A promise made

I know my show tends to skew soft-cuddly-cute-sad. I'm a cuddler. I'm a romancer. But every once in a while, I want to give you seven minutes of hard pounding.

Seven. Whole. Minutes.

Our band, Moon Pearl, was given the chance to open for these guys at Detroit Bar, but they took so long getting back to us that we made other plans. Alas alas.

Playlist for 7-28-11

Howdy folks,

Happy Friday. Hope you have some rad stuff planned for the weekend. I’m attending a performance of “Re-Animator: The Musical” tomorrow night. I was told to wear a white shirt I don’t mind getting fake blood on. Sounds like my kind of Saturday night.

Here are things I played on my show last night!:

Things that Are Square 7-28-11

(*) = New release

Frank Black - Space Is Gonna Do Me Good - Teenager of the Year

(*) John Maus - Believer - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
(*) Com Truise - Cathode Girls - Galactic Melt
The Vaselines - Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam - The Way of the Vaselines
Yo La Tengo - Griselda - Fakebook

Dent May - 26 Miles (Santa Catalina) - The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele
(*) East River Pipe - Cold Ground - We Live in Rented Rooms
Dean & Britta - I'm Not a Young Man Anymore (My Robot Friend Remix) - 13 Most Beautiful
The Pogues - South Australia - If I Should Fall From Grace With God

Heavenly - Cool Guitar Boy - Heavenly Vs. Satan
Orange Juice - Lovesick - The Glasgow School
The Dead Milkmen - Punk Rock Girl - Death Rides a Pale Cow
(*)Fucked Up - The Other Shoe - David Comes to Life

(*) Reatards - I Gotta Rock N Roll - Teenage Hate
(*) Shannon and the Clams - Toxic Revenge - Sleep Talk
(*) Reatards - Fashion Victim - Teenage Hate (For that dude who called in from wherever he was from)
The Mummies - Whitecaps - Never Been Caught
The Sonics - The Witch - Here Are the Sonics!!!

Wipers - Romeo - Over the Edge
The Gun Club - Preaching the Blues - Fire of Love
Wire - I Am the Fly - Chairs Missing
Sonic Youth - Mary-Christ - Goo

(*) Liturgy - Generation - Aesthetica
Lightning Bolt - 2morro Morro Land - Hypermagic Mountain

(*) The Antlers - I Don't Want Love - Burst Apart
Mount Eerie - Stone's Ode - Wind's Poem
Smog - Teenage Spaceship - Knock Knock
Sigur Rós - Starálfur - Ágætis Byrjun

Glenn Branca - Lesson No. 1 for Electric Guitar - Lesson No. 1

Prove to me I'm not going to die alone

A very real concern that I harbor. Thankfully, there are heartbreakingly beautiful bands like the Antlers to join me in my miserable company.

Playlist for 7-21-11

Howdy folks,

So, I'm sure you missed me terribly last week when I had a sub. I admire your strength to make it through another week without hearing me play songs I like on amateur radio. You should be given a medal of some type. Like this one.

=>O

That's a little medal. It's yours.

Anyway. The stuff I played last night:

Things that Are Square 7-21-11

(*) = New release

The Holy Modal Rounders - Mr. Spaceman - 1 & 2

Roscoe Holcomb - Little Birdie - The High Lonesome Sound
Phosphorescent - I Gotta Get Drunk - To Willie
Yo La Tengo - Here Comes My Baby - Fakebook
Half Japanese - Firecracker - Greatest Hits (For Tracey in Santa Ana, CA)

Ghost Mice - Critical Hit - Andrew Jackson Jihad/Ghost Mice Split
Kimya Dawson - The Competition - Remember That I Love You
Jeffrey Lewis - No LSD Tonight - It's the Ones Who've Cracked that the Light Shines Through
Paul Baribeau - Better than Anything Ever - Grand Ledge

(*) Fucked Up - Queen of Hearts - David Comes to Life
(*) Titus Andronicus - Breed - Newermind
The Jesus and Mary Chain - My Little Underground - Psychocandy
(*) Naked Kids - Thugz - Fresh Meat

