Sunday, August 30, 2009

Danny Elfman - The Nightmare Before Christmas Demos


I was originally going to post BOMB's Hate Fed Love today, but I found that it is available digitally, despite having looked for it thoroughly. I may still do a post about it eventually, but for now it's on to plan b.

If you don't know about The Nightmare Before Christmas, it's really worth your time to check it out. The stop-motion animation is fantastic, the songs are great and the characters very memorable. That said, credit must be given to Tim Burton for crafting the story and not allowing Disney to exploit the hell out of it with straight to video sequels, although they tried by doing two special edition versions of the soundtrack. The first version, which is a deluxe reissue, is pretty great as it features the original soundtrack, four of Danny Elfman's original demos (six if you bought it at Best Buy) and some covers by an oddball cast of characters featuring Fiona Apple (great cover of Sally's Song!) and Marilyn Manson. Yeah, seriously, Manson on a Disney sponsored release.

The second release was named Nightmare Revisited and, as far as I'm concerned, can be ignored. It features the entire album covered by today's hottest artists! (Insert announcer voice over those three words) Not all the bands are awful but I find tribute albums ridiculous, especially if the artists are there for their popularity and not their love of the source material. So let's just act like it didn't happen.

The only thing that would have made the deluxe reissue of the soundtrack better would have been if Danny Elfman's complete demo tape had been included with it. I don't believe the complete recording is circulating, at least not widely, but I came upon a copy MANY years ago (1994? 1995?) when a friend who worked for Disney provided me with a tape. At the time I wasn't so interested in the demos as they aren't terribly different from the finished versions, but time has taught me how wrong I was, especially after finding that almost everything on the demo tape is Danny Elfman all by himself! That's including vocals, of which I believe Sally's Song is the only piece he doesn't sing on! Elfman is a brilliant guy and these songs are great, so it really bothers me that they wouldn't release these wonderful recordings in a complete fashion, so I'm posting them for your enjoyment!

Before giving you the link and track listing, I want to take a moment and talk about the quality of the files included here. These are transferred from a consumer grade TDK cassette, of which the left channel is almost not present. This isn't due to deterioration, the tape has always been like that, and it is a major frustration. I tried boosting the volume of the left channel but got TONS of hiss from doing so, which is why I decided to post these as mono recordings using the right channel only. The tracks being mono is why the file size is so small, so if you're thinking this is a low quality encode, I want you to know these are V0 encoded MP3s, but only one channel. If it were in stereo it would be around sixty megs. It's worth noting that I kept the original, raw stereo files and if anyone thinks they might be able to make it sound better, I am more than happy to send you a copy of the raw tracks, but that left channel is awful. In fact, during Making Christmas, it's practically not there! So, if anyone wants to take on the challenge of remastering the tape, drop me a line!


Danny Elfman - The Nightmare Before Christmas Demos

01 This Is Halloween
02 Jack's Lament
03 What's This?
04 Town Meeting Song
05 Jack's Obsession
06 Kidnap The Sandy Claws
07 Making Christmas
08 Sally's Song
09 Oogie Boogie's Song
10 Poor Jack

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Below The Radar: The Best Of WordSound Dub


Okay, I guess I lied about taking the weekend off. I'm sure people here understand I like the WordSound label and it's very cool and unique roster of artists. So, it is with great pleasure that I share with you a very nice compilation covering the Dub element of WordSound. I'm not going to give a track by track run down because ROIR and WordSound have already done it for you! So, follow this link and get the scoop.

Props to Skiz at WordSound for giving me permission to share this goodness with you. Grab this one and do it now! It's a keeper!


Below The Radar: The Best Of WordSound Dub
Part One
Part Two

01 WordSound I-Powa - Dungeon Of Dub
02 Dubadelic - Operation Duppy Conquerer
03 Slotek - Born God
04 Spectre - Mayday/Nightstalker
05 Roots Control - Forward Roots
06 Spectre - Revelations
07 Slotek - One
08 The Weakener - Closed Door
09 Dubadelic - High
10 Bill Laswell & Style Scott - Crooklyn Dub Syndicate
11 Scarab - Fall Of The Towers Of Convention
12 The Eye - Stolen Moments

Friday, August 28, 2009

Disc Jockey DJ AM Found Dead

Adam Goldstein, better known as DJ AM, was found dead Friday afternoon in his Manhattan apartment, and a crack pipe and pill bottles were found near his body.

Goldstein, 36, worked at some of Hollywood's most exclusive clubs and parties as a DJ, and dated some of Hollywood's hottest personalities like Nicole Richie and Mandy Moore.

Cops broke down the door to his Manhattan apartment and found his body about 5:20 p.m. Friday.

Goldstein was open about his past drug abuse with crack, cocaine and ecstasy, but had been telling reporters and friends he was now drug free.

Last September he survived a tragic South Carolina plane crash that killed four people and seriously injured his friend Travis Barker.

Goldstein and Barker were the only survivors.
_

taking the weekend off and some updates


I'm taking the weekend off as I'm visiting family, but you can always send me an e-mail or leave a message in a post and I'll get back to you quickly. No matter what I say about taking a break, I'm never far from a computer. That said, I wanted to share some information about what's going on with the site.

First off, I'm sure you've noticed the new logo for the site. My great friend Bobby Makar of Film Makar Productions designed it and some of the variations that have made appearances here for me. He and I haven't settled on the final version yet but it'll be up soon. When I put it up I'm also gonna provide contact info for Bobby if anyone wants to drop him a line or ask him about work that he does. He's an ultra-cool cat and I'm sure he'd love to hear from you about the logos or any other work he does.

Second, there are gonna be some pretty cool posts coming soon. I've been in contact with Sean Carlin from Dink but so far we haven't been able to make our schedules come together. Sean is a really nice guy and I know he'll sit down and talk with me soon, and the last thing I want to be is a pest to him. Hopefully he'll talk to me about the unreleased album(s) Dink recorded for Capital as well as the band's origin and what everyone is up to now.

Third, I've been talking with Romulo Del Castillo, better known to the world as a co-founder of Schematic Records, one half of the group Phoenecia (pka Soul Oddity) and also a solo artist under the name Takeshi Muto. For the uninformed, Schematic is like an American Warp Records, so for people who love Aphex Twin, Autechre and Boards Of Canada, you'll love Schematic! Rom is super, ultra, CRAZY FUCKIN' COOL and he's provided me with all kinds of info on Schematic, the artists involved with the label and what is going on with the label and Phoenecia now. I'm going to write a very detailed post on Schematic and Phoenecia, and that will most likely appear within the first third of September. Rom also told me he'll be sending me some exclusive content for the post, including a now thoroughly unavailable recording almost no one has heard which he has given his blessing to me sharing with all of you! So, keep your eyes open for that post, it's gonna be huge!

Finally, I've been in contact with David Williams a few times in the last few months about doing an interview in relation to the Jungle Brothers' Crazy Wisdom Masters. David seems really nice but I know he's busy so we haven't gotten to talk about anything yet. This will be a very cool post as David was involved in the creation of the album in it's earliest stages, and he wants to refute stories about his being fired. Hopefully this will start up more conversations on the album and why it isn't out.

All three of these posts are really big deals to me because these people are heroes to me! Schematic has been one of my favorite labels for years and I can assuredly say I've tried to follow them through all their stages, so it's a dream come true getting to talk with someone who has produced music I love so much! Same goes for Sean Carlin, as he was a local hero to me and part of the reason I got involved in music and being a dj. I always wondered how someone could put out such a great record and tour relentlessly for it, only to have the label shoot them down. Sean is loaded with stories and a great attitude so I know we're gonna have a great talk. And David, like a lot of people involved with Crazy Wisdom Masters, has been very cool talking about the album, which is something no one had to do, and I can't begin to show my appreciation for them sharing their time and memories with me. I know they all have other things more pertinent to them going on other than talking with a blogger who loves their works, so I wanna give a big thanks to all of them and everyone else who has talked to me for this site, because I couldn't have done it without their help! Same goes for everyone who visits the site! I knew there were other people who loved a lot of the same things I did, but I didn't know I'd find so many of them by starting my little site, so I've gotta give a huge thanks to all of you for visiting and checking out my posts!

