Bricolage Music Club

Nov 09: Sad Hulk's Car Jamz

noreply@blogger.com (Hayden Childs) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:38:00 +0000

HULK: HULK VULNERABLE! PUNY LADY SMASH HULK HEART! HULK MAKE MIX CD TO LET HEALING BEGIN! YOU COME ALONG FOR RIDE WHILE HULK VENT HURT FEELINGS! HULK'S SMARTCAR HAVE PLENTY OF ROOM! HULK SAVING PLANET! BUT WHO SAVE HULK?

Song #1: "Who Is The Silliest Rossi?" - Bird Nest Roys

HULK LOVE UPBEAT SONG. PUT HULK IN GOOD MOOD! LA LA LA LA!

Song #2: "Sea Of Heartbreak" - Don Gibson

Song #3: "Goodbye Baby" - Jack Scott

HULK NEED MOMENT. (SIGH) HULK LYING WHEN HULK SUGGEST HULK CAREFREE. HULK IN PAIN, PUNY HUMAN. HULK-SIZE PAIN.

Song #4: "Life's Little Ups and Downs" - Charlie Rich

Song #5: "Withered & Died" - Richard & Linda Thompson

HULK NEED HUG. BUT HULK CRUSH ALL WHO TRY TO HUG HULK. HULK FACING CONUNDRUM.

Song #6: "Please Don't Leave Me Lonely" - Kelly Hogan

Song #7: "Love Letters" - Ketty Lester

PUNY WOMAN NEVER LIKE HULK CALL HER PUNY. HURT HER PUNY FEELINGS. THEN SHE, SHE HURT HULK MIGHTY FEELINGS. NOW HULK PUNY! ONLY ON INSIDE! STILL MIGHTY ON OUTSIDE! HULK STILL MIGHTY HULK WHERE IT COUNT! NOT TALKING ABOUT PENIS!

Song #8: "I'll Always Know" - Merle Haggard

Song #9: "Who's Been Talking" - Howlin' Wolf

Song #10: "Crazy With Love" - George "Bongo Joe" Coleman

(SIGH) HULK NOTHING BUT FARCE. SONG TELL HULK ABOUT UNIVERSAL PAIN. HULK WANT TO SMASH! BUT HULK CANNOT SMASH WHAT IS WITHIN ALL OF US. HULK MAY READ 'DIANETICS.' HULK FRIEND THOR ALWAYS GOING ON ABOUT IT.

Song #11: "Bicycle Built For Two" - John Fahey

Song #12: "Fater" - Richard Buckner

HULK WEEP MIGHTY TEARS! NOT PUNY TEARS LIKE HUMAN! HULK NO CRY LIKE BABY! DON'T LOOK AT HULK RIGHT NOW!

Song #13: "Blue" - The Jayhawks

Song #14: "Revenge" - Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse with The Flaming Lips

HULK REMEMBER WALKS ON BEACH, SWEET NOTHINGS AT BEDTIME. HULK THINK OF WORDS OF JAMES WRIGHT, WHOM HULK STUDY WHILE WORKING ON MASTER'S FROM NEW COLLEGE: "DEAD RICHES, DEAD HANDS, MOON/DARKENS,/AND I AM LOST IN BEAUTIFUL WHITE RUIN/OF AMERICA." HULK VERKLEMPT.

Song #15: "How Will You Love Me?" - Nina Nastasia & Jim White

HULK GROW WEARY OF WHINING. BUT HULK NOT READY TO HULK UP AND FACE REALITY. HULK WANT PUNY LADY BACK, BUT HULK ALSO WANT TO SMASH HER! BUT HULK NO WANT COURT-ORDERED AGGRESSION COUNSELING AGAIN!

Song #16: "Am I That Easy To Forget?" - Lee Hazlewood & Ann-Margret

AAAARGH! THIS SONG MAKE HULK ANGRY! HIT FAST-FORWARD BUTTON! YOU REALLY WOULDN'T LIKE HULK WHEN HULK ANGRY!

Song #17: "Isn't Life Strange?" - The Clientele

NOOOOOOOO! AAAAARGH!

