Happy Summer's End! Enjoy a great album from some more Chicago boys. Have a safe Covid-autumn. We're seeing a light at the end of this tunnel.
Download below!
Sunday, September 20, 2020
Saturday, September 5, 2020
Alex Pulaski and the Polka Dots - Polka Parade
Alright, I'm not typing much out today. It's Labor Day weekend for godsake. Here's a jammer with both Saturday Night Polka and Holiday Polka.
Enjoy friends. Have a safe holiday weekend.
DOWNLOAD BELOW:
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
Stan Wolowic And The Polka Chips - It's Polka Time
I don't have a long stream of consciousness to share today, but this is yet another beautiful piece of wax right here. Much like last week's installment, Stan Wolowic And The Polka Chips' It's Polka Time just hits all of the right buttons for me. This is true party music right here from a homeboy from Chicago. Feel-good vibes through on out. Dreamy Fish Waltz and My Baby are great late-summer anthems. Slow and relaxed; perfect for a hot, humid day. Bruno's Polka, Mary Lou Polka, and Polka Chips Polka are great instrumentals. I love being able to hear the banjo clear as day. I think I also hear a mandolin at parts! I guess I could just read the liner notes to figure this out. This is probably the best rip I've done so far, and I hope it comes off just as beautiful for you.
Hope you've had a decent summer all things considered. Hope you're safe and healthy. Continue to protect yourself and your own!
DOWNLOAD HERE:
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Various Artists - 25 Polka Greats
Oooh yes. Now this is the shit right here. This is the sound and style I've been missing over these last few months. Sure the modern bands have been fun, and there have been some gems buried in those tapes, but goddamn, this classic polka sound is what this blog is all about. This sounds like the drinking music that brought me to the genre initially. As soon as I put the needle on this wax, I sparked a bowl, and just drank it all in. For a fleeting moment I felt that all was okay in this world. That is the power of polka.
As you may recall, this blog began as an ode to polka's similarity to punk music, and this release emphasizes that comparison. Look at the length of these songs. Some of these barely last over a minute. This looks more like a Negative Approach album than it does a TBC one. Fast, quick, and to the point. When you're having a party you have no time for three distinct choruses. Let's get through this one and on to the next one! Keep the dancing moving!
The Andrew Sisters' rendition of Beer Barrel Polka may be my new favorite; a divine horn section paired with equally angelic vocals. Cuckoo Waltz and Under the Double Eagle are just a couple of great instrumental pieces featured here. Tinker Polka has a surf-guitar section and is perfect for any beach day. And of course we have Johnny Bomba who could very well be related to Chris Bomba, the person who inspired this blog in the first place.
A song that sticks out to me is Russ Morgan's There's a City Called Hamtramck. For the uninitiated, Hamtramck is an island of a town surrounded by the greater Detroit area. My friends Nick and Breayne live there, and I was fortunate enough to be able to play a show there during a weekend tour, courtesy of Nick. A lovely little town with some of the best pizza I've ever eaten.
In Heaven There is No Beer could double as a Satanic anthem, while Beautiful Brown Eyes reminds us to never trust a person with blue ones. Then of course you have the pairing of There's a Tavern in Town and Friendly Tavern Polka. A staunch reminder that we will hopefully return to the care-free days of a pre-Covid world.
My only critique...the body-shaming anthem that is Too Fat Polka by Frankie Yankovic. I could have done without this track. Thankfully it's early on, and once you're past it it's clear sailing. I haven't really seen many renditions of this polka performed, so hopefully it's just contained to this release.
This album is a must have for anyone who loves polka. It's as important to me as a polka lover as Fat Music For Fat People is to me as a lover of punk music. 10 out of 10 beer steins. I would even suggest trying to hunt down a tangible copy of this for your own collection.
DOWNLOAD HERE:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/z9bdnols8dqqwg8/25_Polka_Greats_MP3.zip/file
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
The E-Z Tones - Tonight Is The Night
However, my interest began to pique when I learned about the bands who birthed the genre. Velvet Underground, Richard Hell, Television, Elvis Costello, Blondie, all the classic New York acts. I started checking out these albums from the Rolling Meadows library, excited to hear the bands that created the genre I had fallen so hard for.
Suffice to say, I was very disappointed. Velvet Underground was too slow! Too soft! Too pretty! I wanted a singer who sounded like Jello Biafra, not Joan Baez! I shelved those types of records for years, and returned to listening to NOFX and whatever ska band I was into that week.
However, when I returned to Velvet Underground during my college years I fell head-over-heels in love. I finally got it. I understood what the 1970's "punk" scene in New York stood for. They were striving for diversity, not uniformity. It made me realize that, whenever I approach something new with a preconceived idea of what I'd like it to sound like, I've already set myself up for disappointment. Listening to the Velvet Underground and expecting something like Tilt is what killed it for me. I buried it myself. Knowing what to expect made me break those boundaries I set for myself, and let me really enjoy the beauty.
Which leads me to today's release, Tonight Is The Night by The E-Z Tones. Cracking into this for my first time, I expected something a little more rustic and classic. Instead I was treated to a very modern polka sound. It rubbed me the wrong way as it was not at all what I was expecting. I again buried another band for myself.
But with my later listens, these little ear-worms dug a hole in my head and made their home. Tonight Is The Night and I Love Everybody Waltz are great, authentic polka songs. Why, Because I Love You and I Love You Polka brings visuals of me spending time with my lovely fiance, Danielle. These are really genuine songs, and I feel silly for having ever disliked them. Great release here, and well worth a download.
