2009 March | The Decibel Tolls

Monthly Archive for March, 2009Page 2 of 6

Adventures In YouTubin 3 – Strange Moments in TV History

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on March 27, 2009

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youtubin Adventures In YouTubin 3 - Strange Moments in TV History

Too broke to booze tonight (except for some Heaven Hill, which I won’t go into) so I might as well blog like the winner I am. It should be apparent that I have the taste for the strange, and I often try to find gems of inexplicable oddity on YouTube. The third Adventures in YouTubin’ comes, this time around, with a theme and a new graphic (that, come to think of it, looks like I’m promoting a rave or some shit) – strange moments on the tele, subsequently uploaded to YouTube.

Enter fake Max Headroom:

I can only imagine that this was rather horrifying and surreal to randomly see on PBS. One autumn November evening in 1987, Chicago’s WTTW was airing a fun and fancy-free episode of Dr. Who, when the signal was intercepted and overtaken by pirates.

In order to hijack a television feed, you would need very sophisticated, expensive microwave equipment capable of overtaking a television station’s signal (not to mention extremely specialized technical knowledge). You would also need to know the exact location of the uplink antenna and be within line-of-sight. However, WTTW’s was on top of the Sears Tower, a very visible landmark, making it a bit easier to find, and certainly impossible to locate where the pirate signal came from. Investigators concluded that the “signal pirate” smothered WTTW’s broadcast with a large and uncommon rig of sufficient microwave power, the type of equipment that could be purchased for about $25,000 (in ‘87 no less), or rented for a few thousand dollars. If one wanted to cover their tracks well, the microwave rig could be disassembled and transported using a few large suitcases. It’s also possible that the pirate could’ve gained access to a powerful ground-based transmitter. He was never caught.

The mask, if you’re wondering, is the protagonist from the mid-’80s post apocalyptic program Max Headroom, a type of Orwellian show wherein tyrannical corporations control the media (sounds familiar) and subversives would disseminate their message of freedom by hijacking live TV signals. The social commentary was not lost on investigators.

The stunt required a lot of work, know-how, and money to pull off, all at significant personal and legal risk… for this:

“He’s a freaky nerd!””This guy’s better than Chuck Swirsky.” (a WGN sportscaster at the time)
“Oh Jesus!”
“Catch the wave.” (a reference to the New Coke marketing slogan)
“Your love is fading.”
[hums the theme song to the 1959 TV series “Clutch Cargo”]
“I stole CBS.”
“Oh, I just made a giant masterpiece printed all over the greatest world newspaper nerds.”
“My brother is wearing the other one.”
“It’s dirty.”
“They’re coming to get me!” [then cue mock S&M scene]

Moral of the story – be thankful. Do you see the lengths people had to go to publicize their pointless bullshit prior to the Internet?

It’s great when you can present a video so strange that John Cage’s “Water Walk” seems rather tame:

Not much to add here. This is an excerpt from a game show called I’ve Got a Secret. I have a feeling that some TV exec or talent buyer lost their job after this one, especially since this was three years prior to Steve Allen getting away with letting Frank Zappa play a bike on live television.

Finally, this could be classified as a horrifying moment in television like the first video, I suppose, though I don’t know if this is actually airing anywhere else besides public access. For those unfamiliar, the TARC is the Transit Authority of River City, our public transit system here in Louisville. The city’s initiating a fairly big push to go green, so more people are riding their bikes. Unfortunately, a lot of the busier streets don’t have bike lanes at the moment, so people switch to the bus. Evidently, there were enough people who couldn’t figure out how to bring their bike on the bus to convince TARC they needed to spend money producing… this…

Sweet sassy molassey. I would be totally bummed if I was a bus driver and had to participate in this. Kinda reminds me of D’Mite’s “Read a Book,” though, what do you think? Also, “concept and lyrics by Mamma Jamma.” I love this city.

If you find something insane on YouTube that should be featured here, send me an email: kb [at] thedecibeltolls (dot) com, and you’ll get some sort of prize if we feature it. Can’t guarantee it’s a good prize, but something free nonetheless.

