...And The Battle Begun 09/07 - NOW WITH FLAVOR

On every Monday from 2PM-4PM

artist - song name

fun. - All the Pretty Girls
The Syncope Threshold - Sunflower Avenue
Saves the Day - In Reviere
Mew - Beach
Portugal. The Man - Lay Me Back Down
Thrice - The Earth Isn't Humming
Daft Punk - Digital Love
RX Bandits - Its Only Another Parsec...
A Perfect Circle - Orestes
Why? - Into The Shadows of My Embrace
Death Cab For Cutie - Title Track
Coheed and Cambria - God Send Conspirator
Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - Isis Unveiled
Slint - Good Morning Captain
The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
Minus the Bear - Knights
Thrice - Between the End And Where We Lie
The Unicorns - Tuff Ghost
The Get Up Kids - Ten Minutes
The Mars Volta - The Widow
Placebo - Sleeping With Ghosts
MGMT - Kids
Between the Buried and Me - Prequel to the Sequel
Junior Senior - Move Your Feet

That Generic Variety Show 09-03

On every Thursday from 4PM-6PM. Aileen's selections are in purple. Victor's selections are in green.

Artist - Song

Saves the Day - Cars & Calories
David Cook - Lie
Tool - Aenema
Hanson - Runaway Run
Weezer - Why Bother?
Kings of Convenience - I'd Rather Dance With You
Coheed And Cambria - Everything Evil
Demi Lovato - Catch Me
Mew - Rebeaterbeater
Blackmore's Night - Loreley
Mastodon - Colony of Birchmen
From Newsies - Seize the Day
Anthony Green - Babygirl
Tommy and the High Pilots - Bluesy Floozie
Portugal. The Man - Work All Day
Jim Croce - Lover's Cross
Ok Go - A Million Ways
A-Ha - Take on Me
Queen - Killer Queen
Laura Branigan - Gloria
Thrice - Firebreather
Enrique Iglesias - Heroe
Between the Buried and Me - Prequel to the Sequel
Jesse McCarthey - Just So You Know
Hello Seahorse! - OK!...Lobster
Alkaline Trio - Stupid Kid
House of Freaks - 40 Years

Rabble rabble rabble

I know everyone usually gets upset about certain pitchfork reviews. Sometimes they can be right, sometimes they can be way off..its the nature of reviewing. I was particularly upset this week that they gave a 15 year old album the title of Best new music (I know its a Sunny day real estate re-issue and an important album, blah blah blah). Meanwhile, my #1 album of the year contender, Intuit by Ramona Falls, scored a very respectable 8.0 but I suppose doesn't warrant a "best new music" title. It was bad enough a few weeks ago when they were giving the titles to Radiohead re-issues and giving Kid A a 10.0. I still use the site for various music news things, but I'm increasingly disappointed in their reviewing when they seem to be hailed as the be all, end all of indie music knowledge.

I was also going to whine about their top 500 songs of the 2000's but was just linked to this fantastic buddyhead article that does a much better job than I could:
http://www.buddyhead.com/lil-wayne-2000-pitchfork-snorts-a-decade/

Post some of your favorite alternative music review websites!

Weird Noises 9/2/09

First playlist of the semester:

Stephen Vitiello - Light Readings
Horaflora - A Win, Din, Thud Or...
Disband - Rebel
Tom Johnson - Abundant Numbers
Gruppo di Imrovazzione Nuova Consonanza - Eflot, Percussion per Tutti
Beat Furrer - Fama (Scenes IV & V), performed by Klangforum Wien
Billy Gomberg - Into
John Cage - Cheap Imitation III (performed by Paul Zukofsky

Ambient Signal - 9/1/09 - New Month, New Time!

WRPI 91.5fm!
http://www.wrpi.org/ for webcast
Tuesdays 4-6pm

New time and you know what that means...

Yes..my graphic displays the wrong times again, but that's ok..it can stay like that..I think i was on wednesdays 6-8 last yearand didn't change it

So weird being on the air this early. Plus this blog is a little lonelier this fall because of so little DJ's on it, but hopefully participation will pick up.

Pre-Show - Tyondai Braxton - Platinum Rows

Son lux - Raise (Playing at Mass Moca this friday at 8pm! Going to be great!)
Denali - Gunner
Camera Obscura - Tears for affairs
Cat power - Metal heart
Doves - Winter Hill
Morcheeba - Ten Men (Request)
Feist - Sea lion Woman
Sigur Ros - Festival
Ramona Falls - Clover - SEE MY VIDEO HERE
The Antlers - Kettering
Amy Millan - Bruised Ghosts
Choir of young believers - Under the moon
Darlings - Eviction party
Dodos - Longform
Alan Singley and the pants machine - Le Rain
Phantogram - When I'm Small (Playing in Saratoga this saturday at Final Stretch festival! Free show!)
Inner Banks - Pyramids
Mew - Repeater beater
Health - Die slow
Balmorhea - Attesa
Brand New - The boy who blocked his own shot
Bright Eyes - Tourist Trap
Grizzly Bear - Knife
Starfucker - Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second
Why? - The Vowels pt. 2
The Velvet Teen - Building a whale

...And The Battle Begun 08/31

Hey hey everybody out there. This is my the first And The Battle Begun for the semester. So I will be on Mondays at 2PM-4PM. Today I'm on a bit longer because Capitol Report won't be playing afterward. Here is the playlist for the show:

Artist - Title

Rx Bandits - ...And the Battle Begun
The Get Up Kids - Holiday
Mew - Introducing Palace Players
Jimmy Eat World - Lucky Denver Mint
Circa Survive - Stop the Car
Weezer - El Scorcho
The Mars Volta - Teflon
Interpol - Obstacle 1
Piebald - King of the Road
Pavement - Gold Soundz
Coheed and Cambria - Time Consumer
Saves the Day - At Your Funeral
Dillinger Four - Noble Stabbings
Animal Collective - My Girls
Pixies - Trompe le Monde
Coheed and Cambria - The Velourium Camper III: Al the Killer
The Ergs! - Introducing Morrissey
Between the Buried and Me - Informal Gluttony
Mastodon - The Czar
Built to Spill - Car
Explosions in the Sky - First Breath After Coma
Aha - Take on Me
Sunny Day Real Estate - Song About An Angel
The Dismemberment Plan - A Life of Possibilities
Silversun Pickups - Common Reactor
Jawbreaker - Bivouac
None More Black - Oh, There's Legwork
Moving Mountains - Foreward
The Fall Of Troy - The Hol[ ]ly Tape
And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Another Morning Stoner
The Appleseed Cast - Hanging Marionette
Saosin - It's Far Better to Learn
The Sound of Animals Fighting - The Heraldic Beak of Manufacturer's Medallion

Ambient Signal - 8/25/09

WRPI 91.5fm!
http://www.wrpi.org/ for webcast
Tuesdays 6-8pm

Come back summer..you just started feeling like summer! 80 and sunny today

Menomena - Cough, Coughing
The Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
Battles - Tras
Desaparecidos - Greater Omaha
Cursive - A Gentleman Caller
Sunset Rubdown - The taming of the hands that came back to life
Explosions in the sky - First breath after coma
Ramona Falls - I say Fever (see my Ramona Falls music video below!)
Antlers - Wake
Fanfarlo - I'm a pilot
Nurses - Caterpillar playground
Choir of Young Beleivers - These rituals of mine
Bronzed Chorus - Hiding in the woods
Reigning Sound - If I can't come back
Anna Ternheim - Damaged ones
Inner Banks - Lemon Tree
Darlings - TV
Still life still - Neon Blue
Dodos - Fables
Royalchord - Mighty minor
Land of Talk - Death by fire
Sigur Ros - Inni mer syngur vitleysingur
Dosh - Everybody Cheer up song
Maria Taylor - A Good start
Mirah - While we have the sun
Ambulette - Save it
Emily haines and the soft skeleton - Doctor Blind
Amy Millan - Skinny boy

Ramona Falls - Music video - Clover fan video

Hey all,

I am premiering my fan music video for Ramona Falls' song: Clover. Unfortunately the sideways-ness prevented it from becoming much more than a fan video. Oh well, hope you enjoy! Other versions are available on my vimeo page, including the ever so exciting "turn your head or monitor sideways" version and the "easy to watch, but super small" version. And definitely check out Ramona Falls debut "Intuit" available now from barsuk!

Ramona Falls - Clover (9:16 edition) from blair neal on Vimeo.

