EPIC Halloween Post!

Marararrrgararagararaaaaaagh!!!!!
(That’s supposed to be a zombie noise)

Talk about cute 'n cuddly!

Husker Don't blasting thru a shattering set of Stooges covers.

Halloween’s here.  One of the few holidays I actually like. I however won’t be out this evening, since I used up all my steam on Devil’s Night jumping around in a mosh pit to a wealth of punk tribute bands covering some of my high school catalog (Operation Ivy, the Stooges, the Misfits just to name a few!). Kudos to Martini Red out on Staten Island and all the bands that performed for putting on one hell of a show. I can’t think of any other time where I’ve been jumping around in a pit with Danzig, a Candy Striper, a Zombie and one of the Blues Brothers to Minor Threat’s “I Dont Wanna Hear It”. And despite spending money on beer that ended up mostly all over my shirt/head, it was well worth the money.

Yours Truly channeling Travis Bickle for Halloween.

 

 

 

 

In the goulish and ghastly spirit, here are some songs and other assorted Halloween-themed media I send your way. Enjoy!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warren’s classic song which unfortunately gets a bad rap as of late because of that putz Kid Rock sampling it. Anyway, this is one of best live performances I’ve found of the Original Madman. Top-notch energy and the adlibbed name-drops (and New Jersey references since its a Passaic performance) are fucking hilarious.

Los Straitjackets’ take on the old TV classic.

The Sonics’ twist and shout number.

A karaoke-style posting of the Misfits song. Sing along!

I generally can’t stand when people post videos of their kids on Youtube as it seems a little creepy and unsafe, but this one is actually quite funny. This kid tells her mom what she’d do if a monster came into the house. Future Zombie Killer!

Next to the epic fight scene with Keith David, this may the other best moment of the movie “They Live”. Roddy Piper figures out a snobby bourgeois shopper is one of “Them” and lets her have it.

The basement scene from Night of the Living Dead. “Re-enacted” by Stick Figures!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uV9xIzzcHg

What do Satanists and Bluegrass tribute albums to completely un-bluegrass artists have in common?

A sufficient amount of tackiness, for starters. A knack for ruining parties. Curiously, two entities you might find in the music section of a Wal-Mart. The list could go on and on, my friends.   But let’s keep it concise before I get death threats from Wal-Mart employees or worshipers of Beelzebub. Sit back and have a listen to another recording done in the spirit of Halloween. Let’s see if you can guess this old classic. Happy Listening!

Click on the image for the song download

Do the Chupacabra!

Friends,

With my favorite holiday of the year right around the corner,  I give you this. My newest contribution to the world of dance crazes, “Do the Chupacabra!”. I recorded this about a month ago on a Sunday afternoon after a friend of mine sent me the video below on the mysterious beast who’s name translated roughly means “Goat Sucker”. Super thanks to Christina, Sheradon and Chris for your contributions to this track. Coming soon, the dance steps for “Do the Chupacabra!” !!!

Enjoy.

Video that inspired “Do the Chupacabra!”

Click to download "Do the Chupacabra!"

The Tesla-cast

Nikola Tesla’s birthday was yesterday, so I put some songs together somewhat related to his inventions and life. He was regarded both as a genius, and a quack..like most of those who are purveyors of un-ending ideas. His contributions to modern commonplace items though, like AC power, radio transmitters, X-Rays, and early elements of wireless technology (hey, how would i be able to type this sitting on my bed and drinking a cocktail?) are undeniable, despite his more eccentric tastes in things like UFO culture and New Age religion. His boss who became his adversary, Thomas Edison arguably took a good portion of Tesla’s hard work, and claimed it as his own.  When Tesla became insubordinate and stood up for himself, Edison and his cronies called him crazy and dismissed his theories.  Tesla, by all accounts was a folk-hero in my book. He worked tirelessly all his life to innovate and create. He died broke in the Hotel New Yorker, living a secluded life and tending to pigeons. A life devoted to technology and how it might benefit mankind. And now someone complains if they lose cell service for a few hours.

So, here’s to Tesla, and mad geniuses everywhere, living and dead.

Click to download the entire mixtape

Electricity: Schoolhouse Rock

Get Off the Phone: Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers

Stealing Electricity: Tom Russell

Oh Bondage, Up Yours!: X-Ray Specs

Radio, Radio: Elvis Costello  (While numerous inventors crafted forms of what we now know as “radio”, Tesla’s Radio was one of the highest regarded)

White Lightning: George Jones (ok, I know this song is about Moonshine, but let’s pretend we’re talking about science for now, kids!)

