BLASST 87 - TRACKLIST + NOTES

BLASST 87 TRACKLIST
1. Tera Terra and the Plasma Mullets - "Plasma Mullet"
2. Lightning Bolt - "The Faire Folk"
3. TV On The Radio - "Robots"
4. Grouper - "Second Wind Zombie Skin"
5. OOIOO - "ATS"
6. Cyriak - "No More Memory"
7. X Japan - "Art of Life"

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE

This episode dives deep into my old hard drives for music I listened to (and somehow acquired) from 2002-2008, a period of time before I knew what Facebook was, before the Internet became something to escape from, and was itself the escape from the rest of the world. With the infinity of the Internet at my fingertips, I tried to soak up as much as I could about anything I could find. Hours spent looking up bands, random obsessions, anime fandoms, obscure facts and happenings—the internet had it all. This period of time begins before I knew what social media was. My parents got me a computer for my 12th birthday, and later that Christmas, a CD burner. This led me away from chat rooms  and into the world of P2P programs, where a majority of this episode was uncovered. If I couldn't find songs hosted on websites, I turned to whatever program I was using at the time (I think the longest-running for me were Shareaza and Limewire). Once the P2P well dried up, I turned to music blogs, which took me back through the browser/looking glass and into the wild west of the Internet. I made a lot of internet friends this way, and less so once I actually joined social networks. My first was MySpace, then Live Journal (it's usually the other way around for people, I think), and then Facebook. From that point on, things took a turn for the worst. I am thankful that I was able to shape my tastes and creative values before they were directly tied to metrics and marketing. Let's talk about the music I played today.

The opening track, "Plasma Mullet" by Tera Terra and the Plasma Mullets, is a joke song by a joke band formed by Linde, Burton and Mige of the goth-rock group HIM. I was a big fan of HIM leaving junior high and heading into high school. So much so that I looked up every last bit of information I could about the band, pouring over personal information about the members that somehow made it onto the most intrepid of fan websites. Somewhere in that wormhole, I found many of their side projects, most of which involved the vocalist Ville Valo, but every so often, a project would pop up that involved less visible members of the band. This was one of them. I know nothing else about it's creation, or what became of TTPM group, but if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say this was recorded sometime between their albums Razorblade Romance and Deep Shadows & Brilliant Highights, at which point they were already huge stars in Europe and could basically do whatever they wanted with themselves in their free time.

Lightning Bolt - "The Faire Folk" 
I first heard about LB through some friends in high school. I was invited to hang out at one of their houses and one of the older kids pulled out a live DVD of the band and the scene was unlike anything I'd ever seen: a man wearing a home-made mask with a microphone built into it slamming on a drumkit while seated in front of a tall bass amp, a bass player standing next to him, looking unusually calm considering that they are surrounded by a mass of thrashing people, torn between watching the band and letting themselves swirl into oblivion like the beings in Fantastic Planet. Later, once I'd dived into music blogs around 2010, one blogger I followed posted that he was selling some records to make some money and included a list of everything for sale. I ordered several choice LPs, but the ones that actually arrived were Liars' Drums Not Dead, Pre's Epic Fits, Woods' At Rear House & Songs of Shame, and Lightning Bolt's Wonderful Rainbow. From there on out, I dove headfirst into LB's terribly magical world. 

TV On The Radio - "Robots"
This is an early demo from the band's first release, the OK Calculator EP, which the band (at the time a duo of Tunde Adebimpe and Dave Sitek) recorded on a four-track and left at random places, never assuming it would amount to much. It still hasn't, but the band itself has grown into a beautiful thing over the past 16 years, and it's always nice to look back at your goofy origins. Every band has them.

Grouper - "Second Wind Zombie Skin"
I first heard about Grouper from a Fun Fun Fun Fest lineup, back in 2009-2010—I forget which. I heard Way Their Crept and dug up everything I could on them. I never got to see them play at FFFF, so I wouldn't learn they were a solo project for at least another 5-6 years. By this point I was starting to keep a special eye out for music that leaned more avant-garde than anything else.

OOIOO - "ATS"
I forget exactly when, but one day I came across a lot of different Japanese artists, Boredoms, Merzbow, Boris, and OOIOO being the most notable, and tried to track down all of their music. Their styles were all so different and radical that I was consumed with learning as much as I could about them. It took me a long time to wrap my head around their music, especially with no real understanding of music outside of it's traditional forms of execution (including punk, metal, and so on). 

Cyriak - "No More Memory"
This fucking song. I must have watched this compilation of Cyriak's animation work a million times. In the early days of YouTube, this video went viral and made it onto thousands upon thousands of computer screens, simultaneously scarring people and leaving them with this golden earworm to coat the disturbance. I have little to say about this track that the video couldn't say for itself, so here you go:

X Japan - "Art of Life"
After drifting away from my obsession with HIM, in high school, I became obsessed with this band. After hearing about them from a friend in high school who was knee-deep in the world of Visual Kei, I looked up all their releases, downloaded as many videos as I could find, and put them on almost every mix CD I made for myself in high school up until my Junior year. Not only did they rock harder than most of the American bands I knew, I was also captivated by the way they pushed the ambiguity of their gender to new visual heights, turning them into figures beyond the world's binary, hetero-normative comprehension. This was an entirely new idea to me at 16. Looking back and knowing what I know now, I believe that a large part of their art, specifically from the influence of bandleader, drummer, and primary songwriter Yoshiki, is influenced by a non-binary perspective, in all of it's joy as well as it's suffering. It's with this in mind that I look back at this particular song today. It is a meditation on life as a challenge, and unfolds in appropriately epic fashion. The track has a second meaning to me (it's original meaning before I knew more about the gender spectrum as a young person) and that is as a tribute to the band's fallen lead guitar wizard, Hideto Matsumoto (shortened to "hide") who took his own life in 1998, bringing an immensely successful solo career to a startling close. The band still plays footage of him playing along with them at their concerts and even lets him handle some of the key solos, with guitarists Pata and Sugizo backing him up on rhythm and harmonies, and I think that's pretty cool. If you want to see them play this epic monster of a song, look no further: 

