Episodes
Thursday Sep 05, 2013
Little Annie: Full Interview
Thursday Sep 05, 2013
Thursday Sep 05, 2013
This is the recording of an interview I conducted with Little Annie on August 20, 2013. I was in the control room of WRFI and she was...somewhere else. I wish the phone connection had been better, but it was good enough.
Portions of this interview aired on the Hall of Legends special featuring Little Annie's music. Actually, that's a bit understated--most of it appears there. But here's the whole thing, in order, with everything in its proper context.
It was quite an honor to speak to Little Annie, whose music I have followed for a long time. I hope the conversation is as fun for you as it was for me.
Thursday Aug 29, 2013
The Hall of Legends - A.R.Kane: Transmission 57, 2013 August 28
Thursday Aug 29, 2013
Thursday Aug 29, 2013
Tonight we converse with another Legend, this time Rudy Tambala of A.R.Kane. That band enters the Hall of Legends, where they join The Fall, Stereolab, Billy Childish, Coil, Prince Far I, Dif Juz, and Little Annie. Considering that we've played over 800 different artists in the nine months the program has aired, the Hall of Legends is an exclusive club. Nevertheless, the Induction Committee will adjourn while a new wing is built.
Every visitor to the site is a precious snowflake to me (yes, even the spambots!). Some of you, no doubt, are visiting for the first time, having been lured here by A.R.Kane. A special welcome to you. Enjoy what the site has to offer, even if from your perspective it's only this post. BOMBAST is a relatively new thing, but we have many episodes available here. The hyperlink above will take you to a loose description of the Hall of Legends, and this page describes the "idea" of the show, such as it is. The prose you find everywhere on the site is mostly for my own entertainment, since this is my outlet, but if it floats your boat as well, that's fine. Audio's at the bottom of the post if this is all TMI.
We have written too much about A.R.Kane, as some of you have heard, either from them or from me. (No, I'm not linking to it! Show some initiative.) Whether you're familiar with A.R.Kane's musical output or not, the contents of this program will teach you more about it than I could. I can only speak authoritatively about my own experiences:
- My first sighting of the Lollita record, and this progression of thought--first, "nice cover star"; then, "impressive knife"; finally (after reading the sticker comment promising "Big Black meets The Durutti Column"), "if this is anywhere in that ballpark I'll love it"
- The entire autumn of 1987, when I couldn't get the sound of "Haunting" out of my head
- Plugging my weak drum machine into my pathetic guitar amp because it was the closest I could get to that sound
- Experiencing chills in the middle of "Baby Milk Snatcher" when the guitars drop out
At any rate, there are many descriptors, associations, and likenesses that people toss around when discussing A.R.Kane. If you haven't encountered these classifications and similes, so much the better. To me, there are reasons A.R.Kane belong in the Hall of Legends more than certain "fellow travelers" whose vectors might overlap (although we should never say never). If these reasons aren't apparent to you after listening to this program, I certainly can't help you with words. But I do hope this amounts to a good use of your time. And if it clears the room, that could also be considered success.
BOMBAST playlist, 2013 August 28, 2100-2300:
format = "Song Title" [Artist, Album, Label]
- "Sado-Masochism Is a Must" [A.R.Kane, Lollita, 4AD]
- "When You're Sad" [A.R.Kane, When You're Sad, One Little Indian]
- "Baby Milk Snatcher" [A.R.Kane, Up Home!, Rough Trade]
- "Sperm Travels Like Juggernaut" [A.R.Kane, Love-Sick, Rough Trade]
- "Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance)" [M|A|R|R|S, Pump Up the Volume, 4AD]
- "Haunting" [A.R.Kane, When You're Sad, One Little Indian]
- "Spermwhale Trip Over" [A.R.Kane, Sixty-Nine, Rough Trade]
- "The Sun Falls Into the Sea" [A.R.Kane, Sixty-Nine, Rough Trade]
- "The Madonna Is With Child" [A.R.Kane, Sixty-Nine, Rough Trade]
- "Spanish Quay (3)" [A.R.Kane, Sixty-Nine, Rough Trade]
- "Listen Up! (Pulsar Mix)" [A.R.K, Listen Up!, Rough Trade] | "Physical Evidence"
- "Pop" [A.R.Kane, "i", Rough Trade]
- "Back Home / Down" [A.R.Kane, "i", Rough Trade]
- "Green Hazed Daze" [A.R.Kane, Love-Sick, Rough Trade]
- "Supervixens" [A.R.Kane, "i", Rough Trade]
- "Lollita" [A.R.Kane, Lollita, 4AD]
- "Up [demo]" [A.R.Kane, Soundcloud self-release]
Friday Aug 23, 2013
The Hall of Legends - Little Annie: Transmission 55, 2013 August 21
Friday Aug 23, 2013
Friday Aug 23, 2013
We herewith induct Little Annie into the Bombast Hall of Legends! She graces the show with an interview to accompany a full-length special on her music. She's been at this for 30 years, many of which are chronicled in her book, You Can't Sing the Blues While Drinking Milk--it is true, by the way, that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame library has a copy; it's the only library in WorldCat that does. I've never spoken to anyone who had one foot in the Hall of Fame and another in the Hall of Legends, and this was a special pleasure.
