Either you know who Wesley Willis was, or you don’t. Maybe one of your friends told you about him, describing him as a “street-musician,” “schizophrenic,” or perhaps they even attempted to convey some sort of sample lyric from one of his songs. But you can’t know who Welsey Willis is until you have heard one of his songs and, after that, the name tends to stick.

I first heard about Wesley through my friend Aaron. He told me a story about some friends of his who had given Wesley a ride from a music festival in Minnesota back to his home town of Chicago. What I gathered from his story was that Wesley Willis was a 300+ lb. schizophrenic homeless man from Chicago who writes songs with amusing titles and lyrics (i.e. – “Suck A Cheetah’s Dick”).  I was intrigued, but the force of Willis’ impact did not reach full until I was actually played a few songs. “Chronic Schizophrenia”, “Rock & Roll McDonalds”, and “Outburst” all sounded the same, covered similar themes, and typified Willis’ stream-of-consciousness-rambling-verse followed by chanting-repetitive-chorus  followed back into, stream-of-consciousness-rambling-verse style. I was immediately smitten.  As were a number of us.

Sure, the irony might be lost on the numbest American drones, but those assholes don’t read MosterFresh.com (unless they’re visiting to read about Sarah Larson, George Clooney’s latest girl-toy). But the irony that has become a religion for my generation, as well as next week’s, is embodied in Willis’ music. (more…)

Popularity: 3% [?]

The timing and content has been a bit erratic here on MonsterFresh.com, especially as of late, but that is primarily due to its organic development.  I use the term “organic” in much the same way that a crop yield can be affected by the refusal to utilize outside elements that, although have the ability to stimulate growth, will also undoubtedly effect the natural composition of things.  I only mention this because Kimya Dawson was actually one of the first interviews that I thought to have when I started this website.

I spoke with her at a show in November, but mostly just about Olympia, Wa (Kimya lived in Oly during the 90′s, I lived there from 2000-’06 and then she moved back after I had left)  She did, however, mention that some of her music was used to make up the soundtrack to a small indie film that was coming out called JUNO.  I recalled seeing a trailer for it before The Darjeeling Limited, and that was that.

Jump to a couple of months into the future and JUNO is already an Oscar contender and the soundtrack, which is composed almost entirely of Dawson’s solo work and other projects (The Moldy Peaches & Antsy Pants) becomes the #1 selling album Nationally. Kimya’s schedule these days is hectic.  She tours with her family (husband/musician Angelo Spencer and their daughter Panda) and actually lists the days in which she is NOT doing a performance.  Fortunately for us, she played a benefit show in Seattle on March 1st for HollowEarthRadio.com, of which my friend DJ Knucklesupper hosts his own show.  She was kind enough to meet with me before her performance so that the interview could finally come to fruition. (more…)

Popularity: 6% [?]

The site has been on hiatus for a minute but somehow the hits are still blowing through the roof so we appreciate the support.  There is a lot of content on the way so don’t worry.  For now we wanted to provide you with a new video of the month that we love like a bastard son who stole from us on Christmas and never calls.  This is a live performance by a Norwegian trio called Hurra Torpedo covering the Bonnie Tyler classic Total Eclipse of the Heart.  For those who don’t know, Max Weinberg was the original drummer on the studio version of that track, but we think that Hurra Torpedo does a more than adequate job with the percussion re-arrangements.  Peep game fools!

Popularity: 2% [?]