straightfaced delivery of the startlingly blunt lyrics doesn't sound like the work of a jokester, unless his tounge is so far in cheek it went over my head (now there's an interesting visual). And I thought his reggae album last year was unusual. Wow, keep smokin' Willie!

Willie Nelson: "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other"

I wasn't too surprised to learn that the song was written (back in 1981) by Ned Sublette, for he's a (jolly good) fellow with strange ideas about country music. In 1999, for instance, he released an album called "Cowboy Rhumba," a country/Cuban music fusion.

Ned Sublette: "Ghost Riders In The Sky"

And what's the big deal about "Brokeback Mountain" anyway? Andy Warhol did that scene 35 years ago in "Lonesome Cowboys."

GIVE 'EM VD

UPDATE 1/12/12 - Now back up online.

Mr Fab's "VD (Valentines Day) Mix":

A 30 min. narrative mix of '50s spoken word + music records. Featuring Nat King Cole, Ken Nordine, Rod McKuen, Jack Webb, Laurence Harvey, The Shangri-Las, Sal Mineo, Sinatra, and some surreal thrift-store records you haven't heard of.

Don't give 'em flowers and candy again, give 'em VD!

Mr Fab's "VD Mix", that is!

THIS MUSICIAN IS A REAL HAM!!!11!LOL!!

Barry Schrader, a music professor and composer at the California Institute of the Arts (I TOLD you, for short it's "CalArts" NOT "CIA" please) volunteers at a pot-bellied pig rescue center called, er, Little Orphan Hammies. As I noted in December in the sampled-pigs-christmas album post, there was a brief fad in the '90s where it was thought by some that baby pigs would make fun pets. Then those cute little guys turned into monsters weighing hundred of pounds, and were not wanted any more.

Until now!

Duke, an especially musical pig, can be briefly seen here playing a xylophone with a mallet held in his mouth:

"Duke's Tune"

This Los Angeles radio piece explains more, and features Duke's performing, as well as Schrader talking about his own recording made entirely from the melodic material of Duke's performance. Which you can hear here:

Barry Schrader: "Duke's Tune"

It's nice music, no offense Mr. Schrader, but I'd really like to hear/see more of Duke.

IF LIFE HANDS YOU A CRASHING COMPUTER...

...make lemonade. Or a song that samples the sounds of a computer crashing, as 99 folks did in a contest sponsored by Gizmodo, a "gadgets weblog." A fellow named LO2 crafted a funky break out of the sounds, adding his own funny nerd-core white rapping:

"Crizzash" - "...damn, that's where all my good porn was stizz-ashed!"

HOOKED ON HASSELHOFF

The word "cheesy" barely begins to describe this laff-out-loud video of Hoff (aka The New Shatner) doing the goofy '70s bubblegum tune

"Hooked On A Feeling"

...which answers the musical question, "What would a music video look like if it starred a kitschy TV actor, was made by an amateur public-access director, and everyone was on acid?"

OOGA-CHAKA-OOGA-CHAKA!

Alright, Just One More Punk-Rock Accordian Post...

Martin White from England sez, "In October 2003 I bought myself a 72-bass piano accordion. Since then I have used it to terrorise the internets with alarming renditions of popular melodies. I take requests." He's posted dozens of unaccompanied under-rehearsed accordian instrumentals, covering everyone from ABBA and Hall and Oates to Nick Cave and Nirvana. And he "covers" Cage's "4'33" " (yuk yuk). This take on the Human League's classic had me chuckling:

"Don't You Want Me" - Throw this over a 2-step drum beat and we've got a new polka standard.

But when he does rehearse he can create wonderful original tunes, like this Robyn Hitchcock-like gem:

"In The Evil Castle" - still just accordian, but with overdubbed vocals this time.

Thanks to the essential Radio Clash podcast for the tip. The latest episode of RadioClash is an all-outsider music marathon, by the way.

DISNEY DOES DEVO...

...Or is Devo doing Disney? Devo, one of the greatest, most influential bands of the original punk era, made a career out of weirdness, but this is pretty insane, even for them: producing a group called Devo2.0 for Disney who are children, ages 10-13, performing old Devo classics. The five-piece co-ed combo, hand-picked by the Spuds themselves, clad in Devo's trademark energy domes (do NOT call them "flowerpot hats" thankyouverymuch) received instrumental assistance from Devo on the album, but will be playing their own instruments when they hit a shopping mall near you. This is either the most brilliantly subversive or depressingly corporate thing Devo has ever done.

Disney has plans for kiddie versions of other classic band line-ups - coming soon, The Go-Gos.

Release date: March 14, 2006. Sound clips on the Disney website. So if you've ever wanted to hear a 12-year-old girl sing about her "uncontrollable urge," now's your big chance.

ROLLER-SKATING, BIRD-PUNCHING THEREMINIST

Pamelia Kurstin plays the theremin. But she doesn't just flail around and make wacky noises. Armed with delay foot pedals, she performs stunning solo theremin improvisations similiar to what Robert Fripp did on guitar-and-tape-effects "Frippertronics" recordings like "Let the Power Fall." She used to perform with her then-husband as The Kurstins, a Moog-theremin-drums trio, who I saw perform in 1998 at a tribute to the man who built her "ax" - Bob Moog himself, who gave a nice talk. I shook his hand that night. Anyway.
In case you didn't catch her in-studio performance yesterday on Irwin's WFMU show, check out this nine-plus minute:

Improvisation

Irwin played records as well, such as Led Zep's "Immigrant Song," and two Beach Boys tunes while Pamelia improvised over them, displaying a keen sense of pitch on her notoriously difficult instrument:

God Only Knows

I don't know what that bird-punching business means, though. That's just what her website says.

