I'm not the one to try to tell you- 9/28 Show

This week was a hard week at work; I stayed very late three nights in a row. We launched a new web site on Wednesday night.

Our Online Product Manager for the product has been in a couple of bands, he tells us. Which ones? Nothing I'd heard of... but they are not unheard-of bands, despite my ignorance, because there were a couple of them in WLUW's catalogue. (To be fair, he also played on Nina Persson's solo project; I've heard of her, since she was lead singer of The Cardigans. This, however, was not in the catalogue.) Anyway, I played both bands, Champale and Clem Snide, back-to-back this morning, in honor of having worked so closely with their saxophonist all week.

This was week three of DJ training for Julio; the second hour (which I've left off, below) was his. He did better than the week before (which is what training is all about, after all). Next week, he goes solo... and I sleep in.

* = new stuff / (r) = requests

artist	song	album	label
New Order	The Age of Consent	Selections from Retro	Warner Brothers
Champale	Like I Do	Simple Days	Pitch-A-Tent
Clem Snide	Joan Jett of Arc	The Ghost of Fashion	Spin Art
*Devendra Banhart	So Long Old Bean	Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon	XL
*Aesop Rock	Coffee	None Shall Pass	Definitive Jux
LCD Soundsystem	Watch the Tapes	Sounds of Silver	DFA/Capitol
Klaus Nomi	Simple Man	Simple Man	RCA
*Bettye LaVette	The Last Time	The Scene and the Grime	Anti-
Lena Horne	My Blue Heaven	Some of the Best	Stanyan
CocoRosie	Sunshine	The Adventures of Ghost Horse and Stillborn	Touch and Go
*Caribou	Irene	Andorra	Merge
Headlights	Centuries	The Enemies EP	Polyvinyl
The Vandervoorts	He's Realistic	Self-released
Mary Weiss	My Heart is Beating	Dangerous Game	Norton
*Tunng	Arms	Good Arrows	Thrill Jockey
Neko Case	Soulful Shade of Blue	The Tigers Have Spoken	Anti-

Labels: playlists

posted by Tony at 9:59 PM | 0 comments

Tug 'o War

Finally, finally, this week's comic is up.

And after three very late nights, our new web site at work has launched and it seems to be a success. Time will tell.

Thank you for your patience!

Labels: comic

posted by Tony at 10:12 PM | 0 comments

Working Hard; Comic Late; Limericks for Punk Geeks

Last night I was at work till 11:30 pm, working toward a new major site launch on Wednesday. As a consequence, Finn and Charlie will be late this week. Sigh.

So to tide you all over, something to interest to Punk Rock Geeks in the audience: London Calling as a suite of limericks. It's all kinds of awesome.

Labels: comic, music, personal

posted by Tony at 3:21 PM | 2 comments

All of it's hot- 9/21 Show

This week I biked to work on Thursday. On my way home, two songs came up in my iPod Shuffle that I decided to play in my show the next day (which happens a lot) — today's first two songs. The Postal Service song is from an album I confess I don't even know that well; when I got home, I had to plug it into my computer to find out what I'd been listening to (the Shuffle has no readout). The B-52's song is, by contrast, maybe 25 years old, and from an album I have had for at least 20.

It's still DJ training time, and my trainee is Julio. I gave him control of the second hour, so he'd really get a feel for it. It went OK.

Here's my hour:


* = new stuff / (r) = requests

artist	song	album	label
The B-52's	Legal Tender	Whammy!	Warner Brothers
The Postal Service	We Will Become Silhouettes	Give Up	Sub Pop
*Imperial Teen	The Hair the TV the Baby & the Band	The Hair the TV the Baby & the Band	Merge
*The Go! Team feat. Chuck D	Flashlight Fight	Proof of Youth	Sub Pop
The Noisettes	Don't Give Up	What's the Time Mr Wolf?	Universal/Motown
Bobby Conn	Jealous (Winners Mix)	Winners EP	Thrill Jockey
*Office	Big Bang Jump	A Night at the Ritz	Scratchie/Newline
Os Mutantes	Panis et Circensis	Tropicália ou Panis et Circensis
Jacque Brel	Ne Me Quitte Pas	Ne Me Quitte Pas	Universal
Rufus Wainwright	Leaving for Paris	Release the Stars	Geffen
Jim O'Rourke	Memory Lane	Insignificance	Drag City
*Bettye LaVette	Before the Money Came (the Battle of Bettye LaVette)	The Scene and the Crime	Anti-
Animal Collective	For Reverend Green	Strawberry Jam	Domino
The Smiths	Sheila Take a Bow	Louder than Bombs	Sire

Labels: music, playlists

posted by Tony at 8:03 PM | 1 comments

This year, why not give the gift of facial hair?

