Episodes
Tuesday Jul 23, 2013
To Please Is a Curse: Transmission 46, 2013 July 18
Tuesday Jul 23, 2013
Tuesday Jul 23, 2013
Hall of Legends inductees The Fall make their first appearance in the "Physical Evidence" segment with an EP that serves no apparent purpose. Elsewhere, I get the Kenyan stuff out of my system. Almost. Anyway, there is a lot of that. In other words, we are all over the map, if "being mostly in two places" is an acceptable meaning of that phrase.
I should have known better than to take on a program hard on the heels of my regular show, but there I was, at the controls, a mere 24 hours later. Not that this show was less than good--it turned out, on review, better than I remembered it--but (a) I got really tired in the last half-hour and (b) I'm starting to have dreams about doing radio, you guys. This latter development is not good.
The stack of "mix tapes" is growing, which I suppose is a benefit, but radio is giving me feelings, you guys, which are not so great. I will have to find a balance between "doing as much as I can while I can" and actually appreciating each program. Experience tells me that I won't, but that doesn't mean I don't have to. Anything is better than letting my mouth run during the voiceovers and saying ominous things like "it's alright when the records are spinning," or whatever Pagliaci-like statement I let slip. Yikes!
At any rate, this show does answer a pressing question: Does vintage Fall make for a good segue into and out of African music? No, not exactly! As Don Miguel Ruiz would say, everyone is doing their best all the time.
BOMBAST playlist, 2013 July 18-19, 2300-0100:
- Four Tet: "Pinnacles" [Text]
- Ambrose Campbell: "Ashiko Rhythm" [Honest Jon's]
- Russ Henderson: "West Indian Drums" [Honest Jon's]
- The Fall: "Kimble" [Strange Fruit] / "Physical Evidence"
- The Mombasa Vikings: "Mama Matotoya" [Soundway]
- Springintgut: "Incentive Pizzicato - Icarus Remix" [Pingipung]
- Mbiri Young Stars: "Ndiri Ndanogio Niwe" [Soundway]
- Mount Kimbie: "Break Well" [Warp]
- Estrangers: "Hold Me Close (l'Inverno)" [Phuzz]
- Orchestre Veve Star: "Nitarudia" [Soundway]
- Nairobi Matata Jazz: "Tamba Tamba" [Soundway]
- The Fall: "C'n'C Hassle Schmuk" [Strange Fruit] / "Physical Evidence"
- Gatanga Boys Band: "Tiga Kudenga - Hide & Smile Edit" [Soundway]
- Kalambya Boys: "Kivelenge - Busy Twist Remix" [Soundway]
- Enoch & Christy Mensah: "Daikuku Dum" [Honest Jon's]
- The Fall: "Words of Expectation" [Strange Fruit] / "Physical Evidence"
- Slim Ali and The Famous Hodi Boys: "Watoto Nyara" [Soundway]
- The Fall: "Spoilt Victorian Child" [Strange Fruit] / "Physical Evidence"
- Bibio: "Mirroring All" [Warp]
- Alessandro Cortini: "Gloria" [Important]
Monday Jul 22, 2013
A Guy Called Destruction: Transmission 45, 2013 July 17
Monday Jul 22, 2013
Monday Jul 22, 2013
Our return to Wednesday night is marked by the first appearance of Biff Bang Pow! on the program. Also, Lady Catharsis re-enters the picture, bringing with her a couple of "latin" -eqsue -ish tunes, sort of. Elsewhere, there's a bunch of Kenyan stuff--I told you that Kenya Special was great--as well as new tunes by Franck Roger, Part Time, H-SIK, and the "criminally underplayed" Survival.
It felt a little old-school as I botched a bunch of things--totally blanking on DJ Sean's name, identifying the band behind "So Many Times, So Many Ways" as "Mount Kimble," and mistaking "Thriller," a mere song on that John Hughes Daydream record, for the album title. At least I confessed to some "lazy research" on Cheick Hamala Diabate, so my incompetence is honest in spirit. Oh, and the 13 seconds of dead air prior to that Biff Bang Pow! track? Just a side-effect of how I earned my nickname for the evening. Nothing to see here.
