Sunday, July 26, 2009

Lucked Up

Saturday night, DJ Fontaine hosted a guest appearance by Tom Peloso and the Virginia Sheiks, which was a real treat to engineer- many years ago, I did a recording for his old band King Sour, which featured current Sheiks guitarist Austin Fitch, who was a guitar maniac back then...also in the Sheiks is former GWAR bassist, Mike Bishop. The Sheiks sound is very thoughtful, mature and honest...Tom and I have walked on a lot of common and dangerous ground and his songs hit me close to home once I got a chance to sit down and listen to them...check out 'Night Sky' on his myspace. It's slightly faster than they played it on-air, but I like both versions.

As the song says, I'm lucky to be here to see the night sky.

It wasn't until after the session that I found out that Tom is in Modest Mouse and it wasn't until much later that that I learned (via Whim) that Modest Mouse is a very succesful band with gold and platinum CDs and many fans, including herself...I swear, I'm probably the least cool, most un-hip DJ/Sound man on the planet, always the last to know...I could be doing sound for Elvis Presley and I'd probably be too busy trying to isolate a bad signal to realize that The King was standing in the studio with me.

Things kept getting better after I got home...Suzie Crotchrot (#666) of the Chicago Outfit Roller Derby team left a comment on my last post, which mentioned her by name...hmmm. I'm hanging out with rock stars while Roller Derby chicks read my blog. I must be doing something right.

I really am lucky to be here.

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THE NEW BREAKFAST SNOB, JULY 25, 2009


The Kinks- This Is Where I Belong/This Time Tomorrow
If you asked me who my all-time favorite song-writer was, Ray Davies would come to mind...I played a double-shot of Kinks because...because I wanted to.

Ace NoFace-Regret/ Toxic Charm
I am trying to do less harm than good. Am I succeeding? I hope so.

The Old Haunts- Not Hopeless/Poisonous Times/Kill Rock Stars
Down. Not out.

Anousheh Khalili- Modern Genius/Let The Ground.../Triple Stamp
Anousheh (Ah-noo-shay) is a gifted Richmond-based singer/songwriter of Iranian ancestry who just happened to be the very first artist I engineered at WRIR, back when our studio was a living room and our equipment was kept in the trunk of my car.

Monika Jalili- Biya Bare Safar Bandim
Fiddle-driven danceable Iranian power pop. Music is soooo much better than war.

Clara Bellino- Tout est Fini/Embarcado Love/Binky Beano
Keeping it upbeat and international!

Arvel Bird- Caballo
It's your typical Celtic/Native-American jazz fusion jam. In other words, it's awesome.

Underwhelmed- Angel/Reveal/Problematic
Nothing fancy, just meaty slabs of rock big enough to topple the Flintstone's car.

Peter Bayreuther- Kinder vom Universe
Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time!

Kaiser Cartel- Carroll Street Station/Brand new promo!
Hot off the email express, not yet released- a bit rocky, in the good sense.

Sound of the Blue Heart- The Poisoning/Wind of Change promo
Very new and very cool. Johnny Indovina is great.

Jenn Cleary Band
- Doesn't Make Sense
I think Jenn Cleary and I see eye-to-eye on this topic. Amen!

Garbage- Push It/2.0/Almo
I'm a sucker for slick production...and for sexy redhead singers. That is why I love Garbage.

Ross Phazor -You'll Never Change/Mr. Mango Man/Rossmusic
One day I'm just gonna play this song 25 times, make a few public service announcements, go home and call it a show.

Steve Hillage- Light in the Sky/Motivation Radio/Atlantic
Holy fuck! Gong -with Hillage back on guitar- are putting out a new LP this year!

Zappa & Beefheart- Muffin Man/Bongo Fury/Discreet
One of my favorite live records, ever.

Television-Friction/Marquee Moon /Elektra
F-R-I-C-T-I-O-N

Be Bop Deluxe- Love With The Madman/Futurama/Capitol
Bill Nelson sings longingly of fugacious love. Look it up.

Manda Mosher- Lay Me Down
This is good rockin' done right.

Stefanie Seskin- Jerkin' My Chains/Edge of Reason
Her use of violin metaphor fits my fiddle-heavy show.

Jennings
- Doorway/Storybook/Jenningsmusic
I keep on liking this song.

Ashlee Rose- Save My Soul
If I have a soul, music saved it. This song nails it.

Southern Backtones- Forever
Nothing lasts forever. Too bad about that.

Area 27- Black Sun
Nice nod to Alan Parsons at the end...production!

Shauna Burns- Bloom
New to me and already digging it. Texturally pleasing to my ears..

Damien Dempsey- Sing Our Cares Away/Shots/UFO
Damo!

Gang of Four- Natural's Not In It/ Ubiquitous during the lost years of my youth...

Geoff Westen- Angry Young Man
This song- which is partially sung in jagged phrasing much like 'Natural's Not In It'- sounds more like 1980's New Wave than 1980's New Wave does...setting the stage for DJ Jon H, who followed me with our weekly 1980's show...

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I'm a lucky guy.

7 comments:

billy pilgrim said...

it's a tough call but ms mosher seems to have caught my ear for now. i'll have to come back later and listen to my short list again.

excellent.

yellowdoggranny said...

you play the best music..the king would be lucky to have you on his stage..hey..roller girls are cool..

NYD said...

It might be a good idea to start dropping as many names as possible.
If they start showing up here than who knows what will happen.

Allan said...

BP- Glad you liked it! Good choice.

JS- Thanks. I'd be the guy fetchin' hamburgers for the King...

NYD- Good idea, but I need 'bigger' names.
Instead of my radio playlists, I'll post the Fortune 500 each week, sit back and wait for my magic carpet to arrive.

AngelConradie said...

Cool list dude!

So... roller girls, eh?

secret agent woman said...

Hey, I gave my niece a Modest Mouse CD for Christmas. It request - I had no idea who they were!

billy pilgrim said...

after a few days of reflection i've decided underwhelmed gets my vote.

freak like me could be the anthem of a generation.