Friday Morning Cartunes...January 9, 2008

Can - Flow Motion (Virgin) LP
Snakefinger - Kill The Great Raven (Ralph) LP
Neu - Super (Brain) LP
Chrome - Eyes In The Center (Beggar's Banquet) LP
Suicide - Touch Me (Ze) LP
Shining Path - Full Throttle Lover (Holy Mountain) LP
Guru Guru - Der Elektrolurch (Brain) LP
Shock Headed Peters - We Breathe The Same Air(retort) (Produkt Korps) LP
David Bowie - She Shook Me Cold (RCA) LP
Josiah - Got This Thing On The Move (Beard Of Stars) 7"
On Trial - Parchment Farm (Freakophonic) 7"
Alabama Thunderpussy - Can't Feel Nothing (Eccentric Man) 7"
Toad - Purple Haze (Akarma) 7"
Fire - Flames (Skyf Zol) CD
Montrose - Rock The Nation (Warner) LP
Judas Priest - One For The Road (Koch) LP
Acid Mothers Temple - Phantom Utopia Or... (Important) CD
Stooges - Lost In The Future (Elektra) 7"
Destroy All Monsters - Bored (Get Back) LP
Destroy All Monsters - Fast City (Fan Club) LP
Dark Carnival - Bloody Mary (SFTRI) LP
New Race - Descent Into The Maelstrom (Revenge) 7"
Angered Wrecks - Search & The Destroy (demo) cdr
Frolic Froth - Wick Troglo (Wdabliu)
"the band whose name is a symbol" - Dusty Groove (pre-release) cdr
Mothers Of The Lower East Side - Centrepeace (indie) cdr
Wax Attic - Girl (indie) LP
Plastic Crimewave Sound - Hibiscus Blue/End Of Cloud Part 2 (indie) cdr
Raven - Can't You See (indie) LP
Mugstar - Cxempog Sumultron (Critical Mass) LP
Diagonal - Semi-Permeable Men-Brain (Rise Above) LP
Vaka - Born To Secrecy (Murkhouse) CD

Ron Asheton

Man it's been nature calling full on the last little while ! Mitch Mitchell, Eartha Kitt, Freddie Hubbard, Jimmy Carl Black and now Ron Asheton. It reminds us that life is precious and not to mention short. The Stooges are arguably one of the most important rock groups ever if only because they defined the element of putting the aggro and snarl into the rock. I remember hearing them for the first time back in the early 70's and thought they were really wicked. Sadly I think I only heard them after reading about them in Circus magazine and being at that time in '74 on a steady diet of Mountain, Kiss and the New York Dolls among others the appeal of checking out the Stooges based on a bare chested, long haired blood soaked lead singer was not lost on me. I still own and play frequently a white label Elektra promo copy of "Funhouse" and it still boots my ass every time. Afterall, I am the perpetual rebellious teenager at the age of 48!!! Seeing as how I don't need to review or tell ya how awesome the first 3 Stooges are cuz it's been done to death I will say that Ron Asheton and his six stringed implement of destruction will live on in infamy and will continue to influence many future string-smiths for years to come, bank on it! I remember after my band the Curbs fell apart in '79 and we evolved into the first real punk band in Fredericton, New Brunswick's history; the Angered Wrecks, that 3 of the first 5 songs we smoked were "Search & Destroy", "Shake Appeal" and "I Need Somebody". The 4 of us in the Angered Wrecks were sure that the Stooges were "God" and we were out to and definitely proved it. Whenever we played their songs they were show stoppers and crowd pleasers and we were taking the Stooges music to new people (even the cops on numerous occasions!) who were in turn runnin' out and grabbing the real deal! Over almost 30 years in community radio I couldn't even guess how many Stooges songs I've spun either by Asheton and the boys themselves or the tons of killer covers of any of their work.

This Friday on Friday Morning Cartunes I will pay tribute to Ron Asheton and to the greatest rock band of our lives by spinin' some more and not only the Stooges but New Race, Dark Carnival, Destroy All Monsters if yer tuned in you'll even hear Fredericton's Angered Wrecks do 'em justice ! Ron Asheton, may you find peace and thank you for all you gave, RAFR !

