WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Live at WFMU Vimeo Collection

WFMU is very excited to announce a new collection of videos we're shooting & posting on our Vimeo page.  Live bands by the truckload have long peeled the paint from the walls of our storied Love Room, and fer cryin' out loud it's high time we started visually documenting them!  Check out excerpts from Cute Lepers,  Angels in America, Ed Schrader's Music Beat, Peaking Lights, live performances from the 2011 Record Fair, and a bunch more.  Make friends with us, get the feed, bookmark our page, whatever you do out there - but check in often!  Huge thanks to Yvonne Slimslacks and Bridget M. for getting this stuff rolling.

Here's CSC Funk Band performing live at the 2011 WFMU Record Fair

The Marijuana Q: Twistin' One Up w/ Stan Hubbs

It's Thursday.  It's sunny and it's growing colder in New York.  I'm on the phone with Will Louviere, one of the fellas behind Companion Records.  I've never met Will.  He's never met Stan Hubbs.  Neither have I.  And we can't meet him, because Hubbs is dead.

"It true he died from smoking too much pot?" I ask Will.

There's laughter, of course, though not much -- Will's probably fielded this question one too many times since he reissued Hubbs's private-press rock meisterwerk, Crystal, this past summer.

"Well," he says, "that's up for debate.  No one will ever really know the truth on that one.  But if anyone could, it was Stan."

I'd guess as much.  Ever since reading the outlandish marijuana anecdote in the latest edition of Patrick Lundborg's outsider-rock encyclopedia, The Acid Archives, and ever since I've been priveleged enough to pore over the reissue and thumb through its amazing lyric booklet, it's been clear to me that Hubbs was at least a consummate 'head, a dyed-in-the-wool '60s/'70s relic who nailed down an impossibly hazy and lysergic hard-psych recording in '82 -- years after such music was fashionable or fathomable.  He had to be grinding seeds/stems way back when.

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 139

Give the Drummer Some's
Favorite Downloads from the MP3 Blogosphere

Sure, I'm sore about not making it to the WFMU Record Fair this past weekend. Even wallowing neck-deep in the geyser of free music available online doesn't salve the dull ache of missing that cavernous conflagration of consonance. But I have to admit, it comes pretty damn close. A few months ago, I arrived home from a nearby used-record store to discover that several of the pristine-looking LPs sported unplayable scratches. Being a great adorer of used record stores, I was kind of repulsed, but also fascinated that, after only a few minutes of hunting and pecking the blogs, I'd found and downloaded clean digital versions of those same albums. I'd love to declare that downloading free music will never replace the joy of sitting on the floor of some dingy vinyl emporium, thumbing through dollar bins. But I think I'd be lying.

Help yourself...

 

Lee Fields  ~  "Let's Talk It Over"
(Blog: Funkytownsoul)

Lee Fields Forever
"Renowned throughout the global Funk community,  Lee Fields has poured his grunts and screams over a legacy of funk and soul hits from the early seventies, including such 45 rpm classics as "She’s a Lovemaker," "The Bull Is Coming," and "The Funky Screw," not to mention his well sought after Let’s Talk It Over LP. This LP draws four digit bids from collectors worldwide."  (Description, posed at Truth & Soul)

 

Seymore Weed (MP3s)

 

Seymore Weed  -  God Please Protect America  

Seymore Weed  -  Born Without A Name 

Today's offering comes from the delightfully named Seymore Weed, who recorded these sides for the Vokes label in New Kensington, Pennsylvania in the mid-to-late 60s.  Could that possibly be his real name?  Though I have no hard evidence to point to, I'd say that Seymore Weed is probably not a pseudonym as he doesn't really come across like a guy who wants to be associated marijuana.

On the top side of this record, Weed rails against the encroaching menace of communism, while on the flip side he employs his atonal and anguished croak to warn of the perils of unwed motherhood.

Aleksandra Waliszewska

Aleksandra Waliszewska's drawings depict a world populated by self-mutilating children. They roam the woods, cutting themselves in a ritualistic fervor. Animals and beasts sometimes pet the children, sometimes they eat them. Waliszeska's drawing style is crude but controlled, giving her characters an odd vulnerability even as they are hacking the limbs off of some unfortunate victim.

Week in WFMU: 10/31 - 11/6, 2011

What did you get at the record fair, and how much of your rent money did you spend on it? Hear these questions answered by many WFMU DJs this week, as those of us who attended the annual music-buy-fest engage in a week-long listening party. But also!

Diane Kamikaze talks with Bob Bert, the rock drummer who's been with Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore, Boss Hog, and now Five Dollar Priest (to name a few), and is also the founder of BBGun Zine. Bob stops by as part of Diane's weekly Peer Pressure! segment to give WFMU listeners a taste of his world, which is sure to be loud.

Ken and Andy return to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater on Wednesday for another live performance of Seven Second Delay. This week's lineup of guests includes comedian Michael Showalter; Andy Borowitz of the Borowitz Report; and musical guest Rebecca Gates. There will also be an Occupy Wall Street drum circle and Radio Sight Gags! If you're in NYC, come to the theater before the performance to buy a ticket -- 307 West 26th Street, admission $5.

