30 January 2021

Mobilize the Lumpenproletariat

The Lumpen Proles were a punky new wave band from Albany, New York.  

 

 

They only released one 7" single "She Wasn’t Home" b/w "Positive Thinking" in 1983 on No Crust Records. They had a few tracks on various compilations ("World in Darkness" on the Live at 288 comp recorded in September 1983 at the notorious 288 Lark Street, Albany & "You Can't Forget (alternate intro)" on the 1982s Hudson Rock comp. 

 

 

The band featured: Scot Gray - lead guitar & backing vocals; Josh Vincent - bass & vocals; & William S. Rella - drums & backing vocals.



I dug up this recording of a live show they preformed in Albany summer 1983.



Lumpen Proles - Live in Albany '83, NØ Comps, 2021.
decryption code in comments

It's Not the Same
She Wasn't Home
Room 355
Play for Today
In America
Worlds in Darkness
You Can't Forget
Soldier
People are Temperature
I Can't Wait

Bootlegs, babee.

Enjoy,

29 January 2021

Until All Our Lights Combine

Long time since I played the Bills redux...since when aeoplanes were dragonflies.



Earlier today I posted up Channel Light Vessel's 1994 release Automatic. This is a project that included Bill Nelson along with Roger Eno, Kate St. John, Laraaji, & others. I realized I had previously posted it elsewhere on this here mess so I removed it & am going to remedy that omission right now.

 

 

I have never really posted up Be Bop Deluxe but someday plan to get around to their five disc opus Futurist Manifesto - The Harvest Years 1974-1978. For now I'm posting up a live show from Chicago in 1976 covering the Sunburst Finish era material. However, that being said...non-Sunburst "Bill's Blues" will fix whatever ails you.



Be Bop Deluxe - Live at the Riviera Theater, Chicago, 1976.
all decryption codes in comments

Fair Exchange
Stage Whisper
Life in the Air Age
Sister Seagull
Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape
Maid in Heaven
Ships in the Night
Bill's Blues
Blazing Apostles

Bill Nelson - guitar & vocals; Andy Clark - keyboards; Charlie Tumahai - bass & vocals; & Simon Fox - drums.


 

I posted Getting the Holy Ghost Across elsewhere. This is a set of remixes of  "Because of You" from that album. (I tacked on the original album track for your listening pleasure.)



Bill Nelson - Because of You remixes, Portrait RAS 2568, 1986.


Side 1 -
Because of You (Popstand remix)

Side 2 -
Because of You (Nailed to the Dub version)
Because of You (Dubbed to the Drums version)

bonus: Because of You (original album version)


 

Now here's a taste of 21st Century Bill.

2008 saw Nelson caught up in a flurry of composition. By July he had completed sixty four tracks which he split up between this release & Clocks & Dials. These are the more vocal-oriented tracks. This is some of the very finest music from one of my all time favorite guitarists/songcrafters. Believe me when I say that's quite a statement about someone with William Nelson's body of work. This is so very, purely...dare I say it..Bowiesque. I can't really say enough about this. Just give it a listen. You will not be disappointed.


Welcome to Electic City
Once I Had a Time Machine
Summer Hums in the Bee-Loud Glade
Frosty Lawns (Snowballs & Oranges)
God Glows Green in Small Town Park
My Empty Bowl is Full of Sky
When Aeroplanes Were Dragonflies
Night is the Engine of My Imagination
The Old Nebulosity Waltz
Help Us Magic Robot
Time’s Quick-Spun Globe
Fountains are Singing in Cities of Light
The Emperor of the Evening
I Saw Galaxies
Until All Our Lights Combine
Heaven is a Haunted Realm
Golden Melodies of Tomorrow
Golden Coda (Farewell to Electric City)

Fare thee well.

Enjoy,

23 January 2021

The Marcel Shimmy

 

Like a musical chameleon, Kramer completely shed his pop/indie skin for his next two solo releases, which were both commissioned by John Zorn for his new Tzadik label.

