The Deep End: J Neo Marvin meets The Disk Doktor

The Deep End - Show 2.10 - Nov. 18, 2013 by Thedeepend on Mixcloud

Beyond Belief

Time for a new song by the Granite Countertops. Davis Jones tells a heartfelt story and you will listen.

The Deep End: I Wanna Holler, But The Town's Too Small

Another two hour edition of The Deep End, where Leonard Cohen walks up to the tallest and the blondest girl, Gil Scott Heron reminds us all he was hard to get to know but impossible to forget, and Arthur Lee tells another story about an animal called man. Lean with us and hang on tight, because we're not a big motorcycle, just a groovy little motorbike. 

The Deep End - Show 2.9 - Nov. 4, 2013 by Thedeepend on Mixcloud

Ear Candle Radio's Top 20: October 2013

We are feeling the love from our listeners with not one but two Granite Countertops tracks in our charts this month. The new album, Planets Don't Twinkle, is coming along nicely and will, if all goes well, blow your minds when we finish it around Christmas time. Lou Reed gets honored (oddly enough, in a song sung by Doug Yule, but the sentiment still applies), and new music by the Cannanes and old/new music by Mecca Normal revisit our charts. And say, isn't that Deerhoof track one mighty earworm? Keep listening, dearest darlings!

1. The Granite Countertops - Shiny Objects - Crashing Into The Future
2. Singers & Players Feat. Prince Far I - Autobiography - Staggering Heights
3. Link Wray - Alabama Electric Circus - Wray's Three Track Shack
4. Blumfeld - Verstarker - L'Etat Et Moi
5. Mister Rogers Remixed - Garden of Your Mind - Mister Rogers Remixed
6. Mecca Normal - I Walk Alone 2013 - I Walk Alone by Mecca Normal 2013
7. Fuxa - 3cp - Very Well Organized
8. Deerhoof - New Sneakers - Milk Man
9. The Cannanes - Bumper - Small Batch
10. Bjork - Where Is The Line? - Medulla
11. Bad Brains - Big Takeover - Bad Brains
12. Amadou & Mariam - La Paix - Dimanche a Bamako
13. The Velvet Underground - I Found A Reason - Peel Slowly & See
14. The Sonics - Keep A Knockin' - Here are the Ultimate Sonics
15. The Pretty Things - I See You - S.F. Sorrow
16. Pavement - In The Mouth A Desert - Slanted & Enchanted
17. The Jesus & Mary Chain - My Little Underground - Psychocandy
18. Helium - Lucy - Hole In The Ground 7"
19. The Granite Countertops - Lullaby For Hamza - Crashing Into The Future
20. Love - With A Little Energy - Reel To Real

The Deep End: That's The Story Of A Life

The Deep End - Show 2.8 - Oct 28, 2013 by Thedeepend on Mixcloud

A tribute to Lou Reed.

Here is the script I was working from. Sometimes the segments from Metal Machine Music compete with my voice a bit (hey, that's why I'm back in school, to improve my audio production skills!), so here's what I'm saying (ad libs aside):

So what you are hearing right now in the background is the album Metal Machine Music, Lou Reed’s controversial experimental music album released in 1975. Lou Reed just passed away this weekend, aged 71, and on tonight’s Deep End we’re going to spend the entire hour paying tribute to his life and work, both solo and with his groundbreaking band from the 60s, the Velvet Underground. We’re going to start quietly with the very first song from the Velvets’ debut album. I first got the news about Lou when I woke up yesterday, and had to immediately reach for this. How strangely appropriate that we find out the bad news on a Sunday morning.

“Beginning To See The Light” from the Velvet Underground’s 1969 Live album, probably the most influential record ever for me. I was 20 when I first heard it, and it just swept away everything else I had ever heard. It was like folk-rock but with the power and directness of punk. The music wasn’t showy; it got straight to the point, while the lyrics had this sly, deadpan wit that made me want to be as cool and worldly wise as that guy singing. Becoming a Velvet Underground fan then was like joining a secret society where everything was smart, dark, sexy and a little bit scary. What more does a kid growing up want? And Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison elevated the rhythm guitar at a time when everyone else thought guitar playing was about doing the fastest solos possible. It was a different way of looking at music that ultimately changed everything. More Velvets and solo Lou coming up.

