Boredom Relief Radio 03
Post Date: Sunday, May 31, 2009

By the hair on my chin, here's Boredom Relief 03!

  1. Coming
  2. Astronauts - Baja
  3. Off With Their Heads - I Am You
  4. Pegboy - Field Of Darkness
  5. The Books Featuring Jose Gonzalez - Cello Song
  6. No More - Network
  7. Life Sentence - Race To Die
  8. A Trois Dans Les WC - Contagion
  9. Secretions - Freaks Like Us
  10. Destroy LA - Step It Up
  11. Zero Boys - Livin' In The 80's
  12. NOFX - Blasphemy (The Victimless Crime)
  13. The Real Kids - She's Alright
  14. Press Your Number
  15. High On Fire - DII
  16. Tom Waits - Army Ants
  17. Cloven Hoof - Nightstalker
  18. Crossfire - Atomic War
  19. Mastodon - Ghost Of Karelia
  20. Serge Gainsbourg - L'appareil A Sous
  21. Neu - I'm Gluck

I guess I should say something about a few of these bands...

A couple of legendary Chicago punk classics by Pegboy and Life Sentence. Each of these bands recently played shows here in Chicago. Pegboy, ex-Naked Raygun and Bhopal Stiffs members, released serveral efforts on Quarter Stick and Southern records back in the 90's. Larry, the vocalist, from Pegboy was feeling pretty happy, if you know what I mean (and no I'm not implying drug use), during their reunion set at the Metro. I simply smiled and enjoyed every second. Go buy the records: Pegboy and well, I'm not sure were you can buy any Life Sentence records. If you know of some place, let me know and I'll update this post.

The Books recorded an amazing version of Nike Drake's Cello Song for the "Dark Was The Night" benefit compilation. Proceeds for the compilation go to raise awareness for HIV and AIDS. 31 exclusive tunes from the best indie artists out there right now. GO BUY IT!

For blistering sonic distortion musicianship, BRR 03 tosses in some forgotton, obscurities from Cloven Hoof and Crossfire. You're gonna like the way this punches you in the face. And, as you already know, Mastodon has constructed, and just released, one of the best metal albums of all time. In case you didn't know, here's a song that will tell you all about it. Mastodon

LISTEN TO IT, ALOT!

Note: I have only the utmost respect and appreciation for all the musicians represented within Boredom Relief. My sole intent is to share my love and appreciation for the recordings by these artists. If any artist would prefer not to be listed on Boredom Relief, please send an email to the address listed on this page and I will promptly remove requested content from this website.




Boredom Relief Radio 02
Post Date: Friday, April 10, 2009

Ah, encapsulating mixed states and alternating periods of mania and Boredom Relief - Welcome to BRR02!

Lots of really cool music represented this time around, here's what I mean...

  1. Faust - Laas Mich, Version Originale
  2. Death - Freakin Out
  3. The Safes - Not To Keep
  4. Howard the Duck
  5. 86 Mentality - Called Out
  6. The Night Marchers - I Wanna Deadbeat You
  7. Sohail Rana - Soul Sitar
  8. Karamoko Keita - Diama
  9. Indian - No Able Fires
  10. Strung Out - Novacain
  11. SVT - Modern Living
  12. Biddu Feat, Manhar, and Anand - Hum Tumhe Chate Hain (Edit)
  13. Peacocks - Last Words
  14. D.O.A. - F*#@ed Up Baby
  15. The Marked Men - Locked Up
  16. Ananda Shankar - Dancing Drums
  17. Fiddlehead - Waiting For Dave
  18. Ben Weasel - Got My Number
  19. Troy & the T-Birds - Twistle
  20. From Monument to Masses - Beyond God & Elvis
  21. Torche - Mash It Up
  22. Grails - Satori (Flower Travelin' Band Cover)

...and, to provide a little more insight on a few of these tunes:

Death is a Detriot band from 1975. The Drag City label released the group's only full length recording called "For the Whole World to See" back in February. This raw, agrressive recording with punk sensibilities is considered to be ahead of it's time and the vocals are often compared to H.R. from Bad Brains. I don't know about all the critical comparisons - all I know is that this record rocks and I wish they had left more sounds to feed our ears!

The sample at track slot four is from Howard the Duck which was just released on DVD for the first time ever. You need to watch this B movie again. How can you go wrong with a talking duck from outerspace who is brought to Cleveland by a laser experiment gone wrong. Oh yeah, Lucasfilm produced this ridiculous movie from 1986.

The Night Marchers is the lastest band from members of Rocket From The Crypt and Hot Snakes. According to Hawaiian legend, Nightmarchers are ghosts of ancient Hawaiian warriors who are said to rise forth from their graves to march out onto past battle grounds. Not sure if this has anything to do with the band?

