A Quick Trip Through 58 Years of People Makin' Music: The Fall, Gene Clark, Clifton Chenier, Todd Rundgren, Julian Cope, Jean Michael Jarre, BLK JKS, Undeath, Mortuary Drape, Accept, Lil Bastards, and the Pastels

Yesterday I added a few new additions to our record collection. Here's what I picked up, as well as some other stuff I've been listening to (and one thing I haven't listened to yet).

The Fall - Slates 10" re-release from 2016. Originally an EP from 1981. I bought this without realizing -- this 2016 re-release doesn't contain the extra Peel sessions tracks that were added on a follow up re-release in 2021. The 2021 release is readily available and for the same amount I bought this one for. I'm ruined! Anyway, it's a great EP, and the linear notes are a typed letter from from former WFMU music director Brian Turner.

Gene Clark - Collector's Series Early L.A. Sessions. This is a remixed and re-released version of Clark's first album with the Godsin Brothers, remixed five years after it's release by Clark and producer Jim Dickson, and re-released on CBS in 1972. The record didn't sell upon original release, so now that country rock was finding more acceptance via bands like Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and Clark's former band The Byrds, CBS brought Clark in to re-record vocals and remix these songs. Glen Campbell and Leon Russell were on this album, too, along with the Byrd's Clarence White and Van Dyne Parks on keyboard. Anyway I have With the Godsin Brothers so I thought it would be neat to have this as a companion piece. And it does sound different. Also they took out "Elevator Operator" which I thought was a groovy jam but apparently Clark was embarrassed of it.

Clifton Chenier - Bon Ton Roulet! The King of the bayou, Clifton Chenier's 2nd album from 1967, on Arhoolie Records. All of the songs but one were recorded in Houston in '66, except "Ay Ai Ai," recorded in '64. Cool stuff. Zydeco blues. Arhoolie Records started in 1960 and is still around today.

Todd Rundgren's Initiation, from '75, Rundgren's fourth solo album. Rundgren was on an occult kick, so it's got a long proggy jam on the b-side about Theosophical, New-Agey occult stuff. Which, I'm into in theory, but I'm not sure how often I'll be spinning it, which I read on Wikipedia is sorta what Julian Cope said about it:

"When asked if Rundgren had influenced his music, with perceived influences of Initiation on Queen Elizabeth and Rite², Julian Cope responded that he and Thighpaulsandra loved "A Treatise on Cosmic Fire", "but we both bemoaned the fact that it was recorded so long before ambient music had been defined that Todd treated it as an ever-evolving, almost prog-rock piece. We both loved huge elements of that piece but found that we never listened to it. So we tried to build that Todd-like transcendence into our own piece of music [with Queen Elizabeth]."

The first side of Initiation is rockin' tho. Meanwhile, from Discogs:

"(Initiation) is a one of the longest running single disc LPs ever issued (1 hour, 7 minutes and 34 seconds; side B's total time is almost 35½ minutes). However, because of its fragility and reduced dynamic range, the following note was printed on the inner sleeve: "Technical Note: Due to the amount of music on this disc (over one hour), two points must be emphasized. Firstly, if your needle is worn or damaged, it will ruin this disc immediately. Secondly, if the sound does not seem loud enough on your system, try re-recording the music onto tape. By the way, thanks for buying the album" The final suite 'A Treatise On Cosmic Fire' was sped up by half a step to fit the disc with ease, this is why 'Prana' on the 'Real Man' 45RPM 7'' single sounds slower, as that was the speed that was intended to be heard, except all discs and CD reissues play the sped up version used for the original LP. To slow it to the correct speed, using software such as Audacity, reduce the speed by -5 percent."

Here's a 2015 remaster of a track off the first side, the rockin' "The Death of Rock'n'Roll." That's Rick Derringer on bass:

I've also been on a Julian Cope kick. Here's 30 minutes of his ambient project, Queen Elizabeth, mentioned in the Cope quote above:

Continuing with the noodly electronic theme for a moment, I also picked up a copy of Jean Michael Jarre - Equinoxe. From 1978, this is the follow up to Oxygene, which I have, and Jarre's fourth album. I was reading about these two albums under "Critical Reception" on Wikipedia, and apparently critics really didn't like the electronic stuff at the time. I dig it though, and certainly I'm not the only one, so those critics were wrong. Go figure! Here's a video for "Equinoxe 5":

I found a copy of the Secretly Canadian release of BLK JKS Mystery EP with "Lakeside" on it, I dunno if y'all remember that song from 2009? Neat atmospheric, indie/post-alt type of song, very groovy. They're from South Africa. Apparently they had an album out in 2021. They fell off my radar after "Lakeside." The rest of the Mystery EP is as great as "Lakeside" -- spooky, rockin'. There's some pretty wild psych guitar on the track "Mystery."

