Today I Didn't Even Have To Use My A.K.: I Got To Say It Was A Good Show

I have to say, last night's show felt really good. I did the whole 2-6am show and drank less than 1 energy drink. The music seemed right and I never struggled too much to figure out what I was going to play next (which is always a concern considering I have absolutely no clue what I am going to play when I walk into the studio. Free form radio!) Here is my set list and some thoughts. Hope you enjoy!

1) Chicago Transit Authority - Free Form Guitar
My mother, having not had a record player for many years now, decided to give me all of her records. There were some amazing items in the collection, especially in the way of Beatles albums and a 12 record set of hits from the 50s. The real fun, however was digging through the less than stellar albums searching for buried gems. Enter Chicago. On Chicago's first album from 1969, the band was still using the longer handle, Chicago Transit Authority. Free Form Guitar is 7 minutes of guitar feedback noise (yes it's a Hendrix rip off, but still...Chicago?). Anyway, if you are interested in finding other Chicago gems, my advice is don't bother.

2) Harvey Milk - Death Goes To The Winner
Let's face it, if you see a band from Athens, Georgia with the name Milk in their name, buy the fucking record! This track, aside from being fantastic in it's own right pays homage to The Velvet Underground's "Waiting For The Man" as well as The Beatles' "A Day In The Life".

3) M. Ward (ft. Lucinda Williams) - Oh Lonesome Me *
4) Andrew Bird - Masterswarm *
5) Mike Bones - A Fool For Everyone *
6) Cornelius - Fit Song (Books Remix)
7) Odd Nosdam - Top Rank *
8) Themselves (Featuring Aesop Rock, Busdriver, Why?, cLOUDDEAD and more) - Mix Tape
Themselves (Doseone and Jel) are putting out a mix tape with all of the above artists contributing. The best news, though, is that this is the first time since Ten (That I can think of, but I might be wrong, anyway, it has been a few years) that cLOUDDEAD has worked together as a whole. Here's a link to an excerpt of the mix tape thanks to pitchfork CLICK HERE enjoy!

9) cLOUDDEAD - Bike (1)
If you don't own cLOUDDEAD's first, self titled, album all of your hip hop listening has been prelude to this. Played, of course, out of excitement for the Themselves mix tape.

10) Charles Spearin - Vanessa *
Broken Social Scene's Charles Spearin released his album "The Happiness Project" which is him interviewing various people around his neighborhood about the nature of happiness and then mapping the notes that are produced by their natural speaking voices and using them as melodies for beautifully crafted songs. Vanessa is the best of these, featuring Vanessa, a successful recipient of a cochlear implant discusses being deaf for 30 years and then beginning to hear.

11) Abe Vigoda - Don't Lie *
Track 1 off of the new EP, Reviver, on Dean Spunt's PPM label. This EP miraculously bests their last album, Skeletons, which was already an impressive achievement last year.

12) Jarvis Cocker - Cunts Are Still Running The World
13) Vibrarians - Red Light *
14) Death - Let The World Turn
Newly added to the Pantheon of Black Rock, Death's proto-punk by way of Detroit album "For The Whole World To See" finally got released by Drag City this year. I'll let Danny Gabai tell you more about it: HOTLANTIS You should be reading his blog anyway. One bowl of Danny's blog contains 12 times the fiber as one bowl of your cereal.

15) Red Stars Theory - Rustin *
New music from Jeremiah from Modest Mouse and James from 764-hero

16)Galaxy 500 - Blue Thunder (Peel Session)
17)Bardo Pond - Isle
I'll be perfectly honest, I only played this because it is 11 minutes long and I had to go to the bathroom like I've never had to in my life. That's the ugly truth of DJing solo!

Okay, I decided to invent a game - play one song by any band and follow it with another band who's name shared a word with the previous band (The does not count if you are playing at home). Someday I'll try a longer version of this game linking each song and see how long I can go. Sounds fun.
18) In Waves - Your Favorite Storm +
19) Wavves - So Bored
20) Mr. Scruff - Donkey Ride *
21) Mr. Chop - Zoid
22) Fuck Buttons - Ribs Out
23) Holy Fuck - Korock
24) Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes *
25) Animal (from the muppets) - Conversation with Kermit
Ha! Thank you You Tube

26) Dent May and his Magnificent Ukulele - I'm An Alcoholic *
27) Tiny Tim - Tip Toe Through The Tulips
28) Beirut - La Llorna Is Overtaking Me *
30) Nick Drake - Fly
What if I said I was playing the Nick Drake song, but then just played the Sugar Ray song?

31) Bonny Prince Billy - A King At Night

At this point I had so successfully brought the mood down so far I decided to drop the bottom out and go into a roots music/delta blues set of field recordings

32) Bessie Jones & The Georgia Sea Island Singers - O Day
From the Goodbye Babylon compilation...get it, you will thank me later.

33) Lead Belly - Where Did You Sleep Last Night
Alan and John Lomax recording for the Library of Congress. Best cover Nirvana ever did!

34) Blind Willie McTell - Lord Send Me An Angel
The White Stripes covered this song on a 7" with You're Pretty Good Looking as the B side.

35) Jelly Roll Morton - Dirty Dozen
Another field recording by Alan Lomax from 1938. How many recordings from the 30's can you think of that open with the line "You dirty mother fucker, you old cock sucker"? I can only think of 1 and between 2-6am the FCC lets me play it!