BOMBAST playlist, 2013 July 17, 2100-2300:
- Franck Roger: "Calixto" [Circus Company]
- Biff Bang Pow!: "In a Mourning Town" [Creation] / "Physical Evidence"
- Nairobi Matata Jazz: Mapenzi Hayana Daktari - Frankie Francis Edit" [Soundway]
- Halo Halo: "Wooden Box" [Upset the Rhythm]
- Burial + Four Tet: "Moth" [Text]
- Rans Bol's Ghana Highlife Band: "Gbonimawo" [Honest Jon's]
- Bomba Estero: "Pa' Respirar" [Soundway]
- Mariachi El Bronx: "Everything Dies" [ATO] / "Listening Parlour"
- Sweet Breeze: "Miss Patience (Without Patience)" [Tembo]
- Biff Bang Pow!: "7 Seconds" [Creation] / "Physical Evidence"
- H-SIK: "No Promises" [Black Acre]
- Marty Robbins: "El Paso" [Columbia] / "Listening Parlour"
- Biff Bang Pow!: "A Girl Called Destruction" [Creation] / "Physical Evidence"
- Sophia Ben & The Eagles Lupopo: "See Serere" [Soundway]
- Sagat: "Port" [Vlek]
- The Rift Valley Brothers: "Mu Africa" [Soundway]
- Survival: "Original Pain" [Thrill Jockey]
- Biff Bang Pow!: "Baby Sister" [Creation] / "Physical Evidence"
- Slava: "Crazy Bout U" [Software]
- Cheick Hamala Diabate: "Fatou Kounkoun Sissoko (Sol Power All Stars Mix)" [Electric Cowbell]
- Andy Cato: " Palermo By Night" [R & S / Apollo]
- John Hughes Daydream: "7th Wave" [Cut Mistake]
- Mount Kimbie: "So Many Times, So Many Ways" [Warp]
- Biff Bang Pow!: "I'm Still Waiting for My Time" [Creation] / "Physical Evidence"
- Part Time: "I Want to Go" [Mexican Summer]
Tuesday Jul 16, 2013
I Know You Can See My Real Thoughts*: Transmission 44, 2013 July 13
Tuesday Jul 16, 2013
Tuesday Jul 16, 2013
This is the program that was supposed to air on Wednesday the 10th, but was cancelled at the last minute. I don't think many changes were made, and if they were, I don't remember what they were. It was a "terrible evening" due to the George Zimmerman verdict, the news of which came in less than an hour before showtime if I remember correctly. "How do I deal with this," I wondered. The same way Bombast deals with everything--by remembering it's not a show about anything generally regarded as important.
It is uncanny how a couple of songs seem to speak to the moment, but that's purely accidental.
This program strikes me as one of the better shows I've done, a delicious mint after an awful meal of a week.
BOMBAST PLAYLIST, 2013 JULY 13-14, 2300-0100:
- Traams: "Sit Up" [self-released]
- Bibio: "Business Park" [Warp]
- Clouds: "Roche Lobe (System)" [Turbo]
- The Loi-Toki-Tok: "Leta Ngoma" [Soundway]
- Dead Confederate: "Bleed-Through" [Spiderbomb]
- Der Dritte Raum: "Morgenland" [Der Dritte Raum]
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: "City of Refuge (acoustic)" [Mute] / "Listening Parlour"
- Elvis Costello & The Imposters: "The Monkey" [Lost Highway]
- Clue Kid: "Rainy Street Light" [Box Clever]
- Springintgut: "Bangalore Kids" [Pingipung]
- Daphne: "Ye Ye" [Text]
- Peter Buck: "You Must Fight to Live on the Planet of the Apes" [Mississippi / Change] / "Physical Evidence"
- Nashil Pichen & The Eagles Lupopo: "Ng'ong'a Wa Mwanjalo" [Soundway]
- TG Mauss: "Welcome" [Karaoke Kalk]
- Vikki Carr: "It Must Be Him" [United Artists] / "Listening Parlour"
- Hafusa Abasi & Slim Ali with the Yahoos Band: "Sina Raha" [Soundway]
- Claudio Fabrianesi: "Cosmic Kabul" [Wonder Wet]
- Coliseum: "They Call Her One Eye" [No Idea]
- Housemeister: "Paris" [Boysnoize]
- Melvins: "Best Friend" [Ipecac]
- Sky Hi: "Funk Til Dawn" [G.E.D. Soul]
- Meridian Brothers: "Niebla Morada - Purple Haze" [Soundway]
- Simian Mobile Disco: "Interference (live)" [Delicacies]
- Snow Ghosts: "Ropery" [Houndstooth]
- Peter Buck: "The Monkey Speaks His Mind" [Mississippi / Change] / "Physical Evidence"
- Shortcircles: "You Will Carry This With You Forever (reprise)" [Plug Research]
*meow, meow, meow, meow.
Sunday Jul 14, 2013
I Was Born on My Way to the Sun: Transmission 43, 2013 July 6
Sunday Jul 14, 2013
Sunday Jul 14, 2013
I don't even remember why this particular program happened, but it did. Another "Test Pattern" provides another opportunity to play out my hypothesis that most Cabaret Voltaire music works best around midnight or later. I am so excited to play them that I almost slip in an extra track at the end.
Something was wrong with our studio mic channels for about 3 days, this being one of them. Fortunately, distortion is a kind of compression, so that cut down on the amount of editing I had to do! I am hoping you will find the results "artistic" and in perfect keeping with the drum sound on those Bass Drum of Death and Cabaret Voltaire records.
So, you are thinking--who am I kidding, you are not thinking this--what took him so long to post this if he didn't even have to work on the file? It's been a week full of problems, yo! We had to miss our time slot on Wednesday the 10th, for reasons that have fortunately resolved themselves, and a whole bunch of other stuff happened.
Among the "other stuff" were three "moments of clarity" I had--one was actually Saturday evening, prior to this broadcast, when I found myself wondering why I was going to the trouble of putting a show together. I think maybe I am doing too much radio and it is producing a diminishing return of enjoyment. Seems early to be feeling this, but it is a real thing that happened.
Another came on Monday when I realized that I'd more or less blown up the Internet by talking to Dif Juz and, through the magic of "Six Degrees" and hyperlinks, managed to generate some time-delayed negativity for a third party--I know, right? Drama? Me? That again made me wonder where all of this was going.
Finally, when I had to cancel Wednesday night's show and the world didn't stop spinning, I sort of put these three moments together, feeling that this project is of dubious, limited benefit and, because of the person running it, always a step away from potential harm.
I'll let you in on something. Early on I discovered that, aside from being a kind of therapy, this radio/blog project could help me learn things about human interaction that I'd never figured out [for whatever reason--laziness, Asperger's, misanthropy, etc.]. COULD. It's not working out quite that way, perhaps because I am too lazy to put the work in, perhaps because I am a bad learner, perhaps because they are not "things" to be "learned." I don't know.
I hope everyone realizes that these posts are mostly for me, one way or another--either they serve as a journal of something nice that happened for me, or they serve as a reminder of me after I'm gone. It's nice that a couple of people have read one or two of these along the way. I'm grateful for the attention because I'm needy like that. But ultimately it doesn't matter. It's great that you're here, it's cool that you're reading this, but you can always just "PageDn" until you hit the sound file, or subscribe on iTunes where you don't have to read a thing, if you prefer. I don't want to impose.
Existential crises aside, I don't feel like this is finished, even if "this" is just a stupid music program. It keeps rolling on, which is alright for now. I don't want to jinx it, so I will accept it as a gift. I am not sure what else to do. Maybe endeavor to be more careful with words. Or maybe use fewer. I know, I know.
BOMBAST playlist, 2013 July 6-7, 2300-0100
- Twin Tigers: "Blackmail" [Old Flame]
- Semi-Colon: "Ebenebe" [Comb & Razor]
- Pantaleimon: "Morning Star" [Grass Girl]
- Dub Spencer & Trance Hill: "Goboi" [Echo Beach]
- Huruma Boys Band: "Teresia" [Soundway]
- Cabaret Voltaire: "Hells Home" [Some Bizarre / Virgin] / "Physical Evidence"
- Nadine Shah: "Cry Me a River" [R & S / Apollo]
- Gatanga Boys Band: "Wendo Ti Mbia" [Soundway]
- Cabaret Voltaire: "Whip Blow" [Some Bizarre / Virgin] / "Physical Evidence"
- Kinski: "Conflict Free Diamonds" [Kill Rock Stars]
- Bass Drum of Death: "Shattered Me" [Innovative Leisure]
- The Chameleons: "Nathan's Phase" [Blue Apple]
- Siriusmo: "Itchy" [Monkeytown]
- Ripperton: "No More Airplanes" [Green]
- David August: "Watch Your Step" [DIYNamic]
- Boom Bip & Charlie White: "Georgia" [Lex]
- Cabaret Voltaire: "Golden Halos" [Some Bizarre / Virgin] / "Physical Evidence"
- Big Star: "Kanga Roo - Rough Mix/1974" [Omnivore]
- This Mortal Coil: "Kangaroo (7 inch)" [4AD]
- Thee Spivs: "Social Network" [Damaged Goods]
- The Lulus Band: "Nana" [Soundway]
- Cyanide Pills: "Johnny Thunders Lived in Leeds" [Damaged Goods]
- Winston Edwards, Blackbeard: "Airport Smuggling" [Studio 16]
- Morphosis: "Music for Vampyr: (iii) Finale" [Honest Jon's]
- Cabaret Voltaire: "The Arm of the Lord" [Some Bizarre / Virgin] / "Physical Evidence"
- oOoOO: "5:51 AM" [Nihjgt Feelings]
p.s. Hey Yo--I had meant to say something about how incredible Nadine Shah's music is, but there was no context for such a statement. Here it is. It's incredible. Pay attention.
