If you can find an entire album centered around the katzenclavier, then I, Mr. DJ, will be your listener.
Keith Fullerton Whitman's "Lisbon" is one of my favorite one-track albums.
Prince's Lovesexy is one track, too, and has the added benefit of this cover.
Isn't the whole point of playing album sides on student-run radio that you can go to class / bathroom / library / get high without dead air?
slol -- this way Ben gets to comment on Unfogged without dead air.
Is Album Week just a KZSU thing or is it standard across all radio stations? I thought I remembered that one of the alternative radio stations where I grew up used to play entire albums one night per week. Would they have to get special permission each week or something?
7: Like most things Ben talks about, it's a fabrication of his feeble, wicked mind.
Of the two stations at which I have been a dj, only one has done this.
And slol: I won't actually be playing any "sides", old-timer.
I suppose you could always play one disk of `Raise your skinny fists like antennas to heaven'.
w-lfs-n, I have always wondered -- how does one scratch when the media are not vinyl?
At my college's station the staff is told that playing entire albums, or in fact more than 4 (?) songs by an artist in 3(?) hours, is no longer allowed now that it has a streaming internet broadcast. I know a DJ who immediately quit as soon as she heard that.
Why? Did that person like having bad shows overloaded with tracks by the same performer?
(The rule is that more than 3 off one album, or 4 by the same artist, in a three-hour span, is verboten.)
12: various people have tried to come up with clever ways to do something like scratching on a CD, but I think the short answer is, one doesn't.
(The rule is that more than 3 off one album, or 4 by the same artist, in a three-hour span, is verboten.)
Then how can this "album week" exist?
14 -- would that rule hold for albums which are collections of songs from various artists? And, what if you played, from the albums where they were originally published, 4 songs by different artists which just happened all to be on a fifth, collection, album? Or 4 songs on different albums of a single artist which all happen to be on that artist's "Greatest Hits" record?
As far as I know, in the first case, yes; I don't know about the second. But IANAL.
You should be asking yourself, though, why you would want to play four songs from someone's greatest hits collection.
Ben, not everyone enjoys music that can't possibly be enjoyed by anyone.
As for assClown's questions, I don't know if it's a regulation or not, but here we log both the artist name, the song title, the title of the album we got it from, and the record label into the system. I'd assume that this clears us if there turns out to be some album we aren't aware of that contains all four songs.
Of course, the concept of an "album" is often irrelevant for our DJs who were born in the late 80's and devote 2/3 of their show to songs from their iPods.
how many combat listenerships should the US Navy keep in its fleet?
And how many of those on active blue-water service?
Fuckin' Unfogged always-checked "Remember personal info?" box.
Ben, not everyone enjoys music that can't possibly be enjoyed by anyone.
That's not what I meant: one song from someone's greatest hits collection might be acceptable, sure; but four suggests that you just don't care.
Of course it's ok to play really long single tracks, like "Sad-Eyed Lady (of the Lowlands)"?
It is ok to play really long single tracks, like "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands", but it is not ok, in general, to play really long single tracks such as "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands". It might be ok in some circumstances, I grant, but in general, whom are you serving by playing a track off Blonde on Blonde?
So far the show is as listenable as Kenny G (and not the former WFMU DJ)
Yeah, well, just you wait. Plus that's an insult to Julius Eastman and if he weren't dead there'd be hell to pay.
24 -- your listeners, obviously!
(If "you" is taken to refer to a generic someone -- If you're talking about me, then "my listeners".)
This is why, if I were running a station, you wouldn't have listeners.
Most college students would benefit from hearing Blonde on Blonde, because most college students *haven't heard of Bob Dylan*. I'm serious. Not only that, on Monday I played a David Byrne video for my students, and *none of them had heard of him either*.
Of course, you are all much more sophisticated over there at Stanford, I'm sure. But I still bet that most people in your listening area would benefit from listening to Dylan.
Then they can listen to one of the oldies stations.
Oldies stations don't play any Dylan except "Like a Rolling Stone."
I'm listening, dear god, I'm listening.