36) Skip James - Devil Got My Woman
From Ghost World soundtrack.

37) Robert Johnson - Crossroad Blues
That's all for the Roots Music/Delta Blues Field Recording set

38) Mi Ami - Echononecho *
39) Raekwon - Wisdom Body +
40) Madlib - Never Front *
41) Sporto Kontes - Tower
42) Add N To (X) - P.P. Machine
43) New Order - Ceremony
44) Liquid Liquid - Optimo
45) !!! - Me and Giuliani Down By The Schoolyard
46) ELO - Overature
This is off of ELO's first record and is the best song that Black Sabbath never wrote. Jeff Lynne is a genius, and I'm not afraid to say it!

* KXLU new add
+ request

Well, that's the show. Listen in next week and call in with requests - 310-338-KXLU (5958). The station also does instant messenger at the IM address KXLUdj. If you don't get KXLU on the radio, you can listen on www.kxlu.com.

TTFN

A Night At The Opera

LA Opera: Das Rheingold

I am ashamed to admit that it has taken me so long to get to the opera, but every time I go downtown, I seem to wind up at The Smell rather than at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. This fact seems to point to a major flaw in my argument that I am a cultured motherfucker. Don't get me wrong, I have listened to a great number of Opera recordings, but have never had (or made) the opportunity to see a large production. Well...problem remedied: on Wednesday, thanks to the generosity of my roommate Chris Evans, I got tickets to my first opera.

The LA Opera has decided to nearly bankrupt itself by presenting Achim Freyer's modernist staging of Wagner's entire Der Ring des Nibelungen. Fueled Los Angeles's presumed love of Richard "Fifth Beatle" Wagner, the LA Opera has overshot its budget and devoted two full seasons to the four operas of the Ring Cycle (Das Rheingold, The Two Towers, Return of The King and Die Walküre, respectively). Freyer's staging is, if the above video didn't make it abundantly clear, decidedly modernist. Many bold decisions were made, some of which I enjoyed and some of which I disagreed with. Clearly as a first time opera goer, my opinion should be the first last and only word of review on this subject.

I, like many reviewers, had a number of problems with this production (opening night apparently found some audience members actually booing). My biggest problem of all was that the entire opera operated behind a lowered scrim. The scrim was used to project images as well as colors onto the action on the stage. Now, when looking at the aesthetic of the staging and costuming, one would assume minimalism...but this was also clearly Hollywood's opera and every technological trick in the theatrical book was used to enhance this production (Plácido Domingo, LA Opera's general director, originally approached George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic to handle the special effects, but the company proved too costly and the collaboration was dropped). While I understand the appeal of these production tactics, if I wanted special effects, I would go see a movie. The scrim was a constant separation between myself and the stage. Perhaps this separation could have been used to make a point about the separation between man and Gods, but I saw no evidence to support this interpretation...just flash and zazz (yes, zazz).

My next issue was with the translation of the libretto (which was actually flashed on a screen above the stage, rather than in book format). I am certainly no expert in German, but I am fairly certain that when a character shouts at another, "Hey", a level of informality has been reached that I doubt the romantic Wagner had intended. Anyhow, the colloquial language clashed with the highly stylized, symbolic and otherwise heady stage presentation and made me a bit uncomfortable. I would have preferred a dialogue, even if less accessible without the effort of thought, that was worthy of the Gods who spoke it. Call me old fashioned, but I like my collars starched and my libretto stodgy.

One final issue I had was the use of masks for some characters. When masks are used, facial expression is lost. Now, I'm no actor, but that seems important. I find when facial expression is compromised, body language becomes overused as compensation. I call this effect Mighty Morphin Power Rangerification...and it drives me up the wall. At one point, the character Alberich does a celebratory butt dance after a particular personal victory. I was terrified that if he threw in a cabbage patch, I might puke.

On the other hand, There were many things about this Opera that I loved. The costumes were beautiful. While many might complain about pretentiousness or even an anti-romanticism that Wagner would have despised, I found them to convey an other worldliness and thoughtfulness appropriate for a land of Gods with confusing and conflicting motivations. They were grotesque yet oddly alluring...and kind of funny (The character Fricka has ludicrously long arms that can only make me think of the "Fishy Fishy Fishy Fish" sketch in Monty Python's Meaning of Life...and it would go wherever I did go).

The very opening of the opera was breathtaking, with a fabric river and two actresses for each maiden character to create a reflection. It was large and bold and truly brought the audience into a new world. Unfortunately, the rigid staging of the Opera meant that though in the plot characters were touching each other and running away from each other, everyone on stage remained stationary. This took a bit to get used to, but I eventually did. I have no fear of minimalism, and while many critics seem to be outraged by this, I got used to it and even enjoyed it.

Despite previous complaints of special effects, there were many effects that I loved. The use of puppetry was amazing. Characters and objects flying through the air were exciting. The "enormous serpent" scene was incredible. Further, the staging made fantastic commentary on size of each of the characters based on their present actions and feelings.

I also loved two individual performances, Loge and Fasolt (a relatively minor role, but an amazing example of a role being as big as the actor, newcomer Morris Robinson).

All in all, I loved this experience. Perhaps it was the excitement of being at the Opera, but all of the problems I had with the production paled in comparison to how much I enjoyed the show. Each of the elements that I had a problem with represented a chance that Freyer took, and I respect his risk taking. I am going to try to see the other three Operas of the cycle as they are brought to stage over the next two years. Who wants to come with me?

Okay, I have written entirely too much and highly doubt anyone will read this far. It has been a while since I have updated this blog, so bear with my over enthusiasm.

Making The Effort

Okay,

I'm going to start making a better effort to create new entries on this blog. I am abandoning the idea of only mirroring my KXLU blog after I do a show (not to mention, I have not even updated that in ages).

I suppose I should make up for lost time by creating a few posts about things that have caught my attention recently. Enjoy.

Politicians Have Finally Left Us For Dead

Our own legislative branch has finally let partisan politics get in the way of patching the hole in the Titanic that is our economy. I'm pissed off and have some thoughts about it. I would love to know yours:

First, let's get a firm grasp on why the bailout plan failed and why it was voted down by the people who voted it down:

POLITICS. Remember on Saturday, when the news was the deal had reached agreement amongst Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans and House Democrats? Who is missing? House Republicans. Why? The key is election cycles. Senators are up for election every 6 years, but members of the house of representatives are up every 2 years...meaning all members are up for re-election this year. Democratic seats are all considered relatively safe, but republican seats are all threatened after the past 8 years.

Now, let's look at the emotional issues behind the bailout. "Main Street" (A term that I have grown so sick of, as with any bumper sticker - cutesy term for complex voters with complex needs...see: Hockey Mom) doesn't understand why the people who fucked them in the first place, i.e. big business and wall street should get "rewarded" with $700 billion while their house is getting foreclosed. They feel that the money should go to them directly, rather than "trickling down". While on a gut level this makes sense, the truth is that the $700 billion will cost each tax payer $2,300, however doing nothing could potentially cost them everything. Because banks and institutions prefer to have their money making money, they invest their cash. These investments are in companies like AIG or any number of stocks that have their investments layered with bad mortgage debt and derivatives (that I, admittedly, do not understand) on those mortgages. As the mortgage assets on their books become worthless, so too does their stock and so too do the assets in EVERYONE'S 401K plans, their local banks (who are now not lending money for small businesses to start or survive), people's companies who will have to lay them off because they can't make pay roll. Everyone's jobs and retirement savings are caught up in this mess, and it's worth far more than $2,300. But politics, particularly populist politics is an emotional sport, so people don't see this, they only see the inherent unfairness of giving this money to the millionaires who screwed us to begin with.

Back to elections: The above "Main Street" voters are all fed up and are calling and writing their congress men and women around the clock begging them to vote against this unfair bill. For a democratic congressman/woman whose seat is safe, going against your constituents to do what is best for the country is not political suicide...their seats are already safe. For the 2/3 of the Republican Senators who are not up for re-election this year or next, it is, again, not political suicide to go against your constituents and vote for this bill. That leaves only the House Republicans, who are up for re-election this year. To go against the wishes of their voters assures that they will lose their seats in November. It is their nature of self preservation that was put ahead of the national interest by voting this bill down. They are banking on the full reverberation of this disaster not being felt by election day.

But it is not only the Republicans who are playing politics in this moment when we need to come together as a unified country in the face of disaster and rise to action. Speaker of the House, Nanci Pelosi couldn't help but pepper her pre-vote speech with descriptions of George Bush's "budgetary recklessness" and "anything goes mentality". Seriously? You really think that now is the best time for partisan pot shots? In any previous generation, a leader would give a speech about Americans coming together in the face of crisis. Eric Cantor, the Republican House whip, in turn blamed his inability to do his job and rally his party around the good of the country on Pelosi's speach and Democrats in general.

Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!

Congress...do your fucking jobs. I don't give a fuck who you blame, if you can't get your shit together and pass legislation in a time of crisis unparalleled since the great depression then I BLAME YOU! ALL OF YOU! There...you have finally brought the country together. I hate all of you on either side of the aisle! Now shut up, get back to work and save our country.

Love,


Josh


P.S. I would love to know anyone else's thoughts on this. There are plenty of counterpoints I can think of, but the above argument is the one I can most justify...maybe I just need to believe that there is a viable answer because the alternative is just too scary.

And now, for a comparative moment of levity:

Recap of KXLU show July 16, 2008

Well, it's official, my show is now on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.  Yesterday's show was the first one ever on this day and I was so excited that I couldn’t fall asleep for my much necessary pre-show nap.  I spent all of Wednesday as a zombie, but it was well worth it.  It is a very different transition now moving off of Psychotechnics rather than coming off of Metal Storm.  Mopi's show is great, of course.  I think I need theme music like hers.  Obviously, I will miss Peter Choice helping me close out my shows.  Anyway, Wednesday is the new Friday, so don't bother showing up to work on Thursday.

There were some real stand out songs this show that I am excited to talk about, so let's get started:

Song #2: Thurston Moore - Creemsikkle.  This is off of the Deathbomb Arc label's limited edition Thrash Sabbatical record set.  This particular taster's menu consists of Thurston Moore, Kevin Shields, Barrabarracuda and Men Who Can’t Love.  Now, I know what you are thinking, I thought it too, “Kevin Shields? From My Bloody Valentine? With Thurston Moore?  Golly!”  Like an idiot, I voiced this excitement on the air.  Then I did some research and found out that, no, this Kevin Shields is actually Eva Aguila who is also in a really cool project called Caldera Lakes which works with softer sounds for their noisescapes.  Kevin Shields is also worth a listen, and I recommend the track 12806.  It sounds like band sound checking their drums in a high school gymnasium that is being pulled through a storm on Jupiter.  Okay, back to Thurston: This is a beautifully powerful noise experiment that plays with dynamic on every level.  The piece moves from single notes to unidentifiable depth and from ear damagingly loud to gentle without causing any real sense of audio fatigue.  It is only available on the vinyl version of Trash Sabbatical but can be downloaded from certain websites like Other Music.  Unfortunately, the vinyl version of the album is sold out.

