In the early 1960's, Lou Reed hosted a radio program called "Excursions on a Wobbly Rail" that was named after a song by the Cecil Taylor Quartet. This blog is about music that is not always new or easy to come across, but that is inspiring and exciting. If successful, the blog will have new music up approximately every month. Share with friends! There is also a Facebook page for Excursions on Wobbly Rail. Please 'Like' it or follow @WobblyRail on Twitter.
Friday, August 19, 2016
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Best of 2013
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Saturday, December 15, 2012
Best of 2012...
The best way to describe music in 2012 is "all over the map." There were a couple good hip-hop albums, some good garage albums, good indie rock albums, one good jazz album, even some good hardcore albums. Of the stuff that played on my stereo this year, these are the albums that were the most exciting and kept me listening all year long.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Leave a Bad Taste in My Mouth.
1. Son of Sam - Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
2. Sign the Dotted Line - Jeff Mangum
3. I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Slits
4. The Head - Guided by Voices
5. Repeating the Circle - Ceremony
6. What Chew Want - Quakers
7. On Again/Off Again - The Clean
8. Paid in Cigarettes - Hot Snakes
9. Laughing - R.E.M.
10. When You Stop Loving Me - Thee Headcoatees
11. Plastic Man - The Kinks
12. You Gotta Have Someone - Mikal Cronin
13. Don't Let The Sun Go Down on Your Grievance - Daniel Johnston
14. Take a Giant Step - Rising Sons
15. Great Cop - Fugazi
16. The Way I Walk - The Cramps
17. Stay Useless - Cloud Nothings
18. Stay Fresh - J-Rocc
19. The Right Profession - Hospitality
20. Brass Knuckles - Personal & The Pizzas
21. Melody - Madlib w/ DOOM
22. Bairaag Dance Music - Kalyanji Anadji
23. Crybaby - Ty Segall & White Fence
24. Firework Spraying Moon - Jontti
25. Waiting for the Day - Reigning Sound
26. Lazer Gunne Funke - J. Dilla
27. Wasted Away - Dum Dum Girls
28. Jesus - The Velvet Underground
Monday, May 7, 2012
Electricity & Gravity
http://www.sendspace.com/file/1h61ua
1. Jimmy James (O.G. Version)
2. A Year & A Day
3. The Blue Nun
4. Square Wave in Unison
5. The Update
6. 3-Minute Rule
7. B-Boys Makin' With the Freak Freak
8. Hey Fuck You
9. Heart Attack Man (Live)
10. Professor Booty
11. Freaky Hijiki
12. Resolution Time
13. Deal With It
14. The Move
15. The Scoop
16. OK
17. Car Thief
18. And Me
19. I Can't Think Straight
20. What Comes Around
21. The Cousin of Death
22. Lee Majors Come Again
23. Bodhisattva Vow
24. Super Disco Breakin'
25. The Vibes
26. Nervous Assistant
27. Say It
28. Instant Death
Monday, April 2, 2012
Wobbly Rail 4/2012 Kids With Replaceable Heads!
No there aren't really any boy bands. There is something unique about the music of the late 70's and early 80's. This music has an electric shock to it that is constantly surprising and interesting. From original punk of the Only Ones, X-Ray Spex, and the Saints, to ska, like the Specials, to hardcore, like Black Flag, to weirdos and the mentally ill, like Daniel Johnston, Roky Erickson, and Kevin Coyne & Dagmar Krause, it's inexplicably attached to a certain period. Thrown together and stitched up like Frankenstein and his bride, this playlist is the first one from this site that is from a time, rather than reaching across it. There's some weird, old mystery to this music that doesn't exist anymore and that's why it's special.
