Never Records Podcasts: Recent Episodes
Never Records Podcasts
Never Records is a combination recording studio and record shop, setting up in locales throughout the world. The sole proprietor, interior decorator, and engineer is New York-based artist Ted Riederer. Inspired by his own redemptive education at a young age inside the walls of a local record store in Rockville, Maryland as well as the field recording projects of Alan Lomax, Riederer devised his unique community art installation in the early part of this century and has been replicating it with regional variations throughout the world since 2010.
Performers from a locale sign up for recording sessions ahead of time, with no auditions necessary. Riederer usually offers three hour sessions, during which he mixes on the fly and cuts vinyl right in front of the artist’s eyes once both are satisfied with a particular take. The recordings are free to the artist, the sessions are open to the public, and you can’t buy anything you see. Ted hasn’t lowered prices by cutting out the middleman. He is the middleman. He is not a vertical operation; he is an elliptical one, a constant feedback loop supplying its own demand. Still, everyone takes something home, even if it’s the barest speck of record shop camaraderie inadvertently inhaled. -Ryan Sparks, New Orleans
Episode 134 features music and poetry by Mark Thorp, Bobby Wattlington, Diver, and Dizzy SenZe.
http://www.littlemisswhiskeys.com https://www.flickr.com/photos/142654005@N07/ https://werediver.bandcamp.com/releases https://www.instagram.com/feelingdizzy.wav/?hl=en
Episode 132 features Dr. Mark Cranford, Hex Windham, Jonathan Toscano, and Ryan Radecki.
https://markcranford.com https://hexwindham.bandcamp.com https://www.jonathantoscano.com https://www.facebook.com/ryan.radecki.98
Image by Hex Windham.
EP 131 features Julie Bennet Hume, Paddy Mulloy with the Mad Mulligans, and King Hutch Downes.
visit http://www.secretshape.com for more information and links picture by Julie Bennet Hume.
https://www.juliebennetthume.com https://kingpussyface.bandcamp.com/album/king-pussy-face-2 https://soundcloud.com/user-429424545-591293332
Episode 130 features music by Ellie Fallon, Timothy Lalonde, and Brent Houzenga and Meghan Hensley.
https://www.instagram.com/shelinorfallon/ http://www.houzenga.com https://unmarried.bandcamp.com
IMAGE: A PAINTING BY BRENT HOUZENGA
Episode 129 Features the music of Connor O'Kane, James McArthur and the Head Gardeners, and James Rose. https://teknopeasant.bandcamp.com/album/the-raw-deal http://jamesmcarthurmusic.co.uk https://jamesrose.bandcamp.com
Picture of James Rose by James Rose.
Episode 128 features the work of Jose Luis Jacome Guerrero an artist, musician, and curator from Abato Ecuador. Check out https://dogmacentral.wordpress.com
Episode 127 features the sound piece Colored Pathways Red by Shawn Hansen which was made to accompany a joint exhibition with Laurel Sparks at the KnockDown Center that was canceled due to the pandemic.
https://shawnedwardhansen.bandcamp.com
Features Dimension Bill Edwards, Clarekes in Space with Fiddle Betse, and Sarah Galvin.
http://www.secretshape.com for more info
Photo: Dimension Bill Edwards at Winfield by the amazing RHR Photo.
Episode 125 features Micah McKee and the Lonesome Wild, The Non Essential Workers, and Gary Roth. For more info visit http://www.secretshape.com
This episode features Mark Garry, Helen Gillet, and SJ Downes. http://www.markgarrystudio.com http://www.helengillet.com https://sjdownes.bandcamp.com/album/lions-path-e-p-mellowtone-records-2020
Features Jenna Rae, Anna Page, and Kevin Comarda of The Self Help Tapes. Visit http://www.secretshape.com and http://www.neverrecords.net.
Features Christina Anna, The Band With the Screaming Brain, and Connor O'Kane. For more music from Apocalypse Anthems visit http://www.secretshape.com
Features the music of Kelly Hunt, Siobhan Shiels, and Seamus Harahan with Thomas McCarthy.
Episode 119 features Zach Wilkerson, Stephanie Gross, and Bethany Jacobsen with Steven Taylor.
Beloved Never Records family,
I will not add another jeremiad about the state of the world to your bandwidth. Like you, we have suffered setbacks and inconveniences, austerity, and isolation. Like you, we are outraged by racial injustice and inequality and the divisiveness of our age. It is enough to stifle creative impulse, to find ourselves trapped in a feedback loop of negativity.
The truth is, aside from being unemployed, I feel immeasurably lucky. My son is a perpetual joy machine, my wife a constant source of humor and good nature. My family is healthy. I also have Never Records and its regenerative soundtrack. I have your sounds to bolster me when I falter.
It's been 10 years since this all began, 10 or so cities, and 1000's of artists. I never thought I'd be doing this for a decade, it seemed like a one-off art project, but I felt so inspired by you that now I think I'll do this for the rest of my life.
Send me your apocalypse anthems, your reflections on this now infamous time. It could be a song, a poem, or a sound. At the height of the pandemic the distant sounds of ambulances in New York was a constant reminder of the sick and the dead. I know many of you do not traffic in the didactic. I'm not asking for anything that you are not willing to give, but I am asking for a measure of what we are all going through. If its a cheery pop song so be it, but I ask you is this how you will mark this time 10 years from now? a hundred years from now? Your sounds are testimony. How will you testify?
Now I know many of you have songs recorded that you'd like on vinyl. This is not the time for duplication, this is the time for creation! Record on a cassette and send me the tape! Record with me live over the internet! If you don't have a way to record reach out to me and together we'll figure out a way! And of course if you are in New York come to my studio, my sanctuary, and we'll record and cut live!
