Wes Mantooth

UbuWeb - 365 Days Project

For those not in the know, this is a site dedicated to all things bizarre in the world of audio curated by DJ's and outside music collectors. Each day during 2003 (and again in 2007) a new recording was posted resulting in a collection of the strangest recordings you'll ever hear. Its really hard to describe exactly what you're going to find in here, between both years there is well over 1000 pieces to listen to (some days found an entire album and then some) and each is pretty unique. But keep an eye out for things like (linked for your convenience)

The Space Lady covering Major Tom on a Casio UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2003)
Michael Mills - Hidden & Satanic messages in Rock Music UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2003)
A Cambodian Funk Yodeler UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2003)
William Shatner "Rocket Man" UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2003)
Outtakes of Orsen Wells hocking frozen peas in the 1960's UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2003)
Van Morrisons 1968 contract breaker UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2003)
An easy listening album recorded by the USAF UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2003)
Children's Disco Stories - Jack and The Beanstalk set to a disco beat! UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2003)
A strangely haunting home recording of "Carry on my Wayward Son" UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2003)
The catchy "Jogging for Jesus" UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2003)
a TON of Thurl Ravenscroft UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2007)
the infamous "I sing about blue" - passed around by audiophiles and remixed for years, its a must hear. UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2003)
An album of Atari songs UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2003)
IBM 7090 "Music from Mathematics" UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2003)
The Erotic Bedspring Symphony UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2003)
The surreal and quite funny Badger Theater Movie PhoneUbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2003)
The Ukuleles of Halifax UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2007)
Sex Ed from Art Linkletter UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2007)
A Coca Cola Musical UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2007)
Interviews with Hobos UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2007)
The Death Killers...you'll just have to listen UbuWeb - 365 Days Project (2007)

Okay thats just the tip of the iceberg the collection is simply VAST and I know there are better recordings that I'm forgetting. Needless to say its a hodgepodge of everything and if you're a fan of outsider recordings I'm sure you'll adore this website as much as I do. Bookmark it because it will take you a while to wade through but the treasures just keep popping and the journey is simply amazing. It would seem that some entries have been removed due to copyright or at the artists request but from poking around it looks to be about 99% intact.

If this stays alive long enough perhaps people would be interested in posting some of the stuff they find and enjoy? If not sit back and enjoy!

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haywoodu

365 Days Project
Found this gem two days ago and I'm still browsing.
Great find, thank you for posting this.

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I hide my tears when I say your name, for the pain in my heart is still the same.

Wes Mantooth

Well thats awesome, glad you're enjoying it. If you like outsider music this site will rob you of countless precious months! I found this site...maybe around 2005ish and I still don't think I've listened to everything on it, but whenever I happen back I always find something new to fall in love with.

I wish they would get around to doing another year but alas it doesn't seem to be coming back.

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Manic_Skafe

What's outsider music?

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"Porn is a zoo of exotic animals that becomes boring upon ownership." -Nersesian

Wes Mantooth

I don't rightly know Manic...honestly and I don't think anybody does. No, not really, its a term coined to describe music that exists outside of the realm of the music industry (or is widely ignored by the public) or ignores commonly held ideas about what music is, should be or how its played it. In other words music that exists outside of what people consider to be music(pop music, standards, ect)...for lack of a better explanation.

Well here, wikipedia probably does a better job explaining it then I can.
Outsider music - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And yes some (or lots) of it is as bad as you can imagine.

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Jetée

This thread (website) is right up my alley. Not to shill for my own contributions and detract from yours, but this is somewhat the antithesis thread / accompanying opposite of what I've recently created, and am currently curating: Loosies, Oddities & Remixes. Only difference that I see is the ruling premise: while you are featuring the oddities and "found" unusual track tapes accumulated by one random guy, most of them are actually unknown/foreign to the layperson, and to borrow from a porn term, strictly amateur; My thread, on the other hand, has an underlying and unstated rule that all tracks and features must be that of and from established musical acts.

Thanks very much for sharing this, and of the few links I've visited and gone thru, this random guy could easily be me, as he, too, has as a predilection towards "topic-tures" (just got through with the "Carry On My Wayward Son" post, and it was rife with (trivial) context to its origins). I can also relate towards your follow-up definition and expanding view on outsider music, as somehow, and I don't know when it happened, I much more thoroughly enjoy "found" music that I either stumbled across by accident, a friend recommended to me some band I've never heard of, or just a great artist that I forget exactly how I came across and discovered exactly, but I'm glad my coincidence allowed it to happen. And then I also have this nagging subconscious thing in my head that doesn't really like having to listen to the overhyped musicians that receive airplay on modern radio now. That, too, is perhaps a contribution in what may define me as an "outsider music"-head (I never even knew there was such a definition for a person, other than just being indie).

(The only problem here is that I literally have 1,000+ other great blogs that I have in my notes, and I fear this website just might be another title in my ton of net links. I really need to get to filtering those out sometime.)

I hope you can find time and effort to feature your favorites here from time to time, as it might help me more fully realize this is some site in which I should definitely subscribe to (and might need to download and transload the audibles into my ipod soon).

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As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves.

—Mohandas K. Gandhi

Wes Mantooth

Hey thanks for the response Jet and I'm glad you are enjoying it. I actually just noticed the thread you started when I got back home last night, pretty good idea and some great posts. I'd love to take part as, to borrow your own phrase, that too is right up my alley. (I have a pretty extensive collection that fits the criteria nicely)

One of the reasons I really enjoy this website (or the genre of outsider music in general) is it really showcases a side of modern music (or I suppose the art of "recording" itself) that has been mostly lost or ignored in the whizz-bang world of corporate music, the eccentricities of the artistic mind. Certainly those genius eccentricities do exist in the modern music biz but they seem both few and far between and often augmented or streamlined for public consumption leaving it lacking in a certain "honesty" often found in outsider music. Obviously not everything here is just about eccentric oddness, some is historically or culturally interesting/strange while others fall into the category of "why would anybody EVER have thought to record this?" Regardless the website is a great resource for anybody who enjoys being challenged by pieces uniquely different to customary music. Mainstream music can be great but after awhile it all starts blending together into a cacophony of drum loops and simple melodies and I just get burned out...this website breaks it up nicely...the peanut butter to my musical hiccups if you will.

When I get some more time later tonight (Good lord I've gotten 8 phone calls while trying to post just this...I wonder how that ulcer is coming along) I'll try to post up some of my other favs, so please check back when you get a chance.

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