Nighttime in the Switching Yard: Warren Zevon

Silent Film Star: Paul Westerberg (Tesla’s adversary, Edison, spent a sizeable amount of time with silent film experimentation in his studio Black Maria)

Under the Wires: The Cramps

Books About UFOS: Husker Du

Tesla’s Hotel Room: The Handsome Family

The Rhino Redux: Part II

With the first batch of consecutive sunny days this summer where the Northeast has felt like the Amazon, I felt it necessary to throw another mix together. Some of these follow the theme of summer…some of them just make you wanna get up and get moving. Enjoy.

Osibasa: Che Che Kule

These guys are completely new to me, but have been around for years. This album, “Heads” is a hybrid of Afropop, Afrobeat and psychedelic rock.

The Clash: Mustapha Dance

The B-side to the Clash’s “Rock the Casbah”. Isn’t it fairly obvious though?

Ian Dury & the Blockheads: Sex & Drugs & Rock and Roll

From their album “New Boots and Panties”. Littered with cheeky innuendos, dancy nightclub beats and a rocking tribute to Gene Vincent amid the sleaze-punk-funk of the dominant feel that the record has.

Stevie Wonder: Jesus Children

One of my favorites on “Innervisions”. I feel like this song always gets overlooked since it follows “Higher Ground,” though its no less slick and the drums KILL me in this song.

Donovan: Sea & Foam

I’ve owned this Donovan album for years and finally dusted it off today.  Not that I can really picture Donovan kicking it in Mexico but hey, a songwriter isn’t always writing about themselves in a song.

Laurie Anderson: Monkey’s Paw

This song is schizoid. How could I pass it up? Curiously this one and the Clash’s “Mustapha” were both produced by Bob Clearmountain. Ehhhhh.

Royal Trux: Dirty Headlines

The B-side to Royal Trux’s “Inside Game”, the A-side being their only sort of ‘hit’. And it was played in High Fidelity as the skater punk kids’ song. Considering RTX’s mile-long rap-sheet of fucked up noise albums that sounded something like the Stones if the Stones had been locked in an Alabama meth-shack for 2 decades, I really enjoyed this single. They backed off on the psychedelia and tried to bust out some raps right before they split. And I haven’t heard a hook like “You’re so rank, you’d probably try to lick your own skank” in years.

the Production Source: Sophisticated Jazz II

Hey, every mix needs a closer, right?

Good night,

NpJ

It’s all over the news

The King of Pop has left us, if you haven’t heard from TMZ (they get all the important news pronto!), Twitter, CNN and all your Facebook friends updating with how much they  “miss” MJ. It’s always the case though, as soon as someone dies, their bad deeds go overlooked and their triumphs are emboldened. It’s no secret that Jackson had a slew of discontenting run-ins with the media over the last oh, 15 years or so, and all the ‘alleged’ things he did with children.. well, I’ll side with the prosecution in this case, your honor. I’m a big fan of Motown though, and the Jackson 5’s contribution. And denying “Thriller”s importance to the music world is like saying to me that “Exile on Main St.” doesn’t matter. Jackson wrote and recorded some of the most exciting and important pop songs in history. My guess is he’ll be remembered for the most part by these things.  Solid hits, album and production.

It’s just another night where I can’ t help but feel a little cynical. There are alot of things going on in the world right now…Iran’s opression, North Korea’s threats which our leaders keep deeming “dismissable”  and an ecomony that’s still failing, though somehow alot of people still seem distracted. I guess on the eve of an iconic popstar’s death, I’m now realizing that the 90s were a fucking sham all around. The music was exciting, but had no future, most of the movies seem dated now, and while Life with the Clintons seemed peachy in alot of respects, it was simply the calm before a really bizarre, quasi-apocalyptic storm. Shit, reader..this is supposed to be a music blog..but how am I supposed to “hear the music” when I’m clusterfucked by crappy news stories that don’t matter?

There’s (still) A Riot Goin’ On

A little over a year ago  a couple friends and I convened upstate at the creative grounds known as Dry Hill Studios, where we locked ourselves in the live room for the better part of a week to make a record. While the unexpected moments are one of my favorite components of studio sessions….the notes or the incidental sounds that happen while simply rolling tape, I’ve grown even more appreciate of the records we share that we’re all rocking to at the time. There’s no pretense in this exchange. Just throw another disc into the changer during downtime of bouncing a session, waiting for the beer to come back,  or waiting for the A/C to soften the climate up a little in the mixing room.

