Wrede's Records

The Flaming Lips

2011-05-23T12:18:00.005-04:00

If I am on my death bed and have one wish, I want to be surrounded by my family and my bed be in the middle of the crowd at one of these guys shows. They are really the most uplifting, and genuinely spiritual experiences around. The joy and love they bring to their absolute awesome craftsmanship is breath taking.

(Click below)

The Wedding Present

2010-04-08T00:30:00.007-04:00

I'm 43. It's a Wednesday and 1:30 in the morning. Yes, I'm on spring break (I'm lucky enough to work here, part-time) , but still, I guess it's late to be coming home from a show. See, I went to see one of my favorite bands play one of my favorite records, live. I have mentioned them before, yes?

Well... here is some more.

About 20 years ago, my friends, Pete, Dave, Wayne, and I decided to drive around the U.S. We started in Seattle (where I was living at the time) went to Banff, CDA, down to Montana, over to NY, and eventually Rhode Island, Tennesee, Texas, AZ (my soil) and back up to Seattle, with many states, towns, and shitty campgrounds in between. We all got our chance to take over the stereo, and I played Bizarro any chance I got. I was so into this record, that I tortured my friends with it's trebley greatness over the cheap stereo cranked up loud enough to drown out a late 70's VW bus's engine. It became mostly white noise, but I sang like a school girl along to the great lyrics.

So now I just saw them play that record live. It's was fantastic, of course, but powerful as well. Huge, really. It's nice to have music still touch you in this way, and far, far better to be able to see the creator of that music play it live for you, in a small club giving it all they have. Many bands do this night after night in your town, go see them, AND, especially, if you can- see this one too.

Dinosaur

2010-04-03T11:32:00.000-04:00

I have been listening to a ton of late 60's early 70's rock, mostly due to this fine program. A band environment, laying down the hard boog, completely captures my interest over the whiny soul searching bleep bloops piping out of the speaker box these days. But what do I know really? I just like it, and it's my sister's fault.

She and her boyfriend back in the late 70's had a closet fulla records. I would come over to their apartment and go straight to the closet and pour over those great cardboard slicks that held who knows what. Some of these were downright scary (1,2), some titillating (for a ten year old), crazy, and ones that sent me off to my desk to start drawing.

But the guts are the big draw. When they actually let me borrow some (not too often, for good reason {the vinyll destroya}), I'd get into my room, unwrap my brand new cassette and begin to tape and listen.

All of this stuff was such a revelation. Hendrix, The Cream, Chuck Berry, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, George Thoroughgood, ZZ Top, and The Guess Who. Oh there was some bad ones I was into, too: Bread, America, Don McClean (awesome record cover). It was the power of the sound that would envelop me, though. Laying down in my little boy bed, headphones on, transported to, at least what I thought was, adulthood, freedom, and sexuality. And it made me shake my skinny hips ( especially the chuck berry). The waves of fresh sensations to this child were revelatory and now, in my middle age, sorely missed. I mean this stuff was very foreign to me and it seemed as thought I was opening a door to a room of adulthood- something that kids were not supposed to know about. When I would play my records, I would keep the sound down so my parents wouldn't hear, so, if they did discover what I was doing, they would surely come in my room and take all of this glorious music away.

Now, most of those innocent discoveries are part of everyday life, stripped of their "newness" by being continually attached to retro movies and commercials made to connect with the "right" demographic.

But through Stonehenge, I can rediscover those feelings and some great music to boot. Tons of bands I've never heard of that are stellar. Crazy frizz hair rockin' boogy that rips with that absolute freedom of expression to just plain rock, get laid and have a great time.

Hot and boring

2008-07-31T21:57:00.008-04:00

(Click here and listen whilst reading this article) Oh my god! It is so fucking hot in the summer in Tucson. Jesus! It would be 110 in the day and cool down to 91 at night. Heat radiating off of the still too hot to walk on in bare feet pavement. Nothing to do, broke.

