Vitamin Fuzz Radio

Vitamin Fuzz Radio Collective has been transporting you toward unexplored Psychedelic skylines since 2008 with broadcasts via our PODCAST or mp3 downloads. Future broadcasts will be posted spontaneously and about an hour in length. Load a few shows on your portable device to ease the pain of a cross-country trip or gym workout. The shows won't be on the server indefinitely, so get them as soon as you can. Thanks for listening.

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Show 90 - Top Ten Albums of 2021

[90 minutes, 86 mb, 128kbps]

Right after Halloween I saw hints of Christmas here and there. I didn’t pay attention. Not long after that the local big box store had a huge Christmas product display. I thought, it’s getting closer but there’s still time. A bit more time passed and all of the sudden I was feeling a bit pressed (pun intended) to get to work on my 2021 Top Ten albums. The annual Top Ten got into full swing in 2009 but Uncle Jeff was posting his top ten beginning in 2002. To view some past lists go here.

But Now is Now and Christmas week is here... the season of the Top Ten Albums tradition continues.

And now my Top Ten Albums for 2021. These may not be the best, but it is the music that kept me moving forward. May 2022 bring better times and booze aged more than ten years.

This show includes a song from each album beginning with my favorite.

Listen or mp3 download

00:00 Intro
00:10 Ryley Walker and Kikagaku Moyo, Shrinks The Day
17:43 Mariano Rodriguez, La hipoteca y el arado
21:27 Phương Tâm, Nếu Có Xa Nhau
26:06 Boris, Part 03
38:35 Flood Twin, Silence
43:48 SUNN 0))), Troubled Air
75:24 Ty Segall, Harmonizer
80:00 Weak Signal, Voice Inside My Head
82:23 Fake Fruit, Miscommunication
83:54 Les Filles de Illighadad, Surbajo
88:47 Exit

= begin field station 2021  Best Music reports =

Mindmondo Drop-In Center Top Ten Albums of 2021

1. Deep Fried Grandeur, Ryley Walker And Kikagaku Moyo - Husky Pants Records - LP, Black Vinyl (Psychedelic) Listen

Ryley Walker & Kikagaku Moyo
Deep Fried Grandeur

Ryley Walker is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Rockford, Illinois. Must admit I partied heavily in blue-collar Rockford many times but I regress. I met Riley once at the Wallstreet Compound when he had a tour layover. He is a naturally creative musician who thinks/lives music 24 hours a day. For Riley and Kikagaku Moyo (geometric patterns) to collaborate is a pure dream. Kikagaku Moyo are a Japanese psychedelic band from Tokyo. Kikagaku Moyo is a fab group of musicians which I have known for many years. Wherever they go they are the hip scene and the most positive humans you could ever meet. I miss hanging out with them. This selection recorded at Le Guess Who? Festival in Utrecht, Netherland. Heavy improvising… “don’t worry, we’ll be fine”!!! Soulful, jazz-centric jam. Out of print. Two 18 minute tracks of pure magic.

2. La Ciudad que descansa sobre las espaldas de un Monstruo Dormido, Mariano Rodriguez, Self Released - digital / FLAC (Takoma Style, Primitive Guitar)
Listen - This listen is sorta like going to church. Lean back and the music brings thoughts to mind. I imagine fingers and thoughts dancing over guitar strings. So creative and talented. A thought comes to mind. What am I? Can I use this energy to be better? It must be amazing to walk into a pub in Argentina and watch Mariano Rodriguez hunched over an Eduardo Gismondi handmade guitar echoing from a stonewall fireplace. Maybe a bit of buzz conversation or just silence until his set is over and friends rush up to talk or buy him a drink. Has John Fahey sobered up and been hiding in South America? I can only hope. Favorite tracks, La hipoteca y el arado  (The mortgage and the plow), De Alicante (From Alicante)

3. Magical Nights, Saigon Surf, Twist & Soul (1964-1966), Phương Tâm, Sublime Frequencies - FLAC / digital release (Surf)
Listen - Phương Tâm sings like the surf is gonna bite. To think these tracks were rattling Saigon bars at the same time the Fab Four were making their way to the USA. Well, a music scene was also underway in Vietnam. The party there was intense as anywhere. The groove was girls. The spice was heroin. During 1966 roughly 16,000 Americans ended up in body bags. At the same time Americans were living and partying in Saigon. Dirt streets and 24 hour bars blasting the lust for AMERICA. Here in the states CCR were practicing in their mama’s garage. Surfing in the South China Sea was not happening, but the surf sound made it’s way to the war zone via Voice of America. Favorite track Nếu Có Xa Nhau. Kudos to Sublime for documenting this music.