WG Hours - Monday August 24th

Ray Charles
Album: Love and Peace
Songs: You 20th Century Fox
Take off that dress
She Knows
Riding Thumb
We had it all
No Achievement Showing
A peace that we never before could enjoy
Is There anyone out there
Give the Poor man a break

Curtis Mayfield
Album: Never Say You Can't Survive (Side 1)
Songs: Show Me Love
Just Want to be with you
When We're Alone
Never Say you can't survive

Sly and the Family Stone
Album: Small Talk (side 1)
Songs: Small Talk
Say You will
Time for Livin'
Can't Strain my brain

Curtis Mayfield
Album: Never Say You Can't Survive (Side 2)
Songs: I'm gonna win your love
All night Long
When you used to be Mine
Sparkle

Sly and the Family Stone
Album: Small Talk (side 2)
Songs: Loose Booty
Holdin' On
Wishful Thinkin'
Better thee than me
Livin' while I'm livin'
This is Love

the Allman Brothers Band
Album: Idlewild South
Songs: Revival
Don't Keep me Wonderin'
Midnight Rider
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed
Hoochie Coochie Man
Please Call Home
Leave My Blues at Home

Bob Marley and the Wailers
Album: Natty Dread
Songs:
Lively Up Yourself
No Woman, No Cry
Them Belly Full (But we hungry)
Rebel Music
So Jah Seh
Natty Dread
Bend Down Low

The Derek Trucks Band - Sweet Inspiration
the Avett Brothers - You Swept me away

Ambient Signal - 8/18/09

WRPI 91.5fm!
http://www.wrpi.org/ for webcast
Tuesdays 6-8pm

Radiohead - These are my twisted words
Bright Eyes - Neely O' hara (live)
Brand New - At the bottom
Nico Muhly - A Hudson Cycle
Rachel's - Systems/Layers
Amiina - Asinn
Cut Copy - Out there on the ice
Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook
Ramona Falls - Melectric *Read my review of this album! a few posts below!*
The Antlers - Sylvia
Fanfarlo - The walls are coming down
Health - Nice girls
Bronzed Chorus - Underpass sunrise
Reigning Sound - Call me
Nurses - Apples Acres
Choir of young believers - Hollow Talk
Anna Ternheim - What have I done
Postmarks - My lucky charm
Blitzen Trapper - Black river killer
Nocturnes - Trojan
The Notwist - One with the freaks
13 & God - Soft atlas
Volcano Choir - Island, IS
Margot and the Nuclear so and so's - As tall as cliffs
The Airwaves - Keys
Octopus Project - The Adjustor

Monday Morning

Kokolo - Trouble Come, Trouble Go
Novalima - Tumbala (De La Remix)
Vieux Farka Toure - Ana (Captain Planet)

Beau Soleil avec Michael Doucet - Peux Pas me refuser
Hugh Masekela - Don't go lose it baby
Spoon - well it's alright
Apples in Stereo - Energy
Elbow - Snooks (Progress Report)
Vieux Farka Toure - Dounia (Cheb i Sabbah's Africa Unite Remix)
Albert Hammond Jr. - Gfc
Lykke Li - I'm good I'm gone
Beck - Lost Cause

Owl City - Fireflies
the National - So far around the bend
Bobby Bare Jr. - I'll be around
the Avett brothers - the weight of lies
Portugal the Man - Work all day
Kokolo - Heaven

somewhere around here I played Camera Obscura - the sweetest thing

the Avett Brothers - Shame
Bobbt Bare Jr. - the Heart Bionic
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

Beau Soleil avec Michael Doucet - Gitane Cajun I
Beau Soleil avec Michael Doucet - La femme qui Jouait aux cartes
Beau Soleil avec Michael Doucet - La fleche d'armour

Beres Hammond - House is not a home
Derrick Lara - Don't know who to trust
Portugal the Man - People Say

Ambient Signal ~ 8/11/09

WRPI 91.5fm!
http://www.wrpi.org/ for webcast
Tuesdays 6-8pm

Summer is ending too quickly..it was about 83 and sunny today..hott

Annuals - Confessor
The New Year - Seven days and seven nights (Request)
The Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
Falcon - Birds and mice
Faunts - Feel. Love. Thinking. Of.
Stars - Sleep Tonight
DNTEL - Roll On
Morning Recordings - We loved the city years
Neko Case - Star Witness
Never - Searching and chasing
The Antlers - Shiva
Nurses - Man at arms
Wye oak - Talking about money
Royal chord - Midnight lines
Cymbals eat guitars - What dogs see
Mount eerie - The hidden stone
Reigning sound - Brake it
Timber timbre - Demon host
Postmarks - No one said this would be easy
Black Mold - Toxic lake
These united states - I want you to keep everything
Generationals - Nobody could change
Nico Muhly - Clear Music
My brightest diamond - To pluto's moon (son lux remix)
M83 - Don't save us from the flames
Amiina - Tvisturinn
Balmorhea - Rememberence

Show with Kim

Today my friend Kim was on the show and played some songs

The Rooftop Singers - Walk right in
Parliament Funkadelic - Tear the Roof off the Sucker
South - Paint the Silence
Madeleine Peyroux - You're Gonna be lonesome when you go

Burnin Spear - Mek we dweet
Stevie Wonder - Skeletons
Xaiver Naidoo - Bevor du Gehst
Adele - Cold Shoulder

North Mississippi Allstars - Eyes
Tracy Chapman - Mountains O'Things
Johnnie Taylor - Disco Lady
Sondre Lechre - Sleep on Needles

Elbow - Forget Myself
Mae - Cover Me
Otis Redding - Satisfaction
Peter Starsedt - Where do you go to (My Lovely)
Blackalicious - Egosonic War Drums
Ivete Sangalo - Nao Precisa Mudar

Doves - Pounding
School of Language - Disappointment '99
John Butler Trio - Daniella

Portugal the Man - People Say
My morning jacket - Christmas Curtain
Rooney - When did your heart go missing
the Beatles - I will
Iron and Wine - Belated Promise Ring

Modest Mouse: New Video + EP Release

New Video directed by Heath Ledger.

Check out http://www.wearethemasses.com/ for more information on the video.
20263

Ambient Signal - 8/4/09

WRPI 91.5fm!
http://www.wrpi.org/ for webcast
Tuesdays 6-8pm

Sunny and hottt.. 83

The Velvet Teen - No one gets the best of me
Hot Gurl party - Orchestral Finale
Animal Collective - For reverend green
Denali - Surface
The Swords project - City life
Enigmatic String Quartet - There There (radiohead cover)
Explosions in the sky - Greet Death
Nurses - Technicolor
Royalchord - The good times
Postmarks - Gone
Most serene republic - Don't hold back, feel a little longer
Cymbals eat guitars - Indiana
Black mold - Metal spider webs
YACHT - Ring the bell
Patrick Wolf - Hard times
Pissed jeans - False jessi pt. 2
Kasabian - Underdog
Wye oak - For prayer
The Octopus Project - Exploding Snowhorse
Port O'brien - I woke up today
The Arcade Fire - Wake Up
Anathallo - Cafetorium
The Books - An owl with knees
Sigur Ros - Staralfur
Balmorhea - Harm and Boon

Bobby Bare Jr. vs Daniel Johnston

Ra Ra Riot - Ghost Under Rocks
The Shins - Red Rabbits
Spoon - the way we get by

The Pogues - Young Ned of the Hill
Bobby Bare Jr. - the Heart Bionic
Camera Obscura - Tears for Affairs
Daniel Johnston - Story of an artist

The Pogues - Love you 'til the end
Bobby Bare Jr. - Things I didn't say
Daniel Johnston - Don't Let the sun go down on your grievance
Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm ready to be heartbroken

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Indiana
Bobby Bare jr. - your adorable beast
Albert Hammond Jr. - victory at monterey
Bobby Bare Jr. - Strange Bird
Ra Ra Riot - Can you tell
Bobby Bare Jr. - My Valentine
Nicole Atkins - Together we are both alone

Phantogram - Running from the cops
Animal Collective - Did you see the words
Daniel Johnston - The sun shines down on me
Burning Spear - Wickedness

Bobby Bare - Paul
Bobby Bare - Tequila Sheila
Jessica Lea Mayfield - For Today
Camera Obscura - the sweetest thing
the Pogues - the sunnyside of the street
The Shins - Kissing the Lipless
Bobby Bare Jr. - I'll be around
She & Him - Got Me
Bobby Bare Jr. - Visit me in music city

Daniel Johnston - True Love will find you in the end

July 27th show

Novalima - Concheperla
Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet - Overture
Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet - A fuller wine
Sars Flannery - Let the Love songs guide you

Santana - Oye Como Va
Novalima - Liberta
David E Sugar - Radioactivity
Santana - Jingo
Roy Budd- Love is a four letter word

Trevor Giuliani - Wasting your town
Trevor Giuliani - Settled Bounds
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
Noel La Pierre - Havana

My brightest diamond - golden star
my morning jacket - evil urges
Noel LaPierre - Feels so good
Novalima - Se Me Van

Santana - Black Magic Woman
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - be easy
Jackie Wilson - (Your Love keeps lifting me) Higher and Higher
My morning Jacket - Off the record
Esperanza Spalding - Samba em Preludio
Nina Simone - In the Morning

Nina Simone - No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed
Jointpop - the irony of it all
My Brightest Diamond - We were sparkling
Nina Simone - Here Comes the Sun
My Morning Jacket - It beats for you
Beck - Gamma Ray
Spoon - I turn my camera on
Novalima - Coba Guarango

Sars Flannery - High School Fairy Tale

Review: Ramona Falls - intuit - due out August 18th on Barsuk

No one wants summer to be over, but it would almost be worth it to push the clock forward just a little faster just so everyone had a chance to hear Ramona Falls debut LP 'Intuit' a little sooner (Due out August 18th on Barsuk). Ramona Falls is the moniker used by Brent Knopf, one of the three frontmen (it's safe to say they're all frontmen) of Portland's very own Menomena. These guys seem to be overflowing with musical ideas, as this is the second solo project to split off of Menomena, while the band continues to put out new material at the same time. Ramona Falls is a slightly different beast than bandmate Danny Seim's project Lackthereof. Both have characteristics that come out in Menomena, but Ramona falls sounds more like if Menomena collaborated with Arcade Fire, or some other sort of orchestral pop group..but don't let my simplified description mislead you.

