Halloween opinions

I will champion "They Were Wrong So We Drowned" as Liars's best album. I may be the only one, but people need to know the truth. I will preach it.

And aside from that fact, it is PERFECT for Halloween. Fact.

Playlist for 10-28-10

Hey folks,

My yearly Halloween show got cut short due to women's basketball pre-emption. The ultimate insult. But, that's fine. I've been sick the last couple days and was doing the show on a healthy amount of Robitussin. I probably shouldn't have been allowed near a microphone, anyway.

Things that Are Square 10-28-10

(*) = New release

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Song of Joy - Murder Ballads

Tom Waits - Murder in the Red Barn - Bone Machine
Liars - Broken Witch - They Were Wrong So We Drowned
Final Fantasy - The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead - Has a Good Home

(*) The Vaselines - The Devil's Inside Me - Sex with an X
The Cramps - Human Fly - Gravest Hits
Beat Happening - Hangman - Jamboree
Chain and the Gang - Cemetery Map - Down with Liberty...Up with Chains!

Misfits - Skulls - Walk Among Us
Old Time Relijun - Daemon Meeting - Catharsis in Crisis
Best Friends Forever - Ghost Song - Romance Conflict Adventure

More than a passing similarity to Sam Cooke

I've never seen the King Khan & BBQ Show live. But if I did, this song would elicit a VICIOUS getting-down. Like "oh shit, I think I just wounded my ass via SHAKING IT."

I am happy there are bands still sort of doing "oldies." Quote unquote.

Bah

I wish my friend Kathlyn was still alive so I could invite her to this.

Secret fantasies

One of my secret dreams is that I'd really like to sing bass or something in an old-school doo-wop group. This stuff is so mind-blowingly good.

(This post has been brought to you by "Kyle watching Back to the Future for the 100000th time")

I'm not hosting tonight

Hey folks,

Things that Are Square will be on tonight, like every Thursday, but I won't be hosting it. My family is taking my dad to see Jimmy Buffet for his birthday, so I got a subsitute host.

If you refuse to listen to a Kyle-less TtAS, you can watch Cannibal: The Musical instead. If you're unfamiliar, Cannibal is the first movie the guys from South Park ever made. You may recognize one of the songs as the jingle for their production company (the little title card that appears at the end of every episode).

Enjoy.

Blah blah blah

Etc. etc. etc.

Catsup post

I've been behind on posting the stuff I've been listening to lately, so here's a bit of a dump. Enjoy.



I'm stoked to see even Ronald McDonald eats at In-n-Out.




Full album can be downloaded for free here.




Lots of Smog has come out through my speakers this year.



Comet Gain's Réalistes is such a rewarding little album. Twee pop and Oh Sees-like kraut-garage jams. I dig it.

Vocal dreamteams

After their tag-team for charity in NY, Björk and Dirty Projectors teamed up for the Mount Wittenberg Orca digital EP, with proceeds going to the National Geographic Society Ocean Initiatives.

This particular jam doesn't have much (any?) Björk on it, but I think you get the idea.

Playlist for 10-14-10

Hey folks,

Ready for the weekend? Doing anything rad? Going to the cool-as-shit Mi Ami, KIT, moon pearl show at UCI tomorrow? Going to LA's Beer Fest on LA? I WILL SEE YOU AT BOTH OF THOSE EVENTS.

Anyway. We play music here. This is the kind of music we play.

Things that Are Square 10-14-10

(*) = New release

(*) Swans - Jim - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky

(*) Dean & Britta - I'll Keep It with Mine (Scott Hardkiss Remix) - 13 Most Beautiful: Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests
When I Was 12 - Explicit Content - Dear Eskimo
The Moldy Peaches - Jorge Regula - The Moldy Peaches
The Wave Pictures - Strange Fruit for David - Instant Coffee Baby

(*) Superchunk - Digging for Something - Majesty Shredding
The Vaselines - Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam - The Way of the Vaselines
Superchunk - Like a Fool - Foolish
(*) The Vaselines - Overweight But Over You - Sex with an X

(*) No Age - Glitter - Everything in Between
Arab Strap - I Saw You - Ten Years of Tears
Jawbreaker - The Boat Dreams From the Hill - 24 Hour Revenge Therapy
(*) Les Savy Fav - Dirty Knails - Root for Ruin

(*) Nobunny - Ain't It a Shame - First Blood
Best Coast - Crazy for You - Crazy for You
Beat Happening - Bewitched - Jamboree
Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets - Here Come the Warm Jets

(*) The Books - All You Need Is a Wall - The Way Out
Matmos - Cockles and Mussels - For Alan Turing
(*) Dirty Projectors - Stillness Is the Move (Lucky Dragons Remix) - Bitte Orca (Expanded Edition)

Mi Ami - Dreamers - Steal Your Face
(*) Blue Water White Death - Nerd Future - Blue Water White Death
(*) Grinderman - Worm Tamer - Grinderman 2
The Family Shocks - Happy Pills - Unreleased

Smog - Truth Serum - Supper

I'm upset

So, listen. How the fuck did you let me live nearly 3 decades without seeing this movie?

Free Superchunk/Vaselines tickets!

Tomorrow night on my radio show (10/14), I'll be giving away a free pair of tickets to see Superchunk and the Vaselines at the Music Box Theater on October 19th. Call in and win!

