radiobombast

We're Not Alone, It's Hard To Tell: Transmission 530, 2020 June 10

“Our Pandemic Radio Adventure” continues, and I’m back on my bullshit–by that I mean counting the mixtapes I’ve had to assemble for you. What must I have been thinking–that this would end soon? Dear listener, we have eleven months to go!
Listeners will experience a hefty serving of music “randomly found in my twitter timeline”--there was a lot of that at this time. People and organizations were responding to Current Events in whatever way they could. This week had seen the infamous “post a black square” day on social media (a gesture adopted by the famously non-racist Washington Redskins, among others); it had also seen the repurposing of the fledgling Bandcamp Friday phenomenon as a fundraiser for activist groups. “Throw some coins in the bucket in the direction of social justice,” I plead. 
To my current embarrassment some of the music that accompanied this crowdfunding sounds eager and pandering, as if the artists were hoping their songs might be deployed as interstitial music on Democracy Now! or some such. I won’t name names; perhaps you can guess by listening.
I relax my policy of “not calling people out” to take a shot at Juno Records, whose shipment to me was apparently traveling the wrong way around the globe, as it was two months late. Lockdown be damned, I am a needy consumer! At least I admit that I am being “petty.”
Mispronouncing “Kilamanzego” as “kill-a-man-zay-go” (instead of “kill a man’s ego”) is something I can only admit to now, as I was cluelessly butchering it at the time with blithe confidence.
And while we’re on the topic, were we really “starting to talk about” returning to live broadcasts? In June 2020? Good grief!

BOMBAST playlist, 2020 June 10, 2100-2300:

• "Just Feel" | Jessica Ashman | Just Feel | self-released
  "Da Daa" | archr | Hayashi | Bonsai
  "Forward" | Markus Floats | Third Album | Constellation
  "Equal Rights + Justice" | Eusebeia | Equal Rights + Justice EP | Western Lore
  "Too Shay" | King Britt | Back 2 Black | Black Catalogue 2020
  "Running From The Cops (live on KEXP)" | Phantogram | Talk - Action = Zero: A Compilation Benefitting Black Lives Matter | Rough Trade Publishing / Bank Robber Music
  "Lost In Space / Great Scott / 22-26" | Thundercat | It Is What It Is | Brainfeeder
  "Unknown Future [feat. Law, Kola Nut]" | Tim Reaper | More Lanterns EP | Repertoire
  "A Call To Young Lawyers" | Matthew Caws | Talk - Action = Zero: A Compilation Benefitting Black Lives Matter | Rough Trade Publishing / Bank Robber Music
  "Forward Again" | Markus Floats | Third Album | Constellation
  "Moanin' At Midnight" | Howlin' Wolf | Silver Disc: 25 Years Of Ace | Ace
  "A Call To Arms (BLM 1312 Redux)" | thisquietarmy | Talk - Action = Zero: A Compilation Benefitting Black Lives Matter | Rough Trade Publishing / Bank Robber Music
  "Kokrokoo" | Santrofi | Alewa | Out Here
  "Enter" | Nailah Hunter | Spells | LEAVING RECORDS
  "It's Over" | Karyn Kuhl | Talk - Action = Zero: A Compilation Benefitting Black Lives Matter | Rough Trade Publishing / Bank Robber Music
  "Shadow" | Moor Jewelry | True Opera | Don Giovanni
  "Just A Little Bit" | Tim Carman & The Street 45s | Talk - Action = Zero: A Compilation Benefitting Black Lives Matter | Rough Trade Publishing / Bank Robber Music
  "These Hands Are Up" | Mourning [A] BLKstar | These Hands Are Up | Don Giovanni
  "ALB19 17" | Loraine James | FYAI Demos + Ditched Album | self-released
  "What Comes Next" | Worriers | Talk - Action = Zero: A Compilation Benefitting Black Lives Matter | Rough Trade Publishing / Bank Robber Music
  "Everything Goes Black" | Kilamanzego | These Roots Are On Fire EP | self-released
  "Side B1 / Side B2" | A Space for Sound | Sound Bath Mixtape Vol. 1 | Purple Tape Pedigree

all the lying, all the stealing, all the cheating is working

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Now, Later, Never and Ever: Transmission 529, 2020 June 3

It’s been a tough week, hasn’t it? INDEED IT HAS.
This episode finds me  losing count of the number of times I’ve had to submit a pre-recorded program. Whatevs, counting is for nerds anyway.
Trying to get through the week as best I can–by playing tunes that are “dear to me,” I say--but this is a lie! So many of these tunes were pretty new to me. Maybe they became “dear” quickly, but due to my supposed shallowness of affect I doubt it.
I’d just stopped drinking in the previous week, so the whole George Floyd thing found me without a protective emotional buffer. I sound tired and dead inside despite how angry I must have been. Maybe just exasperated. Everything had come to a grinding halt except the state-sanctioned murder of black people.
Anyway–”No Agreement” is definitely a song that has been dear to me for a long time. No lie about that one. 
You wouldn’t think someone would gravitate toward a Fela record the way people gravitate toward a 4ad or Factory record but I really dug the sleeves on those Celluloid reissues of Fela records in the 80s. And then, listening to the recordings changed the way I listened to music, just like 4ad had once upon a time. Also “No Agreement Today, No Agreement Tomorrow” would be a fitting title for my memoir, if only anyone wanted to read it or if I wanted to write it in the first place.
I don’t talk much in this episode, I must really have been at the end of words, as they say. I sound a little more peppy at the end of hour 1 than I did at the beginning. 
“Short, angry tunes” await in the second hour, “appropriate for this time”–if that’s your mood, that’s something to look forward to. This, at long last,  is the truth!

