Basement Songs

Basement Songs is DeaD

2006-10-12T17:03:00.000-07:00

I'm am sadly announcing the death of my dearly beloved Basement Songs. I just do not have the time to write at this moment. With a new job and a new life, i cannot fathom keeping this as up to date as it would require. If you would like to take over Basement Songs, i am more than willing to hear your argument, and i will turn the keys over to you. In the meantime, i am still on WNYU doing Outside on Tuesday nights per usual--and that is the egg i must focus on. Please feel free to write me. Everyone has been incredibly supportive and charming. See you on the flipside. or a show. of course.

glamo-freak

2006-10-02T16:52:00.000-07:00

Photo by Travis Gray

From the Nite 12", Chromatics happily bring us:
Nite (12 Version)
Buy from Troubleman Unlimited

since moving to brooklyn, i have not slept. people told me i would be going out every night and i said that was not my cup of tea. i was wrong. i have been swept up into the funnel and spit out into one of the various bars by my house on a regular basis, usually strolling home at around 5 in the morning. Chromatics (you might notice the Glass Candy resemblance), hands down, have come out with my favorite dance track of the year. they have transformed from their old selves. and they invite all listeners to make their own transformations. it's just the exact amount of thumping needed to get your adrenaline pumping. because after all, the new york nightlife can eat you if you aren't careful. you need that fight or flight reaction to survive it. Chromatics make me want to pull out my make-up case (which a new guy friend of mine told me is way too scary for him because it looks like a tool chest--which is true--becoming glammed up requires extra special detail) and throw on way too much dark eyeliner, a feather boa, glitter, a cleavage-bearing shirt and stilettos. but really i haven't made it out like that. i am left to the confines of my home, where my roommate can watch me dance around. much to his dismay. making him hide from this glamo-freak. then i calm down, wash it all off and have beers with friends. i was born in chelsea. what do you expect?

wow

2006-10-02T16:35:00.000-07:00

seriously. i didn't even realize it's been almost a month since the last post. i really have to apologize to y'all. im now writing from my father's computer. it's been this long since i've had a cable connection--BUT--it was installed yesterday. so posting will start tomorrow night. im almost more than certain. if not, you can throw rocks at my window. which i figured out my repairman likes to do this sometimes. we only have two outlets because of him. and when he was trying to install our stove, i was laid out on the bed exhausted, starting to smell gas. so i ask "uh. is that unsafe. that gas smell?" and he replies "haha hah huh. well we'll find out in a couple of minutes right? or actually we just won't be here. hahahaha." yeah.

temporarily back

2006-09-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

Photo by Eye-Appeal

From The Dead C's 1995 release The White House:
Outside
Buy on Siltbreeze

ironically (or rather sadly), i picked up this album off the street yesterday for 2 bucks. it's rather monumental. maybe it hadn't been at the time because the improv trio was New Zealand's best kept secret, though never truly appealing to the average New Zealand listener. they were just too darn weird. enough said. it's essential for any noise-rock fan. and not just because thurston says so. if you are interested in more, i recommend picking up the new Vain, Erudite and Stupid collection from 1987-2005 on Ba Da Bing!

so what's been going on with the site as of late? still no internet. i'm doing this from another computer. i think i will be up and running in about a week. in the meantime, you are more than welcome to write--and my email has now changed to outside@wnyu.org. i was very surprised to get the entire dr. Shock synopsis. thank you for that. and i will be reading pynchon soon. actually V is up next on my summer reading list. my brain is in need of more nourishment. i told my roommate this is the stupidest i've felt in years.

in more important news, my deepest regards go out to all affected by 9.11 today. and rather than trying to say anything bold which will just come out as far less than enough, i will leave it at that...

Last Sound Between Today!!

2006-09-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

Tune in from 2-4PM today for the last Sound Between on wnyu.org! Will be playing some of my top picks for 2006. which doesn't mean much because i like so much this year!

Fish Swedish

2006-08-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

Photo by Steph Carley

From Folke Rabe/Jan Bark, the masterful Argh! album:
Bar (Jan Bark)
To the Barbender (Folke Rabe)
Buy from Kning Disc

experimental music would not be the same without these two men. at the end of the 50s, after growing up together post-WWII in Stockholm and attending the Royal College of Music, they discovered the wonderful world of the trombone. Bark had been composing long before Rabe, who claims it was he who had inspired him to start writing his own music. together, they founded an all-trombone quartet, the Culture Quartet, in the early 60s. at around the same time, the two fellows became friends with some serious members of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, throwing them into a whole other dimension of music-making. both became enamoured with tape looping and sound effects. so with these two tracks, the first is an electro-acoustic piece by Bark in 1968, inspired by gramophone media, going from the lowest bass to the highest treble. and the second is by Rabe in 1982, a tape collage created for the legendary John Cage's 70th birthday, someone who had never questioned the limitless possibilites in sound. this entire album is the biggest treat i've given myself in the past few weeks. a truly inspiring body of work. it's already making me turn over new ideas for my own material.

From David Stackenas' new album Bow:
Track 1
Buy from Kning Disc

Ok. before you read what this is, we gotta play a little game: name that sound. listen to a bit of the track and then i want you to guess what "instruments" are being used for this album. David Stackenas borders on "noise" here but it just stays at a lush drone. at times, music can become uncomfortable. it's a misnomer that all music should be "comforting and relaxing." sometimes it should shake your bones and hit your core. it grows hair on the chest! i had someone listen to this recently and they said it was like seeing tons of flashing lights while driving through the lincoln tunnel. whatever the visual it might inspire, Stackenas has that talent to engage all senses. the answer to that burning question? 5 levin acoustic guitars and oscillating fans. what is in the drinking water in Stockholm? sheesh. i love it.

**good news and bad news. the bad news first. i'm moving to brooklyn tomorrow which means no internet connection until the cable guy comes. that won't be that long. i need some tv eventually. so Basement Songs will be resuming in between one and two weeks, maybe even sooner. ok the good news is because this is the last post for a little bit of time, i really put a lot of thought into what is going up here. had a bang-up week in picking up music and these two are sincere jewels. in the meantime, if you're bored on tuesday nights you can always turn to my radio show. i need the company. and this upcoming saturday, 2-4PM on wnyu.org is my last Sound Between (all new indie) show, which means playing the best (in my opinion) of 2006 thus far.

Loosen Up the Serious Pants

2006-08-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

Photo by Steph Carley

From Drunk Demos, new tracks from Drunk Country:
A Smile That Takes the Hinges Out of Knees
What Do You Miss Most About What You Forget
Buy from them on Demo Heaven! (i think you could probably just email them if you're interested-get yeself on the waiting list!)

These fine blokes out of Cardiff, England (i mean WALES--i'm geographically challenged), Drunk Country, make me smile. with a humble and simplistic attitude, "affectionately dismissing" their album Drunk Demos as a raw piece of good bad multi-instrumentalism, they have managed to charm the pants off of me. if they are indeed drunk, they pull themselves together, cleaning the slobber and puke off their shirts, wearing enough deordorant and honing their imbalanced hand-eye coordination skills for enough time to make a thoughtful and enchanting record. even if they are not drunk, the wavering guitar and blips of electronic disconnection at least remind me of drunken bar conversations, being in a state halfway between "there and not there." or as a band member would like to put it: french kissing after eating oranges. or rather finding anyone to take home at the end of the night, beergoggles and all.

From their S/T? album, new tracks from Dr. Shock and the Deathray Ballet:
Ixion MD
A Ne'er Received Su...(i don't know. fill in the blank. sun? subject? sundae? sunday?)
Visit their my space page--i don't know if you can buy from them too

Dr. Shock & the Deathray Ballet is one big mystery to me. i know they're from Montreal, but beyond that, they are an enigma. the only thing i can tell you a bit about is the actual "Dr. Shock" & "Ixion." Ixion was in the rock opera of Dr. Shock and had attempted to save the world, but was diverted by his own greed. i'm sure someone in Canada can clue me in. cousin liz? where are you? what struck me about them was an almost childlike nursery-rhymish approach to folk-pop that i find to be incredibly endearing. like reading the Giving Tree or Where the Wild Things Are at 26. definately takes me to a time where i was extremely excited to learn how to tie my shoes outside the girl's bathroom in 1st grade (late bloomer). life gets too complicated. this band reminds you that it's ok to loosen our "serious pants" every once in awhile.

OUTSIIDE

2006-08-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

Time for some "Outside" action tonight, 8-9PM EST on 89.1FM or wnyu.org! Sorry no posts today...

the hypothetical brave new world

2006-08-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

Photo by Jabenaki

From New Humans, tracks from the 12" Diassociate:
Track 1
Track 3
From last year's S/T album:
Mandolin Song
Buy from them! (or actually one of their distributors--you choose--i like them all)

if it would be possible to create a genre called "below sea level minimal", the Brooklyn duo New Humans would be at the forefront of this revolution. Howie Chen and Mika Tajima (with two other rotating members) have been making noisy, twisted, audio distortions for the past three years, and have been known for wittily combining these heady soundscapes with video and visual art installations. anyone would agree that the beginning of a New Humans track can be somewhat mindnumbing. but it's really the movement of the compositions, their transformation and eventual disintegration, that makes them so intriguing. a ball of twine that slowly unravels into a mess, continuously falling apart and taking over the entire room, down the stairs, onto the street, overtaking the whole city. so as a recommendation, if you happen to cop-out early on any of these tracks, the New Humans infestation will not have it's chance to take over. allow it to expand.

Swarming Furious Bugs

2006-08-26T18:33:00.000-07:00

Photo by Amit Gupta

From the band Farmacia:
Estas Tecnicas on Crucial Sky in the Land of Premonitions at Lorenzo's Weekend (2006)
Buy from Psych-O-Path Records
Que Se Le Va A Hacer on Mal Y Bien a la Vez
Buy from Discos Sordos
'70 on the comp Fuga Externa
Buy from Fuga Records

this six-year-old Argentinian trio brings to mind a combination of three things. UFOs. vintage video games. and interrupted radio transmissions. i heard their new record (Crucial Sky in the Land...) for the first time today. it compiles their works previously unreleased in the U.S. i knew they sent it here to corrupt our virgin ears. and i'm beyond glad that they did send it our way. don't be fooled by their seemingly calm and centered "new-agey" kentaro-ish nature. in every track, the peaceful synth soon gets overtaken by ghostly tones and effects. upon further investigation, two Farmacia members, brothers Ariel and Diega Sima, wear lab coats and play alongside a neon-green pharmacy sign, considering they are both pharmacy employees. i'm wondering if it's an indication of anything else? hm.

BONUS!
From Wzt Hearts, the new debut album Heat Chief:
Track 1
Buy from Hit Dat Records

I have to laugh at myself. I just popped this in and quickly looked behind myself in a panic. i thought i was being attacked by a furious swarm of bugs. but it was only the sounds of Baltimore's Wzt Hearts, a talented quartet who successfully draws on the effect of "coming at you from all angles." like the insert, an off-the-wall smattering of zigzagged, supercharged, colorful afghans, Heat Chief pulls your innards and senses in one direction while dragging your head and extremities in the other. or as i like to see it. a man on the brink of a total mental breakdown. who holds on for as long as possible. who cannot hold on any longer. finally losing it completely. thinking he is being attacked by a swarm of furious bugs. all in all, the Wzt Hearts take you on a strange trip indeed, but the destintation is purely dependant on how ready your brain is to ingest the upheaval. meditative or destructive?

Radio Time!!

2006-08-26T10:19:00.000-07:00

No post yet today because it's radio show day!
tune in from 2-4PM on wnyu.org...
i'm getting the tracks ready now and hearing some great stuff! so it should be a goody! and feel free to call me for requests!

Flip it Good

2006-08-23T20:14:00.000-07:00

Photo by Robin

Debut album Secrets to Superflipping from Yikes!:
The Cars
Holy-Hand Shake (live)
Buy from Upset the Rhythm

I've been wanting to post this for about a month now, and i've been nearly bursting ever since trying to keep it tucked away. it became an immediate addiction for the whole first week. then i had to detox from it for another two weeks. then all of a sudden it sprung forth again this morning. John Dwyer's mind-numbing vocals. unruly guitar. i do this immediate shoulder shake and head bob to "The Cars." i can't control it. i mean already by the second song there's a four alarm fire. which becomes progressively more violent with each subsequent track. and just when it seems to be dying down, each instrument screams together at it's most choatic level and slams you against a wall. those who love Dwyer, and are still mourning the loss of San Francisco's Coachwhips, will be happy to find that Yikes! is exactly how a fan would want them reincarnated. the resemblance is clear. but it's like they came back as a giant elephant on a quest to pummel it's trainer.

as a slight update, i am a little overwhlemed right now. just started a new job. and am now moving in less than ten days. without being packed. so Basement Songs will keep going for the next couple of weeks, but it might not be as consistent as i would want it.

Glamourpuss

2006-08-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

Photo by Joe Williams

From The Gospel Comes to New Guinea by 23 Skidoo:
The Gospel Comes to New Guinea
Last Words
Ethics
Buy from Forced Exposure (on Ronin Records)

New Order plus A Certain Ratio plus Fela Kuti minus the "throbbing" of Throbbing Gristle and that's 23 Skidoo (1980-1984). One thing i get a bit annoyed by are horns, but that's just a personal pet peeve. if you like ethnic drumming, those blaring horns and early 80s dance tracks, they are the band for you.

From Astral Glamour (1973-1978) by The Homosexuals:
Hearts in Exile (45 version)
Prestel
Astral Glamour
Buy from Hyped 2 Death (on ReR/Morphius Archives)

The Homosexuals stayed as far under the radar as possible during the post-punk (and punk) boom. only to emerge in this past decade as one of those bands that people would fork over a couple of thousand bucks for some cassette tape that was supposedly found in between the seat cushions of L'Voag's pad. i'm kidding. but i'm kind of not. i unfortunately don't have the other 2 discs to this 3 disc comp. and supposedly, when the tracks get shorter (ie strange segs), the Homosexuals truly show their artistic diversity . you either love them or hate them for the reason that most of the time they weren't very clear-cut in any sense of a "message." sometimes lyrics didn't even string together in any coherent fashion. i think mainly because what they recorded were works in progress or experiments, integral slices, minutes, of the 70s. one of my favorite quotes from the 1982 manifesto of Black Noise Productions (their record label): "the first rule is to exist...The music will be there to remind and say what we perhaps did not have time to."

In other news, i got my apartment today! so this is why we're listening to classics. of course they are dear to my heart, but new music will be coming up this week if i get around to finding it! check back if this is not your bag.

Blow the House In

2006-08-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

Photo by Joe Williams

From Alan Sparhawk's Solo Guitar album:
How a Freighter Comes into Harbor
Buy from Silber Media

Minimal, stark stuff from Low's Alan Sparhawk. on his own. all tracks purely experimental, testing how far he can push his guitar. As Brian John Mitchell (x-Remora) said of him, "I realized Alan was a guitar player after I heard Songs for a Dead Pilot in 1998." a guitar player should fill the room with the sound. every square inch. and sometimes not think of the guitar as an instrument, but rather an extension of himself. i think that's how Sparhawk comes across on this record-through his dead space and his filled space, he manages to convince the listener that each soundbyte (or soundless byte) is naturally essential.

From Mars' Complete Studio Recordings NYC: 1977-1978:
Monopoly
Helen Forsdale
Buy from Forced Exposure (on G3G/Spooky Sound)

i think monopoly was playing in the background during my mini-meltdown at a brooklyn realtor over the past few hours. Mars. One of the first no-wave bands, one of the best and dearest. This compilation is kind of old (3 years), but it needed to be dusted off tonight. and this album is stacked like jenga blocks ready to collapse-from the track "3E" showing the most straight-forward and structured part of their career, all the way down to the purely bizarre "Immediate Stages of the Erotic", absolute erosion of all moral fiber and mental stability. timeless. for the main fact they played without boundaries from the very beginning. and at the end, were ready to huff, puff, and blow any house in, out, up and down.

One if By Land, Two if By Sea

2006-08-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

Photo by Travis Gray

From the album The Forest & The Sea by Leafcutter John:
In the Morning
Seba
Buy from Staubgold or visit his site here

As I've said before, i like when records tell stories. this one in particular by London-based electronic composer, John Burton (aka Leafcutter John), telling the tale of a couple that gets lost in a forest. they stray so far from home that they have no choice but to sleep there with the other forest-dwellers. morning comes and they climb to the top of a moutain. one between the forest and the sea. instead of leaving through the forest, they take the sea. blair witch project meets 'folktronica.' really. on a serious note, it's a beautiful and calming album from the first to the last track. those chosen above--well the first follows a full-dream sequence where the couple is sleeping. and they're trying to decide how to get out that morning. then the second is about deciding to the take the sea. i suppose about being free and less constricted in general. stop rushing. slow down. enjoy life.

2 BOXED Bedroom off the BEDFORD L!!! WOWWOWOW! won't LAST!

2006-08-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

Photo by Ari Moore

From Umberto's Yellow Cardigan and Other Light-Hearted Songs (out of Ann Arbor, Michigan):
Don't Move to Brooklyn
Yellow Cardigan
Buy from We're Twins Records

i guess this is an inside joke. sorry. this is in special dedication to everyone trying to move to brooklyn. and of course, for all those who already live there. i have looked at 5 apartments in the past week. the only one i wanted just got snatched up this morning. all others have bedrooms that i could *possibly* fit a bed in. gas. electric. that's not included. the monthly rent is enough to make anyone have to live off pizza, coffee and cigarettes for the rest of their lives. is it stupid? yes. would i leave new york. nah. sometimes you can't avoid getting branded with the cattle prod. especially when it's either move to brooklyn. or well. hoboken.

crush on this

2006-08-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

Photo by Steve Prakope

From Crushed Butler's Uncrushed: First Punks From the British Underground 1969-1970:
Love Fighter (this was not a favorite-once again, i go for the underdog because maybe people have already heard the wonderful Factory Grime)
Buy from RPM/Cherry Red

My alter-ego listens to Crushed Butler. she wears steel toe boots and has tattoo sleeves. she wears fire-engine red lipstick everyday and drives an Indian motorcycle to work with this song piped through some built-in subwoofers. she winks at everyone while licking her lips. really i like her, but she can only come out to play on occasion. when she does though, be prepared to do shots of Wild Turkey and stumble home at 6am. sometimes she's a little too raw and risque for me. but she always talks about Crushed Butler as being the best band ever. the first punks (which some of her friends argue). long before the sex pistols and the stooges, often touted as being way "ahead of their time." and even though they kind of blew it with record labels here or there, that's what makes them even more appealing. so very punk rock. puke and pass out on couches punk rock.