In the last session, we had a couple all-night jams that ended in dance parties, and I came to really taking a shine to Sly Stone’s “There’s a Riot Goin’ On”.  The story in a nutshell, is that Sly’s life and career were in a really turbulent period (even that’s a pretty mild way of putting it…since it’s always been a madhouse in the mind of Stone). He had hired mob thugs as security. The folks he considered a threat even included his own bandmates.

This was also coupled with a grandiose amount of drug use which, any joe knows, just ups the ante with paranoia. The sessions for “Riot”, from journalists’ accounts and the musicians there tell of grueling rituals—-locking themselves in Sly’s house for continuous days, often high on volatile drugs like PCP and just rolling take after take. Even our session got a little out of hand when we hit our tenth 30pack of Genesee Beer. And these guys were taking Elephant tranquilizer. What came out is, to me, one of the coolest goddamned records in the history of Rock and Roll and music in general. And it’s a bit freaky too.

“Spaced Cowboy” is still one of my favorites from the album…a drum machine-driven song, and featuring Sly singing in a very muddled, low-mixed voice, but periodically busting out into this twisted version of a Western Yodel. And some how it all works. Fitting too, is the re-worked version of “Thankyoufallentenmebemiceelfagain” as “Thank You for Talkin’ To Me Africa”. Its no longer a souped-up party jam. Its a dark, mildly unsettling trip inside the mind of those witnessing the  crumble of what they once saw as Free Love and a Sexual Revolution that looked like it had so much promise fall peril to things like heroin, the inglorious end to the Vietnam War and the ushering of an age where asses in the seats and big radio station conglomerates mattered alot more than who was playing onstage. And this is why at the end of the day, the album stands up over time. Its not as ‘happy’ as some of Sly’s other material, but its an exemplary record of an artist who was more intent on writing/playing something that reflected what was going on in their own world, and the world around them, than just trying to get everyone to laugh and dance. But you still can dance to this one. Just with a bit more of an open mind and looking over your shoulder.

Have you written anything lately?

The short answer is no, kids. And on top of that, I’ve been looking for a new place so I’ve been back into couch surfing mode for the last month or so again. I’ve recently landed a new residence though, and will be semi-domestic in about a week. While taking up space in spare rooms and basement dwellings, i put this dub-n-roll mix “tape” together. It’s a couple songs/noises from my record random collection. I don’t spend a godawful amount of money on vinyl. In fact, I find the stuff in the junk bins, so I’d probably be the type of person a ‘real collector would scoff at.

While mixtapes are usually composed of more hip hop and ‘beat heavy’ tracks, I tried to shake it up and use some stuff  you probably wouldn’t normally see mixed together. On top of that, since its been virtually impossible to find free webspace to host a full-fledged podcast right now (without murderously high licensing fees),  I thought trying these songs out as more of a collage than just an list of mp3s might spruce things up.

I ran the record player through a preamp and into the PC, rather than the USB so I could also implement some real-time effects, which you’ll hear throughout. The main outside element was an analog delay pedal I picked up recently, the MXR Carbon Copy. She’s a beaut. I hope it’ll inspire you to go out and pick up some new, but used, music. Almost every album used on here was scrounged up at a thrift store or garage sale.

I’m working on a couple more mixes and will post them accordingly. Enjoy.

Click the Rhino.

Augustus Pablo & the Red Sea: Youth Man

VS.

Mothers of Invention: Who Needs the Peace Corps?

The Youth Man track comes from a record I snagged at Bleecker St. (records) about a month ago, simply entitled “Augustus Pablo and the Red Sea”. I was introduced to Pablo’s music over the summer when we started implementing  melodica into more of my live shows/recordings. His contribution to the Dub terrain is undeniable. Have a peek at the clip below. The video quality is low but the audio is not bad at all. The train whistle intro I took from a series of sound fx/stock music records designed for radio shows. The spoken interlude comes from a song on the Mothers’ album “We’re Only In it For the Money”. The LP was a party offering on my 23rd birthday, which some how also became the trashing of my very first apartment, a giant middle finger to the slumlord running the place. The “Peace Corps” song is full length, but the spoken part is my favorite. Concise, and hilarious commentary on the counter-culture movement. Zappa was no ‘dump hippie’, thats for sure.

Ramsey Lewis Trio: The In Crowd

VS.

