Flatbasset Radio: Episode #85

I guess I lost that cool...

Well hello again, podcast fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #85!

Folks, this week I thought I'd change up the formula a little bit. This week's episode is completely banter free! That's right, not a spoken word from yours truly. This week's episode is nothing but straight jams all the way through.

You may be asking yourself, "Droogsy, why not talk in this week's show? Your nasally, barely coherent banter and popped p's are the reason I tune in!"

Wow, your really kind for hypothetically saying that, hypothetical listener. Honestly, I was putting this week's' show together and it was all flowing so well that I decided to just step away from the mic and let the jams do the talking.

That said, this week's show is still built like most of the others. I've got some anniversaries to celebrate, a Cover Of The Week, and an especially epic Flatbasset Flatclassic. If you'd like to know more about the songs, just scroll down and check out the write up.

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 #85 (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 #85 plays out:

01. The Persian Leaps - See Me Unaware 

The Persian Leaps are back! They're set to release their fourth EP Your City, Underwater September 16th on Land Ski Records. The Persian Leaps have been a friend of the blog/podcast for years now and I highly suggest you check out Your City, Underwater and their previous EP's. Nothing but St. Paul's finest fuzzed out, power-pop bliss.

02. Eels - Susan's House

The record that put Mark "E" Everett on the map, Beautiful Freak turned 20 years old this week. Eels have gone on to make a career out of E's left-of-center indie rock, but they never had another album hit quite like this one. Like most people I was hooked in by "Novocaine For The Soul" back when it got a ton of plays on 93.7 The Edge. I chose not to play that (or "Rags To Riches" or "Your Lucky Day In Hell" or "Not Ready Yet...") because I really do dig "Susan's House." Also, it was likely one of the most skipped over songs of the 90's. I figured it was time to give it its due.

03. Life Without Buildings - New Town

I came upon Glasgow's Life Without Buildings via Franz Ferdinand's excellent Late Night Tales mix. Sadly they've been broken up since 2002. At least they made a lovely racket before disbanding.

04. Down By Law - Best Friends

Our Cover Of The Week! I was over at Cheapo Records the other day flipping through CD's (because it's perpetually 1996 in my world) and stumbled across Down By Law's debut album for $4.95. As you can likely imagine, I was pretty fucking pumped. I've wanted this album since I was a 15 year old leafing through the Epitaph catalog that came with my copy of their second album Blue. For whatever reason, these first two DBL albums have a different sound than a lot of the early 90's punk I loved. The production is more spacious, and Dave Smalley's definitely going in. Just listen to "Best Friends" and you'll see what I mean. Anyway, "Best Friends" was originally written by a band called The Outlets, whom I know absolutely nothing about.

05. Pet Milk - Phantom Lovers

Not a particularly flattering story, but I do not have any idea how I came upon Pet Milk's Philadelphia Punklife EP. I know I downloaded it from Bandcamp and I know it was at the suggestion of some other East Coast punk band. BIG UPS maybe? The reason I don't remember is I'm pretty sure I downloaded it about a year ago and didn't get around to listening to it until this month. I know, I'm terrible. Nonetheless, I couldn't have been more surprised by the EP. As you can here on "Phantom Lovers," the "punklife" aspect of the title is nowhere near as dominant as I was expecting. Instead it's a collection of hazy power-pop songs that nearly make up for the existence of the Philadelphia Flyers. Nearly.

06. Bon Iver - 22 (OVER S∞∞N) [Bob Moose Extended Cab Version]

Look, I don't know what to make of these new Bon Iver tracks any more than you do. There's really only so much you can take away reading blogs about a live performance at a festival and a bunch of track names that prominently feature fucking wingdings. Still, this is something. That "might be over soon" repeated bit, the strings, the saxophone! Oh, the saxophone. Much like every mid-30's white guy in the midwest I'm pretty excited to see just what 22, A Million is all about.

07. Dessa - Quinine

Like I mentioned last week when I played that new Sims jam, the Doomtree machine seems to be creaking back to life. Paper Tiger has put out a couple of excellent EP's, P.O.S has put out three new songs, hell, even Cecil Otter finally put out a new EP. With "Quinine" Dessa reminds us that she occupies a singular space in the Twin Cities. Others have tried, but few can handle this type of beat with this type of confidence.

08. The Nadas - Listen Through The Static

Again, I was fucking around in the "Local" section at Cheapo and picked up The Nadas' Listen Through The Static on the strength of its album cover alone. I didn't know that The Nadas were Des Moines' answer to Son Volt. LTTS is full of country-tinged rock music, but none of it is quite as immediately memorable as the title track. Who hasn't spent time driving and scrolling through the radio dial just to catch a bit of a jam through the hiss?

