Ten Minute Bursts (#129)

Source file found here. Originally broadcast on this day 16 years ago(!), October 8th, 1998.

I can only faintly remember the idea for this show--to parcel out the show into 10-minute chunks, trying to cut ourselves off in mid-stride once the timer goes off, to keep from getting stuck into long periods of repetition. Without minutely analyzing the recording to see if that worked, this show doesn't stand out from others that I've heard in any dramatic way. The same tropes and tactics seem to be in effect here: digital FX, forced hypnotic loops, vinyl record manipulation, and non-sequitur text-and-background arrangements.

If anything, the overall show seems less violently disruptive of its own grooves--it gets into a new track and digs on it for a bit, then moves to a different one and tries that for a bit. There are some really great textural sections here, from sharp, cutting distortion to soft, crackly prickles like an aural wool sweater. Recognized sources: Star Wars OST, Led Zep, OOIOO, Melt Banana, Medicine, NIN.

1. Continuous Sandpeople
2. Rubbery-go-round
3. "Die yr roots"
4. Short-circuiting telegraph
5. Tap tap tap--whatisit?
6. Communication freakout
7. Electrified chicken coop
8. Metaphysical tagalongs
9. Train trestle becomes fast drums
10. Funky break, falling horns
11. Resonant whisper
12. Wolf-the-frank
13. Thrum pulse sunrise

Buffer (#128)

Source file found here. Originally broadcast on October 1st, 1998.

"Buffer" because the number 128 reminded me of old computer systems? An aural dumping ground, the shows built up around whatever got picked up, following patterns and relationships not discernible to the distant listener. Some pieces are wholly random and unrelated, lying clumsily against each other like discarded cutouts and leftovers. This could be some run-up-to-Halloween material resting awkwardly between editing experiments, random loops, and effects overloading. Tape manipulations, reversals, and forced-skipping records figure largely in this episode.

1. Water drips on piano keys
2. Pressure release valve
3. Mob scene, Haunted Village, 1952
4. Hot cats and wobbly bolero
5. Lecture and gunfire in drainpipe
6. Yule fawn
7. DO NOT CONCERN YOURSELF
8. Atari Teenage Blabbermouth
9. Jody is losing reality
10. Self-destroying suspicion
11. Windy city loop
12. Out-of-range 80s electro
13. Windchimes & PVC bass

Untitled (#126)

Source found here. Originally broadcast on September 17, 1998.

An energetic workout of the unthemed genus. Featuring crackly records, French whispers, zany whirling, violent spoken word poetry courtesy Attaboy, rushing digital effects, melodic polyrhythms, tinny cheesy tunes, unprepped tape warble, a blind walking tour, xylophonic studies, overblown guitar wringing, and a macro-sense of balance between the chaotic and the orderly.

1. Crumbly whispering
2. The French hang around
3. An unhinging progression
4. [...download complete...]
5. Ranting obscured by synesthesia
6. The mess dissipates outdoors
7. Phased reggae French gurgles
8. The sighted person
9. Dreams losing color
10. Hypnotic vocal chime
11. Metallismo
12. Resonance in cavernous tubes
13. Led Zep on the shortwave

Ob-strats (#118)

Source file here. Originally broadcast on July 23rd, 1998.

Being music geeks—not music nerds, who hold their special knowledge over others to feel powerful—we here at TKDF want everyone who doesn't already know about Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies to hear the good word.

Traditionally the Strategies take the form of a deck of cards, and they are intended as tools for when one gets stuck while doing creative work. They are used to challenge preconceptions and allow one to see things suddenly from a perspective where the problem doesn't exist or doesn't matter. Being fans of Eno in general, we decided to approach the problem of the show with the Strategies in hand. This tells you two things: 1, we sometimes felt doing the show was a "problem", and 2, we like using tools.

If we didn't tell you what Oblique Strategies were, could you tell that this show was produced in a different way? Probably not. It has an appealing, shuddering shimmer of a heartbeat for much of its length, but the component sounds and overall show-shape are within the usual range of loopitude, non-sequiturism, uneasicity, dynamicision, and intentional cruftage. Which is not to still wholeheartedly recommend the Strategies for any and all problems that may arise. As one of my favorite cards exclaims, "Try faking it!"