Monday Jul 08, 2013
Nostalgia for What's Happening Now: Transmission 42, 2013 July 3
Monday Jul 08, 2013
Monday Jul 08, 2013
While every Bombast episode is a special snowflake, it is back to "normal" this week as I don't have a Hall of Legends induction or a celebrity interview to offer. This program features the usual assortment of tunes, plus a couple of tributes to people who will be missed, musically speaking and otherwise. Also, Lady Catharsis returns with a couple of "Listening Parlour" selections.
As summer rolls on, I am trying to schedule and work on some other "special" things for the program. I have verbal commitments from a couple of local bands to come on the program and perform live, and I have a few more Hall inductions in the proverbial pipeline. Scheduling the bands is proving to be a challenge--these people have the gall to invoke their "actual lives" as reasons not to come on the show at the drop of a hat.
Are you in the listening area for our terrestrial transmitters? Do you make music? Would your music "make sense" on Bombast? Are you not in possession of a life, and therefore reasonably available? Get in touch with me. You can write me a message here, at this site, or on Facebook, or through regular email at utz@ithacaradio.org. Synth duos especially welcome! Our control room is small and can't reasonably fit more than three persons with instruments. So drum machines, samplers, keyboards, and laptops are, as always, highly desirable.
BOMBAST playlist, 2013 July 3, 2100-2300:
- Twin Tigers: "Opana" [Old Flame]
- Hobo: "Incise" [Minus]
- Pulshar: "Different Drum" [Desolat]
- Amayenge: "Chibuyubuyu" [Strange Fruit] / "Physical Evidence"
- Ejeca: "Acrobat - Eric Volta Does His Own Thing Remix" [Lokee]
- Roedelius Schneider: "Frankly" [Bureau B]
- The Purrs: "Cemetery Johnny" [Fin]
- The Monkees: "Zilch / No Time" [Colgems] / "Listening Parlour"
- Cyanide Pills: "Lock Up Dub" [Damaged Goods]
- Lansing-Dreiden: "II" [Mexican Summer]
- Bo Diddley: "Pills" [Chess / MCA]
- The Mantles: "Shadow of Your Step" [Slumberland]
- Amayenge: "Filiukotuleya" [Strange Fruit] / "Physical Evidence"
- Kölsch: "Wasserschutz" [Kompakt]
- Beach Day: "Trip Trap Attack" [Kanine]
- Devo: "Uncontrollable Urge (live)" [A & M]
- The Lurkers: "Pills" [Beggars Banquet]
- Wild Billy Chyldish / CTMF: "Musical Tribalist" [Damaged Goods]
- Airhead: "Lightmeters" [R & S]
- Lemuria: "Clay Baby" [Bridge Nine]
- OMD: "Genetic Engineering" [Virgin] / "Listening Parlour"
- Scarper!: "Surfing the Cosmic Belt" [Plexus]
- Natasha Kmeto: "Buried" [Dropping Gems]
- Amayenge: "Free Nelson Mandela" [Strange Fruit] / "Physical Evidence"
- The Mole: "Interlude to Love" [Maybe Tomorrow]
- David August: "Voices from the Dust" [DIYNamic]
- The Grips: "Fancy Roll" [G.E.D. Soul]
- Franck Roger: "This World Don't Go Round" [Circus Company]
Friday Jul 05, 2013
Richie Thomas of Dif Juz: Full Interview
Friday Jul 05, 2013
Friday Jul 05, 2013
Here is the full conversation I had with Richie Thomas of Dif Juz on June 26, 2013. This was a very spur-of-the-moment interview about 5 hours before the show was to air, and I recorded it directly from Skype using the "recommended" Amolto software download. Portions of the conversation were aired in the Dif Juz special later that night.
