Monday, November 05, 2007

I guess one of my little embarrassments in life is that Yanni has been arrested and I haven’t.

And who knew that Wynonna Judd and Divine were separated at birth?

Posted by Kevin K. on 11/05/07 at 01:18 PM
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Sunday, November 04, 2007

Thor Vs. Beelzebub

• CHROME DREAMS: Go grab the bootleg acetate version of Neil Young’s never-released Chrome Dreams before Aquarium Drunkard takes it down. Stellar stuff. More info on it here.
• REAL PROGRESS IN AFGHANISTAN!: Pass the bong!
• THOMPSON’S DRUGFORCE: Maybe the head of Fred Thomson’s “Airforce” can be his Ambassador to Afghanistan.
• SANDRA’S HAVING HER BRAIN OUT: I wasn’t aware that the Soft Boys’ fun-as-shit debut album A Can of Bees, featuring Robyn Hitchcock, has been out-of-print for a few years, but Egg City Radio is graciously giving it away (scroll down). (Hint: delete the track “(I Want To Be An) Anglepoise Lamp” that isn’t marked “Live” and doesn’t have a track # ... it’s actually a repeat of “Ugly Nora.”)

Posted by Kevin K. on 11/04/07 at 09:38 AM
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Saturday, November 03, 2007

read the whole post »

Posted by Kevin K. on 11/03/07 at 10:34 AM
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Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Just in time for Halloween…

(via alicublog)

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/30/07 at 05:13 PM
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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

From Pitchfork:

Gibby Haynes—de facto leader of the exponentially unfathomable, long running psych-punk-whatever amalgamators Butthole Surfers—will join a cadre of kiddies from the Paul Green School of Rock for a series of six dates in February (one, on the 12th, has yet to be confirmed). And together they’ll play Butthole Surfers material.

The Paul Green School—featured in the documentary film Rock School and not the similarly titled Jack Black/Richard Linklater film School of Rock—is a network of intensive music training programs for kids aged 8-18, and the school’s “All Stars” often pay tribute to and even gig out with famed musicians many years their senior.

Pitchfork seems a little shocked by this decision, but, c’mon, think about how righteous it would be to hear a choir of kids chiming in on “Lady Sniff”? I can’t imagine anything more beautiful.

MP3s: “Lady Sniff” & more.

NEW YORK SHOW: 2/17/08, Highline Ballroom

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/17/07 at 12:32 PM
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The Ventures’ “Wipe Out” was one of my favorite songs when I was a kid.  I used to play it over and over and over.  I’ve grown apart from it over the years (as, I’m sure, many of you have), but this live video of the Ventures performing the song in ‘65 is just way beyond cool ... from the drumming (of course) to the matching outfits to the way the band is set up on stage. Enjoy.

read the whole post »

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/17/07 at 08:58 AM
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Saturday, October 13, 2007

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/13/07 at 01:23 PM
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Friday, October 12, 2007

David Bowie on the Legendary Stardust Cowboy (about 2:00 into this interview with Jules Holland):

He made positively the most cacophonous, awful records that had ever been made in the late 60s. [...]  And [a Mercury records exec] gave me this stack of singles by this guy and I thought they were unbelievably atrocious, but in that wonderful way that you couldn’t stop listening to them they were so awful. [...] And there’s a bugle solo in the middle [of the song “Paralyzed”] that’s to die for (laughs).  And he won me over.  And his name Stardust became part of the Ziggy Stardust name. That’s where I got the name Ziggy Stardust.

Recently I finally got a chance to see the Ledge open up for Daniel Johnston in a show in NYC that was curated by Bowie and, man, he didn’t disappoint. As his band (which featured bassist Klaus Fluoride of the Dead Kennedys) played their opening instrumental, the then 59-year-old Ledge crawled on his belly all the way from the side of the stage to his microphone.  They then ripped into a manic version (is there any other?) of “Paralyzed,” a song they performed twice that evening, and prior to the next tune, the Ledge removed his heavy gun holster and hurled it at a dangerous velocity into the crowd. Later he flung paper plates adorned with his siganture into the crowd and, yes, I’m the proud owner of one of them. It was rockin’ dementia at its finest.

Below you’ll find a few of the better Ledge videos on YouTube and an MP3 download of the rare “Standing in a Trashcan (Thinking About You)” that will be begging for a spot on your next mix CD for as long as you allow it to remain on your hard drive. Enjoy.

read the whole post »

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/12/07 at 08:11 AM
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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Edgar Breau of Simply Saucer

WFMU is putting on a great free show this Saturday at Southpaw in Park Slope featuring Oneida, Simply Saucer, Alan Vega (of Suicide), and Old Time Relijun.  I’ve never had much luck at “getting” Oneida or Suicide (yes, I completely suck), but Simply Saucer and Old Time Relijun are both eagerly anticipated here at Rumproast HQ.  Canada’s long dormant Simply Saucer, described accurately by WFMU’s “Beware of the Blog” as “the single greatest 1970’s band to influence absolutely no one,” only released one (posthumous) album in the history of the band (Cyborgs Revisted—most recently reissued in 2003), but it’s a humdinger of psych-skronk garage-isms worthy of all of the indie insider praise layered upon it.  K Records vets Old Time Relijun just released their latest effort Catharsis In Crisis and, with the addition of Benjamin Hartman’s sax work to leader Arrington De Dionyso’s pulling-flesh-from-bone vocals, it explodes in so many directions you’ll find yourself ducking for cover the first few times you listen to it. OTR fan John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats put it best when reviewing Catharsis at his blog Last Plane to Jakarta: “I think Old Time Relijun are a very physical celebration of music and its possibilities, which is a terrible thing to say about anybody, since it makes them sound like professors, which they’re not. They’re hairy shirtless guys screaming about dark matter.”

