(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY)
Everything's gonna be alright...
Hello again, free music fans!
Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #23! 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 plays us a song that helps him get through the day, debuts the new feature: Cover Of The Week, discusses his favorite late-90's glam rock film, gets an answer to the question: Does San Diego have an underground music scene, fawns over the Turf Club, declares a band that didn't even fill the Turf Club "An American treasure, mispronounces another artist's name, and wishes his dad a happy birthday!
You can download the podcast for free by clicking the episode's title
or stream the episode by clicking on the Mixcloud player below.
01. The Cloak Ox - Josephine 02. Sage Francis (w/B. Dolan) - You Can't Win 03. Total Slacker - Keep The Ships At Bay 04. Jason Lytle - Get Up And Go 05. Holy Ghost! - Hold On, We're Going Home 06. Lakutis - Body Scream 07. Grant Lee Buffalo - The Whole Shebang 08. Octa#Grape - As Long As I Forget 09. SIFU Hotman - Outnumbered, Outgunned, Outmaneuvered, And Winning 10. Sebadoh - Soul And Fire 11. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Midnight Train To Georgia
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.
(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY. PLEASE GO VISIT NEWEST INDUSTRY.)
Jason Lytle, Black Moth Super
Rainbow, Pinback, Solid Gold, & Robust Worlds...
Hello again, mp3 junkies! Welcome
to the 12th Edition of Songs Of The Week!
For those of you unfamiliar with
SOTW, it's a weekly column in which we ask two of our regular
contributors to give us their thoughts on the five songs given away
via The Current's Song Of The Day podcast. Be sure to follow this
link to download the podcasts yourself so you can play along at home.
Be sure to vote for your favorite of
the songs in the poll to the right of the page.
This week we asked MinneSarah &
TCDroogsma to review new songs from Jason Lytle, Black Moth Super
Rainbow, Pinback, Solid Gold, & Robust Worlds. They have not
read what the other has written about each track prior to posting.
Kids, what'd you think?
01.
Jason Lytle – Get Up And Go (from the album Dept.
Of Disappearance)
MinneSarah:
A lot of songs seem to be recorded on
the steps at the Science Museum. Either that, or I've been
making music by walking since I was 7. This song is not complex
- it sounds like a loop from a Semisonic outtake with inspirational
lyrics over the top. This song sounds like a Stuart Smalley
affirmation, BUT, I dare you to not feel better after listening to
this song. Two minutes of saying "you can do it," and
"everything is going to be all right" (and yes, that is
the extent of the lyrics) has got to leave you feeling a little bit
better.
TCDroogsma:
Admittedly, I was a pretty casual fan of Grandaddy, but I really dug
what I knew of them. I even saw them at First Ave. once and came
away pretty impressed. I don't know what the general consensus is
regarding Jason Lytle's solo work, but I know that the single, “Yours
Truly, The Commuter” from his first album was a gem. A perfect mix
of resilience, Casio keyboards, and hooks.
“Get Up And Go” seems to lack much of the subtlety that made his
earlier stuff so interesting. Honestly, it kind of sounds like the
soundtrack to a Samsung Mobile commercial. Evidently the sentiment,
“Get up and go, you can do it, everything's gonna be alright...”
doesn't apply to writing verses. It's catchy and beautifully
produced, but Christ, there's just not much here to work with.
Final Score:
MinneSarah -3/5
TCDroogsma – 2.5/5
02. Black Moth
Super Rainbow – Gangs In The Garden (from the album Cobra
Juicy)
MinneSarah:
Yes, Daft Punk followers are now old
enough to make their own, um, fill in the blank...art? Everyone
knows that black is already a super rainbow, so add a moth, and this
is what you get. I like anything electronic and this is catchy.
It's got some interesting elements, some distorted strings,
very distorted vocals (don't try and be a Bob Dylan), panting, and
it's not too long. Score.
TCDroogsma:
What the fuck is this monster of a song? Never has a band's sound so
mirrored their name, as this sounds like what a Black Moth Super
Rainbow would be. All the distorted vocals give it a slight sense of
dread, but at least the backbeat indicates a hip-shaking type of
impending doom. I mean, if we're all going to be killed by some sort
of color-vortex insect we may as well go dancing.
