JUNK ORCHESTRAS Pt 3

I'll be guest dj-ing once again this Sunday, 8pm PST on Spacebrother Greg's "Radio Misterioso," bringing up another batch of wild sounds that have mostly not been featured here. Listen live at http://killradio.org/ so you can call in and/or go on Greg's facebook page and leave comments 'n' stuff.

And now...on with the show:

My recent posts about musicians who build their instruments out of junk reminded me of similiar artists I'd written about, whose songs posted ages had long since gone off-line.  I was also reminded of a recent single re-release, and miscellaneous records I'd had for years.

Junkyard Bands

The Junkman - 'Beat The Can' [both from his album 'The Junkman 2," available from his site - the liner notes break down exactly what objects are used for each song]
The Junkman - 'Drug Puppet' [bit of a Residents kinda thing going on here]
Electric Junkyard Gamelan - 'Bigbarp' [pictured above]
Car Music Project - 'Noodles'
Gamelan Son of Lion - 'Bang on a Tin Can'
Electric Junkyard Gamelan - 'Nutbutter Challenge'
The LA Drivers Union Por Por Group - 'Por Por Horn-To-Horn Fireworks'
Electric Junkyard Gamelan - 'Space Kitty' (excerpt)
Staff Benda Bilili - 'Sala Mosala'
Wendy Chambers - 'Star Spangled Banner' [on the legendary car-horn organ, pictured right]
Wendy Chambers - 'The Kitchen' [not only are kitchen implements used as instruments, but an actual meal is supposed to be prepared during the performance of this piece!]
The Junk Yard Band - 'The Word' [killer Def Jam single from the '80s - a group of children playing gogo funk from DC; that lead singer rivals the young Michael Jackson]
The Watts Little Angel Band - 'Nik Nak Paddy Wack' [same concept as The Junkyard Band, but from a decade prior; this must-have single, whose b-side is an oldies medley 'New Orleans/Land Of A 1000 Dances,' has recently been re-issued]

All of this had me thinking about Test Dept (none of whose music I can recall off the top of my head) and Einstürzende Neubauten (think I did like some of their stuff), two '80s bands whose use of found percussion was popular with the industrial crowd, as it was seen not only as a way to be real noisy, but to seem shocking and rebellious and what-not.  

Also from the '80s: the L.A. band Savage Republic used things like an oil drum and a railroad tie - anyone else use junk percussion mixed with conventional instruments, in the service of actual songs? Think I read David Byrne saying that he and Eno played junk on "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts."

And did the Bang On A Can group ever actually bang on cans?

JUNK ORCHESTRAS Pt 2: A Child's Garden Of Junk

(Now back up: Capt. Beefheart "Clear Spot" instrumental tracks, and the Caribbeana Esoterica of Elmore Stout, and The Lashing Dogs.)

"The flipflopaphon – the tromballoony – the springy tuby thingy – the gardenhoseatoot": such are the tools of Saul Eisenberg aka Mr. Junk Man, who not only travels around his native England performing on his home-made junk instruments, but also works with kids to help them build and perform on (and dance with) their own recycled sounds. He seems to be the kind of "cool teacher" that I wish I had when I was a wee lad. 

He has a resource page for other teachers that features and instrument-building demo video. Teachers, heck, I want to make these!  And he will build for your park/recreation area a "soundgarden," which has nothing to do with any old Seattle grunge bands, but are rather children's play areas with instruments built into them. Just fantastic.

There are free streaming/download songs on his site:

http://www.thejunkorchestra.co.uk/

Wonderful stuff, but I have one complaint - some of the tracks are too short, some lasting barely a minute. C'mon, Mr. Junk Man, why so chintzy? We want a proper album!

More Experimental Music From A 3-Year-Old Girl...