Song #3: Silver Rockets – Holding On.  Silver Rockets is the new project of Mercury Rev and Longwave alumni Paul Dillon.  I saw Paul play solo at Little Radio this weekend and he gave me his new 7” with the songs Retreat and Holding On. Holding on immediately grabbed me.  It is gentle and very warm and then flushes out to a wide-open field of violins, guitar, feedback, piano and everything else that could be thrown out.  It reminds me of Blue Thunder by Galaxie 500 but with vocals more forefront.  This is a really great new track and I’m really excited to hear more as it comes. 

Song #4: The War On Drugs – A Needle In Your Eye #16.  I can’t stop playing this band.  The washed out tracks, the organ, the vocals…  Lately, any time anyone asks me about brand new bands that I am excited about I immediately respond, The Gang and The War On Drugs.  There is something classic about Adam Granduciel’s vocals that I can’t quite put my finger on.  All I know is this: this is road music and that is exactly what my show was supposed to be about though I quickly seem to have abandoned.  Their song “Taking The Farm” has the road trip pop sensibility of Lindsay Buckingham’s “Holiday Road” yet the low fi country understanding of The Flying Burrito Brothers, all while blanketed by a wave of Psych Rock a la early Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.  I think that might be the oddest description of a band ever.  Well, it’s really, really good.  The album is out on Secretly Canadian.

Song #17: Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog – Party Intellectuals.  Marc Ribot’s resume is completely out of hand: First working with John Zorn in 1984 and then with Tom Waits as the guitarist on Rain Dogs, he has worked with Elvis Costello, Marianne Faithfull, Medeski Martin and Wood (Chris Wood is also the drummer for Ribot’s project, Shrek from 1998), Harry Shearer, Rob Wasserman, Foetus, Cibo Matto and the list goes on.  Party Intellectuals sounds like a Mothers of Invention song after playing Atari and listening to old school hip-hop.  This is what happens when you put Santana’s Abraxas in the microwave. 

Song #18: Bunny Brains – (I’m In The) Bucket (Keith).  The only way to describe this track is bestial.  I find it hard to believe the vocals were performed standing up.  Everything on this track is loud and nauseous and perfect.  Coming out pretty early in Matador’s history, Bunny Brains seems a good fit with Matador founder Gerard Cosloy’s old band with G.G. Allin.  The Big difference, of course, is that Bunny Brains’ music is actually good.  Anyway, over 40 people have been in and out of this band, revolving around Dan Bunny.  He also made friends with Devendra Banhart and appears on the Cripple Crow album (which is why I played Devendra directly after).  It seems that it was a conversation with Dan Bunny that led to Devendra’s song  “Little Boys”.

Songs #37 / #38:  Broadcast – Come On Let’s Go / Pram – The Owl Service.  Both of these bands are amazing and both share drummer Steve Perkins.  Broadcast has a deep groovy lounge sound that might draw images from Antonioni’s “Blow Up” or maybe an old James Bond movie.  Then comes the cut and paste beat backdrop that creates a more psychedelic, but no less warm, feel of Pram.  It struck me, while listening to these songs before my show that they really owe quite a debt to one man…Serge Gainsbourg.  I followed up Broadcast and Pram with Gainsbourg’s Pauvre Lola.  Just for good measure, I followed that up with Genesis P. Orridge’s (of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV fame) cover of Gainsbourg’s Je T’aime…Moi Non Plus (I Love You…Me Neither).  Je T’Aime was originally written for and recorded with his girlfriend, Brigit Bardot, but was never released for fear of revealing the relationship to Bardot’s husband.  Instead, the song was re-recorded with his future wife, Jane Birkin.  Below are videos of Gainsbourg and Bardot doing Bonnie and Clyde as well as videos of Gainsbourg and Birkin set to the music of Je T’aime…Moi Non Plus just to give perspective on the talent of Serge Gainsbourg and evidence that he is the luckiest man in the world.

Serge Gainsbourg & B. Bardot - Bonnie & Clyde (Good Version)

Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg - Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus

Songs #46 / 47: Marnie Stern - Put All Your Eggs In One Basket And Then Watch That Basket / Hella - Welcome To The Jungle Baby, You’re Gunna Live.  Not only are these two songs the longest song titles that I have played on my show, this pairing represents another shared drummer.  Hella drummer, Zach Hill is also Marnie’s drummer on her first record on Kill Rock Stars, In Advance of The Broken Arm.  Zach has also finished recording with Marnie for her follow up album, from which she will be premiering some of the songs on my show.  This song is one of the brightest and shiniest on her record.  It is just joyful and poppy from beginning to end.  Marnie’s album is one of the best, most bombastic, most mind blowingly talented records of 2007.  The way Roy Lichtenstein made comic images legitimate high art; Marnie uses the generally trite technique of guitar taping and creates something beautiful, artistic and nuanced.  I followed Put All Your Eggs… with Hella’s Welcome To The Jungle… but this version is acoustic.  Wow.  It’s extremely odd to hear that kind of bombastic paying on an acoustic guitar and a drum with no snares (is he playing with his hands? How did he get his sound so soft?).  The Acoustics EP is definitely a spectacle to behold.

