Category Archives: album

Fun Vinyl Find: George Clinton’s You Shouldn’t Nuf Bit Fish

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While I do love a bit of the old vintage George Clinton, that’s not the reason I bought this piece of vinyl. Instead, I bought it because the whole thing is massive “borrowing” (with appropriate thanks in the liner notes) of Church of the SubGenius schtick. The center graphic, with Clinton’s face over the legend “Inspired madman or complete jackass?” is classic Ivan Stang. I have yet to listen to this, the graphics were enough to make me get it…as with many of my vinyl purchases, when you’re flipping through the bargain used bin, any strange thing that grabs your eye is enough to justify buying. That’s how I got Pop Against Pope, which I will have to review and post MP3s for next week, once I’ve relocated it in the stacks. It’s also how I discovered 4 Out of 5 Doctors, Pictures on a String, Comateens, and the much reviled Lung Overcoat

This George Clinton album gets high ratings by some fans, so I am hoping it’s a roof-shaker. Of course, I’m the guy who can listen to Funkadelic’s “DooDoo Chasers” more than once, so maybe in this case my judgement is a bit faulty. How can you NOT be at least slightly amused by the late-night bong hit ravings of Clinton and company, to the tune of Bootsy’s guitar noodling? Clinton’s utterly adolescent phrase “Count the calories in your farts!” will echo in your brain for days in spite of your best attempts to grow up.

If you look closely enough at the album cover for You Shouldn’t Nuf Bit Fish, you’ll see the Subgenius riffs, but you will also see where Snoop Doggy Dogg stole his ideas for much of his cover art…not to mention the “bow wow wow” chant on one of his earliest hits. Clinton does it better, Snoop.

Pricey Pleasures: A Huge Ever Growing Joy Division

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Pricey pleasures are the ones you know you SHOULDN’T purchase, but there you are, reaching for your wallet anyway. Today’s winner comes courtest of Eli.com, who at the time this is written have only one single, solitary copy of The Orb’s three-song 12-inch single for A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld. This would be the 1990 UK reissue 3-track 12″ vinyl single including Loving You Orbital Mix, Bucket & Spade Mix & Why Is Six Scared Of Seven. Final price for this tasty bit of Orb fun? More than $40 worthless US dollars after shipping.

My, oh, MY! That’s well above ten dollars per song. Granted, it’s an all-time favorite, but this is one instance where common sense seems to be winning out over my vinyl fetish. Besides, for about the same money I can pick up a Joy Division double album set of Martin Hannett’s personal mixes on 180 gram blue vinyl. Mmmmm, tasty.

Boy Eats Drum Machine: Booomboxxx

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Tender Loving Empire recently announced Boy Eats Drum Machine‘s next album, Booomboxxx, due out on vinyl and disc on 10/28. I got an advance copy in the post today and I am happy to report this album is full of sonic treats–especially for those who love their headphone candy. Sure, you could listen to this on the speakers (or studio monitors like I do), but I strongly suggest using a nice pair of headphones to enjoy this one as here is much fun to be had with those sounds up close and personal. Horns, nice soulful vox (without sounding like some kind of Sam Cooke knockoff I might add), plenty of sonic goodness.

Boy Eats Drum Machine is Portland’s Jon Ragel with some kickass guest drummers including Danny Seim from Menomena and several others. Ragel really grabbed my ears with the track “I’m Alive Don’t Bury Me” which instantly made me think of Serpent And The Rainbow, the creepy Wes Craven movie. This album is packed with great, herky-jerky beats and scratches and a nice deep dark analogue synth groove that, on proper equipment, can be felt in your STERNUM. Nice one, BEDM.

Enjoy an advance sampling of five tracks from this hand-crafted vinyl record and CD package (what an undertaking!) at the Boy Eats Drum Machine Downloads page. Free tunes to tease you for the full-blown (and nicely done) package hitting stores on 10/28.

Tender Loving Empire has scored with this album. Click on that link above and fill your weekend with beats. YES.

Fun Used Vinyl Finds

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While out shopping for vinyl tonight I ran across these two delicious finds.I have a huge weakness for anything so wonderfully perverse as Switched-On Rock/The Moog Machine’s old hippie classics re-worked into Moog-synthesized mini-masterpieces. You thought your stereo was broken when you listened to Nine Inch Nails The Fragile, try the super-freaked out synth patches on “You Just Keep Me Hangin’ On”. I actually checked the monitors to make sure I hadn’t lost the tweeters. Hah!

With stuff like this, first you listen cuz it’s cheesy fun. After a few go rounds with it, you actually start hearing how it…could…be…good somehow. This stuff is brilliant. Like eating a brick of jalapeno Velveeta. You know you shouldn’t, but you can’t stop yourself. My favorite part of this two-dollar purchase is actually the liner notes, by “Album conceiver and macrobopper” Russ Barnard. Check out this hilariously dated bit:

“One thing must be stressed: This album is virtually 100% Moog–only two instruments are live. One is the drum set; Moog drums are possible, but in this stage of the art, sound kind of mechanical and ricky-tick.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! That’s 1967 thinking for you…

The Isaac Hayes Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak) is just as great in its own way. This is a long way from Shaft, folks–a disco-infected album (hence the name) that starts off with Isaac Hayes singing about picking up hotties at his favorite disco-teria, and wrapping up the album lamenting about a woman who must “love me…or lose me” My man Isaac is either picking up strict Catholic girls who also love to boogie down but not GET down, or Hayes was just at the end of his lyrical rope by the end of this 1976 coke-n-amyl nitrate soaked leisure suit fest.

I love this cheesy shit. Hayes ain’t phoning this in–he’s going for it on every single track, so there’s this great vibe running through the record. While it’s spinning, you can just see the ABC Records exec snorting coke off the mixing desk, nodding to the beat thinking it was going to be HUGE. “We can shift a million units and get Isaac down to 54 to say hi to Steve Rubell and give Andy Warhol his Polaroids. Then we’ll hit the big time…AMERICAN BANDSTAND.”

Favorite part of this album–the “Solid Gold Dancers” chorus on Thank You Love where the ladies are sing/shrieking “Makin Loooooove” and “Girl, I thank you”.

I ain’t NEVER head Isaac Hayes THANKING a woman for having sex, but it sure sounds like that’s what’s going on here…great stuff. It’s just too wrong NOT to enjoy. “We’ll make love every day…and weeeeeeeellll buh-loowww each other’s MINNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS”