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Monk Montgomery / Bass Odyssey
(Chisa)
John Allen: This guy is the secret weapon.
Pharoah Sanders with the Latin Jazz
Quartet / Spotlight on (Upfront)
Small Change: Unusually straight but dope Pharoah session, complete with
raw production. My copy is on Trip, another "Hi-Fi" label.
Bill Wyman / Monkey Grip (Rolling
Stone)
John Allen: Low end groove with Danny K from the Section, Dr. John, etc.
Backing vocals from Betty Wright, George & Gwen McRae. Get over the
nakedness and he'll pull you through.
Anonymous: Ouch! Send this one to the basement!
Magma / Kohntarkosz
(A&M)
Brian: You don't need to speak the Kobaian language to dig the grandeur,
majesty and sheer what-the-fuck? of Magma. Inspiration to everyone from
the Ruins to Spinal Tap, this is my fave of theirs (and Lester Bangs too,
we would go nuts over "Ork Alarm". So cue her up for the next bathroom
break. Note Stella Vander is the same "Stella" of 60s French-pop
fame.
Chico Freeman / Kings of Mali (India
Navigation)
Doug Schulkind: You'll come for the saxophone, but you'll stay for the
bailophone. It's a soaring, majestic mix.
Delmore Brothers / Lonesome Yodel Blues
(Old Homestead)
Dave the Spazz: These guys sing and strum like separated Siamese twins.
Haunting, incredible stuff.
Earth / Phase 3 Thrones & Dominions
(Sub Pop)
Cobain's heroin-fetcher served up some of the heaviest and evilest
Marshall walls of sound, sometimes making the Melvins look like the Mamas
and Papas.
Abbey Lincoln / A Turtle's Dream
(Verve)
Doug Schulkind: An absolutely exquisite document enhanced in fact by the
contributions of Pat Metheny on four tracks. Frankly, I don't think Kenny
G could have fucked up this album, one of my all-time favorites.
Ass Baboons of Venus / Naked Lady
Wrestler vs. Mango Man (Epic Japan)
Brian: The Japanophile WFMU never quite got on the Ass Baboons tip. Here's
another chance.
Marc Tremblay / Bruit-Graffiti
(Emprientes Digitales)
Brian: A second go-around for this disc as it got almost zero attention
and really should. One of the most visual and coloful electroacoustic
discs I've heard and "very FMU". Dig the demonic baby on 2!
Lightnin' Rod / Hustlers' Convention
(Celluloid)
Small Change: Long before "I'm Gonna Get You Sucka" (though "Hustlers
Convention" was never finished). Big influence on Ol' skool MC's like the
Cold Crush Brothers. Features Julius Hemphill, Kool & the Gangm and
Lightnin' Rod (one of the Last Poets).
Wishmountain / Wishmountain Is Dead
(Antiphon)
Brian: Very cool organic manipulations of variou sobjects (chip bags,
cheese graters etc) into electronic sounds and textures. Quite
nice!
Various / West Coast Hot
(Novus)
Doug Schulkind: Cuts 5-8 constitute the original release of Horace
Tapscott's searing, gorgeous "The Giant Is Awakened" (Cuts 1-4 aren't
chopped liver).
Bid3iliba / Bid3iliba (FMN Sound
Factory)
Charlie Lewis: Great Japanese pop, some arty, some jazzy, some hard rock
with odd time signatures, marimba, female singer. One of my faves.
Smashing Orange / My Deranged Heart
7" (Ringers Lactate)
DJ Orange Julius: A testament to the quality of drugs in Delaware. My
friend Jen always drives down there for mushrooms. Absolute peak for these
kids, right at the gate - wonderfully lapsed fuzz-wah haze-pop ritual
clamor. They graduated toless satisfying single, 12" and CD appearance,
ultimately collapsing into an abominable major label disc deemed too lousy
for even the cutout bins. Remember them fondly today.
Fleetwood Mac / Then Play On
(Reprise)
Douglas W: Exceptionally great Brit blues-rock from way before the Stevie
& Lindsey period, right around the time two of the three
singer/songwriters were losing their marbles. Much of the album reportedly
edited from insane all-night jams. But try "Showbiz Blues" which clearly
wasn't.
Stardrive featuring Robert Mason
(Columbia)
Brian: Rock with the unicorns, insane and blinding. Out of control
synthesizers and godlike Liners: "No tedious
blooze guitar. No lisping vocals. Just Mason and his
extra-special, extraterrestrial machine, zipping through funkafide space
like greased lightning. Taking you to a rock realm where the only glitter
you can see is in the stars." Jim O'Rourke: you should be reissuing this
instead of Ray Russell records!
