Tracks featured:
“The House That Heaven Built” by Japandroids
“45” by Gaslight Anthem
“I’m Gonna Try” by The Maldives
“True Thrush” by Dan Deacon
“I Want to Break Free” by The Protomen
“WAVIP” by The Coup (with Das Racist and Killer Mike)
“Watch the Corners” by Dinosaur Jr.

Show Notes:
Jim’s favorite albums of 2012
Paper Bag Records vs. David Bowie
Aaron’s Best-of-2012 Playlist

It’s well into 2012, and I have been too lazy on this, but I’m finally ready to post my best of 2011 mix. Hoo-ray? Hoo-cares? Who knows? but it’s something I’ve been doing every year for the past several and I enjoy it. I hope you enjoy it too, and what the hell, free music, right?

So how was 2011, musically? I made a commitment early in the year to try to listen to as much new music as possible, to make the year-end list the best it could be. Unfortunately, I think the more new music I listen to in a year, the harder it gets to go through it all and come up with a coherent and accurate picture of what my favorites were. I worked on this list through the last half of November and all of December, and spent most of January picking tracks for this list and fretting over whether this or that album really belonged on it.

But eventually I decided that second-guessing myself was a mug’s game, and here you go. My favorite albums of 2011.

Russian Circles is a Chicago-based band who plays heavy instrumental rock in the vein of Pelican, but with a more melodic feel. I’ve been following them for several albums, but I think this is the first time they’ve appeared on my year-end list. This album is interesting in that their sound has grown to incorporate some more extreme elements but also quieter interludes, and the songwriting is as good or better than on any of their previous albums. The song I’ve selected highlights their typical heavy and heavily layered yet melodic sound.
http://russiancirclesband.com/ 19. Deer Tick – Divine Providence
Song: Let’s All Go To The Bar (07:20-10:30)

Deer Tick are among a group of bands (like Blitzen Trapper) working a certain corner of Americana with a smirk and a stomp and an ironic mustache. They’re not typically my favorites, though I do enjoy listening to them. But this album is a bit more muscular than previous efforts, and makes it into my list almost entirely on the strength of the meathead anthem I’ve selected for this mix. Its simplistic call and response structure may not belie deep thoughts behind, but its frantic energy is a clear an homage to the Replacements as I’ve heard in years. And yes I’m probably a bit of a meathead, so the song itself appeals to me on an entirely unironic level.
http://www.deertickmusic.com/ 18. Charles Bradley – No Time For Dreaming
Song: No Time For Dreaming (10:30-13:19)

I was late getting into the whole Daptone thing. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings have been putting out some great records for a while now and were never on my radar until a friend of mine brought them up to me almost a year ago. See, I listen to a lot of new music but almost completely at random, whatever strikes my fancy on a given day. And I miss a lot that way, especially since I tend not to check a band out at all if I find the hype annoying. But after dropping the ball on SJ&tDK I was on the lookout for some good throwback R&B, and this Charles Bradley album came along at just the right time. Also a Daptone artist, his James Brown-inspired sound could have been recorded in 1970 and saved in a time capsule until now.
http://thecharlesbradley.com/ 17. Hunters – From Birth To Soil
Song: Engine of Deceit (13:19-18:11)

Hunters are another Chicago-based band (I do like to check out the local talent) that play a kind of groovy, almost stoner-like sludge metal informed by the intensity of death metal. Comparisons could run the gamut from High on Fire to Mastodon to Carcass with a line running back through Pantera to a heavy 70s Sabbath-style groove. I’ve elected to focus on the stoner/groove aspect with the song I’ve selected, but even there it takes a break to delve into pure sludge partway through the track.
http://www.huntersmetal.com/blog/ 16. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Here We Rest
Song: Never Could Believe (18:11-22:14)

Jason Isbell, formerly of Drive-By Truckers, still writes probably the best Truckers songs out there. Unfortunately, the band he’s playing with now, as good as they are, don’t quite have the same balls as DBT, so the songs don’t have the same raunchy immediacy that I think the boys would have given them, even if the songs’ subjects are as down & dirty as anything Isbell has written previously. But the songs themselves are of course still the strength here, with the focus on Southern characters and their troubles. Never Could Believe is a funky little honky tonk number with great interplay between the guitar and piano that I dig.
http://www.jasonisbell.com/ 15. Symphony of Science – Symphony of Science Bundle
Song: We Are All Connected (22:14-26:20)

OK, so I guess I’ve finally gotten around to cheating a little bit. I have certain rules with these year-end lists–no compilations, no rereleases, no EPs, just full-length albums initially released that year. Symphony of Science has been putting together these amazing songs out of autotuned snippets of voiceovers by some of the great minds in science (among others), sourcing them from science shows, lectures, etc., for a few years now, with accompanying youtube videos. But I believe this year is the first time they’ve released them as a downloadable MP3 album, which technically–technically–qualifies it for this list. I’ve selected a song containing some great quotes from some favorites of mine, including Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson.
http://symphonyofscience.com/ 14. Larry And His Flask – All That We Know
Song: Blood Drunk (26:20-29:53)

Larry And His Flask are an Oregon band playing the same kind of punk-rock breakneck bluegrass that seems to find its way onto my list every year in one form or another. These guys have energy and chops and a great sense for melody. The song I’ve selected has a bit of darkness to it, but tempered by a singalong chorus and a sense of fun.
http://www.larryandhisflask.com/ 13. Absu – Abzu
Song: Abraxus Connectus (29:53-33:44)

Absu’s Abzu, the second in a planned trilogy of records, is a psychotic onslaught of thrashy chaos. The opening 20 seconds or so may mislead you into thinking you are listening to a bad 80s hair metal throwback, but once the girlish wail subsides and the band gets to its business, the pummeling your gut takes from the lightspeed riffing will convince of the wrongness of that initial impression. I’ve selected the 3rd of six songs for this mix, and it represents this album at its best.
http://absu.bandzoogle.com 12. Tombs – Path of Totality
Song: To Cross The Land (33:44-39:37)

Tombs plays a depressive style of metal that definitely draws on the influences of Neurosis-style post-metal, but has its own blend of black metal and sludge and a half-dozen other subgenres as well. The sound can range from a patient sparsity to an enveloping shroud of downtuned guitars and blastbeats but the remarkable thing about the album is the emotionality of it–oppressive, paranoid, despairing, claustrophobic… I have to admit that I’m not a guy who can really pick out lyrics in most metal, especially with harsh vocals (can anybody? I guess so but it’s hard to believe sometimes)–the emotions I’m talking about, I’m getting strictly instrumentally. The song I’ve chosen builds slowly, starting with a repeated figure that builds in frantic intensity into a blastbeat-punctuated pronouncement of doom.
http://www.filledwithsecrets.com/ 11. Original Cast Recording – The Book Of Mormon
Song: Hasa Diga Eebowai (39:37-43:59)

Show tunes? Well, I do have a little bit of a theatrical background but I don’t keep up too much. This new musical though, from Matt and Trey of South Park fame, piqued my interest, as I do tend to enjoy a good laugh (even if I don’t watch too much South Park anymore) and they can always be counted on to raise a few eyebrows. This show is… it’s just so slick; the people they teamed up with to bring it to the stage really knew their Broadway musicals, and it shows. As profane and offensive as you might expect, this soundtrack shows a real love for musical theater, with homages to everything from the Lion King to Sound of Music to bad Bono-led celebrity charity albums and a real affection for its characters, no matter how goofily it portrays them. Regarding the song I’ve selected for this mix: odds are it will offend you, but there’s also a lot to be said for the way it upends the cheeriness of the Lion King’s Hakuna Matata in favor of a darker (but funnier) look at conditions in Africa and the way people react to them.
http://www.bookofmormonbroadway.com/home.php 10. Necrocomiccon – Hot Dog Cart Hunger
Song: Everybody Wants To Rule The World (43:59-46:36)

