#53: Half A Canyon
Two Flying Nuns and a Lost Californian Atmospheric Folk Rock Quartet
Hey Everyone!
Just got done doing (and paying) my taxes and, boy, am I glad to live in a state with beautiful parks, beaches, forests, and the like. I get this deep feeling of gratitude when I send off that money, knowing that at least some of it is going to the greater good, to keep essential places of learning and recreation open and thriving. Of course, things are looking dreadful at the federal level but a deep thanks to all who are standing up for what is right at all the demonstrations. Power to the people. It’s us vs. them and it always has been.
Massive thanks to our new paying subscribers. It’s so wonderful to get messages of support and encouragement from people who’ve been listening to my radio excursions since the beginning at East Village Radio. It’s been a wild ride without any end in sight!
This week’s radio show got back to business as usual with at least fifty percent new music. In the mellow first hour we heard from the deeply beautiful Michael Grigoni and Pan American collab on Kranky as well as a couple of rad new pieces from Aural Canyon (City of Dreams & Rhucle, eve maret). There was also a wonderful new excursion from Matthew Hiram followed by a long and spiritual drone from Finnish duo Gatha (shoutout to Greg Davis from Autumn Records in Winooski, VT for the tip on that one).
Set two went jazzy, starting with a fresh, unique Beatles cover from Gregory Uhlmann, Josh Johnson and Sam Wilkes from their new International Anthem LP. We then went to Joe Henderson’s magnificient 1973 LP Multiple (the new Jazz Dispensary pressing, mastered by Kevin Gray, is incredible). Henderson was followed by a stunning private press jam—Adbullah Sami’s ‘Afrikan Samba’— which was rescued from obscurity/impossibility by the UK’s Spiritmuse label back in 2019.
We ended the show with a new-to-me piece of universal spirituality by the trio of Chris Corsano, David Maranha, and Richard Youngs. I missed this record when it was issued back in 2021 but the music is timeless and out of this world. Essential listening, if you ask me.
Check the full playlist below and LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE.
1. Michael Grigoni * Pan•American - Omni Country - New World, Lonely Ride (Kranky, 2025) 00:00
2. City Of Dawn & Rhucle - Rain Begins Dancing - Threads (Aural Canyon, 2025) 04:30
3. Erik Wøllo - Beneath the Ember Sky - Where the River Widens (Projekt, 2025) 09:17
4. Eve Maret - Cloud Forest - Evergreen (Aural Canyon, 2025) 13:17
5. Hiram - Solstice Song [SINGLE] (Self, 2025) 22:55
6. Gatha - Spirit Garden - Gatha (Self, 2025) 31:04
7. Gregory Uhlmann, Josh Johnson, Sam Wilkes - The Fool on the Hill - Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes (International Anthem, 2025) 1:02:20
8. Joe Henderson - Bwaata - Multiple (Milestone, 1973) 1:09:53
9. Abdullah Sami - Afrikan Samba - Peace of Time (Spiritmuse, 1978/2019) 1:20:45
10. Corsano, Maranha & Youngs - We All Become Everything - Corsano, Maranha & Youngs (Improved Sequence, 2021) 1:37:14
These wet, tentative days of early spring usually bring forth a need for some jangly music in me. To that end, I went for an album that I wouldn’t usually grab for this particular itch but I’m glad I did.
David Kilgour’s first solo LP, Here Come The Cars, was issued in 1991 via Flying Nun Records (duh) and it’s really grown on me over the years.
I’m far from a Flying Nun/NZ indie expert, but it seems The Clean co-founder was always able to whip up some bittersweetness with his main band, but he really hits a wistful spot on this out-of-print classic. It’s not like super heavy and dark, but it isn’t all roses and sunshine either. It’s just a great record any fan of the Feelies, Yo La Tengo and that kind of stuff need to get into. It also seriously needs a reissue, the last vinyl outing being the lovely 2012 pressing by the legendary (and sadly defunct) De Stijl Records out of Minneapolis. It’s a great sounding record on Qobuz though, so dig in when you’re feeling good and a little sad.
Like many young American nerds back then, my first taste of the Clean came from this early 00s Merge compilation that got a lot of play on the New Afternoon Show on WNYU back then. But it wasn’t until years later via the great blog explosion and working in record stores that I began to get a sense of the scope of what was happening in New Zealand in the 80s and 90s. But there’s still SO MUCH I don’t know.
Which brings me to the absolute best algorithm for music discovery:
FRIENDS!
I texted my pal Mitch (a great well of musical knowledge, record collector and founder of the great band Springhouse) about the Kilgour and he told me he was recently hanging with another friend who was playing his all sort of great NZ stuff from the 80s and he linked me to All Fall Down’s 1987 EP My Brand New Wallpaper Coat.
Another Flying Nun release, My Brand New Wallpaper Coat has never had a vinyl reissue but it has been remastered for Bandcamp (and I guess there was a tape, too). It’s such an outstanding little record that, like most Nunnies of the time, takes cues from 60s pop and the Velvets’ third album but also gets to an English folk-rock place, too. There’s also a great sounding live tape up on their Bandcamp that’s worth listening to. Apparently that’s all there is on tape from this group.
So I went back to Mitch saying I loved All Fall Down and he said the more he listened the more it reminded him of Downy Mildew. Now there’s a name I’ve not heard, so off exploring I went.
As usual, when confronted with a new band/artist. I start at the beginning and so I gave the Central California quartet’s 1987 debut, Broomtree, rip.
Wow! A beautifully recorded, atmospheric folk-rock album is what gently unfolded for the next 40 minutes or so. The album was issued by Texas Hotel, a label probably best known at this point for releasing a lot of Henry Rollins stuff. Reading up a bit on the band, it seems as though they enjoyed more commercial/critical success with later releases but it seems they’ve been somewhat forgotten. Or maybe I’m just not properly tuned in to enough 80s hunters.
Anyway, it’s streaming and used copies on CD/LP are cheap and plentiful so do what you must do.
Downy Mildew now on rotate, cheers. (Also pulled my Kilgours and All Fall Down ep off the shelf).
wonderful!