Flatbasset Radio: Episode #64 (Young Sandwich's Summer Mix Pt. 2)

Take me out beyond the stress...

I told you we'd be back!

That's right, Pt. 2 of Young Sandwich's Summer Mix is here.  I won't bore you with all the details of how this mix came to be (scroll down a post for all of that).

Pt. 2 picks up right where Pt. 1 left off, but it definitely has a few more left turns than yesterday's show.  Think of it as the indulgent Side B to yesterday's more immediate Side A. Nick & I put together a second half that takes some long detours into funk, latino prog-rock, NY hip-hop, local R&B, alt-country, pop-punk, and a whole host of other classic stuff.  If you dug the first half of the Summer Mix than this is the perfect complement.

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

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #64 (Young Sandwich's Summer Mix Pt. 2) by Tcdroogsma on Mixcloud

01. Lucinda Williams - Drunken Angle
02. Coleman Hawkins - Heart And Soul
03. Thievery Corporation - Culture Of Fear (w/Mr. Lif)
04. Niko Strums - ...A Great Oak Was
05. Whatever Forever - Miserable People
06. Edison - o-3
07. Parliament - Whatever Makes Baby Feel Good
08. Devendra Banhart - Hatchet Wound
09. The Mars Volta - Drunkship Of Lanterns
10. Joey Bada$$ - On & On (w/Maverick Sabre & Dymeond Lewis)
11. Southside Desire - The Ledge
12. John Coltrane & Wilbur Harden - B.J.
13. Yo La Tengo - Before We Run

There it is, folks! Enjoy!

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #63 (Young Sandwich's Summer Mix Pt.1)

Man, I should go get a paper route...

Well hello again, podcast fans!  Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #63!

As you hopefully tell by the extended title up above, my buddy Nick (aka Young Sandwich) is back with another one of his seasonal mixes.  He was also kind enough to stop by a few months ago with a Spring Mix and started off his seasonal appearances last Autumn with a two-part mix for Episodes #45 & #49.  He had put one together for last winter too, but that one is in the vaults.  I'll post that one once we get into the dead of winter.

But that's the past and the future.  We're here and it's summer.

As you can tell from the title, this is the first in another two-part seasonal mix.  This time around Nick & I "collaborated" on the show.  I put "collaborated" in quotation marks because when Nick gave me the CD full of his songs about half a dozen of them refused to be recognize by my computer.  Instead of digging around to find new versions of the tracks I decided to inject a few of my own choices into the mix.  In the end this Summer Mix turned into a sort of Bizarro Summer. It's got classics you'll recognize, songs from legends you might not no, indie hip-hop, raw grunge, a good dose of jazz, sun-drenched indie rock, instrumentals, and one prog-rock opus.  Hope ya dig it.

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

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #63 (Young Sandwich's Summer Mix Pt. 1) by Tcdroogsma on Mixcloud

01. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Long Hot Summer Night
02. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)
03. Open Mike Eagle - Nightmares
04. PJ Harvey - The Dancer
05. Albert King - The Very Thought Of You
06. Jim Morrison - A Feast Of Friends
07. Yes - Heart Of The Sunrise
08. .phase - Sudden Affection
09. Nirvana - Very Ape
10. Outkast - Drinkin' Again (Interlude)/Snappin' & Trappin' (w/Killer Mike & J-Sweet)
11. Nina Simone - I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl
12. Nik Freitas - Sun Down
13. Omaur Bliss - Summatime
14. Charlie Parker - I'll Remember You

There you have it folks!  Be back tomorrow with Young Sandwich's Summer Mix Pt. 2!

Flatbasset Radio's 50 Most Played Albums: July '15

Well hello again, album collage fans. Thanks for stopping by.

Like I always do at this time (this time being the beginning of a new month), it's time to take a quick look back at what's been getting the most spins here at Planet New Basset.

Why would you be interested in this?  I have no idea.  Honestly, these posts exist pretty much so I have an excuse to look at these cool ass collages.

Alright, let's get into it.  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. Buck 65 - Neverlove (105 plays)

02. Mike Mictlan - Hella Frreal (71 plays)

03. Mrs. - City (53 plays)

04. BNLX - Good Light (45 plays)

05. Homeless & Big Cats! - The Polar Bear Rug (35 plays)

06. The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers (30 plays)

07. Joey Bada$$ - B4.DA.$$ (30 plays)

08. Nadastrom - The Life And Times Of Raphael De La Ghettó (30 plays)

09. Greetings From Tuskan - The Love From Afar (24 plays)

10. All - Allroy Saves (22 plays)

11. Morrissey - Your Arsenal (21 plays)

12. Aesop Rock - Labor Days (20 plays)

13. Clementine - Crooked Brain (20 plays)

14. Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters (19 plays)

