You're Sitting On It

Willow Folk Festival 2006 - Fireside

2010-04-23T22:25:00.003-05:00

Round 2 here of the Willow 2006 recordings. i transferred these recordings a few years back, but upon recent listens i feel like i probably have more recordings from that year somewhere. There's a lot of the Chris Bathgate/Michigan crew on this one here. These takes are all after hours campfire jams from Saturday night. Throw another log on the fire.

Willow Folk Festival 2006 - Stage Performances

2010-04-23T17:27:00.003-05:00

I'm getting kind of hooked on this whole blogging thing over the last couple of days. This is something that I've wanted to post up here for a long time. The Willow Folk Festival is a down home cornfield music festival that takes place near Stockton, Illinois every August. I grew up in nearby Freeport and have been going every year since my senior year of high school. I hold this festival as a pretty special tradition as it is just a beautiful commencement of amazing people and amazing music. If it weren't for this festival I would never have met anyone affiliated with the Dekalb S&S crew. I saw Little Headhunter play there in '05 maybe, and I was pleasantly moved by the music. I introduced myself to Tom Cober later that night and we hit it off pretty well. He told me about shows at the attic and 7th Street Space and I decided to check it out a month or so later. The rest is history I guess. A lot of great friendships I've made with people (especially Scratch and Sniff folks) are ultimately rooted at Willow. In 2006, I started bringing my tape recorder everywhere I went at Willow due to my documentarian/preservationist leanings. I have countless tapes from the past 4 years (except from '08 when my tape recorder was rained on) that I've been slowly digitizing and planning to put out in some format to sort of showcase the array of talent and great music that happens there. Well, here's batch number one of numerous volumes to come. These recordings are solely from the "stage" performances (open to anyone that signs up) from Saturday and Sunday. This is in contrast to the campfire recordings of the evening jams that happen after the stage performances finish, soon to come. It is by no means ALL of the performers, but I feel that it's a pretty good cross section of the talent there. I don't know the names of all the performers and songs so everything is just listed as "various artists." - matt - Willow

Icarus Syndrome-Live @ The Attic 5/6/06

2010-04-21T18:21:00.005-05:00

Hey all. So Mark invited me to contribute to YSOI after a long discussion about blogging last weekend. I'm honored to have the opportunity to help out with this here nugget of internetted goodness and it seems this will be a neat segue to start posting on my own brand-spankin-new blog, titled Fabled Farm. Anyways, I thought I'd post this rip of an Icarus Syndrome show from the good ol' attic days that I recorded on a handheld cassette recorder around the time of his Pie Rhymes album. I ended up cutting out a lot of the banter and talk between songs but am kind of regretting it nowadays. Oh well. Hope this finds you well.

1. Donut Shop

2.Iceland Town

3.Soap Opera Lament

4.Eartha Kitt

5.Hear The Old Dishwasher Sing

6.Waitin' For The Sunfish

New blog of occasional vinyl rips

2010-03-08T20:49:00.003-06:00

Not that the world necessarily needed another irregularly updated music blog, but I've been having fun lately ripping some records to ye olde storage device, and you know, it was just inevitable really. It's mostly gonna be a hodgepodge of 7 inches and ep's for now(aka easy to scan) but I'll get some long players up there before long.

Sorry 'bout the name, it was just one of those juvenile whims...

Any would-be contributors/collaborators out there? Let me know!

Pregnant Cheerleaders EP

2010-03-05T12:39:00.004-06:00

I'm sure anyone who even knows about this already has a copy, thanks to Joe Robinson's ever-present free CD tray, but figured that number of people is relatively small, er, cosmically. And besides I've always been fond of this rockin' one-off. Love the good cop/bad cop guitars and slip n' slide drums.

impregnate yourself

Bicycle Day & Friends - DEstructoKALB: August 10, 2002

2010-03-02T18:27:00.004-06:00

Sorry for the wait on this one, which I've been promising to get up here for ages. I know I had some weird technical reason for stalling but don't remember what that would be as it was 99% ready to post the whole time. My apologies! Especially to Gabe.

Anyway here we have a cassette documenting frenzied communal extrapolation upon Bicycle Day's song "Destructo Ray" from the end of a show on August 10, 2002 at the Brain Basement (variously known as Seventh Heaven Sky Lounge, Seven Dead Arson, The Rodeo, Studio B, and lord knows what else throughout the epochs). Friends of the band were encouraged to set up their amps & guitars all over the place and wail away, instruments were swapped from band to audience members mid-song, and general insanity prevailed for about 30 minutes of proto-Slutwashian ear-mangling bliss.

In addition to the tape rip, as a bonus I've also posted a separate file with Bob Aspatore's original digital recording of the complete Bicycle Day set from that evening, up to and including "Destructo Ray" without the track separation of the cassette, naturally. Thanks Bob!

DEstructoKALB cassette rip

Bicycle Day Live August 10, 2002 complete recording

e - Zipidee!

2010-03-01T14:50:00.002-06:00

From zee liners:

Hi Everyone!

This album is a diary of parties, loud noises, songs and samplings from 2004-2006 all stemming from many great years in DeKalb, IL & whereabouts.

Emily's fantastic organ, I must say, played a large role. Thanks to all!

Zippidee

M.O.T.O. - Single File

2010-02-25T13:41:00.003-06:00

No special reason for posting this, but I fell and hit my head on a slab of ice on my way home from work today, and it made me wanna listen to MOTO.

Paul Caporino for president

Scrambler 2004

2010-01-18T17:19:00.003-06:00

Jeezus, sorry for the million year delay between posts, if you're actually still checking in. I've been lazy (of course) but have also had difficulties in the form of crappy sound input devices, making it hard to rip anything but cd's at the moment. Anyway i haven't forgotten about this blog and here's a bootleg of performances from the 3rd Scratch & Sniff Records Scrambler, recorded by Andy Herald on November 6, 2004. This was the first one to feature all cover bands. Please correct the erroneous/missing song titles if you know 'em, and enjoy.

Handmedown Satellites - Skeletons

2009-09-21T17:55:00.003-05:00

Brand-new HMDS thinger, recorded over the last month or so...

Skeletons

Deutsche Wertarbeit - Deutsch Wertarbeit

2009-09-20T19:58:00.008-05:00

Sky LP from 1981. Found it on Saltyka after being tipped off by the blurb in Crack In The The Cosmic Egg, as follows:

The name Deutsche Wertarbeit was the working pseudonym for a one-off project by Dorothea Raukes, the lady synth/keyboardist from Streetmark. The LP she made was mostly of a melodic and sequential type of synth music (performed entirely on Korg equipment) with the accent on rhythm and catchy tunes on most tracks, typical of the early-80's.

Just the sort of underwhelming description I've come to expect from that book, behind which fantastic surprises so often hide. Rest assured that Dorothea gets down with some awesomely triumphant cheese-o-tronic aerobics instructor jams, sorta like the theme from Chariots of Fire for the Westworld set!

Deutsche Wertarbeit
(new link)

Paul's Sad Bastard Chicken Coop, Inc. - Kick It! The Kickball Album

2009-08-21T16:26:00.005-05:00

Hell, yes. A sweet treat from my friend Paul Nixon, who kindly supplied the following information:

Two summers ago I made a kickball album called "Kick It!" which ended up being the last thing that Paul's Sad Bastard Chicken Coop, Inc. would record.

It's the truest Bad On Purpose side-project there is. It was the formula for Bad On Purpose: 1. Write a song title, 2. Press record, 3. Repeat, 4. Repeat.

At 10am I had 9 song titles (one for each inning) and by 3pm I had 9 songs written, recorded, mixed and burned to CD-R.

So, thanks to some Casio magic, some stolen Beastie Boys samples and
Tommy Lasorda samples, and special guest Pat kicking out some old school
rhymes, the resulting album was possible.

The tracklisting is as follows:
1st Inning: Kick It!
2nd Inning: Christ Punchers Are Go!
3rd Inning: Kickball Love
4th Inning: Fuck Orange
5th Inning: Shake It Off
6th Inning: Hep Cove
7th Inning: 7th Inning Shotgun
8th Inning: Livin' The Dream
9th Inning: Play Of The Day

Though one song was used in the trailer for the documentary about our league, "Left Field", the scene in the movie that used the song ended up on the cutting room floor.

It's not that good, but it is sort of funny with the right kind of ears.

I made 5-10 copies and distributed them anonymously at kickball games. Like, "here, have this cd". I was hoping it would become this legendary thing and everyone would wonder who did it and then the rumors would start. "I heard he is hung like an ox!", "I heard aliens made it", "I heard he is hung like an alien!", etc.

Then, one Sunday afternoon, a cute girl in kickball shorts would walk up to me, say "I know it was you. I want you to be my husband." and that would be the story of me.

Not the case.

Kick It!

Stitched-Back Foot Airman - Seven Egg-Timing Greats

2009-08-15T17:10:00.003-05:00

Continuing the diversion from non-mission statement shares with this mini-LP of highly enjoyable postpunk. Thanks to the deleted blog Feelin' Kinda Froggy for the rip & tipoff.

Seven Egg-Timing Greats

e - You Are A Brilliant Flower That Ever Blooms

2009-08-14T17:46:00.003-05:00

Elizabeth Hill's second collection of solo recordings. So so good.

my copy had harsh glitchery all over "Meadow Experience" but luckily that track was thrown up here all nice & clean, so I just put it in the .rar instead.

Brilliant Flower

Androids Of Mu - Blood Robots

2009-08-14T00:31:00.004-05:00

Oh man. If you've ever wanted to know what Girls At Our Best would sound like jamming with Hawkwind this is for you. Obviously not my rip, but I just had to split up the sides found on Kill Your Pet Puppy because songs like "She is A Boy" and "Bored Housewives" absolutely demand to be put on mix tapes, and I can't find this anywhere else in any format. I can't understand why this is so overlooked. Would love to hear a better rip/actual copy if such a thing exists...

Blood Robots

Paul Yarn Bunkbeds - Poison Socks

2009-08-12T23:41:00.005-05:00

An absolute joy, I tell you. Forty little gems of homespun silliness & wonderment.

Poison Socks

hard to pick just a few, but...
Katie's Song
Cut A Potato
I Am So Far Behind

Dan Monaghan - An Ideas cd-r

2009-08-11T15:07:00.002-05:00

Yes, this is the blog where "tomorrow" often means "two and a half months from now" or perhaps more!

No real excuses for the absence this time, just the ever-fluctuating motivation levels, I s'pose.

Suddenly I feel like posting again, so for starters please enjoy these gorgeous home recordings by Dan Monaghan, who is/was also in Ears & Eyes. The very kind sort of sound travels that keep me coming back in the wee hours. Bleary-eyed, echo-splashed instrumentals not unlike early Flying Saucer Attack to my ears.

An Ideas

Della Drive & The Dellettes - Live at the Treetop

2009-05-31T11:53:00.004-05:00

Many thanks to Paul for this Dellettes set from a Halloween party, 2006. Treetop R.I.P.

Wild!

DeKalb Smells! - Scratch And Sniff Records Compilation cd-r

2009-05-29T17:11:00.003-05:00

It really does!

