She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake: 3/30 show

Some notes on what I played:

Ben Folds It was Eric's sister Susanne who introduced me to Ben Folds a good 10 years ago or so, by giving us her copy of the Ben Folds Five's second album, which she didn't want anymore. The trio's third album (yes, the Ben Folds Five was of course a trio), The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, was in my opinion their finest work, and Ben Folds's finest work. Still, Folds continues to make good music. (I've seen a couple of his shows. He's a good performer, probably at his best when performing solo. The fans, on the other hand, are an irritating crowd I'd prefer not to be around. Note to any fans reading this: I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about the other ones.) Anyway, Recently Ben Folds put out a full-length album that combined material he'd put out on EPs over the past few years. Not as good as Reinhold Messner, and sort of fragmented, as you might expect from an album meshed together from 4 EPs. One of the stand-out tracks, though, is "Dog". One of the things Folds does best — that no one else I've found is doing — is catchy but complicated piano parts. He also has a (less unique) talent for clever lyrics and good hooks. "Dog" is an excellent example of this. The lyrics begin by examining what dogs do and how they relate to us, and expands from there into philosophizing. (Philosophy that is coherent if not especially deep.)

Tinariwen is a band out of the Touareg area of Mali. There's something I find very odd about the idea that Volkswagen has introduced an SUV named after a people of the Western Sahara. How do the Touareg feel about this? In any event, this is a new album and I'm just learning about it now. Like a lot of African music groups, the songs trend on the long side, which can create a dilemma for a DJ — if I play this song, that's fewer songs I get to play overall. (Generally, I welcome the opportunity to breathe for a few extra minutes and not have only a couple of minutes to chose my next song.) The Tinariwen song I played elicited a "what's this you are playing, I like it" call. And I liked it too, and I'm going to keep exploring it. I can't really explain the sound yet, because I don't know it well enough yet — but my impression is Afro-pop, but slightly different from more standard Afro-pop.

The Style Council "The Paris Match" is a song my friend Sarah J. put on a mix for me some 15 years ago or so. It's actually the second version of the song TSC recorded. The first one was recorded in French (with maybe one English verse), with Paul Weller doing vocals; it's just OK, nothing special. The second version is found on Café Bleu, at a time when Dee C. Lee was in the process of joining the group, but not officially a part of it. (She's featured on a few of the tracks on teh album.) Rather than Lee or Weller on vocals, this Paris Match features the smokey alto vocals of Tracey Thorn of Everything but the Girl. This version is transcendant. TSC created here a real smokey jazz sound that is quite unlike the jazz-inflected pop they usually made. While I enjoy their hits — "How She Threw It All Away" and "My Every Changing Moods" — I prefer their more unusual and creative work, like "The Paris Match" and "The Story of Someone's Shoe". Meanwhile, Tracey Thorn has a new solo album out, and I picked it up at the station today to review. I haven't heard it yet, but it will surely make on the air next week.

Lady Sovereign is the current darling of the British Grime scene, a style of Rap with angular, jerky rhythms. "9 to 5" is a cute song about the dark side of success: you have to work. It's also insanely catchy, with a Carribean edge more like Lily Allen than Sov. I had it in my head all day.

*: new stuff
(r): requests

artist	song/album	label
Elvis Costello and the Attractions	Watching the Detectives / The Very Best of...	Rykodisc
Ben Folds	Dog / Supersunnyspeedgraphic LP	Attacked by Plastic/Epic
*Mess Up the Mess	Hippocratic Oaf / You Remind Me of Summer Vacation	Paroxysm
The Smoking Popes	Zing Went the Strings of My Heart / The Party's Over	Double Zero
(r)Manishevitz	Mary Ann / City Life	JagJaguwar
*!!!	Bend Over Beethoven / Myth Takes	WARP
Morrissey	The Last of the Famous International Playboys / Bona Drag	Sire
Simon & Garfunkel	Like a Bridge over Troubled Water / Old Friends	Columbia/Legacy
*Air	Mer du Japon / Pocket Symphony	Astralwerks
*Tinariwen	Tamatant Tilay / Aman Iman: Water Is Life	World Village
The Aluminum Group	Tiny Decision / Happyness	Wishing Tree
The Fiery Furnaces	Guns under the Counter / Rehearsing My Choir	Rough Trade
*The Postmarks	Summer Never Seems to Last / The Postmarks	Unfiltered
The Style Council	The Paris Match / Café Bleu	Polydor
The Replacements	Can't Hardly Wait / Pleased to Meet Me	Sire
The Andrews Sisters	Rum and Coca Cola / Greatest Hits	CURB Records
*Jo Ann Garrett	Goin' Man Huntin' / Twinight's Lunar Rotation	Numero Group
*El-P	Run the Numbers / I'll Sleep When You're Dead	Def Jux
Lady Sovereign	9 to 5 / Public Warning	Island/Def Jam
(r)Devo	Through Being Cool / Hot Potatoes: the Best of Devo	Virgin
Tricky	Black Steel / Maxinquaye	Island
*Gruff Rhys	Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru / Candylion	Team Love
Troubled Hubble	Lonesome Hawthorne / The Sun Beamed off the Name Maurice	Magic Spot
*The Melvins	You're Never Right / A Senile Animal	Ipecac
Laurie Anderson	Gravity's Rainbow / The Talk Normal Anthology	Rhino
Vyvienne Long	Seven Nation Army / Even Better than the Real Thing
Canasta	Sympathetic Vibrations / We Were Set Up	Broken Middle C
*The Zincs	Burdensome Son / Black Pompadour	Thrill Jockey

Labels: music, playlists

posted by Tony at 10:32 AM | 1 comments

Now I've seen everything

This week's Hitched...

Labels: comic

posted by Tony at 11:55 PM | 1 comments

It's only springtime: 3/23 show

A spring-themed show! Thanks for all the requests.

Some notes one what I played:

The Super Furry Animals I discovered the song Ysbeidiau Heulog several years ago before I had even started listening to WLUW. The station I heard it on would i.d. the song merely as "Welsh", as in "that was the Super Furry Animals, and that song is Welsh". It took me a little while to figure out what the song was. It sounded to me like they were singing "lazy eye, halo"; it's actually pronounced iz-BAY-dee-eye HAY-log. I found a web page listing and translating the lyrics. The name means "sunny intervals", and so it seemed like a good spring song. The song has a nice psychedlic vibe; I still don't really know the rest of the album, Mwng, which is a two-CD set of rock entirely in Welsh.

Meanwhile, the Super Furry Animals' lead singer, Gruff Rhys, has a solo project out now, and I played the title track (Candylion) from it right before this song. It was pretty different; you wouldn't know it was even the same singer. It's sort of a sweet silly song you might sing to your kids.

LCD Soundsystem's new album is one of the hotly anticipated releases of 2008. I don't have much to say about it since I haven't heard the whole thing, but I'm liking what I hear, and I liked the last album.

Office was one of the breakout local Chicago bands last year. Q&A was self-released (in 2005, according to Wikipedia), and last year they signed with an indie label. As you may recall, I ranked this band as one of my top 10 of 2006, and while I'm rethinking some of those placements (Alice Smith should have just been an honorable mention, I'm thinking now), I'd still place Q&A near the top.

Orwell is a French band I discovered on WLUW before I was a DJ, and I put this CD (The Following Days) on my Amazon wish list, and then kind of forgot about it. By surprise I got it for Christmas this year, and I've been listening to it a lot, and it's really a great CD. This song, Fear of Mars, has the feel of a single about it, like it's designed for radio play. So I obliged today.

*: new stuff
(r): requests

artist	song/album	label
Tom Waits	New Coat of Paint / The Heart of Saturday Night	Asylum
Neko Case	Train from Kansas City / The Tigers Have Spoken	Anti
Grace Jones	La Vie en Rose / Island Life	Island
*!!!	Heart of Hearts / Myth Takes	WARP
*Bonobo	The Fever / Days to Come	Ninja Tune
*Panda Bear	Search for Delicious / Person Pitch	Paw Tracks
Aretha Franklin	Skylark / Sweet Bitter Love	Columbia
Saint Etienne	Spring / Foxbase Alpha	Warner Brothers
(r) The Velvet Underground	Lisa Says/ Vu	Verve
*Mess Up the Mess	Crystal Pools / You Remind Me of Summer Vacation	Paroxysm
Royce	Girls on Bikes / Tuff Love	Galapagos4
*Gruff Rhys	Candylion / Candylion	Team Love
The Super Furry Animals	Ysbeidiau Heulog / Mwng	Flydaddy
The Folk Implosion	One Part Lullaby / One Part Lullaby	Interscope
Rufus Wainwright	14th Street / Want One	Dreamworks
Hank Williams	I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry / 20 Greatest Hits	Polydor
*Feist	The Water / My Moon My Man EP	Cherrytree
*LCD Soundsystem	Watch the Tapes / Sound of Silver	DFA/Capitol
Office	If You Don't Know by Now / Q&A	self-released www.reachoffice.com
*Trans Am	Obscene Strategies / Sex Change	Thrill Jockey
The Zincs	New Thought / Dimmer	Thrill Jockey
The B-52's	Queen of Las Vegas / Whammy!	Warner Brothers
*The Stooges	She Took My Money / The Weirdness	Virgin
(r) The Fiery Furnaces	Here Comes the Summer / EP	Rough Trade
Blossom Dearie	They Say It's Spring / Jazz Masters	Verve
*Andrew Bird	Simple X / Armchair Apocrypha	Fat Possum
The Proclaimers	Sean / Sunshine on Leith	Chrysalis
Orwell	Fear of Mars / The Following Days	Hidden Agenda/Europop

Labels: music, playlists

posted by Tony at 11:42 AM | 0 comments

D'Oh! Comments...

So apparently or my last post I accidentally turned off commenting. I didn't mean to. I've just turned it back on.

My Sitemeter statistics tell me someone keeps coming to my blog looking for entries on the band Mess Up the Mess... and I thought, maybe that person left a comment... nope! Because I prevented it.

So oops! And if anyone has anything to say, please leave me a comment! Blogging is a strange sort of activity; you talk and talk and rarely does anyone respond. So I always like comments.

Naturally, if you have nothing to say, do not feel obligated to make anything up.

Ta!

posted by Tony at 7:44 PM | 0 comments

I tease. Why? Because I love.

Another fresh new edition of Finn and Charlie are HITCHED for your readng pleasure.

Labels: comic

posted by Tony at 11:59 AM | 0 comments

I put this moment... here: 3/16 show

*: new stuff
(r): requests
♣: Irish — in honor of St. Patrick's day. OK, technically Kate Bush is only half-Irish, and was born near London — but there are Irish influences in her music.

It occurs to me that the "playlists" portion of my blog is not all that interesting, so I'm going to start adding some comments and thoughts about the songs I've played.

• Los Blops are a Chilean band that was re-released last year, and they have a sort of psychedelic folk quality. "Esencialmente Asi No Más" is one of the finest songs I heard last year — it starts with a gentle sweet folk vibe, with the lead vocalist's beautiful tenor, and then about two-thirds of the way through, electric guitars and music played backwards roll in with a funky baseline, and it finishes by rocking you. The contrast between that folk sound and the psychedelic groove are what make this song so effecting. Expect to hear it on my show every few weeks.
• The Noisettes are a band I discovered on my show last week. The album was in rotation (we have a rotation of 30 albums in rotation at any time; each hour we are to play any five songs from those 30 albums), and the review stuck on it sounded pretty appealing to me. I like last week's song enough to rip myself a copy of the album to familiarize myself with it more. Conclusion: good stuff. (I haven't heard the whole thing yet — I basically listened to to it on my iPod Shuffle mixed with other stuff. But what I heard, I liked.) So I came in this week planning to play "Bridge to Canada", and found it was no longer in rotation. This happens sometimes. Was it taken out of rotation really quickly? Was it in rotation for a month before I noticed it? Either one is possible. Anyway, it's more or less hard rock mixed with a bit of jazz and soul. It reminds me of Skunk Anansie, a band out of England from the 90's that no one stateside has ever heard of. (Like Skunk Anansie, the Noisettes feature a black singer and a mostly white band singing hard rock — but my comparison is based on the sound and not those superficial similarities.) Comparisons are also made to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and that's not completely off. It's not too accurate, but I'd say fans of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs would like the Noisettes. "Bridge to Canada" is a weird song with a good groove, and that's what I like about it. Even though it's out of rotation, I'll continue exploring this album on the air.
• Baby Teeth are a local Chicago band I first heard on WLUW's all-local show Radio One (Thursday evenings from 6 to 10pm), and I liked their out-of-control edge, especially on this track. The song rocks, but the lead singer's voice shouts and strains, and you feel that the band is barely holding it together. I come back to this song every few months.
• Mess Up the Mess is a band out of Washington DC that I reviewed for the station. (Every CD has a review stuck on it, written by a station volunteer, that describes it and recommends the best tracks.) It entered rotation this week (on my suggestion), but last week I played it on my show. I got a call in the studio asking about the song when I played it last week (not this week), and in the past week several people searching for them landed on my blog. So: the album is good and fun garage rock with funny lyrics. To compare to last year's album by the Husbands, this one is less diverse, more consistent, and less harsh. I like garage rock, but I do find the songs tend to sound all the same, which makes it hard to listen to the full albums — but the songs are great for radio and for mix CDs. I'll be playing this one a lot on my show, and a track will probably make it on the next mix CD I make to give away as a pledge premium.

