RIP MRR

In January, Maximum Rocknroll announced they were calling it quits on the  legendary punk magazine. That is heartbreaking news to the worldwide punk community. Once upon a time before BBS and the Internet, MRR was a lifeline to even the most remote of punk scenes, uniting, inciting, informing, inspiring.

The good news is that MRR will still maintain the archive, likely the largest and most diverse punk audio library on Earth, and the radio show which is still in syndication since Tim's day in the late 1970s and also available as a podcast (subscribe).

More good news is that the Internet Archive hosts a nice collection of about 300 issues of the famous zine—scanned and searchable!

Go now and you can still get the final issues and back issues from Maximum Rocknroll's store to have, hold, and cherish. I have years of my MRRs and still adore and enjoy them. Cheers to all my MRR friends. MRR is dead, long live MRR.

— Katya Oddio

Monday Energy Injection

Formed in Los Angeles way back in 1977, The Dickies are one of the longest lived punk bands in the world. Their silly lyrics, catchy jangly melodies, and sense of fun have built a devoted fan base. Some members of that fan base have done energetic covers of Dickies classics that are sure to have you tapping at your desk.

TRACK LIST

01. The Norma Jeans - (Stuck In A Pagoda With) Tricia Toyota

Featuring Your Very Own Webmaster, Ciaron, On Vocals And Bass Guitar

02. Gigantor – Gigantor

03. Stiletto Boys - Gigantor

04. Chuckhole - Stan Lee

05. Simpletones - Disco Ape

This Is Their Version Of You Drive Me Ape

06. Sgt. Phallic's Undernourished Kids - E's In Leah

A Live Reworking Of Just Say Yes

07. Doc & The Pods - Attack Of The Mole Men

08. Panic Attacks - Manny, Moe & Jack

09. Mouthguard - Hideous

MUSIC COPYRIGHTS: All Rights Reserved

IMAGE: cover improvised by Oddio Overplay from the cover of The Dickies' eighth single, "Fan Mail"

NATIONALITY: Multinational
CLASSIFICATIONS: Punk; Rock; Tribute; Power Pop
LANGUAGE: English, German
FILED UNDER: Digital: Small Classes: Tribute, Cover, Remix

Nina Hagen Live At DNA Lounge

Nina Hagen is many things — The Mother of Punk, model, actress, singer, songwriter, all-around performer, to name a few. She is also a hero to countless punks of at least two generations.

This live show from the The DNA Lounge Live Collection was recorded at the club in San Francisco, California, 9 February 2005. Nina performs songs reaching all the way back into her catalog to the 1970s, as well as two songs from her then current album, Big Band Explosion, and some uniquely Nina cover renditions.

Live Recording Sets

recorded via the soundboard
 

1.) DJ Set by AplusD [Adrian (of Blue Period) and Mysterious Dee]

2.) Opening Set by Jill Tracy

3.) DJ Set by AplusD [Adrian (of Blue Period) and Mysterious Dee]

4.) 03:28:04 Nina Set Begins

Nina Hagen Set Playlist

01.  Acappella German cabaret song (This is Nina, after all!)

02. Let Me Entertain You (2003, Big Band Explosion)

03. Return of the Mother (2000, Return of the Mother)

04. Zero Zero U.F.O. (2001, Sternenmaedchen)

05. Fever (2003, Big Band Explosion)

06. I'm Going to Live the Life I Sing About in My Song (gospel classic by Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey) (1993, Revolution Ballroom)

07. New York New York (1983, Fearless) / Prima Nina in Ekstasy (with a new rap) (1985, In Ekstasy)

08. A Horse With No Name (reggae version of a classic by America) / Hey Shiva Shankara

09. King of Hearts (1993, Revolution Ballroom)

10. All Apologies (Nirvana cover)

11. Take A Giant Step (The Monkees cover, song by Gerry Goffin and Carole King)

12. She's So Stupid

13. Ska Thing (1996, Bee Happy -- music and words by Nina)

14. Born In Xixax (1982, Nunsexmonkrock)

15. Just Squeeze Me (Ella Fitzgerald classic)

16. LSD

17. Born To Die In Berlin (1996, Bee Happy -- music by Dee Dee Ramone, words by Nina)

18. Bang Bang

19. Pollution Pirates (1993, Revolution Ballroom)

20. Ave Maria (1989, Nina Hagen)

21. 1st Encore: Young People / United Women of the World (2003, charity song with other women singers)

22. 1st Encore: Runaway (1996, Bee Happy -- music and words by Dee Dee Ramone)

23. 1st Encore: How Could I Be So Lucky?

