HAPPY ARRIVAL DAY, SUN RA

The Australian radio program The Night Air hepped me to

"The Other Worlds of Sun Ra,"

their documentary about Sun Ra, the jazzman from outer space, and truly one of the most innovative, and bizarre, figures in 20th century music. The show is in celebration of his birthday, or, as Ra would call it, his "arrival day," the day he arrived on planet Earth from Saturn, a planet noted for it's progressive jazz scene. We first wrote about Sonny here but if you're new to the unique universe of Sun Ra, the radio doc, on-line for a month, is a highly recommended overview. And if you find yourself craving more:

"Message To The Earth-Man" "...from the Sun-Man," from "The Singles" collection; this crazed vocal number was someone's idea of a possible hit single? Sun Ra really did believe in the commercial potential of his music, hence:

"There Are Other Worlds (They Have Not Told You Of)" - from the 1978 album "Lanquidity," Sun Ra's idea of an accessible funky groove album; this low-key funk song sounds like schizophrenic voices whispering in your head.

God's Private Eye - Moog solo - utterly berzerk synth/keyboard freakout.

"Outer Spaceways, Inc." - catchy tune featuring vocalist June Tyson.

On a peer-to-peer, I found a remarkable unreleased recording from the early 1970s of Sun Ra & His Arkestra performing live at Widney High in Los Angeles.

"Calling Planet Earth" - June Tyson leads the introductory call.
"Theme of the Stargazers" - another Moog massacre; recording starts off crappy, but clears up.
"Dr. Reggie Scott monologue" - someone describing the unhappy end to this show.

Yes, this Widney High is the same school for mentally & physically disabled youth that, years later, would produce "The Kids of Widney High" albums of "special music from special kids."

The Kids of Widney High - "Insects"

Can you imagine if the two groups had joined forces?

DRUNKEN GHOSTS OF BURMA

Since we haven't had much in the way of good news out of Asia lately, let's check out the East during some of it's better days. The crucial Sublime Frequencies label's latest edition of it's "Folk & Pop Music of Myanmar (Burma)" is called "Music of Nat Pwe." It's all fairly bat-shit crazy (to use the ethnomusicological terminology.)

Nats are spirits who met tragic or violent deaths, so I would imagine there's a lot of them around Myanmar lately. Which means they'll need more Pwes, the ceremony held to appease a Nat. It's crazed trance ritual music, full of clangorous percussion, exited vocals and psychedelic production. Supposedly it drives the faithful into ecstatic fits. I'd believe it.

Sein Moota "Pay Kyaw Chit Tae Doe (Father Kyaw Loves His Son)"

U Kyaw Nyunt & Yee Yee Thant "Father Kyaw the Drunk Nat"

METAL MAYHEM!!!!

Following this post from a couple of months ago about Caninus, the metal band with two actual dogs for lead "singers," I received some comments suggesting that I check out Hatebeak, a similar band in that they feature a bird on lead vocals. Y'all were right: Hatebeak ROCK. Waldo (the "singer") has the perfect death-metal growl. It's, well, positively inhuman.

The band has a sense of humor, too - many of the titles are puns that metal fans will pick up on e.g.: "Hell Bent For Feathers." Or this one, a play on Carcass' "Reeks of Putrefaction":

Hatebeak "Beak of Putrefaction"

Elsewhere in the metal world, I've been diggin' this new album by Finnish all-cello (!) headbangers, Apocalyptica. Yep, no guitars were used for this instrumental shredder:

Apocalyptica "Burn"

Their latest is entitled "World's Collide," an appropriate name considering their classical vs. metal approach. Which reminds me of the metal-goes-classical of Estonia's Rondellus. Back in 2002 they released an album's worth of Black Sabbath covers ("Sabbatum") performed in medieval and Renaissance music styles, complete with lyrics translated to Latin. It's all quite lovely, played on things like lutes and harps, and makes Sabbath sound positively civilized. Holy, even.

Rondellus "Verres Militares (War Pigs)"

LSD MADE A WRECK OF ME

To note the recent passing of Dr. Albert Hoffman, the Father of LSD, here's a few amusing curios mainly from (when else?) the 1960s.