Edward R Murrow with Fred Friendly – I Can Hear It Now, Vol. 1

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on March 27, 2009

in Contraband

. 0 Comments

icanhearitnow Edward R Murrow with Fred Friendly - I Can Hear It Now, Vol. 1

I’m not sure if Edward Murrow was a household name for this generation before 2005’s Good Night and Good Luck came out. I hope so, as Edward Murrow was the greatest American broadcast journalist of all time, and arguably the greatest journalist of any medium anywhere. His elegant, almost poetic prose and his bravery – from reporting on rooftops in London during the Blitzkrieg (”this… is London”) to telling Joe McCarthy he’s a moron on live television – is unmatched, especially in our current 24-hour news paradigm.

With our current economic (and sometimes social) turmoil, it’s certainly as relevant now as ever before to listen to the sound of history as told by one of its best orators, in a time Murrow called the most exciting and dramatic thirteen years in American history. This record, I Can Hear It Now, Vol. 1, does just that – documents a sort of “greatest hits” between 1933 and 1945, what Murrow calls “a scrapbook of sound” (which is a bite I think DJ Shadow uses as a sample, but I forget the song).

Rather than simply a recount of the most famous speeches and recordings any student of U.S. history will be familiar with, I Can Hear It Now gathers every major milestone that was important at that time, without an outsider or historical perspective (it was released shortly after the war in 1948). Pearl Harbor and the 1940 Republican nomination of Wendell Willkie, the prayer of a pilot before commandeering the Enola Gay, Roosevelt and Mussolini, Neville Chamberlain and Joe Louis are all given a respectable chunk of time on this record. Of course, some of the more famous quotations make the cut, such as the Hindenburg “oh the humanity,” but also rare speeches by Stalin.

icanhearitnow2 Edward R Murrow with Fred Friendly - I Can Hear It Now, Vol. 1

I found this at a garage sale a couple of years ago – why would someone sell this? The record is both uplifting and spooky – the sound of immeasurable fear during wartime juxtaposed against how all of us can make some lemonade of the situation(s). Pretty powerful.

I’ve transcribed the back of the record, which describes what you’re hearing in each broadcast collage, or “band,” exactly as it appears (save for the unnecessary capitalization that I assume was AP style in the ’40s). The end of band five reveals where Murrow got his trademark phrase “good night and good luck” (which is where Keith Olbermann got his phrase, if ya’lls were unaware).

Band One

Will Rogers talks about America and the Depression, 1932
Franklin D Roosevelt assumes the Presidency on March 4, 1933 “Nothing to Fear but Fear.”
Senator Huey Long, the Louisiana King-Fish and his “Share the Wealth” program, just prior to his assassination on September 8, 1935
The Duke of Windsor Abdicates for “the woman I love,” December 11, 1936

Band Two

Fiorello H LaGuardia wages war against the “Ward Heelers”
Alfred Landon campaigns for the Presidency, 1936
“Rendezvous with Destiny” speech; Franklin D Roosevelt at Franklin Field, Philadelphia, June 27, 1936
John L. Lewis castigates those who have deserted Labor (Labor Day, 1937)
the Hindenburg Air Disaster, Lakehurst, NK, May 6, 1937; Herbert Morrison of WLS, Chicago, at the scene

Band Three

September 30, 1938 at Munich
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returns from Munich and tells of his meeting with Hitler, September 27, 1938
Adolf Hitler lashes out against Eduard Benes and the Sudetenland, September 26, 1938
Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, Yankee Stadium, June 22, 1938 (Clem McCarthy of NBC describes the Knockout)
Iron-Man Lou Gehrig steps down after twenty-one hundred and thirty games of baseball, July 4, 1939

