WVTF and the Soul Masters

Today public radio station WVTF aired another installment of "Captive Audio." This on-going series by reporter Connie Stevens has been profiling some of the artists found on Arcania International's releases.

This week she interviews some surviving members of the Soul Masters, a racially mixed band from the Danville, Virginia area. As with Gene and Teen/Team Beats, who Stevens featured last week, you can find the Soul Masters' recordings on "Ol Virginia Soul, Volume 1."

- Ralph

Podcast episode #040 posted

The first of our two-part look at Musica Rediviva's new releases just got posted today. Episode 40 of the DCD Classical 'Cast looks at two releases that are concerned with new sounds.

The Tribukait/Pettersson/Berg Trio is all about new sounds. This contemporary chamber group comprises of a keyboardist, a flutist and a percussionist, giving them a wide variety of new and unusual instrumental combinations.

Torbjörn Näsbom and Andreas Edlund play music from the Baroque period, but they, too are concerned with new sounds. Näsbom performs on the nyckelharpa, a traditional Swedish folk instrument that's a distant cousin to the medieval hurdy-gurdy (it's that fiddle-like thing in the image above, left).

So our podcast alternates between old music with a new sound, and new music with a new sound. And it all sounds great.

- Ralph

Arcania International Back on the Air!

WVTF reporter Connie Stevens, using Arcania International's CD compilations as a starting point, continues her look at the forgotten soul and rock artists from 1960's Virginia. In the current segment of "Captive Audio, " aired the other day during Morning Edition, she interviewed Gene Brumley, of Gene & the Teen Beats from Martinsville, Virginia. As the band aged, they became Gene & the Team Beats.

If you dig the sound of the Teen/Team Beats Stevens plays in the background, then check out Ol'Virginia Soul, Part 1: Jump Up and Down. You'll find tracks from both versions of the band.

She also mentions Captain Darby and the Buccaneers, a garage/psych band based out of Roanoke, Virginia. Their tune "Look Out" shows up on "Aliens, Psychos & Wild Things, Volume Fore."

- Ralph

Arcania International On The Air!

Brent Hosier, owner of the Arcania International record label was featured on public radio station WVTF during "Morning Edition" today.

It was a pretty exciting time for all of us. We've been working with Brent for some time, trying to get some well-deserved attention to his releases.

Brent's a knowledgable record collector, and his compilations of 1960's garage band and soul records are pretty remarkable. Brent insists only using tracks that haven't been previously released on CD, which keeps the selections fresh-sounding. Further, he's pretty much limited his compilations to Virginia artists (with a few side trips).

Arcania International has two series running. The four volumes of "Aliens, Psychos and Wild Things" focuses on garage and psych bands of the mid- to late-1960s. "Ol' Virginia Soul" collects soul and R&B tracks from (mostly) the Old Dominion on three CDs.

Some of the discs have fallen out of print, and that's where we've come in. DCD Records has reissued "Aliens, Psychos and Wild Things, Vol. 1" and we're working on the others.

Check out the "Captive Audio" series at WVTF. You can even listen to the segment. And then -- if you're so inclined -- toodle on over to DCDRecords.com and buy a CD or two. We'll all be glad you did.

- Ralph

Podcast Episode #039 Posted

We just posted the 39th episode of the DCD Classical 'Cast. This time around, we look at the music for piano 4-hands. Both Laurel Records and the University of Wisconsin - Madison School of Music have some interesting releases using this somewhat unusual combination.

U of W's entry is a four-CD set tracing the career of Howard and Francis Karp. From this release we play a selection by Franz Schubert and another by Antonin Dvorak.

Laurel's release is a collection of 20th century music for piano 4-hands. Margret Elson and Elizabeth Swarthout play works by several American composers. On the podcast we play selections from Wallingford Riegger and Vincentg Persichetti.

It was a fun show to put together -- I hope you enjoy it!

- Ralph

New Podcast Episode Posted

I've just posted episode #38 of the DCD Classical Cast. The program features three different concertos. Since the nature of the podcast is to showcase recordings for sale at DCDRecords.com rather than offer complete musical programs (would that it were different), we tend to feature excerpts on the podcast.

In most cases I try to match the excerpted movement to a corresponding place in the podcast. In this program, for example, the opening piece is the first movement of Mozart's first piano concerto. The middle of the three selections is the second movement of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto, where it fills a similar role in the composition. And the final work is the finale to Bloch's Violin Concerto.

Does this kind of programming make the show flow better? I think so, but I'm alwasy open for suggestions. What do you think?

- Ralph

A Clutch of Concerti

Over the weekend I finished the voicetracking for the next episode of the DCD Classical 'Cast. The music for the podcast all comes from concerto recordings.

The plural form of the word "concerto" is "concerti," but what do you call a group of them? I'm not sure there's really a proper word for a collection of concerti. I went with "clutch," primarily for the alliteration.

We should have the completed episode posted later this week.

- Ralph