M Is For The Mean Things That This Mean Man Does: Transmission 458, 2019 April 3

I don't know how I developed the theory, or superstition, that when I only do one program per week I am more careful, less mistake-prone. That idea is certainly undermined by this program that you find here. As "always" I had the best of intentions but not necessarily the best ideas, in the moment. Somehow I desired to play a Lemonheads song, and to play it after Karate Hiroshima (whose segue I think I biffed, if memory serves). Similarly I deemed it wise to play Wire after Pavo Pavo, and to play "Deceased Squirrel on the Phone" (featuring Bob Vratnicek--YES, LISTENERS, THAT BOB VRATNICEK!) after Dexter Story. At some point in WRFI's history we promised to strive for "excellence in content and technique," but who could predict that the arc of striving bent so gradually toward its goal?

At least I'm pretty sure I got Simon Raymonde's birthday correct, and as I have become fond of saying, "I'm sure he's listening."

Not much to add in the category of "what we were enduring this week," or "what were we healing from," or whatever it was I was calling that recurring diary feature. I think maybe a major centrist candidate entered the presidential race this week, so it looks like we'll all get to revisit the ill-conceived compromises of years past. I already do this constantly, in my head, so welcome to my world, everybody.

BOMBAST playlist, 2019 April 3, 2100-2300:

1. "Idra" | Marvin & Guy | Solar Warriors | Life & Death
2. "Quisquose" | Cocteau Twins | Aikea-Guinea | 4AD
3. "Rushing the Acid Frat" | Stephen Malkmus | Groove Denied | Matador
4. "El Diablo Me Va a Llevar" | Nicola Cruz | Siku | ZZK
5. "The Light In My Little Girl's Eyes" | The Legendary Pink Dots | Any Day Now [reissue] | Metropolis
6. "Lo que quieras que sea, seré por ti" | Karate Hiroshima | Come On Feel The NoiZe, Vol. 4 - La Furia | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
7. "TAQN" | The Lemonheads | Varshons 2 | Fire
8. "Dive" | Bauhaus | In the Flat Field [reissue] | 4AD
9. "Evolution" | brim liski | Duels | Latenight Weeknight
10. "On The Road" | Yamila | Iras Fajro | Forbidden Colours
11. "Louder" | Pure Morning | Come On Feel The NoiZe, Vol. 3 - Viva Mexico! | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
12. "Manuwar" | Cairo Liberation Front | Eurabia, Vol. 1 | Byrd Out
13. "Close To Your Ego" | Pavo Pavo | Close To Your Ego | Bella Union
14. "Sand in My Joints" | Wire | Chairs Missing [reissue] | Pink Flag
15. "Midwest Flower" | Thin White Rope | The Ruby Sea [reissue] | Frontier
16. "Dubba Black" | Errol Brown | Orthodox Dub | Dub Store
17. "Behind the Wall" | Stranded | Celine's Dilemma EP | Optimo
18. "Birdsnest" | The Wedding Present | Going, Going... | Scopitones
19. "Secret Snake" | Objekt | Cocoon Crush | PAN
20. "I Never Could Tell You" | Business of Dreams | Ripe for Anarchy | Slumberland
21. "I Love Girls (He Loves Girls)" | Fat Cops | Fat Cops | self-released
22. "Deseo" | Apartmentos Acapulco | Come On Feel The NoiZe, Vol. 4 - La Furia | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
23. "Trace of You" | Express Rising | Fixed Rope (II) | Numero Group
24. "Worship & Passion" | Pablo's Eye | Dark Matter | Stroom
25. "TV Romance" | MELTNET | Eternal Spring | Virtual Soundsystem
26. "First Tube" | Midland | Displaced Soundtracks Vol. 2 | Life and Death
27. "Electric Gurage" | Dexter Story | Electric Gurage | Soundway
28. "Catman" | Deceased Squirrel on the Phone (Feat. Bob Vratnicek) | Death is not the end... A Tribute to Nick Cave | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
29. "KAMA" | Mooner | O.M. | Outer Battery
30. "Capitalism" | Ernest Moon | Ba-jesus | BOBOS
31. "Red the Sign Post (alternate version)" | Fifty Foot Hose | Bad Trips | Modern Harmonic
32. "4AM" | NNYz? | Aetiology | Kahvi Collective
33. "Shimmering Bomb" | Stabudown Productions | Strange Rabbits | Diagonal
34. "Twice The Lovin' (In Half The Time)" | Jean Shepard and Speedy West | Hillbilly Music...Thank God! Volume 1 | Bug / Capitol | "The Listening Parlour"
35. "Soul City" | Bowery Electric | Lushlife [reissue] | Beggars Banquet

