Wellwellwelcome to the first real deal 2019 posting of BLOG TO COMM, starting off a year that I get the feeling will be even more banal than the previous fifteen or so years of this monstrosity COMBINED! Hope you can stand the thing what with me pretty much having to rely on nothing but oldies and handouts to keep it goin' for quite some time...y'see, the financial situation has become rather skimpy as of late what with me dishing out beaucoup not only for a much-needed dental implant (boy, am I moving up in the world!) but for some major home improvement, mainly gutter guards! Now, that's something which I hope saves me a whole lotta major backaches these upcoming years! Well, it was either that or spend all that money on records and maybe that really fancy stereo system I've wanted all my life, but I think I would be safer falling from a stack of albums than I would falling off the roof. You can tell what kind of logic reels about in my mind with that one.
Cybercrazed-VIRTUAL REALITY CD-r, Funeral of Art-FUGUE OF DEATH CD-r (try writing Otto von Ruggins at 6618 Ovington Court, Brooklyn NY 11204 USA)
Dunno the exact whos/whats and whyfores of these two platters but I must say that these things REALLY GOT ME ALL RIP ROARING AND READY TO GO FOR 2019! Both of 'em have Otto von Ruggins on keyboards and that definitely is Von Lmo on lead drums, but the Funeral of Art thing sounds a whole lot different than the early demos they did in England! The Cybercrazed disque from 1973 has all of the original Kongress plus Sal Maida on bass guitar and it sounds just as wild as those snippets of yore that have been flying around for quite some time. A female vocalist chants and coos through the VIRTUAL REALITY disc and the strains of synth can be heard, so if you are bound to think this in fact must BE Kongress and not some earlier aggregation of the von Ruggins variety you are forgiven. But just watch it this once...
But back to the Funeral of Art effort---its even wilder that such a jaded fanabla like I could think be humanly possible. The varying sound quality of the tracks lead me to believe this is a patchquilt of old rehearsal efforts, but no matter where this originated the power and energy surely shines through. Throw some kraut-esque ragas straight outta Can and Amon Duul II into the mix and you got a platter that gets into maddening heights that might even surpass the later on Kongress free form musical rants that got me all hot and bothered oh so long ago. The fact that this music has remained buried for so long really is criminal I'll tell ya!
Oh yeah, I also got this weirditie of electronic Christmas tunes that were done up by Mr. von Ruggins himself which I will say kinda caught me off guard. All your holiday faves appear here but sheesh, listening to Christmas songs on New Year's Day is pretty much akin to thumbing through your girly book collection a minute or so after having that big bombaroona!
Jan Van Den Dobbelsteen-KRINGLOOP/NEW ADVENTURES LP (Feeding Tube Records)
As usual, these Feeding Tube Records releases (this one included) tend to throw me for one or another proverbial loop! This particular effort has sound sculptor or something like that Jan Ven Den Dobbelsteen creating his own self-playing percussion music that works pretty much on the same principle that Joe Jones' efforts did. Two sides of tinkle and similar sounds of a jangle sort that come close to the flip of that Michael Nyman Obscure Records album from back '75 way. Or maybe Van Den Dobbelsteen just got a bunch of those wind up cymbal-clanging chimpanzees and let 'em go at it for two sides. It's always good hearing these new streakers of the sonic skies who put these definitely post-post Cagean efforts together, especially when they tend to work out fine and not solely as some art grant guzzling scam.
High Rise-TRUTH SERUM '87 CD-r burn
Given all of the extreme under-the-underground rock music I've heard these past few decades it's no wonder why a top notch Japanese act like this seems to have fallen into the cracks of my collection. Bad thing, because if you really wanna go for noise of a high energy rock mode High Rise are up there with all those other Far Eastern pearls like Les Rallizes Denudes and other neglected assaults upon the eardrums. Kinda low-fidelity true, but when listening to this over-the-top blast who says you need ears?