“Real Good Time Together”, a great, slightly insane remake of an old Velvets song from Lou Reed’s album Street Hassle from 1977, when the CBGB’s scene was helping to bring him a whole new audience. We started with “Some Kinda Love”, from the third Velvet Underground album, an oddly quiet record from a band who often made a lot of noise. I think this album in particular is the source of the whole twee indie-pop sound, but Lou’s lyrics come from another place entirely. We’re gonna break for a promo, and then showcase more of Lou’s solo work, starting with a great one from Transformer, his first hit record, produced by David Bowie.

Intense. That was “Waves Of Fear”, from The Blue Mask by Lou Reed, with some great guitar from the late Bob Quine. Before that, “Vicious”, from Transformer. That song makes me think of certain former friends who claimed to be flower children but were really just vicious. Next in our special Deep End tribute to Lou Reed, a song from the album New York, where Lou started branching into social commentary, in his own wonderfully abrasive style.

Lou Reed just gave us “The Last Shot”, a song from the 80s that could be about giving up any number of bad habits. Before that we had “Dirty Blvd.”, which featured a little guest cameo at the end from doo-wop legend Dion DiMucci. You’re listening to The Deep End with J Neo Marvin as we continue our tribute to the late Lou Reed. Coming up, one of my favorites, the opening track on Lou’s very first solo album, “I Can’t Stand It”.

The most important thing is “Work”! That’s from Songs For Drella, an album by Lou Reed and his former Velvet Underground comrade John Cale where they told their version of the life of Andy Warhol, who actually managed the band for a while. This is a song that shows another side of Warhol than we usually hear about, namely his relentless work ethic. Next we have something special from one of Lou’s final albums, the double CD The Raven. It’s special because Lou Reed had a lifelong love for avant-garde jazz, and in this song he got to collaborate with free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman, on a little psychodrama called “Guilty”. It’s a terrible thing to be consumed by irrational guilt, and Lou nails that feeling here.

Another less-celebrated track from the 80s, “High In The City”. Lou captures the paradox of being swept up with a loved one in a state of public intoxication, and at the same time being wary of all the other intoxicated people around you! Like all great writers, Lou’s genius was in his attention to detail. We started with “Guilty” from The Raven, and in between we had another gem from the 3rd self-titled Velvet Underground album, “That’s The Story Of My Life”. We’re approaching the close of this take on the story of the life of the great Lou Reed, but before we turn it over to Matt Freitas and Good Times Are So Hard To Find, we’re going to hear one final song by the Velvets, Lou Reed’s hymn to the redemptive power of “Rock & Roll”.

The Deep End: What's Your Take On Cassavetes?

Another two-hour edition of The Deep End on KSFS. Let the body rock! Keep the arms moving in circular motion!

The Deep End - Show 2.7 - Oct 21, 2013 by Thedeepend on Mixcloud

The Deep End: Ando Meio Desligado!

We're back again, with added news breaks and promos for other KSFS shows to give this podcast a little extra time capsule ambiance. This go-round, we've got some Clash, some Beefheart, Os Mutantes, Ed's Redeeming Qualities, Jeffrey Lewis, Mecca Normal, Numbers, and more from our Deep End playlist. As Lenny Kaye once reminded us, it's a nugget if you dug it.

The Deep End - Show 2.6 - Oct 14, 2013 by Thedeepend on Mixcloud

The Deep End: See the people all in line, what's makin' them look at me?

A special two hour edition of The Deep End, where we start with some classic alienated 60s psychedelia, move through indie-pop, anarcho-punk, garage-rock, and torch songs, showcase a ton of great female artists, and close out by wishing a happy birthday to Fran Gibson, the golden-voiced lead singer of Australian indie band The Cannanes.