I had originally went to the record shop to pick up the latest Undeath album, It's Time...To Rise From the Grave, which is killer old school death metal from Rochester, put out by Prosthetic Records. The band really nails it. Here's the video for "Defiled Again." Brutal fun!

But I got home and I had the wrong album -- they gave me Mortuary Drape's latest, Wisdom-Vibration-Repent instead. Mortuary Drape is Italian death metal. I've listened to about half of this now, and it's good - competent, enjoyable:

I took the Mortuary Drape EP back and it turns out someone else who wanted Mortuary Drape got my Undeath album. So instead I picked up a copy of Captain Beefhart and the Magic Band's Strictly Personal, their second album.

This is The Fall doing "Beatle Bones 'N' Smokin' Stones" for a Peel Session in 1996. "Beatle Bones 'N' Smokin' Stones" is from Strictly Personal.

When we were driving to the record shop, the wife and I heard for the first time Accept's "Pandemic," released on Nuclear Blast Records back in 2010. Why wasn't this song playing everywhere the past few years??!?

Though I didn't buy it, we did look up this single when we got home. Wish I would've bought it! Lil Bastards' "Bitch Get A Job," from the halcyon days of 1992. Youtube comments mention this is the earliest work from a producer called Dougie Diamonds -- I'd never heard of him. This 12" put out on Livin' Large Records appears to have been Lil Bastards' only release:

I've also been getting into the Pastels. Here's "Yoga," from 1995's Mobile Safari. There's a video for this, but the only available version I could find was a shitty upload from someone taping MTV2.

Finally, not as poorly recorded but also not exactly hi-fidelity, check out Julian Cope and backing band pretending to do "I Gotta Walk" on Top of the Pops in 1994:

"I know what your father is saying right now...and he's wrong."

New CNQ Mixcloud Program

Hey check it out, I did a little Mixcloud show last night. Cribbing some stuff I've enjoyed listening to on the radio recently (via the Radio Garden app), and some recent and relatively recent CNQ faves from Bandcamp. An hour long, give it a listen -- if it's not hep enough, then you're too cool!

1. Love Hate Passion & War by Armstrong

2. Macho Music by "Blue" Gene Tyranny and Peter Gordon

3. Freak by Shanique Marie

4. Loretta by Ginger Root

5. Okeanos by Succumb

6. Thank The Universe by Thank

7. Kurious Oranj by The Fall

8. Oo Poo Pah Susie by Professor Morrison's Lollipop (Thanks to Suzie Hotrod at WFMU for playing this when I happened to be listening!)

9. Heaven Beat Iowa by Cub Scout Bowling Pins

10. Pop Cabecinha by Sophia Chablau e Uma Enorme Perda de Tempo

11. Lelit Hob (Short Version) by Umm Kulthum

R.I.P. STINKY DON (AUGUST 2001 - NOVEMBER 2019)

My 19 year old cat Stinky Don passed away and that just is what it is. I got her in August, 2001, and she fit in the palm of my hand. She shat on my buddy's shirt when she was a kitten while he was petting her. He said she looked so relaxed.

She once got accidentally dunked into a crock pot full of grease. She was a birder and a rambler when she was young. She was a strong-willed but sweet fur-iend when she got old. Her mother's name was Seven, but that's as far back a geneology chart I can go. I saw the litter when they were first born, so I know she had siblings. But she was brought to me in a "do you want her or not" fashion, when in my opinion she was too little to have been separated from the mother. But her owner was moving, so I took the tiny, furry thing, first named her Face, then she quickly became Stinky Don (Don as in like Don Corleone, I thought she was a boy), and we had a wild 19 years together.

I ripped up a whole room of carpet so she could have a whole room of our house to shit and piss in all to herself (after I took up the carpet, she went back to pissing in the litter box. But it was a rare treat for me when there would be a turd in the litter box, instead of adjacent to it, or on the other side of the room. Or right by the door.).