AUCTION ROCK

What's the fastest, most energetic music you've ever heard? Ivo Papasov's Bulgarian wedding music? Napalm Death's speed-metal? Yeah, well then you've never heard that pride of American folklore, the auctioneer. Technically, he's not a musician or singer - he has a job to do, and that's sell things at an auction. A real auction, not this eBay jazz. And we're not talking snooty silent city auctions either. Country auctioneers that sell produce, farm equipment, family estates, or, in today's case, livestock. I attended one auction in rural Colorado that sold anything that wasn't bolted down. The guy I saw there was good, but today we're celebrating the champs - the winners of the Livestock Marketing Association's annual World Livestock Auctioneer Championship. You can buy CDs and DVDs of entire shows, or just listen to mp3s of champs like 1964's

Cecil Ward - If you think this guy's insane, brace yourself for 2000's

Max Olvera - All acapella performances. Who's up for doing a remix?

SHRIMP ATTACK!

Don't be alarmed: Shrimp Attack is simply the name of a Stuart Hyatt's music and visual art project in collaboration with developmentally disabled youngsters from Florida's Eckerd College Ransom Arts Center. As many as fifty people are part of this collective - artists and musicians as well as the students, who write and sing their own lyrics, which range from the positive ("I'm Okay") to the Halloween-worthy "House of Dead Bodies." Unlike other similar projects like The Kids of Widney High or the How's Your News gang, the "special music" from these "special kids" is, well, more musical, with the vox/lyrics almost taking a backseat to the tunes. Which, as in the case of today's mp3, are very tuneful indeed:

Shrimp Attack: "Good"

LENNON GOES LOCO

From Venezuela comes "Cachicamo con Caspa y Leiko el perro de la IIIII dimension", which I believe translates to "Cachicamo with Caspa and Leiko the dog of the fifth dimension." The Fifth Dimension? The '60s group that did "Up Up and Away?" Nope, these nuts do off-kilter piano merengue versions of well known Latin-American tunes, and a few internationaly known ones like John Lennon's

"Imagine"

You can download the entire album here. Limp Bizkit and Sublime also get the treatment. Ay yi yi!

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO HOWARD FINSTER

Although Rev. Howard Finster, a preacher from rural Georgia with little formal education whose paintings went so far as to become REM and Talking Heads album covers, may be America's best known folk artist, he also had a little-discussed musical side. The album "The Night Howard Finster Got Saved" is largely dedicated to spoken-word tracks, but there's some ace tunes on it as well. Singing in a high'n' lonesome twang, playing guitar, harmonica, and, in this case, piano, Finster's music should sound familiar to anyone who's heard the "O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack. Or perhaps, considering the berserk piano stylings of today's mp3, Bob Vido.

Howard Finster, Man of Visions, Now On This Earth - "Some of These Days"

Makes me wish I'd bought that Finster painting I used to see for sale at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Hollywood. I wasn't in the position to spend hundreds on art but it was great - a portait of a young Elvis with the painted caption "Elvis At Three Is A Angel To Me." The fact that it's "A Angel" and not "An Angel" is the clincher.

RIAA: "Recording Industries Are Archaic"

An album's worth of wacky mashups by RIAA.

"Recording Industries Are Archaic"

1. Intro: Bessie Smith "Me and My Gin," media clips
2. Obligatory Rap-Metal Mashup: Lyrics Born "Calling Out" vs Black Sabbath "Paranoid"
3. Here Comes The HotButter: Hot Butter "Popcorn" vs Ini Kamoze "Here Comes The Hot Stepper"
4. Itsy Bitsy Short Dick Man: 20 Fingers "Short Dick Man" vs Elektro-Sonic Orchestra "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"
5. Gold and Iron Mambo: Kanye West "Golddigger" vs The Lounge Brigade "Ironman," with Cypress Hill, Black Sabbath
6. Beastie Butt: Beastie Boys "Root Down" vs The Butthole Surfers "Sweat Loaf" with kiddie record, Lee Scratch Perry
7. Chris Rock's In The Place: Chris Rock "Defending Rap" vs Prodigy "Everybody's In The Place"
8. Setting Sail: Enya "Orinoco Flow" vs Chemical Brothers "Setting Sun"
9. It's Whiskey: Run DMC "It's Tricky" vs The Dubliners & The Pogues "Whiskey In The Jar"
10. Kraftplay: Kraftwerk "Computer Love" vs Coldplay "Talk"
11. The Shah Turns In His Grave: The Byrds "Turn Turn Turn" vs The Butthole Surfers "The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey's Grave"
12. Forty Days And Forty Nights: The Doors "Riders On The Storm" vs Michael Jackson "Billie Jean"
13. I Love Disco and I Hear It's Making A Comeback: Herbie Hancock "Bring Down The Birds," Petra Hayden "I Can See For Miles," Dee-Lite" Groove Is In The Heart,"
Vijay Benedict "I Am A Disco Dancer," media clips
14. We Want Your Ska: The Specials "A Message To You Rudy" vs Freeland "We Want Your Soul," Khia "My Neck My Back," Annette Funicello & Fishbone saying "Ska!"
15. There Is Not An Unusual Light That Never Goes Out:
Mr Fab sings! The Smith's "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" over Tom Jones' "It's Unusual"
16. Mad Confusion Time: The Temptations "Ball of Confusion," Beastie Boys "In A World Gone Mad" vs Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra "The Last Time"
17. Rise Above Circumstances: Black Flag "Rise Above" vs Elgar "Pomp and Circumstances"
18. Have You Seen Forever: Chi-Lites "Have You Seen Her," Beach Boys "Forever," Public Image Ltd. "Radio 4," MC Hammer
"Have You Seen Her," media clips
19. The Joy of Noise: Apollo 100 "Joy" vs Public Enemy "Bring The Noise"
Recorded on AcidPro mixing software 2004 - 2005.
Additional production (beats, sound effects, etc) by RIAA

PUNK ROCK ORCHESTRA

If you liked yesterday's post (or even if you didn't), here's more Bay Area zanies playing punk classics, classical style this time: The Punk Rock Orchestra. Their album isn't out yet, but tantalizing mp3 snippets are good for a few sniggers:

"Pretty Vacant" - The symphonic grandeur of the Sex Pistols
"I Hear The Rain" - The Violent Femmes for flutes
Schwartzenegger Über Alles - Like yesterday, The Dead Kennedys updated

DEAD KENNEDYS: THE ACCORDIAN ALBUM

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. Oh, 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 solo. Yep, just squeeze-box, and singing that's a darn good impression of DK's vocalist Jello Biafra.

