Pop Rocks!: Episode 4.3

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

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

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!!!

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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