I got to see Ramona Falls as a solo guitar act last fall at CMJ and its astonishing how much Brent has been able to flesh out the songs on this album. When I heard about this project a month or two again, I was intrigued but not overly excited, recalling not being completely bowled over by his performance. No doubt some of the amazing guests he called on to help him realize his vision helped catapult this release into the running for my favorite album of the year. Barsuk's website says that 35 different friends appear on the album (including members from two of my favorite Portland acts: Talkdemonic and the Helio Sequence..I swear there must be something in the water over there).

The songs on Intuit inhabit icy landscapes, hilly valleys, and grandiose cathedrals, without ever feeling distant or losing their emotional intimacy. After being treated to a sneak preview listen of record (it hasn't leaked yet, thank god), the thing that sets it apart from Menomena's sometimes frenetic, almost claustrophobic arrangements is Ramona Falls' sense of atmosphere, or just gigantic space. For some, creating music space means adding reverb, but Ramona Falls creates space with its instrumental textures and elaborate compositions. It's space also does not mean that it feels sparse at all. Every song is delightfully full, especially the the beautiful chorus jaunt "Bellyfulla" containing "more happiness than a body can hold." Melancholy is no stranger on Intuit either. The particularly sorrowful album closer "Diamond Shovel" strips down to a single guitar and Brent's voice and its wonderfully subtle vibrato.

The hairpin turns one comes to expect from listening to Menomena albums are also present here. "Russia" and my personal favorite on the album (so far), "Clover" are great examples of songs that will do complete 180's several times over the course of a song. The drop of the mechanized drum beat and time signature switcharoo in "Russia" is a great example of an unexpected "Oh shit! No he didn't!" moment. Brent's surprisingly distinctive piano playing is also a big crossover for Menomena fans. I know i have mentioned Menomena a lot in this review, but rest assured, Ramona Falls is able to stand on its own as a truly unique and separate entity.

Once again, intuit drops August 18th from Barsuk, and I hope this review has been able to entice a few of you to check it out. The catchy opener "Melectric" and "Salt Sack" are available to listen to on Ramona Falls myspace..enjoy!

Ambient Signal - 7/21/09 - Rainy extended show

WRPI 91.5fm!
http://www.wrpi.org/ for webcast
Tuesdays 6-8pm

Raining most of the day..64 degrees..when is summer coming..this is like a record for rainy tuesdays

The Antlers - Kettering (thanks Tim!)
Bright eyes - Padriac my prince
Annuals - The Tape
Death cab for cutie - Tiny Vessels
Son lux - War
Erik Satie - Trois Gymnopedies 2 (Orchestral)
Sigur Ros - Untitled 7
Grizzly Bear - While you wait for the others
YACHT - Psychic City (Voodoo city)
Most serene republic - four humours
Phantogram - Mouthful of diamonds
Magnolia electric co. - shiloh
Bowerbirds - Chimes
Tiny Vipers - Eyes like ours
Wilco - Wilco (song) ((...are you serious??)
Trevor Giuliani -Van Singing
Cymbals eat guitars - Cold Spring
Gregory pepper - we were dinosaurs
Portugal. The man - lovers in love
Clark - Rainbow voodoo
Megafaun - kaufman's ballad
Rock plaza central - handsome men
Summer cats - hey you
We were promised jetpacks - it's thunder and lighting
Tiny masters of today - Skeletons
Dirty projectors - stillness is the move
Foreign born - blood oranges
Bibio - Fire ants
Ohbijou - Black ice
Camera obscura - Let's get out of this country
Orenda fink - Miracle worker
Neva Dinova - It's worse when you're young
Menomena - The Pelican
13 & God - Men of station
Patients - Mind ur manners
A northern chorus - Rememberence day
The Album leaf - Fear of flying
Balmorhea - Settler

p.s. we just cracked 20,000 hits..i think I may have been the 20,000th, haha

Monday Morning Situation

Vieux Farka Toure - Ma HIne Cocore (Yossi Fine's 3rd Bass Remix)

Bob Marley and the Wailers - So Much Trouble in the world
Bob Marley and the wailers - Zimbabwe
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Top Rankin'
Bobby Melody - Jah Bring I Joy in the Morning

Desmond Dekker - Music Like Dirt
Desmond Dekker - Licking stick
Desmond Dekker - Unity

Althea and Donna - Uptown Top Rankin
Vieux Farka Toure - Wosoubour
the Derek Trucks Band - Sahib Teri Bandi/Maki Madni
Soukous Stars - Tita

Byron Lee and the Dragonnaires - Tiney Winey
Krosfyah - Pump me up.
Burnin' Flames - Swingin Engine

Dennis Brown - Love has found its way
Antibalas - Gabe's New Joint
JC Lodge and Prince Mohammed - Someone loves you honey/One time daughter

Sunset Rubdown - Silver Moons
M. Ward - Radio Campaign
stevie wonder - If it's magic
Sly and the Family stone - I want to take you higher
the Decemberists - July, Juiy!
UB40 - Higher Ground
Sunset Rubdown - Idiot Heart
Vieux Farka Toure - Sangare

New Music Review: The Antlers - Hospice

Already hailed as the best album of 2009 so far by NPR, Hospice by The Antlers attempts to secure its place in the canon of epic indie rock albums (Funeral, The Moon & Antarctica, et al.). The lyrics, which read like a novel rather than poetry or a series of disjointed phrases, tell a story from the perspective of a man losing a lover (current or ex, it's unclear) to cancer at a hospital ward and detail the memories and feelings that ensue. Discussing his past relationship with his loved one, from abortion ("When we get home we're bigger strangers than we've ever been before/You sit in front of snowy television, suitcase on the floor," from "Bear") to rushing into a lifelong commitment ("Two silver rings on our fingers in a hurry," from "Two"), it's obvious that the narrator has been through a lot of turmoil with this dying woman even without taking her cancer into consideration. Indeed, Antlers songwriter Peter Silberman does a great job of getting the listener invested in the story; throughout the album, the listener feels the narrator's (and, in some cases, his loved one's) pain.

However, sometimes the music comes off as too epic for its own sake, most likely in an effort to match the grand scope of the story. While "Prologue" is, predictably, an instrumental introduction, following track "Kettering" also feels like an introduction, resulting in nearly seven minutes of studio trickery and guitar feedback that do little to heighten the anticipation before the album really takes off with "Sylvia." Other songs also have similar moments that just go on too long for no real reason; "Atrophy" and "Wake" have extended instrumental sections consisting of the aforementioned feedback and trickery that bloat the song lengths to nearly eight and nine minutes respectively. Thanks to these moments, the album largely comes off as too slow and meandering; the best moments are when the band picks up the pace a bit such as in "Bear" and "Two," which not so coincidentally are the songs that have been garnering The Antlers the most praise in the press. Clearly, The Antlers put a lot of thought and heart into Hospice, which is always great to see. However, getting rid of some of their overly bombastic tendencies could eventually elevate them from 'good' to 'great' status.

While independently released earlier this year, Hospice will be rereleased by Frenchkiss Records on August 18th. Stream some songs from the album here. The Antlers will be playing their closest area show on July 25th at Iron Horse in Northampton, MA, opening for Frightened Rabbit.

Ambient Signal - 7/14/09 - A Normal sized show..

