Newest Industry Presents - Flatbasset Radio: Episode #33

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

When you're lonely, press play...

Hello again, free music fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #33!
 
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 is flying solo from Planet New Basset.  Episode #33 finds Droogsy celebrating some great local hip-hop, playing this generation's iconic British band celebrating THE iconic British band in his Cover Of The Week, suggesting a re-pressing for all the "vinyl nerds," mispronouncing people's names, imploring everybody to go to the Turf Club tomorrow night, finding common ground with a legendary artist via disappointing girlfriends, thanking Miami for "staying flithy," finding a band that sounds like "Ian Curtis somehow coming back & singing for New Order," wondering if he should have stuck with James Mercer, forgetting his own age, and explaining that you should never try to charm women with Morrissey lyrics!

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 #33

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #33 by Tcdroogsma on Mixcloud

01. Protomartyr - Come & See
02. Medium Zach - Achoo
03. Cars & Trains - History Of The Night
04. Arctic Monkeys - All My Loving (Live At MSG)
05. The Van Gobots - The Ghost
06. Boots - Dust
07. Damon Albarn - Lonely Press Play (Live On BBC2)
08. Atmosphere - Bitter
09. Twin Graves - Brothers
10. Broken Bells - After The Disco
11. The Underachivers - 6th Sense
12. The Smiths - Reel Around The Fountain

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.

Album Of The Week: February 24th-March 2nd, 2014

My Album Of The Week for the week of February 24th-March 2nd, 2014:

The Van Gobots - Guantanamo Beach Party

01. Walk On Water
02. So Wrong
03. If It Moves Then Shoot It
04. Mickey Finn
05. Colorado
06. Proud Mother's Son
07. Any Means Of Destruction
08. The Ghost
09. Hostile Contender

Taking a little trip in the way-back machine for this one.

I'd heard the name The Van Gobots kicking around the Twin Cities for a while now, but hadn't really heard any of their work until they teamed up with Homeless for the album Twenty-Dirt (itself an AOTW back in December).  In my write-up for that album I wrote:

"In place of a producer on Twenty-Dirt, Homeless collaborated with The Van Gobots (@TheVanGobots).  I'd be lying if I said I was super-familiar with their work prior to Twenty-Dirt, but that may be for the best in this instance.  The band works up a nice post-punk racket for Homeless' rhymes.  Because I'm not familiar with their other work, it's possible for me to listen to these songs without wondering what they would have become without the restraint of the tracks being a canvas rather than the stand-alone art.  It's certainly enough to make me want to check out more of their work."

Well, here we are a few months later and, spurred by the band giving me a follow on Twitter, I think it's probably time to start digging in.  Guantanamo Beach Party came out back in 2009 and, based on what I've read, is the band's mostly widely known album.  I've only listened to it once so far, but I was surprised by what I heard.  On Twenty-Dirt the band plays fast and loose with the post-punk sound.  On GBP, the songs are much tighter and streamlined.  There's even a hint of soul music behind the rattle.  Here's hoping it continues to reveal itself over the course of the week.

If you'd like to check out Guantanamo Beach Party yourself, head over to The Van Gobots Bandcamp page where it's available as a "Name Your Price" download.

Album Of The Week: December 16-22, 2013

My Album Of The Week for the week of December 16th-22nd, 2013:

Homeless & The Van Gobots - Twenty-Dirt

It's hip-hop for the second week in a row here on the Flatbasset AOTW.  The similarity between Allan Kingdom's Talk To Strangers and this week's Twenty-Dirt is limited strictly to genre defenition.

Homeless (@HomelessRyanK) first came to my attention in August of 2012, when his single "Get Gone" (a collaboration with K.Raydio) turned up on The Current's Song Of The Day podcast (which MinneSarah & I reviewed way back in the second edition of Songs Of The Week.  We were so young & naive).

Anyway, that track had Big Cats! on the beat and cast Homeless as an angry, frustrated, but ultimately hopeful young man.  Twenty-Dirt takes those same character traits, but stretches them a bit.  Homeless is still frustrated, but some of that anger has been replaced with the good humor to recognize which fights are worth fighting.  Obviously it's not totally fair to compare a whole album to a lone single, but the lighter moments on Twenty-Dirt certainly give the album a nice balance, letting the listener know that, despite all the problems that surround him, Homeless is still able to enjoy the simple things in life.

In place of a producer on Twenty-Dirt, Homeless collaborated with The Van Gobots (@TheVanGobots).  I'd be lying if I said I was super-familiar with their work prior to Twenty-Dirt, but that may be for the best in this instance.  The band works up a nice post-punk racket for Homeless' rhymes.  Because I'm not familiar with their other work, it's possible for me to listen to these songs without wondering what they would have become without the restraint of the tracks being a canvas rather than the stand-alone art.  It's certainly enough to make me want to check out more of their work.

If you're interested in checking it out for yourself Twenty-Dirt is available as a name-your-price download on Bandcamp.  They'll be playing an album release show on December 21st at Cause.