radio free gak #12 - "Become as the grape, plump and seedless"

Would you believe that all the acts with black in their name were unintentionally lumped in together at first? No, I wouldn't either, but there they all were: Black Mountain, The Black Angels and The Black Lodge Singers. I didn't plan it that way, but there's something to be said about the idea of the colour black and heavy-sounding music. Ladytron's Black Cat could sorta fit in with that theme, but no, they were paired with Ladyhawke.

This episode was fairly commanding overall, especially when compared with last week's show, both in song selection and whatever I happen to bring to the ceremony. Naturally, when it comes to blackness, nothing compares to Black Belt Jones, which has been one of those movies I tormented visitors to my place, though I don't have a VCR to play that VHS tape on anymore. I don't think it's out on DVD yet (one of the sequels, The Tattoo Connection, is but not the funky original, WHY?!) but do I have a DVD player right now? Or a TV even? Don't ask.

I've been intending to start and end a show with the same cover, since most other shows I listen to that tackle covers tend to play them together. I do have a version of Björk covering You Only Live Twice, though the audio quality is quite spotty and Björk herself has dismissed her version as inferior, so Nancy Sinatra opened and Sex Mob closed with that, one of the lovelier James Bond themes.

The ten second clip of the first ever recorded song (with reasonable audio quality) can be found through First Sounds. You can also discover more about the instrument that did the recording: the phonautograph. Be thankful that I didn't sing the entire French verse for Au clair de la lune I wrote out, or unthankful since I was in tune finally after practicing out of my register most of my time. And, as mentioned during the show, Powwow Radio is your source for online streaming of Native American drumming. Finally, if you want to dive into the messy history that is the Goonies' soundtrack, start with this petition.

The only major error which I ran into was a failure to update the iPod with the running order after the concert listings (backing track: Georges Garvarentz with Nues Dans L'eau). Originally, it was going to be the Goonies' track, then the Bollywood theme before ending with the song from The Party. At one point, I thought about playing Fratelli Chase after the Black Belt Jones set, which itself was supposed to skip the first version of the main theme for the sound effects laden version used in the opening titles, but I wasn't sure how much of the record I was going to play. Didn't mind the repetition myself but after whatever happened with the podcasting PSA, well, it's sorta fitting.

I got the feeling like a machine, and that ain't no way to feel.

Playlist follows: