Thursday, January 4th, 2007 ... 5:45 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

Last-minute decision to sub for this time slot, which we've been having trouble filling. This also let me give jazz some spins, as my regular Friday show was pre-empted by the 60th Anniversary special.

Format:
ARTIST -- "TRACK TITLE" -- ALBUM TITLE (LABEL, YEAR)
Horizontal lines denote microphone breaks.

The Rose of Avalanche -- "Goddess" -- Always There (Fire, 1986)

Very '80s stuff with an almost goth ring to it, but really more straight pop. Lots of reverb, in any event. Random pull from the vinyl collection to start the day.

Sparks -- "Dick Around" -- Hello Young Lovers (In the Red, 2006)

Possibly my favorite song of 2006. Also mentioned here.

* The Decembrists -- "O Valencia" -- The Crane Wife (Capitol, 2006)

The Kirby Grips -- "Restraining Order" -- The Cherry Stem Concertos (Sympathy for the Record Industry, 2001)

Fun. ("Can't come near me / Restraining order" sung in nyeah-nyeah tones). From a cool local trio that I'm guessing is now defunct, but they put out some pop gems while they were around.

* Mojave 3 -- "Breaking the Ice" -- Puzzles Like You (4AD, 2006)

Power-pop stuff, nicely done. This one's a bit breezy amid the loud, fuzzy strummed chords, with a bit of piano for extra prettiness.

Kind of a loungy/jazzy instrumental, upbeat but chill. Lots of keyboards and subtle electronic percussion.

At least one of the women from Lush, teamed up with at least one more woman. I really enjoyed this one when it came out -- lush (no pun intended) pop sounds with electronics for some extra bounce. This is one of the slower, sentimental songs.

Weird, weird, weird. Chaotic falling-apart guitar and screamy incoherent vocals; not that the lyrics themselves are coherent anyway (they do say "Crows in my mouth"). I wouldn't call it punk. It's more like garage avant-garde, or just an unholy mess. Compelling, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn they made it all up on the spot. A 7-inch with four tiny songs, about 90 seconds each, that was played from a turntable in order to make the CD recording. You can hear the vinyl pops.

Back to the retro-sounding guitar pop.

Local band that I'd never heard of before. I really dug this. Very '60-pop in spirit, but loaded with more aggression than that.

The "Venus 3," as everybody except me knew by this point, included Peter Buck on guitar. This one adds some horns, too. Another pop gem, as they say.

A '90s retrospective of former Zap Mama member Nyolo, playing in a variety of bands and contexts. Very African/"world" sounding.

Big in L.A., this female duo has drawn quite a following for their old-time vaudville songs, tinged with some newer folk elements, sung in tight harmony. Fun stuff.

Nice energetic rock, reminiscent of Gang of Four. Another local band.

* Pauline Scanlon -- "In Shame Love in Shame" -- Hush (Compass, 2006)

Folky stuff in a traditional Celtic vein. Melancholy and romantic.

She's been playing locally for some time, but I'd never heard her stuff until now. Her stuff is about what I expected, maybe with a touch more Americana sound: Lush orchestration over sad, dark songs.

The Tubes were actually playing the following night in San Francisco. It would be my first time seeing them live, and while most of the stage theatrics are gone, Fee Waybill still changes costumes multiple times, and the band still dishes it out with energy. They added a few less famous songs to the top of the set, much to my pleasant surprise ("I Was a Punk Before You Were a Punk"), and this one even got tossed in when Quay Lewd made his obligatory appearance. Fun stuff. Amy X. Neuburg opened, all the more reason to go to the show.

Ironically, that show happened during our 60th Anniversary Special, where every hour, DJs spun music from one year of KZSU's existance. All the late-'70s/early-'80s stuff came around during the Tubes show, so instead of spinning The Completion Backwards Principle, I went and saw them perform six-tenths of it live. Fair trade-off, I'd say.

One of his non-parody songs, showing that Weird Al still has that goofy rock streak in him. Most of the album is devoted to hip-hop, and while tracks like "White and Nerdy" do that well, it feels almost like cheating to do a hip-hop parody as opposed to a song parody. This track, anyway, is blippy and fast, supposedly inspired by Sparks.

One of my favorite albums of all time. I feel like I play it all the time, but the Zookeeper database said I hadn't spun it since 2004. Time flies.

Previously noted here.

Gave these guys another spin to promote a benefit concert going on this evening. Complete info here.

This sort of kicked off the jazz part of the show, as I wanted to give some spins to things in rotation, and my regular show was pre-empted.

Previously noted here.

* Kris Davis -- "Once" -- The Slightest Shift (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2006)

Cool find by Fo, our resident jazz expert. Twisty stuff with a definite avant-garde bite, but definitely accessible enough for Monk fans. I'll have to give it a more thorough listen soon.

Previously noted here.

Oddball combination of gothic fiddle and medieval flutes. Those are their descriptions, not mine. Improv duets with an almost Asian feel in both instruments. Nice.

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

Something a notch closer to dance electronica, meant to be a transition into An Epiphany of Sound. But the train and buses were slowed by rain this morning, giving me an extra half hour before J.C. was able to arrive.

* Keefe Jackson's Fast Citizens -- "Course" -- Ready Everyday (Delmark, 2006)

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here and here.

Previously noted here. The title track is a 14-minute expanse, starting out eerie and slow, then gradually softening up. The kind of midtempo jam that characterizes most of the album shows in up the hast third.

Moe!kestra is one of the highlights from the local music scene in the past decade. Built of a varying crew of a dozen to 40 or more, depending on the needs of a piece, it combines the Butch Morris "conduction" idea with John Cage-style composing, consisting of written instructions rather than staff notes, with improv bits. Moe! conducts the orchestra, running manically from one section to another. The result is gloriously controlled chaos, a wall of sound that lurches from one point to another in unison and in its own kind of harmony. (See also here.)

Piece No. 7 is a bit anomalous in that it's built around an ensemble of nine wine glasses. That's a quieter instrument, obviously, so the piece takes on a quieter aesthetic, building up ominous drones leading into the ghostly serene howl of glass rims being rubbed.

Piece No. 5, which comprises half this CD, has a more "traditional" jazz/improv feel, with horns and guitars taking the fore. It's blasting and noisy, with some rock beats and a goofy horn march.

* = Item in KZSU rotation
! = Pop anomaly
? = Item not in KZSU library

-- Go back to Memory Select playlists.
-- Bay Area free/improv music calendar: http://www.bayimproviser.com.