Flatbasset Radio: Episode #59

Lord, to be thirty-three forever...

Well hello again, podcast fans.  Welcome to Episode #59 of Flatbasset Radio!

Sorry it's been a minute since I posted a new show.  I've been working very hard at things that aren't this blog & podcast.  It's good for me but maybe not so good for you.  I'm a very selfish man.

Anyway, show's back and June's shaping up to be a great month for the podcast so let's start it here.

In this week's episode I begin by apologizing for such a sleepy, sleepy guy before discussing the definition of "surf noir," the pros & cons of the Kent State shooting on its 45th anniversary, the moment Danger Mouse cemented his legacy, coming to terms with Pink Floyd, just what happens when you spend 40 hours per week with somebody, my unequivocal, errr... tolerance for Johnny Marr's solo career, and the real moment Craig Finn let go of Lifter Puller.  All that plus some anniversaries, the Cover Of The Week, the Flatbasset Flatclassic, and all the bro-mance one man can muster!

As always, Flatbasset Radio is completely free. Just click the Mixcloud player below and you're good to go.

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #59 by Tcdroogsma on Mixcloud

01. Murder Shoes - Charlotte Manning

02. Gorillaz - Kids With Guns
03. The Dandy Warhols - Ohio
04. Wu-Tang Clan - Tearz
05. Pink Floyd - Pigs (Three Different Ones)
06. Los Campesinos! - Avocado, Baby
07. Johnny Marr - The Trap
08. Sims - 15 Blocks (Lazerbeak Remix)
09. Wild Ones - Golden Twin
10. The Hold Steady - Stevie Nix

Enjoy!

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: May '15

Well hello again, everybody.  Welcome to yet another installment of the least compelling running post on a blog filled with them.  That's right, it's time for another edition of Flatbasset Radio's 50 Most Played Albums of the last month.


Now, I know it hasn't been a particularly productive month here at Planet New Basset.  What can I say, I'm a very busy & tired guy, so real world work & sleeping take up a lot of my time.  Fortunately (or, perhaps unfortunately), that lack of productivity only applies to the blog as I still found time to listen to a ton of records throughout May.  Let's have a look:

(As always, one "play" = one song.  So an album with ten songs on it would be registered as ten "plays."  Larger pictures indicate more plays.)

01. Johnny Marr - Playland (89 plays)

02. Blur - The Magic Whip (84 plays)

03. Tree Blood - I Am A Disgusting Pig (70 plays)

04. Edger - Rudiments (42 plays)

05. Various Artists - Expansion Sound Vol. 2 (40 plays)

06. All - Mass Nerder (32 plays)

07. M. Ward - Post-War (24 plays)

08. Various Artists - Circle Into Square Label Compilation Vol. 2 (23 plays)

09. Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams (22 plays)

10. Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty (22 plays)

11. Brand New - The Devil & God Are Raging Inside Me (21 plays)

12. Art Brut - Brilliant! Tragic! (20 plays)

13. Dfalt - Take (20 plays)

14. Various Artists - The Best Love Is Free Vol. 3 (20 plays)

15. Rancid - ...And Out Come The Wolves (19 plays)

16. I Self Devine - Self Destruction (19 plays)

17. The Incredible Moses Leroy - Electric Pocket Radio (16 plays)

18. The Dust Brothers - Fight Club (16 plays)

19. True Deceiver - True Deceiver (15 plays)

20. Jawbreaker - Dear You (15 plays)

21. MF Doom - MM.. Food (15 plays)

22. Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend (15 plays)

23. R.E.M. - Eponymous (15 plays)

24. Straya - Live On Radio K (2015) (15 plays)

25. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (14 plays)

26. Descendents - I Don't Wanna Grow Up (14 plays)

27. The Cribs - For All My Sisters (14 plays)

28. Gorillaz - Demon Days (14 plays)

29. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl (14 plays)

30. Badly Drawn Boy - Have You Fed The Fish? (14 plays)

31. DJ Rashad - Double Cup (14 plays)

32. Uncle Tupelo - Still Feel Gone (14 plays)

33. Freez & Mike Frey - Freez's Frozen French Freys (14 plays)

34. Various Artists - Circle Into Square Label Compilation Vol. 1 (14 plays)

35. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Hearts Of Oak (13 plays)