She inspired many funny songs and many funny, furry stories. As my main mang Big A put it, "she was a muse and amusing."

Old girl had an excellent run.

Summer Breeze by Seals and Croft was playing as she passed there in the vet clinic's little room. She went easy.

CNQ36: Quick Year End Show.

30 minutes of what have you. Hope you had a merry Christmas.

The Nightcaps: “Wine, Wine, Wine” (Wine, Wine, Wine, Vandan, 1961)

The New Establishment: “Fire Version” (Dub Specialist - Studio One Presents Version Dread, 2017)

The Lindas: “Never Ending Nightmare” (8 by 9, ReFry Records, 2017)

Fernando & The Teenage Narcs: “F.G.A.T.T.”
(Last Dance With Mary Jane (Cuz I’m Bustin’ Dope Smokers), ReFry Records, 2017)

Lumpy and the Dumpers: “Hair On The Inside” (Those Pickled Fuckers, La Vida Es Un Mus/
Lumpy Records, 2017)

Susan Atkins Diet: “Bitch Slap” (Vagina Envy, 2015)

The Bourbon Street Bums: “Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me” (The Bums at Fagan’s, 1968)

R. Crumb and His Cheap Suit Serenaders: “Fine Artiste Blues” (Number Two, Blue Goose Records,
1976)

Warren Zevon: “Carmelita (Alternate Version)” (Warren Zevon, Asylum Records/Rhino Records
2008 Re-Issue, original recording 1976)
Uncredited: “Untitled” (Unreleased, 2017)

CNQ35

Big long year-end show. Space disco and afro-funk from the 1970s, a little classic soul from the 60s,
and rock'n'roll of all stripes, mostly new stuff from this year on bandcamp. Listen/dl from the embed
above, or iTunes, or any fine podcast app.

Meco: “Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk Side 1” (Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk,
Millennium, 1977)

Don Bruce and the Angels: “Sugar Baby” (Nigeria Soul Power 70, Soul Jazz Records, 2017)

Gouge Away: “Sweat” (Swallow b/w Sweat 7”, Secret Voice, 2017)

Downtown Boys: “Somos Chulas (No Somos Pendejas)” (Cost of Living, Sub-Pop, 2017)

Mulligrub: “Canadian Classic” (Soft Grudge, 2016)

Martin Månsson Sjöstrand: “The Sun Is A Playground” (Wonderland Wins, 2017)

This Heel: “Mars About To Leave” (E.P., 2015)

Big Heet: “Flint” (On A Wire, Exploding In Sound Records, 2017)

Hip Shakes: “Shot” (Shot/Samba single, Nerve Centre Records, 2017)

Rat Motel: “Dog” (Dog Digital Single, 2017)

Chronic Anxiety: “City Lumberjack” (Faxed, 2017)  

Copa Turbo: “My Car” (Pruébalo antes de Masturbarte, 2017)

Jan and Dean: “Mr. Freeze” (Jan and Dean Meet Batman, Liberty, 1966)

The Ventures: “Telstar” (The Ventures Play Telstar, The Lonely Bull, Dolton Records, 1962)

Otis Redding: “Try A Little Tenderness (Live)” (The Stax/Volt Revue Live in Paris, Stax, 1967)

The Bordellos: “Fuckable” (Life, Love, and Billy Fury, Recordiau Prin, 2017)

Spud And The Blood: “Sad Boi” (Spud and the Blood, Abnormal Broadcasting, 2017)

Mala Leche: “Mareos” (Cassingle, 2017)

Bib: “The Face” (The Face, 2017)

HÄRDA UT: “Gå På Stan” (S/T, 2017)

Jesus Chris and the Beetles: “I’m A Happy Guy” (Trickle Down, 2017)

Pale Kids: “Prayer List” (Holy Mess, Frux Tapes, 2017)

Couleur Dessin: “Find Me Easily” (Couleur Dessin, Fixture Records, 2017)

Freak Genes: “Still Disgusting” (Playtime LP, Alien Snatch!, 2017)

Diet Cig: “Blob Zombie” (Swear I’m Good At This, Father Daughter Records, 2017)

The Rubs: “Wrong Right Girl” (Impossible Dream LP, HoZac Records, 2017)

