Freestailo #38 - 6/22/12

Right Click/Ctrl-Click to Download Freestailo #38 Here

Why I want it to rain

I woke up this morning, and for once in my life, I wasn't totally stoked to go to the station and play you some tunes. We've all had that morning: you wake up, stare at the ceiling, realize you got up earlier than your alarm, lie in bed some more, realize you need to DJ, put on some pants, and grab some records. If it hadn't been for a small theme of "rain" I found between two records I had, I probably wouldn't have had so much fun. 

All right, now let's talk about my experience with the long layer that I did for this show. There were a lot of things I liked, but also a lot of things I didn't like. My thought process for it was to start soft with the guitar, and use the Robert Lax recording to slowly layer, but I accidentally put in the wrong CD, which was a dumb mistake. I think that might have gotten me in a weird groove, despite fixing it immediately. After that, I layered the "Istomonography" track, which perhaps just added a lot of white noise to the equation, along with the jungle sounds, which was more white noise, in a sense. As I listened back to this, it was almost annoying, until the Carpet Musics track came in, which I simply put on repeat for the duration of the layering. I think that this gave a lot of stability to the layering. It had the same calming sound like Robert Lax, but brought together the noise to make aural sense. The Ravi Shankar track was next, which was an interesting balance for the layering, because at times it went together well with the Carpet Musics track, and at times it went together with the noise tracks.

A little infographic I modded for y'all. You're welcome.

Throughout the track, I found myself really focusing on Robert Lax and Carpet Musics, and grouping the others together in a separate track completely, as if the layering was composed of only 2--maybe 3--parts. This brought me to a small revelation about freeform, and the layering technique: it must be aurally comprehensible. I don't know about all of you, but for me, my brain can only take so much of a "noise" soundscape before my ears shut down from listening critically, and therefore must have something to separate. Instead of having 6 things to try to understand, my brain split it into 2 or 3. To successfully layer something, I've concluded that the listener must be able to divide and comprehend it aurally, and that for a long layering, it's best to add things one at a time, with a good solid space in between.

Robert Lax

My favorite thing about the layering piece was the moment when the tracks slowly started ending, but Robert Lax was still talking. I could feel my body relax more and more, especially after such tension throughout the piece, and when it came down to just 1 track (still Robert Lax), my brain had no choice but to focus itself completely, almost like meditation. Like I said before though, I definitely have mixed feelings about how it actually sounded, but the fact that I strandled the line of failure helped me really understand more about how I create more interesting pieces for you guys. 

Let me know what you thought of the show, and especially the layering! 

[Artist: Song - Album]

1. Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain - Shaka Zulu
2. Hugh Masekela: Motlalepula (The Rainmaker) - Techno Bush
3. Edith Piaf: D'Accordéoniste - Disque D'or de Edith Piaf
4. Kohwi: Rem - Hidden Trees
5. Moe Tucker: Hey, Mr. Rain - Moe Tucker
6. Mira: Don't - Mira
7. The Marcels: Blue Moon - The Best of Doo Wop Uptempo
8. Los Marimbas Caliente: Macarenas - The Gaiety and Romance of a Holiday in Mexico
9. Kid Loco: (track 1) - The Graffiti Artist
10. Julius Katchen: Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Handel - Brahms: Complete Piano Works
11. Whale: Deliver The Juice - All Disco Dance Must End In Broken Bones
12. Bob Dylan: Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 - The Essential Bob Dylan
13. Coco Rosie: Trinity's Crying - Grey Oceans
14. Mo Kenney: Eden - Eden/Great Escape
15. Tabla Beat Science: Triangular Objects - Tala Matrix
16. Billie Holiday: Stormy Weather - The Unique Billie Holiday
17. Ed Sullivan: How Are Things In Glocca Morra? (From "Finian's Rainbow") - Songs of Ireland
18. Daedelus: Fair Weather Friends - Love To Make Music To
19. Bobby Darin: Mack The Knife - Beyond The Sea/Mack The Knife
20. The White Stripes: Red Rain - Get Behind Me Satan
21. Amon Amarth: Across The Rainbow Bridge - Versus The World
22. Kazumi Totaka: Rainy Day - Animal Crossing GC OST
23. Santiago Navascues: Gaspar Sanz: Twelve Dances from "Instrucción de Música Sobre la Guitarra Española" - Music For The Spanish Guitar
24. Robert Lax: Various - Wake up re:lax
25. Nautical Almanac: Istomonography - Cisum
26. Rainy Season Sounds - Sounds of a Tropical Rain Forest in America
27. Carpet Musics: Hail Storm - Weekday
28. Ravi Shankar: Raga Kaushi Kanhara: Gat in Dhamar - Full Circle Carnegie Hall 2000
29. Bonnie Pink: It's gonna rain! - Rurouni Kenshin Themes
30. Red Sea Pedestrians: Golden Apple - The Electromagnetic Escape
31. Osibisa: Seaside Meditation - Welcome Home
32. The Andrews Sisters: Rum & Coca-Cola - Rum & Coca-Cola/Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
33. The Supremes: The Lady Is A Tramp - The Supremes Sing Rodgers & Hart
34. Rafael Mendez: The Little Russian Donkey - Magnificent Mendez
35. Madeleine Peyroux: California Rain - Half The Perfect World
36. The Carpenters: Superstar - Superstar/Beasts & Children
37. Himadari: Lucid Lure + Ah, Elektra - Himadari
38. Trio Mediaeval: Nu solen går ned (The sun is setting) - Folk Songs
39. Faze Action: Là-bas c'est naturel - I <3 Serge
40. Regina Spektor: Raindrops - (unreleased demo)
41. Cookie Monster and the Girls: Me Lost Me Cookie At The Disco - Sesame Disco
42. E. Koestyara and Group Gapura: Sangkala - Sangkala

Good things:

1. Rum & Coca-Cola: I bought this gem at the NXNE Record Fair, and I hadn't listened to it before bringing it to you guys, so this was as much a surprise for me as (possibly) you. Can't wait to play Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy sometime.
2. Cookie Monster: I think this was a pretty nice way to wrap up the show. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for die Discothek now. 
3. Ladysmith Black Mambazo: I've been listening to this record for the past week quite a lot, and I keep falling in love with it. I'm really happy I got to share it with you guys. You'll probably hear it again. 

Bad things: 

1. Pauses: I don't think they were tooo long, but there were a few pauses that I didn't have a handle on because I was previewing the next song to play, and just lost my head. That'll teach me not to drink coffee before coming to the station.
2. Yawning: Sorry about this. Maybe you don't care, but if we were having a conversation and I kept yawning like I was, that would just be flat-out rude, and not my style. Was this distracting for you?
3. Trio Mediaeval: I just wasn't digging this. The recording was too quiet, and it was just a bit languid for where this was in the set. 

Thanks a lot for listening, and please give me some feedback if you have any! Or even just say hey. Until next week! 

Freestailo #32 - 4/25/12

Right Click/Ctrl-Click to Download Freestailo #32 Here

Hey, heavenly monkeys.

So I was hanging out with my friend Sohpie, and I flat-out asked her, "What theme should I have for my show in an hour?" And she said, "Monk." She meant Thelonious Monk, but that sprung both of us into a series of song suggestions regarding monks and monkeys. Then she suggested "Flowers" for the second topic, and this is how this show exists.

I big contribution to this show in particular was you. Yes, YOU. I had quite a few calls with suggestions for the theme, and I don't think I could have kept the theme going without it. It's moments like those that makes me realize how important listeners are, if I ever forget.

[Artist: Song - Album]

1. Thelonious Monk: Blue Monk - At The Five Spot
2. Arctic Monkeys: Piledriver Waltz - Suck It And See
3. Pixies: Monkey Gone To Heaven - Doolittle
4. Monks of Doom: Eldridge Street - Soundtrack to the Film "Breakfast on the Beach of Deception"
5. Recorded by David Lewiston: Explorer Series - Festival of the Himalayas
6. Dust Bros.: Space Monkey - Fight Club OST
7. Gorillaz: Phoner To Arizona - The Fall
8. Misha Mengelberg Quartet: Monk's Mood - Four In One
9. Coin: Monkey Kunckles - Architects of Character
10. The Budos Band: Monkey See, Monkey Do - The Budos Band
11. The Monks: Monk Time - Black Monk Time
12. Matthew Dear: Monkey - Black City
13. Joanna Newsom: Monkey And Bear - Ys
14. Yuka Tsujiyoko: Flower Fields Rondo - Paper Mario OST
15. Einstürzende Neubauten: Blume - Strategies Against Architecture III
16. Andrew Bird: Fatal Flower Garden - The Swimming Hour
17. Animal Collective: In The Flowers - Merriweather Post Pavilion
18. Regina Spektor: The Flowers - Soviet Kitsch
19. Air: Cherry Blossom Girl - Talkie Walkie
20. Anamanaguchi: Flora/Fauna - Power Supply
21. Neutral Milk Hotel: The Kind of Carrot Flowers Pt. One - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
22. Urata Keishi: A Flower Without A Glimmer Of Kindness - Texhnolyze: Music Only Music But Music
23. Cibo Matto: Flowers - Pom Pom The Essential Cibo Matto
24. Victoria De Los Angeles & Miriam Pirazzini: Flower Duet (Il cannone del porto!") - Puccini: Madama Butterfly
25. The Monochrome Set: Wallflower - Chaps
26. unkonwn: Flower blossoming maidens' burdock's root dish - R.O.D. the TV OST
27. Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra: Waltz of the Flowers - Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite

Monkey Do:

1.  Themes: I've said this before, but having themes is a great way to connect a set, and having two themes was a great way to have a variety of sounds. As I was listening, the change from Monks to Flowers was clear, and created a whole new soundscape.
2. Paper Mario: Video game music really makes me happy in general, but Paper Mario is a game very dear to my heart, and it's always a pleasure hearing waves of MIDI goodness streaming over the airwaves. 
3. Joanna Newsom: Apparently many more people have love for Joanna Newsom than I thought. Immediately when I said that the topic was Monks/Monkeys, my friend Sophie gave me this song, and I got 2 calls about it! Thus, I had to play it, even though it ran into the flower set a bit.

Monkey Don't:

1. I honestly don't have a lot of bad things to say about this show. Perhaps I could have layered somethings, but I don't regret a thing. 

Finally catching up on updates! Stay tuned!

Freestailo #31 - 4/18/12

Right Click/Ctrl-Click to Download Freestailo #31 Here

I feel like a horrible, horrible friend for having waited so long to post this for you. I really do. But I have a few good excuses:

1. My senior recital
2. Graduation
3. 40-hour a week job
4. Catching up on a year's worth of sleep

Maybe only a couple of those are valid, but either way, I'm finally able to update this bad-boy.

By Ray Young Chu

Dinosaurs were a big part of the set today, and I want to explain something to all of you in regards to this request: I want more. I want more requests like this. I love specific song requests, that's great, artist requests too, but my favorite game to play in the WCBN library is, "Find the Theme." Even if you don't hear the theme viscerally in the music, it helps me to link my entire set together, and give it an extra punch. You know how you can request themes, my friends? In order of certainty:

1. Call the station: (734) 763-3500
2. Post on my Facebook page
3. E-mail me

And if I don't get it, then you've given me a new theme for next week! 