Fred Gerlach / Songs My Mother Never
Sang (Takoma)
Jeff Davison: American primitive guitar.
John Allen: 2nd LP, 1st was on Folkways. Not so primate overdubs and
vibes, sounds out there to Kottke fans.
Young Snakes / Bark Along with
(Abiguous)
Anon: Aimee Man (Til Tuesday I think?) with local percussion maniac
Michael Evans (ESP Ensemble, Soultronix, etc.) who has played here many
times. Their first record from way back before fame, fortune &
drugs.
Cortex / Spinal Injuries
(Heartwork)
Terre T: Not punk, but totally captures the dark, no-one-loves-an-alien
alienation. Check out "The Freaks", piano and synths, emotive and
sad.
Nervous Norvus / Transfusion
(Dot)
Small Change: Props to el Spazzo for this. Beautifully retarded R &
R.
Ashley Hutchings & John Kirkpatrick /
The Compleat Dancing Master
(Antilles)
Rob Weisberg: I had no idea we had this...filed right between Roland Kirk
and Kiss, reason enough to play.
Sergio Mendes & Brasil 77 / Primal
Roots (A&M)
Robin: The anomaly in the Mendes catalog! Mendes took traditional
Brazilian songs & rhythms into pretty pop and big rythmic jams. More
tropicalia than tropical.
The Dukes of Hamburg / Star Club Show 1
(Dionysus)
Dave the Spazz: This is completely great! Nobody has any business rockin'
out like this!
Toshi Tsuchitori / Breath
(DYM)
Rich Hazelton: Great adam's apple! And sing along to(o) "The Fifth Breath"
though the first a turkey possible may be.
Michael Mantler, Robert Wyatt, Carla
Bley et al... / The Hapless Child
(Watt Works)
Scott: Lovely readings of the late Edward Gorey's stories.
Charles Amirkhanian / Lexical Music
(1750 Arch)
Douglas W: Fabulous, deranged late-70's sound-poetry. Start with "Dutiful
Ducks" the dive in with "Seatbelt Seatbelt". Take some Advil first.
Roscoe Mitchell and the Sound Ensemble / Snurdy McGurdy & her Dancin'
Shoes (Nessa)
Doug Schulkind: A phenomenal stewpot, overflowing and gunking up the
kitchen floor with layers of sweat, joyful romanticism, slow-burn
funkadelica, stilletto-sharp precision post-bop; and masterful arrangement
of sounds in silence, a baroque chiaviascuro where light is sound and
sound is heavy, if you know what I mean.
Mit / Knoten (Hat Hut)
Maryann: Don't know anything about these guys, but the music is great.
Free jazz made in Switzerland. Check out the xylophone tracks!
Missing Brazilians / Warzone (On U)
Douglas W: Gruesomely insense dub-pop with all the pop boiled out of it.
One of Adrian Sherwoods's most amazing mixes. Check out "Gentle Killers"
with Little Annie Anxiety.
Dukes of Hamburg/Star Club Show 1 (Dionysus)
Dave the Spazz: This is completely great! Nobody has any business rockin'
out like this!
Chico Hamilton Quintet / Drumfusion (Columbia)
Brian: w/Gabor Szabo.
Harumi/Harumi (Verve)
Brian: Flowery n' pastoral psych-pop. "Fire by the River" is a killer.
Love the liners: "Movement! Butterfly! And what is that crawling from
beneath the cabbage leaf? Harumi, with a carrot in his teeth. And
grinning. And now a kiss from Miss Butterfly and he's off, singing in the
field."
Dave Holland / Emerald Tears (ECM)
Mike Goodstein: Great mid 70s solo bass LP by a guy who left Miles Davis
and Chick Corea's groups to play Anthony Braxton compositions and hang out
with Evan Parker. He goes from nearly trad stuff to bizarre cutups with
ease and a rare fluidity on this record.
The Calamities (Posh Boy)
Charlie: Great French garage gal-pop, Troggs cover (B3) Who cover (A3)
etc.
Gaylord Fields: One of my all time faves.
Beth B & Scott B / Vortex Sdtk (Neutral)
Monica: Great early 80s No-wave noir soundtrack featuring many of the
usual suspects from the Lower East Side art/film/music scene. Some great
grooves.
