Monday, December 31, 2012

Friday, December 14, 2012

Interplanetary Interlude #1: An Interplanetary Music Christmas Carol

Playlist

1. It's Christmas Time- Sun Ra
2. My Favorite Things- John Coltrane
3. Greensleeves- John Coltrane
4. Oh Holy Night- John Fahey
5. Carol of the Bells- John Fahey
6. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Fantasy- John Fahey
7. The Skater's Waltz- John Fahey
8. Silent Night- John Fahey
9. Silent Night- Dies Irae
10. Silent Night- The Poetics






Tuesday, December 11, 2012

I Desperately Need to See This Movie. You Do Too. I'm a Monk, You're a Monk, We're All Monks.

It's beat time, it's hot time, it's Monk time.


 

It's telling to me that the American Jon Spencer identifies the Monks with primal Rock n' Roll, while the Germans tend to pick up on elements like the pulsating, mechanical rhythms of the Monks which link them to electronic and industrial music. This is why Julian Cope identifies the Monks as the "missing link" between American R&R and German experimental kosmiche musik in Krautrocksampler. I discovered the Monks through my interest in '60s garage-rock, but they've always sounded closer to The Velvet Underground than The Sonics or any of the Nuggets artists.

. . . NO-ONE ever came up with a whole album of such dementia. The Monks' Black Monk Time is a gem born of isolation and the horrible deep-down knowledge that no-one is really listening to what you're saying. And the Monks took full artistic advantage of their lucky/unlucky position as American rockers in a country that was desperate for the real thing. 
- Julian Cope, Krautrocksampler



Sunday, December 9, 2012

Episode #11: Inner Space: Can Part 2

Playlist

1. Paperhouse
2. Mushroom
3. Oh Yeah
4. Halleluwah
5. Evening All Day
6. Pinch
7. Vitamin C
8. Tape Kebab
9. Bel Air
10. Spray
11. Chain Reaction
12. Quantum Physics



Download Episode 11!

Master of the Flying Guillotine

Somebody had the brilliant idea to score a late-seventies Chinese martial-arts film with early-seventies German experimental music. Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream are used to great effect, but the most striking is the use of Neu! "Super 16" becomes the motif for the titular assassin, like an insane version of the "Imperial March" from Star Wars, and "Super" (same song, different speed) is used to create the most thrilling opening credits ever.


Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Jazz on a Summer's Day, on a Winter's Day

This film is transcendentally beautiful, and the music sublime. You want to watch, yes?

Performers include Jimmy Giuffre (very underrated!), Sonny Stitt, Anita O'Day, George Shearing, Gerry Mulligan, and Louis Armstrong.