Beat City Radio Podcast Feed: Recent Episodes
Levi Montana Keller
Featuring an eclectic amassment of Indie, Lo-Fi, New Wave, Post Punk, Shoegazing, Grunge, Electronica, and other genres varied and sundry; running the gamut of vintage through contemporary, well-known and obscure. Each weeknight at 8 PM (MST) from the studios of KISU-Pocatello. Live at 91.1 FM, 91.3 FM.
The San Franciscan neo-post-punk outfit The Soft Moon is definitely high up on my list of spectacular contemporary bands. This Room 205 session lead by Louis Valquez, the principal songwriter of the group, is comprised of an inspirational set of dark, haunted and claustrophobic tracks. The music, as well as the avant-garde imagery by band member Ron Robinson, paints a fine image of techno-surrealistic dystopia. This is one hell of a great performance.
Dirty Beaches is the recording moniker of Taiwan-born international drifter and musician Alex Zhang Huntai. He returns after a string of singles with Badlands, a low-fidelity analog musical journey through the seedy side of the 1950s. This album hearkens back to the booming and naive age of the automobile, excess, waste, uniformity and kitsch, but safely avoids the deluded nostalgia that oftentimes accompanies a retro-fifties throwback. Badlands is not a record for people who swoon over cliche 50s-related garbage: 1957 Chevrolets with Mag wheels, poodle skirts, Barbie and Elvis Presley postage stamps. This record is grimy, opiate and speed addled, surf-tinged minimalistic sock hop noise pop. It is the music of Frank Booth and of Sailor Ripley and Lula Fortune.
During the first 16 minutes of Badlands, Huntai rattles, stammers and yelps through "Speedway King," "Horses," "Sweet 17" and "A Hundred Highways," all songs that could have come from a Suicide album that washed up on a toxic, oil-saturated beach. The slowed-down, pensive and crooning side of the albumbegins with "True Blue" and "Lord Knows Best," two stand out tracks that could be on a bootleg cassette of a strung out and lovelorn Roy Orbison recorded through the walls of a sleazy motel. The softer side of the record is well-suited for a twisted and surreal trip through the 1950s and would sound at home playing from the tinny speakers of a fallout covered analog tube radio. The final two tracks, "Black Nylon" and "Hotel" are instrumental numbers that drone and meander, bringing the album to a pleasant close.
Badlands is an enjoyable listen, though disappointingly short, with only eight songs that clock in at just under 27 minutes. This record culls elements from some of my favorite eras in the annals of music history: late 50s and early 60s Pop, Rockabilly and Surf and mid-to-late 70s Post-punk and No Wave. Alex Zhang Huntai may not be the most original artist on the scene, but he's definitely creating music that is refreshing to hear in 2011; this guy has potential. If Rockabilly was for rebels in the age of Populuxe, Badlands would have been for the truly disaffected.
Download [mp3]: Sweet 17, Horses, Lord Knows Best
Bonus [mp3]: Suicide - Frankie Teardrop from Suicide
For fans of: The Cramps, Suicide, The Raveonettes, David Lynch and William S. Burroughs.
Also reminds me of: Six String Samurai, Stubbs the Zombie and Fallout.
Bonus Videos:
We've been really busy and have neglected this web space; however, updates are coming soon. The playlist links below should be up-to-date and functioning, though.
Stay tuned...
This show features several new releases from March 29. More information about the records is below.
Update! I think I mentioned in this show that All Eternals Deck was the Mountain Goats third LP, which is obviously incorrect (ouch, indie cred!). What I meant to and should have said was that this is the third LP with a more rock-oriented trio. Sorry, ya'll.
Beat City Radio #583 Playlist
Download show (right-click, save target as): Beat City Radio #583
Stream:
A Few of This Week's New Releases
The Mountain Goats released All Eternals Deck, which takes its name from a fictional set of tarot cards. The album shows that John Darnielle's songwriting is still quite solid and the rhythm section gets a boost from Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster. Stream the album on NPR's website. Favorite tracks: Damn These Vampires, High Hawk Season, The Autopsy Garland, For Charles Bronson, Birth of Serpents.
