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secretradiobrooklyn · 2 years

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SECRET RADIO / NYE & JAN.1.2022 / VOL.2 ISSUE 2

“Vegan tacos & champagne” Edition | listen here.

Kensington Secret Radio | artwork by Paige, liner notes by Evan

1. Panjabi MC - “Jogi”

It’s amazing how smoothly this track fits into ‘90s rock production. I know nothing about how this track came to be, but it has 22 million views and the guys in the band are super fun to look at. They did a couple of collabs with Jay-Z, which strikes me as a really rare overlap between the two megacultures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfzp4cdcuYc

2. Christie Laume - “Rouge Rouge”

Whoa — so this song was recorded in 1967, but I just saw Christie Laume’s current website. So fascinating: she just wrote a book called “The Last Love of Edith Piaf.” Her brother Theo married Edith Piaf, and Christie Laume stayed with them for a while. Eventually Piaf asked her to sing and started bringing her out on tour. Now her book about them is described as “the story that only Christie, who loved them so much, can reveal from living with Edith and Theo at their invitation… The heartfelt story of their great love is beyond the difference in their age and physical appearance.” Oh and she’s recently “turned totally to the Lord Jesus Christ.” So that’s all a pretty surprising catchup on the gal who sang about turning red.

3. Alèmayèhu Eshèté - “Tchero Adari Nègn”

We’ve been following Ethiopian music in jazz and rock and pop-reggae, but this is the most James Brown inflection I’ve yet heard from there. But I love how it also sounds so specifically Ethiopian funk in structure and melody.

I am saddened to report that Eshèté died this last year, on September 2, 2021, in Addis Ababa. Thousands of people gathered at Meskel Square to pay tribute.

4. Bruisey Peets - “Zabadee”

We miss you, Bruisey! We’ve been thinking about you. Friends, Ben is a tourmate of long standing, currently I believe in New Orleans, consistently making new and interesting stuff.

- N’draman Blintch - “Self Destruction”

This is taken from a pretty disturbing song about the end of the world. As bed music I must say it reflects how I feel these days, where there’s just a background narrative of destructive practices not getting restrained in any way. Life is good, I love my actual lived life, but the big stuff is just so alarming all the time and feels so destructive.

5. The Exploding Hearts - “Modern Kicks”

I had a heart attack on December 1. It took me by complete surprise, and now as far as I can tell I am… all better? More better? Julian sent this record when he heard, which is incredibly kind, especially because it rocks so hard and good.

6. Dur-Dur Band - “Dooyo”

One of Somalia’s greatest bands, active and prolific through the ‘80s. They have a few different periods and styles within that era, not all of which are my favorites, but this recording is absolutely perfect, right down to the final cassette format that shapes the entire sound. A vivid reminder that Somalia had a rich cultural life before everything crumbled. Worth remembering.

7. The Velvet Underground - “Sad Song” demo

The demos are as much a pleasure to listen to as the albums.

8. La Femme - “Où va le monde”

This is from 2016. They were making a push into the Anglo market while singing in French, which basically never succeeds, but I feel like most of the music lovers I know, pretty much all of whom speak English, would dig this song.

9. Desert Storm - “New Trition” - Hey Drag City

I got really excited about Desert Storm when I heard the ’94 “Hey Drag City” comp, started looking out for more and… there wasn’t any. Didn’t really get started as a band. I just want to hear more songs like this. There’s one 7” available, but I haven’t ever heard any of the songs off it, dammit.

Someone finally told me that this is one of Rian Murphy’s projects, who I know primarily as a collaborator with Will Oldham but who has been part of the Drag City world forever as both drummer and sales guy. Wish he woulda written a dozen more songs in the Desert Storm persona!

10. Shin Joong Hyun & Yup Juns - “Lady”

Korea’s hypercreative, dynamic composer across multiple decades and with tons of collaborators. Hyun was more than 15 years into his music career already when he put this trio together in 1974 and changed his whole approach to music.

A yupjun is like a penny, essentially cheap and worthless.

- N’draman Blintch - “Self Destruction”

11. Nicolas Repac - “Carambolage”

This song was released in 2021! Repac is from Paris, a jazz-based guitarist who eventually got seduced into the exact kinds of historical worldwide music we here at Secret Radio really enjoy, as well as the joys of pure production. He’d mostly set down his instrument for the mixing board, but apparently has been incorporating his guitars more and more into the pieces. There are definitely fascinating guitar flourishes throughout this piece. “Rhapsodic” is his third album, out on No Format! Records.

12. Juaneco Y Su Combo - “Me Robaron Mi Runa Mula”

Cumbia psicodélica from Pucallpa, Peru in 1972. They were part of a music style that was considered straight from the jungle.

13. The Fall - “US 80’s - 90’s”

From “Bend Sinister,” one of our favorite Fall albums of all time.

14. Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba - “Siran Fen” live at KEXP

Ngoni Ba is the band backing Bassekou Kouyate, who is not the singer but one of the lead instrumentalists. This video is a rewarding watch, cos you can see both how hard they go at their instruments and how little they move at all. Also, none of those are guitars. That wahhiest instrument is four-stringed and roughly mandolin-sized, for instance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWgqngywYt4

- Vengaboys - “We Like to Party”

15. Ezra Furman - “Restless Year”

16. Tshetsha Boys - “Uya Kwihi Ka Rose”

Recently I went diving into a whole subculture of South African music. Most of what I’ve heard come out of South Africa in the ‘70s and ‘80s doesn’t quite get to me… but there’s this whole other aesthetic that seems to be uniting glitchy digital production style with traditional singing and dancing. At least, that’s certainly what it looks like. Which isn’t to say this is traditional music… but it does seem to include real traditions that are both contemporary and long-running. Watching the way the fabric moves in two different directions at once, while the dancers barely seem to be moving beyond their hips, is mesmerizing.

17. France Gall - “L’Amerique”

18. Camille Bigeault - “Hi hat in 4 vs kick in 5 and snare/groove in 6”

Camille Bigeault is a savant of polyrhythms — it’s not just that she can work in multiple seemingly clashing cycles at one time, it’s that they somehow feel so musical and appealing. She’s throwing some crazy elements in there but she’s such a good drum writer that everything serves one giant, constantly rotating forward motion. She’s certainly one of my favorite drummers of the day. Weirdly, I haven’t seen her in a musical situation yet that has been enjoyable — when she drums to songs, I’m generally not feeling the composition, the dynamics, the style…. but when she drops a new polyrhythm, it’s pretty much always a jawdropper.

Definitely worth a watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aszx1u6AcQ

19. William Onyeabor - “Something You Will Never Forget”

Still somehow haven’t watched the movie about him.

20. Falco - “Der Kommissar”

OK, I’ll admit, something in this hits me right in the middle-school guys. I mean, the verse shapes are basically lifted straight from Tone Loc, with which I have squirmy associations. Why? I think literally Tone Loc = puberty soundtrack. School dances. But in his favor: Falco is also an incredibly silly guy to look at. I’m pretty sure he’s making his very best attempt to look cool in his video — but it’s also indistinguishable from a video someone would make if they wanted to parody this song. While the chorus is undeniably appealing, the further you get into the song, the more it has that oh-no-it’s-an-enthusiastic-impression-of-rap-and-rap-culture feel that I believe is now known simply as “cringe.” And appropriation. Even still, it’s a true international artifact.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-bgiiTxhzM

- West Side Story - “Overture”

21. Super Mama Djombo - “Sûr Di Nô Pubis”

From Guinea-Bissau, a fairly small country just below Senegal on the westernmost coast of Africa. They met as Boy Scouts in the mid-’60s— the youngest was 6 years old! They became associated with the new country’s independence when it happened in 1974 and became part of the political scene there. Both political and popular, they eventually recorded in Spain and released their first album “Na Cambança” in 1980 (which is what this track comes from) — right as the young country’s government got thrown out of power.

22. Paige Brubeck - “Boys Keep Swinging”

A swatch of “Lodger” Bowie recorded by Tim Gebauer at Electropolis in St. Louis.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CX1gkLcB_bv/

23. Françoise Hardy - “L’età Dell’Amore”

24. Nahid Aktar - “Devi Gi Dang Maar” from the soundtrack to “Sher-E-Babbar” by Tafo

- West Side Story - “Overture”

25. Jimi Hendrix - “Auld Lang Syne”

Thank you Josh for introducing this essential New Year’s Eve experience to us last night. Recorded live at the Fillmore East as 1969 turned into 1970. Cheers to wringing out the old and ringing in the new!

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secretradiobrooklyn · 2 years

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SECRET RADIO / DEC.27.2021 / VOL.2 ISSUE 1

“Two of us watching Beatles” Edition | listen here.

1. Sonic Youth - “Hot Wire My Heart”

Starting the show with a near and dear band to address a difficult subject. As some friends know, I (Evan) had a heart attack this month, and spent some days in the hospital before undergoing a procedure to unblock the immediate occlusion. This song occurred to me as I was talking with the cardiologist from the hospital bed — I wanted to thank him for what he did to save my life, and this is the phrase that leapt to mind, though I didn’t actually say it out loud. I’d rather let Thurston do it right… and I’d like to thank Dr. Fuschetto and really every doctor, nurse and RN in the whole beautiful world for doing what they do.

2. La Femme - “Paradigmes”

Meanwhile, in the non-crisis parts of our life, Paige has continued to dig into French music and French culture. Le Femme is a band we’ve been following for a while — we played “Welcome America” from their 2015 album at one point — and this album is a whole world away from that one. As far as I can tell, they’re pop superstars in their home country, and this new album (fresh out this year!) features their slickest sound yet. It’s been a long time since I’ve followed a modern band through the many stages of their developing identities, so this has been a welcome change of pace. We’re really enjoying how the horn parts really do identify an inherent French sound that runs deeply through their folk and pop traditions… probably something like the blues in American music.

3. Phương Tâm - “Buon 18” - “Magical Nights: Saigon Surf, Twist & Soul (1964-66)”

I got a message recently from Matt Harnish in St. Louis alerting us to a fascinating interaction he’d just had. He works at Vintage Vinyl, one of the country’s last great record stores, and a woman had just asking about “Magical Nights” an album of mid-’60s Vietnamese surf music recently released on the excellent Sublime Frequencies label. She wanted to make sure it was in stock because it’s a collection of songs by her mom, who was a singing star in Vietnam before she fled the country and, apparently, never sang again, except occasionally at karaoke. Her American-born kids had no idea she’d ever been a singer, and she never thought it was worth mentioning, so when the daughter — now a doctor in St. Louis — discovered her mom’s history, she set out to find original recordings, even though Vietnamese music was mostly destroyed mid- and post-war. Eventually they were able to put together this collection. I was so happy to hear about the STL connection, and I’m hoping to have an interview with Phuong Tam run in an upcoming RFT.

I love how ornate this arrangement is, and how — like Cambodian rock at that same time — it works within a Western genre but doesn’t merely replicate the form. This is legitimate surf-based rock music that pushes into its own new territories, especially in the vocal arrangements. It’s absolutely amazing to recognize the rich life that surf music has had all over the world but especially (as far as I can tell) in the East in the ’60s and ’70s.

4. The Beatles - “The End” Remastered 2009

Like every other musician we know, we have been soaking in the revelations from the recently released “Get Back” documentary. It has taken over our brains, our conversations, our inspirations, and rewritten the narrative that we each held in our heads about how the Beatles worked at a functional level. This footage is just miraculous, absolutely game-changing stuff that has surely changed our relationships with the music itself. I look forward to poring over it for years to come, hopefully with you.

Our previous favorite versions of Beatles albums came from the round of remastering that they did in 2009. It sounds so punchy and raw and contemporary, bringing forward each element in a new way but (I think) without draping it in overly ’00s-specific production tones — and anyway, if you don’t dig this version of “Abbey Road,” the original and also various other repackaged remasters will each also be available. This one also gets a special shout-out as part of this episode’s celebration of life post-cardiac catheterization: this is the only Beatles song with a Ringo solo in it, and I love to hear him play. In talking recently online about the Beatles, some drummer sniffed at me that Ringo wasn’t that great “technically.” To which I say: any definition of “technical” drumming that doesn’t include Ringo Starr as one of its grand masters is not a definition I recognize.

5. Tidiani Koné et le T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - “Djanfa Magni”

I’m pretty sure we first learned about Tidiani Kone the way we’ve learned so much about music the last couple of years: via the always-excellent Analog Africa label. A nearly 10-minute version of this song appears on their killer collection “African Scream Contest” — but this version is the full 17:10 track released as an A-side to the equally hypnotic “Fangate Djangele.” Koné is from Mali, and originally played traditional Malian instruments before shifting to sax and trumpet as part of Orchestre de San. I don’t know that band, but I did learn that he founded the Bamako Rail Band in 1970, which is another legit funky group we’ve played on this show. This track is from 1977 in collaboration with the mighty mighty Beninese T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo, and I believe that’s Papillon you can hear in the killer keys solo.

I love how this production is so incredibly hip. It feels like something someone would have tried to painstakingly recreate in the modern era, but instead it’s the real deal, flowing effortlessly with perfect, unrestrained style. I can’t get over how perfect the highly layered drumming is — bless the heart of Yehouessi Leopold — or how the horn shifts in and out of tune the way a much-loved but battered instrument will do. This is popular music in a format favored by so much of the world, where the song just keeps looping ever forward and is meant to be danced to all night long — and who can argue with that?

6. Cate Le Bon - “Are You With Me Now?”

Cate Le Bon’s guitar tones have been a major inspiration to Paige and me, as well as her very controlled way of shifting coolly from verse to chorus and out into whole new unidentified sections, while making every word seem allegorical.

7. Hollie Cook - “Body Beat” ft. Horseman

This is totally righteous production that we stumbled across and love. Then, when I go to find out more, there are some pretty interesting tidbits at hand: Hollie Cook played in “the final line-up” of The Slits. Her father is Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols and her mother was a backing singer for Culture Club. This track is from her only album to date, released in 2011.

8. Kumar Sanu & Alka Yagnik & Sapna Mukherjee - “Pyaar Ka Anjaam”

A tip of the psychic cap to Bobby, our Sudanese cabdriver from Queens who taught us to actually listen up at restaurants. “Pyaar Ka Anjaam” was playing in video and audio form at Diwan, a Crown Heights Indian spot we are craving to get back to. The video portion is highly recommended as well

9. Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto - “Yo Te Adoro”

I don’t know where we found this, honestly. So intense! I would LOVE it if one of those pan-flute bands that you’ll see out sometimes were playing music that sounded like this. I feel VU throughout this whole piece.

- Hannah-Barbera - “Thundarr the Barbarian Theme Song”

The laser-sword wielding love child of Space Ghost and He-Man, Thundarr the Barbarian was probably my favorite Saturday morning superhero. (There weren’t a ton, but still) The theme music really stands up, a reminder that Hannah-Barbera was as much an audio style as it was a graphic one.

10. Brigitte Bardot - “Contact”

Made in ’68, the same year the Beatles are doing their thing…

This video is well worth a watch, though I think the best version is to hear the song first, then eventually make your way to the video version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SE_K7SSDKg

11. Kleenex - “Ain’t You”

They sound so much like Lizzie Mercier Desclouxes, I feel like she must be involved in some way. This is the coolest freakin style basically ever.

12. “Come on Babe Let’s Move Your Feet” - by unknown Cambodian rockers referred to as “Cambodian Oldie Rock and Roll”

This is a clip from an unidentified Cambodian feature film performance that someone uploaded. It freakin rips — SO much harder than it appears in the footage, even though that footage is also really excellent in its own way. Excellent outfits, fascinating dance styles, and a band that rips like the Sonics and James Brown. Definitely listen through the track a full time or two before clicking, but then enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd_JaFtjtkA

13. Os Mutantes - “Ando Meio Desligado”

When thinking about the Beatles these days I often find myself thinking of Os Mutantes, because I feel like they were operating at a level of creative composition as ambitious as the White Album and Sgt. Pepper’s. So many amazing production decisions and storylines and tonal landscapes and musical interpretations of emotions, as with the Beatles — and they definitely have elements that the Beatles never got to. It does make me wish Paul had joined up with them for a few albums; they would have had a great time together I bet.

14. Salah Ragib and the Cairo Jazz Band - “Mervat” from the album “Egyptian Jazz”

I believe I has All Soul No Borders to thank for revealing Salah Ragib and the Cairo Jazz Band, a repository of inventive composition.

- Michel Legrand - “Nuages”

15. Palace Brothers - “For the Mekons et al”

This “Hey Drag City!” comp was absolutely critical in showing me an aesthetic to pursue for the rest of my listening days. It hit right when I wanted to know so much more about Pavement and Palace Brothers and Red Red Meat and Silver Jews and was at my most impressionable… and of all of them, this is my favorite song on there, the one that I cannot help but sing along with. I think of friends from that time, going to shows all over Seattle, playing shows all over Seattle, and that glowing sense of belief in the art we were all in the middle of. We saw a Palace show during this time where Will Oldham stalked the stage alone in front of a boombox, staring out from behind a pushbroom mustache, and I swear it looked like his teeth had been filed down to points. I remember hearing the doors of the Showbox click shut behind us and being a little alarmed, like, they’re leaving us alone with him?

But “For the Mekons et al” is a piece of pure beauty, including the ugly faces and ominous shadows. The intertwining voices transport me. I miss not just those friends but those publications, those record stores and comic shops, walking around with no phone in pocket, headphones on. I miss the twentieth century, I’ll admit it. The late 1900s. A lot of things were ace in 1999.

at age 16 you are stealing a mirror

and find a friend beside you

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secretradiobrooklyn · 2 years

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Secret Radio | 8.27.21, 9.12.21 & 10.8.21

“The Time Warp Edition*” Secret Radio | Aug, Sep, & Oct 2021 | Hear it here.

Edition 8/27 et al - notes start on 10/23

1. Passi - “Il fait chaud”

Y’all — this broadcast has been unstuck in time like Kilroy, knowwhatimean? This first track is a French dude talking about how hot it is in the city right now… and when we started this broadcast, Brooklyn was broiling. We always appreciate the heat though, all the more now that it’s getting straight-up chilly out there. I love this guy’s flow, even more when you watch the video. “Pic nic!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EYBLkK7qYA

2. The Fall - “Industrial Estate (Peel Session)”

Even though I’ve listened to dozens of Peel Sessions, including every track The Fall did with him (thank you, Sean), I don’t know WHY his sessions always sound so radically awesome. I think the first Peel Sessions I knew were Pavement’s, from this early bootleg called “Stuff Up the Cracks,” and those versions have distortions that I still dream about catching on tape in my band. This one has so much of what I love about the Fall in their earliest versions. The left-hand guitar in this one is the same, just perfect noise. But as always, I find myself baffled by Mark E. Smith’s approach to songwriting and the confidence with which The Fall just blazed their way forward from the very first album to the very last. In fact, I was listening just this week to “New Facts Emerge,” their last album before Mark’s death, and it is so radical and hardcore and unbending that it puts Jesus Lizard and every other hardcore rock band to shame. This guy blasted through his life, without losing the bet, for decades longer than could’ve been expected, and then hurled himself snarling and spitting over the cliff at the end. The coolest.

3. Ilaiyaraaja - “Manathinil feat. B.S. Sasirekha”

Ach! It’s been so long since we put this part of the show down that I can’t remember what brought us to Ilaiyaraaja! Paige was immediately smitten with the first thing we heard, which was “Solla Solla.” I wasn’t sure right that second, but “Manathinil” is just undeniably awesome. This is primo Kollywood, the Tamil-language movie industry in India. One of the biggest stars and personalities is Ilaiyaraaja, who was a Kollywood star for years but also a really wild composer and musician. I love how these songs take off and breathlessly fly in all different directions — it’s so exciting to hear the song keep unfurling in new ways. And there’s a key change in the chorus (refrain? bridge? I can’t even tell) that I would love to snag for a Sleepy Kitty song.

- Hailu Mergia - “Sintayehu”

Ultra-bed.

4. Casino Gardens - “Get It Right”

One of the glorious and strange nights of tour with Cowboy Indian Bear brought us to Manhattan, KS for a house show. The night was a classic — crazy sound system, a statue of the city’s faux Paul Bunyan in the middle of Central Park, a set that started a bit awkward but got better and better til it was a righteous show, and a memorable guy telling us that drugs “aren’t my bag, man.” We realized our accommodations were meant to be at this same house, which wasn’t likely to clear out til dawn, so we got a hotel and made our farewells. On our way out a guy handed us a tape by Casino Gardens. That night was a whole other long story (that I’ll probably tell), but the tape turned out to be the ideal van tape deck driving experience — dreamy and joyous and nonsensical and inherently warped. Other than the time we took Andy Kahn out on tour, that tape was our finest tour soundtrack.

5. Kourosh Yaghmaei - “Gol-e Yakh”

Oh yeahhhh — THAT’s how we learned about Ilaiyaraaja: we’d gotten obsessed with the album “Pomegranates,” a compilation of Iranian psych and funk from before the Revolution. This track is from that collection, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Yaghmaei is from Teheran, and this song, “Ice Flower,” was his first single, released in 1973. He combines Persian poetry with his own words and melodies. He learned to play traditional Iranian music on the santur, a sort of harpisichordal percussive instrument, then taught himself guitar at age 15 at about the same time he heard the Ventures and flipped out. He started a couple of bands, combining Persian melodies with Western harmonies to make a whole new sound. The lyrics to “Ice Flower” were derived from a poem by Mahdi Akhavan Langeroudi, who was a university friend of his. In 1979, when the Islamic Revolution happened in Iran, Yaghmaei was suddenly and completely banned from performing or releasing music. The ban continued for 17 years, during which time he refused to leave the country.

6. Guv’ner - “Help Me” - “In the Fishtank 2”

Guv’ner will always be one of my favorite bands. I associate this band entirely with Sean for their first album, then Sean and Brad for the second album onward, and then Les Savy Fav on the last album, “Spectral Worship,” because there are a few sounds that their respective releases shared.

Charles Ganza and Pumpkin Wenzel made the raddest couple I’d ever heard of, pretty much, and their albums are full of these complicated jokes and satisfying harmonies and actually secretly amazing ideal guitar playing. And then there’s this Joni Mitchell song they did for “In the Fishtank,” a super-cool series made by bands passing through the Netherlands, where they just record a song they haven’t put down yet, or work with another band to write songs together. I feel like this take on this song allows me to understand the original in a way I really hadn’t before. For my own taste, I will even admit, I have a definite preference for this recording even. Controversy!

7. The Breakfast Club - “Shit on the Ground”

This is the most adorable recording, and it totally gets stuck in my head. It’s such a perfectly recognizable cheap studio demo of a band just getting started — but this band’s singer is Madonna. The glimpse of her as this kind of character is so surprising… but I also feel like it’s the implied backstory to the girl who showed up with the “Like a Virgin” album, or the self-crafted icon from “Desperately Seeking Susan.” It’s like proof that Madonna does have a rock soul, which makes her music even more approachable to me.

8. Rolando Bruno - “Thai Cumbia”

I think this track must have been delivered to us via algorithm — I mean, we’re sitting ducks for a track called “Thai Cumbia.” But also, as is kind of frustratingly often the case: the algorithm was not wrong. My life is better for having this track in it. I need to listen to the rest of the record, “Bailazo,” because it sure suggests that he’s been listening to the same kinds of records we have.

9. Bunny Girls - “Why That Person?”

Bunny Girls were a Shin Joong Hyun-directed band from Korea. That’s about all I know. We’ve been listening to the two Light in the Attic compilations of Hyun’s work, both of which are just jawdroppingly diverse in style but uniformly awesome in quality. The second volume is “Beautiful Rivers and Mountains,” covering his work from 1958-1974. 1958!

- Hailu Mergia

10. 48 Chairs - “Snap It Around” - “70% Paranoid”

Am I late to the party on 48 Chairs? Definitely… but how big is this party anyway? To me this band sounds like they coulda shoulda been huge when they put this album out in 1979, but I guess nothing came of it in the broader sphere? Or I did and I was clueless? This was put out by Finder’s Keepers 3 years ago and the write-up they give it is so damn hilariously rock-jargoned that I’m going to print it right here:

“Documenting the unlikely coupling of British free jazz bastion Lol Coxhill and the sarcy synth pop don't-wannabes known as Gerry And The Holograms this rare incognito full-length album bridges the micro-niches of electronic jazz and punk jazz from a band formed in 1979 at an axis where DIY and new wave hadn't quite collided! With sprinklings of post-punk female vocals worthy of PragVEC and Suburban Lawns, featuring angular art rock paeans to voodoo dolls and closed-circuit TV, this privately pressed LP comes directly from the man who gave Martin Hannett some of his best ideas and wrote the ‘Blue’print for Manchester's new musical order. Imagine if Talking Heads became Mark E Smith’s backing band for a week before being sacked for wearing a Frank Zappa t-shirt while Eric Dolphy forgot to take his headphones off… If that sounds up your street, then you should be paying double. A genuine lost moment from the post-punk era with progressive pop credentials from the university of Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias before everyone got a job at the local Factory. Why are you the only person who doesn't know about this?”

