Special Guest: KXLU's DJ Papa Gentle

On Wednesday, April 29, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio welcomed fellow bodega-diver, DJ Papa Gentle! For nearly a decade DJ Papa Gentle has delighted Los Angeles listeners with The Dream of Harry Lime, a globe-trotting tour of the holy and unholy alike, from raucous Senagalese tassukats on cassette to Vietnamese soul singers on 45, airing every Wednesday night from 8:00 - 9:00 PM Pacific Time on KXLU. (Check out his playlists here.)

Listen to the show now in the archives

Asakawa Maki | 18 albums

[Re-upped once more on April 25, 2015, at a reader's request]

When I was in Tokyo in mid-2010, I spent a couple of full days wandering around almost all of the 9 floors of the massive Tower Records superstore in Shibuya. 

When I got off the escalator at floor 2, which houses Tower Shibuya's extensive J-Pop and J-Indies stock, I was immediately struck by a kind of mini-shrine made up of of the CDs of Asakawa Maki, most of which seemed to feature grainy black & white photographs of the singer on the cover, often smoking.

I had no idea who this mysterious enshrined singer was, but after a bit of YouTubing and Googling, I was able to figure it out. Asakawa Maki was born on January 27, 1942, in Nagoya--she'd have been 70 years old this month had she not died in 2010, just shy of her 68th birthday. She got her start singing in U.S. Army bases, but got her big break in a series of concerts organized by avant-garde poet and playwright, Shuji Terayama in 1968. (Terayama would write lyrics for a number of her early songs.)

Over the next 40 years, Maki (as she was often referred to) released some 30 records, only slowing down in the aughts. She continued to perform live up until her death. She was one of the greatest, most expressive singers of all time, not just in Japan, but in the world.


Listen to "House of the Rising Sun" live

FILE ONE
Asakawa Maki II
Asakawa Maki no Sekai
Black
Blue Spirit Blues
Cat Nap

FILE TWO
Darkness I
Darkness II
Darkness III
Darkness IV

FILE THREE
Hitomoshigoro
Live
Maboroshi no Onna-tachi
Maki
Nothing at All to Lose

FILE FOUR
One
Rear Window
Ura Mado Maki V
Yami No Naka Ni Okizari

Interview with Combodian rock vinyl collector Nate Hun

A piece I wrote for Tina Pamintuan at the Asian American Writers Workshop about Nate Hun, whose vinyl collection helped shape Cambodian rock doc Don't Think I've Forgotten, just posted on Open City. 

Read the story now

Listen to my interview with Nate and filmmaker John Pirozzi (as well as dozens of tracks from Nate's collection) on WFMU

And, if you're in the NYC area, maybe see you tonight at Dust-to-Digital's release party for the Don't Think I've Forgotten soundtrack, where Nate will be spinning from his collection!

BAPPI LAHIRI | BOLLYWOOD'S DISCO KING

On April 22, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio celebrated the crazy, infectious music of Bappi Lahiri, Bollywood's self-proclaimed Disco King. 

Lahiri, whose mother and father were both musical professionals, may be best known for the soundtrack to 1982's outlandish and hilarious Mithun-vehicle, Disco Dancer, but there's more to this composer -- and frequent musical plagiarist -- than first meets the ear. 

We danced our sweet asses off to many of the hits, of course, but we also dug deep into the Lahiri catalog, exploring crazy experimental collaborations with Kishore Kumar (including a just-discovered track from a film that -- holy role reversal, Bappi! -- Kumar directed and wrote the music for and which Lahiri belted out) and surprisingly haunting melodies from the early 70s, to extended Hindi disco mixes from the 80s, to award-winning Telugu tongue-twisters from the 90s, to remixes and "rap" from the 2000s to today. And, we heard a few things his parents recorded as well.

Listen to the show now in the archives

Rare Cambodian rock on vinyl + more!

On April 18 Bodega Pop Live's Gary Sullivan filled in for Rob Weisberg with special guests John Pirozzi, director of DON'T THINK I'VE FORGOTTEN: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll, and Cambodian vinyl collector Nate Hun.

We spun super-rare Cambodian vinyl for the first time on air and talked in depth about the music and Cambodian history, about John's film (which opens Weds Apr 22 at Film Forum), about John and Nate's interest in Cambodian music and culture, about their work on the upcoming Don't Think I've Forgotten soundtrack from Dust-to-Digital, and finally about the DTIF Cambodian Rock tour that takes off Friday Apr 24 at City Winery.

Listen to the show now in the archives

Happy Lao New Year!

On Wednesday, April 15, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio celebrated Lao New Year, or Songkran, with three hours of non-stop lam, synthed-up mor lam, khene-fueled hip-hop, rowdy ethnic minority music and much more, from field recordings, Bandcamp pages, and your humble proprietor's sizable collection of Lao CDs plucked from the shelves of bodegas in Dallas, Portland, and Seattle.

Listen to the show now in the archives

DJ battle with guest DJ Poodlecannon!

On Wednesday April 8, on Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio, North Brooklyn purebred DJ Poodlecannon (Drom, Mehanata, PS1) returned for an epic rematch with the Bodega Cat in a three-hour, winner-take-all match! 

Who spun the cheesiest international pop? The craziest outsider track? Who laid down the saddest, most gut-wrenchingly gorgeous ballad in the world? 

Listen to the show now in the archives to find out!