Dead Arms: “Give Me Shelter” (4 Track Masters EP, 2017)

C.A.P.: “Gimme That” (Making America Hate Again, 2017)

Glue: “Hammered Down” (S/T MLP, La Vida Es Un Mus, 2017)

JACKAL: “Disguise” (Demo, 2017)

Skrew Eyez: “Song Number Two” (Hospital Socks, 2017)

The Drew Thomson Foundation: “Psychic g/f”
(The Drew Thomson Foundation Vol 1: Huh, It’s Generally Pretty Empty In Here, 2017)

Flux of Pink Indians: “Tube Disaster” (Neu Smell, Crass Records, 1981)

Checking Out My Soundcloud Feed

New Quieteer Kale and his band Doctor Nod got a super positive shout-out on Dynamite Hemorrhage this weekend, which is one of our fave podcasts, and we couldn't be more excited. Check out the full show here when you get a chance:

Kale and I have been blowing up each other's phones with ideas for CNQ here lately, it's been a lot of fun. He recommended I get more into Soundcloud, which I neglect in favor of Bandcamp for various reasons. But, I think he may be right -- there's cool sound to be heard on Soundcloud as well. So here's some new stuff from my neglected Soundcloud feed.

I've been grooving to the damaged pop sound of Japan's Boys Age for a while now. Boys Age has a new 13 song album called Pangea available for free download (on Bandcamp, btw), but here's a song from that album from Soundcloud anyway:

Cool as always hip-hop from Mello Music Group and Apollo Brown:

From Now-Again Records, jazz/spoken word from either 1975, or 1980. World's Experience Orchestra only had two albums, one put out in '75 and the other put out in '80, and I'm not sure which one this was on. It's hep regardless:

African music from 1999, I guess, courtesy World Circuit Records:

Most anything from Burger Records is an easy share. Turns out they post a lot on Soundcloud and for some reason don't have much of a presence at all on Bandcamp:

Burger also has a podcast they're putting out on Soundcloud, which is cool. I haven't listened to all of this yet but I'm putting it here to do so:

From Total Punk Records:

And finally, courtesy Relapse Records, this was originally released in 1998, and then re-issued in 2008. I dunno why it's new on Soundcloud, but it's pretty rad:

New Heavy.

I hope the few of you who keep up with CNQ have been enjoying the podcasts so far. I've been having a lot of fun making those and suspect I'll keep it up for a while. I've fallen way behind on posting new stuff from bands and labels I follow on bandcamp. Here's a quick mix of a few things from January. If you're into it, click on it. The next two songs are from Canada's Deranged Records:

Tramp Records is killing it, bringing to light so much cool stuff:

This is the heaviest. Just listen to the whole thing -- what else have you got going on?

CNQ 2015 Retrospective

I'll be coming up with faves from the year's posts here shortly. Meanwhile, I had a lot of favorite other things this year, and this 30 Rock clip sums them up.

Bully's Feels Like is my favorite album of the year.

I became openly reggae and got big into dub and rocksteady. Check out The Upsetters' "Super Ape." Totally rad.

I discovered 19th-early 20th century composer Erik Satie's Gymnopédies.

I loved Tom Holkenborg's Mad Max: Fury Road score. I listened to his Black Mass score the other night and it's also good. Music scores in general are a new thing for me. I have never had a taste for them until recently.

The new Faith No More, Sol Invictus, was really good.

I like the Leon Bridges album.

The Lil Bub album "Science and Magic" might be the last great album of 2015.

Protomartyr's The Agent Intellect is top notch.

I recently discovered these next few. Johnny Burnette is amazing o.g. rockabilly. Some really raw, rockin' songs. This one is a little more kitschy:

The Vibrators are amazing o.g. punk. Here's the complete Peel Sessions.

Bluesman Tommy Johnson. The band Canned Heat got their name from this song:

Hollywood session man/jazz guitarist Howard Roberts. This is a cut from his excellent 1959 album, Good Pickin's.

Two Spookernatural Tracks From the CNQ Vinyl Vault of Horrors!

