Left of the Dial Radio Playlist - 6/15/12

As always, thanks to everyone who tuned in last night. I got a lot of requests, and although I couldn’t entertain all of them, I really appreciate the active support of this blog and my radio show. Check out the full playlist below, and stream all the songs that were available on Spotify at the embedded link below that.

• 1. King Tuff - “Keep On Movin’”
• 2. Andrew W.K. - “Girls Own Love” 
• 3. Torche - “Kicking”
• 4. Ceremony - “Citizen”
• 5. Two Humans - “Lonely Tunez”
• 6. Thee Oh Sees - “Carrion Crawler”
• 7. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - “Biomusicology”
• 8. Be Your Own Pet - “Bicycle, Bicycle, You Are My Bicycle” (Requested by Threecreation)
• 9. The Unicorns - “Les Os” (Requested by atbudokan)
• 10. The Olivia Tremor Control - “A Peculiar Noise Called “Train Director”“
• 11. of Montreal - “The Miniature Philosopher”
• 12. Defiance, Ohio - “Petty Problems”
• 13. Elison Jackson - “Man From Lowell”
• 14. Plume Giant - “Fool Hall”
• 15. Belle and Sebastian - “If You’re Feeling Sinister”
• 16. Vashti Bunyan - “Lately” (Requested by antichr0matic)
• 17. You Blew It! - “There’s Nothing I Love More Than Baseball”
• 18. The Helveticas - “I Wish Love Was This Easy”
• 19. Blue Sky Black Death - “Farewell To The Former World”
• 20. Porter Ricks - “Nautical Dub”
• 21. How To Dress Well - “Ocean Floor For Everything”
• 22. Panda Bear - “Take Pills”
• 23. Kavinsky & Lovefoxxx - “Nightcall”
• 24. Perfume Genius - “Take Me Home”
• 25. Suns - “Machine Stream”
• 26. Sinforiano Diaz - “Congregation”
• 27. Owen - “I’m Not Going Anywhere Tonight”
• 28. The Tallest Man On Earth - “Bright Lanterns”
• 29. Nana Grizol - “For Things That Haven’t Come Yet”

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Stream via Spotify:

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 - 6/3/11

Last night’s show on WNHU was another great one. It was also the first show of the summer, so I included a selection of summery music to get listeners in the mood. Remember to tune in next Friday on 88.7 FM if you’re in the New Haven area, or online HERE. I’ll be having the founders of the Red Rash Collective on my show to talk about their work, the state of DIY music in Connecticut, the festival that they’re planning, and more. I’ll also be having Red Rash Collective band The Helveticas on the show the same day for a live in studio acoustic set. The playlist from last night is below, with youtube links to each song (when available).

1. 1. Pavement - “Summer Babe (Winter Version)”
2. 2. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - “Parallel or Together?”
3. 3. The Tallest Man on Earth - “You’re Going Back”
4. 4. Belle and Sebastian - “Another Sunny Day”
5. 5. Okkervil River - “Black”
6. 6. Titus Andronicus - “Upon Viewing Brueghel’s “Landscape With the Fall of Icarus”
7. 7. Algernon Cadwallader - “Pitfall”
8. 8. Rites of Spring - “For Want Of”
9. 9. The Replacements - “I Bought a Headache”
10. 10. The Hold Steady - “Your Little Hoodrat Friend”
11. 11. Snowing - “KJ Jammin”
12. 12. The Strokes - “Gratisfaction”
13. 13. R.E.M. - “7 Chinese Bros.”
14. 14. My Heart to Joy - “Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory” (Guided By Voices cover)
15. 15. Titus Andronicus - “A Pot In Which To Piss”
16. 16. Pixies - “Velouria”
17. 17. Ra Ra Riot - “Boy”
18. 18. The Love Language - “Heart to Tell”
19. 19. Defiance, Ohio - “A Lot To Do”
20. 20. Modest Mouse - “Paper Thin Walls” (Request)
21. 21. Arcade Fire - “Speaking In Tongues” (Feat. David Byrne)
22. 22. Grandaddy - “Hewlett’s Daughter”
23. 23. The Octopus Project - “Bees Bein’ Strugglin’”
24. 24. of Montreal - “You Do Mutilate?” (Request)
25. 25. Okkervil River - “Your Past Life As A Blast”
26. 26. Bon Iver - “Perth”
27. 27. Andrew Jackson Jihad - “Who Are You?”
28. 28. Thurston Moore - “Illuminine”

Thanks for listening!

TED LEO live at The Space. Hamden CT. 4.29.11

On Friday night, Ted Leo stopped by Hamden’s The Space for a show as part of his recently-resumed solo tour. After canceling a number of dates on his tour back in the fall of last year due to personal reasons, it was very honorable of Ted Leo to reschedule the shows that otherwise would have happened months ago. For fans at show on Friday, which was originally scheduled for January 19th, expectations were high. Thankfully, in true punk fashion, Mr. Leo did not disappoint in the slightest. 

