Friday Shuffle vs. Sirius/XM satellite radio's XMU

I've had satellite radio pretty much since it came out and I love it.  I have two radios, one for the house and another for car.  For $12 a month it's a really great way to find new music, especially on the station I'm pitting myself against today, XMU.  I have no chance.
From Wednesday night, 8p - 9p.

8 PM
Sirius XMU	8:02 PM	MORNING BENDERS		Promises	2010	C
Sirius XMU	8:09 PM	MATT AND KIM		Lessons Learned	2009	C
Sirius XMU	8:12 PM	FLYING LOTUS		And The World Laughs With You	2010	C
Sirius XMU	8:15 PM	ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI		Heart It Races	2007	G
Sirius XMU	8:19 PM	FOALS		Total Life Forever	2010	C
Sirius XMU	8:22 PM	YACHT		Psychic City (Voodoo City)	2009	C
Sirius XMU	8:27 PM	BLACK LIPS		Before You Judge Me	2010	C
Sirius XMU	8:30 PM	SONIC YOUTH		The Diamond Sea	1995	G
Sirius XMU	8:41 PM	LOS CAMPESINOS		You! Me! Dancing!!	2007	G
Sirius XMU	8:45 PM	NATIONAL		Anyone's Ghost	2010	C
Sirius XMU	8:48 PM	WASHED OUT		Feel It All Around	2009	C
Sirius XMU	8:51 PM	WAVVES		King Of The Beach	2010	C
Sirius XMU	8:54 PM	PULP		Disco 2000	1995	G
Sirius XMU	8:58 PM	VAMPIRE WEEKEND		Holiday	2010	C

OK, I like everything on there except maybe Flying Lotus and Washed Out.  They did a nice job of mixing some older songs in there, very impressive.  That Sonic Youth song isn't an obvious choice.  Pulp, nice job.  "You! Me! Dancing!"  one of my favorites.  I mentioned in an earlier post that my daughter loves that Yacht song.
OK, here's mine...I'm going to cheat and shuffle some of the songs I've picked out to spin next Wednesday at Tiny Lounge.

Beach House - "Norway"
Phoenix - "1901" (Alan Wilkis remix)
Herr Jazz - "Summer Skate"
The Roots - "Dear God 2.0" feat. Jim James and Monsters of Folk
Kid Cudi & Chip tha Ripper - "All Talk"
Joy Division - "Warsaw"
Raphael Saadiq - "It's a Shame"
Devo - "Girl U Want"
Los Amigos Invisibles - "Cuchi Cuchi"
Shout Out Louds - "Tonight I have to Leave It"
Broken Social Scene - "Texico Bitches"
LCD Soundsystem - "All I Want"
Blur - "Girls and Boys"
Jamie Lidell - "Your Sweet Boom"
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Round and Round"

10 Month Old Blogger/Jens Lekman/Tiny Lounge

My daughter has jumped into the blogging world, taking away my title of "Last Person In the World to Start a Blog".

I caught her on video yesterday morning.


This is what it said:
flkasdonoegisdv;lnvMyhsdavn;awhDadfasdonsvRocksdjhweoisajvbvw
a;lsdhfwenp;;asPickupthephone14baglockdhfweinwefhweofhasdvb
awpeioghsdviouwTheraininSprainslaysblainlyonthephssssteoisdgg

translated it says:
Check out the new Jens Lekman song as my "song of the day"
Jens Lekman "The End of the World is Bigger than Love"

  

She also said to go check out her dad spinning music next Wednesday at Tiny Lounge , 9pm.

Jorts/Wicker Park Fest/Bring the Kids

I apologize to those of you I may have offended yesterday with the tucked in sweater comment, but when it comes down to it, the readers of this blog have to stick together to fight the "bad clothes wearing bad music listening" stereotype of parents.  Sometimes you need a little blog kick in the butt to remind you where you came from.  I know, we have it so bad don't we?  So come on moms, no jeans  5 inches above the belly button (unless you're in your 20's and wearing one of those high skirts that look so 80's, which my wife just informed me are back in style).  And don't ever tuck anything into your shorts guys.  

I came across this preview for Wicker Park Fest this weekend, which I plan on attending as a "Bring the Kids" event.  Who is this Tankboy?  "Aurally polluting the ears of baby carriage pushing jorts wearers"?  I know we don't wear jorts, right?  And just because we're parents doesn't mean we don't like Local H, Moneypenny, fun., Cap'n jazz, MIssion of Burma (are you kidding me? yes!!!!), Pinebender, JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound or any of the other great bands on this lineup.  I'll be looking for you Tankboy and your cutoff corduroy shorts (corts?).  Pictures of parents and their kids at this event to follow.  You'll be able to judge for yourself.

