We’ve got a feel-good drone show this week, more toward the relaxing tones than the impending doom side of drone’s sonic spectrum. Blues Control (who just did an awesome show at DC9) along with Vintage Cucumber and Trjaeu provide a tropical-tingle triple-header. Then, in the middle there’s both sides of the new Oneida album, the wonderfully titled A List of the Burning Mountains. Stream away!

Bad Date — Talk Normal — Sunshine

Love at the Swimming Hole — Louis and Bebe Barron — Forbidden Planet: Original MGM Soundtrack

Love’s a Rondo — Blues Control — Valley Tangents

Aloha a hui hau — Vintage Cucumber — Mc Goyl Style

Small Hours — Trjaeu — Heights Peak

The Place Of Dead Things — Eternal Tapestry — Prometheus Rising

Magician Who Makes Grass Green — Sparkling Wide Pressure — Sing What You Remind Me Of

Gun Guri — Korea in the Space — Mt. Pleasure

A List of the Burning Mountains 1 — Oneida — A List of the Burning Mountains

A List of the Burning Mountains 2 — Oneida — A List of the Burning Mountains

2 stoned 2 dream — YlangYlang — Coastal Heaven

The Oppressor — Co La — Soft Power Memento

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (featuring Erykah Badu) — The Flaming Lips — The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends

Vuiet — Sentem — Talim

Gypsum — Blues Control — Valley Tangents

Source: SoundCloud / 20kUnderDC

Just music on this week’s show; dark and droney to match up with last night’s dense fog cover. Things take sort of a desolate country turn toward the middle with tracks by Earth, Appalache, and Daughn Gibson.

Tiny Spiders — The Soft Moon — The Soft Moon

Blank Tape Interlude — Troglobite at Amma House — District Of Noise Vol.5

Beyond the Sea — Monster Rally — Beyond the Sea 

Track 2 — Blonde God — Blonde God

Whunt12for2 — Ariel Pink and R. Stevie Moore — Ku Klux Glam

Untitled 3 — Ulaan Khol — III

OFF WITH HIS HEAD — Black Pus — PUS MORTEM

The Day After 4th July — U.S. Girls — U.S. Girls on KRAAK

You Wish You Were Red — Trailer Trash Tracys — Ester

Vive L’immensite (mastered) — Mpala Garoo — Toto Waca

Athame — Motion Sickness Of Time Travel — Luminaries & Synastry 

Kill The Self That Wants To Kill Yourself (Reprise) — Diamond Terrifier — Kill The Self That Wants To Kill Yourself

Engine Of Ruin — Earth — The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull

R55R — Appalache — Fue

Rain On a Highway — Daughn Gibson — All Hell

Ill Star — Willie Lane — Guitar Army of One

Misery Blues — Karen Dalton — 1966

The Anger of Kings — Chris Corsano — Another Dull Dawn

Meditation (With Wind) — Insect Factory — Love and Circuits: A Cardboard Records Compilation (From Aa to Zs)

Blood Is Clean — Valet — Blood Is Clean

Deep Sea — Monster Rally — Beyond the Sea

Fountains — Horse Bladder — Not I’ll Not

Julius & Hobbes — Witxes — Scrawls #01

I Saw A Ray — Grouper — AIA: Dream Loss

The Return — Padme — Wisdom from the Stars

She’s Adopted — Blanche Blanche Blanche — Bent Minds Comp

The Sea Saw Swell — En — Already Gone

Source: SoundCloud / 20kUnderDC

               

20k Under DC is traveling on the west coast this week so in lieu of regularly scheduled programming here’s a sonic map of the trip. It starts up in Seattle and follows my path all the down to San Francisco presenting music from the various cities I’m passing through or near. It’s by no means an authoritative guide to the west coast; it’s more of a random sampling. Annotated playlist below:

House Shape — Mount Eerie — Clear Moon 

[This whole album is about the city of Anacortes, Washington, the town just north of Seattle where Phil Elverum currently resides.]

