Beserkley's Best

Beserkley Records an independent label founded by Matthew King Kaufman in Berkeley, California, about 1975. It anticipated the "alternative rock" genre by providing a label for music that didn't interest the majors, but was exciting to college age music fans. Back then, I was one of those college age kids.

Kaufman was manager of the group Earth Quake, who had done a couple of albums for A&M in 1971- 72, but had no real success and were not picked up by any of the existing labels when their contract with A&M was up. Kaufman started his own label "to have fun and make some interesting recordings."

In addition to Earth Quake, Kaufman signed Jonathan Richman, Greg Kihn, and the Rubinoos. The first single issued was Earth Quake's "Friday On My Mind" coupled with "Roadrunner" by Jonathan Richman.

Beserkley had only a handful of artists on the label at any given time throughout their history and the biggest name artists were the Greg Kihn Band, followed by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers who - while they didn't chart nationally, they still had, and have, a strong following.

Recently I dusted off a number of my 7-inch singles and albums from these bands. I forgot how much fun and innocent sounding these glorious pop records were and still are. To this day my favorites remain Berserkley Chartbusters, Volume 1; the 1977 classic Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers album (with "Here Come The Martian Martians," and "Abonimable Snowman In The Market"), and the classic 1976 Modern Lovers (w/ "Pablo Picasso," and "Roadrunner.").

So here's a taste of the past and you can call me a romantic and I really don't try to live too much in the past, but not much since has sounded as good. Except for maybe The Shins and Radiohead and The Clash. Okay, and Clap Your Hands.

Friday On My Mind - Earth Quake
The Break-Up Song - Greg Kihn
Roadrunner - Jonathan Richman
Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
I Think We're Alone Now - The Rubinoos

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Sunday Covers - Dylan's 65th Birthday

Bob Dylan celebrated his 65th birthday this week.

Knockin' On Heaven's Door - Warren Zevon

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue - Richie Havens

Trying To Get To Heaven Before They Close The Door - Robyn Hitchcock w/ Gillian Welch and David Rawlings

Girl From The North Country - Rod Stewart

Girl From The North Country - Jim James, M. Ward, and Conor Oberst

Highway 61 Revisited - PJ Harvey

Positively 4th Street - Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders

Just Like A Woman - Jeff Buckley

It Ain't Me Babe - Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash

I Shall Be Released - Nina Simone

It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry - Paul Westerberg

It Ain't Me Babe - Nancy Sinatra

Like A Rolling Stone - Drive-By Truckers

Want more Dylan covers?:
It Aint' Me, Babe - The Bob Dylan Cover Lists
Dylan Covers dot com

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Burn One Up With Lee "Scratch" Perry

Reagge pioneer and legend Lee "Scratch" Perry has a new album coming in June called Panic In Babylon. He's currently on tour and got this great review from his show in Philly the other night: Lee Perry Smolders At World Cafe

Here's a tune from the new album: Pussy Man

Check out Scratch's Radio Scratch Podcast

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New Silversun Pickups

I always thought the Silversun Pickupscould be like the next Meat Puppets or the Pumpkins or a sort of Rage Against The Raspberries. They've had a couple new songs on their myspace, and their new album Carnavas is due on July 25th. Here's a song from it...

Well Thought Out Twinkles

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My! Gay! Husband!

My Gay Husband is one of Vancouver CA's most popular DJ's with a gangstarrish skill for mashups and
some crazy rockin grooves thick as funky fatback. If this was the right era I'd say this shit was more fun than a coke-fueled nite at Studio 54 listening to old Whodini and Madonna singles and doing The Smurf. To the break-a-dawn y'all.

Some plentiful serious shit rat here:
Humps/Paris Hilton- My Gay Husband

Beatles vs Coolie - My Gay Husband

Summer Lovers Unlimited Mix #1

Dizzee Rascal vs. ESG - My Gay Husband

Modest Mouse vs. M.I.A. - My Gay Husband

All new B.I.G. Mixtape

Related: Paul Devro dot com

More interesting stuff at the MGH Space

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New Los Lobos

You want new Los Lobos?

