Updates to Resume Shortly

I am finally ready to resume updating the blog once again. My circumstances have improved since my last post, and I will be updating both this blog and the blogroll within the next couple of days. I would like to thank those of you who have been supportive during this difficult time for me. Your kind words are certainly appreciated and encouraging. I am still in need of a full time contributor here if any of you are interested. Please see the previous post for more details. Thank you once again for your support.

My Absence, Psycho Cat's Departure, and Other News

First of all I would like to apologize for my brief absence. I couldn't afford to pay my cable bill on time, so I was without internet access for about a week. I have also been fighting some personal demons, which has left me extremely physically and mentally drained. To give you an idea of how bad off I've been, I haven't even felt like listening to music this past week. On top of that I have started a new job, which will take up a significant amount of my time. I don't plan to take a break from the blog; however, I probably won't be able to update it often as I have in the recent past. I desperately need some peace of mind at this point, and would like to focus more of my time doing other activities that I love, in order to pull myself out of this hole that I've been in.

Unfortunately Lee (Psycho Cat) has been experiencing some difficult times as well, which forced him to give up his position as a regular contributor here. Other than myself, Lee has been the only other person to be a regular contributor since I started the blog. Lee if you happen to read this, I would like to thank you for your contributions here. Your posts were a refreshing alternative to the material that I post here, and you helped to keep the blog rolling while I was going through some very challenging times in my personal life. I hope that your situation improves soon my friend. There will always be a spot for you here at DM should you decide to return.

I would like to continue to update the blog as often as I can, and hopefully I will be able to deliver daily updates again one day in the near future. Psyche Zenobia and AllyWonderland are both guest contributors, and are only able to post on a very limited basis. If you would be interested in contributing here either as a guest, or a full time contributor, please contact me. Even if you're interested in posting for a week long stint, or a few times a month, I would be willing to work with you. I could certainly use the help right now. You can either leave a comment here, or e-mail me (my e-mail address can be found on my blogger profile). In the meantime, I'll do my best to update the blog as often as I can. Thank you to those of you who have continued to support this blog for better or worse. You are the reason I do this.

- Zer0_II

13th Floor Elevators - Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1966

The 13th Floor Elevators should need no introduction here at Digital Meltd0wn. I have covered their studio albums, as well as several solo albums by singer Roky Erickson, here in the past. This recording has been issued under various titles over the years, with the album cover and track listings for each version differing from one another. While this may be frustrating for collectors, what truly matters is that this recording offers a rare peak at the Elevators performing live while they were at their peak. This recording was actually made one month before their debut album, "The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators", was recorded. It was recorded at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco on September 30, 1966. Not only do they perform several songs from "The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators" album, but they also cover a few hits from the Beatles, Chuck Berry, and Buddy Holly. For those wondering, I'll explain my recent lack of activity and the disappearance of Psycho Cat from the list of blog authors tomorrow.

Year of Recording: 1966
Genre: Psychedelic Rock
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:
1. Somebody to Love
2. Before You Accuse Me
3. You Don't Know
4. I'm Gonna Love You Too
5. You Really Got Me
6. Splash One (Now I'm Home)
7. Fire Engine
8. Roll Over Beethoven
9. The Word
10. Monkey Island
11. Roller Coaster

Download: 13th Floor Elevators - Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1966
Download Size: 56MB

The Cramps - Live at CBGB's January 13, 1978

This is a vinyl rip of a limited edition (autographed) live LP given away at CBGB's 20th Anniversary Show on December 10th, 1993 by The Cramps. Entitled "Frank Furter and the Hot Dogs", it features an 11 song set by the Cramps performed at CBGB's in New York on January 13th, 1978. As with any live Cramps performance, this is full of high-spirited rockabilly/psychobilly music, accompanied by the vocals, pants, howls, and growls of Lux Interior. The recording isn't of the highest quality, but it certainly qualifies as listenable, and would be an essential album for Cramps fan's collection. As a bonus, I have also added a clip of the Cramps performing "Teenage Werewolf" nearly three years later, which is taken from the Urgh! A Music War" video.

Year of Recording: 1978
Year of Release: 1993
Genre: Rockabilly, Psychobilly, Punk
Bitrate: 128kbps

Download: The Cramps - Live at CBGB's January 13th 1978
Download Size: 27MB

The Cramps - Teenage Werewolf
Urgh! A Music War (1980)






Watch In High Quality

Church Of Misery- Master of Brutality/ Early Works Compilation

Southern Lord Records is undoubtedly a household name to any fan of doom, drone, or sludge metal. Bands like Sunn O))), Earth, Boris, and Wolves in the Throne Room have all called the label home at some point in their existence. It was through my fascination with many bands on this label that I came across this intriguing Japanese doom metal band called Church of Misery.

Church of Misery takes a fusion of psychedelic rock with traditional Saint Vitus/Black Sabbath doom. The trademark of the band, however, is that most of their tracks use infamous serial killer as their central theme. Critics have often neglected their talent and insisted on focusing in on the serial killer theme; often labeling the tactics as a gimmick. At least there is one thing that their lyrical themes and their music have in common; they are both "killer."


After releasing a series of splits and EPs, Church of Misery released their first full length album, Master Of Brutality. The album kicks off with the Sabbath-esque, "Killfornia," a track about hitchhiker slayer, Edmund Kemper, and continues to steamroll you with a wall of sound for the duration of the album. The album highlights include a magnificent cover of Blue Öyster Cult's "Cities on Flame With Rock & Roll" and the 11-minute self-titled track album culmination, "Master of Brutality."

Year of Release: 2001
Label: Southern Lord Recordings
Genre: Doom, Stoner

Track List:
1. Killfornia (Ed Kemper)
2. Ripping Into Pieces (Peter Sutcliffe)
3. Megalomania (Herbert Mullin)
4. Green River
5. Cities On Flame
6. Master Of Brutality (John Wayne Gacy)

Next up is a compilation featuring some of Church of Misery's early output. This was released on Leafhound Records in 2004. The compilation contains tracks from the aforementioned splits and EPs which were compiled into a 2-disc set called the Early Works Compilation. This should widen your bloodshot eyes and keep you occupied until the next munchies run.

Year of Release: 2004
Label: Leafhound Records
Genre: Doom, Stoner

Track List:

Disc 1:
1. Spahn Ranch (Charles Manson)
2. Road to Ruin (Charles Whitman)
3. Reverend (Jim Jones)
4. War is Our Destiny
5. Room 213 (Jeffrey Dahmer)
6. Taste the Pain (Graham Young)
7. Plainfield
8. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vidda

Disc 2:
9. Murder Company (Henry Lee Lucas)
10. Son of a Gun (David Berkowitz)
11. Where Evil Dwells (Richard Ramirez)
12. Sick of Living (Zodiac)
13. Come Touch the Sky
14. Accident
15. Chains of Death
16. Retal (Howard Unruh)

Download: Church Of Misery - Master of Brutality
Download Size: 54.47 MB

Download: Church Of Misery - Early Works Compilation Disc 1
Download Size: 74.90 MB

Download: Church Of Misery - Early Works Compilation Disc 2
Download Size: 60.95 MB

New Commenting System Enabled

I have enabled a new commenting system utilizing both CommentLuv and JS-Kit. CommentLuv is great, as you will see once it is in full swing. Once a user leaves a comment, it will show a link under the user's comment to the latest post made by that person. There are also several options that aren't available in blogger's default commenting system, such as the ability to backtrack comments, reply to other user's comments, e-mail notification upon response (optional), emoticons, a private messaging system, personal profiles, and more. The only downside to this is that you will have to sign up for either an Open ID or JS-Kit account in order to fully access these features. Of course the option to post anonymous, or manually enter your name still exists. I plan to make a few minor modifications to the script so that it blends in better with the rest of the blog. Please let me know what you think of the new commenting system. I hope that you all enjoy it. If you all are unhappy with it, please let me know, as I can always revert back to the default blogger commenting system.

San Francisco's Shiver - Shiver

The music on this album represents the entire recorded output of this obscure early '70s acid-rock band. Shiver recorded this stuff live to two-track tape in the summer of 1972, and while they never released an album back in the day, it's clear that the world is ready for their heavy guitar jams now.

Basically, Shiver were a bunch of hard-rocking hippie freaks, brought together by a Texas-bred drummer who moved to San Francisco to take up where his obvious heroes Blue Cheer left off. They soon had a rather rough, tough reputation, playing Haight street fairs and Hells Angels biker parties. At one point they even had a singer with an iron hook for a hand, which he could use as a slide for his guitar, or for more violent purposes. Shiver played "heavy psychedelic rock" at its most primal -- no overdubs, raw as hell.

