Review: LAIR – Ngélar

Indonesian psych-funk? I’m there all day.

That’s what you get with LAIR and their new album, Ngélar – an album that salutes the band’s hometown, Jatiwangi, and the earth that provides most of the areas income through terra-cotta production, and discusses the struggles to reclaim that same land from deforestation.

“Tatalu” gets things off to a fast start with wild beats and exotic guitar work. “Pesta Rekyat Pabrik Gala” takes on a sorrowful tone that sounds like a call to ancient ancestors and spirits. “Tanah Bertuah” has more stellar guitar work from Tedi Nurmanto. “Hareeng” is almost desert rock with beautiful vocals from Monica Haspari. “Boa-Boa,” with its car horn honks, fuzzy bass riffs from Andzar Agung Fauzan, is one of the coolest songs on the record and will go straight onto your psych-rock playlist.

The chant-like vocals on “Bangkai Belantara” dance back and forth between power and celebration. “Kawin Tebu” is a lively track that makes you want to dance, sing, and invite strangers to a party at your house. The title of the album, after all, refers to a local custom in Jatiwangi of musicians roaming around the town, playing music for anyone, and celebrating whatever happens to need celebrating. “Setan Dolban” brings in some synthesizers and these cool microtonal guitars that would make King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard drool.

If you didn’t know LAIR was from Indonesia, you might think they were from the Algerian desert upon hearing “Gelombang Pemecah Malam,” which is a brief instrumental of sand dune rock. The closer, “Mencari Selamat,” is a lively song of thanks and uplifting beats made to help you forget troubles.

This is one of the most uplifting albums I’ve heard so far in 2024. It comes at a time when we need music like this to expand our horizons and jolt us out of any bad funks we’re in right now.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]

WSND DJ set list – 3-for-Thursday Nocturne – May 23, 2024

Thanks for all who tuned into the first 3-for-Thursday Nocturne show of the 2024 summer on WSND. All songs are related to the number 3. Here’s the set list:

  1. House of Large Sizes – The Other Part (trio / three-word song title)
  2. ZZ Top – Master of Sparks (requested) (trio / three-word song title / from the Tres Hombres album)
  3. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – What to Do (trio / three-word song title)
  4. Sleater-Kinney – End of You (trio / three-word song title / three-word album title The Hot Rock)
  5. Bob Marley – Three Little Birds (requested) (three-word song title / “three” in the song title)
  6. Failure – Macaque (trio)
  7. Coldplay – Clocks (requested) (3-3-2 rhythm)
  8. On – Feel at Home (three-word song title)
  9. Genesis – Abacab (requested) (trio / the name of the song is it’s original form, rotating between the three A, B, and C sections)
  10. Skull Practitioners – Ventilation (trio)
  11. The Commodores – Three Times a Lady (requested) (three-word song title)
  12. Le Butcherettes – Shave the Pride (three-word song title / three-word album title A Raw Youth)
  13. Flat Worms – Antartica (trio)
  14. Oh Sees – Toe Cutter Thumb Buster (3:33 in length)
  15. The Jesus and Mary Chain – Just Like Honey (“three-peat” of one artist / three-word song title)
  16. The Jesus and Mary Chain – Darklands (“three-peat” of one artist)
  17. The Jesus and Mary Chain – Here Comes Alice (“three-peat” of one artist / three-word song title)
  18. Bad Religion – All Fantastic Images (“three-peat” of one artist / three-word song title)
  19. Bad Religion – You Don’t Belong (“three-peat” of one artist / three-word song title)
  20. Bad Religion – Cyanide (“three-peat” of one artist)
  21. Gas Huffer – Rotten Egg (from three-word album titled Just Beautiful Music)
  22. Treat Her Right – Factory Girl (three-word band name)
  23. Morphine – Come Along (trio)
  24. The Forms – All Souls Day (three-word song title)
  25. Alice In Chains – No Excuses (three-word band name and from three-word album titled Jar of Flies)
  26. Shadow Show – Shadow Box (trio)
  27. Beastie Roys – Root Down (trio)
  28. Janelle Monae – Dance or Die (Nirobi re-edit) (three-word song title)
  29. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Bad Blood (third song from their album Beat the Devil’s Tattoo)

My next show is May 30, 2024. Give me a listen!

Keep your mind open.

