Y: RFK Assassination Record

Odd little piece of Robert F. Kennedy assassination memorabilia that was assembled and produced by Doug Moody of Mystic Studios – who many may recall as the producer of those wonderful and sometimes wretched Mystic punk rock compilations of the mid-80s.

It’s a collection of audio from around the time of RFK’s assassination. It includes interviews with eyewitnesses, from people who came to believe immediately following that tragic event that perhaps there was a conspiracy to take his life, some recollections from people that knew Sirhan Sirhan and also some audio verite from the actual assassination. Each portion of the LP either begins or ends with a key speech by Robert Kennedy – including his chillingly ironic violence in America speech.

Apparently, Doug or perhaps RFK conspiracy theorist filmmaker Theodor Carach tried to sell it to Zappa’s Straight label but it ended up not coming out. I found this quote somewhere but lost my notes from whence it came (probably from one of the more esoteric corners of communities of people who collect Zappa interviews):

“A man came to us with some tapes. He had been making a documentary album about the assassination of Robert Kennedy and he had interviewed all these people and he had put together this really fantastic album. That was when we had the Bizarre label and the deal with Warner Brothers on the bizarre label was we could bring projects to them and they had the right to refuse them and they heard that and that’s why it never came out. They were afraid of it.”

I don’t think the film from where this audio comes from ever came to fruition, so perhaps because of or in spite of that, Moody assembled it into an LP and it eventually came out on Solar Records, but I am unsure of the year. It has a more-or-less functional entry on Discogs. Given that the Warner/Bizarre/Straight deal only lasted from 1969 to 1973, I am guessing it came out somewhere within that (missed) window of opportunity – give or take a year or two. Someone on Collector Frenzy talks about having a copy signed by Ted Carach and dated ’74, so we know it was no later than that. Back and to the left. Back and to the left.

The cover is an interesting illustration made on a typewriter simply using the letter ‘y’. Clever, eh?

Download

 

Rock or Die!: Punk Rock Compilation

I’ve put together this online compilation of my favorite Punk and 80s Hardcore songs.
The thing that inspired me to finally do this was a show I did with my friend Jeff Kipilman on KBOO fairly recently. Many of the songs from this comp. were played on that show but we didnt have the time to play all of them. After the show ran, I collected all the songs and leftovers into this comp. (with lots to spare). These are literally my all-time favorite Punk and Hardcore songs.

I tried, where possible, to make it as obscure and eclectic as possible. I passed on bands or tracks that appear on virtually every Punk comp. or bands that really don’t need any introduction to anyone. I also made it so that almost nothing on it happened after 1984 or so because after that, I can almost count the ‘punk’ bands that I found interesting on one hand. The supposition of the comp. is that Punk happened between the mid-Seventies to the mid-Eighties. The rest was just about selling shoes and soft drinks.
In some instances, I played more than one contiguous track from some records because that’s how I remember them – either played on the radio back-in-the-day or from mix-tapes I either made or got from friends, collectors, etc..
It’s just the way I wanted to do it.

A few caveats about quality: The whole thing originated from mix-tapes I’ve had since the early-mid-eighties, sources on the web in the ensuing decades and from my own collection. Like lots of projects like this, the audio quality varies widely. Some rarer songs were actually sourced from my mix tapes from my collection and I’ve been too busy (or lazy – take your pick) to look for better ones. Please don’t bother whining about audio quality or bitrate. I put a lot of work into preparing this. If you don’t like it, go spend all your money on the Killed By Death series and leave me alone.

Download: Rock or Die! (133 megs)

Comments vs downloads:
Comment: 1  Downloads: 27

The Films of Amos Poe

The wonderful UBU Web have made the entire filmography of Amos Poe available online.
Poe made Blank Generation in 1976 with a veritable who’s who of New York punk in the movie.

Another notable movie is The Foreigner, with one of the earliest glimpses of The Cramps, who play a gang who beat up the protagonist in the film.
Poe’s films have a certain early Warhol, Kuchar Bros appeal to them. That they’re sort of crappy is beside the point, when one looks at what great documents they are of early NY punk.

Check ’em out:

U B U W E B – Film & Video: Amos Poe

Kill Ugly Radio Episode 01.25.11: Altered State of the Union

Mutated, noise generated by Barack Obama, filtered through LFOs, ring modulation and delay. It was the Altered State of the Union.
Plus, some recent vinyl acquisitions.
Noise. Music. More noise (please).

