#LEAPDAY2020 on What’s This Called? at Freeform Portland your host Ricardo Wang pays tribute to songwriter and guitarist of Rain Parade, Clay Allison, Opal, and Mazzy Star, David Roback who passed away this week.

A highly #Psychedelic array of #ExperimentalMusic #PostPunk #Drone #Noise and

#AvantRock featuring Roback’s own music side by side with contemporaries such as The Dream Syndicate and Green On Red to his influences such as Love and the thirteenth floor elevators as well as only tangentially related #Psychedelia and #SpaceMusic from Wooden Shjips to Hawkwind.

HEAR THE FIRST HOUR HERE:

HEAR THE SECOND HOUR HERE:

PLAYLIST:

• The Rain Parade “No Easy Way Down” [Emergency Third Rail Power Trip]
• Opal “Soul GIver” [Happy nightmare baby]
• CAN “Oh Yeah – 2011 Remastered” [Tago Mago (2011 Remastered)]
• Green On Red “(Gee Ain’t It Funny) How Time Slips Away” [No Free Lunch]
• Giant Sand “Mope-a-Long” [Backyard Bbq Broadcast (25th Anniversary Edition)]
• Giant Sand “Lean” [Backyard Bbq Broadcast (25th Anniversary Edition)]
• Rainy Day “Rainy Day Dream Away” [Rainy Day]
• Hawkwind “We Took the Wrong Step Years Ago – 1996 Remaster” [In Search Of Space]
• Lou Reed “How Do You Think It Feels” [Berlin]
• Big Star “Nighttime” [Third (Sister Lovers)]
• Rainy Day “Holocaust” [Rainy Day]
• The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown “Come & Buy” [The Crazy World of Arthur Brown]
• Wooden Shjips “Everybody Knows” [Back to Land]
• Charles Rice Goff III “Moonlight Drive” [Swinging from Loose Hinges]
• Love “Seven and Seven Is (LP) – Version” [Da Capo (Deluxe)]
• Debashish Bhattacharya “Maya” [Calcutta Chronicles: Indian Slide-Guitar Odyssey]
• Nico “No One Is There” [Do or Die!]
• The 13th Floor Elevators “Roller Coaster (2008 Remastered Original Mono LP Version)” [The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators – 2008 Remaster]
• The Beach Boys “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times – Remastered” [Pet Sounds (Original Mono & Stereo Mix Versions)]
• Mazzy Star “Halah” [She Hangs Brightly]
• Opal “Supernova” [Happy Nightmare Baby]

This show is dedicated to my loving spouse Renee Joy who was rubbing my neck in the booth for our 7th Wedding Anniversary.

HEAR THE FIRST HOUR HERE: 

HEAR THE SECOND HOUR HERE: 

PLAYLIST:

• Sun Ra “Love in Outer Space – Vocal” [The Night of the Purple Moon]
• The Left Banke “Walk Away Renee” [There’s Gonna Be A Storm – The Complete Recordings 1966-1969]
• Odd Job “Love Buds” [Live at the Knitting Factory New York City volume two]
• Sonic Youth “Pattern Recognition” [Sonic Nurse]
• CAN “The Empress And The Ukraine King” [Unlimited Edition (Remastered Version)]
• Jessica Lurie Ensemble “Boot Heels” [Megaphone Heart]
• Purpureal Daystar “Attend Quoi” [Soundcloud]
• Gene Harris “Love For Sale” [In A Special Way]
• Enrique Ugalde & the Tuvan Ensemble “Ghost Riders In The Sky/Chylgychynyn” [Single]
• Santiago Latorre “alpha-globin” [Órbita]
• Edward Ka-Spel “Zone 2” [Dream Loops]
• Samuel Goff “Sunrise (cd track)” [5th Annual Report]
• Ornette Coleman “Focus on Sanity” [The Shape Of Jazz To Come]
• Onslaught Ocelot “alice en safari” [Soundcloud]
• David Bowie “I Can’t Give Everything Away” [Blackstar]
• Greg Segal & Ricardo D’Orlando “Cube Farm Neurosis” [Visible]
• nthng-oo “Only the Unsbuduable Can Be Loved (evidence edit)” [Soundcloud]
• Ramsey Lewis “Wade In The Water” [Wade In The Water]
• Palace Music “Valentine’s Day” [Lost Blues and Other Songs]
• Nick Drake “Fly” [Bryter Layter]
• Nadja “Sand Like Skin” [Belles Betes]

