Archive for 2003

I Act With An Always-Positive Mindset

“The More You Sell” – This is taken from the WFMU compilation tape The Happy Listener’s Guide To Mind Control. According to the liner notes, this is from an in-store motivational tape intended for the sales staff of some NYC boutique dating back to the mid-to-late ’80s. Basically, this is a recording of the most evil sounding voiceover man who ever lived intoning creepy self-help/sales jargon over 80s dance pop music. It’s terrifying stuff, like being trapped inside the mind of Patrick Bateman.

A Request:

If anyone would be so kind as to let me know what the song at the end of tonight’s episode of Six Feet Under was, I would greatly appreciate it.

And how about that episode, huh? That was one of the most depressing episodes of any television series that I’ve ever seen. At least Claire finally stood up to Olivier, and cut him down a bit. I’ve been very proud of her.

Don’t Be Too Flirty, Caroline

Amy Sings With Prince For Caroline – Taken from the archives of The Professor’s Audio Kitchen, this bizarre gem was found by the Professor via Napster. This is apparently the opening track of a mix cd made by a girl named Amy for her girlfriend Caroline. Amy sings along with the Prince song “Kiss” and makes flirtatious and occasionally creepy remarks over the music. Amy seems so genuinely in love with Caroline, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Caroline’s affections are nowhere near as intense. I can’t shake the feeling that Caroline eventually broke poor little Amy’s sincere, earnest heart. But hey, I may just be projecting.

Yvonne’s Answering Machine – This answering machine tape is another interesting recording from the Audio Kitchen found by The Professor. In thirteen minutes, the messages create a surprisingly complex portrait of this troubled young woman’s life. I really hope that Yvonne broke up with that overbearing, possessive asshole who kept calling her, and that when she did, he didn’t cause her any further grief.

Radio announcement of a Velvet Underground concert, circa 1968 – This is a brief selection from the WFMU compilation Radio Archival Oddities, and it is fairly self explanatory.

Radio Beijing – This was also taken from the Radio Archival Oddities tape. This is a portion of an English language radio account of the events of the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989. It followed shortly by the party line being restored at the station a few days later.

It’s A Big Fish, Your Net Is Full Of Holes

Recording of a news broadcast from Liberty, NY circa 1970 – This recording fascinates me. I don’t know much about it, it was given to me without much explanation on a disc full of radio airchecks. This recording was obviously made with a tape recorder in a room – you can hear the mic move around, noise in the room, some quiet talking here and there. I can’t figure out why they recorded this news broadcast. Perhaps they were waiting to record one of the news items – there are some announcements of funerals and social functions, that could be it. The most interesting parts of the broadcast include some very biased reports about hippies and their drug usage. I particularly like the part where they are announcing an invitation to “come out and see the real American youth – the clean-cut youngsters who make up the vast majority of our young people.”

Knowing Me, Knowing You – “Alan Does Not Fire Blanks” – Aha! This is the first episode of Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge. If there is a positive response, I will offer each of the six episodes over the next few weeks. In this episode, Alan interviews a novelist and discusses Sherlock Holmes, and meets a feminist therapist who gives a demonstration of her therapy techique.

All Apologies

The Apology Line (1-212-255-7714) was/is an art project created in 1980 by an anonymous person who goes by the name of Mr. A. The idea of the line was to give people a non-religious outlet to apologize for things that they were feeling guilty about. The line recieved hundreds of calls daily from 1980 up through the mid-90s, but the numbers for the Apology Line are no longer in service or have been reassigned.

I recorded these mp3s from a tape that The Apology Line created and circulated titled The Apology Line: Uncut Gems From Year Zero (1980-1981) which I bought at this past weekend’s WFMU record fair. I didn’t bother breaking up the individual confessions into separate mp3s, and decided that it was just easier to offer each 22 minute side of the tape as its own track.

Please bear in mind that many of these confessions are very upsetting, and some of the callers seem to be genuinely disturbed individuals. There is a caller on side B who is particularly creepy, who sounds like a psychopathic murderous rapist version of Woody Allen, and another caller at the beginning of side A who admits to brutally attacking homosexuals. This is not easy listening. However, there are some lighter moments here and there, and some other parts which are just bizarre. The tape is an amazing document, and an often fascinating peek into the minds of total strangers.

(Those of you interested in the Apology Line should check out This American Life’s segment about the line in their January 3st, 1997 episode titled “Justice”. If you listen, you will find out the shocking fate of Mr. A, and get to hear several apologies not found on the tape.)

