radiobombast

My Revenge Against the World Is To Believe Everything You Say: Transmission 519, 2020 March 25

Now it can be told! Methods and agendas disclosed in this week's blurb. It's all here.

To begin we have to go back to the very early days of this program, when I decided (a) my library was not enough and (b) I had to chase the ghosts of my past and prove that I could follow the "rules" of my old radio station from undergrad days, which I was never good at doing. There's a lot to unpack there but I'm sure somewhere along the way I have referred to what I often do as LARPing and that is basically the jist of it.

We used to have this rule about "currency," according to which your playlist was supposed to be 30% "current" records. This meant playing discs from the "current" bin, and what was in there had been added by the station (NB: not necessarily "released," just acquired) within the last 3 months. To the extent that I was ever successful at this, it was only just: early on I had a lot to learn from the past and somewhere along the way I decided that the present (at that moment) wasn't up to my standards and apparently I wasn't open to many new experiences. I look back on this as a failure that I have to correct. For whom? The voice in my head of course.

So, anyway, in 2013 or so, when this show was less than ten programs old, I was auditioning lots of new releases on Spotify and building my playlists that way. I would often call this "radio magic" or whatever, but it was a kind of fraud. It helped, but didn't help, that at some point we got this software at the station called DeejayPro that could incorporate Spotify into your broadcast (controversially, I guess).

This created a couple of messes: one was the general fakeness of many programs, even though I was sharing music that I genuinely liked--not to mention the use of that awful, unethical app--and the technical issue of playing those supercompressed mp3s (evident in last week's disaster).

Apparently it took a global pandemic to force me to reconsider, but on this broadcast I said goodbye to the old ways. I would only use actual sound files in my possession, currency be damned--this meant using what I owned and what I was buying, which also meant a deeper commitment, which I consider a good thing. It also meant the return of dynamics and crazy levels, which I guess is also a good thing because it's teaching me to embrace imperfection even though I hate it.

So this particular show features a lot of material I picked up on the very first "Bandcamp Friday," five days prior, as well as things I'd bought recently. But, I have to say--it also included a lot of promotional freebies (including yet another cringeworthy Membranes track--what is it with them?), plenty of channeling 1985 and 1986 (so what else is new), and, let's face it, a big focus on the white past and not the black future. I don't know how it's possible to do a show that's "honest" and at the same time "in bad faith" but I manage.

That said, I really miss old R.E.M. and I did love the then-recent viral video of Michael Stipe singing along to "Underneath the Bunker."

I also miss Richenel and I miss the days when that This Mortal Coil cd blew my little mind; now it's all wrapped up in guilt and regret. Here's hoping someday it will sound fresh again.

Since this program was broadcast, 410 days ago now, I've gone "on the air" 55 times. I have delivered 54 pre-recorded episodes on account of the pandemic. That gives us a lot of time to work through my issues, and there are many of them.

BOMBAST playlist, 2020 March 25, 2100-2300:

• "Yahweh The Redeemer" | TNT Roots | Raw Dub Creator | Bokeh Versions
• "Russell" | Happy Mondays | Squirrel And G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) [reissue] | London
• "Pandora's Box" | The Membranes | What Nature Gives...Nature Takes Away | Cherry Red
• "Old Man Kensey" | The Starling Effect | Welcome To The Occupation, A Reverence to R.E.M. | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
• "Coelocanth" | Shriekback | Oil And Gold | Island
• "Slumpledunk" | LameBøy™ | New Era : 2020 | Virtual Soundsystem
• "Cattle Herders Chant" | African Head Charge | Songs of Praise [reissue] | On-U Sound
• "Late Summer Night" | Pia Fraus | Empty Parks | Seksound
• "Dekotur" | Electric Sewer Age | Contemplating Nothingness | Hallow Ground
• "Inch-Blue" / "I Want To Live" / "Mama K (1)" / "Filigree & Shadow" / "Firebrothers" / "Thais (I)" / "I Must Have Been Blind" / "A Heart of Glass" | This Mortal Coil | Filigree & Shadow | 4AD
• "Hollywood 4-5-92" | American Music Club | Mercury | Virgin | "The Listening Parlour"
• "The Earth Is Flat (Fool's Anthem)" | The Room in the Wood | We're the Martians, Now | A Turntable Friend
• "People's Pleasure Park" | The Durutti Column | Vini Reilly [reissue] | Factory Benelux
• "Albores De Mi Selva" | Ranil | Stay Safe & Sound Ranil Selection !! | Analog Africa
• "See How the Land Lies" | Breathless | The Glass Bead Game [reissue] | 1972 - Tenor Vossa
• "Garlands" | Cocteau Twins | Garlands [reissue] | 4AD
• "Johnny Damas and Me" | Brian | Dabbs Hill | self-released
• "The Usher" | The Fall | Reformation Post T.L.C. [reissue] | Cherry Red
• "Plainsong" | Darkswoon | Disintegration Revisited | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
• "you're so sad" | Fever 103° | Avon Garde | Avon Terror Corps
• "いつかきっと" | beto | DISBOARD | Virtual Soundsystem
• "Big Blow" | Manu Dibango | Africafunk: Return To The Original Sound Of 1970s Funky Africa | Harmless

Didn't know it was a song you hated to sing

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Everything's Coming to a Grinding Halt: Transmission 518, 2020 March 18

There is a weird symmetry to this post, as it comes (seemingly) at the end of the pandemic era even as I am trying to make sense of how it began. Maybe there was a point in dragging my feet all this time. Increasingly I think things happen as they are meant to, when they are meant to. My brain must be getting old, soft, and smooth.

