Weirdos of old school rap, vol. 2

....a continuation of last week's post...more off-beat music from the so-called 'golden age' of rap music. A few of these extend into the mid-90's, but I guess that stuff is probably old school by now.

Dunno much about Orko the Sycotik Alien, or his 1996 album 'Crop Formations,' but it's weird stuff for sure. Apparently released on cassette originally, which would explain the track 'Put it On Cassette.' I played a few cuts off this disc on Obscuro, and now here it is in its entirety.

Tracklist:

1. Quantum Leap
2. Crop Formations Intro
3. Tel Lie Vision
4. Rhyme Rate
5. Scared of Revolution
6. Put it On Cassette
7. Crop Formations
8. War of the Worlds
9. Mouth of Madness
10. The Contract
11. Nomad in My Mind
12. Shroomen in the Grandcanyon

Woops, left my clean edits in there. Oh well, you get radio-friendly versions of 'Put it On Cassette' and 'Mouth of Madness.'

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This isn't the full 1994 'Trailer Park Hip Hop' EP by Hip Club Groove, but it's what I have. This is the group that featured a pre-'Trailer Park Boys'-fame Corey Bowles (aka the Corey in Corey and Trevor.) Basically, it's what you'd expect...kind of like a Canadian Bloodhound Gang with funkier beats. Not sure if he appears on here, but the actor who played J-Roc was in the video for one of these songs, too.

Tracklist:

1. Trailer Park Intro (Missing)
2. Rugged Operator
3. Bay Oh Fun-Day
4. Shootin' the Gift
5. Shure Shots (Missing)
6. Trip to Reality
7. Phat Mad Flow (Missing)
8. Jizz (ft. Stinkin' Rich aka Buck 65)
9. Kick 'Em in the Face/Outro

You can hear the missing tracks at bigmoveslpfc.bandcamp.com if you want.

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Lastly for today, here is my favorite Esham record. 1993's 'KKKill The Fetus.' Esham was just 19 or something when it came out. You can say what you want about Juggalos and ICP, but Esham is just makes fucking crazy music. He's undeniably talented, and totally hardcore. I helped do sound for him in Kzoo a while back, and someone got stabbed. Rough crowd. Anyhow, this stuff is raw and just as funny/evil as most of the OFWGKTA stuff.

Tracklist:

1. What is Evil?
2. Symptoms
3. Runnin' from Me
4. Voices in My Head
5. No Singing/Misery
6. Jackie
7. Game of Death (ft. Natas)
8. Headache/Wet Day Dreamer
9. Hot Booty
10. I Thought You Knew
11. If This Ain't Hell
12. My Understanding is Zero
13. Perpetration
14. Freak Nasty
15. Headhunter
16. KKKill the Fetus
17. Don't Blame Me!
18. Is You Still Hoe'n
19. Sunshine
20. My Mind's Blowin' Up
21. Get On Down
22. 666
23. HeltersKKKelter

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Weirdos of old school rap, vol. 1

It's been a few weeks...

Recently, I've been listening to a lot of rap and hip hop. A lot of older stuff, because beats were better when sampling was more prominent, and that's all there is to it. If a newer track uses a sample, it's almost always a really simple one, utilized in an unoriginal fashion. That's not to say there's not good new shit out there, but whatever, there's enough people posting that kinda shit, so here's the old school:

First up, this weird-ass record from the Goats. These guys were active in the early '90's and often drew comparisons to the Beastie Boys, which I don't see. To me, it's kinda like other 'alt-rap' stuff like Cypress Hill, Tribe Called Quest, or maybe Del tha Funkee Homosapien, but a little weirder. This is like some kind of political concept album, but the dudes were too high to really make it work, so it's just a really weird collage. Definitely worth the listen, because of bangin' tracks like 'Got Kinda Hi.' Check it.