...tho I think she's at least 4 years old by now. Anyway, Stinky Picnic's long-awaited (by me, at least) follow-up to last years' swell "Cockles" has dropped, and it's even more swell. So swell, it is practically swollen, with more of dad's psychedelic minimalistic grooves and his girl's lyrics about monsters, birds, lizards (and the smelliness thereof), and, er, "bear mummies." And she can count up to 22. "...nearly 100% improvised live using loop pedals and piles of instruments." "Cat Collar" has such an ill groove that even those poor souls allergic to the charms of cute li'l girls will be nodding their heads to the shoegaze-y beat.

Stinky Picnic "Peaceful and Quiet"

Pops sez: "Indigo said we should call it "Peaceful and Quiet" so that when people hear a track like 'Brains' they'll "totally freak out"! Man, I love that girl o'mine..."  I feel ya, dad: yesterday, my daughter was singing "Old MacDonald" over an instrumental version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Baby's First Mashup! And she was making up lyrics about critters I don't recall being on Ol Mac's farm, like butterflies (..."with a flap flap here, a flap flap there..."). Already showing a healthy disregard for musical traditions.

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!

LIKE A FOUR-MONTH-OLD SUN RA...

Buster Boris Pocket Naumoff is the youngest son of Troy Naumoff, the grown-up behind the kids noise band Electric Fence, and Troy has recorded baby-boy taking a 14-minute space-jazz organ solo. You can, and should, get it here:

 

Buster Boris Pocket Naumoff: SOLO ORGAN AT FOUR MONTHS

 

Next time someone mocks you for listening to free-improv music by saying, "My kid could do that!," politely ask: "Really?  Have they made any albums? I'd like to check 'em out..."

ALBUM(S) DU JOUR #2: Experimental Music From A 3-Year-Old Girl

These free/name-your-price download albums come from a Land Down Under. First, it's:

 STINKY PICNIC

featuring 3-4 year-old Indigo Loki Aurora singing about butterflys and elephants, joined by her father A D MacHine, who, I thought at first, was sampling and looping her voice, but in fact it's all done "live with a loop pedal and a studio full of junk - drums, guitars, saucepan lids, violins, toy pianos, bells, etc etc." Any music featuring 3-year-old girls automatically rules, but daddy did a nice job crafting this adorableness into a very listenable bit of rock minimalism. Was kinda puzzled on first listen, but by second spin, I loved it. Pick to click: "Molly Malone."

8-year-old Louis Amos (drums, vocals) and his uncle Troy Naumoff (guitar) are

ELECTRIC FENCE

In contrast to the hynotic minimalism of Stinky Picnic, these two offer up a 28-minute slab of live noise rock maximalism. What it lacks in cuteness, it makes up for with big-boy brashness. Louis sounds pretty self-assured for such a young 'un, knocking out songs with titles like "Dragon Vomit." There's more Electric Fence towards the bottom of this page. Uncle Troy sez: "Louis pretty much writes all the songs...we start our 'sessions' by me asking him for an idea, be it a song title or melody which he'll hum or sing to me.
Then he gets me to record guitar parts (or bass lines - all on baritone guitar, drum patterns, keys etc.) which he hums to me." The parents these days!  The idea of my older relatives dong something like this with me when I was a kid is pretty unthinkable.

This nice person who sent this to me adds: "i know these chaps, and both projects are definitely led by the kids (the grownups have many musical projects themselves already, including Dead Ants Trio/ Dead Ants Rainbow which featured both of them)."

Thanks, nice person!

Rodney On The ROQ vol. 5

When I created and posted "Rodney on the ROQ Vol 4", a reader commented: "This is one of the greatest compilations ever created by man, woman, or beast." So there! I probably shouldn't try to top that, but a super awesome reader named L9 sent me the Ventures/GoGos collab song "Surfin' and Spyin", thereby making a follow-up necessary. So, once again, here's a sampling of (for the most part) rare, obscure punk, power-pop, synth, novelties, oldies, reggae, and experimental oddities that legendary freeform radio DJ Rodney Bingenheimer used to play in his 'late '70s/'80s heyday on KROQ Los Angeles. Lot's of non-lp 7" singles/EPs here.

