March 07, 2008
Song of the Week is More than Just "I Summon You"
Whilst tracking down our intended song of the week, we came across these amazing videos from BBC Radio 1 called the "Black Cab Sessions." Here's our fave, the guy from Spoon playing, "I Summon You." I wish he was playing "Jonathan Fisk" but since I beg I shall not choose.
Check out more Black Cab Sessions at the site www.blackcabsessions.com including that Okkervil River guy we love playing a Big Star cover.
Oh intended song of the week, you must wait seven more days!
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
February 29, 2008
Song of the Week from Liam Finn
You should be hearing this song everywhere soon. It's the bridge from "The Music of Winter" to the "Music of Spring." It begs licensing for the next indie-cum-Hollywood breakout. It's just a fucking great song.
Here's the honest-to-God video they made for it (who does that anymore?). But take a moment later to track down some of the diverse live performance recordings out there and go get the recorded version for ongoing personal fulfillment.
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
February 21, 2008
Song of the Week is 10+
Hard to believe that Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is 10years old now... easily in the top 5 rock albums of the 90s. Top 3 you say? Perhaps.
Inspired by The Diary of Anne Frank, it will more or less kick yours ass -- try not to get choked up listening to "Holland 1945." But let's leave your crying for another day and enjoy "The King of Carrot Flowers."
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
January 30, 2008
When The Black Kids are Rockin', Get Your Ass On In
Another song with a way-too-exciting video, we know! But we just couldn't wait around for something better, and we suck at embedding MP3s right now.
But the Black Kids, "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You," needs to be on your heavy rotation stat. Shakin' that ass is good for the soul!
Yeah, we thought the song was too repetitive at first, too. Repeat-listen your way through that jive -- you'll come out on the other side so much better for it!
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
January 23, 2008
Song of the Week That Everyone Else Knew About
If you can't tell from the stunning amount of information the "video" will convey, this is Burial from the album Untrue -- and the song is "Archangel." Seems folks were all up about this fella', but we missed out. Thanks to Thom Cox -- who writes about techno-leaning music over this way -- for hipping us to yonder light. We loved some two-step-garage-techstep-whatever and are glad to see it back.
By the way, Thom's disco vinyl could likely make a grown man cry.
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
January 16, 2008
Song of the Week is the Loneliest Number
Posted by Rock Heals at 08:00 AM
December 13, 2007
Song of Week from DJ Blaqstarr & Rye Rye
There are so many great things here, that it's hard to list 'em all. Perhaps my esteemed colleague Jen, who brought this video to my attention, said it best with, "the posters in that girls room are amazing" (or something like that).
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
December 05, 2007
Listen to RH Friends and Family on WYPR
WYPR invited long-time RH/Narrow House ally Michael Ball in to talk about his award-winning i.e. reading series -- and he brought along Justin and Lauren -- Narrow House Souljaz you should know well.
Listen to Ball, Sirois and Bender from WYPR
They talked about the series and then each read a poem -- but Ball cheated and read a Rod Smith poem, which happens to be the selfsame poem we had a recording of Rod reading way back when.
Posted by Rock Heals at 09:00 AM
Song of the Week: Wolves at Night
Enjoy one of the season's better fall jams -- we'd been so busy not publishing regularly, that we forgot to tell you about it. The album version is awesome -- but this Letterman performance gives another looser angle on what they are up to, and is no less lovely.
Posted by Rock Heals at 09:00 AM
...and a momentary diversion
It's no secret that we b'lieve in the artistic potential of the 30-second ad. If we were offer you a holiday to-do list, the halfway point would be, "take a break to watch this commercial and be reminded of the true spirit of the season."
Posted by Rock Heals at 09:00 AM
November 28, 2007
Song of the Week Is Yet More Animal Collective? Surely You Jest
Good is good. And yeah, we'll straighten out our servers some day and have all MP3s for previous songs and PDF downloads and everything back. But until then...
"For Reverend Green," Animal Collective (Live, 2006)
FYI While looking for a good live recording of this, we stumbled upon an earlier incarnation of this song, or maybe just an odd performance, that was wicked fast and wicked not good.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:07 AM
November 21, 2007
Halloween Candy for Thanksgiving
Many feel Indian sweets to be avoided, but this confection is positively yummy...
thanks Ravi
Posted by Rock Heals at 08:00 AM
Burn Books for Peace
A Narrow House Sponsored Event
Friday, Nov. 23 @ the Ottobar (Baltimore)
I think Narrow House compadre Lauren Bender said it best with, "narrow house-sponsored event that even I am unsure I believe in." I really think it is a Jason Dove plot to round up indie lefties and then kill us all. He is too cool to not be a CIA operative.
