Farm Aid '08

It doesn't happen often on WXYC, but when it does happen, the outpouring of love from our listeners is nearly overwhelming. Yes, last night WXYC held its pledge drive, and, thanks to you our loyal listeners, we reached the mark we needed to stay on the air. Many thanks and a big Valentine's Day kiss to the 30 of you who gave us pledges of your money, souls, cat pelts, exotic birds, and half-eaten sandwiches.

Of course, if you didn't pledge during the on-air drive, it's not to late to show your support for the unique personalities and programming that WXYC offers. It's as easy as sending an email with your pledge to wxycfeedbackfarm at gmail dot com. And remember, we don't want your money, we just want you to pledge your money.

We know how much everyone loves to turn on their favorite public radio station to discover that a pledge drive is in progress. And so we know that if you didn't tune in to the 2008 Pledge Drive on WXYC, you will wish you hadn't missed it. If you did miss the pledge drive, don't despair! You can download the entirety of the programme here (29MB MP3) and listen to it now! And if the show motivates you to pledge, send an email to wxycfeedbackfarm at gmail dot com with your pledge! It may be too late to win the trip to Paris, but it's never too late to support WXYC!

As a special thanks to you our loyal listeners, we also present to you a special Bonus MP3 (2MB MP3) that unfortunately wasn't played on the air but which (as you will hear) should have been the first item in the broadcast.

K-Rox on the New Science Experience

Hailing from NYC and residing in Durham, K-Rox has been rocking house music in all it's various forms for close to 15 years. K-Rox hosts deep, a night devoted to underground house music at Sirens Lounge in Durham.

Go to the New Science Experience Site for track listing and my mix from the second half of the show.

Download: K-Rox on nse radio 2.3.08

New music at the Station!

Check out these new albums at the station!



Hugh Masekela: The Chisa Years 1965-1976 (rare and unreleased) (Africa Vinyl MA 12/8)
This compilation caught me by surprise with its pure greatness. These tracks were recorded for his Chisa label, and are often way better than his hits. Most sung in a South African language. I expected these to be would-be pop songs that failed, but damn I was wrong. These are hot hot hot African soul songs that are always being awesome, never just trying. (thats right bitches, African vinyl. aww yea)

Oneness of Juju: African Rhythms (Africa Vinyl ON 2/1)
Oneness of Juju: Space Jungle Love (Africa Vinyl ON 2/2)
From 1975 and 1976 respectively.
This group headed by James Plunky Branch was all over the New York loft scene in the early 70s. They took the style and feel of Sun Ra and Pharoah Sanders and gave funky R&B rhythms. Both fine albums, never yet played on our radio station.


Tony Allen - Jealousy Progress (cd Africa AL1/4)
Tony Allen - No Accommodation for Lagos - No Discrimination (cd Africa 1/3)
Tony Allen is the drummer for Fela Kuti through so many years and albums. These albums were recorded directly after Tony's peak years with Fela and are in the same league as Fela's best. The songs are long and heavy on the bass with horns punctuating and soloing into the sunset.


V/A African Disco: Deep Disco from 1970's Africa (Africa cd V/A 153)
This is the only hit or miss in the bunch. Some pretty cheesy stuff here, although that seems to be coming back in style. There are some hot spots though; the best track (in my humble opinion) is Afro Disco by tony allen, which is on one of the above mentioned tony allen records.


Reece

You've Come A Long Way. Baby.

After over a month of well-deserved R&R, the Feedback Farmers lit up the airwaves last night with a smoking return to their bi-weekly broadcast. Inspired by the newly implemented UNC campus ban on smoking within 100 feet of any building, cigarette smoking was the topic of discussion.

Missed it? Drag your mouse here (29MB MP3) to download and give the show a listen.

Global Music Show

Specialty shows are controversial on a free format radio station, so they need to be good as hell to justify their existence. Lord knows we've tried. So, instead of letting the global music radio waves disintegrate into nothingness somewhere over Durham, they've been meticulously recorded. They're all archived in chronological order and labeled with region, DJ, and guest Professor name. Give a little listen, and feed back to me if you'd like.

http://www.unc.edu/areastudies/publicprograms/global-music-audio.html

This show is one of the more overtly educational broadcasts on xyc, and I'm interested to know: has anyone learned anything? Have we promoted intercultural understanding? Or provided some context to music that was otherwise simply "foreign"?

