Paul Hamann worked as the recording engineer at Suma Studios in Painesville, OH. The first time I saw his name was back in my old home town, when I was reading the liner notes to fIREHOSE album fROMOHIO. But, when I spoke to him about that record, it was just one of many that he did. His breakthrough happened with the first Pere Ubu album The Modern Dance. In the following years, Hamann recorded almost all Pere Ubu records and many of the essential Cleveland underground records: The Girls, Human Switchboard, Pagans, Pressler Morgan… Hamann had a way to capture raw power from almost any band that asked for his services. Part of it is an excellent set up at his Suma Studio, but also, his ear and unmistakable instinct to press the recording button at the right time. That was recognized by many of the Alive Records bands, who used his services. Black Keys made another huge mark on modern rock’n’roll and a large part of it was due to the spirit of Suma embodied in Paul Hamann. His departure is leaves a big void in the recording world. This episode of The Little Lighthouse is dedicated to his work.
fIREHOSE – Riddle of the Eighties
Pere Ubu – Non-alignment Pact
Pere Ubu – Modern Dance;
Pagans – Street Where Nobody Lives;
Pagans – Whats This Shit Called Love;
The Girls – Jeffrey I Hear You;
Human Switchboard – Prime Of My Life;
Pressler Morgan – You’re Gonna Watch Me;
15 60 75 – Here In The Life;
The Trees – Happy to See You;
fIREHOSE – In My Mind;
fIREHOSE – Time with You;
fIREHOSE – Some Things;
fIREHOSE – Understanding;
Brimstone Howl – Bad Seed;
The Black Keys – Strange Times;
Left Lane Cruiser – G Bob;
Mondo Drag – Fade Out (Into Space);
This Moment in Black History – Forest Whitaker;
The Safeties – No Fun;
Scarcity Of Tanks – Over And Done.
Today we introduce several interesting relatively new names on the female songwriting scene. Katie Von Schleicher comes from Brooklyn and Esmé Patterson is from Denver, CO. Nicole Atkins from New Jersey is particularly interesting because she teamed up with Tommy Stinson of The Replacements and Bash & Pop for her upcoming new album. Tommy is also out touring with Chip Roberts as The Cowboys In The Campfire. They stopped by at Cleveland’s Blue Arrow Records and played a few new tunes. We hear one of them today. Talking about Cleveland, Matthew Wascowich is back with his Scarcity of Tanks. They have a new album called Garford Mute, inspired by growing up, and it contains a stellar line up of Pere Ubu and Terminal Lovers bands, plus Doug Gillard and the legendary Steve Mackay, the Stooges sax player with his posthumous appearance. We also check out the new music Left Lane Cruiser and and introduce two new heavy bands, ’68 from Atlanta and Gorilla from UK.
This is another one of our vinyl junkyard episodes, in which we play some old vinyl records which I found dirt cheap collecting dust in a dollar bin. This time we have two records which were sold back in the seventies as souvenirs at the decadent Max’s Kansas City rock club in New York City. Both records feature studio recordings of bands that were regulars at the club and includes Wayne County, Pere Ubu, The Fast, Suicide and Philip Rambow. The first volume from 1976 is definitely stronger, but the second one from 1977 is a fun listen because the best known name on it is Philips Rambow of The Winkies “fame”. So other bands are even less known. It’s always fun to take a break from current stuff with some old scratchy records and I hope you dig it as much as I do.
Crowdfunding is a cool new way to help musicians make their albums ahead of time, get some special releases in return and maybe even influence the content in some ways. I mean, without your help, the stuff wouldn’t even be out. Today we introduce two artist that took the road of crowdfunding. Clara Engel is from Toronto and she’s a singer songwriter. She previously published in UK and Italy, but not in North America. She started a website on