Making The End Times Happy Times

I’m sorry about the lack of updates, I’ve been a bit busy. I had a very good time working at the WFMU record fair this past weekend, and I’ll have some very interesting MP3s taken from some recordings that I acquired at the fair coming up later on in the week. It is also very likely that I will be offering mp3s taken my current twin obsessions, Christopher Morris’s On The Hour and Steve Koogan’s Knowing Me, Knowing You. Sit tight. Exciting audio is coming your way.

You Go First, Yoko

I am pretty sure that tonight’s segment on Late Night with Conan O’Brien with Conan inside of an opaque black bag with Yoko Ono is one of the most surreal things to be aired on national television for a very long time. Especially when Conan emerges from the bag topless, and puts on Yoko’s tiny leather jacket.

X2: X-Men United Is A Bad Name For A Movie

Russ is right. X-Men 2 is in many ways like a remake of The Empire Strikes Back, in the best possible way. I like to think of it as something of an X-Men Vs. The Empire Strikes Back mash-up, myself.

If you look down a bit in that thread, you can read my geeky little comments about the film, but all you really need to know is that the film is very good (definitely the best superhero-derived film that I’ve seen, edging out last year’s Spider-Man), but it would really help to know a bit about the characters if you’re planning on going in as an X-Men novice. You’ll probably get very confused otherwise.

Jesus Was A Victim, Just Like Me…

Monoliths “On Narrative” – Can anyone tell me who these people are? I found this on soulseek, and have yet to find anything about them, other than that the ep that I have, Newsprint Tomb, is a cassette-only release. It reminds me of Huggy Bear at their best – arty, ‘theory bitch’-y, vicious, dissonant, extremely lofi punk. I would love to know more about these people, and whether or not this is a recent or old release.

Neil Hamburger “Laugh Out Lord!” – Find out why God invented Fleetwood Mac, Alan Alda, and homosexuality. This is the epic final track from the most recent Neil Hamburger record, and is a pretty good bit to start with if you’ve never heard Neil Hamburger before. Hamburger’s shtick should be fairly self-evident after you’ve heard it, if you don’t know about it, I’d rather that you just jump in unaware. It’s pretty hilarious concept comedy, and about as dry and ironic as comedy can get.

I Want A Recording Of This. Badly.

The venue in Malmo turned into a dance club after the show, so we tried to warm up the crowd during our encore. The disco Pavement medley still needs some work, but 50 Cent’s “In tha Club” was totally jammin’.

The Way You Move Yr Sexy Groove

Killer Mike featuring Big Boi “A.D.I.D.A.S.” – Exactly what I was looking for. Yes! It’s absolutely perfect.

(Oh hey look, Tom Ewing loves it too…)

The Knife “Heartbeats” – I am completely obsessed with this song right now, and I’ve got to thank Mr. Nikon Driver from Home By The Sea for telling me about it yesterday. It’s basically sounds like the great (weird) lost Cyndi Lauper song, but not quite as 80s retro as you might be imagining. I can’t get enough of it.

Ween “(Extra) Cheese” – This is the ‘extended mix’ of the Ween Pizza Hut ads that I made, and it is here again by request of Mr. Deric Holloway.

Erma Franklin “Light My Fire” – I am relatively certain that just about every cover of “Light My Fire” except for the one performed by that guy from the UK Pop Idol show is superior to the Doors original. Well, maybe not the Jose Feliciano version. But you get the idea – it’s so much better as a soul song. A few years ago, I heard another more bombastic soul version, but I’ve never been able to figure out who did it. I only heard it once, but I have a very strong memory of it, and I’m fairly certain that it isn’t this Erma Franklin recording. I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t the Jackie Wilson version being played at a faster RPM too.

More soul/funk for you:

The Meters “Cabbage Alley”

Thelma Jones “This Is The House That Jack Built”

(Note about the “nunchucks” thing – it’s just a silly joke, and not a permanent name change. However, I’ve been trying to change it back, and for some reason, Blogger isn’t letting me. Hopefully this will get sorted out soon.)

What A Wookiee!

I realize that this may be old news for some people, but it is new to me – Chewbacca will be in the next Star Wars movie. That’s pretty cool, even though I’ve pretty much resigned myself to the conclusion that there’s almost no way the next one could possibly be very good after having seen the last two. And that’s kinda sad – when I was a kid, I used to always think about how they would eventually film the scene in which Anakin becomes Darth Vader, and I had always imagined something very sad and powerful, but I can’t imagine that actually happening now. I guess this whole terrible prequel trilogy thing is as much a case of George Lucas going mad as it is about how some things are best left to the imaginations of children.