The purpose of the show is to educate and entertain, but I think its real value is allowing interaction between xyc and the professors of our university. When profs come to the station, they aren't selling their knowledge like they do in class, they're sharing it. I know I'm sounding a little lovey dovey here, but xyc might be the only place on campus where students and professors interact on equal ground, and I like that.
Thanks for reading,
Reece

Femme French Pop?

Recently came across a blogspot devoted to 60s French Language Femme Pop Music, plus some other stuff - http://dansmoncafe.blogspot.com/

I haven't had a chance to really dig in, but this is a taste of the offerings:

Rogue Bloggers Unite

In the spirit of meta-blogging, I must remark that as a WXYC DJ we have both the privilege and the expectation to post entirely nonsensical or otherwise random content to the blog out of hazy motive voids.

I just watched my friend's dog eat some leaves off of a plant. Then she walked over behind the couch and vomited up the leaves, along with some green bile. Then she made another puke on the floor next to that spot. Then she went back and licked up the goop, but not the partially chewed hunks of leaves, which are still on the floor. Thus I am reminded of that age-old rhyme "fatty fatty two by four" - you know how it goes .. .

The Jig is Up, 2007 ...

The dwindling days of December are no laughing matter for the music geek. It's time to cut the bullshit, roll up the sleeves and get down to business sculpting an unnecessarily obsessive "Best of ---- List" for no reason in particular, other than a self-affirming display of "how I spent my spare time this year." So here's a compilation of my 100 favorite albums from '07 (give or take one or two), starting with a numerically ranked Top 20, followed by an arbitrarily-ordered list of 80 other records well-deserving of recognition. I already wrote out a more descriptive list over at Dusted; you can check that out here. Of course, I had to add several releases that previously slipped my mind or just arrived in the mail, so here's a more comprehensive, "final" version. Most of these filtered through the playbox at WXYC, and we were thrilled to broadcast such goodness over our frequency. We've got big plans for '08 at our station, so keep listening and thanks for reading. Onward!

1. Ohsees - Sucks Blood (Castle Face)
2. Devin the Dude - Waitin To Inhale (Rap-A-Lot)
3. Pumice - Pebbles (Soft ABuse)
4. David Watson - Fingering An Idea (XI) / Throats (Ecstatic Peace)
5. Group Inerane/Group Doueh (Sublime Frequencies)
6. Pole - Steingarten (~scape)
7. Las Malas Amistades - Patio Bonito (Honest Jon's)
8. Burning Star Core - Operator Dead, Post Abandoned (No Quarter)
9. DJ Jazzy Jeff - Return of the Magnificent (Rapster)
10. Uncle Woody Sullender and Kevin Davis - The Tempest is Over (Dead CEO)
11. Dielectric Field Recording All-Stars - RE: Record (Dielectric)
12. Authenticite: The Syliphone Years (Stern's Africa)
13. Panda Bear - Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)
14. Psychedelic Horseshit - Magic Flowers Droned (Siltbreeze)
15. Voice of the Seven Woods - s/t (Twisted Nerve/B-Music)
16. Stephen Vitiello - Listening to Donald Judd (Sub Rosa)
17. Phosphorescent - Pride (Dead Oceans)
18. Shackleton/Applebim - Soundboy Punishments (Skull Disco)
19. Susan Howe and David Grubbs - The Souls of the Labadie Tract (Blue Chopsticks)
20. Art of Field Recording Vol. 1 (Dust-to-Digital)

I get tired of ranking after 20, so these probably aren't in any particular order:

