Left of the Dial Radio Playlist - 12/9/11

Thanks to everyone who tuned in to my radio show Left of the Dial online or on WNHU last night and listened to me broadcast. Special thanks to Jon Scranton from Babytown Frolics for calling in while delivering pizzas from Pizza Hut. I really appreciate it when people call in, even if it’s just to let me know that they’re listening.

Here’s the full playlist from last night’s show, with links to each song. Next Friday I won’t be broadcasting because I’m going to be seeing WHY? with Serengeti in Hartford. Tickets are still available for that show, and anyone from around Connecticut who is a fan of the group should try to make it out. The show is part of a special unplugged sit down tour where the band will be debuting new songs and allowing audience members to ask questions. This particular date was rescheduled recently from an earlier date after singer/rapper Yoni Wolf broke his hand in September. More information about the show can be found HERE.

• 1. The Hold Steady - “Positive Jam”
• 2. Hüsker Dü - “Chartered Trips”
• 3. Trash Talk - “Gimme Death”
• 4. Cursive - “Art Is Hard”
• 5. Cymbals Eat Guitars - “Definite Darkness”
• 6. Desaparecidos - ”$$$$”
• 7. Street Smart Cyclist - “Hoods Up!”
• 8. Ovlov - “The City”
• 9. Spider Bags - “Blood For You”
• 10. The Rural Alberta Advantage - “Barnes’ Yard”
• 11. !!! - “Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass”
• 12. James Blake - “Love What Happened Here”
• 13. Wild Beasts - “Albatross”
• 14. SBTRKT - “Sanctuary” (feat. Jessie Ware and Sampha)
• 15. Nicolas Jaar - “I Got A”
• 16. Sharon Van Etten - “Mike McDermott”
• 17. Perfume Genius - “All Waters”
• 18. Blue Sky Black Death - “To The Ends Of The Earth”
• 19. This Will Destroy You - “Killed The Lord, Left For The New World”
• 20. Deafheaven - “Unrequited”
• 21. La Dispute - “King Park”
• 22. Deer Leap - “Coffee and Keys”
• 23. Thurston Moore - “Benediction”
• 24. WHY? - “Eskimo Snow”
• 25. Desertshore - “Mercy”
• 26. Tom Waits - “Kiss Me”
• 27. Oneohtrix Point Never - “Andro”

Left of the Dial Radio Playlist - 11/4/11

Thanks for listening to my show last night! Since I missed last week’s show because I was performing at my school, I had a ton of new music to debut on WNHU last night. Perhaps most notably, I played a few tracks from the long-awaited Beach Boys release The Smile Sessions, which I reviewed a few days ago HERE. Additionally, I played a brand new track from the recently-reunited Guided By Voices, two from the new, Beck-produced Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks album Mirror Traffic, and a cut from the new Surfer Blood EP. The full playlist is below, complete with youtube or bandcamp links to the songs when they’re available.

• 1. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - “Me and Mia”
• 2. Jawbreaker - “Boxcar”
• 3. Ovlov - “The City”
• 4. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - “Tigers”
• 5. Guided By Voices - “The Unsinkable Fats Domino”
• 6. Sebadoh - “Not A Friend”
• 7. The Germs - “Lexicon Devil”
• 8. Fucked Up - “The Other Shoe”
• 9. Titus Andronicus - “Titus Andronicus”
• 10. Pixies - “Mr. Grieves”
• 11. Surfer Blood - “Miranda”
• 12. Snowing - “KJ Jammin”
• 13. Milkshakes - “Kalabar’s Revenge (Demo)”
• 14. Street Smart Cyclist - “The Three Lane Cut”
• 15. Broadcaster - “All Your Friends”
• 16. Mister Heavenly - “Diddy Eyes”
• 17. R.E.M. - “7 Chinese Bros. (Live at The Aragon Ballroom)”
• 18. The Decemberists - “Calamity Song”
• 19. The Mountain Goats - “Weekend In Western Illinois”
• 20. boy crush - “dorothy dale diebold”
• 21. The Beach Boys - “Heroes And Villains” (The Smile Sessions version)
• 22. The Beach Boys - “Cabin Essence” (The Smile Sessions version)
• 23. The Beach Boys - “Surf’s Up” (The Smile Sessions version)
• 24. The Decemberists - “We Both Go Down Together”
• 25. Bright Eyes - “Falling Out Of Love At This Volume”
• 26. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - “Forever 28”
• 27. The Magnetic Fields - “All My Little Words”
• 28. By Surprise - “Motor Away” (Guided By Voices cover)
• 29. The Fucking Cops - “Gloria”
• 30. The Antlers - “Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out”
• 31. Björk - “Hyperballad”
• 32. Julianna Barwick - “The Magic Place”

Tune in next Friday at 6 PM eastern time to catch another live broadcast of Left of the Dial on WNHU.