One more time, to everyone I've talked with, that has shared info with me, that has given me their time and answered my questions, and everyone that visits the site, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

I'll be back Monday with some more goodies. I'm probably going to be posting a really high quality rip of BOMB's Hate Fed Love first but I'm also going to be featuring those Danny Elfman, Nightmare Before Christmas demos next week. Forgive me if those don't sound perfect, but I haven't seen anyone else sharing those online so I think they're worth hearing regardless of quality.

Anyway, hope you all have a good weekend. I'll leave you with two tunes that keep me awake when I'm on long drives. SHE probably won't want me playing them in the car, but it's not her car and she's not paying for the gas, so...

Kyper - Tic Tac Toe

Ministry - Jesus Built My Hotrod (Redline/Whiteline Version)

George Clinton - Capital Outtakes


This is a continuation of the Smell My Finger post from the day before. I don't know if these tracks were actually recorded during George's time with Capital as a solo artist or not. In fact, the tape I got these on listed them as Cinderella Theory outtakes, which is definitely wrong. So, I can't tell you much about where these ones are really from, but Outer Space and The Girl's Got Pizazz are hot! There's No Place Like Home doesn't do much for me but I've met people who really enjoyed it. Hot Sauce leaves me cold. Sorry, really bad pun. Enjoy!


George Clinton - Capital Outtakes

01 Outer Space
02 There's No Place Like Home
03 Hot Sauce (Smoke Gets in Your Eyes)
04 The Girl's Got Pizazz

Thursday, August 27, 2009

George Clinton - Smell My Finger Demos


Back in the early nineties my family got a Prodigy account. If you don't remember Prodigy, it was the direct competitor of America Online and was marketed as an online community of sorts prior to the world wide web changing everything and the internet becoming a popular topic. The big draw were the forums for just about every topic under the sun. With these forums I started looking into tape trading with fans of Depeche Mode and Prince. The DM trading circle dried up pretty quick since there wasn't much available in the way of live or unreleased recordings, but the Prince circles were huge! I wasn't very interested in live recordings since most of them were crap, but there were so many studio recordings to get and I got just about everything that was available at the time. Most of Prince's studio works that get traded today were leaked and shared via cassettes from the very late eighties to late nineties. It was a fun group to participate in, although I was apparently one of the few that didn't try to fit into skin-tight outfits or sing in a falsetto. Seriously, I'm not knocking anyone here, just being honest. You guys should have seen the Prince conventions!

I had so many great tapes but most of them are worthless now, replaced by better quality MP3s than any generation tape I have or could have gotten. I know enough to get by when it comes to sonic spectrals, and those tapes generally look gawd-awful, but there are a few things out there which never seemed to make their way to the digital age at large, or at least large enough that I see them widely. I used to have demos and rough mixes of songs from Beauty and The Beast and The Lion King, which were intensely fascinating although they seem to have sadly disappeared. I still have a complete tape of Danny Elfman's Nightmare Before Christmas demos, of which several tracks are still unreleased and deserve an eventual posting, as well as a 90 minute cassette of truly rare Lucky Pierre recordings, many of which also remain unreleased, but some of the weirder stuff rests on a cassette I received, I believe, in 1991.

The 1991 cassette is a collection of tracks intended for George Clinton's Hey Man... Smell My Finger, his second album for Prince's Paisley Park label and then heralded by many as a major return to form for the soulful funkateer. I had received a different cassette of tracks from these sessions a month or two earlier that I had neglected to examine in depth because the tape speed was seriously flawed making the recording difficult to focus on, but this one was spot on. Despite being referred to as demos, these recordings sounded rather complete in parts, making me wonder what else could be added to these songs. Well, a lot actually as several of the tracks were removed and others were dramatically reinvented, making the album sound a lot less like a Prince-related production and more like a genuine P-Funk document.

When the album came out, GC got some good press but, like most Paisley Park releases, it was under-promoted as hell, sold miserably and went out of print quick. It was actually a pretty damn nice album, which makes it's non-availability a real shame, but it did get a lot of hype within the Prince community and made me want to hear anything else I could that was P-Funk related. It's also worth noting that it sparked tons of questions about Prince's involvement in the album, as there is definitely a Princely vibe stirring beneath the surface and there were strong rumors that Prince was heavily involved in the album's production. GC publicly stated at one point that Prince was "all over that album", but his name only appeared directly on the album's weakest track, The Big Pump.

These "demos", which I'm not sure is an appropriate label (listen to the horn sections! don't sound like demos to me!), are pretty damn awesome, yet despite the Prince involvement, I haven't seen them traded in the Prince community for a long time nor have I seen many mentions of them online otherwise. Alternate versions of some of the tracks do appear in some Prince collections, but this tape seems pretty much ignored.

All of these tracks were transferred by me earlier today and, apart from removing excessive silence at the end of certain cuts, you're getting the unedited Smell My Finger portion of the cassette. So please take a listen and enjoy this fine funky find!


George Clinton - Smell My Finger Demos

01 The Flag Was Still There
This isn't all that terribly different from the released version of this track, although I do prefer the sparser production over the bombastic tones of the finished version. Oooh, I sounded kinda poetic there!
02 Rhythm & Rhyme
This is completely different from the finished version. Bootsy and Shock-G/Humpty Hump are nowhere in sight. George is rapping off the beat all over this track, and it sounds pretty lame. The finished one is far superior, but this is still interesting to hear.
03 Dis Beat Disrupts
The Prince-involvement argument really heats up here. Housequake is both sampled and mentioned here over a simple drum machine and backwards beep loop with a little sitar thrown in for good measure. TC Ellis, whom I'm sure almost no one has ever heard of, does a little rapping here. The finished version is a little more energetic but this version is funky!
04 Kickback
A less convoluted version of the track that made the final album. Simpler and better for it.
05 Oil Spill
Damn glad this track did not make the album. Rather dated commentary on the first Iraq war. Never really cared for this track anyway.
06 Way Up
This is a slightly different version of the instrumental of the same name featured on the finished album, although George shows up here to recite part of his rap from Martial Law in a more relaxed voice.
07 We Can Funk
This track puts things in perspective, dating some of these recordings to 1989 or 1990. The backing track on this version is identical to the version on Graffiti Bridge, although Prince is almost invisible here, at least vocally, as he only shows up towards the end. All other vocals are handled by GC and friends.
08 Your Mother
I guess GC's son, Trey Lewd, has done part of this rap somewhere or other, but this track otherwise remains unreleased. Pretty funky stuff, although George's vocals appear nowhere on the track.
09 High In My Hello
This is another track that never grew on me here or when it was finished, although this somewhat simpler version, not featuring George's ranting, is far more acceptable. This track cuts off at the end as the tape ran out, but from hearing another copy I can safely attest that you're not missing anything. The ending loops and voices merely continue to repeat over and over and over and over.....
10 Pony
Once again, it's clear Prince is here, all the way from the percussion track to his background vocals on the chorus. Catchy track which, while it wouldn't have fit on the finished album as is, could have been really great with some additional polish. To be honest, this could have been released as is because it's just a fun dance track. As simple as it is, don't tell me you couldn't hear some DJ playing it and people dancing like crazy to it. A keeper!
11 Booty
This was retooled and issued as the B-Side to Paint The White House Black. I prefer this version. More nasty sex-funk from GC.
12 Get Satisfied
This is an easy winner, and it wasn't changed too drastically upon release. I think there might have been some more synths on the finished version and the pitch may have been adjusted, but clearly they knew not to mess with something that worked. Great track!
13 This Groove (Is Gonna Make You Move)
Funky track that should have seen release in one form or another. I wonder if Prince being involved may have kept this from being resurrected in one form or another, although I do know Prince owns the rights to EVERYTHING that was released on Paisley Park. The guy who complained about majors hoarding his masters is doing just the same as an indie-guy. grumble grumble grumble

