Thursday, March 28, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
Show #6: March 22, 2013
The sixth episode of The Deep End, featuring the return of Big Bad Benny who shares the space with Jeff Burns while J Neo Marvin plays hooky. On the eve of spring break, Benny and Jeff find themselves feeling a little bit homesick...
The Deep End - Show 6 - March 22, 2013 by Thedeepend on Mixcloud
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Show #5: March 15, 2013
With Big Bad Benny still in quarantine, Jumpin' Jeff Burns and J Neo Marvin keep the Deep End torch aloft for another show. Fear not, dear friends; Benny is winning his battle against malaria, and will be back, bigger and badder than ever, on next week's show.
This week, we learn that "Michael Jackson mashups" is not an easy phrase to say on the air. Also, we get some cool oddities from the early San Francisco scene, a classic Incredible String Band/Who/Faces/Velvet Underground supersession, and a taste of how Ozzy Osbourne would sound as a twee 80s synth-pop hitmaker.
Plus, we debut our first installment of PLAGIARISM OR COINCIDENCE? Give it a listen and judge for yourself.
This week, we learn that "Michael Jackson mashups" is not an easy phrase to say on the air. Also, we get some cool oddities from the early San Francisco scene, a classic Incredible String Band/Who/Faces/Velvet Underground supersession, and a taste of how Ozzy Osbourne would sound as a twee 80s synth-pop hitmaker.
Plus, we debut our first installment of PLAGIARISM OR COINCIDENCE? Give it a listen and judge for yourself.
The Deep End - Show 5 - March 15, 2013 by Thedeepend on Mixcloud
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
More where that came from
On last Friday's show, we played "I Don't Need Help", a track by Johnny K. Killen and the Dynamics, from the marvelous compilation album, Eccentric Soul: The Deep City Label. A man is talking to his oldest and closest friend who has helped him in times of need. Suddenly, his friend seems to be showing a little too much interest in our protagonist's sweetheart, and he needs to be set straight:
Of course, the music business is a ruthless world, and talent does not always equal success, even in the revolutionary years of the 60s and early 70s when anything seemed possible. People have been endlessly rediscovering, reassessing, and reissuing music from also-rans from various musical scenes who have turned out to have back catalogs that match or surpass any of the established acts of the canon. From the Velvet Underground to Rodriguez, artists who went nowhere in their time have eventually made their impact on the world. The whole phenomenon of Nuggets (and its even-more-obscure little brothers like Pebbles and Rubble), from the original double album compiled in the 70s to the Rhino series in the 80s to the various comprehensive box sets of the present day, has shined a light on the formerly-forgotten geniuses of garage-rock, a genre once thought of as horrid trash that had no place in a rapidly progressing musical world.
But what about soul? Where were the great lost artists and songs that couldn't compete with Otis, Aretha, Smokey or James Brown? In the last decade, a small reissue label called Numero has answered this question with the Eccentric Soul series, doing an astounding feat of research and recovery and gifting us with a staggering number of hits from an alternate universe's jukebox. Not everything on these albums hits the mark, but the ones that do will touch places in you you didn't even know were there. I can't recommend them more highly.
Here is Numero's Ken Shipley guesting on the Onion's AV Club, playing some of his personal Eccentric Soul favorites and telling some stories of his own about the project. Absolutely fascinating, and essential for anyone who loves great, passionate music.
We also played a track by the wonderful Lijadu Sisters, a phenomenal pair of identical twin sisters from Nigeria who combined close harmonies, sexy voices, funky African grooves and conscious lyrics. After putting out a series of albums, they resettled in Brooklyn, where they live today. What made them unique was their strong, assertive natures and unwillingness to be stopped by the patriarchial traditions of African society. Here they are, stealing the show in the fascinating Nigerian music documentary, Konkombe:
The sisters' career got a shot in the arm recently when their song "Life's Gone Down Low" was included in the compilation album The World Ends: Afro-Rock & Psychedelia In 1970s Nigeria, a mind-opening collection of stunning, funky music that shows how the cultures of the planet influence each other, and how we all recreate our own culture from exposure to others.
Here are the Lijadu Sisters in a more recent video, still as gorgeous and grounded as ever:
We played a classic track by the Pretty Things as well, but the band seems to have ensured that none of their YouTube videos can be embedded, so I'll be leaving them out of this post. Go get yourself some Pretty Things albums right now, though! I recommend S.F. Sorrow, Get The Picture?, and Emotions, in that order. Immerse yourself in the only band that has shared members with both the Rolling Stones and the Mekons! This is the sort of thing The Deep End is all about.
We've been buddies for a long long timeIt's classic soul, with a catchy tune, a ring of truth and a clever twist on some basic human emotions. How, you wonder, was this NOT a monster hit back in the 60s?
And you've always treated me kind
And whenever I was down and out
You were always there to help me out
But now I see you watching my baby
I see you giving her the eye
Well, let me tell you something:
WITH HER I DON'T NEED HELP
I CAN HANDLE HER ALL BY MYSELF!