Okay, I hope you enjoyed the show and the blog.  Next week, Matt Gangi of Gangi will be joining me and playing a bit.  Here is the complete playlist:


Microstoria – Endless Summer NAMM

Thurston Moore – Creemsikkle

Silver Rockets – Holding On

The War On Drugs – A Needle In Your Eye #16

Jesus + Mary Chain – Moe Tucker (Live)

Velvet Underground – New Age (Live)

Darker My Love – Heelium Heels

The Chap – Caution Me

Black Angels – Deer-Ree-Shee

Brian Jonestown Massacre – The Devil May Care

Mad Villian – Enter…Hot Curry

Bombay The Hard Way – My Guru

Dungen – Festival
Octopus Project – Bees Been Strugglin’

Four Tet – No More Mosquitos

Leila – Mettle

Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog – Party Intellectuals

Bunny Brains – (I’m In The) Bucket (Keith)

Devendra Banhart – When They Come

Bonnie “Prince” Billy – So Everyone

Songs: Ohia – This Time Anything Finite At All

Brian Eno – By This River

Jim O’Rourke – Movin On The Way Down

Devon Williams – A Truce

Gangi – Ground

Fleet Foxes – Ragged Wood

Rainbow Arabia – Omar K

Wooden Shjips – Cloud Over Earthquake

Abe Vigoda – The Garden

The Gang – There’s A Beach At The End Of Penny Lane

Frank Black and The Catholics – Bullet

Violent Fems – Country Death Song

Echo & The Bunnymen – Do It Clean (Live)

Spiritualized – Soul On Fire

Twink – What The Dickens

Flying Lotus – Roberta Flack

Broadcast – Come On Let Us Go

Pram – The Owl Service

Serge Gainsbourg – Pauvre Lola

Genesis P. Orridge - Je T’aime

Glen Branca – Lesson No. 2

Gang of Four – Ether

Spinto Band – Japan Is An Island

Page France – Junkyard
Spoon – Anything You Want

Marnie Stern – Put All Your Eggs In One Basket And Then Watch That Basket

Hella – Welcome To The Jungle Baby, You’re Gunna Live

Slavery Is Back In Effect

I was listening to Mike (Who, I have repeatedly said, I think is
probably the best DJ on KXLU) on Part Time Punks on Thursday and he said some
things that, as a political junky, caught my attention.  After a
particularly angsty set he announced (and I am paraphrasing), “You may
have noticed that I’m playing an angry set.  Well, I’m angry.  Iran
launched 8 missiles yesterday and now Bush is getting upset and
sticking his nose in every other country’s business”.  Always excited
for lively debate, even if it is alone in my head, I responded to this
to myself (and now, again, here).  I think
this is misguided anger.  Frankly, Iran’s missiles were very much our
business, as they were very purposefully a message to us and to
Israel.  The tests were done as a show of strength after Israel ran
some tests of their own, flying their aircraft within firing range of
Iran’s nuclear program. 

Admittedly, I fall into the typical American viewpoint of skepticism
about Iran’s nuclear ambitions being solely for energy (I am not
ignoring the findings that Iran is at least 10 years away from
developing nuclear weapons if they so desired…I am merely questioning
the ambition).  To quote Dennis Miller (and I can’t believe I would
ever positively quote him!) when questioning Iran's desire for alternative energy, “These people are living on top of the
biggest dinosaur mausoleum in the world”.  The point is, this is
business as usual in the game of brinksmanship.  Iran wants to be a
nuclear force, and due to the moronic foreign policies of this
administration, pre-emptive action has sort of gotten a bad wrap over
these past few years as has unilateral action in terms of world opinion
and support.  This, effectively, leaves our hands tied to stop Iran
without direct proof of nuclear armament ambition…Iran knows this.
Israel, of course, is the immediate target…everyone knows this.
Israel, who has been known for having a pretty short fuse, has to make
some kind of a show of force and hope that the bluff of World War 3
will be enough to make the Iranians stand down (and I’m sure even
Israel didn’t think that this would actually work).  So Israel ran test
flights within striking distance of Iran’s nuclear development
program.  Iran, in turn could not let Israel push and not push back, so
they made a symbolic show of force and launched test missiles. Iran’s
missile tests are with the hope of drawing Israel to attack.  If Israel
attacks, then destroying Israel (or severely damaging it) will be
retaliation, therefore, the world’s reaction will be divided and weaker
against Iran.  However, were Iran to attack unprovoked, Iran knows that
they will be attacked and destroyed by the world community, especially
if they don’t have nuclear weapons to defend themselves with. 

