Well hello again, podcast fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #79!
Folks, summer's officially upon us and, in tribute, I've got red-hot jams lined up for this week's episode. As per usual, sorry for the gap between episodes. I'm very lazy. Conversely, thanks to everybody who did check out Episode #78. My buddy Nick & I teamed up for that one and I think it turned out to be the best one we've ever teamed up for.
That, however, is the last episode. On this week's show I've got a jam from my favorite reunited punk band, a cut from an iconic soundtrack, a set for our brothers & sisters in England, a spotlight on Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week, some under-informed political talk, a check-in on some of our Twin Cities friends, a few anniversaries, a lot of sweating, even more swearing, and my absolute ultimate summer jam! All that plus the Cover Of The Week & one of the most classic Flatbasset Flatclassics ever!
As always, Flatbasset Radio is completely free. I've finally set up a
decent downloading site, so if you'd like to download Flatbasset Radio:
Episode #79 (with all the appropriate iTunes tagging), just click here.
If you don't have the time or desire to download the show, just click the Mixcloud player below and you're good to go.
Here's how Flatbasset Radio: Ep. #79 plays out:
01. Descendents - Victim Of Me
02. Joey Bada$$ - Brooklyn's Own
03. The Pooches - Rhythm Of The Rain
04. Sugar Ray - Fly (w/Super Cat)
05. The Jam - Going Underground
06. Primal Scream - Trainspotting
07. The Specials - Racist Friend
08. Clementine - Evergreens
09. Devata Daun - Be A Stranger
10. Dem Atlas - Grbge Trsh
11. Frankie Teardrop - Waiting For You
12. The Smiths - I Know It's Over
There you have it, folks. Drink lots of water.
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 Album Of The Week for the week of June 12th-18th, 2016:
Devata Daun - L o o k
01. We Were Carried
02. Fascinate
03. Animal Instincts
04. Willow
05. I've Been Here Before
06. Subconscious Gestures
07. Tell Me Your Visions
08. Skeletons
09. Be A Stranger
10. They Say
(Devata Daun via Serene Supreme)
I was turned on to Devata Daun via Radio K's excellent Track of The Day program. Back in October of last year they featured Daun's (aka Nikki Pfeifer) Off The Record performance of "Animal Instincts" as one of their local tracks of the week. Radio K's TOTD program is usually pretty eclectic, but even after spending a week with the song (and repeatedly watching the "Skeletons" clip below), I still didn't know what to make of her sound.
Fortunately, shortly after her TOTD appearance, the picture slowly came into focus. Daun, Garrison Grouse, & c.Kostra (aka Ryan Olcott) announced that they were forming Pytch Records. Spending time on their Soundcloud pages led me to an array of stellar singles (Daun, Grouse, & Kostra have since had songs on my Flatbasset Radio podcast) and went a long way to galvanizing their sound. Jared Hemming's excellent City Pages write-up helped me wrap my head around what Olcott describes as their "lo-fi" & "pitch-deviant" sounds.
So, all of that background info aside, L o o k brings with it one obvious question: Can the Pytch Records sound stand up over the course of a full-length LP?
The answer, at least in Daun's case, is yes.
Opener "We Were Carried" is an excellent example of Daun's version of the sound. The elastic keyboards drift in & out of the mix like their batteries are dying at the end of each sustained note. Daun's sustained vocals are relatively stoic, belying a sneaky, simple melody that balances off those keyboards. The whole thing is held together by the percussion, which, seemingly immune from the keyboard's teetering sound, proves to be the album's secret weapon.
The studio version of "Animal Instincts" stands as an early album highlight. Over plinking, heart-monitor-esque keys that make it sound as if we're entering the scene mid-chase, Daun declares, "We are savage animals, you are my prey..." in a tone that's equally cold & sensual. The hunt gains pace via added layers of keyboards for the next 90 seconds before Daun sings "we don’t decide when the thirst takes over,
lead me to the water along that rolling river..." as the song opens into a kaleidoscopic burst of keyboards. Just as quickly as it opens up, however, it closes and the hunt begins anew.
Lyrically, Daun tackles quite a few subjects on L o o k. Nature, consumerism, longing, confusion, dissolution of friendship, religion, um... skeletons, all of them are filtered from Nikki Pfeifer the songwriter through the prism of Devata Daun. Fortunately, the fact that Pfeifer prefers keyboards to acoustic guitars keeps the subject matter from sounding too self-serious. For example, give a listen to "Subconscious Gestures:"
"These disconnections are making me numb, yesterday we felt a bond so strong..." No doubt, this is a universal sentiment that would pass as little more than cliche in some songwriter's hands. In Daun's hands, however, it's laid right in the middle of a pulsing keyboard beat, and delivered with a matter-of-fact tone that somehow relieves it of both its weight its potential for cliche. In the context of that subjects tackled on L o o k, it comes off as merely another disappointing moment in a modern, digital-centric lifestyle that has only minimal time to spare on such things. It's both relieving & disconcerting, as if perhaps the pendulum of modern emotion has swung too quickly from dwelling to dismissive.
