I went through sixteen stations on Sirius before I found a track I didn’t know.  I heard everything from .38 Special’s "Hold On Loosely" to the Police’s "Roxanne" to Grateful Dead’s "Terrapin Station" on Jam On.  Actually, what stumped me was a Motley Crue track on a hard rock outlet.  I knew the Crue track they were playing at a station nearby, but this one I’d never heard, and probably never need to hear again.  It reminds me of listening to Jack.  For a week or two you’re thrilled, but then you want to throw up.  If only every station on Sirius were as adventurous as Disorder.

Disorder is kind of like going to a best friend’s house and having them play you their favorite songs.  They’re not limited to a specific genre, they’re just good.  On Disorder I oftentimes hear the left field surprise, stuff like Musa Dieng Kala.

I was driving on Santa Monica Boulevard and an almost incomprehensible deejay on the station was playing something so different, so out there, so WEIRD, that I had to check my radio, to make sure I was listening to the right station.  And the readout, in the bright sun, was not completely discernible, so I pulled over on Century Park West and looked closely, and wrote down the information extant.  Not that I got it exactly right, but after a bit of googling I found out the artist’s name was Musa Dieng Kala.  And he was from Africa.  And the album this track came from, "Shakawtu", was released in 1996.

I couldn’t find the song they were playing on Disorder, "Lisanu Shukari", on P2P.  It was on iTunes, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to buy it.  Because I wasn’t sure if it was the setting, or whether I truly liked this track.  But I did find the album’s opening cut, "Kalamune".  And when I fired it up just now, I was transported.  So much other stuff I hear in the car sounds shitty at home.  But "Kalamune" reminded me of both being on vacation and sitting in my room on a snowy winter day.  It wasn’t in my face, it was life itself.  We don’t live in a contemplative society, but if you’re the type who can live with his feelings, likes to investigate the nooks and crannies of his brain, then you’ll dig this.  And I found a place where you can hear it on the Web.  It’s a Japanese site, and it runs very slowly, and hopefully we won’t blow it up, but give it a try.

Go to: Musa Dieng Kala and click on "Kalamune".  You’ve got to have Windows Media Player installed, and a bit of patience, but you can hear the song loud and clear.

Music is best when listened to, not talked about, so I implore you to give it a chance.  I would never say I’m a world music fan, but this reaches me.

As for Sirius…  With more adventure like this, more left field stuff that never appears on terrestrial radio, I could become a believer.