Pop Rocks!

Pop Rocks!: Episode 4.3

2008-06-21T15:48:00.002-06:00

So, you probably know that I am obsessed with Guided by Voices. They're a band that, from time to time (at least four months out of the year) I obsessively listen to and explore. Every week I'm obsessed with a new song. Last week it was "Closets of Henry," this week it's "Paper Girl" and "Pantherz." I like "Pantherz" because it is the first chapter in an aborted story. The story goes, GBV were going to record their first record (well, at least after achieving success) in a real studio. It was a concept record called The Power of Suck about the band's rise to fame and Kim Deal was going to produce it. They recorded most of the songs before Bob Pollard decided to shitcan it. This decision was made mostly because Kim wanted to take her time (as she is a very patient person) and Bob, being very impatient, couldn't deal with it (har har har) and got bored and they got in a huge fight but he still gave her "I am Decided," which she recorded with the Amps (both versions of this song are amazing). A bunch of the tracks ended up on Under the Bushes Under the Stars but ultimately, the concept record was trashed.

The concept, though, is intriguing. It's the history of Guided by Voices up til 1995 or 1996 through Bob Pollard's brain. This band goes through numerous name changes, one being Pantherz and this is when they start getting big. The greatest thing, though, aside from the song being fucking amazing, is that it has CONTEXT. In "Pantherz" they use the riff that you will eventually hear on "Don't Stop Now," but instead of it being played with those huge cellos, it's a little guitar riff. "She said hey look over there, there's a car on fire!" God I love that line. Anyway, so the band goes through all this shit and they get kind of big. At the end they've changed their name, they're King Shit and the Golden Boys and you see how far they've come with "Don't Stop Now." They're out of the garage, now in the studio backed by a strings section, yet they haven't sacrificed anything. You realize that the riff, whether it's played on a little guitar or a huge orchestra is a great riff, regardless. "Don't Stop Now," in my opinion, is one of the greatest songs ever written. A masterpiece. A song I want played at my funeral, the song GBV closed their career with on stage in Chicago on New Years Eve in 2004.

Anyway, as you can see I'm gushing. I've had conversations this past year about whether or not it's ethical to have a favorite band and I can really see both sides of the argument. Personally, I'm ok with having one. GBV are the one band that are ALWAYS going to be there for me and even though Bob Pollard has written his fair share of shit, in the grand scheme of things it all works out. They are the perfect band. That's why at the end of every semester I close every radio show with a 20 or 30 minute set of Guided by Voices and I almost always close with "Don't Stop Now" (and edited version, of course).

Guided by Voices - Pantherz (The Power of Suck)
The New Pornographers - High Art Local News
Flop - Anne
Portastatic - Through With People (Bright Ideas)
The Weakerthans - Tournament of Hearts (Reunion Tour)
Vivian Girls - Wild Eyes (Vivian Girls)
Black Tambourine - We Can't Be Friends (Complete Recordings)
Dream Bitches - Bad Luck Bill (Coke-and-Spiriters)
The Pixies - Gigantic (Surfer Rosa) (requesed by all the cool kids down at the Herbarium)
The Breeders - It's the Love (Mountain Battles)
Robert Pollard - Dancing Girls and Dancing Men (From a Compound Eye)
Major Matt Mason USA - Animal Shelter
Pony Up! - The Truth About Cats and Dogs is that they Die (Make Love to the Judges With Your

Eyes)
Karl Blau - Slow Down Joe (Beneath Waves)
Mirah - Make it Hot (Advisory Committee)
The Microphones - Don't Smoke (Two Songs by the Microphones)
Beat Happening - Our Secret (Beat Happening)
Herman Dune - 1-2-3/Apple Tree (1-2-3 Apple Tree)
Tall Dwarfs - Mr. Brocolli (Weeville)
Guided by Voices - Paper Girl (Self Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia)
Jeff Mangum - My Dreamgirl Don't Exist (Live at Aquarius Records)
Fruit Bats - The Earthquake of '73 (Spelled in Bones)
Beirut - My Night with a Prostitute From Marseille
The Magnetic Fields - Yeah! Oh, Yeah! (69 Love Songs)
Urusei Yatsura - Hello Tiger (Slain by Urusei Yatsura)
International Language - This is Where the Strings Come in (Where the Bands Are)
Kleenex Girl Wonder - Now, I got a Feeling (Ponyoak)
Love is All - Make Out Fall Out Make Up (9 Times That Same Song)
Why? - These Few Presidents (Alopecia)
Matthew Friedberger - The Pennsylvania Rock Oil Co. Resignation Letter (Winter Women)
Wolfie - Waiting For the Night to End (Tall Dark Hill)
Rocketship - Naomi and Me (A Certain Smile, a Certain Sadness)
Los Campesinos! - Don't Tell Me to Do the Math(s) (Hold On Now, Youngster...)
Heavenly - P.U.N.K. Girl
Voxtrot - Raised by Wolves (Raised by Wolves EP)

Pop Rocks!: Episode 4.2

2008-06-21T15:37:00.001-06:00

I've been overpreparing and it's been awesome, because I go in with twice as much music than I need, so I have a lot of selection and yeah! It makes things gooooood.

The Halo Benders - Don't Touch My Bikini (God Don't Make No Junk)
Barcelona - I Have the Password to Your Shell Account (Zero-One-Infinity)
Thte Clientele - Since K Got Over Me (Strange Geometry)
Tender Forever - Wider Too (Wider)
Herman Dune - 1-2-3/Apple Tree (1-2-3/Apple Tree EP)
Jens Lekman - Black Cab (Oh You're So Silent Jens)
Transmittens - Up All Night (Telegrams From Nowhere)
The Blow - Pardon Me (Paper Television)
Mirah & Ginger Takahashi - Oh! September (Songs From the Black Mountain Music Project)
Dream Bitches - Bad Luck Bill (Coke-and-Spiriters)
All Girl Summer Fun Band - Video Game Heart
Daniel Johnston - My Life is Starting Over Again
Los Campesinos! - Frontwards (Sticking Fingers Into Sockets) (Pavement cover)
Guided by Voices - The Closets of Henry (Half Smiles of the Decomposed)
Electrelane - Saturday (No Shouts, No Calls)
Tall Dwarfs - What Goes Up (3 EPs)
The Lucksmiths - The Chapter in Your Life Entitled San Francisco (Warmer Corners)
Headlights - TV (Kill Them With Kindness)
Kleenex Girl Wonder - Room at Deserted Ranch (Ponyoak)
Honeybunch - Hey Blue Sky (Time Trials)
The Magnetic Fields - All The Umbrellas in London (Get Lost)
My Bloody Valentine - Drive All Over Me (You Made Me Realise)
St. Christopher - Say Yes to Everything
The Rentals - Please Let That Be You (Return of the Rentals)
The High Water Marks - Good I Feel Bad (Songs About the Ocean)
The Aislers Set - Long Division (Terrible Things Happen)
Hutch and Kathy - On the Way to Work (Hutch and Kathy)
Tullycraft - One Essex Girl (Every Scene Needs a Center)
Casiotone For the Painfully Alone - Bobby Malone Moves Home (Etiquette)
The New Pornographers - Ballad of a Comeback Kid (Electric Version)
The Pixies - Wave of Mutilation (Doolittle)
Guided by Voices - On the Tundra (Propeller)
Boyracer - I've Got it and It's Not Worth Having (B is for Boyracer)
Beat Happening - Indian Summer (Jamboree)

Return of the Pop Rocks!: Episode 4.1

2008-06-21T15:25:00.002-06:00

After a semester long hiatus, Pop Rocks! has returned. Or, I have brought it back because halfway through the semester, while doing a rotation shift, I realized that half the stuff I was playing was Pop Rocks! stuff and since it' summer, that's what I would be playing regardless. SO YEAH!

The Rentals - Friends of P (Return of the Rentals)
The Pastels - Nothing to be Done (Sittin' Pretty)
The Apples in Stereo - Rainfall (The Velocity of Sound)
A.C. Newman - 35 in the Shade (The Slow Wonder)
The Chills - Rolling Moon (Kaleidoscope World)
Guided by Voices - Dodging Invisible Rays (Tigerbomb EP)
The Bartlebees - No Stories (From Paths of Pain to Jewels of Glory)
Heavenly - C is the Heavenly Option (Le Jardin de Heavenly)
The Gerbils - Crayon Box (Are You Sleepy?)
Boyracer - When You Were Mine (Jukebox vol. 1) (Prince Cover)
St. Christopher - You Deserve More Than a Maybe
Chris Stamey - The Summer Sun
Matty Pop Chart - Child of the Sea (Everyone Does Everything)
Beat Happening - Cast a Shadow (Black Candy)
Superchunk - Brand New Love (Tossing Seeds) (Sebadoh cover)
Adorable - Homeboy (Against Perfection)
Lightning Seeds - Pure (Cloudcuckooland)
BMX Bandits - Disco Girl (C-86 Plus)
Look Blue Go Purple - Cactus Cat (Compilation)
My Bloody Valentine - Sunny Sundae Smile (Things Left Behind...)
The Mountain Goats - Alibi (Babylon Springs EP)
Able Tasmans - What Was That Thing? (A Cuppa Tea and a Lie Down)
The Summer Suns - All Away (All Away 7")
Los Campesinos! - This is How You Spell... (Hold On Now, Youngster...)
Islands - Pieces of You (Arm's Way)
The Nerves - When You Find Out (The Nerves)
The Field Mice - Emma's House (Snowball)
Camera Obscura - Eighties Fan (Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi)
The Fat Tulips - To Put it Bluntly (Where's Clare Grogan Now?)
Cub - Little Star (Betti-Cola)
All Girl Summer Fun Band - Brooklyn Phone Call (LP)
Black Tambourine - For Ex-Lovers Only (Complete Recordings)
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Cherry Came Too (Darklands)
The Clean - Billy Two
Guided by Voices - Game of Pricks (Alien Lanes)
Tullycraft - Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend's Too Stupid To Know About (Old Traditions, New Standards)

Pop Rocks!: Episode 3.11: BEST POP SONGS OF 2007!!!

2007-12-13T23:39:00.000-06:00

Oh what a year it has been for indiepop! And given my compulsion for listmaking (and evenmoreso, the amount of joy I take in doing Casey Casem-esque countdowns), I have a list of my 15 favorite pop songs of 2007. The first hour of the show were some very honorable mentions:

The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbour (Challengers)
Immaculate Machine - Jarhand (Immaculate Machine's Fables)
Mammoth Life - At Once (Kaleidoscopic Art Pop)
Robert Pollard - Nicely now (Coast to Coast Carpet of Love)
BOAT - Period, Backslash, Colon (Let's Drag Our Feet!)
Loney, Dear - I Am John (Loney, Noir)
Boyracer - When You Were Mine (Jukebox Vol. 1) (Prince/Cyndi Lauper cover)
Fishboy - Minus Two (Albatross)
Hallelujah the Hills - Wave Backwards to Massachusetts (Hallelujah the Hills)
The Weakerthans - Tournament of Hearts (Reunion Tour)
The Clientele - Here Comes the Phantom (God Save the Clientele)
Taken by Trees - Lost and Found (Open Field)
Okkervil River - Plus Ones (The Stage Names)
Art Brut - Pump Up the Volume (It's a Bit Complicated)
Caribou - Melody Day (Andorra)

#15: Immaculate Machine - "Dear Confessor" from "Immaculate Machine's Fables"

Since seeing Immaculate Machine open for the New Pornographers a couple years ago, I've had a soft spot in my heart for them. Their music is just so full of joy and they seem like such nice, genuine people. And I think that comes through in the music. And the hook in this song gets caught in my head for days after hearing this song.

#14: Cloud Cult - "Take Your Medicine" from "The Meaning of 8"

I randomly picked up this album at music staff months ago and though it was really good. And really sad, considering that it's mostly about the death of the lead singer's son. But the songs are still really, really catchy, and this one was on repeat for a while this year.

#13: Tullycraft - "One Essex Girl" from "Every Scene Needs a Center"

The new Tullycraft record snuck up on me, and I wasn't prepared! On first listen I was a little let down but after three I was sold: it's another great Tullycraft album! And this song is so so good. It makes me feel wonderful.

#12: Electrelane - "To the East" from "No Shouts, No Calls"

I didn't get into Electrelane until a few months after we had the new album in rotation at the station. And as soon as I heard it all the way through, I rushed down to Love Garden and picked it up on vinyl. It's not the sort of pure indiepop that the show was designed around, but goddamn, the songs are so pleasant! They make me feel like any good pop songs should.

#11: Andrew Bird - "Plasticities" from "Armchair Apocrypha"

Andrew Bird knows how to write great songs. It's uncanny how good he is, and this is probably my favorite track from "Armchair Apocrypha." That voice! Those violin loops! That nice catchy chorus! Mmm!

#10: The Weakerthans - "Civil Twilight" from "Reunion Tour"

If ever there was an album I was conflicted about, it was "Reunion Tour." According to iTunes, I have listened to it 40 times. Add in the number of times I've listened to it in the car (probably 15 or 20, it was in the CD Player for a long, long time) and it umm, adds up. But yeah, at first I thought it was kind of bad. I was unimpressed. I'd accepted the more pop-oriented production sound of "Reconstruction Site" (breaking from the gentler sounds of "Left and Leaving") but the gloss on this record was just too much for a while. And the songs didn't hit me as hard. But listen after listen everything sort of pieced itself together and I think it's definitely one of the most coherent records of 2007; telling a loosely connected story of Winnipeg. And this song, about a bus driver whose route takes him past his ex-lover's house at civil twilight, is a perfect example of John K. Samson's ingenious songwriting that makes me fall to pieces.

#9: Get Him Eat Him - "The Coronation Show" from "Arms Down"

This album is a bit mediocre, but this song (which features Charles Bissel from the Wrens on guitar) is just a perfect, compact pop song. One that digs into your brain in the best way, beautifully catchy.

#8: Hulaboy - "Gay Boys On Your Battlefield" from "The Genius of (the) Hulaboy"

So, I first heard Hulaboy (which features Stewart Anderson of Boyracer) on Alternative Flashback last Spring and frantically searched out their records. So I listened to "The Genius of (the) Hulaboy" thinking it had come out in the mid 90's only to find out that it had come out in January. The late-80's/early-mid-90's alt/college rock sound here is impeccable. I was fooled, and am really happy that I get to put this song on the list.

#7: Of Montreal - "Du Og Meg" from "Icons, Abstract Thee" EP

While Of Montreal put out their masterpiece, "Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?" in January, their pop gem this year is on the supplemental EP released shortly after the record. While the album details the breakdown of Kevin Barnes' relationship with his wife, this is a gorgeous song about their falling in love and eventual marriage.

#6: Voxtrot - "Firecracker" from "Voxtrot"

I think Voxtrot were feeling a lot of pressure to put out a full-length after releasing three stellar EPs over the last two years. And instead of taking their time, I think they appeased the hype surrounding them and quickly put out an LP. An LP that was really...not very good. There are a few great songs on it, though, An EPs worth, and while "Firecracker" doesn't quite live up to the earlier stuff, it's still pretty damn catchy and good.

#5: The New Pornographers - "My Rights Versus Yours" from "Challengers"

This album (along with Spoon) was the soundtrack to my summer. Everytime I got in the car I turned it to this song, AC Newman's departure from his "idiosyncratic" indiepop and into more adventurous territory. Maybe not more adventurous, but it was something new! More subdued, less immediate but ultimately, incredibly gratifying. This is just a beautiful song.

#4: Spoon - "You've Got Yr Cherry Bomb" from "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"

As I said, Spoon was one of the soundtracks to this summer, and this was the song of the summer. A quick, catchy, earthshattering pop song. Everything a pop song should be put out by one of America's premiere rock bands. This song is perfect.

#3: Jens Lekman - "The Opposite of Hallelujah" from "Night Falls Over Kortedala"

Oh Jens! Oh your new LP is so good! So delightful! I'm running out of things to say, I just love this album to pieces.

#2: Patrick Wolf - "The Magic Position" from "The Magic Position"

So Patrick Wolf stopped with the whole broody goth thing and put on some bright spandex and started making fucking amazing pop music. And this song caught me completely off guard. "Is this the same Patrick Wolf?" I thought! Glorious, that's the only word I can find for this tune! And the bit with the Major Key playing in the background commenting on the lyrics! Fantastic!

#1: Los Campesinos! - "You Throw Parties, We Throw Knives" from "Sticking Fingers Into Sockets"

Sure, the song is incredibly simple, a bit childish, and catchy as all hell, and while it might not be the best song of the year, for this show, this is it. This is everything that I had in mind when I started the show. It's pure joy packed into a little over two minutes. A bunch of kids from the UK playing up the hooks for all their worth and putting out amazing pop tunes. This is pop at its purest, most unadulterated, and best.

Pop Rocks!: Episode 3.10: Mountain Goats Pop Rocks!

2007-12-13T23:13:00.001-06:00

So the night before this show I saw the Mountain Goats at the Jackpot (my second time seeing them) and although the setlist left something to be desired, it was still pretty fantastic. And the next day, I didn't want to do anything but play Mountain Goats songs so I did it. I justify them being indiepop as they were once featured on a Harriet Records compilation. Nuff said.

The Mountain Goats - The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton (All Hail West Texas)
The Mountain Goats - Palmcorder Yajna (We Shall All Be Healed)
The Mountain Goats - No Children (Tallahassee)
The Mountain Goats - Family Happiness (The Coroner's Gambit)
The Mountain Goats - Standard Bitter Love Song no. 7 (Zopilote Machine)
The Mountain Goats - Distant Stations (All Hail West Texas)
The Mountain Goats - This Year (The Sunset Tree)
The Mountain Goats - Cubs in Five (Nine Black Poppies)
The Mountain Goats - Golden Boy (Ghana)
The Mountain Goats - Waving at You (Nothing for Juice)
The Mountain Goats - Elijah (The Coroner's Gambit)
The Mountain Goats - Minnesota (Full Force Galesburg)
The Mountain Goats - New Chevrolet in Flames (See America Right single)
The Mountain Goats - Up the Wolves (The Sunset Tree)
The Mountain Goats - Alibi (Babylon Springs EP)
The Mountain Goats - Color in Your Cheeks (All Hail West Texas)
The Mountain Goats - Game Shows Touch Our Lives (Tallahassee)
The Mountain Goats - Going to Georgia (Zopilote Machine)
The Mountain Goats - Jam Eater Blues (Sub Pop Singles Collection)
The Mountain Goats - Woke Up New (Get Lonely)
The Mountain Goats - Your Belgian Things (We Shall All Be Healed)
The Mountain Goats - Love Love Love (The Sunset Tree)
The Mountain Goats - Pinklon (Daytrotter Sessions)
The Mountain Goats - See America Right (Tallahassee)
The Mountain Goats - Baboon (The Coroner's Gambit)
The Mountain Goats - Broom People (The Sunset Tree)
The Mountain Goats - Half Dead (Get Lonely)
The Mountain Goats - Oceanographer's Choice (Tallahassee)
The Mountain Goats - Alpha Rats Nest (Tallahasee)
The Mountain Goats - I Love You Let's Light Ourselves on Fire (Hail and Farewell, Gothenburg)
The Mountain Goats - There Will Be No Divorce (The Coroner's Gambit)
The Mountain Goats - Snow Crush Killing Song (Sweden)
The Mountain Goats - No, I Can't (Songs for Peter Hughes)
The Mountain Goats - Then the Letting Go (Nothing for Juice)
The Mountain Goats - Sail On (Bitter Melon Farm)
The Mountain Goats - Linda Blair Was Born Innocent (We Shall All Be Healed)

Pop Rocks!: Episode 3.9

2007-12-13T23:08:00.000-06:00

This show was on the same days as the KU/Nebraska game, which was incredibly long and drawn out. I didn't even think I was going to get to do the show, but they called me and I did a half hour. It was one of those days when I really NEEDED to do a show, so this is it!