[Artist: Song - Album]

1. Xiu Xiu: Boy Soprano - The Air Force
2. Pyramaze: A Beautiful Death - Immortal
3. Secret Twins: Dead Heart - Ill Fit
4. Xeno & Oaklander: Ransack - Vigils
5. TypeQueen: Charlie the Unicorn - Newgrounds
6. Birdsongs of the Mesozoic: The Beat of the Mesozoic - The iridium Controversy
7. King Crimson: Dinosaur - Thrak
8. Blue Oyster Cult: Godzilla - Extraterrestrial Live
9. Alexander Zonjic: Romance With You - Romance With You
10. Shilpa Ray And Her Happy Hookers: Liquidation Sale - Teenage Torture
11. Aretha Franklin: Gimme Your Love - Through The Storm
12. Busdriver: Swandive into a Drinking Glass - Beaus $ Eros
13. Count Basie & Sarah Vaughn: You Go To My Head - Count Basie & Sarah Vaughn
14. Gary Graffman: Schumann: Romance in F-Sharp, Op. 28, No. 2 - Graffman Plays Schumann
15. Yppah: Golden Braid - Eighty One
16. Johnny Cash: Dinosaur Song - The Johnny Cash Children's Album
17. DJ Me DJ You: Zodiac Ape - Can You See The Music
18. Rancid: Lulu - Let The Dominoes Fall
19. Was Not Was: Walk The Dinosaur - What Up Dog
20. Lost Cat: Lip Lover - Lost Cat
21. Xiu Xiu: No friend oh! - Women As Lovers
22. Bar-Kays: Woman Of The Night - Flying High On Your Love
23. Nintendo: Dinosaur Fossil Display Room - Animal Crossing
24. Machetazo: Muerte Helada - Mundo Cripta
25. Antony And The Johnsons: Daylight And The Sun - The Crying Light

Oh friend oh!:

1. Xiu Xiu: I need to listen to more Xiu Xiu for xiure, but "Boy Soprano" in particular will always be stuck in my head. The kinds of instrumental layering that Xiu Xiu does is just insane, and I feel like I'm listening to a Salvador Dali painting.
2. Dinosaurs!: Thank you, listener, for requesting songs about dinosaurs. I had a lot of fun finding songs, and I got a couple of good requests from other DJs and listeners for songs to play. It's like a game for me, so thanks for playing along. Charlie the Unicorn in particular was a lot of fun to listen back to.
3. Schumann: That Romance in F-Sharp was definitely one of my favorite moments on the entire set, and it truthfully made me stop what I was doing and listen.

No friend no!:

1. Romance With You: Perhaps this was so bad it was good, but I really feel it was just baaaad.
2. Johnny Cash: I can only say I liked it because it was Johnny Cash. Nothing else. 
3. Too Two Xiu Xiu: I hadn't forgotten that I had played Xiu Xiu at the beginning of the set, but for some reason I felt compelled to play another Xiu Xiu song.

See you next time!

Freestailo #28 - 3/28/12

Right Click/Ctrl-Click to Download Freestailo #28 Here

This is the second movie night I've done on my show (the first being the "We Are The Strange" epic layering). Tonight it came partly out of laziness, but also the itching feeling that I needed to do a longer layering, longer than 30-minutes. The product? One of the best long layerings I've ever done. I enjoyed almost every moment listening back on this, and I would love to do it again. It gave me (and you) a chance to listen to some long tracks that otherwise probably rarely get played, and you got to tune into a radio-drama-esque 2-hours. And even the songs that I ended with after the movie was over integrated pretty well.

I've been wanting to watch The Maltese Falcon, and film noir is something I thought might be the perfect layering opportunity because of the dramatic pauses that I assumed film noir had...which I was correct in assuming.

I would love to hear your opinions about this show, because on my end, it was a very different approach to DJing than I normally take. Usually I grab some stuff, sit for a bit, grab some more stuff, take some requests, etc. This time I pretty much parked it with some limited things that I knew I wanted to use, with some requests. How different does it feel when listening? Do you prefer to listen to longer sets, or shorter sets? 10-minute songs, or 2-minute songs?

[Artist: Song - Album]

1. The Maltese Falcon - movie
2. Freiband & Machinefabriek: Oahu 2.1 - Oahu
3. Joan Baez: Jesse - Diamonds & Rust
4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Cast: Walk Through The Fire - Once More With Feeling
5. Fennesz: Black Sea - Black Sea
6. Neurosis: In The Wind - Given To The Rising
7. The Budos Band: Crimson Skies - III
8. Quench: nemm - Punctuated
9. Patricia Spero: Three Cantigas de Santa Maria - Alfonso el Sabio - Medieval Harp
10. Kevin Drumm & Losse Marhoug: (track 2) - Blizzard Winds
11. London Symphony Orchestra: II. Purgatorio - Liszt: Dante Symphony
12. Cataract: The Dying - Great Days of Vengeance
13. Les Mystére des Voix Bulgares: Altan Mara - Vol. 3
14. The OneUps: Donut Lifts (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island) - The OneUps
15. Cecilia Villar Eljuri: Empuja - Fuertes
16. knife city: braid - knife city
17. Escort: Chameleon Chameleon - Escort
18. Selector Catalogue: Life is Not a Movie - ?????????
19. Billie Holiday: Everything Happens To Me - Stormy Blues

Everything Happens To Me:

1. Movie night: I will repeat this in the future. Not only do I get to watch a movie, but you get to LISTEN to a movie without the obligation of watching it. And you get to hear layers. Real life has layers, people. 
2. Request/Transition: Thanks to my dedicated listener, I got a request to play a song that reminded me of my mother, so I played "Jesse" by Joan Baez. One of the best moments of this show was the transition from "Jesse" by Joan Baez to the Indian classical song. The Indian song had the same musical motif as "Jesse," and might have been in the same key. It was so seamless, and the layering with the movie and those three songs was so truthful as well.
3. Medieval harp: I really love this moment, because the sparseness of the content was a great contrast to what had happened before. I also love using medieval and renaissance music when I can. 