Composer Hans J. Salter was born in Vienna in 1896, studied music there and had a career in Berlin and Vienna before coming to America after the Nazis came to power in Europe. Hired by Universal in 1937, Salter made a career of scoring films of various genres, but horror movies became his particular forte, having scored more Universal horror flicks during their Golden Age than anyone else. "The Ghost of Frankenstein" is his first major one, but he also did The Creature From the Black Lagoon, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Mole People, and many others.

1942's "The Ghost of Frankenstein" starred Lon Chaney Jr. as the Monster, and Bela Lugosi as Ygor. As of this writing, Bela Lugosi remains dead.

This track, "Monster Kidnaps Child," is from Side B of a limited edition LP, "The Ghost of Frankenstein: The Complete Classic Film Score Composed and Conducted by Hans J. Salter," put out in 1979 and produced in association with Salter Music Publishing Company by Tony Thomas Productions of Burbank, CA. All of the selections are taken from the original acetate recordings in the composer's library. What a Halloween treat! I snagged it at Josey Records. So, beware the Ghost of Frankenstein -- he stalks again! No chains can hold him! No tomb can seal him in! (Because he's a ghost.)

Listen and download:

"Monster Kidnaps Child"

If the embedded player above doesn't work for you, try this: "Monster Kidnaps Child" by Hans J. Salter

Next up is another LP I found at Josey Records, the original motion picture soundtrack for a West German horror movie from 1977 called Haunted. The movie starred Virginia Mayo and Aldo Ray (best known for his tough guy roles in the 1960s), who, according to IMDB trivia section on the movie, was hard to work with during filming because he was drunk a lot.

I'd never heard of the movie before, but the cover caught my eye so I picked it up. The first side is four original songs, the last of which is an 8:29 track of pure disco hell. The second side is mostly incidental music, one of which, "The Chase," is legitimately spooky and I thought about featuring it here, but the first song from side A, "Indian Woman" (revenge is her only friend!), is too cheesy and enjoyable not to share. It effectively relates the premise of the movie, which is what I look for in songs featured in movie soundtracks.

"Indian Woman" is sung by Billy Vera, who wrote "At This Moment" and the theme song for "King of Queens," and composed, arranged and conducted by Lor Crane, who wrote an episode of The Patty Duke Show and some Shindig! episodes. Be glad I'm not sharing that 8 and a half minute long disco track; it's too horrifying, even for Halloween!

Listen and download "Indian Woman":

"Indian Woman" by Billy Vera and Lou Crane

If the embedded player above doesn't work for you, try this: "Indian Woman"

Rev. Milton Bronson and the Thompson Community Singers: "All Power" (HOB, HOB-1303, early 1970s?)

Reverend Milton Bronson (1929-1997) was a Grammy award winning gospel musician and a pastor in Chicago. There's a post office branch in Austin, Chicago named after him.

Bronson's Wikipedia page says he released his first album in 1988, but his Discogs page shows he and the Thompson Community Singers were recording since the early 1970s.

This 45, "I'll Trade A Lifetime" b/w "All Power," doesn't have a date but judging by it's label number, HOB-1303, and where that would fall in the HOB catalog listing on Discogs, I think this was released sometime around 1971 or '72. Both songs are from the album named "I'll Trade A Lifetime."

The label that put out Bronson's 70s work, HOB, released religious recordings from 1959 up to 1999, according to Discogs data. HOB was a subsidiary of Scepter Records, which was founded and ran by New Jersey housewife Florence Greenberg, who put out a lot of hits by the Shirelles ("I Met Him On A Sunday," "Tonight's The Night," "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," etc.).

On my copy of this 45, the A side skips, but someone's already put "I'll Trade A Lifetime" on Youtube. Youtube comments on that page reveal the names of a few of the "Tommies," as the Thompson Community Singers were called -- Maggie Bell, Betty Jean Plummer, Mary Jean Adams, and Otis Williams. Apparently Maggie Bell was the lead singer on "I'll Trade A Lifetime."

Both "I'll Trade A Lifetime," and the flip side presented here, "All Power," are great, stirring gospel tracks. I apologize for the hiss and cracks in my recording of "All Power," I cleaned the record the best I could.

Listen by pressing play; right click the embedded player to download:

Download: "All Power"

Click here to listen if the two options above do not work for you: "All Power"

New Texan hip-hop y noise rock; HC punk from Italy, Chicago, and New York; a new 70s funk/soul compilation from Tramp Records.