We’re nearing the end of the Brooklyn episodes. It’s not for lack of material, I have more tracks left to play, including not one, but two Christmas tracks which is a first for Never Records, but I’m going to need to step back from the show tofocus on the Newest iteration of Never Records which launches in a week. I’m going to cap the tenth anniversary of Never Records year with a special project called Never Records: Apocalypse Anthems. I’m asking participants from past Never Records around the world to write songs, poems, and send sounds that capture the zeitgeist of this moment in time. Etched sonically forever into vinyl, for both participants and posterity, these recordings will telegraph the sounds of our time into a future which seems so fragile and unsure. I’m hoping to share these recording with you early next year.
Back to todays episode. I want to build on last week’s poetry episode and play some BAM recordings that begin to blur the lines between poetry and theater.
As you’ve probably heard me state before Never Records is not about music. Sure music is often the currency of sound, but I’m much more interested in the fellowship of recording and the teaching of the transcendental science of record cutting. To this end, Never Records is really a scripted performance by me in which I lead participants on a guided meditation of sound.
Some of my favorite Never Records tracks aren’t songs: the architect Elvis Achepol in Kansas City giving directions to the prairie, the cosmologist Paul Malone giving a lecture about the electric universe in London, BJ Nilson’s piezo electric recording of the lathe cutting itself, the evening call to prayer recorded at the ruins of a citadel in the center of Amman to name a few.
Today we’re going to focus on poets and we’re going to begin with Brooklyn Poets.
When I recorded in the UK and Ireland I was really happy to discover veins of progressive rock in the geology of the contemporary music scenes in these regions. It’s as if the half-life of bands like Soft Machine and Can could still send Geiger counters flittering. I find prog rock fascinating from a lyrical stand-point. as if Tolkien, Kenneth Graham, and Lewis Carol formed a band. Existentially earnest songs about primrose heaths, fun fairs, and haughty hearths with some calico toadstools thrown in for good measure. It’s the literary influences that make progressive rock so meaty as if the music is composed like a well-crafted complex sentence. Songs are well wrought and travel well beyond straight rock’s limits.
When someone signs up for a Never Records session they get a brief list of frequently asked questions. This document explains a bit about the project, lists available equipment, as well as session guidelines which include a 10-minute time limit for the performance to be recorded. When it comes to art rules are made to be broken, but for the most part I restrict the length of the recordings to be cut to vinyl to 10 minutes or less. It’s a formula that’s worked for over 500 recordings across three continents.
As you can imagine, participants approach this time limit in many different ways. Some record a 3-minute pop song and leave it at that, others try to sneak in a second song by adding a musical bridge between compositions(you can’t fool me), and others just ignore the time limit altogether which is quite rare.
We’re going to do something a little different on today’s episode and feature two tracks from Never Records BAM that are longer improvisations that I’m going to play back to back so we’ll get a nice long set of music. I’ll limit commentary to before and after. Both tracks are instrumentals one acoustic one electric and I think you’ll agree they sound amazing together.
Two weeks ago I sent a message 150 years into the future. I made a vinyl record time capsule, comprised 17 hand cut records containing tone pictures of our time from 2017-2019 encased in a wooden box made by my cousin Michael from a slab of Silver Maple.. I placed the box between aluminum studs in the yet to be built walls of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s new Rudin Family Gallery, an exhibition space attached to the Harvey Theater in downtown Brooklyn.
Upon completion of the gallery a plaque will be hung inside the lobby of the theater that reads, “This vinyl record time capsule, titled Persistent Echoes uses tone pictures to capture and frame a moment in our lives that we all share, whether knowingly or unknowingly. Through conscientiously selected and recorded sounds, with selected sounds from the artist’s life and the BAM Hamm archives, Riederer believes he can telegraph a crystallization of this moment to future generations. Placed in the Rudin Family Gallery’s wall, Persistent Echoes becomes a time capsule for a century and beyond. "
“You can’t play your own band on your radio show.”, my co-worker scolded me in response to last week’s episode about the band I was in in the nineties called Thumper. She’s absolutely right, I really shouldn’t play my own music, but after our reunion show on July 12th, I was so giddy that I wanted to share what was once such an enormous part of my life in the hopes it would further illuminate how Never Records originated.
So at the risk of further breaking the rules of radio propriety, today’s episode about a another band I was in in the early 2000s, a band called The New You.
Featuring: The New You Homesteads
The New You Memorial Day
The New You Silver Foil
The New You Too Much Earth
This past week, a band I was in Thumper reunited to play a club called The Beachcomber in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. Formed in the early nineties at Tufts University in Boston, Thumper went on to release 4 albums and tour the United States and Canada. The band has been described as part of the Third Wave of Ska music but as you are about to hear ska was just one of an eclectic number of influences that included punk, hardcore, metal, and reggae.
We were misfits, irreverent, satirical, theatrical and mischievous. We deliberately tried to evade description, but above all we took our music very seriously. At times its virtuosic and at other times hard to listen to. In spite of ourselves we sold over 20,000 records and often played to audiences that numbered well into the hundreds. Featuring: Thumper Holy Roller
Thumper Burn Baby Burn
Thumper All Fall Down
Thumper Backstabber
This past week, my old friend Damon Locks asked me to cut records for a project he was working on. Damon and I met over 30 years ago at ART CENTER, a Summer magnet program for art students in the Washington DC area. Damon went on to become the singer of one of my favorite Chicago bands, Trenchmouth, and has since had a very successful art and music career.
As an artist in residence at a high school in a neighborhood in the Southwest Side of Chicago, Damon had recently coached students to create a series of radio dramas that were based on sci-fi visions of the future. As I’m working on a time capsule to send vinyl records into the future the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. I asked Damon to introduce himself and the project. Featuring: Future Radio Plays From the Students of Sarah E Goode Stem Academy, Chicago
This past week I had what could best described as a Back To the Future moment. A temporal deja-vuz where I found myself reliving a resonant moment that bridged a thirty-year gap. Back in the 1980s I was in a band called The Reply, and what started as a bunch of 14 year olds playing dress up and posing in front of mirros turned into a way of life, an ethic of seeing and experiencing the world.
Feat: The Reply Razor Sharp
The Reply All Good Things
The Reply Billy
The Reply Remember
Never Records allows me to completely immerse myself in a place like Kansas City and feel what it is truly like to live there. I can’t tell you what a gift it was to cycle familiar streets, to be a local at Los Alamos Market Y Cocina, to run into friends at Town Topic at 2 in the morning, to got my favorite laundromat which was decorated with vinyl record decals, to share in the songs and stories of hundreds of talented people, and to feel the gratitude and warmth from everyone who came through Never Records.
There we were that Sunday evening in Kansas City. We came together to celebrate the end of a project that brought us together as friends, collaborators, and fellow artists. As I sat on the rented peacock embroidered couch I had tears in my eyes as a string of performers payed tribute to the spirit of Never Records. I’ll never forget that night.
Artists Featured: Jenna and Martin and friends Closing Night Performance
Lorna Kay’s One Night Stand Closing Night Performance
Kelly Hunt Closing Night Performance
Conor O’Kane Crossroads
After 5 months of episodes, we are nearing the end of dispatches from Kansas City. There are still many recordings to share, but I’m feeling the urge to end this chapter in the story of Never Records. I dedicated last week’s show to bluegrass. While the traditional scene is flourishing, I didn’t want to leave you, dear listener, thinking that this was all Kansas City had to offer. As I’ve shared before, this town is experiencing a renaissance of sorts and I discovered a diversity in the music scene that would rival a city two and three times it’s size.
Music Featured: (w)Omen-Potion Mysterious Clouds-Lunar Duel Ryan Radecki-Ocean State Jason Buice-Spaceship
KANSAS CITY: I recently saw a cool video from KC on one of my social media feeds of a music shop full of fiddle players jamming while a luthier cleaned and restored a double bass. This video epitomizes Kansas City to me, an open jam in a remarkable space. The roots music scene so open, so welcoming and supportive to musicians of all abilities and ages.
Artists Featured: Grassfed - Sometimes The Silence Chris Devictor - Honey Come Back Home Tiny Flowers - untitled Under the Big Oak Tree - Honey Bee
KANSAS CITY: In Kansas City I discovered humble and modest songs that spoke about the trials of life in a very direct and poignant way. Today’s episode is dedicated to four musicians who inspired me through their poetry and music.
Artists Featured: Julie Bennet Hume - Garden Steve Sterner - 43 Days Joy Zimmerman - How Long Mark Valladares - Indian Made
KANSAS CITY: I turn to music as I so often do in these moments for solace and inspiration and beauty. And so I’ve put together a lovely set of music for you today. Three women songwriters and singers who will help further enchant this Spring. Through their voices we will be redeemed in the magic way that song has to uplift our lives.
Esther Rose - Without You Arabella Arabella - Jealous Guy Lily B Moonflower - Midnight Song
KANSAS CITY: In Kansas City I hosted five live shows and today I’m going to play one of these gigs for you. The experimental composer, radio dj, and piano repair expert Shawn Hansen, proposed that I host the touring musician Tashi Dorji. I jumped at the chance for Tashi Dorji has an amazing reputation as an international experimental guitarist.
KANSAS CITY: Perhaps the best source of performers across the 9 year history of Never Records has been word of mouth. This is how I was able to meet and record the legendary Kansas City yodeler, Gary Kirkland.
KANSAS CITY: This Summer I’m going to embed a vinyl record time capsule into the walls of a gallery in Brooklyn for a century and beyond. I’m calling this artwork Persistent Echoes, and I hope to send sounds into the future that capture the spirit our lives at in this very turbulent present. So in the spirit of capturing the zeitgeist of a place and a time I’m going to let sound tell the story of Kansas City, what it felt like to be there.
Artists Featured: Jermaine Thompson - I Guess You Heard That Aryn Sobchak - Mon Petit Choux Mo Dickens - The Brookside Bomber Riley Downing - On My Way Jermain Thompson Poetry Workshop(Skynese, Izzy, Ashley, Anne, and Jermaine) - Dreams Of Flight
KANSAS CITY: For this episode, I’m going to turn the spotlight back to some Kansas City roots inspired music including Honky-Tonk, Rockabilly, and Classic Old Time Rock and Roll.
Artists Featured: The Starhaven Rounders - Pistol Packin’ Mama Lorna K’s One Night Stand - Blue From Now On Heavy Grams
[KANSAS CITY]
In 1977 Skip Groff opened the record store Yesterday and Today. It was located in a non-descript strip mall in the town where I grew up, Rockville MD. Yesterday and Today was my church, and I attended it with the regularity of a parishioner to a church. As the outpouring of memorials demonstrates, I was not the only one that felt this way. This episode is a sonic tribute to Skip featuring songs recorded this fall in Kansas City.
Artists Featured: Sky Smeed - Without Music Ex Acrobat - Melodoce Kelly Hunt - Over The Mountain
KANSAS CITY: As an outsider with limited time, I can only hope to scratch the surface when I travel to a new city, yet Never Records seems to have captured almost every facet of Kansas City music culture. Today’s trio of recordings is super fun. Each track features a male and female vocalist with clever lyrics and instrumentation in the spirit of The Pixies and the Violent Femmes.
Artist Featured: Tub - Sorry Mom Appropriate Grammar - King Of Silent Sounds Vidella - Counting
KANSAS CITY: I often say that you can gauge the health of a city by its punk scene. A punk scene does not discriminate. It accepts all comers.
The action of making a record together with a performer for free, to produce an object etched with sound, as magic and as beguiling a talisman, is as punk as anything I know.
Artists Featured: Dimesack - Feed The Dog La Chancla -Call it A Clasp I Threw a Chair - Superman
KANSAS CITY: Troost Ave is a scar on the map of Kansas City. It’s a color line dividing African American neighborhoods to the East and White more affluent neighborhoods to the west. This border has a long and deep history of segregation. We chose Troost Ave initially as part of Open Spaces’ overall strategy to engage under-served neighborhoods throughout the city. Instead, I ended up in the trendy Crossroads district filed with distilleries and breweries, record stores and music venues.
Artists Featured: Kemet the Phantom - Arab Beats KC MCs La Arquesta Del SolSoul - 6 Seconds Ivy Mix - Often
KANSAS CITY:
The Latino community in Kansas City is as old as the city itself. And while the Latino population continues to grow at a large rate with more and more immigrants migrating from Central America. 7 weeks isn’t enough time to get a sense of how things really are in Kansas City, but what I can say for certain is that the Latinos I met, were incredibly talented, gracious, and dignified in Trump’s era of indignity.
Artists Featured: Trio Aztlan - Cumbia Aztlan Espinoza Quartet - Infra Sonido Arquesta Del SolSoul - La Huelga Dylan Moses - 2000 Such and Such
KANSAS CITY: The Kansas City scene, as evidenced by a lot of the music I have played on this show, is heavily influenced by traditional Country and Bluegrass, but the soundscape is so much more vast than these two genres. I thought it would be fitting to dedicate this episode to alt-country a blend of traditional Americana and more contemporary genres like indie-rock.
Artists Featured: Gullywasher - Songs of Ladder Days Of Tree - Take Your Time The Wires - They Fell into an Intimacy
KANSAS CITY
It’s been a cold and dark midwinter week here in New York. Even though we managed to avoid the snowstorm that blanketed most of the country, the storm that dumped up to a foot of snow on Kansas City, I’m chilled to the bone. I thought I’d depart from the history lessons and art speak and just play some sad songs that I recorded in Kansas City.
Artists Featured: Chico Sierra - Stone Slim Hanson - Whipstick Brian Frame - Way Down in the Valley
KANSAS CITY: This week is about another instrument which also epitomizes country music, the pedal steel. The pedal steel, like the banjo, also has an interesting origin- developed in part by slaves from West Africa.
Artists featured: The Breakfast Sides - Country Rain Jenna And Martin - The Peculiar Song Lorna Kay And The One Night Stand - You’re Running Wild
KANSAS CITY: This episode features the banjo and it's many sounds. I love this idea that the banjo was a sacred instrument and that music was a way to conjure and contain spirits. I also love that the banjo, an instrument that has become a symbol of bluegrass and country music, had its origins in the Afro Caribbean tradition.
Artists Featured: Short Round Sting Band - Chase Old Satan The Matchsellers - Who’s Walkin’ Behind The Matchsellers - Until You Came To Mind Ben Bentele - Untitled
KANSAS CITY: With so many talented people parading through Never Records I often get the urge to step out of my role and play. In rare instances, when I hit it off with a performer, artists will let me contribute some creative ideas to their work. Today’s episode features some of these recordings from Kansas City.
Artists Featured: Kevin Comarda aka The Self Help Tapes - The Bliss In Oblivion Shawn Hanson - Lockgrooves For Single String Piano Mark Weinberg - I get Drunk
KANSAS CITY: It’s hard to define Never Records because it is also beguiling to me, an ever-changing artwork that has been a vehicle for me to see and experience the world. After Never Records I’m not so sure what it means to be an artist. I have learned that a good art work is as edifying for the artist as it is to the viewer or listener. And that art can be map for a life full of meaning and adventure.
This episode features Elvis the Architect reading a set of directions to the Flint Hills as well as SJ Downes serenading those prairies under the vast Kansas skies and for the first time in NR history - going electric.
Artists Featured: Elvis "The Architect" Achelpohl - Directions SJ Downes - Wild Ox Holler live from the Windmill Prairie Trail SJ Downes - Ramblin and Rumbling Blues(Electric)
I’m thrilled to be able to share recordings from the most recent Never Records which took place this past Fall in Kansas City as part of Open Spaces a new biennial celebrating the art and culture of Kansas City and beyond. It really felt like I arrived at a special moment in a city in the midst of an artistic renaissance. In contrast to last week’s episode about the unexpected sounds I found in Kansas City, this week is all about more traditional music.
Artists Featured in this Episode: Conor O’Kane - The Ballad of William Sycamore Kelly Hunt - Dear Sarah Patrick Mureithi - It Will Remain
Never Records is Back after several installations around the country. The Never Record’s archive continues to grow. To this date there are over 500 recordings from more than 9 cities around the world. We will be looking at my most recent exhibition in Kansas City from earlier this year.
Artists Featured: Diego Aguirre Fernandez - To Dad Leonardo Remor and Denis Rodriguez - Kerexu Gamelan Genta Kasturi - Angels And Demons At Play
Over the last year and a half we’ve worked our way backwards throught the Never Records archive to the beginning, the very first Never Records which took place in in the abandoned Tower records near union square in New York City. So today’s episode is all about the Antagonist Movement. An accomplished filmmaker and founder of the movement, Ethan Minsker sent me a bunch of videos he recorded during the run of Never Records back in 2010. I going to mix this audio along with some of the songs from the performers that played during the Antagonist showcase on January 30th 2010. This will be the end of Never Records Radio for the summer, but I'll be back because the biggest Never Records are still to come.
Artists Featured: Daddy Long Legs - Evil Eye Radio Da Pantz - Triboro Bridge Matt Madly - Brave to a Fault
In February 2010, No Longer Empty rented out the old Tower Records store in New York City called "Never Say Goodbye". I got to work with one of my favorite labels, Sacred Bones.
On this weeks episode of Never Records I walk you through my first Never Records installation at one of the old Tower Records in 2009, transforming it back into a record store. This would not have been possible without the support of all the the artists and musicians and No Longer Empty.
