WFMU : Where dead air lives

At 36 years of age, I find myself growing more restless by the day.  There are times that I feel twice my age, destined to become the ranting old coot that throws stuff from his front porch at passersby just because I can.  I resent the fact that my waking hours are spent at a place doing duties I could care less about and then having to steal back time and fight off sleep to do what I'm passionate about.  I resent a lot of sh*t, actually.

With that being said, it's nice to look upon the youth and see boundless potential, to know that there are heads coming up behind me that are light years ahead in possibilities.  Consider the young lord out of Hollywood, Florida named Black Ant, beatmaker in training.   Judging from his Free Beats Sel. 3 collection, he is well on his way to being a pad-punching, knob-twiddling Jedi.  Joints like the horn-drenched "government funded weed" and the head nod-inducing "Underdog" make me smile, plus they have me excited about what this hip-hop wunderkind will be creating in the next five years.

Sit back, relax, and take a minute and change to achieve bliss with the spaced-out selection "Oh K."  And once it's over, remind yourself that the brother's still in high school...

When Mike Mangino and Chris Shepard started writing music together in the late 1970s, their goal was not to develop a repertoire and play gigs, or even to perform live in front of any audience. Everything they needed was right there in Piscataway NJ: a basement full of musical toys and instruments, novelty space microphones, a TR-606 (the same "Roland" who was listed as a member of Big Black), a SH-09 (Cabaret Voltaire's favorite synth), and -- perhaps most importantly -- a tape recorder. Every Monday night, they'd write a new song from scratch. A couple hours later, the song was recorded, never to be performed again.

By 1981, this dedication to spontanious creativity had already produced countless recordings, and the duo began releasing cassettes as Smersh via their own Atlas King label. A definitive Smersh discography may not even be possible, but this one lists more than 30 Atlas King cassettes. As these tapes traded their way across continents, Smersh developed a devoted following in places far beyond Piscataway, leading to releases on dozens of other labels from across the globe. A 15 song sampler featuring some of the many highlights from Smersh's vast discography, spanning 1983-1993, is now available here at the Free Music Archive.

My obsession with Smersh began relatively recently, when I first heard the song "Sweet Little Bishop" in the WFMU library, off a 7'' released by Sweden's Börft label in 1991 (listen). Then it got stuck in my head for several days straight. My subconscious couldn't remember what it was at first, mixed it up with some bizarre Prince song. But then i remembered that mysterious Smersh 7'' -- the one that stood out amongst the other Börft stuff in the library (Swedish artists like Frak and Enhänta Bödlar, who are also uncategorizable and each worthy of their own post!). I set about tracking down as much info as possible find about Smersh...

(Poster left Henry Owings, photo right Greg Cristman) We were honored to have Teutonic titans Faust headline the first night of WFMU Fest (which ran October 1-3 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg and also included the likes of TV Ghost, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Talk Normal, VeeDee, Pissed Jeans, Drunkdriver, Sightings, Aluk Todolo, Cold Cave, and the Guinea Worms); it's a rare occassion for these living legends to hit American shores. They without doubt had a healthy hand in shaping modern experimental, industrial, electronic and even pop music; in Julian Cope's words, "there is no group more mythical."

For those who were hesitant to see what a nearly 40 year old band held near and dear to their hearts could be up to, doubts were instantly dispelled as the crowd was treated to a heavy dose of Faust IV-heavy classics and crazed improvisations that  seized the moment (coupled with live painting and cement mixer  action). A few weeks back Faust OK'd a broadcast of the set, and I had an opportunity to chat at length with Jean-Herve Peron and his dog (streaming archive from my January 19th show is here, and you can go right to the interview segment here), and now we're happy to say you can grab the entire October 1st WFMU Fest show on MP3! Severe thanks to Regina Greene, Jean-Herve, and Scott Williams for the fantastic mix. By the way, a few other of that weekend's artists (namely Talk Normal and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks) have all posted some Mp3s from WFMU Fest on the Free Music Archive. Enjoy!

Barbés is hosting a celebration of Haitian rara music this Thursday night. From the Barbés site:

Rara is festival music usually played by marching bands. The music is played on drums and homemade bamboo horns (sometimes replaced by PVC pipes) and is often associated with certain aspects of Vaudou rituals. it's also a purely celebratory music which can have political and protest overtones.

