The Master, in his own words.
[Music] Louis Jordan – Saturday Night Fish Fry
The King of Jump Blues, Louis Jordan, is giving me a very nice suggestion as to what I should be doing this evening. Cod it is!
[Music] Spooky Tooth & Pierre Henry – Offering
I am well aware that some of my friends and colleagues hate this song, considering it near the bottom of Pierre Henry’s musical canon. So be it.
The reason I’m featuring this tune, however, is for two reasons. First, it was my introduction to Henry’s work. I wasn’t much of a hard-rock guy, and Spooky Tooth didn’t hold a lot of interest for me, but seeing the record cover had me wondering what sort of racket these guys were making. Second, the concept of a rock/experimental mass, based on the Apostolic Christian model, left me intrigued.
I know that Henry’s fellow composer, Pierre Schaeffer, was a devout Roman Catholic, but I read nothing of Henry’s beliefs over the years. Still, it was a nice gesture, an interesting project, and a doorway to Pierre’s far more adventurous works.
[Music] Martin Hannett’s lost Homage to Delia Derbyshire finally released on vinyl

Another debt of thanks is owed to the good Al Clark, who posted this treasure on another account. Martin Hannett is known as the producer who brought the best out of so many bands from Factory Records. He put together this paean to English musique concrete composer Delia Derbyshire, who did wonders for the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop from the 1960s to about 2000.
[Music] Pierre Henry Has Died
Pierre Henry, legendary pioneer in the field of musique concrète, passed away today. He was 89.
More to come on his passing shortly.
[Music] Blankenberge – Radiogaze (LP 2017)
Today’s pleasant surprise is Blankenberge, a dreampop/shoegaze band out of Russia. Not quite My Bloody Valentine at their peak, but pretty decent nonetheless.
[Music] James Cagney – Yankee Doodle Dandy
Yankee Doodle Dandy was a 1942 film starring James Cagney. It was a bio-pic based on the life of George M. Cohan, known as “The Man Who Owned Broadway.”
[Music] John Cale & Brian Eno – Spinning Away
After a rather horrifying weekend of blistering heat, drunken fireworks popping everywhere and scaring my dog off, it’s nice to hear something happy and soothing.
John Cale and Brian Eno cut the album Wrong Way Up as a one-off collaboration in 1988. They apparently didn’t gel together so nicely during the sessions, but you’d never know it by hearing this track.
[Music] ‘Joy Division weren’t cold. They were down-to-earth and funny’
Matthew Higgs of The Guardian bears the bad news that Joy Division, whose music, as he says, ‘was cold and detached’, were actually a fun lot.
[Music Podcast] La Montaña Rusa #448. Especial Geri Allen

The world of jazz mourned the loss of American pianist Geri Allen, who died on June 12th at the age of 60.
Our good friends at La Montaña Rusa, one of Spain’s best jazz podcasts, offers a program in tribute to Geri here:

