BeerBottle Percussion, NewWave Music-Boxes, Avant-Catholic Masses

Last year's assortment of experimental/alt-classical/unclassifiably weird new releases received a succinct two-word comment from reader Outa-Spaceman: "Astonishing stuff!" Like last year's roundup, these are new(ish) commercial releases that are well worth your hard-earned dollars/francs/pounds/heads-of-cattle/etc., with album moods ranging from Carton Sonore's charming toy-pop and the krazy kovers of Hanna Peel and Misfit Toys, to chin-stroking Afro-tronica and new avant-chamber music; from modern-day high holy masses to Neon Lushell's creepy "No Religion" - we're covering a lot of territory. And when was the last time you heard music performed entirely on beer bottles? Prepare to be astonished!

Astonishing Stuff!

1. Paddy Steer - "A. Welson Senior II": reader Phil C. hepped me to this Mancunian cat with this description: "He's a crazy one man moog/ glockenspiel/drumkit band with a penchant for paper maché robot/creature heads. I saw him at a tiny little festival a couple of years ago (he was on after the band I was with) and it was the best and strangest thing I've ever seen. For the whole of his set I felt like I was having an acid flashback." One of the best albums I've heard in recent years.  Was very hard to pick representative tracks, they're all doubleplus good. Watch the vids on his label site!
2. Misfit Toys - "Alone Again Naturally": from the ridiculously entertaining debut album "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is," a mad collection of '70s covers performed on banjo, bowed banjo (?!), marimba, oboe and clarinet, among others, radically reinventing Stevie Wonder, Chicago (as you may have guessed by the album title), Tony Orlando and Dawn, Black Sabbath, Talking Heads, the Gilbert O'Sullivan song featured here, and more. Transcends novelty, but still a must for any Maniacs' party.
3. Neon Lushell - "Black Confetti": I really liked these Midwesterners debut "Modern Purveyors of Filth and Degradation" and their new one (to be released Oct 8) is just as good - two-discs bulging with experimental ambient evil, as dark as goth or metal but without those genres' kitschy cliches.
4. Mammane Sani et son Orgue - "Bodo": hypnotic '70s Space-Age organ instrumentals from Niger, Africa; who knew such things existed?
5. Gunnelpumpers - "Bottley Functions": The six musicians of this Chicago-based avant/improv group perform here only on beer bottles. From their new one,"Montana Fix."
6. Gunnelpumpers - "Buffalo Jump": groovy percussion with three double-basses; that's like, what, 6 basses total? (boom-tish!)
7. Hannah Peel - "Electricity" - Peel's splendid 4 song EP "Rebox" performs '80s hits by Soft Cell, New Order, Cocteau Twins, and the song featured here, OMD, on sampled antique music box. May be corny as hell, but I love it.
8. Phil Kline - "John the Revelator - Sanctus": We reviewed this NYC composer's Christmas music for massed boom-boxes previously, and reader James C. recommended the Catholic inspired "John The Revelator;" the eclectic music sometimes doesn't immediately suggest a mass, tho it does get a bit Gregorian at times; quite lovely. 
9. Kurosounds - "Manège d'éléphants": Fantastic hypnogogic ambient soundscapes; looped delayed instruments echo rhythmically as dreamy sound effects drift in and out; owes as much to psychedelic dub as it does to  Minimalism. 
10. Bruce Cropley - "March Into April": This Aussie's excellent album "Modal Podal" is almost all instrumental, exploring a wide variety of styles that aren't necessarily all that weird; which makes it all the more unique - he's not afraid of risking his avant credentials by throwing some perfectly pleasant jazz fusion-type stuff in with the almost Zappa-like quirkiness; makes one realize how even "strange" "experimental" music can be predictably formulaic.
11. Bruce Cropley - "Modal Podal": Copley's is also the man behind the super-swell "Quirky Music" on-line radio station
12. Juan Blanco - "Musica para Danza": Was I surprised to find this album in my PO box - "Nuestra Tiempo" is a retrospective of Cuba's electronic music pioneer, Juan Blanco. Cuban electronica? As in, with those infectious Latin rhythms? Yes, on one almost 14 minute -long track. The rest of the album doesn't offer much mamboing, just tasty analog bloopiness, like this track from 1961, the very first piece of electronic music ever recorded in Cuba, available for the first time.
13. Tino Contreras - "Santo": Perhaps not as historically startling as the Blanco album, but "El Jazz Mexicano de Tino Contreras" is another worthy reexamination of an overlooked Latin American artist from decades past; this one unexpectedly veers from psych Afro-Latinisms to exotic international styles, to such oddities as numerous tracks from his groovy '60s a-Go-Go Catholic mass, like the track featured here that mashes up Latin (in the original sense of the word) chanting with Brubeck-esque cool jazz and sleazy electric organ. Que pasa?!
14. Paddy Steer - "Stun phlogiston"
15. Carton Sonore - "The Mexican Roads": The latest from France's adorable "naive music" toy-pop maestro.

