Until a few weeks ago First Avenue had a very long running weekend dance night called Danceteria. Two of the resident DJ's for the night were PD and Roy Freedom, both masters at mixing different styles of dance and rock music together. When I was blessed to work at the club their love of music was both an inspiration and an education. Roy will be our guest next week and he still DJ's at some gigs at the club, like the upcoming Ladytron show. PD has a new gig in the works that I'll update you on when it happens.
Here's the set list;
Suzanne Vega vs 50 Cent "toms diner"
Panjabi MC "jogi"
Basement Jaxx "rendezvous"
Royksopp "so easy (derrick carter remix)"
Nuyorican Soul vs Gusto "runaway disco"
D-Shake "yaaah!"
Franz Ferdinand "take me out (daft punk remix)"
Blur "song 2"

Biggest Tuesday night for a long time, with a ton of tunes that we've been playing making to the bricks and mortar;
Built to Spill; Black Angels; Beat Pharmacy; Calexico; Crystal Skulls; Eagles of Death Metal; Gotan Project; Lambchop; Mono; Pretty Girls Make Graves; Tom Ze; Wire re-issuing the first three albums AND the biggest reissue of the year so far IMHO...
Brian Eno & David Byrne's "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts".
A couple of extra tracks and a nice booklet about the making of this seminal album which would be in my top 5 of all time. It's ambient before we called it that and uses samples in a way that was revolutionary back in 1980 when it was originallt released.

Straight out of Brooklyn NY, Olive is responsible for creating 'roof music' a genre of dubby dance tunes that have an urban edge, his solo debut cd from 03 is callled 'Bodega'. But he loves using vocal samples from the south seas, so live in Australia is an interesting way to hear his unique mix. This set is taken from the new cd "Heaps As; Live in Tasmania" all originals mixed live and layered so beautifully that you never notice the join!

Here's the titles;
all'a'ya'alls
budgie smuggler's cove
dancing with poxy stingers
follow me I'll be right behind you
they make us all want to hate each other don't do it!
at least some knots get untangled
snail trails in my arms
(Has a way with title doesn't he?!)
Here's his record label;
www.theagriculture.com
or
http://www.ableton.com/index/artists/dj-olive
where there's a great interview with him.

All of you have been very delicate and well mannered, not to be asking me how the exercise regime is going?! Remember my New Years Ressie? Well I am actually enjoying the twice a week stretch and run, an hour on the machines in the gym, something I have never done before. Now I feel ready to get on the REAL bike and perhaps play a little footie!? I think the trick is not to try too much too soon and build a little each week...see, now i'm an expert!

Big night for stuff that we have been playing reaching the old fashioned distribution centers known as shops...
Flaming Lips
The Concretes
Massive Attack ( a best of with one new song)
Soul Position (Blueprint & RJD2)
Lila Downs
Rainer Maria
Gecko Turner

Another great Sunday for snuggling down with the DVD player!
Me and the missus caught the 'documentary' about Rodney Bingenheimer,
one of the most famous DJ's in the country who has been on KROQ in LA for over 20 years. It is cool seeing Liam from Oasis and Bowie with a mohawk as they add to the legend. But the best bits are his family, which is a little messed up to put it mildly, and his close friend Kim Fowley who is very very messed up!??!

Louie is a Grammy Award winning DJ, a Puerto Rican New Yorker who came to fame in the 80's and early 90's hayday of NYC clubs like The Sound Factory and Paradise Garage, and with his regular partner Kenny 'Dope' Gonzales released the seminal compilation NuYorican Soul, charting the growth of a new hybrid sound working with live musicians. He plays a hooj party at the Winter Music Conference in Miami every year and is also at Coachella this year.

This set was taken from a Vega Records compilation vol 1.
Blvd East & Louie Gorbea - Luv 4 Money (Brown Sugar Mix)
Mr. V - The Drum (Mr. V's Alternate mix)
Ricardo Miranda pres. Latin Soul Brothas - Termino Mi Amor
Bah Samba feat. Isabel Fructuoso - Calma (Louie Vega remix)
Louie Vega feat. Raul Midon - Cerca De Mi
Mr. V - Jus Dance (Cosmic Ritual DUB)
Check; www.mawrecords.com

Now we have to decide what we mean by Prog, let's keep it to good prog
in other words those who do not like it at all should refrain from replying, but what bands are we talking about when we say they are influential?
And no Googling ..oooh I never even thought of that:)
I'll start...King Crimson

If you remember at the start of the year, I predicted the return of Prog Rock...although we still have to come up with another name for it. Well tonight I seem to have been on a roll with contemporary bands that have a prog touch. Got a chance to listen to the whole of the upcoming Flaming Lips and that is definitely referencing the high art, Wayne even admits it in last months Mojo. The Quasi cd is also a good example and even though I have only heard 2 songs from it the new Built To Spill will prove my point I think...be afraid!
Maybe we should call it Progressive Prog or NuProg?

Via two of my fave websites here's a couple of snippets of interesting local music news;
On mnstories.com there's video from SXSW of Sean Tillman on stage with The Strokes. Apparently his Har Mar Superstar endeavours are over as his 'old' band Sean Na Na opened the show and is recording new stuff.
AND on walshfiles.com there's a picture that suggests that at least some of the remaining members of The Replacements have been playing together again and might even record a NEW song?!?!
Careful tho' it is nearly April 1st!

Me and the missus enjoyed hanging with everyone in the suite last night at the Queen show, we also had a few singsongs with "We are the champions" especially! Brian may was really the first guitar hero type of player that I've seen. He seemed genuinely touched by the reception that he got and he did an indulgent guitar solo, but I preferred Roger's drum solo I always liked that song! Surprised that they did "Under Pressure" but it persuaded us to watch the Bowie "Reality" 04 tour DVD that a friend had lent us, now that was an amazingly rockin' show, an awesome band and Bowie really looked into it! It is great that those old rockers are still around to entertain us! Not by putting on cheesy Vegas shows, but doing their hits in a fresh way,surviving and in Queen's case the only way that they can!

I just could not ignore the massive Winter Music Conference that is happening in Miami right now. EVERY DJ in the world is there it seems !! It has become the biggest event of the year on the world dance music scene and is constantly referenced for months afterwards as to what was hot and where the 'genre' is headed. It would have been impossible to pick one DJ to represent the event so I thought I would try to build a set from some of the artists that we regularly play who are featured at the festival shows, to give a flavor of the event. The big news is that there is more 'rock' music there than ever before. As well as the big name DJ's Hard Fi, Hot Hot Heat, The Killers, She Wants Revenge and Prodigy are all there too and Peter Hook from New Order is one of the keynote speakers along with Coldcut, who I've never considered a strict dance 'act'. It's more diverse than it has been before, perhaps a sign of coming of age after 21 years? But mixing rock, rap and other styles with dance music has always seemed more easily accepted in europe than over here so perhaps it is their influence?
What do you think?

If you have been turned on to the music mixes that we have been playing over the past year on a Friday night, checking out these pages might give you some pointers as to where to discover more of it!..www.wintermusicconference.com or
http://www.m3masterlist.com/ and enjoy!!

The playlist will be on the regular web playlist.

mnstories.com
is a daily weblog done by local guy Chuck Olsen and he was down in Austin. He got some footage of Har Mar Superstar on stage with The Strokes. Apparently Har Mar's other band Sean Na Na opened the gig and are recording a new album. Does this mean that Har Mar is no more?!?!

As Looch is my concert pal on Sunday, I've never seen Queen either, thought I'd join her gig conversation...the xmas eve before the Sex Pistols came to the USA they had a gig booked in a small seaside town about 40 minles from where I was in boarding school, our English teacher took me and my 2 best friends to get tickets a week before the show! BUT when I called me mother to tell her that I would not be coming home for xmas, she cried so hard that I decided I couldn't do it. Her final words were...
"they'll be another time that you can see them." TRIH!!
By the way Roger Taylor drummer with Queen is the only rock star to come from my home town, where I was in boarding school, King's Lynn.

Me and the missus thoroughly enjoyed a relatively new DVD on my night off last night...enjoyed being on for Looch in the afternoon...and I'm sure she'd enjoy this film too. Don Letts was a DJ back in the late 70's at some of the earliest punk gigs and played reggae and dub in between the bands, basically starting the strange link between the two genres in England. He's a film maker too and has been making this documentary for several years it's called 'Punk:Attitude". He talked to all the right people tracing the emergence of the music and fashion of Punk from both sides of the Atlantic, had some awesome old footage and the sound quality was great too.
The extras were a major disappointment however. I know I'm young to this DVD scene, but what is up with the daft extras?!?! Any must see extras on a DVD film you know?!

