Top Albums of 2008, Pt. 2

10. Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair
9. Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances
8. Santogold - Santogold
7. Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
6. The Dutchess & the Duke - She's the Dutchess, He's the Duke
5. The Envelopes - Here Comes the Wind
4. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
3. Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster...
2. Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
1. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours

12/29 Show
See the full playlist here. I added Jay Reatard's "Matador Singles '08" as an honorable mention in the middle of the show. If it weren't a compilation it would have placed highly on my year-end list.

Top Albums of 2008, Pt. 1

12/22 Show
Here it begins, the long-awaited Music is My Girlfriend Albums of the Year list! Monday's show saw me counting down #'s 25-11. Tune in next Monday (the 29th) to hear my top ten.

You can preview nearly all of these songs using the new playlist widget in the left column (Love is All was not available).

(song titles under each album were played on the show)

25. Ratatat - LP3
Shempi

24. Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow & Blue
Hummingbird
Foxes Mate For Life

23. M83 - Saturdays = Youth
Kim & Jessie

22. Sun Kil Moon - April
Lost Verses

21. Jamie Lidell - Jim
Another Day

20. The Mae Shi - HLLLYH
The Melody
Run to Your Grave

19. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Ragged Wood

18. Love is All - A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night
Last Choice
Rumours

17. Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line
Each Year
Dying is Fine
Oh, La

16. The Dodos - Visiter
Winter
Fools

15. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
Courtship Dating
Vanished

14. Lykke Li - Youth Novels
Breaking it Up
Little Bit

13. Little Joy - Little Joy
The Next Time Around
No One's Better Sake

12. Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
In Step
Let Me See You

11. Man Man - Rabbit Habits
Mr. Jung Stuffed
Hurly / Burly

Some Songs I Have Enjoyed

12/15 Show
Following is a playlist full of some of my favorite tracks of the past year. I tried to exclude songs that will be featured during my albums of the year countdown, so don't read this as any sort of year-end best songs of the year list. At the same time, some of these may sneak into my top 20 albums list, so be prepared to hear them again over the next couple weeks.

Next Monday I'll start my albums of the year countdown, probably featuring #'s 20-11. The top ten will then fill my show on December 29th. I have a lot of records to re-listen to before Monday.

Artist / Song
Wolf Parade / Language City
The Mae Shi / Run to Your Grave
Ezra Furman & the Harpoons / We Should Fight
Jay Reatard / You Mean Nothing to Me
War on Drugs / Taking the Farm
Spiritualized / I Gotta Fire
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson / Woodfriend
Everything Absent or Distorted / The Exit Parade
Blitzen Trapper / Furr
Grizzly Bear / While You Wait for the Others
Ra Ra Riot / Oh, La
Lykke Li / Dance Dance Dance
Birdmonster / Born to be Your Man
The Republic Tigers / Buildings & Mountains
The Felice Brothers / Frankie's Gun
State Bird / I Saw the Light
Dr. Dog / Heart it Races
Port O'Brien / I Woke Up Today
Alejandro Escovedo / Always a Friend
The Notwist / Boneless
Parts & Labor / Nowheres Nigh
Hearts of Palm / No Water
Stephan Malkmus & the Jicks / Cold Son
The French Kicks / Said So What
Hercules & Love Affair / Hercules Theme
The Very Best / Get It Up
The Cool Kids / Bassment Party
Passion Pit / Sleepyhead
Empire of the Sun / Walking on a Dream
{{{Sunset}}} / Man's Heart Complaint

December Doldrums

12/8 Show
December is looking to be a slow month for new music, both in album and mp3 releases. You might notice a wealth of older tracks on today's playlist.

I'm working on various year-end lists, so expect to see and hear about those in the coming days and weeks. I'm looking at Monday, December 22nd for a show featuring my favorite songs of the past year. Monday, December 29th's show will feature my top albums countdown. Program/Music Director Chad Reich will do his album countdown from Noon-2 on the same day.

Not many mp3 links this week, but I have installed a new working playlist on the lefthand column. It plays snippets of each song unless that song is labeled as "featured" (wherein it will play the entire song).

Artist / Song
The Felice Brothers / Frankie's Gun
Billy Bragg & Wilco / Walt Whitman's Niece
Brazos / Mary Jo
Margot & the Nuclear So & Sos / As Tall As Cliffs
Her Space Holiday / Sleepy Tigers
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah / Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood
Gringo Star / All Y'all
The Muslims / Bright Side
Love is All / Rumours
The Willowz / Something
Vivian Girls / Where Do You Run To
The Dutchess & the Duke / Mary
Sun Kil Moon / Neverending Math Equation
Modest Mouse / Gravity Rides Everything
Schneider TM / Reality Check
Wolf Parade / You Are a Runner & I Am My Father's Son
Arcade Fire / Headlights Look Like Diamonds
The Walkmen / Little House of Savages
Los Campesinos! / Ways to Make It Through the Wall
Everything Absent or Distorted / A Form to Accommodate the Mess
Shugo Tokumaru / Sanganichi
The Felice Brothers / Radio Song
Belle & Sebastian / The Loneliness of a Middle Distance Runner
The Decemberists / Days of Elaine
Spoon / Something to Look Forward To
Little Joy / Brand New Start
Takka Takka / The Takers
Rainbow Arabia / Holiday in Congo
Of Montreal / Gallery Piece
Totally Michael / Don't Stop
The Tough Alliance / Neo Violence
Gang Gang Dance / House Jam

The State I Am In

12/1 Show
It sure felt nice to be back in the air chair on Monday. I had planned to go skiing Monday morning before my show, but instead spent most of it preparing for my show. I like to think that it was a quality program. You might notice that in the middle of the show I highlighted some tracks my mother rated highly the week prior during the Second Annual McFarren Matriarch CD Challenge (see the post below).

Mp3 links are up as of 12/7. As you'll find out, "I am Fuel, You are Friends" was on fire the last couple weeks.

Artist / Song
Passion Pit / Sleepyhead
Gang Gang Dance / House Jam
Rainbow Arabia / Holiday in Congo
Starf*cker / German Love *by request
Friend / Black Keys (demo)
The Tough Alliance / Miami
Yelle / Ce Jeu
The Umbrella Sequence / Urban Lull (At Once Charmed)
Little Joy / The Next Time Around
Hush Arbors / Water II
The Decemberists / Days of Elaine
The Broken West / Perfect Games (Daytrotter)
The Dutchess & the Duke / Scorpio (Daytrotter)
The Felice Brothers / Frankie's Gun
Matt Pond PA / In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Jonathan Richman / Parties in the USA
Jens Lekman / Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo
David Byrne & Brian Eno / Life is Long
Jamie Lidell / Another Day
Belle & Sebastian / The State I Am In
Vampire Weekend / The Kids Don't Stand a Chance
Elbow / Grounds for Divorce
The Features / GMF
Gringo Starr / Don't Go
Vivian Girls / Damaged
Love is All / Big Bangs, Black Holes, Meteorites
Jay Reatard / See Saw
Parts & Labor / Nowheres Nigh
The Hands / Nothing
El Ten Eleven / Jumping Frenchmen of Maine

the Second Annual McFarren Matriarch CD Challenge

The Challenge:
My brother Kyle and I selected 15 tracks that we thought our Mother would enjoy. Our brother Adam compiled and randomized the songs, replacing any duplicate selections with a track of his choosing. Mom graded each song on a scale of 0 to 5 (including half points). Highest total score wins.

The Songs:
Mom's score follows each song title. G or K indicates whether it was a Grant or Kyle selection. Running score totals are provided, along with number of tracks scored. Mom's comments are provided below each song.

1. Skinny Love - Bon Iver - 3 (G=3/1)
"I enjoyed the music more than the words (later: it sounded like guys trying to sing too high)."

2. Big Easy - Raphael Saadiq - 3.5 (K=3.5/1)
"motown-esque. I could understand the words"

3. As Tall as Cliffs - Margot & The Nuclear So & Sos - 3.5 (G=6.5/2)
"we haven't gotten to the very last note yet...i didn't like the end, the very end"

4. Awake My Soul - Mumford & Sons - 3 (K=6.5/2)
"Parts were a 2.5 and parts were a 3. I liked the instrumental more than the words"

5. Blue and Gold Print - Mates of State - 3 (K=9.5/3)
"All these songs are falling between the 2.5 - 3.0 range. It grew on me."
Kyle in a note to Grant: "I think mom decided if she gives bad scores she won't have to do this again next year."

6. Another Day - Jamie Lidell - 5 (G=11.5/3)
"That was my favorite song so far. I understood the words and I liked the musicality (that's a big word on Dancing With The Stars)"

7. Not on my Side - Cameron Mcgill - 3 (G=14.5/4)
"Too folk-songish."

8. Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo - Jens Lekman - 4 (K=13.5/4)
"I like the beat...could understand most of the words. It was a happy song."

9. A King and Queen - Okkervil River - 4 (K=17.5/5)
Grant: "Shocking!" Mom: "Why? I enjoyed it." [grant didn't think it was poppy enough]

10. Buildings & Mountains - The Republic Tigers - 3.5 (G=18/5)
"I was going to give it a 4, but the instrumentality at the beginning and end went on too long."

