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Kurt Bielema live, not live, plugged and unplugged

Prior to his live radio concert on The WEFT Sessions, Kurt Bielema joins William to share his eclectic musical history of alter egos, unreleased tracks, his work with the scorching Angie Heaton, and new and old tracks from teen metal to trip hop to power pop to kids playing improvised jazz piano for six hands. Featuring a quiz: a guest appearance by Cristy “Rockcyclopedia” Scoggins who is charged with guessing the birth years of rock stars of note who celebrated birthdays in the previous two weeks.

Kurt

Download here or listen below.

But don’t stop there. Later, Kurt gives a live performance of original material and covers live in the studio on the WEFT SESSIONS.

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Download here or listen below.

And he gets the girl at the end. It was a long day but worth it.

Sorry, ladies. This one's taken.

Sorry, ladies. This one’s taken.

July 5th in America: Independence Day Hangover Jazz

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At the end of a lovely Independence Day weekend, Austin and William stand in for Jason Finkelman on Fanfare for the Speeding Bullet, bringing you music from the distant fringes of jazz and the flip side of patriotism.

Download the thing here or click on the isosceles triangle below.

Dylan’s First Album and Its Roots

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Drawing inspiration from this LP, Constructing the Legend, William plays through every song on Bob Dylan’s eponymous debut followed by the song that inspired it, with additional information about the artists, and an ad hoc reading of Rick Wakeman’s eulogy to Chris Squire. In all, a lot of deep history is swept into Bob Dylan’s first collection, before he became …  BOB DYLAN!

Download here or listen below.

 

The Songs of Bertholt Brecht vs. the House Un-American Activities Committee

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Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Rock Geek FM party? Here’s an hour of songs with lyrics by Bertholt Brecht, performed by a variety of artists, and interspersed with recordings of Brecht’s interrogation by the HUAC.

Listen below or download here.

No Name and Soundtracks

Art Theater manager and all-around film lover and hater, REDACTED, joins us for a spirited hour of odd music removed from its context and rolled in vigorously unstructured dialog.

Sitting in the basement with a dude with no name….

Sitting in the basement with a dude with no name….

Listen above or download here

This is Their Music

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Austin and William sit in for Jason Finkelman on Fanfare for the Speeding Bullet. William finishes a bottle of chartreuse to numb himself while Austin spins—no, wait, his music is all on the cloud—rains avant-garde jazz and noise and to mix it up a little noise-jazz with Anthony Braxton and Wolf Eyes. With just enough squonk. Right in the middle of the calamity, enjoy the calming sounds of Atmospheres—an homage to Kubrick in anticipation of our soundtrack show the next day, recorded the previous weekend. Download, listen, or just read it.

An incomplete record.

British Synth—Part Two: the blossoms

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In part two of our loving narrative of the rise of the synthesizer in British post-punk, we hand-pick a bouquet of our favorite earlier examples of the genre. Wendy Carlos, as before, makes a surprise guest appearance or two.

Download it here or listen below

 

 

My man wears a glittery tux suit and is completely serious about it.

 

 

British Synth—Part One: the roots

From Anthony Burgess, J.G. Ballard, and William Carlos to Wendy Carlos, The Silicon Teens, and the Human League, we dig up the crunchy roots of primitive Brit-synth in the first half of a two-part show. Download here or listen below.

This show owes a debt to the BBC documentary Synth Brittania as well as the book Mad World, with a special thanks to Doug Hoepker for research assistance and tune-sharing.

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26 songs, signifying A-Z, in one hour, from the Muppets to hardcore punk. Join us in this race against time. Download or listen below.

 

Soul-Alphabet

 

Lewis

But who is he.... really?

But who is he…. really?

Uncle Johnny “Honcho” Anderson from Reverberation Vinyl joins us for a trip through the dubious facts but actual recordings of the artist known sometimes as “Lewis.” Hear what Lewis Truthers have to say, as well as some rare, somewhat recent, and barely released material from one of Lewis’s many noms de plume.

Download or listen:

Personally, my theory is that Lewis is actually Jandek. Shhh! He doesn’t want the world to know!