You had to know that I was fond of you...
Well hello again, everybody. Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #92!
Well, now that we're halfway through February it's probably about time I posted a show, eh?
This week's episode is a ball. I've got jams from new bands, jams from old bands, songs of love, songs of heartbreak, icons, memorials, politics, local beats, local punk... shit... this one is all over the place. Of course, mixed in with all of that you'll find the Cover Of The Week and the Flatbasset Flatclassic wrapping it all up. 16 songs, 60 minutes. Settle in with this one.
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 #92 (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. #92 plays out:
01. Strand Of Oaks - Radio Kids
The Current posted "Radio Kids" as one of their Song Of The Day tracks about a month ago because the band was playing their birthday party down at First Avenue. It's definitely a jam, but I didn't think too much of it.
A couple of weeks later, however, Stereogum's Ryan Leas wrote an excellent profile of Tim Showlater, the man behind the band. Suddenly, through Showalter's tale of small-towns & tumultuous marriage through his rise up the indie rock ladder (peaking with a tale of ecstasy-tinged water at a festival in Barcelona), the lost innocence of "Radio Kids" suddenly struck a chord. It was a long time ago now, but much like Showalter, I tend to romanticize a youth spent with with my fingers resting atop the "Play" & "Record" buttons on my old stereo, lapping up every second of a new single on the radio, preserving the static, hooks, & hiss for further dissection. It was something we had before we lost control.
02. Bloc Party - Hunting For Witches
Bloc Party's sophomore album A Weekend In The City came out ten years ago and, for many, it signaled the decline of the band that had taken the indie world by storm with their debut album Silent Alarm. Looking back, it's easy to see how that narrative developed then and is still believed by many today.
AWITC jettisons some of the buzzy energy of Silent Alarm while doubling down on the sort of Bono-esque heart-on-sleeve lyrics that seemed deeply uncool in 2007. While those moments still stand out ten years later, that album has aged remarkably well. Perhaps because the indie rock pendulum has swung back to celebrating confessional songwriters, the honesty of Kele Okereke's lyrics don't seem nearly as clumsy as they did then. I was absolutely prepared to play "I Still Remember" as this week's Flatclassic. That songs soaring nostalgia finds a beautiful sweet spot between Robert Smith's pop classics & Bono's reach for the rafters. Part of me still wishes I had played it as the Flatclassic. However, given the events of the past couple of weeks, "Hunting For Witches" seemed to be the more appropriate song. The more things change the more they stay the same.
03. Jazz Spastiks & Mello Soul Black - Midnight Mode
New Jazz Spastiks singles will always have a home here on the show.
04. Hüsker Dü - Love Is All Around
The theme song of Minneapolis' favorite adopted daughter sung by one of its favorite adopted sons. And people say Minnesotans aren't nice to strangers.
05. Pet Milk - Ostalgia (Rough Mix)
Back on Flatbasset Radio: Episode #85 I played Pet Milk's "Phantom Lovers" from their excellent 2011 EP Philadelphia Punklife. In my write-up for the song I confessed to not knowing much about the band. Somehow, I know even less about them today.
Here's what I've gathered so far - They released Philadelphia Punklife, they began recorded (but didn't master) a new EP or LP, 2012-2016 (??????), they've since released two unmastered versions of songs that were supposed to be on that EP or LP, their Bandcamp page says "PETTMILK 2017 return."
And that's where we're at. I suppose I could dig a little deeper and probably figure out exactly what's going on, but who has time when they're dropping unmastered pop gems like this? Bring on the return!
06. Run The Jewels - Thieves! (Screamed The Ghost) (w/Tunde Adebimpe)
Run The Jewels played a Valentine's Day show at The Myth. Is that the best Valentine's Day gift ever or the worst Valentine's Day gift ever? It's got to be one or the other. There's no middle ground here.
07. Pink Floyd - Sheep
Our second anniversary celebration on this week's show. Pink Floyd's Animals is now 40 years old. 40!
Now, I have a question for the Pink Floyd fans out there - Is this album any good? I ask because, growing up a punk rock kid, Pink Floyd was always anathema to me. Despite the fact that I'd never given them much of a chance, the culture penetration of their pomposity and cliche stoner fans made them an easy stand-in for what punk kids are supposed to hate (like most punk kids, I was not smart). I always hated that children's choir in "Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2" and the whole Dark Side Of The Moon/Wizard Of Oz thing just seemed to reinforce my notion that this was not a band for me.
Anyway, I've long since grown out of that punk rock naivete and embraced all kind of crazy shit. However, Animals is still the only Pink Floyd album that I own (given to me by my buddy Nick aka Young Sandwich). I'm actually surprised by how much I enjoy it. However, until he put the CD in my hands, I had never, ever, ever, heard of the album. You can't grow up listening to music without hearing about Dark Side, The Wall, Wish You Were Here, and that terrible Piper At The Gates Of Dawn record. And yet, in 30 years, I'd never heard or even seen mention of Animals. Is this the bastard child of the Pink Floyd catalog? Has it been disowned by its creators? Do Floyd fans just dismiss at some lesser work? I don't get it.
08. Lushlife - 11 Theses + Anthropocene Dream (w/Jedediah Purdy & Sun Airway)
I've picked up a couple of Philadelphia MC/Producer Lushlife's songs over the years and I enjoyed them immensely, so when I was that he was releasing a new album as a Name-Your-Price (with all proceeds going to the ACLU) download I figured I should probably check it out.
Honestly, given the circumstances, I was expecting a beat tape or toss-off EP sort of thing. I couldn't have been more wrong. My Idols Are Dead + My Enemies Are In Power is an engaging, engrossing album. Lushlife and his many collaborators have taken a step back from the events of the day and analyzed them with a cold eye while not letting themselves lose the fire that made a project like this necessary to begin with. The album varies in style, texture, & mood throughout its 14 tracks while still feeling very much of the moment. Its a complicated album for complicated times.