11. Ilaiyaraaja - “Solla Solla”

Speaking of Finder’s Keepers: this is that first Ilaiyaraaja video that completely converted us. Watch this video. He has an amazing dancing style that is apparently not some sort of pre-existing tradition, just his own weird take on dancing to this music. He’s an incredibly prolific artist as well, creating music for more than 900 films becoming an icon in his own right sometimes known as The Maestro. His soprano “ba-dit-da” solo in the middle passage of this song is so nimble and cool and funny at the same time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oK5CgOw8kw

12. T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - “Azanlokpe”

It felt like it was time for some old-school T.P. Orchestre, as the magnetic center of Secret Radio. This song we got on a 7” as the reverse side of an Antoine Dougbé song that we were after — but man, this one rules! As usual, I’m so thankful this band exists, and that I can reach out into the digital world and find a physical copy of it in France.

13. Mireille Mathieu - “Bravo Tu As Gagné”

Paige: “I don’t even know if I like this music, I’m just really impressed by it. And I find it impossible to look away, auditorially. It’s the feeling of being at a good karaoke bar without being at a karaoke bar. To me. Take that as you will.

“If you want to hear more music like this and get really good pasta and baguette, you should go to 306 Court Street just off the Carroll F & G. It’s Le French Tart, a French deli where they’re always playing music like this.”

14. Teddy Afro - “Yamral”

We got some excellent Ethiopian food with Jon and Michael in DC, out on the sidewalk on a beautiful afternoon. Every time I stepped inside, it sounded like Teddy Afro was playing. This music does for me what some other people tell me reggae does for them — I find it uplifting and invigorating and deeply relaxing at the same time. As always, Teddy Afro tracks go out to Bobby, the Somali cab driver who introduced us to his songs then disappeared during the pandemic.

- Hailu Mergia

15. Dijf Sanders - “Jaipong”

A contemporary Belgian producer’s take on modern Sumatran music. I couldn’t tell you what he does here — whether he composed and performed the pieces himself or assembled them from samples or what the instruments are or anything. But I love how tightly everything fits together.

16. Noosh Afarin - “Gol-e Aftab Gardoon” - “Pomegranates”

During the time it took to create this broadcast, my birthday occurred, and I was presented with a record from my parents that was in fact exACTly what I wanted: that “Pomegranates” album we had been longing for. It’s every bit as good as we thought it was going to be, every track shining new light on psychedelic Iranian pop from before the revolution. One thing that gets me about this rock music from all over the world is how crucial the trapset drumming is to the whole fabric… and how people from all over the world figured out how to play this strange assemblage of drums and cymbals and pedals and sticks and stands in such amazingly satisfying ways. I think that Clyde Stubblefield had a lot to do with it.

17. T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - “Debrouiller n’est pas voler”

Written by, lead guitar and organ by the one and only Zoundegnon Bernard aka Papillon, composed by Melome Clement. This is pretty much the dream lineup, — Bentho Gustave on bass, Yehouessi Leopold on drums, Loko Pierre on sax, and rhythm guitar by Maximus. I never know which parts are Papi’s, but they’re clearly crucial to the braided sounds in every passage. I think that’s Lohento Eskill on lead vocals in the second half. Papillon is right up there with Jimi Hendrix in guitarists I truly wish I could have seen play with my own eyes.

18. X Ray Pop - “Ding Dong”

From the album “Ding Dong Disques,” a compilation rescuing the best work of a band that started in the ‘80s and kept on going in the French underground music scene for 30 years, released on Cache Cache Records.

19. Dub Thompson - “No Time”

Unfortunately it seems this band isn’t active anymore. Paige and I really fell hard for this super cool track from what appeared to be a trio of teenagers. The limits of what is built by instrument and what is built in the studio later are all blurred and smeared. I was looking forward to seeing how Dub Thompson was going to push this aesthetic forward, cos I don’t know anything quite like it — except maybe Casino Gardens?

20. Ilaiyaraaja - “Kadal Mele (featuring S. Janaki and S.P Balasubramaniyam)” - “Ilectro” - Finders Keepers

This track is just another in the virtuosic range of The Maestro. He was considered a musical genius in Tamil and in the tiny but might Kodambakkan Kollywood scene, writing and recording his music for practically the entire industry. It really does feel like you can see a whole film unfold around each song.

21. The Ethiopians - “Engine 54”

We really don’t find ourselves listening to reggae or rocksteady very often, and I’ve rarely found my way inside those styles (unless it’s Beninois), but this 1968 side is such a sweet track full of satisfying harmonies. The vocal train sounds are so satisfying, and the high haunting harmony is too perfect.

22. Moondog - “Bird’s Lament”

23. Kim Jung Mi - “From Where to Where”

This is from the other Shin Joong Hyun collection, “From Where to Where: Digital EP 1970-79.” This wildly popular fountain of creativity was plugged when the president of South Korea demanded that Hyun write a praise song to the leader, Hyun refused, and his career was completely shut down. Eventually he was even imprisoned and tortured. It sounds like life got pretty harsh for Hyun for the following decades, but he managed to survive and even helped put together this collection. Kim Jung Mi, who sings on this track, had a reputation as a singer before this track, but after it was released she was known as a Korean-style psych singer.

24. Mafatshi Leh - “Al Massrien”

I don’t know anything about this song except that I found it on a killer collection called “Habibi Funk,” and it’s totally undeniable. We’re really been feeling the collision of Western instruments with Eastern melodic instincts and styles.

- Hama - “Ataraghine”

Man, I LOVE this track. It’s just a guy and a keyboard in a video, but it’s mesmerizing. I think somehow it was DJ Région who got me to notice this one. This is from Niger in 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vr5lxiTx4A

25. Willie Dunn - “I Pity the Country”

Willie Dunn was an Indigenous songwriter. This song documents the anger and destruction and rebellion that colonialism inevitably calls forth.

* I know there’s no “Time Warp” on this episode, but it’s been such a crazy last several weeks/months that it took us this long to finally post!

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secretradiobrooklyn · 3 years

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Secret Radio | 7.24.21, 8.7.21 & etc.

“Better, Better, Back” Secret Radio | 7.24.21, 8.7.21 & etc. | Hear it here.

- Mort Garson - “Plantasia”

1. Jean-Pierre Djeukam - “Africa Iyo” - “Cameroon Garage Funk”

The main musician I think of from Cameroon is Beti-Beti, and this is a whole different thing. Endless props to Analog Africa for providing fiery track after track. This is the sweat from their newest collection!

2. Eyedress - “Jealous”

Paige hears something in this and when I unfocus my eyes I do too. (Literal?) high school skate kids gettin in their shallow feels. I will admit that the chorus “time-time” is killer.

3. Nahid Akthar & Tafo - “Takra We Gutt Bhar Le” (I think)

Nahid Akthar’s voice is so completely bewitching that the amazing arrangements almost sneak by. Tafo is the producer of this track I believe, and the narrative structure of the music is just so confident and encompassing. But then also: man, that VOICE. She’s right up there with Ros Serey Sothea in expressiveness and character.

4. Oruã - “Escola das Roas” - “Sem Bênção / Sem Crença”

My thanks to you, Marc, for pointing this band to us. I have fallen in love with this particular recording, it just gets more thoroughly better with every listen. Calvin Johnson mentioned this band in a recent K newsletter — they’re a Brazilian band who corresponded with Doug Martsch as mutual fans until at some point Doug decided his own band needed replacing and he brought them out as Built to Spill and also as Oruã. This track also has shades of Sonic Youth’s “Master-Dik,” one of my all-time ultra faves. It really hits me in the ’90s, and I rilly want to see how some of this music is performed live.

5. Jacques Dutronc - “Le Responsable”

I’m so thankful to have Jacques Dutronc in my life. His rock songs knock me into gear like nothing else — and the whole band has its own very specific flavor. It kicks!

6. Sleepy Kitty - “Alceste in Silverlake”

At very long last, there is a new Sleepy Kitty album on the way! It’s in line at the record plant as I type this. And this is a song from the perspective of a musician-seeking drummer in LA, crossed with the most brutally honest man in all of France.

7. Sakuran Zensen - “錯乱前戦ロッキンロール” (I Wanna Rock & Roll)

We only knew one song by this band (that we’ve played here) because the video was rad, but I looked to see what else was there and this song is just freakin great with me. The chords are really cool and his vocal delivery is just so over the top it’s impossible not to love. And the guitar solo is basically a full-on tonefest, which I appreciate more than a bunch of flying fingers. The video helps fill in the picture nicely too, I think, though I like the song while not looking at it even more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPCqT3e89SU

- Mort Garson - “Concerto for Philodendron & Pothos”

8. Clothilde - “Fallait pas ècraser la queue du chat”

All hail the French instinct for chamber music instruments as pop instruments, and then as a kind of technicolor weirdness. The orchestration of this song is a work of art in itself, and that doesn’t even account for her self-harmonizing melody. If you haven’t already, picture a brunette bob and deep mascara.

9. Public Service Broadcasting - “Spitfire”

I can’t remember now how I found this music, though I think it might’ve been from Josh’s playlist? This is from 2012, but they have a new album coming out almost exactly a month from now. In Bound Stems Tim and I got really into interlacing snatches of other people’s words into the music we were making, and this is very congruent with that interest. I feel like this song passes tests as it goes.

10. Shocking Blue - “Send Me a Postcard”

I first heard of this band when I was learning everything I could about Nirvana, and I’d heard both versions of “Love Buzz” and knew they were both great, but we only recently caught this track. It’s the bridge between “White Rabbit” and “Territorial Pissings.”

11. Metak - “Tetrapak”

Our favorite Croatian band! Everything about this song is delightful. I feel like if this song was in English I’d probably cringe at the lyrics, but in this format I can only hear how much fun the song is to play. I am one-quarter Croatian, which means I can’t understand any of the lyrics either but I do see little ghosts of myself in the pictures of the band somehow. It’s weird.

12. Katerine - “Louxor J’adore”

-Anything I could say about this song is eclipsed by this excerpt:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD7QuV6f_MA

The performance to the cemetery knocks me out

13. Erkin Koray - “Seni Her Gördügümde”

Whenever we’re listening to Anatolian psych, the songs with the most creative ideas and satisfying riffs and great vocal passages are always Erkin Koray. The four-piece arrangements are so good, and then he doesn’t hesitate to step up with his guitar to narrate a passage. Also, I really like how Turkish rock sounds so Indian and also Arabic and also French.

14. WITCH - “Chifundo”

Zambian prog rock! I haven’t heard anything like this track anywhere else in Africa yet. The thing is, this version of prog includes the exact flavor that Yes totally lacks, and thus I really love listening to this track in a way most prog rock doesn’t hit me. The time switches and the lead part over the top are just so smooth!

15. Ezra Furman - “Psalm 151”

We’ve been listening to a lot of Ezra Furman’s music lately, and it’s only getting better and more engrossing with every listen. We toured with Ezra Furman’s band about 5 years ago and every night was a pleasure. They’re finishing up a new album, which makes this a great time to listen to the others. This entire album, “Transangelic Exodus,” is a masterpiece as far as we’re concerned, and I find myself thinking the whole time too about Tim Sandusky’s production. Tim’s such a home town for us, and to hear his full attention on this album is just such a pleasure.

16. Ralph Stanley - “White Light, White Heat”

It was one of my favorite musical influence moments ever when my dad’s bluegrass band, The Prozac Mtn Boys, played VU’s “What Goes On.” Knowing that there is a recording of one of my dad’s true banjo heroes playing “White Light White Heat” is just an endless blessing. And actually hearing it is even better.

17. Kim Jung Mi - “Ganadaramabasa”

I know basically nothing about this track except that she’s Korean and this is from 1973. She’s got a real Diana Ross thing going on, and her band has a real Supremes vibe too… but it doesn’t sound like one of their songs.

18. Penny Penny - “Yogo Yogo”

We just got this record recently, and based on this track I wouldn’t’ve necessarily pictured the remarkable-looking guy who actually made this music. This is from the album “Shaka Bundu.” I’m sure it’s been cranked up and sent through some great house remixes — how could this not be? — but I like how this tempo operates at its own pace. It’s so truly and thoroughly ’80s, very 20th century. In the 21st century this tempo is practically cerebral.

19. Baris Manço - “Binboganin Kizi”

More Anatolian action. It’s really interesting to me how Turkish stuff was always associated with psych music but I didn’t really know how except for the opium thing, and I now understand that it’s in the chord relationships, well, and a lot of the vocal melody and delivery. In that way, Turkish rock pretty much defines what psych music sounds like. Wow. And check out that keyboard solo, so next level!

