Sunday, August 23, 2009

obscure classics at heathers wednesday night!!!



obscure classics returns to heathers this wednesday night!
its been a while so i have lots of new old stuff to play for you guys.

August 26th

506 E. 13th st.

between ave. A & B

10pm to 2am


in the mean time i'm still working on the streaming audio issues here. all of the live sets from heathers still work, but i'm going to re-post all of my other mixes soon.

See you Wednesday!


Monday, August 10, 2009

uh oh?

the web service that stored all of my mixes has gone offline! i thought it was a temporary thing but its been quite a few days now - apparently they are undergoing some changes? the website just says "metamorphosis underway"...huh. anyone know a good host for streaming audio?
in the mean time, leave me a comment or leave me a message at last.fm.
TCB and enjoy your summer! i'm working on more mixes so stay tuned...

Saturday, June 20, 2009

ten little indie songs

james dean driving experience - sean connery - 1990
close lobsters - sewer pipe dream - 1987
the june brides - the instrumental - 1985
heavenly - tool - 1992
dolly mixture - side street walker - 1983
laugh - paul mcCartney - 1987
another sunny day - you should all be murdered - 1989
ultra vivid scene - special one - 1990
chapter house - mesmerise - 1992
the field mice - let's kiss and make up - 1989




seems that i have been obscure lately, my apologies. i've been busy with my band, hunters. we're playing a show july 9th at the knitting factory. its nothing like the music i play here at obscure classics... its kinda heavy. have a listen at myspace. i've been a huge fan of hunters since it formed. and fairly recently i was invited to play bass guitar for them, so it was a best case scenario, i'm pretty psyched!


so besides practicing my fingers off, i've been digging into a lot of indie and twee stuff. the first band, james dean driving experience, was apparently the next big thing in england in the late eighties, and i'm not sure what happened, they sort of trailed off or something. hearing their songs, i'm amazed and baffled that i'm just hearing about them now! and everyone i talk to is like "james dean who?" the happy ending is that they now have a myspace page, which says something about re-issuing their material on CD.

another one thats news to me is dolly mixture. having formed in 1979, their sound is kind of 10 years ahead of its time, considering the multitude of british indie bands in the late 80's that have a similar feel. these are the same girls that sing the backing vocals on captain sensible's wot, one of my personal faves. captain sensible being from the proto punk band, the damned - dolly mixture were girlfriends of the damned, or so the story goes. in 1995, bob stanley from saint etienne re-released dm's first untitled album as a CD on his label, renaming it "demonstration tapes", which features side street walker.

speaking of bob stanley, the song paul mcCartney, by laugh, is featured on a compilation he put together called CD86. i highly recommend it! its sort of an alternate version of the infamous C86 mixtape that NME magazine gave away in 1986. all of the bands on it were classic indie/twee pop and C86 became a genre tag of its own.

lets see, what else, i should mention that the backing vocal on the ultra vivid scene track, special one, belongs to kim deal of the pixies.

the last song, lets kiss and make up by the field mice, was later covered by saint etienne. for years i had thought saint etienne wrote it. hmm, why do i suddenly have a craving to listen to saint etienne? i'll have incorporate them into a mix at some point. until then.......

Sunday, March 15, 2009

sunday obscure classics

a mix of some of my latest faves, enjoy!


vivian goldman - launderette

orange juice - falling and laughing

unrest - six layer cake

vic godard - outrageous things

the june brides - i fall

the triffids - beautiful waste

bubblegum splash - 18:10 to yeovil junction

the fall - hotel bloedel

felt - primitive painters




Saturday, February 7, 2009

live set at Heathers December 27th

yes, i have been hibernating, but here is a little recording from Saturday Dec. 27th 2008 for you to listen to while i wait for my turntables to defrost. interesting night it was. i've never had so many requests! people were actually standing in line to ask me to play stuff i don't have. what am i, johnny jukebox? i did my best to appease. the crowd was one of the largest i've seen at Heathers. people were getting turned away at the door because we were at capacity. this recording picks up about an hour or so into my set, which started out with a long string of early nineties nostalgia. until next time, enjoy!


big audio dynamite - hollywood boulevard

the stone roses - i am the resurrection

chapterhouse - falling down

dinosaur jr. - freak scene

pj harvey - dress

the afghan whigs - turn on the water

u2 - desire

husker du - don't want to know if you are lonely

pixies - hey

r.e.m. - 1,000,000

pulp - do you remember the first time?