Welcome to 2009

Hope everyone had a good year in 2008 ! Me okay I guess and as always we soldier on hoping this year will be good. All my best to everyone I know and care for and you all know who you are. Every year at Birdman Sound we ask customers, friends , band mates and fellow radio comrades to submit top picks from the preceding year. Here's some folks who have thus far complied...FYI at the following link...

http://www.elixyr.biz/birdman/top2008.htm

Friday Morning Cartunes...January 2, 2009

Elder - White Walls (Meteor City) CD
Sunn O))) - Masks The Aetmoshperes (Southern Lord) LP
Diagonal - Milankovitch Cycles (Rise Above) 7"
Mugstar - Born To Go (Trensmat) 7"
Alexander Tucker - Veins Of The Sky (ATP) LP
Patron Saints - Andrea (Time Lag) LP
Julian Cope - Mother, Where Is My Father? (Head Heritage) 7"
Rodriguez - Inner City Blues (LITA) LP
Relatively Clean Rivers - Babylon (Radioactive) LP
Quatrain - Unforseen Regrets (Sundazed) LP
Funkedelic - Vampy Funky Bernie (Westbound) LP
Cannonball Adderley - Taurus (Capitol) LP
Omar Rodriguez Lopez - Sidewalk Fins (N2O) LP
Circle - Tyolaisten Laulu (Klangbad) CD
White Hills - Spirit Of Exile (indie) CD
Rein Sanction - F Train (Sub Pop) LP
Dimi Dero Inc - Warschauer Strasse (Bang) CD
TK Webb & The Visions - God Bless The Little Angels (Kemado) LP
Night Horse - Don't Need You Lovin' (Tee Pee) LP
Leadfinger - Show You I Care (Bang) CD
"the band whose name is a symbol" - GOD II (pre-releases) cdr
Mothers Of The Lower East Side - Old Song From The New Country (indie) cdr
Serpent Cult - Serpent Cult (Rise Above) LP
Cold Sun - Mind Aura (World In Sound) LP
Status Quo - Is It Really Me / Gotta Go Home (Earmark) LP
Acid Mothers Temple - Hell Cats Of Outer Space...excerpt (Fractal) LP

Friday Morning Cartunes...December 26, 2008

Vibravoid - Christmas On Earth...+ (Nasoni) 7"
Keiji Heino - A Secret...excerpt (Swordfish) LP
Vibravoid - Save My Soul...+ (Nasoni) 7"
Julian Cope - Psychedelic Odin (Head Heritage) CD
Bert Jansch - The Bright New Year (Earmark) LP
Davey Graham - Black Is The Colour Of My True Loves Hair (Stamford Audio) LP
Headdress - Skydye (Mexican Summer) LP
Howlin' Rain - Wild Life (3 Lobed) LP
Weldon Irvine - Walk That Walk; Talk That Talk (BMG) LP
Blackbirds - Give Me Freedom (Long Hair) LP
Omar Rodriguez Lopez - Mexico / El Monte T'ai (N20) LP
Exploding Meet - Mutants (Look For The Flare) CD
Circle - Meronia (Ektro) CD
Dragontears - Masters Of War (Bad Afro) LP
Rod Stewart - Cindy's Lament (Vertigo) LP
Jade - Away From The Family (Lightning Tree) CD
L.A. Getaway - Ole Man Trouble (Atco) LP
Che - The Day The Pirate Retired (Low Desert Punk) LP
Nebula - Carpe Diem (Sweet Nothing) LP
Colour Haze - Lights (Elektrohasch) CD
Wax Attic - Jessie Spano (indie) LP
Mothers Of The Lower East Side - Chores Of Various Design (indie) CD
"the band whose name is a symbol" - Suburst Finish (pre-release) cdr
Acid Mothers Temple - Light My Fireball (Bambalam) CD
Zone Six - Something's Missing (Sulatron) CD
Graveyard - Blue Soul (Tee Pee) CD

