The Beat Bash – 3 April 2014


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The Beat Bash – 3 April 2014

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I Don’t Need God by Greater Than One
Touched By The Hand Of God by New Order
God O.D. by Meat Beat Manifesto
Skeletons By Nature by Dessau
Godlike by KMFDM
Kaleid by Depeche Mode
Hallucination Generation by The Gruesome Twosome
Salvation! Have You Said Your Prayers Today by The Hood
No Devotion by Revolting Cocks
Pity For The Self by Poésie Noire

“Building it up just to tear it down again / Tearing it down just to build it up again”

This one turned out to be a theme show.

I grew up in an evangelical Christian household, and was still quite active in both my faith and the church at the time I started my involvement with The Beat Bash. When I first heard songs like I Don’t Need God and No Devotion they were quite shocking to me. Within a couple of years I would come out, and, well, I won’t go into my current religious views, but I think I’ve provided more than enough clues in this week’s track selection.

This isn’t even the show I’d planned to do – My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult and Jane Child among others – but I’ve been laid up with a nasty cold all week, and I’ve been cranky. I’m much happier with this show instead.

Greater Than One was the performance art husband/wife duo of Michael Wells and Lee Newman (RIP 1995). Their work was released via Wax Trax in North America, and was remastered and reissued in 2008 via the Brainwashed Archives. Dessau was an industrial band from Nashville that got Al Jourgensen to produce and remix a few of their tracks.

This week also features a couple of my personal favorites – Kaleid, which is the B-Side to Depeche Mode’s Policy Of Truth, and one of the last stomping dance tracks they produced during their imperial phase; and Pity For The Self by Belgian goths Poésie Noire.

The Beat Bash – 13 March 2014


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The Beat Bash – 13 March 2014

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Virus by KMFDM
Worlock by Skinny Puppy
Suck by Nine Inch Nails
Life’s What You Make It by Talk Talk
Im Nin’Alu by Ofra Haza
I Am Stretched On Your Grave by Sinéad O’Connor
Windowpane by Coil
Gravitate To Me by The The
Get Stuck by Hilt
Sadeness by Enigma

“Gold is the color, in concentrate / Power in its purest state…”

I’m really excited about this installment of The Beat Bash, which is slower, darker, and harder. The BPM averages 94 beats per minute. The slow stuff can often be challenging to mix, but my favorite episode to date is the one from January 9th, which is also slow BPM (around 105). I’ve listened to that one 2:1 over any other episode.

The Beat Bash – 27 February 2014


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The Beat Bash – 27 February 2014

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Hot Doggie by Colourbox
Go! by Tones On Tail
Moan Bloody Moan by Son Of Sam
Your Love Takes Me Higher by The Beloved
Wise Up! Sucker by Pop Will Eat Itself
More & Faster by KMFDM
Kool-Aid by Big Audio Dynamite II
This Corrosion by The Sisters Of Mercy
Higher Than The Sun by Primal Scream
Blissed by Jesus Jones

“My brightest star’s my inner light, let it guide me…”

I learned how to mix records in the production booth at WRFL by using two copies of the same 12″ single, getting them synched up, and crossfading between them. I thought I was pretty good, and tried doing it live on the air starting with my very first show, but man, I sucked.

However, I’d already been doing general format shows for a couple of years, and they were not mixed. I did non-mixed sets on The Beat Bash too, and that’s what we have here. Beatmixing only works when songs are about the same speed, or beats per minute. Sometimes I wanted to put songs together that varied wildly in speed, but told a story…maybe not in the literal sense, but certainly in tone and mood.

Hot Doggie was the first song in the very first promo for the show, back when Brian and Michelle were the hosts. Higher Than The Sun was frequently my first song when I would pick up early morning shifts (6am-8am) at the station during summer and/or winter breaks. Kool-Aid is a big shout-out to Brian F., and This Corrosion is for Ned and Kate (oh no, The Beat Bash has been Raggetted!).