Trying to start the morning on a happy tip, was searching for different versions of Ob-la-di Ob-la-da because of some funny reason involving our friend Boran, came up with these two. The Beatles version is kind of cool as well y’know, even though Lennon hated this because it’s “Paul’s Granny Shit“.

Desmond has a barrow in the market place
Molly is the singer in a band
Desmond says to Molly-girl I like your face
Obladi oblada life goes on bra
Lala how the life goes on
Obladi Oblada life goes on bra
Lala how the life goes on.
Desmond takes a trolly to the jewellers store
Buys a twenty carat golden ring
Takes it back to Molly waiting at the door
And as he gives it to her she begins to sing.
In a couple of years they have built
A home sweet home
With a couple of kids running in the yard
Of Desmond and Molly Jones.
Happy ever after in the market place
Molly lets the children lend a hand
Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face
And in the evening she’s a singer with the band.

After Error101’s Alamooga post, here’s another quick moog post featuring the prolific pianist & composer Dick Hyman a legendary figure who has released more than 100 albums under his own name. The Age of Electronicus from 1969 features lots of well known covers from The Beatles’ “Ob-la-di Ob-la-da” to James Brown’s “Give it up or turn it loose”, alongside the mighty Aquarius and Alfie. Contradicting today’s musicians he’s also immensely knowledgeable about music history, just check out his lesson videos to get background info on jazz piano styles.

For all you fans of cover songs, moog synths and Anatolian-pop combined, here’s Turkish dance music “a-la-mooga” for you.

Metin Alatlı a former member of 60s Turkish rock’n'roll band Siluetler made this moog record in the 70s, covering songs ranging from traditional Anatolian to classical Turkish and even fusing them together in crazy medleys.The album may seem too kitsch or even silly for people who are not into moog, but if you do, there is a nice cultural transformation in it for you.

Moreover, Turkish listeners will probably sense the retro Turkish movie sound throughout the album. This is no surprise, since Alatli was a frequent composer for Turkish movie scores and probably one of the people responsible for creating that certain sound. If you’re a moog fan, this piece of Turkish Electronic experience from 70s will interest you a great deal.

* Thrill Jockey’s 2008 Advent Calendar. Free tracks everyday during the holiday season from acts like The Dead Science, Occidental Brothers Dance Band International.

* Hear a podcast of Jean-Jacques Perrey and Dana Countryman’s new CD “Destination Space” and a nice skype conference of them talking about the album.

* WFMU presented Switched-on Basic Hip a 28 track compilation of retrofuturistic moog music, Gil Trythall, Mort Garson, Christopher Scott, Dick Hyman, Enoch Light and more.

Kevin Blechdom singing Alabama Jubilee

* Austria’s They Shoot Music Don’t They is a one of a kind videoblog, which takes indie artists around Vienna and shoots videos of their acoustic performances. Artists include our fave maniac Kevvy B, Xiu Xiu & Tortoise, Turner Cody, Bishop Allen and lots more. Great blog

* Retro disco goldies on Donnaslut. Don’t miss!!. Dom om Romao – Amor en Jacuma

* Last.fm’s crowdsourced best of 2008 list, the music sucks as expected from the masses but the presentation is pretty good.

* Gorilla vs Bear’s songs of 2008. ]]> http://www.undomondo.com/2008/12/around-the-net-1012/feed/ 0 http://www.undomondo.com/2008/08/undomondo-radio-show-61/ http://www.undomondo.com/2008/08/undomondo-radio-show-61/#comments Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:01:57 +0000 mersenne http://www.undomondo.com/?p=784 Pepe Bradock and a spoken horror sketch by Boris Karloff on top of it, a Japanese koto piece by Chieko Mori, and then a short trip through Africa. ]]>

image cred

Here we are with #61 of our weekly (and sometimes bi-weekly) installments of our radio show. This is loosely based on the muxtape I did after our summer vacation. Starts off with ambient sounds by Pepe Bradock and a spoken horror sketch by Boris Karloff on top of it, a Japanese koto piece by Chieko Mori, and then a short trip through Africa. The second part begins with my current favourite old composer the late Piero Umiliani, we stroll through some roots reggae and dub, with Prince Buster, Burning Spear, Roland Alphonso of Skatalites. Two proto-electronic songs off Roger Roger & Nino Nardini’s Informatic 2000 LP from 1982 and JJ Perrey’s Moog Sensations, then some rare funk from The Meters and Alan Hawkshaw. The show ends with Coming Home Babe, now whoever listens to this knows this tune, but no one remembers from where. If any of you actually read my babblings about shows and know this song, please comment cos it’s been on the tip of our tongues for ages, but we it’s still not coming out. (Tip : I’m positive it’s a tv ad/theme)

