Banana Nutrament

2008-06-04T21:09:00.002-04:00

Cool Psych Party

Yeah all I do is post good party flyers now, WHAT WHAT?!

More info here WHAT IT DO

2008-05-14T19:05:00.001-04:00

Arthur Russell Film Screening and Afterparty

2008-04-16T22:06:00.002-04:00

The Back Page

I think this is like the back of an Action Comics or something. I really don't know much about comics or Superman or any of that, but I love a sleazy end of book catalog ad. Reminds me of getting friends together for a bulk order of fireworks and whoopie cushions out the back of Boy's Life and going buck wild at the Webelos camping trip.

2008-04-11T22:34:00.001-04:00

I'm Selling My Theremin

2008-03-26T16:41:00.002-04:00

Dude. WTF.

I think my company Intranet is trying to tell me something:

2008-03-20T20:53:00.007-04:00

Angels and Demons and Windjammers

Mongo Santamaria - The Windjammer

Sun Ra - Angels and Demons at Play

2008-02-05T21:38:00.001-05:00

Psychedelic Shack

Let loose a shitstorm of psych records last month. Well, that and blues and mod/rocker/ted/whatever and some ugly exploito Beatles knockoffs.

Found these and more in a sauna-hot Brooklyn Heights basement one night after work. The only good for my ears was discovering Savage Resurrection, which I could have figured out had I paid more attention to that San Francisco revisit of the Nuggets series when it came out last year or so.

I think Thing In "E" is my new early morning Shredator anthem.

Savage Resurrection - Thing In "E"

Savage Resurrection - Tahitian Melody

Savage Resurrection - Expectations

2008-01-07T12:25:00.000-05:00

Ambient Record Party

Frankly, I'd like to see more of this kind of thing in New York City. Imagine whole swathes of dubstep nights closing up shop and reopening with industrial drones and Eno adulation.

2007-12-30T22:09:00.000-05:00

Obligatory End of the Year Post

Here are some new things I found and loved in 2007, some things people turned me on to, others I had forgotten about -- tracks and artists that made it all worthwile.

Black Unity Trio - Opening Prayer

Underground Railroad - Ain't No Second Best

Caetano Veloso - Gilberto Misterioso

Eddie Kendricks - My People Hold On

Arica - Thorn

Don Carlos - Lazer Beam

David Crosby - Cowboy Movie

2007-12-24T00:42:00.000-05:00

Street Photo Installation at Flatbush and Park Place

A wild photo collage laminated on thin wood went up this Summer, drilled into the wall of what if I remember right is a liquor store at the top of Seventh Avenue in South Brooklyn. Asking around, the lady who camps out there selling records on the sidewalk said her brother put it all together. A month ago I noticed some chunks had been pulled out of it, which is a shame.

Martial Solal - Locomotion

Same Martial Solal that composed and performed A Bout de Souffle, this time with circa 1974 jazz funk moves. Shocking that no Native Tongues type hip hop group ever got around to sampling it.

Leaders of the New School - International Zone Coaster

I really do prefer early Busta.

2007-12-11T22:16:00.000-05:00

An Argument for Gun Control

2007-12-06T22:09:00.001-05:00

New Age New Rage

This was released back in April, but it's killing me right now. Really competent New Age bliss outs by none other than Lou Reed. Metal Machine Music it's not.

I first composed this music for myself as an adjunct to meditation, T'ai Chi, bodywork, and as music to play in the background of life—to replace the everyday cacophony with new and ordered sounds of an unpredictable nature. New sounds freed from preconception… I hope you find as much use for this music as I have in both writing and listening to it and exploring inner spaces.” —Lou Reed NYC, October 2006

Lou Reed - Hudson River Wind (Blend the Ambiance)
**Buy Lou Reed's Hudson River Wind Meditations**

This Beach Boys cut is more white man ethnomusicological foolery than actual New Age prana vibes, but it'll do.

The Beach Boys - Diamond Head

Brainticket's Joel Vandroogenbroeck went on in the late '70s and '80s to create library records centered around the flute. Essentially, tracks on libraries would be licensed by television or movie producers whenever needed. Think original '70s Monday Night Football theme. His later work picked up in a New Age vein, without ever resorting to the Shadowfax / Windham Hill type dreck commonly associated with the genre.

Joel Vandroogenbroeck - Group Meditation

2007-11-23T15:14:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving Parade LOLs

So one time a few years back I'm walking in Chelsea and this Mercedes SUV barreling down the street almost runs me over. My return glare melts away when I realize Jeff Koons is sitting in the driver's seat, and he's shrugging me an apology. True story.

Jeff Koons Spends Thanksgiving In Macy's
A Bunny Balloon Sheds Its Steel Skin

Even more boring anecdote inspired by a night of drinking:

At the age of nine or ten I witnessed my one and only Thanksgiving Day Parade. Clearly remember overpacked streets, people jostling for position to get a decent view, and a pretzel cart bumped around. A plastic ketchup bottle had been knocked over in the scrum, all of a sudden a New York City police officer, who should have been directing traffic, decided that this was the perfect moment to apply his leather heel. I remember being mesmerized by his lazy stream of squirting ketchup, until I snapped out of it and asked my mother why a cop would do such a mean thing.

"New York City cops are bastards", she replied.

Huge impact on my tender young psyche. Still possibly sage advice.

2007-11-16T23:56:00.000-05:00

Excerpt from Dazzle Ships the Other Night

Great time. Thanks to all that came out. Dan and Jeremy were stellar hosts, even going so far to reveal the ins and outs of Heather's new $$$ Korg mixer, which I immediately blanked out on after a few drinks. Some of the evening was recorded, there's a small excerpt below (can't host the entirety of the four hour file). Dave killed it with the italo/disco/kraut and Silver Apples jams. Here's a slower passage I threw on earlier in the evening:

excerpt from Wednesday night

tracks:

Ashra - Shuttlecock
JD Emmanuel - Wizards Movement V
Pink Floyd - Obscured by Clouds
Walter Steding - Landing
R.A.P.P. - Guns, Bombs, Hand Grenades
Udokotela Shange Namajaha - Awungilobolele
Exuma - Obeah Man
Afric Simone - Piranha

Got that kickoff Ashra - Blackouts at the WFMU fair, traded a semi-rare Christian folk record to a well regarded transvestite psych dealer for it. She got the better of me on the deal, but I wanted the Göttsching mindmeld and in the end, who cares?

This week I heard about a Joe Clausell rework of the very same track from up above. It's spacey and nuanced, with underlying synth moves peppered throughout.

Manuel Göttsching meets Joe Clausell (Shuttlecock edit)
** Buy it Here **

2007-11-15T22:02:00.000-05:00

E2 E4 E8

I've been burned on unification theories before. I remember asking my Dad for a Parallel Dimensions pseudo-string theory book as a Christmas present back when I was 14. That hack job was turdulent with whiffs of failed PHD defenses.

Simple is better:

A Theory of Everything

An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything

E8 in Wikipedia

Is This the Fabric of the Universe?

I think bro sounds like bro so figure it out for yourself. The whole unemployed slacker surfer angle is just a clever, well played PR move.

Maybe one to keep in your back pocket for when the Large Hadron Collider is completed. Don't you like long odds?

2007-11-08T10:50:00.000-05:00

Dazzle Ships at Heathers this Wednesday 11/14 9PM

Come around and say hi!

2007-11-04T21:27:00.000-05:00

Lord of All He Doth Survey

Didn't get to go through Dollar Dude's boxes, but he seemed like a nice guy, and was game for a photograph. I went back to the WFMU Renaissance Fayre for another look this Sunday, way more crowded and finally some good bargains to be had in the record souk for those not adverse to a little haggling:

Jan Steele / John Cage - Voices and Instruments
Os Mutantes - Algo Mais
Durutti Column - LC
Philip Glass - Music in Similar Motion
Swami Kriya Ramananda - Song of the Golden Lotus
Wild Africa - Sounds from the African Bushlands
Bruce Haack - Captain Entropy

I should be good for a while, now just to hunker down for the winter.

2007-11-02T22:53:00.000-04:00

WFMU Record Fair 2007 Nov 2-4

The WFMU record fair is upon us again and I didn't even post up a flyer or nothing. Last year I not only forgot to shill for it, I even neglected to post my finds, among them early Folkways electronic/avant-garde comps and The Birth of the Y and not much else too memorable.

Tonight was a good show, it lacked a certain energy of years past, but elbow room is always preferable to getting hipchecked by dudes with dandruff caked ponytails scraping away for Beatles ephemera.

My video here is misleading as well as underwhelming, this must have been before they let in the unwashed masses for the 7:00pm crush:

Here's what I got, granted I sold and traded some records there so the damage wasn't as bad as it might look:

Robert Ashley - Private Parts
L. Ron Hubbard - Battlefield Earth OST
(this will either suck or rule, drone jazz duets between L. Ron and Chick Corea) [UPDATE: it sucks]
Kongas - Africanism
Baden Powell y Vinicius de Moraes - Os Afros Sambas
(never thought i'd come across this OOP samba classic)
Caetano Veloso - s/t
Caetano Veloso - Araçá Azul
Milton Nasciamento - Clube De Esquina
Indestructible Beat of Soweto
Ashra - Blackouts
El Topo - OST
John Zorn - Big Gundown (Music of Morricone)
Negativland - s/t (Seeland 001)
Terry Riley - Happy Ending

Two days left people!

2007-10-31T21:33:00.000-04:00

Boo!

Hands down, best Halloween costume I saw today was this teenage girl on 14th street who decided to construct a giant upside down L shaped Tetris piece out shoeboxes stuck together and painted yellow. Basically this:

Problem was she neglected to cut a hole in it so she could see. Fortunately her friends help direct her blind walk, but it was pretty great street theater watching a giant Tetris piece bang into mailboxes and almost wander into traffic.

IBM 7090 - Computer Beat Canon

Delia Darbyshire - Voice of John Peel

2007-10-11T14:52:00.000-04:00

Publishing the Sutras

Ziggy Stardust Comix

Think Before You Register a Domain

101 Zen Stories

--

Barry De Vorzon - Theme From The Warriors
This is what we fought all night to get back to?

Free Kitten - Oh Bondage, Up Yours!
Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard..