Barry is from Lurgen in Northern Ireland, helping us celebrate St.Patricks Day with a groovy set of old school funk;

kurtis blow | the breaks | (mercury)
bob james | take me to the mardi gras | (alpha omega)
soul combination | soul combination | (invloved)
billy squier | the big beat | (alpha omega)
the temptations | i can't get next to you | (motown)
kc and the sunshine band | sound your funky horn | (rhino)
all the people feat. robert moore | cramp your style | (blue candle)
the fatback band | mr. bass man | (spring/polydor)
skull snaps | it's a new day | (gsf)
bobby byrd | doing the do | (pgd/polydor)
roy ayers | cincinnati growl | (polydor)
herbie hancock | spider | (legacy)
vernon burch | get up | (eskimo)
dynamic corvettes | funky music is the thing | (abel)
badder than evil | hot wheels (the chase) | (strut)

You can find more info on him and a whole slew of DJ sets from Ireland at;
www.electrotoxic.com

Missed you all a ton, you know that dontya?! And thanks to Bill and Tony for filling in, it's great to be back, BUT...
I have to say that the missus found the bomb place to stay in Portland. The Hotel is called The Jupiter and is decked out with designer furniture from a TC's firm called Blue Dot. It has cool music piped all round its patios and balconey, but the best part is that is attached to one of the best live venues in town, The Doug Fir, which has a groovy restaurant attached to it aswell, everything you need really!?!?
It was our first trip and I must say we were very impressed. Their warehouse district is full of condos and art galleries and cafes; they have two alternative weeklies too, one run by an ex-TCer, highlighting how much is going on;an amazing coastline an hour away and the best coffee I've ever tasted, Stumptown! The cities have a lot of simularities and there seems to be a lot of cross-polination. So now we have teased you with how cool Austin AND Portland is, but with the beautiful 6 inches of snow that welcomed us, it is still very hard to beat our home town. MSP Rox 2!

Another in the series put together from Fabric in London, check...
fabriclondon.com
This is #26 in the series but they cut an exclusive mix for us;
Alan Parsons/ Eric Woolfson- I Robot- Arista
Nils Petter Molvaer- Axis of Ignorance- UMG
Aaron Jerome- Man Troubles- Wah Wah 45's
Solid Groove- Flookin- Loungin Records
Audiomontage- Vision 2 Vision- Freerange Recordings
Vince Watson- The way It's Meant To Be- Delsin Records
Trentemoller- Rykketid- Audiomatique Recordings
Quentin Harris- Let's Be Young- NRK
Artec- Sweet Music- Lucid Recordings

Can I just say...Keith ROX!! He's doing our blog for the big SXSW thingy and I just tried to catch up on it but it's HOOJ! Fun to read and well informed...he's won me over to the idea that blogs are good!
For a short time this should make all of us who can't go learn from the event too!

When I heard the news this afternoon that Ali Farka Toure had passed away I dug out a few of his old cd's and immersed myself, it was perfect for a rainy afternoon, I got lost and lifted.
Tonight we heard a couple of tracks from his 'Source' cd of '92 and two from African Blues from '90. His music had an amazing quality of sounding totally organic, but as if it was coming from another universe too.
During the show tonight I also found out that another artist that I admired has passed away. Ivor Cutler was a strange poet from Scotland who was a fave of John Peel. So I will bring some of his very weird work with me tomorrow.

Some Tuesdays I struggle to have a few new cd's to play, this week I will be stretched to even talk about let alone play all the new ones!!
It's mental, tune to see what happens...I might explode;
Neko Case; Stereolab; Mogwai; Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass;
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan; Centro-Matic; Ray Davies; Sparks
and David Gilmour

Well known for leading the emergence of a style of dance music called 'Breakbeat' he has been one of the resident DJ's at Fabric in London for a year and was nominated for a Grammy for his remix of
'Fever' featuring Sarah Vaughan released on the Verve Remixed Vol 3.
grooveradio.com or residentadvisor.net are good places to start to find out more.
We didn't play his DJ set of breakbeats, but a selection he just did for the compilation series called 'Back To Mine'.
Here's what we played;
Eliot Smith - needle in the hay
PJ Harvey - the slow drug
Funkadelic - maggot brain
Dykehouse - sandy strip
M83 - lower your eyelids to die with the sun
Trans Am - a single ray of light on an otherwise cluody day
Boards of Canada - zoetrope

thanks for listening

I'm all fired up because my fave footie team won a Cup at the weekend
Man United beat Wigan 4 to nil!! But it's the smallest trophy of the domestic season and the only thing they are likely to win this year...so...let's get psyched for the World Cup!!
I saw the US team beat Guatemala by the same score 2 weeks ago and they look good in attack but a little shakey in defence, the opposite to how they were in the last World Cup. They play Poland this week in their continued preparation.
Vinicius Cantuaria when he was in last week said he liked the England side as much as his own Brazil, who are the faves, but I'd rather bet on the US team going all the way!!

Sorry folks I have to be at the Winemakers Dinner this friday night, a fundraiser for MPR, so I will be having a lovely dinner and a sip or two of wine with rivetting conversation with some of our supporters... seeyathere!?
Danny will be covering for me but I picked out a killer DJ set for him. An old fave of mine, Robbie is releasing "Juicy Miami" and I took a section from it. HOOJ house music, hope you like it, here's a sneak peak at the list...sing along now!

Josh the Funky One "universal sound"
DJ Rooster & Sammy Peralta "shake it"
Matteo Esse & Sant feat Corrina Joseph "funk"
The Joker "bring it back (your soul)"
Robbie Rivera "catwalk"
Outwork feat Mr.Gee "elektro"
Mixin Marc & Alex Peace "the frequency"
Louie Padilla "manik"

New release Tuesday highlights...
Destroyer "Rubies"
Dan Bejar has grown famous by working with The New Pornographers.
This is his 'other project' now on it's 7th album. Some bitter tunes about fame and wonderfully full melodic pop parts.

The M's "Future Women"
They will be in town at the 400 bar with Archer Prewitt on Thursday.
Fuzzed out rock for the nowherenow gen-eeeeeeer-ation.
plus...
Elbow "Leaders of the Free World"
and Billy Bragg re-issues galore!!

Was honored to have not one but two talented and humble artists in
the studio with me tonight! Check them out on their formidable websites;
Vinicius Cantuaria was at The Dakota tonight and has a new cd out called 'Silva' www.vinicius.com
And Scanner is in town for the Spark festival at the U. He said that he has always wanted to do a radio show...when he grows up. When he's done with eveything else I would have him on any time, he was awesome;
www.scannerdot.com

Our very own DJ Danny was the guest this week, wickedly mixing;
ali akbar khan, black uhuru, jackie mittoo, art blakey, sitar beats, steel funk and beck.
He spins around town all the time in various guises. On Monday Feb 20th he'll be at the Kitty Kat Club with Bill Mike.

Thanks to EVERYONE who helped us out during the Spring Fund Drive!!!
All the staff behind the scenes putting in extra effort as usual
AND of course all of you who contributed, especially the new members...over 4100 of you!! WOW!
What an awesome show of approval for what we are building here. We hit the goal about 10 minutes ahead of schedule, thank goodness, because I thought Mary was going to have a nervous breakdown!?!?!
It was great to hang with Lucia this afternoon reading so many wonderful things that people say when they call or click. I was especially moved by several that suggested they were deciding to become members because they wanted the station to stay around so that their children and grandchildren can hear it!!

Ta!

I'm really excited and a little nervous about tomorrow;

11am-1pm I join Gary Eichten on Mid-Day on 91.1 FM as his guest, talking about The Current AND concentrating on love songs.
We're even going to play a bunch, so tune it in!

My regular shift will be anything but!
I have a stack of great dedications to get to and 5 hours of the
Greatest Love Songs of All Time, snuggle up together and join me!

Happy Valentines Day everyone!!

New releases that is...Belle & Sebastian and Beth Orton.
I might be too big a fan sometimes, and my expectations were very high and I feel a little let down, but what do YOU think?
I am sorry about last nights post, I can't find the archive either.
I better check with the webmaster Mr.Wells...things are a little crazy here as Seely's post might have suggested...love the 'playlet' Frick!! We've been discussing the addition of a radio drama, perhaps you'd like to pitch something?!?!

As Zappa said, talking about music is like dancing about architecture. I think talking about art is like trying to construct a dancing building. So talking about art that is about music seems to be attempting the impossible! See if you think we managed it on stage at the Fitzgerald theatre last Thursday night, it's archived on our website.