BOMBAST playlist, 2020 June 3, 2100-2300:

• "The Breathtaking Blast" | Tradition | Captain Ganja and the Space Patrol | Bokeh Versions
• "In a Budget Dancehall" | Mdou Moctar & Elite Beat | Mdou Moctar Meets Elite Beat In a Budget Dancehall | Boomarm Nation
• "Follow Me" | Oneness of Juju | African Rhythms 1970-1982 | Strut
• "Ngigna Loko" | Ngalle Jojo | Africa Airways Six (Mile High Funk 1974 - 1981) | Africa Seven
• "Oorun" | Guedra Guedra كدرة كدرة | Son of Sun | On The Corner
• "Kwabena amoah" | Santrofi | Alewa | Out Here
• "Lonesome" | Loraine James | FYAI Demos + Ditched Album | self-released
• "No Agreement" | Fela Anikulapo Kuti with Africa 70 | No Agreement | Terrascape
• "The Garden" | Stef Fi | Girlhood | self-released
• "Ndomo" | Jude Bondeze | Africa Airways Six (Mile High Funk 1974 - 1981) | Africa Seven
• "87BABIES" | Nelson Bandela | Bandela BeatTape 007 - MACRO | self-released
• "Tamatant" | Kel Assouf | Glitterbeat_tak:til_2019 | Glitterbeat
• "seedless" | serpentwithfeet | soil | Secretly Canadian
• "SUN" | Versis | Versis | self-released
• "Unrequited Love" | Thundercat | It Is What It Is | Brainfeeder
• "Me Ton Le Gbe (Pachanga Fon)" | Orchestre Super Borgou De Parakou | The Bariba Sound 1970-1976 | Analog Africa
• "Rubber Necks" | Handle | In Threes | Upset The Rhythm
• "Bumpy's Lament" | Isaac Hayes | Shaft (Music From the Soundtrack) | Stax
• "Healing Father" | African Head Charge | Songs of Praise [reissue] | On-U Sound
• "Judgement" | Moor Jewelry | True Opera | Don Giovanni
• "Cut Me My Cheque feat. Alberto Solis" | Kah & McKenzie | Avon Garde | Avon Terror Corps
• "Dream Palette" | Yves Tumor | Heaven to a Tortured Mind | WARP
• "Freeze Corleone 667 - Ekip VS Heavy Teeth - Shadow On Flesh" | Hajj | Hash-Ups Vol.1 | Strike a Posse
• "Hard (Stars Remix)" | Mourning [A] BLKstar | The Cycle | Don Giovanni
• "Black Weirdo" | Kilamanzego | Hayashi | Bonsai
• "We're A Winner" | Curtis Mayfield | Harlem Shuffle | Plastic

public service announcement for all the people out there

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Outright Denial of the Dying and the Sane: Transmission 528, 2020 May 27

This episode and the next are about clearing the decks, a “before and after” tableau, if you will. They are about how I cannot seem to perform the deck-clearing in a spontaneous, immediate way, and how I compensate (if that’s what I am doing) by making big changes at the level of concept. All of this is a fancy way of saying (as I seem to do with increasing frequency) that it was the end of one era and the beginning of another. I guess this archive is a way of keeping it all straight.

At this time my show was still “airing” on Wednesday nights, but because Covid was keeping us all out of the studio I was required to submit pre-recorded episodes on Tuesdays. This meant that the episode had to be planned, sequenced, and pasted together at some earlier point than that. I’m dancing around the unpleasant topic of May 25, 2020. I have forgotten what I thought about George Floyd’s death in the first 48 hours afterward. Maybe at the time I considered it merely another in a long line of murders (which of course it was), another video I didn’t want to see (which it also was). 

One theory of “how music programs should respond to tragedy” is that they should offer some kind of escape, and I guess this program works in that way, if you want to see it that way. 

You know what, though? I’m through “making sandwiches” and giving a platform to my inner critic. Let him get his own, and let the haters hate (I don’t imagine anyone considers this little radio show important enough to “hate” on it). What can I tell you? I am not 100% consistent and I am always doing my best in the moment. What “my best” is will always be an elusive, ephemeral thing, as I keep re-discovering.

