Favoriting Explorers Room with Flash Strap: Playlist from May 14, 2015 Favoriting

Flash Strap's avatar View Flash Strap's profile Favoriting

This is where all of culture and all of time are collapsed into one seductive portal and viewed through the panoramic lens of the exotic. Come and embark on an armchair-travel virtual-voyage to the heart of timeless darkness and beyond; embrace the numinous monolith of the exotic immensity. Let us find that place where hybridization meets its destiny as pure fantasy. Let us become observers observing those others who are ourselves. You wear your mask and I'll wear mine.

Thursday 7 - 10pm (EST) | On WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio
Give the Drummer Radio LIVE Audio Streams (Get help):   Pop-up  |  128k MP3

<-- Previous playlist | Back to Explorers Room with Flash Strap playlists | Next playlist -->

Favoriting May 14, 2015: Outside Time and Beyond Space: An Evening Spent in the Expanse of Tomita

Listen to this show: Pop-up listen Pop-up player!

Artist Track Album Year Comments
NASA  Jupiter Sounds   Favoriting Voyager Recording     
  Intro        
Tomita  Mars, Bringer of War   Favoriting The Planets  1976  Gustav Holst 

Music behind DJ:
Kat Epple & Bob Stohl 
Beyond the Towers   Favoriting
Sanctus Spiritus 
 
 
Tomita  Venus, the Bringer of Peace   Favoriting The Planets  1976  Gustav Holst 
Tomita  Mercury, the Winged Messenger   Favoriting The Planets     
Tomita  Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity - Saturn, The Bringer of Old Age   Favoriting The Planets     

Music behind DJ:
Kat Epple & Bob Stohl 
Stellar Wanderer   Favoriting
Sanctus Spiritus 
 
 
Tomita  Clair de Lune   Favoriting Snowflakes Are Dancing  1974  Claude Debussy 
Tomita  Arabesque No. 1   Favoriting Snowflakes Are Dancing     
Tomita  The Engulfed Cathedral   Favoriting Snowflakes Are Dancing     
Tomita  Passepied   Favoriting Snowflakes Are Dancing     
Tomita  Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun   Favoriting Firebird  1976  Debussy While side one of Firebird is of course all Stravinky's Firebird, side two has another Debussy, followed by Night on Bald Mountain 

Music behind DJ:
Tomita 
Bolero   Favoriting
Daphnis et Chloe 
1979 
Ravel 
Tomita  Mother Goose Suite: Pavane de la Belle au Bois Dormant   Favoriting Daphnis et Chloe  1979  Ravel 
Tomita  Mother Goose Suite: Petit Poucet   Favoriting Daphnis et Chloe     
Tomita  Mother Goose Suite: Laideronnette, Impératrice des Pagodes   Favoriting Daphnis et Chloe     
Tomita  Mother Goose Suite: Les Entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête   Favoriting Daphnis et Chloe     
Tomita  Mother Goose Suite: Le Jardin Féerique   Favoriting Daphnis et Chloe     

Music behind DJ:
Richard Grayson & Tom Oberheim 
Ostinato   Favoriting
Live Electronic Music 
 
 
Tomita  Strong Electro-Magnetic Waves   Favoriting The Bermuda Triangle  1978   
Tomita  Aranjues   Favoriting Kosmos  1977  Joaquin Rodrigo 
Tomita  The Venus Wearing the Space Uniform Shining In a Fluorescent Light Color   Favoriting The Bermuda Triangle    John Williams 
Tomita  The Sea Named "Solaris"   Favoriting Kosmos    J.S. Bach 
Tomita  The Hollow Vessel Called the Earth   Favoriting The Bermuda Triangle     

Music behind DJ:
Richard Vimal 
Pavane   Favoriting
Aquarhythmies 
 
Followed by Arcanes A B C 
Tomita  Promenade: The Old Castle   Favoriting Pictures at an Exhibition  1975  Modest Mussorgsky 
Tomita  Bydlo   Favoriting Pictures at an Exhibition     
Tomita  Promenade: Ballet of Chicks in Their Shells   Favoriting Pictures at an Exhibition     
Tomita  Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle   Favoriting Pictures at an Exhibition     

Music behind DJ:
Peter Baumann 
Romance   Favoriting
Romance 76 
 
 
Tomita  Girl With the Flaxen Hair   Favoriting Snowflakes Are Dancing  1974  Debussy 


<-- Previous playlist | Back to Explorers Room with Flash Strap playlists | Next playlist -->

RSS feeds for Explorers Room with Flash Strap: RSSPlaylists feed | RSSMP3 archives feed

| E-mail Flash Strap | Other WFMU Playlists | All artists played by Explorers Room with Flash Strap |
Listen on the Internet | Contact Us | Music & Programs | WFMU Home Page | Support Us | FAQ

Listener comments!

