UKE OF PHILLIPS & ERIN TOBEY - "Live On The Phone" - Tape - 2005

     Ever since I was a kid, I've always loved the sound of AM radio, lo-fi recordings and the way that music sounds over the phone through those tinny speakers. Put me in a tour van driving through the middle of the US at 2 am and I will guarantee that the radio will be tuned in to Coast To Coast AM. If that's not available, I'll be scanning the AM radio stations anyway. I also love it when any band has a sample of music being played over an answering machine. Once, an old friend called my house when she was at an X show and held the phone by her side for most of the show. My friends and I put it on speaker-phone and danced in my bedroom. It sounded amazing. So, imagine my delight when I stumbled across the radio show, "Phoning It In", which is comprised entirely of musicians calling in to the radio show and playing their songs over the phone!  

   The radio show ran from 2005-2011 and featured artists ranging from DANIEL JOHNSTON to DANIEL HIGGS to BILLY CHILDISH to SARAH DOUGHER to JULIE DOIRON to USAISAMONSTER to everything in between. Their archive is insane and impressive (and can be found here)(and here's another link)

   This tape compiles two separate 2005 performances by ERIN TOBEY and UKE OF PHILLIPS. Erin plays her otherworldly, nimble-fingered songs over a land line from the back room of a now-defunct punk warehouse called The Ark in Gainesville, FL (Fun Fact: A fitness club has now opened up in that warehouse that once hosted so many punk shows and debaucherous parties. That club is called...wait for it...The Ark). The tinny sound of the phone gives her songs a beautiful, faraway feel that is warm and enveloping. You can find more music by Erin here and a lot of her fantastic art here. 

   UKE OF PHILLIPS phone in from tour during a stop at MARS in Missoula, MT. They alternate between their gutter country/folky songs and just being totally "out there". On this recording, the group consists of Dan Beckman, Matt Beckman and A.M.O.S. Shit gets really weird at some points. It's cool. You can find way more stuff by UKE right here and you can find newer stuff here. Keep up with their rare appearances on their blog.

    Not so fun fact: When I went to digitize this tape, I accidentally put it in the wrong deck and the stereo immediately chewed up the analog tape and mangled it beyond all repair. I just looked at it helplessly and then just nailed the damn thing to my wall. Erin Tobey was nice enough to email over the tracks of both artists for you to enjoy in the digital realm. So, thanks Erin!

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DAN B'S MIX TAPE - 2005

   Back in 2005, a package showed up in my P.O. box from Dan B (from IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT / UKE OF SPACES / Trd Wrd Records) with this tape inside. There was no insert and no track listing. Just the instructions on the front and the tape. What I found on the tape was strange and entrancing: Tiki music, weird lounge, something that sounds like KORLA PANDIT on too many pills, EUGENE CHADBOURNE, MALVINA REYNOLDS, DREAMLAND FACES, radios between stations and phone calls. I still play it frequently in my room when I'm trying to keep busy and it helps. Maybe it will help you out too.

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Track listing left blank intentionally. 

PASCAL'S LONG LOST MIX TAPE - 2007

   In my last year of living in Bloomington, IN, I made a whole lot of mix tapes for friends, both locally and far away. I would sit in front of the stereo for hours, laboring over 90 minutes of the perfect mix of punk and weirdness. Then, I would hand deliver it to someone's door or drop in the mail at the post office just 5 short blocks away. It took moving across the country to California to realize that I was utterly and morbidly depressed. I don't think that making mix tapes is a sign of depression (far from it), but I do think something is amiss when one is putting all of their free time into tape making or drinking endless pints of whiskey while flipping the same DEAD MOON record over and over.
   I think there is a certain beautiful power in mix tapes that can not be replicated by a mix CD or a play list. Many, many people have explained this in the past, so I won't bore you with the details, but there is something to be said for having to listen to each song in real time as you make the tape.
   Most of the tapes I made for folks eventually reached them...except for this one. I made this fairly eclectic tape for my friend Pascal in Paris and then never, ever mailed it to him. I took it to work and listened to it a lot. I carried it around in my bag with intentions of dropping it in the mail for him. I even flew to Europe, went to Paris and hung out with Pascal but forgot to take the tape with me. So, Pascal if you're reading this, I apologize. If you send me your current address, I'll mail you this tape. I mean it this time.
   In the meantime, I think this is a great tape with styles flying all over the map. Seriously. Have you ever gotten a mix tape that segues from UKE OF SPACES CORNERS to LIMPWRIST? KATRA TURANA to TULSA? OI POLLOI to JOHN DENVER to OMAR SOULEYMAN to ARTIMUS PYLE? BUNKER HILL to MEN'S RECOVERY PROJECT? It makes sense. I like this tape a lot. Maybe you will too.

Download Side A

Download Side B

All music on here is vinyl to tape. No digital.

SHEP AND ME - "Cloudy Chowder" - Tape - 2007

   Matt Himes is the man behind SHEP AND ME, which incorporates the sounds of experimental folk, outsider noise, tape loops, and acoustic balladry to create a sound that is wholly his own. He bumped his way onto a show that I set up in Bloomington a few years back. He set up simply with a small guitar and light accompaniment and captivated the room for the next 20-30 minutes. His sound, for me, evokes the images of punks living on homemade boats in the river, simple living, rotting Midwestern porches, and long, cold winter days that feel endless.
   This tape compiles a few years of analog recordings in New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Evanston, IL and Whitesburg, KY and is one of my favorite things that he has put out. It's the perfect thing to listen to on a cold day with nothing ahead of you besides hot tea and unfinished projects.