I could write something horrible with "kraut" (like sauerkraut) in it. i'll spare you.

2006-08-09T14:54:00.000-07:00

Photo by *becky

Blumen Des Exotischen Eises tracks from the album Karawane Der Mystiks:
Das Rot Der Ampelhure
Xyrryx
Buy from Forced Exposure (on Psycho-Path)

Started my new radio show off with this bottom track here last night. and i got a phone call from a man who was a "messenger." i already love that someone calls and says "i am a messenger" because i'm thinking what kind of message is he going to send me. and he asks if i'm going to play anything else. like what? well, anything besides this. sure, plenty of stuff. no, i mean i'm coming home from work and i don't want to hear crap like this. this is all you can get in NY. *click*
actually, it's what you can get from Mr. Alfred Otterstaetter from 1986 (he had started in the late 70s). during the krautrock era, he had released a bunch of different improvised records under various bandnames, all being homemade, some with friends & some just by himself with overdubs. a man of mystery, certainly with different musical "pennames" and such. it's hard not to see some kind of eastern influence here--very much like Ravi Shankar meets Amon Duul I. and from the guy's reaction above, i know it's not for everyone.

And as a bonus--keeping with the "I heart krautrock" theme of the day, here are some lords of the genre, Faust. There's a tendency to praise Jennifer and Krautrock and It's a Bit of Pain on this record. But a few times, i've blasted this album and always come to this track, saying what is THIS? yes, the other ones are equally as amazing, but i have a certain passion for this underdog that no one ever speaks of:
From Faust IV, Lauft...Heisst Dad Es Lauft Oder Es Kommt Bald...Lauft
Buy from Amazon (re-issued on Virgin)

Juice!

2006-08-06T08:09:00.000-07:00

Photo by Travis Gray:

Random offerings/findings of This Bike is a Pipe Bomb--
Live at the Tour of the Living Dead (a three-week tour in 2000 w/ Cliff Clavin & Dave Dondero & Boy Was it Fun):
Mouse Teeth
Hot Diggity
From Front Seat Solidarity (2002):
This is What i Want
From Three Way Tie for Fifth (2004):
Jack Johnson
Visit them, buy records, become my space friends, show love, make babies
Oh. or go to the record label that houses some of their material, Plan-It-X.

This Bike is a Pipe Bomb started in 97 as a jokey country band. but considering they were "punk" in nature (sleeping on floors, playing at basement parties, making political riffs before sets), this came across in their sound from the get-go. which is why they spawned a fun, bouncy, "folk-punk" band, damning yuppies, the president and Pensacola, Florida. i saw them for the first time out in Bushwick yesterday, since i think it's a rarity they would be coming this way. it didn't take a lot of convincing to get the crowd to bop around like mad. truly a great time and i could be wrong but it seems like they don't take themselves all too seriously. funny i had a conversation with a kid after the set last night who said he spent too much time in a band that wasn't serious about music. now he's in a serious band. not to insult the serious at all. but serious is just such a dry word. it has the tendency to squeeze the juice out of anything. TBIAPB is full of juice.

ALSO:
speaking of "Juice". holy holy moly. Spank Rock also played at the same show last night. i thought he was a part of the audience. meanwhile he just stands up from squatting position with mic in hand, busting out the smoothest flows ever! the album is good. as a performer, however, there's something about watching SR that's visually stunning and goes beyond the record. sounds strange, i know, but watching this skinny little guy with the backdrop of a couple of delivery trucks and a brick wall in middle-of-nowhere Bushwick just made my night. but the piece de resistance was this guy "Juice." who is Juice? the mystery of it all. i think he was a friend of SR's. an even skinnier little dude, also squatting on the floor, jumps up, grabs the mic and starts bouncing and leaping around from one point of the crowd to the other, freestyling, red in the face, mouth running a mile a minute. i haven't had that much fun since some old MC battles at the defunct wetlands.

From Spank Rock's new Yoyoyoyoyo (which i'm sure has been posted 1 million & 1 times):
Rick Rubin
Buy from Big Dada

Take Pride, My Friend

2006-08-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

Photo Felicia Atkinson

From First Nation, their debut S/T album:
Female Trance
Waterfall
Buy from Paw Tracks

i originally saw these three NYC ladies play at Cakeshop a few months back, after this album had officially dropped. and the place was packed maybe three weeks post-release. maybe it was because they were opening for White Magic, but really i think it's due to the publicity they gathered after touring with Animal Collective last year. that's a lofty undertaking having never had an album. maybe they had put everyone in a hypnotic trance (they do have a tendency to come off as 'tribal' at times...and, this just noted, i wrote that before realizing the track i'm posting is called 'Female Trance'). First Nation is a softer, more feminine form of that Animal Collective sound. i don't know why, but on hearing their first song live, it felt as though you were trasnsported into an aviary. i know, an odd comparison, but their harmonized voices can sometimes naturally sound like birds overlapping one another (which doesn't necessarily come across on this disc).

From Jacob Smigel's release Eavesdrop: A Wealth of Found Sound:
Trailer Couple
Hamburger Hamlet
Fight with Michael
Buy from Smigel himself

I can't even express to you how much i respect "found sound." why? because there is not one false aspect to it. it's all real. as genuine as a documentary, as valuable as photographs and antiquities. Jacob Smigel discovered these found tapes over the course of 4 years from thrift shops, yard sales and trash cans. absolutely brilliant collection from front to back. comedic, tragic, fully cinematic. this is America baby. doesn't it make you proud?

If you like this, check out more "found sound" at Tape Findings for some new funny goodies updated weekly
OR 365 Days, a weirdo project of one MP3 a day for one year of found tapes, mainly of crazy people singing crazily...there are more and if i find them again, i will direct you that way.

Wordless Things/Thingless Words

2006-08-03T17:02:00.000-07:00

Photo by Bill Walsh (actually of Bill, far right, after he incorrectly spelled the word "ninety")

From Theta (Mika Vainio)'s new album Kantamoinen:
Miekkakala
Aanikuva
Buy from Forced Exposure, released on Sahko (Finland) Records

Mika Vainio aka Theta (or the symbol theta that i can't find on my computer) aka one-half of Pan Sonic or Panasonic has given birth to this brainy piece of minimal, early-style electronic, originally recorded in Barcelona, Wien & Berlin from 1999-2004. i can only think of a few ways to describe it. as a space oddessy. as the little control we have over the earth. for instance, i just looked out the window and the sky changed from grey to yellow to green to purple to deep blue to black. and (i apologize for being way too into Auster's "NY Trilogy" right now) as "a place of wordless things and thingless words." an exploration of sound in it's purest form, manipulated yet somehow appearing "undoctored." all in all, i think "clarity" might sum it up.

Life Breathed into Death-Metal

2006-08-02T16:08:00.001-07:00

Diptych by Billy Quinn

From Bardo Pond's new Ticket Crystals:
Destroying Angel
(and they practice in a Philly basement and used to record there, so close to a true Basement song. yay!)
Buy from ATP

this album makes me feel that we live in a world of illusions and oxymorons. nothing is ever as it seems. sweet can turn sour. sour can turn sweet. and you can have sweet sour and sour sweet. Ticket Crystals is a trip through the angelic to the demonic. and each time i listen to it, i pick up on something new. like reading a passage again that you didn't quite get the first time. and in Paul Auster's novel "New York Trilogy" when Quinn talks about books, saying "the world of the book comes to life, seething with possibilities, with secrets and contradications. since everything seen or said, even the slightest most trivial thing, can bare an outcome to the story, nothing must be overlooked." and go figure, that's what prompted me to listen to this entire thing all the way through. mainly because i have a short attention span and never originally got past the first track and had only sporadically touched on the "trippier" tracks of the album--but sometimes when things are over 5 minutes, i get antsy. as well as repetition can make me feel the same way. although repetition plays a large part in the making of the record, it's the variations that make it unique within the Bardo Pond discography.
therefore, i believe, thoroughly recommended for focused (or the pure opposite, no in-between) individuals, who like the nitty-gritty details amongst repetition, and those who like bittersweet "epic death-metal/psych" tracks with a halo and a smattering of puppydogs and echoes.

****BIG APOLOGY to KRISTINE BARRETT, not KATHERINE Barrett (see under, "Books on Tape" post). sometimes i make mistakes. actually, often.

2006-08-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

Basement Songs will resume later in the day (it's a toss up between a Bardo Pond track or some crazy kraut, blumen des exostischen eises). Check back! I've been trying to get life in order...sorry...

Deal-Breakers and Makers

2006-07-29T20:09:00.000-07:00

Photo by Kakade

Very exciting. Basement Songs got added to the Blog Hype Machine yesterday--a mega-resource to help any music addict continue with their sickness!

From MV & EE with the Bummer Road's new release Mother of Thousands:
Cold Rain
Buy from Time-Lag Records

Oh yes. It's some more experimental explorations from Matt Valentine & Erika Elder, hailing from Vermont where Ben & Jerry's ice cream runs free (Matt being well-known for being one of the brains behind Tower Recordings). and they are joined by the Bummer Road, a powerhouse group comprised of Mo' Jiggs, Samara Lubelski, Sparrow Wildchild, Willie Lane and Nemo. an ultimate salad of contemporary blues and country and freaky-deeky psych folk with a plethora of instruments. bantar. lap steel. uke. harp environments. flute. bass. tambura. it's an endless list. a friend of mine once told me that if you're planning to start a band, you should all be at the same point in your musical career. either you don't know how to play at all or you are already all veterans. because if you mix them, someone is getting frustrated. Mother of Thousands is a clear example of people all being on the same page. with common ideas. and what appears to be a common respect for what everyone brings to the table. which is why it works like any other "family-band" might have in history. this track above is probably one of the most simplistic on the whole album. i always feel it's easy to dazzle with heightened effects. very "smoke & mirrors." sometimes it's the hardest thing to have minimalism appear worthy. but as cheesy as it sounds, if the heart is behind it, it will come across as genuine.

in other news. i got a job this past weekend. i was extremely thrilled and went out to celebrate. i met a guy and started talking to him about "deal-breakers." basically, why you would stop seeing someone you're dating. mine were simple. having drastically different political views. not tipping waiters. and saying that your favorite artist is James Blunt. i thought this was an amusing conversation. so i was laughing quite a bit. at the end of the night, he asked for my friend's number instead, saying "you laugh too much. which can be entirely unsettling. you really know how to make someone feel stupid." i never knew laughing was the ultimate deal-breaker.

SPAM i am, part II

2006-07-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

so i love reading my SPAM emails now. mainly because they're encrypted in some crazy language. and i stumbled upon this one. see i was having trouble writing my new songs. these are some perfect lyrics right here...

field
according Directs practices
Tequila Sold Restroom Gallery
merged
been repealed without hold
The full plain
takeoffs takes toll. Most
cache retrieved
layouts
ugly bad
volume decimal digits digits.
older literally drags example Maxtor series cycles. headdisk interface
Endowment Peace. Gush from
discuss page replace
followup
bare
somehow entered
readily nothing else.
suspended together mirror
undermine economy corrupt democracy
Exposure magazine
products. There produced Toshiba
huge
ESDI multiple
Tips Give
tested available sized huge
linkCite articleIn VitTrke
novel theatre script. ready layouts style
warning
policies. WEEK Dan
becomes users notice volume
Christian lethal

Unproven Equations

2006-07-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

Photo by Carina Envoldsen

From Monotract, their new album XPRMNTL LVRS:
Muerte Y Destruccion
Buy from Ecstatic Peace (the Thurston Moore label that seems to be putting out some top quality material as of late)

Here's a rare egg dropped straight from Miami, Florida. Monotract is made up of Carlos Giffoni (insano noise master from No Fun Fest, an annual all-noise festival at The Hook in Red Hook), Nancy Garcia and Roger Rimada. They will be having a release party at the Hook on August 5th with label mates Mouthus, The Magik Markers and Panopticon Eyelids. bring earplugs. it will be like a 1/2 No Fun Fest. there was a 20 year-old kid who used to have the show before me on air. it was basically all-noise. he went to the No Fun Fest every year. Giffoni being someone whom he always hailed as a chief. though he said it was always difficult to sit through 8 hours of pure ungodly tones. and then couldn't listen to any kind of music for an entire week thereafter.
if you took Monotract and added it to 1/4Suicide + 1/4Soft Cell's Persuasion - freaky CB radio transmission effects, this would produce the Primitive Calculators below. only theory for now. an unproven mathematical fact.

From the S/T release by Primitive Calculators (on the Chapter label):
Do That Dance
I Can't Stop It
*Released as a 7" as well. but this was a live recording of these tracks at a venue in Melbourne. i believe it was Heart. what makes it even better is it was released in December 1979. my birth month and year. strange times for a strange baby.
Visit Primitive Calculators here

It's hard to think that these radioactive sonic emissions came from four teenagers who all grew up in the same downtroden town, Springvale, just outside of Melbourne. of course when this was finally produced they were slightly older. but seriously. the oldest was 23 and the youngest, ms. Denise, was 20. im still trying to write my first couple of songs and im 26. but that was the fun of not trying to be anything as teens of the 70s (or at least that's how it seems.) the Calculators were always on the "outside" of the punk scene looking in, which much like the no-wave scene, made them truly inspiring for musicians and sound junkies of today. of course some young up-and-comers are making some great music now, but sometimes (and i'm just saying sometimes) it sounds as though it's being made for other people rather than themselves. this is only speculation, but i would venture a guess that the PCs didn't really care what anybody thought.

Homegrown on the Vine

2006-07-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

Photo by Tomas Apodaca

From the new Believer Magazine compilation Famous Shovels in Twain:
Jim White-Fruit Of the Vine
Visit Believer Magazine, buy a copy and you get this disc with it....yay!

This new compilation put out by Believer is truly surprising. even bands that i don't usually like sound amazing. mainly because, (as i've posted similarly below), a lot of this stuff is improvised and recorded live on shoddy equipment that picks up a lot of background nuances. this track in particular was "recorded on Flannery O' Connor's porch" during a chilly spring afternoon on an el cheapo mini disc recorder. i can't stop listening to it. it's been in my head every day for the past week. and it doesn't necessarily gel well with city streets. but i think that's why i like it. it's nice when things are out of place. White is best known (i believe) for his work Jim White Presents Music from Searching for a Wrong-Eyed Jesus which served as a soundtrack to Andrew Douglas' film about a "trippy" roadtrip. Learn more about Jim White here on the Luaka Bop label.

other stand-out songs on here. well certainly Marissa Nadler's "Box of Cedar" recorded in a bathtub in Williamsburg. the way her voice reverberates is unmatchable. who knew the best place to record would be the bathroom? and another shocker on here comes from Calexico called "Throws Daggers" which catches the sounds of a passing frieght train just at the peak and will scare the living dickens out of you if you have it hooked up to an incredible system, making you think it's coming to smash into your house. and if we play the "Which One of These is Not Like the Others" game, Stephen O'Malley takes the cake. i'm not quite getting where SunnO))-type guitar goes with... well for instance it follows Feist for heaven's sake. i'm all about scary segways. alright i admit it. it's just my aversion to SunnO))). that's something my ears and brain don't get. and i like noise and death metal. a lot. but SunnO))) has been the only show that i have ever left halfway through. ANYWAY...(as Klosterman will say. he's rubbing off on me)...

The list of artists goes on, including Juana Molina, Blood on the Wall, Six Organs of Admittance, Think About Life, Neung Phak, Mamdou Diabate, Tiny Hawks, Destroyer, The National, Spoken Tongues and El Perro del Mar. Of course not all are going to appeal to some, and i would say i really like about 4 or 5 and am on the fence about a few others. my rule of thumb is an album's worth it if half are winners...

Agree to Disagree

2006-07-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

"Chaos" provided by David Rabinal

From Stronen/Storlokken's Humcrush (2005):
Dance!
Marked East
Buy from Rune Gramophone

On the cover of this album in the radio station cabinet, it reads "like Hella, but if they joined the circus." i agree, but i think my interpretation might be R2D2 stuck in your kitchen, short-circuiting while trying to make dinner. Stronen/Storlokken is Stale Storlokken, keyboardist for Supersilent, and Thomas Stronen, drummer of Food (also Stronen came out with a new album called Pohlitz that came out at the beginning of the year). and it's all improvised. there's something to say about improvisation; i've heard some amazing albums made on the fly, mainly because those who attempt it (and are actually successful with it) truly understand sound and where it can go. think that you're having to listen to every component going on from the other person (or people) and yourself at the same time. that's multi-tasking on a chaotic level. i personally feel they're "free-jazz" geniuses. and a rare form of genius at that...

it also made me think that people understand sound in different ways. it's taken in, received, perceived, and forms some kind of thought in our minds with an accompanying feeling (maybe). i have been told that some people are purely cerebral about music. the kind of "hhhhmmmm" interpretation. some people really feel music. the tingle down the spine and the thump on the temples. some people can distinguish every element, even the slightest triangle ding, in a song. some people hear it as a blurry chaotic mess. i say this because on my radio show today, i was thinking how many people would tune in in the middle and actually turn it off. how many people think this is really bad but i think it's really great? they don't hear what i hear and i don't hear what they hear. it's impossible. we can both agree something is a good or bad song but, nine times out of ten, our reasoning would differ. i once got punished by a folk goddess (who shall remain nameless) at a record store (that shall remain nameless) for saying i thought the new Stuart A. Staples album was bad, to which she sarcastically responded "oh, then it really must suck."
i've been reading Chuck Klosterman's "Killing Yourself to Live" and although very entertaining, not what i expected at all. i think i disagree with him on almost every band. nearly every one he likes, i've never liked. but my favorite passage of all was from a chapter i read over coffee this morning: "Everyone likes to lionize Joy Division's Ian Curtis for noosing it up in 1980, but that was his whole aesthetic; Joy Division's singular directive was self-loathing. Every guy in that band should have hung himself, probably; nobody would have missed New Order, except for a bunch of idiots who think taking drugs and dancing is more fun than drinking and feeling melodramatic (which i suppose is everyone in the world except me.)" in my aural world, New Order is great and KISS is not as great as he makes them out to be. not great enough to buy 26 records. we will all have to agree to disagree.