Now, here is my point (sorry it is so laborious): this is absolutely
our business.  Feelings on Israel aside, I do not want Iran to have
nuclear missiles.  I don’t want us, Pakistan, India, Israel, England,
Russia…anyone to have them.  The recent missile tests were an
intentional display, a note on an arrow, if you will, in the game of
brinksmanship.  The purpose was to let us and the world know that our
hands are tied to stop Iran from achieving their goals, for the time
being.  This is not a new game, nor is it one we are unfamiliar with,
this is another cold war…and I hope that it stays cold if it has to
exist at all.  Now, if we had attacked Iran over these tests, I would be
furious.  What we have done is issue a statement, essentially, that we
don’t like that Iran fired missiles.  If a president failed to do that,
I would be equally furious. The larger discussion, of course, is the
state of international diplomacy, the United State’s go it alone cowboy
politics, the reduction of the UN to a League of Nations style piece of
worthless real estate, etc.  We could talk for hours about these
issues, but they are long-term agenda issues and it would turn this
blog into a novel (it is also largely why I support Obama and hate the
current standard of politicians on both sides of the aisle…more on that
later).  Frankly, Mike, getting mad about Bush’s reaction is missing
the forest for the trees.  The real outrage is that we as humans (as
represented by our leaders, who tend to be caricatures of our own
despicable nature) are so stupid that we miraculously survived a 50
year cold war and not 20 years later can’t wait to jump into another.
With that in mind, I opened my show by stating that I am not angry about Bush’s
statements, they had to be made.  Instead, I offered a few reasons to
really be mad.

1)    John McCain was recently informed, that despite our
Jets/Sharks-like diplomatic relationship with Iran, our export business
has actually risen.  Specifically, American cigarettes are now our biggest
export to Iran. Caught off guard by this information McCain quipped,
"Maybe that's a way of killing them” before his wife poked him in the
back, frantically searching for his “off” button.  **Slow clap**.
Bravo, Mr. McCain.  How do we intend on diplomatically solving our
problems when you, if elected to lead, make horrific statements about
the death of a country’s innocent citizens?  When Ahmadinejad or Chaves
say anything remotely close to this it is a call to arms and a road to
war, but you can casually defecate from the mouth like this and expect
that it’s not in every news paper in Tehran?  Bravo!

2)    Karl Rove ignored a congressional subpoena to testify about
the firing of eight federal prosecutors.  Siting, “executive
priveledge”, Rove refuses to discuss these actions under oath...AND CLINTON
WAS IMPEACHED FOR OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE!  Aaarrrrggghhhh what kind of
a world are we living in?  (P.S. please do not reference my above
tirade on the rules and theater of brinksmanship to claim that Rove is
just playing his role.  It’s not that the argument is incorrect, I just
hate having my words thrown back at me.  K? Thx)

3)    Barack Obama voted for the new federal wire tapping bill (Mike
mentioned this too, I believe).  I could forgive him, painfully albeit,
for his turn around on public funding for campaigns (but come on, he
HAD to do it).  I certainly understand his Falstaffian denouncement of
his former reverend.  I even get the subtle softening of his rhetoric
on leaving Iraq.  But come on…the wire tapping bill…with immunity to phone
companies?!?!  As mentioned, I can understand and justify all of the
above actions because, frankly, this is politics.  But politics have
eroded the content of civics beyond the point of recognition.  I AM
VOTING FOR CHANGE.  Obama seems to be moving towards the center in
order to seal his victory, but this involves promises to the
center…promises that contradict the spirit of the promises he made to
us on the “fringes”…promises of change, promises of hope and promises
of a new kind of politics.  The reason any of us still have faith in
Obama is that we feel that he is saying and doing all of these things
to get elected, and when in office he will be the president that he
promised US.  This sounds like old politics, and he sounds like he is
getting mired in it.  I hope that he will be different, I hope that we
as Americans will demand that he be different, I hope that the burden
of change will remain on our shoulders and that we will continue to
rise to that challenge as we all seemed to do after Super Tuesday in
February.  But I’ve been burned before.

In 1992, during his campaign for the presidency, Bill Clinton
publicly denounced the lyrics and statements of hip hop artist Sister
Souljah.  In particular, he lashed out at a specific quote, "If black
people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white
people" taken out of context, that was a reaction to the Los Angeles
riots.  Clinton's reaction was purposeful and successful.  Known later
as “America’s first black president”, Clinton had a problem in his
general election strategy.  He was seen as too far left, black people
loved him and many white people were afraid that he would remain too
beholden to them.  By publicly repudiating a sentiment from the
community largely viewed as his base, Clinton symbolically re-assured
white people that he was one of them.  This would famously be known as
Clinton’s “Sister Souljah Moment”.  Today, in politics, a denouncement
of the actions of one’s base with the pointed goal of appealing to
centrist voters is called a Sister Souljah Moment. 

It was in this spirit that I dove straight into Sister Souljah’s,
“Slavery Is Back In Effect” as the first song of my show (also, I know
that Barack Obama always tunes in on Friday mornings to KXLU.com
between 2-6am PST.  Truth be told, he’s just listening to Metal Storm,
but doesn’t bother turning the stream off by the time I come on.  I hope he got the reference).  I
don’t want to be abandoned for center again.  Centrist politics have
gotten us where we are today.  I want a more educated electorate to
vote on elegant and nuanced policy and to vote intelligently.  I
believe Democracy is less flawed than anything else that has been established to
protect the virtues that we claim, but it depends on the electorate. 
For tyranny and corruption to take power one needs only keep the voters
ignorant and scared.  For a just and free society to emerge (which, I
have been told, is what we want) the electorate must remain vigilant
and educated.  This is why I quit the music industry and am becoming a
teacher.  I want to be part of the solution.