I Will NOT Be Appearing On Radio Misterioso...

...this Sunday nite. Two hours of radio hijinks will be postponed to a later date. But the good news is, thanks to super-swell maniac Phil C., "The Lavender Jungle" comp is back up. 

And there's some great stuff up on the youtubes. Another valued tipster, Niels, hepped me to this clip of "Flying robot quadrotors perform the James Bond Theme by playing various instruments including the keyboard, drums and maracas," a spectacular example of the ever-evolving genre of mechanical music.

HERE is a 16-minute explanation for you techies.

And I didn't have a March Fourth post this past March 4th re: alternative marching bands, because I didn't have any material.  Well, I got one now: this swell vid about a band I wrote about HERE, a 5 minute documentary on the mysterious, highly experimental Itchy-O Marching Band, revealing their home/custom-made instruments.

Sisqo's "Thong Song" for Music Box And Theremin

I'm sure we all have our own favorites, but my pick for best cover of Sisqo's ubiquitous 1999 hip-hop hit "The Thong Song" for antique-sounding music box and theremin would have to be the one by British duo Eccentronic. It's short, maybe too short (not to be confused with the rapper Too Short, har har), funny, and really quite nice. One of those audio anomalies that shouldn't exist in our universe, much less work as well as it does. It's a free download:

Eccentronic  "Thong Song"

Speaking of audio anomalies, can someone explain why I was driving down the freeway yesterday evening listening to the radio when a robo-voice came thru my speakers telling me that the Vermont off-ramp was in two miles...and I don't have GPS?!

Never heard from the phantom voice again. Freaky.

SPACE-AGE SANTA

William Shatner! Theremins! Daleks! Annoying child singers!  Truly, this is what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown. 

If we must be subjected to Christmas music every year, at least let's make it bad/strange futuristic-y sci-fi songs. Space travel and Christmas - two things that have nothing to do with each other.  So why are there so many songs about both? Maybe cuz kids love 'em both. Or because Santa's reindeer routine was a wormhole-like traveling thru space/time? Or cuz everyone gets sick of "White Christmas" after a while? Regardless, here are 24 mainly '50s/'60s songs collected over the years, stuffed into one handy stocking:

SPACE-AGE SANTA
(Is this divshare business working?)
Space-Age Santa (Zippyshare)

These tunes are mostly off hopelessly obscure 45s, but I added artist info, if any

01 Hal Bradley Orch wPatty Marie Jay - SpaceAge Santa Claus
02 Zoot, Zoot, Zoot Here Comes Santa In His New Space Suit - Tiny Tim and Bruce Haack (as previously discussed)
03 Introduction-Hooray For Santa Claus - Miton DeLugg (from the badfilm classic "Santa Claus Conquers The Martians)
04 I Cloned Myself For Christmas - Neutron 606
05 Good King Wenceslas - Douglas Leedy (from a Buchla - not Moog - album from the late '60s that's all pretty cool, but this is the stand-out track.)
06 The Go Go's - I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek (No, not those Go-Gos, this was a '60s British studio "group.")
07 Outer Space Santa - Lawrence Welk's Little Band
08 Santa and the Satellite - another proto-mashup from Buchanan & Goodman
09 Northern Telecom - I Want An OC192 For Christmas 
10 moog cookbook - santa claus is coming to town (time-traveling to the '90s for this nutty instro)
11 Tim Dinkins - Santa's Rocket
12 Take A Ride On Santa's Rocket - The Sounds Extraordinare
13 Bobby Helms - Captain Santa Claus (Yep, the "Jingle Bell Rock" guy)
14 Lothars - Oh Holy Night (great contemporary theremin group)
15 barry gordon - Zoomah the Santa Claus from Mars
16 The Servotron Evaluation of the Christmas Season
17 Fountains of Wayne - I Want an Alien for Christmas (more actual not-old music! From their 2005 album "Out-Of-State Plates")
18 a sonovox (a kind of '40s vocoder) version of "rudolph"
19 troy hess - christmas on the moon (singing 6 year with thick hick accent - OUCH)
20 William Shatner - Good King Wenceslas (hearing all the verses, recited in Captain Kirk's ponderous delivery, reminds me that I have no idea what the hell this song is about)
21 Scene 1 Come Rejoicing-Its The Very Best Time of The Year-Make A Joyful Noise (from a kiddie xian xmas album I found in a thrift-shop called "Christmas 2001 A Space-Age Adventure"; I actually digitized the whole thing, but, believe me, you don't need to hear it)
22 Christmas in the Stars (from the infamous "Star Wars Christmas" album; I also have this one on vinyl - featuring a young Jon Bon Jovi! - but you REALLY don't need to hear the whole thing)
23 MIT computer 1962 carols
24 Space Age Santa Claus - Gus de Wert Trio (Incredibly, a cover of track #1)

Thanks to J-Unit 1!