Necrocomiccon is a black metal band that plays black metal versions of pop songs from the 1980s. They are absolutely brilliant, and they’ve released an EP and another full-length since this album without a dud among them. I’ve selected their version of a classic Tears for Fears song; it’s amazing, so is the rest of the album, look them up on Facebook and check them out because they are a couple of geniuses.
https://www.facebook.com/Necrocomiccon 09. Yuck – Yuck
Song: Get Away (46:36-50:11)

Shortly after this album came out, I considered it a lock for the #1 spot on this list. Something about the Dinosaur Jr. guitar tone they use liberally (though if you listen to the whole album they do veer away from the Dino Jr. formula quite a bit, most notably on a Burt Bacharach inspired number that made me think of Butch & Sundance riding bicycles) just seems to grab directly onto my spinal cord and make me do its bidding. But I think I burned myself out on it early, and truth be told there’s not much else on the album as strong as this opening song. Still top 10 material though.
http://yuckband.blogspot.com/ 08. Low – C’mon
Song: Especially Me (50:11-55:37)

Low, though they’ve been around forever, first came to my attention with a fantastic (silly but fantastic, and it could hardly be otherwise) version of Toto’s song Africa that they did for the AV Club, and I checked out this album on the strength of that performance. Consistently mellow, and lyrically not always the strongest, still these 10 tunes present a solid wall of mesmerizing vocal harmonies. Probably the overall best song from the album (aside from the hypnotically repetitive Nothing But Heart) is the one I’ve chosen for this mix, which features Mimi’s enchanting vocals and the dreamlike sound that characterizes much of the album.
http://chairkickers.com/ 07. Elliott Brood – Days Into years
Song: Hold You (55:37-60:14)

Elliott Brood are a perennial favorite of mine, and this album features their “death country” sound with improved songwriting. I’ve had them on my year-end list before and don’t know how much new I can say about them. Hold You is a great thumbnail of their sound; if a song can be simultaneously plaintive and anthemic, this is it.
http://www.elliottbrood.ca/ 06. Fucked Up – David Comes To Life
Song: Life In Paper (60:14-64:50)

Fucked Up’s album David Comes To Life is an epic work that I admit, I haven’t fully been able to wrap my head around yet. But that’s not a knock on it–there’s a lot to come to grips with. Musically speaking, I’ve found it analogous to The Hold Steady in certain ways; instrumentally, you’ve got a style of music (in Hold Steady’s case it’s classic rock, in this case it’s indie punk) that I find enormously pleasing, when vocally I find both bands grating. But whereas I never really fully was able to reconcile Craig Finn’s drunken sneer with the bar band stylings of his cohort, I’ve come to appreciate the way Damian Abraham’s hardcore screaming works with the wall-of-noise guitars Fucked Up brings. The album’s epic length, daunting as it is, has presented another barrier to my understanding. But more and more, I find myself pleased with the prospect that I will probably still be wrestling with this album through the remainder of 2012.
http://www.myspace.com/epicsinminutes 05. Liturgy – Aesthethica
Song: Tragic Laurel (64:50-68:55)

It’s my understanding that Liturgy often faces the epithet of “Hipster Metal.” As if metal is a ghetto undergoing gentrification, and Liturgy are the skinny tattooed white kids rolling through on tall bikes and smoking American Spirits. I don’t know about that. I dig metal, and while it’s true that I tend to lean more toward certain types of metal, that flows from the way something sounds and how that affects me more than from the application of some outside aesthetic. I have a friend who absolutely hated this album. I know there have been multiple internet bitch fights about this album. I guess I cared enough to notice, but not to keep it from being my highest-rated metal album of the year. Because it’s just so damned interesting. I’ve tried to explain it using phrases such as “it’s like somebody took pieces from a puzzle labeled ‘black metal’ and ended up putting together a math rock album with them instead” but apart from being a clumsy simile it’s not quite right either. I’m not always the best at articulating what I like about music, and honestly I’m not a guy who always goes for the most challenging fare, but something about the way that they took black metal sounds and did something completely different with them appealed to me.
http://www.myspace.com/liturgynybm 04. The Red Hills – I’m A Nightmare
Song: News And Bombs (68:55-73:09)

Here is a random Bandcamp download that ended up captivating me for a good portion of 2011. It started with the song San Diego, and eventually the whole album just got under my skin. I can’t really find out too much about these guys other than that they are from Portland Oregon and are related to the (fantastically named) band I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House. This is dark alt-country, touching on dark subjects, and without much to break that mood. But it’s compelling stuff.
http://www.theredhillspdx.com/ 03. Amerigo Gazaway – Fela Soul
Song: Stakes Is High (73:09-78:25)

Is this a cheat? I guess I’m not familiar enough with the original works to tell how involved the work was that went into these mashups. But the concept is great, and the outcome is even better, and this list is more about my favorite new music than the most technically accomplished. Fela Soul is a mashup of works by famed Afrobeat artist Fela Kuti with songs by De La Soul and related projects, and I’ve spun it compulsively enough this year to land it high on my list.
http://www.amerigomusic.com/ 02. White Denim – D
Song: Burnished (78:25-81:01)

I heard these guys on turntable.fm one day and immediately sought out this album. It’s indie rock with a jazzy/mathy sound and a bit of Southern flair (the band is from Austin if I’m not mistaken). Some songs are more straightforward, but the one I’ve chosen showcases their love of complexity, with shifting time signatures and noodly, intertwining dual guitars.
http://whitedenimmusic.com/ 01. The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar
Song: The Everchanging Spectrum Of A Lie (81:01-88:03)

This Welsh band’s full-album debut is sort of a companion piece, in my mind anyway, to the previously-mentioned Yuck album. Where that album reprised the noisy early-90s sound of indie bands like Dinosaur Jr., this one incorporates the early 90s shoegazy sounds of a My Bloody Valentine, but with a bigger crunch and a louder thump and an urgency that demands my attention.
http://www.thejoyformidable.com/ ]]> http://emergentradio.com/shows/radio-genius/0106-jims-favorite-music-of-2011/feed/ 5 Aaron Silvers and Jim Behymer full 1:28:03 894 gen1usradio@gmail.com (mrch0mp3rs)yesIt’s well into 2012, and I have been too lazy on this, but I’m finally ready to post my best of 2011 mix. Hoo-ray? Hoo-cares? Who knows? but it’s something I’ve been doing every year for the past several and I enjoy it. I hope you enjoy it too, and what the hell, free music, ... Read moreIt’s well into 2012, and I have been too lazy on this, but I’m finally ready to post my best of 2011 mix. Hoo-ray? Hoo-cares? Who knows? but it’s something I’ve been doing every year for the past several and I enjoy it. I hope you enjoy it too, and what the hell, free music, ... Read moreplaylist,mixes,radio,genius,mensa,music,radio,show,playlists,themed http://emergentradio.com/shows/radio-genius/2011-music-in-review-by-jaehoyer/ http://emergentradio.com/shows/radio-genius/2011-music-in-review-by-jaehoyer/#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:15:23 +0000 http://radio.gen1.us/?p=891 Read more]]> First of all, Happy New Year!!!! As is tradition since time in memoriam, the first mixes of a new year tend to be reflections on the best of what we heard in the previous year.  Our first mix of 2012 comes from Justine Hoyer, who gifted us with this excellent mix of her faves from 2011. Hard to argue with any of these. Earlier this year, Justine gave us our 100th mix (The Spring Mix) and it was pretty awesome, as well.