New Afternoon Show

2006-07-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

doing the New Afternoon Show, playing all new indie stuff from 4-7:30PM (EST) on 89.1FM (NY metro area) and WNYU.org.
will be posting later because i have to go prepare a bit!

Books On Tape-not the band.

2006-07-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

Photo by Inacio Guerberoff

From the new compilation Rojo.Tachan.Nosordo.:
Luis Maurette-In Between (edit)

another track with a storyline. i am now becoming incredibly attached to long, epic compositions that are like short audio "films" in themselves. i suppose "books on tape" if you will. i'm going to tell you what i hear. but don't read this until you hear the track yourself. i don't want to influence your own story.
so here's the guy from the Suishou No Fune post. the one that's actually found in the tunnel by his girlfriend after getting hit by the car. and this is the second overly dramatic scene. it's a bright white hospital. blinding. and through this guy's eyes, you can kind of make-out blurry figures moving around. and they're saying things that are basically inaudible. the only real prominent, clear sounds are coming from the life support machine and the heart monitor. and then he starts to go. the doctor's voices become so muffled that they sound as though they're in slo-mo. the last breaths are taken. and then the water starts to trickle down. this is water from the river styx. and now he's having to paddle down this stream filled with blood. there are voices of children. of course they've been "bad children" and this is why they're in hell. they've killed the neighbor's dog i'm sure. on purpose. but his girlfriend is crying from the other side you see. and he hears her sweet voice. and this is enough for him to use every last muscle in his half-dead body to try to take another breath. because he has to live for her (see if he had just let go, it would have taken him into Suishou No Fune-land). and then he comes to with the doctors and the nurses again and an orderly wheels him into the elevator. ding. horrible horror movie. no?

here's another track from this compilation:
Kristine Barrett-Marie Rosa

genuine beauty in it's repetitive simplicity. like images cut from a train-ride through a foreign land. rolling hills of green that don't change over the course of a hundred miles. i want a vacation. does this remind anyone of Steve Reich's "Before the War" and "After the War?" i love how i recently read somewhere that the lastest Girl Talk album was like eating a bunch of candy and junk, while Steve Reich was described as "eating your vegetables."

this comp from the Spanish magazine Rojo and the Swedish label Nosordo has a lot of gems on it. I would have posted the Henrik Rylander (of The Skulls Defekts who have a new limited ed. live album called Open the Gates of Mimer) track, a real mind-bender but fit for people who really like the subtleties of choatic noisyness. i also always limit myself to two tracks per album. and these won, but there are many many more i would like to have put out there. the 15 tracks are all space-oddities in some form, some merging acoustic intrumentation with electronics to send epileptics into convulsions. some just play on pretty orchestration. all creative, however, and one-of-a-kind. Visit the Nosordo label here for more info.

if you think these are strange. oh you have some more presents under the tree this week. and when you shake them, they squeal.

Showtime

2006-07-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

Photo by Chris Smart

Doing ROTATION again tomorrow night (NYC time) from 10:30PM to 1AM. Be prepared for the Der Plan-type influx. this is my favorite show to do always. it's everything i love and more!

Also, as a side note, to the indie record labels and PR companies, i'm looking for some part-time work folks. i would be most happy with PR or A&R, but am open to other suggestions. my resume is available upon request!

The Mecca AKA Hyped 2 Death

2006-07-20T10:01:00.001-07:00

Photo by Makeshift

From Richard, Rodney, Rastus, Raoul, Roderick, Randy, Rupert:
The Midnight Circus-Obsession & Guilt

From Revel in the Static:
Animals & Men-We Are Machines

From Homework #105: American D.I.Y. post-punk, artwave, no wave, experimental from the letter "C", 1978-83:
The Cigarettes-1979

one night i had a pint with a friend in a dingy pub called Swift. no matter how hard i think my bar conversations will stay away from music, this is rarely the case. i always set groundrules before walking out the door. you may play the jukebox. but do not talk about songs on the jukebox. do not spend more than 5 dollars on the jukebox. do not have arguments about the top bands from the 80s. do not try to defend a certain genre. and never, ever think you know more than the next person. that's arrogant and usually not the case. but see once the ball is already knocked into that court, i have a hard time letting it fly past me without taking a swing at it. and im really horrible at debating philosophical topics when my synapses have stopped functioning. the spinner always lands on music.
and this one night, i was thankful for that. sometimes i feel like i live in a cave when i haven't found something right up my alley after it's been around for years already. i was explaining how i was really getting into the period from the late 70s to early 80s. mainly post-punk and no wave. not joy division, but like joy division. and my friend told me about the label (and now personal mecca) Hyped 2 Death which also has three other divisions called Homework, Teenline and Messthetics. H2D releases comps of north american punk from 1976-1984, mainly all indies and very few famous. Homework is all about American D.I.Y. compilations, low-budget, homemade, strange artwave, no wave, experimental & post-punk mostly from the best 1977-1982 time period. Teenline is power-pop and pop-rock from 1975-1985 (my least favorite, though definately fit for obscure pop junkies). and then Messthetics, the only non-comp section, releasing downright amazing oddities from the UK, also D.I.Y from 1978-1984.
Now i would tell you about the above bands, but really i think it would be a disservice to the label owner to not direct you straight to the catalog to learn more about them. Visit him here. everything is affordable and if i had money, i would buy everything from him. he sells at the WFMU record fair every year. my one warning to you. once i get cash, i am knocking people out at his booth to get all that i could ever want and need. beware. as a side note, a serious must have is the Instant Automatons Another Wasted Sunday Afternoon and since i already have it, we don't need to get in a cat fight over it.

Dirty Subconscious

2006-07-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

Image provided by Max Sparber (from the film Dr. Sex, 1964)

From The Burden of Mules from 1983:
The Wolfgang Press-Prostitute I
The Wolfgang Press-The Burden of Mules
Buy from 4AD (and might i mention they just put out Scott Walker's The Drift, a must-have for this year)

this is some ultra-strange crap. not crap crap. this is great if you like creepy "speak-lyrics" set to a repetitive background. these are the most palletable. other tracks on this album, such as "Slow as a Child" are brilliant but not for the weak of heart. The Wolfgang Press conjures up a comparison to repressed fantasy and turmoil that has finally been unleashed. much like a child's brain, the Press tends to set out a somewhat primitive and raw perspective on life, clearly portrayed in simplicity of lyrics and beats. maybe im saying this because i was reading some psychological theory by Klein right before listening to this album again. and what made me go for it, i shall never know. i wish i could post the whole album here. there's such an honesty to it. this small sample doesn't do it justice considering the power of its creativity.

i also think i went to it. well because it has a song on it called "prostitute." and i happened to be eating ice cream right down by my house. and when i decide to eat ice cream. and it's about 100 degrees out. and you can fry an egg on the street. people believe this is the most opportune time to talk to me. and a guy said in the loudest voice ever "girlfriend i NEED to sit by you!" and nearly made me drop my cone. he took a seat on the bench. after some silence, he put his hand on my leg and told me it was too hot to be wearing jeans. then he told me he was a porn star and would be filming a movie at 6pm today and that his dream was to start his own porn company. the rest is secret. but i believe that if the Press had ever decided to make "Prositute III" to follow "I" and "II" from this album, it would have come from his mouth (i am by no means saying he is a prostitute. and NO. i was not in the film if that's what you're thinking. dirty subconscious).

How very futuristic of you...

2006-07-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

Photo by Nate Rohdy

From Thrtysxtrllnmnfstns:
Geoff Mullen-Track 4
Buy from Entschuldigen (Keith Fullerton Whitman's label!!)

it seems like music is taking a turn in some areas. and im jumping on the bandwagon while it's here. moving into a future of "pure" instruments (on this release Geoff Mullen uses guitar and banjo) with manmade contemporary electronics and amplification. he's not the first to do this in recent time, but i still feel that this "sub-genre" is still relatively compartmentalized, sitting in a tiny space in music history. it's clear, however, that Mullen brings something new to the table. it's an understanding of sound in another dimension. the way it can be manipulated to fit no matter how far apart the elements might appear to be at first. i think im not the only one who feels this way about his debut work. Mr. Keith Fullerton Whitman received this demo and said it was the best thing he's ever gotten in the mail. that's an extreme compliment. this goes down as one of my favorite releases of '06 thus far.

if you like this, also see the new J Spaceman release Guitar Loops on the Treader label (owned by the fellas from Spring Heel Jack). if you're planning on making one big musical investment for this year, i highly recommend picking up the set of 6 albums (Treader series one) that they put out earlier this year. that is if you love strange free-jazz and instumentals. Features artists Evan Parker, John Coxon, Mark Sanders, Ashley Wales, John Tchicai, and J. Spaceman as mentioned). J. Spaceman is from Spiritualized, doing something very un-Spiritualized in nature with his guitar. um. but it is exactly what it's called. guitar. looped. it's much more exciting than it sounds.
Check out all Treader stuff here.

sorry for the late post. shake a fist at blogger.

Fine, Thank You

2006-07-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

Photo by Ryan Greenberg

Daniel Johnston-Walking the Cow from Hi, How Are You?
Click here for just about everything about Daniel Johnston

one of my favorite men to tide you over until i get new music today. i've probably posted him before but i forget. "Walking the Cow" is from his more "unstable" period (around 1983-85) before MTV and Atlantic Records and back-up bands. where he had the most symbolic lyrics we might ever witness. if you've heard him before, i'm sure you've heard this "hit" already. a cartoonist. an Astro World employee. a corn-dog seller. a parent's cellar-dweller. i find him seriously inspirational in his innocence.
from the words of Johnston: "I have a philosophy to treat every day like Christmas day - so go out every day and by yourself a present and make every day like Christmas day."

will drag my butt to get the new stuff. i promise. all i've been doing is playing guitar and thinking about making phone calls. no excuse for my laziness.

Check baby check baby one two three four

2006-07-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

Photo by Juska Rantanen

DJing the ABSTRACT tonight from 8-9 on 89.1FM (NYC time and frequency) & wnyu.org (if not in the area). oh yes. avant garde hip-hop. including some turntabilism. im so excited since i went through an extended period where i only listened to hip-hop every single day. and i thought OPP was the best song in junior high without a clue what it meant.

Holy Depressing

2006-07-13T17:05:00.000-07:00

Photo by David Genki

From Where the Spirits Are:
Suishou No Fune-Your Tears Drop From the Sky
Buy from Holy Mountain

Caution. if you are already in a somber mood today. don't listen to this track. just wait until you're ready. so if you can proceed and you're not walking out of the theater, cut to a scene of a significant other crying over dead body of boyfriend/girlfriend that just got hit by a car in a tunnel. and you're at the other end and this is the long death chant to accompany said dead person to grave. it's all in black and white. and it's raining and muddy. and the guitars are crying as much as the mourning people at the funeral. and then it just gets all too bleak because the really sad sig other jumps on the casket as it's being lowered into the ground. and now it's pouring out and the tears and the rain mesh into one aquatic mess. such well-crafted drama could only come from the depths of the underground rock scene in Tokyo where melancholy and hatred and darkness can easily be translated into twisted beauty. regardless of it's overall affect on a listener's mood, it's hard not to think of the male/female duo Suishou No Fune as charting new territory in the vast world of space & psychedelia. if you like this, for a similar effect, check out Alan Sparhawk's (of Low) new experimentations with his guitar on Solo Guitar here, with a similar tunnel sound to some of the tracks, pushing the boundaries of what can be done with 6 strings. his album is not for everyone, but it's haunting and perhaps a reflection of his hardships with mental health, though i can't speak for Sparhawk himself. it's usually a stereotype to say that musicians need to be depressed to produce something hard-hitting, but it's true to some extent. pain can be a magical ingredient.

as a personal aside, three things from the New York Press that just came out today: 1. Wolfmother is on the cover. discuss amongst yourselves. 2. one of the biggest ways to commit suicide these days is to jump in front of a subway car. one of the reasons stated by the author? "it's cheap." this past week, when a train stopped before hitting a desparate man, he decided to bash his head against the third rail instead. 3. people who go to NY's Cakeshop have been described as "intense, college DJ audiophiles." im not sure how i feel about this new label. last but not least, i saw lightning hit the empire state building yesterday.

Unseasonal

2006-07-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

Photo by Meg Wachter

From Happy New Year:
Oneida-Up With People
Buy from Jagjaguawar

Oneida strikes again. as being some of the leaders in the whole brooklyn wave of rock, this album has the potential to really put them out on top. dare i say this one is going to spread like wildfire and it just came out yesterday. i've been somewhat disappointed with what's been coming into the station as of late. and then i saw Happy New Year. Oneida? Another? this was not just any other. it roared like a rollercoaster taking you up and down through ballads and chants and psych and mysterious melodies. to me, this track stood out amongst all the others. perhaps it's the new edition of Phil Manley from Trans Am (which i have a certain fondness for) and the Fucking Champs that gives it that inpenetrable jarring quality, but i believe it's just Oneida in full-force as the talented folks they're fans have always known them to be. these guys are not your typical brooklynite "hipsters" (and i still hate that word with a passion.) they are certainly not in this for the fame, fashion or bedding women. are you guys? i would be honestly upset if this were the truth. no. this sounds like people with a serious addiction to sound rather than managing perfect "mop quaffs."

as for New Years. my parents got married on new year's after knowing each other for a month. i've had good ones and duds. my best being in Amsterdam for 2003. where i spent my entire time in brown bars and i wasn't sure what country i was in. may this album remind you of the better new year's. not the ones where you didn't get a kiss.

Rip Out Your Organs

2006-07-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

Photo by Damien du Toit

From Bango's S/T release:
Motor Maravilha
Ode to Billy

Buy from Not Lame Recordings

i say yes to the organ! some more 70s retro flashback for you from Brazilian heavy garage/psych band, Bango. think the Doors if they were slightly influenced by tropicalia. also from the marvelous Shadoks label rarity vaults. i honestly believe i was born at the end of the wrong time frame. i should have been born in 1959. not 1979.

on that same note, i just came across this. scary thing is i would live in any one of those places. im especially fond of the one with the horse in the kitchen.

NO!!! "something's wrong" New York

2006-07-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

Photo by Casual Chin

It's NO-wave day! yay!

Swans-Sex God Sex
Theoretical Girls-Lovin' in the Red (second version)
James Chance & The Contortions-I Don't Want to Be Happy
Suicide-Cherree
DNA-5:30*the best minute and nine seconds of your time

Check out this comp. that scratches the surface of the scene
& look at these great pics!

saw the documentary Kill Your Idols this weekend with Ms. Katis. she will be bringing you that review later this week. and we looked at each other midway and i can't put my finger on it but something was wrong. im not going to steal her thunder and reveal too much. but the director spoke at the end of the film and did a Q&A. and i hope that he didn't hear me because i think he was sitting two seats behind me the entire time. i vaguely remember saying that i felt there wasn't enough on the actual no-wave era. perhaps it's because of the lack of footage. but too much emphasis was placed on making the "modern rockstar" look like an idiot. in some instances, he didn't have to try to hard. and i really wanted to ask some poignant question but nothing came out. i just felt dumb. i needed two days to articulate. the film did have a positive effect on me overall. it made me go home and immediately put on the Swans while dreaming of possibilities of finding my voice through fischer price toys.

hey there

2006-07-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

doing a show today online on wnyu.org, playing all new music from 2-4PM (EST) so tune in for that if you can...will be posting stuff later, so check back!

How Did I Get Here?

2006-07-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

Photo by Chuck Patch

i just came back from the bank. the teller asked me to guess how much money i thought i might have left. i said probably something in the negative digits. and she said no it's not that bad. i said ok then probably two dollars. she told me to give myself more credit than that. it was eight. and do you know why it's eight? because i spent all i had left on dub, reggae and now hip-hop for the Abstract show im doing next Friday. i really need to find a job asap.

but then haven't people always told you 'hey look on the bright side.' the glass is half full, not half empty. you're not on the streets. yet. which is why i have a true passion for unsigned bands. especially ones where all the members are bartending or waiting tables at night. because this is truly what they want to do. im not sure if this is the case for Kansas natives White Flight, but i'm thinking that the label they're on, Range Life is their own (i could be wrong) and they've just signed friend's bands. and this is how most indie labels start off (check out Oneida and the way they started Brah through Jagjauwar. not a bad hook up for a deal stemming from a drinking bender at Daddy's in Brooklyn one night.) i respect when people go out on their own and against the grain. forgoing a 9-5 lifestyle, because losing one's creativity would be a much greater threat than having to eat a bunch of ramen all the time.

