jim henson

(Reposted from 'Brief Window')

Oh, Joy!

Perhaps this is old news to some, but it was exciting and new for me when I stumbled onto it recently.

It's a huge, fun trove of old production library music - - specifically, stuff that had been put to such great use back in the '90's as incidental cues and background in different episodes of the old 'Ren & Stimpy' TV show.

Praise be to Kirk at Secret Fun Blog (a subsidiary of his thrill-tastic Secret Fun Spot) for making almost 7½ hours of a wide variety of instrumental tracks available for download in two great 'unofficial' collections.

Assorted themes are grouped by mood.
The majority of this familiar material has been used time and again going back at least to the 1950's in TV commercials and in radio, movies, and other cartoons.

Predictably, not included are the pieces of music by Raymond Scott that were used in 'Ren & Stimpy', which have a more discernible 'life of their own'.

For many, myself included, what's here is almost like the subconscious soundtrack to our lives.
Beyond any Ren & Stimpy nostalgia, this pile of music represents 'a million household uses'.

Go! Check it out now!

Follow links to:
- Ren & Stimpy Production Music. Vol. 1

- Ren & Stimpy Production Music. Vol. 2

Toronto's Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet were a fun,
mostly-instrumental kinda-surfy band that were around for about ten years, from the mid-1980's to mid-'90's.

◀ In the photo, from left to right:
Don Pyle, drums
Brian Connelly, guitar, keyboards
Reid Diamond, bass




They'll always be best remembered for their association with the Canadian comedy troupe Kids In The Hall; On their TV show the band provided 'transitional' music between sketches as well as the program's theme song,
'Having An Average Weekend'.

The Shadowy Men released 3 full-length albums together, presented here is one of roughly a dozen singles and EPs they put out.

After the end of The Shadowy Men era, the former bandmates went on to perform and record with an assortment of bands, including Phonocomb and Atomic 7.
Bass player Reid Diamond lost a battle with cancer and passed away in 2001.

For detailed info regarding the band and their various musical incarnations following their break-up, click over to 'The Shadowy Site On A Shadowy Web'
- - an Unofficial webpage for The Shadowy Men.

From the 'Music For Pets'
7" EP (K Records, 1991),
Listen to
Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet:

Rover & Rusty

Here Kitty

The Cat Came Back

Baby Elephant Walk

That Wuz Ear Me Callin' A Horse

In the unlikely event that the subject of Mingo 2000 should come up in conversation, memories of this mid-'90's band would likely elicit comparisons.

'Like a west-coast version of
Combustible Edison, with maybe a dash of
Man Or Astro-Man', for instance.

From what I remember of what I could glean at the time, I'll guess they were a bay area band, or perhaps from a bit further south...? Or am I way off?

In what I recall as a casually understated manner, Mingo 2000 emerged right smack at the very beginning of the 'lounge revival' around 1994, did some touring, put out this snappy ten-inch record, and fairly quickly evaporated as the scene heated up. They may have been blind-sided by bigger bands with more calculated 'concepts'.

I saw them play once as the opening band for Combustible Edison at Bimbo's in San Francisco, and I think there was a bit of bemusement from the headliners when Mingo 2000 played a couple of tunes they'd planned on performing - - So, two versions of Nina Rota's 'Cadillac' that evening.
No problem, just like-minded spirits doing their thing.

I also have a fuzzy memory of sitting on a couch in the East Bay and watching Mingo 2000 perform in someone's living room around Halloween - - which was enchanting, but I was unfortunately pretty 'fuzzy' at the time...

From the
'Out Of Our Way' 10" LP
(Mable Label Records, 1994),
Listen to Mingo 2000:

Frankie Machine
Cadillac
Hawks and Sparrows
War of the Satellites / Let's Dance The Jet
(side one lead-out lock groove)
Beat Girl
'Brillante'
Tulan
Tesla's Menses

- - OR download all 9 tracks in one 21.7 Mb zipfile.

Japanese garage-punk girl-group Supersnazz formed their band in 1990 and first brought their raucous sound to the U.S. in 1992.

Their music on this 7-inch record is just a bit more 'polished' than some of their earlier releases.

The artwork on the single's cover and in the accompanying groovy 8-page comic book is by illustrator / designer Alex Wald,
a Chicago native responsible for lots of cool record covers, posters, comics work, and other essential ephemera.

