Author Archives: weirdestband
Weirdify Playlist 4: Techno Fucking Way
Sometimes here at TWBITW, we like to get on down with our bad selves. And by “bad,” we mean, “in no fit state to be getting on down with anything, unless it’s a couch or a mattress with good lumbar support.” Still, we do try to give the old carcasses a little wiggle every once in awhile. And there’s nothing more fun to wiggle to (or easier, especially for us white folks) than a some good old-fashioned boot-in-a-dryer music. We’re talking techno*, people!
This time around, I’ve decided to annotate the playlist a bit. So read on to learn more about the 14 artists and tracks represented in this mix—and while you’re reading, fire up the ol’ Spotify and see if you’re capable of dancing and reading at the same time. I bet you can do it.
*And related genres of EDM. Don’t get all purist on us, k?
1. The Soft Pink Truth, “Soft Pink Missy.” SPT is Drew Daniel, one-half of the experimental electronic duo Matmos. His stuff is often filed under “microhouse,” all of which sounds pretty weird—but Daniel is especially adept at constructing dance tracks built out of tiny edits from all sorts of sampled material. I figured this was a nice, gentle way to ease y’all into some of the harder stuff coming.
2. The Vegetable Orchestra, “Pumpkin Jam” (Märtini Brös remix). A not-so-weird track, until you realize that most of it was created using instruments made out of vegetables. Märtini Brös, the German duo who did the remix, have created some pretty weird dance tracks of their own, including this one.
3. Greenskeepers, “Man in the House” (GK 911 remix). This Chicago house/electro-pop group makes many songs with a twisted sense of humor, most famously “Lotion,” a bouncy New Wave jam narrated by Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs. This one isn’t quite that weird, but it’s got a fun beat.
4. Justin Martin and Sammy D, “The Southern Draw.” This one takes awhile to get going, but stay with it, and it gets wacky, trust me. It’s from the Dirtybird label, which releases a lot of terrific, offbeat techno—but nothing more offbeat than this.
5. Oli Chang, “Chicken Techno.” I’m pretty sure this one needs no explanation.
6. Die Antwoord, “I Fink U Freeky.” The raviest rave anthem from South Africa’s awesomely twisted “zef rap-rave” crew. I still can’t quite believe that they played this on Letterman.
7. Von Südenfed, “Flooded.” A collaboration between the German experimental electronic duo Mouse on Mars and Mark E. Smith from The Fall—who turns out to be a surprisingly excellent dance music vocalist, at least in small doses. No, this isn’t strictly speaking techno, but it fucking rocks. And no, it’s not dubstep, either. Can we all please agree that not everything with a dark, twisted bassline is dubstep? Thank you.
8. Anklepants, “Deadline 4734 vs. Inside Your Face” (Imposex mix). We just featured this guy as our Weird Band of the Week. At first I was mostly just fascinated with his creepily lifelike monster mask, but the more I listen to his music, the more I’m digging it. He’s not really techno either, and I’m not even sure you can dance to this stuff, but it’s amazing.
9. Laibach, “Wirtschaft” (Richie Hawtin Hardcore Noise Mix). One of the greatest techno producers of all time, Richie Hawtin (aka Plastikman), turns one of the weirdest industrial bands of all time into a jam for the ladies. That is, if those ladies like slam-dancing in steel-toed boots.
10. Underworld, “Moaner.” Underworld are one of those bands that became so popular, it’s easy now to forget how totally fucking wackadoodle even many of their best-known tracks are. This isn’t even their wackiest, but I think it’s one of their most underrated, with an insanely building synth line and Karl Hyde declaiming his surrealist raver poetry like a man possessed. God, they were so good back in the day.
11. Matthew Herbert, “February.” A British producer known for building his tracks out of field recordings of everything from bodily functions to household objects, Herbert released his weirdest and most controversial work last year: One Pig, an album of abstract musique concrete built from the sounds of the life cycle of a commercially raised pig, from birth to slaughter to dining table. On this track, from late in the album, you can hear butcher’s saws and the sounds of percussion instruments made out of the pig’s bones. It’s sort of the opposite of Vegetable Orchestra—and while I admit it’s pretty disturbing stuff, it kinda makes you crave bacon, doesn’t it?
12. Gangpol & Mit, “Balatchi Basketcha.” This track is about as close as the French kitschtronica duo G&M ever come to techno—and still, it’s less clubby, more Saturday-morning-cartoony, if Shag ever did Saturday morning cartoons. How awesome would that be?
13. Twink, “Slush Bunny.” Toy piano techno. You’re welcome, humanity!
14. Sir Ivan, “San Francisco” (John Kano radio mix). Yes, is the second playlist we’ve ended with Sir Ivan, but you know what? Fuck it. There’s something about his cheesy house/techno remakes of classic hippie songs that just seems like a fitting grand finale to an hour’s worth of weirdness. Such a strange vibration!