What’s My Excuse? Cartoons Were The Root!

If you’ve been reading this blog with any frequency lately, you have probably noticed that I haven’t been listening to very much hip hop lately. Well, I have, but none of it has been new. I went through some brief Wu and Outkast listening sprees in the past month, which was mostly just like revisiting old pals, not exactly the deepest listening experience. In a way, I guess I was just checking up on them – “Yep, they’re still fantastic.”

But let’s face it, Outkast and the Wu-Tang Clan are rarities in hip hop, keeping up quality with quantity over an extended period of time. Anyone who ever wonders why those two groups have so much credibility with white indie/rock leaning fans need not waste their time with half-baked ILM-ish cultural theories about why that is, it’s basically as simple as this: People like albums that they don’t have to do too much skipping around with, especially when they cost $18 at the mall.

For most artists in the genre, it’s all about singles, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Well, except for when labels seem to refuse to release the best songs as singles, of course. And this happens all of the fucking time – the most egregious recent example would be “Young Boy” by the Clipse, which is hands down one of the best songs that I heard last year in any genre. However, it’s been, what, four singles off of Lord Willin’ by now? For fuck’s sake, what is WRONG with their label? All of the singles that have been released off of the record have been decent, but they just aren’t nearly as poptastic and perfect, they don’t have the swagger and the hooks and the wit of “Young Boy,” and neither does any other mainstream hip hop that I’ve heard since January.

It is things like this which make me feel so utterly alienated from mainstream pop – I enjoy a lot of the music, but I’m pretty sure that I’m not experiencing things in the way that most people are. It seems to me that people are picking the wrong single all of the time – am I so out of touch with what contemporary American audiences want? I always thought it was about hooks, about catchiness. I want pop, really, I do. I love pop so dearly. I really love hip hop. Is it so much to ask for it to be, y’know, good? I understand where the conservatism of the rock audience and rock radio comes from, but I think I expect more from hip hop audiences than to just nod along and say “yeah, 50 Cent is pretty good, I guess…”

I’ve been keeping my ears open and ready for new hip hop singles, but I just haven’t heard anything too special. There hasn’t been much that I’ve heard that I’ve thought to be actively awful (though I’m definitely not crazy about 50 Cent), but it would be nice to tune in to Hot 97, BET, or MTV without feeling indifference or ennui. I admit that I haven’t been working too hard to find hip hop lately – my interests have been elsewhere, but I do miss it. I want some fresh new hip hop singles in my personal listening rotation, and I want your help.

Have you heard anything particularly good lately? Is there something I’m missing, and is it preferably not beardy backpacker stuff? I’ll take a pass on the Majesticons album, thank you. And let’s keep this limited to 2003, alright? I don’t need anyone recommending The Low End Theory to me, or going off on any “the only good hip hop is old school” bullshit rants, okay?

Anyway, let me know. I’m going to download the eight or nine songs that I’m not familiar with from OHHLA’s current Top 30 songs, but I’m not expecting too much. It’s a start, though.

Johnny’s More American Than Mom’s Apple Pie

Broadcast “Still Feels Like Tears” – taken from the excellent new Pendulum EP.

Jandek “Van Ness Mission” – see also: the Jandek On Corwood trailer.

Royal Trux “Stop” – see also: the brand new Barbelith Royal Trux thread.

Wildfang “More American Than Johnny Carson” – taken from Hyped2Death’s Homework 4 compilation.

Those Dummies Got Into The Yo-Yo Concept This Week

This is probably going to be the most peculiar MP3 that I will ever offer on this blog. It is taken from a show on WFMU from last summer called Aircheck, which was a showcase for clips and oddities from the history of radio. This particular clip is a four minute excerpt from a recording of an unknown DJ from the 70s going batshit insane on the air while wishing his listeners a happy weekend. It is funny at first when he’s just ranting nonsensically, but as it goes on, it becomes terrifying. There are points when he’s just speaking in tongues, as if he was possessed by demons. The part in which he pauses for a moment after the unintelligable screaming and says “…it’s starting to happen…it is beginning…” never fails to freak me out.

We Jocks Have A Saying…

There’s an excellent (and very funny) audio interview with Conan O’Brien on the New York Times website. There’s an interesting point in the interview in which Conan talks about when his show was technically cancelled, which I don’t believe has ever been common knowledge even though it was pretty well known that the show was in trouble back when they were renewing the show in quarterly increments.