11. Lights Out - Santogold - 3 (K=20.5/6)
Mom: "reminds me of someone else." Dad: "wasn't this in a commercial somewhere?" [Yes: the Bud Light Lime ads this past summer]

12. Keep Me On - Bodies of Water - 2.5 (K=23/7)
Mom: "It was a very dreary song, but I liked some of the guitar parts and I pictured the people in all black clothing drearing along" Dad: "It was a dirge"

13. Auctioneer - The Broken West - 3.5 (Adam's filler song)
Mom: "It was happy" Dad: "It wasn't slow and they weren't in black"

14. Parties in the USA - Jonathan Richman - 5 (K=28/8)
"I'm torn...ok, a 5! I enjoyed the familiarity of it"

15. Always a Friend - Alejandro Escovedo - 5 (G=23/6)
"I liked that song...it reminded me of Huey Lewis and the News"

16. John Saw That Number - Neko Case - 2.5 (K=30.5/9)
"2.5...too twangy. The beginning reminded me of my least favorite part of "O, Brother Where Art Thou?" down by the river with the muses and those sirens. But, it had a good beat."

17. You Came Around - Nico Stai - 3.5 (G=26.5/7)
Mom: "3.5" Grant: "It's not over yet." Mom: "oh" "Yes, 3.5. Here's what I say: if they're playing it live, people will start clapping because they think the song is over." Dad: "The music was louder than the words."

18. Foux du Fafa - Flight of the Conchords - 2.5 (K=33/10)
"Soup du jour? It was hard to sing along to, but I liked the music."

19. Hitten - Those Dancing Days - 3 (G=29.5/8)
"Umm, 3. It had a good beat, you could dance to it." [a car from hawaii almost caused 2 accidents during this song]

Intermission: Mom: "I generally prefer songs by guys, and not a lot of pre and post instrumental."

20. Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She and Him - 5 (G=34.5/9)
"I liked that song (I know I just contradicted myself)"

21. Keep Sending Me Black Fireworks - Of Montreal - 3 (K=36/11)
"Too many changes in the tempo, it was alright. Parts I didn't like but I liked the chorus."

22. Walking on a Dream - Empire of The Sun - 2.5 (G=37/10)
At the start of the song: Kyle: "whoa" Grant: "Yeah, I'm not sure how this is gonna do." Mom: "2.5" Grant: "Better than I thought!"

23. Darling Be Here - Bodies of Water - 2.5 (K=38.5/12)
"This was an angry black Paso Doble song. Was that the same group [as earlier]?" Grant: "You were lucky to get 2.5 out of that song." Later: "It reminded me of Warren Sapp in black leather stomping around." [another Dancing With The Stars reference]

24. White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes - 2.5 (K=41/13)
"Hmm...that was just an average song. Maybe the one before it should've been lower."

25. Would You - Richard Swift - 5 (G=42/11)
Dad: "I knew she'd like that song." Mom: "It sounded like Little Anthony and the Imperials."

26. Airline to Heaven - Wilco - 4 (K=45/14)
"Bob Dylan-ish. It grew on me."

27. Born to be Your Man - Birdmonster - 3 (G=45/12)
"Easy to understand the words, but I heard something about blood and when your uncle died."

28. I Stand Corrected - Vampire Weekend - 3 (G=48/13)
"I say 3"

29. Life is Long - David Byrne & Brian Eno - 5 (Selected by both Kyle & Grant, so not counted in totals)
"easy to sing along with" Mom to Dad: "Do you agree with me most of the time on these songs?" Dad: "nope."

30. Neverending Math Equation- Sun Kil Moon - 3.5 (G=51.5/14)
"Better than some, not as good as others."

Final Score (14 songs counted for each):
Grant - 51.5 total - 3.68 average
Kyle - 45 total - 3.21 average

Grant wins for the second year in a row!

Analysis:
Songs with that "Motown" sound generally score very well (see: Jamie Lidell, Jonathan Richman, & Richard Swift). We have also learned that Mom prefers: male vocals, intelligible lyrics, shorter & less instrumental songs, and a general lack of dissonance.

Both Kyle and I took more risks than last year, with varying results (but more fun!). Kyle's stubborn love for Bodies of Water didn't do him any favors (although a controversy arose when it was discovered that Adam had failed to replace one of the Bodies of Water tracks, as per Kyle's instructions, with the Heartless Bastards' "Piano Song". It would not have made a significant difference in our final scores). I put Empire of the Sun's "Walking on a Dream" on the mix for a laugh, fully expecting it to score a 2 or below, so I was pleasantly surprised with the 2.5 it received.

Gallery Piece

11/17 Show
So, basically, the Of Montreal show was ridiculous. A great show and a great roadtrip to Denver. I drove back early Monday morning in time to do my show, and as you can tell I was a lot influenced in my song selection. I got a chance to play my entire interview with Bryan Poole (the guitarist from Of Montreal) as well. The transcript of that interview is below.

I'm travelling right now for Thanksgiving and won't be on the air this Monday. For the same reason, links may be slow to appear for this playlist. Hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving!

Artist / Song
Mogwai / The Sun Smells Too Loud
Little Joy / No One's Better Sake
The Strokes / Soma
Albert Hammond Jr. / GfC
Parts & Labor / Nowheres Nigh
The Boat People / Born in the 80s
The Rosebuds / Cape Fear
Wolf Parade / Language City
Yeasayer / 2080
David Bowie / Changes *by request
David Byrne & Brian Eno / Life is Long
The Kooks / Kids (MGMT cover)
Margot & the Nuclear So & Sos / I am a Lightning Rod
Belle & Sebastian / Lazy Line Painter Jane
Of Montreal / Nonpareil of Favor
Interview with Bryan Poole of Of Montreal (pre-recorded)
Of Montreal / Gallery Piece
Of Montreal / Gronlandic Edi
Of Montreal / Smells Like Teen Spirit (live)
Jay Reatard / You Mean Nothing to Me
The Mae Shi / Lamb and the Lion
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson / Woodfriend
Arizona / Swimming Hole
Blitzen Trapper / Furr
Okkervil River / Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe
Icy Demons / Miami Ice
Fake Male Voice / OMG!!!FMV!!!
Fujiya & Miyagi / Knickerbocker

White Horse Crap & Double Neck Guitars: An Interview with Bryan Poole from Of Montreal

Of Montreal's traveling circus is rolling into Denver this Sunday, and I was lucky enough to interview guitarist Bryan Poole ahead of their arrival. Bryan talks about this crazy tour, future acoustic shows, Kevin Barnes' recording process, and how seated venues are terrible.

So how’s the tour going so far?

Great. We’ve been having really excited crowds and everybody seems to dig what we’re doing. So far so good.

Great. I recently read that Kevin [Barnes, Of Montreal ringleader of sorts] said the band views this round of touring as a once in a lifetime opportunity. Would you say that’s a fair assessment?

Yeah, we’ve kind of done this prog rock, excess tour, you know? I used to get Mojo magazine and for those who don’t know what Mojo is, its just like this British magazine that’s kind of like the rock historian mag. They were talking about all these prog rock bands that had these lavish tours in the early 70s and were spending millions of dollars on these tours only to find out that they didn’t have the money to back it up and lost their shirts trying to do these tours. For this tour, Kevin, and the band, we’ve always wanted it to be bigger, better, and more extravagant and, you know, as big as we could get it, as big a spectacle as it could possibly be, but on kind of a budget. I mean, definitely, you look at a band like the Flaming Lips or something like that and you really admire what they do because they definitely are setting up all the stuff themselves and they are making the props. They’re not just paying some company, like “Let’s get the fancy laser light thing!” for the tour where some set designer designs your tour set. We’re trying to do the same thing but at the same time to have extra people with us, like we have two vehicles and we have all these extra performers and set pieces and all these things that we have to load into the club. We have to start getting stuff in at around 11am or at Noon. That’s when the day begins and, you know, working right up until the show starts basically getting things ready to go and then our show is like a two hour show. You have all that stuff happening, then you have to break it all down, put it back in, and drive to the next town. So, it’s a bit expensive to do that and we’re not really, or this tour’s not about making money. It’s more about having this celebration or this weird spectacle that we and Kevin have always wanted to do. By hook or by crook it was going to happen. Kevin was not going to be denied, you know? (laughing) “But Kevin we’re going to loose money!” He’s like “Ah, we’re going to do it!” So we saved up a bunch of money. We played some festivals earlier this year that paid pretty well and instead of putting that money up we put it back in to do this tour.

Great. Yeah, the photos and reports I’ve seen have been pretty ridiculous. How was having a white horse on stage in New York?

