Mike Heron was still a member of The Incredible String Band when he released his first solo album, 'Smiling Men With Bad Reputations' in 1971...

Mike Heron - Warm Heart Pastry

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If you have spent any time around me in the past few months, you'll probably have heard me blather on about how this is my favorite restaurant in London right now.

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Happy new week everybody. Had a good week of discoveries/downloads last week. Stumbled across this website, Scaruffi, in which an Italian gentlemen with altogether too much time on his hands shares his alternative take on musical history via a mind-bogglingly extensive (seriously, this looks like a life's, or several lives' work) set of lists, reviews etc. It's about as anal as it's possible to get, and I'm a bit scared of him frankly (see the epic-length rant in the "overrated artists" section about how the Beatles were responsible for the Aryanisation of rock'n'roll), but just going through his Best psychedelic rock albums list (and the extra list on the right hand side) throws up some great, great stuff. Brainticket, Chrome, Bruce Palmer, Freak Scene, Hash Jar Tempo... it's a whole heap of righteous far-outness. Here's a Chrome song — awesome semi-abstract psyche trash. Yum. More later.

Chrome - Zombie Warfare (Can't Let You Down)

A bit of London history for us all, as a break from all the music and comedy on here. Bethlem Royal hospital is the world's oldest psychiatric hospital and has been situated at several locations accross London.

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As promised, here's a track by pre-Quo, pre-Traffic Jam band The Spectres...

The Spectres - (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet

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So before they were the denim-clad dinosaurs (and Princess Di's second favourite band) that we all know...

The Traffic Jam - I Don't Want You

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Heather introduced me to Tracy Morgan through his Saturday Night Live DVD. I'm pretty sure he's got to be one of the most underrated SNL comedians. Anyway here's a stand up clip from youtube for you all to check out.

In 1971, a year before forming Steely Dan and releasing Can't Buy A Thrill, the two principal members did a soundtrack for for a Richard Pryor movie called You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It… Or You’ll Lose That Beat. This is one of the better tracks from the album and you can hear the Steely style already in place. By the way, where does that name come from? Steely Dan, I mean. It's not a trick question, I actually don't know.

Donald Fagen & Walter Becker - Roll Back The Meaning

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Last one for the weekend! Everyone should know Grails by now but not sure how many people have heard their track from "Everything Comes And Goes" a tribute album to Black Sabbath that was released by Temporary Residence. Grails cover Black Sabbath and, for me at least, it sums up the perfect cover version. It retains all the best qualities of the original song while sounding absolutely like a Grails song at the same time.

Grails - Black Sabbath

A while ago Jacob from Black Eyes posted a huge amount of demos/rarities from various DC bands (from the 90's onwards) that never made it onto Dischord and either ended up on different labels or never made it past the demo stage. Thought i'd provide a selection of my favourites here for the rest of you (unfortunately none of this has track names).

No-Go's
The (Last) Seconds (Of)

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I like listening to Ray Davies' songs in the Autumn. They always have a melancholy that seems to make sense most at this time of year. Plus he's a Londoner and this city is at its best in October and November. Anyway, below are two of them....

The Kinks - Better Things

The Thoughts - All Night Stand

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Looking for a way to bring cutting-edge comedy to a different audience, Oswalt put together the Comedians of Comedy tour in 2004, using indie rock venues instead of traditional (and expensive) comedy clubs. The tour featured Oswalt, Zach Galifianakis, Brian Posehn, and Maria Bamford. The fall 2004 tour was documented in a 2005 film of the same name; it was followed by a six-episode Comedy Central series based on the summer 2005 tour. This tour featured special guest appearances from comedians such as Blaine Capatch, Bobby Tisdale and Todd Barry. Subsequent incarnations of the tour have included Eugene Mirman and Morgan Murphy.

Here's his latest 2 mini cds for your enjoyment.


patton oswalt - comedians of comedy 3" tour cd
patton oswalt - pennsylvania macaroni company tour cd

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No, not the Deep Purple album, but sum laydeez from Brooklyn. Dunno how this was recorded but the needles musta busted out the side of the meters: into the white-hot maannn. Anyway, it's a pretty pleasurable girl vocals scuzzrock track.
Fireball - Arsonist

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