20. The Velvet Underground - “Countess from Hong Kong”

People are always asking Beatles or Stones and the answer is Velvet Underground. (And the Beatles, and the Stones.) They were just operating along a different balance beam than those other guys — performing different tricks for a different audience. While the Beatles were defining pop music, the VU were destroying it… but then later, they reveal their deep affinity for Western music, even as they never drop in to the blues-centric reading of it. It’s truly punk. I guess they are to punk what the Beatles are to pop — the definition of pop is whatever flows to or from the Beatles; punk is whatever flows to or from the Velvet Underground. Certainly more than any single band in 1976 or 7 or whatever.

21. Bella Bellow - “Denyigban”

The piano phrase that kicks this song off is surprisingly close to the opening of Bound Stems’ “Appreciation Night.” We got that phrase from the demo mode of Radz’s keyboard, and it’s surreal to hear a high-overlap version in a song from Togo. Her voice is so clean in tone and pitch, and what’s strangest to me is that I register the instrumentation in an almost Disney mode — but then realize that’s because Disney will draw on Caribbean and African elements at times as they establish characters and settings. Such an elegant song though!

22. Rail Band - “Mouodilo”

One of the first insights that got us into WBFF was the realization that James Brown had even more fundamental influence on the music of the world than the Beatles did — certainly in Africa. Hearing how his delivery interrelates with so many bands from all across Africa is such a revelation. This track just keeps winding around you til you can’t hardly live without it.

- Asha Bhosle - “Salma Jarir Jhalak”

All I know about this is that it’s in Bangla and it’s from a movie.

23. Unknown - “Chemirocha” - from “Love Is Love”

Several years ago, when African records looked interesting but we literally didn’t know anything about them, we bought a record called Love Is Love, in part because it was a beautiful cover and in part because the music seemed mysterious and full of possibility. Now, when I go to look for it online, I see no sign — I think it’s just a really small pressing from a… pirate group, I guess one could say? But really I think just hardcore music lovers. Anyway, it has this song “Chemirocha” on it, and there’s a story about this song that is really probably just best to link to because it’s so amazing. I guarantee you will find the information in this article worth your read:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/chemirocha-how-an-american-country-singer-became-a-kenyan-star

24. Sparks - “Do-Re-Mi”

We’ve known about Sparks, but we’re late to a close listen. We’ve been listening a lot in anticipation of — not the band bio pic but “Annette,” the new film by Carax, one of our favorite directors ever. For that matter: make sure to watch “Holy Motors” by Carax. It’s probably best if you watch “Lovers on a Bridge” before that, but if you have to go straight to “Holy Motors,” dive right in. It’s amazing.

Meanwhile: This take on the Mary Poppins classic is TOO MUCH — I can’t stop smiling at the end, when the bells start tolling over the crashing drums and crescendoing vocal waves as their third finale fades away. How can anyone make this song, the very definition of not-rock, rock so fully?

- Mort Garson - “Ode to an African Violet”

25. Bob Reuter’s Alley Ghost - “She Brought Me to the Wire”

I will forever be glad that we not only landed in a city where we could find out about the person and the works of Bob Reuter, but that we got to know and work with him. Bob Reuter was one of the definitions of St. Louis to us, and when he passed, so did some of that city. But also, he left music and photos and stories in Eleven and chapbooks that I truly hope last forever. He was the hard-living romantic that you hope lives in the heart of every hard-luck case… and in his one instance, it was true. Bless your soul, Bob Reuter.

photos by Bob Reuter from The Pageant and El Leñador

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Two Lions In Love Edition | 6.19 & 6.26.21

Secret Radio | 6.19 & 6.26.21 | Hear it here.

6/19: Juneteenth “Two Lions in Love Edition”

“Tropical use only” — drug salesperson

1. Daddy Don’t - “Bottom Side of Texas”

One of our favorite spots to play in the whole country is the Pilot Light in Knoxville — it’s not just the club, but the neighborhood and really the whole drive into town, digging into the Tennessee mountains. There’s a little St. Louis in its bricks and pathways too. One evening brought us a night with Daddy Don’t, which was a gal on guitar singing songs about the gal on drums, plus a guy onstage strictly to blow bubbles. They seemed so shy and so completely cool. Their set was hilarious and touching and maybe a little stumbly and thoroughly charismatic. I felt an overlap with Birdcloud and Schwervon and ‘90s Olympia but also definitely their own thing. I hope they’re doing cool stuff these days too.

2. Ennio Morricone - “Guerra e Pace Pollo e Brace” - “Grazie Zie” soundtrack

The great music find from the wedding of Josh and Ashleigh. We spent some time recently remembering what a fantastic time that was…

3. Panjabi MC - “Mundian to Bach Ke”

…because we all met up in Chicago this month to celebrate the marriage of Ren and Kiera! It was in the Morton Arboretum, bringing together both American and Indian families in one grand event. The music throughout the evening was lovely, from the ceremony (Josh on solo guitar) through the early events and the meal. Once the dance floor was opened, however, a whole new flavor dropped: the DJ rocked between Nelly and Indian dancefloor music, then over to Michael Jackson, then into Panjabi MC and on and on. We danced our faces off!

- “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” karaoke version with special guest star!

4. Sparks - “The Number One Song in Heaven”

“Gabriel plays it and God how he plays it!” I know everybody’s gonna be talking about Sparks soon because of the doc that just dropped, and it’ll be both from people who know everything about Sparks and from people who are brand-new zealots. Bring it on — I’m so looking forward to learning more about these guys… especially because, in just over a month, on August 6, there’s going to be a whole other film dropping that we’ve been looking forward to for years. It’s called “Annette,” and it’s directed by Carax, who did “Holy Motors” and “Lovers on the Bridge” — it’s his first movie in English and his first musical. But check this: Sparks wrote all the music! The cast includes Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard, Angèle AND Russell Mael … I mean, we couldn’t be any more excited for this film. It’s entirely possible that it won’t work at all, but it’s also entirely possible that it turns out to be the combined efforts of some of the most interesting artists working today.

5. T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - “Noude Ma Gnin Tche De Me”

We met up with Theo Welling recently just off Atlantic Avenue at a place with a questionable name and a brothel theme but a pretty epic back patio. Not only were there chandeliers and a disco ball hanging from the broad branches of the tree overhead, but the music was DEAD ON our tastes. When this song came on, it was like: they got us. There was some Francis Bebey a little later on, I mean it was the very stuff. And the thing is, this song totally rocked that patio. Because T.P. rules.

This is from Analog Africa’s crucial T.P. collection, “Echos Hypnotiques.”

6. Elsa - “Ecoutez”

The energy in French records from the ‘60s is crackling hard — this one

We picked up this record at Dave’s Records when we were in town for Ren and Keira’s wedding. It happened to be Record Store Day as well, so we went to Dave’s Records, an old favorite with a “CDs — Never Had Em, Never Will” sign in the window. “They powered through CDs,” says Paige. That sign is this relic of them living through the ‘90s and ‘00s, really.”

7. Velvet Underground - “White Light/White Heat”

Theo was wearing a Lou Reed Transformer shirt that night and we spent some time talking about this crazy band. I feel like this track is the ultimate experience of VU where they find the most ragged frayed edge of pop music to ride and they spend the whole song there, until the end when they jump on the song like leopards on an antelope and start attacking it. But the song resists, takes off running, and actually gets quite a long ways before it is finally taken down. The ending sounds like a brutal act of nature.

8. Sroeng Sari - “Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng”

It took me a while to stop and actually listen to this song — the opening riff is kind of blinding. You stare into that riff and think that you’re gonna have to deal with a whole version of “Iron Man,” but on the other side of the riff lies a fascinating new riff and completely independent verse shape. (I have no idea if the lyrics relate to the concept of “Iron Man.”) In fact, it turns out the riff is practically only used like a sample within the structure of the song, and it’s mainly not Iron Man at all.

9. [REDACTED] Keep an eye out for the Extended Drunk Scarface Cut Edition.

[9. Paige Brubeck as Scarface & Tony S. in - “Favorite Gangster Friend” feat. Chumbawumba]

10. Midnight Oil - “The Power and the Passion”

Paige was a little too late for Midnight Oil, but she’s extremely receptive to an ideologically, ecologically driven band. “If I had heard that band when I was listening to ska music, I would have fuggin loved this band. I think I would have listened to this band a lot. The part of me that likes Reel Big Fish and the Pietasters… it’s very punk and then when the horns come in it’s like, Oh yeah I love this stuff.”

For me: I love the drum solo. It’s such an interesting full-length exploration of a few different ideas, and it helps point out the ways that the percussion operates in Midnight Oil songs. The overdubbed variations on the singer’s voice reminds me of techniques we used in Bound Stems. I really like that way of recording multiple emotions within a single line and just kind of smashing them together for a multi-faceted take on the lyric. I feel like “Jane Says” was the first recording where I noticed that approach. I also love the crescendo structure to the whole song. But to me, this feels like a song that was built to be played live but someone thought should be represented on the album. I think the transitions between the A, B and C parts are weird and unfinished, even though each of the parts is really good.

11. Phuong Dung - “Do Ai”

What a truly incredible voice… and the guitar accompaniment only slowly reveals its depth and litheness through the course of the song.

12. Group Inerane - “Ikabkaban”

This was a lucky discovery. It’s as much a state of mind as a recording of a song. The sound is very live and not ideal, which I do think ultimately makes it more interesting. There’s something about live recordings that can be embarrassing and compromised… or it can feel like lightning in a bottle. I think this one feels special. This sounds to me like desert blues. These are some of the notes on the track itself: “This album by the rebellious Tuareg musicians from Niger is certainly more hypnotic and less ecstatic than the first (which was recorded at a wedding celebration). It should be said that the guitarist Adi Mohamed, who played on the first album, was shot dead in a skirmish between the nomads and junta forces.”

Yow.

13. The Lemon Twigs - “As Long As We’re Together” (video version)

Now I should just say A) this is the video version of the song, and B) that’s the real version of the song as far as I’m concerned. This video is a perfect thing, at least to me. It was directed by Autumn de Wilde, who went on to direct the film “Emma,” which was one of the most enjoyable pieces of art we saw during the pandemic. (She initially got notice as a photographer before going into music videos.) The recording is masterful, with an intentionally pushed back main vocal and all kinds of panned effects both minimal and baroque. These guys were all teens when they wrote and recorded this song with Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado, which only makes it more (annoyingly?) brilliant. Also: this is our candidate for the song likeliest to get stuck in your head.

That video (I love the ending):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ4nqnVOfMo

- Nisar Bazmi - “Aesi Chal Main”

Pakistani music from a collection labeled “Folk and Pop Instrumentals 1966-1976.” It’s easy to imagine this as a folk song, but the instrumentation is so radically electric that it feels like new information being learned on the spot.

14. Katty Lane - “Ne Fais Pas La Tête”

Another live recording. Actually, that’s probably not true: it’s a recording from a TV of a TV appearance that Katty made, almost certainly lip-synching the vocals. But it sounds better than the album version to us. Katty Lane is going for a cross between Nancy Sinatra and Brigitte Bardot, and it’s really interesting how close she gets but how far away she remains.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T4gWLi5RUw

15. Ezra Furman - “I Lost My Innocence”

Man, the rhythmic arrangement of the opening verse knocks me out. The production on this whole album really, but the minimalist rhythmic clarity that comes from splitting the beat among a variety of instruments is so amazing. As a drummer I just find the pattern-building in this song enviable.

We got to know these songs well during a tour we did with Ezra Furman. The whole band is full of heavy hitters, including Tim Sandusky, the guy who recorded the album and plays a variety of instruments there and live. He’s one of my favorite musical brains, period, and “Transangelic Exodus,” the album this comes from, is one of my favorite pieces of album production, period.

16. Voilaaa - “Pas bon”

These are apparently contemporary people! This album is from 2015. I think Josh pointed us to this one.

17. Francois and the Atlas Mountains - “La Verité”

This a band Paige came across a couple of years ago, at 2222 Jefferson I believe. This chorus is a true tonguetwister and thus irresistable to try to sing along with. The melody is really strong, and check out how the guitar enters the solo!

18. Ata Kak - “Daa Nyinaa”

We had an amazing night in the back patio zone we share with our building. Dexter had a few friends over including a dude named KG who turned out to be super interesting on a variety of subjects. As we were talking about music he brought up Ata Kak, whose “Obaa Sima” we’ve played on here and who we absolutely love. Paige disappeared inside and came back with our tape of this whole album. He fell out, like what are we doing with this thing? I started telling the whole back story of how the album was discovered in a street tent in Ghana by the guy from Awesome Tapes From Africa, and eventually after many adventures actually tracked down Ata Kak, who was surprised to be found and even more surprised to find that the tape Awesome Tapes had found was distorted and ran way faster than originally intended. But then KG started playing that original tempo track, which does indeed sound comPLETely different. I still haven’t been able to find a way to get ahold of that original track. “Daa Nyinaa” is another banger off the same tape. The man just has a really great sense of what makes a hook.

