nino ferrer

This Nino Ferrer single, "Le Bande A Ferrer", has been begging me to share it with you for a while. So here you go.

This is actually part 1 of the song. Part 2 is more or less the same, but with a more tempered tempo.

My french translation skills are almost non-existent, but I'm pretty sure the title translates to something like Ferrer's Band. Which is fitting because it does a good job of showcasing the players: The Hammond is raw and confrontational, and there's that drum break trips the organ up and demands respect about 46 seconds in. I also love the whooooing background singers.

The song is repetitive, but at the same time oddly patched together. The parts don't wrap back on themselves - they spurt out at weird trejectories, tie themselves in knots.

But of course, if you're doing things right, you're too busy dancing to notice.

Download: Nino Ferrer - La Bande A Ferrer (mp3)

dock walsh

Found an lp copy of Old-Time Classics: A Collection of Mountain Banjo Songs & Tunes at a thrift store last weekend. It contains songs taken from recordings made 1925-1933. It was released on Country Records in 1968, with liner notes by John Burke.

The whole record is good, but the standout track for me is Dock Walsh's "Going Back to Jericho". The song was recorded on April 17, 1926 and issued on Columbia in September 1926.

I'm not sure if I should trust my ears or not, but I think that he uses the "N" word at in the last verse. But "N" or no "N", Walsh gives the sort of fall-off-your chair solo performance that's imbued with so much raw energy that you go away convinced that any and all rock bands should have hung up their strings and sticks and shot out their speakers before the whole mess of their music began. All that seems like pretense in the shadow of Mr. Walsh.

Walsh was born July 23, 1901, Lewis Fork, Wilkes County, North Carolina. He died May 28, 1967. In the liner notes to the collection, Burke writes of Walsh:

Walsh was a professional and played for urban as well as rural audiences. In addition to the claw hammer style he used for "Going Back to Jericho", he had a highly developed minstrel finger picking style which he used for band playing with such groups and the Carolina Tar Heels.

A touch of research reveals that this song has been issued on CD. You can hear it on at least two collections: Old Time Mountain Banjo or Serenade In The Mountains.

Download: Dock Walsh - Going Back to Jericho (mp3)

the fantastic johnny c

My friend Marty inherited several boxes of lps and a few hundred 45s from a friend who moved across the country. That friend bought most of the records from some old dude in Detroit. Marty's run out of storage, so he wants the records to be turned over to their fourth owners.

The records were lined up in fairly neat rows on his garage floor. He opened the box of 45s and I dug in for two hours straight, stopping only to rub the cold out of my hands and take swigs from the can of PBR Marty plied me with.

All told, I got a stack of lps (which I left at his house because lugging lps on a bike is obviously no simple feat) and 110 45s. I picked up some isopropyl alcohol on the way home and once back, set to cleaning the beasts.

The 45s are in pretty wretched condition. Lots of dust, some molded over with what looks like a thick layer of cocaine. I'm only a fraction of the way along, but I just played this one track - "Hitch it to the Horse" by Greenwood, South Carolina's Fantastic Johnny C and my ears are so scorched by its hotness that I had to stop to cool down and share it with you.

The record was released by the Phil-LA Of Soul label in 1968.

This is the kind of record that makes it seem worthwhile to endure the hassle of cleaning armloads of records that turn out so scratchy that they're largely unplayable. "Hitch" sounds pretty clean, and...shit, again, it just burns!


Download: Hitch It to the Horse (mp3)


Oh, and to read more about Fantastic Johnny C, head over to the always informative Funky16Corners blog.

audio fest

Firstly:

If I were to start a band today, we'd be called The Glad It's Him and Not Me(s). Not sure why or what that means or where it came from, but there you have it.

 

& Secondly:

If you're a fan of pop music, you could definitely do a lot worse than downloading the wonderful, free seasonal compilations that Eardrums Music has been curating.

 

& Lastly:

I've done everything short of packing my overnight bag in preparation for the Third Coast International Audio Festival, which happens in Chicago (well, Evanston) this weekend. My excitement could burst any excitement-measuring device.

 

Much to A-'s continual dismay, I spend a good portion of my life with my ears cloaked by headphones. I keep telling myself that it's making me a better listener, but really, I think it's just making me more ravenous for sound. Unending sound.

 

I was planning on listing out the breakout sessions I'm thinking of attending here, but now that I look at the list again, everything looks so good that it's impossible to pick from this distance. Guess I'll have to wait to be smacked by split-second inspiration. Whatever the case, hopefully I'll be disciplined (not likely) to follow up with a report of what I learn.

 

Keep your eyes peeled. Or better yet, delete this blog from your RSS reader, forget everything I said, head over to Hearing Voices and cement on a pair of headphones...