Naughty for Satan Claus

 

Although MrDave should be on the naughty list, we like naughty around here (& we like MrDave, too). So these numerous gifts are hand wrapped for him. He took some wishes from others who weren't using theirs & he claims one of the bands were his college friends, so here goes. I love a good story, ya know. I'll start with my favorite of these...Bill Fay.

 

UK-based singer, songwriter, & pianist Bill Fay began writing in the early 1960s while studying at university. In 1966 he recorded a demo using the mobile studio of John Boden. Impressed by the demo, ex-Them drummer Terry Noon helped Fay to sign a recording contract with Decca. Between 1967-1971 Fay released a single ("Some Good Advice" / "Screams in the Ears") & two albums, the lush, orchestrated eponymous debut & the rawer second album Time of the Last Persecution. Unfortunately, these recordings did not sell well & Decca decided to end Bill's contract shortly after the second release. He returned to the studio in the late 1970s to record a third album Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow which finally saw release in January 2005 on Durtro/Jnana Records.

After not releasing any newly recorded material for over four decades, Bill released a new album of original material in 2012, titled Life Is People. This was followed in 2015 by another new album, Who Is The Sender?, a darker but more poignant affair all together. 

 

 

Bill Fay - Who is the Sender?, Dead Oceans DOC097, 2015.
all decryption codes in comments

The Geese are Flying Westward    
War Machine
How Little    
Underneath the Sun    
Something Else Ahead    
Order of the Day    
Who is the Sender?    
The Freedom to Read    
Bring it On Lord    
A Page Incomplete    
A Frail And Broken One    
World of Life
I Hear You Calling (Studio Reunion) 

 

 

Dieselhed formed in 1989 in Arcata, California & later moved to San Francisco, California, playing a blend of country, punk, & pseudo-classic rock. Drummer Heifetz spread his time between Dieselhed & the genre-bending experimentalists Mr. Bungle. Singer-songwriter Virgil Shaw previously played in Arcata outfit Brents T.V.. Bassist Ellis had been a founding member of the local disbanded funk rock band Psychefunkapus while Jonathan Segel was a former member of local indie-faves Camper Van Beethoven. 

 

Dieselhed - Tales of a Brown Dragon, Amarillo Records ACM-601, 1995

Brown Dragon
Butcher Boy
Wedding Song
Gravy Boat
Wipe Down the Vinyl
Pizza Box
M & M
Fork Lift Test
Aladdin's Lamp
Baby Song
Snow Blind in the Liquor Store 

Dieselhed - Shallow Water Blackout, Amarillo Records ACM-608, 1997.

Fog it Up
Produce Section
Yellow Kitchen
Inches of Air
Tea Leaves
Betsy
Carving Soap
Asphalt Bib
Safety Glass
Blue Hawaiian 

 

Shira Small's The Line of Time & the Plane of Now was recorded in 1974 under the auspices of a senior project at The George School, a small Quaker boarding school in Newtown, Pennsylvania. It is the product of Shira Small's four years away from the Wagner Projects in East Harlem. The songs came together from scribblings on a bathroom wall ("Change is life's only constant factor") & a troubling remedial math class ("The line of time & the plane of now").

Recognizing Shira's talent, her music teacher Lars Clutterham convinced Shira to record an album of original material as her senior project. The money to press the album was drummed up by pre-sales & a few generous parents, with all 500 copies being distributed to students & faculty of the George School. As far as I can tell, it is Small's only recordings except for the track “Gimme Magic” from this album which was used in the musical Journey of Persephone which was performed at the George School & released on its soundtrack.

 

Shira Small - The Line of Time & the Plane of Now, Lars Clutterham LC7475, 1974.

Side 1 -
Lights Gleam Lonely
Here I Stand
Cool Dude
My Life's All Right
I Want to Lay with You

Side 2 -
Eternal Life
Gimme Magic
Touch of Blue
Fingerpainter
In an Open Field

 

 

 

David Holmes began DJing in Belfast in 1985. His first DJ appearance was at the Abercorn Mod Club. His first hit was the 1992 track "De Niro" as the Disco Evangelists, with Ashley Beedle & Lindsay Edwards (later of Tin Tin Out). In the early to mid-1990s, he ran two club nights in the Belfast Art College.