Tracklist:

1. We Got Freaks
2. Typical American
3. Hangerhead is Born
4. Watcha Got is Watcha Gettin'
5. Columbus' Boat Ride
6. R U Down with Da Goats?
7. Cumin' in Ya Ear
8. Noriega's Coke Stand
9. Got Kinda Hi
10. Unodostressquattro
11. Georgie Bush Kids
12. Wrong Pot 2 Piss In
13. Hip-Hopola
14. Leonard Peltier in a Cage
15. Do the Digs Dug?
16. Carnival Cops
17. TV Cops
18. Tattooed Lady
19. Tricks of the Shade
20. Not Not Bad
21. Rovie Wade, the Sword Swallower
22. Aaah D Yaaa
23. Drive-By Bumper Cars
24. Burn the Flag
25. Uncle Scam's Shooting Gallery

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Alright, next up are Cypress Hill affiliates FunkDoobiest. This is their debut album 'Which Doobie U B?' It's very much in line with the Hill's early discs and the first 2 House of Pain albums. If you know HOP, you've heard Son Doobie on 'House of the Rising Son.' These guys like weed. A lot. I'm sure you can tell that from the tracklist. Dunno much about this one, except that DJ Muggs produced it, so you know it rules right away. I've also heard a lot of other rappers (from Eminem to Ice Çube) name-check Son for how much porno he has, so maybe there's something to that...also, not sure, but I think these guys beat Snoop Dogg to the 'bow wow wow yippy yo yippy yay' thing...

Tracklist:

1. The Funkiest
2. Bow Wow Wow
3. Freak Mode
4. I'm Shittin' on 'Em
5. Who's the Doobiest
6. Doobie to the Head
7. Where's it At
8. Wopbabalubop
9. The Porno King
10. Uh C'Mon Yeah
11. Here I Am
12. Funk's On Me

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Last up, I gotta post something Beastie-related, due to MCA's tragic passing. This is a total bummer to me, as he's always been my favorite, and Beastie Boys was one of the few groups I really wanted to see live before I die. So, on that note, here's DJ Hurricane's debut solo record, 'The Hurra.' This dude was the DJ from 'Paul's Boutique' (the tour, not the record) to 'Ill Communication,' my favorite Beastie era. Apparently, he also rocks the mic pretty hard. This is also kinda like Cypress Hill (Sen Dog guests,) but with lots more live instrumentation, courtesy of longtime Beastie collaborators Mark Nishita and Mario Caldato, Jr. (who produced a bunch of the tracks on here.) What's more, the Beasties themselves turn up on two cuts ('Four Fly Guys' and 'Stick 'Em Up') and say some hilarious shit ('Cocaine crew say 'blowwwwww!'.) Good stuff. Dig it.

Tracklist:

1. Now You Do
2. Elbow Room
3. Four Fly Guys (ft. Beastie Boys)
4. Can We All Get Along
5. Feel the Blast (ft. Sen Dog)
6. Pass Me the Gun
7. The Hurra
8. Where's My Niggaz At
9. What's Really Going On (ft. L.O. and MC Breed)
10. Comin' Off (ft. L.O. and Tye Bud)
11. Get Blind
12. Pat Your Foot
13. Stick 'Em Up (ft. Beastie Boys)

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There. Hopefully that makes up for the weeks of absence. Enjoy.

Ska Week.

Doing a lot of driving = lots of classic-era ska. It's all got a steady beat that you can cruise to, but not in a lame techno way. This week on Society's Fault (the proto-punk, punk, and post-punk program) we're doing proto-ska, ska, and post-ska. Which isn't really very accurate, but it's easier than saying 'classic Jamaican ska, two-tone, and third-wave ska and/or ska punk.' So. Because of all that, here are some very good classic ska things.

First up, 'The Original Rude Boy,' a best-of collection by Desmond Dekker. This dude doesn't have a bad song, really, but there are a lot of really good ones here. Definitely my favorite of this stuff.

