Flatbasset Radio's 25 Most Played Albums: September '16

Well hello again, folks. It's the first of the the month, which means it's time for a little instant nostalgia.

Incredibly, September's already in the rearview mirror. It was a compelling month of presidential debates, undefeated Vikings, and Minnesota Wild preseason games. Sadly, it was also a month that only featured one Flatbasset Radio show. Sorry about that. For what it's worth, though, it was a 20 song, hour long mix of nothing but local music. As always, a big thanks to everybody who gave it a listen. Also, big thanks to all the artists & listeners who shared the show. You folks are literally my only promotional department, so I appreciate each of those shares.

Let's get to the collage. As always, remember that every song listened to counts as a "play." Seems obvious, right? So, for example, that new Total Gaze album We Need More Condos has 11 songs, meaning each time I listen to it all the way through it counts 11 "plays." As usual, all stats come from my Last.FM page. Give it a follow if you really want to stay up on what's getting the most plays around Planet New Basset.

So, here we go:

01. Graveyard Club - Cellar Door (79 plays)

02. Atmosphere - Fishing Blues (72 plays)

03. The Pooches - The Pooches (70 plays)

04. Total Gaze - We Need More Condos (70 plays)

05. Cruel Love - CRUELLOVE/RECORDPORN (50 plays)

06. Polara - Polara (34 plays)

07. The Beatles - Abbey Road (33 plays)

08. Young Scum - Autumn August (33 plays)

09. Various Artists - Beat Oven (Vol. 1) (33 plays)

10. R.E.M. - In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988-2003 (30 plays)

11. Wretch Like Me - Calling All Cars (28 plays)

12. Descendents - Cool To Be You (28 plays)

13. Blink-182 - Blink 182 (26 plays)

14. The Owls - The Owls (25 plays)

15. Various Artists - Without A Trace (Mirror Universe Tapes Compilation) (25 plays)

16. The Plastic Constellations - We Appreciate You (24 plays)

17. Radiohead - Amnesiac (23 plays)

18. BNLX - BNLX (22 plays)

19. Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill (22 plays)

20. Various Artists - Adult Swim Singles Program 2016 (22 plays)

21. Beastie Boys - Check Your Head (21 plays)

22. Tek & Metasota - What's That 4? (21 plays)

23. Buffalo Springfield - Again (20 plays)

24. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer (18 plays)

25. The Hi-Fives - ...And A Whole Lotta You! (17 plays)

There you have it, folks. Stay tuned for more shows to help ease into autumn.

Image via Tap Music
Stats via my Last.fm page

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page.  Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.

Flatbasset Radio's 50 Most Played Albums: January '15

Hello again, everybody.  February is upon us and, if you haven't noticed, it's fucking frigid outside.  I blame that goddamn Punxsutawney Phil.  Can't be too mad, though.  Clearly that shadow-seeing rodent knows his shit.

Anyway, like I always do at the start of the month, it's time to take a look back at the 50 Most Played Albums around Planet New Basset.

As always, you can keep up with what's being played here in real time by checking out my Last.fm page, though honestly, I have no idea why you would want to do that.  Frankly, I'm not even sure why you're still reading this.  Whatever. It's your life.

As always, larger pictures indicate more plays:

01. Mike The Martyr - Marbury (80 plays)

02. Rupert AngelEyes - Young Sunset (70 plays)

03. Rogue Valley - False Floors (66 plays)

04. Cruel Love - Cruel Love (64 plays)

05. Steel Tipped Dove - Centuries Long Sigh (38 plays)

06. Oasis - The Masterplan (28 plays)

07. Billy Joel - 52nd Street (27 plays)

08. Fastball - All The Pain Money Can Buy (26 plays)

09. Pulp - We Love Life (25 plays)

10. Jimmy Eat World - Futures (22 plays)

11. Lightning Seeds - Dizzy Heights (22 plays)

12. Kanye West - Late Registration (21 plays)

13. Earl Boykins - Everybody Likes Dogs (20 plays)

14. LCD Soundsystem - Sounds Of Silver (19 plays)

15. The Person & The People - Live On Radio K (2014) (19 plays)

16. Jack DeJohnette - Sorcery (17 plays)

17. Lil' Wayne - Sorry For The Wait 2 (17 plays)

18. The Smiths - Hatful Of Hollow (16 plays)

19. Jazz Spastiks - Singles Collection (15 plays)

20. Stereolab - Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night (15 plays)

21. Atmosphere - Southsiders (15 plays)

22. The Streets - Original Pirate Material (14 plays)

23. Blur - Blur (14 plays)

24. The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night (13 plays)

25. Face To Face - Don't Turn Away (13 plays)

26. The Verve - Urban Hymns (13 plays)

27. Stars - Set Yourself On Fire (13 plays)

28. Gorillaz - Demon Days (13 plays)

29. Blink-182 - Blink-182 (13 plays)

30. Astronautalis - The Mighty Ocean And Nine Dark Theaters (13 plays)

31. The Plastiques - 101 (13 plays)

32. Museum Mouth - Sexy But Not Happy (13 plays)

33. Dosh - The Lost Take (12 plays)

34. Piebald - We Are The Only Friends We Have (12 plays)

35. Morrissey - Viva Hate (12 plays)

36. Armchair Martian - Who Wants To Play Bass? (12 plays)

37. Danger Mouse - The Grey Album (12 plays)

38. Husker Du - Flip Your Wig (12 plays)

39. Dosh - Daytrotter Session (12 plays)

40. Alpha Consumer - Gary Victorsen's (12 plays)

41. Kougar - Cold Room (12 plays)

42. Jets To Brazil - Orange Rhyming Dictionary (11 plays)

43. Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis (11 plays)

