December 28, 2010

California Playboys - Trying to Become a Millionaire LP



Easily one of my all time favorite private press soul LPs from any era, this one just happens to be from 1977. These guys could have been huge if they had just dropped the songs about 10 years earlier. Beautiful music, lyrics, vocalist is fantastic, their traditional northern soul sound with a little bit of crossover funk and a tiny hint of southern blues soul is just perfect. One of the top private soul albums of all time. I don't know how available it is out there in blogosphere, so I wanted to make sure my readers had a nice copy of it. It used to run about 600-900 dollars, not sure if its quite that high now, to my knowledge theres never been a repress though. I do know that the main track, "trying to become a millionaire" has been comped by a number of modern soul/northen soul goldmine cds, but not the whole album. I dont know if thats even the best song really. Also, Interestingly, someone recently sold the Master tape reel of this album on ebay for about 1600, so somebody out there owns a friggin hifi reel of this bad boy, and Im guessing they have been booting it, but maybe not if its a serious private collector. Anyway here it is, and more super bombs coming your way very soon. And get that damn Tombouctou already, the shizz is hot.

CALIFORNIA PLAYBOYS - Trying to Become a Millionaire (1977) Loadstone Records.

December 17, 2010

* new link uploaded * MYSTERE JAZZ DE TOMBOUCTOU - Mali Kunkan 1977

Astonishingly good and supremely rare ethnic Mali afrobeat-jazz wonder! Recently sold on ebay for $1130.00 and is basically one of the holy grails of ethnic African music LPs. In the same sphere of other-worldy beauty and excellence as Orchestre de Mopti and Super Temteba Jazz Band among others. Recently comped on African Pearls - Mali 70. Which has a number of really good Malian songs. Fascinating and hypnotic poly-rhythms and transmorphous cycles of bending guitar notes with stacatto horns that are equally free jazz and traditional highlife music. I share this with much gratitude, and because it is not available anywhere else: it needs to be heard. Pressed in France, recorded in Mali, from 1977, very few pressings known.

Enjoy this wonder and treasure it, and please don't share on any mass fileshare programs etc

MYSTERE JAZZ DE TOMBOUCTOU

LIZARD WATER - EP 7"



Utterly obscure and mysterious 7" I found by Lizard Water, that has no date and essentially no info, I will upload the picture of the sleeve and label later, but for now I will give you this great DIY avant-experiemntal noise rock unjazz nowave weirdness that I think is from the early 90s. I'll have the pics up and with it the track list and all that good info, but for now just take my word for it, if you are into any of that aforementioned genreness, cause I kinda dig it.

LIZARD WATER - EP 7" (more info and pictures coming asap)

MILLION DOLLAR ECSTACY - S/T 1987 private ultra weird california electro boogie from the


Hey kids! Here's one of the 5 LPs coming your way that I recently acquired. This is MILLION DOLLAR ECSTACY. I know virtually nothing about it other than that it is from California from 1987, is made in a guys bedroom, is like a lofi analog prince but not near as talented, and has a few really nice tracks that are kind of a boogie electro synthfunk crossover. This is only the begining, a warm up before I unleash a couple holy grails on yo ass! and of course some weird interludes in between. Also, for a really strange listen hear the last track in which the guy congratulates himself for making this album and calls himself the most genius artist that ever lived etc etc. I personally think Burning Inside, You Are the One, and maybe the self titled million dollar ecstacy are the best tracks. The lyrics are insane, and I still have no idea what he's going for with all the 'million dollar ecstacy' references. I think he might be bi-polar or something, but maybe not, either way its great stuff and mild mental illness is often a really a great boon to art and art creation. So I'll stop rambling about hypothetical possibilities and let you get to listening.

"It's just a MILLION DOLLAR ECSTACY,,, commming down from heeeavvun"

November 9, 2010

Experimental Products - Work the Beat 1984


I dont think this one is out in the blog world yet so I figured why not share the love. This is arguably the most obscure of the Experimental Products releases, The Experimental Products LP, Prototype, can be found at mutant sounds blog I think, Mutant Sounds is a fantastic blog, probably the best on the internet for obscure music that isnt 60s-70s rock oriented. Anyway, their LP prototype is obviously worth a lot more because its not a damn flexi disc and its an LP, plus there might have been even fewer initial copies released, but no one keeps flexis around so this is pretty rare still, but besides all that bs, the most important thing is that its a fantastic early techno electro synth-pop track that has an amazingly early techno feel to it, beautiful synth work and a driving electro beat that make this a must have, sadly it was never released in any format other than flexi, and experimental products never made it beyond the obscure cult hit or two. I have yet to see a reissue of E.P.s body of work, which is surprising considering how many other minimal synth artists are exploding on the scene right now and how bad ass E.P. is. Prototype is easily one of the best early minimal synth albums around. Sorry I didnt include the other tracks on the flexi but I'm not into any of them.

WORK THE BEAT

Tim Kelly - The Only Word (Waxwing) Tim sings psychedelic cowboy blues jams about jesus and satan


So this kinda continues the weird 45 kick Ive been on lately, and this is a doozy. I had two guys on ebay fighting over this one even though 70s xian psych doesnt sell well in 7inch format, like if this was an lp of similar material it would be a pwerhouse, but the song is really awesome and essentially unknown, and it has some nice drums, some phaser, so reverb, lyrics about the beast666 and all that good shit. I love this kinda stuff, no one would ever hear this bizarrely wonderful song ever again if not for digging. What a weird and wonderful treasure it is. Yeah theres better psych, better production, better everything, but if it was that good it wouldnt return zero results on google except for the ebay auction. I'm not saying I dug up something monumental by any stretch of the imagination, this is not the next Kashmere Stage Band, but its mine!

