Transmusic Airwaves

The excitement builds this week on TRANSMUSIC AIRWAVES (Episode #314) as I await two great events I'll be watching and to celebrate them, playing appropriate music in their honor. Nick Mason of PINK FLOYD brings his band, 'Saucerful Of Secrets' to Akron early next week and the locally produced KEN NORDINE documentary airs on WNEO (45) PBS this weekend. In anticipation of each I've added an early PINK FLOYD cut to every set today and two pieces by the voice of Word Jazz, KEN NORDINE to this program.


From PINK FLOYD you'll hear 'Astronomy Domine,' 'Fearless,' 'See Emily Play,' 'Green Is The Colour,' and ultra – rare cuts 'Vegetable Man,' and 'Point Me At The Sky' (all on Nick and the band's set list). KEN NORDINE'S pieces include 'Nothing's Boy' (with H.P. LOVECRAFT) and 'Reaching Into In.'

Other noteworthy artists heard today include ROBERT KIDNEY, ALBERT COLLINS, KEVIN AYERS, GAUDI + NUSRAT FATAH ALI KHAN, THE VENTURES, JOE STRUMMER & THE MESCALEROS, MORPHINE, and HENRY COW. There's lots of NEW material mixed in as well from THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM, PANDA BEAR, TRIO DA KALI & KRONOS QUARTET, GALACTIC, and MARCO BELTRAMI (from his 'Free Solo' soundtrack).

For viewing times for the KEN NORDINE documentary:
https://westernreservepublicmedia.org/ken_nordine_video_for_the_ear.htm

A Transmusic Airwaves REWIND! From my May 10, 2013 program made after completing a hectic move to my new apartment in Chicago after two decades in the old place. Great music to celebrate the move with!

New Surroundings = New Releases.

On this week’s TRANSMUSIC AIRWAVES (#12), I’m celebrating my move to a new home after 26 years in a previous location. As you can tell from the above photo, it’s as different as night and day now. The old apartment had a yellow, cave-like hue to it. In the new surroundings there is so much light I just might get “tan” from living there.

So to celebrate, I’ve got loads of new material from such artists as DAVID BOWIE, (“Dancing Out in Space”), RICHARD THOMPSON (a cut from “Electric”), UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA (“The Opposite of Afternoon”), FLAMING LIPS (“Always There, In our Hearts”), BRYAN FERRY ORCHESTRA (jazz version of “Love is the Drug”), EBERHARD WEBER (“Wolfsburg” from Resume), TODD RUNDGREN (doing “Going Down to Maui” from Son of Rogues Gallery 2), COLD SPECKS, CRACK THE SKY, and the new ROBIN TROWER album.

Also included will be plenty of “world music” from such artists as ZAWOSE & BROOK, MARYAM MURSAL, BEBO VALDEZ & ISRAEL LOPEZ CACHERO and the usual “vault" specialties from NEW YORK GONG, AMON DUUL II, ELVIS PRESLEY, STEELEYE SPAN, TOM LEHRER, NEW RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, and CAPTAIN BEYOND. There’s plenty of variety in this week’s version of “unconventional free form radio”.