It was good! Luckily it didn’t do its business on stage. It did right before it went on supposedly. That was the funniest comment of the whole show. After the show we played and were behind the stage and stuff like that, and there’s this security woman back there who is probably like 55 or something. She’s just sitting in her chair, that’s all she did the whole night was sit in her chair. She was like, and I’ll edit it for radio, but she said, “Yeah I didn’t see any of the show, but I saw that horse take a crap on stage!” (laughter) So that was pretty funny. But the horse thing was a great thing, but it was just for that one show. It was just a big blowout because it was available. That was pricey, I won’t even tell you how much it cost to get that horse. So it was a little bit cost prohibitive. Plus, PETA, they weren’t too happy with us using the horse either, which is understandable. I have no ill will towards PETA, but they wrote us a letter about it. And I was like, “Yeah, probably a horse shouldn’t be on stage.”

Well, do you guys have anything special planned for Sunday’s show in Denver?

Well, we bring our show the same, I mean the only thing that’s missing from the show in Denver versus the one in New York is there won’t be a horse and probably Andrew Van Wyngarden is not going to be on stage. But, you know, who knows what other luminaries might appear? So if people want to see what our show is like there’s lots of stuff up on YouTube and pictures around, stuff like that. It’s a lot of time, and it really is kind of a once in a lifetime Of Montreal show, at least for now. I know for our next tour we’re scaling it back because we actually have to pay bills. (laughter)

You can’t do something like this every time I guess.

Yeah, we’ll go back to something more intimate I think, we’re hoping. We did some things in Europe where we played, basically acoustically, and we all had a great time doing it. So we might do a scaled-back, more intimate tour next time.

Yeah, I saw some videos of you guys playing acoustic in some parks in London…

Yeah! That was a little bit odd but it worked out. It was a bit cold and kindof strange and the wind was blowing. It was like one o’clock which is dreadfully early for us.

So, I guess the Elephant 6 collective has some roots in Denver and Boulder. Do you or any Of Montreal members have any connections to the area?

Not per se. Of course, Apples in Stereo, Dressy Bessy and the Minders, even Andy Gonzalez, who played in Of Montreal for a while, of Marshmallow Coat. He’s from Denver and he made friends with Julian and played in music tapes initially and came out to Athens. So that’s the closest thing, we have Andy, Andy from Denver as he’s now called. You should check out his stuff. Yeah, its unfortunate, you know, the Minders and the Apples [in Stereo] have left town, but we always love to hang out with them and go get Indian food. There’s an Indian restaurant I can’t remember where it is, but we always go there. So yeah, we like Denver a lot. I like Colorado, it’s beautiful.

It’s a good place to be. So I’m wondering if, since Kevin did pretty much the whole album by himself, did you guys have any problems turning his studio productions into stuff that can be performed live? How’s that process work?

As far as getting the songs that are recorded, to be able to perform them?

Yep.

Yeah, well we put a lot of time into that because a lot of times with Kevin’s recording methods, like let’s say the thing with bass… it’s not one bass line. Its not like he sat down and recorded the bass line in one go. He’ll start with a simplistic bass line, it might be just one little riff. And then he’ll overdub on top of that bass line another bass line and then, maybe, a third bass line on top of that. So when you actually hear the record it sounds like a crazy bass line but its basically impossible to play for one person. A lot of times that’s kindof the main thing. There’s times where three… I have a new double neck guitar slash bass, so in the middle of one part of the song I play a bass line, and then in another part of the song I play a guitar line. So there’s things like that, yeah, there’s a lot of technical things that we have to get through. But we practice really hard everyday, I mean, really, probably like 6-7 hours a day for about a month from the middle of August until the middle of September. And then after that we had to have stage rehearsals where it was like, ok, all the stuff. We had rented out this place in Athens that was basically a mini-arena and we set up everything in there just to see what’s going to work and what’s not. [So we’re] not going to the first gig with everything being raw. So, yeah, it was a lot of time and professional rock band stuff. Our friend Heather McIntosh is played with Lelain these days and she said they have 13 hour practice days with a short lunch break.

That’s a full-time job.

It could be. (laughter) Its an experience.

Does Kevin ever seek advice or feedback while he’s in the recording process from the rest of the band or is it pretty much a solo effort?

No, not really. He’ll send me sketches that he’s working on and I might comment, “Oh, I really like this thing” or whatever. I’ve kindof learned not to say negative things because then he’ll stop sending them to me. That’s about the only insight I have is that I can comment on it and occasionally get to play on a song if it just happens to be that day that I’m over there. It’s like, “You want to play guitar on this?” “Yeah, I would like to play guitar on this.” But generally he works by himself and he can play everything and I don’t begrudge him that. It is a bit frustrating, I’m not going to lie about that, but I don’t begrudge him for the way he goes about it. He’s like Prince. He can do it and he knows what he wants to play. He knows what he wants so it’s a bit frustrating for him to have other people parts that are not quite what he wants. And he has to wait for them to do it, instead of “Oh, I recorded this track. I’m gonna pick up the guitar.” And then’s he’s recorded something within twenty minutes instead of [saying] “Hey Bryan, can you learn this thing and come up with a part?” Waiting around. So it stops his creative process and he likes being in that world with the headphones on. I think anybody that does a lot of four-tracking, or starts there, can identify with that creative process. Staying up until four or five in the morning and just kind of being in awe like, “What in the world have I just created?” You know, you’re refining it and you’re sculpting it and you just become a really good sculptor of songs. You feel you should be in the guild of songwriters I think.

Do you have any advice for people, like myself, who will be seeing you for the first time on Sunday?

Come to have fun. Don’t just stare. Get involved, you know? We really want to it be a band party. I can’t remember the place we are playing in Denver if it has seats or not…

It’s a standing venue. It’s the Ogden Theater.

Good, because the seated venues are terrible. Everybody’s just kindof static, watching you. You know, I watched Neil Young on some BBC thing from ’71 that I downloaded. I’ve actually seen it about 500 hundred times, but this is a cleaner copy and I brought it on the bus and watched it. Its kindof like MTV Unplugged before MTV Unplugged and everybody’s sitting down. And that’s great for him to be playing acoustic or whatever, but that’s not what we’re doing. We’re a big spectacle rock show. Its like a dance party, so come to dance.

Well I look forward to the spectacle. I know you have a busy day Bryan so I’ll let you get back to what you are doing. Have a good show tonight in Houston.

Thanks! Have fun up there in Crested Butte. I hope you don’t have to put the chains on to make it down to the show.

------------------------------------

Thanks to Bryan Poole for the interview and for Chad Reich at KBUT for setting the whole thing up for me. Go see Of Montreal at the Ogden Theater this Sunday in Denver (or whenever they roll through your town). I know I'm ridiculously excited. Buy their new album Skeletal Lamping while you're at it. Its good.

Of Montreal official website
Skeletal Lamping @ Polyvinyl Record Co.

Daytrotter.com Appreciation Day

11/10 Show
November 10th was officially declared "Daytrotter.com Appreciation Day" by yours truly. Thus, below you will find a substantial selection of live-in-studio tracks from that delightful website. Luckily, many bands visiting Denver in the next week had Daytrotter songs available, so everything fit together quite nicely.

Also of note is Of Montreal's upcoming concert at the Ogden in Denver this Sunday. I am quite excited to see the spectacle in person.

Mp3 links are up and running!

Artist / Song
Parts & Labor / Nowheres Nigh
Built to Spill / Car (live)
Jay Reatard / An Ugly Death
The Boat People / Born in the 80s
Mason Proper / Fog
Wavves / Weed Demon
Vivian Girls / Damaged
Gang of Four / Damaged Goods
Wire / Mr. Marx's Table / Daytrotter
The Republic Tigers / Buildings & Mountains / Daytrotter
Architecture in Helsinki / Like it or Not / Daytrotter
Cave Singers / Seeds of Night / Daytrotter
Born Ruffians / Foxes Mate for Life / Daytrotter
Earlimart / For the Birds / Daytrotter
Beck / Debra *by request
Fake Male Voice / OMG!!!FMV!!!
Of Montreal / Jimmy
Of Montreal / Gronlandic Edit
Of Montreal / Nonpareil of Favor
Blitzen Trapper / Wicked
The Rosebuds / Border Guards
Au Revoir Simone / Sad Song / Daytrotter
Bishop Allen / Rain
The Castanets / You Got Lucky / Daytrotter
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson / Woodfriend
Arizona / Heath
Frightened Rabbit / Good Arms vs. Bad Arms (live)
O'Death / Lowtide
Extra Golden / Obama

Electioneering

11/3 Show
Being November 3rd and all, you might notice a subtle "election" / "change" theme running throughout my show this week. I tried not to make it too obviously political as some other KBUT DJs have done that more successfully and controversially than I ever could. I got a great deal of interested phone calls during the show, and probably the best random listener request to date: The Dodos' "Fools". The Ween request was not nearly as enjoyable.

Didn't use any link-able songs that I havn't linked to before, but you can expect a good dose of those next week now that my internet at home is up and running.

