Author Archives: weirdestband
New video from DJ Nu-Mark features no toys, but kick-ass beats
When we first added ex-Jurassic 5 member DJ Nu-Mark to the Weird List almost a year ago, it was mainly because of his “toy” DJ sets, in which he wires up various noise-making children’s gadgets to his mixer and goes nuts like a hip-hop Willy Wonka. You won’t really see any of that in the video for his latest single, “Tonight”—but you will see a very cool portable/toy record player called a Columbia GP-3 and some nifty animation, including an Asteroids cameo. Oh and the tune is pretty dope, too.
Peep the video below; the song itself will be on Nu-Mark’s debut solo album, Broken Sunlight, due out this summer. You can also apparently buy the track as part of a single package on Nu’s website, but you may have to squint to make sure you’re getting the right one. Either I need new glasses or that dude’s online store needs better labeling.
New music from Rudely Interrupted: “So Tired”
It’s been awhile since we checked in with Australia’s leading “differently abled” power-pop band, Rudely Interrupted. So what have the lads been up to since June 2010? Well, they’ve apparently released their debut album, Tragedy of the Commons, available on iTunes, Amazon and elsewhere around the Interwebs. They’ve played North America, Singapore, New Zealand and various other places hither and yon. They’ve lost their only female member, “human metronome” Connie Kirkpatrick, who we can only assume has a solo album and/or an all-girl band with disabilities in the works. And bassist Sam Beke has acquired a really bitchin’ cape. So they’ve been keeping busy.
Most recently, they’re apparently putting the finishing touches on a new EP called Mystery Girl, due out later this year. A few weeks ago they released the first single from it, which we’ll attempt to embed below. It’s called “So Tired” and it’s a catchy little number that lead singer Rory Burnside describes as “cynical and not meant to be serious.” They can’t all be public service announcements, people.
Weirdify Playlist 9: Summer Freaks
It’s been too long since we posted a new Weirdify playlist, don’t you think? Let’s make up for lost time with an extra long mix for your first of what will hopefully be many backyard summer shindigs. Fire up the grill and dig in, kids. Memorial Day is just around the corner.
1. Signmark feat. Osmo Ikonen, “Speakerbox.” We’ll kick things off with our favorite feel-good jam from the world’s only (as far as we know) deaf Finnish rapper, Signmark. No, this song isn’t actually the least bit weird, but you don’t want to start your guests off with Caroliner, for Christ’s sake. Let the poor people ease into it.
2. Here Come the Mummies, “Freak Flag.” OK, now we’re getting at least slightly weird, courtesy of Tennessee’s most decomposed funk band. We’ll have a Mothership connection in 3, 2, 1…
3. Parliament, “Rumpofsteelskin.” If all you really know about George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic is “Give Up the Funk,” you’re probably wondering why we included them on the Weird List in the first place. This song should help clear that up.
4. That 1 Guy, “Funk Bean.” Nearly as funky as a fully operational Mothership, Mike Silverman’s Magic Pipe can summon Primus fans from miles around like a giant dog whistle. Even to non-Primus fans, it’s pretty groovy. (Also, apologies to That 1 Guy for jacking the cover art to his album Packs a Wallop! for this playlist. Don’t wallop us with your Magic Pipe, K?)
5. Fol Chen, “Cable TV.” Because nothing says summer like a song about watching Pay-Per-View in a fleabag motel. Or does that say “meth deal”? Either way, it’s got a beat and you can bop to it without spilling your margarita.
6. Hank3, “Six Pack of Beer.” After much deliberation, we decided to spare you and your BBQ guests the mighty racket that is Hank3′s cattlecore (that’s cattle auctioneers set to speed metal, y’all) in favor of this pickin’ and grinnin’ ode to the beverage of choice at BBQs everywhere.
7. Bob Log III, “Shake a Little, Wiggle It and Jiggle It Too.” The other great “III” on our Weird List, Bob Log III dresses up like a down-on-his-luck Evel Knievel and plays gutbucket slide-guitar blues, preferably while a willing young lass perches on his knee. And yes, he’s our hero.
