RadioPeng

Henry Flynt: Appalachian Noise, Conceptual Fire

On the far edge of art, thought, and sonic rebellion stands Henry Flynt-a hillbilly fiddler, philosopher-logician, and avant-garde saboteur of Western culture. Long before the term "concept art" was gallery-ready, Flynt coined it as a critique, not a commodity. He studied under Quine at Harvard, jammed with La Monte Young, and publicly protested the "serious music" establishment by calling Stockhausen a cultural imperialist. Yes, really. But Flynt didn't just critique. […]

July 31, 2025 3

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Ambient

Les Rallizes Dénudés: The Loudest Band You’ve (Sort Of) Heard Of – And Why Google Image Search Is a Trap

Let's talk about Les Rallizes Dénudés - Japan's most enigmatic, ear-melting psych-rock band and possibly the only musical group whose name doubles as a browser history liability. If you're not familiar, Les Rallizes Dénudés (pronounced something like "leh ra-LEEZE deh-noo-DAY," but let's be honest, we're all just mumbling it differently and nodding) were a Japanese avant-garde noise-rock band formed in the late '60s. They didn't record albums in the traditional […]

July 21, 2025 12 2

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Folk

“Canción Mixteca”: A Lament That Crosses Borders (and Breaks Hearts)

In Paris, Texas, Wim Wenders’ haunting 1984 film, one of the most soul-stirring moments comes not through dialogue, but music. Ry Cooder's sparse slide guitar echoes across the American desert, and then, as if conjured by memory and longing, “Canción Mixteca”—written by José López Alavez in 1915—floats into the scene. Sung in Spanish, its lyrics speak of a heartache too heavy for translation, of a soul estranged from home: “Qué […]

July 16, 2025 19 2

General

Lucio Dalla: The Astronaut Who Played Clarinet in the Alley

Lucio Dalla looked like your eccentric uncle—the one who reads Rimbaud in dialect and believes jellyfish are psychic. He wore fisherman’s caps and round glasses like he was both blind prophet and jazz pirate. But behind that disarming appearance was one of Italy’s most unclassifiable musical minds: part chanson, part prog, part street ballad, part prayer. He didn’t write songs. He built them like strange, little cities—populated with time travelers, […]

July 10, 2025 10

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Folk

John Fahey

from John Fahey Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More ... | AllMusic Born John Aloysius Fahey on Feb 28, 1939 in Takoma Park, MD. Died Feb 22, 2001 in Salem, OR. One of acoustic music's true innovators and eccentrics, John Fahey was a crucial figure in expanding the boundaries of the acoustic guitar over the last few decades. His music was so eclectic that it's arguable whether he should […]

July 9, 2025 14 2

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Jazz

Keith Jarrett: The Man Who Argued with Silence

If Keith Jarrett were a tree, he’d be a temperamental oak in a jazz forest, growling at birds for landing on his branches out of rhythm. There’s a reason his name triggers both awe and exasperation among music lovers. He is, after all, the pianist who once stopped a concert because someone in the audience coughed too much. Not as a joke. Not as protest. As a principle. Because when […]

July 9, 2025 13 2

Uncategorized

99 Posse: Napoli’s Radical Rhythms and Revolutionary Riddims

When you talk about Italian music with a conscience—no, scratch that—with a bullhorn and a Molotov cocktail—you eventually end up in the defiant company of 99 Posse. Formed in Naples in 1991, this band of misfits, militants, and musical experimenters were never content with just dropping beats; they dropped manifestos. Birth of a Posse 99 Posse emerged from the same cultural petri dish that birthed centri sociali, squatted spaces teeming […]

June 24, 2025 16

Ambient

Haruomi Hosono: The Eternal Tourist in a Synthesized World

There are musicians who chase the zeitgeist, and then there’s Haruomi Hosono, who gently taps it on the shoulder, hands it a tropical drink, and invites it to dance to a steel drum inside a spaceship. If you’ve ever stumbled upon a 1970s Japanese album cover that looks like it belongs to a Hawaiian lounge band made entirely of aliens, congratulations—you may have entered the sonic Bermuda Triangle that is […]

June 23, 2025 10

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Punk

CCCP Fedeli alla Linea: Punk Liturgies in the People’s Disco

If punk ever took communion in a red banner-lit chapel while screaming about factory alienation and grilled sausages, it would sound like CCCP Fedeli alla Linea. Forget what you know about punk. This wasn't three-chord rebellion in a dingy London pub. CCCP was a performance-art ritual, a dadaist cabaret dressed in Red Army drag, a sonic riot happening simultaneously in Reggio Emilia, Kabul, and a crumbling Catholic cathedral. Their name […]

June 22, 2025 251 2

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General

Mina: The Voice That Disappeared but Never Left

If the gods of pop decided to whisper secrets into human ears, they’d probably sound a bit like Mina. To call Mina just a singer is like calling the Colosseum just a pile of rocks. This woman didn't just dominate the Italian charts for decades—she redefined what it meant to have a voice, a face, and then, gloriously, no face at all. That’s right. In 1978, she walked away from […]

June 21, 2025 10 3