GUNS TURNED INTO MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Here's an idea who's time has truly come: a project called "Imagine" in which Mexican artist Pedro Reyes leads a team that takes guns donated from citizens of a county particularly wracked by violence and transforms them into musical instruments. Pistols form a guitar's body, gun barrels have holes drilled into them and made into flutes, or are arranged according to size into a xylophone, etc. The remarkable lyre pictured above is as much a triumph of visual design as musical. Go

HERE

to read/see the pics/watch the making-of vids. The video below is a 6-minute "Imagine Concierto" featuring the instruments. Yes, the music is based on the Lennon song, but even if you're sick of that tune, you must admit to how good these instruments sound, how well they're played, and just the general awesomness of the project. The percussion in particular gets increasingly sorta funky as the song progresses.

And I'm outta here til sometime in January. Much thanks to the many of you who have contributed to this-here web-log this year. Peace on Earth, goodwill towards men, and all that jazz.

COVER THE EARTH 3: More Bizarro Versions of Your Favorite Oldies From Across the World Wide Weird

The first "Cover The Earth" collection we posted here a couple of weeks ago has been quite the success - twice as many downloads as usual for these parts. And since some of you nice maniacs out there have been emailing me mp3s and suggestions for other foreign/ethnic cover tunes, I was inspired to dig thru my cd archives and come up another volume. And this batch is really nuts, more out-there then Vol. 1, I'd say, sometimes veering pretty far from the originals. The versions of "Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart" and "Imagine," in particular, are especially retarded.

Ingredients: a version of The Champs' "Tequila" by an out-of-control Indian wedding brass band; "Rock Around The Clock" played on a Spike Jones-like honk-horn novelty instrument (pictured right); two salsa artists (Celia Cruz, Manny Manuel) who start off fairly faithful to the originals, apart from singing in Spanish, before pushing the songs into Afro-Latin territory that has nothing to do with the original songs; a Frenchy version of "Witchy Woman" on musical saw (just about the only way I can take The Eagles); lots of Beatles, inc. a small taste of the zillions of Beatles covers recorded by Jamaican reggae artists in the Sixties; more Tuvan throat-singing; an early-'80s Dutch track (RTC) that would have fit on one of my "New Wave Covers" collections; and  "Purple Haze" on bagpipes. What more could you ask for?!

COVER THE EARTH 3

1. Tokyo Panorama Mambo Boys (Japan/Afro-Cuban) - James Bond theme
2. Tobi Rix (Netherlands) - Toeteriks-boogie [Bill Haley & Comets "Rock Around The Clock"]
3. Tanh Nam Teu (Vietnam) - Bat Ghen [Theme From 'Bonanza']
4. Babu Band (India) - Tequila
5. pedro de la hoya (Spanish, tho he's French) - kiss kong five [Prince "Kiss"]
6. Celia Cruz (Cuban) - Yo Viviré [Gloria Gaynor "I Will Survive"]
7. The Presidents (Germany) - Love Bug [Supremes "Love Is Like An Itching"]
8. Bugotak (Tuva) - Kon Togethy [The Beatles - Come Together]
9. Alton Ellis (Jamaica) - And I Love Her
10. Charlotte Dada (Ghana) - Don't Let Me Down
11. RTC (Holland) - Drive My Car
12. cachicamoconcaspa y leyko el perro de la IIII dimensión (Venezuela) - Imagine
13. Keith Lynn, The S.P.M's & Byron Lee & The Dragonaires (Jamaica) - My Sweet Lord
14. Svetlyo Zhilev (Bulgaria) - Purple Haze
15. Yat-Kha (Tuva) - Love Will Tear Us Apart
16. Dan Bau Vietnam - Rider in the Sky ["Ghost Riders In The Sky"]
17. Manny Manuel (Cuba) - I Want To Hold Your Hand (Tu Mano Cogere)
18. Beau Jocque & The Zydeco Hi-Rollers (Cajun Louisiana, USA) - Hi-Rollers Theme/Low Rider [War "Low Rider")
19. Barat Dangdut-Terpopuler 95 (Indonesia) - Hotel California
20. Randall Throckmorton w/ Larmes de Colère (French, tho Mr.Throckmorton is from Minneapolis) - Femme de Sorcière [Eagles "Witchy Woman"]
21. Yat-Kha (Tuva) - Black Magic Woman 

Gracias, danke, thanks to DJ Dragan and Outtaspaceman!

Snoopy's Beatles Classiks On Toys

Does what it says on the tin: Beatles songs played only on toy instruments. You may find this charming, or cloying and annoying.  Maybe both. I actually have another "Snoopy's Classiks On Toys" album by the same culprits behind this, an all-instrumental Christmas album, but I haven't posted it here - it's kinda bland. Nothing like having the occasional off-key moppets screeching, as this one does, to wake things up.

