WFMU: Lost Media Archive (The Radio Show) with BC Sterrett: Playlist from July 9, 2021

Lost Media Archive (The Radio Show) with BC Sterrett: Playlist from July 9, 2021

Cool and Strange Music, Ephemeral Media, Found Sounds, Private Press and Outsider Music.

On WFMU's Sheena's Jungle Room
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July 9, 2021: Exploring more Aquarius Catalog: Exotica/Novelty, Found Sounds, Field Recordings, Oddities, Experimental pt. 4 (Because we can)
Episode art by Michael Brunelle

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Artist	Track	Album	Format	Comments	Approx. start time
Blind	Tracks 1 & 2 "Tracks 1 & 2" by "Blind"	Fragment	LP	"This is one of the earliest found sound documents from Ash International. To take the most literal definition of a UFO, Blind's 45 minutes of air traffic control broadcasts track the movement of an unknown vector traveling across the air space of the Atlantic. Tense silences are broken up by harsh eruptions of shortwave radio transmissions which merely recount the position of the craft as it passes eratically from one sector of air space to another. While no communication is made with the craft, the controllers maintain an absolute calm and lack of spectulation that is more than a little eerie." - Aquarius	0:00:00 (Pop-up)
John Baker	Heavy Plant Crossing "Heavy Plant Crossing" by "John Baker"	John Baker Tapes Vol. 1		Delia Derbyshire may embody the otherworldly beauty and mystique behind the sounds of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, but John Baker was its alchemical heart. Who else could take a simple tone from air being blown over a bottle and make it into a warm and electrifying panorama of melodious sound? This is the first of two volumes of rare and unreleased pieces from the heyday of the BBC; this one covering the years 1963-1969. In it we find TV adverts, library pieces, jazzy soundtracks, radiophonic pieces and home recordings as well as interviews on how he made the sounds contained here. Baker had a knack for melody, and often imbibed his mechanically made recordings with a warmth and playfulness that his more mathematically inclined contemporaries lacked. Yet he could also establish veils of mystery and drawn out suspense in his carefully composed themes. But Baker's real talent is brevity. With most of the 49(!) tracks contained here lasting under a minute, he evokes a complex and engaging sound world that is perfectly encapsulated within its minute long timeframe. Baker is the first of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop composers to get such a retrospective overview. Hopefully this means we'll see more individual overviews from this important laboratory of recorded sound very soon. - Aquarius	0:12:43 (Pop-up)
Jaap Blonk	Facial: Worr "Facial: Worr" by "Jaap Blonk"	Vocalor		"To qualify Jaap Blonk as the intellectual sound poet equivalent of Jim Carrey may be an odd analogy... but don't be put off by it as this record features amazing dynamism from carnivalesque humor to dadaist terror to fluxus-inspired sound poets! This is all voice, no electronics have been used on it. Encroyable!" - Aquarius	0:13:27 (Pop-up)
The Banana Splits	I Enjoy Being a Boy (In Love With You)	7"			0:13:51 (Pop-up)
23 Skidoo	Quiet Pillage "Quiet Pillage" by "23 Skidoo"	Seven Songs		You may be familiar with hyperbole like "this is one of my favorite records" popping up throughout the our reviews and you may wonder if that declaration really means anything. Obviously, there are many of us who write this list with lots of opinions as to what "the best record ever" truly is. Yet, I (Jim) have tried to steer clear of hyperbole (well, most of the time), partially because my personal tastes have been known to change over time, but more importantly because nobody has made a record that is better than The Conet Project! Nevertheless, I am breaking my own self-imposed rule in stating that 23 Skidoo's "Seven Songs" is one of my favorite records ever. I feel confident in such an assessment since this record (which I first picked up seven or eight years ago) still kicks my ass almost a decade later! While electronica darlings like Andrew Weatherall, The Chemical Brothers, and Gilles Peterson all proclaim "Coup" as the pinnacle of 23 Skidoo's catalogue, I boldly mutter "Hogwash! 'Seven Songs' is easily 23 Skidoo's best work!" 23 Skidoo recorded this album during a three day period in 1981 with production by "Tony, Terry, and David" (aka Genesis P-Orridge, Peter Christopherson, and Ken Thomas). With those three behind the mixing board, 23 Skidoo obviously enjoys a similiar spirit of sonic experimentation as invoked by the founders of Industrial Culture. Yet, 23 Skidoo also employs the death-disco of PiL, A Certain Ratio, and Gang of Four, often played on homemade junkyard instruments built to replicate Indonesian gamelan. This bizarre hybridization of styles has few if any parallels, but 23 Skidoo's eclecticism and experimentation are never so alien as to not also be funky, melodic, and infectiously catchy. Just as Windy places Os Mutantes near the top of her musical pantheon, Andee proudly proclaims his infatuation with Hanoi Rocks, and Allan drools over all things Magma, I say that if you're at all like me, you won't be disappointed by 23 Skidoo's "Seven Songs"! - Aquarius	0:16:04 (Pop-up)
BROTZMANN, PETER & HAN BENNINK	NR. 8	Schwarzwaldfahrt		"Who doesn't love Peter Brotzmann and/or Han Bennink? If you're into skronky European free jazz craziness that is. Saxophonist Brotzmann is a hard-blowin' legend, and Han Bennink is not only a percussion whiz but also a strong "pro" argument in the whole does-humor-belong-in-music? debate. Teamed up here on this expanded (meaning there's a whole bonus disc with ten previously unreleased tracks!) reissue of what those in the know, know as the 1977 Bro-Ben Black Forest recordings, Brotzmann and Bennink actually did the Jewelled Antler natureboy thing here and took their instruments out into the forest to improvise amid the trees and birds and small curious animals. Along with a supply of bread and wine they toted with them an assortment of clarinets and saxophones, a banjo, a viola, some toys, birdcalls, cymbals, and suchlike sundry instruments -- Han had to make do without his customary drum kit, playing instead on tree trunks and rocks with branches and stones. Their free music got all that much freer for being loosed in the great outdoors, and these Black Forest sessions certainly brought forth all the wildman whimsy you'd expect from this duo. In some ways a precursor to the field recording aesthetic practiced today by the Jewelled Antler gang and all those Finnish free-freak-forest-folk outfits we all love, Schwarzwaldfahrt is replete with the gurgling sounds of water, birds twittering, primal yelps from Han and/or Peter, and other things you wouldn't normally hear in more "civilized" jazz recording. At one point, Han pounds (or splashes) out a stacatto rhythm on the surface of a stream or pond, and you can for sure tell how much fun they were having! So much, that they recorded a lot more music/sound than they could release at the time. They had to edit down their tapes to just one LP's worth of material for the original edition of this on FMP, but now Atavistic's Unheard Music Series has given them two whole compact discs to fill up, and it's a joy." - Aquarius	0:18:53 (Pop-up)
Kraftwurst	Strudel-ectric "Strudel-ectric" by "Kraftwurst"	Klownbot			0:23:11 (Pop-up)
Bereft	Getting Old "Getting Old" by "Bereft"	The Complete Bereft Vol. 1			0:27:29 (Pop-up)
jon brumit	Coffeebike Zipper Pump Namesong	Piledriver: Recordings From The San Francisco Dump 2002		"Oh how we fancy field recordings here at AQ - of both the unaltered, pristine kind and the modified, manipulated variety. This one particularly perked up the ears of Andee. The man behind it is one Mr. Jon Brumit, and as the title states, he captured these sounds at the city dump. In the liner notes, it is specified that no effects processors were used. Sound sources and equipment included minidisc recorders, a dr sample, a cheap microphone, a full drum kit, a Mac G3 computer and the impressive array of stuff that the dump had to offer... among them were a Nerf Ballzooka, joggin trampolines, a Hello Dolly soundtrack lp, an espresso maker, a mint children's drumkit, bowling balls, a 16mm projector with a silent cowgirl film, a marquee sign, a 100' tape measure, a chandelier, a wetsuit and an assortment of boom boxes and clock radios. Very cool!" - Aquarius	0:27:48 (Pop-up)
