Disco Volante - Born Under Punches

In many ways, 1980’s Remain In Light represents the Talking Heads at their creative apex. Band leader David Byrne, along with fellow Talking Heads Tina Weymouth, Chris Franz and Jerry Harrison, luminary utility players like Nona Hendryx and Robert Palmer, and visionary producer Brian Eno collectively gave birth to a masterpiece of experimental pop music.

Fusing such seemingly desperate source material as African poly-rhythms, Kraftwerky electronica, dour, Joy Division drone and Parliament/Funkadelic, Remain In Light is a vision of the world at once frightening and exhilarating, the sound of technological America colliding with the Third World.

The persona Byrne adopts to introduce us to this bizarre universe is something like a revivalist preacher, something like an ex-CIA agent, something like a circus clown. He is a thin man, a man so harried and uncertain, that the mere fact of breathing is even in question. He is dangling on the edge of a nervous breakdown, on the verge of achieving spiritual ecstasy. Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) is my favorite song on the album, and the first on this week’s playlist.

MP3: Disco Volante – Born Under Punches (right-click-save-as)

1. Talking Heads - Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) (5:49) 2. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Ballad of the Sin Eater (5:20) 3. MF DOOM - Curls (4:09) 4. Electrelane - The Valleys (5:20) 5. Caetano Veloso - It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (6:07) 6. Maria Muldaur - Midnight at the Oasis (3:46) 7. Piero Piccioni - Colpo Rovente (3:43) 8. Fela Kuti - Expensive Shit (13:14) 9. MC Lyte - Stop, Look, Listen (3:20) 10. The Emotions - I Like It (1:59) 11. Erykah Badu - The Cell (4:20) 12. Otis Brown - Boneless Chicken (1:45)

DISCO VOLANTE - Body Rock

I have a friend who grew up in Brooklyn in the late 1990’s, back when Mos Def was just a neighborhood MC, and he remembers the hype being almost deafening. He was the next big thing, all anybody could talk about. And it would be hard for any hip hop fan to deny his talent after listening to his 1998 collaboration with Talib Kweli, Black Star, an instant classic. Whether or not he’s lived up to his potential is debatable. After that first (and so far only) Black Star album, he released an excellent solo LP, Black On Both Sides, but his subsequent releases, The New Danger and True Magic haven’t quite lived up to the standards of the first.

These days it seems like Mos is more interested in acting than rapping, after several appearances on The Chappelle Show, an Emmy nomination for Something The Lord Made Me, and co-starring as Ford Prefect in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. I even saw him on an episode of House on Monday!

But I’m really excited for his upcoming The Ecstatic, (mostly because of this Youtube video which shows Mos rattling off MF Doom rhymes, he’s a true hip hop fan!)

On this week’s opening track from the 1998 Lyricist Lounge compilation, Mos is joined by Q-tip and Tash from the Alkoholics for a really fun song, Body Rock, which features Mos at his early, laid back best.

Excelsior!

MP3: DISCO VOLANTE – Body Rock (right click "save as")

1. Mos Def - Body Rock [feat. Q-Tip & Tash] (5:11) 2. Tom Waits - Way Down in the Hole (1:44) 3. Animal Collective - Leaf House (2:42) 4. Savath & Savalas - Apnea Obstructiva (4:55) 5. Nouvelle Vague - This Is Not A Love Song (3:47) 6. Cornelius - Brazil (3:27) 7. Komeda - Focus (3:38) 8. Jack Logan - Shrunken Head (2:54) 9. Pavement - Black Out (2:10) 10. Shuggie Otis - Inspiration Information (4:12) 11. Jaga Jazzist - Soumi Finland (7:28) 12. Jaga Jazzist - Real Racers Have Doors (3:32) 13. Majesticons - Parlour Party (3:18) 14. John Lennon - #9 Dream (4:48) 15. The Tragically Hip - Eldorado (3:47)

DISCO VOLANTE – CLOUD SONG

It’s 1968 at UCLA in California, the season of the hippy is in full swing, and teacher/ethnomusicologist Joseph Byrd wants him some of that free-wheelin’, free-lovin’, psychedelic hippy action. Leaving his teaching gig to play music full time, Byrd recruits students Dorothy Moskowitz (vocals,) Rand Forbes (bass,) Gordon Marron (electric violin,) and Craig Woodson (drums,) to form a band and record a truly groovy record, the self-titled United States of America, LP.

The album is a paisley tapestry of psychedelia, with swirling arrangements and ethereal vocals, and perhaps most notably, eschewed the use of the electric guitar completely, in favor of keyboards and early electronic synthesizers and processors. Perhaps that’s why, commercially, it didn’t fare very well – in the rock ‘n roll game you’ve gotta have a guitar hero. Members of the group were arrested for drug possession and Byrd, apparently, was a bit of a tyrant and very difficult to work with. And so, like most things rare and beautiful, the United States of America died and early death, disbanding shortly after their record’s release.

But we’ll always have the music, like the beautiful Cloud Song, which opens this week’s playlist.

Excelsior!

MP3: Disco Volante – Cloud Song

1. The United States of America - Cloud Song (3:20) 2. Corinne Bailey Rae - Munich (Editors Cover) (3:58) 3. Lambchop - Up With People (Zero 7 Reprise) (5:28) 4. Amon Düül 2 - Archangel Thunderbird (3:33) 5. The Go! Team - Bull in the Heather (Sonic Youth Cover) (2:59) 6. M.I.A. - Boyz (3:27) 7. Ladybug feat. Warrior Queen - Dem A Bomb We (3:21) 8. Kurtis Blow - The Breaks (7:47) 9. Breakout - Planet Rock Pt 1 (Afrika Bambaataa Cover) (4:33) 10. Apostle of Hustle - The Naked and Alone (4:36) 11. GZA/Genius - Swordsman (3:21) 12. Feist - Mushaboom (K-Os Mix) (4:01) 13. Steely Dan - Black Cow (5:08) 14. Anne Waldman - Musical Garden (3:38)

DISCO VOLANTE: Street Preacher

DISCO VOLANTE – Street Preacher

*Sorry I was so late this week everybody, but Disco Volante is now switching over to Sundays, beginning with today's installment. Enjoy...*

I must confess, I don’t know an awful lot about or opening act, the Troublemakers, and my research has born little fruit. DJ’s Fred Berthet, Arnaud Taillefer and Lionel Corsini aka DJ Oil hail from Marsailles, France, and have released three albums, the 2004 film score Express Way, the 2003 mix album Stereo Pictures, and their 2001 debut Doubts & Convictions, the only one I own and from which we take our opener.

I’m not even sure how I got the album. Did I get it from Greg? It has a Greg type of feel to it. Wherever I got it, I’m glad I did, Doubts & Convictions is a cinematic and utterly charming melange of acid jazz, instrumental hip-hop, funk, house, samba and god knows what else, peppered with some truly funny vocal samples, like the rant which begins our first song, Street Preacher. Bonus points to anyone who can name the early 90’s indie film it comes from.

Excelsior!

MP3: DISCO VOLANTE – Street Preacher

1. Troublemakers – Street Preacher (6:16) 2. Peter Bjorn And John – Young Folks (4:39) 3. Luna – California (All The Way) (4:15) 4. Edson Frederico – Bobeira (3:10) 5. Os Mutantes – A Minha Menina (4:42) 6. The Slits – In the Beginning, There Was Rhythm (5:35) 7. Pixies – No. 13 Baby (3:51) 8. Devo – Be Stiff (2:35) 9. The Afghan Whigs – Miles Is Dead (5:06) 10. Enon – Disposable Parts (1:52) 11. Barbara Morgenstern – Come To Berlin (Telefon Tel Aviv Mix) (5:14) 12. Bat For Lashes – Pearl’s Dream (4:45) 13. Portishead - Silence (5:06)

DISCO VOLANTE: Alone Together

In the mid 1990's, dj/producer/instrumentalist Yuka Honda was one half of the Manhattan J-pop phenomena Cibo Matto, a more than slightly twisted but cute as a button hip hop band whose wildly eclectic debut album, Viva La Woman! was an instant classic, one of the best examples of layered sampling I can think of, and a used cd bin glittering gem (like Last Splash or Elastica.)