MF Grimm - The Hunt For the Gingerbread Man (Class A)
No Age - Weirdo Rippers (Fat Cat)
People Like Us/Ergo Phizmiz - Perpetuum Mobile (Soleilmoon)
Theo Angell - Auraplinth (Digitalis)
DJ Elephant Power - Scratch the Hulu (Sonig)
La Drivers Union Por Por Group - Por Por: Honk Horn Music of Ghana (Smithsonian Folkways)
Brian Harnetty - American Winter (Atavistic)
UGK - Underground Kingz (Jive)
Oren Ambarchi - In the Pendulum's Warm Embrace (Touch)
Noah Creshevsky - To Know and Not to Know (Tzadik)
Wooden Shjips - s/t (Holy Mountain)
Kemialliset Ystavat - untitled (Fonal)
Ricardo Villalobos - Fabric 36 (Fabric)
Toby Dammit - The Legend of Apple Jack (Hit Thing)
Pan Sonic - Katadiviohe (Blast First)
Army of the Pharaohs - Ritual Battle (Babygrande)
Vibracathedral Orchestra - Wisdom Thunderbolt (VHF)
American Band - American Band's First Album (Blossoming Noise)
Dalek - Abandoned Language (Ipecac)
Disrupt - Foundation Bit (Werk)
Omar Souleyman - Highway To Hassake (Sublime Frequencies)
Tinariwen - Aman Iman (World Village)
Ov - Noctilucent Valleys (Soft Abuse)
Boxcutter - Glyphic (Planet Mu)
Demons - Evocation (No Fun)
Raccoo-oo-oon - Behold the Secret Kingdom (Release the Bats)
Robert Wyatt - Comicopera (Domino)
Spiritualaires of Hurtsboro Alabama - Singing Songs of Praise (Casequarter)
Flaming Fire - When the High Bell Rings (Silly Bird)
Von Sudenfed - Tromatic Reflexxions (Domino)
Circle - Katapult (No Quarter)
Akron/Family - Love Is Simple (Young Gods)
Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings (Carpark)
M.I.A. - Kala (XL)
Deerhunter - Cryptograms (Kranky)
Keith Rowe - The Room (Erstwhile)
Mohammed "Jimmy" Mohammed - Hulgizey (Terp)
Mudboy - Hungry Ghosts! These Songs Are Doors (Digitalis)
Axolotl - Memory Theatre (Important)
Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores - The Blind Spot (Cuneiform)
Tujiko Noriko - Solo (Editions Mego)
High on Fire - Death Is This Communion (Relapse)
Ginaluca Becuzzi and Fabio Orsi - The Stones Know Everything (Digitalis)
Wzt Hearts - Threads Rope Spell Making Your Bones (Carpark)
Henry Flynt and Nova’Billy - s/t (Locust)
Jeru the Damaja - Still Rising (Ashenafi)
Michael Hurley - Ancestral Swamp (Gnomonsong)
Carl Stone - Al-Noor (In Tone)
Sir Richard Bishop - While My Guitar Violently Bleeds (Locust)
Samara Lubelski - Parallel Suns (Social Registry)
Turf Talk - West Coast Vaccine (Sick Wid It)
Infinite Livez vs. Stade - Art Brut Fe De Yoot (Big Dada)
Wiley - Playtime Is Over (Big Dada)
Magik Markers - Boss (Ecstatic Peace)
Black Milk - Popular Demand (Fatbeats)
Area C - Haunt (Last Visible Dog)
Richard Youngs - Autumn Response (Jagjaguwar)
Standing Nudes - Ghost Story (True Panther)
Pig Destroyer - Phantomb Limb (Relapse)
Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon (XL)
Uke of Spaces Corners County -So Far on the Way (Corleone)
Flat Earth Society - Psycho Scout (Crammed)
Jazzkammer/Howard Stelzer - Tomorrow No One is Safe (Troniks/PacRec)
Yellow Swans - At All Ends (Load)
Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub)
Eats Tapes - Dos Mutantes (Tigerbeat6)
Babils - The Joint Between (Stilll)
V/A - I Belong To This Band (Dust to Digital)
Cadaver in Drag - Raw Child (Animal Disguise)
Jeff Rehnlund - Our Thin Mercy of Error (Hymns)
Exploding Customer - At Your Service (Ayler)
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (Domino)
Lubos Fiser - Valerie and Her Week of Wonders OST (Finders Keepers)
Tom Recchion - Sweetly Doing Nothing (Schoolmap)
Megafaun - Bury the Square (Burly Time)
Religious Knives - Remains (No Fun)
MV & EE with the Bummer Road - Green Blues (Ecstatic Peace)
Shape of Broad Minds - Craft of the Lost Art (Lex)
DJ Scotch Egg - Scotchhausen (ADAADAT)