(*) Shannon and the Clams - The Cult Song - Sleep Talk
The Drums - Saddest Summer - Summertime!
Allo Darlin' - Henry Rollins Don't Dance - Henry Rollins Don't Dance
Jens Lekman - A Higher Power - When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog

(*) tUnE-yArDs - Doorstep - Whokill
Andrew Bird - Ohnono/Kiwembo - Tradi-Mods vs Rockers
(*) Skull Tape - Cosmos and Taxis - The Invisible Hand and the Descent of Man
St. Vincent and The National - Sleep All Summer - Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers

(*) John Maus - Cop Killer - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Round and Round - Before Today (For Jessica in Irvine, CA)
BARR - Half of Two Times Two (Newer Version) - Summary
(*) Eternal Tapestry & Sun Araw - Night Gallery III - Night Gallery
(*) Gang Gang Dance - MindKilla - Eye Contact

Ulan Bator - Let Go Ego - Ego Echo

Ooga booga baby!

The latest Shannon and the Clams album, "Sleep Talk," is going to be quite a contender on my year-end best list. Really catchy, oldies-flavored pop music with just a hint of that SF trash. Enough to give the dish a unique little tang. Plus, this song alone samples the amazing Screamin' Jay Hawkins and makes a reference to 1932's proto-grindhouse exploitation flick "Freaks." And there are 11 other songs on the album! This thing rules.

Mixin' bizness with pleasure

The problem with the amount of music I get is that I often don't REALLY have a chance to fully absorb an album until a month or two after it's released. For instance, I'm just now sitting down with tUnE-yArDs' "Bizness." A nice mix of tweaky Talking Heads-descended pop, appropriated world-beat rhythms, the requisite amount of passion, and a nice little slice of ukulele thrown in. You've probably seen this already, but if you haven't, you're welcome.

A lifelong appreciation for fake blood

So, the Mae Shi is dead. Long live the Mae Shi. But in their ashes, Brad Breeck has formed a solo project called Skull Tape which continues their legacy of high energy, anthemic pop-punk with electronic tinges (which sounds so unpleasant when you write it out like that. I promise it sounds better than that.)

Anyway. Here's a video for their song "Drowning In Blood" mixed up with their cover of Willow Smith's untouchable classic. Enjoy.

Good things happening to good people

Chad Matheny, the amazing/wonderful/genius/sweetheart behind Emperor X has recently had the good fortune of being signed to Bar/None records. Couldn't happen to a nicer dude. Here's the first video from his upcoming album (which is going to recieve VICIOUS amounts of play on my radio show when it comes out).

Blast from the past

So, earlier this year, The Mountain Goats released "All Eternals Deck" which continued their "full band" course. And, like all recent Goats albums, it had some perfect songwriting moments with a bit of filler and felt a tad over-produced (God, that goofy choir in "High Hawk Season" kills my boner so hard). When this album was released, the first XXX number of people to pre-order it from Merge received a cassette of demos and b-sides. I pre-ordered the album the SECOND I read that, but somehow still missed out on the tape. So, considering that they don't want to make money off this tape, I felt no qualms in downloading it. (Which you can do right here). I hate to shit on an artist's vision, and clearly John Darnielle is choosing to release his new albums with the studio polish/full band, but I prefer the raw, intimite honesty of these demos. The track above, "Never Quite Free," is a beautiful anthem to surviving hardship/tragedy/abuse, with this hopeful streak a mile wide that makes me a little misty. And when you add the full band it just kind of feels closer to a powerballad than I'm comfortable with. Thankfully, I can hear the original versions now.

Playlist for 7-7-11

Folks!

I'm so ready for the weekend. My apartment has been so hot that I haven't been able to get to sleep when I want, and I am really looking forward to the chance to not be woken up by an alarm clock at 630am. That's gonna be sweet. You know what else is gonna be sweet? The Omar Souleyman/Moon Pearl show at the Echo on Tuesday! You should strongly consider going to that. Us Moon Pearlians will love you for it. I'm sure Mr. Souleyman will also appreciate it (though I don't know him, so can't guarantee anything).

Anyway. Here's what I played last night:

Things that Are Square 7-7-11

(*) = New release

(*) John Maus - Hey Moon - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves

(*) The Antlers - Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out - Burst Apart
Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Giants - Here Come the Warm Giants
Spacemen 3 - Feel So Good - Perfect Prescription
Fog - I, Baby - Live Performance Recording

(*) Pure X - Voices - Pleasure
Galaxie 500 - Flowers - Peel Sessions
David Bazan - When We Fell - Curse Your Branches
Calvin Johnson - Deliverance - Before the Dream Faded...

(*) Psychedelic Horseshit - French Countryside - Laced
(*) Kids on A Crime Spree - Sweet Tooth - We Love You So Bad
The Wedding Present - Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft - George Best Plus
(*) Thee Oh Sees - Blood on the Deck - Castlemania

The Vaselines - Lovecraft - The Way of the Vaselines
OOIOO - Grow Sound Tree - Gold & Green
(*) Ponytail - Easy Peasy - Do Whatever You Want All the Time

(*) YACHT - Utopia - Shangri-La
Edan - Making Planets (Ft. Mr. Lif) - Beauty and the Beat
Madvillain - Great Day (Four Tet Remix) - Remixes
(*) Wugazi - Sleep Rules Everything Around Me - 13 Chambers

(*) The Very Best - I Can Change (Ft. LCD Soundsystem) - Super Mom Mixtape
Dead Kennedys - Kill the Poor - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Misfits - Some Kinda Hate - Static Age
D.I. - O.C. Life - Ancient Artifacts

Jeffrey Lewis - End Result - 12 Crass Songs
Paul Baribeau - Ten Things - Grand Ledge
Kimya Dawson - My Rollercoaster - Remember that I Love You

Xiu Xiu - Chocolate Makes You Happy - Dear God, I Hate Myself

Nobody's perfect

I will be the first to admit that I have gaps in my musical knowledge. As much as I'd like to pretend I'm this Godlike source of knowledge, there are huge gaps in my rock and roll education. For example: before I saw Cunt Sparrer live, the only thing I knew about Cock Sparrer was that they had a name I probably can't say on-air. Now, after picking up the album "Shock Troops," I'm also aware that they right totally awesome, anthemic oi-punk songs (see above).

Playlist for 6-30-11

Fellow Americans,

Are you ready for the three-day Independence Day weekend? BBQ? Fireworks? Patriotic musical mixes that feature Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA"? I was working on a menu for lunch at my parents' house on Monday, and it ended up involving micheladas and roasted corn with lime. Super patriotic, right? Hahaha.

Anyway, here's the music I played last night. Enjoy.

Things that Are Square 6-30-11
(*) = New release

Low - Venus - A Lifetime of Temporary Relief

(*) Blanck Mass - Chernobyl - Blanck Mass
(*) EMA - Breakfast - Past Life Martyred Saints
Xiu Xiu - Clowne Towne - Fabulous Muscles
(*) Sebadoh - Not a Friend - Bakesale: Deluxe Edition

Akron/Family - Woody Guthrie's America - The Woody Project
(*) Woods - Pushing Onlys - Sun and Shape
Do Make Say Think - Executioner's Blues - You, You're a History in Rust

(*) Beach Fossils - What a Pleasure - What a Pleasure (For Eric in Tustin, CA)
The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Feel So Good - Tepid Peppermint Wonderland
Can - Paperhouse - Tago Mago

The Feelies - Everybody's Got Something to Hide (Except for Me and My Monkey) - Crazy Rhythms
Wipers - Tragedy - Is This Real?
Talulah Gosh - The Girl with the Strawberry Hair - Backwash
KIT - Ambrosia - Invocation

Beat Happening - Bad Seeds - 1983-85
Beat Happening - Bewitched - Jamboree
Beat Happening - Cast a Shadow - Black Candy
Beat Happening - Fortune Cookie Prize - Dreamy
Beat Happening - Tiger Trap - You Turn Me On

(*) Fucked Up - Ship of Fools - David Comes to Life
(*) Jeff The Brotherhood - Diamond Way - We Are the Champions
(*) Times New Viking - Ever Falling in Love - Dancer Equired
CUNT SPARRER - We're Coming Back - Unreleased

(*) Hunx and His Punx - Too Young to Be in Love - Too Young to Be in Love
Peach Kelli Pop - Do the Eggroll - Peach Kelli Pop

The Sonics - Psycho - Here Are the Sonics!!!