Hosannas is a duo from Portlandia who create sweeping and beautiful experimental dream pop tinged with cosmic spaghetti western sounds and shoegazing tendencies. They are back with a FREE EP, Thug Life Nicole, that follows the release of their third album, Together late last year. Find out more about the band and download the EP from the link above.
Bonus mp3s:
Hosannas - Obsolete People
Hosannas - Walroos
From the Moon Duo website: "Moon Duo was formed by Ripley Johnson of Wooden Shjips and Sanae Yamada in San Francisco in 2009. Inspired initially by the legendary duo of John Coltrane and Rashied Ali, Moon Duo counts such variant groups as Silver Apples, Royal Trux, Moolah, Suicide, and Cluster as touchstones. Utilizing primarily guitar, keyboards, and vocals, the Duo plays space against form to create a primeval sound experience." This experimental psychedelic duo dropped Mazes this week on Sacred Bones Records.
Bonus mp3s:
Moon Duo - Mazes
Moon Duo - ScarsMoon Duo - When You Cut The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are a shoegazing bliss/gliss rock quartet from Brooklyn, NY. They released their debut self-titled album a couple of years ago to much critical acclaim. That record was very much rooted in the 80s, with elements of post-punk, dream pop, twee, and the C86 sound. It was a very saccharine heart-on-the-sleeve album, but balanced those elements with some darker tones and distortion. The sophomore album, Belong out on Slumberland Records, builds on the first album's elements and takes them further with a BIG and slick wall of sound production style, courtesy of Flood and Alan Moulder (Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine, Depeche Mode). The overall sound of this album is early 90s guitar pop-rock, though there are some synth-washed tracks that recall Modern English and The Cure. Belong is a big-sounding, shimmering and slick, heart-breakingly blissful record that glides along beautifully and is enjoyable, though cloying at times. Favorite tracks: Heart in Your Heartbreak, My Terrible Friend,Anne With an E, The Body.Bonus mp3:The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - I Wanna Go All the Way (B-side of the Belong 7" vinyl single).We also played a new one from Swedish indie rockers Peter Bjorn and John's new album, Gimme Some and a couple from Dirty Beaches. We'll feature Dirty Beaches in another post.Enjoy!Bonus Video: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Young Adult Friction from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart out on Slumberland Records in 2009.
Beat City Radio #585 Playlist
Download (right-click, save target as): Beat City Radio #585
Stream:
Bonus Video:
Yes, this is a joke.
Utah County Swillers Source: gonzoshots.comBeat City Radio #584 PlaylistDownload the show (right-click, save target as): Beat City Radio #584Stream:Tonight's show is a mix of Psychobilly, Cow Punk, Roots Punk, Goth Rock, Surf, and more. The featured artist is Springville, Utah's redneck punkers, The Utah County Swillers, a band that recently played with the Queen of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson, who is on tour in support of the Jack White produced album, The Party Ain't Over. The Swillers are to bring their mix of irreverent, wry humor and booze-saturated, pill poppin' roots punk rock 'n' roll to Pocatello this Saturday night, April 2, at the First National Bar. There is no cover and the show starts at 9:30 PM. RIYL: The Dead Milkmen, Mojo Nixon, The Gun Club, The Waco Brothers, White Trash Watson, The Reverend Horton Heat, etc. Bonus mp3s: The Utah County Swillers - Hold Your Breath from Polygamist out on Big Bender Records.The Utah County Swillers - Tits on Bacon from Polygamist out on Big Bender Records.The Utah County Swillers - Hope You're Happy Now from Polygamist out on Big Bender Records.
Beat City Radio #582 Playlist
Download (right-click, save target as): Beat City Radio #582
Stream:
Chenoa Roseberry of Somewhere in Texas Radio and Portneuf Valley Bruisers RDA fame put together this wonderful mix. Hopefully she'll grace us with her on-air presence more often in the future.
Beat City Radio #581 Playlist
Stream:
Download (right-click, save target as): Beat City Radio #581: Guest DJ, Chenoa Roseberry
Bonus Video: Uncle Leon & the Alibis - "Roller Derby Saved My Soul"
Beat City Radio #580 Playlist
Stream:
Download (right-click, save target as): Beat City Radio #580
Bonus Video: Janis Ian at age 16 performing "Society's Child" on the Smothers Brothers show.
Beat City Radio #579 PLAYLIST
Stream:
Download Show (right-click and save target as): Beat City Radio #579 (March 23, 2011)
Bonus video:
Source: Youtube
Sometimes the Spring season isn't as bright and cheery as it's supposed to be and post-winter seasonal depression kicks in. This angsty, psychedelia-tinged, shoegazing reverie of a show attempts to touch on that feeling, as well as the bi-polarity inherent in the start-stop-start-stop-again crawl of springtime, and the apprehension that sometimes accompanies the new beginnings, growth, and rebirth that occur during this time of the year. Plus, there are several tracks referencing the gaseous and incendiary sphere that we orbit, all the while knowing it will one day collapse and take everything with it.
Beat City Radio #578 PLAYLIST
Stream:
Download show (right-click, save target as):
Beat City Radio #578 - March 22, 2011
Bonus mp3s:
Crystal Stilts - Flying Into the Sun from In Love With Oblivion which drops April 12. Pre-order from Insound.
Fight Bite - Spring Rain
The Velvet Underground - Who Loves the Sun
Bonus Video: Coma Cinema - "Her Sinking Sun" from Blue Suicide. Purchase the cassette here.
Source: Woodstock Council for World Peace
I'm back from my spring holiday and feel quite refreshed and ready to get back to work. We have implemented a new playlist reporting method at KISU, and it's kind of time consuming, so I think I'll just start linking to the playlist entries over there. We'll still post podcasts, mp3s, videos, and the like at this we location. Also, check out the widget on the top right-hand corner of the page. It's an indicator of what's live on KISU at the moment, and if you're streaming Beat City Radio live, you'll see a list of the last four songs played on the show and the times they started. Kinda neat, aye?
This edition of the show aired the day after the 2011 Spring Equinox and some of the songs are a tad icy and crushing.
BCR 3-21-11 PLAYLIST
Download (right-click, save target as): Beat City Radio March 21, 2011
Stream:
Our playlist links are currently inactive as our hosting site seems to have devoured the data. I'll be re-entering all of the info and the links should be working soon. Thanks for listening!
Following the trend of NSFW music videos that seem to be all over the place in recent times, Ringo Deathstarr's latest one for "Two Girls" features half-naked and sexy women, including Deathstarr Bassist/Vocalist/Narcissist Alex Ghering. It's a fun and provocative visual accompaniment for the wonderfully noisy track from the Texan Shoegazing Noise-Poppers' debut full length LP Colour Trip, which was released this year on Club AC30 in the U.K. and Sonic Unyon in the U.S.. Also, check out the "Imagine Hearts" video, which is an enjoyable colour trip of its own, but may induce an epileptic seizure.
The embedded player was malfunctioning so here's a direct link to the "Two Girls" video.
Firstly, the illustrious Chenoa Roseberry will be guest-hosting tonight's program as I'm on holiday this week. Leaked information indicates that the set that will include the likes of Bitches, Devo, and the Meat Puppets, among others, so tune in for a rocking mix at 8 PM (MST). If you miss the broadcast, we'll be posting a playlist as well as a stream and download link in the coming days.
Secondly, I anticipated having time to post this week's podcasts and playlists while on vacation, but just haven't been able to squeeze it in. So, if time allows, they'll be up later today.
Last, but not least, Tender Loving Empire label mates Jared Mees & The Grown Children (Portland, OR) and Finn Riggins (Boise, ID) will be playing at The Flipside Lounge in Pocatello this evening beginning at 8 PM.
From the Finn Riggins event page:
"Tender Loving Empire labelmates team-up for a night of revelry and wild dance partyness in SE Idaho at the infamous FlipSide Lounge in Pocatello. no idea who plays first or second or any of that, but positive it's gonna be a party so get there early. we're old tour mates and the best of friends -- we intend to rip it up and we hope the good people of SE Idaho would like to join us. invite your friends too!"
It's been a while coming, and now we're all up-to-date on this, the online home of our humble radio program, and are looking forward to an enjoyable spring break. If you have some time over the next week or so, kick back with some headphones and enjoy the two How to Dress Well videos below. And don't forget to scour the rest of this blog for videos, mp3s, podcasts, playlists, and more. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any feedback about the show and/or blog. We'll be updating throughout the week, as well.