I'm grateful for all site visitors, but I want to give a special welcome to first-timers, you know, those who wouldn't have found us but for Little Annie. Feel free to poke around, there's plenty of stuff that might interest you. There's some information on the Hall of Legends here, and a surprisingly current rundown of the Bombast "concept" here. My posts are mostly for me, since I don't have another blog--this will hopefully serve as a memoir, or maybe even the replacement "me" post-Singularity, but some of them might make interesting reading for someone. If that's not you, it's cool, feel free to scroll down to the bottom of this post where the audio is.
Still reading? Okay! Especially on Induction Nights, I like to let the music speak for itself, since rambling gets me into trouble. But I do have a personal story to share. It's "how I discovered Little Annie's music," so it's a story about the old days.
At KDVS all the new records we added to the collection bore a blank sticker on the front cover, so that deejays could comment on the music. Supposedly, the intent was that people would use this space to describe or classify a record's contents--just to be helpful, so that hardcore punk deejays, let's say, didn't waste a lot of time pulling and previewing records that turned out to be ambient new age, let's say. [Or vice versa!] Looking back, this wasn't such a great idea. People should have been exposed to more surprises. I know I should have been.
Anyway, every now and then the "sticker discourse" would move past the usual small talk ["metal crossover," "better than ever," "remember when this band was good?"] and take on a life of its own. Here's one of those times. In 1987, we received a white-label test pressing of this record from One Little Indian [what a VIP status we had, for a 5000-watt station 6,000 miles away!]--we weren't sure of the song titles, so we could barely label the disc, but I guess someone in the "music director" circle must have known of "Annie Anxiety" from her Crass period, so there was that.
All I remember is that song A2 ["Down by the Station," as it turns out] ignited one of the most intense "sticker debates" I witnessed in my time at KDVS. More and more stickers had to be added as the flame war continued, and if I remember correctly it carried over to the back of the generic sleeve. What was all the fuss about? The instrumental backing, "naturally." I've written previously about the arguments we used to have, which must seem silly now to everyone except those who still think that music dies a little bit whenever someone powers up a drum machine. But at our "college rock" station [at the time it could still be called that, without irony], in our sleepy little town, there were plenty of people who thought that way, and they were pissed that someone had the temerity to make a record that didn't sound to them like music. It's odd, in retrospect, that of all records it should have been this one that triggered such an outburst. Maybe Neubauten and Test Dept. skated by because they weren't "dance" music or something; it's certainly plausible.
Lost on these people was the fact that the record actually did feature live musicians with some pretty solid pedigrees [but then, without a proper sleeve, how could anyone know?]--it wouldn't surprise me if people who actually liked London Underground and African Head Charge records found themselves "asking rhetorically" if any talent or imagination had been necessary to make this thing. Also lost on the complainers was the argument that ripped jeans, a Marshall stack, and a "bad attitude" add up to a cliché of their own. There really wasn't much for us to do back then, so when we weren't partying with each other we diverted ourselves by screaming ideology at each other. God I miss that time.
I was only 19, and it was my first year at the station, so I observed this raging colloquium without participating, but I did know two things. I liked the vocal, and I had always felt [as did the singer, though I wouldn't discover this for a long time] that machines were soothing and musical. I didn't know at the time who this "Annie" person was, but I was on her side then and have been ever since. It is a good place to be.