Took quite a bit of doing trying to track down some of these tunes that I remembered fondly from my youth but had seemingly dropped off the face of the earth. (The Untouchables tune, in particular was a real bee-yatch to find.) But, no matter, here 'tis - Radio as it should be! 

Rodney On The ROQ vol. 5 (Rapidshare)
Rodney On The ROQ vol. 5 (Zippyshare)

01 Longarm - Wall of Voodoo
02 Want You - The Bangles [They used to be good, really!]
03 Little G.T.O. - Rodney and the Brunettes [Rodney himself sings (sort of) this surf oldie]
04 Surfin' & Spyin' - The Ventures covering, and joined by, The Go-Gos
05 Shes Fallen in Love With a Monster Man - The Revillos
06 Beyond and Back (Live) - X [From "The Decline of Western Civilization" soundtrack, I believe]
07 Helium Bar - The Weirdos
08 Beer - Unit 3 And Venus [feat. 8 year old lead singer!]
09 Too Young To Date - D-Day [There was a lame censored version of this song, as well]
10 California Paradise - The Runaways [in a Runaways doc film from a few years ago, Kim Fowley revealed that Rodney would cruise the Starwood club where he dj-ed to recruit future members of The Runaways by approaching young girls and asking them if they played an instrument]
11 Kookie's Mad Pad - Edd ''Kookie'' Byrnes
12 Sit on my face Stevie Nix - The Rotters [Rodney said that he had to get special permission from station management to play this naughty tune]
13 Janitor - Suburban Lawns [Where in the world is Su Tissue?]
14 Shoulder Pads - The Fall [Rodney would play this song, then offer his assesment of '80s fashion by opining: "I like this song, but I don't like shoulder pads!"]
15 Vox Wah Wah ad - feat. The Electric Prunes
16 Blues' Theme - Davie Allan & the Arrows [theme to the classic '60s biker-sploitation flick "The Wild Angels"]
17 The General - The Untouchables
18 Punky Reggae Party  - Bob Marley & The Wailers [co-written by Lee "Scratch" Perry]
19 Anything, Anything (I'll Give You) - Dramarama
20 Disneyland - The Eyes [feat. future Go-Go Charlotte Caffey]
21 Springtime for Hitler - Mel Brooks [Rodney would say that every time he played this, some girl would call up to complain; he never stopped playing it, tho]
22 Pay To Cum - Bad Brains
23 I Hate The 90's - Rodney & The Tube Tops [another single featuring Rodney's vocal skills, this one featuring Thurston from Sonic Youth]
24 Porpoise Song (theme from "Head") - The Monkees [Rodney's traditional closing theme]

INFANTCORE

No, "Infantcore" isn't some new indie-rock sub-genre. It's a roomful of babies whose movements trigger electronic sounds. It took place earlier this year at the Machine Project space in Los Angeles. Blogger doesn't let you post vimeo vids, so check it out here:

Infantcore video

The man behind this, experimental compser Scott Cazan recently did something similar in San Francisco called Dogcore.  Couldn't find any documentation of that, tho.

Baby Fab was already too old to take part in Infantcore. Hey Scott, how 'bout some Toddlercore next time, eh?

The Garbage-Men

If I may just speak like a Rat-Pack era showbiz-type for a moment and say, "Marvelous stuff what the kids these days are doing." Especially when the kids are some Sarasota, Florida teenagers making their own instruments out of junk. Too bad they've only got one song up for listening/purchase right now, a delightfully messed-up version of Elvis' "Hound Dog," scored for cereal box-guitars, garbage drums, a saxophone made from a popcorn push toy, and the miracle of the Glass Bottle Idiophone:

http://thegarbagemen.bandcamp.com/

This interview features bits of other songs (also oldies remakes), as does this video, which includes a bitchin' version of The Surfaris' "Wipeout," as well as an up-close look at those nutty instruments:

I'd take this ramshackle version of "Satisfaction" over the Stone's any day:

But what do they use for strings?  Regular guitar strings?  And will they ever cover The Cramps?