The Deep End - Show 2.5 - Oct 7, 2013 by Thedeepend on Mixcloud

Thank God for the liberal media

Tom Tomorrow just posted this absolutely stunning specimen of dripping bothsidesdoitism from Joe Nocera at the New York Times.

A party controlled by its most extreme faction will ultimately be forced back to the center. The Democrats learned that when Walter Mondale was losing to Ronald Reagan, and Michael Dukakis to George H.W. Bush. Now it is the Republicans who don’t seem to understand that their extreme tactics are pleasing a small percentage of their countrymen but alienating everyone else."

Walter Mondale, the Eugene V. Debs of the 80s. I am speechless.

Punishers

Extraordinary piece by Aimai on the mentality behind this predicament we find ourselves subject to. I'd trace it back to Nixon and the culture of resentment he rode in on. We still live in his land.

The Deep End: Open the box! Open the box!

Highlights of this week's show:

Are you ready to rock? "Yes." Outer space is a really nice place. You thought that I would need a crystal ball to see right through the haze. Poverty, poverty knock, oh how I wish I had wings. Open the box! When we kiss it feels like a flying saucer landing. On the day that I forget you, I hope my heart explodes. He took off his glasses and said, "that's the biggest load of rubbish I ever heard in my life!" When will they understand that we must be set out of the prison?

The Deep End - Show 2.4 - Sept. 30, 2013 by Thedeepend on Mixcloud

Ear Candle Radio's Top 20: September 2013

Another display of unpredictable and wonderful choices from our loyal listeners, including a double dose of Can. Turn on, tune in.

1. John Cooper Clarke - Beasley Street - Snap, Crackle & Bop
2. X-tal - Dub Rat - More Fun
3. Huun-Huur-Tu - Kh mei (v) - Sixty Horses In My Herd
4. Pleasant Day - Haunted House Of Love - SF Unscene
5. The Great Unwashed - It's a Day - Collection
6. Wire - 40 Versions - 154
7. Can - Waiting For The Streetcar - The Lost Tapes
8. The Saints - River Deep Mountain High - (I'm) Stranded
9. Roger Miller - Space Is The Place - Oh
10. Rico Bell & The Snakehandlers - Big River II - Darkside Of The Mersey
11. The Pastels - Nothing To Be Done - Truckload Of Trouble
12. The Misunderstood - I Can Take You To The Sun - Before the Dream Faded
13. Jimmy Cliff - Under The Sun, Moon And Stars - Unlimited
14. The Music Magicians - Convertibles and Headbands - Do You Know the Difference Between Big Wood and Brush?
15. The Experimental Bunnies - No Sleep Till The Pleiades - Aranka
16. Kevin Ayers - May I - June 1, 1974
17. John Shirley's Screamin' Geezers - They're Making Money (You Can't Argue With That) - We're Not Supposed To Be Doing This
18. Can - Midnight Men - The Lost Tapes
19. The Amps - Pacer - Pacer
20. Suicide - Super Subway Comedian - The Second Album + The First Rehearsal Tapes

A young man explains the problem

A land that I have heard about

Bunny Wailer's signature tune "Dreamland": a haunting, ethereal song of romance and yearning for the promised land, right? Except it turns out Bunny didn't actually write it:



(WNY-FM gives us more info on the original and the group that performed it.)

Nice (though rudely interrupted) clip of Bunny singing his version:

The doltishness never ends

Charles Pierce on why we can't have nice things. As if procedural filibusters weren't bad enough, now we have talking non-filibusters designed to fool the rubes. And the morons at Politico eat it right up. Makes me want to go turn on Netflix and stream some more old episodes of Aaron Sorkin's Wishful Thinking Theater. Or rewatch the whole first season of House Of Cards. Now Francis Underwood, there's an evil conservative politician you can believe in!

New Deep End podcast: Saints, God, and Death

A wide-ranging, energetic show with everything from devoutly spiritual proto-punks to nine-minute atheist ballads. The Deep End on KSFS, where we stare into the void and wink, and the void winks back.