Rising from the same scene of Texas freaks like The 13th Floor Elevators, Johnny Gee & The G Men, and Warlocks, Shiver moved to SF and this CD documents their complete output of early 70's heavy psychedelic rock. In a city known for peace, love and flower power, Shiver was an over the top, in your face, balls to the wall 'gang' of musicians that felt at home with Hell´s Angels and Hippies alike. Shiver played a lot of Street Fairs on Haight, Market and Castro streets, and got to jam with guys from Big Brother (Gurley & Albin) and other local heroes. These recordings were done on a twotrack machine at 2909 Mariposa in the Summer Of ´72 and feature no overdubs or studio 'wizardry'. What you hear on these tracks is Shiver in it´s raw, powerful glory.

Year of Release: 1972
Label: Rockadelic
Genre: Psychedelic, Hard Rock
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:
1. Tough As Nails
2. Fixer
3. Bone Shaker
4. Interstellar Vision
5. Alpha Man
6. Rocky Road
7. Keep On Rocking
8. Up My Sleeve
9. Winter Time

Download: San Francisco's Shiver - Shiver (108MB)
Download Size: 108MB

Ofo The Black Company - Allah Wakbarr/Beautiful Daddy 7" Single

By Request, this post was reuploaded 01/17/2015. NØ 

I had every intention to move on from the African music, and then I happened across this amazing 7", which I couldn't resist sharing. It was originally released in 1972 on the Decca records label. Both tracks are great, but the A-side track "Allah Wakbarr" is absolutely stunning, and the obvious star here. The track begins with some pure funk riffage, backed by a low groovy African beat, with chants thrown in for good measure. Just as you are feeling the whole African vibe, the track erupts into raw psychedelic funk. It slowly builds with the beat becoming heavier and heavier, all the while accompanied by a nasty squealing guitar solo.

The B-side "Beautiful Daddy" is great, but doesn't match the sheer ferocity of "Allah Wakbarr". The first half of the track is straight forward afrobeat, but that raw electric guitar emerges in the latter half, climaxing in a dirty psyched out solo. The A-side track has been featured on several compilations, including "Nigeria 70: The Definitive Story of 1970's Funky Lagos". The liner notes for this compilation includes a bio of the group, for which information is very scarce:


Discovered by Decca's A&R man in Nigeria, David Bennett, they were one of countless student band's playing in Lagos during the 70's. This "crunching rock jam" recorded in 1972 was their earliest hit and became their best known track. Due to it's release in the UK they were invited to play in Berlin before travelling on to the UK. They were based there before undergoing a name change to Ofo The Rock Company and returning to Lagos in 1975.

Members:
Guitar: Toks Shotade
Drums/Percussion/Vocals; Larry (Lari?) Ifedioranma
Keyboards: Dele Olaseinde (ex "Clusters" & "Ofege")
Congas: Kingsley Obiche

I read on another website that the band released a live LP recorded from their European tour. I would love to get my hands on a copy of this if any of you could help out. I would also love to hear more music with a similar sound, so if any of you have recommendations, please leave a comment. This comes highly recommended. At 10MB, the file size is very small, so do yourself a favor and download this now.

Year of Release: 1972
Label: London / Decca
Genre: Afrobeat, Psychedelic Rock
Bitrate: 320kbps

Track List:
1. Allah Wakbarr
2. Beautiful Daddy

Download: Ofo The Black Company - Allah Wakbarr/Beautiful Daddy 7" Single
Download Size: 16.6MB

William S. Burroughs - Thanksgiving Prayer

I intended to post this earlier in the day, but I didn't have any spare time before the Thanksgiving proceedings started. This is a 1988 recording of William S. Burroughs reading "Thanksgiving Prayer". I can't say that I completely agree with Burrough's cynical view of "Turkey Day"; nevertheless, I happen to like Burroughs, and this was the only Thanksgiving related media I could think of that I would be willing to post. Despite being dealt a bad hand this year, I have a lot to be thankful for. I would also like to thank those of you who visit this blog, especially those who take the time to leave comments and communicate with me.

Thanks for the wild turkey and the passenger pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts.

Thanks for a continent to despoil and poison.

Thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger.

Thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin leaving the carcasses to rot.

Thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes.

Thanks for the American dream, to vulgarize and to falsify until the bare lies shine through.

Thanks for the KKK.

For nigger-killin' lawmen, feelin' their notches.

For decent church-goin' women, with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces.

Thanks for "Kill a Queer for Christ" stickers.

Thanks for laboratory AIDS.

Thanks for Prohibition and the war against drugs.

Thanks for a country where nobody's allowed to mind their own business.

Thanks for a nation of finks.

Yes, thanks for all the memories - all right, let's see your arms!

You always were a headache and you always were a bore.

Thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.

- William S. Burroughs
Thanksgiving Prayer

John J. Kimmel - 20 Phonographic Cylinder Recordings 1906-1921

It's time to hop in our time machine and head back to the early 1900's, shortly after phonographic cylinder recordings became popular. Long before CDs, cassette tapes, and vinyl records existed, recordings were made on disc shaped phonographic cylinders. The phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison on 18 July 1877 for recording telephone messages. By the 1880s audio recordings using wax cylinders were mass marketed. These had sound recordings in the grooves on the outside of hollow cylinders of slightly soft wax. Early cylinder records would commonly wear out after they were played a few dozen times. The buyer could then either bring the worn cylinders back to the dealer to be traded in as partial credit for purchase of new recordings, or have their surface shaved smooth so new recordings could be made on them. In 1890 Charles Tainter patented the use of hard carnauba wax as a replacement for the common mixture of paraffin and beeswax used on phonograph cylinders.



Fortunately many of these phonographic cylinder recordings still exist, and have been also been digitally archived. I'm a proud member of the Cylinder Recordings group on last.fm. One of the group's connected artists is John J. Kimmel. Kimmel (1866–1942) was an Irish accordion virtuoso. He played a one row melodeon accordion. Despite only having 10 keys to work with, Kimmel was able to create complex medleys, waltzes and polka. Kimmel adopted a very driving accordion style on some of these pieces, which sounds almost demented at times, with the small skips in the recordings adding to the effect even more. This collection is also available to download as individual mp3 files on this website.

Track List:
American Cake Walk (1906)
Kimmble (sic) March: Kimmel March (1907)
American Polka (1908)
Medley of Bucks and Reels (1908)
Medley of Irish Reels (1909)
Medley of Irish Jigs (1909)
Medley of Irish Songs (1909)
Barn Dance (1910)
German Waltz Medley (1910)
International and "Fans" Marches (1910)
Kimmel Medley (1910)
Medley of German Polkas (1910)
Medley of Hornpipes (1910)
Allerdeen (1912)
The Elite March (1912)
Buck Dance Medley (1914)
Connaught Man (1918)
Kimmel March (1918)
Haste to the Wedding (1921)

Download: John J. Kimmel - 20 Phonographic Cylinder Recordings 1906-1921
Download Size: 56MB

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Bonus Drippers

Black Moth Super Rainbow is my favorite contemporary electronic act. They separate themselves from the rest of the pack by playing an experimental blend of lo-fi electronica and psychedelic rock. In July of 2008, just before releasing their highly anticipated Drippers EP, they released Bonus Drippers (The Older Unreleased and Hard-To-Find Songs) to the world for free. These tracks were initially meant to be included on a CD/vinyl release but loss of the source material led the band to release them in mp3 format. Links to these files can also be found on the band's website here

Bonus Drippers presents tracks from each phase of BMSR's brief recording history, ranging from "Melting on the Meadow" a 2003 outtake from Start a People, to "The Dark Forest Joggers", a track which was exclusively released (until now) with the vinyl edition of Dandelion Gum. Most of the tracks are very brief, with "Unfinished Sketch" and "Unfinished Sketch 2" clocking in at under 30 seconds, and the remaining tracks clocking in around the two minute mark. While it is slightly less polished and enjoyable as their previous releases, Bonus Drippers is a fun and worthwhile listening experience. You can't beat that price either.

