Wuxtry!

Episode #308:

2009-03-04T21:07:00.000-08:00

9:00 HEALTH - Perfect Skin
9:05 Rites of Spring - Spring
9:08 Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual
9:12 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Over And Over
9:16 Gun Outfit - Work experience
9:18 Dinosaur Jr. - Almost Ready
9:22 --Air Break--
9:24 Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
9:28 Times New Viking - Pagan Eyes
9:31 Julie Doiron - Blue
9:34 Lotus Plaza - Different Mirrors
9:38 The Olivia Tremor Control - Jumping Fences
9:40 Silver Jews - Sleeping Is The Only Love
9:43 --Air Break--
9:49 Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I Don't Belong To Anyone
9:53 Patsy Cline - You Belong To Me
9:55 Junior Boys - Work
10:02 The Smiths - Hand In Glove
10:05 Thee Oh Sees - The Guilded Cunt
10:08 Pixies - Alec Eiffel
10:12 --Air Break--
10:15 Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened
10:20 Tom Waits - All The World Is Green
10:24 Son Volt - Windfall
10:27 --Air Break--
10:33 Explosions in the Sky - Memorial
10:42 The White Stripes - Little Bird
10:45 Bill Callahan - Sycamore
10:51 --Air Break--
10:56 Abe Vigoda - The Reaper

Episode #307: SXSW

2009-02-25T21:02:00.000-08:00

Last week we ran through an incredible Sasquatch! Festival lineup, this week we take on the enormous task of bringing you music from the upcoming South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. But we can't resist playing new music from Simian Mobile Disco and The Boy Least Likely To, who won't be at the festival. If you can afford the air fare, and the frustration of missing of dozens of great bands every hour, get your ass down to Texas by March 13. I'm sure you can justify missing all the work/class.

9:00 Dananananaykroyd - Pink Sabbath*
9:03 The Coathangers - Stop Stomp Stompin'*
9:06 The Boy Least Likely To - Balloon Tied To A Broken String
9:10 Abe Vigoda - Wild Heart*
9:15 --Air Break--
9:20 Simian Mobile Disco - 10000 Horses Can't Be Wrong (Original Mix)
9:26 Lemonade - Unreal
9:32 These Are Powers - Easy Answer*
9:35 Kittens Ablaze - Gloom Doom Buttercup*
9:39 Two Hours Traffic - Nighthawks*
9:42 --Air Break--
9:47 The White Stripes - When I Hear My Name
9:49 Julie Doiron - Spill Yer Lungs*
9:53 Wavves - To The Dregs*
9:55 The Intelligence - Bad Siren*
9:59 Anchorsong - Set The Bears Free*
10:03 BLK JKS - Summertime*
10:08 --Air Break--
10:14 The Dismemberment Plan - You Are Invited
10:19 The Features - The Temporary Blues*
10:23 Peggy Sue - Spare Parts*
10:26 Thee Headliners - Uplifter*
10:29 Wild Beasts - His Grinning Skull*
10:33 --Air Break--
10:41 Ladyfingers (NE) - Little Things*
10:45 Foreign Born - The Entryway*
10:49 The Muslims - Extinction* (now known as The Soft Pack)
10:52 Blind Pilot - Go On, Say It*
10:55 --Air Break--

*playing at SXSW Festival 2K9

Help Save Daptone Records

2009-02-22T16:10:00.000-08:00

On this week's show we briefly touched on the recent robbery occuring at the studio of soul label Daptone Records. While losing gear is devastating to any band, it can be especially devastating to a niche record label with a lot of great bands relying on their equipment. I am a great admirer of Daptone Records (especially the incredible voice of Sharon Jones) and would hate to see this label disappear. They are truly a one-of-a-kind label with a consistently great lineup with a level of musicianship that goes unparalleled in a lot of music today. SaveDaptone.com has been launched to help ensure that we continue to get great music from the Brooklyn outfit. The label is uninsured and will likely carry the financial burden themselves, unless the culprits are found. If you have $4 to spare, please buy daptone records a drink and help them rebuild!

A New Mono Song!

2009-02-04T20:25:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, I'm in Odegaard right now using the internets before our show starts at 9PM and to my surprise, a music video for "Follow the Map", a track off Mono's new album "Hymn to the Immortal Wind" has already been released! omfg! check it out:

The video reminds me of movie adaptation of Kobo Abe's novel "The Face of Another", with the white mask and its small eye openings:

Another song, "Ashes in the Snow", can be downloaded off their American label Temporary Residence's website here:
http://www.temporaryresidence.com/descriptions/trr148.php

Ok, that's it for now! Hope you tune in!

The Founding of a Secret Nation State

2009-02-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

For this week's show, Sam and I decided to move on from last week's electronic music to hardcore/punk/post-hardcore/post-punk/LOUD. To get you ready for tomorrow, take listen to United Nations, a self-described "power-violence" band formed by Geoff Rickly, that one screamer from that one band Thursday. There are other people alongside him and I wish I could tell you who they are, but I won't. I can't. The band members are not revealing their identities due to contractual obligations to other labels, and since Thursday didn't have a record label when time came to release their self-titled album, Rickly is the only confirmed member.
Lame, yeah? There are many speculations and guesses, but the majority seem to be in a general consensus that Daryl Palumbo (that one screamer from that one band Glassjaw) and Ben Koller of Converge contributed to United Nations. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that they are all Ronald Reagans, but take a look at the band for yourself from their first live show:

I'm grateful for people uploading songs to the youtubes! This song's called "The Spinning Heart of the Yo-Yo Lobby":

Don't forget to tune in and listen to Wuxtry Radio tomorrow from 9 to 11PM!

Shootz den

Can't Wait For Friday

2009-02-02T10:37:00.000-08:00

photo by heartonastick

Hello, and welcome to Monday. It was an eventful weekend, the copious amounts of alcohol we all consumed the two previous nights, that Super Bowl thingy with its commercials (pretty bad this year), and the new office episode right after. All together, it was around five hours of TV. Ugh.

So yeah, Broken Social Scene, anyone? This Thursday (Feb. 5) with Grand Archives at the Showbox Sodo, tickets are still available, surprisingly. It wouldn't be a shock if the venue played a factor in that.
It has been almost four years since their self-titled album release. I remember as a freshie I headed to Tower Records to buy the CD, popped it in my player, and feeling quite disappointed, mostly frustrated at the song "Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)". I don't feel the same way as I watch the video on youtube today (have my ears matured, have I allgrowedup??!), but there sure are better songs. See, I DO like "indie-pop"! :D:D:D:D I'm getting there

I know you were looking for it, so here's a Feist pic:

Video Friday

2009-01-30T16:21:00.000-08:00

Congratulations everyone, you made it to the weekend! You deserve some videos.
First up is Kraftwerk performing "The Man-Machine" on their Minimum-Maximum DVD. The whole show is available one-week only on pitchfork.tv, but you already knew that. ;)

I have to admit, watching this DVD earlier this week was the first time I ever (consciously) listened to anything by Kraftwerk, so you can just imagine how shocked I was to realize how many bands are influenced by them, including Sleepy Eyes of Death, M83, and Trans Am. I am curious about one thing, though - how do they stand so still?

And now since you made it through that stiff robotic song, it's time for the weekend's secret ingredient:

See ya at the CI! lolkthxbye

Patrick

01/28/09 Playlist

2009-01-29T19:45:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, we're sorry that we haven't been updating this blog. Annoying midterms are what's taking up most of our time (whinewhinewaaah). But do not fear, our post will be more regular, if not every day. We found out quickly that we can't just start out writing daily, but if done gradually, it is very possible.
I've just been lazy.

Now, last night's playlist! After highlighting folk and lo-fi, we decided to focus on electronic music, and I think it was another good show for us.

Time	Title	Artist	Album
10:55 PM	I Believe	Simian Mobile Disco	Attack Decay Sustain Release
10:54 PM	Starline	Supercar	Highvision
10:42 PM	Raver	Burial	Untrue
10:42 PM	Time To Rise	Blue-Eyed Son	West of Lincoln
10:38 PM	Advent In Ives Garden	Sin Fang Bous	Clangour
10:26 PM	A Paw In My Face	The Field	From Here We Go Sublime
10:15 PM	Beautiful Life	Gui Boratto	Chromophobia
10:12 PM	One With The Freaks	The Notwist	Neon Golden
10:11 PM	Mr. Disco	New Order	Technique
10:04 PM	Entropy Reigns (In The Celestial City)	Kelly Polar	I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling
10:02 PM	Waves	J Dilla	Donuts
9:56 PM	Way Out	Ellen Allien & Apparat	Orchestra of Bubbles
9:49 PM	Ribbons	Four Tet	Ringer
9:43 PM	Summertime Clothes	Animal Collective	Merriweather Post Pavilion
9:42 PM	Misco	Ms. John Soda	No P. or D.
9:41 PM	One More Try (featuring Antony)	My Robot Friend	Dial 0
9:35 PM	Couches in Alleys	Styrofoam	Nothing's Lost
9:30 PM	Cuddle Fuddle	Passion Pit	Chunk of Change
9:22 PM	Fahrenheit Fair Enough	Telefon Tel Aviv	Fahrenheit fair Enough
9:21 PM	Something Isn't Right	Herbert	Scale
9:09 PM	The Operator (Single Edit)	Barbara Morgenstern	The Operator
9:09 PM	Budapest	Poni Hoax	Poni Hoax
9:05 PM	35 In The Shade	A.C. Newman	The Slow Wonder
9:02 PM	Parachute	Shugo Tokumaru	Exit

Don't forget that tomorrow is the Battle of the Bands at the HUB Crawl, which starts at 8 PM. If you don't have facebook (you should really get one, cause, it's like, you know, kinda important), here's another link. I signed up to help out at the Rainy Dawg sticker table and Sam will show up, so come and say hi!

Patrick

Tuesday Concert

2009-01-20T10:59:00.000-08:00

Happy inauguration! Celebrate the right way, with Funhouse's Ding Dong Bush is gone show! It's only $5 and goes down at 9:30 tonight. Punk bands God Made Me The Raven, Water Beds and Black Doubt are playing. Thrash away those frustration of the last eight years!

Hot damn I'm watching former Air Force One sail on into the sunset towards Crawford, Texas on his way back to Crawford and it feels so good.

God Made Me The Raven:

Centralia, Pennsylvania

2009-01-20T05:00:00.000-08:00

photo by C. Young Photography

Um, so it's Tuesday! Every week on this day I will link to a wikipedia article that needs your attention while you're procrastinating and avoiding your homework. It's ok, we're still learning!

There are several theories as to how this subterranean fire began in Centralia, Pennsylvania, but the coals beneath a landfill were somehow lit, resulting in poisonous fumes being released from the ground below.
Interesting passages from the wikipedia page:

- "In 1979, locals became aware of the scale of the problem when a gas-station owner and then-current mayor, John Coddington, inserted a stick into one of his underground tanks to check the fuel level. When he withdrew it, it seemed hot, so he lowered a thermometer down on a string and was shocked to discover that the temperature of the gasoline in the tank was 172 °F (77.8 °C)."
- "In 1992, Pennsylvania claimed eminent domain on all properties in the borough, condemning all the buildings within. A subsequent legal effort by residents to have the decision reversed failed. In 2002, the United States Postal Service revoked Centralia's ZIP Code, 17927."
- "The underground fire is still burning and will continue to do so for the indefinite future. There are no current plans to extinguish the fire, which is consuming an eight-mile seam containing enough coal to fuel it for 250 years.^{"
-}"As of the 2000 census, there were 21 people, 10 households, and 7 families residing in the borough. As of March 2004, there were eighteen people residing in nine dwellings."

There was a documentary filmed in 2007 about this town called The Town That Was. Has anyone seen it before? Recommended? Oh, and by the way I have a pretty big interest in ghost towns, so be prepared to see more of these pages. Have you ever been to one before?

Enjoy the inauguration ceremony!

Check out the cover of the new Heartless Bastards album

2009-01-19T05:43:00.000-08:00

it is really terrible!

I will still go see them in concert though!

Song of the Week: The Sound of Arrows "M.A.G.I.C."

2009-01-19T04:58:00.000-08:00

Happy MLK day everybody! Here at Wuxtry! we're celebrating this momentus day and historic inauguration double-feature with nothing but fresh posts! And what better way to commemorate this milestone in African American history than by posting a track by the whitest people on the planet: the Swedes?! Sound good? Let's go!

The Sound of Arrows are a Swedish duo formed in 2006 by Stefan Storm and Oskar Gullstrand. Their debut ep Danger! was released last year by Sweden's Labrador records. That ep was fine but I'll be honest, I didn't listen to it until this song came out. It sounded a little like Patrick Wolf. Sometimes it was too goofy for me, sometimes to self-serious. "M.A.G.I.C." sees them turning out dancier grooves in the vein of MGMT or that other infectious spelling song by Justice "D.A.N.C.E." But this is much sunnier with less black leather and cigarette-y synths. It sounds like they're striking a better balance than the Danger! ep. I'm looking forward to hearing what their rumored album will sound like this year. In the meantime their new ep, M.A.G.I.C., is coming out on the 28th.

Hey! You made it past the Vimeo! Here's your reward:
[mp3] The Sound of Arrows - "M.A.G.I.C." (from M.A.G.I.C., 1/28 on Labrador Records)

The Knitters Mon. 01/19 - Tues. 01/20

2009-01-19T02:04:00.000-08:00

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Today we mark the official start of the revamped Wuxtry blog. On Mondays we will highlight an upcoming show or two that deserve at least a little of your attention. Please visit this blog daily, as each day will have its own special feature.

photo by kathyp.

When I searched for a clip of The Knitters on youtube, all I got were shaky hand-held camera recordings and knitting instructional videos. I won't waste your time with any of those, but the one good video of The Knitters cannot be embedded, so please take the time to check out the link of them playing "Burning House of Love" on The Letterman Show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPuQPJLxW8o

Exene Cervenka, John Doe, and DJ Bonebrake formed the pioneering country punk band The Knitters in 1982 as a side project of X (as if one influential punk band wasn't enough). The lineup was completed with the addition of Dave Alvin and Jonny Ray Bartel. They released only two albums with 20-year span in between them, the most recent one in 2005 entitled The Modern Sounds of The Knitters.
They're playing today and tomorrow at the Tractor Tavern along with Dead Rock West and Leila & Jon on Tueday, but if you can't make it, you should consider stopping by a record store and adding the two Knitters albums to your X collection.
(Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave. NW, 8PM, $20, 21+)

Introduction and Playlist

2009-01-15T15:56:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, while Sam is busily revamping this blog for Monday, I will take this time to introduce myself. I am Patrick, Sam's new co-host for his radio show. Last night we were on air from 9pm-11pm, but starting from next week our time slot will be 7pm-9pm on Wednesdays. Our show will play songs of the nighttime - lo-fi, ambient, electronica, weird shit, depressing, sad, suicidal, morbid, creepy....

As for the blog, Sam and I decided to have a daily feature that may or may not be related to music. Yes, that means we will update it every day from Monday to Friday. Let's see if we can keep this up.
Thursday is Wednesday playlist review day, so here's the list:

Time	Title	Artist	Album
10:53 PM	One Dove	Antony & The Johnsons	The Crying Light
10:53 PM	You Want That Picture	Bonnie 'Prince' Billy	Lie Down In The Light
10:44 PM	Evil Summer	Iran	Dissolver
10:42 PM	The Witch	The Sonics	Here are the Sonics!!!
10:41 PM	Screaming Hand	Jay Reatard	Matador Singles '08
10:32 PM	Voice In The Headphones	Mount Eerie & Julie Doiron	Lost Wisdom
10:29 PM	Metal Heart	Cat Power	Moon Pix
10:26 PM	Late Night	Nina Nastasia & Jim White	You Follow Me
10:23 PM	For Ex-Lovers Only	Black Tambourine	The Complete Recordings
10:16 PM	Shattered Shine	Crystal Stilts	Crystal Stilts
10:16 PM	House	Abe Vigoda	Reviver EP
10:08 PM	Headin' Inside	Surf City	Surf City EP
10:05 PM	Gentle Sons	The Pains of Being Pure at Heart	The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
10:03 PM	Every Time	The Radio Dept.	Pet Grief
10:02 PM	Thee Hounds Of Foggy Notion (Live)	Thee Oh Sees	Thee Hounds Of Foggy Notion
9:56 PM	Sunworshipper	Mylo	Destroy Rock & Roll
9:52 PM	Collapsing At Your Doorstep	Air France	No Way Down EP
9:46 PM	Connjur	School Of Seven Bells	Alpinism
9:45 PM	Sabali	Amadou & Miriam	Welcome to Mali
9:40 PM	Sugar Water	Ciba Matto	Viva! La Woman
9:38 PM	German Love	Starfucker	Starfucker
9:26 PM	Ghost Hardware	Burial	Untrue
9:23 PM	Bluish	Animal Collective	Merriweather Post Pavillion
9:20 PM	If I Had A Heart	Fever Ray	Fever Ray
9:11 PM	Darklooming	The Depreciation Guild	In Her Gentle Jaws
9:10 PM	House Jam	Gang Gang Dance	Saint Dymphna
9:08 PM	Coldest Winter	Kanye West	808s & Heartbreaks

Please come back Monday when we officially start up this blog. I got class now so see ya.

Patrick

Playlist - 5/9/08: They've learned how to use doors

2008-05-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

I had a great time filling in for Jason's show this past Saturday, Floating In Space. If you're not familiar, its an ambient/shoegaze/post-rock show every Saturday at 1pm. I got to step out of my indie-pop/electronica shoes for a little while and trip out.

Be sure to check out the mp3 posted below by Big Spider's Back. He's an unsigned Seattle artist that played FIS a couple weeks ago, and he rocks. He's also released an EP for free, and has a few shows coming up in the Seattle area. Be on the lookout for this guy.

Also, legendary Seattle band Earth are playing a show at the UW HUB Ballroom on the 17th. Get your tickets ASAP!

Wuxtry! will be back as usual this Tuesday at 1pm on RainyDawg.Org

Earth - Rise To Glory
[mp3] Big Spider's Back - Untitled (Laid To Rest) (alt) (Highly Recommended)
The Radio Dept. - Pulling Our Weight
My Bloody Valentine - Lose My Breath
Stars Of The Lid - Tippy's Demise
M83 - Run Into Flowers
Slowdive - Celia's Dream
[mp3] Beast, Please Be Still - Order Of The Golden Dawn (alt)
[mp3] Graham Lambkin & Jason Lesalleet - Listen, The Snow Is Falling (alt)
Alexis Weseenberg - Suite Bergamasque: 3. Clair De Lune
Atlas Sound - Recent Bedroom
Asobi Seksu - Thursday
Ride - Vapour Trail
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
Growing - Lateral
Black Dice - Roll Up
Aphex Twin - Windowlicker

Playlist - 5/6/08: Did you catch the subtle artistry of that elbow drop?

2008-05-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

Big Spider's Back - Untitled/Laid To Rest
Clipd Beaks - Meltr
No Age - Cappo
Times New Viking - DROP-OUT
Datarock - Fa-Fa-Fa
Beehive - Small Face
The Octopus Project - The Adjustor
High Places - Head Spins
Animal Collective - Water Curses
Lykke Li - Little Bit
Wildbirds & Peacedrums - I Can't Tell In His Eyes
Maritime - Guns Of Navarone
Robert Forster - Pandanus
Pixies - Holiday Song [by request]
The Black Keys - Psychotic Girl
Last Shadow Puppets - Standing Next To Me
The Raconteurs - You Don't Understand Me [by request]
Tokyo Police Club - Your English Is Good
Atmosphere - The Witness
Why? - Gemini (Birthday Song)
Nine Inch Nails - Discipline
Crystal Castles - Vanished
Shy Child - Drop The Phone
Junior Boys - FM
The Dandy Warhols - The World The People Together (Come On)
Islands - The Arm
Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
Crystal Skulls - Hussy
Devendra Banhart - The Body Breaks
Langhorne Slim - Restless

For those of you who can't get enough of my sultry voice (which is at once dominating and intimate) I will be filling in for Jason's show Floating In Space this week. You can hear it this Saturday at 1pm on Rainy Dawg Radio.

L@@K BRAND NEW POST!!! NIB!!! MINT!!!!!!!

2008-05-05T02:30:00.000-07:00

End Game: 4:30AM

I have a full day of travel ahead of me which I’m undertaking with little sleep. So I decided to get the dumbest sort of entertainment to occupy me: an erotic vampire thriller. I picked up the romain du jour from an H*E*B grocer’s New York Times best seller section! It can’t be bad right? Well at least I didn’t opt for a Louis L’amour novel (and I was close). Well, it’s called Devil May Cry and it’s the twenty-first novel (!!!) in Sherrilyn Kenyon’s twenty-five part (!!!) Dark-Hunters series. In case you were wondering, Wikipedia describes “Dark-Hunters” as “fictional immortal warriors in the Dark-Hunter series who sold their souls to the Greek goddess Artemis for one single act of vengeance after being killed. Afterwards they are bound to protect mankind from the Daimons who want to claim human souls.” This all leads to steamy, erotic action. If it’s just good enough I might be able to put my tray table in the full upright and locked position without my hands heheheh ;-)*

So about some music:

I still haven’t entirely made up my mind on the newly re-titled Wolf Parade album, At Mount Zoomer. Stereogum pre-eval-ed that shit and were like, all over it. I dunno, it’s still not hitting me despite the last few plays have sounded a liiiiitle better to me. The track “The Grey Estates” has started to make an impression. While most of the tracks seem to be keeping Spencer’s keyboards at arms length of Dan’s guitar and vocals, “The Grey Estates” has just the right bounce to bring them together. Its one of the few moments on the album where I feel like they're not going through the motions of songwriting.

I have pondered a little on the last track (carrying the albums previous title, "Kissing The Beehive"). I have determined that it is, um, a long song. It seems more akin to work that Islands would do. A little pep and bounce tries to carry the whole thing (refering mostly to my malaise towards the new Islands LP here). The beginning exists for the purpose of carrying to the middle section, which is awesome, but they can't find the right way to end it. From 7:46 onwards it seems like hashed-out ideas left underdeveloped. Compared to the not-quite-as long "Dinner Bells" on Apologies this would-be epic album closer is flaccid by comparison. Remember the way Boeckner's guitar and Krug's synth dance around one another over a windy drone as the whole party fades to dust, eroded by time? Yeah, me too. Coupled with the lyrical content of that song it's a perfect moment (it should have closed the album, although I love "This Heart's On Fire"). Contrarily, the 11 minutes of Kissing The Beehive seem to be written for the sake of writing a long song. It doesn't hit as hard emotionally. But it is nice to hear Dan and Spence sharing vocal duties on the same song.

[mp3] Wolf Parade - The Grey Estates (removed by request)
[mp3] Wolf Parade - Call It A Ritual (buy)

*sorry if any kids had to read that filthy joke

Day Two

2008-05-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

Rise And Shine: 6:40
Thanks to my big push to finish reading Danielewski’s House Of leaves, I’m running on four hours of sleep. The day at Lackland Air Force Base waits for no man. We all rush out of the hotel at 7:10 to make a 7:30 orientation of the weekend’s events and various government acronyms. Crappily, we arrive 30 minutes late and hang around for three hours to catch the next one. I did get to see my brother take his last 2.5 mile run as a trainee and witnessed him receiving his Air Force coin, promoting him to the rank of airman. However, an unfortunate misstatement in someone else’s Physical Training results prevents him from receiving the award for best physical performance over the six-and-a-half week basic training. Fortunately, the person responsible is being appropriately reamed and my bro will be able to receive the reward of traveling off base this Sunday.

We had a good afternoon hearing about the different ways in which a person can be called “retarded” or be made aware of a wide spectrum of their inadequacies. Most of these methods involve pushups or “pushing Texas” as those in-the-know know.

The Rest Of The Afternoon
We pretty much just fed my brother all the crappy food he wasn’t allowed to eat, until he again became government property at seven.

7:30-9:00 PM: San Antonio Downtown
Damn SA’s architectural community is holding it down. There is a great mix of Spanish-style and classical styles. Plus they do a great job of lighting up everything at night. The centerpiece of the downtown experience is the River Walk. It’s an inspired public space that manages to be intimate and accessible at the same time.

So yeah, music. I didn’t get a chance to listen to much stuff yesterday. However, I did give the new Coldplay single a spin, and while a lot seem to be complaining, I think it’s a welcome respite from their tried and true aesthetics. Surely it will be a million seller yadda yadda. Kudos to the band for giving it away for free.

[mp3] Coldplay – Violet Hill (alt)

In other news, a symphony of 100 electric guitarists will be performing Glenn Branca’s Hallucination City on May 16. The performance is part of SAM’s 75^th annual Gala and will be held outdoors at Seattle’s shiny, new sculpture park. It sounds like an awesome experience, but the only problem for a starving blogger is that the event runs a whopping $175 to an even whoppinger $275 for a premier ticket.

if you can afford this diamond crusted guitar,

you can see Glenn Branca on May 15

Texas: Day One

2008-04-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

So It Begins: 8:28 AM

I spent the night sleeping under a table. I had been offered the top bunk of my six year-old cousin. Being the polite night-owl, I forwent hauling my bulking mass onto the upper tier of his bunk when I finished trekking through the internet at one in the morning. Actually, add another half hour to that because I wandered in circles around the island in the kitchen attempting to locate the switch to snuff the lights over the bar. My exhaustion eventually outweighed my desire to sleep in the dark. My advanced problem solving skills were severely limited by then anyway.

I woke up to the titter of children watching school-morning cartoons, and a back more constricted than a Mennonite schoolhouse. Thankfully I had the foresight to fall asleep in my clothes, so as not to frighten them with my half-naked pale body in their kitchen (approaching 99% albedo). I had to figure the Japanese style shower on my own this morning. It's one of those two-shower, one bath set-ups with tiles on every surface. There’s something about a large shower that sets off my agoraphobia. The water was scalding and when I tried shaving (with the dullest razor in the world) I put a nick in my neck so deep it looks like I was going at my throat with an apple corer. But after I have my room temperature cup of coffee, I’m ready to face the airport. And after a brief stop at UPS (to mail my broken iPod) I find my debit card is overdrawn, so now I’m totally prepped for a trip to the Lone Star state. Over-caffeinated, bleeding and broke I’ll be a pretty sitting in coach for seven hours (plus an LA layover >:-().

SeaTac Gate D2: 10:51 AM

Paying an extra $4.99 for internet access after paying a couple hundred Linden Dollars for a plane ticket might seem like piss in a bucket. But when any café offers free WiFi with a $2 drip coffee I’m more inclined to tell AT&T to go fuck themselves. John Wayne International offers free WiFi (and slots are as low as a nickel!) and its probably one of the trashier airports I’ve passed through. Why hasn’t Seattle, city of the future caught up on modern times?

San Antonio: 9:50 PM (Texas Time)

you know you're in Texas when...

After a disgusting meal from the inexplicably named Chilis Too Go at LAX, I got the chance to preview the new Atmosphere and Wolf Parade (!!!) albums on the jog down to SA-town. And I have to say, the new Atmosphere is pretty good. Although I’m not into Atmosphere much, WLHYL,PTSG is a sunny, entertaining album. There are a couple of times when Slug’s flow is a little—er—sluggish but its still a great easily accessible album for my long trek. As for the still-untitled Wolf Parade album, you can color me a tinge disappointed. However, APTTQM didn’t strike me initially but grew into one of my favorites of all time (top 10? Find out this week!). So I’ll hold on to making a more definitive opinion for now.

[mp3] Atmosphere - The Waitress (buy | alt)

15k

2008-04-29T21:49:00.000-07:00

There's nothing as exciting as when your odometer hits a number in the even thousands.

well I don't have a car

but I did hit fifteen thousand plays on Last.Fm this past month

here's the lucky song

[mp3] Gui Boratto - The Blessing (alt)

Playlist - 4/29/08

2008-04-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry I don't have any MP3s to post from this week's show. As you know, I am away from my home station (AKA Tranquility Base) and don't have all my files. Working on a rented laptop I'm hoping I snagged a couple of winners to give you the LD (new Wolf Parade should work(?)). I'm currently sitting in my uncle's kitchen on Mercer Island bumping the new Atmosphere album When Life Gets You Lemons, Paint That Shit Gold in my headphones. I'll give you more on that later.

Also, someone asked me together my top 10 albums list. I might share that with you a little later. It's, um, an interesting list so far. I know everybody does this at some point but forget how hard it is to do. When that comes up, you guys should post your top 10s too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It'll be interactive posting day on Wuxtry!. But I'm going to bed now, I'll give you guys some more on the way to the airport 2moro.

XOXOXO

Sam

Dosh - Don't Wait For The Needle
Shy Child - Summer
Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire
Portishead - Machine Gun
M83 - Kim & Jessie
Whitey - Sweet Words For The Sour
SebastiAn - Momy
No Age - Teen Creeps
Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop And Roll [by request]
Dinosaur Jr. - Little Fury Things
Sebadoh - On Fire
Pavement - Zurich Is Stained
Modest Mouse - Trailer Trash
Guided By Voices - The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
The Late B.P. Helium - The Ballad Of Johnny Rad
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Albert Goes West
Destroyer - Madame Butterfly
Wildbirds & Peacedrums - Doubt/Hope
Animal Collective - Water Curses
Thee Oh Sees - Block Of Ice
Sleater-Kinney - Sympathy
Patti Smith - Kimberly
Fleet Foxes - Sun It Rises
Band Of Horses - St. Augustine [by request]
Daniel Johnston - Foxy Girl
Langhorne Slim - Rebel Side of Heaven
Television - Friction
PJ Harvey - Perfect Day Elise
The Constantines - Million Star Hotel

(P.S. *kisses*)

Knock Knock

2008-04-28T18:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, so here's my second post in my new Post Deprivation Experiment, of which you are all part. I left this blog to devolve into a wire monkey with a milk bottle, which my babies are free to come and suckle on as they please. The goal of this? Who can say. But its time to bring back the love.

I've been consumed and diverted by midterms, projects and degree applications. Compounded on top of this, I have been absorbed in my new hobby of cooking. I have grown tired of eating pre-packaged and frozen foods, so I bought $25 in asian spices and I'm venturing out! Here are some reviews of my foods so far!:

1. Thai Peanut Chicken: over-cooked but, a good first try
2. Tandoori Chicken: wow! 5/5! A little spicy for some, but with the one-two punch of delicious basamati rice, I found it irresistible
3. Chicken Enchiladas: omg, I make the best Mexican food ever! The center-piece of my culinary delicacy was the homemade Spanish Rice, which continues to blow my mind just thinking about it! :D
4. Piroshkis: Just as flavorless and oppressive as Stalinist rule! A+++

As for this week, I'm headed down to Texas to watch my younger bro graduate from Air Force Basic Training. So I'm taking my laptop, camera and fistfuls of musics (including the new Ed Records compilation!) and will be making some posts on the road this week as I head to the state where everything is bigger (and inherently better).

But I have something for you RIGHT NOW! This is new music from UK electronic artist Whitey from the upcoming album Great Shakes. It's some pretty infectious stuff, and you can hear it on the show tomorrow at 1pm on Rainy Dawg.

[mp3] Whitey - Sweet Words For The Sour (alt)

Islands In The Stream, J'aime Tambeur laughs from shoreline

2008-04-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

No, this is not actually a post about popular indie-pop group Islands drowning.

As a music writer (and I do consider myself, foremost, a writer, of the highest persuasion) it is my duty to keep you updated on the individuals that built the foundation of the music we enjoy today. Well, today that triumvirate of power pop (yes, the BeeGees, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton) are having their greatest collaborative (okay, only collaborative) effort re-imagined by some of today's pluckiest young go-getters! Naturally The Constantines + Feist realize that matching the original recording of "Islands In The Stream" is impossible. I mean if The Beegees could improve Sgt. Pepper's how can you expect to improve on the Beegees? Answer: you can't. This little-7"-that-could also provides a little taste of the upcoming release Kensington Heights with the single "Trans Canada" as the b-side.

[mp3] The Constantines + Feist - Islands In The Stream (buy | alt)

Playlist 4/15/08

2008-04-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

Side 2 - Dressy Bessy
[mp3] Plants & Animals - Bye Bye Bye (alt)
Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
Islands - The Arm
Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of Understatement
Frightened Rabbit - The Twist
Foals - Big Big Love (Fig. 2)
[mp3] No Age - Eraser (alt)
Clinic - Free Not Free
Archie Bronson Outfit - Cherry Lips
The Black Angels - Doves
Carissa's Wierd - All Apologies And Smiles, Yours Truly, Ugly Valentine
Beach House - Gila
Langhorne Slim - Colette
The Dodos - Park Song
Possessed By Paul James - East Mountain
[mp3] The Muslims - Bright Side (alt)
Tokyo Police Club - Tessellate
Elf Power - Spiral Stairs
The Raveonettes - Lust
Wolf Parade - Call It A Ritual
[mp3] Thee Oh Sees - Grease (alt)
The Black Keys - The Lengths
Ulysses - Change
Wye Oak - Warning
Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945

Oh and just one more thing, the show is on today at 1pm. So don't forget to tune in to the link immediately below all this pretty text

2008-04-15T10:03:00.001-07:00

Rainy Dawg Radio

Possessed By Paul James

2008-04-15T09:12:00.001-07:00

Konrad Werk grew up in a Mennonite Amish family on the swamp of Immokalee, Florida. He learned music from the church. His mother taught him piano, and he learned singing through hymnals. It wasn't until later after studying music in Africa that he met his girlfriend who exposed him to punk music.

It's not hard to hear that menagerie of influences on this record. Werk sings lo-fi blues-folk played on banjo, guitar, fiddle and an old trunk that he stomps for percussion. Much like the traditionally-rooted Tom Waits, Werk has a soulful voice that will dip into guttural growls before whatever spirits he channels decide it's time to sing again. It's a powerful mix of Blues emotionalsim and the rough energy of punk.

[mp3] Possessed By Paul James - East Mountain (buy | alt)

Langhorne Slim

2008-04-13T19:05:00.000-07:00

Ugh I'm so jaded by the never-ending nu-country revival. Didn't Wilco perfect this like ten years ago? If I hear the same strumming pattern over upright bass and brushed snare one more time I'm going to completely immolate myself. I mean I've already got another Drive-By Truckers double album this year. Isn't one good alt-country LP a year plenty?

*puts in Langhorne Slim's upcoming self-titled release and is deeply impressed at the emotional depth of the eponymous album and realizes that alt-country is a genre that has a lot of great artists and perhaps these songs can be taken as life lessons on love, loss and faith and decides that I will probably go see him when he plays at the Tractor Tavern on May 19*

[mp3] Langhorne Slim - Colette (preorder Langhorne Slim due April 29th | alt)

(P.S. The show is tomorrow at 1pm. http://www.rainydawg.org/)

Playlist

2008-04-09T06:59:00.000-07:00

I spent the last three weeks wallowing in my own laziness, and guzzling free drinks in Vegas, so I hope you all had a good break too. Naturally the three weeks of doing nothing related to music (besides seeing Cirque De Soleil's Love, excellent btw) left a small build up of great new releases to drop on this week's show. Killer new tracks from The Breeders, M83, R.E.M., Nick Cave and Portishead debuted on Wuxtry!.

Coupled with that awesomeness there's a slew of concerts coming to Seattle (er, a Seattle Slew?) over the next week including Yellow Swan's final show (er, Yellow Swan Song?), Ye's Glow In The Dark Tour, Why?, Mount Eerie, Fleet Foxes, Blitzen Trapper, MGMT, Daniel Johnston, Caribou, Fuck Buttons and pleasureboaters. Dayum. Also, Radiohead tickets go on pre-sale tomorrow at 10 AM and the pre-sale code is "LYRIC". Get those pit tickets early. They're going for as much as $500 a pair on eBay for next month's sold out venues. Double Dayum.

And despite where their career has taken them, Foo Fighter's "Everlong" is one of the best alternative songs of the '90s. I hadn't heard it in a while, so I played it for me. This isn't all about you. A relationship is about reciprocation. This is how things work. If you can't accept it you can sleep on the couch.

