Show 2.0

On the AIR today at 4 PM pacific. Go to kscr.org to stream "The Audio Phile."

It's an in depth discussion on the best in new music featuring a few "forgotten" artists of 2007 and a handful of 2008 early bloomers.

Like last week, a full playlist with links to either Youtube or Imeem will be available later on, along with some post-show commentary.

TUNE IN.

KSCR Review - The Weakerthans

Follow the link:

The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour

I made it long, but... no, yeah, it's just long.

Arcade Fire (Black Mirror)

CLICK

sooo much fun.

Show 1.1

It went down fairly well for the first time spinning this semester. (Wednesdays 4PM pt, KSCR, "The Audio Phile," DJ Zac)

Remember, the show was a 'best of 2007' special. Here are the fourteen albums ranked (and played) in descending order with the chosen cuts off each.

14. Phosphorescent - Pride
"The Waves At Night"
"A Picture Of Our Torn Up Praise"
13. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
"Bros"
"Comfy in Nautica"
12. Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover
"For the Pier (and Dead Shimmering)"
"The Mending of the Gown"
11. Menomena - Friend And Foe
"Wet And Rusting"
"Muscle'n Flo" - Watch This!!!!
10. Justice - †
"D.A.N.C.E."
"Genesis"
9. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
"Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider"
"Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse"
8. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
"Fireworks"
"Derek"
7. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
"Don't You Evah"
"The Underdog"
6. Kanye West - Garduation
"Everything I Am"
"Good Life"
5. The National - Boxer
"Fake Empire"
"Green Gloves"
4. Radiohead - In Rainbows
"Nude"
"Weird Fishes/Arpeggi"


3. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
"Keep The Car Running"
"My Body Is A Cage"


2. M.I.A. - Kala
"Bamboo Banga"
"Paper Planes"


1. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
"Someone Great"
"All My Friends"

(Also played The Moldy Peaches - "Anyone Else But You" off the Juno Soundtrack as end-of-show filler)

Post-Show Thoughts:
It always feels good to be back in that homely studio. Maybe I'll post some pics next time. Anyway, the program will be a tad more scripted and researched. I didn't realize that I would have so many P.S.A.s either, so I'll work out how that affects the flow. Also, I'm probably gonna play one fairly ambient record in the background during my airbreaks as opposed to talking over good songs.
If you didn't catch the show, definitely tune in next week. Post your comments about it here.

Extra Notes (1 sentence per artist):
Phosphorescent is Mathew Houck from GA, and if he ever plays a show near me, I will go... and probably cry.
Panda Bear, from my hometown of Baltimore, plays 60s folk/psych/freak influenced pop; he does not wear a panda costume (though he should?) and his real name is Noah Lennox.
Sunset Rubdown sounds like a carnival gone wonderfully wrong, as narrated by Krug's wail.
Menomena, based on the videos I've seen, can really translate their sound onto a stage effectively for only three dudes and are quickly becoming my favorite band.
Justice = fucking awesome, but you already knew that.
Of Montreal makes me want to dance, laugh, sob and suck on a giant lollipop - all at the same time.
Animal Collective are actually extraordinary lyricists when you take a closer look, and I think Strawberry Jams really shows that.
Spoon rock... and those aren't two random objects.
Kanye West is probably complaining about not getting the number one spot here (har har).
The National are an '07 find for me, and I'm okay with that.
Radiohead 'nuff said.
The Arcade Fire are the best live act, not counting Daft Punk (apples and oranges).
M.I.A. will never give up her clubber throne?
LCD Soundsystem and James Murphy have made me listen to the same record more than any other band besides The Beatles in '07.

"I don't see what anyone can see in anyone else."

"Anyone Else But You" by the Moldy Peaches is the song covered by Michael Cera (playing Paulie Bleeker) and Ellen Page (playing Juno MacGuff) at the end of Juno.

Touching and significant.

The track sums up the gist of the characters perfectly. Its odd, affectionate and somewhat contradictory lyrics get me every time. Or maybe what makes me swell up a little is the simple and honest delivery. Either way, I'm moved.

Music is so powerfully involved in the film, woven into the textures of the scenes and into the identities of the characters... kind of like life, but not. Without Kimya Dawson (1/2 of the Moldy Peaches) and a few classic punches (The Kinks, Sonic Youth, Buddy Holly), Juno wouldn't be half as good. It's soundtrack made the film. Never overstated and always fitting.

