*Originally aired April 4, 2015
A thoughtful, deeply personal set by guest DJ Jon Hicks. This set brings together many of his multifaceted influences that shaped not only his musical taste, but who he is as a wonderful human being. Since we enjoyed talking about each track he played so much, Jon was asked to add some commentary about what each track meant to him, a moment it evokes, etc. Enjoy.
Topazu played:
Psychic TV / Infinite Beat
Space Opera / Mandate My Ass
Sumerian Fleet / On To You
In Aeternam Vale / Calling Somewhere
***
Jon Hicks played (with some added commentary):
John Carpenter / Main Theme From Assault on Precinct 13 / Death Waltz
“First John Carpenter movie I ever saw, on late night tv in the mid-eighties. Slow burn of blood red credits with this theme dirging along in the background — still hooked thirty years later. Infected with a life long obsession with synth basslines as a consequence.”
Believer/Law / Ashes / Chondritic Sound
16-Bit / Where Are You? / Ariola
Cetu Javu / Por Favor / Deme
“Totally hidden gem b side that I first heard on a bootleg compilation that I bought to get a ministry song on vinyl. I associate this vein of synthpop (the plaintive Depeche Mode school) with hiding in the middle of those circular clothing racks at department stores while my mom was sweater hunting.”
Nine Inch Nails / Get Down Make Love / TVT
Ministry / Over the Shoulder / Sire
Einstürzende Neubauten – Yu Gung / Some Bizarre
Vanligt Folk – Rasseboogie / Progress Productions
Das Ich – Unschuld Erde / Danse Macabre
“Big big big part of my late high school early college years, which I found out on some gothic mp3 of the week site in russia in like 1996? These guys were/are the real deal – they live in an honest-to-god castle and dress in great big velvet outfits and walk around by torchlight! The synth horns haven’t aged as gracefully as some of the more stripped down songs in this mix but the songwriting is tight. Big hooks and shout-along choruses. I would love to find an excuse to play this in a club.
Tommi Stumpff / Der Letzte Idiot / Mental Decay
André Szigethy / Liebe Banal / Viper
“One of those staggeringly expensive records that I would have never encountered if not for blogs like Mutant Sounds and 20 Jazz Funk Greats that started cropping up in the mid-aughts. Bless them and the labels reissuing all this stuff! Without them I think I would’ve bowed out of music in a significant way during the bush years.”
Forces / Overland (In My Mind) / Siberia
Front Line Assembly / Big Guns / Third Mind
Portion Control / Refugee / Illuminated
“..which nicely segues to the band that stole their spot as my favorite. There was almost nothing on Portion Control anywhere for a really really long time, just a CD reissue that sounded bad and was released in a vanishingly small number in 1994 before you could buy things on the internet. By the time I heard this track on a Third Generation mix tape i had built them up to almost mythical proportions. Was not disappointed.”
Janet Jackson / Rhythm Nation / A&M
“My sister got the tape for Christmas 1989 and didn’t like it, so I borrowed it and never gave it back. Sorry lauren.”
Hula – Cut Me Loose / Red Rhino
A Certain Ratio – Do the Du / Factory
Stooges / Down in the Street / Elektra
Zounds / Fear / Broken Rekids
“I lived in a punk house for a while in the late nineties and got exposed to all kinds of great bands I had been too myopic to notice earlier. I kind of bounced off Crass the first time I heard it, but Zounds grabbed me right away. Some of my favorite new acts are channeling this sound and a lot of the heavyweights are starting to tour again. Really excited to see what happens next.”