The First Man On The Moog

"Herbert Deutsche: From Moog To Mac" is shaping up to be the reissue of the year.  It's a long-overdue career retrospective of an electronic music pioneer who was Bob Moog's right-hand man. I was happy to see that "Jazz Images, A Worksong and Blues," the first piece of music ever  recorded using a Moog Synthesizer was included in this collection. And a pretty cool piece of space jazz it is - the almost 10 minute long 1965 landmark work also includes Deutsche's piano and trumpet skillz.

Except for an '80s drum-machine pop vocal misfire, the rest of the album is solid, including tape music concrete pieces dating to the pre-Moog early '60s, right up to some lovely recent songs for piano+theremin, with stops along the way for some space-age Shakespeare, a bit of operatic vox, and more future-jazz courtesy of a sax-enhanced version of the traditional black American lament "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child".

I digitized an 7" ep of Deutsche's that I bought at a used shop ages ago that apparently was meant to accompany a book about electronic music that Deutsche wrote in the '70s. Each side is only 5-6 minutes long, but it's plenty fun.  Side a features Deutsche's narration as he demonstrates basic tape functions, then creates a nutty tape loop.  Side b features narration-free instros, including some really wacked-out tape loopiness and a wicked bit of Moog funk.

Herbert Deutsche - three tracks

1. "Jazz Images, A Worksong and Blues" from "Herbert Deutsche: From Moog To Mac"
2. Synthesis side a:  "Tape Studies 1-4"
3. Synthesis side b:  "Tape Study #6 (A Branch of My Anguish)"; "Tape Study #6 (Circe)"; "Synthesizer Studies 1-3"
 

Gershon Does Gershwin

Moog synth versions of Gershwin classics sounds like a pretty goofy excuse for an album, especially considering that album title, and the ludicrous cover art of George G. looking like an ABA player with that gi-normous 'fro. But this 1970 release is actually really good, reworking those tired old songs like "Summertime" with unexpectedly fresh, Space-Age arrangements. (Gershon Kingsley would write an oft-covered standard himself, "Popcorn.")  Bob Moog even stated in an interview that he thought that this was one of the best Moog-sploitation albums of that period, and I would agree - especially side two's "Porgy & Bess" medley (Proggy & Bess?).

Kinsgley clearly learned a thing or two about using sound effects in novel musical ways from his old partner, tape-loop wiz Jean-Jacques Perrey, when they were the duo that practically invented electro-pop with their groundbreaking 1966 classic "The 'In' Sound From Way Out."  On this album, Kinsgley is joined on some cuts by pianist Leonid Hambro.

Gershon Kingsley & Leonid Hambro: "Gershwin: Alive & Well & Underground"

Modern Purveyors Of Filth And Degradation: A New Music Roundup

So, so many albums out there! And some of them are even good!  Wish I had time to dedicate one post to each one, but due to the usual time constraints, here's another mix of recent (or recent to me) albums for Maniacs, available for purchase or free download, or both. Not much avant-heaviness this time out, but lots of summer-fun silly/strange excuses for pop music here. 

Modern Purveyors Of Filth And Degradation


1. Neon Lushell "Leave Me Alone" - these Midwesterners have recently dropped one of the albums of the year, I sez, in "Modern Purveyors Of Filth And Degradation (In A Time Of Peace And Understanding)". It moves from the Ministry-like bangin' album opener featured here, to dark ambient, surreal soundscapes, and twisted folk. "Dark music" without a hint of the usual cliches, e.g.: death-metal, Joy Division soundalikes, etc. A lot of self-described "strange" or "experimental" artists submit music to me, but most of it lacks the originality and imagination of these sick kitties.

2. Jan Turkenburg "droodle20110809[F***TheMeaningOfLife]" - Wonderful sound-collage from the nutty Dutchman who's been posting a series of similiar cut-and-paste "droodles" on the the ever-crucial PCL Linkdump.

3. Bob Purse "It's Not A Regular Day" - Shamelessly silly-but-swell novelty tune from The Many Moods of Bob, the recent debut album compiling many years worth of home recordings from the great music blogger Bob Purse. The man even does covers of song-poems, forpetessake.

4. Lydia Kavina "Free Music #1 (1936)" - From the album "Music from the Ether: Original Works for Theremin" by the grand-niece of Leon Theremin himself, and sometimes member of bizarro surf band Messer Chups. Excellent stuff - if you buy one theremin album in your life, buy this one. 

