The Entroporium

The Beatles have an avant-garde side that still remains hidden to the casual fan, a good trick considering their ubiquity. The vaults are piled high with bizarre recordings that are frankly better off left there.

In this episode, I introduce some of The Beatles’ strangest recordings – both as a band and as solo artists. Some of these are pretty great, others are just about unlistenable. As an impressionable youth, I took the time to listen to these – and now my suffering and fanaticism can be your quick & dirty guide to the Fab Four’s weird side.

This week my colleague Cormac of the great Phonographic Funhouse and his recruited sidekick Rob E. Davis sat in the DJ’s seat and brought in a selection of pre-1950 music you will not soon forget. Not only will you find jazz & pop hits here from before World War II, but also incredible psychedelic sides from Turkey, Bali and beyond.

Summer has finally arrived, so my special guest DJ Oddman brought in his personal selection of the very best in lo-fi summer jams. Artists featured include THE DIRTBOMBS, the late great JAY REATARD, THEE OH SEES, NOBUNNY (pictured), BASS DRUM OF DEATH and many more. (There’s plenty of time for “many more” when the average track duration is roughly 1:48.) Plus hear the answer to the eternal question, “What the heck is garage rock?”

In two hours, I showcase some of GHS’s best-loved recordings, the 60s Black Revolutionary rhetoric that gave rise to his sound and the contemporary artists who call themselves his followers.

Celebrating Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday, we present his long, winding musical history through the prism of unreleased bootleg recordings. For serious Dylan fans, illicit recordings are often just as rewarding as the legitimate ones. This show goes through a sampling of the best available.

In this episode, I take on the nearly 50-year career of one of America’s all-time great artists bar none: Miles Davis. Following his path and making sense of the literally thousands of records available can be tough for a neophyte. In two packed hours, I pull out some highlights that will give some hints for finding your way in to Miles’ daunting catalog.

Joined in studio by DJ Bunnystyle and Dr. Sleep from the fine indie/dance show Dots & Loops, we go through this year’s artist roster and demonstrate that a “techno festival” has a much wider variety of styles than that rubric would imply. Not just techno, but classic disco, pop, and some ugly dubstep sounds that will probably make you throw up.

Two hours of fun & frolic to celebrate the End Of The World, coming May 21. Pop’s greatest moments of apocalypse, terror, rapture and nuclear fear.

First in a proposed occasional series, this episode dives deep into one of the most unique-sounding and enduring albums of the last 25 years. Starting with the beat that launched a million hip-hop sides, I examine how Public Enemy mixed history, revolution and musique concrete to create a masterpiece.