One of my oldest art handling friends is a polymath named Jay Ivcevich, not only is he an exceptional painter and sculptor, but he is also a talented musician and DJ. I gave Jay an assignment for today’s show and sent him tracks to remix.
All tracks originally Never Records recordings and then remixed by Ice Bitch: Basam(Ice Bitch Dub) Ice Bitch - Tank Never J Stroke - Sunraga (Sunday Stroke Mix)
As we come to the end of the Liverpool sessions of Never Records I wanted to focus on some of the exciting live recordings we did as part of Never Records Liverpool.
Artists Featured; Beast Barbaros Mugstar
On today's episode of Never Records we return back to Liverpool with a very special episode hosted by Andrew Ellis, who collaborated with me and kept Never Records Liverpool running and helped book shows there.
Artists Featured: Hot Club de Paris - Shipwreck That Fucking Tank Kogumaza
I’m going to break from Liverpool today because I had the most amazing spring in New York. These are recordings from my living room, which has a surprising acoustic atmosphere.
Artists Featured: Grecia Alban - Untitled Improvisation Simon Pettit - As A Bee Pat Irwin - In Another Time
This episode features the opening night of Never Records Liverpool and our first concert arranged by my amazing collaborator Andrew Ellis.
Artists Featured: Phil Jeck with Hildur Gudnadottir and Ted Riederer Specific Ocean Mother Earth
In September of 2010 I was invited by the curator Asher Remy Toledo from the organization No Longer Empty along with a group call The Art Organization or TAO to participate in a satellite project for the Liverpool Biennial that they called SQUAT Liverpool.
On this week's episode of Never Records I will take you to Liverpool where I collaborated with No Longer Empty and The Art Organization in September 2010. I will tell the story of how I got my lathe and will showcase some of the first recordings I ever did.
In September of 2010 I was invited by the curator Asher Remy Toledo from the organization No Longer Empty along with a group call The Art Organization or TAO to participate in a satellite project for the Liverpool Biennal that they called SQUAT Liverpool. This is the first Never Records where I cut vinyl records with my brand new vinyl record lathe Rose Sisters - And Then Ottersgear - Untitled Jack Roberts - I don’t want to fall SJ Downes - Right Now
A little over a week ago I journeyed to Ecuador to perform in the Festival de Arte Público GRAFFF Numero 18 which took place in the tiny Andean town of Pujili. Graff is presented by this talented group of curators, artists, and activists called Revista Dogma, and much like Never Records they believe in the power of art and performance to transcend division and galvanize communities.
This past weekend I journeyed to Ecuador to perform in the Festival de Arte Público GRAFFF Numero 18 which took place in the tiny Andean town of Pujili. Graff is presented by this talented group of curators, artists, and activists called Revista Dogma, and much like Never Records they believe in the power of art and performance to transcend division and galvanize communities.
In the Fall of 2010, I traveled to Lisbon with the Antagonist Movement, an East Village artist cooperative founded at the turn of the century. We went to Lisbon as guests of curator Carlos Alcobia who had invited our group to participate in a festival Called Pop Up Lisboa. This week's episode will attempt to take you on an anthropological journey through the wonderful streets of Lisbon.
Throughout my time playing you tracks from Derry I've had some time to reflect on everything I have learned and shared with you. Before we leave Ireland, I have some very special music and words to leave you with. I’m going to break with our traditional format and let the award winning radio DJ Stephen McCauley take over. In the history of rock and roll radio there have been a few disc jockeys around which a music community has coalesced, Rodney Bingenheimer's Rodney on the Roq, and Little Steven's Underground Garage, to name two. These disc jockeys did more than just play records, they discovered and nurtured entire music scenes in their communities.
Artists featured in this episode: Peter Maloney - The Brandywell The Q - Rednecks Teknopeasant - The Crossroads
This week's episode of Never Records features an ecclectic mix of some of the music I recorded in my time in Derry, Ireland. You will hear a Dean Martin cover, a nine minute long loop pedal extravaganza, and the worlds first skype session pressed to vinyl.
This weeks artists are: Santa Rico - Untitled Aoin Minehan - That’s Amore Garret Phelan - 22, Change is our Only Commonality
Last weeks episode focused on an Irish folk tradition known as spailpin, characterized by feelings of hardship, loneliness, and loss. But just as every record has an A or B side, I also encountered songs of love, redemption, and hope, more so than in many of the other cities I’ve traveled. This episode focuses on the unapologetic and forthright type of love that is sung about in Derry.
Artists featured in this episode: AMO featuring the Inishowen Gospel Choir - Sing It Loud John Deery and the Heads - Little Miss Blue Conor McIntire - Just Love Life Paddy Nash and the happy Enchiladas - Works of Art
While recording many artists in Derry, I noticed a thread through many of the records that could be described as a kind of Irish blues. This "spailpin" music became the foundations for American bluegrass music once it crossed the Atlantic. This week's episode focuses on the rich tradition of Irish folk music.
Artists Featured in this Episode: Tina Mc Laughlin and Marty Doherty - Orphan Girl S. J. Downes - How Long (Frank Stokes cover) Andrew Roddy - Song One Anoush Zadeh - The Lord Bless and Keep You
In May of 2011 Curator Theo Simms brought Never Records to the Context Gallery in Derry, Northern Ireland. Never Records Derry reaffirmed my belief that art and music have the power to galvanize a community and transcend division.
Artists featured in this episode: Frank Rafferty and Connor Kelly - 7 to 1 Carol E. Kelly - Waiting In The Lobby James King and Rory Moore - Free Sinning Animals Strength - Instrumental
We’ve all heard of Irish Sessions. In any city in the US that has an Irish pub chances are there is a weekend session where musicians of any age and talent are encouraged to come and play traditional Irish music. In Derry we hosted more concerts than any other Never Records. Chalk this up to curator Theo Simms generous nature, but live music seems to have a special significance in Ireland and especially the North. One might say it’s a religion.
Artists featured: The Henry Girls - Ol’ Cook Pot Seamus Harahan - Dwyer’s Reel The Bonfire Band - These Days Winter Mountain - Sarah
During my time recording in Derry, Context gallery’s curator Theo Simms and I programmed in a handful of live concerts to take place in a room within our space. The room was large with hardwood floors and a bank of windows overlooking the medieval wall that encircled Derry.
I recorded all of it. These recordings capture the spirit of the moment when we all joined together to celebrate the music of this special town.
Artists featured: Our Krypton Son - Sunlight in the ashes Abby Olivera -The Television Fighting With Wire - Everyone Needs a Nemesis
I’ve been doing a lot of talking over the past few episodes so today I’m going to let the music sing for itself. I’ve picked a selection of tracks that conjure memories of enchanted Donegal, the county that stretches from Derry to the north coast of Ireland. Of all the places I have traveled, Donegal is one of the most beautiful.
Artists featured: The Unimaginative Duo - In Germany Before the War Mark Garry - A Work For Three Comoniums Kate O’Callaghan - Painted Lady Shine May Sun - The Tears
In Derry I met Conor O’kane , one of the most important musicians I have ever known. We’ve been friends ever since. Conor traveled to Never Records London, New Orleans, and even New York City. This episode features Teknopeasant exclusively, all recorded in Derry Ireland.
Songs in this Episode: The Teknopeasant - The New Streets of Derry The Teknopeasant - Elderflower Wine The Teknopeasant - Ramblin Man The Teknopeasant - Crossroads
This episode begins with the final recording I did in Derry. It is an interview with two older gentlemen who have spent their lives in Derry, Lawrence Muir, a local magazine editor, and Mickey McGuiness, a local historian. This interview hasn't been heard since it was cut to vinyl. This episode also includes a performance from John O'Neil, legendary guitarist from The Undertones, as well as an a cappella song about infanticide! How exciting!
Included in this episode: Interview about the BSR factory with Lawrence Muir and Mickey McGuiness The Rayvels - Feels Like Rain Declan McLaughlin - Weila Waile
In May of 2011 Curator Theo Simms brought Never Records to the Context Gallery in Derry, Northern Ireland. In this episode I explore what it means to be a conceptual art installation in the 21st Century though a handful of tracks featuring the acoustic guitar front and center.
Artists featured in this episode: Chris Campbell - The Lonely Man Ciarán Mac Giolla - Untitled Adam Leonard -Deep Sea Diver
This episode continues our exploration of the Irish town, Derry. In the late 20th century, Derry became a battleground for the sectarian violence the region was experiencing. Though, I think the majority of young artists in the region don’t really focus on the past, and the truth is that as soon as I started recording, I instantly became enthralled by the beauty and talent of all who participated and the excitement of the project.
Artists featured in this episode: Conor O’Kane - The Party Line Conor Mason - Standstill Ryan Vail - These Words
In 2013, we launched a mini tour to promote Jason Wyche’s documentary about the Never Records exhibition in Derry in Northern Ireland. Today’s episode was recorded entirely at the Belfast screening, at a Bar called the Sunflower Pub hosted by the artist Seamus Harihan. All of the recordings in this episode were recorded on a single microphone, a Electro Voice Re20.
Artists featured in this episode: Robin Shiels - Black Moon Barry Cullen - Untitled Phil Hession and Seamus Harahan - The Rolling Mills of New Jersey SJ Downes - Lay My Burden Down
Today's episode marks the transition from my London series to my Derry Ireland project in May of 2011. In this episode we explore some of the more traditional aspects of Irish music, featuring classical guitar players, Irish folk singers, and a little bit of blues.
Music featured in this episode: Blue - Yat Peter Maloney - My Own Native Land Teknopeasant (Conor O’Kane) - I Got The Blues( Can’t be Satisfied) SJ Downes - Honey Babe Your Poppa Cares For You (Elizabeth Cotten Cover)
Also here is a link to the Never Records documentary, directed by Jason Wyche, and featuring that Peter Maloney recording. https://vimeo.com/71144105
On this weeks episode I play recordings from my time in London attending the merge festival, an annual festival that encourages and promotes a set of performances, events and happenings, which draw on the rich heritage and contemporary culture of Bankside a neighborhood located on the Southside of the Thames in London. The project was co sponsored by the Tate Modern and Better Bankside the local business association and for one amazing month I had a high street shop in London.
Artists featured in this episode: Palumbo and the Funk - Love Attack Atomic Kitty - Where Did you Go James Frost - All Of Our Hands
Continuing the London series of Never Records, today's episode is all about CBGBs, not the legendary bar on the Bowery but Country, Bluegrass, and Blues. All the music on today’s episode is influenced by these popular American musical genres. I’ve always been fascinated by the mirrors that British musicians hold up to American music and vice versa.
Music Featured in this episode: The Snakes - Never Going Back David O’Connor - Honey I’m Gone The Wandering Horse - Golden Are The Hands
On today’s episode I’m going to feature tracks by musicians that use sequencing to compose their music. Sequencing is problematic for me. I never want to feel like a duplication service, so if someone want to bring a computer or sequencer into Never Records and press play and expect me to cut their preprogrammed track without any live performance, I’ll almost always refuse. The songs I’m going to play for you today are great examples of musicians that rely on sequences but are brilliant live performers.
Artisits Featured: Electric Riot - Thriller Autorotation - Midway Through Zed - Drop in the Ocean
Today's episode is all about Punk and is dedicated to Arturo Eduardo Vega, one of my heroes. Best known for his work with The Ramones, Arturo was a powerful and prolific artist whose lifelong investigation into symbols of power resonates to this moment 4 years after his death. Arturo also created the slogan “Never Records, You Are Not Listening”.
Today's Episode features music from: Limozine - Siamese Twin Cut and Paste - Love and Hate Song Hip Hop Shakespeare - Destroy the Beauty
On this episode of Never Records we explore what Never Records is all about. Is it about music? art? sound? We push the boundaries on what exactly Never Records can do with some of the most creative recordings from my London sessions.
Artists featured on this episode: Paul Malone - Electric Universe BJ Nilson - The sound of a record cutting itself. Paul Hood - Family
Today’s episode features some of the artists that made me feel at home in London. Whether they physically helped me build the installation, provided me with a space to express myself, or inspired me, there was a core community based in the Bankside that were instrumental to the success and spirit of the project. This episode is to thank all of the kind souls that helped and welcomed me into the incredible city of London
Music Featured in this episode: The Anna Page Band - Never Records Borough Lovers - Looky Here James McArthur - Lawn and Order
This week's episode of Never Records was recorded in London in 2011, where I was participating in the Merge Festival. I spent a month in Bankside, where I recorded and pressed vinyl.
The recordings I’m going to share today represent artists who were drawn by the allegorical potential of vinyl.
The artists featured in this episode are: Doug Shaw - Human Resource Hayley Tucker - The Merry Month of May The Beathoven Band - Easy
In 2011 I spent a month in England to participate in the Merge Festival, an annual festival that encourages and promotes a set of performances, events and happenings which draw on the rich heritage and contemporary culture of Bankside. Today's episode is all about the humor. From satirical to sardonic, silly to sentimental, the Brits kept me on my toes with their mercurial wit and whimsy. The batch of songs that I’m going to play for you today use humor as a storytelling tool.
Tracks in this episode: Art terry - Black Bohemian Erin K and Tash - The Horsehead Song Johnny O - Invasion of the Killer Lobsters
In 2011, I was invited by Caroline Jones from Illuminate Productions to participate in the Merge Festival, an annual festival that encourages and promotes a set of performances, events and happenings which draw on the rich heritage and contemporary culture of Bankside. a neighborhood located on the Southside of the Thames just down the road from the Tate Modern. For one amazing month I had a high street shop in London and I can’t wait to share some more sounds from London with you.
Music Featured in this episode: Syd Arthur - Ode to the Summer Bill Fallon - Mooring Road Innua Ellams - Directions
Music featured in this episode: Mouth 4 rusty - A Letter Home Liam Magill - Poison Arrow Karen Barnes/The Armed 909 - Part 1 and Part 2
In 2010, I began a musical collaboration with Philip Jeck, a critically acclaimed sound artist from Liverpool. This show is about a correspondence we began that could be called a musical version of the game exquisite corpse. Over the past 7 years, Philip and I have passed the recording back and forth, manipulating the sound every time, with each iteration sounding completely different than the last.
For the past several weeks we’ve explored some of the many projects I’ve done between Never Records installations. I’d like to spend today’s episode on a recording that is essential to understanding Never Records, my philosophy about the practice of art and life.
In 2008 I set out to do the impossible. I joined the opposite sides of the earth and the opposite sides of the day...
Episode 30 features the music and words of SJ Downes, a musician that has traveled to 5 Never Records installations around the world. In 2011 we released an album of tracks that we recorded in Liverpool, Derry, and London. We made 10 copies only and of course sold out of the edition immediately. Why make an edition so small? In this world of disposable technology, where music can be downloaded with ease, we wanted to make objects that represented the rare and sacred value of our collaboration and friendship.
All songs performed by SJ Downes:
How Long written by Frank Stokes
Lonesome Road based on Snook Eaglin Version
Death Don’t Have No Mercy written by Reverend ‘Blind’ Gary Davis
This is a very special episode of Never Records, with every recording being very unique and for two of the tracks this is the only way you'll be able to hear them. In this episode of never records you'll hear a song of GPS locations transposed to music notes as well as a dark, gritty spoken word piece from Lydia Lunch.
Featuring: Brian House - The Quotidian Record Lydia Lunch - Paradoxia Orphan - Words Are For the Birds
For the next couple of weeks we’re going to explore some of the many projects I’ve done between Never Records installations. Whether it’s an artist friend or a musician I meet, Never Records is a great excuse to encourage the fellowship of shared performance and recorded sound. This episode features some of those chance encounters and the subsequent recording session including a cover of an old World War 2 song as well as a 10 minute minimalist free jazz composition.
Featuring: Dominga Cantinas - Delirium Tremens Servane Mary - Lili Marlene Holyman - Andante
This past Monday I recorded Early James and the Latest, a duo from Birmingham Alabama who I met late Sunday night at a bar after their impromptu set. Within 48 hours, we had recorded these songs in my living room and then pressed them to vinyl.
Featuring: Early James and the Latest - Damn Tornado Early James and the Latest - Never Been To Prison Early James and the Latest - Tin Foil Hat
As we finish up the New Orleans series of Never Records I take a look back at some of my things I've learned about myself and the music of the Big Easy.
Music Featured: Silo Homes - untitled Clyde Casey - Live on Halloween Night Somewhere in the French Quarter Never Records Second Line - Ill fly Away
New Orleans truly is a melting pot of different cultures from all over the world, and it's blending of styles definitely shines through in the soul of the town. Join me on an tour showcasing the the ethereal spirit of a New Orleans night. All songs were recorded in 2012.
Performers and Songs: Arabella Arabella Green Jacket Lady & The Most Beautiful Man in the World
B Singer and Miss Mec Late Last Night
The Wanderers All Through The Nights
Todays episode is all about the impromtu and unlikely songs that I get to record when I set up my shop and open the doors to anyone who wants to cut a vinyl record.
Performers & Songs: Chris and Seth’s Skateboarding Adventure
The Drag Pistols God Save The Queen
Slag Ice TromDrone
Toulouse Troubadors Untitled
In a city full of music ranging from swamp pop to hip hop to jazz, Ted Riederer decides to focus on the indie rock scene in New Orleans for his 23rd episode of Never Records. Featured music by: The Beams, Archanimals, The Toddlers, Dan Fox.