23 Skidoo	G-2 Contemplation (Part 1 - A Winter Ritual)	The Culling Is Coming		Dating back to 1983, The Culling Is Coming was originally released on the L.A.Y.L.A.H. label, which also released some of the strongest work from Current 93, Coil, Laibach, and The Hafler Trio. This 23 Skidoo album stands as a notable detour from their martial rhythms fused with agitated, post-punk funk which found them lumped in with the likes of The Pop Group, Cabaret Voltaire, and Hula. One of those albums clearly based on the vinyl medium, The Culling Is Coming was split between two 23 minute sides featuring sprawling abstractions that were alternately meditative and aggressive. The first of which featured 23 Skidoo members / brothers Alex & Johnny Turnbull performing on the gamelan at the Dartington Music College, and then taking the results back into the studio to be put into a more coherent composition. While they cite the instrumentation as being Balinese, the first passage of this piece is clearly Javanese in nature with interlocking bells, kendangs, and gongs repeating a simple decending melody whilst the rhythmic structure varies in speed. Given the instrumentation, Balinese references do become evident later on; but at the same time also speak of Harry Partch's handmade percussive compositions. Over 23 minutes, this track gradually devolves into a dreamy collage of quietly resonating gongs. The second piece is a live recording at the WOMAD festival in 1982, which found Current 93's David Tibet making a guest appearance on the Tibetan trumpet. Defying the crowd who were expecting the disfigured funk found on Seven Songs, 23 Skidoo improvised around multiple tape loops, metallic percussion, and slabs of dissonant noise. The Culling Is Coming did enjoy a CD release over a decade ago, but LTM's re-issue features an equally long and confrontational track which was taken from the backing tapes that 23 Skidoo used during their 1982 tour with Cabaret Voltaire. Not for the faint of heart. - Aquarius	0:31:28 (Pop-up)
Les Baxter	Tahiti: A Summer Night At Sea	The Fruit of Dreams		You usually know that you are either an obsessive music addict or totally eccentric or hell both when Les Baxter records start making their way into your collection. And we are the first to admit that most of us fit in those categories, so yes, of course we love the king of exotica, Les Baxter. Most of you are familiar with Baxter but maybe you didn't know that he was the in house conductor and arranger for Captiol records in the 50's making hits for folks like Nat King Cole. Always searching for new instruments, bigger orchestras and sounds filled with exclamation points and a whole lot of flavor, Baxter became a perfect fit for motion pictures as he would go on to score over 120 films with his specialty being Roger Corman films and teenage exploitation flicks. The Fruit Of Dreams combines two of his late 50s and early 60's albums on which he travels to "exotic" places in the world and brings those sounds back to people's suburban living rooms. Something so totally charming about the naivety and dramatic flair of these recordings. With titles like "Hong Kong Cable Car" , "Harem Silks From Bombay", "The Feathered Serpent of the Aztecs" you know this is that great over the top exploitive stylistic travelogue that you can't help but get swept up by. Brilliant and twisted minds like George Kuchar, John Waters, Beck and Jello Biafra all count themselves as unabashed Les Baxter fans...and so do we. - Aquarius	0:38:57 (Pop-up)
The Beach Boys	George Fell Into His French Horn	Smile + Smile (Bits and Pieces)		I was disappointed when this track didn't appear on the official Smile Sessions release. - Your DJ	0:41:35 (Pop-up)
Our World's Sounds	Afternoon: The Dove Cot. Puss will never catch one,...	Cats and Kittens		Meow. We have trouble keeping that Time Stereo "The Cat" cd-r in stock, but now at least we can offer you this new cd, also of cat sounds. This is from the same label that brought us the ever-popular Frogs and Deep Into The Earth natural sounds recordings (and Woodfire, and Sea & Dolphins, etc.). Cats might seem a bit more warm and cuddly than frogs and fish, but when mic'd up close and amplified all that purring takes on a massive droning quality, and playful kitten cries become disturbingly angst-filled. There's some twittering songbirds also heard here in the background, which may explain the feline excitement. On the back cover it says something about the cats "contemplating doves that seem to outsmart them every time" -- good, as a recording of cats devouring doves might not be as pleasant. Not that this won't drive your housemates (and housecats, and dogs!) insane if played back at high volume. So don't let the cute n' colourful cover (what's that kitten doing playing with a sewing machine, anyway?) fool you. This is a serious piece of sonic documentation every bit as interesting as a Francisco Lopez field recording and as dramatic as a Dead Raven Choir cd-r. - Aquarius	0:44:34 (Pop-up)
Aaron Bennett & John Finkbeiner	The Days Of Wine And Roses	Drinking Straw Music	CD	Donated from the Cool and Strange Music CD collection of Dana Countryman :)	0:46:52 (Pop-up)
Beaks Plinth	Slumbering Trees "Slumbering Trees" by "Beaks Plinth"	Kai Kohola Leo		Jared Blum is back with a new alter ego - Beaks Plinth! In case you didn't guess from the title, it is a Hawaiian themed project. That said, don't be expecting warm sandy beaches, luscious fruity concoctions and gently swaying palm trees. Nope, instead imagine yourself in the depths of a not-so-dormant island volcano, molten lava creeping forth and sizzling in the heady ocean mist! It's like a tropical fever dream in which the shadows of giant tiki figures loom and ominous giant birds of prey menace and peck at you from above. It's a bit murky and mysterious with sounds smeared into dank cavernous echoes. In fact, we might suggest that the dozen foreboding soundscapes on Kai Kohola Leo meld quite nicely in between aQ faves Nurse With Wound's Salt Marie Celeste and Coelacanth's Glass Sponge. Recommended. - Aquarius	0:49:59 (Pop-up)
The Conet Project	5 Dashes "5 Dashes" by "The Conet Project"	Recordings Of Shortwave Numbers Stations		Once again, the wait is over! Feels like we spend a whole lot of time waiting for the Conet Project to come back into our lives. We sell these like crazy when they're in stock, but it always seems to go out of print before we know it and we're forced to wait again for the re-emergence of one of our all time favorite "musical" documents. And hell, if there was ever a quadruple cd / book of shortwave transmissions worth waiting for, this is the one!! We're now on the FOURTH pressing of the Conet (or maybe even the fifth?) and we still can't get enough! This is one of our ALL TIME favorite releases EVER, as evidenced by the fact that EVERYONE who works here owns at least one copy, and to date, we've sold 680 copies! And counting! We'd probably have broken 1000 if this darn thing would stay in print. This version is again exactly the same as the others EXCEPT that this one includes a postcard seeking "cold warriors" with personal knowledge of numbers stations. As stated on the card, if you are one of those warriors, contact Irdial immediately. Your identity and whatever information you are able to share will be kept strictly confidential. If you are not one of those warriors, pass the card on, in the hopes that it will find its way into the right hands. Why so mysterious? What's with the cloak and dagger stuff? Well, my friends, read on, and learn all about the beautiful and mysterious Conet Project: If there's one recording we have sold here that is most identified with Aquarius Records, or that at least we mention most often when trying to explain to people what it is that we're all about here, it'd be the Conet Project. Some others come close: Sounds of North American Frogs, Os Mutantes, Burzum "Filosofem", Comus "First Utterance", Boris, Circle, Philip Jeck, Village of Savoonga...and there's of course many other discs and LPs near and dear to our hearts (for instance, hearing the first Neutral Milk Hotel album always makes me nostalgic for the old 24th street store). But for some reason it's the Conet Project that really seems to sum it all up. It's all the things we really love: completely ridiculous (four cds!), completely fucked (secret government spy transmissions), droning, weird. It's just so interesting and evocative on so many levels, both musical and totally non-musical, as a listening experience and also as a geopolitical cold war and beyond artifact. Definitely a big AQ fave: Allan's got the whole thing on his iPod, Andee has multiple copies, many of which found their way into his old band's live perfomances, Jim has steadfastly maintained that this is the greatest record of all time, and we all are a little bit obsessed. If you've been in the store, you've probably noticed that we have a chart on the wall behind the counter keeping a tally of Conets sold. It went up to 387 (yes, three hundred and eighty seven!) before it became unavailable/out of print a few years ago, then again up into the 400's, and then again into the 600's always forced to wait patiently until it becomes available again -- there's even snapshots of some of the happy purchasers (#382, Mike Patton) beside it. Now we're ready to start checking off more boxes on our chart, as we at last are able to offer you The Conet Project once again!! After several years of going in and out of print, the Irdial label has finally done another re-press! We're not sure if the re-presses are still funded by the $30,000+ settlement they recieved from Wilco's record label, who Irdial sued for the unauthorized use of a Conet Project sample on their breakthrough Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album, whose title itself comes from that Conet sample. (Read more about