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WSND set list – Throwback Thursday – May 23, 2024

Thanks to all who listened to my first Throwback Thursday show of the summer 2024 break at WSND. Here’s the set list:

  1. Blondie – Heart of Glass (1978)
  2. Creedence Clearwater Revival – Around the Bend (1970)
  3. Count Yorga radio ad (1970)
  4. Johnny Cash – Man in Black (1971)
  5. Mungo Jerry – In the Summertime (1970)
  6. Astrud Gilberto – Take It Easy My Brother Charlie (1972)
  7. New York Dolls – Lookin’ for a Kiss (1973)
  8. Save the Children radio ad (1973)
  9. Marvin Gaye – Save the Children (live) (1973)
  10. The Rolling Stones – It’s Only Rock and Roll (but I Like It) (1974)
  11. The Sex Pistols – Pretty Vacant (requested) (1977)
  12. Sugar Hill radio ad (1974)
  13. Betty Davis – Shut Off the Light (1975)
  14. Thin Lizzy – Angel from the Coast (1976)
  15. Tentacles radio ad (1977)
  16. Devo – Uncontrollable Urge (1978)
  17. Gary Numan – Engineers (1979)
  18. Peter Gabriel – Shock the Monkey (requested) (1982)
  19. Adam and the Ants – Fall In (1980)
  20. Europe – The Final Countdown (requested) (1986)
  21. Oingo Boingo – Ain’t This the Life (1981)
  22. Gang of Four – Outside the Trains Don’t Run on Time (requested) (1980)
  23. Motörhead – Heart of Stone (1982)
  24. The Fixx – Saved By Zero (1983)
  25. Campbell’s Soup radio ad (1983?)
  26. The Last Four Digits – Leave Me Alone (1980)
  27. Sade – Your Love Is King (1984)
  28. INXS – Listen Like Thieves (1985)
  29. Big Audio Dynamite – Ticket (1986)
  30. Radio ad for New Coke (1984?)
  31. Agent Orange – Out of Limits (1987)
  32. New Order – Blue Monday (’88) (1988)
  33. Biz Markie – Just a Friend (1989)
  34. Lou Reed – Hold On (1989)
  35. Sonic Youth – Kool Thing (1990)
  36. Julian Cope – Leperskin (1991)
  37. Thunder – Backstreet Symphony (requested) (1990)
  38. MC 900 Foot Jesus – Truth Is Out of Style (live) (1992)
  39. Depeche Mode – World in My Eyes (requested) (1991)
  40. Helmet – He Feels Bad (1992)
  41. Temple of the Dog – Say Hello 2 Heaven (requested) (1991)
  42. R.L. Burnside – Short-Haired Woman (1994)
  43. Orgy – Blue Monday (requested) (1998)
  44. Reverend Horton Heat – Big Red Rocket of Love (1996)
  45. Slint – Nosferatu Man (requested) (1991)
  46. Death in Vegas – Dirt (1997)

Throwback Thursday returns May 30, 2024!

Keep your mind open.

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WSND DJ set list – Nocturne May 19, 2024

Thanks to all who listened to my first Nocturne show on WSND for the 2024 summer break. Here’s the set list:

  1. Motörhead – Dirty Love
  2. Motörhead – Bomber
  3. Terry Evans w/ Ry Cooder – Get Your Lies Straight (requested)
  4. Warish – Burn No Bridges
  5. Electric Wizard – Vinum Sabbathi
  6. Tangled Horns – Sleeping Dogs
  7. Pixies – Broken Face
  8. LCD Soundsystem – Emotional Haircut
  9. Buzzcocks – Running Free (live)
  10. Jackie Shane – Knock on Wood (live)
  11. The Damned – Neat Neat Neat
  12. The Humpers – Loser’s Club
  13. Bad Religion – Suffer
  14. Flat Worms – Condo Colony
  15. Helmet – In the Meantime
  16. Pretenders – Every Day Is Like Sunday
  17. The Lewis & Clarke Expedition – Blue Revelations
  18. Night Beats – Ain’t a Ghost
  19. The Dead Weather – 60 Feet Tall
  20. Leslie West w/ Joe Bonamassa – Third Degree (requested)
  21. Failure – Screen Man
  22. Mort Garson – Black Eye (End Credits)
  23. MC5 – Kick Out the Jams (live) (requested)
  24. Screaming Females – Something Ugly
  25. The Black Angels – Black Isn’t Black
  26. Cake – Satan Is My Motor (requested)
  27. Morphine – Buena (alternate version)
  28. The Wiseguys – Ooh La La

I’m back on air May 23, 2024 at 7pm Eastern for Throwback Thursday and then 3-for-Thursday Nocturne! Don’t miss it!

Keep your mind open.

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WSND set list – Deep Dive of The Who and Pete Townshend

Thanks to all who listened to my first Deep Dive of the 2024 summer on WSND, this one on The Who and Pete Townshend. Here’s the set list:

  1. The Who – My Generation
  2. The Squadronaires – Rustle of the Swing
  3. Bill Haley and The Comets – Rock Around the Clock
  4. Cliff Richard – Move It
  5. The Detours – It Was You
  6. Screaming Lord Sutch – I’m in Love with Dracula’s Daughter
  7. The High Numbers – Zoot Suit
  8. The Who – I Can’t Explain
  9. The Who – Anyway Anyhow Anywhere (live)
  10. Blur – Substitute
  11. James Brown – I Don’t Mind
  12. The Who – A Quick One (While He’s Away) (live)
  13. The Who – Boris the Spider (requested)
  14. The Who – Call Me Lightning (requested)
  15. The Who – I Can See for Miles (full version)
  16. The Who – The Seeker (Juggernaut remix)
  17. Tina Turner – The Acid Queen
  18. The Who – Magic Bus (live)
  19. The Who – Baba O’Riley (live)
  20. W.A.S.P. – The Real Me
  21. Pearl Jam – Love Reign O’er Me (live)
  22. Pete Townshend – Content
  23. Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane – Rough Mix
  24. The Grateful Dead with Pete Townshend – Around and Around (live)
  25. Pete Townshend – Cat’s in the Cupboard
  26. Pete Townshend – Let My Love Open the Door (live)
  27. Pete Townshend – Rough Boys
  28. The Sex Pistols – Pretty Vacant
  29. Pete Townshend – Slit Skirts
  30. Pete Townshend – Face the Face (requested)
  31. Pete Townshend – Secondhand Love (alternate version) (live)
  32. Pete Townshend (feat. David Gilmour) – Give Blood (live)

The Deep Dive show returns in July! Keep listening to me on Thursday nights at 7pm through August in the meantime!

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Takuya Kuroda – Rising Son (2024 reissue)

Back in 2014, jazz trumpeter Takuya Kuroda released Rising Son, an album that combined jazz, hip hop, and a little psychedelia and went to number one on the Japanese jazz charts. Now, a decade later, First Word Records has reissued the album (which would cost you a pretty penny if you were to buy an original 2014 pressing) and included a new remix with it.

The album is a collection of mostly Roy Ayers covers, but with added hip hop and Afrobeat rhythms and other flourishes that remind you of late nights in Brooklyn, New York (who Kuroda is based) or Kobe, Japan (where Kuroda was born). The crisp, snappy beats from Nate Smith on the opening title track alone will grab your attention and send hip hop producers scrambling for their mixers. Kuroda’s funky and lush trumpet comes in an has those same producers thinking they can’t get this stuff into a track fast enough. “Afro Blues” definitely has Afrobeat stylings all over it, and they mix great with traditional (Is there such a thing?) jazz organ riffs from Kris Bowers.

“Piri Piri” is so slick that you might slip and fall on it as it slides out of your speakers. “Mala” has this cool 1970s jazz lounge vibe to it, reminding me a bit of some of Boz Scaggs‘ material from then. Just when you think the album can’t get any funkier, along comes “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” which will be one of those songs you want to play for everyone at every summer party from now until forever.

Kuroda’s trumpet and Corey King‘s trombone go together like hot chocolate and warm milk on “Green and Gold,” and Bowers’ keyboard work on it is the whipped cream on top. “Sometime, Somewhere, Somehow” takes its time to create a soulful love track that doesn’t rush anything…like a good lover. “Call” is over nine minutes of groovy, funky, and introspective (but never turning into mindless noodling) jazz-funk that seems perfect for both rainy and sunny days.

The album ends with a 2024 remix of “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” by Joe Armon-Jones, turning it into a synthwave jam that puts a neat, new spin on it.

It’s a groovy record, and one you’ll want in your collection. Get it now before it goes out of your price range again.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine PR!]

Steve Albini loved music more than money.

Steve Albini, who recently died of a heart attack at just 61 years of age, might have been the last producer who frequently and joyfully stuck his middle finger in the eye of the music industry. He enjoyed being outside the mainstream, even when working with well-known acts such as Nirvana.

Nirvana were rulers of the radio, college campuses, pop culture, and practically everything else after the success of Nevermind. The whole world wanted a new album, and they went to Albini to produce it. That album became In Utero, which was originally considered “unreleasable” by the band’s label – which Albini and the band found baffling and, looking back, humorous…especially since it’s sold millions of copies by now.