Posted by Rock Heals at 08:00 AM
October 18, 2007
Peanut Butter Made It Better at Chocolate's Expense, That Crafty Peanut Butter!
StSanders (w/Ozzy and Friends)
Here's more fun from StSanders -- though I think this one is the best.
Thanks to the Durst for pointing it out via Barbotian who found it through someone else and so on.
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
Song of the Week has DJ Lile a-Mashin'
There definitely ain't nothing wrong with a little rump-shakin' in the Fall, so get up and get on.
| "Domo Arigato, Mr. Brightsides" DJ Lile 2007 |
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
October 10, 2007
Song of Week is an Album (Radiohead)
 | If you've been under a rock then you didn't hear that Radiohead released their latest album, In Rainbows, as a "pay what you want" set of MP3 downloads. We likey in so many ways. Go get it. And don't be an ass -- by paying what you feel is a fair price you make it more likely for more music to be made available to those with less than yourself. |
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
September 26, 2007
Song of the Week is "New" and from Animal Collective
Yeah, everyone knows we love the Animal Collective. And we love them even more in that their new single off their new album is a song they've been kicking around a while now...
| "Peacebone" The Animal Collective from a March 2006 performance at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta |
And here's the studio recordings (not much different from the live one) on top of what might be the strangest music video ever made...
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
September 19, 2007
Song of the Week from Jason Dove
This, my friends, is the first jam de Fall (that's French). So (1) Make a mix with this as the first track (2) Throw it in the car (3) Put the windows down (4) Risk extra distortion and blown speakers (5) Cruise a wooded roadway and get ready for the leaves to turn. Your welcome.
| "End of the Year" Jason Dove from We Should be Together |
(6) Realize that you need to buy the whole album and go get it.
And for you people that need information, not just love... Jason Dove is one of Baltimore's finest (musicians, not Po-Po) bringing the beautiful noise with one of the best-named bands on the block: Jason Dove & the Magic Whip. Come see him play at the Narrow House-hosted night of music and poetry at the Baltimore Book Fest, November 28. Oh... we already mentioned that?
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
A Trailer for Pitch and Tone
a little set up from Justin Sirois
On a business trip to Chicago in '05, I saw a rough cut of the trailer for Joseph and Ross Cashiola's debut film, Pitch and Tone, before a rock show at a bar whose name I can't remember. What I do remember is being struck by its thoughtful and quiet scenes, its unconventional and honest humor. If these two talented musicians and writers can translate their art to the screen then this film marks the first installment in a body of work that will challenge the norm without marginalizing its message -- no small feat. After the trailer, the Cashiola brothers played beautiful music together as Hotel Brotherhood and, though in a city I'd never visited, I felt like a brother to everyone in the bar.
Later that night we rode in an old Scout, the top removed and the tops of our heads ramming the roll bar at each nearly missed stop sign. Our shirtless driver, Biff, ate the pig guts I mistakenly ordered at a Mexican restaurant. He might be in the movie too, but I'm not sure.
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
August 23, 2007
Song of the Week: The Besnard Lakes
You're thinking the Song of the Week too often comes from a Jagjaguwar release? Fuck off. Good is good.
This one is a live recording... starts a little pitchy as Randy may say, but it hits it stride. The non-live recording of this gem is on their album The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse... check it out.
| "Disaster" The Besnard Lakes from an August 10, 2007 performance on Chicago Public Radio's Sound Opinion (1969) |
And here's a video of them playing the same song in Chapel Hill sans the pitchiness. Who luvs yuh?
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
August 15, 2007
Song of the Week: Candy Says
I think the iconic imagery of VU & Nico and the iconic name of White Light/White Heat meant that some of us wouldn't come across this younger, quieter cousin until later in life. Well it's been spinning again and again this week, so here you go.
 | "Candy Says" The Velvet Underground from The Velvet Underground (1969) |
And remember the adage that there are so many great VU covers because you can always play the song better than they did? That ain't so much the case on this album. But here's Antony and the Johnsons covering it, anyway. Been digging his voice of late... and that intro graphic made it a "must post."
