The Residents
A band, who have been going for 40 years, have released 60 albums, but nobody knows who they are. Awesome.
Crazy guys
The Residents are an American art collective best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works. The first official release under the name of The Residents was in 1974, and the group has since released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects and ten DVDs. They have undertaken seven major world tours and scoredmultiple films. Pioneers in exploring the potential of CD-ROM and similar technologies, The Residents have won several awards for their multimedia projects. Ralph Records, a record label focusing on avant-garde music, was started by the band. [...read more]
The Ghost Song
See if you can listen to this the whole way through, preferably on headphones. Allegedly the writer of this song committed suicide a week later.
My Way Killings
Residents of the Philippines are killing each other over their renditions of this popular classic. Sid Vicious' was always my favourite. Thanks to Daniel Mayhew for this one.
The "My Way" killings are a social phenomenon in the Philippines, referring to a number of fatal disputes which arose due to the singing of Frank Sinatra's 1969 song "My Way" in Karaoke bars. A New York Times article estimates the number of killings to be about six. Opinions differ over whether the possible connection is due to the coincidence that the song was simply frequently sung amid the nation's karaoke bars where violence is common or to the aggressive lyrics of the song itself. [...read more]
Cat organ
Cat owners might not find this as hilarious as I do. But I do find it really hilarious.
Not to be confused with a Mouse Organ
William Stirrat
Try and get your head around this one. This chap claimed to have written "Unchained Melody" under the pen name of the guy who actually did write it. Glorious whackjobbery, sir.
Or did he?
William Albert Stirrat (November 5, 1919 - July 2, 2004) was an imposter who claimed to use a pen name, "Hy Zaret," as the lyricist of the hit "Unchained Melody." However, Unchained Melody was written by a man really named Hy Zaret, who was born in 1907 and published about 180 songs. [...read more]
Numbers stations
This is another of my all-time favourite subjects. I've saved it for long enough, and now I must share. Numbers stations - shortwave radio broadcasts consisting of a sequence of numbers, repeated over and over again. They originate from all over the world and nobody knows what they're for. Listen to some of the mp3s linked from the Wikipedia article, and be prepared for them to haunt your nightmares.
I'd also recommend checking out the Conet Project.
Makes a great gift for the weirdo in your life
Will Powers
In 1983, rock photographer Lynn Goldsmith released an album under the pseudonym Will Powers. Consisting mainly of upbeat digital dance with self-help spoken word over the top, it's notable for the "who's who" of musicians who played on it, including Nile Rodgers, Steve Winwood, Todd Rundgren, Andy Summers, Sting and countless others. "Kissing with confidence" was the first single, sung by an uncredited Carly Simon no less.
I heard this on Radio 2 a couple of years ago and immediately remembered it from my childhood, so I had to do some digging and find out as much as I could. I've since been in touch with Lynn and exchanged some emails with her, she's a hugely talented lady. She still maintains that the Will Powers album "Dancing for mental health" was never meant to be a parody of self-help gurus as it's sometimes misinterpreted as. She genuinely did (and does) want to help people. The album is available from CDBaby.
[...read more]
What?
I post them here for your delight.
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