Kosmik Radiation on WORT radio - classic album of the week (most recent 12 weeks)

Feb 5, 2010	Liars "Drum's Not Dead" 2006 (USA) The monthly special for February looks back on the decade just past, and in my opinion the single best year for releases during that time may have been 2006 -- Scott Walker came out of seclusion to release The Drift, which is the best album he's ever made and also gets my vote as the best album of the entire decade. But close runners up for best of the decade would be two Liars albums, including this week's selection from the same year. Liars began as a "neo no wave" band in Brooklyn at the beginning of the decade, but by the time of their second album (They Were Wrong So We Drowned) their music became a sonic adventure that's hard to describe. This, their third album, was yet another radical departure -- the album revolves around a highly abstract but emotional conflict between two characters called Drum and Mt. Heart Attack, which seem to represent some sort of metaphor along the lines of "drum=vitality=life / heart attack=anxiety=death". But perhaps more important and original is the way the music is organized -- the drums truly are the lead intstrument on this record, playing the melodies and telling the stories, while the vocals and guitars recede into the background like so much ambience. Unfortunately their most recent album from 2007 was a bit of a reversion to the relatively straight souped-up indie rock of their earliest days, but who knows what they'll do next? Here's the music video for the lovely melodic song that ends this album: "The Other Side Of Mt. Heart Attack". And here's a weird one from the Drowned album, "There's Always Room On The Broom". Their most recent album was simply called Liars from 2007, and includes the creepy song "Plaster Casts of Everything". Finally here's the original line-up playing a classic rocker from their "no wave" debut album, "Mr. You're On Fire Mr.".
Jan 29, 2010	The Soft Machine "Volume 2" 1969 (UK) The Soft Machine's first two albums stand alone in the annals of progressive rock, and their second is my favorite of their records. The group's original bassist Kevin Ayers was replaced by Hugh Hopper, thus beginning their transition from a psychedelic art rock group into something more oriented towards instrumental jazz fusion. Which is what makes it so unique -- it's not really quite prog or psychedelic while being close to both. Seventeen brief tunes are segued together into two side-long suites, "Rivmic Melodies" on side A and "Esther's Nose Job" on the B side. Their next two albums would complete the transition to "jazz fusion", by which time the group's rather amazing drummer-vocalist Robert Wyatt also left the group, leaving keyboardist Mike Ratledge as the last remaining original member. Wyatt went on to make two records with his next group Matching Mole (that name being a pun on the French words for "Soft Machine"), before having his tragic accident which has confined him to a wheelchair ever since. The music kept going though -- The Soft Machine cranked out albums into the early 1980's (eventually with NO original members left!), while Wyatt developed a quirky career as a solo artist and guested on many albums by fellow "Canterbury" prog rock bands like Hatfield & The North. Robert Wyatt turns 65 this week. Here's the lineup from the first LP playing Ayers' "Hope For Happiness". And here's the next version of the group playing some themes from Volume 2 . Next, here's the classic "jazz quartet" lineup (adding Elton Dean on sax) on Beat Club 1971. After leaving (or being fired from) The Soft Machine, Wyatt went on to found another Canterbury supergroup, Matching Mole.
Jan 22, 2010	Älgarnas Trädgård "Framtiden är ett Svävande Skepp, Förankrat i Forntiden" 1972 (Sweden) Älgarnas Trädgård is perhaps the most legendary psychedelic band to come out of Sweden -- the group's name means "Garden of the Elks", and they produced a mystical sound that was reminiscent of certain aspects of the German "Krautrock" scene but with heavy doses of ancient Nordic and Eastern folk music. They only released one album during their initial run, this masterpiece whose titles translates as something like "The Future is a Floating Ship Anchored in The Past". Material for a second unreleased album was eventually released under the title Delayed in 2001. I couldn't find any footage of the group performing, but here's a fan video. And here's a live clip of the German group Popol Vuh from the same era and with a somewhat similar sound. On an entirely different note, Rocknroll's #1 clown Paul Stanley had a birthday this week -- so here's a typically explosive performance by KISS. Finally, America's "underground Black Sabbath" will be performing in Madison this week -- Bobby Liebling's PENTAGRAM!