4. Secrets, Boris, Sacred Bones - Digital / Flac (Alternative/Doom)
Listen - FYI, the loudest concert I ever went to was Boris at the Marque, year unknown but for reference Denver street parking was FREE. As far as Boris is concerned there was no break for the pandemic… I think they put out 3 releases in 2021. This is an odd mixture of experimentation and heaviness. But you all know I’m just in it to see WATA abuse a Gibson wired to an Orange amp. 4 tracks, so just listen to the whole spiel. There are moments even Dave will appreciate, i.e. weirdness in the void. Hey Jeff, backwards masking and samples!

5. Flood Twin, Flood Twin, Self Release - Digital Album ( Avant-Garde For Want-to be Addicts)
Listen - Now, what is this? Sort of digging it up from the past. Lyrics float in a stagnant dream. A bit of Thurston Moore with a smash-it-up NOW NOW twisted Lou Reed. All angles bang BANG firing beats or if your f#*ked up troubling mind games. Complications knocking on your door. This is a heartbreak vs. breakdown. Figure it out lowlife. Fav track… ALL, throw a party and put this on your whatever sound machine. Notice the trip dance moves by people living the funky urban tunnel life. note: bad words

6. Metta, Benevolence BBC 6Music : Live on the Invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs, Sunn O))), Southern Lord - Digital / FLAC (Drone)
Listen - I dig drone. Best listening during final approach to O’Hare Airport. Possibly Jesse Skyes background incognito with a hood. Note: Jesse might be jamming with BORIS when/if time allows. Favorite track, Troubled Air…

7. Harmonizer, Ty Segall, Drag City - LP  (Alternative Rock)
Listen - Ty usually releases a few albums per year, but strangeness is the new norm. During the lull he studied up on the SYNTH thing and filtered it into his sound and I must yell HIS SOUND. This is not uber boring electronica, but an infusion to the Segall mystic. My interest in Ty Segall over the years is his non commitment to any style. Time will determine his standing in the history of music. Prediction is HIGH. Favorite track, #4 Harmonizer, but Feel Good is past the boundaries too. Featuring Segall’s Freedom Band.

8. Bianca, Weak Signal, Blackout Correspondence - Cassette (Rock)
Listen - Enjoyed while working in the home office. Even though I’m “REtired” I still must calculate and organize my accounting drudgery. A perpetual vacation in Mexico this is not, but more an ongoing investigation of how, when and why to put my signature on the doted line. So mood changes and tapping my foot with the harmonies and beat straightens me out. My mind pauses for tricky riffs and heavy tempos. Sometimes I feel like I’m in the desert where my boot steps cause a dusty cloud. Then there’s sort of a white line road trip vibe. I need all that stuff when the day is dragging on via long distance calls. Voice Inside My Head is my fav track.

9. Fake Fruit, Fake Fruit, self release - Digital / FLAC (Indie/Punk)
Listen - Devious Oakland energy found by accident gets my head nodding from side to side vs up and down. The tricky riffs and “how do you feel” vocals captured my attention. I decipher a DEVO connection, but really man….. can anybody pull that off? Fake Fruit can. The vocals are sick, SICK! Fav Track, Miscommunication

10. At Pioneer Works, Les Filles de Illighadad - Sahel Sounds - LP 12” (Folk, World, & Country)
Listen - Les Filles de Illighadad comes from a remote region of Central Niger. From personal acquaintances I know this region is experiencing much conflict. A life of peril somehow blooms songs of village choral chants and desert guitar. Their songs began as cell phone recordings and now they perform around the world. I would be interested to know the translation of the lyrics. I am sure they contain stories of a simple life transformed by global influence. For me the receptiveness of the vocals and the beat…. So simple, so moving. Brew a pot of tea and give this a listen. Recorded live.

