“That’s my theme music, all superheroes need their own theme music.”- I’m Gonna Git You Sucka

I am seriously hoping that someone replies to this, if only because it means I’m not the only one that occasionally thinks about such things. I was walking today, headphones in ear, listening to DJ Andy Smith’s The Document (great mix, highly recommended), which includes the Spencer Davis Group’s classic “I’m a Man” near the end of the CD. When that CD first came out, I kept it on permanent rotation, since that track hit all the right notes with its sample-worthy drumming, earnest lyrics and overwhelming funk. Seriously, if this track doesn’t get your head bobbing or your foot tapping, you have no soul. Here’s the first verse and chorus:

Well my pad is very messy And there’s whiskers on my chin And I’m all hung up on music And I always play to win I ain’t got no time for lovin’ Cause my time is all used up Just to sit around creatin’ All that groovy kind of stuff.

I’m a man
Yes I am
And I can’t help
But love you so
I’m a man
Yes I am
And I can’t help
But love you so.

Sometime after hearing that track, I thought about the above quote from I’m Gonna Git You Sucka. I actually thought about it a lot to tell the truth, and decided “I’m a Man” would be my theme music, the music that plays as I walk down the street, Shaft-style. At different times I’ve switched to James Brown’s “(Call Me) Super Bad,” another song that’s always resonated (going so far as to own a piece of comic
art that references the title), but for the moment, “I’m a Man” fits the bill.

Now it’s your turn. Please tell me I’m not the only one that spends my idle moments thinking about this kind of crap (yes, I’m well aware my nerd is showing). You’re in the opening montage of a movie. You’re walking to do something badass, because you are a badass. What music is playing?

John Bonham, 1978

Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham (1948-1980) was one of the heaviest, funkiest, and most sampled rock drummers of all time (see especially “When the Levee Breaks”). These 23 MP3s go some way to proving why this was so. Even coming out of meager computer speakers, Bonham’s skin-pounding sounds utterly fat and irrepressible. These beats—which were recorded in 1978 during the sessions for Zep’s In Through the Out Door—are a goldmine of samples. It may behoove you to speak to a copyright lawyer before using anything here on a record.

Arthur Lee, 1945-2006

This page on youtube has a grip of Love footage. Do yourself a favor and check out “Your Mind and We Belong Together,”� one of the best Arthur Lee songs in Love’s coruscating catalog (and it wasn’t even on a proper album). This track has three distinct phases, and it gets better (i.e., more psychedelic) as it goes. Love’s members look fantastic in this video; combine that with their amazing songs and they should’ve been bigger than their L.A. buds the Doors.

The Stranger will be running an obit on Mr. Lee next week. Keep an eye on our home page.

Thanks to Kwab Copeland at Sunset Tavern for the tip.

There are two shows this weekend—both in Ballard, both on Saturday night, both totally worth your time.

For the all-ages crowd, the Paradox is hosting the Velvet Teen, Sparrows Swarm & Sing, This Will Destroy You, and Elphaba. The Velvet Teen has a new record out, Cum Laude!, but the songs on the internet don’t interest me too much since they’re really loud and slightly more conventional compared to the band’s previous efforts. But that doesn’t keep me from loving them. Their beautifully heart-breaking 2004 release Elysium, saved me this past winter when I decided to lock myself in my apartment and do nothing by bake cookies and avoid phone calls. I heard that live (as I’ve never seen them myself), they’re lush, fluid, and completely amazing.

Also, opening band Sparrows Swarm and Sing had their gear stolen in Portland the other night (thieving bastards!) but the show will still go on for them. If you happen to come across someone with a whole lot of new and exciting band gear (a list of all that was taken is behind the cut), report ‘em to authorities. Or take it back and beat them up.

For those who reserve the right to legally drink beer, Boat celebrates the release of their new album Songs You Might Not Like at the Sunset with friends Tullycraft, the Salteens, and Voxy. I like Boat. I like them a lot. You can hear them here.

It’s going to be a good weekend.

Continue reading "Ballard. Tomorrow night." »

For all those who go to Portland for Egyptian Lover, lookout.

As I reported yesterday in Line Out, both the Comet and Chop Suey have new owners.

