Ear Candle Radio's Top 20: March 2009

What a stunning bunch of tunes this month! We added this classic Davy Graham track in memory of the recently deceased maverick British folk guitarist, and our listeners responded by kicking it up to the top spot. Elsewhere, we're proud to present loads of rare punk and post-punk vinyl from the Plugz (whose album, Electrify Me, was one of the first independently released full-length punk albums of the L.A. scene; Tito Larriva's performance here is stunning, railing against complacency in the verses and softly whispering "No, no, no" between power chord assaults on the chorus), the Slits (whose definitive take on "Man Next Door" is extremely hard to find), Snatch (Judy Nylon and Patti Palladin collaborating here with Brian Eno on a rare B-side inspired by '70s Euro-terrorists and airplane paranoia), and Alan Vega on the fluke hit single (in France, of course) from his awesome first solo album, circa 1980.

A much more serene (and dryly funny) take on air travel is brought by Australia's mighty Cannanes in the seemingly inappropriately titled "Marching Song", while the Poison Girls show that no one can express political anger more strongly than a concerned mother on "Statement".

The Damned show up with a peculiar and catchily melodic track, "Lovely Money", which is notable for featuring a cameo performance from the Bonzo Dog Band's late mad genius Vivian Stanshall, who portrays a disgruntled London tour guide whose cheerful historical banter gradually degenerates into a nasty, incoherent drunken rant. (When he starts going off on Argentinians for no particular reason it gets a bit uncomfortable, but here at Ear Candle Radio we make the likely assumption that Viv was just being in character, playing the role of the xenophobe in "unreliable narrator" fashion rather than being one for real. Since the Damned's Captain Sensible has always been a cool cat with both humanitarian ideals and a rollicking sense of humor, and the Captain even collaborated with Crass around the time they were raging bravely against the Falklands War, we have a hunch we're right about this. We do love our Argentine friends!) A great track nonetheless; it's always good to hear Mr. Stanshall play with language like putty.

Much trancing out on this month's list also; our listeners are enjoying being taken away by Windy and Carl, Terry Riley, and the Master Musicians Of Joujouka, as well as the downhome singalong kirtans of our friend at Harbin Hot Springs, Peter B. Are our listeners on a spiritual path, or do they just have marijuana in their brains like Dillinger? Or perhaps they dropped a tab and are watching the dripping walls with Vomit Launch? Whatever the case, the fantastic soul-punk-yodeling Detroit Cobras agree, everybody's going wild.

1. Davy Graham - Blues Raga - Mojo Presents: The Quiet Revolution
2. The Plugz - Satisfied Die - Electrify Me
3. The Slits - Man Next Door - Wanna Buy a Bridge?: A Rough Trade Compilation of Singles 1977-1980
4. Peter B & Friends - Radhe Sham - Harbin Temple Kirtan
5. Windy & Carl - Lighthouse - Drawing Of Sound
6. The Detroit Cobras - Everybody's Going Wild - Baby
7. Snatch - R.A.F. - SNATCH
8. The Cannanes - Marching Song - Cannanes
9. The Wild Magnolias - (Somebody Got) Soul Soul Soul - The Wild Magnolias
10. Poison Girls - Statement - Poisonous
11. Kevin Ayers - Run, Run, Run - The Unfairground
12. Dillinger - Marijuana In My Brain - Straight To Prince Jazzbo's Head
13. Wire - Sand in My Joints - Chairs Missing
14. Vomit Launch - Dripping Walls - Mr. Spench
15. The Master Musicians Of Joujouka - Your Eyes Are Like A Cup Of Tea (Al Yunic Sharbouni Ate) - Brian Jones Presents The Pipes Of Pan At Joujouka
16. Generation X - Wild Dub - Wild Dub - Dread Meets Punk Rocker
17. The Damned - Lovely Money - Smash It Up: The Anthology 1976-1987
18. Alan Vega - Jukebox Babe - Jukebox Babe
19. Terry Riley - A rainbow in curved air - A rainbow in curved air
20. Suicide - I Remember - Suicide

Keep listening, dear friends!