The future ain't what it used to be. This episode had a vague nostalgic feel, mostly since part of it covered a range of space age-inspired themes, though not in a super kitschy way.
The spotlight on the soundtrack to Forbidden Planet by Louis and Bebe Barron provided the main highlight, featuring primitive electronic sounds from a movie now over half a century old. Those harsh analog tones remain spooky to this day, though the sound textures sound warm now in this fairly digital age. The death of Bebe Barron recently allowed for the parts of the soundtrack to drift again through the mp3 blogs, which was a pleasant surprise. Between this and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, you can see how electronic music developed as a soundtrack.
You can probably detect part of that influence in bands like Broadcast, Stereolab and Boards of Canada, who are doggedly retro in spirit. However, in continued nostalgia, these were the bands I was heavily listening to ten years ago, along with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and DJ Shadow. Seriously – if I had a radio show back in 1998, I'm sure I would've spun all those acts to death.
Aside from that: the lethal combination of Parliament and Basketball Jones brought a flurry of phone calls, I can no longer identify or pronounce "ineligible" and with the host of the previous show Some Sound out recovering from oral surgery, fill-in and computer maintainer Ben allowed me to briefly chat on air before airtime, though I wound up speaking into the wrong microphone. I could check the podcast server to see if anything was audible during that time, but I'm skeptical. Expect bad levels and echoing if I do find it.
Playlist follows:
Broadcast: Pendulum (Haha Sound, 2003) Warp
Stereolab: Three Women (Chemical Chords, 2008) 4AD
Lali Puna: Past Machine (I Thought I Was Over That (Rare Remixed and B-Sides, 2005) Morr
Imitation Electric Piano: I Mean Wow (Blow It Up Burn It Down Kick It 'til It Bleeds, 2006) Drag City/Duophonic
Mary Cobham: Jay Ferguson (Sings "Songs in the Key of Jay", 2005) independent
Sloan: Witch's Wand (Parallel Play, 2008) Maple Music
Parliament: Flashlight (Funkentelechy Vs. The Placebo Syndrome, 1978) Island/Mercury
Cheech & Chong: Basketball Jones (Los Cochinos, 1973) Warner
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Albert Goes West (Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, 2008) Mute
Grinderman: Depth Charge Ethel (Grinderman, 2006) Mute
DJ Shadow: San Francisco (MySpace, 2008) self-released
The Presets: Are You the One [Lifelike Remix] (Are You the One Mixes, 2008) Modular
Boards of Canada: Orange Hexagon Sun (Old Tunes Volume Two Side B, 1996?) unreleased
Tokyo Police Club: Sixties Remake (Elephant Shell, 2008) Saddle Creek
The Ramblin' Ambassadors: Cupcakes di Milo (Vista Cruiser Country Squire, 2008) Mint
Lykke Li: Breaking It Up (Youth Novels, 2008) LL
Louis & Bebe Barron: Main Titles (Forbidden Planet OST, 1956) Gnp Crescendo
Louis & Bebe Barron: Robby Make Me a Gown (Forbidden Planet OST, 1956) Gnp Crescendo
Louis & Bebe Barron: Love in a Swimming Hole (Forbidden Planet OST, 1956) Gnp Crescendo
Louis & Bebe Barron: Battle with the Invisible Monster (Forbidden Planet OST, 1956) Gnp Crescendo
Luke Vibert: Swet (Chicago, Detroit, Redruth, 2007) Planet Mu
The backing track to the concert listings is the quirky yet funky Kissing My Love by Afrique.
You can download Dinner on a sparkling planet as an MP3 [84.8 Mb, 92:33]
