RIP Bill Withers

Props to Hippy Jonny for the Live Bill Withers video

Please advise

Thanks to frequent Meltdown contributor Tarwater for the image.

Tarwater Meltdown on HER

The music collector and critic known simply as Tarwater graced the Meltdown headquarters in Seattle, WA for a short but sweet 48 hours while on a west coast visit from his enclave in Brooklyn. As one would expect, if not demand, records were purchased, beers were drunk, and playlists were made.

Herewith I present the podcast for the 7/7/12 Tarwater edition of Slow Music Meltdown on Hollow Earth Radio. Tracks selected by Tarwater and curated by dj slow.

Tarwater?

Endless Happiness (Eye Remix) 7:43 Black Dice

Great Day 2:54 Madvillain

Icarus 2:56 Action

Danse Des Mouches Noires Gardes Du Roi 3:20 Jean Claude Vannier

New Clothes for the New World 2:01 Disco Inferno

Wie Der Wind Am Ende Einer Strasse 5:47 Amon Düül II

Eisbär 4:13 Grauzone

brotherman 4:36 The Final Solution

Breath Of Life 6:47 The Khan Jamal Creative Arts Ensemble

Doin' The Best That I Can (Walter Gibbons 12" Mix) 11:02 Bettye LaVette  

If You Want Me You Can Find Me 2:41 Lawson & Four More

Black Satin 5:20 Miles Davis

It's My Thing (Pt. 1) 2:53 Marva Whitney

Noude Ma Gnin Tche De Me 5:14 Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou

Tessassategn eko 4:06 Bahta Gebre-Heywet

Kunta Kinte Version One 4:25 The Revolutionaries 

Dream Baby Dream 3:57 Black Tambourine

WIXIW 6:13 Liars WIXIW

Baby 4:11 Donnie & Joe Emerson

Like A Ship 4:39 Pastor T.L. Barrett

Come Clean 4:57 Jeru The Damaja

Home 3:18 Gil Scott-Heron And Jamie XX

Lezelalem nuri 2:30 Lemma Demissew

FFunny FFrends 4:17 Unknown Mortal Orchestra

She Is Beyond Good and Evil 3:23 The Pop Group

Last Train To Satansville 6:45 Swervedriver

Involuntary Post by Tarwater # 6 - Disco Inferno plus 2 more

Thanks to the now legendary scholar Tarwater I was recently hipped to some fantastic new music. I am duty-bound as host of this blog to re-post his words here without permission from him.

The Disco Inferno record is on deep repeat at the Meltdown.

Enjoy.

"Here are some records I've enjoyed lately:

Disco Inferno - The 5 EPs
"Second Language"


British band active from 1991-1996. They started out a decent, if derivative, post-punk operation  heavily indebted to Joy Division/Wire (a collection of their early stuff is actually called In Debt), but by the time they started making the EPs compiled here, they had located the approach that would make them total marketplace non-entities while Britpop still fopped: inspired by Public Enemy and the Young Gods, DI began using samplers alongside guitar/bass/vocals -- but rather than appropriate pieces of other people's music (though one song loops the drums from Lust for Life) they snatched snippets of the world around them -  breaking glass, birdsong, feet crunching snow etc - and ended up w/ sound that doesn't really resemble much else. (Though sometimes I can squint and see them as a perfect post-154  endpoint for Wire.) They also managed to cover a lot of sonic territory - you'll find everything from jangle-pop to 9 minute instrumental soundspaces here - so if something doesn't particularly excite you, it pays to keep listening. Also: Works best on headphones.

Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges

Canadian saxophonist who blew everyone away @ ATP Jersey a few weeks ago. Lungs of steel apparently, but rather than Brotzmann-esque skronk, he goes for Steve Reich-ish minimalism. Really interesting stuff.

Also, the new Charalambides record is relatively accessible (for them) and also worth your time"

Akira Ito - Bosatu & Mugen

Akira Ito - Bosatu & Mugen

Akira Ito was a member of the Far East Family Band, a Japanese space rock band from the 70's that worked with Klaus Schulze. This 1979 solo record by Ito combines the holy new age feel of Popul Vuh with the somewhat groovy approach of mid-career Pink Floyd and a healthy dollop of spacey-synth, nature sounds, and traditional instruments. It's great.

Last November the esteemed music scholar known simply as Tarwater pulled out this gem for our listening pleasure while my wife and I visited his apartment on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. Indeed a rare record, Tarwater's roommate was fortunate to come across it while in Japan. Upon hearing Ito's transcendental explorations in space rock, yet finding almost no mention of the record on the world wide web, Tarwater longed for a day when this fine piece of wax could be shared with the digital world. 