Download
http://www.sendspace.com/file/hzdv8a
1. Another Girl, Another Planet - The Only Ones
2. Let's Submerge - X-Ray Spex
3. Gangsters - The Specials
4. Is Ths Real? - Wipers
5. TV Set - The Cramps
6. Ghost on the Highway - Gun Club
7. The 15th - Wire
8. Love In A Void - Siouxsie & The Banshees
9. Rocket Ship - Daniel Johnston
10. Academy Fight Song - Mission of Burma
11. Tally Ho! - The Clean
12. Video Eyes - Exposure
13. Radio G String - Bow Wow Wow
14. Room 13 - Black Flag
15. Include Me Out - Young Marble Giants
16. Original Love - The Feelies
17. Ain't That Nothin' - Television
18. Fiery Jack - The Fall
19. Bloody Hammer - Roky Erickson & the Aliens
20. Stand Up - Kevin Coyne & Dagmar Krause
21. The Kid With The Replaceable Head - Richard Hell & The Voidoids
22. (I'm) Stranded - The Saints
23. Ghosts - The Jam
Sunday, April 1, 2012
As You Wish! The Return of Boy Bands!
Celebrate the Return of Boy Bands with this Mix that takes you from Boys 2 Men to B2K! From NKOTB to Big Time Rush!
Download HERE!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/hzdv8a
1. Incomplete by Backstreet Boys
2. Back For Good by Boys 2 Men
3. More Than That by More Than That
4. This I Promise by N'Synch
5. Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely by Backstreet Boys
6. Poison by Bel Biv DeVoe
7. I Swear by Boys 2 Men
8. I Drive Myself Crazy by N'Synch
9. Seasons in the Sun by Westlife
10. If I Let You Go by Westlife
11. Shape of My Heart by Backstreet Boys
12. I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys
13. Season of Love by Boys 2 Men
14. Mmm Bop by Hanson
15. Summer Girls by LFO
16. Progress by Take That
17. Hubbub by Big Time Rush
18. You Got Served by B2K
19. Hangin' Tough by NKOTB
Sunday, March 4, 2012
March 2012 Wobbly Rail Playlist!
A Time To Chill
http://www.sendspace.com/file/siq7yn
D O W N L O A D N O W !
1. Come to the City - The War on Drugs
2. Mellow Out - Jeff the Brotherhood
3. Keep Your Heart - TV on the Radio
4. Let Me Dream If I Want To - Mink Deville
5. Big Mouth - Santigold
6. Happy Homes - Kevin Coyne & Dagmar Krause
7. No Time For Dreaming - Charles Bradley
8. All Mod Cons - The Jam
9. Cup Half Full - The Stepkids
10. Optimo - Liquid Liquid
11. The OtherSide - The Roots
12. Greatest of All Time - Archers of Loaf
13. Rock Steady - Aretha Franklin
14. The Last Living Rose - PJ Harvey
15. Uprising - Wadada Leo Smith & Ed Blackwell
16. The Wayward Granddaughter (Live) - The Fiery Furnaces
17. ...As Bond Did - Bumps
18. Fall In - Cloud Nothings
19. Elanor Rigby - Booker T. & The MGs
20. Violent Games - Polica
21. Every Day As We Grow Closer - Alex Chilton
22. Up In the Dark - The New Pornographers
23. Misfit - Wipers
24. Kiss Me Again - Jessica Lee Mayfield
Monday, February 20, 2012
Wobbly Rail - February 2012
Wobbly Rail 212
Variety is the spice of life and he who controls the spice, controls the universe.
Blake makes a guest mix.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/f98m0n
· three girl rhumba
· all grown up
· veni vidi vici
· sexy coffee pot
· think about it
· making plans for nigel
· the dark end of the street
· a bomb in wardour street
· carbona not glue
· 25 miles
· blue arrangements
· dark eyes
· them bones
· let me get close to you
· it’s hard to be humble (when you’re from alabama)
· (my baby loves) chili dogs
· it’s you
· idle hands are the devil’s playthings
· the commander thinks aloud
· miss black america
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Friendly Championship Oddity!
Download the new mix HERE!