Beautiful African music by Karamoko Keita. I found this recording on an amazing music blog site. Check it out for yourself: Awesome African Tapes

Strung Out has released its 8th album on March 31st called "Prototypes and Painkiller". This long-time Fat Wreck Chords band gives us an album of outtakes, demos, and compilations tunes. Of the twenty-five songs, seven are previously unreleased. Several cover songs on this album including "I'm Not A Loser" by you know who and "Bark at the Moon" by Ozzy. Oh yeah, the album is only ten bucks if you order from Fat. Buy it here: Strung Out

One of the greatest new music finds that I've discovered during the past year are the Sitar Beat compilations of Bollywood music. There are four volumes in the series so far, and the following composers from these compilations are featured in this edition of Boredom Relief: Sohail Rana, Biddu Feat with Manhar and Anand, and Ananda Shankar. As you can probably guess, I can't get enough of this psychedelic Indian funk.

Punk Band, The Marked Men, are from Denton, Texas. "Locked Up" is from their new jem of a self produced album called "Ghosts" released on Dirtnap records on January 27, 2009. Read all about it here: Marked Men

Torche released a four song E.P. on March 30th called "Healer/Across the Sheilds". Side A are two previously released songs and side B gives us two spanking new ones. Although "Healer" and "Across the Sheilds" are previously released, the album comes with DVD music videos for both these songs. I'm especially excited to say that I'm going to see Torche this Sunday, with From Monument to Masses, here in Chicago. The artwork on this package is super cool as usual. Right now it looks like Hydrahead is out of stock on these babys but they are known for doing multiple pressing, so check back regularly. Here's the link: Torche

I'm done typing. So, LISTEN TO IT, ALOT!

Note: I have only the utmost respect and appreciation for all the musicians represented within Boredom Relief. My sole intent is to share my love and appreciation for the recordings by these artists. If any artist would prefer not to be listed on Boredom Relief, please send an email to the address listed on this page and I will promptly remove requested content from this website.




Boredom Relief Radio 01
Post Date: Saturday, March 21, 2009

Alright, here it is - Boredom Relief Radio 01. I must first admit that I was lured in 83 different musical directions with this playlist. In the end, the theme of BRR01 goes punk then psych/space rock.

Recently I've been hunting down much of the old punk rock vinyl collection that I sold, with much regret, back in the late 90's. BRR01 starts off with some of the goodies that I've most recently acquired - Dresden 45, Social Unrest, Toxic Reasons, etc. Thrown in with the old is a mix of some new. Including a soon to be classic from Social Circkle and a tune by Smalltown from the MRR Public Safety LP.

Following the punk rock onslaught is a set of spaced out sounds beginning with sound experimentalist Ursula Bogner. She was an artist way ahead of her time. This recording is from a 2008 release of her recordings from 1969 to 1988. The space noise continues with Jazz legends Weather Report, and space rock geniuses UFO and Hawkwind.

Closing out the playlist is a mixed bag of aural mayhem and a few delights.

LISTEN TO IT ALOT!

By the way, I should thank my cousin for influencing me with this whole web radio / playlist idea. There are many blog sites out there doing web radio shows, but none are as awesome as his. Check it out: staticfraction

Note: I have only the utmost respect and appreciation for all the musicians represented within Boredom Relief. My sole intent is to share my love and appreciation for the recordings by these artists. If any artist would prefer not to be listed on Boredom Relief, please send an email to the address listed on this page and I will promptly remove requested content from this website.




Boredom Relief 2008
Post Date: Monday, January 19, 2009

Boredom Relief is a compilation title that I coined around 1992. Creating mix tapes and compilations has always been one of my favorite ways to interact with music. Selecting which songs flow together one after another, and how all the songs fit together within a single context is a fascinating process that enhances the compilers intimacy with the chosen music.

When Boredom Relief first started it was purely punk rock mix tapes with elaborately, or often times not so elaborately, hand drawn j-card inserts. Generally only one copy was created of each mix due to the complexity of hand drawing each j-card and the time consumption of recording each song individually from LP or CD. Most of these said cassettes have long since been destroyed from being overplayed and because cassettes tapes are possibly the worst music media format that ever existed.

Although the cassettes failed the test of time, the ideology of Boredom Relief persevered and is now free of genre and media boundaries. Here is Boredom Relief 2008. This is a compilation of music that I discovered or was reacquainted with this past year.

LISTEN TO IT A LOT!

Note: I have only the utmost respect and appreciation for all the musicians represented within Boredom Relief. My sole intent is to share my love and appreciation for the recordings by these artists. If any artist would prefer not to be listed on Boredom Relief, please send an email to the address listed on this page and I will promptly remove requested content from this website.




Connubial Website
Post Date: Wednesday, November 26, 2008

I've been sidetracked for a few weeks finishing up my connubial website. That site can be found here.