HARMONY IN MY HEAD

BROADCAST #29
AIR DATE: 07-18-06

Fanatics! What a show we had tonight! Engineer X outdid himself with the mash at the top of the show and I think we kept it moving pretty well. This one would make a good mix CD. I hope you enjoyed tonight’s show and get ready for all the great shows we have coming up in August. I’ll remind you again about all of them next week. Until then, stay Fanatic and thanks for listening. –Henry
For you Europeans, Australians and New Zealand Fanatics, there is a re-broadcast time of Friday mornings, 0200 – 0400 hrs. West coast time so you all can check out the show and not have to set your alarms to too rude an hour. If you want to download this show, http://www.rollins-archive.com/ is the place to go for that.

The Sonic Jihad Brotherhood – We Fuck You Up: I have been told that now and then on Indie 103 they have a “mash” where they take two songs and artfully blend them together to make some good music. I think I heard them do it once with Macy Gray and Oasis. That’s like a milkshake made of rats and sheep intestine to me. It was awful but not assaultive enough for me. We have done one mash on our show here and it was most likely the greatest mash ever mashed because we are cute, full of hatred and we don’t care. Some of you Fanatics may remember the night we mashed a man reading from the Koran and Slayer. Now THERE’S a mash. And we have another great one for you tonight folks. It’s an instant classic. Ingredients include an audition tape sent in by a young hopeful and C&C Music Factory. I’ll go Jihad in Ann Coulter all night long! Engineer X and are THE KINGS OF THE MASH!!!!

Chuck Dukowski Sextet - My War: This is from the Eat My Life CD. The singer is Chuck’s wife Laura. It’s an intense version of the song. Chuck is a huge influence on me. I we were in Black Flag together and I have known him over half my life. We went through some of the rougher moments of my time in the Black Flag Experience together, and there were some rough times. As many of you know, when you hit the wall with someone a few times, there’s a bond there that lasts and it’s impossible to forge any other way.
Chuck wrote this song many years ago and it was a highpoint of the Black Flag set long after he wasn’t playing in the band any more. This is an interesting take on this song.

Die Cheerleader - Christ With Teeth: From Filth By Association, which is a bit of a compilation of their singles and I think some other tracks. It’s been a long time and I don’t remember. Usually when I play songs of this band, it’s from the Son Of Filth album that I worked on over a decade ago. Damn, this was a great band. I have not played this song in a long time and it’s still great. I wish more would have happened for this band. They should have been bigger and gone farther. The Son Of Filth album is really fucking good and the single Pigskin Parade was great and so was the video. The band and myself worked really hard getting all that together and over the wall. I think of how they would stand up these days and they would be so in there. I don’t know what any of them are up to now. Whenever I hear their music, it’s always great but it still makes me a little frustrated they weren’t connected with a wider audience who no doubt in my mind at least would have loved them.

What Is Soul – Funkadelic: This is from the newly remastered version of this album. It’s not all that different sounding from the copy I bought many years ago, a little more full range but worth picking up again if you play this CD a lot. Funkadelic is one of America’s greatest concepts. Ringleader Gorge Clinton is one of the more interesting musicians out there. He’s going to end up being Funk’s Duke Ellington. Funkadelic had some serious players but the one who really stands out for me is guitar player Eddie Hazel. Funkadelic makes most bands seem like they don’t mean it and George Clinton’s dedication to The Funk should win him a Nobel.

Roscoe Mitchell Sextet – Ornette: From the album Sound. As many of you Fanatics know, Mr. Mitchell very well known for his work in the Art Ensemble Of Chicago. The title of this track is apt as it does display aspects of Ornette Coleman. This is a very free and confrontational album sure to inspire and simultaneously separate the lightweights from the Fanatics. If you are fan of Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor, Matthew Shipp, William Parker, Frank Wright and other hard out players, this record is definitely for you. Lester Bowie is also on this record which adds to the coolness of it as well that it’s almost 40 years old. Nice to know that people were going for theirs way back then. This is brave stuff for a label and/or artist to release. It’s very hard to get people to check out music like this.

