Rhubarb Cake, 12/30/99, 9 AM-noon on WFMU

hosted by Douglas

Wringing out the old stuff

background music: Neu!: Für Immer

reading: Thomas Rogers: from The Confession of a Child of the Century

James Brown: It's A New Day
   beginning some kind of embargo
Adventures In Stereo: A Brand New Day
   yet they don't seem to be able to tell what day it is
Hüsker Dü: New Day Rising
   trembling with whatever their reaction is
The Dynamic Soundmakers: A New Day Has Begun
   an airy instrumental from a comp of a label that didn't exist
Mary Margaret O'Hara: A New Day
   carved out as into a plank of wood, note by note
The Cure: New Day
   imagine a vampire's reaction to that announcement

Buffalo Daughter: New Rock
   translate that into German, then into Shibuya-ese
Bob Dylan: New Pony
   heard Palace play this blues in '93 and thought it was an Oldham original
Palace Music: New Partner
   in commemoration of which, his Elvis/PSB's nod
Hank Williams: I'll Have A New Body (I'll Have A New Life)
   and in the meantime painfully aware of the current one
The Holmes Brothers: The New And Improved Me
   somehow this belongs next to the South Park movie's "I Can Change"

Joe Meek and the Blue Men: I Hear A New World
   yes, but Joe? you were hearing things!
Curtis Mayfield: New World Order
   R.I.P.
Mos Def: New World Water
   a rather different take on the "Sail Away" idea, with a similar air
Spoonie Gee and the Treacherous Three: New Rap Language
   at the time, with Kool Moe Dee rhyming at max speed, it really was
Shizuo: New Kick
   fermented jailhouse-bootleg-liquor style

Lene Lovich: New Toy
   written by Thomas Dolby, with what in mind?
The Slits: Newtown
   the only major punk band that played like their favorite van tapes?
Horace Andy: New Broom
   and I hope you're happy now... honest...
Arab Strap: New Birds
   same bitterness, more muttering
Charles Mingus: New Now Know How
   muttering limited to the bass, more sly cheer

Y2K survival tips from The Onion

DNA: New New
   named probably on the same paradigm as all their edge-fests
Gram Parsons: The New Soft Shoe
   as in "I'm saying new but I really don't mean it"
The Sensational Nightingales: New Jerusalem
   see above
The Damned: New Rose
   a familiar course, raced through in record time
Skull Kontrol: New Rock Critic
   more sarkasm, spat like a curse
The Fall: New Puritan
   also beginning an embargo: a BBC session, the pinnacle of their first phase

SFT: New Song
   stretched like gray putty, distended, sprinkled with granular sugar
Howard Jones: New Song
   "This is Howard Jones, right?" Kelly called down. "Score one!"
Scream: New Song
   novelty was not actually among their many strong points
Ben Lee: New Song
   just how strong a concept of history does he have?
Fossil: Love Is The Alcohol
   figured I had to play an actual new song sometime in the show

Otis Redding and Carla Thomas: New Year's Resolution
   recorded, most likely, sometime in like March
Raymond Scott: New Year's Eve In A Haunted House
   is there a greater 20th-c. master of program music?
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: New Year
   proving that time is hitting the barrier and bouncing backwards
Talk Talk: New Grass
   as in I woke up this morning and didn't recognize the world at all
The Qualities: Happy New Year To You!
   Sun Ra produces low-tech close-harmony Earthly good wishes

Fastbacks: New Book Of Old
   not entirely sure what counts as starting fresh
Meat Puppets: New Gods
   not entirely sure what isn't just hallucinations
Swans: New Mind
   not entirely sure what is heavy under the new gravity
The Adverts: New Day Dawning
   not entirely sure what is day under the new lighting system
Disco Inferno: New Clothes For The New World
   not entirely sure if the instruments have been torn from their hands
The Velvet Underground: New Age
   not entirely sure of anything, anything at all

questions? mail me!

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