Famous pairs in history: peanut butter and jelly, Romeo and Juliet, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, and, most importantly WMCN and Scott. Gautam and I feel so guilty because we, and most other WMCN DJ's, never play the JoJo, Traveling Wilburys, and Nat King Cole that he requests day after day. That is why on Tuesday, April 29 from 8-10pm, Gautam and I will be taking a well-needed breather from our battle of musical imperialism to honor Scott, our most loyal listener. Obviously, Scott doesn't request the same artists and songs to every DJ, so if there are any memorable requests that you recall, let us know! We must honor our friend and keep him as our most loyal listener for life!

SCRABULOUS

someone told me about this video, and i thought it would be pertinent to this blog because it's a) music-related and b) ridiculous. enjoy!

low's alan sparhawk—the lennon AND mccartney of slowcore (mimi is maybe the george?)—has been touring of late with his side project, retribution gospel choir. they hit the turf club last weekend, you’d be right to be plunged into despair over missing it, as wmcn hall-of-famer nick m. was last year.

r.g.c.’s just-out self-titled album is pretty great. it sounds quite a bit like low, it's just way more rockin’—most low songs take 4 minutes to reach the volume retribution gospel choir songs are at for their entire (usually very short) length. i can never stop myself from turning up the volume more and more whenever I listen to the album. anyways my favorite track is called “kids”. it's got some classic a-spar lyrics, and wouldn’t have sounded too out of place on “the great destroyer”:

retribution gospel choir--"kids"

The latest edition of Liner Notes, circa March 24, 2008, chock full of stuff, is out to welcome you back from spring break. For those of you who are still think the whole paper thing is cool, look for it tomorrow, and pick up a copy.

SPRING BREAK 08 IN VIDEOS

•i went to nyc—which is a strange place—so in advance of my trip decided to listen to some staten island, er, shaolin tunes in the form of method man’s 1994 “tical” album. unrelentingly abrasive both in rza’s production and meth’s delivery, it’s definitely a heads-only affair but i've been enjoying it. check the “bring the pain” vid:


•and michael stipe finally came out! mike is probably one of the few guys in the world who can say “i recognize that to have public figures be very open about their sexuality helps some kid somewhere out there”, have it be true, and not sound too conceited—check it out in (the great) michael azzerad’s article in the latest issue of spin. not that it’s something that everyone didn’t already know since “losing my religion” (one of the best songs by anyone ever) and probably before then, but feel good for the guy. also admit how excited you are for the new album.


•i've been digging the narcoleptic haze of the new beach house album, “devotion”, which i find is best enjoyed after dark or in bed. the video for album opener “heart of chambers” is neat:


•and i absolutely could not stop laughing at this:

An acquaintance of mine from back home (i.e. the great town of Helena, Montana) has recently been featured on a new Magnetic Fields tribute album, called (what else?) 21 Love Songs: A Tribute To The Magnetic Fields. Click the link and download the whole thing for free!

I don't think I'm being partial when I say that the aforementioned acquaintance (who records as the brooke) turns in the best cover on the album. It certainly doesn't hurt that she chose my very favorite Stephin Merritt song.

the brooke (a tiny ocean) - "Born on a Train"

Did I ever tell you all how much I love Big Dipper? The Boston quartet were one of the finest indie rock bands of the late 80s, more tuneful, more talented, and simply more spirited than most of their contemporaries (many of whom I also love). But the story truly begins with the seminal (the reproductive connotation is appropriate here, considering the number of bands they spawned) “nerd-punk” band The Embarrassment, whose immortal classic is the Art Carney name-dropping “Celebrity Art Party.”

The Embarrassment - "Celebrity Art Party"

That band’s guitar player, Bill Goffrier, went on to become a founding member of Big Dipper, and one of their most raucous songs, “Ron Klaus Wrecked His House,” about a party gone wrong, is a tribute to Goffrier’s former band’s bassist, Ronnie Klaus. Meanwhile, The Embarrassment’s drummer Brent Giessman later became the drummer for The Del Fuegos. I don’t have any Del Fuegos for you, but check out this great Juliana Hatfield song, which contains the following brilliant lines:

She’s the one who would’ve taken me to my first all ages show
It was the Violent Femmes and The Del Fuegos
Before they had a record out, before they went gold, and started to grow [go?]

The Juliana Hatfield Three - "My Sister"

The nostalgia brings a tear to my eye, for many reasons…

Anyway, back to Big Dipper. Their two major albums, 1987’s Heavens and 1988’s Craps (think gambling) have been out of print for years, but next week Merge Records will be releasing a new 3-CD anthology called Supercluster, containing the majority of their recorded output. If you’re the sort of person who cares about such things, this is a momentous occasion, equatable to the 1924 publication of Melville’s Billy Budd. Without further ado, my favorite Big Dipper song:

Big Dipper - "The Insane Girl"



Happy Spring Break, everyone! Make sure to catch up on your blog reading/posting!

As Hüsker Dü plays the last chords of the night, they become savages unleashed. Mould flings his guitar off with one hand, beating the strings with the other as though putting out a fire. His amp thunders in electric mayhem, a train grinding its brakes on at full-speed.

Hart, after abusing the drum set in his way for over an hour, hurls his body into it like a fullback on the goal line. The pieces crash across the stage.

Watching this from a safe distance are four motionless college boys, dressed in nylon sports jackets, attending their first punk show. They point and laugh at the spectacle under the lights.

No, this is not an account of Bob Mould's appearance last night at First Avenue. Rather, these words come from a 1982 Mac Weekly article about the pre-legendary Husker Du. But Mould's return to his old stomping ground was very much the smackdown that WMCN's own Aaron M. speculated it might be. Try as he might to escape it, Bob has an insatiable need to rock out.

in preparation for the bob mould band’s immanent smackdown at first ave tomorrow (will it be a smackdown?—who knows, but i imagine a professional wrestling fanatic like bob thinks of his shows that way) thought i'd share this mediocre vid for sugar’s awesome song “if i can't change your mind”

The beginning of a beautiful friendship?