Archive.org is my favorite vice.

A lot of my workday is spent on Archive.org, watching and capturing old 16mm educational films much like this Sparkling Gem of a video, featuring a jumpsuit-wearing safety superheroine from space:

Archive.org also has a great audio resource section on their website, chock full of interesting little things to listen to. Here are some of my favorites:

• The Conet Project: WXYC used to have this compilation, and I played the hell out of it. Creepy recordings of spy / number station broadcasts.
• Netlabels: "This collection hosts complete, freely downloadable/streamable, often Creative Commons-licensed catalogs of (1500) virtual record labels" such as:
• Mirakelmusik: For fans of the Maurizio Bianchi single that's been getting a lot of play on WXYC this summer, I've been streaming his Mokushi XVI album all morning.

Have fun committing time theft today !

Howl for Jesus (or something like that)

Every year, WXYC polls all one million (give or take) of its DJs to figure out the best releases of the year. Last year, it was Raekwon da Chef's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...Vol. II. The year before that, it was Animal Collective's Merriwhether Post Pavillion. This year, I think it's safe to say that this guy's album is going to be the album of the year. Hands down. All we need now is someone to hook this this up with the Virtuous Woman people.

Dumistrescu Conducts the Hyperion Ensemble

one my many joys in life is watching youtube videos of conductors and this is one of my favorites. iancu (we actually have some of his stuff in our library!) normally is a pretty funky looking dude, and when his hands start waving, his expressiveness can't be topped.

on another day i'd end this post with a david keenan joke.

Lau Nau + Kuupuu

Improv collab. of two Finnish free-folk ladies, both oft-heard on XYC.

Lauryn Hill - Repercussions

Is this an ACTUAL new Lauryn Hill song? Is this even good? Does it matter? Now that she’s basically the William Forrester of hip-hop, anything that comes from the Lauryn Hill camp has to be treated as Internet Gold.

It seems like Ms. Hill is gearing up for a comeback, what with the whole her headlining Rock The Bells thing, plus she’s actually talking to reporters again, and now this. Though, again, nobody really knows whether this actually new, or just some long-lost song from the vaults that’s only now getting leaked. Listen to it while you can, because you can bank on her people demanding pretty much every leaked iteration of this song to be removed from the internets. As for whether her people will then demand that the internet be set on fire for even implicitly allowing this to occur, it’s anybody’s guess.

And just for the record, this song is kind of the shit.

The Pop Group Are Getting Back Together!

After disbanding for no reason (there probably was a reason) in 1981, The Pop Group have decided to give it another shot and have reformed to do some live dates, plus record an album if they can keep their shit together for long enough.

If you ain't already know, The Pop Group were a seminal post-punk band that got going right about as punk started happening, which makes them either (a) really, really ahead of the curve, or (b) not actually post-punk. Despite not being able to play their instruments particularly well, they managed to crank out two gems in "She Is Beyond Good And Evil" and "We Are All Prostitutes," plus a killer, noisy debut album, a pretty okay follow up and a split single with The Slits before the group disbanded due to internal differences. Their lead singer Mark Stewart ended up working with hellof dudes like Trent Reznor and other people who I can't think of right now, plus he kinda-sorta started trip-hop, so he's to be credited (or blamed, depending on who you're asking) for that.

Catch them in Italy and the UK this year (because you are definitely in Europe right now), or just gush to your friends that this super-obscure British band is getting back together even though you don't really know all that much about them (this is basically what I am doing), or if you actually like them, you already knew this was happening, which basically renders this blog post moot. Oh well, these are still some pretty good songs.

Don Carlo Gesualdo

Here's a nice, short (abridged) biography of the late Renaissance composer Don Carlo Gesualdo, which I found here. To summarize, he's an insane, awful man, who on multiple occasions attacked his spouses. His story is disturbing, almost matching the madness in his compositions:

[Carlo] Gesualdo’s passion for music began at a very young age, as with Mozart, and as a child he had no interests outside his lute and harpsichord and singing, apart from an interest in the other young boys that he sang with. As the second son he could indulge his interest as the running of the estate would fall upon the shoulders of his brother, Luigi, and not himself. But in 1584 his elder brother died and it became incumbent upon Carlo to produce the necessary heir. The bride chosen for him was his cousin Donna Maria d’Avalos and they married in 1586...Futhermore the marriage was not for love but procreation. A son was required to continue the line and to prevent the estate reverting to the Papacy. Donna Maria had already been widowed twice before the age of thirty, having been first married at the age of fifteen, and importantly, had already produced two children so was demonstrably fertile (she is also claimed to have been beautiful and charming). The requisite son, Don Emmanuele, was rapidly produced and within a couple of years the Prince had lost interest in her returning to his young men and music.

...[Donna Maria] would find a new love-interest in the form of young Don Fabrizio Carafa, Duke of Andria, himself married and father to four children.

In order that they could meet and indulge themselves thay had to bribe the many servants who were in constant attendance and affording no privacy; but they managed a two-year passionate affair before wind of it got to Prince Gesualdo. They were not so much discovered as betrayed by Don Carlo’s uncle, Don Giulio, who had himself approached Donna Maria and been rebuffed on many occassions. "...But when whispers came to his ears concerning the loves and pleasures of Donna Maria and the Duke of Andria, such was the wrath and fury which assailed him on discovering that the strumpet did lie with others, that straightway he revealed all to the Prince."

All might still have been well with Don Fabrizio suggesting that they should cool things as he was aware that knowledge of their dalliance was spreading, but Princess Donna Maria declared that she was not afraid of discovery and if he was then he should be a lackey not a Prince. She would rather suffer the sword than his betrayal. Thus he agreed that they would, if necessary, die for their love. Don Carlo laid a trap for them by announcing that he was departing on an overnight hunting expedition; and hunt he did by smashing down Donna Maria’s bedroom door discovering the pair in flagrante delicto (well they were actually asleep post-flagrante delicto) whereupon he set upon and murdered them both and ordered that their naked bodies be exposed to the public. The next day all the city flocked to see. Donna Maria’s stab wounds were mostly in her belly "..and more particularly in those parts which she ought to have kept chaste" and the Duke had even more grevious wounds. It is even reported that whilst the corpes were exposed a San Dominican monk ravished Donna Maria’s inert body.

Because of his rank Gesualdo was never brought to trial for these murders but it would seem they did affect him deeply and were possibly the start of a manic depressive mental illness. In atonement he, like Macbeth, razed the forest around his castle so that his shame could not be hidden by it and he built a monastery with a chapel for which he commissioned a painting showing himself, the wicked uncle, Don Giulio, the corpses of Maria and her lover...

...In spite of having murdered his wife another one was soon found for him. The Duke Alfonso II d’Este of Ferrara did not have an heir and wished to prevent his estate reverting to the papacy. He proposed that his cousin, Eleonora d’Este should marry Gesualdo to circumvent this. Gesualdo was persuaded, not by any beauty of Eleonora whom he had never met, but by the musical riches at Duke Alfonso’s court who was himself fanatical about music. In February, 1594 they were married in courtly splendour and the union was celebrated in many odes, sonnets and madrigals. The next couple of years were very productive for Gesualdo and he composed the four books of five-part madrigals for which he has become known. Every day the court musicians would assemble after dinner and sing for a couple of hours accompanied by an amazing range of instruments described by the chronicler Girolamo Merenda as including cornetti, tromboni, dolzaine (?), piffarotti (?), viole, ribecchini, lute,guitar, harp, clavicembalo, and an archicembalo which had several keyboards and a capacity for producing microtones.

Don Carlo Gesualdo may have become a great musician but he was not a good husband and conducted several affairs (dallying with both sexes) and there were rumours that he was cruel to his new wife, who by now had born him a son, Alfonsino. In 1596 he returned to Gesualdo without his wife and child intent on setting up his own musical court. The next year Duke Alfonso died and with him the musical tradition at Ferrara, and Eleonora and Alfonsino rejoined Don Carlo at Gesualdo. Don Carlo was already ill with asthma but he rapidly became afflicted with a manic depressive illness leading to a deterioration in his behaviour exhibited in sadism and masochism. He began to illtreat his wife, beating her and ignoring her and flaunting a pretty new mistress. Yet whenever Eleonora went away he would long for her and beg her to return only for the violence to start again. Don Carlo became so deranged that he felt he could have no peace unless he was beaten three times a day by a team of ten young men. He "...was unable to go to the stool, without having been previously flogged by a valet kept expressly for the purpose." He found it soothing to receive blows to the temple and other parts of the body...

Rusko ft. Amber Coffman - "Hold On"

Maybe it’s just me, but Rusko seems like kind of an asshole. Actually, it’s definitely just me since Rusko is a musician who I have never met before and I shouldn’t be casting disparagements upon his character. Or, it’s because he makes not-very-serious music within the context of a genre (dubstep) that, as a general rule, takes itself VERY seriously. Or or, maybe it’s because he executive produced that God-awful M.I.A. album that is basically an insult to complex thought that I kind of feel obligated to defend, if only because Pitchfork hated it (I have very complex feelings!).

I guess my point is that despite all that (and the despite the fact that “It Takes A Muscle” is actually really, really good), I can’t stop listening to Rusko’s song “Hold On.” The song is almost a subversion of dubstep, employing the wonky sub-bass that typifies the genre and throwing it at your face at an alarming rate, layering some gurgly synths up on top of that, and taking Amber Coffman of the Dirty Projectors and employing her as an auxiliary house diva for the win. Feel free just to let the audio play and turn your Internet Attentions elsewhere, because that's what I did.



For the double win, peep the 12th Planet remix, which stretches the song out, giving it a Southern Rap stomp that would make Pimp C proud.



Speaking of which, Free Pimp C TI Gucci Weezy!

WXYC Likes Pie

Read more here.

Weezer vs. Y Fuego Mod

Well how about that... I actually kept a promise (for once) and here I am, following up to my previous post with another installment concerning the (more recent) shenanigans that XYCers get themselves into.

Shall we roll with it? Ok. Ok. Here we go >>>>

I don't get out much. No, I mean, really -- most weekend nights you'll find me cooped up in my beautiful apartment, drinking German beer and reading J.G. Ballard short stories. This past weekend I was doing just that... cool breeze, fresh bowl of fried rice, and a rare Saturday night show from WXYC's longtime (soon retiring) program director Kellen C (who, by the way, runs an excellent basketball-themed [sort of] blog).

Due to a scheduling snafu, there was a blank spot in the schedule following the show. It turns out that there is a cure for the (WXYC) summertime blues. Enter Y Fuego Mod, noise project of Music Director Jonathan W and new DJ Jon O. Fresh from a gig earlier that night in Greensboro, they took control of the airwaves and kept WXYC pumpin' the jams for 6 HOURS. They even treated the listening audience to a live performance right out of the XYC control room.

Banging on what looks to be a scrap A/C vent and not without the implementation of some power tools (those poor microphones!) and a skipping record, our radio heroes brutalized the airwaves with some primitive-industrial noise. Here's a clip to share with mom and pop:

download

But then the night took a strange turn, the duo proceeded to sing along to Weezer's "Surf Wax America." Why Weezer?... why that song?... I don't know... but the end product was charming and totally fucked. What we have here is a true testament to the ever-present influence of Indie Rock on the WXYC DJ, a decomposing manuscript of teenage Summers and high school car ride sing-a-longs before the days of existential angst and heady coming-of-age lyrics.

download

It's OK that they can't remember the lyrics... even the best of us have trouble with this sort of thing. At least they went for it... and doesn't it kind of make you want to give the Blue Album a quick spin, just for old times sake? You know, sing along to Buddy Holly or Say It Ain't So at the top of your lungs? OK, maybe not, but the band does seem to be a karaoke fixture these days...

As the Summer schedule proper quickly comes to a close and WXYC transitions to the dreaded "sign-ups" period, I hope to catch more DJ sing alongs and general in-studio improvisation.... I mean, come on, when else is someone in another state (or country for that matter) going to laugh comfortably from their armchair at your wrecked nostalgia?

-dvd

WXYC Goes Viral

Greetings everyone from the light at the end of the (Holland) tunnel! That's right, beautiful Jersey City is my home away from home for the Summer. Even though I can still pick up great free-form radio on the FM dial, I've found myself tuning into WXYC's webcast quite regularly. There is no better cure for a scorching hot Sunday morning (damn you urban heat-bubble) than a cold beer and a little OCS on the stereo.

As will happen during the Summer months, the WXYC blog seems to be.... well, completely neglected. In an effort to keep it somewhat up to date, I've decided to do a post or two in my own bland and underwhelming style. Bear with me here, as we delve into the WXYC history books...

From turn of the millenium WXYC 'zine Signal to Noise, Barry Summerlin explains the WXYC computer virus and its possible origins as a prank on our darling rivals over in Durham:

If anyone has the goods on the WXYC computer virus, no one's talking. Antivirus software maker McAfee says it was first tipped to the WXYC virus, which only affects PCs running the DOS operating system (i.e. Macs, machines running Unix, Linux et al are in the clear), in October 1992. The WXYC virus -- actually there's a whole gang of them cited in various online virus directories: Stoned.WXYC, WXYC.A, WXYC.A*, WXYC.A-O and WXYC.B, possibly more -- is a fairly common derivative of one of the most common computer viruses, Stoned.

Stoned family viruses corrupt the master boot record of a hard drive (usually by hiding a computer's startup instructions, eating some memory and replicating themselves onto any non write-protected floppy disks accessed) as well as a floppy disk's boot sector (which, when booting a computer from an infected disk, corrupt the master boot record of a hard drive, and the cycle continues).

The original Stoned virus contains the text "LEGALIZE MARIJUANA!" in the viral source code (the behind-the-scenes (screens?) instructions that run the virus, which would not display on a terminal). About once every eight times one reboots a 'Stoned' computer, the text "Your PC is now Stoned!" will be displayed. The WXYC virus is similar, writing "WXYC rules this roost!" on the screen 1 in 7 times that an infected computer is booted. The text "JAM WXYC" is contained in the viral code.

Other Stoned virus derivatives (there's about 100) pay homage to such WXYC-pertinent topics as the Jesus and Mary Chain (Stoned.J&M.C), Frank Zappa (Stoned.Zappa; on Dec. 4th (Frank's death date), it displays "Dedicated to ZAPPA..."), and the Chinese government's student massacre at Tienanmen Square (Stoned.Bloody; on June 4th displays the text "Bloody! Jun. 4, 1989").

The WXYC listing at IBM's antivirus site Inside The Lab notes that "WXYC is the call sign of a university radio station in the Eastern United States; the virus first appeared on the campus of a nearby rival university." This is somewhat corroborated from this virus alert from the February 1996 issue of Connections, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences' internal newsletter: "A PC virus was found at NIEHS. The virus came to NIEHS on a diskette from Duke University. The virus is a master boot sector virus that will state 'WXYC rules this roost' upon bootup of your PC."

The odds are pretty long against anyone 'fessing up to the WXYC virus, especially in print. North Carolina considers "introducing, directly or indirectly, a computer program, (including a self-replicating or a self-propagating computer program) into a computer, computer system, or computer network" a Class 1 misdemeanor, the most serious classification of misdemeanor; if actual damage from the virus exceeds $1,000, it's a felony in North Carolina, which could land our geek in the pokey.

Paul Jones, Director of UNC MetaLab, reports the WXYC virus remains "in the wild," which is geekspeak regarding a virus that remains in circulation. WXYC-B and tons of other viruses are available from mint-hpvac.com/virii/virii.html, if you make a good case ("ONLY those who need these files for researching viruses will get a reply."). On the offchance the WXYC virus resurfaces on your PC, current antivirus software from McAfee, Symantec's Norton line et al will detect and make short work of it; a specific fix for the WXYC virus is available at ftp://ftp.edu.tw/PC/simtelnet/msdos/virus/qwxyc.zip

...I hope you all enjoyed this little blast from the WXYC vaults, and who knows, you might have even learned something. As we learned today, those who don't learn from the past are doomed to spend 90 days in jail (but she was helping the kids?!). Till next time...

-dvd