In celebration of this month’s Green theme at Freeform Portland, I’ve selected music that is outside the scope of my usual curations on ‘KINETICS’.
My intention for this playlist is to showcase my ‘greener’ personality and pay tribute to some great BIPOC and women artists.
This playlist is a collection of mainly feel-good, soothing yet intoxicating sounds plus some dope bangers.
I truly hope you get to enjoy this playlist either when that golden hour hits or when it’s towards the end of the evening while that fat buddy blunt is making its way around the circle (personal circle applies too).
Ex-scientist and lover of intense and dark rhythmics, S11DJ left her previous life behind to immerse and establish herself in the underground techno scene of Portland. Her radio show: KINETICS, airs alternating Fridays 4-6PM PST at Freeform Portland radio and focuses on delivering high-energy tunes in the purest form. She is a power-house blend between some of the finest new techno, old-and new-school pulsating acid, and 90’s killer tracks.
DJ Joshua Justice of Static + Distance here with a selection of songs designed for a spring stroll.
We begin with a cut off the excellent Tropical Drums of Deutschland compilation, “Troubadix In Afrika” by Rüdiger Oppermann’s Harp Attack before mellowing things out a bit with Mike Cooper’s “Paumalu.”
From there, we head into the field recording heavy waters of Stevie Wonder’s “First Garden” off the soundtrack to Secret Life of Plants (a “green” movie if there ever were one!).
Lula Côrtes takes the reigns next with the sublime “Harpa dos Ares” before we slow things down even more with the appropriately titled “Green Is Here” by new age pioneer Ray Lynch.
Julianna Barwick’s “Crystal Lake” is up after that (coming from their album Nepenthe, a S+D favorite).
As we close in on the end of our journey, Vashti Bunyan’s “Heartleap” rises like a prayer before the expansive “New Green Place” by the Baird Sisters closes out the mix.
If you dig what you’ve heard here, then be sure to tune into Static + Distance, alternating Sundays at 10am PST. Until next time…
Hi to the birds, bees, human-beans, and the trees!
My name is DJ Flor Violenta and I’m delighted to share a mixtape I made for you all to enjoy on a warm spring afternoon. This collection of songs comes from my passion for making playlists so naturally, I compiled songs from spring playlists I’ve made in the past 5+ years. I don’t know about you but for me springtime is full of nostalgic moments.
I dedicate this mixtape to those who find themselves putting on songs that remind them of warm spring memories.
If you enjoy Turning Spring Green Mixtape I welcome you to tune into my Freeform PDX radio show called Vinyl Pleasures where I spin you the best rock, electronic, hip-hop, and R&B. Vinyl Pleasures Radio is every other Saturday from 6-8 PM PST. Tune in on the radio at 90.3 98.3 and 101.5 FM or stream anywhere on freeformportland.org <3
Hello, I’m Ansible. For this playlist, I kept it simple and lazily chose songs that I’ve previously played on Chromesthesia, my Freeform Portland show airing every other Thursday from ten to midnight. I didn’t go deeply thematic, just identified songs with “Green” in the artist, song title, or album title. I think this list does a decent job of expressing the breadth and variety of music that listeners can expect to hear on Chromesthesia. It is fun to revisit my relationships to these songs as well.
1. “Green Light” by Lorde from Melodrama
I probably first checked Lorde out because of some buzz. I just remember that “Royals” was a big deal. I’ve tried to open my ears and mind to pop music more in recent years and have found some bangers by Dua Lipa, Charli XCX, Selena Gomez, and more. I don’t remember for sure but I probably chose this song for the general vibe or length. In listening more closely to the lyrics I like what seems to be the story: she’s waiting for a signal to go (i.e. a green light), to leave her shady partner behind, but she’s struggling to let go.
2. “Pamphlets” by Squid from Bright Green Field
Squid seems like something I should like. I tried a few times and I’m sure it’s just Ollie Judge’s voice and/or singing style that I find off-putting. But I know me. I know that some of my now favorite things began with some variation of, “I like it but I’m not sure about this dude’s voice.” See also: Fugazi, Superchunk, Joy Division… A friend had an extra ticket to see Squid in concert at Wonder Ballroom and invited me. He told me to listen to “Pamphlets.” I liked it well enough but it still wasn’t clicking with me. I told him to keep me in mind and ask me again at the 11th hour. He did, I went, and I had a great time. Squid are an amazing live presence. My friend said some of their songs were unrecognizable from the album. I love that kind of improvisation, so you always hear something different. After the show I listened to them again. Still nothing doing for me. Maybe it’s the mix? I’ll see them live next time too though. And I’ll keep giving them more chances to win me over on record.