Their new full length comes out this Tuesday called "The Life Pursuit" and they have just announced a show at The Orpheum March 12th playing with The New Pornographers.
This set is taken from a compilation which should be in stores next week too. It's the newest in a fine line which you can check out here...latenighttales.co.uk
They ask the artists to choose some of their faves or artists that have influenced them and mix them creatively. I think that B&S did a great job and I could play all of it, but this is what we heard;

Novi Singers - Cos Specjainego
Gal Costa - Lost in the Paradise
Paperclip People - People make the world go Round
Ramsey Lewis - Uhuru
Steve Miller Band - Fly like an Eagle
Donovan - Get thy Bearings
Mum - Green grass of Tunnel
Belle & Sebastian - Cassaco Marron

I am going to be a guest on Weekend America this weekend, 91.1 FM Saturday Noon - 2pm talking about the new B&S cd as well as the new Tortoise. It's already on the website, choose the show 'Weekend America' from our shortcuts program menu on the main MPR page.

I finally got around to listening to the new Barry Thomas Goldberg cd "The Last Guitar" today and ...freaked out! He's written a song about our regular posters on the Forum, dubbed, I think be Mr.Seel, as the Post Tarts.
Meeting them at the Ave on Saturday and now this?!? Bizarre!
I played it tonight and couldn't quite get me head around it?
Sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere, but I just had to note the immortalization in song of our fans...bravo!

Hey I'm pretty excited about making my big debut on the stage of the Fitzgerald Theatre this Thursday...but i need help! If you're into poster art or graphic design of any kind, come down to ask some sensible questions because i'm sure i am going to clam up and just sit on the stage with my mouth wide open staring up into the rafters thinking...how did i get here, how did i get to be as big as the Snuggles bear?!?! It's free but we need you to register, so check out the Graphic Noise icon on the front page, and i'll seeya there!

It's been a fab year and we really have celebrated well haven't we?! At the party at the Ave on Saturday, it really was rewarding to be able to say thank you to so many people who have helped us out, volunteers and listeners. Valet and P.O.S. were the only bands I could concentrate on watching and both put on impressive, yet totally different shows. The rest of the time was spent bouncing from one gaggle of Currentheads to another. One always worries in those situations that you aren't going to say something dumb...I did.
I met a very friendly Puppeteer called Chris, who I embarrassed into admitting that he would try to make a puppet of me, that would be so awesome! Looch couldn't believe my audacity...in the cold light of day, neither can I! Sorry Chris, I'm sure you have better things to do.

Sunshine and Moonbeam Jones are the San Francisco duo Dubtribe Sound System. Their final studio album “Baggage” was released last January (2005) on Imperial Dub Recordings. They are no longer recording under that name. The duo spent most of 2005 doing a farewell tour of sorts –they have an army of fanatical followers throughout America and are well-known for their live shows.
Sunshine has just finished a new album for King Street called “Seven Tracks in Seven Days” which will be released sometime later this year and also compiled this exclusive mix;

1. KNAVE – Thinkin’ (Dubtribe Sound System Remix)

2. DUBTRIBE SOUND SYSTEM – Don’t Neva Stop

3. DUBTRIBE SOUND SYSTEM – Rideline (Sunshine’s Cielo Remix)

4. JOHN BROWN – Music Takes Me

5. PATRICE RUSSHEN – Forget Me Nots

They have their own label which still has stock of their material;
www.imperialdub.com

I don't watch a lot of TV, this shift makes sure of that, but it is my fave way of spending Sunday night at home with the missus. If you missed the first episode of Bleak House on TPT 2 you can catch up tomorrow night, it's worth it;
Masterpiece Theatre: Bleak House
Sundays, Jan. 22-Feb. 26 at 8PM
Fridays, Jan. 27-March 3 at 8PM

Charles Dickens' complex tale of young love, murder and the quest for a mystery-man's identity unfolds in a sumptuous six-part adaptation by screenwriter Andrew Davies. Gillian Anderson (Skully from X-Files, of which I was a hooj fan in the early days) stars as Lady Dedlock.
It looks awesome and the editing and musical shifts punctuate the action perfectly, gorgeous.

There's some cool musical things on this weekend too!
Dusty Springfield: Reflections
Friday, January 27 at 7PM

Hosted by Petula Clark and B.J. Thomas, this program features 16 of Springfield's most memorable performances, shown in their entirety, including "The Look of Love," "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" and "Son of a Preacher Man."

Austin City Limits: Ryan Adams followed by Tift Merritt
Saturday, January 28 at midnight

Local stalwarts The Plastic Constellations will join me at 8p.m. Thursday, playing live and chatting about their long and storied career in the TC's music scene. The new cd Crusades came out this week and they play two shows at the Triple Rock Friday to celebrate. Then they are going out on tour with The Hold Steady representing the cream of our scene down in Austin for SXSW. I'm jazzed to have them on.

We have been very blessed with all the media attention that has been focused on us for todays birthday, but I want you the Cue Crew, to know that they whole organization deserves the praise, not just us on The Current. One year ago, as Steve suggested, some were not sure what they had done BUT they trusted us and supported us, putting their reputation on the line and, throughout the company, working extra hours as the new station has demanded so much attention...as all new borns do! It has been a pleasure to see them invigorated by our success, fulfilling their desire to better serve the community.
We were able to give them a slice of cake today, but I cannot thank everyone enough within MPR for giving us the chance to be living our dream life! (Hence yesterdays post:))

What does it mean when you think you're dreaming all day and then never dream while asleep?

Jason has been producing and DJing in the TwinCities for about 10 years. He started with the Groove Garden label and appears on the Freeloaded compilations under the name of Anamoly. He also worked with Brother Sun Sister Moon. He has just started doing a regular Saturday night, every two weeks at The Lounge 411 2nd Ave in the Warehouse District of Mpls and will be there tomomorrow, Jan 21st with special guest Fourfeet. He's often joined by his partner in Roomsa, Lady Sarah on vocals....theloungempls.com
Here's the tracklisting:

1. Rithma "We Rock and Roll" Utensil Recordings
2. The Beard "For Me (Kaskade remix)" Inspirit
3. Chuck Love "Livin At Night" OM Records
4. M.O.D. "Never Say Never Again" Gee K
5. Jon Cutler "It's Yours" Chez Music
6. Sydenham and Ferrer "Sandcastles Defected

More info at;
www.myspace.com/roomsa

The Community Current that I do at 9pm gets a few calls and emails
particularly this week for some reason, so here's what I covered;
Mon...MLK speech on MPR.org and it will be shown on TPT 17 Sunday.
Tue...metacritic.com do an awesome job of collating music reviews.
Wed...Oak Street cinema needs help and support, go see a movie there!
Thurs... Fun things to do on a lake, but check they are frozen!
Soap Factory art project on Medicine lake ongoing Noon-7pm Call 612.623.9176 or visit www.artshantyprojects.org. and
Kite Fest on Lake Harriet this Sat 612.673.3000. Noon to 4:00 pm.

Just read tonight that Metric are supporting The Rolling Stones at Madison Sq. this week! That's awesome for them but makes me think... they'll blow the Stones away, no? There were stories recently of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah touring with The National as a support band and after a few nights they had to reverse the order...ouch!
I remember the very first time I saw The Flaming Lips they were supporting someone...I can't think who now...exactly, they caught me totally by surprise.
Ever seen that happen when the support...er..renegaded on their job?

Tonight I innocently asked what people are doing while they listen to the station at night and got some interesting answers;

"I like to play along with songs and make dinner. Actually the whole reason I'm writing this is to thank you for playing The Beatles. I just learned Revolution."...Derek from Mpls.

"What are your listeners doing? Well, I've been at war with the *%$#@!$ servers the past two nights, having a REALLY BAD TIME trying to rebuild one particular box . . . I saved the data "YEAH" but it has defeated me again tonight. " ...m from Mpls.

"I was on google earth exploring the world, and while the tune by the mendoza line was playing, i was looking at santiago chile and one of the suburbs that came up on the map was a city called mendoza. strange "...Lance from Oakdale

After reading how pathetic this years Oscar nominations are likely to be in this Sundays NY Times...which is a shame because I really want to watch Jon Stweart host it...again I urge you to check out the Movie Maven blog. Kudos to Euan for coming up with a lucid description of what is happening at the Oak Street! I hope they can save the place.

Born in an area of Nigeria called Ibadan to an English father and Jamaican mother he was schooled in the UK before coming to NYC and Philadelphia where he started DJing in the mid 80's. He worked as an A&R man for several labels including Atlantic before starting his own in '95 to put out his own records remixes and those of friends like, Dennis Ferrer, Kerri Chandler and Danny Kravit...
ibadanrecords.com
He has several solo cd's out and has done a bunch of compilations for Yellow in Japan. this is a set that he mixed live at Neighbourhood in London and was released last year under the title of "Explosive Hi-Fidelity Sounds"
1. Ferrer & Sydenham: Sandcastles
2. Laid: Punch Up
3. Trentemoller: Physical Fraction
4. Harrison Crump: Ride
5. Sydenham & Chandler: A Demo By 6:23
6. Instant House: Awade

Next Week...tune in for a local DJ set from Jason Heinrichs who spins every Saturday at The Lounge in downtown Mpls. His set starts with a Jerome track, purely by coincidence!

