[Local Mythologies 2.27] And It's Been Decided That I Won't Go Out Dancing
Two bits of outstanding business before we get to this week's songs:
1) Thank you so much to everyone who donated to CHIRPradio.org during our fall fundraising campaign! Because of people like you, we met our goal of $25,000 raised and ensured that we'll be bringing commercial-free independent broadcasting to listeners around the world well into 2020. Personally, I raised $425 from the following very terrific people:
* Teresa Clark
* Matt Tyrrell
* Matt Schmidt
* Eliza Bangert
* Emma Doud
* Émilie Mulcahy
* Drew DeBoy
* Mike Hannemann
* Hillary Stone
* Amelia Morris
* Dan Gasperut
* Meghanne Phillips
* Mary Daubney
To all of you I say: thank you, thank you, thank you!
2) This year's autumnmix is here! I've been hard at work crafting a collection of tunes designed for shorter days and riper apples, and it's finally ready for the world. Stream it on Spotify or, if you'd prefer a physical/more permanent digital copy (complete with bonus track), reply here and we'll get you set up!
In the process of making this year's mix, I wound up taking a nostalgic detour into a bunch of bands that I loved in the late '90s and early '00s, as well as discovering a few that I missed the first time around. Not all of them could make the cut, but most of them fit perfectly in this newsletter. Read on. You'll see.
Five Songs for the Week of 10.3.2019
1) p:ano, "All of November, Most of October": I went through a serious No Kids phase when the Vancouver trio dropped their debut record (Come Into My House) and its Vampire-Weekend-aping lead single ("I Love The Weekend") in 2008. They were new to me at the time, but what I didn't know was that the band was made up of 75% of a previous act called p:ano. When I found out, years later, I filled in the gaps accordingly. While No Kids leaned hard into the late aughts' tropical preppy sound, p:ano's music came with a little more fragility and a lot more youthful angst. Here's a very excellent little track from their 2002 debut (When It's Dark and It's Summer) to show you what I mean. (P.S.: if you like these, singer-songwriter Nick Krgovich is still making some pretty excellent solo records; he's on Bandcamp, so, you know. Do with that what you will)
2) Felt Pilotes, "Silver Light": I discovered Denver's Felt Pilotes while cruising the Discogs page of my longtime favorites at the Elephant 6 Recording Co. The record this song is from (1996's Wonderful Summer) didn't come out on E6, but 70% of it was recorded there from '94-'96 with the help of Robert Schneider of The Apples in Stereo. It's a killer record (this song in particular), and a reminder that there's so much good stuff out there that you don't even know you haven't heard yet.
3) Drip, "Wilt": The first :06 of this song transport me instantly back to the halls of my high school, specifically the computer lab of my newspaper adviser, where I spend half of each week as an assistant. It is winter 2001, and I have just received the sequel to the greatest mixtape I would ever get. It is almost winter break, and all of my friends will be home from college soon, for nights of Yahtzee and Steak 'n Shake and driving around through the frost. Until then, I'll sit in Mr. Snyder's lab, just outside the darkroom, and play this low on his boombox during 6th and 7th periods. It's just me, and the iMacs, and a few games of Crystal Caliburn while the snow falls outside, and it is better now than it seemed then.
4) The Lures, "Best Thing": If you haven't tried to take a sad-boy nap in your childhood bedroom on a visit home from grad school while listening to this song and wondering if your long-distance girlfriend secretly hates you, have you ever even been me?
5) Kleenex Girl Wonder, "I Cut Myself in Half": It will surprise exactly none of you to find out that I'm a member of a Guided By Voices superfan group on Facebook. The group is 95% praise for Robert Pollard, but the remaining 5% is devoted to sharing tips about bands that GBV lovers might also dig. Today, that's Kleenex Girl Wonder, the lo-fi indie pop project of Downers Grove native Graham Smith whose cult favorite record Ponyoak is getting a 20th anniversary reissue this fall. I'm still on my first listen, and I'm already hooked.
(Like this week's tracks? Follow the official Local Mythologies playlist on Spotify and keep 'em forever!)
See Me/Hear Me/Read Me
Words: September was busy over at Consequence of Sound, where I...
* ...saw people mosh to the Village People at Riot Fest!
* ...explored the unfulfilled political promise of Green Day's American Idiot!
* ...watched Nick Cave combine a piano recital with Inside the Actors Studio at the Copernicus Center!
It was an uncommonly fun month for writing; I'd love it if you shared it with me.
Signals: Tonight! The radio show of your dreams, made manifest! The latest episode of my show Local Mythologies airs on CHIRPradio.org in just under two hours, the same as it does every Thursday night. Tune in from 8-10 p.m. CT, shoot over a request at dj@chirpradio.org, or see what you missed at our Radio Free America archives.
Coming Next Week: A blistering mandolin solo.