About
Ear Vomit is a weekly radio show currently airing on SYN 90.7FM from 11pm till late on Sunday nights (international and interstate readers can listen to the show via www.syn.org.au).
We’re committed to uncovering the most abrasive, annoying, unconventional, eccentric, irritating, harsh and abradant music known to man (and some still unknown).
We’ll be trying to posting something new on a weekly basis, be it our recent musical discoveries, short articles/writings about music, weekly playlist and perhaps posting podcasts of full episodes of the show.
You can find a more in-depth rundown of our recurring segments here.
Why?
I guess the easy answer would be ‘why not?’
But I’ll try and explain. There are a few different reasons:
1) much of the music on the radio today is so bland, pre-packaged and focus-grouped to death. It isn’t inspired, but rather built to be sold, like a product rather than an artistic expression. This has created complacent and disengaged listeners who aren’t thinking about what they are listening to let alone engaging with it on any meaningful level. The music we play is almost guaranteed to elicit some response in the listener. Be it laughter, pain, discomfort or (God-forbid) joy. Any reaction is better than no reaction. We hate passive listeners and encourage people to engage with the media they are being force-fed.
2) even if the music isn’t pleasant to listen to, it is usually interesting.
3) I genuinely like most of the music we play. Especially the outsider musicians. They never learned what not to do so their music doesn’t feel manufactured. It reflects their unique personality. There’s something special about people putting themselves, their essence, out there for people to consume. It’s a very fragile thing.
Wow – thank you for a very good and complete answer to a rather trite question. I can now understand and appreciate your reason for publishing and sharing this unusual material.
I particularly agree with your point about disengaged listeners. This apparent apathy is unfortunate but also understandable, given most people’s tendency to limit their personal involvement with an art form… at least, that’s been my observation.
BTW, I spent some time checking out Wild Man Fischer and then took an excursion to re-discover Frank Zappa Live At The Roxy… brilliant is a word that comes to mind.
I enjoy a lot of what may be generally regarded as “quirky”. Thanks again for the introduction into your realm.
( p.s. I had the pleasure on a few occasions of being involved as a recording artist on what we used to call “avant guard freak-out” sessions… outside stuff, as you would say… wish I still had some of those tapes. )
You’re most welcome! I guess it is a weird concept to play bad/abrasive music intentionally.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head when you say people only venture so far into any given medium. I think even when someone is a big fan of music, they usually restrict themselves to a select few genres and never stray beyond that. It’s a shame as there are a plethora of interesting things out there.
I’m glad you followed up on Wild Man Fischer, he’s quite a character. Like I mentioned in the post, the documentary Derailroaded is a great resource and primer on the career of Fischer. The director gets to spent a lot of time with Fischer and he gives candid interviews.
Frank Zappa is a master. So versatile, such a great sense of humour, very prolific and I think a great ambassador for the kind of music we champion on this blog. For an upcoming ‘annoying instrument’ feature post I was thinking of doing the bicycle which he played on the Steve Allen show in ’63. We also love his close friend and occasional collaborator, Captain Beefheart (Don van Vliet).
Those ‘avant guard freak-outs’ sound right up my alley. If you do ever find those tapes you must share them!
Thanks again for reading!
Hi Dave,
Just letting you know I’ve sent an email to the station manager and the program manager at PBS telling them some crap about how interesting and original your show is, then I pledged a $110 subscription to your show if they give it to you. Can you put your ‘pilot’ demo on your website so We can listen to it. That could be future history.
Hear you on the air.
Poojab.
Wow, we don’t know what to say other than we have nothing to give you in return except our hearts and this link:
As for the pilot, it’s just a bunch of clips from previous episodes without the music.