[mp3]The Breeders - We're Gonna Rise (buy from Insound | alt link)
Throw Me The Statue - Groundswell
Crystal Castles - Untrust Us
Quiet Village - Circus Of Horror
MGMT - Kids
[m83] M83 - Graveyard Girl (pre-order at Insound | alt)
The Black Keys - I Got Mine
[mp3] The Kills - Cheap And Cheerful (buy: Insound | alt)
R.E.M. - Supernatural Superserious
Vashti Bunyan - Love You Know
DeVotchka - Head Honcho
The Dodos - God?
[mp3] Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Modern Mystery (buy: Insound | alt)
Tokyo Police Club - Your English is Good
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - We Call On The Author
Portishead - Machine Guns
Panther - Violence, Diamonds
Why? - The Vowels Pt 2
Foals - Balloons
Jim Noir - Don't You Worry
Fleet Foxes - Your Protector
Man Man - Top Drawer
The French Kicks - Abandon
Kaki King - Pull Me Out Alive
Carissa's Wierd - Brooke Daniels' Tiny Broken Fingers [by request]
Clinic - The Witch (Made To Measure)
Neva Dinova - What You Want
Foo Fighters - Everlong

Quiet Village

2008-04-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

Quiet Village are the latest vinyl crate diving duo from the UK. Much like fellow countrymen The GO! Team, and The Avalanches, Quiet Village come at you like a tornado of lost funk nuggets, '70s commercials and AM Gold. Their upcoming album Silent Film It made me nostalgic for a decade I was 7 years too late to see.

[mp3]Quiet Village - Circus Of Horror (Myspace)

Photos: Justice @ Showbox SoDo - 3/24/08

2008-03-27T13:27:00.000-07:00

The Parisian duo blew the walls off the Showbox SoDo this past week. The first All Ages crowd to witness the band in Seattle was more than a little excited about the event. It was one of the more raucous pits I've been in lately. Sponsors Myspace and Discover were there to document the whole thing too. Supposedly there are professional videos from the show uploaded to Myspace of each show. I wasted about 3 minutes trying to figure out where the fuck they are (HINT: not on Justice's Myspace, or the Myspace Tour page, or the Myspace Tour Videos page). If you track them down let me know. I was turned off by the fact that the tour Myspace page loads a music video and a Justice track at full volume simultaneously and nearly blew out my fucking eardrums (not in the cool way, like at the Justice concert).

I'll let these pics do the talking (linked for size).

The Most Annoying Sound In The World

2008-03-23T12:06:00.000-07:00

My attention was just directed to this earlier today. And no it's not Brian Wilson rapping! Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid are two artists from the Ukraine specializing in giving you exactly what you want. Based on surveys specific to various countries, the duo began by determining what each country's Most and Least Desired paintings would look like (Italy's least is posted above). In 1996, using a poll on their website, the duo surveyed 500 people to determine the common ground in our favorite and least favorite songs.

The most popular is probably close to what you'd expect. It's an R&B song about love. The brisk number features some of the most popular instrumentation and will "unavoidably and uncontrollably be 'liked' by 72 ± 12% of listeners."

But Holy Mother of God. Wait 'til they unleash the 22-minute beast of The Most Unwanted Song.

This epic is a head trip. The song features wildly shifting tempos, volumes and timbres creating a mess that is completely hideous and enrapturing. It starts off with a beautiful harp arpeggio, then immediately switches to accordion with honky-tonk harmonica and flute then shifts again to discordant accordion over stale beats with fluttering wind sections and an opera singer rapping about cowboys over the occasional bagpipe squeal. It goes on from there to include children singing about random holidays, and spouting shopping slogans.

You can find more information about the project (AND BUY A CD!) here.

[mp3] The Most Wanted Song In The World

[mp3] The Most Unwanted Song In The World

DO ALL YOUR SHOPPING AT WAL-MART!

New Breeders Song Posted To Their Myspace

2008-03-11T01:03:00.001-07:00

Just uploaded.

Check It Out.

http://www.myspace.com/thebreeders

LISTEN TODAY AT 1PM HTTP://WWW.RAINYDAWG.ORG

2008-03-11T00:11:00.000-07:00

I've got the playlist for last week's show for ya today. Hope you were around to hear it. If you weren't, you have the chance to make up for it today at 1pm on Rainy Dawg Radio. I'll be giving you a preview of the new Breeders album, and also expect to hear great music from She & Him, Destroyer and much more! EVERY THING MUST GO! And be sure to be on the lookout for the new We Are Scientists and Black Keys albums.

The Ruby Suns - There Are Birds
Beach House - Heart Of Chambers
White Hinterland - Dreaming Of The Plum Trees
Born Ruffians - Barnacle Goose
These United States - First Sight
Fleet Foxes - English House
Atlas Sound - Recent Bedroom
Envelopes - Smoke On The Water, Eathing The Sand, Hide In The Grass
The Rakes - T-Bone
Cut Off Your Hands - YOU And I
The Big Sleep - Pinkies
The Gutter Twins - Idle Hands
The Black Keys - Strange Times [mp3]
Sebadoh - The Freed Pig
The Dodos - Fools
Go Slowpoke - Be Less Embarassing
Elvis Perkins - Emilie's Vietnam In The Sky
Los Campesinos - Death To Los Campesinos
We Are Scientists - After Hours [mp3]
These New Puritans - Elvis
Why? - Fatal Palmistry
Sonic Youth - Personality Crisis
No Age - Everybody's Down
Devendra Banhart - The Body Breaks
Goldfrapp - Eat Yourself
Grand Archives - A Setting Sun
Vampire Weekend - I Stand Corrected
Raveonettes - Uncertain Times
Neko Case - Star Witness
M. Ward - Chinese Translation

Stream The New Tapes 'N' Tapes

2008-03-05T20:30:00.001-08:00

T'n'T's new album Walk It Off will be available for streaming on their website until Thursday at noon. I'm sure no one would be so unscrupulous as to rip the stream between now and then....

Evelopes - Here Comes The Wind

2008-03-03T04:32:00.000-08:00

Envelopes are a five piece indie pop outfit coming to you from Sweden via England. The quintet's album Here Comes The Wind was just released in Europe and is the follow up to their 29006 debut Demon. HCTW is a bright balance of twee and dance punk with plenty of heavy bass that makes it as charming as it is danceable. The mix is pulled off with enough confidence to garner regular comparisons to both Architecture in Helsinki and the Talking Heads on the same album. I was spinning one of the more twee tracks on last weeks show (the AOL-er titled "I'd Like 2 C U") I've posted the more bass heavy "Smoke In The Water" for your aural enjoyment.

[mp3] Envelopes - Smoke On The Water, Eating The Sand, Hide In The Grass (from Here Comes The Wind, buy now)

New Liars Songs

2008-02-28T11:37:00.000-08:00

Last night four new songs by LA's Liars appeared on their Myspace page. The new songs are accompanied by a strange video post in their blog. The clip features an interview with a sound engineer who says working with the trio is more like working with a hip Hop band than a rock band. The video nor the blog post offer any insight into where the band is in the recording phase for a new LP or not. They recently completed a tour in California on the 22nd. It's possible to hammer out 5 songs in as many days considering their rough mix, but it seems more likely this was recorded earlier. The tracks are a continuation of the sound they've been exloring since they moved away from the punk-rock styles of their excellent debut.

Liars - Your Not There [mp3] (buy Liars' Liars from insound)
Liars - Lighter Brighter [mp3] (buy Liars' Liars from insound)

Show Playlist 2/26/08

2008-02-27T08:23:00.000-08:00

My first Playlist update in 3 weeks! Woohoo! Since I was still all worked up over the Sasquatch Festival lineup I used that as a general guideline for what I played this week. This year is one of the best comprehensive lineups the festival has ever seen. So be sure to check out some of the artists you don't know. It'll make shelling out *takes sip of coffe* $65 per day *spits out coffee* a little easier.

Skeleton Man - Evangelicals
Cherry Tulips - Headlights
Out Of Reaches - Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Beat (Health, Life & Fire) - Thao Nguyen & The Get Down Stay Down
Road To Luna - Girls In Hawaii
Reasons - Built To Spill
Hummingbird - Born Ruffians [mp3] (from Red, Yellow and Blue, pre-order)
River Card - Atlas Sound
Sundrum Ladies - Wooden Wand & The Vanishing Voice
Her Hair Hangs Long - Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
Heretic Pride - The Mountain Goats
The Sleepless - The Shaky Hands
I'd Like 2 C U - Envelopes
Louis Riel - Grand Archives
Song Of Our So-Called Friend - Okkervil River
Palmitos Park - El Guincho [mp3]
Headlines - White Williams
Paper Planes - M.I.A. [by request]
Electric Version - The New Pornographers
Cassius - Foals
Flame - Bell X1
Everybody's Got Something To Hide (Except For Me And My Monkey) - The Feelies
Make Forever Last Forever - Apes & Androids
Club Soda - Ghostland Observatory
Caravan Girl - Goldfrapp
Education - Modest Mouse [by request]
Shadow The Walls - Dead Confederate
Dead Sound - The Raveonettes
Neck Escaper - No Age
Cindy - Ola Podrida

A New Sasquatch Festival Website Stirs...

2008-02-24T22:50:00.000-08:00

Sasquatch Festival is probably Washington State's best music festival. The now multi-day festival draws increasingly impressive lineups and events that make it the only important musical event in Eastern Washington. I remember going in the second year of its existence when The Roots and Thievery Corporation closed the mainstage. Compare that to last year when Bjork, Beastie Boys, Interpol and The Arcade Fire closed and you can tell they've come a long way. If you couple that with one of the most stunning venues in the nation and the event is set up to be a special experience every year. Around this time for the past four years, I start checking Sasquatch Festival's website for their initial line up. When I checked today, the website had finally been updated to include the above image. No links, no words, just a placeholder. But that's reason enough for me to be excited. More is on the way! Any day, a three-day slurry of incredible acts should be announced. Already confirmed to be back to the three day format, speculation is beginning on who will be the big draws for this year's event. According to the band's official site, the only sure thing so far is The Cure will be playing on May 25. I'll be damned if that isn't a great way to start off a line up announcement. The festival is set to take place March 24-26. And according to the official press release an initial lineup is expected to be announced sometime today. Keep your fingers crossed.

edit:

GOD DAMN.

R.E.M. / The Cure / The Flaming Lips U.F.O. Show / Death Cab For Cutie / Modest Mouse / M.I.A. / Flight Of The Conchords / Rodrigo Y Gabriela / Michael Franti & Spearhead / The Breeders / Built To Spill / The Hives / Tegan & Sara / The Presidents / Ghostland Observatory / Ozomatli / The New Pornographers / Blue Scholars / The National / The Kooks / Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks / Cold War Kids / Beirut / Rogue Wave / Okkervil River / Fleet Foxes / Kinski / Mates of State / Sera Cahoone / Crudo (featuring Mike Patton & Dan The Automator) / Battles / Destroyer / Dyme Def / The Blakes / Pela / Jamie Lidell / The Cops / Dengue Fever / Siberian / Say Hi / White Rabbits / David Bazan / The Little Ones / "Awesome" / Dead Confederate / The Heavenly States / 65daysofstatic / Grand Archives / Vince Mira with the Roy Kay Trio / Joshua Morrison / Throw Me The Statue / J. Tillman / The Shaky Hands / Thao Nguyen with the Get Down Stay Down / Matt Costa / The Cave Singers

Wildbirds & Peacedrums

2008-02-19T20:22:00.001-08:00

W&P are a minimalist folk duo hailing from the land of depression and Bergman--Sweden. They specialize in a brand of freak folk that grasps you despite its apparent sparsity. Their smoky, smoldering sound gives the music a level of hushed intensity and beauty that's both captivating and heartfelt. Mariam Wallentin's voice is anchored by brushed drums and hand claps, laying in wait for the right moment to break free. Lyrically, the freak folk bases are covered. There are references to oceans, loneliness, and the innocence of childhood. They sound not unlike Young People, if they weren't so insistent with the drumming. Their debut album Heartcore came out last year on the Sweden's Found You Recordings and is due for a re-release stateside on The Leaf Label April 14.

[mp3] Wildbirds & Peacedrums - Doubt/Hope (from Heartcore, due April 14 via The Leaf Label)

Playlist - 2/5/08

2008-02-10T14:58:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd hammer this post out in the wee hour of the morning. I'll be doing my show tomorrow at 1pm and it would be ridiculous to have two playlists I haven't posted yet. There was some great new music the week of the Washington Caucus. The new one from School Of Language ("Sea From Shore") is sounding really good to me. That's the solo project of Field Music's Dan Brewis. More info and an mp3 after this long list of songs:

Islands - Return To The Sea
The Magnetic Fields - Clifornia Girls
Bon Iver - Skinny Lover
Blood On The Wall - Rize
Xiu Xiu - Under Pressure
Bob Mould - Stupid Now
The White Stripes - Jumble, Jumble
Radiohead - Electioneering
El Guincho - Palmitos Park
Billy Bragg & Wilco - Christ For President
Hot Chip - Shake A Fist
Midnight Juggernauts - Into The Galaxy
Videohippos - Downfall
Evangelicals - Bloodstream
SebastiAn - Walkman (Re-Edit)
White Williams - Danger
Animal Collective - Taste
The Whigs - I Never Want To Go Home
Sons & Daughters - Gilt Complex
School Of Language - Extended Holiday
Studio - Self-Service
The Depreciation Guild - Darklooming
Grand Archives - A Setting Sun
Menomena - Strongest Man In The World
Shocking Pinks - End Of The World
Spoon - Girls Can Tell

School of Language will be hitting the Seattle area when they play The Nectar Lounge on March 19. Sea From Shore is out now and available for purchase from Thrill Jockey.

[mp3] School Of Language - Extended Holiday (from Sea From Shore)

Rock Out With Your Caucus Out

2008-02-10T10:23:00.001-08:00

As a college student, I'm required to attend regular circle jerk sessions in which all of us twenty-somethings lowly moan the name of Obama until reaching simultaneous climax. But here in Washington state that apparently doesn't determine delegates. You have to go to this caucus thing, which I attended this past Saturday and was part of a record turnout. Being the first presidential campaign since I registered, things were surprisingly informal. Apparently they trust us enough to just count ourselves and figure out the delegates. I'm taking the opportunity to get into the system, and learn just wtf is going on. So I volunteered as one of the 4 Obama delegates from my district (a fifth went to Clinton) who votes in the next phase of the nomination in April.

Despite being an extremely polarizing time, I half expected anti-Bu$h shouting matches to be breaking out left and right, and the few Hillary supports present to go toe-to-toe with the Obama camp. While that did happen to a certain extent, it was awesome how encouraging the proceedings were. During the time designated to voters' speeches, the Obama supporters beseeched the Clinton people to speak (outnumbered eight to one in my precinct), and applauded everyone who did. It was clear the people who came were more interested in the people having a voice than choosing sides. In the current political climate it was refreshing to see.

I also got a chance to hear Obama speak at Key Arena (above) this past Friday. The Key was at capacity for the event and three thousand people got turned away (funny story, I cut in front of about 3,000 people). I hope you got a chance to hear Obama and McCain speak, or attend a rousing session of Clinton's clap clap, point point game.

And to all you Washingtonians, have fun voting in the fake election on the 19th. Since it doesn't count for delegates you should vote for someone ironically. I recommend Karl Krueger.

And for a fun drinking game, take a shot every time CNN asks if McCain is too liberal to be president.

[mp3] ~~Why? - These Few Presidents~~ (from Alopecia, due March 11 on anticon)
(removed by request)

Animal Collective On Take Away Shows

2008-02-05T01:36:00.000-08:00

Consistently one of the most rewarding and unique music websites out there is La Blogotheque's Take Away Shows. There's something romantic about seeing your favorite artists performing stripped-down sets in the crooks of twilight Paris. The elusive, mysterious Animal Collective appear on the latest edition of the consistently stunning series. The union of the freak folkers and the blog was fraught with obstacles including year long delays, inaccessible footage and heckling AC fans. But the result was worth the strife. (three-quarters of) the band take the opportunity to ride around in a shopping cart and debut the new song "Taste".

Btw it's 1:30 in the morning and I keep getting disconnected and losing hours worth of certainly legal downloads. That also means I'm having trouble giving the new logo a spin, still needs some tweaking, but I need some sleep. So it stays as is.

#82.1 - ANIMAL COLLECTIVE - Taste
Uploaded by lablogotheque

[mp3] Animal Collective - Taste

Girls In Hawaii! Tits? No.

2008-02-01T21:04:00.000-08:00

Fun fact:
there are no girls in the bandGirls In Hawaii

Perhaps the most misnamed band since We're From Barcelona, these six Belgian gents are about to release their second proper album, Plan Your Escape. The ensemble plays catchy and melancholy indie pop songs. When/if this album gets a state side release, expect to hear references to Grandaddy wherever they're mentioned. GIH sound almost exactly like the sadly defunct California band. The songs are soft and twinkly, with boat loads of reverb. And the lead singer (Antoine or Lionel, don't know which) is Jason Lytle's vocal doppelganger. That should give you a fair idea of what you're getting into, and how good this album is. Here's the first single from their excellent new album:

[mp3] Girls In Hawaii - This Farm Will End Up In Fire | alternate (buy from their myspace)

Playlist: 1/29/08

2008-01-30T07:41:00.001-08:00

First show back in the new quarter/year, and the first outing on Tuesday afternoon (1-3pm now, update your reminders). So far, so good. I hit on the releases that came out since I last aired back in early December including Evangelicals, The Magnetic Fields, Black Mountain etc. I also snuck in a couple of tracks I just needed to hear on a decent pair of speakers. I took the opportunity to confess I've never really listened to The Jam or The Replacements until this month. My loss, it should've happened sooner.

2080 - Yeasayer
The Gold We're Digging - Parts & Labor
They Crystal Cat - Dan Deacon
Secret Signals - The Intelligence
Clear Island - Liars
Everybody's Down - No Age
DROP-OUT - Times New Viking
No Friend OH! - Xiu Xiu
Stormy High - Black Mountain
Ether - Gang Of Four
Rape Me - Nirvana
Thick As Thieves - The Jam
I Will Dare - The Replacements
Bangers & Mash - Radiohead
U.R.A. Fever - The Kills
Dead Sound - The Raveonettes
Lovely Allen - Holy Fuck
Bellawood - Evangelicals
Please Stop Dancing - The Magnetic Fields
[mp3] The Hollows - Why? (buy 12" from insound.com)
Neo Consumer - Super Furry Animals
Sing Again - Chris Walla
One With The Freaks - The Notwist
Birthday Call - Girls In Hawaii
Andalou - pleasureboaters
The Rat - Dead Confederate
Campus - Vampire Weekend
Grounds For Divorce - Wolf Parade
New Violence - White Williams

Be sure to not miss the new single/album by Why?. "The Hollows" is an outstanding track, and Alopecia is one of the best releases in the nascent year. Also keep your eyes and ears open for a new album by the Belgian indiepop band Girls In Hawaii, Plan Your Escape.

And as for that Dan Deacon post I promised, Debaser did a nice little photo array/writeup for Dan and Ultimate Reality. Clicky clicky.

I've Got A Fever

2008-01-25T17:28:00.000-08:00

I've finally come out of my virally induced sleep-haze to make a post. A few days ago one of my roommates got a minor cold which he was nice enough to pass on to two of us in the apartment. Apparently we were more susceptible to this strain than he was. Over the past 3 days I've slept about 50 hours. So after getting a big 15 hours of sleep last night I think I'm finally coming out of it. In celebration of the breaking fever I've got a new track for you by American-Anglo duo The Kills, "U.R.A. Fever" from their upcoming release Midnight Boom. It's a pretty killer track, so enjoy it.

[mp3] The Kills - U.R.A. Fever (buy The Kills at insound.com)

Seriously Returning This Time

2008-01-23T16:23:00.001-08:00

I have been really sick this week, so sorry for the lack of updates.

I have a trip report/photos for Dan Deacon in the works.

Also the show will be back ont he air next Tuesday at 1pm.

ciao

Rainy Dawg Radio: "I'm this many!" holds up hand with all fingers extended

2008-01-15T23:37:00.000-08:00

This January, UW's own Rainy Dawg Radio turns five years old. Sparing no expense, the station will celebrate in a decidedly awesome fashion. The birthday bash will feature none other than Menomena (#9 on my Best Of '07, need I remind you), with back up acts Blitzen Trapper and Seattle's BOAT. Whoa. Color me impressed. I guess the station has more clout than I realized. Now if the ASUW could finally throw us a bone and help us out of the fucking basement and get us an FM antennae so I can use the phrase "on air" as much as possible.

The concert will be February 22, at the North Husky Den in the HUB. Tickets are $6 for students at the HUB, and $12 for the general public via Tickets West.

The Internet Finally Peaks

2008-01-15T00:48:00.000-08:00

So there's this You Tube thing, right? You may remember it was Time's Person Of The Year. It's home to some of the most awesome/ly good/bad shit on the internet. And now the FatalFarm people, responsible for the comically inspired Ducktales Alternate Intro, have unleashed their follow up on the internet. Almost all of these have been uploaded today, so you're getting in the ground floor (yr welcome). The premise: act out old Garfield strips. BUT THERE'S A TWIST. I'm not going to spoil it for you. I just watched all of their videos consecutively without stopping. If you get tired of these be sure to check out their previous efforts. These are three of my favorites (of the new ones).

Stream Evangelicals' New Album

2008-01-14T22:46:00.000-08:00

My introduction to Evangelicals (& Menomena) came just after the release of the former's So Gone and just before the latter's Friend & Foe (my 9th favorite album of '07). The concert was in a small venue. Five bux got you in, and the miniscule crowd meandered in and out during all three bands (31 Knots were there too). I can understand how people feel the atmospherics of Evangelicals' first album weren't engaging. But underneath the swaths of reverb there is a rollicking and exciting core to their sound. On their new release, The Evening Descends (due out next Tuesday) that aesthetic will be hard to ignore. I just finished listening to the album on their Myspace page, and it is fantastic. I hope that after hearing this, people will go back to So Gone and give it a little more of the attention it deserves (although, I admit, the new one is better). For those of you who read Stereogum, you know they were creaming themselves over this album today. It is the (now second) latest edition to their "Heavy Rotation" section. So whet your appetite for the next 7 days, and go and buy this on delicious vinyl next Tuesday.

[mp3] Evangelicals - The Skeleton Man (pre-order from insound.com)
[stream] Evangelicals - The Evening Decends

December(ists) in January

2008-01-14T22:34:00.000-08:00

Following the cancellation of their Long & Short Of It Tour, the rescheduling of The Decemberists dates has gone under the radar. Unfortunately for those not in the PNW, the D's aren't traveling far from home. There are only four dates as of yet, two in P-town and two further north in a much more sophisticated and far superior city. If you're trying to figure which day is the "long" and which day is the "short", don't bother. According to the band's website, these will be "just good ol' fashioned Decemberists shows." For those of you familiar with a Decemberists' concert, you know they're never lacking "old timey"-ness. Also, where's Laura Veirs & The Saltbreakers? I figured she'd be a shoo in for this. I guess she's too busy teaching banjo lessons.

01.22.2008 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom w/ The Dead Trees
01.23.2008 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom w/ Pseudosix
01.30.2008 Seattle, WA The Moore Theater w/ The Shaky Hands
01.30.2008 Seattle, WA The Moore Theater w/ Builders & The Butchers

[mp3] The Decemberists - The Soldiering Life (buy from insound.com)

Boredoms Super Are Super Going On Tour, Super.*

2008-01-14T22:26:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the prolonged absence. I'm still recovering from the holidays and getting back in to the swing of things at the ol' U-District. But in a bit of good news, Japanese freak rockers Boredoms (Vooredoms) are finally touring. If you've ever listened to Pop Tatari you know this has potential to be an, um, unique concert-going experience. The tour comes through Seattle on March 21, 2008. The insanity will be brought at Neumo's.

03.15.08 - San Diego, CA - Canes
03.16.08 - Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater
03.18.08 - San Francisco, CA - Fillmore Auditorium $
03.20.08 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
03.21.08 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
03.25.08 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue $
03.26.08 - Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium
03.29.08 - Boston, MA - Paradise
03.30.08 - New York, NY - Terminal 5 $
04.02.08 - Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom
04.03.08 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club

$ "in the round"
* easiest headline ever

[mp3] Boredoms - Super Going (buy from insound)

and lo the return comenceth

2008-01-07T12:50:00.000-08:00

Wuxtry! will resume it's normal time slot on Rainy Dawg Radio this Wednesday at 3pm.

edit: errr, maybe not

"Hey DJ's,
This is a heads up that the server is currently down for the nth time
this year, and we have our wonderful tech guy, Sam, working hard to get
it back online. This means we have no Internet here at the station
(thankfully, I always tote my laptop with me), and we can't broadcast or
upload any new music...basically we're massively screwed. But like I
said, hopefully in no time the situation will be remedied and we can go
back to broadcasting ASAP as planned. Sorry, everyone, and welcome back!"

50 Best Albums of 2007

2008-01-03T22:13:00.000-08:00

Compiling this list was a task and a half. Part of me had an existential crisis halfway through this endeavor. It's impossible to quantify which albums are "best". On any given day this list could be very different than it is now. While I'm confident in my top 10 now, I know if I revisit this next year I could wonder wtf I was thinking. Right now though, I like this. And even if this isn't the exact order they should be in, these are 50 albums that are certainly worth hearing from 2007. Comments welcome

50. Apparat - Walls
49. Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature
48. The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
47. James Blackshaw - The Cloud Of Unknowing
46. Gui Boratto - Chromophobia
45. Nina Nastasia & Jim White - You Follow Me
44. Marissa Nadler - Song III: Bird On The Water
43. The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes
42. The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters
41. The 1990s - Cookies
40. Studio - Yearbook 1
39. Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
38. Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals
37. Black Lips - Good, Bad, Not Evil
36. Shocking Pinks - Shocking Pinks
35. !!! - Myth Takes
34. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
33. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
32. Shapes And Sizes - Split Lips, Winning Hips, A Shiner
31. Pole - Steingarten
30. Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends
29. No Age - Weirdo Rippers
28. Caribou - Andorra
27. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
26. A Place To Bury Strangers - A Place To Bury Strangers
25. Deerhunter - Cryptograms
24. Stars Of The Lid - And Their Refinement Of The Decline
23. Liars - Liars
22. Okkervil River - The Stage Names
21. St. Vincent - Marry Me
20. Dan Deacon - Spiderman Of The Rings
19. The White Stripes - Icky Thump
18. The Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
17. Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
16. The National - Fake Empire
15. Feist - The Reminder
14. Kanye West - Graduation
13. Burial - Untrue
12. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
11. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

10. Justice - †

9. Menomena - Friend And Foe

8. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

7. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime

6. Battles - Mirrored

5. Panda Bear - Person Pitch

4. M.I.A. - Kala

3. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam

2. Radiohead - In Rainbows

1. LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver

In terms of overall quality, the output for '07 was incredible. The top ten was not an easy decision. At one time or the other each of those albums were a consideration for the #1 spot. Each of these albums are getting pretty fair share of many "Best Of" lists. But I have to go with my heart. I can't resist the sweet and bitter sentiments of "Someone Great" or the tongue-in-cheek Shelley-esque "North American Scum". However, around the 'nets I've been seen a lot of lists lacking The Field. In my experience From Here We Go Sublime was one of the most transporting and gorgeous albums of the year (hence the #7 spot). :-/

Now for the best songs of the year. I toyed with the idea of putting together a top 10/25/50/100 tracks list. Maybe if I was 8 or 9 more people it would have happened. But I felt that my song knowledge wasn't quite comprehensive enough to pull it off. While I listened to a lot of great albums this year, I might have glossed over great tracks on otherwise unremarkable albums. Instead, here are 7 songs. Some didn't appear on the Best Albums List, and some were so good they needed a second mention. Either way, I've been crushing hard on these songs for the past 12 odd months. So enjoy the filez and don't say I didn't get you anything for Christmas.

[mp3] The Dirty Projectors - Rise Above (from Rise Above; buy from insound.com)
[mp3] Ola Podrida - Cindy (from Ola Podrida; buy from insound.com)
[mp3] The Field - Everyday (from From Here We Go Sublime; buy from insound.com)
[mp3] Tunng - Bullets (from Good Arrows; buy from insound.com)
[mp3] The Shaky Hands - Summer's Life (from The Shaky Hands; buy from insound.com)
[mp3] Elvis Perkins - While You Were Sleeping (from Ash Wednesday; buy from insound.com)
[mp3] Shapes And Sizes - High Life (I Have Been Duped) (from Split Lips, Winning Hips, A Shiner; buy from insound.com)

RIAA to music fans: fuck you

2007-12-31T01:23:00.001-08:00

Bust out the Victrola and your old Edison Wax Cylinders, cuz the RIAA is taking us back in musical time. The rightfully maligned organization has been treating music fans like a piggy bank, suing and forcing settlements from people who can't afford legal battles. They even attempted to sue the Russian-based allofmp3.com (who has been deemed by Russia's Superior Court to be functioning within the law) for a whopping $1.6 trillion. For those of you who have trouble putting that into perspective, the gross domestic product of Russia is approximately $1.7 trillion.

And behold, the shitstorm cometh.

Now, according to an article in The Washington Post, the RIAA is claiming that copying legally-purchased CDs to your hard drive (as mp3s or whatever) is a violation of the law. Earlier this month, the RIAA argued in a lawsuit against Jeffrey Howell that the mp3 files of his legally purchased CDs were "unauthorized copies". If you are one of the unlucky souls who has purchased a CD, you're more than aware of the FBI warning against making these copies. The RIAA claims that they "won't usually raise concerns" as long as you don't distribute the files to others. But the RIAA is not known for exercising restraint.

Interpret this as another step towards the music industries self-destruction (oh please oh please oh please). Amidst the lightning-fast expansion of the digital revolution, the RIAA and the major record labels lag notoriously behind their consumers. Rather than embracing new technology, these entities have totally ignored the changing market and attempted to get the consumer base to continue buying their static and stale product in the same formats and at the same prices that we've been stuck with for years. While they pout and kick and pound their fists many independent labels and artist have embraced the changes, offering free music in hopes they find an earnest ear that will maybe buy a CD, go to a concert or even (gasp) introduce their friends to what they found.

I listen to High Places, try to avoid using the word 'blogosphere'

2007-12-29T01:17:00.000-08:00

While I was parousing the year-end extravaganza over at Pitchfork, Bradford Cox (of Deerhunter, who also took the above image btw) and Annie Clark (AKA St. Vincent) both name dropped a band called High Places. So I moseyed over to their little myspace thing, and checked them out. Based on the two tracks I've been spinning in my iPod, I like them a lot. I can see why Bradford Cox listed their self-released cd-r as one of his favorites of 2007, and says we will be very familiar with them by this time next year. The Brooklyn duo plays a spaced-out folk/tropical hybrid that's precocious and catchy. It's kinda like Architecture in Helsinki, but without as much going on at one time. Head on over to their blog for lyrics to these songs and others that may or my not be listed on Hype Machine.

Also, I've tried to make a post or two over break, but as I'm sure you noticed, the interwebz are not abuzz over the holidays. I'll be back to posting regularly on or around the 7th.

[mp3] High Places - Cosmonaut (shop via Reverse Retro)
[mp3] High Places - New Grace (shop via Reverse Retro)

P.S. Wuxtry! is now listed on Hype Machine. It's a Christmas miracle.

mp3: Pitchfork's Top 100 Tracks of 2007

2007-12-20T00:48:00.000-08:00

Before I go to bed I'd make one more quick update. These were posted to Stereogum yesterday by a hard-working reader, who also compiled the list in mp3 format last year. Since then Stereogum has removed the links. They reasoned that Pitchfork worked hard to clear the tracks that they could and reposting an mp3 link of their list would divert traffic or whatever.

Alas.

I'll let you decide. If you like what you hear please head over to the list at P4K for links on how to purchase CDs (support the artist!) and for informative blurbs about the individual tracks and the albums/singles they're culled from. This is a meticulously compiled collection and will take a while to download via SendSpace, but it's well worth it. Muchos gracias to "adam from Madison" for going through all this hard work.

[zip] P4k's Top 100 Tracks of 2007: Part 1 (1-27)
[zip] P4k's Top 100 Tracks of 2007: Part 2 (28-62)
[zip] P4k's Top 100 Tracks of 2007: Part 3 (63-100)

mp3: Dead Confederate - The Rat

2007-12-19T17:29:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been reading a lot of "year end" lists in my quest to put the finishing touches on the Wuxtry! best songs/albums rundown. So far I haven't seen to many surprises for the top spot. It's mostly a race between M.I.A., LCD Soundsystem and Panda Bear. I would have to say P4k's list is closest to what I'd pick (I think 7 of our 10 match up right now). I'm glad they're showing some love for The Field, who have been getting the snub lately.

I was pleasantly surprised by Rolling Stone's top 10. I fully expected the top spot to go to Springsteen (who garnered the publication's only 5 star review this year). Instead the honor went to M.I.A. for Kala (who earned a surprisingly high 4.5 in the publication). Rilo Kiley, LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire and Spoon also cracked their top spots. But of course, they had to fuck up in some way (btw, did you know they're getting sued?). This year Nickelback's "Rockstar" cracked their 100 Greatest Songs list and Britney Spears showed up on their Best Albums list (oh yeah, so did Linkin Park).

SO.

In the meantime while I prepare my lists, here's a little mp3 update of Athens, Georgia band Dead Confederate. The band have been getting much love from KEXP. They were even invited to KEXP's in-studio set up at this year's CMJ festival, and have been getting regular airplay at the station. It's pretty good. Check it out.

[mp3] Dead Confederate - The Rat (buy from Amazon.com mp3)

Review: Daft Punk - Alive 2007

2007-12-19T01:14:00.000-08:00

Earlier last month a compilation, Discovered: As Sampled By Daft Punk, compiled the samples constituting Daft Punk’s three albums. They are a hodgepodge of songs with no apparent link between them and no special qualities in and of themselves. Yet, these songs enhance my respect for DP’s first two albums not because they are good songs, but because most of them suck. The compilation serves as an affirmation of the French duo’s ability as song makers themselves. Listening to the constituents of Discovery and Homework and comparing them to the final product is the aural equivalent of witnessing an alchemist turn scrap metal into gold.

Two years ago Daft Punk released Discovery’s highly anticipated follow up, Human After All. The duo limited themselves to just the use of electric guitar and drum machine. The results were mostly tepid and repetitive. While the album had its brilliant moments, most DP fans were left in modest bewilderment—this was not the same band that we heard two years ago.

I remember reading Jack White saying during recording sessions he liked to “work under restrictions” (or something close to this effect). He felt that going in to a studio with limitless boundaries can be overwhelming. Artists will overreach and be left with albums that sound stretched thin and non-unified. The White Stripes have created a lot of brilliant material this way: shredding out classic records in mere weeks and laying down brilliant songs in single takes. For a band like Daft Punk, this approach doesn’t work. Perhaps HAA was an attempted reaffirmation of their ability to cull brilliance from an unforgiving source of material. The limitation let the album’s weaknesses lay bare whereas their previous efforts were flawless dance confections.

Flash forward to Coachella 2006. It is late in the eve of the So Cal festival. Concertgoers are tired and worse yet some are sobering. Having not played a show in the states in almost a decade speculation about the set was broad and varied. The French House duo then proceeded to send shockwaves of galvanic dance energy through the exhausted crowd with their schizoid light show and reinterpreted body of work. That show set the pace for their now legendary Alive 2007 tour (their first worldwide since Alive 1997). I had the honor of being in attendance for their show at WaMu theater this past June. That show is the best concert I have had the privilege of attending. During the two hour set Daft Punk turned into the sampling magicians we first heard ten years ago on Homework. They remixed and sampled their own material into a pastiche of familiarity and surprise that you yearn to hear at a live performance. We don’t attend concerts to hear bands recite their material from rote memory. Sure, we want to hear the songs we love. What would be a Daft Punk concert without “Around The World” or “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”? But we want to hear and see something we can’t get from an album. Daft Punk delivers that in spades and had the crowd in the palm of their gloved hands.

In album form Alive 2007 is a revelation of Daft’s material. The disc is a slightly different set list than the one I remember hearing in June, but the differences and the level of quality here attest to their versatility in a live setting. The disc is a non-stop ride of the thrilling changes and mash-ups of the tour. It is rare to hear a live album depart so much from the original material while at the same time embracing what we’ve come to love about the artist in the first place. The tour and album are an ambitious undertaking and both succeed on all fronts. When compared to Human After All, Alive 2007 (the album and the tour) proves that Daft Punk is a band that works best when they’re not placing any limitations on themselves.

Rating: 8.5/10

Playlist 12/5/2007

2007-12-15T14:21:00.000-08:00

Whoa this is late. I didn't have a show last week (finals, you see). We were having a little bit of a server "issue". The "issue" was that the server wasn't "working", per se. Fortunately I had the foresight to put the playlist onto my iPod beforehand (I'm the greatest thinker in internet-based college radio stations). But I had to just play through it in alphabetical order to keep from stopping on air and clicking around, or accidentally playing something twice. So that's why the artists got played in alphabetical order. Just in case you were wondering.

Akron/Family - Don't Be Afraid It's Only Love
Arcade Fire - (antichrist television blues)
The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist
The Avett Brothers - Die Die Die
Beck - Bad Cartridge (E-Pro) [Remix]
Cat Power - The Greatest
Deerhoof - Flower
Deerhunter - Spring Hall Convert
Destroyer - Foam Hands [New!!!]
Figurines - The Wonder
Gogol Bordello - Wanderlust King
Hercules And The Love Affair - Hercules' Theme [mp3]
Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen
Iron & Wine - The Boy With The Coin
The Knife - We Share Our Mother's Health
Ladyhawk - The Dugout
M. Ward - To Go Home
My Morning Jacket - Wordless Chorus
Nina Nastasia & Jim White - Late Night
Okkervil River - Song Of Our So-Called Friend
Phosphorescent - Wolves
Pylon - Cool
Radiohead - Banana Co. (Live)
The Raveonettes - Dead Sound
Shocking Pinks - End Of The World
Sleater-Kinney - Jumpers
Sleeping States - I Wonder

Btw, I've pinpointed the greatest moment in post-milennieal music. It happens about three-quarters of the way through The Avalanche's "Frontier Psychiatrist" when the beat comes back in after the little girl says "yeah" and they scratch the parrot squawking. That's the sickest shit ever. And the music video is hilarious/awesome as well. It's a direct visual interpretation of the samples and sounds in the song, so it gets pretty nuts.

It ain't nuthin' for Akon to throw a dude.

2007-12-14T00:23:00.000-08:00

This past June, at WSPK's KFEST festival in Fishkill, New York one fan in the audience decided to throw "an object" at Akon on the Dutchess Stadium stage. In response (I will say though, throwing shit at a performer is obnoxious) Akon called him out from the crowd, demanding he be brought to the stage. A spindly 15 year old boy was brought up towards the stage by Akon's bodyguards. The Senegalese rapper promptly hoisted the boys onto his shoulders and then back into the crowd shouting, "Now you know what it feels like to be thrown! Don't litter!*" He's now claiming the incident was a publicity stunt. Uh huh. Welllll thanks to the all-seeing eye of the You Tube Neighborhood Watch, we have great footage of the incident for ourselves. Just imagine this clip in 3-D! WHOA! Thrills! Chills! Spills!

This isn't as scandalous as the "simulated sex" incident with a fifteen-year-old preacher's daughter at a Trinidad and Tobago night club earlier this summer (resulting in cancellation of his ringtones being sold by Verizon and being dropped from Gwen Stefani's tour). Maybe Akon should try avoiding publicity for a while.

*Akon did not say this

Finals ? Over ! French House ? MORE !

2007-12-14T00:05:00.000-08:00

Okay whoa. I haven't been around the last four days because I've been cramming my brain full of knowledge which is just as quickly leaving it. So to make up for it, here's a quick little myspace link to yet another house artist based out of France (Justice, SebastiAn, Daft Punk are all having a big year). And guess what? It's good! I guess this makes Franco-house the music scene of the year.

[mp3] Danger - Revolte at 22H10 (buy from his myspace)

8-Bit Shoegaze (?!)

2007-12-07T19:15:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn's The Depreciation Guild make blissed out shoegaze with classic Famicom blips, bloops, crashes and swoooooooshes. Knee-jerk reaction that the two genres that don't reconcile well, but DG pull it off beyond expectations. This past month they decided to "do a Radiohead" and self-release their debut album, In Her Gentle Jaws, via their website. I highly recommend it, and not just because its free or it gave me another excuse to bring up Radiohead. Website linked below.

[album] The Depreciation Guild - In Her Gentle Jaws

[mp3] Hercules And Love Affair - "Hercules' Theme"

2007-12-05T13:08:00.001-08:00

[mp3]

The hot new thing from DFA are Hercules And Love Affair. DFA released their debut 12" this past summer and their debut album is due out sometime in '08 which will be prefaced by the release of their single "Blind". Like most artists on DFA, HALA are are a fun synth-dance band that can't quite be reduced to being called a "dance band". And it is phat and it is phree from DFA right now (click the banner up there ^^^). They do, however, ask you for the usual age/sex/e-mail stuff but I hope I can trust Murphy & Co. enough to know that I won't get spammed. >:-(

~~(PS I might post a direct link to the mp3 later tonight)~~ I did.

[mp3] Hercules And The Love Affair - Hercules' Theme (thanks DFA!)

somewhere over england there is a box of discs and it is addressed to me. i wonder if i keep writing how long blogger will let me type before this hea

2007-12-02T20:45:00.002-08:00

I received this e-mail at 4:39pm PST this evening:

Hello,

Just to let you know…

Your “In Rainbows” discbox has now left w.a.s.t.e. in the UK

You can expect delivery of your discbox in the following estimated times.

UK 1-8 days

Europe 1-14 days

Rest of World 5-18 days

Wherever possible (especially to customers in the USA), we’ve sent these by road and sea.

December is a busy time of year for postal services globally, so please be patient.

We thank you for your custom and hope you enjoy your discbox when you receive it.

Best wishes.

us @ w.a.s.t.e.

omigodomigodomigod my Radiohead discbox will be here within 5-18 days. If only we were all as luck as this asshole.

in other news I also got this e-mail:

sake
polyhedra auspicious inculcate aegean aegean sake

wary flagstaff heartbeat flagstaff sentence

flagstaff

deliquescent crazy into dramatic sallow baseline aegean halve licensee

crazy apostle wary sake spew agile lindquist rampant sentence

newspapermen deliquescent budgetary endurance rectitude crazy infuse sallow jackpot rescue

budgetary halve polyhedra lindquist halve orchestra vanilla frill into

radiant hornblende auspicious aegean newspapermen jackpot sallow budgetary licensee

auspicious baseline anecdote halve polyhedra halve baseline into into consanguine evident

what.

(P.S. I'm sorry I linked you to Rolling Stone as they are a completely irrelevant music rag)

pleasureboaters - Gross!

2007-12-01T21:48:00.000-08:00

Seattle's pleasureboaters are a polarizing love 'em/hate 'em act. The trio play a jagged mix of post/dance punk with more than a dash of discordance. They pull this off with an aplomb that leaves many listeners dancing and just as many violently smashing into each other. I was first introduced to them earlier last month when they opened for Battles at Neumo's. The set was overly-long but throughout the band commanded your attention. Their debut album Gross! is almost as commanding. The short, punchy songs hit like a punk rock fugue that propels you through its 12 tracks. They have a sound I haven't yet heard, even if the influences aren't hard to spot. But the total effect is galvanic. They've got a great sound. I'm looking forward to seeing how far they can take it.

Rating: 7/10

[mp3] pleasureboaters - Elliptical Realism (buy from Don't Stop Believin' records)

Playlist 11/28/07

2007-11-28T19:25:00.000-08:00

Instead of the 50/50 genre split, today I did a brief recap of some of my favorite tracks of 2007, and ended with my favorite song of the year "Someone Great". This isn't the "final" best of list yet, but I'm working on it. And then you can send me e-mails about all the stuff I forgot.

Bodies Of Water - It Is Familiar
Feist - I Feel It All
Maritime - Guns Of Navarone
Band Of Horses - No One's Gonna Love You
The Avett Brothers - Paranoia In Bb Major
The Cave Singers - Dancing On Your Graves
Iron & Wine - Resurrection Fern
Jose Gonzalez - Killing For Love
Bjork - Wanderlust
Menomena - Wet & Rusting
Tunng - Take
Grand Archives - Sleepdriving
White Williams - New Violence
Chromatics - Night Drive
Dan Deacon - The Crystal Cat
The National - Start A War
Bowerbirds - In Our Talons
Beirut - Nantes
Radiohead - House Of Cards
Pleasureboaters - Elliptical Realism
Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
M.I.A. - Paper Planes [by request]
LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great

I Finally Pass 10,000 Plays on Last.fm, The Most Exciting Part of My Tuesday Exposes My Depressing Lack of Social Interaction

2007-11-27T23:25:00.000-08:00

the headline pretty much takes care of the salient information

the big 10k was 60 Watt Kid's "Ocsicnarf Nas"

toot toot

throw some d's on dat bitch

[mp3] 60 Watt Kids - Ocsicnarf Nas (buy from insound.com)

Daft Punk Continues To Be Awesome, Robots

2007-11-27T09:03:00.000-08:00

Since you only have 30 minutes to take advantage of this, you better get crackin'. Daft Punk will be conducting a 60-minute online Q&A session starting at 12:30 EST (9:30 on the West Coast). You can participate by registering here.

Clogs Return, Dutch Rejoice

2007-11-26T14:01:00.000-08:00

Freak Classical ensemble Clogs are in NYC recording the follow up to 2006's excellent Lantern. According to their post on CLOGSmusic.com the band is eyeing a 2008 release for the as-of-yet untitled album. The new "collection of songs" is inspired by the gardens of Lady Walton in Ischia, Italy (Italian only as of now, sorry). A departure from their entirely instrumental releases, the new album will feature, indie gasp, vocals! The first peek at a new track is a manuscript scan, available on their blog (reposted above). The only English description on the manuscript describes it as a "a double round for children's voices and chorus". The actual lyrics, one assumes, are Italian. Running them through the Italio/Anglo-dictionary returns the following: "Crocodile/frog frog frog/firefly firefly firefly firefly/mermaid/gecko gecko(?)/capre(?) frog/crocodile/parrot parrot/parrot parrot". Hm.

It'll be interesting to hear a chorus of children bouncing off of Clogs' bubbly classical constructions. At the beginning of '08 Clogs plan to play a few shows down under with member-sharing band The National(half of Clogs account for two-fifths of The National). For all my Sydney readers (yes, all of you) be sure to secure tickets for one of the dates in January 21-23 at City Recital Hall Angel Place. On sale now.

[homepage] Clogs
[myspace] htttp://www.myspace.com/clogsmusic

UW to WSU:

2007-11-25T01:04:00.000-08:00

enjoy living in Pullman

....................../´¯/)
....................,/¯../
.................../..../
............./´¯/'...'/´¯¯`·¸
........../'/.../..../......./¨¯\
........('(...´...´.... ¯~/'...')
.........\.................'...../
..........''...\.......... _.·´
............\..............(
..............\.............\...

SebastiAn releAses two new beAtsteAks

2007-11-20T17:06:00.000-08:00

French electro is exploding all over the place. Just this year the duo Justice released a critically acclaimed album, †, got nominated for an MTV Movie award for their single D.A.N.C.E. (btw fuck you Umbrella), played Coachella and received the Video Star and French Act Of The Year awards at the European Music Awards. Their labelmate from Ed Banger Records, SebastiAn, seems poised to take over the word soon too. The Franco-DJ has been jet-setting around the world this year opening for a band called Daft Punk (whose Alive 2007 album is out today). Last year, he released an EP of his own titled Ross Ross Ross. Now, he has released a re-edited single of "Walkman" with a b-side called "Killing In The Name Of Sebastian", a remix of RATM's "Killing In The Name Of". The genres of house and rap metal seem at first diametrically opposite. But at their core is the basic motive for rocking your body.

SebastiAn's heavy grunge synths fit perfectly against Tim Commerford's heavy groove bass and Zach De La Rocha's scream/rap/yell/rap flow. If SebastiAn's heavy sludge beat (comes in right after the first "Killin in the name of!") doesn't hit you like a fist straight to your adrenaline center then life probably isn't worth living anymore. The a-side to this 12" single is a nearly direct translation of the version of Walkman available on the 2006's Ross Ross Ross ep, only a little grungier. Unfortunately, as of this posting the very limited 12" single is sold out. But you can go to SebastiAn's myspace page to hear some other bitchin' electro-riffage.

[mp3] SebastiAn - Walkman (re-edit)
[mp3] SebastiAn - Killing In The Name Of SebastiAn(recommended)

Glowing Green Skulls, Batman! Dan Deacon bring tour to Seattle!