19. Sakuran Zensen - “Taxi Man” 錯乱前戦　タクシーマンのMVです

This was a video that flickered through my feed a couple of years ago, I think thanks to Steve Scariano (not Steve Pick as I claim aloud). I don’t think a single recommendation of Steve Scariano has ever been the wrong answer — the man has impeccable taste. This song has all of the rock and all of the roll PLUS a ladder. It’s a strong song and an even stronger video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNmubstNGFs

20. New York Dolls - “Looking for a Kiss”

As soon as we were in the nasty distortion of Sakuran Zensen it was probably inevitable that we would go looking for the New York Dolls. The live performance of this song is worth the price of admission… and the drummer looks like one of the brothers from The Lemon Twigs!

21. Mina - “La verità”

Sometimes Italian is the only language that will do. It does tend to have its own melodic shapes separate from French. I adore the way she goes for the high notes in the chorus only to get to the climax, which is her dropping down into her lowest register to bitterly and sarcastically deliver the title phrase: “La verità:” “the truth.” I know just enough Italian to catch that her final declaration is “Sono stato io,” or: “It was me.”

22. Pylon - “Cool”

Pylon has been back in the news recently thanks to a big ol’ rerelease at the 40 year mark, and it’s a great way to get more in touch with a band that lies at the source of so much music we love. They are every bit as cool as the song.

23. Dalida - “Aghani Aghani”

Dalida is Egyptian born, in an Italian household, who first gained fame singing in French — or in Italian to French audiences. She ended up singing in 10 languages in all. She is a blockbuster French star with no parallel, though she died young by her own hand. “Aghani Aghani” is an Arabic medley that became a gigantic hit all across the Arab world and has since entered the fabric of the language and culture.

24. Betti-Betti & T.P. Orchestre Poly Rythmo de Cotonou - “Mbala”

We have been falling deeper and deeper for Betti-Betti’s songs. This one has so many of my favorite things that she does — the fantastic melodies that cycle past each other, the expressive horn lines, and the mouth percussion that totally transforms the song for me. We just recently got a different album of hers that we’re also really excited about; that one features an entirely different band in a different style. This one is T.P. though, those consummate collaborators, and this song is an epic joining of forces.

- Mulatu Astatke + Black Jesus Experience - “Mulatu”

25. Nick Drake - “Pink Moon”

Oh that strawberry moon with its red halo.

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The Singing Senator Edition | 5.22.21

Secret Radio | 5.22.21 | Hear it here.

1. Dara Puspita - “Bertamasja”

Dara Puspita was an Indonesian band, active right from the start of rock n roll — like, they jumped into it in 1964. I love how it sounds like gnarly garage rock until the lead guitar tone pulls out and reveals a super VU sound. With a surf structure! It’s just about a perfect nugget of song.

2. Yol Aularong - “Sou Slarp Kroam Kombut Srey (Rather Die Under a Woman’s Sword)”

Yol Aularong has the wildest voice, and total commitment to rock’s magic transformative power, even in a context where he was risking his life. He does things that would make Screamin’ Jay lean back and appreciate. The arrangements and his delivery just o’erbrim with life and character.

3. The Psychedelic Aliens - “We’re Laughing”

This band is like Atomic Forest in that they’re just the answer to any collector’s wildest dreams of rarity: they’re a Ghanaian band who released exactly 8 songs and were big in the Accra scene. The groove of this song, especially in headphones, is just mesmerizing, and his delivery gets gradually more and more abstract. It sounds like Marijata and what I wish WITCH sounded more like. Undeniable.

- Glenn Miller Orchestra - “Sunrise Serenade”

4. Prewar Yardsale - “Turn On (Live Peel Session)”

We got into Prewar Yardsale through Jeffrey. Because we got into this band that he introduced us to, he said he had some rarities and other tracks. That he sent our way, and this is from that.

5. Chai - “In Pink (feat. MNDSGN)”

I think first it was the New York Times, then the Guardian, then the New Yorker all writing about this band essentially in the same week — and we definitely had no idea what they sound like. This song had just debuted on YouTube 18 hours earlier. I think, especially now through repeated listens, it’s a rad track. I love the way MNDSGN winds his vocals into the song, then has his passage, then smoothly winds his way out again. It’s like meeting a really interesting person at an already cool party.

6. Waipod Phetsuphan - “Ding Ding Dong”

Siamese music — Thai music. The guitar part is so primal and the drums so bright in the fills and meanwhile it sounds like he’s casting a spell. And what a refrain.

7. Jacques Dutronc - “J’ai me un tigre dans ma guitare”

One of the greats — I have loved every song of his I’ve ever heard. This song really makes me appreciate his band, especially his drummer.

8. Orchestra Baobab - “Kelen Ati Leen”

When we started WBFFing, it was partly because we were being blown away by the indisputable proof of James Brown’s influence on, and interaction with, the entire world. I don’t think I realized JB was a lot bigger than the Beatles in huge swaths of the world. This track is fundamentally expressing a JB groove and doing their own entire thing at the same time. The lead vocals’ flavor is just off the charts and the band is SO tight.

9. Pierre Vassilou - “Qui c’est celui-là?”

What IS this song? It’s in French but it sounds like Brazil — I guess really it sounds like Os Mutantes.

10. Betti-Betti w T.P. Orchestre Poly Rythmo - “Mahana”

The abundance of T.P. Orchestre keeps on giving. This beautiful, beautiful song is from an album they did with Cameroonian star Betti-Betti, who basically expressed the pain of her country so precisely that the whole nation mourned her passing when she died young. This melody is just stunning, and the harmony

- Stunt Double - “Be My Baby”

Ace track from some of our favorite people in all of LA.

11. Bug Chaser - “Crowley’s Kids”

I don’t know if Bug Chaser is active at the moment, but some of our favorite STL shows have been watching and/or playing with Bug Chaser. We did the City Museum rooftop twice — and we split favorite VU songs at the Lou Reed Farewell show. Two drumsets, way too much information per track, and an epic live show with a lead character who knows how to lose himself in a song.

12. Eko Roosevelt - “Attends Moi”

We learned about Eko Roosevelt by glimpsing him in a movie about Betti-Betti. He’s a handsome bearded gentleman behind a piano. The first songs by him that got us were super heavy disco, but this one has its own special power. Lately Paige has been singing and playing it on guitar — I’m kind of hoping that we hear her version of “Attends Moi” in another broadcast.

13. Manzanita y Su Conjunto - “Shambar”

One of the sweetest musical gifts in our life has been the discovery of Analog Africa’s ever-growing musical jackpot. They sent their list a note recently about an upcoming record focused on Manzanita y Su Conjunto and their path through cumbia music, and there are two tracks available now counting this one. We’ll be getting this record, this shit is amazing.

Paige: “I gotta get in touch with Mrs. Link.”

14. Lizzy Mercier Descloux - “Fire”

This song is from her 1979 debut, “Press Color,” and man, what an undeniable new character on the scene! She was based in Paris, hooked up with Michel Esteban, and together they not only established a store of crucial Parisian punkness but also published a fucking MAGAZINE called “Rock News”!! While making music like this! Eventually they moved to New York in 1977 (natch) and as far as I know just continued to be the coolest humans on Earth. I can’t wait to share some of her other tracks with you — besides the brilliant first album, there’s a whole record called “Zulu Rock”!

15. Os Mutantes - “A Minha Menina”

And as always I think: What did the Beatles think of this music?! They must have known about it, they must have. To me it really brings a whole additional level that the Beatles wanted to get to but literally didn’t know how — and Os Mutantes did.

16. Suburban Lawns - “Janitor”

Sometimes I wonder why something that sounds so objectionable can be the most vital music in the world. Like, nothing about the lyrics or the way this song is sung should be appealing — and instead, this song is brilliantly undeniable. It’s even better when you see them performing it. If you don’t know what they look like, I guarantee you she will be a surprising character.

My favorite words on it ever are something someone wrote as a comment under the video of their TV performance of this song: “Spent 15 years as a janitor. Can confirm every word.”

17. Sinn Sisamouth and Ros Serey Sothea - “Mou Pei Na”

These two are just amazing characters in the pre-Khmer Rouge Cambodian music world. Ros Serey Sothea’s voice is totally unique, and Sisamouth has a sincere urgency that gives the whole song a surprising narrative shape.

18. Ranil - “Ángel Terrenal”

Analog Africa again — the cure for what ails you. They are truly combing the world for music that amazes. They played the length of the Amazon river and did their best to stay out of big cities after a bad experience with a record label. So they released these psychedelic jungle masterpieces on little slabs of vinyl that they sold up and down the river. Can you freaking believe that?

- Salah Ragab - I believe you are responsible for telling us about Salah Ragab, Josh Weinstein. So good.

Also, as promised, further information about glue traps and why they’re so harsh (and how to pull off a successful rescue!) can be found here.

19. Dagi D - “Beka”

I feel like I knew my musical life had changed when I started thinking of every visit to an Ethiopian restaurant as a valuable moment to learn as much about the music as possible — especially Meskerem in St. Louis, it must be said. It turns out modern Ethiopian pop music is super addictive and can easily get stuck in your head for days.

20. Raxstar - “Jaaneman”

We’re still pretty new to Kensington, our neighborhood in Brooklyn. We knew that a Muslim holiday called Eid al-Fitr was happening, and when it was happening, but we were still surprised by what a joyous holiday it was in our neighborhood. Everyone of all ages was out in their fines, which involved a whole lot of sequins and shining metallic threads. The men wore a lot of caftans and those excellent long shirts and/or jackets, most with beautiful patterns. We went for a long walk and just enjoyed seeing a holiday at full pitch — excited kids and tutting grandmas, people carrying big flower arrangements (in the shape of a crescent and star!), heavy-looking tins of food headed toward a feast, even fireworks overhead. We crossed paths with a group of dudes all dressed up in various states of celebration, from a sharp Western-style two-piece suit to an even sharper South Asian suit with a Nehru collar and snug caftan. It looked like they had just finished the parental part of the night and were deciding where and who to meet up with — exactly like, say, Thanksgiving night in your hometown. It felt like, from Coney Island to McDonald, Church to Cortelyou, it was New Year’s Eve for everyone but us.

After our walk we returned to our apartment and set up a little folding table out back to enjoy a glass of wine in the warm air. Our neighbors across the fence were still in the midst of family time, with tons of kids running around, including a teensy little girl on a tiny little pink scooter and a gaggle of beautifully awkward teens in the posture and attitude that says “stand by your cousins and let me take your picture.” As the evening wore on and the parents drifted back inside, the young adult contingent got a speaker going, and soon we were catching tracks we’d never heard before. The one that made us first pay attention was “Jaaneman,” with the vocalist’s super-charismatic delivery and priceless accent. We found ourselves Shazaming song after song, and thus started learning about Desi hip hop, a whole world of East Asian immigrant tracks that offer a lens into life in the US and UK that I haven’t really seen since watching “My Beautiful Laundrette” many years ago. Fascinating!

“Jaaneman” literally means “soul of me,” but translates to “my love” or “my darling.” Check out Raxstar — I’d love to see him play SNL and get an impression of what he’s like live. Just last month he released “Forever Jaaneman,” which updates his original smash hit and is also a very strong track.

21. Nate Smith - “Spress Theyself”

One of the last shows we got to see in St. Louis was Nate Smith at Jazz at the Bistro, and holy smokes, what a pleasure to see him do his thing up close. I love this solo album because it sounds like a practice sesh that died and went to heaven. It doesn’t have a song’s logic, but it does follow the feel of a great intuitive exploration of a beat, wandering through subdivisions and feel variations with complete ease.

22. Jefferson Airplane - “White Rabbit”

This is Paige’s call. I think it’s cool because I can hear the direct connection between this and Erkin Koray’s Anatolian psych rock style, which I previously had no idea about. This listen through, we’ve both been appreciating how overwhelming massive Grace Slick’s voice is.

23. Marie France - “Dereglée”

Another cut off the fantastic Born Bad Records comp “Paink,” and more proof that punk was happening in other languages at the same time. (Though I think they called themselves “méchant”… or denied being méchant, depending) The album art reveals that Marie France happened to look uncannily like a punk Marilyn Monroe, which only makes both MM and MF cooler.

24. Operation Ivy - “One of These Days”

I was never for one second a punk in high school, but I knew that the Op Ivy t-shirt was the essence of functional punk.

