I also love interviewing huge bands–Public Enemy, Primal Scream, Earl Scruggs–and being the first one to get the hot new album by, say, Best Coast, before it’s even in stores. But I think it’s even more a part of L.A. RECORD’s mission statement to tell readers about the strange ones:  the bedroom recording wizards, the ones with greasepaint on their foreheads, the ones who write liner notes in blood, who make rap songs out of Ned Flanders quotes, whose lyrics are poetic reinterpretations of names for McNuggets, who sing along to karaoke machines, who take the bus from Covina so they can stage-cough by my car in the Pehrspace parking lot, just waiting for the right moment to accost me and whip out the hand-painted CD-Rs that they’ve somehow shoved into the back pockets of their skinny jeans. Once I even told the world about an Asian guy with long hair who made music on drum pads while wearing a giant bunny costume.

And in that spirit, it is with a joyous heart that I share with you a free compilation of new recordings where EVERY band on the list did their version of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know.” Some of these are bands you might know quite well: Stab City, Geoff Geis, Treasure Mammal. And some will be completely new to you. Some may exist only for this collection! They’re from all over the world, and I suspect no contribution was turned away.

Anyway, quit reading this and check it out here.

-D. M. Collins

P.S. This project was curated by Geoff Geis’s roommate, “Kyle.” Thanks, Kyle!

WHO: Nikol Hasler, creator of THE MIDWEST TEEN SEX SHOW, author of SEX: A BOOK FOR TEENS, LA Record writer and all around genius/ sexpot.

WHAT: A fundraiser to help Nikol pay for expensive cancer treatments

HOW: We are asking for donations, many of which come with prizes—some big, some small, some cultural, some fashionable… and some sexy. See below! There’s lots of great stuff, and you can donate twice and get two things! After sending money via PayPal or credit card, send an email to haslerhelper@gmail.com to claim your prize.

WHERE: Donate, using a credit card or PayPal, by clicking this button right here that says “Donate” (at the bottom left of the screen you’ll see a way to use credit cards without using PayPal):

Or if you absolutely hate PayPal or using credit cards and desperately want to pay your donation by check, contact us at haslerhelper@gmail.com and we’ll let you know how to mail or hand-deliver your donation.

WHEN: From now until Mother’s Day, May 13, 2012.

WHY: Nikol Hasler is one of the kindest, funniest and coolest people we know. She’s a successful web series host, a relationship blogger, a mom of three, an L.A. RECORD writer, a published author of articles and books about love and sex, a calendar model, a survivor of the Illinois State Foster Care system (the Harvard of child abuse), a volunteer do-gooder, a prodigious pickler, and a smartass. In November, she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a form of cancer best known for not being Hodgkins Lymphoma. She was prescribed with a standard treatment regiment of radiation and chemotherapy followed by possible surgery.

At the time, she was given a prognosis of only 3 years to live. But Nikol buckled down, going through rounds of radiation and chemotherapy that occasionally led to life-threatening complications, 104 degree temperatures, and icky sicknesses like the “flesh eating superbug” MRSA and blood sepsis. Being tough as nails, what didn’t kill her seems to have made her stronger, and miraculously, there are signs that she is beating her cancer off with a big, irradiated stick! Initially she was told she was “stage 4” (to give you an idea how bad this is, the chart only goes to stage 3), but now the doctors are hopeful that her treatments have been effective.

Unfortunately, this is still far from over for Nikol. She still has a lot of blood work and tests coming up, and an entire lymph node that may need to be removed via operation. Besides ravaging her body, her condition has also ravaged her finances—like many Americans, Nikol was unemployed and uninsured at the time she was diagnosed. She is paying out of pocket for most of her treatments, although she was able to make arrangements for a lower cost. However, during the week she was hospitalized due to the complications, her bills totaled $8000. Already unemployed at the time of her diagnosis, she’s incurred massive amounts of debt just to stay alive, and it keeps coming. Meanwhile, she’s had to hold in her nausea (sometimes unsuccessfully, which she’s turned into amusing stories for us) while riding the bus back and forth from L.A., because she doesn’t have a vehicle to drive when she’s too weak to walk.

She needs our help! And so we’re setting up a fund for Nikol to try and raise at least $3000 towards paying off debts, helping with treatment costs, and finding her a cheap car so she can take drive herself and her son rather than ride the bus, which often takes 3 hours to get to a destination. Rather than doing this through Kickstarter, we’re doing it through PayPal, so Nikol can access the funds sooner and so no cost at all goes into overhead.

While Nikol would be the first to say that she’s really gotten by because her friends and family have been more than generous, helping with rides, groceries, and spending time with her, Nikol’s friends and family will love you so much for any donation you can spare! And the good news is, if you reach deep into your pockets, you can actually get something cool for yourself that you might have always wanted! Here’s a list of the things you can get for top-dollar donations. They’re all limited in number so get it now before someone else snags it!

Remember to donate by clicking on one of these here “Donate” buttons, then email us at haslerhelper@gmail.com to claim your prize! *

And come back often to see how the drive is going. New prizes will be added to the list as we get closer to the deadline.

*If we need to ship your items, we will email you the shipping cost amount based on your mailing address.

Our man Geoff from Pizza! and Big Whup now has a second solo release, this time an EP of cover songs!

There’s everything from Mariah Carey to Michael Stipe on here (oh, and a cameo with Michael Nhat), so download it before he gets famous and Warner Brothers makes him remove the link!

Check it out here.

Not only does this thing have TWO Michael Nhat collaborations, one of which with So Many Wizards, but it also has a response from Geis himself to Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy,” perhaps the best evocation of that song since Beavis and Butthead watched Death’s “The Philosopher.”

There’re a lot of amazing things here, but I have to confess my favorite thing about this is how many fond memories it evokes of Big Whup, sniff sniff (that’s me crying, not snorting drugs). Here’s hoping they play a show again someday, but if not, clearly that creative energy is going into new and wonderful places, spreading like a rash into the earlobes of unsuspecting Angelenos.

-Dan Collins

Here comes a genre-crossing playful solo effort from Geoff Geis, frontman behind Pizza! and Big Whup (as well as various experimental incarnations of said bands, including the Avant-Garde Volkpenis). The album brings you in with a simple yet cinematic synth track that evokes a Morricone flute intro, yet removes itself from being taken too seriously with its sarcasm-laced title: “Very Important Stuff.” Geis displays great range on this charming, eclectic album. Mostly relying on simple synthesized beats to communicate a story, he moves into full instrumentation on “Superbowl B4 De-lete,” which is perhaps more recognizable stylistically, but pulls back with the simple heartfelt ballad “Where Have You Been (All My Life)?,” covering fellow Alabama statesman country-soul singer Arthur Alexander. Country elements continue on “The Lonesome Part,” and again on the lighthearted closer, “All These Ways That I Divide My Time,” which feels as though it might be right at home amongst the bluegrass stylings of Bill Monroe or the Foggy Mountain Boys. The interspersing of brief, enchanting instrumentals, some of which place the listener in a futuristic adventure setting, work to give the album the feel of a film soundtrack. Geis also manages to transform a political commentary on Saddam Hussein’s career as a dictator into a catchy party jam. His ability to inspire dancing to a chorus line of  “and they won’t count the bodies” in reference to Hussein’s genocidal massacre of the Kurds is hilariously ingenious.

—Walt! Gorecki

-Dan Collins

But don’t take my word for it–read her interview with Geoff Geis on Sean Carnage’s website.  And cry a little more at the sadness of death-bed boob pillows.

-Dan Collins