BOMBAST playlist, 2013 August 21, 2100-2300:
format = "Song Title" [Artist, Album, Label]
- "Sit on Down" [Little Annie, Songs from the Coal Mine Canary, Durtro / Jnana]
- "Everything and More" [Little Annie, Volume 4, Volume]
- "As I Lie in Your Arms" [Annie Anxiety Bandez, As I Lie in Your Arms, One Little Indian] / "Physical Evidence"
- "Le Mangers Heureux" [Little Annie, In Dread with Little Annie, On-U Sound]
- "Gown of Tears" [Little Annie & Baby Dee, State of Grace, Tin Angel]
- "Third Gear Kills" [Annie Anxiety, Soul Possession, Southern]
- "Down by the Station" [Annie Anxiety Bandez, As I Lie in Your Arms, One Little Indian] / "Physical Evidence"
- "Smile" [Little Annie & Paul Wallfisch, Peace (for Mom), Brainwashed]
- "Thirteen Things I Did Today" [Little Annie, Interiors, Invisible]
- "Chicken Delight" [Little Annie & The Legally Jammin', Little Annie & The Legally Jammin', Italic]
- "I Think of You" [Little Annie, Short and Sweet, On-U Sound]
- "Rise" [Annie Anxiety Bandez, As I Lie in Your Arms, One Little Indian] / "Physical Evidence"
- "The Birdie Song" / "Dreams and Light" [The Wolfgang Press, Queer, 4AD]
- "Private Dancer" [Little Annie & Paul Wallfisch, When Good Things Happen to Bad Pianos, Durtro / Jnana]
- "Hello Horror" [Annie Anxiety, Barbed Wire Halo, Crass]
- "Lullaby" [Little Annie, Brain in the Wire, Brainwashed]
- "Hier Encore" [Annie Anxiety Bandez, Jackamo, Southern]
- "Bless Those (Little Annie's Prayer)" [Little Annie, Short and Sweet, On-U Sound]
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!
Friday Jun 28, 2013
The Hall of Legends - Dif Juz: Transmission 41, 2013 June 26
Friday Jun 28, 2013
Friday Jun 28, 2013
We herewith induct Dif Juz into the Bombast Hall of Legends, where they join The Fall, Stereolab, Billy Childish, Coil, and Prince Far I. Tonight's special program is a confluence of two things--it's the first induction of a living artist since before I got the idea for "Physical Evidence," and it's the first time I got the huevos to interview somebody. Needless to say, we raise the bar with this episode.
True confession: I was in a band once. I think my partner would agree that we had more ideas than skill. But we of course made tapes, and of course sent them off to record labels we happened to like. One of these was 4AD.
It took forever, it seemed, for us to hear back. The answer, from all quarters, was "no." College ended, we went our separate ways (we're still friends), I stopped deejaying so that I could travel the path to academic disgrace, and I didn't have occasion to communicate with a record label for over 20 years.
Fast forward to 2013. I have this fledgling radio program on a small station, with a weekly feature called "Physical Evidence" [explained here]. I'm itching to play "Who Says So," by Dif Juz, on the feature, but I have a small problem. In 26 years of hearing the band's music I have never actually known how to pronounce their name.
At first, back in the day, I thought "Juz" was pronounced a bit like "jugs," but then talked myself out of that because it didn't make sense. "It has to sound like 'diffuse,'" I concluded--wrongly, as it turns out.
Anyway, wanting to minimize the amount of time I spend sounding foolish on air, it just struck me that I could ask the question and maybe get the correct answer. This is actually a hard thing for me to do, being naturally quite introverted. I am much more inclined to do third-party research, and had there been a definitive answer on the internet, or a YouTube interview or something, this exact program never would have happened.*
But of course no such answer is available. So one day I just said "fuck it" and wrote to 4AD, thinking, "the worst thing that can happen is that they don't forward this and don't write back," but also, "if any band member gets in touch with me I'm going to turn this into a full-blown thing." Within a couple of hours Gary Bromley wrote back, and everything proceeded from there.
I'll say more about the actual interviews when I post them, but both Gary and Richie were very gracious and funny, and extremely generous with their time, and I'm grateful for that. Gary really opened up to me about his personal issues during the last days of the band, and Richie provided some exclusive pieces of music. So this is a special, special program. I don't know how I'm going to top it.
