11.26.09 Playlist and Podcast.

Hour 1
* Etienne Jaumet "For Falling Asleep," Night Music, Domino
* William Basinski, "92982.1," 92982, 2062
* Heldon, "Doctor Bloodmoney," Third, Disjuncta
* Supersilent, "9.2," 9, Rune Grammofon

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Hour 2
* Emeralds, "10/27/07 Cleveland, OH," Live CDR, Gneiss Things
* Quintana Roo, "Beheaded Dynasty," Split (with Emeralds), Arbor
* J D Emmanuel, "Changeling," Solid Dawn: Electronic Works '79-'82, Kvist
* Mudboy, untitled side A selection, Mudboy Beats Vol. III: Metal USA (C40), Breaking World

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11.19.2009 Playlist and Podcast.

Lots of cool stuff on the show the other night. Inadvertently focused on some of music's elder statesmem. Who knew Cluster had a new album out and that it's fantastic? Somehow it flew under my radar. Be sure to check the opener, a far-out jaw harp-centric track from Robert Wyatt recorded back in 1981 for Italian radio. Then later we've got a track from the Real Estate LP they recorded in 2009 for Western Massachusetts radio. Hey! I think it's a pretty solid 2 hours, especially if you're looking for more longformish pieces.

Hour 1
* Robert Wyatt, "Opium War," Radio Experiment Rome, February 1981, Cargo
* Andrew Paine and Richard Youngs, "Namaste," Mauve Dawn, Fusetron
* Morton Subotnick, "The Wild Bull (Part 2)," The Wild Bull, Nonesuch
* Modern Office, "Deep Pizza Zone," Modern Office (c30), Young Tapes
* Six Organs of Admittance, "Enemies Before the Light," Luminous Night, Drag City

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Hour 2
* Kraftwerk, "Hall of Mirrors," Trans-Europe Express, Capitol
* Ducktails, "House of Mirrors," Landscapes, Olde English Spelling Bee
* Real Estate, "Younger Than Yesterday," Live on the Radio, Underwater Peoples
* Cluster, "Gissander," Qua, Nepenthe
* Klaus Schulze, "Stardancer II," Bodylove OST, Antilles
* Ryan Garbes, untitled Side A selection, Born Under the Sun (c20), Night People
* Ergo, "Rana Sylvatica," Multitude, Solitude, Cuneiform
* Luc Ferrari, "Dialogue ordinaire avec la machine ou trois fables pour bande doucement philosophiques (Part 5)," L'Œuvre électronique, Ina Grm

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Photos: Ed Schrader/DJ Dog Dick, Carsick Cars.

Lots of music over at Hampshire College this past Friday night.



First: Baltimore howled and I answered the call. Ed Schrader is the best talk show host I know, and he's also a captivating performer of unique drum 'n voice showtunes. Also, he does radio drama. Also, look at those abs.



DJ Dog Dick was super great, mixing improvisational suitcase noise with original pop choruses zapped straight from 1996. Gregg Gillis applied to Mudboy or something.

Adventure also played but it was too dark for pictures. I was expecting the video game dance moves from his self-titled album, but the dude went straight for tripped-out synth space travel. Nice.







After BMore slayed, Beijing's Carsick Cars zeroed in on the dining hall. You just don't hear chugging, kraut-inspired Chinese rock 'n roll very often. The band was excellent, the crowd was even better - I don't make it to many shows where there are hoards of girls shrieking like it's the British Invasion all over again.

Really fun times.

11.12.09 Playlist and Podcast.

Hour 1
* Hudson Mohawke, "Overnight," Polyfolk Dance (EP), Warp
* Demdike Stare, "Ghostly Hardware," Symbiosis, Modern Love
* Smycken, untitled Side B excerpt, Video Haze (c28), Night People
* The Moritz Von Oswald Trio, "Pattern 4," Vertical Ascent, Honest Jon's
* Glass Candy and the Shattered Theatre, "Dream Lover," The Nite Nurses, (self-released)
* Margie Joseph, "Knockout (Special Mix Part II)," Knockout 12", Houston Connection
* Mr. Oizo, "Nurse Bob," Moustache (Half a Scissor), Mute
* Snakefinger, "Don't Lie," Greener Pastures, East Side Digital
* The Residents, "Jambalaya," Stars and Hank Forever, The Cryptic Corporation
* The Durutti Column, "Sketch for Summer," The Return Of The Durutti Column, Factory
* Aesop Rock, "Rickety Rackety (ft. CamuTao & El-P)," Fast Cars, Danger, Fire & Knives (EP), Def Jux

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Hour 2
* Tom Waits, "Green Grass (live)," Glitter and Doom Live, Anti-
* Tyshawn Sorey, "Template 1," That/Not, Firehouse 12
* Flying Lotus, "Infinitum (Dimlite's Re-finitum)," LA EP 3x3, Warp
* Dj/rupture and Matt Shadetek, "4th Story Waterline," Solar Life Raft, The Agriculture
* Broadcast, "Before We Begin," Haha Sound, Warp
* Sejayno, "Opening Prayer / International Harvester 1," Quantus, Ehse
* Robedoor, "People of the Book," Raiders, Not Not Fun
* Saudade, "Abandoned Campground," Lookouts' Journal, Arena Rock Recording Company
* DJ Dog Dick, untitled live recording, 5/25/08 at Floristree in Baltimore, MD, http://baltimore-taper.blogspot.com/
* Harmonia & Eno '76, "Vamos Campeneros," Tracks and Traces (Reissue), Gronland
* Psyco on da Bus, "Never Satisfied," Psyco on da Bus, Comet
* Tyondai Braxton, "Opening Bell," Central Market, Warp
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The Natural Yogurt Band.

It's kind of tough to keep up with the avalanche of amazing releases/announcements coming out of the Stones Throw/Now-Again camp these days. This little gem was put out about a month back, an expanded rerelease of the Natural Yogurt Band's Away With Melancholy.



The album was originally available last year on the Jazzman label, but that issue is now way out-of-print. The band seems to fit perfectly beside the other "strikingly revivalist yet decades into the future" camp of the Now-Again roster, namely the Heliocentrics and Karl Hector and the Malcouns. Natural Yogurt Band dudes Miles Newbold and Wayne Fullwood look to the airy lounge jazz of fifties and sixties hi-fis, Lionel Hampton and Quincy Jones and such, while also hinting at the damaged studio psychedelia of Silver Apples and White Noise.

The Now-Again issue comes with three bonus tracks (one of which you can find below) and and absolutely beautiful packaging. You'll do best to grab it on wax. Double 10" discs in a mirror-like foil gatefold sleeve. This is why physical forms of music aren't going anywhere.

The Natural Yogurt Band, "Invisible Ink"

downloard MP3

Buy the record from Stones Throw, or for a couple bucks less over at Turntable Lab.

And keep an eye out - LP #2 in 2010.

Real Estate, "Live on the Radio."

Just grabbed my copy of the new Real Estate record from Ian over at Friendship Bracelet. Quality. Side A's got cuts from the session the dudes laid down a couple months back down in the WMUA studios, recorded by Gabe (of MYNDBLYNDRZ fame) and yours truly (but mostly Gabe). Side B's got jams from a WVKR in-studio. 10 tracks all in all, nary a repeated song.

Shit sounds really great and I'm happy this record exists. It's a combination of all sorts of things I love, namely college radio, jangly pop gems, and DIY packaging (piece of paper pasted on white record sleeve, beautiful).



The record's only available through the current Real Estate tour and I'm guessing it's gonna go quick. The band's making its way across the US of A over the next couple of months... tour dates are here.

Consolation prize if you can't pick up a copy of the record: the WMUA session is up right here. It's in lowly 128 kbps MP3 format, so grab that record if you can and enjoy the hi-fidelity. But you also get treated to a couple Ducktails songs, namely "Backyard," "House of Mirrors" and a totally wonky and wonderful run-through of "Pizza Time."

11.05.09 Playlist and Podcast.

Guess who forgot to record hour 1 of this week's show? The answer is me. Me forgot. So hour 2 is below, available for streaming or downloading. If I'm feeling up for it, I might throw together the music from the first half or something, since I played some pretty sweet jams. We'll see.