Albini, by the way, collected no royalties on In Utero, or any other album he produced. He only charged his production fee of less than eight hundred bucks a day, and he’d often let friends use his studio for free. He could’ve been a millionaire off royalties from In Utero alone, but he didn’t care about that. He cared about music first and foremost and helping bands catch something raw and pure (“If a record takes more than a week to make, somebody is fucking up.” – from a letter he wrote to Nirvana before the In Utero recordings began).

He was one of the last to not really give a crap about what labels, radio programming managers, and music festival promoters thought. He openly hated most music festivals (and, somewhat famously, Steely Dan), and only played Primavera Sound in Barcelona with his band Shellac…who were due to release a new album, To All Trains, ten days after he died.

The list of Albini’s credits is insane. His most famous works are In Utero, Pixies‘ Surfer Rosa, The Jesus Lizard‘s Pure, and P.J. Harvey‘s Rid of Me. The following is a list of albums he produced that I personally own:

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – self-titled album (1992), Acme (1998), Xtra Acme USA (1999), and Plastic Fang (2002), Failure – Comfort (1992), Helmet – Meantime (1992), Nirvana – In Utero (1993), Pixies – Wave of Mutilation: Best of Pixies (2004), Living Things – Ahead of the Lions (2005), Screaming Females – Ugly (2012), Live at the Hideout (2014), and Rose Mountain (2015), Man or Astroman? – Defcon 5 4 3 2 1 (2013), Flat Worms – Antarctica (2019), Fuzz – III (2020).

Antarctica, by the way, was my top album of 2019.

Albini will be greatly missed, but he left a big legacy and massive shoes to fill. I hope someone picks up his band-loving torch and runs with it.

Keep your mind open.

Enjoy this Albini-produced banger.

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Review: Church Chords – elvis, he was Schlager

elvis, he was Schlager, the debut album from Church Chords, is difficult to describe, but that’s part of what makes it so good.

Combining recorded field sounds and samples with live performances in the studio, the album is a blend of musical influences from three cities: Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles. It’s the brainchild of producer / multi-instrumentalist Stephen Buono, who decided to become more of a producer / bandleader / circus ringmaster with a wide number and variety of musicians from those three cities.

The result is a neat experimental record that somehow blends electro, post-punk, psych-rock, jazz, and other stuff I can’t quite define into sort of a calm chaos. It’s like the album cover, a woman stopped along a roadway while forest burns immediately next to her and she records the growing danger on her phone…or perhaps is reciting her thoughts for future meditations.

Songs like “Recent Mineral” and “Apophatic Melismatic” combine killer bass riffs with soft vocals and hip-hop drums. “Spacetime Pauses” reminds me of some of MC 900 Foot Jesus‘ jazz-psych fusion tracks.

Songs like “Warriors of Playtime” bring in wild jazz horns and prog-rock guitars. “She Lays of a Leaf” has industrial beats and, I think, vocals from Chicago alt-rockers Finom to make it a weird robot-dance / lounge club groover that builds into something that would fit into a late 1970s French erotic thriller. “Owned By Lust,” on the other hand, would fit into a modern horror film with its panicked guitar licks and rambling madman vocals.

“Then Awake” has sultry vocals over a synth-bass line that moves like a snake across a sand dune at midnight. “Man on a Wire” reminds me of some Siouxsie and The Banshees tracks with the vocal stylings, goth synths, and post-punk saxophone and beats. The vocals on “I Hope You See” are layered with extra effects to almost make them unintelligible, but also make them more ethereal.

In case you’re wondering, as I was, “Schlager” is a type of European pop music characterized by catchy beats and love-song lyrics. I suppose Elvis Presley was that for many of the masses. This record has catchy beats and love-song lyrics, but it’s not Schlager. It’s too experimental, too stream-of-consciousness, too odd.

But it’s not too much of any of that either. It’s one of the most interesting records I’ve heard so far this year.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Cody at Terrorbird Media.]

Rewind Review: Acid King – Beyond Vision (2023)

One of the biggest surprises for me of 2023 was that stoner metal giants Acid King released a new album – Beyond Vision. Shame on me for taking so long to get to it, because it’s a fine piece of work (and their first since 2015, no less).

The opening drone of “One Light Second Away” is perfect for the album’s cover image of some kind of heavenly cosmic tunnel / path leading to either an all-seeing eye or another reality we can’t yet comprehend. The instruments are subtle, even as they build in power, not overwhelming you right out of the gate. They’re still guiding you along this swirling tunnel of nebulae, planets, monoliths, stars, and lightning.