Top Releases 2008

Acid Mothers Temple - Cometary Orbital Drive Bambalam CD
Ancestors - Neptune With Fire North Atlantic Sound LP
Brant Bjork - Punk Rock Guilt Low Desert Punk LP
Black Mountain - Into The Future Jagjaguwar LP
Blood Ceremony - S/T Rise Above LP
Boris - Smile Southern Lord LP
Burning Saviours - Nymphs & Weavers Blood Rock LP
Cloudland Canyon - Lie In Light Kranky LP
Colour Haze - All Elektrohasch LP
Julian Cope - Black Sheep Head Heritage CD
Dragontears - Tambourine Freak Machine Bad Afro LP
Dungen - 4 Subliminal Sounds LP
Earth - Bees Made Honey Inside... Southern Lord LP
Eden Express - Que Amors Que Holy Mountain LP
Endless Boogie - Focus Level No Quarter LP
H.Espvall/M.Batoh - S/T Drag City LP
Josephine Foster - This Coming Gladness(Bo'Weavil) LP
Grails - Take Refuge In The Clean Important LP
Grails - Doomsdayers Holiday Temporary Residence LP
Grand Magus - Iron Will Rise Above LP
Graveyard - S/T Tee Pee LP
Grey - Sisters Of The Wyrd (Kreation) LP
Hellacopters - Head Off Wild Kingdom LP
El Hombre Mysterioso - (Nasoni) LP
Howlin Rain - Magnificent Fiend Birdman LP
Leadfinger - Rich Kids (Bang) CD
Linus Pauling Quartet - All Things Are Light Camera Obscura LP
M.Mucci - Under The Tulip Tree Tall House Recording Co. CD
Nebula - Peel Sessions (Sweet Nothing) LP
Oresund Space Collective - Inside Your Head Sulatron CD
Pack - Funeral Mix Tape Mint LP
Plastic Crimewave Sound - S/T Eclipse LP
Pontiak - Sun On Sun Thrill Jockey LP
Wayne Rogers - Infinite For Now Twisted Village LP
Sienna Root - Far From The Sun Headspin LP
Space Debris - Elephant Moon Indie LP
Sword - Gods Of The Earth Kemado LP
Sunn O)) - Domkirke (Southern Lord) LP
Alexander Tucker - Portal ATP LP
Ufomammut - Idolum Supernatural Cat LP
Vibravoid - The Politics Of Ecstasy Nasoni LP
Zaphire Oktalogue - S/T (Nasoni) LP

Friday Morning Cartunes...December 19, 2008

Sunn O)) - Why Dost Thou Hide Thyself In Clouds ? (Southern Lord) LP
Circle - Havuporti (No Quarter) CD
Peter Leopold - Serpentine Lane (Gear Fab) LP
Emmanuelle Parrinen - Topaze (Lion) LP
Dungen - Finns Det Nagon Moulighet (Subliminal Sounds) LP
Crazy Dreams Band - Nightcrawler (Holy Mountain) LP
Josephine Foster - All I Wanted Was The Moon (Bo'Weavil) LP
Spyrogyra - Dangerous Dave / Van Allen's Belt (Timeless) LP
Calliope - California Dreaming (Buddah) LP
Karen Dalton - In A Situation (Light In The Attic) LP
Karen Beth - Something To Believe In (Decca) LP
Anne Briggs - Wishing Well (4Men With Beards) LP
Damon & Naomi - Once More (20 20 20) LP
Serena Maneesh -Sapphire Eyes (Playlouderrecordings) LP
Dragontears - The River (Bad Afro) LP
May Blitz - The 25th Of December, 1969 (Akarma) LP
Graveyard - Blue Soul (Tee Pee) CD
Witchcraft - Queen Of Bees (Rise Above) CD
Nebula - The One (Sweet Nothing) LP
Leadfinger - Bad Penny (Bang) CD
The Bevis Frond - The Wind Blew All Around Me (Flydaddy) CD
Hawkwind - Night Of The Hawks (Flicknife) 12"
Acid Mothers Temple - Brainstorm (Trensmat) 7"
Kinski - Master Of The Universe (Trensmat) 7"
Mudhoney - Urban Guerilla (Trensmat) 7"
Space Ritual - Otherworld (Esoteric) CD
Julian Cope - Come The Revolution (Head Heritage) CD
TK Webb & The Visions - God Bless The Little Angels (Kemado) LP
Earthless - Sonic Prayer...Live (Tee Pee) LP

Friday Morning Cartunes...December 12, 2008

Amon Duul II - Hawknose Harlequin (UA) LP
Krokodil - Odyssey In Om (Second Battle) CD
Material - Memory Serves (Elektra Musician) LP
Circle - Luikertelevat (No Quarter) CD
"the band whose name is a symbol" - Proglodyte (pre-release) cdr
Triple Burner - Kelvin Says / The Wherewithal (Madrona) LP
The Green Mist - Black Louie's Ambergris (Bang) CD
TK Webb & The Visions - Dreen Drone Death / 1000 Horns (Kemado) LP
Jane - Daytime (Brain) CD
Vibravoid - The Politics Of Ecstasy / Doris Delay (Nasoni) LP
El Hombre Misterioso - Lo Solido Se Desvanece (Nasoni) LP
Zaphire Oktalogue - Data Burst Over Bradford (Nasoni) LP
White Hills - Walking Uphill Against The Wind (indie) LP
Grails - Origin-ing (Temporary Residence) LP
Tom Carter - Royal Bel Air (Important) LP
Big Jeezus Truck - Rock 'N' Roll Bruises (advance) cdr
Elias Hulk - Rock 'N' Roll Life (Indie) CD
Earthless - Godspeed (Tee Pee) LP
Julian Cope - The Subtle Energies Commission (Island) CD
Crawlspace - Dancing In Your Head (Theme from a Symphony by Ornette Coleman) (Behemoth) 10"
Cold Sun - Fall (World In Sound) LP

