August 13, 2025

greetings, human!

[Check below for new radio playlists and occasional other missives. I turned off blog comments due to too much spam. Say "hi" by email, if you like.]

I'm Jesse. I'm a writer and a DJ on WFMU. I am writing a biography of Yo La Tengo for Gotham Books. It comes out 5 June 2012, and is called Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock.

Like George Carlin, I share reservations about "pre"-anything, but you can now order Big Day Coming online at BIGDAYCOMING.net. Shipping in June! Follow @big_day_coming or on Facebook for rare YLT/indie nuggets, playlists, ephemera, and deep cuts.

Some of favorite articles that I've written about music and other topics are here. All episodes of the Frow Show are archived.

A few years ago, I helped assemble a DVD of my father's animation, called Celestial Navigations: The Short Films of Al Jarnow, produced by the Numero Group.

Some pieces I've done have been featured in collections. I've also done a bit of educational writing. There's lots of material scattered around this site, mostly under the category headers on the right-hand column.

I play in a band. You can follow our adventures on Twitter.

Which is also where I'm at most of the time:

April 16, 2012

frow show, FMU-164

(Detailed playlist, with listening links.)

1. Volcano the Bear - "The Ark" - The Birth of Streissand 7-inch (No-Fi)
2. John Jacob Niles - "Black Is the Colour" - The Boone-Tolliver Recordings (LM Dupli-Cation)
3. Willis Earl Beal - "My Resignation" - Acousmatic Sorcery (XL)
4. The Shaggs - "Yesterday Once More" - Rev-Ola (Rounder)
5. Grateful Dead - "Looks Like Rain" - 14 April 1972 Tivoli Gardens
6. Levon & the Hawks - "He Don't Love You (and He'll Break Your Heart)" - The Stones I Throw 7" [feel better, Levon!]
7. The Gladiolas - "Little Darlin'" - It's Your Voodoo Workin': The Best of Excello Records (Excello)
8. Eric Burdon & The Animals - "I'm Dying (Or Am I?)" - Love Is (MGM)

9. Erik M - "Sossusvlei" - Nightfall
10. Yximalloo - "???" - Drum Song at a Shopping Mall cassette
11. Black Dice - "The Jacker" - Mr. Impossible (Ribbon Music)
12. DJ Rashad & DJ Spinn Meet Tshetsha Boys - "Peverelist" - Shangaan Shake (Honest Jon's)
13. Carlos Giffoni - "Little Mornings" - Little Mornings flexidisc (Key Lime High)
14. Axxess - "Traditional Moon Dance" - Novels For the Moons (Medical)
15. Christina Kubisch - "In Transition" - Magnetic Flights (Important)
16. Nel Milss with Elaine Mills - "Number poem for Voices (Two Sections)" - Experiments in Disintegrating Language (Art Council of Britain)
17. Bodidar Pinek - "Osmosis" - Vocal Spaces Series cassette (Hoomi)
18. Johannes Welsch - "Symphony (parts 1 & 2)" - Sound Creation (Deep Listening)
19. Dolphins Into the Future - "Levando" - Canto Arquipélago (Underwater Peoples)
20. Plunderphonics - "Elvis Presley, "Don't" (at 33 1/3)" - Elvis Presley / Igor Stravinsky / Count Basie / Dolly Parton ((no label))

21. Ty Segall - "Fist Heart Mighty Dawn Dart" - Ty-Rex (Goner)
22. Marriage - "Kraustspeed You Jah Emperor" - Bring Beer (12XU)
23. Rovo - "Catch and Release" - e2-e4 2001:inspiration from e2-e4 (Sal Disc)
24. Rick Baitz - "Kaleidocycles for Synclavier" - CDCM Computer Music Series, v. 2 (Centaur)
25. L.W. Price II - "The Lost Pleaid" - The Lost Pleiad: usic of the Wind Harp cassette (Iron Tick)
26. Bardo Pond + Tom Carter - "Side B / Track 2" - 4/23/03 (3 Lobed)
27. Aki Onda - "Fish Don't Know It's Raining" - Japanese Avant-Garde (Sub Rosa)
28. Key of Shame - "Side B" - Threnody For Marcus Junius Brutus (Holidays)
29. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - "Human Highway" - Sad Movies: A Secret History of Neil Young, 1973-1980

The Frow Show with Jesse playlists: http://wfmu.org/playlists/JJ
RSS feeds for The Frow Show with Jesse:
Playlists RSS: http://wfmu.org/playlistfeed/JJ.xml
MP3 archives RSS: http://wfmu.org/archivefeed/mp3/JJ.xml

April 9, 2012

frow show, FMU-163

(Detailed playlist, with listening links.)

1. Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Vince Welnick - "Star-Spangled Banner" - 12 April 1993 Candlestick Park ((no label)) [Happy Opening Day.]
2. Chemutoi Ketienya & Girls - "Chemirocha" (Smithsonian Folkways) [http://excavatedshellac.com/2012/04/04/excavated-shellac-fifth-year-anniversary/]
3. Jon Porras - "Blue Crescent Vision" - Black Mesa (Thrill Jockey)
4. Matthew Van Brink - "They Disappear" ((no label))
5. Alkibar Gignor - "Dakou" - La Paix (Mississippi)
6. Gene Clark - "With Tomorrow" - White Light (Sundazed)
7. The Mattoid - "Windbreaker" - Glory Holy EP (Cleft)
8. Cardinal - "Kal" - Hymns (Fire)
9. The Black Hollies - "Gloomy Monday Morning" - 7-inch (Safety Meeting)
10. John Wesley Coleman III - "My Grave" - Last Donkey Show (Goner)

11. Creeping Pumpkins - "Don't Want" - Creeping Pumpkins cassette ((no label))
12. Moe Tucker feat. Lou Reed, John Cale, & Sterling Morrison - "I'm Not" - I Feel So Far Away: Anthology, 1974-1998 (Sundazed) [VU 1991!]
13. Angus MacLise/Tony Conrad/Jack Smith - "S.O.S. (circa 1968)" - Dreamweapon 1 (Boo-Hooray)
14. Rhys Chatham - "practice Gtr Trio mix for Joseph" - Guitar Trio demo cassette ((no label))
15. Gianmarco Liguori - "Duga-3" - Duga-3 (Sarang Bang)
16. Harry Hosano - ""Sayonara," The Japanese Farewell Song" - Bon Voyage Co. (Panam)

17. King Creole aka Lenny Lacour - "Maharishi" - Michael Shelley Presents Music Is Freedom ((no label))
18. Grateful Dead - "Dark Star > Sugar Magnolia" - 8 April 1972 Wembley Empire Pool ((no label))

19. We Acediasts - "Kuosho" - pre acediasts 12" (Meshkey)
20. So Percussion and Matmos - "Needles" - Cage 100: The Bootleg Series (Canteloupe)
21. General Strike - "Snowdrops"
22. Waves on Canvas - "Flowers of the Sea" - The Wire Tapper 28 (The Wire)
23. Hugdealer - "Electro Problemz"
24. Strange Men in Sheds With Spanners - "#4" - Strange Men In Sheds with Spanners (Drag City)
25. Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble - "Shadow Play" - The Eleventh Hour (ECM)
26. Sun Araw & Congos - "Thanks and Praise" - FRKWYS Vol. 9: Sun Araw & M. Geddes Gengras meet The Congos - Icon Give Thank (RVNG)

The Frow Show with Jesse playlists: http://wfmu.org/playlists/JJ
RSS feeds for The Frow Show with Jesse:
Playlists RSS: http://wfmu.org/playlistfeed/JJ.xml
MP3 archives RSS: http://wfmu.org/archivefeed/mp3/JJ.xml

April 2, 2012

frow show, FMU-162

(Detailed playlist, with listening links.)

1. drunk dude in back of cop car - "Bohemian Rhapsody"
2. China Blue - "Eiffel Tower recordings" (archive.org)
3. Glenn Jones - "Of Its Own Kind" - The Wanting (Thrill Jockey)
4. Amps For Christ - "Roto Koto In C Major" - split 12-inch with Woods (Shrimper)
5. Hornorkesteret - "Baal" - Fjaer Og Jern (Panot)
6. Lambchop - "Mr. Met" - Mr. M (Merge)
7. Grateful Dead - "Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie" - Reckoning (Arista)

8. Insect Factory + Public Speaking - "(live set)" [with Delia Derbyshire, Grupo Experimental Electroacoustico, The Harlemans, Flip the Switch! excerpts]