Circle Of Tyrants: Acid - The Story Of L.S.D. - Dialogue and garage rock from an educational filmstrip

Wendell Austin: LSD - thanks to a reader (Martin, I think?) who sent me this country toe-tapper a while ago

Peter Cook & Dudley Moore: L.S. Bumblebee - from two giants of British comedy

Fe-Fi-Four Plus 2: I Wanna Come Back (from the World of LSD) - another garage rocker

Vic Caesar: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Lounge swinger from a cat who worked the West Coast casino scene, including (but of course) Caesar's Palace; he also wrote a groovy campaign song for Nixon that was released on Capital Records.

Pineapples from the Dawn of Time: Too Much Acid - '80s punky piss-take, from a 7"

RIAA: 2 EPs (Radical, Intense and Awesome!!, Schizophonia Suite)

Beach party! Ingredients below.

RIAA: Radical, Intense and Awesome!!

1. Sweet Little Honda
2. Party At Punk Rock Beach
3.(I'm Not Your) Council Estate
4.It Is Such A Good Saturday Night
5. BollyHolly
6.The Dynamic Show Ever Being Gave
7. My Mic From Ipanema
8. Saturn's Outkasts
9. Valerie's Ghetto
10. Squeeze An Occasional Mic

Mashups/sound collages inspired by mental illness:

RIAA: Schizophonia Suite

1. Lionel Richie's Hamburger Penis
2. Satan Takes Me Away
3. Kill Your Merry Go Round
4. Gypsy Ghost Bitch
5. Frankenstein Computer Murder God
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Mikro "Mikrotronic Plasma," Velvet Underground "Sweet Jane," Hondells "Little Honda," Kraftwerk "Robots," "Beguine" from '50s album of percussion tracks "Rhythm + You"

2. Ramones "Surf City, "Glen or Glenda," Lords of Acid "Am I Sexy," Jan & Dean "Surf City," Midniters "Whittier Blvd," Minutemen "Party With Me Punker," Cupid "Cupid Shuffle," Kiss "Rock n Roll All Night," Belairs "Mr Moto," Carmets "Mr Moto" sound fx: Woody Woodpecker, Esquivel, Perrey & Kingsley, phrase "party at punk rock beach": 50 Cent, Technotronic, GenX, Beach Boys

3. Tricky "Council Estate," "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" Monkees, Manhattan Strings, Minor Threat, Gal Costa "Pais Tropical," drag race sound fx record, beat: Los Straitjackets "Squad Car"

4. Charlie Steinmann Orchestra "It Is Such A Good Night," Schooly D "Saturday Night," Bay City Rollers "Saturday NIght," Dead Kennedys "Police Truck," Wire "Dot Dash," Aaliyah "Rock The Boat," Bob Marley "Don't Rock The Boat," Corona "Rhythm Of The Night"

5. Jatin Lalit "Bali Haari," Dick Dale "Surfin Drums, Buddy Holly "Everyday," tablas: from Talvin Singh's "Abracatabla," B. Brock & The Sultans "30 lb. Beetle," Michael Mills "Satanic Messages in Rock Music," "J & H Productions"

6. "J & H Productions," Perez Prado "Salsa Rock," Coconut Monkeyrocket "Lolas" (beat), McCoys "Hang On Sloopy," "Island of Lost Girls/Nice Girls" ads, Wire "Map Reference," "samba" from "Rhythm + You"

7. Cadets "Standed In The Jungle," some d'n'b beat, Salt 'n' Pepa "My Mic Sounds nice," Getz/Gilberto "The Girl From Ipanema"

8. The Marketts "Saturn," Outkast "Hey Ya,"
Jan & Dean "Surf City"

9. Monkees "Valerie," Donny Hathaway "The Ghetto"

10. Anita O'Day "An Occasional Man," Beastie Boys "Pass The Mic" (instrumental mix), Sly & Robbie "Ballistic Squeeze," Arthur Lyman: sound fx

RIAA: additional beatz, sound fx
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Lionel Richie's Hamburger Penis: Commodores "Three Times a Lady," Throbbing Gristle "Hamburger Lady," audio from a documentary about mental illness that I got off of the Cake and Polka Parade blog

2. : versions of "Satan Takes A Holiday" by Tommy Dorsey ('40s Big Band), Rosengarden & Kraus ('50s Space-Age), and Anton LaVey, (founder of the Church of Satan)with female vocalist; Napolean XIV "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha Haa," Teddy and Darrel "They Took You Away, I'm Glad I'm Glad," Wild Man Fischer "The Wild Man Fischer Story."