that here http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,63952,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_7.) We're not sure if we understand or agree with the legalities behind Irdial's lawsuit, but we're happy at least that the outcome resulted in more Conets to go around (if that's where Irdial got the money to repress, as we suspect). There was also the use of a Conet track in that Tom Cruise movie Vanilla Sky... Basically, the Conet Project is a four-cd compilation of recordings of mysterious shortwave radio broadcasts, known as "numbers stations". These numbers stations are generally believed to be encrypted spy transmissions, but no concrete evidence has ever surfaced proving that suppostion. However, no credible alternate explanation has ever been demonstrated, either. For years (ever since the start of the Cold War), amateur radio enthusiasts have come across these sinister signals, and they continue to this day, broadcast in many languages all over the world (the theory is that some are CIA, some are KBG, some are Mossad, etc). In general, the transmissions consist of a deadpan voice (sometimes an old man, sometimes a young woman, etc.) reading a seemingly random, meaningless series of numbers over and over. Sometimes the broadcsts are preceded by a musical cue (the "Swedish Rhapsody" music box one being a favorite of ours), and sometimes the numbers are not conveyed by voice but by even more cryptic electronics (as with "The Buzzer", and other noisy, abstract stuff found mainly on disc four). Needless to say, hearing those amazing and baffling sounds collected on these four cds is an unnerving experience. Not only does knowledge of the supposed purpose of these transmissions imbue them with a disturbing quality, but the repetition of the numbers combined with the background of shortwave radio static makes for a aurally hypnotic experience. If merely regarded as a piece of experimental ambient sound scupture, the Conet Project would be a brilliant and affecting piece of work, yet with the added context of international intelligence and conspiracy theory, it becomes even more intriguing and creepy. The four cds come with a large book (housed in its own jewel box) that provides a great deal of description of, and speculation about, the many recordings. Very well done. The Conet Project is possibly the most incredible, and weirdest, item of sound art/documentation that we've EVER had here at Aquarius. Mesmerizing, fascinating, unique, massive, scary, but sometimes even soothing. 100 percent recommended to the adventurous listener ('cause it's not for everyone!). And once you have it you'll understand why it had to be a full four cds--being overwhelming is part of the obsessive allure of this Project." - Aquarius	0:52:25 (Pop-up)
Bereft	The Bathroom Song "The Bathroom Song" by "Bereft"	The Complete Bereft Vol. 1			0:55:46 (Pop-up)
The Better Beatles	Penny Lane "Penny Lane" by "The Better Beatles"	Mercy Beat		A couple lists ago we had the Easy Beatles compilation... now we've got some not-so-easy Beatles! This reissue will drive some folks crazy, but we're lovin' it. Hooray for East Bay label Hook Or Crook for getting their hands on this great outsider classic out of Omaha, Nebraska circa 1981. The Better Beatles played Beatles songs with a naive and fucked up post-punk charm. While there are no shortages of Beatles covers and tribute records, none have been made that suit our bizarre tastes better than this one! With primitive electronics that sounded like they could break at any moment and a detached delivery that gives these songs a feeling somewhere between cold wave, new wave and no wave. Not far off from what The Flying Lizards were doing around this same time but much more out of the loop and less self-conscious. It's super interesting to see how while being one of the most famous and mainstream appreciated bands of all time, the Beatles have spawned so many outsider fanatics from Daniel Johnston to Bobb Trimble. What makes The Better Beatles so damn cool is that they truly made these songs something else, it's not just novelty (though that is a factor), there is a lot of intensity in their delivery. They might have been joking about being "better" but maybe they meant it, they certainly sound like they mean it when they sing John and Paul's lyrics, which are often the only recognizable parts of the songs. We can't count the times we've had a customer in the store get reeled in by this record without even knowing that it's Beatles covers and when they find out they say something like 'I don't even like The Beatles but this is fucking cool!' and even for those of us who love the Beatles as well we can agree, this IS *#&@ cool! - Aquarius	0:55:55 (Pop-up)
Fleisher Studios	Betty Boop's Halloween Party	Youtube Audio			0:58:39 (Pop-up)
Emile Christensen	Teach Me How to Yodel	Hooked On Yodeling (The Best Of Kerry Christensen)		Just something I found at the thrift store.	1:05:08 (Pop-up)
Sandra Cross	(Segment) "(Segment)" by "Sandra Cross"	The MMs Bar Recordings		"This one's for all you weirdo found sound and field recording obsessives out there. Not sure where this one would get filed, somewhere between the Conet Project's mysterious numbers stations, rutting red deer, the sounds of drag racing cars, the beeping of a life support system and the collections of voices of the dead via EVP recordings (all things we've stocked!), The MMs Bar Recordings captures something much more mundane, but somehow, just capturing these sounds on tape transforms those original sounds, here removed from their original context, into something strangely fascinating. In a nutshell, these are undoctored recordings of announcements on a particular train line in the UK, recorded between 2006 and 2007, when the artist Sandra Cross was taking said train line weekly, and working on a project called "What Did You Eat Today". Funnily enough, on every train ride, the bar on the train, which served various foods and drinks would announce exactly what it was they were serving, always a slightly different announcement, always a different voice, and always at random times. So Cross became obsessed and recorded them, and Trunk Records on hearing these recordings became equally obsessed, and now it's our turn. And it's not just the actual announcements, the sounds that surround them are equally mesmerizing, the muted rumble of the train, the murmur of voices, the static of the overhead speakers, but it is the MMs Bar announcements that are the core of this collection of recordings, and they are presented here unaltered, as they were captured, so the edits are rough, and there are long stretches with no announcements, just rumbles and whirs, and there are stretches that are a jumble of voices and announcements one after the other, the whole thing IS surprisingly mesmerizing, conjuring up memories of traveling, as well and just sonically interesting. Fans of our found sounds section will no doubt be as obsessed with this as we've become. It's like a Conet Project that makes you hungry, for Anglophiles. Needless to say, way recommended!" - Aquarius	1:07:22 (Pop-up)
Crack: We Are Rock	Strawberries "Strawberries" by "Crack: We Are Rock"	Untitled	7"	Cool cool. A super-limited 7" release from San Francisco's psychedelelectro dirge party band, Crack: We Are Rock. Three hundred and thirty three of these were put out, as part of a 7" series from 333 Recordings. - Aquarius	1:12:35 (Pop-up)
Blanketship	Stop Your Complaining	Klangwunder / The Sound Of Fun Surrounds You		Following up last year's Teen Sounds, SF's Blanketship comes cruisin' along with more delightful aural collage adventures. This time things are a bit more drivin', maybe a bit darker and more aggressive. And unlike many of his past recordings which kept the listener constantly teetering off-kilter with their rapid fire juggling together of puzzle piece samples and mad rhythms, the nine tracks that comprise The Sound Of Fun Surrounds You has a few longer stretches that your ears and toes can catch a grasp of and groove along to for a few bars at least. But that's not to say this cd-r is without its fair share of surprise bursts and giggly bits, those come in spades on the Klangwunder half! Those eight tracks were composed with like-minded People Like Us on WFMU! Always a deliriously good time! - Aquarius	1:17:25 (Pop-up)
Fisch Loops	Track 6 "Track 6" by "Fisch Loops"	(The CD with title in Thai)		Local Utah release. Will fix the info when I can understand it. - Your DJ	1:19:22 (Pop-up)
Bogus Blimp	No Cords No Wires "No Cords No Wires" by "Bogus Blimp"	Cords.wires		Bogus Blimp were nothing like we expected. I mean, they're from Norway. They release records on Garm's (from black metallers Ulver) label Jester. Who could have guessed that they would sound like circus music, or gipsy music, or sort of like Tom Waits. No one. But it is pretty cool! 'Cords. Wires' is Bogus Blimp's second record of dark carnivalesque / horror movie mini-epics with lots of samples, bizarre muttering, raspy vocals and strange sounds galore. - Aquarius	1:23:06 (Pop-up)