My friend Caroline loved to go see this local reggae band, Neon Prophet, at the Chicago Bar. Reggae Night!, she would scream. We'd go and bob our heads- "98 degrees in the shade, real hot, real hot!" It all seemed so boring to this aloof hipster ass of myself. I'm sure I was humming whatever I was into at the time--The Feelies, X, Elvis Costello-- all of which have numerous songs based on a reggae beat-- (well maybe not the Feelies.)-- idiot doofus! Anyway Neon Propht were OK, I'd guess, but that and Bob Marley's "Legend" put me off of Reggae for so long ( I still have to skip more than a few of master Bob's tunes). I was even into Ska a bit then, but never really saw the connection.

It wasn't until I got into the dub stuff of the Clash (Sandanista!, Black Market Clash-- by the way-- Mikey Dread, the producer on a few of those Clash tunes was on the Tucson Reggae scene for a while) that lead me further on. Lee Perry, King Tubby, plus the below mentioned Trojan boxed sets series-- that crazy echo-y dub aqua boogie that really made me feel like I supposed downers felt like. Just a cooled out groove.

Now Reggae is mainstay of my listening rotation. This article is leading me to the records I had no Idea about that are awesome.

One step forward.

Punk and new music, college, alternatve or whatever you call it...

2008-06-09T21:59:00.010-04:00

Do you remember rock and roll radio? I do. We didn't have a college radio station when I was around that age. We just got our info from word of mouth, magazines and the backs of record jackets. Some radio stations had specials shows, like the below mentioned, "Uncle Miltie's Staying Groovy Set" on 96 Rock.

You were so excited about the music discovered, you'd want to let everyone know-- yabber to your friends, play the music too loud in your apartment or car, hoping passers by would realize, "Wow, that music is cool", possibly hoping that cool music would, in turn, make you cool. Which, in some ways it did, at least to yourself?

Anyway, I understand that excitement. But I'm an old crank now, happy to holed up at home with the music played a reasonable level. (Well, yes, I still do boast of my good taste- that little doo-hickey to the right listing my recently played tracks is really only there for one reason...)
I read online now about the band I ALREADY have, purchasing re-issues far more than anything new-- that first "Interpol" record is still new to me, and I'm just coming to grips with how awesome 60' and 70's Reggae really was.

Yet.....

I do a lot of my freelance work in coffee shops. Most of those places are staffed by the same hipsters I was afraid of when they were working in the record stores of my teen years. Aloof, or cool, rather- certainly off putting. Is it really so difficult to pull yourself away from your conversation about your doofus roommate to fix me a fucking cup of coffee? But, that, of course, is part of their charm, and we oldsters all envy their carefree (clueless?) youth. And, yes, just as we once did, they play the music far too loud in the shops they man, alerting us to their phenomenal taste in music. If you ask them the name of a band that's playing, the answer is given with proper derision of only "people in the know" can give-- but secretly hearts are warmed that we noticed.

I am an outsider, outside of everything

2005-01-08T22:25:00.001-05:00

Today’s list:

Ramones - Subterranean Jungle
My first Ramones record and not too bad of a place to start. It's probably at the top of their second tier work. Anyway, when I first heard it, I was scared and in love. I had originally walked into the record store to buy David Bowie's "Let's Dance".
(Hey ho, let's go!)

David Bowie - Let's Dance
As I said, I had gone in to buy this record when I bought the above. I did get it, and did love it. The opening guitar punch of the first song, Modern Love, really gets it going. Followed by "Let's Dance", and "China Girl", I really liked it. The rest of the record was kind of weak, and Bowie has a passle full of better songs, but at 17, it was cool enough for me.
(Lissen)

Circle Jerks - Wild in the Streets
I bought this because I had heard "Back Against the Wall" on the Uncle Milty Show. You know how it is, you hear a song and know nothing about the band, so you buy the first thing you find-- that's how I got this. Pretty damn good though. Another record that scared me when I first played it. Wild. Not as good a "Group Sex" though.
(Skank!)

The radio in Tucson is in a time warp. It is playing exactly the same play list as it was when I was in High School. Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, and an odd mix of John Cougar (no Mellencamp here), Bob Seger and ZZ Top. This music is all fine, and sometimes comforting but, obviously, no new doors are being opened for anyone.