How To Dress Well : "Suicide Dream 2" from Jamie Harley on Vimeo.
Captured Tracks will be re-issuing two of The Wake's 7" vinyl singles, as well as a tribute 7" featuring covers by Beach Fossils and Wild Nothing, as part of this year's Record Store Day celebration slated for April 16.
The Wake were a Scottish post-punk-turned-postmodern indie band that existed from 1981 to 1994 and briefly included Primal Scream front-man and Jesus and Mary Chain drummer Bobby Gillespie.
Downloads are below, and if you like what you hear, look for these releases on Record Store Day (I suggest talking to the folks at Budget Tapes & Records to ensure the availability of these releases in Pocatello):
"On Our Honeymoon" single - 1982
A. On Our Honeymoon [mediafire]
B. Give Up
"Crush the Flowers" single - 1989
A. Crush the Flowers [medifire]
B. Carbrain
Gruesome Flowers: A Tribute to The Wake single
A. Beach Fossils - Plastic Flowers (Stream track at Pitchfork)
B. Wild Nothing - Gruesome Castle
Stream:
Download (right-click, save target as): Beat City Radio #574
Playlist:
Jeff the Brotherhood – Diamond Way (We Are the Champions) 2011
Blank Dogs – Northern Islands (Land and Fixed) 2010
Mind Spiders – World’s Destroyed (Mind Spiders 7”) 2010
Dum Dum Girls – Take Care of My Baby (He Gets Me High EP) 2011
Crystal Stilts – Magnetic Moon (Shake the Shackles 7”) 2010
Bad Sports – Last Cigarette (Bad Sports) 2009
Station Break
Buzzcocks – Promises 1978
Altered Images – Dead Pop Stars 1981
The Wake – On Our Honeymoon 1982
New Order – Dreams Never End (Movement) 1981
Primal Scream – Velocity Girl (V/a: C86) 1986
The Jesus & Mary Chain – Psychocandy (Some Candy Talking single) 1986
Station Break
The Wake – Plastic Flowers (Here Comes Everybody) 1985
Stricken City – Some Say (Losing Colour) 2011
Siouxsie & the Banshees – Lunar Camel (Kaleidoscope) 1980
The Hundred in the Hands – Gold Blood (The Hundred in the Hands) 2010
St. Paddy's Day show featuring several bands of Irish descent and more.
Bonus mp3s:
Crystal Stilts - Verdant Gaze [mediafire]
The Cramps - Green Door [mediafire]
Randy Alvey and the Green Fuz - Green Fuz [mediafire]
New Order - Everything's Gone Green [mediafire]
Stream:
Download (right-click, save target as): Beat City Radio #576
Playlist:
Dropkick Murphys – The Spicy McHaggis Jig (Sing Loud, Sing Proud!) 2001
Flogging Molly – Drunken Lullabies (Drunken Lullabies) 2002
Ash – Teenage Kicks (John Peel Session) Undertones cover
The Undertones – Get Over You (Get Over You single) 1979
Stiff Little Fingers – Alternative Ulster (Inflammable Material) 1979
Morrissey – Irish Blood, English Heart (You are the Quarry) 2004
Station Break
Virgin Prunes – Baby Turns Blue (If I Die, I Die) 1982
Boomtown Rats – Up All Night (Ratrospective) 1983
That Petrol Emotion – Big Decision (Babble) 1987
My Bloody Valentine – Nothing Much to Lose (Isn’t Anything) 1988
Them – Here Comes the Night (Here Comes the Night single) 1965
The Magnetic Fields – Torn Green Velvet Eyes (Holiday) 1994
Station Break
Santah – Irish Wristwatch
The Glove – This Green City (Blue Sunshine) 1983
Star 69 – Girl From Mars (You Are Here) 1996 Ash cover
Real Estate – Green River (Real Estate) 2009
The Pogues – Dirty Old Town (Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash) 1985
Stream:
Download (right-click, save target as): Beat City Radio #575
Playlist:
Megaphonic Thrift – Candy Sin
The Luyas – Too Beautiful to Work
The Radio Dept. – We Would Fall Against the Tide
The Vandelles – Summer Fling
The Raveonettes – Break Up Girls!
