#16 The Second Party Tapes

What if Steppenwolf had explored their hidden jam band? What if they had unleashed the undisciplined madness of guys like Mars Bonfire and Nick St. Nicholas? All drugs and fury, no commercial sense. You know Goldie McJohn was game. That's what's going on here...

We recently attended The Second Party - a gathering of stoners, drinkers and trippers whose sole aim was to get thoroughly inebriated and spend the night deciphering how everyone's costumes and/or actions related to "The Second." (We missed The First Party last year, but heard plenty about it.) So, beforehand, a bunch of us were thinking of different ideas - from Buzz Aldrin to Second Life to World War II. But then Rudy, already blitzed and ready to party three weeks ahead of time, came up with the idea of Steppenwolf's The Second LP. Perfect! So... instead of trying to dress up as an avatar or a bombed out Dusseldorf, all we needed were a few Nehrus, some shades... and music. Lonnie whipped up some samples from Steppenwolf The Second and then a bunch of us just toked up and jammed as we were hearing them, so it's sort of live. The party, by the way, was a righteous blast. Our favorites included the (nearly) naked girl with the Second Law of Thermodynamics written all over her body (everyone was interested in boning up on thermodynamics all of a sudden), the second of time guy (those Physics majors are a hoot to trip with) and even Jesus (The Second Coming). The very popular Shelly (with a bag of joints) made the rounds as second hand smoke. A good time was had by all.

Listen

The Second Part 1 (Faster) (3:25)
The Second Part 2 (Hodge Podge) (2:52)
The Second Part 3 (Resurrection) (2:37)
The Second Part 4 (Lost & Found) (3:02) 

Free 320
LOSSLESS

#15 You're Sitting On The Altimeter

These tapes come from sessions that also produced #5 Le Garrotte. There's not a lot to say, except that these particular tapes were made under the influence of a paralyzing strain of Thailand's finest. For the most part though, this session was a slow groove fest, featuring a number of jams that lingered into the 15-20 minute area. We decided to spare you the excess. We dubbed the beginning of "Burden Bearers (of Aristocracy)," but the rest is all live and all improvised. At one point we conjured up the ghost of producer Jimmy Miller and rode that wave. For listening purposes, if you don't have any paralyzing Thai around the house... Amsterdam Red will suffice. Recorded live.

Listen

Burden Bearers (Of Aristocracy) (4:54)
Jimmy Miller's Knob Is Missing, Too (Trimmed) (5:07) 

Free 320
LOSSLESS

#14 The Final Moments of Barry Cowsill

These sessions came about as a result of a story we caught regarding Barry Cowsill, the guy from the 60's bubblegum band that was found dead after Hurricane Katrina. We don't want to repeat some of the ideas it spawned, though... one of 'em is here - "Final Moments of Barry Cowsill (Redux 4)." Toke it up & turn it up and the imagery should come pretty easy, what with the helicopters, ticking of precious seconds, many trapped and crying top shelf cats, Barry's hallucinatory ramblings, sad lasts gasps and a big, "almost Chinese" fanfare finale. Whether Barry was actually trapped beneath his fallen piano while the water rose to only an inch above his nose is pure speculation, of course. Our apologies to all offended. Technically it's a "parody," so we can't really be sued over depicting the fictional final moments of a washed-up (no pun intended) celebrity. Before you ask, the digital glitch in the beginning of "Blunt Force Trauma (Unit)" is part of the track, not your system. We're claiming that the tune - a mournful eulogy for New Orleans that Barry may have been composing and playing when disaster struck - displays a darker side of Mr. Cowsill, the sensitive, forgotten and often dismissed artist (... who just happened to play in a band with his mom). Both tracks are live & improvised. See also "The Barry Cowsill Monologue."

Listen

Blunt Force Trauma (Unit) (9:42)
Final Moments Of Barry Cowsill (Redux 4) (10:08) 

Free 320
LOSSLESS

#13 Rainy Day Schattenwoelfe

We're Late For Class
VS. Stolle & Member
So these strange German guys, Stolle & Member, took one of our tracks and overdubbed it (it's called "In The Gallery"). Then they sent us one of their basic tracks (from their Reuschberg album sessions) and suggested we do the same. So... here it is.

