Resonance FM 1/12/20 (Ethiopia)

Righto, my computer fucked up and wiped my iTunes library. I'm trying to write a short essay on why that is so dislocating and traumatic for me - not least because it's where I organise and catalogue my DTT shows. Anyway, I quickly put together 5 of my favourite Ethiopian tracks as an emergency show. Enjoy!

Dig That Treasure (1/12/20)

Roha Band - Maebel (feat. Neway Debebe)

Alem Kebede - Shemma Tal

Alèmayèhu Eshèté - Tikur Gissila

Mahmoud Ahmed - Be Leselese Qu'al

Bezawork Asfaw - Tezeta

Resonance FM 24/11/20

This episode was largely made up of cover versions and contemporary avant-garde electronic music. So: I started off with a nose flute cover of 'God Only Knows' - perhaps a bit viral for this show, but good nonetheless. After that, a Dusty Springfield cover from Japanese oddball Kiyohiko Senba and his troupe the Haniwa All-Stars. Another track from them followed, as did Dean Blunt's melancholic and very funny TROLL and Julek Ploski's adventurous and cacophonous "saxophone-rock opera," both released this year. I span a track from South African singer Ntombi Ndaba before ending with yet another cover and one of this year's best, Sega Bodega and Oklou's lockdown-era collaborative acapella version of Mauro Picotto's trance classic 'Komodo'.

Dig That Treasure (24/11/20)

Will Grove-White - God Only Nose

Kiyohiko Senba & His Haniwa All-Stars - You Don't Have To Say You Love Me

Kiyohiko Senba & His Haniwa All-Stars - Sports Festival

Dean Blunt - TROLL (feat. Joanne Robertson & Vegyn)

Julek Ploski - My Music

Ntombi Ndaba - Flood

Sega Bodega & Oklou - Komodo

Resonance FM 17/11/20

Kicked off with a bouncy, springy load of poing from DJ Shoe on Air Max 97's Decisions label before spinning Yugoslavian "mountain drone," Momus's squeaky sorrowful 'Widow Twanky', some more Henry Cow, contemporary Ethiopian pop and some Colombian cumbia. To close, I played Joousama's bonker Queen medley.

Dig That Treasure (17/11/20)

DJ Shoe - Poing

Kula Vavilonska - Monasi Projkletija VI

Momus - Widow Twanky

Henry Cow - War

Geremew Gualu - Sim Alew Gonder

Gerardo Sanson & Fred McDonald - Danza Negra

Joousama - Joousamamonogatari

Resonance FM 10/11/20

Kermit The Frog? David Lee Roth? James Brown? Nonsense? It can only mean one thing: The Bran Flakes. Three tunes by the iconic plunderphonics novelty-pop duo were followed by tracks from Japan, Poland, Nepal and Zimbabwe, with a bit of "comfy synth" thrown in for good measure.

Dig That Treasure (10/11/20)

The Bran Flakes - Good Times A Goo Goo

The Bran Flakes - Nonsense

The Bran Flakes - Van Pop

長谷川白紙 - 怖いところ

長谷川白紙 - あなただけ

M Grechuta - Childhood Portrait

Namdup Lepcha - Namko Kusa

The Shakespearean Frog - Oh My Darling

Comrade Chinx - Vanhu Vemu Africa

Resonance FM 3/11/20

From Chile to the Sahara to Poland, via Goldsmiths, Cambridge and a West Midlands send-up.

Dig That Treasure (3/11/20)

Los Jaivas - Piano Introducción

Księżyc - Mglista

Lizzy Laurance - Famous

Veyrouz Mint Seymali - Tendeynidane

Ted Chippington - Atmosphere

Ted Chippington - She Loves You

Henry Cow - Viva Pa Ubu

Resonance FM 27/10/20

This week's show was a tribute to Zach Phillips, the composer, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist, engineer, harmonist, label boss, philosopher, egalitarian, collaborator and king of the so-called "underground." I played ten tracks that featured Zach in some capacity, most of which are available from his label OSR Tapes - a not-for-profit label "trafficking mostly in sub rosa, arcane songwriterly music of culturally unintelligible & often uncertain representational politics." Over the years, Zach has floated in the same circles as Chris Cohen (whose project Cryptacize is responsible for the name Dig That Treasure), Adrian Knight and Ed Askew (both of whom featured on my 2016 compilation A Home and have made mixes for the blog; Adrian also did a session for this show back in 2014). His music is always surprisingly, always thoughtful and always tuneful. Dig into the world of ZP below (I've listed the vocalists that appear on each song in the tracklist)!