Hope you enjoy the playlist. If you do, tell a friend.
Nazis on the moon! “Iron Sky” sci-fi film featuring the music of Laibach coming soon
In News of the Awesome: the makers of the Nazi sci-fi comedy Iron Sky have just confirmed that the film has a U.S. distributor, and it will premiere in America on March 10th at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. The film features music from our favorite Slovenian pop-industrial band Laibach, as well as what appears to be enough eye-popping special effects and Nazi regalia to send sci-fi buffs, History Channel junkies and steampunks alike into a frenzy of anticipation.
Iron Sky‘s premise is ingeniously simple and more fantastically far-fetched than Snakes on a Plane: In 1945, a contingent of Nazis secretly fled Germany to establish a base on the dark side of the moon. By 2018, they’ve built up a big enough fleet of space jets, space zeppelins and jackbooted space soldiers to launch an invasion of America—now led by a very Sarah Palin-like President who thinks the whole thing is actually kinda cool. Which it is, of course.
To support the film, Laibach are embarking on the “We Come in Peace” tour this spring and summer, on which they’ll play portions of the soundtrack as well as older material and some new stuff from two forthcoming albums. So far they’ve only announced a handful of dates in Northern Europe and the U.K., but it sounds like they’ll be adding more—including, we hope, a few American shows.
As you can see, the new Iron Sky poster lists the film’s opening date as April 4th, but we’re not sure if that includes the U.S. It sound like it’ll be coming here soon, though. You can even “demand” that it screen somewhere near you by entering your ZIP code on the film’s official website. I doubt that guarantees anything, but hey, it couldn’t hurt.
We’ll leave you with the film’s official trailer—though if you want to hear more of Laibach’s score, this teaser clip features it more prominently. The music was done in collaboration with Ben Watkins of the electronic group Juno Reactor, but it sounds like pure Laibach to us.
Sparks help Gemma Ray sing Sparks
When U.K. songstress Gemma Ray decided to cover a couple of tunes by one of her favorite weird bands (and ours), Sparks, she got a little more than she bargained for. The Sparks boys were so taken with her torchy vocals on two of their songs, “How Do I Get to Carnegie Hall” and “Eaten by the Monster of Love,” they decided to “Sparks-ify” them by adding their own quirky arrangements and production touches. Call it Sparks remixing Gemma Ray covering Sparks. Or something like that. Actually don’t overthink it, just head over to The Quietus, where you can stream both tracks.
Ray also shot a silly but rather awesome video for “How Do I Get to Carnegie Hall,” which recently premiered on NME.com. We must confess to not knowing much about Gemma Ray, but she sure is prettier than Sparks’ Mael brothers (sorry, guys).
The “Gemma Ray Sings Sparks With Sparks” single comes out Feb. 21st on Bronze Rat Records. You can pre-order the 7″ vinyl here.
As for Sparks? They’re still tinkering with their Ingmar Bergman musical. Those crazy kids!
Trippple Nippples show their softer side with Oli Chang remix
Even the spazziest of J-pop bands has to mellow out once in awhile. So once you’re done getting your freak on to “Drink the Haterade” and giving yourself seizures watching their “LSD” video, go unclench your earholes to “Golden Road,” a surprisingly pretty, soothing track from Trippple Nippples, the band I recently described (reductively, I must admit) as the “Japanese Lady Gaga” on public radio. Then get even more chill with the dream-poppy Oli Chang remix, which also comes with its own video featuring lots of shots of trains cruising through tunnels and winter landscapes. We kept waiting for the Trippp Nippp ladies to show up and start smearing rice noodles everywhere, but it ain’t that kind of clip.
Side note regarding Oli Chang: He’s also the man responsible for “Chicken Techno,” which might be the single most awesome thing we’ve seen all week. Better than the “Funky Chicken,” you ask? Much.
Hank3 is hittin’ the road
We interrupt this national day of mourning for Whitney Houston with a totally unrelated but nevertheless vitally important piece of news: Hank3 is hittin’ the road! Yes, the badass inventor of hellbilly and cattlecore will be bringing his trademark multi-set onslaught of trad country, metal and the aforementioned genres to 15 lucky cities this March. If any of the shows sell out faster than usual, I’m sure it’s because I just talked about him on The Dinner Party podcast/public radio chat show.
Here are the dates:
3/2 Chattanooga, TN @ Rhythm & Brews
3/3 Montgomery, AL @ Rock Bottom
3/4 Mobile, AL @ Soul Kitchen
3/6 Orlando, FL @ Plaza Theatre
3/7 Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room
3/9 Melbourne, FL @ Levelz
3/10 Tampa, FL @ State Theatre
3/11 Jacksonville, FL @ Brewsters
3/13 Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre
3/14 Norfolk, VA @ Norva
3/15 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
3/16 Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
3/19 Morgantown, WV @ 123 Pleasant St
3/20 Indianapolis, IN @ Vouge
3/21 St. Louis, MO (Sauget, IL) @ Pop’s
Jake and I will be stuck back here in LA, so if anyone makes it out to one of the shows, please give us a report. To give you a little taste of what you can expect, here’s a fan-made video of the “3 Bar Ranch” portion of his set, the part that features cattle auctioneers set to speed metal:
So yeah…bring your earplugs!
Quintron and Miss Pussycat tour dates, Bruise Cruise and more
Our favorite New Orleans weirdos, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, are bringing their patented blend of puppet show and electro-swamp-rock revue to a few lucky cities this spring (though not, we’re sad to see, L.A.–what do you have against the West Coast, guys?). You can also party on a boat with them if you act fast and score some last-minute tix to the Bruise Cruise, a floating rock festival setting out from Miami to the Bahamas Feb. 10-13. Also on that bill: Fucked Up, King Khan, Thee Oh Sees, the Dirtbombs and Jello Biafra. If you’ve never had the pleasure of puking into the crystal blue waters of the Caribbean, well, now’s your chance.
Q & Ms. P have also been nominated for a Grammy! Kinda! The album Grand Isle by Cajun stars Steve Riley and the Mamadou Playboys features a cover of the Quintron and Miss Pussycat tune “Chatterbox,” with Quintron guesting on organ. And it’s been nominated in the Best Regional Roots Music category. Congrats, guys!
Quintron and Miss Pussycat U.S. tour dates:
02-07 St. Augustine, FL – Nobby’s Tavern
02-08 Miami, FL- The Stage
02-10 Miami, FL – Bruise Cruise
4-20 Atlanta, GA – The Earl
4-21 Athens, GA – Farm 255
4-23 Savannah, GA – The Jinx
4-24 Columbia, SC - 5 Points Pub [Indie Grits Festival]
4-25 Raleigh, NC – Kings Barcade
4-26 Washington, DC – Red Palace
4-27 Baltimore, MD – Golden West
4-28 Brooklyn, NY – 285 Kent
4-29 New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
4-30 Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie
5-2 Allston, Ma – Great Scott
5-4 Portland, ME - Geno’s Rock Club
5-5 Bennington, VT – Bennington College [Sunfest]
5-6 Montreal, QC – Il Motore
5-8 Toronto, ON- Silver Dollar
5-10 Detroit, MI - Lager House
5-11 Cleveland, OH – Now That’s Class [Horrible Fest]
5-12 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
5-13 Milwaukee, WI – Cactus Club
5-15 Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
5-16 Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room
5-18 St. Louis, MO – Firebird
We’ll leave you with the video for “Face Down in the Gutter” off Quintron and Miss Pussycat’s latest album, Sucre Du Sauvage. Never has getting shit-faced looked so adorable.
Otto von Schirach
(Photo by Sarah Sitkin)
Today’s weird artiste has been suggested to us by several folks over the years, most recently a reader named voodoojuice (not his real name, we assume…otherwise, he probably has to repeat it several times at parties). He’s a breakcore artist from Miami named Otto von Schirach, and even in a genre of music that’s pretty much all lunatics, he stands out as being extra wackadoodle.
Before we talk about Otto and his mythological origins, let’s back up a sec and talk about breakcore. A mid-’90s offshoot of hardcore techno and “IDM” (aka “intelligent dance music”…one of those genre names so obnoxious, I can only type it in quotation marks), breakcore basically lays an unholy mishmash of distorted kick drums and snare hits, gangsta rap and horror movie samples, dive-bombing bass lines and death growl vocals over breakbeats that have been chopped up and sped up to the point where the only logical way to dance to them is to fake an epileptic seizure. It’s not for the faint-hearted.
You can get a peek at several breakcore artists in action—including Von Schirach—in this excellent video, which was apparently done for some German television show. It’s mostly in German, but you don’t really need to understand what anyone’s saying to figure out that these breakcore producers and their fans are fucking nuts.
So, back to Otto von Schirach. According to his official bio, Von Schirach was born in 1978 in Miami or possibly dropped off by aliens and introduced into a Cuban/German family that included santeria practictioners and possibly wolves. He acquired his first drum machine in either 1991 or 1995, possibly from a neighborhood crackhead. Soon thereafter, he began making beats, which were decidedly breakcore-esque but slowed-down and strongly influenced by Miami booty bass, goregrind and IDM O.G.’s like Aphex Twin.
