I am honored to have been given the herculean task of joining the ranks of the BALEARIC CHALLENGE, handed to me by the great DJ JAZ John Zahl.
First off, a word or two on what Balearic means to me. Of course the accepted definition is the music heard from DJs in Ibiza taken and repackaged to fantastic effect by the British some time in the late 80s… Yes, yes, but the main thing I took from all that was the fact that any record could be played, as long as it fit the mood or created it, therefor any notion of genre is discounted. Of course there is a "sound" but then also there isn't. At a certain point in my life, this concept and that of the Italian DJs like Baldelli and Loda, were hugely influential because I finally realized that all the weird shit I listened to from dub, disco, funk, electronic, world, krautrock, soft rock, new age, private press… ALL OF IT could all exist in one place! It all had a happy home together! Sure they would have thrilling arguments but when the disparate elements mixed in unexpected ways a new world was formed that existed beyond the songs themselves!
So to me, I perceive it as a genre-less genre (should that remain unsaid?).
So now goes, what should I select? It's called the Balearic Challenge so, yes, it is challenging to choose but shouldn't I choose something challenging to the notion of Balearic? What about the challenge of not choosing one that someone else has already chosen? No way around it, I must roll forth with no concern for any of that...
People want confounding and odd music from me anyways so here goes in no particular order!------- font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-top: 6px;">In high school I started my lifelong mission of searching for strange records at thrift stores. One such record I found had a funny cover of a thermometer dancing in an R.Crumb style. It was a latin dance record with a "hit" on it called "El Bimbo". I bought the record for 99 cents and brought it home and noticed that the last track was by a band called "Diabolic Man". Now this I thought could be interesting and when I put it on I could not believe my ears. I thought, could this be real? Was it an elaborate joke for only me to find? DIABOLIC MAN? Tucked away on an otherwise horrible LP? In any case, here it is in all it's pounding pitch shifted voice insanity… For 1974 I would dare say that this song sounds ADVANCED... Can't beat the drum fills in the middle… My man Lovefingers Andy Hogge did an edit later which I was happy to be able to play because I always wanted them to go on forever… PS this track is NOT Balearic ;);)
First off, a word or two on what Balearic means to me. Of course the accepted definition is the music heard from DJs in Ibiza taken and repackaged to fantastic effect by the British some time in the late 80s… Yes, yes, but the main thing I took from all that was the fact that any record could be played, as long as it fit the mood or created it, therefor any notion of genre is discounted. Of course there is a "sound" but then also there isn't. At a certain point in my life, this concept and that of the Italian DJs like Baldelli and Loda, were hugely influential because I finally realized that all the weird shit I listened to from dub, disco, funk, electronic, world, krautrock, soft rock, new age, private press… ALL OF IT could all exist in one place! It all had a happy home together! Sure they would have thrilling arguments but when the disparate elements mixed in unexpected ways a new world was formed that existed beyond the songs themselves!
So to me, I perceive it as a genre-less genre (should that remain unsaid?).
So now goes, what should I select? It's called the Balearic Challenge so, yes, it is challenging to choose but shouldn't I choose something challenging to the notion of Balearic? What about the challenge of not choosing one that someone else has already chosen? No way around it, I must roll forth with no concern for any of that...
People want confounding and odd music from me anyways so here goes in no particular order!------- font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-top: 6px;">In high school I started my lifelong mission of searching for strange records at thrift stores. One such record I found had a funny cover of a thermometer dancing in an R.Crumb style. It was a latin dance record with a "hit" on it called "El Bimbo". I bought the record for 99 cents and brought it home and noticed that the last track was by a band called "Diabolic Man". Now this I thought could be interesting and when I put it on I could not believe my ears. I thought, could this be real? Was it an elaborate joke for only me to find? DIABOLIC MAN? Tucked away on an otherwise horrible LP? In any case, here it is in all it's pounding pitch shifted voice insanity… For 1974 I would dare say that this song sounds ADVANCED... Can't beat the drum fills in the middle… My man Lovefingers Andy Hogge did an edit later which I was happy to be able to play because I always wanted them to go on forever… PS this track is NOT Balearic ;);)
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