Since the first half of S&M's 20 minute basic track was heavy on atmosphere, we kinda took over the proceedings. During the second half, S&M reigned supreme. Because it was a rainy day outside, we almost turned this into a cover of Faust's "It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl" but wisely decided against that. Although... we then unwisely went ahead and recorded an improvisational cover of the classic Faust song anyway. Since we're sort of hangin' around with Germans now we apparently think it's OK to do that sort of thing. Shelly predicts we won't sell a single copy. We're all inclined to agree. You can hear Stolle & Member's usual madness over at emptyblaukraut, and both of us below. Our parts were recorded live.

Listen

We're Late For Class VS. Stolle & Member Schattenwoelfe (in der Kleidung des Schafs) (15:58)
We're Late For Class It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl (4:56)

Free 320
LOSSLESS

#12 John Carpenter's King Heroin

Whenever we play, we always feed a "Mystery Track" into an unused channel. We don't hear it while we jam, but when listening back and mixing, we'll bring up the track and see if anything fits. That's the deal here. Lonnie fed a voice through channel #8 and, when it fit we kept it. This is our soundtrack to a fictional John Carpenter movie, King Heroin. Fans of Carpenter's soundtracks will recognize the plodding, heartbeat bass and tension filled atmospherics. Any connection to a John Carpenter soundtrack ends there, however, as we were quick to take off elsewhere. Imagine a futuristic landscape fraught with junkies and ne'er-do-wells... with a creepy voice over. Side 2 of this "digital single" is called "Humbucker (Short Version)," and is a faux "concert" performance from the imaginary film. In reality, if there is any here, there's no connection. But... what's reality anyway? Recorded live.

Listen

Theme To John Carpenter's King Heroin (9:07) 
Humbucker (Short Version) (2:42) 

Free 320
LOSSLESS

Thanks to OmletteDaggle for the great video!

#11 The Quinn/Martin Quartet Offensive ...Tonight's Episode: Dick Gunn (demos)

w/ Guest Star: Jim Carroll
This was a cartoon concept we conceived and sent to MTV & Nickelodeon, along with a short set of music demos to accompany the story line. We did the music when we got some MIDI gear last year and wanted to tune up the system. The networks didn't call back.

The Project:
Dick Gunn
A film noir cartoon following the exploits of Dick Gunn, Private Eye. Each week, the ethically challenged Gunn would get mixed up in a sensational new caper, backed by a soundtrack of smooth, Mancini-esque jazz and Badalamenti grooves voiced by a series of artists (poets, writers, musicians), changing with each episode. The demo, ...Tonight's Episode: Dick Gunn, features author/singer Jim Carroll's voice, who acts as Gunn's inner monologue. Since we only made cheap demos, you have to imagine we cobbled together a hard swinging band with a horn section, since we had neither. Click the MP3 player and you'll hear the whole thing, barely 16 minutes. If you're stoned, you might even be able to see the cartoon. Download it all below. It's WLFC... but it's a Q/M Production.

Listen

Prologue (0:34) Guest Star: Jim Carroll 
Dick Gunn, a troubled P.I. with a suspended license, hits the city. 
The Dick Gunn Theme (3:33) 
Every successful private eye has a theme song. But, bum luck gumshoe Dick Gunn ponders how really naked the city can be without a full-time secretary. A band version plays under the credits. We asked for Magic Band drummer, John French. 
Act I: Cool Blue Frequency (2:58) Guest Star: Jim Carroll 
It's a police term for the hypnotic blue noise a criminal's brain produces when he's in the act of engineering a crime. Like the one Gunn undertakes when he breaks into his new girlfriend's Lower East side apartment to confirm his jealous suspicions. She winds up dead. Enter, city District Attorney Fred Steiner. 
Act II: Fred Steiner, D.A. Theme (1:46) 
Unbeaten advocate of the people, Fred Steiner, is called in to prosecute Gunn. Of course, he has his own Perry Mason-styled theme song, since his character will probably be spun off for his own series sometime in the fall. 
Act III: Angelo's Stride (4:31) Guest Star: Jim Carroll
Out on bail, Gunn finds himself in the middle of a bank job gone bad. Lt. Mario Angelo, is called in. With his funky gate and itchy trigger finger, he shadows Gunn against the illuminated audio/visual backdrop of the NYC Jazz Festival. 
Epilogue: End Credits (2:38) 
As the closing theme unwinds, the credits should be read by the guy who did the voice over for TV's The Fugitive. We canned the original "End Credits" music to replace it with this newer, fake German jazz fusion version. Since the plan was to do a new "End Credits" improv for each show, we included a recent one here. 

