"Tinfoil Thoths: Songs from the Globe of Fegs" was compiled by Rex Broome in 2004. (back to fegBands)
1 Status Unknown (Dolph Chaney)
2 Jennifer (Lazerlove5)
3 She Doesn’t Need to Say What’s on Her Mind (James Dignan)
4
5 Dark Matter (The New Moon)
6 Lullaby for Two (Michael Wells)
7 Lawns & Industry (Monkey Typing Pool)
8 Touch You Natalie Jane (Popsicle Thieves)
9 Second Chance (tlr3)
10 Rope of Days (Mike Runion)
11
12 Five Was the Time (Blatzman & Friends)
13 Roger the Robot (Greg Shell)
14 Carrier Pigeon (Michael Godwin)
15 Gliding (Brian Nupp)
16 Badger Skull Tableau (Blind Mathew Brady)
17
The Perfume Makers (Rectifier)
18 Bagfoot Run (Rex Broome & His Living Room Demons)
19 I Know the Felt of Judas (James Dignan)
20 Oscar (The New Moon)
21 What I Like About Puke (The Shit Together Band)
22 Gong (Ki Society)
Solicited and Compiled by Rex Broome.
All songs copyright the respective songwriters and musicians.
Special thanks to:
Woj for holding it all together; Bayard for the links and support, Natalie Jacobs for the title, Glen Uber for the beer, Megan Mellbye and my children for tolerating me in “compilation mode”
All these artists ended up on this record because of Robyn Hitchcock.
Support fegmusic! Many of these artists have music available for purchase. You can find their work by visiting the websites listed.
Status
Unknown (Dolph Chaney)
Performed
by Dolph Chaney
Dolph Chaney: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, E-bow Guitar
Syntrillium, Inc.: Random Bell Sounds
Pithy
gesangkraftenmeister Dolph
Chaney's guitar playing, songwriting, and recording career is now 17 years
old, which means it's too young to get screwed but old enough to drive on its
own. After fronting or co-fronting ("siding"?) Noyzez, Magis, Gordian Knot, Shed, and Port Radium, Dolph
has settled on recording with few occasional co-conspirators. His 20-odd
projects include RIPPLES,
INFINITY DOGS, and the 1998 CD self-release NEW BIRD RISE, which
won stirring reviews from within the uberindie home
taper circuit. Currently, he's working on getting drunk. But, he
remains committed to making the finest, most artful pop music you'll never hear
on the radio, though the latter part of that goal may just get thwarted yet if
the dance craze "Phil The Salmon" catches
on...
Rex
notes: Early in the process of compiling this
collection, I’d sent out an e-mail to the various prospective contributors
asking for progress reports on their efforts. I listed the various tracks I had
in hand and those in transit, and at the end listed Dolph Cheney as “status unknown. Dolph almost
immediately mailed me back: “It's official -- I'm going to write a song called
"Status Unknown," and that will be my contribution. :) Seriously.” Within a
day he had done so, and within a week I received this little gem in the
mail. It felt like the perfect way to
kick off the record. Dolph
also notes that the random bell noises are provided by the trial version of
Cool Edit Pro's Studio Plug-In. The
software apparently liked the song so much that it wanted to play along.
For
more Dolph Chaney:
users.rcn.com/dolphmusic/dolphmusic
Jennifer (Brian Nupp)
Performed
by Lazerlove5:
Drums:
Joseph Brewer
Bass:
Jeff Drudge
Vocals
and Guitar: Brian Nupp
Ripping
Guitar Leads: Juan Ramirez
Guitar
Leads: Mike Safran
Brian
says:
Jennifer was recorded live in my
living room for the basic tracks with
overdubs done later. We recorded it quick because one of us was going to
about a girl I was obsessed with who went from being a girl I never met,
but
admired, to being my roommate. This song, in another mix, will be a
track on the forthcoming Lazerlove5 album, Flicker Mask.
For
more Lazerlove5:
Lazerlove5.com
She Doesn’t Need to Say What’s on Her Mind (James Dignan)
Performed by James Dignan
James says:
For many years I have written and performed my own music. I play guitar mainly, but also bass, keyboards and diverse other instruments. During the late 1980s and early 1990s I was in various bands: the Kaftans, the Moomins, Preemptive Sheep, and the Beaker People. Finally, in the mid 1990s I summoned up the courage to go solo, and have been performing solo since that time.
She Doesn’t Need to Say What’s on Her Mind is James Dignan as Gene Clark.