Band Four

Elmer Davis announces the Invasion of Poland by Germany, September 3, 1939
Three Views of US Neutrality: Charles A Lindbergh, Alfred E Smith, Hugh Johnson
Nazi Blitzkrieg on the Continent; actual march of Storm Troopers, “Seig Heils,” etc., Spring 1940
Franklin D Roosevelt at Charlottesville, Virginia, “The Hand that Held the Dagger,” June 10, 1940
Benito Mussolini’s Declaration of War, June 10, 1940

Band Five

Premier Paul Reynaud pleads for US Aid as Nazis overrun France, June 10, 1940
French surrender at Compiegne (via German Shortwave Radio) June 22, 1940
Neville Chamberlain resigns as Prime Minister, May 10, 1940
Winston Churchill forms a Coalition Government; Excerpts from several of his early speeches, May and June 1940
Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret Rose speak to evacuated British children

Band Six

Joseph W Martin, Willkie Notification Ceremony, Elwood, Indiana, August 17, 1940
Wendell Willkie accepts Republican Nomination, Elwood, August 17, 1940
Franklin D Roosevelt campaigns for third term: “Martin, Baron and Fish” speech, October 30, 1940
Winston Churchill reads “Ship of State” message delivered to him from President Roosevelt by Wendell Willkie
“Arsenal of Democracy,” Franklin D Roosevelt, March 15, 1941
New York Philharmonic broadcast interrupted for Pearl Harbor announcement, December 7, 1941

Band Seven

US Declaration of War; Speaker Sam Rayburn introduces President, who asks Congress to declare a State of War, December 8, 1941
D-Day, June 6, 1944′ Messages on the Invasion by General Dwight D Eisenhower, Charles de Gaulle, King Haakon of Norway, and others

Band Eight

Broadcast from Invasion Flagship Ancon on D-Day by George Hicks of the American Broadcasting Company, June 6, 1944
Marshall Joseph Stalin on the 24th anniversary of the October Revolution, November 7, 1941
Franklin D Roosevelt makes his fourth race for the Presidency (”Fala Speech”), September 7, 1944
Franklin D Roosevelt addresses Joint Session of Congress after his return from Yalta, March 1, 1945

Band Nine

Announcement of President Roosevelt’s death, April 12, 1945
Description Roosevelt Funeral Procession, Washington, April 14, 1945 (Arthur Godrey)
Harry S Truman makes his first appearance as president before a Joint Session of Congress, introduced by Speaker Sam Rayburn, April 16, 1945
President Truman announces German surrender, May 8, 1945
Secretary of State Edward Stettinius opens San Francisco Conference of the United Nations, April 25, 1945

Band Ten

Chaplain William Downey, US Army Air Forces, says a prayer at Tinian, before take-off of the Enola Gay, which carried first atomic bomb used in warfare, August 6, 1945
President Truman tells of our race for atomic energy and our plans for it, August 9, 1945
First bulletin of Japanese surrender (Robert Trout), August 14, 1945
General Douglas McArthur accepts Japanese surrender aboard Battleship Missouri, September 2, 1945
Epilogue: The thirteen years

icanhearitnow3 Edward R Murrow with Fred Friendly - I Can Hear It Now, Vol. 1

In the note included on the back, Murrow and Friendly describe, indirectly, why they released this record: “It has been said that Colonial troops one hundred feet away from Washington at Yorktown missed Cornwallis’ surrender because the wind was blowing in the wrong direction. Yet GIs on KP at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, heard MacArthur accept the Japanese surrender faster and clearer than sailors on the superstructure of the battleship Missouri.” His program on CBS was called “Hear It Now” after the title of this record. However, the name of the record, I believe, is the acknowledgment on Murrow and Friendly’s behalf of the power they wield, and the responsibility they carry during strange and transitional times.

This jam rules, and I sincerely hope you enjoy it. I Can Hear It Now is a gem in my record collection.