Coming first in 1998 (& featuring the extraordinary contributions of violist Deni Bonet) Let Me Explain Something to You About Art comprises three compositions that take the listener deep into a Proustian world of memory, loss, & longing. A wholly unsentimental meditation on aging & an imaginary soundtrack for the dying, it is quite possibly Kramer's most emotional work; an internal journey that begins in a world we all recognize as our own but ends in a Kubrickian landscape as alien to us as the final scenes of 2001; A Space Odyssey.

John Zorn stated, "Kramer has now come into his own as a composer."

Kramer - Let Me Explain Something to You About Art, Tzadik TZ 7119, 1998.
decryption code in comments


Umberto D
Odds Against Tomorrow
Jupiter & the Infinite

Next are the Greenberg variations.

Enjoy,

 note: Anyone following these latest ramblings might want to hear The Fugs with Kramer on bass. You can pick up a great one: The Fugs - Songs from a Portable Forest over at Zero G Sound. If you do, tell’em Nathan sent you.

 NØ

Hardcore Shimmy

 

 

The latest request for additional Shimmy, this go-around is some art noise from Belgium. Thanks to hardkor for the ask.



Perverted by Desire is a Nieuwerkerken, Limburg, Belgian experimental noise rock band formed in 1984 as the perverted love-child of a number of experimental projects (Ensemble Jean Dumoulin, Ah-Rates, Cadavre exquis, & Manifobia). For the first 5 years their only releases were self-released cassettes distributed among friends). During this period the band played a few rare performances.
    
After a few line-up changes (Bo Lemaître - bass & Genis Ugly - vocals) their first album Dance Music for Dying Soldiers was recorded in 1989 at the Amsterdam Cow Rental Company studio . The overall reception was overwhelmingly positive & the band's initial uncertainty turned into self-confidence.

 

For the second release, La Sigla del Sadico Esperto, Kramer was hired as producer. Kramer's efforts resulted in a harder, more devastating record full of hidden sounds & blaring feedback.
    
For the third album the group went to Kramer's Noise New Jersey studio. Technically the band's growth advanced both in terms of recording facilities & musically. Although Kuvun Huuto was not a million seller, both  the musical press & hardcore perverted music lovers were thrilled.

After the album Kuvun Hunto the band name was shortened to Perverted.

The Band:  Genis Ugly - baby toys, shaking eggs, latin drum, synthesizer, tapes, guitars, & vocals; K. Rel - keyboards, slide guitar, vocals, & guitars; Bo Lemaitre - glockenspiel, bongo, tapes, backing vocals, & bass guitars; with Anne Kahelin - backing vocals & cow bell; Guy A3Aensen - slide guitar, backing vocals, congas & cowbell; Kramer - fuzz bass, jazz bass. & Hamond organ; Babi 'Bungy Wungy' Olatungi -congas; Steve Watson - synthesizer, enthusiasm, & energy; Nasser - snare drum & rattle; & J.M.H. Berckmans - voice.

Perverted (by Desire) - Kuvun Huuto, Shimmy Disc Boot 5, 1993.
decryption code in comments

01 Fin*Einde
02 Riddle
03 Boris
04 Y. A. Til Une Vie Avant la Mort
05 Kesytetty
06 M Nr
07 This Is How The Story Goes
08 Wasn’t It Our Turn 2b Hyped?
09 Song for Sinead
10 We All Drove Away Whistling
11 Fuga? Si! No Means? No!
12 Witch on a Horse With Devil
13 Red Lorry Story
14 5 Teenagers Drowned
15 Music to Shop By
16 Riddle (Reprise)

Once more back to Tzadik.

Enjoy,

The Rutland Shimmy

 

 

Another Shimmy request, this time from flojo23. Rutles cover tunes by the army of Shimmy bands. Great choice. Glad to oblige.

