The punk icon’s eclectic choices range from G.L.O.S.S. and The Germs to Dinosaur Jr, Jaytech and “things that I find across the years of being a fan of music.”
London-based online radio station NTS is celebrating its 10th birthday this week and to mark the occasion My Bloody Valentine arranged a day of programming, inviting Hüsker Dü’s Bob Mould to host an hour-long show.
NTS is using the occasion to raise funds for the Global Foodbanking Network. Its other guest DJs include Dinosaur Jr’s J Mascis, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons.
For Mould’s own NTS 10 programme (see below for the full playlist), the song choices veered from early guitar pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe to ‘60s psychedelia group Fifty Foot Hose and onto louder guitar bands covering hardcore, alternative rock and indie rock.
Picking songs that were important to him, the former Hüsker Dü singer and guitarist explained: “These are things that I find across the years of being a fan of music, of being a DJ, and some things that tell a story for me.”
There were songs from bands he’d previously collaborated with, like Interpol and Dinosaur Jr, and nods to those that inspired him, like My Bloody Valentine – “one of my favourite bands of all time”.
Introducing a bunch of songs by bands like Interpol and Swervedriver, he explained: “These groups are very near and dear to me. They fall in a category of music called ‘shoegaze’, which – with My Bloody Valentine being the curators of my curated list – only seems appropriate.”
The San Francisco-based Mould also took time to explain his time as part of a successful DJ outfit.
“For those of you who only know me as a singer, songwriter, performer; for many years, starting in 2003, I was one of two people in a project called Blowoff. Blowoff was myself and my colleague Rich Morel.
“It was a party that started in Washington, DC and we spent 11 years DJing together all over the world, mostly in the United States, mostly at gay events, mostly at gay ‘bear’ events; but also at other fundraising events and community events. It was one of the most wonderful periods of my life.”
His time at the decks spawned the electronica-based album Blowoff, which is one of the discs in the expansive 1989-2019 box Distortion he released last year.
It lines up in that set alongside fan favourites like Workbook, Cooper Blue by his second power trio Sugar, and 2019’s Sunshine Rock, as well as live albums and discs of rarities like his Buzzcocks cover and Foo Fighters collaboration.
The year-long Distortion campaign continued last week with the release of the vinyl boxset Distortion: 2008-2019, as well as a 2LP, 2CD and 4CD series of compilations. Compiled by Mould himself, the Distortion: The Best of 1989-2019 compilations form the first career-spanning collections of his solo recordings to be released.
• Donate to the Global Foodbanking Network if you can
Bob Mould’s NTS 10 playlist
Sister Rosetta Tharpe – Didn’t It Rain
Elliott Smith – Baby Britain
Violens – Violent Sensation Descends
Joe Byrd & The Field Hippies – You Can’t Ever Come Down
Fifty Foot Hose – If Not This Time
Interpol – Untitled
Engineers – Sometimes I Realise
Swervedriver – Blowin’ Cool
Fear of Tigers – I Can Make the Pain Disappear
Justice – New Lands
Jaytech – Gray Horizon
Azzido Da Bass – Lonely by Your Side
TV on the Radio – Could You
Germs – What We Do Is Secret
G.L.O.S.S. – Trans Day of Revenge
Dinosaur Jr – Freak Scene
Best Coast – Feeling OK
Follow Bob Mould On His Socials
Listen to the full show here
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An occasional writer on punk rock.
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