If the two opening acts were any suggestion, intimacy would be the name of the game for Ted Leo’s set. Midi & The Modern Dance ringleader Omeed Goodarzi drove in from Vermont to open the show, and played a number of characteristically personal and moving songs, including two tracks from Midi’s excellent Make It Easy On Yourself LP, and a handful of new songs, one of which he said he wrote only a few days ago. I saw Omeed play solo once before, at the now defunct independent venue The Cookie Jar in New Haven. At this show, he was considerably more personable, and took time to speak with the audience, who were sitting on the floor at his request. During the course of his set, he thanked the audience profusely, discussed at length the space rock opera that he was writing, and even loosened up enough by the end to perform an initially bizarre but ultimately hilarious Creed cover. A couple of technical problems hindered his set, but he took them in stride. When his guitar’s electric component’s battery died, he played a song without amplification of any sort, making the already intimate show even more personal. While much of his music is certainly more lively and energetic with the full, nine-member Midi & The Modern Dance backing band, the songs that he played took on a different meaning in the solo-show context. This change is perhaps best exemplified by his performance of “Reprise.” Without the presence of the full band, the song became a quiet and contemplative elegy for his own lost love — a strong contrast to the bitter and bombastic kiss-off that appears on record. 

Singer/songwriter Drew O’Doherty played second, and although I was not familiar with his music prior to the show, it was apparent that the songs were culled straight from his heart. His music was a little more straightforward, and less personally appealing that Goodarzi’s, but it was similarly honest and meaningful. O’Doherty, who is actually a former member of Ted Leo’s backing band The Pharmacists, has been playing with him throughout the tour and clearly has a lot of respect and admiration for him. After dedicating a song to Leo, O’Doherty told a story about a friend of his parents who had just died that was deeply affecting and easily the most memorable part of his set.

Although the somewhat melancholic tone of the first two acts seemed to suggest that Ted Leo’s set would be similar, this was not the case. Where one might have expected stripped down acoustic versions of songs from his substantial back catalog, fans got something entirely different. Looking utterly dapper in skinny jeans and a cardigan sweater, Ted Leo ascended the small stage with his trademark Gibson ES-335 in hand, and, after introducing himself, began to rock out with all the tenacity and punk energy that he would’ve had if the whole backing band had been there. After opening with theMo’ Living deep cut “Nothing Much To Say”, Leo rocketed through over a dozen amazing Ted Leo/Rx tracks. His setlist was essentially perfect in that it appealed to every kind of Ted Leo fan there. For the passive or entry-level Ted Leo observer, all the classics were there. “Me And Mia” and “Where Have All The Rudeboys Gone” were certainly highlights, and even elicited some noticeable audience participation, which is generally unusual for solo shows of any kind. Big fans of Ted Leo’s earlier music such as I were easily appeased too, as we were treated with a substantial amount of The Tyranny of Distance material, including the short, bittersweet “The Goldfinch and the Red Oak Tree”, in addition to an inspired performance of “Under The Hedge”, my favorite Ted Leo song ever. The newer songs sounded great as well, especially the sexy-sounding “One Polaroid A Day” from The Brutalist Bricks, which features an uncharacteristically deep vocal performance from Ted Leo. He also dedicated his performance of ”Bottled In Cork” from that same album to a guy who showed up with his three friends wearing matching Ted Leo/Rx shirts, whose birthday happened to be that day. 

He also dusted off some interesting and unique cover songs at this show, including one by Aimee Mann, which was an unexpected highlight. Other covers included Husker Du’s “Could You Be The One?”, Nick Lowe’s “So It Goes”, and The Waterboys’ ”Fisherman’s Blues”. 

The highlight of the night, however, came towards the end of his set. Ted had been talking over the course of the night about wanting to play with Drew O’Doherty again, but by the end of the night, the audience wasn’t thinking much of it. Then suddenly, as Ted began to play “Timorous Me”, an amazing song from his 2001 album The Tyranny of Distance, Drew hopped back onstage and began frantically setting up his amp. Ted Leo saw what was going on and, with a joyful expression on his face, exclaimed “Yes!” 

Drew set everything up just in time for the Celtic-sounding dueling guitar part of the song, and as soon as his searing guitar began playing, the room was filled with electricity. It was an incredible moment, and an absolute highlight of my show-going experience.

One of the things that I ended up really loving about Ted Leo was his banter. Each song was prefaced with or followed by some story that was either endearing and touching or positively hilarious. There’s something to be said for a musician with good onstage presence. It gives the audience a face, a voice, and a personality to go with the music, and establishes a deeper connection so that the meaning of the music might be better conveyed between the two parties. Ted Leo was by far the most interesting, engaging, and entertaining onstage persona that I’ve ever witnessed, and it made the show that much better. 

Most people go to shows to hear great music, and while Ted Leo certainly provided that on Friday night, he also brought something else. Talking to him after the show, it was clear to me what that was. Ted Leo had effectively made friends with every single person at the Space that night, and had not only played them some great music, but also showed everyone a wonderful time. 

In short, Ted Leo was amazing last night. I’ve been super strapped for time today, so I apologize for the lack of regular posting. I’m off to see Low right now at Daniel Street. Expect lots of live show related writing and pictures to come tomorrow!