2007-10-03T22:39:00.000-04:00

Notorious BIG at Age 17

Finally come across something worth posting. This ain't ennui, I'm just picky.

and:

BikerFox!

Velvet Underground Acetate Scam

OMG OMG Pete Doherty's Guitar LOL OMG

2007-09-10T11:55:00.000-04:00

Office Revolt

2007-09-06T19:04:00.000-04:00

China Shop Find

Last winter I came across a moving sale and was lucky enough to find a nice no wave gem entirely unknown to my ears. And doubles of the Maximum Joy Stretch/Silent Street 12" on 99, but that's another story.

China Shop - Kowtow

Blistering stuff that puts the work of most post-punk revivalists to shame. Just give up and be the first to cover this. Insider credibility will follow, and of course all the blogs will love you. Then your agent will score you that Mitsubishi ad, and you can apply the $50K to buy ARP synthesizers and delay pedals crafted in editions of three. Pretty soon you will be flown out to Berlin regular like to play 72 hour marathon dronescapes in abandoned nougat factories converted into art galleries. Then you can fire the bassist because he just doesn't get the new direction the band is going in.

Listen, I have a sixth sense for this sort of thing. Call me Murray Wilson if you want to, but the first rudderless band to cover this will go supernova.

I'm not the first person to rediscover China Shop, nor will I be the last. They've been Hyped2Dead and are even represented on a digital reissue label. They even have Richard Edson too. What's not to love?

2007-08-25T11:50:00.000-04:00

Marlin, Grog, Madman & The Bomb

We haven't exactly been a source of useful information on Metal, save for some chat room hijinks and a few notes on the flourishing practice of reselling private metal. As crazed as that Overlorde insert was, something even better has emerged. eBayer iamthewitch has set us up with a detailed back cover image from one of their current auctions. Bid early! Bid often!

Here's Wizard's Marlin, Grog, Madman & The Bomb, I dig that each one has their own personal flair:

WIZARD PRIVATE 1985 HEAVY METAL PROG PSYCH LP SEALED!

And then there's the last word on this sort of thing, the trailer to Jeff Krulik's Heavy Metal Parking Lot

**Buy Heavy Metal Parking Lot here**

Barely related, I really dropped the ball and failed to write about the recent Banks Violette double exhibition at Barbara Gladstone and TEAM Gallery before the shows closed. Amazing stuff, sort of a hallucinatory cross between Burzum and Matthew Barney, infused throughout with a foreboding placidity.

I've seen his early work years back, and never really thought much of it, now he's grown into a formidable emerging (emerged?) artist.

Earlier work:

Collaboration with Sunn O))):

Lastly, in regards to art shows, one thing I have to put up before it closes is a reminder to check out Art of Music, A Show of Handmade Record Covers at Secret Project Robot.

Dan Selzer of Acute Records has a great writeup and even contributed a few things to the exhibition, read about it here. Thought the show closed Sunday, looks like it's ending today, as in three, four hours from now. I need to get on the ball with these things.

2007-08-21T20:20:00.000-04:00

24 Carat Black Biting Can?

The rumors keep surfacing from the beatdiggers, the samplers, the annoying wiseguy small-fish record dealers, about the two parallel paths crossing in the musical ether, emanating from soul and krautrock, both fetishized by the hard core collectors. It's really no surprise the allegations surface every now and then, as pointless they may be.

A groove from '72:

Can - Vitamin C

A groove from '73:

24 Carat Black - 24 Carat Black Theme

Even Oliver Wang picked up on the similarites, although "doesn't the latter sound like something you'd expect from Can?" is being a bit generous. I've heard from a few folks about a certain "borrowing" that's going on here, don't know, synchronicities do abound in life. Although, the prospect of an Ohio soul collectve hunkering down to listen to Ege Bamyasi is a pretty incredible thought.

Can / 24 Carat
(just for fun, don't hate, congratulate)

2007-08-13T09:45:00.000-04:00

Kicken Aus Der Jams

2007-08-10T17:35:00.000-04:00

Tony Wilson RIP

Just got a text from a friend that Tony Wilson has just passed away. Had no idea he was had been suffering from cancer.

Breaking stories here:

Telegraph.co.uk
NME
Sky News

I'll stave off any eulogizing and just say I will make sure to have a drink tonight in honor of this incredible man.

2007-08-08T20:41:00.000-04:00

NYC Subways = Bumbaclot

All means of transport done in by the flood, everything totally messed up this morning. You've probably already heard about it. Knew it would take forever to get to work so I just laid back and had a pajama jam dance party with my kid. Eddy Grant!

Eddy Grant - Walking On Sunshine
Respect!

Tom Tom Club - Rappa Rappa Rhythm
Parappa needs to jump on this real quick.

I'm fairly apolitical and often repelled by the media's insatiable need to crown new "heroes" every other odd week, but yeah, this guy kind of rules:

When President Bush’s staff contacted him to request a photo opportunity, “He was just, like, ‘Nope’

Also, it's people like this who confirm my belief in not posting intelligibly anymore.

2007-08-07T17:45:00.000-04:00

Social Registry Summer Festival this Weekend

Got a note from the label about the upcoming blowout two day mini-fest in Brooklyn of artists on the Social Registry roster, which has swelled considerably since the last time I checked. Quite a few labelmates appeared at the recent BOADRUM event to assist with drumming.

The Social Registry's Special Two-Day Summer Festival
at The Yard in Brooklyn, NY
August 11th and 12th

Full line-up is as follows:

Saturday August 11th:
Psychic Ills
Artanker Convoy
Ghost Exits
TK Webb
Samara Lubelski
Mike Bones
Sian Alice Group (acoustic set)

Sunday August 12th:
Gang Gang Dance
Sian Alice Group
Growing
Electroputas
Douglas Armour
Christy & Emily
Octis

Venue: The Yard
Address: 400 Carroll Street between Bond and Nevins
Directions: F or G train to Carroll Street / N or R train to Union Street
Price per day: $15
Price for both days: $25
Hours: 1pm-9:30pm

Advance tickets are available through TicketWeb

Mental excerpt from Gang Gang Dance's Retina Riddim DVD:

Theo Angell's psychedelic "Another Day Another Night" video done for Psychic Ills:

2007-08-03T13:10:00.000-04:00

African Record Center and Veggie Castle

Back in April I wasn't feeling too well and took a day off work. Had a lingering cold I couldn't kick and knew of only one remedy. Well, the other cure would have been to steamblast my lungs in a Russian sauna, but that's not very nice to spread germs like that. More on my antidote in a minute, deciding that an afternoon in bed wouldn't do me much good, a day expedition had begun coalescing in my head.

I have a number of African ethnological recordings all with this gold embossed sticker stuck on the back that reads:

African Record Center
1194 Nostrand Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11225
(718) 493-4500

Having always been curious about the place, I wondered if it was still around. Googling revealed few traces, a brief mention by Jon Pareles and an encouraging Nostrand Avenue shopping guide from the folks at ARChive, though both were horribly out of date. It eventually dawned on me that I should just call the place, a disconnected number would tell me all I needed to know.

They answered, and they are very much still in business. And only a ten minute walk to Veggie Castle.

Cool shop, kind of pricey stock. Lots of dusty Calypso, Soca, and Highlife records, with all the requisite CDs and imported books. I've bought reggae on Nostrand Avenue before, but I must have walked right past their storefront without noticing it.

Emerged only with the below, unlike anything I can place, sounds like heavy drum work with slashes of electric instruments peppered about. Long tracks too, but to nothing like Afrobeat to my ear.

Kapingbdi - Our Heritage (Excerpt)

Started to get hungy, so I headed over to my eventual destination, thee Veggie Castle.

I'm no vegetarian, but this place has incredible food, amazing tofu simulacra of real BBQ. Have hit the place up maybe three times before. Yes, it's a retrofitted White Castle that must have gone out of business. Love that.

Don't want to be that guy who liveblogs every meal he eats, and it was so long ago I'm not sure exactly what was on the plate. Counterclockwise it looks like two types of tofu BBQ, salad, spinach, mac and cheese, and plantains.

But I really didn't make the trek to Veggie Castle to gorge myself. I went for the elixirs they create. Sort of like a health food juice store, but far more variety -- maybe 40, 45 ailments treated, depression, impotency, lack of blogging, etc.

Had to get their #1 for bad colds. It consists of lemon, orange, grapefruit, ginger, garlic, and a healthy dusting of cayenne pepper. The woman running the counter looked at me dead serious in the eye and requested that I do not attempt to drink it all at once. Had about half with the meal and half later that day at home, my blood boiled a bit and caught the sweats, but after a long nap felt pretty much back to my old self.

2007-07-31T08:03:00.000-04:00

Michelangelo Antonioni Dead at 94

From the newswire: Michelangelo Antonioni, the Italian movie director whose depiction of human alienation influenced a generation of actors and filmmakers, has died. He was 94. Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni announced a public viewing of Antonioni's body tomorrow at City Hall, according to a written statement. The filmmaker died Monday night at his home, Ansa reported earlier, citing unidentified family members.

More reports here, here, and here.

For some strange reason I've revisited his later work (Blow Up and beyond) time and time again, yet am not overly familiar with his earliest films. Need to remedy that, had some luck doing so catching a few at a BAM career retrospective a year back but there's still so much more to digest.

Here's the incredible finish to Zabriskie Point:

I copped the Zabriskie Point soundtrack about a year ago at a little boutique store called Good Records. Got it pretty cheap considering the higher end collector oriented items they stock. Even if you've never seen the film (do), seek out this soundtrack as it's a great amalgam of late '60s psychedelic rock and folk. Can't go wrong with Fahey and the Youngbloods mixed in with heavy passages.

Pink Floyd - Heart Beat, Pig Meat
Jerry Garcia - Love Scene Improvisation
**Buy the Zabriskie Point soundtrack reissue here**

And of course, the classic open to Blow Up:

Herbie Hancock - Blow Up Main Title
**Buy the Blow Up soundtrack here**

RIP Michelangelo Antonioni

2007-07-26T17:33:00.000-04:00

Wild Style 25th Anniversary Reunion

I was in a poker game the other night and out of nowhere this young Chinese guy started doing the Fab 5 Freddy "Keep your eyes on the black" three card monte routine. Amazing how many people this film has touched.

