(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY)
I use a walkie talkie just to get a beverage...
Hello again, free music fans!
Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #27! 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 and/or download! In this week's episode TCDroogsma indulges in some warm weather jams, explains why spending winter in rural Wisconsin is a bad idea, recalls the most passive-aggressive concert audience he's ever seen, ties his Cover Of The Week & its singer together in pathos, thinks Drake deserves more credit for his work outside of music, discusses the best way to stay warm during a polar vortex, wonders just what happened to hearty Minnesotans, indulges in a Scottish set, lays some blame at Stuart Murdoch's feet, fails to live up to his obligations as a "31 year old, skinny, bearded white guy," impolores one of indie rock's cult favorites to reform, pays tribute to a musician who passed too young, & loses a sponsor!
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. Bon Iver - Flume 02. Stereolab - People Do It All The Time 03. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cold Light 04. Drake - Trophies 05. Morrissey - Moon River 06. Belle & Sebastian - The Fox In The Snow 07. Gasp - A Girl Called Glasgow 08. Menahan Street Band - Make The Road By Walking 09. Vampire Weekend (w/Danny Brown, Heems, & Despot) - Step (Remix) 10. Rancid - Brad Logan 11. Knifefight - Feel Me 12. Death From Above 1979 - Black History Month (Josh Homme Remix) 13. School Of Seven Bells - Windstorm
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.
(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY.)
This was my dream... playing a rockin' routine...
Well hello again, music fans! TCDroogsma is back with Flatbasset Radio - Episode #5!
For those of you stopping by for the first time, TCDroogsma is one of our regular contributors. He typically sticks to the twin indulgences of food and music. Each week we have him put together a podcast of roughly an hour's worth of music broken up sporadically by his nasally banter.
As you can see, Tuesday night is now going to be the new home of the podcast. We realize that this puts Flatbasset Radio up against Tuesdays With Lazerbeak and Tuesday Morning Quarterback. We're hoping that you'll soon consider Flatbasset Radio in the same breath as those two internet institutions. Call it the Tuesday Hat Trick.
Anyway, this week found TCDroogsma in a rather sour mood. Fortunately he managed to talk himself back into a better place by leaning on loud guitars, hometown jams, asian women, Twin Cities ex-pats, yet another stroll back to the 90's, and a Minneapolis icon. Click the embedded player to have a listen or click the title to download the podcast and take it on the go.
01. Deerhoof - Milk Man 02. Kudzu Wish - We've Got Big Hands 03. DJ Abilities - Kastdaddy 4 President 04. BNLX - 1929 05. The Hold Steady - Magazines 06. Yak Ballz - Gas Galaxy 07. Menahan Street Band - The Crossing 08. Superdrag - Sucked Out 09. Murs - Eazy-E 10. Longwave - No Direction 11. Depeche Mode - Waiting For The Night 12. Paul Westerberg - All That I Had
There you have it, everybody! Give it a listen! Download it! Free music! Tweet it! Tell a friend!
For more of the kind of emo TCDroogsma he can be found on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He also maintains his own Flatbasset blog, though it mainly consists of the work he does here. If you ever meet him in person don't let his beard throw you off, he's not a handsome man.
Of course Newest Industry also lives on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1). Give that a follow to stay up on all the work being done by our contributors. More importantly we also have a Facebook page. Stopping by and giving us a "like" is the best way to support this blog without any sort of financial obligation. If we get to 50 likes we're going to make TCDroogsma shave his beard.
(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY.)
Menahan Street Band, Body Language,
No, Ben Sollee, & BNLX...
Hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome
to Songs Of The Week #15!
For those of you who are still
somehow unfamiliar with the SOTW posts, each week we ask a couple of
our contributors to give us their thoughts on the previous week's
songs given away by MPR's The Current. To download the Song Of The
Day podcast for yourself (which we highly recommend), click here.
Playing along at home is fun for the whole family! Especially if
your family likes pretty average indie music!
Make your voice heard by voting in
the poll on the right of the page. This is serious, serious business
people. Whoever wins the contest gets... er... some level of
validation, we suppose.
This week we asked MinneSarah &
TCDroogsma to have a go at the songs.
Kids, what'd you think?
01.
Menahan Street Band – The Crossing (from the album The
Crossing)
MinneSarah:
So this band is an instrumental soul
group complete with horns and an organ. The absence of vocals
is actually refreshing - as it's hard for a lot of these soul funk
revival bands to pull off all the elements - adding a singer is just
another thing to have to worry about fitting in to the mix. This
song features some prominent string plucking over the top of
signature horns and downtempo funk, which makes the song seem a
little more modern than revivalist. Also, this group has been
sampled by Kid Cudi and 50 Cent, so there is a slim chance Kanye is
sampling this song as you read this review.
TCDroogsma:
Honestly, when I saw "Menahan Steet Band" in the downloads this week I set my expectations pretty low. Even though I've really been into instrumental music lately, that tends to be more in the hip-hop instrumental vein and not, y'know, a "supergroup" form Brooklyn consisting of Antibalas and The Dap-Kings.
And yet, I loved "The Crossing." Instead of using the "MSB" moniker to indulge in musical masturbation this song is actually tight. None of the instruments go off on their own and the whole thing is held together by a pseudo-hip hop rhythm. The horns are bright but reserved. The guitar is somehow both celebratory and mournful. This is a perfect soundtrack for strolling around downtown MPLS on a brisk November night.
