FFFreakout: Podcast #23 (w/ Chris Berry from Soft Abuse Records)

 

Jerry Yester & Judy Henske "Snowblind" Farewell Aldebaran LP (Straight)

Ed Askew "Little Eyes" Little Eyes CD (De Stijl)

Exiles from Clowntown "Fast One" b/w Something ... 7" (Great Dividing)

Maher Shalal Hash Baz "Flowerages" From A Summer to Another Summer (An Egypt to Another Egypt) 2LP (Geographic)

Stan Hubbs "Seems Like It's A Rich Man's World" Crystal LP (Companion)

UV Race "Nazicistic" Homo LP (In The Red)

Pumice "Hey Crap Crab" Puny (*forthcoming on Soft Abuse)

Pigeons "Red Friend" TBA (*forthcoming on Soft Abuse)

Primitive Motion "Amplify This Thought" By Arc or Chord (*forthcoming on Soft Abuse)

Moebius & Plank "Feedback '66" Rastakraut Pasta LP (Bureau B)

The Pin Group "Hurricane Fighter Plane" S/T CD (Siltbreeze)

Kitchen's Floor "Lander" Loneliness Is A Dirty Mattress LP (Bedroom Suck)

Real Numbers "Tear It In Two" b/w Pinckney St. 7" (Florida's Dying)

Family Fodder "A 'version'" b/w Debbie Harry 7" (Fresh)

Lighted "Moss Smuggler" Lighted/Mole Hole Tour 2011 CS (Lighten Up Sounds)

Russian Tsarlag "No Chance Left" Open Casket LP (Hot Releases)

Poli Styrene Jass Band "Drano In Your Veins" b/w Circus Highlights 7" (Violet Times)

For the second year in a row, Chris Berry from Soft Abuse Records made the trek down from Minneapolis to join us in the studio. Last time around, he was toting mostly rare 7" singles from his collection. This time, however, the box was much larger and included a variety of DIY singles, along with plenty of obscure full-length gems in various formats. In addition to this, he previewed a few tracks from some of the forthcoming Soft Abuse releases due out in the coming months, including new stuff from FFF favorite Pumice, as well as Pigeons and Primitive Motion. Check out the Soft Abuse website for more information.

FFFree Mixtape Series, Vol. 1: Back to Nature Edition

Introducing the first edition of the FFFree Mixtape Series. There's nothing too complicated about it really: write to us and let us know that you want a mixtape and we'll send one to you free of charge. We encourage you, however, to share with us your own mixes, original music, artwork, writings, recipes, poetry, etc. - but that's entirely up to you.

Each mixtape in this first edition comes with artwork and inserts lifted from various turn-of-the-century nature publications (Where were you in 1902?) and feature slightly different tracklists on c60-c90 length tapes. 

Get in touch if you're interested.

Note: This first batch of mixtapes are gone. Be on the lookout for more in the coming months.

FFFreakout #273 - Russell Hoke Feature (Aired on 7/21/11)

Russell Hoke "Lullaby Waltz" from He Would Have Been A Fine Young Man
(Interview segment)
Russell Hoke "Twisted Mountain" from He Would Have Been A Fine Young Man
Russell Hoke "Weird Wendy" from He Would Have Been A Fine Young Man
Russell Hoke "Worms in My Brain" from He Would Have Been A Fine Young Man
Russell Hoke "Oh, Grand!" from If I Had Been the Universe
Russell Hoke "Goodbye, Gypsy" from If I Had Been the Universe
Russell Hoke "Hey, Marie" from If I Had Been the Universe
(Interview segment)
Russell Hoke "Haunted Brain" from Haunted Brain
Russell Hoke "Brown-haired Smile" from Haunted Brain
Russell Hoke "Girl of Glass" from Haunted Brain
Russell Hoke "Someday Among Flowers" from The Magic of My Youth
Russell Hoke "Why Is It So Hard When It's So Easy?" from The Magic of My Youth
Russell Hoke "Angelic Choir" from The Magic of My Youth

We recently came across Russell Hoke's records while flipping through the tastefully stocked bins of Dusty Groove America on a recent trip to Chicago. Tucked in their small "Folk & Country" section sat these fascinating looking hand-assembled and hand-scrawled record jackets, with titles like Haunted Brain and If I Had Been the Universe, that looked positively out of place among the more recognizable selections of the genre. With absolutely no knowledge of what any of these would sound like, we took a chance and laid down the coin on Hoke's He Would Have Been A Fine Young Man record. And what an amazing record it is!! The album is a haunting work of psych-tinged folk and bluegrass that sounds like some lost late-sixties/early-seventies gem, adding a bit of intrigue and confusion to the 2011 copyright date.