Guided By Voices - I am Decided (The Power of Suck)
Tullycraft - Clique at Night Vandals (Every Scene Needs a Center)
The Go-Betweens - Was There Anything I Could Do?
The Magnetic Fields - 100,000 Fireflies (The Wayward Bus/Distant Plastic Trees)
The Owls - All Those in Favor (Daughters and Suns)
Guided by Voices - Liar's Tale (Self Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia)
Talulah Gosh - My World's Ending (They've Scoffed the Lot)
The Manhattan Love Suicides - Head Over Heels (Keep it Coming)
Jens Lekman - And I Remember Every Kiss (Night Falls Over Kortedala)
Mammoth Life - To Suffer for passion (Kaleidoscopic Art Pop)

Pop Rocks!: Episode 3.8: Sarah Records Showcase!

2007-12-13T23:07:00.000-06:00

So the whole Pop Rocks thing was designed with a focus on Sarah Records in the Fall semester. And this is it, my Sarah Records, broadcast what I think might have been a really autumnal day, I can't remember now. But it was good, and I can't tell if it was one of those "personal extension of my emotions" shows or all of the songs that Sarah put out were sad and heartbroken. Either or. But yes, all of these songs are great.

St. Christopher - You Deserve More Than a Maybe
The Orchids - It's Only Obvious
The Sea Urchins - Pristine Christine
The Field Mice - An Earlier Autumn
The Hit Parade - In Gunnersbury Park
The Poppyheads - Cremation Town
Talulah Gosh - Don't Go Away
Another Sunny Day - Anorak City
Heavenly - P.U.N.K. Girl
14 Iced Bears - Come Get Me
Boyracer - I've Got it and it's Not Worth Having
Secret Shine - Elizabeth's April
Northern Picture Library - Last September's Farewell Kiss
The Springfields - Are We Gonna Be Alright?
Action Painting! - These Things Happen
The Hit Parade - You Didn't Love Me Then
Heavenly - Our Love is Heavenly
The Field Mice - Emma's House
Even as We Speak - One Step Forward
Brighter - Things Will Get Better
Another Sunny Day - I'm in Love with a Girl who Doesn't Know I Exist
Boyracer - When You Were Mine (Prince cover)
Trembling Blue Stars - Less Than Love
East River Pipe - Make a Deal with the City
The Sea Urchins - Please Rain Fall
Even as We Speak - Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order cover)
The Sweetest Ache - Tell Me How it Feels
Aberdeen - Fireworks
Heavenly - So Little Deserve
Boyracer - He Gets Me So Hard
Heavenly - C is the Heavenly Option

Pop Rocks!: Episode 3.7

2007-12-13T23:00:00.000-06:00

Los Campesinos! - The International Tweexcore Underground (The International Tweexcore Underground)
Heavenly - Boyfriend Stays the Same (Heavenly vs. Satan)
The Pastels - Classic Line Up (Mobile Safari)
Portastatic - Through With People (Bright Ideas)
International Language - Where the Bands Are (Where the Bands Are)
Sugar - Helpless (Copper Blue)
The Breeders - The Freed Pig (7")
The Descendents - Silly Girl (Liveage)
Guided by Voices - Speak Like Men (Demo) (The Power of Suck)
Hulaboy - Kisses Like Punches (As Tight as an Owl with the Hulaboy)
Bunnygrunt - Inanimate Objects (7")
The Aislers Set - Attraction Action Reaction (7")
Tullycraft - The Punks are Writing Love Songs (Every Scene Needs a Center)
The Mountain Goats - Your Belgian Things (We Shall All Be Healed) *Request*
Low - Just Stand Back (The Great Destroyer)
The Chills - Rolling Moon (Kaleidoscope World)
Oh No! Oh My! - Walk in the Park (Oh No! Oh My!)
Rocketship - I Love You Like the Way I Used to Do (A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness)
My Bloody Valentine - Sunny Sundae Smile (Things Left Behind...)
The Flatmates - Don't Say If (Whole Wide World comp)
Rosehips - Shouldn't Have to Say (Whole Wide World comp)
Talulah Gosh - Looking for a Rainbow (Backwash)
Daniel Johnston - Go
Unrest - June (Imperial f.f.r.r.)
The Magnetic Fields - Falling in Love with the Wolfboy (The Wayward Bus/Distant Plastic trees)
Trembling Blue Stars - She's Always There (Mark Radcliffe Radio 1 Session)
The Field Mice - Coach Station Reunion (For Keeps)
Velocity Girl - My Forgotten Favorite (6 Song Compilation)
MK Ultra - Goodbye Max! (The Dream is Over)
Superchunk - Iron On (Here's Where the Strings Come In)
Television Personalities - Stop and Smell the Roses (The Painted Word)

Pop Rocks!: Episode 3.6: "Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets" Pop Rocks

2007-10-12T01:25:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm pretty awful at blogging. It's true, I think it's a good idea at first and then, like a house plant or pet, I forget about it and it dies. I am constantly late with posting play lists, and I am fairly certain it is because I'm hitting the rut and basically, the only reason I keep this up is to have record of every playlist for this show when I am, I don't know, 40...looking back on the old days. That is, if the internet still exists. That, and shit, you play nothing but indie pop every Saturday for ten months and it'll start to get to you. Next semester though, man, I just want a really nice rotation show. It's like retirement for DJs! They put you out to pasture so your last days are at least pleasant...before they put you down...or when you graduate, whichever comes first. However, if I am still in college by the age of 23 (god forbid), I will retire prematurely.
So yeah, I'm burnt out. I realize this when I throw together a show every week. I basically go through all of the new stuff I've acquired, pick out the songs that sound the most interesting. Half listen for any DNPs and they play them. Every once in a while I find something amazing but fuck, when I first started I was meticulous. And maybe I understand why so many DJs hate pop music...or maybe I don't. The problem is, presenting pop music every week has taken me to a place where I barely listen to pop music in my free time. I mean, sure, a lot of what I listen to now is of some sort of pop persuasion (I'm not listening to dance music or metal or anything drastic like that) but damn, I don't know, I guess sometimes it feels like it isn't worth it.

Maybe it's just that things feel horribly wrong at KJHK right now. Like the station is sinking into a horrible place where DJs won't play anything beyond Death Cab for Cutie, Bright Eyes, The Shins, Radiohead (I heard all of these artists in a 20 minutes set the other day, and the two times I turned on the radio before that randomly that week I heard Bright Eyes and the Shins and was depressed for the rest of the day), or any sort of innocuous electronica. Frankly, the station just sounds like shit right now and it gives me a headache thinking about how I can do my part to make it sound better. I just show up every Saturday and I guess for two hours I try to make KJHK sound like something that I want to listen to. My show is basically a popped-up version of Alternative Flashback as hosted by Gabe Holcombe and Justin Brown, the only show on KJ I have really "followed," if you will, since I've been involved.

But fuck, who am I to say anything? Do I want to set an example for DJs, to show them that there was music made before the year 2000 (besides Elton FUCKING John, I wish I was kidding when I said that I'd heard Elton John (and Journey) on KJHK on various occasions) or am I just an elitist? Yelling at DJs won't help, and it's rude and it's not helpful, but what do you do when you want to save a radio station? To make people realize that being a DJ is a privilege and not an opportunity to transform yourself into a local celebrity or show the world how hip you are because you play some Justice remix that you ripped from some blog, or whatever. How do you save a sinking ship? Maybe this radio show is like that band on the Titanic who played music while the ship was sinking to the bottom of the sea (in the movie at least). A swan song for a place renowned as a haven for independent music which has mutated into your favorite hits from the Garden State soundtrack and bands that they branded INDIE in big bold letters on 96.5 the Buzz. It's all just kicking against the pricks, I guess.

Anyway, the rant is over. This show was a bit of a change of pace. Spring Semester I did a show focusing specifically on the Nuggets Boxset and when I found out a new one was coming out, man oh man, I got excited. Even though the music here would be better suited for a show like Fractal Ephemera, it was still fun to discover this boxset as I went along and yeah, it's really good...especially if you're into, I don't know, doing LSD or something. I'm not, personally, but the music is still good and cool and you should check it out. Most of these songs were pretty sweet.

The Charlatans - Number One (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
The Otherside - Streetcar (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
The Beau Brummels - Don't Talk to Strangers (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
The Chocolate Watchband - No Way Out (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
The Great! Society - Somebody to Love (LP Version) (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
The Flamin' Groovies - I'm Drowning (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
The Mystery Trend - Johnny Was a Good Boy (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
The Stained Glass - My Buddy Sin (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
Notes From the Underground - Why Did You Put Me On? (Love is the Song We Sing: San
Francisco Nuggets)
Steve Miller Band - Quicksilver Girl (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
Teddy & His Patches - Suzy Creamcheese (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
The Serpent Power - Up and Down(Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
The Syndicate of Sound - Rumors (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
The Great! Society - Free Advice(Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
The Oxford Circle - Foolish Woman(Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
Blackburn & Shaw - Stranger in a Strange Land (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco
Nuggets)
The Beau Brummels - Two Days 'Til Tomorrow (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco
Nuggets)
The Grass Roots - Mr. Jones (Ballad of a Thin Man) (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco
Nuggets)
The Generation - I Am a Good Woman (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
Family Tree - Live Your Own Life (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
Sea Train - Portrait of an Artist as a Young Lady (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco
Nuggets)
The Frantics - Human Monkey (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
The Charlatans - Alabama Bound (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
Jefferson Airplane - I'ts No Secret (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
Country Joe & the Fish - Superbird (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
Immediate Family - Rubiyat (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
Blue Cheer - Summertime Blues (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
The Mourning Reign - Satisfaction Guaranteed (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco
Nuggets)
Fifty Foot Horse - Red the Sign Post (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
New Breed - Want Ad Reader (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
Mad River - Amphetamine Gazelle (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
The Harbinger Complex - Sometimes I Wonder (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco
Nuggets)
The Warlocks - Can't Come Down (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
The Count Five - Psychotic Reaction (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)
Blue Cheer - Fool (Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets)

Pop Rocks!: Episode 3.5: FLYING NUN RECORDS

2007-09-17T16:06:00.000-06:00

September 15th

YES! This was the most fun I've had all semester. The night before, I covered the Punk Rock show and got my bearings with KJHK. Bearings that I thought I'd lost in the slew of exec staff responsibilities. Initially I wanted to do a show focusing on both Australia and New Zealand after a set in last week's show, but when it came down to putting the thing together, I figured it would be best to just do Flying Nun, one of the finest record labels in the history of the world. KJHK actually has most of the albums I played on either CD or vinyl, which warmed my heart. Also warming my heart was Love Garden, who had a used copy of the Able Tasman's "A Cuppa Tea and a Lie Down," which I desperately tried to find on the internet and pulled out of the used Alt. vinyl for ten bucks. Sweet!

Able Tasmans - What Was that Thing (A Cuppa Tea and a Lie Down)
The Bats - Made Up in Blue (Compiletely Bats)
The Verlaines - Crisis After Crisis (Dunedin Double EP)
Look Blue Go Purple - Cactus Cat (In Love With These Times comp)
The 3Ds - Hey Seuss (Topless Women Talk About Their Lives comp)
Chris Knox - The Split (Polyfoto, Duck Shaped Pain, & "Gum")
The Chills - Rolling Moon (Kaleidoscope World)
Straightjacket Fits - Down in Splendour (Melt)
The Clean - Flowers (Compilation)
The 3Ds - Animal (Topless Women Talk About Their Lives comp)
The Bats - Boogeyman (Fear of God)
Dave Kilgour & the Heavy Eights - Seemingly Stranded (S/T)
Tall Dwarfs - What Goes Up (Tall Dwarfs)
Children's Hour - Looking For the Sun (Tuatara comp)
Chris Knox - Not Given Lightly (Topless Women Talk About Their Lives comp) Note: You can actually e-mail Chris Knox and for a fee (or barter), he will record a personalized version of this song for your wedding according to Flying Nun's website)
The Cat's Miaow - The Phoebe I Know (The Long Secret comp)
The Clean - Getting Older (Anthology)
The Chills - I Love My Leather Jacket (Kaleidoscope World)
Bailter Space - Zero Return (Thermos)
Look Blue Go Purple - Safety in Crosswords (Compilation)
The Bats - Mad on You (Compiletely Bats)
The Clean - Hold Onto the Rail (live) (Compilation)
The Jean-Paul Sarte Experience - Flex (S/T)
The Chills - Never, Never Go (Kaleidoscope World)
The Stones - Down and Around (Dunedin Double EP)
Able Tasmans - Evil Barbecue (A Cuppa Tea and a Lie Down)
The Clean - Oddity (Anthology)
The Verlaines - Death and the Maiden (Tuatara comp)
The Chills - Heavenly Pop Hit (Submarine Bells)
The Clean - Tally Ho! (Compilation)
The Clean - Whatever I Do It's Right (Anthology)

Reviews

Jason Anderson – Tonight (ECA Records)
Review: 3/10

So after doing a little research, yes, this is the new album from Wolf Colonel’s Jason Anderson. The absence of a shielded K on the back made me wary, and I thought it might be an imposter but I was wrong. It’s him. He’s back after 2005’s The Wreath… And he’s doing his best Springsteen impression (which is to be expected if you read the label on the front). While this would normally irk me (despite my being a huge Hold Steady fan) I think he has just enough Wolf Colonel in there to make this slightly tolerable. The problem, however, is that only half of the songs are under six minutes (ironically, the longest song on the album (8 minutes) is called “So Long.” Sadly, it’s the best song on the album, but probably wouldn’t make for compelling radio.), and for a guy who’s made his living on 1-2 minute long pop songs, it’s a tough transition. It’s especially trying when the Springsteen influence becomes Springsteen aping (ex. When the sax comes in and it gets really repetitive at the end of “Tonight,” although that song is strangely compelling most of the way through). Overall, this feels like a genre exercise and it sounds like Jason Anderson is having fun with it. Too bad that anyone who listens to this probably won’t. The Hold Steady has this shtick covered…and they do it about a hundred times better.

Suggested: 8, 7, 2
DNP: Clean.
-Ian Hrabe, September 17th, 2007

Sea Wolf – Leaves in the River (Dangerbird)
Review: 3/10

In the words of Fred Willard’s character in A Mighty Wind, “Wha’ happened!” Earlier this year Sea Wolf released a terrific EP and all of the subtlety that he (this is the project of one Alex Brown Church) possessed has seemingly turned into a blunt and forgettable (if well produced) full length. The production doesn’t help. The EP’s more lo-fi production was able to make any potentially irksome lyrics charming and it gave their sound a more cohesive quality. Now, every instrument sounds isolated and the lyrics are recorded with such perfect clarity that every uninspired line and intentional, forced rhyme is glaring. On top of that, they put their best song from the EP, “You’re a Wolf” on the album which, in my opinion, unless you re-record and improve on it, it’s a total cop out to put it on the LP. It’s like padding. Like I said, the production makes everything more clear, and it’s really apparent that there isn’t really anything that interesting going on and instead of just letting the songs form organically, Church puts each one together like a paint by numbers. It’s sad, but Sea Wolf has become just another wolf band…and a below mediocre one at that.

RIYL: The Good Life, Bright Eyes
Suggested: 4, 9, 10.
DNP: None.
-Ian Hrabe, September 17th, 2007

Taken by Trees – Open Field (Rough Trade)
Review: 7/10

If you haven’t gotten sick of that Peter, Bjorn, and John song (for anyone who could potentially be reading this five or better yet, one or two years from now, the song was called “Young Folks” and you literally couldn’t walk down the street without hearing it) yet, then you might really like this! For it is the solo project of Victoria Bergsman, who will sadly be most known as “that girl that sings on that one song.” I know Victoria Bergsman as the former (as of last year) front woman of the absolutely delightful Swedish pop group The Concretes. And as great as she is in that band, I am actually really excited that she decided to put out this album. I can only assume that she grew bored with the confines of pop music and really wanted to make something different. Taken by Trees can still be easily filed under indie pop; the music is still structured around pretty melodies, Bergsman’s gorgeous classy yet girl-next-door voice, and a myriad of harmonies. It’s just much more subdued. More suited for the onset of fall than the late spring. Fall just started a week ago it’s chilly and gray outside and I just want to curl up in my bed and listen. Note: This record features contributions from Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell (not surprising, since her and Bergsman have incredibly similar vocal stylings) who wrote the song “Lost and Found,” Electrelane’s Verity Susman who plays piano and sings some back-up, and it was produced by Bjorn himself!

RIYL: Camera Obscura, The Concretes, Emily Haines
Suggested: 5, 2, 9, 1, 6 (instrumental), any
DNP: No.
-Ian Hrabe, September 17th, 2007

Le Loup – The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millennium General Assembly
(Hardly Art)
Review: 7.5/10

The new Sub Pop subsidiary Hardly Art is already batting 2 for 2. Earlier this year they put out the lovely debut LP from the dreamy Arthur & Yu and now they’ve got the debut album from D.C. avant indie rockers Le Loup. Now that the “write this review like an allmusic.com review or something” part is out of the way, let’s talk about Le Loup, whose name (which means “The Wolf” in French) may or may not be a clever play on the whole “wolf band” phenomena of 2005 or whenever that was. The music is an interesting mix between Danielson (frontman Sam Simkoff’s main musical contribution comes from his utilization of the banjo (often looped)), Animal Collective (because c’mon, it’s A.) really easy to compare a band to Animal Collective because B.) A lot of bands sound like Animal Collective nowadays (just listen to track 10!), and insert-name-of-some-laptop-electronic-artist here. It’s a little weird but give it a shot!