Nothing Happens To Me:

1. Movie ending early: I don't think this was really that bad, but I just didn't realize it was so short. *shrugs*
2. More layering?: The only thing that could have made this better is more experimentation, but I'm not even 

Stay tuned for another update next week for movie-night part 3. 

Freestailo #25 - 2/29/12 - Video Game Special!

Right Click/Ctrl-Click to Download Freestailo #25 Here

Itsa me! Freestailooooooo!

How I imagined my listeners during this show

This was a very special show for me, and something I've been thinking about doing for awhile. I've had moments in my show when I play video game music, such as the Super Mario RPG segment, and the Pokemon segment, but I've been telling myself that a show entirely made of video game music would be the best show ever. And I was right.

How I imagined myself during this show

The best thing by far about this show was that I've never gotten so many calls/messages into the station during one set in my life. I can't tell you how excited I was. Reverend Andrew was e-mailing me and IMing me with videos like this that I unfortunately didn't get to play, I got numerous requests besides those, including The Minibosses, Counter Cosby, Final Fantasy VIII, and Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball. This is what I live for, so thanks for fueling my fire. The highlight of this is when I got a call from a gamer who was SO EXCITED that I knew what the Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon game was, and that I played a song from it.

I would also love to hear your thoughts about games that I should have played from but didn't. The ones that immediately came to mind were: World of Warcraft, Donkey Kong, (more) Star Fox, and Sonic the Hedgehog. I realized after scouring the station for video game soundtracks, that we have only TWO: Super Mario 64, and Final Fantasy X. That's kind of tragic guys. I want to fix that so that all you can have the possibility of quality video game music over the airwaves at all times. And by the way listeners: what WOULD you want to have in the station? Shoot me some suggestions and I will do my best to get them in the station.

How I actually was during this show

Something I also wanted to mention is how good it felt to talk on the radio again. Perhaps I've been getting lazy or insecure about talking on the radio lately, but with this I had no problems. I still need to work on the flow of speech, but that's something that will come with more practice, methinks. Another question for you though: what kind of things would you want me to talk about? Would you want me to tell you stories? More video game nostalgia? Poetry?

A little thing I want to say to Nintendo: Thank you for existing. Without you, I would have had a much shittier childhood, and I definitely wouldn't be the person I am today.

Now. On to this epic playlist Why not curl up with your old brick Gameboy and take a listen?

EDIT: Also, I got a message from a friend giving me a correction to a comment I made on "Luigi's Mansion." It was NOT the first game Luigi starred in, because that honor goes to "Mario Is Missing" for the SNES, which I played as a kid and completely forgot about, so shame on me. 

[Artist: Song - Album/Game]

1. Nintendo: Nintendo ID - Animal Crossing GC
2. Koji Kondo: Title Theme - Super Mario 64
3. Yuka Tsujiyoko: A Party at Peach's Castle - Paper Mario
4. Yuka Tsujiyoko: Dry Dry Desert Trek - Paper Mario
5. Garry Schyman: Get Out Of My Head - Bioshock Ultimate OST
6. Sp0ntanius: Song of Healing on Wine Glasses - Majora's Mask
7. Yu Miyake: Sasasan Katamari - Katamari Damacy Soundtrack
8. FreddeGedde: Wind Waker Unplugged - YouTube
9. Kenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai, Toru Minegishi, Koji Kondo: Wind Waker
   1. Inside the Pirate Ship
   2. Reunion With Sister
   3. Windfall Island
10. Koji Kondo: Gerudo Valley - The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Special Orchestra CD
11. Koji Kondo: Opening - Majora's Mask
12. Koji Kondo: Clock Tower - Majora's Mask
13. Link's Awakening Commercial - YouTube
14. Shinobu Tanaka: Luigi's Mansion
    1. Gameboy Horror Theme
    2. Mansion (Exterior)
    3. Mansion (Luigi Humming Medium Health)
    4. Talking With Ghosts
    5. Observatory
15. PoopPoopFart: Legend of Zelda (Overworld) - YouTube
16. LimblessAvenger: Zelda Overworld (vocal) - Newgrounds
17. Ikuko Noguchi: GAIA [Main Theme (F.F.I)] - Final Fantasy Vocal Collections 2
18. Nobuo Uematsu: Battle Theme (Don't Be Afraid) - Final Fantasy VIII
19. jmerk800: Zelda Hardcore - Newgrounds
20. The Minibosses: Castlevania - YouTube
21. seargenthippo: Dire Dire Pokemon - Newgrounds
22. Shigeru Araki, Yusuke Kato, Saiko Miki, Yasumasa Kitagawa: Intro - Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
23. Various: Star Fox 64/Corneria - Nintendo 64 OSTs
24. Shigeru Araki, Yusuke Kato, Saiko Miki, Yasumasa Kitagawa: Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
    
