COVER THE EARTH Vol. 5

When will it end?!  Still more bizarre international ethnic versions of Western pop hits. And by 'ethnic' I also mean American and E...

JANE BIRKIN "Lolita Go Home"

Filthy Mondays? If last week's Kay Martin album whet your appetite for songstresses known more for sex appeal than singing abilities, ch...

Bandcamp Is The New Cassette Culture pt.3

More indie album wonderfulness courtesy of sites like Bandcamp (and remember, you can always listen for free) from geniuses that would other...

Les Dauphins: Just Another French/Algerian '60s Rock Band

One of the first French-language rock groups was this intensely obscure band with a near-unsearcheable name.  Look up "Les Dauphins...

"Hurray, The Rattles Are Here!"

At first (and second, and third) listen, Germany's The Rattles sound like a Beatles clone. And a particularly bizarre and hilarious one,...

THE BLACK SWEDEN: Heavy-Metal Versions of ABBA Hits

As one-joke album concepts go, "Gold" by the one-off Black Sweden works better than most.  Don't know how many ABBA songs one ...

AN ALBUM CALLED "DISCO POLKA" THAT HAS DISCO VERSIONS OF POLKA SONGS AND POLKA VERSIONS OF DISCO SONGS AND...

...so help me, I did it. *hangs head in shame*  I recorded the entire Myron Floren "Disco Polka" album, and *chokes* am releasi...

Old Friends in the Zither Sound

Yeah, yeah, I know: everybody plays air-zither along with their favorite 'zither heroes,' they even play the Zither Hero video game,...

AVANT-POLKA

Following on the heels of our last post, which featured The Mighty Accordion Band ... Well, why not avant-polka?  Who says classical, jazz, ...

ALBUM DU JOUR #6: The Toy-Pop Sounds of Carton Sonore

The French invasion of wonderful naive/toy-pop continues with the loveable Carton Sonore (Sound Card). The three all-too-brief " Petit ...

COVER THE EARTH: Bizarro Versions of Your Favorite Oldies From Across the World Wide Weird

There are lots of foreign-language covers out there, but what really intruiges me is when non-Anglo/Americans approach the material from the...

MARCHING BAND VERSIONS OF BLACK SABBATH AND RUN-DMC, ANYONE?

As I wrote last year : "I propose that we officially make March 4th 'Alternative Marching Band Day.' March 4th = March Forth. ...

OKTOBERFEST A-GO-GO

While it's still October (or, as I like to call it, 'ROCKtober'), here's a whole beer garden's worth of German " sc...