Year of Release: 2008
Label Self-Released
Genre: Electronic, Psychedelic
Bitare: 320kbps

Track List:
1. The Dark Forest Joggers (Dandelion Gum Vinyl Exclusive)
2. Unfinished Sketch 1 (Unreleased 2007)
3. Let's Burst (Unreleased 2005)
4. Flower Beast (Unreleased 2005)
5. Melting On The Meadow (Start A People Outtake, 2003)
6. Unfinished Sketch 2 (Unreleased 2005)
7. Day On A Bike (Unreleased 2006)
8. Unfinished Sketch 3 (Unreleased 2006)
9. Side 9 (Unreleased Studio Version, 2004)

Download: Black Moth Super Rainbow - Bonus Drippers
Download Size: 22MB

Delia Derbyshire, Dudley Simpson, Brian Hodgson, & David Vorhaus - ESL 104/The Tomorrow People

Produced by the UK's Thames Television between 1973 and 1979, The Tomorrow People was a sci-fi drama show for kids that ran for eight series. A large portion of The Tomorrow People soundtrack was taken from the Standard Music Library's "ESL104" LP. In fact, all but four tracks from "ESL104" were used to score The Tomorrow People.

Standard Music Library was established in 1969 as suppliers of specialist production music for film, television, radio and commercials. The styles range from orchestral, jazz, dance and a variety of world music, to avant-garde composers such as Brian Eno. ESL 104 was one of their first releases, and the original record was used to provide incidental music to several 1970s Doctor Who stories, episodes of ATV's Timeslip and Thames' The Tomorrow People. Delia and Brian recorded the majority of the tracks on ESL 104 under their "Nikki St George" and "Li De La Russe" composing hats, with David Vorhaus, an avant garde American composer who formed Camden Town's Kaleidophon studio with Derbyshire and Hodgson, composing the remaining tracks.

They were highly experimental composers, with no access to synthesisers, using a very innovative approach to composition and scoring with physical manipulation of tape loops, cut up recordings and oscillators as well as traditional instrumentation. The work of Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson could be said to be a precursor to today's ubiquitous use of samplers. In 1963, these applications were so technically advanced for their time that Delia was able to construct the legendary Doctor Who theme through filtered oscillation, cutting, speeding up, and assemblage note- by-note, in a two week period. Again, no synthesisers were used. The heightened, unearthly sound of Doctor Who was born. Delia was able to take the forms of musique concrète, originally developed by by Pierre Schaeffer, with the use of microphones and magnetic tape recorders, and organically bring the truly experimental and the popular together and present it to a mainstream audience.

Director Douglas Camfield eschewed the normal route of asking Dudley Simpson to compose the incidental music and instead selected a number of stock library tracks. The majority of the tracks originate from ESL 104 and two other tracks, the legendary 'Delian Mode' and 'Blue Veils And Golden Sands' originated from the BBC Radiophonic Music album that had been released in 1968. 'Blue Veils' was originally composed for a World About Us documentary about the Tuareg tribes of the Sahara. This Delia composition was composed and constructed using filtered electronic oscillators to give the "shimmering heat haze" atmosphere to accompany the footage. It also uses manipulations of Delia's voice and the ringing of a now infamous green lamp shade. It seems quite fitting that Camfield should use such an atmospheric piece to underscore the fiery destruction of the world in Inferno and her 'Blue Veils and Golden Sands' emphasises Stahlman's complete obsession and madness. Her 'Lure Of the Space Goddess', a kind of swirling electronic woodwind effect, also surfaces from ESL 104 to provide further mood and an uneasy underscore to the environs of Project inferno.

If you are a fan of early electronic/experimental music then I can't recommend this enough. This contains some of Derbyshire's finest work. To view more Delia Derbyshire/BBC Radiophonic music from the archives click here.


Track List:
1. The Tomorrow People
2. Lure of the Space Goddess
3. Battle Theme
4. Homeric Theme
5. Greek Concrete
6. Attack of the Alien Minds
7. Gothic Submarines
8. Whirring Menace
9. Souls In Space
10. Time Capsule
11. Restless Relays
12. Planetarium
13. Wet Asteroid
14. Way Out
15. Fresh Aire
16. Delia's Theme
17. Tentative Delia
18. Delia's Idea
19. Delia's Psychedelian Waltz
20. Delia's Resolve
21. Delia's Dream
22. Delia's Reverie
23. Delia's Fulfilment
24. Build Up To
25. Snide Rhythms
26. The Tomorrow People Theme

Download: ESL 104/The Tomorrow People
Download Size: 37MB

Robert Petway - Catfish Blues: Mississippi Blues Vol. 3 (1936-1942)

Catfish Blues: Mississippi Blues Vol. 3 contains two different sets of recordings. The first is of great importance, as it collects the entire recorded output of early blues artist Robert Petway. Very little is known about Petway. His birthplace is speculated to have been at or near J.F. Sligh Farm near Yazoo City, Mississippi, birthplace of his close friend and fellow bluesman Tommy McClennan. His birthdate is guessed at 1908, and the date and even the occurrence of his death is unknown. There is only one known picture of Petway, a publicity photo from 1941. In 1941-42 Robert Petway recorded 16 tracks in two different sessions for Bluebird Records in Chicago. Of these 16 tracks, 14 were released. Despite his obscurity, Petway is cited as a major influence by several legendary blues and rock musicians, including Jimi Hendrix and Muddy Waters. There is no record, official or unofficial, of Petway's death. As such, he may still be alive, though he would be roughly 100 years old. The last record of his public life is a quote from Honeyboy Edwards: "nobody I know heard what become of him."

The second set of recordings are from a 1936 session in New Orleans, Louisiana, released as "Sonny Boy Nelson With Mississippi Matilda and Willie Harris. In 1936, Eugene Powell, along with his wife "Mississippi Matilda", and harmonica player Willie Harris traveled to New Orleans to record for the Bluebird label. Setting up at the St. Charles Hotel, Powell cut six sides during these sessions under the moniker Sonny Boy Nelson, a name he took in recognition of his stepfather Sid Nelson. Among these numbers were classics such as "Street Walkin' Woman" and "Pony Blues". He also accompanied Matilda on four tracks and harmonica player Robert Hill on 10 more.

Track List:
1. Catfish Blues
2. Ride `em on Down
3. Rockin' Chair Blues
4. My Little Girl
5. Let Me Be Your Boss
6. Left My Baby Crying
7. Sleepy Woman Blues
8. Don't Go Down Baby
9. Bertha Lee Blues
10. Boogie Woogie Woman
11. Hollow Log Blues
12. In the Evening
13. My Baby Left Me
14. Cotton Pickin' Blues

Mississippi Matilda
15. A & V Blues
16. Hard Working Woman
17. Happy Home Blues

Sonny Boy Nelson
18. Long Tall Woman
19. Low Down
20. Lovin` Blues
21. Street Walkin'
22. If You Don't Believe I'm Leaving Baby
23. Pony Blues

Download: Catfish Blues: Mississippi Blues Vol. 3
Download Size: 61MB

Ananda Shankar - Ananda Shankar and his Music

Ananda Shankar was the nephew of the great sitar player Ravi Shankar. While Ravi played more traditional Indian music, Ananda was known as one of the first musicians to fuse traditional Indian music with western pop and rock early in his career, giving birth to the modern age of Indian music. Towards the end of his career he would even apply this fusion of traditional Indian and Western styles to hip-hop and breakbeat.

In the late 1960s Shankar travelled to Los Angeles, where he played with many contemporary musicians including Jimi Hendrix. There he was signed to Reprise Records and released his first self-titled album in 1970, featuring original Indian classical material alongside sitar-based cover versions of popular hits such as The Rolling Stones' Jumpin' Jack Flash and The Doors' Light My Fire. This album has become an enduring cult classic.[citation needed]

Returning to India in the early 1970s Shankar continued to experiment musically and in 1975 released his most critically acclaimed album, Ananda Shankar And His Music, combines Eastern sitar, Western rock guitar, tabla and mridangam, drums and Moog synthesizers. The result is seemless fusion of jazz and psychedelic rock with funky Indian rhythms. This album is legendary in some circles due to it's inclusion of the tracks 'Streets of Calcutta' and 'Dancing Drums', which were featured on a Blue Note break-beat compilation, and are both considered dance-floor favorites. This album also contains it's share of mellow grooves, which compliment the hard driven Indian style funk well, making for one of Shankar's most well rounded musical efforts.

Year of Release: 1975
Label: EMI India
Genre: Psychedelic, World Fusion
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:
1. Streets of Calcutta
2. Cyrus
3. The Lonely Rider
4. The River
5. Vidai (Parting)
6. Back Home
7. Dawn
8. Renunciation
9. Dancing Drums

Download: Ananda Shankar - Ananda Shankar and his Music
Download Size: 38MB

Raymond Scott - Manhattan Research, Inc.

