Re: Radio—live transmission

1

Good song. I don't really hear the Sufjan comparison, but it's hard to say who else he reminds me of. Whatever, I like it, and will now start trying to track down some more to see if the first impression holds. Thanks.

P.S. From your previous posts, I thought most of the stuff you played was significantly weirder, in a less-tolerable sense. Maybe I'll finally listen to your show.


Posted by: Dan | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 10:10 PM
horizontal rule
2

You will find Mr Longstreth's music under the name "Dirty Projectors", in case that wasn't clear from the post or ID3 information. (Really the comparison is based almost entirely on the "rise above" repetitions by the woman singers towards the end, and other songs than that one; he's used more woodwindy stuff on other albums.)

As for your postscript, well. When will people learn that my shows are enjoyable by all?


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 10:15 PM
horizontal rule
3

This is awesome! Thanks!

(Sorry for the indistinguishable name. I don't know the naming conventions for lurkers.)


Posted by: Michelle | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 10:22 PM
horizontal rule
4

Ryuichi Sakamoto? Huh. I haven't heard anything of his in years, but I was under the impression that he sucked. Perhaps you'll convince me otherwise.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 10:29 PM
horizontal rule
5

Ben, one of these days when I submit to an actual broadband connection, I will listen to your show. Not just because you're you, or because I suspect that the music you air might be of interest to me, but because you have said:

Angels of Light


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 10:31 PM
horizontal rule
6

I confess to a soft spot for "Forbidden Colours".

His albums with Fennesz are extremely minimal.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 10:33 PM
horizontal rule
7

The concept behind the "rise above" album cracks me up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_Above_(Dirty_Projectors)

Black Flag was really good live.


Posted by: joeo | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 10:35 PM
horizontal rule
8

sandwhiched


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 10:46 PM
horizontal rule
9

What's to loathe about Bottom of the Hill? Assuming it's not just misplaced loathing for the 22-Fillmore.


Posted by: speranza | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 10:52 PM
horizontal rule
10

I have nothing but luv for the 22.

I don't like the Bottom of the Hill because it's too big and there's nowhere to sit. Basically the only venues I like are those where there's a place to sit. This is why I like 21 Grand so much.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 10:57 PM
horizontal rule
11

Another reason to like 21 Grand.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 10:58 PM
horizontal rule
12

Corn Mo plays a pretty interesting show.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 10:59 PM
horizontal rule
13

8:

sandwhiched

Teo. Teo teo teo. Clearly this was intentional on Ben's part.

It has to do with, uh, how he'll be sandwhiched among the others who are forced to stand up the whole while at the loathed venue.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 11:01 PM
horizontal rule
14

I didn't say anything about it. I just noted it without comment.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 11:09 PM
horizontal rule
15

I originally noted it without comment.

(please to delete a few amused sentences about the very nature of this commenting without comment that teo proposes.)


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 11:23 PM
horizontal rule
16

 


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 11:25 PM
horizontal rule
17

There's commenting and then there's commenting. If you see what I mean.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 11:38 PM
horizontal rule
18

eb gets it exactly right.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 11:38 PM
horizontal rule
19

Do they still have barbecues at BotH? Those rock. Anyway, you can sit outside. That's what smoking is for.


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 11:47 PM
horizontal rule
20

Oh, and given that I've declared the unfunny joke thread dead, I feel obliged to post my horrible band name idea here: it's a CB4 cover band, with Ian Curtis-style vocals. I call it: Mitosis.


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 11:50 PM
horizontal rule
21

It is somehow so pathetic, yet so right, that I find 16 hysterically funny.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 08-20-07 11:51 PM
horizontal rule
22

Uh, Ben... The melodious accessibility of it is precisely what makes Sufjan so likable. Convert that into dissonant inaccessibility, and what do you have left -- Velvet Underground on a really bad acid trip?


