Rhubarb Cake, 10/7/99, 9 AM-noon on WFMU

hosted by Douglas

why record collectors suck

Background music: Folke Rabe: Was?? (slow version)

Reading: from Evan Eisenberg, The Recording Angel
   why people accumulate artifacts

Vicki Anderson: Answer To Mother Popcorn (I Got A Mother For You)
   I always wanted to start a series with this, the soul of answer-songdom
The Fall: Smile
   Mark E.'s monomaniacal freakout
Art & Language with the Red Crayola: Plekhanov
   Stephin Merritt says this song is often stuck in his head
The Magnetic Fields: Meaningless
   it's only fair; this one is often stuck in mine

Lung Leg: Maid To Minx
   breaking through from early Kleenex to mid-period Liliput
Wanton Loveboy: Wiggle
   the greatest stupid dance song of homemade indie-pop
The Eyesores: Defenseless
   ex-Amoebic Ensemble types sing and sway drunkenly
Roxanne Shanté: Bad Sister
   a delirious fantasy of ruling a little hip-hop world

Alva: Kill Everyone
   the Keene-painting girls go evil
Letta: Mohlalela
   don't know what it means, but boy is it pretty
A Certain Ratio: Lucinda
   a love/dance song sung distractedly, as if under duress
Savoy Grand: The Moving Air
   orchestration, yes, but under-orchestration

Giustino di Gregorio: Frammenti Di Un Relitto
   like Plunderphonic stuff,  but more coherent
Tej Leo [?]: Congressional Dubcision
   reportedly also an answer song, as if to a half-erased cassette
Zeena Parkins: D.I. 1    
   more fun with tonal samples
Wormholes/vl-tone: We Are All Impersonating An Identity
   see above, but in an uglier mood

Martin Carthy: Sir Patrick Spens
   probably my favorite guitarist; at least the one I most want to play like
Mecca Normal: Follow Down
   ...and David Lester's playing summons his phantom rhythm section...
Gorguts: Obscura
   ...and this guy's guitar playing is just from Neptune...
Rufus Thomas: Itch And Scratch, Pt. 1
   ...and there's something to be said for early-'70s funk guitar, too

Cex: At Least One Unwilling Passenger On Keith's Ego Trip
   I suspect the title's a Hrvatski reference--nice electro, anyway
Disco Inferno: Elephant
   from their experimental radio sessions, which rock anyway
Trollin Withdrawal: Emil Eye
   see previous comment
Flin Flon: Upper Ferry (Version)
   how can music this simple have so much rhythmic oomph?

Sudden Sway: Let's Evolve
   very, very silly instructions, a la exercise program
The Jones Machine: I'm The Disco Dancing
   from "silly" to "actively retarded"
The Art Of Noise: Who's Afraid (Of Scale)
   not stupid, exactly, just high-concept
Cab Calloway: Twee-Twee-Tweet
   silliness stands in for the moon

Scrooge: Polka
   the Euro punk-rock two-step
Salah Ragab with the Sun Ra Arkestra: Egypt Strut
   when Sunny gets sandy
The Bevis Frond: The Wind Blew All Around Me (live)
   written 30 years too late to be a folk-rock classic
Spare Snare: Thorns (One)
   written on five strings too few to be Pavement

Dave Barker and the Upsetters: Shocks Of A Mighty
   you have the feeling somebody's going to start screaming any second
Sheila Chandra: Drone Drone quick quick Drone
   still experimenty, but choppy rather than gauzy
Kid606: My Kitten Went To London
   and speaking of "choppy," boy is he into machine abuse
The Energetics: You Make Me Nothing
   self-loathing soul!

Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns: She Got Low Down
   their party never ends, but other people have limits
Amon Düül II: Archangels Thunderbird
   has that first-take/first-time-played magic
Center Of The World: Church Number 9
   no, the other Muhammad Ali; they always have said magic

questions? mail me!