Why? And for whom?

The first half of today's show was brought to you by the trendy emotion of this school year: anger. I'd like to mention that there were also undertones of nostalgia for single-digit years of age, nostalgia for grace during sleeplessness and grunge (/high school), feelings of loneliness and unworthiness, and the excitement of the prospect of a blonde-haired, other-wordly male person who can probably fly. Uh, what? Anyway:

1. Loquasto International Film Festival - Mark Mothersbaugh
2. Light Leaves - Why?
3. 1991 - Crystal Castles
4. 198d - At The Drive-In
5. To Death With You - The Cotton Jones Basket Ride
6. From My Bedroom Window - Dear Nora
7. Telephone Line - Electric Light Orchestra
8. The Human Hosepipe - Harry & the Potters
9. Hounds Of Love - Kate Bush
10. The New - Interpol
11. The Good Life - Weezer

The second half of our show was led by our good friend, The Gay Horse, who directed us away from our mics and down into the drippy system of slowly dissolving pipes that run underneath Lewis & Clark. I believe Katia's computer may have been responsible for playing such bands as The Parenthetical Girls and Os Mutantes. I also vaguely remember hearing a Nextdoor Neighbors song at some point in our journey, but that could have just been the acid talking.

_Nitro

The Valentine's Day Mix.

Here is the playlist for the Valentine's Day Mix I made:
1. Bohemian Like You - The Dandy Warhols
2. Please Do Not Go - Violent Femmes
3. I'm Waiting for the Man - The Velvet Underground
4. Heart Factory - Sleater-Kinney
5. Criminal - Fiona Apple
6. It Doesn't Matter Anymore - Buddy Holly
7. Steak For Chicken - The Moldy Peaches
8. Sophisticated Side-Ponytail - Natalie Portman's Shaved Head
9. Take On Me - A-ha
10. Beauty Is Only Skin Deep - The Temptations
11. Party - El Perro Del Mar
12. El Scorcho - Weezer
13. She's A Rejector - Of Montreal
14. Hey Boy - The Blow
15. Hella Nervous - Gravy Train
16. Everybody's Stalking - Badly Drawn Boy
17. Simeon's Dilemma - Why?

It's strange that I'm still pretty content with this mix. Most of my mix-making confidence is usually lost after I give the person (or, in this case, people) the CD; however, upon re-listen, I've decided that it is a startlingly accurate portrayal of how I feel. About what? Well, I'm not sure, exactly, but I guess it would make sense to say Valentine's Day (VD), so I'll say that. But I think it also represents how I'd been feeling the week prior to VD. I was kind of in this self-satisfied, pretentious, holier-than-thou mood brought on by the fact that I knew I wasn't going to be anywhere near bitter on VD. I realized it's just as easy to be bitter about VD as it is to be excited about spending a night in with ur hubby. I just associate this particular kind of bitterness with high school, where, surrounded by pig-headed morons, I felt unique in my hatred for VD. I feel I've reached the point where I can just not acknowledge this Hallmark-iday and feel fine. Unfortunately, since I'm a hateful, pompous bitch, I began to feel bitter towards the bitter people.

This is why I was worried about the mix. I wasn't sure if it would seem to flow to anyone besides myself. This is one of the reasons why I put "Bohemian Like You" as the first track; it's quite satirical, but is masked with "fun" lyrics and really upbeat music. It's genius. The next track, though, kind of reverts to the initial kind of "anti-VD" bitterness. It's a good fucking song, though, and I love how melodramatic it is: "I fall down dead, she never get to see the tears that I cry." It's also just so damn great to sing along to. I think there are probably a few more songs on here I put on either as more pro-VD or more anti, but I hope they fit in well with tracks such as "Simeon's Dilemma", "Steak For Chicken", and "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" (or, the "I've learned to settle for ugly people" song), which are all fairly funny to me. I sound crazy.

I also sound like I have an STD. Happy VD!

Oh, and if ya want one, holla atcha grrrrl.


...A CD, not an STD. I mean, if you're into that...sharing is caring.

_Nitro

Celibacy Celebration/Lupercalia

Our playlist wasn't saved today (even though it was all typed out), but if you were paying attention, you should be fine.

