PHOAMING EDISON Happy Nap Casino 1999

.

Discogs

Artist Biography by Erik Hage

The man behind pHoaming Edison is James Kavoussi, a musician/engineer who has also been a longtime member of the adventurous New York City group Fly Ashtray. Kavoussi, guitarist/singer/bassist John Beekman, guitarist Chris Thomas, bassist/guitarist Mike Anzalone, and drummer Eric Thomas formed Fly Ashtray at Fordham University in the Bronx, NY, during the late '80s. The group's first release, Nothing Left to Spill, was an eclectic, post-punk compilation of the group's early work. Kavoussi began releasing albums under the pHoaming Edison nom de plume in 1995, with the LP Sold to the Highest Grady (on Dark Beloved Cloud). The appropriately titled Sold to the Second Highest Grady, also on Dark Beloved Cloud, emerged in 1996. The new millennium saw the release of pHoaming Edison's most fully realized effort, Happy Nap Casino. The album ran the gamut from lo-fi to noise to psychedelia and featured a cover of "Theme From Casino Royale," as well as the George Harrison composition "Only a Northern Song" (from the Yellow Submarine album).

Tracklist

1	Longwind
2	M Deest
3	Mablo
4	Too Much Pizza
5	Pholic
6	Hey, Eddie!
7	Give Me Glexnor
8	Theme From Casino Royale
9	Marge Inleman
10	Sponge, The
11	Tickle Me Elmo
12	Sold! To The Highest Grady
13	Sold! To The Second Highest Grady
14	Blank
15	Hostile Turkey Invasion
16	Food Shortage
17	Only A Northern Song
18	Scram!!
19	Null-0
20	Who´s Bobby

UNCLE WIGGLY Non-Stuff 1995

by request

Discogs

Tracklist

A1	Kakaphonic
A2	Empty Bag
A3	Gumby's Robots
A4	Glooga Girl
B1	Drug Comm.
B2	Washing Machine
B3	Tract Home Chippy
B4	Cocky, Nocky & Blern

FLY ASHTRAY

Clumps Takes a Ride

1992

 

Tone Sensations of the Wonder-Men

1993

 

 by request

Discogs 

  

Artist Biography by Steve Huey

Long running but not exactly prolific, New York's Fly Ashtray was a band of warped pop eccentrics working in territory most commonly referenced through Pavement and Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. Fractured pop songs that buried their hooks under heaps of lo-fi noise were FA's stock in trade, along with a goofy brand of psychedelia and a dry, absurdist sense of humor. Elements of British Invasion pop, new wave, jangly R.E.M./Television-style alt-rock, and avant-garde rock weirdos from the Red Krayola to the Residents were all audible in the group's eclectic sound as well. Fly Ashtray's lackadaisical attitude toward recording certainly contributed to their relative lack of exposure -- it often took them years to issue new material, and what they did release was often on small, poorly distributed labels. Yet that informal aesthetic also contributed to a loose -- if uneven -- charm cited by many of the critics who did hear their albums.
Fly Ashtray was formed in 1983 at Fordham University, in the Bronx area of New York City. Charter members included singer/bassist/guitarist John Beekman, guitarist/bassist Chris Thomas, and guitarist/bassist Mike Anzalone. They were soon joined by keyboardist/guitarist/bassist/singer James Kavoussi and drummer Eric Thomas (Chris' brother). It would take until 1987 for the group to issue their first recording, a 7" single called "The Day I Turned Into Jim Morrison." They next appeared with a brief track on ROIR's New York Scum Rock compilation in 1989. Despite their lack of available material, the band had been recording off and on for most of the ‘80s, and issued a self-released, cassette-only compilation of its early work in 1990, called Nothing Left to Spill. It was accompanied by a four-song EP, Extended Outlook, on the See Eye label, plus a 7" single, "President Stoned." Another 7", the three-song "Soap"/"Bip"/"Feather," followed in 1991. By this time, Eric Thomas had left the group to move to Japan, and Mike Anzalone also departed to concentrate on playing in Kavoussi's other project, Uncle Wiggly. Thomas was replaced by new drummer Glenn Luttman, leaving the group a quartet.
Fly Ashtray's first proper full-length was 1991's Clumps Take a Ride, which appeared on Kramer's Shimmy Disc label and collected material from the previous three years, including their signature song "Ostrich Atmosphere." The EP Let's Have Some Crate followed on the British label Hemiola in 1992, and finally -- after a decade of existence -- the band released its first full-length album of all-new material, Tone Sensations of the Wonder Men, on Shimmy Disc in 1993. After this unprecedented level of activity, a hiatus of several years followed, during which time Kavoussi embarked on a solo project under the name pHoaming Edison. Fly Ashtray returned in 1997 with the Flummoxed EP, their first release for indie Dark Beloved Cloud. In 1998, they experienced their first personnel shift in quite some time, as Beekman departed, to be replaced by bassist/guitarist/banjoist David Abel (also of Autobody). A third full-length album followed in 1999, under the title Sawgrass Subligette; it featured contributions from Abel's crony Jim Abramson, an Autobody bandmate who also drummed for Dymaxion. In 2002, Fifth Beetle released a long-delayed EP, Stop the Zockos, which had been completed in 1995. The following year, Glenn Luttman took his leave from the band, and was replaced by Autobody/Drumhead percussionist Eric Marc Cohen.

