All of our DJs receive hundreds of CDs a month to consider for airplay. In this regular feature, KCRW DJ Chuck P catalogues his musical bounty from the Post Office each week.
Been thinking a lot about a new blog project Mario Cotto has a few of us DJ’s working on. 1991 Revisited. It’s made me go back and listen to some of these classic albums from 20 years ago. Just wrote one for Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock, and have another in the queue. One of the things I realized while writing is that back then, I used to listen to full albums much more than I do now, even the crappy songs.
Nowadays, I find myself just picking my favorite songs and I ignore the rest of the album. Is that because of the convenience of mp3 players to pick and choose your faves or because there aren’t that many good full length recordings being released these days? I was trending towards the latter, until I got the first release profiled here…
1) Wild Flag – The new self titled album (as I mentioned last week) is one of my favorite albums of the year, much less the best rock record I’ve heard so far in 2011. When you add up all the pieces, it makes sense. Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss from Sleater-Kinney + Mary Timony from Helium + Rebecca Cole from The Minders = kick ass rock ‘n’ roll. There’s a kinetic energy to the music, and perhaps it’s because it was recorded live, except for the vocals. They’ll be here in LA in November, and I’ll be wearing both of these pins. The first person to come up and ask for one of them gets it. Then we’ll be dorks. I mean, twins.
2) Shin Joong-Hyun “Beautiful Rivers & Mountains” – Not the first release I’ve heard from this artist, but one of the better compilations of his music. Spanning nearly 20 years and many incarnations, this release is the best starting point if you’re interested in non traditional Korean psychedelic music. Another winner from Light In The Attic records. They must have a deal with the devil or something.
3) The Cambodian Space Project “2011: A Space Odyssey” – If you have the Cambodian Rocks series or CDs from Dengue Fever, this will interest you, but it mostly echoes those releases rather than adding anything new to the table. Doesn’t mean it’s unworthy, in fact, I really do enjoy it. Lots of these songs are familiar, as they are mostly covers the Cambodian Rocks series highlighted, but always nice to hear new versions of those classic songs.
4) William Parker “Solo Bass” – Now here’s a treat. NYC’s legendary bass player William Parker performing solo bass over the course of 3 CDs. I’ve only made it through halfway so far, but I’m amazed by the breadth of sound, especially for one guy playing one instrument. Truly a master of his craft and this release demonstrates why he’s been one of the most in demand jazz bass players for the past 30 years.
Honorable mentions include a new (NEW???) CD from Rocket From The Tombs (pre-Pere Ubu/Dead Boys), Youth Lagoon & Ohbijou. Digital release is Lewis Black,”The Prophet.” I always get a kick out of his contributions on the Daily Show, so I’m looking forward to this one.
Oh yeah, weather’s been great, blah blah blah…
Hugs!
(@chuckp8 on twitter)