Ladies and gentlemen, Freddy motherfucking Fender!

I can't really explain why I love Freddy Fender so. Honestly, I think it is purely nostalgic, but in a good way. He made a huge impression on me as a kid, even though I didn't always understand his songs, especially the tejano ones. I just learned about his time in Angola and was blown away. How did I not know this story?

From his website bio; "In 1960, "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" became a national hit, it also proved to be prophetic for Fender. Early stardom was stolen that year when he and his bass player were arrested and sent to prison for possession of two marijuana cigarettes. Three years later, Fender surfaced in New Orleans, where he spent the next five years further developing his interest in rhythm & blues and Cajun funk. By 1969, Fender had returned home to "The Valley". He worked full time as a mechanic, enrolled at Del Mar College and played music only on weekends.

In 1974, he cut Before The Next Teardrop Falls" in Houston. The master was bought by ABC-Dot, and on April 8, 1975, it reached the Number One spot on Billboard's pop and county charts, the first time in history an artist's first single reached Number One on both charts. His remake of "Wasted Days And Wasted Nights," essentially the same arrangement that had been considered rock and roll the first time around, followed "Teardrop. . " to Number One on the country charts, and his third release, "Secret Love," and fourth release "You'll Lose A Good Thing" also hit the top spot. The album went multi-platinum. Billboard named him Best Male Artist of 1975, and he won both single and album-of the-year honors from The Gavin Report.

You're Gonna Love My Nuts!

KY Derby Music

Nathan Salsburg has a great Kentucky Derby mix available here http://www.sendspace.com/file/xorp74 for download from his incredible Root Hog or Die show on East Village Radio.

Good luck with those wagers gentlemen.

Hayden is THE MAN!

Congrats to Bricolage's own Hayden, who has an article about Love (the band, not, er, the emotion) in the quite prestigious Oxford American. We're, like, an almost famous music club these days.

(And as a side note, there is also an article in there by a Tulane professor. Our own Matt - due up for the next disc - is both a member of Bricolage, and a Tulane prof. Awww, shizzy, pressures on!)

Bricolage April 2009

1. "I'm Happy" / Ivor Cutler "In another Beatles connection, his 1967 record, Ludo, was produced by George Martin, who was not amused by Cutler's eccentricities during the Abbey Road recording sessions."

2."Stop"/Giorgio Moroder Years before masterminding Donna Summer's "I Feel Love," Giorgio (pictured left) has an unfortunate realization at the train station.

3. "I-Man Transport" / Dymaxion  Dymaxion by the numbers. (Or number stations -- this track always struck me as kind of conet-projectish.)

4. "Up Above the Rock" / Ray Bryant  Hey.

5. "If I Were a Carpenter" / Leon Russell  Leon has a really long beard, which might be a hindrance if he were a carpenter. My favorite covers tend to start in familiar territory and venture far afield.

6. Coke Ad / Moody Blues The Moody Blues implore you to think outside the box while on vacation--have a coke!

7. Coffy Ad She wasn't huge this point, but I still find it odd that Pam Grier is not mentioned anywhere in this spectacular radio ad.

8. "Lola" / Nina & Mike They could've just done a contemporary cash-in, but this is just so great.

9. "Never Mind" / Biff Rose Apparently none of his other records really capture this tin-pan-seventies vibe, too bad.

10. "Get You to Come Through" / Rainman When I first heard  this tune, I guessed it was Peruvian Beatle-freaks We All Together. Same time frame ('71), but this guy is Dutch. Dutch!

11. "Ah-Hem-Ha-Uh-Err" / Christine Pilzer Some of the "ultra-chick" stuff gets a little samey, but there's no confusing Christine with any other Ye-Ye girl.

12. "Here Comes the Sun" / Denny Doherty  Denny was the drummer for the Mamas and the Papas, y'know.

13. "Forbidden Night" / Meiko Kaji & Rikiya Yasuoka Meiko Kaji singing about (and starring in) the second of the Stray Cat Rock series. 

14. "Paul Scholes" / Yukari Fresh A japanese pop tune about a Manchester United player, first heard in a Korean department store.