WRPI 91.5fm!
http://www.wrpi.org/ for webcast
Tuesdays 6-8pm

Just cloudy today..no rain before I got here..70 degrees..also just a paltry 2 hour show today

Stars of track and field - Centuries
The Notwist - Good lies
Alias - Death Watch
Ester Drang - I don't want to live (In a world of infinite keys)
Department of eagles - In Ear Park
Brooke Waggoner - Hush if you must
Squarepusher - Tetra-sync
Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
Most Serene Republic - The old forever new things
Bibio - Sugarette
Magnolia Electric Co. - Map of the falling sky
Bowerbirds - This day
Ohbijou - Cannon march
Trevor Giuliani - Wasting your town
Gregory pepper - must be true
Portugal. The man - People say
Falcao and monashee - Parasocial
Phantogram - Bloody Palms
Mirah - Generosity
Balmorhea - En Route
Riceboy Sleeps - All the big trees
The Album leaf - Over the pond
Benoit Piolard - Together and down
The Get up kids - Walking on a wire
Gregory Alan Isakov - The Stable Song

2nd Monday in July

Albert Collins - When a Guitar Plays the blues
Albert Collins - But I was cool
the Budos Band - Ride or Die
Stevie Wonder - Love's in Need of Love today

the Avett Brothers - Shame
Stevie Wonder - Knocks me off my feet
Jointpop - Monday Morning Love Situation
Esperanza Spalding - Ponta de Areia

Jackie Wilson - That's Why (I love you so)
Jackie Wilson - Reet Petite
Jackie Wilson - (You were made for) all my love

Junior Mervin - Cool out son
Cornell Campbell - Boxing Around
Marcia Aitken - I'm still in love with you
Nina Simone - to love somebody
Esperanza Spalding - I know you know

Stevie Wonder - Pastime Paradise
Stevie Wonder - Summer Soft
Stevie Wonder - Ordinary Pain

Andy Narell & Relator - Hold onto your man
Andy Narell & Relator - Peddlars
Andy Narell & Relator - Bottle and Spoon
Sly and the Family Stone - Everybody is a star
the Black Keys - I got mine

Sly and the Family Stone - M'Lady
Jackie Wilson - (Your Love keeps lifting me) higher
Toots and the Maytals - Freedom Train
Soukous Stars - Sinovela
Toots and the Maytals - Reggae Got Soul
Toots and the Maytals - I got dreams to remember

Desmond Dekker - Music Like Dirt

Ambient Signal - 7/7/09 - pre 20,000 hits!

WRPI 91.5fm!
http://www.wrpi.org/ for webcast
Tuesdays 6-8pm

Another rainy/stormy day..59 degrees

Another extended show too.. 6-9pm..playing tons of new music again...this blog almost has 20,000 hits! Should be there by sometime next week I think..yeaaah

Azeda Booth - In Red
Explosions in the sky - So long lonesome
Beniot Pioulard - Triggering back
Japancakes - When you sleep
Faunts - Place i've found
Radical face - Sleepwalking
God is an astronaut - Fragile
Battles - SZ2
Grizzly Bear - Southern point
Sunset Rubdown - Paper lace
Dirty projectors - Useful chamber

7pm or so
Bibio - Lover's carvings
Phantogram - Bloody palms
Phenomenal handclap band - I been born again
The Mars Volta - Teflon
Starlight mints - Zoomba
Most serene republic - Catharsis boo
Gregory pepper - drop the plot

7:30
Falcao and monashee - Teleportation
Ohbijou - Wildfires
Bowerbirds - Beneath your tree
Deertick - easy
Rock plaza central - oh i can
Dirty mittens - the dock

8pm
Moby - mistake
Bjork - Wanderlust
God help the girl - Act of the apostle
Ceu - Monadi
St. Vincent - Actor out of work
Magic wands - black magic
Summer cats - lets go
Rubies - Too bright
Jon Brion - Little person
Clare and the reasons - Alphabet City
Land of talk - Some are lakes
Falcon - The Sandfighter
Margot and the nuclear so and so's - Skeleton key (I didn't actually play this last week)
The Velvet teen - Prize fighter
Department of eagles - No one does it like you

New music review: Discovery - LP

LP, the first album from Discovery, may initially seem like experimental electronica from members of Ra Ra Riot and Vampire Weekend, but it soon becomes obvious that the songs on LP share an odd similarity to songs on your local hip-hop and top 40 radio stations. Seems weird at first, but it sort of makes sense; both bands are known for their poppy, melodic tendencies, and with Discovery these tendencies are fully embraced. Songs like "Orange Shirt" and "Osaka Loop Line" would not seem out of place at a club, with huge synth lines, exaggerated beats on each quarter note, and lyrics like "And me, I got a crush," which ranks up there with "Shawty, you a ten" and "Kiss me through the phone" on the cheese scale.

There are, of course, some great, stranger moments that keep the listener on their toes, notably the tempo changes of "So Insane," the fuzzed out cover of "I Want You Back", and various mentions of going to the disco and/or discotheque as opposed the club. However, there are some problems with the album as well. The front half is much stronger than the back, and guests Angel Deradoorian of Dirty Projectors and Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend are, for the most part, wasted (the former sings the line "I Want to Be Your Boyfriend," chopped up in various ways, over and over, and the latter's voice is so obscured it's nearly undifferentiable from main Discovery singer Wes Miles). Despite these shortcomings, the album is certainly interesting and, at times, ridiculously fun. Use it to jump start your next party or shock anti-top 40 radio proponents.

The album comes out July 7th courtesy of XL Recordings. You can currently stream it all on Discovery's website.

Why not come in an hour early

6.08am

Iron and Wine - Communion Cups & Someone's Coat
Iron and Wine - Belated Promise Ring
Iron and Wine - God Made the Automobile
Portland Cello Project - The Lamb
Portland Cello Project (feat. Thao) - Beat (Health, Life and Fire)
Portland Cello Project (feat. Justin Power) - Cut the Rope
Iron and Wine - Homeward, These Shoes

6.30am
Iron and Wine - Love Vigilantes
Iron and Wine - Sinning Hands
Mike Doughty - The Only Answer
Mike Doughty - The Pink Life
Mike Doughty - Real Love/It's Only Life
Andy Narell & Relator - Gavaskar
Andy Narell & Relator - Love in the Cemetary
Andy Narell & Relator - Food Prices

7.02am
Andy Narell & Relator - Pan in Harmony
Nicole Atkins - Brooklyn's on Fire

Bob Marley & the Wailers - Talkin' Blues
the Avett Brothers - November Blue
the Black Keys - Same Old thing
the Avett Brothers - Jenny and the Summer Day

7.31am

Portland Cello Project (Featuring Thao) - Violet
the Avett Brothers - Pretty Girl From Matthews
Amon Tobin - at the end of the day
Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes

Phantogram - Mouthful of Diamonds
She and Him - Black Hole
Sly & the Family Stone - Everyday People
M. Ward - Big Boat

7.58am

Sly & the Family Stone - Hot Fun in the Summertime
Andy Narell & Relator - Bottle and Spoon
Animal Collective - Bluish
Sly & the Family Stone - Sing a Simple song

Menahan Street Band - Montego Sunset
Sergio Mendes - Fanfarra (Despidida)
Stevie Wonder - Another Star
David E Sugar - Radioactivity

Sly & the Family Stone - Dance to the Music
M. Ward - Here Comes the Sun Again
M. Ward - Radio Campaign
Sergio Mendes - Magano
the Decemberists - July, July!

the Temptations - think for yourself

Future of the Left - Travels With Myself and Another

The aggressive, militant Future of the Left pull punch after punch on their second full-length, Travels With Myself and Another. The band creates songs that are simultaneously ruthless (let Future of the Left soundtrack your next Shark Week) and melodic. These two elements merge especially well in opener "Arming Eritrea" and first single "The Hope that House Built," the former with its unforgettable bridge and the latter with its slow, stomping rhythm section and surprisingly singalongable (© Tim Gilman 2009) lyrics. Other tracks, like "I Am Civil Service" and "Land Of My Formers," place Kelson Mathias' bass playing at the forefront, which reinforces the band's cutthroat nature and provides relief from contemporary indie rock's plethora of guitar-focused bands. Turn this one up really, really loud and enjoy.

Video: The Hope that House Built

Ambient Signal - 6/30/09 - Extended show again

WRPI 91.5fm!
http://www.wrpi.org/ for webcast
Tuesdays 6-8pm

Rainy and 64 degrees

3 hours is a long time to fill..not one of my best rainy day playlists, but it'll do

Anathallo - Noni's field
Annuals - Wake
DNTEL - Last Songs
Bon Iver - Lump Sum
Midlake - It covers the hillsides (alt)
Feist - How my heart behaves
Sigur Ros - Svefn G Englar
Grizzly Bear - Ready Able
Phantogram - When I'm small
Dirty projectors - Temecula Sunrise
Starfucker - boy toy
Sunset Rubdown - Idiot Heart
Most serene republic - Bubble reputation
Moby - Pale horses
Phenomenal Handclap Band - Testimony
Bibio - S'vive
Beniot Pioulard - Idyll
Mars Volta - Since we've been wrong
Portland Cello project - Travel
Regina Spektor -Eet
Bowerbirds - Northern Lights
Tiny Vipers - Outside
Alexa Woodward - Mary
Those darlins - Red light love (didn't mean to play this again)
Deastro - River of life
Animal Collective - Summertime clothes
Cass McCombs - Dreams come true girl
Deer tick - Straight into a storm
Ohbijou - Make it gold
Styrofoam - Couches in alleys
M83 - Addicted to self mutlilation
Mum - Green grass of tunnel
Steve Reich - Section IX of Music for 18 musicians (Rare live performance as Mass Moca July 25th!! Visit massmoca.org for details)
Hammock - Winter Light
Denali - Hold your breath
Margot and the nuclear so and so's - Skeleton Key
Son Lux - Wither (Playing at mass moca on friday September 4th!!..Son lux made my #1 album of 2008)

Last show in June (Walter Goldberg Hours)

