What is it?
WFMU's On The Download collects MP3s from the fringes once a month: new sounds, obscure audio, found sound, and other sonic stimulants unique to WFMU.
These MP3 files are featured in BLAST OF HOT AIR, WFMU's free monthly e-mail newsletter. Click here to subscribe.
| All tracks ever, sorted by Artist | |||
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"WARRIORS OF GENGHIS KHAN"
by Bad News
MP3 |
Unlike their brothers in Spinal Tap, spoof metal group Bad News were not talented nor successful, but nicely represent the eternally struggling basement rock group. | April 2007 | |
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"LIVE AT SXSW, MARCH 14, 2008"
by The Bad Trips
MP3 |
Just when it seemed that Austin had cooled down to a comfortable post-midnight temperature, the Bad Trips fired off a batch of stage-melting psychedelic nightcaps to round out WFMU's SXSW showcase at Spiro's in March. This Ventura, CA, instrumental outfit is the new project of Grady Runyan, formerly of mid-90s Bay Area psych-punk riffers Monoshock. Grady plays electric/e-bow/delay guitar backed by Jeff Grimes on guitar/bass, Gordon Roberts on bass/viola, and drummer Bob Anderson. For a set list and individual downloads, see here. | March 2008 | |
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"MURRY WILSON: ROCK AND ROLL DAD"
by Peter Bagge
Flash |
January 8, 1965: The Beach Boys enter the studio to record what will become their second number one hit, Help Me Rhonda. Well into the session, a drunken Murry Wilson (Brian, Carl and Dennis' Dad) arrives and proceeds to commandeer the session with psychodrama, scat singing and weepy, abusive melodrama. Peter Bagge created this four part animated series based on the session for Icebox in 2001. More information and full audio of the actual session tapes are available here on the WFMU blog. | October 2005 | |
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"BAGHDAD RADIO"
by A Baghdad Radio DJ
MP3 |
Lovely. Announcing the Baghdad radio hit parade, recorded off the air in the Sunni triangle, sometime between the two wars. | February 2005 | |
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"SOFTLY"
by Sibylle Baier
MP3 |
A reflectiion on a trip with a friend across Europe at a particularly dark moment of Sibylle Baier's life. | April 2006 | |
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"I HATE HATE"
by Razzy
MP3 |
Country soulster Razzy Bailey has had many hits over the years on the country charts, but his first big splash came in 1974 with his album "I Hate Hate." Here is the title track. | April 2009 | |
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"FELL LIKE MAKING LOVE"
by Rosemary Bailey
MP3 |
Rosemary Bailey is a pipe organ virtuoso who has also recorded on the Hammond, and this is her surprisingly funky take on Eugene McDaniels' "Feel Like Makin' Love" which was a huge hit for Roberta Flack in 1974. | July 2007 | |
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".NES THAT SOUNDS LIKE SCHOOL RADIO AT LUNCHTIME"
by BAIYON
(From "Hard Marchen in Osaka"
by Various Artists)
MP3 |
March 2007 | ||
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"BORN FREE"
by The Baja Marimba Band
MP3 |
They were good enough for Herb Alpert, they should be good enough for you. | June 2009 | |
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"I LIKE GOD'S STYLE"
by Isabel Baker
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March 2007 | ||
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"I HAVE PEACE"
(From "I LIke God's Style"
by Isabel Baker)
MP3 |
March 2007 | ||
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"I LIKE GOD'S STYLE"
(From "I LIke God's Style"
by Isabel Baker)
MP3 |
March 2007 | ||
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"WHEN I WALK IN THE VALLEY"
(From "I LIke God's Style"
by Isabel Baker)
MP3 |
March 2007 | ||
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"THE TORNADO DISASTERS"
by Roy Baker and the Gospeltones
MP3 |
