Airwaves

by Brian Golslow

Non-commercial DJs are famous for spending most of their spare cash (and sometimes food money) on music for their programs. John McKeag, host of the second portion of Against the Grain, heard Friday and Saturdays from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. on WICN (90.5 FM) broke the bank last week, and his listeners are the big winners.

McKeag's been playing lots of electronic music, but don't expect to hear the rave sounds filling today's dance floors. "It's more '60s and '70s electronic," he says. "Most of the good stuff that comes from Germany." His current playlist include Reinhard Lakomy's Electronik and Edgar Varése's Poemé Electroniqué. "[Frank] Zappa said he was influenced by him. He supposedly called him up when he was little. If you listen to his stuff, you can hear Varése in there." He's also spinning some very obscure jazz by Hiener Goebbels and Alfred Harth, who perform on piano, orgel, tenor sax, and accordion. "It's very unique, weird, and experimental."

He's also become a belatedly huge John Martyn devotee. "I knew he existed, but never got into him. A friend who knew I was a huge fan of Nick Drake's forced me to listen to him." Now Inside Out is one of his all-time favorite recordings and "Fine Lines" one of his all-time favorite songs. "His guitar playing is very similar to Drake's. He's very personal in his playing." And his . . . singing? "He said, `I'm just going to sing the way I feel like singing.' It's hard to listen to the words, but he didn't care." And the person who turned him onto Martyn? "I have to get more friends," McKeag chuckles. He gets constant feedback from the ones he has. "They say it's very good, but so depressing, so I'm trying to lighten up a bit by playing the Bonzo Dog Band, digging into their whole catalog."

There's more atmospheric spacey stuff from Bowery Electric, including their self-titled debut and Beat (Kranky). "It's very nice stuff, in the Verve vain." Come On Kids, the Boo Radleys' latest, is a well-appreciated follow-up to Wake Up. "It has everything. It would fit on a folk show as well as a modern-psychedelic or pop-song format."

Along with hosting his music program, McKeag's a performer as well. "I've been jamming with a lot of people, including Ed Barnett. We're in a few bands, including my own, the Luminous Dropouts, and Harrison Ford, which includes members of the Cream Team. We've been engaged in improvisational space jams. Although they've never heard of any of the groups I play, when they play, they sound just like them."

And what awaits first-time listeners to McKeag's portion of Against the Grain? "Every show seems to be different, depending on my mood. I move from happy and upbeat to weird and experimental into a dark mood. It flows throughout the show. You have to listen to the whole thing to get a full impression of me.

"I'm still playing a lot of progressive music, especially Neu, who started the whole Kraut Rock thing. All their albums have just been released on CD." He's also thrilled with the newly remastered Byrds' CDs. "Sweetheart of the Rodeo has always been my favorite, now I like it even better. It features extra tracks with Gram Parsons." He also digging the Tangerine Dream box set, as well as (horrors!) a good dose of Monkees. He's not ashamed. "They realized what they were and what they were not. Mickey Dolenz had one of the first Moog synthesizers. `Daily Nightly' was the first song to use it on record." And that, some say, was the beginning of the end of rock and roll!