After tracking down more of Hoke's records in the ensuing month, though, it became apparent that much of his material was actually recorded throughout the 80's and 90's, but is only now, in recent years, being released in small quantities by Hoke himself. His work brings to mind various left-of-center songsmiths such as Michael Hurley, Holy Modal Rounders, Lee Hazlewood, Syd Barrett, Daniel Johnston, and we'll even go out on a limb and say Neutral Milk Hotel. It's outsider music indeed, but not in the overly oddball fashion that this tag typically connotes. We were fortunate enough to get a chance to chat with Russell recently over the phone and ask him some questions about his music and his string of new releases. We aired that conversation on this week's show, along with various song selections from his catalog.

To buy some of Russell Hoke's records, check out Dusty Groove America and Fusetron. You can also buy them direct from Russell by contacting him at:

russnbus@yahoo.com.

FFFreakout #272 (Aired on 7/14/11)

The English Beat "Twist and Crawl" from Beat This!
Generationals "I Promise" from Actor-Caster
The Hotrats "Love is the Drug" from Turn Ons  
The Kinks "A Well-Respected Man" from Juno Soundtrack
Gore Gore Girls "Fox in A Box" from Get the Gore 
My Morning Jacket "Circuital" from Circuital
Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi "Season's Tree" from Rome
Con Funk Shun "Chase Me" from Funky Stuff: The Best of Funk Essentials
Iceage "White Rune" from New Brigade
John Maus "Quantum Leap" from We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
Fad Gadget "Back to Nature" from The Best of Fad Gadget
Woods "Pushing Onlys" from Sun and Shade
Neil Young & Crazy Horse "Southern Pacific" from Reactor
David Ackles "Lotus Man" from S/T
Alvarius B. "You Only Live Twice" from Baroque Primitiva

Click here to listen to this show.

FFFreakout: Podcast #22

Ostracon “Entropy Procedure” Unauthorized Modifications CD (Unearthed Music)

Mist “Mist House” House 2LP (Spectrum Spools)

Satan Is My Brother “Movimento III” A Forest Dark CD (Boring Machines)

Alvarius B. “Mussolini’s Exit” Baroque Primitiva CD (Abduction)

Circuit des Yeux “Twenty & Dry” Portrait LP (De Stijl)

Mudboy “Starlight” This Is Folk Music LP (Weird Forest)

Three Legged Race “Permethrin III” As Ed Sunspot CS (Night People)

Cellophane Spill “Zaj Mak Ta” S/T CS (Night People)

Contrepoison “Heartbeat” Until Next Morning digital promo (Avant! Records)

Gareth Williams & Mary Currie “Breast Stroke” Flaming Tunes CD (Life and Living)

Brute Heart “Satellite” Lonely Hunter LP (Soft Abuse)

David Sutton “Arcadia” American Wildlife CD-R (HP Gem and Crystal Society)

Telecult Powers “A Tale From the New Crow Gnostic Lodge” Neon Marshmallow 2011 Comp CS (Neon Marshmallow)

Threshholders "Ear Plugger" Threshholders II CD-R (Tape Drift)

I was a little concerned with how this week's webcast was going to pan out after having this new Gal Bara/Ugly Husbands split tape get chowed in the opening minutes and having to start from scratch. I believe it was Live After Death back in junior high when that last occurred, but I can assure you that the Gal Bara track that I was going to play is a keeper. Anything Warm Climate-related you know is going to be fascinating to say the least. Some highlights from this week's show that we were actually able to play would have to include a track from Circuit des Yeux's (a.k.a. Haley Fohr) Portrait, her third full-length offering for De Stijl. I find myself coming back to this album again-and-again. It's sort of fitting that there is a nod to Mr. Pink Reason on the back jacket as this carries some of the same bleak beauty and intensity as his seminal Cleansing the Mirror did a few years back. Fohr's sound underwent some 'cleansing' of its own on this album, but this only spotlights what a truly gifted songwriter she really is. We also just got in a healthy serving from the latest Night People tape batch. While there is plenty from this to play and discuss, two of the standout releases for me thus far have been the ones from Three Legged Race and Cellophane Spill. Amongst the deluge of synth-based music, Robert Beatty's Three Legged Race project offers a refreshing take on the form, weaving together a wide array of ever-evolving sounds. Cellophane Spill, who reportedly have ties to Austin's Low Red Center, are working in a somewhat comparable minimal wave/early industrial vein as that group, but with the sort of spirit for experimentation that units like the Storm Bugs embraced. We also played a track from one of our local favs, Brute Heart, off their recent Lonely Hunter release on Soft Abuse. And speaking of Soft Abuse, Chris Berry from the label will be joining us in the studio again in the coming weeks to spin some records and let us know what's in store for the label. What he actually plans to play is still a mystery to me, but there have been whispers of new Pumice, so if that means anything to you, then you might want to check back.

