Image via WikipediaMusic, movie clips, voice clips and who knows what else goes together to produce this sound collage. In the previous weekend I had hosted a 40 hour unusual movie marathon and it had a profound impact on my brain. I tried to work some of this out through this radio program.
Music and sounds included: Aguirre Wrath of God, Chris and Cosey, Commoedity Fetish, Pink Flamingos, Polyester, El Topo, Weathership Tango Delta, Residents, the Brood, Doctor Strangelove, Oh Lucky Man, Ilsa She Wolf of the SS, Videodrome and a lot more.
Download or listen right away:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/cmk880224riskyvisions.mp3
Image via WikipediaDoctor Who? Doctor Benway? Are you a real Doctor? Can you help me beat the Reaper? Perhaps Doctor Tuna? Listen and find out. No matter how confusing, you must remember that you fully understood each and every bit of this program, or at least some portion of your brain did.
No play list this week.
Download or listen right away:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/cmk880210iamthedoctor.mp3
Cover of Test Dept.Today I am featuring a few things. First Graeme Revell's release Insect Musicians, an album where all sounds are taken from samples of natural insect noises. Then, they are put together as songs. Other music is inserted, like Frank Chickens (from Japan), Voice of Authority, and Acoustic Iatrogenesis. Then, we will hear almost the entire new release by the band Test Department.
About Test Department:
Test Dept's formation in 1981 in the decaying docklands of South London, was an urgent reaction to the materialistic drift and reactionary conservatism of the prevailing musical and political culture. TD rejected the conventional and developed a style that reflected the decay of their surroundings scavenging the unregenerated wastelands for raw materials, and transforming found industrial items into designed, sculptural instruments. Suitably armed they forged a hard rhythmic sonic battery, fusing found sound samples and cutting edge electronics in the construction of a dynamic physical totality. Their infamous sonic assaults were challenging and demanding for audience and performers alike, a test of physical endurance that journeyed through the sonic pain threshold and into a cathartic energy release. The 'Stakhanovite Sound' was a furnace that forged an attitude of total collective commitment, embracing the spirit of punk with an avant revolutionary sensibility that sought to challenge the status quo. It was the antithesis of commercial record industry values. http://testdept.org.uk/td/history.1.html
Music included:
It is the first of April, and I am willing to play the fools. The collapse of the Jim and Tammy Bakker television ministry sets the stage for this session of foolishness. Many other television ministers are paraded amidst the accompanying industrial music here. Maybe the most convincing is the leader of the Temple of Psychic Youth, Genesis P. Orridge. Well, at least he is sincere and consistent, and also doesn't seem to be fascinated by getting rich. I would like to apologize to the name and memory of Jesus Christ and how blasphemed he was by these folks.
Sounds included:
Jim Bakker, Tammie Faye Baker, Robert Tilton, Psychic TVand Hula and it all just ran together into a mess, my playlist simply broke down.
Download or listen right away:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/cmk870401april_fool.mp3
I have always felt a little uncomfortable with the police. One of the reasons is that they remind me of soldiers, what with the guns and the uniforms. The Brazil clip that begins this program sets the stage for how I feel, and I think the movie is one of the most powerful depictions of an oppressive state I have ever seen. And the music available mirrors this sort of feeling. From Maggie Thatcher's praise of the police conduct during the miner's strike to the discussion of a police state by Marshall McLuhan to the clips from the 1984 movie to the napalm scene in Apocalypse Now to Taxi Driver to the diving buzz bombs and back. This is an excellent and very powerful program that goes far beyond the theme of the police, to explore the uses of power, domination and human weakness. I say this as I sit here and listen to it 24 years later.
Music included:
Sickness of Snakes, Nadjma, Poisongirls, Minimal Compact, Bauhaus, Chrome, Cult ov the Womb, 1984 movie, Mark Stewart & and Maffia, Fifth Column, Cabaret Voltaire, Test Department, Masked Men, Chumbawamba, Brazil movie and a lot more.
Download or listen right away:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/cmk870114the_police_have_been_wonderful.mp3
Christmas Eve on a Wednesday, and so I just could not resist it. It isn't very year that my show coincides with Christmas. Here are some of my favorites and strange discoveries to celebrate the season. Everything from the "Six Million Dollar Man Christmas" to Santa Claus in his underwear. Not safe for home or work. Religious sensibilities may be offended.
Music included:
Six Million Dollar Man Christmas, Zoviet France, Big Backs, Aztec Two Step, Hillcrest Club, the Residents, Noizeclot, Anonymous Burlington, Days of Trance, Cabaret Voltaire, Sleep Chamber, Mania D, PsyField, Cast of Bonanza, Chipmunks Do the Residents, 93 Current 93, Tuxedomoon and a lot more.
Download or listen right away:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/cmk861224drtchristmas.mp3
This is industrial music for students at the University of Vermont who were taking their final examinations.
"I can only understand so much, and then it all goes blank..."
"And then they had a test..."