Later, Evan "Funk" Davies welcomes Canadian band The Bon. For all the great Canadian rock music Evan's show has brought in the past, The Bon will be the first-ever band from Canada to play a live set thereon! Their new album Static Electricity is out now on the Boppa Do Down label, and their lineup includes former members of the Leather Uppers and Tijuana Bibles.

For the 25 years it has existed, Norton Records has been supplying some of the rawest, noisiest, most bizarre, and best music to its eager public, reissuing and re-recording older rock/R&B artists while discovering a legacy of new ones. This week, to celebrate the label's anniversary, the Norton gang drops by Dave the Spazz's show! Expect lots of raucous 45s and torrid showbiz tales.

As always, there is more: Michael Shelley will interview Nile Rodgers of Chic, who's the author of the new book Le Freak: an Upside-Down Story of Family, Disco and Destiny. Multilingual Polish band Dikanda join Rob Weisberg on Transpacific Sound Paradise. And DJ Ital contributes an exclusive mix to the Scones Radio Podcast with Brad LaBonte and Momo! Look at WFMU's Upcoming Special Programs page to see it all.

A Vanity Record for the Ages (MP3's)

Two months ago, I posted an oddly enjoyable vanity record produced by the Film City label, of a song titled "Scotch Tape". As I wrote at the time, most of Film City's releases were of the song-poem variety, but a few here and there featured singers doing their own material, almost always accompanied by Film City's ubiquitous Chamberlin keyboard.

Barely had that post been written when I came upon another vanity record from the same label. And, as might be the case with you, as well, listening to this one made my mouth drop open in wonder.

While this one has none of the goofy charm of "Scotch Tape", it does have the benefit of being at least twice as peculiar. And although I had speculated that Rodd Keith was the Chamberlin master on most any Film City vanity pressing, the exceptionally poor keyboard performance on these tracks makes me wonder if I was off target with that assumption - the playing here is nothing short of atrocious. Some "Orchestra and Chorus"!

On the other hand, maybe the musician involved was simply struggling to find a way to appropriately accompany Bert Lowry, whose performing style is certainly unique.

Bert Lowry with Orchestra and Chorus - Portland Rose Song (MP3)

Bert Lowry with Orchestra and Chorus - Voice of the Rose (MP3)

Record Label A Side (JPG) - Record Label B Side (JPG)

The American Song-Poem Music Archives page for Film City indicates that Bert Lowry actually released "Voice of the Rose" twice - once, heard here, on the flip side to "Portland Rose Song", and again, as they A-side, with a song titled "Pasadena Rose Song" on the flip side. I sure wish I could hear that one.

Reigning Sound

New EP coming November 1st from our very own DA the DJ and the Reigning Sound!  

Reigning Sound - Lyin' Girl (mp3)

Rappers at Richmond Auditorium, May 4th, 1984

Today we have a 45-minute slice of hip-hop history graciously provided by musician and collector Rob Wortman from his vast self-recorded cassette archive:  an early rap event from Richmond, California as taped from the audience one fine night in May of 1984.  

Sadly, these are all the details that we have at present, no listing yet of the DJ's and MC's that we will hear in this gig. Also, there seems to have been some problem with the PA sound at the event - numerous 'dropouts' occur, tiny moments of dead air in the mix. These are not artifacts of the recording but were heard live. For added listening convenience, I have broken the tape side into three parts. A thank you goes out to Billy Jam, from whom I borrowed the ticket-stub scan of the July, 1984 Richmond Auditorium show, which was as close as I could fi
nd to an illustration of this May 1984 gig, but does show how simple the graphics were for such things at that time. Fans of this sort of historical record might also enjoy these previous WFMU posts of mine which feature another tape from the Wortman archive that happens to be from the same month and year.  Word !

Part One      Part Two      Part Three

My RadioVision of the Great Icelandic DJ

Back in 2010 I posted the video for the Best Party's campaign song here on Beware of the Blog. The Party—which was started as a satire of regular Icelandic politics—actually won a majority in their local election, and their founder and chairman, Jon Gnarr, became mayor of Reykjavik. Now, through the magic of Benjamin Walker, and due to some mistake that no one can explain, I am to meet His Honorableness, Mayor Gnarr, and his chief strategist and campaign manager, Heida K. Helgadottir, when I introduce their keynote address on Saturday at the WFMU Radiovision Festival.

I became an Icelandophile when I worked at the dog magazine, whose offices were two blocks from Scandinavia House. I often went there for lunch at the AQ Café, and would check out their art exhibits and excellent film series. It was at Scandinavia House a few years ago that I saw the documentary Kurekar Nordursins, and became a huge fan of the great Icelandic radio DJ, the Cowboy of the North, Hallbjorn Hjartarson. The film records (in what feels like real time) the 1984 Icelandic Cowboy Festival, which took place in a tiny northern fishing village and seemed to consist of a lot of drinking, some music, and occasional attempts to ride shaggy little Icelandic ponies while drinking or singing, but mostly drinking. I was so inspired by it that I tracked down Cowboy DJ Hallbjorn and wrote to him, hoping I could get him as a guest on WFMU. I imagined gathering up donations of moldy country vinyl at the Record Fair and shipping it off to Skagastrond, Iceland, and becoming radio friends with this international superstar.

