3.20.2012

March madness: Dereck Higgins, and KiC on Other Music!

A couple of important things that I need to share with everybody:



Paul Banks of Killed in Cars will be on this upcoming (3/25) Sunday edition of Other Music on KZUM. Tune in 10-midnight central time at 89.3 in Lincoln, or streaming anywhere at http://www.kzum.org. Tune in and enjoy! We always love having Paul visit.

Speaking of the Other Music show, THANK YOU to all of our listeners! We're told that we got many generous donations to the show and the station through internet donations last Sunday! We sincerely appreciate your support, and we'll continue to do our best to bring you creative music and innovative programming in the coming year. Soon, we'll be in the new KZUM studios at College View, and we're excited at the possibilities for bringing larger ensembles right into the studio for live-on-the-air performances. Here's to an exciting 2012 at Other Music!

Finally, I want to bring your attention to a record that's sure to sell out quickly, in case you want to grab a copy: Dereck Higgins, a great musician that has been a pillar of the Omaha music community for many years, just pressed a copy of his "Dereck 3" album on 180 gram vinyl. It's a limited run of 250 of some very personal solo music of his, and it's sure to sell out fast. Dereck explains how to order it in the video below, which is a real tear-jerker. It's absolutely heartwarming to see how happy he is with the way the album turned out. Enjoy the video, and follow his instructions at its beginning if you want to track down a copy:

3.19.2012

Other Music playlist for 3-18-2012

This week featured some truly top-grade material on the Other Music show, as it's pledge drive time!


By the way, we didn't get any calls during the show--a first during the pledge drives since I joined the show. But a lot of people donate to KZUM online, and we don't know about those until later--thanks to all who might have donated that way.


And if you haven't donated, but you'd like to show support for shows like ours and others on KZUM that provide a forum for creative, compelling music to be shared on the radio regardless of "commercial viability," then you can still pledge, too! Just go to http://www.kzum.org and click on the "donate" button. Any help is greatly appreciated, as the station is about to relocate.


Onto the music! this was a really great show:


Scott played:

Paul Sturm - Ascent of the Deer Ghost - The Diplomat's Shadow
PAK - The Higher the Elevation, The Lesser the Vegitation - Motel
Colin Marson - 4 - 200220032004
Frank Pahl - Ode to Euphonium #3 - The Cowboy Disciple
Extra Life - Blinded Beast - Dream Seeds

John played: UT - Dr No - Griller
.22 - Standard vs Daylight - Worker
Silkworm - Tonight We're Meat - Blueblood
Shipping News - Cock-a-Doodle-Doo - Three-Four
Zulu as Kono - Young Geezer - Zulu as Kono

Joseph played:
Ilhan Mimaroglu - Agony (Visual Study No. 4, after Arshile Gorky) - Electronic Music
Vladimir Ussachevsky - Suite From No Exit
Luc Ferrari - Tete et queue du dragon (Second version) - Musique Concrete

3.16.2012

Neptune - msg rcvd


My first spin through "msg rcvd" filled me with regret and dread--regret that I missed out on hearing this band's work over the last 15 years, and dread at how much money I'm likely to spend tracking down Neptune's voluminous back catalog. I don't know how I've been out of the loop on this amazing band, but enjoying revelatory moments like my first time listening to this album are precisely why I've gotten into the "record review game."

For those of you arriving to the work of Neptune as late as me, a touch of background: this band started around 1994 as an outgrowth of a sculpture project by bandleader Jason Sanford. Discogs.com indicates at least seven folks have contributed their efforts to the band over the course of 16 releases. As one might expect, the discography on the Neptune website is more comprehensive, listing 23 previous releases (not including either of their most recent efforts for Northern Spy). Their website also includes a "listen" button I'd recommend checking out, which will launch a player featuring tracks from older releases (check out "Thorns" and "Paris Green"). I'm digging the tracks on "msg rcvd" even more than the music in this sampler, but there are a lot of compositional/orchestrational similarities that will get you into the proper state of mind to rcv yr msg.

The most unique aspect of Neptune is surely its sculptural pedigree: the band continues to design and construct their own instruments. Their guitar designs are visually striking, with wide rectangular or square metal bodies and skeletal metal-frame necks with just enough structure to support fretwork. They're a fascinating contrast of positive and negative space, or something like Ghost of Future Bo Diddley guitars, if you're feeling more whimsical. There are homemade electric kalimbas with guitar pickups mounted on their wood block bases. Drum hardware is made to fit around discarded trash bins. And they use many other mysterious homemade metal boxes with various knobs, switches, meters, and jacks--perhaps a few of these are the "new 'feedback-organ' machines" mentioned in the album's promo literature.

But don't equate Neptune's devotion to instrument design with novelty. Ordinarily, I might wonder if compositional focus would be compromised with so much thought invested in the instruments themselves, but this music is created with a similarly sculptural--or ritualistic--attention to detail. In fact, "msg rcvd" exudes a unique kind of compositional integrity that is probably only possible when the musicians' hands are creating both their medium and their message as an integrated whole. I am reminded of the "Crafting A Drum" section toward the end of Rhythmajik, in which Z'EV describes several methods by which a person can consecrate an instrument during its construction: everything from personal sigils, symbols, prayers, songs, and bodily fluids can be focused together at the "birth" of a new instrument. Such instruments easily become extensions of their owner/creators. In the case of Neptune, whose music and lyrics explore connections between cultural disguises and cultural detritus, there is an impressive amount of emotional power in giving voice to "junk."