And since I already had these mapped out:

Compilations:
-Dust to Digital records in general
-Authenticite: The Syliphone Years (Stern's Africa)
-The Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru (Barbes)
-Carolina Funk (Jazzman)
-Songs of the African Coast: Cafe Music of Liberia (Yarngo)
-Everything Is a Theory (Cephia's Treat)
-La Kodi Ya City Council (Mississippi)
-Cult Cargo: Grand Bahama Goombay (Numero Group)
-Box of Dub: Dubstep and Future Dub (Soul Jazz)
-Awon Ojise Olorun: Popular Music of Yorubaland 1931-1952 (Savannaphone)

Reissues:
-Prince Jammy - Prince Jammy Destroy
-Ju Suk Reet Meate - Solo 78/79 or Do Unseen Hands Keep You Dumb? (De Stijl)
-Orlando Julius - Super Afro Soul (VampiSoul)
-Don Cherry/Jon Appleton - Human Music (Water)
-Tim Hecker - Radio Amor (Alien8/Mille Plateaux)
-Lee Rockey - Lee Rockey Music (De Stijl)
-Terry Riley - Music For the Gift (Ellison Fields)
-Noah Howard - Black Ark (Bo'Weavil)
-Dorothy Ashby - The Rubiyat of Dorothy Ashby (Dusty Groove America/Cadet)
-Annea Lockwood - Early Works 1967-82 (EM)

7", 12", Singles, EPs:
-The Bug feat. Killa P and Flow Dan - "Skeng"/"Skeng (Kode9 Remix)" (Hyperdub)
-Yikes - Whoa Comas/Blood Bombs (Kill Shaman)
-El Jesus De Magico 7" (Columbus Discount)
-Cloudland Canyon - Silver-Tongued Sisyphus (Kranky)
-Parts and Labor - Escapers One 12" (Broklyn Beats)
-Ariel Pink - My Molly (Tiny Creatures)
-Bass Invadurrz (frequeNC)
-Duran Duran Duran - Face Blast 12" (Planet Mu)
-Gorge Trio/Uske Orchestra - Divorce6 split 7" (Ache)
-Gaybomb/Ironing split LP (Hymns)

I feel much better now, thanks for your time. I hope you all have a very happy New Year ...

yrs,

-Cole-
cole@wxyc.org

The Simpsons! Radiohead!

There, that should just about cover all my bases, audiencewise. But yes, they are related! How does he do it?

Check out Making the Case for Fanboyism, a music-nerdy op-ed by me (an WXYC alum) in The Morning News (a Brooklyn-based online magazine). It's an essay about music criticism that somehow includes Radiohead, R. Kelly, Jens Lekman, and The Simpsons. Also, maybe you, and this guy:

Cheers.

A Comedy of Errors

The Feedback Farm has disappointed yet again. After promising that they were organized and ready to put on a great show, in their most recent episode the Farmers came across as unprepared and unprofessional as the show was seemingly plagued by technical difficulties and short tempers. After 60 minutes they still hadn't explored--or revealed!--the topic they came "prepared" to discuss!

How much longer will WXYC management continue to allow this sort of absurdity to occupy prime listening hours?

If you didn't hear what I am describing above, I recommend you download the programme here (29MB MP3), listen to it, take notes, and lodge your complaints with the Feedback Farmers to see if they will mend their ways. Email them at wxycfeedbackfarm at gmail dot com.

Bonus MP3

Happy Turkey Day

'Twas the night before Thanksgiving, so what else could the boys talk about? The Feedback Farmers sat down at the table and had a good old-fashioned Thanksgiving show last time out. You can hear it for yourself here (30MB MP3).

Word on the street is that the Farmers are more organized than ever for their next programme. Usually the show is haphazardly patched together, and even then things work out OK 15% of the time. There's no telling what heights they can reach when they actually prepare, and this might be the week we all find out.

You won't want to miss the next exciting episode of the Feedback Farm! Tune in Wednesday at 9pm WXYC time (North Carolina, USA) at 89.3FM in the Chapel Hill area or wxyc.org!

My Semi-Scathing Review

On my trip to California, which occured in early October, I was in attendance at a Magik Markers show at the Hemlock in San Francisco. It was through the wonder of coincidence and the magic of traveler's bones that I ran into David Harper and Nicole Bogas inside the stinky poo-poo Hemlock, which I left feeling rather doody. For a full account, see my snarky and jaded appraisal of the whole affair at Tiny Mix Tapes.

Love Ya-

CHI$$

Pet Sounds Remixed

I just stumbled upon a great remix album of The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. It's crafted by a British artist by the name of Bullion, who really appears to be just a bedroom producer. Anyway, the album is entitled 'Pet Sounds: In the Key of Dee' because it emulates, and pays tribute to, the late J Dilla. Initially I was under the impression that the whole thing was a mash-up but according to Bullion "NO DILLA DRUMS USED." I'm a tad suspect because it really does sound like something that Dilla produced himself- it's uncanny.

Bullion provides the whole thing (mp3s at 320 kb/s!) for free. Download it here.



ps. Couldn't make it out friday night. To those who went, how was the Carolina Funk release party at Hell?

Daedelus and Busdriver

I caught the Daedelus/Busdriver show this past friday at the local 506 and it was amazing. Daedulus was decked out in almost full conductor's attire (except for his jungle spotted new balances) and he prefaced his set by saying that he wanted to keep things more "up tempo" and that we (the audience) should let him know if we didn't like his direction. Daedelus kept his word; and I thoroughly enjoyed his performance despite the fact he ventured close to heavy-techno territory. Here's a very short clip of the show that I captured with my outdated Canon:



it looked and sounded much better live. Also, that box that he's playing is a version of this cool little contraption:



Busdriver went on last and was intense as usual. He was backed by Anti-mc (who provided the beats for Busdriver earlier in the year when he opened for RJD2 at the cradle) and another dj named Desert Eagle. Their standout song was a remix of Kill Your Employer, which had one of the hottest beats that I have ever heard (sorry, no vid for that). And to top things off, as soon as Busdriver left the stage there was an impromptu dance party which was still going on when I left at 2am.

good times.

Must Don't Whip 'Um

Hey folks! WXYC is cosponsoring a performance of Cynthia Hopkins and the Gloria Deluxe's Must Don't Whip 'Um tomorrow night at 8:00 pm in Memorial Hall. Hopkins stopped by the studio yesterday evening for an interview and in studio session with our very own Maxwell Supercool. Check out the media.

Robot Attack!

Robots took over the WXYC airwaves last night on the Feedback Farm. Are robots benevolent helpers of humanity or sinister machines plotting to overthrow their creators? There was a little of each on last night's programme, which, in terms of the Feedback Farm oeuvre, wasn't half bad.

Two ways in which the show have been better:
-Kevin* could have remembered to bring the vocoder, or
-Kevin could have given an on-air apology in a robot voice for not remembering to bring the vocoder.

If you want to hear about robot exoskeletons, ethical issues surrounding robot technology, underwater robot seals, and a debate over the relative merits of two robot songs ("Mr Roboto" and "Iron Man"), download the programme here (25MB MP3).

Oh, coincidentally, Captured! By Robots plays tonight at the Local 506.

============

*Kevin being Kevin Clark, wanted in both Arizona and North Carolina for unspecified crimes not involving robots.

Feedback Farm: Fun For The Entire Family

The Feedback Farmers visited the North Carolina State Fair with stolen press passes and filed this report (25MB MP3).

Tune in tonight (9pm WXYC time) for another episode of the Feedback Farm!

NEW MUSIC SHOW PLAYLISTS

The WXYC Music Dept has been flooded with great new stuff lately, making our bi-weekly program dedicated to fantastic & fresh releases radiate with aural goodness. The past two installments have been especially exciting, with a nice mish mash of genre and style. I was even decked out in my Johnny Ca$h costume for last week's show (black suit and thick gold chain with dollar sign). Check out the playlists!