1. Teach Me Sweetheart - Fiery Furnaces
2. Victory Laps (Madvillainz Remix) - Doomstarks
3. Friends of Friends - Hospitality
4. Champs - Wire
5. Punch-Out - Doomtree
6. Odditty - The Clean
7. Wrong - Archers of Loaf
8. The World (Is Going Up In Flames) - Charles Bradley
9. I Can't Reach You - The Who
10. Baby Missiles - The War on Drugs
11. Running on Nothing - Fucked Up
12. Gotta Have It - Jay-Z & Kanye West
13. Something Came Over Me - Wild Flag
14. Let Me Be Good to You - Carla Thomas
15. Scalding Creek - Kelly Deal & Buffalo Killer
16. Dehumanized - Void
17. I'm the One - Black Sheep
18. Apathy - Mikal Cronin
19. Hora Decubitus - Charles Mingus
20. By the Time It Gets Dark - Yo La Tengo
21. These Days - R.E.M.
22. Keep On Knocking - Death
23. Hornet's Nest - Jonti
24. Insufficient Fare - Cerebral Ballzy
25. Little Miss Strange - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
26. Bullet Proof Nothing - Ty Segall
27. Horror Movie Heave Ho - The Best Show on WFMU
28. Sweet and Low - Fugazi
Excursions on a Wobbly Rail
At the bottom of each post, there is a link that allows you to share with your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter. Please do that. There is also a Facebook page for Excursions on Wobbly Rail. Please 'Like' it or follow @WobblyRail on Twitter.
The Best Music of 2011!
Top 5 Albums of the Year
5. Wild Flag – Wild Flag
4. Mikal Cronin – Mikal Cronin
3. Jay-Z & Kanye West – Watch the Throne
2. Fucked Up – David Comes to Life
1. Ty Segall – Goodbye Bread
Honorable Mention
Obits – Moody, Standard, & Poor
The Ettes – Wicked Will
Jeff the Brotherhood – We Are The Champions
Doomtree – No Kings
Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo
Dum Dum Girls – Only in Dreams
Great Reissues
Archers of Loaf – Icky Mettle
Superchunk – Foolish
R.E.M. – Life’s Rich Pageant
Sunday, October 16, 2011
A Metaphysical Infinity Loop of Cassette Tape
1. Zinabu -Bunzu Sounds
2. Is It Alright - Mikal Cronin
3. A Space Boy Dream - Belle & Sebastian
4. What Would You Do (For Veronica) - Fucked Up
5. The Best Minute - Tom Scharpling (The Best Show on WFMU)
6. I'm Not in Love - Talking Heads
7. I Get Mine - The Ettes
8. Birds - Neil Young
9. Chapter 13-4 - Philip K. Dick
10. Teardrops on My Pillow - Dum Dum Girls
11. Cry - Money Mark
12. You I'll Be Following - Love
13. In California - Neko Case
14. It #1 - Ty Segall
15. Shadows on Behalf - The Stepkids
16. Sitar Beat - Klaus Doldinger
17. Love or Confusion - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
18. (He's Our Dear Old) Weatherman - Mark Wirtz
19. It's Raining - Quasi
20. Trouble Man - Marvin Gaye
21. Hey Chicken - Loose Fur
22. Juarez - Mark Lanegan
23. I Hate Myself And I Want To Die - Nirvana
24. Run Fay Run - Isaac Hayes
25. Naked to the World - Obits
Monday, September 26, 2011
Nirvana, Nevermind.
Nirvana, Nevermind
It was the soundtrack to the film License to Drive. That’s where it all started for me. INXS’ “New Sensation,” Billy Ocean’s “Get Outta My Dreams and Into My Car,” a cover of “Drive My Car,” and surely other gems cobbled together to soundtrack a zany-night-on-the-town comedy starring the Coreys and a young Heather Graham. It was the first time I remember buying a cassette tape outside of my families’ collection. Waned on my dad’s record crates of Neil Young, the Beatles, and Bob Dylan, I was not used to looking for music on my own, but the sounds from the movie were intriguing. The License to Drive soundtrack was filled lots of familiar songs covered by unfamiliar artists and it was not too far from what I heard on the radio.