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Prick - Prick: Alternate Version


Kevin McMahon is an Ohio hero. In the seventies and eighties he fronted Lucky Pierre, a glam rock group deserving of a major label contract but unable to secure one for reasons unknown. In the early nineties Mr. McMahon got a solo contract with a young Interscope Records and went to work with Warne Livesey when he had a chance run in with an old pal of his, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor. Trent and Kevin go way back having worked together on the Cleveland scene. Trent even played sax on Lucky Pierre's Communique EP, sounding decidedly non-Nails like. Regardless, Trent took Kevin back to the studio and produced some new, industrialized recordings of Lucky Pierre songs, and with that, Kevin became a member of Trent's Nothing Records family and gained the band name Prick.

Prick toured and gained airplay with their song Animal, but Kevin was always a recluse and he quickly disappeared back into his personal life. For years there were rumors about a new album for Nothing Records but that never happened. A second Prick album as well as a new Lucky Pierre album did receive independent releases, but a lot of people, for understandable reasons, never got to hear them.

I won't be posting any other Prick or Lucky Pierre goodies as they are all available legally via Kevin's website, Lucky Pierre Music, but today's post is an early, slightly different version of the self-titled Prick album, of which the released version is no longer available. The track order is different and some of the mixes are a little different, but it's not THAT different, so please don't expect some rough demos or anything. Apparently this version was given out as a promotional cassette and was clearly close to being released, but something happened and, apart from a promotional single for Communique, none of the different mixes showed up anywhere else.

Apart from the track order and the mix of Communique, the only other big differences are the version of Riverhead, which has a completely different ending from the released version, and Other People which has a significantly different mix. So, if you dig NIN or are a certified NINny as I've heard them called, this will be right up your alley. If you like good, strong songwriting you'll also find yourself playing this album incessantly! Finally, if you dig what you're hearing, visit Lucky Pierre Music and buy something, be it a physical release or digital download. The Lucky Pierre compilation alone is worth your time, but I'm sure you'll find yourself fascinated with the rest of the goodness to be found there!

By the way, I'd be doing you a disservice not to mention the excellent fan site, luckyPRICK. Visit them for a great run down on Kevin's music and projects.

Prick - Prick: Alternate Version

01 Communique
02 Animal
03 Other People
04 Riverhead
05 I Apologise
06 No Fair Fights
07 I Got It Bad
08 Tough
09 Crack
10 Makebelieve


PS - Follow this link for photos of a copy of the promo cassette this version of the album was released upon.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

FZ Answering Machine Messages


I don't know where they came from, I don't know who they were made for and I don't know when they were recorded. All I know is this is definitely FZ and this is definitely entertaining!

As there are some FZ snipes around the blogosphere, and I understand their wraths can be lethal, I'm playing this one down a bit. Just grab it and enjoy one hell of a unique obscurity!


...

Sire Records: Just Say Yesterday


Recently I found myself in the city of Mentor for work. There used to be a decent indie shop named Ultrasound there and I figured, in my spare time, I'd drive by and see if it was still there. Well, I didn't find Ultrasound but I did find a Record Den!

I don't know if Record Den was ever a national chain but it was at least state wide in Ohio and I remember shopping there as a kid. There were plenty of Record Den's in the malls and most had a good selection of records, but this store was incredible! Not since Westlake's dearly departed My Generation have I seen a store as loaded with well-priced CDs that actually represent a diverse collection of music, and the people there knew the answers to my questions! It was awesome! I ended up getting a sealed copy of the Miles Davis On The Corner box as well as the first two Crazy Horse albums!

The coolest find was their ridiculous selection of Warner cut-outs that they purchased en masse from their distributor. Greatest hits collections, deluxe Rhino Records box-sets, all kinds of goodness! I ended up purchasing the Just Say Sire compilation, covering the Sire label's punk and new wave years all the way to it's early nineties releases. It's a very nice package with three CDs and a DVD but, as nice as it is, I didn't feel it did a proper job of telling the story. For one thing, the set ignores the label's existence prior to the late seventies and the DVD has a rather limited selection of videos. None of the songs on the DVD appear on the CDs, and there are several glaring exceptions like M's Pop Muzik, the Pretenders' Brass In Pocket and Aphex Twin's Come To Daddy. On top of that, there are TONS of quotes from artists and people involved with the label, which sounds nice on paper, but there are so many quotes that it seems like they're patting themselves on the back.

Now don't get me wrong, it's a very nice compilation, just maybe a bit self-indulgent. That said, the powers that be at Sire may have done a better job over fifteen years ago, although that attempt was flawed too. In 1992, as volume six of Sire's Just Say Yes sampler series, Just Say Yesterday collected sixteen not-quite classics spanning the years 1977 to 1984. Several of these tracks have become legitimate classics in their own rights since the early nineties, but at the time of this compilation groups like the Normal, Plastic Bertrand and the Rezillos hadn't received their pop culture badges of honor quite yet. Overall, this makes Just Say Yesterday a great overview of early Sire releases that may not have become giant hits but should have been, and it's even better for leaving out the obvious hits that appeared along-side these great not-quites.

As great as this compilation is, it's missing practically any information about the artists and their songs beyond publishing and production info. There isn't even info as to what albums these songs may have been available on, which is odd since, at least until that point, the Just Say Yes comps were overflowing with information about the featured artists and their previous and forthcoming releases. The advent of the internet has made this task so much easier than it ever could have been in 1992, but there really should be no excuse for a label as notoriously diligent to researching their artists and sharing such details as Sire leaving this blank.

Anyway, regardless of the lack of information about the contained artists and releases, this is an awesome compilation and you should download it tout suite! I've also tried to give a little info about everything contained here but please forgive me as that's a lot of research to compile and I can't guarantee it's as complete as I'd like it to be. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy this post and I want to give a big shout-out to all the artists and people involved in the release of this compilation. It's releases like these that really inspired me to dig deeper in music in my teen years.


Just Say Yesterday: Vol. VI Of Just Say Yes

01 B-Movie - Nowhere Girl
B-Movie only had one album, 1985's Forever Running, but Nowhere Girl could be easily labeled a New Wave staple. With Graham Boffey on drums, Rick Holliday on keyboards, guitarist Paul Statham and singer Steve Hovington, the band formed in 1979, yet that album is the only document of their sound.

02 Tin Tin - Kiss Me
Stephen Duffy was a founding member of Duran Duran but left to go solo as Tin Tin. Odd career move, eh? Great song though, which was followed up with the 1984 album The Ups and Downs.

03 Tim Scott - Swear
I had a lot of difficulty researching Mr. Scott. Apparently his full name is Tim Scott McConnell and Swear later became a hit for Sheena Easton. You can get more info at his official site.

04 Blancmange - Don't Tell Me
Blancmange consisted of singer/guitarist Neil Arthur and keyboardist Stephen Luscombe. Don't Tell Me is from their second album, 1984's Mange Tout.

05 Madness - One Step Beyond...
The nutty boys themselves, Madness were a big name of the early eighties ska revival. One Step Beyond is from the 1979 album of the same name. You've gotta see the video!