Thanks for listening!

The Oak Street Cinema is having a membership meeting that it has invited the community to, because of what seem to be unspecified problems. If you like going to see classic, weird or arty movies on the big screen, then Saturday night might be worth your time, PLUS they're showing what some say is the best movie ever, Citizen Kane.
Jan 14th 7.20pm
Check ...
mnfilmarts.org and an article in the City Pages called Kane Mutiny.
AND
Our very own Movie Maven column on the mpr.org page where Euan has been tracking the story.

For the last couple of months I've had the pleasure of being asked to be a guest on this show that comes out of L.A. and is heard all across the country. I was featured on the last show which you can still see and hear on the web, look for the Indie Picks;
http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/programs/

If you were listening late last night you might have heard me almost speechless as I had just got an email from one of the members of the band nous non plus, who I talked about on the show;

"we all listened to you talk about us as if you had been among us all along.how did you do it? how very strange and wonderful at the same time to see (hear) someone we've never met understand us so completely!"

I must say I am very flattered but also a little worried, as they are known to be a little ironic and hilarious as performers, so they might be joking!

for me to spell, weird irony huh?

Not THAT kind of rythme!
That's what I call the tune that I play at 9pm for the Community Current and then talk over. I know some people think it sounds silly but I really love to do it, riding the rythme of the music as I speak and hope it helps the presentation. I have been changing the music every week since I started doing it, then last week almost decided to stick with one piece because it seemed to work so well. I played it tonight in its entirety, Gabor Szabo remixed by Prefuse 73 from a new compilation called 'Impuulsive!'. But then last week I also discovered a new guitar piece that works well too, from Jose Gonzalez' new cd ep 'Stay in the Shade'. So perhaps I'll keep changing it to discover more new ones...or should I stay with one piece, as a sort of theme, or stop doing it altogether!?!

Sorry I keep finding myself talking about which were my faves of last year and decided tonight that it has to stop.
I guess some closure is needed but a chart is so 20th Century;

Fave Release; The Fall "Complete Peel Sessions".
I know it's kinda cheating but this is obviously a dream come true for a fan of the band and the DJ. The packaging was excellent too and they sound awesome!!

Top Album; Sufjan Stevens "Illinois".
Because it got so many mentions at the top of indie music media polls. I still love the concept, the best example of artists using a concept to link songs together on a long playing CD, which is a re-birth of the album as a product in the age of the ipod.

Best Live Show; Sigur Ros at State Theater.
Lucky enough to talk to Jon the guitarist and vocalist of the group before hand and the spectale that they unveiled was one of the best live performances I have witnessed EVER!

Fave New Discovery; Clap Your Hands Say Yeah .
Yes I can hear Talking Heads in their sound, perhaps even a bit of Pere Ubu, but that is not a bad thing! I love their word play and they've that chaotic sound of a band about to collapse who JUST keep it together.

Fave Local cd; Cloud Cult "Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus".
Have got more calls about the 'Transistor Radio' song than any other local or otherwise!

Local live act; STNNNG...most aptly named band ever!

Morgan grew up in a log cabin in Vermont, started DJing on a college station before he graduated high school and went on to the big college station in Boston, WERS. He now lives in L.A. and at 23 already has an envious remix resume. He just released a collection
"Cease and Desist" that includes remixes of Tegan & Sara, Imogen Heap, Bowie and The Kills!
This is an exclusive set...did you hear the station ID's he put in there for us!?... that was a first and it was funky;

Andy Caldwell 'Brand New Day'
Micali, Ajami and Wasley 'Set You Free' (Morgan Page remix)
The Timewriter 'The Booty Song'
Mylo 'Paris Four Hundred'
Suicide Sports Club 'I Don't Know' (King Unique Remix)
Morgan Page 'Take Me Back'
Vic Budai 'I Love Deep' (Timewriter Remix)

http://www.morgan-page.com/

On the Current Community tonight at 9p.m. I featured a place called The Garage in Burnsville, a venue run by teens for the underage crowd to discover the joy of seeing live music in a safe environment.
They have open mics on Fridays and shows most weekends, keep up with them here; thegarage.net
They are also looking for used guitars, they have a lot of young people looking to learn to play and a bi-lingual instructor donating time to teach. Contact Eric the Manager - THE GARAGE, City of Burnsville, 100 Civic Center Parkway Burnsville 952-895-4578

For a comprehensive list of all age friendly venues this is an amazing list; http://blogs.citypages.com/pscholtes/allages/

I mentioned the World Cup yesterday and I got all excited about the festival which is months away!! I still love watching the beautiful game and the USA have as good a chance as England do of doing well, so I have two teams to support...er...I guess the missus being German gives me 3 and they're the home team!
I often wonder if it is wird talking about football on the air, but in the UK footie and music are always mixed. How many of you follow footie at all, English or otherwise, which teams do you support?

1.Prog rock will make a big comeback this year...but no one will call it progrock because that phrase has been so villified in the music press.

2.Genre labels will be officially banned as useless, saving labels and the music press a ton of ink, so they don't have to do this any more; "is a genre defying, mind bending epic, a antique-futurist- disco-hip-hop- electro-funk- glam-rock- glitched-out sound clash!"

3. The official World Cup song will be a good one for the first time EVER!

Got any predictions?

Known as one of the godfathers of Detroit Techno he is actually from Windsor Ontario. Also works under the name Plastikman and has been working on a series of releases which explore the way that the art of DJing has progressed in the last 5 years, where a live DJ can use an enourmous array of EFX and samples triggered by computers to add to the beats produced by drum machines or recorded tracks. This is the 3rd in the series DE9 :Transitions.
As he says in the liner notes; "the exploration of the transition is not only limited to the X and Y (time and amplitude) planes of sound but also in the Z plane(depth) of space."
It is an amazlingly layered creation which takes minimal techno to a new frontier. The piece is actully 96 minutes long which can only fit on a DVD, but the set we played was from the CD version, tracks 16 thru 21. There are so many original tracks of music listed for every one track on this cd that it would take way too long to list the whole set!!
Check out; www.richiehawtin.com

HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

In case you missed me discussing resolutions with The Bad Plus on Tuesday night...well I couldn't talk jazz with them after all!?!?...I have made a definite decision to try to exercise at the gym at least twice a week, trying to lose at least 8lbs, and get in shape to play soccer for at least one more game/season.
I know this is not the most original resolution but for me it would be a first. I've never in my life gone to the gym regularly. I used to try to walk as much as possible, even to and from work until last year. Now I manage to walk up the 4 floors to our desk area and that's about all the exercise I get.
So now I've gone public, send your good gym vibes my way...but stay out of me way if you see me sweating on a weight machine!! I resolve NOT to enjoy it!

Happy New Year!!
How do you spend it?
For most of my adult life it seems I have been working on it, as a waiter then as a DJ. For 3 years in a row I played the party at The Lounge, the highlight of my live DJ career and after that there's really nothing else, celebratory or party-wise that I want to do.
The pressure of being in the right place with the right people at EXACTLY the right time has always freaked me out!
Do you have a unique way to spend the night?

Have you checked out our new playlist feature on the web yet, it's much more accurate and might answer some of those musical questions that your enquiring minds come up with. It stays as an eternal record of what we have played since Saturday when it began too. But if the DJ forgets to feed it info then it is still lacking in accuracy!
So if you were wondering what the big hole is at 7.30pm tonight, it was a live set by The Bad Plus. They are in town to play 3 sold out nights at the Dakota in support of the new cd "Suspicious Activity". They have a great website; thebadplus.com/ where you can read their 4 star reviews from Rolling Stone and tons of great press from the UK. They have recorded their last 3 cd's at RealWorld studios near Bath in England which was set up by Peter Gabriel and they enjoyed telling stories of bumping into him and have him stealing their food!
Here's what they played;
1. Rhinoceros is my profession
2. The Empire Strikes Backwards
3. Chariots of Fire (cover of the theme to the movie originally composed by Vangelis)

Remember you can hear the set in our archive of studio sessions.

So every year I get asked what IS Boxing Day and I've told a story that has been ratified by Wikipedia, from which I quote...
In feudal times, Christmas was a reason for a gathering of extended families. All the serfs would gather their families in the manor of their lord, which makes it easier for the lord of the estate to hand out annual stipends to the serfs. After all the Christmas parties on December 25, the lord of the estate would give practical goods such as cloth, grains, and tools to the serfs who lived on his land. Each family would get a box full of such goods the day after Christmas. Under this explanation, there was nothing voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obligated to supply these goods. Because of the boxes being given out, the day was called Boxing Day.

So it's a class thing, and in deference to the poor, the Royal Family still don't open their pressies until today!! It always seemed like a good idea to me, when I was young we could visit one grandparents on Christmas Day and then the next on Boxing Day and years later, when my parents had split up, it helped in dealing with the pressure of being in both homes every year for at least part of the holiday!

