A few days ago I was going through some boxes and came across it. I decided to rip it and share it. I don’t know the titles or artists for any of the songs. I tried SoundHound on my iPhone, but no luck.

Download it

While looking for a pencil, I came across the tape today and decided to rip it. I lost the tracklisting, but was able to mostly reconstruct it. Side A is more of dubstep, rap and dance thing. Side B is rock and folk.

Download the mixtape
Side A:
1. Jeff Wayne – The Eve of the War (Disco Remix)
2. Joker & Ginz – Stash
3. Fuck Buttons – Surf Solar (7″ edit)
4. Burial – Shutta
5. DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince – Parents Just Don’t Understand (Extended Mix)
6. Darkstar – Videotape
7. The Jacksons & Mick Jagger – State of Shock (instrumental)
8. Geto Boys – My Mind Playing Tricks on Me
9. BFC – Chicken Noodle Soup

Side B:
1. Maureen Tucker and Jonathan Richman – I’m Sticking With You
2. Prince – I Would Die 4 U (extended version)
3. Kurt Vile – Take Your Time
4. Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A. (The Freedom Mix)
5. Breathe Owl Breathe – Sabretooth Tiger
6. Neil Young – Cortez the Killer (live in San Francisco, 1978)
7. Joy Division – Atmosphere
8. Harry Nilsson – Me and My Arrow
9. Steely Dan – Green Earrings
10. Sonic Youth – ? (It’s a short bit of live noise, I have no idea what from. I might have tried to put another track on here and ran out of tape.)

I sometimes complain about the Lansing scene. While there are some good bands, they all seem to be either punk, metal or folk. But I recently found somebody doing something different. I recently met this guy named Mike Vasas. He’s a middle school music teacher and musician.

He started a blog called Songs Not by Me (http://songsnotbyme.com) where he has been posting a cover every day this year. His song selections are impeccable and the diversity of style in these performances is just mind blowing. Some of them have incredible arrangements or rework the song in really inventive ways. The least of them are still well performed run-throughs of great songs.

I still haven’t listened to all of them, as he’s already posted over 300. But of the ones I’ve listened to, here are my favorites. They aren’t really in any order, but my two favorites are at the top.

Billie Jean by Michael Jackson

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=913

Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=134

Back In Judy’s Jungle by Brian Eno

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=366

That’s No Reason To Cry by David Ackles

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=769

Bad Romance by Lady Gaga

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=485

As The World Falls Down by David Bowie

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=426

Crazy by Gnarls Barkley

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=236

All My Friends by LCD Soundsystem

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=143

How To Write a Song by Harry Nilsson

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=1347

Coconut by Harry Nilsson

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=942

Daybreak by Harry Nilsson

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=945

Nobody Cares About The Railroads Anymore by Harry Nilsson

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=387

Daddy’s Song by Harry Nilsson

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=244

All I Think About Is You by Harry Nilsson

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=180

Love Story by Randy Newman

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=408

Fat Mama Kick by Scott Walker

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=1345

Journey Through The Past by Neil Young

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=371

In the Neighborhood by Tom Waits

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=981

Heart it Races by Architecture in Helsinki

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=935

Desolation Row by Bob Dylan

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=829

Clam Crab Cockle Cowrie by Joanna Newsom

http://www.songsnotbyme.com/?p=111

Even though I don’t know jack about Puerto Rican music, I picked up the complete set: 4 LPs and 13 45s. After spending some time with it, I picked out some of my favorites and made this mix. Consider it a taster for the rich meal that Numero will give you when they release the Ebirac compilation. These tracks are crude vinyl rips, the Numero compilation will be remasters taken from the original tapes.

Ebirac Dead Stock Mix (direct download)

Numero doesn’t want me spilling the beans on Ebirac, which I completely understand, so the mix has been taken down. If you want to hear this fire, buy the compilation when it’s released.

Tracklisting:
Under the Sun Orchestra – “Under the Sun”
Orquesta la Solucion – “La Guerra” from Mi Barrio se Quemo
La Justicia Orquesta – “Plazos Traicioneros” from Salsa con Nostalgia
Manuel y Sus Estrellas Combo – “El Duro”
Orquesta la Solucion – “Te Quiero (I Love You) pt. 2″ from Desde mi Barrio en Chicago
Nuñez and Juventude Tipica 78 – “Mi Unica Ilusion”
Orquesta la Solucion – “A Bailar son Montuno”
Orquesta la Union – “Solitario”
Orquesta la Solucion – “Ay, Si, Si” from “Mi Barrio es Fuego” le Cantamos con Todo Nuestro Corazon

Italians Do It Better, which is my favorite label at the moment, just put out a new 12″: “Robots are Un-American” by Solange. They described in their store as:

While digging for rare italo disco vinyls in the archives of a now defunct radio station, a friend of Bottin’s found this reel dated 1984. All we could find on the internet are traces of a mysterious promo pressing (that’s where we got all the credits from) on legendary IL DISCOTTO label. The track seems to have been recorded at Green House, a former recording studio in Padova, Italy – the same city as the radio station’s where it was found! We asked Bottin to make a remix that we put on the B side and the rest is history, literally. Ltd to 750 copies and will not be repressed!