MP3 :::
Edward Murrow – Band One
Edward Murrow – Band Two
Edward Murrow – Band Three
Edward Murrow – Band Four
Edward Murrow – Band Five
Edward Murrow – Band Six
Edward Murrow – Band Seven
Edward Murrow – Band Eight
Edward Murrow – Band Nine
Edward Murrow – Band Ten

Flowers of Hell, a Space Rock Symphony in 16 Parts

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on March 24, 2009

in Praise and Malaise

. 0 Comments

Flowers of Hell, a Space Rock Symphony in 16 Parts

Big day at the blog office. We’ve heard two amazing records just today, which is amazing considering that all three of us are total haters – the new Lotus Plaza, and this mysterious offering from a massive cluster of trans-Atlantic musicians called Flowers of Hell.

I don’t care if no one told these guys that it’s not the late ’90s anymore and post rock is no longer en vogue and/or what the kids are listening to these days. Fuck the kids. The Flowers of Hell’s Come Hell or High Water is one of the sickest, most moving collection of songs I’ve heard in some time, and is unequivocally the first great album of 2009.

Actually, that’s not fair. Flowers of Hell are not exactly post rock in the strictest sense. Sure, the music is instrumental and tends to gravitate toward tension-and-release compositions. Make no mistake, though, there’s a fresh, revelatory element in their sound. I saw someone describe the record as “classical music for shoegazers,” and I have to agree.

“Opus 66″ opens the record right, taking a few pages out of the Do Make Say Think book, cultivating a crescendo that you could only measure in axehandles. All the ingredients for chamber rock is here – strings, piano, lots of reverb, tremolo-saturated guitar, et al. Where Flowers of Hell carve their niche, though, is the incorporation of electronic flourishes and psychedelic boogie reminiscent of Spiritualized’s mid-career work. This makes sense, as good ol’ Sonic Boom performs on the album – not to mention members of British Sea Power, Bat For Lashes, Broken Social Scene, John Cale’s touring band, The Earlies, Guided By Voices, The Clientele, Do Make Say Think, The Hidden Cameras, The Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa, Tindersticks, The Early Years, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. To add to the general radar blip this group exudes, band member and producer Greg Jarvis is a synaesthetic. Something to the effect of 3% of the world’s population has this gift: “The composing, recording, arranging, and mixing of Come Hell Or High Water was done largely by following timbre-to-shape synaesthetic visions. Synaesthesia is a neurological phenomenon where two senses are intermingled… With timbre-to-shape synaesthesia, sounds involuntarily trigger a translucent visual layer of moving shapes which follow a consistent audio-visual language. ‘I see sounds,’ explains Jarvis, ‘When I hear sounds, I see each timbre in front of me as shapes that follow patterns, often gliding, pulsing, and swirling with the rhythm and timing interlocking them all. Each timbre behaves differently, and that’s the main reason we’ve got such a variety of instruments on this album.’”

“The Inovcation” adopts a tribal rhythm with vintage electronic pings and pulses in the vein of the BBC Radiophone Workshop. “The Strength of String” is pure cinematic score – the foreboding mood of Morricone, but with a lot more melodic quality. “Bleumschen” ropes in a Faust/Neu motorik meets Loop-style fuzz sludge climax that totally slays me. Well-placed moments of dissonance (i.e. “Forest of Noise”) are peppered throughout the record as well, helping to establishing an overall experience as jarring as it is pleasant. The minimal beauty of Mogwai’s EP+2 is stretched across a full band canvas on album closer “Occasional Tears.” Considering the amount of musicians involved – 16 total – expect to hear a little bit of everything, including but not limited to: chamber pop, post rock, space, ambient, drone, and heavy fuckin’ metal. Basically, you’re an asshole if you don’t like Come Hell or High Water.

And zounds! Czech this video. The 8mm projections in this live performance really add the visual ambience that I wish more artists offer. I think this was recorded from their opening set for My Bloody Valentine. I might be wrong. Either way, my evening would’ve been a lot of better if the Flowers opened for MBV’s Chicago show instead of that shitty-ass Hopewell band.