- Shin Joong Hyun - “Moon Watching”

25. Shin Joong Hyun - “Spring Rain”

This guy has an otherworldly sense of melody and performance that indie rock only starting catching up with decades later. This is the guy sometimes referred to as the “Korean godfather of rock.” He was active from the early ‘60s til 1975, when he was arrested, tortured and banned in South Korea. Eventually, the leader who had hammered down on him died, and he was able to begin piecing his life back together. These iconic, evocative, cinematic recordings would sound great in any decade.

Spoiler: it wasn’t! We walked across the bridge and it was a thoroughly magical New York evening.

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secretradiobrooklyn · 3 years

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May Day Edition | 5.1.21

Secret Radio | 5.1.21 | Hear it here.

1. Zia - “Helel Yos”

This song has been in our heads in a big way the last few weeks. Zia was my first exposure to pre-revolutionary Iranian rock — sometimes called “psych rock,” though I can’t tell if that’s a designation he would make himself. But to be fair, I have no idea what he’s going for. Nonetheless, those little whistles he does get under my skin and into my brain. I wake up in the morning singing “helel yoza, hella hella helel yoza”… This is from the late ‘60s, I believe. The whole album (also called “Helel Yos”) is pretty excellent, and includes the song “Khofrium” from our last broadcast. A recent favorite and highly recommended.

2. Shin Joong Hyun - “Pushing through the Fog”

Somehow stumbled on this collection of South Korean music, and it has been mesmerizing. Shin Joong Hyun is a great example of something I love discovering over and over again: someone working within a language and a genre, but also expressing a completely unique personal style that extends beyond those general qualities and into startling specifics. This song is from “Beautiful Rivers and Mountains: The Psychedelic Rock Sound of South Korea’s Shin Joong Hyun 1958-74,” which blows my mind, because the tones, and especially the bass and drums, sound so completely of the moment. It’s sold out at Light In The Attic’s store, so we’ll be keeping our eyes out for it in the wild, because these are going to be some crucial liner notes. The brief version on their site describes him as a guitarist, songwriter, producer, arranger, and talent developer. He began by performing for US troops in Korea post active war time, became a bewitching guitarist and songwriter, then started producing other bands in the region, and a string of hits developed. It sounds like his story includes a really harsh period of intrusion and disruption by the government… but as far as I can tell he survived to the current day, and even helped oversee this collection.

3. The Traces - “Je t’aime moi non plus” - “Thai Beat A Go Go Vol 2”

Ummm… I would LOVE to know what words they’re singing. This chummy Thai version of Gainsbourg’s super sensual “Je t’aime, moi non plus” is such a weird listening experience. I think one of the singers is either drunk or hearing the song for a first or second pass. What are they saying?!

4. Annie Philippe - “On m’a toujours dit”

I really love the energy and style of this track and many of the Annie Philippe songs I’ve heard, which makes it aggravating that the first thing one finds online in English about Philippe is a condescending, limp writeup on her by Richie Unterberger that tries its best to ignore how delightful her voice is and how pleasurable the arrangements are — luckily the dude mentions that Paul Mariat worked on her albums, who also arranged Charles Aznavour. I love the florid colors of French pop from the ‘60s with hothouse arrangements and wide-flung voices. The ebullient drums and electric guitar, the confident harmonies and tucked in little organ and horn licks are all pure joy.

5. T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - “Houton Kan Do Go Me”

While we were in the Illinois woods we received some very welcome records from Germany’s Analog Africa label which included “The Skeletal Essences of Afro-Funk,” a collection of songs by pretty much our favorite band in the world, T.P. Orchestre. These songs that explore some of the facets of the band that “Echoes Hypnotique” and “The Vodoun Effect” — both gorgeous, keystone records — hadn’t gotten to yet. The language is Fon, the style is Jerk, and the composer (though not the singer, I think) is Bentho Gustave, T.P.’s bassist. pretty sure the singer is Lohento Eskill.

- Hailu Mergia & The Walias - “Musicawi Silt”

The Walias is the band that Hailu Mergia was in when he first came to America. I seem to remember a story that they were disappointed with the trip, went home to Ethiopia and broke up, but Mergia stayed and kept developing his keyboard style, which did a few decades later (!) actually win him wide recognition and acclaim. This is some of his earlier work, not in the director’s seat, and you can hear so much of Mergia’s style woven into the band’s arrangements. I love how it sounds like he’s just playing pure electric current — it barely sounds like an organ to me, more like uncut groove tone.

6. “Newsies” clip

In celebration of May Day, we present this inspiring tale of unions forming in the streets of New York.

7. Sexe a Pile - “Pas Méchant”

Another recent record score, this one from our other most favorite label, Born Bad Records in France: “Paink: French Punk Anthems 1977-1982.” One thing I love about this song is that the chorus always makes me think of “High Class” by the Buzzards, a song that never got nearly enough love as far as I’m concerned.

8. The Replacements - “Customer”

Dave got me thinking about the Replacements and before I knew it we were deep into “Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash.” So wild and loose and pissed off and sincere the whole time. You can really hear Westerberg yearn to be great but also sneer at himself for taking something seriously. It used to sound so unhinged to me but now it has become an album about being young and scared of yourself

9. Plearn Promdan - “Ruk Kum Samong”

Well, this was something we didn’t see coming — the Thai music we’ve heard up to now has been more ’50s influenced. It sounds like a four-piece rock band surrounded by a drum circle. This is part of what’s apparently known as Luk Thung underground. There’s been some very good stuff so far, I look forward to finding out more.

10. T.P. Orchestre - “Azanlokpe”

I got a little obsessed with T.P. Orchestre for a while there, and was trying to listen to every single recording that Discogs offered — which is a LOT, because they were super prolific. This is one of my favorite finds so far. I wish I could say which singer this is; it was noted as Melome Clément but I don’t think that’s him. So many talented people in this band!

11. Francis Bebey - “Super Jingle”

Francis Bebey contains multitudes. I’m pretty sure he records all of these parts himself. I think he’s just a master of rhythm — all of the instruments weave a tapestry that he can then cavort upon. The body of the song is so hypnotizing, the lead so akimbo.

12. Dalida - “J’ai revé”

One of the highlights of the 2017 St. Louis International Film Fest was the biopic of her life. This is early Dalida. As far as Paige understands, she’s the French Lady Gaga for people who were clubbing in the ’70s and ’80s. The story of her life has some really sad shit, but this take on Bobby Darin’s “Dream Lover” is full of life.

- “Newsies” reprise

Radical sincerity sometimes requires references to musicals.

- Petch Pintong - “Soul Lum Piern”

I love this track and know nothing about it except that it was collected on “Thai Beat A Go Go Vol 4.” Those collections have turned out to be full of riches!

13. Atomic Forest - “Obsession ’77 (Fast)”

OK, these guys seem really interesting. They’re an Indian psych-funk band, which was apparently totally unheard of there, and they only released a single album — and that one only after they broke up. Because that album is full of great stuff, most notably (at least to me) this track, their story is almost too perfectly suited to the obsessions of vinyl collectors worldwide. Now-Again Records re-released the album in 2011, and we ran across it just a couple months ago. I really enjoy the sense of narrative in the song — what’s happening in the foreground keeps evolving and remaining legitimately interesting.

14. Metak - “Da Mi Je Biti Morski Pas”

I’m proud to say that these dedicated rockers are Croatian, and this track from 1980 rocks like a seafoam T-top Stingray. This is from a 7” with “Rock’n’Roller” on the flip.

15. Mai Lan - “Les Huîtres”

Paige found this amazing playlist on Spotify years ago, and this is finally the way she started getting into more contemporary French music. It sounds like she’s from a musical and artistic French-Vietnamese family. “Les Huîtres” is from around 2008. Kind of feels like

16. VIS Idoli - “Maljciki”

We found a video of this Yugoslavian ska while looking for something else entirely. I did learn that this is political ska, and that they were frowned upon by the government. One account has them being indulged by the government; another has them under threat of punishment. I do love knowing that ska is a political form and not just a genre. I have no idea how they would feel about the Croatian rockers a few tracks back, and I hope none of them did any harm to one another other during the terrible ‘90s.

17. Para One, Arthur Simonini - “La Jeune Fille en Feu” - “Portrait of a Woman on Fire” score

Did you see “Portrait of a Woman on Fire”? We highly recommend it, for a lot of reasons but definitely for the passage of this song. It sounds great here, but at night, by firelight, with all the nuns and farmwomen on the island?

18. The Space Lady - “Ghost Riders in the Sky”

- Sleepy Kitty - “Western Antagonist Reflection”

19. Mikyas Chernet - “Ziyoze”

Marc, this is the song I was talking about stepping into the Teddy Afro position. It’s definitely not the same, but you can hear the modern Ethiopian pop feel running through it. It helps that I first heard it while picking up an order from our favorite Ethiopian in STL, which is also where we first heard Teddy Afro. The dancers are on POINT in the video, and they’re rockin a couple of new styles that I hadn’t seen yet.

20. Nazir Ali - “Lad Pyar Aur Beti”

Listen to the giant smiles in their voices! This is from a very recent compilation. That female voice has to be Nahid Aktar, or at least it sounds just like her; I think the protagonist-sounding male voice is Ali’s. There is a brief appearance from that Oscar the Grouch-sounding guy from last episode’s Aktar song. It’s so cool how the song shifts into new mode after new mode as it goes.

21. Nathalie - “L’Amour Nous Repond”

22. The Fall - “L.A.”

This period of The Fall is surely our favorite — wherever Brix E. went, the songs were great. And now, with vaccines coursing through our systems, we can feel our thoughts casting their way to LA and San Francisco…

23. Akaba Man & The Nigie Rokets - “Ta Gha Hunsimwen”

Analog Africa’s most recent release is “Edo Funk Explosion Vol. 1,” with tracks from the late ‘70s and ‘80s in Nigeria’s Benin City. Akaba Man is described as “the philosopher king of Edo funk.” The whole album is full of good tracks that only get better with repeated listens. This one has a bed of sounds that could happily go on for hours or days.

24. Gérard Manset - “Entrez dans le rêve”

Paige: “If you ever want to hear Lou Reed sing in French, this is the best we’re gonna get.”

- Johnny Guitar - “Bangkok by Night”

We heard the “Shadow Music of Thailand” album a while back but haven’t dipped into it for too long. This Santo & Johnny style reverbed-out dream of the ‘50s lives eternally in Thai psych guitar.

25. David Bowie - “When I Live My Dream”

We do not condone the killing of any species of dragon, and I can only trust that neither dragon nor giant was harmed in the making of this fantasy.

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secretradiobrooklyn · 3 years

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New York State Tax Edition | 3.20 & 3.27.21

Secret Radio | 3.20 & 3.27.21 | Hear it here.

Liner notes by Evan (except * for Paige), Art by Paige

1. Antoine Dougbé - “Towe Nin”

There was a while during which I tried to listen to every single T.P. Orchestre song that could be heard via discogs.com. They’ve released dozens of albums, probably close to a hundred if you count all of the albums attributed to various members, so that was a very daunting task… though really what it highlighted was the sheer volume of songs that just are not available to be heard in digital form. Those songs take on a sort of mythic quality as we listen to the huge variety of styles and periods that this band passed through in their prolific and very obscure career. But the ones that loom in the imagination the largest, for Paige and me, are the songs attributed to Antoine Dougbé. He writes for the band but doesn’t record with them, and in most cases Melomé Clement arranges the songs — and these are some of Melomé’s finest arrangements, in my opinion. “Towe Nin” isn’t a propulsive powerhouse like the Dougbé tracks on “Legends of Benin,” but it does have tons of style, and the band sounds extremely confident. My favorite detail of many — like, listen to the shaker solo in the middle! — on this track is the final passage, where three voices suddenly meld into an extremely Western, Beatle-y harmonic finale (with an unresolved final chord). Where did that come from?! It blows my mind to think about how these guys were hearing music and writing music in Benin in the ’70s…

2. Hürel - “Ve Ölüm” - “Tip Top” soundtrack

The other night we watched a DVD that was part of our Non-Classic French Cinema Program that Paige has been drafting for us, featuring movies she figures French people would know but that didn’t get exposed to American audiences. This one was… baffling — the problems were French cultural ones that we really didn’t grok at all. Which was kind of cool. An odd detail was that this song featured prominently throughout the trailer and the film, though we couldn’t figure out, like, why. But we knew immediately that it was awesome.

And… this track sent us down the rabbit hole of Anatolian rock, which turns out to be Turkish psych music from the ’60s & ’70s. We’ve played Erkin Koray’s “Cemalim” and thought that was cool, but had no idea it was a burgeoning scene with tons of creative writers and amazing songs. We’ve spent a lot of time checking out Anatolian music since, and I can tell we’re just getting started. So: thank you to a giant French crowdpleaser movie for the Anatolian clue-in!

