October 29, 2004

"I know you're out there, I know you're gone."- Dinosaur Jr.

Briefly then:

Clap-Clap's ode to home recording makes me want to unearth the four-track. Maybe next week.

Chromewaves hunts for answers regarding the forthcoming Dinosaur Jr. reissues on Merge, for which I will set babies afire and push old ladies down stairs to get my hands on when they come out.

"Bremer claims that the fact that we never caught anyone stealing them means that no one could have stolen them." I love Wonkette.

Tonevendor does a fair job reviewing the Mendoza Line's odds and sods compilation curated by The Good Doctor. In addition to being a great record, the record is also important because I am thanked in the liner notes. I taped the band doing an interview and some songs at WMBR a couple years ago, and the stuff I recorded was used on the record. So kudos to me.

That is all.

October 27, 2004

"Descending from a crowd, and all the city streets are loud." - Pavement.

Sox are up by one in the top of the third. Even the infant and toddler Breitlings below the Mason-Dixon lione are excited for this one. Or at least their parents tell them to be excited about it when they are leaving me cute voicemails.

Chromewaves expresses sentiments similar to mine regarding the passing of John Peel, and has a great roundup of related tributes and the like. I guess relative to many I had an understanding of who John Peel was from a relatively youthful age, because when I was 13 and was frantically buying up Cure and Smiths records, I was constantly confronted with these CDs in black and grey covers that Peel Sessions were packaged in at the time, and perhaps are still packaged in today. Good idea: ITunes or Emusic should license all the Peel Recordings exlusively and offer them.

[Varitek at the plate with two men on.]

The Big Ticket is rightfully jubilant regarding the release of the expanded Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain reissue. I picked up my copy this afternoon and am currently plowing through the non-original tracks right now. God this stuff is good. A lot of it was put in my hands on cassette tape when I had the good fortune to live with Forrest R. Perry, who sent me a hysterical, Joey Sweeney album art-esque photo of himself holding a home-made Kerry sign on a corner in Memphis today.

Jen Kelly of SplendidEZine.com does a better job reviewing the new Thalia Zedek record than I think I did.

[Mueller at the plate with men on the corners; draws a walk.]

My webcasting gig as part of the Radio TeapotHill operation resumed last night with an expanded 150-minute set, and I put together a pretty smashing program, if I do say so myself. I guess having an extra two weeks to peruse the depths of collection really paid off this time. Hopefully I can turn in an equally good slate next week when I am back on my regular slot, Tuesday at 9PM. Here is an approximation of last night's play list (I forgot to do a final save in WinAmp, so, alas, some of the magic has slipped through our fingers):

1. Ad Council - WESU PSA "Ridiculous."
2. The Ocean Blue - Breezing Up
3. Manitoba - Every Time She Turns Around It's Her Birthday
4. !!! - Me and Giuliani Down By The School Yard
5. Cargo Cult - Pimp Posse
6. Drive Like Jehu - Super Unison
7. The Flaming Lips - Frogs
8. The Dambuilders - Slo-Mo Kikaida
9. Broken Social Scene - Cause=Time
10. Interpol - Public Pervert
11. Pavement - AT&T
12. Radiohead - Motion Picture Soundtrack
13. Torgo - Sister (Spacey Demo)
14. Flying Saucer Attack - Soaring High
15. Ambulance LTD - Stay Where You Are
16. The Sundays - Goodbye
17. Ken Nordine - Flesh
18. Kronos Quartet - Cuatro Milpas
19. Sunny Day Real Estate - Pillars
20. Elvis Costello - Spooky Girlfriend
21. Augustus Pablo - King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown
22. Sonic Youth - Trilogy
23. Godrays - Songs for T.V. Stars
24. Brian Wilson - In Blue Hawaii
25. Ms. John Soda - By Twos
26. Kid 606 - Tempation
27. Lali Puna - Left-handed
28. The Mobius Band - Taxi Cab
29. The Lilys - Elizabeth Colour Wheel


That is all.

October 22, 2004

"I got the AM radio on." - The Modern Lovers.

Friday odds and sods>>>

David Day gets a turn in StyPod.

This is insane.

EmptyFree drops knowledge on the best places to buy music in Paris.

Let the rejoicing begin, The Rub is back.

The New York Times has a great Arcade Fire profile.

As overt and overdone as this Ted Leo review is, I can't help but identify with a lot of the feelings the reviewer expresses here about new music and compulsive trendspotting.