06 Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi (This Life's For Me)
Plastic Bertrand is better known as Roger Jouret. A native of Belgium, he was the drummer for Hubble Bubble. Ca Plane Pour Moi is kind of a cross between the Beach Boys and the Ramones with apparently nonsensical French lyrics. Thoroughly unforgettable, this track eventually appeared on an album of the same name. What's not as widely known is that the backing track is identical to that of Jet Boy, Jet Girl, a song by the band Elton Motello. Jouret was involved with that song's creation, although it's still a bit odd how the backing track went on to be used for a completely new song. It's also worth noting that Jet Boy, Jet Girl had pretty raunchy lyrics about sexual relations between two boys when one leaves the other for a girl.

07 M - Pop Muzik
Robin Scott is M. M is catchy. Not much else to say. See their wikipedia reference if that disappoints you.

08 Specimen - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Who? What? Here.

09 Dead Boys - Caught With The Meat In Your Mouth
Glam punk snots from Cleveland whose debut album, Young, Loud & Snotty, is appropriately named. Expect sex, bad attitudes and VD and you have a good idea what you're getting into with the Dead Boys. Drugs and death lead to their end, but their debut and it's follow up, We Have Come For Your Children, are worthy of your attention.

10 Patti Smith - Piss Factory
I respect Patti Smith's works and give her credit for what she has done, especially in regards to Horses, but she's not a favorite of mine. Suffice it to say I'm probably a little prejudiced here as I get the impression most people know everything they need to know about Ms. Smith already, especially if they've heard Gloria, but if you're unfamiliar, be prepared for some slightly pretentious poetry reading and angry tone. Nice piano though which I'm assuming gets credited to Lenny Kaye's production. Okay, let's move away from Ms. Smith. Slowly, slowly...

11 The Rezillos - Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight
The Rezillos might be better known for their hit Top Of The Pops, but Kicked is just as memorable and also appeared on their album Can't Stand The Rezillos. Their style varied from song to song so don't expect them to sound as mean the next time you hear one of their jams. They broke up in 1978 but the album is still available and still a lot of fun.

12 Aztec Camera - Jump
Roddy Frame is essentially Aztec Camera. His songwriting has been compared to Elvis Costello but I don't know about the sound. Jump is a cover of the Van Halen classic. Yes, that Van Halen. It's VERY mellow compared to the original, so it might seem like a bit of a novelty, but it's actually a rather pretty take on the original.

13 The Bluebelles - Cath
Consisting of guitarist Robert "Bobby Bluebell" Hodgens, singer Kenneth McClusky, drummer Dave McClusky, guitarist Russell Irvin and bassist Lawrence Donegan, the Bluebelles were from Scotland and formed in 1980. They only had one full-length release, 1984's Sisters.

14 The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Noted by John Peel as his all time favorite song, the Undertones' Teenage Kicks is a certifiable classic! The band originated from Northern Ireland and released their eponymous debut in 1979. Definitely worth looking into a little further, that album and a career spanning compilation are still available.

15 Silicon Teens - Memphis Tennessee
Daniel Miller is the founder of Mute Records. Apart from that, he is probably best known for producing early Mute releases for bands like Depeche Mode, but he had his own musical intentions in the late seventies. The Silicon Teens were marketed as a group who covered a number of early rock n' roll records, but in reality is was purely Mr. Miller. They released one album, Music For Parties, which is a lot of fun.

16 The Normal - Warm Leatherette
Once again, Daniel Miller provides us with a minimal electronic classic, although this one is notably darker than his work as Silicon Teens. This was the A-Side of the Normal's only release, the Warm Leatherette single, which contained T.V.O.D. on the B-Side.

Monday, August 24, 2009

AFX - Analogue Bubblebath 5


A long time ago, well not that long ago, there was a man who went by the name Aphex Twin. Matter of fact, he still does! But he also went by the name AFX, which is kinda the same thing, and that's important to know because he had a bunch of other names he worked under as well. Under these many names, he recorded many albums worth of material, much of it never released and most likely to remain that way.

During his days of living in a tank, not sleeping, making his own keyboards and owning a communal house that he let all his friends live in and take copious amounts of acid at, he continued to record music and, when not releasing it through standard channels like Warp Records, he would release them through his own label, Rephlex. In fact, at one point he decided to release eleven very limited records on the Rephlex label via mail order, and all was good. Well, at least until part of the release got messed up and some people didn't get their records.

To rectify the errors, without telling any of these disappointed fans, our hero made a VERY limited pressing of a long unreleased album recorded as AFX and mailed them along with the corrected orders. This album, named Analogue Bubblebath 5 and previously only available via very poor quality bootlegs, calmed all tempers and soothed all sadness as the fans realized they now owned something very special and rare, and all was well. Then someone ripped the vinyl and posted a really high quality copy online and now we can all share in the fun! I love it when a plan comes together!

All the tracks are untitled so I am only providing the download link. This isn't likely to ever get a proper release so enjoy this excellent quality copy!


AFX - Analogue Bubblebath 5

Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Avalanches - Gimix


Cut-up music has been really important to me for a long time. I'm sure it's obvious that I enjoy a wide range of musical styles, but the juxtapositions contained in cut-up records really captured my imagination when I was younger and still do to this day. Two of the first cut-up records I remember hearing were Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam's Let The Beat Hit 'Em, which was featured in my July mixtape, and a megamix of some sort by Jive Bunny. How I heard these before hearing Double Dee & Steinski I can't explain, but hearing them led me to eventually find the Lessons tracks as well as other works of creative sampling. If I had to list my favorite records where sampling was used in a truly creative way, the Lessons from Double Dee & Steinski, DJ Shadow's Entroducing..., the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique, John Oswald's Plunderphonic and Cassetteboy's The Parker Tapes would all be at the top of that list, as well as the Avalanches' Since I Left You.

Since I Left You is the Avalanches' sole full-length release to date. It was released at the beginning of this decade to cheers and raves for it's anything-goes style of sampling. It's the sound of punk kids digging through a thrift-store's vinyl collection and creating new songs out of the most minute pieces. It doesn't have a specific story or theme, though an unspoken vibe of partying and a need for love seems to flow throughout it. It's almost like an end-of-summer party, with the listener dreading it's finale but realizing all they have to do is press play again when it's over. There's disco, rave, rock, hip-hop, noise and kitsch, among many other styles, all rolled into one. It sounds like it took ten years to make, which just goes to reinforce why a proper follow-up has yet to appear.

It's probably no surprise that Since I Left You went through a number of changes prior to it's completion, due in great part to sampling and royalty issues. As it was taking such a long time to complete and, as rumors state, rough tapes of the works in progress were leaking, the band decided to release something to hold the fans over. Essentially the album with the more obvious samples fleshed-out along-side party favorites, Gimix was sold at shows and given as a promotional release to various outlets. It never got an official release but is considered just as important as Since I Left You if not more so. Some of the emotional depth of the finished album is lost, but in it's place you get a party rocking mixtape that never seems to age. Putting Bob Dylan over a Madonna groove, Blowfly next to Ol' Dirty Bastard and constant replays of bits from De La Soul's Saturdays in the middle of a million other things might sound like an overload, but it's simply a blissful release that will make you smile and dance with equal fervor.

This rip of Gimix is from an official promo CD released by Modular. A few bootleggers have tried to repackage Gimix and market it either as a new album or the original version of Since I Left You, but the bootleggers screwed up the flow of the original release, and anyway, why pay for something that has been free to begin with for so long! Hell, the Avalanches were giving it away at their site for quite a while. Anyway, both Gimix and Since I Left You should be taken as separate things and one will not account for the other. So, if you are unfamiliar with the Avalanches, it would be worth your time to check out Gimix. If you enjoy it, you should without question get Since I Left You. Of course, if you know Since I Left You and haven't heard Gimix, here's your chance. It's worthy of every bit of myth and mysticism that's been said about it, and until the Avalanches release another album, it will help you stay the wait.


