The new Japanese Zappa Box is out. It’s called “Zappa Box – Later Works” and it looks beautiful. Nothing new, just very, very beautiful.
Including Does Humour Belong In Music?; Playground Psychotics; Ahead Of Their Time; The Yellow Shark; The Lost Episodes; Have I Offended Someone? – with a 195 page booklet. But… what for?…
Aah Germany. The beer, the sauerkraut, the erh… So hey, this week’s Friday Boot comes to us from Düsseldorf — 22 May 1982 to be exact. Enjoy!
Dr Sharl and I got to see Tenacious D & The Pick Of Destiny on DVD last night. Good times, and funny as hell (eh heh heh):
Jack Black’s a genius! Must buy the soundtrack.
Took The Nerd Test. The results of the jury:
Mmmmyeah. 46% for math? Somewhere my high school math teacher is popping a vein or two right now. But the nurse is getting his meds, so that’s okay. Oh, and uber should be über. You know, with an umlaut.
Faces In Reflection, a solo-album by George Duke released in 1974, is available for download here. The album hasn’t been re-issued on CD yet. Duke had this to say about it:
I actually like this record. This was the first LP that really said what I wanted to say. The idea was to play intense music and use the voice as a tool for orchestration. (…) I began experimenting with odd time signatures and various synthesizer textures. This was my first solo record using a synthesizer.
Also available: the album Feel from the same year.
And while we’re at it, have a look at Stravinsky in Rehearsal:
In 1947, William Malloch, possessing a sense of history, recorded Igor Stravinsky rehearsing his new revision of his “Symphonies of Wind Instruments in memory of Debussyâ€. The sound is antique but the picture of what Stravinsky is striving for musically comes through clearly enough.
VOC #30 features one of several tracks sent in by SOFA (previously), entitled “Searchin’“. SOFA says:
My problem (as usual) is I can’t decide which I should feature. I’m interested in what you two feel is the best “fit” for the series. Attached to this mail is one of the few original tunes we do and that’s why I included it.
… And a sweet tune it is too! Have a listen:
[audio:030_SOFA_Searchin.mp3]Like it? Download it!
The Kings Of Belgium kick ass. I think you will agree.
Hat tip: Pierre Vervloesem.
I’m In The Mood For Love. All Night Long. Filthy Habits. We’re Turning Again. Provided these tunes — 1981 style — suit your fancy, you are in for a real treat.
With thanks as always to KUR’s resident bootleg aficionado Gilles, we present UMRK’s August ’81 rehearsals — featuring Lisa Popeil no less.
All week long, grab while hot, you know the drill…
From the ZPZ blog:
Dude 1 said to Dude 2, “Who’s playing tonight”? “Frank Zappa’s kid,” replied Dude 2. “Who’s that?” said Dude 1. “You never heard of Frank Zappa?” replied Dude 2. Dude 1, “No.” Dude 2, “Dude, he’s like the first guy to rap in the 70’s.” Dude 1, “That’s cool”. Dude 2, “His kid has a tribute band”…
And also a few words about the DVD release.
VOC #29 comes to us from Neil, aka Looptron. The track is called, quite aptly I might add, My Name Is Looptron. Neil says:
This tune (my first “official” track as an electronic-looping-type-musician) is really a proof-of-concept to see how feasible it was for me to do this stuff live. It took several thousand years of preemptive laptop calibrations and software wrangling, three software simulated tape loop delays, some massively re-processed guitar, a software simulated Rhodes piano, a vocoder, slight velocity and pitch randomisers on the drums and synth bass and approximately five minutes and nine seconds to play it all “live”. All instuments were recorded in the same take, although I did tweak an envelope here or a volume there before presenting it for public consumption…
BTW, you really need “Voice of Processed Cheese” category for this kind of crap. :-)
Upon first listen, Dr Sharl who knows about these things, labeled it Tangerine Dream-esque. I concur! Have a listen:
[audio:029_Looptron_-_Hello_My_Name_Is_Looptron.mp3]Like it? Download it.
Hey look, Chad Wackerman (Dr Sharl’s favorite) and Terry Bozzio (my favorite) in a competition over who gets to hit the most beats per millisecond. Who wins? Close call:
Via Night After Night who calls it “drum porn”.
This week’s Friday Boot: Washington University, St Louis 2 October 1977. Although the sound quality leaves something to be desired (ahem), there’s plenty to enjoy here. Just a couple of highlights: FZ’s monster solo in an instrumental version of Conehead, and some great improvisations in Wild Love. Enjoy!
Hm, a nice classic: Black & Pink Napkins, played by a real metalhead, Dimaension X. Quite impressive! Of course from Zappa Internet Jam Session, where you will find some other crazy covers, like The White Boy Troubles. Hah!
Via Andrew, check out this outrageous slice of video from a reality show called Wife Swap:
Dark sided! Dark sided! Be sure to watch the vid all the way through by the way, as harrowing an experience as it may be…