Suggested: 6, 2, 8, 12 (fade out at 4:00), 7
Avoid: 5, 9
DNP: None.
-Ian Hrabe, September 17th, 2007

Pop Rocks!: Episode 3.4

2007-09-17T16:01:00.000-06:00

September 8th

This was another random show. Nothing much to say, other than a couple of the entries here are annotated.

Jens Lekman - Shirin (Night Falls Over Kortedala)
Beirut - Le Banlieu (The Flying Cup Club)
Scrabbel - Last Train (1909)
Built to Spill - Now and Then (Center of the Universe single)
The Driscolls - She Said She Said (Revolution No. 9) *Beatles Cover
The Halo Benders - Virginia Reel Around the Fountain (The Rebels Not In)
The Favourites - SOS (Note: I heard this song playing at the grocery store the other day. Except not this version, the only version I've heard. Long story short, I had no idea this was an ABBA cover, which makes this song even more amazing because I fucking hate ABBA and I fucking love this song. Thanks Little Hits!)
Superchunk - Say My Name (Guilt by Association comp) *Destiny's Child cover lolz
Sloan - Everything You've Done Wrong (One Chord to Another)
Belle & Sebastian - Your Cover's Blown (Books EP)
Voxtrot - Your Biggest Fan (Your Biggest Fan EP)
Tullycraft - Polaroids From Mars (Disenchanted Hearts Unite)
Los Campesinos! - Don't Tell Me How to Do the Math(s) (Sticking Fingers Into Sockets)
Velocity Girl - Pop Loser (Copacetic)
The Boy Dandy and June Moon - The Happy Ambulance
#Poundsign# - Starry Night (Pop American Style comp)
The Clean - Anything Could Happen (Topless Women Talk About Their Lives comp)
The Lucksmiths - Off With His Cardigan! (Spring a Leak)
The 3Ds - Hey Seuss (Topless Women Talk About Their Lives comp)
Kleenex Girl Wonder - Don't Wait Up (Ponyoak)
Guided by Voices - Alright (Alien Lanes)
Boyracer - Area 51 Revisited (We Are Made of the Same Wood)
Jens Lekman - You Are the Light (by Which I Travel into This and That) (When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog) (I know, I played Jens Lekman already but as I was doing the show, I was reading through David Berman's (of the Silver Jews) book of poetry called "Actual Air" and I realized that Jens lekman totally stole not only the line "the light by which i travel into this and that...," but the first paragraph is a paraphrase of one of the stanzas! Not only does this guy sample music, he samples good writers!)
The Pastels - Something's Going On (Creation Soup vol. 1)
The Loft - Why Does the Rain (Creation Soup vol. 1)
The Galactic Heroes - Bus Stop (Every Sidewalk)
The Pearly Gatecrashers - I'm Dreaming (New! Fluffy! Delicious!)
The Pooh Sticks - Indiepop Ain't Noise Pollution (Alan McGee EP)
Able Tasmans - What Was the Thing (In Love With These Times)
The Chills - Rain (In Love With These Times)
Destroyer - Song for Acualera
Red Sleeping Beauty - Pop Song (Beauty)
The Someloves - It's My Time
The Aislers Set - California (Terrible Things Happen)

Reviews

The Weakerthans – Reunion Tour (Epitaph)
Review: 8/10

To be honest, this album really disappointed me the first time I listened to it. It’s a natural thing, something that’s bound to happen when one of your favorite bands takes four years to make their next record. The expectations get built up to the point where no matter what; you’re likely to be disappointed. Thirty listens later, I really like this record and I think it fits into the Weakerthans’ discography exceptionally well. The production is a little crappy, and they kind of ruined one of their best songs (“Utilities”) with a lot of synthesized-noodling, but the songs themselves are very strong. I’ll go ahead and say it, John K. Samson is my favorite songwriter (besting the likes of John Darnielle, David Berman, and even Dan Bejar) and his words and inflections are what make the Weakerthans sort of timeless. With Reunion Tour, Samson has constructed an intimate portrait of his hometown, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The songs are inhabited by both real and fictional characters from Winnipeg. The opening (and best) track, “Civil Twilight” is about a bus driver who has to drive past a house where a relationship ended. “Tournament of Hearts” is about a lady curling player whose life has been consumed by the sport and sees it as a metaphor for her life (“Why can’t I ever stop where I want to stay?”). “Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure” is a sequel to Reconstruction Site’s “Plea From a Cat Named Virtute,” in which the title cat runs away from home and is gone so long she forgets her own name. “Hymn of the Medical Oddity” is the tragic true story of David Reimer, whose botched circumcision as a baby led his parents to raise him as a girl and became a big deal with gender studies psychologists before committing suicide. This is just a lovely album, one that slowly reveals itself one song at a time. Not as many rockers as usual, but that’s okay. It doesn’t matter. This album is really good. It has two Edward Hopper references! Ok I love it. I’m going to stop talking before I don’t make any sense.

Suggested: 1, 7, 4, 5, 3, 8, 2, 10, 11
DNP: None.
-Ian Hrabe, September 10th, 2007

Adrian Orange and Her Band – Adrian Orange and Her Band (K)
Review: 6.5/10

New release from the artist formerly (or currently) known as Thanksgiving, and despite the title, Adrian Orange is a dude. A dude who writes, sings, and plays music a LOT like Phil Elverum (The Microphones, Mount Eerie). Elverum is outspokenly in love with the songs that Adrian Orange writes and I’m pretty sure he has produced all of Orange’s records. This one included. While Adrian Orange’s music is more colorful (har har) than Elverums, but at times it sounds like he’s just doing a Phil Elverum impression (listen to “Fire Dream”). Does it seem like I’m hating? I’m not, not really. I actually think that Adrian Orange is really cool and does a lot of stuff that Phil E. doesn’t usually do…like use horns…and a lot of dub influence.

RIYL: The Microphones, Mt. Eerie, Dub Narcotic Sound System
Suggested: 5, 1, 4, 7
DNP: 2, 8
-Ian Hrabe, September 10th, 2007

Pop Rocks!: Episode 3.3

2007-09-17T15:41:00.000-06:00

September 1st

I really like doing themed shows. Typically, they are the best and I have the most fun doing them. I like them because it's really hard (especially after doing this show for 8 months already, to put together two hours of music that isn't stuff I play all the time. Sure, one or two old favorites are allowed but for the most part, I want it to sound fresh! When I do themed shows, individual songs start piling up which is good. Another method I use is called putting my ipod on shuffle while I'm on campus. 80% of the time it is right on, and I get at least five-ten songs for my show on any given day. This show is comprised mostly of songs that I forgot I loved or songs by artists I really liked playing songs I hadn't heard before. And of course, some old standbys.

Destroyer - Streethawk I (Streethawk: A Seduction)
The Pastels - Sit on it Mother (Sittin' Pretty)
The Wake - Shallow End (Tidal Wave of Hype)
*Requested* Black Moth Super Rainbow - Jump Into My Mouth and Breathe the Stardust
(Dandelion Gum)
The Olivia Tremor Control - Define a Transparent Dream (Dusk at Cubist Castle)
The Lemon Drops - I Live in the Springtime (Nuggets Vol. 4)
My Bloody Valentine - Strawberry Wine (Ecstasy and Wine)
? and the Mysterians - 96 Tears
Aztec Camera - Good Morning Britan (Stray)
East River Pipe - Here We Go (Even the Sun Was Afraid)
The New Pornographers - The Speed of Luxury (Challengers b-side)
The Vaselines - Son of a Gun (The Way of the Vaselines)
Beat Happening - Teenage Caveman (You Turn Me On)
The Zombies - Care of Cell 44 (Odyssey & Oracle)
Paul Simon - 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
Okkervil River - Plus Ones (The Stage Names)
Beirut - Nantes (The Flying Club Cup)
Sunset Rubdown - The Taming of the Hands that Came Back To Life (Random Spirit Lover)
John Vanderslice - Time to Go (Emerald City)
The Weakerthans - Tournament of Hearts (Reunion Tour)
Jens Lekman - The Opposite of Hallelujah (Night Falls Over Kortedala)
The Apples in Stereo - Play Tough (New Magnetic Wonder)
The Fiery Furnaces - Track 15 (Bitter Tea)
Glo-Worm - Friday I'm in Love (Glimmer) *Cure cover
The Magnetic Fields - The Saddest Story Ever Told (Wayward Bus/Distant Plastic Trees)
St. Christopher - You Deserve More Than a Maybe (7")
Tullycraft - Pink Lemonade (Singles)
Cub - I'm Your Angel (Come Out, Come Out)
The Lucksmiths - Now I'm Even Further Away (Warmer Corners)
The Flatmates - I Could Be in Heaven
The Driscolls - This is a Different Song (Bang!)
The Razorcuts - Sorry to Embarass You
Superchunk - From the Curve (On the Mouth)

Pop Rocks!: Episode 3.2: New Pornographies

2007-09-17T14:45:00.001-06:00

August 25th

For this show, I thought I would showcase one of my favorite bands and all of the side projects and early bands associated with them. I will not lie, the New Pornographers are one of my favorite bands and I think their new album is pretty fantastic (and sadly misunderstood by critics in the world at large, it seems). Anyway!

The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema (Twin Cinema)
The New Pornographers - Graceland (Matador at Fifteen comp)
The New Pornographers - The Fake Headlines (Mass Romantic)
The New Pornographers - July Jones (Electric Version)
The New Pornographers - Mutiny, I Promise You (Challengers)
A.C. Newman - Flags (instrumental) (Souvenir of Canada)
The New Pornographers - Letter From an Occupant (Mass Romantic)
The New Pornographers - Testament to Youth in Verse (Electric Version)
The New Pornographers - The Bleeding Heart Show (Twin Cinema)
The New Pornographers - My Rights Versus Yours (Challengers)
A.C. Newman - Projections (instrumental)
Destroyer - No Cease Fires! (Crimes Against the State of Our Love, Baby) (City of Daughters)
Zumpano - Rosencrans Boulevard (Look What The Rookie Did)
Immaculate Machine - No Such Thing as the Future (Ones and Zeroes)
The New Pornographers - Execution Day (Mass Romantic)
A.C. Newman - 35 in the Shade (The Slow Wonder)
Destroyer - The Very Modern Dance (Streethawk: A Seduction)
The New Pornographers - It's Only Divine Right (Electric Version)
The New Pornographers - Sing Me Spanish Techno (Twin Cinema)
The New Pornographers - Your Daddy Don't Know (FUBAR Soundtrack) *Toronto Cover
The New Pornographers - Breakin' the Law (Mass Romantic)
The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbour (Challengers)
Zumpano - The Party Rages On (Look What the Rookie Did)
Limblifter - Vicious (Limblifter)
Superconductor - Nobody's Cutie (Hit Songs For Girls)
The New Pornographers - Miss Teen Wordpower (Electric Version)
A.C. Newman - Transcanada (Souvenir of Canada)
The New Pornographers - Adventures in Solitude (Challengers)
Vancouver Nights - A Room of One's Own
The New Pornographers - High Art, Local News (7")
The New Pornographers - Broken Breads (Twin Cinema)
The New Pornographers - All For Swinging You Around (Electric Version)

Pop Rocks!: Episode 3.1: The Return of Pop Rocks!

2007-09-17T14:24:00.000-06:00

August 18th

So I have not updated this in forever. Mostly because school is downright disastrous this semester. Every class that I have put off over the last three years is finally catching up with me. Brit Lit, Western Civ, Reason & Argument, and Documentary & Silent Film. All of these classes have either very dry, unreasonably demanding, or utterly inept professors so, you know, it's tricky.

But! I finally have time to update! So here is the first show.

The Weakerthans - Civil Twilight (Reunion Tour)
Sunset Rubdown - The Mending of the Gown (Random Spirit Lover)
The Pastels - Nothing to be Done (Sittin' Pretty)
Hulaboy - Gay Boys on Your Battlefield (The Genius of (the) Hulaboy)
International Language - This is Where the Strings Come In (Where the Bands Are)
Portastatic - Sour Shores (Be Still Please)
Los Campesinos! - We Throw Parties ,You Throw Knives (Sticking Fingers into Sockets)
The New Pornographers - Mutiny, I Promise You (Challengers)
Heavenly - Trophy Girlfriend (Bis/Heavenly Split)
BOAT - (I'm a) Donkey for Your Love (Let's Drag Our Feet)
Jens Lekman - A Postcard to Nina (Night Falls Over Kortedala)
Belle & Sebastian - I'm Waking Up to Us (Push Barman to Open Old Wounds)
Voxtrot - Soft & Warm (Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, and Wives)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Gardenhead/Leave me Alone (On Avery Island)
Of Montreal - Kid Without Claws (Aldhils Arboretum)
The High Watermarks - Good I Feel Bad (Songs About the Ocean)
Dressy Bessy - There's a Girl (Sound Go Round)
The Apples in Stereo - The Rainbow (The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone)
Beulah - Popular Mechanics for Lovers (The Coast is Never Clear)
The Gerbils - Crayon Box (Are You Sleepy?)
The Olivia Tremor Control - I Have Been Floated (Black Foliage)
John Vanderslice - Karma Police (Stereogum comp)
The Magnetic Fields - Born on a Train (The Charm of the Highway Strip)
The Pines - Ask (Romantic and Square is Hip and Aware comp) *Smiths Cover
Felt - Sapphire Mansions (Let the Snake Crinkle their Heads)
The Wolfhounds - The Anti-Midas Touch
Fuzzboz - Love is the Slug (We've Got a Fuzzbox...)
Guided By Voices - Motor Away (Motor Away single)
Tullycraft - Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend's Too Stupid To Know About (Old Traditions, New Standards)

Pop Rocks: Episode 2.7 LAST POP ROCKS OF THE SUMMER

2007-07-25T00:40:00.000-06:00

Yeah, that's right, last week's episode was the last Pop Rocks! of the Summer and I didn't even realize it until a couple of days ago. I had this whole "Songs of Summer" thing planned but now it's shot! I guess it will have to wait until the middle of August when Fall programing kicks up (and at my new time, 2-4 PM! Yeah!). Anyway, I'm not gonna lie, I felt off during this show. I had planned to play songs exclusively from the two Harriet records compilations ("Friendly Society" and "The Long Secret") and the myriad of Sarah Records comps, but it was far too nice outside and I got distracted. So, anyway, here it is!

Linda Smith - All the Umbrellas in London (Friendly Society) (Magnetic Fields cover)
The Cat's Miaow - The Phoebe I Know (The Long Secret)
Hula Boy - Work it On Out (Friendly Society)
The Magnetic Fields - Plant White Roses (The Long Secret)
Shy Camp - Spinster (Friendly Society)
The Ampersands - My Favourite Jumper (The Long Secret)
Hutch and Kathy - On the Way to Work (Hutch and Kathy (Note: Hutch and Kathy of

the Thermals!)
The Mountain Goats - Duke Ellington (The Long Secret)
The Takeovers - Father's Favorite Temperature (Bad Football)
Tullycraft - Look Who Killed the Riot Grrrls
Heavenly - So Little Deserve
The Pumpkin Fairies - You Make Me Feel (members of Slowdive)
Portastatic - Sour Shores (Be Still Please)
MK Ultra - Goodbye Max! (The Dream is Over)
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Vanessa From Queens (Pig Lib)
Felt - Sapphire Mansions
Electrelane - Cut and Run (No Shouts No Calls)
Belmondo - Girlfriend's Revenge (Going Against Maz's Advice comp)
Tilly and the Wall - A Perfect Fit (Wild Like Children)
The Close Lobsters - Paper Thin Hotel (Airspace Vol. 2 comp)
Unrest - Make Out Club (Perfect Teeth)
The Dentists - She Dazzled Me With Basil
The Clouds - Jenny Nowhere
Del Amitri - Nothing Goes
Heavenly - P.U.N.K. Girl (Goal Ferry Bridge comp)
Destroyer - Foam Hands (Live at the Sled Island Festival)
The New Pornographers - Unguided (Challengers)
John Vanderslice - White Dove (Emerald City)
Another Sunny Day - Rio
The Gothic Archies - The Abandoned Castle of My Soul (The Long Secret)
The Ampersands - Affected (Friendly Society)
Balloon Chase Team - The Other Shoe (Friendly Society)
The Lodger - Kicking Sand (Grown-Ups)
BOAT - Illustrate the History (Let's Drag Our Feet)

BAND OF THE WEEK

Red Pony Clock

Usually I don't look too much into bands playing at the Replay Lounge if I'm unfamiliar with the name. And usually I pass them over. However, after being alerted by my girlfriend that the songs on Red Pony Clock's myspace were "really good" I checked them out and ended up listening to them over and over during my archiving shift at the shack. And yeah, I paid the two bucks and checked them out tonight and was very, very pleased. It was like a small scale version of the Dark Meat show I saw a few months ago, and they had that whole Elephant Six vibe going (lots of horns, lots of upbeat dancey tunes, lots of love and fun) and yeah, it was a great old time. So, the name, RED PONY CLOCK, if you see that they're coming to your town GO GO GO!

REVIEWS

Bodies of Water – Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink (Self-Released)
Review: 9/10

This album is pretty fucking spectacular. I keep muttering things to myself like “this is so good!” “Oh man, this is the first suggested track,” “No! THIS is the first suggested track,” etc. My ears are filling with glorious, orchestral chamber pop and every time I blink I see these lush, gorgeous colors and images of blue-gray skies and seas. This is one of the most majestic and dynamic pop records I’ve heard in a long time. Full of swirling harmonies and a mix of sunshine pop, neo-folk, and psych-rock, it’s akin to bigger artists like Sufjan Stevens or Arcade Fire, but I can’t imagine having to stand behind a hundred kids with cameras if I were to see this band live. I highly recommend the seven-minute epic “It Moves” if you have the time, but if you don’t, all of the other songs are great too. This is an insanely gorgeous album.

RIYL: Danielson Famile with less screeching, Bowerbirds.
Suggested: 3, 1, 7, 4, 12, 5, 8, ALL!!!
-Ian Hrabe, July 23^rd, 2007

Sebadoh – The Freed Man (Domino)
Review: 7.5/10

“This record was intended to be a mess, a stinking garden of delights.” –Lou Barlow

That quote up there pretty much sums this up. This is a reissue of the first Sebadoh record and they’ve bumped it up to 52 tracks from the original 31. This is Lou Barlow and Eric Gaffney recording their songs into a Tascam 4-track in 1988. A lot of this is unlistenable, and this might be the only record where that’s a surprisingly good thing, considering that all of it is interesting (given that it’s the beginning stages of one of the greatest indie rock bands ever). Most of this isn’t really suited for radio play, since a lot of the pleasure comes from finding the little chunks of genius buried amidst spoken word excerpts recorded from television, tape hiss, feedback, and, well, the sounds of a couple of dudes fucking around with a 4-track. It’s pretty much exactly what the “Director’s Cut” of Guided By Voices’ Bee Thousand is…except, there is much MUCH more crap here. But like I said, this is an album that warrants exploration. Sadly, a lot of the best tracks (i.e. “Crumbs,” “True Hardcore,” “Healthy Sick”) are DNPs, and you’d think on a record with 52 songs it wouldn’t be a big deal, but man, it really limits what’s actually playable! For reference, most of the suggested tracks are preceded by weirdness which you can play (and it will still be awesome) but if you want to get straight to the pure pop glory of Lou Barlow’s “K-Sensa-My” you’ll have to skip it forward a little. As for what to play, some of the suggested tracks are affixed with exclamation points (tracks I really really dug), but all of those listed are playable.

Suggested: 3!, 12!, 13, 20, 22, 26!!, 29, 30, 32, 34!, 40!, 41!, 42, 44, 49!, 50, 52
DNP: 1, 6, 18, 24, 33, 35, 36, 43, 45, 47, 48
-Ian Hrabe, July 23^rd, 2007

Tiny Vipers – Hands Across the Void (Sub Pop)
Review: 4/10

This might be some pretty decent neo-folk female singer/songwriter music if this woman would try to not sing like Joanna Newsom. Ok, ok, so maybe she was singing like this long before Joanna Newsom (a la the Michael Bolton dilemma from Office Space) but the thing is, when I listen to this, I can’t disassociate the two and since Joanna Newsom is much better than Tiny Vipers, Tiny Vipers has to take a hit. All of her songs even stretch on like Newsom’s, most of them approaching or past the six minute mark. The thing is, this music is actually pretty nice. Really sparse, haunted acoustic guitar music. It’s just not doing anything that new. And the pretentious cover Art (as well as the Art in the booklet which lacks, of all things, a tracklisting. I guess they figured some pictures of the Tiny Vipers chick with a lantern was good enough) isn’t helping either. And the fact that the longer songs (like “The Downward” and “Swastika” in particular) aren’t nearly dynamic enough to warrant their extensive running times. Of the shorter ones that might actually get played, “Shipwreck” sounds like a weak Joanna Newsom outtake (as does “Aron,” and who am I kidding, just about every song here!). Boring.

RIYL: Ladies who sing like Joanna Newsom
Suggested: 1, 2
DNP: 4
-Ian Hrabe, July 23^rd, 2007

Mount Eerie – Mount Eerie Pts. 6 & 7 (P.W. Elverum & Son, ltd)
Review: 8.5/10

This is the latest release from Phil Elverum, and his second release this year (with the “Don’t Smoke”/”Get Off the Internet” 7” he released as the Microphones). While Elverum may never be able to top his masterpiece, “The Glow Pt. 2” (as the Microphones), everything he puts out is either very good or at least interesting. While No Flashlight was maligned for being boring, or whatever, it was a record that actually forced me to sit down (on the carpet with the GIGANTIC fold out cover art) and think. I can only assume that Mount Eerie Pts. 6 & 7 is a continuation of the Microphones Mount Eerie, which presented five tracks over forty minutes full of rich warmth and experimentation. These songs are fairly straightforward, even if they are each roughly twelve minutes long. The first 6 ½ minutes of “Part 6” are slow, methodical, and dirge-like, sounding a lot like the bulk of No Flashlight. The second half picks up with rolling drums and highlights Elverum’s uncanny ability to write incredibly lush pop songs, before the song dissolves into the sound of rain hitting a window. Where “Part 6” feels like two parts of the same song, “Part 7” builds on itself and morphs gradually over its twelve minutes. It’s much darker than “Part 6,” and when the song isn’t exercising in industrial percussion, the pipe organ that carries through the entire song is almost always present. Mount Eerie Pts. 6 & 7 is a 10” picture disc with a 132-page hardcover photo book that sells for $64. I really wish I could afford that, and if it was half the price, I would probably be really tempted to buy it. However, the lofty pricetag might be fitting considering that this is the most compelling work Elverum has released as Mount Eerie to date.

Suggested: 1, 2
DNP: None
-Ian Hrabe, July 23^rd, 2007

Cub – Betti-Cola (Mint Records)
Review: 9/10

When Nick told me the reissue of Cub’s seminal twee-Vancouver-girl-group classic Betti-Cola had come in the mail I’m pretty sure I giddily started jumping up and down and hyperventilating. This is what the kids call “cuddlecore,” which takes the sound and lo-fi aesthetic of punk rock and runs it through a twee filter. So instead of songs about, I don’t know, the government or something, Cub play cute love songs (“Little Star” <3!) style="">

Suggested: 19, 22, 8, 1, 7, 14, 6, 9, 11, 12, 18, 25, 26, ANY!!!
DNP: 24 (no bad words, just silly filler)
-Ian Hrabe, July 23^rd, 2007

Casiotone For the Painfully Alone & the Donkeys LIVE at the Jackpot Saloon!

2007-07-16T20:17:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was entirely strange. I spent most of the day planning on going to a party which was to be held at Yello Sub, our local sandwich joint which had been unceremoniously shut down and set to be demolished for some high rise apartments and/or a hotel. So the folks who ran the place decided to, you know, throw a killer party and trash the place.

ANYWAY, as I'm telling Sean after the music staff meeting that I'm gonna see him at the party later, Annie reminds me that Casiotone for the Painfully Alone is playing. And somehow, I completely forgot. "Scattered Pearls" from last year's Etiquette was one of my absolute favorite songs of last year, and CFTPA (aka Owen Ashworth) is one of the finest indie pop artists playing music in the present time. So, Annie went to make some spots for the radio station and I went to the show just as local band Ample Branches were finishing their set. I drank some whiskey, and then the Donkeys played. And goddamn were the Donkeys fantastic! It's been an insanely long time (probably since I saw Immaculate Machine open for the New Pornographers last year) since I've seen an opener that I really, completely and utterly enjoyed. And of course, any band that seems to generally be having a great time on stage automatically wins me over. The music was fun, sweet indie pop, exactly what I wanted to hear at that moment in time. The slightly sappy, but completely forgivable and wonderful "Be My Girl" stuck out in my head and I was totally thrilled to find it on the Casiotone/Donkeys Split 7" that I bought after the show.

At one point, the Donkeys announced that they would be playing their "slow jam" and that couples should slow dance. I grew sad, I wished I had a lady to dance with me right then and about 3/4s of the way through the song Annie showed up and my spirits got even better. The Donkeys finished up and it was the first time in forever that I wanted to see an opening band play an encore.

We got a nice spot up in the corner at the front of the stage for Casiotone. What I'm about to write is not hyperbole, and it's written in some sort of weird pop-loser-fandom code, but I will do my best to describe how great this set was. He started off with a song I can't remember, but was really nice and got me really excited. Next was "Nashville Parthenon," the song off of Etiquette that I played the most last year while it was in rotation after the next song, "Scattered Pearls." I had no expectations here. I didn't know how he would do it but when that synth line lit up and he started singing it made perfect sense (although I called a youtube version of the song with Owen on vocals "awkward" earlier this year, I admit, I don't know what the fuck I was talking about) and, I shit you not, I learned how to dance. Some weird hipster thing I'm sure, but it made my body move in a way its never moved before. My body kept producing new fluid movements for the rest of the night.

Halfway through the set he announced that the Donkeys would be joining him on stage as his backing band after the next song, a special request for his cover of Paul Simon's "Graceland." I'll be honest, when I heard it a few months ago it didn't really do much for me but live, it was fucking wonderful. And then the band joined in and they played stuff like "Jeanne, If You're Ever in Portland" and more songs that sounded so familiar that I can't recall. It's always tough going to see an artist that you're not as familiar with as you'd like to be. Usually, after an amazing show I'll get really into them and WISH I'd been that into them when I saw them (see also: Destroyer). But, you know, whatever. The much shouted for "Bobby Malone Moves Home" was set to be their last song before rampant shouts and calls for encore (the first time I've ever heard an audience audibly chant "encore! encore!"), after which they played the second most shouted for song, "It's a Crime." The song eventually broke down into an impromptu, solo-filled jam session in which Owen Ashworth left the stage to applaud the Donkeys with the rest of the audience. It's so much better when touring bands are actually friends, you know?

Anyway, the show was a total blast. Something I might call "the Show of the Summer," and as far as I can remember, the best show of the year. I cannot urge you enough to go check these guys out and let them know you love them if they swing through your town.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Scattered Pearls

The Donkeys - In the Morning

Pop Rocks!: Episode 2.6

2007-07-15T15:11:00.000-06:00

Ten minutes before leaving my house to go do the show, I read online that my friend Cecile Hernandez, a girl I'd known since sixth grade, was killed in a car crash. She was in the main group of friends that I hung out with in high school and even though I didn't know her that well, I still felt kind of paralyzed. I threw the CDs I'd made for the show into my bag and when I got to the shack I didn't know what to do. I certainly didn't want to do the show I had planned to do (one focusing on the two compilations released by Harriet Records featuring various tunes I've been obsessed with over the past few weeks (this will be on next week). I didn't have the energy. I grabbed some stuff. All I really wanted to do was listen to sad Sarah Records bands, but I didn't really have any around. It's just fucked up, and I really wasn't prepared to deal with something like this. No one close to me has ever died, no one that I've known. And the thing is, even though I didn't really know Cecile all that well, I knew that she was a wonderful person and that she honestly lived her life to the fullest. My friend Judy got me this patch for my bag while she was in Sweden, and since she goes to Notre Dame, I never really had a chance to get it from her. Last Winter or Spring Break she gave it to Cecile to give to me and I never got around to picking it up and it bums me out that I didn't. Anyway, this show sort of turned into a weird mix of emotions. It's a sort of examination of what happens over two hours after finding out something utterly horrible. Eventually, after an hour, I started to feel less awful, but I still didn't really feel like being there, so I attempted to make myself happy (culminating in a short Tullycraft set at the end). Anyway, here's this. Normal programming resumes next week.

Andrew Bird - Heretics (Armchair Apocrypha)
The New Pornographers - Streets of Fire (Twin Cinema)
Low - Cue the Strings (The Great Destroyer)
Destroyer - Foam Hands (Live at the Sled Island Festival)
The Mountain Goats - Shadow Song (Peel Session)
Guided by Voices - The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory (Bee Thousand)
Okkervil River - The Velocity of Saul at the Time of His Conversion (Down the River of Golden Dreams)
Jeff Buckley - Je N' en Connais Pas La Fin (Live at Sin-e)
Elliott Smith - Can't Make a Sound (Figure 8)
John Vanderslice - Dear Sarah Shu (Pixel Revolt)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Two Headed Boy Pt. 2 (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
Heavenly - So Little Deserve (Fountain Island comp)
Even as We Speak - One Step Forward (Fountain Island comp)
Spoon - Black Like Me (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga)
Get Him Eat Him - The Coronation Show (Arms Down)
The Wrens - This Boy is Exhausted (The Meadowlands)
The New Pornographers - Challengers (Challengers)
Wilco - In a Future Age (Summerteeth)
Trembling Blue Stars - Idyllwild (The Last Holy Writer)
Slowdive - Some Velvet Morning (Souvlaki (Bonus Track))
The Swirlies - The Vehicle is Invisible (They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days in the Glittering World of the Salons)
Felt - Sapphire Mansions (Let the Snake Crinkle Their Heads to Death)
Unrest - Make Out Club (Perfect Teeth)
Kleenex Girl Wonder - Don't Wait Up (Ponyoak)
The Close Lobsters - Paper Thin Hotel (Airspace Vol. 2)
The Field Mice - Fabulous Friend (Shadow Factory comp)
Tullycraft - Wild Bikini
Tullycraft - Mental Obsession
Tullycraft - Polaroids From Mars
Tullycraft - Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend's Too Stupid to Know About
Tullycraft - Our Days in Kansas

REVIEWS:

John Vanderslice – Emerald City (Barsuk)
Review: 8/10

Since the breakup of MK Ultra in 2000, John Vanderslice has been putting out one stellar solo album after another and become one of the most consistently great pop songwriters. While he’s always toyed with electronic manipulation in the studio, on 2005’s Pixel Revolt it seemed like his sound was going to be overcome with drum machines and boops & beeps. And in typical JV fasion, he’s done something completely different here. Well, maybe not completely different, but Emerald City is the most stripped down record he’s put out (aside, maybe, the Suddenly It All Went Dark project, in which he recorded all of the songs from Pixel Revolt into a two track (something Jason Molina did with the Magnolia Electric Co record) using only an acoustic guitar). There are electronic elements and traces of studio noodling throughout, but overall this is his most organic sounding album since Cellar Door. Lyrically, nearly every song pertains to the war or post 9/11 America, a topic that was prevalent on Cellar Door and even more so on Pixel Revolt. The title itself is a reference to the green zone in Baghdad, the center for coalition troops in Iraq. The songs are filled with paranoia (From dusk to dawn/Dawn to dusk/The sky will fill/With vaporized dust raining…), war (It was written years before/Same names, same war), references to 9/11 (We ditched out the paradde/And what was there to commemorate/And wahat was left to remember/Not sure what really happened on that day) and the old JV fallback, prescription medication (A tablespoon of codeine/Will put you right to bed). While the songs aren’t as immediately appealing or upbeat as those on previous records, they’re some of the most lasting tunes he’s ever written.

Suggested: 4, 5, 2, 1, 6, 7, 3, 8, any
-Ian Hrabe, July 16^th, 2007

Interpol – Our Love to Admire (Capitol)
Review: 2/10

Shut up. On their major label debut, Interpol seem to have set their hearts on making the most boring record that they possibly could. Granted, I maligned Turn on the Bright Lights when it first came out, but grew to love it after the immediate joy that came out of Antics. Of course, in retrospect Turn on the Bright Lights is by far the superior album, but Antics took their moody Joy Division aping and turned out some killer, stripped down dark pop songs. Here, every song sounds like a template for “song that sounds like Interpol.” I've read so many reviews that say this sounds just like The Cure's "Pornography," and it seems like it is impossible for anyone to describe a facet of Interpol's sound without comparing it to another group. This record should sound like Interpol's "Our Love To Admire" but I guess no one really thinks it does. Personally, I think the first two albums are fine, "Turn on the Bright Lights" for it's atmospherics and "Antics" for its unabashed pop-hooks. But this one just sounds tired. The more atmospheric tracks feel stifled by the brighter production and the pop tracks feel like they're trying too hard to please the mainstream radio people. I guess my point is does the world really need this album, and will anyone remember Interpol (much less this album) in ten years? Or is this just an alright, but totally unoriginal, album that reminds us of a couple dozen different bands and albums?

Suggested: 9, 2, 1, 4, 3, 11
-Ian Hrabe, July 16^th, 2007

Against Me! – New Wave (Sire)
Review: 3.5/10

Against Me!, tell me now do you compromise yourself like that? I know it’s clichéd to harp on a punk band for signing to a major, but Against Me? Seriously. I really liked this band a lot and now it sounds like they’ve run their course. This album doesn’t really do anything new (except present their sound through hi-fi production equipment). I guess there is one song where Tom Gabel does a duet with Tegan (who is in a kind of shitty band with her sister Sara) Quin that I actually kind of liked. It’s kind of in the same vein as the Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York” and maybe it’s taking two things that I don’t really like and somehow making it work. It’s the only song that sounds believable, the only song with any real emotion. The rest has been carefully been removed by ace producer Butch Vig (of “shooting Nirvana to superstardom with Nevermind” fame) who has made sure to make a “commercially viable Against Me! Record. And considering that the kids today only like watered down punk rock, he knocked this one out of the park. Some of these songs are OK. The single, “White People For Peace,” although it has pretty generic verses, it also has a fucking incredible chorus. I’d kill to hear this song about the futility and need for protest songs two years ago when it might have meant something. If you don’t pay attention, though, it sounds good. Against Me!’s sense of melody has always been their strong suit and it’s probably the reason why they’re in the position they are now. They write catchy fucking songs with incredible pop hooks. “New Wave” is a pretty good tune. “We can be the bands we want to hear…Are you ready for brave new directions,” Gabel sings. Although punk was sort of born out of major labels, there’s no way these guys are going to be the next Ramones or Sex Pistols, and this album still sounds like a raw deal. (A longer, more futile diatribe can be found inside).

Those anarcho-punks are so…predictable. I feel like a lot of the punks are going to say that this album is great. That Against Me! Should be commended for “trying something different” and even though this is being put out by a major label, it was ultimately the right move for them to make. The move they needed to make. You know what? Fuck that. Why does Against Me! Need to be on a major label? Much like Anti-Flag signing to a major, it makes absolutely no fucking sense for a group so into politics (even if Against Me! Sing about them with their tongues firmly planted in their cheeks) to have their record put out by corporations. I know it’s easy to hark “Sell out! Sell out!” whenever a punk band signs to a major, but for fucks sake what are these guys trying to prove? What are they trying to prove by having Butch Vig (who made Nevermind palatable for the general public and probably, in a roundabout way, drove Kurt Cobain to blow his brains out) suck all of the heart and soul out of their music? The production is pristine and slick, but Against Me!’s sound is not nearly dynamic enough to benefit from it. Their last three albums (even Searching for a Former Clarity) all had songs that were meant to be screamed at the top of someone’s lungs. Regardless of if you liked the band or not, it was impossible to deny that Tom Gable gave a shit when he was singing. His voice is still gravelly during the verses and smooth during the choruses, but he sounds utterly vapid here. And I don’t give a shit about what he’s singing. “We do what we do to survive,” he sings in “Thrash Unreal.” Maybe if the songs were better this album might be forgivable, but seriously, who is going to see this CD at Best Buy and buy it? Who is going to hear the single on the radio and be compelled to buy the album? Considering that they’ve pretty much alienated their audience in favor of selling more records OR, as punk bands like to say, “getting their music/message out to a wider audience,” have they really done what they needed to do to survive?

Suggested: 6, 1, 4, 3, or whatever.
-Ian Hrabe, July 16^th, 2007

Bottom of the Hudson – Fantastic Hawk (Absolutely Kosher)
Review: 5.5/10

This is some pretty straight up indie rock. I feel like the best records I’ve been listening to lately have me wondering how, exactly, they were put together. Every piece seems to be so completely appropriate and complicated, that I wonder how certain songs (say, songs on the new New Pornographers and Spoon records) manage to exist. With this album there is no mystery. I can hear exactly where everything is: guitar, drums, bass, singer. Pretty standard, and while bands can do great things with just those four elements, these guys don’t. I guess these guys used to be a super lo-fi band like Guided by Voices, and you can hear that in the nice studio production, but I feel like if this had been recorded in a bedroom it would sound a lot better. A song like “Rusty Zippers” would sound amazing through a four-track with tape hiss, you know?

