Sunday, March 1, 2009

Ear Candle Radio's Top 20: February 2009

Another wide-ranging chart, honoring fallen heroes Lux Interior and Yma Sumac, juxtaposing hip-hop remixes of Bollywood with a raga from the great Ali Akbar Khan, and setting our controls for the heart of the sun with two contrasting explorations of the cosmos from Spacemen 3 and D.J. Shadow.

The Love Dogs continue to thrive with their Albert Ayler tribute, and the Interstellar Grains and A.J. In Evolution grace us with more instrumental goodness, as does Kaki King with another tangled virtuoso guitar piece. The Vivian Girls teach a new generation how to say "NO!", the Incredible String Band and Irma Thomas curl up and get romantic, and our own label is represented by one each from the Blame and the Experimental Bunnies.

Keep on tuning in as we continue to tweak the playlist! And if you show up in our top 20, get in touch so we can send you an Ear Candle Radio button!

1. Spacemen 3 - Take Me To The Other Side - Singles
2. DJ Shadow - What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4) - Endtroducing.....
3. The Cramps - Sunglasses After Dark - Songs The Lord Taught Us
4. Yma Sumac - Chicken Talk - Mambo
5. Various Artists - Inspector J From Delhi - Bombay The Hard Way
6. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan - Raga Chandranandan - Traditional Music of India
7. Interstellar Grains - The In Between - Interstellar Grains
8. The Vivian Girls - No - Vivian Girls
9. Paleface - There's Something About a Truck - Paleface
10. Fatal Microbes - Violence Grows - Rip It Up And Start Again: Post Punk 1978-1984
11. Burning Spear - Civilised Reggae - Social Living
12. The Love Dogs - Universal Indians - The Love Dogs
13. The Experimental Bunnies - Danger - Music For The Integrity Tone Scale
14. The Blame - Get Out! - Unreleased
15. Judy Collins - Pirate Jenny - In My Life
16. Easy Star All Stars - Us And Them - Dub Side Of The Moon
17. Kaki King - Close Your Eyes & You'll Burst Into Flames
18. Irma Thomas - Take A Look - Time Is on My Side
19. The Incredible String Band - Everything's Fine Right Now - The Incredible String Band
20. A.J. In Evolution (Aka A.J. Fritscher) - A Trip In Barcelona - A Work In Progress

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Spacemen 3 and The Cramps, can't get much better than that. I have some problems with The Vivian Girls.

J Neo Marvin said...

Yeah, but what could be better than a song whose entire lyrics are "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO", etc?

Anonymous said...

A better song whose whole lyrics is "Jesus Fuck", that's better than "NO NO NO NO"

J Neo Marvin said...

Ah, but that already existed.

Anonymous said...

I think I like The Vivian Girls now, not sure yet though...

J Neo Marvin said...

At first they sound like a dozen other bands, but they have a way of growing on you.

Anonymous said...

I like the band they play a lot with called "Crystal Stilts" a lot lot lot more, they are awesome.

J Neo Marvin said...

Haven't heard them. Must investigate.

Anonymous said...

They sound like a psychedelic Joy Division

J Neo Marvin said...

Sounds like Vomit Launch! (Ask your Mom.)

J Neo Marvin said...

OK, I listened.

Yeah, they've got that early Factory sound. Kind of like really early (pre-funky) A Certain Ratio meets the 13th Floor Elevators with gobs of reverb. Pretty good.

Anonymous said...

They are very iffy live, I've seen them 3 times (each time The MLS was support), first time they were not very good, second time they were better but the last time, they were amazing.