Oh God of Progress, have you degraded or forgot us? - 1/25 show

It's no secret that one of my favorite artists is Sufjan Stevens, though I suppose I don't play him on the radio as much as I could. He got a name for himself by announcing plans to make an album for each state of the US, beginning with his home state of Michigan. So far, he's made two, and the second one was Come On Feel the Illinoise!. Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State was better, perhaps because it was more personal, but I do like Illinoise. The title track has an epic quality (it's written into two parts: "Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition" and "Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream"), but it's also fun and upbeat.

Incidentally, a year ago or so, one of the DJs at our station, Mary, got involved in a MasterCard "Priceless" YouTube campaign. She was asked to talk about Reckless Records, and in the course of her video (shot at odd, unflattering angles), she jokingly pronounced "Illinois" as "Illinoise", referring to Stevens' album. The YouTube comments were scathing and rude — people asserting that she probably wasn't a DJ (she is), and probably not even from Chicago if she couldn't pronounce "Illinois". While it is true that she didn't chose her subject, the vitriol in the comments was astounding to me. Honestly, who takes the time to leave a comment like "I hated your video so much I didn't watch it?" Rule of thumb: never read YouTube comments; they are almost uniformly asinine.

It's been cold and snowy in Chicago, and cold snowy days make me want to listen to Martha and the Muffins' This Is the Ice Age. It may be just that I got the album in the winter of my freshman year of college, and listened to it over and over again, so that it's indelibly associated with winter in my mind. In particular, though, it's the slick, icy title track (as opposed to the antic "You Sold the Cottage", which of course makes me think of summer).

Two new albums in recently, that I think bear a closer listen. Saint Bernadette's In the Ballroom is a bit jazzy, with gutsy vocal provided by Meredith DiMenna. (DiMenna is, as it happens, the vocalist behind Chunky Pam, though not the actress who protrays her; in any event Saint Bernadette is nothing like Chunky Pam.) Yeasayer's All Hour Symbols is dense, and complex, with a psych-rock edge.

*: new stuff
(r): requests

artist	song	album	label
Sufjan Stevens	Come on feel the Illinoise!	Come on feel the Illinoise!	Asthmatic Kitty
Lilly Allen	LDN	Alright Still	EMI
Zerostars	Sleeping In		Self-released
*Bob Mould	Shelter Me	District Line	Anti-
*Kate Tucker & the Sons of Sweden	Saturday Night	Kate Tucker & the Sons of Sweden	Red Valise
Martha and the Muffins	This Is the Ice Age	This Is the Ice Age	EMI
Annie Lennox	River Deep, Mountain High	Walking on Broken Glass Single
*Mise en Abyme	Father Shore (Trilobites)	The Second Marriage Records Compilation	Marriage Records
*Saint Bernadette	Sidestep	In the Ballroom	Exotic
Amy Winehouse	Back to Black	Back to Black	Island
Dan Deacon	Okie Dokie	Spiderman of the Rings	Carpark
*Food for Animals	Bulk Gummies	Belly	Hoss
Laurie Anderson	The Day the Devil	Strange Angels	Warner Brothers
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists	Shake the Sheets	Shake the Sheets	Lookout
Fazzini	Dell	Sulphur, Glue the Star	Locust
(r)The Books	Enjoy Your Worries, You May Never Have Them Again	Thought for Food	Tomlab
*Hello, Blue Roses	Coming through Imposture	The Portrait Is Finished and I Have Failed to Capture Your Beauty...	Locust
*The Hidden Mitten	Marry Up	Roma! Roma! EP	Self-released
*The Mary Onettes	Still	The Mary Onettes	Labrador
The Futureheads	The Hounds of Love	The Futureheads	Sire
Lene Lovich	New Toy	Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80's Vol. 3	Rhino
*Yeasayer	Sunrise	All Hour Symbols	We Are Free
Josephine Foster and the Supposed	Jailbird (Hero of the Sorrow)	All the Leaves are Gone	Locust
Jean-Claude Vannier	Mort du Roi des Mouche	L'Enfant Assassin des Mouches	B-Music/Finders Keepers
Califone	Pink & Sour	Roots and Crowns	Thrill Jockey
*Dengue Fever	Mr. Orange	Venus on Earth	M80
U2	Night and Day	Red Hot + Blue	Chrysalis

Labels: music, playlists

posted by Tony at 10:42 AM