Free 320
LOSSLESS

#10 Cremation Musik For The Korg

For this session we specifically set aside a little time for some ceremonial music. A Korg unit we've used as a sampler and trigger went belly up, so instead of fixing it, we had a funeral for it to send it along its fated celestial path. Meaning, we burned it. We also filmed it and recorded a soundtrack for it, "Cremation Musik For The Korg." It was inspired, of course, by our previous, substantially similar epic entitled "Funeral Music For The Dokorder," which was a requiem for an old reel-to-reel from our garage days before school. It went belly up, too. We had marshmallows for that one. But, since we were filming all this, we went ahead and filmed a black & white documentary of the making of the music for the cremation film of the Korg, titled, yes... "Wings of Fear: The Documentary of the Making of The Soundtrack to Cremation Musik For The Korg." (The Wings of Fear part is just to give it that Werner Herzog touch.) It's us playing live to the film (and... the original soundtrack). Pretty incestuous, huh? It's for the extras section of the DVD that won't come out. Recorded live.

Listen

Cremation Musik For The Korg (The Soundtrack) (7:40) 
Wings Of Fear: The Documentary Of The Making Of The Soundtrack To Cremation Musik For The Korg (9:36) 

Free 320
LOSSLESS

#9 Summer of Heigel

Two live jams: "(Another) Summer of Heigel" was spawned by an incident involving an uninvited guest and a can of motor oil. We're not going to say what happened, but it's all on film and we can use it if we're forced to. "(The Legend of the) Hawaiian Rimmers" is a concept that begins with a gang of Samoan car parts guys, legends on the islands, who get together for surfing, hubcap stealing, combat bowling (they have their own shirts) and some nefarious gay activities. The "Rimmers" part of the name is multi-purpose, y'see. We've even worked up a theme song, should we ever get around to actually recording it. Recorded live.

Listen

(Another) Summer Of Heigel (8:22)
(The Legend Of The) Hawaiian Rimmers (6:51)

Free 320
LOSSLESS

#8 Soundtrack To A German Existential Student Art Film

One of Shelly's friends actually makes German existential student art films. We couldn't resist. Amazingly, Karl (Herr Direktor) was game, so here it is. We did about 10 minutes for it. We don't think Karl really shows this one very much on the circuit. It's called Luftwaffe, if you ever get the chance. We also did this totally drugged up version of "Tomorrow Never Knows," which we called "The Void" because... we don't know the lyrics and we can't afford the royalties. This was our one take at it so we tried to talk Karl into filming us at some spastic, freak-out, 60s LSD party. You know, like The Seeds in London or Blue Cheer at The Matrix, something like that. He thought we were nuts. We just wanted a trippy video but Karl thought we wanted to be in his film. He stopped coming around as much. Cool existential student art film, though. Recorded live.

Listen
Soundtrack To A German Existential Student Art Film Pt. 1 (5:26)
The Void (6:36)
Soundtrack To A German Existential Student Art Film Pt. 2 (4:44) 

Free 320
LOSSLESS

#7 Room 14 Suite

Here's a quickie weekday session tape called "Room 14 Suite." It's a four-parter that starts as we usually do. Just starting. Here's what started it. Rudy told us a story about a road trip he took last year. He was staying in the cheapest places he could. Early one morning he found a $21.99 room and took it. Turns out, it was a rental room, sold by the month or year, and the guy who normally had it was out of town. So, it was lived in, to say the least. Two beds, one under an air conditioner that was impossible to sleep under. When the cover was pulled back on the second bed it had dirt and tiny specks of debris. Rudy freaked. He couldn't stay here. But, he was stoned and had food with him and it was past 3am on a dark stretch of West Virginia. So he figures he'll eat first and sort matters out next. He opened a tub of pudding but couldn't find his road spoons. So he's rummaging around (since this is someone's efficiency) but finds no silverware. He does find a plastic spork in a wrapper, from a KFC or someplace. Cool. He found the guy's emergency spork, he thought, and immediately tore into it, and the pudding. As he's savoring the tapioca goodness, he's pondering his situation, figures he'll just split this place and eat the bucks, since he knew he couldn't sleep in it. He was, after all, stoned. Absentmindedly, as he's looking at his spork, he notices a discoloration on the backside. He peers closer and sees that... it's dried up food in a small groove on the back. In horror, he grabs the plastic covering and sees where he opened the top... then spots the bottom was already opened, too. Oh!... he found the guy's emergency spork, all right. His USED one! Rudy told this story with a flashlight under his chin.

Listen

Suite A: Soiled Spork
Suite B: While Mackay's In The Loo (Again)
Suite C: Albert Ayler At Wattstax (4 Redins Goes Down)
Suite D: Horse Latitudes (For 3 Seconds)
(Total Time: 12:53) 

Free 320
LOSSLESS

#6 'Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun' As Played By Vanilla Fudge Imitating Iron Butterfly When Fudge Were Forced To Open For Butterfly At The Fillmore West After In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida Went Top Ten

True story. The Vanilla Fudge flew out to the Fillmore West for a gig. When they arrived at the venue they saw Iron Butterfly during soundcheck. The Butterfly were polishing a new song they planned to premiere later that night - which the Fudge quietly laughed off as being an incompetent rip off of Pink Floyd's "Set The Controls For The Heart of The Sun." About that time, Bill Graham came along to tell them that, instead of closing the show, they'd be opening for Iron Butterfly since In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida just went Top 10. The Fudge were furious! Bad enough just getting dicked around, but... opening for Iron Butterfly was an insult that just would not stand. They threatened to walk, but Graham quickly reminded the guys he had a signed contract... and their return flight tickets. So, the Fudge skipped soundcheck altogether and even thought about skipping the gig entirely, when instead they showed up on time, at the very last minute, to take the stage. Foregoing their usual set, Vanilla Fudge played a one song show. Their own, improvised version of 'Set The Controls For The Heart of The Sun,' sounding amazingly like Iron Butterfly's soundcheck. Especially so, since the Fudge were actually imitating Iron Butterfly throughout the set, down to the simplistic riffs, tortuous droning and shiny Nehru jackets. During the show, the members of Butterfly began collecting in the wings and vile stares were silently exchanged between members of both bands. But the Fudge did not let up... not until their contracted 40 minute performance time (found in the "opener's" fine print) had expired. Afterwards, a fight broke out backstage between Doug Ingle and Carmine Appice. The Fudge picked up their check and caught the redeye back to NY. This 40 minute track is the music they played that night. Recorded live. Get stoned & comfy. No refunds.

Listen

'Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun' As Played By Vanilla Fudge Imitating Iron Butterfly When Fudge Were Forced To Open For Butterfly At The Fillmore West After In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida Went Top Ten (40:36)

Free 320
LOSSLESS

#5 Le Garrotte

Rudy brought refreshments for this session that had everybody paralyzed for hours. We recuperated and were just getting the levels together when we recorded "The King of A (Pt.1 #11)," which is like a warm up ritual. We thought about overdubbing the other players on top once they arrived, but nobody ever got around to it. Later, maybe. Early in the morning during the mixdown we fused two mixes of "Le Garrotte" to create "Le Nouveau Garrotte (Mash)." It badly needs 10 to 14 minutes taken out of it, but... what the fuck. As usual, we recommend getting spliffed and playing this stuff loud. Shelly says to stop writing about her, but we can't. Recorded live.

Listen

Art Ought Six (a/k/a The Matador) (7:38) 
The King Of A (Pt.1 #11) (11:04) 
Le Nouveau Garrotte (Mash) (17:43) 

Free 320
LOSSLESS

#4 Over The Astrodome

Shelly was the D.R. (Designated Roadie) for this weekend's sessions. Since doing this for over a year we've learned that we must have all the equipment up and running and ready to record before we get stoned. Hence the D.R. concept, which includes running errands and general servitude. Actually it was Shelly's idea way back when, this is just the first time she got stuck with the task (we use a politically charged straw/vote system). Everyone toked up and we checked out some new stuff, including a disc Kenny brought along with samples of the History Channel, which was the basis for the soundtrack to a German existential student art film we did (#8 - Soundtrack To A German Existential Student Art Film). Recorded live.

Listen

1000 Islands (Two) (1:23)
Tommy Reese's DTs (Relapse) (11:42) 

Free 320
LOSSLESS

#3 Galerienmusik

There was a light turnout for this session so we started messing around with ambient stuff and came up with this. There's more of it, too. But, you know how ambient stuff gets after a while. Anyway, it definitely fit the mood, which was herbacized and pizzafied exactly at the right temperature. We were going to call this Nautically Astounded, but nobody wrote it down so we forgot about it. We've been piping a low volume tape of this into Shelly's room every night for the last week while she's REMing @ 4am and she keeps wanting to hear it during the day. We're conducting more experiments. We ended up renaming this and giving it to The Cadence Art Gallery. One of the guys there said it weirds people out. We're trying to talk them into opening a "Projexts Room" so we could do some live recordings with those wood floors and high ceilings. Recorded live.