5. Ace of Clubs "Rehab Dem Bones " - a Herman Munster vs Amy Winehouse mashup collected off the internet.  You'll laff!

6. DmR of AtoZ "Get Up" - Another mashup, this takes numerous Beatles vocals and expertly drops them over the bassline to Tom Waits "Step Right Up." From the on-line collection "You Can't Mash That vol 28" (which I haven't actually heard, just this song.)

7. the archaeologist "pouvons-nous avoir un cendrier" - This album "parlez vous francais?" is based on a French language instruction tape (+ beats, music), which gets to be a bit much after a while.  Works great in short doses tho, like this yummy truffle that also throws in bits of Gil-Scott Herons' "Whitey's On The Moon."

8. Covox "Computer Love" - from 8-Bit OPERATORS-An 8-Bit Tribute To Kraftwerk

9. The Fire Organ "Little Fishes" - Quirky pop tune that's quite good despite the off-key singing; from an album ("Dumbed Out") that doesn't seem to be on-line any more. Hmm, maybe he's re-cutting the vocals...

10. Ban This Sick Filth "Powerhouse" - Raymond Scott's 1937 cartoon classic gets a boomin' remix courtesy of this offshoot of London mash-masters Celebrity Murder Party.

11. Greg Reinfeld "Pink Ballerina" - This highly prolific free-internet-album guy's latest is "Poorest Almanac That Ever Lived".

12. Hanetration "Rex" - Taking a breather from all this silliness, this is from the all-too-brief 4 track FREE! download release "Tenth Oar" of evocative, compelling ambiance.

13. Snaps 'n' Claps "Soldier Boyfriend" - Charming Casio girl-pop that may be more knowing than it lets on beneath its naive presentation. From their Feeding Tube cd-r "Greatest Hits."

14. Maladroit "Musicbox Jungle (Negrobeat Remix)" - Hysterical break-core collision of the '70s E-Z instro "Music Box Dancer" with that '90s 'Mr. Boombastic' song, as all heck breaks loose. Australians seem to be good at this sorta thing.

15. 1001 "Nieszczesliwa milosc, hej!" - This Polish gent hipped me to some outsider music from his land, and when I checked out his own stuff, I found this song, which makes awesome use of loops of people laughing.

16. Moose A. Moose & Zee D. Bird "Everywhere I Go" - If you have kids, you probably know this insanely catchy tune from the video that used to be shown often on the Nick Jr network. It's not available for sale, or as an mp3 anywhere, so I recorded it off a YouTube video and it came out surprisingly well. Do you know how many people want this?! Esp. since apparently Nick Jr has stopped showing the Moose & Zee bits. I am doing a public service! 

17. Janek Schaefer "Recorded Delivery [7" edit]" - From London comes this jaw-dropping artifact: a tape-recorder sealed in a box and mailed, which then recorded everything. "Recorded Delivery is a sound activated tape recording of parcel travelling through the Post Office system...The sound reactive dictaphone automatically edited the 15 hour journey to a 72 minute recording, capturing only the most sonically interesting elements of the journey."

18. Mari L. McCarthy "Weekend In New England" - This amateur tribute to '70s schlock crooner Barry Manilow entitled (hoo boy) "The Barry Thought Of You," sent to us by our frequent contributor windy, would be awful enough, but then on this song she goes and splices in the voice of Barry himself to create a Natalie/Nat Cole-like exercise in outsider horror.  Why, windy, why??

19. Willful Devices "Lattice XVIIb" - This 2-man-band (electronics & clarinet/woodwinds) go absolutely nuts on this track. Free-improv can be fun!

The Wild and Dirty World Of Mel Henke

"The Mad Musical World Of Mel Henke" reads the cover of this classic bit of Space Age Bachelor Pad Music. 'Mad' is putting it politely - the blaring jazz, leering lyrics, rude sound effects, and general 'Playboy' Party Jokes feel to the whole thing makes it as far out as you could get for 1962 without crossing over into Lenny Bruce territory.

Needless to say, it's a wildly entertaining album, with futuristic hi-fi sounds bouncing all over your stereo system. Henke knew how to get your attention - he made his name in advertising, composing snappy jingles like "See The USA In Your Chevrolet." You may now be saying, "Yo Fab, if this album's so great, why haven't other blogs posted it?"  They have, my cyber-chums, they have!  But not with the bonus tracks from the Scamp Records 1997 re-issue. See, that's why I rule and they drool I felt that it was okay to post my copy here.

Weirdly enough, that's not Henke pictured on the album cover -  it's actually San Francisco radio dj Tom Donahue. According to the liner notes by Brother Cleve of Combustible Edison (hey, remember them?), it was a "bizarre marketing move...undoubtedly hoping for airplay in return."

