Tuesday, May 25, 2010

"I Woke Up In The Afternoon..."


Destroy all monsters?  What about the zombie deejays?

Scroll down if you like vinyl.  There's a scan of the 7" vinyl of Bored by the Ann Arbor band Destroy All Monsters.  It's from 1978.  Niagara the lead singer and Ron Asheton wrote the song.  Stupendous lyric -- and Niagara's accent is pure Michigan.  Love that sound!  She also did the cover drawing.  The back cover sensibly provides some basic information about the band, and the single, and a cut-n-paste photo collage.


The Snark playlist for Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
(Artist/SONG/Album, etc.)

Pete Williams -- I'LL BE THERE -- from myspace
Joe Higgs -- SONG MY ENEMY SINGS -- Life of Contradiction (2008, Pressure Sounds) [orig. 1975]

Miz Davis -- SING A HAPPY FUNKY SONG -- 45 Kings II (2002, Fat City) [orig. 1975, Now]
Efan -- I DON'T NEED ANYBODY -- Live Off The Floor E.P. (2008)
Lali Puna -- MOVE ON -- Our Inventions (2010, Morr Music)
Patrick Ballantyne -- NO ONE CAME -- Patrick Ballantyne (2008)
Destroy All Monsters -- BORED -- Bored, 7"vinyl (1978, IDBI Records)
Lord Flea & His Calypsonians -- SHI-DU-BI-DU-BAB -- Swingin' Calypsos (2009, EMI) [orig. 1957, Capitol]
The Offs -- You Fascinate Me -- You Fascinate Me/My World 7" (1980, Max's Kansas City)

The Raincoats -- NO ONE'S LITTLE GIRL (live) -- Kitchen Tapes (2006, ROIR) [orig. 1982, cassette only!]
Yale Strom & Zmiros -- PAPIROSSEN -- Carpati: 50 Miles, 50 Years (1996, Global Village)
The Fall -- Y.F.O.C./Slippery Floor -- Your Future, Our Clutter (2010, Domino)
The Jazz Butcher -- Southern Mark Smith -- A Scandal In Bohemia (1984, Glass)

Big Sugar -- Sugar In My Coffee -- 500 Pounds (1993, Hypnotic Records)
The Ethiopians -- THE SELAH -- The Trojan Story, Vol. 2 (1982, Trojan Records) [orig. 1971, Big Shot]
Holy Fuck -- LATIN AMERICA -- Latin (2010, Young Turks)
The K-Tels (The Young Canadians) -- I HATE MUSIC -- Vancouver Complication (1979, Sudden Death Records)
The Wordburglar -- RHYMES WITH I'M -- Burglaritis (2006, Hand'Solo)
Little Jimmy Tyson & The Highway Robbers -- WHO WILL BE THE NEXT FOOL -- Texas Funk: Black Gold from The Lone Star State, 1968-75 (2002, Jazzman)

Tony Allen -- SECRET AGENT -- Secret Agent (2009, World Circuit)

Thanks for listening!

I just remembered something -- The Jazz Butcher played the University of Windsor pub back in the 80s.  Windsor loved The Jazz Butcher; thanks to CJAM.  Does anybody remember him playing another show at Gina Lori Riley Dance Enterprises's studio on Pitt Street West?  Or am I making that one up?

The vinyl pictured below belongs to Pete.



  
Ron Asheton -- guitar
Michael Davis -- bass
Larry Miller -- space guitar
Ben Miller -- sax
Rob King -- drums
Niagara -- vocals
1978
IDBI Records
P.O. Box 7241
Ann Arbor, MI  48107
Recorded at A. Square Studios, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Engineer -- Jim Cassidy
Produced by Destroy All Monsters
Photos by D.B. Keeps, Sue Rynski
Sleeve and label design -- Niagara
1978
Graphic Assistance & Fabrication -- Dennis Loren -- Solid Graphics


Oh, and another thing... how about them Raincoats, eh?  I love The Raincoats!  They've got everything you want in a all-girl post-punk band: awkward rapping, high screeching, girl rhythms, and VIOLIN!  The Kitchen Tapes is very interesting.  I'm playing more next week.
(Although... strictly speaking, The Raincoats that play on The Kitchen Tapes were not exclusively female.  Only the first album is all-girl, I think.)

Vicky Aspinall, Ana da Silva, Gina Birch

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Negative Capability: Keats Via The Urinals


From a letter written by John Keats
to his brothers George and Thomas Keats,
dated Sunday, December 21, 1817.

"... Brown & Dilke walked with me & (sic) back from the Christmas pantomime.  I had not a dispute but a disquisition with Dilke, on various subjects; several things dovetailed in my mind, & at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in Literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously -- I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason -- Coleridge, for instance, would let go by a fine isolated verisimilitude caught from the Penetralium of mystery, from being incapable of remaining content with half knowledge.  This pursued through Volumes would perhaps take us no further than this, that with a great poet the sense of Beauty overcomes every other consideration, or rather obliterates all consideration..."