Hope you had fun with your family and friends, we'll be back in the regular formation tomorrow, Danny is sitting in for me tonight.

We're switching shifts around a little during the holiday weekend. I will be on Saturday and Monday afternoons 3-6pm, but taking the night off Friday.
Jill Riley will be sitting in for me and she's got a sweet DJset;
'Sounds of OM v.5' mixed by DJ Fluid...
Andy Caldwell "the waiting game"
Kaskade "i like the way"
Mark Farina "dream machine"
Colette "feelin hypnotized"
Rithma featuring Ryralio DJ's "the funk is still alive"

The first 3 artists have all been guest dj's of ours this year, so this is a nice combination of some of the styles that we have featured. omrecords.com for more info.

Happy Holidaze!!

I'm a sucker for checking out end of year polls at all the different music and media sites. I have mentioned pitchfork.com before but I really like their charts and they asked a ton of artists what they liked and that's always interesting. I couldn't hang out listening to toons with James of lcd soundsystem, but Carl Newman of the New Pornographers has great taste(i.e...like mine!)
Last year a friend sent me a page that had ALL the end of year polls on one site, but I cannot remember where that was, anyone else know of that or am i tripping!?!?

Finally got to see "Walk the Line" today, matinee with the missus...a nice bonus of my schdule, we were alone in the cinema, felt like a private screening! Anyway I had a lot of calls and a few emails when it first came out saying how good it was but nothing prepared me for HOW good it was! Had tears streaming down my face at the end, what a love story!?!? But it was also a great movie showing how the private life of a performer plays into their performance, something that we can easily forget when going to see a show. Not many movies have rewarded a musichead like this one did, can you suggest any others? Santa's going to bring me a DVD player (i hope!)and I'd love to have some suggestions for good rock'n'roll movies or DVD's?
HAPPY SOLSTICE!!

HAPPY HOLIDAZE EVERYONE!!!
My fave day of the season is NEXT Monday, Boxing Day in the UK, which is a holiday every year there, but this year it might be for you too.
So perhaps we'll have a few festive tunes...but what SOUNDS festive to you, but might not be neccesarily thought of as "holiday music"?
Anything that has sleigh bells in it works, but some songs I have been noticing just have a celebratory feel that might fit into the mix for Monday next.
I'm doing 2pm-7pm that day so if you have any suggestions for what might make your Boxing Day more festive, leave them here at the Cue.

Important figure in the Detroit techno scene since the early days. Worked as an apprentice with the grandfather of that movement, Derrick May, then started to produce under the name Innerzone and recorded "Bugz in the Bassbin" which is widely recognised as the start of drum'n'bass. He has just done a collection, Fabric 25, this set is a radio exclusive that includes some of the tracks from that;

Tim Wright 'keep on searchin' (Luciano Remix)
Paperclip people 'jerry lewis' (Mayday Mix)
Tiger Stripes 'amphytrion'
Quenum 'oregon'
DJ Red (title unknown)
Ame 'rej'
Marc Holice 'borrowed gear' (Italian Red Zone edit)
Psychedelic Furs 'sleep comes dopwn'
Carl Craig 'darkness' (Max Mix)

More info at...fabriclondon.com

Had the pleasure of Brother Ali in studio with me tonight too. He talked about his early career and he did 3 tracks live for us including a new one that will be on a new cd out in the summer of '06;
Looking at me Sideways

Forrest Whitaker (from Shadows on the Sun cd of 03)

Rain Water (from Champion ep)

Thanks to Solace for posting a line up of the band behind Mike Watt last night...perfect use of the Cue ol'chap!!
Got me thinking too, with Watt in the Stooges, which members would you put together to have a Fantasy Band?
Would you just pick your fave bass, guitar and drums or do they have to have some chemistry?
What about a power trio consisting of Keith Moon of The Who on drums, Talking Head Tina Weymouth on bass and Jon of Sigur Ros on guitar with bow and vox!?!? Would they go down well in Japan?!?! I think they'd be called The Right Ohs! Could we spin this off into a web based fantasy game?!?!

Mike Watt was in town today to play at the big gig in the Avenue and this afteroon he stopped over at McNally Smith College of Music to give a seminar on playing the bass. He was gracious to allow me to slip into his busy schedule and chat with him for a short time, which I hope some of you heard at 9.30 tonight. You can catch up with him at...hootpage.com and he has a regular webradio show at...twfps.com
where he spins his record collection and talks to friends, who happen to include people like Lee Renaldo of Sonic Youth.
He has also this year been on tour with Iggy playing in the reformed Stooges. He told me that Iggy wants to make another album with them before he turns 60 and if all goes well they will tour the USA next year.

At the end of the year I enjoy getting a stack of music mags and hunkering down, especially when we have a snow storm!! Luckily last weekend I scored a copy of Uncut which comes with an awesome CD.
It samples songs that were represented on John Peel's Festive Fifty, which was an end of year chart that he used to do, cool picture of him on the cover too. It has a few classics on there from Robert Wyatt, Billy Bragg and Pavement. But there are a few obscure gems too, like The Woodentops doing 'well well well' which has been ringing in my head for over 2 decades but I never had a copy until now! Also played an old Felt track with Liz Fraser on vocals tonight, she's one of the Cocteau Twins who dominated the Festive 50 for several years...it's a good stocking stuffer for the musichead on your list...happy snow day everyone!

Bill DeVille, Danny and I have had a bunch of fun the last couple of weeks putting together these little podcasts, called Musicheads. You can find them on the front page under the "short cuts" menu, we're talking about cd's that might make good gift ideas...if you have any opportunities to give the gift of music in the near future!

The video equivalent, a 'vlog' is a short film emailed to you or available on a site and they are growing quickly. there was a couple of articles in the NY Times this weekend, and both of them mentioned a local vlogger who is obviously a pioneer, Chuck Olsen, you can check his daily short films at...mnstories.com

Lee Rous and Andy Gardener are the Plump DJ's. Ranked on the new DJ Mag Top 100 at #85, they're perhaps the leading exponents of the Breakbeat style in the UK right now. They are resident DJ's at Fabric in London, in fact they are playing there right NOW!
We played 6 tracks (6 thru 11) from their new mix "Saturday Night Lotion" which has 11 of their tracks and 6 from others.
If you like their style their label has a ton of good stuuf on them and like minded artists ...fingerlickin.co.uk

I was pleased to see that we have featured four out of the Top 10 DJ's on the new DJ Mag Poll in the first 7 months of this feature, including the top 2 Paul Van Dyk and Tiesto, the complete list is at...djmag.com

We've featured just as many local spinners and we're always looking for more. Send suggestions to...
mwheat@mpr.org

when you heard about John Lennon dying?
I was sitting on a wall outside of the student union building at Leeds University in the UK, waiting in line to buy tickets to see Ian Dury and the Blockheads. At the time I must say that John didn't mean much to me, I sincerely think that his death struck me as a product of American society. I know that is harsh now, but at the time part of our 'punk philosophy' was to reject American culture that had dominated the TV and films throughout our childhood. The brutality and senselessness of his death was a sad example of what was wrong over here.

After hearing the great program we played tonight I realize how much I admire him.

Being English, I'm not one to talk about the weather, much, but I must admit that I had a personal revelation at the weekend. We took a short trip to New Jersey and it was over 40 degrees the whole time, but it felt colder than it does here today...thirty degrees lower?!?
How does that work...I guess the phrase "it is a different kind of cold" has new meaning to me now. I never thought I would get used to it but I have and it has a strange beauty too. Yesterday morning the river had huge, high swaths of dry ice billowing off St.Anthony's Falls, Aerosmith would have been jealous!! The river rocks!!

As well as playing 3 of the remixes of Low's Monkey tonight
( I must admit I liked the Bob Mould one best! )
We had a bunch of great suggestions, and included these;
Chris Mars "Monkey Sees"
Gillian Welch "One Monkey"
Artic Monkeys "i bet you look good on the dancefloor"
The Kinks "Apeman"
Echo & the Bunnymen "Over the Wall"(lyric has monkey in it )
Smokey Robinson "Mickey's Monkey"
Louie Prima "Iwannabe like you " (Jungle Book soundtrack)
The Chameleons "Monkey land "
XTC " The Smartest Monkeys"
The Rolling Stones "Monkey Man"
Elvis Costello "Monkey to man"
The Pixies "Monkey's gone to Heaven"

Didn't get to all the suggestions but thanks for all the great feedback, feels good to get that monkey OFF my back...but really why is there so many tunes about the monkey?!?!