1. Little Headhunter - French Fries
2. Fusco - Gus
3. Pinstripe Mind - (C)old War Fight Song
4. Icarus Syndrome - Erica
5. Della Drive - Cheeseburger Samba
6. Shuffleplay & The Mutations - Potential Energy
7. Justin Bailey - Comfort Rock
8. Handmedown Satellites - You Were Sleeping
9. Horseparts - Breadwinner
10. Window Well - Rain On Parade
11. Candy Sweat - Paperweight
12. Crusher - A British Mile
13. Coin Operated - Slattyak!
14. The Variable Why - I HATE My Computer
15. Things Falling Apart - He Is Cured By Faith Who Is Sick Of Fate
16. Gaslight Gaslight - Untitled
17. Secret People - Battle Of The Clones
18. Hilo - I Got Convoy

Fusco - Fusco EP

2009-05-27T18:01:00.004-05:00

I recall stopping in at 7th Street Space one night to find Paul Kim, arms and torso completely wrapped in some sort of packing tape by mischievous, whiskey-drunk bandmates, still managing to successfully record a guitar solo for one of the songs on this EP.

Fixed, new link

listen to Sea Breaks

Treefrogs - Front Porch Songs C-24

2009-05-25T14:40:00.006-05:00

Title says it all, yes?

FRONT PORCH SONGS

Only about the most perfect song ever written
This one's somewhere up there too

Della Drive - Maywood Junk EP

2009-05-24T20:48:00.005-05:00

Sweet and sun-soaked EP from the short lived but super-fun first Della Drive band, country stylee.

Maywood Junk

listen to the title track
listen to Curse Of The Kish

Lonely Trailer - I Know What I'm Doing, But You Don't Think So

2009-05-23T22:18:00.009-05:00

Amidst all the early-oughts DeKalbiana saturating most recent posts I'd almost forgotten my other semi-conscious agenda for this blog, that being to share a certain amount of under-appreciated music from the collection, especially some hard-to-find tapes.

Lonely Trailer is a Champaign-Urbana band that existed from roughly 1987 to 1996. I started my relentless stalking of the C-U scene just a hair too late, and regret having never gotten to see them to this day. This might be my favorite album of theirs and has alot of great songs that can't be found on the 2 CD retrospective on Mud records.

This post also must be considered topical (cringe) as these guys have regrouped and are playing tomorrow night in Champaign, alongside The Poster Children and The Outnumbered, with, no lie, an after-party set by Bad Flannel, if that means anything to you. A show I would give three of my littler toes without hesitation to be able to attend! Brokeassedness and mandatory weekend shifts be damned. Instead I've found some consolation ripping this crazy tape and listening to Rick and Rose's podcast about the event with some insightful C-U music history.

I Know What I'm Doing But You Don't Think So

Listen to Face
Listen to Ticket On The Titanic
Listen to Judgment

Hilo - Hilo EP plus Live Assortment

2009-05-22T19:24:00.007-05:00

Hilo EP

NB: The original cassette copies of the EP featured a particular live version of "Expungents & Leeches/The Witch" (and sometimes other bonus tracks, varying from copy to copy) that i have been unable to track down. (5/24/02, Attic, anyone?) However, the Prodigal Son version of same is almost as sick if not more so, which of brings us to...

Hilo - Live Assortment

For your amusement, a collection culled from handheld-recorded tapes of two different shows. Desptite my efforts these tracks still ended up incurably loud and of course shitty-sounding, (not that i hold much beef with either attribute, but think of the children!) so I would advise adjusting the volume and levels as needed or desired.

1. Starfruit
2. Should I Call You Zeromus?
3. Saturated
4. Adult Swimmers
5. It's
6. Rob Saves Christmas
7. Magic Bullet
8. Hilo Fanfare
9. I'm An Apostrophe

10. Demographically Yours
11. Mint Soda/Tsunami Wave Train
12. Expungents & Leeches/The Witch
13. I Got Convoy

1-9 recorded at the Brain Basement, DeKalb 6/28/2002 by Elizabeth Hill
10-13 recorded at the Prodigal Son, Chicago 9/02/2002 by Paul Kim

Coin Operated - Memory Anatomy

2009-05-21T14:25:00.005-05:00

Sprawling and taken-altogether badassical laundromat sampler wash-o-rama from Mr. Dotson, circa 2003. You can also get it at his site (at a less bombastic bitrate) with plenty other recordings of interest.

C.O.M.A.

listen to Character Parade

Metroids - Tractor Beams EP

2009-05-18T13:00:00.005-05:00

You can get this over at Gary Butterfield's Dinocast (along with TONS of other Metroids & related media) but this has been on rotation of late, plus I've always enjoyed the cover, so I wanted throw it up here, too.

Beams

listen to Weather

Scrambler 2005

2009-05-16T15:37:00.003-05:00

get scrambled

Reckless Triumphant - The Noonday Demon EP

2009-05-16T14:04:00.003-05:00

the noonday demon

Pinstripe Mind - The Girls Of Sweden CS

2009-05-13T22:32:00.003-05:00

Yessss, so happy to finally have this here. 2nd batch of Tony Stanfa awesomeness, recorded in early 2001 (jeezus, really?) and kindly remastered by Andy Herald sometime last year.

Euphoria now

Handmedown Satellites - Bedsores An Audiodrama CS

2009-05-10T21:36:00.006-05:00

Hissss-drenched basement drums & ancient air organ songs from late 2003.
Absolutely indecipherable lyric sheet included for laffs.

here

Listen to Clucluland
Listen to Drastic Measures

Candy Sweat - Heed The Hydra

2009-05-09T23:08:00.003-05:00

In one song there are many others...

some re-ups

2009-05-08T01:17:00.002-05:00

There Are Seven Of Them
Della Drive-Odds and Ends & A History of Cold Places
The Oracles-Optimus Grimes
DeKalb-A-Kopia comp
Do Something Day
Songs For The Road And Abode comp

Xiffer - Vim

2009-05-07T21:43:00.003-05:00

An earlier Xiffer favourite.

