Over to the 2010 Off Festival in Katowice Poland this week for a performance by The Flaming Lips from August 8th.

If you know this band, you know what you're in for. If you don't . . .well . . .hit the "play" button and turn it up.

Good times.

One of my favorites this week. The Flaming Lips, recorded in session at The BBC for the John Peel Program on October 13, 1992.

As one of the truly pioneering Experimental/Alternative bands to come out of the U.S. in the 90's, Flaming Lips have, fortunately, never really been embraced by the mainstream. Thank God.

And probably for that reason their music has maintained a vitality and freshness in the 20+ years they've been together. As is evidenced by this session, recorded 20 years ago.

There are bands you know will be discovered for years and decades to come, and their music will be played and wondered about and examined and dissected for its sheer uniqueness and unbending point of view. The Flaming Lips are one of those bands. I predict. You heard it here first. Check back here in fifty years and see if I was right.

But for now - here's the lineup:

The Flaming Lips - BBC John Peel Session - October 13, 1992

1. Hit Me Like You Did The First Time
2. Jets Pt. 2 (My 2 Days As An Ambulance Driver)
3. The Sun
4. Life On Mars

Diving back into the 90's tonight with seminal Dreampop/Shoegaze/Alternative practitioners Lush and a session they recorded at the BBC on February 12, 1990.

Lush were always in my Top 5 list of favorite 90's bands and, in my opinion, still sound as fresh as they did 20 years ago.

Here's what they play:

1. Leaves Me Cold
2. Hey Hey Helen
3. Breeze

I don't think they made as big an impression on the U.S. as they did in their native UK but that isn't to say they weren't an astounding and highly influential band during their period of time together. It was under sad circumstances they broke up and one wonders what they would be doing if they were still together now. But I guess you can make that speculation about most bands who came and went in a comparatively short period of time.

And if you've never heard them before they're new to you and, by all means, hit the "play" button.

Over to Helsinki Finland tonight for a sampling of music by Burning Hearts. A trio that encompasses Dream Pop and Alternative along with a liberal dose of Electronica to keep it all interesting.

Tonight it's Various Lives, off their latest album Extinction.

When you start thinking in terms of Music Without Borders, it all gets very interesting.

And maybe having a listen to Various Lives will keep it all going.

The 80's tonight (if you couldn't already tell). Strawberry Switchblade were a Scottish Punk Duo consisting of Rose McDowell and Jill Bryson. Forming in 1981, the duo drifted away from the rough-edge of Punk and, taking a wardrobe nod from the New Romantic movement, dove into what would come to be known as Alternative/Dream Pop.

Sadly, they were commercially considered something of a one-hit wonder for a while and were largely overlooked for their contribution to an emerging genre. But the music business is vague enough and they have weathered a few storms and broke out of that singular hit stereotype with a hit cover of Dolly Parton's Jolene.

Tonight it's a session they recorded early on for the John Peel Program at The BBC. Recorded on October 4, 1982, it features the duo with additional backup musicians for a very nice and atmospheric batch of tracks.

They are:

1. 10 James Orr Street
2. The Little River
3. Secrets
4. Trees And Flowers

Taking the noise level down a bit further this evening.

An early 90's bafflement. Luna was an indie/Dream Pop/Alternative band from New York, founded by guitarist Dean Wareham. At the time this album was released, their debut album Lunapark for Elektra, they were a three piece. But months later they became a four piece (hence the discrepancy in the photo above). Nonetheless, they were loudly hailed by Rolling Stone as "the best band you've never heard of", and I'm not sure if that helped or hurt sales. But the album came and went in a flash, leaving behind some very good, solid tracks and an auspicious debut album by a band that went on to a lot of critical acclaim.

So tonight it's We're Both Confused off that debut album just to let you know what you may have missed the first time around.

Depending on who you talk to, the word Shoegaze was a term used in either admiration or derision. The same sort of thing Indie had in the 1980's - you either loved what Indie represented or hated it as a bunch of pretentious swill.

Slowdive was probably most closely aligned with another Shoegaze band My Bloody Valentine. Added to their already complicated status was the additional assignment of Dream Pop - a genre of music that embraced electronics and loud expanses of guitars, and something you appreciated by smoking an awful lot of dope in the process.

Slowdive were together from 1989 to 1995 and had moderate glimmers of success during that years. Unfortunately, most of the Press weren't on their side and went to great lengths trashing their live gigs and album releases.

They did tour the U.S., in 1992 as support for Blur. And again, like their UK success, their U.S. success wasn't what was hoped for.

Tonight's track is off their second ep, Holding Our Breath. Catch The Breeze made the indie charts in the UK and was one of their early successes.

Sadly, the band broke up and went their separate ways in 1995. They have since morphed into other groups and have gone on to other things, including some solo projects.

On the whole, Slowdive have weathered the proverbial sands of time rather well. And whatever ill-will was generated by the press during the time has faded from memory, and at least it's possible now to be objective and appreciate what was attempted during a time when Music was going through a lot of changes. And those changes were fighting for recognition at the time and they don't seem that earth-shattering now.

Sounds rather tame and dreamy by comparison.