White Flight's new S/T album is heartfelt which is why it put me in a good mood instantaneously. it flows well with no lulls in the entire album. it has energy and life. it keeps you in the moment with no worries of the past or the future. that's usually the effect made by people doing this for the love. as Roelofs speaks of White Flight: "It seems like a lot of bands now are interested more in their images and their careers than making pure and powerful music. I used to be in a band like this — we took press photos and we thought about the future."

From this S/T release:

Pastora Divine

Buy from Range Life

Pottymouths

2006-07-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

Photo by Chris Smart

i'm kind of thinking of buying this. do not laugh at me. i don't know what i would do with it yet. but i think it could come in handy. not for "playing music at the poolside" as the seller states. i think i would probably throw on some shades and carry it down the street for more "performance art."

i know this is kind of a scrawny posting for today (or now tonight in NYC time). so it will be brief and painless. i wasn't around all day because i was doing something incredibly important with my life. i am an incredibly important individual. V-I-P standings forever. i was hooking up my turntable and embarrasingly i couldn't figure it out because it's as out-of-date as the above item. but let me tell you this is a life-changing event for me. i pulled all of my vinyl out of storage and can now listen to all the things i bought and put aside "for later." i can't believe i own a Tiny Tim album. i didn't know that. it kind of scares me. and i think i own every james taylor, simon & garfunkel and peter, paul & mary album ever made. mainly due to hand-me-downs from relatives and such. not to dis on our classic friends there. i'll just say it wasn't the first thing i threw on. it was House of the Holy. only to find out it had a huge damned scratch through the entire thing. now i will have to look through all the dollar bins at church sales. or my basement garbage.

i originally posted something about The Country Teasers but took it down. i knew someone out there would take them too seriously and feel i was this horrid individual. some people don't understand political satire too well. so instead, im going to write a quickie about some other potty-mouthed individuals, The Coachwhips. i had once called my friend's father a pottymouth during my childhood honesty period. and he never let me play with his sons again.

The Coachwhips have always had an unpolished vibe. even more so on their recordings than during live performances.ive never liked clean and packaged. it reminds me of a bad boy band. i think that was Dwyer's entire plan. everything always sounds like it's your drunk friend with ADD screaming at you over your screwed up intercom to come downstairs and play for awhile. like whatever comes from the band's brain is spewed forth and plopped in front of your shoes in a bloody pool. i've also had the pleasure of listening to Dwyer's new band Yikes! which is currently unreleased. once it officially hits the streets, you will certainly be seeing it on Basement Songs.

This double disc album, Double Death, features some of the Coachwhips personal rarities as well some obscure covers:

Hands On...

Buy from Narnack

And as a bonus, if you're feeling a bit mellower today and not ready for a harsh beating from the Coachwhips, here's some new material from Spinform aka Eric Moller from Stockholm. light beats, drones, tones, blips and beeps mixed in with strings. Moller is also known for work under the moniker "Unai", but a bit more dub/house in quality. definately minimal and lo-fi in nature, this is some of his best work yet. simple, just rolled out-of-bed aesthetics and charm.

From Bryter Tystnaden:

Imperiebyggaren

Buy from Hobby Industries

Happy 4th!!

2006-07-04T10:48:00.002-07:00

Photo by Chris Smart

i've been listening to nothing but reggae, dub and ska for the past three days. im trying to put together my show for Tunnel One tonight (WNYU FM 89.1- yes shameless self-promotion again) AND i'm also doing Outside again (experimental, acoustic, noise, avant garde). im very excited. so if you want to hear armageddon followed by a fun jamaican party, tune in from 8-10:30 PM (NY time). this is if you don't have July 4th plans of course. but im telling you there's a chance for severe thunderstorms tonight. so i might have my captured audience.

this is a perfect day for New yorker Theo Angell (of Jackie-o Motherfucker and Hall of Fame fame.) some more slap your thigh insanity for you during your bar-b-ques and firework explosions and family reunion love and humid 'cut the air with a knife' weather. in the past, Angell has usually been more...(ok as a side-note right now, this just in, my crazy neighbor just literally gave a high-pitched scream and bounced off the wall as i was playing this Angell track...maybe that's the effect it has on people)....well, he's been more of an experimental drifter. this stuff is definately more structured, straight-forward, soft and accessible....this track is the most upbeat on the album (and my favorite), while the rest are more of the sweet ballad category...

From Dearly Beloved:
Cannonball
Buy from Amish records

By the way, Basement Songs will be expanding over the next couple of weeks with the addition of my own dearly beloved friend Ms. Renee Katis, bringing you reviews on the latest avant garde/obscure on-screen movies and DVDs. as a former Pratt film student and producer, she has an astounding knowledge base of visual arts. she is also into walking around the meat-packing district with me at 2am on a saturday night, doing impromtu "performance art" where we act as though our mothers are in the clubs and we are avidly trying to find them amongst the scary crowds at Lotus. it's a great time. join us some day.

Current Affairs

2006-07-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

Image by Federico Ferrari

went to the best show yesterday. it was for CitySol, an organization that is putting on a summer music and market series on the East River with the mission to "bring environmentalism to New York (by) putting more New York into the environment." See here for more info on them and upcoming shows. the line-up for yesterday: The Wowz, Dame Darcy, Deer Tick, G. Lucas Crane, Golden Animals (aka Tommy & Linda), Aa, Parts & Labor and Japanther. everyone was great. seriously. i had a big surprise seeing Golden Animals. i've been addicted to their 7 inch. and i think they just showed up because they weren't on the original list. the highlight, however, was from Japanther. it's starting to rain. the equipment needs to be covered. out comes a big tarp to shield the crowd, the amps and the band. i felt my age as people started to mosh and crowd surf and get rowdy and i had to check my nose a couple of times for blood. im a total wuss. a once in a lifetime chance to be in the thick of it and i couldn't go in the middle even with an open invite. so i had fun but i watched everyone else really soak up the energy (which was incredibly catching even from the periphery). after, someone asked me why i was nervous to really dive in. i said it brought back memories of being kicked on the floor and dragged through mud in my first music festival at 16. i don't need that on repeat. my bones are brittle. though after, i was on such a high, i couldn't shut down the entire night. all that aside. we need to have more of these shows. the more the better. for good activist causes. with the right amount of happiness and electricity. it brings the curioso back into music. and right in the open for everyone of new york to see and experience for free. people just stopped on the East River bike path. either just for a glance or they stayed for full sets. people of all ages. and i think everyone learned something about the current state of affairs. if we're acting like sitting ducks during these horrid world times, we're not going to ever get anything back. we're screwing up the earth. we're screwing up international relations big time. the government is a mess (and will be for an unfortunate amount of time). at least we can try to do something with collective positivism. please contribute people. the worst thing is to become mechanical.

on that note, as i've stated before, i have a serious love affair with psych rock going on right now. and even more so, foreign psych rock. Shadoks has been coming out with some over the top re-issues as of late (which you'll get a smattering of over the next week). this is by far my favorite by Edip Akbayram (from the band Dolstar), a double-disc wonder of early 70s Turkish psych from Istanbul. this stuff is heavy polyester wah-wah fuzz. funk. folk. passion. oh it's everything and more. and even if you can't tell, you understand he's singing about something incredibly important. from what i've heard, they are very political lyrics. here's a guy who was trying to make a difference. i can't describe the hold it can have over you...see for yourself:

Degmen Benim Gamli Yasli Gonlume (Don't Touch My Sad Soul)
Daglar Dagladi Beni (The Mountain Makes Me Sad)
only thing i don't get--why such depressing titles Edip?
Buy from Amazon (Shadoks doesn't have a site!)

Calling all writers and artists

2006-06-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

Photo by Chris Smart

this is an open call to all artists and writers out there. do you feel the need to get your voice heard? do you have a true opinion about music and art and events? im looking for reviewers and photographers and always searching for basement musicians.
the land of basement songs is expanding. hopefully within the next month (or even as soon as a couple of weeks) there will be entirely new sections for reviews and other art.
right now i'm looking for:
* reviews on albums
* reviews on shows
* reviews on cultural events
* any and all copyright free photography
* short-story and/or general interest articles (on art, books, dance, culture, food, film, etc.)
and of course...
* basement-style songs!

everything submitted will be reviewed. that's a promise. compensation. i wish i could pay everyone. but alas, this is not a possibility. what i can do is give you the exposure. and you can put it on your resume or use it in a portfolio. and potential employers can call me if you want me as a reference....

Direct all submissions to:
heather@wnyu.org

Are you experienced?

2006-06-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

Photo by Duesentrieb

head is still fogged and i'm Nyquiled(tm) out. so bare with me. this will sound like gobbly-gook. but they are my thoughts regardless.
i used to be a competive horseback rider from the age of 8 to 20. until a horse i had never been on crashed me through a fence and nearly killed me. all of that aside, i had my way of preparing for shows. because the nerves would always get the best of me, i would usually throw up before every competition. and i wasn't like the other kids who were put on white ponies. the ones you could eat dinner off their backs. i loved the sport more than anything so i did my best to try to find ways of getting in the ring. like riding other people's horses or making a "backyard pony" from nothing into something. and my mom and i would travel from show to show in our "shaggin' wagon." a beat-up conversion van with a worn bed in the back made of velour covering. and i would lay in the back of the van and turn up Hendrix's "Little Wing" and "The Wind Cries Mary" and Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" and Zepellin's "Over the Hills and Far Away" and "When the Levee Breaks." my evil older sister role model, Chelsea, lent me all of those albums. she also gave me my first cigarette in the back of the barn and made me sneak out to steal left overs from the pizza vendors at the state fair or take midnight excursions to denny's without telling our moms and giggle about our first crushes and talk about all the great fantasies we had about being like older kids. sex. drugs. rock. and i tried to contact chelsea recently but she's now married and working as a dental assistant in new hampshire. i miss that innocence. but im also happy to have known her. for that reason, i ended up never owning a CD in college. i just carried my turntable with me. and when things gots depressing. i went back to those classic psych albums to cool my nerves and take me back to that simple time.

recently, i've been lured into the psych sound again. it drills holes in the head. hollow drums. wailing guitars with feedback and distortion and major fuzz. sweaty guys in bell bottoms. no cares about fashion and relationship troubles and petty problems. it was all about the music. and sleeping with your guitar as much as women. i think it was Iggy Pop (though i know there may not be a proper Stooges comparison here) who played his guitar so often in his bedroom that it drove his girlfriend nuts and so he resorted to playing in his closet until he got fed up with the tight space and came out jamming on his guitar to tell her his music was staying and she had to go (this is completely paraphrased from Please Kill Me: The Uncensored History of Punk--check out here if interested). this all brings me to some BASEMENT dwelling, philosophy-loving, long-haired Athenian young lads known as the 4 Levels of Existence. their 1976 S/T album, now very rare and expensive, has been re-issed on Lion Productions. this is the only work they ever released and is considered to be some of the best Greek psych to have ever been produced....

From this LP:

Metamorphic
Wilderness

Buy from Forced Exposure

Fixing a Mess Up

2006-06-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

i just realized i posted a link to a friend's email address instead of that Matt & Kim track (see 6/10, i think?)...and i like it. and i think it doesn't do justice to Matt & Kim if i don't try to post it the right way!

so here's a track from them:

Verbs Before Nouns

AND please report broken links! in other news...i have received many many mp3s from all of you artists out there. thank you. i promise i go through all of them, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they will be posted yet since it takes me awhile to go back to things...

For all those Brazilian Mexicans out there

2006-06-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

Photo by Damiao Santana

i've been sick for the past couple of days. hence my absence. ive just been bitching about it non-stop. i can't breathe and everything aches. so im watching horrible TV. and i went to see Nacho Libre a couple of days ago. and it wasn't what i expected. though i liked the vibrant colors. and a surprisingly good soundtrack. though inappropriate. the first song, i got to thinking. wait. i've heard that many many times before. it's Caetano Veloso. but this takes place in Mexico and he's on all the Tropicalia compilations. Brazil folks. Brazil. alright. not that they have to be all that particular considering Jack Black screws around through most of the movie, speaking of his stretchy pants. which is what gave me a deep belly laugh i was looking for...

my head is in too much of a fog to write something significant about Veloso. but really, he is a Brazilian music icon, being one of the most important figures of the Tropicalia movement. a time where people were testing artistic limits, led mainly by Gilberto Gil and Veloso himself. mixing traditional Brazilian sounds with non-traditional and coming up with a whole 'nother egg. a quote from Veloso: "I make my records as a painter would paint his canvas." he's right. it floats with brilliant colors.

From Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution in Sound, here's that track from the movie. i can't get enough of it:

Irene

Buy from Soul Jazz (which houses some of the best comps for dub, reggae, soul and much more--lots of Studio One!)

And as a bonus, since i might not wake up through tomorrow, since we're on a foreign oldies kick, here's 5 Gentlemen. they remind me of a french version of early Beatles pop. in and around 1963/64. except they were a little later. specifically 1965-68. when the Beatles were already getting into Revolver and Rubber Soul and Sgt. Pepper and singing about being walruses. you know the Beatles had been corrupted by acid and shed their innocence by that time, while the 5 Gentlemen never really reached that point of debauchery. or maybe they did but it doesn't translate in their music.

From L'Integrale 1965-1968:

Dis-Nous Dylan
Olivier

Buy from Magic Records

Happy Gay Pride!

2006-06-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

Photo by Matt Cohen

i didn't feel like going to the gay pride parade yesterday. i just wasn't feeling the rain, but i knew it was very important for me to go. so by about 10:30 at night, as i heard the fireworks exploding on the west side highway, i figured that was a clue to get my butt in gear for the post-celebration activities. i was at a friend's house and couldn't go home to change. which was entirely appropriate since i was wearing my smith college sweatshirt, an army cap and torn up jeans. oh what a nutty night! i love when things are spontaneously crazy. in a matter of an hour, we happened to see an incredible cat fight. nails clawing. hair pulling. fists flying. ladies smashing other ladies into street signs. marvelous. at that point, it was getting too humid for the sweatshirt. so i bought a tanktop off a woman from west virginia from an artist collective. which appropriately stated 'stop bitching. start a revolution.' i proceeded to try to change into the top in a convenience store and ended up stripping down to my bra by accident since my arm was stuck in the neck of the sweatshirt. and then the cops walked in. and luckily they just thought i was being drunk and stupid. completely sober, my friend and i were passing by bars and i said 'we should go dancing. sober. i know this is quite a concept. but we should try it.' and we danced to great horrid disco tunes for hours. happy gay pride everyone!

so after that strange night, i would like to post some equally strange tracks from the first full-length album by the Finnish duo Kiila. there was some serious thinking put into this album. working and re-working. so this is not a spontaneous adventure. though undeniably creative. they use just about every kind of instrument you can imagine and found-sound and crazy arrangements. they claim that they listened to a lot of music before they got to this final product. which got me thinking they might have been listening to what i just picked up yesterday after going through "The Wire's Top 100 albums That Set the World on Fire When No One Was Listening" from 1998--see here. oh yes. im that lame that this is what i look at in my spare time. though what a list! and so i bought Faust's The Faust Tapes. and i know and love Faust, but never had this and it's awwwesome. somewhat of a comparison to this new Kiila. you make the call.

From Kiila's Heartcore:

Contemporaries
Holy Melancholy

Buy on Fonal

Play Me That Country Music

2006-06-25T15:17:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Brownlow

i don't like when people say "i like everything but country." because then basically you're saying you don't like johnny cash. or maybe you don't like johnny cash. which would be offensive anyway. i believe it shows a serious lack of an open mind. perhaps it's thinking that country is limited to the Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain. but honestly, that's like saying the only hip-hop artist is 50 Cent.

well a division of "country" is technically "bluegrass". some of the most talented musicians i've ever seen or heard. Triple Burner is the duo Harris Newman (folk-instrumentalist) and Bruce Cawdron (x-GY!BE) from Montreal. they dabble in multiple genres, like psych-folk, Mississippi blues, and bluegrass in this debut release, so it's hard to put a label on them. and that's what makes them one of the coolest pairings that's hit in ages. it pushes and pulls and goes up down around makes you slap your thigh and stomp repeatedly on the ground until you seriously feel you should be at a hoe-down or were there after running through lush corn fields. even for all you "country-haters."

From their new S/T album:

Bride of Bad Attitude

Buy from Madrona Records

A real country fellow, known as Cast King, has been compared to Cash for ages. and the comparison is dead-on. at 79 years old, he hails from Old Sand Mountain in Alabama. it doesn't get better than that. he speaks of the basic problems related to living in the woods. women. drinking. and killing. i rated this one of my top albums of 2005 and it's one of the only ones i didn't regret giving that label to...

From Saw Mill Man:

Wino
Under the Snow

Buy from Locust Music

2006-06-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

Screamers - Vertigo

and i can't believe i was so fortunate to find this as well...who doesn't LOVE the Screamers?!?

2006-06-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

DAF-Liebe Auf Den Ersten Blick

This is the best thing i've seen in a very long time....it's better than any comedic television we've got going on...

Balancing Act

2006-06-22T10:53:00.000-07:00

Photo by Fatman

Ever put your foot in your mouth? Or get too big for your boots? Or question your self-worth? Or pass judgment when you know you shouldn't have? Publicly humiliate yourself? Break something you've had for years? Love someone who will never love you back? Or feel like an outsider who'll never be in the "in-crowd?" Or shutdown on a friendship without giving a fair reason? Guilt. Sorrow. Loss. The Ultimate "Void." i tossed and turned last night because i don't like to argue. and when i do, it makes me feel like less of a person. though i know it's human, i don't like to fight. especially when im not fighting for the right thing or im not explaining myself clearly or i feel like im misrepresenting myself.

From the sweet Norwegian trio The White Birch, following three years of hard work, comes the new album Come Up For Air. They speak the truth in simplistic, though metaphoric terms, about beauty and love and life. i heard this album for the first time yesterday and the 9th track made me exhale a deep breathe and say aloud "ok, now that's truly beautiful." and unfortunately i can't post it here. but this one is pretty close. perhaps the concept is ultimately having a "breath of fresh air" considering our daily unbalance of personal losses and gains. and just letting it go.