3. They Might Be Giants - “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Clothes”

I was not expecting to experience a They Might Be Giants renaissance at this point in my life, but this is just further proof that time has a lot of tricks up its sleeve. This song tells me a lot about what I like now by re-presenting what I liked then, showing off completely new facets I hadn’t yet appreciated. This song is lousy with insights… including that super Slanted Malkmus-y scream at the very end!)

4. Jacqueline Taïeb - “La fac de lettres”

Jacqueline Taïeb is probably my single favorite French pop artist, even though her body of work is way smaller than most of the runners-up. (I would say the closest contender is Jacque Dutronc.) She’s so full of irrepressible character, it just bubbles up out of the vocal performances. Her biggest hit was “7 heures du matin,” in the character of a bored, rock-obsessed teenager trying to figure out what to wear to school that morning, and “La fac du lettres” kind of picks up the thread: now she’s in the auditorium at school, learning about British history — the invasion of Normandy, the Hundred Years’ War — and pining to get back to the recording studio.

5. La Card - “Jedno zbogom za tebe”

I didn’t know what circumstance would call for Yugoslavian synth pop warped by endless cassette plays, but it turns out that driving a thousand miles west in one fell swoop requires a certain amount of ’80s vibes. Turns out Yugoslavia had a pretty rich punk/new wave scene in the ’80s, and even though the songs were often critical of the Communist government, they were not only allowed to be played but, to a certain extent, supported by the government, and there were also several magazines covering punk, new wave, ska (!), and rock music in Yugoslavia.

6. Suicide - “Shadazz”

Maybe it’s the band name, but I was never able to find a place for myself in the music of Suicide, despite how many bands I dig who cite them. But Paige pulled this track, and now I’m starting to get it. I also really like how the kick drum fits against the cymbal-ish sound loop that leads the percussion.

7. Girma Beyene - “Ene Negn Bay Manesh”

Man, Ethiopia was swingin so hard in the ’60s and ’70s! This track combines the organ-driven band dynamic with a smooth Western vocal croon that I’ve never quite heard before.

8. Os Mutantes - “Trem Fantasma”

I still can’t believe that I haven’t been listening to this album my whole life — it’s so freaking amazing from beginning to end. Every song feels like its own complete cinematic experience, with narrative twists and turns, a high-drama dynamic, and each voice taking on a host of characters, independently and together. “Trem Fantasma” is an entire album contained in a single song — and that’s what it’s like with every song on their debut album. PLUS it’s got the coolest possible cover. Truly, I’m still in awe at this album. It makes me wonder: what did the Beatles think of this record?!

9. The Beatles - “Think for Yourself”

This is one of those songs that I feel like established whole new harmony relationships in Western pop… and this likely isn’t even one of their top 50 songs for most Beatles fans. Apparently, they had the main tracks recorded already — this is one of George’s first songs, it’s just 1965 — and they threw the harmonies on in “a light-hearted session” between two other things they were in the middle of, because they were under pressure to get this album finished. That’s amazing! Also, this song is the first one to use a fuzzbox on a bass: Paul played one (excellent) part on clean bass, and another one one all fuzzed out, which became the lead guitar — in fact, John had a guitar part but scrapped it to play an organ instead. What a righteous song to kick off the concept of lead bass guitar! That was Harvey Danger’s big compositional secret: Aaron wrote and played most of the lead guitar parts on bass, and had a fantastic sense of what he could do with the tone of his instrument.

10. Erkin Koray - “Öksürük”

Anatolian rock! It has its own note scale, that gives it this Eastern tonality while working in Western rock shapes and with what feels like a very relatably wry sense of humor. Erkin Koray is right up there in the firmament for us — the whole genre is full of welcome discoveries, but Koray is a really unique guitarist and composer beyond any particular genre. This track plays up his lead guitar passages while maintaining a pretty undeniable disco downbeat, and his vocal delivery strikes me as more French than anything. And yet the whole thing is so deeply and fully Turkish.

11. Vaudou Game - “Pas Contente”

We’ve been so head-over-heels for Beninese funk and rock from the ’60s and ’70s that our fantasies about that music are completely separated from any music happening today. But Vaudou Game is led by Peter Solo, a Togolese musician who grew up on the sound of T.P. Orchestre and decided to work with it himself. His band is handpicked and mostly I think French — the sound is I think a really impressive take on classic Beninese style but with very modern feel. This track is from 2014. I’m looking forward to digging in some more, because it’s a thrill to find a live wire in this music style.

12. Cut Off Your Hands - “Higher Lows and Lower Highs”

This is one of my favorite tracks from the last 5 years. I get so absorbed in the way the bass part relates to all of the other pieces. The bass is absolutely the reason this song works — just tune into it and check out how the whole world of the song bends to accommodate it.

The Gang of Roesli - “Don’t Talk about Freedom”

Years ago, when I took over Eleven magazine, there was a giant stack of mailed-in CDs in the editor’s office. I didn’t hang onto many of them, but there was a set from Now-Again Records that just looked like something we should spend more time with. Turns out that one of them was “Those Shocking Shaking Days,” a collection of trippy, heavy Indonesian rock. I didn’t get it at the time, but lately I’ve certainly been picking up what they were laying down. The baroque keys, the vocal la’s, the hitched-up bass and guitar, that little bass lick, the harmonica… I would love to have been around for the session this came from.

13. Warm Gun - “Broken Windows” - “PAINK”

More paink from France, in the mode of Richard Hell, short sweet and rowdy.

14. Duo Kribo - “Uang” - “Those Shocking Shaking Days”

This is another amazing Indonesian track — amazing for a completely different reason than The Gang of Roesli. Such a note-perfect rendition of chart-topping American (and German — what’s up, Scorps?) rock, but their own song nonetheless! This song attracts me, repels me, attracts me, repels me, on and on in equal measure. To me the kicker is the outro section, which sounds like something Eko Roosevelt came up with… thousands of miles and many genres away from Duo Kribo.

15. The Real Kids - “All Kindsa Girls”

Even as the theoretical pleasures of Facebook overall continue to recede, I find myself glad of a FB group somebody let me in on: Now Playing. The only stipulation about posts is that you have to include a photo of the actual record that you are actually playing — beyond that, it could be any genre, any period, whatever. People post interesting albums all the time, and will often write up their thoughts or memories about the band when they do. Boston’s The Real Kids just sounded like something I should know about, so I hunted it down and man, they were not wrong. Not everything on the album was for us, but right from the African-sounding guitar intro, “All Kindsa Girls” certainly was. Lead guitar/vocal guy John Felice was an early member of the Modern Lovers and a fellow VU devotee with his neighbor Jonathan Richman — he also spent time as a Ramones roadie. I’m tickled by how much the penultimate guitar riff sounds like something off the first Vampire Weekend album, and the final riff was destined to become a punk classic.

16. De Frank Professionals - “Afe Ato Yen Bio”

We broadcast the first part of this episode from the cockpit of the van rocketing between New York and Illinois. Not long after we got here to the woods, a package showed up from Analog Africa with our new “Afro-Beat Airways” reissue, as well as their first indispensable T.P. Orchestre collection, “The Skeletal Essences of Afro-Funk 1969-1980.” We’re celebrating that record with this absolutely killer song by De Frank Professionals, a band about whom very little is known. I am in love with every part of this song, from the sixth-beat hi-hat accent to those tandem vocal parts and that beautiful guitar tone. This track has quickly risen to being one of our all-time faves. Bless Samy Ben Redjeb and everyone at AA for doing the work to find these amazing recordings, track down the musicians, pay them for rights to release, and making these miraculous finds available!

17. Ros Serey Sothea - “Shave Your Beard”

Concurrent to our African fascination has been the gorgeous and thoroughly tragic revelation of Cambodia’s richly talented and expressive rock scene that was utterly destroyed by the Khmer Rouge. There were so many amazing musicians in the scene, but certainly the most flat-out amazing voice was Ros Serey Sothea’s, as this track makes clear. I also love just how sophsticated and innovative these Cambodian song arrangements are — they really take Western ’60s pop into a new world, with intricate guitar parts and really solidly satisfying instrumental structures.

18. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - “O.N.E.”

This is a hard band to keep up with, for a variety of reasons — they can be so intense, and their guitar-rock prog virtuosity can get a bit off-putting if you’re not ready for it. This track, though, reminds me of a host of favorite reference points from the last twenty years of rock. This recording makes me wish that they could have played with Bailiff in Chicago in 2012 — I think everyone would have gained a lot from that connection.

Also, the video is so beautiful!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkZd2lBQb2c

19. Ettika - “Ettika” - “Chebran: French Boogie Vol. 2”

French culture is shot through with African references. Ettika was an early ’80s hit with musicians besotted by synths and American rap styles. This band was produced by a noted French composer who was married to a Cameroonian and very much into African groove. This “French Boogie” collection is full of African-style gems heavily refracted through the decade’s new technology.

20. Spice Girls - “Wannabe”

I yield the floor.

*As I mention in the “broadcast” it just felt right. That confident opening line. What are guilty pleasures? How do you feel listening to this song? And y’all already have our phone numbers, so that’s no surprise!

- The Gang of Roesli - “Don’t Talk about Freedom”

21. Steely Dan - “Reelin’ in the Years”

Gut reaction: do you actually love this song? Do you actually hate this song? Do you find that your reaction changes moment by moment within the experience of listening to the song, where your personal experience clashes with your cultural memory associations? Me too.

22. Zia - “Kofriom” - “Helel Yos”

I don’t remember how I got to this track, but holy smokes am I glad we did! It’s pretty freakin hard to find out anything about Zia. The cover of this album portrays an older man with dyed hair and a white blazer over a black collar… but I did actually find a video of Zia performing this song on Iranian public television, and he looks considerably younger and less flash than that. In fact, he’s sporting a tan three-piece suit with a wide tie, all alone on a heavily mirrored stage, and he kind of looks like he might be running for a senate seat in his spare time. It’s a very weird effect. But meanwhile: this whole album is super cool, very expressive of an emotional state I definitely don’t understand. The handclaps are absolutely top notch in the rhythm — they remind me of Ayalew Mesfin’s awesome “Gedawo.”

23. Jo LeMaire & Flouze - “Je Suis Venue te Dire Que je M’en Vais”

Doesn’t this sound like something you could have had intense adolescent feelings to?

*I first heard this song in the trailer for Boy Meets Girl and then later in the film. (Not my personal favorite Carax but definitely great, and the music and sound design is top notch.) Then my French teacher suggested I check out a song, and it was this song. So that’s neat!

24. Rung Petchburi - “Pai Joi” - “Thai? Dai!: The Heavier Side of the Lukthung Underground”

We’re still just getting to know Lukthung music, but for the last couple weeks we’ve been getting deeper and deeper into Thai rock, psych, surf and funk. It’s a rich vein, and it shares some really interesting characteristics with seemingly unrelated regions, like Turkey and Ethiopia.

Black Brothers - “Saman Doye”

I’m telling you, “Those Shocking Shaking Days” will improve your life immediately.

25. Nahid Akhtar - “Dil de Guitar” - from “Good Listener Vol 1,”

This collection just came out this month, which was a surprise because we just stumbled across this track by reading about Nahid Akhtar elsewhere. What an AMAZING track! This was recorded and released in Pakistan in 1977, and I can’t even imagine how they wrote it, much less recorded it. The drum loops seem like they hadn’t been invented yet… but there they are, cranked up to their highest speed. It’s a collage of ideas and hooks, all just crammed together into a single song. the main hook reminds me a bit of “Jogi Jogi,” our favorite Pakistani song on WBFF thus far. I feel like I could listen to this song a hundred times and hear something new each time. Akhtar’s voice is so expressive and confident in those long held notes — and who is that ogre doing call and response with her? So weird. So cool.

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secretradiobrooklyn · 3 years

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secretradiobrooklyn · 3 years

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Plant Shadow Edition | 2.27.21

Secret Radio | 2.27.21 | Hear it here.

Liner notes by Evan, art by Paige

1. Stéfan - “J’suis pas méchant”

In our continuing dive into French music for French culture we have been finding our way towards the origins of French punk — which apparently all springs from the overnight, international, transformative success of Plastic Bertrand’s “Ça Plane Pour Moi.” That created a sudden realization in the French music industry that punk had big potential, and they started trying all kinds of variations on punk… or “paink,” as it’s spelled locally. Basically, it was treated like a novelty fad. I don’t know anything about Stéfan beyond what he wants me to know, which is that he is not mean (“méchant”). I think that’s adorable, getting all wound up just to tell us not to be scared. I hope the whole band is like 10 years old.

2. African Brothers Band - “Ngyegye No So” - “Afro-Beat Airways”

Credit as always to Analog Africa for providing the very best in the history of African rock. This is from the first volume of “Afro-Beat Airways,” this one focused on “West African Shock Waves: Ghana & Togo 1972-1978.” The first pressing sold out a while ago, but they just put together a repress. Their packaging is always stellar, full of useful information about bands and musicians that it is difficult to research alone. The compilation was the result of a happy accident: AA founder/research adventurer Samy Ben Redjeb had a flight from Frankfurt to Angola get canceled, so he picked a flight to Ghana instead, where he hooked up with the once-legendary (in Africa) producer Essiebons, who had just digitized about 800 previously recorded songs. From that came “Afro-Beat Airways,” which is just overflowing with a huge variety of rock and funk and psych shamanism and catchy hooks.

There’s a great passage in the middle of the song that bears noting: “Yes! Clap for him,” says the singer of the keyboard player, then announces, “I’m now going to introduce myself,” lists his accomplishments in the band — composer, singer, arranger, master guitarist — and then says, “Now: I will give you some phrases on the guitar. You watch me,” and proceeds to wind some gorgeously rhythmic lead patterns through the tapestry the band has set up. It’s such a real, recognizable moment, that really helps translate the song from a hypnotic slab of funk to a performance by a band unfolding right in front of you.

3. They Might Be Giants - “Don’t Let’s Start”

Thanks to our recent rediscovery that “Birdhouse in Your Soul” is a thoroughly excellent song, we’ve started into a TMBG period. My favorite thing in re-encountering them is that they’re such pure geeks of theater and band and video and books — which is exactly how I saw them at the time, and it’s so great to see it stand the test of time. It still feels extremely unique and tuned to a frequency that is transmitting cool new ideas. And: they’re so concise! So much happens in the songs they make — it’s like they write a full-on pop song arrangement, and then just trim out every measure that doesn’t feature vocals. You can get so much done that way in two and a half minutes!

4. Ata Kak - “Obaa Sima”

I love this tape so, so much, and we’re aware of it thanks to Awesome Tapes from Africa. The lead adventurer of that label bought a copy of this tape at a street table in Ghana (I think), fell hard for it, then went on a hunt to find the artist Ata Kak, finally did, they found that the original master tapes were hopelessly destroyed, and together they realized that as far as they could tell, he had bought the ONLY locatable copy of the tape. That’s the one that you are hearing here — this is the opening track. ATFA sold it as a combo cassette tape and tea towel, which I personally think is a really odd pairing. Like, is the tea towel for handling the cassette? Still, it’s turned out to be a very welcome tea towel in the kitchen.

Apparently the copy we hear runs faster (and higher) than the original. They decided to present it as the artifact was originally discovered, holding that even more important than releasing as Ata Kak originally intened. I think it sounds so freakin amazing, I’m glad they presented as is.

5. Evariste - “Wo I Nee”

Such a strange character! This song was released in 1967, but it sounds (and looks) completely outside any norm of any decade. For starters, the singer is wearing his hair as if a monkey were up there — a big tail drops down and curls across his nose. The song structure is traditional, but the sounds that he makes are just something else entirely.

Really, the video does all the work that the song hasn’t already done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOfdJ8ZcLJc

- The Velvet Underground - “Booker T. - live in NYC 1967”

6. Abdel Halim Hafez - “Ahwak”

We were surprised to see we had a new soundcloud follower in Egypt, and we looked at their playlist and they were all songs as cool as this. We still have no idea how they ended up on Sleepy Kitty though. Great tracks though!

7. Boreal Hills - “Belcher” - “Dope Hugs EP”

Man, this EP was one of the prizes of being the Eleven editor. This thing was the soundtrack of a fantastic summertime. St. Louis freakos’ first release and forever my favorite. Tom O’Connor is the drummer on this EP and the two guys together just make this killer ruckus that I can’t get enough of. Also, it hits the reptile part of my brain where Swell Maps’ “Full Moon in the Headlights” reigns. Tom does tons of cool recording now, including Julian’s band Nerve Estates.

Every track of “Dope Hugs” could be a hit in my opinion. I feel like the pop world could have bent itself around this set of recordings. It reminds me of Jeff The Brotherhood in some ways, though I have to admit I prefer Boreal Hills in this moment.

8. Strychnine - “Ex BX”

‘70s French paink music. There’s a really entertaining summation of some of the forces French painks were rebelling against — “to bring together the wicked use of guitars with an unfathomable disgust for everything and a skin-deep boredom which undermined as much as they nourished the adolescent daily life.” It sounds very sincere and hard-felt. I can’t wait to dig deeper into this “Paink French Punk Albums 1977-1982”; already had to restrain myself from including an Electrochoc track as well.

9. David Bowie - “Queen Bitch”

It’s really impressive how Bowie can paint feelings I believe he was feeling, that I’ve never felt but that I can get through him. He’s a pure uncut crystal of glam. His heavy rhythm rock period is pretty much the most exciting rock n roll in the world.

10. Le Tigre - “Hot Topic”

Paige: I don’t think any of my teachers were ACTUALLY using this song as a syllabus, but there’s a very high overlap.

I personally feel like underlining Marlon Riggs — “Tongues Untied” was one of the most amazing things I’d ever seen when I saw it in History of Video Art. Also just noticed: Did they say Justin Bond? As in Justin Vivian Bond?

This is the first of two songs this episode that has lists of idols/icons in the lyrics.

11. Erkin Koray - “Arap Saçi”

We’ve been meaning to look further into Erkin Korya’s Turkish psych music, and this one has high overlap with “Cemalim,” the first song of his we heard. This one lands a little harder — and I love the way it pulls the melody in unexpected direction, like it’s floating on different breezes. The singer sounds like he was transformed into a singing hookah.

12. The Little Rabbits - “In the Bathroom”

This album is one of the all-time most overlooked gems from the turn of the millennium: “Yeah!,” by the Little Rabbits. My impression is that they got bigger later, maybe? This one seems to have disappeared pretty much without a trace, even though I swear it contains some of the DNA of Beck’s smash genre-bender “Odelay.” I don’t understand why this album wasn’t gigantic — it’s as turned on as Sonic Youth but coming from a completely different perspective. I hope they were all friends at least.

- The Velvet Underground - “Booker T. - live in NYC 1967”

13. Les Rita Mitsuoko - “Marcia Baïla”

They have a song called “Les Histoires d’Amour Finnisent Mals en General” that Paige’s French teacher referred to in passing. We looked up the song and it was awesome. The more we checked em out, the more interesting they got. Everybody seems to have a background in clown in France, we have found.

A pretty worthwhile video experience:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zWlnzFXcKY

14. The Brims - “Anti Gandja”

This song arrived to us via a collection called “Those Shocking Shaking Days,” which Eleven received from Now Again Records. I dug it but couldn’t find a place for it in my brain. Now it fits right in. The collection is gorgeously made, with a fat book of photos and text and 20 heavy Indonesian psych tracks that pretty much all trip way past San Francisco albums from the same time. They’re so committed to the psychedelic overdose… even when singing a song about NOT smoking weed.

15. Cave - “This Is the Best”

There were so many nights at the Art Castle on Cherokee where we had to make peace with the music coming through the walls from 2720. It was so bass-heavy, so anarchic and often key-free, that we really couldn’t counter-program it if we tried.

One night, though, we heard something undeniably cool through the wall. That happened from time to time — that’s how we discovered Aleuchatistas and Prince Rama, among various others. We dropped what we were doing and slipped in the door that shared a secret hallway with our spot, behind where the band was set up. Turned out to be Cave, a band we knew of via Chicago and a very loose acquaintance with Rotten Milk from the Lumpen scene. The whole show was an ecstatic experience, getting lost in a rowdy, ever-circling, ever-growing drone. But the song that brought it all together was this one — I completely lost my shit, crashing around the dance floor zone. When we learned the name of the song from them afterwards, “This Is the Best,” I was like, YES: so they know it as well as we do. We’re all in this drone together.

16. Marpessa Dawn - “La petit cuica”

Paige has been interested in who Marpessa Dawn in for awhile — she’s a black American from Pittsburgh. She apparently went to Franc4 and became a start in music and films. She was in a ton of films. She’s not very well known in the States, but it seems like kind of a next-generation Josephine Baker story — or at least that’s what it is in my fantasy.

17. Ebo Taylor & The Sweet Beans - “Odofo Nyi Akyiri Biara”

The first several things I found by Ebo Taylor really didn’t hook me, and I think I felt like he was working a different angle than I was into. But then lately I’ve been hearing these amazing tracks from him, so I stand corrected. Which is a win all around!

18. Hedwig and the Angry Inch - “Midnight Radio”

Paige: It’s the only time that something that is a rock musical truly works as a work of rock itself. One of two if you count “Rocky Horror.” I can listen to this soundtrack as a rock album — in a way that Rent, love it as I may, I cannot.

Evan: I’m recognizing some serious influences on Sleepy Kitty — especially when it gets to the guitar solos. We haven’t gone for the anthemic singalong yet, but the structure that builds to an instrumental crescendo of overwhelming guitars is pretttty familiar.

- Frank Zappa - “Watermelon in Easter Hay"

We saw the documentary “Zappa” last month and this tune really stands out from the rest. It appears to be the second most popular Zappa track, which I will admit surprises me quite a bit. Great movie to watch, we highly recommend it fan or no.

19. Jeffrey Lewis - “I Wanna Be Vaccinated”

An anthem for our times.

20. Joan Jett - “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”

I think if I’m honest, I probably heard this version of “Dirty Deeds” before the original. I really like how it has the infinite rock feel of the AC/DC take but with a completely different underemployed hit man in the lead role. A rare case of pure ‘80s glam-rock aesthetic working to advantage.

21. Katerine - “Moment parfait”

Philippe Katerine is a character who would be impossible in American culture — he’s not handsome in any way that American popular art recognizes, and he utilizes the deep-seated instinct for clowning that runs through French culture and pop culture. Meanwhile, though, his melodies are giant, his production is varied but always innovative, he’s a screen actor as well, and his album art features him as a character with large ears, wispy blond hair and an uncircumsized nose — in some contexts we’ve even seen his nose blurred.

Paige: I can’t tell if it’s maybe like if Beck and Jack Black were the same guy in the culture.

22. Teshua - “Wild Dog”

This song is written by one of the most important people in St. Louis for us: Tim Gebauer. We’ve been listening to the ways they’ve been working together for the last few years, when we come over for a late-night hang at Electropolis Studio. This is a song I think we first heard Tim sing and play himself in the kitchen. This version makes gorgeous use of the theatrical aspects of Teshua’s voice cradled inside Tim’s dreamy reverberatingly quiet production.

This song was written suspiciously soon after getting a new cat — a wild cat that didn’t want to come in yet. Aben is beautiful and tough and prowls the streets of south city but comes home to the comforts of his family.

23. T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - “Karateka”

I think this song is on “The Skeletal Essences of Afro-Funk,” a T.P. Orchestre collection, but I first consciously ran across it while scouring Discogs for more information about the most Tout Poissant band ever. This one is composed by Papillon, with Joseph Vicky on lead vocals. Papillon is their secret weapon guitarist who can also bust out some trippy Farfisa as needed.

24. Silver Jews - “The Country Diary of a Subway Conductor”

When we did our welding at the City Museum — before we ever suspected that we would live in St. Louis for a day, much less ten years — we used a quote from this song on the back page of the invitations that we handprinted: “This is the way pioneers took to other settlements.” “Starlite Walker” is one of our all-time favorite albums together; I’ve always dreamed of covering this entire album. The soundscape of this track captures some of my very favorite aspects of Stephen Malkmus’ voice and guitar frenzy… as well as the completely unskilled but perfectly rendered drumming. And over it all wander the characters sketched in by David Berman. He was sometimes the most mysterious voice in rock music, and he wrote my very favorite book of poetry. I will always be partial to this album above all others, though “American Water” and “The Natural Bridge” are right there as well.

- Dan the Automator - “Bombay 405 Miles” - “Bombay the Hard Way”

25. Amanaz - “Sunday Morning”

This is the most Velvet-Underground-without-being-the-Velvet-Underground bands ever, which is amazing because this song was written in 1968 on the other side of the world from New York, in Zambia, at a time when music had to physically travel miles to reach distant shores. It’s astounding to think of Lou Reed’s instant influence on people he would never meet and likely had never even imagined. It’s very strange as well, though, to think that what this song sounds most like is “Loaded” — which hadn’t yet come out when this song was recorded. I suppose there’s no reason to think that the influence — actual, implied, or somewhere on the astral plane — didn’t run the other way.

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