Episode 48

     In assembling the last three episodes, I’ve had some hard choices to make, for there’s no shortage of great music. Over a span of about four weeks, I continually added candidates for the final show to a list that in the end had over 60 items. At that point, having enough material for slightly more than two three-hour shows, I had to start the painful process of paring things down, moving items that didn’t make the cut for the final show to episode 49. Then, episode 49 was too long to accommodate the September 12 releases that I’ve been looking forward giving a spin (e.g., Junior Boys, TV on the Radio, Shawn Colvin and Dani Siciliano). In any event, the next two shows are going to be jam-packed with really great stuff.
     For that matter, though, so is this one, though it also features a compromise of sorts. As my previous posts about the final episode have made clear, there are a number of tunes I love that I’ve kept in reserve, some of which you’ll hear next week and many more in the week following. One of those tracks has been held back for an additional reason: it’s over 20 minutes long. I decided yesterday that if I didn’t get it on the air this morning, I never would. And thus it is that my hands-down favorite track by Fela is taking up nearly a third of the last hour of the show. It’s an engaging third, even though the track’s inclusion meant that other worthy things had to be omitted.
     Among the other gems on offer this week is a track from a hard-to-find release by Barbara Gogan (it’s yet another collaboration between her and Hector Zazou). There’s also a selection from the latest release by Susana Baca—who’ll be back at the University of Chicago performing previewing a collaboration with Luna Negra on 13 October. The Thom Yorke track below is the first exception to a rule I developed a few years ago: whatever song I like the least on a recording will be the one released as a single (relatedly, the song I like most will forever be only an album cut). For once, though, my tastes and those of a recording company/artist aligned. If there had been time, I would have played the extended version, but, well, you’ve read enough about time constraints, no? If you’ve got some time to kill (and you must if you’ve gotten this far), check out the video for the tune.
     I’ll say only one more thing about this show. Unbeknownst to you, I have been playing tracks by artists who’ll be represented on the final two episodes for the last several weeks. The question for you, of course, is this: “Which among the dozens of tracks are from those artists or groups?” Comparing the recent playlists with those in the archives might give you some clues. If you’re up for a challenge, you could put a guess in the comments. Still, I doubt that anyone will guess which artist gets the coveted last slot. Most of my friends would probably supply the same answer, and they would unfortunately be wrong. That particular artist or group will more than likely have the second-to-last slot. Once again, stay tuned....

• 12:00–1:00 a.m.:
• Stevie Wonder, “Love’s in Need of Love Today,” Songs in the Key of Life, Motown
• Billy Bragg, “Ideology,” Talking with the Taxman about Poetry, Elektra
• Carla Bozulich, “Evangelista II,” Evangelista, Constellation
• Cibelle, “Phoenix,” The Shine of Dried Electric Leaves, Six Degrees
• Public Image Ltd., “Rise,” Album, Elektra
• Stephen Malkmus, “Kindling for the Master,” Face the Truth, Matador
• Kaki King, “Gay Sons of Lesbian Mothers,” ...Until We Felt Red, Velour
• Juana Molina, “Yo No,” Son, Domino
• The Pretty Things, “Defecting Grey,” S.F. Sorrow, Snapper Classics
• Broadcast, “Black Cat,” Tender Buttons, Warp
• Sol Seppy, “Slo Fuzz,” The Bells of 1 2, Gronland

• 1:00–2:00 a.m.:
• The Style Council, “It’s a Very Deep Sea,” Confessions of a Pop Group, Polydor
• Neko Case & Her Boyfriends, “South Tacoma Way,” Furnace Room Lullaby, Bloodshot
• The Delgados, “The Drowning Years,” Hate, Minty Fresh
• Daníel Ágúst, “Intersection,” Swallowed a Star, One Little Indian
• Nina Nastasia, “This Is What It Is,” The Blackened Air, Touch and Go
• Elliott Smith, “Baby Britain,” XO, Dreamworks
• Vinny Miller, “On the Block,” On the Block, 4AD
• Feist, “When I Was a Young Girl,” Let It Die, Polydor
• Barbara Gogan with Hector Zazou, “Your Radio’s On,” Made on Earth, Crammed
• Thom Yorke, “Harrowdown Hill,” The Eraser, XL
• Nine Horses, “A History of Holes,” Snow Borne Sorrow, Samadhi Sound

• 2:00–3:00 a.m.:
• Cocteau Twins, “Violaine,” Milk and Kisses, Capitol
• Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Egypt 80, “Just Like That,” Beasts of No Nation, Shanachie
• The Sundays, “More,” Blind, Geffen
• Bark Psychosis, “The Loom,” Hex, Caroline
• Eric Matthews, “Courage,” Foundation Sounds, Empyrean
• Susana Baca, “Una Copla Me Ha Cantado,” Travesías, Luaka Bop
• Neil Finn, “Dream Date,” Try Whistling This, Work
• Talk Talk, “I Believe in You,” Spirit of Eden, EMI