Posted by: A. Chandler Moisen | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 12:28 AM
horizontal rule
23

Well, I like the melodious accessibility of Sufjan Stevens, thank you. In fact, the nostalgic quality of the whole swelling strings pretty-pretty is precisely what I like about it. But then I like hippie pizza as well. Also, I was born in Illinois, of course.

Back when my set thought this kind of thing was the very heighth of hip, I had a friend who did lounge versions of Black Flag.

Seriously, I will crib from the fantastic and politically spot-on Mark K-Punk (although I can't find the damn post and am both oversimplifying and almost-inevitably misrepresenting it) and say that there is something both gendered and problematic in the obscure/arty/noise assumption that harshness and inaccessibility are the very criteria of worth.

Which is not a criticism, per se, of the specific song under discussion.


Posted by: Frowner | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 7:53 AM
horizontal rule
24

What is gendered about the assumption that worth = inaccessibility? Problematic, perhaps, in the obvious elitist sense, but gendered?


Posted by: Willy Voet | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 7:59 AM
horizontal rule
25

Consider what we will for-the-moment call "record nerd" culture, even though that's not really appropriate to contemporary technology. I do believe that the norms of record-nerdom are tied up with the "correct" performance of masculinity: ie, being competitive and concerned with establishing alpha status by having the most obscure or "difficult" records, disparaging "mere" prettiness, de-emphasizing any emotional value, re-casting music-listening as this intensely critical, dry, intellectualized activity. (And the classic opposition between the "feminized" shopper who buys for fashion/trend/silliness and the masculine shopper who is careful to constitute his purchasing as serious and intellectual...a lot of record nerd culture is sort of response to anxiety about acquisition and the constitution of identity through "taste"--like the opposition between decoraters and architechts) There are all kinds of things you can't say about a record without either losing all your credibility as a record nerd, playing it off as "oh, aren't I cute to have this silly little opinion" or being alpha record nerd so that you can show off by transgressing norms.

And seriously, have you ever been to a record show or a fancy "correct" shop with "correct" music? If you're, you know, female you are often treated differently--obviously, you must be there with your boyfriend, or you've stumbled in by mistake or something. Now, YMMV and all, but I've experienced this often enough and heard other women talk about it often enough to believe that it's not just my crazy feminazi misperceptions at play.

I think record nerds are awesome, and for a woman of my age and general background I'm about as close to being one as possible. Record nerds have revolutionized my record collection and--indirectly--my whole life. But there was a lot of fucked-up cultural stuff that came along with it.


Posted by: Frowner | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 8:28 AM
horizontal rule
26

Correct spelling, too, is a patriarchal concept.


Posted by: Frowner | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 8:32 AM
horizontal rule
27

Oh, and pre-emptively--I am not describing every record nerd ever from the beginning of time, nor do I mean to imply that there are no female record nerds; I do think that there are some commonly-found characteristics of record-nerd culture that are pretty darn gendered, though.


Posted by: Frowner | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 8:36 AM
horizontal rule
28

Frowner, it's more fun to insult the entire group back to the beginning of time. For example, Harry Potter-loving ex-crack babies.

There's a cost, but it's fun.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 9:52 AM
horizontal rule
29

But I like melodious accessibility.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 10:03 AM
horizontal rule
30

Frowner is generally right in 25. Although, that saying, the biggest record nerd I personally happen to know, is female.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 10:08 AM
horizontal rule
31

Right now: melodious accessibility!


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 1:15 PM
horizontal rule
32

Bay Areans who are interested in free tickets to Richard Thompson (9/7) or Bert Jansch (this Sunday) should consider calling 650 723 9010.

Bonus: I'll be at each concert!


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 1:44 PM
horizontal rule
33

What about Bay Arians?


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 1:46 PM
horizontal rule
34

Mr Thompson is no longer available.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 1:48 PM
horizontal rule
35

Yo, ben: typo in your radio station url.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 1:52 PM
horizontal rule
36

Fuck.