I just got off the phone with Chris Dasef, former owner of Chop Suey and new owner of hallowed Seattle watering hole the Comet. Here’s what he had to say about the reasons behind the Chop Suey sale:

“John Villsvik has been an interested party for a while. He was [originally] going to buy in with me to rid myself of some other investors. They didn’t want to be a part of it anymore—and I didn’t want them to be a part of it either. We couldn’t come to an agreeable percentage on joint ownership, so I said, ‘hey, I want to buy the Comet, you should just buy Chop Suey.’”

Dasef also cited a desire to get Chop Suey out of debt as a motivating factor:

“When Neumo’s first opened up, we had a rough time of it [financially]. We got behind on a few things, and I just wanted to get caught up and get square on everything.”�

Villsvik (who unreachable at the time of this post) will be assuming the old debt and (according to Chop Suey booking agent Colin Johnson), has no current plans to change the club in any major way.

As for the Comet, Dasef said there would be some minor cosmetic changes and the current staff would be retained:

“The Comet is going to be exactly the same. We’re going to remember, support, and cherish the parts of the Comet [that everyone loves]. We are going to clean it, add some fresh paint, and make it less cluttered. We will still have graffiti, live bands, and the same clientel. We also plan on spending [several] hours cleaning up those bathrooms.”�

Additionally, Dasef plans on applying for a license to serve hard alcohol, a change that old timers may grumble about, but seems to be a necessary upgrade for most bars these days.

I’ll have more details and an interview with the new Chop Suey owner on Monday.

That ubiquitous Harvey Danger photo

Stranger editor emeritus Sean Nelson was interviewed in the new issue of Seattle Sound for an article on his band Harvey Danger (I’d link to the story, but the mag’s site seems to be one month behind schedule). SS writer Litsa Dremousis conducted a thorough interview and wrote a long feature, which was considerably edited for print. Dremousis agreed to let Nelson post the uncut version of the transcript on his blog. It’s a must read for fans and the HD curious.

The news hook for that Harvey Danger piece (and this post) is to alert you to the Seattle band’s Aug. 4 CD release party for the new and, one assumes, improved (Kill Rock Stars didn’t send a copy; ‘sup with that?) version of Little by Little. Harvey Danger’s third album, it is the group’s most mature and accomplished work yet.

But is there another “Flagpole Sitta”� on it, you annoyingly ask? Um, I don’t think so. But “Little Round Mirrors”� and “Cream and Bastards Rise”� are better songs, and so are “Plague of Locusts”� and the title track off the 2005 Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes) EP. Melodically nuanced, lyrically acute, and robustly rocking when they need to be, Harvey Danger’s newest batch of songs are built to last à la those by Nilsson, Newman, and Lennon/McCartney.

Harvey Danger play tonight at Neumo’s (925 E Pike St) with Mercir, Soft Drugs, the Trucks; $8 advance tickets, 21+.

It’s all too easy to post a picture like the above, knowing that it’ll warrant a quick laugh. It’s really easy to laugh when you don’t think that’ll be you in twenty years. I’ll admit to having rocked a high top fade back in the day (yes, pictures exist and no, you can’t see them), but other than a few experiments I’ve kept things pretty simple since. I predict a decade from now these assymmetrical MySpace ‘dos are going to provide plenty of comic relief.

As indicated in the above image, the hair belongs to the Egyptian Lover (Greg Boussard). Defined most easily as electro-hop, Boussard’s productions fall generally into the same vein as Afrika Bambaataa’s earliest hits, and spent their time in many a DJ’s crate. My exposure to Egyptian Lover has come primarily from YouTube in recent weeks, which continues to astound with the amount of content it holds. I’d highly recommend watching this older footage (featuring Ice T!) along with this new video. Between the two, you might decide it’s worth it to make the roadtrip down to Portland, where Egyptian Lover is performing with his original partner Jamie Jupiter. Between Egyptian Lover’s suggestive songs and Portland’s rock the fuck out attitude, this one should should prove to be quite the spectacle.

Death From Above (can we now excuse them of their contractually required “1979”?) have announced their break up yesterday via their myspace blog.

Here are some highlights of the entry, posted by Jessie Keeler:

i wanted to let you know that your assumptions are correct. we decided to stop doing the band… actually we decided that almost a year ago.

over the last 3 years of touring, sebastien and i had grown apart to such an extent that the only real time we spoke was just before we would play and during interviews. we both changed so much that the people we were by the end of it, probably wouldnt have been friends if they were to meet for the first time again. its a totally normal function of growing up.