Simply Saucer MP3s: “Illegal Bodies” (aka Canada’s “Sister Ray”) & “Bullet Proof Nothing”

More Simply Saucer info: Sonic Unyun & Perfect Sound Forever

Old Time Relijun MP3s: Free full sample catalog downloads & Catharsis in Crisis download (only $6.99)

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/10/07 at 11:50 AM
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Sunday, October 07, 2007

• WORTH A PEEK: Worth 100 asked its photoshoppers to recreate classic paintings to show what happened moments after the artists completed them.  Great stuff.
• PICK TO CLICK: Arcade Fire’s new interactive flash video for “Neon Bible” is pretty effin’ cool...
• I DON’T KNOW ARCHITECTURE BUT I KNOW WHAT I LIKE: The NY Times has a nice peek at the oddball architecture stylings of Ben van Berkel. (And NYC’s Marianne Boesky’s home is gloriously bonkers as well.)
• MORE GREAT OUT-OF-PRINT AFRICAN: Matsuli delivers with an MP3 download of the 22 Band’s outstanding and extremely rare—even AllMusic.com doesn’t have a listing for it—Venez Voir!!..

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/07/07 at 10:37 AM
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Thursday, October 04, 2007

Egg City Radio has just concluded an incredible series of Captain Beefheart posts that are stuffed with free downloads of live recordings and rarities.  If you love Beefheart, you should grab ‘em all (or the ones you don’t already have). If you don’t love Beefheart, what’s fucking wrong with you? You should immediately fix that problem by downloading the stellar (and out-of-print) I’m Going To Do What I Wanna Do: Live At My Father’s Place, 1978 that Rhino’s Handmade label released in 2000.

Now get going.  All of you.

Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/04/07 at 09:25 AM
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Wednesday, October 03, 2007

The first time I saw La Strada perform, they didn’t have a name yet and they were playing in the bowels of the NYC subway system.  They completely blew me away even though the most “electric” instrument they were playing was a little toy xylophone.  They have since moved on and have done the incredibly smart thing of getting a name and the even smarter thing of laying down three of their tracks. They are nothing short of amazing (imagine if Beirut knew how to be be joyous instead of melodramatic) and two rank among the best songs of ‘07 (“The Sun Song” & “Mama”—the song I saw them perform next to the tracks of the G train).  If you were smart (and I know that you are), you’d head over to MySpace right now and download those three “demo” tracks while La Strada is still graciously giving ‘em away. And if you were even smarter, you’d go check out Brooklyn’s “next big thing” at one of their three upcoming local shows while you can still get in the door.

Oct 4 2007 (10:00PM) Luna Lounge
Oct 10 2007 (8:30PM) Union Hall
Oct 13 2007 (8:00PM) Sound Fix Records (free show)

MORE: Weird.  As it turns out, rockin’ Robin posted about La Strada yesterday.  Since I’m no longer burdened with the horrible, horrible G train, I had no idea they were still playing that line.  Robin’s got a nice recording of them doing a new (?) song “Shapes In the Sky.”

read the whole post »

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/03/07 at 07:10 AM
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Tuesday, October 02, 2007

The Bowerbirds

The Mountain Goats & Bowerbirds show at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC sold out a while ago, but you can still catch this great two-fer tonight (Tuesday, 10/2) at Greenpoint’s Studio B. The Mountain Goats always put on a fine show.  John Darnielle is one of the most inspiring and engaging indie rockers working the circuit these days and watching his bordering-on-cult-like fans quietly mouth along with every one of his lyrics is something to behold.  The Bowerbirds released the drop dead gorgeous Hymns for a Dark Horse this year (without a doubt one of the best releases of ‘07) and since they live out in the woods in a trailer without electricity, they’ll probably get all excited about seeing the sparkly lights and rock the fuck out. Or, at least, put on a really good show. And if you can’t make the show tonight, you can catch the Bowerbirds (sans the Mountain Goats but not serif) for FREE at Sound Fix records in Williamsburg tomorrow (Wednesday, 10/3).

Bowerbirds Interview: Stereogum
Mountain Goats & Bowerbirds Live Photos: Pitchfork
Listen: The Mountain Goats & Bowerbirds

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/02/07 at 08:16 AM
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Friday, September 28, 2007

Here’s a television classic featuring Tom Waits on the most grossly underrated sitcom of all time, Fernwood 2 Tonight.  The show was a spin-off of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and starred Martin Mull and Fred Willard. The original air date of this clip was 8/1/1977 and it features Waits performing “The Piano Has Been Drinking.”

If you liked this, I’ll be running a series of Fernwood 2 Tonight videos this weekend.  Come on back.

Posted by Kevin K. on 09/28/07 at 09:18 AM
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Thursday, September 27, 2007

If you love African music, there’s no better mp3 blog to camp down in than Matsuli Music. Right now they’ve got a limited download available of a long-out-of-print ‘77 comp called Swaziland Likwindla Festival featuring four little known acts from South Africa (though Duma sounds suspiciously like the late great deep-throated vocalist Mahlathini). It’s a vinyl rip and a tad scratchy (almost in a good way ... trust me), but it’s an absolute treasure and you should grab it before it’s gone. 

Posted by Kevin K. on 09/27/07 at 11:17 PM
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