    1. Summon Impact
    2. Gorgeous My Stage
25. Nobuo Uematsu: Zanarkand - Final Fantasy X
26. Koji Kondo: Zora's Domain - Ocarina of Time
27. SNES: World Series Game 1 - Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball OST
28. Junichi Masuda, Go Ichinose: Pokemon Silver
    1. Intro
    2. Surf
29. Junichi Masuda: Pokemon Mansion - Pokemon Red
30. Grant Kirkhope: Banjo Kazooie Intro - Banjo-Kazooie
31. Sugimori Masakazu: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
    1. Phoenix Wright ~ Objection! 2001
    2. Damon Gant ~ Swimming, anyone?
32. Junichi Masuda: Jigglypuff's Song - Pokemon Red
33. Yu Miyake: WANDA WANDA - Katamari Damacy Soundtrack
34. Anthony70099: Lady Gaga (Judas) - Mario Paint Composer
35. Mario Galaxy Orchestra: Honeybee Kingdom - Super Mario Galaxy
36. Various Artists: Star Fox Victory Theme - Super Smash Bros. Brawl
37. Yoko Shimomura, Koji Kondo, Nobuo Uematsu: Super Pipe House - Super Mario RPG
38. Ashly and Anthony Burch: Cookies! - Hey Ash Whatcha' Playing?
39. JFrosty: My Mario Record Is Melting - Newgrounds
40. Junichi Masuda: Palette Town Theme - Pokemon Red
41. Nobuo Uematsu: Prelude / / Risa Ohki - Final Fantasy Vocal Collections vol. 1
42. Kazumi Totaka: Animal Crossing GC
    1. What Do You Think, Yes!
    2. Sorry, That Just Isn't My Bag
    3. Traveling Train Trip
43. Various Artists: Hidden Village [Twilight Princess] - Super Smash Bros. Brawl
44. Nintendo: Twilight Princess Symphonic Movement - The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Special Orchestra CD

1-Ups:

1. So many requests!: I can say with no exaggeration that I got more calls for comments and requests during this show than any other show I've done. It really motivated me to keep going, and gave me inspiration to pick from new games. 
2. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon: This is one of my absolutely favorite games in the world, and after I played the intro theme to it, I got a call from a guy who was so excited that someone else had even PLAYED this game. 
3. Mix of games: Although I definitely could have branched out to other games, I feel very satisfied with the variety of games that I used. 

Poison Mushrooms:

1. DJ not showing up: This wouldn't have affected too much of my set, but truthfully, I was done DJing after I played the last Animal Crossing track. The others were to fill time, although I still enjoyed playing them for you. 
2. Transitions in general: As I was trying to adjust to the reality of only being able to use CDs, my laptop, and the studio computer, I realized I had dramatically gone from 9 modes of play, to 3. This meant that I had to balance what I played from medium to medium, which is harder than it sounds. At first I set my iTunes to fade into the next song automatically, but I realized with the Katamari Damacy track that was a very bad idea. Although I eventually got more used to how to transition between only 3 mediums (and largely 2), there were still a few wonky moments. I think most of what I had to learn was that I needed a bit quicker hand, and precise timing. 
3. HAWP: Although I love the Burchs, I should have picked a less visual, and more aural video, because, although I was thoroughly entertained by the thought of Ashly Burch eating puppies and peptobismal, you couldn't see any of it. This is why sometimes I wish radio had video...but not television. That's a topic for another day. 
4. Less ummmmms: Although I'm happy with the amount of talking I did throughout the show, upon listening I was a little annoyed with the amount of "um"s and "uh"s I heard, so I'm sure you were annoyed as well. I will work on that and try to speak in complete sentences. 

Give me comments! I want your feedback! And if you want to know where I got any of the music you heard today, just drop me a line and I'll point you in the right direction.

Freestailo #18 - 1/11/12

Right Click/Ctrl-Click to Download Freestailo #18 Here

My first regular show in my new slot, guys! Huzzah!

So right before this show I was at WCBN's official movie night at Arbor Brewing Co., where we premiered our new beer, "The Listenership Pale Ale," and watched "Jailhouse Rock" with Elvis Presley. Right near the end of the movie though I had to jet out to come play music for you all, and it ended up being a great night. I started off with an Elvis tune, and the vaguely Elvis themed show ensued.

Immediately after playing some Elvis, I got a few calls, and some AIM messages from Rev. Andrew, and it really helped me fill out the show. A few of the guys from the station came and gave me a few albums to play as well after they finished watching the movie, which was super helpful. I also learned that we have an enormous Elvis collection, and it's labeled in rockabilly, which I had to kind of search for. I also found Elvis Hitler, which is a local band, and pretty excellent.

I'm also pleased with my findings of metal music in the library, which has been increasing since Jack has come to the station with his show "University of Metal." Something you might not know about me is that I secretly really love metal music. It's a little distressing to me that the WCBN library doesn't have a section marked off just for metal music, because I think it's a specific enough genre to warrant it, just like rockabilly is. Slowly though I've noticed that the metal albums have a yellow sticker at the bottom, and a red sticker at the top. A SECRET CODE! Haha, not really, but that's what it felt like.

Anyway, to the music!

[Artist: Song - Album]

1. Elvis Presley: Doncha' Think It's Time - 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong
2. Dion & The Belmonts: Where Or When - Best of Doo-Wop Ballads
3. Elvis Hitler: Green Haze - Elvis Hitler
4. Celestial Navigations: There Was A Time - Romance
5. Les Crane: Desiderata - 
6. Mojo Nixon Skidroper: Elvis Is Everywhere - Bo Day Shus!!!
7. Al Green: Chariots of Fire - The Belle Album
8. Pig Destroyer: Carrion Fairy - Terrifyer
9. Jane Ira Bloom: Blue Poles - Sometime The Magic
10. UCLA Madrigal Singers: Like as the Culver on the Baréd Bough - Choral Music of Twentieth Century Americans
11. Empire: Jailhouse Cock Rocks The Most - Empire vs. Elvis Presley
12. Möl Treffid: I Wanna See Pretty People Doin' Ugly Things - Touch The Monkey
13. Chiwoniso: Matsotsi - Rebel Woman
14. m-.-n: arbnown - Disco Dust
15. G&D: Ye Olde Skit - The Message
16. Elvis Presley: Treat Me Nice - Elvis at the Movies
17. +/-: Surprise! - Promotional
18. Nitzer Ebb: Lovesick - As Is
19. Bielefelder Kinderchor: Hebe Deine Augen Auf - Bielefelder Kinderchor
20. Jean-Pierre Rampal: Hirota: Hamachidori (Beach Plover) - Japanese Folk Melodies
21. Dead Kennedys: Viva Las Vegas - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
22. Marvin Gaye: Cleo's Apartment - Trouble Man
23. Yosefa: My Beautiful One - Yosefa
24. Pinkerton Thugs: Brighter Day - End of an Era
25. Neurosis: Water Is Not Enough - Given To The Rising
26. Plush: Virginia - More Becomes You
27. James Chance and the Contortionists: James Brown Covers - James Chance @ Secret Robot Project on Halloween Weekend in Brooklyn
28. The Soft Boys: Heartbreak Hotel - 1976-81
29. Dread Zeppelin: Black Dog - UN-led-ED
30. minusbaby: São Roque (Bella/Boa) - Saudade for Beginners
31. The Smiths: Ask - Louder Than Bombs

