BLASST 80 TRACKLIST + NOTES

BLASST 80 TRACKLIST
1. Talk Talk - "It's My Life"
2. Talk Talk - "The Rainbow"
3. Talk Talk - "Ascension Day"
4. Mark Hollis - "A Life (1895 - 1915)"
5. Nisennenmondai - "Disco"
6. Miharu Koshi & Haruomi Hosono - "Swing Slow"
7. J Dilla - "I Told Y'all"
8. Jim O'Rourke - "Eureka"

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

NOTES:
Still encountering a few production hiccups with the new setup, I think I may be in search of a more sophisticated mixer to get this show done, given what I'm capable of producing now. My little 4-track Alesis mixer is not entirely up for the task, I think. Or I should say, it's not equipped for this kind of production. Namely, the kind of problems one can come across when trying to send stereo audio sources through mono channels and getting things to sound good. I'm probably speaking gibberish to all of you technically uninterested types reading this right now. My sincerest apologies.

This was a good show, hiccups aside. For example, I mistakenly claim Laughing Stock, the final Talk Talk album, is not the album that follows Spirit of Eden, when it does in actuality. C'est la vie. I'm glad to have played a little tribute to Mark Hollis of Talk Talk for the first half of the show just the same. I never delved beyond Spirit of Eden until hearing of his passing, so today's news really sent me down a rabbit hole of his music, to see the narrative of the band and himself as an artist over time. I like doing that, seeing the full picture, from beginning to end. This can be harder to do when you don't know what the end is yet. Life can be that way sometimes.

Anyway, a good half of the show is dedicated to Mark Hollis and the other half to stuff I've been into lately. I've been diving back into the record that started my Haruomi Hosono/YMO obsession of the past few years, Swing Slow, HH's collaboration with Miharu Koshi, another juggernaut of the Japanese pop world. It's such a beautifully nuanced record, complete with strange mechanical interludes between varying stylistic vignettes. Just beautiful. I also play another japanese group I've taken a liking to called Nisennenmondai. I don't know much about them but I came across their music and found it's best listened to while I'm working. 

And lastly, we closed with the title track off of Jim O'Rourke's now-20-years-old masterpiece, Eureka, "Eureka". It's hard to believe these sounds are 20 years old. It's a thought that is humbling, comforting, and depressing all at once. Humbling and comforting because it means there's a world of innovation that precedes our present day and acts as a guide for the future as it progresses forward into the unknown. It's depressing, however, because it makes whatever is being regarded in our present day as 'innovative' and 'creative' seem violently regressive.

At the same time, if we think about something like musique concréte, which utterly stupefied people nearly 100 years ago and made anything that followed it seem pedestrian by comparison, life may seem to have periods of progression and regression. A pattern of sorts. Maybe a dance. Or perhaps it's a ball with many dances occurring within it at the same time. Which will you choose? It is, after all your choice, and this song won't last forever. Perhaps it's best that you choose the one you will find to be the most appropriate for you. If this means you dance alone, take solace in the fact that are now the first of which others will inevitably follow, because life just happens to work that way. There will always be worse dances that more people are doing, because most people have either have poor taste, or absolutely must dance with others, with little concern for the quality of dance to begin with for that matter, so why waste your time with that? Anyway, enough rambling for this week. See y'all in the next one. Get your tickets for Dreams III if you haven't yet! You can do so here.
 
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BLASST 79 - TRACKLIST + NOTES

BLASST 79 TRACKLIST
1. Cosey Fanni Tutti - “TUTTI”
2. Devo - “Mechanical Man”
3. Chris & Cosey - “Oktober (Love Song) [‘86 Version]”
4. Death In Vegas - “Consequences of Love (Chris & Cosey Remix)"
5. S’Express - “Lollipop (Chris & Cosey Remix)”
6. Throbbing Gristle - “Discipline (Berlin)”
7. John Tejeda - “Penumbra”
8. Haruomi Hosono - “Bara to Yajū”
9. Material - “O.A.O”
10. Klaus Nomi - “Cre Spoda”
11. Shit & Shine - “South Padre Low Life”

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

NOTES
Today's episode is an experimental one, in that I have a new ~podcasting~ setup...set up. I used to lay out the show's music in a sequence in my DAW (look it up) and automated the lowpass filters and volume adjustments for the music bed to sit just beneath my speaking volume with enough warmth to still add some texture to the space around my voice. This way I had more control over track order, flow, and made it very much a playlist "press play" kind of situation by the time the red "ON AIR" light comes on. I would speak live on the air within designated spaces of time (usually the length of the track being used as a bed) and pop off to make a sandwich during the following block of music or write down show notes to correct me if I've made mistakes, which would then be featured on this blog. The problem with this setup is, I would often get cut off by music while talking. I would find myself on a roll, yapping about who knows what, and all of a sudden-WHAM, the next track is already playing, and I haven't even introduced it properly. That's not very professional, and ultimately leaves me feeling pretty embarassed most shows in which it happens. I know I can deliver a better show. So, that brings me to the new setup. 

Now, instead of laying the tracks out, I'm sending my BLASST MASTER LIST (that's what I've named my song library) audio into my mixer on it's own channel with volume and gain controls, I'm also feeding in the music bed from a secondary source that is in a constant loop (also to it's own channel with volume and gain controls, along with a low pass filter for trimming off 15db of those pesky highs that compete with my voice). The beauty of this setup is, not only can I talk over the music bed as long as I want, I get to pick out the tracks in whatever order I please, and can change my mind at any moment. I didn't have that kind of freedom with the previous setup. Enough tech talk! 

The new Cosey Fanni Tutti album, TUTTI, is really quite incredible. I listened to it over the weekend and let it seep into every pore of my soul, devouring all of my senses, and found myself entranced for a few hours (I left it on repeat and hadn't noticed until I was halfway through the second pass). It's such a dark album, filled with energy and space, and spiraling ethereal architecture. I shouldn't be this surprised knowing the little I do about CFT's background that this album is so confrontational, so confident, and at times, even sexy. It's a powerful record to say the least, and I encourage everyone reading this to go out and listen to it. It's out on all streaming platforms (to my knowledge) as well as CD & vinyl. I'll be picking up my copy next month when more money appears in my bank account. We open the show with the titular track, and dive deeper into Cosey's other work in music, with her partner Chris Carter as Chris & Cosey, and her old band and group of societal calamities, Throbbing Gristle. I'm going to be reading CFT's autobiography, Art Sex Music, soon, and hope to be more informed and knowledgeable about her life the next time I get to feature her work on the show. 

We also feature some songs by men, but you can google those.  

For now, enjoy the show.

Ferrerito Rocherito over and out.

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BLASST 78 - TRACKLIST + NOTES

BLASST 78 TRACKLIST
1. Chalk & Friends - "Sarah Beames (Reading)"
2. Chalk & Friends - "It's Not You We're After"
3. Peter Brötzmann & Bill Laswell - "Death Rattle"
4. Группа Хмурый (Gruppa Chmury) - "Я Иду / I Walk"
5. Powerplant - "True Love"
6. Murderer - "Juicy Fruit Dream"
7. SB The Moor - "PAIN (SUN GOD)"
8. Breakout - "Say Hello"
9. Merle Hazard - "(Gimme Some Of That) Ol' Atonal Music"
10. Koji Kondo - "Dire Dire Docks"
11. Chronophage - "Racing"
12. Damak - "Through Terraces"
13. SUPER BUFF - "CORONDALLA"
14. Prostitutes - "Glaube Nichts"
15. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah - "Ancestral Recall (feat. Saul Williams)"
16. Jan Bukes de Grey - "Mice and Rats in the Loft"
17. Link Wray & The Ray Men - "Kiki"
 
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NOTES:

First of all, I would like to apologize for the shoddy scheduling of the past few weeks. Last week's absence throws my calculations of the show's centennial episode off once again. I've been trying to be more proactive by preparing broadcast material for holidays and otherwise important dates, and every missed week pushes that date further into the future. If you look on the bright side of that, however, it just means I have more time to prepare! Joy.

On today's show, I finally get around to playing stuff I've been excited about and listening to for some time. Save for a couple of tracks, of course. There's always room for surprises! The show opens with two tracks from a live recording of the Houston group Chalk performing on Galveston Island with friends and collaborators. 

The performance consists of free-form improvisation, tape loops, and a host of other illuminating instrumentation, and was recorded, as the album states, using multiple tape recorders which were placed in the sand, surrounding the group. It's a beautiful recording with arresting creative energy. You can pick up a cassette copy here. 