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!

PRANKSTA PRANKSTA

(Don't forget to vote in the M4M Idol contest!)

It's not about the salary, it's all about hilarity. First up, a video sent to us from reader Pseudonym Smith: "It's economics as rapped by Keynes and Hayek, and I now know everything I ever will about their ideas." Ha, yeah, me too. Listening to debating economists is like an atheist listening to a debate between a Christian and a Muslim. I'll admit that these guys do have mad flow. But are they as good as Red Shadow, The Economics Rock 'n 'Roll Band?



I was surprised to learn that there are two "chap-hop" rappers coming str8 outta England, takin' ya back to the '80s - the 1880s, that is. Last year we covered Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer, now dig Professor Elemental. His album "The Indifference Engine" features the dis rap "Fighting Trousers," but gentlemen, please, there's no need to fight - tho they have different styles (Elemental is more of a Jules Verne adventurer-type than Mr. B's Bertie Wooster sort) they both share a love of manly mustaches, drinking tea, and sampling old 78 rpm records. Anyone who can bust rhymes over Slim Gaillard's "Flat Foot Floogie (With a Floy Floy)" (on the excellent "A Fete Worse Than Death") is a right def emcee, eh, what? I would start with the song "Penny Dreadful," as it serves as a jolly good introduction to our man.

Professor Elemental "The Indifference Engine" - listen to it streaming for free, or buy.

The Rappers Delight Club are, indeed, a delight - from their MySpazz page: "This is a musical side project for a rotating group of [Baltimore] elementary school children that I work with. This is probably the best thing you'll ever hear [True dat]...This project comes out of a "typical" daycare program. Every month we do different clubs, and the Rapper's Delight Club is just one club that I do every year...We've just finished a new track, "I Don't Wanna Grow Up...Yet", that uses Tom Waits' "I Don't Wanna Grow Up." He also thanks bands like No Age and Yo La Tengo for providing music. The kids are most definitely all right.

I have come to really hate the painful ordeal of flying, but this dope rapping flight attendant would make it easier. It's an acapella - any mashup producers want to use it? Maybe with "Leaving on A Jet Plane"?

MusicForManiacs Guest DJs On "Stray Pop"

Stella has been hosting the show "Stray Pop" on Los Angeles' KXLU for over 30 years, and has interviewed a who's-who of punk/alt rock royalty. So for my appearance last year, I brought up a passel of punk-related weirdness, e.g. lounge-y, and foreign/ethnic covers of punk classics, punk songs performed by children, animals "singing" death metal, and, yes, a song from "Pink Panther Punk" (an album I got from Way Out Junk). 75 minutes of such nonsense!

I had written out the whole playlist, with links, but Blogger "experienced technical difficulties" and I lost the whole damn post. I just can't write it all over again, I really can't. *sob* If, whilst listening, you don't quite catch my back-announcing and want more info on something I played, feel free to leave a comment (*shakes fist at sky*)

Mr Fab on Stray Pop

This happened back in August of last year, but took so long for me to post here cuz I had to wait to get a tape of the show from Stella and edit it 'n' stuff. Yes, a tape. Expect hiss and all that good stuff.

