Notice Regarding
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
as of January 10, 2009

This blog is going on hiatus for the time being, although the radio show itself still goes on. If you’d like to know about the controversy at WPVM between volunteers one side and the Executive Director of MAIN (the license-holder) and the MAIN Board of Directors on the other, check out the Volunteer Blogspot.

“The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” is hosted by Greg Lyon on FRIDAYS at 2-4 pm
on WPVM Asheville (103.5 FM and www.wpvm.org)

You can listen to the most recent program by going to the Archives Page at WPVM, or by accessing the MP3 stream directly here (available early Saturday morning after airing through the next Friday and then gone gone gone).

Playlist for
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 9, 2009

Hosted by Greg Lyon on FRIDAYS at 2-4 pm
on WPVM Asheville (103.5 FM and www.wpvm.org)

You can listen to the most recent program by going to the Archives Page at WPVM, or by accessing the MP3 stream directly here (available early Saturday morning after airing through the next Friday and then gone gone gone).

Notes:

– I would have played a whole show of Ron Asheton, featuring music from Destroy All Monsters, The New Order, New Race, and other projects, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Too damned saddening. So I played some of my favorites from the first two Stooges albums and called it a day on the tribute. I never got to see the reunited Stooges, but at least I saw Asheton play at Warsaw in Brooklyn in 2002 with Scott Morgan’s Powertrane, playing alongside guitarist Deniz Tek from Radio Birdman. That show kinda sucked–Warsaw had the worst acoustics of any venue I’ve ever been to, and I wasn’t that into Powertrane’s vibe–but the moment that Asheton stepped onto the stage, I could tell this guy was every bit the guitar monster I had hoped he was. I can’t imagine the musical universe–certainly not the one in my head–without Fun House, which is my favorite rock album of all time, hands down. Lots of great musicians spawn weak-assed mimics, epigones, pygmy shadows of the original. I never heard anybody ever say, "Hey, he’s trying to sound like Ron Asheton." That would be as banal as saying, "Hey, he’s trying to rock." Technically, I guess most people think James Williamson was a better guitarist, but I’ll take Ron Asheton’s legacy over James Williamson’s anyday. Thank you, Ron Asheton. Thank you very much for your gargantuan contribution to the music world and its blissful destruction.

– The new AFCGT (A Frames + Climax Golden Twins) 10-inch struck me as an instant classic, while the first CD they did never really hit me. I have a feeling this one is going to stay on the turntable at home for a long while. I don’t know how this amalgamation of two great bands works exactly, but I’m assuming that Min Yee of the A Frames is playing bass. It sure sounds like him. It’s all instrumental, and it’s all dope.

– I’ve been listening to a lot (well ALL) of the 1968-1972 Bob Marley, working my way through the 3 box sets, Grooving Kingston 12, Fy-ah Fy-ah, and Man to Man. I’ve never been much of a Marley fan, but that just proved that I was (and still am) a reggae moron. I was judging him by the hits from the Island period–and mainly by his frat-boy fans, to be honest. But I’ve discovered that the stuff he recorded with Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry is pretty uniformly superlative. It’s so nice to discover something monumental, even if it has been staring me in the face for decades.

Playlist for
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 2, 2009

Hosted by Greg Lyon on FRIDAYS at 2-4 pm
on WPVM Asheville (103.5 FM and www.wpvm.org)

You can listen to the most recent program by going to the Archives Page at WPVM, or by accessing the MP3 stream directly here (available for one week starting early Saturday morning and then gone gone gone).

Notes:

– Time to ring in the New Year (and a new Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball–see pic) and wring out the old year in music! This year I asked Justin Farrar to bring in a pile of his favorites to play alongside mine, and we took up an extra hour of airtime to barely get through what we wanted. We didn’t play our faves in any particular order, but we did strive to save the heavy hitters for last.

– We started with a couple of favorite 7"s, moved on to some more poppy stuff, then hit the minimal techno and electronic (mostly Justin there), followed by a set of reissues, then a pile of garage rock (mostly Greg there), and then the grand finale.

– Jennifer Cardini would also be on my list if I hadn’t listened to it all the way through for the first time on New Year’s Eve. It really is incredible. Justin thinks I’m about to get the minimal techno bug. He’s probably right. We also agreed thoroughly on the TK Webb CD; it’s a great rock record, killer songwriting and production–a rarity nowadays.

