I was at the record store, and they put on Desesperanza by the Meridian Brothers. ” What the heck’s this? “, I asked. ” Crazy psychedelic UFO music from Colombia “, they said. ” Can I buy a copy? “, I asked. They smiled. 
When I’m with people and I play the music ( I got the vinyl record, but it came with a download card, and the album’s on Spotify ), someone always asks, ” what the heck’s this? “
” The party record of the Summer “, I say. No tengo pantalones.
Meridian Brothers : Salsa Caliente ( Versión Aumentada )
Meridian Brothers : Salsa Caliente ( Versión Aumentada )
Battambang, Cambodia. I rode a rented bicycle around all day. Returned it to the bike people. Nice kids. I was hot and dirty, and I’d noticed a bar on the corner because of its beautiful tile floor ( don’t let ‘em tell you that Battambang retains some kind of charming sleepy French colonial 1930s vibe; it doesn’t – but if you’ve an eye for the little things, like plaster moldings and floor tiles, there are clues, here and there ) and the sign that said DRAFT BEER, so I went in and sat down.
The soundtrack in this place was straight 1960s Cambodian rock n’ roll, which was already pretty awesome, but when this song came on, I started to hoot and holler a little. The bartender was like, dude, what’s your malfunction? and I was like, this song is about my city! New Orleans is my home! -I think she got what I meant. ” This man is excited because the most famous song about his town is the story of a whorehouse “, she may have been thinking.
Fair enough. In the perfect world of J.Yuenger, the Louisiana state song would be I Walk On Gilded Splinters.
Sinn Sisamouth : House Of The Rising Sun
Sinn Sisamouth : House Of The Rising Sun
Things about this track : It’s a version of a song you’ve heard all your life, sung in Khmer, which is neat. Also, there’s some very righteous lead guitar here, fuzz-style. Additional to that, this is Sinn Sisamouth, who was one of the biggest stars ( a singer, performer, songwriter, and producer ) of Cambodian music, who was murdered by the Khmer Rouge in 1976. Nearly all of the great musicians of Cambodia were killed during that era, and it’s pretty much certain that everyone playing on this track was later murdered, or endured hardships beyond our imagining.
Lights Out is album number three by Swedish band Graveyard, and it’s a really solid set. There are some speedier rockers on the record, but this is the track I like the best. I got a tiny bit misty when I heard him reach for, and catch, that high note. I did, I did.
Graveyard : Slow Motion Countdown
Graveyard : Slow Motion Countdown
A tune which, over the years, would, at various times, pop into my head, dimly remembered from a cassette a Finnish penpal sent me. Originally on a 5-song EP from 1982 so obscure that you had to be a friend of the band to get it, now a fancy white-vinyl reissue with gatefold and liner notes. Remastered, I guess, from the original tape, for what it’s worth :
Nolla Nolla Nolla : Silminnäkijä
Nolla Nolla Nolla : Silminnäkijä
” An even bigger problem was that ( producer ) Toni thought we were just doing a demo so he chose to record everything on some crappy leftover garbage tape. The tape was so finished there were basically holes in it, that’s why there are weird noises here and there throughout the record. ”
” ( singer ) Jore and ( guitarist ) Make were present when the record was engraved at Finnvox studios, and that’s when it really dawned on us what a crappy deal we got with the tapes. Seriously, it was bad. They did what they could but in some places the tapes were just fucked up beyond repair. “
Shit! If ever there was a genre that needed to exist, it would be Afro-doom. Zambia, 1974.
Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family : Trouble Maker
Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family : Trouble Maker
I saw an article called ” R.A.E.D. Is The Worst Rapper In History “, and I guess maybe he is, and I’m sort of fascinated by how he totally disregards the meter of the track and just barrels through, starting and stopping wherever.
R.A.E.D. : I Don’t Care Who You Are
R.A.E.D. : I Don’t Care Who You Are
It’s almost fall ( I guess it IS fall – somebody somewhere is probably wearing a sweater, but definitely not where I live ), and so my soundtrack skews naturally towards Euro-metal. And behold, there’s a new Witchcraft album!
Witchcraft : It’s Not Because Of You
Witchcraft : It’s Not Because Of You
Today was an all-Asian day. I went to the record store ( it’d been a while ) where I got a cassette called Black Plastic Singing Flats Vol.II ( I was a big fan of the first one ), and then I went out to the Vietnamese market and bought all kinds of weird stuff that you can only get at Asian markets, and then I came home and made noodles and stir-fried big fuck-off chunks of ginger and garlic and red peppers, and then, while I was making Vietnamese coffee, I played the tape. This song is the only one on the compilation that’s sung in English, but it has a perfect 1960s radio sound that really grabbed me. If I could go to a 45-years-ago Singapore nightclub tonight, I would.
Rita Chao : Cu Cu Cu Choo
Rita Chao : Cu Cu Cu Choo
Fuck. You didn’t forget about Little Richard, did you? You did? Note to self : L-I-T-T-L-E-R-I-C-H-A-R-D.
Little Richard : Rip It Up
Little Richard : Rip It Up
Don’t listen to this, unless you’re okay with it playing on endless repeat inside your head for the next couple of days. Don’t go watch the video, either.
Jan Terri : Losing You ( from VHS tape )
Jan Terri : Losing You ( from VHS tape )
The Boomtown Rats : Neon Heart
The Boomtown Rats : Neon Heart
This 1963 recording isn’t elevator music, not quite – but it is definitely smoothed-out for the cocktail generation. Even so, you can tell that the man and his horn are from New Orleans.
Al Hirt : Night Theme
Al Hirt : Night Theme
And today it rained like cats and goddamn dogs ( which is cool by me, as long as I know that my car’s on high ground – in case the pumps fail and the streets flood, which is a distinct possibility ), and I couldn’t listen to anything but Can. Future Days – Ege Bamyasi – Tago Mago – Soundtracks – Monster Movie. Repeat.
CAN : She Brings The Rain
CAN : She Brings The Rain
The Frogs : I’m Evil, Jack
The Frogs : I’m Evil, Jack
Dave Edmunds : Almost Saturday Night
Dave Edmunds : Almost Saturday Night
I heard this song the other day, which I had not heard nor even thought about since the mid-1980s, and it brought a distinct period of time rushing back. We left punk behind, rejected it, and devoured the stuff we’d missed, everything from Sabbath and Zeppelin ( easily got, then, along with stacks of Ventures LPs, at the thrift store ) to Stooges, MC5, Velvets, to goth, the coolest part of which was pretty much over but which lead naturally to music darker than anything heard previously : Neubauten, Foetus, Bad Seeds, Test Dept., Coil.
This was an end-of-the-night jam. Lights out, leather jacket for a pillow. Cold.
Psychic TV : The Orchids
Psychic TV : The Orchids
I just listened to this five times in a row, and it made me feel like I could pound my fist THROUGH a door.
Death : Keep On Knocking
Death : Keep On Knocking
Waipod Phetsuphan : Ding Ding Dong
Waipod Phetsuphan : Ding Ding Dong
Probably only of interest to me, Germans who were punks in the 1980s, and A., who had the record and let me tape it off him when we were teens.
Upright Citizens : Holocaust
Upright Citizens : Holocaust
Baba Brooks Band : Seven Guns Alive
Baba Brooks Band : Seven Guns Alive
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