Jan 15, 2010	Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band "Safe As Milk" 1967 (USA) Don Van Vliet -- alias "Captain Beefheart" -- has survived another year, and turns 69 today. I first encountered the Captain as a teenager when I bought this album (his debut) simply because of the fish-eye photo on the cover and the strange song titles. I had no idea who he was, but the album soon became one of my favorites -- heck, I still think it's a better blues-rock album than anything the Rolling Stones ever did! Before long I discovered his epic freaky Trout Mask Replica album and learned that he was a boyhood chum of another of my idols, the late Frank Zappa. Which is unusual I suppose in that most people learn about the Captain's avant-garde weirdness first (often through the Zappa connection), and that probably puts a lot of people off of his music. So whether you're already a fan or not, I highly recommend giving this classic a spin if you've never heard it! Here's live footage of the bluesier Magic Band from 1968: "Electricity" and "Sure Nuff N' Yes I Do". Next, here's a crazy lineup of the Magic Band live in 1971. Beefheart remained vital up until he retired from music, and eventually landed on a style that combined his bluesy and avant-garde leanings -- here's a 1980 clip from French TV of his song "Safe As Milk" (which was on his second LP, though it was the title of his debut album) -- and finally here's an actual music video (that MTV probably never played) for "Ice Cream For Crow", the title track of his final album. Another notable music birthday being celebrated on the show this week is that of the enigmatic Scott Walker (now 67 years old) -- here's his only American hit with The Walker Brothers, and here's a video from his most recent album The Drift (number one on the Kosmik Radiation Top 10 for 2006.) Lastly, Curt Kirkwood from the Meat Puppets is another one of my musical heroes, and he just turned 51 this week.
Jan 8, 2010	Sun Araw "Heavy Deeds" 2009 (USA) I've been waiting for a resurgence in the underground music scene for what seems like decades, and in 2009 I think it has unequivocably arrived! I have recently heard the phrase "chill wave" used to describe what's going on, but that's a stupid term and I'm actually glad whatever it is doesn't have a name yet (as soon as a label like "punk" or "grunge" catches on, that's usually a sign that a movement has become "trendy" and therefore more about money than art.) But whatever "it" is that is going on these days, for me the mysterious and mystical SUN ARAW seems to be the ultimate embodiment of the underground music scene in 2009. Sun Araw is the solo project of Cameron Stallones, who is also a member of notable California psych band Magic Lantern. Some other hot new sounds bubbling out of the psychedelic underground these days include the lunar backporch jams of MV & EE, the tape-powered dubscapes of Blues Control, the doomy acid rituals of Sylvester Anfang II, to say nothing of artists like Ariel Pink, Ducktails, Emeralds and Lamborghini Crystal. The underground scene right here in Madison has its share of rising un-stars too, including Peaking Lights, Zola Jesus, Julian Lynch, Burial Hex, Drunjus, Dead Luke and Second Family Band. Here is some live footage of Sun Araw: "All Night Long" is a song from Heavy Deeds, and "Horse Steppin'" is from an earlier record. Plus here's an outdoor performance by MV & EE, and a music video for a tune by Blues Control. Lastly, here's Zola Jesus with Dead Luke (also of Absinthe Minds & Varlet Tarsod fame) doing that old Jefferson Airplane classic "Somebody To Love" (from a gig where they opened for Psychedelic Horseshit!)
Dec 25, 2009	Christmas "Christmas" 1970 (Canada) What could be a more perfect CAOTW on December 25 than an album called Christmas by a band called Christmas? Ho ho ho! I first heard of this obscure Canadian group via a listener request several years ago. I eventually turned up their second album Heritage, but frankly wasn't much impressed (mildly proggy hard rock kinda stuff.) But earlier this year I finally came across their debut album and now I see what all the fuss is about! The independently recorded & released debut album by Christmas features a few cute psychedelic pop nuggets, but most of the album consists of epic jams that sound like the Grateful Dead grooving to Martin Denny!? Now that's unique and worthy of being called "classic"! Christmas (the band) was the brain child of Bob Bryden, and after recording the two albums mentioned above, they briefly changed their name to The Spirit Of Christmas (good grief!) and recorded a final album Lies To Live By. Bryden is still musically active to this day and performed a set of Christmas (the band not the holiday) songs in 2007. There does not seem to be any video footage of Christmas, though the band does have an official myspace site. Here are a few post-Christmas clips of Bob Bryden: "Bustin' Out" is from the second Christmas album, performed here with The Saffron Sect. Next, here's Bob performing live a couple months ago, playing a song called . . . "Christmas is Dead" ! Lastly, here's some more great Canadian underground rock -- Hamilton, Ontario's awesome Simply Saucer recorded live on the roof of a shopping mall in 1975.