Song #18: "Bright Side" - The Soft Pack

Song #19: "Touch Senstitive" - The Fall

Banner: Hey, I'm Bruce Banner. That whiny bitch Hulk still going on about what's-her-face? What a pussy, huh? What's he playing here, his mix tape of crybaby shit? Big green pussy-whipped bitch. I swear, one day I'm going to toss this thing and load this stereo up with some real music. By which I mean hair metal from the 80s. 'Cause, who doesn't love a power ballad, am I right? Jesus, listen to this shit. Hulk is such a Pitchfork wussyboy.

Song #20: "Love Goes On!" - The Go-Betweens

Song #21: "How Can You Be So Beautiful?" - Club Wig

Anyway, my plan is to hit all the right clubs to get into some strange tonight. You ready for the nonstop action that comes with being my wingman? I have picked up a few tips on how to make the ladies go crazy for you from that tv show about how to make the ladies go crazy for guys. Only one rule! But it's a firm one: no fucking Arabs. I hate those terrorist camel-lovers, am I right? We should have let Cheney bomb that place back to the Stone Age when we had a chance! Ha! That would have been totally awesome. Hey, I heard this hilarious fucking joke about wetbacks on Jeff Dunham the other nigh---- AAARGHH, NO! NOT YET! NOOOOOOOO!

Song #22: "I Remember Me" - Silver Jews

Song #23: "Can You Whoop It?" - The Dexateens

HULK: HULK SORRY ABOUT THAT! BANNER GO CRAZY AFTER 9/11. WATCH FOX NEWS ALL DAY AND BUY GIRLS GONE WILD VIDEOS! HULK FEEL SORRY FOR BANNER! BUT HULK ALSO HATE BANNER! BANNER RACIST! CALL HULK 'BOOGER JOCKEY'! WHAT THAT ABOUT? HULK NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!

Song #24: "Love, Love, Love (Everyone)" - Akron/Family

HULK TREAT HEARTBREAK AS LEARNING EXPERIENCE. HULK FRIEND CAPTAIN AMERICA SAY WHAT DON'T KILL HULK MAKE HULK MORE MIGHTY. NOTHING KILL HULK! THAT WHY HULK MIGHTIEST OF ALL! HULK SMASH PUNY FEELINGS!

Song #25: "Bein' Green" - Rowlff The Dog

WHY HULK END WITH THIS SONG? IT SADDEST SONG OF ALL! HULK SO STUPID SOMETIMES! WHY HULK HOOK UP WITH PUNY HUMAN LADY IN FIRST PLACE? HULK NO NEED WOMEN TO BE ANGRY-HAPPY! HULK JUST NEED SUMMER DAY AND PUNY THINGS TO SMASH! HULK PERSPECTIVE ALL SKEWED! THIS MAKE HULK ANGRY! HULK SMASH PUNY SMARTCAR! HULK SMASH PUNY MIXTAPE! HULK--- AAAAAARGH! NOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOO!

Banner: Hey, I'm back! And I brought spray-on tan for everyone!

Bonus disc: SAD HULK'S BONG HITS

1. "Message" - Boris

2. "Divinations" - Mastodon

3. "Godspeed (Edit)" - Earthless

4. "Holy Tears" - Isis

5. "Death Goes To The Winner" - Harvey Milk

6. "Rise To Glory" - Earth

7. "Sun Stoned" - Spirit Caravan

8. "Spaceship Broken-Parts Needed" - Pelican

9. "Healer" - Torche

10. "Holy Mountain" - Sleep

11. "Bhimas' Theme" - Om

12. "On Form And Growth" - Turing Machine

13. "Wailing Wintry Wind" - Baroness

Ponderosa Stomp-The film

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:15:00 +0000

Bricolagem

noreply@blogger.com (d#) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:52:00 +0000

1. Tá Falado - Orquestra Contemporânea de Olinda

A terrific new band from Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil. They have a full brass section and listen to lots of Afro-pop.

2. Eternamente - Walter Franco

Walter Franco was not a Tropicalista, but his output from the early 1970s fits with the kinds of experimentation the tropicalistas were doing.

3. Vale do Jucá - Siba e a fuloresta do samba

This is a ciranda, a round dance that resembles the jewish wedding standard the hora. Most cirandas are more lightweight, not haunting like this one.

4. Cachaça - Songo

This is a Pernambucan band doing a carimbó, a dance style from the delta of the Amazon. This carimbó demands that the listener stop worrying and start drinking cachaça, assuring that it’s okay, no one will get drunk, really.

