TNT #38 - Ryuichi Sakamoto - Thousand Knives

On TNT this month, we’re back with our friends at Dischord Records! Thanh + Tim dig into a record and a band that bring a little bit of youth and groove to the label: Q and Not U’s debut album, “No KIll No Beep Beep,” released in October 2000. On the bands's debut and their roots in the Washington D.C. music scene, Pitchfork noted that "few bands sound like this, and even fewer towns sound like this."

As TNT zeroes in on record labels this season, it was only a matter of time until Thanh + Tim made their way to the legendary Dischord Records. And what better to showcase the label than one of the heaviest hitting albums in all of post-hardcore, the foundational 1990 release “Repeater” by a little band named Fugazi. Enjoy this one, you ice cream eating motherfuckers! 🙃🍦

TNT is back in action and we're still dancin' 😎 April brings us across the pond from the noise of New York to the second part of our series on Soul Jazz Records. We're capping this one off with a deep dive into a collection of golden-age UK jungle, rave and hardcore tracks from the early 1990s, “Black Riot: Early Jungle, Rave and Hardcore,” released in the trenches of 2020.

The month of March kicks off TNT's deep dive into our next record label, London's own Soul Jazz Records. To start this series off, Thanh + Tim are talking about a compilation that features no wave, post-punk, mutant disco, and avant-funk all in one! Contort yourself along with us as we dig into 2003’s “New York Noise: Dance Music from the New York Underground 1978-1982.”

In the second part of our series on the Luaka Bop record label, this month TNT brings you a total jammer - 2013's "Who is William Onyeabor?" by the mysterious and prolific Nigerian electro Afro-funk pioneer William Onyeabor. The first official re-issue of Onyeabor's music since being recorded in the late 70s/early 80s, this compilation serves up Onyeabor's space-age synthesizers, disco-funk rhythms and pulsing drum machines - all created, produced and recorded by one fantastic man.

It's a new year and that means a new season of TNT! This year we're still digging into full-length albums - but we're also uncovering the record labels that provide the world with these releases and the rare gems that we look forward to uncovering. On our first show of Season 5 (!) Thanh + Tim talk about the 2017 Luaka Bop release, "Reflections: Mojave Desert" by British electronic music producer, DJ, and musician Floating Points.

We had to go out in style for the last show of 2023! 😎 For the second half of TNT's series on disco Thanh + Tim are talking about the 1977 album from the "Father of Disco" - a man who was one of the early progenitors of house and electronic dance music: Italian composer and producer Giorgio Moroder and his third solo album “From Here to Eternity.”

Break out yer bellbottoms and platforms folks - TNT is going disco! 🪩 Join Thanh + Tim as they dig into 1978's "C'est Chic" by disco-funk legends Chic. This show covers Chic's short - but hugely popular - apex, Nile Rodgers' second act, and touches on the late 70s backlash against disco. Make sure you eat your disco biscuits for this one.

This month on TNT, your hosts Thanh + Tim dive into the debut solo album from Japanese electronic maestro, composer, producer, artist, actor and activist Ryuichi Sakamoto, and his 1978 output “Thousand Knives.” This marks the second in our two-part series on artists that have recently passed, with Sakamoto sadly departing this world for the great beyond on March 28, 2023, at the age of 71.

Join us on TNT this month as we celebrate the extraordinary life of Ethiopian nun and master pianist Emahoy Tsegue Maryam Guebrou, who passed away on March 26, 2023, at the age of 99. An accomplished pianist and composer - not to mention philanthropist and speaker of 7 languages(!) - your hosts Thanh and Tim uncover her fascinating story and dig into her 2023 Mississippi Records release, "Jerusalem."