Modcast #249: Rest in Peace

It's Halloween and that means that DJ Ken is at the helm for his annual festival of macabre music. Enjoy the madness.

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Dickies - Killer Klowns From Outer Space (Killer Klowns from Outer Space, 1988)

Ramones - Chain Saw (Ramones, 1976)

Past Tense - Wolfman (You Got Your Punk in My Garage (VA), 2011)

Fuzztones - Happy Halloween (Monster A-Go-Go, 1994)

Like - Wishing He Was Dead (Release Me, 2010)

Stems - She's A Monster (The Great Rosebud Hoax, 1987)

3-D Invisibles - Midnight At The Wax Museum (Vampires A-Go Go, 2009)

Dynotones - Night of the Ghouls (Beach Party a Go-Go, 2005)

Ghastly Ones - (Everybody's Doin') The Ghastly Stomp (A-Haunting We Will Go-Go, 1998)

Briefs - Dead In The Suburbs (Singles Only, 2004)

Iggy Pop - Bang Bang (Party, 1981)

Robert Hazard - Escalator Of Life (Escalator of Life EP, 1981)

Tones on Tail - Lions (Single, 1984)

Kid Congo & the Pink Monkey Birds - La Llarona (Dracula Boots, 2009)

Chris Isaak - Black Flowers (Speak of the Devil, 1998)

Chad Stuart And Jeremy Clyde - Rest In Peace (Of Cabbages and Kings, 1967)

Zombies - A Rose for Emily (Odessey & Oracle, 1968)

Wikies - Only A Child (Single, 2006)

Louis Prima - (I'll Be Glad When You're Dead) You Rascal You (Ultra-Lounge: Wild, Cool & Swingin', 1999 )



"The Loved One" Movie Trailer:

Early 80s video clips of The Three O-Clock

Here's a video I just stumbled across on Youtube last night while looking for some other Three 0'Clock clips. Pretty cool, even though not high quality. Wonder where in the world the videogrpaher was standing. Must have been a rooftop or something.

The Three 0'Clock -- In My Own Time


There's another even older, rarer clip of the band from 1982 of them doing With A Canteloupe Girlfriend. Must have been late 1982 as they had only changed from The Salvation Army to The Three 0'Clock in the middle of that year.

Modcast #248: Living in the Mod World

Fall is in the air, and things are all trippy out there. You can almost taste the tension sometimes now that electoral madness has siezed the country. You can hardly watch or read anything without being bombarded by political ads, or political comments, or political diatribes. I for one will be glad when all the bullshit passes.

No matter if your guy wins or loses on election day, by listening to the modcast you are a big winner.

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The Luck of Eden Hall -- Bangalore (2012)
The Bang -- Love's Gone Bad (2012)
Button Up -- I Spy For The FBI (2012)
Rube Velle & the Soulphonics -- Soul Of The Earth (2012)
Laura Vane & The Vipertones -- Floating (2011)
The Style Council -- Wanted (1987)
Alice Clark -- Don't You Care (1972)
The Troggs -- 6654321 (1966)
Mouse & The Traps -- Public Execution (1965)
The Guess Who -- Undun (1969)
The Beach Boys -- It's About Time (1972)
The Slickee Boys -- Invisible People (1983)
Paul Bevoir -- Living In A Different World (1992)
The Amber Squad -- Six Of Me (1981)
The Gymslips -- Thinking Of You (1983)

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As I mentioned this is fall and you know what that means. It means Halloween is upon us. And you know what that means. That's right, it's time once again for legendary frontman of The Shingles, DJ Ken's annual Halloween modcast. The old man is at it again and his show will be modcasting starting Saturday, Oct. 27th. Here's a couple of past shows if you missed 'em.

Modcast #216: No Costume, No Candy
http://www.mediafire.com/?o94o5obq2xoa684

Modcast #181: Monsters Rule O.K.
Download here: http://www.mediafire.com/?xv39hupbbm5v451

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Small Town Parade/Paul Bevoir -- Watching Merry Go Round



Laura Vane & The Vipertones -- Good Morning

Modcast #247: Ready Set Fun

Welcome to the mod world kids, ready for fun? Fun is pretty underrated these days it seems. People don't really know how to enjoy themselves, let alone enjoy good music. I'm hoping to help that with this modcast. Enjoy yourself.

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The Corner Laughers -- Sugar Skull (2012)
Madness -- My Girl 2 (2012)
Surf School Dropouts -- Baby, I Long To Be Yours (2012)
Reel Big Fish -- Don't Stop Skankin' (2012)
The Vaccines -- No Hope (2012)
Madness -- My Girl (1979)
Eurovox -- Happy Hour (2005)
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds --The Death of You and Me (2011)
Blondie -- Danceway (1982)
The Francis Jetty -- Room 111 (2011)
The Dickies --Where'd His Eye Go (1980)
The Stems -- Running Around (1987)
Sparks -- Good Morning (2008)


Surf School Dropouts -- Beach Bound


Reel Big Fish -- Sell Out

Modcast #246: The Chosen Few of '82

Welcome mods, I've set the wayback machine to jet us 30 years into the past. For your listening pleasure I present the chosen few of '82: some rather obscure, some more recognizable, but all of them worth hearing out. Almost all of these songs were released in '82, although there are a couple of late '81s in here, but you would have been listening to those in '82. [Originally broadcast in Oct. 2012]

Really this just scratches the surface of what was going on in music that year. There were albums out from The Clash, the Damned, the Beat, the Ramones, Oingo Boingo, Madness, Spandau Ballet, ABC and so many more. Michael Jackson released Thriller, and of course 1982 marked the end of The Jam with the release of one of their best albums, The Gift. Movies that year included Pink Floyd's The Wall, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, ET, Blade Runner and the legendary Richard Pryor Live on Sunset Strip. The Iron Lady was large and in charge and the Falklands War dominated international news. In the US gas was only $.90 cents a gallon, the USA Today published it's first newspaper, Magnum PI and Knight Rider were atop the TV ratings, and the first CD player rolled off a Japanese assembly line. And for those of us so inclined, and I was quite inclined, the hottest arcade games in 1982 included Joust, Dig Dug, and Donkey Kong Jr. Yup, 1982 was quite a year.

