BLASST 113: ARE WE GUCCI?

TRACKLIST

1. David Bowie - "I'm Afraid of Americans"

2. KeiyaA - "A Mile, a Way"

3. Recovery Girl - "Let's Go Bitch"

4. NNAMDÏ - "Everyone I Loved"

5. P22 - "Endling Chorus For The Terminarch"

6. L@s Skagaler@s - "PXPX"

7. Las Nubes - "Demonize"

8. Moody Garland - "Supposed To Be"

9. TV Flesh - "Turning, Turning, Turning"

10. Dead Finks - "Box Office Poison"

11. Jordan Reyes - "Beaten Path"

12. Kali Malone - "Meantone Canon"

13. Shanti Celeste - "Aqua Block"

14. Little Richard - "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"

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NOTES

Contrary to what was said by a now-infamous partier at South Padre Island, the coronavirus does - in fact - exist, and it continues to wreak havoc on the United States, though not entirely in the way you might assume. First, we had the pandemic to worry about, and now we have its agents of destruction - ignorant, entitled Americans desperate to cling to their pre-COVID sense of the world - coughing and spitting on people out of spite, many of which work for the businesses said Americans fought so desperately to reopen, and further spreading the virus to those around them. This is happening all over the country. Yes, even in the Rio Grande Valley, and it's a growing problem that doesn't show any signs of stopping while the pandemic persists. 
For someone like myself, who takes no solace in any of the articles being released about potential risk factors of various daily activities, this situation just makes me want to stay home even more than before. Some people would prefer to lean into the slim chance that things will be just fine, and while I can empathize with that, I still think it's ultimately irresponsible for people to try taking their chances while countless others don't have the privilege to do so. 

As for the content of today's episode, I'm returning to focusing on music programming. COVID CALLS will continue as new conversations appear, and new episodes will be released accordingly. Today, I dive through the sea of music I purchased on Bandcamp's recent Revenue Share Day - a lot - and also share some jams I've had swirling through my mind from various corners of the internet. It's incredible how much music flies under our radar, only making it to our ears when a chance encounter or perhaps chance swipe? brings it into our life. 
KeiyaA's album Forever, ya Girl is one such record. I was watching one of Moses Sumney's homebound IG Livestreams one night, and when someone asked him what he'd been listening to lately, he brought up KeiyaA's album. Speaking very highly of it, he said it had r&b and lo-fi elements, and coming from someone whose music I already adored, I was sold. Listening to it is unlike any r&b album experience I've had (granted, not that many) in that it felt very modern and jazzy in its structure, not so much its music, more like a sound poem. 
Las Nubes were one of my many bandcamp finds that truly blew my mind upon first listen. A rockin trio from Miami, I can't even remember how I came across their page on bandcamp, but the first release I heard was their split with Palomino Blond, another Miami group. Admittedly, PB's side of the 12" LP was not as compelling, but Las Nubes' two tracks were good enough for me to order the album anyway. I think you may agree, if hazy rock music is your thing.

Some excellent selections from local (and once local) artist are on the show today as well! 

Moody Garland is the new solo project of one Justin Marin, who many older Valley heads such as myself may remember for his ripping guitar work in Brownsville's own explosive rock quartet, White Zebra. Justin's been living in Dallas for a good while now, and has been working with a few bands, but at present only seems to be releasing music under this new pseudonym. His new EP, Emotional Labor, is a heart-on-sleeve tome of dreamy bedroom-pop/rock goodness.
TV Flesh's latest self-titled EP, recorded just a few weeks ago just after shelter-in-place ordinances were lifted, is another step forward for the hungry group of noise-makers into searing, emotionally-charged rock with a bit of a shoegaze-y undertone to it. Like if the band's music were a wine, this undertone would only be palatable if you do the whole sniff-swish-spit business. Not all that excited about the fact that the band met up to put this together, considering the risks it poses to their health, but I suppose they can rightfully say their efforts were not in vain. Hope to see some of these tracks re-recorded in the future.
L@s Skagaler@s, an RGV music scene mainstay carrying the ska-punk torch, contributed a track to this year's Skank for Choice benefit compilation (S4C is a yearly benefit show thrown by South Texans 4 Reproductive Justice, a local org that provides abortion support services) and chose a setlist staple, "PXPX" from the band's self-titled 2016 EP. A band that's always ready to put their politics where their mouth-pieces are, the Skags are no stranger to the program, and always ready to rock out or blow some conservative's head off with the sheer volume of their horn section. For my interview with the band, check out BLASST 92.

At the end of the program, I played a clip from a show Little Richard did in the UK in '64. He blew minds that night, and just might continue to for the uninitiated upon initial viewing of this show. I promised I'd link it below, so here it is.

RIP to the Architect.

More music next week. As always, stay safe, stay healthy, and please, to the best of your ability, stay home. I know it's not realistic to abstain from leaving the house to do stuff, but just keep the risks in mind and do your best to curb them. This is a helpful article a friend shared on social media that helped ease a bit of my concerns since recording this episode. It doesn't change my feelings toward the people in the opening montage, but it does ease my alarm when it comes to seeing people out and about. Read it here.

Also, I'm working on t-shirt designs, so soon you'll be able to take the BLASST / Universal Punk name with you wherever you go (grumblegrumblegrumble) and parade yourself around the world in style!

EDIT: We have a Discord now. It's like a chatroom, but cooler. We'll post updates and build a community form there. To visit it, click this sentence.

AS

BLASST 112: COVID CALLS 5

TRACKLIST
1. George Jones & Willie Nelson - "I Gotta Get Drunk"
2. Idles - "Mother"
3. Rex Orange County - "10/10"

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NOTES
Today's broadcast will be our last in the COVID CALLS series for the time being. 

