Make A Donation, Receive A Personalized Gift, Rinse, Wash, Repeat!

Hey, I've got more eBay auctions running this month because I need to buy a new turntable as soon as possible. My roommates are leaving, and what good is being a record collector without a turntable? I also have to get a new cellphone because Verizon has no coverage where I work or where I live. If you don't have an eBay account, you can always make a donation to the website -- normally they're used to cover hosting fees, or to get drunk -- by using the PayPal link at the top left column of this page. If not for me...do it for yourself? Otherwise you're surely going to hell. My goal is $350, which is a bit of a reach considering my best month ever for donations brought me thirty-five dollars...but maybe if I sell out a little bit and post more popular MP3s, it won't be such a reach! I guess I'm really going to have to step up my blog entries for the next few weeks. It's time to get back to basics: vulgarity, uncouth social remarks, top ten lists and unabashed hatred for all things pop-culture. Without question, I will personally be sending special 'Thank You' gifts to everyone who donates. Even if you live in Lithuania or Sri Lanka. For serious this time, Mike M. Cost be damned! I'll be keeping track of my progress on this handy dandy chart I just created in Photoshop:

Here's a weird one for you. I received an e-mail from Podcast Jack yesterday containing a re-sequenced version of the first official Obscure References album Carpal Tundra. This is not to be confused with the ??? CD-r, which is limited to 27 copies, each one being untitled and uncredited (I don't even think they have ID3 tags attached to the sound files). The ??? CD-rs will be available only at top secret locations (try east-side hipster coffeeshops or record stores) in Los Angeles. Carpal Tundra, on the other hand, will be packaged beautifully with artwork, inserts, and even pun-filled song titles! Why? Because that's what we decided on that one time when we were really high watching [Adult Swim] cartoons in my basement. Yup...those were the good old days. In any event (or maybe in every event) Carpal Tundra will be available through this website (only 100 copies) in the next month or so. More details as they emerge from the ether...

Boris - Hama
Einsturzende Neubauten - Halber Mensch
Comets On Fire - Return To Heaven
Danielson Famile - Two Sitting Ducks
Aphex Twin - Fingerbib

"Originally released in 1967 on the BDS label. Mario Schifano (the amazing painter and sculptor from the Italian pop scene) recruited four young and unknown musicians to record this innovative album. Features Peter Harman and beautiful cover artwork by Schifano himself. Previously carried on the dubious Mellow label, this version has got to jump one giant step forward in the great Italian label scramble for legitimacy! Starts out with a killer side-long track that almost makes this one out as the Italian answer to Love Live Life +1: flying freak-out stuff, stumbling percussion, screaming organ waver, screaming female vocals, screaming, heavy lead guitar all add up to a first class psychedelic cacophony. The remaining four tracks are fine, in a shorter psych/pop vein. Unknown and good-to-astounding, depending on your relationship to the psych universe." - Mutant Sounds

Le Stelle Di Mario Schifano
Dedicato A
MediaFire Download Link

Tracklist:
01. Le Ultime Parole Di Brandimante, Dall'Orlando Furioso, Opsite Peter Hartman E Fine (Da Ascoltarsei Con TV Acessa, Senza Volume)
02. Molto Alto
03. Susan Song
04. E Dopo
05. Intervallo
06. Molto Lontano (A Colori)

Tags: eBay, auctions, donations, Paypal, care package, personalized gift, thermometer, telethon, benefit, Photoshop, Lithuania, Boris, Einsturzende Neubauten, Comets On Fire, Danielson Famile, Aphex Twin, Le Stelle Di Mario Schifano, Dedicato A, mp3, blog, download, rare, out-of-print

Teleportation And Obscure References News

Physics News is reporting that Australian scientists have proposed a method for teleportation. Right now they're simply working with matter waves, using a technique that differs from quantum teleportation schemes in that they don't require the sender/receiver to share entangled states. I guess they're still miles away from teleporting animals or humans, since they're working with atoms frozen at "about 100 billionths of a degree about absolute zero." [story]

Whatever, it's not going to work, anyway. They should just read the fictional story I wrote last year about the scientist who figured out how to teleport / time travel and killed all his test subjects. None of these teleportation theories account for the earth's movement or other objects that might interact/merge with the matter that is being teleported. Although the earth moves slow, the person might reappear a few inch to the left or right of the intended location, which could lead to their being fused to a nearby object, thus resulting in death. Also, what if, while a human heart is being recombined, a dust particle finds its way into the mix? Death? I don't know. Teleportation seems like its still a long way off for scientists, at least in my opinion. And my opinion, as we all know, matters very little.

