Flatbasset Radio: Episode #95

They'll even print my recipe for pasta with pesto...

Well hello again, podcast fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #95!

I'm back on my hosting grind again this week. I've got all kinds of jams on this one - local rock, anniversaries, upcoming shows, some indie rock lifers, classic hip-hop, local electro-pop, the Cover Of The Week, and, as always, the Flatbasset Flatclassic!

Along the way I work in some discussion about the state of Planet New Basset (hint: not great), the state of the unions (hint: not much better), the career trajectory of Arctic Monkeys, finding hope in 80's punk, confused spelling, shows for charity, shows for your enjoyment, international Jawbreaker Day, the story of how Johnny Marr joined Modest Mouse, putting faith in Millenials, the beauty of the horn coda, and a heavy discussion about this week's Flatclassic.

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 #95 (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 Flatbasset Radio: Ep. #95 plays out:

01. Five Eight - Kids

02. Magic Castles - Sky Sounds

03. Astronautalis - These Songs (w/Fadeaway Jumpers)

04. Fury Things - New Day Rising

05. Beastie Boys - Finger Lickin' Good

06. Double Grave - Truth Is Whatever You Say

07. Modest Mouse - Dashboard

08. Jawbreaker - Sluttering (May 4th)

09. Vandaam - Warm Correspondents

10. The Happy Children - Came And Went

11. Arctic Monkeys - 505

12. Big Quarters - Song For Brown Babies









There you have it, folks! Enjoy!

For more of my rantings you can give me a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on my Mixcloud page.  Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.

Flatbasset Radio's 25 Most Played Albums: February '16

Well hello again, everybody. Welcome to another month's worth of instant nostalgia!

Even with a bonus day February flew by. I'm sorry that the posts haven't been too routine. I was very busy and very tired, but I'm trying my best here. Of course, big thank you to everybody who did make the time to check out the couple of Flatbasset Radio episodes I put together this month as well as that P.O.S. MinneClassics show.

The flipside of being so busy means that I likely spent a lot of time on public transit, which means I was able to listen to a ton of music. As you can see below, I covered a lot of ground.

As always, please remember that one song = one play. If I listen to, say, Springsteen's The River once all the way through, it counts as 20 plays. These stats are all pulled from my Last.fm page, which you should definitely follow if you're certain you've checked out absolutely everything else on the internet.

So, without further ado, here's Flatbasset Radio's 25 Most Played Albums Of February, 2016:

01. Edison - The Hand (79 plays)

02. Mixed Blood Majority - Insane World (77 plays)

03. Doks Robotiks - Doks (70 plays)

04. Bruce Springsteen - The River (61 plays)

05. Paul Westerberg - 14 Songs (42 plays)

06. Vandaam - VNDM EP 2 (42 plays)

07. J Dilla - Donuts (32 plays)

08. The Hang Ups - Pretend Hits (32 plays)

09. Local H - Pack Up The Cats (30 plays)

10. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit (29 plays)

11. Operation Ivy - Operation Ivy (27 plays)

12. Fountains Of Wayne - Sky Full Of Holes (26 plays)

13. The Lemonheads - Car Button Cloth (24 plays)

14. The Specials - More Specials (24 plays)

15. Sparta - Threes (24 plays)

16. Morrissey - World Peace Is None Of Your Business (24 plays)

17. Collage - Lollygag (21 plays)*

18. Neil Young - Harvest (20 plays)

19. The Hold Steady - Heaven Is Whenever (20 plays)

20. Desmond Dekker - Rockin' Steady: The Best Of Desmond Dekker (20 plays)

21. Shad - When This Is Over (20 plays)

22. Eric Mayson - Detail (19 plays)

23. Sayth & North House - Body Pillow (18 plays)

24. The Cure - Greatest Hits (18 plays)

25. Radiohead - In Rainbows (Bonus Disc) (16 plays)

*That blank spot you see is for an album called Lollygag by a local artist called Collage. Does anybody know anything about this band or album? I bought it on a whim over at Cheapo. There does not appear to be any information about it whatsoever on the internet. All I can gather from the album is that it was released in 1994 on Gypsy Gyrl records. It seems to be the project/brainchild of a woman named Terry Blessing. That's actually quite a bit of info, but if anybody knows anymore about it or maybe saw this band back in the 90's, please hit me up in the comment section or over on the Flatbasset Facebook page. Thanks.