Back in High School little lights did shine though, and one came in the form of the Jonathan L Show that aired at midnight on Fridays my last couple of years. They would play new music, like the Smiths and the Cure, but the real highlight for me was the show within that show called "Uncle Miltie's Staying Groovy Set." One half hour of punk and So-Cal hardcore that really opened up my ears. At this time I was really into the American Graffiti soundtrack, a mix of 50's and 60's AM radio hits. Pure, simple music, and these new pure punk sounds meshed perfectly. The Circle Jerks, Soul Asylum, the Germs, Adverts and X. All so cool and so furiously clean.

So out to the record store I went. Once in the store, Zips Records and Tapes, I could not bring myself to talk to the clerk. I was a small, skinny and shy kid, and record store clerks have to be some of the most intimidating people in the world. Look at them. So cool behind the counter, indifferent to the world, mumbling to each other about bands and shows, there was no way I was going to approach them and ask a questions and possibly sound stupid. "You want to know about what? Get out of here you stupid little kid!" No doubt most would have been happy to help, but I could not muster the courage to approach these demi-gods. But luckily, as I was in there, they were playing the Ramones new album, Subterranean Jungle. Maybe not the best place, or the coolest place to start, but a pretty cool record nonetheless, and since the Ramones only truly wrote about six songs total and just rearranged them throughout their career, I certainly got what the band was about. I bought it, and another record, and ran home.

After getting over the initial fear of the sounds that came out of my stereo when I first played it, "Oh my god, this is loud, are my parents listening? Are they going to come into my room and ask me what the hell is this noise and take it away from me? Are the Ramones satanic drugs users?" Well...yes, to some of those questions.... but no, my parents didn't take it away from me and, thanks to the lyrics sheet included, I began singing songs about prescription drugs and electro-psychotherapy. The world was certainly opening up.

Pete and Dave

2004-12-07T01:27:00.000-05:00

Today’s list:

New Order - Everything’s Gone Green 45
In my 45 scrounging days I thought that this was a great find. When I found it, I thought it was Temptation, an entirely differnet song. So what, still so cool.
(listen in it’s scratchy glory)

Coverville Podcast (what is a podacast?)
Pretty cool, short little show of a guy playing bands covering other bands music. Pretty great, overall, and since it’s only about a half an hour, it’s quick and sweet.
(Perk up yo’ ears)

1920’s Radio Network
It’s getting colder so I begin jonesing for this kind of stuff. You can hear it as a stream on your computer—my phone also streams it through this. I’m not including a link to their site, as they seem to have a very narrow outlook on the world, and lookout, they sometimes broadcast “news” voicing that outlook. Amusing, as it totally fits the stereotype of some crotchety old grump listening to the music of “Yesteryear” in the “Sunset” of his sad, lonely and bitter life.
(Tune in)

In my second year of college I met a fella named Pete. He was a bright guy who rode a Vespa and wore busy patterned shirts buttoned up to the collar. He had big round glasses, and a kind of shaved on the sides and bushy on top hairdo that was a little a little mellower Robert Smith type. He and his friends listened to The Smiths, The Clash, Bauhaus, and Siouxsie type bands while drinking vodka on the days they ditched back in his High School days. My friends and I drank beer and listened to AC/DC, Nugent, The Scorpions, and Def Leppard. So, of course, Pete and I became fast friends.

By the time we met in College my tastes were branching out and he introduced me to a ton of new music: the above-mentioned, The Damned, XTC, Lloyd Cole, and other mopey jangly bands.

I had a Vespa as well, but it was just a moped, and his was a pretty cool 200. We hung out a lot and are friends to this day, music still being our strongest link, and our ease with being silent around one another.

Which brings me to another friend of mine who, musically, was a bit different. When I met him the summer before my second year of college he had just spent a year in upstate New York and came back with a strong taste for “the Boss”, fingerless gloves, and stories about a guy named Vinnie. Dave was a great guy, and his musical and personal self gradually shifted towards being a bong smoking, straight A Deadhead. He and another friend of mine, Jon, would come home from class, study for about three hours and then smoke dope and laugh at me, and rightly so, as I bitched about the fucking stupid ass decision I had made that year to join a Fraternity.