Well, I very nearly didn't get this up today. Actually, technically it is tomorrow already. But here we go! Finn and Charlie are HITCHED. Do enjoy.

Labels: comic

posted by Tony at 11:59 PM | 0 comments

Left in obscurity: subbing for Nicole, 9/17

I subbed for Nicole ("The Perfect Face for Radio," as she calls her show) tonight. She has a trainee, Ashley, and so I gave the second hour to her. I already know Ashley — she's been with the station for a year already, maybe, but she's just starting DJ training now.

Here's my hour:

* new / (r) request

Stereolab	The Flower Called Nowhere	Dots and Loops	Elektra
*M.I.A.	Bamboo Banga	Kala	Interscope
*Bettye LaVette	You Don't Know Me at All	The Scene and the Crime	Anti-
The Shangri-La's	The Train from Kansas City	The Myrdmidons of Melodrama	RPM
Kate Bush	Rocket's Tail	The Sensual World	Columbia
*Le Loup	Breathing Rapture	The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nation's Millenium Assembly	Hardly Art
OK Go	Here It Goes Again	Oh No	Capitol
Manu Chao	Malegría	Clandestino
Eugenio Bennato	Che Il Mediterraneo Sia	World 2003	Narada World
*Office	The Ritz	A Night at the Ritz	Scratchie/New Line
*New Pornographers	Mutiny, I Promise You	Challengers	Matador
Chin Up Chin Up	The Soccer Mom Gets Her Fix	Chin Up Chin Up	Flameshovel
(r)The Notwist	Neon Golden	Neon Golden	Domino

Labels: playlists

posted by Tony at 10:17 PM | 0 comments

Scream and Shout - 9/13 Show

Probably my favorite New Order song is the one that opened today's show, "All Day Long." It's got a symphonic quality to the synthesizers and a rhythm that feels as though it's constantly moving forward. The whole effect is dense, enveloping, and slightly sad.

Today was my interview with Haale (who's playing Saturday night at the Kinetic Playground). It was my first ever live interview, and it went pretty well, I thought. Mike from work heard it and said I sounded like an old hand. Unfortunately, the tape recorder was disconnected and I didn't get a recording of it. A short interview is a funny thing, because there isn't really time to learn anything new. It was news to my listeners, I'm sure, which is enough. Anyway, maybe I'll do more live interviews... anyone want to be interviewed?

Whenever I play the Family Fodder, I invariably play "Deep Time", because I love the song so much. It's a good move-your-but dance toon — but there are other good songs on the album I should probably play. I bought the album because I liked the song "Naked" so much (another dance tune, which ends with a non-dancey couple of minutes of wailing bagpipes that evoke windswept moors. (So maybe I'd want to fade out partway into that; I enjoy it, but I do think it's about a minute or so too much.) The Family Fodder is a sort of post-punk collective from the early 80's, who came back together in 1999/2000 to release Water Shed. I discovered them when I used to listed to Yale's AM station on the internet; they always played Family Fodder's cover of "Sunday Girl", but it took me a while to figure out who they were. (Yale's AM station, at least at the time, was often playing off a tape, with a recorded DJ's voice coming in and announcing the songs periodically, but so quietly and quickly that I could hardly ever understand it. Still, it introduced me to some great stuff.)

The full playlist:

* = new stuff / (r) = requests

artist	song	album	label
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists	Counting Down the Hours	Shake the Sheets	Locust
New Order	All Day Long	Selections from Retro	Warner Brothers
Family Fodder	Deep Time	Water Shed	Dark Beloved Chord
Laurie Anderson	Baby Doll	Talk Normal: The Laurie Anderson Anthology	Warner Bros
*Aesop Rock	Five Fingers	None Shall Pass	Definitive Jux
*Bat for Lashes	Prescilla	Fur and Gold	Echo
Charlotte Gainsboug	Tel Que Tu Es	5:55	Because Music/Vice
*Mirah and Spectratone International	My Lord Who Hums	Share the Place	k Records
Elvis Costello	My Funny Valentine	Armed Forces	Ryko
Cocteau Twins	Heaven or Las Vegas	Stars and Topsoil: 1981-1990	4AD
The Aluminum Group	Chocolates	Plano	Minty Fresh
*Thurston Moore	Never Day	Trees outside the Academy	Ecstatic Peace
*Imperial Teen	Everyone Wants to Know	The Hair, the TV, the Baby and the Band	Merge
Zerostars	Like Lovers Do	The Good Can't Escape	Self-released
Romeo Void	Talk Dirty to Me	Warm, in Your Coat	Columbia/Legacy
The Decemberists	Angel, Won't You Call Me	5 Songs	Hush Records
Tom Waits	Please Call Me, Baby	The Heart of Saturday Night	Asylum
The Housemartins	The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death	The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death	Elektra
*Stereo Total	Miss Rébellion des Hormones	Paris-Berlin	Kill Rock Stars
*The Yeah Yeah Yeahs	Kiss Kiss	Is Is EP	Interscope
The Fiery Furnaces	I'm in No Mood	Bitter Tea	Fat Possum
P:ano	All of November, Most of October	When It's Dark and It's Summer	Zum/Hi-Five Recordings
*Plane	Blood on the Waves	Lose All Time	Paper Bag
*You Say Party! We Say Die!	Monster	Lose All Time	Paper Bag
Atombombpocketknife	Leave Tonight	Lack Aid Pattern	File 13
Yasuyuki Okamura	Burning Down the House	Fine Time~A Tribute to New Wave
Haale	Floating Down	Paratrooper	Darya Records
Interview with Haale
Haale	Navayee	Morning	Darya Records

Labels: music, playlists

posted by Tony at 11:15 AM | 0 comments

Nice hat

So here's me posting early enough that this week's Finn and Charlie and Hitched will be available all day on Tuesday, instead of just the last few minutes.

Enjoy!

Labels: comic

posted by Tony at 12:02 AM | 1 comments

Wondering if I've got a soul - 9/7 Show

So I finally asked the name of my regular caller, whose voice I always recognize: Pete. Hi Pete! Pete apparently has a younger brother my age. "My little brother is named Tony... well I call him my little brother, actually he's 36." Thanks Pete! I didn't mention that I too was 36. I was struck by the urge to say "Hey, I'm 36, maybe we know each other," as if having the same name and being the same age would somehow make us likely to cross paths.

Instead, I took a request for Imogen Heap. Interestingly, the reason we have Imogen Heap in the library is because sometime last year Mary Nisi brought it in an played it during her show, and Pete heard it, and then requested it during my show. Since it wasn't in the library, and Mary had played it (and I figured it was probably therefore good), I put it on our CD request list. When the station then bought a copy, I volunteered to review it, since it was sort of my idea to get it. So something about Pete requesting it and me playing it today brings the whole thing full circle nicely.

So to me, this is kind of the point about community radio — we really do respond to our listeners. During the last pledge drive, I went on the air with Mary during her show to pitch, and I told the Pete-Imogen Heap story. Mary said that she had played Imogen Heap because she'd heard it on The O.C. or Grey's Anatomy or something like that. Actually, this changes the story for me a little bit... I don't know, it just feels different. Anyway, now when you hear about what a big deal it is for artists to get their songs on TV, well there you have it. From TV to Mary to Pete to me to WLUW's library and our full listenership.

Pete requested Imogen Heap because he thought it would go with my set of chanteuses, as he put it, which I am apparently known for. (It's an area where I feel my show intersects with Claire's Monday night show, though I do like my dance music, too.)

Tom Waits is, of course, not a chanteuse, but you might call him a chanteur. I played the title track from Rain Dogs, an album my sister gave me while I was in high school. (She got quite into him in college.) Rain Dogs is a nice balance between his earlier, croonier music, and his later, more rough-edged work. The lyrics are colorful, and though they don't exactly tell stories, they seem to allude to them, and in this way, the album feels pleasantly like a soundtrack to a musical.

Lena Horne is a fabulous chanteuse with a gorgeous voice. I don't know her work as well as some of the other jazz vocalists I play, and though the songs on this album are old standards, I'm only really well acquainted with a couple. So playing songs from Some of the Best is always an adventure and a pleasant surprise.