Dig That Treasure (27/10/20)

Blanche Blanche Blanche - That's Okay [Sarah Smith]

Grendel's Mother - Heart Made Of Rust [Jazz Adam]

Grendel's Mother - Too Much Going On [Jazz Adam]

Blanche Blanche Blanche - I Can Pay [Sarah Smith]

Blanche Blanche Blanche - Look's Don't Run [Sarah Smith]

Maher Shalal Hash Baz - Happy [Tori Kudo]

Zach Phillips - Case Closed [Zach Phillips]

Lilith Outcome - How Can It Taste So Good? [Zach Phillips]

Zach Phillips - Four Minutes To Play [Ani Ivry-Block]

Zach Phillips - Mistress Of The Junior Professed [Sophie Dickinson]

Resonance FM 20/10/20 (Canon)

 

I took a mid-season pause from discovering and playing new music. Instead, this episode is a canon-building exercise. I like the idea of having certain songs that represent Dig That Treasure, that sound like the show no matter how different they are to one another. Primarily, these songs are among my favourites that I've played previously on the show. They also provide a great short survey of what the show is. So, I played tunes from Ethiopia, Japan, Syria, Cambodia, France and the US. Lots of bases cover: experimental new-wave, toe-tapping dabke, comedic squiggly pop, coarse US folk, and so on. I close the show with the eponymous 'Dig That Treasure' by Cryptacize. Listen below and learn!

Dig That Treasure (20/10/20)

Bezunesh Bekele - Sintun Ayehu Bante

Susan - Ah Soka!

Mohamed Al Ali - Mili Alay

Prum Manh - Two Wives Are Twice The Trouble

Clement Gourand - Cap Horn

Old Harp Singers Of Eastern Tennessee - Ocean

Cryptacize - Dig That Treasure

Resonance FM 13/10/20

Times and places. Lots of them. Nigeria in the 80s? Yep. American session player for Elvis, Buddy and Frank with bongos to boot? Uh-huh. Drone from former Yugoslavia? Sure thing. Transcendent Soundcloud experiments from down under? Bengali folk from Bagula? Zappa-inspired Japanese prog of the 90s? Yes, yes and yes. It's all there and it's all great.

Dig That Treasure (13/10/20)

Dizzy K - No Dime

Al Caiola - Dance Of The Spanish Onion

Al Caiola - Steel Guitar Rag

SKK - Tema 8

Noah - Eliya

Gosto Gopal Das - Jivan Nadir Ghurnipake

Tipographica - Forest Tipographical II

Resonance FM 6/10/20

This week's show started with the playful percussion of Gianni Meccia's 'Io Lavoro' (performed with Ennio Morricone's orchestra). Folk followed: The Young Tradition, a British group active in the 60s, performed the Medieval folk tune 'Agincourt Carol', before two songs by the "Finnish Woody Guthrie," Hiski Salomaa. A change in direction saw us visit the cosmos with the mysterious Somali tune 'Naga Tag, Kac Hooyaa', before a proper synth pop banger from Taiwanese singer Louise Tsuei. I closed the show with London pianist and composer Eriksson Kaner's new track 'In Convalescence'.

Dig That Treasure (6/10/20)

Gianni Meccia - Io Lavoro

The Young Tradition - The Agincourt Carol

Hiski Salomaa - Vanhanpiian Polkka

Hiski Salomaa - Dahlmannin Paartit

Libaaxyada Maaweeliska Banaadir - Naga Tag, Kac Hooyaa

Louise Tsuei - I Am Ob The Way To You And You

Eriksson Kaner - In Convalescence (ft O The Ghost)

Resonance FM 29/9/20

 

Continued where I left off last week with another interpretation of the gospel track 'That's Alright', this time by Swedish musician Håkan Hellström who took Laura Rivers' performance and added to it a beautiful string arrangement. The tone changed significantly with a trio of upbeat rhythmic tracks - first from Germany, with Fix & Fertig, then Cheb Djalal of Algeria, then finally Somalia's Hibo Nuura. Brought the tone down again with two tracks from pianist Olga Wojciechowska's serene new EP out on A Strangely Isolated Place before closing the show with one of my favourite discoveries of the 'lockdown' period, Leti.

Dig That Treasure (29/9/20)

Håkan Hellström - Du gamla (That's Alright Since My Soul Got a Seat Up in the Kingdom)

Fix & Fertig - Cube Carrelage Blanc

Cheb Djalal - Rani Maghroum

Hibo Nuura - Heesta Qunbacasho

Olga Wojciechowska - Labyrinth Made Of Labyrinths

Olga Wojciechowska - Organised Delusions

Leti - Lady Rosa's Moonlight Theme