The Peter Brötzmann/Bill Laswell track that follows it comes from a tape called Low Life, which I found while rumming through a box of old cassettes which contained hunting noises. Or rather, the noises of animals hunters were trying to hunt. I assume the idea was you would bring a tape recorder with you out into the wilderness and play the tape to attract prey? I shudder to think how loud the average portable tape player was in those days. (picturing some bumbly hunter holding up a pair of old sony on-ears into the wilderness and hoping the real animals hiding in the distance can't tell the difference between a recording and the real thing, let alone whether the tape is high bias or not).

Other excellent selections on the show today come from a stunning album by SB The Moor, SPIRIT REALM.FINAL, a chilling noise-crusted hip-hop track called "PAIN (SUN GOD)" and a track from an album I've just recently heard on YouTube via the Harakiri Diat channel (I fumble the name on the air). The band is called Powerplant, they're from the UK (London to be exact) and their album, People In The Sun, is a hectic effort that barely lets one breathe, it's such an unrelenting stream of beautiful sounds and "damn I wish I wrote that" songwriting.

I'm really excited for the Chronophage/Damak show this weekend, both of those bands mean a great deal to me on a personal level, and I am beyond excited to see Chronophage play a show in the RGV for the first time. There was a time where I wasn't sure if I would ever be able to go see them play because they never left Austin, but now I get to play a show with them! It feels surreal sometimes. I'm also very excited to play with SUPER again. We will be playing with Trey Puga on drums this weekend. You may know Trey from his masterful work behind the kit in the mighty RGV post-prog outfit Dezorah. If not, check out their music below:

Anyway, SUPER sounds like a machine that has just been oiled up and cleaned. It's honestly amazing to witness, and humbling to be a part of. With Dezorah moving away, and Trey specifically leaving the day after we play, I suspect that this will be one of the last shows SUPER will play this year. Both because this is the best we've ever sounded, and it will be near impossible to find another drummer who will be able to match or surpass Trey's input to the group's music. It feels appropriate to put something to rest when it feels this good. I don't plan to stop making music, I just think I'm ready for something else. Something new and different.

Here comes that broken record again. Speaking of which, I broke a record today while cleaning it, I have no idea why it was so brittle, but yeah. A chunk broke off in my hand. Really disappointing. This episode is not disappointing, however. It's got a great mix of rock n roll, punk, and ambiance. I'm talking Super Mario 64 Dire Dire Docks shit. Check it out.

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BLASST Throwback: Episode 1

BLASST #1 TRACKLIST
1. Miles Davis - “Great Expectations”
2. Laurie Anderson - “O Superman”
3. Tollund Men - “Fire”
4. Chris Cohen - “Torrey Pine”
5. Xetas - “The Soil”
6. Baseborn - “Serpent’s Path”
7. The Breeders - “No Aloha”
8. Administrator - “Bad People”
9. Blitz - “New Age”
10. G.L.O.S.S. - “Trans Day of Revenge”
11. High-Functioning Flesh - “Human Remains”
12. Krimewatch - “Peach Generations”
13. Lié - “Seams”
14. Lumpy & The Dumpers - “Blue Lives”
15. Suburban Lawns - “Janitor”
16. Stereolab - “The Stars Our Destination”
17. Sparks - “Thank God It’s Not Christmas”
18. Antonio Pinto & Ed Cortez - "Vida de Otário"

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE

NOTES
Apologies for the lack of a new episode today, I had to take the night off to do an interview for an article I've been working on for one of the last issues of MAXIMUMROCKNROLL about the RGV hardcore punk scene. Since the clock is ticking, and the band could only meet last night, I figured it wouldn't hurt to put the show aside for a night. This piece is really important to me, as it provides the world (since MRR is an internationally-read publication) with an update on what hardcore punk looks like and sounds like in the Rio Grande Valley, a place that has been put on the cover of every magazine, every news story, and every presidential press conference over the past few years, defined by people who haven't the slightest fucking clue what this place is like. I'm tired of letting these people weaponize my home to further their selfish campaigns of destruction. This isn't to say that MRR readers believe any of this hype and need to be convinced otherwise, but if someone's going to talk about this place, it's going to be someone who's FROM HERE. As much as I'd love to snap my fingers and snap the neck of every person who speaks ill of this place for their personal or political gain, I also recognize the power of portrayal. The only reason these fallacious narratives are allowed to flourish is because they're put on our airwaves, on our television sets, and in our laws. These lies have (and need) a platform in order to survive, so I figure the best way to combat these lies is by giving truth a platform. The truth that is louder than all of these lies, if only given the chance to resonate. 

