I don't know what I'm thinkin' 'bout...
Well hello again, podcast fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #93!
Sorry I took so long with this one. If I've said it once I've said it, well, five times: March is brutal. It's the one month each year when both of my jobs are just insanely busy, which means I have just enough time to work, eat, sleep, & not die. Doing the show is a close fifth on my list of priorities in March.
As such, I'm a bit embarrassed to call myself a podcast host since I went the whole month without putting together a new show. Doing the show, as frustrating as it is, is also kind of my happy place, so here we are.
This week's show checks in a just over an hour. Again, I've restrained from the microphone, which means you won't be bludgeoned with nasal voice & poorly thought out reasoning for playing each song (though, as you can see below, if you'd like to read my commentary in my nasal voice, feel free). I've got some local jams, plenty of anniversaries, a nice number of instrumentals, the Cover Of The Week and, as always, the Flatbasset 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 #93 (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 Episode #93 plays out:
01. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder
Let's get one of the anniversaries out of the way right off the bat. It's been 10 years since CYHSY released their sophomore album Some Loud Thunder and, or better or worse, it still stands as the quintessential example of what happens when the hype goes bust. Without re-hashing the whole thing, their quirky self-titled debut album rode a wave of positive blog buzz to the top of the indie rock scrap heap.
Enter - the dreaded follow-up album. For the most part they didn't have as many hooks, doubled-down on quirk, & the album was panned. While much of that criticism remains true (it's a brutally uneven album), two tracks stand out: the danceable classic "Satan Said Dance" and this titular track. To me this one sounds like David Byrne fronting a garage rock band that hasn't quite figured out how to keep up with their lead singer's yips & yowls quite yet. Had this album contained more of this back-to-basics sort of sound I think history would have framed the band differently. Ah well...
02. The Dijonettes - Music Is Our Parachute
I came across this album while digging around in the "Local Comps" section at Cheapo. I didn't really know what I was getting into, but it featured tracks from Dosh & Lateduster, so I had a loose idea. After spending some time with the album (and reading this incredibly useful City Pages article), I found out that Crossfaded is an album of songs comprised during The Dinkytowner's weekly Crossfaded night back in 2002. The Dijonettes were a 10-piece outfit led by DJ Stage One & Truth Maze. This stuff really stands up, even 15 years later.
03. The Progressive Thinker - The Constitution/The Fortune Is Yours
Abbotsford, New Brunswick's greatest post-harcore export, The Progressive Thinker makes a loud, confusing racket. I don't know much about the band. In fact, I'm not even 100% sure how I stumbled onto their Bandcamp page, but I dug "The Constitution (off their 2012 EP PEOPLE) enough that I had to find a home for it on the show. I pulled "The Fortune Is Yours" from their follow-up LP Hail The Air. Shit's getting real in Abbotsford.
04. Building Better Bombs - No Hospitals
Bringing the post-hardcore back across the border, let's note the 10 year anniversary of the release of Building Better Bombs classic Freak Out Squares LP.
While it's unfortunately bound to be a footnote to the narratives of P.O.S., Doomtree, Ryan Olson, Marijuana Deathsquads, Gayngs & Polica, this record remains a fucking monster. You can here P.O.S., Olson, Isaac Gale, & Drew Christopherson beginning to push & pull at the edges of of these songs while still hemming relatively close to what would be considered "hardcore." Ten years on, it stands as the moment when the fuse was lit on a Minneapolis sound that was about to explode into a thousand different pieces.
05. Paper Tiger - Sick Stand
Paper Tiger returns with the third installment of his In Other Words EP series. If you haven't been following along I suggest you check out all three EP's. Just straight jams.
06. David Bazan's Black Cloud - Let Down
I had a different Cover Of The Week all cued up for this show, but then Pitchfork had to go and devote a whole week to everything surrounding the 20 year anniversary of OK Computer's release. Never one to miss an opportunity to ride a wave, I dug out this old Stereogum compliation they released back on the 10th anniversary of the album.
Their were a bunch of solid covers to choose from, but something about this one strikes me. He tones down the atmosphere just a bit and lets his voice wrap around the song like a warm blanket. It's true to the original, but definitely puts his own spin on it. Not easy to do with source material like this.
(Quick aside: How great is it that we live in a world were David Bazan has a project called "David Bazan's Black Cloud?" As if he was sitting their one day and thought, "Boy, this Pedro The Lion thing is going great, but I could really use an outlet for some of these sad songs." Long live the Black Cloud!)
07. Erykah Badu - Next Lifetime
Another anniversary acknowledgement - This time it's the 20th anniversary of Erykah Badu's breakout album Baduizm.
I'm not going to sit here and tell you this album meant much to me upon its release. Honestly, I was probably way too busy listening to Lagwagon & playing Goldeneye to take note of the neo-soul movement. As it stands today, it's an album I'll put on when life is just way too stressful (which is far more often than it should be these days).