Hour 1
* Idea Fire Company, "The Sinking Ship," Lasting (c90, Comp.), Pineapple Tapes
* Hudson Mohawke, "ZOo00OOm," Butter, Warp
* Oneohtrix Point Never, Live on Rare Frequency, http://rarefrequency.com
* Ras G, "Stealth Mode," Dublab Presents: Echo Expansion (Comp.), Porter
* Derek Jarman, "There Is a Photo in the Newspaper," Blue, Mute
* Susumu Yokota, "Plateau on Plateau," The Boy and the Tree, Leaf
* Hexlove, "Sonrise," Your Love of Music Will Be an Important Part of Your Life, Porter

Hour 2
* Edan, excerpt from Echo Party, Five Day Weekend
* Chromatics, Witness, Healer 12", Troubleman Unlimited
* Amr Dieb, "Eh Yaani," Yalla! Hitlist Egypt (Comp.), Mango / Egyptair
* Hecker, "Piste 09," Acid in the Style of David Tudor, Editions Mego
* Alva Notto, "Xerrox Sora," Xerrox Vol. 2, Raster-Noton
* Franck Vigroux, "New York," Récolte, D'autres cordes
* Growing, "Innit," All the Way, Social Registry
* Etienne Jaumet, "Through the Strata," Night Music, Domino
* Jon Hopkins, "Colour Eye," Insides, Domino

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Lightning Bolt.

Cover your ears.

Lightning Bolt, "Nation Of Boar"

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Earthly Delights is out now on Load.

Saudade.

It's summer on the cover of Saudade's Lookouts' Journal, all sun and green trees, but it's a cold New England winter here and now. No matter. The Portland duo's second release is perfectly suited for layers of brittle leaves, 5 AM snowfalls, and breath visible under florescent parking lot lights.

Here, a series of microsounds tap out a beat, emerging from vacant wasteland noise. There, a piano's caught in some peaceful aural limbo. Powerful, soothing waves of guitar tone that forgot their way home. Wordless, phantasmagoric vocalisations. All is shrouded in an air of fuzz, a fog that binds the disparate musics together in its resolute sonic obscurity, a thick snowfall. I'm reminded of William Basinski's loop-based melancholia, applied to today's post-everything California underground.

Seasonal bullshit aside, Lookouts' Journal is a joy.

Yesterday, this song came on in the car. I took the scenic route home.
Saudade, "Interstate Bridge Song"

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Lookouts' Journal is out next week via Arena Rock Recording Company. Find it at Insound, Amazon, etc.

Photos: Neon Indian/Vega, No Kids/Mount Eerie, Growing/Fuck Buttons.

Been hitting up a lot of shows recently, leaving little time for blogging. Here are some visual documents of the past week of music.







On Sunday the 25th we struck out for Hartford where Alan Palomo's two projects were playing at the Wadsworth Atheneum. It's the first time I've seen crowdsurfing in a room lined with Picasso, Dali, Munch and Ernst originals, and probably the last. The sound was pretty wretched and Neon Indian had a rough start. By the time the band switched over to Vega for three encore jams, though, shit was tight and the catchy-as-all-get-out electro pop sounded great.

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Tuesday the 27th found yours truly in Palmer, Massachusetts, at the Diamond Junction Bowling Lanes. The bill was No Kids, Tara Jane O'Neil, and Mount Eerie, and the show seriously ruled. Maybe not as mind-shattering as Phil Elverum's appearance at the Shed back in '05, but a six-piece Mount Eerie really brought to life the gargantuan "black wooden" sound of new-ish LP Wind's Poem. Apparently it's the largest band Elverum's ever toured with. He should do it more often. So good.

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A little closer to home was Growing and Fuck Buttons at the Iron Horse, just last night. I've been digging Growing for years but always seem to miss them live. Last night's performance was loud, proud and fucking solid. They played for nearly an hour, no breaks. More beat-driven/dance-like than their records, apocalyptic post-disco was the general atmosphere, with dual guitars and tables upon tables of samplers and pedals directing everything. Reminded me of the Black Dice set I caught over the summer, in a very good way. The threesome just put the final touches on a new album, slated for release in the spring on Vice. Excited.

Fuck Buttons was equally loud if not louder, yet about as boring as Growing were enthralling. We ditched the joint fifteen minutes into their set. Sorry dudes.

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Most of these bands are still on tour... catch 'em if you can.