taintradio

Songs on Toast – 07/31/2009

Posted by Brian Cullman on July 31, 2009 @ 12:00 am | Comments Off on Songs on Toast – 07/31/2009

FreeWorldNetworkRadio-X – 07/30/2009

Posted by Bruce Mack on July 30, 2009 @ 12:00 am

So far my favorite concert of the summer: Tuesday night i went to see and hear Tower Of Power put a hurtin’ on the stage at City Winery in NYC! City Winery (generic names are the trend right now…you know the deal.. no hype leaves something to be desired) is a very beautiful room themed of dark wood&iron sort of like a fancy wine cellar and has fine food and spirits I might add… it is a place you can bring the whole family and apparently is owned by Michael Dorf of Knitting Factory fame. I got home from the show around 1:30am and by 2:42am I still couldn’t settle down. I just wanted to pll out all the Tower Of Power CDs or vynyl I have and play it loud! Beside being in top form, Tower Of Power is in their 41st year and they played as if they were in their 2nd year of existence with something to prove. As many of you know, this band has nothing to prove to anyone… they’ve done that already by influencing a world of musicians and are part of a very special time for creation in popular American music -the late 1960’s and 1970’s. It was a crazy tight and funky set featuring founding members, leader- Emilio Castilio on tenor sax&vocals, Stephen “Doc” Kupka- Baritone sax&vocals, Francis “Rocco” Prestia-Bass, and David Garibaldi-Drums! The new singer -Larry Bragg has a clear and expressive tenor voice that cuts through all the syncopation of T.O.P.’s unique rhythm section with ease. He clearly has a voice of his own but really gets what T.O.P. is about. You can hear glimpses of the great and former lead vocalist Lenny Williams in him of course… I mean how could one not bring that to the table for anyone ready to digest Tower Of Power? I mean outside the horns and rhythm section, Lenny’s voice became just as much a signature of the band as the other components to the point where one might imagine him to be there while knowing he left the band after only a 2 and 1/2 year stint (1972-74)! A big impact Lenny made and obviously some big shoes to fill for anyone not to slight the rest of the band by NO MEANS… So I give much props to Larry Bragg, because he did his thing in a world where singers come a dime-a dozen. But that wasn’t it, former band member and lead tenor sax soloist – Lenny Pickett joined the posse for some cameo stage time and exceptional solos! Come on now, it just doesn’t get much better for a TOP fan after 40 years… Lenny Pickett blew his horn ’til it literally whistled elongated tones reminiscent of the late-great St. Clair Pinckney (The JB’s)- he was blazing! Then one of my favorite trumpeters appears as special guest sololist – Mr. James Zollar! Yo!!! Mr. Zollar (who I met while working with Atiba Wilson) was killin’! He soloed on “You’re Still A Young Man” beautifully and later (in the 2nd set which I was so fortunate and grateful to be around for – thanks Jared & Mr. Dorf) he and Lenny blew the audience away with killer solos on “What Is Hip”! Oh, btw, the fact that in the middle of their sets they performed a mini-tribute to James Brown didn’t help to calm things down – they flat out tore up “It’s A New Day” and “There It Is”!
All I can say is… it is almost 3am now and I still can’t settle down. It felt as though it was a new sound, yeah, just that fresh it was. Pure hotness! I guess you realize I’ve been funktified again… which isn’t hard for me to be since that’s what I’m pretty much about… so bare with me if I roll with some back-to-back funk in this show.
I deliberately do not play stuff back-to-back because it would stifle may various tastes and be just self gratifying ALL THE TIME. Even one’s own gratification can become boring to the gratified one. That being said, one day I’ll have to do a funk special and trust that T.O.P. will be somewhere at the top of the list along with other horn-based soul/funk and afro-caribbean funk bands like Mandril, The JB’s, The Beginning of the End, Fred Wesley & The Horny Horns, Maceo & The Macks, Kool & The Gang, The Brecker Bros (r.i.p. Michael Brecker), Earth, Wind&Fire, Blood Sweat&Tears, Parliament, the Ohio Players, Fishbone and others… but one thing I found… I still be diggin’ on James Brown…!

As a matter of fact and in keeping within the format of what I do: I have some new funk from the artist- Dayton Flic and something I just picked up after meeting a band I enjoyed in Philadelphia known as the Ross Brown Project, so that’s how we’ll start off this set. Enjoy. – Bruce

Van Morrison’s contractual obligation album

Posted by Todd Morman on July 29, 2009 @ 10:20 pm | Comments Off on Van Morrison’s contractual obligation album

Why has it taken me so long to discover the album Van Morrison recorded to get out of his contract with Bang Records? Songs like “Want a Danish,” “Ringworm” and “Blow In Your Nose” make it one of the great ‘fuck you’s’ in rock history:

In order to fulfill his obligation to his early solo label Bang Records, Van Morrison sat down in 1967 or so and cranked out 31 songs on the spot, on topics ranging from ringworm to wanting a danish, to hating his record label and a guy named George. Make sure you get past the first few tunes – it takes him a few to get cooking.