You got it. Click here to listen to two new songs from a new studio album due in September. And you can even e-mail the band to let them know what you think.

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Living In The Past

I don't get it. Why take a bunch of classic (and some classic and cheesy) 80's hits and strip them down? Well, that's the case on 80's Hits Stripped, a potentially useless collection that reminds us of how great the 80's were and how the price of nostalgia is sometimes very painful.

Missing You - John Waite

Promises, Promises - Naked Eyes

Buy it!

Bonus 80's track:
Fraud In The 80's - Mates of State

Here is NPR's Mixed Signal's take on this album

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Tommy Keene and Robert Pollard

Power popster Tommy Keene and indie-rocker Robert Pollard are The Keene Brothers. Their album Blues And Boogie Shoes comes out in June and it is the latest in a series of releases in Pollard's Fading Captain family. These include his collaboration with Keene; Psycho and the Birds is a new collaboration with Todd Tobias. Bob records songs boombox style and sends them to Todd to dress them up. And The Takeovers is a collaboration with former GBV bass player Chris Slusarenko along with Sam Coomes of Quasi and Dan Peters of Mudhoney.

These are like the best REM songs of the last decade that they haven't written (but Tommy & Bob did!):
Death Of The Party
Beauty of The Draft

Hello Forever - Psycho And The Birds

Fairly Blacking Out - The Takeovers

Bonus Beat:
Circumstance - Tommy Keene

Buy The Keene Brothers

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Sunday Covers

Happy Sunday!

I Second That Emotion - Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders - Jerry and Merle do Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

Honky Tonk Woman - The Pogues - Shane and Co's take on the Stones

I Want A New Drug - Glen Phillips - Glen rocks the Huey Lewis classic

In the tradition of Gary Jules' cover of Tears For Fears' Mad World and Nina Gordon's Straight Outta Compton, check out this terrific cover of The Beasties' Fight For Your Right To Party by LA based singer-songwriter Andrew Paul Woodworth

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Os Mutantes & World's Famous Supreme Team

With all the recent buzz about Os Mutantes, you must check out this trailer for a documentary about the band.


Our friends at Philebrity uncovered an incredible hour long collection of World's Famous Supreme Team Radio Show bits. They write: "If you were a kid growing up in North Jersey or NYC in the late '70s or early '80s, chances are you may have heard The World's Famous Supreme Team Show on WHBI FM. If you heard it, you heard what have become some legendary tracks and skits that basically set the stage for hip-hop even as we still know it today - albeit presented in a much more catch-as-catch-can, MacGuyver DIY way. As the World's Famous Supreme Team, C Devine The Mastermind and Justalotta Superstar scratched way before it was safe to scratch and rapped before anybody really even knew what the fuck rapping was. And besides making a few groundbreaking tracks with Malcom McClaren like "Hey DJ" and "Buffalo Gals," they have all but faded from hip-hop's historical record. This is deep shit. Like Bobbito style. To listen to The World's Famous Supreme Team Show is to witness the birth of a nation."

It's yours to rock: The World's Famous Supreme Team show

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New Iggy Pop w/ Teddybears

It's rockin': New Iggy Pop with Stockholm's Teddybears. Appropriately titled: Punkrocker

Bonus Teddybears Beats:
Yours To Keep
Little Stereo

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Random Notes

Hello from Louiville, Kentucky where I'm at the Non-Comm Public Radio Music Conference. Last night saw a very cool band from Cincinnati called The Hiders. And we're getting ready for some mid-afternoon soul music and World Cafe taping with from Van Hunt

Check out this random but very good Youtube music video directory

And Rbally has a couple of very cool things up including this Beastie Boys show from Germany's Loreley Festival in '98 and Jose Gonzalez on Swedish Radio P3

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The Boss Is Back

Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions Tour is off and running. If tickets couldn't come your way, you can live vicariously thanks to the following folks:

Heather who posted this BBC Radio 2 show & Pete at Ickmusic put up this from the Hammersmith Apollo

Before The Boss and his crew hit the road he did a couple of rehearsal shows in Asbury Park on April 24 and 26th. From them, here's some of Bruce's re-worked classics.