Form the album "Fresh Duck For Rotten Accordionists":

Duckmandu: "When You Get Drafted" - Note the updated-for-Iraq lyrics

THE HENDRIX OF THE JEW'S HARP

There are millions of great guitar and piano players in the world, but, quick, name a great jew's harp player. The jew's harp? That thing you stick in your mouth, pluck, and go boing boing boing? With the vaguely anti-Semetic name? The same! Meet Tran Quang Hai (also spelled Tran Hai Quang), Vietnamese-born music professor, folklorist, and jew's harp hero. (Hey, if there can be guitar heroes...)

His album "Jew's Harps of the World" does indeed survey various international jew's harp styles, though it mainly features those of Vietnam. Perhaps not melodic in the traditional sense, jew's harps are nonetheless capable of producing surprisingly diverse sounds and rhythms, sometimes suggesting electronic effects like distortion, wah-wah, and phase-shifting, though, of course, it's all acoustic.

Tran Quang Hai - "Souvenir A Alexeiev Et Chichiguine"

KASIER CHIEFS VOCAL CHOIR

Apparently the mother of one of the members of "indie-rockers" (whatever that means anymore) The Kaiser Chiefs is in a vocal choir, and they recorded this acapella version of one of their recent hits:

"I Predict A Riot"

A hoot if you're familiar with the original, just a really really strange church-type choir recording if you're not.

UPDATE: Thanks to Dave "Inhibitor" Hughes for sending us his "semi-mashup" of the original and choir versions of:

"I Predict A Riot"

which he recorded for a gamer's station WoR Radio. Apparently, they've been diggin' the sounds we lay down around here.

A TOOLBOX CHRISTMAS

"Your favorite carols performed on your favorite hand and power tools..An extraordinary orchestra of hammers, saws, drills, ratchets, 2x4s, pipes, planers, and much, much more...You may even hear the occasional mandolin, dulcimer or oboe adding their voices." So says the folk music label, Gourd Records, about woodworker/musician Woody Phillips's debut album "A Toolbox Christmas." Imagine, if you can, Einstürzende Neubauten recording for Windham Hill...

Woody Phillips - "The Twelve Days of Christmas"

I'll be taking a little time off, so thanks for all the tips, comments, and CDs sent my way - this has truly become a community effort. I'm always amazed when I check my web stats to see how many visitors I get every day. See you next year!

TRANSEXUAL SILVER HELLS

The King of Jingaling, he of the crucial Christmas music site Falalalala.com, posted an album yesterday by a singer I wasn't familiar with, Wendy Rose. I listened, I was amazed, I asked His Highness who this woman was, and where has she been all my life? All he knew was a friend sent him the CD, and Ms. Rose is apparently a transexual street performer from Toronto, Canada. Her website features photos of Miss Thing in her librarian glasses (Warning! Bathtub shot on the bottom of the page!), as well as a few mp3s of original songs, but, like the Christmas album, the no-fi recordings all feature her Casio-esque music, and her singing, which is sort of a cross between Neil Young and Yoko Ono.

Wendy Rose "Silver Bells" - Not as off-key as the rest of the album (she's maybe batting .500 here), and dig that electro groove! Unless, of course, you sickos want to hear the really painful tracks...

POT-BELLIED PIGS SING HOLIDAY FAVORITES

Pigs. "Singing" Christmas songs. Well, why not? Don Carlos' Singing Dogs' "Jingle Bells" is one of the all-time classic holiday novelties, and the "Jingle Cats" albums did well. So, in 1994, Texas musician Bobby Breaux took advantage of the then-popular potbellied-pigs-as-pets fad to record a short album of sampled pig squeals and grunts set to holiday standards.

The fad didn't last long, as pig owners soon found out that those cute little piglets grew into 200 lb beasts with monster appetites. But at least it inspired this (now out-of-print) CD "The Jingle Bellies."

The Jingle Bellies "Joy To The World" - a more disgusting, almost flatulent version you'll never hear. Which, of course, coming from me is a compliment.

THE DEFINITIVE "THE FIRST NOEL"

Ladies and gentleman, prepare thyself for the most jaw-dropping rendition of this holiday chestnut you've ever heard. What's it like? Well, let's just say I hope this isn't coming too soon after Wing's ACDC interpretation.

Johnny "Bowtie" Barstow: "The First Noel"

And there's more where that come from - a whole album's worth, in fact. Can't find much info on Bowtie apart from producer/keyboardist Larry Golding's notes. Although the album came out a year ago, it's apparently been in the works for some time: "In the early 1990s, when John Barstow first performed at The Angry Squire's open mic night in New York City, I knew he was something special. We soon became friends, and he agreed to let me record him in my home studio, which consisted of a 4-track cassette recorder and an electric keyboard." I think you'll agree it was well worth the wait.

MAE WEST'S WILD CHRISTMAS

Dana Countryman has posted the entire Mae West "Wild Christmas" album from 1966. The screen sexpot was 73 years young, still chasing the boys and shakin' it to a groovy mid-'60s go-go beat, as she performed songs made famous by Eartha Kitt, Elvis, and The Beatles, as well as custom-fitted creations like "Santa Come Up and See Me".

Mae West - "New Years Resolution" Mae purrs over a "Hang On Sloopy" rip-off riff, "I'm gonna have goodwill towards men...and the more men, the more I will." I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds dirty.

Don't wait til New Years to download this, though - that's when it's coming down.