3. : Wild Man Fischer "Merry Go Round," "The Wild Man Fischer Story," Lou Reed "Kill Your Sons" (inspired by Reed's teenage shock therapy treatments), C Dott "Merry Go Round"

4. : Alexandria Little "Jesus' Ring", Crystal Waters "Gypsy Woman," "Sonic Youth "Ghost Bitch," "Dead Kennedys "California Uber Alles"

5. : Francis E. Dec vs Henry Mancini "Background To Murder"

WE GET LETTERS

By request:

The Supersonicos: "Killing An Arab" - South America's finest do The Cure in a instro surf stylee.

rx: "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
rx: "White Lines" - more covers, this time courtesy of the genius of New York's rx, taking countless hours of George Dubya speeches, chopping 'em up, and making him sing U2 and Grandmaster Melle Mel hits.

Hurt 'Em Bad & The S.C. Band: "Monday Night Football" - the instrumental version of a song included as part of last week's "Curl Activate" collection of '80s novelty rap 12" singles, but without the novelty this time - just 9 minutes of bone-crunching Zapp-like funk.

Don't say I never did anything for y'all. Put me in your will!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP

BBC's Radiophonic Workshop, pioneers of electronic music & sound effects, would have been 50 years old this month if the Beeb hadn't dismantled it ten years ago. No matter - celebrations are afoot, such as plans for a boxed cd set, and:

this great article and video revealing how, among other things, a lampshade became an integral part of electronic music history.

The bad news: the recent death of the Radiophonic Workshop's Tristram Cary: "...credited by some as the father of tape music, originating tape music techniques in World War II. He’s notorious to the general public and sci fi fans as the composer of the music for the Daleks (pictured above, with pug) in Doctor Who (along with other music) — like an evil counterpart to Delia Derbyshire, who built the studio Cary would later use."

Tristram Cary "Trios" (excerpt) - from 1971; performers rolled dice to determine what parts they would play.

Bebe Barron, another pre-Moog great, also died recently. "The 1956 sci-fi thriller Forbidden Planet was the first major motion picture to feature an all-electronic film score — a soundtrack that predated synthesizers and samplers. It was like nothing the audience had seen — or heard. The composers were two little-known and little-appreciated pioneers in the field of electronic music, Louis and Bebe Barron." From the score to Forbidden Planet:

Love at the Swimming Hole - a romantic ballad
Battle With The Invisible Monster

I've always been a fan of the "Forbidden Planet" soundtrack (I taped it off the tv years ago) but have never seen any other recordings by them. Are there any? Supposedly they scored some short avant-garde films, but I couldn't find them on the YouTubes. However, you can see:

Sukho Lee of one of my fave local (Los Angeles) bands Seksu Roba, performing a boss tribute to "Forbidden Planet" to mark it's 50th anniversary on his tricked-out theremin.

And, right on time, Boston's dj BC has just released a dandy on-line remix/mashup tribute to the pioneers of electronic music called

"Art Raps"

which actually tames these notoriously abstract sounds by looping them into something approaching head-nodding accessibility, such as this take on Hugh Le Caine's 1955 piece:

djBC: Dripsody (remix)

Terry Riley, Jon Hassel, and others also get the treatment.

CURL ACTIVATE! Novelty Hip-Hop 12" Singles of the '80s

I was reading a story in the LA Times last week about a plane crash in Compton, and the photo of a witness to the crash caught my eye - what was that on his shirt? As you can see, it wasn't something suitable for a family newspaper. Good eye, Times editors!