Adam Raised A Cain
Cadillac Ranch

Stream - How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live

Bonus Boss Cover -
It's So Hard To Be A Saint In The City - David Bowie

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The Return of Old Crow Medicine Show

Attention Old Crow Medicine Show fans!
The band returns with their new album on August 29th called Big Iron World. Check out a video about the band and stream a new song, "Down Home Girl," here.

Check out some Old School Old Crow:

Tear It Down
Gospel Plow

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Electric Apricot

The new Les Claypool mockumentary on the jam band scene Electric Apricot: Quest For Festeroo will do for jam bands what Spinal Tap did for Heavy Metal. It will be debuted at Bonnaroo and features Claypool as drummer Lapland "Lapdog" Miclovich. Claypool's "real" new album, Of Whales And Woe comes out on May 30th.

Check out this absolutely hysterical trailer:
Electric Apricot

Download this tune from "The Apricot" -
Burning Man

Read Les's interview with The Book Standard about his debut novel coming out in July, South of The Pumphouse

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Stephan Smith's Letter To Neil Young

Stephan Smith is an Iraqi American songwriter who grew up in Appalachia and was inspired to write a letter to Neil Young, which was in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle. With the letter, Stephan has written a new protest song, Another World Is Possible, which is being released for free exclusively online. The rough mix of the song, from recordings for his upcoming album, is the first song Stephan is releasing under his born name, Stephan Said (pronounced Sayeed), reclaiming his Iraqi heritage. As Stephan says, "I want this song, "Another World Is Possible" to be free information to help inspire those of us working to build that next world, the way the newspapers and songs of the Indian independence movement, and the early civil rights movement, and others were. This song is free because it has to be free."

Download the song: Another World Is Possible

Dear Neil,

You recently said that you felt compelled to write your new album "Living With War" because you got tired of waiting for young protest singers to pick up the torch. I'm compelled to tell you that young protest singers are here, and we're holding the flame. I'm one of them.

The trouble is, you can't hear us on major radio stations for the same reasons you noted last year when you poignantly stated, "I can't do anything in the record industry, or especially radio, because it's so controlled by corporations."

While established artists like yourself may have felt your hands tied, the truth is far worse for upcoming artists: Even booking agents and managers won't touch us for fear that we will offend their audiences in a country where consumerism and patriotism stand united, as your song "Restless Consumer" makes clear.

Bono was right when, at U2's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, he said, "There is very little chance for there to be another U2 the way the business is constructed right now." Describing corporate dependency on the toothless hit single, he said, "You have to have the hit single immediately. Bruce Springsteen didn't have a single for 10 years. Neil Young, I'm not sure, he ever had a single."

If radio won't play an artist whose singles touch on politics, the only hope is to get a break opening for established acts. But, I don't know of a single mainstream artist whose agent will allow an unestablished political artist to open for them. Would you?

Your good friend and former record company president Howie Klein, who wrote the first review of "Living With War," put it eloquently when he told me he thinks it's depressing that in a world of unprecedented global economic inequality, environmental degradation and increasing frustration causing terrorism, today's Bob Dylans and Neil Youngs are not getting a chance to be heard.

Some see positive developments, though. Industry legend and activist Danny Goldberg, now Vice Chairman of Air America, says, "The Internet provides opportunities for new artists to find a fan base that was not available in years past." But still, the Internet has its limits.

I should know. As then-president of Artemis Records, the nation's largest independent label, Danny signed me in 2003 after my song "The Bell," with Pete Seeger and Dean Ween, which was released on the internet on Sept. 11, 2002, burst into mainstream press as "the anti-war anthem for this generation."