If I could get this one to work properly, it would be a
goodie. It's for
James is a resident of
For more James Dignan:
home.intranet.org/~miche/jamesdignan/homepage.html
Performed by Rainland:
Rex Broome: Vocals, Guitars, Bass
Bradley Cain: Vocals, Keys, Programming
Charlie Eckstrom: Guitar
Produced by Bradley Cain
For Esther Rexrode
Rex, Bradley and Charlie formed the nucleus of Rainland in 2002. All three members have collaborated in different combinations on many musical projects and other misdeeds since the late ‘80’s, but this marks the first time all of them have worked together. It is still unclear who actually plays what role in the “band”; all that’s known for certain is that nobody plays the drums and only one member claims to play the banjo. Rainland’s remarkably unpopular name derives from a misheard Bob Dylan lyric.
For more Rainland:
rainland.org
Dark Matter (Matt Sewell)
Performed by The New Moon:
Matt Sewell: Vocals, Guitar
Ian Nixon: Bass, Vocals
Matt Cornelius: Drums
From the EP The New Moon:
Matt says:
The band slowly congealed over several months at Sparky's
Flying Circus club at Joe Ryan (legendary
Dark Matter is about the 75% of the universe that is not illuminated and features me and Ian on harmonies. It's also my first *ever* guitar solo (which may explain the ropiness of it).
Lullaby for Two (Michael Wells)
Performed by Michael Wells
Inspiration: from my
children
Guitar: by Yamaha
Strings: by Elixer
Cricket in the garage where I recorded: by the grace of God quiet during the final take of this song
Michael says:
Someone very wise once said, “A work of art is never truly completed, it is only abandoned.” Herewith find enclosed my offering for the “Original Feggy Songs Compilation”, which while debatable as to being art is now certainly being abandoned (by me): Lullaby for Two, inspired by, and written for, my children. It is NOT, as the CDDB would have you believe, “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” by Billy Joe Royal.
Lawns
and Industry
(Jeffrey Norman)
Performed
by Monkey Typing Pool
Recorded
sometime between 1981 and 1983
DFW’ed in 2003*
Jeffrey
says:
The
recording methods are so lo-fi that the sound quality
of early Guided by Voices recordings would make Steely Dan’s engineers jealous
by comparison. Anyway: specifically, I
had a cheapo microphone (the sort of thing one bought in the late seventies for
recording family home movies or something).
Multiple tracks were achieved by recording one track onto a medium-fi standard cassette deck with crappily
azimuth’d Dolby, then playing back the recording over
a pair of cheap college dorm-room speakers while recording onto a second cheap
cassette deck. The second cassette
player ran fast—so every track found me retuning my guitar.
*DFW’d = Digitally Fucked With
About
Lawns and Industry:
It
came about through a sort of formal challenge I set myself. First, I came up with a rather unlikely chord
sequence-- I may have used some sort of randomizing device to do so. Then my goal was to write a melody that made
the chords make sense together. I
decided to do something different with the vocal harmony… so I basically turned
the first line upside down (if the main melody went up a whole step, the
harmony went down a whole step, and so on).
The lyrics come from a sign greeting people as they enter a lower-middle-class
suburb,
For
more Jeffrey Norman (musings, not music):
spanghew.blogspot.com
Touch
You Natalie Jane (Brian Huddell)
Performed
by Popsicle Thieves
Brian
says:
You
might remember that I threatened to record a song called Fuck You Natalie
Jane and send it to you. Well, I
made good on the first part of that threat, but I could never get used to
hearing myself singing those words, especially in a world that still has my grandmother
in it, not to mention my 5-year-old.
I've added this to the long list of Reasons I'll Never Be a Rock
Star. I scrapped that, and started
re-recording it from scratch with different words.
I have never met or spoken with anyone named Natalie Jane, but if I did I’m sure she would be perfectly nice. Recorded entirely on a Windows XP PC, per Satan’s instructions.
Second
Chance (Thomas
Rodebaugh)
Performed
by tlr3
tlr3: Thwarted in french horn playing by braces, the young tlr3 made a deal
with his dad: He would concede to his father’s wish that he take piano lessons,
in exchange for the purchase of a keyboard. Almost immediately, he began to
compose original compositions, so simple and repetitive at the time that his
piano teacher, kindly, compared them to Philip Glass (whom, she had to admit,
she didn’t really like). He still uses that wheezing old Yamaha as a sequencer,
but supplements it with the latest technology and his attempts at singing. tlr3 doesn’t tour or
do shows (although he once played a set to a small lounge, his back to the
audience because no one could figure out how to move the piano—songs included
“I Wanna Destroy You”. When asked what he would do with his spare
time (if he gets it), he replied, “Less work. More play!”