Runner up:

11. Reticence / Resistance, Pelt, Three Lobed Recordings - LP Gatefold (Primitive-Futurist Drone)
Listen - The album title is so relevant to so many. The scene we are living is confusing. Striving to make many decisions and wanting to convey our thoughts as clearly as possible. Plus, we have obligations and responsibilities to attend to. Our lives are stretched-out rubber bands and hairspray. The times are changing and we will determine the future, be it good or otherwise. Recorded live at London’s Café Oto over two nights in February of 2017. Life has no redo’s, so get it right on the first take. R.I.P. Jack Rose.

Others:

Black Angels
Black Mountain (new)
Bombino (old but good)
Minami Deutsch (old but good)

So ends reporting from the Mindmondo Drop In Center (unknown location). Stay well friends, Mindmondo.

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Uncle Jeff, Wallstreet Field Station - Dec 15, 2021

Looking Backwards in 2021, the year of the Archives.

The best selections of 2021 from your very own Uncle Jeff are now available for your listening pleasure.
All wrapped up in a nice little bow… enjoy!

Listen



1. Blue Stingrays
- Surf-N-Burn (Epitone)

2. Sufjan Steven’s & Angelo De Augustine
- A Beginner’s Mind (Asthmatic Kitty)

3. Various - Even A Tree Can Shed Tears: Japanese Folk & Rock 1969-1973 (Light in the Attic)

4. Willie Dunn - Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies (Light in the Attic)

5. Iron & Wine - Archive Series Volume no. 5 (Sub Pop)

6. Uncle Tupelo Live - March 24, 1994 Lounge Ax,Chicago (dBpm Records)

7. Joni Mitchell - Archives Volume 2 (Reprise)

8. Neil Young - Archives Vol. II (Reprise)

9. Gillian Welch - The Lost Songs Vol 1-3 (Acony)

10. Floating Action - Jinx Protecting - PIAPTK

Don't call me, I'll call you.

+ = + = +

Delayed due to unpredictable tides, Bardos Best of 2021 Scotland Field Station

Long-Players & Cassettes

Tirzah – Colourgrade Listen Here

Richard Youngs – CXXI Listen Here

HTRK – Rhinestones Listen Here

Lea Bertucci – A Visible Length of Light

Celestial – I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night

Romance – A Kiss Is Just A Kiss

Rat Heart – Rat Heart LP

Hugo Randulv – Radio Arktis – samlade ljud från den norra polcirkeln

Rat Heart – Impressions 4 Guitar + Broken Tascam

Pessimist – All Hope Lost

John Duncan – Soft Eyes

Pavel Milyakov & Bendik Giske – Self-Titled

Space Afrika – Honest Labour

Reissues/Compilations

K.S. Eden & 41 Degrees – Passed Beyond

Various Artists – I Stumble and Then I Fall

White Light & Jo Bogaert – I Want You To Know Me

Catherine Christer Hennix (Chora(s)san Time-Court Mirage) – Blues Alif Lam Mim

Valentina Goncharova – Recordings 1987-1991 Vol 1

Amelia Cuni – Parampara festival 13.3.1992

Uman – Chaleur Humaine

X-O-Dus – English Black Boys 12”

R.I.P. Hyman – Waves

EPs

Variant – Close/Separate (7-inch)

Love, cqw
xox

+ = + = +


DJ Dave, Far South Field Station - Dec 14, 2021

Hope everyone's having a great fall!  The dog days of winter are right around the bend, here are my picks to keep us company!  Enjoy!  

Listen to Dave's complete list here













1. Eluize’s second “album” Gone (more like a mini-LP, although the digital version has 2 bonus tracks not on the vinyl) is haunting; one of those albums that is too short and I compensate by always playing it twice. Although these tracks are made for the dance-floor they are more contemplative than body music. This Berliner’s tracks are full of melodies, vocals and sprinkled with acid throughout. Top pick!