Believe it or not, two of the best songs I've heard lately are from the forthcoming Spongebob Squarepants movie soundtrack. Stereogum has cuts from the Flaming Lips and The Shins.

Tony B eulogizes the late lamented Tune Inn in New Haven. The only time I went to the Tune Inn was with the Fong when they played there in 1995 or 1996, back when the Postman was still in the band, before the final rise and fall of The Original Lineup.

That is all.

October 19, 2004

"I'd rather listen to Thin Lizzy, oh." - Belle and Sebastian

some interesting stuff:

Belle and Sebastian are promoting their single "I'm A Cuckoo" with a flash-based game. I am not much of a gamer, so perhaps many of you will think this is really lame, but check out the game and the song at one and the same time. My favorite song from Dear Catastrophe Waitress, by the way.

ILM has all the info on the surprise, nay, shocking live appearance by outsider music posterboy and unfathomable music enigma Jandek at a Glaswegian music festival. I don't think I have ever heard more than one song by the guy, but I got totally sucked in by the myth via a Junkmedia feature that detailed the making of the Jandek on Corwood documentary that came out this past summer. I missed the screening of the documentary, so I may have to drop the $20 and buy the forthcoming DVD, which apparently is now available for pre-order.

Of admittedly less importance is my discovery over the weekend that The Ocean Blue, a noted PA-based college rock band that aped elements of the Smiths and Ride and landed on Sire Records in the late 80s, has continued to make music perhaps up to the present day. I've alway been a big fan of their record Cerulean, but only just over the weekend did I get it ripped to my ITunes. Anyway, according to Allmusic, the band left Sire in 1994 and then had a brief stint at Mercury before ending up releasing their own music. Along the way they apparently booted an original member who claims he was showed the door for being gay. I have heard their first record, too, but I would be interested to hear what they sounded like in subsequent years.

Schilling just threw a ball at A-Rod's head in the bottom of the first. That's good stuff.

That is all.

October 16, 2004

"You're so bored with Tv. Radio. Video. Audio." - Unwound

As faithful readers will know, one of my ongoing missions is to replace the literally hundreds of audio cassettes filled with indie rock from the 90s with digital and/or CD copies of the same music. I now officially endorse EMusic as the best way to go about doing this. Last night I scored long-time favorite records by Blonde Redhead, La Mia Vita Violenta, and by Flying Saucer Attack, Distance, two items that have been languishing on cassette in Yeungling boxes in the basement storage space. And the per-song cost is something like $.25 per song via the cheapest Emusic plan. I also scored some Unwound, including the record Leaves Turn Inside You, which I have been meaning to get for a few years. An excellent record.

I spent much of yesterday excruciatingly hung over, and for a while at work yesterday morning the only way I could deal with myself is by listening to Ambulance LTD's "Stay Where You Are" on repeat. Great song. For some reason I also started to think about hardcore music. I got four exceptional Swiz tracks off of EMusic last night, too, including "Ghost," which totally blew my mind when I heard it in 1991. All their stuff was compiled on the posthumous release No Punches Pulled.

Apparently Ryan Pitchfork left all of Pitchforkmedia.com's business files on a public server, which some kids found and detailed in this Hipinions forum thread. Pretty interesting stuff. Apparently the Fork pulls in about $20K a month in ad sales. Epitaph has been their largest advertiser of late. Also, unfortunately, all of Schreiber's personal emails and credit card info and other stuff were publicly available. It was sort of a dick move for these guys to post all this stuff, but it makes for intersting reading.

Stereogum had a funny bit with David Cross and Eugene Mirman this week that talked about indie rock and stuff. Check it out.

Finally, Radio TeapotHill is still transitioning to its new location, and as a result I don't believe I will be webcasting this coming Tuesday. I've got a lot of great stuff lined up for the following week, however, so keep the faith.

That is all.

UPDATE: Just back from Miss Lalstar's wedding and watching the Sox struggle, down 11-6 in the 5th. What the Sox need is some rock. Here is that Swiz song, Ghost. Also, here is a great Blonde Redhead song, Violent Life. Enjoy. And if you like 'em, go buy more stuff at EMusic.com.

October 12, 2004

"She blows wide o rings through his mouth." - the lilys

Just a quick note to say it looks like I won't be rocking my webcast on Radio TeapotHill tonight. I think RTH home base is currently taking up new residence, so the transmitter is figuratively down. I will be back next week, same time, same channel. In the meantime, here are some quick hits:

StyPod gives big ups to the Lilys and has their amazing song "Ginger," from the tragically out of print "A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns," posted for a limited time. Check it out. [Scroll down].