Ben, I'm curious, what do you do while this is playing? I mean, you're not rocking out are you?
Do you play video games? I played the new Zelda on the Wii last night. So much fun.
wait---is this Fontana Labs!?! it is, isn't it!
I've been dipping in-and-out over the past hour, and have to admit I probably don't want to listen, out of boredom.
That first track was pretty good, but whatever's playing right now (4:08 pm EST) sounds like an Eddie Van Halen wet dream gone too long.
I'm halfheartedly reading about Schlegel.
I rocked out a bit during the Eastman.
sounds like an Eddie Van Halen wet dream gone too long
Holy shit! I'm tuning in...
I mean, you're not rocking out are you?
Heavven forfend!
Ben is that you talking right now?
Mike D gets results! Four minutes after posting that, he cut it off - success!
I missed the Van Halen wet dream, apparently. Boo.
Did you just say "fetid steaming mass"?
44 -- are you referring to the PSA?
Ocrilim wasn't too bad.
Anyone else play Guitar Hero?
47 -- knowing Ben I'm betting it was fœtid.
are you referring to the PSA
No, I meant the air-pressure of Ben's breath on the microphone.
(Yes.)
Brock, I think Ocrilim's "Anoint" = Van Halen Wet Dream. Now we know what to get you for Christmas.
This thing that's playing now sounds like someone somehow turned a dead moose into an instrument. Or at least what I imagine that would sound like.
Too high-pitched for a moose. But I wonder, is this single note the part that goes on for fifteen minutes?
Actually Van Halen Wet Dream is more like Orthrelm's OV (or really anything by Orthrelm). Ocrilim is comparatively restrained. Same guitarist, though.
I did indeed say "fœtid steaming mass"; it's part of the next dj's show description.
As for "why do I do this": I admit that listening to the entire album at one go can be a bit much, but I like Ocrilim. Kind of hypnotic when you get into it.
Too high pitched for a live moose. You can do some interesting things with dead moose.
This is quite nice actually. I think I can work to this.
Slol—not fifteen, fifty. Don't worry, though, there's a rhythm section. (Tony Conrad is a violinist.)
Dammit, a co-worker just complained to a higher-up. I had to turn it off.
I think I prefer reconstructing the music from the comments, actually.
not fifteen, fifty made me laugh, and laugh. And I'm not even listening to the damn thing!
Curses I'm missing out boo hiss. My high-tech cave prohibits the streaming of media.
That is to say, "What JM said".
Let me ask this: if this album were 15 seconds instead of 50 minutes, and you just played it on continuous repeat for 50 minutes, would anyone be able to tell the difference? Even the artist? I vote no.
66: If this were true, would it be a sign that the piece was worse than you originally thought, or better?
I am pretty sure if you played it backwards there would be voices, though. Evil voices.
I picture this being set to an endless, dark and ominous walk in an Old World wood, which will not result in any actual danger being encountered.
You would, Brock, because the rhythm section hasn't come in yet.
The bassist snapped a string and was standing in blood by the end, no lie. Bass strings are hard to snap.
The next dj, of the "fœtid steaming mass", is a cute girl, incidentally.
I can't believe I'm listening to this.
70 -- the same one Megan is on you about?
I picture this being set to an endless, dark and ominous walk in an Old World wood, which will not result in any actual danger being encountered.
Yeah, this is definitely playing when Mel Gibson's wife is killed in Braveheart
Wow. It's like someone took one of the weirder works of Tan Dun's, and carefully extracted all the jarring "look at how experimental I am" bits from all those factors which make it actually music.
ooh rhythm: thump, thunk, thump, thunk.
I keep waiting for melody. When does the chorus kick in, ben?
we should definitely recreate this for those who can't listen - rob's got the rhythm, so I'll do violin/bagpipe:
eeeeeeeeeennnnghhh
Pounding percussion is awful.
That said, I still don't think it would be too painful to get through a whole album of it. I have listened to the WFMU Kenny G do last year's weather and the pie song over and over and over again.
Cymbals!
Rythm is now "thunk thunk thunk crash, thunk crash thunk thunk..."