New Music Show: Oct. 17, 2007

New Music Show: Oct. 31, 2007

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

Sorry it's taken me so long to post this--I've had SO MUCH WORK that I didn't have time to upload this recording.

Last time on the Feedback Farm, the Farmers dedicated the night to the working class. Isn't it touching that they thought of us? Well, give it a listen by clicking here (29MB MP3).

And then be sure to tune in TONIGHT (89.3FM in the Chapel Hill area or wxyc.org, don'cha know) at 9pm WXYC time for an exciting new episode of THE FEEDBACK FARM!

Desert Blues - The Sounds of Tuareg Rebellion

Two exciting additions to WXYC playbox feature releases focusing on guitar music from the Western Sahara, each representing opposite ends of the recording spectrum and providing a window into the volatile political climate of the area. They both embody the sound of Tuareg unrest that is once again intensifying in the region, since rebel Tuaregs began another uprising against the Nigerian government earlier this year. You can read about the conflict on the following links taken from Tinariwen's Web site (they're in French though, so get Google to translate 'em):

www.tamtaminfo.com
www.agadez-niger.com
www.republicain-niger.com

Group Inerane is the newer of the two releases, presented in the lo-fi Sublime Frequencies style and recorded live in Algeria. Tinariwen's record was released in March, and showcases the group's efforts in the studio after evolving their sound for over two decades and two prior full-lengths. Individual reviews with more details below:

Artist: Group Inerane
Album: Guitars From Agadez (Music of Niger)
Label: Sublime Frequencies

The second vinyl release from Sublime Frequencies continues to document Western Saharan guitar music (the first LP was Group Doueh, released earlier in the year), this time showcasing Bibi Ahmed and his Group Inerane.

Hailing from the currently tumultuous city of Agadez, Niger, the group exhibits a sound steeped in snaking, blues-rock influences and infused with Saharan folk, involving two electric guitars, a small drum kit and a chorus of vocalists. Recorded live by SF workhouse Hisham Mayet, the quality varies from track to track, but maintains a certain gritty charm that adds to the ecstasy of the group's performance.

The tracks range from psychedelic burnouts to plodding claps and soaring voices, bobbing rhythmically like a camel ride and inducing states of sandy trance. Their music is encompassed in the revolutionary rock of the Tuareg people, a sound that developed in the 1980s and 90s during the First Tuareg Rebellion as a political weapon for the rebels and an outlet of communication from Libyan refugee camps. The Nigerian government's failure to concede more political representation and economic compensation from the country's uranium deposits to the Tuareg since 1995 has led to a second uprising initiated by rebel Tuaregs earlier in the year, and is currently raging strong.

With music as captivating as this, Sublime Frequencies deserves applause once again for highlighting a region currently torn by conflict and deserving of attention from the outside world.

Artist: Tinariwen
Album: Aman Iman: Water is Life
Label: World Village

This group of nomads/soldiers/musicians from Mali has quite a backstory. The founding members of Tinariwen first met each other in the 1980s after being recruited to military camps in Libya, where they began fighting for the autonomy of their Tuareg people against the Malian and Nigerian government.

They began writing songs with their electric guitars, singing of their exile and struggle among the war-torn desert, drawing influence from the likes of Led Zeppelin and Hendrix. They've since given up their guns for guitars (though they once carried the two together), enjoying a fair amount of exposure since the late 90s from the likes of Robert Plant and Carlos Santanta, two of the musicians that originally inspired their desert trance-blues sound.

This is their third album proper, recorded in Bamako, Mali, and produced by Plant's guitarist Justin Adams to a finish that's a bit slick, but goes just far enough not to completely strip the music of its rustic mystique. Fronted by lead songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, the group usually contains around six guitarists and an equivalent amount of male and female vocalists and percussionists, delivering an entrancing brand of slippery guitar riffs and passionate campfire ballads in their native Tamashek tongue.

The group's droning desert sound might get a little too familiar after sitting through the album's entirety, but the music itself is performed with enough conviction to make this a compelling record, highlighted by the voice it gives to the hardships of the Tuareg and their fight for independence.