Pat Boone	Stairway To Heaven "Stairway To Heaven" by "Pat Boone"	In A Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy		Yes it is for real - Pat Boone in leather and shades, riding a Harley, belting out a dozen heavy metal classics. The likes of Judas Priest, Metallica, Dio, Ozzy, Alice Cooper, etc. All cower trembling at the feet of Mr. Boone, who croons their tunes in amazingly hilarious and often quite catchy pop arrangements...You haven't lived until you've heard "Crazy Train" complete with swinging horns and the "choo-choos" of backing vocalists! - Aquarius	1:26:30 (Pop-up)
Bernard Fort	Morning in the Palenque Jungle, Pt. 1 (Segment)	Paysages sonores du Mexique (Soundscapes of Mexico)			1:31:40 (Pop-up)
Iva Bittova & Vladimir Vaclavek	Uspávanka	Bílé Inferno		From the Clamazon catalog.	1:33:45 (Pop-up)
Conet Project	Gong Station Chimes	Recordings Of Shortwave Numbers Stations			1:40:01 (Pop-up)
The Bran Flakes	Give Yourself A Stereo Check Out	I Don't Have a Friend		Aaah, the fountain overflows with a facetious flood of tweaked tunes from Mr. Mildred Pit and Mr. Otis F. Odder. Together they are the Bran Flakes from Seattle, WA. Giving a tip of the hat to Irwin Chusid (radio host and champion of musical eccentrics everywhere ---Raymond Scott to name but one), they plunder and paste melodic incongruities (what was that?! a tv show theme? and that?! a Nancy Sinatra song? Lawrence Welk? Mickey Mouse?), children's voices, broadcast announcements, frantic beats, and exotica flourishes together like a giant demented pinata. At once, fluffily silly, yet strangely menacing. Features a collaboration with our pal Wobbly. Fabulous fans of Bruce Haack, People Like Us, Quintron, and Negativland, take note. - Aquarius	1:43:18 (Pop-up)
Health	Crimewave "Crimewave" by "Health"	Crystal Castles / HEALTH ‎– Mother Knows Best / Crimewave		I don't know about you, but for the record nerds we know, every vacation is merely an excuse to check out record stores and discover weird bands and see cool shows. Sure we'll deny it, but we won't ever be allowed to forget the time Andee spent at least half of his first trip to Japan, dragging his fiancee Heather around to little hole in the wall record stores, or when Allan made record shopping a priority in Turkey... Well, when Andee was in NYC recently, there was, surprisingly enough, a bit of record shopping, and there were two fantastic musical discoveries, the first, was a band called Holy Fuck, whose record we will get soon and feature on the list, the other, was a band called Health, whose full length we also have, but we figured this split 7" would be a good introduction. Not exactly sure how to describe Health, they're sort of one of those awesome WTF noise rock combos, who weave wildly from sound to sound, while somehow retaining a distinct musical personality. Health, to us at least, sound like part hooky pop, new wave weirdness, Sonic Youth style indie rock soundscaping, and chaotic free noise. Not always in equal measures. The first track here is all chaotic tribal drumming and freaked out noise, angular guitars, and breathy SY style vocals, imagine some hybrid of Sonic Youth, 23 Skidoo and This Heat. Hypnotic and off kilter and so good. The other Health track is some weird eighties electro jam, with weird affected vocals, vintage synths, warm reverbed percussion and even handclaps. But somehow the two tracks sound perfect together... The flipside is the awesomely named Crystal Castles, who are not only named after one of the coolest video games ever, they also sort of sound like a punk rock version of the Crystal Castles music. The core of their sound is full on 8 bit Nintendo core, all bleeps and bloops and buzzes, but over the top is sprawled some fierce Riot Grrl growl, plenty of distortion and crunch, with howled banshee female vocals, swathed in that weird Cher vocal effect. Weird. And then strangely, the other track removes everything BUT the video game jamz, leaving a tune that sounds like it could be music straight from some secret level in Mario Bros.... Nice thick sleeve, with creepy cover art, and pressed on super thick white vinyl. - Aquarius	1:47:08 (Pop-up)
Crystal Castles	Crimewave (Health cover)	Crystal Castles			1:49:19 (Pop-up)
The Bran Flakes	Buttermilk/Goodtimes a Goo Goo	Bounces!		Seattle-based duo The Bran Flakes have put together another cherry of an album. Sonic plunderers who must have ridiculous amounts of thrift-store $1 records, The Bran Flakes painstakingly yet assuredly cut everything up -- macabre children's songs, sleigh bells, latin percussive rattles, afro cuban drumming, tooting horns, minor key strings, occasional drum 'n bass, bad disco, some goofy approximations of dub, wurlitzer organ, noir film samples, oompah oompah in the left channel, funky drummer-style breakbeat on the right -- and arrange everything into precise sonic juxtapositions, resulting in a very confident and enjoyable trip from beginning to end (in fact the end is a three minute long recitation of people's names, jesus how long did it take them to cut that stuff together?) The album's highest point comes when they cut up (Terry Riley "You're Nogood"-style!) everyone's favorite muppets Kermit and Fozzie Bear singing "Movin' right along...". It's so frickin' wonderful and happy go lucky -- can't you just see 'em in the Studebaker? While most comparisons to fellow cut 'n pasters involve names like Wobbly and Negativland, I think the group will fit nicely right next to your Kid Koala tape, your People Like Us cd, and maybe even your 12" collection of solemn DJ Shadow, who uses the same tools -- vinyl -- but never cracks a smile, whereas The Bran Flakes are all about hilarity. Look at what moog pioneer Jean Jacques Perrey says about 'em: "I enjoyed your record very much, it is so fresh, so cool, made for people who have a 'child soul' and at the same time perfectly elaborated harmonically and technically with some funny winks to other composers." Recommended for the lighthearted!	1:53:32 (Pop-up)
Ralph Brown, Harold Smith & John Forsch	The Pastel Jail Bossa Nova	Weathervane's Little Review		One of my neighbors sold me this record. lol	1:56:41 (Pop-up)
Unknown	The Dance Hall Twist (From The Creeping Terror)	The Golden Turkey Album: The Best Songs From The Worst Movies			1:59:26 (Pop-up)

Listener comments!
	1:57pm BC Sterrett: Welcome! Live in 3 minutes...
	♥ 2:01pm Mx. Baba Bee (e/they): hey there!
	2:03pm BC Sterrett: Hey there Baba Bee!
	2:05pm BC Sterrett: How's the sound level?
	♥ 2:06pm Mx. Baba Bee (e/they): like the "Booming and Zooming" without the Tom Tom Club instrumental accompanying it!
	♥ 2:06pm Mx. Baba Bee (e/they): sounds good here!
	2:07pm BC Sterrett: Great thanks :)
	2:09pm BC Sterrett: What are you doing today?
	2:23pm BC Sterrett: I'm eating a packet of Siracha Peanut Butter. It's interesting...I like it.
	♥ 2:25pm StringOFperils: Hi. Enjoying the klang ton
	2:27pm BC Sterrett: Thanks Hi String!
	2:29pm BC Sterrett: Now I'm eating a Taiwanese salted duck egg. These have been a guilty pleasure of late. Anyone else eating something?
	♥ 2:31pm ARB: Hi darlings!
	♥ 2:32pm ARB: I like those hundred year old eggs but I'm weirded out by what chemicals are in them.
	2:32pm BC Sterrett: Arb!!!
	2:33pm BC Sterrett: Those hundred year eggs are weirdo. I've probably had around 3 or 4 in my life over time. I was first introduced to them by someone saying "it's preserved in horse urine..."
	2:36pm BC Sterrett: My wife is snoring in the next room. Seems to go with the music
	♥ 2:37pm ARB: Same,I've had around 3 or 4 and I think I heard that too!
	2:43pm BC Sterrett: The soothing sounds of The Beach Boys
	♥ 2:48pm StringOFperils: Swanky.
	2:48pm BC Sterrett: ha ha
	♥ 2:51pm Mx. Baba Bee (e/they): BC: hi, again! Ha ha! I was putting together a jigsaw puzzle while waiting for my brother and his wife to show up—haven't seen them in two years. Puzzling sounds, too!
	♥ 2:52pm Mx. Baba Bee (e/they): sri racha peanut butter sounds tasty, like a dipping sauce
	2:52pm BC Sterrett: Ha! That's sounds like the perfect activity during this show
	♥ 2:52pm Mx. Baba Bee (e/they): duck eggs are one of those foods that are too rich for me—duck in general
	2:53pm BC Sterrett: Now I'm eating Herring Fillets...
	2:54pm BC Sterrett: You know it's time to go shopping when all you got is weird odds and ends on the shelf
	3:02pm BC Sterrett: I'm done eating odd stuff today. Going to the market after the show :)
	♥ 3:15pm ARB: Loving Crack
	3:16pm BC Sterrett: It's a new one to me
	3:24pm BC Sterrett: What is everyone up to today?
	3:32pm BC Sterrett: Quiet room ...
	3:34pm BC Sterrett: I guess this is as good a time as any to make an announcement. brb...
	3:39pm BC Sterrett: Looks like I need take a radio break with other life priorities right now involving family, writing a book, opening up a shop, etc etc etc. I'll make an official announcement to the station manager. I can stay till the end of the month in Sheena's. I'll be around however, perhaps I'll show up on the guest DJ hour or do a Halloween special. Anyway, thanks everyone :) Just two more shows of Lost Media Archive!
	♥ 3:51pm PaulRobeson1920: Good afternoon WFMU land! Nice show!!!
	3:52pm BC Sterrett: Hi PaulRobeson1920 :)
	♥ 3:56pm Mx. Baba Bee (e/they): This song is stalking me! Ha hA! Love it!!!
	♥ 3:59pm Brian in UK: This got our beagle barking.