Seattle

Sin Nanna — Sun O))) — Black One

Andy Wolff — Minus The Bear — Highly Refined Pirates

Heavy Sleeper — Secret Colors — Jonk Music: Winter Beats ‘12

Fruit — Modest Mouse — The Fruit That Ate Itself

All Night Diner — Modest Mouse — Building Nothing Out Of Something

[Fairly certain this song is a reference to Triple XXX root beer, a drink native to Issaquah, Washington where Modest Mouse started.]

Tacoma

My Hometown — Girl Trouble — New American Shame

Olympia

[Pretty much all the bands in this leg (except for Earth) were part of K Records, a label started by Calvin Johnson and based in Olympia, WA.]

Solar System — The Microphones — Mt. Eerie EP

Instrumental — The Microphones — The Glow Pt. 2

Liar — Bikini Kill — The C.D. Version Of The First Two Records

Rise to Glory — Earth — The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull

Planned Obsolescence — The Halo Benders — Don’t Tell Me Now

[One of Calvin Johnson’s many projects — he’s the one with the baritone. Also includes Doug Martsch from Built to Spill.]

Mistake — D+ — Mistake

Alaska — The Softies — It’s Love

Cast a Shadow — Beat Happening — Black Candy

Hey Boy — The Blow — Poor Aim: Love Songs

Modern Girl — Sleater-Kinney — The Woods

Portland 

The Bookhouse Boys — Angelo Badalamenti — Music From Twin Peaks

[Okay. Not really from the Pacific Northwest, but as an east-coaster Twin Peaks is pretty much how I imagine the Pacific Northwest.]

Rose Parade — Elliott Smith — Either/Or

Poison Cup — M. Ward — Post-War

Valley of Fire — Jackie-O Motherfucker — Valley of Fire

Foiled — Yellow Swans — Going Places

Louie Louie — The Kingsmen — The Kingsmen In Person

[The Kingsmen: Proof that Portland was making music parents didn’t understand even before your parents were your parents.]

San Francisco

Burning Mirrors — Lumerians — Transmalinnia

Slight Return — Odd Nosdam — Level Live Wires

Disco D’oro — Tussle — Kling-Klang

The Man in Your House — Mi Ami — Watersports

[Members were originally part of a DC-based band called Black Eyes.]

Waterfalls — Why? — Elephant Eyelash

cLOUDDEAD / Side B (cLOUDDEAD #6) — cLOUDDEAD — Peel Sessions

The Pedestrian — Bright Moments — Music For the Advancement of Hip-Hop

[From an Anticon sampler. Anticon is a weirdo rap label based in Oakland. It’s home to groups like Why? Odd Nosdam, cLOUDDEAD, and like a dozen more. I’m pretty sure it’s only like five dudes constantly rearranging themselves, though.]

Echnononecho — Mi Ami — Watersports

Fete d’Adieu — Deerhoof — Breakup Song

Source: SoundCloud / 20kUnderDC

On this week’s show we’re joined in the studio by Jeff Surak, founder of the DC-based outré music label Zeromoon (home to “intelligent noise music of the non-entertainment genre”) and director of the Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music.

For the past twelve years Sonic Circuits has been responsible for bringing some of the biggest names in obscure music to the District. This year’s festival—which runs September 28 through 30 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center—is possibly the most diverse yet. Featuring a massive lineup of artists, performances, and workshops, the festival is an impressive sampling of the genres, micro-genres, and not-quite-genres that make up the world of contemporary experimental music. Over the course of its three-day run, you can expect to hear everything from free improv and musique concrète to psychedelic pop and ambient drone.  

Over the course of the hour, Surak walks us through some of this year’s highlights, including cuts from local acts like Janel and Anthony and tracks from world-renowned composers like Glenn Branca. Also discussed: the important distinctions between the theramin and the tannerin.

Primal Communication [excerpt] – Tatsuya Nakatani – Primal Communication

My Dear Siegfried – The David Behrman Ensemble – Statement Against the War   

Sorrows of the Moon – Ergo – If Not Inertia 

Game 2 – Boris Bobby Jr. – Sonic Circuits Volume 5

Rasl – TL0741 – Rasl

Held to Account – TL0741 – Rasl

3e2 – Jeff Carey – Sonic Circuits Volume 5

För Svears Väl – Trepaneringsritualen – Konung Dómaldr Vid Upsala Hängd

Sticky Fingers – Music from the Film – Vi Kommer Til Å Få Deg

Fire Shuffle – Alec K Redfearn and the Eyesores – Sister Death

Big Sur – Janel and Anthony – Where is Home

Light Field (In Consonance) – Glenn Branca – The Ascension

               

The Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music runs September 28 through 30 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street. Tickets can be picked up online or at the box office the of the event.

Source: SoundCloud / 20kUnderDC

      

On tonight’s show we’ve got Meg and Jenna, two of the organizers behind the DC Zinefest. Taking place Saturday, July 28 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at St. Stephen’s Church, the Zinefest is a really cool event that brings together DIY folks of all stripes. It’s a great way to see some neat art, meet creative folks from around the District, and even pick up some zine-making skills of your own.

On air, Meg and Jenna talk a little about the history of the zine, why self-publishing is important, and how to get involved creating your own work.

Source: SoundCloud / 20kUnderDC

20kUnderDC Interview: Co La

Last weekend I got a chance to interview Matt Papich, better known as Co La. The Baltimore musician was performing as part of the Lunch Bytes series at the Hirshhorn Museum along with Oneohtrix Point Never. We talked about everything from his approach to sample-based music to cultural implications of the exotica genre. The whole interview can be read over at Prefix.

20kUnderDC Review: Com Truise “In Decay”

                         

New 20kUnderDC review up on Prefix. This time it’s the retrofuturist producer Com Truise:

The music Seth Haley creates under the moniker Com Truise can best be understood as a series of variations on the same theme. Not to undersell the producer’s talent, but hearing just one track—any track—is all you need to get a handle on what he’s trying to accomplish. In Decay— the new collection of unreleased and demo tracks out on Ghostly International— shows that Haley arrived at his cohesive synth-heavy sound early in his career and perfected it though endlessly reworking the same basic components over and over… [Read the rest over at Prefix]

No guest this week. And do to the seasonal deterioration of good work habits brought about annually by summer weather, we didn’t have much of a playlist prepared for last night’s show, either. Though, looking back, things turned out pretty okay. Some highlights: Lots of short interludes from a two groups Junior Mungus and Nipple Tape, both of which have a knack for creating thick and sludgy beats from jazz samples. Also, more guitar than normal, with finger-picking cuts from Six Organs of Admittance and Takeshi Terauchi & The Bunnys. There’s also two tracks from this awesome compilation of Japanese Juke and Footwork music. It’s a genre we don’t really understand yet, but there’s certainly something to it. 

INTRO — JUNIOR MUNGUS — 5

Wish Upon Wish Island — Hear Hums — Opens

FIVE — JUNIOR MUNGUS — 5

TVV — JUNIOR MUNGUS — 5

e — so — so

kfk — nipple tapes — iii

Zabo — Idaho — This Way Out

Once In Babylon Part 4 — KWJAZ — KWJAZ 

High-Up — hideride (ArtLism.JP) — Japanese Juke&Footworks Compilation

MUDBUT — JUNIOR MUNGUS — 5

yuo — nipple tapes — iii

When You Cut (Gary War Remix) — Moon Duo — Mazes Remixed

Stella in motion, stellar emotions — YlangYlang — Tune your eyes to kaleidoscopic vision

FACE — JUNIOR MUNGUS — 5

So run down — The Caretaker — Extra Patience (After Sebald)