Finally, a perfect excuse to break out a bunch of those crazy songs about monkeys that I have been threatening to do for weeks now!
Low release a cd ep Tuesday, with 5 fresh remixes of their "Monkey" which is on the last cd "The Great Destroyer". Fog, Stephin Merritt (Magnetic Fields), Bob Mould, Crew Jones and The Count all do completely different versions and then there's one of them there new fangled DVD's on it too, made by locals HarderFuller Films.
To celebrate this release and Low's return to live action at First Ave on Friday, we'll play several of the remixes and create sets full of monkey tunz. Should be a swinging time!

Thanks to Bill for sitting in for on this Friday night and thanks to regular listener Brian! A few weeks ago he posted here on the Cue that he had heard some cool mixes that might work for us and this was one of them, and how right he is. Andy's from San Francisco and has garnered a world wide rep for mixing a silky smooth melange of soulful house with a slice of urban/electro sliced in too.
Here's the set list;

Andy Caldwell "the waiting game" (Ronan's Deep Moody Mix)
Scape feat; D'Empress "be my friend" (Michael Gray Remix)
Jaswho? "mash it up"
Rasmus Faber "get over here" (Axwell Remix)
S.U.M.O. "seducao"

More info is at...andycaldwell.com
or...swankrecordings.com

Have a great weekend!!

We get so much email now at the station that it really is hard to keep up, let me apologise for my lack of speed getting back to you if you write. It is always fun to get an email from overseas from a local band touring. Zack is playing with Hockey Night who have had a few gigs with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in the UK and I quote...

"The club manager the other night at The Academy in Liverpool told me he generally doesn't even watch bands anymore, and enjoys even fewer (total Englishman), but the two shows this year he thoroughly enjoyed were The Arcade Fire and Hockey Night. " High praise indeed.
You can check out how good Arcade Fire are live this Sunday at 6pm.

Also picked up a copy of one of my fave mags that covers music and movies out of the UK called 'Word' and they had a cd on the cover that has a bunch of the bands that we play on it including Halloween Alaska!!

Sorry I didn't mention this last night...I meant to I swear, not sure what i get up to in the studio all night but this blog slipped my mind, might try to make two entries tonight. But last night i played a set of Miles Davis, Blondie and the Sex Pistols to celebrate the fact that they are all now inducted in to the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame. Now I know us musicheads like to hate the choices but i think this year they have done a good job, Black Sabbath and Lynyrd Skynrdare also in there, the show might be worth watching this year, hell i'd like to be there!
NOW it will be worth a visit...have you been? What did ya think?

Thanks to Mel our Assistant Music Director for twisting the arm of Stefano Ghittoni, one half of The Dining Rooms, he put together an exclusive radio mix for us incorporating some of their own tunes and classics like Art Blakey!!
Check out their website at...thediningrooms.org

here's the set list;
The Dining rooms - white riot (demo)
Art Blakey - cunbano chant
Nick Holder - no more dating DJ's (yam who remix)
The Dining Rooms - afrolicious
Ju Ju Orchestra - kind of latin rhythm
Beatfanatic - el pito
Gerardo Frisina - cohete
The Dining Rooms - diamonds & conforts (double beat remix)

Being a resident alien from another country where this holiday is NOT celebrated, this has always been a weird one for me. The missus,
who is also an alien, said it best... it is because we have not had a 'relationship' with the day since we were children. Those formative years really do program us for what to expect from a holiday.
It also seemed a little strange to celebrate with people who seemed to be sharing a tradition of celebrating the fact that they had 'escaped' my homeland?!?!
BUT then my beautiful and talented wife came up with another revelation after dinner today, she said that although we often complain about what is going on in the world in general, and that the world image of America has really changed perhaps for the worse since we came here 20 years ago, basically we have this country to thank for our success both personal and professional. The open and accepting nature of the majority of people here allows us to express ourselves in ways that we might not have been able to otherwise, if we had stayed in our country of birth.
There's a lot to be thankful for in this country and as you all sat around and said what you are thankful for today, you proved it!
Thanks for listening!!

Yes it was a special Current Community tonight to have the chance to speak with Steve about the new Bootlegs Vol 1 cd. I have always had fun talking to the man who personifies the energy, spirit and in-built contradictions that IS the local music scene.
He has been working at First Ave for over 30 years and now passes that experience on to students at McNally Smith College of Music.
He's always hard to hold on topic and so we had to edit his stories a little! But I hope you enjoy his reminising and his explanation of what DEMO is trying to do. It is a non-profit built around the club but now independet of it and part of the proceeds from the cd go towards helping it establish its self, it's a good deal just for that reason but the tracks are of a very high quality considering that they are all bootlegs!!

Also new this week;
Tristeza 'a colores' ; instrumental...dare I say prog rock?!? I have this theory developing that there is a big resurgence going on BUT that no one is actually going to call it that agian, as the genre has taken too much 'flak' over the past 3 decades!!

Jens Lekman 'oh you're so silent, Jens' ; fans of Morrissey and Magnetic Fields might really fall in love with this guy. He has the ironic semi-twee, delicate Bacharach pop thing going on, Swedish but immensely global in references and influences...he was even inspired by the movie "Mask", check out the references to Rocky Dennis!

Neil Diamond '12 songs' this is a repeat of the project that Rick Rubin undertook with Johnny Cash, Neil stripped bare singing his own songs with mostly just his guitar, which apparently he hasn't played much for 30 years!?!? I must say that I have been a closet admirer for years, the guy just has a great voice and I must say his writing is strong.

Did you guys hear the special we had on this Sunday? 12 Discs of Christmas? Mary hosted it and Seel produced it asking two of the nations best rock journalists to pick some of the best musical gifts they could think of, and they covered a very wide area and made some great choices! Listening to that right after the Local Show when Chris had poet Paul Dickenson on, was a very enjoyable early evening of radio, kudos to Chris, Steve and Mary.

Soma Records in Glasgow Scotland are one of the biggest dance and electronic labels in Britain and they just started this series of compilations called "Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi." and this set was taken from the first in that series released in October put together by Ewan Pearson.
Now resident in Berlin he tours the world as a live DJ and gets to remix the likes of Chemical Bros, Ladytron, and Brazilian Girls.
Here's the list of what we played tonight;

Clashing Egos 'aminjig nebere (i trusted you)' Joakim's Afrobot Mix
Lontano 'lovebass'
Feist 'inside and out' Pearson and Usher Elektronischer Dub
Husky Rescue 'summertime cowboy' Serge Santiago version
Dirt Crew 'largo' Dominik Eulberg Remix

Seamless, sweet and tweaky! These are the first tracks on the comp and I could have played it all, very strong start to an exciting series, I bet we play more of these. Check out...
somarecords.com

There's been balloons and popcorn for all this week in the offices as we start to move into the new building that is attached to the old one here on the corner of Cedar and 7th in downtown St.Paul. For us at The Current it is especially exciting as we really haven't had enough room for all of us to even have even a proper cubicle!
The new space is amazing, beautifully designed and airy. We will not be broadcasting from there for a while, but the studios will be state of the art, probably the finest in the nation, a testament to how well the listeners have supported what we are doing here at MPR.
Thank you.

It was a thrill to get Blueprint in to do a studio session while he is in town to play on the big Atmosphere sold out extravaganza. Originally from Columbus OH he was the first non TCer to be signed by RhymeSayers when they put out Soul Position which he's part of. His last release was his first solo, called "1988" it was a celebration of the era around that year when some of his biggest influences put out great albums. He does all his own production and raps and is looking to do another 'theme based' cd when he gets time off from touring. He performed three totally new songs that might end up on that work, they were;
Radio Inactive, True Vision and Move Back.

I must say I was excited for the big snow storm...that did not materialize! Nevermind I guess we only have to wait a little while.
For some reason I feel ready for it this year, been a beautiful Autumn hasn't it?

A few interesting new releases today...

Wilco "Kicking Television" Live in Chicago in May '05
- just the right time in their career for them to make an epic live recording and they might have done it. Some awesome moments that can only happen live and powerful renditions of their best work.

Lady Sovereign "Vertically Challenged"
-I'm a little disappointed with this first official US release, which doesn't contain '9 to 5' or 'tango' that we have been playing.

Askeleton "(happy) album"
-St.Paulite Knol Tate with the final part in his emotions trilogy, hopefully and optimistic ending!?

Dire Straits "best of..."
- Had a soft spot for these guys. In the early days of MTV I remember thinking that it was cool that a 'good band' was getting all the attention, got overplayed a bit of course but still quality and I could tell that this has been nicely re-mastered.

There was also a new Madonna cd today, Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" re-issued to celebrate it's 30th Anniversary?!?! And every Eurythmics album is re-issued.

Happy gift giving season everyone!!

