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
My radio show Amazing Songs & Other Delights #5 – The Poetry edition repeats tomorrow, Monday 21st, 3-4pm (gmt+1) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).
Tracklist: 01 – Marianne Faithfull with Warren Ellis – Ode to a Nightingale (Keats poem) 02 – Suede – Heroine (Byron She Walks in beauty 1st lines) 03 – The Cranberries – Yeats Grave 04 – Amália Rodrigues – Barco Negro (David Mourão-Ferreira poem) 05 – Secos Molhados – Não não digas nada (Fernando Pessoa poem) 06 – Annie Lennox – Live With Me And Be My Love (Christopher Marlowe poem) 07 – The Waterboys – Stolen Child (Yeats poem) 08 – Bob Dylan – On the Road Again (Bob Dylan poem) 09 – Radio Bukowski – The Genius of The Crowd (Charles Bukowski poem) 10 – Carla Bruni – If You Were Coming In The Fall (Emily Dickinson poem) 11 – Rufus Wainwright – When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes (William Shakespeare, Sonnet 29th) 12 – Fagner – Fanatismo (Florbela Espanca poem) 13 – Ralph Schuckett and Richard Butler – Alabama song (Bertolt Brecht poem, Kurt Weill music) 14 – Patti Smith – Changing of the Guards (Bob Dylan cover and poem) 15 – Phil Ochs – The Bell (Edgar Allan Poe poem) 16 – Quilapayun – Complainte de Pablo Neruda 17 – The Smiths – Cemetery Gates (Keats, Yeats, Wilde came to play)
My radio show Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 78 – The Debuts & More edition The Debuts & More edition.is now available for listening on mixcloud. Amazing Songs & Other Delights airs every other Monday on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).
Tracklist: 01: Agrupamento Musical Os Tais – Liga Pra Mim 02: Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles – Stranger 03: Beirut -Guericke’s Unicorn 04: Bill Fox – Terminal Way 05: Butler, Blake & Grant – The 90s 06: Calvin Harris – Smoke The Pain Away 07: Courting – After You 08: Flávio Torres – Vamos 09: Màiri Morrison and Alasdair Roberts – The Bonny House of Airlie 10: Mark Fry – Not On The Radar 11: Mister Romantic – Dream 12: Model/Actriz – Doves 13: Oh Bobby – Sweet Peace 14: Reb Fountain – He Commands You To Jump Into The Sea 15: Sex Beat – This Machine Kills No One 16: The Hard Quartet – Lies (Something You Can Do) 17: The Ophelias – Salome 18 Tunde Adebimpe – God Knows 19: Trey Calloway – The Ballad of Righteous and Wrong
My radio show Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 78 – The Debuts & More edition airs Monday, 7th, 3-4pm (gmt) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com(or on the app).
How many times will I write debut album is anyone’s guess. Other than debut album, collaborations, a couple of super groups (oh mine! are the 70s back?… ) and nineteen songs can be found on this edition of Amazing Songs & Other Delights. Scots abound too. Can you slop them all?
The musical genres are varied, at times in the same song. Folk, folk adjacent, dance music, americana, indie noise, hip-hop, romantic music, gentle pop, and some other flavours. Agrupamento Musical Os Tais’s Liga Pra Mim and Calvin Harris’ Smoke The Pain Away are examples of musical cross pollination.
Agrupamento Musical Os Tais are rappers Mike El Nite and the duo João Não & Lil Noon. Agrupamento Musical Os Tais is one of those things that to fully grasp you may need to be Portuguese and aware of our bandas de baile (electric ball bands that played, and still play, local clubs, associations, our equivalent of workers men’s clubs, fetes, carnivals and the likes). Liga Pra Mim is from their debut album Dance, Romance. Dance, Romance has shades of everything, from pimba (wikipedia is your friend), to kizomba, through hip-hop, house, a dash of pop, all wrapped in deliberated tacky elegance.
Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles is Alan Sparhawk of Low and bluegrass-folk band Trampled by Turtles.
