One of the more fascinating releases of the year comes from the sharp curatorial ear of the Dust To Digital folks:

Lonnie Holley was born on February 10, 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama, the seventh of 27 children. From the age of five, Holley worked various jobs: picking up trash at a drive-in movie theatre, washing dishes, and cooking. He lived in a whiskey house, on the state fairgrounds, and in several foster homes. His early life was chaotic and Holley was never afforded the pleasure of a real childhood.

Since 1979, Holley has devoted his life to the practice of improvisational creativity. His art and music, born out of struggle, hardship, but perhaps more importantly, out of furious curiosity and biological necessity, has manifested itself in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, performance, and sound. Holley’s sculptures are constructed from found materials in the oldest tradition of African American sculpture. Objects, already imbued with cultural and artistic metaphor, are combined into narrative sculptures that commemorate places, people, and events.

Holley did not start making and performing music in a studio nor does his creative process mirror that of the typical musician. His music and lyrics are improvised on the spot and morph and evolve with every event, concert, and recording. In Holley’s original art environment, he would construct and deconstruct his visual works, repurposing their elements for new pieces. This often led to the transfer of individual narratives into the new work creating a cumulative composite image that has depth and purpose beyond its original singular meaning. The layers of sound in Holley’s music, likewise, are the result of decades of evolving experimentation. “Just Before Music” features Holley’s first studio recordings made in 2010 and 2011.

Needless to say, this record floats out of speakers in a way that could indicate 1973, 83, 93, 0r 2013 (it is indeed a new recording, and he’s working on another with Black Lips/Deerhunter members assisting) and New Yorkers can see Holley play live tomorrow night, (March 22nd) at the Whitney Museum at 6:30pm as part of their Blues For Smoke Series. (Brian Turner)

It seems that a Spanish record company opted to hire a knockoff band to re-record Never Mind the Bollocks, rather than actually pay the Sex Pistols to license it. In a move akin to some of the K-Tel-style greatest hits (or the pseudo K-Tel compilations not recorded by the original artist in the ’70s), “Los Punkrockers” were brought in to record this 1978 piece of amazing vinyl, Los Exitos de Sex Pistols.

I dare say this genius record ups the snot factor: the guitar sounds cruder and almost plugged right into the board, the singer sneers and throws some curveballs into the lyrical scheme (the chorus of “Pretty Vacant”).  It was already of questionable legality to start with but bootleg LPs appeared later on (as Stuart from Shit-Fi documents in detail). Too bad the Clash, Damned, et al didn’t get the same treatment and a few more paychecks for Los Punkrockers. (Brian Turner)

MP3: “Holiday In the Sun”

MP3: “Pretty Vacant”

somewhat influenced by this song sung by Elvis and many others

here’s where I take it one step too far……

(ss)

Yanka: “Prodyot Voda” (MP3)

Some more songs (including a solo video clip, hard to find much more):

Chris and his band will open for the Jayhawks at Williamsburg Park in Brooklyn, NY on september 15. The All-Ages show is free and doors are at 5:30pm.