Episodes
Friday Nov 08, 2013
Laika and the Luddite Machine: Transmission 70, 2013 November 6
Friday Nov 08, 2013
Friday Nov 08, 2013
This was a special evening five months in the making, and one of the "special things" I said I was working on during the summer. I explain everything during the broadcast, but I badly wanted Laika & The Luddite Machine to come play on my show, live. And I rarely get to say this about a program, but I think it could hardly have gone better than it did. There's no better "Physical Evidence" than a live band, and what a performance this was.
We are once again in the midst of fundraising at WRFI, so feel free to give us your money anytime. I say this not only as a plea but also an explanation for why there is so much talk during this program. I was such a Chatty Cathy during this broadcast, I can hardly believe it, listening back. Anyway, I am joined by Dan Aloi, host of the "Press Record and Play" program, and we discuss such things as downtown parking, road managers, "top five" lists, good and bad requests, bumper stickers, Jeff Beck, and restraining orders.
Somewhere in here there are four pieces of music by the band, which speak for themselves, at least until the band enters the control room to do some actual talking.
A magical night, this was, and we hope to have more like it soon--maybe with less "me" and more songs. It will be a relief to pipe down next Wednesday.
BOMBAST playlist, 2013 November 6, 2100-2300:
- "New Dimensions in Sound" | Public Service Broadcasting | Inform - Educate - Entertain | Test Card
- "Positive Noise" | System 7 & A Guy Called Gerald | Up | A-Wave
- "Untitled 1" | Laika & The Luddite Machine | live in studio
- "Untitled 2" | Laika & The Luddite Machine | live in studio
- "Untitled 3" | Laika & The Luddite Machine | live in studio
- "Untitled 4" | Laika & The Luddite Machine | live in studio
- "Station" | Here Are the Facts You Requested | All My Favourite Things At Once | Testing Ground
- "I Want To Be the Last Song / You Hear Before You Die" | The Feeling of Love | Reward Your Grace | Born Bad
Wednesday Sep 04, 2013
Bed Music: Transmission 58, 2013 August 31
Wednesday Sep 04, 2013
Wednesday Sep 04, 2013
This program aired live at the end of a miserable, sticky day typical of Ithaca summer. Lady Catharsis and I raced over, full of meat from a barbecue party we had just attended. We proceeded to spin a dazzling collection of 45rpm records, although it could have been even more dazzling had we been a bit more careful.
I turned 45 this past week. This is not news--anyone could have deduced my age from the anecdotes I've left here and there on the site. Fellow Board Member Nicholas asked me, at the beginning of the week, "Are you going to do all 45s? I missed that chance." That sounded haunting, almost like the hammer and bell in The Magician's Nephew or something. I didn't want to go through life wondering what might have been. Of course, the week's regularly scheduled BOMBAST had been the A.R.Kane Hall of Legends induction. But there was "free airtime" Saturday night [aside--there's been way too much of that this summer], and LC actually wanted to do a show while Catharsis Junior was at a friend's slumber party, so there you are. The answer to the question I pose early on in the program is "definitely not sad."
Things we would have played, had they not turned out to be 33 1/3 RPM after all: two that I don't want to give away, since they will be "Listening Parlour" selections on the next regular program--have to use up that turkey somehow. Also, something by Lee "Scratch" Perry [btw thanks, Mojo Magazine, for giving your readers the worst vinyl format possible, that was almost as awesome as the time you didn't put James Brown on the cover when he died], and also this, by Hall of Legends inductees Dif Juz, which someone stashed away in the wrong record sleeve.
Anyway, what would the program be without crises, mistakes, and mistake-fueled crises?
