My radio show Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 79 – The of Roots and Happy Sounds edition airs Monday 19th, 3-4pm (gmt+1) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).
There are 18 songs raging from roots based ones – Rodrigo Leão, Miguel Mouta, Tinariwen, Retimbrar – to gentle, happy pop – Brian Bilston and the Catenary Wires, Lightheaded, Robert Forster and others – along with some dancefloor shades, Alex Fernet, and a dash or rock-‘n’-roll, Victor Torpedo & The Pop Kids.
It’s my usual “at first glance, it doesn’t seem to make sense, but it does” mix. 🙂 It’s a happy, vibrant show, with a wide diversity of geographies and sounds. I hope you like it as much as I do.
Tracklist: 01: Rodrigo Leão – O Rapaz da Montanha 02: Alex Fernet – The Nightdrive 03: Brian Bilston and the Catenary Wires – Every Song On The Radio Reminds Me Of You 04: Jeanines – What’s Lost 05: City Mall – Sapphire 06: Laufey – Tough Luck 07: Lightheaded – Same Drop 08: Miguel Mouta – Café feat Lika 09: Tinariwen (+IO:I) – Sastanàqqàm 10: noiserv – 20 . 05 . A self-conversation is too loud for an empty room 11: Real Estate – Pink Sky 12: Retimbrar – Só Ouve o Brado da Terra (by José Afonso) 13: Robert Forster – Strawberries 14: Roland Decembre – Fais-moi tout oublie 15: Tamara Qaddoumi – River In The Darkness 16: The Bug Club – Appropriate Emotions 17: The Dirty Projectors – Through the Long and Lonely Night 18: Victor Torpedo & The Pop Kids – Friends
Monday 5th, instead of my Amazing Songs & Other Delights there will be a repetition of Set A Light – Lester Bangs Special, 3-4pm (gmt+1) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).
Set A Light is a Rui Pimenta, aka my radio husband, ideato be conceive and taken to task by the two of us. For a million reasons called life, for now, there’s still only this Lester Bangs Special. I think this show deserves to be re-listened to, at least, a million times
People connected to music who are aware of Lester and his work, often say “We need a new Lester Bangs”, or “Lester Bangs would be necessary” and I think to myself “Yes, but proverbial but, I would like to see how it would play out.” Lester was larger than life, rulesless, didn’t give two flying figs. I agree music writing needs no one, but a few Lesters. I also think it may be a tumbling of the music world as we currently know it, a music world mostly forgotten that music writing isn’t always loveliness.
I created the radio programme as a soundtrack to accompanying dialogues from Cameron Crowne’s film Almost famous in which Bangs is which Lester Bangs is magnificently played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Along with existing songs, I came up with typewriter noises, superimposed on This Are a Few Of My Favourite Things played by John Coltrane, a small piece of my favourite youtube found version of John Cage 4’33” before Black Sabbath’s Planet Caravan, turning both into a single song and more.
Lester Bangs wrote for Creem, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and other publications. The show captures Lester uniqueness and rawness. You can read my original text for the programme here.
Tracklist: 01 – Almost Famous – Introducing Mr. Lester Bangs 02 – Lester Bangs – Let It Blurt 03 – Almost Famous – if you like Lou Lester Bangs to William Miller 04 – Lou Reed – Walk On The Wild Side 05 – Almost Famous – do you take drugs Lester Bangs to William Miller 06 – John Coltrane – This Are A Few of My Favourite Things & Typewriter 07 – Almost Famous -an assignment Lester Bangs to William Miller 08 – Silence (from John Cage’s 4’33) & Black Sabbath (Planet Caravan) 09 – Almost Famous – honest Lester Bangs to William Miller 10 – Teenage Jesus And The Jerks – I Woke Up Dreaming – (from the No New Work LP, 1978, compiled and produced by Brian Eno) 11 – Lester Bangs – About Music 12 – Roxy Music – Just Like You 13 – Birdland with Lester Bangs – Textbook Case 14 – Lester Bangs – on Beatles Nostalgia (1981) 15 – John Lennon – Gimme Some Truth 16 – Lester Bangs and The Delinquents – I Just Want to Be a Movie Star 17 – Almost Famous – women Lester Bangs to William Miller 18 – Blondie – Little Girl Lies (Live at El Mocambo, Toronto, August 3rd, 1978 – FM Radio Broadcast) 19 – Count Five – Psychotic Reaction 20 – The J. Geils Band – So Sharp 21 – Almost Famous – unmerciful Lester Bangs to William Miller 22 – MC5 – Borderline (live at Detroit’s Grande Ballroom) 23 – Almost Famous – starry eyes Lester Bangs to William Miller 24 – R.E.M. – It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) 25 – Scott B. Sympathy – Lester Bangs Stereo Ghost 26 – Almost Famous – the day it ceases to the dumb it’s the day it ceases to be real Lester Bangs to William Miller
Mondo Bizarre Magazine 