[via this Metafilter thread about this fun linguistic analysis of a Morrison audience insult (marred only by the linguist’s inexplicable inability to appreciate Morrison’s musical genius)]

Monkey Mind – 07/27/2009

Posted by Todd Morman on July 29, 2009 @ 9:52 pm | Comments Off on Monkey Mind – 07/27/2009

Updoc 51: The Heat: 7/24/09

Posted by Rafi Zabor on July 25, 2009 @ 6:48 am | Comments Off on Updoc 51: The Heat: 7/24/09

Opening theme: Sidney Bechet: Summertime; Giants of Jazz (Time-Life)

1 – 2. Kip Hanrahan: Two (Still in Half-Light); Far From Freetown: Desire Develops an Edge (American Clavé)
3 – 6. Kip Hanrahan: Sharazade (Opening); Aziz and Azizah (Opening); Diente De Oro; Aziz and Azizah (Continued): A Thousand Nights and a Night (American Clavé)
7 – 8. Silvana DiLuigi: La Cumparsita; Discepolin: Yo! (American Clavé)
9 – 12. Jon Balke/Amina Alaoui: Safwati; Itimad; Thulâtiyat; Toda ciencia Trascendiendo: Siwan (ECM)
13 – 14: Silvana Diluigi: Cuesta Abajo; Milonga de los Vientos: Yo! (American Clavé)
15 – 18: Kip Hanrahan: Busses From Heaven; Caravaggio – A Quick Balance; One Summer Afternoon (for Gil Evans); Salt in the Mozambique Evening: Beautiful Scars (American Clavé)

Out theme: Brigitte Bardot: Les Amis de la Musique; Hellenika Diethni (Lyra)

Songs on Toast – 07/24/2009

Posted by Brian Cullman on July 24, 2009 @ 12:00 am | Comments Off on Songs on Toast – 07/24/2009

Covers (instr.)

FreeWorldNetworkRadio-X – 07/23/2009

Posted by Bruce Mack on July 23, 2009 @ 12:00 am

This is epsiode No.7. The interview with Michael Hill’s Blues Mob (featured in episode 6, hour-2) can be heard in 3 parts at http://www.brucemack.com/fwnr. Also, if you do not see a play-list posting for any particular week, please send me an email request and I will send it to you. E-mail to bruce.mack@taintradio.org

Monkey Mind – 07/20/2009

Posted by Todd Morman on July 20, 2009 @ 4:48 pm | Comments Off on Monkey Mind – 07/20/2009

“I’m Reaching Out on All Sides” by the British 70s band If is dedicated to Steve, cohost of the new Taint show “The Hidden Places.” (Progrock 4evah.) I guess the others are dedicated to everyone else. Btw, and apropos of pretty much nothing, if you’ve never read Frank Zappa’s piece from the June 1971 issue of Stereo Review, about his childhood obsession with Edgard Varèse, treat yourself. It’s great.

B.P.R.D. – 07/19/2009

Posted by Todd Morman on July 19, 2009 @ 1:31 pm | Comments Off on B.P.R.D. – 07/19/2009

This week, a few dada- and jazz-inspired classical pieces from Ervin Schulhoff, Darius Milhaud and Stefan Wolpe, mostly from the 1920s, an amazing period for this kind of stuff. Schulhoff’s ‘Sonata Erotica’ is all the more hilarious for being written in 1919 – it’s a short vocal piece for a woman who whispers, giggles, coos, builds to a shrieking orgasm (twice) and then relaxes with a drink. My kinda tune. If you don’t know him, Schulhoff’s a fascinating guy – well worth a click or two.

Updoc 50: Piano Glances: 7/17/09

Posted by Rafi Zabor on July 18, 2009 @ 5:23 pm | 2 Comments

Opening theme: Art Ensemble of Chicago: Nice Guys [title tune] (ECM)

1 – 3. Steve Kuhn/Sheila Jordan: Tomorow’s Son, Gentle Thoughts, Poem for No. 15: Life’s Backward Glances – Solo and Quartet/Playground (ECM)
4. Maurice Ravel/Jean-Yves Thibaudet: Gaspard de la Nuit; L’Oeuvre Pour Piano Seul (Decca)
5. George Russell/Sheila Jordan: You Are My Sunshine; The Outer View (Riverside/Prestige)
6. Steve Kuhn: I Want to Talk About You; Mostly Coltrane (ECM)
7. Ravel/Thibaudet: Le Tombeau de Couperin; L’Oeuvre Pour Piano Seul (Decca)
8 – 10. Steve Kuhn/Sheila Jordan: The Zoo, Deep Tango, Life’s Backward Glance; Life’s Backward Glances – Solo and Quartet /Playground (ECM)
11. Steve Kuhn: With Gratitude; Mostly Coltrane (ECM)