Digging for Diamonds in Mountains of Mediocrity

Follow up to the Whip Pets cassette.

2012-01-14T13:48:00.003-06:00

Hello friends, this is the complete version of the Whip Pets post I did a while back. I know at least ONE person wants it...

Come on, Austin based minimal synth pop circa 1989? Thats rare as hens teeth. Didn't garner much interest. Only sold on ebay for 25 bucks. My mediocre metal cassettes sell for 80 dollars a pop in the same auction as this gem. What is the world coming to.

THE WHIP PETS! I LIKE THEM!

Another George Adams cassette post, here is the track "Dont mess with the spirits take 4"

2012-01-14T13:41:00.002-06:00

Can someone out there please tell me if they think this might be THE George Adams, just based on the soloing because these tracks are ungoogleable, or if you think this is just a guy in his garage named George adams THAT HAPPENS TO HAVE A BAD ASS JAZZ BAND. thank you. Here is the track 'Dont mess with the spirits take 4'

Help! Unidentified modal jazz tape from early 70s with 'George Adams' written on it.

2012-01-12T00:08:00.004-06:00

So this is a pretty interesting find. A lone cassette at goodwill that is from the first generation of commercial cassettes you can buy, I have found a few others of this super early Scotch brand and they were from as early as 1969 and as late as 75ish. As you can see George Adams is written on it, so, is that the name of the guy who owned the cassette? Is it a recording of the Jazz Saxophonist George Adams? (If so I can't find ANY known recording with George Adams in the group that has these tracks, however one of the tracks IS a known Don Pullen song whom George often played with him on, called Autumn Song, but I can't find any to match this version, not even close. This lineup has a prominent electric piano, drums, bass, and a fantastic sax player occasionally on flute. The recording quality is quite low, and it kinda sounds like this tape is being copied from a Reel to Reel master with a lot more tracks and they are taking the best takes from that to put on hear (i think). Also, before most of the tracks someone introduces them with the title and take number. They are as follows:

1. Un-introduced track with flute
2. "autumn song take four"
3. "don't mess with the spirits take one"
4. "noon motif take one"
*also before the first track starts there is a lot of adjusting of setting, noise, volume adjusting, and such, and this occurs while playing another track that I cant discern.

So anyway, I don't know what the hell this is but I am hoping it is an unpublished home recording, because although the fidelity is quite bad, the music is really excellent. The .rar is only 35 mb so if you would please check it out and let me know.

Also please do not share this with anyone/host it/etc. Though if you know a jazzologist please feel free to have them weigh in on the recordings!

DOWNLOAD

Viva Brasil - S/T 1980 (SugarLoaf Records)

2012-01-11T23:09:00.003-06:00

Really excellent record which I am surprised isn't available on the net already. Its from California and it has a really interesting blend of bossa-scat modern-soul and prog, with lots of sample friendly moments and a couple dancefloor friendly tunes. It's quite rare and I'm not sure why it isn't worth more money than it usually goes for. Usually around 60-100ish range. I'm sorry to report that I uploaded the uncut A and B sides to divshare instead of cutting the tracks and putting them in a zip. But I figure that's better than not having it at all. It's a very nice clean copy and it is in 192kbs. Enjoy. whoa I just noticed that Joe Henderson guest stars on Tenor Sax. Also if you are interested in buying this or the STRAPPED 7" I am going to have an auction very soon.

1. O Bode
2. Skindo-le-le
3. Iemanja
4. Voce Abousou/Desabafo
5. Dancing the Baiao

1. Ronco Da Cuica
2. Turn to Yourself
3. Menina Danada
4. She
5. Produto Nacional

SIDE A

SIDE B

Stuk bambuka v XI chasov (Стук бамбука в 11 часов) - Лёгкое дело холод (1991)

2012-01-11T15:07:00.004-06:00

This is now at the top of my list of albums I wish I had but never will. This is seriously one of the most overlooked masterpieces of all time. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I got this the other day from an obscure russian only website with a million dead or bad links, so I figured I'd do the world a huge favor and host it myself. It is a Russian album from 1991. Members include Dmitriy Noskov [Дмитрий Носков] (programming), Vasiliy Agafonov [Василий Агафонов] (programming), Konstantin Bagaev [Константин Багаев] (programming), Tatiana Erokhina [Татьяна Ерохина] (vocals). Let me just say this. If Stereolab and Monolake were locked in a dungeon in Siberia for 3 months with nothing to eat but DXM and Borsch... You would get a close approximation of this album. Like most truly great music, the constituent parts and ingredients sound older than 1991, but the arrangement, theory, concept, and execution are very much 2011. A few times before I have been astonished by how far ahead a particular album was, like Franco Battiato's 'Fetus,' for instance. And now this album puts another notch in that belt and also takes a spot on the list of the top 100 albums of the 90s. This got me thinking about other obscure albums that were created way ahead of their time, or just extremely innovative and forward thinking, or anticipatory of major trends to come, or just downright futuristic, and not in the cliche sense...

LINK: http://www.divshare.com/download/16551821-bd7

Monoton's 'Monoproduckt',
Ata Kak tape
Nuno Canavarro's 'Plux Quba'
Charanjiht Singh 'Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat'
Bathory - S/T
Most everything Joe Meek ever made,
Moondog as well for that matter,
Luigi Russolo's early tape music (inventor of musqiue concrete)
Les Yper Sound's seminal 7"
Virgo Four - Virgo lp
Heldon - Electronique Guerilla
Automat - S/T
Cortex - Troupeau Bleu
Mahmoud Ahmed's - Ere Mela Mela
Comus - First Utterance
Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
Lucio Battisti's - Anima Latina,
Bernie Worrell discovering how awesome the minimoog is,
The Electric Prunes - Mass in F Minor (is this not the first incredible postrock album?)
all the BBC Radiophonics Workshop material
Monks - Black Monk Material
Aloa - S/T,
Keiji Haino - Soul's true love,
Royal Trux - Twin Infinitives,
Savant - The Neo-Realist
Nine Circles - S/T (1992 comp)
and... Soothing Sounds For Baby vols 1-3!

a few mind blowing oddities for the new year

2012-01-07T12:27:00.005-06:00

That is a seriously enormous cross. And this is seriously a bizarre record.

What the hell the formatting in this post is all whacked out. But I am too lazy to fix it. The first clips are for HONEY - Love So Fine. The next set of clips are for STRAPPED - Edna.

My dirty fingernails in the picture only add the the mystery of EDNA! Someone posted this to another site I noticed but I wasnt sure if they put up both sides so if not here is the entirety of STRAPPED.

Merry Christmas! ...A Day Late.

2011-12-26T12:31:00.002-06:00

yes, there are 700 dollar christmas albums. no, I don't have them. But Merry Christmas from me and the lovely bossa nova blondie.

new info Thrash Metal Day! Unknown Demos By... Forte / Dark Alliance / Bastard Sons

2011-11-27T22:37:00.010-06:00

***the recording for Forte is not correct at the moment, I am working on redoing it. More info below.***

Three unknown thrash metal demos for offer here. Before I start the post, let me riff for a moment. You know I like to keep my genres extremely varied, and sometimes I think I should do separate blogs for all the different types of posts I tend to do, or maybe a cassette demo site and then a vinyl site, but really, since the very beginning, the purpose of the site was to post music that I found digging through the worlds various junk bins that is either unknown or unavailable, and that has some merit worth posting, whether it be just excellent and unheard music, or something relevant or interesting to the digging world or digging in general, or even if its just something worth lots of dough to collectors. As I sift through more and more stuff, I've broadened my post inclusions to more formats and more genres, but I still rarely post more than 5 or 8 items a month, so I think I'll keep on going with the current format for the time being, until perhaps I just have too many one offs and weirdos to crowd out the big hitters. But, I've come to find that there's always at least a few people who end up appreciating such stepchild obscurities and oddities. So if you're a frequent visiter to my blog here, thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the content. And if theres a string of posts you just aren't that into, don't think I've completely lost it, your forte is probably coming down the pike very soon. Trust me, I know whats mega, and what the majority seeks, and indeed I have some to unleash yet, but hey, my thrash demos need love too...

Here we have three lovely thrash demos, all pretty much utterly unknown, the first by Forte from 1992 out of Dallas TX. The second by Dark Alliance from 1991 out of Duncanville TX, and the last by Bastard Sons from 2004 out of San Marcos TX, I have no images for this release at the moment. I'm no expert, but for being unknown, I think these are pretty darn good, er, i mean rad. Listen to the Dark Alliance tracks and see if you have any interest, I think the Forte album is probably the best thing here, and it's also the only full length.

Forte - S/T (1992 Demo LP cassette) -- (A and B sides in an uncut mp3) ***new info: this track is not properly recorded, my apology, it is at the wrong speed, and I need to cut it into tracks, I will do that and repost it.

Bastard Sons - S/T (2004 Demo EP cdr) -- in a .rar

Dark Alliance - S/T (1991 Demo EP cassette) -- download tracks individually...
Murder Earth:

Political Idiocy

Gerry Van King - The King's Crowd Pleasers EP (demo cassette)

2011-11-27T21:30:00.006-06:00

Say hello to Gerry Van King. Street Funk musician extraordinaire, aka The King of Sixth Street. Gerry ruled the beer district of Austin TX with his unique lo-fi Prince-on-nitrous-style funky love musings throughout the late 80s and 90s. His tapes are surprisingly hard to find for living in Austin, I wish I could find an entire album from this era, if there is one, but this 4 track EP will have to do for now. His melodies and rhythms are kinda hypnotic in a weird way. And yes, he's kinda off-key, and kinda off rhythm, but its all GERRY VAN KING. Boo ya.

Gerry Van King - The Crowd Pleasers EP - (Private demo 1990)

Ultra Tape Find: The Whip Pets - S/T (6 track Demo)

2011-11-22T13:50:00.007-06:00

My first true unknown minimal synth tape! This is one of Austin's few attempts at the minimal synth genre, an underground scene in Europe and the U.K. mainly, but also some in areas of California, usually more dance-oriented, and then some in Manhattan, which were usually more experimental. I must say, the french/german/italian/netherlands coldwave stuff is my favorite type because of how dark and intense it is, with especially good synth work, actually the UK is just as good really when you consider they put out gems by the likes of Solid Space and Those Attractive Magnets. Hell, Canada had it's fair share of minimal/synthpop acts too, like the unbelievably good Broken Tables 12" - Images of You. Anyway, back to Austin. I had found a couple other synthy-new wave tapes from Austin and some 7"s that have a kinda synthpunk feel, kinda like the Cardboards (if you don't have the cardboards EP, 'greatest hits vol 2' get it,) but nothing that ever approached a truly minimal synth pedigree. I'm sure there are others from Austin, and I hope I continue finding them, but this ungoogle-able gem from 1989 is one of the most exciting things I've found on tape by far. No, it doesn't reach the glorious heights of Nine Circles (again, if you dont have it, get it.) But, it's gloriously lo-fi, it's unknown, and it's from Austin, and they do have a kraftwerk inspired track called Metropolis Man... beep bloop brrp.