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
August 08, 2007
Song of the Week: The Kooks, "She Moves In Her Own Way"
A bright summer song, for a lazy summertime. So lazy that I can't even find an aaarrgghhh mp3 so you'll have to make due.
Posted by Rock Heals at 08:00 AM
July 18, 2007
Song of the Week: "All Fires"
Yes, we love so many Jagjaguwar releases. And no, we're not ashamed. This latest we share has been rocking our CD player for a good six months. Singer is from Wolf Parade -- and we eagerly await that band's next outting (will their be one), but in the meantime are eating up this guy's side projects. Get yourself this CD right soon.
 | "All Fires" Swan Lake from Beast Moans (Jagjaguwar 2006) |
More from them at their myspace page and at Jagjaguwar with links to pick up the album and such.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 PM
July 11, 2007
Song of the Week: The Mountain Goats
 | "Cubs In Five" The Mountain Goats from Nine Black Poppies |
You know, there aren't that many great songs out there that touch on baseball -- at least that we've heard in our sheltered little lives. But this one is fucking amazing. John Darnielle, aka The Mountain Goats, has written a shitload of great songs over the years, but this oldie-but-goodie remains my favorite.
And check out the Tampa Bay line that completely dates the song.
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
July 04, 2007
Walk It Out, Fosse
Judi Cutrone
Editor's note: Yeah that's Unk. And no, neither the original video nor the music were altered. It took Judi's genius to realize they were meant for each other.
Didn't you ever wonder how someone came to realize the whole Wizard of Oz + Darkside of the Moon thing? Judi knows, I bet.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:07 AM
June 27, 2007
Song of the Week from Low
So it would seem that Low made their "response to the war in Iraq" album. Yeah I know that's wicked reductive. Anyway, this is the song that really pulled me into listening to the whole album. Spare ist güt.
This album is like brand spankin' new... got a twinge of guilt posting an mp3.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:07 AM
June 20, 2007
Song of the Week for a Seventeen Year Old Girl
In today's world there are precious few things to help us cut through all the complications and clutter. Take this week's song... there are those who think it is among the best songs ever written and then everyone else.
Think about this next time a stream of pedestrians are keeping you from making a turn. Do you think they feel the awesome of this song? Then, are they really people or just single-serving entropy engines... urging forward the thermodynamic end times? Maybe then, you'll make it on time.
And here's a live recording of them (where "they" are a pretty continuously changing band of other Canadian band's folks) playing it, but if you prefer to find your own favorite, here are like 50+ others on YouTube alone.
Doesn't the women in the black dress look a little like Lindsey Lohan as she was just starting to "go bad." Doesn't that help bring it home?
PPS If you just downloaded this song and didn't own it already, you obviously should go give the band some money somehow -- as simple as buying the one-off on iTunes and dropping a fractional U.S. cent (which is like 1.25 fractional Canadian cents or something) into their pocket for all the love you just reaped.
&nsbp;
&nsbp;
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
May 31, 2007
Song of the Week: The Pipettes
 | "Pull Shapes" The Pipettes |
I heard this one far before ever hearing that "We Are the Pipettes" jam that I don't really like at all. This one though is a shimmering gem of retro-but-not-anachronistic lady-fronted love -- is there somekind of genre going on that would capture this song, Amy Winehouse and half of El Pero Del Mar? Probably.
Enjoi.
Posted by Rock Heals at 08:00 AM
May 16, 2007
Conversation (a video)
Katherine A. Gorman
< Previously (from Kate) on Rock Heals
Posted by Rock Heals at 06:30 AM
Song of the Week: Summer Jam For the Broken-hearted, Pining and/or Unrequited
Spring into Summer of 1991, I was 17, and I drove around town in varying patterns with only "passing my should-be girlfriends house" in common. And all summer "This Is How the Story Ends" by the Sundays seemed to be on continuous play in my tape deck.* Today there are new unfortunate 17 yr-olds in that same situation, plus all the folks that really dig Bright Eyes. This is their '07 Summer Jam. But don't worry, it's a great song for you normal folk out there, too. As long as steroids aren't part of your daily regime. & enjoy the trippy video: And more bonus: here's une autre vid of Cloud Cult throwing it down at Knitting Factory if you're like us and dig live recordings (from YouTube mais of course). * "Tape deck" is a layman's term for "tape cassette player" -- a 20th century audio recording playback device that enjoyed popular use between the fall of 8 tracks and rise of CDs. You are most likely to have seen one in recent years, but mistaken it to be a low-tech interface between your iPod and your friend's car stereo.
Posted by Rock Heals at 05:30 AM
So Blonde Redhead has a new album out that I haven't heard. But if it is any like the last one, it'll leave me saying, "Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons might have been the best album that came out in 2000. Man that's hard to top." So hard to pick a favorite track from it, but I thought I would go with the one that will draw you in. Get "In Particular," Blonde Redhead (6.97mb) And cuz I know you like something to look at, here's some vid of them playing it live. Oh yeah. Her voice. I guess you love it or hate it.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:07 AM
"Monster Hospital" from Metric was a pretty blah song. Then these guys with a wicked 90s electronic band-style name came along and made it a wicked dance song. And if you are reading this, you could prolly use a little more dancing. And download an MP3 while the bandwidth remains:
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
Lest you were starting to think we just chased what the kids are listenin' to, this week's song is a classic from a classic. Bobby Darin might have lulled you into thinking kind things about Mack, but the creepiness of this Brecht recording reminds you that much like Wu Tang, MacHeath was nothing to fuck with.
Posted by Rock Heals at 06:30 AM
This guy from Okkervil River can write the fuck out of song. And then he can sing the fuck out of it. And then you can fucking love it. OK? Though you are used to me talking like an idiot, I'm taking it up a notch because there is no way I can do justice to just how amazing this one is. Use it to meet new people and make new friends.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:07 AM
If the Yeah Yeah Yeahs aren't an example of rock that heals, I don't know what it is. So, when I first heard this Love of Diagrams song, I was all awesome. But then I felt they were playing chameleon and disguising themselves to get love they didn't deserve. But then I realized I was being 'tahded and that this song really has it. Promo video (sound is a little subpar, make sure to here the MP3): And go get a free MP3 of this song with much better sound quality from their band page over at the mostly lovely Matador Records. And pour le posto-scripteaux: When I was searching for their LOD shite, I saw they had opened for Erase Eratta a few times. And I was all like, and they've played with some dope-ass bands to magnify their dope. Go track down EE when you are done here if you don't know 'em.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:07 AM
No seriously, we love this song and we don't care if you think we are trendy whores for loving it so. And along the way we found this amazing a capella studio recording from The DL which is apparantly some show we should all be checking out.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:07 AM
You've heard Amy Winehouse or you hadn't and now you have. Either way enjoy it for another tree-fiddy-too. And it makes a great cornerstone jam for your next mix. Back up link over to YouTube (in case the embed falls apart)
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:07 AM
God bless Canada and their wonderful bands. This song would be the official infectious indie dance jam of Spring '07 if their was such an accolade. I give it mere minutes till that hook puts itself on repeat inside your skull... We'll pull the MP3 after it's been up a week (that'll be our "policy" going forward I think) at which point you can surely still hear it here:
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
Only fitting that we kick off our new "song of the week" feature with the latest jam from an old friend... "Love, For Want of a Lesser Word," from the Gena Rowlands Band, off their soon to be released Flesh and Spirits (Lujo Records, 2007). This has all sorts of RH-contributor love to it -- Bob Massey fronts Gena Rowlands Band, David Durst plays keys here and on many of Bob's ventures, and David Wilson is behind the camera. But this ain't no nepotism it is pure rock.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
K. Lorraine Graham
May 02, 2007
Song of the Week from Blonde Redhead
April 25, 2007
Song of the Week is one of many MSTRKRFT remixes
Monster Hospital (MSTRKRFT Remix), Metric
April 18, 2007
Song of the Week from Bertolt Brecht ???
"Mack the Knife"
Bertolt Brecht
from September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill (1997)April 11, 2007
Song of the Week from Okkervil River
"The War Criminal Rises and Speaks"
Okkervil River
from Down The River of Golden Dreams
(Jagjaguwar 2003)
More from them at their myspace page including some tracks I haven't heard yet from their latest album.