Your Spain

Buy on Rune Grammofon

"Some things will stand. Some things will fall. Movin'."

DJ Train Wreck

2006-06-21T08:13:00.001-07:00

Photo by Cade

so i did Rotation last Friday. which was terribly fun because it's all the music i love the most. but i have no idea how to spin or mix. so i like to think of myself as "DJ Train Wreck." no one told me what to do. so i was trying to match the beginning and ends of songs together and let's just say it sounded like the biggest mess ever. but sometimes i got lucky.
anyhow, this is one of the tracks i played and lots of people called in wondering what it was. and i would try to tell them what it was over the phone..."Guerre Froide"..."what?" "it's Guerre Froide." "what the...what is that?" "it means Cold War in French." and then they hung up because i think it was all too much. or maybe i just sounded hasty on the phone. i'm sorry if i did!
here's a track from Guerre Froide, the S/T album, the one i played on the show particularly. i wish i could tell you more about the band, but most things are written in French or German. Like in this site or this one. please write if you know more or can translate some of that stuff. i wouldn't mind just knowing a little bit. apparently i guess the lead singer was Yves Royer, and they were a French new wave five-piece from Amiens. that's about all i know for now.

Here's Demain Berlin

Also did the New Afternoon Show yesterday for 3 1/2 hours for the first time and got through fairly unscathed. i'll be posting some artists (or maybe just one at a time?) from the show later today.

Creepy is the word of the day

2006-06-20T09:54:00.004-07:00

Photo by *Becky

a couple of days ago, i used the adjective "creepy" to describe my state of mind. that same night, i went to a play series featuring five creative one-acts. and in the 4th vignette, one of the characters kept using the word "creepy" until his scene partner begged him not to use the word again. this kind of thing happens to me more often than i would like to admit.

im running behind today. must do laundry and go to gym and eat food and do other menial tasks.
but first, i really do have to say we've gotten some yummy Hapna releases in the station as of late. One being from Giuseppe Ielsai. i know i'm partial to all that dark cinematic experimental stuff. all that is a pure mind-screw. which is also why im set to fill-in for Outside tonight for the first time (tune in 8-9PM on WNYU FM 89.1 or wnyu.org for some nice sleepy avant garde).

From his new S/T release:

Untitled #4

Buy from Hapna Records, the land of dream-state

Also, i feel like i hit a complete goldmine last night. i don't know where i've been! Here are three absolutely amazing blogs featuring everything i can't get enough of...

Mein Walkmen Ist Kaputt
AHHHH! German electronic and experimental from over two decades ago! where is he getting this stuff?!?

Killed By Death
i had an unpleasant run-in with a record store sales clerk over my search for a Dow Jones & the Industrials album. upon which he scoffed at me and sarcastically stated "it would be in the $3 bin. yeah right." which i nastily returned a "don't f*uck with me" back at him. i don't know where that came from. guilt insued and he pointed me towards some great Killed By Death Punk & Post-punk compilations. this site (and those records) are for anyone who really wants to put this on as "background music" at a party and have people quickly file out the door.

Flaky Disco
oh i always like me some cheesy (and not so-cheesy) saturday night fever disco sensations. a self-stated "dance catastrophe."

Just Be

2006-06-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

Photo by Nightmare Academy

my friend was waiting with me at the tattoo parlor yesterday, right before im supposed to get my second tattoo. im nauseous and wondering if this is really a good idea. she says 'do you ever try being in the moment, because i can't do that.' and i say that im trying to be in the moment right then so i don't have to think about how much this is going to friggin' hurt and how long it's going to take and whether or not it's going to get infected and get gangrene and i'll lose a limb. but other than that i really do try to practice that philosophy on a regular basis. try is the key word. and i've heard that if you can take 30 minutes a day in the morning and the night to 'just be', you will feel a lot less anxiety in general. but let's be honest. if you're between the ages of 23 and 30, you're either starting or in the middle of your first minor experience with a 'mid-life' crisis. so as the needle felt like it was puncturing through to the back of my spine from the front of my chest, i said 'just be.' damn this hurts. 'just be.' damn why am i doing this. 'just be.' and i survived it. just like all the other minor crap that goes on during any given day.

which brings me to Vas Deferens Organization. talk about just going with the flow. these guys are awesome experimentalists, dabbling in anything from freeform jazz to crazy electronics, ala The Residents' nutty story-telling nature. like torn apart bits of foundsound that eventually come together once your brain has figured out what to do with it all. the person who gave me this disc says you have to listen to the whole thing through without stopping. even if you feel uncomfortable. i've done that numerous times and every time it's a different trip. i'll give you just a sampling, but highly recommend picking up some of their work if you like this. of course for the round trip, not the one-way.

From The Idiot Parade (i believe it was out in 1999):

Navajo Beach Blanket Bingo
Unwholesome Proceedings and Dire Consequences

Buy from their site which is under construction. the release was originally on Eerie Materials and i believe that Beta-Lactam Ring is carrying some of their records...it's all a mystery.
Beta-Lactam Ring link & the Eerie one is down.

A Hipster is a Hipster. Of Course Of Course.

2006-06-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

Photo by Cade

i don't know if there is an "underground" anymore. with the media and technology, you can find just about anything. i bring this up because of a funny conversation i had with my friend Renee last night. we were talking about ways you can tell that something isn't very under wraps anymore. one might be that it shows up in the New York Times magazine as a feature. then as the band is touring, you see people twice your age in the audience. most coming from their stockbroker jobs on wall street, still fully dressed in suit and tie. im not complaining about it, but i know a lot of people would feel differently. honestly, who cares if people actually enjoy it and it's hitting them in the right way. yes, you can make the whole "hipster" argument. but really, what is a hipster? that is the question and will always remain as such until people stop calling the kettle black. i have now come to the realization that usually hipsters call other people hipsters. and it has become the derogatory term. but then those true "unknown" divers. the ones looking for the next "cool thing" to tack onto. are those hipsters? anyone have a thorough definition? im truly interested. i think we have better people to pick on. like Ann Coulter.

i like the fulfilling hunt of finding new music. it's my sick addiction. here's something that is still pretty "unknown". i found it early this morning and strike me down for putting it in the open. with a film noir feel, Marzipan Marzipan (AKA the works of Zelda Panda) brings us DIY, lo-fi, soft electro noise from Berlin. it's killer, and definately the start of a new wave of creating a successful throwback to earlier throbbing gristle ways.

From the February 2006 demos:
Glory-Ha
The Happy Blues

Click here to learn more and buy records!

Rain go away

2006-06-15T09:52:00.000-07:00

Photo by Chambershines

i think im the only person who doesn't really like the rain. city rain is different because it's dirty rain. the bottom of your pants become soaked and encrusted with all the sludge on the street. your socks become wet and brown (or maybe that's because i have holes in the bottom of my 10 year old Adidas). but i like being stuck inside on rainy days. and i have a passion for violent weather. if all does not work out soon, i am moving to texas to become a storm chaser.

some experimental, avant-garde goodness for you today. starting off with Home and Garden, which to me has a kind of Pere Ubu/no-wave feel to it. perhaps it's because two of the founding members of this Cleveland collective are Pere Ubu's old drummer and bass player, Scott Krauss and Tony Maimone. having been around for about 20 years, you can tell they always had a passion for music and "non-packaged", "boundaryless" material. excitingly enough, one of their most succesful records, History and Geography was just re-issued on Exit Stencil (visit label here).

Here's one of the best tracks from this ground-breaking work:

Marco Polo:The Voyage

Click here to learn more about them & buy their stuff!

For those who love rainy days, this is the perfect track. Another true homegrown BASEMENT SONG! from the depths of a Rhode Island home, Jim Diotte and Robin Toste bring us straight-up sweet folk-rock under the name Between the Pine. And to think, they call themselves "boring." lulling is not necessarily boring.

From the S/T release out last year (also self-released):

We Awoke

Buy from the site!

Spam I am

2006-06-13T21:19:00.000-07:00

i just had to post this. i got this as SPAM. i never check it. but i got bored tonight. it's somewhat sad. but i find it incredibly humorous it was sent to me of all people. i am broker than dirt.

DEAR ONE:

PERMIT ME TO INFORM YOU OF MY DESIRE OF GOING INTO BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU. I GOT YOUR CONTACT THROUGH MY CAREFUL SEARCH FOR TRUST WORTHY ASSISTANCE IN THE NET.

I PRAYED OVER IT AND SELECTED YOUR NAME AMONG OTHER (3) NAMES I GOT ALSO DUE TO IT'S ESTEEMING NATURE AND THE RECOMMENDATIONS GIVEN TO ME AS A REPUTABLE AND TRUST WORTHY PERSON I CAN DO BUSINESS WITH AND BY THEIR RECOMMENDATIONS I MUST NOT HESITATE TO CONFIDE IN YOU FOR THIS SIMPLE AND SINCERE BUSINESS.

I AM CHRISTIAN MASINGER THE ONLY CHILD OF LATE CHIEF AND MRS KOMO MASINGER , MY FATHER WAS A VERY WEALTHY COCOA MERCHANT BASED IN ABIDJAN, THE ECONOMIC CAPITAL OF IVORY COAST BEFORE HE WAS POISONED TO DEATH BY HIS BUSINESS ASSOCIATES ON ONE OF THEIR OUTING TO DISCUSS ON A BUSINESS DEAL.
WHEN MY MOTHER DIED ON THE 21ST OCTOBER 1999, MY FATHER TOOK ME SO SPECIAL BECAUSE I AM MOTHERLESS.

BEFORE THE DEATH OF MY FATHER ON 24TH JANUARY 2006 IN A PRIVATE HOSPITAL HERE IN ABIDJAN. HE SECRETLY CALLED ME ON HIS BEDSIDE AND TOLD ME THAT HE HAS A SUM OF US$8,500,000 (EIGHT MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) LEFT IN SUSPENSE ACCOUNT IN A LOCAL BANK HERE IN ABIDJAN, THAT HE USED MY NAME AS HIS ONLY SON FOR THE NEXT OF KIN IN DEPOSIT OF THE FUNDS.

HE ALSO EXPLAINED TO ME THAT IT WAS BECAUSE OF THIS WEALTH THAT HE WAS POISONED BY HIS BUSINESS ASSOCIATES, THAT I SHOULD SEEK FOR A FOREIGN PARTNER IN A COUNTRY OF MY CHOICE WHERE I WILL TRANSFER THIS
MONEY AND USE IT FOR INVESTMENT PURPOSE, (SUCH AS REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT).

I AM HONOURABLY SEEKING YOUR ASSISTANCE IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS.
1) TO PROVIDE A BANK ACCOUNT WHERE THIS MONEY WOULD BE TRANSFERRED.

2) TO SERVE AS THE GUARDIAN OF THIS FUNDS IN YOUR COUNTRY SINCE I AM A BOY OF 22 YEARS OLD WITHOUT BANKING AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS EXPERIENCE.

3) TO MAKE ARRANGEMENT FOR ME TO COME OVER TO YOUR COUNTRY TO FURTHER MY EDUCATION AND TO SECURE A RESIDENTIAL PERMIT FOR ME IN YOUR COUNTRY.

MOREOVER, I AM WILLING TO OFFER YOU 20% OF THE TOTAL SUM AS COMPENSATION FOR YOUR EFFORT INPUT AFTER THE SUCCESSFUL TRANSFER OF THIS FUND TO YOUR NOMINATED ACCOUNT OVERSEA.

FURTHERMORE, YOU CAN INDICATE YOUR OPTION TOWARDS ASSISTING ME, AS I BELIEVE THAT THIS TRANSACTION WOULD BE CONCLUDED WITHIN SEVEN (7) DAYS YOU SIGNIFY INTEREST TO ASSIST ME AND ENDEAVOUR TO FURNISH ME WITH YOUR TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBER FOR EASY COMMUNICATION.
THANKS AND GOD BLESS,HOPING HEAR FROM YOU SOONEST.
IN GOD WE TRUST.

YOURS SINCERELY,

CHRISTIAN MASINGER

NB: PLEASE CALL ME ON THIS NUMBER ....

Self-Starters

2006-06-13T19:33:00.000-07:00

Photo by Chuck Patch

rough day today. i lost the job i really wanted. and i feel unmotivated to continue looking. and i've just begun really. a friend of mine said it takes about 40 interviews before you nail a good job. she says i have only 39 to go. i don't have that many clothes.

so i feel the need to press for people who are relatively unknown right now. or maybe known, but only newly known to me. and one of them is Real Live Tigers, aka Tony Presley and co. Apparently, he has been touring since last year around the US and Canada. 140 shows to be exact. in museums, churches, living rooms, basements, attics, etc. and the one thing i really liked is his appreciation for people's help: "i love you all so much. thank you to anyone who's ever listened with an open ear or an open heart, anyone who's ever offered a couch or floor to sleep on, anyone who's ever set up a show or come to one, anyone who's ever sent an e-mail or left a kind comment. i wouldn't be playing music if it weren't for you. thank you." nice guy. you'll find his voice to be a soothing sing/speak combination. and he's being compared often to Stephen Malkmus. look out. he's also touring the UK this year, so keep an eye out for dates.

Sober As a Songbird from There is a Storm That Sleeps Inside Us demos (August 2005), Out of Print
No Regrets from the new Hospital Songs EP
Visit the website and support!

Another great artist who's been self-releasing material is Thee, Stranded Horse, a side-project from Yann Tambour. i think it's a beautiful, clean sound. almost like a cross between Fahey and Sixteen Horsepower. there's been some complaints made about his voice. you love it or hate it. i don't mind it, but i can see how it might be interpreted as overbearing at times. when i found out more, i gained even more respect for him, considering he made this customized calabash zither himself.

Tainted Days from 2006 Demos

Visit his myspace page. Currently i don't believe any discs are available, but might be soon. you can find some other downloads and info here anyway.

Happiness. the warm gun.

2006-06-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

Photo by Milad Gheisari

yesterday was a beautiful day in new york. things can turn in the blink of an eye. every sunday has managed to be amazing this summer. last weekend, i was able to catch a great "Todd P" Bar B Q on Roosevelt Island. everyone brought their casios- old christmas presents at ten years old. and cowbells. and cardboard boxes. and bull horns. and old school tapedecks. and other makeshift instruments.

one duo that put on a hilarious performance was Matt and Kim. so funny that they could barely stop laughing themselves. and both of them had a permagrin on both before and after their set. they're currently on tour right now and will be landing home in brooklyn in four weeks (AH!! Scratch that! they're going to be coming back this weekend and doing a show on Friday, the 16th w/Hawnay Troof, 718 Brooklyn Diner, outside patio). we're also expecting an album from them this summer on i heart comics. it's nice to see genuinely happy people.

Here's a track from their upcoming release, and it's nameless thus far:

Verbs Before Nouns

Click here for more downloads & info on their site
(i love that the original site i linked to was for some dumb wedding service. it was fixed quickly! sorry!)

Also, Tinyfolk is perfect for happy pretty days. like little birdies. and satin ribbons. and giggling children. and newborn puppy dogs. and the band is very tiny indeed. it's just Russ from Indiana. and occasionally his friends Meghan and Adam. all sounds are homegrown in Russ' bedroom.

Here's a sampler:

Owls from Little Mice and Other Things That Go Skitter Skitter
Mermaids. from Love Doesn't Grow on Trees

Click here for the Tinyfolk myspace page

Also, i had my pre-FM debut today on WNYU! it was fun but i blushed a whole bunch. and then happened to dedicate a 15 minute Acid Mothers track to a caller that featured an extended orgasm through most of it. i was then somewhat "interviewed" at the end and asked what my favorite track had been. i said i liked my experimental electronic set which i entitled "Crazy Things that are Non-Virgin Insanity." i don't know where my head is. Tune in this Friday for mr real debut on Rotation, airing from 10-1:30AM EST. playing dancey dance stuff!

Suck It

2006-06-10T23:22:00.000-07:00

Photo by Eric Hart

i originally wrote a Shakespearean love sonnet for Add N to (X) and it got erased. im very upset about this. because it took me some time to write and i had all these great words. now it's 2AM and im drunk and disgruntled. pissy about the post. but also about the night. and i have no good words left. i've been minimized to monosyllabic terms. do you ever have those times lying in bed where you know you aren't going to get up the next morning? it's already a lost cause. when i first heard this single from Velvetron last year, i immediately took to it. mainly because it talks about those mornings. where the sun is beaming on you and you don't want to get up. and perhaps you're spooning. which makes it harder to get up. or perhaps you're not spooning. which makes you kind of twist your mouth a bit when you hear this song. well they just released it again on a new EP (along with a remix) and i heard it again and i got that puppy-dog look on my face. i guarantee something similar for yourself...

On the 2006 Snooze Bar EP:

Snooze Bar

Visit them! They have more downloads available!