8. tUnE-yArDs, “My Country.” This song from Merrill Garbus and her oddball, lo-fi jam band is perfect for Fourth of July parties. Sort of.
9. Dolchnakov Brigade, “Dating in Space.” It’s about time in the party for a little jam for the ladies, don’t you think? This DEVO-esque electro-pop freakout from our favorite pseudo-Russian Brooklyn band is just the ticket for getting the girls moving, at least in a confused, slightly epileptic way. (Can you be only “slightly” epileptic? You can when Dolchnakov Brigade is playing.)
10. DEVO, “Beautiful World.” Name-checking DEVO reminds us—every good party mix needs a little DEVO, don’t you think? Also, is it DEVO or Devo? Discuss.
11. Yip-Yip, “Slime Shuns Sun Shine.” Quick, say that song title ten times really fast. Now quick, try dancing to it. Which is harder? Discuss.
12. Waylander, “Re-Born to the Fight.” We’ve neglected the headbangers at your little backyard shindig for far too long. A little Celtic metal should satiate their desire for something more rockin’, while giving your other guests a chance to do a little jig and/or whiskey shots. Everybody wins.
13. The Misfits, “Teenagers From Mars.” You might think the punk band most closely associated with Halloween is not a very appropriate choice for a summer-themed party mix. And you’d be right. But fuck it, we’re throwing them in there anyway. Have another beer and roll with it.
14. The Flaming Lips, “Fryin’ Up.” Not the weirdest song the Lips ever did by a long shot, but it’s got a good party-rock vibe and that lyric about “blowin’ everything off on Monday,” which seems appropriate. Plus, the title is a reference to fryin’ burgers, right? Right?
15. The Upper Crust, “Eureka – I’ve Found Love.” We continue the rock portion of this mix with a tender love song from our current Weird Band of the Week, the Boston-based AC/DC-meets-Marie-Antoinette awesomeness that is The Upper Crust. Bibo ergo sum! Look it up, motherfuckers.
16. Bang Camaro, “Pleasure (Pleasure).” Boston’s other great novelty rock act (seriously, it’s like no one there can just headbang without irony), Bang Camaro achieve that multi-tracked ’80s hair-metal vocal sound with a ten-plus member “dude choir.” They have also clearly studied Pyromania to an unhealthy degree. OK, that’s enough rock for one party, don’t you think? Moving on…
17. Fool’s Gold, “Surprise Hotel.” This Afro-Hebrew-jam-pop band was one of the first acts we ever blogged about. In hindsight, they actually don’t seem all that weird compared to most of the bands on the Weird List, but damn if songs like this one don’t shout “summer!” like a happy parent shouting “mazel tov!” at their daughter’s wedding.
18. MaxNormal.TV, “HipnWidIt.” We’ve never featured our current No. 1 Weirdest Band on a Weirdify playlist before, and I wasn’t sure we’d be able to, considering Waddy Jones and co. pretty much scrapped this whole band when they reinvented themselves as Die Antwoord. But amazingly enough, Spotify does have some Max Normal tracks, including this shameless “Blue Monday” rip. But hey, even a secondhand version of the familiar New Order synth riff should get your more well-lubricated guests shaking a leg or two.
19. Dirty Sanchez, “Really Rich Italian Satanists.” Let’s keep the dance party vibe going with a little high-camp electroclash. Nothing says “party” like a bunch of drag queens channeling an Italian Satanic murder cult, am I right? Now pass the Campari, bitch.
20. Sir Ivan, “Hare Krishna.” We interrupt this party for a hands-in-the-air hippie moment from our favorite Raver Billionaire. Everyone loving one another? Good, let’s move on…
21. Sparks, “Now That I Own the BBC.” We really don’t mention often enough how freakin’ awesome Sparks are. This is from their Pet Shop Boys on Acid phase, as I like to call it. Enjoy.
22. The Superions, “Who Threw That Ham at Me.” We introduced this band from Fred Schneider of the B-52′s as a strictly Christmas-themed group, but they do summer-themed songs, too. And then they do this song about canned-meat tossing. You might want to make sure all the meat at your BBQ is in a secure place before this comes on.