Keeler continues to make music as one half of MSTRKRFT, whose excellent album, The Looks, is out now.

I’ll be missing Homo a Go Go this weekend, and I’m bummed. I’ll be spending tonight in the lovely town of Concrete for Breeder Family Time a Go Go (which features much less dancing) and tomorrow night at Neumos for the Diplo/CSS/Bonde Do Role show (which will have dancing and be totally awesome).

Tonight a Homo a Go Go, I’ll be missing the brilliant, soulful disco-punk of The Gossip and the teenage noise outbursts of local duo Mikaela’s Fiend.

Go to Olympia tonight. Dance your ass off. Stay there all weekend. Have a good time.

Tomorrow, Saturday August 5, is the closing day and night of Homo A Go Go in Olympia, and damn is the line-up killer: Hey Willpower!, Lesbians on Ecstasy, queer rapper Deadlee, and, on the decks between sets, a couple of Seattle imports: Comeback mainstay DJ Porq and some hack named DJ El Toro.

But what am I really excited about? The Oly incarnation(s) of Blowoff. Blowoff is the brainchild of alt-rock icon Bob Mould (Husker Du, Sugar, etc.) and DJ/producer/remixer Richard Morel (Pink Noise, Morel, etc.) It is both a club night and a collaborative musical project (their debut rock-pop-electronic album is out at the end of August). Saturday night, the duo will play live, followed by a full-on DJ set and dance party to cap this big gay week of music & art.

The regular Washington DC editions of Blowoff the club (which often showcase an appearance by Blowoff, the band) have become some of the hottest parties for queers of all stripes on the East Coast. Why? Mould says the party brings in a diverse crowd, with patrons ranging from 25 to 50 in age, and favoring more of an indie rock and house music vibe than traditional circuit party fare. “We didn’t start a club night to be part of a scene,” he insists. “We did it so we could play music and make friends.” Bravo! See you on the dance floor.

Love mastermind Arthur Lee died of leukemia on August 3. The I Love Music message board hosts a discussion of the great man here.

Lee is the prime mover behind 1967’s epochal Forever Changes, a record many discerning heads rank as one of the greatest rock albums of all time. It is all of that and then some.

I’m too distraught and exhausted to deliver a proper obit now. More to come tomorrow, I hope.

I actually forgot about the Sleater-Kinney webcast on Tuesday, so I was pleasantly surprised to hear that it got postponed to today on account of “electrical problems.” They just went on about 25 minutes ago, and while the sound keeps fading a bit (are they moving the mic?), it’s sounding pretty good. Almost enough to make me upset to not go the the final show in PDX, but there’s no way I’m shelling out the Craigslist premium. Does NPR do this kind of thing often? If so, they rock much harder than I give them credit for.

I am the proud owner of this single which I play out in my (rare) DJ sets. I bought it when I was in Germany. This song was everywhere that summer (at least on German TV and Radio). My 4 year old son loved the video. Don’t know why.

Here is Das Bo with his hit, Tuerlich, Tuerlich (Sicher Dicker).

I’ll give you one guess as to what it’s about.

Joan As Policewoman

Imogen Heap and Leslie Feist better scooch over and make some room.

Check out her myspace page. And notably her track “I Defy” featuring guest vocals by non-other than Antony and The Johnsons.

Joan As Policewoman is touring Europe at the moment, but she’s ready to break here in the states soon. So just remember folks. You heard her here first.

Now you can go back to watching that HI-LARIOUS! OK GO! video.

Chop Suey: The rumors are true—the Capitol Hill venue has officially been sold to a real estate developer. Booking agent Colin Johnson tells me that the owner plans to leave the club intact. Meanwhile, Chop Suey’s former owner, Chris Dasef, finalized his purchase of the Comet yesterday. Look for more details on Line Out tomorrow and in Rocka Rolla next week.

In other news…

Metallica: Looking to corner the new parent market.

James Brown: Looking to collect what he is owed.

MTV Video Awards: Looking exceptionally lame this year.

The Hold Steady: Looking forward to releasing a new album and heading our way on October 21st.

So-called “Bump ‘n Grind Barbies”: Looking lucrative. How depressing.