Manhattan Research Inc. is a two-CD compilation of electronic music created by the musician, composer and inventor, Raymond Scott and his company, "Manhattan Research Inc." Posthumously released in 2000 by Basta Music of Holland, the album contains selected samples of Scott's work from the 1950s and 1960s for film soundtracks, commercials, and for his own technical and musical experiments. The synthesizers, sequencers, and drum-machines used were designed and constructed by Raymond Scott.

Scott would often describe Manhattan Research Inc. as "More than a think factory - a dream center where the excitement of tomorrow is made available today." The material, while never intended for commercial release, provides insight into Scott's work. Included among the tracks on the album are commercials for companies such as Ford Motor and IBM, a humorous "Audio Logo" collage entitled "Don't Beat Your Wife Every Night!", and various collaborations with Jim Henson (of Muppets fame). The album features a number of Scott's inventions including the Clavivox keyboard, Circle Machine, Bass Line Generator, Rhythm Modulator, Karloff, Bandito the Bongo Artist, and the auto-composing Electronium.

Much of the audio selections, as well as the images for the accompanying 144-page book, were culled from the University of Missouri Kansas City's extensive collection of Raymond Scott material. Album producers Gert-Jan Blom and Jeff Winner worked with several of the university's staff in choosing material for the project. During the process, the two producers were impressed by the quality and fidelity of the recordings, despite being some thirty to forty years old. Due to Scott's meticulous attention to detail, "They were so well recorded that almost no audio correction was necessary during the mastering" of the album." In the CD notes, Blom & Winner write, "Scott sought to master all aspects of sound capture and manipulation. His special interest in the technical aspects of recording, combined with the state-of-the-art facilities at his disposal, provided him with enormous hands-on experience as an engineer.

Year of Recording: 1953-1969
Year of Release: 2000
Label: Basta
Genre: Early Electronic, Experimental
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:

DISC 1
1. Manhattan Research, Inc. Copyright
2. Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.
3. Bendix "The Tomorrow People"
4. Lightworks
5. The Bass-Line Generator
6. Don't Beat Your Wife Every Night
7. B. C. 1675
8. Vim
9. Auto-Lite: Sta-Ful
10. Sprite "Melonball Bounce"
11. Sprite "Melonball Bounce"
12. Wheels That Go
13. Limbo: The Organized Mind
14. Portofino
15. County Fair
16. Lady Gaylord
17. Good Air
18. IBM MT/St : "The Paperwork Explosion"
19. Domino
20. Super Cheer
21. Cheer: Revision 3
22. Twilight In Turkey
23. Vicks: Medicated Cough Drops
24. Vicks: Formula 44
25. Auto-Lite: Spark Plugs
26. Nescafe
27. Awake
28. Backwards Overload
29. Bufferin: "Memories" (Original)
30. Bandito The Bongo Artist
31. Night And Day
32. Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. "395"
33. K2r
34. IBM Probe
35. Gmgm 1a
36. The Rhythm Modulator

DISC 2
1. Ohio Plus
2. In The Hall Of The Mountain Queen
3. General Motors: Futurama
4. Portofino 2
5. The Wild Piece
6. Take Me To Your Violin Teacher
7. Ripples (Original Soundtrack)
8. Cyclic Bit
9. Ripples (Montage)
10. The Wing Thing
11. County Fair (Instrumental)
12. Cindy Electronium
13. Don't Beat Your Wife Every Night! (Instr.)
14. Hostess: Twinkies
15. Hostess: Twinkies (Instr.)
16. Ohio Bell: Thermo Fax
17. The Pygmy Taxi Corporation
18. Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. (Announce Copy, Take 1)
19. Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.
20. Lightworks (Slow)
21. IBM Mt/St: "The Paperwork Explosion" (Instr.)
22. Auto-Lite: "Ford Family"
23. Auto-Lite: "Ford Family" (Instr.)
24. Auto-Lite: "Wheels"
25. Bufferin: "Memories" (Demo)
26. Space Mystery (Montage)
27. The Toy Trumpet
28. Backward Beeps
29. Auto-Lite: Sta-Ful
30. Lightworks (Instr. )
31. When Will It End?
32. Bendix 2: The Tomorrow People
33. Electronic Audio Logos, Inc.

Download: Raymond Scott - Manhattan Research, Inc. (Disc 1)
Download Size: 76MB

Download: Raymond Scott - Manhattan Research, Inc. (Disc 2)
Download Size: 81MB

Otis Redding - Live In Europe (1967)

Like so many other talented artists, both Otis Redding's life and career were short lived. Redding was born on September 9, 1941, and died at the young age of 26 in a tragic plane crash on December 10, 1967. One can only wonder to what heights his career would have soared if his life hadn't been cut so short. He achieved a small amount of success and recognition early in his career, releasing material under the Stax/Volt labels. Unfortunately his life ended shortly after he managed to gain national attention with his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in '67. Redding was responsible for injecting an unparalleled level of raw energy into the soul genre, which would eventually make his name virtually synonymous with soul music. If James Brown was the "Godfather of Soul", then Otis Redding was the King.

Most people are familiar with the studio versions of Redding's hits, but listening to him perform them live will make the listener feel as if they are discovering them all over again. Redding was known for turning it up a notch or two during his live performances, at times delivering his vocals in a frenzied trance-like state. This recording is no exception. You can clearly hear the enthusiasm of the crowd throughout the set, and it's a treat to hear the audience participation on tracks such as "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" Unlike many live recordings, Redding's powerful voice, backed by Booker T. & the MG's, ensure that the audience doesn't drown out the music. There are moments when the vocals seem distant, but they are brief and easily overlooked. The album was recorded in March 1967, during the Stax/Volt ensemble tour of Europe. It was his first live album that was released, and also the last album released before his death.

Year of Release: 1967
Label: Volt/Atco
Genre: Soul
Bitrate: 256vbr

Track List:
1. Respect
2. Can't Turn You Loose
3. I've Been Loving You Too Long
4. My Girl
5. Shake
6. Satisfaction
7. Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)
8. These Arms of Mine
9. Day Tripper
10. Try A Little Tenderness

Download: Otis Redding - Live In Europe
Download Size: 64MB

Bonus Video

In case you missed it, here's a video that I posted back in March of Redding performing "Satisfaction". This perfectly captures the raw energy associated with Redding's live performances, and will give you an idea of what to expect if you haven't had the pleasure of listening to "Live in Europe" or any of Redding's other live albums.

Otis Redding - Satisfation

Andy B. Clarkson - Paintings

It's been a while since I've featured any type of art on DM. My enthusiasm for the Halloween Countdown caused me to put my art related posts on the backburner. This week's featured artist is Andy B. Clarkson, a surrealist painter from Columbus, Ohio. His paintings been featured in many galleries, and he also makes a living doing book illustrations. His mediums of choice are acrylic paint and graphite pencil, often combing the two with great results, as can be seen below in the pieces "Squid" and "Wine".

I try to balance a few things when involved in a painting; a sense of intrigue without giving away too much in the imagery, attention to detail both in technique, but also in the subject matter, and visual metaphors that may stand for something specific. But honestly, I don’t have as much time as I’d like to actually paint, so if the above mentioned gets me in a whirlwind by trying to think too much, I rely on painting what “feels right”. Since ultimately, I believe that what feels right, must feel right for a reason, and if all goes well, that reason should be an intuitive balance of all that. - Andy B. Clarkson

Letting Go (Sandman)

I've Been Wondering

End of Summer

Wine

Squid

Website: http://myspace.com/andybclarkson

VA - Anthology of American Folk Music

There isn't much that I can say about this legendary collection that hasn't already been said. If you have an interest in early American folk or blues, then this compilation is absolutely essential. I have seen this collection posted on other blogs, so I thought that I would make mine stand out from the crowd by including a couple of relevant additions. The first is a pdf file of the liner notes included with the Smithsonian Folkways reissue. These include both the revised liner notes, as well as Harry Smith's original liner notes. I should point out that revised modern liner notes precede Harry Smith's original liner notes. The second is a scanned copy of a book entitled Anthology of American Folk Music, which was published by Oak Publishers in 1973. This book is rare and long out of print. I have included more info concerning both of these additions below. The following information concerning the anthology is taken from Wikipedia.