I don't even really know what this guy is talking about, but he is fired up about hating Good Charlotte. Shit is funny.

Oh yeah, go check out Grouper.com. My homey Lee and I are trying out the app, which lets you stream and perhaps snatch music from group members' hard drives. Cool stuff.

Finally, this site takes the cake. You
Forgot Poland.


That is all.

October 11, 2004

"I could take you places, do you need a new man?" - Interpol

Monday Monday MONDAY! It was quite a pleasant long weekend. Stayed in and packed Friday for our quick jump down to Philly for Amy's cousin's wedding Saturday. Which was really very nice. The reception was at the Kimmel Center up in its roof garden, which was pretty stellar. Sunday Amy shopped while I walked around behind her, taking time to pick up Ms. John Soda's No P. Or D. at Tower. The weather was great. We whiled away the afternoon with Tito and his lady friend in Rittenhouse Square and at the Irish Pub. The wife and I dined at Mama Palma's and had after dinner drinks at this seemingly new retro-Cuban place called Alma De Cuba. Then we headed back to our room at the Westin, where we caught an episode of The Wire, which was really very, very good. So that's the wrap for the weekend. Tho I should mention being able to drink La Colombe coffee all weekend was totally the bomb.

If the Titans beat the Pack tonight, I get $92. I spose I should go check on the score. Big Yankees-Sox series. The stuff is quite exciting. Almost as exciting as the final presidential debate, which is Wednesday. Big month coming up people. Even 7th Heaven, which the wife likes to watch, was beating the voting horse tonight.

I scored a lot of great records recently. Spurred by a post by the newly revitalized Beester, I went out Thursday and scored the new Interpol record, Antics. I also got Brian Wilson's SMiLE and New Order's Power, Corruption and Lies"> (because it was on sale for $9). I don't know what people were expecting from Interpol, but people seem a little underwhelmed with the new record. I think it is great. The guitars are more reverby and shiny and Paul Banks' voice is significantly more forceful and, as a result, less textured. But the songs are great, and I recommend the record. I am a touch disappointed with SMiLE. As I think CRM said, Wilson's voice has aged and he tackles some songs in a lower register than he had on the original bootlegs. And I think some of the segments have been re-written with shinier, major chordal arrangements that gives the new version of "Child Is The Father Of The Man," for example, a joyous feel, whereas the version I have on my Salty Records release is a touch more ominous sounding. The soft quality of the bootlegs also gives the older version a different tone overall than the bootleg. Anyway, it is enjoyable, but different.

Tune in to Radio TeapotHill tomorrow night, when I will play some of all of the above. That is all.

October 6, 2004

"Don't turn away from me, I need you to hold on to."- NIN

Last night was the big VP debate for campaign 2004. It was also my weekly radio show. I've posted my playlist below. And here is some stuff about the debates.

Somewhat opposing viewpoints: Wonkette. Trosko. More on that FactCheck.com gaffe.

Anyhoo, on to the playlist. I was thinking of playing a lot of live stuff, but I ended up going heavy on the electronic stuff, since technical difficulties and the debate meant fewer listeners anyway. Still, I think the set hangs together particularly well. Check it out.

1. Ad Council - WESU PSA "Ridiculous."
2. Nine Inch Nails - Terrible Lie
3. Shellac - Wingwalker
4. Superconductor - Strip Oracle
5. The Kinks - Destroyer
6. Jawbox - I Got You Under My Skin
7. Hypo - Nice Day
8. The Unicorns - Ghost Mountain
9. The Clash - Version Pardner
10. Oval - Do While (Symbol)
11. Styrofoam - Think (Let Tomorrow Bee)
12. Keith Fullerton Whitman - Weiter
13. Me + Dave - C' Krant The Sound of the Blackberry Light
14. Morrissey - November Spawned A Monster (Live)
15. Haywood - Empty Car
16. Pink Floyd - Paint Box
17. Camper Van Beethoven - I Am Talking To This Flower
18. Devo - Head Like A Hole
19. People Under the Stairs - Acid Raindrops
20. The Low Numbers - Entertain Good Taste
21. Yo La Tengo - Decora
22. Deadbeat - Head Over Heels
23. New Order - Regret
24. Hot Hot Heat - Get In Or Get Out
25. The Feelies - Time For A Witness
26. Ted Minsky - Proportional
27. Pole - Back Home
28. Yo La Tengo - Tiny Birds
29. Andy Summers and Robert Fripp - Lakeland/Aquarelle
30. The Conet Project - tcp dl 4 phonetic alphabet nato irdial

The Sox have the bases loaded in the top of the first in game two. That is all.

