Holy Freak

The Holy Modal Rounders - The Holy Modal Rounders 1 & 2 (1999) {Fantasy FCD-24711-2 rec 1963-1964}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 374 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 161 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 37 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1963-64, 1999 Prestige / Fantasy | FCD-24711-2
Psychedelic Folk / Folk Rock / Anti Folk / Country Folk / Freak Folk / Acid Folk

One of the most distinctive folk/bluegrass units of the 1960s was the Holy Modal Rounders, whose Fantasy recordings combined Appalachian bluegrass and country traditions with the Greenwich Village/East Coast folk of the period. Although singer/acoustic guitarist Steve Weber and singer/fiddler/banjo player Peter Stampfel – collectively, the Holy Modal Rounders – had a strong appreciation of Appalachian music, they fit right in on the East Coast coffeehouse circuit of the 1960s.

Freak Puke is the eighteenth album by the Melvins, which was released on June 5, 2012, through Ipecac Recordings. The concept of an album released under the moniker Melvins Lite seems like an oxymoron; considering Freak Puke, the album that came out of that proposition, it would seem that the Melvins are in on the joke. While drummer Dale Crover brushes his kit on some tracks and Trevor Dunn (off Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk, and sundry other avant-garde projects) joins in on upright bass on the disc, these are the only reasons for the word Lite to be attached to the project. Despite those instrumental choices, the album is another solid headrush of epic, riffy rock from the elder statesmen.

The Holy Modal Rounders - The Moray Eels Eat The Holy Modal Rounders (1968) {Water - water101 rel 2002}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 159 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 65 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1968, 2002 Elektra / Water | water101
Psychedelic Folk / Folk Rock / Anti Folk / Country Folk / Freak Folk / Acid Folk

In the mid- to late '60s you couldn't get much further underground in the ever-expanding world of rock music than the Fugs – unless of course you were one of the Holy Modal Rounders, i.e. folk musicians Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber. The Rounders started out in the same early-'60s New York folk and jug scene as Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, and had crossed paths numerous times. Stampfel and Weber will be eternally remembered for "Bird Song," which was prominently featured in both the movie Easy Rider and its soundtrack.

Packaging-wise and title-wise, the Rhino label's Hip Hop: The Collection is as generic as they come, but after that, all complaints are minimal. Get it at the right price, and it doesn't even matter that the theme is mega-broad and that the T.I. hit isn't one everyone knows, because when a collection goes from Afrika Bambaataa's seminal electro-rap "Planet Rock… Don't Stop" to Missy Elliot's "Get Ur Freak On" with barely any filler in the middle, the freak is on and the planet is certainly rocked. The set jumps time periods at will, and yet the sequencing works, so consider it a time capsule or a portable party, because it's both.

Arguably the first underground rock group of all time, the Fugs formed at the Peace Eye bookstore in New York's East Village in late 1964 by poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of the Holy Modal Rounders. Kupferberg named the band from a euphemism for "fuck" used in Norman Mailer's novel, The Naked and the Dead.

This aptly titled release from '80s art rockers and Talking Heads side project Tom Tom Club is indeed good, bad, and funky. Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz have explored a stunning amount of musical styles within the confines of this album, with every song sounding like it was produced by a different group. The use of a variety of vocalists, including Weymouth, who at times sounds like a 16-year-old Japanese girl instead of her more mature self, as well as Mystic Bowie and Charles Pettigrew only seems to heighten the variety of sounds offered. The lyrics are simple, yet clever, and laid over a variety of sampled tracks, scratching, and other turntablism and live instrumentation. The resulting sound ranges from dub to dance-pop to spacy funk. The variety does allow for some unevenness, however, though duds like the repetitive and spare "Time to Bounce" are more than balanced by gems like "Happiness Can't Buy Money" and the instrumental cleverness of "Lesbians by the Lake," among others.