08. Bash & Pop - Can't Be Bothered
Fresh off that triumphant Replacements reunion Tommy Stinson revives his dormant Bash & Pop project and unleashed a power-pop gem. Most of the songs on Anything Could Happen are rockers, but this one struck me for some reason. While I'm sure both artists would be annoyed by this compliment, with Anything Could Happen Tommy Stinson's made the best Paul Westerberg album in years.
09. Good Doom - Mannequin
I've been listening to this new Good Doom album a lot recently. It's mostly hazy instrumentals and, since I spent a lot of time this month on the lightrail, it's made for a great soundtrack as I struggle to stay awake down University. See that album cover up above? If you were to shrink yourself down like one or Rick Moranis' idiot children and wander around those plants, these songs would be the perfect soundtrack.
10. The Good, The Bad, And The Queen - Herculean
Did you really think I'd let the 10 year anniversary of a Damon Albarn project just roll by without acknowledging it?
A lot has happened since this album came out. Albarn rode Gorillaz to the top of the pop world, dropped an incredible solo album, wrote a couple musicals, & reformed Blur. And yet, TGTBATQ still stands tall in the man's history. Teaming up with Paul Simonon (of The Clash), Simon Tong (of The Verve), Tony Allen (of Africa 70), and Danger Mouse, they crafted what was deemed as a concept album about life in London during the Bush/Blair years. As a supergroup one-off, it's a staggering work.
11. Twin Ion - Poisong
Speaking of that Cheapo "Local Comps" section, I scooped this one up one day on a whim. I don't know what the "Fireball" in "A Fireball Compliation" means, but it had The Plastic Constellations & Linus on it so I thought, "Fuck it, let's find out."
Turns out their is almost no information about the band Twin Ion on the internet and even less information about the album. The only thing I could find about the band is that they were (are?) a four-piece from Minneapolis that formed in 2002. I also know that "Poisong" is straight fire.
12. Falls - Cuts_Part2
I forget exactly how I found out about this Tape_Cuts EP from Falls. It's a local EP, so I think it as probably a tweet from Psymun or Big Cats or somebody like that. Anyway, I've been listening to it since November and I've been meaning to play this song on the show for just as long. Part Chicago footwork, part Jamie XX, this is one of those songs that makes me with I owned a car just so I could roll down the windows at go for a night drive.
13. Frank Ocean - Rushes To
Confession time: this is the first Frank Ocean album I've ever heard. I mean, I heard some Channel Orange stuff while I was out-and-about over the years, but I'd never sat and listened to a Frank Ocean album until just a couple weeks ago.
With all the hype that surrounded the two-headed Endless/Blond monster last year, it seems as though Endless was going to be consigned to the "contract-fulfillment" scrap heap while Blond took its rightful place as the long-awaited follow-up to Channel Orange. Everything I read about Endless (that it was song fragments & loose ideas assembled into a mix-esque collection) made it sound like the more intriguing listen. Since I still haven't heard Blond I guess I can't really say, but the 45 minutes of endless sound like taking a stroll directly through Ocean's frontal lobe as he works out his ideas. It's quite compelling.
14. Ted Leo And The Pharmacists - A Bottle Of Buckie
As I mentioned back at the top of the post, March is a tough month for me. At some point this past month I hit a wall and just kept waking up depressed & angry (too much work, not enough sleep, poor eating... these things happen). Anyway, I was walking to work one day and the old iPod shuffled to a Ted Leo song and it was like the fucking clouds parted. I don't know if what it is about the guy, but something about his music lifts my spirits every time.
While "A Bottle Of Buckie" may not be the best song on Living With The Living (celebrating its own 10 year anniversary here), its story of camaraderie and nostalgia (and that flute solo) picked me up when I needed it, so here's one for you, Teddy. Thanks for everything.
15. Allah-Las - Hereafter
The Current gave this one away as a Song Of The Day track last month and I couldn't really make heads or tails of it. All the other Allah-Las stuff I've heard is more garage rockin' stuff whiel "Hereafter" is basically a sort of cocktail lounge instrumental. What the hell?
Once I got over my expectations (and spent a week with the song), I came around hard on this one. The fact that it's been relegated to the b-side of the "Autumn Dawn" single leads me to believe that it my just be a detour for the band rather than a new direction, but it definitely stands up on its own.
16. Nine Inch Nails - The Perfect Drug
And here we have it, folks. Your Flatbasset Flatclassic Of The Week!
It's the 20th anniversary of the release of Lost Highway a typically-bizarre film from the typically-bizarre David Lynch. I've yet to see the film, but I remember buying the soundtrack when it came out on the strength of this song and a new Marilyn Manson song (you laughed earlier, but thank God I eventually found the Lagwagon's of the world). The Manson song was garbage, but, for my money, "The Perfect Drug" is still the best song Trent Reznor's ever put to tape (though I will ride for The Fragile). Bonus points for the Zorro look he was rocking in that video. Goddamn I love the 90's.
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.