Clinical interventions that work in relationships

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Everything Is One, You Have Nothing To Do with It: Transmission 457, 2019 March 27

Welcome to the second night of a back-to-back engagement. No doubt, I must have been tired. But unlike the previous outing, this was "my" shift. Accordingly, this time around my mistakes were fewer (I think) and more routine (I think). So this is a typical program, I guess you'd say, and typically good too, though once again I've heard it way too much since.

That week people were really worked up about this (trolling?) retrospective of Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill. Maybe it is a generational thing, but I didn't regard that album as any good at the time and I don't think it has improved with age. It was certainly on "heavy rotation" on local corporate "alternative" radio--this did not endear it to me, but in fairness it didn't stand a chance when Liz Phair's Exile In Guyville was totally already out there (and which, incidentally, has aged well).

It got me thinking about a couple of things--first, the 90s, the total memory of which makes me shudder. I have issues with self-disgust in general, but I really don't like the person I was in that decade. How inconvenient it is that many of my life-defining experiences happened then. Coincidentally, or maybe not, I don't find myself liking a lot of music from that period, either, though I mostly still enjoy now what little I did then. Maybe it's just me but I feel like, collectively, we need to have a talk about what went on during that time.

Second, that nihilistic (and rightly loathed) critique is exactly the sort of thing I might write had I remained in the "various businesses" that paid me to do so. My own flawed decision-making and the pointless and cruel interventions of others have spared us all that fate. But, however late I am coming around to it, I daresay that I am finally learning to distinguish between the harmless and the harmful. Most of the time it is ok to let people like things--this must be what the kids mean when they say "just keep scrolling." But punk-style negation is very hard to unlearn. I am working on it, dear friends.

BOMBAST playlist, 2019 March 27, 2100-2300:

1. "Dusty Fingers - Metrik Remix" | S.P.Y. | Sick Music 2019 | Hospital
2. "Everything In Colour" | transmission 13 | The Edge Of The World | self-released
3. "All Men Are Dogs" | Harlem | Oh Boy | Female Fantasy
4. "I Feel Better All Over" | Ferlin Husky | The Other Side of Bakersfield, Vol. 2 | Bear Family
5. "Goku" | Taylor Graves | Brainfeeder X | Brainfeeder
6. "Chapel O' Love" | b l u e s c r e e n | Eternal Spring | Virtual Soundsystem
7. "Skunk" | A Certain Ratio | Mind Made Up [reissue] | Mute
8. "We Are the Snare" | Spare Snare | Sounds Recorded by Steve Albini | Chute
9. "God Bless You" | Sone Institute | Where Moth and Rust Consume | Front and Follow
10. "Sanity Starts At Home" | The Claim | Boomy Tella | A Turntable Friend
11. "Wolfbane" | The Orb | No Sounds Are Out of Bounds | Cooking Vinyl
12. "Real Eyes" | NNYz? | Aetiology | Kahvi Collective
13. "Another the Letter" | Wire | Chairs Missing [reissue] | Pink Flag
14. "Join The Dots" | Dragon Welding | Dragon Welding | A Turntable Friend
15. "They Kept Walking" | Frieder Nagel | Distract Robots | Infine
16. "Heroes" | A Merge Group | A Merge Group Plays "Heroes" | Merge
17. "Harry" | Bauhaus | The Bela Session | Leaving Records
18. "White Star Liner" | Public Service Broadcasting | White Star Liner | PIAS
19. "Hold Me, You Idiot" | b l u e__ΔCID | Eternal Spring | Virtual Soundsystem
20. "It's Over" | CTMF | SQ 1 | Damaged Goods
21. "Help Me Mary" | Liz Phair | Girly-Sound to Guyville | Matador
22. "Blissos" | Lauer | Power | Running Back
23. "Split" | Cosey Fanni Tutti | TUTTI | Conspiracy International
24. "Champion of the Arena Dub" | Jah Division | Dub Will Tear Us Apart...Again | Ernest Jenning Record Co.
25. "Day Tripper" | Pom Poko | Birthday | Bella Union
26. "Want You" | Tight Knit | Too Hot | Not Unloved
27. "Ballare Sulla Tua Tomba" | Futuropaco | Futuropaco | El Paraiso
28. "Stranger Than Kindness" | Curl | Death is not the end... A Tribute to Nick Cave | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
29. "The Other Light" | David Vassalotti | Guitar Dream | Wharf Cat
30. "Bartender's Rag" | Thin White Rope | The Ruby Sea [reissue] | Frontier
31. "Soundtrack to the Daily Grind" | Graham Day And The Gaolers | Damaged Goods (1988-2018) | Damaged Goods
32. "She's a Girl" | The Amps | Pacer | 4AD
33. "Night Time Diamonds" | Brian | EJOG | self-released
34. "Smooth False Foxglove" | Express Rising | Fixed Rope (II) | Numero Group
35. "Sing a Song - Live at Clouds Hill" | Tom Allan & The Strangest | Sing a Song (Live at Clouds Hill) | Clouds Hill

