Year of Record

Jimmy from Electric Cowbell records saw my post on the Superhuman Happiness / CSC 7″s below, and sent me a note saying hello– turns out he lives less than a block away, and plays percussion in CSC Funk Band, that pleasant surprise on the flip of the SHH split. He stopped by and hooked me up with a few of the other Electric Cowbell releases, including this CSC 45 Bad Banana Bread b/w Caneca.

Side A – Bad Banana Bread: Apart from the SHH track, the CSC Funk Band lives up to its name with a driving guitar groove, deep bass, and a constant sax hook that only gives way for a wild electricified Oboe solo, like Jim Morrison careening into a dance party, knocking everything off the bar and stumbling out, while the rest of the party keeps jammin’.

Side B – Caneca: Incessant congas and wailing guitar give this the feeling of a spy chase: something for quick cuts, red floodlights and shots of tequila. A brapping villain of a horn solo is vanquished by the power of the six string hero, who in the end, just wants to get back to the party.

CSC Racket aka Newtown Creek Playboyz aka Thrift Store Find aka Fuck the Funk Band aka CSC Funk Band’s 7″ is out now on Electric Cowbell records. I’m really stoked to not only discover new music, but find it’s in the neighborhood and be able to get a glimpse of the musical community up here. Turns out Jimmy lives in the awesome warehouse down the street, has killer rooftop parties.

CSC – Bad Banana Bread / Caneca

I also snagged another 7″ on Electric Cowbell, Greg Ginn (Black Flag) & the Taylor Texas Corrugators. I was never the hugest Black Flag fan, so I feel like I may be missing some context on these tracks but:

Greg Ginn & The Taylor Texas Corrugators – Freddie / Tea

Side A – Freddie: Organ, twang, and what sounds like a sitar, give this instrumental a Middle-East-Texas vibe. It’s what the Japancakes would sound like if they saw Dallas and kept driving,

Side B – Tea: At first listen, a bit of an aimless collection of sounds, the warmups of the instruments used on the A-side. On repeate, it’s a musical junk store lurching to life, meandering its way into the countryside, wide-eyed and demolishing everything in its path with a smile.

Can’t wait for more from this label, and this neighborhood. Discovering new music, and making new friends is what this whole thing is about.

Went to Union Pool last night to check out Nomo, who, as expected, totally killed it. But the real standout for me was Stuart Bogie’s project Superhuman Happiness. He’s currently the sax player in the Fela! musical, and a local Afropop band Antebalas, and SHH’s tracks end up sounding like a cross between classic Nigerian beats with some Zappa’s Yellow Shark mixed in for good measure. Can’t reccomend them enough. Here’s a vid of a portion of their standout track, Human Happiness, and links to both the 7″s I snagged last night. Be sure to pick up their full length over at cdbaby.

Super Human Happiness – GMYL

Super Human Happiness and CSC Funk Band Split

Some bands you stumble upon by chance, and some stumble upon you. How I met up with Harlem:

1. My ex-wife sends me a survey for some philips mp3 player coming out, with the possibility of getting invited to beta test the device and get to go to some free shows.
2. I get accepted, get a free mp3 player and go to weird rock shows of local bands in some pseudo-corporate-competition for our votes at a lot of silly fancy apartments in Austin.
3. At one, I notice my friend Christian, setting up. He has no idea what I’m talking about when I bring up this mp3 player.
4. It turns out he’s playing in Harlem, who proceed to rock all worlds in some east austin garage, a bunch of rogue-type drunks with a marching band kick drum, no showers, and 3 tons of energy.
5. They rule

Free Drugs was one of my favorite albums of the past few years, with stripped down, grungy garage pop. When you start out on Hippies, if it’s your first time listening, you’d think they were a twee group, like the Shaggs with their shit together. Three songs in, you feel their sloppy swagger creep out and understand: they’re just happy to be playing, totally in their characters of rock and roll kids living the dream.

There aren’t as many standouts on Hippies; no “South of France,” “Caroline” or “Psychedelic Tits,” but there’s a consistency that’s both comforting and energizing. “Gay Human Bones” gets the rest of the record up and moving, and by the time you get to “Poolside,” you just want to hang out with these guys, you want them to play your birthday party, and you will need an extra keg.