Not to sound lame, but The Flowers of Hell offer everything I, personally, enjoy in my music. Fuck guitar solos, fuck wankery – make your music sound awesome. Sure, it’s nothing that you haven’t heard before, but Flowers of Hell offer the lush soundscapes, thick melodies, panned psychedelia known in the state of California to cause brain melting, and movements that, I would say, are rather triumphant.

Come Hell or High Water is out April 6 in Canada/The UK. Can’t tell if it will be available in the states or not, but you can grip it here.

Fagen-Becker Quality Rating
steelydan1 Flowers of Hell, a Space Rock Symphony in 16 Parts

MP3 :::
Flowers Of Hell – Opus 66 (Part 1)
Flowers Of Hell – The Invocation

Lotus Plaza – The Floodlight Collective

Published

Michael Hansen

on March 24, 2009

in Praise and Malaise

. 0 Comments

51UL6AxTPrL._SS500_ Lotus Plaza - The Floodlight Collective

Lotus Plaza is the solo outing of Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt, and yes, it does sound like band mate Bradford Cox’s project Atlas Sound, but Pundt’s balmy atmosphere on The Floodlight Collective stands in direct opposition to Cox’s self-described fall/winter sound. Pundt, having been the inspiration for many of Deerhunter’s tender moments, proves to be wholly capable of producing his own brand of sedate nostalgia.

Keeping with the sock hopping doo-wop debuted on Microcastle, these ten tracks further explore the ambient tidings that narrated half of Cryptograms. We can hear Pundt drawing influence from Kompakt’s Pop Ambient series, especially through the evaporating synths and muffled incantations of tracks like “Antoine” or “These Years”. In addition to knowing when to pull the plug, these songs ascend their modest structures because of their spirited delivery that inhabits each layered track, saving them from turning stagnant. In truth, out of all Deerhunter related material, The Floodlight Collective is the most natural fit for Kranky Records thus far.

While these hazy reveries are the bedrock of the album, the standout moments are the ones with some kick to it. The blissful charmer “Quicksand” borrows the playful chaos and choral singing of Person Pitch and glues it to some over-exposed surf rock, creating an elevated garage rock hymn. Another highlight, the kraut-rock carousel “A Threaded Needle”, sounds like Neu! if they were Sunday drivin’ in the countryside instead of tearing up the Autobahn.

To our dismay, these cuts with a strong sense of identity out shadow the ones in a quandary. It can be difficult to seamlessly move from the bold tracks to the less confident ones like “What Grows?”, which evokes b-side Weird Era Cont., and without a full band, comes off sounding a bit irresolute. Floodlight Collective is fleeting, and hard to grab a hold of, but at the same time it is undoubtedly accessible, charming, and engrossing. If Brian Eno’s original intent for ambient music was for it to “accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular,” then Pundt’s debut effort is a success. There’s enough going on in the mix to warrant multiple headphone listens, but it gels together so effortlessly that it can serve as perfect background music as well.

The Floodlight Collective is available now on Kranky.

Fagen-Becker Quality Rating
steelydan2 Lotus Plaza - The Floodlight Collective

MP3 :::
Lotus Plaza – Antoine
Lotus Plaza – The Floodlight Collective

How to Piss Off teh Intarwebz in Less Than a Week

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on March 23, 2009

in Publicity Stunts

. 0 Comments

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I created a fake Billy Corgan Twitter. My friend Josh back in Chicago had started a hilarious Jean Claude Van Damme Twitter (”ate all the pancake batter. im going to have to do a lot of crunches today”), and I decided to join the fray. I wanted to create a Twitter of someone that wouldn’t be a cliche (such as, say, Twittering Jesus Christ or something), someone who had enough “personality” to properly satirize, someone who I had some biographic knowledge of, and a public figure who truly fascinates me. Billy Corgan fit.