I bet that guy would like these records. I sure do. They're pure low-budget fun, thoroughly funky and danceable, and blissfully uncool - not a cliche-spouting bling-bling gangsta in sight. Here's an album's worth of novelty/oddball hip-hop/funk 12" from the Jheri Curl era that I ripped from vinyl:

CURL ACTIVATE! (zippyshare link) 
CURL ACTIVATE! (divshare link)


1. Deryl With The Curl & DJ Curl Activator: "Curl Activate" (Jam-Kru Records) - samples George Clinton "Atomic Dog"
2. Akeem "The Dream" Olajuwon: "The Unbeatable Dream" (Las Vegas Records 1986) - Basketball star Olajuwon is saluted and contributes a few heavily-accented vocals; a shoe company is credited with co-executive producer - the lyrics mentions the shoe brand name three times; Dazz Band/Gap Band-type groove by the sports-obsessed Hurt 'em Bad, who is featured elsewhere in this collection with a football song. He also recorded a song about boxing, but that's if we ever get to volume two.
3. The Rappin Reverend Dr. C. Dexter Wise, III: "The Original Rap" (Fantasy Records, 1987) - Nice backing vox by The Heydons; Dr. Wise's brother Raymond is responsible for the one-guy-with-an-electronic-keyboard -and-drum-machine production. Holy hell, this is funny.
4. Chunky A: "Owww!" (MCA, 1989) - Comedian/talk show host Arsenio Hall's chubby musical alter ego. This spoof of Cameo's "Word Up" is really well produced, as opposed to the private-press primitivism of much of these other platters.
5. Chick Hearn: "Rap Around" (Outpost, 1986) - Basketball's greatest announcer gets sampled by Dave Bloom and Dave Gillerman, whoever they are. When I was a kid, I thought this record was genius.
6. Hurt Em Bad & The S.C. Band: "Monday Night Football" (Profile, 1982) - Zapp-like music, complete with vocoder.
7. Mac The Rapper: "What Is Love" (Shinola, 1987) - Featuring a computer's text-to-speech program, by Bob Mithoff, a soundtrack composer for the infamous Troma Film company ("Surf Nazis Must Die," "Class of Nuke 'em High," etc)
8. The Wilson Sisters & Speedy D: "The Magic Man" (Positive Music, 1988) - Yet another sports tribute, this one to Earvin "Magic" Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers, the dominant team of the '80s. Record has no info, but came with a bumper sticker.
9. Rich Little: "Presidents Rap" (Broadway, 1982) - No, the veteran comic impressionist isn't rapping - these are a few Reagan-inspired comedy sketches set over music that swipes from the Tom Tom Club's 1981 classic "Genius of Love."
10. The Coach: "Take It To The Hoop" (Zuma Jay, 1984) - Another basketball-inspired song from Los Angeles. As you may have figured by now, Laker fever swept LA in the '80s. Music by the unlikely Dennis Dragon of popular New Wave club band The Surf Punks. Wait, it gets even weirder - Dennis' brother Daryl, the "Captain" of '70s EZ listening superstars The Captain & Tennille plays synth!
11. Gerty Molzen: "Walk On The Wild Side" (10 Records, 1985) - The then-79 year old German screen star and opera/classical singer covers Lou Reed in a heavy accent, as an uncredited rapper throws in random quotes from Whodini's "Haunted House of Rock" and Grandmaster Flash's "New York, New York." Truly the reason why the letters "WTF" were invented. I saw her do this on "David Letterman" when this record came out. Instead of singing "doot da-doot" for when the colored girls sing, she sang something like "zabidy-doe, zabidy-doe." For a few shows later, Dave would ask his bandleader Paul Shaffer, "I'm in the mood for some Lou Reed. Can you play a little Lou Reed?" and they'd play a tape of Gerty singing "zabidy-doe, zabidy-doe." No, it's not on YouTube - I checked.
12. The Fat Boys: "Chillin With The Refrigerator" (Sutra, 1985) - Our final sports tribute, from one of the most popular rap groups of the '80s, The Fat Boys, featuring the late great Human Beat-Box. I was shocked to find that their albums are all out of print - they had four albums that went gold or platinum. Their subject here is football star William "The Refrigerator" Perry.
13. Bobby Jimmy & The Critters: "N.Y./LA Rappers" (Ruthless, 1988) - Another comedic rap group whose albums are sadly out of print; Bobby Jimmy (The Weird Al of rap) was Russ Parr, the morning dj on Compton's legendary KDAY - at the time, America's only 24/7 rap station. In fact, I'm sure that's were I first heard this. Produced by Dr. Dre for Eazy-E's label. Bobby Jimmy & The Critters had a string of popular rap parodies that were actually almost mainstream successes. The Ice T "Colors" parody on this one is particularly hilarious.