5. Roendo as unhas - Paulinho da Viola

This is an atypical samba by Paulinho da Viola, who is known as a somewhat traditionalist sambista who has been playing classy, bossa-inflected sambas since the 1960s.

My samba doesn't care that I'm alone
Walking, gnawing my nails at dawn

My samba doesn't care if I don't pull off a rhyme
If I pick up my guitar, it falls out of tune

My samba doesn't care if I don't have love
If I give my heart away like this, indiscriminately

My samba doesn't care if I disappear
If I disappear, If I disappear, If
If I tell a lie, and don't repent

6. Mã - Tom Zé

I don't know any other sambas that harbor such dread and paranoid adrenaline, especially when the refrain "Nice baptism. Put the baby in the water. Nice baptism" comes in. It makes me think of a parade that has gone wrong and gotten tense.

7. Cobrinha - Tiné

This is as close as you can get to counterpoint in a samba. I think it has a little Cuban charanga influence in it. Tiné is from Arcoverde, a small town far from the beach, in the arid interior of Pernambuco.

The lyrics, as far as I understand them, are about a poker game that gets violent. The verse reviews how you can tell the difference between a venomous snake and a harmless fake. The chorus chronicles the knife fight (after one of the players is determined to be a real threat).

8. Cuidado com a outra - Nelson Cavaquinho

I'm going to open the door
One more time
You can come in
It's mother's day
So I've decided to forgive you

9. Hulla-hulla - Rita Lee

This is from Rita Lee, lead singer of Os Mutantes from her 1970 solo record Build Up. The Lee in Rita Lee comes from General Lee--Rita was from one of many families of southerners who moved to Brazil after the confederacy fell.

I'm going to an island
Somewhere out in the Pacific Ocean
There, one day, strange foreign beings descended
And modified all of the nature present in the area

Hulla-Hulla, let's go there
Coca-cola in a coconut will do
Hulla-Hulla, let's dance
With the beautiful people from there

There, the rubber trees grow even higher
And produce a flavorful gum that the young people chew
To the rhythm of the new dance
That the strange beings taught them

Chewing gum, let's chew
Hulla-Rock, let's dance
It's fun to sway
With the beautiful people from there

And thanks to the strange beings
Fruit now grows as ice cream
And the amazing birds that brought them
Transport the people in their bellies
And from their windows one can contemplate all of paradise

Boeing-Boeing, let's fly
Up above, let's look
Everyone will put on a play for us
But we will return

Hulla-Hulla, let's go there
Coca-cola in a coconut will do
Hulla-Hulla, let's dance
With the beautiful people from there

10. Homem da gravata florida - Jorge Ben

This is from the period in Jorge Ben's career when he was really into writing songs about alchemy. This one isn't about that, though. Instead, for some random reason, it is praising a guy who has a really loud floral tie.

There goes the man with the floral tie
My God in heaven! What a beautiful tie!
What a sensational tie
Look at the details of this tie
What a combination of colors
What tropical perfection
What a beautiful rose
Turquoise unfolding
Over cloves
And the daisies, the daisies
Lovely with jasmin
This is not just a tie
This tie is an essay
On the harmony of beautiful things
It's a hanging garden
Around the neck
Of a nice, happy man
Happy, happy, because with that tie
Even an ugly man becomes a prince
Nice, nice, nice
Because with that tie
He is expected and well received
He is adored anywhere
Wherever he passes, flowers and loves are born
With a sweet floral tie
Like this, life is beautiful to live.
Even me, even me, even me.

11. Jorge de capadócia - Caetano Veloso (song by Jorge Ben)

I am wearing the clothes and armor of St. George
So that my enemies have feet, and can't reach me
So that my enemies have hands, and can't touch me
So that my enemies have eyes, and can't see me
And they won't even be able to have thoughts that will do me any harm
Firearms won't reach my body
Knives and swords will break without even touching me
Ropes will break, without tying me up
Because I am wearing the clothes and armor of St. George
George is from Capadócia
Long live George!

12. Pirâmides - Walter Franco

13. Ai que saudade dessa nega - Ed Lincoln

Oh, how I miss that girl.

