March 13/11 show

So, this week's show was relatively well planned out to feature a lecture by composer and sound artist Karlheinz Stockhausen at UCLA in 1966. Unfortunately, due to some unforeseen mishap with technology, I was unable to air the show I had put together and was forced to make due with some new releases from CFMU's music library. This is what happens when you are not great with technology but rely on it because it is easier than lugging a bunch of records and cds across town. Lesson learned. Part of the lecture will air on next week's show and I will post a link to the entire thing on the blog.

I will not be posting the podcast for this week since the show did not go as planned, but you can still download it from CFMU's website (and see if you can detect the irritation in my voice). This is one of the joys of live radio. Just go to the programming grid and select new directions then go to march 13/11 show date download. It will be up for a bout four weeks I think.

In the meantime, check out this film by Peter Moore of Stockhausen's live action composition - Stockhausen's Originale: Doubletakes, the Film (1964).  This is part 1 from YouTube but you can watch the complete video and read more about this piece here courtesy of UbuWeb

Blog of the Week Monday

In hopes of making my blog more interactive I've decided to try and do a blog/site of the week entry every Monday. People always ask me where I find out about or get a lot of music that I play on my show. Most of the content I play, aside from coming from my personal collection and local sounds, are things I've come across scouring the Internet.

I found the Ghost Capital blog linked from Ubuweb's twitter account, which in itself is a goldmine for any fan of rare/weird/artistically relevant sounds.  Ghost Capital  is devoted to  rare and obscure music which for those of you that listen to New Directions, is something that I also try to bring to the airwaves on my show. A great thing about this blog is that they also share rips to a lot of the music/albums they feature along with samples, so you are not left trying to figure out where to hear more.

Carnival of Lights

I'm going to re-invest myself into keeping the blog updated because there is really so much show related content worth connecting to.

Tonight's main feature was a bootleg release of the unreleased experimental tape project recorded by the Beatles, entitled Carnival of Lights. Here is a link to a blog article with more information about the release and a link to download from the vuvuvuvuvu blog. 

This release is worth checking out because of who it is, and not so much what it is. Ir provides an example of how a band like the Beatles were influenced by some of their more weird and experimental predecessors and peers during the late 60s when they work working on albums like Sgt. Pepper.

I found the link via Ubu.com posted on their twitter. If you have a twitter account I highly recommend following them. They are always posting and linking so much great content from Ubu and from the far reaches of the Interweb, preventing you from being totally consumed in the all encompassing void of boredom.

PLAYLIST FOR MARCH 30th: 

The Beatles - Carnival of Lights (January 5, 1967)

The Electrosoniks - Sonik Re-entry (from 'Cocktail Music for Robots')

Mort Garson - The Unexplained (from 'Disco Sickness')  You can check out all the tracks on the compilation here.

Ose - Orgasmachine (from 'Adonia')

Steve Reich - Pendulum (from a compilation called 'OHM: Gurus of early electronic music')

Broadcast - Papercuts (from 'Extended Play')

Electroluminescent - Atala and Rene (from 'Oban')

Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Praiso UFO - In (from '0 to Infitiny')

The podcast for the show can be download on CFMU's webiste here.

Just go to the programming page and click on New Directions on the grid then go to March 30th show date. 

I'll also be posting it online for those who can't download it from CFMU. 

we now return to your regularly scheduled programming

Happy 81st Birthday to Maestro Alejandro Jordorowsky, director of one of the most inspiring films ever, The Holy Mountain!

In celebration of progress of a new year and things to celebrate in general, the blog is back and should remain  more up to date with lots of outside/original content related to whats played on the show.  Here are a batch of past shows for your listening pleasure.

ARCHIVED PODCASTS:

Sept 29/10: Cult Madness including Charles Manson, David Koresh, Jim Jones. Guest: Sarah Good

Download here (zipped) 
July 30/10: Loner folk/local sounds. Guest: Drew Taylor

Download here (zipped) 
July 21/10: Alan Watt "Veils of Thought" w/ Dead Machines/Kill Devil Hills Guest: Ryan Jordan

Download here (zipped)

April 28/10: Timothy Leary and the Psychedelic Experience. Guest: Sarah Good.

Download here (not zipped)

March 10/10: Mixed Sounds like Silver Cords, Orphx, Fursaxa, Knit Prism

Download here (zipped)

bowel growels - April 7

This week's show focused on passionate food admiration and my awesomely cool pal Mike Simon, concocting deliciousness at every opportunity, who came on to boil up a pot of sounds and food devotional words.