9. Weird Paul Petrosky - "Geraldo Made Me Kill" - The Hissing of Chrome Snakes: Dan Bodah's 2011 WFMU Marathon Premium (V/A)
10. Ty Segall - "It's A Problem" - split 7-inch with Feeling of Love (Permanent)
11. The Cramps - "Mystery Plane" - File Under Sacred Music (Munster)
12. Meat Puppets - "Creator" - Up on the Sun (SST)
13. The Men - "A Minor" - Todo Muere Vol. 2 (Sacred Bones)
14. Mission of Burma - "Dust Devil" - Unsound (Matador)
15. Charlotte Dada - "Don't Let Me Down" - Money No Be Sand: 1960s Afro-Lypso, Pidgin Highlife, Afro-Soul, Afro-Rock (Original)
16. Earl Scruggs - "Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine" - Live at Kansas State (Collectables)
17. Doug Jerebine - "Thawed Ice" - Is Jesse Harper (Drag City)
18. The Hearby - "The Harm I Do (By Being Me)" (Union Jac)
19. Black Lips - "Modern Art" - Arabia Mountain (Vice)

20. 3 Leafs - "Apprentice Destroyer" - Canal Smarts ((no label))
21. Drums of Death - "Parago" - Drums of Death (Avant)
22. Felix Kubin - "Reflection 5" - Turf (It's)
23. Tomutonttu - "Syvät Sävyt" - split 12-inch with Astral Social Club (Tipped Bowler)
24. Chicago Underground Duo - "Winds and Sweeping Pines" - Age of Energy (Northern-Spy)
25. Panssarijuna - "Puuvillatehtaan Pihalla" - Panssarijuna 7-inch (Joteskii Groteskii)
26. Hush Arbors - "Lowly Ghost" - Aureola (Thrill Jockey)
27. Brenton Wood - "Oogum Boogum Song" (Double Shot)

The Frow Show with Jesse playlists: http://wfmu.org/playlists/JJ
RSS feeds for The Frow Show with Jesse:
Playlists RSS: http://wfmu.org/playlistfeed/JJ.xml
MP3 archives RSS: http://wfmu.org/archivefeed/mp3/JJ.xml

March 26, 2012

frow show, FMU-161


(Detailed playlist, with listening links.)

1. Beach Boys - "Break Away (vocals only)" ((no label))
2. Erkki Kurenniemi - "Computer Music, 1966" ((no label))
3. Grass Widow - "Goldilocks Zone" - Internal Logic (HLR)
4. The Reigning Sound - "Lyin' Girl" - Abdication... For Your Love (Scion A/V )
5. Dave Weckerman - "Out of Baby's Reach" - Out of Baby's Reach 7-inch (Yellow Fear)
6. Eleventh Dream Day - "Bomb the Mars Hotel" - Beet (Atlantic)
7. Tyvek - "Inner City Walks" - European Tour 7-inch ((no label))

8. John Barry - "Four In the Morning" - The Music of John Barry (Acrobat Music)
9. Dan Melchior - "In the Loft" - Excerpts (& Half-Speeds) (Kye)
10. Nehiti - "No Angel Came" - Other People's Memories (Lo Bit Landscapes)
11. Hans Appelqvist - "En Arm For Ut" - Sjunga Slutet Nu (Happa)
12. If, Bwana / Dan Warburton - "I am Sitting In Phill Niblock's Kitchen" - I am Sitting In Phill Niblock's Kitchen (Monotype)
13. Tony Schwartz - "Sound Snapshots" - Tony Schwartz Records the Sound of Children (Folkways)
14. Peter Van Riper - "Acoustic Cups - Susmusic #1" - Sustainable Music cassette ((no label))
15. Steven Feld - "Méaudre" - The Time of the Bells (Voxlox)
16. LAFMS - "Music For Gamelan and Synthesizer" - The Lowest Form of Music (Los Angeles Free Music Society box) (LAFMS)
17. Dump - "Where There Is No Sun" ((no label))

18. Quilt - "Cowboys in the Void" - Quilt (Mexican Summer)
19. The Mind Expanders - "Pictures at a Psychedelic Exhibition" - The Mind Expanders (Gear Fab)
20. The Men - "Candy" - Open Your Heart (Sacred Bones)
21. Peggy Scott & Jo Jo Benson - "Pickin' Wild Mountain Berries" - Southern Soul Shake! SSS Soul Survey & Music City Soul (Charly)
22. Clifford Curry - "She Shot A Hole In My Soul" - Night Train To Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945-1970 (Lost Highway)
23. The Servicemen - "Are You Angry?" - Meet the... Servicemen? (Wind Hit)
24. Gilberto Gil - "Nega (Photograph Blues)" - Gilberto Gil (1971) (Philips)
25. The Ethopians - "Everything Crash" - This Is Reggae Music, v. 1 (Studio One)

