Totallyradio genre: breaks

The Damping Wells 148 with lily livered hasenpfeffer Dj Fiery Biscuits. Tracks by Dhangsha, Cygnet V Zer0, Kemper Norton, Alien Alarms/Desmesne Furze/Ned Rush, Automouse, McCloud+1, Acre, and Spheress. Chew the bone, pop kids!!!***

Japan Blues serves up a golden hour of Enka. The unique Japanese genre, somehow taking in strands of Country ballad, Fado, Blues and pop, evoking a nostalgia for a time that possibly never was. Often orchestrally backed, plucking at the heart strings with sentimentality, exploring well trodden paths of regret, sadness, lost love, infidelity and heartbreak, easily identified by early listeners who had fled the countryside for work in the growing urban landscape. Best viewed from the melted ice at the bottom of a glass of your favourite poison, while slumped over the counter at a small bar, mulling over life’s blind cruelty. But it doesn’t have to be miserabilist, there is something to be gained from facing one’s pain, to emerge from the precipice and face the world anew. This is the magic we learned from the Blues, transported to the other side of the Pacific. The musical style evolved from the early days of recording, melancholic burusu (blues) ballads, but in the 1960s and 70s it was re-promoted by record companies and absorbed by a younger pop fandom. Singers would be rigorously trained in exacting vocal technique, and stage direction for TV. Often with an expanded vocal range, and emphasis on extending notes with an exaggerated vibrato and ornate vocal styling - sometimes taken to melodramatic extremes. Once established, artists could carve out their own small territory of individual style, but they would be expected to exactly reproduce all their hit song’s elements, and stage moves. Some numbers get down and moody, some playfully incorporate early synths, others slip into a groove. What may seem on the surface as formulaic is merely a starting point, a template, evolved over time, though others remain completely unchanged. The sounds that would be heard blaring out of karaoke bars - before J- & K-pop sidelined them - in the covered shopping arcades scattered across the country. Mostly written in minor scale, strongly emphasising the mood, which radiates so strongly it can cross the boundary of language.

The mixed bag of all mixed bags – the may edition of footsteps is gentle yet severe, and somewhat sombre offering. File it under anticipation anxiety for the fast-approaching months of summer

latest TDW with spiralized monkey bars DJ Fiery Biscuits. Tracks by Caroline Kraabel/Khabat Abas, Simian Carbuncle, I'm Being Good, Younes Zarhoni, Mooris, Amanda Irrarazabal/Marco Albert, Christian Alvear/Seijiro Murayama, Sara Persico, Johann Mazé/Jihem Rita, and Anna Webber/Matt Mitchell/John Hollenbeck. Don't pick at it!

A new sighting and site for Japan Blues. The debut for the new monthly show peeks through the obscure tea-house window of psychedelic music, in late 1960s Japan. Covering lysergic productions and groovy, woozy pop. They may not have sipped much kool-aid, but they had their own take, and the technology. Paisley Madras jacket, jack to fuzzbox, faze and reverb set to maximum, turn on…

The Damping Wells 146 with orgonite egg wash Dj Fiery Biscuits. Tracks by Marie Krüttli Trio, Anna Webbers Simple Trio, Silke Eberhard Trio, Brandon Seabrook, Myra Melford:Splash, Gloatmeal, Christian Brazier/Sunny Murray/Rasul Siddik/Sophie Agnel, François Houle/Kate Gentile/Alexander Hawkins, Magda Mayas' Filamental, and Elias Stemeseder/Christian Lillinger, 15 bucks for your bang, pop kids!

Beautiful chaos may well have been this month’s musical theme, had the songs not picked themselves. These are tunes of the untethered: artists who exist outside the musical boxes we insist on confining them to. Artists who’ve paved the way, and those still pushing things forward… and then there’s Ariel Pink, still making everyone feel a bit uncomfortable, though a visionary nonetheless.

The Damping Wells 145 with pump action egg nog DJ Fiery Biscuits. Tracks by Pierre Bastien/Louis Laurain, Noise Peddler, Nnja Riot/Paradox Encounter Group, Gglec, Auguste Vickunaite, Dan Potter, Nanonic, Aja Ireland, and Ugly Animal. Pull the rip cord pop kids!!!***

latest TDW with pustulent pig propellant DJ Fiery Biscuits. Tracks by Anla Courtis/Lehtisalo, Territorial Gobbing, Veronika Mayer/Gobi Drab, BARK!, Gaudenz Badrutt/Ilia Belorukov/Wade Matthews, and Alfredo Costa Montiero. Use a snorkel pop kids!

The Damping Wells 143 with spumatic phlegm trebuchet Dj Fiery Biscuits. No talking just listen!!!***

February’s edition of Footsteps serves up a banquet of the ethereal and the weird—from the hypnagogic verse of Voice Actor to Zsa Zsa Sapien’s ode to Britain’s dying meat and asbestos industries, this hour covers all and everything!

Footsteps ep.3 is again full of words - sung, spoken and sampled. Words that navigate Loss, ideologies through the medium of mum doing the washing, kidneys sold for canisters and slow cars in smalls towns you never did leave.

The Damping Wells 142 with proapoptotic antiproliferate Dj Fiery Biscuits. Tracks from Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, Chad Hogan Cult, Taibhsi, Ascsoms, McCloud, Alexandra Slyz, Krausen/Ypsmael, Constance/Nyoukis, Misty Picture, and Bartek Kujawski. Glide dont shuffle pop kids!!!***!!!***

Latest TDW with expired patent DJ Fiery Biscuits. Tracks from Amsia, Tongue Depressor, Gateway, Zimmerman/Lienhard,Jaleh Nigari, Dwellings & Druss, Fe Baido, Nakama, and Blanc Sceol. Fill the silence pop kids!!

It’s Ian Curtis’ Christmas party, and this week’s show is word-heavy - just the way the big man would have wanted it. Low-key existential and, yes, actually quite sad, the hour features avant-garde icons Bertie Marshall, Mark Perry, and the late Scott Walker. Their strange, off-kilter soundscapes serve to slightly sweeten the deal. Goodbye 2024 and good riddance!

The Damping wells 141 // 17 Dec 2024

A sonic journey through rural Ireland, ending in the backstreets of Hackney. Stopping in Farringdon, the weird world of Coil and the haunted house of John Bence along the way.

The Damping Wells 140 with Foolscap Fools Cap Dj Fiery Biscuits. Heavy feature for the Safehouse Collectives 20th Anniversary Beno up at Lewes Con Club on Sun 10th Nov, doors at noon, tickets - wegottickets.com/event/638876. Dont Miss it pop kids.

there is a pop bone in this body but you must suck the marrow out first you crazy kids.

Latest TDW with sand blasted blood sausage DJ Fiery Biscuits. Tracks by Adam Bushell/Paul Khimasia Morgan, Patricia Brennan Septet, Gwilly Edmondez/Chris Parfitt, Mary Oliver and Rozemarie Heggen.