Thirty five years ago on April 3, Xenia, Ohio was pummeled by a horrific tornado that swept through town, destroying hundreds of buildings and taking 33 lives. The Xenia tornado was part of a larger series of tornadic activity known as the Super Outbreak, the largest series of tornadoes ever recorded. Shortly after the storm ripped the town apart, singer Roy Baker went into the studio to record a topical song about the catastrophic destruction. | April 2009 | |
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"THE BALLAD OF JIM AND TAMMY"
by Tammy Faye Bakker
MP3 |
Tammy Faye succummed to cancer after battling it for several years (though even that didn't prepare anyone for how she looked on Larry King). Her tarnished PTL reputation was saved in her later years as she did a lot to champion gay rights (getting close to JM J Bullock can change a person), and became a mother-figure to Vanilla Ice. | August 2007 | |
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"I WANT TO"
by S.P. Balasubramaniyam
MP3 |
This versatile playback crooner has made 36,000 recordings - singing in eight languages - for South Indian film soundtracks. This disco-tinged number, from the 1987 Tamil-language film "Aanand," features a chorus in smarmiest English. | July 2005 | |
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"MARIE OSMOND PERFORMING HUGO BALL'S "KARAWANE""
by Hugo Ball
MP3 |
Taken from a Ripley's Believe It Or Not segment on sound poetry from the mid-80s, which Osmond co-hosted. One show dealt with "weird language" during which she abruptly looked away from the cue cards directly into the camera and recited, by memory, "Karawane." Everybody was blown away and soon after the audio was included in a cd produced in England as sonic companion to Hugo Ball's book Lipstick Traces. | November 2006 | |
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"UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE"
by The BallPlayers
MP3 |
Washington, DC based Peoples Potential Unlimited is a small 7"-only label devoted to reissuing obscure and private press early 80s funk. PPU mines the Jheri-curl, synth-laden past and comes up with some great finds, including this track from the BallPlayers EP, a short collection of laser heavy dance tunes that are the work of major league baseball players Lenny Randle and Thad Bosley recorded during downtime from their day jobs. | February 2009 | |
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"MORE THAN HALF-OFF-BIRD (LYNYRD SKYNYRD)"
by Otis Ball
(From "Ken's Sixty Second Remix Contest"
by Various Artists)
MP3 |
Fifth Place Winner! | May 2007 | |
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"ROCK ENCOUNTER"
by The Band of the Royal Regiment of Canada
MP3 |
Presently based out of Toronto's Fort York, The BRRC is one of the oldest permanently organized bands in the country, having been founded in 1863. All in all, it does sound like a military marching band "encountering rock" for the first time and not quite knowing what to do. | May 2007 | |
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"BOOTLEG"
by Lester Bangs & Peter Laughner
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Lester Bangs was not only one of the greatest rock music critics of all time, he also recorded what was probably the first ever alt-country album with The Delinquents, Jook Savages on the Brazos in 1980. Lester's career started in 1969 as a freelance writer for Rolling Stone, where he was fired in 1973 for a "disrespectful" review of Canned Heat's album "New Age". After that he moved to Detroit and started writing for Creem, where one of his colleagues was Peter Laughner, guitarist and early member of Cleveland legends Rocket From The Tombs and Pere Ubu. After Peter Laughner's death in 1977, Lester wrote an obituary "Peter Laughner is dead", starting like this: "Perhaps the name means nothing to you. If it doesn't I would hope that you would read this anyway, because one of the reasons I am writing it is that there is more than a little of what killed Peter in me, as there may well be in you." Only five years later Lester Bangs died of a drug overdose himself. To add to all the great music and writings left behind by these two guys, here is a rare bootleg of Lester Bangs and Peter Laughner jamming in Creem's offices in 1975 or 1976. | September 2007 | |
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"DRUGSTORE COWBOY - I'M SO BORED - G'BYE LOU"