1. Responding to pulses
2. Crackly backward-chanting doctors
3. Tense, endless Italian New-Wave
4. Metallic abrasions
5. Whistling from behind the curtain
6. Almost-dub The Letter
7. Frothing and boiling over onto the mixing console
8. Cavernous, sappy, soulful, pouncing
9. Boomerang yodel
10. Endless-er 'cause it's slower
11. Toads and diseases while channel-surfing
12. An existential question
13. The strategies call for an Ambient 4 coda

1, 2, Free, Form (#112)

A happy Earth Day to our audience. This week's show source file found here. Originally broadcast on June 11th, 1998.

A grubby and unthemed little show. It starts off vocal and voice-based, gets progressively harsher and muddier, ends abruptly, and then starts again. It is well-worn, and thick with dense, chewy layers.

My cohort of helpers always preferred to have a thematic guide for the shows, but I tended to not plan very far in advance, so more often than not, this kind of thing is what we got. In my opinion, this is a good example of when it worked.

I also can't tell if the two sides of the tape got swapped, or this is a combination recording of a couple of different shows. The break near the middle where our show ends and the hip-hop deejay is baffled by the wall of noise he is following comes at exactly the right time. But that's free form college radio for you—a kind of audio whiplash that is an acquired taste, but can be oh-so-tasty.

1. WHANH WHANH!/Wash ray
2. Abracadabra to you, boss
3. Bells and frothing
4. Epic kung fu battle in crystal bamboo forest
5. Wailing and foam
6. A trick ending
7. Appliance-percussion jazz
8. One big fat hoax
9. Machine breathing/feeling so good
10. Wake up now, the satellite's singing
11. A glitch-beat with tacky synth
12. Japanese Vader
13. Mandarin disco Strauss/abrupt end

A Fate That Must Come To Us All (Death) (#76)

Source is in two files, here and here. Originally broadcast on October 2, 1997.

Perhaps the oldest topic we could have dealt with. Like previously posted shows, the subject is treated less philosophically and more in the juvenile, macabre sense of DEAD BODIES and the grisly details. We are addressing physical death here directly, and there isn't much about grief, mourning, or the afterlife.

Music strewn throughout this killing field varies from jazz and Korean children singing, to Throbbing Gristle and Diamanda Galas. Texts referenced are computer-read horror stories, Monty Python sketches, Princess Diana news coverage, and the two Williams (Shakespeare and Burroughs).

1. Imagine the hell
2. Faint death choirs
3. Crumbling in decay
4. Those are condemned
5. Smooth jazz sacrifice
6. Falling down a well
7. Burier, burner, dumper
8. Mort aux vaches
9. Hypnotic Plague Mass
10. Prospero and Westminster
11. Death needs time
12. Unfair court proceedings
13. Including unfortunate wretches

Guitar (#104)

Source here. Originally recorded on April 16th, 1998.

If you look at the absurdly brief history of rock music, you'll notice that it both starts and ends with the acquisition and abandonment of the electric guitar. Barely an eyeblink in our cultural history, and yet it commandeers an exalted location in our minds.

Preposterous.

This show is made up mostly entirely of guitar samples. The sounds are occasionally processed.

1. Completely Attack-Free
2. Like an amplified spring doorstop.
3. Suddenly, Bass!
4. String Scraping
5. Tradition creeps in
6. Smooth meets Rough
7. Not strictly "Rock", per se
8. Drone Tuning with King Crimson
9. More careful instruction
10. Less practice more flailing
11. Distortion is an instrument unto itself
12. Crunch and Grind
13. Hammer no more the strings

Drum (#119)

Source here. Originally recorded on July 30, 1998.

The title should be a clear indication of the content, but just in case...

This one is all about drums. Looped, flanged, layered, distorted in various ways. It's in fact one of the most rhythmical shows I've come across. There are sections that are downright danceable, and plenty that is sort of a hypnotic throbbing.

1. Like a train on the ocean
2. A moment in a Buddhist temple during a funk concert
3. The native village gets its first washing machine and it is already unbalanced
4. My heart has been replaced with superior robot parts
5. Romanian hip-hop includes castinets
6. Steel drum band in the next warehouse
   
7. CLASH OF THE CARNIVALE AND CHINESE NEW YEAR PARADES
8. We were going to play basketball but the floor was made of awesome
9. Martin Denny joins in
10. Working industrial funk plant
11. Nothing like home-made toys
12. We are cleaning the paint off with hammers
13. A good sanding is what it really needed
    

Some More Stuff (You Know) (#116)

Source here. Originally recorded on July 9th. 1998.