Listen
Take

Playlist:
Lalo Schifrin – What’s Wrong? – THX-1138 OST
–
Barack Obama vs DJ ManRich – Altered State of the Union
Core of the Coalman – Anxiety – Resipiscent Records
Unknown – Sausage, pork, beef, cheese, whole milk, butter, margarine, nuts (Found at Dangerous Minds blog)
Jim Larrance – Pastor Lax – Cut-Up Sound
Wire – A Touching Display – 154
Popol Vuh – Aguirre 2 – Deutsche Elektronische Musik
–
Pacific Northwest Bell – Holiday in Oregon 7″
Loach Fillet – Origins of the Two-Headed Spitting Cobra – Electric Pond: Solar Solution Resipiscent Records
Hawaiian Pups – Infinite Roads – Split Second Precision
Hawaiian Pups – Trash – Split Second Precision
Hawaiian Pups – Baby Judy – Split Second Precision
Uncle Ron – Airplane Trip – Adventureland
Alp – Artis – Out and About with Alp – Soleilmoon Records
Forrest McCollough – Flight F.I.N.A.L.
Brian Routh and Patricia Wells – Mashed Potatoes – SoundCloud
How Bacon Is Made
–
Ollie Halsall & John Halsey – Bum Love – Miniatures
The Residents – We`re A Happy Family/Bali Ha`i – Miniatures
Roger McGough – The Wreck Of The Hesperus – Miniatures
Morgan Fisher – Green And Pleasant – Miniatures
John Otway – Mine Tonight – Miniatures
Pete Challis & Phil Diplock – My Way – Miniatures
Robert Wyatt – Rangers In The Night – Miniatures
Stinky Winkles – Opus – Miniatures
Mary Longford – Body Language – Miniatures
Andy Newman – Andy The Dentist – Miniatures
David Bedford – Wagner`s Ring In One Minute – Miniatures
Fred Frith – The Entire Works Of Henry Cow – Miniatures
Maggie Nicols – Look Beneath The Surface – Miniatures
Joseph Racaille – Week-End – Miniatures
The Work – With Wings Pressed Back – Miniatures
Neil Innes & Son – Cum On Feel The Noize – Miniatures
Herbert Distel – Toscany In Blue (Last Minute) – Miniatures
Lol Coxhill – An End To The Matter – Miniatures
Ken Ellis – One Minute In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich – Miniatures
Steve Miller – Alice – Miniatures
Norman Lovet – John Peel Sings The Blues Badly – Miniatures
Patrick Portella – Serrons Nous Les Coudes – Miniatures
George Melly – Sounds That Saved My Life (Homage To K.S.) – Miniatures
Robert Fripp – Miniature – Miniatures
Andy Partridge – The History Of Rock`N`Roll – Miniatures
Phantom Captain – Breather – Miniatures
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Children’s Starlight Chorus – E.T., I Love You – E.T., I Love You and Other Extraterrestrial Songs

Repost: Stranger Than Fiction Pt. 1

(Reposting this DJ-less mix I put together years ago):
Around 1980 I discovered that, late Thursday nights, some DJ was playing strange, alien music. My appetite was whetted by Devo, Pink Floyd and strange bands I had read about in Heavy Metal magazine (having nothing to do with the genre of music that would later take its name) and I wanted more. The discovery of KBOO’s Stranger than Fiction completely opened the door to new, exciting music for me, and I’ve never looked back. The hosts of STF – the enigmatic Mr. B and Equinox – played a combination of New Wave, skinny-tie pop, novelty music (Barnes and Barnes, Bonzo Dog Band, etc.) and lots of acts that straddled Prog and Post-Punk (Gabriel, Fripp, Hammill). Thier show was like a complete education in alternative music and it really saved me in those lost years of being a weird, alien-feeling teenager, even if it meant that my friends would never let me play my mix-tapes at parties.

Eventually, Mr. B and Equinox expanded the program to handle early and late shifts, Mr. B starting at 1:00 AM, playing mostly newly released import singles and Equinox taking over duties at 3:00, playing lots of ambient music, prog and space rock until morning. I used to go home from school on Thursdays and go right to sleep so that I could stay up all night drawing comics while the show was on. I even taped a lot of it, but the tapes sound horrid now. As the eighties gave way to rock video, STF’s programming went a little too mainstream for my tastes and I was getting into hardcore punk by then. I don’t even recall when they finally went off the air.

the tracks I chose for this mix were songs that were either played often on their show, or played once and really made an impression on me.