--Dave

+ = + = +

Happy Holidaze, 1190 Diaspora

Here are my Top 10 Vinyl Releases of 2021. I decided to get in line with the rest of you all and make a 10-track mix of my picks, too. Turns out,  Audacity is super easy to make mixes with from vinyl transfers!

I miss you all,

MMD/H. Peach/Zack, Pacific Northwest Field Station - Dec 19, 2021

Ceramic Dog - Hope













1. Ceramic Dog – Hope - Northern Spy (2LP) - [00:00] < this is the time stamp when you listen
Mix Track: B-Flat Ontology

Guitarist and vocalist Marc Ribot, bass/keyboard player Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Ches Smith make up the group Ceramic Dog. Several guests also appear on this double LP including some scorching free jazz sax by alto player Darius Jones. (BUT, this ain’t no skronk fest! More on that in a moment.) Ribot provides context in the linear notes for when and how Hope was created. Namely, sessions began in May of 2020, and all three players remained in isolated rooms during the recording sessions, so as to not give one another COVID. Part of these recordings became the EP What I Did on My Long Vacation that has been released on Bandcamp. The other portion is this Hope album.

Most of the A-Side features partially-spoken/partially-sung vocals from Ribot. These tracks give the album a couple of sardonic lead singles (a totally perverse move from Ribot). Both the playing and lyrics are direct. Somewhere into the B-Side, Hope takes on a much more overt improvisational flow: mostly instrumentals with either a languid drift to them and shuttled along by jazz cords, or else scorching Sunny Sharrockesque guitar shredding over big rhythms. Ceramic Dog reveals yet another aspect of their playing on the D-Side: an out-of-the-blue 16 ½ minute drone in quiet detail. Hope is actually three very different albums packaged under a single title. Because of that, I only ever listen to a third of Hope in any one sitting.

2. Bobby Previte & Jamie Saft - Doom Jazz - Subsound (2LP 2012 reissue) - [05:37]

Mix Track: Frank and the Girl

When this album first starts up, I keep thinking that I am headed straight down the noir jazz route. Something like the German band Bohren and Der Club of Gore. But, then again, I know what Bobby Previte can do. And, there was no way that Previte was going to sit there and drum at the lobotomy-inducing 60 beats per minute that Bohren plays at. A couple of minutes into this release, when Previte starts in on his initial drumkit rolls, I knew it was on! 

For the A-Side, Previte is staying mostly in his lane but with his blinker on. Meanwhile, Jamie Saft blocks out some foreboding jazz cords on the piano with long sustains. Saft also keeps a snaking and tight bassline on top of Previte’s tentative first moves. Clearly, with two guys and three instruments, this record must be overdubbed. The B-Side continues in the same vein, but with the density of Previte’s drum fills intensifying. Saft stays steady. The B-Side ends with a short track that is more bass heavy in a metal style than anything else that came before it, and sort of reminiscent of Sunn O))). Sliding and oozing bass notes signal that a transitional moment might well be underway here. Side C finds Previte at his most turbulent, possibly urging Saft to change his keyboard strategy. By the end of the C-Side, Saft has heard Previte’s plea, and the mellotron emerges. While the dark vibe is maintained, the path is now along the lines of a restrained Sun Ra exploration. The D-Side is a coda. Saft starts to weave fast arpeggios lines up the keyboard, but with each ascension having long breaks of time before another one follows. The album ends with some sputtering bass tones and scattered drumming.  The big breakout moment is thankfully avoided, and the tension is preserved. At the same time, creativity is expressed in small, subtle ways such that listener interest is maintained over the course of all four sides.  

3. Andrew Mbaruk & Th’ Mole - Papier Mache Chalet - Weird Rap (mp3) - [13:59]

Mix Track: Minor Ghost

Andrew Mbaruk, also known as Lil’ Ghostwriter, is a Canadian artist who raps extremely slowly and in a highly non-linear fashion. Mbaruk explains that “Papier Mache Chalet is an environment in which to enjoy words arranged in collagelike poetic bundles which we could call raps.” Making a good collage requires good materials. Mbaruk has a depth of literary, political and popular culture knowledge such that these collages can grow outward with a fractal thoroughness. Knowing that this record was made for the sheer joy of wordplay freed me from any sense of obligation regarding the need to understand the lyrics. Mbaruk himself laughs at numerous times on the recording when he has stumbled upon a particularly pleasurable string of syllables with an especially gonzo esthetic. At least, I think that is why he is laughing! 