Manu Chao - La Vida Tombola
Andres Calamaro - Maradona
Juan Subira - Clasico dia

Sui Generis - Instituciones
Andres Calamaro - Alta Suciedad
Maldita Vecindad - Un Poco de Sangre

Miguel Cantilo - Marcha de la Bronca
Bersuit Vergarabat - La Argentinidad Al Palo

Extincion - 16 Malditas
Panteon Rococo - Tengo Miedo
Fabiana Cantilo - Cancion de Alicia en el Pais
Fito Paez - Habana

Boikot - Hasta siempre
Charly Garcia - Inconciente colectivo
Los Pericos - Sin Cadenas
Manu Chao - Desaparecido

Kapanga - Indultados
La Tona - Tanto que no sabes
Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota - Vencedores Vencidos
Seru Giran - Los Sobrevivientes

Leon Gieco - La Memoria
Gondwana - 11 de Septiembre
Karamelo Santo - La Picadura
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - El Matador

Planeta Panamericana - Los perseguidos
Bohemia Suburbana - Aqui te voy
Alux Nahual - Conquista
Leon Gieco - Cinco siglos igual

Fito Paez - Yo Vengo a ofrecer mi corazon
Fito Paez - Waltz for Marguie

Friday Morning

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Bone Thugs N Harmony - Crossroads

E.L.O. - Mr . Blue Sky
Michael Jackson - Hold Me
Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes

Prince - Rasberry Beret
the Decemberists - the Soldiering Life

Prodigy - Breathe
TV on the Radio - Golden Age

R. Kelly - I believe I can fly
Sly & the family stone - if you want me to stay

Rancid - I wanna riot
Ra Ra Riot - Dying is Fine
Toots & the Maytals - Reggae Got soul
Nicole Atkins - Together we are both alone

Blur - Song 2
the Black Keys - When the lights go out
Sirsy - Revolution
Sirsy - Sorry Me

Ace of Base- All That She Wants
Rush- Limelight
the Avett Brothers - Murder in the City
the Avett Brothers - If it's the beaches
Aretha Franklin - Think
My Girl- The Taj Motel Trio

Reviewing Pitchfork: So Many Dynamos "The Loud Wars"

What am I reading? In this new series, I'll be analyzing music reviews from the highly influential website Pitchfork. The majority of Pitchfork reviews are at times slightly esoteric and ridiculous, but they're unfortunately taken as gospel by some due to Pitchfork's stature in the online music news realm, sometimes even elevating the profile of mediocre acts and lowering the profile of other bands that deserve exposure.

So what? The music review is a fickle thing. Often influential, reviews are written by a particular person with particular preferences during a particular moment while they are in a particular mood. Being in a good mood or being into a certain genre of music while writing a review may lead to a reviewer giving an album a higher rating than it deserves, or vice versa. The problem is that in this day and age, when many people tend judge albums by the numerical ratings reviewers give them, music reviews have a bit too much influence and can often be misleading.

-------------------------

Let's start with Pitchfork's recent review of The Loud Wars by So Many Dynamos. Reviewer Paul Thompson, on his way to awarding the album a mediocre rating of 5.5, makes two points that really stick out.

1) Regarding the similarities of the album to music of the late 90s D.C. scene, Thompson writes: "So, yeah, if you'd walked into Melody Records circa summer 1999 and heard The Loud Wars, you wouldn't have batted an eye. And that's just it; The Loud Wars is formula, and it's not even really the Dynamos' formula to use, so when the songs fall a bit flat, it's hard to know whom to point the finger at."

"It's not even really the Dynamos' formula to use"? Whose formula is it, then? Has the late 90s D.C. sound been copywrited by the bands that were part of it? And since when is taking influence from other bands a crime? One can imply from the review that Paul Thompson used to have an affinity for bands like Q and Not U and The Dismemberment Plan, so he should be able to tell the difference between those two bands' breakthrough efforts and The Loud Wars; while they share some musical similarities, sonically they are of a different age.

Perhaps this is just Thompson's version of tough love. Earlier this year, Pitchfork writer Ian Cohen reviewed The Pains of Being Pure at Heart's s/t debut (an album by another band that at times wears its influences on its sleeve) and said, "The Pains of Being Pure at Heart simply made a slyly confident debut that mixes sparkling melodies with an undercurrent of sad bastard mopery, and you're just being a dick if you think the past has some kind of patent on that. That's just the way good pop music works." One would also assume that the past has no patent on mixing angular guitar work with a breakneck rhythm section, either.

2) Continuing, Thompson says about the album: "The Loud Wars runs on amicably enough...and you'd be hard up to finger a bad tune here, but it's all about the same: the same reference points, the same too-busy-by-half arrangements, the same emphasis on proficiency over depth, the same defensively bummed out lyrics, the same slightly sour melodies, the same sense that you're dancing through some kind of dread that's hard to place a finger on."

If it's hard to actually identify a bad track on the album, why the 5.5? Because it's "all about the same"? Okay, let's look at that for a second. "The same reference points"? If other bands can use "the same reference points" and not be penalized for it (again, see The Pains of Being Pure at Heart), then why can't So Many Dynamos? "Proficiency over depth"? A glance through The Loud Wars' CD booklet reveals the large amount of thought the band put into the album, especially musically (for example, some of the melodies in the album are melodies from older So Many Dynamos songs played backwards). "Too busy"? Songs like "Friendarmy" and "The Formula" have some rather spacious bridges and "New Bones" slowly builds for over four minutes before getting busy. "Defensively bummed out lyrics"? While some of the album's lyrics may fit this description, it's not true in all cases (for example, "Artifacts of Sound" features discussion of the current state of music without any self-deprecation attached). Thompson just seems too willing to dismiss this album as a "throwback" despite his admission that none of the songs are bad.

In sum, Thompson should not have penalized So Many Dynamos so much for taking cues from their musical influences. Admitting that it's hard to pick out a bad song on the album should make it clear to the reader that the album is, at the least, a solid, consistent effort from a band that happens to take some influence from music of the past. Really, the 5.5 rating seems to stem mainly from Thompson being "over" this late 90s D.C. scene that The Loud Wars reminds him of, and little else.

Ambient Signal - 6/23/09 - Extended show!

WRPI 91.5fm!
http://www.wrpi.org/ for webcast
Tuesdays 6-8pm

Extra Special Extended show this week! 6:30 to 10pm..so much new music! Some of it was even good! I hope you enjoyed, and I might have an extended show next week too!

Purple is new music

Bright Eyes - Devil in the details
Annuals - Springtime
The Velvet Teen - The Raining Curtains
Mum - Prophecies and reversed memories
Denali - Everbody Knows
Forget Cassettes - Instruments of action
School of seven bells - My Cabal
Stars - Your ex lover is dead
Sigur Ros - Milano
Grizzly Bear - All we ask
Dirty projectors - Two Doves
Ethan Rose and laura Gibson - Sun (Of PDX Pop now! 2009)
Portland Cello Project - Beat (Health, life, fire)
Alexa Woodward - Spoon
Low Anthem - To Ohio (Reprise)
Deertick - Houston, TX
Ohbijou - Black ice
Regina Spektor - Laughing with
Deradoorian - High Road
Sunset Rubdown - Dragon's lair
Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue
Phantogram - Mouthful of diamonds
Foreign Born - Vacationing People
Tiny Vipers - Dreamers
Those Darlings - Red light love
Love is chemicals - Let me come down
St. Vincent - Laughing with a mouthful of blood
Phenomenal handclap band - All of the above
Phoenix - Armistice
Busdriver - Scoliosis Jones
Deastro - Kurgan Wave Number One
Mint Chicks - Hot on your heels
Tiny Masters of today - Skeletons
Viva Voce - The Slow fade
So many dynamos - Glaciers
The Field - Everybody's gotta learn sometime
Bon Iver - For Emma
Menomena - Let's all unite
Neva Dinova - Dances fantastic
Daylight's for the birds - For Now
Montag - Grand luxe
Orenda Fink - Leave it all
Son lux - Raise

Starting with the Portland Cello Project

Portland Cello Project - Por Una Cabeza
Portland Cello Project - Violet
Elvis Costello - The Crooked Line

Bob Marley and the Wailers - Concrete Jungle
Geraldo Pino and the Heart Breaks - Shake Hands
Mighty Shadow - Ah Come out to party
The Derek Trucks Band - I wish I knew (How it would feel to be free)

Desmond Dekker - Music Like Dirt
Desmond Dekker - Licking Stick
UB40 - Red Red Wine

Shandileer - Luv Up
Taxi - Frenchman
Sergio Mendes - Sambadouro
Sergio Mendes - Senhoras do Amazonas
Tom Jobim & Elis Regina - Aguas de Marco

the Black Keys - Have Love Will Travel
the Decemberists - the Sporting Life
Geraldo Pino & the Heart Breaks - Let's Have a Party
Rootsman - Miami Vibes
Antibalas - Gabe's New Joint
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Ambush in the Night

Bob Marley & the Wailers - Who the Cap Fit
the Black Keys - Strange Times
Kitchener - Gimme the Thing
the Derek Trucks Band - I'd Rather be blind, crippled and crazy