It's kzsulive.stanford.edu


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 1:54 PM
horizontal rule
37

Sweet. I got Richard Thompson tickets.


Posted by: joeo | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 1:55 PM
horizontal rule
38

Hooray then for melodious accessibility! I just spent money on CDs (I'm old-fashioned that way) and am in possession of Magazine's "The Correct Use of Soap", a used copy of Zen Arcade (Minnesota represent!), Jens Lekman's "When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog", and "The Sandinista Project", none of which I have listened to yet. None of these are sufficiently arcane, but I anticipate that all will be accessible. I do also have a multiplicity of proper, classy sixties and seventies free jazz CDs copied for me by a kind friend. Friend and I are also making duelling mix tapes with the requirement that all songs contain sung nonsense syllables of the "la la la" type.


Posted by: Frowner | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:09 PM
horizontal rule
39

I really liked that Angels of Light song, b-wo.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:10 PM
horizontal rule
40

There's a great Angels of Light song with lyrics of that type: "Evangeline" from How I Loved You.

"When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog" is one of the all-time great song titles.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:11 PM
horizontal rule
41

All praise the Angels of Light, and M. Gira, their prophet.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:11 PM
horizontal rule
42

40.2: Jens Lekman is a hilarious guy. Did you ever read the interview where he talks about being beat up by Morrissey fans, because in Sweden all the Morrissey fans are badasses?


Posted by: destroyer | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:14 PM
horizontal rule
43

I've tried really hard to like Richard Thompson, because so many people whose musical opinions I respect and share practically worship him. But every time I've listened to him, meh.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:15 PM
horizontal rule
44

42: there's a lot of badass Morissey fans in LA, too.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:16 PM
horizontal rule
45

Sexy saxes.


Posted by: Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:16 PM
horizontal rule
46

"When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog" is one of the all-time great song titles.

Strangely, this is exactly what I thought. It may even be the greatest title ever, rendering all other song titles obsolete. Nothing but "Track 1" and "Track 2" from here on.

I've been listening to virtually nothing lately but "You're So Silent, Jens", over and over and over. It's absolutely fantastic in so many ways; very funny, good sampling, excessively pretty, sad in patches, and within a narrow enough range that I can actually sing the songs to myself(when, say, washing dishes or writing boring HTML) without being too off-key. Also, it rhymes "rain falls hard on the city" with "every homeless kitty".


Posted by: Frowner | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:33 PM
horizontal rule
47

I assume you've all seen Ryan McGinley's Morrissey photography.


Posted by: Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:35 PM
horizontal rule
48

The cover art for "Night Falls Over Kortedala" convinces me that it will be his greatest album yet. (Even more than the leaked tracks.)


Posted by: destroyer | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:44 PM
horizontal rule
49

All praise the Angels of Light, and M. Gira, their prophet.

Michael Gira signs CDs you order from Young God Records. haha, promiscuous signing, really.

I'm interested in Lisa Germano, on their label.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:47 PM
horizontal rule
50

On the other hand, the Secretly Canadian website makes me die inside a little.

illustrating just why many consider him one of the most important of the hopeful broken hearts coming of age in contemporary music, indeed.


Posted by: Frowner | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:47 PM
horizontal rule
51

I saw him opening for ... someone or other at the empty bottle a few years ago, playing guitar and backed by tapes. It was pretty good, though I recall that it didn't really fit with whomever it was for whom he was opening.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:48 PM
horizontal rule
52

50>>48


Posted by: Frowner | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:48 PM
horizontal rule
53

Germano was in Dead Can Dance, right?


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:49 PM
horizontal rule
54

53: No, she's not that old.


Posted by: Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:50 PM
horizontal rule
55

Germano was in Dead Can Dance, right?

Off the top of my head, no. I could be wrong.

Do I even know what Dead Can Dance sounds like?

Fuck embedded links right now,

http://www.lisagermano.com/main.html


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:53 PM
horizontal rule
56

This Young God release intrigues.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:54 PM
horizontal rule
57

Ok, then, who was in DCD?


