John Muzak invited the Last Bastions out to play at his Chinese New Year celebration at Super Happy Fun Land, and so out we came to play. Included herein is our 20-minute set, plus a briefer set of a Vietnamese woman (whose name I will post once I find it out) who asked me to play some Korg synthesizer behind her while she recited Vietnamese poetry. Check it out!

I'm trying to at least make these once a month.... that shouldn't be that difficult, right? Anyway, tonight I'm posting two selections apiece from the five albums I recorded under the name Charlie Horshack. They're not posted in chronological order, but I did keep each album's representative two tracks grouped together. Anyway, this is what I was doing in the time between 1995 and 1998.

1. "The Darkness is All Mine Again" (Lost Radio, 1998)

2. "Wracked" (Lost Radio, 1998)

3. "The Cracked and The Lonely" (The Cracked and The Lonely, 1997)

4. "Oleander" (The Cracked and The Lonely, 1997) [written by D. Gambrell]

5. "Impinger" (Cheap Wine, 1995)

6. "If Jesus Saves" (Cheap Wine, 1995)

7. "Greater Reward" (The Nobody Dogs, 1997)

8. "(I Will Not Be) Burned" (The Nobody Dogs, 1997)

9. "Pretty in Pink" (Cocaine Eyes, 1996) [by the Psychedelic Furs]

10. "Your Dreams Are a Castle" (Cocaine Eyes, 1996)

Ian reminded me that I initiated this podcast exactly a year ago today, November 28th. And since November is almost up with no podcast yet, and I try to keep it to at least one a month, here's a little Charlie Naked / The Defenestration Unit grab-bag.

1. "Salthanikon C" by Charlie Naked (House of Cards, 2007)... This is the third CN version of a piece I first did back in 1995. I haven't put this album up on Cafepress yet, but it's coming soon.

2. "Up Yours, or A Reply to Critics" by The Defenestration Unit (The Mysterious Fifth, 2000)... This was just one album among a BUNCH that the 1999/2000 "third version" of TDU recorded, this time with what was then our current core quartet along with Ann Panopio supplementing. When we mixed this down originally we had been inundated with so many recordings (that version of TDU recorded roughly an "album" a week), we forgot who the fifth player was on the album, hence the name.

3. "Fifth and Sixth Monkeys (scratching at insects)" by Charlie Naked (Seven Monkeys, vol. 2, 1996)... This was part of a double-album I recorded called Seven Monkeys, which was primarily me overdubbing free improv piano with the odd analog synthesizer and saxophone parts here and there, and throwing in some random sudden pitch shifts. I called it "music for nightmares", but this was the first of a very rare series of album where I record something that really interests me to try, but isn't really intended to be easy to listen to. This is the shortest part of the suite, so it's usually the best choice for providing a representative sample of the album.

4. "The Devil's Emissions" by The Defenestration Unit (Dark Haggis, 2000)... I know I showcase the 2000 version of TDU a lot. It's a numbers game really; the only version with more recordings is the current one, and that has it's own podcast (at http://tdu.podomatic.com). During the third version's time, we probably recorded thirty-something albums, so there's a LOT to choose from. This was the full group, which at that time meant something like seven members if I remember correctly.

5. "Gibby (Alternababe's Dreamdate)" by Charlie Horshack (Nobody Dogs, 1997)... I just threw this on to be funny. I have to say though, of all the guitar solos I've ever recorded in my life, I have to think this is my favorite.

Hey all... yes, these are getting a bit sparser I suppose.... that's what happens when life gets busier. Anyway.

1. "The Rolling River of Wasted Water" by The Defenestration Unit (By the Banks of the River Fourcade, 1999)... This was the third recording by the third version of TDU, recorded in December of 1999. At the time we were recording, a hydrant on Fourcade Street had burst, and the whole street had a nice long stream of water running down it. Of course, all the song titles and the album title had to reflect that moment in time.

2. "Just Say Neu!" by Avijit (Harbingers of Evil, 1996)... Another one of Avijit's Krautrockier numbers.