sweet - ballroom blitz

phil wilson - love in vain

dexys midnight runners - breaking down the walls of heartache

simply red - i want you to want me [live]

any trouble - yesterday's love

the cars - let the good times roll

roxy music - both ends burning

david bowie - modern love

go go's - this town

the vaselines - son of a gun

L7 - pretend we're dead

joan jett & the blackhearts - i love rock & roll

nikki & the corvettes - just what i need

ramones - blitzkrieg bop

bruce springsteen - out in the street

the plimsouls - a million miles away

the outfield - your love

social distortion - ring of fire

the smihereens - behind the wall of sleep

modern english - i'll melt with you

the cure - boys don't cry

the feelies - moscow nights

violent femmes - prove your love

madness - our house

stevie nicks - stand back

new order - blue monday

talking heads - once in a lifetime

tom tom club - genius of love

gary numan - cars

breakfast club - rico mambo

squeeze - take me i'm yours

yazoo - situation

depeche mode - leave in silence

grace jones - love is the drug

suicide - rocket USA

can - one more night

shriekback - my spine is the bassline

the bloods - button up

the au pairs - set up

the lines - house of cracks

pylon - functionality

a certain ratio - do the du

casino music - viol af dis

public image ltd. - public image

the fall - totally wired

eyeless in gaza - ever present

echo & the bunnymen - angels and devils

let's active - horizon

pretenders - louis, louis

inxs - what you need

the psychedelic furs - blacks/radio

the patti smith group - so you want to be

ian hunter - once bitten, twice shy

david bowie - panic in detroit




Saturday, January 10, 2009

Live at Heathers Nov. 18th Podcast


The podcast of my Nov. 18th set at Heathers is up -
here's the link to the mp3.
here's the setlist...


echo & the bunnymen - fuel

j.j. burnel - triumph [of the good city]

young marble giants - brand-new-life

the vaselines - son of a gun

the jesus and mary chain - just like honey

the feelies - moscow nights

eyeless in gaza - ever present

artery - the death of peter x

crispy ambulance - come on

lowlife - big fat funky whale

soul - tribes

wake - make you understand

the sun and the moon - speed of life

the the - this is the day

felt - my face is on fire

china crisis - feel to be driven away

the dream academy - the edge of forever

prefab sprout - bonny

yaz - nobody's diary

tones on tail - lions

depeche mode - leave in silence

nu shooz - you put me in a trance

kleeer - intimate connection

the jets - private number

reflex - the politics of dancing

prince - let's pretend we're married

real life - send me an angel

stephen tin tin duffy - kiss me [with your mouth]

liquid liquid - optimo

mathematiques modernes - disco rough

james white & the blacks - contort yourself [august darnell remix]

a certain ratio - shack up

gang of four - damaged goods

adam & the ants - cartrouble, parts 1 & 2

echo & the bunnymen - all that jazz

pretenders - mystery achievement

the smiths - shakespeare's sister

the psychedelic furs - we love you

killing joke - eighties

suburban lawns - janitor

the clash - this is radio clash

the english beat - rotating heads

the specials - little bitch

katrina & the waves - walking on sunshine

the jam - town called malice

happy mondays - step on

big audio dynamite - hollywood boulevard

talking heads - born under punches [the heat goes on]

altered images - happy birthday

china crisis - african and white

madonna - lucky star

the b-52's - give me back my man

michael jackson - p.y.t. [pretty young thing]

cameo - candy

fun boy three - our lips are sealed

plastics - ignore

our daughters wedding - she was someone

silicon teens - you really got me

depeche mode - dreaming of me

david bowie - modern love

squeeze - another nail in my heart

simple minds - alive and kicking

the passions - runaway

kim wilde - chequered love

split enz - i got you

the smithereens - blood and roses

the replacements - can't hardly wait

stevie nicks - stand back

casino music - the beat goes on

eurythmics - sweet dreams [are made of this]

captain sensible - wot

sugarcubes - hit

new order - temptation

kirsty macColl - walking down madison

big audio dynamite II - kool-aid

devo - working in the coalmine

abc - when smokey sings

china crisis - no more blue horizons [fool fool fool]

book of love - book of love




Sunday, December 21, 2008

obscure classics at heathers saturday night!!!

2008 has only one more Saturday night left.
We've got to make this one count!!!
This Saturday at the East Village mainstay Heathers, fill your ears with some carefully selected classics from in and around the 80's.  Post punk, new wave and indie rock.  Obscure favorites and underplayed classics with a healthy dose of old standby's.
 Come early for a free mix CD, limited supply...
See you there!