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.
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