Artist / Song
TV on the Radio / Golden Age
The Very Best / Tengazako
The Tough Alliance / A New Chance
Cut Copy / Out There on the Ice
Cassettes Won't Listen / Change
Starf*cker / Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second
The Seedy Seeds / Changes Less the Moon
Margot & the Nuclear So & Sos / As Tall As Cliffs
Pete Yorn / American Blues Vol. 1
The Spinto Band / The Carnival
Radiohead / Electioneering
Parts & Labor / Nowheres Nigh
Japanther / Change Your Life
Jay Reatard / See Saw
Hacienda / She's Got a Hold On Me
VIvian Girls / Where Do You Run To
The Replacements / Election Day
Mason Proper / Lock & Key
Marc Bolan & T-Rex / Change
The Dodos / Fools * by request
The Umbrella Sequence / Urban Lull (At Once Charmed)
Matt & Kim / Daylight
The Notwist / Boneless
Little Joy / No One's Better Sake
Golden Animals / Beautiful Stranger
Billy Bragg & Wilco / Christ for President
Blitzen Trapper / Not Your Lover
David Byrne & Brian Eno / Everything That Happens
Ween / Freedom of '76 * by request
The Delta Spirit / People C'mon
Empire of the Sun / Walking on a Dream * by request from Kyle
Holy F*ck / Super Inuit (live)
Of Montreal / Id Engager

Wild Eyes

10/27 Show
As you might notice below, Halloween's impending spookiness had no effect on my song selections. Instead I opted for the tried and true blend of new and semi-new indie rock (along with one classic VU track).

Really enjoying Jay Reatard's new "album" Matador Singles '08 right now, as well as Of Montreal's new album Skeletal Lamping (which also just arrived in my PO Box on vinyl!).

Wow! There are links this week!

Artist / Song
Jay Reatard / You Mean Nothing to Me
Jay Reatard / My Shadow
Harlem / South of France
Black Lips / O Katrina
Art Brut / Pump Up the Volume
Vivian Girls / Wild Eyes
Arthur & Yu / Lion's Mouth
The Velvet Underground / Pale Blue Eyes (alternate closet mix)
Au Revoir Simone / Oh! You Pretty Things
Mates of State / Fluke
Matt & Kim / Daylight
Starf*cker / Laadeedaa
Interpol / Stella Was a Diver And She Was Always Down
The Walkmen / In the New Year
Grampall Jookabox / Air Penance
French Kicks / Abandon
Margot & the Nuclear So & Sos / I am a Lightning Rod
Backyard Tire Fire / The Places We Lived
Prabir & the Substitutes / Bad Days Are A' Comin
Dr. Dog / My Friend
King Khan & the Shrines / Outta Harm's Way
Sebastian Grainger / American Names
TV on the Radio / Shout Me Out
The Faint / The Geeks Were Right
Apes & Androids / Nights of the Week
Passion Pit / Sleepyhead
Of Montreal / For Our Elegant Caste
Of Montreal / Touched Something's Hollow
Of Montreal / An Eluardian Instance
Hockey Night / Dark Trance
American Football / Never Meant

Laadeedaa

10/20 Show
As I detailed a couple of weeks ago, Music is My Girlfriend has perservered and perhaps even improved despite the fact that my technological world is crumbling around me (add my iPod to the list of malfunctioning devices). I will admit, however, that my posting frequency has certainly been hurting without a home internet connection.

Walter Brennan made a special late-show appearance this week, courtesy of my uncle.

Artist / Song
The Notwist / Boneless
Starf*cker / Laadeedaa
The Umbrella Sequence / Urban Lull (At Once Charmed)
Matt & Kim / Daylight
Envelopes / Freejazz
The Mae Shi / Lamb & the Lion
Jay Reatard / Painted Shut
Vivian Girls / Where Do You Run To
The Bicycles / B-B-Bicycles
The White Stripes / I Can't Wait
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson / Woodfriend
Women / Shaking Hands
The Splinters / Splintered Bridges
Hacienda / She's Got a Hold on Me
Golden Animals / Beautiful Stranger
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists / Sons of Cain
Titus Andronicus / My Time Outside the Womb
War on Drugs / Taking the Farm
Little Joy / No One's Better Sake
Her Space Holiday / Sleepy Tigers
Margot & the Nuclear So & Sos / As Tall As Cliffs
Sam Champion / Always the Same
The Spinto Band / Later On
Birdmonster / Born to Be Your Man
Jay Reatard / You Were Sleeping
Blitzen Trapper / Black River Killer
Ra Ra Riot / Winter '05
The Rosebuds / Cape Fear
TV on the Radio / Crying
Beck / Hot in Here (Nelly cover)
The Clash / The Guns of Brixton
PVC Street Gang / Cutlass
Of Montreal / Gallery Piece
Walter Brennan / Suppertime

Hit It and Quit It

10/16 Fill-In Show
Filled in for my buddy Josh Thursday evening as he headed to Wisconsin for the weekend. He should have fun watching the Colts destroy the Packers on Sunday. (edit: perhaps I spoke too soon...)

Started with some classic punk, then a good dose of new track and a heaping helping from Of Montreal's excellent new album. Closed things out with some uptempo stuff before I shut it down a half hour early at midnight (hence the "hit it and quit it"). Thanks to Zach for stopping by and picking out some tracks.

Artist / Song
Richard Hell & the Voidoids / Blank Generation
The Clash / Career Opportunities (live at Shea Stadium)
The Ramones / 53rd & 3rd
Sex Pistols / Holidays in the Sun
TV on the Radio / Golden Age
Matt & Kim / Daylight
Jay Reatard / See Saw
Shaky Hands / We Are Young
Kings of Leon / Sex on Fire
Hacienda / She's Got a Hold on Me
Mountain Goats / If You See Light
Say Hi to You Mom / Let's Talk About Spaceships
Of Montreal / For Our Elegant Caste
Of Montreal / Touched Something's Hollow
Of Montreal / An Eluardian Instance
Of Montreal / Gallery Piece
Holy F*ck / Super Inuit (live)
Ratatat / Shempi
Roots Manuva / Witness (1 Hope)
Gang Gang Dance / House Jam
Passion Pit / Sleepyhead
Mercury Rev / Senses on Fire (Fujiya & Miyagi remix)
Cut Copy / Far Away
Empire of the Sun / Walking on a Dream
Cut Copy / LIghts and Music

Stay Hungry

10/13 Show
Free 6th row tickets to David Byrne in Denver was more than worth the 10+ hours of driving required in the last 24 hours. I had planned to get my radio show covered, but I was so inspired and excited by Byrne's live show that I decided to wake up early and drive back to CB in time for Music is My Girlfriend. Obviously the concert is the reason for the glut of Talking Heads and Byrne/Eno tracks in this playlist.

I came back to KBUT to find loads of new and exciting albums in the studio. To name a few: Of Montreal, I'm From Barcelona, Margot & the Nuclear So & So's, among others. I should be digging into these during the next week, so expect to hear more tracks off them then.

Links will be up soon, hopefully.

Artist / Song
Talking Heads / Artists Only (live 8/8/79)
Talking Heads / Stay Hungry (live 8/8/79)
David Byrne & Brian Eno / Strange Overtones
Of Montreal / Mingusings
Delta Spirit / People C'mon
Talking Heads / Houses in Motion (live)
Talking Heads / Heaven (live)
Margot & the Nuclear So & So's / O' What a Nightmare
Matt & Kim / Good Ole Fashioned Nightmare
Ratatat / Dura
David Byrne & Brian Eno / Life is Long
Broken West / Perfect Games
Elvis Costello / (I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea
the Brazda Brothers / Lonely Time
Nick Drake / Pink Drake
Elliott Smith / Angel in the Snow
Gangi / Fire in Cairo
Miniature Tigers / Cannibal Queen
I'm From Barcelona / Headphones
Peter, Bjorn, and John / Up Against the Wall
Ratatat / Can You Tell
Spoon / Back to the Life
Her Space Holiday / Sleepy Tigers
Pete Yorn / American Blues, Vol 1
Birdmonster / I Might Have Guessed
Beck / Loser (live London 2003)
Mercury Rev / Senses on Fire (Fujiya & Miyagi remix)
Weird Tapes / TV Romance
Cut Copy / Unforgettable Season
Hercules & Love Affair / Hercules Theme
Ratatat / Wildcat

Loosen Up

10/6 Show
Technical difficulties have taken their toll at Music is My Girlfriend Headquarters. I moved into a new house at the beginning of the month and don't have an internet connection as of yet, thus limited my web-based trolling, downloading, and show preparation. Even worse, the CD drive in my laptop has decided to stop reading CDs, meaning I can't rip endless amounts of new music from KBUT during my show. These technical issues have severely altered my radio show preparation, but I feel that may have produced a more well-rounded show on Monday.

Of note this week is Beck's live version of "Guess I'm Doing Fine" from the Union Chapel, London show in 2003. You can find the entire show by following the link. And yes, I played Passion Pit's "Sleepyhead" again.

A couple mp3s are up and running. I may stop linking repeat mp3s (songs that I have played and linked to in previous weeks). Any thoughts?