Anyway, here is Chicagoist's Tankboy previewing this weekends fest:

Wicker Park Fest Finally Gets A Cool Line-up, Still Attracts Lame Crowds Though

It's been years since Wicker Park was actually ground zero for good music (though kudos to Double Door and Subterranean for continuing the good fight) as yupster dollars fill the coffers of the new sports bars, so color us shocked by the solid music line-up for this year's Wicker Park Fest. Chicagoist faves fun.finally make a return visit to our city on a bill that doesn't include a half-rate emo mall-punk act, and the anchors for each evening -- Local H and Holy F**k -- should do a fine job of aurally polluting the ears of baby carriage pushing jorts wearers while making us break out in great, wide grins. Add in proto-actual-emo-ers Cap 'N Jazz, sexy synth popper Van She heavy hitters Baroness and Torche, and angular indie skronks Plants & Animals and we're cooking with Crisco! In fact there are so many great bands and DJs lined up we'll even forgive the organizers for booking the absolutely atrocious Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. C'est la vie.

The festival takes place on July 31 and August 1 and this is the one that shuts down Milwaukee Avenue between North and Wood streets. We won;'t hold it against fest organizers that their press release actually contains the statement "Revelers will enjoy spirited alt-indie music that takes place continuously throughout the weekend on three stages." You wanna know why we're letting that slip past us? See the full line-up after the jump to answer your question.

By Tankboy 

Lineup after the jump

NBC's Brian Williams (Parent who has not lost touch with music)

Yeah, you heard me, Brian Williams from NBC Nightly News is a cool parent when it comes to music.  If this talking suit news anchor can keep up with new music then you certainly shouldn't have any excuses.  Check out his indie music video blog, Britunes.

On the nightly newscast about the closest you get to emotion from this 51 year old, married father of two is an arched eyebrow.  Good luck reading into his different eyebrow emotes when trying to decipher a personality.  Sure he pops up on the Daily Show or Saturday Night Live once in a while but those are still scripted.  With Britunes you get to see a different side of him, and I don't think this is a ploy to hip him and the newscast up, I'm pretty sure it's just something that he's passionate about.  So far he's interviewed Danger Mouse, Julian Casablancas from the Strokes, Deer Tick, Great Lake Swimmers...These are all bands that I love and that definitely fall left of the dial.  His playlist includes Mos Def, She & Him, Fanfarlo, Interpol, Florence and the Machine, The Republic Tigers...all bands that would induce of the "pleated Dockers pants sweater tucked in U.S Open hat even though I wasn't there and even if I was why do I have a hat from there wearing" crowd, an instant spit take of their cold fusion lite amsteled ultra less caloried beer into the face of the "Skinny Jean fixed gear colored rim bike riding skateboard helmet wearing because regular bike helmets definitely don't look cool I liked that band when they were good waaaay before that news anchor guy liked them has anyone seen my other mismatched knee high sock that makes me look like maybe I'm in the rollerderby" crowd.

So remember, if Brian Williams can stay in touch with great music, then so can you.


Fanfarlo - "I'm a Pilot"

Also, Dan Harris from ABC news has a indie rock video blog but I'm not sure if he's a parent or not.  check it here Amplified.
Watch his interview with David Cross after the jump

Sub Pop/Label of the Week

A few posts back I talked about buying albums from bands that I had never heard or heard of, based solely on what label they were on.  Sub Pop Records has always been one of those labels.  Sub Pop was originally known for finding Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney, but they've moved way past that original "grunge" sound and have too many great bands to list (The Shins, The Postal Service, Wolf Parade, Band of Horses, Iron and Wine, Fleet Foxes to name a few).   I used to purchase blindly before you could sample everything on ITunes, Amazon, emusic, etc. or just type in the band on a site like Pandora or Mog and listen to the artist's "radio station".  Actually this was before record stores even had their listening stations for certain CD's (btw-record labels paid a lot of money to get those albums in the listening stations).


So, instead of album of the week, I'm giving you the Label of the week.  Go HERE to download a bunch of songs free from Sub Pop.  It looks like it's some crazy virus site but it's not.  The name of the sampler is Cybersex.  I was given the free download link because I bought the Shazam app for my Iphone, which is a song identifier app.  Great songs on there from Beach House, Flight Of the Conchords, Avi Buffalo, Handsome Furs, No Age, Nirvana (live), Fruit Bats...
After the jump, check out the video of the 3 year old singing the excellent Dum Dum Girls song that's on the  sampler, plus I have the track listing...