44. Spoon - Gimme Fiction (11 plays)

45. Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want To Be (11 plays)

46. The Replacements - Don't Tell A Soul (11 plays)

47. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive (11 plays)

48. Edison - No Sun No Food (11 plays)

49. Stone Temple Pilots - Purple (11  plays)

50. The Prodigy - The Fat Of The Land (10 plays)

Photo via Don't Drink And Root

Album Of The Week: "Cruel Love" by Cruel Love

Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of January 26th-February 1st, 2015:

Cruel Love - Cruel Love

01. God Is In The Bar
02. Beat To Love (w/Manchita
03. Dream Protector
04. Kissing In The Corner (w/Botzy, Beasthead, & Godelt)
05. H My Darlking
06. Free
07. Blind Love
08. Home

Back in September of 2013 I spent a week with Cruel Love's debut EP.  In my write-up of that record I wrote that "Cruel Love is an electronic indie band from Minneapolis" and claimed that that was the entirety of my knowledge of the band.  Here we are 15 months later and that's still essentially true.

Since that post the band's profile has certainly grown here in the Twin Cities.  I now know that the band consists mainly of Bonnie Stitches on vocals & Mo Bluntz on pretty much everything else.  They've collaborated with a host of local musicians (as evidenced by the guests on Cruel Love) and seem to be garnering a legitimate local following.

Cruel Love makes it obvious why their profile is rising.  On the five song EP, Cruel Love sounded like a group that knew how to write a good song and then wrap it up in synths & echoes.  In hindsight, that record seems like a trial run.  Everything on Cruel Love sounds more fully realized.

Musically, the songs are still catchy, but far more expansive.  The echoes & synths that gave the band's songs a unique sound on their first album have become full-fledged, essential parts of the equation on Cruel Love.  Additionally, the drums hit harder and (especially on "Dream Protector" & "Kissing In The Corner") there's quite a bit of nifty guitar work.  Without taking anything away from Bonnie Stitches vocals, Cruel Love would stand on its own as a purely instrumental.

But oh, those vocals.  Stitches performance here is light years beyond what we heard on EP.  Whether stealing your girlfriend, admitting her vulnerability in dreams, or merely sharing drinks with the song of God, Stitches sounds confident and sensual in ways that never occurred earlier.  While being the lead singer in a two-person band inevitably means she'll be the de facto "image" of the band, that's a coup for Cruel Love.  She's clearly at the doorstep of joining Dessa, Caroline Smith, & Maggie Morrison (and many, many others) as a leading voice in a Twin Cities scene that is seemingly overflowing with talented frontwomen.

If you'd like to check out Cruel Love for yourself (which I suggest you do immediately), head over to their Bandcamp page.  Both Cruel Love & EP are available as "Name Your Price" downloads.

For more of my rantings you can give me a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page.  Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.

Newest Industry Presents: Flatbasset Radio - Episode #22

(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY)

You know I try so hard...

Hello again, free music fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #22!
 
For those of you who are unaware of the Flatbasset Radio format, here's what you're looking at: TCDroogsma is our resident MP3 junkie. As you've probably noticed in his Songs Of The Week column, he's not always the most positive music fan. In an effort to prove that he is, in fact, a fan of music, we give him an hour each week to play the songs he's digging and talk a little bit about them. Once he's recorded his podcast we put it right here on the website for free to stream!

In this week's episode Droogsy finds the perfect song for autumn driving, continues to struggle with French, admits that he still hasn't grown out of his emo phase, questions the benefits of indie distribution model, celebrates a classic hip-hop album's anniversary, reminisces on small town, big box record buying, plays a radio commercial from the 70's, & pays tribute to a fallen rock n roll icon.

You can download the podcast for free by clicking the episode's title or stream the episode by clicking on the Mixcloud player below.

Flatbassset Radio - Episode #22

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #22 by Tcdroogsma on Mixcloud

01. The Rolling Stones - Beast Of Burden
02. Steddy P & DJ Mahf (w/Mad Dukez) - Get Up
03. Cruel Love - I Am The Airplane
04. BNLX - Opposites Attract
05. The Central Division - It's Not The Heat, It's The Humility
06. Atmosphere - Lifter Puller
07. Graham Coxon - In A Salty Sea
08. P.O.S. (w/Justin Vernon) - How We Land (MDS RMX)
09. Bars Of Gold - Coffee With Pele
10. Heems - Killing Time
11. King Krule - Border Line
12. Lou Reed - Perfect Day (Acoustic Demo)

There you have it, music fans! Enjoy!

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  He can also be found right here on Newest Industry reviewing singles in our Songs Of The Week column. Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page.

For more Newest Industry be sure to give us a follow on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1) to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors.  More importantly, we have a Facebook page here.  Trivial as it seems, stopping by and giving us a "Like" is a free & legitimate way to support the blog.  

Album Of The Week: September 23-29, 2013

My Album Of The Week for the week of September 23rd-29th, 2013:

Cruel Love - EP

"Cruel Love is an electronic indie band from Minneapolis."

That's the extent of knowledge I found waiting for me when I followed a link from my Twitter feed (via @Astronautalis) saying to check out this Twin Cities band to Cruel Love's Bandcamp page.  Really, though, if I'm being honest, it wasn't going to take much more info than that to get me to check them out.

I gave the EP a spin yesterday afternoon and I think this one is going to be a grower. The songs are dense with altered vocals and layers of synths.  I'm betting that by the end of the week the hooks at the heart of these songs will become clear.