Anyway, that's what I hope to achieve with the piece. Only parts of the interviews will make it into the entire article, so I'll be posting the full interviews here for you to read later this year. ON TO TODAY'S FLASHBACK. 

Since I couldn't work on a new episode, I decided to look back on the first episode I ever did of BLASST. October 10th, 2016 was when it was released, and I had very little idea of how the show would evolve, let alone how it should be structured. You'll notice I have a lot more to say and lose my train of thought less. This is because I recorded my spoken parts in pieces, following research on the artists I was about to talk about. I miss doing this because it makes me sound more informed and less like I don't know what I'm talking about, but I also love the excitement and "sink or swim" approach that speaking live provides me with the way I do the show today. As usual, the episode provides a wide platform of sounds and represents many different voices. That was, and remains the goal of the program. There's also an outro I had my partner at the time record for me, which I had completely forgotten about. I think I wanted to include that to match the format used by the podcasts I listened to. I might bring that back, for brevity's sake. We'll see. Anyway, enjoy the jump back in time, and stay tuned for next week's episode! As always, it's going to be very special.

Also, I'm very excited to hear that Stereolab is returning to live performances. I hope they tour the US. I will fly wherever they play, and watch them as much as I can. I know Laetitia Sadier was all about Jordan Peterson recently, but I don't think she's the type of person to advocate for harm, and when she realizes that that's what JP does, she'll come around.

A_

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BLASST 77 - TRACKLIST + NOTES

BLASST 77 - BLASST SOUNDTRACKS III 
TRACKLIST
1. Klaus Doldinger - "Fantasia" (The Neverending Story)
2. Gerald Fried & Alexander Courage - "The Naked Time" (Star Trek)
3. Jimmy Cliff - "The Harder They Come" (The Harder They Come)
4. Toto - "Desert Theme" (Dune)
5. Dick Tracy - "Tokyo-Ga" (Tokyo-Ga)
6. Trevor Duncan - "Heartbeat" (La Jetée)
7. Masahiro Ikumi - "Mima's Theme" (Perfect Blue)
8. Crime & The City Solution - "Six Bells Chime" (Wings of Desire)
9. Chu Ishikawa - "Megatron" (Tetsuo: The Iron Man)
10. Andrzej Korzynski - "The Man With The Pink Socks" (Possession)
11. Mdou Moctar - "Tada Dounia" (Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai)
12. Johann Strauss II - "The Blue Danube" (2001: A Space Odyssey)
13. Ennie Morricone - "Love Theme" (Cinema Paradiso)
14. Boris - "Farewell" (The Limits of 
Control)





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I love movies. I used to watch them often. I vividly remember a time when I knew no joy greater than visiting a video store and scanning it's shelves for something new and interesting. I really started getting into film as an art form around the time I graduated high school and entered college. I wasn't anywhere near as social as I am today back then, so I spent a lot of time at home either digesting hours of new music, or watching hours of movies at a time. I remember going down film era wormholes in my early 20s; French New Wave, Italian Neo-Realism, Surrealism, Giallo, classic anime films—all part of my self-education in the world of film. I made a particular effort to focus on the music used in these films, with sonic palettes so impossibly diverse they could articulate even the most subtle nuances of a film's story or an actor's performance. In fact, these scores and soundtracks are largely responsible for cementing most of these films in my memories.

Today's show features music from a wide variety of genres, opening with the "Fantasia" theme from The Neverending Story, a true classic of the fantasy genre, and a key film from my childhood. Following "Fantasia", we air a section of the suite composed by Gerald Fried & Alexander Courage for "The Naked Time", a cherished episode from the first season of the original Star Trek series, in which an epidemic spreads throughout the Enterprise causing crew members to behave in wildly strange ways after coming into contact with a mysterious substance that was brought aboard the ship after a mission. I picked this episode in particular because, as I mention in the broadcast, I delayed the airing of last night's episode in order to go see George Takei speak at UTRGV in Brownsville, and his character on Star Trek, Hikaru Sulu, is responsible for one of the most memorable scenes in this episode—arguably the entire franchise—where he stomps around the ship holding a rapier, and challenging crew members to duels, under the impression that he is some sort of nefarious pirate. Takei even referenced this scene in his talk, though he assured the audience he had no plans to recreate it any time soon, especially on stage. 