2007-11-20T07:57:00.000-08:00

Hot on the tails of their collaborative DVD release Dan Deacon and visual artist Jimmy Joe Roche are hitting the road with a smattering of dates that includes Neumo's in Seattle. No telling yet if the January 20th show will be 21+ since the Neumo's calendar apparently ends at December. Since that is like 3 weeks before my big two-one I will be supremely pissed if it is.

In case you don't already know, Deacon's supremely entertaining Spiderman Of The Rings is out now on Carpark Records. If the record isn't enough to convince you that this will be a crazy, absurd indie dance party, then Jimmy Joe Roche's bizarre light show might do the trick. I haven't seen the full thing yet, but based on the bizarrely awesome Crystal Cat video (seriously watch this, that song is amazing) and this sample from the new DVD, the show will be all sorts of trippy/hilarious/awesome.

Full dates:

01.06.08 – Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506
01.07.08 – Atlanta – Eyedrum
01.09.08 – New Orleans – One Eyed Jacks
01.12.08 – Denton, TX – Hailey’s
01.15.08 – Los Angeles – El Rey Theatre
01.17.08 – San Francisco – Great American Music Hall
01.18.08 – Portland, OR – Backspace
01.19.08 – Portland, OR – Holocene
01.20.08 – Seattle – Neumos
01.21.08 – Vancouver – Richard on Richards
01.25.08 – Chicago – Lakeshore Theater #
01.26.08 – Chicago – Metro $
01.26.08 – Chicago – Metro $
01.27.08 – Detroit – Scrummage University
01.28.08 – Cleveland – Grog Shop
01.30.08 – Montreal – La Sala Rossa
01.21.08 – Boston – Pozen Center
02.08.08 – New York City – Whitney Museum %

# Ultimate Reality only, no Dan Deacon set
$ Girl Talk, no UR
% Dan Deacon set only, no UR

Also:
[Myspace] Dan Deacon
[video] Dan Deacon confuses the hell out of the Savannah Morning News in '05

Radiohead Radioheads in the year of Radiohead Radiohead Radiohead Radiohead

2007-11-15T08:11:00.000-08:00

The release of In Rainbows turned the dialog of the blogosphere into a post-millennial sort of Smurf-speak. As much as 73% of internet vocabulary was reduced to simply "Radiohead". This is all for good reason. Radiohead as shown much love for their fans this year. Two fridays ago the band invited fans over to Radiohead.tv (not online anymore) to be treated to a special webcast called "thumbs_down. The 'cast featured live performances and a smattering of videos. For those of you who missed it (like myself, unfortunately) the YouTube crowd is picking up the slack. The videos are a great treat. I especially liked the Fear-cam in-studio of Jigsaw "Falling Into Place". And who doesn't love a cover of Joy Division's "Ceremony"? The Stereogum peeps have a compiled a list of the videos here. These 3 of my favorites:

[video] Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place

[video] Radiohead - Ceremony (Joy Division cover)

[video] Radiohead - Sev7en/15 Step

New: The Raveonettes - Aly, Walk With Me

2007-11-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

After the ubiquitous skuzzy distortion that oozed over their first two albums, it was a surprise to hear the band's shift on Pretty In Black. While PIB is by no means a bad album, a lot of people were left cold by the lack of their grungy thumb print on '50s and '60s rock. The album did serve to demonstrate the duo as more than ample songwriters and not just ironic sludge-flingers. With this new track, it seems Sune Rose Wagner and Sharon Foo, the duo behind Denmark's The Raveonettes are trying to strike something of a balance. "Aly Walk With Me", the first track of their new album titled Lust, Lust, Lust, brings back processed beats 'n' bass with their bombastic flare for shrill noise (don't I make it sound so great?). Aly is a reverb-laden slow-burner sure to satiate fans of their early sound. At the same time it manages to show the sweet yearning of songs like "Uncertain Times". Be sure to look out for the new album, which is for preorder here in the states.

[mp3] The Raveonettes - Aly Walk With Me (from Lust, Lust, Lust LP, preorder it here)

[myspace] http://myspace.com/theraveonettes

Playlist: 11/7/2007

2007-11-12T19:09:00.000-08:00

I decided to try something new, and loosley themed the show, dividing it into two halves. The first half (tracks 1-11) was freak/folk/acoustic, and the second hour was lofi/rawk (tracks 11-24). I think I'll continue the idea of splitting the show into themes, it gives a nice sense of continuity to the shows.

Dark Horse - Bowerbirds
Samba Vexillographica - Devendra Banhart
Down The Line - Jose Gonzalez
Resurrection Fern - Iron & Wine
Let's Dance - M. Ward
Thank Your Parents - Oneida
We All Lose One Another - Jason Collett [by request]
Kids On Holiday - Animal Collective
Kids Aflame - Arms
Strangled Road - Six Organs Of Admittance
Citizens of Tomorrow (Space Ballad) - Tokyo Police Club
Missing You - A Place To Bury Strangers
O Katrina! - Black Lips
Secret Messages - The Intelligence
Peace of Mind - Enon
Rage In The Plague Age - Les Savy Fav
Freak Out - Liars
Taste - Magik Markers
Sexy Results - Death From Above 1979 [by request]
Blood Bank - Whale Bones
Victims - Shocking Pinks
I'll Make You A Star - The Ponys
Stop Breakin' Down - The White Stripes
The Mending of the Gown - Sunset Rubdown

Photos: Art Brut and The Hold Steady @ HUB Ballroom

2007-11-07T18:54:00.001-08:00

This past Sunday UW had a chance to get their party rock on at the crappy HUB Ballroom. I arrived late, missing the Blood Arm's opening set, so nothing to report. Art Brut took stage just as I arrived. Despite some sound issue with the monitors, the performance didn't suffer. Lead singer Eddie Argos requested his monitors be turned off because "he doesn't really sing anyway." At one point in the set Eddie came of the stage and hopped through the lackluster crowd trying to get a rise out of the oddly quiet audience. Most of the attendees seemed to be in an oddly dour mood that evening. Nonetheless, The Hold Steady(AKA Harry Potter's favorite band) treated us to 3 new songs. One standout from those was a song apparently called "Joke About Dyer'Maker", about love and Led Zeppelin. My reaction at the time was "whoa, this is one of the best things they've ever done." We'll have to wait until the new album comes out (purportedly next year). Here are some crappy photos I took:

Trip Report: Battles

2007-11-06T18:05:00.000-08:00

Battles Bring Beats

Neumo's
With Bronze Fawn, pleasureboaters

Despite being 70+ tickets from selling out, the line outside Neumo’s wound well around the block by the time doors were scheduled to open. When I arrived with my entourage at 7:45 the muffled tones of sound check emanated from outside the venue. Distinctly recognizable through closed doors was the bouncy rhythm of Battles’ “Atlas”. Since the main act usually sound checks first we knew the wait was going to be longer than the planned 15 minutes. At 8:50, we were admitted to the venue. The all ages audience showed signs of wearing, but still buzzed with anticipation after freezing outside for an hour.

pleasureboaters bring the noise

Fortunately Seattle’s Bronze Fawn, a last minute addition to the bill, took stage only half an hour later. The band plays progressive rock that borders on ambient (think of the slow parts of “Canyons of Static” by GY!BE). They apologized for not performing with their usual visuals (*cough* crutch *clears throat*) but from the layers of shimmering delays and laid back drumming its not hard to imagine the neon rings buzzing around a la iTunes visualizer that we might be missing (Idea Corner: listen to Bronze Fawn with your iTunes visualizer on for a simulated live experience :-P). The set wasn’t particularly thrilling, but after waiting an hour in line most weren’t discerning.

The energy level got kicked up a notch when pleasureboaters took stage. The Seattle trio is fairly new (they’ve been together two years), and their debut GROSS! was released last month by Don’t Stop Believin’ Records. In the latest issue of The Stranger they garnered a small bio in which their live shows were deemed “incendiary”. Even those who hate pleasureboaters will have a hard time arguing that description. The band thrashed, twirled, shredded, screamed and bent over backwards into (most of) the audience’s hearts. The only problem was their set lasted nearly as long as Battles’, practically 50 minutes. According to the folks at Debaser (who did not like their set at all) even the sound technician tried to cull the band of stage. My perception was each explosive song was met with resounding applause and several drunken “whoooooo!”s.

Battles are multi-instrumentalists, MS Paint stick figures

After a door delay and a long opening act the New York ensemble finally took stage. The band is a scant four members considering the complexity of their sound. They bounced effortlessly between songs, complex rhythm changes and multi-instrumentalism (Ian Williams plays finger-tapped guitar while accompanying himself on keyboard). All of this was grounded by John Stanier’s fucking incredible bolt-tight drumming. Being the only member of the band not digitally looping sounds, he has the heavy task of manually keeping the labyrinthine rhythms of Mirrored rock steady. He did it in spades and the audience fed off his manic, sweaty energy. The crowd became especially raucous during the bands best song, “Atlas” which nearly burned the house down. I was so busy having a good time I completely forwent taking any decent pictures. I created a visual for you using the latest in digital concert representation technology. I kept the quality a little low on purpose so next time around you’ll have to see them for yourself.

[mp3] Battles - Atlas (from Mirrored lp; buy at insound.com)
[Video] Battles - Tonto (from Mirrored lp)

[Video] pleasureboaters (live @ The Funhouse)

Playlist 10/31/07

2007-10-31T18:29:00.003-07:00

Fortunately the show wasn't stricken by any misgivings of the holiday season. The worst that happened was the iPod adapter wasn't working, which meant half of my playlist went out the window. Things worked out in the end though, making due with the station server and artists' Myspace pages. I was heartened by the fact that I got a phone call at the beginning of my show asking if I was giving away any Hold Steady tickets for this Sunday. Fortunately I was planning on giving tickets away and this spared the task of doing it on the air. So congratulations to Nicole who will be seeing Art Brut and The Hold Steady this weekend at the HUB Ballroom. And congrats last week to Mikey who won a pair of tickets to see Liars and Interpol at WaMu theater (it was a good concert too).

Shocking Pinks - End of the World
Besnard Lakes - Disaster
Voxtrot - Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives
Blitzen Trapper - Sci-Fi Kid
The Cave Singers - Dancing On Your Graves
Arcade Fire - (Antichrist Television Blues)
The Hold Steady - Chillout Tent
The Most Serene Republic - Present of Future End
Enon - Mr. Ratatatat
Pavement - Shady Lane
The Thermals - A Pillar Of Salt
The Blakes - Two Times
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Caterwaul
Autolux - Here Comes Everybody
TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me
Grizzly Bear - Knife
The Mae Shi - Run To Your Grave
LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends [dedicated to Stylus Magazine]
Radiohead - Bodysnatchers [by request]
Maritime - Guns of Navarone
Los Campesinos - You! Me! Dancing!
Saturday Looks Good To Me - Apple
Samara Lubelski - Tasting the Candy
Bowerbirds - In Our Talons
Kanye West - Stronger [by request]
Justice - D.A.N.C.E.

Merry Holidays

2007-10-31T17:40:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. The leaves are on the ground. Candy is given away for free. Eggs and toilet paper are purchased in bulk and used to commit misdemeanor acts of vandalism. But whatever demonic acts of witchcraft and debauchery you get involved in, don't egg my car. I will find you. I always do. To celebrate the season, here's a video (its more of a slideshow) for Tracy Jordan's novelty song "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah". Shalom!

[Video] Tracy Jordan - "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah"

(watch 30 Rock, I can't stand another great comedy being canceled)

Note: Head on up to the "Playlist" post above to see what was on the show tonight, in case you missed it.

Wuxtry First Post, Welcome

2007-10-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

Bon soir. Welcome to Wuxtry! the blog that (as of now) accompanies and supports my radio show on Rainy Dawg Radio at the University of Washington. I'll be keeping you updated on what's happening on the show and at the station here in Seattle. Expect album and track reviews, concert reports, important news etc etc. I hope that I'll introduce you to things you might not have heard otherwise, some of it you might actually enjoy (gasp). So be sure to check back often, I'll try to update as much as I can. And be sure to listen to the show Wednesdays from 3 to 5pm, at http://www.rainydawg.org. And since this was a contentless "First Post" post, here's a spooooooky new Aesop Rock video just in time for Halloween.

[Video] Aesop Rock [ft. John Darnielle] - "Coffee"

(from None Shall Pass out now via Def Jux)