Left of the Dial Radio Playlist - 3/29/13
I was happy to get back on the radio this weekend after missing a couple Fridays due to vacation plans. Last night’s playlist comprised a compendium of new stuff from (sort-of) guilty pleasure acts like Vampire Weekend and Justin Timberlake, along with truly terrific new tracks from Phosphorescent, Old Gray, Josh Ritter, Donovan Wolfington and more. I truly wish I had enough time to write about all of the new stuff that I’ve been loving lately, but hopefully I’ll be able to compensate for that in the near future. If you didn’t catch my show on Friday, feel free to stream the available tracks via Spotify at the embedded link at the bottom of this post. Tune in again next Friday, April 5th, for another live broadcast of Left of the Dial on WNHU.
- 1. The Microphones - “I Want Wind To Blow”
- 2. Sondre Lerche - “Track You Down”
- 3. The Strokes - “Tap Out”
- 4. Vampire Weekend - “Diane Young”
- 5. The Modern Lovers - “Roadrunner”
- 6. Parquet Courts - “Master of My Craft”
- 7. The New Pornographers - “Mystery Hours”
- 8. Grandaddy - “Now It’s On”
- 9. The Thermals- “The Sunset” (Requested by total-witch)
- 10. Wavves - “Cop”
- 11. David F. Bello - “Better Off”
- 12. Cursive - “Bad Sects”
- 13. Donovan Wolfington - “Love Is Natural”
- 14. Algebrahs - “Salt of the Sea”
- 15. Foxygen - “No Destruction”
- 16. fun. - “Benson Hedges”
- 17. Suede - “Faultlines”
- 18. Wavves - “Demon to Lean On”
- 19. Christopher Owens - “Here We Go”
- 20. Justin Timberlake - “That Girl”
- 21. Bilal - “West Side Girl”
- 22. Blue Hawaii - “In Two”
- 23. Phosphorescent - “Terror in the Canyons (The Wounded Master)”
- 24. Josh Ritter - “A Certain Light”
- 25. Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell - “Hanging Up My Heart”
- 26. Lou Reed - “I’m So Free”
- 27. Milkshakes - “Distant”
- 28. Old Gray - “Coventry”
- 29. Sigur Rós - “Brennisteinn”
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Stream via Spotify:
Today I went to Redscroll Records in Wallingford CT around 9 AM to do some shopping for record store day! Prices were marked down 15% for everything in the store, and they also had a number of exclusive Record Store Day items. I almost bought The Money Store by Death Grips but decided against it because I didn’t want to spend another $15 or so.
Clockwise from top left:
- LCD Soundsystem - “Losing My Edge” b/w “Beat Connection” (Disco Dub version) 12” DFA Records
- Sufjan Stevens & Rosie Thomas - Hit & Run Vol. 1 split 7” Sing-A-Long Records
- St. Vincent - “KROKODIL” b/w “Grot” 7” 4AD Records
- Beach House - “Lazuli” b/w “Equal Mind” 7” Sub Pop Records
- Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump (2011 reissue) 12” The Control Group
- Bomb The Music Industry! - Vacation (2011 original pressing) 12” Really Records
I think I made a good haul today, and I’m particularly proud of the three 7” records I bought, all of which were Record Store Day exclusives. The colors of the St. Vincent and Beach House 7”s are particularly beautiful. The Bomb The Music Industry! LP is half clear and half red, which makes it look like a Pokeball. I’m excited to spend some time with these records in the coming days.
Redscroll also gave me a goodie bag that came with a 7”, a few CDs, pins, stickers from The Needle Drop, and a Topshelf Records 2011 sampler, which has my face on the front.
Did any of my followers go out for Record Store Day today? Photo-reply with some pictures of the records your bought!
Left of the Dial Radio Playlist - 4/13/12
Apologies for not posting this yesterday. I got caught up in writing the review of that excellent new LP from The Act Of Estimating As Worthless and then had to go to band practice. Anyway, I hope those of you who tuned in to my show on Friday (the thirteenth!) had a good time. Here’s the playlist below, along with a link to stream each song.
- 1. The Get Up Kids - “Holiday”
- 2. Elvis Costello - “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes”
- 3. Into It. Over It. - “Discretion & Depressing People”
- 4. Beach House - “Myth”
- 5. Destroyer - “Suicide Demo For Kara Walker”
- 6. Grandaddy - “The Go In The Go-For-It”
- 7. fun. - “All Alone”
- 8. Suns - “I Could’ve Made Time”
- 9. Iceage - “White Rune”
- 10. Refused - “The Deadly Rhythm”
- 11. Titus Andronicus - “Upon Viewing Breughel’s “Landscape With The Fall of Icarus”
- 12. The Arrogant Sons Of Bitches - “Disappointment At The Taco Bell”
- 13. Defiance, Ohio - “Oh, Susquehanna!”
- 14. Laura Stevenson and the Cans - “The Healthy One”
- 15. By Surprise - “Realometer”
- 16. Dikembe - “Scottie Spliffen”
- 17. Jimmy Eat World - “A Praise Chorus”
- 18. Pavement - “The Killing Moon” (Echo & The Bunnymen cover)
- 19. Cloud Nothings - “Stay Useless”
- 20. The Act Of Estimating As Worthless - “My Left Thumb”
- 21. Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s - “Skeleton Key”
- 22. Elliott Smith - “Bled White”
- 23. Local Natives - “Who Knows Who Cares”
- 24. First Aid Kit - “Emmylou”
- 25. Bright Eyes - “On My Way To Work”
- 26. Andrew Jackson Jihad - “Love In The Time Of Human Papilloma Virus”
- 27. Low - “Done”
- 28. The Mountain Goats - “The Mess Inside”
I won’t be doing my show next week because I’ll be going to WQAQ’s Festapalooza (with Titus Andronicus, Bomb The Music Industry!, The Front Bottoms and more!). Find more information about that day long Connecticut festival HERE.
Grandaddy - “Now It’s On”
Today, the wonderful American psychedelic pop band Grandaddy announced that they will be reuniting for shows in the UK. They broke up in 2005 after releasing some great records like 2000’s sprawling The Sophtware Slump and 2003’s more focused Sumday.
This song opens the latter record, and, in light of their reunion, I thought it would be appropriate to revisit it. The endearing, robot-voiced frontman Jason Lytle employs some of his best lyrical imagery on “Now It’s On,” while the band behind him provides one of Grandaddy’s tightest and most instantly-likable musical backgrounds. Without ever seeming too sentimental, Grandaddy’s music never fails to put a smile on my face, and few of their songs affect me as much as this one. Listening to this and knowing that these guys are back together has me positively beaming. This year is proving to be a great year for reunions.
Listening To: Grandaddy - Sumday (2003)
I’m unwinding after a long day of living my dumb boring life with a relatively recent vinyl purchase, Grandaddy’s 2003 full length Sumday. This album was released as the followup to their 2000 opus The Sophtware Slump, which received widespread critical accolades and propelled them to a new level of relevance upon its release.
In light of that album’s legacy, I think that Sumday stands as somewhat overlooked in their discography. This is kind of unfair; as great as The Sophtware Slump is, I’m starting to believe that Sumday is an equally great record. Although it lacks the convenient turn of the century release date and expansive concept of its predecessor, Sumday is just as delightfully weird and psychedelic, and features catchier melodies, better production, and a generally more confident sound. More than on any other Grandaddy record, frontman Jason Lytle sounds genuinely in control of his band’s creative vision. It must feel great to be able to get the sound that you want so perfectly in studio.
Listen to the album cut “El Caminos In The West” below:
Left of the Dial Radio Playlist - 2/3/12
Thanks to everyone who called and tuned in last night for this week’s live broadcast of Left of the Dial. It was a lot of fun doing this show last night, especially because the lead singer of Palomar happened to call in and compliment the music I was playing! Naturally, I felt obliged to play one of their songs towards the end of the set. Tune in next Friday for another broadcast on WNHU.