Lord Melody - Creature from the black lagoon (Balisier) early 50s carribean 78


This is the only 78 I have ever found that I made money on, and I actually enjoyed the music quite a bit too. Lord Melody is like the Ray Charles of Carribean music. He did it all and was there at the very beginning, defining a lot of the genres. Some of his earliest 78s go for hundreds of dollars. This is a good example of a very obscure one, and it sold for about 100 on ebay. A pretty hilarious song really, and the music is kinda fun too. This song is about a kid who gets made fun of because his mom had sex with the creature from the black lagoon and then she gave birth to him, or something, I havent exactly delved too deep into the lyrics...

The Continentals - I'm Gone / Blue Velvet


Legendary early garage rock outfit from Abilene Texas, The Continentals were all balls in an era of doo wop harmony bubble gum crap. I don't know the exact year on this one but its pretty early in the scheme of loud banging 60s proto punk rocknroll. I bought this at half price books knowing I had heard the name before but thinking it was probably another bad doowop record, but when I put the needle down it assaulted me, then I discovered it sells for about 400 in nice condition, mine is a little beat but the grooves are deep and the scratches are very light, so it sounds really fantastic. The line between fuzzed out garage rock and gene vincent rockabilly and doo wop harmony is so wonderfully blurred here it symbolizes the key transition in the formative years of rock music. I'm sure this has been comped but I'm not sure if its easy to find in the blog world so without further adieu, The Continentals - I'm Gone ( Gaylo Records)

IM GONE

BLUE VELVET

Plastic Dolls - Don't Forget Me / The End


Hey all you bloggers out there. I can't believe this track has still eluded all the compers bloggers and resources I have to get a decent rip of this 45 but yet it still can not be found anywhere. There have been 2 auctioned on Ebay before, both went for 600-850 dollars. It is the holy grail of minimal synth 45s and I have been trying to get a copy for ages. Below is a sample that has about 2/5 of both sides, so if anyone out there has this please contact me, I am in desperation! The record was released on Violent Crime in1984, it is from Greece. If you arent already aware Greece has a truly formidable darkwave-minimal-synthpop scene that lasted from about 1980-1989. The best album released in the period was Statues in Motion, which I would blog but a couple others have beat me to it. That is one hell of an album though. The jacket pictured above is an outer-sleeve that was added in 1992 when a Greek indie label found 50!! copies of this in a shed and they released it again hand numbered 1/50 and with an added sleeve. The original amount of records released in 84 is unknown, but my guess is 75-250.

October 13, 2010

Dave Stearman - S/T (No Label) 1970s Xian Folk Psych

Bringin' out another bad ass first.
First and only outing by the uber mysterious Dave Stearman. No album title, no label, no year. Super unknown and super underrated. I'm not sure where this hails from either. It's a true ghost record. Sold it recently on Ebay thinking I'd get a real assload of money for it, big mistake, only got 88 dollars. I guess there just wasn't enough buzz on it or lookers etc cause I think it's one of the better Outsider Christian Folk Psych records out there that isn't already a huge name thing of course, cause yeah there's better but not many, and they are super well known if so. I mean maybe I'm just not deep enough into the Private Xian game to know if theres copies floatin around but I got virtually zero info or results from anything on this guy. And for that its damn good. Yes there are a few duds of course, but the strong tracks make up for it easily, guy plays damn near all the instruments, great sound and production, decent lyrics pretty good voice and great percussion. I could comp the shit out of about 4 tracks from this. AArgh, killer record and I'm pissed I sold it. Best tracks:
"It's not a hurry kind of day" "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" "Holy Glory" "Messiah"

Get it and appreciate it cause I'm sad it's gone...

Some Truly Cathartic Gospel Sessions from Deep Rural Texas on ACR KNO BEL and Palladium

The B & H Singers with the South Union Baptist Church Choir and Rev. John C Brown. From Marlin, TX 1969.


The Bexar Street Baptist Church Choir, with Rev. R.L. Robertson. Dallas, TX 1969.


Info:
Two fantastic and raw gospel records for your listening pleasure here. Both are from 1969 on the local Texas gospel label ACR KNO BEL located in Austin, the label would visit various rural black churches around Texas and record their gospel singing sessions live. The label rarely issued a cover with the LP and when they did it was usually a plain white jacket or just a few words printed on it. I have no idea how many records are in the catalog of ACR KNO BEL but I have seen 3 different records so far, most all from the late 60s to early 70s. The first record here is from Marlin TX, the second pictured is from Dallas. All of the records on this label are very intense, spiritual gospel singing. The music ranges from just a choir singing negro spirituals and hymns, to a bluesy soul infused gospel session with guitars bass drums and organ. This offering covers both sides of the spectrum. The first is by Bexar Street Baptist Church in Dallas, TX with Rev RL Robertson and Choir. A great record with more traditional leaning style and I have given a few tracks that show the best of the style, because some of the tracks are more just hymns, some sermonizing etc, but these offered are really deep old style soul stirring gut wrenching spirituals. If you are not used to gospel or dont listen to it much, give it a chance and listen all the way through. The Quality of the records is not great, but I feel like if theres one genre that isnt really diminished by quality its this, because the crackling hiss just adds to the old world realness vibe to the LP. The next offering by The B & H Singers with the South Union Baptist Church Choir out of Marlin, TX is a truly awesome record, and one of the better church recordings I've heard. Indeed, there exists some studio based gospel soul, gospel funk stuff that is amazing and I love it to death but this is a whole different ball of wax, this is real people at a real church doing their thing, not for show or money but for themselves, and strangely these guys do it with a very bluesy southern delta spiritual revivalist bellowing and churning that utilizes guitar, organ, bass, percussions and solo/group singing that I really love. I say strangely because it's recorded in the DEEP rural town of Marlin, TX. One of the blackest and, sadly, most impoverished areas in Texas, but damn they have soul. Really beautiful stuff here, I wish the label captured more from this session because often the songs went on so long they had to cut the track off before it really ended, A symptom of the style of the genre, real gospel often takes longer to build up to its crescendo than even Godspeed You Black Emporer. But I'll shut up now and let you download the RAR, I basically just zipped up some of the best tracks from both records to make one full album of Great ACR KNO BEL recordings for you, as I said both are not in great shape but I hope you will learn to appreciate it as much as I have anyway.