15. "Bunny Lake is Missing" Ad  / the Zombies The Zombies address the issue of chronic tardiness in the british moviegoing public.

16.  Coke Ad / Box Tops It's tough out on the road. Turn the page...with Coke!

17. "Don't Go to Strangers" / JJ Cale J.J. Cale has a huge bag of songs that sound pretty much like this one, all great.

18. "I've Got Reasons" / Mary Jane Hooper Eddie Bo, RIP

19. "I Feel Much Better" / Small Faces  2008 was the year I kinda lost my mind over the Small Faces.

20. "Hit the Road, Jack" / Percy Mayfield Percy's demo, which led to Ray's classic version.

21. "Hey Jude" / Overton Berry Trio So, did MJ's purchase of the Beatles catalog make it impossible for people to do awesome left-field Beatles covers, or was it a matter of waning interest?

22. "Stoned in the Bathroom" / Chubby Checker Chubby, just sittin' on the moon. 

23. Gallancamps Shoes Ad - Bobby Fuller I miss jingles.

24. "Go Lucky Airlines" / Charley Cuva From Putney Swope. Any movie with fake ads cannot, by definition, be all bad.

25. "Watching and Waiting" / Moody Blues Probably the prettiest thing they ever did.

26. "Harpa Dos Ares" / Lula Cortes & Ze Ramalho  Brazil on happy psychedelics, 1974.

27. "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" / The Sacred Mushroom Happy psychedelics, done up all kinky.

28. "Echoes" / Gene Clark Gene got bumped out of the leadoff spot, so he gets bow-out privileges. Hey, I just read that Leon Russell arranged this tune!

March 2009 Bricolage Mix

the general idea for the mix was non-linearly organized music.. early and contemporary examples.

1) Luc Ferrari - Et si toute entiere maintenant... Bienvenue
From the album Brise-Glace which uses orchestral material, field recordings from on board an icebreaker ship, and studio-recorded voice stuff. Luc Ferrari passed away a couple years ago and was kind of the rebel of the musique concrete guys... notably for Presque Rien which is quite great.

2) Anton Webern conducted by Pierre Boulez - Movement 1 of Five Movements for String Quartet op.5 (orchestral version)
I'm definitely into Webern because his pieces simply sound beautiful to me. Serial music can sound arbitrary, but when phrases of dissonant intervals are handled so concisely it makes each note sound essential.

3) Cor Fuhler - Whistelight
Cor also plays piano traditionally and prepared piano. Here he's improvising on analog synth.

4) Derek Bailey - Niigata Snow
Mr. Bailey passed away within the past couple years. A total giant of improvised music. Early on he was inspired by Webern and it's easy to hear how he uses similar dissonant intervallic leaps and phrasing.

5) Bonnie Jones - Body 1
Bonnie also plays as half of the improv duo English with Joe Foster. There's a certain sensibility she has with raw electronic sounds that makes what she does hers... dunno how else to say it.

6) P16.D4 - Half Cut Cows
Ralf Wehowsky also has solo work under the moniker RLW. His body of work is definitely inspiring. His interview on the Paris Transatlantic website is highly recommended for those curious about the philosophy behind his approach.

7) Gastr Del Sol - 20 Songs Less 7" side B
First thing I heard of Gastr Del Sol, purchased from the Teen Beat catalog. Officially started me on the slippery slope of experimental music. A beguiling combo of song and musique concrete courtesy of David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke.

8) Sachiko M / Toshimaru Nakamura / Otomo Yoshihide - Good Afternoon
Pushing boundaries of sonic and non-linear approaches to musical material. Probably difficult to get into initially, but rewarding. What is music anyways? What makes it communicative or not?

9) John Cage performed by David Tudor - Music For Piano 27
David Tudor should get just as much credit as Cage for his interpretations of the material.

10) Lionel Marchetti - La Viste Des Morts (Etude Chantante)
A modern musique concrete-er.

11) Kevin Drumm / Lasse Marhaug - Frozen by Blizzard Winds track 2
These guys are also known for unleashing full-on Noise music. Here they're a bit more restrained though no less intense. Drumm is on electric guitar and synth, Marhaug uses laptop.