Portable Madness

I’ve made a few CD compilations of tracks recently, and have messed around with Audacity enough to figure out how to mix them.  So, here’s the first in a series of podcasts that I hope to produce. This one is a continuous mix of about an hour, with a cool jazz/conga/dub vibe goin’ on…

The basic flow is much the same as I used to attempt on the Portable Madness radio program back in the 80’s.  Some of the music is of course updated, but expect a healthy dose of obscure tunes from a quarter century ago.

The archive is split into two parts – use the excellent 7zip program to unzip. Hope you enjoy – here’s a tracklist and index, a text file of which is included in the archive.

00:00 01 George Russell – Chromatic Universe – Part 2
03:41 02 Lisa Carbon Trio – jazz device
11:30 03 Pigbag – Wiggling
16:33 04 Propellerheads – History Repeating
20:29 05 Doctor Abstract – Struck on Jazz
26:08 06 Soul Coughing – Sugar Free Jazz
30:00 07 Carvin Knowles – Big Top
33:35 08 Liquid Liquid – Groupmegroup
36:51 09 Kip Hanrahan – Whatever I Want
42:33 10 Snakefinger – Beatnik Party
46:04 11 Yello – Downtown Samba
48:33 12 Flying Lizards – Crab Claw
53:00 13 Dub Syndicate – Must Be Dreaming

Download Part 1

Download Part 2

Here’s the 2nd LP by Mizutama Shobodan (Polka Dot Fire Brigade) on the Kinniku-bijo label, out of Japan in 1985. Featured on the groundbreaking compilation Welcome to Dreamland, the five-woman band was fronted by the dynamic Japanese singer Tenko. She later went on to work with Fred Frith, David Moss, Ikue Mori and other such improvisors.

This is a truly strong jazzpunk record of the time, full of noise and energy.

Polka Dot Fire Brigade – Sky Full of Red Petals