This was posted today, after all the hype and such, for two reasons. The first being that Juno was nominated for Best Picture. The second being that I just got the soundtrack today, and it's superb. No wonder it was #2 for awhile. Still, with all the popular praise, it's easy to see how some may say the movie is overrated. There's nothing overtly provacative or cinematically innovative. This quirky film, like its soundtrack, is just really sincere - In today's world, that's inexorably refreshing. Indeed, Juno will become a classic in the same way Garden State and Little Miss Sunshine did before it.

By the way, I am totally going to be Paulie Bleeker in his track uniform for Halloween. Calling 'Dibs' now.

Coachella??

This post is a couple days late for a couple good reasons. No, well, one good reason: I had to decide what I thought about it. As you may have guessed, I'm not as excited as I might have been.

1. Compared to 2007, this year's line-up looks a lot weaker, probably because of the less-than-cool and less-than-huge headliners. (Jack Johnson? Portishead? and part of a decidely extinct band?)

2. The fake poster (s) looked 100x better.

3. I had to consider if I was still going, given my underwhelmed reaction to the official news and usual high expenses.

Then I looked at the smaller bands... there are some pretty solid names up there, some of which I've seen and would see again. Still, the line-up seems to pale in comparison to preceeding years.

"No, wait... Yeah... These artists are pretty legit... Actually very legit."

Well, that's my mindset at the moment. Call me crazy, but I think I'll go, even if it's just to get crazy. Ponder the artists for yourself.

FRIDAY, APRIL 25: Jack Johnson, The Verve, Raconteurs, The Breeders, Fatboy Slim, Tegan and Sara, Madness, The Swell Season, The National, Animal Collective, Slightly Stoopid, Mum, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Stars, Battles, Aesop Rock, Midnight Juggernauts, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Minus the Bear, Spank Rock, Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, Diplo, Adam Freeland, Santo Gold, Jens Lekman, John Butler Trio, Vampire Weekend, Dan Deacon, Architecture in Helsinki, Sandra Collins, Busy P, Cut Copy, Black Lips, Datarock, Professor Murder, Reverend and the Makers, The Bees, Porter, Rogue Wave, Modeselektor, American Bang, Lucky I Am.

SATURDAY, APRIL 26: Portishead, Kraftwerk, Death Cab for Cutie, Cafe Tacuba, Sasha & Digweed, Rilo Kiley, Dwight Yoakam, M.I.A., Hot Chip, Cold War Kids, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, DeVotchKa, Flogging Molly, Mark Ronson, Turbonegro, Scars on Broadway, Islands, Enter Shikari, Calvin Harris, Boyz Noize, Junkie XL, Cinematic Orchestra, Jamie T, The Teenagers, VHS or Beta, Carbon/Silicon, Erol Alkan, Yo Majesty!, Little Brother, Bonde Do Role, St. Vincent, Akron Family, MGMT, Institubes DJs (Surkin, Para One and Orgasmic), James Zabiela, Sebastian, Kavinsky, Dredg, The Bird and the Bee, Grand Ole Party, New Young Pony Club, 120 Days, Yoav, Electric Touch, Uffie.

SUNDAY, APRIL 27: Roger Waters ("Dark Side of the Moon"), Love & Rockets, My Morning Jacket, Spiritualized, Justice, Gogol Bordello, Chromeo, The Streets, Metric, Danny Tenaglia, Simian Mobile Disco, Booka Shade, Murs, Dmitri from Paris, Autolux, The Field, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Les Savy Fav, The Cool Kids, Sons & Daughters, Sia, Holy Fuck, Black Kids, Black Mountain, The Annuals, Kid Sister w/A-Trak, Man Man, Duffy, I'm from Barcelona, Manchester Orchestra, Deadmau5, The Horrors, Austin TV, Shout Out Louds, Plastiscines, Brett Dennen.

Scrambled Eggs and Mashed Potatoes!

Me: That's right!
You: "What's right?"
Me: A second show, mofo!!

DJ Ed and I are gonna scramble your eggs and mash your potatoes with one hour of remixes, covers, and mash-ups. Love it. We're working on a time slot so we can fill that late night craving you get for breakfast food and T-day sides, served by way of the best DJ team at KSCR.


^pics courtesy of bbcgoodfood and williams-sonoma
More info to come as things get organized.

Okay Is The New Awesome

photo from sefronia.com

Thanks to MFKWCRG, Pop Apocalypse and YouAintNoPicasso, here are three new tracks from an artist that you absolutely have to add to your music library.