Anyway, the music--as I say on the program, I didn't hear Dif Juz until the very end, maybe even after the fact. [Apparently it's an anniversary of sorts--it was right around this time, in 1987, that the "Lonely Is An Eyesore" comp was released.] I was compelled to go backwards in time through the band's catalogue and have been hooked ever since.
There's a wealth of great music "on display" in the program, plenty more that I didn't have time to play, and still more in the band's possession [and in the 4AD vault] waiting to be heard. As Richie Thomas says, you let the music speak for itself, so I'm pretty much going to do that here with the records I have. I can't make a better case than the musicians do themselves.
I will soon post links to the full interviews with Gary and Richie--I was able to use only a fraction of what they gave me, and there's a surplus of good stuff. But I've got to get those files sounding a little better, which will take a bit of time.
BOMBAST playlist, 2013 June 26, 2100-2300:
all songs by Dif Juz; format = "Title" [Record, Label]
- "HU" [Huremics, 4AD]
- "RE" [Huremics, 4AD]
- "Soarn" [Vibrating Air, 4AD]
- "Gunet" [Vibrating Air, 4AD]
- "Roy's Tray" [Who Says So?, Red Flame]
- "So Shy" [Who Says So?, Red Flame]
- "Song With No Name" [Who Says So?, Red Flame]
- "Tabla Piece" [Who Says So?, Red Flame]
- "SWNN Part 2" [Who Says So?, Red Flame]
- "Pass It On Charlie" [Who Says So?, Red Flame]
- "Channel" [Who Says So?, Red Flame]
- "The Dub Song" [Who Says So?, Red Flame]
- "Twin and Earth" [Extractions, 4AD]
- "Two Fine Days (And a Thunderstorm)" [Extractions, 4AD]
- "The Good the Bad the Ugly ('Heset' detail)" [Time Clock Turn Back, Pleasantly Surprised--underscoring interview]
- "No Motion" [Lonely Is An Eyesore compilation, 4AD]
- "Trance" [Time Clock Turn Back, Pleasantly Surprised--underscoring interview]
- "The Dub Song" [unreleased live recording]
- "'Rainbow' Theme / HU" [unreleased live recording]
next time--the inevitable letdown of a "regular" Bombast. Enjoy this music. I mean it. --kid catharsis
* Dif Juz are an awesome band and worthy Hall of Legends inductees but there isn't that much of their music available. Even Richie Thomas was surprised I was devoting two hours to it.
Also: full Gary Bromley interview available here, and full Richie Thomas interview here.
Monday Jun 24, 2013
Drown the World In Astral Fire: Transmission 40, 2013 June 19
Monday Jun 24, 2013
Monday Jun 24, 2013
One good show is a blip; two in a row is a pattern. We live in hope. It was an unseasonably cool evening, but nevertheless the summer solstice was upon us. Hall of Legends inductees Coil are not for the weak, especially with tonight's record, but they have a strange knack of going well with other things.
The current interface of my podcast site forces me to be brief, and somewhat spontaneous, for which I suspect you are grateful. Anyway, for a while I had gotten away from listening to my shows after the fact, just going over the talking bits and skipping past the music. The last couple of weeks I have gone for the full package. This is a good show, you guys. I do good shows on occasion. The "rock" bits are perhaps a bit less integrated than I would hope--good thing I describe this program as a "trail mix"--but things get weird and interesting in the second hour. I would listen to this even if I weren't doing the program myself.
That said, I wish all my voiceovers could be as focused and error-free as the last one. That is a constant struggle.
Hey, speaking of the Hall of Legends, tune in at 9 pm EDT on Wednesday, the 26th for our newest induction: DIF JUZ.
