It's the FRIDAY'S BEST POP SONG EVER podcast!: "Ba da da bum"

 

Dara Puspita was Indonesia's first all-woman rock band, and likely one of the first all-woman rock bands in the world. As such, they faced all of the usual hurdles confronted by women working in a male-dominated industry--with the added snag that their country's government, the authoritarian Sukarno regime, viewed rock music as a pernicious Western influence whose silence was to be enforced by no small investment of official harassment and intimidation. Given this, it's a feat of almost wondrous proportions that they recorded a ditty as infectiously cheerful as "Ba da da bum."

Check out this latest episode of FBPSE on Stitcher and, when you're done, leave us a review, a rating, and, hey, would it kill you to subscribe?

Pop Defensive

This past Wednesday's episode stands as testament to the indomitable spirit of Pop Offensive--proof that no malady, be it canine or technical,will keep us from delivering our message of hope to a battle ravaged world. Getting it to air required our emergency co-host Aaron Harbour to rebuild the KGPC website from scratch in a desperate race against time. To hear the result of our heroic struggle, simply go to the Pop Offensive archive, where the episode can be streamed in its entirety. If you are a deaf person with a vivid imagination, you can read the playlist for the show, which has just been posted over at the Pop Offensive Facebook page.

Load up for the Pop Offensive!

Recently, while contemplating why my life has been feeling so empty lately, I came to the obvious conclusion: Not enough side projects! Hence my entry into the steamy world of internet radio.
Join me and my old pal Jeff Heyman on Oakland's 9th Floor Radio, from 7 pm to 9pm PDT this Wednesday, April 16th for the debut of Pop Offensive. The playlist will include a mix of vintage pop from around the world, girl group sounds, garage rock, ye ye girls, freak beat, northern soul, movie songs, jpop. electro, glam and punk. Basically anything to get your head nodding and your feet stomping.

And don't worry if more boring plans keep you from listening live; this being internet radio, the episode will be available for streaming in the 9th Floor Archives after the air date. And best of all, unlike other of my recent endeavors, Pop Offensive is a totally NON-interactive experience, which means NO trivia questions! Yes, you just listen! Can you handle it? Here's hoping you tune in on Wednesday and find out.

Sonics go boom

This month I’ve been getting back on track with my writing for Teleport City, in this case putting on my music critic hat for an overview of The Sonics, who are perhaps the greatest of all American garage rock bands. If you like music that thunders, stomps, and wails with all the fury of a caveman werewolf, jump in your boss hoss and head on over to TC to check it out right now.