Harmony in My Head Broadcast Notes for 10-25-04
Good evening. I hope you enjoyed the show. It’s great to be back with Engineer X and doing the thing live. It’s been three weeks. Anyway, below is all the stuff we listened to. I am hoping that I will be able to with you live next Monday and chances are good. I will know later in the week whether we do the show Sunday pre-taoe which is ok but not the real deal or whether I get get to the studio from Sylmar in time. In any case, Happy Halloween and please be careful out there. Henry

Viletones – Screamin’ Fist: I think we played Rebel by this band many weeks ago. Very early in their career, the Bad Brains did this song. This song is was a single for this sturdy Canadian punk band.

UK Subs – I Live in a Car: I always listen to this song with fond memories. I used to live in my car and when we would be hanging out somewhere and this song would come on, people would say, “this is your song!” and for awhile there it was. This is the single version not the album version. A little less produced and it’s the one I was playing in my car. Word is that this upcoming UK Subs tour is the last one.

The Effigies – Below the Drop: Boy do these guys have fans. I got enough letters about the Effigies. Please play the Effigies, how come you haven’t played the Effigies, etc. Well, ok, here you go! This was a great live band. They were friends with Black Flag. I remember taking a series of busses through LA to see them play at some club. How I got back to SST I don’t remember. This is from the Remains Nonviewable comp. CD.

Snakes – 12 Angry Men: This is Mike and Simon, my two former band mates from DC. They had a band called the Snakes that was for fun but eventually recorded two albums. I think the album is still available. It’s called I Won’t Love You (Til You’re More Like Me.) Ian MacKaye Produced the stuff and for a minute there the two LPs and the CD were in print but looking around on the internet, it seems the record is now rare. How much would I like to print up 500 of these, it’s such a great CD. Anyway, this song is about punk rock girls in DC.

The Buzzcocks – Breakdown: From the classic first EP Spinal Scratch. Howard Devoto on vocals before he split. One of my favorite tracks to play in October.

Cab Calloway – San Francisco Fan: Chuck Dukowski played me this in 1983. I think the story line is great. I am a big fan of Cab Calloway. His vocal range is beyond belief. If you remember, we played a version of his song Jumpin’ Jive weeks ago, the one with that insane scat breakdown at the end of the track.

The Valves – Robot Love: I love this band. Three singles, six songs and off into the Scottish mists. The Punk77 site has brief info on the band.

Suicide – Rain of Ruin: From the out of print and hard to find but worth seeking out Way of Life album. Produced by band pal Ric Ocasek

The Fall – Cyber Insekt: From the Unutterable album. I didn’t get this album the first couple of times I listened to it but I gave myself a few months away from it and came back to it and now it’s one of my more oft played Fall albums.

Poison Girls – Closed Shop: I always thought all the Crass bands were pretty cool. I liked the idea of the label and what they were about. I couldn’t always get to all the records they put out but there’s a lot of them I never heard as the label released a ton of stuff and I was broke. I did get to the Poison Girls though and always liked this song Closed Shop. I got the box set of the Poison Girls some time ago, I don’t know if it’s still in print but there’s CDs of theirs around. This song is not representative of their sound so be warned! Here’s a cool site about Crass: http://www.southern.com/southern/band/CRASS/

The Eastern Dark – Julie is a Junkie: This is from the very cool Tales from the Australian Underground CD released by promoter pal Tim Pittman. I don’t know anything about the Eastern Dark. I have their stuff and dig it but I don’t know specifics. If you find yourself wanting to know more, here ya go: http://www.halfacow.com.au/label/artists/dark/main.htm

Palaxy Tracks – The Wasp / Junior Varsity – Woodpecker Stomp: Several weeks ago, I wrote to Peek-a-Boo records in Austin TX and asked them to bundle up a bunch of their best stuff in a box and send the box and the bill to me. Travis, the fellow who runs the label made up a package and sent it to me. I picked out a song from these two bands and we’ll listen tonight. I was curious about the label having never heard of any of the bands on it besides the Prima Donnas. Here’s the site to learn more: http://www.peekaboorecords.com/. I don’t know anything to tell you about these bands, I just got here myself.

Dinosaur Jr. – Little Furry Things: Didn’t I play Dinosaur Jr. recently? Perhaps. There’s no bad J Mascis records as far as I’m concerned so here’s a great early track. The early stuff of theirs is getting hard to find.

Routineers – Revolution of the Spine: A new band. They’re on Sammich/Dischord. Ian gave me the record the other day. My long time pal Amanda MacKaye doing some great vocals on this record.

Curtis Mayfield - Stone Junkie: From the Curtis Live! album. Mike Watt was playing this album on tape when we were all stuck in a van on the Black Flag / Minutemen European tour of 1983. I got a copy as soon as I could find one cheap. I have been playing it ever since. What a man, what a band.

DJ Screw – Smokin’ and Leanin’: Ian played me this CD by DJ Screw a few weeks ago. 3 in the Mornin’ Part 2 is the name of the CD. It’s intense. A lot of tracks are pitched down to match the cough syrup all these guys are loaded on. No kidding, there’s a lot of references to leaning on the record which is what you do when you’re wiped out on syrup. DJ Screw, out of Houston, is no longer with us but you can find his stuff here and there.

Philip Cohran & the Artistic Heritage Ensemble – New Frankiphone Blues: Ian turned me onto this record the same night he played me that DJ Screw album. Ian is dialed into some cool stuff always. I did a little recon on this guy and he was in Sun Ra’s Archestra late 50’s-early 60’s. The record is amazing. Bravo to Aestuarium Records for putting this out. The Forced Exposure site has info on the other stuff on the label: http://www.forcedexposure.com/labels/aestuarium.html

Jilted John – Jilted John (single version): Jilted John is the brainchild of British actor Graham Fellowes. He made some EPs and an album. My favorite song of his is this one. I like the single version better than the album version. This is from the only JJ CD I’ve been able to find. It’s a comp CD called True Love Stories

Lurkers: Cyanide/Cyanide Pub Version: I have wanted to do this for awhile, play the Lurkers great God’s Lonely Men LP track Cyanide as well as the b-side of the Out in the Dark single, Cyanide Pub version. Two great songs back-to-back. Could I be the biggest Lurkers fan there is? I may very well be. I don’t think anyone can be bothered to contest that one so it’s a hollow victory but a victory nonetheless.

Dr. Mix and the Remix – No Fun: I know, I know, we have played this track before but it’s part of our October review. This song is on a tape I made at Ian’s in October of 1982 and I’m still playing that tape. I make mix CDs now. I make mix CDs in the laptop now, it’s so easy. Back in the day (!) we all made mix tapes, you remember that. You had to be dedicated, it was all in real time, you had to time pause/record right before the stylus pulls into the song. Or perhaps you had a life and never sat in your room working on these damned tapes with all the concentration you could muster. Sometimes I made the tapes for myself and sometimes I made the tapes for wimmin I was trying to pick up on. Did it work? I have no idea.

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Thanks for listening.