	4:00pm BC Sterrett: ha ha
	4:00pm BC Sterrett: Thanks everyone. See you next time!
	♥ 4:24pm ARB: BC, thank you I love your show and will miss you!

View BC Sterrett's profile

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Artist	Track	Album	Format	Comments	Approx. start time
Blind	Tracks 1 & 2 "Tracks 1 & 2" by "Blind"	Fragment	LP	"This is one of the earliest found sound documents from Ash International. To take the most literal definition of a UFO, Blind's 45 minutes of air traffic control broadcasts track the movement of an unknown vector traveling across the air space of the Atlantic. Tense silences are broken up by harsh eruptions of shortwave radio transmissions which merely recount the position of the craft as it passes eratically from one sector of air space to another. While no communication is made with the craft, the controllers maintain an absolute calm and lack of spectulation that is more than a little eerie." - Aquarius	0:00:00 (Pop-up)
John Baker	Heavy Plant Crossing "Heavy Plant Crossing" by "John Baker"	John Baker Tapes Vol. 1		Delia Derbyshire may embody the otherworldly beauty and mystique behind the sounds of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, but John Baker was its alchemical heart. Who else could take a simple tone from air being blown over a bottle and make it into a warm and electrifying panorama of melodious sound? This is the first of two volumes of rare and unreleased pieces from the heyday of the BBC; this one covering the years 1963-1969. In it we find TV adverts, library pieces, jazzy soundtracks, radiophonic pieces and home recordings as well as interviews on how he made the sounds contained here. Baker had a knack for melody, and often imbibed his mechanically made recordings with a warmth and playfulness that his more mathematically inclined contemporaries lacked. Yet he could also establish veils of mystery and drawn out suspense in his carefully composed themes. But Baker's real talent is brevity. With most of the 49(!) tracks contained here lasting under a minute, he evokes a complex and engaging sound world that is perfectly encapsulated within its minute long timeframe. Baker is the first of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop composers to get such a retrospective overview. Hopefully this means we'll see more individual overviews from this important laboratory of recorded sound very soon. - Aquarius	0:12:43 (Pop-up)
Jaap Blonk	Facial: Worr "Facial: Worr" by "Jaap Blonk"	Vocalor		"To qualify Jaap Blonk as the intellectual sound poet equivalent of Jim Carrey may be an odd analogy... but don't be put off by it as this record features amazing dynamism from carnivalesque humor to dadaist terror to fluxus-inspired sound poets! This is all voice, no electronics have been used on it. Encroyable!" - Aquarius	0:13:27 (Pop-up)
The Banana Splits	I Enjoy Being a Boy (In Love With You)	7"			0:13:51 (Pop-up)
23 Skidoo	Quiet Pillage "Quiet Pillage" by "23 Skidoo"	Seven Songs		You may be familiar with hyperbole like "this is one of my favorite records" popping up throughout the our reviews and you may wonder if that declaration really means anything. Obviously, there are many of us who write this list with lots of opinions as to what "the best record ever" truly is. Yet, I (Jim) have tried to steer clear of hyperbole (well, most of the time), partially because my personal tastes have been known to change over time, but more importantly because nobody has made a record that is better than The Conet Project! Nevertheless, I am breaking my own self-imposed rule in stating that 23 Skidoo's "Seven Songs" is one of my favorite records ever. I feel confident in such an assessment since this record (which I first picked up seven or eight years ago) still kicks my ass almost a decade later! While electronica darlings like Andrew Weatherall, The Chemical Brothers, and Gilles Peterson all proclaim "Coup" as the pinnacle of 23 Skidoo's catalogue, I boldly mutter "Hogwash! 'Seven Songs' is easily 23 Skidoo's best work!" 23 Skidoo recorded this album during a three day period in 1981 with production by "Tony, Terry, and David" (aka Genesis P-Orridge, Peter Christopherson, and Ken Thomas). With those three behind the mixing board, 23 Skidoo obviously enjoys a similiar spirit of sonic experimentation as invoked by the founders of Industrial Culture. Yet, 23 Skidoo also employs the death-disco of PiL, A Certain Ratio, and Gang of Four, often played on homemade junkyard instruments built to replicate Indonesian gamelan. This bizarre hybridization of styles has few if any parallels, but 23 Skidoo's eclecticism and experimentation are never so alien as to not also be funky, melodic, and infectiously catchy. Just as Windy places Os Mutantes near the top of her musical pantheon, Andee proudly proclaims his infatuation with Hanoi Rocks, and Allan drools over all things Magma, I say that if you're at all like me, you won't be disappointed by 23 Skidoo's "Seven Songs"! - Aquarius	0:16:04 (Pop-up)
BROTZMANN, PETER & HAN BENNINK	NR. 8	Schwarzwaldfahrt		"Who doesn't love Peter Brotzmann and/or Han Bennink? If you're into skronky European free jazz craziness that is. Saxophonist Brotzmann is a hard-blowin' legend, and Han Bennink is not only a percussion whiz but also a strong "pro" argument in the whole does-humor-belong-in-music? debate. Teamed up here on this expanded (meaning there's a whole bonus disc with ten previously unreleased tracks!) reissue of what those in the know, know as the 1977 Bro-Ben Black Forest recordings, Brotzmann and Bennink actually did the Jewelled Antler natureboy thing here and took their instruments out into the forest to improvise amid the trees and birds and small curious animals. Along with a supply of bread and wine they toted with them an assortment of clarinets and saxophones, a banjo, a viola, some toys, birdcalls, cymbals, and suchlike sundry instruments -- Han had to make do without his customary drum kit, playing instead on tree trunks and rocks with branches and stones. Their free music got all that much freer for being loosed in the great outdoors, and these Black Forest sessions certainly brought forth all the wildman whimsy you'd expect from this duo. In some ways a precursor to the field recording aesthetic practiced today by the Jewelled Antler gang and all those Finnish free-freak-forest-folk outfits we all love, Schwarzwaldfahrt is replete with the gurgling sounds of water, birds twittering, primal yelps from Han and/or Peter, and other things you wouldn't normally hear in more "civilized" jazz recording. At one point, Han pounds (or splashes) out a stacatto rhythm on the surface of a stream or pond, and you can for sure tell how much fun they were having! So much, that they recorded a lot more music/sound than they could release at the time. They had to edit down their tapes to just one LP's worth of material for the original edition of this on FMP, but now Atavistic's Unheard Music Series has given them two whole compact discs to fill up, and it's a joy." - Aquarius	0:18:53 (Pop-up)
Kraftwurst	Strudel-ectric "Strudel-ectric" by "Kraftwurst"	Klownbot			0:23:11 (Pop-up)
Bereft	Getting Old "Getting Old" by "Bereft"	The Complete Bereft Vol. 1			0:27:29 (Pop-up)
jon brumit	Coffeebike Zipper Pump Namesong	Piledriver: Recordings From The San Francisco Dump 2002		"Oh how we fancy field recordings here at AQ - of both the unaltered, pristine kind and the modified, manipulated variety. This one particularly perked up the ears of Andee. The man behind it is one Mr. Jon Brumit, and as the title states, he captured these sounds at the city dump. In the liner notes, it is specified that no effects processors were used. Sound sources and equipment included minidisc recorders, a dr sample, a cheap microphone, a full drum kit, a Mac G3 computer and the impressive array of stuff that the dump had to offer... among them were a Nerf Ballzooka, joggin trampolines, a Hello Dolly soundtrack lp, an espresso maker, a mint children's drumkit, bowling balls, a 16mm projector with a silent cowgirl film, a marquee sign, a 100' tape measure, a chandelier, a wetsuit and an assortment of boom boxes and clock radios. Very cool!" - Aquarius	0:27:48 (Pop-up)
23 Skidoo	G-2 Contemplation (Part 1 - A Winter Ritual)	The Culling Is Coming		Dating back to 1983, The Culling Is Coming was originally released on the L.A.Y.L.A.H. label, which also released some of the strongest work from Current 93, Coil, Laibach, and The Hafler Trio. This 23 Skidoo album stands as a notable detour from their martial rhythms fused with agitated, post-punk funk which found them lumped in with the likes of The Pop Group, Cabaret Voltaire, and Hula. One of those albums clearly based on the vinyl medium, The Culling Is Coming was split between two 23 minute sides featuring sprawling abstractions that were alternately meditative and aggressive. The first of which featured 23 Skidoo members / brothers Alex & Johnny Turnbull performing on the gamelan at the Dartington Music College, and then taking the results back into the studio to be put into a more coherent composition. While they cite the instrumentation as being Balinese, the first passage of this piece is clearly Javanese in nature with interlocking bells, kendangs, and gongs repeating a simple decending melody whilst the rhythmic structure varies in speed. Given the instrumentation, Balinese references do become evident later on; but at the same time also speak of Harry Partch's handmade percussive compositions. Over 23 minutes, this track gradually devolves into a dreamy collage of quietly resonating gongs. The second piece is a live recording at the WOMAD festival in 1982, which found Current 93's David Tibet making a guest appearance on the Tibetan trumpet. Defying the crowd who were expecting the disfigured funk found on Seven Songs, 23 Skidoo improvised around multiple tape loops, metallic percussion, and slabs of dissonant noise. The Culling Is Coming did enjoy a CD release over a decade ago, but LTM's re-issue features an equally long and confrontational track which was taken from the backing tapes that 23 Skidoo used during their 1982 tour with Cabaret Voltaire. Not for the faint of heart. - Aquarius	0:31:28 (Pop-up)