That cover is something of an homage to DC Comics' memorable 1960's line of '80-Page Giants'
('go-go checks' and all). The interior takes cues from that era as well as incorporating several other timeless comic-book clichés.

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Listen to:
Supersnazz - I Gotta Go Now
Estrus Records 45, 1996
(click for audio)













- The B-side is a faithful cover of a classic
X-Ray Spex tune...

Listen to:
Supersnazz - I Am A Cliché
Estrus Records 45, 1996
(click for audio)








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See also:
- Supersnazz at MySpace

- The first Supersnazz album on SubPop, 1993's 'Superstupid!' at Uncontrolable Urge

- A Supersnazz music video, 'Breakout' at YouTube

- Alex Wald's Illustration and Character Design website

- Alex Wald's blog, Astromonster

Back in 1990, singer / songwriter Paleface became part of the Anti-Folk scene in
New York City.

His song 'Burn & Rob' gained him some notoriety and received some airplay attention on college radio.

This early version is markedly different than the one that appeared on his first album in 1991. ➤

That 2nd version can only really be said to be 'fuller and more polished' when compared with this one. Both recordings were produced by Kramer of NYC's Shimmy Disc record label.

In '89 it was Daniel Johnston who had taught Paleface how to write songs, and soon he was performing in small clubs and the subway, while sharing an apartment with friend and fellow struggling musician Beck.

There are different opinions out there as to which artist influenced the other more, but personally I don't feel it matters.

I will say though, that there was a time in the early '90's when Paleface and Beck shared a similar sound in some of their recordings.

At various points during the 1990's, Paleface's career progressed in fits and starts, partially due, it would seem, to the inability of the music industry to settle on the right niche to market him towards.

These days things appear to be running a little smoother, as both Paleface and the music scene have matured just a bit.

From the LP
'What Else Do You Do?
(A Compilation of Quiet Music)'
(Shimmy Disc, 1990),
Listen to Paleface:

Burn & Rob (click for audio)

See also:
- Official website: palefaceonline.com

- Paleface entry with bio at Antifolk.Net

- An interview at The Idiot Online

- A live show review at journalism, fiction by Brian Tucker

- There's info and recent tunes available at the Official Paleface MySpace page

- There's other info and older tunes available at the Paleface "unofficial FAN PAGE" at MySpace

- At YouTube: A video clip of Paleface performing 'She's So' (in '07?)

Set to the tune of
Simon & Garfunkel's 1965 hit,
'I Am A Rock', this Star Trek novelty tune got some airplay on college radio stations and elsewhere, beginning in 1996.

Recorded in the SF bay area, the disc's insert notes identify Jeffries Tube as being Phil Brotherton and Todd Lookinland (former child actor - - and yes, brother of Mike 'Bobby Brady' Lookinland).

Some googling reveals that both of them have worked in film as model makers and visual effects artists.

It looks as though possibly they may have met when they were both working on Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'.

Listen to:
Jeffries Tube - I Am A Spock
(Frenchy The Record cd-single, 1996)
(click for audio)

See also: Filk music

Can't say I was ever exactly satisfied with the term 'Cowpunk' when it was used to define the sound of Detroit's Goober & the Peas.

I can say that I always thought they were great fun. I loved the couple of albums they released while they were together, and I'll venture that they were one of the finest bands to come out of Detroit at the end of the 1980's and first part of the '90's.

It's very pleasing (and entirely appropriate) to discover that there's a truly darn fine
Goober & the Peas tribute site out there on the web. (click for link)

I only got to see them live just once. It was in '95 at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco, on a bill with Rosie Flores.

If the show list at the tribute site is close to complete, that may have been their penultimate show before the band broke up.

They were great. I remember all the straw getting kicked around the stage. I remember some folks in the crowd saying 'Wait - - That's not country music... OR rockabilly!', and I remember really not caring. I recall buying a t-shirt from Junior and enjoying talking with him for a couple of minutes...

In addition to the tribute site, be aware that Motor City Rock  1980-1990 has a very nifty
Goober & the Peas Audio Page, with just about all of the band's studio recordings archived!



Promo video clip of 'Hot Women (Cold Beer)' ⬆

This beautiful performance shot of Goober on stage was lovingly (if heedlessly) ganked from the website of Chicago Photographer Jim Newberry. ➽

See also:
A Goober & the Peas Fansite at MySpace, which displays audio, video, as well as the passing of the reins to (Tracee Mae Miller and her husband) Dan John (Goober) Miller's current band, Blanche.