FORBIDDEN 45s!! (windbag edition)

Last year, Otis Fodder asked me to put together a guest-dj mix for his late, lamented radio show Friendly Persuasion. I decided to go thru my boxes of (mostly) old 7 inch records and put together a thing called FORBIDDEN 45s!! And since Our Man in Salt Lake City, windbag (who has shared so much awesomeness with us before) sent us a mind-boggling assortment of 7" platters, I'm calling this:

FORBIDDEN 45s!! (windbag edition)

So much here to warm the heart of any Maniac: song-poems, disco atrocities, singing children, singing animals, exercise records, rap novelties, hillbillies, more song poems, angry Chipmunks, Jane Fonda talking dirty, and an enchanted one-man polka puppet-show orchestra.
1. Bobbi Blake - Rock Rock Beat (Ms. Blake was one of the most-recorded singers of the MSR song-poem factory; this "rocker" boasts such money-well-spent lines as "you're nobody's patsy/so hop in a taxi")
2. Luigi's World's Largest One Man Band - Anaconda Polka (major, major discovery here, folks - the only thing I can find about this guy is from this book about the bars of Montana; read that link and be amazed; anyone else got anything on this guy?)
3. Susan Carroll Presents - Waistline and Tummy Exercises (from an ep called "Milady, Your Figure!")
4. Dick Kent - Smiling Farmer-The President (this bewildering ode to Jimmy Carter is one of the best song-poems EVER; to quote Rudy Ray Moore, "I ain't lyin'!")
5. The Hartz Mountain Master Radio Canaries - Pizzicato Polka (real live birdies tweating along with peppy organ and xylophone)
6. Major Bill Smith with Zane and Hogan - Freddy The Disco Frog (minimal-synth disco novelty: Suicide meets Rick Dees?! Oh, and Major Bill Smith was a successful record producer in the early '60s who later claimed that Elvis was alive and he had a recent taped conversation to prove it)
7. Ira Cook - What Is A Girl? (this 1958 side spends more time complaining about little girls than speaking their praises)
8. Klute - Special Exploitation Lobby Record featuring Jane Fonda Dialogue
9. The Hartz Mountain Master Radio Canaries - Humoresque
10. Bill Nettles and His Dixie Blue Boys - God Bless My Darling He's Somewhere (In Viet Nam) (I'm assuming that this craggy-voiced country singer is calling his SON "darling"...uh, right?)
11. Susan Carroll Presents - Thigh and Can-Can Exercise
12. Dick Kent - Cozy Doe (another most-unrockin' rock-n-roll song-poem: "Come on jive, get alive/'cause the clock is at five")
13. Luigi's World's Largest One Man Band - Billings Polka
14. Fred Carson - This Is Not The Time To Cry (This song-poem's author worries about crime, and wants guys to act like real men. Or something like that.)
15. The Hartz Mountain Master Radio Canaries - Mexican Dance
16. The Curbstones - Scrumpdillyishus Land
17. Dick Kent - She Thumbed A Ride
18. The Chipmunks - I Ain't No Dang Cartoon (the b-side to their version of "Achy-Breaky Heart" that was the hidden "bonus" track on a previous windbag comp "Songs of the Sewer;" Alvin sounds rather cranky and defensive here)
19. Ira Cook - What Is A Boy
20. The Hartz Mountain Master Radio Canaries - Beautiful Blue Danube
21. Gene Marshall - Not Owned (Hey, it's Gene Marshall! The guys who sang all those Richard Nixon song-poems! This isn't one of 'em.)
22. Susan Carroll Presents - Duck Walk and Leg Exercise
23. Fat Boys w/Chubby Checker - The Twist (Yo Twist) (This hip-hop novelty actually made it to #16 on the US charts)
24. Zane and Hogan - Studio 54 (This disco instrumental, the b-side to "Freddy The Disco Frog," is a complete spazz-attack.)
25. Bobbi Blake - Who Played House With You? (weird sci-fi keyboard sounds on this song-poem)
26. Bill Nettles and His Dixie Blue Boys - Got A Lot Of Lovin' To Do (this almost-rockbilly toe-tappin' flip of "God Bless My Darling" is impressively energetic considering that he died shortly after recording it.)
27. The Hartz Mountain Master Radio Canaries - An Artists Life
28. Harry Brooks - False Words and False Kisses (another song-poem)

Needless to say, another great big thankyoooo to windy.