14. Ciranda enrustida - Acadêmia da Berlinda

Acadêmia da Berlinda has a history a lot like Grupo Fantasma had in Austin, Texas. In both cases, musicians with other projects came together to get drunk and make people dance. The other parallel is that much of Academia's stuff is a Pernambucan take on the cumbia. There are members of the Orquestra Contemporânea de Olinda in the band, as well as the drummer of the Nação Zumbi.

15. Que beleza - Tim Maia

This tune was recorded in 1976 by Tim Maia during the six months that he was in the "Racional" cult. At that time, he was at his peak vocally, but all the lyrics are about the importance of reading a book called "Universe in Disenchantment." He and his family disavowed the record for decades until just recently, so it became a favorite for crate-digging Brazilians and visitors. Lots and lots of Brazilian hip-hop tracks have samples from this record.

16. Adeus Maria fulô - Os Mutantes

Os Mutantes doing a classic late 1940s baião by Luis Gonzaga.

17. A chegada de Zé do Né na Lagoa de Dentro - Cordel do Fogo Encantado

"The Arrival of Zé do Né to the inner lagoon." Zé do Né is a cowherder, who sings "aboio" cowherding songs. Oooo nostalgia, he sings. For the longest time, I thought that inner lagoon was an imagined place, but found out recently that it is actually on the map, and that the aboio sample was recorded there.

18. 12 linhas - Siba e a fuloresta do samba

In every head, a world
Every life, a manuscript
Every idea, a reading
Every chapter, a story
For every page of glory
Has a stain that invades
For every voice of truth
Another says: maybe it isn't
For every mouth that kisses
There is another that prays for plague
For every hand that caresses
There is another hand that stones

In every face a tear
In every tear a sorrow
In every crime an author
Whose name is unknown
In every hit/coup suffered
Resentment is generated
In every year of waiting
A patient one tires
In every voice of vengeance
A threatening shout
And in every day that passes
There goes our hope

19. Me deixe mudo - Walter Franco

"It leaves me mute." This tune was performed at one of the early 1970s televised song festivals during the time when censorship and repression was strong. As opposed to others, like Chico Buarque, who used double meanings masterfully in their songs to try to get around the censors, Franco took a pointillist approach, his song gradually emerging from silence.

20. Aquele lugar (samba) - Seu Ismael

This is the only field recording of mine that I've included. I know, it's painfully ethnomusicological, but there was an old guy playing on his porch next to our apartment with a little amp with a blown-out speaker. His name turned out to be Seu Ismael, and he didn't mind me recording.

21. Festa no coco - Tiné w/ Coco Raízes

This is samba de coco.

Almost there

noreply@blogger.com (d#) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:54:00 +0000

Hello all--

Don't give up on me! I'm burning the mixes right now as I type. My computer has been in the shop three times in the last five weeks, so I haven't been able to send it off yet. I'm happy with it. I gathered my favorite Brazilian songs, old and new, with a bias toward the state of Pernambuco.

Summer Mixes

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:19:00 +0000

I have been hooked on these all summer. Really fantastic and so much stuff I haven't heard before.

Hot Scrub 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 06:29:00 +0000

Hey Folks, here is a new summer mix for you!
http://drop.io/hotscrub2009/chronological#
Texas Summer 2009

Francisco Lupica's Cosmic Beam Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Trey) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:07:00 +0000

Lose Weight The Satchmo Way!

noreply@blogger.com (Nolamike) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:02:00 +0000

Louis Armstrong was greatly concerned with his health and bodily functions. He made frequent use of laxatives as a means of controlling his weight, a practice he advocated both to personal acquaintances and in the diet plans he published under the title Lose Weight the Satchmo Way. Armstrong's laxative of preference in his younger days was Pluto Water, but he then became an enthusiastic convert when he discovered the herbal remedy Swiss Kriss. He would extol its virtues to anyone who would listen and pass out packets to everyone he encountered, including members of the British Royal Family. (Armstrong also appeared in humorous, albeit risqué, advertisements for Swiss Kriss; the ads bore a picture of him sitting on a toilet — as viewed through a keyhole — with the slogan "Satch says, 'Leave it all behind ya!'")