Final Score: MinneSarah -3/5
TCDroogsma - 4.5/5
02.
Body Language – I'm A Mess (from the EP Grammar)
MinneSarah:
This song is an example of the
funk/soul revival that is not really working. The cadence of
this song reminds me of that Mayer Hawthorne hit a few years back, so
if you liked that song, you won't be disappointed by an even more
hipster version. The singer's voice is not faux soul, and thus
stands out by not trying to be something it's not - however, the
lyrics are cloying and hackneyed. If you like to hear
pining lyrics served over electronic soul revival lite, this song is
a ten. I'd like to make a joke about how this song was written
without you and is a mess unto itself, but that's just not true.
It's pretty tight yet overly pedestrian.
TCDroogsma:
I know I spend a lot of time here making fun of synth-pop bands, but know that those jokes have more to do with how many are in MPLS and not the genre in general.So, that being said, I really did enjoy this one.
"I'm A Mess" is an ode to co-dependency soundtracked by Paul McCartney's keyboards from "Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time." I mean that as a compliment. Although, if you're a co-dependent guy who spends his time listening to old Paul McCartney records I would imagine the only body language you're used to is crossed arms and rolled eyes.
Final Score: MinneSarah -2/5
TCDroogsma - 3/5
03.
No – What's Your Name? (from the 7” What's Your Name?)
MinneSarah:
Is this The National? This band
has gotten that question so many times, they just named themselves
No. They then named their single - What's Your Name, as that is the
question they got after they responded that they weren't The
National. Okay, maybe that didn't happen, but then again maybe
it did.
While I feel like this is a National song when I listen
to it, it does evoke a little more optimistic moodiness. The
song is broken up a little with bouts of whistling, and punches of
percussion. The lyrics talk about what people are wearing,
which is pretty much what caught my attention. Although I feel
like the singer sounds a bit generically indie, the song
is interesting enough to get catchier the more often you
listen to it.
TCDroogsma:
This song is like indie rock Madlibs. Kind of a piano song, kind of a guitar song. None of the lyrics add up to any kind of coherent whole, but rather they all sound like the first line from a different band's song. "See the sun turn round and run away..." is Lou Reed. "Turn around now, I can't stay" - Julian Casablancas. "Shut the gates if I don't show, I'll send dogs to let you know..." Paging Paul Banks. Paul Banks, please pick up the red phone. What's your name, indeed.
Final Score: MinneSarah -3/5
TCDroogsma - 3/5
04.
Ben Sollee – Unfinished (from the album Half-Made Man)
MinneSarah:
So remember last week when I said that
I was born in Kentucky? Guess who else was born and raised in
my birth town? Why Ben Sollee, of course. This music isn't bad,
but once again, it's not really my style. The song is
alt-country nouveau, with the inclusion of the cello - which does add
quite a depth. Ben's vocals sound almost Bruce
Springsteen-like. Overall, hometown be damned, I am extremely
conflicted whether or not I can recommend a song by a
singer/songwriter who has done a bike tour of Kentucky. Seriously.
That could be the most awesome and inspiring or soul-crushingly
hipster thing I've ever heard. Can't decide. Luckily, as
the song indicates, this isn't the last we've heard from Ben Sollee.
TCDroogsma:
I guess I wouldn't think you could build a whole career around recreating the Billy Bragg tracks from Mermaid Avenue.I learn something new every day.
Final Score: MinneSarah -2.5/5
TCDroogsma - 2/5
05.
BNLX – Vibrant (from the album BNLX)
MinneSarah:
Upbeat guitars, hyper-enunciated
vocals, slight electronic backdrop. I like how clean the song
sounds amidst punctuated rouge (or not) guitar. There is a lot
of order in this song, almost formulaic but in a way that works!
Basically I love anything upbeat and eighties sounding and will
justify that any way I see fit. Although this isn't the most
exciting song I've heard this week, there is something comforting in
its design.
TCDroogsma:
I went on an extended rant about BNLX earlier this week when I reviewed their track "1929." (cough... Singles Mixer #3... cough... scroll down... cough...) Oddly, I don't necessarily like this song as much as that one. My point in that review was that getting a slightly political angle out of Ed Ackerson made for an interesting listen. It gave me a fuller picture of who he is regarding his Polara/BNLX bands. "Vibrant" is a pretty great track, don't get me wrong, but this one sounds more like Polara with a drum machine. Still, you all know I'm a sucker for boy/girl hooks and really, who's arguing with a song that sounds like the love child of New Order & Dinosaur Jr?
Final Score: MinneSarah -3.5/5
TCDroogsma - 3.5/5
Blaow! There
you have it, everybody! Another week of songs listened to, reviewed,
and filed away.
As always we'd
like to mention that neither this blog nor its contributors is in
anyway affiliated with MPR, The Current, or any of the artists
reviewed. We're just people with iTunes & free time.
For more of the
always charming MinneSarah give her a follow on Twitter
(@MinneSarah). For even more MinneSarah be sure to mention nail
polish & vegan donuts.
For more
TCDroogsma he can also be followed on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He
seems like he should probably eat more vegan donuts too.
Of course
Newest Industry is also on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1). Give us a
follow to stay up on all the work being done by our contributors.
More importantly, we also have a Facebook page here. Stopping by and
giving us a “like” is genuinely the best way to support this blog
short of buying us donuts.