- I'm going to be fairly busy all weekend, so I don't know how much time I'm going to have to devote to updating this page. I'll try to make sure an entry is published each day, but the times and contents will certainly vary. I might even decide to phone it in and simply copy/paste previously written stories (more "Adventures In Dating" stories, anyone?). Who knows! I'm winging it! It's Improvisation! You can't predict it!

- Hello, and keep warm. I spent this morning tweaking what will probably be the first commercially available Obscure References recording. Meanwhile, back in New Jersey, the production/packaging department is probably...uh...well, to be honest, the materials are probably sitting in someone's bedroom gathering a fine layer of dust. At the moment, Carpal Tundra is ten tracks, 58 minutes of outsider mayhem. Of course, only six tracks actually contain "music" (we use this term rather loosely). The other four are heady sound collages, field recordings, and snippets from obscure (duh!) LPs set to tunes that weren't good enough to stand on their own. The running order is:

01) For Robert Frost
02) Trusty Musket
03) Laser Beam Eye Frankenstein
04) Release
05) The Kingdom Pérignon
06) Break Y'Know
07) Marijuana Origami
08) Heavy Meddle
09) Knifemare
10) Soul Apache

More information will be shared as it becomes available.

Tags: Physics News, Australia, teleportation, scientists, short story, Obscure References, New Jersey, band, Carpal Tundra, ten tracks, 58 minutes, experimental, free jaz, improv, space rock, mp3, blog, download

Goodbye Podcast, Hello...Future?

It is with a heavy heart that I am required to inform you that the audio-stimulation series known as The Best Podcast You Have has reached its end. With this final episode - fittingly titled The Night We Called It A Day - the book is sealed on this endeavor. I, for one, thought it was really exciting to be a small part of the creative team behind the podcast, and will certainly miss the process of culling sounds from the outside world and waiting to hear how Jack would manipulate them. I think towards the end we were actually starting to hit our stride. The second half of this series was a whole lot of fun to participate in.

Enough yammering, here's the final episode (number nine) of The Best Podcast You Have: Circulations Amethysts.

The Night We Called It A Day (9:00:15)

In other site related news, I'm working on a real, legitimate piece of journalism that will hopefully be ready for publication later this week. I'm not going to give you the details, but interviews are being conducted and a story arc is being finalized. It's definitely going to rival some of the better pieces that I've managed to formulate between the fits of malaise, sloth, and fear that normally prevent me from actually attempting to write something serious in nature. Also, I enjoy complaining far too much to allow myself the necessary time to commit to a creative idea.

Also, perhaps exciting Obscure References news in the coming days/weeks. I have to spend some time making phone calls and Jack has to finish a group-related project before we can say anything further. Nothing will ever be the same again.

Tomorrow after I finish my work for the day, I'm going to convert and share the eleven field recordings I made during my cross-country drive last week. So if you like hearing natural sounds, be sure to check back tomorrow. Until then, you have to suffer through actual music. I'm so, so sorry.

Tags: The Best Podcast You Have, experimental, freeform, avant-garde, podcast, conclusion, The Night We Called It A Day, Circulations Amethysts, journalism, publication, Obscure References, field recordings, mp3, blog, download

Our Bubble Is Better Than Your Bubble

Today marks a very solemn day here at Swan Fungus. The penultimate episode of The Best Podcast You Have: Circulations Amethyst. On this week's installment, there was a guest musician, some friend of Jack's no one has ever met before. He sings in a foreign language and Jack [incorrectly] translates it. In the middle, there are snippets from a hilarious round-table discussion we had Friday night. Most of it was too vulgar to reproduce for public consumption, but there are some great one-liners, and a lot of instances in which I crack myself up mid-sentence. I'm that funny. Listen to Episode 8 right here. Visit the official TBPYH blog by clicking here. Check out the podcast (with an accompanying video-cast) on Jack's MySpace. And be sure to tell Jack you're not ready for this fucking epic magic carpet ride to end.

In the most disgustingly irksome article I have ever read, comes news that MTV is partnering in a "stunt" to have a band record an entire album inside a bubble. If you read this page with any regularity, you know all about the relationship between the music of Obscure References and our inflatable bubbles. Clearly someone is trying to "scoop" us, and I'll be damned if this shitty Epic Records band (whose name I am not even going to print) is going to stake a claim as the bubble band of the '00s. News as sickening as this makes me want to put even more effort into booking a summer tour for Obscure References, just so we can bring our bubbles along with us and perform inside them. I can't believe I'm even giving publicity to anything remotely related to MTV, but the blatant rip off (of Z's idea, which also happened to be a blatant rip-off) makes me want to puke on all involved parties' shoes.

Ugh. I hope that in spite of this tragic news, you can still try to have a pleasant Monday...