On the 22nd episode of Never Records, Ted Riederer shares select tracks from the over 140 recordings he did in New Orleans in 2012. Featured music by: Ado and the hot lyrics, Lenny Green and the Contraktors, and Alex Camaro.
On this episode, Ted Riederer introduces one of his other projects titled: Tone Pictures: Our Year of Dissent.
At the birth of the recorded sound, the first commercially available recordings were called tone pictures. The 1904 Columbia records catalog reads like a transcendental poem: Evening Chimes in the Mountains, The Forge in the Forest, A Shriek of Shells (over Ft. Sumter).
Tone Pictures evolved into a category of recordings called Descriptive Specialties, many of which have been digitized and are available from the Library of Congress’s National Jukebox. These titles attempt to paint audio portraits of life at the advent of the 20th century, and present a distinct aesthetic experience: Two Rubes in a Tavern, The Passing of a Circus Parade, and Coming Home from Coney Isle.
Tone Pictures: Our Year of Dissent is an audio-visual poem by artist Ted Riederer that is an attempt to capture the persistent echoes of our time. Since 2010, has traveled the world with his conceptual art project Never Records. From the Mississippi to the river Jordan, Riederer has recorded and cut to vinyl over 500 performances in 7 cities around the world. Never Records continues to grow while remaining faithful to its original objective: to create community across social, political, and religious division.
Tone Pictures: Our Year of Dissent features photo emulsion prints made with records that Riederer will record and cut to clear vinyl. Like insects in amber, these prints are an attempt to freeze an echo in time. Riederer is using the vinyl records like photographic negatives to capture traces of ephemeral sounds.
The records will represent a selection of audio recordings collected and recorded by Riederer whose titles will write a poem of this moment in our shared history:
The Sound of Trains at Midnight My Father with Dementia Trying to Remember My Friend, the Undocumented Immigrant, Speaks a Dead Language A Chord Made from the Tears of the Artist The Heartbeats of My Lover on the Eve of our Marriage The Tax March, April 15, 2017 The Evening Call to Prayer Heard from the Citadel at the Center of Amman
On the 20th episode of Never Records, Ted Riederer shares more of the talented artists he recorded during his 5 week stay in new Orleans. He starts off the episode with a poem by Don Marquis and rolls right into the music. Featured music by: The Abita Stumps, The High Ground Drifters Bluegrass Band and The Creole String Beans.
This 19th episode of Never Records is dedicated to the diversity of the great city of New Orleans. On week 13 of his travels in New Orleans, Ted Riederer introduces music from Caddywhompus, Katey Red and Summer.
On week 12 of Ted Riederer's journey throughout New Orleans, Ted explores the world of jazz music. Featured music by: The Courtyard Kings, Bohdi 3, The Levee Jazz Band and James Andrews. Ted also reads excerpts from Alan Lomax's 1950s book entitled Mr. Jelly Roll about the ragtime and early jazz artist Jelly Roll Morton.
On episode 17, Ted Riederer introduces something new. Ted introduces an interview he had with artist Dan Tague. They talk about Dan's experience with Hurricane Katrina, since it was a important part of New Orleans history.
Featured music by: Gold and the Rush, Denton Hatcher and The Parishioners.
On episode 16, Ted Riederer calls this one "Guys With Guitars." Featured music by: Jason Knox, James Rose, SJ Downes and Conor O'Kane.
Episode 15 includes Ted Riederer's experience in New Orleans. This week he focuses on the theme of repetition. Featured music from: ISIDRO, Kevin Comarda and Sun Dog.
On episode 14, Ted Riederer focuses on the powerful voices. He introduces us to poetry as well as music. Featured recordings by: Kataalyst Alcindor, Jeremy JF Thompson and Paddy Malloy.
On the fourth episode, Ted Riederer continues to explore more music in Amman, Jordan. He introduces a variety of music from artists like Sahar Khalifeh and Hayko.
Previously aired: 12/25/2016
On the third episode of Never Records on Blugold Radio, Ted Riederer continues to share his experience of opening Never Records in Amman Jordan. Featuring music from Jabal Mareeah and Sada Simo.
Previously aired: 12/18/2016
On the second episode, Ted Riederer continues to share his experiences in Amman, Jordan. He talk about how he was able to combine the sounds of Northern Ireland and Amman, Jordan.
Previously aired: 12/11/2016
On the first episode, Ted Riederer shares his experiences with Never Records in Amman Jordan. He shares some of the musical talent that came his way during his time there.
Previously aired: 12/04/2016
On episode 13, Ted Riederer introduces three talented groups that he was able to work with during his time in New Orleans back in the Fall of 2012. Featured this week are: Scarecrow Sonic Boombox, Birthstone, and Wild Birds.
On week 6 of exploring New Orleans music, Ted Reiderer focuses on the theme of time with this week's episode of Never Records. Featured music by: Helen Gillet, Whom Do You Work For, Silo Homes, and Dummy Dumpster.
Ted Riederer changes things up for the 11th episode of Never Records. While he continues his time in New Orleans, he decides to introduce us to the indigenous music New Orleans has to offer. Featured music by: Guardians of the Flame, Burning Spear Indians, and The Malone Brothers.
On the 10th episode, Ted Riederer introduces three talented artists and groups that he was able to work with during his time in New Orleans back in the Fall of 2012. Featured this week are: Daniel Amedee, All People, and Mike IX. This episode is dedicated to Arturo Vega.
On the 9th episode, Ted Riederer shares the incredible music he heard during his time in New Orleans. He introduces music from artists like Gardenia Moon and Andrew McClean's Sun Raga.
On the 8th episode, Ted Riederer continues his musical journey in New Orleans. He introduces a variety of music from artists like Little Maker and The Tinytypes.
On the 7th episode, Ted Riederer explores the sounds of New Orleans. He introduces a variety of music from artists like Luke Winslow King and Lonely Lonely Knights.