Sometimes the things I want don't exist

Dean & Britta's latest album, "13 Most Beautiful: Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests," is pretty self-explanatory. The former Galaxie 500 frontman and his lady wrote songs to accompany 13 of Andy Warhol's screen tests for folks like Lou Reed, Nico, Dennis Hopper, Edie Sedgwick, and other Factory-era folks. Ideally, I'd love to show you a video of this song, a cover of Dylan's "I'll Keep It With Mine" (later covered by Nico), synced up to Nico's screen test. Such things exist for some of the OTHER screen tests. But Lady Luck is not with us tonight, my dears. So, I dunno...find a video of that and turn the sound off and play this song and use the POWERS OF YOUR IMAGINATION.

Also, if you're ever find yourself in Pittsburgh, the Andy Warhol Museum is totally worth the cash.

Perhaps a tad more sinister

This morning, NPR did a little feature on Belle and Sebastian (who I saw at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Tuesday, which was pretty great). They were discussing the religious themes in Stuart Murdoch's lyrics and he explained how he goes to church and how its important to him so it's going to come up in his songs. And I kind of realized that the album "If You're Feeling Sinister" has probably brought me more comfort and joy than my decades at church. That thought bummed me out.

Things that Are Square sub

Hey guys,

George Rosales of the very excellent "George Had a Hat" will be subbing my show tonight, while I go see some indie band in LA. They're called Arcade Fire. You probably haven't heard of them.

A great injustice

1. How can a song this good only have one relevant result on youtube?

2. For a guy who was raised on oldies during his youth, and punk and ska during his high school years, I'm really unsure where I picked up this undying love for rock guitars.

3. I learned about this song-EP-band through a cyling blog run by a dude who used to blog for the company I bought my super-rad bike from.

Four Tet remixes the XX

The xx - VCR (Four Tet remix) by Four Tet

Man. That asshole is good at music.

By the way

That's still rad.

I don't understand why that show's called "Lazytown" though. I mean, they're baking and stuff. That sounds like work to me.

A mildly-voyeuristic interest in overheard phone calls

Listen. The new Books album, "The Way Out," is one of the best things I've heard this year. In fact, if Mi Ami's "Steal Your Face" didn't exist, the Books would be the #1 album fo 2010 for me. It's so beautifully textured and rhythmically interesting and the found sounds are so engaging and fascinating, and it's all done with just a dash of humor. It's such a god damned good record. Come over to my apartment. We'll listen to it. You need to hear it.

Playlist for 9-30-10 (The All-covers show)

Hey folks,

Last night, I played a whole mess of cover songs, because I wanted to, and I am a creature of whimsy. Hope you enjoyed it.

The playlist:

Things that Are Square 9/30/10

The Wave Pictures - Nothing Can Change This Love - If You Leave It Alone (Sam Cooke)

Jonathan Richman - The Heart of Saturday Night - You Must Ask the Heart (Tom Waits)
Man Man - I'd Rather Go Blind - Unreleased (Etta James)
Dent May - When You Were Mine - A Brush with Velvet (Prince)
Half Japanese - La Bamba - Greatest Hits (Ritchie Valens)

The Free Design - Michelle - Kites Are Fun (The Beatles)
Belle and Sebastian - Here Comes the Sun - The BBC Sessions (The Beatles)
The Feelies - Everybody's Got Something to Hide (Except for Me and My Monkey) - Crazy Rhythms (The Beatles)
The Wedding Present - Getting Better - George Best Plus (The Beatles)

Dead Kennedys - Viva Las Vegas - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (Elvis Presley)
Bratmobile - Cherry Bomb - Pottymouth (The Runaways)
Guitar Wolf - Summertime Blues - Golden Black (Eddie Cochran)
Condo Fucks - Shut Down - Fuckbook (The Beach Boys)
The Sonics - Roll Over Beethoven - Here Are the Sonics!!! (Chuck Berry)

Dinosaur Jr. - Just Like Heaven - You're Living All Over Me (The Cure)
Treepeople - Big Mouth Strikes Again - Something Vicious for Tomorrow/Time Whore (The Smiths)
The Pastels - Different Drum - Truckload of Trouble (Linda Rondstadt)
The Cramps - Lonesome Town - Gravest Hits (Ricky Nelson)

Karen O & The Million Dollar Bashers - Highway 61 Revisited - I'm Not There (Bob Dylan)
Dirty Projectors - I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine - Levi's Pioneer Sessions (Bob Dylan)
The Angels of Light - I Pity the Poor Immigrant - Akron/Family & The Angels of Light (Bob Dylan)
Dear Nora - Girl From the North Country - Three States (Bob Dylan)

The Mountain Goats - You're So Vain - Hail and Farewell, Gothenburg (Carly Simon)
Jacob Borshard - Rainbow Connection - Unreleased (The Muppets)
Hem - (The Angels Wanna Wear) My Red Shoes - Almost You: The Songs of Elvis Costello
Anni Rossi - Living in Danger - Rockwell (Ace of Base)

Nouvelle Vague - I Melt with You - Nouvelle Vague (Modern English)
The Lucksmiths - I Started a Joke - Spring a Leak (Bee Gees)
Okkervil River - Do What You Gotta Do - Golden Opportunities Mixtape (Nina Simone)
Low - Lord, Can You Hear Me? - A Lifetime of Temporary Relief (Spacemen 3)
Final Fantasy - Paris 1919 - Live on CBC Radio (John Cale)

Tracey Thorn & Jens Lekman - Yeah! Oh, Yeah! - Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers (The Magnetic Fields)