This event was inspired by the re-issuing of Alan Lomax in Haiti, a legendary set of recordings commisioned by the Library of Congress in 1936-1937. At 7pm, the event begins with a presentation of recordings from this 10-disc box set.

The event also features a performance by Djarara, New York City's premier Haitian rara group, who have been active for two decades. Djarara performed live from Barbés this past September, with their amazing array of PVC pipe horns, in an event that was broadcast on WFMU's Transpacific Sound Paradise. Two medleys from the performance can be heard below.

Clearly the Chandeliers keep getting better with every release. Their new Activity EP (to be released in the future, on Captcha Records, fka HBSP-2X) will be issued as a split w/ fellow neon Shape Shoppe Chicago contemporaries Lazer Cystal.

This new stuff reminds me of futuristic beat deconstructers like Raleigh Moncrief, but more subversively funky. And in-league with fellow Chicago natives and collaborators like Icy Demons, Bronze, Michael Columbia, Lazer Crystal (who'll be on the other side of the Activity EP), and Mahjongg. More from the Chandeliers on their blog, tumblr, or after the jump

"Marry me for money!" a man in the crowd yelled as Teenage Jesus and the Jerks approached the stage at the Music Hall of Williamsburg for the final night of WFMU Fest last October. Frontwoman Lydia Lunch invited the fan closer to the stage, calmly instructing him, "Open your mouth." The man did as he was told, and in return got a mouthful of Lydia's spit. The crowd reeled with delight and disgust; the performance had begun.

These no wave legends assaulted New York for 30 minutes, 30 years after their first run, with the same harsh, guttural vocals, piercing guitar murder, and thumping minimal drums. Teenage Jesus and the Jerks' lineup this time featured original members Lydia Lunch (vox, guitar) and Jim Sclavunos (now on drums), plus ex-Swans bassist Algis Kizys.

We're lucky to have a few songs from TJJ's incredible WFMU Fest set to offer you, check out "The Closet" below. And after the jump, a mix of ugly music dedicated to Lydia Lunch.

More WFMU Fest goodies: a rocking performance by Talk Normal, and be sure to check out Faust's set on Brian Turner's archive from this week. More on the way...

Every January, NY Balkan music scene pioneers the Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band organize the Golden Festival - a massive two-night grassroots Balkan and East European music and dance festival at the Good Shepherd School, 620 Isham Street in the Inwood section of Upper Manhattan.

The Golden Festival is New York's largest Balkan music event, with multiple stages, Balkan & Middle Eastern refreshments, Balkan arts vendors, as well as beautiful Balkan textiles on display.  From international stars to local musicians, modern Balkan stylists to folk traditionalists, over 40 bands provide hours of ecstatic listening, dancing and partying. (via Zlatne Uste's website)

The Golden Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary this Friday and Saturday, and tickets are available here.

For those who won't be able to attend but want to live vicariously, Rob Weisberg's Transpacific Sound Paradise program will broadcast live on WFMU this Saturday from 6pm until midnight NY time. The TSP broadcast will take place from one of the festival's three stages, the "Kafana" stage (Kafana is Serbo-Croatian for "cafe"; and the broadcast hq will once again be conveniently located right next to the beer line!).

To get an idea of what's in store, here are a few highlights from last year's TSP broadcast.

Years ago I first came in contact with the Radon label via my pal Marlon, hearing a live set by Italian avant-rock composer Daniele Brusachetto, learning about his fellow countrymen OvO and then finally being sent a pile of CDs (mostly samplers) from the transient Radon head Scott Nydegger coupled with frequent correspondences enthusiastically talking about the state of experimental music made us fast friends. As I got familiar with the many facets of this label, Scott made sure that I was introduced to everyone in his orbit, and what really impressed me most is that Radon dealt with its business and artists unlike few others. Everyone was scattered around the world, because Scott just floated around meeting people and putting the music out from wherever he was (as opposed to working out of an office and dealing with the biz); anyone who shared the vision was invited in and were all friends. Fractured breakcore from Ripit, industrial tubthumping from Sikhara (Scott's outfit), introspective psychedelic drone from Fabrizio Polumbo under the name (r), and glorious ascensions from Steve Mackay (saxman then and now for Iggy and the Stooges) all intermingled under the Radon umbrella.

