OOPs: Cannibal Frequencies - Untitled (Gods Of Tundra, 2008)

Ok, so this one is technically not out of print, but it's so damn close it shouldn't matter. Mike Shiflet (aka Cannibal Frequencies) said 3 months ago that he was down to his last copy or two of this tape. It's $6 postage paid (fuckin deal and a half) and you can grab the LAST ONE, assuming there is one, here (preferably along with some other cool shit he's selling). There were only 50 of these made and I'm not seeing them for sale anywhere else.

Now that that's out of the way... this tape is a wall of static noise. A half hour of unwavering, relentless, beautiful, sweet sweet brutal static. That's all you really need to know. Head over to my original review back in January '09 if you're feeling extra curious / want to listen to a sound sample, or just download this beast already. Totally worth your time. Guaranteed.

DOWNLOAD

P.S. Mike, if this offends you and you want me to take it down because you still have a copy(ies) for sale or for any other reason, just let me know. And you have my apologies.

OOPs: Iron Horse Rambles (Ralbar, 1962)

Ralbar (now Semaphore) was the first label ever commissioned by a Class 1 American railroad (Reading) to make recordings of a steam locomotive. And Iron Horse Rambles is the first record, which is strictly for the hardcore train nerds. Or weird record collectors such as ourselves.

This isn't just steam engines, although there's plenty of that, but there's also some tracks where you hear the towerman lining up track switches, the dispatcher making reports, a field of crickets or excited children ("Daddy! Here it comes!") as the field recorder waits for trains to approach. The liner notes are filled with old photos and absolutely packed with superfluous details.

"#2102 has her work clearly cut out for her as we hear the train climb slowly on winding track, on the last lap of the eight-mile grade hitting over 1.5% at the top."

"From behind #2124's tender, on the last trip of the '61' season, the microphones pick up the rhythmic stack exhaust. The engineer notches the throttle, and the huge 70-inch drivers get the 16-car train rolling out of Shamokin yards following a water stop."

You're probably thinking, "Alright dude, I know what trains sound like." But seriously, the sounds on this LP are so fucking cool when taken out of context. The steam stacks make the most amazing ebb & flow beats, the whistles on two trains that shriek back & forth, the sweet industrial drone when they're flying past, and a hundred other sounds I never thought to associate with trains. Totally fucking cool.

It doesn't get any more legit than this folks. Don't squash your curiosity. Unleash the Iron Horse upon thine speakers.

DOWNLOAD

OOPs: Keep Breathing - Keep Breathing (Rhizome, 2005)

Mysterious stuff here. Originally a ridiculously limited run of 5 or 6 copies on Winter Records, then reissued by Rhizome in a slightly more acquirable, though no less limited, run of 30 copies. No names. No liner notes to speak of (other than what I just mentioned). Song titles are dates. Just about as bare bones as it gets.

The music is where it's at, though. Three 20+ minute tracks (one nearly a half hour) of some long form drones that sound like bagpipe/harmonica/melodica/you get the idea, like the perfect union of Yoshi Wada and Eluvium. I assume it's recorded live using circular breathing, which makes this prime AGB material. I seriously love any/all of those instruments and turn 'em into some sprawling drone via circular breathing and I'm fucking GONE. Plus, the length of these pieces makes it all the more incredible imagining a single dude pushing his cheeks & lungs till the point of almost passing out.

This is some intense stuff, not exactly blissful but still quite a pleasant experience. Very hypnotic, open ended, intricate, layered drone, at times abrasive and enlightening. My wife Elise is pretty tolerable of most drone, but I'm fairly certain she wouldn't dig this. Which hopefully means you're all about this because I give Keep Breathing some of the highest praise possible.

Long live the drone.

OOPs: Voices Of The Loon (National Audubon Society, 1980)

If you know what loons sound like, you've probably skipped all the text and are already downloading this. If you've never heard a loon call, either recorded or in the wild, then just start downloading now and thank me afterwards.

Loons make the creepiest fucking sounds out of any animal ever. The different technical names for loons calls are wail, tremolo, yodel, hoot, and various combinations like tremolo-wail but the word "ghostly" pretty much sums it all up. They sound like ghosts. Beautiful, horrifying ghosts. The specters of the northern wilderness that wake you up in the middle of the night and give you the sweats, who then soothe your fears and lull you back to sleep.

