Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Cassette Commotion 3 : Blues Before Sunrise part 2...




So here is the 3rd installment of the "Cassette Commotion" radio show, where I once again delve into  my long abandoned box of cassettes. On this program we hear another of the many tapes that I made containing various songs I recorded many moons ago from the wonderfully unique and educational radio program, "Blues Before Sunrise" (hosted by Steve Cushing).

Each week, in the wee hours of Sunday morning (midnight - 5am) this awesome show is broadcast on certain stations (HERE is a list of the stations that broadcast it). The program showcases obscure blues records from way back when (the early 1900's to the late 60's mostly). I discovered the show quite a while back and started taping the episodes to collect some of the fascinating songs and rare pieces of American musical history. The show still airs to this day. Just look up one of those public radio stations on that list above and you can listen online (just stay up late one Saturday night!) ...


Many of the shows are themed (rain, Halloween, coffee, whiskey, ice and snow, ) and on parts of this particular cassette I caught 2 themed shows:

1. songs about floods
2. songs about the moon


(The last program only featured one side of a BBS cassette, but this month you get to hear all 90 minutes ... whoopeeee!!! )


Anyway, this is just one example of the many cassettes I have of the show (unfortunately I didn't tape any of the host, Steve Cushing's inbetween banter which is always extremely interesting and insightful) Also, I didn't catch the artists and titles for some of the tracks, so if yer a Blues expert and can enlighten me, it'd be greatly appreciated!


So here it is ... Part 2 of the Blues Before Sunrise edition of "Cassette Commotion!" ... ENJOY  =












You may downloadthe cassette RIGHT HERE.





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>>>and now ... some Random News<<<







1st up, Ryan and I turned 2 years old as of yesterday!
Hurrah!!!




2ndly, Wes Anderson created these awesome "Moonrise Kingdom" playlists for 8 of the film's characters!Check em all out HERE.





3rdly say no to fracking in Alabama!It will end up RUINING our water!!!
Take action HERE.






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 >>>>>>>VIDEOS ARE NOW<<<<<<<







Keith Goodwin posted these wonderfully whimsical bit containing  monkeys and synethesizers ... thanks, Keith!



Witness a nutty experiment by DIIV



And here's some visual (and audible!) deliciousness from Sleigh Bells









>>>Dessert is NOW!<<<








Peter sent me this hilariously epic video called "Star Wars Uncut" ... Grab some popcorn and GET READY!!! Cheers, Pee Wee!



And this Queens Of The Stone Age video from yesteryear always cracks me up




















Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Unexplained Lights Mix




So, this past Saturday (May 19th) night, my twin brother Peter witnessed something pretty incredible and strange ... Here's Peter himself to tell you all about it :


i was at a wedding reception this past Saturday talking with some friends (around 9:45 pm) when i thought i saw the lights of a plane in the tree-line right over their heads. then i realized that there were a LOT of lights, all whitish yellow in the sky, drifting slow and silent from left to right at the same speed in a huge formation. i pointed this out to my friends saying "holy shit! do y'all see that?"

 i then i ran around the house and backyard like a mad man telling everyone to come out and see it. soon about 30 of us were all looking up watching these things parade across the sky.

i called my brother in the middle of it, breathless and excited and told him what was happening. the lights continued to float that way for nearly 15 minutes dwindling in their numbers till after a while there were only one or two every minute or so. it was truly one of the strangest things i have ever seen in my life. 




Wow!!! The 1st thing I asked Peter was whether or not anyone there had filmed the lights. He said that several people there were at least attempting to ...
 
But the next day, we never found any video  evidence of the occurrence in Birmingham whatsoever, nor did we see anything about it on the news. How odd.

At first, I wondered if what he and everyone else there had seen might have possibly been Chinese lanterns, but later Peter sent me multiple videos he found on Youtube of the exact same lights he'd seen, all recorded on the night of May 19th, but in various parts of the country.




What exactly were / are these lights?!!
Have a look at the following videos from an array of different US cities ...


A. Katy, Texas



B. Macedon, New York



C. Minneapolis, Minnesota



D. Clovis, California




The whole thing is very strange, but very exciting to me ... Maybe one day soon we'll find out what all these unexplained lights are and where they come from ... Until then, enjoy the Unexplained Lights Mix and (as my brother says) keep your eyes to the sky!!!






You may download mix HERE.





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<<<Random News>>>




1st up, the very innovative musician, Nicolas Jaar put together a rather awesome "Essential Mix" for BBC Radio. You should give it a listen RIGHT HERE.



Also, my long-distance friend Toko Yasuda, who was once the bass player for the amazing band Enon now has an incredible solo project called PlVs Vltra. She's about to release her 1st album, too! Check out her website HERE!



And the wonderful Karma DeGruy sent me this link to Russia's creepiest and most dangerous playgrounds ... Thanks, Karma! I wish I could visit these places! You can have a look at 'em RIGHT HERE.






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 >>>>>>>VIDEOS ARE NOW<<<<<<<








1st up, this guy turned Radiohead's album Kid A into 8-bit Atari music! Dig ...



Grass Widow's new album "Internal Logic" will be released out May 29th! Here's the trailer they made for it!



Nicolas Jaar (as mentioned above) and Dave Harrington have a project called Darkside.
Dig it =



Haha ... This "kids version" of the Beastie Boys' Sabotage is a tribute to the late/great MCA 



Chris Stewart sent me this bizarro ritualistic bit by a group called Phedre and it's called "Aphrodite" ... thanks, Chris!



Listen as the one & only Tom Waits narrates this documentray called
A Brief History Of John Baldessari









>>>Time to tickle that funny bone with some dessert!<<<






Ryan sent me both of these ... Gracias!


A. one laughing camel



B. one "stupped" dog trapped by many cans ... haha





























Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Focal Point : Candy Claws




For the month of May I decided to focus on the lush, serene and very other-worldy soundscapes of the ethereal group, Candy Claws.



Candy Claws may be from Fort Collins Colorado, but they sound like they're from another dimension. I find it pretty difficult to actually describe the band's beautiful music. One review says that they give a sonic and aesthetic impression that they're roaming landscapes and seascapes with their "breathy, childish, girl-boy vocals and lyrics that become incomprehensible beneath a haze of twinkling synths and clever replications of horseshoe clip-clops."



Interestingly, a Pitchfork.com review reveals that "the lyrics of (their album) Hidden Lands were composed by running Richard M. Ketchum's The Secret Life of the Forest back and forth into a translation program, and Candy Claws took notice of how the slightest changes could lead you to think differently about otherwise prosaic phrases. Those whispered words bleed into the sonic fabric of clippity-clop percussion, Theremin-like swoops, and aqueous keyboard textures, but it's almost like the music itself has undergone some transformation that makes it sound distinctly alien and out-of-time."


Listening to Candy Claws is like entering into an intensely dream-like and soothing world.


Last year the band even did a TV series called "In Dreamland" (You can view some example of it below) ... This year, they are hard at work on their 3rd album. On their blog they recently revealed that "it’s called Ceres & Calypso in the Deep Time, and it’s about the Mesozoic Era."


Exciting!!!

And now, may I present to you for your celestial entertainment ... Candy Claws

ENJOY.







You may download the mix HERE.





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 >>>>>>>VIDEOS ARE NOW<<<<<<<




Well 1st of all, let's stay "on theme" and watch some wonderful Candy Claws videos!



"The Breathing Fire"





 "Silent Time Of Earth"




"Catamoran"

 


Here is the "In Dreamland" (the band's TV show) trailer  :

And here is Episode 1 :


Episode 2 :



You can view all of the past episodes of the show RIGHT HERE.






>>>MORE VIDEOS AHEAD!!!<<<





Here is the amazing new one by my friend, Pascal's band, Balthrop Alabama and it was directed by another friend of mine, artist Dustin Timbrook ... such talented people! Here here!!!




Now for some spacey psychedelia via Hollow Stars







 This new Magnetic Fields video is an odd combination of strange and cute ...





And this one by Father John Misty is a strange combination of calm and violent





Here's an old one by The Knife that may or may not give you nightmares ... haha










>>>Time to tickle that funny bone with some dessert!<<<





Ryan posted this 'un (thanks!) called "Ratchet Girl Anthem" and it's ridiculously funny






And finally, here is a trio of videos from the bizarre Everything Is Terrible    site, and I'll venture to say that they're actually more scary (and MENTAL) than they are funny ...


ENJOY "Voyage 2 Gilgamesh" parts 1, 2 and 3