Kitchener - Sugar Bum Bum
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Stir it up

Kitchener - Pan in A minor

Happy Friday

Mike Clark - In the House
S.M.V. - Milano
Iron and Wine - God Made the Automobile
Portland Cello Project - Mouth for War

Punta Legacy - Garifuna Kids
Sergio Mendes - Magalenha
Wairenziante - Bela Fleck and the Muwewesu Xylophone group
Menahan Street Band - Home Again

Socadito - Los Gatos Bravos
S.M.V. - Lil' Victa

Dirty Projectors - Temecula Sunrise
St. Vincent - Actor out of work
Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes

El paso de la tortuga - La Banda Blanca
Bob Marley + the Wailers - Positive Vibration (Rastaman Vibration)
Bob Marley + the Wailers - Wake Up and live
Bob Marley + the Wailers - Roots Rock Reggae
Bob Marley + the Wailers - Top Rankin

Cancion del Marathon - Banda del Marathon
El encarguito - Guillermo Anderson

S.M.V. - Pendulums
Remolino - Huracan Mitch

Polache - Hablo Espanol
Polache - La Potra

Toots and the Maytals - Pressure Drop
Los Rolands - La Yuca

Sopa de Caracol - Banda Blanca

Rock For Sustainable Capitalism - 6/17/2009

Wooo summer radio!

Propagandhi - Rock For Sustainable Capitalism
Paint It Black - Atticus Finch
North Lincoln - Remember
Screaming Females - Skull
LaGrecia - Two Shotguns
Dillinger Four - I Was Born On a Pirate Ship (Holdyourtongue)
Ramones - Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment
American Steel - Time Gone By
Bouncing Souls - Party at 174
The Clash - Rock the Casbah
Lifetime - Young, Loud, and Scotty
Dear Landlord - Lake Ontario
Bad Brains - I Against I
Small Brown Bike - See You In Hell
Witch Hunt - Twenty-Five
Acid Reflux - Paid To Ruin Fun
Only Crime - There's A Moment
Fucked Up - Triumph of Life
The Lawrence Arms - Are You There Yet Margaret? It's Me God.
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Bomb. Repeat. Bomb
The Virgins - Burn
Propagandhi - Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes
Ensign - Slow Burn
Jawbreaker - Sea Foam Green
The Fire Still Burns - Disingenous
The Gay Blades - Bob Dylan's 115th Nightmare
The Gaslight Anthem - Miles Davis & The Cool (Live At Park Ave.)
Scream Hello - This Long Night
The Ergs - Books About Miles Davis
The Measure [SA] - Unreleased
The Riot Before - Words Written Over Coffee
Smoke or Fire - Life Imitating Art
The World/Inferno Friendship Society - Brother of the Mayor of Bridgewater

Ambient Signal - 6/16/09

WRPI 91.5fm!
http://www.wrpi.org/ for webcast
Tuesdays 6-8pm

I was away on vacation last week..so much rain lately..booo..although it usually fits my show well. Today it's 72 and cloudy but supposed to rain the rest of the week.

Colour Revolt - Matresses Underwater
Menomena - My My
Bright Eyes - Four Winds
School of seven bells - Half Asleep
Grizzly Bear - A Good Place
Sigur Ros - Saeglopur
Efterklang - Antitech
Grizzly Bear - While you wait for the others
St. Vincent - Actor out of work
Dirty projectors - Remade Horizons
Portland Cello Project - Tallymarks
Low Anthem - Charlie Darwin
Deertick - Easy
Sunset Rubdown - Apollo and the buffalo and Anna, Anna, Anna oh!
Viva Voce - Die a little
Deastro - Vermillion plaza
So many dynamos - Artifacts of sound
Hecuba - Suffering
Busdriver - Split Seconds
Phoenix - Fences
Mum - We have a map of the piano
Brooke Waggoner - Fresh pair of eyes (eye of eyes remix)
The Album leaf - Thule
Bon iver - The Wolves (act 1 and 2)
Feist - My Moon my man
Anathallo - The River

Walter Goldberg Hours - June 15th

Diana Krall - I've got you under my skin
the Avett Brothers - the Day that Marvin Gaye Died
Albert Hammond - the Sweetest thing
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Rastaman Live up

The National - Abel
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones - Flight of the Cosmic Hippo
Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes
Iron and Wine - Dearest Forsaken

Dennis Brown - Ghetto Girl
Bobby Melody - Jah Bring I Joy in the Morning
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Lively Up yourself

the Avett Brothers - SSS
Blitzen Trapper - Sleepy time in the western world
Cat Power - Speak for me
Beck - Lost Cause
Cat Power - He War

the Neville Brothers - Love the One you with/you can't always get what you want
the Neville Brothers - Let My People Go/Get up Stand Up
Kokolo - London Wire

the Avett Brothers - the Ballad of Love and Hate
Camera Obscura - Come back Margaret
Phoenix - Lisztomania
Blitzen Trapper - Furr
the Derek Trucks Band - Already Free

Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
Passion Pit - Eyes as Candles
Sergio Mendes - What is this?
Spoon - well-alright
Nina Simone - To love somebody

Animal Collective - My Girls
Yeasayer - Tightrope
Marcia Aitken - I'm still in love with you
Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the move
Passion Pit - Let your love grow tall
Soukous Stars - Safi
the Derek Trucks Band - Sweet Inspiration

Esperanza Spalding - Ponta De Areia

friday morning for an hour

Black Keys - thickfreakness
Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers - Rising Sun
Desmond Dekker - the Israelites
Desmond Dekker - You Can get it if you really want
She & Him - I thought I saw your face today
She & Him - Take it back

Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers - Get the Fever Out
Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers - Bananafish Revolution
Iron & Wine - Communion Cups and Someone's Coat
Iron & Wine - Belated Promise Ring
the Budos Band - Budos Rising
Kokolo - Our Own thing

Esperanza Spalding - I know you know
the Budos Band - King Cobra
Albert Hammond - Centre of the Universe
UB40 - Higher Ground

the Derek Trucks Band - Maybe this time
the Budos Band - Chicago falcon

Walter Goldberg Hours - 2nd Monday in June

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones - Hoedown
Dr. John - Quitters never win
Elvis Costello - Sulphur to Sugarcane

Fleet Foxes - Your Protector
Una Mas Trio - Clear as Water
Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Mais que Nada
Stevie Wonder - For Your Love
Osibisa - Dance the Body Music

~7am
the Specials - you're wondering now
Tina Turner - Let's Stay Together
Jointpop - the Desperate Housefly
Albert Hammond - the Centre of the Universe

Santana - Samba Pa Ti
Michael Jackson - Human Nature
Stevie Wonder - Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm yours
Travis - J. Smith

~7.30am
Esperanza Spalding - I adore you
Soukous Stars - Mobembo
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble - Life without you
the Budos Band - Mas O Menos

Albert Hammond - the Sweetest Thing
Desmond Dekker - You can get it if you really want
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - How long do I have to wait for you
Matthew Loiacono - Knee to Knee

~8am
Krosfyah - Pump Me Up
Max Romeo - Stop Picking on Me
Desmond Dekker - Licking Stick

Tom Winslow - Take this hammer
Lord Kitchener - When A Man is Poor
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a wonderful world

Jointpop - Dancin' in the Moonlight
Desmond Dekker - Keep on Knocking
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - Pick it up, lay it in the cut
Desmond Dekker - Problems

~8.30am
Budos Band - Origin of Man
Esperanza Spalding - I know you know
Albert Hammond - There Ain't no flies on me
Desmond Dekker - Music Like Dirt (Intensified)

Albert Hammond - the Sweetest Thing
Chalice - Good to be there
the Avett Brothers - Pretty Girl from San Diego
Jointpop - Monday Morning Love Situation

Ben Sollee - Only a Song

first wednesday in june

Elvis Costello - Down among the wines and spirits
Elvis Costello - Complicated Shadows
Dr. John - Bad Neighborhood
Beck - Gamma Ray
My Morning Jacket - off the record

the Shins - Red Rabbits
She and Him - Sweet Darlin'
Langhorne Slim - Spinning Compass
Nicole Atkins - Maybe Tonight
Iron and Wine - Love Vigilantes
She and Him - I should have known better

Langhorne Slim - Diamonds and Gold
Nina Simone - Funkier than a Mosquito's Tweeter
My Morning Jacket - I'm Amazed
Toots & the Maytals - Funky Kingston
Althea and Donna - Uptown Top Rankin

Beck - Orphans
My Morning Jacket - Highly Suspicious
Dennis Brown - Love has found its way

the Derek Trucks Band - Something to make you happy
Sergio Mendes - Indiado
the Derek Trucks Band - Maybe this time

the Derek Trucks Band - Sweet Inspiration
Jessica Lea Mayfield - For Today
My Morning Jacket - Look at you

the Flaming Lips - Fight Test
Jessica Lea Mayfield - we've never lied
Dr. John - Morgus the Magnificent