Artist / Song
Birdmonster / Born to Be Your Man
Little Joy / No One's Better Sake
Vampire Weekend / I Stand Corrected
The Morning Benders / Mother and Child Reunion
Okkervil River / Singer Songwriter
Sam Champion / Always the Same
The Broken West / Perfect Games
The Strokes / Hard to Explain
The Shaky Hands / Loosen Up
Wild Sweet Orange / Either/Or
Delta Spirit / Children
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah / Is This Love?!
French Kicks / Said So What
The Dutchess & the Duke / Mary
Earlimart / Face Down in the Right Town
The Spinto Band / Summer Grof
Band Marino / Every Time I Make a Girl Cry I Know I've Done My Job
Starf*cker / German Love
the Notwist / Pilot
Fujiya & Miyagi / Pussyfooting
Prefuse 73 / One Word Extinguisher
Beck / Guess I'm Doing Fine (live in London 2003)
Blitzen Trapper / Furr
Richard Swift / Would You
Young Coyotes / When I Was in the Fire
The Kooks / Kids (MGMT cover)
TV on the Radio / Golden Age
The Faint / Forever Growing Centipedes
Hot Chip / Hold On
Passion Pit / Sleepyhead

I Shall Be Released

9/29 Show
This week: the usual mix of new tracks with some older gems. The Booker T track at the end of the show was to promote Thursday night's Booker T Jones concert here in Crested Butte. Sadly, I think I have to work.

Be sure to check out the free Wilco / Fleet Foxes download below. All you have to do is promise to vote in the upcoming election and the song is yours. Also, the Empire of the Sun track is a pretty ridiculous MGMT-esque jam.

Artist / Song
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson / Woodfriends
Wolf Parade / Language City
TV on the Radio / Halfway House
Passion Pit / Sleepyhead
Brendan Canning / Hit the Wall
War on Drugs / Taking the Farm
Broken West / Auctioneer
Hacienda / She's Got a Hold on Me
Architecture in Helsinki / Like it or Not, Version 2
Donkeys / Nice Train
David Byrne & Brian Eno / Life is Long
Kooks / Kids (MGMT cover)
Wilco / I am Trying to Break Your Heart
Wilco w/ Fleet Foxes / I Shall Be Released
Gringo Starr / All Y'all
Shaky Hands / We Are Young
Hives / The Stomp
The Muslims / On My Time
The Sonics / Strychnine
Band Marino / Everytime I Make a Girl Cry I Know I've Done My Job
Blitzen Trapper / Furr
Restaurant / Home
Mason Proper / Fog
Chad Van Gaalen / Phantom Anthill
Fujiya & Miyagi / Knickerbocker
Passion Pit / I've Got Your Number
Empire of the Sun / Walking on a Dream
Cut Copy / Far Away
CSS / Beautiful Song
TV on the Radio / Golden Age
Booker T & the MG's / Green Onions

A-Z, 4.0

9/22 Fill-In Show
What? Another show today? Indeed. The venerable King of Soul himself (aka Arvin) had a concert to attend in Denver, so I filled in for him tonight from 8:30-10:30. Having already played my weekly load of new music and whatnot a mere 4 hours prior, I went with an old standard: the A-Z show.

No links, 'cause its all old (or I've linked to it many times prior).

Artist / Song
The Avalanches / Since I Left You
The Beatles / Lovely Rita
Cat Power / He War
Dodos / Winter
Everything Absent or Distorted / The Exit Parade
Franz Ferdinand / Come on Home
Ghosthustler / Only Me to Trust
Hercules and Love Affair / Blind
I Love You But I've Choosen Darkness / According to Plan
Jonquil / Whistle Low
Kinks / Autumn Almanac
Low / Breaker
The Mae Shi / Run to Your Grave
The Notwist / One with the Freaks
Of Montreal / A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger
Passion Pit / Better Things
Quiet Village / Circus of Horror
Ratatat / Lex
The Shins / Fighting in a Sack
Tap Tap / Way to Go, Boy
U2 / Sunday Bloody Sunday
Velvet Underground / Pale Blue Eyes
The Walkmen / The Rat
X / Johnny Hit & Run Pauline
Yo La Tengo / Autumn Sweater
Zookeeper / Rosemarie, etc.
Cut Copy / Out There on the Ice
Esau Mwamwaya, etc. / Get it Up

First of Fall

9/22 Show
Its the first day of fall, and my song selections have absolutely nothing to do with that fact. Enjoy the new music.

Mp3s will be up soon?

Artist / Song
Passion Pit / Sleepyhead
MGMT / Weekend Wars
Fujiya and Miyagi / Knickerbocker
Memory Cassette / Surfin
Birdmonster / Born to be Your Man
Broken West / Perfect Games
Pomegranates / Appreciations
Mason Proper / Lock & Key
Frightened Rabbit / Square Nine
Okkervil River / Starry Stairs
Rosewood Thieves / Silver Gun
Benoit Pioulard / Idyll
Benoit Pioulard / Brown Bess
Joose Keskitalo / Saimaan Ramallan
Morning Benders / Mother and Child Reunion
Spiritualized / Soul on Fire
Spiritualized / I Gotta Fire
Dr. Dog / The Rabbit, the Bat, the Reindeer
Dr. Dog / Heart it Races
Band Marino / Every Time I Make a Girl Cry I Know I've Done My Job
Susumu Yokota / Golden Years
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds / Death is Not the End
Pivot / In the Blood
Johnny Foreigner / Hennings Favorite
TV on the Radio / Golden Age
Night Marchers / I Wanna Deadbeat You
Ezra Furman & the Harpoons / We Should Fight
Shaky Hands / World's Gone Mad
Mates of State / The Re-Arranger
Santogold / L.E.S. Artistes

Sleepy Head

From 9/15 show
A sprinkled a few post-Monolith thoughts into this show, but you can expect a fuller, written recap very shortly. Its been a busy week/weekend, so please excuse my tardiness on the matter.

If you haven't checked out Passion Pit's new jam "Sleepyhead," you're missing out on one of the best tracks of the year. Expect to hear to it often in the coming weeks (as was the case in the previous weeks).

Mp3 links should be up later today after my show.

Artist / Song
Ra Ra Riot / Each Year
Matt + Kim / Good Ol' Fashioned Nightmare
Mason Proper / Fog
Birdmonster / Born to be Your Man
Broken West / Auctioneer
Alejandro Escovedo / Always a Friend
Calexico / House of Valparaiso
Okkervil River / Calling and Not Calling My Ex
Kooks / Kids (MGMT cover)
Shaky Hands / We Are Young
Wolf Parade / Modern World
CSS / Rat is Dead (Rage)
Cut Copy / Lights and Music
Fujiya and Miyagi / Sore Thumb
Fandeath / When the Money's Right
Weird Tapes / Home
Blitzen Trapper / Furr
Lackthereof / Last November
Foals / Ballons
Everything Absent or Distorted / The Exit Parade
Ra Ra Riot / Dying is Fine
Arcade Fire / The Well and the Lighthouse
Zookeeper / Snow in Berlin
Vampire Weekend / M79
Ben Folds / You Don't Know Me (ft. Regina Spektor)
The Muslims / On My Time
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists / Sons of Cain
Hearts of Palm / No Water
Passion Pit / Sleepyhead

Monolith Preview

From 9/8 Show
With Colorado's best music festival looming on my weekend calendar, I did my best to get listeners just as excited about the Monolith Festival. My summer thus far has been relatively void of good concerts, so I figure a weekend of about 60 bands ought to make up for it all. I'll see what I can do about posting some post-Monolith thoughts (hopefully more detailed than last year's reports: Day One, Day Two). Anyhow, all of the bands below are playing at the Monolith Festival (although a couple are only appearing at special VIP events).

Mp3 links are up and awesome.

Artist / Song
CSS / Patins
Pomegranates / Whom/Who
Hearts of Palm / No Water
Vampire Weekend / A-Punk
Blitzen Trapper / Not Your Lover
Morning Benders / Mother & Child Reunion
Handsome Furs / Cannot Get, Started
Band of Horses / General Specific
John Vanderslice / White Dove
The Whigs / Right Hand on my Heart
Avett Brothers / Paranoia in Bb Major
Holy F*ck / Lovely Allen
TV on the Radio / Staring at the Sun
Akron/Family / Ed is a Portal
DeVotchKa / Transliterator
The Muslims / On My Time
Cameron McGill / Not on my Side
KaiserCartel / Oh No
Rock Plaza Central / My Children, Be Joyful
Grampall Jookabox / Take Me from Diamondhead
The Dutchess & the Duke / Back to Me
White Denim / Shake Shake Shake
Port O'Brien / I Woke Up Today
Cloud Cult / Hurricane & Fire Survival Guide
Cut Copy / Feel the Love
Passion Pit / Sleepy Head
Justice / Phantom Pt 1
The Presets / Talk Like That
TV on the Radio / Wolf Like Me
Hood Internet / Superbowl Jesus
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings / My Man is a Mean Man
White Williams / New Violence

Labor Day

From 9/1 Show
As you may notice, many of the songs below have a "labor" theme (or at least song title) in honor of today's holiday. You may also notice a completely unrelated stretch of "on fire" songs. iTunes is really great for these things. (I think a long weekend of working has taken its toll on my writing ability).

Mp3s links are up. Check out the new track from Of Montreal's forthcoming release Skeletal Lamping.

