Gunk

DANIELSON FAMILE - A PRAYER FOR EVERY HOUR, CD, 1995, TOOTH & NAIL RECORDS, USA

Well folks, here is the genesis (in more ways than one) of arty-Christkid, Daniel Smith, and his collaboration with however many brothers and sisters decided to make music with him on this go-around. It's all here: the arts-and-crafts approach, the squeaky vocals, the random 'amens' called out, the xylophones; this is where it all came together! Those who never thought this band was accessible will be surprised to find that this album is the toughest, artiest and most jagged crag to emerge from Brother Danielson. Initially comprised as his thesis for Rutgers, this 24 track adventure is supposed to be played one track every hour to complete a 24 hour devotion to God. I'm sure a lot of Christians would shut this off after hearing 20 seconds of the first track, but to all of you that crave the strange, there is more than enough here to write home about. Heavily focused on rhythm, and even having a somewhat klezmer tinge, these tracks range from just about everything to just about everything, and though it mainly centers on guitar, there are some funny field recordings of Dan's fam thrown in the bunch. Through and throughout, this album is jam-packed with ideas, and whether they work or not is all up to you; judge not lest ye be judged. however if you're brave enough to take the trip you might just recognize the genius young Daniel Smith had early on. Here's the instructions below to demonstrate how to listen to this contraption:

Link

ELEKIBASS - WELCOME WONDERFUL WORLD, CD, 2005, HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME RECORDS, JAPAN

Let me be the first to say if you haven't downloaded this already based on the zany-ass cover art alone, then you are indeed missing out on an Elephant 6 influenced pop spectacle, filtered through the vocals of the most heavily-accented japanese people singing the most joyous and hope-filled tunes of fantabulous child-like wonder. This record never loses its stride and would make any listener jealous that they aren't having as great of a time as these 60s pop-inspired weirdos. Many an odd instrument comes into play on this album, though mainly it's the kazoo. It's fun to play the 'what the hell is that sound' game while listening to this splendid warped saturday-morning odyssey. Tracks like, I Don't Want to Clap My Hands and Not to be Taken Away, can make anyone feel young again, and the records standout, Almanack, is filled with so many hooks it's hard to sit still. The best thing about this album is how each song drills its way into yer brain and mixes things up a bit. It makes me glad that every song on here is a sing-a-long, because you'll be joining in before you know it...well maybe that's too much to hope for, but 'hope' is really what Elekibass is all about.

Link

THE GOLDING INSTITUTE - FINAL RELAXATION, CD, 2006, IPECAC RECORDS, USA

Way back in '07, I was working at the local Good Records here in Dallas and after rummaging for my next employee-discounted purchase in the used CD section I stumbled upon this treasure. The beached whale on the cover juxtaposed with the words Final Relaxation in huge caps above really sums up what this record is all about. What we have here is quite simply a relaxation CD, narrated by a man (the late great Neil Hamburger) with a voice that borders on soothing and sinister. He will detail to you, over the next half-hour, how to relax yourself into a state of sleep that you might have a little trouble waking from, because you will be dead. That right there is the gimmick to this splendid little tease of a self-help CD. The most amazing thing about this record is how hard it is to shut off and not listen to all the way through. The narrator is consistently funny in his vocal delivery and the ominous tones in the background actually make this CD slightly relaxing, but you'll be laughing too hard to notice. By the end of the CD he completely lets loose with tantalizing instructions of how to self-mutilate and strangle yourself. All in all a very interesting & hilarious find, and one that will be hard to forget soon after.

Link

PANDA BEAR - S/T, CD, 1998, SOCCER STAR RECORDS, USA

Before he was breaking hearts with Person Pitch, and shortly before Animal Collective started gaining traction, Mr. Noah Lennox dumped this full-length on the world, issued out by friend and other AC member, Josh Dibb, on his Soccer Star label. The result is an uneven yet intriguing and at times vastly beautiful piece of acoustic balladry and electronic fusion hazed over in bedroom reverb and dewey-eyed nostalgia. The rawness of Noah's vocals really captures the disillusioned period most of us experience growing up in America and figuring out how to do that whole relationship thing without getting too hurt. The tracks without vocals however are the little gems that make this record more than a man's musings on girl woes, and tracks such as Liebe Auf Den Ersten Blick combine both the acoustic and electronic with surprising fluidity. Since Noah was on the brink of becoming a twenty-year old and it was also 1998, a year that brought such films as Armageddon and Can't Hardly Wait to mainstream audiences, it could easily be known that Panda Bear's self-titled would be the perfect thing to listen to if your music tastes were starting to veer off of whatever the local Blockbuster Music had as its top picks. Sure it might not sound like the best record production-wise, and that really packs it with an intimate charm. In a pre-Napster world, I'm sure I would have cried myself to sleep spinning the track, A Musician and a Filmmaker, many a night.

Link

TRIPPING DAISY - BILL, CD, 1992, DRAGON STREET RECORDS, USA

Before Tim Delaughter and company were making lysergic-drenched hippie sunshine pop with Dallas-based, The Polyphonic Spree, they were known around these parts as the magical space-grunge psych-pop, Tripping Daisy. Pre-choir and pre-robes, these sonic youngsters rose to quick fame due to a mediocre pop hit, I Got a Girl, then got completely screwed by Island Records when they decided to explore the interstellar boundaries of pop music and released their cult-acclaimed Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb. Way back before any of this, Tripping Daisy was still an adventuresome quartet and they dropped a solid nugget on us via the now defunct, Dragon Street Records.

Bill is a record that sounds very much of its time and very much of the funtastic pop-rock that grew out of the early '90s. Like-minded bands such as Jellyfish and Waxing Poetics also bring to mind the chorus-effected guitar pluckies and vocal warbles. Tim himself sounds like a cross between Wayne Coyne and Perry Farrell. What makes Bill stand out is the hints of experimentation on tracks like, The Morning and Triangle, mixed with straightforward sugar sweets like the lead-track, My Umbrella or the incredible, Miles and Miles of Pain. Included on the Dragon Street release, and what makes this more rare than the Island re-issue is the inclusion of a cover of Green Tambourine by The Lemon Pipers, and the last track which is a hilarious voyage into Tim Delaughter's story psyche when he details his journey with friend, Pink Jelly, as they climb a mountain made of shit and spit colors on each other.

Bill is certainly a memorable ride, and yes that is a picture of Tim's grandfather on the cover.

Link