Not much really to say. Was a lot of fun. Also this was the first attempt at a live in studio performance, and by all accounts it seemed to work out really great. Mike was also kind enough to bring along some delicious leek soup and bake potato construction, both really tasty. We had a heck of a time just trying to roll with the challenges of live radio production spontaneously being problematic. It was a lot of fun though I think Mike will agree.

Tracklist:
Captain Beefheart - Safe as Milk (from Safe as Milk)
Litte Claw - Human Taste (from Human Taste)
Silver Apples - Oscillations (from Contact)
Caroliner Rainbow Strewed Angel  Skins - Wheat Delusion (from I'm Armed with Quarts of Blood)
Caroliner Rainbow Wire Thin Sheep Legs Baking Exhibit - Rainbows Made Meat (from Strike them Hard Strike them  to Church
Caroliner Rainbow Grace Blocks Used in the Placement of Personality - Red Roll Butter Shutters (from Rings of the Awkward Shadows)
(AND some original poems and jams by Mike Simon)

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DOWNLOAD THIS SHOW: cfmu.mcmaster.ca (programming page Wed. @ 10 p.m. New Directions) directly from rapidshare by clicking here.

Bodily Functions - March 31

Inspired by the various quirks and stories relating to the body and how it functions, this week show ended up being understandably pretty crude but also a lot of fun. Continuing in the tradition of using New Directions as a soapbox from which to talk about creative ideas in all the ways they manifest themselves out of our weird minds and through the microphone into your ears.

I was joined this week by Sarah Good, last week's guest Ceda Torma who asked to be invited back (probably cause Sarah and I are such wonderful company) and Dr. Sean Gadoury. We all learned a little something about each other in the process of relating some of our own personal body-related stories, and urged anyone to call in and tell us about their own bodily quirks or stories.

 It was kind of tough to avoid talking about sex and other crude aspects of the body/bodily functions. So to reign it in a bit, the discussion was momentarily redirected towards talking about Sartre's Nausea, which as well as any existentialist novel illustrates the sort of mental feeling of disconnection from our bodies that many people experience in their everyday lives. That feeling of being on auto-pilot and maybe not really being in your body in the moment. I argued that this kind of existential anxiety is perhaps what leads some to go to extremes with their bodies, either through reckless and dangerous thrill seeking that gets your adrenaline pumping or various kinds of pain and pleasure. Basically, a way to shock yourself back into your body. We touched on how this kind of relates to the creative process because making art/creating is our of the many ways that some people vent, and in the novel it is through a jazz recording that the hero is able to overcome the sensation and cope with existence. Definitely a book worth reading, especially the New Directions Publishing edition with the introduction by Hayden Carruth.


Finding music to fit the theme was a bit tougher than expected.  But I think we did okay thanks to some combined efforts.

Tracklistings:
Connie Francis - I Will Wait for You
Magik Markers - Body Rot (off of Boss)
Sonic Youth - Is It My Body? (off of Destroyed Room)
Charles Spearin - Vanessa (from the Happiness Project LP)
The Kinks - Funny Face (from Something Else)
Lamps - I Need a Chick (Devo Cover off of Songs of Sexual Frustration EP)

DOWNLOADS:

This week's show can be downloaded from CFMU's website by clicking on New Directions on the program guide page or from Rapidshare by clicking here.

The Creative Act - March 24

Local singer/songerwriter Ceda Torma joined my regular co-host/local music goddess Sarah Good  and I for this show to read some of his own poetry, which he often incorporates into his music as lyrics. We had a really great discussion about the process of writing poetry/lyrics.

An enlightening excerpt from a a lecture on the creative act by artist/icon Marcel Duchamps, who was a driving force in questioning/redefining art against a modern landscape of existence, was included for the spoken word portion of the show. It was taken from one of the most excellent web resources on art/music/writing www.ubu.com.  The section with more audio files on/by Duchamps (including a lot of great background info) can be found here. 


Playlist for this week:
Sylvester Anfang II - Salon Cassetten II (from the Commune Cassetten LP on Blackest Rainbow)
Dr. Sean Gadoury  - Floating Island  (from a local cdr release called Floating Island Punches off of his private release label)
Ufomammut -  UFO pt. 1 (off of the record Godlike Snake)
Quasi - My Coffin (off of R&B Transmogrification)
Sun City Girls -Flowers (off of  Torch of Mystics)
Head of Wantastiquet - Mortagne  (off of Mortagne)

DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK'S SHOW

This week's show is available for download as an mp3 from cfmu,mcmaster.ca by going to the program page and clicking on New Directions (Wednesday's @ 10 pm. and the March 24 show date) or off Rapidshare by clicking here.