Okay…I’m sorry.  I know this is a music blog.  I promise to keep
next week’s blog entirely on music.  The show had a bunch of
highlights, I’ll just stick to one because I’ve already taken up so
much space with political rants:

I Am Spoonbender remixing The Locust’s well I’ll Be A Monkey’s
Uncle.  Loud, dark and terrifying used to be the way to describe early
Marylin Manson tracks, but if you add the word “cool” then you can
actually be talking about I Am Spoonbender’s remix of The Locust. 

Here's a clip of JP from the Locust and Lost Film Festival’s creator Scott Beibin on Springer…just to lighten the mood a bit:

JP from THE LOCUST + Scott Beibin on Jerry Springer (Part 2)

Next week (the show is moving to Tuesday Nights/Wednesday Mornings
2-6am) will be all about the music again and I’ll make sure the blog is
extra music-nerdy…I promise.  Special thanks to Peter Choice (my other
favorite DJ on KXLU) for hanging out and making me a better DJ for it!
Oh, and Matt Gangi of Gangi will be coming onto the show in two weeks.

Here’s the playlist:

Sister Souljah – The Final Solution (Slavery’s Back In Effect)
Wire – Mercy (Angry set part 1)
Minor Threat – Minor Threat (Angry set part 2)
Trail Of Dead – Totally Natural (Angry set part 3)
Vaselines – Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam
Geraldine Fibbers – Lilybelle
Powdered Monster – Big Halo
Daniel Johnston – Devil Town
Tom Waitz – Singapore
Olivia Tremor Control – Memories of Jacqueline 1906
Pram – Bewitched (Screwed up and wanted to play The Owl Service to transition into Broadcast…next time…damn you fatigue!!!)
Broadcast – Unchanging Window
Sonic Boom (Spectrum) – Rock ‘N Roll is Killing My Life
Acid Mother’s Temple – Pink Lady Lemonade
Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog – Party Intellectuals (Holy S*#t is this good!)
Locust – Well I’ll Be A Monkey’s Uncle
I Am Spoonbender – Remix of Locust – Well I’ll Be A Monkey’s Uncle
Leila – Mettle
Cornelius – Drop
El-P – Delorean
Los Flores Project – Sounds From Behind Closed Doors
Danger Doom – No Names
Battles - ??? (unmarked burned CD)
Kites – The Hidden Family
Wolf Eyes – Stabbed In The Face
Flying Lotus – Gng Bng
The Gang – Heaven’s Happenin’
Sigur Ros – Olsen Olsen (compare and contrast to Heaven’s Happenin’)
Spiritualized – Sweet Talk
The War on Drugs – Arms Like Boulders
Talking Heads – Houses In Motion
Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players – European Boys
Dr. Dog – From
Fleet Foxes – White Water Hymnal
Television – Careful
Make A Rising – Sneffles Yokul
Abe Vigoda – Animal Ghosts
Aqui – Here
Rainbow Arabia – Omar K
My Bloody Valentine (Covering Wire) – Map Coordinates 41N 93W
Bardo Pond – Cross Current
Built To Spill – Conventional Wisdom
Belle and Sebastian – Me and The Major
Wolf Parade – You Are A Runner and I Am My Father’s Son
Entrance – Grim Reaper Blues
The Make-Up – Live In The Rhythm Hive
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Art Star

July 4th KXLU show highlights

Oof. Today's show was a bit rocky, and I'm sorry. I have been working 10 hour shifts every day this week starting at 5am. On top of that, I left work, came straight to LMU and had a 3 hour class. Needless to say, I just wasn't in top form today, transitions were off, song selection lagged at certain points...what can I say? Despite all of this, the show was still fun and mostly good. There were definitely a number of highlights that I am excited to talk about.

Song 1 - Holy F%k: Lovely Allen
This is the second time I have played this song, and the second time I have made this mistake: for some reason, someone wrote 45 on the cover of this record, so I played it at 45...it's a 33 1/3. However, I finally went out and bought the full length LP (to play on Sunday) and it's 33 1/3. When I got it home and listened to it, I was wondering what was missing, why it was so slow? Well, when I played the 12" single at 45 again tonight I figured it out. I'm definitely playing this song on Sunday at Little Radio, but can't decide if I should do it at 45 or 33 1/3. Hmmmm. What I love about Holy F%k is that all sounds are analogue. There is nothing digital here. Also notable about this song (and I was so rushed, that I completely forgot to mention this on air) the strings at the end of Lovely Allen are provided by none other than Owen Pallett, AKA Final Fantasy. This is a man who has created an 8 part opus based on each of the different forms of magic in Dungeons and Dragons.

Song 9 - Giraffes? Giraffes! - I am s/h(im)e[r] as you am s/h(im)e[r] as you are me and we am I and I are all our together: Our collective consciousness' psychogenic fugue
Let's start...what a song title! Now, as for the band title, I have no way to confirm this, but I'm guessing that they are named after the book Giraffes? Giraffes! This is a reference book for children to learn all about giraffes and just listen to the description: "Giraffes? Giraffes! is the first in the series, and puts forth the following novel theories: that giraffes were not part of any evolutionary chain, but came here from Neptune, by way of very long (but convenient and fast) escalators; that giraffes are expert dancers, but they become angry if you ask them about their dancing; that giraffes control over 90% of what we see in mirrors; that the Giraffe Navy is as strong as ever, contrary to recent claims in the popular press." Your move John Hodgman! This song is as much a journey from Neptune. Opening with proggy math rock guitar lines and a Zach Hill approach to the drums, the song takes a huge turn to the softer side. Let's just say glocenspiel is involved. Oh, and speaking of this title of this track, I just picked up the Boris collaboration with Merzbow and they actually do the song. Who's the egg man now?

Song 10 - Destroy Tokyo - Necklace
Destroy Tokyo have changed their name to Religious Girls. Wow, what a song. I am so in love with this track, I don't even really know what else to say about it. Synthy, Noisy, Dreamy, this song has everything. They feel like a perfect counterpart to F%k Buttons. I'm just really in love with this band!

Song 11 - The Gang - Heaven's Happenin'
A long and gentle song that just builds up and up and up. The production is really fantastic on this song, leaving each instrument totally isolated in the beginning. It is aurally what "Stop Making Sense" is visually; then the vocals come in and just tear away. The piano is still left haunting the right speaker. Suddenly, it's like a rocket launch rumbling the speakers and the full band (I am assuming it is the whole band) comes in singing an anthem every bit as moving as Sigur Ros's Olsen Olsen. I have been playing Fits and Shadow Fights off of this record for the past few weeks because it is so danceable and I am completely in love with it, but this track really illustrates the depth and range that these guys are capable of.

Song 15 – Lou Reed – Sad Song (Live)
Okay, now anyone who knows Lou Reed's work knows the kind of disappointment that used to be trademarked by Red Sox fans when it comes to live performance. I found this live record in the KXLU library, and wow was I surprised when I heard it! This is good…really really good. The song is originally an unreleased Velvet Underground song (available as a bonus track on both the VU box set as well as the fully loaded version of Loaded). It was actually released, however, on one of my top 5 records of all time, Berlin. This holds up completely to the Bob Ezrin produced original and adds a particular energy that can only be captured live and a flair that only Lou Reed has and only on his very best of days.

Song 17 – Smog – I am Star Wars
Toggling The Rolling Stone's "Honky Tonk Woman" (well, 3 notes of it anyway) on a tape machine, this song would be a novelty if it wasn't so damn good! This is off of Smog's seminal Julius Caeser album, which is also a collaboration with Jim O'Rourke. What hasn't he done?

Song 28 – Twink – I (picture of a heart) Rainbows
This is actually neither a highlight nor a low light. I announced on air that Twink was back as if it was a huge surprise. Well, this Twink is Mike Langlie, NOT '60s British Psych Rock mainstay Paul Alder. Completely different Twink. Anyway, decent song. Sorry for any confusion.

Song 35 – Leila – Mettle
So, for some background, Leila is Iranian and was forced to flee to London when she was a little girl…so, take that MIA. Rather than hooking up with Diplo, Leila wound up playing keyboards with Bjork. This song is off of her new record on Warp. The water sounds remind me of Cornelius' "Drop" and this song is every bit as wonderful!

Song 46 – Spiritualized – Soul On Fire
New Spiritualized! New Spiritualized! New Spiritualized! What more do I have to say?

New song highlights: The Gang, Rainbow Arabia, Dr. Dog, Silver Jews, The War On Drugs (I need to write something about them…maybe next show), Fleet Foxes, Leila, David Ramos, Canopy, Spiritualized



Happy Fourth of July everyone. George III, Cornwallis and Washington are all dead...so a lot of good it did them!

Okay, sorry for such a long post, I get excited. Here's the complete play list:

Holy F%k – Lovely Allen
Dead Meadow – Sleepy Silver Door
Film School – Tangoed Out
SJ Esau – Bubblehead
Gangi – Region Two
Wire – The 15th
The Fall – No Bulb 3
The Wedding Present – Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft
Giraffes? Giraffes! – I am s/h(im)e[r]…
Destroy Tokyo – Necklace
The Gang – Heaven's Happenin'
Desolation Wilderness – Goodbye Summer Girl
Califone – Wing Bone
Bright Eyes – Happy Birthday To Me
Lou Reed – Sad Song
Rainbow Arabia – Hear No See No
Smog – I am Star Wars
Dr. Dog – The Ark
Koko Tayor – Evil
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig Lazarus Dig
Silver Jews – Suffering Jukebox
The War on Drugs – Needle In Your Eye 16
Red Kross – Neurotica
Ramones – Bonzo Goes To Bitburg
Teddy Bears – Cobra Style
Make A Rising – Bradfords Big Boatride
Wooden Shjips – Clouds Over Earthquake
Twink – I (heart) Rainbows
Fleet Foxes – Ragged Wood
Devon Williams – A Truce
The Whitsundays – I want it all
Dimmer – Contrail
Psychic TV – Unclean
Xu Xu Fang – The Mourning Son
Leila – Mettle
David Ramos – Kings + Queens
Odd Nosdam – Hollow Me
Jonathan Richman – You Can Have A Cell Phone, That's Okay, But Not Me
This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb – Murder Bike
Orange Juice – Blue Boy
Rolling Blackouts – Loophole Blues
Neon Blonde – Chandeliers and Vines
Nitzer Ebb – Hearts and Minds
Spires That In The Sunset Rise – Party Favors
Canopy – Everybody Trips A Little Now And Then
Spiritualized – Soul on Fire
Boris with Micho Kurihara – Rufflesia Rainbow
Lansing-Dreiden - Dividing Island