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In another late posting here on the podcast, we went over our weekly funk punk soul rock ceremony in style with new tunes from all over the map after a very busy week of album & single releases the previous Friday.
"The Drop with Danno" on GFN 광주영어방송 98.7FM in Gwangju & 93.7FM in Yeosu, Korea. An eclectic radio curation of all things musical spanning the spectrum every week. Broadcasting 8-10pm KST nightly.
May 12, 2022
The Drop with Danno
DJ Amir w/Jazzanova & Sean Haefelli – Introduction & Lost My Love
Swatkins – Until I Get Back
Tanika Charles – Hold Me (Like A Grudge)
Ennio Morricone – Passporto per l’allegria
Kutiman – Tears of One Hundred
Ex-poets – Bay of Pigs
Bobby Oroza feat Cold Diamond & Mink – Through These Tears
Dojo Cuts feat Carlton Jumel Smith – Here We Are (inst.)
Monster Rally – Golden Shores
Adrian Quesada feat Gabriel Garzon-Montano – El Paraguas
The Diasonics – Balance
Jean Carne feat Jazz Is Dead – The Summertime
Emanative feat Liz Elensky & Ben Hadwen – Fall In To Me
I.
It is 20 hours past midnight as summer begins to steam properly here in Gwangju, and we do so hope you have had a good one today, fair listener. However, tonight with it being a regularly scheduled Thursday we are here to showcase all the latest and greatest from the funk punk soul rock realms, with this chapter written into the cosmos as May 12, 2022. This is Danno here to push it along from under the second largest tower in Sajik Park at GFN HQ, and we’ve been saving up for tonight in both hours. Just in case it’s your first time listening our Sampled funk & soul first hour starts now, to be followed by the latest in the throwing rocks realm with Dan Lloyd who joins us and takes over the playlist in parts 3 & 4. Lots of huge new releases to showcase, both singles and otherwise in both hours, and on the otherwise or albums tip, we’ll let DJ Amir start us off and take us to an updated Detroit to begin the sonic stuff. THIS is The Drop.
DJ Amir with Jazzanova & Sean Haefelli – Introduction and Lost My Love
The Drop has sent the audio elevator into space for tonight’s Sampled & AMPED Thursday evening. Danno here doing the thing that I do from GFN HQ downtown Gwangju, and very glad to have all of you with us this evening.
So we just started with the opening salvo from Jazzanova’s latest album, a compilation of covers called Strata Records The Sound of Detroit. Originally, DJ Amir who you just heard right there introducing the record had mined these gems from the long defunct Strata Records. Now that compilation has been reimagined by Berlin-based Jazzanova, as the spaced out German collective put their own updated spin on the originals featured by DJ Amir.
Really lovely compilation, both of them, so do check the originals and then Jazzanova’s take on them to get the optimum perspective on an important piece of funk & soul history from Soul City, USA.
#9870, @gfnthedrop, pod.
Alright, so we started new and a bit breezy so we’ll be keeping it in that realm of feels for part 1 tonight. Up next we have a couple new joints from Swatkins and Tanika Charles respectively then some remastered goodness from The Maestro to close things right. We shall discuss the basics after we lose our places but for now THIS is The Drop on your Sampled funk & soul Thursday night.
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The Drop is back with the verbosity for this final airbreak of tonight’s part 1. For those just now getting with the program maybe for the first time, this is Danno in studio 2 GFN HQ broadcasting 365 days a year on 98 & 93.7 FM, and we’re going through our Sampled funk & soul first hour tonight, with Dan Lloyd throwing our AMPED rock feature against the wall starting in hour 2. As far as what just wormed into your psyche, that was...
Swatkins – Until I Get Back (…can’t say enough about how much we enjoy new stuff from the self-proclaimed ginger bearded smiley keyboard guy. Until I Get Back is the latest standalone from the artist, but nothing bigger announced like an album yet. We’ll keep you posted.)
Tanika Charles – Hold Me (Like A Grudge) (…originally from Edmonton and now based in Toronto, this is a tune from Papillon de Nuit or Night Butterfly. The album is the artist’s 3rd career LP, released on April 8.)
Ennio Morricone – Passaporto per l’allegria (…this is a tune originally released as part of the score to Rene le Canne, released in 1976. With the maestro having recently passed in 2020, this tune got the remastery treatment and released last year.)
So the clock as usual isn’t being very forgiving here live on the radio, but we got some time to drop a couple more joints before the buzzer sounds. Up next we have a joint in Hebrew from Israel that translates as Tears of One Hundred by Kutiman, and for those that don’t know do check this artist, the work is always surprising, diverse and exceedingly well-crafted, this being no exception. After that we’ll finish with something from Ex-poets called Bay of Pigs just to keep the vibe right til we hit the jump. This is The Drop on your Sampled funk & soul Thursdaze.
Kutiman – Tears of One Hundred
Ex-poets – Bay of Pigs
II
The Drop returns and we’ve cold opened the 2nd stanza of tonight’s radiological orchestra. Danno here studio 2 doing the do, you know how I do. Currently slow burning the tunes for our 2nd quarter, and who better to turn to in order to let the dish simmer than Big Crown and Colemine, that was ...
Bobby Oroza feat Cold Diamond & Mink – Through These Tears (…as mentioned previously, our favorite Finn’s fantastic 2nd career album Get Into The Otherside is out June 10 and Bobby will join us on the gig June 3 for a world premier, so don’t miss it. Get Into The Otherside, Bobby Oroza, mark it.)
Dojo Cuts feat Carlton Jumel Smith – Here We Are (inst) (…this one just dropped May 6 featuring one of our favorites from the Australian soul scene along with New York’s international man on the mic Carlton Jumel Smith, this of course would be the b side instrumental on the 7”, available courtesy of our favorites Colemine Records.)
#9870, @gfnthedrop, pod.
Keeping it moving although not stressin ourselves, we got new joints out from Monster Rally and Adrian Quesada up next and we’ll finish with something from The Diasonics to maintain the simmer to the satisfying finish. Naturally, we’ll discuss all of this after the sounds have come down but for now this is The Drop on your funk & soul Thursday.
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Back to it here on The Drop and heading towards the last bits prior to halftime here on our Sampled & AMPED funk punk soul rock Thursday soiree. Danno here, keeping the noise up til 9pm after which Dan Lloyd joins us for some rock goodness to close the gig. As to what noises we just sent to Jupiter, let’s summarize…
Monster Rally – Golden Shores (…one of our favorites out of Cleveland with the 2nd single to the upcoming Botanica Dream LP. No release date set yet, but rest assured Ted Feighan will also be joining us on the gig for another trip to Adventure Island, which should be a trip, we’ll keep you posted on release date and appearance here.)
Adrian Quesada feat Gabriel Garzon-Montano – El Paraguas (…what a team-up here with Black Pumas co-founder and Grammy nominee Quesada teaming up with another artist who cannot miss in Gabriel Garzon-Montano. The title here translates to The Umbrella, and the single came with an animated video to boot, and is the 2nd single from Boleros Psicodelicos, a new album dropping June 3.)
The Diasonics – Balance (…unbelievable band right here out of Moscow. This is a tune that appeared on the group’s debut album from this year called Origin of Forms. That dropped independently on January 28.)
Alright, so that’s basically a wrap but we have a couple more jazzy lovelies to explore, with Jean Carne and Jazz Is Dead teaming up on the next joint called The Summertime cuz you can just feel it coming today here locally, then we’ll end with a tune from Emanative called Fall In To Me, which will close the fun for parts 2 and 1. Stay tuned Gwangju’s guy on the kit joins us shortly to throw rocks, but for now THIS is The Drop at halftime.