FFFreakout #271 (Aired on 7/7/11)

Gang Gang Dance "Adult Goth" from Eye Contact
Austra "Beat and the Pulse" from Feel It Break
Cult of Youth "Traitorous Blood" from Filthy Plumage in an Open Sea
Sparks "Love-O-Rama" from Interior Design
Pharoah Sanders "Got To Give It Up" from Love Will Find A Way
Dream Affair "Endless Days" from Endless Days
The Cure "A Forest" from Staring At the Sea: The Singles
Cold Cave "Confetti" from Cherish the Light Years
Culture Club "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" from The Wedding Singer O.S.T.
Beastie Boys "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win" from Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2
Blondie "Atomic" from Eat to the Beat
David Bowie "Queen Bitch" from Hunky Dory

FFFreakout: Podcast #21

Food Pyramid “Last Shuttle to the Red Planet” III CS (Moon Glyph)

Radio People “Only My Friends Can Sing” S/T LP (Digitalis Industries)

KWJAZ “Once in Babylon” (excerpt) S/T CS (Brunch Groupe)

Helm “III” Cryptography LP (Kye)

Deep Earth “Kanal” Nachtmusik LP (Chronic Boom Soundsystem)

Rambutan “Shoreline” The Temple of Echo CD-R (Tape Drift)

Polymer Slug “Pink Sunrise” & “Coriolis Effect” Cloud Types CS (Overland Shark)

BeMyDelay “What It Feels Like To Be Drowned” To the Other Side CD (Boring Machines)

Hertta Lussu Ässä “Electric Spaniel-Wild Nights” S/T  LP (De Stijl)

Bill Orcutt “All Tongues” (Clapton cover) Tour Only 7” (Palilalia)

Terrors “Withdrawing” Lagan Qord LP (Weird Forest)

Matt “MV” Valentine “PK Dick” What I Became LP (Woodsist)

Cannibal Movie “Teste Mozzate” Avorio CS (Sound of Cobra)

Voder Deth Squad “Side A” (excerpt) 1 CS (Stunned)

Several great national tours converge next week in Minneapolis and Free Form Freakout is psyched to take it all in. To start off this week's webcast we played tracks from Food Pyramid, Radio People, and KWJAZ who will be playing together on the same bill at Nick & Eddie Warehouse on July 5th, along with Swanox and Garrincha & The Stolen Elk (discussed on our previous Weird Forest feature).  Earlier in the evening, Sudden Oak, Palmetto Moon Electronic Group, John Neikrasz, and local duo Glitter Pig will be kicking things off at Madame of the Arts. There looks to be plenty of fireworks in store for this evening, so locals no need to worry if your 4th of July plans don't pan out . . . you're covered.

Other highlights on this week's webcast include The World of Echo CD-R from Eric Hardiman's Rambutan project that just came out on his own Tape Drift imprint.  On this hour-long trip, Hardiman lays out his broadest, boldest, and brightest sound creations to date, staring down his guitar-based urges with mutant technoid vision. The album combines a few previously (Hobo Cult) released tracks along with a smattering of material, both new and old, to form a rather cohesive whole, and providing a major teaser for his reported forthcoming debut full-length on Weird Forest. Leave it to the Italians to take a fringe horror sub-genre as their band name, right? The first offering from Cannibal Movie, also the first release from Sound of Cobra Records, is an absolute beast of an album though. Total hypno-tribal sounds from this organ and drums duo that are able to work in some melodic swing with their raw primitive thud. Curiously, Donato Epiro has not been heard from since the formation of this group. Hmmm, just a clever band name you say? Lastly, we just received a stack of tapes from the latest batch from Stunned, which we could have filled up plenty of this week's show with, but we're going to hold back some for the weeks ahead. We had to, however, play a lengthy slab from the debut of Voder Deth Squad, a real-time collaboration between M. Geddes Gengras and Jeremy Kelly on Moog and modular synthesizer. The album features no overdubs or edits, yet displays an energy and exactness that only a couple of seasoned players like these two could pull off. As far as music to get totally lost in goes, this is some pretty choice stuff.