09. Astronomique - Until Daylight

I first came upon Astronomique through Radio K's excellent Track Of The Day podcast (seriously, everybody should subscribe to it). I was so taken with their song "Pretend We're Stars" that I named it the third best Radio K Track Of The Day song of 2014 back in Flatbasset Radio: Episode #53. They returned this year with a self-titled EP that is somehow more danceable and more sultry than their previous work. Highly recommended for summer nights.

10. Tom Vek - Pushing Your Luck

Another podcast find (this one via The Current's Song Of The Day podcast), I'd be lying if I said I knew much about Tom Vek. He's from London and this song is from Luck, his third album. That being said, just listen to it. There's something hypnotic about the way the way song is threatening but vaguely casual. Is that a British thing? I feel like it much be a British thing.

11. The Veils - Calliope!

I played "Calliope! to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of The Veils second album Nux Vomica. While it may be their second album, it's the album where they really found their sound. "Calliope!" is definitely one of the more accessible moments on the albums, but the Auckland-via-London band is as capable of these poppier numbers as they are of building up a Nick Cave-esque slow burn. They've got a new record coming out this autumn that will likely turn up on some "Best Of..." lists.

12. Sebadoh - The Freed Pig

And here it is, folks, your Flatbasset Flatclassic Of The Week! I've played plenty of Sebadoh over the year, but this is a special one because I'm marking the 25th anniversary of the release of Sebadoh III. As somebody who considers Sebadoh one of the great American bands of the last 30 years, this anniversary deserves to be commemorated. Sebadoh III marks the first album on which American treasure Lou Barlow is joined by Jason Loewenstein, whose lo-fi outbursts, song snippets, and country twang would force Barlow outside of his comfort zone and into the Sebadoh we know and love.

"The Freed Pig" opened the album by taking aim squarely at Sebadoh's former bandmate J Mascis and letting him know, in no uncertain terms, just how he felt about his bandmate. Tellingly, it's the most fully-formed and well-produced moment on III, which I can only imagine was done to make the song as accessible as possible, a brilliantly vindictive move by Barlow. It may seem a little awkward now since Dinosaur Jr has long-since reformed and is making arguably the best music of their career these days, but "The Freed Pig" still stands as a declaration of independence for one of America's greatest living songwriters. Long live Sebadoh!

There you have it, folks.  Thanks for slogging through this one with me. I hope you enjoyed the show. Tell your friends.

For more of my rantings you can give me 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.

Songs Of The Week #39

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

Houses, The Uncluded, The Veils, Shout Out Louds, & On And On...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies!  Welcome to Songs Of The Week #39!

For those of you who are still unfamiliar with the column, here's the story:  TCDroogsma has an MP3 problem.  Each week he downloads dozens of MP3's and typically won't shut up about them.  So, with that in mind, we put him to work.

So, each week he downloads the songs given away via The Current's Song Of The Day podcast.  After spending a few days with them we ask him to write a review of each song and give it 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, we also encourage you to give the songs a listen and then vote for your favorite in the poll to the right-hand side of this page.  The winning artist receives the validation that comes with winning an anonymous poll on a blog, arguably the greatest achievement a modern musician can attain.

So, Droogsy... thoughts?

01. Houses - The Beauty Surrounds (from the album A Quiet Darkness)

TCDroogsma:

     It took nearly an entire week of listening to "The Beauty Surrounds" before its... um... beauty finally revealed itself.  It should be noted, of course, that since this is the first song of the week it means I'm typically listening to it while I walk to work at 5:45 in the morning.  I can barely function at that point in the day let alone digest the subtleties of a chillwave-inflected pop song.

    
     And yet, I'm almost certain that when my playlist cycles back to this song each April I'm going to have one of those, "Oh damn!  I forgot about this one" moments.

     The song eases in like a sunrise, with a simple clicking loop and descending synth-line.  "There's some gold in my bones that I told you about..." is how we're greeted.  "So I'm pulling out my teeth and burying them deep underground."  What does that mean?  I have no idea.  Allegedly, A Quiet Darkness is a concept album about two people in post-apocalyptic America trying to reconnect.  Well, seeing as how I'm only reviewing the one song and not the whole concept, the lyrics don't make a ton of sense.

     Still, the co-lead vocals from Dexter Tortoriello and Megan Messina provide the same sort of warmth that one would expect from the aforementioned sunrise.  "All my love won't bring you back to me" is a universal sentiment, whether it's fictional post-apocalypse America or non-fiction, pre-apocalypse America, Houses manages to strike a chord that resonates longer each time I hear it.

Final Score: 3.5/5

02. The Uncluded - Delicate Cycle (from the album Hokey Fright)

TCDroogsma:

     It's almost unfair for me to review "Delicate Cycle."  As an Aesop Rock devotee, I'm almost too familiar with The Uncluded.  Thanks to Aesop's 900 Bats blog (not too mention his Twitter), I've heard "Delicate Cycle" in various forms for over a year.