The 90s is the third single by super group Butler, Blake & Grant. Super group being a bit of a joke. No stadium tours and 20 gear trucks, or Spinal Tap drama in sight. Butler, Blake & Grant are musician, songwriter and producer Bernard Butler, Norman Blake, of Teenage Fanclub, and James Grant of Love and Money fame. Their debut album has just come out. The 90s is sung and written by Bernard.
Sweet Peace was written by me and Bill Rivers for my 3rd anniversary 3rd anniversary show and is now on Swim the Universe the new Oh Bobby (Bill Rivers & Simon Hayward) album.
Mister Romantic is actor John C. Reilly musical alter-ego. Dream, a romantic, 1920s vibe song, is the first single from debut album What’s Not To Love?
Scottish singer and musician Alasdair Roberts teamed up with another Scot, Scottish Gaelic singer Màiri Morrison to sing The Bonny House of Airlie, a traditional Scottish ballad of the XVII century. As is traditional in these sort of ballads The Bonny House of Airlie tells a tragic real story, the burning of the castle of the Earl of Airlie castle and the murder of his family.
Lies is a song by The Hard Quartet, another super group, formed by Stephen Malkmus, of Pavement, Matt Sweeney of Superwolf, Emmett Kelly and Jim White.
God Knows by Tunde Adebimpe, of T.V. On The Radio, and Trey Calloway’s The Ballad of Righteous close the show. The Ballad of Righteous is a classic americana tradition storytelling song.
Tracklist: 01: Agrupamento Musical Os Tais – Liga Pra Mim 02: Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles – Stranger 03: Beirut -Guericke’s Unicorn 04: Bill Fox – Terminal Way 05: Butler, Blake & Grant – The 90s 06: Calvin Harris – Smoke The Pain Away 07: Courting – After You 08: Flávio Torres – Vamos 09: Màiri Morrison and Alasdair Roberts The Bonny House of Airlie 10: Mark Fry – Not On The Radar 11: Mister Romantic – Dream 12: Model/Actriz – Doves 13: Oh Bobby – Sweet Peace 14: Reb Fountain – He Commands You To Jump Into The Sea 15: Sex Beat – This Machine Kills No One 16: The Hard Quartet – Lies (Something You Can Do) 17: The Ophelias – Salome 18 Tunde Adebimpe – God Knows 19: Trey Calloway – The Ballad of Righteous and Wrong
My radio show Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 77 – The Spring is Here edition is now on mixcloud. Amazing Songs & Other Delights airs every other Monday, 3-4pm (gmt+1) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).
Tracklist: 01: The Learning Station – Spring Is Here 02: Bill Callahan – Spring 03: Elis Regina & Tom Jobim – Águas de Março 04: Everything But The Girl – I Don’t Want To Talk About It 05: Glazyhaze – Not Tonight 06: Henry Silence – Gamble 07: Jonathan Richman – Springtime in New York 08: M.Ward – Here Comes The Sun Again 09: Manic Street Preachers – Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head 10: Morcheeba – I Am The Spring 11: Now – In Pathécolor 12: Pale Blue Eyes – Travel Day 13: Rufus Wainwright – Rebel Prince 14: Saint Etienne – Spring 15: Stereolab – Pop Quiz 16: The Beach Boys – Be Still (2001 remastered) 17: The Gentle Spring – Sugartown 18: The Bunch – The Locomotion
My Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 77 – The Spring is Here edition airs Monday 24th, 3-4pm (gmt) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).
It’s Spring here in the Northern Hemisphere. I bring you eighteen songs that, to me, have a Spring vibe.
Tracklist: 01: The Learning Station – Spring Is Here 02: Bill Callahan – Spring 03: Elis Regina & Tom Jobim – Águas de Março 04: Everything But The Girl – I Don’t Want To Talk About It 05: Glazyhaze – Not Tonight 06: Henry Silence – Gamble 07: Jonathan Richman – Springtime in New York 08: M.Ward – Here Comes The Sun Again 09: Manic Street Preachers – Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head 10: Morcheeba – I Am The Spring 11: Now – In Pathécolor 12: Pale Blue Eyes – Travel Day 13: Rufus Wainwright – Rebel Prince 14: Saint Etienne – Spring 15: Stereolab – Pop Quiz 16: The Beach Boys – Be Still (2001 remastered) 17: The Gentle Spring – Sugartown 18: The Bunch – The Locomotion
Amazing Songs & Other Delights #71 is the The Desert Blues and Not Just edition has a repeat Monday 7 3-4:30pm (gmt+1) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app). This a longer, special edition.
