“Listen In” is a weekly feature in which we ask musicians to curate a mixtape-length YouTube playlist of songs they’re currently digging. Click the big play button above to hear the whole playlist or scroll down to see and hear individual tracks.
This week’s playlist comes to you from experimental disco pioneer Bjørn Torske. He’s put together a batch of tracks that cover the range of what the avante-garde was and what it is. There’s some amazing material in here from the Godfather Funk to Frank Zappa before he looked weird to the lighter side of infamous noise artist Boyd Rice. Together with the late Tore “Erot” Kroknes, Bjørn laid the foundation for the disco scene in Norway that gave birth to Prins Thomas, Lindstrøm, Andre Bratten and Todd Terje. Two of his records are being re-issued on January 27th and hopefully his work will finally get the attention it deserves. You can hear a new track right here.
Raymond Scott – War Dance for Wooden Indians
Frank Zappa – Live on the Steve Allen Show
James Brown – Full T.A.M.I Show Performance 1964
Dies Irae – The Trip
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band – Detroit ’71
The Residents – Third Reich And Roll
E.L.O – The Whale
Throbbing Gristle – Discipline Live
Giorgio Moroder – In the studio 1979
Boyd Rice/Frank Tovey – Extraction 7
Blacksmoke – Gimpo Gimpo