Download SHEP AND ME

This tape is also available as a beautifully packaged LP that was pressed in an edition of 500. If you like this, I highly suggest that you buy the record, because there aren't too many left. You can get it straight from Matt at Lighten Up Sounds
This tape was originally released on Friends and Relatives.

POOP TROOP - Compilation - Tape - 2001

   This tape was compiled by Dan B (of IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT and VILLAGE OF SPACES) to showcase some of his and friends' bands who play noise, outsider sounds, lo-fi dance music, drone, punk and more. The physical tape starts off with MARGARET MOTHER OF THIEVES, but I didn't add them on this download since it's just the same songs from their demo, which you can find by clicking on that link above. So, your download starts with COUNTY Z, who are still one of my favorite bands of all time. Their one and only song on this comp sounds like it was a rehearsal improv jam and it is a definite "work on some stuff in your room and let this drift out of the speakers" kind of song. They are followed by HARRY FROM HAWAII, who drone out some fucked up, blown out "dance music" for total fuckin freaks. The one time I saw them (I think it was them), they featured Drew on noise. He was wearing a full-body foam outfit with a huge helmet made out of sheet metal with contact mics all over him. The mics were running through an overflowing table full of pedals and Drew was banging on the helmet with drumsticks. I found out later that the  jagged edges of metal were cutting into his head the whole time and that his jumps and hops were not for effect, but were produced out of sheer pain!
   Next up is IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT (another all time favorite) who also jam it out for a bit in that improv, droney way that they do. Dan B told me that they have hours of this stuff on tape somewhere. They are followed by UKE OF PHILLIPS (who has evolved into VILLAGE OF SPACES) and their brand of gutter-country/acoustic-noise. New Orleans' THE FOREHEADS play 3 songs that are the closest you will get to a standard punk band on this tape, even though nothing about them is standard. Occasional IPCP member, Stella plays guitar and yelps some vocals here and there. Merrydeth plays drums and does a fair share of the singing. Icky rounds out the rhythm section on tuba. They did a tour or two (I would've loved to have been their roadie) and put out a split 7" with THE NAZIS FROM MARS on Raw Sugar Records before breaking up.
  HUL (not to be confused with the Danish band HUL) is just Don Godwin (of IPCP, Vector Set and much more) playing sleepy, lo-fi electronic music. Two of these songs were recorded in a Motel 6 in Lubbock, Texas. C/O NOAH CANNON closes out the tape with a mess of drone, noise, soundscapes, tape manipulation and more. I have a 90 minute tape of theirs and like the stuff on this comp, it can be meditative and wash over you.
   Most of this tape will not sit well with many of the people who like the bulk of the stuff I put up on this blog, but that's okay. This is my trip. Get into it. Plus, I'm still getting over being sick and sometimes you don't feel like excitedly writing about punks getting wasted and penning the best song ever about killing Marines.

Download POOP TROOP

This is from the collection of Erick Lyle.

UKE OF PHILLIPS - "This Is Gutter Country" - Full Gallop #9 Audio Zine - Tape - 2002

       When this tape came out back in 2002, it was glued to the inside of any tape deck in my vicinity for a solid year (and is still on regular rotation). It's a collection of songs made by UKE OF PHILLIPS and friends that were recorded between the years of 1996 and 2002, showcasing everything from gutter country to folk songs to field recordings to stabs at punk songs to dirges to running around the room while singing to everything imaginable in between. These songs were recorded on a variety of analog devices in basements, bathrooms, bedrooms, warehouses, fields, hallways, walk-in closets etc, etc, etc.... The opening song "House a Home" has one of my most favorite unintentionally perfect recorded moments of all time, when a train rolls by in the background. The other performers on this recording are responsible for IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT, COUNTY Z, SHEP AND ME,  this blog and many many others. 90 minutes. 48 (or so) songs...my tape cuts off at the end of "50,000 Mile Stare" so that's what you get. This tape is beautifully ragged and addictive.

DOWNLOAD THE TAPE HERE AND DOWNLOAD THE ZINE BELOW

Updated Feb 2014

                                 

   The other cool part of this tape is that the original version came with Dan's (Uke) zine Full Gallop, where all of the lyrics were written out in india ink and he told you where the songs were recorded. It provided a glimpse into the inner workings of the people involved and made the project whole. It seems like a crime to not include it, so I am offering it as a separate PDF download. Enjoy

DOWNLOAD FULL GALLOP # 9

Updated Feb 2014

    Selections from this tape will soon be appearing on an LP, put out by German label Unwucht Records. The ever morphing entity of UKE OF PHILLIPS still survives today in the form of VILLAGE OF SPACES, who just put out a new LP and still includes one of my top favorite artists, Amy Moon!

UKE OF PHILLIPS/ETWAN SHERLEW - Split 7" - 2003

   UKE OF PHILLIPS and ETWAN SHERLEW are brothers Dan and Matt Beckman (among many friends) and both play acoustic/electric music that seems to be inspired by everything from MICHAEL HURLEY to THE RESIDENTS to PETER GRUDZIEN to DAVEY WILLIAMS to everything inbetween. They incorporate guitars, tape manipulation, reverb tanks, air organs, horns, freight trains and chickens in their songs and final result is beautiful. These songs were recorded on a four track in Dan's (and Amy) old house at 420 Harmony in New Orleans. Matt took time off from his job as a scientist in Alabama to play on this record. Dan, Amy and friends still play under the ever-changing moniker of UKE OF...(last I checked, it was VILLAGE OF SPACES CORNERS). Download this shit and tweak the fuck out.

 UKE OF PHILLIPS on Rampart St in NOLA. 2001.
                                    Download that 7"