The great Nardwuar The Human Serviette v.s. funny man David Cross…. damn good shit kids! Once again… Nardwuar wins! Where else can you hear two men talking about kilos of pubic hair? NOWHERE….

(Download "Nardwuar v.s. David Cross")

Travis made me think about posting this since he posted one of my records, maybe it’s cuz we snuck our way in these guy’s studio while they were gone and used all their crap and made our record. Anyhow, I find these guys being one of the better 60s influenced pop bands out there.. they have been around forever and the singer used to be in some 80s punk bands and flailed himself around the stage. Then later somehow he decided to wear robes, grow a beard, and look like a friar. I think it’s pretty great… who else has a mystical friar as their singer? There is also some weird mystical symbology he is all into with their artwork and the weird symbols on his chest (see picture). Some far our stuff! I’m sure he’d be a good dude to play Advanced Dungeons and Dragons with! I don’t want to say too much as I may be smote by a cudgel or have some arcane incantation muttered towards me that would make me see obscene visions of grotesque otherworld beings that would shatter my conceptions of the geometry of this universe. Roll your saving throws mofos and see if you can resist these great tunes.

(DOWNLOAD "IN SOMEONE ELSE’S MIND")

(DOWNLOAD "21ST CENTURY RIP OFF")

(both tracks from the album "Behind The Music")

Munly takes to Flannery O’Connor like GG Allin took to Iggy Pop… he dirtiest it up to the point of nearly surreal, ugly realism. That is to say, similar to the dark musings of the Country Teasers, Munly and his string section band of lovely young ladies, the Lee Lewis Harlots play a form of Americana music that parallels Sixteen Horsepower, Nick Cave, the Gun Club, etc. in its lush romanticism of arcane lore. However, Munly’s songs have a very uniquely ugly and eerie transgressive tone amid beautiful compositions that sets his work apart. It reveals a dark, scary and yet playfully perverse vision of life that reminds me of the aesthetics of both Tim Burton and David Lynch.

Munly is best known as the darker side to Denver’s odd-country group Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, although he has also released several of his own albums over the past decade. Described by Munly himself as "Gothic Folk" music, his songs should appeal to fans of all varieties of outlaw music.

"Another Song About Jesus, A Wedding Sheet, and A Bowie Knife" highlights Munly’s songwriting talents, with pizzicato strings, banjo strums and lightly brushed drums, it is a sinister lament and murder ballad wrapped up in one. "Of Silas Fauntleroy’s Willingness to Influence the Panel" is a brisk paced shit-kicker with cool backing vocals, excellent string work and furthermore nasty subject matter. "My Darling Sambo" comes from Munly’s previous album and dives headlong into button-pushing taboos.

Munly & The Lee Lewis Harlots — a split release between Alternative Tentacles/Smooch Records in early 2005 — is an epic album featuring a DVD audio disc that features the entire album mixed in different formats, including DTS and 5.1 surround sound.  The disc also includes a visual "booklet" featuring 90 images, hidden audio bonus tracks, and best of all, Munly reading the lyrics to all of the songs on the album unaccompanied. The album was recorded and mixed by Bob Ferbrache, who has lent his skills to recent albums by Sixteen Horsepower, Woven Hand, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, et al.

Check out the Smooch Records site for more MP3s, photos, reviews, etc.

(Download - "Another Song About Jesus, A Wedding Sheet and A Bowie Knife")

(Download - "Of Silas Fauntleroy’s Willingness ro Influence the Panel")

(Download - "My Darling Sambo")

Kim Fowley may have well invented the swear word, because he elevated scum-sucking perversion to an entirely new level. Anyone familiar with his entries in  Please Kill Me and/or tangentially aware of his involvement with the Runaways and early-70s Sunset Strip arcana is well informed of Fowley’s foul spiritual-Tourette’s epistemology, but this one-off near-hit single is classic Fowley in his unabashed, eternally horny approach to life. And, Fowley’s hamfisted performance here aside, perhaps the best part of the song is the obviously hired (or otherwise coerced) girl singer’s half-assed coo, "ooh animal man, you’re so big… and so rough" that sums up Fowley’s, ahem, penetration into the pop culture schism between Hollywood and the Valley of the late 70’s — N’er the twain shall meet. Punk rock in 1968. Today, it’s called Hot Topic, and at your local mall. Regardless, this song is fucking hilarious on many levels. And, if you’re dying for a current dose of Fowley hipsterism, hop on down to Hollywood on nearly any given night and dig the corporate sponsorship and corporate rock on the ironic DJ decks for hours unlimited. It’s not lame enough that rock shows like the Pringles/Depend Undergarments/Coco-Puffs Summer Fun Jam have become one overly-ballyhooed marketing fest. Now, corporate sponsors are buying up DJ nights at bars, in order to reach young, actively consuming "markets" like yourself. But, the funniest thing is, no contemporary Mayor of Sunset Strip would ever dare touch material like Kim Fowley’s "Animal Man." Which not only proves how entirely dead the concept of "punk" may be, but even its glam-rock precursors, corporate shills they may be, are no match for today’s Chevrolet.

(Download - "Animal Man")