friday fffffffff ... psych! (21.08.09)

So. Here's the deal, guys. I worked late tonight, it was 96 degrees, the humidity was something fucked up like 278% (people were boating in the sky), and quite frankly, I'm exhausted. I mean, I've got those crippling yawns that consume every bit of available muscle energy and that you have to take conscious effort to recover from.



In other words, tonight's FFR is going to suck. In fact, it's not even going to be a Five; it's going to be more like a One. The Friday One. I didn't even convert it to mp3. This has to be a record.

This is one of those beautifully introspective songs that you know is completely dangerous, but you listen to it a lot anyway because you're a masochist. Oh, it's also gorgeous.

The Pineapple Thief - "Different World" (m4a|9.95MB)

E-mail us at fridayfiveradio@gmail.com if you want to l ... mnleh ... zzzzzzzzzzzz.

friday five - 14.08.09 - sad songs that make me happy because i'm a horrible person

Do you ever find those songs in your playlist that make you feel a certain way regardless of their emotional intent? I do. For the longest time, I simply chalked the phenomenon up to the fact that I'm unquestionably insane, and left it at that.

However, I'm noticing more and more songs these days that make me feel happy/gleeful/good despite the fact that they're intended to be the most depressing songs in the world. At least for that moment. Now, any normal person would say, "Maybe I'm just getting more abnormal!"

I just think they're doing it on purpose.

And if I come across a mournful piano ballad about birthday cake, new shoes, and smiley faces, I assure you I will be broken for life.



The Hush Sound - "City Traffic Puzzle" (mp3|3.99MB): Nothing says "depressing" or "painfully awkward" like dance-y swing-pop, right? I know, that's what I thought, too! This song was one of those weird "stumble-upon" songs from a couple of years ago. I was obsessed with a video game, and someone else belonging to an online self-help fan group said, "Hey! This reminds me of [insert character here]!" (By the way, did I mention that I'm an incredible nerd?) At first I was like, "oh, but this cannot be so; it seems so happy!" Then I listened to the lyrics. Ha ha, warm fuzzy fail.
(from the 2005 album So Sudden)

The Long Winters - "The Commander Thinks Aloud" (mp3|6.43MB): Despite my undying love for this song (and the future remix thereof), it is not the most substantial Long Winters-related thing in my life. I found out about a year ago that John Roderick is my high-school music teacher's brother, and I'm pretty sure that'll weird me out for the rest of my life considering how obsessive I am with their catalogue. Among numerous other things. Still, though this song isn't really happy-sounding, it has a soaring quality that has a tendency to lift the spirits. If it weren't, you know, about an exploding spaceship, hopelessness, and death.
(from the 2005 album Ultimatum)

Pas/Cal - "What Happened to the Sands" (mp3|4.46MB): Let's put it this way: nothing puts me in a more cheerful mood than demolition. Demolition, and happy memories reduced to a pile of rubble. Actually, that's not true at all. I kind of like happy memories. A lot. Still, you have to admit, this cheerful, poppy relation of an iconic hotel's obituary makes it really difficult to avoid grinning, even with wistful lyrics like, "there is concrete and dirt / where it once stood / and where it once stood, you stood."
(from the 2004 EP with one of the best names ever, "Oh Honey, We're Ridiculous")

Pet Shop Boys - "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" (mp3|4.00MB): If the Pet Shop Boys were masters of any art, it would be the art of making depressing music sound misleadingly like mindless, bouncy 80s pop. However, this is one of those songs that catches you by the title alone, leading you into a strange, conflicting spiral of "wow, I can groove to this," and "oh my God, that poor man" from the very start. If anything, it serves up a sizeable portion of mindfuckery; however, taking into consideration my ever-present state of mind, it should be a natural assumption that I would find this to be an addicting and exemplary piece of music.
(from the 1987 album Actually)

Ra Ra Riot - "Dying is Fine" (mp3|4.88MB): I don't know exactly how to describe this song. It's rife with mixed emotion; one minute, they're talking about the similarities between life and death, and how life sucks, and then they're like, "wait, death sucks too," and then you go to, "hey, maybe life isn't so bad" with an undercurrent of "death might be better." It's kind of like eating cranberries. At first, you're simply admiring how succulent and juicy the fruit appears to be, and then you bite into them and HOLY SHIT they would be so much better as a juice and maybe mixed with apples. Or maybe I'm just horrible at analogies. Either way, this song is so good at being indecisive that it gives me a headache and an existential crisis. It's awesome. Enjoy.
(from the 2008 album The Rhumb Line)