DOWNLOAD THE RAR OF THE ACRKNOBEL COMP

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Next up we have a 7" offering of another Live church gospel session with the famous Reverend O.C. Johnson on mic, from Lyons Unity Baptist Church in Houston, TX. Late 60s. Incredible 2 part 7inch featuring the gut wrenching soul shattering blood curdling wails of Reverend Johnson, who I daresay could put burzum, bathory, and cannibal corpse to shame in vocal intensity and delivery if he really wanted to. The first time i heard this I put it on my table and jacked up the volume and it seriously gave me massive goosebumps, I mean the ending with that lady screaming and falling out over his repetitive phrasing is just so intense. I could write for hours about how interesting this kind of music is and why I and others like it so much, but I'll just leave it to the record to speak for itself and hope you are of a similar mindset as myself in finding this music both profound and moving, and worthy of respect and fascination. Most people tend to like the Soul gospel stuff that Numero and others comp, but really that is just soul music with religious lyrics, this is what Gospel is really about, and if you aren't feeling it after these tunes, it just ain't your thing. But I can't get enough of it. It conveys that same sense of earnestness, desperation and soul searching, the pouring out of emotion that bands like Joy Division are so revered for, and man I feel it here too.

September 26, 2010

Teaming Mind (Teaeming Mind) - Moderately Gregarious (1984)

* this post should be working fine as far as the DL link, it will be one of the last posts that still uses divshare probably as I have indicated in the post below this one.


TEAEMING MIND - MODERATELY GREGARIOUS (Grey Matter Records (no issue #) 1984.

First time available on net!
I sold this on ebay about a month or two ago, and I should have taken better pictures of the back cover because I can't remember where the band is from and a few other bits of information. I was actually surprised by how much money I got for the record as unknown 80s indie psych weird pop normally doesnt do so well if its not either heavily psyche or heavily minimal wave stuff, but it's a really fantastic LP by a virtually unknown band and I think they must have a small following in Japan, because the only 2 guys bidding on it on ebay were both from Japan, it sold for 98 dollars and it was in VG+ condition, one long scratch (that my dog created as it bumped the turntable, before it was nm) and so I'd imagine its about a 100 to 150 dollar record normally. But it's so rare that I don't think one had been sold on ebay in a verrry long time. I don't know why there's so little information out on this LP because there are some strikingly good moments on it, when I first put it on the player I thought I had bought a mid nineties indie record because it sounded so much like the experimentalist pop menageries that were going on in the underground scene, but when I saw that it was from 1984 I was pretty impressed. The LP ranges from stripped down indie rock to far out jazz instrumental to electronic tape loop weirdness. I think I should have held on to this because it seems like the kinda thing that in 10 or 15 years might become near extinct level rare and perhaps hyped by someone or some genre craze at the time and I would sell it for 4 or 5 notes but then who knows really, and I did make the nice Japanese fellow extremely happy, he had been searching for a copy for ages it seems. If you can offer up any more info on this band please do so. Enjoy.

GET TAEAMING MIND - MODERATELY GREGARIOUS (1984)


ADDITIONAL INFO: so recently one of the creators of the Teaeming Mind album contacted me and expressed his amazement in my posting the album and voicing my enthusiastic praise of its quirky goodness. He gave me quite a lot of background info on the band and the album, and since quite a few people enjoyed it, I will relay the story to you. Thanks for contacting me Benj.