Suggested: 4, 3, 8, 10, 5, 12
-Ian Hrabe, July 16^th, 2007

Au – Au (Aagoo/Oedipus)
Review: 8/10

This is a pretty gorgeous avant-folk-pop record out of Portland, OR by a musical prodigy guy named Luke Wyland. It’s full of pastoral instrumentation (banjo, fiddle, saw, mandolin, etc) run through a series of contemporary, slightly experimental filters. The songs range to straightforward avant-pop tunes (“Sum”) to lush soundscapes like “Shelter,” which utilizes Wyland’s skills as a pianist (he’s classically trained) in a very unique way. Despite a number of the tracks being filled to the brim with sound (verging on shoegaze), songs like “Death” and “Honeybee” are stripped down and haunting. Tracks 5 and 8 are instrumentals.

Suggested: 2, 3, 8, 1, 7
-Ian Hrabe, July 16^th, 2007

Oh No! Oh My! – Between the Devil and the Sea (Dim Mak)
Review: 5/10

This is some OK indie/twee pop. Kind of sappy (the first track starts out “yes you are my only hope” sung like some top-40 singer), and not in that good sappy way (i.e. I’d never put it on a mixtape for my girlfriend because she would think I was lame). A certain amount of sentiment is good, but the band needs to A.) Know how to pull it off and B.) Have better lyrics. I’m a complete indiepop dork and I think this is pretty boring. Take that to mean whatever.

Suggested: 3, 4, 2, 5
-Ian Hrabe, July 16^th, 2007

Blitzen Trapper – Wild Mountain Nation (Long Duck Dong)
Review: 7.5/10

“Wait, hasn’t this album received a ton of positive press?” I thought to myself after pulling this record out of the giveaway bin in the music office. Of course, with so many CDs coming in, a few great ones are bound to slip through the cracks, and I am really glad I rescued this one. Considering that the first track is pretty much noise rock and the second is a country fried southern rock jam, I was easily taken aback. But after track three, “Futures & Follies,” a wonderful little pop song, I was won over. Blitzen Trapper’s range and diversity, and their ability to master a handful of different genres, is what makes this a great record. Track 5 sounds like an Animal Collective song, track 6 is a pseudo-lo-fi indie rock tune (that breaks out into Nintendo-esque electros towards the end), track 7 is a backwoods redneck banjo jam (complete with jaw harp!), and track 12 sounds like the Grateful Dead or something. Anyway, these dudes are a bunch of weirdos and you should play their record.

Suggested: 3, 6, 8, 9, 4, 11, 12, 5, 13, 1
-Ian Hrabe, July 16^th, 2007

Pop Rocks!: Episode 2.5: GIRL GROUPS SHOW!

2007-07-08T01:22:00.000-06:00

That's right, to offset the boys and their girl songs from last week, I thought I'd dedicate this one to the ladies. All of the songs in the first hour and forty minutes of the show were culled from this fantastic three disc compilation I found called "A Million Dollar Girl Groups," highlighting dozens of obscure doo-wop girl groups from the late 50's and early 60's.

The Miller Sisters - Please Mr. Disc Jockey
Ann Gibson & Group - It Hurts to Be in Love
The Shondelles - Why Do Fools Fall in Love?
The Gleams - Give Me a Chance
The Petites - The Beating of My Heart
Shirley Ross & Group - Girl in Love
The Velveteens - Please Holy Father
The Teardrops - I'm Gonna Steal Your Boyfriend
The De-Vaurs - Teenager
The Four J's - Will You Be My Love?
The Taylortops - I'll See You Somewhere
Barbara Perkins & Group - Unbelievable
The Sweet Marquees - I Love My Baby
Baby Washington & Group - Congratulations Honey
Penny & the Overtones - What Made You Forget?
The Belletones - All My Love
Hartsy Maye & Group - As the Years Go By
The Pearlettes - Never Be Another Boy Like You
Barbara Joy & Group - Do This Do That
Pearl Galloway & Group - Think it Over Baby
The Contessas - You're a Hard Guy to Please
Venus & Group - Walkin' & Talkin'
The Duchesses - Every Boy in Town
Ruby Lee & Group - I'm Gonna Put a Watch on You
The Dew-Drops - He Was Out With a Lady
Lenore Bifield & Group - Lies
The Baby Dolls - Is This the End?
Verna Williams & the Sharp Cats - Mine All Mine
Mimi Allen & Group - Do You Miss Me?
Dorothy Forbes & Group - My Love is Just For You
The Miller Sisters - You Know I Can't Live Without you
The Charmettes - The Deed to My Heart
The Cordells - Dream Boy
The Brooktones - Cute & Collegiate
The Gingersnaps - Bald Headed Papa
Renee Higgins & the Vontones - Bald Headed Man
Sherry Ray - Say LIttle Star
Nita Hammond - Mighty Fine

The Pipettes - I Like a Boy in Uniform (School Uniform)
Heavenly - Boyfriend Stays the Same (Heavenly vs. Satan)
Cub - Little Star (Betti-Cola)
Tiger Trap - Puzzle Pieces (Tiger Trap)
Maow - Mean Mean Man
All Girl Summer Fun Band - Video Game Heart (AGSFB 2)
Pony Up! - The Truth About Cats and Dogs (Is that They Die) (Make Love to the Judges
With Your Eyes)
Electrelane - To the East (No Shouts, No Calls)

Reviews

The Polyphonic Spree – The Fragile Army (TVT)
Review: 5.5/10

From the look of the little fold-out poster inside, it looks like Tim DeLaughter has replaced his backing band with younger, more beautiful people than I remember from the original Polyphonic Spree videos (or maybe he just cut them out! Since the Spree has been whittled down from 28 members to a measly 24!). Maybe that’s why this record isn’t nearly as good as their first two. I’m as big a fan of symphonic sunshine pop as anyone, and while this record has a few hit-you-in-the-guts-with-rainbows-and-sun-beams tracks, a lot of it sounds like DeLaughter doing a poor Wayne Coyne impression and the excitement of the best tracks is what is lacking on the others. Yes, I’ve listed the single “Running Away” as the first suggested track, but it’s the single for a reason, y’know? It’s the song I want to hear when I’m driving around on a sunny day in July. The other suggested tracks are pretty great, too. Perfect in small doses.

Suggested: 2, 5,12, 8, 9
-Ian Hrabe, July 9^th, 2007

BOAT – Let’s Drag Our Feet (Magic Marker)
Review: 7.5/10

More stellar indie pop form Magic Marker Records, the people who brought us records by Tullycraft, All Girl Summer Fun Band, and Galactic Heroes. This is music made by elementary school teachers and they play what they like to call “Sloppy Pop,” and have christened themselves the “Best Sloppy Pop Band in the World.” It is quite “quirky,” which usually “irks” me. You know when something is intentionally quirky, like that movie Little Miss Sunshine, and it’s trying to hard to be offbeat that it’s just stupid? Well, these guys, I feel like all of their quirks are honest and this is some really great offbeat, unpretentious pop full of whistles, kazoos, and other slaphappy instruments with cute sweet lyrics and weirdo song titles. Destined to be maligned by detractors of joy.

Suggested: 3, 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, all.
-Ian Hrabe, July 9^th, 2007

Pop Rocks!: Episode 2.4: GIRL'S NAME SONGS!

2007-07-07T10:18:00.000-06:00

That's right, this episode of Pop Rocks! focused on the indiepop/twee staple: the girl's name song. For years, tormented young men have vented their infatuations/frustrations with members of the opposite sex by writing songs about them. This was one of the most fun episodes of Pop Rocks! I've ever done! Thank you for all of the wonderful calls and requests!

Flop - Anne (Anne 7")
The New Pornographers - July Jones (Electric Version)
Unrest - Isabel (Imperial f.f.r.r.)
Tullycraft - Belinda (City of Subarus)
The Magnetic Fields - Lindy (Live)
Of Montreal - Jennifer Louise (Aldhils Arboretum)
Kaleidoscope - Jenny Artichoke
*Requested* Stephen Malkmus - Jenny & the Ess-Dog (Stephen Malkmus)
Blueboy - Jennifer Yeah! (The Bank of England)
*Requested* The Embarassement - Elizabeth Montgomery's Face (Hey Day)
Beulah - Emma Blowgun's Last Stand (When Your Heartstrings Break)
*Requested* The Specific Heats - Are You For Real Mehgan O'Neill? (Aboard a Spaceship of the Imagination)
The Concretes - Diana Ross (The Concretes)
The Icicles - Margie (Pure Sugar)
The Apples in Stereo - Ruby (Her Wallpaper Reverie)
The Magnetic Fields - Abigail, Belle of Kilronan (69 Love Songs)
Guided by Voices - Esther's Day (Bee Thousand)
Daniel Johnston - Laurie (Artistic Vice)
The Ampersands - Annabel Bleach (Annabel Bleach 7")
The Sea Urchins - Pristine Christine (Stardust)
The Tony Head Experience - Debbie One (Sleeper EP)
The Field Mice - Emma's House
The Lucksmiths - Danielle Steele (What Bird is That?)
Rocketship - Naomi and Me (Hey Hey Girl)
The New Pornographers - Jackie (Mass Romantic)
Sleep Station - Caroline London 1940 (After the War)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Naomi (On Avery Island)
The Minders - Frida (Hooray for Tuesday)
Beat Happening - Nancy Sin (Dreamy)
The Go-Betweens - Lee Remick
The Vaselines - Molly's Lips
Of Montreal - Penelope
Math and Physics Club - La La La Lisa (Math and Physics Club)
St. Christopher - Natasha, I Know (Man, I Could Scream)
Sparrows. - Hey Kari G
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Vanessa From Queens (Pig Lib)

REVIEWS!

The National – Boxer (Beggars Banquet)
Rating: 7.5/10

True story: the first time I heard this band was on (gasp!) 96.5 the Buzz while I was driving around with my roommate (who listens to that station). “Is this the new Interpol?” I wondered aloud. “It sure sounds a lot like Interpol, except a lot more brooding. God what’s with all of these bands all of a sudden trying to sound like Joy Division!” I wondered some more. And then, after the song, one of those annoying little radio-voice-laden promos came on saying something like “THE NATIONAL…only on 96.5 the Buzz” playing clips of the song I just heard (“Mistaken for Strangers”). “So that’s the National, the band that’s been getting so much buzz lately like they’re some indie rock messiahs.” I picked up the album and started to listen. It sounded nice enough on the first listen. Not great, but pleasant and I didn’t want to turn it off, even though all of the songs sounded the same. Then I listened to it a few more times and, yeah, it started to grow on me. The singer has this Ian Curtis/Nick Cave voice that’s right up front in the mix that sounds rather enjoyable and although the songs all sound quite alike, they do a lot of pretty cool things. Like the percussion, for instance, is pretty interesting and the absence of guitars or the way they end up buried somewhere in the mix adds this wonderful atmosphere. This is a really good record.
Note: I just read on 96.5's website: "Like Interpol, meet your new favorite band!" and man I fucking HATE that shit. These guys are better than Interpol.

Focus: 1, 7, 8, 10, 3, 2
-Ian Hrabe, July 2^nd, 2007

Get Him Eat Him – Arms Down (Absolutely Kosher)
Rating: 6.5/10

Get Him Eat Him may also be known as “that-one-indie-rock-band-with-a-guy-from-Pitchfork-in-it,” but don’t let that dissuade you! While it’s far from perfect, I found something charming about this record. The sound falls somewhere between modern indie rock/pop and late 90’s synth-laced (think the Anniversary) emo. Sometimes it sounds like he is inadvertently singing for mainstream radio (“Diminutive”) but he seems good-natured enough. It’s a little boring, but more interesting than a lot of the nameless, faceless indie rock records coming out lately. And, for street cred, Matt LeMay (aka, the guy who makes it clear that this is HIS band in the liner notes) got Charles Bissell of the Wrens to play 12-string guitar on track 6 (I was WONDERING why it sounded like a Wrens song!) and Zach Condon (aka Beirut) to play his Neutral Milkish trumpet on tracks 1, 11, 12, and 13.

Note: I let this album sit for a couple of days and came back and now I really, really like it. I think "The Coronation Show" is one of my top 5 favorite songs of 2007 so far!

RIYL: Ted Leo, The Wrens, The Anniversary
Focus: 6, 1, 5, 11, 12, 13
-Ian Hrabe, July 2^nd, 2007

Bowerbirds – Hymns for the Dark Horse (Burly Time)
Rating: 9/10

Out of anyone in the world, John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats has the taste I trust the most. A month or so ago I read a post about his “favorite new band in forever,” Bowerbirds. Considering that Mr. Darnielle has turned me on to a number of great artists in the past, I downloaded it and was quickly blown away. “Only once every ten years or so does one hear a new band this good, this bursting with ideas, this audibly in love with music,” says Darnielle, and he is so absolutely correct. While Bowerbirds could be compared to certain artists in that whole “freak folk” scene, their music is not freaky. The music is rich and brimming with life, possessing an absolutely timeless quality, walking that line between heartbreaking and uplifting better than most.

Suggested Tracks: 4, 2, 1, 6, 8, 3, 10
-Ian Hrabe, July 2^nd, 2007

Pop Rocks!: Episode 2.3: Sorta 7" Showcase!

2007-06-29T14:56:00.000-06:00

So, I decided that I should play some of the 7's I've picked up recently. I also decided to raid the collection of 45s up at the shack and dug up some pretty neat stuff. I was going to do a whole show of it, but then I got tired and distracted. SO OH WELL! Next week I'll be making with another theme show! Not sure what yet, but it'll be themed!

The Wolfhounds - The Anti-Midas Touch (The Anti-Midas Touch)
Art Brut - Pump Up the Volume (It's a Bit Complicated)
The High Strung - Rimbaud/Rambo (Get the Guests)
The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbour (Challengers)
The Lucksmiths - Southernmost (Southernmost EP)
Tokidoki - Sock Hop (New Days 7")
Linda Smith - Gorgeous Weather (Gorgeous Weather 7")
Bright Coloured Lights - Leave You Behind (Open Your Eyes 7")
Cub - Pillow Queen (7")
The Summer Suns - All Away (All Away 7")
The Sedgwicks - Up Till Now (Up Till Now 7")
Erik Voeks - Throw Me Out a Line (Throw Me Out a Line 7")
Superchunk - Reg (The Majestic 7")
Guided by Voices - Mice are Nice (in My Bedroom) (Tigerbomb EP)
Guided by Voices - Surgical Focus (Surgical Focus 7")
The Cavedogs - Bed of Nails (Joy Rides for Shut-Ins)
Sugar - The Act We Act (Copper Blue)
Jason Anderson/Wolf Colonel - Jet Ski Accidents (Something/Everything)
The Aislers Set - Friends of the Heroes (Terrible Things Happen)
Jimmy Eat World - Game of Pricks (GBV Cover) (BBC Evening Sessions)
The Magnetic Fields - All the Umbrellas in London (Get Lost)
Aberdeen - Sink or Float (Homesick and Happy to Be Here)
Matt Allison - Hard to Look Perfect (Hard to Look Perfect EP)
A.C. Newman - Most of Us Prizefighters (The Slow Wonder)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone (On Avery Island)
Weezer - Across the Sea (Pinkerton)
Tullycraft - Our Days in Kansas (Disenchanted Hearts Unite)
Luna - California (All the Way) (Bewitched)
Low - California (The Great Destroyer)
The Sea Urchins - Please Dont' Cry

Reviews!

Voxtrot – Voxtrot (Playlouder)
3/10

After releasing three absolutely stellar EPs, Voxtrot were poised to become one of the best indie pop bands of this modern age. While they were obviously influenced by the Smiths, they sounded even more influenced by Sarah Records and that since forgotten brand of pop music. And now they’ve put out their debut EP and…it kind of sucks. I say that out of love though, because I still believe that these guys have enough talent to put out a great record, it just isn’t this one. Their sound has matured and in turn they’ve lost the youthful energy and the sense of fun that made their EPs so enjoyable. Although singer Ramesh Srivastava sings “I have to lose my idols to find my voice,” he’s simply replaced his Morrissey-esque vocals with more modern influences. For instance, his howl on “Kid Gloves” makes him sound EXACTLY like Dave Grohl and “Blood Red Blood” sounds EXACTLY like a Ted Leo song (in particular, “The Angel’s Share). Sadly, those are two of the best tracks. The saddest thing is that almost all of these songs have compelling aspects, but none of them (with one exception) are compelling as a whole. “Easy” is an incoherent mash-up of what sounds like the group trying to cram three different songs into one where the piano-pop number “Stephen” just sounds lazy and boring. The worst is the ballad “Real Live Version,” in which initially sounds similar to the gorgeous song “Sway” from the Your Biggest Fan EP, but ends up being tacky and sentimental, especially when Srivastava goes into a falsetto at the end. It’s really fucking lame. However, I would argue that the gorgeous, mid-tempo track “The Future, Part 1” is one of Voxtrot’s best songs to date and if the rest of the record sounded as honest and innovative as that song, it might be a masterpiece. “Introduction” is another great mid-tempo number while “Firecracker” best captures the energy of the EPs and accentuates Srivistava’s razor-sharp songwriting. Hopefully they will take their time with the next record, and hopefully it will be as successful as this one should have been.

This would have been amazing if it was "The Future Part 1" or "Kid Gloves" EP, featuring one of those on Side A and the other, along with "Firecracker" on side B.

Focus: 8, 1, 5, 11
Avoid: 10
-Ian Hrabe, June 11^th, 2007

Art Brut – It’s a Bit Complicated (Downtown)
8/10

Do I think all of the positive press that Art Brut gets is a bit overblown? Yes. Do I think they’re a bad band? Hell no. In fact, I really appreciate the snide brand of fun that they bring to the whole indie rock scene. Hell, the punchline of “Pump Up the Volume” is “Is it so wrong to break from your kiss and turn up the pop song?” Sure, they sound like an indie rock version of The Streets but shit, with a line like that I don’t even care. This is made by kids who spent their young adulthood alternating 45’s on their parents’ turntables (“Sorry if my accent’s flawed/ I learned my German from a 7-inch record”). They sound a bit more like Franz Ferdinand here than they did on Bang Bang Rock and Roll, where their influences were more admirable (eg: The Modern Lovers, Pulp, The Fall). This record is better produced, which takes away some of their charm, and there aren’t any songs as charming as “Emily Kane.” At times it gets a bit droll, but I am able to overlook this because most of the songs are just around the three minutes long, the perfect length for these bratty tunes. Note: “People in Love” is one of the better break-up songs I’ve come across in a long time.