Everything shut down very quickly in the second and third weeks of March 2020. By the time of this broadcast New York State was under a lockdown. I knew in advance that I would not be able to do this program "live," and I foolishly went ahead with the show that I had planned anyway.

(Ironically, on the night, I was unable to connect remotely to the airplay computer to do my weekly programming tasks, so I ventured down to the station only to find out that I--and everyone else--was literally locked out. So this was how things were going to be.)

"Going ahead with the show that I had planned anyway" meant basically digitally recording a Spotify playlist and uploading that digital recording. The results are--well, here they are. Listen for yourself. For me, every segue is perfect (timing-wise if not conceptually), every song sounds crushed. It's a travesty but I am committed to posting everything, even the travesties. "Dododo (Ekassa No. 1)" is such a great recording too. I guess I will have to buy that box set after all.

There aren't even enough current tunes here to satisfy that fetish for me. It's tough to know at this point what I was thinking. I was probably just scrambling. How long did I think the lockdown would last? One week, I say at the end. How optimistic was I?

Did I invent the term plaguecasting? I am taking credit for it in any case.

Since this program was broadcast, 416 days ago now, I've gone "on the air" 56 times. I have delivered 55 pre-recorded episodes on account of the pandemic. I'm not sure any of them sound worse than this one, but miracles are always possible.

BOMBAST playlist, 2020 March 18, 2100-2300:

• "Ire" | The Don Isaac Ezekiel Combination | Nigeria 70: Box Set | Strut
• "Airport Lounge" | | 空港ラウンジのドリームスケープ | | D R E A M S C A P E | New Era : 2020 Virtual Soundsystem
• "Dododo (Ekassa No. 1)" | Sir Victor Uwaifo & His Melody Maestroes | Nigeria 70: Box Set | Strut
• "We Spartan Dreggs (Be Fine)" | The Spartan Dreggs | Punk Rock ist nicht tot | Damaged Goods
• "Doom" | Jaxe | Seekings EP | Dom Trojga
• "MERCURIO" | DJ MALVIAJE | New Era : 2020 | Virtual Soundsystem
• "Ikon Allah" | Bala Miller & The Great Music Pyrameeds Of Afrika | Nigeria 70: Box Set | Strut
• "The Morning Ritual" | Rephazer | Shepherd Drift | Kahvi Collective
• "Free The World" | Inkräktare | We Are Not Really Here | ELaB
• "Wetin De Watch Goat, Goat Dey Watcham" | Eric (Showboy) Akaeze And His Royal Ericos | Nigeria 70: Box Set | Strut
• "Glow In The Night" | Blacklit | Out Of The Darkness | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
• "Chamber Assent" | Whistling Arrow | Whistling Arrow | God Unknown   
• "We Can't Be Found" | Algiers | We Can't Be Found | Matador
• "Don't Wanna Hold Your Hand" | Thee Headcoatees | Punk Girls | Damaged Goods
• "Web in Front" | Kudzu Wish | Kudzu Wish | Ernest Jenning Record Co.
• "Blackholeyday" | Car Crash Sisters | Come On Feel The NoiZe, Vol. 3 - Viva Mexico! | The Blog That Celebrates Itself
• "How To Start A Revolution" | Wrangler | How To Start A Revolution | Bella Union
• "Want Me - Win Me" | Thee Headcoats | In Tweed We Trust | Damaged Goods
• "Grinding Halt" | The Cure | Three Imaginary Boys | Fiction - Rhino | "The Listening Parlour"
• "Vaults of Arcadia" | Space Dimension Controller | ReSEQ | R & S
• "Strange Selfies" | Yaka-anima | New Era : 2020 | Virtual Soundsystem
• "Henrietta" | Ali Chukwumah & His Peace Makers International | Nigeria 70: Box Set | Strut
• "What Nature Gives...Nature Takes Away" | The Membranes | What Nature Gives...Nature Takes Away | Cherry Red
• "Unity In Africa" | Eji Oyewole | Nigeria 70: Box Set | Strut
• "Everso" | The Telescopes | Losing Touch With My Mind: Psychedelia In Britain 1986-1990 | Cherry Red
• "Breeze" | Lush | Gala | 4AD
• "Noise Floor" | Chris Carter | Chemistry Lessons Volume 1 | Mute
• "Dekagon" | Karl Hector & The Malcouns | Non Ex Orbis | Now-Again

For they knew someday the sun would die

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