3. “Betty Dreams of Green Men” by Guerilla Toss from GT Ultra
There’s been a resurgence of late 70s to early 80s-inspired No Wave, dance-rock, with funky rhythms and Afro-centric guitar sounds, like Vampire Weekend, Radio 4, and Sleater-Kinney birthed bands from an early-aughts orgy. Apologies for any mental picture that conjured up. Guerilla Toss had actually been around for quite a while by this point but they were new to me. Now they’re near their 10-year anniversary. I think this song is about a vibrating dildo? Maybe I just have a dirty mind. GT were also great live.
4. “N-Light” by The Stick Figures from Green/N-Light
I stumbled upon the single “Green” ahead of the release of Archaeology in 2021 and am only now realizing that I never followed up to listen to the entire album, a situation I’ll have to rectify. “N-Light” is the B-side, or double A-side companion to “Green” but the lead-off track on Archaeology, an anthology that finally compiles the four previously-released singles by The Stick Figures with previously unreleased tracks. I may just like “N-Light” slightly more than “Green,” but I probably picked the B-side to be more obscure because I’m cool like that.
5. “Don’t Leave it In Our Hands” by The Essex Green from Hardly Electronic
The Essex Green released Hardly Electronic for their 2018 (reunion?) tour, so I naturally anticipated it and dove in as soon as I could. I remember being underwhelmed by “Sloane Ranger,” the first single but not why. I honestly don’t remember the rest of this album and will have to revisit it. I did enjoy their live performance at Mississippi Studios though, which was presumably mostly comprised of these recent songs. I’m a sucker for the boy-girl vocals and driving 60s-70s vibe.
6. “I Lost Something in the Hills” by Sybele Baier from Colour Green
I first discovered Sybele Baier from some “Where are they now?” or “Why were they so underappreciated in their time?” article somewhere. I enjoyed what I heard, slotting it alongside similarly-rediscovered one-time buried treasure Nick Drake. It was the inclusion on the soundtrack to the British dark comedy TV show “The End of the F***ing World” that resurfaced this song for me. I’m glad I can give it another, albeit comparatively miniscule, boost. I also recommend the show.
7. “The Greener Pasture” by Peter Oren from The Greener Pasture
I discovered Peter Oren through his single “The Thin Blue Line,” released during the George Floyd/BLM protests, proceeds of which went to relevant nonprofit organizations. I’m happy that I purchased the digital download when it was available, as it seems to have been removed from Bandcamp and I can’t find it on YouTube or Spotify. Hopefully it wasn’t removed because of harassment by bootlickers. I also enjoyed his song “The Search for a Marketable Product,” which has similarly gone missing from Bandcamp but seems to at least still be on Spotify. These prompted me to explore the rest of his catalog and The Greener Pasture was the most recent album, so it was timely for me to include this song on an episode of Chromesthesia.
8. “The Green Grass of Tunnel” by múm from Finally We Are No One
I’m not sure if I learned of múm from the sisters’ being photographed for the cover of the Belle and Sebastian album “Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant,” or in the wake of Sigur Rós. I’d had them in my back pocket for a while but hadn’t drawn them out for Chromesthesia. I had the opportunity to substitute for another Freeform DJ who hosts an electronic show and that gave me the excuse I needed. So, I guess this track is cheating my selection methodology rationale a bit. This song was released as a single or maybe the title track of an EP. I was a completist about such things and snapped it up when it was first on sale, probably hunting for b-sides.
9. “I Never Found a Girl” by Al Green from Let’s Stay Together
Do I need an explanation for Al Green? Wishful thinking? Sometimes, especially in the early days, months, or years of Chromesthesia, I set rules for myself to motivate me to diversify my song selections. Like, I can’t play another artist or band with a name beginning in “L,” or I haven’t played a “G” yet. I try to have a good balance of masculine and feminine vocalizations in the mix. I also strive to play different genres and to this day am still at a deficit when it comes to many, including R&B and soul. So I probably picked Al Green because he’s a soul man whose name ends in G. Let’s Stay Together is one of my favorite Al Green albums and “I Never Found a Girl” is one of my favorite songs from that album.