The Deep End - Show 2.3 - Sept. 23, 2013 by Thedeepend on Mixcloud

Like A Shot Off A Shovel

Got a shout-out from the great Roy Edroso for riffing on James Joyce through a wingnut looking glass. Needless to say, my ego is pleased. Thanks for the hat-tip, friend.

Please, please, please, let me get what I want!

Now that Universal Music is committed to fighting against the wonderful This Charming Charlie page, it's only appropriate to discover another brilliant reappropriation of the Smiths, courtesy of Dangerous Minds. First world problems, indeed. Let's make this thing go viral!

Deep End #2.2: Finding our feet

Had to overcome some technical difficulties to bring you this podcast (and the DJ banter has some audio glitches), but I could not bear the thought of allowing last night's great KSFS show to slip down the memory hole. We start with George Faith and Lee Scratch Perry and end with The Stooges featuring the mighty Steve Mackay, covering all manner of points in between. Dig it!

The Deep End - Show 2.2 - Sept. 16, 2013 by Thedeepend on Mixcloud

First Deep End of the Fall

New podcast up! A successful first solo KSFS show. I pressed all the right buttons and managed not to blow anything up.

The Deep End - Show 2.1 - Sept. 9, 2013 by Thedeepend on Mixcloud

New And Improved Deep End

Set your clocks for 8:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time on Monday, Sept. 9, when I'll be on KSFS Radio debuting this season's incarnation of The Deep End. Tune in, listen, and send me some comments!

Ear Candle Radio's Top 20: August 2013

1. The Mekons - Fight the Cuts - Punk Rock
2. Chastity Belt - Seattle Party - Seattle Party (single)
3. Tuxedomoon - Litebulb Overkill - Desire/No Tears
4. Kraftwerk - Tongebirge - Ralf And Florian
5. Dillinger - The General - CB 200
6. The Sweater Girls - Alternative Ulster - Rebuilding The Bridge
7. Psychic TV And The Angels Of Light - Godstar [Hyperdelic Mix] - Godstar 12"
8. The Mekons - Afar & Forlorn - Ancient & Modern 1911 - 2011
9. Walt Kelly And Others - Go-Go Pogo - Songs Of The Pogo
10. Thee Outside - Testcard - Deaf Disco
11. Mezmetic - Ain't Gotta Go Fa' - A Handful Of Sand (... And A Strange Distant Wave)
12. The Love Dogs - Universal Indians - The Love Dogs
13. Jeffrey Horn - That Love Is Gone - Infinite Love
14. The Fall - Systematic Abuse - Reformation Post T.L.C.
15. The Wailers - Mr. Brown (DJ Spooky remix) - Creation Rebel
16. Tall Dwarfs - Two Minds - Stumpy
17. Solex - Solex In A Slipshod Style - Solex Vs the Hitmeister
18. Jimmy Cliff - Under The Sun, Moon And Stars - Unlimited
19. Helium - Lucy - Hole In The Ground 7"
20. Deerhoof - Spy On You - The Runners Four

Fantastic Voyage

The Granite Countertops just finished another track for their next album, PLANETS DON'T TWINKLE. This one is a cover of David Bowie's "Fantastic Voyage". Listen!

Ear Candle Radio's Top 20: July 2013

The new single is still at the number 1 spot. Thank you for all the attention so far. Elsewhere, our special Mecca Normal mix is still on the chart a month later, along with a lot of old favorites and a few surprises like Festizio's brief Nino Rota-like nugget, a rare Whitefronts track, and new tracks from David Bowie, the Cannanes, and Viv Albertine. Keep listening!

