Time Machine

Others, past. 

A special 5-hour Bodega Pop Live

Listen to the show in the archives

The Long March of Chinese Rock 'n' Roll

Mainland rock, punk, metal, hard rock, hip-hop, post-punk, synth-pop, post-rock, and more from the mainland, 1980s to present

Listen to the show in the archives

Voices in the Wilderness

Lament, apology, paranoia, chagrin, boastfulness, glee, cautionary tales, and more from Austria, Benin, and Cambodia, to Malta, Singapore, Zambia ... and beyond

Listen to the show in the archives

Random Access Memories

New Zealand punk, Thai oldies, Soviet space disco, Algerian 78s, Euro psych, and female hip hop pioneers

Listen to the show in the archives

Hosono House Party

One of the most beloved Japanese musicians of all time, a man of many hats -- composer, folk musician, pop star, producer, rapper, rocker, songwriter -- Hauromi "Harry" Hosono's reputation and influence extends far beyond the archipelago. A member of Apryl Fool, Happy End, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Tin Pan Alley, Hosono helped shape nearly every significant Japanese pop music trend of the last 50 years.

We've put together a career-spanning tribute, from the early psychedelic rock and folk 70s, through the electronic and city pop eighties and collaborative nineties, to 21st century soundtracks and tributes.

Listen to the show in the archives

Left Field

Three hours of unexpected hip hop from unexpected places

Listen to the show in the archives

Nobody Knows About Persian Cats | Iran, 1906 - 2018

Photo by Taleen Dersdepanian

Persian classical, folk, funk, hip hop, pop, and psychedelic tracks, spanning most of last century and all of this one

Listen to the show in the archives

Waves of Fear

On Halloween, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio took you on a journey to Hell and back via psychedelic, hard rock, and hip hop from Belgium, Chile, and Germany, to Japan, Korea, Thailand ... and beyond

Never fear! Listen to the show now in the archives

"Singles" Going Steady

A special 2018 WFMU Year End Fundraiser show in which the solo careers of artists formerly of iconic groups from Brazil, Germany, Japan, Morocco and the UK are interwoven back into a(n un)se(e)aml(y)ess whole.

Listen to the show in the archives

Requiem for a Dream

Three super-downer hours of Tsarist- and Soviet-era sounds plucked from four now-dead or failing Russian media stores in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.

Come wallow with us!

Listen to the show in the archives

Some of My Best Friends Are DJs

Every year, the highly-disciplined DJs at WFMU each create a special swag offering for listeners who pledge to keep America's longest running freeform radio station on the air. In addition to T-shirts, stickers, DIY publications, beer cozies, and other surprises, many broadcasters compile thrill-packed limited-edition CDs packed with of all manner of obscure or long-out-of-print tracks--there are even those who go so far as to connive and cajole their favorite musicians to write or cover and record songs just for their one-time, pledge-only release.

We kicked off our October Silent Fundraiser with a special show featuring (mostly) international tracks from the last five years (or so) of these delightful digital optical discs of polycarbonate plastic.

Bookmark the show and see you Weds night!

VELVET

Three thrill-packed hours of Czech + Slovak folk, pop, underground, hip hop, psych, and more

Listen to the show in the WFMU archives!

Last Dance

Some of the hottest -- and raunchiest -- dance and party tracks from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the Americas

Listen to the show now in the archives!

FANIA

Founded by Dominican-born Johnny Pacheco and Italian-American Jerry Masucci in 1964, Fania Records took its name from a song by Cuban singer Reinaldo Bolaño and made international legends of a mostly pan-Latin roster including Puerto Ricans Cheo Feliciano, Héctor Lavoe, Adalberto Santiago, and Bobby Valentín; Panamanian Rubén Blades; Cuban Celia Cruz; and New Yorkers Ray Barretto, Willie Colón, and Larry Harlow (Lawrence Ira Kahn).

This special show features bomba, boogaloo, latin jazz and rock, plena, salsa, son, soul, and more from Fania CDs plucked from the shelves of Spanish Harlem's Casa Latina Music and El Barro Music Center; Bronx's Casa Amadeo; Brooklyn's San German Records; and the legendary Record Mart in the Times Square / 42nd Street subway station.

Listen now in the archives!

Radio Agadez

Folk, electronica, radio collage, sung poetry, Tuareg blues, and more from the Republic of Niger

Listen to the show in the archives

Italo

Classics and deep cuts from Mina, Moroder, and a handful of our favorite psychedelic and progressive tracks from The Boot.

Listen to the show now in the archves

A Trip to Nouri Brothers

Discs plucked from the shelves of Paterson, New Jersey's greatest self-proclaimed"shopping center": Nouri Brothers, where new stock butts heads with decades-old, dust-covered gems we didn't even know were available on this continent.

This three-hour tribute features Morocco's Grande Voix d'el Aita, Syria's King of the Oud, some long out-of-print Oum Kalsoum, mid-period Nass El Gihwane and Jil Jilala, nascent raï, jaw-droppingly rare Fayza Ahmed, and much, much more.

Listen to the show in the archives

TNR > CMB

Three hours of experimental, field recordings, film hits, folk, funk, pop, rock, and traditional sounds from the Indian Ocean (Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka).

Listen to the show

Bad Boys

Provocation, poor taste, questionable ethics, incompetence, regrettable decisions, and egregious criminal acts, featuring:

Russia's "unsurpassed master of profanity." 

The Cairene laundry presser whose ode to bin Laden was yanked from the Egyptian airwaves. 

The troubled Jamaican genius who spent the last years of his short life in prison for murder. 

Japan's greatest unpop star. 

The Beirut underground star whose fuck you to Lebanon's military leaders nearly ended his career. 

The creepy American hustler whose death unleashed a torrent of horrifying not-so-secret secrets.

Listen to this show in the archives

We Can't Stop Smoking in the Vicious and Blue Summer

A three-hour soundtrack to an imaginary Wong Kar-wai film, featuring 78s from Lebanon, Poland, Thailand, and Turkey; Belgian disco; Taiwanese rock; Okinawan bossa nova; Latin rhythms from Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela; Brazilian lo-fi; bubblegum from Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia ... and more!

Listen to the show in the archives

JAPANOISE

Three hours of some of the most extreme music ever recorded, from early experiments by pioneers Hijokaidan, Merzbow, and Hanatarash, to ear-piercing, mind-melting home recordings by K2, Pain Jerk, the Geriogerigegege, Violent Onsen Geisha, Incapacitants, Solmania, and more!

Listen to the show in the archives

Jackson Heights

Take a musical journey with Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio through the streets of one of the most diverse neighborhoods on the planet: Jackson Heights. Three hours of Peruvian punk, Tamil electronica, Ecuadorian soul, Punjabi party music, Venezuelan prog, Bangladeshi disco, Panamanian dancehall, Pinoy hip hop, Mexican psychedelic, Tibetan folk, and more!

Listen now!

Fête Femelle

Three hours of music from some of France's finest female recording artists, including 20th century luminaries Juliette Greco and Brigitte Fontaine, 21st Century avant-popists Maud Octallinn and Colleen, and more.

Listen now

Soirée Internationale

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!

A special five-hour international record party! Ugandan soul and street music, Lebanese pop hits, French Canadadian proto-punk, Japanese pastiche, 21st century electronica from the Netherlands, chaâbi d'Algérie, fado de Lisboa, field recordings from Niger, music from UK classrooms, and early hip hop from the US of A

Listen to the archived show now!

Asian Oldies

Three hours of early Latin-tinged sides from Japan; complaint songs from communist China; pop from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore; Indo Rock and Indonesian psychedelic; Cambodian, Indian, and Malaysian film hits; Korean blues; Thai easy listening; Vietnamese soul; scratchy 45s from Brunei, Philippines, and Sri Lanka; and much, much more ...

Listen now!

The Producers

Three hours of beatmakers, compilers, DJs, remixers, and turntablists, from the East Bay of California to Ramallah, Palestine 

Listen now!

Ghana

Three hours of Akan, dance music, disco, guitar bands, highlife, hip hop, hip-life, soul, and more, from Accra to Bolgatanga.

Listen now!

Typical Girls

A mix of 80s pós-punk Brasileiro, Kabyle queens, US/UK no wave priestesses, Khmer cassettes from the 90s, identical twin pop artists from Nigera, plus riot grrrls from Beijing to Singapore

Listen

Unrelated | Laos, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Lee "Scratch" Perry

Featuring:

1. Ear-bending traditional and ethnic minority recordings from the Lao People's Democratic Republic

2. Our favorite tracks from Bollywood's strangest music director duo, Laxmikant-Pyarelal

3. Rare cuts and hits from Lee "Scratch" Perry's half-a-century-and-counting career

Listen now!

Field & Flow

Urban and rural sounds from Colombia, Italy, Kenya, Lebanon, Spain, and Vietnam.