Note: This is the first digital release to make my Top 10 Vinyl Only list since I started doing this with you all sometime in the late 2000s. I made an exception for something exceptional!

4. Alice Coltrane - Kirtan: Turiya Sings - Impulse/UMG (2LP) - [18:24]

Mix Track: Pranadhana

Me putting a “new” Alice Coltrane record on my top 10 is as reliable as Uncle Jeff putting a “new” Bob Dylan record onto his! Let me explain what we have here……

This record is an executive and creative decision from Alice’s son Ravi Coltrane on how this record could be heard differently, and more potently, than its original release. In addition to Alice’s Sanskrit vocals and Wulitzer organ playing, the original release also featured string arrangements, sound effects and synths layered over the top. Ravi’s youthful recollections in the linear notes take you back to how effecting these same songs were for him when his mother was serving as a religious guru at her ashram in California. This ashram was dedicated to Vedic religious studies from India. In that recollection, he would often hear these same songs with only organ and voice. Ravi chose to take us all back to that time by stripping away the overdubbed material. The result: a private concert with Alice Coltrane and her organ. Listen to this record in headphones and the most minute dynamics of her voice are right there for you to grab like physical textures.

When is it a good time to stop buying reissues from a musician? I’m thinking the answer is when everything loops back to the essence. For John Coltrane, the story was always well-documented and right there in front of us. You stop at Interstellar Space, a duo record between Coltrane and Rashied Ali. On that record, Coltrane sometimes just plays bells as Ali flies all over the kit. Back to basics! With Alice, her recording arc was never as commercially-exposed, and so we never really knew how to discover a suitable endpoint. I am now 9 to 10 reissues into her work. From maintaining the free jazz continuum with Frank Lowe shortly after her husband’s death, to the ornate instrumentation on Serenity, Alice Coltrane has given us a remarkable breadth of experiences as a listener. But now, Kirtan is here. It hovers with closure. I’ve finally arrived at a satisfying endpoint as an Alice Coltrane record collector.

5. Mess Esque - S/T- Drag City (LP) - [22:26]

Mix Track: Sweetspot

Mess Esque is Mick Turner (the guitarist and bass player from Dirty Three) and singer Helen Franzmann. The two also invite a small handful of guests on additional instrumentation. The drifty, fake-jazz quality of the drums has that hallmark sound of Jim White from Dirty Three. Although Jim White actually does drum on one track, a guy named Marty Brown does all of the remaining drumming. Nonetheless, you can still hear Turner pulling the strings on the overall pace of things, and he guides this whole project forward into Dirty Three territory. Franzmann’s vocal delivery also synchs up with the instrumentation like a doppelganger. Rambly, hushed, melancholy, sexual and nostalgic (although I’m not sure for what, exactly). A voice with an aural equivalent to the violin of Warren Ellis when he is in his most exploratory modes. Franzmann’s approach also has recollections of Cat Power during her early years when she was seemingly unconcerned by tempo demands within a musical phrase. Even when the group performs the super out-of-place, fast-paced pop song  “take it outside”, you can hear Franzmann let out a sigh midway through the song as if to say, “Whoa, I’m gassed here. Can we lay back on this whole thing for a minute? You get there when you get there. What’s the big rush anyway, boys?”