Mel Henke - " La Dolce Henke"
After clicking the above link, scroll down for a choice of downloading options. You may have to wait a few secs.]
1. The Lively Ones
2. Walkin' My Baby Back Home
3. The Twisters
4. Let's Put Out The Lights
5. Open The Door, Richard
6. Farmer John
7. Last Night On The Back Porch
8. It's So Nice To Have A Man Around The House
9. All That Meat
10. You're Driving Me Crazy (What Did I Do?)
11. Baby, It's Cold Outside
12. Woman In Space [dig the "ethereal sound of Elliot Fischer's electric violin"]
BONUS TRACKS:
13. William Tell On The Hoof
14. Old McDonald Had A Girl
15. Exotic Adventure
16. See The USA In Your Chevrolet [instrumental version; check Dinah Shore singing in the vid below]

R.I.P.: PHIL KRAUSS

Today we pay tribute to a recently deceased legend, a true musical master...Whitney who...? No, of course I'm referring to the percussionist Phil Kraus, who just died at the ripe old age of 94. Kraus played countless sessions for everyone from Sinatra to Ben E. King - yep, that's his scratching sound on "Stand By Me."

But strange music fans know and love him for his huge assortment of exotic/oddball instruments deployed on numerous albums teamed with his partner in percussives, Bobby Rosengarden. Apart from appearing together on Enoch Light's popular series of Light Brigade albums, Rosengarden and Kraus also made a number of instrumental albums their own selves, like this nutty number from 1965. "Percussion: Playful And Pretty" may indeed have it's playful and pretty moments, but it's also an exercise in Space Age stereophonic panning, and strange exotic moods. Songs like "Satan Takes A Holiday" were odd to begin with, but even more so after these two and their crew of fellow top session cats got a hold of 'em - the song "Goofus" alone features such instruments as that old circus music maker, the calliope, and something called a "buzzimba: "...a Rube Goldberg-ish contraption made up of wooden resonators that buzz daintily like a choir of horseflies when struck with a mallet. You might call it a kind of percussive kazoo." (Sounds like an African balafon, actually.) And the totally bonkers "The Comedians" really lives up to it's title - it could be a soundtrack to a classic Mexican silent slapstick.

Rosengarden and Kraus "Percussion: Playful And Pretty"

For Want of a Star
Mr. Ghost Goes to Town
Johnny One Note
Chloe
All Through the Night
Satan Takes a Holiday
Sophisticated Swing
The Comedians
Speak Low
The Continental
Carnival
Goofus

Dig the liners:

"Spruced-up Mood Music"

Remember when you pulled down all the pots and pans in your mother's kitchen and made an "orchestra" out of them? Some kids never grow out of it. They become percussionists. One thing is sure about percussion: you're bound to get a bang out of it. But don't think percussion is nothing but a noise test. This album proves the contrary. It shows that in the hands of top-rank musicians, percussive instruments have a special kind of melodic charm and subtlety, sweetness and spice. Favorite old ballads emerge with new tonal gloss - a kind of spruced-up mood music. And rhythm numbers glint with tonal laughter - the sheer fun of clinking, clopping, tingling and tapping.

Bob Rosengarden, one of America's leading percussionists, along with equally ingenious Phil Kraus, pulled together for this session perhaps the most varied and sophisticated array of percussion instruments ever assembled before a mike. If you think percussion is just drums, then listen to the vibraharp, the xylophone, marimba, bell-tree, tom-tom, maracas, gourds, scratchers, chimes, cow-bells and temple bells.

"We even rounded up a whole set of Chinese wood blocks - some 30 or 40 of them," says Bob. "Old ones, from mainland China! You just can't get those any more. And for the last number - Goofus - we've really got something rare: a buzzimba!"

A buzzimba, it turns out, is a Rube Goldberg-ish contraption made up of wooden resonators that buzz daintily like a choir of horseflies when struck with a mallet. "You might call it a kind of percussive kazoo," Bob suggested.
The rest of the orchestra (clarinets, flutes, saxes, trumpet, trombone, bass, guitar, and piano) is made up of fairly conventional instruments. Except one. Arranger Sid Cooper had found a calliope - one of those outboard organs they used to play on the old Mississippi showboats. He just had to work that in, somehow, and trundled it into the studio on a serving cart. No steamboat boiler was handy, so a small air compressor was used instead to blow the pipes.

Soon the music was clopping along, softly and tenderly like a brook with syncopated rocks in its bed. Or suddenly it sounded as if the building were under attack from a flock or rapid-action woodpeckers. For Bob and his crew, all the banging, tickling and tapping on their strange instruments was audibly a labor of love. It's also a fine stint of sheer musicianship.

