Monday, December 28, 2009

Happy holidays from the Obscuro! team

Oops, due to familial obligations, I wasn't able to provide you with a new edition of the program this week. I also don't really feel like uploading anything...so...yeah...tune in this week on Thursday, midnight til 2 to hear a brand new Obscuro! with no particular theme.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Playlist for 12-18-09, the Nurse With Wound List special


That's right, as promised, I dedicated an entire show to the Nurse With Wound list. You can find out more information about the list if you scroll down and check the post about it. I don't feel like elaborating again. No show this week since it's Christmas Eve and I'll be out of town.

BUT, you can always listen to the Obscuro! back catalog here.

Last week's show isn't up yet, but it will be probably by tomorrow.

Here's the playlist:

Dec 18 - 1:52 AM Harvester Everybody (Needs Somebody to Love) Hemat
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 1:51 AM Residents Nice Old Man The Commercial Album
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 1:47 AM Dies Irae Lucifer First
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 1:40 AM Hampton Grease Band Maria Music to Eat
No Bizarro Jerry e/d
Dec 18 - 1:39 AM Mars Puerto Rican Ghost 78+
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 1:35 AM Brainticket Places of Light Cottonwoodhill
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 1:32 AM Chrome You've Been Duplicated Half Machine Lip Moves
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 1:27 AM Companyia Electria Dharma Euforia Diumenge
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 1:22 AM Patrick Vian Tunnel 4, Red Noise Bruits et Temps Analogues
No Bizarro Jerry e/d
Dec 18 - 1:17 AM Dedalus Brilla S/T
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 1:14 AM Anal Magic and the Reverend Dwight Frizzell Nocturnal Beyond the Black Crack
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 1:11 AM Poison Girls Crisis Hex
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 1:04 AM Comus Song to Comus First Utterance
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 1:02 AM Mahogany Brain Diamond Voices of Stars Smooth Sick Lights
No Bizarro Jerry e/d
Dec 18 - 12:58 AM Walter Franco Piramides Revolver
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 12:54 AM Cromagnon Caledonia Orgasm
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 12:51 AM Night Sun Plastic Shotgun Mournin'
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 12:47 AM Deep Freeze Mice Brain Dead Baby The Gates of Lunch
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 12:41 AM John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band Well, Well, Well S/T
No Bizarro Jerry e/d
Dec 18 - 12:35 AM Magma Aina Kobaia
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 12:32 AM Art Bears Rats and Monkeys Winter Songs
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 12:29 AM Debris One Way Spit Static Disposal
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 12:25 AM Red Krayola Hurricane Fighter Plane The Parable of Arable Land
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 12:19 AM The Pop Group Don't Call Me Pain Y
No Bizarro Jerry e/d
















Dec 18 - 12:13 AM Hairy Chapter It Must Be an Officer's Daughter Eyes
No
e/d
Dec 18 - 12:06 AM This Heat The Fall of Saigon S/T
No
e/d

Dec 17 -
11:59 PM
Smegma Half a Billion Glamour Girl 1941
No Bizarro Jerry e/d


It is possible I will post an online-only edition of Obscuro! from my homestead this week or early next week...only time will tell.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

I'll be stoned for Christmas...(Obscuro! Mixtape #2)


Instead of posting anything that has to do with the NWW list (you'll hear enough of that tonight from midnight til 2...) I'm giving you the second Obscuro! mix tape. This time around, the theme is some real hard-rockin' (though often bizarre) tracks to sit back and twist up some mistletoe with.

You can download it here. It comes complete with a front and back cover.
You can check out my podcasts here.

Tracklist:

1. Pink Fairies - "Do It" - Never Neverland, 1971
Some nice acoustic guitar, then BAM, into the ether. Pink Fairies were known for their ridiculous stage shows, copious drug use and wild music courtesy of former members of the UK Psych group the Deviants. This song raises a valid point: It's rock and roll, man...and the message is 'DO IT.'

2. Arcesia - "White Panther" - Reachin', 1968
Lounge-crooner-turned-acid-rocker Johnny Arcesi put out his only LP "Reachin" and you should probably hear it. His wild vocal style is similar to Jim Morrison....if he were more toasted than he already was. The bassline in this track is killer.

3. Christian Kolonovits - "Life is Just a Carnival" - Life is Just a Carnival, 1976
Not too sure about this one...I haven't even bothered listening to the record all the way through. It's just one of the many things I find and don't listen to for a long time...but this song is pretty good and kind of reminds me of Zappa.

4. Creepy John Thomas - "This is My Body" - Brother Bat Bone, 1968
Incredibly hard rockin' song that contains the immortal line, "You know me, I'm stoned all the time." Is there anything more quintessentially 60's than that? Also, it rocks.

5. Oliver - "Cat and the Rat" - Standing Stone, 1974
I'm not entirely sure I believe the story behind this album, because that would make it the most ahead-of-its time stuff I've ever heard. Supposedly recorded by a dude who lived on a farm and just happened to be related to one of the engineers who worked on John Peel's radio show (hence the pristine recording quality) and even got some major-label offers based on these home recordings, but turned them down because he didn't like the way rock stars lived. Whatever the case, it's one fucked-up jam.

6. Alex Chilton - "No Sex" - No Sex EP, 1986
My favorite rock and roll drifter. Alex has reinvented himself so many times, and it's something nobody else is doing. Here's some loose blues-rock with his trademark sneering lyrics.

7. Speed, Glue and Shinki - "Mr. Walking Drugstore Man" - Eve, 1971
If the band name/song title isn't an indicator, these guys were deep into drugs. Sometimes their songs are directionless and sloppy, and sometimes they're just out-of-control like this one. Guitarist Shinki Chen has been called 'the Japanese Hendrix,' but I dunno if Hendrix would ever write a song like this.

8. Former Fetus - "Twilight Zone" - A Rock Opera, 1997
??? What the hell is this? Your guess is as good as mine. It seems to be a rock opera by a bunch of guys who really don't like abortion, but DO like hardcore punk and Neil Young. Maybe you don't agree with their overtly Christian message, but you can sure as hell thrash to this.

9. Phafner - "Whiskey Took My Woman" - Overdrive, 1971
Proto-doom-metal from a band that apparently was only able to press up 50 copies of their record.

10. Mike Rep and the Quotas - "Mama Was a Schitzo, Daddy Was a Vegetable Man" - 45 rpm single, 1975
These guys don't give a fuck. They record their songs poorly on purpose, and their discography is so messy (with solo albums, EP's, limited releases) that I wish you luck if you try digging through it. They've also been studio musicians/engineers for a lot of famous bands, which is kind of weird. Ohio proto-punk that'll stomp the shit out of you.

11. Destroy All Monsters - "Bored" - 45 rpm single, 1978
More proto-punk, this time from Ann Arbor, MI. This group featured a female vocalist named Niagara and members of both MC5 and the Stooges.

12. High Speed and the Afflicted Man - "Get Stoned EZY" - Get Stoned EZY, 1982
I don't know much about the guy known as "Afflicted Man" (and apparently this is mostly the product of him alone) but it seems that he released a lot of pretty mellow recordings, and then this as his final album. I've heard bits and pieces of the other stuff and wasn't too impressed, but this I like. The album itself is 3 songs, this being the shortest. 'High'-ly recommended.

13. Blue Cheer - "Magnolia Caboose Babyfinger" - Outsideinside, 1968
Okay, so maybe you're familiar with Blue Cheer because of their stompin' cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues." But here's a brief instrumental jam by them that was later covered by Mudhoney. Short, to the point, and incredibly rockin'.

14. Black Hole - "All My Evil" - Land of Mystery, 1985
Don't know much about this one either, except that it's really evil doom metal from Italy. They go all out with funereal organs and a picture of the band standing around an infant's coffin on the album sleeve. That's some dark shit, holmes.

15. Stephen David Heitkotter - "Hangin' All Night" - Heitkotter, 1971
I've mentioned this album a few times before, but for the record, this guy was the drummer for a CA garage rock band until he either quit or was fired and gathered 2 friends to make this album. It's cheaply recorded, but sounds to be 2 guitarists and a drummer. Stephen himself plays the role of vocalist, songwriter and drummer. Oh yeah, and he's been in a psych ward since shortly after he recorded this LP and I can't figure out why.

16. Brainticket - "Black Sand" - Cottonwoodhill, 1971
German prog rock...reminds me of a dumbed-down Can, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. They like their distorted organ riffs almost as much as Deep Purple.