Neon Indian – Children of the Revolution T. Rex cover
Young Cirlces – Sharp Teeth
Beck – Sweet Sunshine
Dead Gaze – Fishing with Robert
Jatun – Ghost and Grey (Radio Edit)
Hosannas – Multichamber American Future
Acrylics – Sparrow Song
Mutual Benefit – Stargazer
Pills for Sara – Winterpills
Robin Pecknold – I’m Losing Myself feat. Ed Droste
The Kills released a new track today entitled "DNA" via their website. Sign up for their e-mail list to download it. Their latest album, Blood Pressures is out April 5.
Stream:
Download (right-click, save target as): Beat City Radio #573
Playlist:
Ringo Deathstarr – Kaleidoscope (Colour Trip) 2011
Crystal Stilts – Shake the Shackles (Shake the Shackles 7”) 2010
Sunsplit – She Said (Sing for Sunday) 2007
The Jesus & Mary Chain – Reverberation (Doubt) (The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides and Rarities) 2008 13th Floor Elevators cover
13th Floor Elevators – You’re Gonna Miss Me (The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators) 1966
Christmas – Winter (Winter 7”) Endless Latino 2009
Station Break
Xray Eyeballs – Crystal (Not Nothing) 2011 Drops 4/19
The Black Lips – Cold Hands (Good Bad Not Evil) 2007
The Count Five – Psychotic Reaction (Psychotic Reaction single) 1966
Magik Markers – Taste (Boss) Ecstatic Peace 2007
Woven Bones – Sister Ray Live on Radio K 2011
The Cramps – Primitive (Psychedelic Jungle) 1981
Station Break
The Raveonettes – My Tornado (Whip It On EP) 2002
The Vandelles – Lovely Weather (The Vandelles EP) 2009
The Storms – Thunder (Tarantula/Storms 7” single) 1959
The Kills – DNA (Blood Pressures) 2011 Drops 4/5
The Liminanas – The Darkside (The Liminanas) 2010
The Vacant Lots – Confusion (Hypnotized) 2010
Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes. Source: WikipediaThis show features the Three Songs EP from hirsute Baroque-folker Robin Pecknold, better known as the frontman of Seattle's Fleet Foxes. The EP was somewhat clandestinely released via Fleet Foxes' Twitter account on March 7. The tracks should help sate the appetite of fans anxiously awaiting the sophomore record from the band, which is slated for release on May 3. Though Pecknold (and his amazing set of pipes) are behind these tracks, they're quieter and less layered than full band tracks. I'm particularly fond of the first cut featuring Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear. Download the EP below and enjoy with your favorite amber-colored libation.
Robin Pecknold - I'm Losing Myself feat. Ed Droste (Stereogum)
Robin Pecknold - Derwentwater Stones (Stereogum)
Robin Pecknold - Where is My Wild Rose (Stereogum)
Stream:
Download (right-click, save target as): Beat City Radio #572
Playlist:
The Decemberists – Rox in the Box (The King is Dead) 2011
Band Of Horses – Weed Party (Everything All the Time) 2006
The Knitters – Poor Old Heartsick Me (Poor Little Critter on the Road) 1985
Johnny Dilks & His Visitacion Valley Boys – Stalin Kicked the Bucket (Acres of Heartache) 1999
Southern Culture on the Skids – The Great Atomic Power (Ditch Diggin’) 1994
The Gun Club – Black Train (Fire of Love) 1981
Station Break
Deer Tick – Straight Into a Storm (Born on Flag Day) 2009
The Growlers – Sea Lion Goth Blues (Hot Tropics) 2010
Wanda Jackson w/ The Cramps – Riot in Cell Block #9 (Heart Trouble) 2003
Amazing Crowns – Shiverin’ in the Corner (Amazing Royal Crowns) 1997
The Cramps – Super Goo (Big Beat from Badsville) 1997
Josie Kreuzer – 12 Dollars & A Heartache (As Is) 1999
Station Break
Exene Cervenka – Trojan Horse (Somewhere Gone) 2009
Cowboy Nation – E-Z Ridin’ Cowboy (A Journey Out of Time) 2000
Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs – Murder in My Mind (Medicine County) 2010
Robin Pecknold – I’m Losing Myself (Feat. Ed Droste) (Three Songs EP) 2011
Robin Pecknold – Derwentwater Stones (Three Songs EP) 2011
Robin Pecknold – Where is My Wild Rose? (Three Songs EP) 2011
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues (Helplessness Blues) 2011 Drops 5/3
Echo Lake - Young Silence from Dan Nixon on Vimeo.