This seems to be a long treatise on the effects processor box, which is not, in and of itself, a bad thing. The usual source material gets layered and chopped and screwed and distorted into a dense, fluffy stew. No central theme here except extreme density punctuated by quirky looping.

1. Metal on Springtime
2. Hut, two, hut, two.
3. You've gone through something
4. Kyoto, 2012, on the line
5. Cool feedback, Daddy-O
6. Unsteady Idle
7. Tennis for two
8. Overdrive as commentary on external limitations
9. caw caw caw caw
   
10. Right behind you music!
    
11. I see you soon
    
12. Spin Cycle
13. Retreating Birds and Bells
    

Mysterious Beeping and Static (#105)

Source here. Originally recorded on April 23rd, 1998.

One of the more minimalist versions of the show, this one features an almost ethereal avoidance of anything resembling music. The 10 second delay is looped into the main feed, giving a deep deep deep layered background of the previous few minutes.

1. Morse code test
2. Frequency sweep
3. Most people prefer touch-tone
4. Sonar Tube
5. A murmur of voices is barely distinguishable
6. Whispers in the plenum
7. Ping pong ping pong ping pong
8. Telegrammatic Feedback
9. Very low background radiation
10. Radar dish singing bowl
11. A chorus of chaos
12. A little light grinding
13. Finally, a stringed instrument
    

Tac-Tics (#102)

Source here. Originally recorded on April 2nd, 1998.

All the source material here (and this is of course something that you'll hear my voice and then Lisa's voice go over at the beginning of the show) was taken from an Tennessee collage artist known as "Tac". I can't find anything about Tac (or the tiny label that released him, Atlanta's Suitcase Records) on the internets. We had a box of tapes we worked over rather rigorously for this show. The results are here.

It's quite possible we made everything up except the source material. It might have been given to us on golden tablets by lizard people, for all I can remember. This is unbelievably dense and rewards the repeat listener with unparalleled insight.

1. Can the intro be more awkward?
2. The elephants are eating cats at the diner.
3. Elven belt sander sharpens mushrooms.
4. Car wash of the dammed.
5. Trans-dimensional communications channel.
6. Cement mixer hurdy gurdy.
7. Searching online for "media-blaster" yielded something else.
8. My reverb was stuck in the spin cycle.
9. Wartime British Childrens' Radio Programme.
10. Emergency in the Funkoplex.
11. Auto Body Shop Session.
12. SlowRoboDisco.
13. Let's Try a Noisy Song.
    

added by IanF-r:
I wonder if it was this guy. I seem to remember the name (hard to forget), and he's certainly been going at it long enough.

Night of the Vacuum Cleaners (#95)

Source here. Originally recorded on February 12, 1998.

This is one of my favorite episodes. Like, my most favorite of all, possibly.

We had a herd of vacuum cleaners, microphones of all sorts, and (of course) earplugs. We made a din that was never equaled. We tested the limits of sanity and the WXDU carpet. We alienated the last two people who listened on a regular basis.

God, it was fun. What's amazing (to me) is that it still sounds fun after over ten years.

This sounds like a solid hour of (prepared) vacuum cleaners, with incidental music.

1. Vacuumaquatsi
2. Howling Reverb
3. Stick the Microphone ALL THE WAY IN
4. The Layers Get Pretty Deep
5. Sort of a Solo
6. Not the Chamber Music I'd Imagined
7. We stop Sucking
8. More Air and Strings
9. Flowbee?
10. Analog Synth Counterpoint
11. Spin Down
12. Silence
13. Final Metal Action

Of course, you might as well just say:

1. Vacuum Cleaners
2. Vacuum Cleaners
3. Vacuum Cleaners
4. Vacuum Cleaners
5. Vacuum Cleaners
6. Vacuum Cleaners
7. Vacuum Cleaners
8. Vacuum Cleaners
9. Vacuum Cleaners
10. Vacuum Cleaners
11. Vacuum Cleaners
12. Vacuum Cleaners (reprise)
13. Vacuum Cleaners

added by IanF-r: FWIW, here's an image of the show's abbreviated playlist.

Purty (#65)

Source here. Original airdate July 17, 1997.

The "pretty sounds" show. This post has the unusual and perhaps unimportant distinction of having the airdate (aside from the year) closest to the posting date. One measly day off. This show, far from our usually relentless grating cacophony, is an honest attempt at smoothness, harmony, and a mellow vibe. One thing that really stands out about this track is how much we tried to slow things down and let them develop in a more unforced way.

You are free to come hunt me down for using the phrase "mellow vibe".

1. Bass loving fungus
2. Zen gong pong
3. World's largest glass organ
4. At the car wash
5. Car wash, windows rolled down
6. A brief, rocking interlude
7. Stereo Separation Blues
8. Double time
9. Hork
10. MASTER OF THE PAN FLUTE
11. Ken Nordine loves you
12. Serious violins
13. Who wants the hip-hop?

Added by Ian F-r:
This show's flowsheet.

Moods of TKDF (#63)

Source available here, and the show was originally broadcast on July 3rd, 1997 (thirteen years ago today).

Mood music? Aside from the Space Invaders disco near the beginning of the show, most of the sounds in this episode fall on a mood scale between "Zen-like/Lethargic/Asleep" and "Spacey/Dreamy/Artificially Stimulated". A quiet, or at least sitting/lying down show, for most.

An orchestral record of the smooth, mood music type seems to linger throughout the show in various echo and flange-effect chambers, which to me gives the whole show a happy-sappy feel. Other recognizable sounds are yours truly trying in vain to put a caller on the air, clipped phone messages, and a recording of fireworks mailed to us from another radio show in Minnesota of *their* Fourth of July show.

1. Kosmische Orkester
2. Vague Difficulties
3. Sardonic Warfare
4. Crumbly Snow
5. Blue Flowers
6. Limping Acid
7. Swooping Absence
8. Speedtape Burbles
9. Reverbed Cowbell
10. Misirlou Jazz
11. Gymnasium Pianos
12. Kosmische Kindergarten
13. Churchill's Funeral

Added by Ian F-r:
This show's flowsheet.

Insanity Sounds (#60)

Source available here. The show was originally broadcast on June 15th, 1997.

This show might have been a planned theme show or just named after the theme appeared spontaneously. It seems to hover around/jab at/scurry under the topic of mental health & illness, and it employs delicate as well as blunt instruments. The overall feel is harried, and you can hear a lot of frantic voices, some heavy effects, and an occasionally violent instability, as well as deja vu à la Catch-22 and excerpts from a psychology radio program.

This is a good example of a long-format show which sticks to the collage-mix with little to no break until the end. It's quite difficult to be so frenzied and confused for a straight 90 minutes. Often times the shows drop into musical interludes, but with this one, you get no such breathers.

1. Fuzz For Junk/Extended Cyborg Death Scene
2. A World Insane
3. A Slide Whistle Sneaks Up & Blows in Your Ear
4. Cheering Man Takes His Date to a John Zorn Show
5. Did He Say Dr. Tiger?
6. Strangled or Strangling
7. It's the Bomb-ardier, & He's Still All Right
8. Recipe: Waco Funk-Rock Puree
9. Happy Place Soundtrack
10. Twinkling Spasms in Turtle Soup
11. Talkin' World War Baby Telephone Call Blues
12. Time Travel in the Seventies/Sound of Blood
13. Black Belt Coming Down

Black Boxes (#57)

Source here. Originally recorded on May 22nd, 1997.

I hesitate to say this is a completely muddled mess, because sometimes it just worked out that way. However, in this case we were working with a particular CD and everything just snowballed on itself. The CD was Des Incurables, by Disque 9. And it seemed to infect everything in the show with its off kilter chewy distorted craziness.

I mean, the whole thing is sort of nuts, even the perverse hip-hop stuff at the end.

1. Maybe actually too much stuff going on at once
2. Non-ICP Dark Carnival
3. Jazz Fusion with occasional bursts of Metal
4. Hand Cranked Distortion Pedal
5. Guitar Meets Angle Grinder
6. Brian Eno has a Clumsy Intern
7. Crosstown Moped Muppet Traffic
8. Mushroom Disco
9. Tammy Faye Break
10. Twitchy Creepy Talking Moment
11. Put up the oars and get with the Lord
12. Can't ford the Fjord in a Ford
13. Rocking out with the Chorus

Added by Ian F-R:
I'm so glad to hear this show (and the Disque 9 itself) again. This is one of those records that haunts you for years as a lost unknown classic.
This show's sparse flowsheet.