Words And Music For The Now Generation

Imagine Mrs. Miller fronting The Shaggs...

"Love...Wider Than The Ocean" is a 1972 private pressing by Mas & Hope Kawashima, two Japanese-Americans who sing and play their own hymns on side one. This one's my fave, clunky rhymes over primitive piano:

Mas & Hope Kawashima - "The Road of Life"

Quothe the liner notes: "Following the trend of the current Jesus Movement, these new, original songs express the feelings of young people searching for something to believe in and to hope for. The words and music are written for the Now Generation with their concerns for love, pollution, ecology, war, racial tensions and frustrations of living in a technological age."

Though perhaps not as charming as "The Road to Live," this tune is of interest for it's sheer ineptness: ham-fisted guitar, lyrics that don't scan - I literally cannot make either rhyme or reason out of this one:

Mas & Hope Kawashima - "Demonstrate, Demonstrate Your Faith" - advice for the student protesters

Side two finds them massacring the classics - in Japanese. Beethoven gets such an overhaul that maybe Captain Beefheart should do it and call it "Owed T'Joy" (har har!)

Mas & Hope Kawashima - "Ode To Joy"

The address listed on the back cover: 666 (!?!) NW 4th Ave., Ontario, OR.



Big thanks to li'l bro Paul Fab!

Raphi Does "She Blinded Me With Science"

From YouTube: "My nine-year-old son was diagnosed with autism at age three... and is completely nuts about 80s hi-tech musical wiz Thomas Dolby. Here he does his version of TD's biggest hit...on pretend instruments he made himself, and doing percussion, vocals and all instruments orally."

I recorded the mp3 off the video. It's a great performance, full of uninhibited energy, and is actually quite accurate - I swear he knows all the lyrics. Recording quality's not great, but that's not his fault.

Raphi "She Blinded Me With Science" (video)
Raphi "She Blinded Me With Science" (mp3)

MARCH MASHUP MADNESS

New Illegal music, if you're in the mood for

Groovy '60s Lounge A-Go-Go:
DJ Magnet "Shop Around If You're Horny" - Fantastic mix of Tweet, Smokey Robinson, even the Sonics' "Have Love Will Travel" from this Denver dude, all served over a big beat.

Chill:
Phil RetroSpector "Beatlemania" Even if you're tired of the Beatles, check out this Philip Glass/Fab Four combo; utterly unlikely, but works a treat. Mr RetroSpector is an early contender for Rookie of the Year on the internet scene.

Novelty:
RIAA: "Chicken Slacks" Sam Cooke dances with a chicken, as "Twistin The Night Away" meets Ray Stevens' henhouse version of "In The Mood." As silly as it gets.

Surrealism:
RIAA: "Running With The Devil Bunnies" Van Halen's "Running With The Devil" meets Twink The Toy Piano Band's "Hoppity Jones" (and a bit of a '40s kiddie record by Al Trace and his Silly Symphonists), and various hallucinatory sound effects; this is the sound of you losing your mind.

Keepin' it surreal, homies...

MARCH MAMBO MADNESS

Mr Mambo himself, Cachao, died recently. The mambo is one of those things that's been around for so long that it's hard to believe that someone actually invented it, and that this person was living amongst us until very recently. But he was. I had the good fortune of seeing Cachao perform live a couple of times: once, he performed a few tunes on piano - his usual instrument was bass - including an incredible version of "Guantanamera" (are there any bad versions?) that was pure old-school Cubano ala Ruben Gonzalez of Buena Vista Social Club fame. I also attended a big all-star Latin music tribute to the still-smokin' octogenarian at the Universal Ampitheater hosted by actor Andy Garcia, the dude responsible for the exhilarating '90s recording "Ahora Si" from whence comes this sizzling descarga:

Cachao: Queja africana, protesta abakua

Both Soul-Sides and Beware of the Blog posted songs of his that I was gonna post, complete with erudite, educational text. But do they have as many goofy '50s/'60s mambo novelty records as I do? I thought not. So, as a M4M tribute to el maestro:

Mickey Katz: "My Yiddishe Mambo" - ripped from out-of-print vinyl.
Bill Haley & His Comets: "Mambo Rock" - from "Rock Around The Clock"
Dean Martin "Mambo Italiano" - from "Dino: The Essential Dean Martin"
Perez Prado: "Cuban Rock" - from the King of the Mambo's groovy '60s-a-go-go album "Mambo Rock" comes this baffling psychedelic meltdown.