From the Central Park Summerstage site

The Chief Rocker Busy Bee
The Cold Crush Brothers
GrandMaster Caz
DJ GrandWizzard Theodore
Fab 5 Freddy + special guests
Film screening of Wild Style
Sunday, July 29, 2007
From 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Central Park SummerStage

Before all the hits and headlines, before the bling and bullets, hip-hop was a comparatively naïve scene centered in New York’s South Bronx. Aside from the records themselves, nothing evokes these fantastically vital early years as well as Wild Style. The 1982 film by Charles Ahearn tracks the fortunes of a young graffiti writer as he makes his way from street artist to gallery attraction. This 25th reunion event will include a screening of Wild Style, plus live performances from legendary figures that appeared in the film, such as The Cold Crush Brothers, Grandmaster Caz, Theodore and Busy Bee. There will also be new works of graffiti art created live onstage and special surprise guests.

I stole many a shot from Wild Style (come to think of it, Graffiti Rock too) when putting together this breakdancing multi-channel edit a while back.

No inside connection here, but I am going down on record with my prediction that one of the special surprise guests will be Nas. He certainly owes it to them. I am also predicting that he will perform two and a half songs, complain of audio monitor problems, and make an early exit.

Two recent tracks are putting me in the mood for the weekend:

HBO - Wat We Do
FBI ft. HBO - For the Love

Found them on Rob Low's MySpace (not the guy with that video). More there too, particularly a killer Kinfolk Kia Shine and Beasties mashup.

2007-07-13T13:33:00.000-04:00

Vacation Time

Taking a leave of absence, not that I post so much anyhow. Going to cool out in the islands, wrap my head around a riddle. Unplug.

Trash Night was good to me a few weeks ago, walking to my train after work in Manhattan I came across a nice stack of records, a couple South American ethnological that looked promising, and some nice disco cuts. One being a Boney M African Moon 12" which I had high hopes for, but was a little underwhelmed by in the end. Another being the work of a young Caroline Crawford. I was unfamiliar with her but the cover looked good and reading the back it appeared she was a Bohannon protege. Her album didn't move me too much, and I'll have to listen to it a few more times before I dismiss it as a one-tracker, but that one particular track destroys:

Caroline Crawford - Coming On Strong
**Out of Print? Find out more or buy through here**

Can you believe Peter Tosh put out a punky reggae disco cut? From what I've read about it, he was pretty reluctant to even do it. No, I didn't find this in the trash.

Peter Tosh - Buk-In-Hamm Palace (12" Mix)
**Buy This**

I was staying in London about a year and change ago and the bar across the street from my hotel had a big sign out saying that Arthur Baker was DJing at 10pm. After a few drinks, we went over but the bouncer said that it had all gone down the night before. I'm sure there will be another time.

Rolling Stones - Too Much Blood (Arthur Baker Dub Mix)
**Buy it, but I think the release is a bootleg**

This is off of one of those Editions Disco edit 12"s that can be seen floating around in different stores. I guess they're bootlegs too, but at least an effort is made to excavate and recontextualize dancefloor fillers. I need to listen to the Belle Epoque original a few more times to see what exactly Douglas did to it (beyond extending it). It comes off as more frenetic and arpeggiated, but maybe it's all in my head.

Lee Douglas - Bamalama
**Buy it**

2007-07-08T09:49:00.000-04:00

77 BOADRUM Thoughts

It was incredible stuff, layers of echoed drumming lapping against the Bridge and the East River. Barely got in, I'm going to need to get over my hangover and take a dip in the Red Hook community pool before I add anything else to this post that I later regret. Suffice to say that VICE or Jelly, or whoever it was majorly dropped the ball, tons of space left inside the park, yet thousands turned away. Though quite possibly the line of people watching from high above on the Brooklyn Bridge walking path had the best view of all.

Here's some (admittedly terrible quality) video I took:

Edit: A swim, sun, and a nice long nap rejuvenated me completely. Check around the 1:20 left to go mark when EYE starts banging on his "guitar fence" of percussive guitar necks tuned to different chords. Much later, with little ambient light (almost certainly absent from the video) EYE pulled out an enormous trident and smacked multiple guitar necks like a mad Poseidon. Still, there was really nothing to see at the event, and I think those camped at the adjacent beach and those up on the bridge had even better spots:

Taken from a Flickr user on the bridge, epic shot of the snaking tendrils of drummers.

Yancey Strickler has a great writeup on the day, if you're interested.

The New York Times chimed in with a day of pre-event Arts listing, nice photography too. And now Kelefa Sanneh has his review of the day up.

2007-07-04T19:57:00.000-04:00

I Like How That One Dude From Harry Potter Has Basically Turned Into Thurston Moore

The one on the far right.

2007-07-03T12:41:00.000-04:00

77BOADRUM Needs.. You

Found on Craigslist: The Boredoms: 77Boadrum Needs your help

Legendary Japanese iconcolasts BOREDOMS, a visionary band who has spent over twenty years pushing itself toward new frontiers, will stage the most extraordinary concert of their career on July 7, 2007. A once in a lifetime performance featuring 77 drummers, and meant to be performed just once (on 7/7/07), BOREDOMS will create 77BOADRUM as a free show in the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park section of Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Located directly on the East River and majestically framed by the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park section of Brooklyn Bridge Park provides an arresting stage for this audacious performance.

Apparently, if you want to attend, you need to RSVP here. It kills me to link to a Vice Magazine e-mail collection page, but they tell me there will be no spam. And no RSVP confirmation either.

Heard about this last summer, when it was going to be put on at Deitch Projects, but got canned due to logistical issues. It's been a long simmering project of Yamatsuka Eye / EY3 / whateverthehell his name is now. Should be great outdoor fun, pray for no rain this Saturday.

Here's a better map of where it's going down.

2007-06-29T16:45:00.000-04:00

Byrned?

David Byrne, the enigma. Never know whether to hate or love dude. Get's all wacky weird pretentious but then he drops a monster like "I Zimbra" to make you reconsider. I still can't figure him out, and I'm guessing he's a self-Technorati-er (hi!). I dig his PowerPoint interventions though, I guess it's the office anarchist in me.

Talking Heads - I Zimbra

Byrne sits on the board of ARChive, an unexplainable Noah's Ark of 40 grillion record doubles situated deep in the heart of TriBeCa. One dirty bomb and it all gets shunted to Fresh Kills, good long term strategic thinking. That goes for you too, Filmmaker's Co-op.

Here's a quote he has about the ARChive project, I don't know if it's acceptably precious or groan-worthy: "I picture a library-like situation where the staff, instead of being quiet, they make a lot of noise - dancing in the aisles."

The ARChive is a somewhat mysterious place started by one pretty incredible person. I don't think they yet allow member access to their insanely deep library, but time will tell. Right now they're holding their (ir)regular record sale, nothing much there, with a lot of things left over from their last sale 9 months ago. They do have have Shuggie Otis Luaka Bop reissues for $2, if that's your thing. Sale runs through this Sunday. Here's more info on their sale, and a soon to be defunct Craigslisting. But the whole point of this post was Byrne and Talking Heads, so here you go:

2007-06-19T11:00:00.000-04:00

Google Understands Information

Sitting in the park this past Saturday, I couldn't stifle my curiosity about how the New York Yankees / New York Mets baseball game was progressing, without a PDA or any sort of mobile Internet connection I was stuck calling friends who might be watching at the time. On a hunch I thought I'd revisit Google's text message service, it came out about three years ago to some small fanfare, essentially you text 466453 (alphanumeric for GOOGLE) a restaurant or business name followed by an approximate zip code. Generally it spits back an address and phone number, which is incredibly useful. One evening after it's debut I attempted to check on a game by texting "yankees score". Moments later, Google returned back that it did not have presently have sports score functionality.

Of course, now it's been several years (and several billion dollars) since, so relaxing in the park, I thought I'd try it again. Here's what I got back:

And as hilarious/frustrating as that is, it wasn't even the correct final score.

Tha Swami Scratch - The Swami Scratch

Eberhard Schoeneron - Why Don't You Answer (feat Sting)

God, I sound like Andy Rooney.

The Sound of JHS 126 Brooklyn - Chill Pill

2007-06-15T07:47:00.000-04:00

Private Metal is Paying My Credit Card Bills

So a month or two ago I'm down near the historic Flatiron building and happened upon one of those street table booksellers that once carpeted the sidewalks of Greenwich Village. I noticed he had music, but it was the middle of the workday. Did I resist?

Of course not. I bought a Blowfly 12" and a later period Legendary Pink Dots release I was unfamiliar with. $2 each. But, the grizzled gentleman informed me, you would be much better off taking 3 for $5. I had passed a late '80s Roy Ayers thing in his crates that would likely bore me, but for a dollar, why not? Spent another 5 minutes trying to relocate it but came up empty. So instead I grab this silvery grey 80's heavy metal record -- put out independently by some guys hailing from New Jersey called Overlorde. The band photos were priceless, so I had to take it; knowing I could spin the wheel later and throw it up on eBay just to see what happens. I had heard before that this "private metal" microgenre had a rabid following, much like "random rap" a few years back.

After seeing a bit of early bidding I'm thinking I might actually get $20-$30 for this thing. The last hour of the auction brought in the heavy artillery and it closed at $102.

Amazing.

But nowhere near as amazing as the photo insert I just had to scan for posterity's sake:

Thanks Overlorde!

2007-06-06T11:47:00.000-04:00

Reintegration

"In popular arts, the question of tradition is very interesting, because most popular work is about 94% tradition and about 6% innovation, and that seems to me like a good kind of ratio. I believe that the function of culture that is always overlooked by people who are into the avant-garde and experimental music is not only to innovate but to keep rehearsing and rehashing what exists already. Rock music is a great example of this; there's always things being recalled and being built back into the structure again. Of course, what you choose to ignore and what you choose to re-enhance, what you choose to use again, is just as big a statement as the innovations you make." -- Brian Eno

Moondog - Dance Rehearsal

Bruce Haack - Incantation

Timothy Leary & Ash Ra Tempel - Space

Love Of Life Orchestra - Jocks On Ice

2007-06-01T22:11:00.001-04:00

Six Year Old Beat Boxer Named Boo-Boo

I don't like to do eBay posts, because it's not about the rarity or expense of the music at hand, but how it grabs you. I mean, I've passed on Gino Soccio for several years now, having seen him in every dollar bin and worse, but since caving I realize how foolish that line of discetion can be.