Yeah, it's those same Beatles songs you've heard a million times - but it's toys! None of this has anything to do with Charlie Brown & Co., near as I can tell.  Just a marketing angle, I guess. The cats behind this are French-Candian composers who have actually done some fairly serious classical-type stuff.  Tho this is probably just a commercial "rent gig" to pay the bills, it can work nicely, e.g.: "Here Comes The Sun"s arrangement for toy piano, xylophone, and chimes, among other sounds.

Robert Lafond and Michael Laverdiere: "Snoopy's Beatles Classiks On Toys" (1995)

[Due to circumstances beyond my control, I can't use mediafire now. After clicking the above link, scroll down for a choice of downloading options. You may have to wait a few secs. We apologize for the inconvenience.]
1. Intro
2. Do You Want To Know A Secret? (Vocals)
3. Blackbird
4. Yesterday
5. When I'm Sixty-Four
6. Penny Lane
7. Here Comes The Sun
8. She Loves You (Vocals)
9. Fool On The Hill
10. Here, There, Everywhere
11. Help!
12. A Hard Day's Night
13. Yellow Submarine (Vocals)


Thanks to windy!

Beatles Arias

In 1966, opera singer Cathy Berberian recorded an album of Beatles covers, backed by classical arrangements.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to hell.

Cathy Berberian "Beatles Arias"

Regular readers of this blog will find this album frequently hilarious (love how she trills her Rs); otherwise, it can clear rooms. Berberian has extensive legit classical and avant-garde credentials - she was composer Luciano Berio's wife; John Cage wrote pieces for her. So it's not easy to dismiss this as another misguided record company Beatles rip-off. Maybe if I spoke European, I'd understand the interview included on this album which may reveal her motives.

1		Ticket To Ride
2		I Want To Hold Your Hand
3		Michelle
4		Eleanor Rigby
5		Yellow Submarine
6		Here, There And Everywhere
7		Help!
8		You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
9		Yesterday
10		Can't Buy Me Love
11		Girl
12		A Hard Day's Night 13 Interview
		Récitals
14		Introduction
15		Ticket To Ride
16		Yesterday Piano – Bruno Canino

New Wave Covers For Oldies Lovers - Part 2

As I wrote in PART ONE, "During the upheaval of the late '70s/early '80s punk days, there was a real changing-of-the-guard feeling that led many groups of the time to cover classic oldies from the sacred rock 'n' roll canon in an irreverent (if not downright disrespectful) fashion. One of my recent obsessions is to to collect as many of these as I can find..." And why not? It's fun, weekend/summer barbeque music for maniacs. There's even a surf music section.

New Wave Covers For Oldies Lovers, vol2

1. The Toy Dolls - Blue Suede Shoes
2. The Minutemen - Ain't Talkin' Bout Love
3. Lene Lovich - I think we're alone now [Japanese version]
4. The Plastics - Last train to Clarksville
5. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Tighten Up [These guys, featuring Ruichi Sakamoto, actually reunited to perform (at the Hollywood Bowl) for the first time in 30 years; hope they performed this one, it is absolutely bonkers]
6. Zoogz Rift - But The Picture Has A Mustache ["Inna Gadda Davida"]
7. The Fibonaccis - Purple Haze
8. Black Randy & The Metrosquad - Say It Loud (I'm Black And I'm Proud)
9. James Chance & The Contortions - I Can't Stand Myself
10. Devo - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
11. Sun Yuma - Subterranean Homesick Blues
12. Comateens - Summer in the City
13. Bakersfield Boogie Boys - I Get Around
14. Nash the Slash - Dead Man's Curve
15. Zoogz Rift - Walk Don't Run
16. C. Newman & Janet Smith - California Girls
17. Lemon Kittens - Shakin' All Over
18. Pere Ubu - Pushin Too Hard
19. Butthole Surfers - American Woman
20. The Better Beatles - Paperback Writer
21. The Flying Lizards - Money (That's What I Want)
22. Gina X - Drive My Car
23. Sex Pistols - My Way

New Wave Covers For Oldies Lovers - Part 1

My previous post featured kooky versions of punk classics, kind of the flip side of today's post:

During the upheaval of the late '70s/early '80s punk days, there was a real changing-of-the-guard feeling that led many groups of the time to cover classic oldies from the sacred rock 'n' roll canon in an irreverent (if not downright disrespectful) fashion. One of my recent obsessions is to to collect as many of these as I can find. Thank God(zilla) for this blog - this is now not just some obsessive/compulsive behavior - it's a blog post! I'm part of the New Media, not just a weirdo spending his free time making obscurely-themed cassette mix tapes! And the result: strange, funny, experimental, pop, sometimes just stoopid ridiculous, unpredictable wonderfulness - this stuff's more punk than punk.
New Wave Covers For Oldies Lovers: A MusicForManiacs Collection