It Ain’t Me, It Ain’t Me…

Only one MP3 goodie today, courtesy of Mr. Paul Cox. This live version of CCR’s “Fortunate Son” was recorded this past Friday in Nashville. It is being performed by Pearl Jam….with Sleater-Kinney….and Steve Earle. For real. It’s well worth hearing just for the novelty factor. As you can probably imagine, Corin Tucker and Eddie Vedder’s voices just sound peculiar and wrong when they sing together, but that’s mostly Corin’s fault.

Also worth checking out: the most recent Peel session by The Fall, which I found via Wisdom Goof.

The Gospel According To Ari Up

These are the words which have been repeating in my head since I woke up this morning:

“The only way of knowing God is rhythm! The only way of knowing God is rhythm!”

Crystal Blue Persuasion

It’s going to be a busy day for me today. Please enjoy these songs in the meantime.

Flying Saucer Attack “Outdoor Miner”

Loud Family “Debaser”

Humankind Is Simply Color Operating On The 49th Vibration

I don’t have a lot to say today. As I type this, I’m taking a breather from watching the entire first season of Six Feet Under in the span of three days. So far, I’ve made it through the first five episodes, and I estimate that I should be done with it on Saturday morning. (I have plans for Friday, otherwise I would probably finish it then.)

If you go far back into this blog’s archive, you’ll find a very pissy post from sometime over last summer in which I rant about how much I disliked Six Feet Under at the time. I take it all back. When I saw episodes from season 2 (which in fairness, I’ve yet to revisit and could very well be just as awful as I remember them), I was lacking context and I was looking for reasons to dislike the show. I get it now. The first season is fantastic thus far, but still not quite as excellent as the current season is shaping up to be.

I saw A Mighty Wind yesterday too, which was hilarious and did not let me down in the least. I don’t feel as though I’m ready to write about that film just yet, I would like to see it again sometime in the next two or three weeks before I make any serious comments about it as a whole.

The ensemble cast is typically brilliant, very much exactly what you would expect from Christopher Guest after Waiting For Guffman and Best In Show; but Eugene Levy is the heart and soul of this film, and steals every scene that he appears in. The peculiar balance of suicidal despondency, detached flakiness, and painful earnestness that Levy conveys in his performance as Mitch Cohen is consistently funny and surprisingly endearing. For most of the film, I just wanted to give the guy a big hug, and then slowly back away without making eye contact.

Here are some songs for you:

Wire “Being Watched” (from the forthcoming album Send.)

The Slits “Newtown” (live from the In The Beginning compilation.)

By special request:

Guided By Voices “Back To Saturn X” (live from somewhere, 2001.)

Mice Have Germs. They Deserve To Die.

The most interesting couple on television. (Well, aside from Tony and Carmella…)

After some delay spring is upon us here in New York, and so I shall be offering some happy blue-skies ’90s indie pop to mark the occasion. Enjoy.

Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci “Poodle Rockin'”

Home “My Friend Maurice”

Imperial Drag “Boy Or A Girl” Not to be confused with Imperial Teen. This song was a minor alt-rock-radio hit back around 1996 or 1997. It’s really depressing to think about how this song could never get playlisted these days given how conservative/homophobic/misogynistic radio playlists have become in this Clear Channel world, and how it was only a few years ago that there were a few positive songs about queer sexuality getting some airplay. (Off the top of my head: “You’re One” by Imperial Teen, “I Kissed A Girl” by Jill Sobule, “Queer” by Garbage, several 90s-era R.E.M. songs…) It gives some perspective as to how far mainstream pop culture has jumped backwards since making some positive headway for a few years in the previous decade. This song isn’t even particularly racy or anything, but the notion of a song about gender-bending and confusion about sexual orientation seems verboten in pop culture nowadays unless it involves hot Maxim lesbian chicks and is strictly relegated to the subtext of the presentation, but not the songs themselves.

M.O.T.O. “It Takes Just Like A Milkshake”

Virgin Whore Complex “Four Alarm Fire On Lover’s Lane”

Sugar “Your Favorite Thing”

Feel free to comment on the songs. I appreciate getting feedback on the songs that I post, and I am always interested in knowing whether people enjoyed or hated whatever it is that I post here.

Help Me.

I am one question away from knowing the answers to all of the Malkmus trivia questions.

If anyone would be so kind as to write in and tell me what Mike Clark does for a living (I don’t think being a member of the No-No’s and The Maroons is what they’re going for…), I would be very grateful, and I would be happy to help you with the questions that stump you.

I don’t care about winning. I care about knowing.