The Avalanches - Gimix

01 Since I Left You
02 Stay Another Season
03 Two Hearts In 3/4 Time
04 Close To You / Electricity
05 Little Journey
06 Diners Only
07 A Different Feeling / Pablo's Cruise
08 Tonight May Have To Last Me All My Life

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Aphex Twin - On EPs


Trying to explain Aphex Twin to people is useless. Yes, you can discuss the numerous oddball facts about Mr. Richard D. James, but that information won't give any idea of how wonderful his music really is. Recommending a starting point is almost as difficult as his styles vary so greatly. If I was pressed to do so, I would probably recommend the On EPs as they demonstrate his melodic tendencies, his noisier experiments and his beautifully disturbing ambient works.

Normally I wouldn't post something that is as easily available as the first On EP, but this isn't the standard release. Rather, this is a test pressing of the initial EP with slight but interesting differences between these and the released versions. Most notable is this version of D-Scape as it continues for about a minute longer than the released version. The other tracks all seem slightly longer as well, but not nearly as noticable as D-Scape.

The other release featured here is the On: Remixes EP. Alongside remixes of the title cut from the likes of Reload and µ-Ziq, Aphex provides a long and rather odd remix named after the D-Scape track from the first EP. The highlight is the 28 Mix of On, turning the beautiful original into an ominous ambient sound scape that sounds like a continuation of Aphex's Selected Ambient Works II. Unforgettable!

So, enjoy some Aphex goodness today. For the record, both the retail versions of the On and On: Remixes EPs are still available for purchase through most official outlets, so it never hurts to show some support if you like what you hear. If you really want to support Aphex though, visit Bleep, an online music site run by Warp Records, his home for most of his career. They have just about everything he's ever released available for purchase and you can sample bits of them too.


Aphex Twin - On: Test Pressing

01 On
02 73-Yips
03 D-Scape
04 Xepha


Aphex Twin - On: Remixes

01 On (D-Scape Mix)
02 On (Reload Mix)
03 On (µ-Ziq Mix)
04 On (28 Mix)

The "LAST" Neil Young Post


I am now a certified Neil Young fan. Yes, it is true, I've been listening to his stuff more and more often and have gained a ridiculous amount of respect for the man. Yes, he is weird, and that is a rather immediate part of his appeal, but his catalogue is filled with great releases that lodge themselves into your psyche and refuse to be easily removed. With these facts recognized, it's important to note that he's also very difficult to grasp a proper understanding of and he's a notorious perfectionist searching for imperfection. Confusing, eh?

Think about it this way... He records Tonight's The Night, tours for the album before releasing it, remixes it countless times, shelves it, releases On The Beach, completes an entirely new album named Homegrown, decides to shelve Homegrown and release Tonight's The Night. Somewhere in there before On The Beach was released he compiled an album featuring over half of the songs that made Tonight's The Night, two of the most memorable cuts from On The Beach and a few other tracks, which was featured here earlier as the Tonight's The Night: Alternate Acetate. The man clearly knows how to capture a performance to his satisfaction but is clearly obsessed with his releases sounding good. On top of that, he's got a fetish for high-fidelity releases, some of which are of such high quality that I'm not sure the human ear can observe the additional details.

This should explain a little about issues surrounding his works and the non-availability of some of them, although I don't believe his reasoning makes him right. I think it's great to release an album in the best quality format available, but what's the point of doing so if you have to purchase an all new setup? I've examined the first box in his Archives series and have to say it's awesome, if not one of the best assembled collections I've ever seen, but will anyone other than the die-hardest of fans lay out two to three hundred dollars for the collection? I'm actually really psyched for the second volume which will cover his mid to late seventies output, but when will it actually appear? Will it focus on album tracks and live shows with occasional rarities, or will we get the real prizes like the original Tonight's The Night and Homegrown?

For the time being, Neil's official releases and assorted bootlegs are the best ways to study his works post 1971. Of these, I'm featuring three here today. First up is the now-unavailable Time Fades Away, an album of songs from circa 71/72 recorded live, although the songs are all previously unreleased prior to this album. This is often referred to as part one of the Ditch Trilogy, which also consists of On The Beach and Tonight's The Night and focuses on his guilt after the deaths of Bruce Berry and Danny Whitten. Neil had considered reissuing the album in the mid-nineties but decided to pass because he did not feel the quality of the master was up to par. For a more detailed explanation please visit this link to an article at Sidestreet Records.

The second album featured is Times Square. This album was completed for release but eventually shelved in favor of 1989's Freedom. Six songs from Times Square made it to Freedom while two more appeared on the Japanese-only Eldorado EP. Boxcar was re-recorded for 2008's Chrome Dreams II. This is a loud album and would have been a damn good release. Again, there is more info at Sidestreet Records.

Finally, I'm posting 1991's Arc, which is a thirty-fire minute collective composition of feedback and noise from shows on the Weld tour. Arc is LOUD, so be careful not to put the volume too high unless you need an excuse for new speakers. This album is technically still available, but physical copies are a little harder to come by these days. Anyway, there are no hits on this one, just one long track. As Neil says, "It's all one song".

It's worth noting that while this is the "Last" Neil Young post, there might be one more eventually. I have a copy of the long out-of-print soundtrack to Neil's directorial debut, Journey Through The Past, and that probably deserves a post of it's own, but I'm not making any promises for now. I feel I've given Neil a nice chunk of my little wedge of cyberspace, and anyway, if you really want it and don't want to wait for me to post it, I'm sure you can find it. Anyway, hope you enjoy this post, and I promise no more Neil Young for a while, no matter how much I'm currently enjoying his stuff!


Neil Young - Time Fades Away

01 Time Fades Away
02 Journey Thru The Past
03 Yonder Stands The Sinner
04 L.A.
05 Love In Mind
06 Don't Be Denied
07 The Bridge
08 Last Dance


Neil Young - Times Square

01 Eldorado
02 Someday
03 Sixty To Zero
04 Boxcar
05 Don't Cry
06 Heavy Love
07 Wrecking Ball
08 Cocaine Eyes
09 On Broadway


Neil Young - Arc

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Jackson's Dr. Murray To Be Charged With Manslaughter

Word has leaked out that Michael Jackson's personal physician will be charged with manslaughter within the next two weeks.

A law enforcement employee told a reporter that Dr. Conrad Murray could be arrested as soon as next Wednesday, and that police are going to serve one more search warrant to a Los Angeles pharmacy.

The LAPD is in talks with investigators about whether they will give Murray the choice of surrendering in Los Angeles, or be arrested in Houston, where he is currently living.

Murray is suspected of facilitating Jackson's death by using the intravenous anesthetic propofol to help him sleep just hours before he died.
_

The Red Devils - King King / Blackwater Roll


In case you weren't familiar with the Red Devils prior to the Jagger session post, here is their only full-length, King King, named after the Hollywood club they played regularly and recorded there entirely live. I've also included the Blackwater Roll EP, their only other official release.


The Red Devils - King King
Part One
Part Two

01 Automatic
02 Goin' To The Church
03 She's Dangerous
04 I Wish You Would
05 Cross My Heart
06 Tail Dragger
07 Devil Woman
08 No Fightin'
09 Mr. Highway Man
10 I'm Ready
11 Quarter To Twelve
12 Better Cut That Out


The Red Devils - Blackwater Roll

01 Blackwater Roll
02 Mr. Highway Man
03 The Backstreet Crawler
04 The Hook

Monday, August 17, 2009

Mick Jagger & The Red Devils - The Famous Blues Session


This is a recording I found out about via Dan Leroy's book The Greatest Music Never Sold. I remember reading an online review of the book where someone complained that a chapter about Mick Jagger's solo work from his later career shouldn't be a concern of anyone, but they must not have read the book because Mick has very little to do with the story.

