It's been a while since I went through one week of archives with no theme in mind. Like a free form DJ's set, let's pick some music and hear what happens.
Scott Williams played "Life Child" by Ramases. Godley and Creme played with the band before 10cc. Space Hymns was released on Vertigo in 1972: a few years before 1970's rock attained slick perfection with bands like Steely Dan and 10cc. Still, you can hear a hint of the layered shine Godley and Creame became known for. I hate it when a DJ puts a band name in my head and then does not play them, so here is Maria Levitsky playing "I'm Not In Love With Crickets" by 10cc. Hatch played Steely Dan's "Black Cow."--mainstream for our purposes but as a grouping, the triad is quite enjoyable.
Nothing is better than a DJ doing an extremely diverse set that clicks. You are in a better mood by set's end. On This Is The Modern World, Trouble started with Annette Henshaw, and included among many Broadcast And Focus Group and Francoise Hardy. Hear for example how the fragile nuance of "Hold Me In" by Lucas Santtana is shattered by......on second thought, enjoy Trouble's surprise. When a set flows this well, it kills your visceral joy to deconstruct it. Whether Trouble's combinations come from brilliant design or sheer spontaneity--I have a hunch it's the latter--listen and relish in how her sequence becomes inevitable.
Here is a pairing with a more concrete link. Woody played "The Outer Darkness Part 2" by Sun Ra next to Rougeux and Negativland. The logic is perfect: there are very few pure musical surrealists-Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Harry Partch and the Residents, perhaps Plastic People Of The Universe--and Ra is the space king of them all. Negativland sits perfectly next to the planetary master. Can you imagine a time when Ra could get on a Rolling Stone cover?
Zappa had musical reach even more comprehensive than Ra's: Frank O'Toole played the second half of his 1967 Absolutely Free album, proceeded by the Electric Flag's "Another Country:" Strange: a perfectly good 1968 brass rock protest piece cut through the middle with a sound collage that does not seem to have distinct purpose. You have to admire the courageous post-Sgt. Pepper impulse, but not all surrealism is created equal. The Flag were crack blues-soul players, not surrealists: many such montages were edited into solid rock songs of the era to make them sound "psychedelic". Still, "Another Country" is an enjoyable snapshot of testing outer reaches when rock's possibilities seemed boundless.
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