We’re planning to go live on August 13, in times for Harvest Records’ Transfigurations music festival. Keep an eye on the AshevilleFM website for updates on fundraisers, construction progress (including pictures), our needs list, and general jubilation. As one of my radio buddies, the great Jesse Junior, put it at the construction party, “This is actually going to happen!” Yes indeed, it is actually going to happen.

The picture is of AshevilleFM’s broadcast console, which used to be the console at WMFO in Boston, Tufts University Radio, a great freeform station. You can read my AshevilleFM blog post on this if you’re interested.

Announcement Regarding
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
May, 2009

As of May 2009, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” will no longer air on WPVM-LP in Asheville, NC. The cartoon explains why much more vividly than I could state. It is taken from the Feb. 25, 2009 edition of the Asheville Disclaimer, which its creators remind us “resides in the center of a satire-parody-entertainment vortex and should not be taken seriously.” The Asheville Disclaimer is printed in Asheville’s primary weekly, The Mountain Xpress.

There’s more information regarding what happened at WPVM at the volunteer-run blogspot. OK, now that I got that off my chest, let me say that this radio show is not over, and neither is real community radio in Asheville. Stay tuned for more information–it won’t be long in coming.

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)

Playlist for
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
December 12, 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:

– My most exciting world music haul in, well, forever culminated this week when a shipment of records I acquired on ebay arrived from Paris. I had a saved search on ebay for this Nimba de N’Zerekore record (see pic) from Guinea for probably about 6 years, and I was NEVER notified that it was for sale–until last month. And suddenly there were two copies from the same seller. I snatched both of them, along with some other great stuff, all of which I managed to play today. So why did I want this particular record so badly? It was one of the few records from The Wire magazine’s 100 Records That Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening) (also see here and here and the supplement here) from issue #175 (Sept. 1998) that I had not yet listened to, and although I think most lists like that are useless, this one proved incredibly fruitful for a very long time of very satisfied listening by expanding my core into unchartered territory. As for this 1980 entry, the list once again did not disappoint. This album rocks and swings hard, very very hard, and all the way through. Those Fred Flintstone outfits they have on are stylin’; you just know that seeing this band live was a party. I plan to play the whole album on the air one track at a time over the coming weeks.

– I’m very much looking forward to the upcoming Codona box set, which will comprise all 3 of the original Codona records. Codona was Collin Walcott (tabla, sitar, dulcimer, sanza), Don Cherry (tpt, p, hunter’s guitar), and Nana Vasconcelos (percussion). I only have the first one, and it smokes.

– Can somebody please give me the entire Ocora Records catalog for my birthday and/or Christmas? Pretty please? Best world label ever? Definitely in the running.

– The embarrassment of riches at the station this year in African music continued with the addition of a seriously funky-ass new compilation from yet another West African band, the Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou, from Benin. I’ll be playing this for weeks on end, so be prepared.

– TWO new Ben Wallers creatures this week, and they couldn’t have come at a better time. I desperately needed some rock records to buff up the annual Top 20 of what has been a rather lackluster year in rock. The Rebel is his solo project, and the new one is a live set recorded at WFMU, with a band (so it’s not really solo now is it?), available on vinyl only. The Country Teasers is Sir Ben’s most notorious band project, and we have a new and stuffed LP side (10 tracks!) of a split backed with music from a San Francisco band called Ezee Tiger–also on vinyl only. Yes, I’m happy.

Playlist for
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
December 5, 2008

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

Notes:

– Justin Farrar was back in the co-pilot chair today, and I’m gonna agree with his assessment that this was our best show together–and I’m generally pleased as punch at the results when he shows up with his sack of musical smack. Justin’s contributions today were the smokin’ moog groove in the Fred Wesley and the JBs, the Jamaican jam by Rags and Riches, the flat-out weird Two Prong (we think that’s their name–it’s a VERY cryptic CD) and their insert photo of a hitchhiking hippy carrying a "James Taylor or Bust" sign, Hungarian freaks Galloping Coroners, the killer bass & drums duet who call themselves Eloe Omoe, The Move and their "Brontosaurus," the new old-time Appalachian music of Jack Rose & The Black Twig Pickers (see his blog Strawberry Flats for a recap of his trip up to Virginia to see these nuts), and Souled American–a band he’s been pushin’ on me for a while, with good reason.

– My contributions included a few inspired choices: Vancouver agit-prop post-punks U-J3RK5 and their "Naum Gabo"; the new Mississippi Records collection of UK Fall cum Young Marble Giants post-punkers Animals and Men (I REALLY love that song "Don’t Misbehave in the New Age"); French (yes, FRENCH–go figure) seered speed-garage-psych band Gunslingers (definitely one of my faves of the year); the sick Albert Ayler/Henry Vestine bagpipes/electric guitar duet from Ayler’s The Last Album (1969), which was not his last album, albeit close; Alfred G. Karnes’ beautiful and modern-sounding (as Justin pointed out) mountain gospel from the classic July 1927 Bristol, TN recordings (where Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family were also discovered); and the 1909 black gospel Fisk University Jubilee Quartet, from a killer collection called Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1891-1922. Justin got a great idea for a book to be titled Soft Rock: Whites and the Death of the Record Industry, starring Paul Davis and Leo Sayer. I’m sure he’s gonna get right on that–look for it next year in a bookstore near you.

Playlist for
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
November 28, 2008

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

Notes:

– I was heavy on the heavy rock today, with the early 70s American rockers Bang (from Florida) and Sir Lord Baltimore (from Brooklyn), more modern head-banging from Lima Peru’s La Ira de Dios, and the utterly neglected gem of a hardcore record by NY’s Action Swingers, Decimation Blvd. (1993).

– I had a satisfying Dutch back-to-back with the all-lady early punk band, The Nixe, followed by something from The Ex’s Turn album, which I believe is my favorite by them, and that’s saying something. Terrie Ex from The Ex made a second appearance at the end of the show with a recent album of duet material with the great Dutch free jazz/improv drummer, Han Bennink, who at the age of 66 can still drum your ass into the dirt.