JAPAN (#103)

Source here. Originally recorded on April 9th, 1998.

Part hyperbole, part hubris, part hysteria, part hagiography, part hectoring. I'm sort of torn between the bizarre thought that one could capture all of Japan in a 90 minute tape, and the uneasy suspicion that we captured none of it. This tape is full of interwoven words and music and samples and fiction of what other people think of when they think of Japan. Some of us got in there, too.

1. Chipmunk Geisha
2. Country music melodic lope loop
3. Single String Final Battle
4. I'm afraid we played the Vapors
5. Garbage Percussion
6. Mecha-Elvis has returned
7. A Challenger Appears!
8. Up From the Depths
9. Pearls created by Swine
10. The reluctant warrior awakes
11. So, you think you can defeat me?
12. A perception of no true value
13. Return from whence you came
    

Added by IanF-R:We probably should have titled this show "Naïve Westerners' Japan: A Cultural Mis-mapping Odyssey".

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.

Microphone/Macronoise (#93)

Source here. Originally recorded January 29th, 1998.

I spent the last two weekends going to live shows, one of which was Moogfest. I beg your forgiveness.

More than once we had an actual theme, the theme being a limitation on the usual kind of no-holds-barred, free-form mayhem that often took place. This particular show was a show where we started everything with microphones and handheld recording equipment. A genuine din captured live. There are toilet noises, which might be all you need to know.

1. A Pennywhistle for your thoughts.
2. I Fail at Sitar Hero
3. We finally shut off the alarm
4. Background Murmurs and an Organ Recital
5. We built a hurdy gurdy in the junkyard
6. A trek in the parking lot
7. Stuck in the feedback closet
   
8. Distant Weather Report
9. Aetheric Carpentry
10. A slight relenting/recording
11. More Static et.al.
12. Toys and more toys
13. Steel Pot Cathedral