My hands are full and I only care about myself

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He’s Scandinavian, That’s Why I’m Confused: Transmission 456, 2019 March 26

Karmic debt accrues, I feel, when I sit in on another DJ's time slot. I wonder if anyone else feels this--it strikes me as odd now that I've sat down to write about it. The DJ has requested a substitute, so I'm not depriving them of anything. Might someone else have wanted this time? There's always a chance, but most of our vacated slots go unclaimed, despite public perception that I take them all. (It's true that I'm on a particular mission in calendar year 2019, but I'm trying to do only one of these appearances per month.) Still I feel that I don't belong here--a recurring theme of late, as it happens--and so my being here must come with a cost.

There are some really terrible segues in this hastily assembled program, namely Gyedu-Blay Ambolley and Jon K, whose songs were too good to leave out but nonetheless didn't "fit" (hmm--ed). I also did poorly with whatever I played from the Hugs for Chelsea benefit, except maybe the track by Priests. Jello Biafra was especially jarring, but then again when is he not? (In a strange bit of symmetry, Manning has been released from prison and then promptly sent back in since this program aired, so you should really buy that comp.)

I've also been in kind of a work-life funk since this program's airing (might it go back farther than that? I'm not sure) and have found it difficult to write and post, and I guess that too is part of my debt. Also, because I have been stuck, I have listened to this episode countless times at the gym and am fully tired of several tracks herein. But you'll just have to make guesses about that.

Surely Ranking Roger's death on this day was not part of my personal punishment, but it hurt all the same. I have, in middle age, come to see The (English) Beat as a lesser entity than The Specials, but in high school only the mod kids (one of whom I could never hope to be) liked Mr. Hall and co., whereas all the theatre kids like me were in thrall to I Just Can't Stop It. This one in particular pleases me because the band's influences are on full unapologetic display. I saw many social media "tributes" around this time bizarrely linking to Dave Wakeling showcases, and am proud to say that "Rough Rider" was one thing I got completely right on this weird evening.

BOMBAST playlist, 2019 March 26, 2100-2300:

1. "Morning Beam" | Ash Is | Morning Beam EP | Perfect Motion
2. "Theories of Loneliness - Wice Remix" | Deep'a & Biri | Dominance Remixes | Black Crow
3. "Live in Fiction" | The KVB | Only Now Forever | Invada
4. "Catch You Dreaming" | Ride | Tomorrow's Shore | Wichita
5. "Anyways" | FEELS | Post Earth | Wichita
6. "Peste Rossa" | Futuropaco | Futuropaco | El Paraiso
7. "Distress" | Pijn | Loss | Holy Roar
8. "Burkina Faso" | Gyedu-Blay Ambolley | The Message | Analog Africa
9. "Breathe" | Boy Is Fiction / Ghosts of Tyto Alba | A Single Beam of Light | N5MD
10. "Not Today" | The Kominas | Hugs for Chelsea: benefit for Chelsea Manning | not on label
11. "2nd Thought" | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | Organisation [reissue] | Virgin
12. "The Other Window" | Wire | 154 | Pink Flag
13. "Asafo" | Jon K | Asafo / Enye Woa | Soundway
14. "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music (Mellow)" | Stereolab | The Groop Played Space Age Batchelor Pad Music [reissue] | Too Pure
15. "Perluv" | Robag Wruhme | Wuzzelbud FF | Hart & Tief
16. "Nothing Feels Natural" | Priests | Hugs for Chelsea: benefit for Chelsea Manning | not on label
17. "Speak You Me" | Coldharbourstores | Vesta | Enraptured
18. "2nd Foundation" | Jakob Skott | Instrumentality | El Paraiso
19. "This Is Almost A Happy Ending" | 48 Cameras | Chosen Songs | Stroom
20. "White People And The Damage Done" | Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine | Hugs for Chelsea: benefit for Chelsea Manning | not on label
21. "Perversions of Humankind" | ADULT. | This Behavior | Dais
22. "Marble" | Martes Niebla | Come On Feel The NoiZe, Vol. 4 - La Furia | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
23. "Ubary" | Kel Assouf | Black Tenere | Glitterbeat
24. "New Facts Emerge" | The Fall | New Facts Emerge | Cherry Red
25. "Wish I Had a Pretty Dog" | The Orb | No Sounds Are Out of Bounds | Cooking Vinyl
26. "Farmer C" | Alpha Stone | Stereophonic Pop Art Music | Hoga Nord Arkiv
27. "Film" | Chatham Rise | Meadowsweet | Picture in My Ear
28. "Overrated - Robin Guthrie Version" | Echo Ladies | Overrated (Robin Guthrie Version) / Rebel Rebel | Sonic Cathedral
29. "Et Avant" | Free Love | Luxury Hits | Full Ashram
30. "Pole" | A Certain Ratio | Change the Station [reissue] | Mute
31. "Rough Rider" | The English Beat | I Just Can't Stop It | I.R.S.

Perhaps I will change

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Cruising Altitude Departure 31, 2019 March 23

[GUEST POST]

Good day to you, traveler. I bring you greetings from some seven weeks after this program aired. If I recall correctly, which is never a safe bet, this was a wet, gray, somewhat cold morning in the Ithaca area. It was "Spring" by the slimmest of technicalities, though winter never seems far away here. "Sunlit but Shivering?" Maybe a little of that. "Partly sunny" is a local specialty. In any case it was a reasonable day for flying, and apparently I was needed. I rose to the challenge as I sometimes do.

This program was book-ended by two long and lovely pieces. I received a compliment on the Michael Morley tune, which made me feel nice even though I didn't create the music! What is the psychology of that, I wonder? I did not receive any praise for playing Becoming Animal, but then again it was not required. I am happy to play just about any fruit of the Cindytalk tree.

Again, this was a "surprise" program, and I have done yet another one in the meantime. I will write a report at some point, I am sure. When time allows, when it allows.

CRUISING ALTITUDE playlist, 2019 March 23, 1000-1100:

1. "Cease The Four Winds" | Michael Morley | Heavens Idleness Awaits | Thin Wrist
2. "Sky" | SLV | Berlin. Portrait In Music | Soma Quality Music
3. "Toward a Boundless Uncertainty, Sunlit But Shivering" | Benoit Pioulard | Toward a Boundless Uncertainty... | Mellotron
4. "4(E+D)4(ER=EPR)" | William Basinski | On Time Out of Time | Temporary Residence Ltd.
5. "The Courtesan Jigokudayu Sees Herself as a Skeleton in the Mirror of Hell" | Black to Comm | Seven Horses For Seven Kings | Thrill Jockey
6. "The Sky Is Ever Falling - Abul Mogard Remix" | Becoming Animal | And We Are Passing Through Silently | Houndstooth

not not fun

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We Are Your Latenight Weeknight Companion: Transmission 455, 2019 March 20

I'm finally tired of not writing and not posting. How about you? Currently I am multitasking, straddling the distant and near past, editing an episode from four days ago as I try to gather my impressions of this program from nearly two months ago. I've heard this one so many times on my iPod that I don't think I can make sense of it anymore, if I ever could. Maybe I never could.