Compilation and Release:
The Anthology of American Folk Music is a 1952 six-album compilation of eighty-four American folk recordings from 1927 to 1932. Experimental filmmaker and notable eccentric Harry Smith compiled the collection from his personal collection of 78 rpm records. The collection is famous due to its role as a touchstone for the US folk music revival in the 1950s and 1960s. Harry Smith, the project's complier, was a West Coast filmmaker, bohemian, and eccentric, who, around 1940, had begun to develop a hobby of collecting old blues, jazz, country, hillbilly, and gospel 78s. At a time when many people considered these records to be ephemeral, he took them seriously and accumulated a collection of several thousand recordings, and began to develop an interest in seeing them preserved and curated.

In 1947, he met with Moses Asch, with an interest in selling or licensing the collection to Asch's label, Folkways Records. Smith, in his own words, chose for this compiliation records from the period between "1927, when electronic recording made possible accurate music reproduction, and 1932, when the Depression halted folk music sales." Interestingly, upon the time of its initial release in 1952, neither Folkways nor Smith possessed the licensing rights to these recordings, many of which had initially been issued by record companies that were still in existence (including Columbia and Paramount), which technically qualifies the project as a high-profile bootleg. (Folkways would later obtain some licensing rights, although the Anthology would not be completely licensed until the 1997 Smithsonian reissue.)

The compilation was divided (by Smith) into three two-album volumes: Ballads, Social Music, and Songs. As the title indicates, the "Ballads" volume consists of ballads, including many American versions of Child ballads originating from the English folk tradition. Each song tells a story about a specific event or time, and Smith may have made some effort to organize to suggest a historical narrative, a theory suggested by the fact that many of the first songs in this volume are old English folk ballads, while the closing songs of the volume deal with the hardships of being a farmer in the 1920s. The first album in the "social music" volume largely consists of music likely performed at social gatherings or dances. Many of the songs are instrumentals. The second album in the "social music" volume consists of religious and spiritual songs. The final volume consists of regular songs, dealing with everyday life: critic Greil Marcus describes its thematic interests as being "marriage, labor, dissipation, prison, and death."

Smith's booklet in the original release makes reference to three additional planned volumes in the series, which would anthologize music up until 1950. In 1972, Asch, interviewed by Sing Out! magazine, claimed that tapes for two additional volumes of the project had survived, although the documentation necessary to make a meaningful release of the volumes had been lost. Revenant Records, in 2000, worked in conjunction with the Harry Smith Archive to recreate and release the fourth volume, associated by Smith with the element of Earth. This volume, apparently organized around a theme of "work" includes (for the first time in the Anthology) a selection of union songs, and anthologizes material released as late as 1940.

Design:
Smith also edited and directed the design of the Anthology. He created the liner notes himself, and these notes are almost as famous as the music, using a unusual fragmented, collage method that presaged some postmodern artwork. Smith also penned short synopses of the songs in the collection, which read like newspaper headlines-- for the song King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O by Chubby Parker, a song about a mouse marrying a frog, Smith notes: "Zoologic Miscegeny Achieved Mouse Frog Nuptuals, Relatives Approve."

Each of the three two-record sets carried the same cover art (a Theodore de Bry etching of an instrument Smith referred to as the "Celestial Monochord," taken from a mystical treatise by scientist/alchemist Robert Fludd). This etching was printed over against a different color background (green, red, and blue) for each volume of the set. Smith had incorporated both the music and the art into his own unusual cosmology, and each of these colors was considered by Smith to correspond to an alchemical element (Water, Fire, and Air, respectively).

In the 1960s, Irwin Silber replaced Smith's covers with a Ben Shahn photograph of a poor Depression-era farmer, a choice Harry Smith was said to have objected to, although others have considered this a wise commercial choice. In 1997, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, having acquired Folkways Records in 1986, reissued the collection on six CDs, including replicas of Smith's original artwork and liner booklet.

Influence:
The Anthology has had enormous historical influence. Smith's methodology of sequencing tracks, along with his inventive liner notes, called attention to the set, imbuing it with a talismanic aura. This reintroduction of near-forgotten popular styles of rural American music from the selected years to new listeners had impact on American ethnomusicology, and was both directly and indirectly responsible for the aforementioned folk music revival.

The music on the compilation provided direct inspiration to much of the emergent folk music revival movement. The Anthology made widely available music which previously had been largely the preserve of marginal social economic groups. Many people who first heard this music through the Anthology came from very different cultural and economic backgrounds from its original creators and listeners. Many previously obscure songs became standards at hootenannies and folk clubs due to their inclusion on the Anthology. Some of the musicians represented on the Anthology saw their musical careers revived, and made additional recordings and live appearances.

This document is generally thought to have been enormously influential on the folk & blues revival of the '50s and '60s, and brought the works of Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mississippi John Hurt, Dick Justice and many others to the attention of musicians such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. The "Harry Smith Anthology," as some call it, was the bible of folk music during the late 1950s and early 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene. As stated in the liner notes to the 1997 reissue, the late musician Dave van Ronk had earlier commented that "we all knew every word of every song on it, including the ones we hated."

Track List:

Disc 1:
1. Dick Justice - Henry Lee
2. Nelstone's Hawaiians - Fatal Flower Garden
3. Clarence Ashley - The House Carpenter
4. Coley Jones - Drunkard's Special
5. Bill & Belle Reed - Old Lady and the Devil
6. Buell Kazee - The Butcher's Boy (The Railroad Boy)
7. Buell Kazee - The Wagoner's Lad (Loving Nancy)
8. Chubby Parker - King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O
9. Uncle Eck Dunford - Old Shoes and Leggins
10. Leonard Rutherford & Richard Burnett - Willie Moore
11. Buster Carter & Preston Young - A Lazy Farmer Boy
12. The Carolina Tar Heels - Peg and Awl
13. G.B. Grayson - Omie Wise
14. Kelly Harrell - My Name is John Johanna

Disc 2:
1. Edward L. Crain - Bandit Cole Younger
2. Kelly Harrell - Charles Giteaux
3. The Carter Family - John Hardy Was A Desperate Little Man
4. Curry & The Williamson Brothers - Gonna Die With My Ham
5. Frank Hutchinson - Stackalee
6. Charlie Poole & North Carolina Ramblers - White House B
7. Mississippi John Hurt - Frankie
8. Versey & William Smith - When That Great Ship Went Down
9. The Carter Family - Engine 143
10. Furry Lewis - Kassie Jones
11. The Bently Boys - Down on Penny's Farm
12. Masked Marvels - Mississippi Boweavil Blues
13. The Carolina Tar Heels - Got The Farm Land Blues

Disc 3:
1. Uncle Bunt Stephens - Sail Away Ladies
2. Jilson Setters - The Wild Wagone
3. Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers - Wake Up Jacob
4. Blind Uncle Gaspard Delma Lachney - La Danseuse
5. Andrew & Jim Baxter - Georgia Stomb
6. Eck Robertson - Brilliancy Medley
7. Hoyt Ming and His Pep Steppers - Indian War Whoop
8. Henry Thomas - Old Country Stomp
9. Jim Jackson - Old Dog Blue
10. Columbus Fruge - Sat' Crapaud
11. Joseph Falcon - Arcadian One-Step
12. The Breaux Freres - Home Sweet Home
13. Cincinnati Jug Band - Newport Blues
14. Frank Cloutier Victoria Cafe Orchestra - Moonshiner's Dance (Pt. 1)

Disc 4:
1. Reverend J.M. Gates - You Must Be Born Again
2. Reverend J.M. Gates - Oh Death, Where Is Thy Sting
3. Alabama Sacred Harp Singers - Rocky Road
4. Alabama Sacred Harp Singers - Present Joys
5. Middle George Singing Convention - This Song of Love
6. Rev. Sister Mary M. Nelson - Judgement
7. Memphis Sanctified Singers - He Got Better Things For You
8. Elders McIntorsh and Edwards' Sanctified Singers - Since I Laid My Burden Down
9. Moses Mason - John The Baptist
10. Bascom Lamar Lunsford - Dry Bones
11. Blind Willie Johnson - John The Revelator (Song)
12. The Carter Family - Little Moses
13. Ernest Phipps and His Holiness Singers - Shine On Me
14. Rev. F.W. McGee - Fifty Miles of Elbow Room
15. Rev. D.C. Rice and his Sanctified Congregation - I'm in the Battle Field for My Lord

