Noveller — Ends
Live on WFMU with Liz Berg (2011)
Rolling waves of guitar bliss by Sarah Lipstate aka Noveller. She performs next month at the Knockdown Center in Queens, an old glass factory off Flushing Ave. She’ll be performing as part of the Drone Activity in Progress festival, along with a tall roster of ambient/drone/noise bands. Tickets here.
Grab this set and others at the Free Music Archive.
Tommy McGee — We Ought To Be Together
from Positive-Negative (1976)
Choice, grade AA Michigan soul in last week’s Motherlode, from Grand Rapids label MTMG. Word among the stacks is that this LP is ultra-rare.. forget about finding a copy on vinyl. Unless that is, you have $765 to blow.
But you’ll definitely want to grab this digital rip for some plush ear pleasure.
Tommy Wright III — Still Pimpin
from Runnin-N-Gunnin (1995)
I know next to nothing about Memphis bump, not to mention the horrorcore murder rap scene, but this track is pretty sick. Found it at Beware of the Blog, where you can grab the whole cassette. If you wish, you can also see Tommy give a Cribs-style tour of his mostly bare, furniture-less tract home.
Some awesome posters over at the Rap Music Guide, too.
Norma Kelly — Siga aquele carro (Follow that car)
b/w A Canção Que a Guitarra Não Tocou (Mocambo 1968)
Lil’ pop gem from Brazil circa 1968. Can’t find much else about Norma Kelly, but this is one groovy little dancefloor ditty.
First heard this on Give the Drummer Some a while back… download link in the comments!
Marble Sheep — Melted Moon
from Marble Sheep & The Run-Down Sun’s Children (1990)
“HIGH ENERGY PSYCHEDELIC NOISE PUNK EXPERIENCE”
Just made my pledge to my darling WFMU… stoked to hear Scott McDowell’s premium of Japanese freak-out psych!
KEEP FREEFORM ALIVE!
wfmu:
“Ritualistic wooly psych from Japan. My own personal Tokyo Flashback compilation.”
from Scott McDowell’s Red-Hot Iron Ball: Japanese free-psych and ritual music from the Long Rally vaults. Swallow it. [WFMU 2012 Marathon Premium]
The Long Rally airs Fridays 9am-12noon | Pledge to WFMU in the name of Scott M!
Agata Morio — Submarine
from Norimono Zukan (1980)
Heard this track on Liz Berg’s show this morning. It’s from Japanese folkie Agata Morio’s 1980 album Norimono Zukan, aka Transportation Encyclopedia. Don’t be fooled, though. This sounds nothing like folk—it’s one of the 11 LPs issed on the underground “techno-pop” label Vanity Records:
“Vanity Records in Osaka was one of the unforgettable hallmarks of the early Japanese underground music scene of the late-70′s. This label was founded by Yuzuru Agi, the music critic/editor of ROCK MAGAZINE. Agi was a sort of alternative visionary with a superb talent to assess new musical modes at a time when blues and West Coast-style rock still dominated the local music scene…Inspired by punk and the flood of indie labels that swept New York and London, Agi started Vanity Records in 1978, releasing 11 LPs, 3 singles, 12 flexis, and 6 cassettes between ’78 and ’82 (each release limited to 300-500 copies).”
- Satoru Higashiseto from Music No. 2, 1998, via Dave Knapik
Someone over at Direct Waves says the Morio track might actually be a cover (the music, at least) of the 1979 Joy Division track ‘She’s Lost Control‘… it’s a dead ringer.
Bridget St. John — Moody
from Hello Again: A Collection of Rare Tracks
This is the stuff Laurel Canyon dreams are spun from. Let’s-go-shopping-for-wind-chimes music. Shall-we-drive-to-the-beach music. Who’s-packing-the-picnic-blanket music.