23. The Wet Spots, “Do You Take It…?” (Dr. Feelin’s O.R. Dance Remix). By this point in the party, you’re probably wondering which of your guests like to get freaky. Here’s a hint: The ones who won’t look you in the eye while this track is playing? Not freaky.
24. Mojo Nixon, “I Ain’t Gonna Piss in No Jar.” OK, so by now, if you’re a party host worth your margarita salt, most of your guests are too drunk to dance. But too drunk to sing along to a Mojo Nixon song? We’re pretty sure that’s not physiologically possible.
25. Naked & Shameless, “And Then the Drugs Ran Out.” At all of Jake’s parties, this song is basically last call.
Hope you enjoyed this week’s mix. And remember: Always recycle your empties. Unless someone peed in them.
The Upper Crust
Photo by Jay Elliott
Finally, a rock band for the one percent! The Upper Crust are an AC/DC-loving band from Boston who perform their swaggering cock-rock (or “rocque and roll,” as they like to call it) dressed in the powdered wigs, buckled shoes and ruffled finery of 18th century French aristocrats. They stay rigorously in character throughout, sneering at the “foul congregation” of their plebeian fans and raising their pinkie fingers between songs in a foppish variation of the classic devil horns gesture. It’s the Ancien Régime by way of Aerosmith, Bon Scott in breeches. And like a lot of our favorite super-gimmicky bands, it’s a great example of a silly, one-note idea run so far into the ground it’s struck a gusher of some sticky black substance resembling genius.
The main madman behind The Upper Crust is Nat Freedberg, aka Lord Bendover, who’s been toiling away in various semi-obscure (and completely obscure) Boston bands since the ’80s. (This article gives some good background.) He started The Upper Crust in 1995 with a lineup that’s undergone surprisingly few changes since: A third guitarist, Lord Rockingham, dropped out fairly early, and they swapped out bassists at some point, but second singer/guitarist the Duc D’Istortion (“a student of the manly art of fisticuffs,” according to his official bio) and drummer Jackie Kickassis (an “effervescent personage” with a fondness for “the verses of the ancient homosexual poets”) have been with the group since day one. Most non-joke bands would kill for that kind of continuity.
The Upper Crust have released three original studio LPs, a live album, and a “greatest hits” collection, Cream of the Crust. The track titles alone are worth the price of admission: “Once More Into the Breeches,” “We’re Finished With Finishing School,” “Come Hither Fair Youth,” a live DVD called Horse & Buggery. As far as we can tell, they haven’t done much since releasing their last album, Revenge for Imagined Slights, in 2009. The only event listed on their official website (by their faithful manservant, Bumbles) is a benefit concert that happened back in April. “It is not sheer greed that drives them as usual,” Bumbles writes, in a commoner’s fumbling attempt to mimic the arch wit of his lordships. Oh, I bet you tasted the lash for that impertinent remark, Bumbles!
We would be remiss not to include a huzzah here for Rico Gagliano, co-host of public radio show/podcast The Dinner Party, who introduced us to The Upper Crust when I was a guest on his show back in February. (What do you mean you missed it? For shame. Lucky for you there’s an Internet now for archiving such things.)
Here’s the fuzzy but still pretty awesome video for one of The Upper Crust’s signature tunes, “Let the Eat Rock,” originally released circa 1995. Keep an eye out for the coal-fired guitar amp. These dudes were steam punks before steam punk even existed.
Links:
- The Upper Crust official site
- The Upper Crust on MySpace
- Monarchy in the USA (Upper Crust fan site)
Zammuto, solo project from The Books’ Nick Zammuto, touring with Explosions in the Sky
The Books‘ Nick Zammuto released the debut album from his solo project, Zammuto, back on April 3rd on Temporary Residence and we were highly negligent in calling out how freaking awesome it is. Called Zammuto, the album definitely bears more than a passing resemblance to The Books’ cheeky sound collage pop, but it’s also got quasi-prog-rock workouts (“F U C-3PO”), Auto-Tuned electro-soul (“Too Late to Topologize”), spacey post-rock (“Idiom Wind”) and more stuff I’m currently enjoying too much to describe. So I’ll just shut up about it and instead leave you with this link to Zammuto’s Soundcloud page, where the album is currently streaming in its entirety.
Nick has assembled a three-piece backing band to help him recreate these songs live, and by all accounts they’re pretty awesome, too. They just wrapped up a handful of dates, but they’ll be back on the road this June opening for Explosions in the Sky. No love for L.A. on this tour (or the last one, even though they played San Francisco and San Diego), but hey, that’s cool. We’ll just be over here feeling sorry for ourselves if you change your mind, Nick.
6/17 Houston, TX – Warehouse Live
6/18 Mobile, AL – Soul Kitchen Music Hall
6/19 Tampa, FL – The Ritz Ybor
6/20 Miami, FL – Grand Central
6/21 Athens, GA – The Georgia Theatre
6/22 Charlottesville, VA – Jefferson Theater
6/25 Morgantown, WV – 123 Pleasant St.
6/26 Chicago, IL – Chicago Theatre
6/27 Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
We’ll leave you with a video of the band rehearsing the track “The Shape of Things to Come” in Nick’s Vermont studio. Anyone know where I can get one of those little fisheye cameras? Those things are rad.
New Anklepants album available for free download
Good news for fans of our favorite penis-faced EDM producer, Anklepants: For a limited time, he’s making his brand-new album, Social Patching and the Pixel Pagent Facéd Boy, available as a free download on Bandcamp. Go get it while you still can, and if you dig it, be sure to grab the free bonus track, “Bellofacé,” which he just added yesterday. Yes, the man’s generosity knows no bounds. Now, who’s hungry for grapes?
That 1 Guy
It’s been awhile since we blogged about an artist who plays homemade instruments. So let’s fix that this week by making That 1 Guy, creator of the Magic Pipe, our Weird Band of the Week.
Now I know what you’re thinking: “Dude, I play my Magic Pipe every night! Usually to pictures of Kate Upton.” But That 1 Guy’s Magic Pipe is both longer and cooler than yours, my friend. Hooked up to various electronics and a few bass strings, it’s a seven-foot, harp-shaped weapon of mass awesomeness that, in the hands of That 1 Guy’s Mike Silverman (who is, indeed, just one guy), can sound as funky as a Les Claypool bassline, as evil as a Nine Inch Nails song, and as goofy as, oh, let’s say Ween, all in the same song. Lots of artists these days use loops and electronics to do the whole one-man-band thing, but few do it with more oddball swag than That 1 Guy.
Silverman is a highly trained jazz bassist who got so bored with the limitations of his instrument that he decided to start making his own gear. In addition his signature instrument, the Magic Pipe, which is sort of like a Chapman stick on steroids, he’s also concocted the Magic Boot, the Magic Flute and the Magic Saw. Apparently, he even does magic tricks in his act now. If he ever asks you to pick a card, go for the Joker. (Did we mention that That 1 Guy’s songs tend to be hilariously silly? Well, they do.)
That 1 Guy has collaborated with fellow weirdos like Buckethead (subject of a future Weird Band of the Week pick, we promise—hang in there, Ian!), but mostly, he does solo shows like the one in the video below. When you can generate that much noise all by yourself, who needs collaborators?
P.S.: Shout out to our new biggest fan, Sheavy, for reminding us about this guy. Glad you like the site, buddy! Have you come around to Die Antwoord yet?
Links:
- That 1 Guy official site
- That 1 Guy on MySpace
- That 1 Guy on Facebook
- That 1 Guy on Righteous Babe Records (yes, he was once on Ani DiFranco’s label)
New Mike Patton live album coming July 3rd, featuring the music of Luciano Berio
By Mike Patton’s prolific standards, he’s been keeping pretty quiet of late. We haven’t heard any new music from the lead singer/screamer/vocalese-generator of two of our favorite weird bands, Mr. Bungle and Fantomas, since last November’s The Solitude of Prime Numbers, his soundtrack for the film of the same name. But come July 3rd, Patton’s months-long silence will finally come to an end with the release of Laborintus II, his live rendition of a piece by the Italian experimental composer Luciano Berio. And based on the clip below, it is weird shit indeed.