April 04, 2007
Song of the Week: "No Way Out," Love of Diagrams
Back to "Rehab" for a Refresher
March 28, 2007
Song of the Week: Rehab
March 21, 2007
Song of the Week: Prime Meridian
Prime Meridian (2:57)
The Idiots!
PRIME MERIDIAN! PRIME PRIME MERIDIAN!
Idiots! on Myspace ... and here's the
Official Idiots! Web SiteMarch 14, 2007
Song of the Week: Love, For Want of a Lesser Word
March 07, 2007
from It does not go back
Listen (0:31)
I understand the intercoastal waterway. I do not understand beaches in deleware, but I want to believe in them, believe in closeness and wildlife preserves, even on slaughter beach and in little heaven. that I am on a boardwalk at night, having eaten boardwalk fries, come away from the city for the weekend, telling someone how I feel, suddenly connected even to hardscrabble, all the crossroads all the villes. I'd never been to the beach in the u.s. before, being in love.
This piece and the next are both from Lorraine's new CD Moving Walkways (Narrow House, 2007). Do check it out.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
another from It does not go back
K. Lorraine Graham
Listen (0:30)
there's a song about here, and the lyrics have hills and the hills look like breasts and everyone hates their family but doesn't know it, and they want to sleep with their friends and know it, so they drive around a lot and think about what everyone looks like without their shirts on, wonder if anyone will make it through to the next picnic picture table, dot dot dot. someone goes home to defiance. defiance is also in iowa, and so is superman. right?
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
“We Prepare for Battle” (from See it Everywhere)
K. Lorraine Graham
Listen (2:39)
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
February 21, 2007
Seven Minutes and Thirty-Five Seconds of Perfection
Adventure time!
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
February 08, 2007
Michael Ball Introduces the Evening (2:02)
Click to listen
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:30 AM
EmCee's Kick Off, CA Conrad (0:27)
Click to listen
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:30 AM
Chris Nealon reads from from iduna and others (12:06)
Click to listen
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:30 AM
CA Conrad reads a remembrance from Frank Sherlock (3:04)
Click to listen
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:30 AM
Jamie Gaughran-Perez reads three of kari's poems (6:19)
Click to listen
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:30 AM
Miriam Stewart reads poems for kari (11:11)
Click to listen
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:30 AM
"Embarassment of Riches" by Tim Peterson, read by Conrad (3:24)
Click to listen
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:30 AM
Mel Nichols reads from iduna and obedience (4:47)
Click to listen
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:30 AM
CA Conrad reads from Bharat jiva (1:28)
Click to listen
(apologies Conrad... we couldn't resist using an image of you in the throes of demonic possession)
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:30 AM
Rod Smith weaves pieces from a day in the life of p. and obedience (9:36)
Click to listen
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:30 AM
Michael Ball reads from obedience (11:31)
Click to listen
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:30 AM
CA Conrad wraps with a piece from diary of lies (2:37)
Click to listen
Thanks again to all the readers, to all the listeners, and to kari.
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:30 AM
January 11, 2007
Personal Problems (audio)
David Franks
(as read by David Franks, Lauren Bender and Jamie Gaughran-Perez)
Click (or right-click and save), listen, enjoy.
(L to R) David Franks, Lauren Bender, Jamie Gaughran-Perez; innocent bystander "Blaster" Al Ackerman
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
December 13, 2006
kari edwards from obedience (audio)
(23 minutes... 10.6MB... huge!... it'll take a while)
(we'd suggest you right-click and save)
March 4, 2006, kari read at Baltimore's i.e. reading series with Tim Davis and Rupert Wondolowski. It was one of those cold but sunny days. And after we all grabbed drinks -- I'd doubt anyone remembers what we talked about, but I remember a good time was had. In a quick search we haven't found many other audio files of kari, so we thought it was important to share. That day she read from her book obedience, recording done by Justin Sirois.
Michael just reminded us that on that day when kari signing obedience , she scratched out the title and wrote above it "No Gender." You rock, kari edwards. Everyone else, enjoy.
