Not Your Average Kids Choir

Have you ever heard of Langley, British Columbia?

No?

Well I don't see why you would have. They haven't done too much. That is if you don't count the 1976-77 recordings of the Langley Schools kids choir that in 2001 became a cult phenomenon after being rediscovered by a Radio DJ obsessed with "Outsider Music." THOSE are brilliant. Recorded in the schools Gymnasium by school music director Hans Fenger, this collection (dubbed simply the "Langely Schools Music Project") captures a group of young students full to the brim with charm belting out the pop classics of their time. The Beatles, the Beach Boys, even a David Bowie song, all framed by sparse arrangements of acoustic guitar, chimes and mysterious warbles, and voiced by the painfully innocent. One cannot help but fall in love with these simple songs, their amateurish nature only adding to the mystique that is music made for its own sake. The new collection for these songs is called "Innocence & Despair," named thus due to the abundance of sad love songs, and the oddly chilled atmosphere that floats over every group of children who've ever sung a song beyond their understanding...

Golabek - Babe (Don't Feed the Wildlife)

  Golabek - Babe (Don't Feed The Wildlife) • (Preview) by Mullet Records

 Buy it as a Juno Downloads Exclusive starting April 4th. Follow Golabek and Zaku-Chan on Soundcloud.

Free Ep Download: I Heart Bump - Zaku-Chan

Zaku-Chan, Ouillo, Urman:
Don't let his changing alias fool you; his overall sound is consistently innovative and astutely produced. Zaku-Chan's latest EP, I Heart Bump, is a compilation of experimental hip-hop tracks that are a true joy to listen to.

For fans of Nosaj Thing, Flying Lotus, and the Low End Theory collective.

As a New Years gift from Zaku-Chan himself, download the EP for free here.

Keep track of Zaku-Chan's latest productions by following him on soundcloud.

Guided By Voices



After a summer spent devouring experimentalists from the 70's, my tryst with the thoroughly pop-driven Guided By Voices was all the more refreshing. In 1994, they released Bee Thousand, a lovable lo-fi masterpiece, blending the best of 60's British invasion with 90's garage rock to create the most listenable sonic mess since Jesus and the Mary Chain. There's a lot of genre hoping, though it is most consistently a garage rock album, and like the experimentalists of gone ages, Guided By Voices put musical quality before sound quality. That means a lot of crackling, fuzz, low-grade drum kits and oddly cut tracks, a style of production with a history of alienating potential fans. But do yourself, and me, a favor; if you aren't sure garage rock is your thing, or if you're unsettled by the thought of a record where you hear the musicians fussing with their instruments, set aside your biases long enough to hear "I Am a Scientist," which exemplifies Guided By Voices at their most listenable. Then, try out "Gold Star for Robot Boy," a more traditional, washed-out GBV song. If those do nothing for you, I'm surprised, but I've got one last track: the always charming, 60's inspired "Echos Myron." 

We here at Phatfellas hope you're having a winter break of epic proportions!

Peace out or whatever

Aretha Franklin Seriously Ill

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Aretha Franklin and her family as she now battles an advancing form of pancreatic cancer. On this day of merriness, let this serve as a reminder to appreciate our health and recognize the fragility of life.

Goodbye, Captain: Don Van Vliet, better known as Captain Beefheart, dies at 69

This is really sad news Phatties. Avant-garde rock giant Captain Beefheart, best known for his landmark 'Safe as Milk' and 'Trout Mask Replica' albums of the late 1960's passed away this afternoon from complications of multiple sclerosis at 69. While his music was always viewed as challenging and never sold particularly well, his avant-garde music, based in blues rock conventions, has influenced generations of musicians, and his records are consistently rated as among the greatest ever made by adoring rock critics. Legendary DJ John Peel called Beefheart perhaps the only true rock genius, and John Lennon called 'Safe as Milk' his favorite album of 1967, displaying two bumper stickers with the album art at his Weybridge home. Influencing everyone from R.E.M to Devo to Tom Waits, Beefheart was truly one of a kind. Captain, you will be missed.
A story about Beefheart was related to me by Terry Shaddick, singer/guitarist of great British band Tranquility and co-writer of Olivia Newton John's smash 'Physical', who toured alongside Beefheart's Magic Band. Apparently, Beefheart would record in a seperate building from his band, without headphones to hear what they were playing, accounting for some of the odd time signatures and off-kilter sounds of his classic out records.

Merry Clayton rips into Gimme Shelter

I always though the Rolling Stone's 1969 classic 'Gimme Shelter' was their best tune. Tight, nasty, funky, and downright mean, this was the satanic cool of Jagger/Richards at its height. What made the tune so majestic however, were the co-lead vocals of gospel singer Merry Clayton who banshee-wails 'Rape, murder, is just one shot away'. Really chilling stuff. Clayton is a much better singer than Jagger, and for me, it was she who sold the song. As such, her 1970 solo version is a revelation. Think the Stax-Volt horns with a plodding funky-rock groove and a soul diva wailing about the storm threatening her very life, and rape and murder being just a shot away. Killer stuff this is.



And here is the legendary extended Stones version that really extends the groove. Listen for Merry's vocals, and where her voice cracks.