Executive Slacks

Uh, I play guitar. And I may be out of a job soon, so I'd be free to tour. Just in case you need someone.

I'll be at 12" Bar tonight for this month's Archives Listening Project. We're playing Danger Mouse's Grey Album at 9pm and then DJing for the rest of the night. Admission is free. 12" is on Essex, just below Houston.

The Grey Album caused a bit of a storm when it came out, charges of copyright violations and so on. As modern as that sounds, I was just reading about Bill Buchanan and Dickie Goodman, who set off a copyright controversy of their own back in 1956. They were struggling songwriters when Goodman came up with the idea of incorporating other songs into their own song, and the sample was born.

"The Flying Saucer, Parts 1 & 2" was a fake news broadcast about UFOs which sampled the hit songs of the day. For example, the newscaster says, "And now I believe we're about to hear the words of the first spaceman ever to land on earth," to which a sample of Little Richard cuts in with "A WOP BOP A LOO MOP A LOP BAM BOOM." Oddly enough, this "break-in record" (as it was called) became a Top 10 hit and even spawned more hit songs which followed along the same theme. Buchanan and Goodman ended up being sued for copyright violation by over 30 different record companies, but a judge ruled in favor of the novelty duo.

I actually haven't heard the song and any searches for an online copy turned up nothing. I'm tempted to just buy the record since I've also read they had a habit of putting purposefully bad instrumentals on the b-side just to prevent any DJs from being tempted to flip it over.

For more info on Buchanan and Goodman, you can start here, here, or here.

Bollywood for the Skeptical. I can't say it any better myself. I've never actually watched a Bollywood movie, but most of the music here is pretty good. I downloaded all the songs today so I can go ahead and burn my own cd. "Jaan Pehechaan Ho" (made famous over here by the movie Ghost World) was my initial favorite of the bunch, although "C.A.T... Cat Mane Billi" has really grown on me lately.

A highly recommended local tv show is New York Noise. I happened to catch it both last night as well on Sunday night (Tommy Ramone and the Animal Collective were the respective guests) and it's really good stuff.

The video for Animal Collective's "Who Could Win A Rabbit" stood out as a swirling mess of childish imagery set to psych-folk pop wonder, and an online search for them directed me to the Paw Tracks website. There are no samples of their music there, but there is some stuff for label mate Ariel Pink, whose video "For Kate I Wait" was also aired the same night. I'm not really sure what I thought of him at first -- I couldn't help but think it was the quintessential Beavis and Butthead video -- but the song's actually grown on me and it's been stuck in my head all morning. You can watch the video here or just listen to the song here.

Another video very worthy of attention comes from the Real Tuesday Weld, "Bathtime in Clerkenwell." This one's animated and I can't remember seeing another video which so perfectly matches the visual with the audio. Some of it's obvious, some of it's subtle. I won't say anything further, but you can watch it here.

So Jessica was performing double duty this week. In addition to playing in the below-mentioned show (which I was unable to make), she performed at the Knitting Factory last night as part of the Ambitious Orchestra. Sadly, they started early and I missed the first two songs but what I did get to see was really really cool. A rag tag ensemble of misfits playing traditional orchestra instruments creating this big sound cabaret rock weirdness. They've booked a Thursday night residency at Pianos for the month of June, so you should go see them then.

Two people I used to play with in a band are in a new band together, and they're playing their first show tonight. The Wifebeaters will be at the Lucky Cat (245 Grand St, Brooklyn) tonight at 8pm.

I meant to post about this a few days ago, but Tuning linked to this article about sonic extinction, modern technology's push for silence, and one man's effort of preservation. I think it's pretty interesting.

One of the records available from the label mentioned in the article is The Sounds of the Office, which is kind of like the first step to an idea I had awhile back which involved recording various office machines and then creating tape loops so all of the recordings would play back simultaneously, almost as if it were some sort of corporate symphony. The rhythm of the copiers, the erratic sounds of keyboard typing, the whirring noise of the older pdf machines, and so on. Unfortunately I don't quite have the status which would enable me to walk around the office with a tape recorder and not arouse any hostile suspicion, so I'll just file this one under supposedly great ideas I'll never realize.

I finished up with work yesterday much earlier than anticipated, so I celebrated by making an afternoon trip to Other Music.

JANDEK Ready For The House (Corwood Industries)
I wanted to get a Jandek album, but just picking one is kind of a tough task for an unknown guy who's put out a gazilion records. So I went with this, his very first one, for the sole reason that it contains "Naked in the Afternoon" -- which, according to some website, is one of his most disturbing songs. I can't say it met or failed my expectations, since I had no idea what to expect but I'm not sure I'd consider myself a fan. Sure, the background story is fascinatingly great but this is clearly a case where the mystique oversahdows the music.

V/A Love's A Real Thing: The Funky Fuzzy Sounds of West Africa (Luaka Bop)
For some reason, I tend to be apprehensive toward compilations. I first saw this one in the Virgin Megastore not too long ago and while the theme seemed pretty interesting and I trust the Luaka Bop name, I didn't want to pay the Virgin prices for something I knew nothing about so I passed on it. Earlier this week, a Pitchfork review both reminded me of it and convinced me to get it. Money well spent. The album cover says it's the third installment of the World Psychedelic Series, although I'd contest the psychedelic nature of the music. It's more soul and funk than anything else, although I'm not going to argue semantics here. It's really good. If you follow the link above, they have a pretty cool video for "Minsato Le, Mi Dayihome" by Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou Dahomey, which opens the album.

Speaking of compilations, world music, and psychedelia, does anyone know anything about the Love, Peace, and Poetry series (by Normal Records) I keep seeing in stores? I'm not too interested in the American or British installments, but the Mexican, Brazilian, African, and Japanese ones really intrigue me each time I come across them. Is the series any good?

Ha

Everything sounds better New Orleans jazz style. (found via Tuning)