The first side is narrated by Robert J. Lurtsema who helps to identify the different calls. The second side is uninterrupted by humans, just 21 minutes of sounds like "Chorus From A Distant Lake," "Wails During A Thunderstorm," and "Coyotes Calling With Loons." So you can just throw that on and remember those late nights spent staring at the stars on a Maine lake.

The back of the jacket (included in the zip) has plenty of detailed notes, including some spectrographs showing what the different calls look like. So cool. But the best part of this whole thing (other than the recording, obv) is the "Important Note" that warns you not to play this record "near waters occupied by breeding pairs" because apparently loons are a bunch of pussies that can't handle some stiff competition.

LOOOOOOOON

OOPs: Getting Through: A Guide To Better Understanding Of The Hard Of Hearing (Zenith, 1971)

I got pretty psyched when I saw this record sitting in the back of the last crate on a small table at a record fair. One, because it's a bit strange. Obviously. Also, the "Unfair Hearing Test" was pretty intriguing. But also because I'm nearly deaf in my right ear.

Most of this record is geared towards a person living with someone who has hearing loss, rather than the actual person with hearing loss, so for me it's more novelty than anything else. It explains how to cater to someone who is hard of hearing, ranging from the obvious ("When talking to the hard of hearing, face him directly") to the ridiculously impractical ("When the hearing handicap joins a group, be sure he knows the subjects being discussed").

The best parts of Getting Through are all of the filtered & altered sound samples, trying to replicate what hearing loss sounds like, and what it's like for someone who has a newly acquired hearing aid.

And I'm 99% certain the whole record is to make you feel sorry for your deaf grandparents and buy them a pair of Zenith hearing aids.

You might want to grab the extra large version of the back cover which has some instructions for the record as well as the answers to the "Unfair Hearing Test."

Wear earplugs at concerts.

OOPs: The Skull Defekts - DFX (Cut Hands, 2008)

The Skull Defekts - Untitled 1


The Skull Defekts are great because you never know what they're gonna do on their next release (except Drone Drug, the was kinda obvious). But seriously, they could do a noise album, some intense drone, or a straight up sexy rock record like The Temple. DFX falls into the noise/drone category.

2 long untitled tracks, pretty much all electronics. The first track starts out with some heaving thrum, gets performance anxiety and starts juicin, turning itself into an introverted industrial monster spawned from the gutters of scum who's hellbent on mayhem. In a kinda pretty way.

The second piece is a bit more in your face abrasive, multi-layered mumbling with thrashy static lazerz and lawn sprinklers spewing caustic green acid. It's totally fuckin crazy. Not in a pretty way.

It's a shame DFX is sold out because the packaging is killer. But I won't even bother describing it because it'd probably just make you jealous. Instead you can just...

MAKE IT DIGITALLY YOURS

OOPs: Tzesne - Cliffs Under The Mist (Mystery Sea, 2007)

Tzesne - Sunburnt Skin


This is one of the many infinitely limited releases that's sold out from the brilliant CD-R label Mystery Sea. Usually only 100 copies of each album, and every goddamn one is a fucking beauty. Tzesne's Cliffs Under The Mist is no different.

You should be able to guess what this sounds like just on the name alone. Super minimal, gorgeous, haunting drone. 3 looong tracks clocking in around 50 minutes total. I think it might be made entirely of field recordings, too. The liner notes don't list any instruments, just various coves from where sounds were gathered. Which is awesome because it doesn't always sound like field recordings, unless there were low flying jets with extra resonant engines that day.

It's called Cliffs Under The Mist but sometimes I get much more of a "cliffs under the sea" kinda feeling from it. It's more rich & dense than I imagined mist would be, and there's a shimmering quality like looking up at the sun from the bottom of the ocean. Not like I think the album is poorly titled. In fact just the opposite. The title is what originally drew me in before I bought it and it still does a good job of getting the point across.

It's all 100% magnificent, if not overtly stunning. It's heavy and intense, moody to the point of being emo (but never ever 'cause emo drone? exactly. never), and so soporifically textured it doesn't matter that it's not the most blissful drone under the sun (or mist (sorry)).

Why it took me 3 years to review this is beyond me. But whatever because now it's sold out and probably never coming back and I'm being a nice guy and sharing it with you all because it deserves to be heard by more than 100 people.

