Iqu – Sun Q
Sonic Boom Records CD, 2004

Honestly, I don’t even know how I came to own this CD. Last week, when I was in the midst of cleaning out my studio – the process of which itself was a horror show of Grand Guignol proportions – I uncovered this CD on my desk and noticed that I hadn’t entered it into the database where I keep tabs on *everything*. I don’t remember buying it, or getting it in the mail, or receiving a promo. Hmmm. Maybe I hated it and wanted to get ridf of it? I put it aside to listen to it some time…

Today, I took it in the truck and listened on the way to work. Very fun. Honestly, I was surprised at how much fun I was having. I was dancing behind the wheel at red lights. I never do that. Well, maybe not never… Anyway… fun being fun and all fun aside, about halfway through it, I had a Screamer-Of-The-Day, This Is Fucking Brilliant moment. I’ll explain shortly.

IQU (pronounced ee-koo) is a Seattle-based electronic duo who make the old sound new again. On Sun Q, the second full-length from Japanese-American multi-instrumentalists Kento Oiwa and Michiko Swiggs, the duo jettison the improvisational vibe (and prominent stand-up bass) of their rough-hewn 1998 K Records debut, Chotto Matte a Moment!, in favor of tighter song structures, administering juicy timbres and melodic hooks in doses generous enough to captivate even the shortest attention spans. The band is versatile enough to cover a wide array of styles transparently. The flirtatious electro-disco single “Dirty Boy”, one of the three tracks featured here, makes the catchiest use of a guitar talkbox since Frampton Comes Alive! — think Panacea covering Julie London’s “Daddy” with rapid-fire scratching by guest DJ Suspence and goofy children’s-record samples sprinkled on top. Or better, Think Pink, only it’s a much better party. The breezy, samba-cum-JPop romance of Sun Q, with its smirking tongue-in-cheek title just glide over some pretty intense lyrics. And in Owia’s hands, the theremin sounds less like a holdover from a ’50s sci-fi B-film and more like a wailing, operatic diva – the Screamer Moment I was talking about. He uses it to great effect on an instrumental interpretation of Minnie Ripperton’s 1974 R&B hit “Loving You,” replacing those sweeping glissando vocals appropriately enough with his amazing theremin performance. For those who cherished the globetrotting, cartoon club pop of Towa Tei-era Deee-Lite and enjoyed the abstractions of German electronica innovators Mouse on Mars, Sun Q offers the perfect marriage between the two.

IQU describe their music as “Bento Box Pop”, and it has been featured in the films “Everything’s Cool”, and “Another Gay Movie”. I’ve featured three tracks here on Jukebox Heart, but you can listen to the entire album on the band’s website.

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Listen here:

IQU – Dirty Boy
5.08 MB | 5:32
[audio:http://www.jukeboxheart.com/screamers/iqu/dirtyboy.mp3]

IQU – Sun Q
5.03 MB | 5:40
[audio:http://www.jukeboxheart.com/screamers/iqu/sunq.mp3]

IQU – Loving You
3.93 MB | 4:17
[audio:http://www.jukeboxheart.com/screamers/iqu/lovingyou.mp3]

Fear of Pop – “In Love” (Charlie Dark vocal remix)
Giant Step Records 1998.
4.12 MB | 4:30

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Listen here:
[audio:http://www.jukeboxheart.com/screamers/shatner/shatner.mp3]

The man just continues to dazzle us with his legendary flexibility! And that applies to more than just his performing arts talents, but that’s a topic for a much different forum. Here he is being totally himself and providing the fabulous spoken vocals about love and all its foibles. Really, this is not to be missed.

This record is a white-sleeve promo-only double vinyl collection of remixes of “In Love”, and in addition to the Charlie Dark remixes we have appearances from Attica Blues, Chukwu and Thievery Corporation. The only images to show are the sticker on the cover. If you MUST have this after hearing it, there is a seller on discogs.com that, as of 8PM 01 Sep 08, has a copy for sale for ten bucks.

For years, this record was lost somewhere in the stacks. I was determined to find it, so today I had the idea to search Discogs.com for William Shatner and cross reference the titles that came up against all titles in my own database, and BINGO. There it was. Press the arrow above to play…