Came across this ray of 70s sunshine yesterday while perusing the Motherlode over at WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. I can’t find a date for this particular track but I believe it’s from ‘77-‘79, and it comes from a Japanese comp of rare recordings, many of which are retooled versions of earlier material. Hat tip to the blog Dirty Funky Situation for this gold.
Crazy interview with Sugar Pie DeSanto on WFMU’s “Fool’s Paradise” right now. This woman is something else! (And she plays the Bell House in Brooklyn on New Year’s Eve)
Happy Refugees — Screaming & Shouting
from Last Chance Saloon (1984)
Riotous post-punk from the Happy Refugees. This track is from the original vinyl copy, but they’ve just gotten the deluxe reissue treatment from Acute Records, thus the cover above—Return to Last Chance Saloon.
What’s more, these boys (now men) are performing at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn Friday night with the Crystal Stilts; playing a live set on WFMU on Saturday; and appearing at Cake Shop on Saturday night!
If all else fails, listen to some free tracks from the reissue… or better yet, buy it!
unknown MCs and DJs, Richmond Auditorium, CA (1984)
This is nuts: a live recording of a rap show at the Richmond Auditorium, in the SF Bay Area, one night in May 1984. The audience tape is presented here in all its primitive glory, with plenty of drop-outs in the PA system and audience jeers.
This is part one of three; grab the other two at WFMU’s Beware of the Blog, courtesy music collector Rob Wortman. The second part has a guy rapping in French over Chic’s ‘Good Times,’ a la Sugarhill Gang.
The Willis Brothers — Soft Shoulders, Dangerous Curves
from Goin’ to Town (1966)
Formerly known as the Oklahoma Wranglers, brothers James, Charles and Joe Willis played the Grand Ole Opry and backed Hank Williams. Later they left the Opry and struck out on their own as The Willis Brothers, turning out truckdriving songs like this innuendo-filled gem, laced with savage fuzz guitar.
Now truckers pay heed to what I say
When you see a sign don’t look the other way
Or you’ll end up on the wrong right of way
And leave those girls alone along the way
Gotta watch those soft shoulders and dangerous curves
You see signs on the road constantly
Gotta watch those soft shoulders and dangerous curves
Or you’ll end up wrecked just like me
Hank Lockin — Hot Pepper Doll (RCA, 1968)
This Country Sunday, Hank Locklin brags about his girl, a ‘hot pepper doll’ he married down in Juarez, and her skills in the kitchen. Enough bad wordplay here to help yourself to seconds…
She makes me enchiladas, and tostadas
Hot frijoles, guacamoleShe’s great at Mexican cooking
But everything she cooks is hot
I don’t know if it’s love or heartburn I’ve got…
Ten years before this release, Locklin released a whole album devoted to love affairs with girls from abroad, 1958’s Foreign Love, including tracks like ‘Geisha Girl,’ ‘Fraulein,’ ‘My Wild Irish Rose,’ ‘Filipino Baby’ and ‘Mexicali Rose.’
‘Hot Pepper Doll’ is another treat from the WFMU Beware of the Blog post on fuzzbox country. Get fuzzed…
Buddy Merrill — Gentle on my Mind
Really lovely little instrumental ditty from Buddy Merrill, the prodigy who became the house guitarist for the Lawrence Welk Show at the tender age of 19. This John Hartford song has been covered by pretty much everybody—Glen Campbell, Elvis, Dean Martin, Patti Page, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Cash. Here Merrill overdubs the hell out of it, with splendid results. (by the way, click each musician to hear their version of the song..the difference in treatments is amazing)
This gem was mined from a collection of really incredible country fuzz guitar songs (who knew?) compiled over at WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. Be sure to check out Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 of those posts… and stay tuned here for more fuzzbox country.
WFMU is in the thick of a nine hour girl group marathon… you might want to tune in!
(and coming up, a live broadcast of “She’s Got the Power”—a free girl group concert at Lincoln Center today, featuring Ronnie Spector and La La Brooks!)
