Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for May 14, 2016

A somewhat arbitrary selection for your Saturday listening pleasure. The typical jazzy first hour, freeform second hour, this time getting a little poppy towards the end.


See for yourself after the break...

Webcast info for May 7, 2016

from

IIP Photo Archive

Out of town to see Mom (not pictured) this weekend, so no new webcast. In it's place will be either a rebroadcast or selections from an old playlist.  Enjoy!

Update: The December 6, 2014 program is finally being broadcast after (I'm gonna say) five failed attempts!

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for April 30, 2016

A behind the scenes technical nightmare, but not a bad show. A jazzy first set, a latin influenced second set and a somewhat mellow freeform third.




As always, the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for April 23, 2016

A good day for sitting inside and listening to the internet (not that anyone listened to this show). We also learn a couple of interesting scientific tidbits.



See the playlist after the break...

Congratulations Henry Threadgill

Composer, multiple woodwindist, and Unpopular Music favorite Henry Threadgill has won this year's Pulitzer Prize for music for In for a Penny, In for a Pound. It's a fantastic example of Threadgill's compositional style, a combination of what people call "jazz" and what people call "modern classical music." There is perhaps a larger amount than usual for jazz of written-out material plus a rather specific (yet still stimulating) course laid out for improvisation. Threadgill is one of those composers, like say Beethoven or Brahms on one hand, Charles Mingus or Tim Berne on the other who are able to take a few constant elements and consistently find new ways to combine and develop them over the years into something new.

If I'm not mistaken, this is the third time a "jazz musician" has won the Pulitzer. Wynton Marsalis won in 1997 for his (in my opinion) rather workman-like  Blood on the Fields, a retelling through music of the African-American experience, which pales in comparison to the similarly themed "Roots and Folklore" by John Carter, which I have praised in this space on several occasions.

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for April 16, 2016

A sleepy (for me, hopefully not for you) program. The jazz is frontloaded in the first hour, which is a bit more rockin' than usual. A classical/jazz mix for hour two, with some afropop in both halves. Also, a tribute to 90's-era end of CD hidden tracks.


See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for April 9, 2016

Having kind of a lousy last couple of days. If your familiar with the Simpsons episode where they install a koi pond and it attracts the endangered screamapilliar, it's sort of like that.

Nonetheless, I've cobbled together a couple of hopefully entertaining hours of music for your listening pleasure.

See the playlist after the break...

Random You Tube find - Max Roach's Freedom Now! Suite

Here's the parts 1, 2, and 4 of Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite which I had just happened upon. These were recorded by Belgian TV in 1964. If anyone can direct me to the two other parts, let me know.

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for April 2, 2016

This week a relatively jazzy freeform adventure for a good day to curl up with the internet. No apologies made for playing two twelve minute tracks in a row.



Since the in-studio recorder failed to record the program, we have some of what I did or should have said about the music below, along with the playlist...

Webcast info for March 26, 2016

Today's the day, I can feel it. We will finally rebroadcast the December 6, 2014 program after several failed attempts. I hope it's worth it!

Well, I'm going to stop being optimistic about this. Perhaps you enjoyed last weeks playlist played backwards.

I'll never be Miss Rhinegold.

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for March 19, 2016

A sleep deprived show, put together at a later minute than usual, with a couple more dubious segues than usual. All in all, however, I believe it's a satisfying listen.



See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for March 12, 2016

This week, a typically atypical freeform odyssey. A jazzier first hour, a second hour with rhythm and noise, bookended with an RIP to Keith Emerson.

See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for March 5, 2016

Typing here in the waning moments of the BRAIN Arts Org Telethon and Performance 24 hour Marathon broadcasting on SCATV and BFR, and let me tell you, this building has smelt better.

Between shifts babysitting the simulcast feed I put together, let's say, one of my freer form shows. A magnetic flip seems to have occurred with a typical second hour set showing up in the first, and vice versa.


See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for February 27, 2016

It was a chilly day in the BFR studio today. We have to rely on a space heater and I'm the first one here in since Thursday night, and strangely enough, it's actually been cold the last couple of days, almost as if it were February. For some reason there's some screaming kids out in the lobby and the segue editor is not working so I'm trying to hold it together.

We have a jazzy first hour, and a freeform second, with various bits of rhythm, with varying authenticities. Completely accidentally, we have both Genesis singers. You never know.

RIP Umberto Eco

from the New York Times

“I’m not a fundamentalist saying there’s no difference between Homer and Walt Disney, but Mickey Mouse can be perfect in the sense that a Japanese haiku is.”

Likewise, I'm not saying there's no difference between Machaut and the Ex, but they're each perfect in their own way, and when one hears them next to each other the contrasts, and possibly the similarities illuminate each other, and perhaps become clearer.

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for February 20, 2016

Kind of a scatterbrained show this week. Some jazz, some electronics. A jump from the 14th century to some arty punk rock. Last minute set changes, happy and unhappy accidents. Technical problems leading into music that sounds like technical problems. Something for everyone!



See the playlist after the break...

Webcast info for February 13, 2016

SCATV is closed for the President's Day weekend, so no live program, but I am the most confident I've been that the December 6, 2014 program will finally be rebroadcast while I escape the frigid Somerville climes by traveling north to even more frigid climes.

UPDATE - Well, maybe not...

In which I can admit I'm wrong

I'm about a week late with this, but I had once joked that despite their respective decades of hard living, Leonard Bernstein would end up living a longer life than Keith Richards for the sole reason that in classical music one can't smoke onstage. (Along with the constant smoking, Lenny was also into booze and pills, and generally didn't take great care of himself.) Well, on February 4, Keith made it to day 26,346 (72 years, 1 month, 2 weeks, 2 days) moving past the maestro. Credit where credit is due, I suppose.

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for February 6, 2016

Today, we dig out from the snow by digging the out sounds of Unpopular Music. (my that's clever, I'm going to sit back and enjoy it for a while ... okay)

I don't know about you, but yesterday, when the snow stopped and the sun came out (or dropped below the cloud line, really) it was quite beautiful, with some of the most amazing colors in the sky - pinks and blues and yellow. (No, I was not high.)

So with that in mind, we present a variety pack of music for a snowy morning. Just so you know, the fact that I open with a song called Snowy Morning Blues from an album called 100 Vintage Holiday Classics does not mean that I'm doing my long-threatened show of songs that get played at Christmas that have nothing to do with Christmas, but are actually really about winter. That time will come, I assure you, but not today.

Unpopular Music - February 6, 2016 by Unpopularfred on Mixcloud

See the playlist after the break...

webcast info - RIP Live 365

Just in case you haven't been paying attention to all the latest internet radio news, and the latest internet radio news suggests you haven't, Boston Free Radio's internet network Live 365 now belongs to the ages. Apple has also dropped iTunes Radio in favor of its paid streaming service, so as far as I know the only place to listen to the webcast is directly at the BFR website, or I guess the TuneIn app still works. It also seems like the metadata (artist, title, album) is not being displayed anywhere, but hopefully that will change.

Stay tuned.