01 flying lizards - sex machine
02 The Better Beatles - PennyLane
03 Devo - Secret Agent Man
04 Karel Fialka - People Are Strange05 Bauhaus - Telegram Sam
06 Silicon Teens - Memphis Tennessee
07 The Raincoats - Lola
Rolling Stones section:
08 David Bowie - Let's Spend the Night Together
09 Neonbabies - Jumpin' Jack Flash
10 Nash the Slash - 19th Nervous Breakdown
11 Polyphonic Size - Mothers Little Helper
12 Bakersfield Boogie Boys - Get off my cloud
13 The Residents - (Can't Get No) Satisfaction
14 B52s - Downtown
15 Klaus Nomi - The Twist (live)
16 Wall of Voodoo - Ring Of Fire (live)
17 Bakersfield Boogie Boys - Okie from Muskogee
18 The Dickies - Nights in White Satin
19 The Slits - Heard It Thru the Grapevine
20 Ebn Ozn - Rockin' Robin
21 Jah Wobble - Blueberry Hill
22 Drinking Electricity - Shaking All Over
23 Ronnie And The Rhythm Boys - Hey Joe


I'm pretty sure I got some of these tracks off of blogs like Egg City Radio and Mutant Sounds, so thanks to them, and whoever else needs to be thanked. Part two coming at ya soon.

VINYL-PALOOZA #11: Ya No Hay Beatles! A Mexican '60s Garage Rock Fiesta

Closing out this month-long trip thru record-land, I present one final goodie - a various-artists 1960s mucho loco trip thru my Mexican garage-rock discoveries. I found some of these in the little mom 'n' pop store-front Latino music discotecas (music shops) that dot the working class neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Some of these records were still in the shrink-wrap, apparently bouncing around unwanted since the '60s. I bought most of these in the '90s, so I doubt there are too many left by now, but one never knows, does one? The usual sources (thrift shops, record stores) provided the rest.

These albums aren't always solid gold - there are boring ballads, or songs sung in English that make these groups sound like just another bar band. But the right combination of teenage hormones, unusual Latin influences, covers and originals can result in wild, fun, Nuggets-worthy trash-sterpieces.

So here's an hour's worth of garage, rockabilly, crazy screaming vocals, cool surf instros, and (this being a MusicForManiacs comp, after all) a few weird novelties. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Ya No Hay Beatles!

Los Locos Del Ritmo - Hey Joe
Hermanos Carrion - Todo A Su Tiempo (Turn Turn Turn)
Los Apson - Ya No Hay Beatles [I think the title of this original tune translates to something like "We Ain't No Beatles"]
Los Aragon - Tema do Los Monkees
Los Teen Tops - La Plaga (Good Golly Miss Molly)
Los Rockin Devils - Hey Lupe (Hang On Sloopy) [I have a great cassette by these guys/gal, but I can't be bothered with pulling out my boom box; in any case, Amazon has some highly-recommended CDs by 'em]
Los Rebeldos del Rock - Oh Mi Nina
Los Rebeldos del Rock - La Hiedra Venenosa (Poison Ivy)
Los Locos Del Ritmo - Si Ti Tengo A Ti
Los Apson - Viaje Submarino (20,000 Leagues)
Los Belmonts - Amarrado (Glad All Over)
Hermanos Carrion - Memphis
Los Locos Del Ritmo - El Fantasma
Los Locos Del Ritmo - Chica Alborotada
Los Apson - Twist Hawaiano
Los Hooligans - Despeinada
Los Hitters - Hanky Panky
Los Locos Del Ritmo - Pan con Mantequilla (Bread and Butter) [Oh, how the retarded vox on this make me laff!]
Los Crazy Boys - Corina Corina
Los Locos Del Ritmo - El Mongol
Los Apson - Senor Apache (Mister Custer)
Hermanos Carrion - Suzy-Q [throws in a bit of "Land of 1000 Dance" as well]
Los Aragon - Paren esa Musica [don't quit listening before you get to this absolutely hysterical number; "stop the music!!"]

PEOPLE LIKE US: "Welcome Abroad"

We've been singing the praises of UK's master sound collagist People Like Us for ages, but she just might have released her best work yet. Well, actually the album "Welcome Abroad" won't be released for a month (thru illegal-art), but you can listen to it streaming

HERE

The 17-song collection sustains a marvelously trippy feel throughout, with hallucinogenic fragments of old easy-listening records melting and morphing into each other, even as kitsch-fests like "Happy Lost Songs" had me laffin'. At the other end of the emotional spectrum, songs like "Lost In The Dark" are genuinely moving. And "The Sound Of The End Of Music" proves just what I've always suspected: that The Doors weren't doing much more than playing corny showtunes.

