radio free gak #13 - "California cheeseburgers"

Not to give indication on how off-kilter this show was, but the clock on the wall is about three minutes ahead of my watch, three minutes behind the mixer and maybe two minutes behind the podcast server. Add to the fact the computer leapt ahead another hour and getting the time right is as accurate as a blind dart throw.

The show started off oddly, as you can surmise from the podcast upon listening. The show before me every alternating week, the gloriously twisted Radio!! Radio!! was operating single-handedly by Long John Tanner, who was without his compatriot Nimrod this week. So, for the last ten minutes or so, I sat in, kept mostly to the background though Long John did a little bit involving a classic Dr. Demento bit and inviting me in on this fancy audio wine party. The podcast actually starts towards the end of that show since that permits me a moment of grace.

Grace was replaced with ineptness when I failed to check that my subtle little input was activated before I started to play my iPod, leaving some godly-sized chunks of silence as I scrambled to figure out whiskey tango foxtrot happened.

From there, my quickly assembled tribute to Charlton Heston, which shoved aside part of my original introduction. I found the Chuck Hestons as part of a quick search for some soundtrack music from some of Heston's films, mostly since I messed up the name of the composer for the one soundtrack I do have (and will be next week's feature): Jerry Goldsmith for Planet of the Apes.

Otherwise, the back end of the show held up as planned with Michael Nyman and Damon Albarn's work together for the movie Ravenous. Nyman's minimalist compositions make for a great backdrop, since the repeating textures over time form into a drone or dirge, with brief bursts of sound that surprise. Albarn's work away from Blur has been an utter delight, with Gorillaz being the obvious highlight though unexpected when you consider how dark some of the ideas behind the songs are.

The mini-feature on Bradford Cox from Deerhunter and Atlas Sound worked out quite well, though I was actually hoping to add another set focusing on Constellation Records and Godspeed! You Black Emperor, though I was unable to find another suitable playlisted track in time (then I screwed up one of the record labels; Pas Chic Chic are on Semprini, another great Montréal label) so I went tangential with Do Make Say Think. Those sounds are a well worth returning to.

I might drop some more thoughts later, but let me get the playlist up now before I collapse from exhaustion (something I have to get used to, since my days now begin before 7am, and I usually get this update ready by midnight).