Arthur Radio Voyage #9: Forest Dwelling with Overture

Above (left): Collage by Aya & Jason (Overture), created live in the radio station during the broadcast of Arthur Radio Voyage #9. Double-click to view fullscreen.


Stream: [audio:http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Arthur-Radio-Voyage-9-Forest-Dwelling-with-Jason-Aya-3-14-2010.mp3%5D

Download: Arthur Radio Voyage #9: Forest Dwelling with Overture

This week we arrived at the Newtown Radio studio to find it transformed beyond recognition… emerald green vines blanketed the walls, and a lush carpet of multi-colored mosses and swamp grass covered the floor. We pushed our way through a thicket of elephant ears into a sun-dappled glade, where our guests Jason & Aya (otherwise known as Overture, the minds behind the cover of the recent Six Organs of Admittance/Azul split LP), were seated on bed of soft purple and magenta leaves. We listened under the shade of a poplar tree as they read tales of fantastical landscapes where landslides, floods and rainfall had created a boggy wonderland full of dancing musical animals, rhubarb babies, and a wise old vegetable lady…

After the storytelling, we ventured into the glade to ask our enchanting guests more about these worlds they had woven before our eyes. The first reading, it turns out, was inspired by a spine-tinglingly beautiful animation that the the super-artist duo made for Múm‘s song “Rhubarbidoo” from their 2007 album Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy.

The second reading was inspired by the following three animations, which the artists made for experimental piano maestro Hauschka‘s 2008 album Ferndorf:

The third reading, a story in which “An old man confronts his fears, traveling across a personal landscape to realize and accept his path,” was based on an animation Overture made for the song “Bless” by Icelandic musician Kira Kira, which is featured on her 2008 album Our Map to the Monster Olympics. This video was just released to the world officially yesterday — Enjoy!!!

Learn more about Jason & Aya’s work and future escapades at http://www.opertura.org and on their blog.

This week’s playlist…
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Arthur Radio Voyage #8 with Bobby Bouzouki

Last Sunday Arthur Radio embarked on its eighth voyage, this time to the wind-swept deserts of Greece, Morocco, Arizona and beyond… Special guest Robert Damore (aka Bobby Bouzouki) graced the Newtown Radio studio with the warm, nostalgia-inducing sounds of his bouzouki, and even took the time to tell us some of the narratives behind the rebetika (Greek folk songs) that he played during his set.

Before your journey begins, dear listeners, we have the following message to deliver from ye olde writing desk of DJ Hairy Painter…

The sun is here and opens the curtains slowly! It brings the slow glowing dust! It springs the earth out of polar jail, the winds blow the desert sand to make for better traction. If you sit, it will make your hair look sexier! The tectonic plates are shifting all around us, their quakes make the planet spin faster, and change the pitch! If you jump, you can land in buttes, the plateaus, or the Isle of Cyros! Through our earth’s muzak, the winds blow Bobby Bouzouki up to the Arthur radio treehouse for a jaunt upon rebetika mountain. Happy trials!


Stream: [audio:http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Arthur-Radio-Voyage-8-with-Bobby-Bouzouki-03-07-2010.mp3%5D

Download: Arthur Radio Voyage #8 with Bobby Bouzouki

This week’s playlist…
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ARTHUR RADIO VOYAGE #7: Alien Receptor

Another freeform blast set off from a location hidden deep inside the Newtown Radio labyrinth…sit back and allow the soundwaves to reverberate over you as the Arthur Radio team busies itself with scooping musical gems out of the debris.