This week we are having an extra special guest DJ set ...
on a Tuesday?!?! Just when you think you have us figured out!
Hell we haven't even figured us out yet!~??!
Ohmega Watts will chatting with us and he and his buddy, DJ Bombay cut-up and mixed a sweet set of cuts from his new cd, "The Find". It's a testamount to his skill and diversity that when I first heard his cd I thought it was a compilation, beautifully executed and put together to create a moody celebration of the history of hiphop soul and R'n'B. He is an MC and an accomplished producer using a wide range of samples and playing his own instruments.
Tune in 10p.m. Tuesday night!

Kevin Beacham hosts our own show on Saturday at 11pm
"Redefinition Radio'. He plays around town as DJ Nikoless and has been helping the RhymeSayers crew take over the hiphop world nationwide! Here's what he mixed for us:

Edwin Starr-Easin' In '74
DJ Format-A Lil Bit Of Soul '03
Gumbo-A Free Soul [Marley Marl Remix] '93
Medusa-You Betta Be! '97
YZ-The Ghetto's Been Good To Me '93
Task Force-Brothers Mcbane '99
Mr Live & Tony Bones-Hunger Strike '96
Chief Kamachi w/The Last Emperor-Nile Nutrion '99
Double Edge-Larger Than Life '01
Insight-Timeframe '04
TLA Rock-It's Yours [Litterthugz Inst Rmx] '84/'05
Busdriver-Unemployed Black Astronaut '05
Disco Four-Throwdown '83
20th Century Steel Band-Heaven & Hell Is On Earth '75

Had the pleasure of chatting with The Rosebuds today and we were talking about where they come from North Carolina,which also has a strong music scene built around the record label Merge.They suggested that the oral tradition of the area informs their work and affects what they sound like. Do you think it's possible to nail what quality MN musicians have that is unique to this region? Nothing is occurring to me immediately...but I'm not from around here!

Perhaps we should create a page somwhere that outlines all our collective knowledge and advice to young bands, especially local ones about how to go about approaching the process of being a band?
In my book;
Rule #1...don't send a photo to a radio station!
I cannot remember ever getting a photo in a press pack with a new cd and being MORE inclined to listen to it. They are only really needed for print media and sending it to radio station is a waste of your valuable time, resources and hairgel!
Rule #2...Don't ask all your friends and their families to swamp a radio station with email requests or deluge them with phone calls, especially if you know that they cannot possibly have the cd yet!! This has happened recently, believe me, but don't ask me to name names. Seriously, we want to help, but there's something artificial about such a write-in campaign or phone call blitz that can quickly backfire on you and make us suspect of ALL requests, especially for local bands, so don't spoil it for everyone else either.
Anyone else have any wisdom to pass on?

Strange that Steve Seel should bring up this subject, I'm sure you think that we collude in carrying on these threads but...I swear we don't!
Recently our Program Director Steve Nelson suggested that he wanted to take a word that I had made up in an email to him as his band name, he even googled it to check to see if anyone has used it. Of course I cannot tell you all what it is...sorry tabugya! But it got me thinking about it again.
Personally I think it is impossible for us to seperate the name of a band from what we think of their music, our fave band will NOT have a name we hate, gauranteed. But I have never been able to come up with one that I could live with. What would your band be called?

From our very own show The Rhythm Lab, Saturdays at midnight

This is a great representation of the music that you might here on the show, uplifting, soulful and influenced by many styles of beats from all over the world.
This is what we heard;

Belladonna - "Ebatule"
Latin Projekt "Aganju"
Los Cabrones "Hola Que Tal"
Sin Palabras - "Yemaya"
Jazzanova "Atabaque"
Inner Sense "Bahiana/Batucada"

You can find out more about him and where he spins regularly in the Cities at...
www.djdoncuco.com

You keep those votes coming for your fave releases of the year and I'll keep collating!

listed out?!? I would hate this to be an internal conversation, we get enough time to talk and play what WE like, it would be great to hear what you the listeners, all have on your lists...or are lists just SO 20th Century? I must admit the music mags have pushed the concept over the edge a time or two. So what is our alternative?

As the holiday season approaches the labels stop putting out NEW stuff, in affect, all the product that they want you to buy for presents is already out. The new Imogen Heap is the only cd that we have been playing for a while that comes out today. So I started thinking about making 'end of year lists'...before Steve Seel mentioned it earlier today I swear!!
Scarily enough however he and I agree on a couple.
Here's the first few that came to my mind ...
Sufjan Stevens
Sigur Ros
The Fall
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
and Gang of Four
who would qualify in my mind
especially with the addition of the remix cd.

Shall we make a list?

Don't get me started on how weird the whole holiday has become...4 foot tall inflated Pooh bear with a Dracula cape on in your front yard??!?! And I still don't get it when people dress as ANYTHING it is supposed to be a scary costume!!
Thanks for all the suggestions for theme music, it was fun to see how we could spread it out over the whole day...although I guess as Mary has said in the past...we do like the Devil's music!

Rob has been one of the DJ's on Radio 1 charged with trying to fill in for John Peel. He has a similar broad taste in musical styles as he demonstrates on his new compilation cd Fabric 24. But this track list has none of those songs and instead remixes big beat mashups, hip hop and classic rock in an innovative way. This is what we heard;
Skeewif - man of constant sorrow
Run DMC - walk this way
Topcat & Mary - disco request
DJ Mascaras - another one bites da girls
Run Jeremys Window Licker - X rated lick
Les Visiteurs - Snoop Acid Drop
Tomboy - Samba
Switch - a bit patchy
Markus Guentner - umbegung

For more info;
bbc.co.uk (Radio 1)
fabriclondon.com

Hey Tim good job! I guess with the web these days ANYTHING is discoverable?! I loved watching the Liver Birds as a kid, quite a feminist show for it's time. BUT the Young Ones was one of me all time faves. When I first came to the USA I worked on a summer camp as a counsellor. There were about 9 of us Brits trying to keep the kids entertained and me and a very short stocky guy from Manchester used to re-enact scenes from the Young Ones, he was Rick and I was Vivienne...i think! Anyway the kids at that time had never even seen it so you can imagine their looks of disbelief?!? Anyway, Tim send me your address at mwheat@mpr.org and i'll send you a prize and if you have no idea what I am referring to, see my post from last night.

here's a few interesting releases;

The Fiery Furnaces "Rehearsing my choir"
I have seen such wildly divergent reviews of this that i was insanely hyped to hear it especially as these guys were one of my fave musical crushes from the last two years...with that in mind I am going to come down on the positive side. I have a lot of time for spoken word delivery and good story telling and the musical background is simply elegant FF bawdybeat!

Rogue Wave "Descended like Vultures"

Tons of T.Rex re-issues and compilations if you need more!

"This Bird Has Flown" A compilation to celebrate the 40th Anniversary
of The Beatles "Rubber Soul" album, includes Sufjan Stevens, Low, The Donnas and Cowboy Junkies....and speaking of Beatles...

George Harrison's "Concert for Bangladesh" is being re-released and put on DVD, it was perhaps the first huge benefit gigs, and included a surprise appearance from Bob Dylan.

Breakestra "Hit the Floor"

Next Tuesday will mark the first anniversary of John Peel's death and as one of the original DJ's on the BBC's Radio One, the UK's public radio, it seemed fitting during the fund drive here at the pioneering MPR station.
The set was from the Fabriclive #7 cd:
The Kingswoods...purty vacant
Sinthetix...liar
Culture...lion rock
Act 1...tom the peeper
Joy Division...love will tear us apart
Elementz of Noise...clock
The Cheviot Ranters...corn rigs tunes
Marc Smith vs. Safe'n' Sound...identify the beat

I'm not making this up...I played E.L.O. tonight, one of those whims. THEN I read the Cue and see the Halloween gig discussion, so I mention that on the air and Jeff calls and says;
E.L.O. were his first ever concert at the Civic Center, Halloween 1982!??! How weird is that? He said that Hall & Oates were the support and E.L.O. had to play a medley of their hits, they had so many! How many bands can, or want to do that any more?
I always liked medleys, a lost art or an abomination best left dead...whatd'yathink?

That phrase is from a TV commercial that I remember from my youth and so it might not mean anything to any of you ! Just one of those phrases that STILL repeats itself in my head every once in a while...the power of advertising huh!? Well what i really wanted to stress was what a lot of teamwork goes into making radio, especially during the Fund Drive. It's fun to help Mary during her shift and have Steve Nelson, our boss, in the studio helping us try to keep focused!
Because I've been putting in extra hours Jill is coming in early tonight another sign of teamwork...but you know, YOU are the most important part of this Current team, you're like the cheerleading section in our hometown crowd. The members are like the rabid fans who go to every game...and we loveya!
Thanks for all the support so far, today was awesome, let's ride this pony home, together!!

Only a few releases of music that we are playing today, most notably;

Silver Jews "Tanglewood Numbers"
Often referred to as a Pavement side project, behind the writing of David Berman they've really come into their own on the last two cd's and this has some great poetry in the lyrics and some fine guitar playing by Malkmus.