26. People in Control - "When It's War" - Crammed Global Soundclash 1980-1989 (Crammed Discs)
27. Richard Grayson - "Promenade" - Pandorasbox (Orion)
28. Rhys Chatham - "Crossing the Sword Bridge" - Outdoor Spell (Northern-Spy)
29. Samulnori - "Al-Ari" - Record of Changes (CMP)
30. Marcia Bennett / Samara Lubelski - "September 12th, 2010 - Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY" - Sunday Night, Sunday Afternoon (Kye)
31. Man Forever - "Surface Patterns" - Pansophical Construct (Thrill Jockey)
32. Kazuyoshi Saito - "It Was Always A Lie" ((no label))
33. The Nutmegs - "Whispering Sorrows" - When You Dance (Acrobat)

The Frow Show with Jesse playlists: http://wfmu.org/playlists/JJ
RSS feeds for The Frow Show with Jesse:
Playlists RSS: http://wfmu.org/playlistfeed/JJ.xml
MP3 archives RSS: http://wfmu.org/archivefeed/mp3/JJ.xml

March 19, 2012

frow show, FMU-160

(Detailed playlist, with listening links.)

1. Natural Snow Buildings - "Starless" - Beyond the Veil (Blackest Rainbow)
2. Slant Azymuth - "Helicial Scan" - Slant Azymuth (Pre-Cert Home Entertainment)
3. Joe Jones + Chicken To Kitchen - "Solar Music" - Fluxsaints ((no label))
4. Esquivel and His Orchestra - "Carioca" - The Stereo Action Dimension: The History Of Space Age Pop, Vol. 3 (RCA)
5. Anoushka Shankar - "Buleria Con Ricardo" - Traveller (Deutsche Grammophon )
6. Gunn-Truscinski Duo - "Don't Lean On Door" - Ocean Parkway (3 Lobed)
7. Jessie Mae Hemphill - "Loving In The Moonlight" - She-Wolf (Shout Factory)
8. Mosquito - "In the Night (Drive My Car)" - Time Was (Smells Like Records)

9. Mind Spiders - "Fall In Line" - Meltdown (Dirtnap)
10. Ceremony - "I'm A Bug" - Hysteria 7-inch (Matador)
11. Red Cross (at 33 1/3) - "Everyday There's Someone New" - 1979-1982 7-inch ((no label))
12. The Golden Boys - "California" - Dirty Fingernails (12XU)
13. Jack White - "Love Interruption" - Love Interruption 7-inch (Third Man)
14. The Mattoid - "Windbreaker" - Glory Holy EP (Cleft)
15. /please/ - "It's Going to Stop" - /please/ ((no label))
16. Panabrite - "Whirlpool" - Sub-Aquatic Meditation (Aguirre)
17. Pulse Emitter - "Immortality" - Aeons (Aguirre) [feat. "Modern Memory Methods" LP by Donald A. Robinson (no label) + "Anro" from "Anro" by Sachiko (Utech)]
18. David Buddin - "Canticle 1" - Canticles For Electronic Music (ugExplode)
19. Wiley Brooks & Company - "Breatharian Chant" - The Sound of Ascension (Nice (Nice) Production)
20. Robert Hunter - ""Have you ever seen anyone like Cody Pomeray?"" - Kerouac -- Kicks, Joy, Darkness (Rykodisc) [for Kerouac's 90th.]
21. Lee Ranaldo - "Outside My Window the City Is Never Silent" - Outside My Window The City Is Never Silent/A Bestiary (Chocolate Monk)
22. Robert Turman - "Flux 1" - Flux (Spectrum Spools)
23. Exocet - "Break" - Consequence (Ant-Zen)
24. Tapes - "Brain Hunger Riddim" - split 7-inch with Pampidoo (Meeuw Muzak)
25. Spontaneous Overthrow - "Money" - Personal Space: Electronic Soul 1974-1984 (Numero Group)