Late album highlight "Be A Stranger" tackles this same subject matter post-disconnection. At 2:22, the song is basically Pytch's version of punk rock. Daun asks, "Why don't you go now? What is there to be afraid of when you are the stranger?" while skittering drum-and-bass percussion forces the issue along so fast that no one has the time to let on that they're hurt. "Don't be afraid to be a stranger..." she sings playfully, one last kiss-off before shutting the door.
Despite the fact that I've spent the last three paragraphs discussing the album's lyrics, make no mistake, L o o k was always going to sink or swim on its grooves, and it definitely swims. Even if the lyrics are ignored completely and Daun's voice is treated as another instrument in the mix, these songs are filled with hooks & flourishes that make it an album that rewards repeated spins. Though L o o k is essentially a collection of singles that initially stood alone, it holds together very well as coherent piece of work and stands as a great introduction to Pytch's world.
Daun will be playing at The Triple Rock June 30th. If you'd like to check out L o o k for yourself, head on over to her Bandcamp 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.
Well hello again, everybody! Welcome to yet another installment of Album Collage Monthly!
Yes, April and its showers are now behind us. It was a sad month (Prince is gone) and joyous month (Oh shit, the sun!). Most importantly, for our purposes anyway, it was a month that afforded me lots of time to listen to music.
As you can see from the picture below, I covered a lot of bases this month. Some indie rock, some electronic stuff, some compilations.... Hell, variety's the spice of life.
As always, a yuuuuggggeee thank you to anybody who stopped by the blog this month. Extra yuuuuuggggeee thanks to anybody who listened to the show. Not to belabor the point, but I put a lot of time into the Flatbasset Radio podcast. It means a lot to me that somebody out there is giving it a shot.
(Speaking of which, if you'd like to catch up on the show, my Mixcloud page has every episode free to stream. My Archive page has every episode free to download with complete iTunes tags and everything).
On that note, let's get to this month's albums. Friendly reminder: One song = one play. Devata Daun's new album has 10 tracks on it, so every time I listened to it it registers as 10 "plays." These stats are all pulled from my Last.fm page, which you should definitely follow if you're certain you've checked out absolutely everything else on the internet.
Here we go!
01. The Person & The People - Dark And Low (77 plays)
02. Devata Daun - Look (70 plays)
03. Steely Dan - Countdown To Ecstasty (64 plays)
04. Prince - For You (54 plays)
05. The Specials - The Singles Collection (45 plays)
06. Various Artists - Future Perfect: Music For Listening (36 plays)
07. The Pooches - Heart Attack (32 plays)
08. The Smiths - Rank (28 plays)
09. Faux Jean - Kiss Life On The Lips (27 plays)
10. Pete Yorn - Day I Forgot (27 plays)
11. Various Artists - Korda Komp 3 (27 plays)
12. Superdrag - Regretfully Yours... (26 plays)
13. The Stooges - The Stooges (24 plays)
14. Sloan - Twice Removed (24 plays)
15. Big Cats - What If It Doesn't Get Better? (24 plays)
16. Placebo - Without You I'm Nothing (24 plays)
17. All - Live Plus One (22 plays)
18. Bon Iver - Bon Iver (20 plays)
19. A Tribe Called Quest - The Anthology (20 plays)
20. Sebadoh - Harmacy (19 plays)
21. Ela - Real Blood On Fake Trees (19 plays)
22. Ruth Ruth - The Little Death (18 plays)
23. Cecil Otter - Dear Echo (18 plays)
24. Doom - Born Like This (17 plays)
25. Modest Mouse - This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About (16 plays)
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.
Well hello again, podcast fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #67!
Folks, everything's terrible. It's been a tough week for people everywhere around the world and, if you're anything like me, you're exhausted. In that spirit, let's all take an hour long break from the real world and listen to some jams.
In this week's episode I try to press through the sadness while sitting in the dark discussing spelling in hip-hop, getting lost in electronics, loud local legends, semi-ironic covers, underrated Australian bands, my difficulties with the French language, Pete Doherty's quality control issues, good shoegaze vs. bad shoegaze, 90's cult figures, un-Google-able bands, & how best to use a time machine. All that plus some anniversaries, some love for our brothers & sisters in Paris, the Cover Of The Week, & the Flatbasset Flatclassic!
As always, Flatbasset Radio is completely free. Just click the Mixcloud player below and you're good to go.
01. icollide - Lips That Won't Stretch, Tear
02. Astronautalis - SIKE!
03. Devata Daun - Fascinate
04. The Vines - Ms. Jackson
05. Brilliant Beast - Like Dreaming
06. Kanye West - Say You Will (w/Caroline Shaw)
07. Babyshambles -A'Rebours
08. Ruth Ruth - Amnesia
09. Felix Da Housecat - Do We Move Your World?
10. Juliana Hatfield - Shining On
11. Morrissey - I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
Cheer up, kids. It'll get better.
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.