Shocked from the news this morning we first say goodbye musically to Andy Gill, guitarist of Gang of Four, followed by a program with everything from new experimental music from Africa, new Portland experimental music from Crystal Quartez, and classic NW noise from Noggin.

HEAR THE FIRST HOUR HERE:

HEAR THE SECOND HOUR HERE:

PLAYLIST:

• Gang Of Four “Anthrax” [Damaged Goods: Post Punk Sounds]
• Gang of Four “To Hell With Poverty” [Damaged Goods]
• Gang Of Four “Damaged Goods” [Damaged Goods: Post Punk Sounds]
• Kim Gordon “Air BnB” [No Home Record]
• Fela Kuti  & Roy Ayers “Africa Center of the World” [The Underground Spiritual Game]
• Hibotep “Acid Diariah” [Alternate African Reality]
• Alec Empire “The Robot Has Put a Voodoospell On Me” [Miss Black America]
• Noggin “And Again And Again And Again And Again into the Breach” [Noggin]
• Katawa Singers “Wela Welako” [Ufulu 1991-1997]
• Gricer “Tonic” [Gricer]
• Alastair Galbraith “Screaming” [Seely Girn]
• Zach Zinn “Coronal Loop” [5th Annual Report]
• Gowns “Feathers” [Gowns]
• The Red Krayola “Bad Medicine” [Fingerpainting]
• Crystal Quartez “Chamber” [Causal Loop]
• Shalloboi “Invisible Against The Sun” [Invisible Against The Sun]
• Pariah Veil “Texas Cauldron” [oms-b023]
• Hawkwind “Gimme Shelter” [It Is the Business of the Future to be Dangerous]
• Giant Sand “Get to Leave” [Backyard BBQ Broadcast]

A special four hour melding of What’s This Called? with the Music of Folk program on Freeform Portland.

HEAR THE FIRST HOUR HERE:

HEAR THE SECOND HOUR HERE: 

HEAR THE THIRD HOUR HERE: 

HEAR THE FOURTH HOUR HERE: 

PLAYLIST:

• Ravi Shankar “Hollywood Dhun” [In Hollywood, 1971]
• Fela Kuti “2000 Blacks Got To Be Free (feat. Roy Ayers) – Edit” [2000 Blacks Got To Be Free (feat. Roy Ayers)]
• The Byrds “This Wheel’s on Fire” [Dr. Byrds And Mr. Hyde]
• Ostanes “Hemelvaart” [Anthology of Persian Experimental Music]
• Son House “Low Down Dirty Blues” [The Alan Lomax Collection]
• Lord Nelson “Shango” [Rough Guide To Voodoo]
• Woody Guthrie “Bound to Lose” [The Alan Lomax Collection]
• Joanna Brouk “The Creative” [Hearing Music]
• Lee Hazelwood “Won’t You Tell Your Dreams” [Requiem For An Almost Lady]
• Kilimani Muslim School “Swala ya mtume” [Music From Tanzania and Zanzibar, Vol. 3]
• Debashish Bhattacharya “Kolkata to Kanyakumari” [Calcutta Chronicles: Indian Slide-Guitar Odyssey]
• Noriko Kodama “Memories” [Abyss]
• Rapoon “Sphinx Wings” [Drone Islands – The Lost Maps]
• Mick Farren “Lost Johnny” [Ork Records: New York, New York]
• Carol Cool “Upside Down” [Soul Jazz Records Presents HUSTLE! Reggae Disco – Kingston, London, New York]
• 22 “Early In The Mornin'” [Prison Songs, Vol. 1: Murderous Home, “Historical Recordings From Parchman Farm 1947-48” – The Alan Lomax Collection]
• Tonga Boys “Buranda” [Vindodo]
• Alex Reagan “Drink Medication” [Horse Printer]
• Joni Mitchell “Both Sides Now” [Both Sides Now]
• Morton Subotnick “The Last Dream of the Beast” [Music for the Double Life of Amphibians]
• Nate Trier “Palehound” [Palehound in a Sea of Color]
• Tehransmission “Leaving the Planet” [Anthology of Persian Experimental Music]
• Owls Are Not “Broadcast from Nowhere” [Radio Tree]
• Bob Dylan “Highway 61 Revisited – Live with The Band, Isle Of Wight, 1969” [Another Self Portrait (1969-1971): The Bootleg Series, Vol. 10]
• Ahmedou Ahmed Lowla “Khal Kar” [Terrouzi]
• Pentangle “Cruel Sister” [Cruel Sister]
• Flora McNeill “The Sister’s Lament” [Scottish Drinking And Pipe Songs (Digitally Remastered)]
• Volcano the Bear “100 Years of Infamy” [Amidst the Noise and Twigs]
• Nick Drake “Parasite” [Pink Moon]
• Wei Chung Loh “Parting at Yang Kwan” [The Secret Museum of Mankind Vol. 3]
• Marta SmiLga “Untitled 11” [Shape Platform 2019]
• Giovanni Di Domenico “Alma Venus” [Distare Sonanti]
• Liquid Letters “Time Portal” [The Liquid Letter]
• 헤이스트링 “A bottomless pit” [Salto]
• Maung Su “Moe Pau Ko Phan (Flower Of Heaven)” [Secret Museum Of Mankind Vol. 3: Ethnic Music Classics: 1925-48]
• Dolphin Midwives “(((astralknot)))” [Orchid Milk]
• Os Ingênuos “Saxophone Porque Choras: Choro” [Dance Music from Brazil]
• Pandit Bhimsen Joshi “Raga Desh” [Voices of India]
• Negativland “Melt the North Pole” [True False]
• Felicia Atkinson “Un Ovale Vert” [The Flower And The Vessel]

A new year and mostly new music, including several tracks from the Unexplained Sounds Group compilation Anthology of Persian Music in honor of our sisters and brothers in Iran under threat of war because of stupid evil leadership conflict between their government and ours. A few older pieces by the likes of Sun Ra and the Chocolate Watchband to round things out.

HEAR HOUR 1 HERE:

HEAR HOUR 2 HERE:

PLAYLIST:

• Guitar Is Dead “The City That Always Sleeps (feat. Tristan Gianola, Maxwell Boecker & Moses Eder)” [Guitar Is Dead (feat. Tristan Gianola, Maxwell Boecker & Moses Eder)]
• Search Ensembles “AC DL CP SK” [Prescient/Legend]
• Reza Solatipour “Darck City” [Anthology of Persian Experimental Music]
• Noriko Kodama “Memories” [Abyss]
• Num “Sound of Guardians” [Anthology of Persian Experimental Music]
• Negativland “True False” [True False]
• Aurelie Nyirabikali Lierman “iota mikro” [Alternate African Reality]
• The Advisory Circle “Escape Lane” [From Out Here]
• Legendary Pink Dots “Roswell Sunset” [Christmas Special 2019]
• The Black Heart Procession “Back to the Underground” [Six]
• RLLRBLL “Mall Witch” [Nu Nexal Nodes]
• The Chocolate Watchband “Dark Side Of The Mushroom” [No Way Out]
• Ten Minute Warning “Stooge” [Demo]
• Big Star “Back Of A Car” [#1 Record/Radio City]
• Sun Ra “Space Is the Place/Over the Rainbow” [Haverford College 1980 Solo Piano]
• Goblin “La Chiesa” [Classic Italian Soundtracks]
• Crystal Cortez “Axial Tilt” [Soundcloud]
• Cat Power “Free” [You Are Free]
• Chantelle Grey “Devestating Side Effects” [Alternate African Reality]
• Bicolor “Them Crown” [Anthology of Persian Experimental Music]

A four hour special on Freeform Portland featuring all music from the What’s This Called? 100 great albums of 2019 list. A crow listened from outside the window.