But then months passed, and I had given up before I finally got a reply. DJ Hallbjorn had to go to a great deal of trouble to find someone who could translate my email into Icelandic and then translate his reply into English to send to me. Of course, I had no idea he didn’t speak English. He plays all these American country-western songs on his radio station, so I just assumed … Plus, I’m American, which is also why I just assumed… Anyway, I felt bad for putting him to so much trouble, so I didn’t write again. But now, every year when the Record Fair comes around, I think of Hallbjorn Hjartarson and wish I could send him some Little Jimmy Dickens records.

And this year, tomorrow, I will get to meet real Icelandic People and ask them if they know Cowboy DJ Hallbjorn—it’s a very small country, plus he is extremely famous, so they might! I just hope Jon Gnarr and Heida K. Helgadottir speak English.

 

Blood Lust - Conversations with Real Vampires (mp3)

This is from a promotional cassette for the book of the same name by Carol Page.  Some time around 1989.  Purportedly equal parts sympathetic and incisive book about "honest to goodness bloodsuckers".  The audio sounds like Lost Boys exploitation mixed with half baked Creep Show mannerisms, plodding pianos, deep voices, screaming samples, a real hoot.  Clandestinely dubbed from the library of WZRD.

Bloodlust - Conversations with Real Vampires

DJ Handi' Archive Picks: A Radio, A Groove, Seven Inches, And A Record Fair Comin' On.

On Surface Noise, Joe McGasko presented a show decked with soul. Listen to this New Birth. song. After annoucing, he continued with late 1970's Isaac Hayes. Compare the lush instrumentation to modern, mechanzed  grooves: Small Change returned to WFMU this month for several editions of Nickel And Dime Radio. Hear "Bach Goes Balie Funk" by Ophex, followed by two N-ron tracks.

Joe Belock on Three Card Monte played 1966's "Show Me The Way" by Great Scots, then "The Answer Was You" by Sloan. Both have a straight-foward rock vibe, but notice the Sloan selection is much more lush. Sloan continually mines Beatles/Small Faces layering.

You won't hear this in Sonny Sharrock, free jazz's most famous guitarist after Derek Baily. Hear his atonal six string shards on "Portrait Of Linda, All Three Colors." Sharrock probably offered his music's best description. "I'm a horn player with a really fucked up axe."

Finally, as this weekend's record fair approaches, WFMU began Singles Going Steady week. The station plays only 7" records. Irene Trudel ended this week's show sounding exactly like early 1970's FM radio, playing Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, The Lovin' Spoonful, and John Lennon,. If , like me, you weren't there in those days but wish you were, begin here!

Stick Men With Ray Guns Invade The Local News

Nothing quite amuses in the way that a vintage local news report on those crazy kids and their "punk rock" does, but there's something extra surreal when the dry, patronizing drone of the local anchor follows around the going-ons of a band that actually represents the genre at its most gleefully obnoxious rather than just another new-wave Blondie rip-off. Here's some great footage of underdocumented Texas noise-punks Stick Men With Ray Guns profiled sometime in the 1980's on one such evening news sojourn. Come for the condescending narration from an anchor who just can't seem to believe that these Stick Men, what with their slam-dancing and their angst and their atheism, aren't some junkie thugs lying passed out in a gutter, stay for some pretty excellent footage of the late Bobby Soxx and his cohorts:

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 138.2 (BONUS)

Give the Drummer Some's
Favorite Downloads from the MP3 Blogosphere

ANTHEM FOR THE 99% MOVEMENT?!

On September 13, 2011, the music sharing site 45 Blog posted "The Other Ninety Nine," an inspiring, patriotic cri de coeur performed by Bill Cagle and the Spirit of '68. Four days later, a thousand protesters marched on Wall Street demanding economic justice. Coincidence?

We download, you occupy...

 

The Other Ninety Nine  (Bill Cagle and the Sprit of '68)
(Blog: 45 Blog)

From the lyrics: "Where are they, the other ninety nine? The decent folk, the righteous. Do they rally together in brotherhood, only to mourn? Can they not rally together for good, to overcome those things that make them mourn? Is it not time for such a rally of the other ninety nine? Where are they, the other ninety nine percent. The silent people, the sleeping giant….Look! They're coming. By the millions they're coming. From New York's sidewalks, from Chicago's factories, from the Mississippi Delta, from California's golden shores, from every state in the Union. Shoulder to shoulder, marching together to overcome wrong and set this nation right!"

Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays (6-7pm) and Fridays (9 to noon)—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio.
Send your email address to get on the mailing list for a weekly newsletter about the show, the stream and Mining the Audio Motherlode.

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 20

CMJ RECAP

Best New Band:
Virginia Plain
Stage debut at Union Pool on October 20. This is beauty in its purest form.

More after the jump