Thom Yorke: Looking to start a shitstorm by calling for Tony Blair’s resignation on Radiohead’s blog (and later deleting the post). At least he knows who Tony Blair is, unlike a certain deplorable “dance music star.”

Robin Judge, recently added to Decibel’s Minimal/Dub Showcase

Seattle-based electronic-music festival Decibel’s entire lineup is now accessible on its blog, including timeslots and prices for individual showcases. Check it out; there’ve been a few changes/additions.

A full schedule will appear on Decibel’s website soon.

The song I hear drifts out of the speakers. I gravitate, sustained. It’s gloomy and beautiful. It’s 18 minutes long. It fades and builds. Fuzz delayed open-tuned guitars stream in keyboard drone, and ethereal vocals. The drums pulse distance. It sounds so Icelandic. So Reykjavik-ish.

I move to find the cd case and see who it is.

Yume Bitsu? The Golden Vessyl of Sound? K Records? 2002? Olympia?

It’s so Icelandic, the album doesn’t even have song titles.

Olympia and Portland are kind of like Reykjavik. I guess. In the winter. If you walk through a cloudy field during a 5:30 sunset while it’s raining.

I turn confused. Where is Yume Bitsu now?

Continue reading "Yume Bitsu - Icelandic before Icelandic was Icelandic" »

And I’m sorry to give linkage via Boing Boing twice in one hour, but I couldn’t pass this one up. The house where Captain Beefheart recorded Trout Mask Replica is for sale. I wonder what kind of person would be interested in buying such a thing. :-)

I was intrigued when Boing Boing reported that the CBC is soliciting remixes of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. That’s a hell of an ask — this is an opera that takes an entire week to perform, is musically and textually complicated and dense (many scholars make their entire careers as Ring experts), and is considered by some to be the greatest work of art ever produced. Only brave and well-funded organizations dare to mount a production of the Ring in its entirety. (The Seattle Opera does it rather frequently and deserves much credit for doing so.)

Despite having seen the Ring cycle twice, I still would have no idea where to start, and probably would not want to touch it because whatever I’d produce would sound like crap. You might be able to play little textual jokes with the leitmotifs, or maybe slice up some of the overture to Das Rheingold and reproduce Wagner’s “building of the world” in a boompty-boomp rave context. But it would be too much work to make it not sound like an incredibly cheesy opera remix.

So I was a little relieved, and also a little disappointed, when I clicked on the link and discovered that they’re only soliciting remixes of “Ride of the Valkyries” — the “Kill the Wabbit” bit that is the only part of the Ring you can count on any normal person to recognize. It’s rhythmic and bombastic and recognizable and lends itself well to really bad trance music, and I sympathize with the CBC producers who will have to slog through hundreds of obvious and terrible versions to find something worth broadcasting.

So, um, let’s just say I’m very curious to hear the winning submissions.

The fan critically injured at Sunday night’s Family Values tour date has passed away. Headliners Korn have issued the following statement:

All the bands on THE FAMILY VALUES TOUR offer their sincerest condolences and prayers to the family of 30-year-old Andy Richardson. Richardson, who attended Sunday’s show at Atlanta’s Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheater, was beaten by two men at the concert and subsequently was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday, August 1. The incident occurred during the Deftones set, before tour headliners KORN took the stage. KORN are appalled at the actions of these men and are imploring anyone who witnessed this senseless act or has any information about the attack to please immediately come forward by contacting local authorities.

A sad but touching footnote: Richardson had already been declared brain dead, according to a report at SPIN.com, but was kept on life support until transplant recipients for his vital organs could be found.

Along with the Winstons’ “Amen My Brother”� break, it is justifiably one of the essential ingredients of hiphop and jungle. Legends like DJ Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash latched onto it in the mid-’70s and a trillion headspins and uprocks later, Michael Viner’s Incredible Bongo Band’s version of the Shadows’ “Apache”� is still inspiring amazing B-boy feats worldwide. The rapid-fire bongo-bashing orgy that splits the track is unquestionably one of the funkiest recorded moments ever, up there with Dennis Coffey & the Detroit Guitar Band’s “Scorpio.”�

“Apache”� has been sampled by Missy Elliott, Coldcut, Will Smith, Goldie, Jurassic 5, Moby, Run DMC, Sugarhill Gang, Beastie Boys, Massive Attack, and dozens more.

Previously the province of diligent crate-diggers and those alert enough to snap up Strut Records’ 2002 comp Bongo Rock: The Story of the Incredible Bongo Band, IBB’s music is finally getting a proper reissue October 31. Bongo Rock: The Story Of The Incredible Bongo Band (on Mr. Bongo) features the two original IBB albums in their entirety (Bongo Rock and The Return of the Incredible Bongo Band). You’re gonna need doubles of this, DJs.

Track listing after the jump.

Continue reading "Incredible Bongo Band: One of Life's Viner Things" »

While I was studying in Paris a few years ago I had a rare fanboy/geek-out moment. Well, such a moment that is blessedly rare in public for me, at least. It was actually my last day in gay Paris and I was wandering through the Marais a final time when I spotted Ted Leo across the street and shouted to my friend Kimmy,

“HOLY SHIT, THAT’S TED LEO.”

I’m pretty sure he heard me (how could he not?), as I strolled up to him later and introduced myself to him and Jodie Buonanno (of Secret Stars). Awkwardly I apologized for my intrusion and tried to come up with something cool to talk about as I became “that guy” interupting their vacation. If only YouTube had existed then, we could’ve chuckled over this video of one of his old bands, Animal Crackers playing a basement show and maybe, just maybe Ted Leo would think that I was cool.

Thanks to Dan for the link.

Have the best day of your life by beginning your day with this:

You’re welcome.

It’s official. The end of the world is at hand. But it is not the clip-clop of the four fabled horsemen that signals the oncoming apocalypse. Rather, the clarion is sounded by this simple missive:

Jandek is coming to Seattle. Performing live at On The Boards, Friday, October 27, at 7 PM.

For those of you unfamiliar with this reclusive anti-star of outsider music, read the wonderful and weird Songs In The Key of Z by Irwin Chusid, or add the 2003 documentary Jandek On Corwood to your Netflix queue. Former Stranger music editor Jennifer Maerz didn’t dig the latter (you’ll have to scroll down a wee bit to read her critique), but I found it fascinating. Then again, I collect Jim Nabors albums, so my judgment is questionable at best.

Tickets go on sale Tuesday, Aug. 22 at noon. $20 a pop. No opening band. Personally, I suspect Jandek live may be a classic Emperor’s New Clothes-type situation, but I’m willing to fork over an Andrew Jackson to satisfy my morbid curiosity.

Damn Nick Sylvester gets link credit for this one:

Chris Ott Completely Explains Pop Music And DIY

Prometheus Radio, a non-profit organization that builds Low Power Radio Stations throughout the U.S. is coming to the Northwest. Founded by a small group of radio activists in 1998, they’re having a “Barn-Raising” in Woodburn, OR, (approximately 30 miles south of Portland) with a series of workshops and events coinciding with the construction of a new community radio station the weekend of August 18-20.

From Prometheus’ site:

We believe that a free, diverse, and democratic media is critical to the political and cultural health of our nation, yet we see unprecedented levels of consolidation, homogenization, and restriction in the media landscape. We work toward a future characterized by easy access to media outlets and a broad, exciting selection of cultural and informative media resources.

Our primary focus is on building a large community of LPFM stations and listeners. We hope that this community will grow into a powerful force working toward the democratic media future we envision. Toward that end, we support community groups at every stage of the process of building community radio stations, facilitate public participation in the FCC regulatory process, and sponsor events promoting awareness and support of media democracy and LPFM radio.

How can you help? For one, you can register for the Barn-Raising and the workshops which cover just about everything you need to know about starting your own radio station. Registration for the event closes on August 4th!

You can also help feed the 300+ hungry Volunteers! Some previously arranged In-kind Donations for the event have fallen through, so organizers would be incredibly thankful for any leads on businesses in the Woodburn/Portland area that would contribute food to this event. You can forward leads to info@prometheusradio.org or just leave them here in the comments and I’ll pass them along to event coordinators.

And yes, any Pump Up the Volume references/jokes can also be left in the comment section as well.

www.prometheusradio.org

Ruins Alone: Prepared to slay at this year’s WOS Pfest.