Listen now!

Minor Legends

Six sets by minor legends from the six corners of the world: Abranis (Algeria), Little Fujiko (Japan), El Polen  (Peru), Siekiera (Poland), The Triffids (Australia), and Wells Fargo (Zimbabwe)

Listen now!

Le Punk Français!

Punk rock, proto-punk, new wave, no wave, and post-punk from l'Hexagone.

Listen now!

MALI

TONIGHT, Wednesday April 18, from 7-10 PM EDT, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio spins three solid hours of scorchers from Mali. From classics and contemporaries to field recordings and unfairly forgottens ...

Bookmark the page and see you at 7!

Astoria Stories

Music found in the bodegas of our neighborhood, from Albanian, Algerian, and Bosnian, to Egyptian, Greek, Lebanese, Panamanian, and beyond!

Listen now

Blessing Udeagu

With the exception of King Sunny Ade's 1984 Aura, I came to Nigerian music late -- embarrassingly so. And it wasn't through Fela. It wasn't through Now-Again or Soul Jazz. And it wasn't through any of the amazing African music blogs of the last decade or two. 

It was all because I stopped for water at a bodega on the corner of 99th Street and Lewis Avenue in Corona on a hotter-than-usual early June day in 2012, two years after I'd moved to Queens. After quenching my thirst, I took a look around my surroundings, spotting the words "AFRICAN MOVIES" in red on a yellow awning two doors down. I walked over and stepped inside.

Blessing Udeagu moved to the U.S. in 1986 and opened her eponymous tax preparation / Nigerian video and CD shop on Lewis Avenue in Corona, Queens, two days before September 11, 2001. 

On Wednesday, April 4, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio played some of the most incredible pop and folk we've ever heard, all plucked from the shelves of Blessing's remarkable store.

Listen to the show now in the archives

Νοσταλγία | Nostalgia

On Wednesday, March 28, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio spun favorite tracks from the Pathé 100 Hong Kong + Shanghai series, early Jamaican mento and R&B, Greek garage and laïka, Krautrock from Brain Records, 70s mor lam from Soi 48, and nascent hip-hop from the U.S.A.

Listen to the show now in the archives

Dust-to-Digital

On Wednesday, March 21, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio celebrated 15 years of incredible releases from bar-raising re-release label, Dust-to-Digital. From brilliantly curated international 78 rpm collections to focused releases featuring early recordings from Africa and Southeast Asia, DTD has changed the way we think about -- and listen to -- so-called "world" music.

Listen to the show now in the archives

Rare & New CDs | WFMU Fundraising Marathon!

WFMU's 2018 Fundraising Marathon continues and I've got 9 more new and rare CDs to give away to winning Bodega Pop Live listeners. All CDs were found in bodegas and media stores catering to immigrants in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. 

This Wednesday, March 14, from 7-10 PM ET I'll be joined by my Give the Drummer Radio stream mate, Continental Subway's David Dichelle; in addition to playing some really great tracks, we'll be giving away the nine CDs shown aboveto lucky pledgers of $20 or more.

Here are a few details on what's up for grabs:

1. Brazilian hip-hop crew Racionais MC's 1994 compilation of their first two albums, plus bonus tracks. It doesn't get funkier than this.

2. Polish post-punk pioneers Siekiera's 1986 debut. One of the most influential eastern European albums of all time. Plucked from the shelves of Music Planet in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

3. Niemen's 1968 Sukces -- one of your humble proprietor's favorite albums, ever. I mean, look at him. Look at his haircut. Look at his jacket. Look at the freaking lettering. Is Niemen going to disappoint? Nie, man. 

4. Bappi "The Big Bappi" Lahiri's 1987 Dance Dance soundtrack. Holy freaking s#1t, this is like ... well, first of all, good luck finding a copy. No one's selling it on Discogs, and there's a reason: It's drugs. "Zooby Zooby"? "Super Dancer"? "Dance with Pa Pa"? Powerful drugs.

5. Biddu and Nazia & Zoheb Hassan's Disco Diwane and Star. Bollywood's two greatest disco albums, bundled into a single CD. 

6. R.D. Burman's Hare Rama Hare Krishna and Heera Panna soundtracks. Asha's finest moment. Ultra-rare original EMI CD found in a wee, unassuming bodega next door to Battambang Market II in the Bronx. 

7. Holy bejeebus, but this is an amazing CD. Millie (aka Millie "My Boy Lollipop" Small)'s 1970 comeback album, Time Will Tell, with covers of songs by Nick Drake, from Hair (the musical), and Jimmy Cliff's absurdly catchy bubblegum earworm, Honey Hush.

8. Total Reggae Chart Hits (2 CD set) -- reggae versions of chart toppers, from Sugar, Sugar, Puttin' on the Ritz, and Da' Ya' Think I'm Sexy, to Fast Car, Knocking on Heaven's Door, and Amazing Grace.

9. Finally, this 40th anniversary 3 CD set of one of the greatest reggae albums of all time, Lee Perry's production of The Congos' The Heart of the Congos, with the original album, a disc's worth of bonus tracks, and never-before-heard original mix versions.

If all this weren't enough, listeners who pledge $75 or more will receive a copy of our 2018 DJ Premium, Burma Pop, a collection of Burmese hits and crazy cover songs from the 1960s to 1980s.

Bookmark the page and see you Wednesday night!

Rare CDs and Cambodian Lyric Booklets

WFMU's 2018 Fundraising Marathon is upon us, and this year I've got a special surprise for Bodega Pop Live listeners: I'll be giving away 18 CDs and two Cambodian lyric booklets plucked from bodegas and media stores catering to immigrants in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. 

This Wednesday, March 7, from 7-10 PM ET I'll be joined by my Give the Drummer Radio stream mate, DJ and visual artist Mayuko Fujino; in addition to playing some really great tracks, we'll be giving away the nine CDs shown above plus two beautifully illustrated Cambodian lyric booklets to lucky pledgers of $20 or more.

Here are a few details on what's up for grabs:

1. Two super-rare, gorgeous, illustrated Cambodian lyrics booklets plucked from the shelves of Battambang Market II in the Bronx. 

The scans on this blog are from my own personal copies. The two I'll be giving away are identical to these, but still in their shrink wrap, and in much better condition.

There are no others at the market; I bought both copies of both booklets. And I've never seen any like these before, anywhere else. You'll have a chance to win these gems this Wednesday night, shortly after 7:00 PM.

2. Our second prize will be Turkish rapper Ceza's unimpeachable 2004 album, Rapstar, found at Uludag Video in south Brooklyn. Your copy, unlike mine shown above, is a rare fold-out cover version, with complete lyrics so you can rap along with the fastest rapper in Eurasia. 

3. Up third, Sezen Aksu's remarkable debut album from 1977, in a special CD edition that also collects rare singles from 1976-79. Your copy, plucked from Uludag Video, includes a 16-page booklet with lyrics, photos, production notes, and bio (all in Turkish).

4. Up next is hands down one of the greatest pop albums I've ever heard, The Very Best of Ahmed Adaweya. Adaweya rose from the streets of Cairo to become the greatest sha'abi artist of all time. When I found a second copy of this long out of print collection of his early hits at the Nile Deli in my neighborhood, I snatched it up, knowing it would someday find a great home. (Yours, if you're lucky!)

5. Also from the Nile Deli, a copy of Oum Kalsoum's greatest song, "El Atlaal," from a live concert in the 1960s. That's my treasured copy above; the copy you could win on Wednesday is still in shrink wrap, with a different cover.

6. The 19 tracks on this electrifying collection of 21st century Egyptian street-level pop changed my life, and will likely change yours, should you be so fortunate to win it this Wednesday night. 

7. Our last three prizes of Week 1 focus on Soviet-era punk and avant-garde music from Russia, including the above, three electronic-religious albums from Yuri Morozov. I have no words to describe this record -- it's amazing. I found your copy at RBC Video in Brighton Beach.

8. These two Aquarium CDs, [Triangle] and Taboo, from 1981 and 1982, respectively, provide a rare window onto some of the most out-there music of the Russian post-punk movement.

9. And, finally, as if that weren't grand-prize-y enough, here's the real grand prize, a 2-CD set of some of Grazhdanskaya Oborona's most incredible tracks. Don't let the lackluster CD cover fool you; never mind the Sex Pistols, this is some of the most scorched-earth punk rock ever committed to recording media. 

Don't believe me? Tune in Wednesday night when Mayuko and I will be playing selections from each of the CDs above.

10. If all this weren't enough, listeners who pledge $75 or more will receive a copy of our 2018 DJ Premium, Burma Pop, a collection of Burmese hits and crazy cover songs from the 1960s to 1980s.

Bookmark the page and see you Wednesday night!

(Stay tuned for pics and descriptions of next week's prizes ...)