October 2, 2004

"It's just a dream he keeps having, and it doesn't seem to mean anything."- Wilco

Here is one for the record books. It takes a bit of set-up, believe me, but the pay-off is worth it. So here goes: There is a music message board that is pretty nerdy but also fairly interesting called I Love Music, ILM for short. I usually check in to see what is being chatted about every workday. Anyway, they have some great posts and discussions, like this one about the best records of the '90s, and often I will be reminded of great music I once had that I should get again, etc. A couple months ago I even posted on one forum that I was looking for a specific Jawbox track, their version of "I Got You Under My Skin" that was on the "Cooling Card" CD single, from what I recall. I encountered the song while doing a summer college DJ stint at Villanova's WXVU, and I taped one of my WXVU shows (which included said song) and used it as my audition tape once I got to Wesleyan as a junior transfer. Stan Lam, the chap running Wes's WESU at the time, LOST MY AUDITION TAPE. I was very disappointed by this, as it was probably my greatest radio show ever.

We're getting close to the end I promise. Anyway, observant readers may recall my discussion of Rob Meltzer, his role in creating the Kam Fong video posted a couple months ago, and his new film I Am Stamos. This becomes important to this story. Flash forward to yesterday morning... After posting on ILM two months ago or so that I was searching for the Jawbox song, I received an email yesterday morning from a nice chap who saw my request and emailed the MP3 to me. As my man Cube says, goddamn, today was a good day. Anyway, I emailed the chap back and thanked him and asked him if I return the favor. He said no, he's cool. And that was that. Until the end of the work day yesterday when I began to suspect that this guy's name was familiar to me. So I Google him. The first hit that comes up is an IMDB listing, and the first credit on the IMDB listing is for I Am Stamos.

SO I email this guy and tell him hey are you the guy who worked on Stamos, 'cause I am down with Rob Meltzer and have been since like '90. It turns out Mr. Boyer attended film school with Rob and roomed with him, and as a result knows about all the peeps I grew up with back in RadNasty. He even remembers I gave Rob a mixtape of indie rock stuff back in like 1993, which had some cool stuff like Evan Dando's "My Divan" and another awesome Jawbox song "Paint Out The Lights" on it.

Small f'n world, right? That's just crazy. Anyway, in celebration of re-acquiring the song, here it is. I know now that you can buy it on this record. And while I am in a giving mood, here is a Torgo number for KoomDogg, called "Dull."

Speaking of the Koominator, we saw Wilco last night and they were superlative. They played cuts from the last three records and two Woody Guthrie numbers over the span of two hours. Highlights definitely include a pretty solo Nels Cline took during "Ashes of American Flags." The songs were all great, and I only regret not being seated closer to the stage. Also, I was a bit disappointed that Nels Cline's and Jim O'Rourke's efforts were not more prominent. Cline in particular was doing some amazing stuff, but it was mixed low so that Tweedy's soloing was the most prominent. As I explained to Housher, Wilco is like the Superfriends, except that musically I would say Tweedy is more on par with an Aquaman type, whereas Cline and O'Rourke are more Superman/Batman types, and as such should be given more spotlight during the shows. This is not to belittle Tweedy's songwriting, which I think is splendid. It is just that when there is the capability to go totally "nucular" on listeners' asses with your playing, it is a shame to let your biggest guns get close to the action but not fire. Anyway, enough of that. Though I would point out these tickets were the most I ever spent on a single performer, and it was well, well worth it.

The pre-show meal was fun, and we all got a chance to slag on Bush's debate performance for the prior evening. Speaking of slagging on our top executive of the land, this Onion article from this week is hysterically ironic. As the Noizers like to say, it's funny 'cause it's true.

I remembered the other day the AOL's Eric Bachmann had been in Small/Small 23. I'd just forgetten, is all. Evidence.

One other good bit of writing this week. Brian Wilson's SMiLE was released this week, and Pitchfork's review was particularly refreshing, as it was markedly free of their typical snark. Check it out.

That is all.