BENJ:
"The facts on teaming mind are as follows to the best of my recall (which is pretty good): 1982ish, Cincinnati OH. Eric Wise and Steve Ferguson were the central creative core of Teaming Mind when they invited me to play in their band, it was my first venture outside of my neighborhood band and I was seventeen and they were like 24, 25. Steve bought himself the very first generation home studio machine on the market, a Teac (or was it Tascam?) 4-track cassette multitrack recorder, and set about learning how to use it. He also let me borrow it for a week after he first got it, which I remember feeling at the time that he was being extremely generous, and I put it to good use and played around with creating demos and doing backwards stuff. They also smoked a lot of pot with me during rehearsals and shows, and then after a few months they kicked me out of the band because I would get too stoned and not play well. I was crushed. But we were all still hanging out when Steve and Eric set out to make an album. Without a functioning performance band at the time, Steve would set up his mobile studio wherever and they'd try a song out with whoever among a friendly neighborhood-ish group of musicians was available to play, and just recorded stuff til they got something good. Steve played nearly all the bass parts live with the drummer and then overdubbed his guitars, and Eric played all the electric pianos, he also strums guitars on Amber Waves and It Ain't Safe. Steve wrote and sang Faking Intelligence and Rain and Road Song, Eric wrote and sang the rest of the songs with vocals. Our eccentric friend Bryan Mefford, who passed a few years ago, played drums on much of the album, his loose jazzy light yet propulsive touch animates Everything's Beautiful, Faking Intelligence, Dirge and W.U.S.S., the fifteen minute free jazz piece that ends the record!! I wish I could write a book about that guy. Bryan was a big fellow with an obsession with all things Caribbean, he would wear Hawaiian shirts and leis as a matter of course. He had a progressive rock band with his brother Kurt for howevertwentymany years called Wingspan, they only performed publicly like four times and two of those were at each of the brothers' weddings, and the other two were with Teaming Mind. I am pretty sure that is accurate. The rest of the time they'd play every weekend at their parent's house where Bryan lived all his days. The basement was fully decorated in two parts Half of it was full-blown Caribbean Tiki fantasy, with a full bar, bamboo makeout nooks, a sandy beach area with a hammock, plastic parrots, the whole deal. The other half was prog rock fantasy: Bryan's ever evolving band set-up. Behind the band were plastic knurled panels with Christmas lights behind them that shone through starry, and Bryan would collect and incorporate other flashing fancy lights and anything neat, interesting and cool to enhance his basement fantasy. The brothers were obsessed and deep into prog rock, especially ELP, and Bryan struggled with his appreciation for Yes because they might be devil music. All other rock and roll was definitely devil music, according to Bryan and the small cult-ish church that the brothers 'belonged to. Anyway, Kurt was on the left with his Keith Emerson rig; a multitude of old school synthesizers stacked on each other and then Bryan's drums in the center and finally to the right was the bass keyboard where Bryan's wife Brenda acquiesced to play, though she never appeared to enjoy it and would often sulk, probably because most of the time the brothers would be arguing about the arrangement or whatever. We would hang out there and drink beers and smoke pot while Wingspan performed the same songs. They were basically having band practice while we partied but Bryan would still kind of keep it a show. If you can imagine a dude that could be simultaneously bitter and jovial, Bryan was that. A master of ceremonies and loud greetings, a big warm smile and a chronic complaint. So here's how surreal it was. A bunch of teenagers, we're all drunk, the band is playing crazy math music with whirling keyboard licks and preachy lyrics, they stop all of a sudden and start arguing with each other (always Bryan would argue on mic), Bryan's dad would open up the door at the top of the stairs and shout at bryan about how the band sucks and he needs to get a job, Bryan would tell him to fuck off and then get into "well, now, back to the show" and this was how it was while we partied there. Now that was a digression. Back to the record, Paula Montondo, now of L.A., played drums on It Ain't Safe and Urgent! She was actually a member of the band when I first joined and we did a few shows together. Dan Mayfield was bass player with Wingspan for awhile, he played the cool "flute" sounding guitar part at the beginning section of Afrimica, he was inspired by Steve Hackett as a guitarist. Marty Pushkar played the sax on WUSS and I later sampled a section of it on my own recorded song Part Of Me Died (a 12 bar spread of psychedelic indulgence that sounds wicked tasty to me, still). Kurt Kaufman was 14 when they made the record, his sole contribution was a drum roll. My moment on the album is the bass part for Rain and Road Song. Kurt and I soon became a tight rhythm section for the next phase of Teaming Mind which was called New Age Insomniacs; we rehearsed and gigged through the 90's in various configurations (with and without me, even). We completed an album called Abandon in 2003(?) which is a tasty piece that follows the quirky inventiveness of Moderately Gregarious, a lot more refined but still surprising and charming and thoughtful. Eric even wrote a "eulogy" for me called Unbridled, anticipating my demise at a time in my life when it looked grim for me based on my own choices. (I've since collected myself!) I love this record, and would love to share it with you. With Steve's penchant for recording, there is also a trove of unreleased recordings by the band/collective floating around, and a large portion of those are archived on a series of packages designed and compiled by our friend Greg Collins in Cincinnati. In fact the essential Insomniacs members are still in Cincinnati. Except for me and Paula, we're in Los Angeles - but I haven't seen her in years, just hello on facebook. I am certain I have left many people out in my credit listings. There was a pink cardstock inserted (I inserted them!) in each record that had credits and lyrics and artsy doodles by our artist friend Susan Cohen who works in Atlanta, who also designed the sleeve with Eric and drew the brain for Grey Matter Records label (whose sole release was this one). I think we still have one or two with the pink cards. Eric painted the front cover painting. I can tell you there are no sealed copies because they never came sealed. Also quite a few of the pressed copies were defective, they wouldn't play right. You had to dig through and find one that played well. Which was easy because there were a few boxes laying around for a while. Nobody really ever bought any. I think I might have planted a few in a used record store or two across the decades. And then there was a water damage situation too. Yeah bro, these are rare!

Further on down the road, we're all still friends and at Christmas we hang out and play tunes together. Steve has almost always had a home studio going, and still does today. Steve and Eric both work with Cincy band Red Idle, and Kurt drummed for them for a long time. I even did a couple gigs with them before I blew for the coast. Dan Mayfield still rocks the bars on his bass and Kurt is in regular demand for his drumming around town. I play in the band Larisa Stow & Shakti Tribe and I just produced our new album Rock On Sat Nam which is coming out any flippin' moment now...