Dec 18, 2009	Frank Zappa "Lumpy Gravy" 1967 (USA) Frank Zappa's birthday (Dec 21) is right around the corner, so it's time for our annual Zappa Day salute. The classic album this week is the first release credited solely to Frank Zappa (with "The Abnuceals Umuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra & Chorus"), rather than his legendary 1960's group The Mothers Of Invention (who had already released two albums.) It's one of his most bizarre albums, but also arguably his most groundbreaking and influential work. Lumpy Gravy was probably the first album to combine elements of classical, jazz, rock, electronics and studio effects plus surreal spoken word into a melange that was niether "pop" nor "avant-garde" but rather an original hybrid of the two worlds. "Art rock/progressive rock" and any record that fuses divergent styles of music from the highbrow and lowbrow worlds owes Zappa's pioneering work a large debt. The Zappa Family Trust is a ruthless enforcer of copyright infringement, but this first clip is from overseas television so might be more likely to stay up for awhile: The Mothers (with Jean-Luc Ponty) live in 1973. Next, here are a couple of Zappa's more memorable TV appearances: first, a clean-shaven 22 year old Zappa on the Steve Allen show back before he was famous, and lastly this interview from 1993, the year he died from cancer.
Dec 11, 2009	J. A. Caesar "Kokkyou Junreika" 1973 (Japan) This week's classic album is an unusual one -- the complete story of the mysterious J. A. Caesar is a lengthy and fasincating one (retold in Julian Cope's excellent Japrocksampler book), but the short version is that he was the #1 composer and arranger of crazy psychedelic musical theater in Japan in the 1970's, and this was his first record. It's essentially the musical highlights from an epic play and features less dialogue than many Caesar records, so therefore seems like the best place for anyone to start exploring this mysterious madman's musical landscapes. (In fact I would hazard a guess that most of his work wouldn't be of much interest to non-Japanese speakers, seeing as they are mainly theatrical soundtracks complete with dialogue.) The first side of Kokkyou Junreika leans towards more rockin' material with heavy organ riffs, whereas the second half is magical mystery ritual music somewhat like The Doors. The closest I could find to something Caesar-related is footage from the amazing early 1970's Japanese film Throw Away Your Books, Let's Rally In The Streets which was also a play his Tenjo Sajiki theater company was involved with. Also, this tune from Radical Girl Utena, a cartoon he scored in the 1990's which hearkens back to the "radical" sound of his 1970's work. For further J-rock pleasure, here's three songs by the awesomely brilliant glitter/biker rock trio GEDO from 1975.
Dec 4, 2009	Black Sabbath "Paranoid" 1970 (UK) We're focusing on producers and engineers on the show this week -- those behind the scenes sound sculptors who make records sound the way they do. One of the most influential -- and downright mysterious -- producers of the golden age of Heavy Rock was Rodger Bain, who is mainly known for midwifing the first (and best) three Black Sabbath albums, of which this was the second. (He also helmed the debut sessions for Judas Priest and Budgie.) Paranoid almost shouldn't need any introduction -- this is simply a masterpiece of heavy metal, in fact it's pretty much the blue print for any metal that concentrates on the HEAVY part of the equation. (Also, Sabbath's original singer, the legendary Ozzy Osbourne, is having a birthday this week.) The two most famous video clips of vintage Black Sabbath both come from this album's hit singles -- the immortal "Paranoid" and even more awesome "Iron Man". But the hits don't stop there -- here's a live version of their doomy peacenik anthem "War Pigs".
