Lust for Life

1/26 Show
Last week, the always excellent blog Gorilla vs. Bear diagnosed a startling trend in indie band names. A plethora of groups with "Girls" in their title are appearing, and for the most part they all make credible, lo-fi, & hummable tunes. San Francisco's Girls is perhaps my favorite so far. Check out the audaciously-named "Lust for Life" (not an Iggy Pop cover) below.

Mp3 links are up. A number of the songs I played this week I linked to last week, so check them out in the previous post if you haven't yet.

Artist / Song
Red Cortez / All the Difference
M. Ward / Never Had Nobody Like You
Marissa Nadler / River of Dirt
Real Estate / Old Folks
Real Estate / Suburban Beverage
Women / Black Rice
Girls / Lust for Life (myspace)
Little Girls / Youth Tunes
Fungi Girls / Crystal Roads
Vivian Girls / Where Do You Run To
U.S. Girls / O What a Nite
Animal Collective / My Girls
Travels / Favorite People
Matt and Kim / Cutdown
Boy Eats Drum Machine / Planets & Stars
Jens Lekman / Your Arms Around Me
Dirty Projectors w/ David Byrne / Knotty Pine
The Decemberists / The Rake's Song
Eternal Summers / Fall Straight Back
The Modern Lovers / The Mixer (Men & Women Together)
Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele / You Can't Force a Dance Party
The Tallest Man on Earth / I Won't Be Found
Odawas / Harmless Lover's Discourse
Andrew Bird / Oh No
Belle & Sebastian / Judy and the Dream of Horses
Loney Dear / Airport Surroundings
Animal Collective / Summertime Clothes
Cassettes Won't Listen / Paper Float
NewVillager / Rich Doors
Handsome Furs / Evangeline
Cut Copy / Far Away

It's Never That Easy Though, Is It?

1/19 Show
Sometimes people are annoying. Especially when they thieve the cables needed to connect my new laptop to the audio board at KBUT. Fresh from making a couple of turns on the ski hill, I arrived at the studio psyched to do my first show with the powers of my new Apple. Instead, I had to perform a makeshift first half hour while Chad, the program director, graciously when out and bought a new cable. Ok, so it wasn't that terrible, but the flustered mood it put me in lasted for much of the show.

Regardless, there is some decent new music this week. The "Of Great and Mortal Men" Presidential song project released its final recording: a song for Obama. Its timely, if nothing else. Be sure to check out: the Dirty Projectors/David Byrne collaboration, the new Decemberists track, Those Darlins, Odawas, Dent May, Real Estate, and especially NewVillager. The new Matt & Kim album is pretty terrific as well.

I also learned that Wilco's "Hummingbird" now unfotunately reminds me of the vastly overrated film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". I don't know if I can ever listen to A Ghost is Born again.

Artist / Song
Matt and Kim / Daylight
Matt and Kim / Good Ol' Fashioned Nightmare
Totally Michael / Don't Stop
Los Campesinos! / It's Never That Easy Though, Is It? (Song for the Other Kurt)
The Helio Sequence / Hallelujah
French Kicks / So Far We Are
Dirty Projectors w/ David Byrne / Knotty Pine
Little Joy / How to Hang a Warhol
M. Ward / Never Had Nobody Like You
Odawas / Harmless Lover's Discourse
Noah and the Whale / Five Years Time
Those Darlins / Wild One
The Tallest Man on Earth / Pistol Dreams
Jose Gonzalez / Down the Line
Belle & Sebastian / She's Losing It
The Decemberists / The Rake's Song
A.C. Newman / Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer
Christian Kiefner (ft. Will Johnson) / Someone to Wake (the Obama song)
Elvis Perkins in Dearland / Shampoo
Wolf Parade / Shine a Light
Handsome Furs / All We Want, Baby, Is Everything
Handsome Furs / I'm Confused
The Heartless Bastards / The Mountain
The Heartless Bastards / Searching for the Ghost
My Morning Jacket / Bring It On Home to Me (live)
The Henry Clay People / You Can Be Timeless
WIlco / Hummingbird
Real Estate / Suburban Beverage
Eternal Summers / Fall Straight Back
Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele / You Can't Force a Dance Party
NewVillager / Rich Doors

We Need More Parties

1/12 Show
January is typically a slow time for new releases, so I made my work easy this week by playing two songs from each artist (or a related act). The new Handsome Furs album is a pleasure (as expected), so pick up Face Control when its released 2/3/09.

Only a couple links this week, but they're all worthwhile.

Artist / Song
Handsome Furs / Evangeline
Handsome Furs / Radio Kalininbad
TV on the Radio / Golden Age
Fake Male Voice / OMG!!!FMV!!!
Man Man / Black Mission Goggles
Man Man / Top Drawer
The King Khan & BBQ Show / Blow My Top
King Khan & the Shrines / No Regrets
Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears / Gunpowder
Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears / Snatch it Back & Hold It
Spoon / The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine
Spoon / The Underdog
Belle & Sebastian / Me & the Major
Belle & Sebastian / Like Dylan in the Movies (BBC Session)
Ezra Furman & the Harpoons / Take Off Your Sunglasses
Ezra Furman & the Harpoons / I Wanna Be Ignored
Vivian Girls / Wild Eyes
Those Darlins / Wild One
The Modern Lovers / Back in the USA
Jonathan Richman / Parties in the USA
Jens Lekman / Maple Leaves
Jens Lekman / The Opposite of Hallelujah
Architecture in Helsinki / Wishbone
Architecture in Helsinki / Same Old Innocence
Beirut / Postcards from Italy
Beirut / Nantes
Okkervil River / Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe
Okkervil River / Calling and Not Calling My Ex
the 757s / Crash & Fade
the 757s / Surely MacLaine

Space is Cool Again?

1/8 Show
January has been a relatively slow month for new music as we wait for more albums to start seeing their release dates in the coming weeks. A few new gems from the Black Lips & Dan Auerbach did, however, find their way into the mix this week.

A humorous aside: After reading about the upcoming NASA album, "The Spirit of Apollo", and its many guest stars, I briefly thought the space agency was cool again. Ten minutes later, I learned its a project from Squeak E. Clean & DJ Zegon and it rather moronically stands for "North America South America". It would be cooler if it was sponsored by the folks who brought us Tang. (A roundabout link to one of the tracks is posted below).

Mp3 links are forthcoming. I hope.

Artist / Song
Man Man / Van Helsing Boombox
Women / Black Rice
Here We Go Magic / Tunnelvision
The Black Lips / Starting Over
Ezra Furman & the Harpoons / Take Off Your Sunglasses
Hacienda / She's Got a Hold on Me
The Black Keys / Psychotic Girl
Dan Auerbach / I Want Some More
The Thermals / Here's Your Future
Jay Reatard / An Ugly Death
The Muslims / Bright Side
Love is All / Rumours
Los Campesinos! / Ways to Make it Through the Wall
Arcade Fire / Burning Bridges
Arcade Fire / Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Everything Absent or Distorted / A Form to Accommodate the Mess
Emily Wells / Symphony 1: In the Barrel of a Gun
Sufjan Stevens / Chicago
Belle & Sebastian / Your Secrets
Little Joy / Brand New Start
Coconut Records / Microphone
Rainbow Arabia / Holiday in Congo
Friend / Black Keys
The Polyphonic Spree / Light & Day
The Helio Sequence / Hallelujah
Lykke Li / Knocked Up (Kings of Leon cover)
Hot Chip / No Fit State
NASA / Gifted (ft. Kanye West, Santogold, Lykke Li)
The Tough Alliance / A New Chance