Flatbasset Radio: Episode #85

I guess I lost that cool...

Well hello again, podcast fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #85!

Folks, this week I thought I'd change up the formula a little bit. This week's episode is completely banter free! That's right, not a spoken word from yours truly. This week's episode is nothing but straight jams all the way through.

You may be asking yourself, "Droogsy, why not talk in this week's show? Your nasally, barely coherent banter and popped p's are the reason I tune in!"

Wow, your really kind for hypothetically saying that, hypothetical listener. Honestly, I was putting this week's' show together and it was all flowing so well that I decided to just step away from the mic and let the jams do the talking.

That said, this week's show is still built like most of the others. I've got some anniversaries to celebrate, a Cover Of The Week, and an especially epic Flatbasset Flatclassic. If you'd like to know more about the songs, just scroll down and check out the write up.

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 #85 (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 Episode #85 plays out:

01. The Persian Leaps - See Me Unaware 

The Persian Leaps are back! They're set to release their fourth EP Your City, Underwater September 16th on Land Ski Records. The Persian Leaps have been a friend of the blog/podcast for years now and I highly suggest you check out Your City, Underwater and their previous EP's. Nothing but St. Paul's finest fuzzed out, power-pop bliss.

02. Eels - Susan's House

The record that put Mark "E" Everett on the map, Beautiful Freak turned 20 years old this week. Eels have gone on to make a career out of E's left-of-center indie rock, but they never had another album hit quite like this one. Like most people I was hooked in by "Novocaine For The Soul" back when it got a ton of plays on 93.7 The Edge. I chose not to play that (or "Rags To Riches" or "Your Lucky Day In Hell" or "Not Ready Yet...") because I really do dig "Susan's House." Also, it was likely one of the most skipped over songs of the 90's. I figured it was time to give it its due.

03. Life Without Buildings - New Town

I came upon Glasgow's Life Without Buildings via Franz Ferdinand's excellent Late Night Tales mix. Sadly they've been broken up since 2002. At least they made a lovely racket before disbanding.

04. Down By Law - Best Friends

Our Cover Of The Week! I was over at Cheapo Records the other day flipping through CD's (because it's perpetually 1996 in my world) and stumbled across Down By Law's debut album for $4.95. As you can likely imagine, I was pretty fucking pumped. I've wanted this album since I was a 15 year old leafing through the Epitaph catalog that came with my copy of their second album Blue. For whatever reason, these first two DBL albums have a different sound than a lot of the early 90's punk I loved. The production is more spacious, and Dave Smalley's definitely going in. Just listen to "Best Friends" and you'll see what I mean. Anyway, "Best Friends" was originally written by a band called The Outlets, whom I know absolutely nothing about.

05. Pet Milk - Phantom Lovers

Not a particularly flattering story, but I do not have any idea how I came upon Pet Milk's Philadelphia Punklife EP. I know I downloaded it from Bandcamp and I know it was at the suggestion of some other East Coast punk band. BIG UPS maybe? The reason I don't remember is I'm pretty sure I downloaded it about a year ago and didn't get around to listening to it until this month. I know, I'm terrible. Nonetheless, I couldn't have been more surprised by the EP. As you can here on "Phantom Lovers," the "punklife" aspect of the title is nowhere near as dominant as I was expecting. Instead it's a collection of hazy power-pop songs that nearly make up for the existence of the Philadelphia Flyers. Nearly.

06. Bon Iver - 22 (OVER S∞∞N) [Bob Moose Extended Cab Version]

Look, I don't know what to make of these new Bon Iver tracks any more than you do. There's really only so much you can take away reading blogs about a live performance at a festival and a bunch of track names that prominently feature fucking wingdings. Still, this is something. That "might be over soon" repeated bit, the strings, the saxophone! Oh, the saxophone. Much like every mid-30's white guy in the midwest I'm pretty excited to see just what 22, A Million is all about.

07. Dessa - Quinine

Like I mentioned last week when I played that new Sims jam, the Doomtree machine seems to be creaking back to life. Paper Tiger has put out a couple of excellent EP's, P.O.S has put out three new songs, hell, even Cecil Otter finally put out a new EP. With "Quinine" Dessa reminds us that she occupies a singular space in the Twin Cities. Others have tried, but few can handle this type of beat with this type of confidence.

08. The Nadas - Listen Through The Static

Again, I was fucking around in the "Local" section at Cheapo and picked up The Nadas' Listen Through The Static on the strength of its album cover alone. I didn't know that The Nadas were Des Moines' answer to Son Volt. LTTS is full of country-tinged rock music, but none of it is quite as immediately memorable as the title track. Who hasn't spent time driving and scrolling through the radio dial just to catch a bit of a jam through the hiss?