15. Various Artists - A Record Label Sampler Volume 4 (19 plays)

16. A Tribe Called Quest - The Anthology (18 plays)

17. Bruce Springsteen - Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. (18 plays)

18. Billy Joel - 52nd Street (18 plays)

19. X - The Houston Museum Of Natural Science (18 plays)

20. P. Morris - Daydream (18 plays)

21. Various Artists - Ghostly Swim (17 plays)

22. Whiskeytown - Pneumonia (16 plays)

23. Felt - Felt 2: A Tribute To Lisa Bonet (16 plays)

24. Iggy Pop - New Values (15 plays)

25. Babyshambles - Down In Albion (15 plays)

26. De La Soul - Buhloone Mindstate (15 plays)

27. Big Quarters - Cost Of Living (Instrumentals) (15 plays)

28. Bad Religion - Recipe For Hate (14 plays)

29. The Potatomen - Now (14 plays)

30. Erykah Badu - Baduizm (13 plays)

31. Millencolin - For Monkeys (13 plays)

32. Ruth Ruth - Laughing Gallery (13 plays)

33. Dillinger Four - Situationist Comedy (13 plays)

34. Pulp - Different Class (12 plays)

35. The Libertines - Up The Bracket (12 plays)

36. Sondre Lerche - Two Way Monologue (12 plays)

37. Why? - Elephant Eyelash (12 plays)

38. Paul Westerberg - Eventually (12 plays)

39. Warpaint - Warpaint (12 plays)

40. Blur - The Magic Whip (12 plays)

41. Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic (11 plays)

42. Art Brut - It's A Bit Complicated (11 plays)

43. The Stand4rd - The Stand4rd (11 plays)

44. Human Kindness - Not Apathetic (11 plays)

45. Wilco - Star Wars (11 plays)

46. Rupert AngelEyes - Young Sunset (10 plays)

47. Various Artists - Adult Swim Singles Program 2015 (10 plays)

48. Superchunk - Majesty Shredding (10 plays)

49. William Within - Lost In Writing (10 plays)

50. Suede - Coming Up (10 plays)

There you have it, everybody.  Big thanks to everybody who read the blog & listened to the show last month. All episodes of the show are available to stream over on my Mixcloud page. If you dig it, stop by the Flatbasset Radio Facebook page & give it a "Like."

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

Album Of The Week: "Crooked Brain" by Clementine

Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of July 26th-August 1st, 2015:

Clementine - Crooked Brain

01. The Psalmist's Shadow
02. Blood Diamonds
03. Float
04. Ate Baby Porcupine
05. Strongarm
06. Elephant And The Attic Tern
07. The Leaves Are Changing Brown
08. Mother's Song
09. In Praise
10. The Sun It Still Rises

(Photo: Kyle Kotajarvi)

It's no secret that the 90's are back in a big way these days. The glorious, lo-fi sounds of bands like Guided By Voices & Sebadoh can be found all over the indie rock world yet again. Bands like Titus Andronicus & Speedy Ortiz have taken the jangled, post-grunge model and added their own mono-genre-endorsed anthemic qualities to give us a welcome reminder that there will always be a place in the world for bands that embrace plugging in and turning up the volume as steps 1 & 2 to being a great band.

Why do I bring this up?  Because Minneapolis band Clementine represents a different sort of 90's renaissance. Their debut album Crooked Brain gazes back at the slower-burning sounds of post-grunge. They emphasize texture over bombast, moments over hooks.  It's a throwback to a time of longer attention spans and delayed gratification.

To really grasp Crooked Brain it's best to break it into two halves LP-style.  The first half of the record finds the band dabbling in stylistic turns.  "The Psalmist's Shadow" opens the album with over a minute of instrumental build-up before finally giving way to a verse and a mid-tempo pace that, as we find out over the course of Side B, is the band's forte. The three song run of "Blood Diamonds-Float-Ate Baby Porcupine" finds the band at their most daring, channeling Faith No More, Pixies, and... Live? It's a dynamic run that doesn't always hit, but when it does it works wonders.  "Ate Baby Porcupine" in particular rides some sneaky great guitar work and the band's most hummable hook to Crooked Brain's early peak.

Beginning with "Elephant And The Attic Tern," Side B provides an elongated look at Clementine as rafter-reaching balladeers. Abandoning the experimentation of Side A, the band aims big with a full set of slow-burners with big ideas, stepping away from post-rock and toward straight-up arena rock.

Now, I'm fully aware that some folks may take the term "arena rock" as a criticism, but that's preposterous stance to take. It's especially preposterous when a band is this damn good at it. Toeing the line between personal lyrics and universal sentiment, Clementine aims big and mostly hit their mark. "The Leaves Are Changing Brown" may be the stereotypical "acoustic jam," but it sounds more like a Brand New deep cut than some sort of watered-down R.E.M. cast-off.  Late cuts "Mother's Song" and "In Praise" are nearly 11 minutes total, but while they sort of blend together on first listen, repeated plays reveal hooks that reward patience. And of course, like any great 90's album, the band keeps a killer in the pocket for album closer.  "The Sun It Still Rises" takes the other four songs from Side B and gives them a jolt, speeding up the tempo, doubling down on the riffs, and riding an upward melody to a bit of catharsis.



To be completely honest, Crooked Brain didn't click with me right away. However, that's why I spend a week listening to these albums everyday. Sometimes it takes a while for them to really reveal themselves.  Once I was able to put understand Clementine's strengths (clean sound, universal themes, hooks that turn up like little shots of sunlight through clouds) I found Crooked Brain to be a unique & enjoyable record among the Twin Cities rock scene that doesn't always breed this sort of patience over immediacy and subtlety over volume.

If you'd like to check out Crooked Brain for yourself head on over to Clementine's Bandcamp page. The band is also undertaking a tour of the midwest this summer.  Check out their Facebook page for dates.