GUEST POST MADNESS continuez

Hi, I'm Nate Patrin. You might remember me from such opinions as "Geez, the Fall Are Nigh Unlistenable" and "Disco Had More Great Singles Than Punk in 1977".Today, I'm going to bother the well-read leisure-set audience of Mr.Cobo's audioblog with some decidedly not-indie not-rock. Sorry.

Eddie Holman, "This Can't Be True" - It's weird -- I've heard two songs by this Virginia-born Philly Soul also-ran, and neither of them are his hit. "Hey There Lonely Girl"peaked at #2 on the pop charts in 1970, probably behind some piece of crap by Three Dog Night*, but it's two pre- and post-hit singles that stick with me. The post-hit is 1977's "It's Over", which is an epic slow-burn you-put-the-hurt-on-me ballad with searing guitar and luxuriant strings; Ghostface rhymed over the best chunks of it for"Nutmeg" so take that for what it's worth (i.e. tons). The other one is this modestly successful single (Top 20 on the Black Charts; Top 60 on the Pop Charts 1966), more or less along the opposite sentiments,namely "holy cats, I cannot believe I have a girl this amazing". (Funny how he was convincing at both themes, huh, fellas? Am I right? WINK.) although in a weird sort of aesthetic limbo. As a release onthe Cameo Parkway label, it's got the sort of twangy guitar grit you couldn't find on Motown -- slow and subtle, like Steve Cropper blunted outta his wits -- varnished with the kind of gossamer upward mobilitythat Stax left to Gordy's roster up north (along with the huge halfway-to-kettledrum bass and percussion that open the song). And Eddie, who is all of about 19 or so at the time this charted, has an astonishing falsetto, pushing it to piercing heights that most post-doo-wop R&B singers stopped messing with about ten years prior. I almost feel like putting "SPOILER" warnings before saying this, that's how hot it sears, but the way he sings "are you for reaaaaaaaal" is glorious. (Click here to buy Eddie's My Name, a retrospective of Eddie's early soul hits, from Goldmine in the UK)

*note: any and all Randy Newman-penned hits are exempt from "crap" status.

Ural 13 Diktators, "Dream World" - 2001 was such a good year for music that it's taken me a good four years to catch up with this, probably the best lost underground techno/electro single of that and maybe the last five years. A Finnish duo who, if their website is any indication, haven't done much since 2002, Ural 13 Diktators are not averse to the usual devices and tchotchkes of their genre: there is a a boom-clap 4/4, lots of ambient whooshy sparkly swooshing, and a heavily vocoder'd lead vocal. It's just that the boom-clap starts out as a strangely clipped, jagged-sounding taptaptaptap that starts out sounding like a leaky faucet with a subwoofer and then goes massive without tipping its hand as to exactly where or how it does it; the swooshing makes Giorgio Moroder sound like a dour, melody-impaired Stravinsky devotee, and the vocoder is so heavily filtered and fuzzed-out that its incoherence is only matched by its luxury, siphoned through the whir of the machine and adhered to the melody like a slot car. (Click here to buy the "Disko Kings" single from Juno, or visit For Your Ears to buy MP3s of their other songs)