GERONIMOOOOO

OOPs: Pronouncing The Scientific Names Of Seashells Of North America (not on label, 1969)

Seashells Of North America Side A


I know a lot of you that follow me on Twitter were really excited about this when I mentioned it the other day. Probably about as excited as I was when I found this at Todd Farm in Rowley for FOUR DOLLARS. I nearly shit my pants when I saw this heaped in with the Asia and Humperdinck LPs.

Apparently this Pronouncing The Scientific Names Of Seashells Of North America LP was a companion to a book that was more in depth, with illustrations and descriptions and such. I don't have that book, though. Just the record.

Unlike a lot of the other weird old records I find and post on AGB, there's nothing I can say to pretend like this one has any musical qualities to it. Usually with vintage field recordings, I can hear similarities to legit music. But this isn't a field recording. This is a scientific/educational record with a highly specific audience. This is literally a dude reading, in the most straightforward way possible, seashell names of Latin origin. Unless you want to compare this to some crazy performance art, there's nothing else to it.

I wish I had something witty or insightful to say about this but I got nothing. It is what it is. It is just AWESOME.

2 technical notes: The B side has a couple of spots where it sounds like it skips, but it doesn't miss any of the seashell names. It's just a little hiccup. Also, included in the zip file is a stitched together scan of the back of the jacket which has a list of all the seashell names, in case you want to, you know, follow along with him or something.

Seashells AWAAYYYYYY

OOPs: Songs Of The Humpback Whale (Capitol, 1970)

Tower Whales


From what I've read, these are some of the first recorded whale songs. And I paid 50 cents for this at a mansion-sized antique store.

This record works 2 ways, as I find most vintage field recording type records do. The first (and obvious) one is: this is what humpback whales sound like. Underwater. Talking and shit.

Then there's the eventual comparison to human music. You might automatically jump to the drone parallel, and you'd be right. Plenty of the sounds on this record fall under the ambient drone category. But there's also music that I never would have imagined sounds like whales. Minimal analog synth? TONS of that on here. Blips and bloops galore. Fuck, whales are like the original masters of early electronic music. There's also inklings of low end doom and tape manipulation. And I'm not even stretching with these comparisons, this is just what's glaringly obvious to me.

What blows my mind is that whales have made sounds like this for centuries (I assume) and we as humans made music that has so many similarities to it, before we even knew what it was. Mid 20th century electronic & tape music was being created well before those composers knew what whale songs were. I bet they'd be pretty pissed if someone told them, "Dudes, you think you're the first? Whales have been doing this for, like, EVER."

So, yeah, DOWNLOAD THIS.

OOPs: The Advantage - Underwear: SO BIG! (self released, 2006)

The Advantage - Gremlins II


You should already know The Advantage. The dudes who play punk math rock covers of video game tunes? And Spencer Seim, the guitarist for Hella, plays drums?

Well, I saw them back in 2006 and they were selling this tour only EP called Underwear: SO BIG! so I obviously bought it. The tracklisting speaks for itself. Clearly, you need to hear every single one of these songs.

Fester's Quest
Gremlins II
Gradius II: Boss
TMNT II: Technodrome
Megaman III: Sparkman
TMNT: Minefield
Solar Jetman: Truckstop
Final Fantasy

Yes, Gremlins II, Solar fucking Jetman, and the damn near impossible Minefield level from Ninja Turtles. These guys pick some of the coolest games to cover and they make them sound so badass. Like "Fester's Quest" is pure fucking evil. I know there are a lot of video game cover bands out there but The Advantage is hands down the best one ever. And I can't think of a single reason you shouldn't download this.

NES FTW

OOPs: The Mausoleums - Blackened Fawns Cleanse The Earth With Fire (Chinese Workers Labor Union, 2008)

The Mausoleums - Totem Pole


I reviewed this beast a couple years ago and it looks like it's disappeared since then, at least in terms of finding a physical copy. These two years have done nothing to wane by obsession though, because this motherfucker still destroys.

It's like The Mamas & The Papas black metal. You know how Torche became the poster boys for pop metal? Well The Mausoleums are the fucking wizards of speaker shredding blown out black pop metal. Seriously seriously killer.