BOMBAST playlist, 2013 June 19, 2100-2300:
- Caveman: "Pricey" [Fat Possum]
- Coil: "Bee Stings" [Eskaton] / "Physical Evidence"
- Daega Sound: "Fox Wing" [Black Box]
- Kick 'Em Jenny: "Stressed Up" [BBE]
- Throwing Muses: "Him Dancing" [4AD / Sire] / "Listening Parlour"
- Stefan Vincent: "Fool Me Again" [Balans]
- Glimpse: "L Plate" [Aus]
- Moonlighters: "Broken Heart" [BBE]
- Coil: "Glowworms / Waveforms" [Eskaton] / "Physical Evidence"
- Estrangers: "Moonraker" [Phuzz Sounds]
- Siriusmo: "Doctor Beak" [Monkeytown]
- The Chameleons: "The Fan and the Bellows" [Blue Apple]
- Gold Panda: "Flinton" [Ghostly International]
- Coil: "Summer Substructures" [Eskaton] / "Physical Evidence"
- Carlos and the Bandidos: "Fever" [BBE]
- X: "Wild Thing" [Elektra] / "Listening Parlour"
- Troller: "__" Handmade Birds
- Nhar: "They Are Painted Augurs" [Boxer]
- The Orb featuring Lee "Scratch" Perry: "No Ice Age" [Cooking Vinyl]
- Coil: "A Warning from the Sun (for Fritz)" [Eskaton] / "Physical Evidence"
- Sonny & The Sunsets: "Green Blood" [Polyvinyl]
- The Flaming Stars: "Broken Heart" [Vinyl Japan]
- Ana Helder: "Puqui" [Comeme]
- Mathew Jonson: "Metropolis" [Minus]
Monday Apr 15, 2013
The Hall of Legends (Prince Far-I): Transmission 25, 2013 April 13
Monday Apr 15, 2013
Monday Apr 15, 2013
Welcome welcome welcome to the Hall of Legends. It has been a while since the doors have opened, but the committee has finally reconvened to induct the Hall's fifth member: Spanish Town's own Michael James Williams, a.k.a. King Cry Cry, best known as Prince Far-I. He joins The Fall, Stereolab, Billy Childish, and Coil in the sparsely populated Hall.
Prince Far-I's life was cut short under senseless circumstances on September 15, 1983. Since it has been a nice round number of years since then, I considered holding off until the "anniversary," but went ahead and did it now for a few reasons. One, no one knows what the future holds for any of us, least of all for Bombast, so I figured we might as well fire off this salvo light this candle while we are still on the air. Second, since I don't really share Prince Far-I's belief in "eternal life" and think instead that we only get one a finite chance at this thing, I don't think deaths are anything to commemorate [although there are exceptions]. It is much better to celebrate lives, which can be done whenever. Third, some free airtime opened up, which allowed me to take a scenic detour from the relentless, willful progress of the show, whose mission is indecipherable sometimes even to me.
I don't remember when I encountered my first Prince Far-I recording or even what it was. I am pretty sure that it was either Free From Sin or one of the Singers & Players records, and it had to be sometime in the mid-1980s. I guess it doesn't matter, aside from illustrating that this music and I go way back. I have been trying to figure out why exactly that is--most likely because there are few cases in which a voice is so well-suited to the material, and even fewer cases where apparent hard-liners like Prince Far-I seem like they would be such cool people with whom to chill.
Metaphysics are reggae's weak point and the elephant in the room when it comes to appreciating this music. I have very little to say on the topic, other than that I bracket them off when I listen, just as when I visit Notre Dame cathedral I bracket off all the bad things that have probably happened inside. I very much consider these tunes cathedrals of dub [well, technically, they are "versions," to continue our lesson in nomenclature from the program, but whatever]; while Linton Kwesi Johnson termed himself a "dub poet," surely Prince Far-I got there first, and as he reminds us, "first is first and second is nothing." [That's a bit unfair to LKJ, who, far from "nothing," is a possible Hall candidate although pretty well-appreciated.] Getting back to the business of spirituality, I do appreciate that Prince Far-I truly seems a "man of the book" and a willful obsessive after my own heart. Far from dropping the occasional "chant to Jah" just to maintain his Rasta cred before launching into more important topics like motorcycles, loose women, and collie, as some of his deejay colleagues have a tendency to do, he really seems to mean what he says.
And yet when he does take detours, what charm and hilarity he exhibits. "Quante Jubila," "Autobiography," "Water the Garden," and "Bedward the Flying Preacher" are four of my favorite tunes, by anybody, period--one of my personal criteria for measuring a song's greatness is how ridiculous and/or terrible an imagined cover version would sound. Don't even bother--these, and many others from today's program, should be left to stand alone.
Technical note--some crazy stuff began to happen in the studio during the "Physical Evidence" segment--our airplay computer, on which we depend for automated programming that keeps us in compliance when we can't have a live human being at the controls, failed during an otherwise routine reboot. As I scrambled to fix the problem, frantically sending out texts and emails, the show got a bit...sloppy. I won't spoil it with words; just listen and enjoy. "What you hear is what you hear."