Okay enough for now. Hope you enjoyed my run-on paragraph. I just went for it.

peace out"

August 21, 2010

The strange and wonderful terrible! COREY DEVILLE - PARTY REPTILE


I'm doing a collection of posts of some particularly weird and utterly unknown items i've found lately. Most of them are mind boggling in some fashion, and usually the most mind boggling thing about it is how much money people will pay for them. Now, you might say, well 80 or 100 or 120 dollars isnt thaaat much for a record, but really, when you consider how cheap a gigantic amount of other records are, it is quite impressive. I mean a whole host of hard to find 80s and 90s indie rock/rap etc classics that are pretty difficult to find nowadays and still have droves of followers still remain well under 80 bucks. The records in this category stretch the boundaries of what is collectable and why, there's really an art to digging and this is where the real skill lies, determining what has potential value and why. I mean there are unknown items out there that arent worth jack even if its stupid rare, because it doesnt have that certain sound, it doesnt fit into a particular genre or mix of genres or have that certain homemade beauty about it that people are looking for. This is a perfect piece to represent the category, I mean I played this damn thing for atleast 8 people and all of them sumarily rejected it as impossible to sell. I bought it at a record store for a dollar, a hipster record store no less, but they just could not see any potential in it. But when you listen to this, theres just nothing else quite like it. Much like my Jack Adkins post, there is a surreal beauty in its uniqueness, its naivety of its own absurd and awful existence, it has the ingredients for a minimal synth pop tune, but its too electro cheese sounding, and the vocals sound like they were done by the would-be 4th beastie boy that got accidentally left in eastern europe with a crate of whippits. I mean this guy single handedly attempts to start a mid 80s fashion craze equivalent to the crocodile dundee hat of the late 50s. So like I said, there is zero information on this record, I recently sold it on the bay for $110.00, which surprised the hell out of me even I must admit, but I can see some weird French DJs throwing this into a synthpop minimal boogie type set with great success if done right. So anyway, for the first time ever heard since its release in 1985 probably, here is Corey Deville - Party Reptile. "She even has a pair of party-reptile pants!"

August 7, 2010

Texas boogie heat special! STARFIRE LTD , GLASS - Stacked to T , Jefferson Ink

Found some bad ass and very hard to find boogie 12"s this month, all from TX amazingly, I guess a local DJ unloaded his collection at this store I was at, and all of these were in the dollar bin, some people just can't comprehend that local 12s are worth any money, but I'm glad I got there when I did, I can't imagine what else got picked over before I got there considering you dont usually just have 3 12s of this caliber and rarity in a stack, it's usually either just one fluke or about a dozen of em, but I'm lucky to have landed these...
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The Starfire LTD track 'strutt yo stuff' is some whacked out early 80s boogie synth fire too, it's a long boogie funk jam session style track that has quite a few different parts to it, including some vocoder shiz, and a really bad ass 2 minute wobbly synth jam, and has a nice drum break in the middle to ease the transition, definitely made for DJing a phat ass 1981 fort worth ghetto party. I'd love to have a picture of these guys or see them in action. I can just imagine all the jerry curl sweat, damn. This 12 is quite rare, and is usually found in the far inferior 7inch version, which is not nearly as valuable or good but itself is quite hard to find, I'm not sure if starfire ltd has any connection to the Oklahoma band by name of Starfire, whose albums are mostly from the late 70s. Not a whole lot of fort worth boogie 12s out there, so this was quite a special treat for me when I found it. Price is about $200-300. Also the B side, 'Dancin Freak' is pretty good too.

strutt yo stuff (download at badongo.com)
dancin freak (download at badongo.com)

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I really like this Glass track, I've never seen this one anywhere, it's worth about $150-200. The Glass is more known for the LP on HCRC, another Houston label, which is about a 50-80 dollar record, it has the 'whats your name' track on it, and they did have one pretty popular 12 on that same label called ' bedrock' that I don't really like but it is an electro synth classic of sorts., I can't help but think this could have been even more bad ass if they would have used the opening bars more and kept it minimal like at the beginning, at the very end is a crazy fuzzed out guitar solo that isnt bad really, but it'd be better with a synth jam instead, but all that aside, when I first dropped the needle on this one I was flippin out, and I still am.



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Another Bad ass jam from Houston from the cult electro boogie band Jefferson Ink. J.I. had about 4 releases on Houston International that range from straight up TX electro rap to more danceable synth boogie. They're a great crew and I'm glad to have finally found one of their records. Usually about $100-200 record. Not as rare as the other 2 but still quite hard to find, and there's usually more people looking for it.

July 5, 2010

Unearthing a lost classic: KINGS IN EXILE - MUSIC FROM ANCIENT TEXTS


This is really why I love digging through the endless, dusty dollar bins for hours in thrift shops and junk dives across Texas. The chance to bring back to the masses a lost gem is really what it's all about, but it doesn't happen very often, so when it does it's especially rewarding. I searched google after being thoroughly impressed by what I heard playing, and found next to nothing. One mention by the incredible radio station WCBN Michigan, they played a track from the record at some point, another mention of a play from a radio show on last.fm and that was it. It's not that surprising that it hasn't gotten more attention though, First off it's from 1981, and the cover art is very unexceptional and not indicative of the music at all, it's from Dallas, not a major jazz city, and it's not exactly funky or groove heavy stuff, nor does it have any widely known players. But, all that being said, it is a brilliant excursion into a medium size group of ethno-tinged free jazz with parallels to Sun Ra and Salah Ragab, Art Ensemble of Chicago, and some of the ESP catalogue. The players are quite skilled, the compositions are all original, and the mood is quite fierce, though sometimes it does linger on a bit. But comparisons aside, these cats definitely deserve to be lauded once more before their beautiful creation falls back into the inevitable abyss of obscurity. I've tried to give most of the info on the band through the photos above. Other than what's seen there, I've had trouble gathering any more info on them. I wouldn't be surprised if they have another album on the daagnim label though, or if that label has a few other jazz gems to be uncovered still, so keep your eye out and until then enjoy this lovely piece.