artist	song/album	label
The Talking Heads	Thank You for Sending Me an Angel / Once in a Lifetime
♣Kate Bush	Jig of Life / Hounds of Love	EMI Manhattan
The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir	She Just Wants to Move / I Bet You Say That to All the Boys	self-released www.sygc.com
*Emilie Simon	Il Pleut / The Flower Book	Barclay/Milan
*The Postmarks	Watercolors / The Postmarks	Unfiltered
Los Blops	Esencialmente Asi No Más / Del Volar de las Palomas	Shadoks/Normal
Zerostars	Like Lovers Do / The Good Can't Escape	self-released www.zerostars.com
*Caetano Veloso	Outro / Cê	Nonesuch
♣Van Morrison and the Chieftains	Tá Mo Chleamhnas Déanta / Irish Heartbeat	Mercury
*Bonobo featuring Bajka	Walk in the Sky / Days to Come	Ninja Tune
*The Arcade Fire	(Antichrist Television Blues) / Neon Bible	Merge
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone	Roberta C. / Twinkle Echo	Tomlab
Pierce Turner	The Sky and the Ground / The Sky and the Ground	RCA
The Noisettes	Bridge to Canada / What's the Time Mr. Wolf?	Universal/Motown
♣Sinéad O'Connor	I Want Your (Hands on Me) / The Lion and the Cobra	Chrysalis
Baby Teeth	Diaghalev Was Right / The Baby Teeth Album	self-released babyteethmusic.com
*!!!	A New Name / Myth Takes	WARP
Manu Chao	Malegria / Clandestino	Virgin
Pelvic Delta	Stonewall / Eleven Days
*Mess Up the Mess	Hippocratic Oaf / You Remind Me of Summer Vacation	Paroxysm
*Trans Am	Climbing up the Ladder (Parts III and IV) / Sex Change	Thrill Jockey
♣Damien Rice	Eskimo / O	Vector/DRM
Dixon Brothers	The School House Fire / Down in the Basement: Joe Bussard's Treasure Trove of Vintage 78's	Old Hat
*Black Nag	Nobody Knows My History / EP	self-released myspace.com/blacknag
*Bobby Conn	King for a Day / King for a Day	Thrill Jockey
The Futureheads	Hounds of Love / The Futureheads	Sire
Ratatat	Wildcat / Classics	XL

Labels: music, playlists

posted by Tony at 11:10 AM | 0 comments

It takes every kind of people

New Finn and Charlie are HITCHED for your reading enjoyment.