Tracklist:

1. King of Ska

2. Honour Your Father and Mother

3. Get Up Edina

4. Rude Boy Train

5. 007 (Shanty Town)

6. Israelites

7. Mother's Young Girl

8. Music Like Dirt

9. It Mek

10. Pickney Gal

11. You Can Get it if You Really Want

12. Hippopotamus

13. Big Headed (Dub Mix)

14. Young Generation

15. Carry Go Bring Come

16. King of Ska '93

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Next up, the compilation 'Studio One Ska,' released in 2004. This is a bunch of stuff from one of the first studios to produce ska recordings in the early '60's. About h

alf-and-half kickin' instrumentals and vocal cuts. All good.

Tracklist:

1. Jackie Mittoo - El Bang Bang

2. Ken Boothe and Stranger Cole - Artie Bella

3. The Wailers - (I'm Gonna) Put it On

4. The Skatalites - Addis Ababa

5. Roland Alphonso - President Kennedy

6. Joe Higgs - (I'm the) Song My Enemies Sing

7. The Skatalites - Beardsman Ska

8. Delroy Wilson - I Want Justice

9. Tommy McCook's Orchestra - Sampson

10. The Ethiopians - I'm Gonna Take Over Now

11. Tommy McCook - Freedom Sounds

12. The Maytals - Marching On

13. The Skatalites - Exodus

14. Roland Alphonso - Look Away Ska

15. Don Drummond - Don Cosmic

16. Roland Alphonso - Scambalena

17. Andy and Joey - You're Wondering Now

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Lastly, here's an odd, semi-exploito release. I guess(?) this is long out-of-print, but apparently Epic records sent Curtis Mayfield to Jamaica in order to compile a CD of, as the title says, 'Real Jamaican Ska.' This was to capitalize on the minor Caribbean music craze in the states during 1964 apparently. It's got some early Bob Marley tunes and some awesome Jimmy Cliff songs.

Tracklist:

1. Lord Creator - Don't Stay Out Late

2. Lord Creator - Little Miss Princess

3. Jimmy Cliff - Ska All Over the World

4. Jimmy Cliff - Trust No Man

5. Winston Samuels - You are the One

6. The Techniques - No One

7. Lord Creator - Golden Love

8. Lord Creator - Man to Man

9. Lord Creator - Angela

10. The Charmers - Time After Time

11. The Techniques - Remember I Told You

12. The Charmers - Misery

13. Bob Marley - Simmer Down

14. Bob Marley - I Am Going Home

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V.A. - 'Girls and Boys - Helge's '87'

Remember a while back when I played a bunch of 1980's kid-metal on the Obscuro radio program?

Well, now you can have the whole thing. I realized that, 2 years later, STILL nobody has this shit up on the internet really. I had to dig through Soulseek to find my copy. I'm making it easier on you. The teenage stuff on the second side really isn't that great...just your run-of-the-mill high school speed metal/punk stuff that was probably everywhere in '87...but god damn are all the kid bands great. The Pink Babycats and Secret Metal tracks are both standouts, but really the whole first side is awesome.

Basically, it sounds like a bunch of 'cool' metal dads forced their kids into writing 'tough' sounding music (which is honestly probably how it went down for this record...it's apparently a benefit record for some youth club called Helge's) but the toughest stuff these kids probably know about are boogers and snakes. At the very least, it's a must-have in any 'outsider' metal collection, if anybody's got one of those (besides me.)

Oh yeah, it's Finnish, so expect a lot of broken English and lyrical weirdness. Also, a few songs are entirely in Finnish.

Tracklist:

1. Galaxy - Se Pa Mig

2. Pink Babycats - The Hunting

3. Boyhunters - Boys

4. Zero Zone - Good

5. Mix Music - Let's Go

6. Minimax - Disconight

7. Atomic - Windrider

8. Herins - Once Upon a Time

9. Our Metal - Let's Kill

10. Secret Metal - The Cop

11. Dross - Radioaktiv

12. Wilderness - The End of Mystery

13. Candy Girls - Together

14. Teffenet - Letar

15. Red'n'Black Viper - Nighttime

16. Manitou - Tribal War

17. TB Line - Don't Listen

18. Ozark - Fight for Your Rights

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Red Hot Chili Peppers - 'Out in L.A.'

