Friday, July 28, 2006

"I wonder what a Kazoo would sound like if it was put through a wah-wah pedal?"

Haven't we all asked outselves that question at one time or another? Fortunately, two British guys calling themselves Ed Kazoo and Jim Wah (WahKazoo) decided to tackle this most pressing of concerns by doing just that. And what does it sound like? Well, as this version of the "Dr Who" proves, it sounds like a sick duck. I imagine a very drunk Donald Duck staggering around a pub singing along to a jukebox when I listen (and giggle uncontrollably) to:

Ed Kazoo and Jim Wah: "Dr Who"

Ed Kazoo and Jim Wah: "(I'm The) Urban Spaceman" - didn't think the Bonzo Dog Band could sound more silly then they already do...

I discovered these guys on this Dr Who remix page which features, apart from the expected techno remixes, some real oddities, like this sped-up acapella version of the theme done in the style of that infernal Crazy Frog. Ha!

Glenn Mullan: Doctor Who - Framster Who

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Tech-xotica!

RIAA (Rockin' Internet Art Alternatives) present Tech-xotica!! - Afro-Latin mash-ups & Tiki-beatz for summer. Some old, some (like these) are new:

"It's Like That Summer Samba" - Run-DMC go bossa-a-go-go with Wander Wanderly.

"Armageddon It On (or The Gaye-Pride Apocalypso)" - Bill O'Reilly, Jerry Falwell and a gerbil get it on with Marvin Gaye over the calypso sounds of Blinky and the Roadmasters and M.I.A.'s "Galang" riddim.

"Laid Bamba" - Los Lobos does it with amorous Brit-rockers James.

It's been so frikkin' hot lately, however, I'm ready to post some Christmas tunes...

Monday, July 24, 2006

PRE-SCHOOL ELECTRONICA

A University of Kentucky music professor who invited Boston's djbc to speak at a seminar gave bc this recording of the prof's 7-year-old son, DJ French Fry, who performs solo on a MicroKorg synth. Pretty trippy stuff, and, as it's an instrumental, I have no idea what significance the title has. But I do know I'd like to hear this kid jam with Eyeball Skeleton.

DJ French Fry - I Wonder Why Elephants Have Trunks?

And here's the djbc d'n'b remix that will no doubt propel French Fry to Moby-like heights of stardom. Hey French Fry, when you hit it big, don't forget us little people!

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Passion Boys make music about sexy ladie and nice music also, Yes!

Meet Hungary's belated contribution to '80s techno-pop, Passion Boys: "Szia (hello)! We Laszlo and Gyorgy come from small village is call Bataszek, very near from Budapest. We are make some music very much like name Passion Boys. We like make music about sexy ladie and nice music also."

As they say in their song "Passion Boys are Firemans":
"hello, fireman?" "yes." "I feel there is something burrrrrning." "yes." "can you come right away?" "yes, we comes."

Hey, they speak English better then I speak Hungarian: "Real music like is best from 80s. Not like modern rapping musics and no love music of computer mans...Funny story: when boy Miklos is too fat an we name he Miklos Meatlof like famos USA fatmans singer, Yes!"

Their latest tune is "Robot Sexie Time": "We make song about two robot is fall into love for first time an after make sexie!! Is for Miklos becasue Miklos is not have girl friend for so many time an is spend so too many time look picture of sexie robot like new foto!!!"

All this and more is available from their MySpace page. I think I'm the last man on earth who isn't on MySpace. This almost makes me reconsider.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

TAMMY FAYE SINGS!

Singing christian puppet records. Need I say more?

Disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker, make-up victim wife Tammy Faye, helium vocals, her puppets Allie the Alligator and Susie Moppet, 6 songs no longer then a minute-and-a-half long available here.

"Praise The Lord" for such
terrifying/hilarious entertainment.



Thanks to punkrecords.org!

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

SYD BARRETT

As I'm sure many of you have heard by now, Syd Barrett has died at age 60. Syd founded what I call the first Pink Floyd, as opposed to the second, Waters & Gilmour-led "Dark Side of the Moon"/"The Wall" Pink Floyd. The first Pink Floyd were, for a brief period in the late '60s, the wildest band in England, roughly equivalent to the Velvet Underground in the U.S. - an amazing discovery for someone like me, a typical raised-on-punk kid who thought Floyd stood for all that was pretentious and dull.

Syd was the first Floyd: singing, songwriting, guitar, heck, he gave the band it's name. When Syd became too acid-damaged/mentally ill to perform with Floyd he went from rock star to one of the first prominent outsider musicians, recording devasting solo albums that were as much musical therapy as art. After 1970, he never recorded again.

I used to listen to the first Floyd album "Piper At The Gates of Dawn" and his solo album "The Madcap Laughs" obsessively. The differences are stark. "Piper" is the world through Syd's eyes: a colorfully-produced wonderland of gnomes, living scarecrows, and spaceflight. The imagery, though phantasmagorical, is lucid.

Pink Floyd: "Arnold Layne" - who else was (is) writing songs about a clothes-stealing cross-dresser?

"The Madcap Laughs," recorded some years later, is like watching a patient through an observation window as he pathetically tries to play a guitar and sing. The meaning (if any) of the now-jumbled word-salad lyrics may befuddle the listener, but the pain comes through loud and clear: there's nothing romantic about mental illness. It's hell, like any other serious disease.

Syd Barrett: "Dark Globe"

Barrett's influence is truly inestimable: his songs have been covered by David Bowie, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Love and Rockets, REM ("Dark Globe," actually), the bands Baby Lemonade and Gigalo Aunt are named after his songs, Sid Vicious was partly named after him, and Robyn Hitchcock practically built his career on Syd's style. But, ultimately, his legacy goes beyond his music - without trying, but by simply being allowed to be himself, he paved the way for the punk DIY and outsider music traditions.

Totom: "Waving My Cactus In The Air" - not as pornographic as it sounds, it's actually Paris' mashup master totom expertly fusing Syd's "Waving My Hands In The Air" with The Pixies' "Cactus."

Thursday, July 06, 2006

KOOKY KOVERS pt2: PASTEL VESPA

My GAWD, it's hot here in Los Angeles. If I can't be at the beach, then I'm chillin' to some kool 'n' kooky kover songs from the likes of Pastel Vespa, a swingin' Brazilian blonde babe now living in Australia. Ms. Vespa interpets the likes of Metallica, The Sex Pistols, and Prince with perfect '60s bossa-nova style. Compared to Nouvelle Vague (whose new album is getting blogged all over the place so you don't need me to tell you about it), she's got more toe-tappin' energy, and, of course, more authentic Brazilian flavor.

Pastel Vespa: "Blue Monday": never heard anyone else covering New Order and Joy Division at the same time - "Love Will Tear Us Apart" gets cleverly worked in.

Pastel Vespa: "Livin' on A Prayer" : the Bon Jovi hit; which gets me to wonderin' why all those '80 hair bands were usin' so many apostrophes in all the titles of the songs they were playin' and singin.' You just knew an album or song was gonna suck if it had apostrophes in the title. Would The Clash write a song called "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'"?


Big thanks to Turquoise Days!

KOOKY KOVERS pt1: CREEPY CLARINETS

One writer described the bass clarinet as sounding like "... an old, unhappy Jewish man with the flu." Despite (or perhaps because of) this, classically-trained Edmund Welles formed a bass-clarinet quartet - no other instruments allowed - and proceeded to cover songs like:

"Creep" - Radiohead have never sounded so creepy. My fave of the bunch, but you might like:

"Wild Boys" - Duran Duran have never sounded so listenable.
"Big Bottom" - You Spinal Tap fans can sing over this one: "My baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo/Gonna sink her with my pink torpedo..."

Mr Welles & Co. also cover Nirvana, Black Sabbath, The Doors and the Pixies, as well as blues, jazz, classical and original musics.

Monday, July 03, 2006

YANKEE DOODLE HOMO

July 4th: Independence Day, America's most patriotic holiday. Time for that self-described "Yankee Doodle Homo" Mark Harris to sing of god and country in his own inimitable fashion.

As fans of Howard Stern's syndicated radio show have known for years, Harris propelled himself to semi-stardom by marrying aging (and soon dead) veteran performer Martha Raye, whose name and good works he commemorates (exploits?) in his campy cabaret show "Mr. Martha Raye" - he sings his self-penned showtune-style fingersnappers and regales audiences with jokes and anecdotes ranging from celebrity gossip to true tales of his own plastic-surgeries (he had a "testicle-lift"?)

Mark Harris is truly a portait of a man in denial: of his own utter lack of talent, the fact that he has not attained the superstardom he so clearly thinks he deserves, and of the fact that the conservative politics and religion he espouses have nothing but contempt for people of his orientation. Fascinating! An Ed Wood for our age.

Mark Harris "Remember The World Trade Center" mp3 - a high-kicking show-stopping 9/11 tribute tune.

You think that's tasteless? Check out the self-aggrandizing video - scenes of planes hitting the towers, mixed with footage of what appears to be one of Harris' cocktail parties, and pictures of Martha Raye. WTC; WTF?!?

Meanwhile, rx has just released a video of his classic George Bush-singing-U2 tune "Sunday Bloody Sunday", and not a moment too soon. Have an unsafe and insane Fourth!