Von Schirach’s first big “break” (breakcore pun!) came when he got to open for the industrial band Skinny Puppy in 2003. According to one bio, “He scared the living shit out of all the Skinny Puppy fans night after night with his 35 minute, 3 costume change, ear punishing dance party.” That might sound far-fetched, but we’ve met a few Skinny Puppy fans and underneath all the black clothing and piercings, they’re a pretty skittish bunch. So it’s quite possible that Otto’s unique “spin” (DJ pun!) on breakcore really did freak them out.
That spin, as heard on albums with fantastic titles like Global Speaker Fisting and Oozing Bass Spasms, combines elements of (and again, we’re just quoting from the official bio here) “Electro Bass Noise, Gore Grind, IDM Glitch, Calliope, Breakcore Gabber Jungle, Gangsta Rap.” And as if all that weren’t enough to blow your mind, he’s also been known to perform in a superhero costume. We foresee a future Sir Ivan collaboration.
P.S. The track in the clip below is called “Teabagging the Dead.” Awesome.
Links:
New Frank Zappa doc featuring Captain Beefheart and Wild Man Fischer: “From Straight to Bizarre”
In 1968, Frank Zappa decided to launch his own record labels, Bizarre and Straight, to release not only the music of his band, the Mothers of Invention (and yeah, someday we’ll get around to officially adding them to the Weird A-Z List), but also some of the crazy music he was hearing around L.A. in those heady days of Free Love and plentiful psychedelics: records by TWBITW mainstays like Captain Beefheart and Wild Man Fischer as well as less celebrated but still pretty strange acts like The GTO’s, a band made up entirely of groupies. They also put out records by Alice Cooper, Lenny Bruce and Tim Buckley, among many others.
Now a new film is coming out Feb. 21 that revisits the Bizarre and Straight legacies. From Straight to Bizarre: Zappa, Beefheart, Alice Cooper and LA’s Lunatic Fringe features archival footage and interviews with former GTO member Pamela Des Barres, Beefheart sideman John French, and some of the other folks involved in Bizarre and Straight’s brief existences (both labels folded in 1973). We haven’t seen it yet, so we can’t whole-heartedly recommend it, but we’re really hoping it’s more interesting than the first minute or so of this trailer (be patient, it does eventually get good):
You can pre-order From Straight to Bizarre on DVD from SeeOfSound.com. No word yet on whether it’ll be available via Netflix or iTunes or any of the other usual sources, but we’re betting it’ll pop up somewhere on basic cable (the Documentary Channel? VH1?) soon enough.
Watch “A Day With Nick Zammuto” mini-doc
(Photo swiped from BoingBoing.net)
Anticipation really seems to be building for the debut album from Zammuto, the new band/solo project from Nick Zammuto, one-half of sound collage mavericks The Books. Just today, Pitchfork gave a “Best New Track” shout-out to “F U C-3PO,” an almost proggy jam with robot vocals and distortion pedals set to stun. And last week, director Matthew Day debuted a short documentary called “A Day With Nick Zammuto” that shows the musician hard at work on his new music and chilling in his amazing self-built house with his wife and ridiculously cute children. We’ve embedded the YouTube version of the film below, or you can watch the original on Day’s website, Naked Musicians.
Zammuto will be making their live debut on Feb. 3 at Mass Moca in North Adams, Massachusetts. If anyone goes, give us a report!
Flaming Lips at Noise Pop 20: The Soft Bulletin front to back
Good news, all you weirdo Frisco dwellers (and yes, we know you hate it when people say “Frisco”–that’s why we keep doing it): There are still some badges left for the 20th annual Noise Pop Festival that will get you into Bimbo’s 365 Club on Feb. 21st to see the Flaming Lips perform their 1999 classic album The Soft Bulletin in its entirety. And while not quite as weird as a 24-hour song encased in a human skull, The Soft Bulletin is an undisputed psych-rock masterpiece that should make for a pretty fascinating live listening experience. Even those stingy bastards at Pitchfork gave it a perfect 10.0 rating.
For those of you not familiar with Noise Pop: It’s sort of San Francisco’s version of the much more crowded and over-commercialized South by Southwest, a festival that’s spread out into venues all over the city instead of some dusty park with overpriced food vendors. Now in its 20th year, the 2012 edition of Noise Pop also features TWBITW favorites Die Antwoord along with such less weird but undeniably awesome acts as Sleigh Bells, Built to Spill, Atlas Sound, Matthew Dear and Archers of Loaf. Last we checked, $200 badges are still available that will get you into the entire festival, including the Lips. The whole thing lasts Feb. 21-26. If you decide to skip the Lips, the whole thing will only set you back $150–but why would you want to do that?
Jake and I will most likely not be there, sadly, because we’re broke as fuck. Unless we can convince them to let us in free and “report” on the whole thing. Isn’t that what all the other music blogs do?
We’ll play this post out with “Waitin’ for a Superman,” one of our favorite Soft Bulletin tracks. It’s gettin’ heavy!