Pere Ubu - Heart Of Darkness: This is found on the Terminal Tower CD. I think you can get this track from other sources but I’m not sure. I am a fan of Pere Ubu and David Thomas’ many solo efforts but I am not conversant on the Pere Ubu discography. I’ve seen Pere Ubu and David Thomas perform a few times each and it’s always great. Pere Ubu as you Fanatics most likely know were part of the very fruitful Ohio scene of the 70’s – 80’s. Tin Huey, DEVO, The Electric Eels, Rocket From The Tombs, The Mirrors to list a few.

Black Flag - Jealous Again / Revenge / White Minority / No Values / You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You!: Our EP of the week is Black Flag’s Jealous Again EP. Perhaps the band’s highpoint. Completely bomb-proof song writing and the playing is insanity overload. No one plays like this. No one gets it going like Black Flag did on the early recordings. Greg Ginn’s guitar sound, attack and barely controlled chaos sets the band apart. When you hear him play, you wonder what records he was listening to when he was growing up because he sounds like he’s coming from another universe. This EP holds on of the band’s greatest moments for me and that’s the guitar solo on Jealous Again. There’s nothing like this stuff anywhere. If you have not already, you want to check out the Black Flag comp. The First Four Years, which puts all the band’s early singles and compilation cuts on one CD/LP. This is ultimate gear.

Butthole Surfers – Kuntz: This is from the must have Locust Abortion Technician album. This is one of those great records that everyone seemed to have right after it came out. I have seen some insane shows by this band and have even jammed with them a couple of times and it was amazing. This is one of the band’s most well known albums. I don’t know what these guys are up to at this point. I know they released a record called Weird Revolution a few years ago which I have not heard yet. I did a show with them when they were on that tour and remember the songs being really cool. The Butts are one of those bands that everyone knows about already so you don’t need me to tell you about them. I think I first met these guys in the summer of 1982.

John Cale - Things X: from Cale’s Hobo Sapiens album. This album and the one that came after it, Black Acetate are both really different and good. Cale is interesting again. There are times he loses me. The mid-eighties and the late nineties release wise, I couldn’t get to, although I saw him perform though those periods and the shows were amazing but the albums were not interesting as the shows to me. Cale one of those guys I pay attention to year after year because I don’t think he has ever cooled off and settled down. I think he’s still searching, still going after it. One thing about his recorded output I am woefully caught out there on is his soundtracks. There’s a bunch of them and they’re always really expensive and I don’t know any Fanatic who has any of them so no one has ever given me a list of the ones to check out. It’s hard to find people who listen to Cale much. Our drummer and guitar player Sim and Chris are into Cale. I think Sim is partial to the Honi Soit album and Chris really likes the Animal Justice EP and Helen Of Troy.

The Fall – A New Face In Hell: Here we go again with our almost weekly dose of Manchester UK’s The Fall. This track can be found on the very fine Grotesque album. One of the band’s early period greats. But what would I know?! I’m just a fuckin’ lunatic! I want a stage to stand on! I need a microphone and an audience. I want to be Mark E Smith! That’s what I want! I want it now! NOW!! That Mark E Smith quote again, “I mean, I wouldn't even shake hands with Sonic Youth, you know. And Henry Rollins is a bit of a lunatic. He gets up and gives a fucking lecture about how he wishes he was me." Oh, I’m just a bit of a lunatic, not a full-on lunatic who does drugs and can’t keep members in his band longer than a few months at a time. I am one of those part time, low key lunatics. Whew. That very unofficial website address: http://www.visi.com/fall/.

Taam Ming - Trapeang Pay: Music from Cambodia. I bought this hoping it would be good. I don’t know anything about music from Cambodia but I was curious and I trust this label Celestial Harmonies so I bought it and it’s incredible. Three CDs of music. I can’t pronounce the names and I don’t know anything more than I really like it. Look for The Music Of Cambodia box set. It’s in print. I have had my copy for many years.

Hair Police - Open Body: I don’t know anything about Hair Police. Engineer X lent me the Constantly Terrified album and I dug it so I went out and checked out some of their other records and got the Obedience Cuts, where I got this song from. I like it when Engineer X brings in records for me to borrow. I usually end up really liking them. He turned me onto Wolf Eyes, Konono N1, The Notwist, Black Dice. I don’t think I’ve turned him onto anything he didn’t already know about.

Johnny Hartman - Black Shadows: I got into Johnny Hartman from listening to the record he did with Coltrane. I’ve never been able to find much information on the man. I know that Eastwood is a fan and featured some of his music in that film he did with Meryl Streep that no man is supposed to like. I liked it, whoops. I didn’t like Million Dollar Baby. Whoops twice? Hartman recorded for a few labels including Impulse and all the albums are solid. I don’t know how popular he ever got. He seemed to alright but I never see his name in the same paragraph as Nat King Cole and people like that. I think he’s got a great voice and have been listening to him for a long time. I don’t know of anyone who ever saw him perform. My favorite moment of his is his version of Strayhorn’s Lush Life he performs with Coltrane. Here’s another slice of the very smoky, very emotive Mr. Hartman. I have spent a lot of nights alone in rooms with this guy’s voice as company.

Huun-Huur-Tu - Xöömeyimny Kagbas-La Men (I Will Not Abandon My Xöömei): I am a sucker for this band. They stun me. They amaze me. I found out they have added an LA date to their Autumn tour so I don’t have to go all the way Chico State U to see them. I hope I am off the road to see them at least once on this tour. I missed them by a day here and there in Europe months ago. Throat singing from Tuva! This is from Huun Huur Tu’s Where Yong Grass Grows album. Amazing, right?!

Five Royales - I'm Gonna Run It Down: These guys made a bunch of records a long time ago. You can see what an expert I am on this band. I first heard some of their tracks on the many Doo Wop CDs I have. I went out and found their separate albums and they’re all pretty good and all the songs are in that Doo Wop / R&B style. It’s good to throw something like this into our mix every once in awhile, especially coming out of the last track.

Alan Vega/RCTJ – American: I am always on the hunt for anything Alan Vega does. Now and then, he sneaks one by me but eventually I catch up with him. I now forget how I found this. Wait, it was on Ebay. It’s a compilation CD called Nouvelle Vague. I have not listened to anything else on the record yet because I was so excited to get right to the Vega track. Alan does a lot of this kind of thing where it’s someone else’s music and his vocal. I think they just send him stuff and lays on the vocal and sends it back. I should ask him about this track.

The Pop Group - We Are All Prostitutes: From the album of the same name. I am a new fan of this band. I know, they broke up 100 years ago, where was I. I know. I know. After this Bristol UK based band broke up, from it, you got Pig Bag and Rip, Rig & Panic as well as vocalist Mark Stewart and all his work with the On U Sound people. All very intense stuff. I don’t know much about Mark Stewart and his stuff is not all that easy to find but I’m getting into it all slowly. I remember some of his solo stuff when it was coming out but I was really broke in those days and the only records I was listening to were on the radio or at shows so I missed out on a lot of that cool post-punk stuff the first time around. I am really liking this Pop Group stuff. It’s all intense and damn good. The second half of that sentence brought to you by Ernest Hemingway.

Raymond Scott - Quiet Entrance: We haven’t played any Raymond Scott for awhile. I know I have been concentrating on The Unexpected album. I know there’s other Scott albums out there but I am into this one at the moment. I think this will be our 2nd dip into this CD. Raymond Scott—innovator, originator, composer, visionary. He’s impossible to miss. You’ve heard Raymond Scott and not even known it on several occasions. From cartoon soundtracks to inventing things that changed the music industry forever. He’s one of the greats from the last century. Thanks to Irwin Chusid for keeping the flame burning.