MP3: Okay - Tragedy

MP3: Okay - Only

MP3: Okay - My

Little is known about Marty Anderson, who operates under the name Okay. He has a new full length coming out called Huggable Dust (artwork below), and based on these three posted songs from the album, it's a must buy.

Okay clearly makes great music. It's a twisted form of pop; there's lush instrumentation and countermelodies that bubble with passion under Anderson's quavering voice against shifting rhythms. This creates a fragile lo-fi uniqueness that seems to delicately discover beauty. Indeed, the songs appear complex because of their layered texture, but the musical phrases are, for the most part, based around simple chord structures. This gives Okay's sound an interesting dichotomy, which in the end, is compelling. Similarily, his lyrics seem sad and meaningful - it's an inspired sense of longing that I come away with. Perhaps that can be attributed to Anderson's battle with Crohn's Disease, which keeps him pretty much confined to his room.

"Only" is the exception. It's short and, well, sweet, with a fingerpicked acoustic guitar, handclaps and Anderson's voice as the only instruments. Yet somehow, the fragile sense of longing is still implied, despite his arguably ironic try at comfort ("i want you to know it's alright"), probably because his croaky voice seems like it will give out any second.

Stunning, yet catchy.

This is Okay's third album, Huggable Dust, out sometime this year on Absolutely Kosher.

Some Okay/Anderson artwork:

Show 1.0

Here's what you've been waiting for:

THE START OF KSCR SPRING PROGRAMMING!!

"The Audio Phile" will air every Wednesday at 4 PM Pacific Time.

It's a two hour airshift featuring some of the best music around. The first show will most likely be a best of 2007 program. You can expect to hear my favorite picks of the past year and the reasons why each song deserves to be called the best.

Go to the KSCR website and click on your desired streaming live feed at the top right under "Listen."

The format of "The Audio Phile" has been structured to allow for an in-depth discussion on every track chosen for each week's show. "Quality, not quantity" is something of a theme here. The more information and analysis provided for each song, the more the listener can understand and appreciate a digestable amount of new and (hopefully) interesting music. The change in format provides context and space to fully appreciate the "quality" of each track, as opposed to fitting in as much new music as possible into a two hour span. This also forces me to pick only the best cuts for the show.

Additional information to come: show playlist, brief synopsis on each track, supplimental discourse.

Suggestions? Drop a comment. You'll get a response.

Aaaah! YES. (Coachella... more to come)

So, after all the fake posters and crazy rumours, here's the first solid chunk of information we've had on the concert in the Indio desert. Thanks to the LA Times we now know that there are two "veteran" acts, which, if you'll allow a child to wish, will hopefully include Radiohead. No Bowie and no My Bloody Valentine. But to be honest, the news on the Bowie-no-show hurts a little more. Would have loved me some live "Faaaaame."
Wait, what the hell am I running on tangents for?! We have band announcements, people! Here are some initial confirmations. Get excited! COACHELLA.

Death Cab for Cutie
The Breeders
Justice
Jens Lekman
Junkie XL
The Verve
UNKLE
Cold War Kids
Chromeo
Autolux
Spiritualized
Portishead
VHS or Beta
Dan Deacon
Brett Dennen
The Cinematic Orchestra
Battles
Kid Sister
Crystal Castles
Louis XIV

... Hell yeah.
More news to come within the coming week(s).

Here's some Bowie just cause...

Fresh: Evangelicals

Thanks to Stereogum and the wonders of Myspace, here's a gloriously wacky band from the OK state: Evangelicals. Instructions: Take some Menomena, The Forms and TV on the Radio. Mash with MIDI blips and delay effects. Sprinkle with distorted samples. Blend all that with a good deal of psychedelia and you have the crazy-fun pop of Evangelicals. Their new album is called The Evening Descends and it's out Jan. 22. Stream it at their Myspace page and buy it at a record store near you. I know I will.



MP3: Evangelicals - Skeleton Man

Must See

One of the cutest things you'll ever see. This is a live version of Menomena's "Wet and Rusting" off the excellent early 2007 release Freind and Foe. The studio version of the song is, in a word, powerful, and I think this Take Away Show performance is a different kind of powerful. Witness how music moves people, regardless of language and age.



#62.3 - Menomena - Wet and Rusting
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Dork Reference: (Makes me think of Dumbledore's sentimental comment in Sorcerer's Stone when he wipes a tear from his eyes after the singing of the school song. "Music... A magic beyond all we do here." True dat.)