The Rutles sprang forth in a Rutland Weekend Television spin off called All You Need is Cash, a pseudo-documentary that quickly gained cult following. On the strength of the TV movie, several recordings were released featuring Eric Idle, Ricky Fataar (ex-Beach Boy [Holland period]), John Halsey (ex-Timebox, Patto, & more), Ollie Halsall (ex-Timebox, Patto, Boxer, & again many more), led by musical director & song writing genius Neil Innes (ex Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band & Monty Python).

You don't necessarily have to know the recordings of The Rutles to appreciate this collection but that does add to the overall enjoyment. There's a lot of diversity on these covers: prog; folk; punk; avant-garde; electronica; & outsider. They all add depth & fire to Innes's clever Beatlesesque parodies.

Various Artists - Rutles Highway Revisited (a Tribute to the Rutles),
Shimmy Disc shimmy-00000000000000000000000000000000000000000041 ,1990.
decryption code in comments

Side A -
Cheese & Onions - Galaxie 500
Hold My Hand - The Pussywillows
Number One - Bongos, Bass, & Bob
Good Times Roll Lida Husik
Another Day - Dogbowl
Piggy in the Middle - Das Damen
I Must Be in Love - Syd Straw & Marc Ribot
Nevertheless - Joey Arias
Let's Be Natural - When People Were Shorter & Lived Near the Water
Between Us - Unrest

Side B -
Ouch - Peter Stampfel & the Bottlecaps
Blue Suede Schubert - The Tinklers
Living in Hope - Tuli Kupferberg
Baby Let Me Be - Daniel Johnston
It's Looking Good - Uncle Wiggly
Goose Step Mama - Shonen Knife
Get Up & Go _ Jellyfish Kiss
Doubleback Alley - King Missile
With a Girl Like You - Paleface
Love Life - Bongwater

Soon off to Tzadik land.

Enjoy,

Dead Pink Shimmy

 

Kramer's third solo LP (& final part of the trilogy), Songs from the Pink Death, is a dark, deeply introspective look into the subterranean world inhabited by the artist's own inner demons. More atypically, more brutally evocative than either of his previous solo ventures, this features heartbreaking ballads alongside impactful sonic statements defining Kramer's labyrinthian inner landscape. This release is aided immensely by the musical contributions of ex-Galaxie 500 drummer Damon Krukowski & ex-Luna guitarist Sean Eden, each of whom showcase some of their career-best work on this LP.

Kramer - Songs from the Pink Death, Shimmy Disc SHM-502, 1998.
decryption code in comments

The Funny Scene
Buddy Holly Will Never Die
The Opium Wars Have Long Ceased
Don't Come Around
The Parasite Song
The Pink Death Song of Love
It Never Stops Being Absurd
Eddie Called Back on the Carphone
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
The Hot Dog Song
It's Alright if She Don't Love You Right

Next, let me explain something to you about art.

Enjoy,

22 January 2021

JRat Shimmy

Friend of NSS JRat requested Milkweeds by Milksop Holly as one of the Shimmy Disc's he'd like to hear.

 

 

South Berwick, Maine's Mara Flynn released two albums as Milksop Holly (1999 & 2000 on Shimmy Disc). She has sung on albums by Guy Capecelatro III, Jad Fair, & Hamlet Idiot.

Milksop Holly combines the talents of singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Mara Flynn & Shimmy Disc honcho/guitarist/bassist/vocalist/producer Kramer.  They have crafted an vessel of soft, hypnotic pop songs, all acoustic guitars & heartbroken lyrics.

Milksop Holly is: Mara Flynn - acoustic guitar & vocals; Tom Rutishauer - cello, & Kramer - everthing else.

Milksop Holly - Milkweeds, Shimmy Disc SHM-094, 1998.
decryption code in comments

Xmas
Devil’s Advocate
Companion
I'm Not The One
Daylight Savings
Temporary Home
Hoboken Lament
Stop the Clock
Grandma's House
What is it You Want?
Frying Pan Lane
Horseplay Honeymoon

Back to Kramer.