---
A note on the i.e. reading series -- curated by Michael Ball in Baltimore, readings in the i.e. reading series occur at least once a month. The next reading is this Saturday (December 16) with Daniel Higgs (you may know him from Lungfish or the Outlaw Bible of Poetry) and Chris Toll (you may know him from the Interstellar Directory of Awesome):
Dec. 16th, 4pm - 6pm
Chris Toll & Daniel Higgs
Clayton & Co. Fine Books
317 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
410-752-6800
More about the i.e. reading series and the "back catalog" of readings and images.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
November 01, 2006
Garrett Caples' Surrealisms Bad Rap
Now available from Narrow House, a new full-length CD from Garrett Caples mixing up tracks of straight reading with songs that have been described as ranging from trip hop (are we allowed to describe something as that in '06?) to indie rock.
Chris Stroffolino of the Big Takeover says, "this album not only creates a wide-ranging sonic experience that is pleasurable in its own right (and reminds me a little of Edwin Torres’s Holy Kid released on KillRockStars around the turn of the century) but also may direct listeners to Caples’ published works," and other things you can read here.
Listen to some tracks
Robocop
The Mermaid's Diaper
Buy it
CD from CD Baby
Also available on the iTunes iStore (search for his name, the album title on their is fucked up).
Keep on reading all about it below.
Posted by Rock Heals at 07:00 AM
September 27, 2006
from St. Apples (audio)
Ken Rumble
Listen here! (1.5MB)
++++
Ed note: We met Ken in D.C. and after hearing him read from St. Apples, asked him for work -- which showed up in these parts back in July. BUT we also continued to bug him about recordings it -- because it sounded great in addition to the great read. The squeaky wheel...
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
August 16, 2006
Perfect Food (Korea)
Katherine Gorman
(video, narration, song, music, vox and backing vox by Katherine...phew!)
Previously from Katherine... To Jon: The Museum With Wings
... and remember the world we lived in prior to YouTube dominance at the same time!
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
August 09, 2006
Why can't we have this much fun all the time?
Jon Lee
from Start Touching
(you may have to be patient on the videos loading time)
Zafar (a travelling drum group from North Carolina) busking with found objects in Dupont Circle.
---
Ed note: Used to be, you couldn't go a handful of days in DC without bumping into some local kid banging out go go beats on a couple overturned buckets. Haven't seen that in a long while.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
Why can't we have this much fun all the time?
Jon Lee
from Start Touching
(you may have to be patient on the videos loading time)
Zafar (a travelling drum group from North Carolina) busking with found objects in Dupont Circle.
---
Ed note: Used to be, you couldn't go a handful of days in DC without bumping into some local kid banging out go go beats on a couple overturned buckets. Haven't seen that in a long while.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
May 24, 2006
Two from Pontiac Fever
On Pontiac Fever, the new 'chapdisk' from Narrowhouse, Buck Downs rips through 36 poems in 17 minutes. Think of it like a Minutemen album. Think of Buck as jamming econo with handfuls of mail-flung postcard poems. Think of us abandoning this crappy metaphor. Here are a couple from the disk.
 | blind reply (0:19) kissin' cunabula (0:40) |
Available from Narrow House Recordings -- and when you get it, the last track (divine altercation w/thebeloved in the basement) is also a doozy. Clocks in at the near epic length of one minute!
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
April 12, 2006
The Assignment (kumbaya version)
An audio fragment from the yet-to-be-realized short film "Working Poor"
Jon Lee
Listen to The Assignment (mp3)
A: The city saved your life?
B: Couldn't afford therapy so I'd take public transportation. Watch the city's refuse walking around. It made me feel better. Cheaper than Wellbutrin.
A: Why not volunteer?
B: Homeless shelters depress me. I like watching the working poor.
A: Who's the working poor?
B: I am.
-- From the Working Poor
Jon's Notes on The Assignment (kumbaya version):
Wage slavery is real ... and depressing. Don't like your job? Chances are the schmo riding the bus with you doesn't either. Kate and I are exploring how jobs, religion and money affect mental health. In the process we are exploring our own definition of sanity.
The Assignment (kumbaya version) is an aural collage I created in reaction to video Kate shot in February. It is meant to accompany the opening sequences of the film. The recording uses many of the environmental sounds that Kate's camera captured. I've added my own samples and vocals.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
April 05, 2006
"War on Terror" (a song)
Tom Raworth
It was the 18th of March and the three year "anniversary" of the war in Iraq was heavy on minds -- at least for a lot of those at the i.e. reading series. A killer line up at Clayton Books: John Yau, Norma Cole and Tom Raworth.
To wrap up his part of the reading, Tom had brought a music box. It was the kind that you find in a kid's music box, and you would wind through punched sheets of paper to play a song -- like a player piano. Instead of composing by notes, he'd written "war on terror" across the card and then punched out the holes the lines crossed. And so he played...
Have a listen
let the page load...
(thanks to Michael Ball and his i.e. reading series)
John Yau - Norma Cole - Tom Raworth... sort of (and Nyago x 3)
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
March 29, 2006
Happy Frolicking Time (for Alec Bourgeois)
Ryan Nelson
Turn up your speakers and then click the title above!
Or use this link...
Note: Happy Frolicking Time also first appeared as part of Damaged Goods: The New Vaudeville at the Black Cat on February 27, 2006.
If you missed it last week: The Car (for Ian)
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
The Origin of Paranoia As a Heated Mole Suit
Rupert Wondolowski
Hear Rupert read "The Origin of Paranoia As a Heated Mole Suit," from the i.e. reading series in Baltimore.
I woke with a start in the leather armchair, my
knees pumping, realizing my sister was having better
dreams than me. I mean, our mother joining her in the
shower and then turning into a skeleton - classic!
A pastiche of state ideology, tender airline
stewardesses and dismantled binaries kept me up most
of the night. The day was taken up with dour lurching
and watching a galaxy form in a pot of Ramen noodles.
Somewhere between inertia and a feeding frenzy,
between a cloudy password and a slender cling lies the
magnetic undermind.
It's the loneliest Halloween ever, Charlie Brown.
I'm packing my bags for the Patsy Cline Institute for
the Emotionally Disabled as chunks of nations are
being swallowed or washed away like mashed bananas in
a baby's cereal bowl. New Jersey's slated to be the
next Atlantis and the sky's been more full of clumps
and substance than the earth, filling heads and
sinuses with wet wind and symptom clusters.
Children pass me on the darkened side streets at
night, carrying candy baskets carved from my meat
covered lightbulb head. Their costumes and pitchforks
against the lone streetlight create grotesque shadow
plays of dining politicians and college boys drunk on
entitlement.
I see the ghost of Rod McKuen under an elm tree,
decked out in his Disney version of rough trade,
having a daiquiri with a Pekinese. He's telling it
the spooky tale of the potato that grew eyes in The
Little Kingdom of Rubber Tires, but he's not making
much of an impression. The toy dog distractedly
sniffs at where the lunch comes out, where the love is
made.
As I sit alone in my heated mole suit, watching a
midnight showing of the George Kuchar cinematic
classic, "Hold Me While I'm Naked", clutching a
Tootsie Roll I stole from the girl in the raspberry
devil suit and high heels I have an epiphany. All I
want is some flatbed resonance, a slightly burned
picnic table, a clean giddy life of grass stains.
As Granny always used to say: "Saying 'I love
you' isn't necessarily giving the recipient of said
phrase a license to torture." Of course she used to
also always say "Bag up your own walnuts around here,
I'm through."
Thx M.A. for the drawing of Rupert
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
March 22, 2006
The Car (for Ian)
Ryan Nelson
Turn up your speakers and then click the title above!
Or use this link...
[after the fact update] When yr done here, ramble on over and check out the second installment: Happy Frolicking Time (for Alec Bourgeois)
Note: The Car first appeared as part of Damaged Goods: The New Vaudeville at the Black Cat on February 27, 2006. We'll be sure to tell you when the next Damaged Goods goes down so you can see the newest madness on-hand.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
February 08, 2006
Two Sound Pieces
Performance Thanatology Research Society
 Death is a Lonely Boy/Voice (HHH, 2005) |
 Zombie Telemarketing (They Lured Us Into the Basement, 2004) |
Much more from the Performance Thanatology Research Society
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
December 21, 2005
Two Songs from Taylor Maxson
Along the way Rock Heals Contributor and Good Friend introduced us to Taylor Maxson. Taylor reminds us very much of Bob Massey: he's a writer, musician, and has a big and sincere laugh. Taylor has even flirted with the idea of moving to L.A.
Along the way Taylor started sending us music, and here we pass them on as a little single (the single part is our idea, not his). Enjoi.
Quiet Storm (4.1MB)
(b/with) What's Holding Up My Life (5.7MB)
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:00 AM
November 30, 2005
From the Continuous Peasant, To New Orleans
Here's a song from the San Fran band Continuous Peasant from a New Orleans benefit CD.
