Drink the Long Draught, Dan: Transmission 392, 2018 January 24

I'm going to be petty for a moment and talk about an inconvenient aspect of death. It can really mess with the plans of the living. Here I was, planning on featuring a Leslie Winer record (NB that I did anyway) and in comes the news that Mark E Smith has died. What on earth am I supposed to do with this? I did what I could, and what I always do--I played a Fall song on the radio.

Should I have gone with two hours' worth? Maybe, though frequent listeners will already be overly familiar with my Fall habit. I certainly didn't become acquainted with the band through large doses. Funnily enough, my first relevant memory is of hearing a tune in the car, age 16 or 17, not knowing who it was, having it stick in my head firmly enough to drive me crazy with curiosity, and finding out years later that it was "Barmy." There was also Friend of Bombast Jeremy, who had a copy of Palace of Swords Reversed that he would try to get me to listen to but I couldn't seem to be bothered, most of the time. Still, things stuck with me--bits of "Leave the Capitol," "Fit and Working Again" and "Kicker Conspiracy," and all of "Marquis Cha-Cha." At some point I bought this compilation and was bowled over by the rendition of "Wings." (Ah, this one, here! So good!) I wouldn't call this succumbing instantaneous or gradual; it was very random and staccato. Things just lingered, waiting to be latched onto. Seems fitting.

It's been weird, the last 20 years, watching the man's personal decline--hearing about the belligerence, the drinking, the verbal and physical violence. I have to say that I haven't made sense of it--I'm unable to bracket off the "product" from the personal, but I also can't stop listening. I can't quit him though I know I probably should. It is probably like this for other people.

If this seems like an abrupt ending, that's how life works.

BOMBAST playlist, 2018 January 24, 2100-2300:

1. "Other (Justin K Broadrick as JK FLESH Remix)" | S U R V I V E | RR7387 | Relapse
2. "PHANTOM BRICKWORKS II - Edit" | Bibio | PHANTOM BRICKWORKS II (Edit) | WARP
3. "Never Enough Time" | Michael C. Sharp | Never Enough Time | Holodeck
4. "I Think About Your Car When I Drive Mine" | Jori Hulkkonen | Don't Believe In Happiness | My Favorite Robot
5. "Babe" | Ruby My Dear | 15 Years of PRSPCT | PRSPCT
6. "Choose Ur Illusion - Jay Glass Dubs Version" | Bonebrokk | Hollow Systems | Trial and Error
7. "La Riviere Des Perles" | Becker & Mukai | Eyes | Sas
8. "Fieldofdreams" | Om Unit | Self | Cosmic Bridge
9. "Cold Sweat" | Phuture-T | Fugitive Drummer / Cold Sweat | Inperspective
10. "Hip Priest" | The Fall | Hex Enduction Hour | Superior Viaduct
11. "The Cross" | R.I.P. | Street Reaper | Riding Easy
12. "Night Beat" | Odonis Odonis | No Pop | Felte
13. "Lost Flight" | © | The Boy Used To Whistle | Not on label | "Physical Evidence"
14. "V.III" | Papir | V | Stickman
15. "A Year In A Day" | Hannu Karjalainen | A Handful Of Dust Is A Desert | Karaoke Kalk
16. "The Future Is Hurt / Dirt & Fields" | Shackleton with Anika | Behind the Glass | Woe to the Septic Heart
17. "Red Kite like a Dust Mote in my Third Eye (Bee Fart)" | Brian Harris | My Sister's Wedding | self-released
18. "Garden Portal" | Semiomime | Close Ones | Mindtrick
19. "The Boy Used To Whistle" | © | The Boy Used To Whistle | Not on label | "Physical Evidence"
20. "Night Shift" | Wild Ones | Mirror Touch | Topshelf
21. "When He Come Back" | © | The Boy Used To Whistle | Not on label | "Physical Evidence"
22. "Cloudburst Five" | The Belbury Circle | Outward Journeys | Ghost Box

a train to Crewe

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