About
Second Chance:
Comment:
“What, in fact, does this song mean?” –John Hale
Gearhead info: Recorded to Tascam Portastudio
788; effects are through its internal engines. Keyboards are a new cheap
Yamaha, an old expensive Yamaha, Alesis
nanosynth. Drum machine Boss Dr. Rhythm. Back-up vocals were processed through a very
expensive satellite filter. Via cell phone.
For
more tlr3:
Rope
of Days
(Mike Runion)
Mike
Runion: Guitar, Vocals, Percussion
From
the EP Dust Me
Mike
Runion, long-time feg and
Mike
on Rope Of Days:
During
a recent Leonard Cohen phase I went though (happens about every 7 years), I
decided to pick up and read his 1966 novel "Beautiful
Losers". About two thirds of the way through the book, buried in a
particularly descriptive paragraph, was the phrase "rope of days",
and it just sort of leaped out at me as a wickedly good clump of words. I
originally sang the song with the closing verse going "...sliding down
this silly rope of days / a leonard cohen phrase...", holding
"Leonaaaaaaard" in place of "Sillyyyyyy". Didn't work especially well, and it
soon morphed into a "let's coin a phrase tonight", a buried reference
to REM's "Talk About The Passion". As
for what the song is about, who knows? Perhaps a bit of
expressed angst at a failing relationship, and the desire to slip off into
dreamland where everything is still ok. It's basically in B,
and I like the way it ends on that G# (the sixth?).
For
more Mike Runion:
Performed
by Ki Society:
David
and Luther Dudich
Luther
says:
After
our old band, the Number Nine Line, pulled into its last stop (after recording
"Only the Stones Remain" for the Glass Flesh 2 CD), the writing core
of that band lay dormant for several years. Recently, through modern
technology, it has become possible for people to transcend the limitations of
ordinary rock and roll settings, and create innovative new arrangements to
break through the boundaries of consciousness... Oh wait a second, that's the
liner notes to the 13th Floor Elevators first album. Let me start again:
The
writing core of the Number Nine Line, who happened to be born within 5 minutes
of each other, decided to start creating music again. The tracks on this
CD reflect our new directions.
About
Ki
Society is currently working on a project of ambient/ down-tempo remixes of
Buddhist chants, working with the monks and nuns of the
For
more Ki Society:
http://www.drikungtmc.org/drikung_music.htm
Five
Was the Time
(Nesmith/Santos/Sieve)
Performed
by Blatzman & Friends:
David
“Blatzman”
Jonathan
Nesmith & Mark Sieve: All the rest
David
“Blatzman”
Five
Was the Time
may or may not be a preview of Blatzman’s
long-awaited solo debut, since starting which he has moved from
Roger
the Robot
(Shell)
Performed
by Greg Shell
Greg
on Roger the Robot:
If
robots ever start having sex and filming porn again, they will probably use
background music like this. The song was created with Rebirth 2.0 and recorded
with Voyetra DOP.
Carrier
Pigeon
(Michael Godwin)
Performed
by Michael Godwin:
Fender Stratocaster, Hofner violin bass, Dr
Rhythm unit.
Recorded
on a TEAC Portastudio, Lyncombe
Hill,
Remixed specially on a Yamaha Portastudio,
Guitarist
Michael "Smoking Fingers" Godwin, the Duane Doberman of the
music scene, has played with countless short-lived bands in
Warminster
and
Ricketts and the Jet Pilots of Jive. His songs show influences
from
Lloyd Alexander to Peter Perrett, Bill Harkleroad to Benny the Ball. "I
done
my time playing E, A and D"" he told our representative "and I
figured the moment was ripe for moving on to C sharp minor".
Michael
on Carrier Pigeon:
This
song is about the importance of adequate communications technology in
times of crisis.
Gliding (Brian Nupp)
Performed
by Brian Nupp
Brian
Nupp, the mastermind behind Lazerlove5, offers up this
slightly more experimental outing under his own name… an exclusive to this project
(until he decides otherwise).
Brian
on Gliding:
This
one is a complete ad lib. It's a tribute to my pal Mike (who plays guitar on
Lazerlove5’s Jennifer). Mike is sort of a Beefheart
fan.