VIM

The Variable Why - Oktobrrpheskt

2009-05-06T19:20:00.009-05:00

At last, we have the spoils of Nick Sherman's song-a-day recording odyssey circa October 2006. During that month, as well as February 2007, several Scratchers and Sniffers endeavored to record one song per day every day for an entire month. Thus, an insane but worthwhile exercise in recording mania was shared by all. I'll be putting up as many of the resulting gems as I can over the next few weeks.

Oktobrrpheskt's 20 songs are split up over three EP's: "A", "B", and "S". The three covers submitted weren't designated to a specific recording and thus would seem to function interchangeably or cumulatively, whichever you'd prefer.

Okay? G'wan and get it here

or here if you have any problems with the first link...

some sample tunes:
I Am That Kind Of Creature
Concatenate Yr Motions

Velociraptors - Velociraptor Park

2009-05-06T04:37:00.002-05:00

watch out

Crazy Stallion - Nuns Fucking Each Other Tour EP

2009-05-05T19:05:00.007-05:00

So awesome to see these guys killing it again.

Everyday is Thanksgiving with Crazy Stallion 101

Listen to 40 Hour Per Week Bitch Motherfucker

Gnome Exit

2009-05-04T16:24:00.004-05:00

Gnome Exit

Meet our Pet Snake.
Or go see Penguins at the zoo.

Napoleon Blownapart - Draft Day 3" cd-r

2009-05-04T16:08:00.004-05:00

Neither of us have the art for this anymore but I'm posting it anyway. An odd 'lil thinger recorded half live, half phoning-it-in piecemeal style.

Draft Day

King Tut's Doom - Drool EP

2009-05-04T14:51:00.004-05:00

Awesome bonus mini-mini-mini EP from Mr. Miller. The back says it was recorded in 2007 in 5 hours. I would just love to hear this on a 7" record, wouldn't you?

DROOL

MZRCDXVL - Code EP

2009-05-04T14:34:00.006-05:00

Rad 7 song CD-r from 2006. Hilarious cover art by Andrew Clayton.

CODE

actual posts forthcoming!

2009-05-04T13:37:00.002-05:00

Holy crap, howdy y'all. it's been almost 5 months since I threw anything up here. I've had numerous technical difficulties recently but now that my computer has been nursed to a state of near health I plan to get everything posted that I've been meaning to, fix any dead links and then finally move on to my other as-of-yet theoretical blog. It's gonna be all mixes all the time (I think), and I'd love to have other contributors on board, so please get in touch if interested.

So anyway, if it behooves you to do so, watch this space in the next few days. Shit's gonna actually probably hopefully drop, I swear.

Gaslight Gaslight - Human Check CS

2009-01-17T17:45:00.003-06:00

Three days off work in a row--time to throw up some sweet noise tapes I've been meaning to get around to. Here's wishing a happy (belated) birthday to Robert with my personal favorite Gaslight Gaslight jam.

If anyone can scan the hand-melted and painted bubble wrap case this thing came in, let me know. I have no idea what happened to mine.

play loud, I beseech thee!

C. McAlister - Letting Go The Hatchet

2008-12-17T21:06:00.005-06:00

Just wanted to share this fantastic early Charlie tape. A classic!

Sometimes you learn the hard way

Throw that hatchet down in the lake

Pre-Halloween Variety Scrambler, 2002 (c-90)

2008-12-16T20:30:00.003-06:00

Not so timely, I realize, but nonetheless...

side one
side two

Churchburners - Abandoned Bass Drum CS

2008-12-15T16:40:00.006-06:00

Hmmm. No one's grabbing this 'lil masterpiece, so i'm going to have to kype some moves from the author of my favorite hard rock blog.

PURE POISON!! BOM VENENO NÃO CONSUMA COM MODERAÇÃO!!!!! ALTISSIMAMENTE RECOMENDADO!!!!!!!!!

I hope it works...

Mouth Noise
Stamos Summer
Young & Stoopid
Song I Sing At Work
Done Done Done You Wrong
Creepy Castle Thing

Rkfd
Nonsense
New Avocado
Yo! What's Up!
Noise Thing
Rockets Fly
Bakery
A Boy Wonders
Weird Schnit

Handmedown Satellites - Closed For Repairs/Premeditated Death... 2xEP

2008-12-15T01:56:00.006-06:00

2xEP

from the first ep
from the second ep

Fusco - Turn Up The 7's & 8's

2008-12-15T01:02:00.002-06:00

TURN UP THE 7'S & 8's

1. Gus
2. 40
3. Get A Handle
4. Manheim Mayhem

Strange What Desire Will Make Foolish People Do

2008-12-15T00:06:00.006-06:00

12 wicked covers

S&SR 2008

Astrobeachers (see the video here)
H.M. Rizzle

Bicycle Day - Summers For Lovers

2008-12-14T23:13:00.004-06:00

SUMMERS FOR LOVERS

1. You Worryin' About
2. Spy Balloons
3. The Way Of All Flesh

Little Headhunter - Piles of Sleep

2008-12-14T22:47:00.006-06:00

PILES OF SLEEP

1. Til You Burn
2. Man The Boats
3. My Dog Walks All Over Me
4. Please Be Honest
5. Balloon Song
6. Stuck In A Truck
7. Ideé Aloha
8. Green Lampshades
9. Cold Cold Car
10. Two For Two

Veterans Of Flight

2008-09-22T13:16:00.004-05:00

HOT SHIT

an example of hot shit
(track 5)

If anyone has any later VoF material(live or otherwise-I seem to recall hearing about some further recordings but never heard 'em) please contact me. Thanks!

Motercycles

2008-09-20T21:58:00.003-05:00

24 hour recording marathon!

1. Rubber Dolly
2. Ballad Of The Death
3. Continuendo
4. Slash Chest Hair Boogie Woogie
5. Axl Rose
6. Sinking Of The Virgin Lady Mallory
7. End All

Comfort Rock! (c-24)

2008-09-04T20:16:00.003-05:00

Yes, I'm still stalling for scans, so here is the first of a few things that had no cover art to begin with, at least not that I ever knew of. Actually, this Justin Bailey cassette from 2003 did have a handwritten track list. The rips are admittedly a little lumpy but I did what i could. Adjust the volume as needed and have fun.

Comfort Rock!

re-ups a-plenty

2008-09-03T22:24:00.004-05:00

I finally got around to fixing all of the dead ass links around here.

Della Drive - Songs From The Icebox (cd ep)

2008-08-23T19:57:00.004-05:00

Long time, no posts! Yeah sorry but everything's been all crazy. I moved (twice, kinda) and had no internet for awhile. But things are pretty well settled, and thanks to new roomie par excellence Mike this wretched blog now has a scanner. So hopfully I'll have a bunch of new posts up in no time.

Here is another great EP from Della Drive, the 2nd I believe. Songs From The Icebox highlights Paul's amazing knack for gently coaxing unique collaborations from his musical friends, perhaps an early flirtation with the full fledged producer status obtained in the current Demons project.

Songs From The Icebox

sample track
Son Of Silence

The Lost Continent

2008-08-01T12:50:00.007-05:00

new link
Handmedown Satellites - The Lost Continent (C-60, 2004)

Let's Vapid!

2008-07-19T14:41:00.005-05:00

The first Pinstripe Mind album from Tony Stanfa, entirely concieved and recorded in a few lightning-round brainstorm sessions of four to seven songs each. Some amazing lyrics jotted down literally in seconds that have singed my brain for eternity! Thanks to Andy remastering this and the others which will appear here eventually.

Let's Vapid!

XIFFER - Dormant

2008-07-08T20:03:00.003-05:00

While Andrew's hard drive is at my disposal, we might as well have at the most recent Xiffer album, Dormant. Originally intended to be a 3"cdr but after waiting around for some minidiscs to fall into his lap there were already enough songs for a full length. This has some of the funkiest moments of all Xiffer in my opinion, also some of the most patiently expiramental. Enjoy.

d o r m a n t

Organnnnnn

2008-07-08T19:02:00.008-05:00

I don't remember who originally came up with the idea for this compilation, but it was probably inevitable as it seemed like everyone in DeKalb and their mother had an organ or two of some sort lying around. Here be fourteen songs recorded on all manner of electric, air and otherwise organs from 2004. Rank literalits amongst you will note the lack of an actual organ on the cover. Oh well.

let's get organic

1. Mayflower - Spitoon Moon
2. Icarus Syndrome - Lizard Breath
3. XXXperience - Pussy Lickin
4. Coin Operated - Mambo In Space
5. Justin Bailey - My Heart Is An Or
6. Short Circuit - Climbing Stairs
7. The Variable Why - Shadow Lines
8. Coin Operated - Garage Sale Reed
9. Gaslight Gaslight - Opening Organ
10. Hand Me Down Satellites - Safe Handling
11. E - Tiddlywinks
12. The Variable Why - Lull
13. Flesh And Stuff - Yellow Jacket
14. Handmedown Satellites - Scattered Lights

ps Andrew forced me to use the word "organic" in this post. I'm sorry.

INTERNET WOES

2008-07-05T21:11:00.004-05:00

I haven't had any internet for the last week or so, hence the lack of posts. Hopefully I'll be back soon though.

DeKalb-A-Kopia compilation tape

2008-06-30T12:02:00.007-05:00

Does anyone have a sleeve for this? I'm not even sure if I ever made standardized artwork for it, or if they were all done by hand or what.

Anyway what we have here is a very very lo-fi (even for here) C60 compilation taken from live shows in DeKalb, Illinois circa roughly late 2001 to late 2002. All the bands featured were DeKalb-based with the exception of They're Like A Union from Peoria, and Princess Sweepstakes, who were from Carbondale at the time. This was all recorded on my once-trusty portable Sony Tapecorder 800B(apparently Richard Nixon had one too).

Ummm, what else? That drunken moron screaming during like every song is probably me. Corduroy Vomit became Horse Parts in case ya didn't know. Scratch & Sniff catalog number 000. And who knows the missing song titles?

download-a-kopia

1. Shuffleplay & The Mutations - Make It Happen
2. Corduroy Vomit - ?
3. They're Like A Union - ??
4. Honkies With Privileges - 6x/y=HWP
5. Holtron - Holtron Theme
6. Fusco - Stranger Days
7. Hilo - Demographically Yours

8. Melony Ether Missing - ???
9. Icarus Syndrome - Foggy Night
10. Princess Sweepstakes - Black Balloon
11. Bicycle Day - Sing Songs
12. Corduroy Vomit - ????
13. Secret People - Mob Action
14. Hilo - Mint Soda
15. Fusco - Dead End Street
16. Shuffleplay & The Mutations - Go Anywhere Refrigerator

Do Something Day (C-47)

2008-06-23T01:00:00.004-05:00

Today we delve into Andy Herald's Roll The Film Tape Co. archives for this trippy little one-off, featuring Andy, Elizabeth Hill and Chris Quaid as accompanied by intermittent woodland spectre types. I'm a bit foggy on the details relayed herein but there's a story to it, and it involves the attempts of an enchanted recorder toting mountain lady to bring watery relief to a drought-ridden enclave of bummer riding dwarves. Or something like that? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Dosomethingday!

There Are Seven Of Them CD-r

2008-06-20T17:44:00.008-05:00

Thanks to Joe for loan of this!

777777777777777

Napoleon Blownaparte - NO NUKESKI!

2008-06-19T21:43:00.005-05:00

Sorry for the relative inactivity of late, but I should have a whole slew of semilost Scratch n' Sniff hodgepodgery up soon. In the meantime here's some more bent attic jams on this Rugburn cassette from NBA circa summer '06. Much more of a paranoid hippy drum circle sort of feel on this one.

NO NUKESKI

1. Chromatic Box Infant
2. Gnawsome Ruffles
3. Blumpet Twerpy
4. A Better Bleat
5. Know Neuski
6. Krypto Killahs
7. Claws Have Claws Have Claws

8. Plum Drastica
9. Congolese Sweetheart
10. Berghoff By Proxy
11. Aaoowwww

new links as of 12/16/08

Shuffleplay, AEP, Secret People, and Mellowflex - Live At 809 Kimberly 7-21-01

2008-06-11T19:03:00.007-05:00

Another deep plunge into the Bob Aspatore archives brings us this eclectic DeKalb apartment show from July 21, 2001, with cool sets all around from Shuffleplay & The Mutations, Alternative Education Program, Secret People and Mellowflex. This happened just three weeks before I moved to DeKalb and met any of these folks! So I obviously missed it and can't comment except to say this is quite a treasure as only the Shuffs ever got around to recording any kind of proper album, and this is way earlier in their development anyhoo. The Secret People set came out briefly as a tape on Scratch and Sniff in addition to a demo but AEP and Mellowflex to my knowledge only had some tracks on the Expiramental Musicians Union comp, which i'll probably get up here someday. Anyone got any comments/insights as pertains to any o' this?

Part One - Shuffleplay + AEP

Part Two - Secret People + Mellowflex

new new links as of 12.14.08
Thanks again to Bob!!!

Della Drive - "A History Of Cold Places" + "Odds And Ends" EPs (new links!)

2008-06-08T14:40:00.006-05:00

Here are a couple of splendid early EPs from Paul Kim's always evolving Della Drive project. The first DD collection "Odds And Ends" is just that; some countryish pop tunes, some faintly psychedelic instrumentals, a couple of covers and more. The "History Of Cold Places" cassette was one of the first Rugburn Records releases and features imaginitive reworkings of some of Paul's favorite tunes by other DeKalb/Scratch and Sniff folk, circa 2003. A sweet tribute and yet another PK mini-classic!

Odds And Ends cdr

1. Tired In The Head
2. Late Night Shuttle
3. After Dark
4. Sleepy Eyed Beauty
5. The Morning Sun
6. I'm Blue, I'm Lonesome (Bill Monroe Cover)
7. Lets Move To The Country (Smog Cover)
8. Shimmering
9. Good As Gold

A History Of Cold Places C-24

1. I Felt The Pull (written by Jarbaby)
2. Pretty Kitties (written by Elizabeth Hill)
3. Gaurd Of Grace (written by The Variable Why)
4. Coughs And Colds (written by Justin Bailey)
5. The Little Headhunter (written by Little Headhunter)
6. Birds (written by The Icarus Syndrome)
7. The Emerald City (written by Della Drive)

Thanks to Paul for the "History" scans (and music of course) and to Ryan for the yet-more scans!

Robot Monster - Giant's Day

2008-06-06T19:51:00.006-05:00

This is Robot Monster's magnum opus(hahaha) concept album recorded July 21st, 2004, with roomies on tour and every inch of the 320 attic boobytrapped by all manner of broke-ass Rube Goldberg-like sound apparattus. Relates the tale of our well-meaning but ill-tempered hero Giant and his unfortunate proficiency with the metal tray. Or something like that. Of course his ass gets so owned by poisonous-flower-wielding plebs and now dutifully fertilizes 216 acres of lush Iklozhen green, with nary a marking or monument to this once-lumbering fellow in sight.

GIANT'S DAY

1. The Bitter North (Stentoip, Beloved Homeland)
2. Exiled And Sent Forth Nearly In Tears!
3. Assailed By Unwelcoming Townsfolk
4. Gray Insides Leaking Out
5. Brandish The Metal Tray, Giant
6. A Most Terrible Temper Has Been Unleashed Today
7. Sickly Flower Stabs Giant In Heart
8. Lay His Bones In The Pastures Of Iklozhen

Reckless Triumphant cassingle

2008-06-05T18:40:00.003-05:00

Sorry to omit the hand doodled cover for this one, but it says these were recorded July/August 04. Pretty sure using one of these little buggers.

Fugitive
Wyoming Fire

ree-yupped as of 9.4.08

The Oracles "Optimus Grimes"

2008-06-04T14:50:00.007-05:00

Here is the 2nd and last album by The Oracles. As far as I know it has still only been released on cassette, though a remastered version is said to be in the works. I'll swap links when the time comes, but this is really fantastic already and much deserving of your attention. The basic tracks were recorded at the tail end of their July 2005 tour in Dan Grimes' folks' garage in Cambridge, Wisconsin. The rest was added over the next year or so as time permitted.

The Oracles were:

Ryan TV Green - Drums
Elizabeth Hill - Bass
Andy Herald - Guitar
Nick Sherman - Guitar Trumpet and Casio
Nat Kundanis Grow - Guitar and Violin

everyone sang and probably did lots of other stuff too!

The Oracles - Optimus Grimes

1. Doracita
2. The Body Electric
3. Montana Monsoon
4, Elli
5. Dodododoooodo
6. Cassiasado
7. Run & Hide
8. Zool

The Variable Why - "Hazard" and "00000011" EPs

2008-05-22T22:48:00.008-05:00

A great pair of early Scratch n' Sniff EPs from the Honorary Mayor of DeKalb, Nick Sherman. Will there ever be more?

"00000011" cassette ep

1. Gaurd of Grace
2. Elodium
3. I Love My Computer

"Hazard" cdep

1. Did You Notice I Was Here
2. I Write Terrible Songs
3. The Electrical Storm

The Variable Why
(new link)

Napoleon Blownapart "Rites Of Passage" C-24

2008-05-19T03:31:00.004-05:00

First NBA tape, recorded from July-September of 2006 most likely whilst drinking Hamms...uh I don't think we ever decided what label this came out on.

Rites
(new link)

Coin Operated 3.30.00 (re-upped)

2008-05-16T16:39:00.004-05:00

Wheee! I nearly splattered my brains today drinking too much coffee while listening to this rad Coin Operated set, our first plunder of what promises to be many from the Bob Aspatore archives...thanks Bob!

Recorded live at Sycamore Theatre on March 30, 2000.

Coin Operated = Matt Dotson on all instruments, sampling and mixing.

The Coin Op website seems to be down at the moment, but check out this slightly dated bio and an interview.

somethin' different

2008-05-15T18:34:00.009-05:00

Got home from work with a few random notions of what I would post today, but then found a fix of calm and delight in listening to some handheld tape-recordings of Guatemalan street musicians, as compiled by my friend Bryan Preston (with a mic-cord up his sleeve, as ever) during a brief stay in 2002. Obviously these were made for his own enjoyment and to share with a few interested/expectant friends, and certainly not as any sort of serious ethnomusicalogical whatever undertaking. That said, I find that Bryan's insightful-in-earnest accompanying notes (as will follow this here blather) and the open-air panorama of comfortably unaffected sounds make this as transportative and engrossing to me as anything found smouldering on the shelves of the meticulously annotated and everneglected field recordings at yer local library (if you're lucky, that is).

Street Musicians of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala

I recorded these preformers in Guatemala in February and March, 2002. I used a handheld tape recorder which i concealed in my jacket; I ran the microphone cord through my sleeve and held the thimble-size mic between my fingers. I was too embarrassed to approach the performers with my faulty Spanish, but I regret that I did not even try. And the performers I saw in Quetzaltenango may not have spoken Spanish as their first language anyway, as they appeared to have been visiting the city from the countryside. Just a scant generation ago, government death squads roamed this same countryside.

The Sound quality is criminally low.

These are devoted musicians, they played for hours.

Compania J. Sanches Alonzo, Tracks 1-3

1 or 2 marimba players
2 tenor saxaphones
snare, cymbal (bass and toms were not played)
rec. 3 March 2002
These fellows played all day long during a Sunday market at Parque Central, Quetzaltenango; the group was 3 younger guys, 2 middle aged. the sax players sound as if they haven't matched pitch in years. Perhaps the reeds they were using were inherited from their grandparents. The instruments were ragtag & battle-worn, as was the music. In fact, the whole situation seemed to be crumbling, but long ago they had accepted this condition as they did their lack of matching intonation. Only thusly could they so comfortably sound so alien.

family, tracks 4-10

guitar
2-stringed guitarron
maracas
rec. 4 March 2002
They played and sang all afternoon at Parque Central, Quetzaltenango. They appeared to be a family: father on guitar, 7(?) year-old son on guitarron, young teen daughter on maracas, all sang intermittently; the bystander mother occasionally sang while holding a young baby. Traffic sounds accompany this recording; observe how carhorn beeps provide a coincidental syncopated counterpoint to the music near the beginning of track 4. Birds and passersby provide atmosphere throughout. For me, this recording is a portrait of a musical family, essentially hillbillies in the eyes of the cityfolk, surrounded by encroaching and obnoxious urban life. Perhaps the hymns are derived from the activities of white missionaries, but re-interpreted, re-contextualized, etc. The strings of the guitarron looked as if they could have been shoelaces.

Alma Antiguena, track 11

5 guys on 1 marimba
string bass
trap set
rec. 10 Feb 2002
This track is the sound of a tourist marimba group playing outside a restaurant on a sidestreet off the main square of Antigua, Guatemala. They were all older men. A radio station in Quetzaltenango plays traditional-type marimba music for one hour every afternoon (music perhaps typified by Alma Antiguena, tidy, catchy and repetitive). The elder woman of the house in which I was staying seemed to enjoy it, But the younger people I talked to thought it was hokey. They listened to Pink Floyd, "More Than Words" by Extreme, and commercial rap.

Listen (new link)

Down with the body, up with the soul

2008-05-14T23:05:00.008-05:00

Icarus Syndrome "Duelling" C-20
(ss029)

1. My Parachute Is Pots And Pans
2. The Medication Fer Don Quixote Downbody Upsoul Blues In E

bonus - Days Of Rest

Definitely one of the hidden treasures of the Scratch and Sniff catalogue here. All sounds recorded by Andy Herald in 2003.

Clumps (new link)

2008-05-14T08:47:00.004-05:00

This is the newest HMDS album, Clumps. Reposted for the approximately 5 people who see this that do not frequent the S&S message board, and to stall for time whilst lazily readying future jams, of which there should be several very soon.

Synthesized Livestock (new link)

2008-05-12T22:23:00.008-05:00

Going waaay back to like 1996 here, when I ran the ill-advised Right On! Records cassette label out of me long-suffering mum's apartment. I'll grant that most of those 30 or so releases are better off buried deeply in some soft and wormy pocket of earth, but a few of them sporadically surface to spew their sweet pubescent poisons all over the place, and this would be one of them. Or part of one of them, actually. Here is one Ryan Simons' (aka Synthesized Livestock) offering from the "15 Minutes With You" 4-way split cassette which also featured Cecil Surreal, Satyriasis, and Jarbaby (the other sets from this tape might or might not be posted eventually, ransom payments pending.) Anyway, this is imaginative instrumental cheeserock that totally rules in the way that only genius homebodies with mom-bought Korgs can, so give a listen, yes?

Fifteen Minutes

Treefrogs "Memnabep"

2008-05-12T20:18:00.006-05:00

A warm and yummy batch o' tunes from this 24 minute cassette(some cdr's also exist) by Nate Schwerin.

Treefrogs - Memnabep
(new friggin link)

LACK III

2008-05-06T21:11:00.000-05:00

The third installment of live wavefile manipulations to tape by Tony Stanfa aka The Pinstripe Mind, just barely released on Rugburn sometime in 2004. Bro administers some VERY abrupt volume tweaking around 23:30, so just a heads up.

LACK

New Demons

2008-05-05T20:58:00.001-05:00

Please shake your hinders to some juicy new cuts by Demons.

some notes cribbed from the clickety clack of Monsieur Kim:

1.) Hipnotize ~ i took the vocals from the hiddentrack of the heed the hydra candy sweat album and putsome music to it. most of the guitars are sampled from a howlin wolf song.

2.) Love Ain't Nothin' ~ this is a song that me and elena made through e-mails last month. she wrote and recorded the vocals in new york and e-mailed them to me. i took the vocals and put music to it. there area lot of samples in this one(little headhunter horns, coltrane bass, inkspots piano hits,etc)

3.) Feeling Good ~ i took some nina simone vocals from her song by the same title and put music to it.

Check in tomorrow for long lost headfuckers by LACK and Do Something Day.

COMPS!!!

2008-05-03T20:34:00.005-05:00

SCRATCH AND SNIFF CIRCUS
Thanks Dean for loan of the scratchless copy of this!

part 1
part 2

----------------------

SONGS FOR THE ROAD AND ABODE
Here's a pretty good idea. Ask your friends to each record a song, bring your Tascam and a sixer of PBR to their house or designated practice space, maybe help play on some of the tunes, and release the results. Curated, recorded and compiled by Thee Automatic Paul Kim in the fall of '05.

songs for the road and abode - a scratch and sniff records mix

----------------------

FLIES IN THE MOUTH
C-47 on Rugburn Records that came with the 5th issue of my semi-defunct picture zine, Patter. Brings together the typical Rugburn cast with a bunch of semi-lost one off sessions and bands that never were. Only 30 copies I think.

flies in the mouth

Half-baked beans 'bout killin' me dead

2008-05-02T19:12:00.000-05:00

Nothing ready just yet for posting so here's another stand alone nugget from the vizzaults. This is my pal Razorbeef Hill with her rabblerousin' reading of the traditional "Lewiston Factory Girls", as caught-wind-of from a Founders Library copy of Love Hell And Buscuits For Two Hundred Years by the amazing and sadly departed Hedy West. Recorded live at the 2004 Holloween Scrambler. Enjoy, and I'll be back with a first attempt at some kind of megapost tomorrow.

Gaslight Gaslight/HMDS - Shortwave Matrimony Split C-24

2008-05-01T11:54:00.000-05:00

Gaslight Gaslight - Wake Up, Tinker!
Handmedown Satellites - Dance Dance Dance (Pat Response 1,2,3)

Recorded at Fucktank/Sloshhole on two succesive Saturdays in summer of '03.

CRUSHER - Let's Go All The Way (ss06!)

2008-04-30T19:13:00.002-05:00

Lets Go All The Way
(re-posted)

1. Girls Won't Do Anything
2. Fringe Candidate
3. Lament For Stolen Puppy
4. Get Back In Line Again
5. God Save Crusher Bunny

6. A British Mile
7. Caravan Oasis
8. The New New

Me and Tony Stanfa gettin' sloppy in late 2002.
Thanks be to Ryan Green for the superfast scans!!!

Another Day In Hell

2008-04-29T21:41:00.001-05:00

Got a bunch o' things planned for the next few days, but for now you can enjoy this 'ol chestnut by the sweet lads of the Hell, Michigan Youth Choir. Quoir? Whoops.

Both files are the same, by the way.
And can anyone suggest a less obnoxious place to upload mp3s?

Handmedown Satellites - Two EP's Plus (new link)

2008-04-28T20:05:00.002-05:00

Gonna start with 2 EP's and a couple of songs that had nowhere else to go at the time.

Bobagemma was recorded in spring and early summer of 2005. Only around 10 or 12 cassette copies were made before the original mixdown somehow got hopelessly wrapped up inside of itself. Two & a half years and several 4-track mishaps later (a theme we could be returning to often in these pages), I finally got around to remastering this bit of neo kraut cheese funk. 3 string banjo borrowed from Andy Herald. (Remember that name, kiddies! So much foreshadowing here)

The other EP is more recent(aww don't ask me when) and is a contribution to the taken-all-together LOONY 4 side split 2x C-34 on Green Tape. That was originally concieved to be an all solo songwriter type affair, and lord knows ah tried, but I wasn't catching the vibe so well then. Zippen even loaned me his 424 to record it and in his limitless benevolence did not dis-friend me when I turned in this Kraftwerk-goes-carnival (in yer dreams, pal) pile o' goo. Appearing here in slightly remixed, extended form. So many thanks to Zach!

The two Homeless tracks are from around the same time as the Greentape and both stem from some late late night "treated" guitar meanderings--okay, really just a broken hi-hat cymbal wedged in near the pickups. Hey, you gotta do something if you can't sleep, says newly christened blogger at 4:25am.

Thanks for reading and listening