Les Baxter	Tahiti: A Summer Night At Sea	The Fruit of Dreams		You usually know that you are either an obsessive music addict or totally eccentric or hell both when Les Baxter records start making their way into your collection. And we are the first to admit that most of us fit in those categories, so yes, of course we love the king of exotica, Les Baxter. Most of you are familiar with Baxter but maybe you didn't know that he was the in house conductor and arranger for Captiol records in the 50's making hits for folks like Nat King Cole. Always searching for new instruments, bigger orchestras and sounds filled with exclamation points and a whole lot of flavor, Baxter became a perfect fit for motion pictures as he would go on to score over 120 films with his specialty being Roger Corman films and teenage exploitation flicks. The Fruit Of Dreams combines two of his late 50s and early 60's albums on which he travels to "exotic" places in the world and brings those sounds back to people's suburban living rooms. Something so totally charming about the naivety and dramatic flair of these recordings. With titles like "Hong Kong Cable Car" , "Harem Silks From Bombay", "The Feathered Serpent of the Aztecs" you know this is that great over the top exploitive stylistic travelogue that you can't help but get swept up by. Brilliant and twisted minds like George Kuchar, John Waters, Beck and Jello Biafra all count themselves as unabashed Les Baxter fans...and so do we. - Aquarius	0:38:57 (Pop-up)
The Beach Boys	George Fell Into His French Horn	Smile + Smile (Bits and Pieces)		I was disappointed when this track didn't appear on the official Smile Sessions release. - Your DJ	0:41:35 (Pop-up)
Our World's Sounds	Afternoon: The Dove Cot. Puss will never catch one,...	Cats and Kittens		Meow. We have trouble keeping that Time Stereo "The Cat" cd-r in stock, but now at least we can offer you this new cd, also of cat sounds. This is from the same label that brought us the ever-popular Frogs and Deep Into The Earth natural sounds recordings (and Woodfire, and Sea & Dolphins, etc.). Cats might seem a bit more warm and cuddly than frogs and fish, but when mic'd up close and amplified all that purring takes on a massive droning quality, and playful kitten cries become disturbingly angst-filled. There's some twittering songbirds also heard here in the background, which may explain the feline excitement. On the back cover it says something about the cats "contemplating doves that seem to outsmart them every time" -- good, as a recording of cats devouring doves might not be as pleasant. Not that this won't drive your housemates (and housecats, and dogs!) insane if played back at high volume. So don't let the cute n' colourful cover (what's that kitten doing playing with a sewing machine, anyway?) fool you. This is a serious piece of sonic documentation every bit as interesting as a Francisco Lopez field recording and as dramatic as a Dead Raven Choir cd-r. - Aquarius	0:44:34 (Pop-up)
Aaron Bennett & John Finkbeiner	The Days Of Wine And Roses	Drinking Straw Music	CD	Donated from the Cool and Strange Music CD collection of Dana Countryman :)	0:46:52 (Pop-up)
Beaks Plinth	Slumbering Trees "Slumbering Trees" by "Beaks Plinth"	Kai Kohola Leo		Jared Blum is back with a new alter ego - Beaks Plinth! In case you didn't guess from the title, it is a Hawaiian themed project. That said, don't be expecting warm sandy beaches, luscious fruity concoctions and gently swaying palm trees. Nope, instead imagine yourself in the depths of a not-so-dormant island volcano, molten lava creeping forth and sizzling in the heady ocean mist! It's like a tropical fever dream in which the shadows of giant tiki figures loom and ominous giant birds of prey menace and peck at you from above. It's a bit murky and mysterious with sounds smeared into dank cavernous echoes. In fact, we might suggest that the dozen foreboding soundscapes on Kai Kohola Leo meld quite nicely in between aQ faves Nurse With Wound's Salt Marie Celeste and Coelacanth's Glass Sponge. Recommended. - Aquarius	0:49:59 (Pop-up)
The Conet Project	5 Dashes "5 Dashes" by "The Conet Project"	Recordings Of Shortwave Numbers Stations		Once again, the wait is over! Feels like we spend a whole lot of time waiting for the Conet Project to come back into our lives. We sell these like crazy when they're in stock, but it always seems to go out of print before we know it and we're forced to wait again for the re-emergence of one of our all time favorite "musical" documents. And hell, if there was ever a quadruple cd / book of shortwave transmissions worth waiting for, this is the one!! We're now on the FOURTH pressing of the Conet (or maybe even the fifth?) and we still can't get enough! This is one of our ALL TIME favorite releases EVER, as evidenced by the fact that EVERYONE who works here owns at least one copy, and to date, we've sold 680 copies! And counting! We'd probably have broken 1000 if this darn thing would stay in print. This version is again exactly the same as the others EXCEPT that this one includes a postcard seeking "cold warriors" with personal knowledge of numbers stations. As stated on the card, if you are one of those warriors, contact Irdial immediately. Your identity and whatever information you are able to share will be kept strictly confidential. If you are not one of those warriors, pass the card on, in the hopes that it will find its way into the right hands. Why so mysterious? What's with the cloak and dagger stuff? Well, my friends, read on, and learn all about the beautiful and mysterious Conet Project: If there's one recording we have sold here that is most identified with Aquarius Records, or that at least we mention most often when trying to explain to people what it is that we're all about here, it'd be the Conet Project. Some others come close: Sounds of North American Frogs, Os Mutantes, Burzum "Filosofem", Comus "First Utterance", Boris, Circle, Philip Jeck, Village of Savoonga...and there's of course many other discs and LPs near and dear to our hearts (for instance, hearing the first Neutral Milk Hotel album always makes me nostalgic for the old 24th street store). But for some reason it's the Conet Project that really seems to sum it all up. It's all the things we really love: completely ridiculous (four cds!), completely fucked (secret government spy transmissions), droning, weird. It's just so interesting and evocative on so many levels, both musical and totally non-musical, as a listening experience and also as a geopolitical cold war and beyond artifact. Definitely a big AQ fave: Allan's got the whole thing on his iPod, Andee has multiple copies, many of which found their way into his old band's live perfomances, Jim has steadfastly maintained that this is the greatest record of all time, and we all are a little bit obsessed. If you've been in the store, you've probably noticed that we have a chart on the wall behind the counter keeping a tally of Conets sold. It went up to 387 (yes, three hundred and eighty seven!) before it became unavailable/out of print a few years ago, then again up into the 400's, and then again into the 600's always forced to wait patiently until it becomes available again -- there's even snapshots of some of the happy purchasers (#382, Mike Patton) beside it. Now we're ready to start checking off more boxes on our chart, as we at last are able to offer you The Conet Project once again!! After several years of going in and out of print, the Irdial label has finally done another re-press! We're not sure if the re-presses are still funded by the $30,000+ settlement they recieved from Wilco's record label, who Irdial sued for the unauthorized use of a Conet Project sample on their breakthrough Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album, whose title itself comes from that Conet sample. (Read more about that here http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,63952,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_7.) We're not sure if we understand or agree with the legalities behind Irdial's lawsuit, but we're happy at least that the outcome resulted in more Conets to go around (if that's where Irdial got the money to repress, as