Category: Episodes

493. Jelly Roll Morton

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(May 2023) Episode 493 is JELLY ROLL MORTON. As a pianist, composer and bandleader, he was one of the original jazz giants, from an era where recordings were a rare thing. His music is a very period-piece invocation of “old timey jazz,” the New Orleans flavor of ragtime and Dixieland.  The music interests me in a historical context but it’s not something I would sit and listen to.  Later in life he sat for Alan Lomax, and these Library of Congress recordings provide an interesting window into his approach and style.

Favorite song: King Porter Stomp

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: of historical interest, mostly

492. Harry Partch

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(May 2023) Episode 492 is HARRY PARTCH.  A composer, music theorist and inventor, he broke ground in the field of just intonation – the tuning of instruments to intervals between the 12 standard tones in Western music.  He composed in a scale of 43 unequal tones and created unique instruments to play such works. To the uninitiated ear, it sounds like a bunch of out-of-tune instruments. It’s not music to chill by.  But spend a little time getting to know the theory and the labor behind it, and it can be fascinating.

Favorite piece: And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell in Petaluma

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The album “The World of Harry Partch” is a good introduction, as it includes Partch describing what, how and why he is doing on various pieces.

491. Katatonia

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(May 2023) Episode 491 is KATATONIA. A band from Sweden named Katatonia should give reasonable assurance of quality death metal.  Alas, not at all.  The first couple albums are decent doom metal. But then the singer had to give up the growl and they adopted a more accessible but rather mundane rock sound, with album after album of mushy prog metal that doesn’t deserve the label “metal.” So boring.

Favorite album: Dance of December Souls

Favorite song: Without God (Jhva Elohim Meth version)

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Avoid. There are plenty of other alternatives out there.

490. Neu!

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(April 2023) Episode 490 is NEU!. Krautrock!  What Neu! Lacked in output and commercial success, they made up for in influence.  Comprising a duo spun off from Kraftwerk, Neu! is credited with creating “motorik,” a spare yet mesmerizing beat that propels the music forward with German efficiency.

Favorite album: Neu!

Favorite song: Hallogallo

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: the three 70s albums are good for your groove

489. The Flaming Lips

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(April 2023) Episode 489 is THE FLAMING LIPS, the durable indie/alt band out of Oklahoma that constantly reinvents itself led by the creative weirdness of Wayne Coyne. Their initial sound was very much 80s college radio, evolving into fuzzy guitar-driven psychedelic music, when they got their 15 minutes of pop fame through MTV’s play of “She Don’t Use Jelly” and a guest appearance at the Peach Pit on 90210. Starting in 1999, though, they shelved the guitars in favor of synths, creating a lush and heavily-processed sound, which bored me.  Coyne’s weak voice, while fitting on some songs, is a liability in the heavier tunes, although this is “fixed” by the later processing, for better or worse.  Kudos to them for recording (with mixed success) reinventions of Dark Side of the Moon and Sgt. Pepper’s, a quadrophonic experiment, several concept albums, and even a Christmas disc.

Favorite album: In a Priest Driven Ambulance

Favorite song: Unconsciously Screamin’

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: the four early 1990s albums (from “Priest” to “Clouds”)

488. High on Fire

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(April 2023) Episode 488 is HIGH ON FIRE. After the demise of Sleep (Episode 454), Matt Pike continued the low and thick sonic assault with High on Fire, at least initially, but with a more aggressive bass and drum. Over time their sound morphed into a more conventional thrashy metal sound.  It’s not bad, but I still prefer the purer stoner metal sound of their earlier albums.

Favorite album: The Art of Self Defense

Favorite song: Blessed Black Wings

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: the stoner metal goodness of their first three albums (The Art of Self Defense, Surrounded by Thieves, Blessed Black Wings)

487. Youssou N’Dour

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(April 2023) Episode 487 is YOUSSOU N’DOUR. Senegal’s biggest musical star, he is known for popularizing the genre known as “mbalax” that fused indigenous drumming with wider Western and Afro-pop elements.  You probably know him from his collaboration on Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes,” which put him on the international scene.  I kinda prefer the raw authenticity of his early cassette recordings, although he has recorded many fine albums in the studio (as well as some pop-oriented duds).  

Favorite album: Rokku Mi Rokka

Favorite crossover album: Egypt

Favorite song: Birima

Favorite crossover song: Touba Dar Es Salaam

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: it’s happy mood music, so it works in the background or the foreground, or to dance to

486. Flower Travellin’ Band

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(April 2023) Episode 486 is FLOWER TRAVELLIN’ BAND, an excellent Japanese psychedelic group from the late 60s/early 70s. They started out as a female-fronted band doing covers of UK and US rock songs (something my parents told me they heard a lot of when they visited Tokyo in the 60s) including, ambitiously, 21st Century Schizoid Man, but were mostly notable for two album covers in which all band members were naked.  They followed with three great psychedelic albums with tinges of prog and proto-metal.  It’s like a mix of Cream, King Crimson, Iron Butterfly and Rush’s first album, but FTB owned their own sound, which influenced others.

Favorite album: Satori

Favorite song: Satori II

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: highly recommend Satori, Made in Japan, and Make Up

485. Thelonious Monk

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(April 2023) Episode 485 is THELONIOUS MONK, a monumental figure in the history of jazz.  I concede that I can’t match the depth of appreciation that jazz-o-philes have for his work, but I appreciate the percussive, rhythmic and dissonant innovations that made him a giant on the piano.  He penned so many standards (such as ‘Round Midnight, Straight No Chaser, Well You Needn’t).  It’s classic jazz, but I find it neither challenges me nor provides much of an emotional resonance. 

Favorite album: Monk’s Dream

Favorite late-period album (and great album cover): Underground

Favorite song: Nutty

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: you can’t really go wrong picking out any of his albums out of a hat, although the jazz connoisseurs will have their favorites

484. Lynyrd Skynyrd

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(April 2023) Episode 484 is LYNYRD SKYNYRD, begun after the death of founder Gary Rossington.  I do love me some southern rock.  They came out of the gate with songs ready-made for classic rock radio where they dominated and presumably still do.  Catchy, but lacking the soulfulness of the Allman Brothers, the gold standard of the genre. The plane crash survivors reunited years later to put out nine albums of bland material, resembling a bar band with a famous name, and cultivating an image with Confederate flags and titles like “God and Guns.” I try to separate the art from the artist, but eww.

Favorite album: (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd)

Favorite song: Freebird

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: just wait for their turn on a classic rock station