Of course, the music business is a ruthless world, and talent does not always equal success, even in the revolutionary years of the 60s and early 70s when anything seemed possible. People have been endlessly rediscovering, reassessing, and reissuing music from also-rans from various musical scenes who have turned out to have back catalogs that match or surpass any of the established acts of the canon. From the Velvet Underground to Rodriguez, artists who went nowhere in their time have eventually made their impact on the world. The whole phenomenon of Nuggets (and its even-more-obscure little brothers like Pebbles and Rubble), from the original double album compiled in the 70s to the Rhino series in the 80s to the various comprehensive box sets of the present day, has shined a light on the formerly-forgotten geniuses of garage-rock, a genre once thought of as horrid trash that had no place in a rapidly progressing musical world.
But what about soul? Where were the great lost artists and songs that couldn't compete with Otis, Aretha, Smokey or James Brown? In the last decade, a small reissue label called Numero has answered this question with the Eccentric Soul series, doing an astounding feat of research and recovery and gifting us with a staggering number of hits from an alternate universe's jukebox. Not everything on these albums hits the mark, but the ones that do will touch places in you you didn't even know were there. I can't recommend them more highly.
Here is Numero's Ken Shipley guesting on the Onion's AV Club, playing some of his personal Eccentric Soul favorites and telling some stories of his own about the project. Absolutely fascinating, and essential for anyone who loves great, passionate music.
We also played a track by the wonderful Lijadu Sisters, a phenomenal pair of identical twin sisters from Nigeria who combined close harmonies, sexy voices, funky African grooves and conscious lyrics. After putting out a series of albums, they resettled in Brooklyn, where they live today. What made them unique was their strong, assertive natures and unwillingness to be stopped by the patriarchial traditions of African society. Here they are, stealing the show in the fascinating Nigerian music documentary, Konkombe:
The sisters' career got a shot in the arm recently when their song "Life's Gone Down Low" was included in the compilation album The World Ends: Afro-Rock & Psychedelia In 1970s Nigeria, a mind-opening collection of stunning, funky music that shows how the cultures of the planet influence each other, and how we all recreate our own culture from exposure to others.
Here are the Lijadu Sisters in a more recent video, still as gorgeous and grounded as ever:
We played a classic track by the Pretty Things as well, but the band seems to have ensured that none of their YouTube videos can be embedded, so I'll be leaving them out of this post. Go get yourself some Pretty Things albums right now, though! I recommend S.F. Sorrow, Get The Picture?, and Emotions, in that order. Immerse yourself in the only band that has shared members with both the Rolling Stones and the Mekons! This is the sort of thing The Deep End is all about.
Twilight - The Japanese Connection
Before we go any further a quick explanation of Japanese Anime/Otaku Culture is needed: Otaku are the equivalent of what might be considered Geeks/Nerds in western culture but they are people who are very knowledgeable on a certain subject which in this case would be Anime. Originally Otaku was considered a derogatory term but in recent years it's been looked at in a more positive light.
DaiCon was the name of a group of then amateur animators who would later go on to form a company named Gainax famous for hit titles such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Otaku No Video, Mahoromatic and many more.This opening sequence was made for a Science Fiction Convention known as Nihon SF Taikai in 1983 and is the second of two animations produced by Daicon with Daicon III being produced in 1981. These opening sequences are well known for featuring high quality animation for amateurs at the time, as well as various characters from both American and Japanese pop culture and the music they're set to which in the case of DaiCon IV features three songs from ELO and Twilight being the most well known piece, the other two being the intro of the album "Time" and "Hold On Tight".
Because of the issue of using licensed characters and music without permission of the respective parties, the DaiCon Animations were never officially released or marketed outside of Japan aside from some rare Laserdiscs that were packaged with an official artbook and both of these can fetch upwards of thousands of dollars on auction sites but thanks to video sharing sites like Youtube and homages in Japanese Anime, DaiCon lives on. When attempted to market DaiCon in the US, Playboy saw the Bunny Outfit and didn't want that used in any anime thus preventing DaiCon from entering the US.
In recent years many homages have been made to DaiCon IV, one in particular was used as the theme song for a Japanese Drama Show, Densha Otoko (better translated as Train Man). This opening sequence can be viewed below.
Links of Interest:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DAICON_III_and_IV_Opening_Animations
http://www.cjas.org/~leng/daild.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Densha_Otoko_%28TV_series%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_%28Electric_Light_Orchestra_song%29
Monday, March 11, 2013
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Show #4: March 8, 2013
A half-hour of mashups and a half-hour of psychedelia and soul as Jumpin' Jeff Burns and J Neo Marvin hold down the fort while Big Bad Benny recuperates from a big bad virus. Get well, Benny!
The Deep End - Show 4 - March 8, 2013 by Thedeepend on Mixcloud
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Show #3: March 1, 2013
Our best show yet! The segue from Leonard Cohen to Roy Orbison had us all slack-jawed with amazement and high-fiving in the studio.
The Deep End - Show 3 - March 1, 2013 by Thedeepend on Mixcloud
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