Jean Carne feat Jazz Is Dead – The Summertime
Emanative feat Liz Elensky & Ben Hadwen – Fall In To Me
III & IV AMPED
Rammstein – Angst
Black midi – Welcome to Hell
The Smile – Thin Thing
The Chats – 6L GTR
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – My Echo
Starcrawler – Roadkill
RKL – Scab on My Brain (Live)
U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday
Sharon van Etten – Headspace
Jawbreaker – Boxcar
The Lemonheads – It’s a Shame About Ray
Belle and Sebastian – Talk to Me, Talk to Me
Rammstein – Angst
8th album Zeit was released last week. The general concensus is that Zeit is a better, more cohesive album than the self-titled record, but lacks the standout moments of its predecessor (like Deutschland, Puppe , Zeig Dich). I’d agree with that, it’s certainly solid but contains some very puerile, Euro-trash lyrics ill befitting a group whose members are approaching their sixties.
Black midi – Welcome to Hell
black midi are ready to bring you to their post-punk netherworld with Hellfire, their third studio album. Before it’s out on July 15th via Rough Trade Records, the trio have shared the LP’s aptly-titled lead single “Welcome to Hell” today. Additionally, black midi have unveiled a list of 2022 tour dates in the US.
Hellfire, black midi’s follow-up to last year’s Cavalcade, is billed as a concept album of sorts that juggles “themes of pain, loss, and anguish.” While Cavalcade was more melodic and their 2019 debut Schlagenheim was brutal and grating, black midi find the balance on Hellfire, which the band wrote in isolation in London. As guitarist/lead vocalist Geordie Greep puts it in a press release: “If Cavalcade was a drama, Hellfire is like an epic action film… I don’t believe in Hell, but all that old world folly is great for songs.” Pre-orders for Hellfire are ongoing.
“Welcome to Hell” is epic, indeed. Many of the songs on Hellfire contain detailed stories told in the first person, and this one is no exception, with Greep assuming the role of a nihilistic, shell-shocked military soldier: “Bullets were made for men like you:
The impotent idiots god forgot,” he sneers in his instantly-recognizable voice.
The Smile – Thin Thing
This Friday (May 13), the Smile are digitally releasing their debut album A Light for Attracting Attention. Before then, the trio has shared the music video for the new song “Thin Thing.” The stop-motion animated visual was directed by Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña.
According to a press release, León and Cociña spent six months on the “Thin Thing” video. They said in a statement:
Hearing the song for the first time, we imagined a frenetic fluid that carries machines, pieces of human bodies and carnivorous plants. When presenting the idea to the band, Thom [Yorke] told us about a dream that made him write the song. We believe the video is the conjunction of these two things.
Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Tom Skinner comprise the Smile. In addition to “Thin Thing,” the trio’s debut album includes the singles “You Will Never Work in Television Again,” “The Smoke,” “Skrting on the Surface,” “Pana-vision,” and “Free in the Knowledge.”
The Chats – 6L GTR
Aussie punks The Chats have announced their second album, Get Fucked, which will be out August 19 via Bargain Bin Records. They bashed it out in six days during the pandemic. “They weren't like hardcore working days,” singer/guitarist Eamon Sandwith says of the recording sessions. “We would start at 11 and finish at 4, and in the middle of that we’d go to the pub for lunch for two hours, and have a few beers. Then we'd go, ‘Oh shit, we better go back and do some recording!’ Our work etiquette wasn't great.”
The album includes recent single "Struck by Lightning" and they've just shared opening cut "6L GTR," a turbo-fueled garage punk swipe at high octane luxury car excess -- the title was a license plate Eamon spotted at an airport. “I don't even know if the car itself was actually a six-liter GTR or anything,” he says. “To be honest with you, I don't even know what a car like that would look like! I can't drive! That was the thing, we were just trying to get into this dude’s head.”
The song comes with a pretty rad animated video by animator and illustrator Marco Imov. “They hinted that it would be cool if instead of being directly about the car, it should be about the band wanting the car,” says Marco. “From there it kind of wrote itself down.”
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – My Echo
New album Endless Rooms came out last week, and it’s very good. My Echo is the third single from the album and is about being surrounded by phone screens, computer screens, tv screens, paranoia and loss of time and place,” Fran Keaney said in a statement. “The album recording is pretty faithful to the very first rough recording. Most of Tom’s leads were improvised but they became the DNA of the song.”
Compared to the rangier “Tidal River,” “My Echo” picks up where “The Way It Shatters” left off and gives us another sneaky earworm banger right in RBCF’s sweet spot.
Starcrawler – Roadkill
Starcrawler have kicked off a new era with their propulsive new single, “Roadkill.”
With brothers Henri and Bill Cash’s chugging guitars and frontwoman Arrow De Wilde’s snarling vocals, “Roadkill” leans away from the ’70s glam rock found in Starcrawler’s previous work while moving more into punk territory. “You want mommy to hold your hand? You’ll be my Roadkill, Roadkill,” De Wilde sings. “Run you over see how it feels.”
In a statement about the track, De Wilde said, “‘Roadkill’ is about anyone that tries to dig their heels in the ground and stand in your way. We’ve all had people try to tear us down, and sometimes you just have to run right through them.”
“Roadkill” signals the impending release of Starcrawler’s follow-up to 2019’s Devour You. Since then, they’ve shared the standalone single “I Need to Know” and contributed “Goodtime Girl” to the Dark Nights: Death Metal soundtrack. Stay tuned for more details about new music to come.
RKL – Scab on My Brain (Live)
Thrashy punk vets RKL (aka Rich Kids on LSD) were a massive influence on NOFX, Lagwagon, and other skate punk bands and their '80s material left an undeniable mark on the pop punk boom of the following decade, so it's very exciting that they've unearthed a concert recording from their classic era for the tenth installment of Fat Wreck Chords' Live in a Dive series. It was recorded on May 12, 1989 in Holland and largely includes songs from 1987's Rock N Roll Nightmare and it comes out June 3 via Fat (pre-order). Here's some background info, via press release:
The tenth installment of Fat Wreck’s Live in a Dive series takes us back over 30 years to Eindhoven, Holland. The date is May 12, 1989, not too long before Montecito, CA punks RKL – aka Rich Kids On LSD – will call it quits (for the first time, anyway). In fact, at this point, the wheels are wobbly and are starting to fall off the band. Their time in Europe is surrounded by hash smoke, booze, drugs, and debauchery that is only exacerbated by their youthful, carefree abandon. Strain is also taking its toll from hard van touring, sleepless nights, heavy drinking, drug use, and tension that is beginning to form like barnacles on the RKL ship. Especially between vocalist Jason Sears & drummer Richard ‘Bomer’ Manzullo who are struggling with the direction of the band seven years into its career. Not that you can tell that from these songs. The 17-song set – a good chunk of which is culled from 1987’s album Rock ’n Roll Nightmare – was recorded at famed Eindhoven squat-turned-venue De Effenaar, and is beautifully ragged and raw. In fact, it sounds like the band members are having the time of their lives. Probably because, despite everything going on behind the scenes, when they were onstage they were having the time of their lives!
“This definitely brings back the excitement of those days,” says Joe Raposo, who joined the band as a bassist in 1987. “Even the rough times, which were harsh, were still exciting, I have to admit. Having to deal with the musical direction change that Bomer was adamant about was definitely a bummer, as we all loved the sound of Rock N Roll Nightmare and wanted to pursue that sound for new songs. Which I think is kinda ironic, because Bomer was the one that wrote most of all the music on that album! But that’s just how he was, always progressing. Dealing with the escalation of heavy drug use was not fun and taking a toll on the members not participating. But listening to this album also brings back all of the wonderful memories of the fun we had on the road, touring in a van with [Destiny Records founder] Dave Pollack. We were all really young and just living life and going for it. We were in our teens and early twenties, and we were literally having the best time of our lives together, you know? It was like live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful corpse!”