09. Astronomique - Until Daylight

I first came upon Astronomique through Radio K's excellent Track Of The Day podcast (seriously, everybody should subscribe to it). I was so taken with their song "Pretend We're Stars" that I named it the third best Radio K Track Of The Day song of 2014 back in Flatbasset Radio: Episode #53. They returned this year with a self-titled EP that is somehow more danceable and more sultry than their previous work. Highly recommended for summer nights.

10. Tom Vek - Pushing Your Luck

Another podcast find (this one via The Current's Song Of The Day podcast), I'd be lying if I said I knew much about Tom Vek. He's from London and this song is from Luck, his third album. That being said, just listen to it. There's something hypnotic about the way the way song is threatening but vaguely casual. Is that a British thing? I feel like it much be a British thing.

11. The Veils - Calliope!

I played "Calliope! to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of The Veils second album Nux Vomica. While it may be their second album, it's the album where they really found their sound. "Calliope!" is definitely one of the more accessible moments on the albums, but the Auckland-via-London band is as capable of these poppier numbers as they are of building up a Nick Cave-esque slow burn. They've got a new record coming out this autumn that will likely turn up on some "Best Of..." lists.

12. Sebadoh - The Freed Pig

And here it is, folks, your Flatbasset Flatclassic Of The Week! I've played plenty of Sebadoh over the year, but this is a special one because I'm marking the 25th anniversary of the release of Sebadoh III. As somebody who considers Sebadoh one of the great American bands of the last 30 years, this anniversary deserves to be commemorated. Sebadoh III marks the first album on which American treasure Lou Barlow is joined by Jason Loewenstein, whose lo-fi outbursts, song snippets, and country twang would force Barlow outside of his comfort zone and into the Sebadoh we know and love.

"The Freed Pig" opened the album by taking aim squarely at Sebadoh's former bandmate J Mascis and letting him know, in no uncertain terms, just how he felt about his bandmate. Tellingly, it's the most fully-formed and well-produced moment on III, which I can only imagine was done to make the song as accessible as possible, a brilliantly vindictive move by Barlow. It may seem a little awkward now since Dinosaur Jr has long-since reformed and is making arguably the best music of their career these days, but "The Freed Pig" still stands as a declaration of independence for one of America's greatest living songwriters. Long live Sebadoh!

There you have it, folks.  Thanks for slogging through this one with me. I hope you enjoyed the show. Tell your friends.

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 #14

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

I roll with clever broads with goals like Federov...

Well hello again, music fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio – Episode #14!

For those of you who don't know quite what you're looking at, here's the story. Each week TCDroogsma participates in our Songs Of The Week column reviewing the tracks given away via The Current. Since he tends to be overly negative in those reviews we've asked him to put together a weekly podcast for the blog to prove to us that he does actually enjoy music and has valid thoughts about contemporary artists.

Once he does that we pass his hour-long free podcast on to you in the hopes that you'll listen to it and enjoy Droogsy's jams and commentary on said jams.

On this week's episode TCDroogsma compares the new Atoms For Peace album to Thom Yorke's solo work, revisits a pop-punk classic, plays a song he knows nothing about, claims Iggy Pop is “Mick Jagger with peanut butter,” gets a little too excited about his new favorite Minneapolis band, embraces a “fuck you” attitude toward pretty much everything, shines a light on his second-favorite Canadian rapper, and finds solace in the outlook of the British. It was a strange week.

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #14

(Click that link above to download the podcast, click the player below to give it a listen)

Here's how Episode #14 breaks down:

01. Iggy Pop – Tell Me A Story

02. Isaiah Toothtaker – SouthWest Testament

03. Atoms For Peace – Stuck Together Pieces

04. Micranots – 141 Million Miles

05. Face To Face – Disconnected

06. Careful – Quite

07. Freeway & Jake One – Know What I Mean

08. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – So Good At Being In Trouble

09. Ghostpoet – Survive It

10. Eels – New Alphabet

11. Shad – Keep Shining

12. Gloss – Ian's Dream

13. Blur – Blue Jeans

There you have it, everybody! New, free music! Enjoy!

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He can also be found here on Newest Industry reviewing songs via Songs Of The Week and reviewing the news via Trendsetting.

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.

Songs Of The Week #27: TCDroogsma

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

Night Beds, Adam Green & Binki Shapiro, Thao With The Get Down, Stay Down, Eels, & Aby Wolf...