George Clinton and his Gangsters of Love - Let the good times roll
George Clinton and his Gangsters of Love - Pledging My Love

Ambient Signal - 6/2/09

WRPI 91.5fm!
http://www.wrpi.org/ for webcast
Tuesdays 6-8pm

73 and Sunny

Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks (Fred Falke Radio Mix)
The Postal Service - The district sleeps alone tonight
St. Vincent - The Neighbors
Wolf Parade - Language City
Broken Social Scene - Hotel
Bright Eyes - Coat Check Dream Song
Animal Collective - Banshee Beat
Grizzly Bear - I Live with you
Phoenix - Lisztomania
Viva Voce - Rose city
So Many Dynamos - The Formula
Camera Obscura - Swans
Deastro - Parallelogram
Landy - BFF!
Black moth super rainbow - Tooth decay
City Center - Killer whale
Wooden Birds - Sugar
Conor Oberst and the mystic valley band - Eagle on a pole
Great northern - Houses
Akron/Family - Sun will shine
Bon Iver - Flume
Beck - Lost Cause
Midlake - Roscoe (acoustic)
Why? - Simeon's Dilemma
A Northern Chorus - Subjects and matter
Sufjan Stevens - The predatory wasp of the palisades

So Many Dynamos - The Loud Wars review

In 2006, So Many Dynamos released their second album Flashlights, an album that improved dramatically from their first. This progression continues with The Loud Wars. Opener "Artifacts of Sound" properly introduces us to The Loud Wars by cramming in four minutes of fast, off-kilter, technical, danceable music. With songs like this, the band has the right to sing lyrics like, "Get me out of this party/Because it's boring and so uneventful/Get me out of this party/All the rhyming is so predictable"; there's never a dull moment in The Loud Wars, and it's unpredictable and interesting both musically and lyrically.

Musically, the band has never sounded better. Though initially nothing stands out as much as their most well-known song "Search Party," it's clear that every song is solid and the majority are shining achievements, resulting in what is by far their most consistently impressive album (really, only "Glaciers" fails to leave a lasting impression). What if Talking Heads had the technology of today when they formed? They'd probably have written something similar to "New Bones," one of the strangest, most unique dance rock songs released in recent memory and one of the Dynamos' most anthemic tracks. During its five minutes, the music builds and builds on top of the consistent, driving beat, slowly but surely leading to an explosive outro. It's one of the album's catchiest songs, and it's not a shock that the band chose to release it as the album's first single.

The Loud Wars has some of the band's hardest songs as well; tracks like "Oh, the Devastation!" possess unrelenting, frantic drumming and guitar work reminiscent of Cinemechanica. The impressive musicianship present in The Loud Wars is augmented by the production of Chris Walla, who helped the band create some of the best drum sounds this side of "Tired of Sex" (especially in "The Formula"), something the band wished to accomplish from the start (for anyone interested, the recording of the album is documented on So Many Dynamos' recording/touring/all-purpose blog. Check out the first posts from 2007). The album's only real issues are the sometimes overproduced vocals (notably the first verse of "The Formula") and the occasional synth overload: the synth overpowers the guitar work in "If You Didn't Want to Know," and in the intro to "It's Gonna Rain," it nearly forces the drums out of the picture. However, there are plenty of instances where the synth sounds great (notably the bridge of "Friendarmy"); sometimes the band just struggles to find the right balance.

Often times, carefully crafted and musically impressive albums serve up lyrics that are obviously little more than afterthoughts but in the case of The Loud Wars, things only get better when taking the lyrics into consideration. The band paints pictures of disorder and destruction on both a micro and macro scale. From tales of glaciers melting and the St. Louis Arch collapsing to disputes among friends and romantic interests, the album is teeming with detail-rich wordplay. Lyrics like "Wine stains on your favorite rug/And there's a hole where the living room was," ("It's Gonna Rain") and "If you wanted to know that it happened before/On the kitchen counter, the living room floor" ("If You Didn't Want to Know") exemplify this lyrical specificity, and lyrics like "The fault line skipped/And my knees keep shaking," and "In a million years we'll all just be fossils" ("The Formula") provide a sense of impending doom. If the world's going to end and there's no chance to stop it, we might as well dance and sing along as hard and loud as possible until it collapses; or, to use their words, "I don't want to make amends/I just want to make a mess." With The Loud Wars, So Many Dynamos provides the perfect music to accompany the chaos.

So Many Dynamos are touring throughout the summer, with one show coming up at Valentine's in Albany on June 11th with Maps & Atlases. As good as they are on record, they're even better live. Do yourself a favor and catch them before they blow up and play larger venues. The Loud Wars comes out on June 9th courtesy of Vagrant Records.

Listen to "Artifacts of Sound" and "New Bones" here.

A lot of Nina Simone today

The Shins - Australia
Death Cab for Cutie - Bixby Canyon Bridge
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

Nina Simone - the times they are a changing
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
Death Cab for Cutie - I will possess your heart
Nina Simone - Turn Turn Turn

Iron and Wine - Love Vigilantes
Nina Simone - I put a spell on you
Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
Passion Pit - Moth's Wings
Nina Simone - Feelin Good

Grizzly Bear - All we ask
Jessica Lea Mayfield - For Today
Nina Simone - I want a little sugar in my bowl
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

the Avett Brothers - Murder in the City
Nina Simone - In the Morning
Jessica Lea Mayfield - the one that I love best
Elvis Costello - I felt the Chill

Passion Pit - Eyes as Candles
Grizzly Bear - For now
Nina Simone - I wish I knew how it would feel to be free
Iron and Wine - Loud as Hope
the Decemberists - July July!
Camera Obscura - the Sweetest thing
Nina Simone - Black is the color of my true love's hair
Nina Simone - to love somebody

the Avett Brothers - if it's the beaches

Ambient Signal - 5/26/09

WRPI 91.5fm!
http://www.wrpi.org/ for webcast
Tuesdays 6-8pm

62 (brr) and Cloudy..let's play some music!

Hammock - Wish
Riceboy Sleeps - Boy 1904
The Album leaf - Brennivin
Bon Iver - Woods (best use of auto-tune ever..favorite song of the week)
Doveman - Breathing Out
Final Fantasy and Ed Droste - Possibly Maybe (cover of Bjork)
Steve Reich - Music for large ensemble
Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks (Veckatimest is destined to be one of my favorite albums of the year, check video for this song in the post below)
Camera Obscura - Forest and sands
Apostle of hustle - Eazy Speak (speaking easy seems to require swear words that you weren't aware of and almost played over the air so you cut the song short)
Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the move
Viva Voce - Octavio
Deastro - Biophelia
Mocky Saskamodie
Akron/Family - The Alps and their orange evergreen
Clues - Haarp
Diamond Watch wrists - One second early late
Dosh - Kit and Pearls
Starfucker - Medicine
Electric President - White Noise
Ester drang - Repeating the procedure
A Weather - Spiders, Snakes
The Velvet Teen -Forlorn

Bonnaroo this yeaar

Bonnaroo lineup this year looks quite classy...I went a couple years ago for the radiohead show (caught beck and bright eyes too)..i wish I had gone last year for sigur ros and battles though..check out this year's lineup through the link below:

Memorial Day Show (Walter Goldberg Hours)

Sugarman 3 - Turtle Walk
Len "Boogsie" Sharp + Pelham Goddard - With a song in my heart
Burnin Flames - Swinging Engine
David Sitek - With a Girl Like You
Spoon - I turn my camera on

Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hell
Antibalas - Gabe's new joint
Ra Ra Riot - Ghost under Rocks

Dennis Brown - Money in my Pocket/Cool Runnings
Rufus Wainwright - Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk
the Mighty Diamonds - Just Like a river
Albert Hammond Jr. - Victory at Monterey
Barington Levy - My Woman
the Avett Brothers - Backwards with time

Sugarman 3 - Chicken Half
Sergio Mendes f. will.i.am and siedah garret - Funky Bahia
Wayne Gorbea - Prakatun
the Derek Trucks Band - Something to make you happy

Black Uhuru - Rent Man
Boogsie Sharp + Pelham Goddard - You Got ta be
Sergio Mendes f. Ledisi - Waters of March
Cuban Cowboys - El Capitan

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - How Long do I have to wait for you
Might Sparrow - Tobago Girl
Antibalas - Hypocrite
JC Lodge + Prince Mohammed - One time daughter
Althea + Donna - Uptown Top Ranking

BPA f. David Byrne - Toe Jam

Grizzly Bear video for "Two weeks"

So I have been listening to the upcoming Grizzly Bear album Veckatimest nonstop since I got it on monday (I still haven't settled on a pronunciation, however) and there are several standouts on the album, barely a song that I don't like really..but it seems as if their first single is going to be "Two Weeks" (and rightly so, its the first one that jumped out at me) and the music video is one of the best I've seen in a long time.