Holmes released his first full length album This Film's Crap Let's Slash the Seats, in July 1995. Inspired by movies & movie soundtracks, this would become a recurring theme throughout Holmes' work. The opening track "No Man's Land" was featured in the film Pi.

Holmes had spent time in New York City in the late 1980s. Minidisc recorder in hand, he
traveled throughout the five boroughs recording the sounds & voices he heard around him.

In the late 90s these recordings were blended with Holmes' production work. The final product was a 59-minute cinematic aural journey through New York's city streets. Let's Get Killed caught the attention of a large listening audience.

He continued blending recorded urban sound into his releases until the early 2000s.

In 1998 Holmes' love of cinema paid off. Actor Danny DeVito commissioned him to do the score for Steven Soderbergh's film Out of Sight. He was tapped to do the 2001 score a for Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven remake.

Finally eschewing the sound bits style he had become infatuated with, he released The Holy Pictures in 2008. Holmes has continued to score movies & television shows to date.

 

 

The Disco Evangelists - De Niro, Positiva – CDTIV-2, 1993.

De Niro (edit)

De Niro (The Spaceflight remix)

De Niro (Full Circle remix)

De Niro...The Jazz

Choirs in Vietnam (reprise)
De Niro...The Journey (93 E.Q.)

David Holmes - This Film's Crap Let's Slash the Seats, Go! Discs – 31455 9923 2, 1998.

No Mans Land
Slash the Seats   
Shake Ya Brain
Got Fucked Up Along the Way
Gone
The Atom & You   
Minus 61 in Detroit   
Inspired by Leyburn
Coming Home to the Sun

bonus CD -
Gone (First Night Without Charge)
Gone (The Kruder & Dorfmeister Session TM)
Mosh It +
Slash the Seats (Slash the Beats)
The Connecting Flight Syndrome
Smoked Oak
Gone (Alter Ego Decoding Gone Part 2)
Gone (Second Night Without Charge)

All versions of Gone featuring Sarah Cracknell

 

 

David Holmes - The Holy Pictures, Mercury 1777275, 2008.

I Heard Wonders    
The Story of the Ink    
Love Reign Over Me    
Theme / I.M.C.    
Holy Pictures    
Kill Her With Kindness    
Melanie    
Hey Maggy    
Birth    
The Ballad of Sarah & Jack

 

 

 

According to many: Monoshock was one of the best bands of the 90s. If they were from Seattle instead of Illa Vista & Oakland, California you would already know that. During their six years they released a handful of 7"s, served as a backing band for Von Lmo, & created one of the classic psych albums of all time, Walk to the Fire. They were raved up by Julian Cope as one of the great unknown bands of the 90s & cited as an influence by Comets on Fire, as well as a whole slew of Japanese psych bands. Monoshock is fuzz-fueled, wah-wah damaged, riff-crazed punk rock which draws upon Hawkwind, the Stooges, Simply Saucer, & other psych-punk gods.

I don't get it, but you decide.

 

 

 

 

Monoshock - Lost Shock Vol 1 cassette, Silver Current Records DC 26, 2014.

Side A -
An Interview W/ The Monoshock
You Must be a Witch
Nobody Parts
Plain Strap Blues
Ice Gazelle

Side B -
Pour Man
No Genies in My Bottle
City Kids
19th St. Shuffle
Give Us Back Our Hands

 

 

 

Monoshock - Lost Shock Vol 2 cassette, Silver Current Records SC 27, 2014.

Side A -
Daylight Streakers
Obsolete
Submarines & Tangerines
It's Not There
This is Pop Rock

Side B -
Shrink Big Things
1945
Wreck
Chicken Boy
Two Fingers for a Top

Enjoy,
NØ