It's been a pleasure to share these stories with you all over the past five weeks, and I believe that the best way to move forward with this project (which, as I've said, will continue throughout the pandemic) is to gather some new, more updated conversations with people about the present state of things in the Rio Grande Valley. 

As most people in Texas know, the state has been "re-opened" for about three weeks now, and entered it's second phase today, which allows for businesses such as bars, nail salons, and gyms to open back up with certain occupancy rules. This, all while the case numbers keep rising as more and more people are tested for COVID-19. The risks have yet to be mitigated, and both state and local leadership have shown little concern for pursuing that any further, focusing instead on keeping people off of unemployment and spending money - money they don't have, and won't likely have any time soon. 

The government is willing to do away with human lives in order to meet economic standards for themselves. Everyday people like you and I are being used as fuel for this greed machine, and things don't show any sign of changing course. As you will hear in one of the conversations in today's episode, things are going to get a lot worse...on purpose. 

Today's show features three conversations, two with students, and one with an employee at PSJA ISD. All address different parts of the struggle that has been unfolding over the last couple of months, and some look toward the future - for better or for worse. 

Another note I would like to make is that our fine hosts at Miami's Jolt Radio have started a fundraiser to purchase a new mixer for the station! To raise these funds, the station has partnered with Everpress to produce these rad t-shirts:

which you can get here. Pick one up and support this excellent station bringing free-form radio to the masses!

Thanks for listening, and as always, stay home, stay healthy, stay safe.

See y'all next week.

AS

BLASST 111: COVID CALLS 4

TRACKLIST

1. Housebound Ska Collective - "High Hopes (P!ATD cover)

2. The Carpenters - "We've Only Just Begun"

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NOTES
Today's broadcast continues to focus on the narratives of workers in the field of Education in the Rio Grande Valley. It will be our second of three episodes on the subject, and features two conversations instead of our usual 3 or 4. 

The first is with a music teacher from Harlingen who also plays in a ska band, and our second is with an administrator from a local school district. 

The lower number of conversations in today's episode is due to several factors: 
1. the 2019 - 2020 school year is about to come to a close, and most of the conversations that have been featured in this series so far took place over a month ago when the transition to online learning had just begun. Now that the academic year is over, I think it's important to have updated reflections on how these changes have been weathered by educators, students and their respective school districts.

2. to remedy this, I thought it would be helpful to include the perspective of an administrator - someone who would have a more broad perspective on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their district not just within the realm of the classroom, but from an operational standpoint as well. As luck would have it, I was able to get in touch with an administrator on extremely short notice and speak at-length with him about his experience navigating the pandemic with his district. The administrator in question: my father. My dad has worked for the Weslaco Independent School District for 30 years, and it's safe to say that in that time he's learned a thing or two about keeping the district afloat through a myriad of challenging circumstances. It's a point of pride for me to have him on the program as part of this project, and I think our conversation is both informative and insightful. Fun fact about his song choice for the show: it's my parent's wedding song. 

Thanks again for listening. See you next week.

AS

BLASST 110: COVID CALLS 3

TRACKLIST

1. Phoebe Bridgers - "Garden Song"

2. Talking Heads - "Making Flippy Floppy"

3. The Raincoats - "The Void"

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NOTES
Today’s episode brings to a different corner of the Rio Grande Valley, one that is often overlooked and yet the lifeblood of the any region: Education. Students and educators alike have been undergoing entire overhauls of the way they have to live their lives with the shift to exclusively-online instruction methods in the wake of the shelter-in-place orders put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students have found it difficult to transition to a form of learning without the classroom environment they are accustomed to, and instructors alike have found it challenging to recreate their classroom environments and teaching methods through one side of a computer (or sometimes smartphone) screen. 

As of this moment, the country has been forced to reopen by its state governments (after immense pressure from the federal government) and has abandoned any requirements for sheltering-in-place, as well as any requirements for the use of masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) to help curb the spread of COVID-19 in their communities. The message is clear: we the people are expected to continue to live our lives as if the pandemic has been beaten and no longer poses (quite possibly) the greatest threat to our health we have ever seen in our lifetimes. By doing so, and ‘going back to normal’, I believe the states’ expectations are that our economy (which has been dead in the water for some time now) will magically flourish. The problem here, however, is that over 30 million people are out of work, out of money, and have now been violently shoved off of their unemployment benefits, so there’s really no money to spend! 

Meanwhile, schools made the decision back in March to continue their online instruction throughout the remainder of the academic year (2019-2020) and have been preparing for continuing instruction in this manner, regardless of whatever new ‘liberties’ the state  has granted the general public. While this should be commended, it does not come without its challenges. Unfortunately, the transition to online instruction has left many students (especially those who live in poverty or out of the country) without access to resources they would have otherwise exclusively had through their schools. Needless to say, their entire worlds have been turned upside down, and it’s been the responsibility of their teachers and professors to alleviate this burden for them. Sadly, this noble task is also up against great obstacles for the time being. This is where we enter our episode today. We talk to three people: a student at UTRGV who also works in a leasing office, an English 3 teacher from PSJA ISD, and an English instructor from South Texas College. Each guest shares a unique perspective on this situation (and picks a great song to play on the show).

This will not be the only episode to focus on Education, as the conversations I had on the topic were far greater in number than with any other area. With luck, we will also hear from an administrator next week; a perspective the show has yet to showcase, and a valuable one when it comes to understanding the decisions made you too’ in moments like these.

Thanks for listening as always. Stay safe, stay home, and stay healthy.

See y’all next week.

AS