WING GOES AC/DC

You say you love Mrs. Miller? You cheerfully sing along with The Shaggs? Forget that noise, mac, 'cause nothing, I mean nuthin' can prepare you for Wing's latest.

Wing, a middle-aged-verging-on-elderly Chinese woman now living in New Zealand, who has so risen in stature in the hearts and ears of strange-music fans in recent years that she even appeared (in animated form) on "South Park," has moved from Celine/Streisand/showtune-type balladeering to a more pop/rock orientation (she's done entire albums of both ABBA and Beatles covers). Throughout, her high-speed-drill singing style and English-as-a-second (third?)-language delivery have remained constant. Her latest releases: two classics by fellow Down-Under-ers AC/DC. Yep, there's nothing like hearing AC/DC's suggestive crudities sweetly uttered by the grandmotherly Wing, accompanied by what sounds like a guy with a Casio who takes such long solos that, by the three-and-a-half minute mark, Wing kills time by singing "Yeah" about 50 times.

Wing "Back in Black"

and since 'tis the season, "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" - If you're new to Wing, you may want to start here, before working your up to the more advanced material.

I LIKE STINKY CHEESE

I LIKE STINKY CHEESE

SATANIC PUPPETEER ORCHESTRA

They're called the Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra, but 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.

Sure, it's someone's idea of a gimmick, but a strangely believable one - "ReMax," in which our hero describes being kidnapped by the Re/Max real estate company because he wouldn't sell his home to them, and is held hostage in their hot-air balloon, is the sort of randomness a robot really would write if it could.

Said robot, SPO-20, sings melodically over the rinky-dink electronic backing (with occasional toy piano), but his melodies seemingly come from a completely different song then the one accompanying him. Said mad scientist Professor B. Miller says they are in midst of preparing a four-CD (!) box-set debut album. Hmmm...

Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra - "ReMax" - Hey, it makes me laugh.

EXPLOITATION MOVIE ADS

A site called ToeStubber is offering up an amazing collection of old exploitation movie radio spots. Such titilating titles as "The Naughty Stewardesses" ("if a groovy soul-sister is your dish..."), "Frenzy of Blood," "Females For Sale," and "Dr Tarr's Torture Dungeon" are featured.

"Ginger" "...her weapon is her body!" The groovy music drowns out the dialogue. Which is probably just as well.

SANTASTIC: HOLIDAY BOOTS 4 YOUR STOCKINGS

Online album now available: "Santastic," which mashes up decades of Christmas records to amusing, danceable and sometimes (good-naturedly) irreverent effect. Features internet "stars" like Go Home Productions, Poj Masta, DJBC (the compiler), solcofn, Thriftshop XL, DJ John, ATOM, Pilchard, Cheekyboy, Aggro1 & Katie Enlow.

So far, my fave is the insanely ingenious "Santa Benz" by Orange County's own Voicedude. RIAA's contribution, "Santa's Acid Hawaiian Space Disco" features bits of The Beatles, Bing Crosby, children's records (including one using a Solovox, a '50s voice synthesizer), 8-bit, other Xmas mashups, The Beach Boys, an astronaut, etc...

It's the perfect holiday season gift - it's free!

UPDATE: Here's a different version of the RIAA track then the one on the album - the Beach Boys bit is better mixed, with some Jean Jaques Perrey thrown in.

TWINK, THE TOY PIANO BAND

Boston, MA's Twink (no relation to the British psychedelic rocker) have released two wonderful albums of toy piano-based bubblegum instrumentals like:

"Hoppity Jones" - Toy pianos play along with a sampled scratchy antique record, paving the way for the new Twink release, "The Broken Record," which dispenses with toy instruments in favor of mashing up allegedly hundreds of old children's records.

"Pussycat" - "I love little pussy!"

THE POPE SMOKES DOPE

I planned on posting this song back when the Pope died, but couldn't find it in my collection. By the time I did find it, the moment had passed, but since I got a request for it over the weekend, here is David Peel and the Lower East Side's 1972 hippie novelty classic, the title song from an album that was reissued on CD briefly but has apparently fallen out of print again:

David Peel and the Lower East Side: "The Pope Smokes Dope" - featuring backing and production from John Lennon, released on Apple records, following an Elektra Records release, "Have A Marijuana" that was supposedly recorded live on a New York City street corner.

After this brush with major labels, Peel put out his own albums. According to his un-updated website, he planned on releasing a 16-cd box set (!) in 2003. Did this actually come out?

UPDATE: Not only did it come out, he recently released a new 15-CD set! Thanks to Adam J. and Scott S.

LET US GIVE THANKS...

...on this Thanksgiving Day (an American holiday that involves eating and watching football) for singing athlete records like "NFL Country," an album of country-music stars/football players duets. Just what the world needs!

Waylon Jennings (did he need the money that bad?) croons with Troy Aikman, Bill Bates, Dale Hellestrae and coach Joe Avezzano: "The Good Old Dallas Cowboys"

"NFL Country," which also features Glen Campbell with Terry Bradshaw, and songs with titles like "Four Scores and Seven Beers Ago," can be had used for ONE CENT on Amazon. Again, something we should be thankful for.

I'm off for the holiday, see y'all next week.

CHARLIE TWEDDLE'S FANTASTIC GREATEST HITS

Charlie Tweddle's 1971 self-released home recording, "Fantastic Greatest Hits", could be the work of Hasil Adkin's hippie nephew: avant-hillbilly-psychedelia is one possible description of it's contents. According to Companion Records, who have reissued this rare-as-hens'-teeth album on CD, "Charlie's pharmaceutical wanderings led him to believe he was a real life prophet and that his brand of Appalachian Psychedelia would change the world. Instead, the LP was almost universally panned and he spun off into a deep depression from which he wouldn't emerge for several years."