BOMBAST playlist, 2013 August 31, 1900-2100:
format = "Song Title" | Artist | Release Title | Label
- "Baby I Love You So" | Colourbox | Baby I Love You So | 4AD
- "Rocket USA" | Loop | Wolf Flow | Reactor
- "What She Said" | The Smiths | Shakespeare's Sister | Rough Trade
- "Shift Away" | Trisomie 21 | Shift Away | Play It Again Sam | "Physical Evidence"
- "The Key" | Kristin Hersh | Your Ghost | 4AD
- "Don't Go (Remix and Re-Remix)" | Yaz | Don't Go | Sire
- "Waiting for the Man" | Bauhaus | Ziggy Stardust | Beggars Banquet
- "Dance Away" | Roxy Music | Dance Away | Atco
- "Jakarta" | Trisomie 21 | Shift Away | Play It Again Sam | "Physical Evidence"
- "Friday Night, Saturday Morning" | The Specials | Ghost Town | Two-Tone
- "Rocket USA" | Thin White Rope | Bottom Feeders | Zippo
- "Good Vibrations" | Psychic TV | The Magickal Mystery D-Tour EP | Temple
- "Give It To Me" | Rick James | Give It To Me | Gordy - Motown
- "Thieves Like Us (instrumental)" | New Order | Murder | Factory Benelux
- "Waiting for the Man" | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | Messages | DinDisc
- "Love Will Tear Us Apart" | Joy Division | Love Will Tear Us Apart | Factory
- "Ravishing Delight" | Trisomie 21 | Shift Away | Play It Again Sam | "Physical Evidence"
- "Nancy Sin" | Beat Happening | Nancy Sin | Sub Pop
- "We Got the Beat" | Poison Idea | Taken By Surprise | Sub Pop
- "Primitive Painters" | Felt | Primitive Painters | Cherry Red
Friday Aug 09, 2013
Shut Up And Give Me What I Want: Transmission 49, 2013 July 31
Friday Aug 09, 2013
Friday Aug 09, 2013
Lady Catharsis makes a special live-in-studio appearance this evening, bringing with her the opening track by X and an excellent piece of "Physical Evidence," the Mark Eitzel / Toiling Midgets collaboration Son. Disc rot and all, we play about half of that thing, which was indeed the soundtrack to our days of limerance, make of that what you will. This episode strikes me as one of the better transmissions--it's always nice when a good-chemistry guest pops in.
Before distraction gets the better of me, I want to alert you that Toiling Midgets are still doin' things, and you can listen to them here. Boom, errand run.
Radio summers were not always as chaotic as this one has turned out to be--at least I don't remember them being this way when I was 19! [But then again, I have confessed to having memory problems with that time, so there is that.] Anyway, you guys, I have been doing lots of programs, so many that even with my newly-expanded monthly storage here at the site [sincere thanks to Podbean], I may not be able to upload everything until things settle down, hopefully next month, when I am back down to 1 show per week. Usually. BUT the regular weekly program will appear without fail--by "without fail" I mean "with the usual delay caused by business and sloth, but eventually."
Thanks for your patience.
BOMBAST playlist, 2013 July 31, 2100-2300:
- X: "I'm Comin' Over" [Rhino]
- Toiling Midgets: "Faux Pony" [Matador] / "Physical Evidence"
- 17 Pygmies: "By the Sea" [Les Temps Modernes]
- Public Service Broadcasting: "ROYGBIV" [Test Card]
- Bomb the Bass: "Just This Universe?" [O Solo]
- Thee Headcoat Sect: "Strychnine" [Hangman's Daughter]
- College: "Teenage Color" [Invada]
- Wild Nothing: "Hachiko" [Captured Tracks]
- Beachwood Sparks: "Sleeping Butterfly" [Bomp]
- The Fall: "Strychnine" [Secret]
- Toiling Midgets: "Process Words" [Matador] / "Physical Evidence"
- Ryan Davis & Pan/Tone: "Bandits" [Areal]
- Ritornell: "Urban Heartware" [Karaoke Kalk]
- Virginia Wing: "Creation" [Critical Heights]
- Toiling Midgets: "Fabric" [Matador] / "Physical Evidence"
- AM & Shawn Lee: "Special Disco" [Park the Van]
- The Sonics: "Strychnine" [Mojo Magazine]
- Valentin Stip: "Hiathaikm" [Clown & Sunset]
- Toiling Midgets: "Clinging Fire / Clams" [Matador] / "Physical Evidence"
- John Hughes Daydream: "Thriller" [Cut Mistake]
- The Grips: "Tennessee Strut" [G.E.D. Soul]
- Toiling Midgets: "Listen" [Matador] / "Physical Evidence"
- Otis G Johnson featuring Jan Milledge: "Lord Make Me Over" [Numero]
Monday Aug 05, 2013
Thick and Freaky: Transmission 48, 2013 July 27
Monday Aug 05, 2013
Monday Aug 05, 2013
Tonight's program was planned, in the sense that I intended to spring upon my brother the "opportunity" to do radio with me while he was visiting; it was unplanned in the sense that we thought we were going on air later in the evening until DJ Helen Stride called in sick. So this tag-team extravaganza turned out to be more "prime time" than I thought.
Anyway, did you know DJ Segundo was a former radio president? Neither did I! Not until the day of the program. I'm not lying when I say that my brain has blocked out a chunk of the late 1980s. I hope I didn't miss much else!
Both doing this program, and listening to it afterwards, were a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Oh, in keeping with the usual mistakes I always make, Hot Buttered Soul was actually the second LP by Isaac Hayes. And they do pronounce the title in the song. That's what I get for not listening to Isaac Hayes since this happened. Anyway.