RIYL: The Wolfhounds, a British version of the Hold Steady
Focus: 1, 4, 11, 9, 10
-Ian Hrabe, June 11^th, 2007

Trembling Blue Stars – The Last Holy Writer (Elefant)
7.5/10

I feel really weird when a band that should be broken up by now releases a new record. It’s not that I want the band to break up, it’s just strange. Especially when the band has a lineage stretches back to the Sarah Records days of yore. Trembling Blue Stars is Robert Wratten’s third band to my knowledge. After leaving the Field Mice he formed Northern Picture Library and, after the dissolution of NPL, formed Trembling Blue Stars. While all of these groups are essentially Sarah Records twee pop at heart, TBS is so lushly orchestrated and mature you would never guess that Wratten started out playing jangly guitar pop. His counterpart in the group is Beth Arzy (from now defunct Sarah group Aberdeen), who sings the gorgeous second track “Idyllwild” and two others, and her presence is what makes this album great. I feel like some of the best twee bands had both male and female singers (one of the reasons why I love the Pastels so much) and not only does it make this album more diverse, but it gives it a lot of depth. This is dream pop at its finest, and while this is their most mature record, they still have that fantastic early 90’s sound. It’s just too bad that this is being released in the Summer, because this is a perfect Fall record.

RIYL: The Field Mice, Northern Picture Library
Focus: 2, 7, 10, 3, 9, any.
-Ian Hrabe, June 11^th, 2007

Sea Wolf – Get to the River before it Runs too Low EP (Dangerbird)
7/10

Since the whole “Wolf Band” thing hit it big a couple of years ago, you have to wonder if these new wolf bands are only giving themselves names of the Canis variety out of irony. Shit, even I’ve been in a wolf band or two (see: Wolves, Underwater a.k.a. The Wolves Underwater, a project that my friend and fellow DJ Taylor Ford and I undertook right when the Wolf-craze hit. We “cut” two tracks in the basement of Hashinger Hall (before they cut all of the soul out of it), one a death metal song, one a country song (the topics of these songs are far too controversial to write here, you see, the thing was, we were a “controversial band,” that was our gimmick on top of cashing in on the whole Wolf thing)). Anyway, this is a wolf band that I can get behind. It’s produced by Phil Ek, who produced all of the best Built to Spill albums (from There’s Nothing Wrong With Love to Ancient Melodies of the Future) so you know it’s good. It’s pretty much straight up indie pop with strings (sometimes) that make them sound like the Arcade Fire (especially on track 3). Lots of nice hooks and melodies, stuff that makes you feel good when you’re listening to it. Ok, something that is more important. I just checked out Sea Wolf’s myspace, and on the “influences” the guy said that he “wanted to SOUND JUST LIKE” every wolf band he could think of, including Steppenwolf and Howlin’ Wolf. That wins my little heart over, that and the sweet melodies laced throughout this record.

Focus: 1.3.4.5.2
-Ian Hrabe, June 4^th, 2007

Pop Rocks!: Episode 2.2

2007-06-29T14:39:00.000-06:00

So this show turned into a disaster about an hour and twenty minutes into it. All of the lights went out in the shack, and I received reports that other places around Lawrence were without power. I called Tom and he said that I should keep broadcasting but eventually, the transmitter (running on a backup battery) would run out. Anyway! This was the show!

The New Pornographers - All the Old Showstoppers (Challengers)
International Language - This is Where the Strings Come in (Where the Bands Are)
The Razorcuts - A is for Alphabet (I Heard You the First Time)
The dBs - Black and White (Stands for Decibles)
Hulaboy - Punches like Kisses (The Genius of (the) Hulaboy)
The Ampersands - Annabel Bleach (Annabel Bleach 7")
Erik Voeks - Oh My Darlin' (Sandbox)
The Someloves - It's My Time
The Cavedogs - Tayter Country
Dolly Mixture - Everything and More
The Favourites - SOS
The Dentists - House the Size of Mars
The Fall-Outs - She's a Zombie
Shake Appeal - My Danger
The Smart Remarks - Mary's Got her Eye on Me
Airlines - Road (Nick Drake cover) (For Richard 7")
The Blow Pops - Stop! (Stop! 7")
Love - Laughing Stock (Your Mind and We Belong Together 7")
Kaleidoscope - Jenny Artichoke
The Cymbaline - Matrimonial Fears
Zumpano - Orange Air (Wraparound Shades 7")
Immaculate Machine - Jarhead (Immaculate Machine's Fables)
*POWER GOES OUT HERE, I SCRAMBLE AND EVERYTHING BECOMES A MESS FOR A FEW SONGS*
Cloud Cult - 2X2X2 (The Meaning of 8)
The New Pornographers - My Rights Versus Yours (Challengers)
Caramel - My Tailor is Rich (My Tailor is Rich 7")
Thte High Strung - Maybe You're Coming Down With it (Get the Guests)
Voxtrot - The Future Part 1 (Voxtrot)
Tullycraft - Superboy and Supergirl (Old Traditions, New Standards)
Portastatic - Through With People (Bright Ideas)
The Like Young - Writhe Like You Mean It (Last Secrets)
Bunnygrunt - Macho Beagle (Standing Hampton EP)
Guided by Voices - Game of Pricks (Tigerbomb EP)

As a new feature, I've decided to start posting reviews. I currently review new music for the station as a member of the Music Staff, and I will not only post the reviews that get taped to the front of CDs (although these posted reviews will feature a numerical rating), but I also plan on writing feature reviews as well. Oh boy.

Arthur & Yu – In Camera (Hardly Art)
Rating: 7/10

This is some pretty pleasant dream pop, and the first release on Sub-Pop’s baby brother (or sister) record label Hardly Art. Ten atmosphere-drenched tunes full of acoustic guitars, muted percussion, and one of those things that it seems like all the bands these days are using, you know, that thing you blow into and it has keys on it that everyone from the Decemberists to the New Pornographers use. It’s got boy vocals, girl vocals, and boy/girl vocals. Sometimes it sounds more like Galaxie 500 than others (“Flashing the Lobby Lights” and “1000 Words” are a dead on impressions where “Come to View (Song for Neil Young)” is more original). Verdict: This is a really nice, good record, but if I saw it in the store I wouldn’t buy it. However, a single featuring “There Are Too Many Birds” and “Come to View,” I’d buy that in a second.

RIYL: Galaxie 500
Focus: 2, 3,4, 9, 6
-Ian Hrabe, June 18, 2007

Hallelujah the Hills – Collective Psychosis Begone (Misra)
Rating: 8/10

This is by a band called Hallelujah the Hills, they’re on Misra (who have released great records by Shearwater, Destroyer, and that really great record by Phosphorescent that came out a couple of years ago. The first song kind of just sounded like standard alt-folk-indie band at first, but about 4 minutes in it hit this fucking amazing, melodic place. The second song was a complete departure, sounding more like a Guided by Voices song than anything. The whole record plays in a wonderful variety of styles, sounding like everyone from Neutral Milk Hotel to Eric’s Trip to the Mountain Goats. In short, this is some great lo-fi indie pop/rock that sounds like it was recorded in a garage and/or a bedroom.

Focus: 2, 1, 3, 7
-Ian Hrabe, June 18, 2007

The Lodger – Grown-Ups (Slumberland)
Rating: 6.5/10

Slumberland have released some pretty stellar indie pop over the years. Not only did they put out one of my favorite records, Black Tambourine’s Complete Recordings, but they also released 7” records by Honeybunch, The Aislers Set, Velocity Girl, Swirlies, Glo-Worm, and other twee staples. The Lodger are from Britan, so I might as well namedrop Sarah Records, or something (I’ve been doing that a lot lately, it needs to stop, is there some sort of twee-vival going on or something?!?). Anyway, this is the kind of music that I like, so I like this record. Really nice, fun, catchy pop songs. Nothing more, nothing less.
Sample line:
“I just want to be a peacock/ But I don’t think it’s allowed.”
Ha!

Focus: 2, 6, 4, 1
-Ian Hrabe, June 18, 2007

The Pipettes – Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me EP (Interscope)
Rating: 4/10

Straight outta England, we have the next “indie” group which will likely be targeted as a new sensation here in the states. Something the kids will go kray-zee for. Three cute-in-that-indie-way girls playing a slightly (but hardly) modern version of 60’s girl group pop. While I may deride the gimmicky concept of the Pipettes, when I listened to their debut LP We Are the Pipettes (which will finally be seeing the light of day ‘round these parts soon) I thought it was some fucking great pop music. This “EP” features two tracks from We Are the Pipettes; “Your Kisses are Wasted on Me” (duh) and the ultra short and kind of weak “I Love You” (I wish they had put a song like “Sex” or “One Night Stand” on here, because really, what girl group EVER did a song explicitly about sex?). The two new songs/b-sides “Really That Bad” and “Guess Who Ran Off With the Milkman” are a couple more great girl group pop tunes, the latter being more of a more standard indie-rock drumbeat, making the combination with the girl group thing a little interesting. In short: Are the Pipettes a gimmick? Yes, yes they are. Is their music fun? Yes, it is very fun. You should play this and ride the wave until it comes crashing down on the indie world’s sour shores.

Focus: 3, 4, 1, 2
-Ian Hrabe, June 18, 2007

Pop Rocks!: Episode 2.1: SUMMER'S HERE KIDS!

2007-06-16T01:25:00.000-06:00

That's right, this weeks show was strictly designed to usher in the new, wonderful, sunshiney weather that this show is all about, and to celebrate, I carted out all my summer songs! Or at least my favorites. This post will be intensely short, seeing how the summer school version of Film Theory and Criticism: 1960-Present is completely consuming me at the moment. However, I still have enough time to put together a hopefully kickin' show each week. But here! Here are my summer songs!

Tullycraft - Radio Theme (Fun Beat Surf)
The Fiery Furnaces - Here Comes the Summer (EP)
Adorable - Homeboy (Against Perfection)
My Bloody Valentine - Sunny Sundae Smile (Thing Left Behind)
Chris Stamey - The Summer Sun
Da Biz - On the Beach
Tullycraft - Rumble with the Gag Debs (Disenchanted Hearts Unite)
Portastatic - White Wave (Bright Ideas)
The Rentals - My Summer Girl (Return of the Rentals)
XTC - Grass (Skylarking)
Aberdeen - Super Sunny Summer (Fireworks)
Of Montreal - Requiem for O.M.M.2 (The Sunlandic Twins)
The Olivia Tremor Control - A Sunshine Fix (California Demise EP)
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
The Zombies - This Will Be Our Year (Odyssey & Oracle)
The Apples in Stereo - The Rainbow (The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone)
The Essex Green - The Late Great Cassiopia (The Long Goodbye)
Beulah - Ballad of the Lonely Argonaut (When Your Heartstrings Break)
The Gerbils - Sunshine Soul (Are You Sleepy?)
Daniel Johnston - The Sun Shines Down on Me
The Pastels - Nothing to Be Done (Sittin' Pretty)
Honeybunch - Hey Blue Sky (Time Trials)
St. Christopher - The Summer You Love (You Deserve More than a Maybe 7")
Art brut - Sound of Summer (It's a Bit Complicated)
Wilco - Summer Teeth (Summerteeth)
The Someloves - Sunshine's Glove (Something or Other)
Chixdiggit - Brunette Summer (Born on the First of July)
Strawberry Story - Gone Like Summer (Clamming for it)
Guided by Voices - Dayton, Ohio Nineteen Something and Five (Tonics & Twisted Chasers)
Yo La Tengo - Today is the Day (Today is the Day EP)
Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers - That Summer Feeling (Jonathan Sings)
International Language - This is Where the Strings Come In (Where the Bands Are)
A.C. Newman - 35 in the Shade (The Slow Wonder)
Bunnygrunt - Wild Summer, Wow! (Jen-Fi)

A real post with all of the details on the new season of Pop Rocks! to come next week!

Challengers

2007-06-01T17:59:00.001-06:00

So, you've probably already know by now that the New Pornographers are releasing a new record on August 21st called Challengers. And seeing how the New Porns are probably my favorite pop band of these modern times, you can bet that I am pretty excited.

Yes, the cover art is a little weird. But the first track they've leaked from the record, wow. It's called "My Rights Versus Yours" and really, I'm surprised I'm not distressed, considering that the first time I heard the song "Twin Cinema" when it leaked, I was turned off. And then wouldn't you know, "Twin Cinema" became my favorite New Pornographers record (and favorite record of 2005)! So, I'm a little worried because I immediately loved this song, with it's folkiness (what?), the chugga-chugga guitar, and those gorgeous fucking harmonies that have the Porns, dare I say, EMOTING! If every song feels as good as this one though, "Challengers" could be their best record yet!

>>>The New Pornographers - My Rights Versus Yours

Also, anyone with a radio in Lawrence should have it set to and playing 90.7 KJHK right now. The station sounds the best it ever has (at least since I've been listening, which is a couple years now) because two of KJ's finest DJs, Justin of Alt. Flashback and Cyrus of Afromezcala, are in the midst of a five day, non-stop radio marathon in which they claim that they will not play the same song twice. It's been the most ecclectic and inspiring radio I've ever heard. Tune in til tomorrow at midnight!

Fourteenth Show - THE BEST OF POP ROCKS!

2007-06-01T17:53:00.000-06:00

So, here it is. The playlist for the last Pop Rocks! of the Spring Semester. Considering that this show was designed to be a Spring program, it's a little sad that it has to end.

On the other hand, it's a little good too. This Summer and Fall, Pop Rocks! will have a new timeslot! Those who could not get up for the rather unfortunately early ten o'clock starting time (myself included) will be able to catch the show from Noon to two on Saturday afternoons! This is very exciting to me, especially that now I am realizing that this show is probably even more of a Summertime show than a Springtime show. However, this fall once the leaves start hitting the ground, the upbeat fun atmosphere of the show might just take a little plunge into rainy day Sarah Records pop. But honestly, whatever complements the weather, that's what will get played.

Anyway, the best of Pop Rocks! Songs that I am completely enamored with. The tracks that made me want to do this show in the first place.

AC Newman - 35 in the Shade (The Slow Wonder)
Superchunk - Hello Hawk (Come Pick Me Up)
The Amps - I Am Decided (Pacer)
Guided by Voices - Dayton, Ohio 19 Something and Five (Tonics and Twisted Chasers)
Sugar - The Act We Act (Copper Blue)
Built to Spill - By the Way (Air Mail EP) (Heavenly Cover)
Heavenly - C is the Heavenly Option (Le Jardin de Heavenly)
Love is All - Make Out Fall Out Make Up (9 Times That Same Song)
Young Marble Giants - Include Me Out (Colossal Youth)
BMX Bandits - Disco Girl (C86 Plus)
Your Heart Breaks - 120 Proof (New Ocean Waves)
The Lightning Seeds - Pure (Cloudcuckooland)
The Bevis Frond - Lights are Changing (Triptych)
Aztec Camera - Get Outta London (Stray)
Thet Spinanes - Valency (Strand)
Another Sunny Day - Anorak City (London Weekend)
The Pastels - Nothing to be Done (Sittin' Pretty)
The New Pornographers - Graceland (Matador at Fifteen compilation)
Of Montreal - Du Og Meg (Icons, Abstract Thee EP)
Sprites - George Romero (Modern Gameplay)
Tullycraft - Polaroids From Mars (Disenchanted Hearts Unite)
Islands - Dnttakemy Wingzz Away (Tomlab Alphabet Series: S)
Portastatic - Sour Shores (Be Still Please)
The Essex Green - The Late Great Cassiopia (The Long Goodbye)
The Apples in Stereo - The Benefits of Lying with Your Friend (Tape-Op Compilation)
Voxtrot - The Future Pt. 1 (Voxtrot)
The Olivia Tremor Control - I Have Been Floated (Black Foliage)
Daniel Johnston - Living Life
Cub - Tell Me Now (Betti-Cola) (Daniel Johnston Cover)
The Bartlebees - No Stories (From Paths of Pain to Jewels of Glory)
Beat Happening - Bewitched (Jamboree)
Magnetic Fields - 100,000 Fireflies (The Wayward Bus/Distant Plastic Trees)

Thirteenth Show!

2007-05-06T17:38:00.000-06:00

This was a tricky show to put together. Being the penultimate Pop Rocks! of the Spring (and maybe forever, hopefully not), I figured I should do something cool but I've been listening to nothing but Love, Bad Brains, and TV on the radio for this paper I'm writing for a Popular Black Music class. So I figured I'd play an hour of Love and then let the rest of the show put itself together. It was a hazy day in Lawrence and driving up to the shack, I decided that I should play Love's masterpiece Forever Changes in its entirety, since the day reminded me so much of Los Angeles, and that is the ESSENTIAL LA record.

Anyway, I got to the shack and Tom was trying to fix the transmitter. The station was off the air. What was I to do? I have no problem broadcasting an internet only show, but if it's some grand idea (in particular, one that is designed to be played out of car stereos) I don't want it to go to waste. So, in short, the first hour is random and, at about 10:55 the transmitter went back up and I let the Love in! I didn't know if I'd have time to do Forever Changes, so I played side one and then played my favorite Love songs. Ha. Love songs!

Panda Bear - Bros (Person Pitch)
Sam Cooke - Bring it On Home To Me (The Man and His Music)
The Like Young - I'm in Love (Six at Midnight)
Love - Always See Your Face (Four Sail)
Galaxie 500 - Blue Thunder (On Fire)
Fennesz - Endless Summer (Endless Summer)
Brian Wilson - Heroes & Villains (Smile)
The Books - Take Time (The Lemon of Pink)
Daniel Johnston - Good Morning You
Guided by Voices - Over the Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox (Propeller)
Destroyer - Streethawk I (Streethawk: A Seduction)

Love - Alone Again Or (Forever Changes)
Love - A House is Not a Motel (Forever Changes)
Love - Andmoreagain (Forever Changes)
Love - The Daily Planet (Forever Changes)
Love - The Old Man (Forever Changes)
Love - The Red Telephone (Forever Changes)
Love - Seven & Seven Is (Forever Changes)
Love - My Little Red Book (Forever Changes)
Love - Your Mind and We Belong Together (Forever Changes B-Side)
Love - She Comes in Colors (Da Capo)
Love - No Matter What You Do (Love)
Love - Laughing Stock (Forever Changes B-Side)
Love - You Set the Scene (Forever Changes)
Love - Stephanie Knows Who (Da Capo)
Love - Can't Explain (Love)
Love - Robert Montgomery (Four Sail)

Band of the Week:
Love

One of the most under appreciated groups of all time, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that they really didn't want to leave Los Angeles. I've been writing about Love all weekend (and just finished the Love segment of my paper) so I'm a little burnt out. In short: this is one of the greatest bands that a lot of people never heard, and you should go out and buy Forever Changes right now. RIGHT NOW.