Musically, I think anyone who is into the early 80s confluence of industrial/pop/goth music (think early Cabaret Voltaire, Suicide, PTV) will fall in love with "msg rcvd." Another obvious influence is Einsturzende Neubauten, for some musical connections as well as instrument design/modification, but Neptune has a distinct voice all its own. Compositionally, this is mostly minimalist work--Neptune has the ability to make a LOT of sound, but they're masters of patience. Tension builds very gradually, even gently, and usually works itself out through repetition of musical sections with variations in orchestration or rhythm. And I really like the vocals, which are mostly spoken and occasionally sung--but there is no screaming. There are moments where screamed/yelled vocals might have been the obvious choice for many bands, but singer/guitarist/etc Mark Pearson's vocal restraint really pays off, in my opinion, creating even more tension by not falling into aggro vocal cliches.

I really love the blend of sounds: "natural" instruments of plucked strings, plucked metal tines, drums, etc, are electrified and amplified to great effect among other kinds of oscillating ephemera. I'm not sure what a "feedback organ" or an "oscillator organ" would be, structurally, but I do hear controlled feedback or self-oscillation sounds being used frequently. It's all very structured--this is by no means a "noise" album, nor do I get the impression that improvisation plays a significant role. Sounds one might associate with "noise" are used, but they're deployed for very specific textural or rhythmic effects. Again, that sense of thoughtful patience permeates the work at every level: instrument design, sound design, compositional permutation, vocal approach, lyrical/thematic motifs. The result, at least for me, is a well-defined and very addictive record.

--Scott Scholz

also published at Killed in Cars

3.12.2012

Other Music playlist for 3-11-12

This week, we celebrated the 82nd birthday of Ornette Coleman, mourned the 18th anniversary of the death of Charles Bukowski, and looked forward to the release of the amazing new Neptune album (review coming soon), among many other things...

Playlists for 3-11-12

Scott played:
 Neptune - Dark Report - Msg Rcvd
 Charles Bukowski - Friendly Advice to a Lot of Young Men - Bukowski Lives!
 Ornette Coleman - Home Grown - Body Meta
 Hazel-Rah - Behold, a Firewall - The Africantape Single
 Red Baraat - Tunak Tunak Tun - Chaal Baby

John played:
 Fugazi - Long Division - Steady Diet of Nothing
 Fugazi - Runaway Return - Steady Diet of Nothing
 Shellac - Shoe Song - 1000 Hurts
 Hedvig Mollestad Trio - For the Air - Shoot!
 Jesus Lizard - Mailmen - Shot
 MX-80 - Facts - Hard Attack
 Arab on Radar - #1 - Soak the Saddle
 Young Windows - Glad He Ate Her - Settle Down City
 Jesus Lizard - Mistletoe - Down

Joseph played:
Faust - Munic/Yesterday - 71 Minutes
 TU M' - 01 - .01
 Das Synthetische Mischgewebe - Moving Masses Pt II - The Escape of the electrified dermatologist epitomises his dissent with the compromising juxtaposition of the smell and the sound of a pair of wings injured in subdued romance

Tune in to KZUM, 89.3 in Lincoln, NE, every Sunday night between 10-midnight CST to hear the Other Music show. You can listen anywhere in the world via KZUM's webstream, too: go to http://www.kzum.org and choose between several streaming options in the sidebar on the right of your screen. You can also sign up for updates about the show by liking our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OtherMusicOnKZUM. In addition to playing a wide variety of creative music, from the beautiful to the bizarre, we occasionally have interviews, in-station live performances, and nights of music based around various thematic ideas.

3.07.2012

Discussion posts at Killed in Cars


Paul, mastermind of Killed in Cars, had an idea for posting some informal essay-ish materials based on (and expanding on) conversations we've been having about various musical issues. He just posted the first round, which I wrote, and he'll be following up with his own post shortly... You can read the first one at this direct link. But join the fun yourself, too--click the "submit" button on the Killed in Cars tumblr, and send in your own thoughts...

3.05.2012

Other Music playlist for 3-4-2012

John played a set of music in tribute to Jeffery Randall, Joseph played some gleaming specimens of musique concrete through the ages, and I spun a wide variety of music tonight, partially inspired by things-that-arrived-in-the-mail this last week from Northern Spy and Zappa.com, and also inspired by more recent finds at Lefty's Records...

Tune in to KZUM, 89.3 in Lincoln, NE, every Sunday night between 10-midnight CST to hear the Other Music show. You can listen anywhere in the world via KZUM's webstream, too: go to http://www.kzum.org and choose between several streaming options in the sidebar on the right of your screen. You can also sign up for updates about the show by liking our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OtherMusicOnKZUM. In addition to playing a wide variety of creative music, from the beautiful to the bizarre, we occasionally have interviews, in-station live performances, and nights of music based around various thematic ideas.

On the 3-4-2012 Other Music show, John played:
Jesus Lizard - Glamorous - Lash
Jesus Lizard - Valentine - EP
Nirvana - Curmudgeon - Lithium
Dianogah - Garden Airplane Trap - Old Material New Format
Bellini - Smiling Fear - Small Stones
Tortoise - Salt the Skies - It's All Around You
Liz Phair - 6' 1'' - Exile in Guyville
Big Black - Racer X - Hammer Party
Godhead Silo - Going Commando - Share the Fantasy
Sausage - Riddles are Abound Tonight - Riddles are Abound Tonight
Zevious - The Noose - After the Air Raid

Joseph played:
Pierre Henry - Voile D'Orphee, from Variations pour une Porte et un Soupir (1963)
Andre Almuro - Boomerang - Depli
Nurse With Wound - Beware the African Mosquito - Man With the Woman Face

Scott played:
Neptune - Triple Your Money - Silent Partner
Charles Gayle - Compassion I - Streets
Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band - Brick Bats - Bat Chain Puller
Aquaserge - Errance - Ce tres cher Serge
The Residents - Theater of Shadows - Coochie Brake
Adrian Belew - She is Not Dead - Twang Bar King