RADIO 200

1 DAVE GAHAN Hourglass Remixes Mute

2 STEVE REICH Daniel Variations Nonesuch

3 JIM NOIR Jim Noir Barsuk

4 FOUR TET Ringer Domino

5 B-52S Funplex Remix [EP]

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As promised, last Wednesday was a revelatory experience. As promised, Jesus Makes the Shotgun Sound melted our collective face while gently drowning us in relentless waves of orgiastic cosmic joy. As promised, Health owned. If you haven’t already, you really ought to consider making it out these events. They’re kind of historical. Thanks to Matthew Yeung at the Highlander for the photos.

Coming up next Wednesday, Mula and Boogaloo Assassins. Wear your dancing shoes.

So how about that show last Wednesday? it was pretty exciting if you ask me. The bands had almost as much energy if not more than the crowd, which is pretty hard to find in a band today.

Look at the sick air that Paul is getting with his keytar! The skeletones did not disappoint that night and brought ska back to the barn in style. You will definitely see shows like this in the future as well as many other awesome line ups with a little something for everybody.

Of course you can’t forget Mike Park and his awesome set. Some great songs and that video at the beginning of his set, powerful if I say so myself. Defintiely check him out people.

David Wong started things off right even with a little technical difficulties in the beginning. That didn’t stop him from bringing his music to the crowd. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get any pictures of Wong in action, but know he did an amazing job last Wednesday.

Speaking of pictures, all of the pictures used in this blog are used with permission from Sara Zitney and she thanks KUCR for bringing an awesome line up for free.

If you haven’t been to the barn lately, you should definitely change that people. Especially with the show we have coming up this Wednesday. Coming this week is Health headlining and local Riverside act Jesus Makes the Shotgun Sound opening things up. Not to mention KUCR dj’s spinning music throughout the night.

The opening band for the show this week is Jesus Makes the Shotgun Sound. The band’s sound has been described as a transdimensional, psychadelic, melt in your face while gently drowning you in relentless ways of cosmic pleasure sonic experience that you’ll have come down to hear and see for yourself.

JMTSS Seattle

Then we have headliners Health from Los Angeles. Health is known for having played with bands such as Crystal Crystal Castles and Dan Deacon. Health was kind enough to play this show before they embark on a trip to Europe shortly so the show is something you will definitely want to check out.

HEALTH - HEAVEN (NYC)

As always, doors open at 6 and there will be plenty of cheap food and refreshments to satisfy your hunger and thirst respectively. Also for those of you who are on a very tight budget, there is unlimited free chips and salsa so you should definitely take advantage of that while you rock out to the sounds of Health and Jesus Makes the Shotgun Sound this Wednesday at the Barn here in Riverside.

On March 8th 2007, there was an evening of deejaying and a mix of live
hip-hop and reggae performances above Back 2 The Grind café
at a place called “The Studio Downtown.” A feature of the night was a performance by Rumour Rumour featuring Andrew Bees, formerly a lead vocalist of seminal reggae group Black Uhuru. Rumour Rumour is a group consisting of rotating members that play instrumental sounds that reflect an amalgam of styles primarily one would find in regions in the Carribean and along its U.S. coastline. On the night of March 8th, it was their reggae music that was playing throughout HMS studios downtown.

It was close to 1am when the featured music of Rumour Rumour featuring Andrew Bees began. Their set lasted for approximately 30 minutes and it was a mix of material, much of it apparently coming from Andrew Bees’ solo material Hardest of Andrew Beez, as songs such as “System” caught my attention while other remaining tunes were made up of a few classics like Black Uhuru’s “Guess Who Is Coming To Dinner.” The multimember band Rumour Rumour provided tight musicianship. There was a cross section of players/musicians: drummers (drum kit, djembes), rhythm guitarist, bassist, keyboardist (w/effects), saxophonist and vocalist (backup vocals). Andrew Bees’ voice was clear and strong on this night and was able to carry the surrounding music to a harmonious place. Andrew found himself dancing (mashing it up) on stage at moments when the band bridged or jammed intermittently on certain songs and it helped people also feel the music and move around a bit more as well. It was good for people to receive and give the energy.
In final, the set was solid and a good intro for new and local comers to reggae music.