Also not so terribly fond of bringing eBay content here as it tends to blackout a few days after auction close. If you want to read collectible music ephemera commentary, head here.

Anyhow, this is too good to pass up on. A little six year old kid beat boxing with a vengence. Monster stuff, so grab the MP3 while it's still up.

Boo-Boo - Boo Boo's Break
eBay: BOO-BOO B insane 6 year old human beat box '85 EP HEAR

FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a showandtellmusic auction, found it myself, but you and I both know it will finish for an outrageous sum (EDIT: didn't sell) I have no interest in owning it, save hearing that MP3. The reason I'm mentioning all this is that I picked up the first Szajner Zed album on the cheap from him, good dude.

2007-05-23T16:18:00.000-04:00

Silver Apples Photo Insert

The first Silver Apples record was one of my "white whales" I thought I'd never come across, save at exorbitant cost. Due to its place in the history books and that psych/kraut/breaks trifecta it has always been priced a little out of my comfort zone. Got lucky with a good cheap copy last week.

Silver Apples - Lovefingers

Still sounds undated, no small feat. Below is a scan I did of the insert.

2007-05-16T07:56:00.000-04:00

A Blog With No Name

This might sound like something off Trans, but either way, it still ain't Neil:
Seelenluft - Horse With No Name

Technology is now stealing your MP3s, too:
Moodymann -Technologystolemyvinyl

Lynda Carter definitely doesn't mind me posting this:
Wonder Woman - Theme (Disco Mix)

Some real deal electro (no one will never find this in the wild):
Synergy - Project 5

2007-05-15T13:38:00.000-04:00

On the Internet, You Can Be Anyone, This Time Around

As I put these together, I am cooling out to World Galaxy (Alice Coltrane with Strings). So no disrepect intended.

2007-05-08T20:38:00.000-04:00

Crazy Dave Part Two

Sorry this has nothing to do with anything, nor do I even know what it is.

2007-05-07T13:52:00.000-04:00

Martin Denny's Quiet Village

Scored this Martin Denny gem, an orignal of the first Cymande, some Roy Ayers records, and can't remember what else at a roadside setup called Lyn's Attic two months ago. Call or e-mail her ahead of going, I think it's all contingent on good weather.

Martin Denny, the undisputed grandmaster of tiki hut exotica. Ping-ponging from the ethereal to the unabashedly corny, I've always loved the man's work, but the faux naivety and peppering of animal cries and Indian whoops has at times rubbed me as the worst kind of treacle. At least until I came across this quote by Denny:

"My music has always been like fiction, no authenticity; I didn't want to make African music--I only wanted to suggest how African music might sound."

Martin Denny - Coronation
Martin Denny - Quiet Village

Christian Marclay - Martin Denny

**Buy Quiet Village at CDUniverse**
Live performance of Quiet Village on YouTube

2007-05-02T09:41:00.000-04:00

Excepter DJ Set Tonight (in NYC)

Addendum: Now that's it's already happened, check the podcast here.

2007-04-24T08:03:00.000-04:00

Teeage Mutant Hardcore Turtles

I'm wiping tears from my eyes right now. I'm dying over here.

2007-04-23T08:56:00.000-04:00

Yahoo Still Getting Sonned By Google

Yahoo stock is tanking while Google's profit is up 69% this quarter. Saw this in my inbox today, I think it sums it all up nicely:

2007-04-16T20:05:00.000-04:00

Meltdown

Please replace backing soundtrack to Pink Floyd Planetarium Lazer Spectacular with this:

Alan Parsons Project - I Robot

And, below, a no wave sounding relic from the 80s, doubly interesting as it's not coming from some Lower East Side basement, but instead from a Washington state community college hobby club. Major eBay bait, and one of those 100 edition Creel Pone CD-R reproductions.

From the jacket:

The electronic music club of Edmonds Community College became a chartered club on our campus in april of 1984. with 30 initial members, the focus of the club was centered around the production of this album. The philosophy of this organization is to encourage and perpetuate the creation and performance of electronic music. We hope you enjoy this album.

The electronic music program at Edmonds Community College is rapidly becoming one of the most comprehensive programs of its kind in the united states. Eight courses in both subtractive and additive synthesis as well as private study are offered to help students develop and improve their skills on analogue and digital instruments as well as multitrack tape and computer disk recording.

Mark Hale - N.R.E.

2007-03-15T08:26:00.000-04:00

Thursday Oddities

Someone's selling one of King Tubby's bass speaker boxes on eBay. Perfect for Carnival. 7 hours left!

Amazing Craigslist ad. I am not responsible for it in any way shape or fashion. Go give it a vote for as "best of" before it gets pulled. Backup screenshot here.

It appears as part of the 2007 WFMU pledge drive the station has put up videos of the '06 drunken karaoke marathon. Real funny stuff, consider pledging.

2007-03-02T19:29:00.000-05:00

Don Carlos is the Truth

Don Carlos - Lazer Beam
**Buy it at Deadly Dragon**

Stock market is smoldering.
Iraq in flames.
And those poor people in Holland got decimated by the Lazer Beam.

2007-02-14T16:24:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day From Florian

I LOVES YOU BONGO GIRL (you are a woman, right?)

Popol Vuh - Ich Mache Einen Spiegel Dream Part 4

Been feeling this too:

Touch - Waterdream

2007-02-08T10:12:00.000-05:00

99 Records Insert

For the heads, not the mp3 leeches.

2007-02-05T23:14:00.000-05:00

Incredible Thriller Wedding Choreography

Found on WFMU, too good to pass up sharing.

Consider this an hor d'oeuvres until I post again in a metaphorical minute.

2007-01-15T08:36:00.000-05:00

Chicago House and MLK

I know I've put this up every year today has come around (2-3 years):

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

Mr. Fingers - Can You Feel It (Martin Luther King Mix)
**Buy it from Trax**

Also, Alice Coltrane passed away this past Friday.

2006-12-20T17:13:00.000-05:00

Oh Sweat

A Number of Names' "Sharevari" backing these dancers, circa '82?

2006-12-19T18:03:00.000-05:00

O Katten Gustaf

This might be better than the Steve Reich singing Pez dispensers video.

2006-12-11T20:35:00.000-05:00

It's Gotten This Bad

Great game, just a link now, so opening up my blog won't make an unintended exploding noise in your browser, especially if you're goofing off at work with speakers at max volume.

Yeah, I'll just be posting Japanese video games from here on out.

2006-12-02T22:35:00.000-05:00

I Have Doubles of This

Six days left and at $41K?! (as of time I'm posting it here)

eBay: VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO 1966 Acetate LP ANDY WARHOL

No shortage of pale blue eyes lingering on this forgotten Antikythera Mechanism.

2006-11-27T23:26:00.000-05:00

I Must Be Bored (A Tale of Two Compilations)

Because I'm blogging again. Either that or I have recovered from the shell shock of turning thirty a month ago to this very day. I'd love to share all the great WFMU Record Fair things I got earlier this month, but the turntable is half way across the room with no easy way to digitize. I was able to glean one track I've been digging from this Y Records comp off Soulseek though:

R.A.P.P. (featuring Archie Poole) - Guns, Bombs, Handgrenades

Didn't get the below at the Fayre, but have also been loving this bookend on the Earcom 1 compilation (had to buy that for The Prats)

The Products - Flesh

Sounds like an art school goof or maybe a fey cousin to impLOG's "Holland Tunnel Dive". Apropos of nothing, The Swamp Children and Don King also both have tracks entitled "Flesh", just noticed that.

2006-10-27T16:58:00.000-04:00

Good Day, Mr. Kubrick

2006-10-26T21:45:00.000-04:00

Les Vampyrettes

Holger Czukay and Conny Plank wilding out in the astrolab? I first heard of the record after seeing some Japanese collector selling it for obscene amounts on eBay, did a little research, and sure enough our good friend Woebot tilled this field some three years ago. Reissue desperately needed, or perhaps it should be included on a future Czukay compilation of some sort.

Les Vampyrettes - Biomutanten
Les Vampyrettes - Menetekel

If you're planning on putting on a horror house this weekend, you need this.

2006-10-20T22:28:00.000-04:00

Optimo DJs in NYC Tonight

A bit late to post this, if you're in New York and reading this now (earlyish Friday night), I'd imagine you're in for the evening. But I'll give it a shot anyway:

Optimo at Don Hill's

Skatt Brothers - Walk the Night
**Buy Optimo's Psyche Out Mix from Juno**

Acid Test - Test One / Simple Minds - Theme for Great Cities
**More info on Optimo's Psyche Out mix**

2006-10-18T21:00:00.000-04:00

More than Welcome Comment Spam

Christopher Wood must have dug up an old post of mine, the one asking you folks to help identify a building I ran into while record digging over at the Clinton Hill/Bed-Stuy Salvation Army. I'd like to repeat his recent comment on that old post, so it doesn't get buried:

My parents, Arthur and Cynthia Wood have been living in fear of the building department after a threat this week to throw them out on to the street without even their family possessions or artwork, and destroy their home of 30 years "Broken Angel". Last night someone placed a broken angel statue in front of my parent's door at 4 Downing Street. http://www.flickr.com/photos/onebadapple

Thank you to the anonymous donor, it meant the world to me and my parents as it gave us a spark of hope. Many of you wonder what the hell my parents are doing with that building. They always were building an outline of a dream, a building that was different from the usual architecture of today. They did this while never having enough money to complete their dream. But that didn't stop them for using found or discarded objects that we throw away ever day like the glass bottles that they used to create a stained glass windows. http://www.flickr.com/photos/one...nebadapple/ sets This is the interior and exterior of Broken Angel. My name is Christopher Wood, I have worked for B&H Art in Architecture (web site here http://www.bandhartinarch.com/) for the past 4 years. I am a stone carver and have restored such landmarks such as the Cloisters Museum , Metropolitan Museum of Art , and Grace Church in Manhattan.

My parents and I would love to give back to the community of Brooklyn and turn Broken Angel into a nonprofit foundation for music and the arts which would include a school and museum. There are also complete building plans drawn up by my father in which the first page can viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/one...2/in/set- 127493 But we need help from you, the residents of New York City.