Since the band split up in 2001, Yuka has worked on remix projects with everyone from Yoko Ono to Medeski, Martin & Wood, and released two fantastic solo albums of elegant, organic-sounding electronica. I love her song titles, like "Why Are You Lying to Your Therapist?" and "Spooning with Jackknife".

Here she reunites with former bandmate, Miho Hatori, herself enjoying a promising solo career, and former that dog violinist/vocalist Petra Haden, whose acapella version of The Who Sell Out has to be heard to be believed.

Excelsior!


MP3: DISCO VOLANTE: Alone Together (right-click-save-as)

1. Yuka Honda - Humming Song (Alone Together) (3:44)2. M.I.A. - MIA's Thing (MIA vs Amerie-Carrasco! mash-up) (4:25)3. Public Image Ltd. - Seattle (3:41)4. Public Enemy - Don't Believe The Hype (5:19)5. The Sea and Cake - Sound & Vision (4:06)6. Joan As Police Woman - Eternal Flame (3:39)7. Devendra Banhart - Mama Wolf (3:54)8. Destroyer - The Sublimation Hour (4:12)9. Cornershop - Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu (3:23)10. The Fall - Arid Al's Dream (4:48)11. CAN - I'm So Green (3:07)12. Camp Lo - Luchini (This Is It) (3:59)13. Stereolab - Household Names (3:42)14. Kate Bush - There Goes A Tenner (3:26)

DISCO VOLANTE - Bird's Lament

Greetings, True Belivers.

How do you measure success? Is it by the size of the checks you cash? The number of gold records you sell or Grammy's you win? What constitutes a successful life? By all the usual standards, Louis Thomas Hardin wasn't much of a success, blind, living on the streets, toiling in obscurity for an often unappreciative and mocking public. But to many, the man who called himself Moondog was a rare, if eccentric genius, and lived a remarkable life.

For nearly 30 years, "The Viking of 6th Avenue," was a well known landmark of 53rd Street, Manhattan. Dressed in his handmade costume based on the Norse god Thor, complete with helmet, spear and flowing white beard, Moondog would recite poetry and play music for any and all who'd listen, often using strange instruments of his own design. He recorded many albums through the years, and was championed by no less personages than Artur Rodziński, the conductor of New York Philharmonic . But he refused to give up his life on the streets, until moving to Germany in the 70's.

The first song on this week's playlist, Bird's Lament, is Moondog's tribute to jazz musician Charlie Parker, and a great introduction to the music of Moondog, it's worth seeking out.

MP3: Disco Volante – Bird’s Lament (right-click-save-as)

1. Moondog - Lament I (Bird's Lament) (1:43)2. Pram - Silver Nitrate (4:30)3. Boogie Down Productions - Im Still Number 1 (5:13)4. Erykah Badu - Erykah's Creamy Shower (Bruce Wang Creamshower Mash Up) (3:42)5. Pete Rock & Cl Smooth - Wig Out (4:07)6. Fujiya & Miyagi - Transparent things (2:55)7. Dengue Fever - Sober Driver (4:05)8. White Hinterland - Dreaming of the Plum Trees (4:52)9. Stereolab - Pack Yr Romantic Mind (5:06)10. M83 - Kim & Jessie (5:23)11. R.E.M. - The One I Love (3:17)12. Cat Power - Ramblin' (Wo)Man (3:47)13. A Tribe Called Quest - Footprints (4:02)

I'm Late! I'm Late!

Sorry Sports fans! Due to technical difficulties our regularly scheduled Thursday podcast will be one day late. Can you stand it? Sorry to disappoint, but we'll be back tomorrow!