KINGS IN EXILE - MUSIC FROM ANCIENT TEXTS (DAAGNIM 1981) Dallas, TX.

June 28, 2010

Gary Blanchard - Original Soundtrack


Very good luck digging in San Marcos, South Austin, and Temple TX lately. Scores of good shite to come. First up we have an awesome find of the Gary Blanchard - Original Soundtrack 1987 Minimal Synth art exhibition record that was a 200 pressing only venture. Really interesting stuff from California that has some 80s pop poetry and residents style singing behind simple drum machine beats and dreamy synth waves. I think a small resurgence has happened recently for Gary and if you are interested in purchasing his other items you can find them somewhere on the net from himself, I think they are cdr copies only though, but I advocate it as I am sure the other albums are really great too. I almost never find good minimal wave, synthpop kinda stuff in TX so I was pretty happy to get this for a couple bucks. I really don't know what it's worth because I dont think its ever been auctioned on Ebay, but I could be wrong. If it was more single/DJ friendly I'm sure it would be worth a mint, but being more artsy I'm not sure. I particularly like the track "technology mythology". Enjoy this ultra rare gem.

GARY BLANCHARD - ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

May 25, 2010

Funk Destroyer from Temple High School Stage Band. Go Wildcats?


Who would have thought the Temple High School Stage Band "The Highlighters" would be so damn funky? This is their 1974 3xLP release, and I'm only upping the Pick Up the Pieces track for now. Which is a Bobby Timmons song that Average White Band made pretty huge, if I am remembering correctly. But the album has quite a few winners on it, including the synth backed Epitaph of a Dying Planet, a complex big band jazz fusion with amazing intensity. If you know central Texas well, of all places, Temple was the last I thought would have such left field and complex funk rhythms. Check the saxophonist and Drummer's mad high school band talent. Also, this track is much better at really high volume, because it was probably recorded with only 1 or 2 microphones. Yes they start getting a little bit loose toward the end, and I have heard a few tighter high school bands, but over all for this not getting any blog time or internet/collector appreciate, it MUST be brought to the masses!


Pick up the pieces! Alright! Pick up the Pieces! Alright!

Greatest Album of All Time?


I don't normally post this kind of thing, but I have to jump on the Ata Kak band wagon for anyone who has not yet had the pleasure of listening to this gem of a tape, posted by the glorious Awesome Tapes from Africa blog. Below is a link to the site, and it's hosted on a few other blogs now too.
One thing I would really like to clear up, and I need confirmation from Awesome Tapes, but there is no fucking way that this tape is from 1986, I have a plethora of reasons but number one is the production, yes it sounds 80s esque in style, almost more like 88-92 to me, but the equipment sounds mid 90s to me. I dunno maybe I'm wrong, but Jesus if this tape is really from 1986 it may actually be the best album of the 1980s, and that's no joke. I think the "1986" dating comes from Awesome Tape's comment "It sounds so home-made, funky yet spooky, like a warped Prince protege from Africa by way of 1986 Chicago." Which is a description not a dating. I think the tape is "fairly" recent, I dunno say the last 15 years. In fact, even over at rateyourmusic.com they have an entry for this tape as 1986, and its made it to the 456th ranked album from 1986, and yet its not even from 1986...? yet another mystery surrounding the awe inspiring life of Ata Kak. I would pay 500 dollars to meet this man and $2000 plus airfare for a concert, no shit. And I bet I could find some really rich folks that would pay even more, so Ata Kak, if you are out there, I hope you are getting rich off this genius work. I have to say, I was more impressed by this tape than I was by the first time I listened to Hi How Are You. Maybe not a fair comparison, but really, is Ata Kak not Africa's Daniel Johnston of Dance music? Anyway, here is a nifty link to everything that Awesome Tape's has about Ata Kak, and PLEASE WATCH THE SECOND VIDEO by Rei Helder, it is mind blowing.

LINK TO A LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE, MORE EPIC THAN EPIC BEARDMAN? YES!

May 16, 2010

Legendary Weirdness and May's Find of the Month:


JACK ADKINS - AMERICAN SUNSET (1984) boink records. Recorded in Tampa, Florida.

Private press 500 copies. This album is like nothing I have ever heard before, or will ever hear again no doubt. TRUTH is definitely the most standout track, quite haunting. American Sunset sounds like the Gentleman Losers but 20 years early, and then Sunset Beach sounds like Mantronix and the Gypsy Kings locked themselves in a studio with a lunchsack full of peyote. If that wasnt enough Hurts to be a Hero throws out all your expectations and launches out on what could be the soundtrack to an 80s cyborg film starring Klaus Kinski. A couple of the tracks are less interesting country tinged folk rock weirdness with a drum machine. Jack plays all the instruments himself and then layers them up in the studio. Except he brought someone in to lay down the awesome Linn drums. This record is a perfect representative of why I love crate digging so much. Maybe I'm crazy and this record is really awful I dunno, but it certainly blew my mind when I put the needle down. In the words of Jack: Mind equals ship, Truth equals fuel: have a nice trip.

mind-==(___(__(_(((/~\O:|:o[SPACE]o:|:O/~\)))_)__)___)==-truth

May 11, 2010

REVS - Just Stay Away (in god we trust in transit we bomb)


Another fuckin incredible find this week! Here we have the ultra rare 1993 LP with custom inserts by New York graffiti legend REVS. On the back cover there is a scan of a newspaper police report detailing a great story about REVS and his crew going to bomb a subway car with a bad ass giant mural of Miami Vice when the cops showed up and started ganking everyone, except it would seem that one of the miscreant teenagers got away by hiding in the bushes for a few hours. Anyway, teenage graffiti pranks aside, the album itself is not bad. At times it's even pretty original/innovative/thoughtful whatever. Done in a Brooklyn Punk / Hardcore style with slightly art school edge and lots of ridiculous samples layered in, the LP is decided LoFi, and uses material recorded way back in 83 and then refurbished in the studio, but the majority I think was recorded somewhat close to 93, though again I'm not sure. It's not exactly something to put in your usual listening rotation, but I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. And anyway, this is a real piece of New York graffiti history and an interesting listen for the fans of punk and hardcore. The only other copy I can find recently got auctioned on Ebay and sold for around $300.00. It''s been a pretty good week so far.

REVS - Just Stay Away (1993) No Label, New York, NY.

May 8, 2010

*RE-UPLOADED* Family Tree - Somewhere in Your Heart (w/ Never Gonna Give You Up)



First let me say I'm not posting the entire album because you will never listen to it more than once anyway, because it's all about that one ridiculous track on this bizarro record. Don't know a whole hell of a lot about The Family Tree, they are from Minnesota I believe, and played in various clubs and weddings around Nashville. They originally sang bad country and soft rock covers, which there are 2 other LPs you can get on ebay right now and they are both cheap and truly awful. But sometime in the late 70s the Family Tree decided to get a little funky, as rock n roll was fading out and disco was taking over, I'm sure they got Barry White requests at a lot of weddings, so why not put a fully realized cover song of Never Gonna Give You Up on their last LP. And damn I am glad they did. This gem is quite rare, indicated by the signature of every person in the band on probably ever record they pressed, under 500 total I bet. Recently sold for $250.00 on Ebay, so this is indeed no joke. Not for everyone, I realized that, but for that certain record collector that's heard it all these kind of things are marvelous, and they will often sell like they are marvelous. It is also worth noting that I purchased this in a record store for .49 cents, a price that doesn't even exist normally in the store, but they were so horrified by it's existence (without listening to the whole thing probably) that they felt compelled to skip the dollar bin and besmirch this hideously beautiful stepchild with a 49 cent sticker. So without further adieu, Here is the Family Tree - Never Gonna Give You Up (1979)...

April 11, 2010

Dave Mattson - August Reunion 1975 (no label) ... Great and Unknown DIY Loner Folk Rock '75

Update: sold the dave mattson finally, mainly out of curiousity to see what it would get. As you know I think its a really awesome and very underrated piece, theres still virtually no info out there on it, except that i did discover that mr. mattson went on to record an album on Word out of waco in the early 80s, a few of the tracks from here are on the lp but they are reworked in a most horendous manner. The record is in vg- condition and the cover was a vg+, so it wasnt in the best shape but it did sound pretty damn good still amazingly, I feel like after I cleaned it the sound got better so I will reupolad this at some point cause this one is a litttle grainy. Anyway in its condition it sold for 155 dollars, which aint bad considering, and the fact that it has no following really makes it surprising, but after selling it on ebay and getting it out there plus my blog hopefully people will become more aware and start looking for it. Its not as dark as some people like their private folk rock to be, but it makes up for that in lyrics and song structure. I think if it was in excellent shape and was in the hands of a guy like Show and Tell, itd have fetched 300 without too much trouble. Thats the way it goes though. Im atleast finally starting to get a reputation on ebay and get some frequent re-buyers and browsers, even though i only have a measly 175 sales. Keep the train rolin.








DAVID MATTSON and SAILOR : August Reunion 1975 (no label) Dallas TX

Musicians:
Dave Mattson: Vocals & Guitar
Frank Whitney: Bass
Terry Rosen: Second Guitar
Sailor: Drums, Vibes, Electric Piano, Guitar

Produced By:
Randy Gill and David Mattson

I will say this, this LP has been listened to many times by the previous owner, so it sounds a bit worn. Also it is unfindable x10 in every way I have tried, a true obscurity. And it is a grower for sure, I mean at first I thought it was kinda average private folk that was a bit too John Denverish, but I am telling you there are certain tracks on here that I have listened to over and over again in my car and I'm really impressed with how much this album has grown on me. A very personal effort here by Dave and Sailor, at times sounding like Simon and Garfunkel, at times sounding like John Denver, and sometimes sounding like Elliot Smith and lots of new era folksy things but more 70s nature-y ethereal stuff. But some of the tracks are a bit soft and snoozy, so I really recommend / A2: Vancouver Bay A4: Holly Lake A5: Sail Me Away B2: As Long as I Do / for a quick listen, but the whole album is really good to listen to. And I think 'Sail Me Away' is my favorite track.
Probably not everyone's cup of tea, but there is something special about finding a record in a pile of junk somewhere, thinking it might have potential, putting it on and liking it, then discovering its basically unknown to all but maybe 50 people on earth. So I'm probably biased somewhat in that, but if it were rubbish I'd throw it in the growing pile of all the unknown but utter shite in my closet.