Nov 27, 2009	Jade Warrior "Last Autumn's Dream" 1972 (UK) Jade Warrior was a somewhat unique British group of the 1970's, founded by Tony Duhig and John Field, formerly of the psychedelic pop group July. Unlike most groups of the day, they tended to rely on Field's array of exotic hand drums for percussion instead of the usual rock drum kit -- although Duhig's guitar was often a mighty blast of fuzz in the best heavy tradition of the times. The group's music often had a vaguely "Eastern" feel and was as much based on folk and world music as blues or heavy rock. (The fact Field often played flute also means that Jade Warrior occasionaly sounds a bit like a rinky-dink version of a much more popular folky English progressive band of the early 1970's: Jethro Tull.) The heaviest Jade Warrior records are the first three, of which this is the third. Beginning with their next album Floating World in 1974, the group began to take on a more ambient instrumental bent, almost something like "new age" music. The group has continued to reunite with various line-ups over the years, most recently in 2008 for a CD entitled NOW, which features John Field along with original bassist/vocalist Glyn Havard. Tony Duhig passed away in 1990. I couldn't find any video clips of the band performing, but here are some "fan videos" -- "Psychiatric Sergeant" is a mellow number from their debut album, and "The Demon Trucker" is from Last Autumn's Dream. For a taste of their later sound, here's a bit from Floating World.
Nov 20, 2009	Les Rallizes Denudes "Heavier Than A Death In The Family" rec. 1973-77 (Japan) Les Rallizes Denudes is the heaviest, most underground band there ever was or ever will be. Founded by the mysterious Japanese Francophile communist/anarchist badass Takashi Mizutani back in 1967, the group never strayed far from its founder's original inspirations, which were the grating garage noise of the Velvet Underground's first two albums and Blue Cheer guitarist Leigh Stephens' brain-basting high volume apocalypse. Though Mizutani probably never wrote more than 20 songs in his life, various line-ups of Les Rallizes Denudes played the underground circuit in Japan for nearly 30 years, before the mysterious Mizutani vanished completely in the late 1990's (followers seem to think he might have moved to France, but nobody really knows.) The group never released a legitimate record in their entire career, relying on fans to trade bootleg copies of their live shows. Though various studio recordings have also come out of the grey market underground over the years (whether these are released with or without Mizutani's permission is also an open question -- due to his commie/radical roots, my guess is that he simply has never cared about "music business" stuff at all, ever -- signing contracts and recording in studios is just soooo bourgeois!) It does seem to be generally agreed that this album is the ultimate collection of LRD classics. It mostly consists of recordings from a 1977 concert, though one track was recorded in 1973. Incredibly, video footage of this legendary underground band exists, and is not even that hard to find! Here's Mizutani in all his black leather distortomatic glory -- the most notorious LRD tune is "Night Of Assassin", and this version is from one of the group's last appearances in 1994. Their gigs usually ended with the ferocious monstrosity known simply as "The Last One". And here's a shocker -- "Night of Assassin" live outdoors in 1976 (Mizutani spotted in the sunlight!)
Nov 13, 2009	The Fiery Furnaces "Bitter Tea" 2006 (USA) The Fiery Furnaces are playing in town tonight, and I'm a-gonna be there. As this decade winds to a close, I'd have to put Fiery Furnaces in my list of the top 5 or so bands of the past ten years. As is often the case in this post-modern age, their influences can be readily seen -- they are essentially a "90's indie rock" band whose riffs are inspired by "70's prog rock" -- but they manage to spin a sound that is wholly their own, and vary it with each release. (They are also absurdly prolific, having released eight studio albums and a double-live CD in just seven years -- I just found out about their latest release today!) The group's driving forces are brother and sister Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger, who provide the group's distinctive compositions/arrangements and vocals respectively. Another key member is bassist Jason Lowenstein, formerly of Sebadoh. Bitter Tea was the Furnaces fifth album, and is their most blatantly "psychedelic" record to date, featuring a particularly disorienting mix and oodles of backwards vocal and instrument tracks. It's one of my favorites by the band, along with the follow up Widow City, which has more of a "70's classic rock" vibe. Here are some video clips of the Friedberger siblings playing unplugged: "Police Sweater Blood Vow" is from Bitter Tea and "Japanese Slippers" is from Widow City. Next here's the full band in concert playing "Duplexes of the Dead", plus a couple of their more pop-oriented music videos: "Ex-Guru" is another one from their fine 2007 album Widow City, and "Tropical Ice-Land" was one of their first singles from 2004.