Disc 5:
1. Clarence Ashley - The Coo Coo Bird
2. Buell Kazee - East Virginia
3. Cannon's Jug Stompers - Minglewood Blues
4. Didier Hebert - I Woke Up One Morning In May
5. Richard Rabbit Brown - James Alley Blues
6. Dock Boggs - Sugar Baby
7. Bascom Lamar Lunsford - I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground
8. Ernest Stoneman & Hattie Stonemen - The Mountaineer's Courtship
9. The Stoneman Family - The Spanish Merchant's Daughter
10. Memphis Jug Band - Bob Lee Junior Blues
11. The Carter Family - Single Girl, Married Girl
12. Cleoma Breaux & Joseph Falcoln - Le Vieux Soulard et Sa Femme
13. Blind Lemon Jefferson - Rabbit Foot Blues
14. Sleepy John Estes - Expressman Blues

Disc 6:
1. Ramblin' Thomas - Poor Boy Blues
2. Cannon's Jug Stompers - Feather Bed
3. Dock Boggs - Country Blues
4. Julius Daniels - 99 Years Blues
5. Blind Lemon Jefferson - Prison Cell Blues
6. Blind Lemon Jefferson - See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
7. Cleoma Breaux/Joseph Falcoln/Orphy Breaux - C'est Si Triste Sans Lui
8. Uncle Dave Macon - Buddy Won't You Roll Down the Line
9. Mississippi John Hurt - Spike Driver Blues
10. The Memphis Jug Band - K.C. Moan
11. J.P. Nestor - Train on the Island
12. Ken Maynard - The Lone Star Trail
13. Henry Thomas - Fishing Blues

Download: Anthology of American Folk Music (Disc 1) (56MB)
Download: Anthology of American Folk Music (Disc 2) (56MB)
Download: Anthology of American Folk Music (Disc 3) (53MB)
Download: Anthology of American Folk Music (Disc 4) (53MB)
Download: Anthology of American Folk Music (Disc 5) (53MB)
Download: Anthology of American Folk Music (Disc 6) (53MB)

Liner Notes:

These liner notes were included in the boxed set reissued by Smithsonian Folkways. Included is an award-winning 100-page "Booklet of Essays, Appreciations, and Annotations Pertaining to the Anthology of American Folk Music." The booklet follows Harry Smith's original vision and features his "scientific/aesthetic handbook" of songs, an essay by noted critic and author Greil Marcus, additional essays, song notes, photos, graphics, a reproduction of the originally liner notes, and recollections by well known artists about the impact of this anthology on their own lives. Compiled and edited by Smithsonian Archivist Jeff Place, the booklet received the 1997 Grammy Award for "Best Album Notes."

Download: Anthology of American Folk Music Liner Notes
Download Size: 62MB

Anthology of American Folk Music - E-Book

Anthology of American Folk Music is a rare and currently out of print book published by Oak Publications in 1973. It was edited by Josh Dunson and Ethel Raim. It collects the musical tablature of the majority of the songs included in Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, as in addition to a number of photographs of the artists themselves. It also contains an interview with Frank Walker, in which he describes how the tracks for the anthology were chosen, as well as an interview with Moses Asch, who describes the birth and growth of early American folk music.

This book was scanned by Malcolm Lawrence. The downloadable file was nested within many folders, so I have taken the time to re-organize the contents and re-upload the file. An online version of the entire book which can be found on his website.

Download: Anthology of American Folk Music
Download Size: 15MB

Coachwhips - Hands on the Controls

The Coachwhips were a three-piece noise/punk rock outfit from San Francisco, California formed in 2001. John Dwyer (also of Pink and Brown, Landed, Burmese, The Ohsees, Yikes, The Hospitals) was the guitarist/vocalist. John Harlow played drums and Mary Ann McNamara played keyboard/tambourine and provided backing vocals. In their second incarnation, Val (tronic) played keyboard/tambourine, and Matt Hartman (former guitarist for Cat Power, current drummer for Sic Alps) played drums.

Coachwhips are known for their stripped-down, unpolished garage rock and completely inaudible lyrics, a sound that is similar to The Oblivians and The Gories. Coachwhips played their last show in New York City in late 2005.

Year of Release: 2002
Label: Black Apple
Genre: Noise Rock
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:
1. Hands on the Controls
2. Everybody Wants Some
3. The Ride
4. OK, Next Day
5. Look Into My Eyes When I Come
6. Wheelchair
7. When I Go
8. G.A.R.Y.
9. N.Y.C.L.O.V.E.
10. Mary Ann
11. This Bitch Is Gonna End Up Dead
12. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!
13. We Can't Go Back To My Place
14. Sex Like A Seesaw
15. By The Way
16. These Things Belong To Someone
17. Wite Lies
18. OK, Next Day (Live)
19. That Bitch Is Gonna End Up Dead (Live)

Download: Coachwhips - Hands on the Controls
Download Size: 42MB

Fields Of The Nephilim - Earth Inferno

Earth Inferno is an incredibly moving and profound live album by Fields Of The Nephilim.
The first half of this show is a live rendition of the first half of the final studio album, "Elizium". The second half of the show covers some of their earlier work.
Recorded live at the Brixton Academy 6-10-90, Wolverhampton Civic Center 4-8 90 and Hamburg BG Sportshalle 6-11-90.
If you enjoy their studio work, you have got to hear this amazing disc.

Year of Release: 1991
Label: Beggars Banquet
Genre: goth rock, live performance

Track Listing
1. Intro (dead but dreaming)
For Her Light
At The Gates Of Silent Memory (Paradise Regained)
2. Moonchild
3. Submission
4. Preacher Man
5. Love Under Will
6. Sumerland
7. Last Exit For The Lost
8. Psychonaut
9. Dawnrazor

Download: Fields Of The Nephilim - Earth Inferno
Download size: 69 MB zip file

VA - Flattery - A Tribute to Radio Birdman Vol. 3

This is the last volume from the "Flattery - A Tribute to Radio Birdman" compilation series. Conceived in 1974, Radio Birdman were one of the first punk groups to form in Australia. Despite releasing only only one full length album and one EP before their breakup in 1978, they eventually gained a cult following, and their name has since become synonymous with Aussie rock. They have influenced a countless number of successful bands, All six members would go on to join other successful bands, including The Hitmen, The New Christs, The Visitors, and New Race. The group briefly reunited in 1996 for a small number of tours, and even released a new album, 'Zeno Beach', in 2006. The reunited Birdman called it quits once again in May of 2008, as lead-singer Rob Younger returned to work with the latest incarnation of The New Christs.

Year of Release: 2007
Label: Nomad
Genre: Garage, Punk, Garage Punk
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:
1. The Tip Toppers - Hanging On
2. The M-16s - Monday Morning Gunk
3. The Sacred Sailors - Non-Stop Girls
4. Holy Curse - Crying Sun
5. The Sewergrooves - Smith & Wesson Blues
6. The Flaming Sideburns - El Hombre del Casco Dorado (Man with Golden Helmet)
7. The Lucky Punch - Love Kills
8. Mean Idols - I-94
9. The Specimens - Death By The Gun
10. The Doits - Snake
11. Mustang - Anglo Girl Desire
12. The Trassels (Finland) - Burned My Eye
13. The Devilrock Four - Murder City Nights
14. American Ruse - Do the Pop
15. The Mutants - Alien Skies
16. The Deadbeats - Aloha Steve and Danno
17. The Lords of Gravity - More Fun
18. Bad Machine - What Gives?
19. Demons featuring Nicke Andersson - Living Eyes Medley

Download: Flattery - A Tribute to Radio Birdman Vol. 3
Download Size: 102MB

Fields Of The Nephilim - The Nephilim

More dust and death from the influential gothic rock band Fields Of The Nephilim. This is definitely my favorite album by the Fields.
McCoy vocals come off as a cross between Ian Curtis, Alan Jourgenson and Andrew Eldridge. The music has a certain power behind it, the lyrics are deep, thought-provoking, even sad. On this album, the band had definitely solified their sound into something solid, unique and wonderful.

Here is the video for Moonchild. It reminds me of some of Kenneth Anger's works.

Year of Release: 1988
Label: Beggar's Banquet
Genre: gothic rock

Track List
1. "Endemoniada"
2. "The Watchman"
3. "Phobia"
4. "Moonchild"
5. "Chord Of Souls"
6. "Shiva"
7. "Celebrate"
8. "Love Under Will"
9. "Last Exit For The Lost"


Download: Fields Of The Nephilim - The Nephilim
Download size: 50 MB zip file

VA - Flattery - A Tribute To Radio Birdman Vol. 2

Here we have the second of three volumes from the "Flattery - A Tribute to Radio Birdman" compilation series. Conceived in 1974, Radio Birdman were one of the first punk groups to form in Australia. Despite releasing only only one full length album and one EP before their breakup in 1978, they eventually gained a cult following, and their name has since become synonymous with Aussie rock. They have influenced a countless number of successful bands, All six members would go on to join other successful bands, including The Hitmen, The New Christs, The Visitors, and New Race. The group briefly reunited in 1996 for a small number of tours, and even released a new album, 'Zeno Beach', in 2006. The reunited Birdman called it quits once again in May of 2008, as lead-singer Rob Younger returned to work with the latest incarnation of The New Christs.