 

We're All Normal And We Want Our Freedom - A Tribute To Arthur Lee And Love 1994

Discogs

Tracklist  

1	–Peter Principle	Emotions
2	–Eggs	Willow Willow
3	–Urge Overkill	Robert Montgomery
4	–David Kilgour / Martin Phillipps	Message To Pretty
5	–Johnson (41)	Dream
6	–Gobblehoof*	Alone Again Or
7	–Hypnolovewheel	Which Witch Is Which
8	–Uncle Wiggly	¡Que Vida!
9	–Diesel Meat	Keep On Shining
10	–The Gamma Rays	Softly To Me
11	–The Mad Scene	She Comes In Colors
12	–Love Battery	No Matter What You Do
13	–The Jetty	(Don't Turn Your) Car Lights On In The Daytime Blues
14	–Fly Ashtray	My Flash On You
15	–The Deer Team	Signed D.C.
16	–Smack Dab	Bummer In The Summer
17	–HP Zinker*	I'm Down
18	–Das Damen	Stand Out
19	–Teenage Fanclub	Between Clark & Hilldale
20	–Trycycle	Can't Explain
21	–Television Personalities	You Are Something

UNCLE WIGGLY Across the Room and Into Your Lap 1991

by request

 

Discogs

Tracklist

Stick Up Your Smile
Nerve
Morphine Ice Cream
Hope So, Hope Soon
Build Your Own Monster
That Piece Of String
Express
Best Boy
Big Epic
Toucan
Oven
Ba Ba Ba
My, My, My, How Are You ?
Spitoon Cleaner
Julie In The Greenhouse
Ol' Pal

UNCLE WIGGLY Jump Back, Baby 1996

by request

Discogs

 

Biography

by Greg Prato

The New York City-based trio Uncle Wiggly originally formed in 1989, and consists of members William Berger (guitar and drums), Michael Anzalone (bass and guitar), and James Kavoussi (drums and guitar), with all three sharing vocals. Mixing concise alt-pop tunes with some retro psychedelia straight out of the '60s, Uncle Wiggly issued their debut album, He Went There So Why Don't We Go, a year later on the independent Austrian label Nur Sch Records, before signing on with Shimmy Disc, which issued the trio's next two releases: 1991's Across the Room and Into Your Lap and 1992's There Was an Elk. The trio issued a 12" EP titled Non Stuff in 1995, as well as their fourth full-length release overall, Jump Back, Baby, in 1996. 

Tracklist 

1	Ded	2:59
2	The Plentitude	2:05
3	Imbeciles	2:43
4	Rat's Rabbits	3:20
5	Godfrey's Cordial	2:42
6	Sweetheart	2:20
7	Francis	3:03
8	Purple Threat	4:31
9	Yr. Hed	1:46
10	Arm	3:07
11	Head Grows	2:47
12	The Tone Scrifter	3:52
13	Spuzzy	1:32
14	Mandible Jackson	3:21
15	Mary's Crayons	1:53
16	Skeeny	2:45

 

UNCLE WIGGLY There Was an Elk 1992

 

by request

Discogs

 

Tracklist 

1	There Was An Elk	2:50
2	Behold!	3:01
3	Guadalupe	1:56
4	Frog	7:55
5	Weeping Girder	2:10
6	Irresponsible Pants	4:17
7	Sunny Afternoon In The Forest	4:47
8	Golden Moss	2:52
9	Trust	2:33
10	Hamsters	2:29
11	Crow (As In Eat)	2:34
12	The Toadstool	2:26
13	Sneaky Pig	1:49
14	Man	1:37
15	Peeking Over The Fence	2:26
16	Sound ÷ ☺	1:36
17	Everything's Pretend	2:33
18	Small Factory	2:33
19	Nostalgia	4:21
20	Elephant Fly	4:59
21	Fantastic Alex	2:06
22	Mice W/ Rice	1:58
23	The House Of Insect Worship	5:54
24	Fruit Stand	1:35