BOMBAST playlist, 2020 May 27, 2100-2300:

• "Righteous Vibration" | TNT Roots | Raw Dub Creator | Bokeh Versions
• "Vals" | Etxera | Cinco Segundos | Silent Method
• "Stowaway" | The Room in the Wood | We're the Martians, Now | A Turntable Friend
• "White Line Fever" | The Fall | Reformation Post T.L.C. [reissue] | Cherry Red
• "Sacrifice" | Chloral | Come On Feel The NoiZe, Vol. 4 - La Furia | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
• "The Last Time" | Slum of Legs | Slum of Legs | Spurge
• "Al Gore Rhythms" | The Mystery Plan | Zsa Zsa | Ten Millimeter Omega
• "They Work Every Day" | The Durutti Column | Vini Reilly [reissue] | Factory Benelux
• "Listening To The Marychain (Acoustic Version)" | The Memory Fades | Shelter | Sunday
• "Hour of the Furnaces" | Algiers | There Is No Year | Matador
• "Rocket Repairs" | Tradition | Captain Ganja and the Space Patrol | Bokeh Versions
• "DIVV VL" | Cry Robot | The Entity In The Cosmos | Virtual Soundsystem
• "Out Of Sync" | Hallows | Subtle | Phage Tapes
• "Innerstellar Love" | Thundercat | It Is What It Is | Brainfeeder
• "Kobon Lerai" | Mammane Sani | La Musique Électronique Du Niger | Sahel Sounds / Mississippi / Change
• "Gradiency" | The Billows Burn Bright | The Billows Burn Bright 2015​-​2020 | self-released   
• "DonaBonBon ft. Salvador Herrera" | Child | Mutual Aid 2020 | Bokeh Versions
• "Aislación" | Orquesta Pandroginia | Pandemia | Virtual Soundsystem
• "Queer" | Loraine James | FYAI Demos + Ditched Album | self-released
• "Kerosene!" | Yves Tumor | Heaven to a Tortured Mind | WARP
• "Forward" | Roger Robinson | Mutual Aid 2020 | Bokeh Versions
• "Tart Tart" | Happy Mondays | Squirrel And G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) [reissue] | London
• "A Lucen Sombras" | Berlina | Come On Feel The NoiZe, Vol. 4 - La Furia | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
• "Just Before the Bomb" | Manfred Hamil | The Shed Collective Vol.3 | Douglas Deep
• "Walk From Regio's" | Isaac Hayes | Shaft (Music From the Soundtrack) | Stax
• "Maraschino-Red Dress $8.99 at Goodwill [Ezra, Jorgen, Sam & Tim, January/February 2017, Ballistico]" | Ezra Furman | To Them We'll Always Be Freaks | self-released
• "Money Don't Grow on Trees" | Sneaks | Highway Hypnosis | Merge
• "Thought Crime" | Macerator | The Shed Collective Vol.3 | Douglas Deep
• "Poison In A Pretty Pill" | Crass | Penis Envy | Crass
• "Le Grand Macabre" | Moor Jewelry | True Opera | Don Giovanni
• "Lightyears (feat. Joshua Idehen)" | The Comet Is Coming | Channel The Spirits | Leaf
• "obfusc" | NNYz? | C-BEAMS | self-released

time won't always heal and it eats at my mind

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Sorry If I Give You PTSD: Transmission 527, 2020 May 20

More sandwich-making: the first few songs of this program provide me with comfort on a chilly fall evening in the Northeast, provenance be damned. Listening to the program I don’t really care where the songs came from, whether the artists are dear to me, whether I cared enough to buy actual records by any of these people, and so on. It’s an enjoyable listen, and at the end of the day do we care about anything else? I honestly don’t know.

The Handle > Throwing Muses segue works surprisingly well. Shades of what I like to call old magic. The Fall > Thundercat was also not as bad as it should have been.The lovely Walt Thisney track transforms beautifully into Fever 103°. I am making the good stuff happen!

The program doesn’t really sound “like me” until Loraine James, about half an hour in. I would say this isn’t a great use of my precious airtime–measured against the potential for self-expression–but it wasn’t really “airtime” in the depths of whatever, so does it matter?

Re. Loraine James–far be it from me, a walking cautionary tale in so many ways, to tell anyone how to manage their grind. But I found Lorraine James’s music at around this time because she’d uploaded an entire album-plus as a “name your price” download on Bandcamp (RIP btw) and here we are, a few years later, with me having just about everything she’s released on vinyl in my collection. IDK, seems like that strategy helps people get into your music? (It’s the same with KMRU, though his music does not appear on tonight’s program.)

Anyway, the “broadcast” is happening “under considerable duress,” I say, but I no longer have any idea why. Blessed forgetfulness, it has relieved me of the knowledge of why this week was worse than average.

“I hope it isn’t too much to ask that you stick with me,” I add. You know, I am really down on myself and I need to stop being that way. It WAS a fine evening, half of hour 1 and almost all of hour 2 were perfectly good.