The Red Devils were a blues-rock band from LA featuring members of The Blasters (Bill Bateman, drums) and The Knitters (Johnny Ray Bartel, bass) but the majority of the focus fell on the band's vocalist and harmonica player, Lester Butler. Not to ignore the other band members (Dave Lee Bartel and Paul Size, both guitarists), but Lester got a lot of hype for his presence and the band got signed to Rick Rubin's American Recordings where they released one album, King King in 1992, and an EP in 1994. The album is considered a classic and Rubin gets props for recording the band live without overdubs to capture their vibe, but he had bigger things in store for them.

While producing Mick Jagger's Wandering Spirit, it was decided that the Devils would back Mick on a collection of classic blues covers. What followed was described by the band as Mick, whom they had just met, essentially becoming one of the guys and they all fell in love with him. An album's worth of songs were recorded but sat in the vault with no promise of release. Mick had said he loved the recordings and might release them as an album unto itself, but his relationship with the band became strained when he stopped communicating with them regularly. A few shows were performed in the UK with the Devils as his backing band but, apart from that, zilch.

The Red Devils were still working with Rick Rubin, but that became short lived as well. They did some sessions with Johnny Cash, played live with Bruce Willis at Planet Hollywood events and recorded a second album with Rubin on production, but that album remains unreleased and tracks from the Cash sessions wouldn't see the light of day until after his death. Lester Butler began showing signs of drug addiction and his relationship with the group became strained. Rubin, a notoriously anti-drug individual, probably used this as his excuse to stop working with the band, and it was one of many factors that lead to their downfall.

Lester went on to play in the band 13 and continued performing sporadically until his death at the age of 38. In 1998 he suffered an overdose and the two individuals he was with decided to inject him with cocaine rather than perform any lifesaving measures or call 911.

The band has reformed a few times since Lester's death but they openly acknowledge that it will never be the same without him.

As for the recordings with Jagger, the Devils themselves couldn't even get a copy of the tapes, at least not by any direct methods. A few stories circulate about how a tape was acquired, one involving Lester somehow receiving a very poor quality cassette and selling it to bootleggers, but other members of the band have insinuated that a copy was dubbed for them by a secretary at American Recordings, leading to far superior copies circulating. Regardless, apart from one track having been released on a 2007 compilation of Mick Jagger recordings, the sessions remain shamefully unreleased, at least officially.

So, it is with great pleasure that I present to you a copy of these infamous sessions from, of all places, an actual "silver" bootleg CD. Yeah, the quality isn't the greatest, but that's to be expected. I've seen the sessions around elsewhere but I don't recall having heard a superior copy, so I'll be posting these goodies from that silver disc for your listening pleasure. Maybe someday Rick and Mick (a supergroup begging to be formed folks!) will come to some kind of agreement and these recordings could be given an official release, but until then, we'll just have to settle for second hand copies of these great tracks.

If you'd like more info on the Red Devils, please visit No Fightin'. They've done a rather nice job covering the story of the band with lots of press clippings, photos and videos to delve into!


Mick Jagger & The Red Devils - The Famous Blues Session


01 Blues With A Feeling (Take 1)
02 Blues With A Feeling (Take 2)
03 Blues With A Feeling (Take 4)
04 Blues With A Feeling (Take 5)
05 I Got My Eyes On You (Take 2)
06 Still A Fool (Take 3)
07 Still A Fool (Take 4)
08 Checkin' Up On My Baby (Take 3)
09 One Way Out (Take 1)
10 One Way Out (Take 2)
11 Talk To Me Baby (Take 2)
12 Evil (Take 2)
13 Evil (Take 3)
14 Evil (Take 4)
15 Ain't Your Business (Take 3)
16 Shake 'Em On Down (Take 1)
17 Somebody Loves Me (Take 3)
18 Dream Girl Blues (Take 1)
19 Dream Girl Blues (Take 3)
20 40 Days 40 Nights (Take 1)
21 40 Days 40 Nights (Take 2)

Sunday, August 16, 2009

One Inch Punch - Tao Of The One Inch Punch


Justin Warfield? Check! Spaced-out lo-fi hip-hop stuff? Check! Ex-members of the Justin Warfield Supernaut? Check! Overuse of the phrase check? Well... what's important is that this is here and it's another spin on Justin's diverse styles. This did not come out in the US so you'll be forgiven for not being aware of it's release. I was kinda aware of One Inch Punch, but I honestly thought it was a short-lived one-off kind of project, so I want to give thanks to Genzel for bringing this album to my attention. There was also an EP named Secrets Of The One Inch Punch as well as a few singles, but I haven't found them yet so, if you've got them and don't mind posting them, I'd love to hear them. But for now, enjoy this blast of lo-fi funk!

One Inch Punch - Tao Of The One Inch Punch

01 Just Enough
02 Gemini
03 Latitudes
04 Represent
05 The Bu
06 Take It In Stride
07 Metaphysics
08 Wallflower
09 Orson Welles' Martians
10 If


PS-There is another band named One Inch Punch that should not be confused with this one. Justin's One Inch Punch only had one full length release.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Hannah Montana Cherries And Disney. Really?

Just when you thought celebrity product endorsement could not get any stranger - it has.

Miley Cyrus and the brains at Disney have decided to promote both the Hannah Montana brand and the Cherry industry at the same time.

We're not joking. "Hannah Montana" cherries are coming to a store near you! Disney has created the brand of "Hannah Montana" cherries featuring Miley Cyrus along with her "Hannah Montana: The Movie" persona.

Two years ago, Disney started branding its stars and movies with only healthy foods and ended ties with traditional outlets like McDonald's.

With all the nude, semi-nude, and suggestive photos that have been leaked to the net, and now a pole dancing appearance on the Teen Choice Awards, does it really make since to tie Miley Cyrus to cherries?

What's next? Michael Vick Dog Treats. Sometimes you just have to wonder about this industry.
_

Bob Dylan - Live at The Isle Of Wight Festival 8/31/69


So I'm a bit of a recent Dylan convert. For the longest time I thought he was simply a joke whose best days were behind him, but after reading a bit about the Basement Tapes I was rather intrigued. The Basement Tapes are simply aural bliss, which led me to find the Tree With Roots collection, which led me to listen to his early works. I now recognize how blind I have been all these years. Generally I think I have a very open mind when it comes to music, and not to make excuses for my ignorance but when you grow up with the surrounding culture mocking someone, if you don't know any better it just kinda sinks in. Yeah, that sucks, but I acknowledge my errors when I make them. Okay, I try to at the very least. That said, I'm not saying that all of Dylan's stuff is gold, and the level of respect bestowed upon him seems based purely upon his early successes, but that doesn't mean he's not worthy of it.

Anyway, in researching his late sixties, early seventies output, I came upon the rather confusing Self Portrait. I enjoyed it, although it's clear that the general consensus is pretty divided on that one. Some of my favorite bits from it were the four songs recorded at the Isle Of Wight festival in 69 which led me to find a copy of the show. Dylan was backed by The Band at this gig and the overall vibe is very good, making it a keeper. So why didn't they release the whole show? Yes, it could still happen, but it's still odd, especially when Sony/Columbia seems satisfied to squeeze every dollar out of Dylan's catalog, released and unreleased.