This particular day was the "International Day of Happiness" but there's a good chance that I was not participating. It was the Iraq was anniversary (which one? I think maybe the second one, like it matters) and I think the President was trying (and probably succeeding) in banning transgender people from the military. Personally I think no one should be in the military, but it's the largest employer in this fucked-up society we have, and my tax dollars pay for it, so I kind of think everyone should be able to feed from that trough. Except Nazis, maybe. On that note, we were also still trying to wrap our heads around the Christchurch massacre, which was five days earlier, and the best our "opposition party" could do was stage some kind of symbolic vote to condemn a Muslim congresswoman, so congratulations everyone.

Predictably, this sentence from my recollection of the previous program--"I biffed a bunch of segues and got very mad at myself behind the scenes"--works perfectly well with this program too. I should probably leave it in every little thing I write about this ongoing adventure. I'm not going to tell you what was good and what was bad. You'll have to figure it out for yourself. Aren't you glad I'm back?

BOMBAST playlist, 2019 March 20, 2100-2300:

1. "African Starship" | Lee "Scratch" Perry | African Starship | On-U Sound
2. "Mother Courage" | Hula | Cut From Inside | Klanggalerie
3. "Un astronaute" | Station 17 | Ausblick | Bureau B
4. "Atuy So Kata - Patric Catani Remix" | Umeko Ando | Atuy So Kata | Pingipung
5. "Can't Wait" | Nancy Babich | Time Adds Up | self-released
6. "Blue Thunder" | Galaxie 500 | On Fire [reissue] | 20|20|20
7. "Yummer Yummer Man" | Danielle Dax | Dark Adapted Eye | Rubellan Remasters
8. "Nineteen 7" | Chris Carter | Chemistry Lessons Volume 1 | Mute
9. "Airports" | Osynlige Mann | Airports / Exodus | Hoga Nord
10. "Spillway" | Inner River | Inner River | Atomnation
11. "The Music Years" | brim liski | Duels | Latenight Weeknight
12. "Tear up the Red Sky" | The Young Gods | Tear up the Red Sky | Two Gentlemen
13. "Tolu" | Sonido Gallo Negro | Mambo Cosmico | Glitterbeat
14. "Spanish House" | Felt | The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories [reissue] | Cherry Red
15. "Favour" | Mark Stewart | Favour | On-U Sound
16. "Lancelot's Last Word" | Blue Orchids | Righteous Harmony Fist | Tiny Global Productions
17. "Daytona" | Commodo | Rikers | Deep Medi Musik
18. "It Isn't About That" | Stefano Ritteri | Mutanda | Viaggio
19. "Isolation Dub" | Jah Division | Dub Will Tear Us Apart...Again | Ernest Jenning Record Co.
20. "Fight" | Nicolas Jaar | Nymphs [reissue] | R & S
21. "The Middle Section" | Bremen | Enter Silence | Blackest Ever Black
22. "A God in an Alcove" | Bauhaus | In the Flat Field [reissue] | 4AD
23. "Love Bomb (Grinderman)" | Bone Acre | Death is not the end... A Tribute to Nick Cave | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
24. "When Whales Make Love" | Sampleman and the Music Mutant | Third Ear Music | self-released
25. "Theme #1" | Pom Poko | Birthday | Bella Union
26. "I'm Hurting" | Thee Headcoats | In Tweed We Trust [reissue] | Damaged Goods
27. "Outside" | Edwyn Collins | Outside | AED
28. "Lost in Saint Petersburg" | Lake Haze | Shall Not Fade - 3 Years of Service | Shall Not Fade
29. "Tokai Desu" | foodman | Moriyama | Palto Flats
30. "Bending" | BELP | Crocodile | SVS

Music isn't about that

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