So here's the deal. I am still doing some behind the scenes work with this, so for a short while I can only put up some samples, but very very soon I will have the entire tape up. Besides, if you don't like it, at least this way you didn't waste time downloading the entire .rar, and if you do like it, just check back in a while and it will be here. There are 6 tracks on this release, here's 4 clips.

The Whip Pets - Metropolis Man

The Right

The Dance

Fact and Fantasy

MC Gee Wiz Gotz Da Phunk, Sounds From The Underground, and some Waldo Tapes....

2011-11-16T07:43:00.006-06:00

My Tapes haul from San Antonio last month, yarrrr! I put a marilyn manson tape in there somewhere, see if you can find it, like wheres waldo...

Anyway, back to business. This cd was a really interesting scam in the early 90s, theres a surprising amount of info on the net about it, mostly old ass message boards, so this guy basically tracked down unsigned artists and sent them a letter saying he thought they were awesome and that he was connected in the music industry, and that for 600 bucks or so you could send in a track you made a picture and a small writeup about your band/artist and he would include it in a "sounds from the underground" compilation. He would then press 50 cds of the comp for each artist, send you 40 copies of the cd to do as you pleased, and he would take the remaining 10 and send each one to a "prominent" major label dude, and soon you'd be on your way. In theory. From what I've heard, he basically threw the rest in trash, or never even pressed the other 10, and theres like 25 artists on each cd, so your one track is buried beneath a mountain of other crappy amateur artists. Sadly, I'm sure there were a few legit guys on the comps with talent, I think he made them from 1991 to 1996, but they would inevitably be lost in the other garbage. As far as I know, theres only a couple bands, of about 400 artists that payed for the service, that really made it on some level after this. one is a power metal band called Catch-22. That's the only one I'm sure of. But this brings us to our featured track from this compilation...

MC Gee Wiz - I Gotz Da Phunk(1996) , I think if Mr. Wiz had released his own demo EP instead of being the last track on a compilation of terrible rock bands from California, he might have had a better chance at success. But for all I know he's still rocking the mic today. If you're out there MC Gee Wiz, throw me a bone and sell me your demo tapes from back then, I know you gotta have some tapes somewhere. I'll put em up. Word.

M.C. Gee Wiz - I Gotz Da Phunk (1996)

No Sisters - EP (Demo Cassette 1987) New wave / synth funk

2011-11-15T08:31:00.006-06:00

Not sure what the groups name implies really but it is basically an unknown demo tape from a group called No Sisters, from Austin, Texas. Not sure if they have any other releases, not sure of anything about them actually. I do know they have that same kind of sound as Extreme Heat, I also think it is cool that more people are getting interested in Felt Nun, though sadly this happens a while after I sell the tape, but anyway, I will repost that tape up soon for you guys. Anyway, like I was saying, this band reminds me a lot of Extreme Heat, and they both happen to be from Austin, it seems like there was some kind of small new-wave-synth-funk scene going on in central Texas in the late 80s. Isn't bad motha goose from Austin too? And of course there are bands like the Pool, which have that kind of sound, I can't think of any others at the moment, but you get the picture. Not for the feint of heart or the overly serious listener, or those afraid of indulging in a bit of campiness now and then. Long live the glittery pirate shirt and hair-sprayed man mullet with faux British accents. I think in the UK this kind of movement was akin to the New Romantic genre and the pop funk revival, epitomized in bands like ABC. I really love ABC. But whereas over there the basis was more dance-pop oriented, the traditional rock and blues structures were still employed in the Texas scene, and for that reason ABC beats the shit out of No Sisters, but, that's not to diminish the awesomeness of this tape find and it's utter obscurity. raer!

No Sisters - 4 Track Demo EP (1987 Austin, TX)

Conrad Schnitzler - Contra-Terrene (1987) Cassette

2011-11-11T17:47:00.005-06:00

Not much introduction needed for this awesome find. This is a late era Conrad Schnitzler (of Cluster fame) full length cassette only release. It's not the most beautiful music he made, but its very interesting experimental stuff and most certainly needs to be heard for anyone into the history of krautrock, prog rock, new york avant garde, or early electronic fans. It's quite rare but I couldn't believe this wasn't readily available on the net being Schnitzler, but here it is now. More awesome tape releases to come, look out.

Okay, I know the Conrad tape can be kinda daunting, especially since there are no tracks, just continuous sides of experimental noise blurbs, so I have pulled out selections from my 3 favorite blurbs for you to hear:

Contra-Terrene. 1987. New York Private Pressed Cassette.

Yet another Paler Shade of White find... Ultra obscure DIY Disco track by the infamous DONDINO! (Dondino - S/T Cassette 1980)

2011-11-11T17:05:00.007-06:00

Ohhhh yeah. Dondino goes balls out in popped collar and sequined jacket style, full force pompadour action and analogue keyboards in the coke fueled late 70s Vegas-Disco casinos with this gloriously lo-fi synth-disco version of "You'll Never Find." Reminds me a lot of the other Paler Shade of White compilation tracks that I posted up a while back. Okay, maybe a little more cheese and somewhat less 'actual' dancefloor potential, but damn it, the man can bring down the house, and with a cheap casio keyboard and budget-inn backup band no less. I love this stuff. More to come later. I'm going cassette crazy. DIY forever!

You'll Never Find:

Marj Snyder - My Lifetime Now LP (Discovery Records) 1972

2011-11-07T16:17:00.006-06:00

Quite Rare and quite excellent 1970's Christian femme-folk with mostly all the tracks written by Marj. She has a nice voice and she uses a lot of layering effects that remind me a little bit of Linda Perhacs, not near as psychedlic or experimental though. Marj doesn't seem like she would have such a cool Christian folk album based on the cover, but covers can be very misleading, as we all know. Consider the massively rare femme-folk LP by Robin, for instance. A jewel if there ever was one, delicate, ethereal vocals about the universe and lost loves mixed with off key cavernous folk strumming. But enough about Robin, this post is for Marj! The two albums are pretty similar actually, Marj is a little bit less home made and less spooky-glimmering freak folk sounding, and this has a few more obligatory traditional gospel tracks, but overall this is a very satisfying listen, and deserves high praise amongst the christian folk collectors. Go Marj.

Marj Snyder - My Lifetime Now (1972)

Sugar Bear - I Love You So 7" (Ovide 1969) *Re-Post

2011-10-30T16:38:00.004-05:00

Hello friends, I noticed that for some reason my Sugar Bear Post from ages ago was missing, I don't remember why I took that down or if it was deleted by accident or what. Anyway, I'll probably never know what happened to the post but I can remedy the situation pretty easily....

This is the sinlge most impressive and expensive find I ever came up with. And it was located in a box of 99 cent 7"s that were very dirty, but mostly in good shape still, located at a mainstream record store that I go to pretty frequently. The box was mind blowing, to put it mildly. In it was the legendary Austin soul 7" 'Trace of Smoke', and also the Alabama modern soul legend Sonic Explosion. I picked both of those out along with a few others and was verging on the point of crapping my pants, but at the very end of the box I noticed a beat up looking 7" by Sugar Bear, and saw on the side of the label "with the TSU Toronadoes" and I thought, oh my, a 45 with the Toronadoes that i've never heard of? On the Archie bell and the drells label? that is a DJ promo? Produced by Skipper Lee Frazier? I knew I was on to something big but the other 2 records which I knew already took precedence in my mind. When I got home I looked on the net, in the books, and asked around, and I couldn't get one sliver of information on it, aside from info about Skipper Lee, the producer, and Ovide the label, and even who Sugar Bear himself was, a local Houston soul cat that occasionally opened for Archie Bell around town. He recorded two 45s to my knowledge, both very small houston affairs, one of which is this promotional 45 cut in a tiny tiny amount to give to radio stations to get airplay in order to get money for more presses and more studio time, obviously it didnt work out, and thats a really sad thing, because this guy had massive talent and combined with he TSU Toronadoes, I enjoy just as much as Archie Bell, who had enormous success in Texas and nationally to some extent as well. Also, there is another Sugar Bear soul artist, who released a collectible 12" named Sugar Bear Johnson, but I don't think these are the same people. This 45 still hasn't popped up anywhere since I sold it off a couple years ago, its a true ghost status 45. Anyway, it was a 892.00 auction for a vg--/G+ copy, though it sounded much better than it looked thankfully. In fact the pressing was so deep that it sounded quite good even, which helped the price quite a bit. No doubt a NM copy would sell for major, major money. Anyway, it is a very rare chance to hear this gem, and no further copies have been surfaced, no comps, nothing. So enjoy.

SIDE A: I Love You So

Side B: I Got What You Been Looking For

*Feel free to click on the divshare links in the sample players to download the songs after listening.

Da Alliance - Maintain / Spanish Fly 12" +++ Baby X Da God-Sun - Game Recognize Game 12"

2011-10-24T15:32:00.005-05:00

Here are the other 2 indie rap 12"s I found in my box of sealed beyonce records, how 3 obscenely rare indie rap 12"s were stuck in this box of 50 identical sealed beyonce records is beyond me, but I'm glad my intuition told me to have a look at the colors that didnt match, because I found Hustlers By Choice, a gem of a Texas indie rap record, and believe me, there are very few progressive early 90s Texas indie rap 12"s, 90% sound like a bad Ghetto Boys ripoff, the other 10% are electro raps about not doing crack cocaine, a handful of love jams, and then you have your remaining chosen few, now don't get me wrong, once you pass 1992-93 there are a number of good Texas indie 12"s coming out, but anyway, beside the HBC record I also found a New York 12" by Da Alliance, and another by the zero-google-results 'Baby X Da God-Sun', I don't know if thats a really great mc name or one of the worst i've ever heard, but anyway, these other 2 12"s, though not of the glorious heights of HBC in price, are still very good and post worthy. So here they are. Btw, 'maintain' is the track you want on this 12, the flip side is pretty frightening female cholo rap.

Da Alliance - Maintain / Spanish Fly 12" with instrumentals (no label 1997)

Baby X Da God-Sun - Game Recognize Game / Instrumental 12" (1997 no label)

Hustlers By Choice - Can I Swing To This EP 12"

2011-10-23T18:27:00.003-05:00

Here we have the mega find of the month for me, and with it came a couple other hiphop 12"s of note, I havent found a good random rap cache in a very very long time...

This is a very sought after Texas hip-hop 12" from Houston around 1992. Produced by DJ Pryme and MCed by Tee Money. I don't know how many copies were pressed but I know its very few, I'd guess 500, of which a lot were probably given to radio stations and subsequently lost forever. There was only one instance of this record being found and sold before, and it was a guy in Germany and he made a cool 820 dollars on a NM copy. This copy I found in a crate of Beyonce records in Temple, Texas was sadly a VG+ copy with some cosmetic problems but it sounds really great, especially for being a rather quiet recording/pressing to begin with. I wish I knew more about these guys, there is a discogs entry now, zero 'have it', if youre familiar with discogs. The music consists of 3 tracks, the third being the 'obligatory love jam' that I never quite understand why or how it fits on such a record but I do enjoy them unlike most people. The two tracks are very well produced, nice beats with a lot of layer and detail, crusty sound production that gives it a very bronx new york vibe to me, but the vocals are a real surprise, espeiclaly coming from Texas, it has a kind of Bay Area back pack rap sound, at first its kind of jarring but I got to enjoy it actually, very unique. The first track is about a crooked record executive that acts like he is your best bud while trying to sign away your life to the company, thus the title Mr. Buddy. The next track is just kind of a 1992 anthem style track with a scratched vocal chorus of "can iii swing to this, etc." Overall a very enjoyable EP, not the strongest lyricism I admit, but that 1992 vibe is in full effect.

Hustlers By Choice - Can I Swing To This EP (Houston, TX 1992) Full EP .rar

Jonathan Hutchison - Love is Pouring Down (Cassette 1983)

2011-10-23T17:33:00.003-05:00

Here we have an unknown cassette of 80s Lo-fi Christian folk/pop from California that has some nice moments on it, I really like the production of the tape, very basement 4 track earnestness, admittedly the lyrics could be a lot darker and more personal, and I wish there were more songs with the guitar-rhodes-bongos setup, but there's still more than enough to hold my attention, and the lyrics are pretty catchy actually they're just not my preferred style. But the fact that this tape is obscenely rare and that I think the Xian fans of my blog will enjoy it, is reason enough for me to post it. Also, for once, the cover artwork of the tape looks exactly like it sounds.

Have a listen to a sampling of the better tracks featured in this clip, there are 5 tracks here and each is about a minute long:

LINK TO THE FULL ALBUM

Jim Tucker, David Dale, and The Jim Schmidt Enigma (Revised...)

2011-10-08T20:04:00.008-05:00

So there is an LP by Jim Schmidt that is certainly one of the most desirable items in the christian soft rock modern soul smooth pop crossover genre, and I have inexplicably found it not once but twice, and it isn't something you should find often at 250 dollars a pop, so I became pretty familiar with it of course, and with the song "Serious" which Jim wrote, then one day I'm looking through the dollar bins and I see a sealed record by David Dale, Lubbock Texas christian soft rock stuff, I buy it not thinking much of it, then I put it on, and I see that he has covered the very obscure Jim Schmidt song 'serious,' weird I think, but it does have that Michael Mcdonald sound so I know it's gonna be big. This is an unknown record previously mind you, so then a couple months pass and I'm diggin through the dollar bins again and I see Jim Tucker, hmmm, looks like christian soft rock to me I think, so i buy it. I then put it on at home and what do you know, ANOTHER cover of 'serious' by Jim Schmidt! A third unknown christian pop obscurity covering an already obscenely rare record. So now I'm wondering, how many more of these instant gold unknown christian pop LPs that cover 'serious' are out there? Is reality somehow manifesting itself in a loop? popping out these records for me to find like some endless LP forever skipping on a bad groove? a cosmic joke? a sign from God? okay, a little overboard, I know, but it really is strange, finding any of these is like a needle in a hay stack, I'm not saying I'm doing some off the charts digging here, if that were the case i'd be finding a box of sealed butcher cover beatles or some shit, this is just utterly bizarre to me. well anyway, I don't have the Jim schmidt recorded in full, I have 4 of the tracks but I think it is available on Itunes so I will throw Jim a bone and not put it up for free, I'm sure he could use the dough, but I will give you some Jim Tucker and David Dale action... (I know I know I only have the sample for David Dale, again, I'm very sorry I don't know how I didnt record it all but thats what I have) I will be posting the full track of the newest find by Jim Tucker, and then maybe the clip of David Dale just to remind you (I posted it before in a splurge about 80s Christian pop... damn I wished I recorded that entire LP.) Have fun, and poo on anyone that doesn't like my TIMOTHY 7"... yacht rock forever. By the way there is a christian boogie group called Omega Sunrise with a track called Destiny that Jim Schmidt covers on this album, another link in the chain of obscure covers doing covers doing covers.....

David Dale:

Jim Tucker:

Memphis State University Jazz Band - On Tour 1970-71 LP

2011-10-08T19:47:00.006-05:00

Here we have a return to the older style of posts I normally put up, this is an obscure and really fantastic College jazz band album that I haven't seen any other copies of anywhere, there is a few from the later years around but they aren't nearly as good. I was actually kind of shocked by how low the price was for this when I auctioned it, 30 bucks pretty much, but the breaks/beats college high school band market is pretty weak at the moment. There was a time around 2004-6 when you could sell golden era hiphop LPs that werent even that rare for mad money, houston rap was making waves in JApan, and any record that was unknown and had a break or sample on it was GOLD, especially college and highschool band stuff, my friend sold the lesser Kashmere stage band album for two thousand dollars in 04, friggin unbelievable, but the Euro/Japanese markets were clamoring for anything funky to sample, now all of those aforementioned items have cooled quite a bit, but they remain a staple record collecting genre regardless, in fact the ultra-obscurist 90s hiphop market is doing fantastically well. If you can find a 12" by a group that no one has heard and it sounds even remotely like Wutang, you are in the money. So anyway, back to this record, its really solid all the way through but especially the 2 long tracks on A and B side, I can't remember the names, there are some moments where frenetic fender rhodes keys are dancing over some heavy drum patterns and the horns are just going off, I really was impressed by this for there being very little attention or info toward it. Have a listen to the samples and see what you think, the entirety is linked below.

SAMPLE 1:

SAMPLE 2:

MEMPHIS STATE UNIVERSITY JAZZ BAND LP LINK

Timothy, Bondar and Wise and... Yacht Rock? The next big obscurist scene?

2011-10-07T20:17:00.014-05:00

*** Revised comment 10/8/11
Okay, first let me add something to what I splurged out yesterday, the only truely Yacht Rock release here is the first 7" by Timothy, that is pure unknown yacht rockness, and pretty awesome I might add, the Bondar and Wise is too uptempo but otherwise is pretty yachty, the others kinda straddle the new wave/boogie/poprock line so I included it in this post for the hell of it. And one last quip, there is no Yacht Rock collector scene at the moment, it is all a an early 80s smooth Christian pop rock scene, so I'm guessing that Yacht Rock will eventually emerge as a desirable 'hip' collector genre, and records like Timothy will sell for good money, as opposed to being utterly valueless like it is right now... so with that being said I will take you back to the original post...
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So we all know that christian soft rock/aor/pop/modernsoul/crossover stuff from the late 70s to mid 80s is really hot and the market is very strong, IE Jim schmidt, David Dale, Omega Sunrise, Brown and Jackson, and all the other LPs I've posted about, in fact I just found another one which I'll be posting up soon, but what about all the stuff that is exactly like those aforementioned things but isn't about christian themes and lyrics, what of the smooth poppy 80s rock brilliance of something akin to Toto, Michael Mcdonald, Kenny Loggins, and Hall and Oates but buried and forgotten under decades of obscurity, the lost 7" singles by all the boat shoe wearing, razor cut sporting John Oates that never were. Enter Yacht Rock... At the moment even the most awesome and obscure yacht rock 7"s sell for only ten to 20 dollars, and LPs might go up to the 50 dollar range if truly awesome and obscure, everyone thought the idea of a resurgence in late 90s backpack rap was a ludicrous notion, but there it is, so anyway, I'm just pondering the possibilities here and trying to pry a bit into the future because I recently came across a few unknown yacht rockers that I really enjoyed but a market simply does not exist for them, a sad notion indeed. So here are a couple little diddies I found, theyre utterly obscure but still pretty much worthless in terms of monetary value, but I treasure them nonetheless, I also think an obscure underground 90s lofi tape/lp scene will gain some strength eventually, the kinda leftover synthpop/lofi/experimentalist leftovers, sort of in the vein of the Lizard Water release I posted.
Anyway, here's the stuffs, and it's kinda in order of purity to the genre. The first two items are completely unknown and I think fit nicely, especially Timothy, its just so yacht rocky!

Timothy - Your Love Rolled All Over Me

Bondar and Wise - You and Me

Mark Thompson - Bad One

Peter Hostage - Samples from LP

(I'm not entirely sure this is Yacht Rock, but it kinda straddles that line and era, so it fits with the theme here...)
Roy and Roe - Just Don't Come Back

(Maybe too new wavey I dunno but again it's close, it's in that no man's land...)
Extreme Heat - Lonely (previously of the incredible funk band Steam Heat, I'll post this album soon if you want)

Triffid - Uncovered (extremely sought after 80's hair metal cassette))

2011-10-07T18:33:00.005-05:00

Breaking new ground on the blog today with yet another tape for you, this is Triffid - Uncovered, my first Hair Metal post, this actually happens to be one of the most sought after late 80s hair metal tapes out there, and it sells for upwards of $200 easily. I was astonished by how many cassette collectors there are out there, and its a very strong market because there isn't a huge amount of tape dealers and tape diggers out there really, so the occasional collectable tape really comes at a premium. I recently found a cache of rare metal demos, some of which I sold on Ebay recently, including this guy, and overall the auction did very well, I was pretty blown away actually. But back to Triffid... all I know is that they are from New Jersey and they pressed about 500 of these. So anyway, I know it's not exactly of the genre's I normally post up but I definitely think it is deserving of a post. I probably wont keep this link up forever so if you are interested grab it now, and the file is just an MP3 of the entire A and B side uncut, I'm sorry about the format but I got lazy, use Audacity to chop it up if needed.

Triffid - Uncovered (uncut 192kbps MP3 of both sides.)

Sounds Ov Earth - Solstice LP (1986)

2011-09-01T00:55:00.004-05:00

Unknown Spiritual Ethnic Folk/Jazz album from Alabama cira 1986. No info about this record whatsoever. Has some really nice moments and I thoroughly enjoy it overall too. Mostly instrumental music kinda similar to Wali and the Afro Caravan, but a little more Native American/Andean maybe, though not by much, its quite similar actually just more 1986 sounding. Crisper production and such. All acoustic percussive stuff with a piano or an occasional electric guitar and every track features one hell of a flute player, some have a kinda hippie folk flute jam feel, others are very ethnic minimal sounding, a couple have vocals and are jazzier, and then a few are kinda all its own, there's only one track with real lyrics and song structure, it is slow and morose but i still really like it. Very interesting record haven't heard much like it, especially not from 1986 and out of Alabama... I don't understand why it's so obscure. I didn't do any research on the label yet though which I need to. The cover was stuck to another LP in the Goodwill I bought it at, I was so pissed. Ruined a really awesome looking cover, but the record was near mint. Also, the record is indeed called Sounds Ov Earth, not "of", and I'm guessing the artist is Solstice, but I could have that backwards. Produced by Jim Wizniewski If you have any info please let me know.