I also want to note that I LOVE this album art. So much in fact that I suggested to Danielle that we get this as a matching tattoo.
I do need to make a note though, and this really sums up the story of my life. The first three tracks were ripped in perfect quality. I remember thinking "oh wow, what am I doing differently now than I did previously? This sounds great." Then...To The Left Oberek began to play...and the quality plummeted. Unfortunately, this is just a side effect of these old tapes. I assume the person I bought them from did not store them well. Oh well. It adds character!
DOWNLOAD HERE:
Monday, July 20, 2020
Frankie Liszka And The Brass Connection - The New Generation
The more I try to understand polka, the more I find myself confused. With the exception of last week's post, the tapes I've been posting recently fall under the genre of Slovenian-American polka, specifically Cleveland-styled Slovenian-American polka. Wikipedia describes the genre as:
"...generally played at a smoother tempo and features different instrumentation. Whereas the Polish style utilizes trumpets and concertinas, the main melody instruments in the Slovenian band are the accordion and tenor saxophone. A diatonic accordion or "button box" is sometimes used instead of the piano accordion or chromatic accordion and offers a different sound. The Slovenian style also adds a banjo or guitar to bolster the rhythm section (most commonly banjo for polkas and guitar for waltzes)."
If I can be candid, I'm growing a little tired of what (I assume) is the Slovenian-American style. It's pretty much all I've been posting lately, and I miss the polka stylings of my earlier entries. So what exactly is that genre of polka? Is is Chicago-style Polish-American music, aka "push-polka?" Upon further review, no, it is not. The sound is pretty identical to Slovenian-American polka. In fact, here's Wikipedia's definition of push-style:
"The typical Chicago-style polka band includes one or two trumpets, an accordion, a concertina, drums, a bass, and sometimes a clarinet, saxophone, or fiddle. This style is connected to the '50s rock-and-roll era and is sometimes referred to as "push" style because of the intense "bellow-shaking" of the accordion."
Maybe it's just too early in the morning for me, but this definition seems pretty similar to Slovenian-American polka. Maybe it's German-American polka I long for? However, my research brings me to the same conclusion as the latter cases, and Wikipedia greets me with another near-identical definition:
"The German-American sound is often described with the term "oom-pa-pa" and is characterized by an emphasis on brass (especially the tuba), accompanied by drums and reed instruments (including the accordion or concertina, although for the most part the concertina is usually favored over the accordion in German-American bands)."
It's at this point I realized where my distinction in taste comes from. I long for the classic days of polka. How can I be such a curmudgeon over an era of polka that existed long before I was born? I will not let myself become old at heart. I must embrace the new! Well...new-ish. Today's tape is after all nearly 30 years old. So let's talk about it!
When I first saw the cover art for Frankie Liska and The Brass Connections "The New Generation" I was under the assumption that it would be Star Trek themed. However, like most of these tapes that I've posted so far, the theme of this album is only surface level. That's not to say that this tarnishes the album in any way. There are still great tracks like Good Friends Polka and Gonna Have My Love Polka.
I'd dedicate My Buddy's Wedding Polka to my buddy Connor, but I have no idea what's actually being said. I'll dedicate it to him anyways. Don't Tell Me Polka comes off a little too "nice guy" for me, but some may find comfort in it.
Not a bad release, just more of the same that we've been seeing lately. Well worth a listen through! Hope you're all well. Take care of each other. There's a light at the end of this tunnel.
DOWNLOAD HERE:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ntb4epdadpalyzn/Frank_Liska_TBC_-_The_New_Generation_MP3s.zip/file
Monday, July 13, 2020
Marisha Data – Na Wesolo
I'm a mutt. My heritage does not consist of merely one nor two nor three nor even four ethnicities. I am Irish, German, Italian, Scottish, and French. Like most white guys with an Irish last name, I self-identify with the Irish side more, but it's very likely that I'm more German than anything else. In the end, none of this even matters. I've never been to any of these counties. My family does not partake in any of these culture's customs (unless you count drinking beer, eating pasta, drinking more beer, etc.). I'm unfortunately just a boring old American. Most of us in this country are. However, it is fun to throw on a green shirt on St. Patrick's Day and pretend like I have a clue what clan my family comes from.
What always surprises me is that, as a cracker with the "blood" of many European cultures "running" through my "veins," none of my family comes from Poland. So when I decided it was time to upload this album, Marisha Data's Na Wesolo, I knew I wouldn't be able to provide any insight as to what the fuck is going on in these skits. Na Wesolo is to polka as the Blue Collar Comedy guys are to country music. At least that's the insight I've gathered. I have no clue. Marisha is from Chicago, and the cover art for this LP is hilarious. This is good enough for me to upload it to this blog.
Especially because I uploaded it to celebrate TEN POSTS ON POLKA HOLE!
Wow, what a long, strange trip it's been. Thanks for being here, and thank you for making this all worthwhile. I may be posting less often going forward. I may be posting more. Who knows. Covid-19 has made it harder for me to make it to thrift stores. But I ain't going nowhere.
Take care out there, and enjoy your summer safely. See you soon!
DOWNLOAD HERE:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/hp8o21wb7z0t3fp/Na_Wesolo_-_Polish_Comedy_Album_MP3s.zip/file
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