Fast forward 5 months to an April Fool's mixtape bonanza held outside of Olympia which featured sonic and culinary contributions by Zade, Gianni Bocce, ShawnZam, Taffy B, and of course Tarwater. Lacking resources to digitize the Ito masterpiece himself, Tarwater brought the vinyl to the sessions so I could help to realize his dream of giving it to the people. Fast forward another 5 months for lack of a decent photo (which I forgot to take at the time) as well as just not getting around to it, and today you can finally enjoy the revelation that is Bosatu & Mugen!

Note: The rip may not be the best possible quality but it sounds pretty alright I think (AIFF available upon request). Also there are several different tracks listed on each side, but the times didn't seem to match up with natural breaks in the songs, and each side is pretty much an extended jam, so I left them as 2 tracks. Here's a photo with track names - funny one side is English and the other in Japanese characters.

Involuntary Post by Tarwater Series - Installment 5b: "self-copulation, record collection" & "Nakeds"

A follow up to Involuntary Post 5, swiped by AC here.

An apt song is selected by Victoria's Secret in this ad for the "Nakeds" line in the context of "natural penis-enlargement", etc, with regards to the aforementioned Involuntary Post discussing Hidden by These New Puritans:

Involuntary Post by Tarwater Series - 3rd Installment: "The Rest of Your Day"

Tarwater comes correct yet again with another Involuntary Post-worthy e-missive. Images added for further insights.

Enjoy:

"Sorry to drop so much music on you at once but, with one exception, all of it was new to me before today and sometimes that's how it goes.

First up: Lucas Santtana is this Brazilian guy from Bahia discovered/mentored (I guess) by Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil (he played on Tropicalia 2 in 1994) who thus far has 3 solo albums to his name. The first begins with a short sample of the beginning of the song "Tropicalia" and then swathes it in noise - which is a good shorthand for where he's at: taking the samba and bossa nova beloved by the Tropicalistas and introducing it to trippy modern production techniques/styles/inflections, without insulting either. He does it very, very well.
First record: Eletro Ben Dodo.
Here is the heavy dub follow-up: 3 Sessions in a Greenhouse
Here is the one that came out this year: Sem Nostalgia
All are great.

Next is Next is (sic) Staff Benda Bilili from Kinshasa, who have a backstory that reads like a satire of back-stories: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staff_Benda_Bilili.The album is good and interesting enough though - the homemade one-string lute player is a marvel - to overcome the icky novelty/poverty-fetishizing etc. possibilites of the above.

Third is the new record by this Austrian group Radian - I think some of you might already be familiar with them. They kinda remind me of This Heat.

The last is that opera about Darwin by The Knife."

Involuntary Post by Tarwater Series - 2nd Installment: A Hijacker Hijacked

Just Desserts? I'll let the reader decide. At least I have someone to keep me on my toes. Follow the story at Acknowledged Classic - a freshly acknowledged:
PS: AC, it's on..!

Involuntary Posts by Tarwater Series - First Installment

Thus begins a new series at Slow Music Meltdown which highlights the insightful comments and contributions of the music historian and critic known as Tarwater.

Behold:

"RE: 2 records I like

Okay, one more: Population II by Randy Holden. He briefly replaced
Leigh Stephens on guitar in some supposedly shitty late-60's iteration
of Bluer {sic} Cheer, before forming the duo* that would drop this, the Pink
Flag of metal (seriously): half an hour long, not a wasted note,
amazing production, guitar tone, feedback control and all around
attention to sonic detail. Very minimal. Really, really loud,
regardless of volume. (They were sponsored by Sunn amps, here's the
gatefold proof:

{ }

http://www.pooterland.com/index2/looking_glass/randy_holden/Randy_PopulationII.jpg) {sic}

Imagine two Sabbath freaks covering Electric Mud (except heavier.)
Totally rules, obviously. {Further insights beheld} here.

*The other member, Chris Lockheed, was responsible for drums and
keyboards. Live, he played them simultaneously."

www.randyholden.com

Notes:
1) All editor's input within original quoted text is between "{}", and some text
hyper-linked to help elaborate the experience of reading this Involuntary Post.

2) There is in fact an earlier missive that first inspired this series, but it will
have to follow as this installment is more immediately available. Stay tuned.

3) Sorry for the weird formatting - through a series of copying and pasting, this was the best I could do to get all original text without re-typing the whole thing.