Enjoy,

21 January 2021

The Secret of Shimmy: 9 - 7 = 2

 

Kramer's big plan was a trilogy of triple-LP's like The Guilt Trip. What followed instead in 1994 was The Secret of Comedy, a conventional length single album. Kramer had set out to make the 2nd part of the triple trilogy, but once he'd completed the two LP sides, he clearly saw that it had an obvious beginning & a concise end.



The Secret Of Comedy is a darkly humorous but essentially "pop" venture laced with Kramer's catchy songs, brimming with lyrical surprises that seem more accessible than on The Guilt Trip. Still, The Secret of Comedy maintains the found-sounds bites & surrealist text manipulations that make all of Kramer's output as an audio artist & producer so other-worldly.



On The Secret of Comedy: Kramer - most instruments; Randy Hudson - guitar; Bill Bacon - drums.

Kramer - The Secret of Comedy, Shimmy Disc SHIMMY-075, 1994.
decryption code in comments

Nine Minus Seven is Two
The Secret of Suicide
Midnight
Strings
The Secret of Philosophy
I Can Watch
Who are You Today?
My Rock'n Roll
The Secret of the Band
Sounds Like?
Wishing Well
Second Coda

Next is songs from the pink death.

Enjoy,

20 January 2021

The Lawsuit Shimmy Begins

 

 

 In 1992 Kramer sold his Noise New York recording studio. He moved just across the Hudson River, where he'd found a house located 10 minutes outside of NYC that was going into foreclosure. Built into the house was a state-of-the-art 24-track recording studio. He dubbed the studio Noise New Jersey.



The first complete recording of Noise New Jersey, The Guilt Trip, is a sprawling behemoth. 36 songs recorded with friend & drummer David Licht along with Kramer's high school chum Randy Hudson. For his first solo effort, Kramer layers on an array of hot-wired psychedelia & ambiance on everything from simple pop song structures to grand instrumental overtures. 



The Guilt Trip was created during an emotionally violent period in Kramer's personal life. He was going through a divorce while handling a lawsuit Anne Magnuson had filed against him & Shimmy Disc. Magnuson sought compensation of $4.5 million, charging Kramer with fraud, breach of contract, & copyright infringement. Kramer hit back, filing a countersuit. The resulting legal imbroglio would last nearly three years.  



The Guilt Trip presented a series of songs that reference his legal troubles, including "Kathleen, I'm Sorry", "Not Guilty'" & '"Won't Get Far Without Me".  Lyrically, Kramer throws revenge, love, devotion, forgiveness, & atonement into the mix. He often refers to it as his "exorcism", insisting that he would not have survived the multiple traumas he was fighting without it. The healing power of Art is a constant theme of this huge piece of work.

Kramer - The Guilt Trip, Shimmy Disc shimmy 055, 1992.
all decryption codes in comments

Disc One -
Ouverture
Stupid Summer
Got What I Deserved
Not Guilty
Wisdom Sits
Stubb's Hallucination
The Drowning Heart
Welcome Home
Swallow Up Jonah
Hello Music
The Murder of God
You Don't Know
The Wall of Sleep
The Guilt Trip
Wait for the Hate
Natasha Disappears
Big of You
My Friend Daniel

Disc Two -
The Maximus Poems
The Seven Seizures
Thank You Music
Kathleen I'm Sorry
God Will See You
I’m Your Fan
The Bosom Friend
I Love You
Next Time, Try Compassion
Charlotte's Brain
Mudd Hutt Four
The Well Hung Jury
Won't Get Far Without Me
Ball Five
She Won't Let Go
I've Seen the End
Coda.

Next I'll let you in on the secret of comedy.

Enjoy,

19 January 2021

Broken Radio Shimmy

 

Second & final release from The Captain Howdy. 

Again Kramer doing most all instruments & Jillette doing vocals with guests Billy West on guitars, Bill Bacon percussion, Tess (Mark's daughter) Kramer adding some vocals on "Man Bites Dog". 