Where Were You Yesterday (MP3, 4.77MB)
[from CD Baby -- will have a local copy later today]
Get the CD at:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/continuousp
All proceeds from this CD will be donated to:
Vanguard Public Foundation People’s Hurricane Relief Fund
383 Rhode Island Street, Suite 301
San Francisco, CA 94103
http://www.Vanguardsf.org
As hurricane survivors cope with the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina, please help ensure their needs are met and their voices are heard.
Over 40 New Orleans and Gulf Coast community-based organizations, in collaboration with Community Labor United, Quality Education is a Civil Right, the Algebra Project, the Young People’s Project, and the Vanguard Public Foundation, founded the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund to:
+ Deploy hundreds of teacher volunteers to meet the educational needs of youth evacuees;
+ Organize volunteers to help displaced families fill out paperwork and get through the red tape of applying for federal assistance and other funding; --Organize health care workers and establish medical centers to care for the sick and injured;
+ Establish four community service centers in lake Charles, Houston, Baton Rouge and Jackson to take in and respond to requests from hurricane survivors and help them organize in their local communities to gain a voice in the rebuilding effort, and to hold government agencies accountable. For questions call (4150-487-2111) and if you want to volunteer email Becky Belcore at bbelcore at hotmail dot com
----
Continuous Peasant was formed by poet/keyboardist Chris Stroffolino (ex Silver Jews; ex-Rising Shotgun, etc) in 2001 and has since released two critically acclaimed full-length albums, Exile in Babyville (2003, Good Forks) and the newly released Intentional Grounding (2005, Good Forks). For more information about the band, go here:
www.continuouspeasant.com
Posted by Rock Heals at 06:50 AM
October 12, 2005
To Jon: The Museum with Wings
Katherine Gorman
I was telling my friend Jon I was going to see a museum with wings in Milwaukee, and he was all "Wha...?" so I made him this postcard.
[Ed note: It starts with a black screen and then a slow fade in -- don't be fooled into thinking the video ain't working.]
Some backstory from RH (we actually did homework!): This is the Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwauke Museum of Art, designed by Santiago Calatrava (opened 2001). And those wings actually move up and down! More >
Now we see that life would be much cooler if we had filmmaker friends.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:40 AM
July 20, 2005
Identity is the Cause of Warts
Rod Smith
Listen to the poem (MP3, 2:05, 2.5MB) from Rod's new CD "Fear the Sky" (Narrowhouse Recordings, 2005).
i have a toad. its name is buber. buber the toad. buber raises rabbits. the rabbits live in a big can named big can. or rabbit can. mostly they complain. buber bangs the lid for them to calm down. it doesn't work. at the last annual convening of the international monetary fund buber spoke to a packed house about toadstuff. he talked it up good & the bankers banged their lids. sometimes buber & me smoke pot. other times usually while banging buber has a twitch of sympathy but always for himself & he calls the phone & it says anything so he bangs on it too Π& i feel sorry for it & hang around with all these other things in the room wondering about this banging toad in my life. buber gets a bygosh bygolly expression which on a toad looks like all their other expressions but that toad'll sing "Little girl I don't work in no candy kitchen / Na & I don't sell no chewin' gum." do any of you folks have toads. can you help me through my toad difficulties. sometimes i lie asleep all night. i just can't take it anywhere anymore. sometimes i think i should get a frog instead but my friend jigs casey has a frog & he built a nuclear weapon with it & i'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't call me anymore.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:40 AM
April 06, 2005
The Alphabet Song
Yeah it's a bit rough, lo-fi even; and maybe the recording misses the beginning of the song; but this is pure SONIC GOLD!
 |
The Alphabet Song (mp3, 683k) M_ (on drums and vocals) |
Also in Week 4
911 Diaries: Blood Mystery, D.
Unabomber Haiku, Mike Grau
Also on Rock Heals
Week 6 Is Habit Forming with another episode of 911 Diaries and a review
Week 5: Yankees In Last! (But so are the Sox) with a short play from Brian Calandra and a recipe
Week 3 Waits Patiently for Spring Weather with a comic from John Shanchuk
Week 2 In the Time or Rock Heals with poetry from Justin Sirois; and
Week 1 Where it All Began with poetry from Mark Wallace
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:06 AM
