Category: Music

The Voice Of Cheese: SOFA (II)

VOC #35 has our buddy SOFA chiming in once more. He says:

The band is called “Reckless” and it is the brainchild of my buddy Scott, and the drummer Jim. The idea is for this band to play American Country-Pop covers – because that’s what’s “hot’ around these parts (besides Karaoke, and synthesized-midi-driven dreck) and that’s what will get you hired – not that I’m Only in It for the Money, or anything…
When we were putting together a list of tunes, I suggested “Stealin” (sorry, I’m really just a dumb classic rocker at heart and I love Uriah Heep) because it was an old hit, it had ‘country’ lyrics, and it wasn’t Rascal Flats – who are great, don’t get me wrong, but enough is fucking enough…
This band’s “history” (we were ‘together’ for a little over a year) is too much like Spinal Tap to get into – our drummer never spontaneously combusted is the only difference.

I loves me some classic rock! Have a listen:

[audio:035_Reckless_Stealin.mp3]

Like it? Download it!

100% Zappa!

100% Zappa!

100% extasy! I’ve just arrived home. A real Zappa-celebration, a celebration of Music, with 3 concerts in a row. Beginning with the warm-up concert of Mike Keneally and Ed Mann, playing in duet – jazzy, improvisational, zappaesque: fun. Then came the Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by Adam Fischer – amazing! Smiling musicians, rich texture, carefully elaborated details, big laughs and power. Better than the LSO!
The day was closed by the Modern Art Orchestra (a Big Band), featuring also the two guests above. Cletus Awreetus Awightus, Big Swifty, Zomby Woof and more – can you imagine? Orchestrated by Tom Trapp, who also made a good job as a conductor – lively gestures, big smiles, collective improvisations.
The message of the day was: Music is the Best!

Zappa’s Not Rock ‘n Roll

Michael says:

I have some friends that say “Zappa’s not rock and roll”. Now that is mostly true as we all know there was much more to Frank, but he did produce some of the most smoking rock and roll out there. I want to put together a playlist to prove it to my buddies. So I need help in naming the all time best pure rock and roll songs that FZ or the MOI did.

Troops? Rally!

FM TV — Documentary

A special type of entertainment for a specialized audience. That’s how Frank Zappa describes his own music in this obscure FM TV documentary first broadcast on July 13, 1982 — featuring interviews with FZ, Don Preston, Adrian Belew, and Terry Bozzio; plus footage of “You Are What You Is” as well as videoclips of “Punky’s Whips” and “Black Napkins” from Baby Snakes.

The Voice Of Cheese: Pablo Contursi

VOC #34! Pablo says:

Here it is my contribution to VOC. This tune is named “La danza de los colibríes esquizofrénicos” (“Dance of the Schizophrenic Hummingbirds”) and I did it all by myself on my PC.

I don’t have much more to say, except I’m a 33 year-old drummer who lives in Argentina, plays in a band called Panza and has a blog (in Spanish). In near future, I’ll upload more sounds to this site on MySpace.

A very nice track, which carries a whiff of Mahavishnu Orchestra, dixit Dr Sharl. Have a listen:

[audio:034_Pablo_Contursi-Dance_Of_The_Schizophrenic_Hummingbirds.mp3]

Like it? Download it!

The Voice Of Cheese: Toupé

VOC#33, with Grant Sharkey. Grant says:

We’re called Toupé (myspace link) from the UK. Get compared to FZ a lot (mainly lyrically) and to Primus, musically – though there is a lot more in there. We’ve just released our third album ‘Chat!’ and would love to get some exposure to some FZ fans.

… and about the song, entitled Big Ones:

We went out to Knoxville, TN to play our first every show in a America. After the show, this girl with giant breats comes up to me and says “she didn’t like that song with all the cussin” – so I took her to the bar and explained it. Things hit off, started writing down my hotel room number for her, until she pops the big question: “will the love of jesus christ be in the room with us?” – i make a few jokes about a threesome with Jesus and she walked away.

Did you see that coming? I didn’t! Have a listen:

[audio:033_Big_Ones_Toupe.mp3]

Like it? Download it!

28. 10. 1977 New York City, Late Show

A few days before the Baby Snakes show, with a setlist quite similar to that one. From aaafnraa.de. Though the Tape Reviewing Society says:

This is one of the few tapes of this band that I don’t recommend. I can only think of two reasons to have it: completism and Wild Love. The main drawback is that it’s far from complete – the taper seems to have turned his deck on and off, leaving out most of the really interesting songs (= solo vehicles). (…) But as I hinted above, there is one exception, spelled Wild Love.

Well, who knows? Lets check it.

The Voice Of Cheese: David Hulbert

If it’s Tuesday, this must be The VOC — this week featuring David Hulbert and his buddy Rob. David says:

Me and my mate Rob a.k.a Erroneous Apostrophe used to have a regular Zappa night, playing Frank’s music and discussing the universe. Rob is a damn good guitar player, he only practised this piece for about twenty minutes. The drums (BFD) are programmed by me, the bass synth played by me, Rob played about twelve takes straight off. This is nothing like what I do now, but it’s good to hear two mate’s groving on their Thursday Zappa night again.

I think this is VOC’s first full-fledged guitar solo! Have a listen:

[audio:032_Erroneous_Apostrophe_David_Hulbert.mp3]

Like it? Download it!

Exorcising Boulez

Roger Bourland on being interviewed by a young French composer:

He was brimming with happiness. Seeing that he clearly needed some articulation of this newfound freedom, I grabbed my Chair’s Wand and zapped him saying “YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WRITE LIKE PIERRE BOULEZ EVER, EVER AGAIN! and you can quote me.”

The exorcism was complete.

Music And Amnesia

In March of 1985, Clive Wearing, an eminent English musician and musicologist in his mid-forties, was struck by a brain infection—herpes encephalitis—affecting especially the parts of his brain concerned with memory. He was left with a memory span of only seconds — the most devastating case of amnesia ever recorded. New events and experiences were effaced almost instantly. Oliver Sacks‘ fascinating essay The Abyss tells the tale:

Clive cannot retain any memory of passing events or experience and, in addition, has lost most of the memories of events and experiences preceding his encephalitis—how, then, does he retain his remarkable knowledge of music, his ability to sight-read, play the piano and organ, sing, and conduct a choir in the masterly way he did before he became ill?

The Voice Of Cheese: The Lost Bees

Undaunted, the Voice of Cheese continues… This week’s tune, “Billy-a-Dick”, was sent in by Rick Wood. Rick says:

The song “Billy-a-Dick” was written by Hoagy Carmichael during WWII and arranged for use in the film “For the Boys” with vocals, backup chorus, and full jazz band. Here my friends and I (“The Lost Bees”) attempt to simulate that arrangement with a quartet. Moira Burke, vocal; Heather Hendrickson, vocal, drumsticks on chair, and kazoo; Jason Reed, keyboard; me, acoustic bass. Recorded in my basement direct to 4 track digital last Saturday by Johnny Lee. Our ensemble materializes only on occasional weekends, for fun.

A fun toe tapping adaptation this, if you ask me. Have a listen:

[audio:031_Billy-a-Dick_The_Lost_Bees.mp3]

Like it? Download it!

Album Art Grabber

Need a good quality version of a certain album’s artwork? Been browsing Google’s image search ’til your eyes bled? Album Art Grabber to the rescue. It works by querying Apple’s iTunes database, and returns images up to 1425x1425px and above. Obvious caveat: only artwork for albums which are for sale from within the iTunes store can be downloaded — which means no Frank Zappa.