26. Windy & Carl - "For Rosa" - We Will Always Be (Kranky)
27. Dan Gibson - "By Canoe To Loon Lake (Proc)" - Solitudes: Environmental Sound Experiences, Volume One (Dan Gibson Productions)
28. The Two Things In One - "Let's Get It Together" - Together Forever: The Music City Sessions (BGP Omnivore)
29. Syreeta - "I Love Every Little Thing About You" - Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love: Motown's Mowest Story 1971-1973 (Light In The Attic)
30. Parliament - "The Silent Boatman" - Osmium (Sanctuary)
31. Marianne Faithfull - "You Can't Go Where The Roses Go" - Love In A Mist (Decca)
32. Sonny and the Sandwitches - "Cathedral in the Desert" - Sonny and the Sandwitches EP (Empty Cellar)
33. Flamin' Groovies - "You Tore Me Down" - Teenage Head (Kama Sutra)
34. Avant Garde - "Naturally Stoned" - Soft Sounds For Gentle People, v. 1 ((no label))
35. Harpoon Forever - "Blue Jay" - Life-Size Cut-Out ((no label))
36. The Lemon Drops - "I Live In The Springtime" - Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the first Psychedelic Era (Rhino)
37. Information - "Let's Compromise" - Tape #1 ((no label))

The Frow Show with Jesse playlists: http://wfmu.org/playlists/JJ
RSS feeds for The Frow Show with Jesse:
Playlists RSS: http://wfmu.org/playlistfeed/JJ.xml
MP3 archives RSS: http://wfmu.org/archivefeed/mp3/JJ.xml

March 12, 2012

frow show, FMU-159

(Detailed playlist, with listening links.)

1. Janka Nabay & the Bubu Gang - "Ro Lungi" - An Letah EP (True Panther/Luaka Bop)
2. Ornette Coleman & Prime Time feat. Jerry Garcia - "Desert Players" - Virgin Beauty (Portrait/CBS) [happy birthday, Ornette]
3. Steve Lacy - "Cloudy" - Avignon and After, v. 1 (Emanem)
4. Tony Conrad - "June 1965" - Early Minimalism (Table of the Elements)
5. Paul Metzger - "Orans" - Deliverance (Locust)
6. Fatimah Al-Zaelaeyah - "Hey, Who Enters the Sea of Passion?" - Qat, Coffee & Qambus: Raw 45s From Yemen (Parlortone)
7. Neung Phak - "Poo Jud" - Neung Phak (Abduction)
8. Takeshi Terauchi & Blue Jeans - "Journey To The Stars" - Nippon Guitars (Big Beat)
9. Francis Bebey - "Fleur Tropicale" - African Electronic Music 1975-1982 (Born Bad)

10. The Men - "Country Song" - Open Your Heart (Sacred Bones)
11. Dana Buoy - "Best Around" - Summer Bodies (Lefse)
12. Gesellschaft zur Emanzipation des Samples - "Besuch aus der Unterwelt" - More Circulations 7-inch (FAITICHE)
13. Erik M - "Sossusvlei" - Transfall (Room 40)
14. Listening Mirror - "The Leechpool" - Resting In Aspic (Hibernate)
15. Hornorkesteret - "Mot Sydpolen" - Elegi for Roald Amundsen ((no label))
16. J.A. Caesar - "Wasan" - Kokkyou Jyunreika (P-Vine)
17. Sleepy Sun - "Martyr's Mantra" - Spine Hits (ATP)
18. Raccoo-oo-oon - "The Canyon's Long Winding Roads" - Is Night People (Release The Bats)
19. Dereck Donohue - "Ghosts of the Sherpa" - Subprime Frequency (Chambara)
20. The Dovers - "I Could Be Happy (slow?)" - We're Not Just Anybody (Misty Lane)
21. Donovan Quinn - "In the Bag" - Honky Tonk Medusa (Northern-Spy)

22. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - "Wheels of Fire" - split 7-inch with L.A. Guns (Matador)
23. Tyvek - "Underwater 2" - Nothing Fits (In the Red)
24. Electric Blood - "Match" - Electric Easter (Beehive Rebellion)
25. Alastair Galbraith - "Homesick" - Orb (Nextbestway)
26. Great Society Mind Destroyers - "Higher Bodies" - Spirit Smoke (Sloow Tapes)
27. Remko Scha - "Side A" - Guitar Mural 1 (featuring The Machines) (Corps de Garde)
28. Wendy Rene - "After Laughter Comes Tears" - After Laughter Comes Tears: Complete Stax & Volt Singles + Rarities 1964-65 (Light In the Attic)
29. James Brown - "I Love You, Yes I Do" - The Singles Volume 2: 1960-1963 (Hip-O/Polydor)

The Frow Show with Jesse playlists: http://wfmu.org/playlists/JJ
RSS feeds for The Frow Show with Jesse:
Playlists RSS: http://wfmu.org/playlistfeed/JJ.xml
MP3 archives RSS: http://wfmu.org/archivefeed/mp3/JJ.xml

Current

Powered by
Movable Type 3.35