Sixth Show! Elephant 6 Special!!!!!

So THAT was the most fun I have had on the radio in a long, long time. I hope those who caught the show (or parts of it) enjoyed what they heard, maybe discovered something new? Really, all I wanted was to have someone call and ask me what "I Have Been Floated" by the Olivia Tremor Control was when I played it (and someone did) so I feel like my job has been done.

ELEPHANT 6
Do some research, find some music, get really into it.

Of Montreal - Requiem for O.M.M.2 (The Sunlandic Twins)
The Olivia Tremor Control - Love Athena (California Demise)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone (On Avery Island)
The Apples in Stereo - Strawberryfire (Her Wallpaper Reverie)
The Minders - Yeah Yeah Yeah (Hooray for Tuesday)
The Essex Green - The Late Great Cassiopia (The Long Goodbye)
The Sunshine Fix - That Ole Sun (Age of the Sun)
The High Water Marks - Good I Feel Bad (Songs About the Ocean)
Elf Power - High Atop the Silver Branches (A Dream in Sound)
Beulah - Ballad of the Lonely Argonaut (When Your Heartstrings Break)
The Gerbils - Crayon Box (Are You Sleepy?)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Everything Is (Everything Is)
Of Montreal - Pancakes for One (Aldhils Arboretum)
Kevin Barnes Interview
Of Montreal - We Were Born the Mutants Again With Leafling (Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?)
The Minders - Hooray for Tuesday (Hooray for Tuesday)
Jeff Mangum - My Dreamgirl Don't Exist
The Olivia Tremor Control - I Have Been Floated (Black Foliage: Animation Music)
A Hawk and a Hacksaw - Waltz for Strings and Tuba (The Way the Wind Blows)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945 (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
The Apples in Stereo - Tidal Wave (Fun Trick Noisemaker)
Dressy Bessy - There's a Girl (Sound Go Round)
Circulatory System - The Lovely Universe (Circulatory System)
The Ladybug Transistor - The Swimmer (The Albemarle Sound)
Marbles - Out of Zone (Expo)
Marshmallow Coast - Hung Up (Marshmallow Coasting)
Beulah - My Horoscope Said it Would Be a Good Year (Inbred compilation)
The Apples in Stereo - Avril en Mai (Pop Romantique compilation)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Song Against Sex (On Avery Island)

Check out the Kevin Barnes Interview Here!

BAND OF THE WEEK

The Olivia Tremor Control


So here's what happened: I used this Elephant 6 show as an excuse to finally listen to the Olivia Tremor Control. Shocking, I know, what kind of pop DJ isn't obsessed with that band, you ask? Well, the quite simply, the records seemed so daunting. So full and complex that I could never find enough time to devote to them. Usually I have a particular album that I am obsessing over, and for some reason, I always said "I'll get to them later." Well, I wanted to do this show and figured that it was going to be absolutely necessary to play OTC, so I sat down, put on Black Foliage: Animation Music, and let the music sweep over me. Eventually, the album arrives at this amazing centerpiece, "I Have Been Floated." It caught me completely off guard. How quickly the chorus comes in, the chorus being one of the most marvelous pieces of pop music that I have EVER heard. And when Jeff Mangum comes in on the second chorus, I was sold. This is an amazing band that I have just scratched the surface with. I can smell obsession.

At times, when I'm really obsessed with a band or song or album, I wonder what the next one will be. The music has a way of seeking me out and, once it has me, I wonder how I found it. I've probably listened to this song up to fifteen times and it still blows me away.

The Olivia Tremor Control - I Have Been Floated

Fifth Show! K Records Showcase!

This show was a disaster due to technical difficulties and personal shortcomings. But! Here is the playlist!

Beat Happening - Our Secret (Beat Happening)
The Blow - Parenthesis (Paper Television)
Tiger Trap - My Broken Heart (Tiger Trap)
Heavenly - Trophy Girlfriend (Heavenly/Bis Split)
Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet - Rover and Rusty (International Hip Swing compilation)
The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2 (The Glow Pt. 2)
Mirah - Mt. St. Helens (Advisory Committee)
Calvin Johnson - When Hearts Turn Blue (Before the Dream Faded)
Tender Forever - The Feelings of Love (The Soft and the Hardcore)
Marine Research - Chucking Out Time (Sounds of the Gulf Stream)
The Halo Benders - Virginia Reel Around the Fountain (God Don't Make No Junk)
Built to Spill - Still Flat (The Normal Years)
Lois - Wet Eyes (Strumpet)
Karl Blau - 100,022 (Clothes Your I's)
Jason Anderson - Citizen's Arrest (The Wreath)
All Girl Summer Fun Band - Video Game Heart (AGSFB 2)
Beat Happening - You Turn Me On (You Turn Me On)
Kimya Dawson - Viva La Persistence (Hidden Vagenda)
Tender Trap - I Would Die For You (6 Billion People)
Mt. Eerie - The Moan (No Flashlight)
Mirah - The Struggle (C'mon Miracle)
The Softies - Hello Rain (It's Love)
Little Wings - Look at What the Light Did Now (Light Green Leaves)
D+ - Don't Worry About Me (Dandelion Seeds)
Calvin Johnson - Rabbit blood (Before the Dream Faded)
Karl Blau - Slow Down Joe (Beneath the Waves)
Modest Mouse - Worms vs. Birds (Sad Sappy Sucker)
The Go-Team - My Head Hurts (Archer Comes Sparrow)
Beat Happening - In Between (Beat Happening)
Tiger Trap - Puzzle Pieces (Tiger Trap)
All Girl Summer Fun Band - Brooklyn Phone Call (AGSFB)
The Blow - True Affection (Paper Television)

ARTIST OF THE WEEK

Phil Elverum

(Photograph by John Vanderslice)

In a wonderful bit of surprising news, Phil Elverum aka Phil Elvrum (he changed the spelling of his name to get more in touch with his Norwegian rootz) aka the Microphones aka Mt. Eerie, resurrected the Microphones moniker to release a two song 7". The songs are "Don't Smoke" and "Get Off the Internet" and while these songs are blatantly advocacy pieces, "Don't Smoke" makes me feel horrible every time I think about cigarettes which really, is a good thing. You shouldn't smoke. There really is no reason to. He's right. It's a great song that accomplishes something.

Whether or not he will release more material as the Microphones is unknown. Mt. Eerie is great too though, did you heard No Flashlight? Fantastic record, that one is. And of course if you don't have the classic Glow Pt. 2 find it, buy it, listen to it, it's an incredible work of art.

The Microphones - Don't Smoke

Next week, being my sixth official show I have decided to do a show dedicated to the bands of the Elephant 6 collective! Expect to hear lots of your favorite E6 bands as well as an interview that I conducted with Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes last week!

Fourth Show!

This being my last show before Valentine's Day, this episode of Pop Rocks! was designed to present as many mixtape worthy songs that I possibly could in two hours.

Heavenly - Our Love is Heavenly (Heavenly vs. Satan)
Built to Spill - By the Way (Air Mail EP) *Heavenly Cover
The Descendents - Get the Time (Enjoy!)
Portastatic - I Wanna Know Girls (Bright Ideas)
Of Montreal - Du Og Meg (Icons, Abstract Thee EP)
Belle & Sebastian - I'm a Cuckoo (Dear Catastrophe Waitress)
The Blow - Parenthesis (Paper Television)
Magnetic Fields - The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side (69 Love Songs)
Smoking Popes - Valentine (The Party's Over) *Willie Nelson Cover
Yo La Tengo - You Can Have it All (And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out)
The Pastels - Nothing to Be Done (Sittin' Pretty)
Honeybunch - Hey Blue Sky (Time Trials)
Weezer - Buddy Holly (The Blue Album)
The Apples in Stereo - Benefits of Lying With Your Friend (Tape Op Compilation)
The Zombies - Care of Cell 44 (Odyssey and Oracle)
Love - Always See Your Face (Four Sail)
Wolf Parade - I'll Believe in Anything (Apologies to the Queen Mary)
Beat Happening - Indian Summer (Jamboree)
Your Heart Breaks - Mixed Tapes (New Ocean Waves)
Glo-Worm - Friday I'm in Love (Glimmer) *Cure Cover
The Replacements - Valentine (Pleased to Meet Me)
The Pastels - Thank You For Being You (Truckload of Trouble)
Built to Spill - Girl (The Normal Years)
Cub - Little Star (Betti-Cola)
The Postmarks - My Little Heart (The Postmarks)
Guided by Voices - Learning to Hunt (Mag Earwig!)
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
The Zombies - This Will Be Our Year (Odyssey and Oracle)
Of Montreal - Ah, My Kitten (The Gladiator Nightstick Collection)
Tilly and the Wall - The Perfect Fit (Wild Like Children)
The Essex Green - Don't Know Why (You Stay) (Cannibal Sea)

