From the Fringes

I came across a great article on the always excellent Inrocks web site. If you thought the music I post here was obscure, wait till you go read that article and check out the YouTube videos that are on display there!

Just to give you a taste, here's a few that I thought were particularly interesting. It's crazy stuff, sometimes funny, often very psychedelic, but it's also completely free of inhibitions and therefore sincere.

Hasil "Haze" Adkins heard Hank Williams on the radio, and thought he was playing all the instruments by himself, so he decided to go ahead and do the same thing. This prolific one-man band inspired bands such as the Cramps, who famously covered his "She Said". Hasil had a fascination with hot dog and chicken. In fact, he wrote an entire album dedicated to chicken called "Poultry in Motion" (best album title ever?). Here's one of his chicken songs:



Wesley Willis didn't have a good life, and he decided to sing about it. The problem is, he was also schizophrenic and truly ill (he died at the age 40). The song below is probably autobiographical (for the lyrics, go to the YouTube page and click on "more info").



As for the last one, I really am speechless. The old man is apparently a local celebrity in Quebec.