Buenos noches, maestro...

HAPPY ZOMBIE DAY 2008!

It's the merriest time of year - that annual celebration of rebirth, renewal, resurrection. Some call it Easter, but we call it...Zombie Day! Jesus might be the most famous fellow to rise from the grave and walk amongst the living, but he certainly wasn't the last. 'Tis the season for getting together with family & friends, gathering around the tv and watching "Night of the Living Dead" again. Or maybe "Dead Alive" or "Shaun of the Dead" for a more "modern" non-traditional celebration. I'm hoping for Zombie Day greeting cards, parties, TV specials, etc. There are plenty of Zombie Day Carols to sing as you stroll (or lurch) from door to door, bringing holiday cheer to your neighbors, starting off with two bona-fide classics:

The Cramps: "Zombie Dance" - the all-time punkabilly zombie favorite, from their classic 1980 album "Songs The Lord Taught Us."

Jan Davis: "Watusi Zombie" - faux African voodoo drums and tribal chanting, crazed surf guitars - truly one of the greatest '60s instrumentals ever. From Boss Guitar!

The Magics: "Zombie Walk" - groovy '60s girl-group action; from the essential "DOO WOP HALLOWEEN"

Zombie Girl: "Jesus Was A Zombie" - contemporary Canadian group delivers a song truly in the spirit of the season, a Gary Glitter/Alice Cooper "School's Out" stomp with an electro twist.

Here's wishing a very merry Zombie Day to you and yours on this most joyous holiday season.

RUTLEMANIA!

Monday night at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood I saw the Rutles - no, not just the 1978 film "All You Need Is Cash" (though they showed that too) but the actual original foursome. As a huge Python/Rutles/Bonzos fan from childhood, I just about fell off my chair when I read the Rutles were back - the Pre-Fab Four! A legend that will last a lunchtime. A millstone in pop music history.

The hilarious and musically spot-on Beatles parody band, which started as a sketch on an Eric Idle post-Python TV series, has strangely taken on a life of it's own with a series of Rutles tribute shows in LA and New York featuring Beatles impersonaters The Fab Four covering Rutles songs, mixed with video clips and live theater - yup, not the real Rutles but an incredible simulation. A bit confusing, isn't it? As the ads say, "Nostalgia for something that never existed."

Rutlemania! Through the 21st in Hollywood, then 4 more shows in New York.

Eric Idle and Neil Innes are working togther again, some 33 years after they first unleashed the Rutles on the world via the short-lived series "The Rutland Weekend News." A companion album, "The Rutland Weekend Songbook" is out-of-print, never on CD (except an obscure Japanese pressing), but thanks to Mrs Fab's copy she brought back from England years ago, we can now hear the original versions of songs that later appeared on proper Rutles albums, like:

"I Must Be In Love" - complete with the screams of Rutlemaniacs.

"Children of Rock'n'Roll/Startime" - 50 seconds or so of what would later be "See How The Good Times Roll."

Other non-Rutles related, but still quite good songs from the album:

"Accountancy Shanty/Football" - Years before it's appearance in the 1983 Python film "The Meaning of Life," here's the original pirate's shanty about high finance on the high seas, then a goof on soccer/football 'ooligans.

"Protest Song" - wicked Dylan parody; Innes performed this onstage with Python. But not at Che Stadium (which was named after Cuban guerilla leader Che Stadium.)

"Communist Cooking"/"Johnny Cash Live at Mrs Fletchers"
"24 Hours in Tumbridge Wells/The Fabulous Bingo Brothers/In Concrete" - parodies of: the Sinatra/Gene Kelly musical "On The Town," aged vaudvillians, modern rock.
"I Give Myself To You" performed by the Alberto Vascetomy Singers.
"Song O' The Insurance Men/Closedown"

And more HERE, courtesy of the I'm Learning To Share blog, including the Stevie Wonder-goes-to-the-laundromat funk of "Front Loader," and the new disco move "The Hard To Get."

And surviving members of the Bonzo Dog Band released a reunion album last December, but that's for another time. Ouch!

CANINUS - Dogs Sing Heavy Metal

Caninus are a Brooklyn based metal band who say about their music: "Vocals are executed by two pit bull terriers. Both were rescued days before euthanization from refuges. Caninus - all strict vegans. It has come time really to allow the animals to have their say."

Caninus: "Victim In Pain"

Metal is funny. I didn't used to think so. I used to hate it as a kid before eventually realizing how hilariously kitschy much of it is and started enjoying it on that level. Of course, I wasn't the first - metal has to be the most satirized music in history. But most metal satire isn't, like "Spinal Tap," focused on the music. It's target is the fans. Think "Beavis & Butthead," "Wayne's World," "Bill & Ted" etc. And that is key to metal's camp appeal - the fans take it so seriously. Anyone else who samples dog barks would just play it like a goofy novelty record, like the Singing Dog's "Jingle Bells." But the utter sincerity of headbangers, the straight-faced psuedo-political justification of something so ridiculous - now THAT'S funny!

Caninus: "United States of Emergency"
Caninus: "Brindle Is As Brindle Does"

GIRLS ROCK

"Girls Rock" is a documentary film opening in limited release tonight about a music camp for young girls. They form bands and write songs - in one week. "It doesn't have to be polished" they're told, and with genuine rockers like Carrie Brownstein of the band Sleater/Kinney coaching the kids, you get some real Shaggs-gone-punk moments of musical loveliness, like this one featuring Palace (pictured), an 8-year old hellion, on lead vocals:

Palace: "San Francisco Sucks Sometimes"

Another furious rocker finds a moppet declaiming, "With every passing day/It becomes clearer to me/That the only way to live/Is with nature's beauty/and harmoneeeeeey!"

The Bookworms: "The World Becoming A Wasteland"

"We'll Destroy Our Destination" slows things down to an atonal, rhythm-less grind.

Some critics bemoan the film's heavy-handed girls-as-victim messages sprinkled throughout the film. Perhaps the filmmakers thought that simply showing these gals singing and playing their hearts out wouldn't be enough justification for a film...

PLAY AN ON-LINE TOY PIANO!

HERE! Clink on the keys with your mouse and go plink plink plink. If you record anything with it, let me know.

Courtesy of French composer Pascal Ayerbe.

SPOOKY SOUNDS FROM SPACE 2: Meteor Shower

Here's another absolutely fascinating bit of spooky space sounds, courtesy of a blog call ShortWaveMusic, which, as you may have guessed, features music recorded off short wave radio transmissions. Middle Eastern tunes seem to be a favorite. But one recording captured the August 12, 2005 edition of the annual Perseid meteor shower over the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama: "As each meteor produced a trail of ionized gases, it produced an extremely short-lived ionospheric "placebo," ricocheting radio waves back to Earth." This being short-wave, haunting voices from other frequencies bleed through, and the sound phases in and out. The result is 7 minutes of dense, swirling, trippy madness.

Meteor shower radio waves

SPOOKY SOUNDS FROM SPACE

Among the "sounds of space" collected by University of Iowa instruments: the eerie sounds and bizarre features of Saturn's radio emissions captured by the Cassini spacecraft. Whooshing winds and theremin-ish wails - I love it because it sounds exactly like what I think outer space should sound like.

Saturn radio emissions

Thinking of sampling this stuff? Legendary composer Terry Riley beat you to it: the ubiquitous Kronos Quartet sometimes performs his 2002 piece "Sun Rings" using some of these sounds. Couldn't find any recording info, therefore I unfortunately cannot direct you to a cd. So just play a Sun Ra album and these sounds at the same time.

BY REQUEST: WHAT'S POLISH FOR CREEPY?

By request, I've re-upped the mp3 of bizarro '60s Polish soundtrack music

here.


In other news: Thanks to WFMU for making us one of their favorite music blogs, and hello new readers!