I'm disappointed to find that a high quality copy of this show is not in circulation, especially with it having been recorded for potential release, but a decent audience tape has existed for quite a while. The version presented here is "remastered" by someone named JTT from what may be the actual master reel, and again, it sounds good for an audience recording, so props to JTT and anyone else responsible for the circulation of great gigs like these. With the bootleg industry finally dying, and record labels going with them, maybe people will release great quality recordings more often rather than hoard them in their private collections. Or not.

Okay, more plausible expectation... Maybe the industry will get with the times and begin releasing more fan-oriented releases in lossless quality digital packages with limited physical equivalents available upon request, similar to the NIN model. OR NOT.


Bob Dylan - Live at The Isle Of Wight Festival 8/31/69

01 She Belongs To Me
02 I Threw It All Away
03 Maggie's Farm
04 Wild Mountain Thyme
05 It Ain't Me Babe
06 To Ramona
07 Mr. Tambourine Man
08 I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
09 Lay Lady Lay
10 Highway 61 Revisited
11 One Too Many Mornings
12 I Pity The Poor Immigrant
13 Like A Rolling Stone
14 I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
15 Quinn The Eskimo
16 Minstrel Boy
17 Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Miles Davis - More Seventies Sessions


Man, this one was supposed to happen a while ago. I actually included one of these tracks in the earlier Miles Sessions post I did, but regardless, I think you'll find this post very interesting.

I received these tracks as two separate collections, one marked Jabali Sessions and the other 11/6/74, although there was a text file included which also listed them as October 74 sessions. The text file showed that these tracks had all been traded together at one point or another, so I put them back in the order they were originally presented and tried to figure out which takes were which and what the correct dates were. This wasn't easy and some information is still missing, but Peter Losin at Miles Ahead cleared some things up. The first seven tracks are definitely the Jabali sessions, although apart from takes 4 and 11, it's unclear what takes or rehearsals the other tracks represent. As for the last six tracks, they are untitled originals from April 1973. None of these, apart from Take 4 of Jabali, have been posted on the site prior to this, so enjoy some interesting Miles goodies.

By the way, I do have to apologise for the awful editing on these tracks, but I cannot claim responsibility. Apart from having retagged the files I have not altered these tracks in any way, including leaving the empty sounding ninth track in. As I said to Peter and he later restated to me, "whomever released this seems to have chopped up the start points rather badly". Sad but true.


Miles Davis - More Seventies Sessions

01 Jabali session
02 Jabali session
03 Jabali session
04 Jabali session
05 Jabali (Take 4)
06 Jabali session
07 Jabali (Take 11)
08 Untitled Original 730424a (Take 2)
09 (nothing?)
10 Untitled Original 730424a (Take 3)
11 Untitled Original 730424b (Take 1, Part 1)
12 Untitled Original 730424b (Take 1, Part 2)
13 Untitled Original 730424b (Take 1, Part 3)

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Warner Brothers Records: Trademark Of Quality (1993)


So I was recently contacted by a reader of this blog and we struck up a nice conversation. This individual, an extremely generous fellow named Nathan, explained to me that he had purchased the 93 edition of the Trademark Of Quality compilation off of ebay and would send me a copy. Well, to my surprise he didn't just send me a copy, he sent me THE copy! He mailed me the original disc! I am so thrilled by this and words simply cannot express my gratitude! So, I want to start this post by thanking Nathan a few more million times over for his generosity! You have no idea how happy this has made me! And Nathan, watch your mail for those Prince DVDs! Some good stuff coming your way!

I also want to thank everyone who reads the blog regularly! I started this page with no purpose in mind other than to share the wealth and I'm blessed to have such fine readers visiting me regularly! I'm going to keep this page going as long as I can, which should be quite a while. Also, please feel free to ask about requests and such. I can't guarantee I'll always have something to post but, if I have it, more often than not it will show up here shortly after being requested.

In the near future I'm going to be posting some more Miles Davis seventies sessions, that additional Neil Young album and some interviews. I'm waiting for word back from some people I've contacted, one of which will hopefully answer some more questions about the Jungle Brothers' Crazy Wisdom Masters. Another will be discussing their excellent label which focuses on electronic music in the vein of Warp Records and their more abstract leanings. I'm also going to be speaking with Sean Carlin of Dink soon. For those unfamiliar with the almighty Dink, they were a band from Kent, Ohio that had a hit with the song Green Mind in the early nineties. They were associated with Dave "Rave" Ogilvie of Skinny Puppy fame and the Cleveland industrial scene. Great band that unfortunately got screwed by their label, and Sean is a ridiculously nice guy who will share some stories with us.

Back to today's post, this is what Nathan sent me, the 1993 Trademark Of Quality promo CD which features the only official release of any tracks from the unreleased Crazy Wisdom Masters album. This disc is filled with goodies and while some of them sound a little dated, I'm sure you'll agree that the good stuff outweighs the bad! enjoy!


Trademark Of Quality 1993
NOTE: By now I'm sure you know what to do, but just to be safe, make sure you download both parts otherwise you won't get the complete album.
Part One
Part Two

01 Intro
02 Boredoms - My Mum Is Car

This features a short intro from EYE
03 Biohazard - Five Blocks To The Subway
Mr. Tara Patrick's old band. No disrespect Evan, but I can't be the first guy who mentioned your wife. Regardless, you rock!
04 Wayne Coyne - Intro To Waterbugs
Long spoken introduction by Mr. Flaming Lips himself. He messes with the tape at specific points.
05 The Flaming Lips - Waterbugs In The Policeman's Ear
Pretty song from the fearless freaks.
06 Uncle Tupelo with Joe Ely - Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way
Shortly before the Wilco and Son Volt feuds began...
07 Kristin Hersh - Your Ghost (Demo)
08 Suddenly, Tammy! - Funky
09 The Muffs - You Lied
10 Green Day - 409 In My Coffeemaker

Don't get me wrong, I like old Green Day, I just can't stand the new, politicized Green Day. They're still a decent band, as evidenced by their Foxboro Hot Tubs side-project, but what happened to stuff like this?
11 Gallon Drunk - All Mouth, No Trousers
Features a little dialogue prior to the song.
12 American Music Club - In My Role As The Most Hated Singer In The Local Underground Music Scene
With a song title that long, I'll have to take your word for it Mr. Eitzel.
13 Bluescreen - Batperson
Who the hell are these guys? This is some weird shit! I want more!
14 Jungle Brothers - Troopin' On The Down Lo
This actually sounds a little different from the version I heard on the actual album. The performance is the same, but the mastering job may differ.
15 Justin Warfield - Dip Dip Divin' (New Version)
I wish I knew who did this remix. It sounds like Biohazard with Justin on vocals. It doesn't beat the original version but it's still damn tight! One Inch Punch coming soon!
16 Daniel Lanois - Rain Weather
Short dialogue intro in a foreign language. Could someone decipher this please?
17 Not Drowning, Waving - Ascending (Me and You)
18 Geggy Tah - Who's In A Hurry

Man, these guys were so great! They kind of disappeared when Luaka Bop left WEA Distribution. Their first two albums are excellent. Future post? For now, this excellent track!
19 Adam Schmitt - I Know You're All Mine
I hope no one is mad at me for saying this, but this guy sounds like such a pussy. I'll have to see if his album came out, not because I want to hear it but I want to know if anyone listened to more of his whiny-ass shit.
20 Kerosene - More Than You
21 Unrest - So So Sick

Mark Robinson for the win!
22 Mudhoney - Please Don't Forget About Us
This was probably written just as fast as it sounds like it was recorded. Great tune with tongue firmly in cheek!
23 Outro
24 UNLISTED BONUS TRACK!!! Julee Cruise & David Lynch - Pinky's Bubble Egg
This kinda got released eventually as part of a "play" that Lynch did with Nicholas Cage and Laura Dern sorta reprising their roles from Wild At Heart. Badalamenti is of course responsible for the music. Ms. Cruise provides a funny intro and Mr. Lynch adds an expectedly bizarre explanation of the piece's origin at the end.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Self - Ornament & Crime: Demos Mixes


I received a special request for an update to a previous post on the blog, so today I'm featuring that item. This is the initial leak for Self's Ornament & Crime. These often get listed as demos but they are far more polished than demos. Demo Mixes though, that sounds more like it, as these sound far from finished. There are a lot of interesting differences between these and the final mixes that I posted earlier, so if you're really feeling those you should grab these too for a detailed comparison. I still say this album would have been too much of a compromise to Dreamworks as it is way too squeaky clean compared to many of Mahaffey's other releases, but there is still some great material here. Anyway, you can check out my post of the final mixes here if you haven't grabbed them already.

