traumatic harmony
the pataphysical study of randomized sound
Radio Waves
After a year away, I'll be once again populating the glorious airwaves of central Jersey and Philadelphia. This Friday from 1-4pm Eastern, I'll be back on WPRB, once again warping your ears with strange tunes and, well, even stranger tunes (and maybe a few that aren't strange, but don't count on it). So tune it. It'll be fun.
a bit stranger w/ dan
friday, june 2, 1-4pm eastern
wprb 103.3 fm in the greater central nj area
streaming to the world at
wprb.comold playlists
Songs of my Life: Galaxie 500 - Song in Three
I've never really listened to that much Galaxie 500. I know about their 3 albums from the late 80s, but couldn't tell you a song on them. Haven't even seen a Damon and Naomi record, and have never been that interested in Luna. So my only exposure to Galaxie 500 was when Ryko sent my college radio station a copy of the their odds and ends collection "Uncollected" a few years back. It's a perfectly enjoyable set of songs that mostly somehow never made the cut for their albums. This song, one of the unreleased tunes from 1989 or thereabouts, continues to floor me every time I hear it. How it never quite managed to get pressed onto vinyl at the time simply boggles my mind. The song is, just as its name implies, in 3. But not your everday throwback waltzy 3. This is a lurching, back loaded three (and sometimes 6) that puts all the emphasis on the third beat which simultaneously manages to subvert all the associations of being in 3 and push it constantly forward. Dean Wareham sings a simple tale of a boys thoughts on a first date, obsessing over the girl's soda pop, jeans, voice and cigarettes, while his vocals reverb nearly endlessly. The guitars jangle and the song ends with a simple guitar solo that plays around with the melody then totally wigs out. It's infinitely charming, one of those songs that can be listened to endlessly in a swirl of good feelings and high hopes.