Beyond Radio

Beyond Radio Playlist

Some friends of mine have a 13-year-old son. Recently his mom mentioned to me that he has started paying attention to music (you know the age, when you start wandering the dial looking for a certain song, memorizing lyrics, singing in the shower). My mission is now clear: save him from radio. Over the past few days I've been formulating a list in my head of introductory tunes. My criteria were thusly: the songs have to be accessible, fairly modern (but let's stretch it and say 10 or so years), and profanity-free (his parents are pretty strict). For someone who has probably never even heard anything by Weezer, I want to make a catchy, listenable CD that will have him coming back for more. Also, his personality is very outgoing, intelligent, active and just plain goofy. Something tells me that one They Might Be Giants song is all it's going to take to get him hooked.

Here's what I have so far. Additions? Subtractions? I know I'm missing something here. It starts off kind of bouncy and ends very sweetly.

* "Its The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" - R.E.M.
* "Float On" - Modest Mouse
* "Close To Me" - The Cure
* "Step Right Up" - Tom Waits
* "Surf Wax America" - Weezer
* "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" - They Might Be Giants
* "Sister Jack" - Spoon
* "Looking At The World From The Bottom Of A Well" - Mike Doughty
* "Such Great Heights" - The Postal Service
* "If I Had $1,000,000" - Barenaked Ladies
* "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" - Crash Test Dummies
* "The Sporting Life" - The Decemberists
* "Speed Of Sound" - Coldplay
* "Orange Sky (Album Version)" - Alexi Murdoch

Click to listen.

edited to add: R.E.M., Tom Waits and the Cure. Sounding pretty good!

The Sunday News

Here is the playlist for The Sunday News broadcast of 5/22. Features Bedouin Soundclash, Shout Out Louds and Athlete.

Listen to The Sunday News, 5/22/05

* "Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)" - Eels
* "Guns Of Brixton" - Nouvelle Vague
* "Act Appaled" - Circa Survive
* "Shadowland" - Youth Group
* "Here Comes A City" - The Go-Betweens
* "If Not Now, When?" - Electrelane
* "Baby C'mon" - Stephen Malkmus
* "Ever (Foreign Flag)" - Team Sleep
* "Synthesized" - Epoxies
* "Suburb Thuggin'" - El Pus
* "Attack" - 30 Seconds To Mars
* "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" - The Hold Steady
* "Oh My God" - Kaiser Chiefs
* "The Delicate Place" - Spoon
* "P.S. I Hate You" - Eleven Minutes Away
* "The Comeback" - Shout Out Louds
* "When The Night Feels My Song" - Bedouin Sound Clash
* "Vermillion" - Mercury Rev
* "Half Light" - Athlete

The Scene Is Now

The Insound weekly newsletter is worth subscribing to just for things like this:

"If you're anything like me, and when you were 13 you screenprinted your own Blank Generation t-shirt and sometimes daydreamed that you were Tom Verlaine and looked awesome in a turtleneck, then you'll understand what I'm about to say. See, I feel like most of us think about our favorite bands and wish we could have been there and discovered them in their prime. Like thinking, 'It must have been so awesome to have seen Minor Threat.' Or 'Can you imagine what The Stooges, the real 1960s Stooges must have been like live? Opening for The MC5?' Or, how about, 'Just to have seen one of the MTV 120 Minutes tour from 1991 when Blind Melon and Live shared the same stage. Just for one night to have been there.'

I'm sure you can all relate to those thoughts. And because I know you can all relate to those thoughts, I know you'll understand what I'm gonna say now: Love Spoon. Appreciate them. They are part of our here and now. A great band. In their prime. And they have a new album. And we are living in the scene. Right now. And that somewhere a 13 year old kid is screenprinting his own Three Mile Pilot shirt and will one day bemoan the fact that he never got to see the Ponys or Electrelane (both of whom have records out this week) in their prime. And maybe one day you will meet this kid and you will be able to share this story and a good cry with him. And maybe you will realize that he is really you.

Now think about that."

If I knew the writer's name, I would give him credit. This would be a good time to listen to Gimme Fiction again. It just gets more impressive every time.