Download this regardless of your taste in music. It will blow your fucking mind no matter what you like. But you'll probably only enjoy Blackened Fawns if you're into the whole having your mind blown sort of thing.

THE POWER IS YOURS!

OOPs: The Music Of Primitive Man (Horizon, 1973)

Fiji Islands Dance


Tonga Chorus


I know, the title isn't exactly the most politically correct way of talking about old school tribes living off the map and off the grid. I didn't come up with the name and it's from the '70s ,so if you look past it you're getting yourself into some seriously amazing sounds from remote corners of the world.

Hypnotic chants, exotic instruments, dance songs, folk songs, "songs about work, war, love and celebration." There's over 40 songs, most under a minute long, and they're all endlessly fascinating. There are 80 second clips of a Finnish Lapland joik or 45 seconds of a Dusun bamboo stick orchestra. There's a Motilón Indian musical bow solo, using what might be the earliest known stringed instrument. Akawai women and children sing while grating cassava root, Cuna shamans chant away a young girl's fever.

The back cover describes what every song is about, like the "Cuna Puberty Celebration" that says "This male chant, the Yayganagadi tune, is accompanied by two flutes and maracas. The girl being honored remains with her family inside a specially built circular hut while the other members of the village make the fiesta." Or the "Walbiri Blooding Ceremony" which consists of "Chanting accompanied by a bull-roarer, a wooden slat attached for a string, which makes a whistling noise when whirled. During this ceremony the Walbiri, Australian Aborigines of the desert regions of Northern Territory, cover themselves with feathers using blood as an adhesive."

These songs are from a world completely unknown to me and are perhaps centuries old. But the funny thing is, is that there are so many similarities found in contemporary music. Give Eye from Boredoms one instrument, or strip Animal Collective of all their electronics, and you could have the great-great-great-great-grandchild of a Fiji dance or Tonga chorus.

You need to download this. Some of it is more interesting than enjoyable, but the majority of it is definitely both.

DOWNLOAD

OOPs: Mamaleek - Mamaleek (self released, 2008)

Mamaleek - I Wish I Was Dead


/download/\mamaleek\

I'm not entirely sure this one is out of print, but I wasn't able to find it for sale anywhere so whatever. Either way, if you end up finding this available, grab it immediately 'cause this shit is fucking awesome.

Yeah, this is more black metal, but it's so much more insane than any other BM record I've heard. Mamaleek is fucking all over the place with some old bluegrass sounds, jazz, spacey ambient, electronic, post rock, and anything else they wanted to throw in there. But even the "regular" BM sounding songs are anything but. Mamaleek is just absolute fucking chaos. Honestly, this is one of my all time favorite BM records. And don't just automatically write this off if you're not into BM because this is so fucked up that I'm sure it will appeal to even those of you just into really weird shit.

For the extra curious, here's the original review I wrote back in April '08.

OOPs: Sons Of Magdalene - Ephemera (Waste Of Sound, 2008)

Sons Of Magdalene - Pourquoi Tous Les Hommes Sont-Ils Des Laches? (excerpt)


DDDOWNLOOOOAAD EPHEMERA

Sons Of Magdalene is Josh Eustis' (of Telefon Tel Aviv) solo project. Epically minimal organic tape loop drones like Belong or Basinski. I'm fairly certain this is the only release he's put out under this name. IT IS AWESOME. Seriously, if you have any fond feelings towards either of those RIYLs then fucking download this immediately. Here's what I had to say about it back in '08 if you're interested.

OOPs: Cloaks - Serene (Students Of Decay, 2008)

Cloaks - Dream Tape Number One


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Another absolute beauty from Students Of Decay. Cloaks has made an album full of swirling washes of piano and bright blissful drone. The real magic happens on the half hour long epic "Dream Tape Number One" but there's still the 5 minute "Improvisation For Guitar And Piano" to cleanse your palette before starting again. Since I'm a bit pressed for time, I'm going to be lame and copy what the label has to say...

"Doran truly has crafted an unique and inspired voice of his own, weaving clouds of piano with spiralling plumes of FX and warm gushes of plaintive guitar. Positively magical."

Serene is, obviously, serene. And gorgeous. You totally want this, trust me.

OOPs: Drag Boats & Hot Rods

DOWNLOAD

I've been really interested in some old field recording albums as of late (like that Folkways Sounds Of Insects one). These two are from the '60s and sound pretty similar to each other, with loud engines fading into the distance, the occasional announcer commentary, audience applause (like when someone beats a world record), and in the case of the drag boats one, some seagulls.

The sounds of engines, taken out of context, is a very pleasing sound. It's a roaring drone that I'm pretty fond of. Someday when I have more free time, I'd like to edit both of these so that it's only the engines, without all of the silence and commentary in between, like what I did with the insects record.

Strangely enough, both of these records had the A side in playable condition while the B side is scratched to hell. That's why I'm putting up both of these records at once, because it's only one side each and, at least to the regular dude, most engines sound the same.

Honestly, I have no idea if these are still in print. My guess is not, but if they are I doubt anyone's really going to care that I have these shitty damaged vinyl sounds for free when whatever they're selling is probably all remastered in quadraphonic hi-fi and all that nonsense. But this is fun stuff. Nice and crackly, good for sampling (if you're into that), and for some reason reminds me of the opening scene in Flight Of The Navigator when they're at the Dog Frisbee Contest.

P.S. No sound sample because it's pretty self explanatory and you can just download it if you wanna hear it. Yeah, I'm lazy.

OOPs: Adilia Castillo - El Llano Venezolano (Comercial Llanero, 196?)

Adilia Castillo - Mi Recuerdo


I found this little gem in the furthest, darkest corner of a dingy record store and for some unknown reason, I was just drawn to it. The moment I laid eyes on Adilia's fantastic get-up, I knew I had to have this. And it's a damn good thing, too, because when I got home and threw it on, I was enchanted by "la voz de Adilia Castillo." El Llano Castillo is some old Venezuelan record that has lots of traditional Spanish sounding instruments and is in surprisingly high fidelity for such an ancient piece of wax. Don't worry, though, it still sounds wicked old. Some good times are assured to be had with this record, and if you have any Spanish friends, ask them to do a little Spanish dance when you throw this on at your next fiesta.

Also, I guess this is super rare. Not like "super valuable" or anything, just like I can't find even the smallest bit of info on this thing. If you know anything about this particular record, feel free to comment.

Yours thanks to the Fires of Media.

OOPs: Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Shining Skull Breath (Students Of Decay, 2007)

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Shining Skull Breath


OOPs is going to be a regular (Weekly? Every Friday?) post where I'll upload copies of albums that I have that are out of print so that all you fine folks can join in on the fun.

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma runs Root Strata and is the founding dude of Tarentel, two totally awesome things that automatically make JCL worth checking out regardless of what else you know about his music. Turns out, though, his music is fucking great. Shining Skull Breath is a darkish drone record that's 1/4 power electronics, 3/4 Belong type bliss. I originally reviewed this around a year and a half ago and although I'm pretty embarrassed by my shitty writing back then, I'll still link to it for those of you interested in reading more.

Yours thanks to MediaFire. Link removed by request.

OOPs: Bakersfield Boogie Boys - Bakersfield Boogie Boys EP (Rhino, 1980)

Bakersfield Boogie Boys - I Get Around


OOPs is going to be a regular (Weekly? Every Friday?) post where I'll upload copies of albums that I have that are out of print so that all you fine folks can join in on the fun.

The Bakersfield Boogie Boys were (are?) a semi-mysterious band from Bakersfield, CA. People thought they were Devo is disguise, or possibly the owner of Rhino. However all the rumors were turned out to be horseshit. They were just 3 farmer dudes who wanted to be like Devo.

Bakersfield Boogie Boys is the only record they ever put out. It's only got 4 songs on it and 3 of them are covers. There's Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee," the Stones' "Get Off My Cloud," and my personal favorite, "I Get Around" by The Beach Boys. The only original one is called "Flying Tigers." It's pretty cool, but nowhere near as awesome as the covers.

These guys must've worshipped Devo, which should be obvious for every possible reason. Just look at the album cover. That's fucking hilariously dumb. There's also some other inspiration going on too, I think, like The Residents and Talking Heads. This shit is just plain crazy though. I mean, I've heard some weird covers before, but nothing quite like their version of "I Get Around." It's bonkers. Totally nuts.

Yours thanks to Media Fire.

P.S. If you think the name OOPs is too stupid, I'm always open to suggestions.