Doktor Avalanche is the name of evolving electronic drum machines that have fueled the majestic Sisters of Mercy over the years. Dexterous name; distinct sound.

I can’t say with any certainly that Andrew Eldritch would approve of all the bands on this mix (probably not), but it’s a mix of songs with drum machines that I work to when in front of a computer. I know there are drum machines behind everyone from Prince to Wesley Willis, but when working I tend to play songs with a similar, electronic sound.  I tried to include different sounds and approaches here within that theme, and avoided a more dark/heavy electronic mix, though there is some of that on here. I also tried to include different bands so steered away from my all-time favorites as much as possible, purposefully leaving off Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Front 242, Front Line Assembly, KMFDM, Depeche Mode, etc., but cheated a bit by adding Revolting Cocks and Download.  I included another all-time favorite, the Sisters, on there because I like the name of the mix.

As always, if you like a band, please download their songs and see their shows and otherwise support their efforts if you can. Enjoy!

1. TKM – Sub Swara
2. Flesh (Original) – A Split-Second
3. The Collapse – Flesh Field
4. Ghostwriter – RJD2
5. Dead End Streets (86 Mixxx) – Revolting Cocks
6. Phantasmata – CunninLynguists
7. Dial8 – Velvet Acid Christ
8. The Acension – Mnolo
9. Final Home (Piano Mix) – DJ Krush featuring Esthero
10. Transient – Glen Porter
11. Death Vest 09 – Enduser
12. The Great Divide – Die Krupps
13. Glory Box – Portishead
14. Human Crossing – Project Pitchfork
15. The Open Hand Avows – Daedelus
16. Firing Line – Noise Unit
17. Glassblower – Download
18. Poison Door – Sisters of Mercy
19. Narcisse – Martin Rev

1. Bob Marley & The Wailers – “Iron Lion Zion” – 06:12
2. Belly – “Feed the Tree” – 03:19
3. Smashing Pumpkins – “Disarm” – 02:56
4. Pearl Jam – “Rearviewmirror” – 04:34
5. The Cranberries – “Dreams” – 04:23
6. Radiohead – “Stop Whispering” – 05:07
7. Pet Shop Boys – “Can You Forgive Her?” – 03:44
8. Prince – “17 Days” – 05:14
9. Big Country – “The One I Love” – 04:55
10. Jellyfish – “The Ghost At Number One” – 03:25
11. The Breeders – “Cannonball” – 03:23
12. Dinosaur Jr. – “Start Choppin” – 05:20
13. Tears for Fears – “Break It Down Again” – 04:11
14. Ub40 – “Higher Ground” – 03:43
15. Stereo MC’s – “Connected” – 04:28
16. A Tribe Called Quest – “Electric Relaxation” – 03:11
17. American Music Club – “Over and Done” – 03:01
18. U2 – “The First Time” – 03:22
19. Crowded House – “Pineapple Head” – 03:27

1. Echo & The Bunnymen – “Seven Seas”  – 03:14
2. The Decemberists – “This Is Why We Fight” – 04:16
3. Brett Dennen – “Sydney (I’ll Come Running)” – 03:54
4. Guster – “Do You Love Me” – 03:30
5. Fleet Foxes – “Helplessness Blues” – 04:46
6. The Go! Team – “Back Like 8 Track” – 03:40
7. Billy Bragg & Wilco – “One By One” – 03:17
8. Gretchen Parlato – “Still” – 03:03
9. The Temper Trap – “Sweet Disposition” – 03:43
10. Mumford & Sons – “The Cave” – 03:26
11. The Avett Brothers – “Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promise – 04:38
12. The Joy Formidable – “Whirring” – 06:38
13. Passion Pit – “Moth’s Wings” – 04:16
14. Florence + The Machine – “Cosmic Love” – 04:07
15. Fitz & The Tantrums – “MoneyGrabber” – 03:00
16. TV On the Radio – “Caffeinated Consciousness” – 03:09
17. Death Cab for Cutie – “You Are A Tourist” – 04:46

The year was 1997. Pop, as always, was in. Grunge/alt-rock was no longer alternative, and starting to give way to dance music, and Ska was just taking hold in Eastern Canada…

I give you 96 83 minutes of 1997. Although I seriously considered creating an All-CanCon(*) playlist, but that would not be a true reflection of my listening habits that year. Bear in mind, this mix is a reflection of my last term of high school, the following summer and the start of my freshman year of university:

1. The Verve – “Bitter Sweet Symphony” 06:20
2. Chantal Kreviazuk – “God Made Me” 02:54
3. Holly McNarland – “Numb” 03:48
4. The Wallflowers – “One Headlight” 04:48
5. Great Big Sea – “Run Runaway” 02:42
6. Third Eye Blind – “Semi-Charmed Life” 04:19
7. Chumbawamba – “Tubthumping” 04:33
8. Cake – “The Distance” 02:32
9. The Tragically Hip – “Ahead by a Century” 03:34
10. Aqua – “Barbie Girl (Radio)” 00:02
11. Sugar Ray – “Fly” 04:47
12. Natalie Imbruglia – “Torn” 03:46
13. Smash Mouth – “Walkin’ on the Sun” 03:17
14. Wyclef Jean – “We Trying to Stay Alive” 02:26
15. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – “The Impression That I Get” 03:05
16. White Town – “Your Woman” 04:10
17. Our Lady Peace – “Clumsy” 03:36
18. U2 – “Gone” 03:43
19. The Cardigans – “Lovefool” 03:04
20. The Verve Pipe – “The Freshmen” 04:20
21. Smashing Pumpkins – “1979” 04:14
22. The Notorious B.I.G. – “Hypnotize” 03:41
23. Spirit Of The West – “Home for a Rest” 04:27

I am new to this forum and not entirely sure how it works, but I’m going to give it a shot. Every year after SXSW I make mix for my friends focusing on newer music. The regular audience for this cd is not as musically informed as this group. The track list is below. Be kind.

Grouplove – Colours
Robyn – Dancing On My Own
Twin Shadow – At My Heels
The Vaccines – Blow It Up
The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio
Mystery Jets – Dreaming Of Another Wrld
Best Coast – Each and Every Day
The Duke Spirit – Everybodys Under Your Spell
Fences – Girls With Accents
Yuck – Holing Out
Mona – Listen to Your Love
Young the Giant – My Body
Arcade Fire – Reday to Start
Teenage Fanclub – Sometimes I Don’t Need to Believe in Anything
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – Vocal Chords
Smith Westerns – Weekend
Bear Hands – What a Drag
The Naked and Famous – Young Blood
Eternal Summers – Pogo
Cloud Nothings – Didn’t You

This wasn’t easy, but the path of an Iron DJ is never easy. It is merely righteous.

This mix will present connections from the kid I was in my senior year of high school to the manchild I am today.

Tracy Chapman – Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution

I was in American Government class in my senior year. My teacher was in his early 40s and talked a lot about civics as well as the responsibility of citizens to dissent. I liked him because of the message about “sticking it to the man” but only in the last few years have those lessons really struck a chord within me. When Jim first pitched this idea for Iron DJ, this was the first song that popped in my head, because my American Government teacher played it in class.

Tom Petty – I Won’t Back Down

I played this cassette tape a ton in my senior year. I was a big fan of the Traveling Wilburys and that sound was still evident on this track. Over the years, this became an anthem for me that added more steel to my resolve.

The BoDeans – You Don’t Get Much

There’s no high school in Wisconsin in 1990 without the BoDeans. It’s like a law.