While the recording software worked "fine" in testing, the actual sound levels during the conversation were crazily different, so I have basically compressed the hell out of this and made it "dynamic-free." We do lose the nuances of vocal intensity, but this has turned into an interview you can enjoy while mowing the lawn, making a smoothie, or launching a missile.
I was strangely less anxious during this conversation than the one I had with Gary Bromley a couple of weeks prior--I think it was because that other conversation was planned and I had a lot of time to get nervous about it. This interview was something I didn't think was going to happen at all, until Richie got in touch with me a couple of hours beforehand. I had to scramble to figure out Skype, which I'd used maybe 4 or 5 times in my life, and the recording software.
Anyway, I have annotated this conversation as I did the other one. Hope you find this amusing, or at least helpful.
0:02:56 - I "knew" about this from Wikipedia but hadn't planned to ask about it; just another piece of trivia, or so I thought.
0:03:05 - Remember that this is a Skype conversation and a lot of reactions, chuckles, etc. are based on facial expressions. Wish you could have seen this one!
0:10:40 - !!!
0:17:00 - Here I go, banging on abt. the "4AD sound" again.
0:18:30 - He brought it up, not me! [But I have kind of come to feel this way about Extractions, love those songs though I do.]
0:20:30 - would have played "MI" if I'd had time; if you've never heard it, it's here.
0:21:30 - I did play it; it's at about the 1:46:00 mark in the program.
0:27:00 - I learn something about Skype--I feel about 80 years old at this moment.
0:31:20 - The Murphy Federation record can be yours, if you have 5000 Euros. [to be fair, the seller does have a 100% rating, so "buy with confidence!"]
0:35:00 - "Crosswinds", from Extractions--another song I really should have played on the program, esp. as it's one of the less "treacly" numbers on that record.
0:35:25 - Haven't had time to listen to the entire YouTube playlist, but could this be the film score?
0:39:20 - Dif Juz & Mad Professor - another lost recording to track down!
0:53:00 - Since there's really no existing press on Dif Juz, the Television references aren't there, although they make sense. There is sort of a "twin lead" guitar thing going in a lot of Dif Juz tracks.
0:58:55 - this track appears at the 1:55:00 mark of the program.
0:59:00 - I'm so star-struck, and so panicked about how I'm going to edit this down for the program, that I've forgotten how Skype works and that Richie just did this same thing half an hour ago.
Many thanks, again, to Richie and Gary for their time and their stories.
Tuesday Jul 02, 2013
Gary Bromley of Dif Juz: Full Interview
Tuesday Jul 02, 2013
Tuesday Jul 02, 2013
Here is the full interview I conducted with Gary Bromley of Dif Juz on June 11, 2013. I was in the studios of WRFI, and Gary, I presume, was at home in Lousiville. Certain portions of this interview were aired last week on the Dif Juz special.
Technical notes: this conversation was recorded to a flash drive on a dedicated digital recorder, accidentally set to "auto level"--so some crazy things happen at random times. The signal path for my voice was: microphone > sound board > digital recorder. The signal path for Gary's was: telephone > sound board > digital recorder.
I think the interview speaks for itself, but if this had appeared on Soundcloud or something, here's how I would annotate it:
01:23 -- !!!
02:18 -- It never ceases to amaze me how influential PiL was, on seemingly anyone of importance.
05:07 -- Surprised at these two snubs more than 4AD/Axis, actually.
06:09 -- More like a year and a half.
11:57 -- MASS, a crowd puller!
16:58 -- A REALLY silly question.
22:00 -- Anachronistic on my part, don't know what I was thinking -- TMC might have been in the works, but not DCD yet.
24:29 -- I decided I didn't know how to pronounce "tabla." Honestly, I don't.
26:24 -- "Starforce," according to the "Who Says So" sleeve.
29:00 -- Getting into my "personal" view on the "4AD sound" here. Not like I didn't love these records at the time. And not like I didn't hold onto them. And not like I would ever sell them.
37:25 -- It's Chelmsford, actually. Anyway, I'm downright incoherent here. I don't even know what I'm saying.
39:00 -- I have a love/hate relationship with these early Robin Guthrie productions.
40:34 -- Yet more evidence Dif Juz were ahead of their time.
51:30 -- Thinking I'd run out of questions and completely unable to think on the fly at this point.
52:00 -- This isn't investigative journalism and I never needed this to be "sensational."
Full interview with Richie Thomas will appear soon. Enjoy!