Listen Now

The Bangles -- Want You
Maurice & The Clichés -- Softcore
Barbie & The Kens -- Just a Gigolo
The Headaches -- Teenage Sex
Killery Pussy -- Tomahawks
The Go-Go's -- Beatnik Beach
The Flirts -- Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime)
Bonnie Hayes -- Girls Like Me
Josie Cotton -- So Close
Angel & The Reruns -- Why Do Good Girls Like Bad Boys?
The Prisoners -- Maybe I Was Wrong
Purple Hearts -- Plane Crash
Secret Affair -- Lost in the Night
The Lambrettas -- Nobody's Watching Me
Wall of Voodoo -- Mexican Radio


Purple Hearts -- My Life's A Jigsaw


The Bangles -- Real World

The Corner Laughers Get My Vote For MVP

Each year for me, October means cool nights of playoff baseball. This year I have something to warm my insides from the chill night air. And I don't mean gin. No, right now I'm all ajitter for the latest release from The Corner Laughers, "Poppy Seeds."

What can I say about The Corner Laughers, one of my favorite indie acts of the past few years? I've been meaning to put together a review of "Poppy Seeds" for a few weeks now, but I've been overwhelmed by just how great the new album really is.

One band should not be this good, this sweet, this smooth, this clever, this catchy, this sparkling, this smart, this funny. The songs are little bits of sugary sweet gossamer strands of molasses that you keep trying to get off your fingers but continue to tangle you up in sticky goodness.

Karla Kane's voice surely is one of the biggest reasons for all that sweetness. There are few voices so perfectly complimented by the music surrounding them, and few voices that are so obviously made for singing indie pop.

Each of the 13 songs shimmers in its own way, like stars in the greying twilight sky. Like their previous albums the writing is the foundation of Poppy Seeds, very poetic, and yet not really poetry set to music. The themes are not terribly new for the Laughers, love and relationships are their mainstay subject matter. But this isn't stale and neither will you feel like you've heard it before. It's fresh and yet familiar.

The songs are varied, from the lush layers of Laughing Stars, to the simplicity of the jaunty ukelele driven Twice the Luck, to the bouncy power pop of Transamerica Pyramid and Now That I have You I'm Bored.

For me one of the stand out tracks has to be the pop gem I'd Rather Count Cormorants With You. How can you not like a song the gives a shout out to possible national league MVP the Giant's Buster Posey?

As with their last album, the sunny "Ultraviolet Garden" the production is again captianed by Allen Clapp of The Orange Peels. Poppy Seeds also features collaborations with powerpopster Mike Viola of the Candy Butchers as well as contributors Anton Barbeau, William Cleere and others.

With three albums in the win column so far, The Corner Laughers are batting .1000 and on pace to keep hitting it out of the park with each new release.

The Corner Laughers -- Bells of El Camino (Poppy Seeds, 2012)

From The Vaults: Mr. Suave's Loungecast #2

Once more into the vault my friends, once more into the vault. Step back in time, to a time when the modcast was young and fresh. Take a giant step outside your current listening constraints and journey with me all the way back to those oh so cold and rainy days of Winter 2010. I've opened up the vaults and dusted off a classic modcast that I think you'll enjoy. Again.

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Welcome to Mr. Suave's Swingin' Cocktail Lounge which this week is filled with swank sounds top to bottom. This week in the lounge I've got cool tunes from Swing Out Sister and James Clarke, got some exotic tiki music from tikiyaki orchestra and the Tiki Tones, as well as some seriously swingin' bachelor pad trax from Googie Rene and Eldee Young. To really set the stage, opening the show is the one and only, lounge legend, Les Baxter with the title track to his 1970 album Que Mango, arguably one of the best lounge album ever recorded. Since the sun is out and Seattle is sweltering I've mixed myself a batch of my special recipe lemonade and I suggest you do the same. Then sit back, put your feet up and just lounge around.

P.S. If you're looking for cool cocktail recipes, news and what not check out Waitiki International's cocktail blog, The Cocktail Journal.

Les Baxter -- Que Mango! (1970)
Boris Schoska -- Toys for Boys (195?)
Swing Out Sister -- Certain Shades of Limelight (2004)
James Clarke -- Double Take (196?)
Eldee Young -- Mr. Kicks (1962)
Combustible Edison feat. Juan Esquivel -- Miniskirt (1994)
Googie Rene & His Orchestra -- Caeser's Pad (1959)
Tikiyaki Orchestra -- Mai Tai's on the Moon (2007)
Waitiki International -- Primativa (2005)
Tiki Tones -- Sneaky Tiki (1996)
Garry Blake & His Orchestra -- The Odd Couple (1968)

Tikiyaki Orchestra -- Song of Delilah

Fred Perry: Excellent short film on Soul boys

This is a nice snapshot of the UK soulboy scene of the seventies that is part of the series of shorts that Fred Perry sponsored this past years. And at just under 12 minutes its not so long that you are put off watching the whole thing in one sitting.