Several years after recording these odes to nature (and flying saucers), he meticulously created artwork and packaging, pressed up 500 copies and released it (under the name "Eilrahc Elddewt") to a puzzled, scornful world: "The LP was hand-distributed and received only minimal positive feedback; sales were poor.Why? Well for one, side two of the album is 25 minutes of chirping crickets and sound fragments. The abrupt patches of dead air on side one probably didn't help much either. More than a few of these albums were returned as "defective". Of course, all of these production moves were intentional."

Scroll to the bottom of this page for mp3 excerpts.Track #8 sounds like three recordings playing simultaneously - spoken word, country music, and a sci-fi soundtrack.

LINK WRAY R.I.P.

I saw Link Wray perform this past July at Glendale's (CA) annual Cruise Night. He hobbled on stage like an old man but, clad in black jeans, leather jacket and shades, pounded out timeless primal rock'n'roll with youthful abandon. Little did I know it would be his last appearance in America. He died recently at age 76. His brutal instrumentals paved the way for garage rock, metal and punk. I remember coming across a Link Wray album with liner notes from Pete Townsend crediting Wray with inspiring his pin-wheeling power chords. But Wray had a weirdness, an atmosphere to his music that defied pigeon-holing.

My first exposure to Wray was, believe it or not, through Adam and the Ants! I had their "Kings of the Wild Frontier" album as a wee lad, and one of my faves off it, "Killer In The Home," featured Wray's classic riff from his late '50s hit "Rumble." I later discovered that some of my fave Cramps tunes, like "Sunglasses After Dark," were Wray instros + Cramps lyrics.

LINK WRAY: "Rumble" - Hey tough guy, have you had any of your songs banned? Oh yeah? How about an instrumental getting banned? Now THAT'S hardcore. In spite, or perhaps because it was banned from various stations this one rode high on the charts, providing the soundtrack to countless juvenile-delinquent switchblade fights.

LINK WRAY: "Batman" - The TV theme adorned with absurd sound-effects, dialogue, and grown men saying, "Zap! Pow!"

Big thanks to garage-punk.com and Record Brother - check 'em out for more Link Wray info and mp3s.

GABBY LA LA

It's been said that American girls can't wait to appear grown-up, but Asian women spend their adult life acting like little girls - dressing in school-girl uniforms, giggling as they obsess over "cute" things. Gabby La La, who sings in an Asian-accented Betty Boop voice about a girl fighting "The Boogie-Woogie Man" hiding in her bedroom or admonishing "Too many sweets - brush your teeth!" would certainly seem to fit that characterization. But what's ultimately most impressive about the CalArts-trained Ms. La La is her command of a variety of unusual instruments, and her apparent inability to make "normal" music. Imagine, if you can, Tom Wait's band backing Shonen Knife.

Her charming album "Be Careful What You Wish For," the only non-Primus-related album on Cali indie-rockers Primus' Prawn label, fits no known musical genre - the sitar-driven "Golden Flea" feels like a raga, but I doubt Ravi Shankar would sing about a "flea who can be the life of the party"; Frank Booth would no doubt have a big question mark over his head upon hearing Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" scored cheerfully for accordion, hand-drums and finger-snaps; elsewhere, she plinks away on a toy piano, sings about eggs, elves, and pirates, throws in some theremin-squelches on one tune, and supposedly tap-dances during her shows (unlike Singing Sadie, however, she didn't record her dancing). Except for Primus' Les Claypool playing bass on a few songs, it's mostly Gabby's show.

"Backpack" - Ukulele-funk (when was the last time you read that phrase) about leprechauns and mermaids. Actually uses the word "scrumdiliumptious."
"Twins" - The finest duet for toy piano and sitar you'll hear this year.

MASH-UP MADNESS

To celebrate the recent 15th birthday of the internet, howzabout some music that owes it's existence to the internet: mash-ups, swimmingly safely (relatively speaking) in the depths of cyber-space, away from predatory music-biz copyright lawyers:

The Geez: "Whole Lotta Coconut" - Ohio's master mixer has a pitched-up Harry Nilsson singing, with (almost) Chipmunks-like effect, that "Lime and de Coconut" song over Zep. Utterly absurd.
Pilchard: "Laurel vs Hardy" - Stan and Ollie get funky, courtesy of Reading UK's master mix-monkeys.
Totom: "Blowing My Mind" - The Pixies back up Bob Dylan; Totom from France has made a true mind-blower with this one.
DJBC: "Challahback Girl" - Boston's BC makes Gwen Stefani sing over "Hava Nagilah."
"Hava" swig of Manischewitz and laff yerself silly over this one.
RIAA: "Beastie Butt" - Beasties, Butthole Surfers, a children's record, and Lee Scratch Perry. Now it gets silly.
RIAA: "Itsy Bitsy Short Dick Man" - Now it gets really silly.

GALAXIA: THE REVOLUTION STARTS NOW!

Steve Wallis wants to lead a worldwide socialist revolution. Although apparently he has no musical background, he decided he would start a band "because it is possible to influence people greatly through music." How did he decide he would be the singer in his band? He tried karaoke, and was pleased with the results. Dubbing his group Galaxia, he announced a time and place in his native Manchester, UK, for audtions.

No-one showed up.

Undeterred, Wallis recorded his response to the G-8 summit, "Do They Know It's G-8 Time?," accompanied by a studio guitarist. He still hopes to get a group together, make albums, and sell them (donating proceeds to the Galaxia Foundation for the World Socialist Revolution) as soon as he can find record-stores that will carry them - "HMV is a particularly right-wing chain, but it may be possible to get our CDs stocked in Virgin Megastores and WHSmiths."

His website has pages for "Band Members" (actually, since he's the only member, he writes about people he would like to be in Galaxia, such as a popular BBC actress, and members of the group Katrina and The Waves) and "Pictures" (of Steve Wallis, including a picture of his passport!)

Galaxia - "Do They Know It's G-8 Time?" Sing along with lines like "Proportional representation by single transferable vote"!