One of the selections on this broadcast that I'm most endeared to at the moment is the 5th track I played, "Tokyo-Ga" by the group Dick Tracy, which is comprised of Laurent Petitgand, Chico Rojo Ortega, and Mèche Mamecier, for Wim Wenders documentary film of the same name. Wenders' film, which he considers a "visual diary", follows the filmmaker as he explores Tokyo, Japan in 1985 in search of the intimacy with which he was introduced to Japan through the works of one of the country's most celebrated filmmaker's, Yasujiro Ozu. I found this documentary on the Criterion release of Ozu's Late Spring, which I recently checked out from the McAllen Public Library. (I've been doing that more and more lately, so much so that I've even cancelled my Mubi subscription.) Anyway, the piece I play on the show is only a snippet of a longer 19-minute composition that squeaks and rumbles it's way throughout most of the film, an odd juxtaposition to the calm, sometimes cold and industrial, but ultimately harmonious imagery Wenders puts on film. It was this contrast in particular that made the music stand out to me, and inspired it's inclusion on tonight's show.

I've been spending a lot of time watching movies lately. I like it. I missed doing this. Watching movies gets me out of my head, which I think I need a little bit more of these days. The public library's recent aquisition of a Kanopy service will undoubtedly make this much easier to do, I think, which is good. Did I need to get out of my head back then too? I don't remember. Perhaps it's better that way.

-A 

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BLASST 76 TRACKLIST + NOTES

BLASST 76 TRACKLIST
1. Gregorio y Maria - "El Corrido de Martin Luther King"
2. The Velvet Underground - "Jesus"
3. Death - "Where Do We Go From Here?"
4. Pleasure Venom - "Gunt"
5. Special Interest - "Service"
6. Divide & Dissolve - "Black Supremacy"
7. Moor Mother - "Parallel Nightmares"
8. Vagabon - "100 Years"
9. ONO - "I Dream of Sodomy"
10. Irreversible Entanglements - "Chicago To Texas"

Apologies for this going up so late, that is very unprofessional of me.

Essentially, I wanted to express my frustration with the way Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his work is used and abused by people seeking to label the fight for racial equality as one that has been won. The White House's tweet framing MLK's murder as some sort of christ-like gift to society is insulting at the very least. This narrative erases the continued racial inequality that exists in this country, deeper than the state, but in people's hearts and minds. It's utter bullshit, and I became so frustrated that I found myself at a loss with a proper way to articulate this, while also breaking down the many different arms of the hydra-like beast of institutional racism. It's an endeavor that would have exhausted me, and at a silly price. I opted to focus on taking care of my brother and my parent's house this week instead, and before I knew it, a week had gone by. I apologize for this negligence, to y'all and to Dr. King, may he rest in peace.

In the spirit of MLK Day, I wanted to fill this show with some of the most interesting Black artists I've had the privilege of following or discovering in the past few years alone, save for the opening two tracks, which 1. features a corrido written about Dr. King and performed by musicians from the Rio Grande Valley, and 2. features a song I had on my mind literally all day while the aforementioned frustration festered. It helped me calm down like it always does.

-A

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BLASST 75: Samantha Wendel - TRACKLIST + NOTES

BLASST 75 TRACKLIST
1. Fats Comet - "Bop Bop"
2. The Search Party - "The News Is You"
3. Gökçen Kaynatan - "Pencerenin Perdesini"
4. Gene Clark - "Doctor Doctor"
5. Earth and Fire - "Maybe Tomorrow, Maybe Tonight"
6. Colin Potter - "Rooftops"
7. Phew - "Closed"



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NOTES
This was a very fun interview to do, Samantha is a good friend, and we have many things in common: our sense of humor, our taste in music, and our inexplicable interest in design. All of this and more makes it's way into this conversation, among many other accordioned talking points. We touch on her upbringing in North Vernon, Indiana, a considerably more remote town relative to it's surroundings compared to McAllen, where I live, and the many different waves Samantha took to get to where she is today, ripping through the soundwaves with her band Crooked Bangs, changing the face of poster design as the in-house designer for famed Austin venue for punk rock and all of the above, Beerland, and all on her terms. I admire her work, her work ethic, and her musicianship all a great deal. It was an immense privilege to have her as a guest on the program. The artwork for the show (seen above, as discussed during the interview) is now hung up on my wall (as promised) and will remain there for the foreseeable future. Horse Pony Forever.

Thanks for listening, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts (and subscribe, of course) or wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow us on instagram, twitter, etc. We don't really update our Facebook page, so don't worry too much about that. Links below:

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