You can get a small sense of how that sound emerged at Hugh McElroy’s Ruffian Records Web site, which recently posted some free MP3s from two of McElroy’s pre-Black Eyes projects, A.K.A. Harlot #1 and Exaspirin, as well as a 1996 session McElroy engineered for New York art punk outfit the Vestpocket Psalm. While you’re there, you can also grab (for free) every song that Horses—McElroy’s 2004 band with Black Eyes members Dan Caldas and Mike Kanin—ever recorded, as well as Hume’s Wyfe EP.

Ruffian also announced a pair of upcoming joint releases with Sockets Records: Phosphenes, the debut full-length by aggro post-rockers Imperial China, and a compilation LP featuring local bands. In an e-mail, McElroy wrote that the labels are hoping to release the compilation in the spring.

Tom Noble knew only two things about George Smallwood: He had an awesome record and an address.

Back in 2006, Noble, the owner of Lotus Land Records, a small San Francisco-based label that re-issues obscure disco and R&B tunes from the late ’70s, came across the D.C. singer’s first single, 1974’s “Touching Is My Thing.” He was intrigued enough to contact Smallwood. “I hand-wrote him a letter,” explains Noble. “I didn’t even know he was blind. Luckily, he has a lady friend who reads his mail to him. He got back to me pretty quick.”

Through Lotus Land, Noble tracks down artists, like Family of Eve or Wind Chymes, who pressed records in very limited quantities during the ’70s. He checks to see if they have any copies hanging around in their basements, and, when appropriate, helps the artists sell the records off to collectors. The songs he really likes, he licenses and re-releases himself.

So, after hearing back from Smallwood, Noble went out for a visit. After conducting some business in Pittsburgh, he rented a car and drove down to Smallwood’s home in Hyattsville. “I was going to take some pictures and go through his master tapes to see what he had on the table,” explains Noble.

He didn’t count on getting a show, though. “I walked in and he was playing Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller.’ Then his friend came over and started playing congas,” he recalls. “I had a flight the next morning and I had to sleep on a bed downstairs. But it was really hard for me to get to sleep with them playing. I missed my flight. I tried to watch as much of the show as I could, but around hour six.…”

As it turns out, Noble was only the first of several record collectors to come knocking on George Smallwood’s door. But just like Noble, everybody gets a show.

George Smallwood’s home probably hasn’t changed all that much since the heyday of disco. On the living room floor there’s a dusty sculpture of a man and a woman in a carnal embrace. The parlor table hosts a large zodiac-themed ashtray, and the backyard is largely occupied by a giant above-ground swimming pool.

And then there’s the keyboard: The Yamaha PSR-510 sits in the corner of Smallwood’s rec-room—a converted garage—next to a microphone. It doesn’t take a lot of coaxing to get Smallwood, who is nearing 65, to climb behind it.

One Monday afternoon, Smallwood—looking relaxed in a white athletic suit, shades, and hiking boots—plays some of his standards. He sets off one of the keyboard’s pre-programmed drum machine rhythms, considers it, and decides it’s the right fit. Then he slows the tempo down some. Then he slows it down some more. “Touching is my thing, what’s yours?” Smallwood sings over a bed of tinkling quiet-storm chords. “I like candy canes and toys.”

He’s practicing songs that he’s planning to perform during a show at Comet Ping Pong, booked for him by Andrew Morgan, owner of the record label Peoples Potential Unlimited. It’ll be Smallwood’s first gig in some time, not counting the concerts he occasionally gives at retirement homes and churches. “That’s the song I was going to open the show with,” he says. “Once they get inside those doors, all the problems and troubles of the world are left outside, it’s my job to make them totally forget.” It takes Smallwood’s voice a minute to get going, but once his pipes are warmed up he can croon like Luther Vandross. His Balmy take on the Carptenters’ four-hanky weeper “Superstar” flows forth like Kahlúa into a snifter.

When Smallwood  is really feeling the rhythm he flips on the keyboard’s metronome, letting the steady click add some oomph to the backbeat. This usually happens around the second verse.

And the music never stops—instead, it just fades away. This is the singer’s preferred method for getting from one song to the next. The keyboard is equipped with a fade-in/out button that, when pressed, causes the backing track to slowly evaporate into silence. Even on his records, it’s rare to hear him stop on a dime.

Then it’s on to another song. “Put on your wings and let’s fly,” sings Smallwood over a the keyboard’s Kraftwerk-ian Latin groove. It’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” This goes on for hours.

Smallwood loves to talk as much as he likes to play (“I walk with 450 hours of music in me,” he says). But getting details out of him is difficult. He tends to deflect questions or shift the subject. “If you don’t know him very well, he’s not very forthcoming with information,” says Kevin Coombe, who runs the archival website D.C. Soul Recordings. “Since he lacks the ability to see he has to get to know somebody before he reveals details of his life.”

Born in D.C. at the end of 1945, Smallwood grew up in a musical family but had little interest in pursuing music full-time. He drove trucks professionally until 1968, the year he lost his vision. George doesn’t like to talk about how or what happened. If pressed, he’ll say that he “had an accident.”

Once Smallwood went blind, music became his life. He taught himself to sing and play keyboard. Because of his disability, forming a band was a bit of a challenge. So he recruited people who were in his immediate vicinity: his family and, later on, his mailman, who turned out to be a pretty good bass player.

Over the course of about a decade, Smallwood and his group, Marshmellow Band, released six singles and an LP, Just 4 You. None of these took off. “His singles really did not go anywhere,” says Coombe. “They were mostly distributed to family and friends and maybe put in a few record stores. He got on a public access show one time. It was very local. About as local as it gets.”

But somehow they found an audience abroad. Northern Soul DJs in Britain picked up on Smallwood’s songs. “When big Motown hits were coming out people would self-release copycat singles and the British would hear about it. Rich DJs would fly out here and bring them back,” explains Noble. “That’s how all the records got discovered over there. People in America didn’t start caring until after eBay.”

These days they’re willing to drop some pretty tall paper on them, too. Copies of Just 4 You have fetched $1,000. Smallwood isn’t necessarily cashing in big-time, but some of the money from the sale of his old records has made its way back to the man who made them. Some labels have also licensed his songs for re-release. Peoples Potential Unlimited recently re-issued Smallwood’s single “Lady Disco” and London-based label Jazzman will be putting out a compilation album later this winter.

“George’s songs aren’t picture-perfect Northern Soul,” explains Noble. “It’s a little bit different. There’s this extra touch to it. When he was doing that version of ‘Thriller,’ it was this epic 30-minute song. But I didn’t know it was ‘Thriller’ until 15-minutes in. He can take any song and Smallwood-ize it.”

Coombe provides a sharper definition of Smallwood-ization. “He really is Mr. Mellow,” he says. “He takes the song and no matter how much energy the song had originally, he makes it smoothed out and very soulful in his own particular way.”

“They say, ‘George, do you ever do a song the way it’s written?’ And I say, ‘I just don’t hear it that way,’” says Smallwood. “I ain’t Prince, I ain’t trying to be Prince.…Being different, I find, is the hardest thing.”

Smallwood performs at 10:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13 at Comet Ping Pong, 5037 Connecticut Avenue, NW. $5. (202) 364-0404.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Coombe, DCSoulrecordings.com

Way back in 1989, when DC was still more of an all-hardcore-all-the-time kind of place, Slumberland Records took a chance and pressed its first 7″, What Kind of Heaven Do You Want, a compilation featuring DC-based indie-pop bands Velocity Girl, Black Tambourine, and Powder Burns. Since then the label has become one of the most beloved purveyors of twee and fuzzy music, releasing a slate of well-loved records by Stereolab, Rocketship, and, more recently, Crystal Stilts, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

The anniversary concert will feature performances by label artists both new (Crystal Stilts) and old (The Ropers, Nord Express). Lineup details after the jump.

Slumberland 20th Anniversary Concert

Friday, Nov .13
The Black Cat

Crystal Stilts
Brown Recluse
Pants Yell!
Frankie Rose and The Outs
The Ropers
Nord Express
Lorelei

Might as well post the details for the Brooklyn show, too:

Saturday, Nov. 14
Brooklyn, NY
The Bell House

Crystal Stilts
Brown Recluse
Pants Yell!
Frankie Rose and The Outs
The Ropers
Nord Express
Lorelei
Special Surprise Guest

Harmonia & Eno: “Sometimes in Autumn (Shakleton Remix)”
England-born/Berlin-based producer Shakleton whips out a pen knife and whittles down this krautrock classic, composed by Harmonia and Brian Eno way back in ‘76. But where the original skewed new-age–calm and placid synths draped over a motorik rhythm–this remix tilts the vibe toward paranoia with sharp-edged dubstep-style percussion.

Malakai: “Shitkicker”
Bristol, England-based Malakai assembles vintage psych-rock via sample collage. “Shitkicker,” from the duo’s upcoming full-length Ugly Side of Love finds twangy guitars getting mashed up with still-dusty Merseybeat breaks.

