Head-Bobbing and Chills: Transmission 16, 2013 February 13

Consider this program a belated seasonal gift. This past Wednesday was actually "World Radio Day," whatever vagueness that was designed to accomplish. But that doesn't pay the bills at Hallmark. As we all know, without necessarily wanting to, it was tantalizingly close to the Feast of Saint Valentine. Lady Catharsis joined me for a night of "love" songs, and Catharsis Junior [who now tells us she wants to be called "Dragon Girl" for radio purposes] sat in a corner and kicked [due to martial-arts aspirations, not anger] until my microphone broke. I leave it to those who are qualified to decide these things whether the ensuing two hours constitute "High" or "Low" comedy. There are numerous mishaps that a half-trained monkey could avoid, such as the "Listening Parlour" music running halfway through a subsequent song or two, "Bombast" fading back in during Billy Bragg, CDs not being loaded properly, and on and on. But some fancy words are also spoken, although it seems I slipped an "anybunny" in there somewhere. I am relieved to hear that, as it does with other disturbances, my brain is doing its best to shield me from any awareness of Diana Krall's existence. Lady Catharsis threw down the gauntlet with this week's selections, so with "Physical Evidence" I dropped the number 1 and called for a fastball. In choosing releases for this feature, I am occasionally surprised by what slips through the cracks and doesn't find its way to the Amazon .mp3 store, or whatever. I feel like many of my favorite records are of interest only to about 500 people, and I would expect those to remain meatspace exclusives, but it is odd for a band that seemingly Any Sensible Person would like not to have all of its music assimilated. The Breeders began as an "indie supergroup," or at least that was the perception. The three major contributors--Kim Deal, Tanya Donnelly, and Josephine Wiggs--still played "second banana" in other bands [Pixies, Throwing Muses, and The Perfect Disaster, respectively], and "Pod" ostensibly demonstrated what it would sound like for them to take charge. Never mind that it was Kim Deal's band, and that once again Donnelly and Wiggs were supporting players, or that none of them played drums on this album that was seemingly about little more than drum sound. It was a thing. It garnered substantial interest for what was effectively a side project, mostly because Pixies were huge, and Deal, having supplanted Kim Gordon as Indie Chick #1, was seeing her vocal ambitions crushed by Black Francis--or at least that was the popular " wisdom." Two years on, things had changed. The Perfect Disaster had broken up. Donnelly had left Throwing Muses. Pixies, apparently, were simply playing out their contract as U2's "support act." And out came "Safari." The Breeders now sound like the musicians consider the band a day job, and not a moment too soon, given the circumstances. This EP is not the most concentrated distillation of the Breeders' essence [but we've all heard "Cannonball" about 5 million times by now], nor is it the most raucous thing they recorded, but it is much too good, and too pertinent for this evening, to pass up. A special bonus for internet listeners--you don't have to suffer through the 26 seconds of dead air between the first and second track, which occurred because I left the cd player in "single" mode instead of putting it into "continuous." Enjoy these minor touch-ups while you can. If we continue down this slippery slope, within a couple of months all the talking breaks will be auto-tuned or something. A coincidental overlap involving The Breeders and Elvis Costello is that both "Safari" and "What Do I Do Now?" appeared in that "obscure" series of compilations that I referred to, the star-crossed but outstanding Volume series. There were only 17 issues of this CD-sized magazine spread out over 5 years, but every "issue" was brimming with humor, passion, and great music. Also, every cover featured a lovely fish , and this series must also receive the credit for unleashing Mindless Drug Hoover on the world. I have reservations about including these in the "Physical Evidence" series, because I am confident that many of the individual tracks have made it to the legal on-demand Internet sites, although they were exclusives at the time. I'm too lazy to do the research that would disprove this. Ask anybody. But the mastermind and dreamer behind this series, Rob Deacon, may he rest in peace, had previously managed the also-terrific Sweatbox label, which had released a few LP + magazine trial runs. We will hear from them very soon. BOMBAST playlist, 2013 February 13, 8:00 - 10:00 p.m.

1. Billy Bragg: "This Guitar Says Sorry" [Go! Discs / Elektra] / "Listening Parlour"
2. Linton Kwesi Johnson: "Loraine" [Mango / Island]
3. Lou Reed / John Cale: "Nobody but You" [Sire / Warner] / "Listening Parlour"
4. Scotty: "Draw Your Brakes" [Mango]
5. New Order: "Temptation" [Factory / Rhino] / "Listening Parlour"
6. Kiki Gyan: "Loving You" [Soundway]
7. Johnny Cash / June Carter: "If I Were a Carpenter" [Columbia] / "Listening Parlour"
8. Dennis Brown: "Impossible" [Heartbeat]
9. Pixies: "Cactus" [4AD / Elektra] / "Listening Parlour"
10. Prince Far I: "You I Love and Not Another" [Joe Gibbs]
11. Massive Attack: "One Love" [Wild Bunch / Virgin]
12. The Breeders: "Do You Love Me Now?" [4AD / Elektra] / "Physical Evidence"
13. The Breeders: "Don't Call Home" [4AD / Elektra] / "Physical Evidence"
14. The Breeders: "Safari" [4AD / Elektra] / "Physical Evidence"
15. The Breeders: "So Sad About Us" [4AD / Elektra] / "Physical Evidence"
16. Eurythmics: "Love Is a Stranger" [RCA] / "Listening Parlour"
17. Alton Ellis: "Can I Change My Mind" [Heartbeat]
18. Elvis Costello: "What Do I Do Now?" [Volume] / "Listening Parlour"
19. The Paragons: "Danger in Your Eyes" [Heartbeat]
20. American Music Club: "The Dead Part of You" [Alias] / "Listening Parlour"
21. Gyedu-Blay Ambolley: "Toffie" [Academy LPs]
22. Bob Mould: "New #1" [Creation / Ryko] / "Listening Parlour"
23. Jah Stitch: "Greedy Girl" [Blood and Fire]
24. The Velvet Underground: "I'm Sticking With You" [Verve] / "Listening Parlour"

next week: the usual trail mix. Enjoy the music! --dragon girl's dad