DEMONOLOGY

I have zero info on the demon(s) responsible for this free download release, but I can tell you that this album (or side one, at least) is a highly entertaining witch's brew of sleazy rock in the Cramps/Roky Erickson/Velvets (jugular) vein and lyrics that are, well, just look at those song titles. Tho they're sung in an unlikely high, nerdy voice, I still wouldn't mess with this dude. When he starts screeching about "rats with wings," it sounds like he means it.

Side two reverts to a more normal rock and acoustic approach, but bits of psychedelia and even violin keep things interesting. And don't miss the title song - it's the albums catchiest tune, and sounds like it's sung by children, which makes it all the more wrong. Just how we like it.

Swilson "Demonology"

1. Polyester Shirt Polyester Pants
2. Stealing Chickens
3. Electric Aborigonie
4. Planet Of Sex
5. White Witch Black Witch Which Is Which
6. Rats With Wings
7. La Diosa Verde
8. Dealing In Death
9. Demonology
10. When It's Dark
11. Plastic Flower Melting Sun
12. Swilson's 666th Nightmare

TEENAGE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY METAL MESSIAH

"Based in Turners Falls, MA, Flaming Dragons Of Middle Earth are the brainchild of visionary wheelchair-bound ‘band shaman’ Danny Cruz, who leads an ensemble of rotating non-musicians, artists, oddballs, kids with Down Syndrome etc in weekly jams at a community resource centre..."

The vinyl-only release "Seed of Contempt," another one from Feeding Tube Records, is a true outsider-music artifact, an astonishing blizzard of unrestrained audio mayhem played by kids who aren't trying in the slightest to be cool, professional, or show-biz. 'Twas all mastered off of live cassettes. I'll let Danny himself explain:

Flaming Dragons of Middle Earth "Not Really Causing A Fire"

Like a lot of teenage boys, Danny loves heavy metal, and indeed, there is a Sabbath riff somewhere in this minute-long shard of broken sound:

Flaming Dragons of Middle Earth "Speed Kills"

but apart from all the metal references in both the music and the album's artwork, Cruz' mentions of avant-jazz legend Sun Ra implies that not all of the free-form lunacy in these grooves is simply the result of jam-session sloppiness. And certainly Cruz' description of his "apocalyptic improvisational lyrics" could apply to the music too.

This almost-lovely piano tune makes Daniel Johnston sound Top-40 normal:

Flaming Dragons of Middle Earth "Anarchists of Punk Rock"

The LDS On LSD

Windbag, a frequent contributor to this here web-log, hails from Salt Lake City in Utah, the seat of the Mormons aka The Church of Later-Day Saints (The LDS). Thanks to him, we have a plethora of Mormon-culture artifacts, such as:

"Sons of Provo," a hilarious mock-umentry film about Everclean, a Mormon boy band. The soundtrack is not only a spot-on parody of those psuedo-r'n'b teeny-bopper groups, but a gentle tweaking of the impossibly wholesome squeaky-clean image of the LDS. Jokes from the film like the band recruiting a new member from his job in the scrapbooking department of a crafts store might not seem too crazy, but this is a religion that traditionally has not allowed even a hint of rebellion or free expression. Anyone who leaves the church is sometimes shunned by family and friends, so any satire is a bit radical.

Everclean "Everclean" - "...like Listerine"
Everclean "Dang, Fetch, Oh My Heck" - How to swear in Mormon; quite a lot of musical diversity in this track

The Saliva Sisters, a female song-parody trio, would seem to have slightly more pointed spoofs of Mormonism, and the state of Utah in general, on their album "Delusions of Granger." But their "Spit Happens" album doesn't get specific - songs like this Led Zep parody could apply to department store-obsessed housewives anywhere:

The Saliva Sisters "Stairway To Nordstroms"

This brilliant acappella rendering of the theme to "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" has nothing to do with Mormon life (near as I can tell), but it is Halloween-appropriate:

The Saliva Sisters "Hitchcock" - These gals can sing, no?