Gearing up for its second year, Wooden Octopus Skull Pfest hit perhaps the worst possible snag: it lost its venue. WOS was slated to be held at ConWorks, but it is closing and its lease ends August 31. WOS—an ambitious experimental/noise fest that had a successful debut last year—takes place September 7-10.

WOS organizer Wm. Rage (who also runs the Electric Heavyland, a Wallingford shop specializing in noise records, toys, and art) frantically has been seeking all-ages clubs in which to host the four nights of shows. Flights for 80 percent of the artists playing WOS have been booked, so the pfest has to go on somehow. Hoping to keep WOS an all-ages affair, Rage repeatedly encountered rejection from Seattle club owners. They were either booked for those dates, had burdensome noise ordinances, or were too expensive (EMP Sky Church asked for $30,000, Rage says).

To the rescue last week came Re-bar (and former Levide host Davey Schmitt) and the No Tomorrow crew at the Baltic Room, but Saturday night is still unconfirmed (Rage expects to hear any day now if one of those clubs can host that night).

“We had to go with the 21+ scene only ‘cuz we had no other option (and not that we have anything against either venue: both are AWESOME! have you heard that sound system at the Baltic Room?!),”� says Rage. “We’re not totally happy, but what can we do at this point? We tried and had the rug pulled from under us on it. We’re super grateful forever to the Re-bar and Baltic Room, but we really wish it could be all-ages.”�

This experience has led Rage to lament Seattle’s limited all-ages options. “This town and its dislike for providing quality musical entertainment for the kids”¦ it’s ugly, I tell you. Sure, there’s a few places, but most all the show spaces that are available to outside DIY booking (Re-bar, Funhouse, Rendezvous, Lobo) are all 21+. What to do? We like kids and don’t like excluding them. We were kids once in the same position and it sucked then, I don’t want to be a part of continuing that burned-out shit.”�

To that end, Rage is putting on a show at EHL August 16 featuring noise-drone masters Hototogisu and local sampladelic artist Dialing In. (Both artists play the Rendezvous later that night and will be featured in next week’s Data Breaker.)

It’s a slow night in Seattle clubland, but if you’re in the mood for a brief roadtrip, the Homo A Gogo festival starts tonight in Olympia (the full schedule is available here).

The multi-media, punk-minded buffet of live music, visual art, workshops, and dance parties runs through this weekend and includes opportunities to see Xiu Xiu (Thursday) and Bob Mould (Saturday), but the highlight in my book is the appearance by Hedwig and the Angry Inch co-creator/director/star John Cameron Mitchell scheduled for Friday. In addition to DJing, he will be discussing his new film, Short Bus, which sounds potentially brilliant.

Local popsters BOAT, who I had the pleasure of seeing for the first time at Block Party on Friday, have today received an absolutely glowing track review from P-fork. Seriously, 4.5 stars. It’s unclear whether or not they had to ride anything of Pitchfork’s to secure such high marks.

Update: Today you’ll also find reviews of IQU (remixing Of Montreal) and Band Of Horses on that other website. You ride, we ride, in Pitchfork’s ride.

Chicago was Pitchforkin’.

It was a busy weekend, so it’s understandable if you missed this new item reported Thursday on Pitchfork:

New Les Savy Fav Album!

(not actual album art)

OHMYFUCKINGGAWD! Les Savy Fav fans (Les Savy Fans?) may remember the band announcing an open-ended hiatus last year, to be mitigated only by far-flung festival shows (Tokyo, New York) and vague plans for an album of mellow instrumental studio material (tentatively called Rabbit Trancing?).

Well, now that half-assed album idea has been thankfully scrapped, and a new record of full-fledged LSF brain-rock is on the way.

Finally, and most importantly, “This is definitely gonna happen. We don’t want people to think we’re aloof or pulling someone’s leg. We’ve booked the time. We know that we’re going in November to record it, and we’re freaking out and really excited about it.”

One can only hope that tour isn’t far behind…

Check LINE OUT today and tomorrow for more video posts from the Capitol Hill Block Party. Waa wah wee waah! What a party. I couldn’t believe how far people traveled to attend - like this couple from Boise Idaho. Check it.

