January 13, 2025

Only five songs played in today's show and, like the past few weeks, I started things with a long track. This week, the big piece was "Taking off" by McCoy Tyner and Joe Henderson, from the new album Forces of nature: live at Slugs', which was released late in 2024 though recorded in spring 1966. "Taking off" went on for almost 30 minutes. It's pretty driven stuff. You can feed the whole show to your ears here.

There's more BTT next week, on Monday January 20. Go to cjsw.com or 90.9 FM from 10 to 11 am MT.

Thanks.

Andrew

January 9, 2025 - Alternative To What?

With regular host Kerry Clarke away in NYC, I was called into duty once again to host Alternative To What on CJSW (thanks, Kerry). As I usually do, I went here, there, and everywhere (more or less) across musical territory and played a wide variety of tracks, 18 in all. However, I will admit to a bit of a jazz lean in this program (not that that's a bad thing!), though not all of the jazz artists featured actually played a jazz tune (see "Part 4" by Pat Metheny from the album Zero tolerance for silence). Anyway, I had lots of fun this week. You can too, by listening to this show here.

Thanks.

Andrew

December 19, 1014 - Alternative To What?

Another guest-host gig for me. Because this was just before Christmas, I thought I would mix my usual sort of Alternative To What play list (all over the musical map) with some holiday season weirdness, including folky Christmas (“Greensleeves” by James Taylor and “God rest ye merry gentlemen jam” by Jerry Garcia and David Griman), sound collage Christmas (“Xmas” by Wayne Butane), avant-garde Christmas (“Xmas” by Bent Spoon Trio with Jay Crocker), and funky Christmas (“Hey America” by James Brown). All great stuff, I think. Listen to the lot here.

Thanks.

Andrew

November 21, 2024 - Alternative To What?

Just one week after guest-hosting Alternative To What, I hosted another episode (thanks, Kerry!) Following the pattern of the previous show, I played loads of music from all over the musical universe. I called the November 14 show “nifty” and I call this one “nifty” too. The listening place is here.

Thanks,

Andrew

November 14, 2024 - Alternative To What?

I was very lucky to be called back in to host Alternative To What for this week. Regular host Kerry couldn't do her usual thing so it fell to me. As always, I was pleased as punch to be able to be behind the board for ATW. I managed to fit in 22 tracks from here, there, and everywhere, musically speaking. Looking at what was played, I can say that this was a really nifty show. Fave song title: “Sokushinbutsu” by No Codes from the Usual suspects album; the term is used to describe a self-mummification process! Thanks.

Andrew

October 24, 2024 - Alternative To What?

As happened in 2023, Alternative To What regular host Kerry Clarke was away at the time of the CJSW 2024 Funding Drive (if I remember correctly, she was in Scotland; she called in). Very kindly, she picked me once again to host ATW during the Drive. I had a great time, as I always do when I host ATW, and lots of money was raised for CJSW, donated by some fantastic folks. Musically, I did the same thing I did on the Breaking The Tethers Funding Drive show; I picked a selection of great tracks that I had played on Alternative To What shows I had filled in on since the 2023 Drive (my fave track: “Satanic immersion in goat piss” by Human Agony from Goring Christ). Feel free to take in this show at shorturl.at/sTFYH.

Thanks.

Andrew

October 28, 2024

October 2024 ends with a show with more tracks played than average (10) and no tracks that were older than 2010 (though this wasn’t an “all-new” program, something I do occasionally). It’s a good listen; check it out at this place.

Thanks.

Andrew

October 21, 2024

This was the Breaking The Tethers show for the 2024 CJSW Funding Drive, the 19th I have done. As in past years, I played some fave tunes that were featured on BTT since the last Drive and a bunch of money was raised. Many thanks to everyone who donated on my show and everyone who donated to CJSW as a whole. Did the whole thing here.

Thanks.

Andrew

December 23, 2024

This was the Christmas Eve Eve Breaking The Tethers episode and a crazy show it was. About 2/3 of the program was regular BTT fare while the rest could be best described as “Christmas weirdness”. Some notes on this episode:

*The first track played was “The third season” by Hank Mobley from the album Third season. Aside from maybe one time, I don’t think I’ve played any Mobley for 15+ years. Bad, I know.

*There was a bit of a G theme. I played a track called “Gould”, a track called “Groon”, and a track called “Gloop”. 

*The late, great Wesley Willis made an appearance, singing his original song “Merry Christmas”, from the  classic record Rock ‘n’ roll will never die.

*As happens on BTT every year around Christmas, the sound collage “Merry fucking Christmas” was played. Also as happens every year, “Merry fucking Christmas” freaked out some listeners (but in a good way!)

Thanks.

Andrew

December 30, 2024

2024 came to an end with a Breaking The Tethers show featuring only 5 tracks (normally, I play 7-9 bits of music, sometimes more). The main reason for this is because I started the program by playing the 20-minute-plus long “Your good lies” by Tyshawn Sorey, from his 2024 album The susceptible now. I had this track on my “to play” list for a fair chunk of the year; it was good to be able to finally get it on air. You can listen to this piece and the other tracks played here.

Thanks.

Andrew

January 6, 2024

As with the December 30 show, I began BTT 2025 show number one by playing a long tune, about 26 minutes in length. The track was “Creation” by John Coltrane, a somewhat wild affair recorded live in 1965 (and maybe only played on stage once). Bookending things with big names in jazz, the last track I played in this program was “Black satin” by Miles Davis, from the 1973 album On the corner (I suspect that “Black satin” is the most-played jazz piece on CJSW). In between, there was plenty of other good musical things featured. You can take it all in here.

BTT 2025 show number two will be on Monday, January 13, usual time, usual place (10 to 11 am MT, cjsw.com or 90.9 FM). Please join me if you can!

That being said, you can also join me for a different show on Thursday, January 9. I’ll be doing a fill-in on Alternative To What from 4 to 6 pm MT (again, at cjsw.com or 90.9 FM). Should be fun!

Thanks.

Andrew