DAVE VAN RONK AND THE HUDSON DUSTERS CD-r burn (originally on Verve Folkways)
Never been a fan 'n follower, so it was like I was expecting this Van Ronk-oriented rock attempt to be the funniest things I've experienced since I saw that documentary on rickets. Surprise, it works even with the sappy treatments of two Joni Mitchell songs (tho next to the originator they sure come off rather meaty!). The rest takes the '67 jazz-cum-rock modes and shapes them into things you can take either as a fun goof ("Alley Oop") or straight-ahead drive ("Keep Off the Grass"). Heck, it even ends with a cover of the Holy Modal Rounders fave "Romp Through the Swamp" so you know where Van Ronk's loyalties really lie! Sure it ain't whatcha'd call NUGGETS worthy, but if you liked the Innocence album even without the Meltzer liner notes to give it some under-the-counterculture credo this one just might go down your musical gullet nice 'n smooth!
Eric Arn/Margaret Unknown-PARANZA CORTA LP (Feeding Tube Records)
Feeding Tube has been tossing out some pretty interesting solo acoustic guitar efforts as of late from that early Eugene Chadbourne reissue I've written up a short while back to this effort which ranks as one of the more interesting guitar sets I've heard in quite awhile the Chadbourne one included. The team of Eric Arn and Margaret Unknown (the latter who is a man---sheesh!) play a fiery and driven form of acoustic sprawl that in some parts sounds like those intricate Derek Bailey/Fred Frith efforts on those old GUITAR SOLOS album and at others like a couple of Spanish Flamingo guitarists (don't write in---thassa JOKE! bad pun as it is) having a duel to the death using nothing but their six-stringers! Lotsa nice intricacies and melodic moves to keep your attention throughout. Pretend yer eighteen again and just discovering this stuff in some rancid dorm and it'll all work out fine. Hashish not included.
Various Artists-2-TONE SKA ORIGINALS CD-r burn (originally on HandMaid Records)
Didn't care for much of the Ska I heard during the early-eighties revival and a good portion of these originals really don't bring back any real fond memories of record bin prowling ifyaknowaddamean... Still I can settle back and enjoy the likes of the Pioneers, Prince Buster and Millie Small's legendary "My Boy Lollipop" (so legendary that Rush Limbaugh used to use the song along with dubbed in slurps for his Barney Frank updates!) the same way I like a whole load of early-mid-sixties single sides which always seemed to have a lot more spirit to 'em than the later-on re-dos. They sure sound better without the afterthought of new youth sociopolitico gunk added upon the whole kaboodle, y'know?
Various Artists-CRAZY, BATTY & GONE CD-r burn (originally on Olympic Records)
Thanks! I needed a dose of this down-home, bass-slappin', toe-tappin' and maybe even other bodily-function-related music in my system after putting in a grueling day at the Salt Mines. Obscurity-packed platter that'll have you (like me) thumbing through you old issues of KICKS to get that lowdown you passed up while looking for rare Sky Saxon pix like I'll admit I did. Somewhere, Ron Weiser must be smiling.
Sweet Toothe-TESTING CD-r burn (originally on Dominion Records)
Like most of these local productions you can expect more than your fair share of hackneyed highlights and heard it all before (and didn't even wanna hear it the first time) riffs that were handed down fifth generation by someone who just happened to be hotcha on the teenybop hard rock circuit. Thankfully Sweet Tooth manage to throw in at least one hard rocker that helps ease the boredom a tad. Nothing I'd prefer listening to for the next few years but hey, you might find something of worth within these grooves or whatever they call 'em on CD-rs.
Various Artists-HIGH MULE TEENAGE SKYLINER CD-r burn (Bill Shute)
As usual, the quality varies on this particular sampler that might upset some and thrill others to joybell velocity. I happen to love the thing in my own corny suburban slob way tho. Best parts included some of the weirdities that Bill stuck on like Walt Wilder's "Chicago 7" (a country and western romp that is actually pro radical if ya can believe it!) to Effie Smith doin' some funny teenage putdowns to a standard generic rock/soul backing. Even Oscar Brown Jr.'s poem about not gettin' his forty acres and a mule was smart commentary that one never would hear from today's high class crybabies.
Some of the popsters don't quite suit me while I thought Lee Moore's voice was too blah for the country strummers he was singin', but I also got to hear some non-"Papa" Rivingtons and High Noon's "Drivin Drivin" was a popster that really should have done some chart action in a world of James Taylor and other somnambulist singer songwriters. And that take on the big band fave "Skyliner" was kinda snat what with that vocal arrangement. Pretty wowzy after all...but please Bill, you know better than...PEACHES AND HERB!!!