Krallice: “The Mountain”
In comparison to Orthrelm, Mick Barr’s former band–known for its 40-minute carpal tunnel-inducing minimalist-metal composition OV–Krallice, his black metal group, is a pretty straightforward affair. But, again, only in comparison to Orthrelm. By any other metric, “The Mountain,” from the group’s forthcoming record Dimensional Bleedthrough, is still pretty bizarre. The bassist turns out a few traditional-sounding grunts for the vocals, but Barr’s riffs–so fast that sometimes it sounds like a skipping CD–are still without precedent. This is the music by which cubist Norsemen might vanquish Yngwie Malmsteen.

On Sunday, the New York Times ran an article about Jim O’Rourke, an underground overachiever who, in addition to recording his own solo music, has played in Sonic Youth and Gastr Del Sol, and worked in various other capacities with Wilco, Joanna Newsom, and Superchunk.

His latest project is the new solo album The Visitor, a recording that, at times, features as many as 200 tracks of instruments.

As one might imagine, an album such as this would require quite an intricate mix, which is perhaps why The Visitor will only be available on CD and vinyl—no digital download.

Here’s part of the Ben Ratliff article from NYT:

He’s taking a stand against the sound quality of MP3s; he’s also taking a stand in favor of artists being able to control the medium and reception of their work.

“You can no longer use context as part of your work,” he said, glumly, “because it doesn’t matter what you do, somebody’s going to change the context of it. The confusion of creativity, making something, with this Internet idea of democratization …” he trailed off, disgusted. “It sounds like old-man stuff, but I think it’s disastrous for the possibilities of any art form.”

He’s not the first artist to attempt a download pushback. But is he a part of the vanguard or a dying breed?

A while back I bought a big stack of Nigerian highlife 45s. It’s a genre I can’t profess to know very much about and many of these artists are nigh-ungooglable. Still they sound good. I ripped them into my itunes because 7″ vinyl is a frustrating format that will destroy your life with carpal tunnel syndrome. I then decided that the next logical and generous step would be to share this music with you, the internet. So here it goes. Be prepared to suffer through some pops and crackle, it puts hair on your chest. And if you were expecting me to post more about rap, we can split the difference and you can go learn about the first decade of Nigerian hip hop at Africanhiphop.com. Tracklisting and download link to the highlife comp after the jump.

“noz in nigeria”
1. Easy Life Dandies – “Oko Dotunla”
2. Godwin Ezike & The Ambassadors – “Gboli We”
3. The Magnificent Zeinians – “Ngozi Chukwu Ka”
4. Oriental Brothers International – “Ihe-Che-Nyerem”
5. Anyamel & His Okuato Band – “Uwa Ka Njo”
6. Eastern Minstrels Guitar Band – “Akwa Onwu”
7. Celestine Obiakor & His Entertainment Group – “Echendu Nwa Eze”
8. Godwin Ezike & The Ambassadors – “Mini Gown”
9. Eastern Minstrels Guitar Band – “Ogbu Nwa Ya Ogu Agarala Ya”
10. Easy Life Dandies – “Gbami Gbami Baba Gbogbo Oni”
11. Anyamel & His Okuato Band – “Jumbo Kedi Nnegi”
12. Professional Uhuru Dance Band – “Ewu Ngyadze”
13. Eastern Minstrels Guitar Band – “Aka Kpara Ngaji Uregbue Onu”
14. Celestine Obiakor & His Entertainment Group – “Piter Mighasi Nma Na Obo”
15. Cardinal Rex Lawson & His Majors Band of Nigeria – “Abasi Ye Enye”
16. Oriental Brothers International – “Uwa-Atualamujo”
17. Eastern Minstrels Guitar Band – “Echehula Nwa Nne Gi”
18. Easy Life Dandies – “Iyawo Madale”
19. The Magnificent Zeinians – “Good Luck To You My Girl”

“We’re trying to have fun right now and not make it too serious,” Travis “Cobruhhh” Jackson, the drummer of D.C.’s noisiest party punkers The Points said yesterday, discussing the pitfalls of long-distance rock ‘n’ roll — Jackson moved to Blacksburg, Va., not long ago, and his bandmate, guitarist and singer George “Geo” White, now lives in Chicago. The geographic disruption may mean more planning, fewer shows, and less spontaneity, but to hear Jackson tell it, the band’s hard-partying (and, more centrally, hard-drinking) ethos remains the same.

The Points dropped a new seven-inch single this week on Jackson’s own Windian Records (City Paper’s own Aaron Leitko recently reviewed the six-minute song “Shout” for Pitchfork), and Geo and Cobruhhh are celebrating tomorrow night at DC9. After the jump, my condensed interview with Jackson.