Hear the First Hour Here:

Hear the Second Hour Here:

Hear the Third Hour Here:

Hear the Four Hour Here:

PLAYLIST:

• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds “Bright Horses” [Ghosteen]
• Sin: Ned & Uneasy Chairs “When They Say The Sky Is Black Our Hearts Will Bleed” [Human Disease II & Other Stories]
• Sunn 0))) “Troubled Air” [Life Metal]
• Jim Jarmusch “Andvari” [Jim Jarmusch / Lee Ranaldo / Marc Urselli / Balazs Pandi]
• Bill Callahan “Young Icarus” [Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest]
• Glenn Branca “Twisting In Space” [The Third Ascension]
• Amy Denio “The Meeting of Foes” [Eureka]
• Iggy Pop “Loves Missing” [Free]
• The Legendary Pink Dots “Double Double” [Angel in the Detail]
• Terry Riley “Terry Riley: Sun Rings: Earth Whistlers” [Terry Riley: Sun Rings]
• John Zorn “Tractatus Musico-Philosophicus (edit)” [Tractatus Musico-Philosophicus]
• Thurston Moore “8 Spring Street” [Spirit Counsel]
• Sudan Archives “Down On Me” [Athena]
• Disxiple_113 “HARMONIC SOMETIME” [SIDRAW]
• Fennesz “Agora” [Agora]
• Diploducus “Prowl of the Concavenator” [Slow and Heavy]
• Taraban “Liberty • Fraternity • Eternity” [How the East Was Lost]
• Galactic Protector “Artificial Gravity” [Evening]
• Floating Points “Bias” [Crush]
• Keiji Haino “6” [A loss permitted to open its eyes for but three hours And there glimpsed, finally in focus a mystery That begs earnestly, “ask me nothing” Now, once more the problem is yours alone]
• The Caretaker “Stage 6: A Confusion So Thick You Forget Forgetting” [Everywhere at the End of Time Stage 6 ]
• HORRIFIC CHILD “Frayeur” [Strain Crack & Break: Volume One (France)]
• Ashtoreth “The Covenant of Branch & Stone” [Hermit by Ashtoreth & Grey Malkin]
• Fischkopf Sinfoniker “Sanctification Through Evisceration” [To The Bone]
• Clark “Flask / Abyss” [Kiri Variations]
• Future Sound of London “Yage 2019” [Yage 2019]
• Amon Tobin “Velvet Owl” [Fear in a Handful of Dust]
• Somesurprises “Free” [Some Candy]
• Eryck Abecassis “Mailes” [Anthology of contemporary music from Africa Continent]
• Kim Gordon “Murdered Out” [No Home Record]
• Negativland “True False” [True False]

While the program has featured end of year shows and lists off and on through the 25+ years What’s This Called? has been going, it has not been an annual tradition. Simply put, some years the show has been more focused on experimental musics in general than on the sounds of the current moment. Oftentimes that is because a given years didn’t feature enough new releases to fill a show or the interest of your host.

This was NOT the case with 2019. Your host Ricardo Wang set out to do a top ten for the year and found quickly that ten was not a reasonable number to list even the most played and enjoyed 2019 album releases from the show. Twenty quickly was not enough either and when it became clear that a list of 100 albums was imminent, research ensued into as many records that had been missed as possible. Perhaps it was because artists wanted to get a great album done for the end of the decade. Perhaps the insane global political climate has made artists want to do something in the only way they know how. Perhaps 2019 was the year artists started to realize that technology and crumbling economics had now made them able to produce and share “professional” quality albums without having to kow-tow to the dying music industry.

What follows is a list or albums that your host Ricardo Wang has listened to and ranked arbitrarily. The ranking is not based upon airplay or popularity or anything other than DJ preference. The order would probably change tomorrow and would certainly do so in another week. Any record on this list is a great listen, and believe it or not, keeping it at 100!