***Big surprise of the week...an unsolicited package arrived and whaddaya know was in it...an actual DROOGS t-shirt emblazoned with the cover of their latest album YOUNG GUN! Aww gee guys, I really didn't deserve this surprise which I have the feeling will turn more'n a few heads and non-drug users when I parade around town in it. But hey. I'll support one band that REALLY DESERVES IT like the Droogs most certainly have done over the past fortysome years, and in any humanely possible way too. Really appreciate the thought, and I'll bet those people who are writing for competing blogs don't get the kind of freebee wonders like I have been these past few months! Nyah!
***A li'l New Year's gift (hah!)---a rare film of Patrick Vian and Red Noise really digging deep into the O-Mind vein. Live it up kids!
***With that, here are this week's writeups. Some great stuff here too really kicking '19 into what could be one of the better years in memory what with the various Otto von Ruggins efforts and Bill Shute submissions (and don't ferget whatzizname up there in Waterdown, a town that does not describe his booze intake nohow!). Now read on and don't bug me...I'm too busy enjoying these beyond human comprehension efforts to deal with your inanities right now!
Dunno the exact whos/whats and whyfores of these two platters but I must say that these things REALLY GOT ME ALL RIP ROARING AND READY TO GO FOR 2019! Both of 'em have Otto von Ruggins on keyboards and that definitely is Von Lmo on lead drums, but the Funeral of Art thing sounds a whole lot different than the early demos they did in England! The Cybercrazed disque from 1973 has all of the original Kongress plus Sal Maida on bass guitar and it sounds just as wild as those snippets of yore that have been flying around for quite some time. A female vocalist chants and coos through the VIRTUAL REALITY disc and the strains of synth can be heard, so if you are bound to think this in fact must BE Kongress and not some earlier aggregation of the von Ruggins variety you are forgiven. But just watch it this once...
But back to the Funeral of Art effort---its even wilder that such a jaded fanabla like I could think be humanly possible. The varying sound quality of the tracks lead me to believe this is a patchquilt of old rehearsal efforts, but no matter where this originated the power and energy surely shines through. Throw some kraut-esque ragas straight outta Can and Amon Duul II into the mix and you got a platter that gets into maddening heights that might even surpass the later on Kongress free form musical rants that got me all hot and bothered oh so long ago. The fact that this music has remained buried for so long really is criminal I'll tell ya!
Oh yeah, I also got this weirditie of electronic Christmas tunes that were done up by Mr. von Ruggins himself which I will say kinda caught me off guard. All your holiday faves appear here but sheesh, listening to Christmas songs on New Year's Day is pretty much akin to thumbing through your girly book collection a minute or so after having that big bombaroona!
***
As usual, these Feeding Tube Records releases (this one included) tend to throw me for one or another proverbial loop! This particular effort has sound sculptor or something like that Jan Ven Den Dobbelsteen creating his own self-playing percussion music that works pretty much on the same principle that Joe Jones' efforts did. Two sides of tinkle and similar sounds of a jangle sort that come close to the flip of that Michael Nyman Obscure Records album from back '75 way. Or maybe Van Den Dobbelsteen just got a bunch of those wind up cymbal-clanging chimpanzees and let 'em go at it for two sides. It's always good hearing these new streakers of the sonic skies who put these definitely post-post Cagean efforts together, especially when they tend to work out fine and not solely as some art grant guzzling scam.
***
Given all of the extreme under-the-underground rock music I've heard these past few decades it's no wonder why a top notch Japanese act like this seems to have fallen into the cracks of my collection. Bad thing, because if you really wanna go for noise of a high energy rock mode High Rise are up there with all those other Far Eastern pearls like Les Rallizes Denudes and other neglected assaults upon the eardrums. Kinda low-fidelity true, but when listening to this over-the-top blast who says you need ears?
***
Never been a fan 'n follower, so it was like I was expecting this Van Ronk-oriented rock attempt to be the funniest things I've experienced since I saw that documentary on rickets. Surprise, it works even with the sappy treatments of two Joni Mitchell songs (tho next to the originator they sure come off rather meaty!). The rest takes the '67 jazz-cum-rock modes and shapes them into things you can take either as a fun goof ("Alley Oop") or straight-ahead drive ("Keep Off the Grass"). Heck, it even ends with a cover of the Holy Modal Rounders fave "Romp Through the Swamp" so you know where Van Ronk's loyalties really lie! Sure it ain't whatcha'd call NUGGETS worthy, but if you liked the Innocence album even without the Meltzer liner notes to give it some under-the-counterculture credo this one just might go down your musical gullet nice 'n smooth!