Rush – Presto

First off, you don’t grow up a fan of rock music without liking Rush, and no album by Rush spoke to me before or since the way Presto! did. Read yourself some Maslow. Heck, read some Tony Robbins or Stephen Covey if that’s what you’re into. You want magic? Listen to this album. Show me. Don’t Tell me. There are so many intersections between psychology, humanity and magic… Rush is a band of geniuses.

Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe – Brother of Mine

This song came out and it was awesome. It was epic like Yes of old with synth and riffs of Yes of new (thanks to Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman). They couldn’t record as “Yes” because of the lawsuits at the time that were thankfully resolved for Yes’ greatest album, Union, to come in the 90s. Damn, I love this song. It’s beautiful.

Faith No More – From Out of Nowhere

Before nuMetal was a thing, there was Faith No More. They were (ahem) The Real Thing. Respect it, or it will crush you.

Tesla – Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)

Even now, when I think about a theme song for kicking ass, this is the song that pops in my head. I saw Tesla at the Vic in Chicago in 2001, long after their expiration date and they still were on a slip trip and ready to kick ass. You should hope when you’re older than you think you are that you kick as much ass.

Pantera – Cowboys From Hell

Never got into Pantera in high school. My friends did. This was a terrible mistake that I’ve since worked to amend.

Queensrÿche – Last Time in Paris

No one knows this song off of Empire. Everyone knows Silent Lucidity or Jet City Woman or even the song “Empire.” Heck, I forgot this song was on Empire — I remember it from the soundtrack to “The Adventures of Ford Fairlane.” Go ahead, tell me how much Andrew “Dice” Clay sucks. I will retort with Vince Neil, Wayne Newton, Morris Day AND Sheila E. all in the same movie. “Dice” was so awesome when I was 17, and I’d be lying if there isn’t a devious undercurrent within me that was in part inspired by him. All that is an aside though to the song: it just kicks ass.

Tears for Fears – Sowing The Seeds of Love

I became a much bigger fan of Tears for Fears as an adult (as I became of the Smiths, Crowded House and other more introspective bands of the New Wave and post-modern era). I largely skipped this album as a kid, but I definitely reap what came of the seeds planted years ago.

The Stone Roses – She Bangs the Drums

I didn’t even know of The Stone Roses until right after college. Totally missed my radar. Friends of mine as a first-year teacher were into The Stone Roses, and I thought it was okay — the dreaminess of that Manchester sound only made sense to me as I became a bit more of an independent spirit. I love this song so much because it’s the music I imagine was in my head when I met my wife. It wasn’t — I didn’t even know the song then… but loving the song now, I figure it captures it as well as any song could.

INXS – The Stairs

I saw INXS on tour with Soup Dragons for “X” and damn were they awesome. This song always stuck out on that album as my favorite.

Sundays -Here’s Where the Story Ends

The weird thing about how I first got into the Sundays was that this song would play at dance clubs, which were open to 16+ year-olds in Milwaukee usually on Sunday nights. Normally, I hit Club Marilyn or Bermuda’s (both no longer around) and they played mostly alternative, post-modern and industrial… and then, maybe to signal a break for the DJ or to encourage the teenagers to go buy some sodas at the bar, they’d throw on The Sundays. Usually after some Front-242 and Nitzer-Ebb.

Jude Cole – House Full of Reasons

Jude Cole was this piano/guitar blues/rock guy. I think I ended up with his cassette in one of my Columbia House music mail order deals where I got a bunch of albums free and then if I didn’t turn anything in, I got whatever cassette was featured that month. He scored some minor hits with “Baby, It’s Tonight” and “Time for Letting Go” but I ended up really liking the whole album, and this song in particular I thought was a good combination of happy sounding music, upbeat with a decent tempo, but heartbreaking lyrics. This was the kind of song I would write in high school and in college. My favorite Del Amitri and Crowded House songs reflect this kind of thing.

Fine Young Cannibals – I’m Not the Man I Used to Be

In high school, everyone was listening to “Good Thing” or “She Drives Me Crazy.” Later in life, I actually started listening to the rest of the album and wow is it good stuff.

Midnight Oil – Blue Sky Mine

Listen to this song. Tell me you’re not putting your fists to the sky a little bit, and/or bobbing your head. This is exactly where it’s at in terms of popular, but activist, music.

New Order – Vanishing Point

Two movies have been made about Factory records: “24 Hour Party People” and “Closer” and there should be a lot more movies to come, because they were so influential and none of the bands have had the talent and the survival skills that New Order had, post-Joy Division. Nothing on “Technique” was as good as “True Faith,” but this song is pretty damn righteous, “I’ve seen what a man can do; I’ve seen the hate of a woman, too.”

Happy Mondays – Step On

I’ve never tried Ecstasy, but I bet it sounds like this.

Prince – Electric Chair

I had the Batman soundtrack the day it came out. I wore through that tape in the first six months I had it. I bought it again. I wore through that, too. A year later, I had a CD Player for the first time, and the Batman soundtrack was the 10th CD I ever purchased. I love Prince. We all know that, but he was never so commercially viable as he was with this album. Everyone forgave him for Graffiti Bridge because the Batman soundtrack was so awesome.

Nine Inch Nails – Head Like a Hole

This song changed everything for me. I was into pop music before I heard this song. Once I heard “Head Like a Hole” at a party towards the end of my senior year, I stopped playing “No Jacket Required” and turned onto alternative music, which opened me up to alternative ideas.

Public Enemy – Welcome to the Terrordome

Public Enemy was dangerous music in 1990. Almost as dangerous as (and mistakenly lumped in with) NWA. Chuck D. hits you with so many lyrical lefts, you have no choice but to admit he’s right.

Kool Moe Dee – Knowledge is King

“I Go To Work” is such a favorite song, but my second-favorite might well be credited with where I went in terms of pursuing education as my life’s work.

At first I was trying to cram the songs I wanted into an hour long package. But then I thought about old cassette mix tapes. The ones that really sucked were the tapes that were 30 minutes on each side, or one hour mixes. 90 minute mix tapes were okay, but I really  liked 100 minute cassette mix tapes, which is the length that I ended up settling into over time. And so that’s what I made here. The longer format works for some mixes, and I think it works for this one too.

Hope you like it.

1. *Repo Man Theme (Instrumental) – Iggy Pop
2.  Death Ship – Hoodoo Gurus
3.   Wonderin’ – Neil Young**
4.  Wait – Wang Chung
5.  A Friend I Call Desire – Ultravox
6.  Got Me Under Pressure – ZZ Top ***
7.  Priestess – Wendy O. Williams
8.  Master and Servant – Depeche Mode
9.  Handsome Devil – The Smiths
10. Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell
11. Pink Turns to Blue – Husker Du
12. Jam On It – Newcleus
13. Ivo – Cocteau Twins ****
14. Mama’s Boy – Ramones
15. It’s My Life – Talk Talk
16. Realization – The Art of Noise
17. Nobody’s Home – Deep Purple
18. I Would Die 4 U – Prince
19.  Stay the Night – Chicago
20. Snaggletooth – Motorhead
21. 88 Lines About 44 Women – The Nails*****
22. Maybe Partying Will Help – Minutemen
23. 99 Red Balloons – Nena
24.  Show Me – The Pretenders
25. Slippery People – Talking Heads******
26. Fight Fire With Fire – Metallica

*          Repo Man
**        Ghostbusters
***      Spinal Tap
****    Making the Grade
*****  The Man with Two Brains
****** Red Dawn

It’s IRON DJ time again! Which means that a bunch of people are going to upload themed mixes and try to compete with me! Unfortunately for them, not only do I have unbeatable taste in music, but this time around I even have the IRON DJ theme going for me: GRADUATION YEAR.