About my third year of school we had all moved in together. Pete, Dave, Jon and I. Dave was really into the Dead thing and began experimenting and reading Carlos Castaneda, you know, just like a good mind expanding college student should. Well I was now fully getting into New Order, but my dinosaur rock days from High School and my interest in acid and mushrooms had me hanging out with Dave one night and we found ourselves out in the desert tripping. A Park Ranger came up to us as we were laying and looking up at the sky and told us that the park was closed. I could not say a thing as my jaw was clenched shut, as happens sometimes with acid. But Dave was experienced, talked with the guy and got us home. By this time I was fully going and went into my room and put on Substance. I guess it was up a bit loud as there came a pounding at my door that faced my apartment's parking lot. It scared the shit out of me, but instead of running and hiding in the bathroom, I opened it up. Well a cop was there and asked me to turn it down because the neighbors were complaining-- it was about 2 AM. He was cool, and I held it together long enough to tell him, “No problem,” turned it down and said thanks. Then I ran to Dave’s room to tell him and he was, of course, sound asleep. My first acid trip, two authorities, high as a kite, I somehow escape without any jailtime and no one to tell it too. Oh, well, no doubt I told Pete, Dave and Jon in the morning. Good stories to tell are great, and good friends to relate them too is something special.

BAMMM, And you say, Goddamn!

2004-11-25T16:11:00.001-05:00

Today’s list:

WeFunK Radio Podcast
Not only have I been getting into Podcasts lately, but this has to be the coolest and best thing out there. Also a Shoutcast stream from their site.
(Click here to listen)

James Brown
Foundations of Funk: A Brand New Bag,1964-1969
A friend of mine gave me this two disc set out of the blue (thanks Todd) and it has not left my player for more than a month. I played it constantly on a road trip through Ca. Just awesome, and the only other place that I have "Funky Drummer" other than on 45, which is where this cut is from.
(Scratch here to listen)

Public Enemy
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
This is some of the greatest songwriting and beat creation of our generation. Truly eye opening. So many (whites?) were blinded by the controversy and could not get past it to see how intricate the Bomb Squad laid it down and how Chuck and Co. sampled, yelled and rhymed like no other before, or since. Nothing against Dr. Dre but these beats kick his ass up and down the street and don't rely on the past , but created a future.
(1,2,3,4,5,6,7...kick it--- I put this together to...)

My first exposure to Hip Hop came from the above mentioned Public Enemy. I was living in Seattle, by myself in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Right up my street, at the corner of John and Broadway was the Broadway Movie Theater. It was the summer of '89 and they were playing "Do the Right Thing" and you could hear "Fight the Power" through the walls of the theater as you walked by. Now I was a chickenshit and was too scared to go see the movie (more because I had no friends at the time and not confident in myself enough to see it alone, than afraid of the subject matter [although I'm sure that played a part, too]). But man, that beat coming out of the walls was mesmerizing.

I later heard more through the local college radio station, and once I found the CD used, I grabbed it. At that time I was going out dancing at, what you would now call techno,or even Goth clubs. We were dancing: Front 242, Depeche Mode, Thrill Kill Cult, et al. So I'm used to the beats, but without the funk.

I was a long time Prince, Sugarhill fan (which at the time I was listening was called "Rap"), but was really just hearing Hip Hop for the first time and Public Enemy were kings, and rightly so. I had a friend that was angered by the angry lyrics, (ironic?), but I just loved the beats and was secretly intrigued and a bit afraid of the subject manner. The samples also amazed; old snippets of Malcolm X speeches and others, all with that scratchy sound, even samples of themselves. It was just so cool. It's hard to understand the enlightenment this record had on me, probably how Punk was for me a few years earlier, but much more foreign. And judging from the sampled huge crowd that opens the record, I was very late to the party. Better late than never. Thank you Public Enemy.

Keep writing to me, just don't forget you ever knew me

2004-11-23T13:27:00.001-05:00

Today's list:

The Wedding Present
Bizzaro
This was my first exposure to these guys. A great, frenetic, guitar record.
(Give it a try)

Talking Heads
The Name of This Band
I have had a version of "Stop Making Sense" that I recorded to CD from the movie for years, as the soundtrack- even the new expanded version, is lacking from what was happening in the movie. For a long time I've heard about this record, and have come close to getting it on vinyl many times. Well-- this is great. The first half is very early sets of material from their first two records-- such great energy. And the second disc is just as cool, but with a huge band to fill out what they were doing with Eno at the time and all of the African rythms. Very great.
(Yes, I would like to listen to this)

Trojan Ska box set
This is the first of two Ska boxes in an amazing series of releases of material from Trojan's vaults of Reggae. If you have not seen these, get any one of about 30? Sets. All sets have three discs and come in a cool cardboard box and are all reasonably priced. Anyway this box set is of that great early Ska sound. So cool. I'll talk at length about Ska in some other report in the coming days, for now, read more here.
(So nice, the Clash covered this)

Another in a series of rainy days in Atlanta. I'm really feeling the Seattle vibe now.