The ghostly, titular video for Echo Lake's debut EP, Young Silence, was shot D.I.Y. style on an Xbox Kinect. This is the first Kinect-shot music video that I'm aware of, and puts the device to interesting use.
"Flying too close to the sun with just their debut release, London's Echo Lake give an arresting take on the dronier side of psychedelic's pop frontier. Six tracks of chiming chorals, strangely metallic sleigh bells and string hit snares, it's Teen Dream on the case of Fitzgerald's green light. For fans of My Bloody Valentine and the Cocteau Twins." -Insound
Mp3s:
Echo Lake - Young Silence [mediafire]
Echo Lake - Buried at Sea [mediafire]
Foster the People's ubiquitous "Pumped Up Kicks" is catchy-as-hell Bubblegum Pop replete with whistling and dark lyrics about a crazed "Cowboy Kid" wielding a six-shooter. It reminds me of Gus Van Sant's Elephant.
Stream:
Download: (right-click, save target as): Beat City Radio #570
Playlist:
Peter Bjorn and John – Amsterdam (Writer’s Block) 2006
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes – Home (Up From Below) 2009
Intelligence – Warm Transfers (Fake Surfers) 2009
Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks (Foster the People EP) 2011 * Full-length Torches drops 5/25*
Matt & Kim – Cameras (Sidewalks) 2010
Phantogram – Mouthful of Diamonds (Eyelid Movies) 2010
Station Break
White Denim – Drug (D) 2011 Drops 5/24
Betty Airs – She’s the Juan (Creepin’ It Real EP) 2011
Surfer Blood- Catholic Pagans (Astro Coast) 2010
Metric – Dead Disco (Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?) 2003
Mother Mother – Aspiring Fires (Eureka) 2011
Winter Gloves – Let Me Drive (About a Girl) 2008
Station Break
Stars – Dead Hearts (The Five Ghosts) 2010
Arcade Fire – Modern Man (The Suburbs) 2010
Hosannas – Opposite People (Song Force Crystal) 2009
Beach House – Norway (Teen Dream) 2010
Stream:
Download (right-click, save target as): Beat City Radio #571
Playlist:
Dum Dum Girls – He Gets Me High (He Gets Me High EP) 2011
Ringo Deathstarr – Do It Every Time (Colour Trip) Sonic Unyon 2011
Crocodiles – Hearts of Love (Sleep Forever) 2010
Frankie Rose and the Outs – Candy (Frankie Rose and the Outs) 2010
Crystal Stilts – Shake the Shackles (Shake the Shackles 7”) Slumberland 2010
The Pink Mountaintops – Execution (Outside Love) 2009
Station Break
Yacht – Waste of Time Fabulous Stains cover
The Raincoats – Lola (The Raincoats) 1979 Kinks cover
The Sandwitches – Lightfoot (Mrs. Jones’ Cookies) 2011 Drops 3/29
Saturday Looks Good to Me – Your Small Heart (Sound on Sound) 2006
Heavenly – C is the Heavenly Option (Le Jardin de Heavenly) 1992
Hunx & His Punks – Lover’s Lane [mp3] (Too Young to Be in Love) Hardly Art 2011 Drops 3/29
Station Break
Vivian Girls – I Heard You Say
The Jesus & Mary Chain – You Trip Me Up (Acoustic) (The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides & Rarities) 2008
Eternal Summers – Eternal (Silver) 2010
The Raveonettes – Forget That You’re Young (Raven in the Grave) 2010
Here We Go Magic – Hands in the Sky (The January EP) 2011 Drops 5/10
Don't Put Out: