Friday, November 28, 2008

Friday Morning Cartunes...Nov. 28, 2008

Floh De Cologne - La Grande Tristesse(Requiem) ZYX LP
Achim Reichel - Tanz Der Vogel In Den Winden (Zebra) LP
Electric Orange - Schatten (Sulatron) CD
Julian Cope - Preaching Revolution (Head Heritage) 7"
Karen Beth - Come December (Decca) LP
Linda Perhacs - Moons & Cattails (Guerssen) LP
Spirogyra - World's Eyes (Timeless) LP
Malicorne - La Fille Aux Chansons (Gamma) LP
Sunray - Ocean (Earworm) 12"
Dungen - Mina Damer Och Fasaner (Subliminal Sounds) LP
Clutchy Hopkins - 4:08 (Cratedigger) LP
Omar Rodriguez Lopez - Of Ankles To Stone (Infrasonic) LP
Circle - Mercy & Tuesday (Ektro) CD
Grails - Predesination Blues (Temporary Residence) LP
Suishou no Fune - Till We Meet Again (Holy Mountain) LP
Thunderbolt Pagoda - Horizon On Fire (Mutant Music) LP
Earthless - Blue (Tee Pee) LP
White Wires - Stayed Up Late / Yeah Yeah... (Going Gaga) LP
Awesome Color - Outside Tonight (American Dust) LP
TK Webb & The Visions - Shame (Kemado) LP
Magnolia - Kung Bore (besegrad) (Transubstans) CD
Pentagram - Walk In The Blue Light (Relapse) CD
Burning Saviours - Looking After The Phyre (Transubstans)
Zaphire Oktalogue - Carrion Fly (You're Adorable) (Nasoni)LP
Quicksilver Messenger Service - The Fool (Capitol) LP

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

A Few Hot New Items.....

Ronnie Hayward - Hobo Son 12" vinyl only Canadian release of epic hurtin country and rockabilly proportion....sellin like hot cakes on a cattle drive. Ronnie sounds like his heart done got busted again and his stand up bass and voice takes the point on homeon every number. Solid, live backing by a band from Calgary, AB called 5 Star Homeless...that'll flat git it!

Giant Sand - Provisions 2 x LP set on... Yep Roc(home of the has beens?) Not a chance ! Howe now joins the ranks of Dave Alvin, Robyn Hitchcock and John Doe to name but a few on the label. This new outing sounds like classic Giant Sand from "back in the day". Full musically speaking and with the witty insight Gelb always provides as the true scribe he is. Desert soaked, sunny and dry...Truly Provisional!!

Funkadelic - Toys A monster UK release on wax and cd giving us all a batch of previously unissued trax from the ultimate psych funk practitioners. No duds, only buds! This has been a long time comin! More trax on cd than wax....oh well what can ya do?

RaTX - Got Live.....Drag City releases a 3rd album from Jenny Herema ex of Royal Trux....god damn this broad has a howl and a half! She's got a full metal jacket of a band as well, who sturm and twang the rawk from sleazy start to sleazy finish! Can you say Yowza!

White Wires - S/T.....Local label Going Gaga Records, vinyl only and ltd to 325 copies, silk screened cover. Power pop, rockin trio with Ian Manhire (guitar, voice), Luke(ex-MDMarxists on bass) and Ally(Felines) on drums. Manhire is the new hope in Fat Cat city with his record label and the bands he's in and the young and old he inspires....this lp is cut classic late 70's style with one foot in KBD punk and the other in pure catchy pop. Pogo till ya puke!

Nerves - One Way Ticket....this anticipated release is on Alive/Bomp and it features the legendary trio of Peter Case, Paul Collins and Jack Lee. Lee wrote "Hanging On The Telephone"...covered hit wise by Blondie way back in the day. This record sizzles with energy... studio, live and demo material and so far ltd. to 500 color wax beauties.....sold alot last week.....kinda stuff bands like White Wires draw their breath on!

Neko Case - Tigers Have Spoken......better late than never VINYL version....ltd heavy tip on style gatefold sleeve with star studed supporting cast....her best ever....maybe?

Lucinda Williams - Little Honey.....double LP set for under 20 bux!!!!!....hot and like Mr. Hayward way back there, sellin like hot cakes......

Shawn Lee and Clutchy Hopkins - Clutch Of The Tiger.....moody, dark, spare and funky on all levels.... mostly instrumental epic double lp and single cd....just as mysterious as before on the Luv & Haight label.

Brant Bjork - Punk Rock Guilt ....finally gettin it in on wax and after sellin a bucket on cd since april, yer 12" petroleum based thirst may now be quenched....easily one of the most stoned top 10 releases of the year.........Monsta grooves babies!

Graham Day & The Gaolers - Triple Distilled... Graham(Buff Medways, Prisoners, Planet, Solarflares - to name a few) roars back with his 2nd for the godlike uk label Damaged Goods. It's a power trio he fronts with a Woggle or two so the pedigree means awesome Medway garage wallop! The getting better with age thing is proved agin!!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Friday Morning Cartunes... November 21, 2008

John Handy & Ali Akbar Khan - The Soul & The Atma (BASF) LP
Steve Hillage - Garden Of Paradise (Virgin) LP
Josephine Foster - All I Wanted Was The Moon (Bo'Weavil) LP
Octopus Syng - Square Tragedy (Nasoni) CD
Crazy Dreams Band - Asian Rollers (Holy Mountain) LP
Alexander Tucker - Husks (ATP) LP
National Health - Squarer For Maude (Charly) LP
Third Ear Band -Dragon Lines (Harvest) LP
Pentangle - The Snows(Reprise) lp
Pererin - Teithgan(Guerssen) Lp
Man - We're Only Children (UA) LP
Family - A Song For Me (Reprise) LP
RaTX - Too Badd (Drag City) LP
After Tea - Jointhouse Blues (Progressive Line) CD
Troyka - Natural (Cotillion) LP
Neutral Spirits - Can't Leave It This Way (Void) LP
Lost & Found - Living Eye (Decal) LP
Headdress - Moon Of Sheding Ponies (Mexican Summer) LP
Grails - Acid Rain (Temporary Residence) LP
Birds Of Avalon - Shakey Tiger (Volcom) LP
Eden Express - Kaleidoscope (Holy Mountain) LP
Causi Sui - Soledad (Elektrhasch) LP
Elder - Ghost Head (Meteor City) CD
Heavy Winged - Gruesome Pillow Talk (3 Lobed) LP

Monday, November 17, 2008

Plastic Crimewave Sound...NO show

As many may know, Plastic Crimewave Sound and Mondo Drag were turned away at the border last Thursday due to"shoddy" paperwork and could not appear as scheduled at the Dominion Tavern. This had nothing to do with Ottawa, the problem lay elsewhere. "the band whose name is a symbol" played an ear-splitting 2 hour set of instro-rock befitting their style and the 75 + crowd in attendance got their bang for $5 ! All expenses were covered and the group express their heartfelt thanks to all who witnessed and for the overwhelming positive response for the bands 2nd performance. The last time my ears rang like that was post Acid Mothers Temple 'o7. I also have heard that PCS will reschedule and play Ottawa in the not to distant future. In the meantime track down their 3rd self titled album on the Eclipse label as it's truly killer. Birdman is currently out of stock but more should be arriving soon.

State Of The Vinyl Nation

I've been yappin' my theories in the shop for the last few months and think now, I should probably get this down and out so you can all chew on this for a bit....The vinyl comeback...? What exactly does this entail? When I opened this shop in 1991 people thought I was nuts! Firstly, I opened in "tough economic times" (gee... sound familiar?). Secondly I was damn determined to carry NO mainstream crap and flog mostly vinyl and its the second half of this that could of had me "certified"! Back in 91' there were still lots of indie labels releasing lots of vinyl around the globe but it was the major labels with all the "classic" and "vaulted" stuff that had really tightened the noose on a well rounded selection of wax. European major releases were hard to come by and really expensive and many "casual" music consumers were making the switch even if unwillingly to cd. Why on earth would you pay $30 or more for Tom Waits "The Black Rider" on vinyl, when you could get the cd for $10 or less?. Even the indies who normally released a fair amount of vinyl would sometimes not put the wax out and only offer the digital format. I guess each full length release would merit pre-thought..."does this artist have a market on vinyl, now, anymore or in the future". On hindsight I think this "process" was smart in some cases and for sure, economically driven. In any event, the "comeback" of the 12" petroleum based format has been ongoing for about 6 years now near as I can estimate and "comeback" is little more than a catchphrase to get interest up. There's no doubt however that over the last few year ends that the LP has figured in a small percentage of total year end results in terms of mass consumption numbers. I think I prefer the term "resurgence" to the format for a number of reasons. There are alot more records getting released the last 2 or 3 years and this past year in particular, both on the new release front and the reissue front. The key factors pertain to the demographics. "Kids" 13-20 are buying wax it seems and of course not all, but they seem to vocally express their interest and the word "cool" is also often attached when making a purchase. Even a number of them echo the "sounds better than cd" claim and whether this is simple parroting or in the scientific comparison category, remains to be seen. In the end, it in fact, matters not! Believe me, this age group were NOT, by and large buying vinyl when I opened in 91'! The other demo is the return of the45-60 year olds to vinyl. Common scenario's are "set up the in storage turntable" and "got my records out of the attic." This demographic also now have the time and some money to spend cuz the "kids are all but growed up or at the very least teens (and likely plundering Mom and Dad's Dylan and Clash records"!....it's another circle.....! Sadly this crowd all to commonly express their sorrow at "dumping" their records back in the day and many feel rrather silly for it at the same time. Oh well, some lessons are learned the hard way. I should point out as well that no matter the age, those that bought wax pre-88" and maintained the love of music have never stopped buying. The lp was never totally extinct...it just went into hiding.
Look, there's no shortage of used turntables, new or used in all manors and cost and if ya dig music there's still ton's of relatively cheap used wax out there and as I've said no shortage of new pressings either. Right now the major labels are flooding the record pressing plants with tons of orders and creating large traffic jams (a real drag on the indies who never gave up the cause to begin with), with release delays a plenty! I don't think there's a person around that could have predicted the amount of vinyl that has or will be released as of late and I tell you there is no sign of it slowing down.
One thing to keep in mind though is that no matter what gets put out it's all pretty limited by any standard and you still have to remember..."you snooze you loose"... in very many cases. When tracking down records from the used bins, particularly out of print titles, the fun or thrill is in the hunt and many releases once common are now truly getting scarce. You have to go shopping often to get what you want, records do not grow on trees. I highly except that the majors don't have freakin' clue though on what they should actually be re-releasing...a few truly classic albums have been done but so far there's some really seriously large voids that need to be filled and many are as obvious as the nose on the face! Given the fact that the majors since the early 80's have bitched about "bad business" does not reassure me of the right choices that will be made for reinventing the 12" wheel so to speak.....I got a great idea...give me a call...I can tell you what to do and where to go! No matter what though, happy hunting, there's tons of amazing music out there and all yours to discover!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Friday Morning Cartunes... November 14th 2008

Dedicated to Miriam Makeba and Mitch Mitchell...RIP........look for the flare...

Ravi Shankar - Raga Kirwana (World Pacific) LP
Suarasama - Lebah (Drag City) LP
Jack Rose - Calais To Dover (3 Lobed) LP
Cowboy Junkies - Crossroads (Latex) LP
Grey - Fields Of Grey (Kreation) LP
Dragontears - Masters Of War (Bad Afro) CD
Dungen - Mina Damer Och Fasaner (Subliminal Sounds) LP
The Free Pop Electronic Concept - Chewing Gum Delirium (Wah Wah/Vampi Soul) LP
Scott Bradford - Samsara (Probe) LP
Maurice McIntyre - Life Force (Delmark) LP
Muddy Waters - Bottom Of The Sea (Cadet) LP
RATX - You Should Shut Up (Drag City) LP
Electric Orange - Schrasng (Sulatron) CD
Peter Green - Bottoms Up (Reprise) LP
Chicken Shack - If I Were A Carpenter (Deram) LP
Jimi Hendrix - The Wind Cries Mary (Reprise) LP
Alasehir - Bone Fire...excerpt (Important) CD
Elder - Riddle Of Steel Pt. 1 (Meteor City) CD
Titan - Pilzmarmelade Pt. 1 (Wakusei) LP
Church Of Misery - Born To Raise Hell (Kult Of Nihilow) LP
Hawkwind - Magnu (UA) LP

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Thanks...

I would like to thank the 68 people who donated to CKCU-FM in our annual funding drive, showing their love for "Friday Morning Cartunes" and the station. Over the course of my last 3 shows (10.5 hours of quality radio), you responded with a collective effort totaling $ 4081.00 ! That's $ 388.00 per hour........THANK YOU ALL !

Friday, November 7, 2008

Friday Morning Cartunes...November 7th 2008

Brother JT - Medication (Birdman) CD
Snakefinger - The Model (Ralph) LP
Goon Moon - Apple Pie (Black Diamond) LP
Alexander Tucker - Poltergeists Grazing (ATP) LP
Dino Valente - My Friend (Epic) LP
Rodriguez - Sugar Man (Light In The Attic) LP
Mooseheart Faith - Golden Light (De Milo) LP
Jimi Hendrix Experience - If 6 Was 9 (Track) LP
Merryweather, Richardson & Boers - City Boy (Kent) LP
Jukka Tolonen - Silva The Cat (Janus) LP
Eloy - Through A Somber Galaxy (Harvest) LP
Cave - Hunt Like Devil (Permanent) LP
Miasma - Rabbits Foot (Rise Above) LP
Dungen - Finns Det Nagon Mojlighet (Subliminal Sounds) LP
Grails - Doomsdayer's Holiday (Social Registry) LP
Dragontears -The River (Bad Afro) CD
Vibravoid - Incense & Peppermints (Nasoni) LP
Che - Sounds Of Liberation (Low Desert Punk) LP
Oresund Space Collective - Optic Chiasm (Sulatron) CD
"the band whose name is a symbol" - God II (pre-release) CDR
Plastic Crimewave Sound - Giant's Eyes (Eclipse) LP
Debris - Tricia (Anopheles) LP
Kawaguchi Masami's New Rock Syndicate - Theme From... (Palindrone) LP
Steve Lacy - Forest (ESP-Disk) LP
Ronnie Hayward & Five Star Homeless - The Hobo Son / All Alone Blues (Smokin' Ace) LP

Monday, November 3, 2008

Sad News...

Detroit rhythm and blues legend Nathaniel Mayer passed on from our world on Sunday, Nov.2/08. Nat had suffered a stroke earlier this spring. It saddened me greatly when I saw the email that Ian Jeans forwarded me this morning. Not that I knew Nathaniel well, I did, as some know, have him on the Birdman Stage at Bluesfest in 2004. I thought he was totally the coolest, lotsa attitude but super genuine and a real card. Jeff Meier (Rocket 455 etc.) had called me months before the festival to urge me to book Nathaniel. I jumped at the suggestion and confirmed his appearance within days. I had heard he had lived pretty rough and had been likely screwed by various people who "handled" him, cashing in of course on the legendary singer status from days gone by ("Village Of Love" early 60's). His performance that day was great and the crowd loved him! Roughly a year or so ago, Nat's "Why Don't You Give It To Me" on the Alive record was released and it's a great one! Backed by a group of the Detroit underground garage rock constabulary this is a fitting tribute to a true legend. I'll never forget shaking Nat's hand late on the night of his bluesfest set and with his white 3-piece suit, ball cap purched on head, cigarette in mouth, he said to me all gravely voiced..."thanks man and I'm taking the rest of the beer back to the hotel, cuz we're gonna party". The image of him heading off in the dark with a green garbage bag full of warm Coors light is something I'll always remember....it was hilarious! Nat I hope you find peace in the valley as well as some cold brews.....to all of his friends and musical accomplices, my deepest sympathies.