It’s been a long time since I put together a “jukebox Saturday Night” mix, so I’m woriking on the next. Meanwhile, I came across this old, favorite 45 in the process and thougth it was time for a throwdown here. The Avons were a talented doo wop group from Englewood, NJ, that formed in high school in 1954. Until they caught wind of a Los Angeles-based group with the same name, they were the Robins, and they then renamed themselves the Avons after a river in England. The original lineup consisted of Bob, Bill, and Wendell Lea; Curtis Norris, and Ervin Watson. The quintet woodsheded until confident enough to perform local gigs. By 1955, they were the hottest group in the area. A local businessman became their manager and arranged an audition with Bea Caslon, the owner of Hull Records. Caslon signed them on the spot to her fledging label, where they joined the Heartbeats of ‘A Thousand Miles Away’ and later ‘Daddy’s Home,’ of Shep & the Limelites fame. Unfortunately, the Avons never achieved the success the Heartbeats did, but managed to carve a spot in doo wop heaven with the recordings ‘Our Love Will Never Die’ (1956), ‘Baby’ (1957), and ‘You’re So Close to Me’ (1958). Prior to their second release, (‘Baby’) Uncle Sam began snatching Avons for military duty, first drafting Norris (bass), who was replaced by Franklin Cole, who was himself drafted and replaced by George Coleman. Then Sunny Harley replaced drafted baritone Bill Lea. The Avons’ final recording, ‘A Girl to Call My Own’ (1962), featured Harley. From 1955 to 1962, Hull released seven singles by them and not one hit or charted. Their changing lineup didn’t help and promo pictures were always out of date. Avid radio listeners who resided outside of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, or Pennsylvania during 1957 to 1962 missed the Avons entirely since they didn’t venture outside those four states — where their records were played — to gig. Decades later, via doo wop books, magazines, and CD reissues, the Avons are finally receiving the love and acclaim they sought when young and starry-eyed.

This is one of my favorite doo wops, and, along with the Flamingos’ “I Only Have Eyes For You”, transcends the style of the moment and provides a glimpse into the so-called Northern Soul style that would become so popular a decade or so later. Hull records was notorious for its inability to distribute the great records they produced, so several groups who had hits had their records distributed by larger labels of the time. The Heartbeats’ familiar track was picked up by George Goldner’s Rama imprint in 1956 and was reissued ad infinitum there. The record virtually called to me with the word ‘Fuzzy’ written across the label…

This wasn’t entirely accidental, I have to admit. Watching the DNC last night, the back up singers for Stevie Wonder reminded me of this record. So when i spotted it in the stacks this morning, I immediately pulled it out.

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Download the Screamer of the Day here.
Listen here:
[audio:http://www.paulcollegio.net/juke/juke0503/doowop.mp3]

So What makes you scream?

Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop Records, June 2008)

Fleet Foxes is a five-piece Seattle based band signed to the labels Sub Pop and Bella Union. The quintet describe their music as “baroque harmonic pop jams”.

Fleet Foxes toured this spring tour with fellow Northwest band Blitzen Trapper. This is their debut full length album and was released on June 3, 2008. They are the new darlings of the left end of the FM dial and all the associated online stations, and I have to admit, upon hearing them last week in Newbury Comics, I fell in love with them myself.

But some of the comparisons I’ve been reading about them in the media…I mean, the Beach Boys? I *love* the Beach boys, but, honey, please. I am definitely hearing an unholy union of Cold Play and Dead Can Dance here, without a doubt. These songs have the dream-like lost-in-the-woods quality that so many of the songs of both of those bands have. Their music has an almost hymn-like quality to it.

When I purchased this at Newbury Comics, the clerk behind the counter, a pink and blue dreadlocks and hair extensions woman with jangly sets of facial piercings and enough black eyeliner to make bankrupt Siouxsie Sioux and Chirssie Hynde extolled the relaxing nature of the music to me. Stunned by the apparent incongruity, as I was holding a pile of Angelic Upstart bootlegs and an Au Pairs Peel Sessions CD among other loud and anything-but-relaxing music, I said, fanning out my selections, “well, given my taste, that’s not specifically a selling point…but, yeah, this is wonderful.”

And so it is.

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Download the Screamer of the Day here.
Listen here:
Fleet Foxes – Ragged Wood
[audio:http://www.jukeboxheart.com/screamers/fleetfoxes/ragged.mp3]
Fleet Foxes – Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
[audio:http://www.jukeboxheart.com/screamers/fleetfoxes/tiger.mp3]

So, what makes you scream?

Screamer of the Day – Mahalia Jackson

And what better screamer for a Sunday is there than Mahalia Jackson? Yesterday, while driving around, I pulled over to a yard sale and found this spectacular LP, an ealry Mahalia Jackson, and a first press on Apollo, issued in 1957. Oh. My. God. Collector geekery. The big image below shows the original issue cover.

The images below left shows the original label graphic. Later issues did not have the early logo that this has. Below right shows the cover of the reissue LP issued in 1959.

I’ve always loved Mahalia. She is widely regarded as the best in the history of the genre of gospel music, and her early, minimally produced work as presented here in here early sessions for Apollo showcases her voice best. Below are three tracks, and a new featured in Jukebox Heart that will allow you to play the tracks without having to leave the page.

Mahalia Jackson – He’s My Light
[audio:http://www.jukeboxheart.com/screamers/mahalia/light.mp3]

Mahalia Jackson – If You Just Keep Still
[audio:http://www.jukeboxheart.com/screamers/mahalia/still.mp3]

Mahalia Jackson – City Called Heave
[audio:http://www.jukeboxheart.com/screamers/mahalia/heaven.mp3]