All of your comments and ideas are welcome

Donations can be sent to Arthur Wood at 4 Downing street Brooklyn, New York 11238. I am at work on a web site with friends of Broken Angel to accept paypal donations
christopher wood | Homepage | 10.15.06 - 3:56 am | #

I'm guessing this all has to do with the big fire that Brooklyn neighbor Gumby Fresh notified us about:

It's a real shame, and we hope they bounce back. In case you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about, Broken Angel is a lysergic/baroque architectural marvel smack in the middle of Brownstone Brooklyn created by the family of the above commenter -- you may know it better as the backdrop to Michel Gondry's Dave Chappelle's Block Party.

No, I've had no luck at the above mentioned Quincy and Downing Salvation Army. Save for a moldy Roy Ayers side and some random 12"s, I've had no luck, though others swear by the place.

Once picked up Nas' Illmatic at a stoop sale in the vicinity of Broken Angel. Some would be DJ must have attempted a hell of a scratch on it because there is an inaudible curlicue embedded in its surface.

Remember "One Love"?

The Heath Brothers - Smiling Billy Suite Part 2

Vous pensez que vous l'avez entendu tout, mais, encore quelque chose comme ceci apparait.

Le Par Bongon Rockers - Apache

2006-09-30T01:00:00.000-04:00

Blogging Drunk is the Next Blogging

I've have this David Byrne album lying in my To Sell pile for ages, it's the score/instrumentation for a Broadway staged Twyla Tharp dance production called The Catherine Wheel. I don't know what distracted me when I first listened to it, but I pegged it as brainy pretension and banished it forever. Luckily, the governor called in a last minute stay of execution.

David Byrne - The Red House

The Catherine Wheel album is worthwile if you see it in the dollar bin. Some lagging spots, but a few wonderful moments, particularly the stray disco not disco oddity "Big Business" and "The Red House", above. Nice dubby moments enmeshed with tape manipulation, a sister to Byrne & Eno's "Qu'ran" I had up ages ago.

I've been playing around with Ableton, among other things, in my absence. Like most digital toys, I goof with it enough to get a minor mastery of its inner workings, then lose all interest.

Yello - IT Splash (Slowdown)

So that's the how the tempo slow with pitch hold functionality works. I love it, but your ears may disagree. Here's the original. No great accomplishment, but if you think the current deluge of disco edits stems from serious artistry, I've got news for you, the real innovation is in the software technology.

I didn't belive it at first when I heard Conrad Schnitzler did a disco record:

Conrad Schnitzler - Auf Dem Schwarzen Kanal

$70 and change? Worth it, but I'll never afford this one, nice chugging weirdness with scary cover to boot.

2006-09-11T19:45:00.000-04:00

Arthur Russell's Springfield Coming Out This Week

Steve Knutson of Audika Records hit up our comments section this past December with an astonishing confirmation:

And yes, the DFA is remixing a previously unreleased electro track called Springfield, which I'll release in the....spring. It's totally sublime.
Steven Knutson | 12.31.05 - 11:01 am |

Now that it's finally ready, I've had a listen to it; it's an interesting mesh of new and old ideas. The DFA knob twiddlers take a respectful, even reverential approach and tread lightly. The skittering drum programming doesn't do anything special at first, but things begin to gel after the horns are introduced. Reminds me of late Tutu era Miles Davis for some reason, not from the period the source material comes from or the trumpet work, but because of the interplay of boyish levity crossed with a distant sadness (something that infuses much of Russell's work).

**Buy the Springfield DFA remix and several other unearthed Arthur Russell recordings**

Below is an intriguing Russell disco edit, it's really not that much different from the original Go Bang! release, save for the newly thought out guitar loop and the use of female vocals from what appears to be Russell's, well, Dinosaur L's 24/24 album. Saw 24/24 in a record bin once and passed, much to my great regret. The one that got away (it's OK, it was just a repressing). If you like this sort of thing, be sure to all seek out Polmo Polpos' Kiss Me Again and Again rework, though it has something of a different temperment.

Dinosaur L - Thank You Arthur (Edit De Prince Language)
**Buy it from Clone Records**

Soul Jazz compiled Russell quite well, I think, with their World of Arthur Russell release . Problem was that even the casual listener would be familiar with most of the inclusions. They were at least able turn heads by reissuing "Pop Your Funk", a breathy dance floor head trip. Even less well know is the B side off the original 7", which exponentializes the weirdness for disorienting effect.

Loose Joints - Pop Your Funk (7" Instrumental Mix)
**Rumored to be 100 or 200 extant copes in circulation**

The elegaic "Sketch for Face of Helen" comes to mind walking through TriBeCa today, people are silent, the air stills. This is from my well-loved The Fruit of the Original Sin, an entirely different version with the same name can be heard on Audika's First Thought, Best Thought. Field recordings of what sounds like a downtown pier too.

Arthur Russell - Sketch for Face of Helen
**Buy The Fruit of the Original Sin compilation at Forced Exposure**

2006-09-01T13:35:00.000-04:00

Carl Craig @ PS1 September 2nd

Two inches of rain predicted for tomorrow. Hopefully that won't stop Carl Craig and Rhythm and Sound from finishing off the summer series with a memorable one. Only made it to the Rub 'N' Tug one so far, I now see PS1 has archived recordings of all the DJ sets from the summer. Find them here.

Saturday, Sept 2
Carl Craig (Planet E, Detroit)
Gamall (Demon Days, NYC)
Rhythm & Sound (Berlin)

Below are two disco-not-disco reworkings by Craig, hadn't realized until late that he's retooled these two favorites:

Alexander Robotnik - Problemz De Amour (Carl Craig Remix)

Telex - Moskow Diskow (Carl Craig Remix)

PS1 Site schedule
Advance tickets here

2006-08-31T17:07:00.000-04:00

Robert Christgau Fired

As unfortunately predicted here, The Village Voice sinks deeper into inanity with the firing of Bob Christgau today. A fucking shame, really.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

If this comes completely out of the blue, I apologize.

It is now official--Village Voice Media fired me today, "for
taste," which means (among other things) slightly sweeter
severance. This despite the support of new music editor Rob
Harvilla, who I like as a person and a writer. We both believed I
had won myself some kind of niche as gray eminence. So I was
surprised Tuesday when I was among the eight Voice employees
(five editorial, three art) who were instructed to bring their
union reps to a meeting with upper management today. But I
certainly wasn't shocked--my approach to music coverage has never
been much like that of the New Times papers,

Bless the union, my severance is substantial enough to give me
time to figure out what I'm doing next. In fact, having finished
all my freelance reviews yesterday, I don't have a single
assignment pending. So, since I have no intention of giving up
rock criticism, all reasonable offers entertained; my phone
number is in the book, as they used to say when there were books.
What I don't need is a vacation--the three of us just had a great
two and a half weeks, and Nina matriculated at BMCC yesterday.

No need to respond. Forward to whoever you will.

Love,

Bob Christgau

Down but not out, I think The Dean has a few surprises left for us. Note to the vultures at New Times: keep your mitts off Sietsema and Hoberman (I now notice well loved film and book critic Ed Park was also let go, he will be missed).

2006-08-28T06:34:00.000-04:00

Notting Hill Carnival

With the six hour time difference between here and New York, I suppose Notting Hill Carnival is over and done with. At the very least the street partying and sound systems have died down, about now people are packing into overpriced clubs or trundling through local house parties, attempting to squeeze the last out of their three day holiday.

I have some great memories of Carnival's past, from passing flatbeds dropping bass air blasts you can feel deep in your chest to my first taste of curried goat. The whole thing is bonkers and easily dismissed by too many, but it's a good time when you're young. Here's a list of crews. Great pictures too.

I'm still not so sure about Norman Jay, an old hand DJ who has built half his reputation on his Good Times sound system (killer) and his memorable Monday after-Carnival parties. I've found him grating sometimes on his radio show, otherwise I just envy his record collection and what he has built with it. Below is a downtempo track he'd pull out quite a bit in sets, I even pitched it down in an attempt to recreate his way of playing it.

D*Note - The Garden Of Earthly Delights

2006-08-24T20:48:00.000-04:00

Oneida and Black Dice in Greenpoint, Saturday 8/26

Nice double bill.

Map
http://www.toddpnyc.com/

2006-08-18T10:50:00.000-04:00

Banana Nutrament Cease & Desist Summer 2006

No, not shuttering down just yet. Here's that mix I promised you:

Cease & Desist Summer 2006

track listing:

Cultural Vibe - Ma Foom Bay
Excepter - Rock Stepper
Cluster - Prosthese
Neil Young - Sample and Hold
Goat Dance - High Voltage
Grace Jones - Feel Up
Udokotela Shange Namajaha - Awungilobolele
Led Zeppelin - Bonzo's Montreaux
Cookie Monster - C is for Cookie
Bohannon - Let's Start II Dance Again
Idjut Boys - Staeb
Grauzone - Eisbar
Leather Nun - Fist Fuckers Associated
Matmos - Steam and Sequins for Larry Levan
Nigel Simpkins - Times Encounter
Zed - Fremen
Stereolab - Dear Marge
Moodymann - I Can't Kick This Feelin When It Hits
Kelley Polar Quartet - Hammer/Anvil
Electronic Concept Orchestra - Je T'aime Moi Non Plus

2006-08-15T17:08:00.000-04:00

Best Infomercial Ever

Via aNYthing's blog, came across it yesterday (made my day). Great cover too.

2006-08-14T17:01:00.000-04:00

Escort and Rub 'N' Tug @ PS1 August 12th, 2006

It's already August and I hadn't made my annual pilgrimmage to a PS1 Warm Up yet. Missed a couple good ones already (Todd Terje, Body and Soul, A Guy Called Gerald), but no matter. We got there early to beat the lines and ended up with too much time on our hands, so after a few beers and some barbecue we returned to the opening strains of Rub-'N'-Tug's set. They started the day with a good hour of fast, banging house, surprising, as they're known champions of the weirder side of disco.