Slender Means, Boat, Speaker Speaker, the Saturday Knights, Black Angels, and Himsa all put on great shows, but watching the crowd thrust forward as Murder City broke into their opening song was so intense and exciting. The force of thousands of people rushing towards the band shook things up so much that the stack of speakers on the side of the stage wobbled and came shockingly close to crashing to the ground. For a second, I imagined the whole set up being torn apart by rabid, black t-shirt wearing fans. Murder City Riot, indeed. It would’ve been strangely fitting.

What was your favorite Block Party memory?

For some of last week and most of this one, the tubes between the ISP and my house were clogged with Youtube residue and stray glitches and bleeps from Bleep, so my Internet access has been spotty at best.

Stuck here in meatspace, with all its smelly human beings, terrestrial radio and primitive communication methods, I realized that while I can live without e-mail and news aggregators for a few days, I find it incredibly hard to go without Radio Nova, the best radio station in the world according to me.

Broadcasting terrestrially across the whole of France and virtually at novaplanet.com, Nova embodies the best kind of “freeform radio programming” — the kind that plays songs that I like, all the time.

Heavily skewed towards the soulful and eclectic, their idea of “heavy rotation” is to play the new Matt Herbert single sixteen times a night. Here’s their current playlist to give you an idea. Just now they played Carl Craig and Femi Kuti back to back.

And like our peaceful friends to the North, the French also have a quota system in place for local artists, so Nova is required by law to sort me out with the weirdest, best new French music, like General Elektriks and the excellent songwriter Julien Baer.

Oh, and their on-air talent is like WKRP on mescaline. I would love to hang out in that studio. I am convinced that one of their presenters is a drunken gnome.

The only local radio that comes close to Nova’s sensibility, musically speaking, is the Sun Tzu crew’s excellent City Soul weekly on KBCS. (They’d get a little closer if, like Nova, they would occasionally play songs like Musical Youth’s “Pass the Dutchie” alongside the latest Jazzanova and Daz-i-Kue cuts. And ramble incoherently into the mic once in a while.)

Part of this station’s enduring appeal (to me) is in the time zone difference. My late night listening is helping Parisians get through their morning croissants. I wake up to their dinner music, and I work happily through the afternoon to the songs that stoned teenagers in Marseilles use to quiet the voices in their heads and get to sleep. This works for me.

So don’t hesistate. Get yourself into a new time zone.

Ricardo Villalobos: Not in heavy rotation at KEXP.

Following his termination from KEXP, DJ Greg Jaspan is considering “starting a petition to the University of Washington, the state legislature, and the FCC to register a complaint that KEXP—as a public radio station whose broadcast license is owned by the University of Washington, a public institution funded by Washington state tax payers—is abusing the publicly owned air frequency on which it has been entrusted stewardship by the FCC by failing to adequately fulfill its duty to serve the entire community in which its broadcast radius covers (all of the greater Seattle metropolitan area).”�

Those wishing to sign the petition and/or help collect signatures should contact Jaspan at RadioForUsAll@yahoo.com.

To further elaborate on this process, Jaspan had the following exchange on the Division electronic-music discussion list with Decibel festival production manager Zach Smith. (NOTE: The views of Zach Smith are his own and do not reflect those of the Decibel organization.)

Continue reading "Axed KEXP DJ Ponders His Next Move" »

At this year’s Block Party, I was pleasantly surprised to see the lengths Mackie went to, to ensure good sound coverage. Doing sound outside sucks— there are so many more variables you’ve got to take into account (adequate power, coverage, the way signals are bouncing/absorbed by things in your environment, etc.) than when you’re mixing in the comfortable, acoustically treated showroom of the venue you work every night.

The past few years at the Vera stage have been a comedy of errors as loaned equipment overheats, amps burn out, fuses & horns blow and you just can’t figure out where that fucking feedback is coming from. (It should be noted that last year’s feedback-fest that was Crystal Skulls’ set was the fault of their own Sound Engineer, not Vera’s. Saying.) This year Mackie did a much better job with equipment and tech support, but ultimately things like a fuse being blown during Der Trasch’s set and some wonky power amps were inevitable.

Most of all, I enjoyed the non-mainstage mixes that were staggered through the Block Party, enabling those who did not want to squeeze to the front to get good sound as well. So, while the masses of hairy drunks were moshing teens into the ground during MCD’s set last night (hope you’re okay Brita!), I was standing way in back with a good view of the stage and enjoying the clear mix I was getting from a dedicated main & sub pointed back towards the poop huts.