Pepe Bradock – Intriguing Feathered Creatures AK Pella Mix
Boris Karloff – The deadly dress
Chieko Mori – Spiral Wave
Hallelujah Chicken Run Band – Alikulla
Beyene Habte – Embi Ila
Mulatu Astatke – Yekermo Sew
Piero Umiliani – Mahe
Piero Umiliani – Cinque Bambole Rosa (Organo E Ritmi)
Sven Libaek – Start Growing Up Now
Roland Alphonso – Born to be Loved
Burning Spear – Invasion
Roger Roger & Nino Nardini – Expectation
Jean-Jacques Perrey – Ballet Intersideral
Holger Czukay & Jah Wobble & Jaki Liebezeit – Twilight World
Prince Buster – Saladin
Gaylads – Portland Rock Love in Action
The Meters – Cissy Strut
Alan Hawkshaw – Speed Run
Le London All Star – Coming Home Babe

Undomondo Radio Show #61

Don’t ask me where 55-56 is, forgot to upload them! Starts off with moogy balearic soundscapes, think the transition to Yeasayer works good, not sure about the next oriental jazz piece. I’m loving this Jackie Paris track, anyone has links to more songs? Next up is an electro bit, not this new shit though, proper electro. Ends up with a 10 minute Fela Kuti jam from 1971!

stream from archive.org
[podcast]http://www.archive.org/download/Undomondo_Radio_Show_57/undomondo–radio_show_57.mp3[/podcast]

The Advisory Circle – Mogadon Coffee Morning
Quiet Village – Victoria’s Secret
Yeasayer – Sunrise
Salah Ragab and the Cairo Jazz Band – Oriental Mood
Djalma Dias and Sambossa 5 – Cidade Vazia
Jackie Paris – Make me Smile
The Advisory Circle – Civil Defense is Common Sense
DMX Krew – The Ascent of Man
Calabi-Yau – Los Gravity
Burnt Friedman – First Night Forever (feat. Dodd Ellis)
Dub Guerrilla – Who’s controlling whom
Frank Zappa – Peaches and Regalia
Augustus Pablo – Lightning Clap
Bongwater – Decadent Iranian Country Club
Desmond Dekker – It Mek
Cymande – Equitorial Forest
Fela Kuti – Ikoyi Mentality versus Mushin Mentality

Undomondo Radio Show #57

Let’s get the ball rolling :

Taxi Taxi – Maps and Legends : NY indie rockers Taxi Taxi have presented a solid album with lots of good songs, I even have second thoughts about how it may have deserved a higher spot.

Odd Nosdam – Level level wires (Anticon) : Released on California’s Anticon, this album blends minimalist electronics with soundscapes and beats.

Arve Henriksen – Strjon (Rune Grammofon) : Trumpetist Arve Henriksen’s glacial trumpet drones on our fave Scandinavian label. Past review on undomondo

The Focus Group – We’re all Pan’s people (Ghost Box) : The lovely UK label Ghost Box, which gave us another topnotch Focus Group album and the fantasticBelbury Poly album last year, strikes once again. I totally love everything The Focus Group produces. Very disoriented short BBC Radiophonics type of retro non-music.

Elegi – Sistereis (Miasmah) : Released on Miasmah, one of the foremost netlabels, Sistereis is a dark & haunting atmospheric ambient album with minimal strings and drones. Sale on Boomkat, don’t miss it.

Roam the Hello Clouds – Near Misses (~scape) : Dreamlike ambient electronic jazz from Triosk & Prefuse 73 drummer Lawrence Pike, trumpetist Phil Slater and laptop-man Dave Miller from Pivot.

Eric Malmberg – Verklighet och beat (Häpna) : Ex member of Sagor & Swing on Häpna, with a terrific album. I haven’t had enough time to listen to this one, else it would have rated higher I guess. Bittersweet, instrumental moog synth stuff with a vast array of influences like 70’s psychedelia.

Vikter Duplaix – Bold and Beautiful (BBE) : Urban neo-soul from Philadelphia’s Vikter Duplaix. past review on undomondo

Taxi Taxi – Maps and Legends
Odd Nosdam – Up in Flames
Arve Henriksen – Leaf and Rock
The Focus Group – The New Activity
The Focus Group – Salty Sun Tales
Elegi – Despotiets Vesen
Roam the Hello Clouds – Phases
Eric Malmberg – Slutet på en epok
Vikter Duplaix – Nothing like your Touch

A new discovery on my part, Raymond Scott is a composer, orchestra leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and an electronic instrument inventor. I first heard him in J Dilla’s Donuts with the track “Lightworks” and the cartoony playfulness of early electronics instantly called upon me to seek for more. Here are some interesting facts, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Originally a radio musician from the late ’30s, Scott formed a sextet, attempting to revitalize Swing music through tight, busy arrangements and reduced reliance on improvisation. Scott called his musical style “descriptive jazz,” and named his pieces with even more descriptive titles like “New Year’s Eve in a Haunted House” “Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals” (in 1993 recorded by the Kronos Quartet), and “Reckless Night on Board an Ocean Liner” While popular with the public, jazz critics disdained it as novelty music.