10. “Nomad” by Grant Green from Idle Moments
I tend towards guitar music when it comes to rock, country, and folk but, for whatever reasons, I generally don’t care for classical or jazz guitar. With respect to jazz, I think it is often about the guitar tone. I probably first got into John McLaughlin, Shakti, and Mahavishnu Orchestra, though there was some guitar on the Miles Davis albums I was digging around the same time. Wes Montgomery and Bill Frisell are a couple of other exceptions but Pat Metheny, for example, is largely lost on me. Too smooth? I’ve also learned I like piano and sometimes horns in jazz and classical music but not so much in rock music. I don’t know why. Regardless, Grant Green overcomes my aversion to guitar jazz. I generally like soul jazz as a genre and it may help that the guitar isn’t too prominent in this, with the pianist Duke Pearson, bassist Bob Cranshaw, drummer Al Harewood, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson (another favorite), and tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson having plenty of opportunities to stretch out.
So with spring sprungin’ everywhere, Earth Day coming, and a deep, impossibly critical need I think we all have to connect to the world around us both natural and human, I put this short list together of songs that kind of encompass something close to these sentiments.
Bruce Haack’s Incantation is just the perfect ceremonial dose of weirdness and naturalistic, pagan musical communion the world needs, and I kind of fanned out from there. There’s a black metal artist on the banjo, references to it raining frogs, declarations of human defacement of nature, and at least one song just named after a tree, that’s sort of evocative of a scene when put with the lyrics that otherwise don’t mention the tree at all.
I’m Sanjo and I’m starting Beginner’s Mind Riot on Friday April 15th, 10-noon. I love broad, meta-conceptual clustering of songs/playlists, reminding me of how I’d make all my mix tapes late into the night from my childhood to give to a friend or crush or just keep in the walkman. It could be one continuous theme, or a bunch of mini themes that stream from one to the other, or just a vibe, but if you check the show out, you’ll hopefully connect to this idea: we can communicate through other peoples’ music. That’s really cool for an otherwise introvert like me!
This is the first in an occasional series on the history of freeform FM radio. Here at Freeform Portland we are one of the few true freeform stations still active on the FM dial. It may be hard to understand now, but the expanding popularity of freeform FM radio in the late 60’s (also called “underground” radio) brought with it a cultural and musical revolution. Stereo albums and rock music soon grew quickly in popularity, and clothing, hair styles and attitudes changed rapidly in the younger crowd that listened to FM radio.
The format of freeform radio is wide open, meaning DJs (disc jockeys) control the playlist, and not the station. That is 100% true at Freeform Portland, where you are unlikely to hear the same song in a 24 hour period, and maybe not during an entire week. Contrary to AM radio in the early to mid 60’s, which had strict playlists and often repeated songs hourly, freeform radio offers DJs the opportunity to express their feelings and mood, and in the case of the late 60’s, historic cultural and political influences.
I was born in Yakima and lived in Seattle until I was 5, but spent most of my youth in Southern California. I was a freshman in high school in 1968 when I first heard FM radio, having listened for years to some of the most popular AM stations in the LA area: KFWB, KHJ & KRLA. My first FM station was KMET in Los Angeles, sister station to KSAN in San Francisco and WNEW in New York City. I later added a FM radio converter (mono) to the AM radio in my 1964 Falcon, as most cars didn’t have FM radios at that time.
Many shows claim to be the first freeform radio program, but the earliest on record is “Nightsounds” with DJ John Leonard in the early 60’s on KPFA-FM in Berkeley, CA. WFMU is currently the longest-running freeform radio station in the United States. WNEW-FM 102.7 in NYC was the first commercial station in the US to introduce a freeform format. It stayed that way under the ownership of Metromedia Broadcasting (parent of KSAN-SF and KMET-LA), until it was sold and the new owners were not interested (per wikipedia.org).
After KPFA, WOR-FM in New York City is generally considered one of the first pioneers in freeform radio. The station announced in 1966 that they would start broadcasting in stereo soon, but didn’t specify the type of music or format. They announced names of some of their DJs (from AM radio) in early summer, and then posted a large Milton Glaser ad in the New York Times on 7/29/1966 that said “The Sound is WOR-FM 98.7, starting tomorrow July 30th 6 am.” (per nyradioarchive.com).
