when marches sound tender...

i found this strange 6 inch thin plastic 78 stuffed inside the paper sleeve of a regular 78 a few days ago. like one of those russian wooden dolls, where a smaller version is hiding within the larger, i had no idea it was living there. although the "label" is similar to the "canary records" standard 78's that i have, i have no idea when this is from, but probably 1940's based on the plastic. one side is totally unplayable due to the ripples in the plastic, but one side plays relatively fine. the track is a patriotic song about a military hero, played by a brass band. it's the kind of song you might see in an ozu film when older men get together, talk about grade school, drink sake and eventually fall into song.

because the surface of the disc is a bit wobbly, the band sounds slightly out of tune (or perhaps, more so than they did already). the whole thing feels a bit like a micro-version of gavin bryars "jesus blood never fails me" (the original version on the obscure label LP, which is one of my favorite recordings of all time... not the disaster that is the version with tom waits singing, which is one of my most hated recordings of all time...).

at less than two minutes in length, i suggest you play this on repeat, very quietly, and hum softly along in tender synchronicity...

click here to listen