Twelfth Show! NUGGETS SHOWCASE!

2007-05-06T17:30:00.000-06:00

So, sometime the weekend of this show I remembered that I once had the first Nuggets boxset on my computer. My girlfriend freshman year had it and was really into it, I ripped it, and when I ran out of space on my hard drive, deleted it. And what a fool I was! Lately I've been listening to Love incessantly (writing a paper, etc) and yeah, since Nuggets is a collection of obscure psychedelic music (in three volumes: 12 discs), it clicked right away. These are amazing collections of songs and please, do yourself a favor and CHECK THEM OUT.

The Ladybug Transistor - The Swimmer (The Albemarle Sound) RIP San Fadyl
Love - Andmoreagain (Forever Changes
The Creation - How Does it Feel to Feel?
The Chocolate Watchband - She Weaves a Tender Trap
The Small Faces - Here Come the Nice
Os Mutantes - Bat Macumba
The Human Beinz - Nobody But Me
The Music Machine - Talk Talk
13th Floor Elevators - You're Gonna Miss Me
The Plimsouls - Hypnotized
The Standells - Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White
The Church - The Unguarded Moment
The Zombies - This Will Be Our Year
Golden Earrings - Daddy Buy Me a Girl
The Sonics - Strychnine
The Spongetones - She Goes Out With Everybody
The Goliwogs - Fight Fire
The Creation - Biff! Bang! Pow!
The Beau Brummels - Laugh, Laugh
Screaming Trees - Transfiguration
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Diddy Wah Diddy
The Downliners Sect - Glendora
The Amboy Dukes - Journey to the Center of Your Mind
Van Morrison - I Can Only Give You Everything
The Bees - Voices Green and Purple
Love - Always See Your Face
The Dukes of the Stratosphear - Vanishing Girls
Blossom Toes - When the Alarm Clock Rings
The Barracudas - We're Living in Violent Times
XTC - Grass
The Lemon Drops - I Live in the Springtime
The Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense & Peppermints
Dream Syndicate - Tell Me When It's Over
The Lollipop Shoppe - You Must Be a Witch
The Primatives - You Said
Richard & the Young Lions - Open Up Your Door
The Remains - Don't Look Back
Love - Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark & Hilldale (Forever Changes)

On another note...

Artist of the Week:
Patrick Wolf

I just haven't had the time to express my fondness for Patrick Wolf's latest record, The Magic Position. Gone is the angsty teenage brooding, here is a fucking gorgeous and mature record that just happens to be full of terrific pop songs.

Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position

Eleventh Show!

2007-05-06T17:24:00.000-06:00

Nothin' Fancy. Just songs that I like.

Voxtrot - Introduction (Voxtrot)
Portastatic - I Wanna Know Girls (Bright Ideas)
Patrick Wolf - Overture (The Magic Position)
Talulah Gosh - Looking For a Rainbow (Backwash)
Aztec Camera - Get Outta London (Stray)
The Spinanes - Valency (Strand)
The Pastels - Baby Honey (C86 Tape)
Luna - Slash Your Tires (Lunapark)
Beat Happening - Cast a Shadow (Black Candy)
Colin Clary - The Silent Film and the Littlest Smitten (Sweater Weather or Not, These are
The Songs I Got)
Hello Saferide - If I Don't Write This Song, Someone I Love Will Die (Introducing...)
Mary Lou Lord - Some Jingle Jangle Morning (When I'm Straight)
Superchunk - Hello Hawk (Come Pick Me Up)
Talking Heads - (Nothing But) Flowers (Naked)
Pulp - Common People (Different Class)
Primal Scream - All Fall Down
The Long Blondes - Lust in the Movies (Someone To Drive You Home)
Love is All - Spinning and Scratching
Guided by Voices - Dayton, Ohio 19 Something and 5 (Live)
I Like Japanese Hardcore - No More Mr. Nice Guy
Love Dance - When You're With Him
St. Christopher - You Deserve More Than a Maybe
The New Pornographers - From Blown Speakers (Electric Version)
Fujiya & Miyagi - Ankle Injuries (Transparent Things)
Low - Hatchet (Drums and Guns)
Karl Blau - Slow Down Joe (Beneath Waves)
Black Tambourine - Black Car (Complete Recordings)
The Fiery Furnaces - Track 15 (Bitter Tea)

Band of the Week:
Aztec Camera

I bought their record Stray at the Library book sale for a dollar or something ridiculous like that and it's marvelous. "Get Outta London" has been on repeat for weeks.

Tenth Show! YO LA TENGO!!!

2007-04-27T21:26:00.001-06:00

Yo La Tengo - Little Eyes (Summer Sun)
Yo La Tengo - Cherry Chapstick (And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out)
Yo La Tengo - Decora (Electr-O-Pura)
Yo La Tengo - Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind (I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass)
Yo La Tengo - Deeper Into Movies (I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One)
Yo La Tengo - Our Way to Fall (And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out)
Yo La Tengo - Cast a Shadow (Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo) *Beat Happening cover
Yo La Tengo - A House is Not a Motel (Ride the Tiger) *Love cover
Yo La Tengo - Little Honda (I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One) *Beach Boys cover
Yo La Tengo - You Can Have it All (And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out) *George McCrae cover
Yo La Tengo - My Little Corner of the World (I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One) *Anita Bryant cover
Yo La Tengo - Speeing Motorcycle (Ft. Daniel Johnston) (Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo) *Daniel Johnston Cover
Yo La Tengo - Season of the Shark (Summer Sun)
Yo La Tengo - Beanbag Chair (I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass)
Yo La Tengo - Upside-Down (May I Sing With Me)
Yo La Tengo - The Cone of Silence - (Ride the Tiger)
Yo La Tengo - Sugarcube (I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One)
Yo La Tengo - Tom Courtenay (Acoustic Version) (Camp Yo La Tengo)
Yo La Tengo - Nowhere Near (Painful)
Yo La Tengo - Let's Save Tony Orlando's House (And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out)
Yo La Tengo - The Room Got Heavy (I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass)
Yo La Tengo - Autumn Sweater (I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One)
Yo La Tengo - From a Motel 6 (Painful)
Yo La Tengo - Stockholm Syndrome (I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One)
Yo La Tengo - The Crying of Lot G (And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out)

9th Show! Canadian Pop Rocks!

2007-04-14T20:36:00.000-06:00

This week I visited our neighbors to the north. Canada may be seen as "wimpy" to some Americans, but their lack of violence and their reluctance to wage war without precedence and other things makes their music that much sweeter! This show is birthed out of the realization that a nice sized chunk of my favorite pop bands are Canadian, so yeah!

Also, you are probably well aware of the whole Canadian Pop Supergroup complex they have up there, well, let it be known that there is only one Canadian Pop Supergroup in my heart and let it be no secret that I swoon for the New Pornographers. So you get a nice helping of AC Newman, Dan Bejar (AKA Destroyer), Kurt Dahle (AKA Limblifter), Kathryn Calder (AKA member of Immaculate Machine) and, even though she isn't quite Canadian, Neko Case, who drummed in the early lineup of Cub and Maow!

Jim Guthrie - Problems With Solutions (Now More Than Ever)
Destroyer - The Sublimation Hour (Streethawk: A Seduction)
Sunset Rubdown - They Took a Vote nad Said No (Shut Up I Am Dreaming)
The Unicorns - Tuff Ghost (Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?)
The Hidden Cameras - Awoo (Awoo)
The Weakerthans - Plea From a Cat Named Virtue (Reconstruction Site)
The Constantines - Why I Didn't Like August '93 (Believer Music Issue Comp)
Immaculate Machine - Broken Ship (Ones and Zeroes)
Pony Up! - The Truth About Cats and Dogs (is That They Die) (Make Love to the Judges With Your Eyes)
Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline) (Broken Social Scene)
The New Pornographers - The Slow Descent into Alcoholism (Mass Romantic)
Sloan - The Good in Everyone (One Chord to Another)
Wolf Parade - Grounds for Divorce (Apologies to the Queen Mary)
Frog Eyes - One in Six Children Will Flee in Boats (The Golden River)
AC Newman - On the Table (The Slow Wonder)
Zumpano - The Party Rages On (Look What the Rookie Did)
Limblifter - Vicious (Limblifter)
Stars - Your Ex-Lover is Dead (Set Yourself on Fire)
Islands - Volcanoes (Return to the Sea)
Cub - Tell Me Now (Betti-Cola) (Daniel Johnston cover)
Vancougar - Down on Me (Losin' It)
Maow - Ms. Lefevre (The Unforgiving Sounds Of...)
Cub - Your Bed (Come Out, Come Out)
Metric - Combat Baby (Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?)
Final Fantasy - This is the Dream of Win and Regine (Has a Good Home)
Eric's Trip - Behind the Garage (Love Tara)
Elevator to Hell - Physically Unaddictive Mind Change (Parts 1-3)
Royal City - Can't You (Little Heart's Ease)

Band of the Week
The New Pornographers

In my opinion, they're Canada's finest pop export and without a doubt one of my absolute favorite bands period. In 2005 they released their most focus record, Twin Cinema (which was my favorite record of 2005) and this Summer they are set to unleash Challengers. Exciting stuff. Just listen.

The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic

Eighth Show!

2007-04-01T23:32:00.000-06:00

Another week of swooning over my musical crushes. Played stuff from Voxtrot's forthcoming debut LP (my favorite song from that) and inadvertently realized that I completely adore Love is All after flirting with them for a couple of months!

Voxtrot - Future Pt. 1 (Voxtrot)
Jim Guthrie - Virtue (Morning, Noon, Night)
Destroyer - Your Blood (Destroyer's Rubies)
Guided by Voices - 158 Years of Beautiful Sex (Tonics & Twisted Chasers)
The Vaselines - Son of a Gun (The Way of the Vaselines)
Beat Happening - What's Important (Beat Happening)
The Bodines - William Shatner
The Wedding Present - My Favourite Dress (George Best)
Zumpano - The Party Rages On (Look What the Rookie Did)
The Cloud Room - Hey Now Now (The Cloud Room)
Sugar - The Act We Act (Copper Blue)
Ween - Ocean Man (The Mollusk)
Rocketship - Hey Hey Girl
Ozma - Natalie Portman (Rock and Roll Pt. 3)
White Town - Hair Like Alain Delon
Gene - Her Fifteen Years (To See the Lights)
Yo La Tengo & Daniel Johnston - Speeding Motorcycle (Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo)
The Modern Lovers - Pablo Picasso (The Modern Lovers)
Francoise Hardy - Veins
Chantal Goya - Tu M'as Trop Menti (Masculin-Feminin Soundtrack)
Split Enz - Six Months in a Leaky Boat (History Never Repeats)
Ted Leo - Six Months in a Leaky Boat (Tell Balgeary, Balgury is Dead) (Split Enz Cover)
Shop Assistants - All That Ever Mattered
Wolfie - You're Lucky I'm Skinny (Where's Wolfie)
The Lucksmiths - Untidy Towns
Morrissey - Hairdresser on Fire (Viva Hate)
Jawbreaker - Boxcar (24 Hour Revenge Therapy)
Love is All - Make Out Fall Out Make Up (9 Times That Same Song)
The New Pornographers - Sing Me Spanish Techno (Twin Cinema)
I'm From Barcelona - We're From Barcelona (Let Me Introduce My Friends)
Big Star - September Gurls (Radio #1)
Andrew Bird - Plasticities (Armchair Apocrypha)

Band of the Week(s)
Love is All

I got "9 Times That Same Song" right around the time Pitchfork was hyping the hell out of it. Gave it a listen, wasn't too impressed. They just seemed like the "quirky indie rock band of the week." About a month ago I heard their cover of the Pastels "Nothing to Be Done," one of my absolute favorite songs and while the female vocals on it bugged me a big, I realized that any band that covers the Pastels deserves a shot. Listen to "Make Out Fall Out Make Up," I know this song was hot in the internet months ago but holy fucking shit what a song!

Sugar

Between the ages of 16 and 18 I was completely subscribed to punk rock. However, two years wasn't long enough for me to get to everything especially when I basically started with, gasp, Fat Wreck Chords and Henry Rollins spoken word. It was a weird mix that got me into sort of faceless pop-punk (although I still have a place in my heart for No Use for a Name, Lagwagon, and of course, NOFX) and the broader strokes of hardcore (Black Flag, Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, etc) with the Descendents sort of fusing the two together. Shortly after getting really into punk I got swept into the maddening world of you-know-what and etc etc. In short, I glossed over Husker Du. Don't know how, don't know why, I know I listened to "New Day Rising," and I just bought it on vinyl a few months ago, and I think it's a great record but man I didn't really get into it until about a year ago. I'm not making any sense. Anyway, I was putting a review on an old Sugar single and finally heard THAT band. And I was obsessed with that song "Paralyized" on Bob Mould's last solo album. So yeah it makes sense I would love this band, a sort of midpoint between Husker Du punk and Bob's new stuff. A COMPLETELY BRILLIANT ALT-POP BAND!

IN FUCKING SHORT: I put the iPod on shuffle and "The Act We Act" came on and I had a moment. I played the song on the show so that maybe others might have a moment. "Copper Blue" is a great record and you should get it and yeah, Bob Mould makes me weak at the knees.

Freeform!

2007-03-19T21:33:00.000-06:00

In a 24 hour time period from 12 noon on Sunday to 12 noon on Monday, 8 hours were spent on the radio.

The 12-4 on Sunday shift was planned as a four hour block of Pop Rocks!, but once I got rolling I realized this was far too ambitious and that two hours is just the right amount of time for pop before even I start getting queasy. The set started off with a short playlist that I made by putting iTunes on random.

New Order - Temptation (Substance)
Jim White - Ten Miles to Go on a Nine Mile Road (No Such Place)
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets (Shake the Sheets)
Heavenly - Sort of Mine (Le Jardin de Heavenly)
Desaparecidos - Man and Wife, the Latter (Damaged Goods) (Read Music/Speak Spanish)
Magnetic Fields - Lindy (Live)
The Zombies - Tell Her No (Singles)

After that was a mess of favorite songs and Pop Rocks! favorites, along with new stuff from Voxtrot ("Blood Red Blood" and "Firecracker" from their forthcoming self-titled debut LP), Wilco, and Low. Eventually my brain started swelling and it all bled into a punk rock/post punk set mostly from records lying around the shack:

Talking Heads - Girlfriend is Better (Stop Making Sense)
Devo - Mongoloid (Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo.)
Joy Division - She's Lost Control (Unknown Pleasures)
My Bloody Valentine - Feed Me With Your Kiss (Isn't Anything)
Husker Du - I Apologize (New Day Rising)
Black Flag - I Love You (My War)
Bad Brains - Sailin' On (Bad Brains)
Minor Threat - Steppin' Stone (Minor Threat)
The Minutemen - Viet Nam (Double Nickles on the Dime)

Check out Bruce Conner's video for "Mongoloid."

After that I went home. That night, while sitting around waiting for the Dark Meat show to start, I agreed to do the 4-8 AM shift to keep the station from shutting down. Look at me toot my own horn but I got excited. Then we went and saw Dark Meat. More on that at the bottom.

The morning show was much better. It felt amazing. Lots of slow stuff, lots of long songs, stuff you just can't play in the afternoon. The show essentially culminated with the concept of playing nothing but Low until the sun came up. This was at about 5:30 and I figured the sun would be up by 6:30, disregarding daylight savings time. The Low set completely relaxed me, put me in an almost zen like state and I think I inadvertently compiled my "Essential Low" mix. Sunrise came right at the part of "When I go Deaf" when the song rocks the hell out.

Low - Whore (Things We Lost in the Fire)
Low - Laugh (The Curtain Hits the Cast)
Low - In the Drugs (Trust)
Low - Dragonfly (Drums and Guns)
Low - Silver Rider (The Great Destroyer)
Low - Lazy (I Could Live in Hope)
Low - Sunflower (Things We Lost in the Fire)
Low - Missouri (Secret Name)
Low - Transmission (Transmission EP) *Joy Division Cover
Low - Over the Ocean (The Curtain Hits the Cast)
Low - Shame (Long Division)
Low - Point of Disgust (Trust)
Low - Laser Beam (Things We Lost in the Fire)
Low - Murderer (Drums and Guns)
Low - Starfire (Secret Name)
Low - Cue the Strings (The Great Destroyer)
Low - (That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace (Trust)
Low - Anon (The Curtain Hits the Cast)
Low - Your Poison (Drums and Guns)
Low - When I Go Deaf (The Great Destroyer)
Low - Dinosaur Act (Things We Lost in the Fire)

And that was my evening.

Band of the Week
Dark Meat

Honestly, if Dark Meat comes to your town and you do not go to see them, you are an idiot. I was almost an idiot last night, half heartedly wanting to go. Then I listened to the album and got a little excited. Annie and I accidentally got there early and the openers were a wispy ultra quite couple of girls singing so we went to get sandwiches. Unon returning, a girl was standing at the microphone singing. Were they still playing? And then the band emerged (they had been crouching on the stage) and broke into "Freedom Ritual," the first track from Universal Indian. And that was it. My mind was completely fucking blown. It's been so long since I've seen a band really give everything that they have. There were thirteen people on stage and they looked like a band of crazy people that stumbled onto some magical guitar chords. The sound is somewhere between the Olivia Tremor Control (the band allegedly has some members from OTC and Circulatory System and they are part of Elephant 6) and Black Mountain. Fucking dark, sexy psychadelia. Anyway, go see this band (it's probably pretty cheap, I can't believe I got all of that for five bucks) and buy their record (Universal Indian it is fucking amazing). I wish I had an MP3 of "Well Fuck You Then," undoubtedly the highlight of the show.

Dark Meat - Dead Man
Dark Meat - Angel of Meth

Check out their Myspace! Listen to "Freedom Ritual" and see if they are coming to a town near you!

Orange Twin

Seventh Show!