The song knocks hard, so I started looking around for more info about it. Googling for “Solange” mostly just brings up information about Solange Knowles, Beyonce’s sister. Googling for “Robots are Un-American” mostly brings up stores selling the IDIB 12″. But I did find a torrent titled “SOLANGE – ROBOTS ARE UN-AMERICAN – 1984 italo disco – Discotto – cruisin’ – RARE vinyl rip mp3″, but nobody was seeding it. Then I found this video:

It’s wicked awesome, but I wasn’t sure if it was made for the original single or for IDIB’s reissue of the single. It looks retro rather than authentically 80s. The star’s clothes are a big giveaway. Also, the director is listed as Today Versitile, which has no google hits, and the label is listed as Giallo Records. Giallo, huh? Not Italians Do it Better or Il Discotto?

I then notice the video was posted by Todd Verow. I google that, and find out he’s a famous underground gay filmmaker. He has a new movie coming out called The Boy with the Sun in His Eyes that is described as:

Kevin’s (Josh Ubaldi) funeral rockets John (Tim Swain) into the orbit of the flamboyant Solange (Mahogany Reynolds), a b-movie actress/one hit wonder best known in Europe for her roles in 80′s Italian horror movies.

Movies with loosely translated titles like Rabid!, Rat Attack and The Ghoul School.

Solange was Kevin’s muse. Kevin was Solange’s confidant. Her mysterious, glamorous lifestyle is the stuff of legend to John via Kevin’s prior conversations, emails and wild phone calls. After Kevin’s suicide, John is eager to escape into her world.

Seemingly on a whim, she invites John to accompany her to Europe as her Boy Friday. She’s going to work on her guerilla foodie tv pilot “The Un-Tourist Guide.” John accepts the challenge. He’s been in a cubicle temping rut for a few years, and with the death of Kevin he figures he hasn’t got much more to lose. Oops.

As John follows her into heady whirlwind romances with cute French pop stars and deadly (but hot!) Milanese model managers, they barely survive murderous performance artists in Paris and fatal gourmet food poisonings in Italy. John begins to realize that Solange’s world is far more complex and dangerous than he could possibly have imagined. Her chosen lifestyle abounds with trips, tricks, and traps.

And John’s the bait.

The actress playing Solange is the same woman as the star of the video. And there is a line about her “one-hit wonder from back in the 80s”, “Robots are Un-American”. The website for the movie also mentions original music by William Bottin, who remixed the track on the b-side of the IDIB 12″.

I’m pretty sure IDIB is frontin’. This ain’t rare unreleased italo disco. This a new cut by Bottin that is being released as a throwback to fit in with the marketing of The Boy with the Sun in His Eyes. Or just for fun. The song is still ultra-fire, though.

Big Party Down at Shabooms’s

Creepy John Thomas – Down In The Bottom (0:00)
Ram Jam – Black Betty (4:53)
Black Sabbath – Supernaut (8:42)
Death – Keep on Knockin’ (12:50)
ZZ Top – Legs (12″ Metal Mix) (14:09)
Yardbirds – Lost Woman (21:56)
Nazareth – Razamanaz (25:06)
Ace Frehley – New York Groove (28:30)
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Gimme Three Steps (31:19)
Judas Priest – Living After Midnight (35:19)
Blackfoot – Bummed Out (38:31)

I recently watched Eastbound and Down. This mix is what I imagine would be playing during a big party down at Shaboom’s. Some of the songs would actually be played at bars like that; some of them would only be played at bars like that in heaven.

What popped in my head was an image of a man holding a shotgun stepping out of a car with a shotgun in slow motion while the wind whips his tie to the side. So I decided to put together a mix of music that sounded like a soundtrack to a Tarantino film. It starts off all funky and gory, but gets really weird and awkward near the end.

Getting Out of a Car with a Shotgun
Quiet Village – Circus of Horror
Okay Temiz – Denizalti Rüzgarlan
Ananda Shankar – Dancing Drums
Los Chikichaka – Musica Mulata
Soul Creations – Funky Jive Part II
Juaneco Y Su Combo – Mi Robaron Mi Runa Mula
Kazi Arindam – Mere Liye Too Bani
Wallias Band – Muziqawi Silt
Sidney Pinchback & The Schille – Soul Strokes
Greek Fountains – An Experimented Terror
Czerwone Gitary – Coda

Well, today, this dude named Little Chris took it up a notch. He does a podcast devoted to music from the Midlands area of the UK. And he recently recorded a podcast that was inspired by the type of music I played on Ugly Music for Beautiful People. He even gives me a shoutout.

Download his podcast here:
http://brumcast.podomatic.com/entry/2008-02-21T13_36_08-08_00

And check the shoutout at about 3:30 in. I love hearing my name said with an English accent.

That Gum You Like is Going to Come Back in Style

Angelo Badalamenti – Twin Peaks Theme
Nico – Janitor of Lunacy
Black Devil – “H” Friend
Burial – Archangel
Arthur Russell – You Have Did the Right Thing When You Put That Skylight In
Angelo Badalamenti – Dance of the Dream Man
The Walker Brothers – Fat Mama Kick
Grace Jones – Warm Leatherette
The Knife – Silent Shout
Angelo Badalmenti – Audrey’s Dance
Farah – Dancing Girls [Suite 304 Demo]
Can – Thief
Blonde Redhead – The Dress
Angelo Badalamenti – Laura Palmer’s Theme