09. Tropical Depression - White Nights
Erik Appelwick has been one of the busiest men around town for years, though you'd be forgiven for not knowing him by name. He's the man behind (or, rather, out front of) Vicious Vicious & Tropical Depression and has been a member of both The Hopefuls & Tapes N Tapes. Chances are, if you follow the Twin Cities music scene, you have an affinity for at least one of his projects.
His current Tropical Depression is, "a laugh at wealth culture. It's hedonistic, spray-tan absurdism." In other words, it's a bit over the top. Tropical Depression's new album Islands is blast of maximalism. Big drums & big hooks abound. Even the tracks that have little to nothing in the way of vocals have a way of taking over your headphones and forcing their way into your brain.
10. BNLX - Wiggy?/Got Nothing On You
And now, sadly, moment of silence for the loss of Wiggy, beloved family member/band mascot for team BNLX. As someone who also runs a music site/blog with his beloved pet pupper as the mascot, Ed & Ashley Ackerson have my deepest sympathies. I never met Wiggy, but spend a moment checking out his Facebook page and you'll see one happy lil' guy living out every pupper's indie rock dreams. Take care, Wiggy.
11. Medium Zach - Episode Ten
When Flatbasset Radio's favorite producer Medium Zach revived his Last Of The Record Buyer's beat showcase down at Honey a while back he started showing off his production skills via Snapchat/Instagram. He'd spend a couple of minutes showing exactly how he's putting together the beats.
Now, I'm old, have no idea how Snapchat works, and (if you've ever seen my Instagram feed) am not very good at Instagram. Fortunately, he took the time to post the compiled clips as full YouTube videos. Have a look at how "Episode Ten" came to be:
Fortunately, he's collected 17 of these beats and released them via Bandcamp as Beatstory. Probably best to scoop that up now that strolling season is upon us.
12. The Shins - Turn On Me
Another ten year anniversary to mark (get used to these. 2007 really went in), The Shins Wincing The Night Away came out ten years ago last January and, for my money, still stands as the high-water mark in James Mercer's career (though, it should be noted, I've never heard Port Of Morrow & have only a passing knowledge of Broken Bells despite my love of both Mercer & Danger Mouse).
I could have played any number of songs from this one. "Australia," "Sea Legs, "Girl Sailor," "A Comet Appears..." each one of these songs held a spot on the show before I eventually settled on "Turn On Me." There's just something enchanting about the way Mercer binges & purges on syllables throughout this song yet still manages to make it catchy as hell.
13. Tolliver x Garry G - Love Gone Terribly Wrong
An especially late addition to this week's show, once I heard "Love Gone Terribly Wrong" I couldn't resist finding a home for it.
If you've been following along for the last couple of years, you should know both Jonathan Tolliver & Garrison Grouse as 1/3 of the band Black Diet. If you haven't been following along too closely, perhaps you know Grouse as 1/3 of the electo music hydra Pytch Records. After an album of warped out beats, "Love Gone Terribly Wrong" finds him slowing things down to a more digestible speed to create a canvas for Tolliver's heartbreak. It's a good look for Tolliver, who's unique voice was rarely this front-and-center on Black Diet songs.
So, is this just a one-off between friends or is this the slow progression of Black Diet? A curious question, to be sure, but for these four minutes it's one to be put on the back burner.
14. Bug Fix - Don't Wait Til Monday
I first heard of Bug Fix via a tweet from Fury Things. That seemed like good enough recommendation to me, so hit up their Bandcamp page and found this matter-of-fact (and 100% accurate) description:
"Bug Fix is what it would sound like if the guitarist from Red Pens and
the guitar player from Birthday Suits played really concise, clamorous,
short, fast punk songs with the drummer from Selby Tigers."
Does that sound awesome to you? It sounds awesome to me.
15. J Saunders - Tingle
Confession time: I know almost nothing about these 40 seconds of the show. I really needed something to bridge the gap from Bug Fix to Blur and remembered filing this song deep in the recesses of my brain for an occasion just like this. Not to say I don't like it (far from it!), however, trying to Google J Saunders & find out more about this piece of music was difficult. I think it comes from a man named James Saunders, a British composer & music professor.
16. Blur - You're So Great
And so here we are with our Flatbasset Flatclassic Of The Week. To celebrate the 20 year anniversary of Blur's self-title album, we have one of my favorites from an album full of favorites, "You're So Great."
As you may know, Blur was the band's attempt at making an "American" album, a tall order for a band that was so synonymous with the Brit Pop sound. Did they succeed? It's very difficult to tell (it still sounds awfully British to me). Make no mistake, to the Blur diehards (present company included), the record is full of absolute classics. "Beetlebum," "Country Sad Ballad Man," "M.O.R.," "Look Inside America," "Death Of A Party..." I mean, goddamn!
"You're So Great" has always been my favorite though. It was Graham Coxon's first lead vocal on a Blur album to date and he absolutely nails it. I love Damon Albarn, but who couldn't have pulled off the vulnerability Coxon shows here (though he could have come close). The real reason this works (and why Coxon singing it integral to its success) is Coxon's brilliant guitar work. The strumming of the verses mimics the comforting feeling of having someone to love while the post-chorus solo-ing calls to mind the moment that Coxon's cracking voice has just described - that feeling of your love lifting you out of the drudgery of everyday living. In three and a half minutes, the notoriously cantankerous Coxon showed the public a vulnerability that he'd never show before while striking a chord with anybody who's ever needed a bit of help to get through the day (which is to say, everybody).
There you have it, everybody. Happy Valentine's Day!
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.
