HOW GERMAN IS IT?

On Wednesday, June 3, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio cast our first full-fledged nod to the most populous state in the European Union, die Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or as we like to think of it: the veritable Urheimat of nearly all that is holy and unholy alike from disco, electropop and house to post-punk, post-rock and techno.

We spun popular and forgotten Kabarett, Liedermacher, Ostrock, Volk, Schlager, Neue Deutsche Welle, Hamburger Schule, Eurodance and -- yes, indeed we did -- some of our favorite Krautrock tracks. 

Listen to the show now in the archives

Spanish Bombs | 7-10 PM tonight!

TONIGHT, from 7-10 PM EDT, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio spins some of the rockingest bachata, boogaloo, chicha, cumbia, guaguanco, hip-hop, punk, reggaeton y música popular to have ever laser-beamed its way into 0.047" thick discs of polycarbonate plastic.  

Listen to the show [starts at 7:00 PM Eastern Time]

Phimpha Phonsiri | It's Red!

Listen to the third track


Give track 11 some attention

Reupped  on May 24, 2015, by reader request here.

Have I really never shared this fabulous example of, uh, well ... what is it, exactly? I was going to use Peter Doolan's term, "work station luk thung," but it's not that, exactly. (And, thanks Peter, for the singer and title.) I'm no longer sure where I picked it up, but the most likely place is Thai-Cam Video (5230 Southeast Foster Road, Portland, Ore.), where I got most of my Cambodian and Lao music, and a bit of my Thai stuff as well.

Exhausted and wanting to catch a few quick Zs before heading over to friends' house to watch Project Runway--I baked a nice loaf of rosemary sourdough for them--or I'd stick around and talk longer. Maybe tomorrow; I've got the day off.

CHINA ROCKS!

Beijing Calling: a 3-hour tour of Chinese punk | post-punk

Listen to the show now in the archives

Turn it up to shíyī!

BEIJING CALLING

WHAT: Beijing Calling: a 3-hour tour of Chinese punk | post-punk

WHERE: Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio

WHEN: Listen anytime in the archives

WHO:  AV Okubo, Brain Failure, Caffe-in, The Diders, 8 Eye Spy, The Fly, Girl Kill Girl, He Yong, Joyside, Misandao, New Pants, Ourself Beside Me, P.K. 14, Queen Sea Big Shark, Streets Kill Strange Animals, Tongue, Underbaby, Xiao He, ZuoXiao ZuZhou + dozens more

HOW: Listen the show in the archives now!

Guided in part by four defining books on the birth, rise and triumph of Chinese rock and punk (David O'Dell's Inseparable: The Memoirs of an American and the Story of Chinese Punk Rock, Jonathan Campbell's Red Rock: The Long, Strange March of Chinese Rock & Roll, Matthew Niederhauser's Sound Kapital: Beijing's Music Underground and Jeroen de Kloet's China with a Cut: Globalisation, Urban Youth and Popular Music), we took a three-hour tour from proto-punk forays and the first punk song recorded on the mainland, through highlights of the Maybe Mars and Modern Sky catalogs, to some of the most promising acts emerging in the last couple of years.

Turn it up to shíyī!

THE SEVENTIES

The long-maligned "Me" Decade, which gave us 10 years of egregious soft rock and stomach-churning stadium acts, may actually have been one of the most radical and diverse periods of popular music around the globe. 

From Fela Kuti's return to Nigeria where he would revolutionize West African pop to the the birth and/or flowering of disco, hip-hop, krautrock, new wave and punk, more music of 1970s persists and remains influential today than that of any other decade we can think of.

On May 13, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio took a 3-hour tour around the globe and through time, from 1970 to 1979, exploring some of the most ear-bending tracks of the decade.

Listen to the show now in the archives!

Phương Dung | Khúc Hát ân Tình

Reupped again on May 8, 2015, here.

Every time I've gone to Chicago, and the one time I was in Montreal, I've picked up half a dozen to two dozen Vietnamese CDs, mostly pop music recorded in Vietnam before 1975--though I do have a relatively sizeable collection now of Vietnamese rap, all recorded in the States.

The pre-75 stuff rarely disappoints. That said, it also rarely, in the words of my Minneapolis sound poet friend, Erik Belgum, "blows head off." Last weekend, however, I picked up something that defintely BHO.

This is, at least for the moment, my favorite pre-75 Vietnamese pop CD. Hope you like it. Here's something else by Phương Dung, not on the CD, but still pretty fabulous, to listen to while you're downloading:

THE SEVENTIES

The long-maligned "Me" Decade, which gave us 10 years of egregious soft rock and stomach-churning stadium acts, may actually have been one of the most radical and diverse periods of popular music around the globe. 

From Fela Kuti's return to Nigeria where he would revolutionize West African pop to the the birth and/or flowering of disco, hip-hop, krautrock, new wave and punk, more music of 1970s persists and remains influential today than that of any other decade we can think of.

On May 13, fBodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio took a 3-hour tour around the globe and through time, from 1970 to 1979, exploring some of the most ear-bending tracks of the decade.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW NOW IN THE ARCHIVES

RADIO NIGERIA

On Wednesday, May 6, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio celebrated one of the musically richest countries on the planet with a three hour firestorm of afrobeat apala, breakcore calypso funk, hip-hop juju, fuji garage rock, psychedelic school band and much more. 

Hear all-time heroes alongside one-hit wonders; obscure 78s, platinum LPs and scratchy, catchy 45s.

Listen to the show now in the archives!

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