BOMBAST playlist, 2020 May 20, 2100-2300:

• "Pills" | Starry Eyed Cadet | Join A Comp! | fadeawayradiate
• "Fun of the Fair" | The Room in the Wood | We're the Martians, Now | A Turntable Friend
• "Jetpack" | The Superweaks | Don't Stand So Close To Me: A Lame-O Compilation For Self Isolation | Lame-O Records
• "Underground" | Your Gaze | Out Of The Darkness | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
• "In Yr Face" | Slum of Legs | Slum of Legs | Spurge
• "Forest Fire" | Day & Dream | Shelter | Sunday
• "You're Not An Island" | 6TH CROWD | Avoid The Void | self-released
• "ALB19 20" | Loraine James | FYAI Demos + Ditched Album | self-released
• "Mhmm" | Handle | In Threes | Upset The Rhythm
• "Dark Blue" | Throwing Muses | Sun Racket | Fire
• "Find A Way Back" | Ultramarine | Interiors | Real Soon
• "Saiditzoneza" | Sneaks | Highway Hypnosis | Merge
• "Bahia" | Ranil | Stay Safe & Sound Ranil Selection !! | Analog Africa
• "Steel-Belted Radials" | The Billows Burn Bright | The Billows Burn Bright 2015​-​2020 | self-released
• "Sleeping Buffalo" | Doomsquad | Spandrels Vol 2 | self-released
• "The Bad Stuff" | The Fall | Reformation Post T.L.C. [reissue] | Cherry Red
• "Funny Thing" | Thundercat | It Is What It Is | Brainfeeder   
• "Grail Overfloweth" | Cocteau Twins | Garlands [reissue] | 4AD
• "Man in a Bar" | Harry Stafford | Gothic Urban Blues | Black Lagoon
• "Love You So Bad" | [Ezra & Sam & Jamie Riotto at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco, 5-19-2016] | Ezra Furman | To Them We'll Always Be Freaks | self-released
• "Uninspired" | The Max Levine Ensemble | Don't Stand So Close To Me: A Lame-O Compilation For Self Isolation | Lame-O Records
• "Mirror to sky" | Whalt Thisney | Quiethism | Kahvi Collective
• "Leaving the Club" | Fever 103° | Right between before and after | self-released
• "Rudy Feller" | Sector Libertad | ITALIA 90' | Virtual Soundsystem
• "Same Mistakes 2020" | Jackson Veil Panther | Same Mistakes | self-released
• "Principles Unknown" | Rer Repeater | Mutual Aid 2020 | Bokeh Versions
• "Lolaphone" | The Mystery Plan | Zsa Zsa | Ten Millimeter Omega
• "RunComeTest" | SEEKERSINTERNATIONAL | RunComeTest EP | Bokeh Versions
• "Free Chant (Churchical Chant Of The Iyabinghi)" | African Head Charge | Songs of Praise [reissue] | On-U Sound
• "I'm a Suspect" | Lonnie Holley | MITH | Jagjaguwar
• "Evil Empire ft. Ben Vince" | Jay Glass Dubs | Epitaph | Bokeh Versions

we all dance into the fire

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Just Admit You Don’t Know What To Do: Transmission 526, 2020 May 13

Here is a program that chased my dog upstairs (kudos to Cry Robot for that). Her taste is something of a mystery, though. There is plenty of the sublime to experience in this audio file. Where else are you going to hear Slum of Legs transitioning into Little Richard? That’s right, nowhere.

In the spirit of making what management types call a “sandwich,” though, re. a few tracks in this selection whose producers shall remain nameless: Desperate for digital content and too lazy, I guess, to rip vinyl to .mp3, I play these “name your price” downloads (let’s admit it, they are freebies) at the expense of real music. There, I said it, but again, let’s call things what they are. Taxonomy matters! I will take this conviction to my grave.

I think it was at this point that I got tired of listening to me. Even though there is nothing that bad about this program, just the usual stuff. “And I hope you do” is a phrase I use, like, three times in the episode–strangely, given the chance to be spontaneous, I think I’d be less likely to go on autopilot like that.

I mean, this is thoroughly enjoyable most of the time. It’s a pretty good playlist. Just look at it, for goodness’ sake.

So there we have it. Positive bread, negative filling, positive bread. Abbondanza!

BOMBAST playlist, 2020 May 13, 2100-2300:

• "No Baptism" | Larry Marshall | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "Digital Heart" | beto | DISBOARD | Virtual Soundsystem
• "My Country (Monarchy Mix)" | The Durutti Column | Vini Reilly [reissue] | Factory Benelux
• "We All Get Down (Rob Tavaglione Mix)" | The Mystery Plan | Zsa Zsa | Ten Millimeter Omega
• "I" | アレックス H O R R O R 666 (Tomie-13) | E​.​V​.​P. (Electronic Voice Phenomena) | Virtual Soundsystem
• "King Of The Hill" | Thundercat | It Is What It Is | Brainfeeder
• "MechaGodzilla (ft. Renosaurio & Soghtroah)" | Cry Robot | The Entity In The Cosmos | Virtual Soundsystem
• "Stages" | Etxera | Cinco Segundos | Silent Method
• "Alone" | Windy & Carl | Allegiance and Conviction | kranky
• "White Leather" | Slum of Legs | Slum of Legs | Spurge
• "Lucille" | Little Richard | Silver Disc: 25 Years Of Ace | Ace
• "Feel Good All Over" | King Sporty | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "Run To Mall (Fever 103° Remix)" | Mars89 | Mutual Aid 2020 | Bokeh Versions
• "Computer Love" | Kraftwerk | Computer World | Toshiba EMI   
• "Cuarentena" | Orquesta Pandroginia | Pandemia | Virtual Soundsystem
• "The Creepy Crawl" | Tradition | Captain Ganja and the Space Patrol | Bokeh Versions
• "Credit Squeeze" | Brentford All Stars | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "Even Then" | Ultramarine | This Time Last Year | Real Soon
• "Life's Work" | Handle | In Threes | Upset The Rhythm
• "True Opera" | Moor Jewelry | True Opera | Don Giovanni
• "Dervish Chant" | African Head Charge | Songs of Praise [reissue] | On-U Sound
• "Riddle I This" | Dennis Alcapone | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "Love You So Bad [Ben, 10-9-2016, at his apartment in Humboldt Park, Chicago]" | Ezra Furman | To Them We'll Always Be Freaks | self-released
• "Mourning The Lost" | The Billows Burn Bright | The Billows Burn Bright 2015​-​2020 | self-released
• "Super Stars" | Yves Tumor | Heaven to a Tortured Mind | WARP
• "Pappas Got a Brand New Cornea" | Yokel ft Franco Franco & D Ham | Avon Garde | Avon Terror Corps
• "Zion Higher" | Burning Spear | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "No Name Bar" | Isaac Hayes | Shaft (Music From the Soundtrack) | Stax
• "Honey Come Back" | Jerry Jones | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "And We're Off" | Sneaks | Highway Hypnosis | Merge
• "Sextape" | Loraine James | FYAI Demos + Ditched Album | self-released

someone hold my phone 'cause i can't hold my tongue

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Deep off into Mother Universe: Transmission 525, 2020 May 6

Honesty time. I dread these programs between the beginning of the lockdown and the death of George Floyd.

Yet somehow this program has my energy. I can’t deny it. Maybe it is inescapable.

I have this thing about noting the passage of musicians into the next life. Not sure where that comes from–possibly some feeling of responsibility, like it is my job to report current events? Sometimes I really feel the loss and sometimes I don’t. It’s somehow insulting to both Peter Greenfield of the Stranglers and Tony Allen that I sort of put them on the same level in this way. Surely there are others at the station who care more about the Stranglers than I ever did. It’s pretentious. But, like I say, my energy.

Another true confession: I don’t like the Mark Mulcahy song but I am lucky enough to have had a true companion during the pandemic who told me to play it. Such are the facts of life.

Change is on the way, but you knew that already.

BOMBAST playlist, 2020 May 6, 2100-2300:

• "Once More" | The Wedding Present | Once More | Optic Nerve
• "Space Whiter" | Cry Robot | The Entity In The Cosmos | Virtual Soundsystem
• "Gothic Urban Blues" | Harry Stafford | Gothic Urban Blues | Black Lagoon
• "Something Better Change" | The Stranglers | Winters of Discontent | Strange Fruit
• "Secretly" | Hortense Ellis | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "N.E.P.A (Never Expect Power Always)" | Tony Allen | Africafunk: Return To The Original Sound Of 1970s Funky Africa | Harmless
• "cherubim" | serpentwithfeet | soil | Secretly Canadian
• "Muscle Chamber" | The Naturals | Avon Garde | Avon Terror Corps
• "Kissing Embers" | the Cult of Lip | Out Of The Darkness | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
• "Shimmer" | The Room in the Wood | We're the Martians, Now | A Turntable Friend
• "There Was Always Water" | Lonnie Holley | MITH | Jagjaguwar
• "The Lowest Common Denominator" | Macerator | The Shed Collective Vol.3 | Douglas Deep
• "III" | アレックス H O R R O R 666 (Tomie-13) | E​.​V​.​P. (Electronic Voice Phenomena) | Virtual Soundsystem
• "A Cat(s) Deli Ma - Live Recording" | Doomsquad | Spandrels Vol 2 | self-released
• "Catching Mice" | Mark Mulcahy | The Possum in the Driveway | Mezzotint | "The Listening Parlour"
• "Black Treasure" | Brentford All Stars | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "Dugout" | Ultramarine | This Time Last Year | Real Soon
• "Asteroid Blues" | Yves Tumor | Heaven to a Tortured Mind | WARP
• "Surrender To The Crags" | Electric Sewer Age | Contemplating Nothingness | Hallow Ground
• "DK Mode" | CURL | Come On Feel The NoiZe, Vol. 5 - Amour pour la France | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
• "Hada jil" | Aziza Brahim | Glitterbeat_tak:til_2019 | Glitterbeat
• "Shed" | Walya | Avon Garde | Avon Terror Corps
• "Alien Circus" | Tradition | Captain Ganja and the Space Patrol | Bokeh Versions
• "4T Recordings" | Four Tet | 4T Recordings | Text
• "Hold Some More" | African Head Charge | Songs of Praise [reissue] | On-U Sound
• "Winds howl" | Whalt Thisney | Quiethism | Kahvi Collective
• "Hong Kong to Amsterdam" | Sneaks | Highway Hypnosis | Merge
• "Carnival of Souls" | Letters From Mouse | Proto Human | Kahvi Collective
• "Tangerines" | Chris Carter | Chemistry Lessons Volume 1 | Mute
• "You Can Have Everything" | Closing Eyes | Eternal Fidelity | Blanca

the world got time for games with you

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Hello Refusal, You’re Just the Same as Usual: Transmission 524, 2020 April 29

FAM. I am trying so hard to get back on the horse and process the last 39 months. I have to honor the muse when she appears..

I detect a weirdly naive positivity in this program’s energy despite what must have been happening in my life right around this time. Happy Mondays, Pia Fraus and The Room In The Wood seem like vestiges of an earlier sensibility. But who cares? So much of reception depends on frame of mind. I happened to be feeling good the morning I listened back to this, so…

Mrs. Miller seems like self-parody, though, emblematic of a show whose concept is exhausted. 

OTOH I don’t care how many times we play never say never, it will not be enough.

This program was mostly smooth and pleasant, intermittently interesting; not a bad way to spend a hundred and twenty minutes, I guess, but can I not ask for more from these mixtapes?

BOMBAST playlist, 2020 April 29, 2100-2300:

• "ALB19 27" | Loraine James | FYAI Demos + Ditched Album | self-released
• "Subaquatic Swerves" | Tradition | Captain Ganja and the Space Patrol | Bokeh Versions
• "Within Reach" | Ultramarine | This Time Last Year | Real Soon
• "Weekend S" | Happy Mondays | Squirrel And G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) [reissue] | London
• "Sweet Tart" | The Mystery Plan | Zsa Zsa | Ten Millimeter Omega
• "Blue" | The Room in the Wood | We're the Martians, Now | A Turntable Friend
• "Black Qualls (feat. Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington, & Childish Gambino)" | Thundercat | It Is What It Is | Brainfeeder
• "Shaft's Cab Ride" | Isaac Hayes | Shaft (Music From the Soundtrack) | Stax
• "The Passenger" | Brian | Dabbs Hill | self-released
• "Palermo's Grunch" | Los Pirañas | Glitterbeat_tak:til_2019 | Glitterbeat
• "Moth To The Flame" | Windy & Carl | Allegiance and Conviction | kranky
• "The Baader-Meinhof Always Look So Good In Photos" | Slum of Legs | Slum of Legs | Spurge
• "Alekum Salem" | Sea Urchin | Mutual Aid 2020 | Bokeh Versions
• "I'll Be Waiting" | Alton Ellis | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone   
• "II" | アレックス H O R R O R 666 (Tomie-13) | E​.​V​.​P. (Electronic Voice Phenomena) | Virtual Soundsystem
• "One For Ghost" / "Dilla Says Go" / "Walkinonit" / "The Factory" / "U-Love" / "Hi." / "Bye." / "Last Donut Of The Night" / "Welcome To The Show"" | J Dilla | Donuts [reissue] | Stones Throw
• "Eskrima" | Mx7 | Mutual Aid 2020 | Bokeh Versions
• "Uzume" | Mikael Fyrek | Further Asunder | Kahvi Collective
• "Folie Imposée" | Yves Tumor | Heaven to a Tortured Mind | WARP
• "FurdaMurda" | SEEKERSINTERNATIONAL | RunComeTest EP | Bokeh Versions
• "Whose Gonna Save My Soul" | Electric Sewer Age | Contemplating Nothingness | Hallow Ground
• "Fantôme Mélancolique" | Pause Longue | Come On Feel The NoiZe, Vol. 5 - Amour pour la France | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
• "A Lover's Concerto" | Mrs. Miller | Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits | Capitol | "The Listening Parlour"
• "A Pace Far Different (Demo)" | Gladie | Don't Stand So Close To Me: A Lame-O Compilation For Self Isolation | Lame-O Records
• "Never Say Never" | Romeo Void | Never Say Never | 415 / Columbia"The Entity" | Cry Robot | The Entity In The Cosmos | Virtual Soundsystem

why must we wait to do the things we want to do

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I Got One Doctor That I Talk to Every Week About This Panic: Transmission 523, 2020 April 22

From my contemporaneous notes: "I have to say I enjoyed this show, it seems to demonstrate that I had made peace with pre-recording and had found a way to still be good." Wow, just wow. I suppose this is going to happen a lot, but I am just not as keen on this episode as I was at the time.

Listening to these broadcasts from another time always brings up a jumble of associations--what was happening then, what is happening now, etc. You know the deal. Get me out of this dream!, as the wise man says somewhere in this mix.

Even though it often feels inauthentic, there are a few surprise things here that probably shouldn't hit right but do anyway.