Selected Poems & Letters of Keats, edited by Robert Gittings,
Heinemann, London, 1966.

Keats is so punk rock!

The Urinals called their 2004 compilation "Negative Capability... Check It Out!" so... we checked it out.

Charcoal portrait of John Keats by Joseph Severn, c. 1816.


The Snark playlist for Tuesday, May 18, 2010.
(Artist/SONG/Album, etc.)

The Fall -- MEXICO WAX SOLVENT -- Your Future, Our Clutter (2010, Domino)
Citywide Vacuum -- MUCH TOO JUNG -- Pact (2007, Eleven37)

Rent Boys Inc. -- LOOK UP -- Squeal For Joy (12" EP) (1983, Rent Boys Inc.)
Big Boss Man -- KELVIN STARDUST -- SoulShaker, Vol. 2 (2007, Phantom)
Devo -- PRAYING HANDS -- Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo (1978, Warner)
Planit & The Dirty Sample -- KING BALLOU -- Two Blue Apes (2010, Neferiu)
Mildred Bailey & Her Orchestra -- AND THE ANGELS SING -- From Avenue A To The Great White Way:  Yiddish & American Popular Songs from 1914 to 1950 (2002, Columbia Legacy) [orig. 1939]
Sonar Kollektiv Orchester -- MIDNIGHT MARAUDERS -- Guaranteed Niceness (2008, Sonar Kollektiv)

Roxy Music -- PSALM -- Stranded (1973, Atco/Reprise)
Dry & Heavy -- MR. BLUEFLAME -- One Punch (1998, Beat Records)

The Urinals -- SURFIN' WITH THE SHAH -- Negative Capability... Check It Out! (2004, Warning Label) [orig. 1978, 7" vinyl, Happy Squid]
Ian King -- TAKE, O TAKE THOSE LIPS -- Panic Grass & Fever Few (2010, Fledg'ling)
The Wave Pictures -- KISS ME -- Instant Coffee Baby (2008, Moshi Moshi Records)
James White & The Blacks -- WHITE SAVAGES -- Off White (2004, ZE Records) [orig. 1979]
k.d. lang -- LOVE FOR SALE -- Recollection (2010, Nonesuch)
Porcelain Forehead -- GNAWIN' ON (NEUROTIC SONG) -- Frog Boy Lives (1985, No Exit)
Cougarettes -- ERRAAEL -- Milk Fangs (2010, Machette Records)

Caribou -- HANNIBAL -- Swim (2010, Merge)

Thanks for listening!

The Rent Boys and Porcelain Forehead vinyl belongs to Pat.


Tuesday, May 11, 2010

"Dub People Are You Ready?"






















There happen to be two excellent bands from Japan on this week's show: reggae sensations Dry & Heavy, and the uptight soul sounds of Osaka Monaurail.  So let's feature them in performance.

Scroll down for another video, yo.

The Snark playlist for Tuesday, May11, 2010
(Artist/SONG/Album, etc.)

The Lyrics -- SO WHAT!! -- Nuggets:  Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-68, Volume 3 (Rhino, 1998) [orig. Nuggets, Electra, 1972]
Keith LeBlanc -- MARS CAR -- Freakatorium (Blanc Records, 1999)

Wordburglar, feat. D-Ray & More Or Les -- KEEP IT MOVIN' -- Burgie's Basement:  B-sides, Rarities, & Remixes (Hand Solo Records, 2009)
Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys -- ST. LOUIS BLUES -- Legends Of Country Music (Sony, 2006) [orig. 1935]
Lopez Walker -- FLY AWAY -- Children of Jah:  The Chantells & Friends, 1977-79 (Blood & Fire, 1999) [orig. Phase One Records, 1978]
Mantecao Y Su Combo -- ACHILI FUNK -- Achilifunk:  Gipsy Soul 1969-79 (Love Monk, 2007)
The Viletones -- SCREAMIN' FIST -- Punk-n-Pie Compilation (2010) [orig. Vile Records, 1981] ...with thanks to this blog...  http://modelcitizenzerodiscipline.blogspot.com/search?q=punk-n-pie

Osaka Monaurail -- DOWN & OUT -- Let's Boogaloo, Volume 4 (Record Kicks, 2007)
David Byrne & Fatboy Slim, feat. Santigold -- PLEASE DON'T -- Here Lies Love (Todomundo/Nonesuch, 2010)
Robert Fripp & The League of Gentlemen -- DISLOCATED -- God Save The King (Editions EG, 1985) [orig. EG Records, 1981]
Merle Haggard -- LITTLE OLE WINE DRINKER ME -- Drinkin' (Capitol, 2001) [orig. Capitol, 1968]
Exxotone -- SIDEWAYS -- Vancouver Compilation (Sudden Death Records, 1979)
Fatt Matt & Big Moves -- FATT MATTLOCK -- Rusty Hooks (Neferiu, 2010)
LCD Soundsystem -- POW POW -- This Is Happening (Virgin, 2010)