MGM Grand — Thomas William — Deccan Technicolour

Indian Princess — Lee Noble — Horrorism

Strange Gods — Mincemeat Or Tenspeed — Strange Gods

Kokkyo No Machi (Border Town) — Takeshi Terauchi & The Bunnys — Guitar Instrumentals from the New and Olde Worlds

gth — nipple tapes — iii

I Quit, Internet — Cub’b — XX

Limit To Your Love — BADBADNOTGOOD — BBNG2

Delofi’s Compostbin — Oscar McClure — Compost Remixes

Attar — Six Organs Of Admittance — The Sun Awakens

Feathers — Gowns — Dangers of Intimacy

les — nipple tapes — iii

Ritualistic — Authorization — Version 1

Afro-Tourism — Rick Rab — Thick Liquids

El Ventarron — Afrosound — Guitar Mood 2 : More Rare Instrumentals from the New and Olde Worlds

Prismatic Spring — Macaw — CELADON

ICE CREAM — Kitazono Toshiyuki — Japanese Juke & Footworks Compilation

IANDWE — JUNIOR MUNGUS — 5

Live at Xtapool, Njiemegan, Holland — Nautical Almanac — Transcriptedivisions

High In The Cinema — Pens — Hey Friend What You Doing?

Bad Moods — Geneva Jacuzzi — Lamaze

VIETNAM — JUNIOR MUNGUS — 5

Tigantabame — Bola — Volume 7

Olor Food — Komodo Haunts — Low Winged, Silken Plumes

Source: SoundCloud / 20kUnderDC

The Enchanted Sea — Martin Denny — Exotic Moog

Sun Is Melting You And Me — Aquatic Lifeforms — Aquatic Lifeforms

18 — Matthewdavid — DISK

No Trolls — Golden Dwarves — Great Turquoise Message

In Peices — R. Stevie Moore and Ariel Pink — Ku Klux Glam

Insight (Gone II) — Lunar Miasma — Impermanent Nature

Board Walk — Secret Colors — Dreamersss

12 — Matthewdavid — DISK

Couch Surfer — Triptides — Couch Surfer

My Glory Will Be To Sing Eternal Law — Black Zone Myth Chant — Straight

Herrons — Ecstatic Sunshine — Way

Place I Know, Kid Like You — Arthur Russell — World Of Echo

A Fool Persists — Infinite Body — Carve Out The Face Of My God

Preyouandi — Oneohtrix Point Never — Returnal

Houdini Rites — Black To Comm — Alphabet 1968

I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend — Black Tambourine — OneTwoThreeFour

Delight to the Sadist — DJ Signify — Of Cities

Teleporation: KOP — Excepter — Presidence

Calls from California — Wilson Alonso Sanchez — Misaligned Everything

Changes — Sandro Perri — Impossible Spaces

Parties Underground — Color Rabbit — Looking Out Surreal Window

FSCK Pt. II — Space Ghost — DYVNZMBR

Thanks and Praise — Sun Araw + M. Geddes Gengras + The Congos — FRKWYS Vol. 9

Toumani Dialogue — Mean Lady — Kid Friendly EP

Transfer #17 — Cub’b — XX

Negative Space — Blue Sausage Infant — Negative Space

Source: SoundCloud / 20kUnderDC

20kUnderDC Review: Black Tambourine “OneTwoThreeFour”

      New 20kUnderDC review up on Prefix!

Every copy of Black Tambourine’s OneTwoThreeFour should come with a disclaimer, a big Surgeon General’s sticker alerting listeners to exactly what they’re getting into. “Warning: This is not a comeback album. It’s not even really a reunion album, either. Expecting something monumental may cause disappointment.” Consisting of four covers of classic Ramones songs, this ten-minute EP isn’t about a pioneering twee band reclaiming its rightful place at the top of the fuzz-pop dog pile. Hardly a victory lap for the band, the EP was made to honor a different legacy. These songs were recorded as part of the 20th birthday celebration of Chickfactor, a DIY fan zine founded in DC by the band’s lead vocalist Pam Berry along with editor/photographer Gail O’Hara. It’s important to note this, because approaching this release with any grandiose narratives could make you miss what a pleasant little gem these dual 7-inches are… [Read the rest of Prefix]