Live band Escort came on around 5pm, didn't know what to expect really. Top notch cover of Belle Epoque's "Miss Broadway". Sort of like a funkier Kudu without the borrowed Rent schtick and tired boho signifiers. Escort's Myspace, here they are below:

Thomas Bullock of Rub-'N'-Tug above. Rub 'N' Tug pulled out the spacey shit for the latter half of the evening. Still kept the BPMs high enough to bounce around to, whipping the crowd into a froth every now and again. Nothing from their recent mix rumored to be entirely comprised of 45s played at 33rpm, sample below:

Rub 'N' Tug - Sea Men
**Buy Rub 'N' Tug's Better With A Spoonful Of Leather CD**

2006-08-02T08:33:00.000-04:00

Genus of Genius

Amazing. New to me at least. It's as if the '81 self-titled album cover came to life, animating itself.

Bohannon, Bohannon, Bohannon, Bohannon. (can you believe years ago I thought Tina Weymouth was chanting "Mohammed"?)

Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde - Genius Rap

Grandmaster Flash - Its Nasty (Genius of Love)

Working on a hot mix for you people.

2006-07-13T22:09:00.000-04:00

Yo La Tengo @ Prospect Park Tonight (7/13)

The Celebrate Brooklyn! concert series continues tonight with a free Yo La Tengo/Samara Lubelski double bill at the Bandshell. I seem to remember seeing Yo La in the park some several years ago, doing a straight set; this time they will be performing their The Sounds of the Sounds of Science during an open air screening of surreal aquatic documentaries by Jean Painleve. One of his films is below (with original soundtrack):

Yo La Tengo - The Love Life of the Octopus
Buy The Sounds of the Sounds of Science here

Should be interesting, to say the least. Another notable screening/live performance coming up is Dracula on July 27th with Philip Glass and the Kronos Quartet.

Opener Samara Lubelski, busy producer and Social Registry signee, is also a favorite here. Finally getting a chance to see her perform.

2006-07-11T19:40:00.000-04:00

Syd Barrett RIP

Yeah, it's true.

CNN
NME

(fuck, never thought I'd juxtapose those two next to each other)

Thank you Mr. Barrett, for giving my teenage self a reason to actually listen to Pink Floyd. Your frail genius will be greatly missed.

Television Personalities - I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives
(yes, we know it's cheeky, but the man also had a sense of humor)

2006-07-08T10:58:00.000-04:00

Lollerskating Jams

Quite distracted by the fine weather this summer has brought us. Not nearly enough time to nerd out in front of the computer.

OK, Kraftwerk's "Numbers" might be the best rollerskating jam ever, but these two tracks, with their literalist approach, are tied for a close second:

Vaughan Mason and Crew - Bounce Rock Skate Roll

De La Soul - Roller Skating Jam Called Saturday

Apropos of this post, PS1 is doing some sort of benefit shindig involving roller skates and The Roxy. Still haven't made it to any of their Warm Ups, but I believe the Idjut Boys go on later this afternoon.

2006-06-22T23:08:00.000-04:00

Angela Lansbury in a Rude Boy Style

Chaka Demus & Pliers - Murder She Wrote
**Buy it at Turntablelab**

2006-06-20T18:47:00.000-04:00

Return of Banana Nutrament (For Real This Time)

I haven't been able to post lately, having immersed myself in video editing hell and unfortunately dropping my mp3 player, ruining its hard drive and losing around ten posts I had in reserve.

Anyhow, the heat and humidity here in NYC brings to mind one thing: steel drums.

John Gibbs & The US Steel Band - Trinidad
**Buy it from Tigersushi**

The above was a Larry Levan favorite, the man not only "made" records far better than any radio DJ could, but his hand is still affecting auction prices even today. Funny then that last week I should buy a wonderful steel drum rendition of "Kiling Me Softly" off a homeless man selling books and records only a few blocks from the old site of the Paradise Garage.

Esso Trinidad Steel Band - Killing Me Softly

I ripped this for you off the vinyl, a bit scratchy and poppy, but that's how we like it (sometimes). Ever since hearing and posting Esso Trinidad Steel Band's "I Want You Back", I've kept an eye out for their recordings, it's all a bit hit or miss actually. I scored a '60s record of theirs, but it was nothing special, really not much more than a tourist souvenir, like coming back from Hawaii with a Don Ho record stashed in your luggage. This all changed in the '70s when Van Dyke Parks got involved with production, introducing pop covers and funky breaks into their repertoire. More on his production work with them here.

OK, one more than I have to go:

Katzenjammers - Cars
**Buy it from Rough Trade**

2006-06-08T16:25:00.000-04:00

Incredible 16mm Educational Film About Electronic Music (Parts 1, 2, and 3)

2006-06-07T22:27:00.000-04:00

LOL Soundsystem

You can't throw a rock these days without hitting some electro artist influenced by John Carpenter. Sort of wish he had the same effect on the film world, but that's another matter. It's not clear if "aCarpenter" is a direct homage; I've heard tracks more faithful on a technical level, but this captures the spirit of his film scoring work, retrofitted for the dancefloor of course. Gucci Soundsystem is a project of Henry "Riton" Smithson and Ben "Fattie Fattie Bum Bum" Trucker.

Gucci Soundsystem - aCarpenter
**Buy it from Phonica**

I've been seeing the odd bill here and there for Escort, the Environ label's latest disco offering. I must have not been paying attention as I thought it might be one man, in fact nothing could be further from the truth. The collective released their debut 12" yesterday; Environ doesn't care for advance sampling of the mp3 kind, and we certainly respect their wishes. Escort is performing at one of the upcoming PS1 summer Warm Up events (incredible full schedule, they've outdone even past years).

Stream Escort at their site and on their myspace page
Escort is performing alongside Rub-N-Tug DJs on August 13th at PS1

2006-05-30T18:00:00.000-04:00

Boredoms in London

Have left the wilder stretches of the North and am now back in London. An unexpected bit of serendipity occurred as the Boredoms hit town just as we got back.

The Mekons - Where Were You
**Buy it at CD Universe**

Everything has been pared down to drums, onstage a quartet emerged, EYE manically conducting the three drummers while working samplers, synthesizers, and those glowing orbs from last year. The set included practically all new material, highlight was a pseudo tribal house number with Yoshimi mock wailing like a disco diva.

I've taken enough pictures this vacation, so I left the camera at home. Maybe look for budding David Baileys on Flickr if you're interested in pictures.

Some would say they peaked here:

But they're still going in new, interesting directions (from all this year's All Tomorrow's Parties in Scotland):

I was somewhat remiss the other week with my attack on Pitchfork. While everything about The Fall still holds, new info has surfaced on the Boredoms' new label and its plans to reissue material. A more recent e-mail from Vice Recordings was forwarded over, there will be no box set, but five of the Super Roots editions will be reissued separately.

Boredoms - 7+ (EYE Remix)
**In dire need of that upcoming reissue**

2006-05-25T05:23:00.000-04:00

Lost in Ottawa

Posting is going to be light this week and next. I'm supposed to be in the UK right now, going to Hit the North for a wedding in the countryside this weekend. Except last night we missed our connecting flight by mere minutes and are now marooned in Canada. I've had three hours sleep, not sure what time it is, and am hen pecking this on an Internet kiosk.

Sister Sledge - Lost In Music (Bernard Edwards & Nile Rodgers Remix)

The Fall - Lost In Music

Run Goole Image Search on "lost in music" and this sad little guy comes up fourth or fifth.

2006-05-22T15:35:00.000-04:00

Taste of Cosmic

Not just disco, definitely not italo. Synthy bongo afro ecstatic madness? Not really. Certainly some connections with those deeper sounds being made at the moment. Cosmic was a genre largely unknown to those musicians creating its finer moments, while the DJs of the era couldn't be bothered to chisel its Great Books into stone. Slippery thing, time.

Arpadys - Monkey Star
Fax The Fax - Fax The Fax
Mick Karn - Passion In Moisture
International Music System - Nonline
Koto - Chinese Revenge

Great interview of Cosmic DJ Daniele Baldelli by Daniel Wang here

More cosmic disco pictures here

2006-05-18T23:30:00.000-04:00

Zero: A Martin Hannett Story 1977-1991

late night, some time in the early 70's. a room in a house in south manchester. the tv's finished (it used to in those days) and all but the craziest have gone to bed. a motley crew recline in the room, illuminated by dim lights. ganga smokes snakes its way through the air like a vapour trail, on a mirror crystals glitter. on the turntable a record stops.

"that was amazing man - how on earth did they get that sound?"
"they must have rigged two 16 tracks together"
"impossible! they couldn't have done that without a flanger or something like that"
"bullshit! it's double tracked and d.i.'d through an analog delay system"
"recording like that is impossible"
"no it isn't"
"what'd you say martin?"
"i said, no it isn't"
"okay then, how would you do it?"
"it's easy" all eyes are now on martin. he starts giggling and says "i'd just get stoned."

c.p. lee. 1991

It's been tried before with FAC 325 and And Here is the Young Man, apparently Martin Hannett's influence and importance is too large to fit onto a single comilation. A new collection has recently surfaced, Zero: A Martin Hannett Story 1977-1991, further revealing the depth and breadth of his innovative production work. Track listing below:

1) Buzzcocks - Boredom
2) Slaughter & the Dogs - Cranked Up Really High
3) Jilted John - Jilted John
4) John Cooper Clarke - I Don't Want To Be Nice
5) Pauline Murrary and The Invisible Girls - Dream Sequence 1
6) U2 - 11 O'clock Tick Tock
7) Joy Division - Transmission
8) Durutti Column - Conduct
9) Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Electricity
10) Magazine - The Light Pours Out Of Me (Second Version)
11) New Order - In a Lonely Place
12) The Only Ones - Oh Lucinda (Love Becomes a Habit)
13) The Names - Night Shift
14) Basement 5 - The Last White Christmas
15) The Psychedelic Furs - Pretty in Pink
16) Section 25 - Friendly Fires
17) Wasted Youth - Rebecca's Room
18) Nico & the Invisible Girls - All Tomorrows Parties
19) Kitchens of Distinction - Quick As Rainbows
20) Happy Mondays - Wrote For Luck
21) World of Twist - She's a Rainbow

**Buy Zero: A Martin Hannett Story 1977-1991 at Amazon**
Fascinating BBC Online feature here

At times Hannett has been dryly acknowledged as the "fourth member of Durutti Column", shame then that they didn't include this Les Disques Du Crepuscule recording off of From Brussels With Love. The below is as dark and brooding as the reputation he kept, it's a fine composition of skittering drum machine, menacing guitar, and waves emanating from either a cheap sampler or some sort off off kilter synth.