The idea is to put together a mix where the theme is the year you graduated high school.  I graduated in 1988, and there was so much good music made that year that I could have made 3 mixes that would blow your mind.

But instead I made this one.  It’s semi-autobiographical, in that for the most part, the songs are played in the order in which I discovered them.  Not all of this is music I’d have listened to back in 1988, but it’s all great.  I hope you dig the mix, and whether you do or not, leave me some feedback in the comments please!

1. Danzig – Mother
2. INXS – Devil Inside
3. Living Colour – Desperate People
4. The Church – Reptile
5. Dead Milkmen – Stuart
6. They Might Be Giants – Ana Ng
7. The Pursuit Of Happiness – I’m An Adult Now
8. Bad Religion – What Can You Do?
9. Fishbone – Bonin’ In The Boneyard
10. Jane’s Addiction – Mountain Song
11. Pixies – Gigantic
12. Fugazi – Give Me The Cure
13. Cowboy Junkies – Sweet Jane
14. The Pogues – Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six
15. The Waterboys – World Party
16. Dinosaur Jr. – Freak Scene
17. Sonic Youth – Teen Age Riot
18. Galaxie 500 – Temperature’s Rising

Hooray! Let’s get right to it!

20. Justin Townes Earle – Harlem River Blues Song: Move Over Mama  This guy puts out an album every year, and you’ve heard me talk about him before since it seems like they always end up on my year-end lists. This album represents a further maturation of his sound, marrying disparate elements–country but urban, sad but upbeat.  Move Over Mama is a rollicking honky-tonking good time of a song about a woman who takes up too damn much of the bed.

19. Lair of the Minotaur – Evil Power Song: Riders of Skullhammer, We Ride the Night  A crushing sludgy Chicago thrash band and a perennial favorite of mine, Lair of the Minotaur has tightened up their sound from the epic bloody thrashfests of their album The Ultimate Destroyer, which I loved, through the (to me) less-focused and inferior War Metal Battle Master, and now here, they’ve distilled their brand of brutal Greek Mythology influenced fantasy metal into sharp chugging 2 minute bursts that say everything they have to say and are done.

18. Gil Scott Heron – I’m New Here Song: I’ll Take Care of You  Soul poetry? Immediate, revealing, intimate even, the man who told us the revolution would not be televised lays himself bare, with bleak songs and poems about growing up in a broken home, about disease and self-destruction, all very minimalistic but made raw by the power of Scott-Heron’s voice and words.  This song is a cover of an old soul song, originally recorded by Roy Hamilton but covered by everyone from Elvis Costello to Mark Lanegan of the Screaming Trees.  After this, I’ll never think of it as anything but a Gil Scott-Heron song.

17. Flaming Tusk – Old, Blackened Century Song: Ichor  First full-length from NYC metal quintet is a grab-bag of extreme metal influences. I expect even better things from this band in the future but this album hits almost every note I want to hear out of my metal.  Ichor is a song about the Vietnam war, which isn’t a terribly common subject for metal but why shouldn’t it be?

16. Jesuslesfilles – Une Belle Table Song: Mercredi  Just some joyful, upbeat, jangly and noisy pop that brings to mind early Pixies.  As their lyrics and most of the information about the band are all in French I can’t really tell you much about them, but it’s all terribly catchy stuff.

15. Dear Astronaut – Escape from Rainbow Mountain Song: That Thing Which Could Not Be Put Back  Jeb, the singer/guitarist/driving force of Dear Astronaut is a friend of mine. This, their final album, was years in the making due to production issues, and by the time they had the album release party they had to relearn the songs since they hadn’t been playing them in so long. But this album marks their full transition into the heavy-hitting sludge sound that takes better advantage of their talents than the earlier mad circus folk had. So while it’s sad to see them go, at least they went out on top.

14. Black Breath – Heavy Breathing Song: Escape From Death  Black Breath is a Seattle band playing heavy and loud as hell sludgy crossover thrash/death metal with plenty of hardcore influence as well.  Escape from Death is a death metal song, appropriately enough, about the undead, craving human flesh, from their own point of view.

13. The Lights – Failed Graves Song: Gingerella  This is a compelling piece of garagey punk/post-punk from a band that’s been kicking around Seattle for a while.

12. Arsis – Starve for the Devil Song: Beyond Forlorn  A thrashier sound than their previous strict technical death metal, with speed metal and cock rock leanings.  The album is a group of songs revolving around the guitarist/singer James Malone’s battles with an eating disorder, and “Beyond Forlorn” is about the depression and loneliness that come with it.

11. Titus Andronicus – The Monitor Song: Richard II  This is a sprawling civil-war-themed concept album featuring exotic instrumentation, repeated themes, and some extended jams. It’s also a punk rock record. Somehow it manages both.

10. Enslaved – Axioma Ethica Odini Song: Ethica Odini  This newest release from the longterm Norwegian Viking/Black metal greats features driving thrashy black metal punctuated by melodic clean-vocalled segments.  Less meandering and progressive than previous efforts, the songwriting is perhaps simplified, but also more focused.  This song, Ethica Odini, which leads off the album, is a prime example.  It opens with a wintry but razor sharp riff that drives through the harsh-vocaled verse until the clean vocals of the chorus hit and tumble it apart into something beautiful but forbidding.

09. Leatherface – The Stormy Petrel Song: Another Dance  Arty punk that at times brings to mind Husker Du, with melodic guitars and raspy vocals that still manage to belt out singalongy choruses.  If I were to make one complaint about the album it’s that there are a few songs in which the singalongy choruses take on a kind of sameness, but this song avoids that, and all are well worth hearing.

08. Les Savy Fav – Root for Ruin Song: Excess Energies  A new album from this fiery NYC indie band, which I consider to be every bit as good as their previous efforts.  The main criticism people seem to be levelling against it is that it’s very much like those previous albums, but when “more of the same” from these guys involves more of their edgy, angular rock, aggressive and antic, well I can live with it.

07. Trampled by Turtles – Palomino Song: Wait So Long  Trampled by Turtles are a “progressive” bluegrass band from Minnesota and, put simply, they shred. The high points of this album feature musical instruments that seem on the verge of spontaneously combusting.  This song leads off the album with a great fiddle melody exploding into a bloody-fingered ripper of breakneck… is bluegrass punk a genre? It is now I guess.

06. Woods – At Echo Lake Song: Death Rattles  Murky low-fi falsetto pop that is really well done, its sound at once barebones and lush, owing as much to fuzzy psychedelia as it does to country and folk music . The songwriting is what shines though it also hints at depths that the band doesn’t fully plumb here, perhaps teasing us with the potential, but that is also part of the appeal.  Death Rattles is a atmospheric mood piece full of eery sound effects and high-pitched minor key crooning, with an unsettling result.

05. Glossary – Feral Fire Song: Save Your Money for the Weekend  Soulful workingman’s southern rock, just the kind of thing for a beer and a shot and maybe even some troublemaking, ’cause as they say in this song (which brings to mind Billy Joel’s Only The Good Die Young but in a good way I swear), “Honey there’s gotta be some hell somewhere waiting to be raised”

04. Superchunk – Majesty Shredding Song: Learned to Surf  Superchunk are indie giants who’ve been around for decades but hadn’t released an album since 2001. Then this album dropped and reminded everyone why this band was the best thing anyone had ever heard 20 years ago. Non-stop infectious power pop perfection.

03. High On Fire – Snakes for the Divine Song: How Dark We Pray  I know some people had some issues with the production of this album–it’s less murky and bottom heavy than previous albums, but the high end comes out cleaner and you can hear the lead guitar better so I think it shreds regardless.  The songwriting continues to be excellent, with urgent pummeling drums driving a blistering guitar assault and Matt Pike’s throat-destroying roar coming through more clearly than before.  With a few songs though, including this one, they slow their usual gallop down a bit and if anything are even heavier and more menacing as a result.