We’re floating in the astral plane by the time we drift into “Mind’s Eye.” It hits hard in all the ways you want a stoner metal track to hit – crashing drums, deep Earth-heavy bass, wasp’s nest-buzz-menace guitar, and ghost-like vocals. “Transmissions from the sky, from someone left behind. Was it just a sign?” guitarist Lori S. sings on “90 Seconds,” a song of cosmic messages that sounds as ominous as its warnings.

“Electro Magnetic” starts like a giant robot powering up from sleep mode, shaking off cobwebs and dust, and arming its missiles and electro-magnetic power sword for battle in some kind of desolate wasteland. The short “Destination Psych” merges / melts right into the title track, which has Bil Bowman‘s drums landing like mortar shells and Rafa Martinez‘s bass chugging like hydraulic fluid through that giant robot’s metallic veins. The closer, “Color Trails,” is the sound of the giant monster rumbling across the land as the giant robot comes to meet it, missiles streaking across the sky, trees uprooted with each step from both, roars louder than thunder, robed monks watching a prophecy come true from a safe distance.

I love that most of Beyond Vision is instrumental. You can tune in and drop in rather than out. This album drops you into something beyond your current space.

Keep your mind open.

[Make the subscription box your next destination.]

Rewind Review: Screaming Females – Desire Pathway (2023)

No one knew in early 2023 that Desire Pathway would be Screaming Females‘ final full-length album. The band decided to call it quits late last year and have since only released one five-song EP (Clover). I haven’t read or heard any official reasons for the band’s dissolution, but it seems to be an amicable decision from a band who’d been one of the champions of the DIY method since their inception. Desire Pathway‘s title might have been a clue to what the band was thinking, as perhaps they each desired a different path to walk for a while. The cover art by guitarist and singer Marissa Paternoster depicts a city jammed with buildings and teeming with activity while open paths (or perhaps rivers) divide the city into sections and offer peaceful escapes from the chaos around them. Perhaps that’s what she, Mike Abbate (bass) and Jarrett Dougherty (drums) wanted – a nice path to walk so they could get away from the chaos of being one of the hardest working touring bands in the U.S.

Starting with the slow build of what sounds like a synthesizer found in a thrift store, “Brass Bell” kicks off Desire Pathway with growling energy that comes at you like an overstimulated orange cat. “I’m living in a brass bell. It’s too loud!” Paternoster sings, again a possible clue to the pressure / grind the band was feeling back then. “Desert Train” races by you like its namesake as Paternoster sings, “I know this feeling, tied to the road. I’ll get high ’til I explode.” and puts down one of her signature ripping solos. On “Let You Go,” she sings, “If I could explain it, how black turns into blue. Now the stage is empty and I am, too.” The signs are right there that she was tired. She and her bandmates weren’t tired of jamming, however, as all of three of them click well on the track. Dougherty’s drumming is especially crisp on it.

“Beyond the Void” is a beautiful love song, the kind Screaming Females do so well – singing about the blissful and sometime frightening parts of love while putting down solid rock licks and bright bursts of sound. “Mourning Dove” is a good example of their “sad” love songs, as Paternoster knows her lover is going to leave soon and there’s nothing she can do about it.

“It’s All Said and Done” has lyrics back to their punk roots as they take a swing at government overreach (“No one’s safe. The state will surround you. When they come, here’s what they’ll say: Trust in the dream, don’t deny. Time says it can be yours.”). Paternoster’s guitar work on “Ornament” is so deft that you almost miss it. It seems subtle at first, but you realize how skillful it is when you listen close.

On “So Low,” Paternoster practically begs a lover to not reject her. It’s a modern day blues song without a single blues lick in it. “Let Me into Your Heart” is in a similar vein, but with heavier hits from Abbate’s chugging bass and Paternoster’s lyrics reflecting how her lover bears some responsibility in all of this for a lack of willingness to fully embrace her (“I know the mess I made, admit that I’m afraid. You’ll never let me into your heart.”).

The album closes with “Titan,” which contains what might be the biggest clue to the band’s decision to give it a rest in the first verse: “You smoked beside the stage, with the can in your hand, then you said to me, I’m tired. Please make it true and do what I, I have asked of you.” She and her bandmates weren’t the only ones who needed a break, so did their families and lovers. So, they end the album with a sizzling, growling, heavy-hitter that has some of Abbate and Dougherty’s best rhythm work on the record.

Desire Pathway was a good one to leave on the path for us fans. Screaming Females never put out a bad record. You can start anywhere in their catalog and be amazed. I hope their new paths lead to great(er) things.

Keep your mind open.

[I desire that you take the pathway to the subscription box.]