we suspect). There was also the use of a Conet track in that Tom Cruise movie Vanilla Sky... Basically, the Conet Project is a four-cd compilation of recordings of mysterious shortwave radio broadcasts, known as "numbers stations". These numbers stations are generally believed to be encrypted spy transmissions, but no concrete evidence has ever surfaced proving that suppostion. However, no credible alternate explanation has ever been demonstrated, either. For years (ever since the start of the Cold War), amateur radio enthusiasts have come across these sinister signals, and they continue to this day, broadcast in many languages all over the world (the theory is that some are CIA, some are KBG, some are Mossad, etc). In general, the transmissions consist of a deadpan voice (sometimes an old man, sometimes a young woman, etc.) reading a seemingly random, meaningless series of numbers over and over. Sometimes the broadcsts are preceded by a musical cue (the "Swedish Rhapsody" music box one being a favorite of ours), and sometimes the numbers are not conveyed by voice but by even more cryptic electronics (as with "The Buzzer", and other noisy, abstract stuff found mainly on disc four). Needless to say, hearing those amazing and baffling sounds collected on these four cds is an unnerving experience. Not only does knowledge of the supposed purpose of these transmissions imbue them with a disturbing quality, but the repetition of the numbers combined with the background of shortwave radio static makes for a aurally hypnotic experience. If merely regarded as a piece of experimental ambient sound scupture, the Conet Project would be a brilliant and affecting piece of work, yet with the added context of international intelligence and conspiracy theory, it becomes even more intriguing and creepy. The four cds come with a large book (housed in its own jewel box) that provides a great deal of description of, and speculation about, the many recordings. Very well done. The Conet Project is possibly the most incredible, and weirdest, item of sound art/documentation that we've EVER had here at Aquarius. Mesmerizing, fascinating, unique, massive, scary, but sometimes even soothing. 100 percent recommended to the adventurous listener ('cause it's not for everyone!). And once you have it you'll understand why it had to be a full four cds--being overwhelming is part of the obsessive allure of this Project." - Aquarius	0:52:25 (Pop-up)
Bereft	The Bathroom Song "The Bathroom Song" by "Bereft"	The Complete Bereft Vol. 1			0:55:46 (Pop-up)
The Better Beatles	Penny Lane "Penny Lane" by "The Better Beatles"	Mercy Beat		A couple lists ago we had the Easy Beatles compilation... now we've got some not-so-easy Beatles! This reissue will drive some folks crazy, but we're lovin' it. Hooray for East Bay label Hook Or Crook for getting their hands on this great outsider classic out of Omaha, Nebraska circa 1981. The Better Beatles played Beatles songs with a naive and fucked up post-punk charm. While there are no shortages of Beatles covers and tribute records, none have been made that suit our bizarre tastes better than this one! With primitive electronics that sounded like they could break at any moment and a detached delivery that gives these songs a feeling somewhere between cold wave, new wave and no wave. Not far off from what The Flying Lizards were doing around this same time but much more out of the loop and less self-conscious. It's super interesting to see how while being one of the most famous and mainstream appreciated bands of all time, the Beatles have spawned so many outsider fanatics from Daniel Johnston to Bobb Trimble. What makes The Better Beatles so damn cool is that they truly made these songs something else, it's not just novelty (though that is a factor), there is a lot of intensity in their delivery. They might have been joking about being "better" but maybe they meant it, they certainly sound like they mean it when they sing John and Paul's lyrics, which are often the only recognizable parts of the songs. We can't count the times we've had a customer in the store get reeled in by this record without even knowing that it's Beatles covers and when they find out they say something like 'I don't even like The Beatles but this is fucking cool!' and even for those of us who love the Beatles as well we can agree, this IS *#&@ cool! - Aquarius	0:55:55 (Pop-up)
Fleisher Studios	Betty Boop's Halloween Party	Youtube Audio			0:58:39 (Pop-up)
Emile Christensen	Teach Me How to Yodel	Hooked On Yodeling (The Best Of Kerry Christensen)		Just something I found at the thrift store.	1:05:08 (Pop-up)
Sandra Cross	(Segment) "(Segment)" by "Sandra Cross"	The MMs Bar Recordings		"This one's for all you weirdo found sound and field recording obsessives out there. Not sure where this one would get filed, somewhere between the Conet Project's mysterious numbers stations, rutting red deer, the sounds of drag racing cars, the beeping of a life support system and the collections of voices of the dead via EVP recordings (all things we've stocked!), The MMs Bar Recordings captures something much more mundane, but somehow, just capturing these sounds on tape transforms those original sounds, here removed from their original context, into something strangely fascinating. In a nutshell, these are undoctored recordings of announcements on a particular train line in the UK, recorded between 2006 and 2007, when the artist Sandra Cross was taking said train line weekly, and working on a project called "What Did You Eat Today". Funnily enough, on every train ride, the bar on the train, which served various foods and drinks would announce exactly what it was they were serving, always a slightly different announcement, always a different voice, and always at random times. So Cross became obsessed and recorded them, and Trunk Records on hearing these recordings became equally obsessed, and now it's our turn. And it's not just the actual announcements, the sounds that surround them are equally mesmerizing, the muted rumble of the train, the murmur of voices, the static of the overhead speakers, but it is the MMs Bar announcements that are the core of this collection of recordings, and they are presented here unaltered, as they were captured, so the edits are rough, and there are long stretches with no announcements, just rumbles and whirs, and there are stretches that are a jumble of voices and announcements one after the other, the whole thing IS surprisingly mesmerizing, conjuring up memories of traveling, as well and just sonically interesting. Fans of our found sounds section will no doubt be as obsessed with this as we've become. It's like a Conet Project that makes you hungry, for Anglophiles. Needless to say, way recommended!" - Aquarius	1:07:22 (Pop-up)
Crack: We Are Rock	Strawberries "Strawberries" by "Crack: We Are Rock"	Untitled	7"	Cool cool. A super-limited 7" release from San Francisco's psychedelelectro dirge party band, Crack: We Are Rock. Three hundred and thirty three of these were put out, as part of a 7" series from 333 Recordings. - Aquarius	1:12:35 (Pop-up)
Blanketship	Stop Your Complaining	Klangwunder / The Sound Of Fun Surrounds You		Following up last year's Teen Sounds, SF's Blanketship comes cruisin' along with more delightful aural collage adventures. This time things are a bit more drivin', maybe a bit darker and more aggressive. And unlike many of his past recordings which kept the listener constantly teetering off-kilter with their rapid fire juggling together of puzzle piece samples and mad rhythms, the nine tracks that comprise The Sound Of Fun Surrounds You has a few longer stretches that your ears and toes can catch a grasp of and groove along to for a few bars at least. But that's not to say this cd-r is without its fair share of surprise bursts and giggly bits, those come in spades on the Klangwunder half! Those eight tracks were composed with like-minded People Like Us on WFMU! Always a deliriously good time! - Aquarius	1:17:25 (Pop-up)
Fisch Loops	Track 6 "Track 6" by "Fisch Loops"	(The CD with title in Thai)		Local Utah release. Will fix the info when I can understand it. - Your DJ	1:19:22 (Pop-up)
Bogus Blimp	No Cords No Wires "No Cords No Wires" by "Bogus Blimp"	Cords.wires		Bogus Blimp were nothing like we expected. I mean, they're from Norway. They release records on Garm's (from black metallers Ulver) label Jester. Who could have guessed that they would sound like circus music, or gipsy music, or sort of like Tom Waits. No one. But it is pretty cool! 'Cords. Wires' is Bogus Blimp's second record of dark carnivalesque / horror movie mini-epics with lots of samples, bizarre muttering, raspy vocals and strange sounds galore. - Aquarius	1:23:06 (Pop-up)
Pat Boone	Stairway To Heaven "Stairway To Heaven" by "Pat Boone"	In A Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy		Yes it is for real - Pat Boone in leather and shades, riding a Harley, belting out a dozen heavy metal classics. The likes of Judas Priest, Metallica, Dio, Ozzy, Alice Cooper, etc. All cower trembling at the feet of Mr. Boone, who croons their tunes in amazingly hilarious and often quite catchy pop arrangements...You haven't lived until you've heard "Crazy Train" complete with swinging horns and the "choo-choos" of backing vocalists! - Aquarius	1:26:30 (Pop-up)