Final Score:
MinneSarah -3/5
TCDroogsma - 3/5
03. Pinback –
Proceed To Memory (from the album Information Retrieved)
MinneSarah:
Pinback is my favorite 90's band that
started in the 2000's, I think. The vocals are always present
and meaningful. This song is no different, but it lacks some of
the urgency of their other songs. This song is a good example
of what is good about Pinback, in a quiet way. It's a very
sweet song, but it isn't something I'd put on repeat. Pinback
is great though, seriously.
TCDroogsma:
If Duncan Sheik had sex with Motion City Soundtrack while members of
Constantines yelled at them from the next room to shut up it would be
this. Just process that for a second.
I actually really liked this song. Of all this week's songs it was
the one that I found kicking around in my head the most. Of course,
timing is everything in life and listening to a song that includes
lines like, “And then the seasons get you down...” and “Out the
window looks like all the colors, all of them melting down...”
during the last week of October may have given the song a bit of
extra weight.
Final Score:
MinneSarah -3/5
TCDroogsma – 3.5/5
04. Solid Gold –
The Pendulum (from the album Eat Your Young)
MinneSarah:
Solid Gold is the chameleon of the Twin
Cities music scene. I wouldn't go as far as to call them a Mitt
Romney... but I did just type that. They seem to be talented
enough to jive into whatever is popular at the time. However, I
haven't forgiven them for that "More to explore in Minnesota"
travesty. Ugghgh. This song is very 80's - I always mean
that in the best possible way. I like the sweeping nature of
the vocals and the background synths. However, I would never be able
to hear a Solid Gold song on the radio and pick them out. This
is a good and a bad thing. In this case, this song is good.
Next time? Who knows. Work on your Liam impression,
dude.
TCDroogsma:
Land of 10,000 Lakes? More like Land of 10,000 Synth-Pop bands, am I
right? Wait, I already made that joke on this blog? Hmmm....
It's been a little while since we've had any new Solid Gold material.
Musically, the keyboards will kick around in your head for a while,
but even after half a dozen listens the lyrics haven't stuck at all.
Clearly they didn't spend the off time reinventing the wheel
(though they were great in that “Exploret Minnesota” commercial).
Here's the deal, Solid Gold, I'm giving this one a 3, but if you can
introduce me to that Asian woman doing the Mary Tyler Moore
impersonation I'll bump it up another point and a half.
Final Score:
MinneSarah -3/5
TCDroogsma – 3/5
05. Robust
Worlds – Best Wishes (from the album Emotional Planet)
There is nothing bad about this song,
however, it is not good either. It rides the beachy, acousticy
guitars that everyone has a hard on for these days and adds some
whispery vocals over the top. It is boring. This is
hipster waiting room music. Pass.
TCDroogsma:
I've never been much of a fan of echo-y, psychedelic pop and that was
pretty much what came to my mind each time this song started this
week. “Oh yeah, that echo-y one.” The hooks aren't sharp and the
vocals have a bit of a stoner haze to them, but the whole thing does
have a pleasant vibe to it.
I had to do a little bit of Google work to find out that Robust
Worlds is the new band from Chris Rose of Vampire Hands. Seeing as
how most of that band's output was definitely of the “grower”
variety I'm willing to give “Best Wishes” the benefit of the
doubt. Admittedly it did seem to get better as the week went on. If
I smoked pot I'll bet I would love this song.
Final Score:
MinneSarah -2/5
TCDroogsma - 3/5
Boom! There
you have it everybody. Another week's worth of tracks downloaded,
reviewed, and filed away.
As always we'd
like to note that Newest Industry and its contributors are in no way
affiliated with the artists, The Current or MPR. We're just music
fans with keyboards.
For more of
MinneSarah be sure to give her a follow on Twitter and/or Instagram
(@MinneSarah). Hopefully she's not still mourning the cancellation
of the Morrissey concert.
For more
TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter and/or Instagram
(@TCDroogsma). He can also be found ranting like a lunatic on his
own blog Flatbasset. He's clearly not over the cancellation of the
Morrissey concert.
This blog also
maintains a Twitter account (@NewestIndustry1) which you should
follow to stay up to date on all the work being done by our
contributors for this blog and their own sites. More importantly
Newest Industry also has a Facebook page here. Please stop by and
give us a “like” sometimes. Take the easy way and give in...
