Category Archives: Records

Imagine being a 14 year old kid and discovering that the entire music world was changing around you. At 14, you wouldn’t really know the history or the reasons – all you would know was that suddenly bands like Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, and Genesis were on their way out, with a whole slew of synthesizer-based bands taking their place.

In 1979, two kids from Italy noticed this and delved. Bands like OMD, Human League and Depeche Mode were following in the footsteps of Kraftwerk, taking the DIY ethics of punk and creating an entirely new genre of music. And so like any 14 year olds with a dream, they got some electronic organs and modified them to sound like synths. They built their own rhythm boxes, sequencers and vocorder, and proceeded to write a handful of songs.

As time went on, they got some better equipment and refined the songs already under their belt. They released exactly one song and basically disappeared. By the time they were old enough to get into clubs, the new wave synth movement was gone. but that one song, “I’m a Vocorder,” became a sort of cult hit.

These days, the single is a collector’s item, fetching upwards of $150. Thankfully, Seattle-based Medical Records has reissued not only “I’m a Vocorder,” but seven previously unreleased tracks recorded by Gay Cat Park from the early 80s. It’s a limited release of 650 (I have #608) on clear vinyl with red splatters.

So how does it sound? Surprisingly good. The sound quality is great. There’s a bit of variation from song to song (as would be expected), but overall, you really don’t notice it.

The songs themselves might seem a little (and I mean a very little) derivative. These kids were in their middle teens and were influenced by what they listened to. But the integrity and enthusiasm of youth is there, just as much as it was there in the even more derivative ’88 NYC Hardcore scene. And that is more than enough to carry this entire release.

Sure, there’s elements of early Depeche Mode and some of the lyrical qualities of Kraftwerk – even a strange homage to Yazoo – but there’s enough of their own materialistic feel to make this sound unique.

“I am a Vocoder, I am synthetic voice
I am a very extravagant device
Into my box, there are a lot of things
But I will not, tell you about their means
I am a friend of the circulator, Which is in love of microprocessor
Is out of memory, for this silicons chips
But is no possible excange with them his bits”

I’ve probably listened to this seven or eight times in the past day and a half. You need this, but you better hurry up. It’s ridiculously limited and already going for $35+ in online reseller shops. Luckily, you can still get it from Medical Records. But seriously, don’t dally.

A few years ago, I posted about how I used to clean my records. This was before I had the little gray box that I use now. Ryan is getting back into vinyl again and noticed that his records are all dusty and in need of a good cleaning. Since he doesn’t have a similarly magical gray box, I thought I’d share again how I used to do it.

First, you’ll need to get a few things.

- Five or six microfiber cloths. These should be pretty good ones. They’ll probably cost around $6 for a pack of three.
- A Carbon Fiber Brush. I suggest the one by Hunt.
- Paint Pads. You can get these in the painting section of any hardware store. They’re usually used for edging when you’re painting walls. They’ve got tiny bristles mounted atop a little sponge. This attaches to a handle. I got mine from Home Depot for $4 for a two-pack.
- 50/50 mixture of 91% (or greater) solution of isopropyl alcohol and distilled water. About 1/2 cup of this solution is enough to clean 25 records. Don’t use anything less than 91%. Also, distilled water is quite important.
- Drying rack. I use a wooden one that holds 25 records.

Let’s get started!

Two microfibers cloths have been placed on the cleaned table. The one on the left gets the dirty record. I clean the first side and then move it to the cloth on the right, clean side down, so I can clean the second side.

Here you caught me mid-cleaning. The green record’s side one has already been cleaned and is ready for side two to be cleaned. The pink record needs both sides to be cleaned, side one is up and ready for action!

First, I take a carbon fiber brush to brush off the dust. It’s much easier and better to do this while it’s on the turn table, but that’s not really an option here.

Not much pressure is needed and it doesn’t harm the record. However, if there’s more dirt than just some lint on it, washing it may scratch it, so make sure to dust!

Now that’s it’s dust-free, take the paint pad and dip it in the 50/50 alcohol/water solution. Now lightly brush the record. You don’t need to scrub or anything, just brush lightly.

You don’t have to use a lot of the solution, but more isn’t a bad thing.

Now I dry it off with another microfiber cloth. Again, be gentle. The cloth can’t scratch the vinyl, but if there’s still a spec of grit on it, that won’t end well.

Some folks then rinse the record with distilled water using another paint pad. I sometimes do this, but haven’t found it amazingly essential. Though it’s extra protection from that stray chunk of grit.

Now that the green record is totally finished and placed on the drying rack (to be shown later), I get the next record from the dirty stack and move the pink record to the second cloth, clean side down, and brush it and the new record with the carbon fiber brush.

Then clean again!

Dry dry dry!

And put it on the rack!

Wash, rinse (if you like), repeat!

See? That was easy!

So I recently got a really well-done Springsteen bootleg of two recordings from 1973. It’s a double LP on red vinyl and I’m pretty impressed with it, especially considering it’s a boot.

Anyway, he does a great version of “Spirit in the Night” off his first album. I’ve always loved that song. There’s something really magical, yet familiar about it. But I could never figure out who everybody was in it and just what was going on.

So I’m going to try to break it down. You can read the actual lyrics here.

It starts with Crazy Janey and her “mission man,” though I have no idea what a “mission man” is. They were apparently in some sort of fight (“trading hands” sounds like the mission man might have been beating up on Crazy Janey).

Then, all of a sudden, Wild Billy and G-Man wandered onto the scene.

