7" Sundays: Safaris - Image of a Girl

Two sides of love here.  LA group The Safaris released these two songs in 1960, and "Image of a Girl" was a moderate hit.  My favorite aspect in this slow burning doo-wop is that clip-clopping woodblock.  The B-side is a winner as well (better in my opinion), counting out the simple 4 steps to love.  Ahh... if only it were really that easy.....

Eric Copeland - Waco Taco Combo

The robotic alien wakes up on earth in the not too distant past and falls in love with pop culture garbage after toking up with some local hoodrat.  It is having such a good time, high as shit, with a Crunchwrap Supreme in one tentacle and a jumbo cup of Surge in the other, that it never wants to go back to where it came from.  But all this mass culture intake is starting to jumble its brain circuits.  Nevertheless, it manages to stagger from party to party, flip from channel to channel, and as the strange dubby bass and hip hop beats penetrate into its outer casing, the bolts start to loosen and it clangs and tumbles apart.  Lost in blissful video game scenes, cut up and anachronistic, it dies smiling wide, extremely disoriented in a pile of White Castle boxes, with iridescent shades shielding the bleating sun from its alien sensory receptors.  Only 500 copies pressed, so grip this enchanting alien soon before the CIA tries to cover up the mess.

7" Sundays: Barbara Mason - Yes, I'm Ready

Some 60's Philly Soul for you this week... Barbara Mason was Arctic Records' best selling artist and this is arguably her biggest hit, hitting #5 on the pop charts, and #2 on the R&B charts.  She wrote and sang this at the tender age of 17!  She may be ready to learn a thing of two about love, but she's already learned everything she needs about writing a damn fine soul song.  The B-side "Keep Him" is just as good, so ladies... listen up.  Your man is AMAZING, hold on to him, treat him well... otherwise, Barbara Mason WILL swoop in and steal your man!

Sample Spotting: Panda Bear Person Pitch

Someone put together this nice little video on Youtube illustrating some of the samples that Panda Bear used on the great Person Pitch.  I was a little surprised to learn some of these... I always thought that Kraftwerk sample was actually an ice cream truck field recording that had been cut up.  Anyways, this video doesn't quite hit all the samples, so I've included some more after the jump.

Junkyard Hump

There's is far too little humping in modern live music. All bands playing shows need to take some cues from this performance... and be sure to stay till the end, that cowboy is my hero.

7" Sundays: Jason Molina - No Moon / Human World

Double feature this Sunday!  Two rare cuts from Jason Molina (Songs: Ohia), this single came with a 2004 issue of Chunklet Magazine.  Full band versions of these songs were later released in the Sojourner Box Set.  Side A: "No Moon On The Water", Side B: "In The Human World".

7" Sundays: Songs: Ohia/Scout Niblett

Lions prowl and break hearts.  Secretly Canadian released this split single in 2001 to serve as an introduction to Scout Niblett and they couldn't have a picked a better way to do it.  Songs: Ohia (Jason Molina) offers up a translated version of "Lioness", the titular track from his most recent album at the time, featuring guest vocals from Jennie Benford of Jim and Jennie and the Pine Tops and was recorded during the Didn't It Rain sessions.  Choosing a death in his lovers jaws rather than face her absence, the crushing fragility of a man in love is portrayed with a tenuous quaver and wonderfully spacious, sparse instrumentation.  Scout is also hurting from lost love here with "Miss My Lion".  Pounding down with fuzzbox choruses, her sentiment has a primal emotion to it, a mix of longing and anger.  Listen-->

Oval - Ah!

We Shave - In The Flesh

Free download available from We Shave's website or Buy it from Night People.

This tape from Viva L'American Death Ray man Brendan L Spengler and the White Lady is all over the place, which makes it perfect for cassette release, in that it feels like a mix tape, but also ill-suited, because it doesn't flow that well. From the start the Memphis duo gives us an under the breath Velvet Underground inspired groove over some vintage Rhythm King analogue drum machine (absolutely no complaints here). Next up, a Faust cover which is nice to see and wisely shorter than the original. Then things start to get interesting... I mean, yes... we all know that Sgt. Chowder is a bitch... but why are we singing about it?

Immodest Maus

Damn this is too good.

John Peel's Favorite Song

7" Sundays: Spoonbread

Dammit, how can you mend a broken heart?  That's a good fuckin question.  The BeeGees wanted answers, and that's why they wrote this song.  But it's doubtful that this mysterious juvenile group (supposedly from Germany??) knows anything about broken hearts, though this kid tries pretty hard to convince "the grownups" that he feels the sting of love just as badly as them.  Even at such a young age, they pull off a nice rendition, up there with the Reverend Al Green's version.  The flip side is a more energetic bouncer that could easily be mistaken for a Jackson 5 song.  Good stuff here, though not very original.

There is very little information out there about this group, no pictures or backstory, they only released one other song (also on Stang)... I'm guessing that they probably went back to school after the summer was over and never heard from Sylvia and Joe Robinson of NJ's Stang Records ever again.

Sample Spotting: Rjd2's Ghostwriter

I did a little crate digging today to pick up a new 45 for 7" Sundays, and stumbled upon Betty Wright's 1974 song "Secretary" and gave it a listen.  Something about it sounded vaguely familiar and I came to the conclusion that it must have been sampled by someone at somepoint.  Sure enough, with a little reasearch I found that the opening section was used in Rjd2's fantastic "Ghostwriter".  I had always recognized the Elliott Smith sample throughout the song, but never knew any of the other samples origins.  With a little more research, I have dissected the song a bit more.  Keep reading for the full breakdown and audio clips...