A curious aspect of WOR-FM’s launch was that they hadn’t reached agreement yet with the AFTRA radio union over salaries for the DJs, so they started broadcasting rock music without their radio hosts. And although they advertised that they broadcast in stereo, many albums and singles released at that time were only available in mono. The DJs for WOR finally started in October 1966, and more stereo albums and singles became available as the popularity of FM radio started to catch on in 1967 and 1968.
WOR had some of the most well-known DJs on the east coast, including Murray the K, Scott Muni and William “Rosko” Mercer. Rosko was a rare African-American voice on a predominantly white radio station. WOR-FMs freeform format didn’t last long, as station management announced in the fall of 1967 that they would start enforcing a playlist format. Rosko stunned his audience and radio colleagues by boldly announcing live on air that he was quitting the station in protest. He soon reappeared at WNEW-FM, which will be covered in the next installment of this blog series. Many of WOR’s DJs followed Rosko to WNEW, which happened again at FM stations on the west coast.
The onset and expansion of freeform radio in the late 60’s was a direct result of the FCC’s “FM Nonduplication Rule” in 1967, which forced many commercial FM stations to change their formats. Until then, most FM stations just rebroadcast or simulcast programming from AM stations. After the FCC rule was enforced, some decided to try free-form programming because the non-commercial stations proved popular with teenagers and young adults. Commercial free-form stations such as WPLJ and WNEW in New York, KMPX in San Francisco, and WHFS in Baltimore flourished for a few years, but their management gradually reinstated playlists or other controls on the DJs (per wfmu.org).
For more information on freeform FM radio and WOR-FM, I’m providing these links for your reference:
I’ll return with more on the history of freeform radio in my next chapter of this blog. We’ll focus on Tom “Big Daddy” Donahue, one of the pioneers of freeform FM at KMPX and KSAN in San Francisco, and the 3 sister stations owned by Metromedia (WNEW, KSAN & KMET). In the meantime, enjoy Freeform Portland’s brand of freeform radio and my show, Melting Pot, every other Sunday at 8-10 am.
You’ve (hopefully) heard of the albums Trio Pt. I & Pt. II.
Well, get ready for Trio Pt. III… It’s a playlist full of trios (mostly) that sort of reminded me of THE Original Trio – Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris. While the soulful country twang of THE Trio can’t really be beat, I did manage to find quite a few groups who captured my attention and heart in a similar way as the first time I heard After The Gold Rush – I was in Muji in the humidifier/plant section with my headphones in and felt like I had died and gone to bamboo heaven.
Telling Me Lies – Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris
The Pain of Loving You – Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris
Do I Ever Cross Your Mind – Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris
High Sierra – Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris
Controversial playlist add… But my teenage heart – who hadn’t heard of Fleetwood Mac and was heavily influenced by my very Texan older sister – was totally obliterated by this cover and the music video.
Landslide – The Chicks
Fun fact: Last summer I went on a walk in SW Portland and heard JOSEPH warming up for their show at Zidell Yards and was nearly moved to tears. The harmony! The feels!
Revolving Door – JOSEPH
Without You – JOSEPH
Every new age hipster’s dream trio, HAIM, only made the cut because this bonus track was a little more folky than their normal sound.
Hallelujah – HAIM
The real Trio Pt. III album I would definitely be down to hear. It’s a cover, but it’s the best cover I’ve ever heard. Ever. And it’s three of my favorite artists. And I need more, more, more!
“I feel god in this Muji’s tonight” – me circa 2019 in Muji while listening to After the Gold Rush (for the first time!!! 😩)
After the Gold Rush – Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris
And I’d love to round it out with a maybe short-lived trio – Bermuda Triangle – featuring Brittany Howard, Becca Mancari, and Jesse Lafser. It’s a sweet ode to love and I couldn’t think of a better way to pay tribute to THE Trio – Dolly, Linda, & Emmylou. The harmony! The harmony!
Till the End of Days – Bermuda Triangle
DJ Ducky is a sometimes Freeform Portland DJ and most-of-the-time Freeform blog editor. All opinions are DJ Ducky’s and if you have a problem with the term “lowercase girl” or the inclusion of “The Chicks”, please do not come for her. She is fragile and cannot handle the heat. 😩
