Well hey, at least I’m posting this before this week’s show. I’ve been slacking because I can’t figure out how to get the flash players to work again.
After I wrote that, I figured it out. You should get Flash 10 if you wanna play this one (or any one) in Firefox. Do it. You’ll hear some Van She, Spinto Band, The Grates, and more.
Max Meyer was, through my train of recognition, a band in Philly that attributed its name to a psychologist who they claim said that certain musical sounds or compositions can mark a moment in your life. When you hear that music you can be brought back to that place in your life, whether you want to or not.
I think it’s cheap to “have a song with someone,” then have that same song “with” someone else. It cheapens the sentiment. If a song reminds you of someone the way it should, it would be impossible to attach it to someone else. The memories and feelings would not be the same. The following songs have been retired in the name of girls:
Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds
Evelyn Forever - Imagine My Surprise
Louis Armstrong - A Kiss to Build a Dream On1
Elvis Costello - Still
The Long Winters - Pushover
Chet Baker and anyone else - I’m Glad There Is You
Elvis Costello - Let Me Tell You About Her
Before I left PA to come to NJ, out of shame, I grabbed a bunch of random CDs, not knowing what mood I’d be in 10 minutes from then. One that I thought was a bad choice ended up being pretty consoling. Janis Joplin guided me through the final leg of my trip and her dirty soul and crass delivery just made things feel more real. Ben Folds made things feel more sad.
I’ve started and quit jobs three times in the past year and moved twice. For someone who seems to have so many chances to begin anew, it seems like the stories all have the same endings. You always learn something, but some lessons are better left ignored. Always love.
And Marissa, this is the quote I tried to remember for you on Friday:
You know, some people say life is short and that you could get hit by a bus at any moment and that you have to live each day like it’s your last. Bullshit. Life is long. You’re probably not gonna get hit by a bus. And you’re gonna have to live with the choices you make for the next fifty years.
Richard Cooper, I Think I Love My Wife
It’s, without a doubt, one of the many reasons I love the work of Louis CK.
In case anyone in the area wonders why I can’t take this local news1, I’d like to submit this, coming in from the UK– news about the news I used to watch: Email Hacking News Anchor. Well there’s that, and this of course.
The Phillips Family Fun Time Radio Show 7-30-08
After seven weeks, we finally have a show title. Inspired by me and Marissa both being Phillips’, having fun, and the show lasting a period of time. Last night one or both of us did some of the following things (the rest are lies):
Okay… I only did two of those things, but it was a good show anyway…
I forgot to ID3 tag it. Sorry! Download it anyway.
I’m listening to XXXChange’s latest mix presented as part of the We Make It Good mix series and I was enjoying it quite a bit before Harry Belafonte came on. Then I enjoyed it more and peeked ahead to see that “Little Green Bag” is on the way. So, what I’m trying to say is, get this mix. (They hide the play button in the dark grey player under the giant cover image.) It’s a nice quasi-retro mix that’s distracting me from how craptastic doing nothing at work for the next two days is.
I haven’t posted here all that often and I apologize for that1. Honestly, there’s been very little good, new music out there. I could dip into the archives of good old things, but I don’t really feel like sitting at a computer when I get home from work. I feel like there’s nothing to interest me on the internet anymore, so I keep refreshing news pages that have very few new updates over the course of the day.
Matthew Sweet has a new album on the way and it’s suspiciously as uninteresting as his previous ones (since 100% Fun). I really expected that someone would tap into his brain by now and tell him he needs to bring something fresh to the table, but he keeps putting out the same sounds with the same harmonies and the same lyrical style. I remember the first Matthew Sweet record I got and I asked the guy at the store which one I should get and he said, “Pick any one. They all sound the same.” Sure enough, it seems like he was and is right.
Maybe I’m just having another frustrated Sunday though? Yeah. But the record’s whack too.
Here’s a radio show. The first hour is rock-ish stuff from the past few years. Then we get into newer stuff (with a couple requests too). Unfortunately for you, I didn’t record long enough to capture the Tom Jones International block of music. It was thoroughly enjoyable, as Alisha can attest from her fondest college memories.
Download the show, if you want.
No playlist this time. Sorry. I wrote it down, but I didn’t type it. Plus, the mystery will entice you to listen to it… right? Right?
Newness from Wax Fang, Throw Me the Statue, Aimee Mann, and more.
throw me the statue - about to walk
I’ve been very hard-pressed to find any good new music. Sorry guys, but it’s an empty field out there this summer. Summer’s supposed to be huge for music– people are all hot and bothered, aching to spend money on music. Anyway, this has been a dull summer musically (or I’ve been to busy to notice any good music) until I discovered Moonbeams from Throw the Statue. Like most music I enjoy, it’s refreshing in being unexpected. The band guides you down a path and just when you get comfortable (right before you get bored) they change things up and bring in a new element to pick up your brain. Take “About to Walk,” which starts simply enough and ends up a beautiful mess of distortion, but still keeps the original appealing elements in place. Just listen. You’ll get it.
throw me the statue - about to walk
They cover “Darling Nikki,” but who hasn’t by now? What I find enthralling is the Dire Straits cover. The original, so smooth and suave (yet decidedly corny), “So Far Away” is one of those songs that could fit on a classic rock or adult contemporary station. Love is All takes that convention and turns it into their trademark lumbering drum/guitar combo. Female vocals make the song feel more fragile and aching– less like the radio fodder the original turned into. The brilliance in the cover is that this is a song that people do know, but wouldn’t think to remake in some way. And yet, when done this subtly, it’s quite a loose, deep, and uniquely collaborative effort. I admit, after “Felt Tip,” I didn’t expect to be as impressed1. Here’s more about the rest.
I enjoyed the weekend. It has a good mini-soundtrack too.
First, I listened to most of Jamie Cullum’s Catching Tales, which reminded me of the spectacular collaboration he and John Oates had under the guidance of Handsome Boy Modeling School. “The Greatest Mistake” is probably my favorite song off of White People, Cullum’s performance being half the reason why. Are we due for another HBMS record soon?
Handsome Boy Modeling School - Greatest Mistake
Second is Hall and Oates, and I took “Did it in a Minute” from their Very Best of… because it captures their pop and harmonies together.
Hall and Oates - Did It In A Minute
Last is Nina Simone, which came out in a way I wanted to be a bit nicer, but ultimately was okay. “I Got it Bad” is still my favorite, but a fan favorite is “Sinnerman,” which really fills a room if you play it loud enough on a bad day. Take it from me.
Incidentally, Jamie Cullum also has good taste in that Nina Simone’s “I Think it’s Gonna Rain Today” is the first track on his compilation record In the Mind of Jamie Cullum.
Nina Simone - I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today
How’s that for circular?
No amount of shark jumping will ever tank bacon’s status, because bacon is the Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli of the meat world. Personified, it would be Henry Winkler, not James Dean: popular but not quite cool; desirable but not unattainable; not bland but not challenging. It’s not dangerous at all to like bacon or the Fonz; it’s a family-friendly pose but it’s not as vanilla as pulling for Ron Howard, who would almost certainly be the skinless chicken breast of the “Happy Days” universe.
And as the Fonz did on “Happy Days,” bacon can jump the shark literally and still not land in the same also-ran, has-been pile as, say, blackened redfish or unironic fondue or, though I’m sad to predict it, bacon’s noble relative from the face of the pig, guanciale, will someday. The Fonz was an outsider scrubbed and designed to appeal to the masses; bacon is safe, institutionalized rebellion on a plate.
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/07/10/long_live_bacon/
Another week, another show, another solid set of new– no, wait– i recycled most songs from previous weeks. Consider it a “best of,” if you’re just tuning in.
Download it too. Read the tracklist first, after the break.