So what is it that they're all satirizing? Brace yourself for a full album of...(dramatic sting) singing children!!

Songs For A Mormon Child - Delightful moppets shriek out hits like "I'm A Mormon," "I Want To Be A Mother" in which a little girl claims to want "...4, 5, 6 babies", and (gotta love this title) "Hey Everybody! It's Family Night!" You've been warned...

Thanks windy!

HUMAN MUSIC ANTHOLOGY

Our pals over at Pleonasm have done future anthropologists and historians (not to mention weird-ologists of all stripes) the great service of collecting hours worth of audio oddities that mainly seem to have been recorded off of that most democratic of mediums, YouTube. There are four volumes (so far) of free downloads, organized by theme.

Vol. 1 Tongues - Largely spoken-word babbling and acapella singing, from Christians filled with the Spirit, to space-alien prophets, to drunks caught on camera, to a very funny bit of acoustic heavy metal. Tho there's plenty of unaccompanied vocals just dying to be sampled (check track #6), there's also some smooth-jazz, and blues w/ Peruvian Pan Flute. The Talking Heads named one of their albums "Speaking in Tongues," but another of their titles could apply here: "Stop Making Sense."

Vol. 2 Left Fieldists - Outsider music bonanza! Featuring such hits as: "You Tube Guy Sings About Prostitute," "Developmentally Disabled Guy Sings In Stairwell," "Song About Drinking Robitussin," "Down Syndrome Poetry," and an Asperger's Syndrome guy singing about his "Asperger's Girl." It's not all laffs, tho: "Man Sings About Infidelity" is a cringe-worthy confessional, and the "Song For My Deceased Wife" is pretty heart-wrenching.

Vol. 3 Extra Credit Songs - You can get school credit for performing music?! Damn, kids got it too easy nowadays! I would have loved that. There's a wide range of skills here, from inept singing or rapping American history or science lessons over karaoke backing tracks, to pretty professional-sounding original songs. The hip-hop/r'n'b (complete with Autotune!) "Digestion Song" is hysterical. A+.

Vol. 4 Antediluvian Moderns - Apparently an assortment of old folks. Haven't heard this one yet.

HEY! IT'S A CHRISTIAN CHILDREN'S BEACH PARTY!

Ummmmm...

"Beach Party"
"Beach Be-Attitudes"
"Surfin' Through The Scriptures"
"In The Son"
"Shazaam!"

Words fail me this time.

But the fact that these songs are from an album called "Beach Party: Surfin' Through The Scriptures" should tell you all you need to know. It's fun in the Son!

HORRIBLE SINGING CHILDREN

A few thrift-store finds:

Janie White & The Sonlights, w/4 year old Rejana: Something Happened To Daddy

Phyllis & Art, The Hollywood Sweethearts (featuring their uncredited Horrible Singing Child): I Love Daddy

The Folmer Family w/6 year old Wendy: Wendy Sings With Mommy & Daddy - For you masochists, an entire album, featuring another version of "Something Happened To Daddy," and you must hear the ghastly, LOL-out loud "How Far Is Heaven," about Daddy dying!

The Horrible Singing Child genre primarily affected country and Christian family groups of the '60s and '70s, but here's a country family act from the '30s:

"Little Cowboy" Charlie Haden with the Haden Family Show

Yep, you read that right, that's the Charlie Haden, the legendary jazz bassist. The man who helped music explode with Ornette Coleman sang the above song at age two in 1939. Not as painful as the other tracks - it's short, and his attempts to yodel are pretty funny. This is taken from his latest album "Rambling Boy," featuring his own family e.g.: famous daughter Petra.

Thanks (or blame!) to li'l bro Paul Fab for the "Wendy" album.