DANCING MANIA!

noreply@blogger.com (Nolamike) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:58:00 +0000

Dancing mania (or choreomania) was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 18th centuries; it involved groups of people, sometimes thousands at a time, who danced uncontrollably and bizarrely, seemingly possessed by the devil. Men, women, and children would dance through the streets of towns or cities, sometimes foaming at the mouth until they collapsed from fatigue.

One of the first major outbreaks was in Aachen, Germany, on June 24, 1374; the populace danced wildly through the streets, screaming of visions and hallucinations, and even continued to writhe and twist after they were too exhausted to stand. The dancing mania quickly spread throughout Europe, said to be "propagated in epidemic fashion by sight" by Dr. Justus Hecker.

Having occurred to thousands of people across several centuries, dancing mania was not a local event, and was, therefore, well-documented in contemporary writings. More outbreaks were reported in the Netherlands, Cologne, Metz, and later Strasbourg (Dancing Plague of 1518), apparently following pilgrimage routes.

Super Van

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:59:00 +0000

July 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Nolamike) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Jeez, the pressure was on, since we've had so many great discs in a row. I had a working list of about 4 hours of stuff, and editing it down was a real pain. Some of that was decided by dropping tracks that I thought others might already have; otherwise, I picked my opener and then just went song-by-song, thinking, "Hmmm, what will sound kinda jarring after that last one, but somehow still hopefully sound good together?" Of course, that song-by-song approach kinda destroyed the overall feel of the disc, and led to a totally haphazard sequencing, which is front-loaded with a bunch of long songs, and crammed with a bunch of short stuff at the end, but what the heck, you can listen to it one or two tracks at a time and it'll be great (um, I hope). My consumption of significant amounts of rum during the editing process didn't help, either. And somehow, despite my recent all-consuming quest to acquire all of the Motown Complete Singles sets, I didn't include anything from the series. Oh well, maybe next time. As it is, I hope y'all enjoy some of the stuff on here, and hey, I've already started on the next disc, so if you don't like this one, there's always next time.

1. Maulawai - "Street Rap"

This track is from '74. The band was outta Chicago, and only had one album. Chicago was pretty much the jazz hotbed of the early 70s, at least as far as somewhat out-there stuff goes (although Sun Ra left right before things started booming). I figure I included a track on my last disc with fake party sounds, I might as well include one with fake sounds from the streets of a ghetto. Good times!

2. lil' Bob & the Lollipops - "I Got Loaded"

A good few of y'all probably already have this tune, but what the hey. A classic Louisiana (of course) track. It's genius in its simplicity. And considering that I got a little loaded (on a bottle of rum, on a bottle of rum) while assembling this disc, it fits right in. Los Lobos covered it at JazzFest this year, which for me was one of the highlights of my day at the fairgrounds.

3. Raymond Scott - "Wheels That Go"

By the same Raymond Scott whose 1920s stuff was used in all of the Looney Tunes stuff. He hated the idea of musicians improvising, and hated the inevitability of humans being human and erring. So, he built himself a whole bunch of proto-synthesizers and computers in the 40s and 50s, and started programming all of these strange early electronic pieces. He also did a lot of commercials during this time, which are pretty fascinating to listen to nowadays.

4. Esther Phillips - "From a Whisper to a Scream"

This version is better than the Allen Toussaint originals, in my opinion. She had a killer voice, but for much of her career, was stuck with really crappy production,although her super early stuff, while a teenager billed as Little Esther, is great. Of course, that early career also led her to develop a heroin addiction in her early teens. After she moved over to Creed Taylor's Kudu label (which I'm starting to get semi-obsessed with, at least due to it being the sister label to his jazz-oriented CTI label), she started working with Pee Wee Ellis, who had just quit James Brown's band. He gave her some great arrangements, and helped her a bit with song selection (she dominates Gil Scott Heron's "Home Is Where the Hatred Is"). At any rate, she's awesome. The heroin eventually caught up with her, though, and finished her off at a far-too-young age.

5. Sam Rivers - "Tranquility"

See what I mean about this disc being frontloaded with long stuff? This is from the album Crystals, which involves a band of 68 people! The beginning doesn't really hint at that, with that nice little tuba, bass and percussion groove, joined by Sam's flute before long. Then, gradually, all hell starts breaking loose with those insanely tense horn sections coming in. How it got the title "Tranquility" is anybody's guess, but it sure don't sound tranquil to me.