I dedicate this mix to all late night DJs out there, playing new, weird music for alienated kids.

Play

Download (90 mins. 82 megs. @ 128kbps)

Playlist:

1. Godley & Creme – Freeze Frame
2. XTC – Senses Working Overtime
3. Lene Lovich – Lucky Number
4. The Normal – tvod
5. Robert Fripp – Disengage
6. Fad Gadget – Ricky’s Hand
7. Karel Fialka – The Eyes Have It
8. The Fabulous Poodles – Mirror Star
9. Gary Numan – I Dream Of Wires
10. Robert Palmer – I Dream Of Wires
11. The The – This is the Day
12. Peter Hammill – Now More Than Ever
13. The Silicone Teens – Memphis Tennessee
14. Fred Frith – Dancing In The Street
15. Hawaiian Pups – Baby Judy
16. Midnight Oil – Tin Legs and Tin Mines
17. Public Image Ltd. – Pied Piper
18. M – Pop Muzik
19. Peter Gabriel – Games Without Frontiers
20. Boomtown Rats – Whitehall 1212
21. The Psychedelic Furs – Pulse
22. Laurie Anderson – Sharkey`s Day
23. Morgan Fisher, et. al. – Excerpt from Miniatures

Kill Ugly Radio Presents: The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick

Mediascape collage of the life, times and fiction (and fictionalized life and times) of the visionary science fiction author Philip K. Dick.

Play
Download

Sources:
Films:
The Penultimate Truth of Philip K. Dick
The Gospel According to Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick: A Day in the Afterlife, from the BBC series Arena, 1994
Blade Runner
A Scanner Darkly

Other audio sources:
Book on tape of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (read by Matthew Modine and Calista Flockhart)
X-Minus One radio program of PKD’s The Colony, 1950s
Book on tape of Ubik
Hour 25 Interview of Philip K. Dick conducted by Tim Hodel in 1977

Music:
Lalo Schifrin – What’s Wrong? – THX-1138 OST
Bill Laswell and M.J. Harris – Distal Sonarity – Somnific Flux
Tim Hecker – Spectral – Radio Amor
Tim Hecker – Star Compass – Radio Amor
Tim Hecker – 7000 Miles – Radio Amor
Vangelis – Prodigal Son Brings Death – Blade Runner OST

Stevens and Grdnic

Somewhere Over the Radio
Takoma (1979)

Really funny – albeit somewhat dated – comedy record built around the concept of late-Seventies FM radio. Some of it’s really good and I remember hearing bits of this on my local burnout classic Rock station back in the day.

The production values are great and the humor stays within the lowbrow to highbrow range, with oodles of dope references and lots of slams to the crass commercialization of radio. It reminds me somewhat of The National Lampoon Radio Hour – especially the post-Michael O’Donoghue period.

Some funny bits are one about a giant rock festival with $85 dollar tickets (which is chicken-feed nowadays), a running gag about a punk rock band called Garbage and a rock opera about a duck named Herman.
Ron Stevens and Joy Grdnic (pronounced grid-nick) were a comedy team who also worked in radio. Apparently, they are still working together in the syndicated radio market. Joy is still drop-dead gorgeous, too.

Tracklisting

1. Tuning In
2. Bogus Concerts
3. Ron Pentecost
4. Rock & Roll Toy
5. No Parking
6. Today’s Weather
7. Speed Reading
8. Steve McNab
9. Bend Over Beethoven
10. Jesse Jeff Westchester
11. Dermadrug
12. Hiwater Pants
13. Movie Trivia Giveaway
14. Do It
15. Unisex Stereo
16. Miss Information pt.I
17. Joe Brackne
18. Miss Information pt.II
19. Fun & Fresh
20. Miss Information pt.III
21. Marijuana Helper
22. Herman
23. Massage Parlor
24. Rocko Products
25. We’re Really Gonna Make It This Time
26. Disco Record Offer
27. Tuning Out

Note: My rip varies from the LP with regard to tracks. I separated out a few tracks to make it work better in MP3 playback. This doesn’t affect the order or running time, but makes a few more tracks than that which is listed on the LP.

Download (Re-upped 12/26/12 – when it’s gone, it’s gone.  You’re welcome.).