Fire Escape

Sunburned Hand of the Man's "Fire Escape"is dooooooope.

From Pitchfork "Kieran Hebden-- aka Four Tet-- served as a curator and facilitator, inviting his former tourmates to record for four hours in London's Exchange room. In the studio, he directed, suggesting configurations, themes, and moods and letting Sunburned (eight strong, with two Vibracathedral Orchestra members and Hush Arbors' Keith Wood) route his requests through its haze-and-clamor sensibility. Hebden took the sessions, chopped them into bits, and made "his vision of a Sunburned record."

Pretty easy to find on CaptainCrawl tip.

DC OUT

master and everyone

A gray day here in the caverns of midtown Manhattan, feeling kind of down and this album is really working for me, my favorite by Bonnie "Prince" Billy.

Sunburned Hand of the Man

Anyone into them and do you have any albums to hit me with?

dc

I've been transferring a lot of vinyl and cassettes to digital lately and came across this tape. DC laying down the bass. Not bad! Lots of Minutemen / fIREHOSE influences here. Side B ends is a dull yet paradoxically gripping dorm room conversation surreptitiously recoded by DC.

http://ezeskankin.com/

http://ezeskankin.com/

I love this site. It has a ton of DJ tapes no later than 1999. I'm listening to a DJ Spun / Josh tape from 1993 at them moment which inspired this post. Probably not everyone's cup of tea but if you like house music this site has some classic mix tapes.

I've replaced tapes from here I thought I'd never hear again. Hearing the second side of "The Time Has Come" by Thomas again was a joy.

Captain Crawl is back!

Interesting Article

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/technology/internet/22music.html?_r=1&hp

http://littlevibrations.blogspot.com/

Small but tasty blog, make sure and grab these two while you are there.

WWALT Mailing List

Much like the idea for WWALT blog came to me in the shower almost a year ago, another great idea just struck...

Let's set up the WWALT Mailing List. Like, I made a cool hour long vinyl-only mix recently, and thanks to yousendit I could totally email it out to all of you at once! Ditto for some new CD you checked out or have from your archives that wasn't a blog score (b/c if it's a blog score you can just post the rapidshare link, dig?)

I'll send the distro list to everybody who wants in, and then when you have something dope you can send it out to everybody, or to follow up a blog post you can send something out. You'll have the feeling like when you go to the mailbox and there is a care package waiting for you, except it will be the e-version in your email box.

Huh? Huh?!

Also, i was thinking about setting up the WWALT Facebook group, but is that just gay? Is there any real benefit to having that?

Sincerely,

DC Looch aka The Mastermind

p.s. Is there anybody out there that is checking out this blog that is not a "poster" (i.e. one who posts, not the thing you hang on your wall)? If so, holla in the comments and let us know what you think or if you want to join the brotherhood.

p.p.s. Lastly, for the 20-odd guys who have ability to post but don't, are you guys even on here? Do you guys check in but just don't post?

OUT to the beach. PZ

Prefuse 73

I found this new Prefuse 73 EP, “The Forest of Oversensitivity” on a blog somewhere and downloaded it in a weekend of flurry of massive downloads. It may have been on that same blog I got all those Dead Kennedys records from?

I grabbed it with low expectations mainly to see what Prefuse sounds like these days (I've been turned off by the last few albums that all sound the same to me), but this one has really stood out and I have come back to it many times. It’s 5 songs, all with a similar vibe. They all have lots of vocals (although bugged out and effected to point of becoming more sound than lyrics). The whole thing is kind of melancholy and introspective, it's been real good for commutes into the city. It’s definitely a good-n and worth checking out.

I felt/feel bad about downloading it, though, after seeing this great interview with dude where he is talking about how he has to move out of his apartment in Brooklyn Heights because it costs too much. He also speaks to the general state of music industry and downloading, etc. It’s cool interview, check it out, since that has been the other ongoing topic of discussion on this (coming up on year old) blog.

At one point he is basically saying that the time is right for a musical revolution because, as the “well is dry” and record company money isn’t there anymore, artists will stop “chasing that dollar” and make music based on the art they want to create, not necessarily what will sell.

Also, the cover would look great on your record wall (or desk top, I guess) next to the new Dinosaur Jr. CD and that Bo Hansson LOTR jam.

D-Reez

Mediafire Mayhem R.I.P.

That was probably my fave blog. I was diggin' those Mega-Posts...

Hello Everybody, So Glad To See You

If anyone here lives in Brooklyn and has kids, you get that reference. I use it as both a greeting and an acknowledgment that I listen to a lot of kid's music these days as well. Some more confessions:

- I'm fairly certain that I'm the least cool person here.
- I don't buy records, but I still call everything I listen to a 'record.'
- I don't listen to the weird electronic stuff that DC does...unless it's DC's weird electronic music.
- I do actually own records, but 90% of them were purchased between 1987-1989 and are hair metal bands.
- That was not a joke.

That said, I will effort to prove I belong. I look forward to being ragged on for my pop sensibilities and general dorkiness.



The record that I can't stop listening to right now is The Slow Wonder by A.C. Newman. He's the lead singer of The New Pornographers whose records I mostly like (and not because they're from Park Slope.) Up-tempo stuff is fun, yet not predictable and the slower stuff is spectacular. Best track for me is Come Crash. That's all I got.

Not sure if this is the accepted demeanor here, but I'll pose this question to the group:

What's the first record you ever bought with your own money? For me it was Licensed to Ill, and damnit, I'm proud of that.

So I was on my way to the NYC Junta meeting yesterday in the East Village and I just happened to be passing Academy Records and, c'mon, I can just look can't I?!?!