Labels: comic

posted by Tony at 5:20 PM | 0 comments

I would rather be anywhere else than here today: 3/9 show

*: new stuff
(r): requests

artist	song/album	label
Elvis Costello and the Attractions	Oliver's Army / The Very Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions	Rykodisc
Kate Bush	Army Dreamers / Never for Ever	EMI Manhattan
*Emilie Simon	Fleur de Saison / The Flower Book	Barclay/Milan
*Trans Am	First Words / Sex Change	Thrill Jockey
The Toms	(I Wanna Be a) Teen Again / Yellow Pills Prefill	Numero Group
The M's	My Gun / Future Women	Polyvinyl
*Apostle of Hustle	Another Rent Boy Goes Down / National Anthem of Nowhere	Arts & Crafts
Laurie Anderson	Born, Never Asked / Talk Normal: Anthology	Rhino
Blossom Dearie	Someone to Watch Over Me / Jazz Masters	Verve
*Caetano Veloso	Musa Híbrida / Cê	Nonesuch
*The Earlies	Burn the Liars / The Enemy Chorus	Secretly Canadian
The B-52s	Queen of Las Vegas (Mesopotamia Outtake Version) / Nude on the Moon: The B-52s Anthology	Rhino
The Aluminum Group	A Boy in Love / Plano	Minty Fresh
The Gossip	Yr Mangled Heart / Standing in the Way of Control	Kill Rock Stars
The Magnetic Fields	I Think I Need a New Heart / 69 Love Songs Vol 1	Merge
*Mess Up the Mess	Law Chair Meet Balloon / You Remind Me of Summer Vacation	Paroxysm
*Bobby Conn	Anybody / King for a Day	Thrill Jockey
The Free Design	Bubbles / Kites are Fun (The Best of the Free Design)	Varese Sarabande
(r)The Apples in Stereo	The Same Old Drag / New Magnetic Wonder	Yep Roc
Zerostars	Dad's Dress / The Good Can't Escape	self-released: www.zerostars.com
The Primitives	Carry Me Home / Lovely	BMG
*The Noisettes	Mind the Gap / Whats the Time Mr. Wolf	Universal/Motown
(r)Plush	Soaring and Boring / More You Becomes You	Drag City
*Andrew Bird	Imitosis / Armchair Apocrypha	Fat Possum
*Bonobo featuring Fink	If You Stayed Over / Days to Come	Ninja Tune
(r)William Elliot Whitemore	When Push Comes to Love / Ashes to Dust	Southern
Eurythmics	No Fear No Hate No Pain No Broken Hearts / Touch	RCA
*Lonely, Dear	I Will Call You Lover Again / Lonely, Noir	Sub Pop
Les Negresses Vertes	Le Père Magloire / Mlah	Sire/WB

Labels: playlists

posted by Tony at 4:27 PM | 0 comments

Just like me, they long to be...

This week's Finn and Charlie.

Labels: comic

posted by Tony at 11:50 PM | 1 comments

About the birds and the bees: 3/1 show

*: new stuff
(r): requests

artist	song/album	label
New Order	Age of Consent / Power, Corruption, and Lies	Factory
Feist	Inside and Out / Let It Die	Polydor
*Lucinda Williams	Rescue / West	Lost Highway
*The Earlies	Foundation and Earth / The Enemy Chorus	Secretly Canadian
ZZZZ!	Forget It / Palm Reader	Polyvinyl
The Kitchens of Distinction	4 Men / The Death of Cool	A&M
*Marnie Stern	Absorb those Numbers / In Advance of the Broken Arm	Kill Rock Stars
This Mortal Coil	You and Your Sister / Blood	4AD
Blossom Dearie	Rhode Island is Famous for You / Jazz Masters	Verve
*The Television Personalities	You Kep Me Waiting Too Long Long Long Long Long Long Long (E*Vax [Ratatat] Remix) / My Dark Places Remixes	Domino
The Zincs	Moment is Now / Dimmer	Thrill Jockey
*Bobby Conn	Twenty-One / King for a Day	Thrill Jockey
The Mountain Goats	You or Your Memory / The Sunset Tree	4AD
Laurie Anderson	Blue Lagoon / Mister Heartbreak	Warner Brothers
Tom Waits	Singapore / Rain Dogs	Island
Keren Ann	Ou n'ai-je? / Nolita	Capitol
Caetano Veloso	Odeio / Cê	Nonesuch
*!!!	Yadnus / Myth Takes	WARP
M.I.A./Diplo	Baile Funk One / Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1	Hollertronix
Pizzicato Five	If I Were a Groupie / The Sound of Music	Matador
*Fujiya and Miyagi	Photocopier / Transparent Things	Deaf Dumb + Blind Communication
Troubled Hubble	To Be Alive and Alone / Making Beds in a Burning House	Lookout Records
*Sondre Lerche and the Faces Down	Phantom Punch / Phantom Punch	Astralwerks
Ben Folds Five	Steven's Last Night in Town / Whatever and Ever Amen	Epic
*Andrew Bird	Simple X / Armchair Apocrypha	Fat Possum
Nara Leão	Lindonéia / Tropicalia ou Panis et Circensis	Universal
Nina Simone	Nobody / After Hours	Verve
(r)Sufjan Stevens	Casimir Pulaski Day / Come on Feel the ILLINOISE	Asthmatic Kitty

Labels: playlists

posted by Tony at 9:57 PM | 0 comments