But, even though "The Bell" was downloaded hundreds of thousands of times, printed over 250,000 times on various compilations, and was covered by artists from Dave Matthews to DJ Spooky, booking agents and managers remained too fearful to take it on. Why? Because most industry professionals, even those who pride themselves on their left leanings, believe they have to protect their audiences from politics.

As Geoff Edgers reported in the Boston Globe, when discussing the Dixie Chicks and Pink, whose songs "Not Ready to Make Nice" and "Dear Mr. President" address President Bush, John Hart, president of Bullseye Marketing Research in Nashville, said, "I don't think they're bad people. I just think they're expressing an opinion.

"Unfortunately, they think most of their listeners or fans feel that way, and they're wrong. All the fans want is to hear their music."

But this is not true. As Howie revealed to me, contrary to widespread belief of a detrimental backlash to the Dixie Chicks' anti-Bush comments, radio response to their new album was 90 percent positive. It was only 10 percent of the listeners who objected.

Already, during the initial invasion of Iraq, the industry knew there was a market for dissent. When I took part in the launch of ProtestRecords.com in March 2003, a Web site of free protest MP3s started by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, replete with unknown artists, the Web site was hit over 1 million times in the first six days. Still, the industry failed to respond while soldiers and civilians continued to die.

Many say that Green Day and Steve Earle received Grammys for their largely topical albums, and Kanye West, Bright Eyes and Anti-Flag have all profited from dissent in the past 2 years, but this is misleading: These are all artists who were established before they questioned the war in Iraq. For now, questioning authority in the mainstream industry remains reserved for celebrities.

When I called Seeger recently to tell him about your great new album and your thought-provoking comment, Pete said, "Protest singers have never been played on the radio. In the 1930s, at the depths of the Depression, no radio station played the songs of the miners organizing for their rights in West Virginia, like 'Which Side Are You On.' "

In the 1960s, artists like yourself, Dylan, Phil Ochs and Joan Baez could rise to the fore because visionaries like Pete and Woody Guthrie built a community independent of the industry, and shared it with the youth.

Neil, will you, or Springsteen with his "We Shall Overcome," follow in their footsteps?

Yours,

Stephan Smith

Here's another song, The Bell written by Stephan with Pete Seeger, Dean Ween, and Mary Harris

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The Nigga You Love To Hate

Went to see the Cube last nite at the TLA in Philly. Ice Cube, that is - Rap legend and movie star. I had never seen him before, and being a fan of the debut NWA album and of Cube's first few solo records I was very curious about a couple things:

1 - Could he still rock it and will he deliver live? (ever see a rap show? they mostly suck)
2 - Was he still relevant after 20 years of being one of the real OG's

So after last night's show I can tell you with great confidence that Cube completely came to the table with the skills and the beats and the showmanship to match. First, he ripped through an hour show of the hits. He gave the people what they wanted included a handful of NWA classics. And with every song, the racially mixed crowd sang along word-for-word. He played one song from his new album, Laugh Now, Cry Later coming in June (6/6/06) and with just his DJ and his prompter, he crushed it. He ripped into each song like he was still comin' straight outta compton.

Straight Outta Compton
The Nigga Ya Love To Hate

Visit Ice Cube's myspace to hear a new song.

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Toots, Boots and Roots

I was listening to the radio today and heard a version of "Funky Kingston" from a Toots & The Maytals record that came in 2004 called True Love. It was a pretty decent album and featured an all-star cast supporting Toots re-recording some of his classics. On it he got some help from Bonnie Raitt, Ryan Adams, No Doubt, Ben Harper, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Trey Anastasio, Rachel Yamagata and on Funky Kingston, he was aided by Bootsy Collins and The Roots. It's funky, aight. So it got me to this: the Toots, Boots and Roots post. Enjoy.

Funky Kingston - Toots & The Maytals, Bootsy Collins and The Roots - From True Love

Bootzilla - Bootsy Collins - From Bootsy? Player Of The Year

Thought @ Work - The Roots - From Phrenology

A classic from Toots: Reggae Got Soul

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I'll Always Love My Mama

Here's a pre-Mother's Day tune. There's many songs about love for the moms but this one has always been my favorite.