Here's some good shows coming up that we mentioned:



Feb 20 2009 9:00P
Eagles Hall [basement] w// Explode Into Colors, Tara Jane Oneil, Adrian Orange, + tba. Olympia, Washington
Feb 21 2009 7:30P
The Den w/ Explode Into Colors, Adrian Orange Tacoma, Washington
Feb 28 2009 8:00P
HUSH w/ Explode Into Colors, Panther, Tunnels and Meth Teeth!! Portland, Oregon

Devin loves Laoura

1. Paint By Numbers 1:26 Spoon Boy
2. Foxes Mate For Life 4:30 Born Ruffians
3. If I Died On You 2:24 Karl Blau
4. Planet Health 4:19 Chairlift
5. Also Frightened 5:14 Animal Collective
6. Change Your Life 3:00 Japanther
7. It's Oh So Quiet (Alternate Take) 3:44 No Age
8. Wooly Mammoth's Absence 4:47 Mount Eerie
9. Numina O 3:40 Deerhoof
10. danger 4:14 Kusikia
11. Unconvincing Serenade 6:33 Adrian Orange & Her Band
12. On Parade 2:35 Electrelane
13. Kids 5:03 MGMT
14. Wedding Bell 3:55 Beach House
15. Town Full Of Mannequins 3:12 The Nextdoor Neighbors
16. Close to Me 4:26 Why?
17. Oh, Mojave 2:32 The Ruby Suns
18. It Doesn't Matter Anymore 2:06 Buddy Holly
19. Please Do Not Go 4:16 Violent Femmes
20. Boys Better 4:35 Dandy Warhols
21. NYC 4:20 Interpol
22. Bug-A-Boo 3:10 Destiny's Child

And so it began: the tale of two Scots-Irish lesbians encouraging frustrated workers to abandon their low wage-earning jobs and drop those mortar-covered trowels to da ground! Items discussed on this afternoon's show:

-Lyell Asher
-Animal Collective's awesomeness
-Dead and dying ostriches and bees
-Abandoned Volkswagen vans
-The squeakiness of office chairs
-The origin of the show's title
-The love between Laoura and Devin
-Underbites feat. AJ, the recovering underbite surgery patient
-Rivers Cuomo's possible underbite?
-Cursing
-Parents
-Wikipedia
-Alex and her mono/the fact that she had to get blood drawn
-Top 10 albums of 2008 lists and their inaccuracies (except for ours)

Great first show.

LUV Nitro and Katia (Devin and Laoura)

Mt. Eerie // Kusikia, Karl Blau, Calvin Johnson – Urban Xchange 2.08.09

Mt. Eerie played a set of unreleased songs, so I can't share any of them with you guys, but enjoy this neat video someone made for his song "No Flashlight"

“Cool things keep happening in Tacoma. What’s with that?”

Between striking sexy dad poses, Calvin Johnson echoed this popular sentiment on the occasion of Urban Xchange’s “The Den” opening show. The Den is a new show space located in the back of downtown Tacoma’s finest clothing exchange store. My best knowledge dictates this response: there is a loose collection of Pugett Sound students—musicians and organizers and friends—who care about original music and making it a community thing. Organizers Abby and Allegra, who opened the place up, also recently put on the Tacoma 2nd annual Alder Arts Walk, an event where various musicians from Tacoma, Portland, and beyond played at several houses within a stretch of 8 or so blocks near UPS. This organization continually impresses me and sort of makes me yearn to experience the community of a smaller city. What do you guys think about organizing around art in a bigger city like Portland? Tacoma has always made me feel much more welcome at shows than Portland house shows, but maybe it's just the people I happen to be involved with.

To get back to the show....clearly, it is my ultimate fate to always arrive in the middle of Kuskia’s set whenever they play in Washington. Thankfully they actually played “heart” at the end, which they never play live. This cemented my love for them.

Karl Blau’s stripped down guitar/singing set was lovely and bouncy. During one song, everyone hummed a disco-y bass line as he syncopated a final verse over it.

I’ve been listening to Mt. Eerie almost constantly for the last four months, and it was just as holy to see Phil with his guitar as to hear “The Glow Pt. 2” as a "voice in headphones." Most of the set was forthcoming material. It was river-hill-destruction-city-lights themed, I would say, and I (regretfully) told Phil at the merch booth I wanted to buy it rather than complimenting it in a better way. It was very beautiful, I meant, and I'm absolutely dying to listen more. Like regular Mt. Eerie, the sound was scratching guitar arching its sound into the warmth of sad melody. Images of familiarity with being alone and feeling the breath of the world connected a less familiar attitude of respect and acceptance I am interested in learning about and knowing from this humbled dude. It was nice that half the crowd was sitting, but my one complaint comes in that most who were standing could see hardly anything in the narrow space. The merch area was perhaps a little more massive than it should be, but maybe for future shows it won't be so bad.

I will refrain from further defiling this experience by trying to describe it. Listen to the Microphones and Mt. Eerie.

_Katia