Just Buy These

No reviews, no opinions, no email lists to sign up for...
Songs: (5 new, 1 newish)
Frightened Rabbit - "Swim Until You Can't See Land"
Broken Social Scene - "Texico Bitches"
Surfer Blood - "Floating Vibes"
Dr. Dog - "Shadow People"
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - "I Learned the Hard Way"

White Denim - "Regina Holding Hands"

Albums: (1 new, 1 not new)
Broken Bells - Broken Bells


Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Friday Shuffle vs. B96/96.3 FM (WBBM) Chicago

B96 Chicago.  In the music industry this is considered a "Rhythmic" station, which means it falls somewhere between an Urban station like WGCI and a Top 40 station like KISS.
Check out the difference in airplay charts between the three formats (urban, rhythmic & top 40).  The difference is pretty minimal but it's there, you won't see the likes of Paramore or 3OH!3 at Rhythmic and the Top 40 Chart is missing the likes of T.I. and Cali Swag District.  Let's see how much different my shuffle will be from these charts, my guess is that nothing on these charts shows up on my shuffle, but you never know...how about yours?

So, here we go, B96 shuffle  for this past Monday 6pm-7pm:

6 PM
WBBM-FM	6:01 PM	LA ROUX		Bulletproof	2009	C
WBBM-FM	6:04 PM	EMINEM		Love The Way You Lie f/Rihanna	2010	C
WBBM-FM	6:09 PM	KE$HA		Your Love Is My Drug	2009	C
WBBM-FM	6:12 PM	JAY-Z		Young Forever f/Mr. Hudson	2009	R
WBBM-FM	6:16 PM	BREAK		Commercials And/Or Recorded Promos
WBBM-FM	6:22 PM	B.O.B		Airplanes f/Hayley Williams	2010	C
WBBM-FM	6:27 PM	CIARA		Ride f/Ludacris	2010	C
WBBM-FM	6:32 PM	BREAK		Commercials And/Or Recorded Promos
WBBM-FM	6:37 PM	USHER		OMG f/will.i.am	2010	C
WBBM-FM	6:42 PM	BLACK EYED PEAS		Rock That Body	2009	C
WBBM-FM	6:46 PM	B.O.B		Nothin' On You f/Bruno Mars	2009	C
WBBM-FM	6:50 PM	USHER F/PITBULL		DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love	2010	C
WBBM-FM	6:54 PM	PERRY, KATY		California Gurls f/Snoop Dogg	2010	C
WBBM-FM	6:57 PM	LADY GAGA		Poker Face	2008	R
	7 PM

And my Itunes shuffle from this morning:
...coming...after I get in a run, take care of my daughter, shower, coffee...

Sevendust - "Coward"
Velocity Girl - "Sorry Again"
Velocity Girl - Sorry Again

Lotion - La Boost
Blink 182 - "All the Small Things"
Pink - "Don't Let Me Get Me"
The Beastie Boys - "Dr Lee, PhD"
The Replacements - "Nobody"
New York Dolls - Personality Crisis
Wolf Parade - "Yulia"
Wolf Parade - "Yulia"
Neutral Milk Hotel - "Someone is Waiting"
Air - "Lucky and Unhappy"
Calexico - "Attack El Robot!  Attack!"
Elliott Smith - "Tomorrow Tomorrow"
Jawbox - "Cooling Card"

They Might Be Giants/Music for Parents? for Kids? Both!

Music for Parents isn't always mutually exclusive from the music your kids can enjoy.  My daughter loves it when The Flaming Lips song "This Here Giraffe" plays on the radio, or when Yacht's "Psychic City" blasts out of our speakers.  They Might Be Giants are probably the best example of a band that both kids and parents can enjoy.  They have albums made for children (Here Come the ABC's, Here Come the 1,2,3's, No!, Here Comes Science) which are educational, fun and guaranteed to hold off on the annoyance factor longer than most children's music.
But here is the fun part, go back and listen to some of their older music before they were making songs for kids.  They were always making songs for kids!  I bet if you put the Lincoln album on your kids will love "Ana Ng" or "Shoehorn with Teeth".  Or from the album They Might Be Giants, "Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head", "Number Three" and "Don't Let's Start".  From Flood check out "Birdhouse in Your Soul", "Instanbul (not Constantinople)", "Particle Man" and "Whistling in the Dark".
Birdhouse In Your Soul - Live


Make sure you check the blog on Saturday, I'll have a new feature, "just buy these".  I'm going to recommend 5 songs (4 new, 1 less new) and two albums (new, less new) for you to buy.  For the price of a couple cups of coffee a week you can start to rebuild your music collection and get your ears back.  No review, no thinking, just do it.