WFMU posted Ralph Records 1987 “Collection of Folk Songs,” Potatoes. There’s mp3s by well-known weirdos like Negativland, artist Howard Finster, Mark Mothersbaugh, and Bongwater. My faves are the archive-sampled prison work songs and sounds by Rhythm and Noise, “Bertas Hammer” (3:16):
And at KGLT we wore the grooves of this get-back-at-ex-boyfren anon a-capella, “The Billy Bee Song” (1:24)”
Audio art from Brian Joseph Davis:
During April of 2006, I ran a recording studio at Mercer Union. Passersby were stopped and asked to sing, from memory and with no practice, the Beatles’ Yesterday. They were given headphones with an instrumental track to help them out. If they couldn’t remember the words, they were told to “just make it up.” Everyone was paid a $5.00 performance fee. I then took all the versions recorded and created a mix featuring 60 layered individual tracks of people trying to remember the words.
Brian Joseph Davis, “Yesterduh” (3:39):
Laurie Anderson has a new song (“Only an Expert” @ Lincoln Ctr), if indeed something by her can be “new,” cuz it still sounds like Laurie Anderson which ain’t a new sound. But, hey, I’m still a half-a-fan, so I’ll post something old that sounds new and looks great, the “Sharkey’s Day” vid by Laurie Anderson:
Boon Doc breaks down da beats:
Recorded by a friend off South American radio, vocalists unknown, “radio dial tuning a’cappella” (1:00 mp3):
One of three mp3s on an old post at Salon.com Audio, Mark Z. Danielewski performs from his book House of Leaves to music by his sister Poe, off of Haunted, “Hey Pretty” (3:50 mp3):
For a while I’ve hoped for a CD-release or mp3s of Brian Briggs classic 1980 wave record Brian Damage — both my copy and that of the local station, KGLT-Bozeman, have gone missing. Well, wait and ye shall find (motto of the Internet?), it’s now up at the Play It Again, Max blog, “featuring out-of-print LPs never issued on CD.” Lotsa great tunes on the album, but the KGLT fave was this story song about a Frankie & Moe’s fast & furious game of chicken: train vs. scooter, “See You on the Other Side” (3:33 mp3):
My bud and WFMU Blogger, Lukas posted the source of many of the samples in The Avalanches‘ classic audio collage “Frontier Psychiatrist.” They appropriated a 1959 comedy piece of the same name by Canadians Wayne and Shuster, “Frontier Psychiatrist” (mp3 at WFMU Blog). The Avalanches’ vid for their song is about as good as MTV ever got, “Frontier Psychiatrist:”
The 365 Days Project at WFMU also recently posted one of the most heavily sampled LPs of all time: “Virginia Belmont’s Famous Singing & Talking Birds.”
Posted at DIYmedia.net among some other Rush Limbaugh Collages is a cut-up musician calling himself Rush Limbaugh Hater with “Rush Sings I’m A Nazi” (3:41 mp3 | lyrics):
(Heard at Some Assembly Required.)
Just ran across this ol’ KGLT fave, a killer tune by Rilo Kiley, from the movie “Desert Blue” (and hey, I think that’s Randy from My Name is Earl in the vid), “The Frug:”
Just so we’re not the only blog in the world without cell-phone salesmen phenom Paul Potts:
NPR Day to Day: Potts interview | TV Finals
WFMU’s blog has mp3s of Head and Leg’s In Your Dreams, a spoken-weird, oddio art, musicollage. I suggest you buy the CD, as I did, from Seeland, Negativland’s mail-order label, if only for the exquisite artwork inside by Pauline Lim:
“Your ___ Is Only Momentary” © Pauline Lim
Oil, alkyd, acrylic on canvas. 22″ x 28″ 2004
From Head and Leg In Your Dreams…
“Poke You in the Eye” (1:09):
“The Womb Room” (2:54):
“Dreamscape” (2:15):
This week’s HV cast starts Summer with some Mississippi moonshine, barbecued goat and the last of the old-time Fife & Drum picnics. A story by Ben Adair, “Otha Turner’s Picnic” (13:10 mp3):
Now, maybe we have heard everything: the 180-Gs do a’cappella covers of Negativland classics, including Casey Kasem cursing over U2 (“I Still Haven’t Found”). Among the downloads at myspace.com/180gs, from their CD is 180 d’Gs to the Future, “Christianity is Stupid” (3:55 mp3):
Found by Lukas.
The Hype Machine tracks music blogs and mp3 posts. You can add a Top 10 to your own site of what folk are music-blogging right now, looks like:
Lemon Jelly “Nice Weather for Ducks” (from Lost Horizons) directed by Nigel Pay:
This week’s HV cast is a Father’s Day ditty. Going in and out of cool, in syncopated time, a daughter and dad’s ever-changing relationship moves to the beat of a jazz standard. A story by Rebecca Flowers, “My Father’s Music” (mp3 6:30):
I’m abnormally attracted to spoken-word sampled music, by folk like Lemon Jelly, The Avalanches, The Books. Of that ilk are the filmclip-infested beats of Wax Tailor (JC Le Saoût, a French DJ and member/producer of early 90s rappers La Formule). I’ve been overplaying has last CD, Tales of the Forgotten Melodies. And will likely do the same with his latest Hope & Sorrow. Here’s a track from each…
Wax Tailor “Que Sera” Tales of the Forgotten Melodies (2:44 mp3):
Wax Tailor “Once Upon A Past” Hope & Sorrow (4:47 mp3):
Feel like you’re going to hell? Why not try the audio-tour first: Radio Inferno Hörspiel nach Dantes Inferno in 34 Gesängen. Translated from the Nazi, er, I mean German, “hörspiel” means “ear-play.” “Radio Inferno” was a 1993 radio drama of Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” by artist Andreas Ammer with music by FM Einheit (of Einstürzende Neubauten). BBC DJ John Peel is “The Radio” (the narrator), and there’s guest appearances from Bootsy Collins and many others. All the tracks are posted (MP3s) at UBUWEB and at WFMU…
“Canto V” Radio Inferno:
“Canto VII” Radio Inferno:
From “Canto XVII” in the Third Circle of Hell: “Here beatnik Burroughs has to read his own books for all time.”
This week’s HV cast: The eerily beautiful music of moth wings. A tale of bat-detectors, beehive destruction and the intersection of insect and synthesizer. A story by Jeff Rice, “Moth Music” (mp3 3:02):