Sunday, January 14th, 2007 ... midnight - 3:00 a.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

(HEY!... some news about the local band The Molecules is listed below... )

The objective was to shift through as many genres as possible. Patsy Cline and Shriekback in the same set; how can you go wrong with that? In the past, I'd do this in segments -- a cluster of country, a cluster of hard stuff, etc. This time, I wanted to try faster shifts, more abrupt changes, while maintaining a sensible flow. It's closer to what I'd often do with the show in my earlier years, a mode I'm hoping to rekindle in my regular programming.

While I didn't fall back on my safety valve (King Crimson), I did toss in a Godley & Creme track because it came to mind when planning that set. Godley & Creme's albums, particularly L and Freeze-Frame and Ismism (also called Snack Attack) are my secret weapons at the station. Overall, less indie rock than usual.

I'm thinking of trying to do these patchwork late-night shows regularly. Tentative name: "Rorschach's Dance." Artsy, ooooh.

Format:
ARTIST -- "TRACK TITLE" -- ALBUM TITLE (LABEL, YEAR)
Horizontal lines denote microphone breaks.

Sparks -- "Dick Around" -- Hello Young Lovers (In the Red, 2006)

A great single that makes for a colossal show opener, as it's got that big wall of vocals like "Bohemian Rhapsody." And like that tune, you have to wait a bit for the really good part to kick in -- the churn of metal guitars, doing simple but really loud riffs. I love this song.

* The Carter Family -- "Amber Tresses" -- The Carter Family (Sphere, 2006; orig. released c.1977)

Not the Carter Family, but a set of sisters who happen to be named Carter. The year 1977 is a guess... it's a '70s reissue of some kind. Light country fare.

Forgot to back-announce "Dick Around" before launching into the 12- minute Zappa track. If there's a band that needs the on-air mention, it's these guys (30 years of going unnoticed in their home country), so I gave them another spin.

Local punk band. This is one of their less aggressive tracks, kind of poppy. Such nice boys.

From Berne's short stint with the big time at Columbia. Whether it was his own choice or via A&R pressure, the second track on the album happens to be of hit-single length, three minutes. Of course, it opens with curly improv trumpet noises from Herb Robertson that are far from "radio friendly," but it does get into a happy little groove. Sort of. Anyway, Berne and Columbia soon parted ways, but that little bit of extra exposure did wonders for his career -- something for which we should all be thankful.

Fun modern Hungarian/Romanian stuff. This one's an a capella number, for a particularly cool sound. Weird lyrics, though -- the English translation, in part, goes: "The car is coming, tooting toward Becs / Aladar is sitting in it / There's a boot and a stick under his armpit / So is he driving to Becs."

A set based on a song title. I'd expected to find more variety, more unrelated songs called "Fall to Pieces" ... but no, all I dug up was cover after cover of the Patsy Cline classic. The exception was Six Finger Satellite's gloomy, ominous, but not quite downtempo electronica. Of the other versions, Michael Nesmith's is the most faithful to the country ethic, and The Movie Stars, who were apparently local, were IMHO the best, with a crisply poppy sound like the Continental Drifters' more upbeat stuff.

And then there was The And, as mentioned, kind of an MTV-wannabe band in a post-MTV world. They're actually the ones that started all this -- I'd found the CD in the library a few years ago, gave it a listen, disliked it, end of story. Except the band name stuck in my head -- apparently that part of the concept worked -- and years later, I looked up the CD in our Zookeeper music database, saw the "Fall to Pieces" track (not knowing for sure it was the Patsy cline tune) and did a search for the title. Boredom leads to some really pointless radio tricks.

Live rendition, like it says, with Hank Snow doing the classic radio-guy introduction. (You know, "A lady who's climbing up the pop charts...") Just in case there was one listener out there appalled that I didn't play Patsy in that last set.

Appears to be a combination of then-"new" tracks and some older ones, sort of a goodbye retrospective? Don't know for sure; i'll have to look this up in Trouser Press. This one got rescued from our library by DJ David Bug; a lot of CDs circa 1990 arrived before we'd set up our Zookeeper database and are only now getting keyed in. (Same goes for the vinyl; we've had Sheik Yerbouti since its original release, but it wasn't in the database until I typed it in tonight.)

This CD comes with an awesome diagram showing who was in the band from year to year, and where they went next. Big fun for fans of the "rock family tree" concept.

From a 3-CD retrospective of Buddy's 50-year career. Our copy arrived without liner notes, so I don't know offhand when this was recorded (very recently, in any event). Amusing that Buddy sings "the price you have to pay" on a number of choruses. It's grammatically conscious blues.