At this point, there are five people. Bruce, Crazy Janey, the Mission Man, Wild Billy, and G-Man. That’s when Wild Billy suggested they might all go up to Greasy Lake. On the way, he thought it would be nice to pick up Hazy Davy and Killer Joe.

Now, this is seven people. It’s never mentioned if the Mission Man went along. As you’ll see, it would be awkward if he did, but Wild Billy did say that they should all go up to the lake.

So on the way there, Bruce and Crazy Janey seem to get involved in some sort of action (her fingers were in the cake, if you get what he’s sayin’).

Now, when they arrived at Greasy Lake, a reference is made to a soul fairy band, but for the sake of simplicity, I’m going to assume they were imaginary.

While the night ended well for Bruce and Crazy Janey, it didn’t go so well for the rest. Killer Joe passed out drunk, Wild Billy and Hazy Davy got into some sort of “stone mud fight” after dancing together. Hazy Davy, no longer wearing pants, was hurt and ran into the lake.

That was when Janey had enough and said that it was time to go. Bruce doesn’t mention how they got home. Clearly Killer Joe was too drunk to walk. Hazy Davy was bare assed and broken. Wild Billy (who drove there) could have driven them home, it’s true.

However, whatever happened to G-Man and Mission Man? It’s very possible that Mission Man stayed home. But it’s just as possible that he went and was really unhappy to find Crazy Janey and Bruce making love in the dirt/singing their birthday song (they were apparently born on the same day – neat!).

If Bruce simply forgot to mention Mission Man, fine. He was clearly beating up on Crazy Janey, and thus needs to be forgotten. But G-Man. That’s just harsh. G-Man was Wild Billy’s pal. But all of a sudden, Wild Billy and Hazy Davy were dancing together and the next thing you know, Hazy Davy’s pants were gone and they were fighting.

So here’s to you G-Man. You’re the only one up at Greasy Lake that makes a shred of sense. You had the right idea. Things were getting strange and you just hung in the background, kept your pants on, and nobody even knew you were there.

Good job, G-Man!

There are three albums that, in my opinion, make the best use of samples. The first is most definitely the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique, which is basically one long sample. The second is De La Soul’s Three Feet High and Rising, but the other is surprisingly not a rap record.

White Zombie’s La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. 1 mixes choppy metal, weird time signatures and samples galore! While Rob Zombie is mostly known for his shocking for the sake of shock horror movies, but long before – twenty years ago – he, along with three amazing musicians, put out one of the most underrated metal albums of the 90s.

This album, more than any other, has influenced the way that I make mixes. When I get stuck trying to place a sample, I give La Sexorcisto a listen and it usually just works itself out. And now, I can listen to it on vinyl!

The reissue label Music on Vinyl just released it on limited edition white vinyl and I was lucky enough to pick up a copy. I’ve been looking for this since my friend Todd Fogel got it on glow in the dark vinyl two decades ago. I’m listening to it right now and it sounds amazing.

The music is honestly brilliant, but it’s the samples that bring it all together. A lot of them are from cult flicks or horror movies. Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill is a big one, as is Night of the Living Dead.

Funny thing is, I’ve never heard their earlier stuff or anything that came after this. For me, White Zombie exists in 1992 and that’s it. I don’t really even have a desire to hear them. I’m sure they’re great – I’ve heard a ton of good things about Astro Creep, but I think I’ll just stick with 1992′s La Sexorcisto.

A couple of weeks ago, out of the blue, Smartz told me that she bought me a record. I was curious, but since I know she likes me not to guess, I just simmered. Well, last week, it arrived, having been shipped from Finland or something.

I ripped open the box and oh my! It was the Spanish version of Duran Duran’s Carnival EP! Oh let me explain.

It’s no huge secret that I’m a Duran Duran fan with a huge collection of their records. And though I don’t really have any holy grails or any title that’s super incredibly rare, most of what I have is from my childhood. Like many 80s bands, Duran would release an album with a handful of singles. Those singles would be remixed/rerecorded into “Night Versions,” and then all the singles from the album would be released together on a mini-LP, usually only released in Japan.

Their first album had Night Romantics, while Rio had Carnival. Tiger Tiger and Strange Behavior were from their third and forth albums. After that they stopped. Anyway, all of them were Japanese-only releases, except Carnival.

Carnival was released at the height of their career. “Hungry Like the Wolf” had become a worldwide hit and the Rio LP was huge. When the album was released in the US, several of the songs were remixed to make them more danceable or something.

Producer, David Kershenbaum, remixed five songs and all of them wound up on the Carnival releases. Sort of.

For whatever reason, four different versions of the Carnival EP were released. Japan, Holland, North America, and Spain each got a different record. They had different covers and completely different track listings on them. Why? Who knows.

Also, mistakes at the record company played a role in making them even more unique. EMI Records sent the wrong version of “Rio” to both Spain and Japan. Anyway, this is all really geeky and trivial. You can learn more about that here.

In the US, the North American version is pretty easy to find. So is the Japanese version. The Holland one isn’t so difficult, either. And I’ve had all three for quite some time now. The Spanish pressing, however, was really illusive. In the past two years, it’s only come up on Discogs Marketplace twice.

This release is awesome. Sure, there’s no song on it that I don’t already have, but the cover art is fun and even the titles are in Spanish. “Tengo Un Hambre De Lobo!” “Planeta Tierra!” This is muy bueno!

I’m super ridiculously thrilled to finally have all four Carnivals. One could say that I was “howlin’ and whinin’ after” the Spanish release. I’m not usually a completist, but it was kind of bugging me. So, thanks Smartz!