Year of Release: 2000
Label: Nomad
Genre: Garage, Punk, Garage Punk
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:
1. Gluecifer - Monday Morning Gunk
2. Resin Scraper - What Gives?
3. The BellRays - If I Wanted To
4. Silver Tongued Devil - TPBR Combo
5. The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs - Iskender Time
6. The Nomads - Hanging On
7. The Yes-Men - Anglo Girl Desire
8. Sator - Alone In The Endzone
9. Kike Turmix & No Wonder - Aloha Steve and Danno
10. The Failures - Do The Pop
11. The Spoilers - Descent Into The Maelstrom
12. The Finkers - I-94
13. The Nitwitz - Dark Surprise
14. Gorka Secta & The Safety Pins - Snake
15. Demons - Radios Appear Medley

Download: Flattery - A Tribute to Radio Birdman Vol. 2
Download Size: 61MB

VA - Flattery - A Tribute to Radio Birdman Vol. 1

This is the first of three volumes from the "Flattery - A Tribute to Radio Birdman" compilation series. Conceived in 1974, Radio Birdman were one of the first punk groups to form in Australia. Despite releasing only only one full length album and one EP before their breakup in 1978, they eventually gained a cult following, and their name has since become synonymous with Aussie rock. They have influenced a countless number of successful bands, All six members would go on to join other successful bands, including The Hitmen, The New Christs, The Visitors, and New Race. The group briefly reunited in 1996 for a small number of tours, and even released a new album, 'Zeno Beach', in 2006. The reunited Birdman called it quits once again in May of 2008, as lead-singer Rob Younger returned to work with the latest incarnation of The New Christs.

All Music Guide Review:
"The problem with tribute albums is that they usually only hint at the original artists' skill and majesty (if you could call it that) without coming close to the quality of the originals. One is usually left with a mixed bag of decent and not-so-decent tunes, some of which cannot stand alone without the memory of the original. Some songs are hampered since the originals are perfect as is, suggesting the futility of tribute albums. Really, how is one going to improve on tracks by an artist deemed great enough to warrant a tribute album? Flattery tries a different track, acting as both a compilation as well as a tribute album. Hearing different versions of one's favorite Radio Birdman tunes is the hook that gets one curious enough to take a listen, and is perhaps rewarded in finding out about a new band worth investigating. Often, one winds up deeming the quality of the songs by whether one agrees with the new version of it. The tracks on Flattery are hit-and-miss, with the high spots being the submitted tracks by the Hellacopters, the Dead City Rebels, and Hellenic Zeal. Hellenic Zeal is the only band to include a vaguely farfisa sounding organ to accompany their crunchy version of "455 SD"; only two other bands offer weak piano sounds. The low points include the Quadrajets hyperspeed "Man With the Golden Helmet" and the vocals of Larry May of the Candy Snatchers on "Murder City Nights." The Boyettes track stands out as being the only female band, while the rest of the tracks fall into the category as reviving pleasant memories, but not really adding to them. If you have the original Birdman albums, then this is worth a spin. Otherwise, proceed with all speed to find a vinyl copy of either Radios Appear or the Burn My Eye EP." ~ Jeremy Salmon, All Music Guide

Year of Release: 1999
Label: Nomad
Genre: Garage, Punk, Garage Punk
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:
1. Hellride - Non Stop Girls
2. The Candy Snatchers - Murder City Nights
3. The Hellacopters - Time To Fall
4. A-Bombs - Crying Sun
5. Sheek the Shayk - Love Kills
6. Bon Fuhrer - New Race
7. The Dead City Rebels
8. Red Shift - Hit Them Again
9. Hellenic Zeal - 455 Sd
10. The Crums - Hand of Law
11. The Boyetts - Didn't Tell The Man
12. The Quadrajets - Man With Golden Helmet
13. Adam West - Burned My Eye
14. The Powder Monkeys - Smith & Wesson Blues
15. The Onyas - Snake

Download: Flattery - A Tribute to Radio Birdman Vol. 1
Download Size: 57MB

Fields Of The Nephilim - Elizium

Fields of the Nephilim, headed by vocalist Carl McCoy created some amazing music in the late 80's / early 90s. Their earlier stuff started out with more of a goth rock sound, but the band gradually eveolved into something quite different. Moody, atmospheric, at times quiet and subdued, enigmatic, dark, spiritual. There are so many adjectives to describe their sound. Dressed in dusters with tattered hats and boots, dusty and pale, these guys emulated old spaghetti western characters onstage. This studio release is very spiritual in nature. There are soaring epic moments, love songs, samples of Aleister Crowley and fantastic musicianship.
This CD is one reason I bought my first CD player!
Let me know in the comments if you enjoy it, as I have more Nephilim to share...


Download: Fields of the Nephilim - Elizium
Download size: 44 MB zip file

Bauhaus - Rest In Peace (Live)

More Bauhaus goodness for you! This one is the two disc set entitled Rest In Peace and was billed as the bands final performance, recorded at the Hammesmith Palais. Lucky for us, they reformed years later and those of us who had always dreamt of seeing this legendary group perform got a few more chances.

From the liner notes: "The evening of Tuesday 5th July 1983 was to be the end of one of England's most exciting live bands. As soon as they started the encore, playing songs that weren't on the set list, I knew the suspicions of the road crew were proved to be true. This was to be the bands last gig...""This recording is ust as it was taped from from the desk with no editing or remixing, which you can tell as the sound quality does improve over the first few numbers. The only technical thing done was a de-hissing process which improves the reproduction a little. Satori is the studio recorded version taken from the actual cassette recording used to introduce the show."

The most exciting part of this whole recording for me is most definitely the inclusion of "In Heaven" written by Peter Ivers and included in David Lynch's film Eraserhead.

Year of Release: 1992
Label: NEMO Records
Genre: goth

Disc: 1
1. (Introduction) Satori
2. Burning From The Inside
3. In Fear Of Fear
4. Terror Couple Kill Colonel
5. The Spy In The Cab
6. Kingdom's Coming
7. She's In Parties
8. Antonin Artaud
9. King Volcano
10. Passion Of Lovers
11. Slice Of Life
12. In Heaven
13. Dancing
14. Hallow Hills
15. Stigmata Martyr
16. Kick In The Eye
17. Dark Entries
18. Double Dare
19. In The Flat Field
20. Boys
21. God In An Aclove
22. Hair Of The Dog
23. Bela Lugosi's Dead

Disc: 2
1. Double Dare
2. In the Flat Field
3. Boys - Bauhaus, Ash, Daniel
4. God in an Alcove - Bauhaus, Ash, Daniel
5. Hair of the Dog
6. Bela Lugosi's Dead

Download: Bauhaus - Rest In Peace 2nd edition 1992
Download size: 85 MB total two zip files

Digital Meltd0wn Now Listed at OnTopList.com

I have added Digital Meltd0wn to the excellent ontoplist.com site. It is an invaluable resource for finding websites devoted to a specific topic. This one being about music, I have added it to http://music.onbloglist.com
which is the music subsection of their site. If you would like to help me out, please click on the button below which will take you to their site. You don't have to worry about voting or anything of that nature, but it will take you directly to a large list of quality music blogs. I have also placed the button in the "Blog Aggregators|Lists" section of my sidebar for future reference. I hope that DM can make it into the top 50 before long. Thank you for your support.

Do the Pop! The Australian Garage-Rock Sound 1976-1987

Re-Up - Originally Posted 10/24/06


Do The Pop!, a spectacular double CD collection of Australian garage-rock from the ‘70s and ‘80s - easily one of Oz's most exciting musical periods. Two decades before The White Stripes and The Hives made ‘garage-rock’ the new buzz-word, numerous Australian bands were cranking out a raw, high-energy music which had all the elements that people are hot for today.

Inspired by two legendary punk-era bands, The Saints and Radio Birdman, Australia exploded in the late ‘70s with literally scores of bands who melded the wild sounds of classic ‘60s garage-rock and the Detroit rock action of the Stooges and the MC5 into a raw and powerful sound that was unlike anything else in the world.

