Papers for the Border #5 Tracklist & Notes

Here is what was played in the fifth episode of the Papers for the Border podcast, which was made available starting December 14, 2010:

1. "It's Still '56" ~ Richard Buckner ~ Impasse-ette (Overcoat, 2002)
2. "Anti-Sex Anti-Wiretapping (Made in Taiwan)" ~ s/t ~ God (Little Enjoyer / Gameboy, 2005)
3. "Contextual Part 3" ~ Laminal ~ AMM (Matchless, 1969/82/94)
4. "Bug Day" ~ The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall ~ The Fall (Beggars Banquet, 1984)
5. "Slide 9" ~ AFCGT ~ AFCGT (SubPop, 2010)
6. "Eclipse" ~ Ancient and Modern ~ Aki Onda (Phenomena, 2003)
7. "Opium War" ~ Radio Experiment, Rome, February 1981 ~ Robert Wyatt (Rai Trade, 2009)

Looking back on these songs nine months later, I'm finding it difficult to figure out what I was going for. I remember that the "Anti-Sex..." song was the nucleus; I really wanted to include a part of that sprawling recording. While researching the recording, I came across a review that likened the musicians known as "God," Leif Erik Sundström & Bryan Eubanks, to another group of improvising musicians near to my heart, AMM. So I decided to throw an AMM recording into the mix, to see how it stood up next to the previous track.


The final two tracks were simply cuts from albums that I had obtained a week or two before putting together the podcast, and thought they were perfect for PftB. The Wyatt track got me thinking about war, and so when I was looking for a short opening song (I was originally going to include the Henry Cow song, "War"), i thought of the Richard Buckner track. Recorded in 2002, but containing, apparently, a much older recording, I believe this is Buckner's unusually subtle way of making a statement regarding the Iraq War. The AFCGT album was sent to me by a friend, and I found myself fascinated by "Slide 9".


Why the Fall? Well, The Wonderful & Frightening... had just been re-released in an "omnibus" edition, and I realized that it was the one Fall album I'd never really given a chance. Ever since my discovery of the band around 1994, I'd written this album off as unadventurous and boring. When I'm wrong, I am very wrong. "Bug Day" "goes out to," as they say -- and this episode is dedicated to -- Matt O'Neal, a professor of entomology at Iowa State University, and a close friend of mine, as well as my son's godfather. Matt is in the process of discovering the skewed genius of Mark E. Smith and the Fall.


And, before you know it, there goes an hour. Thanks for listening and reading.

Bumping up...

The inaugural Papers for the Border podcast is already over a year old. It was published on March 14, 2010 (PI Day!) It can be listened to here or downloaded for free from iTunes.

Here is the tracklist:

1. Let the Little Sunbeam In. Amy Denio, Derek Bailey, Dennis Palmer. The Gospel Record: Reference Edition (Shaking Ray Records, 2005).
2. Just Like the Radio. Brigitte Fontaine w/the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Comme a la Radio (Saravah, 1971).
3. Confessions. Violent Femmes. Live in Iceland: According to Tradition (Add it up Productions, 2006).
4. My Brother. Reiko Kudo. Rice Field Silently Riping in the Night (Periodic Document, 2000).
5. Night Moves. Marilyn Crispell & Eddie Prévost. Band on the Wall (Matchless, 1994).
6. Verschwiegene Liebe. Josephine Foster. A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (Locust, 2006).
7. Blue Ballet. Anne Bourne. Legacy: A Collection of New Folk Music (Windham Hill, 1989).
8. Lower Flower. Fred Frith/Anne Bourne/John Oswald. Dearness (Spool, 2001).
9. Notre Vie. (see #10)
10. Paris Rip-off. Steve Lacy. Scratching the Seventies (Saravah, 1997).
11. Zócalo Masqué. Kristoff K.Roll. 33 RPM: 10 Hours of Sound from France (23five, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2003).
12. Rien N'Est Fini. Sandie Shaw. La Belle Epoque: EMI's French Girls, 1965-1968 (Zonophone, 2007).
13. Comme a la Radio. see #2.
14. The Owl. see # 10.
15. I Miss a Friend Like You. see #1.