My Fake Baby

The following is a field recording of Desiree Holman's exhibit at the Hammer Museum. Sam Farzin made the recording during a enjoyable day of record shopping, driving and a brief search for the perfect mid-range 70's hi-fi turntable that combines functionality, durability and value.

Desiree Holman - My Fake Baby at the Hammer

After railing on the uselessness of the internet in regards to my personal evaluation of music in my previous post, I felt that I should at least mediate the step from collected recordings back to other people's recordings with a mix of the two. In this case, all three elements of the above combine to some sort of perfection. Firstly, the song is amazing. The crisp guitar is such a relief! Secondly, the room's filter greatly enhances the pop-muzak qualities of the song (I think the tamborine was somehow enhanced?). Lastly and most importantly, what a great day.

But my baby's so vain/She is almost a mirror

The Boys Next Door - Shivers

A zoomed shaky shot of a microphone in the darkness greats us. Perfect unison of sight and sound.

Rare Tongan Gospel

'Discovering' music has been stripped of all its wonder. Cult Brazilian classics make the top of mediocre sounds-like lists. Exhaustive discographies of micro-works and labour-of-love catalogues are less than a mouse click away. I have heard the British cassettes of the 80's. I have heard the Left Banke sing in praise of local car dealerships. I have heard the first African hip-hop single. I've heard every song by every band that I've ever called 'my favourite band'.

I know that you've probably done the same.

So it seems ridiculous to come here an post anything. It feels difficult to be passionate about discovering any music from the web, the radio, a record store or even a junky $1 bin.

However, I recently heard a band that I desperately wanted to share. I stumbled across them in Tonga. They are a Pentecostal church house band for a small congregation of working class people. I heard them practicing on a Saturday night and when I poked my head in they invited me to come back on Sunday morning. It was a reverse missionary situation. I went back and toughed it through one of the only church services of my life. Upon questioning, I (politely?) lied and said that I was a member of the United Church of Canada. I'm pretty sure you don't have to believe in anything except general kindness, so I didn't feel like it was that much of a fabrication. I recorded the musical selections collected here and am proud to present to you some of my favourite tracks of 2009.



The entire set was distinctive mix of dirty soul, 60's garage and the incredible smoothness of Polynesian tonality and harmony, all highlighted wonderfully in Track 8.

Tongan Pentecostal Gospel - Track 8

Track 9 can only be described as a psyche-pop ballad in the purest sense. The tune in question was played multiple times over the 2 1/2 hour service, but this is the most intense version, clocking in at just over 10 minutes long.

Tongan Pentecostal Gospel - Track 9


The entire set of 13 tracks can be downloaded here: TonganGospel.zip.

_why The Lucky Stiff

No, not Why? but _why. He taught me ruby with cartoon foxes, his style is something unlike anything within the technical writing field: strange and wonderful. Just take a look at this chapter "When You Wish Upon a Beard." It is hard to believe that this is a programming book.

Yesterday I tried to look for some more information on one of his recent projects Camping. I tried to access one of his sites, and strangely it was gone. I quickly tried another, it too was missing. A bit of research told me that on the 19th of August _why had removed his entire extensive online presence. What makes this all the more interesting is that _why operated from anonymity.

_why was also a musician, and had composed a soundtrack for his computer programing book, a song for each chapter. Surprisingly (or maybe not?) it was good!

_why The Lucky Stiff - "This Books was Made (of Rabbits and Lemonade)"

A Mild and Crazy Guy

Amidst the craziness and confusion is an empty Tuesday night concert. The room is dirty and the bands are all so positive and great. I get to bed at 2AM, cleaning up after five paying audience members.

I've been doing an exercise of remembering everything about me and I'm pretty sure I'll remember Tan Dollar in San Diego fairly clearly and concisely.

Tan Dollar - Trying

Good Stories about Records

I saw Dirty Projects last night. I bought the LP and lay in bed this morning listening to both sides. I'm sure you've already heard it, so instead of writing anything meaningful/stupid (Are Dirty Projectors the first TRUE math-pop band?) and instead of trying to say something NEW, I will add to the archive and say something old:

Dave Longstreth - Spring is Here

Dave Longstreth - I Don't Know

from the Graceful Fallen Mango [This Heart Plays Records, 2002].

Lost Greek Hits, 1978 - 1988

I'm not going to lie. This compilation pushes the boundaries of taste. There is keytar rock, bouzouki disco, Greek reggae and lots of pop hits. I dug through 15 stores over two days in Athens and had a great time. It was hard to pass up the Italo-Disco (see below) and some of the amazing American and British records amassed by the upscale stores. I tried to stick to 1 euro bins but was occasionally swayed out by promising early 80's lipstick songstresses.

THE BASIC INGREDIENTS:

ΣΗΚΩ ΧΟΡΕΨΕ ΚΟΥΚΛΙ ΜΟΥ - ΟΤΙ ΑΡΧΙΖΕΙ ΩΡΑΙΟ

AND

ΤΟ ΑΙΟΝΤΑΡΙ - ΜΑΝΟΣ ΠΑΝΤΑΛΟΥΑΗΣ

.

THE FULL MEAL:
Individual files
Mix Tape Style


Athens is heavily spray painted.

Souvlaki Symphony

I went to Athens, Greece and spent a day dirtying my fingers on dollar records. The results of such labour will soon be evident and widely promoted. In the meantime, distract yourself as I was distracted, by the rows and stacks labeled ITALO-DISCO - 2.50 Euro. I tried to control myself, but clearly, some things are beyond control.



Alf - Stuck on Earth



Can you imagine the writer's room when they came up with the idea of him really wanting to eat cats?

More Taiwan Sounds

In an effort to figure out track listings and artist names, I took some photos.

Look here: Sounds of Taiwan!

Listen here: Taiwan Rocks!

Coming very very soon: LOST GREEK HITS, 1978-1988

Cumulative Results

Here are the results of many hours of walking, digging and generally putting myself in awkward situations in Taipei, Taiwan. Firstly, let me point out the main flaw, I don't speak, read or understand Mandarin in the slightest. For that reason I can not provide you with artist names or song titles. 100000000 apologies. I would also like to apologize for the relative quality of the recordings. In my defense, Taiwanese people hate old stuff. The few records that I found were filthy, water damaged, moldy and sometimes stuck inside their sleeves.



Essentially the collection boiled down to"
[1] Rad 60's singers with sparse orchestral arrangements.
Track 1
[2] 60's studio rock
Track 5
[3] Amazing disco
Track 11
[4] Minimalist eastern pop grooves
Track 18

NB. The Cool Breakfast blog will be featuring the entire 18 track compilation (as one "mixtape" track) as soon as they get around to it.

In the water.

I've been listening to Taiwanese music non-stop for the last few weeks. There is more to come, but last night I landed in Portland and bussed out to see Old Time Relijun play all the classics (listen here!). The first time I heard this band, I thought the music was sample based. I thought the guitar was actually a church bell. I thought the bass line was from a jazz record and the drumming from a soul 45 played at 33 rpm. However, the first time I saw them I realized that I was looking at a photograph of a painting.

In the meantime, I did use proximity to pick up a few gems of the eastern world. In particular Nagisa Ni Te's Feel.


Nagisa Ni Te - We

Nagisa Ni Te's records have been re-issued by Jagjagwuar in the recent past. I also wanted to take this post to mention Sub Rosa's foray into Asian electronic music. In particular Wang Changcun's The Mountain Swallowing Sadness which is a great electronic/concrete album in the form of a very internet/blog un-friendly two track 40 minute CD. Sub Rosa is also planning a four CD anthology of Asian electronic music.

Young Country

Somehow I've found myself in Taipei, Taiwan for the last few days. It's more than a bunch of imperialists but their impact on the country's scattered modern history has definitely left a mark on the art & music scene. It's not the mark of cultural oppression but rather one of safety and security. It is sensible, like waiting until the forces are strong enough. It's a mark of work and sleep, then work again. Or school followed by cram school and maybe some late night Saturday school. Nevertheless, there still exists the 'underground' or 'amateurs do it for love'. From just a small dose of new (last 5-10 years) of music:

多美好的人生 - White Eyes
From the 2008 EP Get My Body If You Want It on White Wabbit Records.


盘古 - 求革命得革命

According to a local expert, this is total outsider art in Taipei. This song appears several times on the album, played at different speeds. This is the fastest. From their self-titled album on ToaKang Records.

18碎 - 橘娃娃 Loose Skinned Orange Baby

I feel like people would be disappointed if I didn't post some smooth late 90s style international pop. This track is actually considered not very smooth. Most 'indie pop' here consists of Melissa Etheridge style acoustic-electric guitar, excessive harmonizing and smoothness that reaches windchimes level. From the Lobo 1 compilation on White Wabbit Records.

More to follow, including a stumbling search through the apparently vacant music of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

3:39, What is happening there?

Sigur Ros - Við spilum endalaust - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque

I've never given Sigur Ros much thought--this video has me thinking.

---------------


Like the previous performance illuminates there seems to be a inverse relationship between perfection and quality.[source:in search of the click track]

What is a "City of Daughters" anyways?

I've often asked myself why no one has inspired themselves from Ian Svenonius' master works. Here is a wonderfully styled tangent courtesy of LA and Not Not Fun recs.

Vibes - Night Court

Is she saying "Here comes the judge" or is it auditory paradolia?

The 2009 Summer Jam Contest Has Begun

David B. is at sea and nearly internet-less (seriously), so I figure someone else at Popsheep should step up while he's away. Popsheep founder Jay and I have a pact actually (agreed upon very late in the night at a house party six weeks ago) that we'd both post a least one entry before the end of April. So expect an entry from him about a Kenny Rogers rarity in the next five minutes.

Summer has finally arrived in Vancouver and, as such, the need for a proper "summer jam" is immediate. My nomination:

Fine Mist - Stop or Start

Jay Arner & Megan McDonald have played around town for awhile (in great bands like The Poison Dart and International Falls, plus amazing remixes), but there's something serendipitous about their timing with Fine Mist. The world wants (and needs) overwrought synthpop right now. "Stop or Start" is both a sort of love song & a sort of breakup song and a tune we can all get down to.

The picture above was taken on my phone at a craft fair that Jay and Megan were rocking a couple of weeks back. Jay & Megan's moms were there (emergency lyrics change?) and she said I freaked her out by "whooing" before they played "Stop or Start." What can I say, it's my jam.

Facilitator

America has so many people in it. It's basically jam packed full to the brim of an infinite amount of people. It is easy to constantly be surprised by someone, in any field, at any time. For instance, last night I saw nine bands play between the hours or 8pm and 12am. I was prepared for some greatness (White Fang, Fortress of Amplitude, Rob Walmart feat. Watery Graves) but nothing could have prepared me for the comedy genius duo named Talibam (also purveyors of serious music) or the best "first band out of nine bands to play on a Tuesday night" performance I have ever witnessed. Like all great animals, the spectacular music of Pregnant dies when caged, but here is the closest approximation to the handful of wonderful songs that started off the epic night:

Pregnant - One Thing to be Sure of

To clarify, the Pregnant in question is a solo guitar/singer/looper from central California and his CD-R Ikewimin contains a Steely Dan/Steve Reich mash-up. Other than an overheard conversation where he said he had once played with Walter Weasel and the above written information, I don't know anything about Pregnant.