Starting with three tracks apiece from The Saints and Radio Birdman, Do The Pop! includes essential tracks – often two or three per band - from every key band that followed their path including The Hoodoo Gurus, Died Pretty, The Lipstick Killers, The Sunnyboys, The Scientists, The Lime Spiders, The Screaming Tribesmen, The Hard-Ons, The Celibate Rifles, The New Christs, The Eastern Dark, The Exploding White Mice, The Stems and more. Included also are tracks from The Victims, Hoodoo Guru Dave Faulkner’s band from ’77, and The Fun Things, Guru Brad Shepherd’s first band from 1980.

Track List:
CD 1
1. The Saints - (I'm) Stranded
2. Radio Birdman - New Race
3. The Psycho Surgeons - Wild Weekend
4. The Saints - One Way Street
5. The Victims - Television Addict
6. Radio Birdman - Aloha Steve and Danno
7. Johnny Kannis - King of the Surf
8. Radio Birdman - Crying Sun
9. The Hitmen - Didn't Tell The Man
10. The Lipstick Killers - Hindu Gods of Love
11. The Visitors - Living World
12. The Passengers - Face With No Name
13. The Saints - Simple Love
14. The Scientists - Last Night
15. The Fun Things - Savage
16. Sunnyboys - Alone With You
17. The New Christs - Face A New God
18. New Race - Alone in the Endzone
19. The Hitmen - I Don't Mind
20. The Celibate Rifles - 24 Hours (SOS)
21. Sunnyboys - Happy Man
22. The Lipstick Killers - Driving The Special Dead
23. The Hoodoo Gurus - Lellani
24. The Hitmen - Dwana Devil
25. Minutemen - Voodoo Slaves

CD2
26. The Scientists - Swampland
27. The Lime Spiders - 25th Hour
28. The Screaming Tribesmen - Igloo
29. The Hoodoo Gurus - Be My Cure
30. The Lime Spiders - Slave Girl
31. The New Christs - Like A Curse
32. Died Pretty - Mirror Blues Pt. 1
33. The Screaming Tribesmen - Ice
34. Decline of the Reptiles - Don't Look Down
35. The Eastern Dark - Johnny and Dee Dee
36. The Exploding White Mice - Burning Red
37. The Hard-Ons - Bye Bye Girl
38. The Psychotic Turnbuckles - Groove to the Eye
39. The Lime Spiders - Out of Control
40. The Scientists - Atom Bomb Baby
41. The Stems - Can't Resist
42. Died Pretty - Stoneage Cinderella
43. The Some Loves - Don't Talk About Us
44. The Hard-Ons - Girl In The Sweater
45. The Eastern Dark - Walking
46. The Celibate Rifles - Back In The Red
47. The Ohilistines - Early Morning Memory
48. The Headstones - When You're Down
49. The Stems - At First Sight
50. The New Christs - I Swear

Download: Do the Pop! CD1 (106MB)
Download: Do the Pop! CD2 (105MB)


Note: A few of you pointed out the fact that Disc 1 was missing tracks. I reuploaded it, along with Vol. 2, but for some odd reason blogger didn't save the changes I made to the post. I have reuploaded Disc 1 once again, and all of the tracks are intact. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Anne Dudley & Jaz Coleman - Songs From The Victorious City

Songs From The Victorious City (a unique collaboration) is an album in the world music genre written by Anne Dudley (English Orchestra composer /member of Art Of Noise) and Jaz Coleman (composer / producer / singer for Killing Joke).

On this release, eastern melodies are played by a large cast of actual Egyptian players in Cairo using modern and traditional instruments. The end result was then taken to a studio in London, where Dudley and Coleman added their own touches to create this very rich, full collection of songs.

Year of Release: 1990
Label: China Records
Genre: World Music

Track List
1. The Awakening
2. Endless Festival
3. Minarets and Memories
4. Force And Fire
5. Habebe
6. Ziggarats Of Cinnamon
7. Hannah
8. The Conqueror
9. A Survivor's Tale
10. In A Timeless Place


Bonus time...
I am also including the Ziggarats Of Cinnamon CD single.

Track List
1. The Cinnamon Love Mix
2. Cinnamon Love (7" edit)
3. Techno Pharoah Mix
4. Ziggarats of Cinnamon (LP version)
5. Habebe

Download: Songs From The Victorious City
Download size: 57 MB zip file

Mudhoney - Mudhoney

Re-Up - Originally Posted 4/10/08


I apologize for the lack of updates recently, but I've been feeling a little down the last few days, and just didn't feel like doing much online. I plan on uploading a few more compilations of rare 60's garage and psychedelic rock, similar to the "A Lethal Dose of Hard Psych" and "The 60's Collection of Scarcest Garage Records" compilations that I posted previously. I can't remember off the top of my head who requested this album.. but without further ado, here's Mudhoney's debut album.

With their first self-titled album, Mudhoney was trying to figure out how to make a full album work with their unique sound. It doesn't quite live up to the singles that they previously released, and if it's not a perfect listen as a whole, there are still some great songs to hear. Jack Endino's production lives up to his reputation for rough, thick recording, but he's left just enough for the songs to breathe, whether it's the audible handclaps on "This Gift" or the quirky guitar riff leading into Dan Peters' rollicking drum rolls on "You Got It." "When Tomorrow Hits" is easily the sleeper hit of the record; later memorably covered by Sonic Boom in the dying days of Spacemen 3, its slow, dreamily threatening build shows off the band's ability for subtlety amidst the volume. "Flat out Fucked" about sums up the whole ethos of the album -- careening pace, compressed feedback roar, and Mark Arm's desperate but never self-important singing resulting in neo-garage rock anti-anthems. About as good is the brilliantly titled instrumental "Magnolia Caboose Babyshit," which gives Steve Turner and Arm a chance to show off some crazy acid rock/proto-funk guitar that avoids sucking, always a pleasure. A couple of draggy numbers and others that take a good idea but almost run too much with it ("Come to Mind," well, comes to mind) keep things from fully working, but with their next album release Mudhoney would have the perfect combination down. (Year of Release: 1989)

Track List:
1. This Gift
2. Flat Out Fucked
3. Get Into Yours
4. You Got It
5. Magnolia Caboose Babyshit
6. Come To Mind
7. Here Comes Sickness
8. Running Loaded
9. The Farther I Go
10. By Her Own Hand
11. When Tomorrow Hits
12. Dead Love

Download: Mudhoney - Mudhoney
Download: 51.3MB

Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles

Re-Up - Originally Posted 4/6/08


Named after the band's favorite distortion pedal, Superfuzz Bigmuff was actually Mudhoney's first EP; the Superfuzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles package collects that recording, as well as the A- and B-sides of their first two 45s and two covers (of the Dicks and Sonic Youth), all released in 1988-1989. Taken as a whole, this output makes a case for Mudhoney as the first true grunge band; due to the time constraints of the forms in which this material was originally released, it also makes for their best, most consistent album, as the band largely refrains from the sort of aimless, grinding Stooges updates that slow the momentum of most of its records. Instead, Superfuzz Bigmuff has all the best attributes of Mudhoney's Stooges fixation, whether slow or fast, this music is grimy, raucous, and violently enthusiastic, with a stronger melodic sensibility than Iggy's band possessed. Mudhoney's dominant traits are simple chord progressions and a filthy-sounding, ultradistorted guitar racket, punctuated by Mark Arm's snarling, demonic howls. It isn't the most original approach to rock & roll, but when it all comes into focus, as on their (and Sub Pop's) debut single, the ultimate grunge anthem "Touch Me I'm Sick" Mudhoney's power is absolutely throttling. "Touch Me I'm Sick" would be essential listening for anyone even remotely interested in the genesis of the Seattle scene, but the album is full of menacing, vital rock & roll, plus sharp songwriting that elevates several other songs to classic status. Mudhoney's musical range may be quite limited, but as Superfuzz Bigmuff proves, they can be amazing at what they can do. This is the birth of grunge, and a reminder of exactly why the music was christened with a word meaning "dirt." (Year of Release: 1990)

Track List:
1. Touch Me I'm Sick
2. Sweet Young Thing (Ain't Sweet No More)
3. Hate The Police
4. Burn It Clean
5. You Got It (Keep It Outta My Face)
6. Halloween
7. No One Has
8. If I Think
9. In 'N' Out Of Grace
10. Need
11. Chain That Door
12. Mudride

Download: Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles
Download Size: 39.4MB