Artist / Song
Devo / Working in a Coal Mine
Maureen Tucker / Work
Ezra Furman & the Harpoons / I Wanna be Ignored
Port O'Brien / Close the Lid
The Clash / Working and Waiting
Working for a Nuclear Free City / Asleep at the Wheel
Wolf Parade / This Heart's on Fire
Bruce Springsteen / I'm on Fire
Spiritualized / Soul on Fire
Kings of Leon / Sex on Fire
Talking Heads / Love -> Building on Fire
Oh No! Oh My! / Go to Work
Zookeeper / Rosemarie, etc.
Ra Ra Riot / Ghost Under Rocks
The Walkmen / In the New Year
Ezra Furman & the Harpoons / We Should Fight
Prince / Let's Work
Of Montreal / Nonpareil of Favor
Fandeath / Veronica's Veil
Esau Mwamwaya, Santogold, MIA, etc / Get it Up
Passion Pit / Sleepy Head

Safe for the Time Being

From 8/25 Show
Yes, I am still alive. Last week I took a short reprieve from my DJing duties in order to play in a golf tournament and I neglected to post a note about my absence. Regardless, the extra week gave me abundant time to put together a healthy slate of new music and some older classics. There should be plenty of mp3 links this week.

Artist / Song
Hearts of Palm / No Water
The Broken West / Auctioneer
Bodies of Water / Water Here
Calexico / Two Silver Trees
Mason Proper / Safe for the Time Being
Lykke Li / Dance Dance Dance
Fryars / the Ides
Ezra Furman & the Harpoons / We Should Fight
White Denim / Sitting
Wilco / Sunny Feeling (live in Indy 8/4/08)
The Dutchess & the Duke / Mary
Mason Proper / Lock & Key
Everything Absent or Distorted / The Exit Parade
Talking Heads / A Clean Break (Let's Work)
Passion Pit / Sleepy Head
Esau Mwamwaya, Santogold, MIA, etc / Get it Up
Peter, Bjorn and John / Inland Empire
The Jam / In the City
Wilco / Ever Fallen in Love (live 10/30/97)
Belle & Sebastian / Your Cover's Blown
Chester French / My Party
Ra Ra Riot / Oh, La
Arcade Fire / Rebellion (Lies)
Arthur + Yu / Lion's Mouth
MGMT / Electric Feel
Gang Gang Dance / House Jam
YACHT / The Summer Song
The Rapture / Sister Saviour (DFA Dub)

Summer Pledge Drive, Vol. 2

8/11 Show
I was actually kind of nervous going into my new timeslot (2-4pm) today. It wasn't the first time I've done a daytime show, but it was the first time I've done one during a pledge drive where you are actually expected to raise some money. During my former nighttime slot it was a surprise everytime someone called to pledge. I planned quite a bit for this show, bringing two mix CDs and several pages of notes with me into the studio. Pledging went slowly, but it ended with a bang for a show total of $390. Thanks to everyone who called in and pledged. It will be nice to get back to normal radio in a day or two when we meet our pledge drive goal of $35,000.

All the mp3 links are up (as of 8/15 pm).

Artist / Song
The Dutchess & the Duke / Armageddon Song
Dodos / Winter
Pomegranates / Whom/Who
The Seedy Seeds / The Push
State Bird / I Don't Love You Anymore
The Cave Singers / Oh Cristine
Grizzly Bear / Two Weeks (live on Letterman)
Daniel Rossen / Too Little Too Late
Richard Swift / Would You
Blitzen Trapper / Furr
Those Dancing Days / Hitten
I'm From Barcelona / Music Killed Me
The Muslims / On My Time
Jonathan Richman / Roadrunner
Hearts of Palm / No Water
Young Coyotes / When I Was in the Fire
Everything Absent or Distorted / The Exit Parade
The Chain Gang of 1974 / The Dirt
CSS / Beautiful Song
Esau Mwamwaya, Santogold, MIA, etc / Get it Up
Alejandro Escovedo / Always a Friend
The Dutchess & the Duke / Mary
Velvet Underground / We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together
Lackthereof / Last November
Takka Takka / Everybody Say
Matthew Ryan / Drunk & Disappointed
Dr. Dog / The Rabbit, the Bat, the Reindeer
Fiery Furnaces / Duplexes of the Dead

Big News

Effective immediately, my radio show is moving to 2-4 pm MT on Mondays. Tune in Monday to hear me play great new music while the sun is still up and people are actually listening. Hopefully some of you easterners will be able to listen more regularly now. Its all very exciting.

Summer Pledge Drive

8/4 Show
KBUT's Summer Pledge Drive is upon us once again. It began last Tuesday morning, making my show the last of the first week. KBUT's goal this season is $35,000, and my show was able to contribute a slightly respectable $175 towards that goal. The choicest premium being offered (only during my show of course) is 6 months worth of new music mix CDs from yours truly for a scant $75. I had one taker Monday night. Visit www.kbut.org for more info about pledging, or give me a call.

Unfortunately my Teo double delayed the start of my show by about 15 minutes, so sorry if you tuned in and didn't hear me right away. The last half hour of the show I solely played bands that will perform at the Monolith Festival at Red Rocks in a couple of weeks.

My brother Adam is in town and was nice enough to hang out during the show (and also pledge a bit of coin). Also thanks to Josh for sticking around and answering phones for me.

Artist / Song
Lackthereof / Last November
The Seedy Seeds / The Push
Matthew Ryan / Drunk & Disappointed
The Knew / By Yourself
The Black Keys / I Got Mine
My Morning Jacket / Touch Me I'm Going to Scream, Pt. 2
The Dutchess & The Duke / Bring You Back
The Velvet Underground / Who Loves the Sun
Spiritualized / Yeah Yeah
Matt & Kim / Yea Yeah
Yeah Yeah Yeahs / Maps
King Khan & the Shrines / No Regrets
Mates of State / My Only Offer
The Mae Shi / Run to Your Grave
Albert Hammond Jr. / Borrowed Time
Wolf Parade / Language City
DeVotchKa / Transliterator
Vampire Weekend / A-Punk
Port O'Brien / I Woke Up Today
Grampall Jookabox / Take Me From Diamondhead
White Denim / Shake Shake Shake
Tokyo Police Club / In a Cave
TV on the Radio / Wolf Like Me
Cut Copy / So Haunted

On Repeat

7/28 Show
Mondays in the summer are such a distraction. Work till 4:30, a quick round of disc golf, then the free Alpenglow concerts at 5:30. If I linger tossing a frisbee at the concert (which I usually do), my radio prep time is totally shot. For this reason, this week's playlist might look a lot like the last couple playlists. I figure I'll let myself slide this once since these songs don't get enough airplay the rest of the week. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the studio and hung out during the show this week.

As always, you can go here during or anytime after my show to view playlists. I generally update it live during my show, so if you can't wait for the blog post, that's the place to go.

Artist / Song
King Khan & the Shrines / No Regrets
Port O'Brien / I Woke Up Today
Lackthereof / Last November
Menomena / Muscle n Flo
Shaky Hands / Why and How Come
The Dutchess and the Duke / Reservoir Park
Decemberists / Engine Driver
Dr. Dog / The Rabbit, the Bat & the Reindeer
Albert Hammond Jr. / Feed Me Jack, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Peter Sellers
Bodies of Water / Gold, Tan, Peach & Grey
Radiohead / House of Cards
Wolf Parade / Language City
Beck / Gamma Ray
CSS / Beautiful Song
Mates of State / My Only Offer
Mates of State / Help Help
Hercules & Love Affair / Hercules Theme
The Cool Kids / Bassment Party
Santogold & Diplo / Guns of Brooklyn
Andre Williams & the New Orleans Hellhounds / Never Had a Problem
The Mae Shi / Run to Your Grave
Spiritualized / I Gotta Fire
Envelopes / Calypso
Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band / Your Cousin's on Cops
Endless Boogie / Smoking Figs in the Yard
Modest Mouse / Paper Thin Walls
LCD Soundsystem / Us V Them
TieDye / Nothing

DMB?!

From 7/21 show
I was excited to see new albums from Bodies of Water, CSS, and the Black Kids in the studio, and as you might expect they received significant billing during my show. You may notice a Dave Matthews Band track on this playlist. Rest assured it was a call-in request, although I do have some fond memories of Under the Table and Dreaming back in 6th grade.

Mp3s are up as of 7/25.

Artist / Song
Bodies of Water / Gold, Tan, Peach & Grey
Mates of State / Help Help
Port O'Brien / The Rooftop Song
Porlolo / Tear You Down
Sunset / When Perfect Flames Expire
Bon Iver / Flume
Duke & Dutchess / I Am a Ghost
Fleet Foxes / Your Protector
Colin Meloy / Engine Driver (live)
Spiritualized / Soul on Fire
Dr. Dog / The Breeze
Patchwork / Spaceships
Dave Matthews Band / Ants Marching
CSS / Beautiful Song
Black Kids / Hurricane Jane
Bodies of Water / Darling, Be Here
King Khan & the Shrines / Welfare Bread
Titus Andronicus / My Time Outside the Womb
the Hold Steady / Joke About Jamaica
Matthew Ryan / Drunk & Disappointed
Alejandro Escovedo / Always a Friend
The Mae Shi / Run to Your Grave
Envelopes / Calypso
Lackthereof / Last November
Wolf Parade / Language City
TieDye / Nothing

Face Down in the Right Town

7/14 Show
Nothing too special this week, just highlighted some upcoming concerts and played some new music.