BOMBAST PLAYLIST, 2013 July 27, 2100-2300:
- Blackalicious: "A to G" [Quannum]
- Boom Bip & Charlie White: "Baylee" [Lex]
- The Flaming Lips: "She Don't Use Jelly" [Warner Bros.]
- Cabaret Voltaire: "Do Right" [Some Bizarre / Virgin] / "Physical Evidence"
- Crystal Castles: "Vanished" [Last Gang]
- Swamp Dogg: "Sal-A-Faster" [Alive]
- The Black Keys: "No Trust" [Fat Possum]
- Felt: "Space Blues" [Creation]
- Gary Clark Jr.: "Don't Owe You a Thang" [Warner Bros.]
- Cold Showers: "The Fire" [Dais]
- Shitmat: "Argos" [Planet Mu]
- DJ Krush: "Beyond Raging Waves (feat. Shin'ichi Kinoshita) [Sony]
- Cabaret Voltaire: "Spies in the Wires" / "Theme from Earthshaker" [Some Bizarre / Virgin] / "Physical Evidence"
- Giant Panda: "Classic Rock" [Tres]
- Isaac Hayes: "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" [Enterprise]
- Gyedu-Blay Ambolley: "Kwaakwaa" [Academy]
- Mos Def: "Quiet Dog" [Downtown]
- Cabaret Voltaire: "Sensoria" [Some Bizarre / Virgin] / "Physical Evidence"
- Gorillaz: "All Alone" [EMI]
Thursday Dec 20, 2012
“I Always Come Back”: Transmission 8, 2012 December 19
Thursday Dec 20, 2012
Thursday Dec 20, 2012
On a night when we "celebrate" the Winter Solstice and the upcoming "Mayan Apocalypse," who better to serve as co-host than Persephone "Goddess of the Underworld" Doliner? Nobody, that's who. So glad to have her intelligence and wit livening up the broadcast again. The good thing about guests is that they take the show to unexpected places. I would never play the Rolling Stones under normal circumstances--see the "Under-Exposure Policy" for details--but the opening of "Gimme Shelter" is a sublime passage of music, and perfect for this show on this night. The Dropkick Murphys--again, not really on my radar--bumped a similar-sounding recent tune from Half Man Half Biscuit, which I hope to play very soon. We herewith [begin to] induct the departed Coil into the Bombast Hall of Legends, where they join The Fall, Stereolab, and Billy Childish. We have heard quite a bit from them at this point, so we'll put them aside until the Spring Equinox rolls around. Since "modesty is a virtue, but honesty is [my] policy," I will say that the segue between the Current 93 piece and Coil's "Magnetic North" and the one going from "Christmas is Now Drawing Near" into "Crashing Sphere" are two of my finest moments in radio. Coil! Your difficult music lends itself to beautiful transitions! Salut! If you want to hear those last few moments of David Tibet's voice in their original isolation, "I Have a Special Plan for This World" is available on Youtube. BOMBAST playlist, 2012 December 19, 8:00-10:00 p.m.
- Gabriel Ananda / Alice Rose: "Struck by Light" [Basmati]
- Magnetophone: "And May Your Last Words Be a Chance to Make Things Better" [4AD]
- Prefuse 73: "The Only Recollection of Where Life Stopped" [Warp]
- Coil: "A White Rainbow" [Eskaton]
- Esquivel: "I Feel Merely Marvelous" [Bar/None]
- Thee Headcoats: "John the Revelator" [Damaged Goods]
- Willie Williams: "Armagideon Time" [Heartbeat]
- Johnny Cash: "I See a Darkness" [American] ***"Listening Parlour"
- Los Saicos: "Demoler" [Munster]
- The Flaming Stars: "Lit Up Like a Christmas Tree" [Vinyl Japan]
- The Rolling Stones: "Gimme Shelter" [ABKCO]--Persephone's selection
- Coil: "North" [Eskaton]
- Orbital: "Where Is It Going?" [ACP]
- Current 93: "I Have a Special Plan for This World" [Durtro]
- Coil: "Magnetic North" [Eskaton]
- Kristin Hersh: "Can the Circle Be Unbroken" [4AD] ***"Listening Parlour"
- The Dropkick Murphys: "The Season's Upon Us" [Born & Bred]--JD's selection
- Fai Baba: "In My Time of Dying" [A Tree in a Field]
- Coil: "Christmas Is Now Drawing Near" [Eskaton]
- Starkey: "Crashing Sphere" [Civil Music]
- The Clash: "Armagideon Time" [Epic / Legacy]
- The Specials: "You're Wondering Now" [EMI]