36. Superchunk - On The Mouth (13 plays)

37. Various Artists - Best Of 86/06 (13 plays)

38. Alkaline Trio - Good Mourning (12 plays)

39. Eyedea & Abilities - E & A (12 plays)

40. Vermont - Calling Albany (12 plays)

41. Ash - Nu-Clear Sounds (12 plays)

42. Warpaint - Warpaint (12 plays)

43. Big Pauper - Beyond My Means (12 plays)

44. P. Morris - Debut (12 plays)

45. A.C. Newman - The Slow Wonder (11 plays)

46. Ben Folds - Songs For Silverman (11 plays)

47. The Coral - Magic And Medicine (11 plays)

48. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - I See A Darkness (11 plays)

49. Hard-Fi - Stars Of CCTV (11 plays)

50. Danger Ron & The Spins - These Teeth (11 plays)

There it is, folks. Good stuff.  Try to stay tuned to the blog or the Flatbasset Radio Facebook page.  I've got three new episodes of the show nearly finished, so there'll be plenty of jams & ranting throughout June. Of course you can always check out the old jams by heading over to my Mixcloud page if you're really desperate to hear my nasally voice ramble on about things nobody cares about.

Information via my Last.fm account
Photo via Don't Drink And Root

Newest Industry Presents: Flatbasset Radio - Episode #26 (Best Of 2013!)

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

I'll keep playing back these fragments of time...

Hello again, free music fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #26!
 
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 celebrates some of his favorite records of 2013, admits to being years behind in his apps, give his sponsor their money worth, is confounded by gender reversals in his Cover Of The Week, attempts to redefine "success" for musicians, gives us his slogan for the year, defends a genius' ego (or an egoists' genius), and gives us his theory as to why everybody thought 2013 was terrible!

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

Flatbasset Radio - Episode #26

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #26 (Best Of 2013!) by Tcdroogsma on Mixcloud

01. Tree - Safe To Say
02. Atoms For Peace - Ingenue
03. Dessa - I'm Going Down
04. Ras Dude - Rizla
05. Johnny Marr - New Town Velocity
06. The Strokes - Happy Ending
07. Action Bronson & Party Supplies - Contemporary Man
08. Edison - Astringent
09. Beady Eye - I'm Just Saying
10. Mixed Blood Majority (w/Kristoff Krane) - Ritual
11. Low - Mother
12. Marijuana Deathsquads - Blood
13. Jonwayne - Ode To Mortality
14. Daft Punk (w/Todd Edwards) - Fragments Of Time
15. Kanye West (w/Justin Vernon & Chief Keef) - Hold My Liquor


There you have it, music fans! Enjoy!

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.

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. 

Newest Industry Presents: Flatbasset Radio - Episode #15

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

My head's so big you can't sit behind me...

Well hello again, free music fans! Welcome to Episode #15 of Flatbasset Radio!

For those of you unfamiliar with the podcast, here's the story: TCDroogsma is a music junkie. So much so that just writing our Songs Of The Week column is not enough for him. So, in addition to reviewing songs each week, he records this podcast and we give it away as a free download or streaming right here on Newest Industry.

Episode #15 represents the triumphant return of the podcast after a month off. In this episode TCDroogsma calls for The Smiths to stay broken up, tries to explain why indie rappers are so quick to defend Lil' Wayne, stumps for his favorite spring album, gives The Strokes career advice, and deems one of the most over-the-top acts of the last decade “classic.”

Click that player above to stream the podcast or click the download button to have a copy for your very own. Always free, sometimes good.

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #15

01. Sonic Youth – 100%

02. Tree – Nino

03. Har Mar Superstar – Lady, You Shot Me

04. Johnny Marr – European Me

05. Veronica Falls – Everybody's Changing

06. Abstract Rude – Rejuvenation

07. Low – Clarence White

08. Kanye West (w/Lil' Wayne) – Barry Bonds

09. The Strokes – Welcome To Japan

10. Kwame – The Rhythm

11. Bomba de Luz – Howl At That Moon

12. My Chemical Romance – Welcome To The Black Parade

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He can also be found right here on Newest Industry reviewing songs for our Songs Of The Week column.