BOMBAST playlist, 2020 April 22, 2100-2300:

• "What It Does" | Handle | In Threes | Upset The Rhythm
• "Far Too Gone" | Hallows | Subtle | Phage Tapes
• "African Science (Mix 2)" | TNT Roots | Raw Dub Creator | Bokeh Versions
• "Kervan Yolda" | BaBa ZuLa | Glitterbeat_tak:til_2019 | Glitterbeat
• "My Door Is Never" | The Fall | Reformation Post T.L.C. [reissue] | Cherry Red
• "Where Next Columbus" | Crass | Penis Envy | Crass
• "Reckless" | Jay Glass Dubs | Epitaph | Bokeh Versions
• "Spandrels 3" | Doomsquad | Spandrels Vol 2 | self-released
• "RUTHE14ME" | Slum of Legs | Slum of Legs | Spurge
• "My Eyes" | John Holt | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "Someday You Will Pay" | The Miller Sisters | Hillbilly Fillies & Rockin' Chicks | Charly | "The Listening Parlour"
• "Boogie In My Bones" | Laurel Aitken | The Story of Jamaican Music: Tougher Than Tough | Mango
• "Paisaje" | Ranil | Stay Safe & Sound Ranil Selection !! | Analog Africa
• "Reason in the Sky" | Alton Ellis | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "Gospel For A New Century" | Yves Tumor | Heaven to a Tortured Mind | WARP
• "Electric Love" | The Mystery Plan | Zsa Zsa | Ten Millimeter Omega
• "Down Harm's Way" | The Black Watch | Magic Johnson | ATOM
• "Whales Tails" | Cocteau Twins | Victorialand [reissue] | 4AD   
• "Come Here Get Away From Me [Ezra & Tim, late December 2016, Studio Ballistico, Chicago]" | Ezra Furman | To Them We'll Always Be Freaks | self-released
• "Peeping Tom" | Brentford All Stars | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "O.K. Boomer" | Brian | Dabbs Hill | self-released
• "Finding the Sea (Live)" | The Durutti Column | Vini Reilly [reissue] | Factory Benelux
• "I Woke Up in a Fucked​-​Up America" | Lonnie Holley | MITH | Jagjaguwar
• "Let It Fall" | Martin Bisi | Solstice | Bronson
• "Orderliness, Godliness, Discipline and Dignity" | African Head Charge | Songs of Praise [reissue] | On-U Sound
• "Mydriasism" | The Sun's Evil Twin | Come On Feel The NoiZe, Vol. 5 - Amour pour la France | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
• "Anarchy in the U.K." | Sex Pistols | Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols [reissue] | Warner Bros. - Rhino
• "Ship Of Fools (Demo)" | An Horse | Don't Stand So Close To Me: A Lame-O Compilation For Self Isolation | Lame-O Records
• "Paper Flower Projects" | Pia Fraus | Empty Parks | Seksound
• "A Stupid Thought" | The Pristines | Shelter | Sunday
• "Imaginary Letters" | Ultramarine | This Time Last Year | Real Soon
• "There Is No Year" | Algiers | There Is No Year | MatadorEpitaph | Bokeh Versions

just because I really love you

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But What Do You Expect Me To Do? Transmission 522, 2020 April 15

Welcome to Eighties night! Are you up for some Cocteau Twins? Shriekback? Breathless? Durutti Column? Crass? The Wedding Present? How about two versions of the same R.E.M. song? "Sure," I can hear you saying. "Sounds tubular." Public life had stopped when this broadcast aired, so why not time itself?

I must say, though--as good as the segues are (some of them are quite good), this show doesn't have a center. My methods may be new but the old shortcomings remain.

There aren't many chances for me to speak (I don't anticipate any complaints) due to the scarcity of instrumentals here, but there are lots of people, seemingly, burying their vocals in tonight's music. I remember this impulse--the vocalist needs to do something on the track but doesn't want to be understood, lest they be exposed, found having actually nothing to say.

I am trying to deprogram myself from these remembered impulses, but I think we'll see it happen on the program before it happens in real life.

BOMBAST playlist, 2020 April 15, 2100-2300:

• "Keres" | Mikael Fyrek | Further Asunder | Kahvi Collective
• "Monkey Talk" | Breathless | The Glass Bead Game [reissue] | 1972 - Tenor Vossa
• "This Big Hush" | Shriekback | Oil And Gold | Island
• "Oomingmak" | Cocteau Twins | Victorialand [reissue] | 4AD
• "Subtle" | Hallows | Subtle | Phage Tapes
• "Te Quiero Mucho" | Ranil | Stay Safe & Sound Ranil Selection !! | Analog Africa
• "Sammy" | Brentford All Stars | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "TroubleRoundDiCorner" | SEEKERSINTERNATIONAL | RunComeTest EP | Bokeh Versions
• "Otis (Live)" | The Durutti Column | Vini Reilly [reissue] | Factory Benelux
• "Land" | KL​/​BE​/​DH​/​RS | Avon Garde | Avon Terror Corps
• "He Don't Love You" | Larry Williams | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "Your Agent Man" | Cabaret Voltaire | 3 Crépuscule Tracks | Rough Trade
• "Ecstasy" | Sneaks | Highway Hypnosis | Merge
• "Heartbreak Hotel" | Brian | Dabbs Hill | self-released
• "Wolves, Lower" | The Death of Pop | Welcome To The Occupation, A Reverence to R.E.M. | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
• "The Sea B" | Lebend | Come On Feel The NoiZe, Vol. 4 - La Furia | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
• "Still Too Far To Go" | Electric Sewer Age | Contemplating Nothingness | Hallow Ground
• "Cruel Set of Shades" | Harry Stafford | Gothic Urban Blues | Black Lagoon
• "At the Edge Of The Sea" | The Wedding Present | Once More | Optic Nerve
• "Problems" | Sex Pistols | Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols [reissue] | Warner Bros. - Rhino
• "Don't Bleach" | I Jahbar | Mutual Aid 2020 | Bokeh Versions
• "Nothing Bloomed" | Algiers | There Is No Year | Matador
• "Health Surface" | Crass | Penis Envy | Crass
• "Wolves, Lower" | R.E.M. | Dead Letter Office | I.R.S.
• "Dunkin" | Letters From Mouse | Proto Human | Kahvi Collective
• "Konowale" | Super Rail Band Of The Buffet Hotel Del La Gare De Bamako, Mali | New Dimensions In Rail Culture | Globe Style
• "Passwords" | Ultramarine | This Time Last Year | Real Soon
• "To My Benefitors" | Jay Glass Dubs | Epitaph | Bokeh Versions

i will love myself

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Let the Sirens Sing Out Their Nightmare: Transmission 521, 2020 April 8

"I keep falling asleep during this episode," my notes say, "but I assure you it is quite good." Here's hoping you can (a) stay awake and (b) find this assessment accurate. Despite the distance between then and now, it's tough for me to be objective.

I know there are strong tunes here, but the segues seem weak to me. Plus, I just don't sound up for it. Hopefully you can excuse this--I'd had a bad week at work; specifically, I was threatened by a student and then scolded by my superiors for setting a boundary with this person. Prepare yourself for many work anecdotes to come. Things don't get better, despite what you may have heard.

In re. one of the artists on tonight's program, I should have said "Abby Normal" and not "Abe Normal." I had certainly listened to that release prior to playing it, but I suppose not carefully enough, or maybe I didn't retain the experience. Who knows. There is a lot of that to come too.

Sleep well, if it's what you need.

BOMBAST playlist, 2020 April 8, 2100-2300:

• "Freedom Fighters" | Delroy Washington | Beyond the Frontline | Front Line - Virgin
• "Powerful" | Earthquake | Raw Dub Creator | Bokeh Versions
• "The battle for Karbala" | Saint Abdullah | The Sounds of Evil - Vol. 1 | Boomarm Nation
• "Reformation!" | The Fall | Reformation Post T.L.C. [reissue] | Cherry Red
• "Tiet" | Mikael Fyrek | Further Asunder | Kahvi Collective
• "How Many Stars?" | The Mekons | Glitterbeat_tak:til_2019 | Glitterbeat
• "Foliba" | Super Rail Band Of The Buffet Hotel Del La Gare De Bamako, Mali | New Dimensions In Rail Culture | Globe Style
• "Dancing With Aliens" | beto | DISBOARD | Virtual Soundsystem
• "Ballad of JC Quinn" | The Mystery Plan | Zsa Zsa | Ten Millimeter Omega
• "Mash / Time: The Donut Of The Heart / Glazed / Airworks / Lightworks / Stepson Of The Clapper / The Twister (Huh, What)" | J Dilla | Donuts [reissue] | Stones Throw
• "Sweet Sensation" | Half Nelson | Avon Garde | Avon Terror Corps
• "Foundation (Mix 2)" | TNT Roots | Raw Dub Creator | Bokeh Versions
• "Losing Is Ours" | Algiers | There Is No Year | Matador
• "Psychedelic Rock" | Ernest Ranglin | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "The Call // Ravenous" | Hallows | Subtle | Phage Tapes
• "Guidance" | Yahweh Warriors | Raw Dub Creator | Bokeh Versions
• "Kajo Golo Weka" | Peter Tsotsi Juma & The Eagles Lupopo | Kenya Special (Selected East African Recordings From The 1970s & '80s) | Soundway
• "Happy Go Lucky Girl" | John Holt | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "side a" | abenrmal | [在常情節中找到自己] | Virtual Soundsystem
• "The Autojector" | Letters From Mouse | Proto Human | Kahvi Collective
• "Andalusia" | Ranil | Stay Safe & Sound Ranil Selection !! | Analog Africa
• "Get You Off My Mind" | The Freedom Singers | Jamaica All Stars Vol. 1 & 2 | Studio One / Coxsone
• "Trompo sin punta" | Aura en el espejo | Niñez | Virtual Soundsystem
• "Cob Twenty" | Happy Mondays | Squirrel And G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) [reissue] | London

hold on like i do

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