BOMBAST playlist, 2013 April 13, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. :
- Singers & Players: "Autobiography" [On-U Sound]
- Prince Far-I: "Reggae Music" [Trojan]
- Suns of Arqa: "Brujo Magic" / "83 Struggle" [Arka Sound]
- Prince Far-I: "Wish I Have a Wing" [Frontline / Virgin]
- Prince Far-I: "Coming In from the Rock" [Trojan]
- Prince Far-I: "Free from Sin" [Trojan]
- Prince Far-I: "Foggy Road" [Frontline / Virgin]
- Prince Far-I: "Shuffle and Deal" [Blood and Fire]
- Prince Far-I: "When the King Comes on Earth" [Pressure Sounds]
- Prince Far-I: "Commandment of Drugs" [Frontline / Virgin]
- Singers & Players: "Water the Garden" [On-U Sound]
- Prince Far-I: "The Lord's Prayer" [Carib Gems] / "Physical Evidence"
- Prince Far-I: "Psalm 87" [Carib Gems] / "Physical Evidence"
- Prince Far-I: "Psalm 24" [Carib Gems] / "Physical Evidence"
- Prince Far-I: "Psalm 48" [Carib Gems] / "Physical Evidence"
- Prince Far-I: "Psalm 49" [Carib Gems] / "Physical Evidence"
- Prince Far-I: "Farmyard" [Virgin]
- Singers & Players: "Quante Jubila" [On-U Sound]
- Prince Far-I: "African Queen" [Kingdom]
- Prince Far-I: "The Big Fight" [Joe Gibbs]
- Singers & Players: "Bedward the Flying Preacher" [On-U Sound]
- Prince Far-I: "Give I Strength" [Trojan]
- Suns of Arqa: "What You Gonna Do on the Judgment Day" [Arka Sound]
Friday Mar 22, 2013
An Unquiet Skull: Transmission 21, 2013 March 20
Friday Mar 22, 2013
Friday Mar 22, 2013
In part 2 of their Hall of Legends induction, Coil provide a soundtrack for the Spring Equinox. A "stealth" tribute* continues. I almost mislead listeners into thinking the late R. L. Burnside once played guitar in the Cocteau Twins--or maybe it was that Robin Guthrie was a foul-mouthed Mississippi blues curmudgeon, and not a foul-mouthed Scottish post-punk curmudgeon. In other words, it is a typical week of arbitrary, dogged self-indulgence. I realized while the show was airing that I would have very little to say about it, Ellen Allien having fried my brain each time I heard her new piece. Hopefully you emerge from the experience more intact. The odds favor it. The big news is that, for a couple of reasons, the BOMBAST phenomenon is moving to Saturday afternoon. While the obsolescence of our "hump night" poster [just visit the facebook page and scroll down] saddens us, we see this move as a positive thing. In the pre-internet era of WRFI, we think there are probably more listeners at that time, and we are trying to minimize our "canned" programming on the weekends. I am still trying to figure out what this contingent of listeners will hear, since I feel a decent percentage of what I play is "nocturnal" music, but it will come, and if it doesn't, I will force it. Hopefully the "extra" show makes up for "legendary lost program" #19. I spend my time looking for little signs that its disappearance won't haunt me for life. Thank you for humoring me. BOMBAST playlist, 2013 March 20, 8:00 - 10:00 p.m.
- Karl Bartos: "Atomium" [Bureau B]
- New Order: "Confusion (Rough Mix)" [Factory] / "Listening Parlour"
- The Dur-Dur Band: "Amiina Awdaay" [Awesome Tapes from Africa]
- Coil: "Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull (Part 1) [Eskaton] / "Physical Evidence"
- Dump: "Ode to Shaggs' Own Thing" [Morr Music]
- Robin Guthrie: "Circus Circus" [Darla]
- R. L. Burnside: "See What My Buddy Done" [Fat Possum]
- Blancmange: "22339" [London / Sire] / "Listening Parlour"
- Tape Deck Mountain: "Kellies" [Lefse]
- Zombie Zombie: "The Beach" [Mojo Magazine]
- Coil: "Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull (Part 2)" [Eskaton] / "Physical Evidence"
- Ellen Allien: "LISm" [BPitch Control]
- Le Carousel: "Winter Months" [Phil Kieran Records]
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]