keep on doin' it

Sorry for the week off folks, Eric and I each had birthdays and needed some R&R. Backatcha...

People constantly question the coolness of the Hoosier state that I reside in. What little they know. While we might not have the constant abundance of the huge cities on the coast or Chicago, we have our own thing going on. One man that has been helping document the goodness from the heartland for years is Jason over at Indiana 45s.

He has built the world's largest repository of information on Indiana recordings and it is growing bigger every day. Perhaps you've already dug some of our lost grooves on Stones Throw's excellent Funky 16 Corners comp, which is heavily-tipped with home cooked goodness. Jason was kind enough to recently forward me a mix of more hot IN cuts and allowed me to share with all. Dig in:

Hamilton Movement - She's Gone
Presidents - Shoe Shine
Mr Gee and the Fifth Generation - We've Got a Funky Feeling
Soul Authority Unlimited - Get Up Off it Baby
Little Murray and the Mantics - Goddess Above
Rhythm Machine - Freakish Love
Allison and Calvin Turner - Keep On Doing It
Black Conspirators - Got To Be Free
Hamilton Movement - Love Circuit
Amnesty - Oh Lord, Help Me

VA - Indiana Funk Mix

the devil lives in my husbands body

Pulsallama was a short-lived, yet legendary, 12 piece all-girl percussion band who ruled Manhattan nightlife for a brief period in 1981 and 1982. Their sound has been described as "13 girls fighting over a cowbell."

In early 1982 they were asked by Elliot Sharpe to contribute a song for a flexidisc to be distributed in a magazine. Since it was a freebie, they decided to give him their most retarded song, May. With portable tape recorder in hand, he came to their rehearsal studio to record May for posterity, but as soon as he arrived, the gals started brawling. The fighting became so intense it disturbed the derelicts outside, who began screaming and pounding on the door. The band snapped out of it and settled down to do the song. During the song, the drunks started banging and screaming again, or so it sounds. It's hard to tell; it might just be Pulsallama.

In May 1982 the band went to Intergalactic Studios, where Planet Rock was recorded, to cut their first single. While they waited hours for the engineer to show up, they were treated to the Planet Rock show tape hundreds of times, which rattled the battle prone babes' nerves. The resulting brawl nearly got them thrown out of the studio. A couple days later they were off to Asbury Park to open for the Clash, where an adoring audience of 6000 showered them with coins and cups of beer. Pulsallama's single, Devil Lives in My Husband's Body (released on Y Records) became a minor college radio and cult hit.

Text taken from Dyxploitation's awesome Girls of the 80's East Village Sound Gallery.

Pulsallama - Ungawa pt. 2 from NY Noise 2
Pulsallama - Oui Oui
Pulsallama - Pulsallama on the Rag

burnin a roach

Why am I such a sucker for shoegazin'? Ever since I first set my ears upon the first wave of the wall of noise back in high school, I couldn't get enough. Maybe I just keep trying to recapture my youth again and again, which is weird cuz the teenage years weren't all that.

These very cosmic psych-waves hit North America around the same time and we got a scene all our own, as well. The fertile New England scene housed our own version of noise-pop: Mercury Rev, Yo La Tengo, Swirlies, Lilys... the stuff was everywhere. And now it seems I keep reading that people think that the ole shoegazin is going to be making a come back. I say its been here the whole time, its just been ignored.

And now the same Richmond, Virgina soil that birthed the reverb drenched and haze influenced "post-rock" of Labradford and minimalism of South and Patrick Phelan has now begat Gregor Samsa. Their new full length, 55:12 is set for release on March 6th from Kora Records. Boy/Girl vocals that are sometimes over stark arrangements a la Low and other times over the shimmering crescendos of GYBE or Explosions.

Gregor Samsa - Young and Old from forthcoming 55:12 LP
Gregor Samsa - Three from 27:36 EP
Gregor Samsa - Two from untitled EP