3. "Goat" by The Defenestration Unit (Buffaloes and Goat, 1997)... the only known recording by the rather vague undefinable second version of TDU, this time featuring Shane Lauder on drums, Charlie Naked on alto sax, Mike Switzer on trombone, JJ Watson on euphonium, Ajda Snyder on flute, and special guest Phil Gayle on acoustic guitar. There were other members of the second version of TDU, but this was one of the versions where the lineup was pretty fluid, so really there were probably lots of people who could've claimed membership in this version. Unfortunately, we just didn't record very often. This was done at KTRU for the Local Show, almost exactly a year after the "KTRU No-Stars" performance which created TDU in the first place.

4. "The Old Laughing Lady" [Neil Young] by Avijit (Salamander, 1994)... Again off the first recording of what I call "proto-Avijit", featuring Charlie Horshack on vocals and guitar, and Mike Switzer on drums, this extended rendition of Neil Young's classic song has always been one of my favorites.

Following the Sad Pygmy set from the previous podcast of live performances from the birthday party for John Muzak at Super Happy Fun Land, I now present the Last Bastions, experimental duo of Charlie Naked and Mike Switzer. The last time we played in public was at Diverseworks for our Houston Residency there in 2003.

On September 14, 2007, at Super Happy Fun Land in Houston, Texas, we had a big birthday fest for noise musician Muzak John, featuring Black Magic Marker, the Last Bastions, Sad Pygmy, Don Walsh, the Annoysters, and Muzak John himself. These performances (minus Black Magic Marker, who were unfortunately not recorded) will be eventually released on a two CD set, but for now, I'm podcasting some of them. Today's podcast is Sad Pygmy's first performance together in many many years. Sad Pygmy were/are a Houston institution of psych-rock/punk, and it was a HUGE pleasure to get to see them again.

Hey all! It's been awhile, I know, but I'm back with another podcast. This time it's all music made under the "Charlie Naked" project aegis. This is my solo experimental music project, and if you want any more information about what I do or other music I have, go to my MySpace profile: http://www.myspace.com/charlienaked

1. "Saturation (Third Movement)" - SATURATION (2007) This is the third of three shorter tracks on my most recent album. The three variations on Saturation are all based on multiple tracks of malleted electric guitar, in the key of D. The first of these tracks is available on the afore-mentioned MySpace profile. The fourth track on the album is an exploration of incongruent long loops.

2. "Bliss and the Sitar" - THE DRONE WRENCH (1995) I originally conceptualized this piece based on a bass motif I wrote to accompany Bliss Blood (of the Pain Teens and the Moonlighters) who was improvising on a sitar. That recording didn't survive due to a faulty mic cable, but this reimagining on one of my earliest albums is still a pretty nice droney track.

3. "Charge of the Trenchcoat Brigade" - THE MAGNIFICENT OCTOPUS (1999) This was the last analog (non-computer) album that I did, and one of the relatively few largely electronic-keyboard-based and song-oriented albums I've ever done under the Charlie Naked moniker. The theremin playing is pretty bad, but largely I like a lot of the underlying concepts behind these pieces.

4. "Bellydancers' Reunion" - DIVING HOMEWORK (1995) One of only two bass-and-three-saxophone early works that I've done, I always enjoyed how this came out, particularly in the middle of a primarily piano-based album.

5. "The Countess" - THE COUNTESS (2004) This collaboration with Two Star Symphony violist Jo Bird has always been one of my proudest moments. This, the lead-off track, is based around a melody that Jo Bird composed. She played this melody for me, and then I chopped up a copy of it, and processed and recombined the pieces, adding them onto the original viola solo for a result which neither of us alone could've achieved. The rest of the album is based on the edited and processed pieces of a long free improvisation she performed for the project, but this piece was composed beforehand, and represents one of the very few true collaborations appearing in the Charlie Naked project.

All of these songs and albums can be purchased at http://www.cafepress.com/charlienaked for $10 apiece, a very reasonable cost indeed, don't you think?

Sorry all, I've been remiss in my podcasting duties, mostly because work has amped up quite a bit so I'm a bit more exhausted when I get home these days, plus I'm doing sound design for the Mildred's Umbrella production of "Dark Matter" which opens July 5th, and I'm getting ready to move on July 14th. Anyway, to kill the time between now and whenever I get back in the saddle at my new digs, enjoy this grab bag o' fun:

1. "The Office" by The Adding Machine Band (The Adding Machine, 2006) Another fine track from Kid Ornery's production of "The Adding Machine", featuring (as before) a load of Houston's finest improvisers.

2. "Mike is Floating" by Avijit (Music for the Disgruntled, 1994) In the "Way Back" machine again, this time listening to a very hypnotic track from Avijit's third "official" album.

3. "Broken Constabulary" by The Defenestration Unit (Dark Haggis, 2000) The lead track off the third edition of TDU's most electric and dense album.

4. "Pretty in Teal" by Avijit (Free Crap Art Rock, 1995) From a collection of tracks recorded to fill out this double album, the bulk of which was given over to a massive 40+ minute free jam with a bunch of outside musicians, this song is another of our tributes to the John Hughes aesthetic of the 80s.

5. "The School District Swing" by The Defenestration Unit (Double Speed Will Make Us Famous, vol. II, 2000) Not much to say about this one, except that it was recorded by the later period of the third edition of TDU, when the membership of the band became blurrier and blurrier, and every recording/jam session boasted often remarkably different lineups. The two volumes of Double Speed... illustrate this wonderfully, as they were recorded only a week apart, and have only a handful of common players on each volume. By the way, the album title refers to the fact that these sessions were the first time we recorded on tape at double-speed instead of the standard speed, which means recording ate up double the tape, but produced a much better sound quality.

6. "Lost Radio" by Charlie Horshack (Lost Radio, 1998) The final track of Charlie Horshack's fifth and to date, final solo album (before joining the Victor Dog), and one of relatively few instrumentals on any of those albums.

Hey all.. so here's a nice grab bag of music for you:

1. "Traffic" by The Victor Dog (This is a Bum Trip, 2006)... this is the lead-off track of my collaboration with singer/songwriter/guitarist Charlie Horshack (member of the Linus Pauling Quartet), a heady brew of his vocals, songwriting, musicianship and general style with my own production style/methodology. It's all about apathy.

2. "Diaspora" by Charlie Naked (Anthracite, 2007)... another track from my recently self-released album Anthracite, featuring many many guitar loops.

3. "Solar Sail" by Avijit (Leroy Says No, 1996)... an old school track from Avijit, and a personal favorite.

4. "Symphony A, part 1" by Charlie Naked (The Black Hand of Man vol 1, 2003)... the opening of my attempt at a unified "symphony" primarily recorded on the Kelly Cellostick.

5. "The Line of Defense" by The Defenestration Unit (Jammin' at JMillah's vol 1, 2005)... a recording of a rehearsal session by TDU at bassist Gator Miller's house, possibly with Jo Bird on viola.

6. "With Mirrors for Eyes" by The Victor Dog (This is a Bum Trip, 2006)... my personal favorite track off This is a Bum Trip. I like to think of this as a mixture of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" and My Bloody Valentine.

Hey everyone... well, what I don't typically advertise and thus not many people know about me is that I really got my intro into music playing singer/songwriter stuff in high school. Since that time, I occasionally return to writing personal little songs for myself, usually whenever I'm depressed about something or another. Anyway, a few nights ago I went out to a breezeway at UH campus to record myself playing a set of these songs, most older, but some newer, and figured I'd podcast these, in their most stripped down incarnations (as opposed to the somewhat more busy studio interpretations that various groups of mine like Annuit Coeptis and The Victor Dog have done), and see if anyone likes them.

In case you're wondering, I didn't have a windshield for the microphone, so there are intermittent bursts of wind that kind of obstruct the sound... it's not you, it's me.