Bernard Fort	Morning in the Palenque Jungle, Pt. 1 (Segment)	Paysages sonores du Mexique (Soundscapes of Mexico)			1:31:40 (Pop-up)
Iva Bittova & Vladimir Vaclavek	Uspávanka	Bílé Inferno		From the Clamazon catalog.	1:33:45 (Pop-up)
Conet Project	Gong Station Chimes	Recordings Of Shortwave Numbers Stations			1:40:01 (Pop-up)
The Bran Flakes	Give Yourself A Stereo Check Out	I Don't Have a Friend		Aaah, the fountain overflows with a facetious flood of tweaked tunes from Mr. Mildred Pit and Mr. Otis F. Odder. Together they are the Bran Flakes from Seattle, WA. Giving a tip of the hat to Irwin Chusid (radio host and champion of musical eccentrics everywhere ---Raymond Scott to name but one), they plunder and paste melodic incongruities (what was that?! a tv show theme? and that?! a Nancy Sinatra song? Lawrence Welk? Mickey Mouse?), children's voices, broadcast announcements, frantic beats, and exotica flourishes together like a giant demented pinata. At once, fluffily silly, yet strangely menacing. Features a collaboration with our pal Wobbly. Fabulous fans of Bruce Haack, People Like Us, Quintron, and Negativland, take note. - Aquarius	1:43:18 (Pop-up)
Health	Crimewave "Crimewave" by "Health"	Crystal Castles / HEALTH ‎– Mother Knows Best / Crimewave		I don't know about you, but for the record nerds we know, every vacation is merely an excuse to check out record stores and discover weird bands and see cool shows. Sure we'll deny it, but we won't ever be allowed to forget the time Andee spent at least half of his first trip to Japan, dragging his fiancee Heather around to little hole in the wall record stores, or when Allan made record shopping a priority in Turkey... Well, when Andee was in NYC recently, there was, surprisingly enough, a bit of record shopping, and there were two fantastic musical discoveries, the first, was a band called Holy Fuck, whose record we will get soon and feature on the list, the other, was a band called Health, whose full length we also have, but we figured this split 7" would be a good introduction. Not exactly sure how to describe Health, they're sort of one of those awesome WTF noise rock combos, who weave wildly from sound to sound, while somehow retaining a distinct musical personality. Health, to us at least, sound like part hooky pop, new wave weirdness, Sonic Youth style indie rock soundscaping, and chaotic free noise. Not always in equal measures. The first track here is all chaotic tribal drumming and freaked out noise, angular guitars, and breathy SY style vocals, imagine some hybrid of Sonic Youth, 23 Skidoo and This Heat. Hypnotic and off kilter and so good. The other Health track is some weird eighties electro jam, with weird affected vocals, vintage synths, warm reverbed percussion and even handclaps. But somehow the two tracks sound perfect together... The flipside is the awesomely named Crystal Castles, who are not only named after one of the coolest video games ever, they also sort of sound like a punk rock version of the Crystal Castles music. The core of their sound is full on 8 bit Nintendo core, all bleeps and bloops and buzzes, but over the top is sprawled some fierce Riot Grrl growl, plenty of distortion and crunch, with howled banshee female vocals, swathed in that weird Cher vocal effect. Weird. And then strangely, the other track removes everything BUT the video game jamz, leaving a tune that sounds like it could be music straight from some secret level in Mario Bros.... Nice thick sleeve, with creepy cover art, and pressed on super thick white vinyl. - Aquarius	1:47:08 (Pop-up)
Crystal Castles	Crimewave (Health cover)	Crystal Castles			1:49:19 (Pop-up)
The Bran Flakes	Buttermilk/Goodtimes a Goo Goo	Bounces!		Seattle-based duo The Bran Flakes have put together another cherry of an album. Sonic plunderers who must have ridiculous amounts of thrift-store $1 records, The Bran Flakes painstakingly yet assuredly cut everything up -- macabre children's songs, sleigh bells, latin percussive rattles, afro cuban drumming, tooting horns, minor key strings, occasional drum 'n bass, bad disco, some goofy approximations of dub, wurlitzer organ, noir film samples, oompah oompah in the left channel, funky drummer-style breakbeat on the right -- and arrange everything into precise sonic juxtapositions, resulting in a very confident and enjoyable trip from beginning to end (in fact the end is a three minute long recitation of people's names, jesus how long did it take them to cut that stuff together?) The album's highest point comes when they cut up (Terry Riley "You're Nogood"-style!) everyone's favorite muppets Kermit and Fozzie Bear singing "Movin' right along...". It's so frickin' wonderful and happy go lucky -- can't you just see 'em in the Studebaker? While most comparisons to fellow cut 'n pasters involve names like Wobbly and Negativland, I think the group will fit nicely right next to your Kid Koala tape, your People Like Us cd, and maybe even your 12" collection of solemn DJ Shadow, who uses the same tools -- vinyl -- but never cracks a smile, whereas The Bran Flakes are all about hilarity. Look at what moog pioneer Jean Jacques Perrey says about 'em: "I enjoyed your record very much, it is so fresh, so cool, made for people who have a 'child soul' and at the same time perfectly elaborated harmonically and technically with some funny winks to other composers." Recommended for the lighthearted!	1:53:32 (Pop-up)
Ralph Brown, Harold Smith & John Forsch	The Pastel Jail Bossa Nova	Weathervane's Little Review		One of my neighbors sold me this record. lol	1:56:41 (Pop-up)
Unknown	The Dance Hall Twist (From The Creeping Terror)	The Golden Turkey Album: The Best Songs From The Worst Movies			1:59:26 (Pop-up)

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Listener comments!
	1:57pm BC Sterrett: Welcome! Live in 3 minutes...
	♥ 2:01pm Mx. Baba Bee (e/they): hey there!
	2:03pm BC Sterrett: Hey there Baba Bee!
	2:05pm BC Sterrett: How's the sound level?
	♥ 2:06pm Mx. Baba Bee (e/they): like the "Booming and Zooming" without the Tom Tom Club instrumental accompanying it!
	♥ 2:06pm Mx. Baba Bee (e/they): sounds good here!
	2:07pm BC Sterrett: Great thanks :)
	2:09pm BC Sterrett: What are you doing today?
	2:23pm BC Sterrett: I'm eating a packet of Siracha Peanut Butter. It's interesting...I like it.
	♥ 2:25pm StringOFperils: Hi. Enjoying the klang ton
	2:27pm BC Sterrett: Thanks Hi String!
	2:29pm BC Sterrett: Now I'm eating a Taiwanese salted duck egg. These have been a guilty pleasure of late. Anyone else eating something?
	♥ 2:31pm ARB: Hi darlings!
	♥ 2:32pm ARB: I like those hundred year old eggs but I'm weirded out by what chemicals are in them.
	2:32pm BC Sterrett: Arb!!!
	2:33pm BC Sterrett: Those hundred year eggs are weirdo. I've probably had around 3 or 4 in my life over time. I was first introduced to them by someone saying "it's preserved in horse urine..."
	2:36pm BC Sterrett: My wife is snoring in the next room. Seems to go with the music
	♥ 2:37pm ARB: Same,I've had around 3 or 4 and I think I heard that too!
	2:43pm BC Sterrett: The soothing sounds of The Beach Boys
	♥ 2:48pm StringOFperils: Swanky.
	2:48pm BC Sterrett: ha ha
	♥ 2:51pm Mx. Baba Bee (e/they): BC: hi, again! Ha ha! I was putting together a jigsaw puzzle while waiting for my brother and his wife to show up—haven't seen them in two years. Puzzling sounds, too!
	♥ 2:52pm Mx. Baba Bee (e/they): sri racha peanut butter sounds tasty, like a dipping sauce
	2:52pm BC Sterrett: Ha! That's sounds like the perfect activity during this show
	♥ 2:52pm Mx. Baba Bee (e/they): duck eggs are one of those foods that are too rich for me—duck in general
	2:53pm BC Sterrett: Now I'm eating Herring Fillets...
	2:54pm BC Sterrett: You know it's time to go shopping when all you got is weird odds and ends on the shelf
	3:02pm BC Sterrett: I'm done eating odd stuff today. Going to the market after the show :)
	♥ 3:15pm ARB: Loving Crack
	3:16pm BC Sterrett: It's a new one to me
	3:24pm BC Sterrett: What is everyone up to today?
	3:32pm BC Sterrett: Quiet room ...
	3:34pm BC Sterrett: I guess this is as good a time as any to make an announcement. brb...
	3:39pm BC Sterrett: Looks like I need take a radio break with other life priorities right now involving family, writing a book, opening up a shop, etc etc etc. I'll make an official announcement to the station manager. I can stay till the end of the month in Sheena's. I'll be around however, perhaps I'll show up on the guest DJ hour or do a Halloween special. Anyway, thanks everyone :) Just two more shows of Lost Media Archive!
	♥ 3:51pm PaulRobeson1920: Good afternoon WFMU land! Nice show!!!
	3:52pm BC Sterrett: Hi PaulRobeson1920 :)
	♥ 3:56pm Mx. Baba Bee (e/they): This song is stalking me! Ha hA! Love it!!!
	♥ 3:59pm Brian in UK: This got our beagle barking.
	4:00pm BC Sterrett: ha ha
	4:00pm BC Sterrett: Thanks everyone. See you next time!
	♥ 4:24pm ARB: BC, thank you I love your show and will miss you!

Lost Media Archive (The Radio Show) with BC Sterrett: Playlist from July 9, 2021

Listener comments!

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