2007-03-10T21:17:00.000-06:00

Time's a crooked bow

After three weeks of themed shows, I finally just played a bunch of random wonderful stuff and had a great time. Here is thee playlist:

Voxtrot - Trouble (Your Biggest Fan EP)
The Pastels - Sit on it Mother (Sittin' Pretty)
The Spinanes - Valency (Strand)
Sugar - Believe What You're Saying (File Under: Easy Listening)
Richard Swift - Buildings in America (Dressed Up for the Letdown)
Andrew Bird - Armchairs (Armchair Apocrypha)
Laura Veirs - Saltbreakers (Saltbreakers)
The Apples in Stereo - Sunndal Song (New Magnetic Wonder)
Love is All - Nothing to Be Done (Pastels cover)
The Ethnobabes - Make Some Sound (Stargazer)
Heavenly - Our Love is Heavenly (Heavenly vs. Satan)
Of Montreal - On the Drive Home (The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit's Flower)
Tullycraft - Secretly Minnesotan (Disenchanted Hearts Unite)
Yo La Tengo - Cherry Chapstick (And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out)
Weezer - Suzanne (Mallrats Soundtrack)
Superchunk - Cursed Mirror (Come Pick Me Up)
Orange Juice - Lovesick (Ostrich Churchyard)
Young Marble Giants - Include Me Out (Colossal Youth)
Future Bible Heroes - I'm a Vampire (Eternal Youth)
The New Pornographers - Your Daddy Don't Know (FUBAR Soundtrack) (Toronto Cover)
The New Pornographers - Graceland (Matador at Fifteen compilation)
Quasi - I Never Want to See You Again (Featuring: "Birds")
Built to Spill - Temporarily Blind (Keep it Like a Secret)
DNTEL (ft. Jenny Lewis) - Roll On (Dumb Luck)
Tobin Sprout - The Natural Alarm (Carnival Boy)
Parks and Recreation - The Perfect Love (What Was She Doing on the Shore That Night?)
Casiotone For the Painfully Alone - It's a Crime (Casiotone for the Painfully Alone/Foot Foot Split)
The Oliva Tremor Control - Fireplace (California Demise)
Beirut - Scenic World (Lon Gisland)

Song of the Week
Richard Swift - Buildings in America
Richard Swift's new CD Dressed Up for the Letdown was handed to me at music staff a few weeks ago seemingly at random. The CD is a little meh, but this song is fucking great.

Show 6 1/2: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

2007-03-04T00:26:00.000-06:00

Since the show was only an hour today (being truncated due to basketball), I decided to do something that I've been wanting to do for a long time: play Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea in its entirety. This record changed my life when I was in high school and I consider it the monolith of my musical evolution. However, I feel extremely bad when I play single tracks from the album on the radio. Occasionally, I'll play "Holland, 1945," but anything else feels like high treason. It was rather funny, the calls that I received this morning were mostly in regards to my well being (people thought that I had died and the record had continued to play on). Anyway, that was that. After the record finished I had about fifteen minutes to kill and played the last three tracks from Of Montreal's brilliant new record Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? So, in short, this show was about genius sequencing.

Neutral Milk Hotel - King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1 (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
Neutral Milk Hotel - King of Carrot Flowers Pts. 2 & 3 (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Two-Headed Boy (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
Neutral Milk Hotel - The Fool (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945 (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Communist Daughter (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Oh Comely (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Ghost (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Untitled (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2 (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
Of Montreal - Labrynthian Pomp (Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?)
Of Montreal - She's a Rejector (Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?)
Of Montreal - We Were Born the Mutants Again With Leafling (Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?)

Band of the Week
Neutral Milk Hotel

Who else would it be? Honestly, this show was for everyone who has been living under a rock for the past ten years. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is one of those albums that is almost exclusively discovered by word of mouth and my only goal this morning was to expose this band to as many people as possible. Please, obtain this record as soon as you possibly can. I can't stress that enough. This is a record that can change your life, one where each individual listening is rewarding. It's a record that, after four years, I am still excavating and returning to, and it is still the only record that has ever brought me to tears.

Sixth Show! Elephant 6 Special!!!!!

2007-02-24T12:43:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-02-23T19:12:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-02-16T00:27:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-02-06T18:03:00.000-06:00

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!

Second Show!

2007-01-27T12:43:00.000-06:00

Sophomore Slump? Hell no. This show was even more fun than last week's!
And about forty minutes longer!
Here's the set list, started with some new music.

New Music!
Andrew Bird - Plasticities (Armchair Apocrypha)
The Shins - Pam Berry (Wincing the Night Away) -- This isn't really a song, I guess technically it is, but it's less than a minute long and just OK. But it's named after (and about (fictionally or non-fictionally)) Black Tambourine frontwoman Pam Berry. Which is SO COOL.
Of Montreal - Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse (Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?)
Deerhoof - +81 (Friend Opportunity)
Loney, Dear - I Am John (Loney, Noir)
The Microphones - Don't Smoke (Two New Songs by the Microphones) -- Phil Elverum has revived the Microphones moniker for a 7 inch!
Regular Music
Mirah - Look Up (C'mon Miracle)
Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of the Country (Let's Get Out of the Country)
Black Tambourine - Throw Aggi Off the Bridge (Complete Recordings)
The Pastels - Classic Line Up (Mobile Safari)
Heavenly - Our Love is Heavenly (Heavenly vs Satan)
Lightning Seeds - Pure (Cloudcuckooland)
Destroyer - Streethawk I (Streethawk: A Seduction)
Portastatic - Through With People (Bright Ideas)
AC Newman - 35 in the Shade (The Slow Wonder)
Guided by Voices - 158 Years of Beautiful Sex (Tonics & Twisted Chasers)
My Bloody Valentine - On Another Rainy Saturday (Things Left Behind...)
The Bartlebees - No Stories (From Paths of Pain to Jewels of Glory)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland 1945 (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
The Lucksmiths - The Chapter in Your Life Entitled San Francisco (Warmer Corners)
The Smiths - This Charming Man (The Smiths)
Modest Mouse - Dashboard (We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank)
Built to Spill - By the Way (Air Mail EP)
800 Cherries - B.B.V.U. (Give Me Give Me) (Romantico)
Jens Lekman - I Don't Know if She's Worth 900kr (You Deserve Someone Better Than a Bum Like Me)
Erin Tobey - Wedding March (Erin Tobey)
They Might Be Giants - She's an Angel (They Might Be Giants)
Tullycraft - Our Days in Kansas (Disenchanted Hearts Unite)
Wolfie - Waiting for the Night to End (Tall Dark Hill)
Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer - The Hot Situation (Jalopy Go Far)
Voxtrot - Raised by Wolves (Raised by Wolves EP)
Primal Scream - Velocity Girl (C86 Tape)
Your Heart Breaks - 120 Proof (New Ocean Waves)
Beat Happening - Bewitched (Jamboree)
Tiger Trap - Super Crush (Tiger Trap)
Talulah Gosh - Do You Remember (Backwash)
Lois - Strumpet (Strumpet)
Tender Forever - The Feelings of Love (The Soft and the Hardcore)
Tobin Sprout - Angels Hang Their Socks on the Moon (Moonflower Plastic)
Belle & Sebastian - Asleep on a Sunbeam (Dear Catastrophe Waitress)
Guided by Voices - Dayton - 19 Something and 5 (Tonics & Twisted Chasers)
The Weakerthans - Letter of Resignation (Left & Leaving)
Magnetic Fields - The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side (69 Love Songs)
The Smiths - I Started Something I Couldn't Finish (Strangeways Here I Come)

ARTIST(S) OF THE WEEK:

Andrew Bird

So, as most of you already know, Andrew Bird's new album, Armchair Apocrypha, leaked to the internet this week. And for the past five days or so I've been listening to it at least twice a day. It has completely taken me over and I can't explain it. I think it's his best album yet. The man is a pop music wizard. That's all.

Listen >>> Andrew Bird - Heretics

Of Montreal

Their new album, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer, comes out this week and I really think this might be my new favorite Of Montreal record. On it, Kevin Barnes constructs his own modern indie pop Ziggy Stardust. And on top of that, it's a divorce album (sort of) and by far the darkest album the band has ever produced (and the funkiest, holy shit). And I love it. I love it a lot.

Listen >>> Of Montreal - Gronlandic Edit
Listen >>> Of Montreal - Suffer For Fashion

Note: For some reason blogger won't let me edit/tweak my posts after I publish them? So apologies for the big gaps. So lame.

First Show!

2007-01-20T12:11:00.000-06:00

Without a doubt the most fun I have ever had on the radio.
Here's the playlist. The linked ones take you to MP3s of the songs!

Tullycraft - Radio Theme (Beat Surf Fun)
Heavenly - C is the Heavenly Option (Le Jardin de Heavenly)
Beat Happening - Our Secret (Beat Happening)
Daniel Johnston - Living Life
Guided by Voices - Game of Pricks (Alien Lanes)
Superchunk - Hello Hawk (Come Pick Me Up)
Camera Obscura - If Looks Could Kill (Let's Get Out of the Country)
Voxtrot - Rise Up in the Dirt (Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, and Wives EP)
Another Sunny Day - Anorak City (London Weekend)
Barcelona - I Have the Password to Your Shell Account (Zero-One-Infinity)
Velocity Girl - Pop Loser (Copacetic)
The New Pornographers - Miss Teen Wordpower (Electric Version)
Jason Anderson - Citizen's Arrest (The Wreath)
The Pastels - Nothing to Be Done (Sittin' Pretty)
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Happy When it Rains (Darklands)
Honeybunch - Mine Your Own Business (Time Trials)
Yo La Tengo - Sugarcube (I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One)
Tullycraft - Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend's Too Stupid To Know About (Old Traditions, New Standards)
The Amps - I Am Decided (Pacer)
The Apples in Stereo - The Rainbow (The Discovery of the World Inside the Moone)
XTC - The Disappointed (Nonsuch)
Pulp - Mis-Shapes (Different Class)
14 Iced Bears - Come Get Me
Honeybunch - Hey Blue Sky (Time Trials)
BMX Bandits - Disco Girl (C86 Plus)
The Go Team - Broken Window (Archer Come Sparrow)
Tobin Sprout - Indian Ink (Lost Planets & Phantom Voices)
Hefner - When The Angels Play Their Drum Machines (Dead Media)
The God Damn Do Wop Band - Posse (Broken Hearts)
The Pipettes - Because It's Not Love (But It's Still a Feeling) (We Are the Pipettes)
All Girl Summer Fun Band - Video Game Heart (2)
Your Heart Breaks - 120 Proof (New Ocean Waves)
Tilly and the Wall - Reckless (Wild Like Children)
Magnetic Fields - 100,000 Fireflies (The Wayward Bus)
The Specific Heats - Ice Cream Shop (Aboard a Spaceship of Imagination)
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Where Have All the Rudeboys Gone? (Hearts of Oak)

Your Heart Breaks

I also just wanted to take a moment to recommend the Plan-It-X band Your Heart Breaks. I stumbled onto their album "New Ocean Waves" a little while ago. The cast includes such indie pop luminaries as Karl Blau and Laura Veirs. Please check this out. It is good.

Your Heart Breaks Myspace Page

My Favorite Pop Songs of 2006

2007-01-10T13:52:00.000-06:00

It feels like a fitting way to start this blog by posting a list of songs, complete with some of the best music videos of the year!

20. The Decemberists - Summersong (The Crane Wife)
I feel like I was one of the only people who thought The Crane Wife was a little underwhelming. Sure, the epic "The Crane Wife pt. 1 & 2" was one of the most incredible songs that the Decemberists have ever done, but mostly the album just left me cold. This song is pretty good though. And this is not an official video or anything like that, I just thought it was funny.

19. Robert Pollard - Dancing Girls and Dancing Men(From a Compound Eye)
I figured with as much as Bob Pollard has given to me, I owed it to him to get him on this list. Sure, From a Compound Eye doesn't come anywhere near classic GBV but it's still pretty fucking good.

18. Built to Spill - Conventional Wisdom (You in Reverse)
Just a killer song from Built to Spill. Has the epic feel of records like Perfect from Now On and Keep it Like a Secret with the more raw pop-oriented sound of the earlier records.

17. The Pipettes - Because It's Not Love (But It's Still a Feeling) (We are the Pipettes)
I discovered this album really, really, really late. Initially, I wrote the Pipettes off as nothing but a gimmick after hearing "I Like a Boy in Uniform (School Uniform)" and only recently listened to the full length. And oh how surprised I was! I was expecting more of a 60's girl group feel and yeah, it has that, but the music feels more twee than anything. And I love that. I love that so much. And this song, this album is just so much fun!

16. Beirut - Postcards from Italy(Gulag Orkestar)
I don't know if I can justify this as a pop song, but goddamnit it makes me feel so so good everytime I hear it. Another album I didn't get into until after the fact, but better late than never I guess. And those neutral, milky trumpets. MM! One of the most wonderful and inventive records/songs of the year.

15. Dave Fischoff - Rain Rain Gasoline (The Crawl)
Listen to : "Ghost of the Afternoon"
The song I have linked is not that good and really, Fischoff's The Crawl is just a pretty good album. But that song, "Rain Rain Gasoline" kills me and I am very sad that I could not find an MP3 of it to share.

14. Danielson - Did I Step On Your Trumpet (Ships)
The "Wolf Like Me" of the late summer/early fall on KJHK. It seemed like every time I turned on the radio this song was on, and every time I kept the dial locked. The places this song goes, the way it morphs over three minutes always knocks me on my ass because it feels like it's over before it even started.

13. The Starlight Mints - Inside of Me(Drowaton)
A wonderful, drippy and excited pop song, everything that a good pop song should be. I don't know what else to say, other than that it would be impossible for me to ignore a song like this on a list like this.

12. The Replacements - Message to the Boys (Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?)
Listen to: "Alex Chilton" one of the greatest pop songs in history.
Again, another song I had a hard time trying to justify for this list. The Replacements are without a doubt one of the greatest rock bands of all time, but I think of a song like "Alex Chilton" and realize that they were an amazing power pop band. That song is one of my favorite songs of all time, and the new song that they recorded for their career retrospective, "Message to the Boys," is vintage Mats and, of all the songs on this list, is the one that got stuck in my head the most this year.

11. Morrissey - You Have Killed Me (Ringleader of the Tormenters)
The man still has it. Spring semester I covered the the Wednesday afternoon show(2-4, the show I had this fall) and it was right after Brandon H's, and I remember convincing him to play the new Morrissey single as the last song of his show, the one that had just come in to rotation. And I remember the volume being turned up very loud in the studio, and I remember us jumping around and singing along to the song. And I remember this song blaring out of my car at various times during the summer (how lame!).

10. Matthew Friedberger - The Pennsylvania Rock Oil Co. Resignation Letter(Winter Women)
This came on my iPod while I was trekking across Colorado with my family. Driving through the mountains, this little gem popping into my headphones was so welcome. So catchy! So wonderful to listen to! It's a great little song that ended up getting buried on Friedberger's overwhelming/substandard double album.

9. Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks(Writer's Block)
Undeniable. A dancey pop song with whistling, one that burnt up the blogs and for good reason! It's almost perfect. In my world of perfect pop songs, this song could play. I'm not quite sure if it's there yet, in my mind, but it's pretty damn close. Listen, and watch the weird/cute video!

8. The Blow - Parenthesis(Paper Television)
As the countdown gets closer and closer to number one, it gets harder to write about these songs without using words like "perfect," "wonderful," "poptastic," etc. This is another one of those songs. It completely exploits everything wonderful and weird about indie pop and turns out one of the catchiest tunes (with some of the weirdest and most enjoyable lyrics) of the year.

7. Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken (Let's Get Out of the Country)
A great song that shows the great lengths that twee pop has traveled over the years. A great melody and chorus with syrupy strings to bring it home, one of those songs that I hit the back button for. It just gets it right every time.

6. Voxtrot - Soft and Warm(Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, and Wives EP)
The toughest decision for this list was choosing which Voxtrot song would be on it. They released two completely stellar EPs in 2006 (Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, and Wives and Your Biggest Fan) and the bands growth between the two EPs just shows the band getting better and better. Refining their sound and becoming one of the best new bands around. And definitely the band that I am most excited about for 2007. "Soft & Warm," I think, is the most exceptional, and really, it's only slightly better than all of the other songs. But it has something to it, maybe it's that "Baby I'd leave you for the person you used to be" line. I don't know. But, for reference, here are the ones I was deciding between:
Voxtrot - Trouble
Voxtrot - Your Biggest Fan
Voxtrot - Four Long Days
Voxtrot - Rise Up in the Dirt
Voxtrot - Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, and Wives

5. Islands - Rough Gem (Return to the Sea)
Aside their live show being one of the most excruciating experiences of 2006 (the night before, drummer J'amie Tambeur quit the band and that night, Nick Diamonds was a complete jerk (but the jerkiness would not be explained until months later)), Return to the Sea was still one of the best records. The potential that the Unicorns always had, but could never realize as the Unicorns. The next logical step in Nick Diamonds' rise as one of the kings of indie pop. This song is everything that a pop song should be AND has the cutest music video of the year to accompany it!

4. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Scattered Pearls(Etiquette)
This song. It's like a little beautiful breeze that you feel for a few seconds, and it feels nicer than anything you've felt in a long time, and then it's gone. But it isn't any longer than it needs to be. Another one of those perfect pop songs that completely fulfills every goal that it sets out to meet.

Video for: "The Subway Home" (I found a hilarious live version of "Scattered Pearls" where Owen sings the song and it was only hilarious because it was so awkward. This video is prettier.)

3. Belle & Sebastian - The Blues are Still Blue(The Life Pursuit)
When I first heard this album in January I openly hated every song with the exception of "The Blues are Still Blue." Other than that, I thought thought the band had expelled of all the cuteness that they'd developed for a bland modern rock record. And over the year, I got over it and slowly embraced the record and now I really enjoy it! And it is a lot cuter than it used to be, and this song, well, it only got better. And the video only helped.

2. I'm From Barcelona - We're From Barcelona (Let Me Introduce My Friends)
This song is pure evil. It hooks you in at the very VERY beginning of the song and just doesn't let go. It's adorable and fun and makes me move my body in ways that none of the other songs on this list make me move my body. And those horns! And those voices! Props to James Barr for recommending this to me, and the look on his face when I said I hadn't heard the song yet. It expressed something saying I NEEDED to hear this song. That it would change my life or something and, for about a month, listening to it a few times a day, it did. It made everything brighter and more tolerable and, when the song is on, for three minutes the world becomes a better place.

1. Portastatic - Sour Shores (Be Still Please)
This song is destructive. Everything that a pop song should be and, without a doubt in my mind, the greatest pop song of 2006. And while this list is not a "Best of," simply a list of my favorite songs, I have no reservations in declaring this the BEST pop song of 2006. None at all. Because it is. It has to be (in my mind). I discovered it on accident, too. The new Portastatic record was in rotation and I was scrounging to get my 12 rotation songs in, and it just sort of fell into my hands. "I like the cover," I thought, "and the reviewer really likes this 'Sour Shores' song so I guess I'll play that." And I was hooked. I think I might have made an announcement on air asking Lawrence if they had just heard what I heard. I have probably listened to this song more than a hundred times and NEVER ONCE has it gotten old. It's still as fresh as when I first heard it and, at four and a half minutes, never gets boring and has enough tricks up its sleeve to keep you hooked in until the very end.

Sadly, there is no video for this song, but there IS for this one:
Video for "Song for a Clock":

And now, it is with great pleasure that I crown Portastatic's Mac MacCaughan as 2006's King of Indie Pop!

YOU GO GIRL!

As always,
Ian.