The Intruders - I'll Always Love My Mama

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Mid-Day Coffee Break

It's mid-day somewhere. Take a break. There's some great stuff around the blogs today:

Check these out:

Diddy Wah's post on Andy Williams

Chris @ Gorilla vs Bear busted out the new Outkast yesterday

NPR's Song Of The Day is The Field's 'Song For The Fields'"

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Strummin' With The Devil

Strummin' With The Devil: The Southern Side Of Van Halen is the next of a long series of "Pickin' On" bluegrass tributes that CMH Records is releasing in early June. There've been other tributes to AC/DC, Bonnie Raitt, Ozzy, Dave Matthews, The Strokes, Air, and many others.

The Van Halen tribute features Dave The Rave himself; now looking for a post-Morning Show DJ career.

Jump

Pre-order the CD

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Mashed Potatoe Time

Some new mash-ups for ya:

Esoterica Meets The Absurd:
Philip Glass, "Einstein On The Beach" vs Vanilla Ice "Ice, Ice Baby" - Einstein, Baby

Folk folk meets post-punk folk - Bob Dylan - "Blowin' In The Wind vs Pixies, "Where Is My Mind"Blowin' Mind

Don't miss this mix! Party Ben's Coachella Dance Party Mix
A 30 minute throwdown -
Depeche Mode - World In My Eyes (Cicada remix)
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy (Karl G remix)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion (Diplo remix)
Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
Daft Punk - Technologic
She Wants Revenge - Tear You Apart (Richard Vision mix)
Editors - Munich (Cicada remix)
Bloc Party - Banquet (Phones remix)
White Rose Movement - Love is a Number
The Walkmen - The Rat
Eagles of Death Metal - I Want You So Hard
Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out (Daft Punk remix)
Lady Sovereign - Random (a capella)
Daft Punk - Da Fun (live)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Yellow Country Teeth
Depeche Mode vs. Madonna - Just Can't Get Enough Music (Tristan Shout mashup)


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Great Discoveries

In the news:

These United States - From DC as in Washington; indie-rock jug-bandism supreme. Says the Washington Post: "One of the most pleasant developments over the past year in the local music scene has been the emergence of The Federal Reserve collective. It's a loosely-affiliated group of like-minded artists that favors a sound that's sort of alt-country and sort of late-'60s Laurel Canyon (and much more Gram Parsons than the Eagles). But more than a common sound, the acts share an affinity for gimmick-free, straightforward pop songs that remind you of a time when pop songs could be built around guitars. These United States is perhaps the jangliest of the bunch, playing well-crafted, toe-tapping tunes written by frontman Jesse Elliott."

Music Now:
The Business
Only The Lonely Devil Knows
Kings And Aces
Visit their space

Great Discoveries:
Said The Gramaphone turns us on to Rappers Delight Club

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Elvis Perkins

If you don't know Elvis Perkins then you're going to want to. Elvis was born in Manhattan to actor Anthony Perkins and photographer Berry Berenson and some of his forthcoming album, Ash Wednesday, reflects the tragedy he's been through - his father dying of AIDS in 1992 and his mother in the American Airlines Flight 11 that was crashed in to the North Tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11.

"When you're dealing with something as immense as the events of that day, and that when you add celebrity and a public life from the get go, it's all very much out of control," Elvis said to WNYC's John Schaefer this past February on Elvis's 30th birthday.

Musically, Elvis and his band (Elvis Perkins In Dearland) may bring to mind Jeff Buckley, Colin Meloy or Rufus Wainwright sans drama and even an early 70's Dylan. The centerpiece of this all - the song Ash Wednesday - is transcendent, wonderously poetic and quite moving.

Without Love

May Day

Ash Wednesday

It's Only Me

Listen to Elvis on WNYC's Soundcheck
Check out Elvis's space

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Sunday Covers - Reggae Originals

This week's Sunday Covers offers a twist on the cover-thing.

