By A Thread

The premise behind this podcast is either fun and enlightening or ill-executed and brain dead. You be the judge.

Above: The Invisible Men, courtesy of somebody who had this on some article on some website. Sorry, I don't remember any specifics. That's Karlis on the left. Man, don't they just look like they're on fire?

1. Einstürzende Neubauten "Yü Gung" This is where I create my listener: if you can make it through 7 minutes and 14 seconds of aggressive Deutsche industrielle Tanzmusik, you will be rewarded richly. Of course, you could just forward to 7:14, but where's the fun in that?
   
2. Pussy Galore "Yü Gung" Same song, totally different groove. Of all the music I listen to, Pussy Galore is hands-down my favorite. In addition to this I plan on posting two other covers in future podcasts, cuz they don't just cover a song, they own it! Pick up the Sugarshit Sharp reissue that features this song and their equally awesome cover of Devo's "Penetration of the Centerfold." The booklet also shows the song-sketch for the different sections of their "Yü Gung" version. Can you identify the "Link Wray" part or the "Kinks" part? Funny.
   
3. A Frames "Galena" Thus begins a chain of related Seattle bands I love. The relation to the prior song? Metal percussion, I suppose. Thin, I know. This comes of their latest LP, Black Forest, but I recommend virtually everything they've produced.
   
4. Bend Sinister "All Right" Vocalist/ guitarist Erin and bassist Min's pre-A Frames band. I ordered this from Erin's Dragnet Records, and the entire transaction was an absolute pleasure. He even tossed in another CD for free. What a guy! Thanks, Erin!
5. The Dipers "I Am So Spun" Also pre-A Frames, now with Erin and the A Frames' (former) drummer Lars here playing bass and singing. Lars the man behind my favorite local band:
6. The Intelligence "Boys Annoy" Most of the recorded Intelligence stuff is just Lars on his 8-track, but as of 2005 they've become a relatively stable line-up, including two members of another Seattle great, Popular Shapes, featured on this track from the Intelligence's recent eponymous EP.
   
7. Popular Shapes "Symmetrical Girl" A version of this tune can be found on Popular Shapes' sole LP Bikini Style, which is simply freakin' awesome. This one comes from a split single with the Intelligence.
8. Unnatural Helpers "Gettin' Classy" The Unnatural Helpers are a local super group of sorts, with Popular Shapes vocalist/ Intelligence guitarist Dean Whitmore on drums and vox here. Lars was also in an early line-up. This tune is short and sweet, from their self-titled debut LP, which you need.
   
9. Tractor Sex Fatality "Jungle Pam" Karlis, an old friend of mine, was one of many bass players in The Intelligence, and was the original Tractor Sex Fatality bassist. Dave Bessenhoffer now plays bass for TSF, but he and Karlis are also 1/2 of:
10. New Fangs "In The Blood" From Bayonets. Karlis and Dave were also 2/3 of:
11. The Blow Up "Dead Stars" From their debut Dead Stars single on Empty Records. I think you can still find their one and only full length, True Noise. It's a great album, and these guys are nothing short of incredible. As a former Vespa scooterist, half-assed mod, and friend of Karlis, I always wondered if the smashed up Lambretta on the cover and mod shots on the gatefold were directed towards me. How's that for ego?
    
12. The Invisible Men "Gamekeeper" Continuing our Karlis-fest, this Billy Childish cover comes from the Invisible Men's Hunt You Down 7" EP. Karlis is credited on the sleeve, but if I recall correctly it is actually ex-Fall-Out Shannon McConnell playing on this cut. Oh well.
13. Thee Headcoats "Young Blood" And thus we end this cycle with one of Mr. Childish's best known bands. This comes from the Headcoats Down LP, which I think is by far their best. Really, you can grab pretty much anything featuring Billy Childish and know exactly what you're gonna get, but at least it's almost consistently good. I like this song lots, especially the totally gratuitous carpet F-bombing.
    