6. William Parker / Ava Mendoza / Gerald Cleaver - Mayan Space Station - Aum Fidelity (LP - [29:53]

Mix Track: Domingo

Space Ghost Coast to Coast. That is the first thing that blasts into my brain when I drop the needle on this guy. This is a trio fronted by Ava Mendoza on electric guitar. She plays with a tone and feral approach on par with Sonny Sharrock, composer and guitar player of the Space Ghost cartoon theme. William Parker is on the bass and Gerald Cleaver is on the drums. When this record came out, one of the things that was mentioned to pump it up was that this was the first time on record that Parker has played with an electric guitar player. That seemed so unlikely to me considering how much Parker collaborates, and also based on the huge volume of releases that he has put out over such a long career. But okay, sure. I will take Aum Fidelity’s word for it on that one. There have been several William Parker LPs to come out this year in various playing combinations. While I have not heard all of them, at least from cursory reviews, I moved towards this one over the others since it was presented as the wildest of Parker’s recent releases. I also wanted to hear something he was doing in the present, rather than a reissue. Two tracks on the A-Side, two tracks on the B-Side. Driving tunes with lots of improvisational space for Ava Mendoza to soar. Cleaver and Parker definitely both get their rocks off, too.

Bonus Anecdote: One of my first post-COVID concerts was seeing William Parker, Hamid Drake and Patricia Nicolson-Parker play at the Chapel Performance Space in Seattle a couple of months ago. The two Parkers are married. William played bass, along with a lot of other wind and stringed-instruments from Africa. During the Q and A session after the show, William Parker went into a long response to an audience member’s question about why he is currently trying to phase out of playing bass in favor of other instruments. Parker’s reasoning was that the bass has its origin in the piano, and that the piano is “based on imperialism”. As he was completing his thoughts on stage, Patricia Nicolson-Parker straight up cut him off on the mic and roared over the crowd (in the thickest New York accent ever) something to the effect of, “No, no, no! You are not going to stop playing bass. Stop being ridiculous.” Damn, William! Your wife just put the kibosh on your whole woke moment thing that you had going on there! 

7. Spectacles - The Offset - Trouble in Mind (LP Reissue from 2010) - [36:56]

Mix Track: Binary March (for Lee Chi-Leung)

Spectacles were a trio from Hong Kong. The Offset is their only LP. They play rock and roll without a drummer. As far as I can tell, this leaves us with vocals, guitar, bass and keyboard. But, Spectacles are still a very rhythmic band! Where the beats are actually originating from on some of these tracks remains a continual mystery, and so the search for the “phantom rhythm” is an ongoing one. The absence of drums also means the absence of cymbals. And without cymbals, you get to hear the guitar and fuzzy bass riffing clearly and without distraction. 

All of the vocals are in Chinese, and these vocals are mostly delivered in low to mid-tempos with occasional bouts of enhanced agitation. No screaming, though. The linear notes translate everything into English, and they provide close to zero additional insight. Not kidding. The Spectacles’ lyrical approach is obscure at best even in English! Musically, minor keys are splattered all over the place and repetition is enthusiastically-embraced. A drone is deeply implied, if not overtly expressed, from beginning to end. I hear echoes of the factory floor grind perfected by the duo Suicide, as well as the settled-in chug of the Velvet Underground. (One of these tracks is a dead ringer for the start of the song “Run Run Run”. This band also has the John Cale, double-string stab move down cold!)

8. Dos - Justamente Tres - Kill Rock Stars (LP) - [44:22]

Mix Track: ’til the blood ran

Record Store Day during COVID has gotten out of hand. Things have been happening over multiple weeks and at several different times throughout the year. I’ve lost track of (and have stopped caring about) when it is all happening, and so I have been surprised a bunch of times when I’ve walked into a store, and the event is suddenly underway. I miss the concentrated one day blitz that it used to be. One thing has not changed, though. Record Store Day is still the nexus of unnecessary vinyl reissues. That is, until you find one that you totally MUST have! Then, your strong stance on things suddenly caves in. We are hypocritical beasts, one and all. 

What I found this year was a record by the band Dos. These are old jams made between 1993-1994.  Dos is Mike Watt from the Minutemen and Kyra Roessler from Black Flag. The record has two bass guitars and vocals. No other instruments are included. Roessler does most of the singing, but Watt injects himself in there once, too, with a spoken word offering! With the exception of a couple of cool bass sound effects and beach wave samples (this is Mike Watt, after all), the playing is technical and stripped bare for all to see. The two are in full-on, mind-meld synchronicity, especially during the instrumental, two-bass pieces. At these times, Roessler and Watt feel most like creative equals playing mid-tempo jazz compositions, and less like a band playing oblique pop songs with Watt in a supporting role.