Elias Hulk "Unfinished Business"

In October of 2007 I received an email of thanks For airing a piece of music from a gentleman by the name of Bernie James, drummer for a great and long gone English quintet called Elias Hulk. I thought this was pretty cool as I have been a fan of the groups lone 1970 release for quite sometime. I first ran across Elias Hulk as an aficionado of early 70's hard rock on a comp tape in the early 80's that a friend had made for me. Re-issued 1st in the 80's it wasn't until 4 years ago that I finally tracked down a euro vinyl issue on Astrozombie from some dude in Greece I think. BGO records in the UK released an official re-mastered cd version in 2007 which I have been carrying in the shop since and still spin and sell regularly. Elias Hulk were a very short lived band but their album "Unchained" from back in the day is a testament to the many young bands influenced by others and their surroundings who made their mark willingly and presumably for themselves without too many expectations. Their music was a raw combination of fairly blistering progressive-hard rock-blues and you can name drop the comparisons to Sabbath, Leaf Hound, Groundhogs, Ten Years After etc if you need too. Bernie and I struck up a dialogue and lo and behold, 38 years later, I hold a newly released official 3-song cd by Elias Hulk. Now a 4-piece with 3 album period Hulks and guitarist/singer Phil Clough (Elias Hulk '71 post LP), Bernie and the boys kick it old school all these years later with some pretty solid gusto. "Unfinished Business" leads off with "Beneath My Disguise" a great little number with some funky keys and snaking guitar interplay, solid blues leads and a pumping rhythm section. "Rock 'N' Roll Life" has a lazy rocking lope which makes me think a little of Creedence, Stones circa "Exile" and all things R&R! A perfect in the pub, beer drinkin' nugget. The eps closer, a cut entitled "Heroes" has a sadness too it from the opening progression of keys and vocals and the anthemic soaring guitar chords. The song deals with the subject of fallen comrades in arms in music and hits all the rights chords in all respects. Congrats guys and welcome to the new millennium!

Friday Morning Cartunes...December 5, 2008

Jack Rose - Cathedral et Chartres (3 Lobed) LP
M. Mucci - Eramosa (Tall House Recording Co.) CD
Mark Carmody - Birds Of Grey (demo) cdr
Plastic Crimewave Sound -The Pasture (Eclipse) LP
Beld - Silver Slide (demo) cdr
Snakefinger - Golden Goat (Ralph) LP
Alexander Tucker - You Are Many (ATP) LP
Six Organs Of Admittance - It Was Written (Durtro) 7"
Julian Cope - Safesurfer (Island) CD
Mighty Baby - Jug Of Love (Sunbeam) LP
Jade -Bad Magic (Lightning Tree) CD
Anne Briggs - The Snow It Melts The Soonest (4Men) LP
Spirit - Aren't You Glad (Columbia) LP
Circle - Tuhat (Ektro) CD
Omar Rodriguez Lopez - City Dreams Inside A Truck (Infrasonic) LP
Scientists - A Place Called Bad (Sub Pop) CD
Nebula - Cosmic Egg (Sweet Nothing) 7"
JT IV - Destructo Rock (Galactic Zoo Disk) LP
Arbouretum - Time Doesn't Lie (Thrill Jockey) LP
Edgar Broughton Band - Smokestack Lightning (Harvest) CD
The Uncooperatives - Pressure Cooker (Indie) CD
Big Jeezus Truck - Its Not Me (It's You) (Retox) CD
Che - Sounds Of Liberation (Man's Ruin) CD
Magnolia - Tag dig sjalv i kragen (Transubstans) CD
Gas Giant - Too Stoned (Loudsprecher) CD
Oresund Space Collective - Fornix (Sulatron) CD
ST Mikael -Higher (Subliminal Sounds) LP