Mp3 links are up! (as of 7/20)

Artist / Song
Titus Andronicus / My Time Outside the Womb
Wolf Parade / Fine Young Cannibals
King Khan & the Shrines / Outta Harm's Way
Spiritualized / I Gotta Fire
Lackthereof / Last November
Notwist / Gloomy Planets
Walkmen / Waltz (Red Moon)
Beck / Gamma Ray
Mates of State / Get Better
Feist / Past in Present
Low / Breaker
{{{ Sunset }}} / Man's Heart Complaint
Earlimart / Face Down in the Right Town
Dr. Dog / My Friend
The Dutchess & The Duke / Mary
Andrew Bird / Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left
Porlolo / Breakdown
Morning Benders / Mother & Child Reunion
Alejandro Escovedo / Always a Friend
Hold Steady / Sequestered in Memphis
Bodies of Water / Gold, Tan, Peach & Grey
Hercules & Love Affair / Hercules Theme
Girl Talk / In Step
HEALTH / Tricerotops (Acid Girls remix)
Daedelus / Make It So (XXXxhange remix)
Goodbooks / Leni (Crystal Castles remix)
Knife / We Share Our Mother's Health

Best of 2008, Part One

From 7/7 Show
2008 is just over halfway crossed off on our calendars, meaning its time for my mid-year best-of list. It has been an interesting year in releases. Often I would think an album was top 10 worthy, but there was no clear number 1 or really even a clear top 5. For this reason, I have a feeling this list might shake up quite a bit by the end of the year.

I intended to do a Top 15, but once in the studio I realized I had listed two #12's. Whoops.

A recording of the show may be up in the near future if I deem it acceptable. I included myspace links for each band if you would like to get more familiar with their music.

Top 16 Albums of the Year Thus Far
16) Wolf Parade / At Mount Zoomer (myspace)
Language City

15) Bonnie "Prince" Billy / Lie Down in the Light (myspace)
Missing One

14) Hercules & Love Affair / Hercules & Love Affair (myspace)
Hercules Theme

13) Mates of State / Re-arrange Us (myspace)
My Only Offer
The Re-arranger

12) Girl Talk / Feed the Animals (myspace)
In Step
Hands in the Air

11) Dodos / Visiter (myspace)
Fools

10) Jamie Lidell / Jim (myspace)
Another Day
Little Bit of Feel Good

9) Port O'Brien / All We Could Do Was Sing (myspace)
I Woke Up Today
Stuck on a Boat

8) Born Ruffians / Red, Yellow & Blue (myspace)
Foxes Mate for Life

7) State Bird / Mostly Ghostly (myspace)
I Saw the Light
The Golden Glowing Mask

6) Titus Andronicus / The Airing of Grievances (myspace)
My Time Outside the Womb
Arms Against Atrophy

5) Los Campesinos! / Hold On Now, Youngster (myspace)
You! Me! Dancing!
Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats

4) Man Man / Rabbit Habbits (myspace)
Hurly / Burly
Top Drawer

3) Envelopes / Here Comes the Wind (myspace)
Smoke in the Desert, Eating the Sand, Hide in the Grass
What's the Deal?

2) Vampire Weekend / Vampire Weekend (myspace)
A-Punk
M79

1) Cut Copy / In Ghost Colours (myspace)
So Haunted
Feel the Love

Honorable Mention - some of these I just didn't get to spend enough time with, so you might expect to see a couple of these climb my charts by year's end
Beach House / Devotion
No Age / Nouns
M83 / Saturdays=Youth
Mae Shis / HLLLYH
Notwist / The Devil, You + Me
Crystal Castles / Crystal Castles
Quiet Village / Silent Movie
Santogold / Santogold
Spiritualized / Songs in A & E

the Green Room

From 7/1 "Green Room" Fill-In Show
Back in Crested Butte for less than 24 hours after a nice jaunt through the Midwest, I found myself in the DJ chair once again filling in for Faith's "The Green Room" show on Tuesday nights. It was a good time, with most of the tracks coming from the plethora of interesting new releases in the studio (thus the lack of mp3s for you guys).

Artist / Song
Wolf Parade / California Dreamer
Envelopes / Calypso
Mates of State / Re-Arrange Us
Earlimart / Hymn & Her
Fleet Foxes / Your Protector
Nico Stai / You Came Around
Albert Hammond Jr. / GfC
Modest Mouse / A Life of Arctic Sounds
Sun Kil Moon / Neverending Math Equation
Silver Jews / Aloysius, Bluegrass Drummer
Gentlemen Caller / The Radio On
King Khan & the Shrines / Took My Lady to Dinner
Vivian Girls / Where Do You Run To
Velvet Underground / What Goes On (live 1969)
Dr. Dog / The Rabbit, the Bat, and the Reindeer
Built to Spill / Broken Chains (live 1999)
Vetiver / Roll on Babe
Kinks / Stranger
Bonnie "Prince" Billy / Where is the Puzzle
Grizzly Bear / While You Wait For Others
Port O'Brien / I Woke Up Today
Menomena / Wet & Rusting
Arcade Fire / Keep the Car Running
Hercules & Love Affair / Hercules Theme

last night

From 6/16 Show
Just wanted to get a quick playlist up. Nothing too special tonight, except that I helped the Mashall's Office (next door to the radio) test their new breathalyzer machine. I passed!

Artist / Song

The 13th Floor Elevators / You're Gonna Miss Me
Wilco / Radio Cure
Tim Fite / Big Mistake
Benoit Pioulard / Palimend
Aimee Mann / It's Over
Wolf Parade / Language City
Modest Mouse / A Life of Arctic Sounds
Mates of State / My Only Offer
the Fiery Furnaces / Single Again
the Fiery Furnaces / Here Comes the Summer
the Fiery Furnaces / Evergreen
Earlimart / Face Down in the Right Town
Spiritualized / I Gotta Fire
Elf Power / Spiral Stairs
Spoon / Peace Like a River
Santogold, Casablancas, NERD / My Drive Thru
Santogold / Lights Out
the Notwist / Gloomy Planets
LCD Soundsystem / All My Friends
The Republic Tigers / Buildings & Mountains
Vivian Girls / Tell the World
Nico Stai / You Came Around
A.A. Bondy / Witness Blues
Women / Black Rice
Matthew Ryan / Drunk & Disappointed
Ra Ra Riot / Suspended in Gaffa
Vetiver / Standin'
Ting Tings / Great DJ

Heart it Races x3

6/9 Show
I rather enjoyed last night's show. Plenty of new music in a mix that started out very mellow and acoustic, then got some country influence, followed by a nice dose of indie rockers and a finish of techno remixes. The trio of "Heart it Races" tracks was a highlight (the original by Architecture in Helsinki, then Esau Mwamwaya's cover, then Dr. Dog's cover). I really don't like turning down caller's requests, but when they select "Laffy Taffy" by D4L, I kind of have to.

*mp3 links added 6/14

Artist / Song

Bonnie "Prince" Billy / For Every Field There's a Mole
Nico Stai / You Came Around
Tim Fite / Big Mistake
Spiritualized / Soul on Fire
Vetiver / Blue Driver
Matthew Ryan / Drunk & Disappointed
Old 97s / Here's to the Halycon
Liam Finn / I Will Explode
Fleet Foxes / TIger Mountain Peasant Song
Born Ruffians / Hedonistic Me
Mason Jennings / Fighter Girl
The Clientele / Share the Night
Architecture in Helsinki / Heart it Races
Esau Mwamwaya / Kamphobo
Dr. Dog / Heart it Races
Vivian Girls / Where Do You Run To
Women / Black Rice
Bodies of Water / Under the Pines
Music Go Music / Light of Love
Santogold / Lights Out
Ra Ra Riot / Each Year
Crystal Castles / Crimewave (Crystal Castles vs. HEALTH)
Lykke Li / I'm Good I'm Gone (Black Kids remix)
Ocelot / Our Time (Tom Neville remix)
Young MC / Bust a Move (Don Rimini Ravekid remix)

A-Z, Take Three

6/2 Show
Inspired my Music Director Erin Roberts' show earlier in the day, I decided to trot out the A-Z format for a third take. My goal was to squeeze in as many bands that are/were playing upcoming concerts as I could, and I think I succeeded.

I am now also uploading playlist on the KBUT.org website. Go here and click on "View Grant's Playlists". Next Monday I am going to try and update the playlist live during the show, so you can refer to the KBUT website from 10:30pm-12:30am MT to see what song I am playing at that particular moment.