PUNKTRY-WESTERN MUSIC

Something fun for the weekend: a kouple of kooky kountry kovers of yer favorite punk-rock classics:

Two Tons of Steel: "I Wanna Be Sedated" The Ramones go to a hoedown
Asylum Street Spankers: "TV Party" These wacky Austinians update the Black Flag standard

Square-dance in the mosh pit!

SWAP-MEET SUPERSTARS pt2: BOB VIDO

Monday's post about Mingering Mike reminded me of Bob Vido: they were both musical visionaries who only made private recordings complemented by an enormous amount of visual art (fake album covers, etc), both were discovered when their life's work was put out for sale at a flea-market, and both discoverers established web-sites dedicated to their discovery. But unlike the recently uncovered Mingering Mike (both the alive-and-well man and his work), Vido and his wild music and paintings came to light only after his death.

Many of you may already know about Vido thanks to a mention in Irwin Chusid's book and companion CDs "Songs In The Key of Z," (essential reading and listening, by the way, if you're new to all this), and a song ("Boo-Bah-Bah") posted on Otis Fodder's "365 Project." But you may not know that Vido's discoverer, Los Angeles' Jonathan Ward, has added more songs to the website.

Unlike the down-to-earth Mingering Mike, Vido fancied himself a mystic/scientist/philosopher, penning a bewildering book detailing his invented field of "Rhizology." And say what you will about his music, but the Bulgarian-born Angeleno, who worked as a commercial draftsman for most of his life, was an excellent, if eccentric, visual artist by anyone's standards. I especially like his space/ufo paintings.

Vido called himself a one-man-band who could play live on a variety of instruments over backing tapes, but it's yet to be determined if Vido ever did perform in public. His songs are divided into jaunty accordian ruminations on bizarre subjects like "Fridgenometry," or horn-driven flights of fancy that have been compared to Space-Age free-jazz madman Sun Ra. These are just excerpts, unfortunately, but Ward is hoping for a CD release someday:

"The Fridgenometer"
"Total Creative Music"
"Piano Concerto"

SWAP-MEET SUPERSTARS: MINGERING MIKE

While poking through a Washington D.C. flea-market, Dori Hadar and Frank Beylotte made an amazing discovery: an entire collection of handmade album covers that containing cardboard "records" from the late 1960s and early 1970s, created by a would-be funky soulman named "Mingering Mike". From a New York Times article:

"The front covers were intricately painted to look like classic funk albums; on the spines were titles and fake catalog numbers; the backs had everything from liner notes to copyright information to original logos...A few albums had even been covered in shrink-wrap and bore price stickers and labels with apocryphal promotional quotes.

What Mr. Hadar found was a cache of seemingly nonexistent music: soundtracks to imaginary films, instrumental albums, a benefit album for sickle cell anemia, a tribute to Bruce Lee, a triple-record work titled "Life in Paris," songs protesting the Vietnam War and promoting racial unity, and records of Christmas, Easter and American bicentennial music. He had discovered, perhaps, an outsider artist.

After some detective work, the pair have actually tracked down Mingering Mike, and it turns out that the music to these fantasy records really did exist. Mike still possesses scores of old reel and cassette tapes of his homemade music, often made under the most primitive of conditions: some feature people mouthing bass parts and even entire string sections. Some feature people beating on a bed with a comb or thumping telephone books for percussion. Some feature someone playing a kazoo-like trumpet made out of crumpled paper. Mike claims to have written over 4,000 songs."

Kids often fantasize about a music career - doodling possible band names on their notebooks, jamming with friends, making grandiose plans. Eventually they either get some instruments, start playing, and try to work towards their dreams, or give it up as they grow up. Mike (and his anonymous associates) grew up, but never left the fantasy stage - he never learned traditional instruments, sought out live gigs, etc. Why should he? Reality would have been disappointing. It was all perfect in his mind.

Does Mingering Mike know that "minge" is an extremely rude British slang word? Regardless, Hadar and Beylotte recently set up a website featuring scads of beautiful scans of his album covers and artwork. However, only a few sound files are up - transferring Mike's crumbling reel-to-reel and cassette archives is a mammoth task, as a friend of theirs writes here. I transferred two of the songs to mp3s:

Mingering Mike: "Hey You" - a fine bit of acapella funk
Mingering Mike: "Tribute to Bruce" - Bruce Lee, that is. Hi-ya!

UPDATE: MC POTBELLY

After writing this about middle-aged insurance-salesman rapper MC Potbelly, Da Man himself sent me his home-recorded CD, chock full of brief-but-to-the-point songs boasting charmingly amateurish production, a rhyme flow like no-one else (except maybe The Shagg's drummer), and hysterical lyrics often detailing pimp life as he imagines it. Sometimes his lyrical concerns move beyond typical hip-hop subject matter and into metaphysical realms I don't quite grasp (genetic afterlife?)

MC Potbelly: "Sisters" - another of his pimpin' fantasies; so far beyond outrageous it's practically surreal.

He mails out free CDs to anyone who writes him, a move I highly recommend.

OUTSIDER MUSIC DOCUMENTARIES pt2

Where can I see these?

From the program for soundunseen, a 2003 film festival in Minneapolis:

SONGS IN THE KEY OF Z: OUTSIDER MUSIC VIDEOS: Special guest Irwin Chusid returns to Sound Unseen for an evening celebrating those unclassifiable and often unbelievable artists that embody true independence- the "outsiders." Chusid is a radio personality, record producer, and music historian who is dedicated to unearthing the most unusual artists on the planet. Tonight, he'll present a brand new selection of outrageous outsider music videos as well as the first US showing of the new documentary, 'This Is Outsider Music' by Spectre Productions. The program illuminates the singular visions of Shooby Taylor the Human Horn, Bingo Gazingo, BJ Snowden, Peter Grudzien, Alvin Dahn, Damien Storm, Klaus Beyer, Gary Mullis, and many others. These shockingly original independent artists must be seen and heard to be believed!