Sam, by the way, is still alive and kicking (and recording) at the age of 90 or so. He actually played a bit with some of the 40s Kansas City folks (Basie, Charlie Parker, etc), moved on to do a bunch of 50s R&B, started collaborating with Hendrix shortly before he croaked (but didn't record any of it, the bastard), and started the whole "loft" jazz scene in New York in the early 70s, where he had a huge role in spawning the careers of a bunch of folks like Anthony Braxton. Check him out; he's a fascinating guy. Oh, and this featured track is from the 70s.

6. Hurray For the Riffraff - "Here It Comes"

These folks are from New Orleans. I kinda wanna hate them, because they're gutter punks, and you know how gutter punks are. They're really good, though, so I'll tolerate 'em. The lead singer and banjo player actually busks with a bunch of old trad jazz guys in the French Quarter, and apparently has some serious chops. Besides that, though, her voice is waaaay better than a 22 year old gutter punk should have.

7. Suicide - "Dream Baby Dream"

From their second album. Bruce Springsteen actually covered it; when I first heard about that, I was all, like, "Huh?," but then actually hearing him do it, it makes perfect sense. Vega's vocals are (as always) a extremely dramatic, but on this song, it works.

8. Enrico Caruso - "Chiudo Gil Occhi (The Dream Song)"

Oh yeah, poppin' the Bricolage opera cherry. This track goes out to all those Fitzcarraldo lovers, a movie in which the tune features prominently. I love that repetitive, tinkly little piano part, which seems to fit in so well with the previous Suicide track (er, ok, at least I think so). Caruso had a great voice (really, Mike?), and there is a beautiful timelessness with the vocal sound that still sounds great, despite all of the surface noise (which kinda adds a nice element to the music, in my opinion).

9. Zwabesho Sibisi – “Angihambe”

This track was recorded in South Africa in the 30s or 40s, but somehow sounds thoroughly modern to my ears. Cool, ain't it?

10. Barbara Lynn – “Thanks I Get”

I looooove Barbara Lynn. She came outta Beaumont, TX in the early 60s, as a left-handed guitarist/singer who initially wanted to be a black girl Elvis. She got together with Huey Meaux, the crazy Cajun, as a teenager, and went on to cut a bunch of great songs, including Oh Baby (We Got a Good Thing Going), which the Stones covered on one of their first albums, and "You'll Lose a Good Thing," which Freddy Fender had a #1 hit with in the 70s. She left Huey in '65 or so, did one album on Atlantic in '68 (which is about to see its first release on disc/digital), and "disappeared." Turns out she was just working the club scene in Beaumont. She's been playing all over the place again since '91 or thereabouts, and just puts on one helluva live show. At any rate, this song (recorded with Meaux) destroys. Gotta love that she's a teenager on this.

11. Lucia Pamela – “In The Year 2,000!!!”

She was Ms. St. Louis, 1928. Then in the 50s, she decided she wanted to be a musician, even though she couldn't play anything, so she recorded a bunch of stuff one beat at a time, then sang like hell about being on the moon.

12. Cheeky Blakk – “Lemme Get That Outcha"

This track is not suitable for kids. I figure if Matt could include a New Orleans bounce track on his last disc (which was awesome, by the way), I could put one on mine. This is from '92 or so. Oh, bounce....

13. The Kronos Quartet/Moondog – “Synchrony No. 2”

A beautiful piece of music. Oh yeah.

14. Lee Moses – “Diana (From N.Y.C.)”

Poor Lee Moses. The guy was the guitar player for Gladys Knight; when she signed with Motown, he bowed out, deciding he wanted to find a gig where he could be the lead singer as well as guitarist. He went to New York to find fame and fortune, and ended up doing a bunch of session work, in which Hendrix was the other guitar player. He did get to cut a handful of singles, though, and put out one full length album. After they went nowhere (largely due to being on a crappy label with no promotion), he moved back to Atlanta, where he worked as an auto mechanic for a long time... In the early 90s, people started looking for him to start including some of his tracks on compilations, etc., but he had died months before he was "found," meaning that he went to the grave thinking he had been completely forgotten.