Ended up dropping real money on a couple of records. I'm such a dummy, I was talking to myself like "Dude, really? You are really going to buy this shit right now? After you downloaded 10 GBs of free music off of blogs, you need more? You're crazy. Ok, you're at the check out counter, really? You need help. Ok, he took your credit card. Fuck it, I'm out. Good luck."

Pretty rad records, though:



This is a composition for Synthi VCS3 Synthesizer and two turntables "composed" in 1971, performed by some people in 2006, limited edition of 500 copies. My inner dialogue was especially harsh on this one: "you need more weird abrasive electronic music? What, 10 GB is not enough? You never listen to that shit anyhow... you'll give the kids nightmares!" The other joke is, I HAVE a Synthi and record player! I could make this record myself. Look at all this crazy shit I have:



The other record was kind of a ridiculous buy, but totally justified if you know me at all. I'm kind of a sucker for certain packaging...





Massive inch wide gatefold with 4 LPs, matte cover, with "Open Strings" on the side. No other real details. I asked the guys at the store and they basically made some shit up, they had no idea. I listened to one side and it was solo guitar stuff that sounded cool and that was good enough for me. Dropped too much on it... I won't disclose the amount, but it starts with "F" and rhymes with "nifty".

Turns out "Sides 1-4 are early, mostly 1920's recordings from Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Turkey transferred from original 78's in the EMI archive... Sides 5-8 are new commissions in response" from a lot of guys I don't know, except for Six Organs of Admittance. The "Sides In Response" stuff is dooope, the whole thing is cool and i have no regrets. All solo guitar stuff. JT, did you do a Six Organs post one time? It's great. Can you hit me with some of that via yousendit?

I also got a Tones on Tail record at a Vintage Clothes Store by my house for $2.00:



Thanks for listening.

dc

p.s. this is the hot jam of the moment for me:

Damn Modernists!

Ayn Rand and Sun Ra? How about Samuel Beckett and Morton Feldman? I indulged in both today, though not at the same time - I've been reading Beckett's Malone Dies on my lunch breaks, and today I listened to Feldman's For Samuel Beckett on the way home. Definitely not for the emotionally fragile: Feldman's FSB is one of his more texturally itchy works, and Beckett's modernism stretched into novel length is relentless. But what can I say? I'm a fan of both.

Feldman is the only minimalist that I listen to much. I like the concrete plasticity of his work - you can almost reach out and feel the texture of his compositions. As for Beckett, he is still one of the most austere and uncompromising proponents of other in the history of Western Literature.

That said, I wouldn't recommend either one of these works as entry points into either artist's world. For Beckett, it would be good to start with his short story collection More Pricks Than Kicks, and then pick up his two famous dramas, Waiting for Godot and Endgame. As for Feldman, Rothko Chapel is breathtaking.

Incidentally, Beckett and Feldman were friends towards the end of each other's lives. Feldman was a huge admirer of Beckett's, and Beckett became a fan of Feldman's as well . . . though Beckett didn't even hear any of Feldman's music until after he provided the libretto for Feldman's Neither.





* * * * *

Last night, I wound down by reading Karl Marx while listening to Hoagy Carmichael. I'm not even going to try to make sense of that.

2 good ones

Here are two good ones I downloaded a while back and have listened to a lot:

Jonathan Lomax/Nicholas Wrigley, “Suns”



This is a record from late 90’s, I believe. It’s just piano and drums, it’s “free”, but never too dissonant. Really great listen. Great introspective LP… sounds like a private press record from the 60’s. Google it… the first hit is a link to the blog where I downloaded it. It’s not on Amazon or anywhere else, so no harm no foul for you moral folks that are on the fence re: downloading… This is a good one. Recommended.

Luis Gasca, S/T



Yo, this is Luis Gasca:



Hahaha, not expecting this to be the dopest LP now, I imagine? It starts off OK, like a 7 on the jazz scale, but the second half sounds EXACTLY like an outtake from On the Corner, to the point of basically ripping it off. It’s funky and cool. Same thing.. I think if you google it the blog with download link should come up in one of the first hits (the blog is called baby grandpa, or grandpa baby or something?)

Check you when I check you. DC OUT!

Young Deezy

Jazz by Sun Ra

Listening to a great slow one called "Possession" and reading Fountainhead, good combo on a Sunday evening.

Panama 2: Canciones de un gran pais!

I went to amoeba to get the Black Moth disc, and I saw this on the best of Latin rack. Having been to Panama twice I thought I should check it out. There are 20 tracks on one disc. Late 60's to mid 70's Cumbia, Calypso Funk, Tipico Soul, and some African influence. This is a good release, there is more diversity genre wise than you'd expect. There is a track by The Duncan Brothers that is wah wah reverb leads over a funk type beat. If you like latin percussion, cabasa ect. there are some good tracks. Viva Panama! Viva Los Canaleros! Es un disco excellente mis amigos.

Sir Lord Baltimore: Kingdom Come

Came across this lost proto-metal nugget last night, have been meaning to check it out for a few years and so far it is living up to it's legend. It is ridiculously "heavy", as only a power trio from Brooklyn(!) in 1970 could be, and It rocks in that brilliantly-stupidly-brilliant way that so many attempt and so few achieve. It's a lot of fun, be kind to your inner caveman and check it out, LOUD! 

link in comments

custom ringtones

Thought some of you tech-minded folks who use an iphone might be able to help me out on this one. A friend got me hip to this site where you can upload an Mp3 and then cut whatever part of it you want for a ringtone. Really easy to use and I was stoked to set up songs for all my peoples (was going back and forth on DC with Ryan Adams versus Pheonix, tough one...) but my iphone only let's me put one custom ringtone on there. I've asked a couple other people of they have issues with it and it seems like they do. Any help would be appreciated. Here's the site:

http://audiko.net/