FIND OF THE MONTH: MINT - THE MINT b/w SKYWALKING



Truly one hell of a find here, a devastating 12" single with 2 sides that are incredibly different in style yet obviously done by the same band, and both are incredibly good, which is rare on an obscure weirdo like this one. When I first heard that intro bass riff, and then the slammin almost no wave style synth blasts I was thinking my god, how could this not be all over the place. And then I flipped to skywalking and the homedun DIY sweet soul disco lounge modern soul skywalking only served to accentuate the question: How the fuck is this under the radar? Or am I just crazy? No popsike entry, no collector's frenzy entry, no Groovecollector entry, no discogs entry, no ebay for sale, no Gemm, no cdandlp, no musicstack, I mean occasionaly I will happen upon a 7" like Sugarbear that practically no one knows exists except a murmur among the most meticulous collectors of its possible existence, but this 12" just doesnt seem like that kind of thing to me. I know the group has atleast 2 other releases, both of which are known, one which is somewhat sought after. But they are both much later than this one, and this one blows them away by a mile. The DIY quirky uniqueness of this is at maximum level. And the skywalking side will really grow on you, while the mint at very loud volume makes for one hell of a ride. Enjoy this beautiful gem, this is what Digging for Diamonds is all about. And while I'm on that topic, I'd just like to say I didn;t give nough credit to the Alan Fitzmorris 7" I posted a while back, the guy on the kansas city rangers, I have still yet to find a TRACE of info on that release, and it is STILL one of my favorite finds of all time, truly great songcraft and a very unique dark acid folk meets hash rock. So if you havent got that one yet, go back and check it out, I'm also very astonished of that one too.

MINT - THE MINT / SKYWALKING ( exceptional quality records) date unknown. 1980-82?

March 25, 2010

EL-P listens to Debonair Dimension, now you can too!



Found this awesome and surprisingly rare electro rap joint from 86 out of california on the Macola label, (it's one of the 2 hardest to find releases on the label) and sadly I decided to Ebay it but I did get $260.00 for it so I was pretty pleased. Anyhow, I upped the full thing in a rar for yas because there are so many tight instros vocals and accapellas I thought yall might want them all. Personally, I feel like Free Bass 9000 is the standout track on the 12" because it sounds like the kinda shit that El-P jams out to before dropping a wickid crunchy beat, I love how hard this sucker hits, and the A side; Sound Attack, is pretty rad too. Its kind of an exercise in DJ prowess, y'kno the synths scratching cutting and all that good stuff and with pretty tight vocals. Also I was amazed to see that the record had been signed by MC Bam Bam and Debonair Dimension "To JR Boy and Stacy", which is quite bad ass. Anyway, I highly recommend it for the oldschool and electro fans out there, I havent checked to see if its been posted to any other blogs yet but if so I doubt they have all the tracks so ENJOY!

BANG YO HEAD LIKE ITS A.D. 9000

March 24, 2010

Some Gospel Finds Fo Yuhs




Excellent gospel album for those who really like gospel gospel stuff, not just soul or funk gospel, but the one track that is kinda soulful happens to be my favorite, I guess I could put up the whole LP but I figured the interest would be mainly in these tracks so I will stick with this for now. This is the Jubilee Hummingbirds - I feel the spirit LP tracks: Try Jesus. Glory is Coming. From 1977. Try Jesus is very heartwarming and quite a soulful track with great drumming too. Goes to show it doesnt have to be super funky to be great!




I was really going crazy when I first needle dropped this at the flea market cause it starts off massive and its completely unknown, but then like most weird unknown records 75% was not so hot, but it did really grow on me, and that one beginning track is still fire as far as i'm concerned, but I am really upset with myself for not ripping all the tracks from this before I ebayed it out, now I just have a 6 minute clip of samples from the best parts, but its unique enough I thought yall should hear it anyway. Go Bishop Smith!





And last but CERTAINLY not least we have one of the ultimate boner records I've found recently, and as it is technically gospel I thought this would be as good a time as any to unleash it upon you. This is 8 year old Patrick Dwayne Fortson the II. He writes and sings his own songs, and he is a mad player. I can only imagine how much PDF is ballin nowadays. The album cover is definitely better than the music, but it's kind of interesting too in a bad 80s way. Here's a taste, cause you cant handle this LP.

March 16, 2010

Uber Weird Find: The Ballad of Glooscap!





So there are many reasons why this record is odd, but I do like the minimal DIY ambient synth atmosphere approach of Calle Ornemark's Ballad of Glooscap, the poetry I could do without but in small doses it adds a cool element I guess, as it is only on a few tracks, the real winners are the first track Birds of the Sky, with its minimal synth experimental ambiance that really warms the soul in a way, and then the 'rhythm' pieces which are a nod to John Cage as Calle is using a self-altered custom piano to produce strange rhythmic notes that echo out into a weird organic yet mechanical soundscape, the whole album is very trance inducing. The poetry tracks, (the 2 longest I left out of the rar because trust me you dont really want them), are mainly just Calle reading a really earthy mystical Native American style poem in Swedish, and then a female voice reads after him in English translating it sentence by sentence, again freakishly mesmerizing but a little kitschy/ campy I guess. I still am not totally sure what Calle the Swede was going for, my best guess is a pseudo native American homage slash earth prayer warning ala koyaanisqatsi double LP with John Cage like experimental piano etudes, and Klaus Schulze like synth atmosphere, and some Swedish poetry in between tracks. There is some interesting stuff to read when you wiki Glooscap, but I just don't see the Swedish connection. I could not find a date for the recording, but I am guessing about 1977-1985. There is to my knowledge not a single mention of this crazy double LP anywhere on the internet, zero zip nada, though I didn't deeply research Calle Ornemark because I figure the money potential for this kind of thing is never that strong, so I will just enjoy it's weird obscurity until I find something out. Despite all the description I gave it isn't going to floor you musically, but it is quite well done for being a DIY experimental/ambient album.

BALLAD OF GLOOSCAP