It was directed by one of my favorite video makers since Gondry, Patrick Daughters, who has also worked on many of Feist's quirky videos and a couple off of Bright Eye's Cassadaga album..anyway..here is that video (sorry for the myspace video embed..)..make sure to watch to the end..it gets way better than the beginning (unless you are as entertained/ amazed at the almost cartoonish 50's style faces/outfits the band is wearing..then you might think the beginning is just as good).. Cue the slanted eye blinks!:


Two Weeks

Walter Goldberg Wednesdays

Exodus - War 2004
Kokolo - Candela
the Gipsy Kings - Escucha Me
Madeleine Peyroux - I'm all right
Kokolo - Trouble Come, Trouble Go
Jessica Lea Mayfield - Kiss Me again

Spoon - well-alright
Stevie Ray Vaughan - the house is rockin'
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Rebel Music (3 o clock roadblock)
Soukous Stars - Likelele
Bob Marley + the Wailers - Stir it up
Beck - Gamma Ray
Coconut Records - Microphone

Ben Sollee - How to see the sun rise
Jessica Lea Mayfield - the one that I love best
Simply Red - So beautiful
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble - Tightrope
Elbow - Grounds for Divorce
Gipsy Kings - Djobi Djoba
Soukous Stars - I Yelele

Lykke Li - Little bit
Santana - Samba Pa Ti
Foals - the French Open
Kokolo - Gimme Yaya

the Decemberists - Yankee Bayonet
Metric - London Halflife
the shins - split needles
the Decemberists - July, July!
Jessica Lea Mayfield - We've never lied
Metric - Grow up and blow away

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - Inspiration Information
10cc - Dreadlock Holiday
Madeleine Peyroux - the summer wind
the Avett Brothers - the weight of lies

the decemberists - legionnaire's lament

Ambient Signal - 5/19/09

WRPI 91.5fm!
http://www.wrpi.org/ for webcast
Tuesdays 6-8pm

Well it may be just me and Walter Goldberg hours posting here over the summer..the blog may be pretty quiet unless Tim and Emelie decide to post post-graduation..ah well..quality music comin up anyway

Starfucker - Boy Toy
Dntel - Dumb Luck (Goddamn Electric Bill Remix)
Sigur Ros - Staralfur (Mojib break of dawn remix)
Benoit Pioulard -The Loom Pedal
Patients - Voice of our age
Antarctic - Paseo la salamandria
Battles - Tonto
Brand New - Limousine
Camera obscura - James
Apostle of hustle - Xerses
The Whiskers - Grownups
Jason Lytle - Here for good
Headless heroes - here before
Conor Oberst and the mystic valley band - Difference is time
Wooden birds - Bad
Black moth super rainbow - Born on a day the sun didn't set
Xu Xu Fang - Your way
Tereu Tereu - All that keeps us together
Great Northern - Houses
Efterklang - Mirador
The Helio Sequence - Lately
Camera Obscura - I Don't do crowds
Azeda Booth - Ram
World's end girlfriend - Purple Ripple
Talkdemonic - Cascade locks
Radical Face - Wandering
Erik Satie - Trois Gymnopedies 1 (Orchestral)

Walter Goldberg Hours 5/18/09

Feist + Ben Gibbard - Train Song
Kokolo - Trouble Come, Trouble Go
the Derek Trucks Band - Sweet Inspiration

Gaida Hinnawi - Bint Arabiya
Kurtis Blow - Basketball
the Avett Brothers - Die Die Die
Willie Nelson + Wynton Marsalis - Night Life

John Vanderslice - Tremble and Tear

Soukous Stars - Sinovela
Troubadours - Talk
Yeasayer - Tightrope
Kassav - Pa Kriye Mwen

the Shins - Australia
Mates of State - My Only Offer
the Decemberists - Perfect Crime #2

Troubadours - Nice Time
Arrow - Dance dis Dance
Spoon - Rhthm & Soul
the Avett Brothers - Shame

Sirsy - Revolution
She & Him - This is not a test
Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis - Birghts Life Big City
Why? - These Few Presidents
Soukous Stars - Daly Swing
Lord Kitchener - Bee's Melody

Kassav - Zouk Party

Entrainment Catastrophe

Tim and Blar hankering for some late night radio. Tim's songs are red, Blar's are blue.

Akron/Family "Everyone Is Guilty"
St. Vincent "Actor out of Work"
Animal Collective "Fireworks"

Miniature Tigers "Black Magic"
Neva Dinova - Poison
The Album leaf/Bright Eyes - Hungry for a holiday
Carole King "It's Too Late"

The Arrogant Sons of Bitches "Have Fun Rotting By Yourself"
The Arrogant Sons of Bitches "Yeah, I Don't Know What It's Like to Be around a Bunch of Hipsters"
The Arrogant Sons of Bitches "Last on My List"
Forget Cassettes - Quiero, Quieres

Hella - Cafeteria bananas
Menomena - Rotten Hell

Velvet Teen - Chimera Obscurant
Pinback - Tres
Son Lux - Stand

Headless heroes - Here before
Camera obscura - James
Bricolage - Bayonetes
Woods - Rain On

On the Might of Princes "And the Hat Stays On"
Converge "Hell to Pay"
Desert City Soundtrack "Widow's Staircase"
Hum "Pewter"
Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton "Winning"

The Shaggs "My Pal Foot Foot"/rest of side one
The Velvet Teen - No one gets the best of me
Black Sabbath - War Pigs (request!)

Dirty Projectors "Stillness Is the Move"
Black Sabbath "Fairies Wear Boots" (request! from a different person, no less!)
Amina - Fjarkanistan

Ambient Signal - 5/12/09

WRPI 91.5fm!
http://www.wrpi.org/ for webcast
Tuesdays 6-8pm

Camera Obscura - French navy (Jim Noir Remix)
Animal Collective - Grass
Annuals - Complete or completing
Forget Cassettes - Salt and Syncope
Stars - Ageless Beauty
Cortney Tidwell - So we sing
Mono - Burial at sea
Camera Obscura - You told a lie
Iron and Wine - Such great heights
Boy in static - Osaka
Conor Oberst and the mystic Valley Band - Big Black Nothing
The Whiskers - Autopia
The Wooden Birds - Sugar
Headless heroes - True love will find you in the end
Jason Lytle - Ghost of my old dog
Doves - Winter Hill
Years - Don't let the deaf go blind
PJ Harvey and John parish - Black Hearted love
Riceboy Sleeps - Atlas Song
Amiina - Rugla
Radiohead - Nude (Son Lux Popularity Contest Remix)
A Whisper in the noise - As we Were
Benoit Pioulard - Ragged Tint
Sigur Ros - Untitled #1 (Goddamn Electric Bill Remix)

Deer Tick on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. What?

Hey everyone,

So if you remember, a few months ago we had the pleasure of having Deer Tick at WRPI. They played three acoustic songs and I got to interview them afterward. Since then, they've been named one of the top bands of SXSW by Rolling Stone magazine and, as of this past week, have been featured on NBC Nightly News and interviewed by none other than Brian Williams.

Check out the interview here. John McCauley from Deer Tick talks about their recent rise in popularity and their upcoming album Born on Flag Day, while Brian Williams asks them when they'll know that they've hit it big. It's awkwardly hilarious and definitely worth viewing (it's about three and a half minutes long).

Brian Williams has a music blog too, apparently. Dude loves indie rock.

Walter Goldberg Hours - A monday in may

the Derek Trucks Band - Preaching Blues
the Derek Trucks Band - Younk Funk

Dr. John - Iko Iko
Arturo O'Farril Trio - Girl From Ipanema
Dr. John - Huey Smith Medley
a. High Blood Pressure
b. Don't you just know it
c. Well I'll be John Brown
Colin Lucas - Dollar Wine

Bela Fleck + the Muwewesu Xylophone Group - Wairenziante
Bela Fleck Bela Fleck with Afel Bocum, Hama Sankare, Yoro Cisse, Barou Diallo + Zoumana Tereta - Buribalal

Machel Montano - Powder Puff
the Derek Trucks Band - Volunteered Slavery
the Derek Trucks Band - I'll Find My Way

Seun Kuti - Think Africa
Menahan Street Band - the Contender
Kokolo - Democracy (Democrazy)

the Mighty Sparrow - Wanted Dead or Alive
Red Plastic Bag - Ragga Ragga

Kokolo - Trouble Come, Trouble Go
Tony Allen - Crazy Afrobeat
El DeBarge + George Clinton - Never gonna give you up
MacFingall - Big Belly Man

Carlos Santana, El DeBarge + George Clinton - Gypsy Woman
Tony Allen - Crazy Afrobeat
Spice + Company - Take Ya Clothes off
Taxi - Frenchman

Kassav' - Mwen Le Sere'w
Kokolo - Gimme Yaya

the Derek Trucks Band - Revolution
the Derek Trucks Band - I'd Rather be blind, crippled and crazy
Kassav - Pa Kriye Mwen
Arrow - Medley (Longtime, Feeling Hot Hot Hot)

Troubadours - Nice Time
Chicago Afrobeat Project - Jekajo

Kassav' - Zouk Party
Spice - In de Congaline

Sizzla - Thank you mama
Ras Iley - Spring Garden
Shandileer - Happy

Troubadours - Talk