And because it's totally uncool to know how to count:

Voxtrot - "Kid Gloves" (mp3|4.01MB): I fell in love with this song (and this band) based solely on the incredible rhythmic devices they employ. You can't not move when listening to them. They have such a unique sound, and their success is testament to how much it works for them. However, as made out by his online presence, Srivastava seems to be a conflicted person, and this shows in how his lyrics tend to be at least slightly angry and/or depressing. This either makes you wonder why they chose this particular musical form to express them, or perfectly explains it. It's up to you.
(from their 2007 self-titled debut LP, Voxtrot)

I'll leave you alone until next Friday, I promise.<sup>1

1</sup> I am notoriously bad at keeping promises.

Everything except for animal carcasses should be sent to fridayfiveradio@gmail.com. It's not that we don't like animal carcasses; we just have nowhere to put them.

the sunday superlative - 8/9/09

This Week: Grab Bag: 80s Pop



As we all know, film director John Hughes died earlier this week. Mr. Hughes was responsible for some of the most popular and memorable comedies of the 80s, including (but not limited to) The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I thought, in the spirit of those films, that it was time to bust out another jovial grab bag of 80s pop. I'll let the songs speak for themselves!

The Hooters - "And We Danced" (mp3|4.43MB)
The harmonica makes yet another appearance, and while it's not quite as essential here as it has proven to be in other songs, it still adds quite a bit of character to what is, dammit, just one of the happiest and most irresistible pop songs of the entire 80s decade. It's so lively and cheerful and upbeat and plain damn memorable that it's no wonder the song was such a rousing success. Unfortunately, The Hooters never again reached the same plateau of musical popularity (fortunately for them, they had the masculine foresight to open a chain of curiously appealing restaurants). Still, every so often this song will creep onto FM radio waves, and every time I'll crank the volume up and bop along. It's joyful.
(from the 1985 album Nervous Night)

Oingo Boingo - "Grey Matter" (mp3|5.37MB)
Ain't nobody gonna deny that Danny Elfman is among the most successful musicians of the last thirty years. It's inarguable. Still, as captivating as his myriad film scores and The Simpsons theme may be, I'm still most partial to his work with the eccentric and often flat-out brilliant Oingo Boingo. My co-DJ is always throwing head-nods my way for introducing her to stuff, but it is to her that I am indebted for Boingo. "Grey Matter" is not one of their best-known songs, but by rights it should be: it has the same jaunty, yet more-than-slightly sinister edge that definies their most popular work. It's catchy, addictive, and purely Elfman. "There's something inside your head," he sings. I know what it is: this song, for the rest of the day. Have fun.
(from the 1982 album Nothing to Fear)

Was (Not Was) - "Walk the Dinosaur" (mp3|4.00MB)
Okay, first of all: dumbest fucking band name ever. We're talking, like, even dumber than Deep Blue Something. It's a good thing "Walk the Dinosaur" is such a groovin' song. I mean, it's dumb as hell, too; maybe not as dumb as the band name, but its lyrics feature at least one instance of eye-gougingly improper grammar (delivered in unison with a head-scratcher of a lyric about roasting pork), and the entire song is just kind of goofy-stupid for goofy-stupidity's sake. The good news? I kinda like goofy-stupid. This song is giddy. It makes me want to dance in the geekiest way, and I guess at the end of the day that means it's done its job right.
(from the 1988 album What Up, Dog? No, seriously, apparently that's actually the title)

All right, folks. That's it for me. Have a good week, and try your best to survive these dog days of summer. Lea's got you for Friday, and I'll be back a week from tonight. Adios!

As always, please send all comments, questions, concerns, and coupon catalogues that neither of us has any clue how the hell we got on the mailing list for to fridayfiveradio@gmail.com. Keep it real, homies.

friday five - 07.08.09 - that underground sound: (some of) the great alternative influences over the past five decades

First, let me clarify something: it would be impossible to list even the major influences in indie rock in any kind of completist fashion. Rock music as we know it today is as complex as the human genome, drawing from viral and myriad assortments of influences and genres. It's amazing, when you think about it: for centuries, music itself was ridiculously regulated and controlled. Now, we live in a day and age where you can hear Contrapuntus V-style melodics woven around heavy synths and tribal beats, and it's still called "rock." Pretty impressive, huh?

The selection I've chosen for the day was very deliberately intended to be an evolutionary sequence to that classic underground sound - you know, the type of rock that is very obviously rock, but has just enough extraneous cogitation and weirdness to make your typical radio-listener shy away.

"But wait!" you might shriek. "You forgot [insert name of artist]! How dare you!" etc. etc. Chill, yo: I probably didn't forget them: I was simply trying to do this without repeating artists that we've highlighted in the past. Not only that, but it's difficult to fit ten kajillion bands into five slots. I mean, I could do mash-ups, but trust me, that would only result in tears. Lots and lots of painful tears.

With all of that likely-unnecessary disclaiming aside, here's your Friday Five.



1960s:
13th Floor Elevators - "Splash 1" (mp3|5.42MB): There are few true 60s psychedelic bands that I can listen to for extended periods of time without wondering why I torment myself in that manner at all. I mean, I know the style is supposed to "free your mind" and "encourage love" and all that, but honestly? Some of it actually makes me want to punch something. A lot of stuff (and I mean a lot) was put out during this decade that was considered highly artistic and iconic. I'm led to assume that this is due to the fact that it is very difficult for someone to not be impressed by something when they are stoned out of their mind. On the other hand, take the Beatles. They were always on some kind of mind-altering substance, and they gave the world some of the best, soundest music ever released. And this band in particular, though (incidentally one of the pioneers of musical psychedelia), while not being as globally recognised as the Beatles, were also unquestionably high. They also put out some damn good music; you can tell - especially in this track - where they were a little ahead of their time, tinting the tie-dye with little drops of the progressive age to come.
(from the 1966 album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators)

1970s:
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - "From the Beginning" (mp3|5.83MB): I'm not going to lie. When I first heard ELP, I was in the fifth grade. The song in question was on one of the many poorly labelled two-sided mixtapes in my mom's cassette box. I'm pretty sure that was one of the worst first impressions of a band I've ever had, coming out of the experience with the belief that every song by them was as terrible as "Benny the Bouncer." (Funnier still was the fact that my mom had never actually listened to that particular tape, and she'd had it for four years. I told her she wasn't missing much. This, of course, led to her immediate exploration of the tape's contents, her vociferous approval of every track thereupon, and the subsequent repetition of its songs whenever I was within fifty feet of the house. I think she did it on purpose.) Luckily, I didn't end up going on with my life with an eternal desire to vilify this band, otherwise I never would have stumbled upon gems like this one. Very few songs have come to me at exactly the right time in my life, even fewer by bands I've considered to be simply "meh." The beautiful opening riff from Lake's guitar hit me at a rough spot in high school, and I've long since regarded it as one of the staples of 70s classic rock.
(from the 1972 album Trilogy)

1980s:
The Stone Roses - "I Am the Resurrection" (mp3|14.46MB): 2003 was a very strange year for me, musically. I had just moved out on my own for the first time, I was living in a weird, isolated little hilltop town wherein I knew absolutely no one outside of the people from whom I was renting, and I only went downtown once a week. I went a ridiculous length of time without discovering anything new. Luckily, 2004 marked my move down into the main part of town, and my co-DJ was quick to send me a care package of about ten albums, one of which was the Stone Roses' debut from a decade prior. Let me tell you this: every song on this album marks a cornerstone of modern rock. These guys literally tilled the ground and laid the seeds for almost all the rock I listen to nowadays with this track in particular, utilising the catchiest rhythms, awesome lyrics, and beautifully driven instrumental breaks in order to do so. Not to mention the fact that it's fucking epic.
(from the 1989 album The Stone Roses)

1990s:
Neutral Milk Hotel - "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" (mp3|6.90MB): Admit it. You knew this song was going to be here. You knew it was going to be here from the moment you read the title. You're probably scratching your head right now, trying to figure out why I posted a download link to it at all, considering every self-respecting indie nerd has this album and salivates over it on a regular basis, not to mention can play this song on guitar even if they don't have a guitar. But I'm a sucker for consistency, so there you have it.
(from the 1998 album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)

2000s:
Broken Social Scene - "Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl" (mp3|4.21MB): Everyone remembers the startled review of this album given by an unnamed music site, and then how BSS literally skyrocketed almost overnight to become one of the most critical indie rock acts of the known universe. It was almost perverse. There's a reason for it, though, just as I like to think there's a reason for everything, and it isn't at all a credit to the media: it really just is a solid, nearly-flawless pop record. This song is one of the mellower, more pretty-for-pretty's sake tracks on what is otherwise an exercise in music professionalism and versatility, but it becomes captivating through the fact that it's completely unassuming and simple. Interesting how that works, yeah?
(from the 2002 album You Forgot it in People)

Well, that's it for this week. Check back Sunday for your weekly dose of superlatives; in the meantime, have a great weekend!