(hint: Hide's got the biggest hair of the bunch)

I credit today's theme to Wrong Box, a computer game created by Molly Soda and Aquma, which plays heavily with 2000s internet nostalgia in a way that deeply impacted me. So much so that it made me think back to that time, when things were simpler—or perhaps, complicated in a way I was not aware of yet. It was a period of time where ignorance was the price for bliss by way of exposure to new information. Not knowing something meant you still had the opportunity to know it, at some point, and that possibility meant a lot to me. It filled me with wonder. I felt that same wonder (and possibly fear, let's be real) while playing Wrong Box. I think the fear may have been associated with the quiet and abstract nature of the game, which reminded me of those early jump-scare websites that led you down simple puzzles to a brief flash of something terrifying paired with a shrieking sound cue or something like that. But that never happened, and I completed the game despite my fears because I wanted to see where it went, my curiosity was piqued, and at the end, my ignorance was rewarded with bliss. A rush of feelings, things I hadn't felt in a long time. Play the game if you can, and be sure to pay for it.

- A

BLASST 86 - TRACKLIST + NOTES

BLASST 86 TRACKLIST
1. The Ex - "3:45 AM"
2. Delinquent Habits - "Tres Delinquentes"
3. Lio - "Amantes Solitarios"
4. Wire - "Our Swimmer"
5. Witch - "Anyinamwana"
6. Thomas Mapfumo - "Pfumvu Pa Ruzevha"
7. M'Pongo Love - "Ede"
8. Seigneur Tabu Ley Rochereau - "Hafi Deo"
9. The War On Drugs - "Under The Pressure"
10. Anika - "I Go To Sleep"
11. Townes Van Zandt - "If I Needed You"
12. Aki Tsuyoko - "Tsuki To Nagai Yoru"
13. Meredith Monk - "Ester's Song"


LISTEN TO THE EPISODE

Today's episode pays great respects to the mobile app and website Radioooo, a service in which you can listen to music from all over the world and at nearly every point in time in which recorded music has existed! It's a really wild app and I've had a lot of fun globetrotting my way into a playlist for today's program. Today, we feature tracks by singer-songwriters Seigneur Tabu Ley Rochereau and M'Pongo Love, both from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Thomas Mapfumo AKA "The Lion of Zimbabwe", Zombian "Zamrock" outfit Witch, Japanese minimalist musician and composer Aki Tsuyoko, South East LA hip-hop outfit Delinquent Habits (which was filed as a Mexican artist by the person who uploaded them to Radioooo for some weird reason) and other great tracks by white people with a talent for music-making. It's a riveting episode with hills, valleys, and distorted plains of sound. Altogether a fun listen, I'd recommend it. 10/10. Tell your friends. Maybe your family. For sure your chosen family. Anyway, see y'all next week.

- A

BLASST 85 - TRACKLIST + NOTES

BLASST 85 TRACKLIST 
1. Sylvan Esso & Collections of Colonies of Bees - "Funeral Singers"
2. Merchandise - "Become What You Are"
3. Carlos Alomar - "Global Alpha 9"
4. Minutemen - "History Lesson, Pt. II"
5. Sasami - "Not The Time"
6. Big Joanie - "It's You"
7. Rakta - "Fim do Mundo"
8. Midnight Star - "Freak-A-Zoid (Dub Version)"
9. Solar Shield - "Reesis"
10. Stereolab - "Come and Play In The Milky Night"
11. Vangelis - "Chung Kuo"
12. Mdou Moctar - "Kamane Tarhanin"

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

In case you haven't listened to the episode yet, no, BLASST is not going away. At least, not yet. April Fool's.

While this is not our final broadcast, it does signal our home stretch. Our final broadcast will be BLASST 100, and that will be airing sometime near the end of the summer. Until then, we will continue to air band interviews, show listings, and be sure to expect one more soundtracks episode and one more space episode before we close our cosmic curtain. I plan to make these remaining 14 broadcasts count, and I hope you will join me on this last leg of our journey.

Now, as for the reason why BLASST will be ending: I've recently accepted an offer to produce some content for Neta RGV covering the RGV music scene. I'll be producing written content (articles, reviews, features, etc) for the publication, and most importantly, be paid for it! I've never been in this particular (paid) position before, so I am trying to take it as seriously as possible by re-organizing my time and being intentional with how and where I devote my time and energy. This means BLASST will be ending, and I may also be taking some time away from making music of my own. It's a bittersweet life change, but I also believe that when you put something down, you give yourself a chance to pick it up again, so who knows what the future holds? After all, the only way to know what happens next is to simply turn the page. I appreciate everyone who expressed their love for the show when I announced the April Fool's prank, and apologize for causing a stir. Thank you for listening all this time. If you will miss the program, start one of your own! Listen to The Exterior Process, which is another great RGV music podcast run by local musicians! Get involved in your communities, do everything you can, and never look back until you're done. The view—I imagine—will be breathtaking.

See y'all next week...for now.

Andres

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"

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

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.

Social links are in the sidebar now.

See y'all next week!

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"

LISTEN TO THE SHOW


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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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"

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

"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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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"

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

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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