Please Excuse My Absence

2006-06-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

Photo by Stephen Alfarman

My internet was down for a day and a half. i am very pissed at you RCN. so im sorry i have been MIA.
one small event happened since my last post. i saw Pink Mountaintops and Black Angels at Knitting Factory. this gives me the opportunity to talk a little bit about show etiquette. im a nice person at shows. i don't get sloppy drunk and scream out all the lyrics or throw things at the stage. im not one of those headbangers that gets my sweat all over you. in fact, you'll probably find me leaning on a back wall with a beer in one hand, the other in my pocket. just listening. because ultimately that's what i go there to do. so two nights ago, in comes this drunken couple. first off, im not a catty type of girl. i don't like evil glaring or whispering or making overt comparisons. this girl was doing all three. i had my spot set. i could see everything. im 5 feet tall. number one rule. do not stand in front of a 5 foot girl at a show. if you must, stand a bit ahead of them so at least they aren't looking straight into the back of your head for three hours. this girl stands two inches in front of my face. when i move, she moves. i wouldn't complain if this wasn't a wide open space where they could have moved anywhere else and seen everything just fine. she starts to fawn all over her boyfriend and in the process keeps stepping backwards onto my feet. after awhile, im not enjoying this show at all. not that it was bad, but now i had developed a kink in my neck and my foot was sore. it's hard to have fun when you went to kick someone's face in.

im really not that nasty. i promise. in comparison, one great show that i saw late last year was Brooklynite Eliot Lipp. There were roughly ten people in the audience. i got to sit on a comfy cushion about two feet from the stage and no one got in my way. Lipp is for those looking for something a bit different in the whole downtempo instrumental hip-hop scene. it's all in the Korg. the Moog. the Akai. dare i say perhaps a psychedelic and trippy flare that will throw you back to memories of some early Shadow? and to think this guy was getting rid of so much stuff on ebay last year, it would have made Kraftwerk sick. he called it a "garage sale", filled with all the latest in gear and most of his old vinyl. i missed out on all of it. perhaps it was because he was busy updating his sound from the earlier Immediate Action #10 days.

Rap Tight from the latest full-length Tacoma Mockingbird
& here is Real Tragic from Immediate Action #10 as promised..

Buy from Hefty Records

**I really wanted to post "Real Tragic" from Immediate Action as well...i will do so later if it works...this computer is being funky.

The Future Will Not Be Televised

2006-06-07T16:40:00.000-07:00

Photo by Damiao Santana

i never got on the "do not call list." and i probably should have. so i still get calls to be surveyed. asked about my favorite soft drink and other stupid crap. this time i got a call about watching a television show for review purposes. i think im the worst person to ask about TV considering i still only watch Taxi and M.A.S.H. once in awhile. for some reason i decided not to hang up on this girl. she sounded nice and desperate. so she wanted to ask me "preliminary questions." so first how old are you? 26. have you eaten or bought chili in the past month? chili? no. i don't eat chili. oh, i'm sorry...actually we have enough people in your "zone" right now. but we'll keep you on the list for the future. i got rejected by a telemarketer because i don't eat chili. what does this have to do with TV?

Here are some TV, boob tube, braindead tunes for you on this lazy, rainy, down-right yucky new york Wednesday prime time night:

Television Personalities is one of Britain's longest running new wave bands (from 1977 to today). and man did front-man Dan Treacy have a story, having gone missing in 1998. the rockstar lifestyle? drugs? death? mental problems? he finally wrote a letter to Iain Baker six years later, an old friend and English DJ, telling him that he was imprisoned on a prison boat in Dorset. Treacy drowns and emerges, drowns and emerges. i only say this because it took 8 years in between albums to finally release this latest work My Dark Places, which i feel is slightly poppier than his earlier stuff. enjoy this controvertial little ditty and dedication to children born on drugs. it, um, sticks out from the rest in all the right and wrong ways.

All the Young Children on Smack, All The Young Children on Crack
Buy on Domino Records

Television, another post-punk/garage rock biggie of the 70s, featuring Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd. i still never get bored of Marquee Moon, which never became as popular in America as it had in the UK. Here's the first track:

See No Evil
Buy on Amazon, originally out on Elektra

Wax It

2006-06-06T16:55:00.000-07:00

Photo by Gustavo Garcia

i had a job interview today. i had a laugh about all the things i could have asked at the end that would have ruined my chances. you know the whole rule where you have to ask at least one question. here are some 'nevers.'
"So what is your policy on tattoos?"
"Do you do drug tests? because that wouldn't work for me."
"How long would it take for me to get a raise?"
"Are you going to check my criminal record?"
"Really?"
"Maybe this isn't the job for me."
All joking aside. im actually hoping i get this one. which usually means you don't get it. according to Murphy's Law. Right?

In music, and non-life news...Sao Paolo Undergound is a brazilian duo, Rob Mazurek (of Mandarin Movie, Isotope 217 & Chicago Undergound) & Mauricio Takara (of Hurtmold). perfect sick blends of jazz, rock, electronics and south american rhythms. each track is extremely different from the next; straight up experimental electronic (as in the title/first track), all the way to minimal tech sounds, fuzzy horns with smatterings of d'n'b (as in Olhossss...). Mazurek is a genius. if you're unfamiliar with his work with Chicago Underground, i highly recommend checking it out. especially if you're looking for some avant-garde jazz (see albums: Synethesia and the newer In Praise of Shadows). Also, Sao Paolo Underground will be touring "North America" this summer, but it seems like that's just going to be some Chicago dates thus far.

One of the "jazzier" tracks from the new album Sauna: Um, Dois, Tres:

Afrihouse

Buy on Aesthetics

Starved

2006-06-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

Photo by Max Boschini

i figured out something i really like to do to clear out my head. i love grocery shopping. there isn't too much brainpower involved. stroll down the aisles. pick up things that taste good. put in cart. put items on moving belt. you don't even have to push them forward. take out money. pay and take change. probably the best chance to exert control during the day while expending the least calories.

today is a good 80s german post-punk day. beats that appear simple on the outside, but are truly complex on the inside. this entire compilation is truly amazing featuring tracks that were used from the underground Super 8 film scene in Berlin (1979-1983). odd. freaky. wish they still made films and music like they had then...

From the comp Berlin Super 80:

Kosmonautentraum-Stolze Menschen

Einsturzende Neubauten-Tanz Debil

Buy from Monitor-Pop

The Ship Has Landed

2006-06-03T14:36:00.000-07:00

Photo by Christine Wainwright

Quote of the day from man walking past me on my way home:
"Young Maiden...can you please tell me when the spaceship is landing tonight?"
well at least he got me to laugh.

so i said i would post a dance track today. not exactly "danceable", but unique and experimental in it's own right. this is from Soft Cell. Yes the same synth-pop duo Soft Cell that did "Tainted Love" back in 1981. Now "Memorabilia" was their hit single from the following year...and perhaps this gem of a track got overlooked off the same single. i think it might have been too dark for the year? but then again, Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle and Coil (1983) were rocking some pretty strange stuff too.

From the 1982 12" Memorabilia:

Persuasion on Vertigo Records

Buy from Matt's CD Singles

2006-06-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

preparing for a life. will resume tomorrow night around 5 to 6 PM. i love electronic stuff and haven't really been posting that at all. so i promise some good dance tunes.
also, in the meantime, my radio show is tomorrow (saturday) from 2-4PM, online on wnyu.org....listen in and request something!

The End As We Know It

2006-06-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

Photo by Tasha Lutek

i went to coney island a couple of days ago and rode on the front of the cyclone. twice. i also stared at the heroin addicts fighting in drunken stupors. i walked to the edge of the pier and back, watching the fishermen catch plastic cups and belts. i won a large stuffed fish. i had my palm read and was told i would live a long life, but i should buy crystals to "protect myself." i saw children raising their fists and giggling on the kiddie rides. i saw people from all walks of life. it's a kitchy, strange, unique, foreign land. i think it's the only place in new york where it's an impossibility to feel self-concious. rumor has it. and this is just a rumor until further notice. that coney island is going to become a small casino village. and that they're tearing down some of it and building hotels. please someone tell me this isn't true.
moreover, i was walking in the village yesterday when i noticed the famous restaurant "the Place" is petitioning to stay open. they're trying to run them out like they had done to most bleecker street businesses, turning it into the new "fashion mecca" with ralph lauren, marc jacobs and cynthia rowley. and it's only speculation, but i bet they're trying to move a DKNY store in there. if you feel like it, and you live in new york, sign their petition here. i just think it's for a good cause. and hopefully, if coney is in danger, we can try to stop that too.

i decided to post 3/4 Had Been Eliminated because their music sounds like a dirge played after mass destruction. or some great loss. the band hails from bologna, italy, mainly known for mixing electronics with acoustic instruments to make dark psychedelia. i believe they usually improvise, then record after. they say that their albums have the style of an opera, laid out to tell a peculiar narrative. i think you can make the story up yourself. see, mine would be the sad downfall of coney island. now you choose.

Here's my favorite track from A Year Of the Aural Gauge Operation:

In Every Tree a Heartache

Buy on Hapna

Like Rebirth

2006-05-31T10:56:00.000-07:00

Photo by Jess James

went to the Oren Ambarchi/Boris/Sunn0))) show last night @ Avalon. i liked oren. i thought i would. it felt as though my ribs and eardrums were being pulled out. boris is on the top of my list as one of the best albums for 06 so far (see on the left), Pink, so i was excited to see them. to sum their set up, i overheard these two guys talking on their way out to smoke a cigarette...one said 'wow. i just went to take a piss and couldn't hear it.' amongst the small crowd of two i was with, we decided to give Sunn0))) a ten minute shot and stay longer if we felt like it. and it was what i expected. with men in dark cloaks playing at severely low? (i don't know, that's what O'Malley says) frequencies. i don't know if i was really tired from the day or if the music was making me yawn, but i couldn't stop. and i was sweating. and my heart was beating too fast for my liking. maybe this is the effect that O'Malley speaks of, but i beg to differ with the Sunn0))) "mission", creating "ultimate low end/bottom frequencies intended to massage the listeners intestines into an act of defecation." say what. i just wanted to go to bed. a guy behind me, before Boris came on, asked who i had come for...i said boris. he was there for Sunn0))) and was very excited. he had heard from someone else that you have to wait for the very end of the show because it's like "your rebirth." i left before i was reborn. no offense to Sunn0))). i think i just wasn't in the mood to come out of the womb.

it kind of reminds me of when i took a date to a Green Milk from the Planet Orange show a couple of weeks ago. there are Sunn0))) fans. and there are GMFTPO fans. and there are Sufjan fans. Books fans. Liars fans. tons of different types of fans. i don't like to judge fans for their tastes. perhaps my ears are just not attuned to really benefit from the Sunn0))) mission. people have pretty strong opinions about GMFTPO, but i like them. i like their shows. i like their look and their style. i like their crazy prog ways. i like their seemingly innocent off-stage personalities. i like the way they build up a crowd and pull people in. my date did not like these things. i asked him what he thought and he said it was 'all right.' i did not gain a new boyfriend from this experience. i think i scared him actually. note to self (and others)...do not take potential sig others to japanese prog rock shows...well unless you think they might be into a little mayhem and madness.

GMFTPO-Concrete City Breakdown on City Calls Revolution
Buy on Beta-lactam Ring Records

Blind Leading the Blind

2006-05-30T15:14:00.000-07:00

Photo by Milad Gheisani

i like to think of myself as a relatively caring person. perhaps it's an innate 'maternal' quality that i feel i need to help others, which is what landed me with a recent master's in social work. this is not to say that sometimes people would rather be left alone. though it's kind of different when someone both wants and rejects your help at the same time. i bring this up because two weeks ago i was passing by this well-known hotdog stand and saw a blind person crying for help. i couldn't understand why no one was coming to her side. so i walked up and said 'where do you need to go? i can probably get you there.' she says 'oh thank you thank you. i really need to get to 23rd and 6th.' 'that's not a problem. im actually walking that way, so if you take my arm, i'll take you in that direction.' silence. so i wrap my arm through hers. she keeps drifting dangerously close to the brick walls of the buildings, and i try to gently guide her back. all of a sudden she screams, 'get OFF of me dammit! I can do this MYSELF!' whoa. so i back off and say that's fine. i understand. it's really just two blocks down, so i'll just point you the right way. i aim her straight. i watch for about a minute and notice she's headed towards slamming herself into a wall again. so i stupidly grab her arm again. now i really pissed her off. i won't repeat what she said. it's not kosher. she let me have it though. cursing me out. and everyone on the street looked at me like i was beating this poor blind woman. moral of the story. as i've said before. some people, even if you think they need help, are better left alone.

so here are three tracks for you today. going with the theme that simple music can be awesome. no high-tech effects. no huge riffs. no smoke machine performances. all of this is fun and good in its own right. but at times, i like my music to be easier than my day...

Tommy & Linda-American Boy on S/T (a 7")
love it. i'd rather be a rockstar than anything else too. a song about giving it all up in America. who hasn't felt like it during these dire times? tommy & linda will no longer be known as such. they have changed to "Golden Animals." so keep that in mind for future releases. and they're from Brooklyn!
Click for their myspace page. Hard to find, but it's out on Angle of An Egg (BMI)

Sibylle Baier-Tonight on Colour Green
1970s release made in Germany. A guy from our station, Jamie, who does a drum n' bass show said he loved it. and i knew previously his girlfriend had said the same thing. so Jamie says, 'see you know something's good when someone who's into drum n' bass likes it. and my girlfriend likes pop. two completely different tastes liking the same thing.' true. there's such depth in this track, it will hit you harder than Sunn0)))'s supposedly "calming" drone tone (yes, i read that in the New York Times Magazine this past week).
Buy on Orange Twin.

Vetiver-Maureen on To Find Me Gone
A Devendra Banhart side-project. you either love him or hate him. im split right down the middle. though vetiver has gotten me since the last album (this being the 2nd) and i was looking forward to this release.
Click here for their website. Album is out on DiChristina.

I'm BACK!

2006-05-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

i'm here. i swear. i was just too exhuasted from the weekend to post yesterday. i will post later on today, so stop on back. in the meantime, i will be filling in for someone on the Sound Between today. All you have to do is log on to wnyu.org, follow the directions and stream the live show from 2-4PM (Eastern Standard Time). Call in with requests!

So Long. Farewell. Be Back Monday!

2006-05-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

Photo by Danny Howard

So i'm off to Northampton, MassaCHEWsetts and will be back by Monday. wish me luck! i will be over-eating, over-drinking and over-socializing in general.

Here are some trusty tracks to leave you with....i know i said psych folk & ambient...i lied on some...

(The Sounds Of) Kaleidoscope-New Language on From Where You Were to How You Got There
Buy from From Hackshop

Dub Tractor-Begin And End on Hideout
Buy from City Centre Offices

Andrew Pekler-Ogondok on Strings & Feedback
Buy from Staubgold

Folie-Oaklips on Eyepennies
Buy from Mitek in the Nuloop Shop

Young People-Forget on All at Once
Buy from Too Pure

Majessic Dreams-Have to Go on S/T
Buy from Oscillatone

I've also come to the conclusion that a lot of people have been coming to this blog, but i don't know about you! you come from Brazil, Australia, Japan, Belgium, France, Germany, faraway secretive islands....i thank you for stopping on in here, especially since Basement Songs is only a month old! and i would like y'all to speak in the comments sections...so i'm going to lay a 'trap' to get you guys to talk! so answer me one or all of these questions....

1. Who be you and where from?
2. What's the one record you can't live without?
3. In your opinion, dead or alive, who is the most brilliant person that ever lived?
4. What 5 things would you need if stranded on a desert island?
5. Gimme a great line from a song...
6. Tell me something about yourself!

Bye! And thanks for your current support!

Brain Fry

2006-05-25T16:48:00.000-07:00

Photo by *Becky

Hands-down, my favorite track for the year 2006. until something else comes along. This Heat! was a British avant-rock band from the late 70s. Turn this up loud! I'm not saying anymore because the track speaks for itself. I will be packing for the rest of the night to go to the reunion tomorrow, but promise to leave you with a bunch of fun ambient tracks and perhaps some psych-folk stuff before i go. Basement Songs will resume on Monday!

From This Heat's S/T release:

24 Track Loop

Buy on ReR

2006-05-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

Photo by Skullkid

i wasn't really sure what tracks to put here for Moondog. Mainly because i love them all. he used to play around the city and developed into a NY icon--and he spent much of his time near my house, in Chelsea, closer to 6th Avenue. unfortunately, he passed away in Germany in 1999 and i haven't been here long enough to have ever seen him play (though my father said he had long ago in the 70s). his life story will put you in awe. just for starters, he was born in 1916 in Kansas as "Louis Hardin", got his first drum at age 5 (a cardboard box), went blind by age 16 in a freak accident, and taught himself ear training and muscial skills by books in braille. I love the fact that even when he "hit it big" but made little money after being signed to Columbia, he simply moved to playing outside their offices. that's honestly just the beginning. he is heavily influenced by jazz and afro-beats, which ultimately allowed him to develop into his own avant-garde style (noted in these bottom selections). I suggest old-fashioned googling or finding him on 'allmusic' if you'd like to learn more. The album, The Viking of Sixth Avenue, is out on the Honest Jon's label...but they don't have a site just yet...so, i would probably order it here from Boomkat.

The Viking of Sixth Avenue features his rare recordings from '49 to '95, but mainly focuses on his work from the 50's. Here are three different tracks depicting his diversity:

Dog Trot
Lullaby (2 W. 46th St.)
Theme and Variations

It's All a Bad Dream

2006-05-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

Photo by Thomas Hawk

i don't necessarily like when people tell me their dreams. it kind of reminds me of astrology and how much i hate that too. but i would just like to share that i had the strangest visions based on "challenges." i was forced to close my eyes and have various things poured over my body. the last and only one i can remember was a team of fireants. this was incredibly upsetting. for some reason, this went from arguing with someone about how New Order had later turned into Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. i kept fighting that this was an impossibility, but the person wouldn't listen. heck if i know what this had to do with fireants. but i got up at 6am, ate breakfast, and felt it was necessary to fall back to bed and finish debating my case.

This all has absolutely nothing to do with Fireball. or maybe it does. these ladies are "witchy." i had a discussion with my friend jon earlier this week about witches. we were trying to figure out what was really meant by wicca and voodoo. and when, where and who practices this stuff? do we know any of them? we had some hypotheses. Fireball is part of a brooklyn "witch's coven." or at least they claim to be, kidding or not. it's not exactly evil music, but you can see the merging of old classic and psych rock. who really understood what Led Zep's Zoso was getting at--and Fireball's 3rd song on this 12" EP is a cover of Led Zep's Archangels Thuderball...and the last song is "witchy ways." connection? i think not. but then they like to confuse you by calling the EP Blessed Be. what are you ladies doing in brooklyn? well...what they claim is making music like "hot tar being poured over the Go-Go's." kind of like fireants and Jon Spencer leading New Order.