9. Various Artists - Eins Und Zwei Und Drei Und Vier: Deutsche Experimentelle Pop Musik 1980 to 1986 - Bureau B (2LP) - [47:33]

Mix Track: Dunkelziffer performing Keine Python

A big grip of tunes from a genre (is it one, really???) that I know close to nothing about. If the linear notes are to be believed, these songs were put together by the German dilettante youth of the early 1980s. But, I dunno, these songs sound pretty pro to me!  

No Krautrock pandering to English and American audiences on this baby! All of the willfully dorky vocals you hear on this release are German to the max. (Although, the guttural “uhs” and raspberry noises made with index fingers and lips are really speaking a universal human language, now aren’t they?!?!)  Eins Und has lots of quirky instrumental synth breakdowns, post punk moves, and bizarre sound effects like laser beams and zoo animals. There is a heavy theatrical vibe to these songs suggesting that they were part of a presentation package that also included fun visual performances. I love the razor’s edge that this compilation walks as it just barely avoids being totally campy! I don’t like it because it is terrible, I like it because it is ALMOST terrible. That’s not irony!

10. Silver Synthetic - S/T – 3rd Man Records (LP on Dijon mustard(!) yellow/black marble vinyl - [50:27]

Mix Track: Chasm Killer

Finally! It’s time for the Detroit wedding trip for Charles & Andrea! I had fun. I got to hang out with DaveAlex and drink mead at a meadery in what I think was northern Detroit. The wedding venue was awesome, and Charles made sure that the food was Greekelicious! Especially, the desserts. The wedding Baklava made me yell “opa”!

I got there a few days early to check out Detroit with Seah. That involved a trip to Jack White’s 3rd Man Records (and also passing the Jack White performance space at Detroit’s cavernous Masonic temple. A real what the fuck moment, that one was.) The Third Man mothership had a good look to it. Merchandizing out the ass: Pantone mugs. Old Jukeboxes with little electronic dancing marionettes on top.  Exotic, limited-edition guitar petals….. BUT! In its own way, this place commits to records just as hard as it does to its esthetic. A great selection of vinyl playing to the strengths of the 3rd Man blues/folk/country/rock universe, a surprisingly wide selection of new 45s (including a spoken word series with people like BP Fallon, Tempest Storm, and John Waters), and a full-on, glassed-in record pressing plant in the back. Glorified factory workers pressing boutique vinyl runs! I took a picture of a wall that displayed what pressings were currently being produced on their eight machines. At least 50% of them were new Bob Dylan releases. I sent the picture to Uncle Jeff, because who would drool more than him about that one? NO ONE.

What? You wanted a record review but all you got was this shitty Rick Steves travelogue instead? Okay, nutshell time! I got this record while in Detroit. Silver Synthetic play rock and roll and they have a lap steel player. Because of that, they sound super country. Riffs are clean and mostly distortion free. Soloing is streamlined. Drum hits are crisp. Well-placed back-up vocals make the whole deal sound instantly warmer. I like the Byrds from the late 60’s and the Beechwood Sparks from the early 2000’s, and Silver Synthetic remind me of a faster-moving version of those two groups.

Pacific Northwest field station signing off.

+ = + = +

This just in at 22:30, Denver Mid-Town field station... Okay, here it is... 

1. Porter Robinson - Nurture   Listen Here

Porter Robinson - Nurture

















2. Every Time I Die - Radical   Listen Here

3. Dijon - Absolutely   Listen Here

4. Zack Fox - shut the f*#k up talkin to me
   Listen Here

5. Vince Staples - Vince Staples   Listen Here

6. Turnstile - Glow On   Listen Here

7. Lil Nas X - Montero   Listen Here

8. Fronteirer - Oxidized   Listen Here

9. Structures - None Of The Above   Listen Here

10. serpentwithfeet - DEACON   Listen Here

Denver Mid-Town field station signing off. Happy New Year!

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LoDo Field Station
reporting:

Hello fine friends,

Hopefully some recent music will pop into my head before this email is finished but if not I will submit a codicil at a later date.

Sorry, but my attorney is really particular about how I present my best of the year list.

This year has been all about 45's. I've acquired thousands of them in 2021 and I've remembered things I learned years ago and had forgotten.

Park Peters, the blind piano / synth musician who ran Audio Park Studios in Denver for many years schooled me in the difference between the 45 version and the album version of songs. It is way too much to get into here but you could name an artist and he would tell you a song of theirs where the 7" version was different than the album version you were familiar with. Sometimes it was something small like the 45 has hand claps on the 2nd & 3rd choruses and other times it would be something big like a completely different take was used on the 7".

Anyway...I've been waist deep in 45's this year and upon listening to certain classics I have noticed these anomalies and it turns something old into something totally new.

Dave Alex: check out your original 1979 UK Fiction CURE singles. Boys Don't Cry is different from the version we have heard on every reissue.

DAVID BOWIE's Rebel Rebel U.S. original 7" is different than the version you've heard on the radio for 45 years. It's nothing new but just a new experience with the old.

At this point you are wondering WTF this has to do with the sacred, annual top 10 list. Very little. I'm probably stalling for time because I know that I don't have a proper list of "Albums" or 2021 "Releases."  Maybe next year the list can just be top Green Chili from states that make up the 4 corners. That might be manageable.

There have been hundreds of 45's that I have been excited about this year and here are a few in the New Arrival bin:

FREDDIE / HENCHI and the SoulSetters (1973): - DENVER band!

LUV' - Crazy Changes (1976):

JU-PAR UNIVERSAL ORCHESTRA - Funky Music (1976):

LITTLE DENISE - Check Me Out (1968)

FREDDIE SCOTT - You Got What I Need (1968) - The soul song BIZ MARKIE made his career with:

The DYNAMICS - Misery (1963):

The EDDY JACOBS Exchange - Pull My Coat (1969):

I'm looking forward to listening to all of your playlists.
LoDo Field Station, aka Eric, over & out.

+ = + = +

Saturday, December 4, 2021

Show 89 - Playlist 12/05/2021

Show 89 - Playlist 12/05/2021

Plaid seems to be always evolving. I see it on the cheap TV channels which are available to common citizens. I like the look of plaid… I’m comfortable in flannel. It’s not for everyone but it is very common. My show today is meant to be comfortable. Comfortable like mashed potatoes? Well, maybe more like sunshine infused with whiskey. No worries, not outrageous and sort of smooth, but not jazz. Sitting in the afternoon sun I watch a squirrel run along the top of a cedar fence. His pace is consistent then abruptly stops and his head turns here and there cause his focus is searching for foes or food. I am neither so he runs right by because he knows there’s something for him at the bird feeder. TV for common citizens. As time clicks by the sun sets. An amazing time of the day as I sit by myself and ponder what the next day holds. Finally the sun is sitting on the top rail of the fence. It won’t be long till a shadow will fill my resting spot. Sometimes the breeze is warm and I just sit till darkness surrounds me. That’s the best scenario. The experience of seeing and feeling the twilight of the day is a pinnacle. The light changes, the mood of the air changes and the mindset ventures between what has happened and what will happen. It would be grand if I could translate that into music.
[59 minutes, 57 mb, 128kbps]

mp3 download

00:00 Intro
00:16 Yarn, Shelter
06:18 Eclektic, Hylaphonic
13:24 Etno, Spacemotion-Topic (with samples)
22:14 Apex Twins, Orphans
31:14 Richard Youngs, Moon Thing

Richard Youngs – Blue-Thirty-Nine – 2021
Richard Youngs – Blue-Thirty-Nine – 2021




















40:57 Unknown artist and title
45:35 Desert Dwellers, Traversing The Endless Road
49:33 Sir Richard Bishop, Burning Caravan
52:17 Sir Richard Bishop, International Zone
58:45 Exit

Sir Richard Bishop ‎– Salvador Kali – 1998
Sir Richard Bishop ‎– Salvador Kali – 1998

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