When not terrorizing
Mr Bond, from the late 1970s until 1994, Mike Mangino and Chris Shepard were in a basement full of musical toys, novelty space microphones, a
TR-606, and a
SH-09 in
Piscataway, NJ recording cassettes as the band
Smersh. In 1981
Smersh released their first cassette under their own label of
Atlas King. They never rehearsed, they couldn't read music, and they never played live, and they
contributed to far too many compilations throughout the known world. In the early eighties they
established a unique sound that is known and loved, combining cheap electronics and wild guitar sounds with distorted vocals. By trading cassettes they garnered international acclaim
leading to releases on dozens of other labels.
[more inside]
posted by wcfields
on Dec 22, 2011 -
5 comments
"Call me nuts, but I find extraordinarily endearing the improbable blend of country music traditionalism and tastefully restrained space-age guitar pyrotechnics that can be heard in these tunes." Yes, friends, the fine folks at WFMU are back with the long-awaited 2nd installment of the tasty and wonderful
Country Fuzz Spectacular!
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Aug 24, 2011 -
8 comments
"Starting with the precedents set by Charles Ives and John Cage,
VARIATIONS presents the principal milestones of Sampling Music, looking at examples from 20th century composition, popular art and the mass media, and the way all of these currents converge today." Curated by Jon Leidecker, who records and performs as
Wobbly.
"Poet Kenneth Goldsmith presents selections from UbuWeb, the learned and varietous online repository concerning concrete & sound poetry, experimental film, outsider art and all things avant-garde" in
Avant-Garde All the Time. Goldsmith's the founding editor of
UbuWeb and sometime
DJ on WFMU as
Kenny G.
(Previously:
CodPaste - a 14-part podcast about the history and practice of sound collage and mashups. )
posted by moonmilk
on Mar 20, 2010 -
9 comments
Codpaste is a 14-part podcast about the history and practice of sound collage and mashups. A collaboration between
Vicki Bennett (People Like Us,
previously) and
Ergo Phizmiz (
previously), Codpaste is an entertaining and instructive wander through such topics as cartoon music, Negativland, easy listening, and William S. Burroughs. There's even a curriculum
[30mb pdf] to go with it! Most episodes are about 30 minutes long, feature the same editing techniques and sound sources that they discuss, and are enhanced by Ergo and Vicki's wonderfully quaint accents.
posted by moonmilk
on Dec 15, 2008 -
11 comments
Yo La Tengo is Murdering the Classics... again! For the 12th straight year, this legendary
group of music nerds from
Hoboken, NJ encamps to the studios of local free form radio station
WFMU to play, on the spot, three full hours of listener-requested covers. The request show, part of the station's annual pledge drive, happens tonight
(Sunday, March 2) from 5-8 pm EST, and thanks to the wonder that is the internet you can
listen (128k MP3 stream) and
pledge live from anywhere in the world
(or catch the real broadcast in FM at 91.1 in NYC / New Jersey and 90.1 in the Hudson Valley, Catskills, Western NJ and Eastern Penn).
[more inside]
posted by kowalski
on Mar 2, 2008 -
46 comments
Spooky halloween sounds via
wfmu.
"Talk about a budget label classic! I was first introduced to this LP by Jack Diamond. Side 1 is pretty standard horror sounds, but Side 2 is where the magic is found! I love these remarks by a friend which pretty much sums it up:
"Side 2 of this album is unlike other Halloween sound effect records floating around in that it is all theremin! And get a load of those track titles?! It sounds as if someone let a 5 year old kid noodle around for a while. It's super scary!"
posted by vronsky
on Oct 31, 2007 -
9 comments
Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon as a soundtrack to its album art. Parts
1,
2,
3,
4, and
5 (YouTube).
For another painstakingly minimalist (though livelier) tribute, Kenny G's Intelligent Design show on WFMU recently featured Nick the Bard's a cappella rendition of the entire album. Playlist & link to audio archive
here.
posted by treepour
on Oct 12, 2006 -
26 comments
What? From WFMU: "What happens when a man covered in microphones walks into a room covered with speakers? Feedback. Lots of it." (might be NSFW)
posted by minkll
on Apr 7, 2006 -
91 comments
Aircheck is an excellent program on the legendary free-form radio station
WFMU, showcasing vintage radio. Highlights include the deeply blasphemous Bob Lassiter, the "Paul is Dead" broadcast, and Cleveland DJ Murray "It's FRIIIIDAYYYY!" Saul.
posted by starkeffect
on Sep 5, 2005 -
10 comments
Head Back to Mono in 32k at the
rineke.net records archive, where a rather consistent curator has digitized a goody chunk of his record collection. It's posted in more-or-less every iteration imaginable. Observe the
linked scans (1 mb page, careful!) of the covers (also in multiple resolutions up to full-size). Note the
records themselves, in sleeve or
out, depending. Most especially, savor the clean, low-res mono mp3s that
cry out to be played through the dashboard speakers of a 1967 Dodge Dart.
Bonus Big Beat Bonanza: The site's author is also behind the
similarly detailed archive of shows by ex-WFMU dj
The Hound, from 1987 through 1995, heavy on the
rare regional sides beloved of certain of my pals down New Orleans way.
Last, but not least, rineke.net hosts the adventures of
a platoon of Tux clones, sealing my geek admiration for the overseer of the site. There's
more, of course. My propeller beanie's off to you, sir, and long may you wave, or particle, as is your choice and preference.
(Permission was sought and granted to post this, as I feard for the site's bandwidth. Have at it, Mefites!
posted by mwhybark
on Aug 12, 2004 -
7 comments
Whoa! Gag! They did what?? "The history of drinking urine for therapeutic purposes dates back at least to the Holy Roman Empire when great urinal troths were erected in the public squares......"
courtesy of
WFMU magazine
posted by protocool
on Sep 26, 2002 -
49 comments
Yo La Tengo take your requests right now live on WFMU (various streams are
here). Best pledge drive gimmick going: right now they're doing some T-Rex. A $60 pledge gets the band to play your selection.
posted by BT
on Mar 16, 2002 -
9 comments