Top 2019 Albums

1.       Negativland – True False (Seeland)
2.       Kim Gordon – No Home Record (Matador)
3.       Nick Cave – Ghosteen (Ghosteen Ltd.)
4.       Thurston Moore – Spirit Counsel (Daydream Library)      
5.        Iggy Pop – Free (Loma Vista)
6.        Keiji Haino & Charles Hayward – A loss permitted to open its eyes for but three hours And there glimpsed, finally in focus a mystery That begs earnestly, “ask me nothing” Now, once more the problem is yours alone (33 33)
7.        Glenn Branca – The Third Ascension (Systems Neutralizers)
8.        Fennesz – Agora (Touch)
9.        Sin: Ned & Uneasy Chairs – 時代精神 Zeitgeist (self released)
10.        The Caretaker – Everywhere At The End Of Time: Stage 6 (History Always Favours the Winners)
11.        Kronos Quartet – Terry Riley: Sun Rings (Nonesuch)
12.        Sunn O))) – Life Metal (Southern Lord)
13.        Legendary Pink Dots – Angel in the Details (Metropolis)
14.        John Zorn – Tractatus Musico-Philosophicus (Tzadik)
15.        Future Sounds of London – Yage 2019 (FSOLdigital)
16.        Various Artists – Stain, Crack, and Break: Music from the Nurse With Wound List Volume 1 (Finders Keepers)
17.         Disxiple 113 – Sidraw (Obsolete Staircases)
18.          Lee Ranaldo, Jim Jarmusch, Marc Urselli, Balazs Pandi – Self Titled (Trost Records)
19.          Bill Callahan – Shephed in a Sheepskin Vest (Drag City)
20.          Amy Denio – Eureka (Spoot Music)
21.          Mini-Mutations – Society’s Standards (WTBC)
22.         Ashtoreth & Grey Malkin – Hermit (Reverb Worship)
23.         Sudan Archives – Athena (Stones Throw)
24.         Mecca Normal – Brave New Waves Session (Brave New Waves)
25.         Flying Lotus – Flamagra (Warp)
26.         Amon Tobin – Fear in a Handful of Dust (NoMark)
27.         Fischkopf Sinfoniker – To the Bone (self released)
28.         Somsurprises – Some Candy (Crash Symbols)
29.         Various Artists – Anthology of contemporary music from Africa continent
30.         Floating Points – Crush (Ninjatune)
31.         Clark – Kiri Variations (Throttle Records)
32.         Juniana – Ordinary Devotions (self released)
33.         Galactic Protector – Evening (Burning Witches Records)
34.         Taraban – How the East Was Lost (self released)
35.         Yann Tierson – Portrait (Mute)
36.         ISON – Inner-Space (Avantgarde Music)  
37.         Diploducus – Slow and Heavy (self released)
38.         Weird Owl – Wet Telepathy (Little Cloud Records)
39.         Laura Cannell & Polly Wright – Sing As the Crow Flies (Brawl Records)
40.         Blake DeGraw – Music for Hollow Voices (self released)
41.         William Henry Meung – Anagrams of Love (self released)
42.         The Utopia Strong – Transition to the Afterlife (Rocket Recordings)
43.         Like a Villain – What Makes Vulnerability Good (Accidental)
44.         Ras G & the Afrikan Space Program – Raw Fruit Vol. 3 & 4 (Leaving)
45.         SONOLOGYST – Phantoms (Unexplained Sounds Group)
46.         Neil Campbell – CLOUD DRAG 1979 (self released)
47.         Lightning Bolt – Sonic Citadel (Thrill Jockey) 
48.         Noriko Kadama – Abyss (Accretions)
49.         Erin Jane Laroue – CHALANT (Trail of Breadcrumbs)
50.         Nonconnah – Dead Roses, Digged Up Zombies, Broken Pieces of Diamonds, Live Cats (Hickory Withe)
51.         Goh Lee Kwang – Avalanche Herbal Concrete Disc 1902-1 ((Herbal Records)
52.         Zan Hoffmann & Hubert Heathertoes -“The facets of serendipitous occurence (Boiro saga​)​” (Astipalea)
53.         Misanthrop – Analog (Neosignal Recordings) 
54.         International Experimental Music Compilation Volume 2 (Broken Tape)