Avatar 7:00pm
ndbob:

evening Evan and everyone
Avatar 7:00pm
Flash Strap:

evening bob
Avatar 7:01pm
Walking Daydream:

Hello Bob, Evan, and the anonymous dozen.
Avatar 7:03pm
Flash Strap:

Hey WD!
Avatar 7:04pm
ndbob:

Hey WD!
Avatar 7:06pm
Jesse K:

Baton passed Flash Strap!
Avatar 7:06pm
Walking Daydream:

Holst, excellent choice. I have that one on vinyl.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:07pm
listener james from westwood:

Thanks, Jesse, and hello, Flash!
Avatar 7:08pm
northguineahills:

I have a crap load of Tomita records....
Avatar 7:13pm
Flash Strap:

Thanks, Jesse!
Avatar 7:13pm
Flash Strap:

Hello, james and ngh!
Avatar 7:19pm
Flash Strap:

Wish I could play this stuff from Kaminsky's spaceship, it would feel so right to cue this up from a cockpit and the just drift
  7:20pm
yellowbird:

Boy, that's a hell of a photo of Tomita...sitting inside his control room/cockpit.
Avatar 7:21pm
Flash Strap:

He's totally the captain of that ship
Avatar 7:22pm
northguineahills:

I remember pick up a few Tomita LPs when I was a freshmen in college, and I asked an older guy (who was about my current age), "this stuff is rather cheesy, right?" And the guy said, "yeah, but you'll still enjoy them". And enjoy them I did.
Avatar 7:23pm
doca:

Hey, Mr. Flash Strap, are we on our way to Eden?
Avatar 7:24pm
Flash Strap:

There's a lot of cheese in Tomita for sure, but not as much as I guess I expected to find, before I really got into him. I actually hear Snowflakes are Dancing with 100% all-in appreciation and amazement. Still, there's some goofy shit
  7:26pm
yellowbird:

I wonder if astronauts ever listen to Tomita...just to make it all the more epic...
Avatar 7:27pm
Flash Strap:

like, this part coming up is sort of funny in concept: robots serenading each other. but it just genuinely moves me to tears
Avatar 7:27pm
Flash Strap:

Hey Doca! Hello to you sir! Next stop: Eden
Avatar 7:29pm
doca:

Then I'll just jam along with Tomita on the space travel
Avatar 7:30pm
Flash Strap:

@ yellowbird: I've never been to space, but I can't see an astronaut just FORGETTING to bring his Tomita along. I bet they all do
Avatar 7:32pm
doca:

But I was thinking: shouldn't we think of guys like Tomita or (maybe) Jean-Michel Jarre as diluted versions of the avant-garde electronica of the 50s and 60s, which also made long, trippy tracks with lots of futuristic assumptions behind it?
Avatar 7:33pm
northguineahills:

My 18 year-old self had rather different tastes then my current self.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:43pm
SeanG:

I'm with you on Debussy
Avatar 7:48pm
Flash Strap:

Well, I'm not sure I'd say diluted. They definitely emerge from the same continuum. And they definitely take a more populist approach. But I think a valid case can be made for their methods as equally fascinating and equally valid. Even equally experimental, albeit not in as radical a way. I wouldn't call them avant-garde.
Avatar 7:48pm
Flash Strap:

Hey there, Sean G. Thanks for backing me up on that.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:51pm
melinda:

Really digging the music. I like cosmic.
Avatar 7:51pm
Flash Strap:

I guess tastes vary as to the goofy voice effect. To me, it is a rapture.
Avatar 7:52pm
Flash Strap:

Hi Melinda, thanks for floating into the zero gravity room
Avatar 7:55pm
Flash Strap:

Something I always consider when it comes to less avant-garde variations on an avant-garde idiom is the radical transformational effect of moving this stuff into the popular realm. It's an inevitable process more than it is a deliberate strategy, but it's definitely a huge consideration if you're evaluating music at least partly on its historical relevance and enduring influence
Avatar 7:58pm
ndbob:

excellent first hour Evan! catch the rest on the archive
Avatar 7:59pm
Flash Strap:

thanks bob! see ya around town
Avatar 8:05pm
hyde:

hello space travelers
Avatar 8:06pm
Flash Strap:

greeting, hyde
  8:10pm
Gary Sullivan:

Howdy!
Avatar 8:17pm
Flash Strap:

Hi Gary!
Avatar 8:22pm
Flash Strap:

This one is so cool
  8:30pm
yellowbird:

Does anyone know anything about Tomita, the man...is he a collaborator? A hideaway? I'm so curious and there's not enough information out there about him...
Avatar 8:32pm
northguineahills:

I haven't heard this album..., wow!
Avatar 8:33pm
Flash Strap:

He did a lot of film scores early on, including the Japanese cartoon on which The Lion King is based... and started something called, I think, Plasma Music, for further fostering of electronic music. Recently he's been more of a conductor
Avatar 8:35pm
northguineahills:

Ok, episode clicky starred....
Avatar 8:36pm
doca:

@Flash Strap: Sorry! I couldn't be near the computer since I wrote before. But yeah, it was exactly that I was thinking, and I didn't mean "diluted" as necessarily bad, but only some of the sharper edges softened. But as you said, it's all a continuum, like that quote you've read from Tomita's liner notes, that could be Stockhausen in the 60s speaking
  8:45pm
Gary Sullivan:

Doca, I heard you were at the Cambodian concert at Monty Hall -- I was there, but didn't know you were too :-(
Avatar 8:48pm
Flash Strap:

You're right, it's probably awfully close to something Stockhausen would have said. I have a friend in the Moog foundation, and it's basically his job to articulate that same argument.
Avatar 8:48pm
doca:

Hey, @Gary! Yeah, I was there, I spoke to Gaylord Fields, but he didn't know you too at the time. But that's OK, it was my first time in NYC and I hope it won't be the last!
Avatar 8:49pm
hyde:

i love this set
Avatar 8:50pm
doca:

@Gary: Strange thing is, I found Gaylord on the subway that same morning of the concert, but I didn't speak to him. It would probably be the first time a WFMU would be taken as a intercontinental celebrity
Avatar 8:50pm
Flash Strap:

thanks hyde
Avatar 8:52pm
hambone:

man, this is farrrrrr out! ..really great show.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 8:54pm
Bas NL:

Glad i tuned in! This full on Tomita is great!
Avatar 8:54pm
Flash Strap:

Thanks Hambone and Bas! Gosh!
Avatar 8:56pm
Flash Strap:

From one basically good Sci-fi flick (Close Encounters) to one so good it threatens the fabric of reality. Solaris is like licking God's brain. Actually, I guess that's sort of what it's about
Avatar 8:57pm
Flash Strap:

Solaris has the most haunting unseen giant baby in cinema history
  8:57pm
yellowbird:

I guess it's sort of obvious, but I can't stop thinking about the 60s and 70s hi-fi stereo fanatics buying these albums and totally flipping out to sounds they might have never heard before. I mean, we sort of take it for granted, all of the sound language we're accustomed to hearing through synthesizers and such...but it must have just been incredible to hear these frequencies for the first time, in their full, exploration-al glory...
  9:00pm
yellowbird:

anyway, great show!
Avatar 9:01pm
Flash Strap:

yeah! that's the cool thing about these popular artists like Tomita/Jarre, or Les Baxter and Esquivel or whoever: they bring this stuff into the suburban den, where it must seem especially weird. And yet not.

cool stereophonic detail: Tomita advised listeners to use a 4-speaker surround, with a fifth one suspended overhead
Avatar 9:01pm
doca:

@Flash Strap: Doesn't Silent Running also have a kinda similar soundtrack? (similar to Tomita's take on Solaris)
Avatar 9:04pm
Flash Strap:

I have actually not seen Silent Running!
Avatar 9:04pm
Flash Strap:

How is it?
Avatar 9:07pm
doca:

Really? I only remember it from late-night TV when I was a teenager, but it left a deep impression on me, maybe it was one of my first encounters (no pun intended) with ecological /man-nature discussions, besides 2001: A Space Odyssey. I can't remember the soundtrack, but I remember it as vaguely in the same style of music.

Anyway, great show today!
Avatar 9:10pm
northguineahills:

Thanks Flash!
Avatar 9:13pm
Flash Strap:

I'll have to check it out Doca. 70s sci-fi is its own reward, usually, whether good or bad
Avatar 9:13pm
Flash Strap:

No, thank you, NGH
Avatar 9:14pm
hyde:

@Flash Strap Silent Running is worth a watch. Little slow. Great effects. Bruce Dern.
Avatar 9:15pm
Flash Strap:

Hyde has seconded that emotion, and so I shall watch
Avatar 9:17pm
Flash Strap:

It's really weird to hear Tomita's sound applied to something so thickly Russian. It makes more sense in a Romantic/Exotic vein, but the folkoric elements here are like, Slavic. This isn't his best record by a long shot, but it has some great, deeply bizarre, feelings in it.
Avatar 9:18pm
Walking Daydream:

Just wanted to say that was an interesting Close Encounters tribute.
Avatar 9:19pm
Flash Strap:

Whenever I hear that one, I'm so prepared to roll my eyes at it, but Tomita really just distorts and rebuilds it into something crazy and awesome
Avatar 9:21pm
Flash Strap:

Here comes some seriously goofy shit
Avatar 9:26pm
hyde:

thanks for the cool show.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 9:27pm
Bas NL:

Great show!
Avatar 9:29pm
Flash Strap:

Thanks for listening, friends.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 9:29pm
Uncle Michael:

You say Tomita...I say Tormato.
Avatar 9:29pm
Flash Strap:

How Uncular of you, Miguel!
  9:29pm
Gary Sullivan:

Night, Flash!
Avatar 9:30pm
Flash Strap:

Sleep tight, Gary. Thanks for tuning in
  12:07pm
CocktailNotes:

This is SUCH exceptional stuff! Thank you for putting together this continually great show -- there is nothing like it out there!
Bottom
Comment!
Name
Email
(C) 2024 WFMU. Generated by KenzoDB, written 2000-2024 by Ken Garson