The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit Show - A musical mid-life crisis -- a late-night search for meaning and happiness airs on WRIR LP Monday nights from 9 PM to 11 PM. Stream the show @ www.wrir.org
Hey Listeners,
Several years ago I thought about doing a show featuring tunes listed in my ITunes library as âUnclassifiedâ. Well that never happen3ed. Then last week my son Malcolm texted me innocently enough and asked if I was familiar with the band XTC. I was familiar from my college days. Frankly the bandâs name (it was the early 80âs) made a bigger impression on me than their music â but I did remember Senses Working Overtime and told him so.
Later in the week I visited him in his dorm room and he turned me on to a cool website â www.everynoise.com that had links to all of the genres in Spotify (Iâm one of the few in the world that does not sue Spotify) and then he told me about a paper he wrote about Zolo and here we are tonight â with a Zolo show.
What is Zolo?
âThe term âzoloâ was first coined by Terry Sharkie via his âZany Zolo Muzik Hourâ radio show to describe a cross-section of bands and artists with similar approaches to music. Zolo is characterized by hyper, jerky rhythms, synthesized bleeps and boings, polka-dot percussion, chipper falsettos, zany imagery, and a Zappa-esque sense of humor. While Zolo contains elements associated with Progressive Rock or New Wave, Zolo itself is a creative thread that runs independently of both of these genres.
Finding its beginnings in the 1970s with the quirky prog of Gentle Giant and comic art-pop of Sparks (produced by another Zolo godfather, Todd Rundgren), Zolo reached its apotheosis during the late 1970s and 1980s, with XTCâs Go 2, Split Enzâs Second Thoughts, and Godley & Cremeâs L often considered the best examples of the genre. Other albums high in Zolo content include Bill Nelson & Red Noiseâs Sound-On-Sound, Devoâs Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, Wazmo Narizâs Things Arenât Right, Snakefingerâs Chewing Hides the Sound and Greener Postures, Debile Mentholâs Ãmile au jardin patrologique, and numerous works by Albert MarcÅur. Zolo was particularly popular in Japan, spawning bands like P-Model, ãã«ã·ã¥ã¼ [Hikashu], Uchouten, Wha Ha Ha, 人ç [Zin-Säy!], and Picky Picnic.â
We have lots of tunes to hear tonight. so keep it tuned here.
The Haberdasher
Godley & Creme Sandwiches of You L XTC Meccanik Dancing (Oh We Go) Go 2 Bill Nelson A Kind Of Loving Quit Dreaming (And Get On The Beam) Gentle Giant Raconteur, Troubadour Octopus 10cc Clockwork Creep Sheet Music Spike Jones and His City Slickers Cocktails For Two Dr. Demento's 20th Anniversary Collection BeBop Deluxe Superenigmatix Drastic Plastic XTC Science Friction Fossil Fuel: The XTC Singles Collection Gentle Giant An Inmates Lullaby In A Glass House Roxy Music If There Is Something Roxy Music Brian Eno Needles In The Camel's Eye In A Glass House Squeeze The Knack Classics, Vol. 25 Talking Heads New Feeling Talking Heads: 77 Devo Jocko Homo E-Z Listening Disc They Might Be Giants Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants Frank Zappa Father O'Blivion Apostrophe The Bonzo Dog Nand Death Cab For Cutie Gorilla White Noise Here Come The Fleas Am Electric Storm Soft Machine As Long As He Lies Perfectly Still Volume Two Robert Wyatt Soup Song Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard The Plastic People Of The Universe Podvlikacky Pulnocni Mys Todd Rundgren Drunken Blue Rooster Todd Split Enz Walking Down The Road Mental Notes The Stranglers Rok It To The Moon No More Heroes The Boomtown Rats (Watch Out For) The Normal People A Tonic For The Troops Magazine The Great Beautician In The Sky Real Life Pere Ubu West Side Story Song Of The Bailing Man Oingo Boingo Violent Love 10 The Residents Loser = Weed The Third Reich 'n' Roll Stump Buffalo Does The Fish Have Chips Stackridge The Last Plimsoll The Man In The Bowler Hat Tuxedomoon Pinheads On The Move Pinheads On The Move