***
Feeding Tube has been tossing out some pretty interesting solo acoustic guitar efforts as of late from that early Eugene Chadbourne reissue I've written up a short while back to this effort which ranks as one of the more interesting guitar sets I've heard in quite awhile the Chadbourne one included. The team of Eric Arn and Margaret Unknown (the latter who is a man---sheesh!) play a fiery and driven form of acoustic sprawl that in some parts sounds like those intricate Derek Bailey/Fred Frith efforts on those old GUITAR SOLOS album and at others like a couple of Spanish Flamingo guitarists (don't write in---thassa JOKE! bad pun as it is) having a duel to the death using nothing but their six-stringers! Lotsa nice intricacies and melodic moves to keep your attention throughout. Pretend yer eighteen again and just discovering this stuff in some rancid dorm and it'll all work out fine. Hashish not included.
***
Didn't care for much of the Ska I heard during the early-eighties revival and a good portion of these originals really don't bring back any real fond memories of record bin prowling ifyaknowaddamean... Still I can settle back and enjoy the likes of the Pioneers, Prince Buster and Millie Small's legendary "My Boy Lollipop" (so legendary that Rush Limbaugh used to use the song along with dubbed in slurps for his Barney Frank updates!) the same way I like a whole load of early-mid-sixties single sides which always seemed to have a lot more spirit to 'em than the later-on re-dos. They sure sound better without the afterthought of new youth sociopolitico gunk added upon the whole kaboodle, y'know?
***
Thanks! I needed a dose of this down-home, bass-slappin', toe-tappin' and maybe even other bodily-function-related music in my system after putting in a grueling day at the Salt Mines. Obscurity-packed platter that'll have you (like me) thumbing through you old issues of KICKS to get that lowdown you passed up while looking for rare Sky Saxon pix like I'll admit I did. Somewhere, Ron Weiser must be smiling.
***
Like most of these local productions you can expect more than your fair share of hackneyed highlights and heard it all before (and didn't even wanna hear it the first time) riffs that were handed down fifth generation by someone who just happened to be hotcha on the teenybop hard rock circuit. Thankfully Sweet Tooth manage to throw in at least one hard rocker that helps ease the boredom a tad. Nothing I'd prefer listening to for the next few years but hey, you might find something of worth within these grooves or whatever they call 'em on CD-rs.
***
As usual, the quality varies on this particular sampler that might upset some and thrill others to joybell velocity. I happen to love the thing in my own corny suburban slob way tho. Best parts included some of the weirdities that Bill stuck on like Walt Wilder's "Chicago 7" (a country and western romp that is actually pro radical if ya can believe it!) to Effie Smith doin' some funny teenage putdowns to a standard generic rock/soul backing. Even Oscar Brown Jr.'s poem about not gettin' his forty acres and a mule was smart commentary that one never would hear from today's high class crybabies.
Some of the popsters don't quite suit me while I thought Lee Moore's voice was too blah for the country strummers he was singin', but I also got to hear some non-"Papa" Rivingtons and High Noon's "Drivin Drivin" was a popster that really should have done some chart action in a world of James Taylor and other somnambulist singer songwriters. And that take on the big band fave "Skyliner" was kinda snat what with that vocal arrangement. Pretty wowzy after all...but please Bill, you know better than...PEACHES AND HERB!!!
***Recent research into this blog has shown that nobody reads it this far down the page, so to prove it I am going to make a whole slew of outrageous and perhaps even CONTROVERSIAL suggestions (the kinda that can get one in trouble!) that no one will lay eyes upon, showing just how on-target that study most definitely is! Kids, don't do your homework! Kick your sister in the wiener area! Real hard too! Don't wipe up after taking a dump! Or if you do do it on your classmate's homework! Expose yourself to old ladies! Write dirty words on the walls of your Youth Club! Push your little brother's crib down the stairs. While he's in it! And oh yeah, buy all the back issues of BLACK TO COMM your poor little heart can stand! See?
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