Respect.

A list of players that were apparently in the band lineup on the evening of the March 8th show were: Andrew Bees (lead vocals), Cherith Neely (backup vocals), Json Hedge (drum kit), Juan Carrasquillo (keyboard), Mike Cazares (guitar), Chritopher Bryant (guitar, back up vocals), Tim Newkirk (bassist), Kevin Hooper (percussion, djembes), Joey Hernandez (Saxophone).

To listen to the KUCR field interview with members of Rumour Rumour and
Andrew Bees, click below.

[mp3]http://kucr.org/audio/kucrpodcastandrewbees.mp3[/mp3]

For more information about the artists:
http://www.myspace.com/rumourrumour
http://www.myspace.com/officialandrewbees

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=SAQLjzR-424[/youtube]

With any luck, we’ll be having a post a week or so covering international music. Here’s the first installment featuring Indian virtuoso, U. Srinivas, the first musician to play mandolin in Indian classical music.

Srinivas plays five string electric mandolin in Carnatic style–generally, the two major distinctions made in Indian classical music are between the North and South; the North producing the Hindustani style and the South, Carnatic. This composition is entitled Gananayakam and was written by the composer Muthuswami Dikshitar.

U. Srinivas has recorded a great deal of music over the course of his career, but I don’t recall ever seeing a performance as lucid as this one. Srinivas’ mandolin is amplified in such a fashion that the timbre has just the right amount of bite to it; not too much, but enough for average western ears to be able to make the connection to a guitar played above the twelfth fret (although few Western guitarist have ever managed to coax such expressiveness from their instruments) and the quickness of his fingers can fool the inattentive lister into thinking that the mandolin is running through a delay pedal. The tambura and the percussion provide the foundation for Srinivas to explore the composition, while violinist Delhi P. Sunderarajan provides only occasional input. This is clearly Srinivas’ show.

By the time this recording was made, the west had long ago been introduced to Indian music via Ravi Shankar and George Harrison. In fact Srinivas, who was born in 1969, missed the heyday of Indian influence on British and American psychedelic rock, a period ripe for cross pollination of cultural products (or cultural imperialism, depending on your perspective). Taking the Beatles as the sole example, George Harrison adopted the sitar and took lessons from Ravi Shankar, while Bollywood composer Mohd. Rafi did an arrangement of the Beatles “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” for song and dance. After the 60s and early 70s, efforts at fusion continued with occasionally stunning results, but often fell victim to embarrassing failure. This video, recorded in the 80s, takes all the efforts of rock musicians to make their western instruments sound more Indian and very humbly, politely, and perhaps not even consciously hands them their collective ass. Not even John McLaughlin at the height of Shakti’s prowess had anything on this guy.

If anybody is interested in seeing more recordings from this sessions, there are also longer recordings of the compositions Venkataramana and Tiruvadi Saranam available on Youtube, both of which are equally revelatory.

"I’ve always thought Erykah Badu looked like a really cool human being, but I never really liked her music. I’ve always wanted to, though, because I want to associate cool sounding music with a cool looking person. I kind of like this single, but I’m not sure I can trust myself. Maybe my urge to like Erykah Badu has overridden my critical faculties. Somebody else decide."

dex says - Trust your instincts, Ryan. This one is good.

This week, Ryan reviews Solomon’s Hip-Hopera…

With a special epilogue and confirmation by dex. Reject bin.

Sigur Ros

Hvarf/Heim

(XL; 2007)

When Radiohead fans get bored listening to Kid A and In Rainbows and feel like progging out like their parents did to King Crimson in the early 70’s, they put on Sigur Ros.

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[Wea/Relapse; 2007]

Ire Works, one of the top albums of the year, emerges as Dillinger Escape Plan’s most genre bending and innovative albums. After losing a core member and drummer, Chris Pennie, to a mediocre and half as talented band, Coheed and Cambria; Greg Puciato, Liam Wilson, Ben Weiman, Brian Benoit and replacement drummer, Gil Sharone of Stolen babies, continue the path to solidifying themselves as a band that refuses to lack integrity in a genre of music that is consuming itself; post punk and hardcore.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU2jpHmz2sI[/youtube]

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