Treat Me Nice:

1. METAL: Möl Treffid, Neurosis, Pig Destroyer...felt pretty damn good to play those. Thanks for the label system Jack.
2. Chiptunes: m-.-n and minusbaby are two of my favorite chiptune artists in my personal library, so I was very glad to share them with you.
3. Rampal Japanese Folk Melodies: This was a treat to find in the classical section! I think because it's a French artists doing them it's correctly labeled, but I never would have found these if I was hosting Radiozilla and looking for Japanese albums. NOTED!

Treat Me Not So Nice:

1. Lull?: right around the Kinderchor I felt like there was a bit of a lull in the show, but not in the good way like I normally like. Instead of an intentional downing of the tempo, it was an unintentional drop of adrenaline because I didn't grab enough material for the last hour before hand. 
2. Not enough Elvis: I think I could have tried harder to really make this an Elvis themed show, but I usually shy away from playing too much of one person, so I just didn't do it. A listener called in and was surprised not to hear more Elvis as well.
3. Juggling act: I realize after today's show that I need to get much better at talking on the phone and DJing at the same time. I had so many calls and people and things going on that it was hard to concentrate. This really just requires more focus on my part.

Listen more! Radio more! Viva la WCBN!

Subshow #9 - 12/3/11

Right Click/Ctrl-Click to Download Subshow #9 Here

Did you know that pretty much every show I pick something from the hip-hop section? I try really hard to have an immense amount of eclecticism in my sets, and I think that it usually pays off. That said, there are certain sections that I still don't have a good feel for because I only pick one or two things from the section. Hip-hop/rap is one of them. That's why when I saw that Chill Will was going to be gone for his show, I snagged it. 

WCBN has a surprising amount of hip-hop, and guys: it's really good. Tons of vinyls with a lot of great sampling opportunities for freeform. I had no idea. And I don't think I really knew how hip-hop albums worked either. With rock/soul/folk/whatever you get lots of tracks on one side, and lots of tracks on another. All different. But with hip-hop the vinyl is one track, and there are like 4 different versions of that track on one side, and 4 different versions of a different track on the other. This is how you get radio versions, album versions, instrumental versions, etc. All perfect for my freeform-beating heart. 

I talked to a friend Kim from home (who's also a fan of my freeform show), and he gave me some great suggestions, some of which I played: Brother Ali, Flying Lotus, Atmosphere, Sage Francis, and Eyedea+Abilities. I'm really happy with his suggestions, and the request I got of the Triforce of Js: Jurassic 5, J Dilla, Jedi Mind Tricks. I'm learning so much, guys!

Let's do this thing, shall we? 

[Artist: Song - Album]

1. Helis: Popular Thug (Radio Mix) - Popular Thug
2. Akrobatik: Remind My Soul (clean) - Remind My Soul
3. Talib Kweli: Joy feat. Mos Def - Quality
4. Lupe Fiasco: I Gotcha (radio edit) - I Gotcha
5. De La Sol: U Can Do (Life) - ///Aoi
6. Aesop Rock: The Greatest Pac-Man Victory in History - Bazooka Tooth
7. Kid Koala: slew test 2/mosquito vs. water buffalo/slew test 3 - Your Mom's Favorite DJ
8. Brother Ali: Star Quality - Shadows On The Sun
9. G&D: War Drums - The Message
10. Flatlinerz: Satanic Verses (radio edit) - Satanic Verses
11. Danger Mouse: Take Care of Business - Take Care of Business
12. Flying Lotus: Golden Diva - Los Angeles
13. Saul Williams: Coded Language - Amethyst Rock Star
14. Jurassic 5: W.O.E. Is Me (World of Entertainment) - W.O.E. Is Me
15. J Dilla: (track #26) - Dilla Doughnuts
16. Jedi Mind Tricks: Heavy Metal Kings feat. Ill Bill - Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell
17. Dream Warriors: Voyage Through The Multiverse - And Now The Legacy Begins
18. Gusto: Materialistic Girl (dub) - Materialistic Girl
19. Dove Shack: Summertime In The LBC (LP Version) - Summertime In The LBC
20. 44 Max: Pussh + Shove (Max Mix) - Pussh + Shove
21. Toshi Kubota: (All Star Street Funk Mix) - Funk It Up
22. The Black Keys with Mos Def: On The Vista - Blackroc
23. Atmosphere: Panic Attack - The Fun EP
24. Black Czer: Who Got The Glock (album version) - Who Got The Glock/Stick Up
25. Cannibal Ox: Pidgeon - The Cold Vein
26. Psyche Origami: Wherever You Are - The Standard
27. Wiley: Boom Boom Da Na - 100% Publishing
28. Sage Francis: Broken Wings - Personal Journals
29. Madvillain: Accordian - Madvillain
30. Cypress Hill: Make A Move - Temples of Doom
31. Mathambo: Mshini Wam - Mshini Wam
32. Raashan Ahmad: Heavenbound - The Push
33. Eyedea + Abilities: Paradise - E&A
34. Dark Sun Riders: Zoneweilders Groove - Seeds of Evolution
35. Material (Extrakd/Eddie Def): Who Wake the Rooster? - Intonarumori
36. Hami: Keep On Usin' Me (I Must Like It) - The Funky Descendant
37. Cee Lo Green: Brighter Lights, Bigger City - The Lady Killer
38. Deltron 3030: Turbulence remix by Mark Bell (Depeche Mode) - Positive Contact
39. Ladae!: Ghetto Flava - Party 2 Nite

U Can Do:

1. Triple J Request: These three were great artists to put together, and I'm happy with the songs that I picked. I can't wait to play more of their stuff on my freeform show. 
2. Cannibal Ox: I had no idea what this was, but I really like it. This and a few other albums really pushed my perceptions of hip-hop into something that I can understand. It's really like any other genre with lots of sub-genres attached to it, and Cannibal Ox kind of sounds like a nerdier, grittier hip-hop. Like the metal of rock. 
3. Cee Lo Green: This was a request by a friend, and I was kind of astounded at how good it was. It was perfect for the near end of my set, so thanks!

U Can't Do:

1. Umm...: Not that it was "the perfect show" or anything, but I really can't think of much I disliked about it. I don't know enough about hip-hop to really think I've done anything wrong. 
2. Oh I know!: I really didn't do anything risky on this show. Like, at all. I pretty much played from track to track, and that was it. I'm glad that I did, because I just don't know how I would have layered all hip-hop music, and I have a better sense of the library now, but that's something I would like to be better at in the future. 

Feedback, guys. I want it.

Subshow #6 - 10/21/11

Right Click/Ctrl-Click to Download Subshow #6 Here

Doo be da bi dow bidibidibidibi doooow. That's me scatting "greetings" to you all.

I got a call late Thursday night from my good friend Lady K, and she said that she needed some help desperately, otherwise she might lose her job. "I need you to sub for the 'Jazz 'Til Noon' show from 9am-12pm. Would you mind terribly?"

"Hurry Batman! To WCBN!"

Hell to the no I don't mind. I've secretly been plotting to snag a sub for that slot for a long time, but haven't told anyone about it. When I go in at 3am I often stare longingly at the jazz section, waiting for the day when I can raid and pillage and take entire piles of jazz records all for myself (and consequently my listeners).

Some interesting things happened on the show today though, friends. Many, many interesting things. To name a few: the power went out, the iPod input was not working momentarily, I left a lot of dead air space randomly, I had to do an EAS test for the first time, the next DJ was 20-minutes late. When the power went off, I literally screamed every curse word at the top of my lungs and started ripping through the log book to find out what to do next when Rob (a fellow DJ) came in and scared me and told me everything was going to be fine. Truthfully, I think it was a great learning experience, because now I will never be surprised by ANY of these things. I also learned that, in general, doing the jazz show is more laid back, because jazz tracks average at 7-minutes. A lot are 15-minutes, and some are just a few minutes (if they're straight standards with no improvisation).

Unfortunately, because of the power going out, I lost a good 45-minutes of my show, and a lot of tracks just didn't get recorded onto the automatic recording archive, which I'll indicate on the playlist. Fortunately (or annoyingly, depending on how you look at it), I was able to add an extra 20-minutes because of the next DJ's tardiness, so you get almost a full show anyway!

Yaaaaay!

So anyway, let's get listening.

[Artist: Song - Album]

1. Marc Ribot: Break On Through - Party Intellectuals
2. Rouge Ciel: L'Occupation - Veuillez procéder
3. Ella Fitzgerald: Wave - Montreux
4. James Morrison & Adam Makowics: Indiana - At The Montreux Jazz Festival
5. Mark Kirschemann: Feed The Meter - This Electric Trumpet
6. Yoko Kanno & The Seatbelts: Tank! (Live @Shibuya AX) - Cowboy Bebop OST
7. Golden Arm Trio: He LIes Like An Eyewitness & Disco - The Tick Tock Club
8. Charles McPherson: Evidence - Manhattan Nocturne
9. Hiromi: Brian - Brian
10. Billie Holiday: Ain't Misbehavin' - The Voice of Jazz
11. Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey: Black Wall Street - The Race Riot Suite
12. Stan Getz: Rainy Afternoons - Children of the World

<power outage>

1. Benjamin Yee: Matt Steckler Interview @ Edgefest - WCBN Interviews
2. Bob Brookmeyer: The Magic Shop - Through A Looking Glass
3. Indigenous People: Indigenous People pt. II - Captures Live in Brazil
4. The Funk Ark: A Blade WOn't Cut Another Blade - From The Rooftops
5. Sarah Vaughn: City Called Heaven - Favorites
6. Hadouk Trio: Hadouk Blues - Shamanimal
7. Thelonious Monk: Blue Monk - At The Five Spot

 </power outage>

1. Misha Mengelberg Quartet: Die Berge schützen die Heimat - Four In One
2. Benjamin Yee: Matt Steckler Interview @ Edgefest - WCBN Interviews
3. Duke Ellington: Star Cross Lovers (aka Pretty Girl) - Love Songs
4. Duchese: Naître à jonquière (un vendredi soir après le souper) - Cordes à Danswer...suite saguenayenne
5. Amanda Monaco 4: Procrastination - Intention
6. John Lewis: The Queen's Fancy - European Windows
7. Terumasa Hino: Cherry Hill Angel - Double Rainbows
8. Urbie Green: Foxglove Suite - The Fox
9. Joelle Leandre/William Parker: Duet one - Contrabasses
10. Ella Fitzgerald: Ella abraça Jobim - He's a Carioca (Ele é Carioca)
11. Dead Cat Bounce: Silent Movie, Russia 1995 - Chance Episodes
12. Drew Gress: Low SLung/High Strung - 7 Black Butterflies