The following artists are listed, but there's plenty more: The Beatles, Ennio Morricone, Danny Kaye, Bob Dylan, Rod McKuen, Elton John, Gene Pitney, Elvis Presley, Dionne Warwick, John Denver, Julie London, and Queen. And the use of hissy old '78s is duly noted and appreciated.

GAMELAN AND ON...

A gamelan (pictured left) is an Indonesian orchestra of tuned bells and gongs. And a music box is...well, you know what that is. On the latest (2 disk!) album by veteran New Yorkers Gamelan Son of Lion, John Morton's electronically-processed music box plays a tinkly version of the Beatles' "Yesterday" along with the gamelan. It is, like much of this album, absolutely enchanting. It's unlike anything you've ever heard before, but strangely easy on the ears. The trance-like quality of gamelan music is kinda soothing, even when played at high energy levels.

Gamelan Son of Lion: "She (Really) Had To Go" - This is an excerpt from a 9 minute piece.

The album "Sonogram," on the ever-awesome Innova label, does not feature any traditional music from Bali or Java - these are all new pieces written by the band members that often combine gamelan with Western instruments and styles, which is a bit tricky since gamelan instruments are not tuned to the Western scale. But that's not a problem when your Western "instruments" are found junk percussion objects:

Gamelan Son of Lion: "Bang On A Tin Can"

Other tracks feature Miguel Frasconi's invented glass instruments, clarinet-driven klezmer, an Afro-Cuban-inspired jam, and Llsa Karrer's "River Kotekan" - 2 pianos and 2 voices mixed with the usual shifting gamelan tempos make for some persuasive polyrhythms.

Some parts of their 9/11 tribute had me wincing, and the attempt to mix Scottish/Irish vocals was a bit too "Celtic Woman" for me, but with almost two hours-worth of music here, I'm not complaining. My favorite new album.

AFRO-SPAZZ

How many African music collections thank Dr Demento in the credits?

The 1995 compilation "Money No Be Sand," on the Original Music label, is one of my favorite albums - it's completely bananas, another example of how Everything You Know Is Wrong. All Nigeria and Ghana rarities from the Sixties, it's nothing like the sterile "World Music" you'll hear oozing out of your local Starbucks. It's own liner notes describe it as "wild-and-woolly" (the review in The Beat magazine prefers the term "nutty.")

It's delights are endless: trashy garage-rock sung in tribal tongues, James Brown rip-offs (complete with, in the song "One Early Morning," a shockingly inept drum break), a cheerful calypso describing a political assassination, curious pidgin-English lyrics, and all manner of twisting and shaking awesomeness. Oh, and a Beatles cover performed on cowbells. Beyond essential.

"Money No Be Sand"

	1	Ewele Aya	BB Band / Prof. Y.S.	2:57
		2	Hold Me Tight Baby	Archibogs / Charles Iwegbue	2:45
		3	Look, Look, Look	Sound Makers / Godwin Omobuwa	2:50
		4	Weeya Weya	Tempos Band / E.T. Mensah	2:48
		5	Eje Ka Jo	Junkers / Jimi Solanke	2:58
		6	Money No Be Sand	Archibogs / Charles Iwegbue	2:57
		7	Cut Your Coat According to Your Size	Apolos Empire Rhythm Orchestra	2:50
		8	I Love You	Young Star Band / Pepsi-Orlando	2:56
		9	You Cheat Me You Cheat Me	Sound Makers / Godwin Omobuwa	2:55
		10	Shake It	Professional Beach Melodians	2:50
		11	President Tubman	Money Be No Sand	2:43
		12	Timber	Eric Akaeze / Azagas	3:01
		13	One Early Morning	BB Band / Prof. Y.S.	2:59
		14	Healthy Be Richman	Eric Akaeze / Azagas	3:04
		15	Jane	Junkers / Clint Eph. Sebastian	2:27
		16	Ride Your Donkey	Ramblers Dance Band	2:39
		17	Baby I Tire	Archibogs / Charles Iwegbue	2:56
		18	Lumumba Calypso	E.C. Arinze	2:42
		19	I Need Your Love	Top Aces / Eddie Okonta	3:00
		20	More Dollars	Eric Akaeze / Azagas	2:44
		21	The Bad Lit Road		2:58
		22	Because of Money	Tempos Band / E.T. Mensah	2:40
		23	Don't Let Me Down John Lennon / Paul McCartney	Charlotte Dada	4:25