Tuesday, March 26, 2019

BLASST 84 - TRACKLIST + NOTES

TRACKLIST
1. Dolly Parton - "We Had It All"
2. Scott Walker - "Epizootics!"
3. Scott Walker - "Manhattan"
4. Scott Walker & Sunn O))) - "Brando"
5. David Bowie - "Nite Flights"
6. Scott Walker - "Black Sheep Boy"
7. The Walker Brothers - "I Will Wait For You (Theme From Les Parapluies De Cherbourg)"
8. Jacques Brel - "Ne Me Quitte Pas"
9. The Walker Brothers - "Just Say Goodbye"
10. Catherine Wheel - "30 Century Man"
11. Scott Walker - "Track Three"
12. The Walker Brothers - "Nite Flights"
13. The Walker Brothers - "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore"


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Aside from watching live music, I spent this past weekend with friends talking about ghosts, spirits of the undead that walk the earth either of their own volition or by some other order, having a brief moment where I thought I had encountered a ghost (RIGHT BEFORE BED) which turned out to be one of my friends' friends showing up after hours, and finally, listening to the music of Scott Walker.

My friend Eric who introduced him to me did so in the same way he introduces me to any other artist: he puts on a record of theirs at low volume, talks about their story for a bit, raises the volume on the record and says nothing for a time, then lowers the volume once more and continues, only in more detail. This time, he began by playing The Walker Brothers' "Nite Flights", which I recognized as a song I had heard David Bowie play on his album, Black Tie White Noise. The production and playing style immediately let me know this version of the song was more than likely the original—Bowie's cover adapts the song into an electronic dance jam—and from there, Eric goes on to play me more Walkers Brothers tracks while telling me that Scott had gone on to have an extremely prolific solo career that ventured deep into strange, unknown territory. I would not know how strange until today, upon learning of Walker's passing, a day after learning of his existence in this world. Scott Walker's desire to feel creatively fulfilled was not open to compromise, and especially not open to the influence of the music industry. He refused to do interviews for a long period of time, releasing music on his own terms, whenever things felt ready to him, and while this did mean albums would take 10 years to come out (or 10 years of work), it meant that what we the listeners would be treated(?) to something that Walker considered an appropriate expression of his creativity at that point in time. That may chafe some, but as an artist I have deep respect that conviction, which is something that I find more and more artists in the world struggling with. That is, the ownership of their artistic process. I feel like more and more young artists (who would choose to err toward Walker's idealist creative behavior) find themselves struggling to own their process in a music world that demands artists play by it's own rules and not their own. I've seen this negatively shape their relationship to their own work, distort their self-image, and in some cases, sever the connection artists have to their creative spark. 

Perhaps if we, like Walker, learn to disconnect from the social system of reward, and live on our terms as we did before we were introduced to social media, perhaps we could stand a chance of regaining our creative strength and possibly living more fulfilling (maybe even happier?) lives. Something to think about in the days moving foward.

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See y'all next week!

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

BLASST 83 - SPACE II - TRACKLIST + NOTES

BLASST 83 TRACKLIST
1. Infinite Bisous - "Importance"
2. Moondog - "Bird's Lament"
3. The Cleaners From Venus - "This Rainy Decade"
4. Boris - "A Bao a Qu"
5. Karlheinz Stockhausen - "Kontakte"
6. Houssam Gania - "Moulay Lhacham"
7. Alice Coltrane - "Galaxy In Turiya"
8. Pharaoh Sanders - "Astral Traveling"
9. Yusef Lateef - "Sunset"
10. Pauline Oliveros - "Bye Bye Butterfly"
11. Suzanne Ciani - "The First Wave: Birth of Venus"

12. Meredith Monk - "Unison"

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NOTES: 
Ok, I decided I'm not going to continue spelling out the episode numbers because that's some cornball-ass shit. I don't care what Apple decides to do to my episodes, it's just not worth it. Anyway, we go back into space on this broadcast, and I get to play all the stuff I wanted to play last week, but couldn't. 