From Blessed Be out last October:

Arsonist

Buy from Midhaven Mailorder on the High Rollers Society Label

Senior Moments

2006-05-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

Photo by Chuck Patch

as i've said before, i live in a building of senior citizens. tuesday night is gristedes grocery shopping night. because you get 10 percent off for a senior discount. my father is 68 so we are allowed to go hogwild in the store. we're cashing out together and he doesn't notice the cashier has scanned his card, so two seconds later this dialogue unfolds:
dad: you gave me the discount right?
cashier: yes sir, i did.
dad: are you sure?
cashier: positive.
me: she's positive dad, i just saw her do it.
dad: all right. just checking.
me: dad, you're too much. you worry so much about 20 cents.
dad: what?
me: i said you worry so much about 20 cents.
dad: WHAT?!
me: and you're DEAF too!
cashier: that's ok. i get "senior moments" too. just you wait, young lady, when you start forgetting.
dad (as we're leaving store): i don't know how guys handle you. i would never date you.

Tom Herman is even further from being a senior citizen than i am. i'm pretty sure he's 17 or 18 years old and incredibly talented at that. he spent all of his money in a savings bond meant for college to make this S/T album. he plays all the instruments on it: acoustic & electric guitar, bass, drums and vocals and fully recorded, mixed and produced it himself. i also believe it was recorded in a bedroom, or similar location, in New jersey, which is what "Basement Songs" is really all about! Tom spent a lot of hard work on this record and is now offering it for free if you email him at TomHermanJ@aol.com or order from Seclusion Records here. It's surprising someone at this age could already appear so worldly, yet express his innocence and charm so directly.

Here are two of my favorite tracks:

Something Strange
Little World

2006-05-23T12:42:00.000-07:00

Photo by Doublevelvet

you have to be heavily into ambient to enjoy Loscil (aka Scott Morgan) from Vancouver. it's very simple and straight-forward. there's no catch. if you speak about his music, you aren't going to be mentioning any tremendous baselines or experimental oddities. he helps you shut off your brain for a second. try not to think of it as 'new agey'--it's more like a Cluster or Tangerine Dream spawn. and please listen with giganto headphones. tis entirely the point.

you are in a deep sleep. a very deep sleep. shut your eyes. you are now floating. float away. you're as light as a feather. now bark like a dog.

From this year's Plume:

Steam

Buy from Kranky

Shows Picks for the Week!

2006-05-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

Photo by Tasha Lutek

Great shows this week!

Tuesday 5/23 Murder By Death, Langhorne Slim, Metal Hearts @ Knitting Factory
Tuesday 5/23 Film School @ Mercury Lounge
Wednesday 5/24 Jan Jelinek (live, free instore performance @ 8PM) @ Other Music
Wednesday 5/24 The Walkmen, Mazarin, Nethers @ Bowery Ballroom
Wednesday 5/24 The Books (FREE! OH MY! don't you dare get there before me) @ the World Financial Center
Thursday 5/25 The Rachels, Clogs @ Kaufman Center (Merkin Hall)
Thursday 5/25 Man Man, Ching Chong Song, Tel Aviv @ Syrup Room
Friday 5/26 Freddy Mas, Mazing Vids, Measles Mumps Rubella, Selmanaires @ Cake Shop
Friday 5/26 Behold... The Arctopus, Dysrhythmyia, Yakuza @ Knitting Factory (Tap Bar)
Friday 5/26 USAISAMONTSER, Taigaa!, Api Uiz, The Good Good @ The Woodster
Tuesday 5/30 Graveyards (feat. John Olson of Wolf Eyes), Prurient, Carlos Giffoni, Hair Police @ Tonic
Tuesdasy 5/30 Sunn 0))), Oren Ambarchi, Boris @ Avalon

Reunited

2006-05-22T10:53:00.000-07:00

Photo by Luna Park & Graf by Sixten

Next weekend is my undergrad college reunion at Smith. we haven't seen each other for 5 years. i can't wait. but i'm also nervous that if it's going to be anything like our old debaucherous ways, i won't be able to handle it. massive amounts of domino's pizza. crazy philosophical conversations and debates. zero sleep. memory loss. playing horrible out-of-tune, sexually explicit ditties on my guitar for everyone. juvenile crushes. old rooms. old roommates. old fights. new fights. and then with the potential to throw in possible new engagements, weddings, pregnancies and babies.
one of my best memories is of my friend jacque, long before i got to really know her and love her unconditionally. we used to have wild homegrown kareoke bashes in her room in the middle of the night. she would always sing this song and it became my favorite through my entire college education. except her version was much better, in barely anything, sitting on a chair turned backwards, directly from the heart. and was the best remedy for the many break-ups we all encountered over 4 years.

i searched long and hard for this track and finally found it on a Simple Machines compilation called Working Holiday from 1993. Small Factory formed in 1991 in Providence, RI and never really hit it all that big. I can't really understand why, but perhaps it's because we were entirely immersed in Nirvana's Nervermind or Smashing Pumpkins' Gish, and what was going on independently was, well, still under wraps for kids in junior high. I thought Nirvana was ultra-hip because it was my introduction to "loud" (for the record, i still think they're terrific). Ahead of their time, here's Small Factory's lovely ballad:

If You Hurt Me

Buy from Simple Machines

Frat Boy Days

2006-05-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

Photo by Vincent Anton Stornaiuolo

I used to really love cars. i kind of still do. in upstate NY, around the corner from my ex-boyfriend's house, there was a parked custom car--a japanese low-rider hotrod, mazda6000, unfinished. when it was finally fully done two months later, it looked like 'kit' from knight rider. the kid who owned it ended up getting in major trouble, and had to have everything repossessed. if he didn't sell it, it was going to be taken by the government. while he was away, his mother put the car up for sale without telling him. and i bought it. Upstate there is not much to do at all. you get drunk around bonfires and then end up eating massive amounts of 7-11 hot dogs. or you go to a movie at the mini mall. or you go to one of the many bars in "Stoneonta", which has about 50 in a 2 mile radius. maybe for entertainment, you might see a bunch of meatheads beat the crap out of each other by 4am. but one of everyone's favorite pastimes is "making laps", which generally involves driving around the same block in front of the main bar strip, with your windows down, bumping some major bass, chain-smoking and waving to people. it's like a horrible beauty pageant gone wrong. im guilty of doing this more than once. i also became addicted to washing my car and never-dulling my rims. i used to think about hydraulics and LED lights and subwoofers and tinted windows and high-tech electronics. i don't know what happened, but the car had turned me into a twisted frat boy. the car is now rusting in a garage 200 miles away. and i could sell it. but for some reason i need to hold onto it. now the worst i might do is go the javitz center car show with a couple of people, taking cheesy pictures of ourselves in the latest mercedes model. my "bachelor chapter" has ended, thank god.

If i still drove my car, i would probably play this song over and over again. i admit it. even without the car, i play it over and over again. i have found it especially useful for long trips into Astoria as a backdrop for the N train "elevated" scenes. you have to get past the feeling this could be blasted through a LI beach-home by guys with gold chains. this is french dance music. and this label, Erkrankung Durch Musique, puts out some of the finest stuff i've heard when it comes to electro-pop (especially Auto, yum). not everyone will find this palletable, but to each his own.

Here's Vostok on Airplanes:

Airplanes Pop Deluxe Mix

Buy from Erkrankung Durch Musique

Hot Yoga

2006-05-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

Photo by Milopeng

Last night, I took "Hot Yoga" for the first time. the instructor said it was not Bikram, but that this experience would be worse. Hell if i would know the difference. only thing i can tell you is that i almost passed out 5 times from all the blood rushing to my head and the 150 degree room in combination. all i kept hearing, within my tunneled vision, was 'Heather, you still doing alright back there? sit down if you're going to faint. you don't have to prove anything.' and it made me feel like a 90 year old, out of shape, bitty. though, looking at the French adonis next to me, crying for mercy, i couldn't feel too bad.

NYC's Psychic Ills kind of remind me of this type of new experience. you think you know what you're getting yourself into, but then end up feeling like you need to sit down, pout, and raise your eyebrows. but then you always feel like you need it again. you need to hear it all over because you didn't quite catch what was going on the first time. and upon the second listen, you start to understand a bit better. you can hear the undertones and each separate element and every nuance that makes the psychic ills undeniably cool. and then after many listens, i guarantee that guitar will stick with you throughout your days. it's hard to shake. i don't get why they've happened to open for many bands in NY, but rarely become the headliner. this weekend, saturday, (and i know it seems to be one of the best show nights of the year), they're playing an amazing show at knitting with Telepathe. and they're headlining. as they should.

Here's Psychic Ills on Mental Violence II: Diamond City (12"):
4AM

and on the 2004 release (and debut full-length), Dins:
Another Night, Another Day
(Was recorded by Charles Burst, who's also worked with Black Dice, Gang Gang Dance and the Double. it's hard not to see the influence there. young and gutsy, you can tell some of their recordings are improvised (especially in Dins) which gives it a homemade, yet real, quality. )

Buy on The Social Registry

I Might be Arrested. Or Hung

2006-05-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

Photo by Gal M

On air, you are never allowed to use four letter words. there's a sign posted above the control panel saying "No CURSES! This has been written in blood." anytime i hear something that might have slipped, i have faint images of the FCC busting down the door, men in black suits and darkened glasses, with starched shirts, cuffs already out and 9mms ablazing. i have had nightmares about them. big brother is watching. so last weekend, when i played La Peste's "Better Off Dead" about 16 year-olds giving blowjobs, i became paranoid. we're always told to 'use discretion' in using sexually explicit tracks, but maybe my boundaries are blurred. maybe they're listening, thinking im into child porn. maybe they think i have sex with underage teens. maybe they think that i run a secretive brothel/prostitution ring that preys on poor immigrant children. alright, so that's going a bit far. it all is. but it does make you think. so this is my chance to say, i don't endorse any of those things. im also not freakily kinky. i would, however, like to talk about someone in my building who is like that. he steals my bras from the laundry. if you are reading, crazy man from the 4th floor, i want them back.

so here are some semi-dirty tunes for you. sick, yet infectious. who wouldn't like a song about 'coming to a party'? not i, FCC, not i.

La Peste-Better Off Dead on the re-issue Better Off La Peste
Buy from Dionysus Records

Sexual Harassment-If I Gave You a Party on I Need a Freak
Buy from JDC (though i think it's out of print? it was re-issued in 1995 and originally released in 1982)

Home-Rushing on Sexteen (an entire concept album about 'doin it')
Buy from Brah Records

Pink Mountaintops-Erected on the Erected 7"
Buy from Jagjaguwar

Remove the Blunt Object from My Head

2006-05-17T10:03:00.000-07:00

Photo by Johnathan Gooch

this day feels like being in a fog.

everytime i hear Slowdive, i have to ask who it is again. i think due to it's semi-hypnotic quality, that after awhile it all blends into one and you aren't really hearing it anymore. i can't focus enough to write. sorry. i do love this track however, and encourage those unfamiliar with SD to check out the other two re-issues Just for a Day and Souvlaki. alright. fine. i admit it. i'm hungover. Slowdive is the perfect hangover cure.

From the 1995 release Pygmalion (reissued this year):

Rutti

Buy from Castle Music

To Earn the Title "Woman"

2006-05-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

Pin-up courtesy of Shannon Hubbard

Last night i decided against renting some mainstream bullcrap movie and went for "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" instead. i came to the conclusion that marilyn monroe is, hands down, way sexier than any star we have today. now i plan on renting all of audrey hepburn, mae west, lauren bacall, jean harlow, and i'm going to study them. they are now my role models. it's something in marilyn's eyes i think. how they get wider as she's luring in a man with her feminine charm.
here's some favorite lines:
"if we can't get his pants off in ten minutes between the two of us, we haven't earned the title 'woman'"
"you're like sweet and acid"
"so which one would you save first if the ship was sinking?" response: "i think neither would drown." (about jane & marilyn)
"well he was acting like the python and i was the goat."
and i watched "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" on repeat. three times.

Some 'acidic' and 'sweet' melodies for this Tuesday afternoon:

The Pows-Female Fantasy from S/T
Buy from Cat Jams

Section 25-Girls Don't Count from Always Now
Buy from LTM

Figurine-Way Too Good from The Heartfelt
Buy from March Records

The Magnetic Fields-Queen of the Savages from 69 Love Songs
Buy from Merge Records (one of my favorite disc sets of all time btw)

Simon Joyner-One for the Catholic Girls from Beautiful Losers: Singles and Compilation Tracks
Buy from Jagjaguwar

Don't Try to Understand

2006-05-15T15:55:00.000-07:00

Photo by Milad Gheisani

Such a confusing day. 5 different things happening back to back before i've even had my morning coffee. first, a garbage can ends up in the middle of the street, flying from the corner, and i thought it was a person. disturbing. then, i see a truck with a mannequin as the passenger, without a face and a trucker hat to top it all off. next was a guy my age, passed out in a heroin coma, shaking, on some mental hospital steps. then there was an Afghan with a large tree branch stuck to its stomach, the owner starring ahead in a daze, even though the dog was clearly uncomfortable. though here's the piece de resistance. looked in a car parked on the corner of my block, and there was a man, in plain view, with his member out, pleasuring himself. he looked up at me and stopped. the only thing i could mutter to myself was 'jesus h. when it rains, it pours.'

so on that note, here's some foreign pop for ya! you won't understand a word they're saying. much like the above scenes, it's not meant to be translated, just accept it. before this year, i never listened to anything in another language, mainly because the idea of 'not knowing' what someone was talking about made me feel like an outsider and relatively stupid. TV-Resistori, however, is quite relaxing (see also 4 levels of existence, 5 Gentlemen, the entire Cambodian Rocks compilation, as well as 'Sehr Gut Kommt Sehr Gut'- a german experimental comp). I've found that foreign music has forced my ear to go beyond words into the actual composition of music. and i don't want to have a fight over what's more important, message or instrumentals, because ultimately i think the message is in the instrumentals. just ask major noise consumers (Reed, you're missed!)

i don't know much about these guys besides the fact that they've been around since 2001, are from Finland, and like 'electro dance-pop.' They're fun, with lots of energy, and at least if you can't sing to it, you'll be moving your feet. Here's a couple of track samplings from the newest release Serkut Rakastaa Paremmin:

Serkut Rakastaa Paremmin
Ratsasta Mun Ponilla

Buy once again from the thoroughly entertaining label, Fonal

Crossing a Finnish Line

2006-05-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

Photo by Milad Gheisani

For a very short-while i had gotten into the "8-bit" scene. for those unfamiliar, people usually take some kind of computer software, 9 times out 10, playing through some kind of video game console like a gameboy and come up with incredible organic dance music. this is when i decided to contact one of the main pioneers from the movement, Bitshifter, and began to explore this underground movement. at the time, i was doing a show at the station called "False Eyelashes", featuring all electronic rock and some danceable tracks here or there. my first introduction to the actual 'scene' was the 8-bit Music Festival held in the middle of no-man's land in the West 30s, filled with die-hard fans, mainly graphic designers, computer programmers and music pioneers. it was somewhat odd to see a "one-man band" against some digital-film on a screen, booming hardcore beats from a small grey box in his hands, one that i was used to playing 'super mario bros' on through my entire childhood.
at the end, i went out to a late-night korean dinner with all of the artists. and we were followed by a Swedish television crew who was doing a documentary on this tiny artist collective. i think i might have been in the film. i didn't belong there at all, but i vaguely remember waving to the camera and saying hi to sweden. it was a blast though, being with only 8 people who were known across the world for being some of the only ones to have been playing this music for the past few years. we drank sapporo to the wee hours of the morning. the only thing i can remember was a large shrimp in bitshifter's soup that still had it's entire body, eyes and all, intact. in a sick fashion we passed it around and played with it like a puppet.

this is a band that is just starting to make waves outside of Finland, though it took them since the early 90s to do so. mainly because they hadn't really found their sound until their debut album Tasankokaiku just came out this year on Fonal, only to be sold out completely after a couple of months (you can get it at the end of May upon it's second pressing). Shogun Kunitoki, a Helsinki-based quartet, began by using four Commodore 64 computers to make chiptune sounds. Recently, they ditched this idea to play mainly on keyboards, finding a lush cross between psychedelia and minimilism. truly haunting and dreamy, i've been addicted since the beginning of this month.

Here's a sample from Tasankokaiku:

Tropiikin Kuuma Huuma

Buy on Fonal Records

The Unstoppable Eno

2006-05-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

Photo by Milad Gheisani

I just found this guy's work and am pretty impressed (in reference to the photo). he's 20 years old, from Iran--so i think im going to feature his work all this week because i've found some of the best images to date (at least in my opinion).

nothing much to report. happy mother's day and all that jazz. get her something yummy.
i wanted to feature a song today that i'm completely obsessed with since Robby played it on the New Afternoon Show last Tuesday. Eno is of course Brian Eno. Moebius and Roedelius (who for some reason i kept calling 'Roebelius' on my show this weekend--im sorry guy) are from the old krautrock band "Cluster." If you have not checked out krautrock as of yet, you have a lot of work to do. and it's worth putting in that time. think can. neu! faust. kraftwerk. and well, these folks. then Plank. i *think* this Plank is the 90s band of Bob Rydman, Marty Sparks & Jim Kruzie. i could be wrong. tell me if i am. so this brings me to the new release Begegnungen from Eno-Moebius-Roedelius-Plank. when does eno ever get tired? can someone answer that for me? im so taken by his ambition.