Today's Playlist:
Set# 1
ROBIN TROWER “Hound Dog” - Roots and Branches/SUBARACHNOID SPACE “Good Grief?”- Endless Renovation/BRIAN ENO “Julie With...” - Before and After Science/VICTOR KRUMMENCHER “Water Gone to Mist” - Out in the Heat/RICHARD THOMPSON “Good Things Happen to Bad People” - Electric/THE STANLEY BROTHERS “I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow” - Bluegrass Essential Collection/
Set #2
BEBO VALDEZ & ISRAEL LOPEZ CACHERO “Lagrinas Negras (Black Tears)” - Calle 54 Soundtrack/TODD RUNDGREN “Rolling Down To Old Maui” - Son of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys/CRACK THE SKY “Big Elephant” - Ostrich/PERE UBU “Lampshade Man” - Lady from Shanghai/SETI THE FIRST “Citric Dirt” - Melting Calvary/PETER GABRIEL “Down to Earth” - Wall-E Soundtrack/
Set #3
THE DEAD BOYS “I Need Lunch” - Younger, Louder, and Snottier; The Rough Mixes/ZAWOSE & BROOK “Ntambalize Lijenje : Pumpkin Life” - Assembly/MIKE CLARKE “Inner Visions (the Dream Sequence)” - Abstract Fusion/NEW YORK GONG “Much Too Old” - About Time/TOM LEHRER “The Old Dope Peddler” - The Remains of Tom Lehrer/NEW RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy” - The Adventures Of Panama Red/LOU REED “Endless Cycle” - New York/DEVVOTCHKA “C'est Ce la Part II” - Una Volta/
Set #4
SONIC YOUTH “Spoon (Can Song-Sonic Youth remix)” - Sacrilege (Can Tribute Album)/ROBBIE ROBERTSON “Making a Noise” - Contact from the Underground of Redboy/DAVID CUNNINGHAM “Black Air Tower” - Voice Works/CAPTAIN BEYOND “Starglow Energy” - Sufficiently Breathless/SIGUR ROS “Avalon” - Ágætis Byrjun/WIRE “Let's Panic Later” - 154 (Remastered)/AMON DUUL II “She Came Through the Chimney” - Yeti/
Set #5
STEELEYE SPAN “Alison Gross” - Portfolio/THE FLAMING LIPS “Always There, In Our Hearts” - The Terror/MARYAM MURSAL “Hamar (The Big City)” - The Journey/UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA “The Opposite of Afternoon” - II/COLD SPECKS “When the City Lights Dim” - I Predict a Graceful Expulsion/
Set #6
DAVID BOWIE “Dancing Out in Space” - The Next Day/EBERHARD WEBER “Wolfsburg” - Resume/BURNING SKY “Native Funk” - The Blood of the Land/THE AVETT BROTHERS “Paranoia In B-Flat Major” - Emotionalism/THE GODZ “White Cat Heat” - Contact High with the Godz/THE BRYAN FERRY ORCHESTRA “Love Is The Drug” - The Jazz Age/ELVIS PRESLEY “Baby Let's Play House” - Rockin' Bones: 1950's Punk and Rockabilly/TRICKY “Vent” - Pre-Millenium Tension/

This week on TRANSMUSIC AIRWAVES (Episode #313) I'll honor four of this years inductee's to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, devote a set of music to some of my favorite animation melodies, add several humorous distractions about records, and remember the late SCOTT WALKER.

I'll play songs by THE ZOMBIES, ROXY MUSIC, RADIOHEAD, and THE CURE to honor their formal induction Friday night into the Rock Hall during the first two sets today.

During the third set, you'll hear Disney pieces interpreted by HAL WILLNER & FRIENDS (Ken Nordine, Bill Frisell, Ralph Carney, Michael Stipe, Natalie Merchant, and others) from the 'Stay Awake' album, DONALD FRASER (and his string quartet version of 'Winnie The Pooh'), LOS LOBOS (covering The Jungle Book's 'I Wa'na Be Like You'), and even an ANDY PARTRIDGE song. In addition to Disney there's a CARL STALLING PROJECT Warner Brothers cartoon piece, the theme from the REN & STIMPY show, and other relatable music blended in as well.

Later I'll add some humorous takes on words and records by NEGATIVLAND, MONTY PYTHON, WILD MAN FISCHER, JOHN HARTFORD, and THE OSCAR PETERSON TRIO (with CLARK TERRY) before completing the program with a piece by the late SCOTT WALKER.

One of my many musical obsessions are cover's of a individual or bands song(s) by a variety of other musicians and during the course of each program I've produced there's a good chance you'll hear at least a couple pieces integrated into a set or two along the way.

This week while rummaging through some musical files I discovered a 'cover' album of HENRY MANCINI'S music so on today's TRANSMUSIC AIRWAVES (Episode #312) I've picked two melodies and I'll have them interpreted by six different artists during the fourth set. In honor of the late DICK DALE you'll hear him and POISON IVY (of The Cramps) each interpret 'Peter Gunn' while ORANJ SYMPHONETTE (featuring Ralph Carney), WHISKEY BISCUIT, DOUG SMITH with MARK HANSON, and HENRY MANCINI himself 'cover' 'A Shot In The Dark.' Each artists take on these are stylistically unique in their own right.

The 'cover' obsession continues with DEVO doing 'Working In A Coalmine' and MANU DIBANGO reworking Peter Gabriel's 'Biko.' In addition to all this TIN HUEY, SPARKS, IVOR CUTLER, and JON BATISTE surround each other in a separate set, while more 'vault' selections are played by CLUSTER & ENO, ULTRAVOX ( 'I Want To Be A Machine'), STOMU YAMASH'TA, and ROY HARPER throughout the program. As usual there's more NEW material from JANE WEAVER, BASSEKOU KOUYATE & NGONI BA, WUSSY, and RUSTIN MAN all making it another highly eclectic three hours that will never get boring.

I've been really excited about the past several shows and how the overall sound has come together and thought how could I possibly top the previous ones? Well my answer came this week with the latest installment of TRANSMUSIC AIRWAVES (Episode #311) and it's simple, 'If you build it...you can.'