SHOOBY - Director: Doug Stone2003, 10 minutes
Shooby gives us a brief introduction to the remarkable William "Shooby" Taylor, "The Human Horn". His music began gaining a cult following in the 90s, but no one knew much about him until fan Rick Goetz tracked him down last year. Director Doug Stone documents his resurfacing and appearance on WFMU Radio.

Hey, I forgot about this one from last year:
"Off The Charts," an American public-television documentary about the song-poem phenomenon now out on DVD.

And check out the "comments" under pt 1 for Alexis' and Jima's tips for more viewing. And, oh hell, just look at all these. We really could have an Ousider Music Film Festival.

OUTSIDER MUSIC DOCUMENTARIES pt1

For some reason (increasing public interest? coincidence? conspiracy?) several documentary films have been produced in the past year or so about some of the major figures in outside music, with more on the way.

"dErailRoaDed: Inside The Mind of Larry "Wild Man" Fischer" - Now on the film festival/art-house circuit. Watch the trailer featuring Frank Zappa and Mark Mothersbaugh.

"The Devil and Daniel Johnston" - Also currrently on the festival circuit. There are clips from the film on the site but I couldn't get them to work.

"Bruce Haack: The King of Techno" - Out now on DVD. Watch the trailer (he appeared on "Mr Rogers"?!)

"You're Gonna Miss Me" - about Roky Erickson. Can't find a site for the fim, but here's a review.

Although there was a stage musical about The Shaggs, the film, a fictionalized "bio-pic," as they say in Hollywood, has been delayed (in "turn-around," as they also say.) Tom Cruise (?!?) was once interested in making a film about The Shaggs.

BAD RELIGION pt4: L. RON HUBBARD

Halloween may be over, but is there anything scarier then...Scientology? Aaaaaah! Since that particular sci-fi-based cult has the most rabid legal team on the planet I'll probably get sued for this, so enjoy these while you can:

L. Ron Hubbard: "Terl, The Security Director"
"The Drone"

Scientology founder Hubbard recorded these in 1980 using the then-state-of-the-art (now hopelessly dated-sounding) Fairlight synthesizer, one of the first samplers. The album was a "soundtrack" to his novel "Battlefield: Earth." Over 20 years later, of course, Scientologist John Travolta brought the book to the big screen and was roundly ridiculed. Never saw the film, but it can't be more amusing then this music: slickly produced electro (mostly) instrumentals, laden with campy robot/alien voices and sound effects: "Ah, his woman friend! Bwa-ha-ha-haaa!"

Almost as funny:

"Enturbulator 009 is the outlandish comedy band that dares mock $cientology. Banned from Mp3.com, Banned from Indielaunch.com" claims their Soundclick site. Their music page has some good tunes: "Entheta" and "OT3" are rap songs that expose the cult's secrets with insanely profane humor, "One of Us" is a brilliant cut-up/remix of what sounds like an official Scientology recording, and the self-explanatory "$cientology Sucks!" is sho' nuff fonky. Listening to all their songs reveals a group as obsessed as, well, a cult-follower - they even know the names of various church leaders, and personally taunt them.

iiiiiii

iiiiiiii

RHONDA'S READY TO RAGE

Rhonda (yep, just Rhonda) is another performer utterly convinced of her beauty, fabulousness, and imminent stardom. This Floridian's website, filled with amateur glamour snapshots of Miss Thing, modestly separates her musical and dramatic sides into "Grammy," "Oscar," and "Tony" categories. And you can get this for only $125! A seven-song CD entitled "Fairy Tale Lost" boasts such reputation-boosters as "Rowdy Girl," "Equally Manic," and an ode to wearing trashy clothes called "My Dress Code." Look out world!

As far as her music goes, I'm not sure what style or sound she's trying for - it's low-tech, but not in a cool indie-rock way, more like one guy with a Casio trying to play slick, commercial pop diva stuff. Some songs are quite short, and end so abruptly I had to check to make sure they weren't getting cut off. And her singing? Well, as Alexis from West Virginia says, "Rhonda sounds like your average tipsy off-key karaoke participant... if your average tipsy off-key karaoke participant was a voice actor for a PBS puppet show."

Rhonda - "Rage" Alanis Morissette, step off!

Big thanks to Alexis.

BAD RELIGION pt3: DAVID KORESH

David Koresh, the Texas cult leader who went out in a blaze of glory, was a struggling singer-songwriter before he not only found Jesus, he thought he was Jesus. (Not the first musician who thought he was god, har har). Presumably there are other tapes of his recordings around, but all that seems to be available are two songs that Maniac Martin from Germany kindly sent our way, taken from the rare and usually expensive album "Voice of Fire":

"Book Of Daniel" - starts off with what sounds like a UFO landing...and a "mellow" California singer-songwriter steps out

"Sheshonahim"

and a big danke to Martin!

UPDATE 10/25/09: Looking for the "Mad Man in Waco"? Go HERE!

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GHOULS WITH ATTITUDE

It ain't all "Monster Mash" out there, folks. Horror-rock novelty records were quite common during The Golden Age of Sleaze (mid-'50s to mid-'60s). Case in point:

"Ghouls With Attitude"

2 disks-worth of '60s horror-rock downloads, spiced with campy monster movie trailers and some tunes more on the jazzy side. Originally compiled last year by Otis Fodder, available again this year thanks to net-album overlords Oddio Overplay. It would take years of thrift-store record spelunking to find all these ghastly gems, so grab 'em now before the sun comes up...

SON OF MONSTER MASH-UP

"Son of Monster Mash-up", the follow-up to last years' "Monster Mash-up" (duh), is another various-artists on-line collection of old songs rising from their musical graves to haunt the living, usually pieced together with other recordings in Frankenstein-like fashion: DJBC has Tom Waits backing old-skool rappers Whodini's "Haunted House of Rock," The Beegees take Tom Jones to a New Orleans voodoo disco, both "The Raven" and "JuxtaPoeCreature" set Edgar Allen Poe to music, DJ John's "Devil Mix" invokes The Horned One via The Charlie Daniels Band, Don Loves You actually makes "Ghostbusters" seem like a great song, and doesn't "Halloween With Morrissey" say it all?

Vincent Price, The Sex Pistols, Bauhaus, Radiohead, and a crypt-full of sound effects and horror movie samples also loom menacingly near your ears. I did track #12 and you are absolutely under no obligation to listen to it or like it. I'll just feast on your still-steaming entrails if you don't. Enjoy!

A SYNTHESIZER NAMED SERGE

Theremin...Moog...Serge?

Yup, The Serge, named after it's inventor Serge Tcherepnin (pronounced "Cher - epp - nin"), was an innovative synthesizer built in the early '70s capable of producing, according to it's proponents, a wide, and wild, variety of sounds its competitors could only dream of.

Tcherepnin, born of Russian-Chinese parents and raised in France, developed his modular creation while teaching at the Los Angeles-area California Institute of the Arts (call it "CalArts" for short, please, not "CIA"). He started a synthesizer company, was selling nearly nothing by the mid-'80s, sold it, and, ever the adventurer, moved to Europe where he helps Jews move to Israel.

Costing tens of thousands of dollars, difficult to program (it uses the old telephone-switchboard style modular setup like the early Moogs), the Serge has always been rather obscure. But a sampling of the wonderous array of sounds it makes possible is now available thanks to Serge-player m/n/m/l: a demo tape released by the Serge company in 1983, though some of the music goes back years before.

From The Serge's Musicians Tape:

Easy Teeth: "Her Blade" - some raucous techno-punk rock from 1980
Scot Gresham-Lancaster: "Suburban Dream Music" - haunting minimalism, beautiful melody

It's a tad hissy sometimes, but aren't we all?

BAD RELIGION prt2: APOLOGETIX

Although they claim they get some criticism from Christians who think all rock music is the devil's, The ApologetiX nonetheless take secular pop songs and inject a Christian message into them, with sometimes amusing results, as in this reworking of the Beatles' "Love Me Do":

ApologetiX: "Love The Jews" Don't be surprised if you find yourself walking around singing this. Though you may get odd looks.

Other titles: "Baa! We're Lambs" (The Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann"), "The Real Sin Saviour" (eminem's "The Real Slim Shady"), and - one of my faves - The Romantic's "What I Like About You" becomes..."God I Like About You." And guess which Guns'n'Roses song became "Verynice City."

BAD RELIGION prt 1: LI'L MARKIE LIVE!

Early '90s video footage of Li'l Markie, the funny/disturbing man/child of Christian children's music, has been unearthed. I'd like to offer Bomarr a thank-you as big as Li'l Markie himself for the tip. Watch the video, read all about it, and BE SAVED, brothers and sisters, by going to Bomarr's groovy site here:

Li'l Markie: "I WIll Praise You" (live in Miami)

BOSS HOSS: UPDATE

Back in June I wrote:

"Combining two recent trends here at m4m - country/hip-hop fusion, and weird covers, may I now present Boss Hoss, a German (!) country band that covers rap & pop hits. Their album "Internashville Urban Hymns," debuted at No. 11 on the German charts, so it's not all Hasselhoff over there. It's not such a stretch when they render The White Stripes, Hendrix, or Elvis hits into country corn, but, improbably, Outkast's "Hey Ya," eminem's "Without Me,' The Beasties Boys' "Sabatoge," even Beck's "Loser" get the twangy gee-tars/foot-tappin' treatment. Now here's where it gets scary: they also do Billy Idol's "Eyes Without A Face," just as Paul Anka released his lounge version. When did that song become a standard? Did I not get that memo?"

But I only had a link to the band's website with a snippet of a very clever and jes' plum hee-larious Britney Spears cover. Here's the whole tune:

Boss Hoss: "Toxic" - Replete with absurd Western-movie sound effects, and a singer with a thick pseudo-Texas drawl asking, "Do ya feel me now"?

TOR HERSHMAN: ATHEISM, SAMUEL BECKETT, AND FART JOKES

A loyal Maniac, The Bobo, writes, "...I want to tell you about a very strange fellow by the name of Tor Hershman. I discovered this guy about three years ago on a Yahoo Group devoted to horror films. Every so often he would post a link to a song he wrote and sang. Bizarre stuff that ranged from sophomoric parodies to songs devoted to atheism (which he strongly advocates)."

Remember how much fun it was as a child to play with tape-recorders? Making funny/rude noises and jokes, creating fake radio shows, uninhibited singing and clowning around. Upon nearing adulthood, most of us either give that up entirely, or become "serious" musicians, disk jockeys, etc. Not Tor, whose hissy, crude (in every sense of the word) recordings blend his adult philosophical concerns and avant-garde art aspirations with the sub-Howard Stern sense of humor and pause-button editing technique of a fifth-grader's basement variety show.

Typical of "outsiders", Tor seems utterly oblivious to the accepted rules of proper musician behaviour, performing with the passion and enthusiasm of guy who sounds like he has no other show-biz career aspirations then simply to have a helluva great time. The third track on his website, "Radio TOR," is a medley of song parodies, such as John Lennon's "The Ballad of John and Yoko" perfomed in a Donald Duck voice (?!), interspersed with Tor's spoken asides, introductions, and goofy jokes. Elsewhere he waxes more experimental/philosphical, saying about one track, "If you enjoy the works of Samuel Beckett you may be delighted by my lil' opus." Although, really, it's no more strange or funny then his other stuff.

Big thanks to The Bobo!

I LOVE EGG

Here's a real head-scratcher: from the land that gave us Hello Kitty and vending machines dispensing used school-girl panties comes a Japanese animation site call
I Love Egg. [EDIT: or Korean, according to reader Cooper.]

Quothe the site, "[The eggs] act like characters of fairy tales. They always attempt to change, since they feel that they cannot stay in the refrigerator like normal eggs."

Sing along with:

"I Love Egg"