Keith Walsh Experience on DH'sLARZ

Keith Walsh's interview went excellent! The DJ after me didn't show up, so we got to stretch out and fill up 2 hours, though I was actually going to get him to play a couple more live numbers. He nevertheless managed to debut a newly-composed Christmas Song (Christmas Oh Christmas)and a preview of his forthcoming album (Starship SSDD). I'll try and get a playlist together, with some links, after I do the same for Jim Shaw's show! I'm also going to try and edit together a Less Art Radio Zine Cassette Zine for KCHUNG's merch table at the LA Book Fair, so keep an ear peeled. In the meantime, here's the link to the KWE show: Doug Harvey's Less Art Radio Zine with Keith Walsh.

And don't forget to check out the KWE live in a Battle of the One Man Bands (VS Reverend Beat-Man from Bern Switzerland and Becky Lee from Arizona) Saturday December 28, 2013, 9 PM at Café Nela 1906 Cypress Ave. LA 90065 Only $9!

KEITH WALSH EXPERIENCE on LARZ

The guest for the Dec 22nd 2013 broadcast of Doug Harvey's Less Art Radio Zine is Keith Walsh, one of the most underrated visual artists in LA, and the sole member of The Keith Walsh Experience. If you're unfamiliar with his visual art, check it out here: www.keithwalsh.net and on his facebook page.

As OMB KWE (One-Man-Band Keith Walsh Experience), Walsh straddles the equally underground cultures of OMBrother/sisterhood (which stretches back at least to the 13th century) and DIY music production, with an enormous self-released catalog ranging from unaltered live-in-studio OMB performances to layered lo-fi chamber shmootz to more "conventional" multitracked recordings made with an antiquated Fostex cassette 4-track.

Walsh's recordings and performances are also remarkable for the strength of his songwriting -- not a hallmark of OMB culture (Hasil Adkins notwithstanding) which often leans heavily on the novelty aspect of virtuosic multitasking by rendering faithful covers of familiar music with a busker-pragmatic patina of zaniness.

You can count the covers in the KWE repertoire on one hand, but not the wide range of stylistic references that surface in his music - from Iggy, Bowie, and Suicide to Johns Cale, Lydon, and Fahey -- with dashes of Beefheart, Sun Ra, and Metallica to keep things spicy. Grounded by Keith's ear for a hook and rock & roll heart, this array of influences are brought to bear on weirdly jaunty instrumentals (Walsh also cites lounge-Führer Bert Kaempfert as a major inspiration) and well-constructed lyrics that are literate, poetic, and catchy.

Keith Walsh is one of those artists that beg the question "If he's so great why aren't I famous?" -- both his visual art and musical endeavors leave me with a distinct "Was that as good as I thought it was?" melon-twist every time. (Answer: Yes).

In advance of the KWE's appearance at the Battle of the One Man Bands at Café Nela on Dec 28th, Keith and I will be talking about his art and music, sampling tracks from KWE's extensive discography, exploring his influences and current listening habits, and debuting a brand new Christmas carol composed especially for this broadcast!

Tune into Doug Harvey's Less Art Radio Zine live alternate Sundays at 12 noon on KCHUNG in LA’s Chinatown district at 1630 AM or online at www.kchungradio.org - if you miss the broadcast, shows can be accessed through the KCHUNG archive.

Battle of the One Man Bands at Café Nela 1906 Cypress Ave. LA 90065 

9 PM Saturday December 28, 2013

KWE VS Reverend Beat-Man from Bern Switzerland and Becky Lee from Arizona

$9

IMAGES: Keith Walsh's announcement for LARZ; KW Meditational Stones (Celebrities) 2003-2004; KW Astral Body Compound Space/Threshold of Movement 2010; OMB zany style; KW In the Order of Appearance 2005; Battle of the One Man Bands flier.

Less Art Radio Zine with Artist Jim Shaw

Well, that went pretty well. Apart from forgetting my cellular telephone, giving everyone the wrong URL and shutting the whole radio station down at the end of my shift. Oh, and I also forgot to get any photos of Jim and me talking and playing records. I did get some awesome shots of the smoking lounge and points beyond though, as seen above.

Fortunately the recordings were all saved before the crash, and the mp3s are now available for DL on the KCHUNG archive. You can navigate from the kchung front page, or go directly to Saturday's page at http://www.kchungradio.org/archive/index.php?path=2013-12-08/

Or I suppose you can just click and save (PC: R click, save target/file as; MAC control+click, save link as) http://www.kchungradio.org/archive/2013-12-08/Doug_Harvey%27s_Less_Art_Radio_Zine-12-08-2013.mp3 or just click it if you want to listen without saving the file. So many options!

I'll get the playlist up in a couple of days, some amazing rare stuff in there... I think I'm going to have to work on my dynamic broadcast personality a little too.