Program 680: DJ Favorites - 2021
KALW Broadcast Date: December 26, 2021 | Host: Mark Abramson
This program will be our last for the year 2021, and what a difficult year it was, for all of us! The music we’re playing tonight is a combination of work by some classic new music composers and some new experimental musicians working in the electronics and rock genres. Basically I just played music I wanted to hear as I thought back on all the things that have happened this year. We ended up with a combination of feel-good new music classics and some more modern work that embodies the dread many of us are experiencing at this time. Hopefully there will be better days ahead. We start with a holiday non-sequitur: a version of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” done in low-fi lounge style by The Flaming Lips. Then, in the first half of the program, we’ll hear work from Steve Reich dating from the 1980s, and from Terry Riley dating back to the 1960s. In the second half, we re-focus on the present, with some powerful work from the experimental rock group Swans, and a melancholy piece of electronica from William Basinski. And finally, to either drown our sorrows or celebrate the new year, depending on your mood, we wrap up the year with one of Hawaii’s favorite drinking songs, by Don Ho. Aloha 2021…
Program Audio
30-Second Spot
Track Info & Links
Title: White Christmas (Binson Echorec Sleigh Ride)
Composer: Irving Berlin
Performers: The Flaming Lips
Recording Title: Atlas Eets Christmas (2007)
Record Label: Warner Bros. Records
Catalog Number: 545311-2
Title: Sextet (1984)
Composers: Steve Reich
Performers: Nexus Percussion Ensemble
Recording Title: Works 1965-1995 (1997)
Record Label: Nonesuch
Catalog Number: 79451-2
Title: Poppy No-good and the Phantom Band (1969)
Composer: Terry Riley
Performers: Terry Riley – soprano sax, electric organ, tape and electronics
Recording Title: A Rainbow in Curved Air (1969)
Record Label: CBS
Catalog Number: MK 7315
Title: The Glowing Man
Composer: Swans
Performers: Swans
Recording Title: The Glowing Man (2016)
Record Label: Young God Records
Catalog Number: YG58
Title: A Shadow In Time
Composer: William Basinski
Performers: William Basinski – electronics
Recording Title: A Shadow In Time (2017)
Record Label: 2062 Records
Catalog Number: 20621701CD
Title: Melancholia IX
Composer: William Basinski
Performers: William Basinski – electronics
Recording Title: Melancholia (2014)
Record Label: Temporary Residence
Catalog Number: TRR236
Title: Tiny Bubbles
Composer: Leon Pober
Performers: Don Ho and the Aliis
Recording Title: Don Ho’s Greatest Hits (1970)
Record Label: Reprise Records
Catalog Number: 6357-2
