some favorite sounds

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Here's a short list of current favorite discs and bands including some that I've just never grown out of. They're in no particular order and are just ones I could think of at the moment.

The old list

Yma Sumac - is she Amy Camus from NJ? I think not!
Nearly any Ramones record
Billion Dollar Babies - Alice Cooper. I spent more time drumming along to this record than any other as a kid. Nearly anything with the original Alice Cooper band is great.
Frank Zappa
Lather - amazing new record. Frank originally tried to release it in the 80's as a 4 record set of all new music. Warner Brothers refused so Zappa played it over the radio telling fans to tape it! Warner released it as the records Sleep Dirt, Live in New York, Studio Tan, and Orchestral Favorites.
Civillization, Phase III. This was Frank's last and I think best (and most serious) record.
Freak Out. Rumour has it it totally influenced the Beatles when making Sgt Pepper.
Mothers Live in the Fillmore. Featuring Flo and Eddie of the Turtles. Very funny.
Just Another Band from LA. Has best version of Billy the Mountain - need I say more
Bongo Fury - with Captain Beefheart
We're Only In It For The Money.  The best cover ever! Parodying Sgt Pepper with the Mothers dressed in drag. Made in 1967, this record is still state of the art.
You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore series. Frank recorded nearly every live concert with the best mobile equipment. These records capture the best of the live shows.
Miles Davis, John Coltraine, Cecil Taylor, Dr Lonnie Smith, Eddie Henderson
Charles Earland - the Mighty Burner!
The amazing vibe player, Joe Locke
Soft Machine
UK - UK
Guitar Wolf - Japaneese Punk - "Evelybody Lock and Loll"
Never mind the Bollocks. Here's the Sex Pistols
Anything with Tony Williams or Bill Bruford on it - two of my druming favs.
The Bobs
Magma - an amazing French 70's-80's prog rock I couldn't say enough about.
Gong - more prog rock from frog rockers
I, Swinger - Combustble Edison
Esquivel - mind curdling Space Age Bachelor Pad Music!
Stereolab
Peng's their best
Space Age Bachelor Pad Music. Homage to Esquivel but no sonic similarity whatsoever.
Mars Audiac Quintet
Ok, most Stereolab is worth a listen
Powerful Pain Relief - The Love Jones -- cheesy
Eno. Lots and lots of Eno.
Axiom Stuff. Bill Laswell projects like Praxis.
Funkadelic and James Brown kick my ass.
Anything with the amazing soul drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie.
Out of the Woods - Dr Didg - extra funky didgeridoo music from a dude I grew up with.
Medeski, Martin, and Wood
The Grassy Knoll
Tower of Power
The Tubes!
Synergy - amazing pre midi synthesis that still blows away anything anyone else has ever done with a room full of keyboards
Descarte's Ruse - Freaks Amour
The Free Design. Sort of like the Partridge Family meets the Manson Family. Or maybe the Carpenters meet Ween.
Radio Stuyvesant - Bite the Wax Godhead
Optiganally Yours
Prissteens
Lee Fields
Pretty Things - SF Sorrow. Wow, a rock opera that predates Tommy. Some great songs.
LEG Slurp
 The Monkee's
Anything really, really strange that I've forgotten.
& I really love Indian Music
I guess I have a soft spot for Prog Rock type stuff ranging from old Genesis to Can, King Crimson. I like most of that stuff. It can't have too many synthesisers for me I guess.

The new list

So what's new 4 or so years after I originally created the list above?  Not much.  More jazz.  Much more Garage and Psychedelic. The Music Emporium (great 60's band!).  More current things? Queens of the Stoneage rocks.  The Bad Plus put out a special record. The funk revival among the young-uns is reassuring via bands like Sugarman 3 and the Hot Pants Funk Sextet.

 

If you like an eclectic bunch of music and listen to nearly anything and are in the NYC/NJ area then check out WFMU 91.1 They now broadcast over the internet.

WFMU Radio 91.1 in East Orange, NJ and 90.1 in North Jersey & Pennsylvania
WFMU Bumpersticker

Irwin and Michelle's Incorrect Music Hour is beyond amazing. They're on WFMU but have a page of their own:

Incorrect Music

 

WNYU's station has a great Psych show on Monday nights called Plastic Tales from the Marshmallow Dimension. There's some playlists and audio streams on their site.

Plastic Tales

 

24 hour a day streaming psych and garage courtesey of these guys

Technicolor Web of Sound (www.techwebsound.com)

 

WBAI 99.5 and WKCR 89.9 are also very special stations. WBAI has a great show on Tuesday nights 8pm called Off the Hook which covers all aspects of the Hacker World, the Internet, and the Phone system.

WBAI Radio 99.5 in NY City

WKCR, run by Columbia University, has the distinction of being the country's first FM station.