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...

ADIOS A LOS BEATLES

There is no more glorious sound for jaded ears than this rural Mexican brass band blowing berserk, off-key, highly enthusiastic instrumental...

The Gospel Accordion To Frank

And lo! the Lord appeared to Father Frank Perkovich, saying unto him: go amongst the Catholics of the American Midwest, and playeth polka mu...

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...

Bandcamp Is The New Cassette Culture...

...tho compared to the '80s/'90s tape underground: - the sound quality of indie music sites like Bandcamp is usually a lot better th...

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT ANNETTE FUNICELLO

You may have heard that The Queen of the Beach, Annette Funicello, recently died at age 70. And, yes, she was a Mouseketeer on "the Mic...

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, ...

The Mighty Accordion Band - They Said It Couldnt Be Done!

Apart from having one of the all-time great album covers (pretty obvious why I snatched this one up for a mere 99 cents at my local charity ...

The FLYING DUTCHMAN - ONE-MAN BAND SHOW

How's THAT for an album cover?  I think you can see why I picked up this private-press piece of vintage vinyl recently - it truly is a s...

Mexican Water Jug/Soda Bottle Folk Instruments

(Vote for "M4M Idol" ! You've got 'til Oct. 6.) A welcome recent trend in Mexican and Mexican/American music is playing i...

VINYL-PALOOZA #4: Hollywood Stomp - Los Angeles in Song 1920s - 1940s

While still sticking to my plan of only posting records this whole month (nothing taken from digital sources) I admit I got things a little ...

FORBIDDEN 45s!! (windbag edition)

Last year, Otis Fodder asked me to put together a guest-dj mix for his late, lamented radio show Friendly Persuasion. I decided to go thru m...

THE FINEST YODELING YOU CAN HEAR

Like the "obsolete" instruments I've written about, yodeling is another "uncool" old folk style that, nonetheless, r...

PHILIP GLASS GOES POLKA!

Not really. But an East Coast accordionist has released a collection of Philip Glass covers. Some solo, some of it sounds overdubbed, no o...

"I AM GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN..."

So, a topical 30-year-old punk rock song is relevant again . Who'd have thunk it? Of course, Jerry Brown isn't quite the same hipp...

ZOOGZ TOOZDAY 7: (Nonentity) Water III

Don't know Zoogz? Start HERE ! But even if you do think you know him, you'll be surprised by this 1988 album - there's no spok...

DON'T BE SUCH A SOUR KRAUT

A commenter on the swell Schadenfreudian Therapy blog requested Fritz Guckenheimer and his Sour Kraut Band. What the heck, I have one of ...

TUNES-FOR-FREE JAMBOREE #3: YOU ARE NOT STEALING RECORDS

Some of my favorite albums of late have been internet give-aways, the perfect music-distribution route for weirdos who don't make the ...