BAND OF THE WEEK
Magnetic Fields

The most incredible pop band of our time. Did I just say that out loud? Yeah, I did. Nobody can write a love song like Stephin Merritt. Sure, 69 Love Songs is made up of songs about dead love, and yeah, I know, it's Valentine's Day and all but goddamnit, this one goes out to all the lonely people. Listen to "All My Little Words" and feel a little bit better.

Magnetic Fields - All My Little Words

Or if you're in love, "100,000 Fireflies" needs to be on the next mix cd you make for your special boy or girl. If you haven't put it on one already, seriously. If ever there were a song made for a mixtape...I can't find an mp3 of it. But SERIOUSLY. Get it.

Next Week! K Records Showcase!

Third Show!

I've got a few hours before heading to KC to see the Camera Obscura/Pony Up! show, so I figured, why not post the delinquent playlist from last week's show! Suddenly, this week snuck up on me and I have to review the new Of Montreal album for a class on Thursday all professional like and it's stressing, you know, listening to it over and over and over again and trying to figure out how to express my excitement in a professional manner.

Portastatic - I Wanna Know Girls (Bright Ideas)
Tullycraft - Polaroids From Mars (Disenchanted Hearts Unite)
Inara George - Genius (All Rise)
Dressy Bessy - There's a Girl (Sound Go Round)
Pony Up! - The Truth About Cats and Dogs (Is That They Die) (Make Love to the Judges With Your Eyes)
Heavenly - By the Way (Operation Heavenly)
Black Tambourine - Can't Explain (Complete Recordings)
Love - A House is Not a Motel (Forever Changes)
Yo La Tengo - Tom Courtenay (Electr-o-Pura)
Adorable - Homeboy (Against Perfection)
Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians - Another Bubble (Fegmania!)
The Pastels - Classic Line-Up (Mobile Safari)
The Aislers Set - Friends of the Heroes (Terrible Things Happen)
Beat Happening - Hangman (Jamboree)
The Magnetic Fields - Born on a Train (The Charm of the Highway Strip)
Of Montreal - Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider (Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?)
The New Pornographers - Broken Breads (Twin Cinema)
Voxtrot - Four Long Days (Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, and Wives EP)
Flatmates - I Could Be in Heaven (The Subway Organization 1986-1989)
Choo Choo Train - Flowerfield (The Subway Organization 1986-1989)
Clouds - Tranquil (The Subway Organization 1986-1989)
Guided by Voices - Redmen and Their Wives (Under the Bushes, Under the Stars)
Guided by Voices - I am Decided (Suitcase Disc 6)
Guided by Voices - Queen of Cans and Jars (Bee Thousand)
Tobin Sprout - Paper Cut (Moonflower Plastic)
Sprites - George Romero (Modern Gameplay)
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Timorous Me (The Tyranny of Distance)
The Sea Urchins - Pristine Christine
The Double - Idiocy (Loose in the Air)
Loney, Dear - Saturday Waits (Loney, Noir)
Daniel Johnston - Like a Monkey in a Zoo
Mark Mallman - True Love (Seven Years)

Band of the Week
Sprites

Sprites are formed from the ashes of the band Barcelona (who are responsible for the wonderfully cute song "I Have the Password to Your Shell Account"), that is, Barcelona founder Jason Korzen rising out of them and playing infectious, geeky, twee pop. The music sounds a lot like Tullycraft, but synthier and dorkier. For instance, the song that completely caught me off guard and caused me to investigate their album Modern Gameplay was a track dedicated to horror filmmaker George Romero. In the song he also name drops horror luminaries like Dario Argento, Tom Savini, Stuart Gordon, and Sam Raimi. As a film kid, this warms my heart like none other. Listen to this song, please.

Sprites - George Romero

Tune in next week for a very special Valentine's Day special, where I will be playing songs that would fit nicely on that Valentine's Day mix you're making for that special girl or boy in your life!