Music included:
Voice of Authority, Hula, SPK, Chrome, Residents, Blaine L. Reininger, Cabaret Voltaire, New Order, Minimal Compact, Laurie Anderson, Maybe Mental, Zoviet France, Coil, Propaganda and a lot more.
Download or listen right away:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/cmk861217_then_they_had_a_test.mp3
Kicking off with that Commodity Fetish cut that uses the samples from Led Zeppelin. This was a new world to all of us. You could take sounds from one music, rework it and make an entirely new song. Commodity Fetish was mashing down Burlington in those heady late 1980's.
Music included:
Commodity Fetish, Big Black, Blackhouse, Art Barbecue, Severed Heads, Sleep Chamber, Bob Tilton, 93 Current 93, Voices in the News, Psychic TV, Klaus Flouride, SPK, Gerechtigkeits Liga, Legendary Pink Dots and a lot more.
Download or listen right away:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/cmk861210led_to_believe.mp3
Image via Wikipedia
It may not be heaven, but it certainly seemed blue. This is precisely why I had to end with "Blue heaven." Now, don't get me wrong, this is a widely diverse program and a lot of fun, full of surprises, so if you don't like it just wait and it will change.
Music included: Zoviet France, Sleep Chamber, Psychic TV, Robert Tilton, Adrian Sherwood, Chrome, Cabaret Voltaire, Legendary Pink Dots, Residents, Test Dept., Che, Mark Stewart and the Maffia, Nocturnal Emissions, Tuxedomoon and a lot more.
Download or listen right away:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/cmk861203blue_heaven.mp3
Image by Redheadwalking via Flickr
This may be the most diverse sound around. I keep buying releases by them and every one of them seems to be different. I just had to give this project its own day.
I like this short introduction:
Here is the bio from wikiland:
Nurse with Wound (or shortened as NWW) is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak.[1][2] The band ranges in many genres such as avant-garde, industrial, noise, dark ambient, and drone. Their early recordings, all made quickly, were heavily influenced by free improvisation and Krautrock and were generally considered industrial music, despite the objections of the group.[edit]By 1981, only Stapleton was left from the original trio and he now regards 1982's Homotopy to Marie, as being the first proper Nurse with Wound release[citation needed]. There are now over 40 full length NWW titles. Stapleton's fondness for dada, surrealism and absurdist humor are demonstrated in much of NWW's output, which, though it draws directly on a wide assortment of genres (including cabaret music, nursery rhymes, John Cage, The Beach Boys, krautrock,[3] ambient music,[4] and easy listening[5]) retains a distinctive and recognizable aura. Musique concrète may be the most prominent touchstone, due to Stapleton's frequent, and often humorous, use of creative tape loops and editing. This aesthetic is fully represented in the artwork on the album covers, virtually all of which is created by Stapleton, mostly under the pseudonym "Babs Santini".[6]
I am just saying this seems like a great way to make a living. Here are some of my favorite NWW.
Download or listen right away:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/cmk861114nursewithwound.mp3
If you think the Residents are strange, wait until you see the other groups on this label.
Here is the story:
RALPH RECORDS (1972- )Ralph was officially launched by The Residents in 1972 with the release of the "Santa Dog" double 7-inch. At that time, the newly formed The Cryptic Corpration took over the label with visions of running it as a legit record company and not just a vehicle for Residents recordings. During the following years Ralph Records became the home of Snakefinger, Tuxedomoon, Fred Frith, Renaldo & the Loaf, MX-80 Sound, Yello, Art Bears, Rhythm & Noise, Hajime Tachibana, Nash the Slash, Clubfoot Orchestra and, of course, The Residents.In 1986, The Cryptic Corporation, having undergone management shakeup, felt the label business was no longer working as a business model and that it was important to find better distribution for their star act, The Residents. So all artists were released from their contracts and the label was shut down. The Residents were moved onto the higher profile RYKO label for the USA, Torso for Europe, and Wave for Japan.So the Ralph Records office was permanently closed.
Or so The Cryptic Corporation thought.
In 2010, the interest in physical product had become very weak in a culture now obsessed with the availability of music via download. Instant gratification was a difficult monster to fight. But The Cryptic Corporation felt there was still a reason to have items that one could hold in sweaty hands. In the fall of 2010 they unlocked the long bolted door of RALPH RECORDS with the resolve of once again making vinyl LP's with 12" covers one can hold. CD / DVD and downloads would also be available.
Late in the summer of 2010, Ralph Records was again launched as a record company. http://www.residents.com/historical/page85/page90/page91/page91.html
Music included:
The Residents, Renaldo and the Loaf, Snakefinger, Tuxedomoon, and more.
Download or listen right away:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/cmk861112_ralph_records.mp3
Image via WikipediaMusic, movie clips, voice clips and who knows what else goes together to produce this sound collage. In the previous weekend I had hosted a 40 hour unusual movie marathon and it had a profound impact on my brain. I tried to work some of this out through this radio program. 