Camille is a French artist recommended to be by Graziella. Her music features lots of oversampled vocals and complex rhythms, and is noticeably influenced by Afropop. If you like Zap! Mama, you'll like Camille. "Baby Carni Bird" is about half in English, the only English on the album I think. I tend to avoid English songs on foreign albums, because of my fondness for foreign languages, but "Baby Carni Bird" is really quite a nice song, showing heavy American Soul music influences.

The album from Mirah and Spectratone International is new in the studio, and I'm still in the process of discovering it. So far, it's good stuff. Many of the song titles refer to insects directly ("Love Song of the Fly") or obliquely ("Credo Cigalia" — not sure of the meaning, but "cigale" is French for "cicada", and the song refers to noise-making insects). "My Prize" seems to be told from the point of view of a dung beetle. It is musically lovely, though: a waltz somewhat reminiscent of old sea shanties.

And finally Imogen Heap, by request. "Have You Got It In You" was a nice choice; it's not one of the songs that stands out the most, which I think makes for a better set of music. The album Speak for Yourself is perhaps a bit too tightly-produced; I thought the Pitchfork Review summed it up well with the line "Heap actually mortgaged her London flat to finance the making of this record, and the go-for-broke attitude is evident. This record is produced within an inch of its life...." While the album as a whole can be a bit much, it's good mixed into other things, and so perfect for radio. (This problem can work the other way around, too — last year's There's Nothing I'd Like More Than to See You Dead by the Husbands is perhaps a bit too rough for a whole album, but mixes in well with other music.)

The full playlist:

* = new stuff / (r) = requests

artist	song	album	label
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists	Counting Down the Hours	Shake the Sheets	Locust
Frank Zappa	I'm the Slime	Zappa Picks: Jon Fishman of Phish	Ryko
*Aesop Rock	Catacomb Kids	None Shall Pass	Definitive Jux
(r) Bloc-Party	She's Hearing Voices	Silent Alarm	Vice
The Electric Prunes	I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night
Har Mar Superstar	Body Request	The Handler	Record Collection
*You Say Party! We Say Die!	Moon	Lose All Time	Paper Bag
*Patrick Cleandemin	Until You Say I'm Gone	Baby Come Home	Ba Da Bing
The Andrews Sisters	Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree	The Andrews Sisters Greatest Hits	CURB Records
Mavis Staples	99 1/2	We'll Never Turn Back	Anti-
*Imperial Teen	Room with a View	The Hair the TV the Baby and the Band	Merge
The Brown Party	The Plus Four Equals Fun	The Brown Party	Self-released (thebrownparty.com)
Ben Folds Five	Kate	Whatever and Even Amen	Epic
*Architecture in Helsinki	Debbie	Places Like This	Polyvinyl
Feist	I Feel It All	The Reminder	Interscope
Tom Waits	Raindogs	Raindogs	Island
Lena Horne	My Blue Heaven	Some of the Best	Stanyan
Camille	Baby Carni Bird	Le Fil	EMI
*Mirah and Spectratone International	My Prize	Share this Place	k Records
(r)Imogen Heap	Have You Got It in You?	Speak for Yourself	RCA Victor
*M.I.A.	Boyz	Kala	Interscope
Psalm One with DJDQ of Glue	Beat the Drum	The Death of Frequent Flyer	Rhymesayers
Deee-Lite	What Is Love?	World Clique	Elektra
*Justice	Newjack	†	Ed Banger/Vice
My or May Not	Best You Can	Colors Only Bees Can See	Two Thumbs Down
B-52's	Dirty Back Road	Wild Planet	WB
Haale	Home Again	Paratrooper	Darya
*Augie March	There Is No Such Place	Moo, You Bloody Choir	Jive
*The Rentals	Little Bit of You in Everything	Last Little Life EP	Boompa
(r)Throwing Muses	Juno	House Tornado	Sire
The Shangri-La's	Sophisticated Boom Boom	The Myrmidons of Melodrama	RPM

Labels: music, playlists

posted by Tony at 7:25 AM | 1 comments

I mock you, prime-time television!

New Finn and Charlie!

Note to the world: in this blog I always link to the main page for my comic, so whenever you follow this link, it will always be the latest comic. To read earlier comics, click the "<PREVIOUS" link just below the comic.

So anyway, I did enjoy drawing the new guy in the office. Wheee!

Labels: comic

posted by Tony at 11:31 PM | 4 comments