Tiefschwarz "eat books"
From Germany, the name means VERY black, but there's a lot of sunshine on this electronic workout. There's a vocal from Tracy Thorn and a few other guests, which gives it an inconsistant feel, but the last two instrumental tracks are some of the strongest.

The Beautiful New Born Children "hey people"
Gravenhurst "Fires in distant buildings"

The Ruts "Babylon's burning" is re-released, the only album they put out in '79, but perhaps with a new poignance?!

I almost did join the Kiss Army, Destroyer was one of the first albums I got, and it had all the paraphenalia advertised inside. Got me thinking... what if we offered Current masks, like the Kiss masks, to all new members? We really are asking you to become members of our fan club, what special gifts would you like to get? I think me head would look great on a stick!!

John Peel "FabricLive #7"
Amazingly this is the only collection put together by the great man and represents what he actually played in a live dance club, a pretty electic mix huh?! He did actually play snippets of soccer commentary in the clubs too, the piece that started this set was the goal that enabled Liverpool, his fave footie team, win the European Cup, which he described in an interview as the best moment of his life!
The rest of the set was...
Soledad Bros...break'em on down
Don Carlos...late night blues
MC DET...hipsteppin'
The Velvettes...needle in a haystack
Bad Livers...lust for life
Trouble Funk...let's get small
The Capris...there's a moon out tonight
The Fall...mr.pharmacist
Smith and Selway...15.5 remake

Funny that Mary should ask that question about funeral music...we didn't plan this...but I started my show tonight with a song that John Peel once said that he wanted played at his funeral;
Roy Harper's "when an old cricketer leaves the crease"
and then played The Undertones "teenage kicks" which was the song played at his huge funeral a year ago. I think I'd have "atmosphere" from Joy Division played at mine and it was awesome to hear Pink Floyd's "shine on you crazy diamond" at my step fathers, we bonded more over Wish You Were Here than anything else! Music can bring us together even at the end. I felt like I was trying to pay homage to John Peel tonight and I hope he could hear us!! Hope you did too!

Tomorrow will mark the last day that the legendary BBC Radio DJ John Peel was on the air. A year ago Oct 25th he died suddenly on vacation in Peru. In the UK, Thursday has been declared Peel Day and there are over 300 concerts and special events being held and a six hour special on Radio One....www.bbc.co.uk
I listened to him when I was in high school and he literally changed my life and laid the foundation of my obsession with music, so I want to celebrate his life too. I'll play a few of his faves Thursday night and then on Friday he's the Guest DJ, through an amazing set that he did at the club Fabric in London...hope you can join me.

There's been discussion of late on the forum...not that I ever go there...about buying music that you hear on the station. Is it helpful to get a run down of the release dates of the new stuff that I try to do on a Tuesday night?
This is not a complete list, just some cd's that are out today;

Gang of Four...return the gift
(Reworkings of their original 'hits' with a little more power and
production sheen, but I think it works and I'm a huge fan who was sceptical of the idea)
Chocolate Genius Inc...black yankee rock
The Clientele...strange geometry
Deerhoof...the runners four
Dirty Three...cinder
(first one with vocals, one track each by Sally Timms and Cat Power)
Mark Gardener...these beautiful ghosts
(ex-Ride frontman with a totally different feel)
Matt Pond PA...sveral arrows
Kelley Stolz...the sun comes through (EP)
Paul Weller...as is now
(leader of The Jam and Style Council having a revival of sorts)
Danger Doom...the mouse & the mask
(Collaboration between Dangermouse and MF Doom...can THAT fail?!!?)

Spend wisely!

It really has been a good year for compilations made up of local music, Twin Town High Vol 7, sticks out as a fave, but the Sound Unscene (sic!) Sampler may ...take the bickie (as we used to say in the UK!)A couple of strong unreleased tracks from Mallman, Beatrix Jar and Duplomacy, and a nice cross section of what else is 'bubbling'. If thousands do a nice job of covering Joy Division and Tapes 'n' Tapes come out firing on all cylinders.
What a great momento of an awesome festival that we can be proud of, there's not one like it anywhere in the world yaknow!

He was voted America's Fave DJ '04 by BPM magazine and gained a lot of press for being one of the first DJ's to get actively involved in politics, touring as part of the Rock the Vote tour in '04.
He also finds time to chat to politicans in his home of Germany.
His new cd is called Politics of Dancing 2, it's a double and was hard to find a section to cut for the session, very tasteful set.
We joined CD 1 during track;
#5 Shiloh.."dream on"
#6 Walsh & Coutre feat Holly.."burn"
#7 Thomas Datt.."alone"
#8 Lolo.."why?"
#9 Purple Haze.."adrenalin"
#10 Kuffdam & Plant.."summerdream"

www.paulvandyk.com...is the place to find more info.

Great to have this blog up and running and thanks for the feedback already. I featured it on my regular feature at 9pm tonight and it struck me that some of you might have interests and associations that might work to be mentioned on the Current Community.
Send me details...
mwheat@mpr.org
of an event you are involved in or an ongoing activity that might work and I will post what I feature on this blog most nights, just trying to make the Current Community bigger and bloggier!!

Kind of crazy how many new releases there were to get to last night,
so many that I forgot to do this blog!
BUT here's a few that you might be interested in;

Fiona Apple...extraordinary machine
(Long awaited for fans and the one that the label refused to release at first)

The Fall...fall heads roll
(The first few tracks disappointed me, but then they get into a massive groove and rock as well as they have ...ever!)

My Morning Jacket...Z
(The first that they have worked with a producer on, and he is a legend John Leckie. There's also guests like M Ward and Andrew Bird)

Mugison...mugimama,is this monkey music?
(My new favourite discovery, this guy is amazing. Listen on headphones and appreciate the minute production effects which are astounding)

Atmosphere...you can't imagine how much fun we're having
(I love Ant's samples on this album, hooj and rockin' in places like they have never done before and with an 'old school bent which is cool without being derivative. Slug is Slug but Sluggier!)

It was an awesome feeling to be able to introduce Happy Apple on the stage of the Fitzgerald Theater last night. It was the very first Current concert and they did us proud! Watching Dave King playing drums from one of the boxes above the stage was amazing, I couldn't take my eyes off him! And his between song banter was at times HI-larious!
Thanks to everyone who came down, especially for the meet and greet before the show, a raffle in the lobby was a fun start to the night..the missus tried to cheat so she could get a new red Current water bottle, she really REALLY wants one! Maybe next week luv... The Honeydogs have an awesome guest list lined up, should be special.

When we started this feature we knew we'd include the big names in
global DJing and a few unmixed sets from artists that we play, and
we have already included a few local DJ's...and we want more!
But this is the first time that we have included a mix by a 'bedroom' DJ who confesses to only being able to get a gig if there's no one else who can do it, but then he does live in L.A....EVERYONE'S a DJ!!
Rob has worked for us here in the TC's and now labors for our sister station KPCC.
When making the decision it basically all depends on whether it is a good mix of grooves, I think he did an awesome job, only four tracks but they are seamlessly woven into a tight and funky melange...
Setlist;

Pet Shop Boys - "So Hard" (David Morales Mix)
Mr Timothy featuring Inaya Day - "I Am Tha One" (E Funk Mix)
Mutiny featuring Lorraine Cato - "Holding On" (Eric Prydz Mix)
Ceevox - "Believe In We" (Tracy Young Club Mix)

Speaking of big names, dance fans might also be interested in this late addition to next weeks concert schedule;

Wednesday, October 5th, 2005

Sound In Motion presents:

ARMIN VAN BUUREN - Quest 9pm His brand new cd “Shivers” is available worldwide from the DJ ranked #3 in the world right now.

Dave P & Justine D
Supplied to us by Cornerstone one of the promotion companies that we get tons of stuff from. It seems to have been 'commissioned' by Nike?!?! And has very little info other than the tracklisting.
Justine is part of the team that put on the TisWas parties in NYC.
I liked the way that they mixed it, kept it moving and incorporated some of the songs that we have been playing like...
Bloc Party's "This Modern Love" and The Chemical Brothers "Believe".
The lead off track "I ain't saying my goodbyes" won me over to a guy called Tom Vek.
Hope you enjoyed it...happy Friday!

Thanks to the MMA for inviting me to host the Awards Show this year, it was a pinnacle for me and a lot of fun. The highlights were many and varied, all the performers were good but Spider John Koerner, who got the Perpetually Outstanding Performer award seemed to be the most popular! Conrad, the stage manager of First Ave, the legendary presence with the dreads by the side of the stage for the last 17 years, got the Connie Hechter Award for services to the music community and his speech brought me to tears.
When I came to the Twin Cities 14 years ago, I conciously thought to myself that if i could in some way become a part of this music community so that people whould know who i am when I went into First Ave, then my dream would come true and last night I shared a very special night with 700 members of that community.