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:54 PM
horizontal rule
58

Lisa Gerrard. That explains it.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 2:55 PM
horizontal rule
59

56: Ben, put yourself on the Young Gods mailing list if you haven't already. One of these days when one or the other of us crosses the country, we might see something together.

There's a thing that happens here called the High Zero festival. I have yet to go.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 3:04 PM
horizontal rule
60

Damn. Of all the people listed here, I have heard of three.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 3:19 PM
horizontal rule
61

I just spent money on CDs (I'm old-fashioned that way) and am in possession of Magazine's "The Correct Use of Soap", a used copy of Zen Arcade (Minnesota represent!), Jens Lekman's "When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog", and "The Sandinista Project", none of which I have listened to yet.

Huh, until this comment forced me to look up Hüsker Dü again, I'd always assumed that they were from the MC5, Stooges, Motörhead era of proto-punk (maybe it was the gratuitous umlauts that caused the confusion?) and that A Certain Ratio's "Do the Du" was a reference to them. Now I'm really confused.


I saw him opening for ... someone or other at the empty bottle a few years ago, playing guitar and backed by tapes. It was pretty good, though I recall that it didn't really fit with whomever it was for whom he was opening.

Lens was fantastic at Pitchfork last year with his backing band of Swedish women in identical white dresses. I don't care to much for his songs on record (too soft for me, I'm just not that interested), but his personality and the funny but very good backing band make the live show worthwhile.


Posted by: Po-Mo Polymath | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 3:35 PM
horizontal rule
62

60:

Damn. Of all the people listed here, I have heard of three.

It's alright: it would be preposterous if you had heard of everybody. I've only heard of the ones from Baltimore.

Damn, though, High Zero is next month! I think I must see a few things this year.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 3:45 PM
horizontal rule
63

Friend and I are also making duelling mix tapes with the requirement that all songs contain sung nonsense syllables of the "la la la" type.

Would grunts count? (e.g, "I'm going to [uh] [uh] make her mine" from "Gloria")

I remember seeing a David Byrne Q/A in which he was asked where he got the idea for the "fa fa fa" bit in "Psycho Killer" and he answered "Otis Redding." I love that.


Posted by: NickS | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 3:55 PM
horizontal rule
64

61: Ya, they're Minnesotan all right, a real hometown phenomenon. Although Bob Mould really doesn't compel me as a lyricist. But my first two years of college (when I was assimilated to Minnesota-dom) were spent listening to a LOT of Husker Du. ("Celebrated Summer"! "The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill"! "Hardly Getting Over It"!) and I heard Bob Mould perform a bunch of times right after "Black Sheets of Rain" and around the time of Sugar.

Really, everything after "New Day Rising" you listen to for the howling and the density, not the content.

Anybody here familiar with Arcwelder? That was the other band I seemed to see all the time back then.

My mother was convinced that "Husker Du" was meant to be some clever teenage-ese for something obscene.

63: Yeah, all those posty-punky angular guys were wanting to play soul and r&b. I recall some kind of anecdote about (I think) early Gang of Four where they were telling some reporter that they were constantly confused by audience reaction because they thought they were being basically James Brown. It might have been The Pop Group, though.

I have no idea what "Do the Du" is about, but yeah, A Certain Ratio!

"Work all day, drink all night; my life is like an angry blur!"


Posted by: Frowner | Link to this comment | 08-21-07 5:14 PM
horizontal rule
65

Yeah, I don't know what "Du" means to ACR, but of course the Replacements' Somethin' to Dü actually does refer to Hüsker Dü.


Posted by: M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 08-22-07 8:57 AM
horizontal rule
66

Anybody here familiar with Arcwelder?

Yep.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 08-22-07 9:05 AM
horizontal rule
67

BTW, Bob Mould now lives here in Austin, and now makes, of all things, dance music.


Posted by: M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 08-22-07 9:13 AM
horizontal rule