For more Newest Industry be sure to give us a follow on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1) to stay up on the work being done by all 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.

Nobody Loves Us #10: Disappointed

Hello again, everybody and welcome to the Nobody Loves Us Countdown.  For those just joining us, I'm counting down my 20 favorite Morrissey Non-Singles each weekday until his concert on the 29th at The Orpheum in beautiful downtown Minneapolis.

Let me quickly apologizing for not posting this blog yesterday.  Monday's are an especially tough day for me to be productive and I succumbed to sleep before I had a chance to jot this one down.  So, I'll post this one now and later today I'll post #9.  Hopefully this will help calm the rioting among Morrissey fans who were waiting with baited breath for my post yesterday.  People!  It's only a blog!  Life will go on!

If you haven't been paying attention here's what the list looks like so far:

20. One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell
19. Driving Your Girlfriend Home
18. Munich Air Disaster 1958
17. Seasick, Yet Still Docked
16. I Don't Mind If You Forget Me
15. Sister I'm A Poet
14. On The Streets I Ran
13. There's A Place In Hell For Me And My Friends
12. Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?
11. Come Back To Camden

Which brings us to the Top 10!

#10. Disappointed (Morrissey/Street)

B-side from the Everyday Is Like Sunday single

Key Line: "This is the last song I will every sing (crowd cheers), No, I've changed my mind again (crowd groans), goodnight and thank you..."

As I mentioned in the earlier post on "Sister I'm A Poet," the success had old Morrissey feeling very playful.  Obviously he felt quite validated by the success of his solo debut and that led to some of his most boastful and biting tracks.  Sadly, nearly all of them were relegated to b-sides (though eventually they were collected onto the album Bona Drag, arguably the most essential "odds and ends" album ever).

On "Disappointed" Morrissey masterfully walks the line between reality and myth, sarcasm and truth, and stereotypes and the truth behind them.

Before Morrissey even makes an appearance on the track, it's clear that he and Stephen Street are having a bit of laugh.  The music for the track is clearly meant to echo the atmosphere of The Smiths iconic "How Soon Is Now?"  In fact, according to Stephen Street, the initial version of the track didn't sound much like the finished bit.  At Morrissey's request, the song was re-worked into the "How Soon Is Now?" echo that was eventually presented to the public.  It's hard to believe that this wasn't intentional, with Morrissey sitting behind the producer's mixing board sporting a wry grin...

Lyrically, Morrissey's mix of sarcasm and truth is really the essence of Morrissey's early solo career.  Opening line, "Our unsleepable friend gets the message on an ill wind, 'All your friends and foes would rather die than to touch you..." is an obvious joke, as, by this point, a Morrissey concert was typically an open invitation for fans to run on stage to touch and hug the singer.  Clearly, Mozzer was not at a lack of people willing to touch him.

(Sidenote: Special kudos to Morrissey for inventing the term "Unsleepable," which draws the mind immediately to the Smiths' tracks "Unloveable" and "Asleep," two of Morrissey's best "I'm sad and alone" tracks.  Clever bastard.)

However, Morrissey also manages to mix in a healthy dose of truth and spite on the track.  A line such as, "Young boy, I wanna help you..." can easily be read as reference to Johnny Marr (though there's no proof that this is indeed a reference to Marr).  Further on, the lines, "Don't talk to me about people who are 'nice,' 'cause I have spent my whole life in ruins because of people who are 'nice.'" are nearly impossible to read as anything but truth.  Especially when one considers that the seeds of lawsuits from Mike Joyce, Andy Rourke, and Craig Gannon had been firmly planted by now.


(Sidenote II:  I submit this video as reason number 3,065 why the 90's were the best thing ever.)

Still, the ending of the track sums up everything one needs to know about Morrissey at this stage of his career.  "This is the last song I will ever sing..." is met with "cheers" from an overdubbed crowd.  Followed by the line, "No, I've changed my mind again..." and the subsequent overdubbed jeers, it's clear that Morrissey is well aware of the many detractors lurking in his post-Smiths landscape.  By adding those crowd noises, Morrissey shows that he is keenly aware of his standing and is more than willing to take the piss out of it himself.