There are numerous moments during this show where the segues are so subtle, so extraordinary, so unexpected that it'll literally floor you. For example, the fifth set has THE FLAMING LIPS, RICHARD SWIFT, and LOW all leading into a classically avant-garde EDGARD VARESE composition then morphing into of all things, the NEW YORK ROCK AND ROLL ENSEMBLE before finishing up with PATTI SMITH, WUSSY, and the rare Cleveland band CRUEL CRUEL MOON.

I've added more classic 'vault' cuts along the way including music from WENDY CARLOS ('Switched on Bach'), PHIL OCHS ('Rehearsals For Retirement'), AUDIENCE, and OS MUTANTES, while JACK KIDNEY and JOSEPH ARTHUR add their hometown ethic while being surrounded by the international sounds of ANGELIQUE KIDJO, AFRO CELT SOUND SYSTEM and STEELEYE SPAN.

And topping the whole effort off is a final set where I've combined selections from the epic suite 'Rivmic Melodies' by the SOFT MACHINE (from Volume 2) with THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE and others (GIL EVANS ORCHESTRA, OUT OF PHASE, TURTLE ISLAND STRING QUARTET, and Korean instrumentalist LUNA) interpreting 'Electric Ladyland,' and honoring that unique relationship between Hendrix and The Softs.

Highlights from Set #6:

“Selections from Soft Machine's 'Rivmic Melodies' Suite & Hendrix's 'Electric Ladyland”
SOFT MACHINE 'A Concise British Alphabet (Pt 2)/Hulloder' - Volume 2
GIL EVANS ORCHESTRA 'Gypsy Eyes' - The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays The Music of Jimi Hendrix
SOFT MACHINE 'Dada Was Here' - Volume 2
OUT OF PHASE 'Rainy Day, Dream Away' - Acoustic Ladyland: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix
SOFT MACHINE 'Thank You Pierrot Lunaire/Have You Ever Bean Green?' - Volume 2
JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE 'Burning Of The Midnight Lamp' - Electric Ladyland (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)**
SOFT MACHINE 'Pataphysical Introduction (Pt. 2)/Out of Tunes (Pt. 1)' - Volume 2
LUNA (PARK SUN YOUNG) 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)' - Luna
SOFT MACHINE Out of Tunes (Pt. 2) Volume 2
TURTLE ISLAND STRING QUARTET 'Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)' - Have You Ever Been?...

** = New or recent acquisition
OST = Original Soundtrack

This week on the latest TRANSMUSIC AIRWAVES (Episode #310) it's time to 'spring ahead' and move the clocks up an hour so I thought we'd celebrate by dedicating the fourth set to the subject of time. I'll start by playing the KEN NORDINE piece 'What Time is It?' and later on air a segment from an interview I did with Ken from 1981 where he muses about losing the entire month of March. There's also a playful spoken word rarity by THE PANTHER PLAYERS titled 'The Timekeeper' along with relatable musical pieces by GONG, WIRE, TUNE-YARDS, RICHARD SWIFT, VIVIAN STANSHALL, and the CHAMBER BROTHERS psychedelic classic, 'Time Has Come Today.'

From the 'vault' I've gathered more goodies including RARE BIRD'S 'Epic Forest,' DONOVAN'S 'Sunny Goodge Street,' THE DOORS 'Strange Days,' FRANCISCO and his Cosmic Beam, and JADE WARRIOR from the 'Floating World' album. There's international sounds from YO YO MA & THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE and Tuvan throat singer KONGAR-OL ONDAR, jazz from JOHN SCOLFIELD, guitar picking from LEO KOTTKE (with CAL HAND on pedal steel), and more new cuts from ANGELIQUE KIDJO, BRYAN FERRY & HIS ORCHESTRA, and JANE WEAVER.

For more information on Wussy's music:
https://wussy.bandcamp.com/

To get Peter Blegvad's new album, 'Go Figure':
https://peterblegvad.bandcamp.com/album/go-figure

There's plenty of new releases, 'vault' obscurities, wonderful 'covers,' and other surprises on this weeks TRANSMUSIC AIRWAVES (Episode #309). Whether your in the mood for obscure music from the DARK SHADOWS television show soundtrack, two covers of 'What A Wonderful World' (one from JON BATISTE'S latest and the other from ROBERT WYATT and friends), or a limited release and rarely heard TIN HUEY title I've got all your bases covered and then some.

There's NEW music from BASSEKOU KOUYATE & NGONI BA, the late RICHARD SWIFT, guitarist MICHAEL CHAPMAN, GALACTIC, SNAIL MAIL, GUIDED BY VOICES, and ANGELIQUE KIDJO (covering another Talking Heads gem) plus more 'vault' selections from SPIRIT ('Animal Zoo'), THE ZOMBIES (from Odessey & Oracle), GLASS HARP, and MICHAEL GILES.

