Spies & Conspiracy (#25) Late in the Evening.

Original source here. Recorded on November 9, 1996

This one enters the murky, misunderstood world of international espionage. The jets screaming through the sky in this track mirror the heavy winds currently outside my window, the errant cool breeze carrying an imaginary whiff of JPTS.

This is heavy on the 50's and 60's. The height of the sexy Cold War antics. The later decades, while still dangerous (look it up?) were decidedly less sexy as the budgets shrank and the glamor faded. Perhaps, too, do the Russians and Eastern Bloc countries pine for the early years, where Leon Theremin himself was designing bugs for his country.

The toys got too small, the nerds took over, it became a war of blue jeans and bean counters. It's over, of course. We no longer hide under our desks as practice. Such is the way of the future.

1. Secret Flyover
2. Psychedelic Transatlantic
3. Join the smaller, slower Air Force
4. Torture Swing
5. Mission Ricochet
6. Here comes the rain again
7. Yet another Bond theme
8. Can we make Mancini smoother? No.
9. Damn you, Samuel Morse
10. The phone call came from the next hotel room
11. Mistaken Identity
12. Salute the Flag
13. Woosh and we're gone
    

Added by IanF-R:
Flowsheet for this show.

Religion and its Predecessor, Feedback (#24)

Original source here. Recorded on November 2, 1996.

This is a pretty good bit of synchronization, seeing as how Easter is just around the corner (although maybe the indulgent nature of this is more suited to Fat Tuesday. It's possible). There's not as much traditional feedback in this one as you might expect, but the fact that I'm currently suffering under a head cold and consuming quite a bit of NyQuil means that it's all sounding a bit more transcendent than usual.

I would say "Take this with a dose of cough syrup", but I am not a doctor or a reverend.

1. To the four corners of the Earth
2. Stomp. Clap. Shout.
3. Speeding up and Slowing down
4. Sweating to the Great Old Ones
5. Religion Blurs the Line Between Country and Gospel.
6. If it's not true for you. It's not true.
7. Which Delta are We Talking About?
8. If the Spirit Moves You
9. Shortwave Message to the Lord
10. Trying to Watch the Game
11. Looking for a Snake to Handle
12. Call to Prayer
13. Greater Than One

Added by IanF-R:
Link to this show's flowsheet

Loopy Lupi Loops (#22) Alcohol May Have Been A Factor

Original source here. Recorded October 19, 1996.

Drinking is strictly verboten while on the air, but when I'm going over a show that's been recorded in the past, it might happen. I blame brunch, and yes I know it's almost eight in the evening.

This particular show was all about the looping; something which we were able to achieve in a billion different ways: One could put tape on a record, causing the needle to skip. An audio tape could be looped on a reel-to-reel or even inside of a cassette. We had a 10 second delay that was used more than once as a really really long loop. Eventually, there were these computers that came in and did all of it. Always, though, the loop (whether beat-matched funk or simply repetitive non-groove) reigned supreme.

1. 1812 Ukelele Overture
2. Vague Led Zeppelin Wannabee
3. Alien Flyby
4. Orchestral Maneuvers, etc.
5. Swoopy Groove Thing
6. Incessant Ringing
7. Statics and Sermons
8. Koo Koo Koo Koo
9. Hidden Metal Ghost
10. Prog Rock with Mallets
11. Meet the Folkers
12. Attack of the Funk Lords
13. Mmm Bop, except not (It's just a thriller)
    

Added by IanF-R:
Link to this show's flowsheet.

This show is quite a murky one, owing probably to poor tape handling during recording process. I think it adds nicely to the atmospheric miasma-tone.
Update:
Actually, I think this was a show where we utilized the reel-to-reel tape loop (see purple/orange photo in sidebar), and (some of) the grain comes from the oxide being slowly ground off the loop of tape as it gets played and recorded and played over and over again.

USATKDFSPACE (#21)

Original source here. Recorded October 12, 1996.

A week of diligent uploading has gotten me well ahead of the game. I'm pleased with this particular development. The breathing room enabled me to play outside in some wonderful weather this afternoon. On a clear day, you can see forever.

On a clear night, which is when we usually performed the show, the sky can open up with stars. During this show, the eyes of the performers - often focused on the tack of a needle in a record groove, the spin of a tape spool, or a cursor tracking a waveform slowly across a screen - were drawn up there into the æther in a cacophony of pop/fringe culture.

Lurching into the stars.

1. Space is the Place
2. Don't forget one in the Command Module
3. 38 Year-Old Americans
4. Now, a New World is Open
5. Spirit in the Sky
6. Barely Able to Penetrate
7. Dune, Sweet
8. Adverb, Verb Noun
9. Apollo 13 Wars
10. IMPORTANT TRANSMISSION
11. John Williams? This Late in the Show?
12. Walk Walk Walk Walk
13. And I Love You
    

Added by IanF-R:
This show's flowsheet is particularly sparse, but the back has a diagram that I must have drawn but don't remember.


What I recognize and remember, content-wise:

• many movie soundtracks
• Sun Ra
• Star Wars storybook record
• Lucia Pamela
• Juno Reactor
• lots of Man...Or Astroman? samples
• Dr. Fiorella Terenzi's recordings from radio telescopes
• DJ Spooky

This show was the collaborative theme-show that really turned out well and inspired others to come. The credit and responsibility for these shows done with friends rests equally across multiple people, and I was usually not organized enough to give much instruction or guidance when themes shows were planned. Nevertheless, they were highlights of my stay at the station. I'll refrain from calling out names, but I do offer my sincere thanks to those souls who braved the studio and put up with my madness-methods for these projects.