Rudy, A Message To You - Dandy Livingstone - covered by The Specials on their self-titled debut

Cherry Oh Baby - Eric Donaldson - covered by The Rolling Stones on Black And Blue

The Tide Is High - The Paragons - The original of the Blondie classic

Red Red Wine - Tony Tribe - Still paying the bills for UB40

Beatles Cover Bonus Beats!
Happiness Is Warm Gun (The Gun Mix) - U2

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Guillemots Live Broadcast

Get ready cause here they come!

Monday evening at 9PM Eastern, Guillemots perform live in concert at WXPN-FM in Philadelphia from World Cafe Live.

Listen to this WorldCafe podcast with Guillemots

Listen live at xpn.org right here

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Smoosh It Up

When my nine and seven year boys old tell me that Smoosh completely rock I listen cause they're the best music critics around.

Smoosh are two sisters from Seattle, Chloe and Asya, ages 14 and 12. Their new record, Free To Stay, comes out on Barsuk Records on June 20.

Listen:
Find A Way

Rock Song

Smoosh on NPR's All Things Considered

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Snowglobe

Snowglobe are an indie-rock band from Memphis with a colorful, upbeat palette of sounds. The first in a series of solo directed projects from the members of this 5-piece funky nitty gritty indie band features the work of guitarist/singer/songwriter/do-it-himselfer Brad Postlewhaite. It's called Oxytocin, and this is pretty fresh, kids. Lotsa comparisons to Elephant 6 stuff as you may be able to hear.

Warning: The horn line at the start of this song will get stuck in your head.

Happy

Bonus beats:
Changes

Check out Snowglobe's myspace

Pre-order Oxytocin

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Loverstheband

Lovers is the brain child of singer-songwriter Carolyn Berk, a "silken voiced vagabond whose intimate tales of love and loss" highlight her second album, The Gutter and the Garden on Orange Twin Records, a record label and web site run by members of Elf Power which is raising funds for land preservation. Like love can often be, this is aching and beautiful.

The Garden

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Thievery's Versions

The new Thievery Corporation album is a collection of remixed dubbed out versions of songs by Astrud Gilberto, Sarah McLachlan, Herb Albert, Nouvelle Vague, Wax Poetic w/ Norah Jones and many others. Not to be outdone by the Blondie/The Doors "Rapture Riders" remix the Washington DJ duo take on a classic rock classic from Jim and company.

Strange Days

Listen to a Thievery Corporation mix they did for the BBC.

Order Versions

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The Os Mutantes Effect - Where Indie Cred & Tropicalismo Collide

So, Pitchfork announces the addition of Brazilian rockers Os Mutantes to PF Music Fest and all of a sudden Tropicalia is the new indie-rock.Well good for Pitchfork to add them to the bill cause if it means greater awareness of the Brazilian music scene from which they came, then that's even better for you and for the music.

The late ’60s in Brazil produced an explosion of new sounds and ideas known as Tropicalia, or Tropicalismo.

A blend of bossa nova, rock and roll, Bahia folk music, african music and portuguese fado, Tropicalia exploded at the end of the 60's with artists commonly associated with the movement including Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Jorge Ben, Maria Bethania and others.

Although it attained little commercial success outside of Brazil, Tropicalismo has had a growing popularity among hipsters like David Byrne (his label, Luaka Bop, released a terrific Os Mutantes compilation), Beck, Arto Lindsay, and Nelly Furtado. The title track to Beck's Mutations was a tribute to Os Mutantes.

Dig the new old sounds:

Bat Macumba - Gilberto Gil

Baby - Os Mutantes

Soy Loco Par Ti America - Caetano Veloso

Se Voce' Pensa - Gal Costa

And be on the lookout for this amazing boxed set called Tropicalia 30. If you can find it, it's an excellent collection of CD's including the Os Mutantes' debut CD and the self-titled releases from Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa and Veloso - all of which came out in 1967 & '68.

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