Here's the only track with words. so very Tubeway Army:

The Belldog

and i wish i could put one more on here, "Schone Hande", but you'll just have to take it as a recommendation--this album is very small (in length) and i don't think it would be fair to them.

Buy on Water Music

Sparks me, spanks me, wears me out...

2006-05-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

i went to a Hexa show last night. and i woke up at 2 this afternoon. that's basically what you should expect as they wipe you out with one of their interactive shows/dance parties/kooky collective madness/Woodstockian lovefest. i think i've known each of them for about 3 to 4 years now. and i think i've danced with every one of them at some point in time. they might not remember one night getting down in pow-wow circle style on our knees and banging out some Door's tunes while pounding on the floorboards, much to surrounding neighbors' dismay. and that's pretty much what you can always expect from them. an attitude of budweiser mixed with champagne mixed with sparks. i think you have to be there to understand--i overheard one guy say 'this is the absolute most fun that i've had at a show in years.' instead of local hipsters standing around with their arms crossed and heads nodding solemnly, a Hexa crowd can't help but move their feet and have a smile plastered across their faces.

they are now planning to go on tour next month to London. New York will miss them dearly even if it is for just a short period of time. and they've got t-shirts and engraved 'member name' pencils now too! i had to do ennie-meanie-miney-moe on the pencil situation, because i would feel guilt in choosing any member over the others. im happy to say im now a prowd owner of a Maria pencil!

Here's the first track off their debut S/T album:

Masked?

Buy their CD and check them out on myspace!

In Nightmirrors

2006-05-13T17:57:00.000-07:00

Photo by Travis Nicholson

Ever since i could remember, my mother had an obsession with france. in our old apartment, right outside the kitchen, was a large plastic poland springs water bottle. everyday, she would throw chump change in, hoping to save up to go to paris. she collected little eiffel tower figurines. listened to edith piaf. wanted to learn french for a short while, went to Hunter, gave up after she had to start on french conversation. so instead i took french. enough so that if we decided to go one day, at least i could ask 'ou est la toilette' or order us food. though for some reason, the dream got delayed. year after year, we never went. either because i got waylayed by school work or a summer job or she had to work the flea market to pay the rent. in my last semester of college, she came down with cancer and i will spare you the gory details. mind you, she fought extremely hard. and i don't know if the doctor decided to lie to us. if he just wanted to give us a month of freedom. or if it was really the truth and her body was recovering. he told us the cancer was completely gone. all of it. the miraculous radiation had taken it away. so my aunt decided to be a champ and sent us both to france. my mother was tired from all the chemo, other treatment and drugs, but she wanted to walk and never stop. i think i saw every nook of france in 7 days. though there is one spot that still comes up in my 'nightmirrors' (i used to call it that when i was a kid). we were in the montmarte, heading down the steps from the sacre coeur. there were jugglers, drummers, mimes, hoards of people. my mother said 'this is my perfect place. this is heaven to me. the only thing that would make it better would be a carousel. i think that belongs here.' we stepped down a bit further, and there were branches covering up something moving and bright. and there was the carousel. we found out a month later the doctor was wrong, and faster than i could imagine, she was gone in less than 6 months.

this is a song i think my mom would appreciate. off the new S/T album by Feu Therese:

Tu N'avais Qu'une Orielle

Buy from Constellation Records

It's a Balancing Act

2006-05-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

Photo by Jon Hayes

today was a runaround sort of a day. get up at 8:30. do laundry. shower. eat breakfast. run to the radio station. do a set. run to a friend's graduation party. get social anxiety because i don't drink or smoke anymore. leave after thirty minutes. have dinner. run into a drunk waitress i used to know there who wants to sit and chat about the state of american politics, the possiblities of natural disasters, chomsky, skinner and melanie klein. run home. straighten hair. put on make-up. call friends. get ready to go to other band friends' show tonight. rinse. dry. repeat. a complete balancing act if i do say so myself. and last night i just wanted to curl up into a ball and rent mindless movies. im now considering being a bartender after i've finally gotten my grad degree, to which i have nearly no experience yet the ability to deal with rowdy people and 'balance'. and to think boredom isn't a luxury.

I've been listening to Wire for awhile now--especially since i went through a hardcore punk/post-punk phase last year and absolutely ate up anything with an accent (almost like my adolesence all over again). I'm the only one who has sloppily screamed in the middle of a party "play IN VIVO!" In return, my friend Jon has told me numerous times to step away from his party playlists, saying 'you might like that, but that's, uh, not really going to pick people up if you know what i mean. you're more likely to just confuse the crap out of them.'

These are a couple of very recent Wire re-issues:

From Pink Flag in 1977
Pink Flag
Strange

From 154 in 1979
The 15th

Buy on Pink Flag/EMI

The Dark Side of the Moon

2006-05-12T15:21:00.001-07:00

Photo by Jorge Santos

i'm having a sad day. sometimes i need some old favorites to get me going...

last night was the funniest thing. my friend renee calls to say 'come over and play monopoly with me. but you have to bring me some dance music because my computer's broken.' dance music? i don't have that just lying around. so i took the top three off a stack on the shelf; Sounds of Old Scotland: Kilt to Death, Best of Scottish Post-punk, Berlin Super 80: Avant-garde German Film Music, and Eno-Moebuis-Rodelius-Plank (far from danceable). It's pouring out. my pants are wet. i come equipped with diet pepsi and a chocolate chip cookie and my three discs. in between separating the original spending money out, she puts on the scottish CD. i don't think i've ever heard the whole thing through, but i love the Wake and knew it would be coming towards the end. every track would start and i'd say: "oh god, this is the best song ever. it's the Wake." and then it wouldn't be the Wake. when the damned Wake finally came on, i couldn't recognize it anymore. great compilation. honestly. but every track truly sounds the same.

then we went outside. she smoked a cigarette. i chewed on nicorette. we watched the rain form in a kaleidoscope fashion on the sidewalk. i said 'the Wall should be playing right now.' she laughed and said 'you must be seeing the same thing i am.' the end.

for my down day (and i know we all have them), here are some dependable tracks that i know and love.

The Wake-Favour
Durutti Column-The Missing Boy
Swell Maps-Gun Boats
Delta 5-Try
Instaant Automatons-Short-Haired Man
The Wipers-D-7
Can-Halleluwah

The 26-year Love Affair

2006-05-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

Photo by Gene Han

i have always had a love/hate relationship with new york. it's like a 26-year long affair, exciting, yet disturbing, filled with either very high 'ups' or very low 'downs' in manic depression style. everytime people ask me where im originally from and i say 'here', they look at me like im from a small tribe from a mysterious undergound nation--and in a sense, i guess that's true. without fail, i get the response 'that must have been hard growing up here.' in fact, the natives are a clan here, and we all, in some variation or another, pretty much have the same outlook on the city. in true new york attitude, we gather together to say 'this place sucks now', but underneath it's hard to forget the nights at 24-hour diners at 16 years old, after having some of our first cigarettes in punk clubs and being served by the same greek waiter who brought you ice cream at your 6th birthday party. i used to tell an ex-boyfriend after passing every restaurant that had changed hands, 'oh god, that used to be such and such and it was so good' which obviously got really annoying after awhile--but honestly, it was just like saying the 7-11 had become a red barrel and change is upsetting.

like a girlfriend or a boyfriend, NY can get really old sometimes. but each time i've gone to europe, to take a break from the city (just as i would a sig other), i can't wait to be back in my bed as i'm circling JFK. sometimes NY can be sexy. sometimes it can be slutty. sometimes i really enjoy having conversations with strangers with no boundaries. sometimes i haven't had my coffee yet, and my fake smile, unbeknownst to me, turns into a sneer. sometimes the supermodels make me feel insecure, but other times i like starring at them. sometimes it feels like there's so much to do here, and other times it feels like you've already done it all before. i have tried many times to break-up with NY. i threatened it all through my grad school education, saying i wanted to move away to another state, preferably maine where there's clean water, fishing boats and men with beards. though as annoying as chelsea can get, i realize it's my hometown. the guy on the corner knows how i like my coffee and if i ever changed it or went somewhere else, it would be pure upheaval. the old ladies here say i haven't changed since i was a little girl and i still look like shirley temple. it's like the bar where everyone knows your name. and after 26 years, im not sure i can cheat yet.

In NY style, here are some great classics depicting manic relationships with NY. these people are either on the 'high' or the 'low.' believe me, im sure they've had both.

The Moldy Peaches-NYC is a Graveyard
Bear Creek-Without You (NYC) (from an old Said the Gramophone post)
Tone Set-Life is Busy (from an old #1 in Belgium post)

The Moldy Peaches from S/T
Buy on Rough Trade

Bear Creek from Twirl it Like a Magic Wand
Buy on Olive Juice Music

Tone Set from Calibrate
Um. Good luck trying to find it (from around 1983?) on Pegna Records

Aural Travel

2006-05-11T16:46:00.002-07:00

Photo by Adele Booyson

Yesterday morning i woke up with anxiety from being on vacation. mainly because my day wasn't planned as usual which would leave me to my own devices. i immediately felt the need to have a vacation from my vacation. i thought about possible field trips to take: going to the museum of natural history to play with the educational light-up boxes, checking out the gallery exhibits in chelsea, riding a horse through central park, heading to the top of the empire state building (which i've actually never done), sitting on the piers to watch the boats roll in, or going guitar-hunting on the lower east side. i didn't end up doing any of it. it was all a fleeting dream. though i did come to a conclusion. the best vacation can be had sitting on your ass. i finally settled on listening to the new album A Life Without Fear by Ekkehard Ehlers, a beautiful mix of old blues & African instrumental samples with electronics. an odd journey indeed.

Here's a sample for your own mini-vacation:

Ain't No Grave
Misorodzi

Buy on Staubgold (Germany)

Sound Between Saturdays

2006-05-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

Photo by Todd Lappin

Here are some earlier, archived recordings from over the past month & a half or so, of my show on WNYU.org (Saturdays, 2-4PM). Soon all shows will be available for download which is exciting!

Try to download these one at a time, since they are two hours long each...

Sound Between 5/6/06
Sound Between 4/22/06
Sound Between 4/8/06
Sound Between 4/1/06
Sound Between 3/25/06

Realize that the news is a bit outdated. so don't fret as if you've missed anything from the week...

i heart japan.

2006-05-11T05:32:00.000-07:00

Photo By Ewan Grantham

i dunno. japan just rocks to me this morning. when i went to the B-boy Summit in Los Angeles about four years ago (and that's for b-boying/b-girling/breaking and of course popping, locking, everything in between), this event hosts some of the absolute, most top-notch dancers from around the globe. everyone and everything was impressive. the second night had to be the most memorable night of my life--it was one gigantic gathering of battle circles--and people were just randomly going up to each other and battling. gorgeous. and everyone was teaching each other too. that's the night i learned some moves from Cosmo and Loose Caboose, two of the most well-respected Lockers in the world--they were a couple of the first to have ever done that type of dancing.
but i'll tell you what was the most shocking. the girls. the last night, they really threw it down. the nastiest, dirtiest, grimiest battles i had seen the entire time. they were yelling. giving the finger. back-flipping. head-spinning. windmilling. then the japanese team came out. i will never forget this 5 minute impromptu routine. at the end of every move, they would freeze, break out some fans and fan themselves. that's right. with one hand planted on the ground, legs kicked up in handstand style, the other hand, cooling themselves off. and yes, that is how cool japan is. they were the most determined dancers i had ever seen. i heard from people they still hold it down in japan as we first had in new york. kids still break out the cardboard there. there's supposedly a slab on every other street corner.

Nisennenmondai reminds me of that team of girls. 3 japanese girls, young, seriously raw talent, and absolutely fearless. From their 2005 release, Tori, here's just one track (sorry, it's an EP):

Track 3

Buy on Dot Line Circle Communications

Here are some more impressive Japanese jams. not to be confused as lesser than the top entry, Boris has been making major waves with the fabulous new Pink. and rightfully so. Here's tracks from this new release:

Pink
My Machine

Buy on Southern Lord

and of course Guitar Wolf, almost everything 2 minutes and under. always like a whirlwind that makes you want to hide in the bathtub. Reissued, here's a track from Golden Black:

Fujiyama Attack

Buy on Narnack Records

I Wanna Horsey!

2006-05-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

Photo by Trevor Morgan

this is one of my favorite releases thus far from 2006 (and i already have about 20)--and it definitely fits somewhere in the top 10 right now. it's Voices and Organs, Orphanage, led by Per Lindmark and friends, written in Sweden & recorded in Japan. as a project started in 2004, Per set out to make an album based upon short stories about childhood & adolescent isolation in an orphange. the album feels like it's strung together as a biographical life story. i think it's real, different and haunting rolled into one.
it brings childhood to the forefront of your mind. the beach & making sandcastles. having playdates. those plastic charm necklaces. carousels. hitting little boys. or pulling girls' pigtails. cupcakes. pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. cartoons. red wagons. imagining being superheroes and saving the world. placing crank calls. building with blocks. being afraid of the dark. thinking the whale at the Museum of Natural history was the most massive thing on earth. giving myself the name "Jennifer" because i thought it was cooler. giving my imaginary friend the name "Lauren." making Lauren a doctor from france. wanting to be on the Gong Show. thinking i was the Karate Kid, wrapping bubble gum around my head and stomach, telling everyone 'i am ralph macchio.' then next week, pretending to be indiana jones, tying bedsheets to the top of my bunk bed, swinging down and hitting my head on the table. the list goes on and on.
in a sense, i realize the 'parents' are missing from Per's story. but the underlying imagination, mystery and innocence of childhood is still there...even if a child is raised by wolves, i think that's innate.

Here are two special tracks from Orphanage:

Nestlings
Ghostwriting

Buy on Western Vinyl

I Have Seen the Light!

2006-05-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

3D by Max Sparber

I have finally found out how to do this whole mp3 blog thing. it only took a lot of asking around over the past week. i owe it to Crumsho on WNYU (Outside) for helping me out. Thanks!
This means im now going to be able to bring you bigger, BEtter, BADder, MEAner, FRIGGin my FAVORITE things that have been coming out recently (and some not, maybe 2005ish).

So i'm starting off with some F/i (1981-2003)--not so well known, but definately very well-strung together proggy/spacerock. See, now if i was standing outside of the gates of heaven (or im not sure, it's probably hell by now), this is what i want playing in the background...actually especially if im standing at the gates of hell. this is perfect. i don't think god would appreciate it very much. though, if there is a god, i sure hope s(he) does....

from what i can tell, these guys were as strange as their music and i'm just *guessing* they did a lot of partying. and maybe ate some brownies here or there. if you want to know more about them, visit the F/i site because honestly, i still haven't figured them out. i can just say this type of sound carries after many years--no wonder we're hung-up on re-issues! that's not to insult current artists; it's just to say i will never let go of my Hendrix/Doors days for as long as i live.

Without further ado, here's an amazing track from F/i's 2003 reissue of A Question for the Somnambulist:

The Hot Shop

Buy on Strange Attractors

2006-05-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

Photo By Kill the Bird

I really like Kill Rock Stars. I guess because i agree with them wholeheartedly on the music scene. I understand that bands have to make a profit-- i will be the first person to lay down the "going price" for a suggested donation. or i'll buy a CD, button, t-shirt, whatever, at the end of a show. i think what bothered me a LOT was an argument i had with a local "hip-hop icon" outside of Om's knitting factory show two weekends ago. he met me for about 5 mintues, asked me if i liked hip-hop, to which i said 'of course', and then i had a CD shoved in my hand. in our discussion, he had found out i was a DJ, so i thought he was handing it over for promotional purposes. i said 'thanks', which was met with 'naw naw. that's not for free! it's 10 dollars please!' ok...i understand it's hard. i understand we're all broke. i'm just as broke as he's broke. etc etc etc. so i tell him i don't have the money to blow like that, and i added (though i really should have shut-up, but i was kind of pissed for some reason), 'i don't really have to buy CDs.' The minute it slipped out, i knew it would be taken wrong, so i backed up and said 'i mean i don't have to buy CDs, but i do...especially if i know and feel like supporting the artist.' this was getting way too complicated. he told me it was like i had just scratched his eyeballs out. whoa drama. to make a long story short, i would bend over backwards to support artists i know, love, respect, but i just get a bit pissy if someone shoves something in my hand i know nothing about and asks for my money. all of the artists i know have been incredibly gracious and i hope they become millionaires (because im certainly going to be doing that with my social work career soon!)

So about KRS. well, they come out of Olympia, WA and i love their mission statement: "Kill Rock Stars is dedicated to releasing high quality meaningful recordings in a manner that is fair and respectful to the artists. The system that makes rock stars wants us to believe that we have no choices except the handful they give us but they don't even bother to give us good choices, just lame ones. KRS just wants to give you some good stuff to listen to that actually means something to counteract the empty and boring stuff you see on TRL or whatever." Sweet. So here are some great, "non-lame" selections from the KRS vaults. Enjoy!

New Shtuff:

The Old Haunts-Wasted Day from Fuel on Fire
Wooden Wand-Eagle Claw from Harem of the Sundrum and Witness Fig
Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice-Don't Love the Liar from Gipsy Freedom
The Seconds-Sister8myson from Kratitude
They Shoot Horses Don't They-Emptyhead from Boo Hoo Hoo Boo

Old Schtuff:

Deerhoof-Wrong Time Capsule from The Runner's Four
Essential Logic-Aerosol Burns from Fanfare in the Garden
John Willkes Booze-War Drums from Telescopic Eyes Glance the Future Sick
The No-Neck Blues Band-The Doon from Qvaris
OOIOO-Right Hand from S/T
Stereo Total-I am Naked from Do the Bambi
Vaz-White World of Death from If the Twentieth Century Didn't Exist, It Would be Necessary to Invent It
Young People-Collection from S/T

Buy any or all on Kill Rock Stars