Nervous Gender/Beelzebub Youth split LP / Music From Hell
(Subterranean)
Brian: The sounds of screaming electrogoth youth of suburban Calif. before
KROQ pummelled Depeche Mode and Erasure into their heads. Nervous Gender
was fronted by a Tim Curry-Rocky Horroresque nightmare and they had an
angry 9 year old kid on drums. Think punkier Chrome, unskilled and
cool.
Geto Boys / Feels Good to be a Gansta 12" (Rap-a-lot)
Doug Schulkind: How 'bout all them muthafuckers who find gangsta rap a
"bad element", then sit back and groove with the Sopranos every Sunday
night! Well fuck them. For the rest of this comes this (ha!). Sweet, yes,
sweet existential idyll from Houston's notorious musical hustlers. Put
that in your HBO and smoke it.
Brian: Used to great effect in the movie "Office Space."
Steaming Coils/Never Creak (Rotary Totem)
Brian: A seeming 1/2 way point between the LA Free Music Society's
freeform approach and the Residents' electro-weirdness. Indeed, notable
LAFMS-ers Rick Potts & Brad Laner are herein.
Soundtrack/ Crumb (Rykodisc)
Charlie: Classics rags played on piano and geetar with great feeling.
Loose, moody, real.
Alexander Vertinsky / s/t (Chant du Monde)
Maryann: A true bohemian, Vertinsky immersed himself in the depths and
decadence of Russian literary circles. He wrote poetry, beautiful cabaret
songs, and even worked as a nurse. This collection is a treasure,
enjoy!
Joe Goldmark / All Hat-No Cattle (HMG)
Brian: Overlooked new bin gem from 99, Joe looks the
western/cowboy/pedal-steeler role, but whips out some great African
Highlife, Byrds, Bob Seger and Fastball numbers, Oh-so-fmu, no?
Big Boy Pete / Homage to Catatonia (Dionysus)
Charlie: One of four collections of obscure but prolific late 60's Brit
"Big Boy" Pete (Miller). Lo fi psychfolk-pop. Great hooks, riffs. Check
4,5,11,2.
Conrad Schnitzler / Rot (Plate Lunch)
Brian: Not a huge fan of Connie S., but this is a most satisfying late
night electronic grinder.
Supersilent: 1-3 (Rune Gramofon)
Brian: The press called em "Swedish Death Jazz: - nice electronic-laden
overload though easily disseminable. A jazzier Dead C maybe?
Public Enemy / There's a Poison Goin' On / (Atomic Pop)
Brian: Not much is playable, but wow, probably PE's most amazing work!
Sonically impressive (2), angrier than ever (7) and cloaked in a really
fucked up vibe a bit akin to Sensational. Check it out.
Vershki Da Koreshki / Roots and Leaves (Shanachie)
Brian: Not that old (97) but lovely, flowing stuff from group comprised of
Tuvan and Senegalese musicians.
Rev. Louis Overstreet / s/t (Arhoolie)
Brian: Heavier than Lightning Bolt, Brainbombs, Melvins, Slayer.
Gaylord Fields: This CD is the devil's music in service of the
lord!
Freddie Fender / Canciones de Mi Barrio (Arhoolie)
DJ Orange Julius: Excellent Collection of early sides from the Mexican
Elvis Presley! He rocks out Spanish-language versions of R&B Classics like
"Ain't That a Shame" along with a mess of originals. My fave is "The Band
Is Drunk".
Sleep / Jerusalem (TMC)
Brian: The ultimate Sabbath slow stoner chord sludge. A tree sloth takes
16 hours to climb down from a tree to take a poo, and Sleep provide the
soundtrack.
Kicking Giant / Alien ID (K)
DJ Orange Julius: Late 94 saw the release of this, arguably the best thing
ever on K Records, and one of the top 3 Northwest rock records of the past
20 years (up there with Bleach and Youth of America). In a time where the
scene was heavily indoctrinated with pity-core and
let's-not-talk-to-anyone-we-can-see rock, Kicking Giant levelled the
playing field with agiant sound embodying all the angst, grit, soul and
sex that their contemporaries could never muster. They even weather an
oratory by the dreaded Sue P. Fox! Rachel is now in the Need, Tae
continues KG in a very stunted form. It never got better than this. Track
2 is a testament.
DeathGrooveLoveParty / George Bush Lies 7" (SOL)
Rob W: Out of political necessity.
Jorge Dalto / Chevere (UA)
John Allen: Arp String Ensemble/Clavinet/Minimoog satellite synth with
Bernard Purdie and Jerry Jemmott rhythm section. Just steers clear of
disaster for the year '76.
Hackamore Brick / One Kiss Leads to Another (Kama Sutra)
DJ Orange Julius: This came in with the record fair stuff, had heard their
name mentioned in a song by Thee Hydrogen Terrors and thought nothing of
it. Well, as it turns out, R. Meltzer was a big fan, and so am I. Very
well crafter pop outta Brooklyn circa 1970-71, with heavy nods to the
Velvets and Raspberries in mature, non-obvious ways. Check out their first
three songs. Vanished into obscurity. Also, Mike Rep's favorite LP ever.
Marion Williams / Standing Here Wondering Which Way To Go
(Atlantic)
Douglas Wolk: Of all the songs you might expect her to sing, "Hare
Krishna" is not one of them.
Various / Asperando A Go-Go (Styrophon)
Brian: Germans who crawled outta a black pool of goop. If you dug the "I
Hate the Pop Group" comp you'll like this too.
Eric Burdon & the Animals / Love Is (MGM)
DJ Orange Julius: Fat Bobby from Oneida's favorite.."the sounds of a man
trying as hard as he can to make functional rock music under the effects
of a dozen tabs of LSD."
The Illusion / Together (As a Way of Life) (Steed)
DJ Orange Julius: Not hard enough to be psych but almost too heavy for
pop. 1970 was a strange year. Dude 2nd from the left on the cover has the
worst hair I've ever seen. Try this curious LP, it may scratch that itch
you don't even have.
Little Beaver / Party Down (Cat)
Small Change: The real shit...crack the 40, roll that ish and "party
down."
Salvatore Martirano / L'sGA (Polydor)
Brian: A bit beaten, but quite a bomb. Creator of the "Sal Mar Composition
Machine", a great piece of mixed-media presentation.
John Coltrane / Om (Impulse!)
Fabio: All time monster! Let it blow your mind! Everyone knows it, right?
Bound & Gagged / EP (Modern Method)
DJ Orange Julius: Found this quiyte by accident. Cool herky-jerk no-wave
plunk by a six-pack of Boston ladies. More info, please!
Frankie Armstrong / I Heard a Woman Singing (Flying Fish)
Jeff Davison: A great vocalist, primarily a folk singer, but check out the
Meredith Monk-style stuff on A1 (contrary to rumors, the divine Ms. Monk
did not spring fully formed from the head of Zeus).
Midnight Sun / Midnight Sun (MCA)
John Allen: Is this the Swedish Chicago?
The Wayfarers / The Wayfarers (Lolita)
Charlie Lewis: Good tunes (Originals and covers), good feel, good
warbling, good golly. Buzzcocks, Love covers, enjoy!
Various / Red Spot (Subterranean)
Brian: Like the Nervous Gender LP, another great document of pre-KROQ
Depeche/Erasure elctro-goth underground of California sun-hating
youth. Fried Abortions, Minimal Man, more. Pseu Braun: One-a my all-time
fave comps, BT, a staple for years.
Albert Ayler / New Grass (Impulse!)
Andy Waltzer: A blissful funk/jazz hybrid. Sweet soul vocals joined with
Albert's beautiful and skronky sax. Enjoy!
Basement 5 / 1965-80 (Island)
Douglas Wolk: Frequently confused with PiL back in the day,
apparently. Grinds! Grooves!
Zani Diabate & the Super Djata Band / s/t (Mango)
Rob Weisberg: Seminal Malian pentatonic electric guitar band LP.
Various / Mirage: Avant-Garde & Third Stream Jazz (New
World)
Doug Schulkind: It's hard to pick amongst the consitently amazing set of
New World anthologies, but this has long been a favorite. Check out the
breath-defyingly gorgeous cover of the standard "Laura" by the great and
now late Jeannie Lee.
Thee Speaking Canaries / Life-Like Homes (Scat)
DJ Orange Julius: Possibly the finest slab of unfiltered rock to ever be
shat from my hometown. It sits at the altar of Van Halen, proudly as the
man who wears the mullet. Soulful tomahawk charge if "the Last Side of
Town" needs two sides of an LP to rock to completion, traversing through
some acid-scarred post-industrial Twisted Village creek on side A. Side B
is the "pop edit" finale, with Damon's big voice and intense show from
Noah Leger. "Like-Like Holmes(sic)" is THE pop-rock blast to be reckoned
with...listen to it and you'll understand why Damon Che never got rich and
should've gotten famous by now. It Pittsburgh were music it'd be this
record.
Questions? Ask Brian Turner, WFMU's Music
Director
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