Self - Ornament & Crime: Demo Mixes

01 LA Radio
02 Hellbent
03 Emotional
04 Insecure Sober
05 How Can I Make You Happy
06 Can't Go On
07 Coming Over
08 Out With A Bang
09 The Pounding Truth
10 Potential
11 No One Knows You

PS-Any problems with the sound of the tracks were already there to being with. The only thing I've done was to update the tags. The files ARE NOT re-encodes.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

August 2009 Mixtape


LOVE IS A DONUT...uh, it's time for another Unheard Music mixtape! The last one was a bit era-specific but this episode is more in the vein of how these posts will usually be. Enjoy!


The Unheard Music - August 2009 Mixtape

01 Liz Phair - Chopsticks
I love Liz Phair. She gets shit for having a more commercial sound these days but she doesn't seem to care. She's said several times that she has to pay the bills and it's hard to be an indie star like she used to be when you're raising a family in the suburbs. This is from her second full-length, Whip-Smart, and is kind-of the last stand for her more indie specific styles. I'll be doing a post about her beautiful, early demos in the near future. If you're not familiar with her, you should get Exile In Guyville. It's a very honest record and you don't have to be a woman for it to change you.

02 Hrvatski - Vatstep DSP
More Hrvatski for those who enjoyed his album. This was created as a remix for kid606 although it only features a few very small samples making this more an original track than anything else. You couldn't generally call Hrvatski's music happy, but this track is as close to happy as he gets. Lotta fun!

03 Greg Phillinganes - Behind The Mask
This is kind-of the missing link when it comes to Michael Jackson's Thriller. As the story goes, Quincy Jones was obsessed with the Yellow Magic Orchestra's song, Behind The Mask, and decided he wanted to make a version with proper lyrics. He asked Michael to write the new lyrics, and together they created an incredible pop song. For reasons unclear though, Michael's version has never seen the light of day, although Greg, Michael's keyboardist through most of the eighties, recorded the MJ version and released it as a single. For all we know this might sound exactly like the MJ version, but no one has said anything so who knows. All I can say is this song is a slept-on eighties classic!

04 DJ Mink - Hey! Hey! Can U Relate? (feat. The K.I.D. & Carruthers)
This sounds more like an old-school hip-hop track than something from the early nineties. Initially released on the British FON label, it was licensed by Warp and became a popular underground hit. Hip-Hop heads know this track well but this was never a commercial hit, so check this shoulda-been number one jam.

05 Venice Shoreline Chris - All-Nite Dinah
Also known as Chris Murray, Venice Shoreline Chris recorded his album, The 4-Track Adventures Of Venice Shoreline Chris, all by his lonesome, but you'd never guess it by how fun the album sounds. Check out his site for more info and samples from some of his other records.

06 Beck - Satan Was Way Cool
From a demo tape recorded during his early, weird years, this is Beck recording new vocals over King Missle's Jesus Was Way Cool. Funny as hell! I'm gonna do a post on Beck earlier, folkier and way-weirder days sometime in the near future. I probably would have done it already but he's got so much stuff to choose from!

07 Mochipet - They Might Be Giants vs. Lyrical Giants (Get Crunked!)
Oh yeah! Mochipet is well-known for his dancey releases, but this is from Combat which he released on kid606's Violent Turd Records. Great record that clocks in around a half hour, it entertains for a long time afterward. This is an easy highlight from that record.

08 Miles Davis - Willie Nelson (Insert 1)
This is from the Complete Jack Johnson Sessions box-set that Sony released a few years ago. A small portion of several takes of Willie Nelson was included in the completed Jack Johnson album, but the additional takes are awesome. This one includes Sonny Sharrock doing some seriously fucked-up echoplex soloing. Awesome record!

09 John Oswald - Anon
This is from the 69/96 compilation which sorta came out. You can buy it digitally via iTunes or Amazon and physical copies are, or were, available, although there was never an Oswald sanctioned release, or at least that's the official story. The truth is that Negativland is responsible for the US release of this compilation which features remastered and cleaned-up versions of most of the Plunderphonic album and other gems from throughout Oswald's career. They were able to release it after Oswald sent them digital copies of the masters, artwork and liner notes, but Oswald did try to get this released on his own. Unfortunately, the CRIA would not allow him to do so even if he were to get permission for all samples, so he took matters into his own hands and let Negativland help out. This track is a reworking of a Tim Buckley song and was originally part of the Elektrax/Rubaiyat EP which was a promotional release on Elektra Records. You can get the whole EP here at the excellent Music Hertz, among many other great things! Check them out!

10 Foetus - Clothes Hoist
JG Thirlwell is THE MAN! This is from the Hole album which he released as Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel. As most of his releases are under a variation of the name Foetus, I'm just gonna stick with foetus for simplicity's sake. Get creeped out and rock out to this, and if you're feeling it grab the Hole album!

11 The Stick Men - Caged Sex
The Stick Men were incredible. Coming out of Pennsylvania, they bare a resemblance to James Chance and The Contortions, although they're quite a lot more fun in my humble opinion. If you like this you need to get their album, Insatiable. It's such a shame when stuff as unique and crazy as this falls victim to the perils of history and location.

12 Miles Davis - Willie Nelson (Insert 2)
Another take with Sonny Sharrock, but this one also features John McLaughlin. Wild stuff!

13 Bob Dylan - Get Your Rocks Off
From the infamous Basement Tapes, this unreleased track is a gem. There are so many awesome recordings from this era in Dylan's career. I might post some Basement Tapes goodness eventually, it's just that there is so much stuff to choose from. I feel like I should post everything I've got, but that's nearly a gigabyte of stuff, so I'm just gonna give it some time.

14 Vernon Reid - What's My Name
No question mark in the title, so does that make it a statement or a typographical error? either way, Vernon and his band, Masque, along with producers Prince Paul and Teo Macero, bring the action. This is from Vernon's Mistaken Identity album. Most of the album isn't this intense but, if you like electric Miles, you'll enjoy the whole album. Really good stuff!

15 Randy Newman - Political Science
I remember Mr. Newman complaining that this is one of his most timeless recordings. I understand why, but I love it all the same. Sarcasm, a sick sense of humor and maybe even a little honesty, just don't take it too seriously.

16 Jimi Hendrix - Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice
I only heard this for the first time very recently. This is up there with Hendrix's best in my humble opinion. It starts off innocently enough before it literally leaves the planet.

17 Whale - I'll Do Ya
Whale are one of the great unknown bands of the mid-nineties, at least in the US. They started with a joke single and video featuring a sexy little thing with braces and a lollipop teasing a number of shirtless men only to release a funky, druggy, in-joke of an album that sounds like the soundtrack to a really insane weekend. This song should have been huge! If they ever played it live I hope to god that it was incredible. PLAY IT LOUD!!!!!

18 John Oswald - Case Of Death (Part One, Chapters 1-16)
More Oswaldian goodness, this is also from the 69/96 compilation. If you like his stuff you should really support him by purchasing the comp. Mind melting stuff.