78 is the second really hilarious comment on this thread.
(For those of you keeping track.)
Plus the bassist has entered. Did you notice how the violin just changed to a different note? (There are actually multiple string players; I think Jim O'Rourke numbers among them. No bagpipes though.)
music to sacrifice a virgin to an old world god in the middle of a circle of monoliths under the light of a hunter's moon to. i like it.
77: More importantly, when does the chorus line kick in? I'd like to see the Rockettes (non-lunar variety) perform a routine to this.
Did you notice how the violin just changed to a different note?
Ben, read that line again for goodness sake. When that's the highlight of a song, much less a 50 minute song, you've got problems.
81: after 18? That made me lol. (though i have to admit to being a little punchy after a few minutes of the pre-thumping squeal.)
I thought the unholy shriek that the strings just got together a few minutes ago was pretty bitchin', too.
Are you people honestly not getting into the awesomeness here? The first time I listened to this I was really tired and lying in bed and it affected me in strange and unspeakable ways.
thump thump thump thump thump thump thump
89: I was thinking, after 60. 18 was a fine comment but it did not tickle my funny bone.
Are you people honestly not getting into the awesomeness here?
Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with them.
Ben, this music got me in trouble at work, and almost certainly a puppy has died somewhere as a direct result of your radio show.
The first time I listened to this I was really tired and lying in bed and it affected me in strange and unspeakable ways.
I laughed out loud at this... unintentionally funniest line.
The violin just went up a step, then down, then up again, all within a few seconds! And then the thing that sounds like a cello got louder!
forgive them ben, they know not what they do
93:don't you own headphones?
The violin did something non-repetitive again!
I like this, it's not irritating at all. It reminds me of the no doubt repetitive and inscrutably boring lives of my Scottish forebears.
The thing that sounds like a cello is a cello.
it affected me in strange and unspeakable ways.
It is the music of Cthulu!
Ben's silence on the question of whether Fontana Labs is playing, is telling.
i just switched over to the 128 stream. makes quite a difference.
The drums are getting creative, while maintaining the same rhythm!
It is the music of Cthulu!
I was actually thinking of the opening line of "Gehirne", whose second half is "er war zwei Jahre lang an einem pathologischen Institut angestellt gewesen, das bedeutet, es waren ungefähr zweitausend Leichen ohne Besinnen durch seine Hände gegangen, und das hatte ihn in einer merkwürdigen und ungeklärten Weise erschöpft" ("merkwürdigen und ungeklärten" doesn't mean "strange and unspeakable", but still, that's what I was thinking of).
I lasted about two minutes.
a personal best?
I definitely playing this, loudly, at the next party I throw.
I lasted about two minutes.
a personal best?
When Fontana's involved.
I think the drum rhythm has been replaced by the plucking of an open E string.
Wow, by the time stamps I've been listening for 30 minutes. I admit, it is starting to bring me down, though. I may have to stop.
Notice how the primal power of Conrad's overtones has reduced Brock to a state of Tarzan-like languistic competence.
OK, 15 minutes is enough. What this song needs is a series of cameo appearances by the world's top scat vocalists.
Is there any question that the persons performing this are wearing loincloths, or are nude and wearing only body paint? I has to be one or the other, right?
Also, totally stoned.
six minutes to go people - I can't wait to see how it ends!
Also, totally stoned.
nah - 'shrooms.
Oh wait! The overtones have produced a harmonica-like sound!
OK, 15 minutes is enough. What this song needs is a series of cameo appearances by the world's top scat vocalists.
Totally! Imagine if these guys were there!
ben --- I started the stream, breaking a Zorn and Eye piece which was a bit of an odd transition, I must say.
124: Can't you play that record at the same time as this record? Now that would be restaurant-quality avant-gardeism.
124: Have you ever been? Festival Actuelle is amazing.
I have never, alas. (Is Festival Actuelle the same thing as the Victo festival? I've never been to either if they're different.)
What are you doing to us now, Ben?
Faust's collaboration with Dälek is very good.