24. 2nd Encore: (uncertain about this one)

25. 2nd Encore: TV-Glotzer (White Punks on Dope) (1978, Nina Hagen Band)

Official Website | AllMusic | Wikipedia | IMDB | Facebook

MUSIC COPYRIGHTS: All Rights Reserved
NATIONALITY: Euro W: Germany: Berlin
CLASSIFICATIONS: Punk; Voice; Pop; Dance; Vocal Experimentation; Vocal Pop; Frontwoman
SOURCES: The DNA Lounge Live Collection, Internet Archive
LANGUAGE: German; Madhya; Hindi; English ESL
FILED UNDER: Digital: Popular Music: Punk, Post-Punk, Power Pop

Goofball Pop-Punk from The Blendours

Once upon a time there was a cool, teen pop-punk band in Iowa City, Iowa. They were called Everybody Nose, and they sang fun lyrics, rocked out, and firmly embedded hooky songs in our heads.

We loved them so much that when two of the Oddio Overplay team were married, several songs in their wedding mix were sweet, upbeat love songs by Everybody Nose. The teen band captured those raw feelings of love so well.

Then Everybody Nose broke up, as young bands usually do, and their songs were pulled from the FMA leaving holes in the wedding mix and sadness among the new fans who had found them there. Good news! We found those songs on Bandcamp!

We learned that Rachel and Luke are in Lipstick Homicide, Molly E is in The ILLS, and Trevor is now in The Blendours and The Surf Zombies (Facebook, Reverb Nation), who play all original "hot rod horror surf" instrumentals

The Blendours have released heaps of acoustic power pop in the vein of Everybody Nose. Listening to those albums leads us to believe Trevor was probably the lead songwriter for Everybody Nose. Jumping around though their Bandcamp albums, you will find many are free, such as Disability Blues [2011] and a fun covers EP, Blendours For Sale (For Free) [2012].



The live show is often plugged in and so is their split LP on Eccentric Pop Records.

The Blendours Bandcamp | Facebook | Buy Vinyl | YouTube |  

Artist Location: Iowa, USA

Rock Legends Black Market Baby

The late '70s and the '80s rock and punk scene in Washington, DC is infamous the world over. DC rockers Black Market Baby played their first show in 1980 and continue to rock the city with reunions. These were the bad boys, the drinkers and fighters. Stooges, Ramones, Black Market Baby, punk as hell. Black Market Baby provided a sharp contrast to the positive hardcore punks of DC.

As a tiny punk girl in DC, I was intimidated by Black Market Baby and rocking bands of their calibre. They were a little older and seemed drunk, disorderly, dangerous, nasty, mean, destructive -- the opposite of what I respected in the productive DC music scene. I couldn't help but love them, though, because Black Market Baby kept the snarl and fight and rock in the clubs. I love these bad boys still!

There are 10 tracks available on the official Black Market Baby website that capture some of the energy of this legendary band, and you can lay your hands on some of their recordings through Dischord Records, another legendary DC institution. Long live punk, baby!

--Katya Oddio

Official Website | AllMusic Bio | Some Vids on YouTube | Store

Music License: © All Rights Reserved
Image: Black Market Baby by Steve Figliozzi
Artist Location: Washington, DC, USA

SNL Spoof Punk

On the Fred Armisen farewell episode of Saturday Night Live one video short featured a spoof punk band made up of Armisen, Bill Hader, and Taran Killam.

The short featured several humorous punk songs by their fictional band, Ian Rubbish and The Bizarros.

Those songs are available for download as an EP with another single at IanRubbish.com where you can see the skit again, as well. A piece of SNL history.

Music License: assumed all rights reserved

Bill Murray, We Love You

Remember the Decibelles, those wonderful, crazy French girls who had the song about Bill Murray?

Their website with fun, power pop EP Pedro Joko disappeared, but they are back! You can get it in your ears at Bandcamp, and the band is on Facebook, too. Hoping we hear more from such a fun band.

'70s-'80s Heroes on the FMA

The Free Music Archive is an amazing resource for cutting edge music. It is also home to artists who have helped create the cutting edge for a long time. People such as: David Bynre (Talking Heads), Gang of Four, Bush Tetras, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), Transmitters, Superchunk, Robyn Hitchcock, The Soft Boys, Paul Westerberg (The Replacements), The Church, The Damned, Half Japanese, The Jesus Lizard, Hugh Cornwell (Stranglers), Legendary Pink Dots, to name just a few.