Upcoming L.A. Concerts

Back to Southern Cal on the 13th.

1/18 Chromeo @ El Rey
1/26 MGMT & Yeasayer @ The Echo
2/1 Autolux & HEALTH @ El Rey
2/1 Bodies of Water @ The Echo
2/4 Hot Chip record release party @ El Rey
2/7 The Kooks @ The Troubadour (on sale now. Ticketmaster password: KOOKSLA)
2/8 Super Furry Animals & Holy Fuck @ Echoplex
2/9 Editors @ The Wiltern
2/9 Black Lips @ The Glass House
2/10 Black Lips @ El Rey
2/15 St. Vincent @ The Echo
2/15 Cut Chemist & DJ Shadow @ The Wiltern
2/22 Liars & No Age @ El Rey
2/28 British Sea Power @ Spaceland
2/29 Blitzen Trapper @ The Troubadour
3/1 Grizzly Bear @ Walt Disney Concert Hall
3/2 - 3/3 Magnetic Fields @ Henry Fonda Theatre
3/5 Foo Fighters @ The Forum
3/13 Beach House @ The Echo
3/17 Explosions in the Sky @ The Wiltern
3/18 Black Moth Super Rainbow @ Knitting Factory
3/19 Nada Surf @ Henry Fonda Theatre
3/20 Vampire Weekend @ El Rey
3/20 Phosphorescent @ The Echo
3/21 Jens Lekman @ Henry Fonda Theatre
3/25 Jose Gonzalez @ The Wiltern
3/26 Tokyo Police Club @ The Troubadour
3/31 Justice & Diplo @ Mayan Theatre
4/1 Black Keys @ The Wiltern
4/11 Xiu Xiu @ The Echo
4/24 Caribou @ El Rey
4/25 - 4/27 Coachella Music Festival (Radiohead? MBV? David Bowie? possible)
4/29 Islands @ Henry Fonda Theatre
RADIOHEAD - somewhere, sometime.

I've already seen Dan Deacon, St. Vincent, Cut Chemist, Foo Fighters, Vampire Weekend, and Justice. They were all superb performances, and I highly recommend each.

Judging by this list, it would seem that 2008 is shaping up to be a good year. Hopefully, I'll catch a bunch of these, but I'm definitely attending the Bodies of Water and Jens Lekman shows. This will also be the first year I've saved up for Coachella, pending a legitimate line-up.

What shows are on your horizon? Any must sees?

(dates courtesy of pitchfork, losanjealous, kscr, and musicslut)

Glass Candy Covers Ssion

Here is an MP3 of Glass Candy covering Ssion courtesy of Stereogum. She's a rising Italo-disco artist, heavily featured on the critically acclaimed After Dark compilation from Italians Do It Better. It's not for everyone, but see if you can handle the cold synthes and steady beats.

MP3: Glass Candy - Clowns (Ssion Cover)

(photo: exclaim.ca)

Welcome

It would be customary for this inaugural post to both qualify this website’s existence and articulate its purpose. The most that can be said at this beginning stage, however, is that pretty much everything about this site has yet to be defined. Whether it shall strictly be an in depth companion to the radio show of the same name or another blog offering its take on the news and releases of the music world, I cannot say.
Here’s what I do know. I love music, particularly what’s new and artistically compelling. I guess that explains the corny title of the blog. “The Audio Phile” was intended to be more of a play on those song files that one has saved on his or her computer, but it became both the sadly unpunny name of my radio program and the title to its appendix (this blog). Yes, I am a DJ. I proudly spin tunes and say a few things into the mic for the best station around, KSCR. I hope to incorporate my show into this website.
Now, to business. My music taste:
It varies, but focuses on Indie pop, rock, folk, electronica, hip hop, or any music mirroring the Indie style. Since “Indie” has become such an overused and often misinformed label for many artists, I do not wish to debate the propriety of the title for those whom I have lauded as worthy creators of music. Instead, let’s acknowledge that most of the music featured here is not, for all intensive purposes, mainstream. On the other hand, there are some good artists/bands on major labels.
Understand that I’m not limiting this blog’s content to the pretentious and snide discourse that often accompanies the writing of those who share this same particular taste in music. Indeed, critical open-mindedness will, with any luck, be exercised.
This is both a site of critique and explanation. Hopefully, you find its contents informed and compelling. And please, listen to KSCR for your new music and check this blog often. ENJOY.

.