1. My Better Half is Gone
2. The Charmers
3. If Jesus Saves
4. The Cracked and The Lonely
5. The Nobody Dogs
6. Tonight
7. Wracked
8. I Will Bring You Some Flowers
9. With Mirrors For Eyes
10. Oleander (by David Gambrell)
11. Greater Reward
12. The Darkness is All Mine Again
13. Ashing Your Cigarette
14. Living Legends
15. Your Dreams are a Castle

Hey all... here's the first half of the Mathletes show at Notsuoh on April 7, 2007... the tape ran out before I got the rest... Kid Ornery and I are in on the horns and background vocals, as well as Gator Miller subbing in on bass on a few tracks, Bill Savoie in on drums on a few tracks, a choir including Walt and a bunch of other folks on tracks, Charles on guitar, GieGie on toys and vocals, and all kinds of other people, some of whom I don't even know their names. Anyway, it was a kickass show and a great time. TDU opened up for the Mathletes, and our preceding set can be found on http://tdu.podomatic.com

Hey all... today's grab bag follows a somewhat familiar pattern, based largely on the large trove of music from these three sources: my own solo music as Charlie Naked, Avijit, and The Defenestration Unit.

1. "Clanging" - Charlie Naked (Four Pieces for Electric Guitar, 2007) - This is the lead-off track of my latest album, which I wrapped up around the end of March of 2007. This song was constructed by using Sharpie pens as mallets again, clanging out the chords of the piece over and over and over again, until five layers of each chord have been recorded, each with its own distinct tone and equalization, then overlaying melodies with the ebow.

2. "Salamander" - Avijit (Salamander, 1994) - Before our first "official" album, Avijit recorded Salamander, a very early and VERY rough cassette of overdubbed semi-improvisations and very weird songs. It's unlikely I'll ever want to release this monstrosity on the world, but here's the title track, which I actually really do like.

3. "In Holger's Name 3" - The Defenestration Unit (In Holger's Name, 2006) - During 2006, while still secluded at Mike and Tom's house rehearsing, and before Monkeyboy joined us as our permanent kit drummer, we recorded numerous sessions, which I later picked through and edited together into this album, a tribute to the editing abilities of Holger Czukay, he who turned six-hour Can jams into listenable songs.

4. "Exotic Birds of Xtobay" - Avijit (Rockin' and Marchin' with Avijit, 1995) - This album was one of the first set of early Avijit albums that typically included a guest musician, in this case Gordion Knot singer/songwriter/guitarist Dolph Chaney. Dolph was game for the weirdness, and this was the result.

Hey all... for today's grab bag podcast, I...

...pretty much did what I usually do. Deal.

1. "The Naked Can" - Charlie Naked (The Bastard Index/Salthanikon, 1995) - This is the leadoff track of this album, and a great early drone/free-jazz-emulation that I really enjoyed. Way back when I first joined the Linus Pauling Quartet, we covered this song at Sweatbox studio in Austin, but never finished it nor released it.

2. "Big Buick" - Avijit (There's Always Time For Avijit, 1998) - This was the "hit single" (i.e. the only really standout track) on Avijit's last full-length album. We did a couple of EP-length recordings after this, but they were pretty remarkably unremarkable, so we let it go after that. Still, this last full-length session was a lot of fun, even if it was probably a little too polished for Avijit standards. The magic was kind of gone once we learned how to play.

3. "Empty Revenant" - The Defenestration Unit (That Old Time Crazy Jazz, 1999) - An interesting track from the third edition of TDU, on our second album together. With Charlie Naked, Mike "Kid Ornery" Switzer, Ted Hill, and Vaughan Boone.

4. "Molly Grows Up" - Avijit (There Is Only One..., 1996) - One of Avijit's many songs rooted in our shared love of 80s John Hughes movies and the music we would make if we had been scoring them. Recorded for one of the trio of albums we recorded at the Hawthorne House.

5. "Chimes and Accordions" - Charlie Naked (Upil, 2003) - A very weird track I did with (you guessed it) chimes and accordions, though I'm sure there were probably a few other instruments in there, though who knows, maybe not. By the way, "upil" is Indonesian for "booger".