Harry Nilsson: Jump Into the Fire

My jazz knowledge is one of the more limited regions when it comes to music. Not that I don’t like jazz, I just don’t own much of it, and have never taken a considerable amount of time to do my ‘homework’. In college I had to take an elective class on music history, so I took History of Jazz. The instructor was a very intense jazz archivist, and thankfully played most of our selections on vinyl.  After I’d heard this one through the State University-issued phonograph, I knew I’d have to own it eventually. And by dumb fuckin’ luck, I came across a ‘free’ copy a few mere weeks later. It was double-upped in a sleeve with Jimmy Smith’s “Organ Grinder Blues” LP in a Salvation Army bin.*

A few months ago I found “Live at the Bohemian Caverns”, which featured a real pepped up version of the In Crowd. That’s the one you hear in this mix. I found Harry Nilsson’s “Nilsson Schmilsson” in the same Goodwill visit, and have been in love w/ the drum solo that you hear since then. “Schmilsson” also features  “Without You” –you know..that song that Mariah Carey brutalized. No, not the Jackson 5 song. The other one.

Kraftwerk: Pocket Calculator

vs.

the Clash: Version Pardner

Kraftwerk’s well-known song now. This is one of the earliest records I bought. I had no idea who they were, but found the single in the back of a record shop during college that stocked mostly classic rock and bad 90s radio hip-hop, and was convinced it would be at the least, interesting. For years I played the record on 33 1/3rd even though the label says to play it at 45pm, and finally realized this three years or so into owning it. The Clash clip comes from the dub remix of Junco Pardner, both from the album “Sandinista!”, argubably one of the Clash’s best albums. It is undoubtedly the most exciting in its diversity of arrangements. It’s fodder for a whole other entry, but consider this Clash fans…does the triple-album content on Sandinista trump the shakey attempt at becoming a ‘real rock and roll band’ on Givem Enough Rope? I vote yes.

Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee: Blues With a Whoop

From another Salvation Army find, various harmonica players from all over the South, simply entitled “Harmonica Blues”. The quirkiest part, to me, was that most of the recordings on the album were cultivated/recorded by people in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe. Here we had legendary performers in our own backyard(s) and it took the Nords to show us what the real face of music looks like. And these are the same music enthusiasts that bring you Troll Metal. Go figure.

*Thrift shop or collectors shop, I NEVER endorse stealing records. Unless you’re at an awful party somewhere and you find yourself at a residence wherein people just stow records on a shelf for looks. Then its Liberation! Free the music!

Cheers,

NpJ

03/22/09 In like a lion?

We had snow here again, Friday morning. It’s spring though. Technically. You’d never know it from this drafty house.  This edition of the podcast is comprised of loud, fast and funny songs. Winter’s over, so its time to get out of hibernation mode—shake a tailfeather, play some power chords, point your mic into the crowd so some sweaty kids in the front can sing along. These are some of my favorite bands/performers from past and present. Another show of DIY folk will be soon to follow. Enjoy.

The Spring, Bang, Boom Podcast:

PART I

Fucked Up: David Comes to Life

The Pleasure Seekers: What a Way to Die

the Heartless Bastards: Came a Long Way

Ofo the Black Company: Allah Wakbarr

PART II

Fugazi: Suggestion/Glue Man

Brian Eno: Needle in the Camel’s Eye

the Elite: One Potato

The Clash: Jail Guitar Doors (live 9/21/79 in Brixton)

04/13/09 EDIT: I had wanted to post this much earlier, but as the hunt for larger , free webspace to post the podcast in a higher fidelity turned up fruitless, I decided I’d just get it up and deal with what I’ve got. Enjoy.

Desert Letters

Here are two songs for you today.

Originally the song “Desert Letter” on Sad Bastard Routine was called “Desert Letter #1″. I had this idea that I was going to write a series of songs in the form of letters from people in strange, distant places trying to reconnect with their family and friends who were half a world away. Part of it was the obvious, me trying to grasp the complicated emotional parts of American troops being rooted  in the deserts, but it went alot deeper then that.Besides, I’d be arrogant to say I can even fathom the heaviness of that sort of thing.

By the time we recorded “Sad Bastard Routine” last July, I’d still only written the first Desert Letter. I’m not a big fan of people who number their songs when there’s no succession, I find it a bit pretentious (kind of like when major-label recording artists release singles just referred to as “Untitled”..what a crock of shit!), but now I’ve got the second one. This one came to light just about 2 hours ago. Penned and tracked all in about 20 minutes. So, without futher ado, here are the first two Desert Letters. I can’t promise there will be more than this, as I don’t want to turn it into some tacky George Lucas-like saga that never ends and gets worse with each installment. I digress. Click on the respective links to hear each one.

Enjoy.

Desert Letter I

Desert Letter II