–Now for the lists, followed by the show playlist…

Greg’s Top 10 New Albums of 2008

1. Alan and Richard Bishop - The Brothers Unconnected (Abduction)
2. Gunslingers - No More Invention (World in Sound)
3. The Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent (Sanctuary)
4. The Rebel - Northern Rocks Bear Weird Vegetable (Sacred Bones)
5. Don Cavalli - Cryland (Everloving)
6. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig! Lazarus Dig! (Anti-)
7. Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Primary Colours (Goner)
8. Scorch Trio - Brolt! (Rune Grammophon)
9. Nothing People - Anonymous (S-S)
10. TK Webb & The Visions - Ancestor (Kemado)

Honorable Mention:
Viva L’American Deathray Music - Sangre Libre (Sangre Libre)
Kasai All-Stars - In the 7th Moon, the Chief Turned Into a Swimming Fish and Ate the Head of His Enemy by Magic (Crammed Disc)
Half Man Half Biscuit - CSI: Ambleside (Phantom)
Krysmopompas - Heute Schlafen - Morgen Aufwachen (S-S)
Einstürzende Neubauten - The Jewels (Potomak)
Cheveu - Cheveu (S-S)
Ty Segall - Ty Segall (Castle Face)
Fire Room - Broken Music (Atavistic)
Kurt Vile - Constant Hitmaker (Gulcher)
The USA Is a Monster - Space Programs (Load)
Country Teasers/Ezee Tiger - WOAR/WOR (Holy Mountain)
Love Is All - A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night (What’s Your Rapture?)
Singer - Unhistories (Drag City)
Bill Dixon - 17 Musicians in Search of a Sound: Darfur (AUM Fidelity)

Justin’s Tops of 2008 Lists

Playlist for
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
December 26, 2008

Hosted by Greg Lyon on FRIDAYS at 2-4 pm
on WPVM Asheville (103.5 FM and www.wpvm.org)

You can listen to the most recent program by going to the Archives Page at WPVM, or by accessing the MP3 stream directly here (available for one week starting early Saturday morning and then gone gone gone).

Notes:

– The Rhino Records compilation, Rockin’ Bones: 1950s Punk & Rockabilly had been on my wish list for ages and ages, and I finally scored when that puppy appeared under the Christmas tree this time around, along with saxophonist Glenn Spearman’s last recording and Jessie Mae Hemphill’s Get Right Blues. So there you have it: post-Christmas booty show, just add water.

– I felt like featuring two of my all-time favorite classical CDs today (I rarely play ’straight’ classical music at all), namely pianist Alfred Brendel playing Liszt’s Années de Pèlerinage, particularly the piece from the first, Swiss year (Première Année: Suisse) called "Orage" (Thunderstorm), and also the solo flute piece by Debussy called "Syrinx," as played by Roger Bourdin and taken from the unsparingly beautiful recording of Debussy sonatas from the 60s on Philips featuring Arthur Grumiaux (violin) and Maurice Gendron (cello), among others.

– The new Animals & Men collection on Mississippi Records is a must-buy if you like early Rough Trade-era (late 70s/early 80s) DIY British stuff. I kept imagining Young Marble Giants playing Bo Diddley for some reason, and probably not a very good reason at that. But there you go.

Playlist for
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
December 19, 2008

Hosted by Greg Lyon on FRIDAYS at 2-4 pm
on WPVM Asheville (103.5 FM and www.wpvm.org)

You can listen to the most recent program by going to the Archives Page at WPVM, or by accessing the MP3 stream directly here (available for one week starting early Saturday morning and then gone gone gone).

Notes:

– New pile of wax from S-S Records out of Sacramento, California. S-S is run by Scott Soriano (thus the name–what were you thinking?), who also spends time putting together what I think is the best zine going right now, Z-Gun. Check it out. As for the label, he’s been gathering garage and post-punk from all over the globe, and this week I featured a double record from a Berlin band called Krysmopompas, which evidently is a reference from some movie sci-fi movie called Kamikaze 1989 that Rainer Werner Fassbinder acted in from the early 80s. The band sounds to me like a cross between the Hamburg-based band Blumfeld, 18th Dye (also German, and they have a new album I haven’t yet heard), and a slew of Neue Deutsche Welle (German New Wave) bands. Right up my alley.

– I’ve also been listening a bunch to one of the new Messthetics CDs (#106), which focuses on the Manchester post-punk scene of the late-70s and early 80s. It’s pretty great all the way through, so if you like The Fall, Joy Divison, and bands considerably weirder and DIY than that, you should be good to go.

Background Music: Christmas with Chet Atkins - RCA (1961)