Fuller Brush Man (#55)

Source here. Originally recorded on May 15, 1997

Yes, I skipped a week.

Sometimes, things get a little busy.

I've made it up to you, though, because this one is EXTRA LONG. Initially, when I was ripping these tapes, when I got to a show that took up two tapes, I'd paste them together. That turned out to be much more of a pain than I thought it would be, so I stopped. This is a show from before that.

Lots of interesting voice samples again, from speeches, stories, and radio plays. More use of reverb, and much more French House music than is necessary.

1. Rubber Band Reverb Speech
2. Round and Round
3. Now you are Scratching
4. Make French House Sound Even More Like Space Disco
5. (#4 Reprise)
6. Piano Prepared by Aliens
7. Tight Loop Kung Fu Battle
8. Do Not Argue with the Cops
9. Coyotes signify wilderness
10. Redneck Rave-Up
11. Excuse Me, Sir
12. Focus! Man!
13. There is No Exemption for Home Taping
    

Added by IanF-R:
This show's flowsheet.

Homemade Secrets (#51)

Source here. Originally broadcast on April 17th, 1997.

Careful observers will note that I skipped a day. That's because the skipped day has a "p1" on the recording, indicating there might be another tape out there waiting to be "ripped" into the computer. We shall see.

More careful observers will note that I misspelled "Homemade" in the metadata. That will be fixed.

This one is airy, expansive, reverberant. The sound stretches out across unknown expanses of space, bouncing back and forth, increasing before dying away. Lots of reverb / echo / delay on this one. We are floating in space. Murmurs of half heard conversations envelop us.

1. Chewy Crunchy Metal Warping
2. Feedback and Violence (Violins?)
3. Bird Filtering
4. Adventures in Surprise Dentistry
5. Overtones and Rocks and Bones
6. Foghorn Film Noir
7. All Static, All The Time
8. Lunar Jazz Broadcast
9. Original Reverberation Nation
10. Whispered Accusations
11. Prelude To The Final Leather Battle
12. Keep Your Heart In Tune
13. Random Musical Outro

Added by IanF-R:
This show's flowsheet.

How to Produce Triskaidekaphobia (#43)

This show's manic first half is laced with squeals and voices which sometimes creep out into the foreground. It then settles a bit into some spatial studies and musical interludes before returning to a whirling vortex noise finale. It makes me wonder whether the show title referred to generating superstitions or simulating them. Overall, it is an entropic exposition, with a reverb-y, dubby feel throughout, meandering through several dark or stormy dub-places before emerging--fairly gently--in the dub-Andes where it began.

1. Eno's Machu Picchu Summer Breeze
2. We Medical Men Call It Paranoia
3. Parrot Fear Dub
4. Fidgeting, Flailing
5. Ricky Nelson's Fav-o-rite Fade-out
6. Negative Space / Celtic Interluding
7. Down in The Hole, Gleaming Edges Visible
8. The Saxophone Debacle
9. Dong Reverb
10. "Light Fuse, Get Away"
11. Spirit Animal Petting Zoo
12. Out of the Lawnmower & Into the Singularity
13. Gentle Flautro Dub

This show's flowsheet. Originally broadcast and recorded on February 20, 1997. Show also available to stream or download here.

Uncharted Waters (#37)

Source here. Originally recorded on January 11, 1997.

Yes, I know, I'm late this week. I plead vacation, and then vacation recovery, and then vacation recovery recovery, for the delay. My body was in revolt (and revolting it was), due to the medley of maladies I visited upon it.

Enough about me, this is about you. This track begins like a maelstrom across a tundra of metal garbage, and the title suggests a journey with unknown destination. After listening to it twice and then three times, I'm still not exactly sure what kind of trip it is (man). Time and distance are compressed and expanded at whim, and sense of place is nebulous at best.

Draw your own conclusions.

1. The Howling Abyss
2. It Was the Beat that Drove them On
3. Martin Denny is not good for a Hangover
4. The Dogs did not Approve
5. Leviathan: 1; Musical Theater: 0
6. Four Documentaries and a Parade
7. Seeing-Eye Lion
8. Cafeteria on Fire
9. Wait, what kind of Mushroom?
10. No Parking in the White Zone
11. Theme from a Parisian Picnic
12. Distant Techno
13. Wunnerful Wunnerful