- 1. Modest Mouse - “Styrofoam Boots/It’s All Nice On Ice”
- 2. Grandaddy - “Now It’s On”
- 3. Dum Dum Girls - “Bedroom Eyes”
- 4. The Shins - “Phantom Limb”
- 5. Bright Eyes - “Shell Games”
- 6. LVL UP - “*_*”
- 7. Bruce Springsteen - “No Surrender”
- 8. The Smiths - “Still Ill”
- 9. The Beach Boys - “Good Vibrations” (The Smile Sessions version)
- 10. Big Star - “Thirteen”
- 11. Matt Elliott - “This Is For”
- 12. David F. Bello - “Gemini (Birthday Song)” (WHY? cover)
- 13. Sufjan Stevens - “All Delighted People (Original Version)”
- 14. Perfume Genius - “No Tear”
- 15. Primal Scream - “Higher Than The Sun”
- 16. MDC - “Born To Die”
- 17. Bad Brains - “Banned In D.C.”
- 18. Secret Plot To Destroy The Entire Universe - “Roswell, NM”
- 19. Mineral - “Gloria”
- 20. 10,000 Blades - “I Hate Everything And I Like It That Way”
- 21. Have a Nice Life - “Guggenheim Wax Museum”
- 22. Slow Warm Death - “Sleep”
- 23. Loma Prieta - “Uniform”
- 24. Embrace - “No More Pain”
- 25. Palomar - “Top Banana”
- 26. Pavement - “AT&T”
Left of the Dial Radio Playlist - 1/20/12
Here’s the playlist from last night’s broadcast of Left of the Dial on WNHU. I tried to play some positive music to counteract my general unhappiness and I guess it worked, at least for the two hours during the show. Notable songs included Sharon Van Etten’s beautiful “Kevin’s,” from her new album Tramp, which I reviewed earlier today HERE. I also played a track from the new One Hundred Year Ocean EP Poison Smoak, and the new Bruce Springsteen single. I hope those of you who tuned in enjoyed what I had to play.
- 1. The Hold Steady - “Positive Jam”
- 2. Hallelujah The Hills - “It’s All Been Downhill Since The Talkies Started To Sing”
- 3. The Shins - “Simple Song”
- 4. Free Energy - “I’m Going Down” (Bruce Springsteen cover)
- 5. Girls - “Heartbreaker”
- 6. Chestpiece - “Cassius Clay”
- 7. The Flaming Lips - “Do You Realize??”
- 8. Grandaddy - “Hewlett’s Daughter”
- 9. Sharon Van Etten - “Kevin’s”
- 10. Belle and Sebastian - “Seeing Other People”
- 11. The Microphones - “The Moon”
- 12. Laura Stevenson and the Cans - “Master Of Art”
- 13. Spraynard - “We’re Pretty Nice Guys”
- 14. Suns - “Machine”
- 15. Rivers Cuomo - “There Is No Other One”
- 16. Hour of the Star - “Steeplechase”
- 17. One Hundred Year Ocean - “1576”
- 18. Sinforiano Diaz - “Congregation”
- 19. Bruce Springsteen - “We Take Care Of Our Own”
- 20. Okkervil River - “Black”
- 21. of Montreal - “Dour Percentage”
- 22. Cloud Nothings - “Wasted Days”
- 23. The Music Tapes - “The Minister of Longitude”
- 24. Neutral Milk Hotel - “A Baby For Pree/Glow Into You”
- 25. Neutral Milk Hotel - “Little Birds (studio)”
- 26. Neutral Milk Hotel - “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea”
Tune in next Friday for another broadcast on WNHU.
Left of the Dial Radio Playlist - 8/12/11
Here’s the full playlist from last night’s Left of the Dial radio show that I did on WNHU. Tune in again next Friday at 6 PM Eastern time as always for another live broadcast.
Click the song titles to listen to the tracks on youtube.