FRANCIS TRAUN


© 1965, Radio Corporation of America"

"I WANT TO PLAY ON THAT GAYWAY..." - POSTCARD RECORDS FROM THE 1962 SEATTLE WORLD'S FAIR

"It's a postcard!"
"No, it's not. It's a record! Lemme play it"
"No, it's a postcard! I wanna mail it!"
(removing pipe:)
"Hold on kids, you're both right - these 6 postcards we bought at the World's Fair can also be enjoyed on any record-player."
"Gee, dad, that's swell!"
(Dad goes back to his pipe, nodding and smiling)

Despite the ridiculous amount of music I have, I'm not really a "collector." I'm more like a bottom-feeder, buying the stuff no-one else wants. But, while visiting Seattle some years back, I really did have to pry open my wallet and shell out $50 or so for these lovely postcard/records. It was so worth it - all six were in mint condition, never played, and they look and sound great. The artists were probably Seattle locals. I found some info on The Frantics and Frank Sugia, but as for the others, they apparently never made the national scene, or even other recordings.

This fascinating article describes some of the literally hundreds of songs written about the Space Age extravaganza known as the "Century 21" World's Fair of 1962, but I couldn't find many. Two, to be exact, included here as bonus tracks, courtesy of the "I'm Learning To Share" and "Beware of the Blog" blogs. I've also added a song from the soundtrack to an Elvis film shot on location at the fair. (Of course, strange music fans know and love Attilio Mineo's "Man In Space With Sounds" LP, but many other blogs have already posted it.) So this is all I got so far, but it is, to quote Joe Juma, "an acme of delight."

Seattle World's Fair 1962 (file includes picture/label scans)















01 "Invitation To The Fair" - Joe Juma (a country stomper)
02 "World's Fair Seattle" - Billy Earles (Man, dig this finger-snappin' lounge crooner)
03 "Summer of '62 - Ronnie Draper and the Fordomatics (frantic banjo-driven hoedown with those white-bread folk-revival vocal harmonies)
04 "Cafe in The Sky" - Kelly Gates (Space-Age organ sounds? Now we're talkin'!)
05 "Gayway Twist" - the Frantics (this rock'n'roller is an instrumental, which, considering the title, is perhaps just as well)
06 "Come and See Seattle" - Frank Sugia Trio & Naomi (an accordion waltz for the Lawrence Welk crowd - Sugia seems to have had a fairly successful musical career, releasing an album in 1967)

bonus tracks:
Elvis Presley - "Take Me To The Fair"
Joy and the Boys - "Meet Me In Seattle"
The Lancers - "See You In Seattle"

VINYL-PALOOZA #10: Harmonic Synthesizer

We're stretching our all-vinyl month by a few days to accommodate this demo album of a 1974 synth (the only one made by electric piano manufacturer RMI) that featured digital capabilities. Wow, this one was years ahead of its time. I'd never heard of it, and I thought I knew my electronic esoterica, but apparently it was not successful, tho Jean-Michel Jarre used one. Sounds good, tho. I especially like the percussion effects on some tracks. "Non-pipe Organ" could be Keith Emerson at a cocktail lounge. And "Funky Wah" does indeed live up to it's name.

Of the three persons listed, only Mike Mandel seems to have had much of a career, playing jazz fusion with the likes of Larry Coryell in the '70s and early '80s.
Clark Ferguson/Mike Mandel/Carlo Curley – RMI Harmonic Synthesizer And Keyboard Computer
Thanks to Jake Lion, a cat whose own music we'll be featuring here soon, for the rip and link.

VINYL-PALOOZA #1: Space Age Lounge Pop A-go-go!!

It's Vinyl Month here at M4M. Yep, in an attempt to pick up the slack after technical difficulties have kept me from posting much here lately, I'm gonna go thru my 12 inch black round thingies and spend the month featuring some weird old records of drool-worthy obscurity, lovingly hand-ripped from crusty old vinyl on to my new computer (Umm...tell me if the new recording software sounds ok, ok?) Record Store Day is coming up, after all.

We post all kinds of music here, but one thing we can all agree on is the grooviness of '60s Space Age/lounge/ pop. Albums of this sort have been some of the most downloaded 'round these parts, and this one has it all: futuristic Perrey/Kingsley-like keyboards, discotheque dance energy, Roger Roger-esque wackiness, lounge jazz, Latin rhythms, and sample-able funk grooves. It was released by the British library label Studio 1, who had ties to a German company, and I do notice some rather Teutonic-looking names in the writing credits. Otherwise, there's nothing else I've been able to find out about these most talented chaps.

The George King/Joe Corney Organ Sounds

Strange Interlude

By request, here's a re-up of a 1961 album recorded by Lew Davies & his Orchestra for Enoch Light's Command Records label called "Strange Interlude." Unlike your usual Command stereophonic hi-fi upbeat gimmickry, this one's low-key, creepy.  Songs like "The Witching Hour," "Old Devil Moon" and "In A Mist" live up to the odd mood suggested by their titles. Unusual instruments like the theremin, Ondioline (an early electronic keyboard) and hammered dulcimers were featured. After finding it in the dollar bin of a used record store, I played the heck out of it. I had never heard an album quite like it before.

