by bill | Mar 15, 2025 | Audio transmissions |
I only just learned about this record, a ragged but charming slice of folk-psych from the mid-Seventies that apparently is lost in some sort of rights limbo; it’s not on Spotify and has never been reissued on vinyl. The sole copy available on Discogs carries an asking price of $3500.
But it is on YouTube for free. I can’t recommend it without qualification; at times it sounds like they underrehearsed and/or overindulged. But if you want to feel rich for 33 minutes while listening to something pleasantly warped, have at it:
by bill | Feb 9, 2025 | Audio transmissions, Bread and circuses |
Only this week did I learn of the death, one year ago today, of Kenji “Damo” Suzuki. We weren’t close; I knew him from his work with CAN in the early 1970s, which I only discovered by tracing back from the bands they’d influenced, most notably Pavement.
I thought of CAN this week as people adopted the spoon as symbol of resistance to the man some people call the Space Nazi. I used to think that was an exaggeration, but apparently not. I am going to call him That Other Fucking Guy; while the president sits in the Oval signing executive orders that he hasn’t read, TOFG has been running around trying to dismember the government like Jeffrey Dahmer with a bunch of laptop-toting interns in tow.
Nobody likes bureaucracy and no doubt there is a lot of waste that needs to be cut. But the way it’s being done is capricious, cruel, and I think illegal. The worst part of it is TOFG’s childish glee as he announces USAID has been fed “into the wood chipper” or that the Department of Education no longer exists. These are the livelihoods of thousands of people we’re talking about, asshole. Wipe that fucking smirk off your face.
Anyway, here’s a song for today:
by bill | Sep 18, 2024 | Audio transmissions |
One of the many ongoing projects is to go back and clean up older entries on this site — fixing broken links, reposting missing images, etc. So far I have made it as far as 2009, when I got into the habit of posting short mixes of songs in alphabetical order. The original mp3s are long gone so I’ve been recreating them and putting them up on the indispensable Mixcloud. Some of them are just OK, but this one I like a lot:
If so inclined, you can see the original post with playlist here. In any case, have a lovely day.
by bill | Aug 12, 2024 | Audio transmissions |
Just a few months ago I had cause to lament the loss of the Wolfgang Press, who “made a few great albums and then dropped off the face of the Earth” circa 1995.
Well, what do you know? They’re back. A new song popped up a few days ago and the video says it’s from a new album called A 2nd Shape.
Is it a great song? I dunno. But I’ll take it.
by bill | Dec 21, 2023 | Audio transmissions |
So we have arrived again at the Great Turning. The days will now start getting longer, and not a moment too soon.
I always like to post something on this day, and yesterday the powers of the random shuffle reminded me of a music mix that I previously shared… let’s see… can it really be seven years ago?
It leans into the idea that it is healthy to wallow a bit in darkness before pivoting to face the light, which dovetails with the observation of Festivus two days hence (the airing of grievances and whatnot). If you want the full package, just scroll down a little.
But if you prefer to jump straight to the uplift, and/or don’t have an hour to waste, this is where things are going to end up:
Whenever I’m feeling glum about the state of things in this benighted land of ours, where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, I reach for Funkadelic to pull me out of the funk. “Everybody Is Going to Make It This Time,” which rings more prophetic now than ever, always triggers a lil’ stirring of hope. Any country that can give birth to such a thing can’t be all bad.
(more…) by bill | Feb 5, 2023 | Audio transmissions |
A while back I was listening to the Band’s song “Life Is a Carnival”:
And, you know, sometimes Ls sound like Rs, and Levon’s drawl makes the vowels a little squirrelly, so for a moment I heard it as “life is a carnivore.” And I thought to myself: What a great title. I want to use that as the title for something.
So now I have. That’s it. That’s the post.