He believed in “head-planning” rather than composing on paper, he introduced his ideas live during the rehearsals and expected his band members to go along. There was much room for interpretation and improvisation until the composition was finished, but when it was complete, he tended to lock the composition in its place and no further improvisation was permitted, which raised more than a few eyebrows in the jazz communities. The importance Scott gave to head-planning also reflected itself on his musings upon tomorrow’s music:

“In the music of the future,” Scott writes in 1949, “the composer will sit alone on the concert stage and merely THINK his idealized conception of his music. His brain waves will be picked up by mechanical equipment and channeled directly into the minds of his hearers, thus allowing no room for distortion of the original idea.” These glimpses into Scott’s mind make the listening experience deliciously disorienting.

Scott’s playfully orchestrated style was also popular among cartoonists, since although he never scored cartoon soundtracks (It seems he didn’t even watch cartoons), his music is familiar to millions because of its adaptation by Warner Brothers in over 120 classic Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck animated features. Scott’s melodies have also been heard in a number of Ren & Stimpy episodes (which used the original Scott recordings, not adapted versions), featured in other modern day productions such as The Simpsons, Duckman, Animaniacs, The Oblongs and Batfink. His composition “Powerhouse” besides being heard in 40+ classic WB cartoons, was quoted ten times in the major motion picture Looney Tunes: Back in Action.”

Aside from being an outside-the-box composer, he was also an electronics pioneer, being the founder of Manhattan Research, Inc. in 1946, for the designing and manufacturing of electronic music systems. He housed many famous guests in his lab such as Robert Moog and Bruce Haack, and future Muppetmaster Jim Henson (for whose early experimental films Scott composed and recorded electronic soundtracks). Aside from his inventions Clavivox and Electronium, he, like every electronic musician of his age, also believed in the power of electronics on human psyche, producing “Soothing Sounds for Baby” a series of albums designed to lull infants to sleep, which today sounds uncannily like the ambient work of Tangerine Dream or Brian Eno from the mid 1970s.

Raymond Scott – Lightworks
Raymond Scott – Powerhouse
Raymond Scott – The Penquin
Raymond Scott – New Year’s Eve in a Haunted House

A respected member of grandpa-electronics, one of the first moog musicians, one half of the Perrey-Kingsley duo and a composer for TV, ballet, dolphins and insomniacs in need of musical theraphy… good old J. J. Perrey is no less an inspiration for all electronic musicians of our era.

Formerly an accordeon player, Perrey started his career in electronic music as an ondioline salesman and his first album came with his first partner in crime, Gershon Kingsley. The album’s name is “The In Sound From Way Out” which can be recognised by anyone familiar with the Beastie Boys discography, since they have an instrumental album from ‘96 with the same title, which is in fact a tribute to the Perrey-Kingsley album.(even the album cover is a remake of the original)

Speaking of covers, E.V.A. from his “Moog Indigo” album (1970) is probably one of the songs producer/dj’s love to sample most. (Ice-T, DJ Premier, Fatboy Slim and god knows who else)

His most succesful career move however was probably catching the attention of Edith Piaf, who was then at the height of her fame and who introduced him to the right people as well as arranging for him to have the use of a recording studio and tape machines, thus stirring Perrey’s interest in tape manipulation.

“Working with a growing library of prerecorded sounds, Perrey measured out teeny-tiny tape bits with a special ruler that marked lengths in notes, then spliced these together into songs. In one early experiment, Perrey spent a week to cut and glue excerpts from a field recording of live bees into the melody from Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumble Bee.”

While producing advertisement jingles, off-Broadway projects and even letting Walt Disney use the song “Baroque Hoedown” as the theme music for the Electrical Parade on Main Street in the then new Disneyland, he had many famous counterparts among the space-age pop musicians like Harry Breuer and Andy Badale.

Now living in his homeland, Perrey against his 75 years in this world, has still been producing and has even performed at several venues in the U.S. in 1998. It seems there isn’t much to stop him if he wants to spend his 2000s making music. He has recently produced a CD with Rephlex-head Luke Vibert and also done a children’s book soundtrack with Dana Countryman Rock on, gramps!

Photo by : Scott Beale / Laughing Squid