Dry & Heavy, feat. Likkle Mai -- NEW CREATION -- From Creation (Beat Records, 2002)
Money Mark -- CROWNS -- Push The Button (MoWax, 1998)
Mr. Chill & The Witnesses -- TIRED ALL THE TIME -- Cold Testament (ind, 2005)
Plants & Animals -- AMERICAN IDOL -- La La Land (Secret City Records, 2010)

The Black Seeds -- ONE STEP AT A TIME -- Solid Ground (Easy Star Records, 2009)
Planit & The Dirty Sample -- OLD & HEAVY -- Two Blue Apes (Neferiu, 2010)

Thanks for listening!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

The Field Of The Cloth Of Gold

William Cornysh wrote the song Ian King sings for us today.  Cornysh also contributed to the Eton Choirbook (a page from which is pictured above) and was the musical director for Henry VIII's extravaganza with the King of France, known as The Field Of The Cloth Of Gold.  He was obviously a big music guy in the 1520s.
Ah Robin, Gentle Robin, as it's sung by Ian King and Denise Sherwood, is a stealthy seduction.  The lady repeatedly asks Robin about his "leman" (lover) and he blabs and complains.  She's persistent and irresistible.
Valerie Skeete and Madelaine Edghill (out of Akabu) provide additional harmonies.  Hauntingly great.  Simply beautiful.


The Snark playlist for Tuesday, MAY 4th, 2010
(Artist/SONG/Album, etc.)

Nomo -- Waiting -- Invisible Cities (Ubiquity, 2009)
Patrick Ballantyne -- I WANT YOU NOW -- Patrick Ballantyne (ind., 2008)

The Ruts -- JAH WAR -- Wild Dub:  Dread Meets Punk Rocker (Select Cuts, 2003) [orig. 1979]
Theory Of Everything -- LOVE ANTHEM -- Schizophrenic Symphony (ind., 2001)
Tunng -- BY DUSK THEY WERE IN THE CITY -- ...And Then We Saw Land (Thrill Jockey, 2010)
Two Dollar Bill -- BROWN'S FERRY BLUES
Louis Prima -- THE MUSIC GOES ROUND & ROUND -- Capitol Collector's Series (Capitol, 1991) [orig. 1957]
Iggy & The Stooges -- SHAKE APPEAL -- Raw Power (Sony, 1997) [orig. Columbia, 1972]

Ian King -- AH ROBIN, GENTLE ROBIN -- Panic Grass & Fever Few (Fledg'ling Records, 2010)
Slim Harpo -- I'M A KING BEE -- Not Fade Away:  15 Classics That Fired Up The Rolling Stones (Uncut Magazine, 2008) [orig. 1957]
Dave Barker -- YOUR LOVE IS A GAME -- Roots Techniques (Pressure Sounds, 1999)
Keith LeBlanc -- YOU DRUMMERS LISTEN GOOD -- Major Malfunction (Select Cuts, 2003) [orig. World Records, 1986]
The Flesh Columns -- (WHY DON'T YOU) TELL MOMMY THE TRUTH (live) -- Opium Wars Beta & Bonus Windsor Garage Band Tracks (Dope Robot, 1980s-90s?)

David Holmes -- THE STORY OF THE INK -- The Holy Pictures (Go! Beat, 2008)
Eddie Cochran -- SWEETIE PIE -- Mojo:  Roots of The Sex Pistols (Mojo, 2005) [orig. 1956]
Contradance -- BLACK PREPPIES -- (1982 single)
The Chills -- SONG FOR RANDY NEWMAN, ETC. -- (Slash Records, 1992)
Ramona Jones -- WHISKEY BEFORE BREAKFAST -- The Greatest Country Fiddlers (CMH, 1989) [orig. CMH, 1982]

Wayne McGhie & The Sounds of Joy -- FIRE (SHE NEED WATER) -- Jamaica To Toronto:  Soul, Funk, & Reggae 1967-74 (Light In The Attic, 2006) [orig. Birchmount 1969]
The Peace Leeches -- SURFIN' THE SOIL -- ROYGBIV (ind., 2009)
James O-L & The Villains -- TRAIN WRECK OF THINKING -- Alive At The Colch! (ind., 2010)


Thanks for listening!

This week's representative from New Zealand, one of the best places for music in the world, is The Chills, from Dunedin on the South Island.
How come everybody from NZ sings so good, huh?
Oh, Martin Phillipps... oh oh oh...
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chills)

I've heard Black Preppies by Contradance half a zillion times by now, but while it played today, I still laughed and laughed through most of it.
The new wave triumph of Ken Montague...