17. Wild Man Fischer - "The Taster" - An Evening With Wild Man Fischer, 1968
Street performer discovered by Frank Zappa, who also provided him with backing musicians and a studio to record in (until he tried to kill Zappa's family.) Consequently, the Zappa estate will not re-release this double LP. This track is kind of 50's-influenced, with the Wild Man's vocal style which is pretty much indescribable. Who could forget a line like "I knew a doctor, just one certain doctor, who goes around putting things in everyone's octer"?

18. Fifty Foot Hose - "The Things that Concern You" - Cauldron, 1967
I've heard people describe the music of Stereolab as 'what people from the 60's would imagine music from the future to sound like.' Apparently that's true, since this band sounds like Stereolab a little. This album (and song) is the perfect combination of smooth, loungey tunes with fucked-up primitive electronics and some wild female vocals.

19. Chrome - "Nova Feedback" - Alien Soundtracks, 1977
A lengthy, spacey instrumental jam from Damon Edge and Helios Creed. These guys took way way way too many drugs and tried to re-create the sounds in their heads. Helios Creed especially, who molded his guitar playing after what he heard listening to Black Sabbath on acid. One of the coolest bands of all time--even if they're credited with inventing 'industrial' rock. This ain't Nine Inch Nails.

That's the whole she-bang. I would strongly advise you to listen to your radio tonight for the Nurse With Wound List edition of the show. It'll be everything you imagined and more.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Playlist for 12-11-09, campus closed but Jerry's still rockin' it


Despite tumultuous weather and some spin-0uts in the WIDR parking lot, I presented the public with another excellent edition of Obscuro! this past Thursday night. The show featured a bit more depressing fare than usual, but whatev, right? Of the artists featured, both Jandek and Jim Shepard got more than one play. Cos I'm lazy? Anyhow, get the podcast here, and follow along with the playlist below. IT'S BACKWARDS.

Dec 11 - 1:53 AM Bob Desper Lonely Man New Sounds
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 1:52 AM Mike Rep and the Quotas Nightwalker A Tree Stump Named Desire
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 1:49 AM Louis Innis Suicide 45 rpm single
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 1:45 AM Michael Yonkers Band Kill the Enemy Microminiature Love
No Bizarro Jerry e/d
Dec 11 - 1:42 AM Hopkins and Bradley Final Bow S/T
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 1:38 AM Jandek You Painted Your Teeth Telegraph Melts
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 1:35 AM Meat Puppets Aurora Borealis Meat Puppets II requestical Yes
e/d
Dec 11 - 1:32 AM Tolerance I Wanna Be a Homicide Anonym
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 1:26 AM Paternoster Blind Children S/T
No Bizarro Jerry e/d
Dec 11 - 1:25 AM Tolerance I Wanna Be a Homicide

No
e/d
Dec 11 - 1:25 AM Paternoster Blind Children S/T
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 1:24 AM Mark Melanson Pieces in the Sand Haunted Hearse
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 1:13 AM Terry Clown Clouds Rojvi
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 12:59 AM Stephen David Heitkotter Fly Over the Moon Heitkotter
No Bizarro Jerry e/d
Dec 11 - 12:54 AM Edgar Broughton Band Why Can't Somebody Love Me? Wasa Wasa
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 12:49 AM Smoke Curtains Heaven on a Popsicle Stick
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 12:48 AM Little Stevie McCabe Life Doesn't Go On Sweat it Out
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 12:42 AM This Heat Makeshift Swahili Deceit
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 12:39 AM Gary Wilson Loneliness You Think You Really Know Me
No Bizarro Jerry e/d
Dec 11 - 12:36 AM Former Fetus After the Rapture A Rock Opera
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 12:32 AM Dave Bixby Drug Song Ode to Quetzacoatl
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 12:28 AM Armand Schaubroeck Steals Scene 12: Mental Breakdown in Solitary Confinement, "Fading Out" A Lot of People Would Like to See Armand Schaubroeck...DEAD
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 12:22 AM The Monks I Hate You Black Monk Time
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 12:18 AM Jandek Cave in on You Ready for the House
No Bizarro Jerry e/d
Dec 11 - 12:15 AM Jandek Stopped Worthless Recluse
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 12:10 AM Randy Holden Fruit and Iceburgs (sic) Population II
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 12:08 AM Buddy Knox I Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself 45 rpm single
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 12:03 AM Electric Eels Anxiety The Eyeball of Hell
No
e/d
Dec 11 - 12:01 AM Jim Shepard Pull the Switch, Henry Picking Through the Wreckage With a Stick
No Bizarro Jerry e/d


Next week's show will feature cuts from various artists off the Nurse With Wound list, as previously mentioned. See the post before this one for more info. I'll probably load up an album dealing with that theme midway through the week, too.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Here's your christmas list...

I get a lot of calls from people wanting to know where I find all this crazy shit. Well, I've gotten about 3 calls regarding that...but...one of the main sources for Obscuro!'s musical selection is a thing called the Nurse With Wound list. Back in the late 70's/early 80's, some dudes decided they wanted to sample a bunch of psychedelic German records and make weird sounds/be creepy. They called themselves Nurse With Wound, and went on to influence everyone from Negativland to Skinny Puppy to Sonic Youth. Personally, I'm not a big fan of their music...but I like their list! Upon releasing their first album, "Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table," they included with the LP a list of obscure 'outsider' musicians who had either influenced them or who they had sampled. Nothing else; just the performers' names.

Now, with the power of the internet, it's relatively easy to dig up a lot of the albums by these groups, and dig I do indeed. Here's the entire list, for reference:


There you have it. Next week (as in, the edition of the program AFTER this week's) I will be featuring nothing but NWW list artists...so if ya know any you want to hear, drop me a line. Also, don't tune in this week if you don't wanna be bummed out, cuz that's pretty much the theme.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Playlist for 12-4-09, "This is My Private Life"

One of the major components of the show was featured this past week: Private-press LP's from the 60's, 70's and 80's (a few from the 90's, but whatever.) These are independently-released albums, and that means individually released as opposed to a small indie label. There weren't even really smaller labels at the time, so any home-musician who wanted his/her stuff heard had to pony up and get it pressed themselves. Obviously, in this situation there's not such a thing as 'quality control,' so often things that would have been 'too weird' for audiences back then are still floating around.

These albums can be fun to listen to because they range from the delightful pioneering of Debris' "Static Disposal" to the warped psychedelic lounge of the Kaplan Brothers' "Nightbird." I filled the entire show with various songs from my favorite private-press albums, and you can hear the whole thing right here. The playlist is below:

Dec 04 - 1:57 AM Y. Bhekhirst Dalmar Hot in the Airport
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 1:54 AM Arcesia Reachin' Reachin'
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 1:50 AM Boots Up S/T
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 1:47 AM Madrigal B.B.'s Finale S/T
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 1:45 AM Debris Tricia Static Disposal
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 1:39 AM Tim Curry Brontasaurus Read My Lips requestical Yes Bizarro Jerry e/d
Dec 04 - 1:31 AM Raven Raven Mad Jam Back to Ohio Blues
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 1:26 AM Jandek You're the Best One Six and Six
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 1:24 AM Tool Shed Court Roger S/T
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 1:21 AM Mike Rep and the Quotas I Resign Stupor Hiatus
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 1:15 AM Randy Rice Mrs. Bitch To Anyone Who's Ever Laughed at Someone Else
No Bizarro Jerry e/d
Dec 04 - 1:10 AM YaHoWa 13 Fire in the Sky Savage Sons of YaHoWa 13
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 1:08 AM Roger Rubin and Rotfree Anderson Masters of Society Atlanta Underground: Freek Music
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 1:02 AM The Afflicted Man Get Stoned EZY Get Stoned EZY
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 12:58 AM JW Farquhar The Want-Machine Pt. 1 The Formal Female
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 12:52 AM Virgin Insanity The Ballad of Clifton T. Toad Frog and Fish Friends
No Bizarro Jerry e/d
Dec 04 - 12:47 AM Alien City Get Away S/T
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 12:40 AM Christopher Montgomery The Beast in the Jungle Connecticut Elegy
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 12:38 AM Tommy Jay Village Idiot Tall Tales of Trauma
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 12:34 AM Kaplan Brothers Listen to the Falling Rain Nightbird
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 12:27 AM Bob Bell Necropolis Pt. 1 Necropolis
No Bizarro Jerry e/d
Dec 04 - 12:23 AM Sound Ceremony Motor S/T
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 12:17 AM Oliver Tok Tic Standing Stone
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 12:11 AM Kenneth Higney Rock Star Attic Demonstration
No
e/d
Dec 04 - 12:08 AM Eddie Callahan Where Will We Be Tomorrow False Ego
No
e/d

Dec 03
- 11:59
PM
Wicked Lady SinCity Psychotic Overkill
No Bizarro Jerry e/d