Here's a free 34-track compilation celebrating such music heroes.

'70s-'80s Heroes on the FMA: a compilation of artists on the Free Music Archive who won our hearts decades ago

 

Playlist:

Bomb!

Bomb was a psychedelic punk rock band from San Francisco (1986-1993). Bomb's Hits Of Acid is among Nirvana founder Krist Novoselic's favorite albums. Their Happy All the Time and Hate Fed Love were in massive overplay at Oddio NYC headquarters for many years.

Bomb was made up of Michael Dean (vocals, bass), Jay Morgan Crawford and Hilsinger (guitar), and Tony Fag (drums. Dean has been sharing much of Bomb's music on his sites for years (featured at Oddio in 2007), and we are happy to find the albums are still posted at his most recent site.

Here's the Bomb history from his site:

SubPop Freebies

Infamous independent label Sub Pop shares annual sampler compilations at SoundCloud

For more information on all of these artists please visit: www.subpop.com

• Sub Pop's 2012 Free Downloads
• Sub Pop's 2011 Free Downloads
• Sub Pop's 2010 Free Downloads
• Sub Pop's 2009 Free Downloads
• Sub Pop's 2008 Free Downloads

Farewell Fighter

Tennessee power pop band Farewell Fighter is offering up their The Winning Team EP for free. You can support the band by purchasing it and their other music on iTunes, Amazon.com, or directly.

Official Site |  Facebook | YouTube | Shop

Most individuals would think twice before giving up all their physical belongings, cutting ties and risking homelessness and starvation. In 2011, Nashville pop-rock quartet Farewell Fighter did just that. After topping Alternative Press Magazine’s list of 2010’s top unsigned bands in North America, the band decided to take things to the next level by scheduling show after show in self-booked, self-funded tours across America; ultimately spending the next 12 months on the road playing 150+ shows in more than 40 states and selling more than 5,500 copies of their latest self-released EP entitled The Way We Learn.

So, we decided that money should NEVER be an issue if you really want our music. Below is a link to download our ENTIRE first EP titled “The Winning Team”. We do ask, if you can afford it, that you download it on iTunes, Amazon.com, or order it from our merch store. We are an independent band and we can definitely use any extra funds possible to keep us on the road and our bills paid, but most of all we want you to have this whether you can pay for it or not.

licenses: full copyright, all rights reserved

Stereo Killer

Time to send some love to StereoKiller.com. That site hosts years of hardcore punk, metal, emo, and hard rock albums and tracks for free download. There are even some releases classified in other genres, such as country, hip hop, and indie.

StereoKiller began in 1997 as a forum for Pennsylvania hardcore, and the community grew to the massive site it is today with something like a quarter million users.

StereoKiller is a great spot to:

1. Stream, sell, and/ or give away your music free in a fully customizable profile
2. Listen to music, find new artists
3. Chat with people, find new friends
4. Read album reviews and band news
5. Find local concerts

Most downloaded album ever at StereoKiller:


A recent compilation:


A straight-forward metal album:

Rocksteady Punk from Denver

The Repercussions are a Denver band who have been performing together since they were just kids in Washington, DC about fifteen-years ago. Today they are a tight operation punching out solid rocksteady ska punk. (And DC folks, this band is HR approved.)

They are touring the western US this month. The Repercussions are sharing their React Back EP. While it is a fun EP, you really have to see them to feel the power they deliver. Go on out, California and Vegas!



Official Website | Facebook | ReverbNation | Twitter | Myspace

photo source: ReverbNation profile

Kingface Live At The 9:30 Club

In 2005, Kingface gave Mike Lupica permission to share a recording of a show on the WFMU blog. (read the post)

The full performance (in the form of  thirteen MP3s) of Kingface was recorded live off-the-board at Washington DC's original 9:30 Club in 1988.

Those recordings have been added to the Free Music Archive. Enjoy this slice of Washington, DC music history.

Cheers to all who made the '80s DC music scene the productive, exciting scene it was. The stuff of legends.

Weekend Sweet Sixteen

Advent Chamber Orchestra - 05-06 classical, baroque, chamber	US Army Brass Quintet - Encore! brass, classical, baroque, chamber	Anitek - Calm and Collect Volume 3 (among many others) hip hop, downtempo	Bubamara Brass Band - Bubamarija Kashtanizma Balkan brass
Umoja - Palago afro-pop, funk, highlife, African	Blake Fleming - Time's Up drum, percussion	MadMustangMix - mashups varied, remix, sampling	VA - Late '70s to Mid '80s Heroes '80s, varied
Advent Chamber Orchestra - Dec classical, baroque, chamber	Advent Chamber Orchestra - Nov classical, baroque, chamber	Ain Dreux Troyes Chartres (106 tracks of French music) varied, French	Cantonese Opera (help with the title?) opera, stage music, Chinese
Andrew Bisset - three compositions modern composition, modern classical	Netherland Dwarf - May the Piper (like the bunny!) toy music	Songs from a Random House - The 1986 Demo new wave	Soundeyet - On A Steady Diet of Hash, Bread, and Salt Greek rembetico

Punk Rock Advent Calendar

'70s Power Pop Redux

Ah, the late '70s were the glory days of power pop punk when bands like the Clash and 999 were kings. Power pop descended from those originals appears today in the form of The Killers, Hot Hot Heat, The Strokes, The Walkmen, Franz Ferdinand, The Hives, Interpol, and a slew of others. It's a sound that I personally am all too happy to hear again. Punk and New Wave kids in suspenders, ratty Lower East Side band shirts, or thin ties, it was fun pop with a punch.

The album PATH MASHER by My Mind turns back time to '76.

license: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States

Ringing in the New Year

Happy New Year, music friends!

As of January 1, 2011, Oddio Overplay has made 1,452 contributions to the Free Music Archive. That is the number to beat for activity in 2011. How about fulfilling a resolution right now to be a part of that most excellent free music community? As the byline reads, "It's not just free music; it's good music!"

Later this month, Oddio's netlabel for children, Kazoomzoom will relaunch with a new look and a larger catalog. This is a very exciting time for us, as I have wanted to really kickstart that slowly developing project. I'm full of enthusiasm, hope, and big plans for 2011. I hope you and your family will be a part of an exciting new year at Kazoomzoom!

Here are a quick five from the most recent additions Oddio has made to the FMA that you may have missed. Happy New Year and Happy Listening!

TAGGED AS: hard rock, spanish, metal, spain, los cuatrocientos golpes, rock, hardcore


TAGGED AS: old-time historic, cylinder, stage music, victor herbert orchestra, operetta, classical, instrumental rock, light orchestral, orchestral


TAGGED AS: latin america, pop, spanish, lido pimienta, columbia


TAGGED AS: classical, francesco lettera, instrumental, italy


TAGGED AS: modern composition, 20th Century Classical, toy instruments, ireland, aestrid byrne, toy piano

photo credit: FREE PAPERCRAFT 2011 CALENDAR by Nadja, owner of smil in Berlin
license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic

You Are Not Stealing Records on FMA

This week the catalog of Portugal based netlabel You Are Not Stealing Records was added to the Free Music Archive.
The following mix pulls some easy favorites from many of the YANSR albums on the FMA. You will want to jump around in the mix to find items you enjoy, because a broad spectrum of genres are covered.
These include Ambient, Ambient Electronic, Avant-Garde, Blues, Chip Music, Classical, Composed Music, Electronic, Experimental, Experimental Pop, Field Recordings, Folk, Goth, Indie-Rock, Industrial, Lounge, Metal, New Wave, Noise, Noise-Rock, Polka, Post-Rock, Punk, Reggae - Dub, Rock, Rockabilly, Sound Collage, and Surf.
That's a lot of ground for one label! Enjoy!

Loved Like a Milkshake, Wesley Willis Tribute

Wesley Willis (1963-2003) was an artist and musician from Chicago who released hundreds of songs with his own unique sense of humor. His chronic schizophrenia was reflected in his work which leaned toward the bizarre and obscene. Willis gained a cult following and major label attention.

One of his labels, the prominent independent Alternative Tentacles described Wesley's work as "simultaneously disturbing, hilarious, blunt, and intoxicating. Wesley's sheer excitement and unaffected honesty about every cultural phenomenon, defined his music as truly individual, and truly punk rock."

Sadly, in 2002 Wesley was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). He underwent emergency surgery in June 2003, and passed away in August of the same year.

Hiji, a.k.a. M-Halo, soon thereafter organized a tribute album to honor Wesley Willis. Work for LOVED LIKE A MILKSHAKE: A WESLEY WILLIS TRIBUTE ALBUM began when Hiji posted a Craigslist listing suggesting a tribute of cover songs. The response was positive and the following 18 songs were selected. The final product was released for free online in November 2003 and produced by M-Halo with mastering and additional production by Tom Gordon.

Enjoy the entire album LOVED LIKE A MILKSHAKE: A WESLEY WILLIS TRIBUTE ALBUM on FMA!