Stream: [audio:http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Arthur-Radio-2-28-2010.mp3%5D

Download: Arthur Radio 2-28-2010

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Excepter on Arthur Radio, Transmission #6

Sunday was a very special day for Arthur Radio. We never thought that co-host Hairy Painter would return to Brooklyn after spending a month building Mardi Gras floats and dancing to “sissy bounce” music in Nola, but he surprised us at the station door — out of breath, suitcase in hand — right when we were about to go on. And we never thought we would be able to cram one sound engineer, one baby, five DJs, half a dozen synthesizers, and all six members of Excepter inside the Newtown Radio studio, but somehow we pulled the whole production off without a hitch. Following the release of their new double album Presidence on Paw Tracks last Tuesday, (“Presidence Day observed”), Excepter graced the Arthur airwaves with a set so on point it caused unnoticed seismic shifts beneath a 24-hour techno-rave in Istanbul. Emilie Friedlander (Visitation Rites) engaged Jon Fell Ryan in a wobbly Q&A, and Ivy Meadows and Hairy Painter piled on layer upon layer of elliptical wax to set the scene…


Stream: [audio:http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/EXCEPTER-on-Arthur-Radio-2-21-2010.mp3%5D

Download: Excepter on Arthur Radio 2-21-2010

This week’s playlist…
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Sunday, February 21st – live set by Excepter on Arthur Radio

John Fell Ryan (otherwise known as “JFR” of Excepter) on his ink drawings (shown above – click on view fullscreen to enlarge):

These are all from the Spring of 1998. I was living alone on the corner of Metropolitan and Driggs in Williamsburg, trying to merge cartooning and abstract design with concepts of American Folk mythology and Jungian sex magick. No real art world aim in mind; these were done for reasons of personal development.

Last week on Presidents’ Day, Excepter dropped their new album, “Presidence.” Two days later, a show of drawings by band member JFR came to a close at Fingered Gallery in Bushwick, Brooklyn. In light of these seemingly aligned (and undeniably cosmic) events, Arthur Radio is excited to announce that Excepter will be performing an unbridled freeform transmission, including a live interview session with Emilie Friedlander (Visitation Rites), this Sunday from 4-6pm EST on newtownradio.com. Hairy Painter and Ivy Meadows will be there, and we’re all invited to come along for the ride…


Excepter – “Teleportation: KAL” (Presidence) [audio:http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/excepter_presidence.mp3%5D

Arthur Radio Voyage #3: Live set by The Holy Experiment

This past weekend Newtown Radio shut down in order to prepare for its big move into a more spacious studio (with improved recording facilities) within the same warehouse in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Since we weren’t able to broadcast live, Hairy Painter and I decided to set up a makeshift recording studio in my living room. We invited musician Brooke Gillespie of The Holy Experiment (who also happens to be my neighbor) to join us there as our very first guest to do a live session. We are now happy to share this performance with you, in all its warmth and beauty…

Stream: [audio:http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/THE-HOLY-EXPERIMENT-LIVE-ON-ARTHUR-RADIO-1-31-20101.mp3%5D

Download: The Holy Experiment live on Arthur Radio 1-31-2010

Arthur Radio Transmission #2: The Retro-Future Episode

Psychic happenings appear to be abundant on Arthur Radio…this week we focused our psychic energies on a matter that is very pressing for all of us: the future. Friends Emilie Friedlander (Visitation Rites) and McGregor (Chocolate Bobka) joined Ivy Meadows and Hairy Painter to discuss Chocolate Bobka’s forthcoming music publication The Report (which will include contributions from Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance, among and many other musician-writers). After a space-time bending hour of churchy-psych strangeness, we gathered together to play some retro-futuristic songs, dance very slowly, and attempt to visualize other realities that could have come about in 2010 if things had gone a little differently in the 80s and 90s…

Stream: [audio:http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/ARTHUR-RADIO-1-24-2010.mp3%5D

Download: Arthur Radio 1-24-2010

New in 2010! ARTHUR RADIO: Episode One

Arthur is excited to present ARTHUR RADIO, an all-new Arthur-sponsored radio show broadcasting over the internet via Newtown Radio out of Bushwick, Brooklyn. Tune in live every Sunday from 4-6PM EST, or listen to the podcast at any time, from anywhere in the world. Arthur Radio will feature an uninterrupted music hour followed by interviews, live performances and other special guest segments. Anything and everything is possible…

Listen to the first episode below, hosted by DJs Hairy Painter and Ivy Meadows with special guest Tyler McWilliams from the Naturalismo blog…

Stream: [audio:http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/ARTHUR-RADIO-INTRO-1-17-2010.mp3%5D

Download: Arthur Radio Intro 1-17-2010