55.         Bios+a+ic – This Jazz Not Is (self released)
56.         Otoboke Beaver – ITEKOMA HITS (Damnably)
57.         Stuart McLeod – neuropera (self released)
58.         Abronia – The Whole of Each Eye (Feeding Tube)
59.         Black Midi – Schlagenheim (Rough Trade)
60.         Buildings – Negative Sound (Gilead Media)
61.         Feedbacker – XII (self-released cassette)
62.         Noisepoetnobody – Arson is Always an Option (self released)
63.         Telefon Tel Aviv – Dreams Are Not Enough (Ghostly International)
64.         We Free Kings – Live at Avant Vespers (Comprovise Records)
65.         Lazerkaat – Electric Scratches (self released)
66.         Monikaze – Chicken Wings (self released)
67.         Temples – Hot Motion (ATO)
68.         Various Artists – Anthology of contemporary music from Middle East (Unexplained Sounds Group)
69.         My Burning Bush – Sublimation (self released)
70.         Tearpalm – To the Happy Few, Volume 1 (93 dot 93)
71.         Forrest Friends – choc.429 (Chocolate Monk)
72.         Various Artists – Witchcraft & Black Magic In The United Kingdom (Eighth Tower)
73.          Spirit Duplicator – Duplex Cremes (Tape Mountain)
74.          Majestic Horses – Away from the Sun (Kasumen)
75.           Reality Cyst – At One With Nothing (Automation Records)
76.           Production Unit Xero – Hedge Magic (Aether Tapes)
77.           Search Ensembles – Prescient / Legend (either/OAR)
78.           Rosalie Cunningham – Rosalie Cunningham (Spinefarm Records)
79.           Dominik Eulberg – Mannifaltig (K7 Records)
80.           Column Shifter – Congregation (Shift)
81.           Taylorshit – Orion (self released)
82.           Serpent Worship – Serpent Worship (self released)
83.           Bob Bucko Jr. – Junior Nuclear (Lurker Bias)
84.           Kadaver – For The Dead Travel Fast (Nuclear Blast)
85.           Greg Segal – Ahead/WISPREVI (self released)
86.            Lance Austin Olsen – Look at the Mouth That Is Looking at You (Infrequency Editions)
87.            Tom Dyer – 1+1=? (Green Monkey)
88.            Various Artists – Om Unit Presents: Cosmology – Dark Matter (Boomkat)
89.            Portico Quartet – Memory Streams (Gondwana Records)
90.            Tipper – Jettison Mind (Tipper Music)
91.            Jesse Koolhaas – Organized (Urban Waves Records)
92.            Skekz – Bokeh (Kwai Music)
93.            The Lord Weird Slough Feigh – New Organon (Cruz del Sur Music)
94.            Neuroq – Spacephoria (Beatport)
95.            Brunt – Ataraxy (self released)
96.            A Winged Victory for the Sullen – The Undivided Five (Zen CD)
97.           Under Nihilo – Tropical/Mall.Exe (self released)
98.           Spaceslug – Reign of the Orion (BSFD Records)
99.           Leth – Kalergi Aquarius (self released)
100.           Bryce Miller – Monochrome Daydream (Spun Out of Control)

ADDENDUM:

Saturday, December 21st from Noon to 4 PM Pacific Standard Time we try to play as much from #TheList as possible on Freeform Portland!

In barely over a week, your host, Ricardo Wang has already learned of many other #2019Albums that arguably should have been high on the #Top100 including Pere Ubu, Bill Orcutt, Russian Circles and others! Maybe in January there can be a show of records that Should have been on the list!

Meanwhile we promise while in no way complete, this extra long What’s This Called? will #resonate!

#TuneIn on #TerrestrialRadio: 90.3 FM in #NoPo; 98.3 FM around #PDX
#Streaming: http://freeformportland.org/listen

#ExperimentalMusic #Drone #Noise #PostPunk #Psych #Plunderphonics #NoiseRock #SpaceRock #StrangeMusic