 

Well hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #27!

For those of you who remain unfamiliar with the column, here's how it works. Each week we ask two of our regular contributors to download the songs given away via The Current's Song Of The Day podcast. They spend a few days with the songs and then give us their takes. Each song is then given a score from 0-5.

As always, we strongly recommend that you click here and subscribe to the podcast yourself. It's free music and playing along at home is fun for the whole family!

To that end, we've posted a poll to the right side of the page. Please vote for whichever was your favorite song. At the end of the week we tally up the votes and the winner is rewarded with the sense of validation that can only come from anonymous internet polls, which his the highest civilian honor America can give out.

As has been the case for the last few weeks (and remains the case this week), TCDroogsma will be tackling these songs solo dolo. Unfortunately we still haven't been able to find a cohort. If only their were more judgmental music fans who like seeing their name on the internet out there...

So, now that that's out of the way, let's get into it. Droogsy, thoughts?

01. Night Beds – Ramona (from the album Country Sleep)

TCDroogsma:

     Remember that Ryan Adams album Gold?  Night Beds sure do!

    
     "Ramona" isn't a bad song, but there is absolutely nothing new going on here.  If you enjoy alt-country, you will like this song.  If you don't, "Ramona" is background music.  As someone who likes Ryan Adams and is on speaking terms with alt-country, I can't say this song does anything for me.

Final Score: 2/5

02. Adam Green & Binki Shapiro – Just To Make Me Feel Good (from the album Adam Green & Binki Shapiro)

TCDroogsma:

     While I'm not (and never was) a Moldy Peaches fan, it was pretty clear with that group that their appeal was rooted in Kimya Dawson's charm and their ramshackle performance/recording style.  I don't say that to diminish Adam Green's contributions to the group.  For all know he was the brains behind the whole operation.  Frankly, I never cared enough to dig deeper.

     With "Just To Make Me Feel Good," we find Adam Green returning to the boy/girl format of The Moldy Peaches, but without either of those two calling cards.  Green does a pretty fine job of channeling his inner Stephen Merritt, remaining mostly deadpan while Binki Shapiro gives the song color.  Still, much like Night Beds up above, the song lacks any trait that stands out.

     "Just To Make Me Feel Good" does redeem itself with its lyrics.  Green's come a long way from the nursey-rhymed ridiculousness of the Peaches albums, asking Shapiro (or the significant other she represents) to, "Ask me things with no warning."  The song lives in the the little moments of relationships that make them worthwhile, not an easy terrain to navigate.  They do it admirably here.

Final Score: 3/5

03. Thao With The Get Down, Stay Down – We The Common (For Valerie Bolden (from the album We The Common)

TCDroogsma:

     Two questions:

     Have you ever been sitting at the bar chatting with an oppressively foxy woman and feeling good about your chances, but, as the night presses on, she keeps saying more and more ridiculous and/or insane things that eventually you just say, "Fuck it, she's hot, but I can't do this any longer?"

      

     Remember back in December when I reviewed Thao's "Holy Roller?"  I tried to explain that I couldn't accurately judge any Thao & The Get Down, Stay Down song because I was blindingly smitten with Thao herself?  It's not that I only liked the songs because Thao is so damn sexy, it's that I couldn't separate the songs from the sexy.

     (In case you forgot why I feel that way, watch this video. That song is classic.)

     I think you can see where I'm going here.  "We The Common" if finally the last call vodka tonic that pushes Thao from the, "OK, she's a little loopy, but she's still sexy" to, "That's enough, I can't do this."  It wouldn't matter if the Get Down, Stay Down consisted of Lucy Liu, Natalie Portman, & Ryan Gosling backing Thao, "We The Common" is bad enough that it overwhelms all the charm exuded by the frontwoman.  

     If I had never heard a song with that stupid guitar style, pointless strings, boot-stomping percussion, and a brutally quirky wordless-hook then maybe this would be tolerable, but The Current's been shoving shit like this down our throat for years.  I'm drawing the line right here. 

Final Score: 0.5/5

04. Eels – New Alphabet (from the album Wonderful, Glorious)

TCDroogsma:

     "New Alphabet" is not necessarily new ground for Eels.  It lives in the same, "I don't feel so good, what the fuck's going on?" world that has made Eels famous.  Most of those songs, however, are either living in the moment of not feeling good or looking back on that moment from a time well into the future.

    
     It may just be me, but I really like "New Alphabet" because it lives in that moment between those two points.  "I'm in a good mood today, I'm so glad that it's not yesterday" implies that E is still coping with whatever happened and "New Alphabet" finds him squarely in the "Lashing out" phase of coping.  As someone who's been know to lash a bit, this song really speaks to me.