Listen

Galerienmusik Pt. 1 (9:04)
Fukhausen (Excerpt) (2:22)
Galerienmusik Pt. 2 (14:22)
BONUS TRACK: STOLLE & MEMBER vs. WLFC In The Gallery (9:38)

About The Bonus Track...
Our pals Stolle & Member have "collaborated" with us! They used "Galerienmusik Pt. 2" as a bed and overdubbed some of their madness to create "In The Gallery," a meeting of minds that have never actually met. Get it here, and at S&M's emptyblaukraut blog, where you can check out all the cool stuff they do for free.

Free 320
LOSSLESS

#2 Vunderball Musik

One of the guys brought over George Harrison's Wonderwall Music, which we all got stoned to immediately. Highly recommended activity. Then we proceeded to hook up every gadget we had, even a turntable and the sampler, to record this... Vunderball Musik. Shelly keeps singing "L.A.Woman" after the 3 minute mark in "(Hand Me That) Revolutionary Coat," but she won't record it. Unfortunately, we don't have any prizes for those who can spot that track's source. Once we've got stuff to put on it, we'll edit this into some sorta shape.

Listen

Vunderball Musik (5:08)
(Hand Me That) Revolutionary Coat (5:50) 

Free 320
LOSSLESS

#1 08.14

This one was a party. A lot of different players showed up and we did a lot of recording. There were a bunch of styles bouncing around that day (and night and day), so more stuff will probably get posted from this session. We did some revising and took out two tracks to re-release a bit later. Just a way to shorten up the download time, tighten up the links and focus more on lengthy stoner jam singles and EPs instead of "albums." As for the cover, we think it's Shelly's brothers, but we're not sure. Recorded live.

Listen

"Do You Have Any Insight On That" (0:15)
Wetton Research (8:58)
Cone Of Uncertainty (3:02)
Heroine Sheik (5:28)

Free 320
LOSSLESS

soundseight


#8 In Our Ongoing SOUNDSERIES
Also available as an addition to #100 Steal This Download

cannabinol (23:58) 


soundsseven: The Virtually Imperceptible Science Of Being


#7 In Our Ongoing SOUNDSERIES

We've officially resurrected our cornerstone franchise soundseries series... which is - by definition - a series of sounds. Go figure. This one's called soundsseven, which means you can find soundsone through soundssix in our archives. There's even a handy soundsbox (one thru five) if you're the organized type.

In keeping with tradition, soundsseven comes with just a front and back cover, saving us the trouble of coming up with some contrived conceptual gibberish to explain 23 minutes that you can never get back. Thanks for even reading this far... since we know full well you've got better things to do.

As we are prone to do, we've provided 320's below, while those with bat-like audio perception can get FLAC, AIFF, WAV and other file formats from our Bandcamp page (and/or player above) for an inflation bucking 100¢. Bargain or rip off? You make the call! 

The Virtually Imperceptible Science Of Being Pt. 1 (12:42) 
The Virtually Imperceptible Science Of Being Pt. 2 (10:18) 

soundssix: Sounds In An Empty Theater


 
#6 In Our Ongoing SOUNDSERIES

We're officially resurrecting our not-all-that-well-received-in-the-first-place SOUNDSERIES series... which is, by definition, a series of sounds. Consider this the pursuit of a leftover franchise we hoped might stick against your refrigerator door like a string of flaccid, lukewarm spaghetti. This one's called soundssix, which means you can find soundsone through soundsfive elsewhere. There's even a handy one thru five soundsbox if you're the organized type.

In keeping with tradition, soundssix comes with just a front and back cover, saving us the trouble of coming up with conceptual gibberish. Check out our reviews online. Just ignore the one about our music causing confusion and internal bleeding in lab rats... that charge is still under review, thankyouverymuch.

Thanks also to our mysteriously assembled cadre of odd followers & generous benefactors. As is our wont, 320's are below, while those that covet audio quality can get FLAC, AIFF, WAV and other file formats from our Bandcamp page (and/or players) for a mere buck. 

Sounds In An Empty Theater (11:38)
Derangedly Arranged Kites (35:32)


Free 320
LOSSLESS