As you should know if you've been paying attention, I've been really interested in playing music that prioritizes space in all it's forms on this and last week's broadcasts, be it physical space, metaphorical space, conceptual space, space as a science-fictional concept, and as an overall theme of expansion and exploration. I associate those terms with this theme in particular: "expansion" and "exploration". When I think of space, I wonder more about what I can't comprehend than what I can. I've been a fan of science-fiction since I was a kid, films, books, games—you name it. They expanded my mind and introduced me to worlds unknown, bringing me an uneasy sense of comfort in the role of spectator to the terrific chaos of the cosmos. I grew up with science-fiction films that were largely scored by synthesizers, visualized with more prosthetics and models than CGI, and heavily influenced by the growing pains of it's point in time; a veritable "wild west" of technological experimentation and innovation that told me "anything is possible." So when I approach music with these ideas, I find the same comfort in exploring the way they are interpreted by different artists. Whether through a crooked pattern of noises and impulses like Stockhausen and his "raummusik" ("space music" in German), or by an expansive swell of strings and percussion bringing to mind visualizations of open fields of clouds, stars as far as the eye can see such as on Alice Coltrane's World Galaxy LP (of which we feature a track "Galaxy in Turiya" today), today's broadcast seeks a distortion of the senses, a supplemental experience of time and space, or at best, a meditation on the interconnection of things as defined by their distance from each other. I think this meditation can find parallels in our present day in ways I'm sure you, the reader, will be more than able to determine on your own. I hope you enjoy this broadcast, I had a lot of fun putting it together. Might bring back a Space III in the near future, but not before Soundtracks III, which is coming soon. Thanks for listening, and be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to us, so you can catch our new episodes every week! Follow us at the links below, and feel free to reach out with an e-mail!

Bon Voyage,

A

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Tuesday, March 12, 2019

BLASST 82 - SPACE I - TRACKLIST + NOTES

BLASST 82 TRACKLIST
1. Quiet Kids - "On Your Mind"
2. Grouper - "Driving"
3. Sun Ra - "Space Is The Place"
4. Kaoru Abe - "Winter No. 2"
5. Fushitsusha - "Hazama"
6. Joanna Brouk - "The Space Between"
7. Black Spirituals - "Container"


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"I don't know if sound waves take up mass, but you know what I mean."

That's a quote from this most recent broadcast of BLASST, which focused on the theme of Space, in all it's forms. I had a lot planned, and due to time constraints (and possibly the malaise of spring break), I didn't get to go through most of it. I think this may have been due to excessive rambling on my part, as well as the fact that most of the show was occupied by the piece I centered the entire program around, Joanna Brouk's "The Space Between" off of her debut album, Hearing Music. The 22-minute piano composition is a meditation of time and space, and a perfect example of the fact that the space between what we play (or do, if you're not a musician) is just as important as the what we play (or do). 

I think there is a mistaken assessment of the absence of something as negative, especially in music. Moreso today than ever, songwriters are pressured to fill every single second of their songs with sound, resulting more and more often in congested, bloated works of music that are more exhausting than they are enjoyable the closer this practice becomes to the pop music atmosphere. Sure, there is a time and place for a constant barrage of sound, but I believe that there also exists a need to value the silence between sounds, as it is always unique. Think about it, silence is never the same, it's always different, and unique to your surroundings. It is with this idea in mind that I devoted last night's broadcast (as well as next week's) to music that prioritizes space as both a literal, figurative, and conceptual theme. Personally, I've been paying more attention to music that applies these themes in my personal life, notably Solange's recent two albums, A Seat At The Table, and When I Get Home, two albums that masterfully wield space as a creative tool. I'll have more notes next week, but for now, enjoy this broadcast of the program, and enjoy the space between this and it's follow-up to the best of your ability.