by Lester Bangs & Peter Laughner
(From "Bootleg"
by Lester Bangs & Peter Laughner)
MP3 |
September 2007 | ||
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"G'BYE LOU, TOO"
by Lester Bangs & Peter Laughner
(From "Bootleg"
by Lester Bangs & Peter Laughner)
MP3 |
September 2007 | ||
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"G'BYE LOU, THREE - CRY YOUR BLUES AWAY"
by Lester Bangs & Peter Laughner
(From "Bootleg"
by Lester Bangs & Peter Laughner)
MP3 |
September 2007 | ||
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"A LITTLE BIT OF HEAVEN"
by Lester Bangs & Peter Laughner
(From "Bootleg"
by Lester Bangs & Peter Laughner)
MP3 |
September 2007 | ||
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"SEVENTEEN"
by Lester Bangs & Peter Laughner
(From "Bootleg"
by Lester Bangs & Peter Laughner)
MP3 |
September 2007 | ||
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"LESTER RAY"
by Lester Bangs & Peter Laughner
(From "Bootleg"
by Lester Bangs & Peter Laughner)
MP3 |
September 2007 | ||
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"BANG ON A JAM 2009"
by Bang on a Jam All-Stars
MP3 |
Bang on a Jam began in 2008 after WFMU's Billy Jam was underwhelmed by the annual Bang on a Can festival in NYC. Clearly, the Can has been upstaged by the Jam! In case you missed this year's crazy-fun Bang on a Jam noisefest, here it is. Who to blame for making all that racket: Billy Jam, Station Manager Ken, Jason Sigal, Doron, Scott Williams, Jeff Mullan, Mike, Nick The Bard, and Bill Bowen, that's who. | May 2009 | |
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"LITTLE YELLOW SPIDER"
by Devendra Banhart
(From "Fly on the Wall (DJ Compilation)"
by Bethany)
MP3 |
April 2007 | ||
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"THAT'S HOT"
by Banksy/ DM/ Paris Hilton
MP3 |
This appears to be the audio from the Banksy drop-lifted CD, reportedly mixed by Danger Mouse. | September 2006 | |
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"TRY TO LEAVE ME IF YOU CAN (I BET YOU CAN'T DO IT)"
by Bessie Banks
(From "Monica's Feelin' Bitchy"
by Various Artists)
MP3 |
January 2007 | ||
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"BANG BANG OUTISHLY"
by Amiri Baraka
MP3 |
The former poet laureate of New Jersey covers Thelonius Monk. | June 2005 | |
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"WHEN THE EYES CRY"
by Moe Barbari
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Not a whole lot is known about Moe Barbari. One day this demo CD arrived in the PO Box of Vinyl Communications Records, a punk/experimental label run by Bob Barley. The main characteristics are strained Iranian vocals and crappy Roland general midi synth arrangements. What's not to like? | June 2007 | |
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"I CAN'T DENY"
by Moe Barbari
(From "When The Eyes Cry"
by Moe Barbari)
MP3 |
June 2007 | ||
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"MOTHER"
by Moe Barbari
(From "When The Eyes Cry"
by Moe Barbari)
MP3 |
June 2007 | ||
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"SACRIFICE"
by Moe Barbari
(From "When The Eyes Cry"
by Moe Barbari)
MP3 |
June 2007 | ||
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"LET ME BE YOUR MAN"
by Moe Barbari
(From "When The Eyes Cry"
by Moe Barbari)
MP3 |
June 2007 | ||
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"ON THE SHORELINE"
by Moe Barbari
(From "When The Eyes Cry"
by Moe Barbari)
MP3 |
June 2007 | ||
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"ON THE DARKSIDE"
by Moe Barbari
(From "When The Eyes Cry"
by Moe Barbari)
MP3 |
June 2007 | ||
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"WALKING AROUND"
by Moe Barbari
(From "When The Eyes Cry"
by Moe Barbari)
MP3 |
June 2007 | ||
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"MEMORIES"
by Moe Barbari
(From "When The Eyes Cry"
by Moe Barbari)
MP3 |
June 2007 | ||
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"AND THE LOVE DIES"
by Moe Barbari
(From "When The Eyes Cry"
by Moe Barbari)
MP3 |
June 2007 | ||
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"TO YOU WITH LOVE"
by Moe Barbari
(From "When The Eyes Cry"
by Moe Barbari)
MP3 |