Nobody Loves Us #15: Sister I'm A Poet

Hi, everybody! Welcome to week two of the Nobody Loves Us countdown.

If you haven't been paying attention, I'm counting down my Top 20 Morrissey Non-Single tracks. Mozzer is playing at The Orpheum October 29^th and I decided it would be appropriate if I threw the spotlight on some of these forgotten classics each weekday up until the show.

In case you've missed the list so far, do me a favor and scroll down. Or just check out how it's played out:

20. One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell

19. Driving Your Girlfriend Home

18. Munich Air Disaster 1958

17. Seasick, Yet Still Docked

16. I Don't Mind If You Forget Me

So, with that said and done we return to the Viva Hate era with #15 on the list:

Sister I'm A Poet (Morrissey/Street)

B-Side from the Everyday Is Like Sunday single.

Key Line: “That's 'cause I'm a... Sister, I'm a... all over this town...”

While a huge chunk of Morrissey's solo debut Viva Hate was devoted to settling old scores with his estranged partner Johnny Marr (“Angel, Angel Down We Go Together” and “I Don't Mind If You Forget Me”), Mozzer was in fine braggadocio form with this b-side.

Released just a scant three months after Viva Hate (and, therefore, scarcely a year after the demise of The Smiths), “Sister I'm A Poet” is the closest thing we get to a victory lap from Morrissey.

Obviously, the song itself has little to do with Morrissey's actual sister Jacqueline. Rather, the titular “sister” is everybody in Manchester. It's safe to assume that Morrissey's ego was not at all concerned with anybody outside of his hometown since the song only references “this town” and nothing larger.

Of course, even in 1988, a large part of Morrissey's mythology had been built around his hometown of Manchester. I mean, one of the very first songs he and Marr ever wrote together was “Suffer Little Children,” a song that, in a roundabout sort of way, is used to stake The Smiths' and Morrissey's claim as an integral part of Manchester (even if that means associating themselves with the darkest part of the town's past). His opening line, “All over this town, a lone wind may blow....” is a subtle reference to the now-overcome loneliness of his youth.


Essentially, the same Morrissey who spent his formative years holed up in his mum's house reading books and watching James Dean movies still had not-so-secret desires to be a (regionally) famous person, a sex symbol (“I can see through everybody's clothes”) celebrated for more for his bookish outsiderdom than any sort of “mainstream” appeal. The line, “(I've) no reason to talk about the books I read but still I do...” says it all. At this point, it doesn't matter what Morrissey's on about, just that he's talking, and somebody should be there to take note of what's said. His reference to no longer being at the mercy of the town's stoplights is a brilliantly English way of explaining the level of fame he's attained (I'm no longer constrained by common courtesy!)

The quintessential line, “Is evil just something you are or something you do?” is, on it's surface, just a clever phrase, his over-arching point is that he's no longer concerned with such trivial matters of the direct consequences of said person's “evil,” but can has achieved a level of status and comfort that allows him to look at it through more abstract eyes, questioning the roots of said evil rather than the immediate affect.

(European-Style Football Sidenote: A couple of years back, David Beckham made his debut with the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS. It did not go well for the first few months, with the fans calling out Beckham and him taking equal offense. I remember watching an episode of Sportscenter in which Beckham was battling with the L.A. fans and seeing somebody holding up a sign that read, “Is evil something you are or something you do?” I have no idea how many Sportscenter viewers caught that and laughed out loud, but let the record show that I was among them).

Stephen Street has described the music for “Sister I'm A Poet” as a conscious attempt to write something that had the same jangle as The Smiths. Obviously he succeeded on that account. While the Morrissey critic is not necessarily wrong to listen to a song like this and think, “Oh, Mozzer isn't taking any chances with this one then, is he?” A fan can't help but listen to it and think, “God, Morrissey and a good guitar lead is all I'll ever need in life.”

Frankly, the fact that this song was demoted to a b-side is at once appropriate (no good Englishman would ever gloat so boastfully on an A-Side) and tragic (as Morrissey's rarely been so catchy and so knowing in his lyrics).