There was no sports broadcast this evening and no volunteer to fill the dead time, so I took it. Used the show as a chance to give away tickets to various upcoming shows.
Format:
ARTIST -- "TRACK TITLE" -- ALBUM TITLE (LABEL, YEAR)
Horizontal lines denote microphone breaks.
* Kenny MacKenzie Trio -- "Song One" -- Closer to the Day (self-released, 2007)
* Olekranon -- "Devil Effect" -- Tins and Shadows (self-released, 2007)
Blue Oyster Cult -- "Perfect Water" -- Club Ninja (Columbia, 1986)
Amid all that embarrassment is this track, written by
Buck Dharma and
Jim Carroll. It's a really good song -- given a bit of
'80s hair-metal sheen of course, but still good at its core.
It deserves to be heard. Just don't let anyone see the album cover.
This is going to get filed in the experimental/noise shelves of
my brain, but it's got actual rhythms and tones to it. More like
droney, dark little instrumentals, but it's put together with an
improv/noise aesthetic, if that makes sense.
Grotus -- "Up Rose the Mountain" -- Slow Motion Apocalypse (Alternative Tentacles, 1993)
Cool! Aggressive, heavy rock a la M.I.R.V., but more artsy and less
punky, with heavy tough-guy vocals that sit somewhere between grunge and
metal. A nice slice of Primus-era college rock that's not quite as
nerdy.
Patton Oswalt -- "Steak" -- Feelin' Kinda Patton (United Musicians, 2004)
Standup routine about steak, culminating in Oswalt's litany of
Black Angus terror. The joke is that the commercials, in bragging about
the amount of food they'll give you, have become downright threatenting.
Hilarious stuff. As KZSU'ers often do, I added a soundbed, bringing up
the Halverson track as the Black Angus schtick built up.
* Nathan Halverson -- "Off-Eyed Manx" -- Nurse/Shark (Peapod, 2007)
Looped guitar drones that sound quite pleasant, actually.
Harp [Holly Near, Arlo Guthrie, Ronnie Gilbert, and Pete Seeger) -- "Small Business Blues" -- Harp (Redwood, 1986)
Labor-friendly folk song, of course, but with a business-friendly
theme: It's about how U.S. businesses are getting pounded down by
big corporate trends such as outsourcing. And that was back in 1986. Hm.
As if the name wasn't clue enough, nor the comic-book album cover
featuring a space station and a giant space robot -- this album blows.
You wouldn't expect the departure of a drummer to affect a rock band much,
but Albert Bouchard was responsible for much of the darker, harder
material the group used to put out. (Then again, he did write
"You're Not the One.") About half the album wasn't written by BOC members,
giving this the appearance of a project slapped together just to
fulfill a contract requirement. And those outsider contributions are
just wretched -- awful bubble-gum pop, a taste of "metal" as imagined by
a mall rat who's never heard anything heavier than Cyndi Lauper.
There's a song called "Beat 'Em Up" and another called "Make Rock Not
War." On the plus side, neither one was penned by BOC members, so
they can wash their hands of this. A little.
Vijay Iyer and Mike Ladd --
"Cleaning Up the Mess" -- Still Life with Commentator (Savoy Jazz, 2007)
Previously noted here.
In hindsight, I could have used this time slot to just replay
the Iyer interview (follow that link for a summary).
* Tony Wilson 6tet -- "I Am the Walrus" -- Pearls Before Swine (Drip Audio, 2007)
* Moe! Staiano's Moe!kestra -- "Conducted Improvisation Piece No. 6: Depleted Uranium (2003)" -- Two Rooms of Uranium Inside 83 Markers: Conducted Improvisations Vol. II (Edgetone, 2007)
* = Item in KZSU rotation
! = Pop anomaly
? = Item not in KZSU library
-- Go back to Memory Select playlists.
-- Bay Area free/improv music calendar: http://www.bayimproviser.com.