02. The Besnard Lakes – Are the Roaring Night Song: Like The Ocean, Like the Innocent Pt II: Like the Innocent  This album of dreamy shoegazy irresistable space rock came out early in the year, and was one of my most-listened albums all year long.  Expect falsetto vocals with Beach Boys style harmonies, elements of 70s era prog and power pop, all blended into a package so smooth you could slide on it in your stockinged feet.

01. J Roddy Walston and the Business – J Roddy Walston and the Business Song: Used to Did  JRW&tB plays anthemic fist-pumping piano-driven rock and F@&%ING roll, born in the south but schooled in Baltimore.  With choruses that won’t leave  your head for weeks and an energetic delivery in the best tradition of Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard, it will make you want to jump on top of something, anything, and start stomping.

1. The Chemical Brothers – “Dissolve” 06:15
2. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – “In Motion” 04:31
3. Daft Punk – “TRON Legacy (End Titles)” 03:08
4. Janelle Monáe – “Dance Or Die (Feat. Saul Williams)” 03:03
5. M.I.A. – “Xxxo” 02:48
6. Nas & Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley – “As We Enter” 02:49
7. OK Go – “End Love” 03:53
8. Metric – “Black Sheep” 04:53
9. Goldfrapp – “Rocket” 03:42
10. Ladytron – “Ace of Hz” 03:14
11. Groove Armada – “Paper Romance (White Light Version)” 06:21
12. Flo Rida – “Club Can’t Handle Me (feat. David Guetta)” 03:38
13. Kanye West – “Lost In The World [Explicit]” 04:07
14. Pharrell – “Fun, Fun, Fun” 03:32
15. Crowded House – “Saturday Sun” 03:16
16. Vampire Weekend – “Run” 03:43
17. Arcade Fire – “Ready To Start” 04:07
18. Crowded House – “Turn It Around” 03:55
19. The National – “Bloodbuzz Ohio” 04:26
20. Broken Bells – “The High Road” 03:45
21. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” 04:04
22. J Roddy Walston and the Business – “Don’t Break the Needle” 03:30

Who the hell was Eratosthenes? You may or may not know it, but Eratosthenes was a guy that lived 2,200 years ago that correctly estimated the circumference of the Earth without leaving Egypt using nothing but sticks, his eyes to observe the sun’s shadows, feet for walking measured distances, and his brain. He was the first person to measure the size of a planet, before people even thought it was round. He argued that India could be reached by sailing westward from Spain. He invented geography. He invented a system of latitude and longitude. He correctly estimated the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Let me say that again. He correctly estimated the distance from the Earth to the sun! Long before they even had telescopes. I think about that and just think, “Holy crap.” I can barely pay my bills on time or figure out an Excel sheet.

What do the songs on this mix have to do with this ancient Greek scholar from the third century BC? Not a damn thing. Except that when’s the last time you saw a statue of Eratosthenes? Or flew into Eratosthenes Airport? Or went to go see your favorite football team beat the crap out of another team at Eratosthenes Memorial Stadium? Instead we go see an event in the Viagra Dome or suffer some other indignity. We have buildings named after every jackweed you can think of, mainly politicians and the wealthy people that built the buildings — which is okay, but do we need 15 buildings named after the same person? Maybe name the first one after yourself, then search around to find an opportunity to honor someone else, eh? Why not? We can see when something has some meaning, and when we do we usually stop and read it. Maybe you get your kid to read it, and maybe s/he’s inspired by what they learn. Maybe you take the time to look the person up and think, “Wow, this person really did some great things.”

I don’t have enough monetary value built up yet to build my own giant office building, or airport, or sports stadium and put Eratosthenes’ name on there with a big descriptive plaque. But I do have the feeble and insignificant power of naming my own mix tapes. So blammo — I dub thee “The Eratosthenes Mix” in your honor, Sir, and pledge that if I’m ever in a position to build something, I’ll consider putting the name Eratosthenes on there.

Most of these are from 2010. As usual, lots of songs on here I heard first on Seattle KEXP. Several bands from an Iceland podcast — Iceland has some great bands. I had no idea. They also have a big annual music festival up there, I think it was last month. They have a thing in Iceland where the bands have to sound unique, or people won’t go see them…pretty good standard.

Anyway, hope you enjoy.  If you like a band, please download their songs and support them on tour. And if you check out KEXP podcasts, consider making a donation to support them as well.

1. Long Time, No See – Massy Ferguson
2. I Know You Sleep – Bang Gang
3. Dear Moses – Turbo Fruits
4. Lawless Lands – The Sword
5. Gold Guns Girls – Metric
6. Western Haunts – silOHs
7. I Don’t Love You No More – Kings Go Forth
8. Swim (To Reach the End) – Surfer Blood
9. Musow – Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba
10. Hot Topic Woman – The Company Band
11. 1977 – Ana Tijoux
12. Forevermore – Luna Mortis
13. War Again – Balkan Beat Box
14. Western Hospitality – Club 8
15. Made Belief – Who Knew
16. Namania – Habib Koite
17. Halleluja! – [ingenting]
18. Wolfboy – Seabear

Naturally, the music will not do that for you. However, the other thing is that, as much as we all love new music, old music is still good. Sometimes I forget this. Then I find an old cassette or LP that I forgot about and play it and I’m blown away all over again. However, I’ve also made this “anthropological,” so it’s not scrubbed for just the cool songs I heard then. It also includes a few that just remind me of the time period that symbolize stuff you’d hear at parties or on the radio, things like “I Wanna Be a Cowboy” or “Lean on Me.” So when I first made this mix it was just for me, but then I thought about the music on it, and figured at least one other person would like it, so am posting it.

Plus, with it being anthropological, I’m doing science a huge favor by capturing what a 19-year old was listening to in 1986. Musicologists living in their underground bunkers in 3056 will thank me. I don’t talk on it but threw in some movie and TV samples from the time.