Berio wrote Laborintus II in 1965 to mark the 700th anniversary of the birth of Dante, who wrote a little poem called the Inferno that some of you may have been forced to read in a comparative lit class at some point. Apparently Berio himself performed the piece in 1972 with a blow-up doll and old car tires gracing the stage. Patton, in collaboration with the Belgian-based Ictus Ensemble and the Dutch choral group Nederlands Kamerkoor, plays it more straight—so don’t expect any Mr. Bungle-like hijinks here. In fact, he pretty much just recites poetry in Italian and leaves the ominous wailing to the chorus. (You can watch the whole performance on Vimeo if you’re so inclined. But that sorta feels like cheating, doesn’t it?)
Laborintus II comes out July 3rd on Patton’s Ipecac Recordings.
Christeene’s debut album, “Waste Up Kneez Down,” is coming on May 26
Good news from deep in the…uh, well probably not the heart of Texas. The colon? Wherever it’s being spawned from, Christeene’s debut album has a release date!
For those of y’all not familiar: Christeene is the self-styled “drag terrorist” we first blogged about back in March, when s/he was just days away from wrapping up a Kickstarter campaign to fund the release of her first full-length LP. She hit her Kickstarter goal of $10,000 just 24 hours after we made her our Weird Band of the Week, which was probably just a coincidence, but which Jake and I chose to believe meant that a.) this blog is more influential than we realized and b.) we really should come up with a Kickstarter campaign of our own at some point, because apparently you people are soft touches.
Anyway, the fruits of that ten grand are finally due to arrive at the end of May, in the form of an album called Waste Up Kneez Down. And there’s gonna be a release party in Austin that you freaky Texans (not an oxymoron, I’m told) will not want to miss. I’ll let Christeene explain:
It’s been some hard hittin and heavy winnin here in Austin, and we are stanked as all hell to announce that the Official Album Release for WASTE UP KNEEZ DOWN is going to be on Saturday May 26th, Memorial Day Weekend here in Austin Texas at Elysium Nightclub! Haaaaaay!!!
Elysium is a dank and stank club where we released our EP three years ago, and we wanted to return to the scene of the crime with the album release.
The new songs produced by JJ Booya (Brett Hornsby) are fugggggin phenomenal, yallz. We can’t wait for you to fill your ears with this stank.
The album has 12 tracks plus a bonus track that’ll make ur nay nay cry.
Jake and I have been to Elysium and we can confirm that it is, indeed, dank and stank.
Here’s the promo video for Waste Up Kneez Down, which will forever change the way you view gay porn, ’80s aerobics videos and The Brady Bunch.
Back by no demand whatsoever: Weird Band of the Week Polls!
Back in olden days, when TWBITW was still a smooth young pup of a blog and not the craggy old coot you see before you, what’s now the Submit a Band page was called the Submit & Vote page (in fact, that’s still the URL, because Jake and I are too lazy to change it). Each month (ish) we posted a new band up there and asked you, our beloved readers, to vote on whether you thought they were weird or not. Thanks to your tireless button-clicking, such immortal acts as Army of Gay Unicorns, Dolchnakov Brigade and Extreme Turbo Smash were inducted onto The Weird List. But Jake and I are control freaks, and we weren’t too happy with the fact that other, not-so-weird acts like Social Climbers and The Atlantas also got voted in. So at the end of 2011, we pulled the plug on polls and returned TWBITW to its original state as a benevolent content dictatorship.
But over the past couple of months, we’ve encountered a problem we never expected to have: So many of you are now submitting bands to us that are varying degrees of weird, we have a kind of insane backlog of Weird Band of the Week candidates. So we decided to bring back the poll. This time, however, in a shameless attempt to get more of you people to like us on Facebook, we decided to post the poll over there in the Kingdom of Zuckerberg. Also, Facebook polls—or “Questions,” as they’re officially known—are way easier to update than polls here on WordPress. And did I mention that Jake and I are lazy?
So head on over to Facebook and vote for your favorite of four current nominees for a future Weird Band of the Week slot: Cogs, Skull and Bones, the Radioactive Chicken Heads and Vitamin Wig C. And keep those weird band suggestions coming!