Yeah, it's located in Victoriaville, but called "Festival International de Musique Actuelle" same thing. I went last year, unfortunately couldn't make the whole thing. The Boredoms did an amazing closing set similar to sea drum/house of sun
Okay, this is weird. Yesterday I overheard someone talking about Phil Minton's "A Doughnut in One Hand", which I had never heard of before and sounded incredibly weird. And today, comment 124 links to a page about him. This is very weird.
Also, track 4 on this album could best be described as "I sound like a cartoon duck".
this is the weirdest yet. is this still Ben?
Don't think so. I heard a female DJ talking right around when I stopped listening.
Assuming Ben's show was from noon to 2pm PST, as mentioned in the post, it would be over now.
That's the cute DJ following me who started her set with Tatsuya Yoshida and Keiji Haino's New Rap. Apparently we're going to the same concert on Friday (she in the company of another, alas the day).
alas the day
In the "you of all people" file, Ben: what's the difference between alas and alack?
The oed has a non-interjection meaning for alack, but as interjections, there seems to be no difference.
Soubz: Friday. She's also going to the Saturday one, but I think I'll skip out on that and catch Gottschalk and Xu Feng Xia at 21 Grand on (I think) Monday, which will be less expensive.
122 brings up an interesting question: is the adjective "stoned" specific to the use of marihuana? I would probably use it to describe myself while tripping on mushrooms, I think, though I have not done so for many years; and I think it can be used to mean "drunk" as well, though not in my idiolect.
I've heard "stoned" used to mean "drunk", but that's an objectively stupid usage.
Well I've heard "high as a Georgia pine" used to describe a drunken state, which cracked me and untold other first year law students up.
Serious question for Ben: I looked around that "All About Jazz" website for a while to see their reviews of "beyond jazz" and "free jazz" CDs, and am quite intrigued by the idea of exploring music that has no pop elements at all. What would you recommend for someone who
A) Doesn't want to listen to something insanely repetitive
B) Doesn't want to listen to random noise
C) Prefers organic instruments to electronic programming
I was think Hugh Marsh, "Hugmars" sounded interesting.
Matt Weiner, may he rest in peace, might be a better source than I, but I think these are all good and reasonably accessible, with the exception of the last:
Joe Maneri/Joe Morris/Mat Maneri - Three Men Walking
Evan Parker - Time-Lag
Vandermark 5 - A Discontinuous Line (NB not really "beyond jazz")
Tim Berne - Diminutive Mysteries (Mostly Hemphill)
Food - Veggie (contains electronic manipulation)
Rova Saxophone Quartet - As Was
Anthony Braxton & Walter Franks - Four Improvisations
Otomo Yoshihide New Jazz Quintet - Tails Out (insofar as it contains a cover of "Strawberry Fields Forever", arguably contains pop elements; lots of other stuff Yoshihide's done is considerably more abstruse)
Ellery Eskelin - Five Other Pieces (+2)
Rob Mazurek - Silver Spines
But as I say, there are better people to talk to.
Second the Braxton recommendation. He's amazing. Maybe some John Zorn?
Ben, Braxton was at Victoriaville last year too. For that matter, Ned, you could do worse than look over the festivals pages, they have a lot of those sorts of acts:
http://www.fimav.qc.ca/frm_Wel.html
should let you get at the archives. There's lots of commentary on the shows around, too. For example:
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=17750
which google should turn up easily
Ben, Braxton was at Victoriaville last year too.
I know—I heard his sextet or whatever performance was great (actually I'm thinking of the 2006 sextet performance, I see), and got a boot of his performance with Wolf Eyes, a short piece from which I was originally thinking of including on the Emerson/Armsmasher mix.
Zorn's a good idea. Of the stuff I have released under Zorn's own name (that is, not Masada stuff, or Painkiller, or Naked City or anything—the somewhat primitive system I have for tracking this stuff makes it hard to annotate this kind of information), probably The Big Gundown and Spillane are what I'd recommend (though there is nothing wrong with Naked City!). The second time I met Weiner in Chicago he mentioned some interesting-seeming Zorn album or piece, but I can't remember anything about it except that it involved a bass drum.
Electric Masada is pretty awesome.
