Dear fanatics,

To me, Henry Rollins is the best of KCRW. He is curious, passionate, brilliant, funny, and does nothing halfway. He has impeccable taste and an even more impeccable attention to detail. He cares about artists first and amplifies their voices. Henry embodies community. 

This is what KCRW Music is about too. 

Around the time I discovered Henry Rollins and Black Flag was about the same time he started to frequent the KCRW basement, and more specifically Deirdre O’Donoghue’s legendary radio show, SNAP. He shared his records and his opinions with poetry and flair. I saw him on stage, but in 1984 I knew nothing about KCRW or SNAP, nor did I realize that 25 years later, I would get to know Henry as a fellow DJ, music lover, and friend.

And like all of us in the public media trenches, he also fundraised for KCRW on the air. This is a priceless recording (thank you Myke!) from 1990 of Henry pitching with our legendary GM, Ruth Seymour, and Deirdre herself! Pledge Drives, as you will hear, are still the heart and soul of public radio fundraising. 

Now it’s (the tail end of) 2024 and we are in the midst of our annual Season of Giving Back. I’m talking about Henry today because, to me, his generosity, humor, and hard work personify what we aim for every day at KCRW. And for 27 years (15 with Henry), I’ve had the privilege of being part of a community that comes together for something greater. And when I say community, I mean you too. It’s all of us together who infuse KCRW and public media with energy and literal dollars. 

Consider making a tax-deductible donation to support the irreverent, impassioned, curious, and unlikely human-driven work that drives our mission. You get what you pay for :) 

The Music Team has just finished the annual and grizzly business of putting together our Best Of lists. Henry’s, as always, is reliably cool. When I hit him up for his lists and to secure a write-up for an album or two, within hours he returned not only those but also some *bonus content* honoring “the always memorable 12” format.” So we’ve saved the best for last, advent-calendar style. Below, we present to you his write-ups on three definitely real 12” records released in the year 2024. As only Henry does, also served up some dramatic readings, which you can hear on New Year’s Eve during our on-air extravaganza. Tune in at 89.9 FM and online at KCRW.com.

Bromkant Stirlwell – “You Sued Me (And It Turned Me On)” / “Space Frenzy (Please Look Back)”

2024, Pudding Clown Records 

Another strange-sounding PCR release. Like last year’s ambitious trio of 12”s by Baby Coolant with disturbing remixes of Stirlwell's “You Taste Like Someone I Used To Know” and “Stab The Pig,” Stirlwell once again emerges from his subterranean studio outside of Ghent, Belgium with yet more almost impossible-to-endure tracks, not for the faint of heart, sound of mind, or recently released from a psychiatric facility, but definitely for those who haven’t realized they don’t like music.

So why am I hyping this record to you? Because he’s one of the “12 Disciples of Mokon Fek” and has earned his place in not only the ever-somnambulant Belgian “Cough To Let Me Know You’re Alive” club scene, but now that his trafficking charges (most of them) have been dropped, he’s ready (with an ankle monitor) for your listening platform, to go through your phone into those bad sounding “earbuds” you bought online. You’re sure to nod off to this one. If only you were on serious drugs, maybe I could get through to you.

The Chemical Conservatives – “Moving Sushi (I Ate All The Fish In Your Tank)” / “K Street Thang”
2024, Trust The Algorithm Records

The DJ Pajamabottoms@thegym "Cornfunk" remix of “Moving Sushi” was held back for months because DJ Pandapants said it sounded too much like a remix he was doing for the same track! The “Pajama” version won out, and if you know who he’s dating, you know why. Expect Panda’s version to come out on Hypoglycemic Vol. 15 early next year on Comfort Illusion.

If you’re not familiar with the Chem Con thing, they use a lot of samples from 1970s-era television shows and “deep retro” beats, trying to sound like Adrian Sherwood pummeled with a rake but failing. (As far as using these samples, obviously, the Cons never heard any of the early Barney Blarney 12”s out of the UK circa 2008–2011.) A guy in my coven, warlock Kenny, played this record so many times at one of our ketamine-powered all-nighters, by dawn I started to like it. I don’t think you will. It’s probably best to avoid this record altogether.

Green Päpä Umläuläut – “Blowing Out Unlit Candles” / “Fuzzy Gladioliator II”

2024, Remember Tang? Records

I’m old enough to remember 2022 when Päpä could do no wrong. He spun records at everything from corporate events to those sad nights where young people in bucket hats and big pants, with questionable reading skills and deplorable dental hygiene, filled warehouses, took drugs, jumped up and down to bad music, and then died when the roof collapsed — usually around the Manchester area of England. 

When Päpä dropped what ended up being his most well-known track “Schmak Dat Donut,” he was suddenly an out-of-shape and used-up Icarus who found himself in a Turkish prison, surrounded by angry men who made cruel and unusual demands of him for 17 months. Well, as you’ve probably read, he’s out and recently dropped this new 12” with lyrics that are apparently derived from his time inside a facility about 20 miles outside of Istanbul. Look up the film Midnight Express or ask your father about his backpacking trips when he was fresh out of college, and what he tried to bring home. Is this record any good? Does it matter? Are you even reading this? I don’t know why I bother.