     What E's done here, is give us his take on the pop music narrative of "I did it my way."  Obviously, that's coming from Sinatra, but the line runs through all strains of music.  The first time I listened to this song, the fist song that came to mind was P.O.S. "Purexed" (one of the the great songs of my lifetime).  There's very little difference, "Yeah, we do our own damn thing, we don't blink at what tomorrow might bring at all," and "When the world stops making sense, I make a new alphabet."

Final Score: 4/5

05. Aby Wolf – Brave Boy (from the album Wolf Lords)

TCDroogsma:

     I'll be honest, I'm kind of losing the plot with Aby Wolf.  The first time I saw her she was playing at the 331 Club and had a coffeehouse hippy vibe going.  Next I heard from her was the still-brilliant single "What U Waitin' 4?" which was in the hip-hop world, but sported a earworm hook that sound like it was flown over from the world of indie rock.  Her contribution to BK-One's Radio Do Canibal album was a low-key highlight, wrapping her pretty voice around some sampled Brazilian guitar work.  Outside of her work with Dessa, the last thing I heard was a SOTD track from the A Wolf & Her Claws project, "All This Time," which was a fine song, but found Wolf venturing further from the hooks and leaning on her voice/glitchy noise to prop the song up.

    
     Which brings me to "Brave Boy," a collaboration with Grant Cutler, the man who provided the music for Lookbook.  "Brave Boy" features the same warped-instrumentation of A Wolf And Her Claws and Lookbook with one exception: it doesn't go anywhere.  Where those projects had the ability get hips shaking, the music of "Brave Boy" doesn't make me want to do anything.  That would be OK if Wolf were able to find a hook to propel the song forward.  Unfortunately, the progression I detailed above has reached it's obvious end: Wolf relying solely on her voice to carry the song.  Frankly, it just doesn't work.

Final Score: 1.5/5

There you have it, folks! Another week's worth of songs downloaded, pondered upon, reviewed, and filed away.

As always, please remember that neither Newest Industry nor its contributors is in any way affiliated with the artists above, The Current, or MPR. We're just music fans with word processors and little bit too much time on our hands.

For more TCDroogsma, be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He can also be found right here on Newest Industry hosting our weekly podcast, Flatbasset Radio, or ranting like a lunatic on his personal blog Flatbasset.

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

Newest Industry Presents: Flatbasset Radio - Episode #6

(IF YOU CAN BELIEVE IT, THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY.  HENCE THE TITLE.  PRETTY STRAIGHT FORWARD...)

Ain't got no milk, no mothafuckin' cereal...

Well hello again, free music fans!  Welcome to the sixth episode of Flatbasset Radio!

As you may or may not know by now, Flatbasset Radio is a weekly podcast put together by regular contributor TCDroogsma.  He spends so much time on this blog being a snarky asshole that we almost feel obligated to have him put together a podcast to prove that yes, he does actually like music.

This week TCDroogsma reveals his personal theme song, reluctantly plays Neil Young, coldly uses his friends heartache for his own selfish means, laments the breakup of the internet's favorite rap group, ponders a world in which Interpol died in a tire fire, and celebrates Phatnumber's birthday!



Click the embedded player above to give it a listen or click the title below to download the podcast for your very own.

Flatbasset Radio - Episode #6

01. Pavement - Summer Babe (Winter Version)
02. Wu-Tang Clan - Da Mystery Of Chessboxin'
03. Fiona Apple - Hot Knife (Blockhead Remix)
04. Eels - Last Stop: This Town
05. Das Racist - Puerto Rican Cousins
06. The Damned - Fan Club
07. Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin
08. Suga Free - Let Me Pimp Or Let Me Die
09. Phatnumber - The Fastest Cowboy Out There
10. Neil Young - Harvest Moon
11. Jay-Z - 99 Problems (El-P Remix)
12. Down By Law - Radio Ragga
13. Interpol - The New

Boom!  Free music!  Tell a friend!  Tell two friends!

If, for some reason, this is not enough TCDroogsma he can be found on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  Give him a follow if you like inside jokes between him and his idiot friends.  He can also be found rambling away on his own Flatbasset blog.  You were warned.

Of course Newest Industry also maintains a Twitter home (@NewestIndustry1).  Give us a follow to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors.  More importantly, we have a Facebook page here.  Though it seems trivial, stopping by and giving us a "like" is actually the best way to support Newest Industry short of buying us each a new pair of gloves.