Tag: music

A large portion of this Web site is dedicated to posts about music. These are just a few.

The Triumphal Return of Robert Gomez’s Unofficial Tribute to Planet Pimp Records!

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Long ago, back in the dark ages of the Internet—say around 1997 or so—I put together a little tribute to one of my favorite record labels, Planet Pimp Records. Planet Pimp was a small label out of San Francisco that specialized in garage rock bands, but each release had a novelty edge to it, much to the chagrin of many a record buyer (and The Car Thieves). For example, at the height of the retro-surf craze in the mid-nineties, they released a 45 by the band The Phantom Surfers. This was one of the best known surf bands of that era, but their release on Planet Pimp consisted mostly of audience banter and a prank phone call. At the most there was about five seconds of actual surf music. Brilliant!

Throughout the twenty-five or so releases, there was a consistent irreverence and flat-out weirdness that really struck a chord with me. This was the early home of Neil Hamburger, and if you get his sense of humor you would also love much of what Planet Pimp churned out. The humor was pervasive not only in the recorded output of the label, but the packaging and marketing. With each subsequent release, you were introduced to the various characters—both real and made up—that comprised the Planet Pimp universe. First and foremost was the president of Planet Pimp Records, Sven-Erik Geddes.

As the nineties came to an end, for reasons unknown to me, Planet Pimp stopped putting out records. I was never able to find the last two Planet Pimp releases (if you’ve got a copy of Neil Hamburger’s Tribute to Princess Di or Sounds of the International Airport Restrooms that you are willing to part with, please contact me!). I don’t know whatever happened to President Sven-Erik Geddes. The closest I’ve come to finding out was an interview with Neil Hamburger in which he says, ” Mr. Geddes has retired from the music business to concentrate on matters closer to his heart. That’s a nice way of putting it.”

Whatever the reasons for its demise, the archeological/vinyl record remains; and I’m here to keep the virtual record of this fantastic moment in recorded music alive as well. I have given the old site a new, more comprehensive coat of pixel paint, gotten rid of the lame frame-based layout, and added tons of scans and samples. I plan to keep updating it with more stuff when I get the time or when readers contribute something worthwhile. So without further ado, here is Robert Gomez’s Unofficial Tribute to Planet Pimp Records!

Champaign/Urbana Music Scene and the Rise and Fall of Der Lugomen

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Last weekend Nonagon took a little mini-tour to play a gig at the Iron Post in Urbana, Illinois. The town was buried, ball-deep in snow and was completely dead. All the old haunts have been sterilized, commercialized and bland-o-fied. From what we hear, gone are the days of Cham-bana’s vibrant music scene. Sure, there are still some good bands down there, Triple Whip for example, and I hear the Poster Children are still alive, but the spark is gone.

All this said, our show was a blast, and we were very thankful to the people who brave the weather to come out that night. But cruisin’ around the town brought back many reminiscences of gigs of years past. For me it was my college-years band, Der Lugomen. We only played out three times, but each show was an event to behold.

Der Lugomen was comprised of Robert Gomez (hey, that’s me), John Burgess, Thom Burbrink (who now goes by the professional moniker of Frank T. Burbrink, PhD.), and an Alesis 16-B drum machine. Our music was much influenced by Big Black and The Jesus Lizard, basically that late 80s early 90s Illinois indy sound.

At the time we all lived in the same apartment and seemed to have endless hours available to us for dicking around and writing songs. We would have full-volume practice sessions in our 3rd floor apartment unit, and the neighbors never seemed to complain (at least not to our faces). All of our work cumulated in the release of 2 tapes full of songs. The first was a patchy hodge podge of songs entitled, “No Rules Barred.” The second was our magnum opus, “Honky Lips.”

I have put together a DVD of footage from our last show. Here’s a clip from it that I posted on YouTube.

Der Lugomen only performed out three times. This show, at Treno’s pizzeria in Urbana, was our first non-house party show and our last show ever. We basically played our songs while Thom sang, threw garbage and terrorized the folks near the front.

For those of you with good eyesight, you may be able to see Jay Ryan taking my shoes off. After us, Jumpknuckle played (featuring John of Nonagon), then Snapcase, and finally Hot Glue Gun. The local bands were all great. Snapcase was awful. Retarded NYC punk–they actually had guys on stage who would accentuate song changes by punching in the air. We theorized that they would have to pull the tour van over every couple of hours so that they could all take punch breaks at the side of the road.

If you are interested in obtaining some Der Lugomen music send me a note and maybe we can work something out.

Ennio Morricone Box Set Mania!

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Ennio Morricone CD Box Sets

Lately, I have been stocking up on Ennio Morricone movie soundtracks from the late sixties and early seventies. This been a pretty easy task since Dagored records has released a trio of great 3-disc Morricone boxed sets. Each filled with wonderful packaging and liner notes, and is well worth the $25 price tag.

Like most people, my introduction to Morricone was in his scores for the Sergio Leone Dollars movies. Those soundtracks are known for their sinister baritone guitar sounds, howls, operatic vocalization, percussive bursts, and other genre defying/redefining motifs. Morricone, it turns out, has an extremely wide stylistic range. From his pop roots to his experimental soundscapes, these box sets showcase much of the diversity of his style.

Maestro leans towards his pop side. The soundtracks included here are La Donna Invisible (The Invisible Woman), Le Foto Proibite di una Signora per Bene (Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion ), and Slalom. La Donna is pure pop bliss, with a melody that is repeated throughout most of the disc. There are a few tracks that come close to sounding like the Theme from the Love Boat, but the vast majority of the disc is more e-z than cheesy. Le Foto is a bit more experimental, and Slalom is a solid space-age bachelor pad disc very reminiscent of another disc I have by The Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra.

Crime contains the soundtracks for Revolver (AKA: Blood in the Streets), Gli Intoccabili (AKA: Machine Gun McCain), and Giornata Nera per L’Arete (AKA: The Fifth Cord). These soundtracks have a lot more variety within each disc and are therefore not as consistently good as the other discs in this series, but they are very fine nonetheless. Gli Intoccabili has nearly the same feel as Morricone’s western soundtracks with several great vocal numbers about a man called “McCain.” I think it’s the same fellow who sings “Lonesome Billy” if you are familiar with that song by Morricone.

Fear is my favorite of the three sets. It contains Una Lucertola con la Pelle di Donna (AKA: Lizard In A Woman’s Skin), Il Gatto a Nove Code (AKA: The Cat O’ Nine Tails), and Gli Occhi Freddi Della Paura (AKA: Cold Eyes of Fear). These discs are filled with erie soundscapes and experimental improvisations. Many of the tracks would not be out-of-place on an early Cabaret Voltaire, Can or Kraftwerk album, except that these sounds are being created with traditional acoustic instruments. Great stuff.

These are the first CDs I have bought in a long time, and are worth every penny. Viva Morricone!