- 1. Grandaddy - “He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s The Pilot”
- 2. Tame Impala - “It Is Not Meant to Be”
- 3. Dirty Projectors - “Remade Horizon”
- 4. Wild Beasts - “Bed Of Nails”
- 5. Destroyer - “Kaputt”
- 6. Animal Collective - “Banshee Beat”
- 7. American Football - “I’ll See You When We’re Both Not So Emotional”
- 8. The Wonder Years - “And Now I’m Nothing”
- 9. Titus Andronicus - “Breed” (Nirvana cover)
- 10. Julie Doiron - “Heavy Snow”
- 11. Dirty Beaches - “Lord Knows Best”
- 12. Washed Out - “A Dedication”
- 13. A Silver Mt. Zion - “Movie (Never Made)”
- 14. Sufjan Stevens - “Seven Swans”
- 15. Sharon Van Etten - “Love More”
- 16. Nana Grizol - “Cynicism”
- 17. The Mountain Goats - “Get Lonely”
- 18. Suns - “This Can’t Be Me”
- 19. Into It. Over It. - “Pontiac, MI”
- 20. The Magnetic Fields - “The One You Really Love”
- 21. Built to Spill - “Made Up Dreams”
- 22. Bright Eyes - “Nothing Gets Crossed Out”
- 23. Modest Mouse - “Heart Cooks Brain”
- 24. Explosions In The Sky - “So Long, Lonesome”
- 25. Elliott Smith - “Somebody That I Used To Know”
Left of the Dial Radio Playlist - 4/15/11
I’ve been pretty bad about posting my radio show playlists lately. I’m really sorry about that, and I promise I’ll be posting them more regularly from now on. Below is Friday’s playlist, complete with youtube links where applicable.
- Grandaddy - “He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s The Pilot”
- Cymbals Eat Guitars - “And The Hazy Sea”
- Dirty Projectors - “Cannibal Resource”
- Animal Collective - “Grass”
- The Guru - “Arizona”
- Low - “Try To Sleep”
- Deakin - “Country Report”
- Panda Bear - “Last Night at the Jetty” (Tomboy version)
- LCD Soundsystem - “I Can Change”
- The Postal Service - “Sleeping In”
- The Magnetic Fields - “Famous”
- Suicide - “Ghost Rider”
- Dirty Beaches - “Sweet 17”
- Joan of Arc - “If There Was A Time #1”
- Fleet Foxes - “Bedouin Dress”
- Midi & The Modern Dance - “Eleanor’s Song”
- Belle and Sebastian - “Expectations”
- Sufjan Stevens - “Decatur, or, Round of Applause For Your Stepmother”
- The Jimi Hendrix Experience - “Crosstown Traffic”
- The Feelies - “Way Down”
- Beach Fossils - “Sometimes”
- Sebadoh - “Drama Mine”
- Tigers Jaw - “Smile”
- Snowing - “Kirk Cameron Crowe”
- My Heart to Joy - “Taken With A Presence”
- The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - “Victim Kin Seek Suit”
- Built to Spill - “In The Morning”
- R.E.M. - “Near Wild Heaven”
- The Magnetic Fields - “Boa Constrictor”
Tune in this friday from 6-8 pm eastern time HERE.
Song of the Day Number 110
Grandaddy - “Broken Household Appliance National Forest”
On my recent vacation to the Dominican Republic, I got the kind of rare (okay, not that rare) chance to really listen to tons of music I hadn’t heard before. One of those albums that had been enticing me to listen to it but that I had never had the time for was Grandaddy’s The Sophtware Slump, released in 2000. After hearing it for the first time on the plane ride over, I spent most of the following five days obsessing over it. Everything about the record floored me, from the gorgeous psychedelic soundscapes, to the melancholic tone of singer Jason Lytle’s lyricism, to the somewhat silly but entirely endearing retro-futuristic concept.
One of my favorite tracks on the record is today’s Song of the Day, a disjointed piece entitled “Broken Household Appliance National Forest”. The song begins with a solemn acoustic guitar and the reedy voice of Lytle, but before long it explodes into a psychedelic storm of guitar and ambient noise. The song’s imagery is just lovely, and adds a conceptual lyrical layer befitting the music. Ultimately, the track is perfectly representative of the sonic essence of The Sophtware Slump, somewhere between the guitar driven rock of Built to Spill, and The Flaming Lips (then forthcoming) second masterpiece Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.