Back in my Seattle days I used to work as a stripper for a large health care insurance provider. I worked in the press room with three very loud presses working behind me, preparing various document to be printed on these machines. I had a small Walkman with a radio and earbud headphones that I would cover with a set of noise canceling headphones, you know, those type you see guys using with those oh so very annoying leaf blowers. I could hear music fine, but the press operators would have to throw things at me to get my attention.

I was mostly listening to the local college radio station, KCMU. That is when I first heard the Wedding Present. I was not too much into British guitar bands, called "Jangle" bands at the time. I was into The Smiths, but that's about it. Well, WP is much more aggressive, and the lyrics are kind of related to The Smiths, but to not so obtuse. David Gedge, the leader of the band, wrote the heartbreaking and bitter stories of breakup and deceit. He either had a long streak of bad relationships, or really milked one quite bad breakup. When I finally purchased "Bizzaro" (I could only get the import at the time), listening to it helped me finally get over a hard break up that had been simmering in my deep and dark gut for over four years. Great stuff.

I wanna be an ascot wearing well off gentleman

2004-11-21T16:55:00.000-05:00

Today’s list:

It's De Lovely - The Authentic Cole Porter Collection
A great collection, with some performed by Mr. Porter himself, and all with that great 20’s, 30’s sound—except for the great jazz renditions by a few, like Sonny Rollins.
(Try a smidge)
Ray Eberle & His Orchestra
Ex-Glenn Miller Men: The 1943-1947 Broadcasts
This is a collection of live broadcasts—all with that cool, distant crooner sound.
(Here is a bit)
Ella Fitzgerald
The Best of the Song Books
She has such a great voice. I’ve never been a great fan of the “Scat” singing she popularized, but this “best of”—which is a collection from a SIXTEEN CD! boxed set, shows just what a great she was.
(Listen to this)

It's a nice rainy day in Atlanta-- and I say nice because it reminds me of my days in Seattle, and also a good day for some good, old, music. Maybe set a fire, and get some coffee...

My kids and I went over to my neighbor’s house to play and to cook up some breakfast. I was going through the CD's he had out and came across the Cole Porter. The kids played and my neighbor, Alex, and I made breakfast. At that time we were listening to a Bill Monroe boxed set I had loaned him, but I borrowed the Cole Porter to listen to it later. Listening to that put me onto the Ray Eberle and then onto Ella. Nice rainy Sunday music.

Just after High School I discovered two things: a ten record set of my parent's by Glenn Miller and a Big Band radio station being broadcast on AM out of a retirement community south my town, Tucson. At the time I was listening to 50’s rock and roll and punk rock. This stuff, believe it or not, fit right in, as it was a little raw, at least the recordings—and certainly lively, but more importantly, nowhere near AOR, MOR, top 40, or whatever the hell they were playing on the radio in the early 80’s. About that same time I saw the movie, Zelig, by Woody Allen. I love that movie, and it has great old jazz sound to it. Later on, Radio Days came out, and really laid out the music of that time, and what is must have been like to have radio a vital part of your life.

But back to how Big Band jazz, 50’s rock and roll and punk rock all relate, at least to me. Punk and 50’s rock are pretty similar, and often ARE the same, just one played a bit worse, but move with a certain fervor. The big band stuff, especially early live stuff, buzzed with that same immediacy; just a bunch of musicians playing music they loved, and having a great time. No doubt there was certainly a vital "scene" going on. Always got to be a "scene". The above records are certainly a bit tame for what I'm saying here, but I just love that distant, echo-y sound of the first two, and, well, Ella is just Ella and that is fine.

Click here to read some longer stories

2004-11-21T16:00:00.000-05:00