Had to toss hip-hop into the mix, right? And I struck gold skimming through the hip-hop rotation CDs. Hard-slamming stuff with a nasty piano groove sample. Cutting, intelligent lyrics about the warped state of society. I'm impressed.

Previously noted here. Opens with an unaccompanied bassline that made a nice come-down transition from Mars Ill, then gets into a good mid/fast groove.

A dry, crisp electronica track, making for a nicely low-key entry from the jazz stuff.

My obsession with these guys was noted here. They make for great late-night listening. This is a 7-minute song, one of their artsier pop efforts with lots of phases and hummable melodies, anchored by a jazzy electric-piano chorus. Seriously, dig up these guys' '70s albums (avoid anything '80s with Trevor Horn on it) and/or the more "normal," accessible, Goodbye Blue Sky.

Classic Bay Area avant-rock, crazy stuff in that Japanoise Boredoms/Ruins vein, but with a heavier leaning on prickly, aggressive improv. A band that included Ron Anderson (guitar, trumpet, electronics?), Thomas Scandura (drums), and John Shiurba (guitar; possibly bass; no, I didn't do my research here). Anderson would eventually leave town IIRC, while Shiurba stuck around to complete a variety of interesting projects. Steel Toe was their first of six released CDs.

Found out today that The Molecules are back together as a trio, the three guys noted above. They've got an album coming out, Friends, that includes some old, unreleased footage and a DVD video. And they'll be doing a tour that starts with two local shows:

• Jan. 27, 2007 at the Hemlock Tavern, with excellent local prog band miRthkon (see here) and the awe-inspiringly precise noise-rock of Compomicro-Dexall
• Jan. 28 at 21 Grand in Oakland, with Jorge Boehringer and Mute Socialite, a band that includes Ava Mendoza and Moe! Staiano as members, should be nice and noisy.

After a handful of West-coast dates, they're then headed to Europe for two weeks, including an appearance at the Vandoeuvre Musique Action Festival in France. It can't be easy getting the band back together, considering how long it's been, so it's good to see them get some nice gigs. Hopefully we'll get an interview in with them. before the 28th.

Speaking of unkeyed stuff, here's a 7" CD I unearthed while doing the search for the "Fall to Pieces" set. (We had a Screaming Weasels single and a CD cut of theirs, both with the song, but neither made the cut -- sorry guys, there's only so much of that song I can take.) Very pleasant surprise. It's in that '90s "alternative" rock vein with strong punk elements, too hard for MTV, but also shows some pop melodicism and serious songwriting chops as they shift to softer chords later in the song. This one deserves to be remembered; moments like this make me glad to be doing what I'm doing, even if nobody's listening.

From fairly hard rock into blistering, blurry metal, the kind where it's just a fog of noise and you (or at least I) can't tell what's going on inside it. Picked this one because it's one of the least-played metal CDs in rotation now. That doesn't mean it's bad; I can tell you from the jazz side, I'll often neglect a good CD for weeks on end because it's too awkward a fit... or for no good reason beyond forgetfulness.

Hee hee hee. The abrupt transition from "punishingly-loud hard-stop" to "fast friendly bluegrass" is a lot more obvious than you'd think, especially when the bluegrass song opens with solo guitar or banjo and the metal song stops on a dime. I use that trick relatively often, actually.

Oh god, what a mistake. Trying for another sudden style shift, and coming off the high of Horror on Prog Mountain VII, I decided to toss on a Yes song. I don't like Drama, but I'll often spin something I don't like, because hey, I might be wrong. This time, I WASN'T WRONG. This is the album with Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes (The Buggles) in the band, so it's subpar from square one ... but this song, in particular, goes out of its way to use "yes" in the lyrics, a ton. It's annoying. This can go back on the shelf for a long, long time.

Previously noted here. This one gets an asterisk for being in "reanimation," an A-file offshoot of newly acquired, older CDs.

Local tubist (!) who electronically alters the horn's sound to create these lingering soundscapes. He's also included didjeridoo and voice in the mix, and probably some pure electronics, too. This one's a particularly calming drone.

Pop song. Pretty cool local band with an airy guitar-rock feel, in a nicely stretched-out six-minute song. More incongruous a transition than I wanted, on both sides, but it's still a nice son.

A piece for solo accordion, sparse but laid-back rather than ominous. DJ Mufaor notes that the pieces on this CD are a bit new-agey; they're definiately more tonal than not but do have a bit of experimental touch to them. Many thanks to Bridge, by the way, for sending us a freakin' box of current CDs; it's taken us months to make a dent in it, and we've still got plenty more to go.

* = Item in KZSU rotation

-- Go back to Memory Select playlists.
-- Bay Area free/improv music calendar: http://www.bayimproviser.com.