This is Shimmy-091 of the original series.



The Captain Howdy - Money Feeds My Music Machine, Shimmy Disc SHM-5135, 1998.
decryption code in comments

Always Something There to Remind Me
I Just Don’t Wanna Try
Old Man
Man Bites Dog
If You Love Me, Kill Your Dog
I Just Wanna Get Laid
I Long for Kyoto
Don’t Fuck with the Phoenix
Shut Up
Radio’s Broke
Barry’s Lament

Next I’ll lay a guilt trip on ya.

Enjoy,

No Cuts in Shimmyland

 Although I veered from the Shimmy Disc catalogue to featuring Kramer hisself, I am taking requests for various shimmy. 

 

Jonder wants more of The Rev. Fred Lane, this one with les Debonairs. Here ye be.

Fred Lane / Ron 'Pate's Debonairs – From The One That Cut You,
Shimmy Disc shimmy 000000000000000000000021, 1989.
decryption code in comments

Side A -
Fun in the Fundus
Danger is My Beer
I Talk to My Haircut
From the One that Cut You

Side B -
Rubber Room
Mystic Tune
Oatmeal
Meat Clamp Conduit

Enjoy,

18 January 2021

Shimmy in Strangeland

 

In the midst of this Kramer Shimmy Disc nonsense, mastermind of Wall of Sound Phil Spector died. Spector was one of the most influential figures in pop music history & one of the first figures in the music industry to wield unprecedented control over every phase of the recording process. His parallel to Kramer immediately popped into my head.



At the age of one, Stephen Michael Bonner was adopted by Gary & Rosalyn Kramer in 1959 & moved to Long Island. We have come to know him as Mark Kramer or more commonly Kramer (long before Seinfeld's friend). New dad Gary would always put a small AM Radio tuned to the local top 40 music station next to his son's pillow each night to help him sleep. This left an indelible mark on Kramer with the sounds of Phil Spector, Motown, Stax & eventually The Beatles, as the 60s raged on. 

 

 

This Spector connection came full circle with 2012s The Brill Building, a surreal yet solidly grounded tribute to the building itself & the songwriters who began their long careers there in the early 1960s. It contains 10 songs by Neil Diamond, Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Harry Nilsson, Doc Pomus, Lieber & Stoller, & Phil Spector himself.

 

This here Shimmy Disc project has been a gargantuan undertaking for a deranged...er..I mean disarranged mind like mine, considering the sheer number of releases & band involved. Besides the ones I have already posted, there are thousands of recordings & hundreds of bands: White Zombie, Pussy Galore, Royal Trux, Alice Donut, & Galazie 500 among them.


 

Kramer has remarked that some of his own personal favorites are: all three Galaxie 500 LP's; the first 2 Low LP's; Will Oldham's Palace; the first 2 LP's for Danielson Famalie; the first two Damon & Naomi LP's; PussyGalore; Jon Spencer Blues Explosion; Rope,Inc.; two extraordinary Jad Fair & Kramer LP's; & the first two "studio recordings" by Daniel Johnston. Kramer considers the amazing Dot Allison's Exaltation of Larks (see comment seven there) his finest work as a producer.


 

In light of all this & current occurrences, I have decided to shift gears & concentrated on the music of the man himself. (if anyone has any other Shimmy Disc they’d like to check out, you gotta let me know...I’ll try to oblige.)




 

In 1976 Kramer left his Long Island home the day after his high school graduation. He moved to Woodstock, NY to study music at The Creative Music Studio under Dr. Karl Hans Berger, where he met future collaborators John Zorn & Eugene Chadbourne. He also began working with the co-founder of The Fugs, Ed Sanders, with whom he co-composed the musical drama "The Karen Silkwood Cantata" in 1978.