For
more Brian Nupp:
Lazerlove5.com
Badger
Skull Tableau
(Scott Hunter McCleary)
Performed
by Blind Mathew Brady
Blind
Mathew Brady
is entirely the work of the extremely myopic and remarkably unphotogenic
Scott Hunter McCleary.
From
the album Belling the Minotaur
(1480kHz-004)
Badger
Skull Tableau
was created using and original microcomposition fed
through a granular synthesis engine (the incredible th0nk_0+2 developed by Arjen van der Schoot). The results were then assembled into the
final pieces and mixed in Pro Tools.
Because of the unpredictable nature of the granular synthesis, the
resulting sequence only vaguely resembled the original microcomposition,
but th0nk never fails to provide a rich sonic pallet from which to work.
For ambient Fegs everywhere.
For
more Blind Mathew Brady:
1480kHz.com
The Perfume Makers (Lyrics: M. Simpson, Music - H. Simpson, S. Oram)
Performed by Rectifier:
J
GP - Bass, Vocals
Deph Priest - Guitars
FL - Keys & Drum Programming
Arranged - Deph Priest
Engineered, Mixed & Produced by GP & Deph Priest
Aug 2002-Oct 2003 at Silly Scotsman Studios, CA
For Murray & Scott with apologies
Rectifier kind of evolved into the present configuration over the last year or so from a bunch of varied personalities with a few key things in common. (Band fact - all members of the band wear a size 10.5 shoe except FL who doesn't wear any.)
J
GP: El Presidente, numero uno, the head honcho, etc. Writes pretty much everything. Has more than enough ego for the whole band combined.
Deph Priest: A rock legend in his own mind. Very few opinions as long as he gets to make noise. Helps with some of the music writing and arranging.
FL: No opinions. Does exactly what he's told.
The Perfume Makers is kind of a cover from an old
band of GPs and fairly self explanatory.
Seems like it's basically just a song about doomed
love. We assume "the perfume
makers" is a metaphor for the romance industry (movies, cosmetics, glossy mags, etc.) who sell simplistic images of the perfect love
with only money in mind, but the original was written in less than 5 minutes
one afternoon in 1986 and
Contact Rectifier:
rectifierband@yahoo.com
BONUS EP: The Country Feg Jamboree
Bagfoot Run (Rex Broome)
Performed by Rex Broome & His Living Room Demons
Rex Broome: Guitar, Bass, Banjo That Makes Pete Buck Sound Like Bela Fleck in Comparison, Miserable Whine, High Lonesome Miserable Whine, Higher Lonesomer Quite Miserable Indeed Whine
Miranda Broome: Yee-hah’s and Such
The Guy from the Charlatans:
Drum
From the album-length thingy March – April 2002
They were originally Living Room Demos, but a telling typo turned them into Demons, and so they have remained. After a long layoff, I’d started playing and singing again to entertain my daughter, and in Spring ‘02 I decided the time had come to exorcise (see?) all of the songs that had been rattling around in my head for years. I bashed out eleven of them in as quick and lo-fi a manner as digital technology would allow. Rainland, which started up a few months later, will probably end up inheriting the tunes and recording them “properly”, but I still like these gnarled little monsters for what they are. Sort of.
Bagfoot Run, like
I Know the Felt of Judas (James Dignan)
Performed by James Dignan
James returns to extend the Country Feg Jamboree kicked off on the previous tune. About I Know the Felt of Judas, he says:
I Know the Felt of Judas was inspired by Viv Lyon and several other Fegmaniax messing around with Altavista's Babelfish translation engine and one of Robyn Hitchcock's lyrics. I took one line as the title and ran with it. It’s pretty much a working demo, although I think that Felt of Judas is probably about as good as I can get it, wonky harmonica and all. Wish I had access to a lap-steel... Sadly, Johnny Cash will never record it.
Oscar (Matt Sewell)
Performed by The New Moon
From the EP The New Moon
Matt says:
Oscar is based on a true story of a bi-locating cat. Or two very similar looking cats. The local music paper said about Oscar that it was standard folk pop that could have been written by any one of a million people... grrr… I had to bite my fingers not to email them and ask how many songs they receive per week about bi-locating cats in 11/8…!
Rex notes: Okay, it’s not country at all, but such are the vagaries of putting these types of compilations together.
Performed by The Shit Together Band
Rex says:
Make of this one… what you will.
Performed by Ki Society:
David and Luther Dudich
Rex:
A brief and appropriate way to bring these proceedings to a hold… and also a sort of apologia to Ki Society for my editing job on Om Mani Padme Hung.