    Conversely, having heard Aesop Rock & Kimya Dawson together for quite a while now, The Uncluded has little novelty value left to me.  The question, then, is does this project stand up once the surprise of hearing these two artists collaborate stand up?

     The short answer: Yes.  Aesop Rock had spent the years since None Shall Pass coping with a lot of things.  He's even more disconnected from New York City.  He's had friends and family pass away.  He's gone through a divorce.  All of these things were dealt with directly and indirectly on last year's Skelethon (and, in a very indirect way, on his Hail Mary Mallon project, which, with the benefit of time, sounds like a record consisting of a guy going out with his friends for a night on the town to try to forget the problems at home).

     "Delicate Cycle" treads on the more literal side of Aesop's struggles.  Of course, "literal" to Aesop still means layers and layers to dig through.  His first verse is the sound of a man growing older, trying to make his peace with his new place in life, and (most importantly) acknowledging just how fragile it all is.

     Kimya Dawson, as the opposite side of the same coin, spins a much more straightforward yarn of her dad working in a laundromat and the adventure's she had there.  Is this a true story?  I have no idea.  But that's really the genius of the collaboration.

     Dawson's tale of growing up in a laundromat (and the struggles of finally being able to afford her own washer and dryer, thus eliminating the need to go to the laundromat) may be fact, it may be fiction, but read as a very straight narrative leading up to the one big lesson (the "airing their dirty laundry" line) it leaves me with a new respect for her ability to get to the same place as Aesop with about 200 fewer words and 50 fewer metaphors.  In the end, as both grow older, their acknowledging that they've grown wiser but not necessarily happier.  Sometimes the only reasonable thing to do is to pick up a guitar and sing yourself a song.

Final Score: 4/5

03. The Veils - Through The Deep Dark Wood (from the album Time Stays, We Go)

TCDroogsma:

     I've been going pretty hard for The Veils over the last year or so thanks to a friend pushing their first two albums on me.  I wasn't an immediate fan, but they definitely won me over.

     
     "Through The Deep Dark Wood" is not a drastic departure for the band, but it does show The Veils reaching a new level in their craft.  Whereas they used to use singer Finn Andrews' howling-at-the-moon vocals to prop up songs when they flagged, "Through The Deep Dark Wood" has layers upon layers of charm.

     Don't get me wrong, Andrews' still brings to mind the best moments of Hamilton Leithauser, but the rest of the band seem to have finally found a way to work up their own version of "The Rat" behind him.  The guitars chime, the drums hurtle forward, and every time a break is needed, it's there building the suspense for the next blast.  Really, a brilliant job by a band that seems to have really found its footing.

Final Score: 4/5

04. Shout Out Louds - Illusions (from the album Optica)

 
TCDroogsma:

     Maybe I'm being unfair, but I've never been able to completely separate Shout Out Louds from the fact that that their Swedish.  Every song I ever hear from them is meticulously crafted, catchy as good be, but entirely non-threatening and always leaving me wondering if the song was really about anything.  Beautiful but distant.  Y'know, like Sweden.

     
     Take comfort, though, you sexy Nordic dance-poppers, there's a precedent here.  I always felt the same way about fellow-Swedes The Cardigans.  And here in 2013 I find myself one of the few people I know still willing to go to bat for that band.  Great pop music is great pop music and Shout Out Louds are undeniably great at writing pop music.

Final Score: 3.5/5

05. On And On - The Hunter (from the album Give In)

TCDroogsma:

     According to my extensive research (what up, Google!), On And On is a collaborative effort between musicians from Chicago and Minneapolis.  While my distaste for Chicago is at an all-time high right now (fucking Blackhawks), I've definitely embraced this collaboration.

    
     With "The Hunter" On And On manage to keep the sly, synth-heavy hooks that have dominated the Twin Cities over the last couple of years and mix them expertly with the kind of hammer-of-the-gods drums and guitar crunch that can only come from a city that couldn't be further from "Minnesota Nice."

     The result is a song that that kicks around in your head, but also leaves you to realize that you're walking around work singing a song that's menacingly, excitingly sexual under your breath, and that if anybody actually heard you muttering, "You are the hunted, you know why I'm coming..." you'd probably find yourself in the greatest Human Resources there ever was.  Any song that could theoretically lead to that scenario is a winner in my book.

Final Score: 4.5/5

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

As always, please keep in mind that neither Newest Industry nor its contributors is in any way affiliated with the artists above, The Current, or Minnesota Public Radio.  We're just music fans with laptops and little bit 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 our free weekly podcast Flatbasset Radio.

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