Image via Tap Music
Stats via my Last.fm page

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. 

Newest Industry Presents: Flatbasset Radio - Episode #17

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

I'll turn this plane around, yo' ass keep complainin'

Hello again, free music fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #17!

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 or download!

In this week's edition Droogsy laments missed opportunities during last week's black out, complains about cell phone alarms, tries to defend Kanye West, wishes he heard more variety in the hip-hop blasting out of car speakers, celebrates the upcoming Pride Weekend festivities, embraces the return of some true Twin Cities legends, and, like a tried and true Minnesotan, complains about the weather.

(Click the player above to listen to the podcast. Click the title below to download the podcast for yourself.)

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #17

01. Astronautalis & Rickolus – The Rainmakers

02. Kidz In The Hall – Black Out

03. Vandaam – Fashion Week

04. Kanye West – Bound 2

05. The Dandy Warhols – Horse Pills

06. Joey Bada$$ - Word Is Bond

07. Marijuana Deathsquads – Remembories

08. IO Echo – Ministry Of Love

09. Desdamona – The Source

10. The Promise Ring – Happiness Is All The Rage

11. The Replacements – Hold My Life

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He can also be found right here on Newest Industry each week reviewing singles in 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 of our contributors. More importantly, we have aFacebook page here. Trivial as it seems, stopping by and giving us a “Like” is a free & legit way to support the blog.

Songs Of The Week #40

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

Mikal Cronin, Carmen Villain, The Child Of Lov, Jonny Fritz, & VANDAAM...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies!  Welcome to Songs Of The Week #40!

For those of you who aren't totally sure what you're looking at right now, here's the deal.  TCDroogsma is an MP3 junkie.  He's also opinionated and has an incredible amount of free time on his hands.  As such, we've put him to work reviewing the tracks given away each week via The Current's Song Of The Day podcast.

TCDroogsma downloads the tracks and, after spending some time with them, writes up a review and gives the songs a score of 1-5.

As always, we strongly suggest that you follow this link and subscribe to the podcast yourself.  It's free and it's fun for the whole family!

To that end, once you've given the tracks a spin, we encourage you to vote for your favorite song in the poll on the right-hand side of the page.  The winning artist receives the validation of winning an anonymous internet poll, arguably the highest achievement any artist can aspire to.

So, Droogsy... thoughts?

 01. Mikal Cronin - Weight (from the album MCII)

TCDroogsma:

     For the first 45 seconds of "Weight" I wasn't totally on board.  "I've been starting over for a long time" is probably the most relateable line I've heard in a song this year, but given the stereotypical indie-pop guitar strumming behind it, I feared that this song was just a well-crafted pity party waiting to happen.

     But then that guitar comes in.  Oh, that guitar... suddenly, the song has legs.  Is anything on Earth as life-affirming as a fuzzed out guitar?  Cronin spends the rest of the track wrestling with dilemma's of pushing 30, but those are questions that can be answered later.  In the twilight of his youth, the power of a loud guitar and a microphone still trumps all.

Final Score: 3.5/5

02. Carmen Villain - Lifeissin (from the album Sleeper)

TCDroogsma:

     "Lifeissin" is an intriguing song, but you won't realize it until the second time you listen to it.  Why?  Because Carmen Hillestad's laments on her misdeeds sound like a morning-after discussion until the last second of the track when, with the line, "Do you believe that I'm going to hell?" the song abruptly drops off the face of the Earth.  In that last instant the song shifts dramatically from "next day hangover" conversation to "deathbed lament," retroactively adding weight "Lifeissin."

     Listening to the song a second time (with that "deathbed" as a backdrop) turns the song from average to pretty good.  Hillestad's vocals have the airy weightlessness of somebody speaking with nothing left to lose, matching the guitar strumming that does just enough to create a mood, but nowhere near enough to upstage the vocalist.  She delivers the line, "Open that guilt cage, I just want to think free..." with just enough of a hiccup in her voice to leave the listener believing that, for a last brief moment, peace has been found, and that the concern of heaven or hell is merely a secondary concern.

Final Score: 3/5

03. The Child Of Love - Heal (from the album The Child Of Lov)

TCDroogsma:

     After a quick google search to find out what exactly The Child Of Lov is all about, I find myself more confused than ever.  According to Wikipedia, he's an anonymous 25 year old musician from Amsterdam who has so far refused to release any personal information.  Intriguingly, he's slated to collaborate with DOOM & Damon Albarn (two of my all-time favorites) on his upcoming album.

     Does any of that information make me like "Heal" any more?  Not really.  Over some bouncy drums and a nicely fuzzed out bass line, The Child Of Lov does little more than a James Brown impersonation.  The lyrics traffic in cliche like, "Baby, you know I'm for real..." and a chorus of "Got to, got to heal your soul," implying that, when not listening to American R & B, The Child Of Lov has been finding meaning in Richard Ashcroft's solo albums.  There's nothing wrong with leaning on energy and charisma if you're playing live, but on record, "Heal" in very forgettable.

Final Score: 1.5/5

04. Jonny Fritz - Goodbye Summer (from the album Dad Country)

 
TCDroogsma:

     "Goodbye Summer" starts out with Jonny Fritz coming off like a kid about to go back to college, trying to put together the pieces of one last party with his high-school friends (though he plays the role of that friend you hate, asking his ride if they can stop at CVS to pick up contact solution).  From there he heads back to wherever he's suppose to be in fall (again, it sounds like college to me).

     The song takes a peculiar turn from there, telling the story of Fritz meeting up with a married woman in a hotel room.  This story of a "lover with a wedding ring" has nothing to do with the first verse of the song, though the song does eventually circle back to another party for its third verse.  Basically, there's not really any narrative to the song at all, rather just a bunch of couplets that fit the country-pop jam constructed as a backdrop.  To be honest, neither of those things appeal to me.  A pretty standard country rave-up could have legs if there was a story to be told, but really, "Goodbye Summer" sounds an awful lot like a genre exercise and not much more.

Final Score: 1.5/5

05. VANDAAM - Electron Oceans (from the EP VANDAAM)

TCDroogsma:

     I've been making jokes about how Minnesota is the Land Of 10,000 Synth-Pop bands since the day I started writing this Songs Of The Week column.  On my initial listen, I was fully prepared to put VANDAAM into that same category.  However, after spending a week with the song, it's clear that these guys are just slightly left of center compared to the other synth bands around town.  If Solid Gold & Portishead had a child and that child grew up to be a codeine-addled stripper, you'd have "Electron Oceans."

     With the refrain of, "They wanna know how I drop it so deep, they wanna know how I stay on my feet..." "Electron Oceans" would be an absolute staple of hipster strip clubs if, y'know, such a thing existed.  Just wobbly & atmospheric enough to maintain its sensuality without tumbling off the edge, VANDAAM's subtle sexuality is beautifully, unmistakably midwestern.

Final Score: 4/5

Well there you have it, everybody!  Another week's worth of songs downloaded, reviewed, and filed away!

As always, please bear in mind that neither TCDroogsma nor Newest Industry is in any way affiliated with the artists above, The Current, or MPR.  We're just music fans with laptops and a little 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 Flatbasset Radio, our free weekly podcast.

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.