Artist / Song
Amanaz / Khala my Friend
Black Lips / Cold Hands
CSS / Rat is Dead (Rage)
Datarock / Fa-Fa-Fa
Explosions in the Sky / It's Natural to be Afraid (Paper Chase mix)
Fiery Furnaces / Duplexes of the Dead
the Go! Team / Keys to the City
Helio Sequence / Can't Say No
Icy Demons / Miami Ice
Junip / Chickens
King Khan & the Shrines / No Regrets
Jamie Lidell / Another Day
Modest Mouse / Grey Ice Water
National / Mistaken for Strangers
Old 97's / the Easy Way
Porlolo / Breakdown
Queens of the Stone Age / No One Knows
Ra Ra Riot / A Manner to Act
She & Him / Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?
Times New Viking / Teenage Lust
U2 / Numb
Vetiver / The Swimming Song
Walter Meego / Girls
Xiu Xiu / Crank Heart
Yeasayer / 2080
Zookeeper / Ballad of my Friends
Benoit Pioulard / Palimend
Bon Iver / Skinny Love

Brother

5/29 Show
May 29th's radio show was somewhat of a special occasion, as my brother Kyle and his friend Tito were in Crested Butte and in the KBUT studio. They both did a wonderful job reading PSAs when called upon, and several of the songs below were their requests. Thanks to all my friends who also stopped by that evening. At first I thought it wasn't such a great show, but looking back there were many memorable moments. Most notably, the musical hindenberg that is Weezer's "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived". The brief and terrible snippet of Natalie Portman's Shaved Head's "Beard Lust" provided many laughs (although I don't recommend actually listening to the song).

Artist / Song

Neil Diamond / Home Before Dark
Vetiver / Houses
Old 97's / Here's to the Halycon
Dr. Dog / Heart it Races
The Republic Tigers / Buildings & Mountains
State Bird / Golden Glowing Mask
Castanets / City of Refuge
French Kicks / Abandon
Ra Ra Riot / Ghost Under Rocks
Ting Tings / Great DJ
Santogold / L.E.S. Artistes
Los Campesinos! / 2007, The Year Punk Broke (My Heart)
LCD Soundsystem / Big Ideas
Cut Copy / Hearts on Fire
M83 / Kim & Jessie
Times New Viking / Mean God
Titus Andronicus / My Time Outside the Womb
Wolf Parade / Language City
Titus Andronicus / Titus Andronicus
Weezer / The Greatest Man That Ever Lived
Hot Chip / Hold On
Princeton / The Waves
Those Dancing Days / Those Dancing Days
Natalie Portman's Shaved Head / Beard Lust
Port O'Brien / I Woke Up Today
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah / The Skin of my Yellow Country Teeth
Frank Black / Threshold Apprehension

Up Nights

5/19 Show
Tons of new music this week, many of it in the way of downloadable mp3s for all y'all. It was a pretty good show, you should have listened. I won't be on next Monday, but I will be on next Thursday (the 29th). My brother will be in the studio helping out, so it should be a good time.

Artist / Song

Ha Ha Tonka / Up Nights
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin / Modern Mystery
Wolf Parade / Language City
Princeton / The Waves
Castanets / City of Refuge
Vetiver / Roll on Babe
Mason Jennings / California Pt 2
Mason Jennings / Memphis, TN
State Bird / The Golden Glowing Mask
Lykke Li / Little Bit
Dr. Dog / Heart it Races
Nik Freitas / Sophie
Tokyo Police Club / In a Cave
Deadly Syndrome / Wolves in the Garden
Old 97s / The Fool
Backyard Tire Fire / Sick of Debt
Backyard Tire Fire / Lost in Durango
Santogold / Lights Out
Ting Tings / Great DJ
Beck / Chemtrails Streaming here
Times New Viking / Mean God
The Republic Tigers / Buildings & Mountains
Port O'Brien / I Woke Up Today
Cut Copy / Midnight Runner
Hot Chip / Wearing My Rolex
Hercules & Love Affair / Blind
Cut Copy / Hearts on Fire (Midnight Juggernauts remix)
Crystal Castles / Crimewave (CC vs HEALTH)
Broken Social Scene / Lover's Spit

Dear Wilco,

Notes from Wilco @ Pikes Peak Center, Colorado Springs, 5/8/08

Dear Wilco,

I was worried about you guys. Your latest album, Sky Blue Sky, was nothing short of a letdown for me. After the greatness of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and the slightly less impressive but still memorable A Ghost Is Born, you decided to play it safe. Too many easy rockers, too many by-the-book songs. Nothing inventive or abstract. And to top it all off, you got what I like to call "noodley"! How could you?! Many of your guitar solos (provided by new member Nels Cline) reminded me of the kind of terrible & soulless white-boy blues riffs often relied upon by subpar jam bands. Needless to say, I was distraught about your direction going into your performance at the Pikes Peak Center earlier this month.

I had seen you live once prior, in London during your supporting tour of A Ghost is Born. It was a great performance. The abstract, lingering songs from that album sounded terrific live, even from the balcony. You made my friend cry out of sheer joy. After a disappointing album whose songs don't lend themselves to extended live performances, how could you match that show and experience?

At first, you came nowhere close. Opening songs "Either Way" and "You Are my Face" (both from Sky Blue Sky) only confirmed my worst fears. Boring, stodgy and noddley. Thankfully, you broke into "Sunken Treasure", bringing back some country flavor from the Being There album. In retrospect, it was pretty much all uphill from that point on. As songs from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost is Born worked their way into the set, I got more and more excited. I started taping my foot, singing along, and most importantly, smiling. It wasn't quite like seeing you a couple of years ago, but your performance became moving and memorable just the same.

At times I loved Nels Cline's guitar playing for the obviously & immensely talented musician he is, but perhaps more often (and especially at the beginning of the set) I was annoyed by his playing. Much as described above, I thought his solos were obvious and a gross detour from what made your previous work so great. On the other hand, Tweedy's limited solos brought me back to those days when Wilco was progressive and not regressive. Tweedy's stage banter was engaging and humorous, and served to loosen up a somewhat stoic crowd. He opined that both this show's and the previous night's (in Grand Junction, CO) crowds were mostly from out of town (which was met with a roar). He also bragged that Colorado Springs has a higher mountain than Grand Junction, making it a superior location. Perhaps the star of your live performance was drummer Glenn Kotche, who is easily the most talented drummer I have ever seen live. He is a joy to watch, especially for an aspiring drumbeater like myself.

In the end, I am still a fan of Wilco, Probably more so than I was before your performance. Your older songs still rang true an got my heart racing, even if the set did drag on through 2 encores (lacking of hits) and lasted over 2 1/2 hours. I sincerely hope Sky Blue Sky was brief detour for the band rather than a new direction.

Sincerely,
Grant

Show Set List

Wilco Official Site
KBUT Music Director Chad's thoughts on Wilco in Grand Junction 5/7/08(scroll down to "LIVE MUSIC REVIEW!!!)
Pitchfork's review of Sky Blue Sky
Pitchfork's review of A Ghost is Born
Pitchfork's review of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Dear Ra Ra Riot,

Notes from Ra Ra Riot @ the Black Sheep, Colorado Springs, 5/9/08

Dear Ra Ra Riot,

I've seen you perform live twice now, and I'm as enthralled as ever. Your musical talents are certainly evident in the live setting, but your group dynamic is what makes things so compelling. After seeing you at the Monolith Festival last September I couldn't stop talking about how much fun you were having on stage (I also kept your EP on my car stereo for days). It was an infectious performance. The merchandise tent afterwards was proof enough that you stole the festival from the bigger acts. That performance brought me to a dingy club in Colorado Springs last Friday Night. Once again, you put on an incredibly memorable show. It was a great night with an intimate audience, although I'm sorry only 30 or so people showed up to witness it. Nevertheless, you played your asses off and were humble and entertaining between songs.

My constructive criticism is very short: don't loose your passion for each other and for playing together. There could be hundreds of external factors (especially including your crowd size), but the love you showed each other during your performance dropped slightly from when I saw you at Monolith to the Black Sheep. On that make-shift stage underneath Red Rocks in September you were constantly smiling and making physical contact with each other anyway you could. At the Black Sheep I saw the same actions, just to a lesser extent. Don't let the grind of touring wear out you enthusiasm. Also, it would be amazing if you lengthened some of the songs in the live setting (such as "Dying is Fine").

Normally I single out certain band members for their performances, good or bad, but with you guys I just can't do it. You define the most collective definitions of the word "band" and you are all great performers. If there was only one young, up-and-coming band that I could champion, it would be you guys. Expect to hear your songs on my radio show regularly for some time to come.

Sincerely,
Grant

P.S. I'll see you at the Westword Music Festival, June 14th in Denver.

Ra Ra Riot official site
my thoughts from the Monolith Festival
Dying is Fine video
Each Year (RAC remix)
Pitchfork's Monolith Photos

Set List: (thanks to the band for filling in the new song titles)
Manner to Act
Everest
Too Too Fast
St. Peter's Day Festival
Can You Tell
Oh, LA
Winter '05
Ghost Under Rocks
Each Year
Dying is Fine
Hounds of Love (Kate Bush cover)