Radio David Byrne


We changed our intranet anatomy, so the mp3 server is on another subnet from the PC I use in the back. iTunes sharing doesn't work across subnets, I gather. So, instead of setting it up to work across the subnets, I'm just too busy and/or lazy to do that, and I end up listening to radio via iTunes. I like the eclectic stuff, and David Byrne's monthly music sampler is usually pretty good. Anyone who's familiar with his Luaka Bop compilations wouldn't be surprised. He has a good ear. The site is Radio David Byrne.

He puts together a new two-hour or so program each month, which loops constantly, and sometimes it's classical, sometimes, like this week, it's pretty much pop. But no matter what, I end up enjoying it. For example, a few months back he had a set with Panda Bear, Ron Sexsmith, Regina Spektor, Niobe, among others, and it was super. Panda Bear, in particular, hits the spot. There's an innocence, an optimism in there. Some of the tracks on Animal Collective's latest, Strawberry Jam, hit a similar vein. My wife's funny, when I put it on in the car, she gave me a "what is that shit?" look. But then again, I listened to the last track at least 10 times in a row.

As a sometime cataloger, longtime listener, it's fun detective work to figure out where some of these record labels hang their hats. For example, Manu Chao's latest, La Radiolina on Nacional Records: the liner notes drove me nuts. Maybe the label address was in there somewhere, but I usually end up going out to the web to find where they are. With Animal Collective, I was bouncing around, and I see today that they were in Boston the day after I bought the CD, que pena. I also found a neat interview with Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear; just questions that the label asks its artists to answer for the label's website, and it was cool to see that he grooves to Blazing Saddles, "Randolph Scott!", as well as Brazilian telenovelas, since he lives in Lisbon. Speaking of telenovelas, I wanted to call our new beagle puppy, Leiticia, because of a Brazilian soap. We didn't, but I just loved how the guy on the show always said it. It took place in the Nordeste. Now, it's gonna bug me all day. I can't remember the name of that show. It was on around fifteen years ago, right before O Dono do Mundo on Rede Globo. No, wait, before Journal Nacional. The headliner telenovela would show after JN. That was a weird time, watching the first Gulf War from Brazil, btw. Ramble, ramble...

So what do you call this kind of music? Trip-pop? I'd put the Flaming Lips in the same genre, if I had to. But, I'd rather not. It just _is_, man. (said in Homer's hippie voice.)

Anyhoo, getting back to David Byrne's program, this month he's got a song on that's by Bonde do Tigrão, "O Baile Todo" or "Só As Cachorras" , that's a reworking of the Baha Men's "Who Let The Dogs Out". This style of music, Baile Funk, Funk Carioca, was popular when we took our boys down to Brazil for the first time to meet the relatives. There's another one they had, "Tchutchuca", that was also fun. Sort of Beastie Boyish. So, when was that, winter of 2000-2001? Good times. That song makes me laugh. Brazil goes through these musical fads that sweep the nation every few years or so, then you never hear of them again. 1989-1990...lambada and Fernando Collor were taking Brazil by storm. Two years later, both were recognized for their inherent evil. Ripley's, I still have some lambada CDs in my collection. "A little classical music there, Jim." Now Collor is back in politics, a senator no less. Go figure. Fade in the Ratt: "Round and round, what comes around goes around..." (That's for my youngest son, who's into Guitar Hero.)

Another Brazilian artist I recommend is DJ Dolores, which was recommended to me by my brother. He's got some newer stuff out, but there's a song "Salvo (the Preacher), that is really cool. In fact, although it's upbeat more than spooky, (Jezebel!) it reminds me of David Byrne & Brian Eno's My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts album. There are samples of a preacher throughout it, although I can't really make much of it out. "Salvo eu sou." Also a bit of the sign of the cross. My wife isn't into helping me figure it out. Just like going to a mass held in Portuguese. It's rough. All those vossas. DJ Dolores, from what I read, is from Recife, so the marching band horns make sense. Check it out. There's a snippet on iTunes, although it doesn't get to the horns part. Salvo (The Preacher)

Posted: Mon - September 10, 2007 at 04:47 PM      

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