 

 

Following a chance meeting with ex-Soft Machine guitarist Daevid Allen at Giorgio Gomelsky's NYC loft in 1979, Kramer's first professional gig was as keyboardist/trombonist with Allen's NY GONG on a 6-month long tour of the USA alongside Bill Laswell, Fred Maher, & Michael Beinhorn. After criss-crossing the country twice on a psychedelic school bus, the tour came to a chaotic end at the Rock & Roll Supermarket in NYC early in 1980. Kramer soon immersed himself in the Downtown music scene with Zorn, Chadbourne, Fred Frith, Christian Marclay & others, culminating in a one-off trio performance at NYC's legendary Mudd Club with Zorn & guitarist Derek Bailey, founder of 20th Century Improvisation.



 

 

 Joining Eugene Chadbourne in The Chadbournes in 1981, Ktamer played bass & "cheap organ" alongside percussionist David Licht, saxophonist Zorn, & the late cellist Tom Cora. That group became SHOCKABILLY upon the departure of Zorn and Cora in 1981.



 

 

In 1984 Ed Sanders & Tuli Kupferberg re-formed The Fugs (sometimes billed as "The 1984 Fugs") with Kramer as musical director & bassist.



 

 

Following the demise of Shockabilly, Kramer purchased a Hofner "Beatle Bass" & played his first gig with the Butthole Surfers two days later. It was around this time that Kramer purchased his first recording studio, NOISE NEW YORK; a 16-track facility on 34th Street in NYC, with a 3rd floor, bird's-eye view of Madison Square Garden. It was here that he recorded classic Butthole Surfers tracks for some of their finest mid-80s releases (Cream Corn from the Socket of Davis & the Butthole's first college radio hit, "American Woman" from Rembrant Pussyhorse).


 

 

In 1985 he met magicians Penn & Teller. He subsequently worked for them as sound designer & consultant for Penn & Teller On Broadway in 1987. Later Kramer & Jillette (the larger/louder half of Penn & Teller) collaborated on two LP's. They called themselves The Captain Howdy, with friends Deborah Harry, Billy West, Bill Bacon, & others adding vocals, guitars, percussion, etc. The collaboration ended when Jillette moved permanently to Las Vegas in 1998, where Penn & Teller have been the hottest show in town ever since. I will post up The Captain Howdy releases before getting into Kramer's solo work.


Here The Captain Howdy is: Kramer - most all instruments; Penn Jillette - vocals. With very special thanks to: Deborah Harry (who sang "Rosabelle" & played drums & sang on "Tattoo of Blood"); Billy West (who played guitar on the same two songs); Soma Allpass Hammarlund (who played cello all over); & Lou Reed (who wrote "Tattoo of Blood").

The Captain Howdy - Tattoo of Blood, Shimmy Disc Shimmy 084, 1994.
decryption code in comments

We Want Our Vietnam
The Juliet E-mail
China Needs Women
The Hero that Feels Sorry for Himself
Rosabelle
The Wreck of the Captain Howdy
Dino's Head
Tattoo of Blood
The Best Song Ever Written

Next - Money Feeds My Music Machine.

Enjoy,


17 January 2021

Shimmy King

 

Second launch from K Missile. This time around, Rebecca & Alex ( Fluting on the Hump drums & saxophone respectively) are gone from the band (however, they resurface briefly on the extra super secret track). Their spots were filled by Charles Curtis (cello) & Steve Dansiger (drums), both of whom had previously been in You Suck. David Licht provides percussion on about half the tracks & Kramer plays slide guitar & keyboards along with various other stuff here & there. Plus, this time Dogbowl wrote a bunch of vocal melodies for Hall to sing, so only parts of this record are spoken. Gratefully John S. Hall's usual dark, black humor helps harden Dogbowl's romantic fantasies making They a more experimental, less jokey album than their first outing.

KM (DFR) is: John S. Hall - vocals; Stephen 'Dogbowl' Tunney - guitar; Kramer - slide guitar, keyboards, & aundries; Charles Curtis - cello; Steve Dansinger & David Licht - percussion with Rebecca  'R.B.' Korbet - drums & Alex Delaszio - saxophone on "Double Fucked...".