1. The Granite Countertops - Rainy Night In Florida - Planets Don't Twinkle
2. Alan Vega - Every 1's a Winner - Saturn Strip
3. Karen Mantler - The Bill - Farewell
4. The Television Personalities - She Can Stop Traffic - My Dark Places
5. The Spinanes - Jad Fair Drives Women Wild - International Pop Underground Convention
6. Rufus Thomas - Itch And Scratch (Part 1) - The Funkiest Man Alive: The Stax Funk Sessions 1967-1975
7. Johnny Cash - As Long As The Grass Shall Grow - Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian
8. The Whitefronts - Surface Plasmon - Roast Belief
9. Spacemen 3 - Take Me To The Other Side - Singles
10. Mecca Normal - I Walk Alone 2013 - I Walk Alone by Mecca Normal 2013
11. Festizio - **** - Hot City
12. David Bowie - Heat - The Next Day
13. Viv Albertine - In Vitro - The Vermilion Border
14. Rob K/MDA - Look in the Mirror - The Purgatory Home Companion
15. Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus - Needs Understanding - Tribute To The Emperor
16. The Byrds - The Day Walk - There Is a Season
17. Lou Reed - Last Great American Whale - New York
18. Kicking Giant - She's Real (version) - Alien ID
19. Ed's Redeeming Qualities - Another Song In Celebration Of Chickens - Big Grapefruit Clean-Up Job
20. The Cannanes - Crawler - Small Batch

Another devastating blow to our blogroll

This has been a bad month for fans of good, funny, irreverent writing. This morning we discover that Doghouse Riley, the conscience of Indiana and one of the finest, most wickedly astute writers on the Internet, has suddenly passed away. A writer who should have been paid to air his views on every editorial page in America, who instead contributed his trenchant, wise observations on the blogosphere in his spare time, Doghouse will not be forgotten, and his strong voice will be kept alive by those who remember him. Condolences to the woman he sympathetically and amusingly referred to as "my poor wife"; her own sparks of wit and wisdom live on in his blog archives too. Go read his work again and get a good picture of what we lost.

No more Frozdick Family updates

Mick Farren, noted English eccentric and proprietor of the Doc 40 blog, has just left the building.

Top Of The Pops

Profuse thanks to Ear Candle Radio listeners who have already voted the Granite Countertops' "Rainy Night In Florida" to the top of our charts! It means a lot to see so much positive response so soon.

We want to make this little song the catalyst for a serious cultural shift. Not just through our donations, but through the song itself. We are making an extra effort to get this one widely heard and injected into the national conversation. You can get your own "Rainy Night" mp3 at iTunes or Amazon.

Rainy Night in Florida

Rainy Night In Florida, the new single by the Granite Countertops, is out. It's good, it's cheap (only 99 cents!), and 50% of all proceeds will be donated to The Trayvon Martin Foundation, so you know what to do!.

Now available at iTunes and other fine digital distributors.

Ear Candle Radio's Top 20: June 2013

Our charts are topped by a special remix of a Mecca Normal classic gifted to us by none other than Jean Smith herself, followed by a soulful tribute to the noble and beleaguered city of Baltimore. Further down, we have Lee Scratch Perry's wonderfully underrated African-Reggae experiment, some astonishing a capella from Bjork, a funny and dramatic Workdogs cut, a choice jam from the recent Wobble/Levene reunion, our own Dr. Spaceman and Content Providers, and much more. We love our listeners and their feedback. As of today, Ear Candle Radio is sitting pretty as the number 5 indie station on Live 365, and we are up to number 882 in the whole network, which consists of some 40,000 or so stations. Hallelujah and keep listening!

1. Mecca Normal - I Walk Alone 2013 - I Walk Alone by Mecca Normal 2013
2. JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound - Baltimore Is The New Brooklyn - Heavy Soul
3. Kalo Kawongolo / Seke Molenga - Guipimbu Gienu - African Roots
4. Bjork - Where Is The Line? - Medulla
5. Cibo Matto - Sugar Water - Viva! La Woman
6. Workdogs - Eulogy/Regrets - Workdogs In Hell
7. Jah Wobble & Keith Levene - Understand Dub - Yin & Yang
8. Dr. Spaceman - Good Intentions - Zwanzig Kilometer Stau
9. Dolly Mixture - Understanding - Demonstration Tapes
10. Tom Verlaine - Always - Dreamtime
11. Siouxsie And The Banshees - Icon - Join Hands
12. Roger Ruskin Spear - Make Yourself A Happiness Pie - Electric Shocks +
13. Raybeats - Tone Zone - Guitar Beat
14. Linda Perhacs - Parallelograms - Parallelograms
15. Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard - If Life Exists? - Em Are I
16. J Neo Marvin & The Content Providers - Running Up A Tab On The Universe - Slowly I Turned
17. George Faith - So Fine - To Be A Lover
18. The Flying Lizards - Postscript - The Secret Dub Life of the Flying Lizards
19. Blaims - Can't Sleep - Modoc Records Sampler, Vol. 1
20. Tom Verlaine - The Blue Robe - Dreamtime