HC hip-hop from Houston. Cool video too:

New noise rock from Denton, Texas:

HC punk from Italy:

Label Randy Records and band The Yolks are both from Chicago:

Here's two new full albums, courtesy bandcamp:

New York lady-punks, all in Portuguese. I listened to all of this today, it's rad. They've gotten some press from the Village Voice and Stereogum, much cooler than CNQ:

CNQ's favorite German re-issue label Tramp Records has this compilation, "Praise Poems 2- A journey into deep, soulful jazz & funk from the 1970s," available in various formats. Very groovy:

More Wild Sound.

Last night I meant to do some catching up but got sidetracked with the interesting output of guitarist and songwriter Mark Palm. So here's what's new in my inbox from the bands and labels I follow on bandcamp:

Houston's Crime Wave I think is defunct but uploaded a few of their albums onto bandcamp today. I've got their Agro-Wax album Nazi Sex/Convulsion Gospels and it's rad. Here's an outtake from the recording session of that LP:

From London's La Vida Es Un Mus Discos, this is, according to the bandcamp page, the "official reissue of (a scarce) Dutch punk (record)...THE VULTURES hailed from Epe, in the middle of the Dutch Bible-Belt. They recorded this 4 Track EP in 1981...Reissued replicating the artwork as originally printed but adding a few unseen full colour pictures on the reverse sleeve."

They call it a "masterpiece of Dutch punk." Pretty cool. Who knew there was a Dutch Bible-Belt.

Tramp Records always puts out good re-issues. This was originally released on Philly's Toxsan Records, I think in the 70s:

From Virginia's Grave Mistake Records:

From France's Frantic City Records:

That's it for the updates from CNQ faves. Here's some new releases I like.

Leather Daddy is awesome hc from Boston:

Wild stuff from Costa Rica:

These hc rockers from Budapest are really into Tony Soprano, with four songs featuring him in the title.

Heavy sound from Italy - is it powergrind when you can't tell if it's powerviolence or grindcore?

The end of all reality sounds like 12 minutes and 3 seconds of Ontario's VOMIR. Impossibly the polar opposite of music, horrible noise, awesome:

Dynamite Hemorrhage's latest show is about an hour of always awesome rock'n'roll from Jay and the gang out there somewhere in the Northwest, I think. Love that podcast. Here's a crazy new song from Cincinnati that the 'Hemorrhage featured first in their most recent podcast, but ya know, it's a great song so here it is again:

Don't forget to check out CNQ's music-blog buds Styrofoam Drone.

Los Flamas: "Ella No Esta Ahi" (Dicesa, 1971)

I picked up this LP, La Ensalada De Los Flamas, for $12 from Josey Records. It's a little scratchy but it plays through without skips, and both of my loyal readers know I like a little crackle and pop in my vinyl.

This was put out in 1971 by El Salvadorian label Dicesa. I'm not sure if Los Flamas is from El Salvador as well. I can't find any info on them via the internerts. All of side A is the title track. I had to look up Ensalada because I was like, "Salad of the Flames?" But other than meaning salad, Ensalada is a Spanish term for a music genre of songs that are a medley of upbeat melodies in various languages.

So the first side starts with a few Spanish songs, and they're really good. I'm not sure if the songs in Spanish were written by the band or not. About halfway through the band goes into these far-out ESL versions of Proud Mary, Banana Boat Song, and The Limbo Rock. The Limbo Rock ends with a wicked organ freak-out. Then it's back into some really rockin' Spanish-language songs.

The b-side begins with a couple of excellent garage-psych Latin songs, I think they're originals, but I'm not sure. Then there's a couple of more covers: Bruce Channel's 1961 Hey Baby -- Wikipedia says Delbert McClinton played harmonica on the original track -- and Jackie Trent's 1964 Only One Such As you.

And then it comes to this Zombies cover, the climax of the entire album. So many choices these guys made on this song, all so right, all so eternal:

Ella No Esta Ahi

If the embedded player above doesn't work for you: Ella No Esta Ahi

Man, that new Kendrick Lamar album is awesome.

Sweaters and Pearls

Jason over at the awesome 7inches blog has been busy with his Sweaters & Pearls label. Here's some cool vinyl he has for sale:

"You Are Not Going To Heaven" is a 2011 six song e.p. from Brooklyn band Soccer Mom, on really beautiful white vinyl, courtesy Sweaters and Pearls and 100m Records. Good Sonic Youth-esque rock, $13 bucks and shipping. I'm serious about that white vinyl, it is exquisite looking.

