wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

On Demand

Program Schedule

Topics

Spinning On Air Archive

  • 2009
  • Jan
  • Feb
  • Mar
  • Apr
  • May
  • Jun
  • Jul
  • Aug
  • Sep
  • Oct
  • Nov
  • Dec

January 2003

Pamelia Weaves the Theremin

Friday, January 31, 2003

The theremin was one of the first electronic instruments developed in the early 20th Century. It is played without touching; the performer moves their hands in the vicinity of two antennas, controlling pitch and volume. Theremins are enjoying a renaissance these days, and one of the finest of the new batch of players is Pamelia Kurstin. Pamelia joins host David Garland to talk a little about her instrument, but mostly to play it. She'll create some multi-layered improvisations in the WNYC studio, using digital delay to weave theremin lines into an extraordinary sonic tapestry. Also on the program, new music from Brokeback, Mileece, and more.


Jim O'Rourke

Friday, January 24, 2003

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Jim O'Rourke visits to discuss his work with Wilco, Sonic Youth, and Stereolab, and to share his own genre- and expectation-defying music. Jim O'Rourke is a busy musician. His own recordings range from elaborately arranged tuneful songs to electronic free improvisation. In addition, he's a new member of the well-established alternative band Sonic Youth, he mixed the new Wilco CD, plays on Stereolab's latest, and a lot more. He's also a virtuoso collector of recordings, and on this show O'Rourke joins host David Garland to share his enthusiasms and music.


Setting the Song

Friday, January 17, 2003

The way a song is accompanied can have as much effect as the way it's sung, or its melody and words. At its best, a song can hit you in all these ways at once. Beth Gibbons, singer from the British band Portishead, has a new (and not yet released in the U.S.) CD called Out of Season, on which the accompaniments are varied to suit the songs, and the results are beautiful. Host David Garland offers several selections from this release, plus songs with orchestral accompaniment by Beck, Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Sigur Ros, Aiko Shimada, and others. Also featured are songs with homemade, eccentric orchestrations by Neutral Milk Hotel, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, and The Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers.


Beyond the Bossa Nova

Friday, January 10, 2003

Brazil's brand new Minister of Culture is composer and singer Gilberto Gil, who says he's now "gone from being the stone thrower to the glass." Back in the Sixties he and fellow musician Caetano Veloso were exiled from Brazil by the military dictatorship. They had founded the Tropicalia movement, a style of music and thinking that challenged all assumptions. Gil and Veloso made--and continue to make--a kind of intelligent, experimental pop that has no match in the U.S. Host David Garland offers some of their recordings, along with related Brazilian music by Os Mutantes, Jorge Ben, Gal Costa, Tom Ze, and the man who inspired them, Joao Gilberto.


Cloudmaking and Storytelling

Friday, January 03, 2003

After a startling start with a story by Ivor Cutler, hear a preview of the music of Loose Fur (Jeff Tweedy, Jim O'Rourke, Glenn Kotchke) on this installment of Spinning on Air. Then huddle 'round the radio hearth for "The 2nd Imaginary Symphony for Cloudmaking," a story with music by Julian Koster (pictured) and his group The Music Tapes, narrated by Brian Dewan accompanied by bowed banjos, singing saws and sound effects. It's a strange and lovely tale for all ages. Also, hear some 1960s songs by Brazil's great Caetano Veloso. Veloso's autobiography, Tropical Truth, is out and is another good story, but one you'll have to read for yourself!