Left of the Dial Radio Playlist - 9/16/11

Below is the playlist from Friday night’s Left of the Dial radio show, which aired from 6 to 8 PM Eastern time on WNHU. Next Friday I’m going to be playing a show at my school, which means that I won’t be doing my radio show. Remember to tune in the week after that though.

• 1. The Antlers - “Kettering”
• 2. Midi & The Modern Dance - “Ghost”
• 3. Bright Eyes - “The Calendar Hung Itself”
• 4. Suns - “Casual”
• 5. WHY? - “Light Leaves”
• 6. Giles Corey - “Blackest Bile”
• 7. Carissa’s Wierd - “September Come Take This Heart Away”
• 8. Modest Mouse - “Cowboy Dan”
• 9. The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - “Mega Steve”
• 10. Slint - “Nosferatu Man”
• 11. Liturgy - “Returner”
• 12. Cymbals Eat Guitars - “Plainclothes”
• 13. Snowing - “KJ Jammin”
• 14. Ovlov - “I Got Well”
• 15. Rites of Spring - “Nudes”
• 16. The Replacements - “We’re Comin’ Out”
• 17. Hostage Calm - “War On A Feeling”
• 18. Girls - “Saying I Love You”
• 19. The War On Drugs - “Come To The City”
• 20. Sigur Ros - “Untitled #4”
• 21. Idaho - “You Were A Dick”
• 22. Morrissey - “I’m Not Sorry”
• 23. Andrew Jackson Jihad - “Big Bird”
• 24. Neutral Milk Hotel - “Ferris Wheel On Fire”
• 25. Sharon Van Etten - “Love More”
• 26. The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - “To The Janitor, To The King”
• 27. The Smiths - “Oscillate Wildly”

Stream: Ovlov - What’s So Great About The City?

Infinity Cat favorites JEFF The Brotherhood are continuing their relentless touring schedule with a date at Hamden, Connecticut’s beloved all ages venue The Space tonight, which has me psyched for a number of reasons. Apart from the fact that I’m dying to ask the duo how the fuck they ended up collaborating with Jack White and Insane Clown Posse, and the fact that their hooky new record We Are The Champions has been sticking in my head more than most albums I’ve heard lately, I’m excited to see this show because of the excellent opening bands that are going to be playing tonight in support of the Nashville duo.

One of those bands is called Ovlov, a Newtown, Connecticut-based indie rock group with a penchant for melodic hooks and loud, noisy guitars. They released their new EP What’s So Great About The City? back in July, and it’s easily their most accomplished effort yet. Throughout the four song EP, Ovlov conceptually explores the freneticism and nervousness of urban life through a musical lens that is rooted in the past but executed so well that it seems timeless. It’s not an entirely new idea — The Dismemberment Plan covered this topic most famously with their 1999 LP Emergency & I — but it’s one that I think benefits from Ovlov’s revisiting. 

The album’s sound that is derived largely from the great punkish indie rock bands of the ’80s and ’90s, with the catchy riffs of Bakesale-era Sebadoh, the guitar scourge of Sonic Youth, and the dynamics of the Pixies. When I saw Ovlov open for Suns back at their EP release show in August, I felt like I had been transported to some dusty old basement in the midwest in 1994. There are quite a few bands that have this kind of sound these days, but for every great new full length record that sounds like it came from the 90s (By Surprise’s Mountain Smashers and Snowing’s I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted, to name a couple) there are tons of mediocre ones (Yuck’s self-titled bores me death, even though there are a couple solid songs on it). The way I see it, if a band has four great songs that happen to be unified by an interesting theme, they should release their four great songs. While an LP from these guys might be a more rewarding work of art to cherish and appreciate in the long-term, it could also potentially be mediocre or even boring. Sometimes I just prefer a nice, solid four-song EP. I don’t know what else Ovlov might have cooked up for fans, but until I hear anything new, I’ll be blasting What’s So Great About The City? on repeat. 

That cover art sure is ugly though. I guess my Emergency & I comparisons weren’t so far off after all.

Stream or download What’s So Great About The City? above and at Ovlov’s bandcamp page HERE. Find more information about their show tonight with JEFF The Brotherhood, Colleen Green, and Dead Wives HERE.