Soccer Mom: "Natural History"

Soccer Mom: "Natural History"

Reminds me a little of The Trouble with Sweeney cover of Listen To What the Man Says:

These 45s are all $5 and shipping from Sweaters and Pearls:

Fat History Month is from the Boston area. Sweaters and Pearls is running out of this 7", recorded in 2009. The last thirty copies are hand-painted. Sweet mustard yellow vinyl. Here's my fave of the four tracks:

Fat History Month: "Heart Takes A Beating"

Fat History Month: "Heart Takes A Beating"

Sweaters and Pearls pressed 300 red vinyl copies of R. Stevie Moore's "I Miss July" b/w "Traded My Heart For Your Parts." "I Miss July" was originally recorded in 1978, the b-side was recorded in 1994. I've never heard of R. Stevie Moore before - he's been recording for over 40 years. I'll say it again: I love this hobby. This is my favorite of this post's set.

R. Stevie Moore: "I Missed July"

R. Stevie Moore: "I Missed July"

Harpoon Forever is New Jersey's WFMU DJ Alex Goldstein. Sweaters and Pearls sez to think 90s indie rock, Silver Jews, and The Strapping Fieldhands. Man, I'd never heard of The Strapping Field Hands. Again, I love this hobby. This is all killer stuff.

Harpoon Forever: "Chickens"

Harpoon Forever: "Chickens"

Threat.Meet.Protocol., HOLY, kudzu, Treasure Fleet, FUTURO, PAVEL CHEKOV, x=, and Henry Boatwright

Check out this awesome/bizarre/new favorite claymation video that kiwi punkers Threat.Meet.Protocol made for their song The Last One, off their new album, Pretentious, released last month. CNQ breathes for just this type of action. Absolutely the best thing I've seen/heard all month:

HC punk from Milano, Italy:

New lo-fi rock from Springfield, Missouri. Good song:

New space-rock from Chicago:

New punk from France's Crapoulet Records label:

This Dallas powerviolence act has a new cassette tape release. I need to see these guys soon:

More new punk, this from Pennsylvania:

We began with awesome, we continued on with awesome, and now we end with awesome. German label Tramp Rec has re-issued this awesome Houston funk/soul from 1970 on 45:

Merry X-Mas From CNQ: New Christmas tunes from Adam Holtz; an obscure early 70s holiday blues 45 from Lowell Fulson; and two 1982 country classics from Dolly Parton and Alabama

These three new, original Christmas songs courtesy CNQ fave Adam Holtz are from Volume 18 of his copyrighted material. Click the title to listen and download:

Christmas With You
Christmas Without You
Christmas Is

Lowell Fulson, per Wikipedia, was, "after T-Bone Walker, the most important figure in West Coast blues in the 1940s and 1950s." I'm always humbled by the amount of music history I do not know. I bought it because I pick up any 45 I find that's from a Shreveport label. Lonesome Christmas Parts 1 and 2 were originally recorded by Fulson for Swing Time Records back in 1950. It charted at #7 on the R&B charts. Both songs were written by fellow West Coast Blues pioneer Lloyd Glenn. These updated, funkier/bluesier/cooler versions below are from 1970, on Shreveport's Jewel Records (Jewel 813). Fulson recorded these as Lowell Fulsom. Fulson died in 1999, age 77, the father of four and grandfather of thirteen. Glenn died in 1985, age 76. As far as I can tell, neither of these versions of Lonesome Christmas Parts 1 and 2 are otherwise available on the Internerts:

Lonesome Christmas Pt. 1 (Jewel-813, 1970):

If the embedded player above doesn't work for you, try this: Lonesome Christmas Pt. 1 (Jewel-813, 1970)

Lonesome Christmas Pt. 2 (Jewel-813, 1970):

If the embedded player above doesn't work for you, try this: Lonesome Christmas Pt. 2 (Jewel-813, 1970)

I was digging through our 45s for Christmasy singles and/or b-sides. Here's a couple I found in Mrs. CNQ's stack that were already on Youtube...the Dolly song is from 1982's The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas soundtrack:

Also from 1982:

Merry Christmas from CNQ!