A closing note, Kaoru Abe's album Winter came out in 1973-74, not '78 as I say on the show. It was released on Sound Works label out of Osaka, Japan. Here is the film clip I referenced in the show. The person speaking with sunglasses on is Keiji Haino, whom we see perform alongside Kaoru Abe and his group, Fushitsusha.

A

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Tuesday, March 5, 2019

BLASST 81 - TRACKLIST + NOTES

BLASST 81 TRACKLIST
1. The Prodigy - "Out of Space"
2. The Prodigy - "Their Law (ft. Pop Will Eat Itself)"
4. Lizzy Mercier Descloux - "Hard-Boiled Babe"
5. The Prodigy - "Firestarter"
6. Atmosphere - "Wild Wild Horses"
7. Solange - "S McGregor (interlude)"
8. Solange - "Down With the Clique"
9. Fishmans - "Long Season Pt. 1"
10. Pecas - "Tuesdays"
11. Dezorah - "To Be"
12. Katzù Oso - "Coqueta"
13. Yruama - "Mars"
14. Stef Chura - "Spotted Gold"
15. Gustaf - "A Dream (demo)"
16. TV Flesh - "Bad Acid"
17. Stereolab - "Orgiastic"


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NOTES:
This was one of the more fun episodes I've done lately, on a personal level. I elevated my computer and workstation, which resulted in my standing for the entirety of the show, and subsequently dancing during a lot of these tracks (even the slower ones). I feel really good about it, the flow, the variety of artists we played in this show (a lot of the bands that will be playing DREAMS this weekend take up the latter half of the program!!!) and my banter was particularly on point as well (code for: I didn't ramble that much last night). 

Yesterday also marks the death of Keith Flint, dancer and vocalist from the groundbreaking EDM group, The Prodigy. Like I said last week and the week before (for some reason), I'm still not that versed in dance musics, but last night had me delving a little deeper to learn more about Keith and the band, and their place in the world. All I can say following this brief, brief bout of research is that learning about EDM genres is even more intimidating than I could ever imagine. I found a YouTube video that gave examples of SIXTY (60) different genres and styles of EDM. I found that absolutely mind-blowing. Not because they all can easily be mistaken for each other, but for how much time and energy the world has put into entire genres that are based off of their slight variation of another form. It's a slightly more intimidating version of navigating the smorgasbord of white christian faiths (baptists, latter-say saints, former-day saints, jehovah's witnesses, etc), they're all based on the same core principles, but differ greatly if you start to dive deeper into them and make them a bigger part of your life. 

Anyway, yesterday was an educational day, though of course, through unfortunate circumstances. It was, after all, reported that Keith Flint took his own life. His reasons for doing so are not known, but the world is shaken, and rightfully so. No one knows what was going through his mind at the time, what he was experiencing in his life, etc. It's a reminder that you should check in on your friends, no matter how well you think they're doing. Even if they don't get back to you or if the conversation only lasts a few messages or words, all that matters is that you try. I don't have the best days sometimes, and on those days, reaching out to friends is the best thing I can do for myself. I wish I saw people more often, but as happens when you and your friends grow up, your lives sometimes move in different directions, and your schedules differ. Sometimes your friends don't live around you anymore, and the only way you keep in contact is by making that effort to keep up with them. This is normal, and in my opinion necessary. It's strange to think about worlds in which people you admire no longer exist. It sort of makes you wonder how much you've personally put into sustaining this world you have been influenced to believe in.

More words next week along with more music. Thanks for tuning in this week. Please go to the DREAMS festival. The lineup is absolutely solid (as usual with Tigersblood.org events) and it also may be one of the last times I play music in a live setting with SUPER for some time. We still have a lot of merch, so if you feel like picking some of it up, I'll have it on hand. 

Thanks for reading. Send us an e-mail: uupunk at gmail dot com

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BLASST 132: C. Diaz

TRACKLIST 1. Björk - "Big Time Sensuality" 2. Ataque de Caspa - "Viaje a Egipto" 3. PJ Harvey - "Is This Desire?&qu...