Through the years quite a few units of the stable has landed in the WFMU studios on various shows; Mackay put out an LP backed by some heavyweight improvisers on Qbico called Tunnel Diner culled from sessions on my show and Acapulco Rodriguez's as well (some MP3's here). Koonda Holaa, aka Kamilsky, is an eccentric Czech ex-pat who holed up for years in the high Mojave and also visited FMU (check him out on the Free Music Archive, he's terrific) and actually landed surreal opening slot for the Stooges in Moscow a few years back. Now, Radon takes a break, but to celebrate a good decade, Scott invited me down to Jason LaFarge's Seizures Palace studio in Brooklyn (in the cavernous Gowanus space where Martin Bisi also made all those great Lydia Lunch, Sonic Youth and Swans records) and we recorded a full on American/Portuguese summit jam of Sikhara, HHY & Drums of Habnom and United Scum Soundclash. It's a gorgeous, free-flowing hour of microscopic sounds, Neubauten-esque tribal percussion blowouts, scabby sampling and a simple celebration of the joy of free sound in a gigantic room. I aired the program on December 29th, but you can grab this session below.

Please also boogie over to the Free Music Archive's Radon offerings. Much excellence to be found. Somewhat saddened to hear of the label's hiatus, but other imprints like Soopa and Urck seem to be picking up some of the slack with a similar level of vision and social circles.

We're very excited to announce the winner of the Anti-Pop Consortium "Reflections" remix contest! It was extremely difficult to pick -- we received 50 submissions from all over the world that reimagined APC's innovative hip-hop in a kaleidoscope of styles and unclassifiable genres. And this was not an easy song to remix, we're very impressed by all of the talent that's out there. Here's a note from Anti-Pop Consortium:

Thanks to all of the artists that took the time and effort to create these hot remixes. Each remix had a different approach which made it difficult to decide on a winner. The arrangements and attention to detail were very impressive. And if you were brave enough to incorporate the "tempo change ending" we salute you!

It was a pleasure to listen and we wish you all much success in your future musical endeavors...Thank you.

-Anti-Pop Consortium

drum roll please....

Grand Prize:


1st thru 5th place:

Honorable mention:



>> All remixes can be heard here <<

I confess it's taken me longer to get this post together than it should have.  I definitely have the holidays to blame, some family obligations, the usual work, the usual play.  But honestly the main reason is that I have been thinking about what to write, and how best to articulate why I am such a huge fan of these three musicians individually, and then why getting them to play as a group on my show was such an enormous coup.  And I think I figured it out.

C. Spencer Yeh (violin/voice) is probably best known as the founder of Burning Star Core, a noise band with a surprising elasticity in terms of sound, timbre, texture, form.  He has played with probably every major "noise" artist you can think of and in weirder situations with people like Jandek.  Chris Corsano (drums/percussion) has been moonlighting with Bjork of late, and has a longstanding free jazz duo with Paul Flaherty that peels paint.  Again, he's collaborated with an enormous range of stylists and kingpins, from free jazz masters to heavy noise blasters, from pop stars to beardos.  Nate Wooley (amplified trumpet) is a specialist-in-all-styles type player who digs Charlie Shavers and grew up playing in big bands, has spent time doing lowercase music, traditional-sounding free jazz, post-bop, electroacoustic improv and extreme/harsh noise.  The three are primetime improvisors, it's the defining element that links all three.  But what appeals to me about each of them is that they don't really "fit" anywhere.  Noise, free jazz, post rock, bebop, punk, scuzz.  If you are to play with them, you are to accommodate them, to get with the sound and discard the baggage, to open it up wide and be humble and just cruise. 

They put in two long pieces. The first was a culmination of a handful of live performances of Nate Wooley's Seven Storey Mountain, a version of which was released on Important Records (with David Grubbs and Paul Lytton).  The second is unadulturated free improvisation.  Please enjoy.  Many thanks to Mike Sin for engineering.