Requests, comments, marriage proposals, pictures of gift baskets, and all other forms of communication to persons living or dead should be sent to fridayfiveradio@gmail.com.

the sunday superlative - 8/2/09

This Week: Bands I Haven't Seen Live I Mean Srsly Wtf



Because I'm all about counterbalancing. And no, The Decemberists are not included. And no, I still haven't seen them. And no, this fact does not lead to me harbor any murderous urges. I have no idea where you might get that notion.

Anyway. I overstepped my limits again and did, like, a lot of songs. But (1) it's been, like, a month and a half, right? And (2) this is a fraction of the bands I want to see. A fraction. It was hard narrowing down by even this much. Srsly.

AFI - "Days of the Phoenix" (mp3|3.17MB)
Oh, AFI. One of those bands I fell for in middle school and, against all odds, I'm still in love with years and years later. I remember hearing "Days of the Phoenix" in 7th grade. 2001. It was the first of their songs I ever heard, and it's still one of my favorite songs ever. I somehow doubt this is ever going to change. But it begs the question: if you hold onto a favorite that long, through all of those tumultuous teenage years, doesn't it stand to reason that at some point one might go out of his way to see a concert by the band in question? Yeah. I'd have thought so, too. Someday. Definitely someday. Or a Blaqk Audio show. I'd settle for one of those, too. Preferably both, though. K, moving on.
(from the 2000 album The Art of Drowning)

Brand New - "Jaws Theme Swimming" (mp3|6.28MB)
I'm beyond denying it: Brand New is one of my favorite bands. I've finally gotten over the fact that they play a style of music I'm usually very adverse to and just come to accept that I really, really fucking love their stuff. And while The Devil and God remains their masterpiece and Daisy remains my #1 most anticipated album for the latter half of 2009, this summer I've also come to realize just how great their 2003 breakthrough Deja Entendu is. It's generally a tad more accessible, but with the same ear for melody and encompassing darkness that makes their 2006 album so brilliant. This, "Jaws Theme Swimming," is my favorite track from it. But of course you'll probably find your own. Oh: and I really, really need to see them live. Really.
(from the 2003 album Deja Entendu)

Daft Punk - "Around the World/Harder Better Faster Stronger" [live] (mp3|7.84MB)
According to literally anyone who has ever seen them live, Daft Punk is one of the greatest concert experiences a person can ever have. Based on the entirety of their Alive 2007 album (in contention for greatest live album ever, and no I am not exaggerating; it's certainly Daft Punk's best release, and one of the finest electronic albums out there) and some eye-popping videos that have cropped up on YouTube, it's easy to see why. Until the day I finally get the opportunity, I'll just sit and drool at this live cut. It mashes up two of their best-known songs into one cohesive piece that makes me wonder why they were ever separate in the first place. It's so amazing.
(from the 2007 album Alive 2007)

Silversun Pickups - "Growing Old Is Getting Old" (mp3|7.04MB)
This song is incredible. That's all there is to it. Far and away one of the best songs of 2009. It starts off as a cool, restrained bass groove, but then at around three minutes undergoes one of the most shattering change-ups I have ever heard and emerges as not only a poignant meditation on life as a whole, but also a complete ass-kicking powerhouse. I can only imagine how it must translate to a concert setting, where the band would be given free reign to just RAWK OUT and tear that second half to shreds. I have no doubt it'd be kind of dazzling, as would hearing most of their discography. Oh man. I don't even want to imagine. I'm going to make myself way too envious.
(from the 2009 album Swoon)

And lastly, so I don't feel completely defeated ...

Apoptygma Berzerk - "Eclipse" (mp3|8.18MB)
Hahahaaaaa. Ha. Ha. HA. Oh, by the way, this is inarguably one of the best electronic songs ever written. Just sayin'. So don't mess with it.
(from the 2000 album Welcome to Earth)

I'll see you guys next week. Yes. Next week! It's time we got this shit back on track!

As always, feel free to send comments, suggestions, requests, or Nigerian bank spam to fridayfiveradio@gmail.com. All forms of correspondence are warmly welcomed and possibly even anticipated.