Radio Eclectus #76: Radical Xmas music (Dec. 24, 2020)

Fulfill your holiday ear-cleaning needs with Radio Eclectus. We continue our Harold Budd memorial with a broadcast premiere: two exquisite items from his final Seattle performance, with bassist Keith Lowe, recorded in 2009. We honor the birthdays of Elise Kermani (60), Libby Larsen, Maggi Payne (75) and Clarence Barlow (also 75), the latter joining Max Richter to contribute two last Beethoven 250th anniversary items for the year. We dig deep into our library for seasonal novelty items by John Cage, King Missile, The Residents, The Dollyrots and Daniel Johnston, along with an underappreciated operatic adaptation of Wilder’s The Long Christmas Dinner. Haunting new tracks by Robin Haigh, Geneva Skeen, Eric Nathan, the Susan Alcorn Quintet, and Zad Moultaka (featuring Fadia Tomb El-Hage) round out the playlist.

“Start your holiday isolation with the relentless and impenetrable sound of difficult music…on Radio Eclectus” -Sailor Dog Handel

Annotated playlist & photo credits in Comments.