Albums of the Year

After many hours of listening, scribbling notes on pieces of junk mail, re-listening, and scribbling more notes, my top 20 albums of the year list came to fruition. I am rather happy with how it turned out, and it translated to a nice year-end radio show. It was fun being on at 10 am on New Year's Eve, knowing I had many more listeners than I normally would expect. Many thanks to everyone who listened and supported me throughout the year.

My list is posted below as part of the show's playlist. Comparing the year-end list with my half-year list, a couple things pop out. Most notably, the fall of Feist's "The Reminder" from #4 to #16 at year's end. While it contains many great tracks, the slow and wandering second half of the album eventually lead to its downfall. It was perhaps the most front-loaded album of the year. Also of note, both Justice and Simian Mobile Disco failed to land in my Top 20 at the end of the year. They are both enjoyable and innovative albums, but electronic dance albums often don't come together for me (i.e. the single tracks are outstanding, but the album doesn't feel cohesive and they don't yield repeated listens).

An mp3 of the first 80 minutes of the show has been uploaded! Click below. I was hoping to have two mp3s covering the entire show for everyone, but the second CD-R I had decided not to cooperate. Sorry.

Music is My Girlfriend - 12/31/07
* Recording begins with the last minute of "Auld Lang Syne" (the New Year's Song) and ends along with Jens Lekman's "Your Arms Around Me" (which was played AFTER Patrick Wolf's "Bluebells" due to CD skipping problems. Just listen, you'll see).

Playlist
Rank. Artist - Album

20. The Shaky Hands - The Shaky Hands
"Why and How Come"

19. !!! - Myth Takes
"Heart of Hearts"

18. Earlimart - Mentor Tormentor
"Nothing is True"

17. King Khan and the Shrines - What Is?!
"No Regrets"

16. Feist - The Reminder
"I Feel it All"

15. Datarock - Datarock
"I Used to Dance with my Daddy"

14. Radiohead - In Rainbows
"Weird Fishes/Arpeggi"

13. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
"The Underdog"

12. Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls
"To the East"

11. Menomena - Friend and Foe
"Wet and Rusting"

- Excellent EP Interlude - Ra Ra Riot - self-titled EP - "Each Year"

10. Okkervil River - The Stage Names
"Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe"

9. Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
"Nantes"

8. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
"Your Arms Around Me"

7. Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position
"Bluebells"

6. National - The Boxer
"Fake Empire"

5. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
"Keep the Car Running"

4. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
"Gronlandic Edit"

3. M.I.A. - Kala
"Paper Planes"

2. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
"Skinny Love"

- Excellent EP Interlude - Los Campesinos! - Sticking Fingers into Sockets EP - "You! Me! Dancing!"

1. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
"All My Friends"
"Us v Them"

Thanks for listening. See you next year!

Some Songs I Like

Filled in for the "Hands-On Experience" show tonight from 8:30 till 10:30pm. I tried to play a bunch of my favorite songs from the past year, but when I put a playlist together I had at least 3 hours of music lined up without much digging. In a way I ended up succeeding, but if I were you I wouldn't read this as any sort of "best songs of the year" list.

In other news, I think I am done reading the KBUT studio phone number on the air. It always leads to really bad requests that don't fit my show. at all. See this week's examples below...

No mp3 this week, but there WILL be one for Monday's best albums show. Once again, that show is at 10am Mountain Time.

Artist / Song

Zookeeper / Ballad of My Friends
Shaky Hands / Why and How Come
Spoon / the Underdog
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists / Bottle of Buckie
Arcade Fire / Keep the Car Running
Patrick Wolf / Overture
Bon Iver / Skinny Love
Dire Straits / Money for Nothing *call-in request
the Hives / Won't Be Long
Black Lips / Cold Hands
Art Brut / Post Soothing Out
Ra Ra Riot / Each Year
Jose Gonzalez / Down the Line
Feist / I Feel it All
Earlimart / Nothing is True
The National / Fake Empire
Dinosaur Jr. / We're Not Alone
Red Hot Chili Peppers / Snow (Hey Oh) *call-in request
Vietnam / Priest Poet & Pig
Devendra Banhart / Seahorse
Kentucky Nightmare / Caroline and I
Menomena / Wet and Rusting
Jens Lekman / Opposite of Hallelujah
Of Montreal / Suffer for Fashion
Of Montreal / Sink the Seine
Cut Copy / So Haunted
M.I.A. / Paper Planes
LCD Soundsystem / All My Friends

Closing Out the Year

Kind of late notice, but I will be on KBUT tonight at 8:30 MT until about 10:30 pm. I will be playing a bunch of tracks that are among my favorites of the past year. This show is a bit of a precursor to my year-end spectacular on Monday, Dec 31st. Instead of my normal late night time slot, I will be filling in for the 10 am to Noon show. I will be featuring my top albums of the year in a countdown, so be sure to tune in! Once again, that's 10 am Mountain Time, so it would start at Noon for you East Coasters.

KBUT's New Website

For anyone who has been or has been trying to listen to the KBUT stream from KBUT.org, you may have noticed that the main website content has not been updated since July! Thankfully, the fully-new and improved KBUT website has recently been deployed. I highly recommend checking it out.

kbut.org
My Profile
*** edit 12/21 - Oh wow, they just posted the profile picture that I submitted and it looks even more ridiculous than I ever imagined. I imagine I will change it in the near future, but enjoy it while it lasts. (p.s. I had a bloody nose and no tissues to mop up the mess. And no, I didn't faint)

There has been talk of digital archiving of shows with the new website, so you may be able to hear my shows in the their entirety in the future!

A Dash of Christmas Spirit

With Christmas on the horizon and plenty of new music in tow, I ventured into the KBUT studios for yet another edition of Music is My Girlfriend. Sufjan Stevens made a couple of appearances this week with his cheery, offbeat Christmas anthems that blended well with my mix of brand spankin' new tunes.

Thanks to Eric and Alex (Kellan's friends from out of town) for coming into the studio. Eric, I have never seen such enthusiasm for reading underwriting announcements.

There is a new "Bad Album Cover" this week, but sadly our turntables weren't working in the studio so I could only describe the album without musical accompaniment. Kelis' "Young Fresh N' New" won the award this week for looking much like Frankie Paul's previous award winner. However, Kelis' album did not come out in the 80s/early 90s (it was released in 2001) and it shows no signs of irony.

Sorry, I am out of music CD-Rs for recording my show. No mp3 this week!

Artist / Song

Brazos / Mary Jo
the JBs / Pass the Peas
Jonquil / Whistle Low
Sufjan Stevens / Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!
DJ STV SLV / Got Your Smoke
White Williams / New Violence
Radiohead / Unravel (Pocket mix)
Bon Iver / Skinny Love
Zookeeper / Ballad of My Friends
John P. Strohm / Where is my Mind?
Atlas Sound / I'll Be Your Mirror
Tyler Ramsey / These Days
Yeasayer / 2080
Devendra Banhart / Lover
Grateful Dead / Loser *by request
Cave Singers / Elephant Clouds
Beirut / Elephant Gun
Chromatics / In the City
Sufjan Stevens /
!!! / Heart of Hearts
Department of Eagles / No One Does it Like You (demo)
Ra Ra Riot / Each Year
Of Montreal / The Past is a Grotesque Animal
LCD Soundsystem / All My Friends

Crying on the Dancefloor (Xmas mix)

Tomorrow's show will feature a small selection of indie christmas tunes (probably a good dose of Sufjan Stevens' many Christmas classics). In advance, I'd like to feature this Christmas mix that Johan Agebjorn made for Pitchfork.com. At 36 minutes its perfect for an at-work listen but a bit too long for my radio show, so here you go:

Crying on the Dancefloor - link to Pitchfork.com

I especially like the ~28 minute mark where the Nixon track leads up to everyone's holiday favorite, A-ha's "Take on Me." Unfortunately, the subsequent Sally Shapiro bonus track is kindof lame.

Tracklist:
1. Fake: "Empty Garden" (Sound of Scandinavia) 1984
2. Valerie Dore: "Get Closer" (Merak Music) 1984
3. Sally Shapiro: "Skating In The Moonshine" (Paper Bag / Permanent Vacation) 2007
4. Squash Gang: "I Want An Illusion" (Indalo Music) 1986
5. Sandra: "Around My Heart" (Virgin) 1989
6. Angie Care: "Your Mind" (Merak Music) 1984
7. Nicolas Makelberge: "Dying In Africa" (Rico) 2006
8. Nixon: "Anorak Christmas" (Benno) 2001
9. A-ha: "Take On Me" (WEA) 1984

Merry Christmas!

Old Time Dave visits KBUT

Monday night I was treated to a special surprise as I entered the KBUT studios to prepare for my show. I knew that my buddy Josh Bock was filling in for Arvin's show ahead of mine, but I was not aware that he had Old Time Dave, a folk singer/songwriter/comedian from Lyons, CO, in the studio with him. I quickly convinced Dave to stick around and sing a couple tunes to fit in with my theme of "snow". Dave went off into some quiet of corner of KBUT to contemplate his mission and came back about 30 minutes into the show with several winners. If you haven't downloaded any of my shows to date, I would highly recommend downloading this one. As a special treat, I started recording early to catch more of Old Time Dave's live music and antics. After Dave and Josh and everyone else left, a small but amazing dance party erupted in the studio, as evidenced by the last couple tracks on this week's playlist.

No "Bad Album Cover" this week, as there was just too much excitement to dig around and find a qualified recipient. Plus, Herbie Mann deserves more time.

Click below and follow the instructions to download an mp3 of this week's show:
Music is My Girlfriend - 12/10/2007

Artist / Song

Jonathan Richman / Abdominable Snowman in the Supermarket
Be Good Tanyas / Rain and Snow
Elliott Smith / Angel in the Snow
Belle and Sebastian / Winter Wooskie
Mew / Snow Brigade
Motorhead / Ace of Spades (live) *by request
King Khan & BBQ Shrine / Into the Snow
Zookeeper / Snow in Berlin
Bill Monroe / Footprints in the Snow
Old Time Dave / Watching the Snow Fall (live in studio)
Old Time Dave / Just Because (live in studio)
Old Time Dave / Snowbye (live in studio)
Au Revoir Simone / Fallen Snow
Readymade Ft Feist / Snow Lion
Mark Mothersbaugh / Snowflake Music
Grateful Dead / Cold Rain and Snow
E*vax / Snow
House and Parrish / Pristine Fields
Kentucky Nightmare / Caroline and I
Josh Ritter / Wait for Love (You Know You Will)
Hot Chip / Over and Over
Ghostland Observatory / Sad Sad City
Muscles / Ice Cream
Freeform Five / No More Conversations (mylo remix)
Bloc Party / Banquet (Phones remix)
TV on the Radio / Walk Like Me

Certain Sort of Sound

Last Wednesday (December 5th)) I filled in for my former boss's regular time slot from 8:30-10:30 (the "Certain Sort of Sound" show). He usually plays a mix of classic rock with some jam bands thrown in, so I tried to follow suite in my own way. I made absolutely sure not to play Widespread Panic, but I did take his request to spin some Grateful Dead (this lead some listeners and friends to remark that "they didn't know I had any hippie in me"). It was fun to play a different time slot, especially one where I got a great deal of listeners and callers.

Artist / Song

Neil Young / Dance Dance Dance (live 1971)
Van Morrison / Sweet Thing
Devendra Banhart / Seahorse
Bob Dylan / If You See Her, Say Hello (live 9/16/74)
Stevie Wonder / I Wish *by request
Jerry Garcia / Back Home Again in Indiana
Grateful Dead / Tennessee Jed (live 10/19/73)
Grateful Dead / Cream Puff Way
Amboy Dukes / Baby Please Don't Go
Count Five / Psychotic Reaction
Grateful Dead / Can't Come Down
Bob Dylan / Hurricane (live)
Frank Zappa / Don't Eat the Yellow Snow
Frank Zappa / Dancin' Fool
Velvet Underground / Stephanie Says
Velvet Underground / Sweet Jane (live)
David Bowie / Suffragette City
Kinks / This Time Tomorrow
Nick Drake / Pink Moon
Charlie Rich / Who Will the Next Fool Be
Al Green / Jesus is Waiting
Curtis Mayfield / Move on Up

Another Monday Night

Having gone to a birthday dinner for a friend before my show, I didn't have much chance to prepare some new tunes for Music is My Girlfriend. In a pinch, I ended up playing much of the new music that I had played the previous week, which really isn't so bad because I probably don't have very many listeners each week anyway.

This week's entrant in the Bad Album Covers segment of the show is jazz flautist Herbie Mann, whose sexually-charged album cover for 1971's Push Push has permanently scarred me. See cover at left.

Due to the lack of prep and repetition from last week, there is no mp3 for this week's show.

Artist / Song

Devendra Banhart / Seahorse
Zookeeper / Ballad of my Friends
Cave Singers / Seeds of Night
Cut Copy / So Haunted
Herbie Mann / Whats Going On
The Hives / T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.
King Khan and the Shrines / No Regrets
Talking Heads / Genious of Love
Monster Bobby / The Closest Experience...
the Pipettes / Dirty Mind
Au Revoir Simone / Sad Song
Jens Lekman / Opposite of Hallelujah
White Williams / Route to Palm
Ha Ha Tonka / Up Nights
M Ward / To Go Home
Band of Horses / No One's Gonna Love You
Walk Parade / I am a Runner...
Akron/Family / Ed is a Portal
Vampire Weekend / M79
Bela Karoli / String of Lights
Devendra Banhart / Lover
TV on the Radio / Me - I
TV on the Radio / Wolf Like Me
Ghostland Observatory / Sad Sad City