Growing up, Smashing Pumpkins were my favorite band. Billy never seemed like a rock star – he rocked a schoolboy haircut and donned tacky polyester shirts and corduroy pants. He was totally rad. Then sometime in the latter ’90s, Corgan came back from outer space with a shiny head, ghoulish veneer, black tunic, and moon boots; his ability to write music unfortunately decimated upon entering the chrono-synclastic infundibulum. It was weird. Even weirder, he turned one of the best mainstream rock bands of recent memory into a really sad joke, and no one else can be blamed but Corgan himself. Hence, he’s gotsta get a satirical Twitter. However, what started out as pure entertainment (with a slight bit of commentary, of course) took off and turned into something truly interesting. Continue reading ‘How to Piss Off teh Intarwebz in Less Than a Week’

Massive Spring Mix Part One

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on March 23, 2009

in Super Swingin' Mix

. 0 Comments

ssm4 Massive Spring Mix Part One

There’s no real need for an introduction. Spring is here finally, and it rules. West coasters may not be privy to this, but on the east coast, we have this thing called February which really sucks the life out of you. With these new mild conditions and sunshine, I had the energy to pull together a rather massive springtime collection of music – sunny folk and psychedelia (with annotations!) that evokes the oft conjured imagery of the season that I won’t waste time reiterating here. This gangsta-ass mix is so massive, as a matter of fact, that it will be be broken up into two parts. I wish someone made me a mix this monumentally ballin’, but unfortunately I’m probably the only one dope enough to bring this to you.

As always, please support the artists if’n you take a likin’ to any of these torch ballads. Salad rules, as well.

bb_spmf Massive Spring Mix Part One

MP3 :::
Margo Guryan – Come to Me Slowly
You can find this gem on the collection 25 Demos

The Free Design – Bubbles
Everything is small potatahs up against the mighty FD, trick

Mia Dio Todd – My Room is White
Remixed by Dungen for her collaboration compilation La Ninja (ZOMG NINJAZ!!1!)

The Left Banke – Ivy Ivy
Technically, this is a Montage song, but since both groups have Michael Brown at the helm, it matters not. Good gravy either way.

Fairport Convention – The Deserter
Okay, so the subject matter of this one, as with many Fairport numbers, is not as pleasant as spring tends to be (a narrative of being ratted out on and meeting your executioner), but Sandy Denny makes everything gorgeous.

The Incredible String Band – There is a Green Crown
Eight big minutes of sitars and freak-folk before anyone knew what freak-folk was. You can find this one on The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter.

Broadcast – Look Outside
Considering their respectable following, why… in the fuck… is The Noise Made By People not available in the United States? Warp… dudes, what gives?

Black Moth Super Rainbow – Smile Heavy
Yeah… why does the sun go down? Rotation – fuck that shit. Find this on their 2004 effort Start a People.

Pia Fraus – Springsister
With the word “spring” in the title, this was an obvious choice. What I lack in subtlety, I make up for in honesty.

Mahogany – Chance
Excellent neo-gaze band from the early ’00s

Koushik – Be With
You would think this might be on Sundazed. But it’s not – it’s on Stones Throw.

Tower Recordings – Other Kinds Run
Matt Valentine, PG Six, and other rad dudes on acid freak the fuck out for three minutes.

Tonight is the Night

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on March 19, 2009

in General Communique

. 0 Comments

kls1 Tonight is the Night

This is the first of (hopefully) many Keep Louisville Smooth events.

For too long, we’ve been Keeping Louisville Wanker Indie Pop Electro. It’s time to take it to the streets with the smooth sounds of Michael McDonald (and/or the Doobies), Loggins & Messina, America, Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, Supertramp, Boz Scaggs, and more.

Keep Louisville Smooth I is happening at Derby City Espresso, known for their smooth drinks and smooth service. They boast a large dancing space for Earth Wind & Fire boogieing, as well as comfortable seating when Chicago asks you to “oo-oo-ooh no, baby please baby don’t go.”

This is a free, all ages event. For those of age, DCE serves an extensive selection of beer (with ID).

DRESS UP IN YR. BEST BOATING GEAR. Prizes to best costume (unless your get-up is not, ya know, really a costume). Come dance, drink like a sailor, and keep Louisville smooth…

MP3 :::
Looking Glass – Brandy