SOUNDS OV EARTH - SOLSTICE (1986)

Felt Nun - 4 Track EP (San Antonio TX 1988)

2011-08-21T20:08:00.008-05:00

Okay so you're probably thinking enough with the tapes already but seriously, the tape explosion has just begun, so please bare with me... I have a lot of tapes to go... but I will of course be uploading my standard vinyl stuffs too but I just recently got my bad ass tape player hookup so I've been catching up on all these demos. I felt like since I had already done a 90s bedroom indie and a neosoul joint I should get back to the meat of the tape collecting world and do a new wave/synthpop/minimalwave release, so I am going to unleash yet another utterly unknown and unheard gem from the TX demo tape collection on you with this one, presenting... FELT NUN. The San Antonio synthpop/newwave group from 1988. I actually really started to like the first track, 'oh boy' after a few listens and then the rest of the tape grew on my as well, lots of nice moments here, the first track is probably the most upbeat and poppy, theres a little bit darker moments if thats your thing. So I'm quite happy with this find, cause trust me, decently good synthpop tapes that are still unknown are not easy to come by at all. Enjoy.

Felt Nun - Oh Boy (1988 4track demo)

Katau - Demo 4 Track EP

2011-08-20T21:53:00.006-05:00

Breaking new ground on the blog today, my first tape!, I have now added the art of tape digging to my repertoire and sold my first successful Ebay tape auction last week, 75 bucks for Jack Kevorkian and the Suicide Machines... and since then I have acquired a huge amount of weird demo tapes and I think some of them are definitely worth sharing, so that will be the theme of the blog for a little bit. Tapes are a completely different ball of wax from records, they go way deeper down the rabbit hole of obscurity first of all, because basically anyone with a 4 track and a mic can make a release, and the availability of weird tapes out there for 50 cents is still massive, unlike records, though the market for tapes is much smaller and more particular. Theres 4 strong tape genres in collecting, private metal tapes, private synthpop/minimal tapes, private hip hop tapes, and private boogie tapes. I think gangsta rap accounts for the largest share of money transactions on Ebay by far. There's a healthy Japanese and NY/LA rap tape scene going, and next behind that is probably the uber hip minimal wave tape collectors, because the majority of great releases in the genre are on tape.
Anyway, my first post of a tape was supposed to be this bedroom psych/folk-pop demo I found but I haven't finished recording it yet(now posted!), so instead we have KATAU, which is Hawaiian neo-soul/funk circa 1990 by way of Dallas TX. I know thats a lot to take in but you'll understand better when you hear it. It's not Hawaiian like traditional ethnic music, I mean the regional variety of jazzy soul/funk that became popular in Hawaii in the early 80s and sounds a lot like Cali modern soul stuff, so it's that kinda, but 'Neo' cause its 1990 and the tuning is really tight and crisp sounding, a little bluesy almost, but don't let that dissuade you, and the group is performing in Dallas TX for this demo. I absolutely love slap bass boogie jams and this track definitely makes the cut for bombastic slap bass shakedowns, just listen to that breakdown at the end where the guy goes off! Like some Conrad Benjamin up in this biznitch. Man, I need to make a best of rare slap bass boogie compilation. Anyway, Hope you like it as much as I do, here's my favorite track below and then a link to the .rar of the rest.

KATAU - 4 TRACK DEMO .rar

Katau - Dreaming You

Rosemary Bailey - Rosemary LP

2011-08-20T15:57:00.004-05:00

Okay, here is the rest of the good tracks from Rosemary, there might be a couple piano only interludes missing but these are the tracks that make up the sample I gave you plus some others, seemed like everyone really liked Rosemary so this is everything I have of it for you. Enjoy.

Rosemary Bailey .rar

The Violinaires - Groovin' With Jesus LP

2011-08-20T15:45:00.004-05:00

Classic gospel funk album by the Violinaires, one of the best gospel funk outfits ever, and one of the longest lasting groups as well. They have a ton of fantastic albums but I particularly like this one for the title track Groovin with Jesus. This is a rip from ym copy, it has some scratches but I think it still sounds pretty good.

Violinaires - Groovin with Jesus

Mel Production Band - She's My Lady

2011-08-20T14:42:00.002-05:00

I love this song, I don't know why it, the Mel Prod have a few other releases that are much better, like 'airplane' but I figured I'd share this less often heard track from a local favorite with you.

Mel Production Band - She's My Lady (San Antonio TX 1980)

La Mont Zeno Theatre - Black Fairy

2011-08-20T14:38:00.003-05:00

This post is for a friend of mine, I know this has been reissued in one way or another, it's not easily findable in the blog world, most likely because someone owns the rights, but whatever, if it's a problem I'll take it down, until then, anyone that doesn't have this gem of a record, get it now, this is from an original vinyl copy that was in very nice condition.

LA MONT ZENO THEATRE - BLACK FAIRY

Copeland Davis - Smouldering Secrets LP (Morning Spring) 1975

2011-08-20T01:42:00.003-05:00

Kind of amazed that this LP isn't more readily available in the blog sphere, I see lots of uploads of the track 'Morning Spring' but that's it. Obviously that is the real highlight of the album but the rest is pretty solid too. Classic afro-funk spiritual jazz album that is sought after by many and rarely ever turns up. A few years ago someone tracked down the source and got a bunch of sealed copies, that's how a handful of copies got back onto the market and traded around, before it was near impossible to find and ran 500 bucks. Now all those are gone too and you see one pop up occasional for 200 bucks or so in really nice condition. This remains a perennial digger classic. I really do love that Morning Spring song, wow.

192kb rip from nice vinyl: COPELAND DAVIS - SMOULDERING SECRETS

Clark Sisters - He Gave Me Nothing To Lose LP

2011-08-13T14:06:00.002-05:00

I was shocked to find that this album isnt available already on a blog somewhere so I felt it was high time I fixed that problem. Classic late 70s soul gospel record with a funky disco vibe, especially on track B1, which is why everyone wants this record. It's about 75 bucks usually, a standard in any serious gospel LP collection. Overall it's got some nice soulful gospel tunes, nothing mind blowing, but like I said track B1 - 'everything is gonna be alright' is the real killer here, its got breaks and samples galore, more disco breaks than hip hop but really you could go either way with it. I thought about just upping that track but it seems like everyone prefers the entire LP when possible so here it is, this is from my rip of course and it was in great condition, so enjoy.

Clark Sisters - He Gave Me Nothing to Lose

Hello my friends of the blogosphere

2011-07-29T20:24:00.021-05:00

Here are a few items which I have that are of interest to me and I am probably going to throw up on ebay if it seems worth doing, kind of continuing the Bill Post Family album post theme, unknowns without price that i'm throwing up to get some feedback on.

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Anyway, first we have a weird Latin Christian Jazz/funk fusion record from deep South Texas by Fred Cancio and Family. I would love to check out the rest of Fred's discography because if its anything like this kind of music, there's a chance that the vocals and arrangements might be even more awesome than this, but as it stands this interesting Mexican family album looks to be like some bad crossover Heysoos conjunto accordion jams, but instead you get light and airy California smooth jazz and a little funk thrown in for good measure, the only downside is the vocals, theyre in spansish and the male voice isnt very appealing. Anyway, give it a listen, theres 3 tracks in this sample, saty with it, it gets interesting!

Fred Cancio con su Familia - S/T (1981)

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Next up we have a really interesting private folk rock record by David Marr - This Time, recorded as a live concert at the Sturbridge House, I don't have a firm date on this but its early 70s I think. It's basically just him and his electric guitar and a very rudimentary drum machine, like the ones on organs from the 60s and 70s. The majority of the tracks are covers, he has a kind of reverb laden dream quality to his songs, this track is an original composition and its the best on the album. This record is another completely unknown item and there was a guy on ebay that had one up for 4 dollars buy it now, I dunno if someone finally realized what it was and bought it or if it is still there, it amazes me how many unknown gems people put up on ebay for next to nothing. There's a really interesting vibe with the crowd noise, makes him seem even lonelier, like no one is even listening at his concert.

David MArr - This Time , Live at Sturdbridge House

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Next we have the Korean record by Yoon Book Hee and Yoon Hang Gi, which has some pretty rad 70s cop drama funk themes on it, no singing on the best track either, and then the rest is kinda soul/pop/psych ballads with the duo singing in korean over them, but check this nasty groove out, man.

Yoon Book Hee and Yoon Hang Gi - S/T LP (perhaps a kind of greatest hits for the duo?)

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Ladd Roberts - Lady up stairs [Same label as Mike Williams Free Man Happy Man (which I can also upload in full if you want) and the early lucinda williams album] This is a folkrock/country/jazzy folk record from Colorado that is amazingly unknown for being on the same label as the sought after early lucinda williams album. Its from 1974 and it has some good folky ballads but this track in the sample is definitely the winner. Should be a sought after item I don't know why there's no listings for this on record auction sites, its either uber rare or undervalued.

Ladd Roberts - Lady Up The Stairs (1974)

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This is a weird one, creepy Xian folk record that I can't find much info on, it seems that Charles Gellar has recorded about 3 or 4 really small private records in the mid 70s, I dunno what to make of it really, it's not great but its interesting and very ominous, I like his dark christian themes. Saw one sell a while back as another Buy It Now for 30 bucks I believe. Actually I can't be sure of that my memory could be off. Either way I'm curious what you think of it.

Charles Gellar - Tell it All Brother (197x)

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I love this record, wonderful samples abound, quite rare and small pressing, and it's pretty inexpensive still, this is the only record in the list that I know has a general established price and is listed in auction website catalogs, its a 50 dollar record, I just sold one recently and got 49 for it so thats about right. Since I'm doing showcases this is just the best parts, but people really only buy it for that one awesome Bob James like power jazzfunk track anyway, Ill upload that in full later on.

John Standefer and Friends - For Love of The Art

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Sonrise! (not the Sonrise that's a much bigger private xian band, this is a college band with one other album preceding this one but they are virtually unknown) Yes friends it's another record I'm just not sure about, it's a christian rock/jazz/ Grand Funk Railroad wannabe kinda thing with a lot of covers of secular songs and one or two original compositions, I like the Lionel Richie Cover though, and the last track is alright too. This has a ton of bad pops and ticks on it though, very low quality pressing! But I figured it was worth your checking it out just because it's unknown and has no attached price or anything, see if you think its worth a shit or not (pretend it wasn't so scratched too...)

Sonrise - Movin' On

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Harvey Seaders Band - The Mad Surfer is a completely unknown 1987 lofi electro outsider exposition by one Harvey Seaders, it has a surfing theme, sounds like a lofi version of Paul Hardcastles Rainforest, has a lot of bad tracks but the few amazing electro jams make up for it. Basically a 40 year old white guy tried to make his answer to Rainforest, and this is it. Sadly I sold it already for some foolish reason and it only garnered 30 bucks cause no one could make heads or tails of it.