Most people that have heard my radio programs know I have a weak spot for the old funk-metal of the Chili Peppers. I can take or leave most of their newer stuff, but from about '83 to '90 they put out some of my favorite records. The best of these is definitely 'The Uplift Mofo Party Plan,' released in 1987 with the four founding members finally playing together on record for the first time, but, I'm givin' you the less-common 'Out in L.A.' compilation.

This has got pretty much all the b-sides from the first 3 Chili Peppers records (there weren't that many) and some live cuts/remixes. It's okay, but it's an interesting document at least. One of the songs ('Blues for Meister') features Flea on vocals I think? There's also a really lame version of 'Deck the Halls.' Oh well. If you're into 'golden age' funk metal, you'll dig this.

Tracklist:

1. Higher Ground (12" Vocal Mix)
2. Hollywood (Africa) (Extended Dance Mix)
3. If You Want Me to Stay (Pink Mustang Mix)
4. Behind the Sun (Ben Grosse Remix)
5. Castles Made of Sand (Live)
6. Special Secret Song Inside (Live)
7. F.U. (Live)
8. Get Up and Jump (Demo Version)
9. Out in L.A. (Demo Version)
10. Green Heaven (Demo Version)
11. Police Helicopter (Demo Version)
12. Nevermind (Demo Version)
13. Sex Rap (Demo Version)
14. Blues for Meister
15. You Always Sing the Same (Demo Version)
16. Stranded
17. Flea Fly
18. What it is
19. Deck the Halls

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V-3 - 'Pimping in the '90's'

...More rare Jim Shepard stuff. Another release that didn't make it onto the 'Forever Lowman' blog. REALLY lo-fi quality...almost to the point of being damaging. Lots of different versions of old V-3 songs, and a few new noise jams. Overall, I wouldn't rate it very high in the V-3 catalog, but a few moments make it worth hearing. This is directly after 'Photograph Burns' in the V-3 timeline, I believe. Too lazy to check Discogs, though. There's no cover photo in the folder...it's up there, though.

Tracklist:

1. The Amateur Welder

2. Queen of the Underground

3. Defective

4. Car Horn in a Stinger Trap

5. Please Take Hold

6. Carnage on the Midway

7. Your Rival

8. Indy Rock 101

9. You Smoke Ink

10. Contact!

11. Glam Rock Ray Gun

12. ...Talking to S.B....

13. Super Human 2

14. Squid Ink

15. Forever Low Man

16. Grip Connector

17. Voices in the Woods

18. Son of Sam Donaldson (Boom Box Demo)

19. Harlem U.F.O. Sighting #128

20. Bullet through the Floorboards

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King G and the J Krew - 'Indestructible Songs of the Humpback Whale'

Damn, I don't even have to do any uploading for this one, because it's available for free on a bandcamp page. So. Some of you may be familiar with the emo/math/post/whatever group Rodan....if not, they were in the same peer group as Slint...same town, same high school I think, and a similar sound. I'd say Rodan was a bit harder-edged, though. Anyhow. Apparently, they started out (in high school) as pretty much the exact same lineup, but playing white-boy Run-DMC-styled rap music instead. Huh?

Yeah, it's true...

And, since their one release is mad out of print, and I wouldn't hold my breath on a reissue, someone (possibly affiliated with the band?) has kindly made a decent chunk of their recordings available.

Tracklist:

1. WKRW

2. Sit Calm

3. Indestructible Soul (Part 1)

4. P. Control Voodoo Diagram

5. Blackout

6. Bass: The Final Frontier

7. Locust Drive (Featuring B. Daughtrey and Jedi McKnight)

8. Kung Fu Kick to Ya Mind

9. Slow Motion Doomsday Mission

10. Indestructible Soul (Part 2)

11. Sea Jelly

12. Biscuits N Gravy (Bowel Death N Raven Mix)

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