Enough of that, though, how about the music? This song is just so full of joy, I can't help but crank it up every time I hear it. It makes me wish my name were Diana. I highly, highly, highly recommend picking up the disc compiling all of his songs.

15. Albert Ayler – “Our Prayer”

This is from the Village Vanguard recordings. The funny thing with Ayler is that his live output is vastly superior to the actual albums, one of the few artists you can say that about. He was somewhat infatuated by early New Orleans street and parade sounds, which is somewhat represented on this track, but not as on some (much longer) pieces like "Truth is Marching In." He's easily my favorite jazz artist lately. This track was written by his brother Don, whose sextet will likely be on my next disc.

16. Sister Gertrude Morgan – “God’s Word Will Never Pass Away”

She was a preacher and spiritual healer in New Orleans in the 60s. She did a whole bunch of cool folk art as well, much of it painted on the styrofoam trays that prepackaged grocery store meat comes on. Love that voice, and she was a helluva tambourine player (I guess).

17. C.L. Blast – “What Can I Do”

My last disc included a Wardell Quezerque production; this is another one. The guy produced hundreds of New Orleans singles, and I've yet to find a bad one. I love how he weaves various sounds in and out (the strings, the clavichord, etc.).

As for C.L. Blast, he bounced around a bunch of Southern soul labels in the 60s, even putting out a couple on Stax in its early days.

18. Antonia Pingitore – “O Giglio e Beni Constrastatu”

Everybody knows the stuff that Alan Lomax recorded around the South, but he also went to Italy and did a bunch of field recordings there. This is one of 'em. Dig that accordion, and the absolutely desperate vocals.

19. Irma Thomas – “She’ll Never Be Your Wife”

Shannon included Swamp Dogg on his last (also awesome) disc. This is a Swamp Dogg production, from a 1971 album recorded at Muscle Shoals. Apparently, Duane Allman is on guitar on this tune. Anyway, Irma sounds defiant as hell here, especially the breakdown where the music stops and she tells it like it is.

There's another track on the same album that was on my short list for this one (but being 12 minutes long, I just couldn't fit it on), where she has a long spoken intro, in which she describes cheating on her man with a bunch of other guys until her back is sore, and then goes on to compare her vagina to a diamond. Crazy! She definitely didn't play that one at her annual Mother's Day show at Audubon Zoo...

20. Rev. Utah Smith – “Two Wings”

Another New Orleans preacher, this one from the 50s. Guy could shred. Also, he wore a giant pair of white wings during his services. Ernie K-Doe called him the greatest showman he had ever seen (I'm guessing other than Ernie himself). Dig it!

21. Ubud Gamelan – “Gender Wayang”

Because everybody needs one minute of gamelan in their life. I actually prefer the slower style of gamelan, but oh well...

22. Doris Duke – “I Don’t Care Anymore”

Another Swamp Dogg production. The most pathetic song of all time? Unlike Irma, Doris just doesn't give a crap. It coulda been a great country song, albeit a little risque (maybe Jeanne C. Riley coulda done it).

23. Mark Wirtz – “Grocer Jack (Excerpt from a Teenage Opera)”

Mark was in the band Tomorrow, and was given a little time to play around in the studio while the band was disintegrating. He came up with this odd little track, which became a huge hit in Britain, and led to his having to actually come up with "A Teenage Opera" from which this thing had supposedly been excerpted, even though that tag was just for shits and giggles. I'm a sucker for children's choruses....

Hope y'all dug it.

Elvis American Trilogy

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:50:00 +0000

Veracruz Harp

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:19:00 +0000

José Gutiérrez and Los Hermanos Ochoa perform "La Bamba"

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:17:00 +0000

Los Gaiteros

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:13:00 +0000

Byard Lancaster you fools!

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:04:00 +0000

I am done ripping off now.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:09:00 +0000

I have stolen this from http://cherylwagner.tumblr.com

MJ Second Line

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:32:00 +0000

RIP Sky

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:23:00 +0000

Chopped and Screwed

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:58:00 +0000

Vuvuzela Orchestra

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:56:00 +0000

Vuvuzela Orchestra @ Mandela Challenge 2007 from Pedro Espi-Sanchis on Vimeo.

Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:34:00 +0000

Berimbau da Bahia

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:30:00 +0000

Disco Samba!

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:04:00 +0000

and again

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:52:00 +0000