June 2007 | ||
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"FROSTY'S BEACH PARTY, I WANT A MONKEY FOR CHRISTMAS"
by The Barbary Coasters
MP3 | MP3 |
The Barbary Coasters, northern California's premiere dance and show band, have been doing business out of the Oakland/San Francisco area for several years now. They have just released a Christmas album called "Hark! Tidings Of Barbary Joy." Fans of the sounds of early 1960s West Coast hot rod, surf, and rock & roll music, especially those with a penchant for the sounds created by producer/songwriter Gary Usher, should find this release particularly tasty. Here are two samples. | December 2008 | |
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"SIDE GLANCE OF YOU"
by Naomi Barfield
MP3 |
Music from an old pump organ. | May 2006 | |
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"LONGING FOR YOU"
by Naomi Barfield
MP3 |
Music from an old pump organ. | May 2006 | |
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"SURRENDER TO ME"
by Naomi Barfield
MP3 |
Music from an old pump organ. | May 2006 | |
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"ORGAN GRINDER"
by Naomi Barfield
MP3 |
Music from an old pump organ. | May 2006 | |
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"WAKE UP ORGAN"
by Naomi Barfield
MP3 |
Music from an old pump organ. | May 2006 | |
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"CRYING ORGAN"
by Naomi Barfield
MP3 |
Music from an old pump organ. | May 2006 | |
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"ROUGH AND READY"
by Naomi Barfield
MP3 |
Music from an old pump organ. | May 2006 | |
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"SINGING ON MY MERRY WAY"
by Naomi Barfield
MP3 |
Music from an old pump organ. | May 2006 | |
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"I'M JUST A NOBODY"
by Naomi Barfield
MP3 |
Music from an old pump organ. | May 2006 | |
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"EGYPTIAN LOVE SONG"
by Naomi Barfield
MP3 |
Music from an old pump organ. | May 2006 | |
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"LEFTOVERS"
by Naomi Barfield
MP3 |
Music from an old pump organ. | May 2006 | |
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"ROSE OF PALESTINE"
by Naomi Barfield
MP3 |
Music from an old pump organ. | May 2006 | |
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"CLARA CROCODILO"
by Arrigo Barnabe
MP3 |
From the 1980 LP of the same name; amazing Sao Paulo, Brazil-based artist who created a hybrid sound of Downtown NYC, Eurorock-in-Opposition, prog, and traditional Brazilian pop. Think Aksak Maboul meets Magma and Os Mutantes. | November 2004 | |
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"THE GENIUS OF ARRIGO BARNABÉ"
by Arrigo Barnabé
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Brazilian musician Arrigo Barnabé has been a WFMU favorite ever since his song "Clara Crocodilo" popped up on On the Download a few years ago. From the spastic Portuguese ranting to the atonal horn arrangements and joyous sounding female vocals. every element of the song is skewed in such a precise way, a marriage of Zappa, Ornette, Magma, and Brazilian pop. Barnabé continued to be active after recording the album that spawned "Clara Crocodilo." Since the late seventies, he has produced bizarre narrative concept albums, usually writing in a twelve-tone technique, but there have also been some more traditional efforts in the vein of his earlier work. Here is a sampling of gems from his catalogue. | October 2008 | |
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"NUM ANTRO SUJO"
by Arrigo Barnabé
(From "The Genius of Arrigo Barnabé"
by Arrigo Barnabé)
MP3 |
From a live 1999 version of "Clara Crocodilo" which includes more strings than horns and slightly different arrangements. | October 2008 | |
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"TUBAROES VOADORES"
by Arrigo Barnabé
(From "The Genius of Arrigo Barnabé"
by Arrigo Barnabé)
MP3 |
From the album of the same name, another highly inventive early record which revolves around the narrative of a flying shark. Some of this material goes into a Residents or Der Plan territory at times. | October 2008 | |