Shot Through The Heart

I have a new podcast up, Shot Through The Heart, and I think you might like it. Why? Well, first off it's a reasonable length, clocking in under 45 minutes (album size!), and second off, I forced myself to not include any of the obnoxious crap that I favor. In fact, I even removed a track that was too noisy. Was I successful? You be the judge.

This podcast is bookended by one of my early favoritest (no, that's not real word) groups, Barnes & Barnes. Regrettably, B&B are known primarily for their song "Fish Heads," thus marginalizing them as a novelty band. And while most of their songs are rather puerile, it doesn't negate that they wrote good music and had an fantastic trippy sound. I only have their first two LPs, Voobaha and Spazchow, both represented on this album. BTW, don't buy Voobaha off of iTunes. It doesn't include "Fish Heads" (no loss) or their extraordinary spit-take of the Beatles' "Please Please Me," which is worth the full album alone. Fun fact: one of the Barnes is Billy Mumy, aka Will Robinson of Lost in Space and Anthony from that creepy-ass Twilight Zone episode.

1. Barnes & Barnes "Fletchy's Revenge" Off their second and darker LP, Spazchow. The voice is the other Barnes (not Mumy) and his ex from his answering machine. I love tape vocals, a la My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts. Note the "Yeah" at the conclusion. Their trademark was to find a way to say "Yeah" at the end of every song they recorded.
   
2. The Chameleons "Don't Fall" Proving that big, ostentatious passion rock doesn't have to be self-righteous and overblown. First track off the debut album by the Chameleons, who were, by way, way better than U2.
   
3. U2 "Celebration" That said, I was once a big U2 fan, but not so much these days. This was a post-October/pre-War single, back when Adam Clayton had a 'fro.
   
4. The Wedding Present "Loving You" The Weddoes do amazing covers, and this is no exception. I was curious to hear how they'd hit the original vocal's cascading high notes, and their solution was perfect. Off of a session of cover songs from the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's, including a non-Beatles Lennon-McCartney song and the Go-Go's "Our Lips Are Sealed." That last one will show up on a future podcast.
   
5. HollAnd "Mint Missiles" I'm pretty sure all this guy's stuff was recorded direct to the board on ProTools, but it sounds terrific.
   
6. Stephin Merritt "The Meaning of Lice" From the Plague Songs compilation. There's an Eno song, "Flies," on that I'd like to post, but the first two minutes are far too annoying.
   
7. The Fiery Furnaces "Benton Harbor Blues (Remix)" Speaking of annoying, the Fiery Furnaces are a great band that drive me nuts. They write excellent songs and make some crazy sounds, but then they cut up the recordings and paste them back together in what appears to be no discernible order. Intentionally. When I found that they'd done a song with an Optigan, I was excited, but once again they chopped it up with inexplicable starts and stops and it just wasn't podcastable. Except, in someones wisdom, they released a more radio-friendly version of the song, included here. Hooray!
   
8. TV On The Radio "Ambulance" The looped vocal backing hooks me on this beauty.
   
9. The Velvet Underground "Lisa Says" I'll admit, the only reason this song is here is it gave me an opportunity to lead it off with a recording I made of my wife, Lisa, extolling the virtues of her pants. "I don't have a calculator, but if you do the math..."
   
10. Electralane "The Valley" I'm not fond of this band, but including the amazing choir on this song was brilliant.
    
11. Low "Dinosaur Act" For some stupid reason I ignored Low for years, and for that I am nothing more than a fool. Good god they make some beautiful sounds. More bands should be this good. Coincidentally and for whatever it's worth, this and the track prior were both recorded by Steve Albini.
    
12. Barnes & Barnes "Linoleum" Obviously, a song with "Linoleum" as the title had to be included, but this is also my favorite B&B song. Goofy, trippy, and beautiful all at once. Those processed drums totally do it for me.