Tags: The Best Podcast you Have, Circulations Amethyst, podcast, episode, round-table discussion, vulgar, MySpace, MTV, bubble, band, recording, album, Obscure References, inflatable bubble, mp3, blog, download

Obscure References: Music For Poetry In Orbit

As described last week, Obscure References recently ended their longest hiatus to date and returned to Studio Evan Studios to commit two hours of music to tape. The sessions have yielded eight tracks and 68 minutes of listenable audio. Please listen closely, for you will hear delayed drum signals, ugly guitar tones, brilliant nothingness, and meandering abstract sound paintings. It is the audio-equivalent of complete isolation on a deserted isle. Officially titled Music For Poetry In Orbit, each track is dedicated in memory of a poet. The entire album, of course, is dedicated in loving memory to the greatest American poet of all time, Justin Timberlake. We all miss you, Justin.


Obscure References
Music For Poetry In Orbit
DZlo = bass
Zen Walk = drums
Eel Vain = guitar
Triangle Man = guitar

1 - For Robert Frost (Hello, And Keep Warm)
2 - For Alfred Tennyson (The Opium Eaters)
3 - For Seamus Heaney (Death Of A Satirist)
4 - For John Keats (Ode To A Third-Degree Burn)
5 - For Ezra Pound (The Fake Isle)
6 - For Walt Whitman (Leaves of Brass)
7 - For TS Eliot (The Gurney Of the Magician)
8 - For William Wordsworth (A Slumber Did My Stomach Spill)

Tags: Obscure References, Studio Evan Studios, recording session, abstract sound, Music For Poetry In Orbit, mp3, blog, download, famous poets, Robert Frost, Alfred Tennyson, Seamus Heaney, John Keats, Ezra Pound, Walt Whitman, TS Eliot, William Wordsworth, mp3, blog, download

Tres Mellow

As I mentioned last weekend, several members of the sonic thunderclap that is Musky Taint (3/4 Obscure References + Ilya) recorded tracks in Studio Evan Studios. In the wee morning hours we gathered with sonic winds swirling in our heads under a dim red glow that cast eerie shadows on our pale faces in the same way objects in a child's bedroom are magnified by a solitary night light that keep everyone awake as baby cries, "there's a monster in my room, there's a monster in my room!" Insistent tremolo drones and delayed signal paths joined hands and danced like smoke trailing upward from a fresh cherry for a half-hour or more, until the last embers popped and faded. Our thirsted slaked, Ilya immediately predicted we could package and sell the recording for forty dollars if we labeled it as unmastered Pygmolian out-takes (that's Slowdive, kiddies). After initially considering his offer, I decided the next best thing would be to put a clip online, for free, with a funny name.

We call this one, "Qygmalion" because I don't mind my P's and Q's.

Tags: Obscure References, Musky Taint, Studio Evan Studios, tremolo, drone, Slowdive, Pgymalian, Qygmalion, mp3, blog, download

Automagic Calibrations

A new week is underway, and creativity is afoot. Excitement surrounds various new time-wasters (let's be honest, that's what they are) that will probably remain half-finished forever. Let's just say I'm working on a script with some help/constructive criticism from Z, and no one on earth will find it amusing except for us.

But the real news today is that Podcast Jack has returned with the first installment of his new podcast series. I don't know what it's called, exactly, so I'm not quite sure how to introduce it to the masses other than to say, "here it is, come and get it." Not only is it super-high quality (encoded at 320k), it's really heady. Like, it makes you wonder what we're all on. Especially Jack. It features appearances by myself, Z, Ken, and a lot of soundbites that have been culled from who-knows where. If I'm not mistaken, all the the music used in this episode was recorded by related projects: Obscure References, and two songs penned by myself. I'm pretty sure the first one is a heavily-effected version of "An Afternoon at 1 & 9" that sounds like I'm on horse tranquilizers. Even I can't figure out what the second song is, which is more than slightly embarrassing. Enjoy it, make sure you check out Jack's website and all that jazz.

Last, and certainly least, some photographs from a typical Obscure References recording session. Jack is wearing his Wednesday Night "wink wink meeting" suit, and Jackie played trumpet and made s'mores. Z says it's times like these the website Rock-n-Roll Confidential is sorely missed. We look like total douchebags who have given up caring about our looks, and have unequivocally proven the theory that "unflattering angels" indeed exist. And there are lots of them.

- "look ma, we're a band!" / part 2
- "look ma, we're trapped in a box!" / part 2
- Z eats / Z looks trashed
- live action / live action 2 / live action 3 / live action 4
- Evan and Z percuss
- Jack accordion guitar
- Jack feels the vibe
- Ken glockenspiels
- obscure references
- obscure references