U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bono, the frontman of the Irish rock group U2 and his bandmate the Edge have performed a 40-minute concert in a subway station in Kyiv and praised Ukrainians fighting for their freedom from Russia.
“Your president leads the world in the cause of freedom right now … the people of Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you’re fighting for all of us who love freedom,” Bono told a crowd of up to 100 gathered inside the Khreshchatyk metro station.
Russia pushed on towards Kyiv after invading Ukraine on 24 February before withdrawing its forces from near the capital at the end of March to concentrate its forces in the east of the country.
Although Russia is continuing to carry out missile strikes across Ukraine, some life has returned to Kyiv even though air raid sirens sound regularly.
Bono rallied the crowd between songs during his performance.
“This evening, 8 May, shots will ring out in the Ukraine sky, but you’ll be free at last. They can take your lives, but they can never take your pride,” he said.
Sharon van Etten – Headspace
Sharon Van Etten has released her sixth studio album, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong.
Van Etten recorded and engineered much of We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong herself in her home studio, co-producing the album with Daniel Knowles. She played guitar, synthesizers, piano, drum machine, wurlitzer, keys, and more on the LP, while Jorge Balbi contributed drums, Devon Hoff lent a hand on bass, and Charley Damski added extra synthesizers and guitars. Release day is especially exciting for LP6, since Van Etten didn’t release any singles for the album.
“I wanted to approach this release differently, to engage my fans in an intentional way, in an effort to present the album as a whole body of work,” the artist explained in a statement. “These ten songs are designed to be listened to in order, at once, so that a much larger story of hope, loss, longing and resilience can be told.”
Jawbreaker – Boxcar
The Lemonheads – It’s a Shame About Ray
Evan Dando has some strong words for Jawbreaker after the latter band fired the Lemonheads from their spring tour. On April 14, Jawbreaker posted an update on Twitter: “Unfortunately Lemonheads won’t be joining us as planned for Philly, Boston & Silver Spring. BUT we are stoked to the Get Up Kids on those shows. Also: stay tuned for an update on the Detroit situation. Working out the last of the details and we’ll know tomorrow at the latest.” Though the reasons surrounding the firing are unclear, Dando hit back on May 5, writing: “I just want anyone anyone and everyone to know that Jawbreaker are pussies. Fact not my opinion.”
Dando followed that up with: “Or rather they aren’t the Bruce Springsteen’s of alternative rock that they pretend to be. I’ll meet any of them any time for a Fight let’s go.” The Lemonheads singer also retweeted a May 6 comment from Juliana Hatfield, who wrote: “It was a great concept for a tour, though: two candy bands.”
In response to a fan recommending he cool his jets, Dando added: “You trying to talk to me about rock ‘n’ roll I don’t talk to Lou Reed.”
The Lemonheads are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their fifth album, It’s A Shame About Ray, and it’s worth noting that they did hit Los Angeles with Jawbreaker early in April to play the record in full. According to Facebook, the planned April 21 Jersey City date has been rescheduled for December without Jawbreaker.
As for why the Lemonheads were kicked off of the tour, Dando wrote that “it wasn’t for lack of wanting to be there. Those motherfuckers kicked us off the tour because they were scared of us With me having my voice back or they were just scared of me…. We got kicked off the tour after one show surprising we made them look good that night.”
Dando also suggests his firing has to do with “going into the audience before the show”: “I agreed to the tour . I was angry that they threw me off for violating a rule that wasn’t posted anywhere. We got kicked off the tour For going into the audience before the show. I committed to doing those shows . I wanted to do the shows. I was pissed off for being thrown off.”
Belle and Sebastian – Talk to Me, Talk to Me
11th album A Bit of Previous came out last week. Lead single Unnecessary Drama is definitely the most rocking tune on offer here (and the biggest highlight IMHO); the rest kind of fall into the wheelhouse of typical latter-career B&S. Not to say it’s bad, but a slight disappointment given the strength of the early singles.