Tracklist: 01 – Mdou Moctar – Imajighen 02 – ANOHNI & The Johnsons – Breaking 03 – Tiwiza – At u Azeka 04 – Bombino – Mahegagh (What Shall I Do) 05 – Rui Veloso – Sayago Blues 06 – R.L. Burnside – See My Jumper Hanging On the Line (live at home, 1978) 07 – Tarwa N-Tiniri – Taryet 08 – Tom Verlaine – 5 Hours From Calais 09 – Dead Combo – Lisboa Mulata 10 – Fatou Seidi Ghali (Les Filles de Illighadad) – Telilit (live from Story of Sahel Sounds) 11 – Manu Chao – Tu Te Vas Feat. Laeti 12 – Felt – The Stagnant Pool 13 – Boubacar Traoré & Ali Farka Touré – Duna Ma Yelema 14 – Buzz Ayaz – Buzzi Ayazi 15 – Soledad Brothers – This Guitar Says I’m Sorry 16 – The White Stripes – Suzy Lee 17 – Etran de L’Aïr – Imouha 18 – Ben Watt with Bernard Butler – New Year of Grace (Upstairs at the De La Warr Pavilion Bexhill 5th April 2016) 19 – The Legendary Tiger Man – Keep it Burning 20 – Majid Bella’s – Daymallah (feat. Rachid Zeroual, Khalid Kouhen, Paolo Radoni, Marc Lelangue) 21 – Tinariwen – Sastanàqqàm 22 – Tom Hiddleston – I Saw The Light (with Mark Kermode on double-bass, live in the Wittertainment studio)
My radio programme Amazing Songs & Other Delights #70 – The True Love Edition has a repeat Monday 24, 3-4pm (gmt) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).You can read about the programme here.
Tracklist: 01: Jane’s Addiction – True Love 02: A 90s new man called Stan – Sushi feat. Adamski 03: Anthony Moore – Earthbound Misfit 04: Black Toska – Three Silver Nails 05: Cosmic Room 99 – E Corp 06: Fernando Triste – Escuro 07: Franz Ferdinand – Audacious 08: Good Sad Happy – Shaded Tree 09: Jonas – Bato À Porta 10: Kingbird – There Were Things That Needed Forgiven 11: Laurie Anderson – Road to Mandalay 12: Primal Scream – Love Insurrection 13: Terry Gross – Sales Pitch 14: The Heavy Heavy – Feel 15: Tindersticks – Always a Stranger 16: Virgem Suta – Amor Ao Avesso 17: Daniel Johnston – True Love Will Find You In The End
It is World Radio Day and my Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 76 – The New, Found, Remembered edition can now be listened to on mixcloud.
The title is self-explanatory. This programme is a mix of new songs, songs I chanced upon from different songs, some new, some not, and songs I remembered. It’s also another case of one thing leads to another. As a whole the 19 songs from various decades, with emphasis on very recent ones. More about the show here.
Tracklist: 01 – Bryan Ferry and Amelia Barratt – Orchestra 02 – Alpine Subs – Rely On Me 03 – Attawalpa – Always The Girls 04 – Berkley – Gram Theft Parsons 05 – Born Folk – Seize the Day 06 – Crazy Horse – I Don’t Want to Talk About It 07 – Electric Man – New Wave 08 – Epic Soundtracks feat Robert Wyatt – Jellybabies 09 – Hamish Hawk – Juliet as Epithet 10 – Jude Alderson – Rent Boy 11 – Julian Shah-Tayler – Sufferation 12 – Julien Baker & Torres – Sylvia 13 – Little Barrie & Malcom Catto – Zero Sun 14 – Marlon Williams – Aua Atu Rā 15 – OMIRI – Pé com Pé 16 – The Durutti Column – Love No More 17 – The Gentle Spring – Looking Back At The World 18 – Tunng – Didn’t Know Why 19 – Vanarin – Memories
Mondo Bizarre Magazine 