Martin Hannett - The Music Room
**ouch! someone reissue please**

martin telling me that for every great leap forward in rock 'n' roll that i could name, he would tell me the new piece of technology, the studio location and the genius engineer/producer who at the very same moment changed forever what we hear and what we play. and he then named every single one.

martin taking his place in that role of honour in cargo, strawberry and britannia row with those arps and his beloved amd digital delay; changing forever the way we hear music...

anthony h wilson.

2006-05-16T06:03:00.000-04:00

Rappers Delight Club - First Ladies Anthem

Many, many months ago Banana Nutrament put this Sufjan sample up for any and all takers. RIP bro (directed towards the contributor, not Surfjan).

Sufjan Stevens - They are Night Zombies.. Loop

Some guy did a Kanye West mashup, but we were too slow to get around to listening to it if memory serves.

So it was with great pleasure to hear the loop in use by a group of young girls trying their hand at hip hop for an afterschool program. Saw this over at Sneakmove, we bring you the Rappers Delight Club (nota bene, we have no idea if they came across the sample independently).

Rappers Delight Club - First Ladies Anthem
Listen to more at Rappers Delight Club's Myspace page

Read this if you want more background, the cuteness of a posse cut by a12 year old girl hip hop troupe is undeniable (well, there's one boy in there too).

Also, no takers on the Bobby Brown or William Onyeabor samples? Ridiculous.

2006-05-15T12:10:00.000-04:00

Some Things I've Been Feeling Lately

Ultimate Breaks and Beats Volume 19
I picked this up this weekend on the strengths of "Rock Creek Park" and "I Get Lifted" alone. I'm no beat hunter, having little use for breaks records; but every now and then they wind up as wonderful accidental R+B compilations. I was blown away by the last A side track, something that sounded like the greatest lost Jackson Five song ever. Course it's really by an 11 year old Foster Sylvers, younger brother of Leon Sylvers. I've never bought a Breaks and Beats before, they're cheap as hell but I've always been turned off by the "if you bootleg this, we're going to hunt you down" warnings on the back of what is most certainly an illegal boot itself. Maybe I should reconsider.

Foster Sylvers - Misdemeanor
**Buy a possibly legitimate repressing at Beatstreet.ca**

Cerrone - Love in C Minor
I big up the inclusion of Cerrone on those DFA mixes from my last post, and not a day later I find a near pristine copy of Love in C Minor for cheap. Must be fate. Sure, that's worth $2 to me, and quite a bit more.

Cerrone - Love in C Minor
**Buy at Juno Records**

John Coltrane - Impressions
Almost a decade ago I was a music librarian in a dull university work/study job. Had lots of free time and a passable collection at my disposal, so I oscillated between Miles Davis' In a Silent Way (got it) and Bitches' Brew (need it), and John Coltrane's Live at Birdland (got it), A Love Supreme (got it), and Impressions (got it now). Impressions is a missasembled collection of live club takes, but "India" has never failed in raising the small hairs on the back of my neck.

John Coltrane - India
**Buy Impressions through the Impulse! site**

Sleeping Bag's Reggae Dancehall Classics
I didn't even know this existed until I saw it. Figured I couldn't pass up their take on the genre, and at the very least it had "Under Me Sleng Teng", so it must move into interesting territory. And it does. Christgau seems to think so too, as revealed by a cursory googling. In regards to "Under Me Sleng Teng", I've always loved the imagery of passing a joint from one house to the next, through the window to the next door neighbor.

Wayne Smith - Under Me Sleng Teng
**Buy Sleeping Bag Reggae Dancehall Classics at HipHopVinyl.de**

2006-05-12T17:51:00.000-04:00

New DFA Radio Mixes for Spring 2006

Title says it all. Three new mixes available at the DFA site, two from Tim Sweeney's Beats in Space radio show (Theo Parrish! Brennan Green! Cerrone!) and one from new(ish) signee Shit Robot. Available here. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the leadoff track off the first mix, Parrish's Ugly Edit 7 of GQ's "Lies". Love that loop in the middle that sounds like a skipping record until it snaps back into the groove.

James Murphy - April 11th, 2006

James Murphy & Tim Sweeney - April 11th, 2006

Shit Robot - February 2006

In other news, Tim Sweeney has his first bit of production work coming out soon, under the guise of The Flying Squad. The record he is putting out contains a Get on the Funky Train Re-Edit (Munich Machines?) sided with a Night Flight To Venus Re-Edit. Ordering info and more here.

Update: sample mp3 from Tim's record at Daughters of Invention

2006-05-12T12:48:00.000-04:00

Pitchfork News Now Just Making Shit Up

Two boondoggles in one week. A new low.

First, Update: The Fall Tour Becomes Slightly Less Chaotic

Whereupon we learn that Mark E. Smith, after firing his band in the middle of a US tour (no surprise there), has summoned fellow Narnack labelmates The Cairo Gang to be his new backing band. Intrigued by this, I contacted Emmett Kelley of The Cairo Gang and received this e-mail reply:

just so that you know pitchfork conjured up the fact that i am now the Fall completely on their own. however, the truth is.....the cairo gang is opening for the Fall for the second half of the tour. starting to 23rd. i dont know if i will end up playing in the fall, but just so that you dont think i am cool because i'm in the fall.
-e

Listen to The Cairo Gang's music on their Myspace page

Next, Boredoms' Super Roots Coming to America

Great news. Reissues of some very expensive and wonderful EPs are going to happen. What does Vice Records have to say about this?

"This is not true at all, I don't know where they got this information from. We are discussing re-releasing some of the Super Roots records in the US, but nothing has been confirmed, and there will not be a box set. That will wait until Super Roots 10, whenever that will be."

At least the Boredoms are coming to play Deitch Projects. Or should someone e-mail the gallery to make sure? It's not that hard to check sources.

Why does Nick Sylvester get booted from Pitchfork for making up quotes at an entirely different publication while the Daily Music Section is allowed to exist as conjecture and dubious PR release cut 'n pastes?

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2006-05-11T12:12:00.000-04:00

With Apologies to Nam June Paik

I've been waiting to a do a multi-channel YouTube edit for a few months now, it's something I've been playing around with but could never pull off. YouTube's Flash player used to load too slowly to work effectively in multiple windows, but now that a redesign has taken place, it appears their video streaming process has been optimized to the extent that the below is now possible.

It's a bit tricky navigating those miniaturized play buttons, miss and you'll load a new browser window. Sound is in the middle square. If you like it, there's another YouTube hack here.

Afrika Bambaataa & Jazzy Jay - Death Mix, Part 1
**Buy it at Forced Exposure**

Coincidentally, in NYC tonight, Thursday 11th, you can catch Afrika Bambaataa, Kool Herc, Jazzy Jay, and many others DJing at a Table 50 tribute/benefit appearance. More info here.

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2006-05-05T16:15:00.000-04:00

Martin Scorsese's Big Shave Short Film

This recently surfaced on YouTube:

I saw Big Shave in London at a Scorsese retrospective some years ago . Before you think its an aimless student project, remember, it's an allegory for our involvement in Vietnam. Or at least that's what the nice man on stage told us as he introduced it.

Now who's going to upload Italianamerican?

Quick little Banana Nutrament contest, what Scorsese film and what scene is the below audio track from:

The Chips - Rubber Biscuit

First person to post correctly in the comments gets the admiration of his peers. Sorry, no prize. What, do you think I've got PR agency goodie bags? No cheating please.

2006-05-03T13:30:00.000-04:00

Whitney Biennial 2006

I've been meaning to write up a Whitney Biennial special with a few observations and reviews. Problem is, I still haven't gone. From the looks of the artists tapped to participate, the curators have made a departure from past years and brought non-US exhibiting artists into the fold. Seems they have centered the field around four axes: blue chip names, staunch avant-gardists with critical followings, faddish young things, and dabblers better known for the music they create.

Of the last category, Daniel Johnston caps off what has been a huge year for him with an appearance, I'm eager to see his screwball pen and marker drawings. Momus is involved as a tour guide, for Lord knows what reason. Michael Snow and Tony Conrad are thankfully included for their cinematic interventions, as well as Jim O'Rourke, which is baffling, as the only other time I've ever seen a video work by him was in the Biennial of 2004.

One entry that piqued my interest was Dan Graham's collaboration with Japanther, entitled DTAOT: Combine (Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty, All Over Again).

Japanther - Critical Circles
**Buy it from AB-CD**

It appears to be a video of a live rock puppet show, and it seems Japanther has provided the soundtrack for it. Don't know how it will come across, seeing as I'm a whisker away from turning thirty myself.

Graham is best known for his role in the emergence of conceptual art, his work has had a heavy emphasis on deconstructing passive and active modes of observation and the creator/viewer dyad. He's been remarkably nimble in keeping himself afloat as a "name brand" artist without appearing to expend any effort. Over the years he's been able to pull off work that doesn't neatly compartmentalize neatly into existing conceptual frameworks, it's almost as if he works on whatever he feels like (mirror boxes, a Minor Threat doc, architectural musings) with the pieces accepted as artworks due to their intellectual rigor.

He has done some recorded audio work too. Graham predated Jason Forrest's punk collage work by over twenty years with this:

Dan Graham - Untitled
**Buy Just Another Asshole #5 at Amazon**

and put out a recorded excerpt of his study of the Shaker religion:

Dan Graham - My Religion, Extract from a work tape: Ann Lee
**Download more of Live To Air: Artist's Sound Works at UbuWeb**

which must have influenced the later development and creation of Graham's Rock My Religion, particularly the video's juxtapositions of the trembling ecstasies of the Shakers and the bliss of the mosh pit.

What finally will bring me to the Biennial is a free performace by electronic wunderkinds Matmos, happening this Friday, May 5th. Their latest album, The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast, is just about to come out, it's a whirlwind genre-defying workout, might be my favorite thing they've put out yet.

Stream Matmos - Steam and Sequins for Larry Levan
**Buy The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast at Boomkat**

In a perfect world, "Steam and Sequins for Larry Levan" would be Summer Anthem '06. We'll see what happens, there's no reason why the more enlightened DJs out there wouldn't pepper their sets with this dancefloor stomper. Truly, an incredible homage to the master.

