A few new tunes for ya

"1901" is a new song from French band, Phoenix, and it's a free download on their website! Yay for free! The song starts playing right away and the download links are right there.

"Walking On A Dream" is from Australian band, Empire Of The Sun. Yes, like the movie. Well, not really. Nice video. Shot in Shanghai, I believe.

"Happy Up Here" is a new song from Norwegian duo, Röyksopp. This song definitely reminds me of their first album, "Melody A.M." which was catchy as hell. "Eple" is from that album. See what I'm sayin'? Listen to every song from their new album here.

"Titus Andronicus" from Titus Andronicus. Play loud.

And don't forget about Animal Collective!

I've been watching Kraftwerk videos on YouTube for the past 47 minutes. Any band that makes a song about finding love through a computer in motherf'ing 1981 deserves ultimate respect, no?

"Computer Love (Liebe)"

"Trans-Europe Express"

"The Robots"

"Radioactivity" (present day Kraftwerk)

Best SNL Performance of All Time

Well, I don't want to overstate it too much, but when I was a young lad, one of the best shows on TV was Saturday Night Live. Right around 1990, the cast was loaded. Hartman, Myers, Carvey, Lovitz, Hooks, Miller, Rock, Nealon, to name a few... I'd record the shows on the family VCR and watch 'em a few times so I'd be able to recite some of the lines with my buddies at school the following Monday. One episode that was stellar from start to finish was one with John Goodman as host. He's hosted a billion times, but the one I'm thinking of was December 1, 1990. The skits were good (Wayne's World and their screening of the new Madonna video, "Justify My Love," and I think that was the first time we were introduced to Pat), but what made that episode my favorite of all time was the musical guest, Faith No More. I was 12 at the time and didn't really know what to make of Mike Patton weirding out the crowd with his bizarre stage antics. "Dude, is that Mike climbing up into the giant ventilation fan that's just there for show and serves no purpose as far as I can tell? Did he just smash the bass drum with his mic stand?" The more I watched it, the cooler it got. At the end of the first song, "Epic," notice how the applause isn't really there. After a few seconds, I think someone hit the applause light or something because it starts to pick up. You can feel the crowd thinking to themselves, "WTF was that?" And in the second video, "From Out Of Nowhere," Mike's crazy headbanging coupled with his cool polka-dotted red shorts is a winning combo. I bring this up now because SNL or NBC, I'm not sure which, is pretty famous for not letting their videos appear on YouTube or anywhere else legally, as far as I know. I just dug a little deeper and found 'em. Enjoy these two before they get yanked.



CRAP. I couldn't embed "From Out Of Nowhere." Click here to see it. Oh, and if Fear's performance is your fav, this blog has that video and a few other excellent ones.

Who wants to ride a bike 175 miles with me?

Here's the deal... I'll be leading Team XRT in the annual Tour De Farms, a ride put together by the good people at the National MS Society Greater Illinois Chapter. The ride happens in DeKalb on the weekend of June 13 & 14. Oh, and you don't have to ride 175 miles, you can do 35, 50, 75, 100, 150 or 175. Come on! It's super do-able, I don't care who you are. There are rest stops along the way, and you can ride at your own pace. The important thing is to raise awareness and money for the MS Society. We'd LOVE to have you as part of Team XRT. We'll all be hanging out at the event and I'd really like to help put together an impressive team.

General info is here.

Register for Team XRT here. Yes, just scroll down to "XRT."

These look promising

Should be out by late March, I believe...




And this one? Let's see. Picture a real life version of Spinal Tap. Throw in a few tears and you have "ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL." Yeah, the more I watch the trailer, the more it seems exactly like Spinal Tap, but whatever, it looks decent. The movie opens at Music Box on 4/24, but on 4/22 the movie will be shown at Metro WITH a live performance from the band.

Records?

OK, I have to clear something up here. When I'm on the radio, I use the term "records" quite a bit. I just received an email from a listener that doesn't seem too down with it. That's fine. I really do appreciate her response and the fact that she cares enough to drop me a line, but I had to state my case...

So here's the email. (name withheld, of course)
"individual songs are NOT records. In fact, I doubt much of what you play even comes from actual records. Get this straight: you play TRACKS off of CDS."

And my response.
"Record" can also be short for "recording," so a record can be an individual song. Also, at the Grammys, there is an award given for "Record of the Year," and that is an individual song. From Wikipedia, which, I know isn't ALWAYS spot on, but still.... "Record of the Year is awarded for a single or for one track from an album. This award goes to the performing artist, the producer, recording engineer, and/or mixer for that song. In this sense, 'record' means a recording of one song, not the composition or an album of songs. Often, the nominees and winners of this song represent the most successful songs of the year."

And with XRT having a massive vinyl library that we still use, I really do enjoy using the term "record." I know it's an older term, but DJs making their own playlists is an older concept as well, so it seems to fit. I've thought about this long and hard. If you say "CD," that's not entirely correct, because many people now download digital files, so, like you suggest, if I talk about the new "CD" from U2, that wouldn't be entirely correct. If someone bought the physical CD at Best Buy or wherever people buy those things nowadays, then yes, "CD" would be the right thing to say. But if someone downloaded "No Line On The Horizon" from iTunes, then they wouldn't have the new "CD" from U2, they'd have the new "release," or preferably the new "album" from U2 in digital form.

When I first came to XRT, I thought it was so cool being at a place that still let the DJs make the final call on what they play and when. It seems like such a throwback, but at the same time, we still play bands that other commercial stations won't touch, like Animal Collective, LCD Soundsystem, and Fleet Foxes to name a few. It's old school AND forward thinking at the same time, so maybe me using the term "record" as much as I do is a tribute to the classic format and style that still prevail at XRT.

Thanks for caring enough to write...

Your thoughts?