Harvey Seaders Band - The Mad Surfer (1987)

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Rosemary Bailey, the nice middle-aged woman shown on the back of the jacket that looks like she's going to bring you a plate of cookies gets funky on her jazz organ here. Great and weird Lounge Jazz album by the inexplicable Rosemary. Completely unknown.

Rosemary Bailey - S/T

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This was one trippy Junior High. Here we have the Stockard Junior High Band playing a tripped out version of Thus Spake Zarathustra from 2001, completely with avantegarde synth opening, which really makes the song, and then a pretty standard rendition of the rest. What was this band director putting in the kool aid?

Stockard Junior High LP

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Bill Dave and Mary - Transition, from 1971, a great little under the radar Xian jazz folk number with nice drums and pretty damn good lyrics, even has some sample worthy moments. I really like this one and I think its highly underrated, not sure what the value is either.

Bill Dave and Mary - Transition - Theres Gotta be More (1971)

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Frank Cardona's S/T LP has one really great song on it, a cover of funky nassau! My copy has a few scratches but still sounds pretty good.

Frank Cardona - Funky Nassau

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Isai y Victor - Generacion De Jesus! A mind boggler of a record if there ever was one, 2 lp, most of it sounds like it was recorded in a high school cafeteria off a tape player, and they range the whole gamut of weirdness, my favorite track is given below. Sadly I sold this a while back.

Victor Y Isai - Generacion De Jesus (1981)

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Lovely song on this Oklahoma Prison album compilation. There is a couple interesting tracks on here other than this gospel tune but they arent really worth mentioning. The real gem is this lovely old style gospel rendition, I can't remember the name of the group now either, I know Im worthless, it's called sorrows, it was recorded by female inmate while in prison.

Ain't got time to lose - Sorrows.

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Thanks for checking out my barrage of unknown records (with a few other little diddies thrown in for good measure.) I hope you can tolerate the sample clips/single tracks I gave you for the mean time but quite a few will be up on Ebay sometime soon. Including Bill Post Family, Fred Cancio, David Marr, Yoon Hang Gi, Ladd Roberts , Charles Gellar, Sonrise, and Bill Dave Mary. As for the rest if you are interested let me know and I will try to upload what I can, but I have a few other full LPs that are really great coming down the pike, including 2 Gospel Funk records! huzzah!

Bill Post Family Singers FEATURING BRAINSTORM!

2011-07-16T22:46:00.007-05:00

For your viewing pleasure, my TOP 200 ALBUMS OF THE 1980s LIST

2011-07-06T19:50:00.002-05:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/TranspacJackson/top_200_albums_of_the_1980s__best

The list is stored on RateYourMusic.com, because I think it's the best site for making/generating lists. So if you've never been, which I'd be kind of shocked if you haven't, check it out from the above link. It's very safe and entertaining. yay. (I also have a 1970s list up from before too.)

Future Force - Reincarnation 7"

2011-07-06T11:26:00.003-05:00

Foolishly rare cosmic roller boogie single with really strange lyrics about reincarnation.... sells for $360.00, the bside is a bad new wavey heavy metal AOR song like 80s deep purple, blek. But this little guy is pretty darn catchy, even with the cheese meter on HI it still manages to pack a nice groove, a late 70s roller boogie film groove...

FUTURE FORCE - REINCARNATION 7" (BIG DEAL RECORDS 1981)

Otis Johnson - Everything, God Is Love '78

2011-06-12T14:25:00.002-05:00

I don't normally do this but I felt like this album was so incredible that I should point you guys toward it, I had been searching for this (a physical copy of it i mean) for quite a while, but I just don't want to pay the 200 dollar price tag for it so I instead found a blog with a good digital copy of it instead. All I can say is that this album is somewhere between Timmy Thomas and Famous L Renfroe. Anyway you should really check this out, it's basically a lone black guy at an organ with an ancient drum machine that is pouring out his soul to Jesus, it's very dark and crusty sounding. Truly a strange gem. The only other post where I pointed you toward another site for a download was Ata Kak, and that was some monumental stuff too.

GET OTIS G. JOHNSON'S ALBUM AT THIS BLOG: LAMARABA

Imani - Out of the Blue (1983)

2011-05-30T15:28:00.007-05:00

Presenting...

IMANI! The incredible San Francisco area Jazz Funk Blues Spiritual miasma that is the IMANI - Out of the Blue LP (ep?). This is mega sought after and friggin bad ass. About all I know is that it's from 1983, and it's one of the few great private 'jazz' records that is still almost unknown. I really can't say enough good things about this, how the bay area has so many fantastic private jazz-funk LPs from 1970-1985 that are so fucking good is beyond me. This is easily one of the rarest, and one of the better musically too, though I'd give the edge to Aposento Alto and John Heartsman, but people are well aware of those two behemoths while this guy has never been reissued or available anywhere before and has a value that usually approaches $1000. It's in the same realm as my very first post, which spread like wildfire amongst the bigger blogs out there and soon all traces of its origins from here were erased. I'm talking about Minority Band - Journey to the Shore, which has since been reissued in 2 different formats and is very well known. I also featured another single from that awesome label (TSR) but no one seemed to think much of it I guess, though it was quickly hijacked and placed on the french boogie blogs, which I'm cool with. And also I want to remind you of a single which I resurfaced to the blog/ebay world called The Mint, which has Skywalking and 'the Mint' on it, I originally posted it without much attention, then sold it on Ebay for a meager 189.00 but a month ago the German boogie king of Ebay found a copy of his own and auctioned it for a whopping $400, I couldnt believe it. So grab that download if you havent already, it's a classic. But anyway this Imani record is friggin awesome and I'm thrilled their work can finally be heard again, hopefully they are too.

Imani - Out of the Blue EP (1983) Full EP at 224 kbps.

Sabu - Aurora Borealis LP 1971 (Co-Op Records)

2011-05-29T16:22:00.000-05:00

Amazingly I couldn't find any blogs that have a rip of this LP out there so seeing as how I just found a copy in fantastic condition, I figured I would rip it and share the wealth. Some of the tracks are pretty straight forward big band jazz but there are still quite a few classic latin jazz/funk tracks with great composition. It's a European jazz classic so I'm glad to make it available again. Also, I was kinda lazy and did not rip it into individual tracks, instead I have the entire A side as an mp3 and the B side as an mp3, zipped in a .rar, but many of the songs flow into the next by design so its still good listening straight through, or you can cut it up yourselves using something like Audacity, a free editing program that I often use.

Sabu - Aurora Borealis LP

Pendulum - Skull Fuck ( skullfuck EP ) 1989

2011-05-29T15:19:00.000-05:00

This is new ground for me. Metal! Not just any metal though, first time ever available San Antonio proto-Black Metal Thrash metal that is quite raw and quite good, EXCEPT the vocalist, wow is he bad. This would be worth a lot more if the vocalist sounded either more death metal esque or black metal esque, instead he just sucks. But it has nice atmospheric elements and tremelo riffage, so it's way ahead of what most San Antonio metal bands were doing at the time. AND they took their ep cover pic in a graveyard! hardcore!

PENDULUM - SKULLFUCK EP (Euthanasia Records 0013) 1989 San Antonio, TX.

The Ebony Singers - In The Ebony Spirit LP

2011-05-28T17:06:00.003-05:00

Very nice Spiritual Gospel Jazz track by The Ebony Singers called Ebony Suite. It closes out the A side. I only included this track because the rest of the album is quite traditional, and though its decent I didn't feel like spending all that time to upload 'decent', instead here is the one track that is fantastic. Slow build with fender rhodes keys twinkling and a small choir doing spiritual singing then the bass kicks in and a nice jazz funk theme begins and rides out the gospel jazz funk flavor to the end. Enjoy.

Ebony Singers - Ebony Suite:

Mike Baumann - Get a Grip LP (1981)

2011-05-28T14:35:00.005-05:00

Utterly unknown folk-jazz-prog pop stuff with a nice spiritual jazz touch on some tracks and weird bluesy quirkiness on others. Definitely not solid the whole way through but there are some gems on here. It's about a hundred dollar record and thats mainly do to the fact that there arent more solid tracks, like the potential was very high on this one and instead of really going for it they had fun and got goofy when the going got tough. But I really do enjoy it and like I said there are some really great forward thinking jazz tracks on here so don't be dissuaded by my harping on its not being as good as it should be crap. There was ZERO info out on this LP, but the interesting this is this guy, Mike Baumann, is I believe the original member of Grayps, a local 60s psych outfit, here's what I said in my Ebay auction for this record:

"Scarce Private press LP with Mike Baumann and Steve Huntington playing most of the instruments and writing most all the songs. This LP is unfindable in all the research I have done, however I do think that this is the Mike Baumann from the Ohio 60s teen garage band The Grayps, and I think he was in a band in the Ohio area in the 70's called Gandalf. If I am mistaken and that is another Mike Baumann musician from Ohio (which I doubt...) I apologize, but I'm almost certain it is the one and the same. That Mike Baumann played drums for Grayps I think. Anyway, the album is really solid and has a diverse sound that a lot of late 70s early 80s private press records have. Some tracks are cool jazzy blue-eyed soul with great lyrics and spiritual jazz sounding chorus parts, other tracks are straight ahead early 80s folky softrock, like Toto or something. Others are instrumental jazz ensemble with prog elements. But my favorite 3 tracks are all in the soundclip above, and combine the best elements of all these genre descriptions into cohesive songs that you rarely encounter on something this obscure.."

LISTEN AND ENJOY!! - Full .rar

Calle Örnemark pt 2 (previous post update)

2011-04-23T21:32:00.003-05:00

A fellow blogger alerted me to the fact that Mr. Ornemark has just uploaded some videos of himself and his art (and his music) to youtube, so thank you kindly for the heads up and here is the link to the video that incorporates the first track of Glooscap that I previously posted. Also, so of his other videos have some pretty interesting music on them, I wonder if he has other vinyl releases? LINK TO GLOOSCAP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaYXlLsAxlk&feature=related

Sounds of Salvation - S/T (Custom Records 1971)

2011-04-09T22:10:00.006-05:00

Another unknown Xian record for your listening pleasure. This is a really interesting piece from Tyler Texas that is completely unknown, I sold it on Ebay a while back so if there's anything on the net its from my auction etc. I found a lot of these christian records at a thrift store in Round Rock that is no longer open, they had about 10 scarce and awesome christian records of all kinds, and they were a quarter each, I havent landed that kinda deal in a long time now. Anyway, I dont know much about this little group except that the A side is basically a church group from Tyler doing traditional hymns in a choir setting and its absolutely horrible, but the B side is a small group of teens, presumably from the same church, who started a little band called The Sounds of Salvation. It's basically like The Last Days but a lot less hip and a lot less overtly psychedelic. Also if this was an entire record of The Sounds of Salvation with a few more original compositions instead of covers I really think it'd be a 500 dollar record, but because there is only a few original songs, which are the best tracks on the record and are quite good, and even more because the Aside is a totally different thing, it sits in the obscurist only section of the record universe, which is a shame because it has a couple really amazing songs on it. Its still worth about a hundred bucks I'd say. I did not include the A side in the .rar, for good reason. I realize this wasnt the most enticing or positive review, but I wanted to get all the ugly facts out of the way first, I mean basically theres two songs on here that are really excellent LoFi loner folk with reverb drenched production and good song writing, and the real intriguing thing is that i'd say only a handful of people have heard this record, because its truly a ghost level piece, I should have probably made a xian folk comp instead of putting up all these albums and part-albums but I figured you'd rather have more than less, I hope I'm right.

The Sounds of Salvation - S/T (1971 Tyler Texas Unknown Teen Christian Folk Rock)

The Spectrum Singers - Young Life Songs (Unknown Christian Youth Group Sing Along Jam Session LP from 1969)

2011-04-06T22:58:00.005-05:00

Christmas must have come early this year! Another interesting find I happened upon a while back, utterly unknown and truly bizarre, a real ghost record. Out of Colorado Springs 1969. A youth minister from the Young Life group, when they first began (theyre now a world wide organization!) decided to round up some of his members and record an LP that would appeal to the younger crowds in Young Life, his mission was to create a kind of library lp to play during the meetings and he produced this record, half instrumentals, half vocals only, so that you could learn the songs and then sing to the instrumental side and jam out together. He also recorded three standard tracks with the vocals in (one of which has 2 versions), and they are probably the best tracks on the record, especially the psychout version of 'I am the resurrection' but then again the fuzzed out psych instrumental of 'It's almost too good' is really awesome too, especially for 1969, pretty early in the private press xian psych game. Yes its more novelty than musical brilliance, but it still kicks ass. Also, just fyi, I sold this on ebay a while back, I have not seen one surface since, it was a VG grade and sold for $160.00 if I remember correctly. Also I did not include the vocal only tracks. You do not want them.

Get fuzzy!

Reggie Andrews and The Fellowship - Mystic Beauty LP

2011-04-06T22:07:00.003-05:00

Because I have been loading you guys up with sound clips, singles, and partial albums I feel it necessary to share a couple full length, high quality rips of great albums for your enjoyment. This was available on the net for a little while from a record store in New York but at some point it disappeared and now the only place I can find it is some website 'for trade' so I felt it only right to dispel that nonsense and share this terrific album by Reggie Andrews. I wish I had his other LP, the Locke Saints Band from Fremont High School, because it is harder to find and more interesting, but this is better musicianship as it is not a high school doing the work. Pretty laid back afro-cuban influenced spiritual jazz with a real nice groove to it. Rough around the edges at some points but that kinda adds to the flavor. Neither Reggie album is reissued yet, seems like an obvious thing to do as I'm sure he has a ton of unreleased tracks in addition to these two lps. Not sure when it was recorded, privately pressed on HME, from Los Angeles. "n recent years, Reggie Andrews has taught, mentored, and/or produced many talented musicians including Patrice Rushen, Terrace Martin, Ndugu Chancler, and the Dazz Band.

Get mystical y'all.

The Last Days - S/T (Irving, TX 1972)

2011-04-05T23:25:00.004-05:00

Before you get too excited, this is only the 5 best tracks from this Collector's behemoth of a Xian album. Pretty much has everything you want from the genre. Dark, soul searching lyrics that are quite good, a quiet folky male lead with a good voice, a gentle female back up sometimes, tons of reverb and lofi mystique, great acoustic moments with fluorishes of electric guitar throughout, good song composition, and most importantly, it is near impossible to find and virtually nothing is known about the band. I find this a lot when a group is from a small town in one state and has their album pressed up somewhere else, usually in that scenario a small number of pressings to begin with turns into a minute remainder of whats left. I'm not sure how it reached the insane amount of money it gets, close to 1200 bucks, which puts it in the same class of xian folk psych as Search Party, Fraction, Azitis, Harbinger, and John Villemonte among others, especially when this album was known to sell for 300-400 bucks for a NM copy in 2004, but when a record sits atop the wanted lists of the major collectors long enough and there are none to be found, it's price grows exponentially. Anyway, like I said I only have 5 tracks from the album, I think they are the best 5 though. Enjoy what there is because I doubt there will ever be more.

Here is the .rar of the 5 tracks in 192k

University of Tulsa Jazz Ensemble 1973

2011-04-05T22:14:00.006-05:00

Trying something a little different with this recent find. Normally I find something, record it, then either Ebay it or file it away in the collection. After that I post it. This time I am going to post the soundclips on my blog first, let it sit around a bit, then Ebay it later, to give people a chance to buy it if they are interested, because this one isn't well known and I don't think there are any results on the internet or auction sales that I can find. It has quite a few good songs on it, but the obvious winner is the original composition 'Gallery', which is a 14 minute Bob James-esque track with incredible arrangement, and the layered solos of guitar, alto, trumpet, xylophone, piano, and drums are just killer, best of all is the continuous throbbing bassline that really takes the track to the next level. There are many college/high school records that have some great moments in big band format, big drums with loud punchy horns and intermittent slicing guitar, sax, and drum solos, but 90% of those are still just unfocused exhibitions of the best players in a funky format. (Northills High School Jazz Band for instance, which I also just found. Quite good but nothing transcendent.) What separates the real heavy hitters, ala Douglas High School, TSU Jazz ensemble, Kashmere Stage Band, etc; is the quality of the compositions, originality, and style, and of course big ass drum breaks and tight musicianship doesnt hurt either.
So anyway, here is some of the Tulsa University Jazz Ensemble 1973 before I put it up on Ebay. The track featured is Gallery. Yes I will have then entire album for you eventually, and I have 4 more high school jazz band LPs coming soon in addition.

Excerpts from Gallery, including the first 5 minutes uninterupted and then I threw in another brief selection that follows.

Jackie Ross and South Side Movement - You Are The One That I Need (from the Self-titled LP on Golden Ear 1981)

2011-04-04T01:11:00.004-05:00

A beautiful slice of Jazzy Modern Soul from the under-rated soul singer Jackie Ross, who made quite a few great records in the late 60s and 70s, like her LP 'Full Bloom' on Chess records, which was really great, and a number of other 7" singles that charted a couple times and that was about the extent of it. Then sometime in the early 80s she decided to record a sort of come back album, like many other 60s soul artists did, and in 1981 she cut this pretty fantastic album for the private label Golden Ear, sadly it never got past the test pressing/promotional phase and was pretty much scrapped, aside from a few copies given out here and there, I don't know how many or if it got any real radio play ever. I'm not sure if "South Side Movement," who is the backing band on LP, is the same band as the SSM from the early 70s on Wand who released one album of the same name, which is a pretty dope album btw, but either way they're a very good band and Jackie is a fantastic singer as always. I really think the strongest track is 'You Are the One That I Need', and even though there are a few other quality pieces on the record, it's that track that makes it, and without it the record wouldn't fetch the 500 dollar price tag it sells for. So anyway I am only going to upload that track because it's all I have done at the moment and it's what everybody wants anyway. Enjoy.

Sonic Explosion - We Belong Together / I'm a Believer (Big City Sounds 1976)

2011-04-04T00:59:00.005-05:00

Really solid, highly collectible and stupidly rare modern soul 45 out of Tuscaloosa Alabama, not much info on the band or the label other than being pressed in 1976 and being written by Hayward McKanstry. Honestly this is kind of the 'Trace of Smoke' of Alabama. (You can still get the trace 45 from an earlier posting) Not much else to say really, other than its a fantastic little slice of uptempo disco/soul that never shows up anywhere. Enjoy.

We Belong Together

I'm a Believer

Paler Shade of White Compilation BONUS TRACK: Sage - I'm Alive

2011-03-23T12:57:00.003-05:00

Here is a track that I should have added to the compilation but didn't, so I am offering it as a bonus track, it fits in perfectly with rest of the music and fits all the criteria for the comp, I have no idea how I forgot to include this. So anyway, instead of re-upping and redoing the entire thing, Ive decided to post this as a bonus track and you can decide to amend the comp or not.

SAGE - I'M ALIVE (Head Records 1977) Link to mp3

Headlamp Shovel and Secret Histories Presents: A Paler Shade of White - Forgotten Sounds from Disco Crazed Suburbia. 1975-82

2011-03-05T21:03:00.024-06:00

Yes friends I am posting my first compilation, notice I did not say mix or mixtape, because it is not in a mixed format, but a true comp format, giving you the entirety of each track, the photo of the album the track came from, and maybe a little minor history attached. I'm really not that into the idea of making 'race' a theme for a compilation, but it came about organically and as I became more and more intrigued by these long forgotten private press, or 'real people' disco/funk LPs by the various family band/nightclub act/studio musician entities that created them, I noticed a few things... first an inordinate amount were all white bands, and second they had a unique sound and style that was similar to each other. I previously shared one of the most famous of the 'genre,' the Family Tree album, doing a cover of Barry White's 'never gonna give you up,' which is a perfect example of what I was looking for for this comp. So in essense its more like a collection of tracks by bands in a similar vein to the Family Tree: A group of early twenty somethings that got together who liked the idea of being in a band more than the idea of making music or being an 'artist'. But its not all novelty folks. Admittedly, a lot of the tracks are mainly just interesting from the novelty/collector obscurist standpoint, but honestly there are some true gems on here. Stuff that just doesn't sound like anything else but each other. Take for instance the epic lp and somewhat underground legend by Bob Chance, the track I feature is 'Broken,' equally italian library funk/lofi outsider weirdness and synth disco. Then there is Ernie Story's 'Disco City' another equally fantastic track, but this time its an uptempo disco ripper with lofi intensity and earnest singing that tantalizes. And of course the highly sout after Pazazz track that is an absolute killer of modern soul disco. I'm not gonna go into all the tracks that are great here, jjust take my word for it. I hope you enjoy it. Below is a tracklist and some of the album photos, in the rar are all of them and even a couple others I was going to use but didnt. Also at this point please don't ask for the entire albums, be happy with the comp, its standalone, most of the albums have no other good songs anyway. And thank you to Nordine for his 2 contributions, much appreciated.

TRACKLIST:

1. The Zaras - The Best Years of My Life
2. Pazazz - So Hard To Find
3. DC and Company - Let's Dance the Night Away
4. Bob Chance - It's Broken
5. The Shelters - Make it With You *(thank you Nordine)
6. George Morin - Keep On Dancing
7. Family Tree - Never Gonna Give You Up
8. Ernie Story - Disco City *(thank you Nordine)
9. Transistor Jet - Love Inside of Sound
10. Chris Meyer - You Can Dance With Me
11. Mike DeLeon Band - Once in a While
12. Tampa - Don't Fight the Feeling
13. Organisation C - Viens Tourner
14. Paul Tanner - Fly Away

Download: V/A - A Paler Shade of White (Secret Histories 2011)

Brown and Jackson - Self-Titled LP / David Dale - Hide and Seek LP / Davis Pedigo & Band LP

2011-02-19T00:50:00.005-06:00

**** new info

Alright guys this is what I have of the brown and jackson lp I posted a little while ago, its the entire album uncut a and b in an mp3, but for some reason the first track stars about halfway in? i dunno why, but 95% of its there so thats what i got, enjoy.

here it is
************ Get the jackson and brown^

Okay, so this post is more about the 'art of digging' than it is about getting some radical new shiznit to listen to and impress your friends. I'm not saying I'm a grandmaster, but it never ceases to amaze me how you can expand your knowledge base of genres and styles that collectors are looking for, then apply that to your dig and make something of it in the crates. So this post is about late 70s to mid 80s Christian soft rock/pop AOR singer songwriter type stuff. Its pretty much always done by one or two white guys with a small band set up. Usually some soft acoustic guitars or laid back cool electric guitars, sometimes bossa beats, easy drums or bongos thorwn in for good measure, a staple of the genre is the electric piano, and most of all, as you will see, it needs to sound like MICHAEL MCDONALD. More will be explained below....

First we Have Brown and Jackson - Self-titled LP. aka Yacht Shoes, Razor cuts, Million dollar mustaches, and Jesus. This lovely item was unearthed and brought back into the weird collectible world of 80s white guy christian music* where it belongs. This lovely gem is one of the illusive ZERO google results LPs. Most of the stuff like this I find goes to Japanese collectors, hey don't ask me, they are admirably meticulous about subgenres, obscurities, and archiving. This is about a 200 dollar album. Or so it sold on ebay, as there is no 'list price' for it.
(*if you go digging for this type of music, which is very wise because a lot of it is still out there, you want to find something with the sound of michael mcdonald, with christian lyrics/themes, though you want more progressive lyrics and original songs not traditional stuff and certainly not group vocals, I cant tell you how many great xian folk records I've found that were ruined because of choir singing, and most importantly... you really want fewer than 1000 pressings or else its not gonna be rare enough to even matter.)

LISTEN TO BROWN AND JACKSON GET THEIR PRAISE ON (samples only, if anyone actually wants the entire LP leave a comment and perhaps Ill put it up.)

Davis, Pedigo & Band - Self-Titled LP

Another Fine example I dug up, this one has a bit more of a new wave/soft rock leaning, and slightly less progressive lyrics, which made it sell for $130, a bit less than Brown and Jackson... Listen to it, learn the sound and get digging, it's the most fun way to get paid I've found yet.

And Finally for your listening pleasure, the crowning jewel of my white guy 80s christian soft rock pop LP digging adventure, the $250 David Dale - Hide and Seek LP. It has a cover song of another legendary xian modern soul album that is by Jim Schmidt (from the Imperials) called 'serious', people eat up the Jim Schmidt album , which ironically I have also dug up recently, but NO ONE had ever heard of this guy, another illustrious zero google results duder. So, lets see... Michael Mcdonald sound? check. Christian lyrics in a progressive styling? check. Awesome 80s cover? check. Absurdly small pressing? Check. And most importantly, my Japanese buyer friend was equally impressed with its resume...

Have a taste of the song 'Serious'

The Darling Dears - And I Love You / Don't Think I'll Ever Love Another

2011-02-19T00:24:00.003-06:00

Truly incredible two-sided soul-funk 45 by the mysterious Darling Dears. Some of the most innovative production and styling I've ever heard on a piece this early. Outsider funk meets northern soul. And it is stupid rare, like $3000+ rare. Fantastic.

Dont think I'll ever love another

And I love you

El Trio Sinai - Un Maravilloso Exito LP

2011-02-13T02:56:00.004-06:00

Here we have some utterly fantastic Mexican religious music done by the El Trio Sinai of San Antonio Tx. Not sure when it's from but I'm thinking about 1969-75. Don't let the back cover fool you, this isnt 3 guys strumming guitars like Los Tres Ases etc. They are only three, but they got bongos and horns and a little synth-organ thing to mix in with the lovely guitar strumming. Haunting, cinematic, static-laden, dreamscape tapestries of praise that Robert Rodriguez's bitch ass would kill for. Okay so I probably talked it up a bit much there, a disinterested categorizer might say its just simplistic Mexican religious music, but its some of the best of the genre no doubt. Not all the tracks are good though, in fact only 4 of them are, so to save you and me a lot of time I included the 4 really good ones in this rar, sorry if I dissapointed you, but trust me on this okay.

GET YO WORSHIP ON MEXICAN STYLE

UNIQUE TYMES is gone forever!!!!

2011-01-27T17:05:00.005-06:00

:(
(someone else is hosting it by now i'm sure)

California Playboys - Trying to Become a Millionaire LP

2010-12-28T13:44:00.003-06:00

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.

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

2010-12-17T12:56:00.005-06:00

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"

2010-12-17T11:14:00.003-06:00

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

2010-12-17T10:53:00.003-06:00

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"

Experimental Products - Work the Beat 1984

2010-11-09T23:15:00.003-06:00

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

2010-11-09T21:35:00.003-06:00

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

2010-11-09T21:23:00.004-06:00

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

2010-11-09T21:11:00.002-06:00

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

2010-11-09T21:02:00.003-06:00

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.

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

2010-10-13T23:48:00.004-05:00

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

2010-10-13T19:51:00.006-05:00

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

======================================================

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.

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

2010-09-26T14:20:00.008-05:00

* 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"

The strange and wonderful terrible! COREY DEVILLE - PARTY REPTILE

2010-08-21T23:16:00.006-05:00

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!"

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

2010-08-07T19:14:00.012-05:00

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.

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

2010-07-05T23:33:00.006-05:00

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.

Gary Blanchard - Original Soundtrack

2010-06-28T20:05:00.005-05:00

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

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

2010-05-25T16:42:00.005-05:00

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?

2010-05-25T10:50:00.004-05:00

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!

Legendary Weirdness and May's Find of the Month:

2010-05-16T01:37:00.007-05:00

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

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

2010-05-11T00:35:00.005-05:00

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.

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

2010-05-08T15:55:00.006-05:00

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)...

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

2010-04-11T01:50:00.008-05:00

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.

~Get Folky~

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

2010-04-11T01:04:00.007-05:00

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?

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

2010-03-25T00:27:00.006-05:00

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

Some Gospel Finds Fo Yuhs

2010-03-24T23:52:00.007-05:00

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.

Uber Weird Find: The Ballad of Glooscap!

2010-03-16T02:38:00.004-05:00

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

Found the Holy Grail of Austin Modern Soul, just sitting in a dusty old cardboard box... TRACE OF SMOKE - TREASURE MIND

2010-03-16T02:04:00.006-05:00

Here it is, one of the holy grails of the modern soul world and produced and recorded right here in Austin TX. I really dig this track, it's from 1977, and it has the classic modern soul crossover funk sound that really represents what the UK clubs were playing in the 80s to present as floor friendly northern soul (which after about 1975 became modern soul, to mark the difference in era and sound, but still serving basically the same purpose for club DJs.) I don't know a whole hell of a lot about the background of John Calvin or Mary Williams, (probably no relation to Mary Lou Williams but the track she is on is a jazzy number) but I do know that Melvin Winn occasionally produced soul records for artists around Austin and maybe Dallas, and that he also produced another later soul/boogie record by Karizma that is also very good and equally rare, but worth about 150-300 dollars as opposed to Trace of Smoke which fetches 1000-2000 dollars in good shape. Treasure Mind is not only awesome it's a grower too, the first time I heard it I was at about 3.5 stars out of 5, but honestly I am at pushing 5 stars now, atleast for the soul 45 category, theres just something kinda otherwordly about it's lyrics, which are quite elusive, and the breakdown in the middle just levels me. Anyway, I am very thankful to the record gods for this one and I wish I could have kept it but the $ is too irresistible. Enjoy a real non cd comp copy of this, and I'm throwing in the U.R. side too, cause not many people have heard it.

Trace of Smoke - Treasure Mind

Trace of Smoke - U.R.

Left and Right Shoe MC's feat DJ Rated X - Mini LP (Talking Horse 1988)

2010-02-21T16:55:00.004-06:00

YEEAH, more bad ass unknown texas rap. This is just the beginning of a whole treasure trove of bad ass records I have uncovered in the last month, the records in my ebay pile and blog pile have grown to the point of overwhelming me, I cant figure out where to start or which strategy to take in putting them up, but I'm not complaining about it. I have found some real gems lately, and I will start off with this lovely ELECTRO RAP powerhouse from 1988, out of Fort Worth TX, on Talking Horse records. Features 8 tracks, 4 original tracks on the Aside, all vocal versions, and on the bside there are instrumental versions of those tracks. These guys look so damn fly in that cover I can only imagine how much they were runnin shit back in '88. Each song is a bit different and offers something uniquely bad ass. The first is a great fast rap jam with james brown style breaks and good proto-gangsta lyrics, the second is a pretty good track that has a miami bass feel, the third track is some excellent lofi electro, and the final track is a great lo-fi love jam in the style of ll cool j, but perhaps even better. Oh and check out the rad beer stains on the cover, that only adds to the value in my opinion, kind of like blood on a civil war saber. The whole album is in a rar below.

KEEP IT REAL WITH THE LEFT AND RIGHT SHOE MCs, bitches.

Famous L Renfroe (Famous as the Flying Sweet Angels of Joy) - Children

2010-02-15T15:27:00.003-06:00

Absolutely incredible record here. The mega DIY home made recorded in a shack out in the swampland by Famous L Renfroe on all instruments and filling in on much of the backup vocals too, a true master musician Famous L Renfroe has recorded here one of the most striking and memorable rural albums of all time. I wish I had actually found this but I got it from a blog a little while back, and I think they got it from a CD reissue that was very limited and laregely sold overseas, and even with the small CD reissue very few people know about this true gem of an album. Its gospel, its blue, its soul, its funk, its zydeco, its experiemental, its outsider, sometimes even psychedelic but it is foremost all that is FAMOUS L RENFROE. He spills his guts to god and belts out incredible guitar work for Jesus and I have to say it really gives me the willys sometimes when I listen to this at high volume in my car. Lovely piece here and I wish I remembered the name of the site I got it from but I thank you too. Also the picture is from a website without permission so leave a comment if its yours and you dont want it up, but please, share the joy of RENFROE! I have quite a few Xian records that I like but this and James Tatum - Jazz Mass, and D. R. Hooker - The Truth, are all at the top of the list. Also near those are Mary Lou Willaims - Mary Lou's Mass, and Trees - The Christ Tree, and Agape - Le Troisieme Seuil. And Maybe Soul Liberation - Who Are You? Which I will be putting up soon.

FAMOUS L RENFROE AS THE FLYING SWEET ANGELS OF JOY

MIKE CASCIO AND JUSTUS Live at Bourbon St (1979)

2010-01-31T19:20:00.002-06:00

So most blog goers probably wont care much about late seventies private press alt country rock western swing stuff but I'm from Texas and I think its pretty bad ass, plus its completely unknown and under appreciated. So without further adieu here is the unknown mike cascio and justus band: equal parts jerry jeff walker, waylon jennings, bob wills and the burrito brothers... but extremely unpolished and whiskey piss drunk! Enjoy.

Download Full LP here.

DIGITAL DUB POWERHOUSE: Roland Burrell - Rip off // Barry Bailey - Gun Slinger

2010-01-14T13:18:00.007-06:00

Amazing and uber rare 12'' here from New York on the Paradise label, Pardis003. Produced by Ossie Hibbert. 1986. Another incredible find this week, wished I could keep it but I just sold it on ebay for $320.00, but that kind of money is just too good to pass up. This track is one of the most sought after 12" digital dub records recently and it is so rare that there has only been 1 other sold on Ebay before mine, and that was pretty recent, so I think it was relatively unknown before about a year ago (no mentions on popsike or other auction sites). Because of the popularity of the dubstep movement records like this are going for huge prices and amazing tracks are being rediscovered all the time. This is one of the best I have heard, I also like Ackie's Rambo track among others, but Roland Burrell and Barry Bailey KILL it with their throbbing deep bass lines, icy synths with crisp linn drum production and great lyrics, but the real killer is on the Bside, where I presume Barry Bailey plays the trombone over the aforementioned track layed down by Ossie Hibbert. What? Spaced out trombone playing over stepper rhythms and deep bass digital productions? Yes Please. Enjoy this bad boy, you won't find it available anywhere else on the net, that's for damn sure. This bad motha is guarded among those in the know like fort knox or some shit. Full versions below, also for download. First the Vocal track, "Rip Off" then the version side "Gun Slinger"

Recent Hip Hop Finds

2009-12-17T23:02:00.012-06:00

In the last few months I've come across quite a few obscure rap/hiphop joints that I can't find out on the net so figured posting them would be a good idea, some i like more than others but I'm not going to discriminate, everything i found lately that isnt out there for listening I'm gonna put up. Enjoy the weirdness.
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Slow to Speak - On and On 12" (1996)

First up is an indie rap record I found which I really like but sadly I did not take a photo of and it is no longer in my possession, so I searched the internet for about 15 minutes looking for one and there is none to be found, so at the least be glad that you have a chance to check this track out because it's very farking rare, and very much under appreciated. Classic beat production on this joint from Texas (I think) with a very un-texas sound, and although a couple of the mc's dont match the mood of the beat,l they are quite good overall, not the best lyrics ever but their cadence and flow is good, and it has a nice' old school abilities vs dissing' and violence style, the beat is great though. I wish i could find more about this group or the release, i think it has a hell of a lot of potential and its only draw back is that its approaching the end of the mid school era and stuff after '95 just doesnt sell for as much as a rule, but for '96 it still has the 93-94 sound and you can tell they have been listening to a lot of Nas and a whole other list of midschool names that i dont care to list right now. Enough of this though, just Enjoy it!
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Special Treat - It's a Treat 12'' (1992)

Special Treat is a group that had a couple singles it looks like, the first being from 89 or 90 and also having a love jam style, this one is much harder to find and practically no information exists on it. It's not that great but it is definitely interesting, the first track "baby it's you" is a real LL Cool J style sax and all jam that is fun but the second track is a little more interesting, "too much" has a nice break and some nifty rapping, still regarding a honey but it's more hip hop. Out of Houston, TX.
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Al B. Bad - Half Pack EP (1994)

A personal favorite for its genre hopping, covering ghetto booty club bangers, miami bass explicit electro style, a conscious style ghetto track with the break from the biz markie song, that track is called "what i see" and you will like it's home produced real style or you suck. This crew is from Irving, TX and as far as I know has not released anything else, but who knows. "What I See" --
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RCU - Penitentiary Blues E.P. (1992)

RCU had a small hit with this EP in Houston, and they apparently released a full LP a year or so before this, which contained the lead track Penitentiary Blues, that being said the best track is by far "material things make you feel the need to get g'd" because of its Dr Dre/west coast funk revival sound that is kinda ganked but is still a bangin' track. The other 2 aren't bad either.
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God Complex - Seek & Destroy / Bust My Style (remix) 7'' (1995)

This is the early incarnation and first release by 7L and Esoteric, with Karma also, under the name God Complex. It's probably the best known of all these but I couldnt really find it anywhere on the net and it's interesting that the Bside is so superior to the Aside, both are quality tracks (produced by madsol) but "seek and destroy" is a really dope track, with a sort of dark and atmospheric wu-tang style beat and intelligent mid nineties lyrics somewhat similar to company flow style stuff, not quite as good as a lot of coflow but this is still 95 and it's damn good. "bust my style" is not as interesting and you could tell they were dumbing it down some to try and get radio play while their real efforts went to the bside. Obviously the label has held some truly great hip hop artists early stuff, like MF grimm, Mr Lif, and MF Doom.
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Lethal T. and Outcast- Lethal LP (1994)

Last up we have a full LP which I .rar'd for you, it's from San Antonio, TX and it was somewhat of a local hit when it came out in 1994, but has been lost in the annals of rap since then, being hard to find much about it aside from some web info on the group which is still active, it's a classic texas style gangsta rap LP sounding much like the privately done studio work from Houston at that time, lots of keyboard and some bass solos mixed with a little west coast funk some dark shuffling drum samples from the east and a lot of ghetto style drum programming to top it off, it gets pretty dense and atmospheric sometimes which impresses me a lot and the producer clearly had some musical background or impressive natural talent because for what it is, it's quite good in my opinion. I mean it's nothing revolutionary and its not the cleanest sound or pressing quality, the lyrics can get sorta weak soemtimes (though they have some great hooks) but overall its a fine piece of TX Gangsta Rap.

DOWNLOAD LP

Vinyl Tribute to Magic and Earl !!!

2009-11-27T16:50:00.007-06:00

Here we have a rather strange post but i noticed my sports related finds had been growing in number recently, with a couple really interesting pieces regarding two of my favorite players.. First is a really awesome 45 by Tom Cantrell (with dink and the ooettes?) that pays homage to Earl Campbell as a Houston Oiler/Texas Longhorn, but mainly as a Houston Oiler, done in awesome 60s folksy style, taking after the song Big Bad John and rewriting it as a football song, its level of appreciation for Earl is almost homoerotic, just listen to the line about his sweat drenched and rippling thighs, also I would guess the 45 to be from the late 60s to mid 70ss but I dont know when exactly, no info exists on this release that I can find.
Next we have my personal favorite by the Soul Funk legend Tony Lamar, who has a quite a few great 60s-70s releases in the soul funk category, all of which are quite rare, he was never a very well known singer, but he did a couple albums in the 80s utilizing the new studio based drum machine boogie sound of the time, this track is from 1985 out of california and pays massive homage to Magic Johnson, and the Lakers as a whole, again the track is almost homoerotic in its praise but it is truly a fantastic jam, with good lyrics that make you just kind of shake your head but at the same time respect the guy for crafting such a killer jam.

Tom Cantrell - Big Bad Earl

Tony Lamar - Magic

High School Jazz Band Doing 'Rush - Tom Sawyer' and more, HELL YES

2009-11-02T00:29:00.006-06:00

Bishop Lynch Jazz Ensemble - Self-titled. 1982. Dallas, TX. Directed by Joe Cardinale and Bob Quatman. Private Press High School Label.

I have been waiting to drop this for a while, I personally really dig it, and although obviously the stand out track is Tom Sawyer, there are interesting and sample friendly moments all over this record, and it really is an amazing level of musical achievement for a high school band. The drummer is amazing, and the guitarist isnt bad either, they do mostly complex jazz compositions, and yes a lot of it is in full big band style, but even those are pretty good, and they even employ a synthesizer on a few of the more rock oriented tracks. This is the full album, the last time I looked there was zero info out on this album and no blog posts either. I chose this over the 2 North Texas Jazz Lab Band albums I have because even though one has a bad ass cover, I really think this album is better, far more rare, and they are in high school! Turn up the Tom Sawyer track max volume and jam this motha out! * If you are with the aforementioned school or own the rights to this record, I am only trying to honor the musicianship and quality of your band program, so please let the world partake in this impossibly rare item and be happy it's out there, but if there is a problem or you want me to take it down contact me through the comments. I don't normally put any disclaimer but since it is from a well known and active school I will give you the opportunity to decide, and also let me state for the record that Bishop Lynch High School and associates DOES NOT condone in any way nor have any association with myself or the content of this website. The mp3s are from my personal album and are for preservation purposes only, if you download these mp3s and enjoy them, consider giving a donation to your local high school band program to support the continued development of young musicians.

Michael Iceberg is a Bad Motha

2009-11-01T23:56:00.006-06:00

We have here Michael Iceberg's first and only LP that was recorded live at his 100th week playing at Walt Disney, it is from around 1977 I believe, possibly a little earlier I can't remember. Genre-wise I would call it weird loner synth, half of the record is just bizarre demonstrations of the capabilities of his synth and effects setup, and another 1/4 of the record consists of covers of various songs, most are very well known songs and are not that great, but the last portion is his original composition with jam out session and even with a little bit of trippy vocals mixed in that just plain kicks ass. I am sad that I missed out on not being the first person to bring this record to the internet world's awareness but I only missed the boat by about a couple months, I found another blog, a very good one which I cant remember now, that had the record available for download. But, I have decided to leave out the majority of the record (it really isnt worth listening to more than once, and that just to see how weird and grating the whole affair is) and to only include the bad ass jam, which is about 5-6 minutes. I highly recommend this part of the record, the rest just doesnt stand up in my opinion, and I'm sorry I dont have the whole thing availble, maybe I will put it up later, but this is the real gem and this is the part I wanted to get out there to my 11 odd blog fans that I know are just desperately awaiting the next GEM! anyway here it is:

Michael Iceberg - Iceberg Does it Live. (Private Press Kiko Music) Untitled Track and composition, which I dubbed, "the iceberg jam"

Bad Ass and very rare Remix of Paul Hardcastle's 'Rainforest' track. 1985 private press.

2009-11-01T23:01:00.009-06:00

Bad ass electro remix of this classic song, it's got 3 versions on here, the first is a much longer dub that is completely re-done with much more bangin' and crisp drums, lush synth and a much more electro feel than the pseudo atmospheric dance feel of the original. Plus it has a remix with VOCALS! Very campy yes but to here a song written for the uber famous rainforest track is bad ass, by a group named California Jones no less. Also there is a silly sax remix that isn't very good but is interesting. Even has lyrics on the back, and a lovely waterfall to boot.

ENJOY THIS.

Extremely weird cover from the guy on the Juno soundtrack, no audio....

2009-11-01T22:54:00.004-06:00

Sorry no recording, I should have recorded it but I sold it before I got to it, the songs were just weird kid folk and it wasn't very good, and honestly the music's weirdness cant touch the cover, so it wasn't really worth it, but yes this is the guy from the Juno soundtrack, don't know what teh connection is though.