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2006-05-01T21:53:00.000-04:00

Hacking YouTube

My significant other thinks I've been indulging in a little navelgazing, this past week she's walked by several times as I've been reading my very own blog. But I'm not, of course. I just can't stop watching that Spirit of Truth public access preacher video. I know it's everywhere on the internet now, but I keep coming back to replay it.

I've watched it so much that I've discovered a strange little YouTube hack. Well, maybe it's more of an artifact of how the video streaming process works via Flash:

1) Let an embedded video or a video on the YouTube site load completely. Keep it paused until the mediun grey line loading the data is all the way to the right.

2) Hit play.

3) Click and hold on the moving tab that shows how far along you are in the video.

4) Move that thing back and forth repeatedly. Don't be shy. Whip it left and right with gusto, holding the mouse button down all the while.

5) Let go of the mouse button. Now, click again and hold on the moving tab. Rather than pausing directly on a single frame, it should oscillate between two adjacent frames, creating a back and forth stutter step. Sort of a poor man's loop.

The Spirit of Truth preacher man makes for a great introductory example, because the static background accentuates the looped head spasms happening in the foreground. But try other YouTube videos, you can get interesting color stroboscopy and weird pseudo 3D effects. None of this is very new, I remember seeing a Ken Jacobs video at a past Whitney Biennial that created a much more effective pseudo 3D effect through a patented two camera process. And then there was the work of a video artist named Granular Synthesis, his frame looping installations produced similar unnerving quivers. It had a very complicated technical framework behind it, but it essentially looked like a YouTube loop.

The other thing that kept bringing me back to this video and what really torques up the insanity level, is the rendition of "One Nation Under a Groove" playing in the background as he preaches. I had to dig a while to figure out which version it was, obviously not the original, and there are dozens of covers out there. Perhaps it would have revealed itself as G-funk if the low bottom hadn't been stripped away on the video.

Ice Cube - Bop Gun (One Nation)
**Buy it on Amazon**

I picked up these Bose Triports about a month ago. Sort of a little gift to myself, got sick of listening to music on tinny cheapo headphones. To measure their bass response I used this Zongamin remix, among other tracks. The dull thuds that this track produced assured me these headphones were up to snuff:

Zongamin- Bongo Song (Jacko's Bongo Thong Remix)
**Buy it from Juno Records**

The bass levels on this Dabrye/MF Doom collaboration are just ridiculous, it pounds like an IROC-Z pulling into a Dairy Queen. I haven't listened to MF Doom for some time now, the dextrous wordplay is still there and Dabrye turns a corner with grainy synth overlays.

Dabrye feat MF Doom - Air
**Buy it at Boomkat**

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2006-04-28T11:27:00.000-04:00

Menudo Records for Sale

MENUDO RECORDS
Reply to: sale-148823499@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-04-06, 3:56PM EDT

I HAVE A FEW MENUDO RECORDS STILL IN THE ORIGINAL COVERS. THEY ARE OF THE ORIGINAL MENUDO GROUP. THEY'RE PROBABLY ABOUT 22 YEARS OLD. THEY ARE GREAT COLLECTORS ITEMS. I HATE TO HAVE TO GIVE THEM UP, BUT I HAVE NO USE FOR THEM ANYMORE. BEST OFFER WILL BE CONSIDERED. I ALSO HAVE PICTURES OF THE ALBUMS IF YOU'RE INTERESTED.

* this is in or around BOERUM HILL
* no -- it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Banana Nutrament:
when you say "a few", do you mean five or six records? i'll offer you $120 for five, somewhat more for six, but I should get some sort of discount. let me know.

Seller:
NO I ONLY HAVE 4 :( I NEED TO GET TO RID OF THEM TODAY SO WHY DONT YOU COME OVER TO PICK THEM UP OR I CAN COME BY YOUR PLACE. WE SHOULD DO THIS QUICKLY AS I AM GETTING A LOT OF INTEREST IN THESE MENUDO RECORDS. DOES $100 FOR ALL 4 WORK FOR YOU?

Banana Nutrament:
i really don't appreciate your tone. you might not know this but ALL CAPS is considered shouting, i'm going to have to rethink the whole transaction now, i am a little taken aback by your lack of netiquette.

Seller:
Sorry. How about only $90 as an apology? :)

Banana Nutrament:
you're still using capital letters. please lose the emoticons also.

Seller:
is your interest serious?

Banana Nutrament:
well played old friend, well played indeed!

my interest may be sincere, but i need to mull over that $90 counter-offer. there is much much to discuss.

you claim they are in their original untouched covers, yet i can barely make out a reflection. is there a small sticker on the shrinkwrap in the upper right hand corner? written in english or spanish? what is etched in the runout groove? KXL-389 or XKL-398? the answer will have an enormous effect on the potential resale value of these investments.

Seller:
r u for real?

Banana Nutrament:
my mind wearies and my patience grows thin.

Seller:
please stop e-mailing me.

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2006-04-26T23:11:00.000-04:00

Harmonic Shakes

Came across another amazing toy today. It's a very clever literal restatement of John Whitney's synaesthetic avant-garde filmwork, filling in audible harmonic relationships where only visual ones had existed before.

Click here to try out the Whitney Music Box
More about Whitney in Expanded Cinema, hosted by Ubuweb

No molecules involved in the above, but I suppose they look like electron orbits:

Soma Holiday - Shake Your Molecules (The Neutron Dance)
**Buy it at GEMM**

2006-04-25T23:44:00.000-04:00

Brennan Green On Blast

37 to 41 AD - Reign of Caligula
1978-1989 AD - Ed Koch, Mayor of New York City

54-68 AD - Reign of Nero
1994-2001 AD - Rudolph Giuliani, Mayor of New York City

Brennan Green and Roy Dank's Pop Your Funk party must be on extended hiatus or just went out on top, because it doesn't seem to be listed in NYC anymore. Perhaps they're too busy getting flown out to Tokyo to create ebullient italo/electro sets in a land where the cabaret laws aren't as stringent.

I've been appreciating Brennan Green's studio work ever since his sublime remix of EPOD's Pursuit, spine tingles and all. Green has been a bit of a journeyman, putting out releases and remix work on top labels such as Coco Machete and Daniel Wang's Balihu. The Feedelity connection is not that much of a stretch, certainly falling within the dubby Metro Area/Environ axis, suppose that's how he enlisted the help of these lovely people from the North:

Brennan Green - Little Ease (Lindstrom & Prins Thomas Remix)
**Buy it at Turntable Lab**

Brennan Green interview at Eye Weekly

More exceptional doings:

Dirty 30 - Red Temple Balls (Brennan Green One Night Stand Disco Mix)
**Buy it at Juno Records**

Brennan Green - Section 75 Drive (Reprise)
**Buy it at Flexx.be**

2006-04-24T10:08:00.000-04:00

Boogie Down Brooklyn

I've been loving this DJ set/podcast done by DJ Duckcomb (Patrick Billard), have had it on repeat the entire past weekend. Entitled Boogie Down Brooklyn, it's an expertly stitched together collection of party tracks about the borough with most of the records coming from now defunct Brooklyn labels. Pretty great idea and even better execution. Tracklist below:

Boogie Down Brooklyn - Mixed by DJ Duckcomb

Cutmaster D.C. - Brooklyn Rocks the Best
Sounds of JHS 126 Brooklyn - Chill Pill (Arthur Russell Mix)
Les Femmes - Yes You Thrill Me
Barbara Joyce - Message in the Love
Vivian Lee - Music Is So Wonderful
Keith Thompson - I Want What You've Got
Omar Santana with the Brooklyn Bandits - Acid 1990
Peter Gordon - Brooklyn
Master Jay & Michael Dee - The Sound of Brooklyn
Bon Rock - It's Alright
Futura - Feelin' Hot
New Paradise - Easy LIfe
Snaps Montego - I'll Cast My Fate to the Wind
East Coast - The Rock
Jeffrey Turpin Experience - You Are Just the Right Size
Boobie Knight - Juicy Fruit My Love
Arts & Craft - I've Been Searching
James Barnes - See Me, Feel Me

Listen to it over at A Brooklyn Life

2006-04-20T12:43:00.000-04:00

Spirit of Truth

This public access preacher video blows away the Average Homeboy from the other day. Dude is centered. And very, very NSFW.

I was thinking maybe this Christian Marclay southern preacher man rework or possibly one of those Jim Jones tapes to go along with it, but my bandwidth is still out and it stands on its own just fine.

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2006-04-19T11:06:00.000-04:00

Further Bloodletting at the Village Voice

The news is in, Chuck Eddy has been shitcanned from the Village Voice. The ritual disembowelment of what was once a great paper continues unabated. Now I never particularly loved Eddy's writing, it sometimes infuriated me, but at the very least it provoked a reaction. One could easily tell by reading him that this was an honest, daring editor who loved music, championing critically neglected genres such as country music or bubblegum pop as he pleased. It's going to be difficult to stomach his replacement, likely a spiky haired schmindie kid regurgitating PR copy.

The whole paper has going down the drain since the acquisition by the New Times alt weekly chain. Their business plan has been simple: use economies of scale of a greatly reduced editorial staff and self-syndicate content throughout its papers. Where that leaves readers of the Voice is uncertain, James Ridgeway is gone already, Nat Hentoff and perhaps even Hoberman might be the next targets in management's sights. If the New Times sincerely thinks New Yorkers will read a paper loaded with bland, synergized content from some would be writer stationed in the hinterlands, they are in for a surprise when their circulation numbers come in.

Ultramagnetic MC's - Critical Beatdown
**Buy it at CD Universe**

Critic Emeritus Robert Christgau is thought to be on his way out too, whether it will be a firing or an eventual hanging up of his hat from disgust, we don't know. I say hang in there for the severance pay, that's been my strategy in life.

I somehow know the New Times replacements will never be worthy of such a homage:

Sonic Youth - I Killed Christgau With My Big Fucking Dick
Christgau references this song in an interview here

A note to our readers:
If photos aren't loading or if you're having trouble opening up media from last week's posts, it's because I'm over my data transfer allowance for the month. A direct link to the Byrne/Eno mp3 on this post earlier this month BoingBoinged the server like all get out.

If you must hear posted music, head over here.