1. *On the Hunt – Lynyrd Skynyrd – There was a lot of Skynyrd around the Eastern Shore then, and I was listening a good bit to Nuthin’ Fancy and Skynyrd’s First and Last at the time as well. This reminds me of a dive bar called the Silver Dollar (I think), a place that, if you’d harnessed the misery there at the time, you could have powered a small town or maybe an amusement park.
2. Planet of Women – ZZ Top – I know the old ZZ is the best and Fandango was one of my first cassettes, but I really dug Afterburner. I still love the whole release.  I had picked up the cassette for whatever reason and ended up playing it till it broke by the end of the summer of ’87.
3. The Boy in the Bubble – Paul Simon – Of course the video for Call Me Al was hilarious, and I think I got this LP as one of my Columbia House 9 LPs for a penny thing. I ended up really liking this song.
4. I Believe – REM – I was hooked on REM when I first heard Chronic Town, and didn’t slow down until Green. Back then they were underground alternative, and those early 5 or 6 releases were just insane.
5. I Wanna Be a Cowboy – Boys Don’t Cry –  I first heard it at some party I went to. I picked it up on 45 an it’s just sort of stuck with me.
6. **Light of Day – Joan Jett & The Blackhearts – Don’t remember much from the movie, but hell, Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett, I mean, c’mon! I picked up this 45 back then and it’s not a bad little song.
7. Nice Boys – Rose Tattoo – I bought this cassette used at college in North Carolina in spring of 1985, and played the hell out of it. It busted too.
8. ***Secret Agent Man – Johnny Rivers – I barbacked at Redeye’s lounge when it was part of the restaurant, before it was a huge outside dock bar. The bar was packed three deep in this tiny room, where, nearly every weekend, the same band played. This was the only song I could remember that they played because I always thought the guitar part was the highlight of their set.
9. Red Rain – Peter Gabriel – Another Columbia House selection that really had some great songs on it.
10. Stand By Me – Ben E. King – Stephen King’s story The Body was summer reading in his book Different Seasons, and this story was made into Stand By Me, a film for which this original song was re-released in 1986, so it was on the radio a lot. One of the all-time greats.
11. Welcome to the Boomtown – David & David – Anyone alive with ears in 1987 remembers this song, just because it was always on the radio and was pretty different from everything else you heard. One hit wonders, but not a bad tune.
12. Like a Song… – U2 – Had heard it before but acquired the War cassette and listened to it much more during this time period, along with insanely good Wide Awake in America live EP.
13. Lean on Me – Club Nouveau – This is one of those mid-80s songs that you just couldn’t escape as that dance mix craze was ramping up. Somehow, I can tolerate it and actually enjoy it.
14. It’s Tricky – Run DMC – What can you say? Sure, we’ve all heard it, but it’s still a blockbuster.
15. ****I’m Goin’ Down – Bruce Springsteen – Born in the USA is a great album, and though I’d been hearing it for years, there were a few songs that I really liked, as they applied to my life in one way or another at the time. This is one of those.
16. Learn How to Live – Billy Squire – I like Billy Squire dammit. Emotions in Motion is an excellent LP, and this is one of my favorites off that one that you don’t hear much.
17. Don’t Care / Live Fast Die Young – Circle Jerks – I got turned on to the Circle Jerks and other punk in college, and this is one of the few punk cassettes I owned that I could listen to when away from college.
18. Fire Still Burns – Twisted Sister – Ah, the death of early phase metal. The only band that stayed true through the 80s was Motorhead, and perhaps Maiden and Accept. The rest of my metal icons got lost along the way, and Twisted Sister was one of the brightest burnouts of all them. Come out and Play was a horrifically bad release. I bought it thinking it would be good, and it was just a huge let down. This was the only song of any merit on the whole thing. Metallica had been on my radar since Kill ‘Em All in ’84, and Accept’s Metal Heart had come out and was good along with Motorhead’s Orgasmatron, but really, for me, I was about to take a metal break for a few years.

Samples:

1. *Evil Dead 2
2. **Light of Day
3. ***Jay Leno on David Letterman. This is when Letterman was new and good and everyone watched it. Leno was funny in the mid 80s, regardless of his status today.
4. ****Raising Arizona
5. Michelob Light Genesis commercial that was all over late night TV back then…

This show features..

New Music

• Jim’s pick — “Glass Printer” by The Besnard Lakes — 3:55
• Aaron’s pick — “Bang Pop” by Free Energy — 3:41

Resurrected Tracks

• Brian’s pick — “California’s Dark” by The Nightwatchman — 4:00
• Aaron’s pick — “Carpet Crawlers” by Genesis — 5:01
• Jim’s pick — “(I Hope U) Don’t Survive” by Silkworm — 3:25

Closet Track

• Aaron’s pick — “Midnight Blue” by Lou Gramm — 3:56

Shatner Track

• “I Can’t Get Behind That” by William Shatner & Ben Folds

• Desmond Dekker — Get Up Edina — 2:40
• Bob Marley — Simmer Down — 2:50
• The Ethiopians — Train to Skaville — 2:42
• The Specials — Little Bitch — 2:34
• Madness — One Step Beyond — 3:35
• The English Beat — Mirror in the Bathroom — 3:10
• The Clash — Wrong’em Boyo — 3:11
• Fishbone — Lyin’ Ass Bitch — 4:16
• The Toasters — Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down — 2:51
• The Slackers — Dave’s Friend — 4:55
• Mighty Mighty Bosstones — Someday I Suppose — 3:27
• Operation Ivy (ska-core) — Sound system — 2:14
• Hepcat — Goodbye Street (3:37)
• MU330 – La (3:02)
• The Pietasteres- Out All Night — 3:17
• Mustard Plug — Mr. Smiley — 2:45
• The Aquabats — Ska Robot Army — 2:12

We’ve started a new format on Radio Gen1us.  We’re not ditching our mixtapes — but we’re trying to be a bit more regular about podcasting.  Quite frankly, doing a discussion format is a lot easier to do, and it’s a bit more timely.  So if you’re jonesing for some nerd-out over music, then you’ll like this.

We’ve also consolidated our categories on the blog to channels.  Mixtapes is one, Music Discussion another (this means there may be other channels to come, eventually).

In the meantime, Jim and I had a lot of fun doing this show. We’re definitely going to do this more often (likely every other week) and still, sporadically put out playlists.  So if you like this, please give us some comment love and let us know what you think.  We’re always interested in having others participate and with this format, it’s really really easy to Skype in and rock out.

Music featured on our show today includes:

1. High on Fire – Fire, Flood & Plague
2. Gil Scott-Heron – New York is Killing Me
3. The Editors – Papillon
4. OK Go – End Love
5. Motorpsycho – Mr. Victim
6. Notorious B.I.G. – Juicy
7. The Urge – Closer

As usual, my listening has been dominated by country/southern rock and metal, but there are a few digressions in there as well. Some pretty strange transitions but as a whole I think it flows pretty well. So give it a listen and let me know what you think! Below is a list of the artists, albums, and sample tracks along with a blurb giving my take on each album. I’m not announcing tracks during the mix (it’s already over 90 minutes) so you may want to follow along below.

But now, to the tunes!

20
Artist: Those Darlins
Album: Those Darlins
Track: Snaggle Tooth Mama
Those Darlins are a 3-piece all-girl band from Murfreesboro, TN (4-piece with the drummer) who, like so many of the bands I really like, bring punk rock energy and attitude to country music. They’re raucous, boozy and fun.

19
Artist: The Protomen
Album: Act II: The Father of Death
Track: The Hounds
The Protomen are a band that creates Megaman-themed rock operas. This makes them a novelty act superficially, but they treat their subject very seriously. I’ve read that they even refuse to break character for interviews. Their second album, Act II: The Father of Death, is far more epic and technically accomplished than the first, leaving behind the 8-bit sounds they used sparingly on their debut in favor of further exploring their straight-up Meatloaf-style bombast and early 80s arena rock sound. To give you an idea, one of their B-sides (not on either album) was an excellent cover of Robert Tepper’s “No Easy Way Out,” among the cheesiest of 80s rock anthems, theme from the movie Rocky IV.

18
Artist: The Mountain Goats
Album: The Life of the World to Come
Track: Genesis 3:23
Historically, the Mountain Goats is mostly just John Darnielle, writing great songs and recording them on a boombox. The last several albums have been professionally recorded with regular enough collaborators that they can be truly said to be a “band” now, but Darnielle’s songwriting ability hasn’t suffered. He may be the best songwriter working in music today. The latest album is 12 songs named after Bible verses but I wouldn’t call it overtly religious. In JD’s words, it’s “twelve hard lessons the Bible taught me, kind of,” so take that as you will.

17
Artist: Nahemah
Album: A New Constellation
Track: Follow Me
Nahemah is a progressive death metal band from Spain. I liked their last album quite a bit, and was excited to hear this one as well. It didn’t disappoint. When you hear “progressive death metal” you probably think of Opeth, and some comparison may be inevitable. These guys use a similar combination of harsh and clean vocals to Opeth, but they are less repetitive. Also less aggressive, leaning more toward the post-metal style of early Isis with progressive flourishes.