Washington City Paper: Every time I read about The Points, there’s always something about how hard you rock and how hard you drink. But what do you do when you’re doing neither of those things?

Travis Jackson: Well [he laughs] I guess people say that because, you know, the fact that we’re alcoholics. We definitely, you know, when we’re not playing in the band or having beer, well, I dunno. Life is a celebration.

Washington City Paper: The song “Shout,” at 6 minutes long, is unique for you guys. When you wrote it, did you want to make something so, well, epic? Or did it just come out that way?

Travis Jackson: It kind of just ended up that way. We’ve had a couple of other songs that were six minutes or over, from band practices … When it feels right, you don’t want to stop. We’re not always thinking up three-chord wonders or anything like that.

Washington City Paper: Tell me about writing “Shout.”

Travis Jackson: The song was written a while back. We recorded it and we never put it on any of records because it never really matched up with anything else — the more Ramones-sounding, two-and-a-half minute songs. So I started a label and I pretty much just wanted to get these songs that we really, really liked but that we had pushed aside in the past onto a record.

Washington City Paper: What about the rest of the seven-inch?

Travis Jackson: “Beat In Hell” is more a percussion-heavy song. It’s got a really cool guitar riff, and it’s pretty primal. … It’s a pretty bad, mean song. And “F. Dali” is probably the fastest song we’ve recorded. And it’s about Salvador Dali and how much we hate seeing his posters everywhere. We’re art fans, but you know…

Washington City Paper: …but Surrealism isn’t for you?

Travis Jackson: Well, really, it’s just from being around art schools and seeing Dali on all the dorm walls.

Washington City Paper: How did Windian Records come about?

Travis Jackson: Out of sheer boredom. Geo moved to Chicago and I’m in the mountains. … We can pretty much only practice once a month and I still wanted to focus heavily on something rock ‘n’ roll, so I started a label to put out singles. I’m doing a Two Tears single in October, and Personal and the Pizzas, from Hoboken, N.J., want to do a seven-inch this winter.

Washington City Paper: What else do The Points have planned this year?

Travis Jackson: We’re going to be recording our next record here in the next two or three months. We’ve got about 10 songs ready to go for that, and I guess we’re going to be putting it out on Mud Memory, with [label owner] Justin Moyer, the coolest guy ever. And after that, in 2010, we’re going to tour to support that. Hopefully we’ll get to Europe this time. We didn’t do it this year, for, you know, money reasons. But we really want to go to Europe and keep, you know, rockin’.

(An apology: One-third of the interview recording came out as intelligible as the vocals on a Brainiac album, so you’ve been spared the more discursive moments.)

Photo courtesy of The Points’ MySpace page.

High on Fire and Converge will open the 34 shows–one of which will be at GMU’s Patriot Center on Oct. 31.

Electronic Arts is sponsoring the tour (which is sort of odd if you consider the new Dethklok video game is a Konami product), thus every concert will have console stations where audience members can try out Brutal Legend, EA’s new video game featuring voiceover work by Jack Black.

More deets after the jump.

Ticket ordering information, from the press release:

[A] ticket pre-sale that begins on Tuesday, August 4 at 10:00 AM EST, while the full allotment of tickets will go on sale to the general public starting Friday, August 7.  For more information about the tour including the pre-sale ticket password, price ranges and how to order, please visit www.adultswimpresents.com.

And a few East Coast tour stops/dates:

10/24 The Fairgrounds, Buffalo, NY
10/25 Armory, Albany, NY
10/27 House of Blues, Boston, MA
10/30 Hammerstein Ballroom, NY, NY
10/31 GMU Patriot Center, Fairfax, VA
11/1 Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
11/5 Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA

New to Sunny Day Real Estate? Try “In Circles” (video below) off Diary. And for the latest from SDRE lead eccentric singer Jeremy Enigk, listen to “Mind Idea,” which Stereogum released in March. 

Crooked Beat sent along a list of the Adams Morgan stores top-ten sellers for May. I pass it along not so much for its tiny news value as merely a reminder. Maybe you’re like me and totally slept on the new Camera Obscura album (it’s….No. 1 at Crooked Beat). Or maybe you still do not own Neutral Milk Hotel’s classic (No. 9).

Here’s the store’s Top 10:

1. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career LP/CD
2. Vaselines – Enter the Vaselines LP/CD
3. St Vincent – Actor LP/CD
4. V/A – Dark Was the Night LP/CD
5. Iron & Wine – Around the Well LP/CD
6. Yo La Tengo – I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One LP/CD
7. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz LP/CD
8. Andrew Bird – Noble Beast LP/CD
9. Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea LP/CD
10. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Beware LP/CD