Cut to the 1989 Batman soundtrack by Prince and an Aerosmith cassette and you can see the fairly barren, bland music collection of a young man. I barely had time to get my mind blown by the onslaught of Guns n’ Roses dual Use Your Illusion platters dubbed to cassette before I started seeing the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video on MTV. I don’t remember loving it so much the first time out, but eventually I bought the Nevermind cassette at Musicland at the mall and it became a favorite on my walkman. I listened to it sitting around at home or in the car or where ever. I started mowing lawn for some people down the street and the job would take about as long as one run through either Nevermind or Dr. Dre’s The Chronic.
Nirvana was a very visible band. At the time, MTV was a constant force in pushing music through videos and you would see interviews every hour on MTV news with your favorite singers or rappers. Every Sunday night would bring an episode of 120 Minutes, which may even be guest hosted or feature a performance by your favorite bands. And post-Nevermind, they created a show dedicated to the weirdo-rock that the kids were buying and called it Alternative Nation. Today, every band has a website, a facebook page, a twitter account, and videos of their first performance all the way through to last nights concert on YouTube, but, in 1991, it was really amazing to see Nirvana play three songs live at MTV’s dark soundstage or stay up late to see them play two songs on Saturday Night Live or just read an interview in Rolling Stone. That was visible for the time.
I can draw a straight line from Nirvana’s Nevermind to Pearl Jam’s Ten to Sonic Youth’s Dirty to Beck’s Mellow Gold to the Beastie Boys Check Your Head to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Pavement, Talking Heads, Cibo Matto, Alex Chilton, Pixies, the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Elvis Costello, Mike Watt, Black Flag, Pussy Galore, the Jesus Lizard, Ornette Coleman, and then the spiral moving out to anything and every thing that the world of music has to offer.The key that opened the door for me and for many people my age was Nirvana. We had barely poked our heads into popular music when this sound emerged that took the ideas of rock, cut it to pieces and set it on fire, saving only the most basic elements to reassemble into their own irony soaked, rock sans excess, barely intelligible rock of a different mineral songs. They were a breed apart. Our biggest rock stars didn’t talk about groupies, hotel room destruction, expensive cars, Satan, or drug-fueled religious visions that made them strive to create. They talked about deconstructing rock, the male gaze, absurdist humor, irony, punk rock, and “slick production.” But they also made heavy rock songs that sounded great when you played them loud and shouted along with every line. They convinced us that it was worthwhile to listen to a fifteen minute long feedback jam crammed at the end of an album and that metal was massively uncool and that a rock star didn’t need to have long hair. If you were young enough to think these were new ideas then this was a great revelation.
So Nevermind was where most of us began with Nirvana and then we had to backtrack and find Bleach and then, later, learn about mail order or giving a weirdo at the record store your phone number to seek out the Hoarmoaning EP imported from Japan or the “Puss” b/w “Oh, the Guilt” split single with the Jesus Lizard. A fan had to scour the singles section at your local store to find those sweet, sweet b-sides from the Lithium CD5 that your friends hadn’t heard yet. Nirvana taught a generation how to be music collectors in a few short steps.
Then there was a collection of rare stuff, another album, a TV special with acoustic instruments, and the definitive end of the band.
After the end, there was merchandise. Books, retrospectives, live albums, an unfinished song, box sets, DVDs, anniversary editions, video game characters, and licensing songs to whomever had the cash to spend on their movie or commercial or whatever. Nirvana was like having a very close, intense, but brief friendship in your formative years. When it ends, you still have to hear everyone talk about that person every few months then years, but it’s never the same and it’ll never come back.
