You Take Your Pension in Loneliness and Alcohol: Transmission 204, 2015 May 12

Like a fine ratatouille, this program made for better listening the next day. Except for Lady Catharsis' unfortunate absence, which made Billy Squier's inclusion in the program really weird, this is a mixtape with few flaws--host and selection notwithstanding. (I find I am doing well with this "demanding better from myself" business.)

On that subject--did I really say "we're mostly current tonight," or something like that, and then proceed to play the following sequence--Joy Division / Oyster Band / Billy Squier / Ian Dury / Section 25 / Headcoats? Yes, yes I did. Would you be willing to consider reissues as a mitigating factor? Do you believe, as I think I do, that if something never becomes "spectacle" it is as if it never happened, and is therefore new? That's what I managed to glean from Greil Marcus, anyway, although my scholarship is, as always, "cause for concern." [Guy, if you're paying attention, I could use your help.]

I did suffer a temporary bout of wishing-away-the-present in music. I hated the 90s, most everything about it: alternative as a genre; lumberjack singing; rave; the end of Factory and Rough Trade; the drawn-out death spiral of 4AD; the pretense of lo-fi; cuddlecore. If it weren't for turntablism, jungle, and Stereolab, I might have gone full-bore jazz/classical. Only recently have I begun to piece together the good bits from that time, thinking that it couldn't have been as bad as it felt back then. (It was close).

BOMBAST playlist, 2015 May 12, 2100-2300:

1. "Love Vigilantes" | New Order | Low-life | Qwest
2. "Waterfalls" | Andrea Balency | Volcano | Bataille
3. "Virtual America" | Strategy | Seeds of Paradise | Idle Hands
4. "Colony - High Wycombe Town Hall Live 13 July 1979" | Joy Division | Still - Collector's Edition | London
5. "Love Vigilantes" | Oyster Band | Love Vigilantes | Cooking Vinyl | "Physical Evidence"
6. "Everybody Wants You" | Billy Squier | Everybody Wants You | Capitol | "Listening Parlour"
7. "Blackmail Man" | Ian Dury | New Boots and Panties!! | Demon
8. "Dirty Disco" | Section 25 | Always Now | Factory Benelux
9. "Double Face" | Thee Headcoats | The Good Times Are Killing Me | M'Lady's
10. "Nueva Cancion" | Dave DK | Val Maira | Kompakt
11. "Between the Wars (Live)" | Oyster Band | Love Vigilantes | Cooking Vinyl | "Physical Evidence"
12. "This Is Not Me" | A Projection | Exit | Tapete
13. "Kicks" | Aerosol | Leave | n5MD
14. "Jingle N. 1" | Piero Umiliani | Tra scienza e fantascienza | We Release Whatever The Fuck We Want
15. "Rebecca" | Rival Consoles | Odyssey / Sonne | Erased Tapes
16. "Bowline" | Snow Ghosts | A Wrecking | Houndstooth
17. "Get Me" | John Tejada | Dramamine | Palette
18. "Under the Weight" | Blind Idiot God | Before Ever After | Indivisible
19. "Polish Plain" | Oyster Band | Love Vigilantes | Cooking Vinyl | "Physical Evidence"
20. "Love $$$" | Helium | Pirate Prude | Matador
21. "Jack the Damned" | Exploring Jezebel | On a Business Trip to London | Blackest Ever Black
22. "I Fought the Law (Live)" | Oyster Band | Love Vigilantes | Cooking Vinyl | "Physical Evidence"
23. "Coq" | Turzi | C | Record Makers
24. "Christine" | The House of Love | Live At the Lexington | Cherry Red
25. "Fernandez" | Moscoman | The Orange Collection | Eskimo
26. "Lies (Ancient Methods Edit)" | Bourbonese Qualk | Lies (Ancient Methods Edit + Remix) | Mannequin
27. "First World Citizen" | Gang of Four | What Happens Next | Metropolis
28. "Two Birds" | Kolsch | Speicher 84 | Kompakt
29. "The Means" | Wetdog | Divine Times | Upset the Rhythm

next time: mean time. Enjoy the music! --kid catharsis