16
Artist: Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
Album: Beware
Track: Beware Your Only Friend
What can I say? If Will Oldham (the man behind the ‘Prince’) releases an album, 9 times out of 10 it’ll end up on my list. Musically, the album is more lush than previous BPB albums, mostly a richly produced country and western sound. Lyrically, it veers from the disturbing to the tongue in cheek.

15
Artist: Portugal. The Man
Album: The Satanic Satanist
Track: People Say
I guess these guys are from Alaska, I don’t really know much about them. This album is indie rock/pop that’s a little bit spazzy, a little bit folky, a little bit soulful, and kind of all over the place. This song is the first track on the album and it’s a strong opener.

14
Artist: Russian Circles
Album: Geneva
Track: Malko
Russian Circles is a Chicago band and one of those bands that falls inbetween post rock and metal, sprawling instrumental music that ranges from quiet reflective passages to thunderous chugging metal riffs. After loving their first album (one of my great albums for staring out of train windows), I didn’t care too much for their second, but they’ve more than made up for it with this release.

13
Artist: Rimfrost
Album: Veraldar Nagli
Track: Mountains of Mana
I won’t beat about the bush; Rimfrost is straight-up Immortal worship. Which I can get behind.

12
Artist: Mumford & Sons
Album: Sigh No More
Track: Little Lion Man
Brits with banjos, these guys took the place in my heart this year that two years ago was firmly occupied by the Avett Brothers. Folk and bluegrass with fantastic harmonies.

11
Artist: Mantic Ritual
Album: Executioner
Track: Murdered to Death
Like the band Rimfrost in this countdown, this band exists largely as homage, in this case to “Kill ‘Em All” era Metallica. I’m a sucker for thrashy metal and this is a throwback that caught me at the right time and in the right mood. If you like 80s thrash, it’s definitely worth checking out.

10
Artist: Lucero
Album: 1372 Overton Park
Track: What are You Willing to Lose?
Lucero is a perennial favorite of mine. They started life as a country band started by a bunch of punk rock kids, but their music has moved over the years from country firmly into the rock genre. 2007’s Rebels, Rogues and Sworn Brothers added some piano to their basic drums/bass/guitars setup for a classic rock sound that pretty strongly brought the Boss to mind. This time around, they’ve added horns and evolved their sound further, bringing in a bluesy soulful sound that compliments the stomping rock they do best. But the elevator still goes all the way to the ground floor, as there are songs that wouldn’t feel out of place on some of their previous albums either.

9
Artist: Converge
Album: Axe to Fall
Track: Dark Horse
I saw these guys at the Dethklok/Mastodon show earlier this year and thought at the time they were a weird fit. After hearing the album, I don’t feel like they were as out of place as I initially thought. They’ve added some very thrashy elements to their hardcore sound (which, I realize, isn’t a stretch by any means) and their energy is undeniable.

8
Artist: Justin Townes Earle
Album: Midnight at the Movies
Track: Black Eyed Suzy
JTE made my list last year and though I personally like that album better than this year’s, he’s still one of the better artists working this corner of Americana. This time around he relies more on solid songwriting than mining the past of country/western music (and I think that’s what I liked so much about the previous album, the old-timey feel) but he still falls more comfortably within the old school of country music than anywhere else.

7
Artist: Propaghandi
Album: Supporting Caste
Track: Supporting Caste
My friend Jeb is a huge Propaghandi fan, and I’d never listened to them. He hyped this record so much though that I checked it out and I’m glad I did. Propaghandi’s a Canadian punk band, but this album ventures beyond punk: fast, angular, yes, melodic, thrashy in parts, some songs complex bordering on progressive.

6
Artist: Skeletonwitch
Album: Breathing the Fire
Track: Longing for Domination
Skeletonwitch is one of my favorite new bands. Their previous album, Beyond the Permafrost, was one of my favorites of 2007, and this one is a worthy followup. The sound is a little cleaner, more focused, but composed of the same basic parts: blistering thrash riffage, complimented by aspects of death metal and black metal, and with a melodic dual lead that brings to mind Iron Maiden and other greats of the NWOBHM.

5
Artist: Immortal
Album: All Shall Fall
Track: Norden on Fire
Immortal’s follow-up to one of the best metal albums of the decade, and an essential metal album by any measure, Sons of Northern Darkness, was going to face an uphill battle. How do you follow up a classic like SoND? if you expect a better album you’re sure to be disappointed, but All Shall Fall delivers on being another great record from Immortal, and that’s all I really wanted.

4
Artist: Scale the Summit
Album: Carving Desert Canyons
Track: The Great Plains
I’m not going to lie to you, this album is all about guitar wankery. That doesn’t float everyone’s boat, but this is some impressive progressive instrumental metal by some guys who know what they’re doing.

3
Artist: Crippled Black Phoenix
Album: 200 Tons of Bad Luck
Track: 444
Crippled Black Phoenix is a sort of post rock/doom metal supergroup, with members from Mogwai, Electric Wizard, and other bands. They weave a gloomy series of epic-length songs combining the expected doom and post-rock genres with some laid back dreamier Floydesque passages and more aggressive hardcore sounds as well.

2
Artist: Blut Aus Nord
Album: Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars
Track: The Alcove of Angels (Vipassana)
All year, I expected this to be my #1 album of the year. In this release, Blut Aus Nord combines some of the melodic shoegazy aspect of the current crop of French black metal with a basis in the harshness that is elemental to classic black metal, in an amazing way. Then, somewhere in the course of the album, some soaring soloing somberly swoops in and out like whalesong and you’re hooked.

1
Artist: Baroness
Album: Blue Record
Track: War, Wisdom and Rhyme
Baroness is a band I’m still exploring, after having been introduced to them late in the year by a friend, but I was impressed enough by this album for it to shoot to the top of my list after only a few weeks of listening. It combines a sludgy metal with southern rock and acid/stoner rock in an engulfing wall of sound.

bonus
Artist: Ben Nichols
Album: The Last Pale Light in the West
Track: The Kid
This is a bonus song from an album that deserved a place somewhere in my best-of lists, but I couldn’t quite fit into either my 2008 or 2009 list. Ben Nichols is the lead singer of Lucero, and this, his first solo album, had an official release date in January of 2009, but because of a download available with preorders was all over the internet by September or October of 2008. I had considered it a 2009 release so left it off the 2008 list, but it seems like everyone else veered the other way. So here it is, belatedly, a great short concept album based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel Blood Meridian, combining Ben’s excellent songwriting with a more stripped-down country sound than what his band Lucero is playing these days.

[Kevin] Winter’s a great time for a mix of northwest bands. These mostly span Washington and Oregon. Not all songs are what they seem, so before you write something off, give it a listen.

I started off just trying to round up enough Pacific Northwest bands to make a mix, but I ended up with way too many original, insanely good songs and got turned on to a bunch of new bands in the process.  Hope you do too.

We Sing in Time – The Lonely Forest
Good Friend, Yr Hunger – Castanets
911 – Man Plus
Bananas – Blue Scholars
I Say Fever – Ramona Falls
I’m a F*cking Genius – Supersuckers
Black River Killer – Blitzen Trapper
Two Minutes – The Blows
Beep Beep – Big World Breaks (featuring Godspeed, Jerm, Lia Brown & Toni Hill)
You Only Believe Me When I’m Lying – Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers
Little Slickers – The Globes
Better Than Lies – Beehive
Now We Can See – The Thermals
Wall of a Song – The Whore Moans
Ward – Visqueen
Clear as Day – North Twin
Otherside – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis
The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid – The Decemberists

If you like any of these bands be sure to support them by downloading their music or picking up a CD, and check them out when they tour near you.  Special thanks to KEXP in Seattle for great podcasts…check them out and support KEXP, their releases,  and/or the music you love.