What's In It For?

11/23 Show
Of particular note this week:

- One of the great joys of the internet is that you get access to widely prolific songwriters like Bradley Cox, who seems to have another wonderful release every week. His Atlas Sound alias covers the Five Discs' doo-wop gem: "Doctor"

- This has been around for a little while, but somehow it crossed my radar recently: Avi Buffalo "What's In It For?". Reminiscent of Band of Horses, but with a little less cliched yearning.

- The new single from Beach House surfaced this week: "Norway". It might be my favorite of their work, but I'm still not sold on this band.

- Aquarium Drunkard's most recent rare-find: Kim Fowley, who incidentally produced some of The Modern Lovers early work. Check out "International Heroes".

Here's a wealth of lo-fi goodies for the week:
- Sandwitches: "Back to the Sea"
- Magic Kids: "Superball"
- Light Pollution: "Oh, Ivory!"
- Andrew Cedermark: "Hard Livin'"
I'm starting to get sick of this sound. Maybe I just need to quit going to Gorilla vs. Bear.

Check out the full playlist.

Filled in for Monday's late night "Drinking in Bed" program last night. Here's the all-jazz playlist.

Albums of the Decade

A recent round of emails between friends prompted us all to list our favorite albums of the decade. Here's my rather quick list in chronological order (I'm sure I'm forgetting several)...

Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000)
The Stokes - Is This It (2001)
White Stripes - White Blood Cells (2001)
Wilco - Yankee Hotel (2002)
Spoon - Kill the Moonlight (2002)
Beck - Sea Change (2002)
The Postal Service - Give Up (2003)
Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)
Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise (2005)
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary (2005)
The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine (2006)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - self titled (2006)
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (2007)
MIA - Kala (2007)
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (2007)
The National - Boxer (2007)
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours (2008)

Compilations:
Belle & Sebastian - Push Barman to Open Old Wounds (2005)
Jay Reatard - Matador Singles '08

As for 2009? You'll have to wait till the end of December to see what tops this year's list.

Traveling With Moving

I'll be back in the heartland for the next week+, so there will be no Music is My Girlfriend shows on November 9th & 16th. Look for a triumphant return to my normal slot on the 23rd. I'll also be filling in later that night (10:30pm-12:30am MT). Perhaps a proper "DJ" set???!!!!

Anyhow, thanks for your undying support.

In other news, here are some roadtrip thoughts after the ~20 hour drive to Chicago:
- Iowa's "Modern" Rest Stops are outstanding. The entire Interstate system should have wireless. (The non-Modern ones are not so great, but I did urinate on some corn stalks).
- Why do people build nice houses in the country within yards of the interstate?
- Hotels are overrated. Bring a sleeping bag & nap in your trunk!
- David Sedaris solely accounted for 5+ hours of wonderful drive time listening.
- Mike's Mexolina is not nearly as delicious when it's room temp. Same goes for Green Chile Pesto.
- How did it take me so long to jump on the podcast bandwagon?
- Caribou makes a mediocre cappuccino.
- Traveling with a french press is severely underrated.

Stick Up For Yourself, Son

11/2/09 Show
Of particular note this week:


- Loving this new track from Brooklyn's Yeasayer. Seriously, check it out. Add their album to 2010's growing list of releases to potentially wet yourself over.

-Indianapolis' own Jookabox had quite a torrent of videos & music at MOKB last week. "You Cried Me" is a terribly fast acoustic stomp (thus, altogether different from the previously posted "Phantom Don't Go"). KBUT just the album, I'll let you know what I think...

- This kind of lost outsider rock seems be unearthed every week, and its almost always amazing. Psychedelic funk from early 70s Nigeria: The Strangers "Two to Make a Pair"

- Fuzzy girl-group rock courtesy of The Sandwitches: "Marry Me" & more...

- Air France adds a nice old school hip-hop feel to this dance floor ready track: "Spring (Air France remix)". IF I had any DJ gigs planned, you might hear it.

- Hadn't heard of NoahJohn until this Aquarium Drunkard post. Good for an alt-country storytellin' fix.

- The White Rabbits stopped by the Daytrotter studios recently. Also, The Antlers session is perhaps more worth your time, even if I didn't play any of their tunes on Monday.

- LO-FI WARNING: Wild Nothing "Confirmation"

Check out the full playlist

Little Bird Courage

10/26/09 Show
Of particular note this week:

- Here you have Ernie Graham, a man whose self-titled LP from 1971 deserves some time with your ears. The two songs available at Aquarium Drunkard are the kind of soulful, bluesy ballads that no one seems to be making anymore.

- Surf City display a slighty new sound with the swirling guitars & effects on this hazy jam: "Autumn". My brother's friend's blog, Someday I'll Be Dignified & Old, first informed me of Surf City, and I couldn't thank him enough. Chad, KBUT's music director, saw these guys at CMJ in NY last week and said they were great.

- Terrificly rumbling folk-rock (complete with trumpets!) from the lead singer of The Appleseed Cast: Old Canes - "Little Bird Courage". This is really good.

Check out this week's full playlist.

Sci-Fi Chefing

No Music Is My Girlfriend this week (10/12), as I'll be out of town cooking for the film crew of a lo-budget sci-fi film in New Mexico. Yea, you read that right.

Luv Goon

10/5/09 Show
Of particular note this week:

- Free Energy has already released one of my favorite tracks of the year in "Dream City", so I was excited to see another song of their's emerge onto my radar. "Something in Common" wears its Strokes & Phoenix influences on its sleeve, which isn't a bad thing. Still, its no "Dream City", but I just bought the EP on iTunes anyway.

- Vampire Weekend created quite a stir today. A countdown clock appeared on their website, and upon striking zero (roughly 12:30pm MT), a new song was available for download! Check out the intriguing "Horchata" at their website. Their album Contra sees official release on January 12th in these parts.

- The upcoming Los Campesinos! release keeps getting better. Stream the terrific new single - "There Are Listed Buildings". I can't wait till "early 2010".

- Julian Casablancas, (former?) lead singer of The Strokes, drops his Phrazes for the Young album in a couple weeks. Check out the quite good lead single "11th Dimension", which finds him crooning over surprisingly complex electronic instrumentation Stream it here.

- Pearl Harbor are shaping up to be among the most consistent and best of the lo-fi wave. Aren't we all just Luv Goons?

- Brilliant Colors shared this noise-laden pop ditty with the world: "Absolutely Anything"

Check out the full playlist