Out of Focus

So it is the end of the semester here at the University of Minnesota. I'm not really sure what to make of mine yet. But anyway the semester also means the end of another set of Friday Focus'. If you tuned in every week, only tuned in once, or accidently came to this page while you were trying to find out if T.G.I.F. takes reservations (they don't by the way), I would like to say thanks for listening. I'd also like to say thank you to my wonderful guests who provided insight to many of our topics - specifically Andrew Jervis of Ubiquity Records, Colleen Sheehy of the Weisman Art Museum, and Tom Loftus of Modern Radio Records.

I may be back, I may not. Maybe I'll keep something unofficial going this summer. We will see. The power in my apartment has been out all day and the battery in my computer is about to die, so I should go, but thanks again!

Oh, and I stumbled across this picture. Doesn't have much to do with anything really.

The John Peel Sessions

For 37 years John Peel hosted the John Peel Show on the BBC station Radio 1. His show was home to some of the most influential music of the past 40 years, Peel was at the forefront of almost every musical movement. Considered the first radio DJ to spin punk and reggae, Peel often broke the rules of broadcasting as well. One of his most recent and infamous incidents occurred in 2003 when he played 3 tracks off the White Stripes album, Elephant before it was officially released to the press.

But the more lasting legacy of The John Peel Show is his instudio sessions, which played host to almost every influential artist of the past 40 years. On each show, Peel would have a band in. Each time they would play 4 songs. The songs would be mixed down shortly after and aired later that night on the show. The versions of the songs proved to be very intimate, and almost more passionate than the album versions. Last Friday, we took a look at The John Peel show and played some of these very exclusive tracks. Although Peel's show covered a wide variety of music, I focused mostly on the punk and post-punk era in the late Seventies and early Eighties.


Playlist
Gang Of Four - At Home He's A Tourist
The Buzzcocks - Promises
The Jam - In The City
The Only Ones - Flaming Torch

New York Post Disco

So, in the tradition of the end of every semester, I begin to fall behind. And unfortunately posting is no exception. Amid the craziness of papers and due dates, the Focus did air last week and I decided to talk about something that I was recently introduced to - early underground dance music.

Now Disco has been talked down ever since the calenders flipped to 1980 and most of it rightfully so. The clothes were ugly, the hair was bad, and the music was too...or was it. Often times all the glamour and lights distracted the true intention of Disco - which was to make music that people could dance to. That's where our friend Post Disco comes in.

Post Disco had all the same intentions as Post Punk. It was dark, it was underground, it was primitive. Groups like Liquid Liquid, Dinosaur L, Arthur Russell, and my favorite ESG, stripped down disco to its bare elements of drum and bass and made music that is being spun on dance floors today. Creating these perfect beats also gave rise to the ideas of producers and remix artists who transformed the sounds of post disco into more modern dance music such as electronica and house.

Although this originally aired on Friday, April 27 you can still listen to it by clicking on the player below.

Playlist
Bush Tetras - Can't Be Funky
Liquid Liquid - Optimo
Was Not Was - Unknown
ESG - My Love For You