Abstract Index playlist - Jan 18/06

One of the best things about broadcasting from a campus community station are the unexpected moments. Last week, I was wondering how I was going to start the show when I spotted a new disc by Assif Tsahar on his Hopscotch label just lying around on top of the new release rack. Pretty much everything this Ayler-influenced saxman and bass clarinetist does is worth listening to, and to see him in a trio with heavyweights Hamid Drake and Cooper-Moore grabbed my attention. The disc didn't disappoint, and it set the pace for the first hour. That's something that just doesn't happen with Internet radio, which so often is some guy at home with his MP3s. I love the endless surprises of a CD archive in the multiple tens of thousands.

Another little vignette occurred when blasting the extremely fine Barrington Levy reissue (unsurprisingly called Barrington Levy In Dub) when Devon (aka "the Producer" from Reggae Riddims) exclaimed "Now that's REAL dub!!". Which it is, of course, but it his reaction echoes the liner notes which remark that these super-rare dubs of Levy's dawn-of-dancehall riddims were intended for a domestic, not foreign audience. No chiming clocks, barking dogs or stereo boinging - just subtle spatial efx, waves of EQ modulation and echo to julienne your speakers. Auralux does a tremendous job with their remasters, and the high end of this disc is just brilliant. Sure it's only 33 minutes long, but well worth it.

Here's the playlist:

ducong the sea cow - assif tsahar/cooper-moore/hamid drake (hopscotch)
hymn - andy haas/don fiorino (revenant)
to live - drumheller (rat-drifting)
mulume - basokin (crammed)
jesu ohun - gangbe brass band (world village)
superstructure - dell and flugel (laboratory instinct)
niedrige decken - jaki liebezeit/burnt friedman (nonplace)
au feu - the hummers (sisyphus)
radio caca - jackson and his computer band (warp)
nalubale - samite (triloka)
jabuticaba - celso machado (festival)
little ricco's theme - bobby vince paunetto (rsvp)
rush hour in hong kong - louie ramirez (vampisoul)
mehbooba mehbooba - kronos quartet (nonesuch)
ay bembe - nova lima (mr. bongo)
gafiera universal - banda black rio (rca)
wir wissen nicht - binder & kriegelstein rmx. by shantel (essay)
so jah says - jah beng (strictly roots)
oriental style - bush chemists (ROIR)
trod with jah dub - barrington levy (auralux)
i'm just a girl - hortense ellis (soul jazz)