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"