Badass moments:

1. Ella singing Jobim?!: This was a really nice surprise. I've heard a lot of Ella, but I've never heard her sound like this, and hearing later Ella is always a joy anyway. I'll definitely be pulling this out again. 
2. Misha Mengelberg: Hehehehe I literally squealed with glee when I heard this track. It was a nice, cute way to break up the set/unknowingly start the second half of my set. 
3. Urbie Green: Oh man, this was some good stuff. If I had to pick a favorite track of the show, it would be this one. I think I placed it well in that section of the set, and it was a good long track as well.

Questionable moments:

1. iPod input: I wanted so badly to start off my set with "Tank!" from Cowboy Bebop (which I played later), and I had my computer set up and everything. When I pressed the cue for the iPod input, my gut reaction, no joke, was, "It just needs a second." Then I realized it was never going to play. After some dubious language I was able to play a CD I had loaded, but that dead air is something I should have remedied a good 20 seconds earlier than I did. 
2. Dead air: Not only did this happen with the iPod input fiasco, but it just kept happening. Way more than usual. I have no idea why. You'd think that when I'm really tired in the middle of the night, I would make more mistakes like that, but apparently it is not so.
3. Power outage: Not that I can control this, but I definitely could have handled it better. It would have been a far worse time if my fellow DJ had not been wandering the station.

Please keep listening guys. I really enjoy hearing from you, whether it's in person, on Facebook, or whatever other means you may have of communicating with me. Comments are always welcome on my posts, and of course suggestions/hate mail/love letters and the like. 

Freestailo #5 - 9/4/11 - The Lost Show

Greetings to all of you who have gathered here today.

Rooftop view of Perigueux, FR

I have some bad news guys. A lot of you might already know this, but this particular show will not be available for download because of extenuating circumstances. There was a storm the night of my show--a show which I had been planning for a few weeks in my mind--and the power went out at WCBN. Luckily, it came back on by the time that I came to DJ, and I performed one of my best sets yet...but unfortunately when I went back to download and edit the files, they were no where to be found on the archive server. A major chunk of time was missing from the database, which included this show.

Let me sum up this show's vision for you: this entire show was planned as a tribute to the friends and musicians that I met in France while I was living there for 1.5 months. There were a lot of inside jokes, a lot of French music, and a lot of the music that we had worked on ourselves there from 'La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein'. Another important point to make is that throughout almost the entire show I was layering field recordings that I had made while I was in France. I recorded almost 15 tracks, and I think used nearly 11 of them at some point or another. There were too many special moments during this set to count, and I thought my heart was going to burst.

[Artist: Song - Album]

1. Michel Legrand: 1ere Gymnopedie - Erik Satie
2. Ella Fitzgerald: April in Paris - Ella and Oscar
3. Dakha Brakha: Nad Dunaem - Na Mezhi
4. Dolly Parton: 9 to 5 - YouTube
5. Serge Gainsbourg: Aéroplanes - Love and the Beat 2
6. General Elektriks: La Carousel Cosmique - Cliquety Kliqk
7. Edith Piaf: La Vie en Rose - The Best of Edith Piaf
8. Dakha Brakha: Vals - Na Mezhi
9. Girl Talk: Bodies Hit the Floor - Unstoppable
10. Offenbach: Couplets du sabre - La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein
11. Ella Fitzgerald: Dream A Little Dream Of Me - Ella and Basie! On the Sunny Side of the Street
12. La Haine: Sacrifice du Poulets - La Haine
13. Yann Tiersen: Comptine d'un Autre Été: L'aprés midi - Amelie
14. The Budos Band: Monkey See, Monkey Do - The Budos Band
15. Wizard of Oz: Over the Rainbow - Wizard of Oz
16. Serge Gainsbourg: L'abominable strip-tease - Je t'aime moi non plus
17. Edith Piaf: Bravo pour le clown! - The Best of Edith Piaf
18. Yann Tiersen: La Valse des Monstres - Amelie
19. Marilyn Horne: O ma lyre immortelle - Gounod: Sapho
20. Animal Crossing: 3AM - Animal Crossing GC
21. Joyce di Donato: Faites-lui mes aveux - Gounod: Faust
22. Offenbach: Ah! Que j'aime militaires - La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein
23. Daft Punk: Revolution 909 - Homework
24. Offenbach: A cheval! - La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein
25. Choir of New College, Oxford: Faure: Cantique de Jean Racine - Agnus Dei
26. Feist: Tout Doucement - Let It Die
27. Karl Richter: Brandenberg Concerto No. 5 - Bach: 6 Brandenburgische Konzerte
28. Lost in the Trees: Time Taunts Me - Time Taunts Me
29. Erik Satie: 3eme Gymnopedie - Erik Satie
30. My Dear Disco/That1Guy: Mustaches Remix - The Remixes
31. Frederic Paris: various - Rue de l'oiseau
32. Moliere: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme - Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
33. Dakha Brakha: Oi Za Lisochkom - Na Mezhi
34. Amanda Palmer: Exit Music For a Film - Amanda Palmer and Her Magical Ukulele

I normally critique myself and cite the good and bad things that happened to me during the show, but I honestly can't remember a bad moment in the show, and I don't have a record of it to check anyway, so I'll let you listen to it without any criticism on my own behalf.

P.S. Oh, and my FAVA-mily? COTFA. Right here.