King Missile (Dog Fly Religion) - They, Shimmy Disc shimmy 015, 1988.
decryption code in comments

Side A -
Now
I’m Open
Mr Johnson
She had Nothing
He Needed
The Love Song
Margaret’s Eyes
The Bunny Song
The Blood Song
Stonehenge
They

Side B -
When She Closer her Eyes
Hemopheliac of Love
Fish
The Leather Clown
Worls War 3 is a Giant Ice Cream Cone
Farm
As I Walked Through Queens

extra super secret song - Double Fucked by 2 Black Studs

Earth to lurkers, earth to lurkers, come in please.

Enjoy,

16 January 2021

Spit Shine Shimmy

 

 

Once more B.A.L.L. takes a switchblade to the 70s rock sound & slice off a steaming slab of bird. "20 new anthems packaged in a belly laugh". Cover artwork riffing on the original Beatles Yesterday & Today Baby Butcher cover. This record ramps up the hipper-than-thou pretentions they outline on their first release. Fortunately Don Fleming's dirty guitar grind keeps them from falling into the chasm of their own cleverness.

B.A.L.L. - Bird,  Shimmy Disc shimmy 014, 1988.
decryption code in comments

Side A -
When is a Man
Bird
f I Break Down
Charm
Love was the End
Long Ago
Burning Wood
Buick MacKane
Another Straight Line/The Wildest Thing

Side B -
It Don't Come Easy
Spit Shine
Just Like the Last Time
Wah-Wah
Drink it On
The Dylan Side
Swim This Way
Eye
Bangladesh
Scene's Over

They is next.

Enjoy,

15 January 2021

Hot Shot Shimmy

 

Car Radio Jerome is the second album from Timothy Reed,  credited to Fred Lane & the Hittite Hot Shots. Here Fred & band explore a jazzy film noir swingtime rockabilly-esque landscape. Kinda like Elvis on acid. But what about that French toast man?

Tim R. Reed, known by the stage name Reverend Fred Lane, is a Tuscaloosa, Alabama-born singer, songwriter, & visual artist. He released two relatively obscure yet critically appreciated albums in the 1970s on Say Day Bew Records, later re-released in the 1980s on the Shimmy Disc label.

The Rev. was involved in the conceptual music scene at the University of Alabama in the mid-70s. He was a member of the Raudelunas Marching Vegetable Band collective, influenced by the 'pataphysique' theories of Alfred Jarry.  Fred Lane, Reed's stage persona, displayed a devilish grin, goggle glasses, a well-oiled goatee, & various band-aids applied to his cheeks & scalp. He wore a black Tuxedo coat over boxer shorts.

Fred Lane & his Hittite Hot Shots - Car Radio Jerome, Shimmy Disc shimmy 013, 1988.
decryption code in comments

Side A -
Upper Lip of a Nostril Man
Hittite Hot Shot
White Woman
Dondi Must Die

Side B -
The Man with the Foldback Ears
Car Radio Jerome
Dial 'O' for Bigelow
The French Toast Man
Pneumatic Eyes

Bird bird bird, bird is the word.

Enjoy,

Shimmying with Vlad

 

This time Kramer is teamed up with a Fair half of Half Japanese, brother Jad (cover art by other Fair half David).  

Kramer's musical oeuvre takes Jad into some new terrain unlike his usual punkish abandon, but this very musical meeting ground makes this possibly one of Jad's best if extremely atypical releases.  

Talking half of Jillette & Teller wrote most of the originals lyrics along with Jad & sings on Dylan‘s "Subterranean Homesick Blues" & "Twist & Shout" (written & released by Phil Medley & Bert Berns in 1961, charted #2 for the Isley Brothers the following year & covered by the Beatles on 1964s Please Please Me .