Lew Davies & his Orchestra "Strange Interlude"

Side 1
Riders in the Sky
Strange Interlude
In a Mist
Gone with the Wind  
Wild Goose
Intermezzo
Side 2
Old Devil Moon  
Ebb Tide
The Riddle Song
The Witching Hour
Laura
Spellbound

I'LL TAKE LAS VEGAS: A LOUNGE COMPILATION

As I wrote last year, "Here's a repost of a lounge singer's original ode to Vegas (Mike Hudson - "I'll Take Las Vegas") and a slew of brilliant and/or hilarious lounge versions of rock hits performed by totally unknown (well, except for Louis Prima, of course) performers' private press releases that were probably only available at their shows (often autographed), which I have lovingly ripped from vinyl. I've been collecting these for years, searching used record store bargain bins, garage sales, and thrift shops."

These are tunes that I've posted here over the years, and since they got knocked off-line, I've thrown 'em into a zip folder, along with stuff like Paul Anka's version of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," though it is most certainly not a lounge record in the strictest sense - it was released on a proper label, not a private press, and Anka is, of course, a main-room headliner, not an obscure lounge cat playing 3 shows a night, six nights a week.

New! Some very brief TV production tunes by Moog-master Mort Garson, a swingin' instrumental cover of the Kinks' "All Day & All The Night," finger-snappin' singers doing CCR's "Proud Mary" and The Who's "I Can See For Miles," a non-surf version of "Miserlou," and another jaw-droppingly hideous medley from Art Casara (by request!), a guy I first featured on the 365 Days Project.

It's always special when a lounge album features, amongst the predictable standards, original compositions, and we have a few here: the title track, and songs about tennis, and Los Angeles.

Let's be honest: there's often a reason why these cats never made it out of the lounge to the big time. These albums can be a bit bland sometimes, but they're worth picking up for those occasional amazing, transcendental tracks (as featured here) that reward the patient crate-digger, and because these albums have no collector's value and can be had for next to nuthin'.

I'll Take Las Vegas

01 Mike Hudson - I'll Take Las Vegas 02 Paul Anka - smells like teen spirit 03 Mort Garson - TV Production Music4 04 Frankie Randall - I Can See For Miles 05 Chet DeMilo - Sunshine Superman-The In Crowd 06 Carmen D'Oro - Something 07 Mort Garson - TV Production Music2 08 Louis Prima - Mrs Robinson 09 Keith Williams Big Band - Proud Mary 10 Black Diamond - I'm a Believer 11 Mort Garson - TV Production Music6 12 Kathy & Tony Rich - Miserlou 13 Camarata (feat.Tuttis Trombones) - All Day and All The Night 14 The Note-ables - Roll over Beethoven 15 Mort Garson - TV Production Music5 16 Dick Burns - Bad Bad Leroy Brown-All of Me 17 Everett Covin - Everybody's Playing Tennis 18 Mort Garson - TV Production Music1 19 Jose Maria Band - Light My Fire 20 Candi - Philadelphia Freedom 21 Don Ho - Hawaii5-0 QuietVillage 22 New York New York - Bill Lamphier 23 Murray Ross - You've Got It L.A. 24 Mort Garson - TV Production Music3 25 Wayne & Marin Foster - (Can't Get No) Satisfaction 26 Art Casara - Medley No.1 (If You Really Love Me/For Once In My Life/Who Can I Turn To)

TUNES-FOR-FREE JAMBOREE #4: GRANT MOROS

"Originally recorded in 1973, this vinyl rarity is best described as an electronic ceremonial soundtrack. After being discovered in a hidden compartment beneath a closet floor, Fonetap Music has obtained the rights and reissued it in all its dusty glory."

That's their story and they're sticking to it. In any case, Grant Moros' all-instro all-electro "Mysteries" certainly sounds like it could have been recorded in the early '70s, and the whole occult ritual aspect of it recalls Moog-master Mort Garson's excursions into that realm.

Lots of nice stuff here: the song "Neophyte's Illumination" hints at a more low-key "Popcorn," and "Ritual of the Serpent" makes great use of primitive drum machines. "Death Be The Penalty" is as intense and scary as it's title, but it's immediately followed by the genuinly lovely "Rosslyn's Crypt." You can download the whole thing here:

Grant Moros "Mysteries"

but buy it here in various formats, including the fancy-shmancy FLAC. Rumor has it that there's a vinyl version availble, which would worth picking up for that cool artwork alone.

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YOU GOTTA HAVE KNEE POWER!

I'm not really posting this album because of it's musical virtues (namely, upbeat Xian county-pop that sounds like a '70s variety show soundtrack), but because it's from Nashville, whose music district, including the venerable Grand Ol' Opry, is underwater as I write this. And for the album cover artwork. I mean, really: what...the...hell?!
That's Alvis (not Elvis!) pictured, with his wife and daughter. Gary S. Paxton's liner notes describe how Alvis would tell him: "What you need is JESUS. And I would reply, later man, pass the dope. At the time I could not figure out his bag. Where's this guy comin' from?"

Alvis

There's some nice "Moogs and Special Effects" by one Shane Keister, giving this an unexpected Space-Age feel, and more then a few ludicrous lyrics. But it really all comes together on the song "Knee Power." Seriously, folks, download this album for that track alone. It's got some funk-ay FUNK-ay Moog action. Yup, you never know where you're gonna find that next killer hip-hop sample. And dig the theology of these lyrics:

"God answers prayer night and day /and sometimes it's not what we want to hear/ but if we spent more time on knees bent low /the answer might be yes instead of no." Ah, so God DOES answer all our prayers - it's just that sometimes the answer is 'No'!

Don't want the whole album? By request, here's just the song:

Alvis Barnett & The Barnetts "Knee Power"

Thanks to windbag!

MOOG MANIA

Los Angeles funky jazz band Mojo Triage did a few shows as Moog Mania in 2006, performing solely on vintage Moog synths and Moog Ethervox theremins (plus drums). I caught their first show, then bought a CD-R of a live recording of that very show the next time I saw them. They also performed at a Bob Moog tribute that featured a screening of the documentary film "Moog." And, so far as I know, never performed again.

This ain't no "Switched On"-type cheese fest (much as I love that kinda stuff). It's all original, all improvised. But it's not the amphetamine mayhem of Margaret Raven either - it's so funky/groovy it's hard to believe that it's all improv, like a '70s action soundtrack gone sci-fi. "Starsky and Hutch on Mars."

Mojo Triage "Moog Mania"

1. The Sourcerer
2. Voyager
3. Moog Mania
4. Theramoniously
5. Mighty Mini
6. Mo Memory
7. Moogocity

MUTANT INSTRUMENTS DAY

Today on YouTube they're featuring:

Mutant Instruments

"This collection of mutant instruments turns conventions upside down. Hear unique melodies from the eigenharp (woodwind + drum + piano), the matryomin (theremin + Russian doll), a multi-stringed Experibass, and electronic monome. Huh? Just watch."

We actually covered the matryomin before, and the new vid makes a further case for it's loveliness, tho that John Tesh-ish song is pretty corny. The quadruple-necked Experibass is struck with sticks, and "prepared" a la Cage with spoons stuck between it's strings, producing a fearsome industrial drone. Nice. Not sure about that eigenharp tho - it'll be cool if you can bring in your own sounds and not get stuck with their pre-sets. And the monome has a non-keyboard interface that kinda reminds me of the old kid's game Simon.

THE MOOG COOKBOOK

These guys caused quite a stir back when their debut dropped in 1996 - covers of contemporary rock hits, most of the "alt" variety, performed on vintage electronics in a '60s Space Age style, with large dollops of humor. It could have just been a gimmick that might have been funny to listen to once or twice, but the tunes were expertly played, with quite the attention to period detail. Mucho clever touches abounded, as well.

By the mid'90s, vintage Moog records had been rediscovered by the masses. (Lucky for me - I was able to re-sell records I'd bought for 50s cents for 50 dollars. Thank you, record collectors!) In fact, I saw The Moog Cookbook live at an event to honor Robert Moog himself, same show I saw Pamelia Kurstin. And yes, they wore spacesuits.

The Moog Cookbook

1. "Black Hole Sun" (Cornell) - 4:22 (original by Soundgarden)
2. "Buddy Holly" (Cuomo) - 4:13 (original by Weezer)
3. "Basket Case" (Armstrong/Green Day) - 4:04 (original by Green Day)
4. "Come Out and Play" (Holland) - 5:00 (original by The Offspring)
5. "Free Fallin'" (Lynne/Petty) - 4:15 (original by Tom Petty)
6. "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" (Kravitz/Ross) - 3:35 (original by Lenny Kravitz)
7. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Cobain/Grohl/Novoselic) - 5:29 (original by Nirvana)
8. "Even Flow" (Gossard/Vedder) - 4:28 (original by Pearl Jam)
9. "The One I Love" (Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe) - 4:31 (original by R.E.M.)
10. "Rockin' in the Free World" (Young) - 5:03 (original by Neil Young)

This album's out of print now, but you can still buy their genius second one, which covers "classic rock" hits. They released a third album (that you can buy here) independently a couple of years ago that gathers up all their previously unreleased stuff and remixes they did for other artists.