In addition to all that GOMEZ also covers 'Sun King' from an Abbey Road tribute album, MONKS OF DOOM interprets 'Who Are The Brian Police,' and ROBERT LOCKWOOD JR. plays Robert Johnson's 'Walking Blues.' You'll also hear jazz from the JAN GARBAREK GROUP, contemporary strings from SETI THE FIRST, and electronica legends PROPELLERHEADS and SENOR COCONUT too! What's not to like this week folks?

For more information on Wussy's music:
https://wussy.bandcamp.com/

I've been on a pretty good creative roll lately on TRANSMUSIC AIRWAVES and am really proud of how the program has been sounding so I'm really excited to have you listen to my latest show, Episode #307, and see what you think.

Today I've chosen a couple of similar sounding bluegrass songs from THE BLUEGRASS CARDINALS and JOHN HARTFORD to start the festivities then I've added THE ROLLING STONES (from 'Their Satanic Majesties Request') and PORTLAND CELLO PROJECT followed by a new release from the band LOW and an older melody from JIM WHITE before completing the first half hour with killer segues of songs from SAN FERMIN and PERE UBU.

The second set gets going with the latest from GUIDED BY VOICES, BODEGA, JANE WEAVER, and STEVE HACKETT and finishes with a great 'cover' of Yellow Submarine' and the song 'Happyland' by HARPERS BIZARRE.

Later you'll hear a great blend of a JOHN BATISTE solo piano piece into DAVID BOWIE'S 'Lady Grinning Soul' followed by IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY in a set that also features HOT TUNA (from 'Burgers') and ends with THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND. I'll play a KEN NORDINE spoken word cut during today's final segment in honor of his legacy as well.

For more information on Chris Butler's 'Got It Togehter' release:
http://chrisbutler1.bandcamp.com/

For more information on Chris Butler's music:
http://www.futurefossilmusic.com/contents.htm

For more information on Wussy's music:
https://wussy.bandcamp.com/

On this edition of TRANSMUSIC AIRWAVES (Episode #307) I'll return to my early efforts of blending music with dialogue by using dialogue from 'The Big Lebowski' with two different versions of 'Tumbling Tumbleweeds' by LEO KOTTKE & CLINT EASTWOOD and other music from MEDESKI, MARTIN, & WOOD, JEFF TWEEDY, MARTY STUART & HIS FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES, LARRY CORYELL, GODLEY & CREME, and SUNDAY ALL OVER THE WORLD (Robert Fripp & wife Toya Wilcox) during today's first set.

Later on you'll hear new material from JON BATISTE, WUSSY, ANGELIQUE KIDJO (more from her 'Remain In Light' cover album), JANE WEAVER, VIKINGUR OLAFSSON (a solo piano piece by PHILLIP GLASS), KURT VILE, and JON HOPKINS. From the 'vault' there's NICK DRAKE, THE MALEDICTUS SOUND, KEVIN AYERS, GURU GURU (the later two artists with songs about bananas), ALICE COOPER ('Titanic Overture'), and BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD ('Expecting To Fly').

Both BRYAN FERRY & HIS ORCHESTRA and BRIAN ENO are played in honor of their 'Rock Hall' induction as is LAURIE ANDERSON & KRONOS QUARTET for their Grammy award for their 'Landfall' release.

This week MATCHING MOLE, 15-60- 75 (THE NUMBERS BAND), BLUE CHEER, MONKS OF DOOM, ANGELIQUE KIDJO (interpreting Talking Heads 'Listening Wind'), and XTC are just six of forty three musical reasons to tune into TRANSMUSIC AIRWAVES (Episode #306).

I've gathered some stellar music that seamlessly moves from song to song during each set beginning with the band HOT RATS covering The Doors 'Crystal Ship' and completing the program with MCKENDREE SPRING 'S rendition of 'No Regrets.'

It's not just 'covers' though, my choices this time run the gamut from a classic soundtrack piece by NINO ROTA mixed in with cuts by TUXEDOMOON, RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, JOHN FAHEY, acoustic JIMI HENDRIX (from the 50th Anniversary of 'Electric Ladyland'), and PETER BLEGVAD'S latest, to assembling other NEW cuts from WUSSY, JON BATISTE, KHRUANGBIN, and BODEGA with older music from ALISON BROWN, HUMAN SWITCHBOARD, BILL BRUFORD'S EARTHWORKS, and JOSEPH ARTHUR.

You'll just have to tune in to understand how it all fits together but it's well worth the listen!

For more about music from The Numbers Band (15-60-75):
http://www.numbersband.com/

To get Peter Blegvad's new album, 'Go Figure':
https://peterblegvad.bandcamp.com/album/go-figure