The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band in their prime

The ever-resourceful folk at Dangerous Minds have found this great footage of the Bonzos in Belgium. You done my brain in!

Jean Paul Sartre

And another new recording from our busy oven of sound. The Granite Countertops cover 90s indie-pop titans The Crabs on a song about their fave rave French existentialist.

Watermelon Frost

Sneak preview of the next Experimental Bunnies album:

The Baby Came Down From The Mountain

A new video for this Experimental Bunnies piece from BUNNIES ON FIRE. A nature hike, a family jam, a hero's journey.

The players on this recording, who you can catch fleeting glimpses of, were:
J Neo Marvin - Bass, guitar and production
Davis Jones - Melodica
Glenn Stevens - Lead guitar
Gulya Oblokulova - Keyboard
Gwennie Stevens - Keyboard and vocals (!)

The Last Deep End Of The Spring

Finally pulled our last KSFS radio show out of the archives, shined it up and sent it off to the podcast farm. I took Davis along on this flight and we toasted the graduating class of the BECA department with a wide array of music in an "Ear Candle Radio" stylee, only different because it was live. I edited the sloppiest moments out because they don't bear repeated listening. If only there was an actual paying gig where you could have this much fun. This country needs great radio.

The Deep End - Show 13 - May 24, 2013 by Thedeepend on Mixcloud

Ear Candle Radio's Top 20 for May 2013

A comprehensive list song that lovingly outlines everything that is quintessentially English by ex-Slit Viv Albertine tops our charts for May! Viv's new album, The Vermilion Border, is an absolute must, a brutally honest portrait of how it feels to be a hip 50-something woman looking at the next stage of life, and the credits are jaw-dropping. All the old-school punk and new wave luminaries you might expect to show up on Viv's comeback album, plus surprises like Jack Bruce and Danny Thompson (whose one-of-a-kind bass adds so much to "Still England"). Viv is also represented by the Slits classic "FM". Elsewhere we have two solo projects from key members of Erase Errata, two Lijadu Sisters grooves, and our own Content Providers. As the wise man Dr. Alimantado would say, jump, jump, wiggle and wind, and keep your ears tuned to Ear Candle Radio.

1. Viv Albertine - Still England - The Vermilion Border
2. Tsunami - DMFH - A Brilliant Mistake
3. Sara Jaffe - Heron's Head - Salt & Water
4. The Detroit Cobras - It's My Delight - Tied & True
5. Jenny Hoyston - I Don't Need 'Em - Isle Of
6. J Neo Marvin & The Content Providers - Running Up A Tab On The Universe - Slowly I Turned
7. The Cannanes - 52 Linthorpe Street - A Love Affair With Nature
8. The Lijadu Sisters - Life's Gone Down Low - The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia In 1970s Nigeria
9. Curtis Mayfield - Other Side Of Town - Curtis
10. The Small Faces - E Too D - Small Faces
11. The Slits - FM - Cut
12. Shovelman - Rollin' - The Dirty West
13. Paul Revere & the Raiders - Get It On - Midnight Ride
14. Langley Schools Music Project - In My Room - Innocence & Despair
15. Kristin Hersh - When The Levee Breaks - Strings
16. Julie London - Yummy, Yummy, Yummy - Yummy, Yummy, Yummy
17. Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Gamma Ray - Global A Go-Go
18. Iggy Pop - Life Of Work - Zombie Birdhouse
19. Doctor Alimantado - Dreadlocks Dread - Born For A Purpose
20. The Lijadu Sisters - Turbulent Waters - Sunshine