Jad Fair & Kramer - Roll Out the Barrel, Shimmy Disc shimmy 012, 1988.
decryption code in comments

Side A -
Cheerleaders Wild Weekend
Double for Me
Bird of Prey
Subterranean Homesick Blues (featuring Penn Jillette - vocs)
If it’s O.K.
Better Safe Then(sic) Sorry
Den of Angels
Blind Hope
California
When is She Coming
Second Thought
Best Left Unsaid
By & By

Side B -
Help
Around & Around
What I’ve Been Waiting For
Load & Mount
Nosferatu
Twist & Shout (again featuring Penn Jillette - vocs)
King Kong
Rockin’ Chair
Easy to See
On the Sunny Side of the Street
Paths of Glory

Free Hot Shots next,

14 January 2021

Doing the Down Underground Shimmy

 

 

Thanks to fellow blogger viacomclosedmedown over at DownUnderground for supplying this missing 87 Shimmy disc. If you enjoy it, stop by at the DU & say so...



Sharky’s Machine - Let’s Be Friends!, Shimmy Disc Shimmy 000004, 1987.
decryption code in comments

Side A -
Collide Collide
Chevy Van Blues
Lover
Red Goose Shoes
Lock & Dam
Route Killdozer (Kldzr Hwy)
Stray Cat Blues

Side B -
Road Hawg
The Post Scientific Strut
Blue Moon
Lear Jet Song
Mando the Midget
Big Boss Man
Motor City Madhouse

Enjoy,

13 January 2021

Who Shimmied the Bong?

 

Ann Magnuson & Kramer at it again, wafting up the sickening smell of rancid bongwater.

Double Bummer
is a double LP by Bongwater released in 1988. The four-sided album consists of psychedelic-era cover songs, sound collages, & originals in an abrasive &/or abstract, dense, sludgy experimental style often with dreamy cacophonous vocals by Magnuson (on songs like "Frank", a sardonic "tribute" to Frank Sinatra or "Dazed & Chinese", Led Zeppelin's "Dazed & Confused" sung in Cantonese.

Bongwater here is: Kramer – vocals, instruments, production, engineering; Ann Magnuson – vocals, instruments; Dave Rick – guitar; & David Licht – drums with friends Don Cherry – trumpet; & Gary Windo – tenor saxophone.

Bongwater - Double Bummer 2xLP, Shimmy Disc Shimmy 0000000000011, 1988
decryption code in comments

Side A -
Lesbians of Russia
Frank
We Did it Again
Homer
Joy Ride
Decadent Iranian Country Club
David Bowie Wants Ideas
Rock & Roll Part 2

Side B -
Just May Be the One
There You Go
Shark
Jimmy
Crime
Pornography
Pew

Side C -
Dazed & Chinese
Bullaby
So Help Me God
His Old Look
Stone
Number

Side D -
Love You To
Reaganation
Double Birth
Bruce
Pool
Rain

We’ll roll out the barrel next.

Enjoy,

Death Piggy

 

Once there was a punk band named Death Piggy that staged mini-plays & used crude props to punctuate their music. Death Piggy met Hunter Jackson (Techno Destructo) & Chuck Varga (Sexecutioner) in "The Slave Pit".

"The Slave Pit" was the production space for Scumdogs of the Universe, a movie that Jackson & Varga intended to make. A barbaric band from Antarctica started wearing the Scumdog costumes & opening gigs for Death Piggy, playing nonsense songs while sacrificing fake animals. The name of the group was "Gwaaarrrgghhlllgh". The name was soon shortened to GWAR.

The band's debut album, Hell-O!, a crossover thrash metal-punk rock album, was released in 1988 on Shimmy Disc. 

 

Here GWAR are: Oderus Urungus - vocals; Balsac the Jaws of Death & Flattus Maximus - guitar; Beefcake the Mighty - bass: & Nippleus Erecticus - drums.



GWAR - Hell-O!, Shimmy Disc SHIMMY-010, 1988.
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Bummer...no, Double Bummer next.

Enjoy, NØ