Resonance FM 30/3/21 (Max Syedtollan)

After the very enjoyable but technologically unrefined Zoom chat with Speed Training a few weeks ago, I decided to book in composer Max Syedtollan for a call and give the radio-via-online-video-chat thing another go. Max and I had a chatted for over an hour, which I then had to brutally edit into fifteen minutes to accommodate the show's short run time and the great tunes Max had selected to play. We began the show with a conversation about his amazing recent piece 'Four Assignments' before Max introduced and discussed a selection of tracks that included Bulgarian folk-pop, GLARC's Gordon Bruce and theatrical pronk legends Cardiacs.

Dig That Treasure (30/3/21)

Rositsa Peychova - Sevdalino, Boy

Cardiacs - The Duck And Roger The Horse

Bryn Harrison - Surface Forms (Repeating)

Gordon Bruce - Sanctus

Michael Nyman - Bird Anthem

Resonance FM 23/3/21

Just because the Western Canon is snoozy snobbery wot ought to be torn down doesn't mean the Dig That Treasure Canon shouldn't replace it and be added to all national curricula across the treasure-digging world. Wot is the Dig That Treasure Canon, Will? You know, those much-loved mp3s wot have been worn down through repeat plays on the Dig That Treasure show on Resonance FM. No? You know, those artists who really represent Dig That Treasure and all its ever-evolving principles. Come on... There are tunes - texts, if you like - that are well and truly part of the DTT fabric: 'Oh Les Beaux Japonais!', 'Indang Pariaman', 'Cap Horn', 'My Time', 'Mili Alay', 'Daddy's Little Girl'. There are also staple figures, groups, icons: Momus, Woo, Armeanca, and so on. Yeah, you get it - a big and (until now) unwritten list of show-defining, ethos-emphasising, catalogue-creating artists and artworks. My point, after all that, is that this list has also long-included Yeshimebet Dubale and recently expanded to include Zach Phillips (Blanche Blanche Blanche, Fievel Is Glauque, etc.). And both those artists featured on this week's show. That's what I was getting at, really. Alongside tracks by these two canonical figures I span Romanian manele, Algeria chaoui, and another song from R.D. Laing's (yep, that R.D. Laing) easy-listening-vaudeville-ambient-disco-spoken-word record. As if that wasn't enough, I played two tunes from the Lo Recordings catalogue: 'Ella' by Gablé (technically released by LOAF, a subsidiary of Lo) and 'Hollowed Water' by Athanasios Argianas. Whew.

Dig That Treasure (23/3/21)

Florin Salam - Zana Zanelor

Fievel Is Glauque - Simple Affairs

Fievel Is Glauque - The Ancient Cause

R.D. Laing - Three

Gablé - Ella

Athanasios Argianas - Hollowed Water

Cheba Yamina - Salame Salame

Yeshimebet Dubale - ጐዳናው ምን ይላል

Resonance FM 16/3/21 (Speed Training)

This week's show featured Dig That Treasure's first ever Zoom interview, almost a year after lockdown measures were first announced in the UK. My guests on the other side of the cyber-studio were Speed Training, the new project rising from the ashes of the much-loved and recently disbanded/reshuffled Great Dad, consisting primarily of Charlie and Caitlin but with a larger live ensemble due in the (hopefully near-) future. Their amazing debut track Bright And Beautiful Morning is available via Bandcamp now. Together we wrestled with the technical blips and communicative hurdles that dodgy internet connections and Zoom etiquette present to produce a fun DIY half-hour. Charlie and Caitlin played tunes from a variety of their friends and influences, including Belfast's femme-punk group Problem Patterns, Manchester's avant-rapper Algernon Cornelius, and Glasgow's goof-gabber hero Romeo Taylor. Also played were Garden Centre (selected previously by Kiran Leonard), a bonkers and extremely-Resonance Bob Ostertag collaboration, and Jelly Cleaver's powerful and sprawling protest song 'Yarl's Wood'. Thanks to Speed Training for their time & patience - you can listen to the glorious mess below!

Dig That Treasure (16/3/21)

Problem Patterns - Day And Age

Algernon Cornelius - Nudge Theory

Bob Ostertag, Otomo Yoshihide & Justin Vivian Bond - I Love Animals

Romeo Taylor - Kingdom Of Scotland

Garden Centre - I Am The Babysitter

Jelly Cleaver - Yarl's Wood

Resonance FM 9/3/21

On this episode I declared Momus the Patron Saint of Dig That Treasure. I will try my utmost to organise a public ceremony of veneration once Covid has "ended" (become neutralised as Yet Another Flu). Beyond that act of commemoration, I played an Ethio oldie, Latvian avant-garde, Colombian folk-psych-funk and Algerian staifi. Also on the bill was Elori Saxl with her meditative & tidal Waves I and III.

 

Dig That Treasure (9/3/21)

Almaz Kebede - Yene Shemonemana

Momus - Athenian

NSRD - Karstvīna recepte / Uz pirti / Garām aiziet vīrs ar cigareti

Elori Saxl - Wave I

Elori Saxl - Wave III

Elia y Elizabeth - Buscándonos

Samir El Eulmi - Tahar Ya Tahar

Resonance FM 2/3/21

Kicked off with Max Syedtollan's 'Four Assignments', a "narrative piece investigating the fictionality of history" and one of the most exciting and inventive things I've heard this year. After that was another new track - Momus's 'Nono' from his forthcoming album Athenian - followed by Finnish folk and Ethiopian jazz. I closed the show with Laetitia Sadier's 'Turn The Other Cheek' from A Home, the Dig That Treasure compilation that turned five (!) on Monday.

 

Dig That Treasure (2/3/21)

Max Syedtollan with Plus Minus Ensemble - Four Assignments

Momus - Nono

Värttinä - Marilaulu

Mahmoud Ahmed - Selam Almazeye

Laetitia Sadier - Turn The Other Cheek