I don’t want to talk about shorter cycles of nostalgia or repackaging and reselling the same product in a different box, but I think it’s safe to say that a band that had the sense of humor that Nirvana did would have seen something ironic about their anniversary and deluxe edition releases. These bones have been picked clean of all their meat and then the bones have been resold. It would be nice if we could occasionally remember something without actually having to reenact the whole experience by buying it yet another time.
Now, if you’ll excuse me. I need to get back to making fun of the Lou Reed/Metallica collaboration.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Thanks Anyway, Dude!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5SEDE5E0
1. Song of Sorn - Deefhoof
2. Litany - Fucked Up
3. Ruby Go Home - Thee Oh Sees
4. Julian From the Strokes Calls - The Best Show on WFMU
5. Play This (Also) - J. Rocc
6. Love Lies Bleeding - The Ettes
7. Sad Fuzz - Ty Segall
8. Charmaine Champagne - Fiery Furnaces
9. Dance Music From Hare Rama... - R.D. Burman
10. Go Out and Get It - The Black Lips
11. The Seventh Son - Mose Allison
12. Back Up - The Light
13. I'm So Free - Lou Reed
14. Today is the Night - Kyra
15. (Don't Go Back to) Rockville - R.E.M.
16. Drowning - Reigning Sound
17. Detroit Has a Skyline (Acoustic) - Superchunk
18. Born to Be Together - The Ronettes
19. Regulator - Bad Brains
20. Luv N' Haight - Sly & the Family Stone
21. Shit Soup - Sebadoh
22. Houses in Motion - Talking Heads
23. The Paper - Madlib & Guilty Simpson
24. It Doesn't Really Matter/We Know Who You Are - Kevin Coyne & Dagmar Krause
Download the new mix!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5SEDE5E0
Monday, April 11, 2011
The Working Poor
The new mix has less bombast and a few longer songs. The genre doesn't switch quite so rapidly, but it's a smoother more pleasant, easy listen. Enjoy.
Download the Working Poor!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WDWL7IL5
1. Paths of Victory - Bob Dylan
2. Head to Toe - The Breeders
3. Truth is Stranger than Fishing - Volcano Suns
4. The High Road - The Feelies
5. Better Off Without It - The Greenhornes
6. Smooth Death - Danielson
7. Caesar - Ty Segall
8. Wrong Feels Right - Dum Dum Girls
9. I Don't Want the Night to End - Nick Lowe
10. As Long - Reigning Sound
11. Kooks - David Bowie
12. Skyway - The Replacements
13. Red In Tooth and Claw - The Ettes
14. Wages of Sin - Bruce Springsteen
15. From Blown Speakers - The New Pornographers
16. Friends of Mine - The Zombies
17. Auditorium - American Princes
18. Childhood's End - Flamin' Groovies
19. In My Time - Kurt Vile
20. (Don't Go Back To) Rockville - R.E.M.
21. Get on Back on the Right Track - Mary Gresham
22. Brand New Shoes - She & Him
23. Time - The Minutemen
Download the Working Poor!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WDWL7IL5
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Baby, We're Doomed!
1. River Deep, Mountain High - Ike & Tina Turner
2. San Francisco's Doomed - Crime
3. Trinkle, Trinkle - Thelonious Monk
4. The Words That Maketh Murder - PJ Harvey
5. New Day - Jackie Lomax
6. Triumph of Life - Fucked Up
7. How You Like Me Baby? - Ghostface Killah
8. All the Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth - The New Pornographers
9. Everybody's Out - Dum Dum Girls
10. Richard II - Titus Andronicus
11. Physics for Everyone! - Flying Lotus
12. Rowche Rumble - The Fall
13. The Show (Inner View) - Madlib
14. Emma Get Wild - Sebadoh
15. Debris - Reigning Sound
16. Two Bass Hit - Miles Davis
17. Rallying the Dominoes - Danielson
18. Yr City is a Sucker (London Sessions) - LCD Soundsystem
19. While Your Girl's Away - The Ettes
20. XOX - The Hot Snakes
21. (The Best Part of) Breakin' Up - The Ronettes
22. Little America - R.E.M.
23. So Soon - Aretha Franklin
24. Stuffed-In-The-Drum-Man - Mike Watt
25. Loving You Too Long - Billy Bragg
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6S7GTY6V
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Another One Rides the Bus

The new mix is filled with 90's rock, 60's pop, and one of my favorite Weird Al Yankovic songs. Also, more! Listen at your own risk!
Download Now!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HRP0VQKO
1. Greenshirt (Demo) - Elvis Costello
2. Here Come the Rome Plows - Drive Like Jehu
3. G.O.M.P. Leon - Tom Scharpling (from The Best Show on WFMU)
4. Davey Crockett - Thee Headcoatees
5. Care of Cell 44 - The Zombies
6. Now I'm Pissed - OFF!
7. On the Table - A.C. Newman
8. Funkier than a Mosquito's Tweeter - Nina Simone
9. Crass Jenny - Bumps
10. You Must Be Stopped - Chavez
11. Help Me Make It Through the Night - Kris Kristofferson
12. Bound to Let Me Down - The Parting Gifts
13. Please Don't Follow Me - James Murphy
14. Call on Me - Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
15. Another One Rides the Bus - "Weird" Al Yankovic
16. Sister - Sebadoh
17. Gettin' Hungry - The Beach Boys
18. Long Division - Fugazi
19. Seaside Bar Song - Bruce Springsteen
20. Kid Tut - Tyvek
21. The Red Invasion - The K-Pers
22. Favorite Thing - The Replacements
23. Elijah - The Black Lips
24. Bomb in the Beehive - Guided By Voices
25. The Fool on the Hill (Outtake) - Aretha Franklin
26. Don't Let Him Come Back - Jay Reatard
27. Thingumybob - Black Dyke Mills Band
28. Driveway to Driveway (Acoustic) - Superchunk
Download Now!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HRP0VQKO
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Best of the Year 2010!
Top 10 albums for this year:
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks
Wavves - King of the Beach
Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be
Sleigh Bells - Treats
Robert Pollard - We All Got Out of the Army
LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up!
Best Coast - Crazy For You
Guilty Simpson/Madlib - OJ Simpson
POST YOUR LIST IN THE COMMENTS!
Sunday, November 7, 2010
The New Mix!
Better Off Dead
Download link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MFQSEUL5
Tracklist:
1. The Theme (Take 2) – The Miles Davis Quintet
2. Better Off Dead – Bill Withers
3. Precision Auto – Superchunk
4. Do Not Stay – Doomtree
5. Troubled Mind – The Buff Medways
6. Hard Times – John Legend & The Roots
7. Another the Letter – Wire
8. Yesterday’s Numbers – The Flamin’ Groovies
9. Benton Harbor Blues – The Fiery Furnaces
10. Ocean City – Kurt Vile
11. Kill Your Co-Workers – Flying Lotus
12. Chapter 16-1 – Philip K. Dick/Paul Giamatti
13. Neat Parts – Fucked Up
14. It’s A Desperate Situation – Jimmy Ruffin
15. Let’s Go – The Feelies
16. Bed For The Scraping – Fugazi
17. Da Factory – J. Dilla
18. I’ll Take the Cure – Robert Pollard
19. Come Undone – Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
20. Two States – Pavement
21. Tiger (Feat. Aku) – Maximum Balloon
22. Wade In The Water – Ella Jenkins
23. Goodbye Toulouse – The Stranglers
24. Veni Vidi Vici – The Black Lips
25. My Time To Shine – Guilty Simpson
26. Come To The Sunshine – Van Dyke Parks
27. Bellbottoms (Original Long Ending) – The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
28. It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City – Bruce Springsteen

