Hunted by the FBI and raised by a herd of evil goats, the “world’s first supervillain of funk” Funkaho isn’t your typical rocker. Since emerging from Oakland, CA, this baddie has managed to release half a cassette single, one seven inch and most recently the “Villain Style” EP, to the glee of his cracked-out cronies. When he’s not making fuzz rock devil music, you’ll find him kicking back with his prized stolen vinyl collection cooking up his next mix. TN
Sonic Youth & Yamatsuka Eye – No, Part 2 (Ecstatic Peace, 1992)
This is four minutes of screaming, but really good screaming. I love the sleeve, which is a re-scribbling of a cover cover-version of Karlhein Stockhausen’s first all-electronic album from the 50s.
Sonny Murray & Leroy Jones – Black Art (Jihad, 1965)
I first heard Sonny Murray’s free jazz piece late at night on some college radio 12 years ago, making me forever indebted to college radio. Leroy Jones’ raps about “poems that set fire and death to Whitey’s ass” scared the hell out of me.
Free Design – California Dreamin’ (Project 3, 1968; Light In The Attic, 2003)
Free Design were the antithesis of free jazz and noise – they weren’t afraid to fly kites and wear clean sweaters. They were wholesome as fuck, yet stylish and weird enough that your mum didn’t like them. They make every band that ever distorted their guitars look like slobbering beasts.
Edan – Beautiful Food (Lewis, 2003)
Edan does his own record covers that look like they were made with a copy machine and scissors. Schoolly D did that same shit back when he was still a genius, in 86 or whatever. This record is kind of a Schoolly D tribute but it’s also about smiling, hanging out in the park and eating hummus.
Betty Davis – F.U.N.K. (Island, 1975)
Not the bug-eyed hag from the 50s, this is Betty Davis from the 70s. Her unbelievable caterwaul style over slow, heavy drums and slap bass is what should have been heard in countless nightclubs and mix tapes over the years instead of that played-out James Brown crap. She was just way too much for the mainstream.
Unwound – Dragnalus (Kill Rock Stars, 1994)
Both Unwound’s Fake Train LP and Pavement’s “Watery Domestic” EP came out in 1994 sporting covers that were home-made, scratched on, pasted on and beat up. When hip hop producers were sampling drum loops, these kids were sampling record covers that they’d found in dollar bins. “Dragnalus” gets special points for having a head-bobbing drum track and suicide-prone lyrics that could compete with the head-bobbing drum track and suicide-prone lyrics of Mobb Deep’s “Imfamous” album of that same year.
Gunter Kallmann – Daydream (Bootleg, circa 2001)
Speaking of making record covers your own, some visionary combed Europe, buying up all the Kallmann records he could find, and cut off the outer 4.5 inches of both the vinyl and the cover. The rest of the album was no good anyway. It makes a spectacular 7 1/2-inch single and a great song if you fade it out early.
Dirk Diggler & Reed Rothchild – You Got The Touch (Miramax, 1997)
Check out the full original version in Transformers: The Movie from 1985. It’s almost as good and you get to watch robots battling each other.
The Boredoms – Molecicco (Reprise, 1992)
This is the most bizarre record ever to find its way into a chain store. I got into a fight with a hip hop producer after telling him that this track had a better beat than his shit. 12 years later The Boredoms are still on a major label doing amazing music, and the producer is now an unemployed Mormon.
Huggy Bear – Her Jazz (Wiija, 1993)
There weren’t a lot of funk 45 collectors or DJs down at the club when Huggy Bear toured the West Coast in ’93. A lot of heads don’t see what’s so funky about a half-girl/half-queer band singing about riots, but they just don’t hear it the way I do.