I'm Listening To - KEXP's "Song of the Day"

Photo Source: kexp.org

Warning: This post may introduce you to some indie band you'll never get to see.

I never really got into podcasts when they first made the rounds: partly because there's no way my net was fast enough to warrant a "quick download" to chuck on my pod. I'd much rather download songs I know I like, rather than waste precious time on what was mainly people chatting or interviewing other people back then.

However there are two podcasts I have indulged in over the last year; one deliberate and one entirely by mistake. The first was the Mandarin lessons put out by the lovely group over at Chinesepod.com. While the narrators of the show take some getting used to (especially Ken Carroll, with his "I'm not quite sure if I'm American or British, but I over-emphasise more than Shatner" accent), it was a great gateway for me to start picking up Chinese, not least of all because its repititive nature helps you pick up the tones and flow of the language. If you want to learn Mandarin, that's an excellent place to start.

The other is KEXP's "Song of the Day" podcast, which Danny inadvertently got me into when he sent me a track from the cast: Tournament of Hearts by the Weakerthans. Somehow in the typical fashion of the internet just opening the track subscribed me to updates from the podcast which, for once, did NOT piss me off. Actually with all the fantastic electro that this man has been shoving down my throat, its nice to have a source of balance in the form of indie rock. The majority of the stuff KEXP put out seem to be in this genre, though they sidle towards hip-hop, electro and punk from time to time, with Ladytron, Cut Copy, Aesop Rock among the artists that have featured. Finding out The Presidents of The United States of America still make music was enough fun to make the podcast worthwhile.

Check out the KEXP Podcast Page to find Song of the Day, available for iPod, Zune or just a nice old RSS feed.

Bizarro

Warning: This post wants you to buy stuff.

So a friend has approached me to try to find this guy a sales market in Japan.
Dan Piraro has apparently been writing Bizarro comics for 22 years. That's over 10,000 panels. His manager tells me he's read all of them. "It takes a while."

His strip appears in newspapers across the world. It's quite entertaining. Certainly beats the printed crap out of Hagar the Horrible.

I can see Bizarro t-shirts being popular (Japanese love random shirts as much as the next person), and posters and that might work, but we'll see. Village/Vanguard's "Exciting Book Store" might be keen. They lap that stuff up.

If it works my goal is to get Randall at xkcd.com to get me to market his raptor shirts. Then I can retire happy.

I'm Listening To - Pendulum

Warning: This band has apparently sold out because they genre-mix drumnbass with hard rock.

I first met Pendulum in 2003, after hitting a few drumnbass gigs. There was always a track that got everyone jumping around like madmen (people who like drumnbass tend to be mad anyway). My curiosity got the better of me, and I finally jumped on a DJ who had played it, who was nice enough to divulge the name: Vault, by Pendulum. Of my years of frequenting underground dnb gigs, it still remains my favourite.
In a roundabout way I found them again via Freestylers (those skol beat dudes who got themselves famous with a rather uncharacteristic fluoro 90s-esque Push Up). Fasten Your Seatbelts was a dream come true for me: mashing breakbeat with electro? Yes please.
Freestylers came and went for me about as quickly as Bomfunk MCs did in 2000. But Hold Your Colour, Pendulum's first studio album, remains firmly in my Top 20. Its not underground, and they have received adequate criticism from fans about that, but its quite fantastic. The title track is only beaten in a version they used in their Essential Mix for the BBC. In fact, that whole mix is well worth your bandwidth time, so get on it.

Pendulum switched to a live act setup some time ago, but August sees them hit Japan for the first time in the Summer Sonic Music Festival. Needless to say I already have tickets. Been wanting to lose it to them live for over 3 years now.

Their latest album, In Silico is by no means a return to the underground, and actually feels more like a rock band with dnb roots. I think it works. The problem with good acts leaving underground is the fanbase that comes with - look at Greenday and The Foo Fighters. Hopefully the diehard fans keep it up (again, look at the Foo Fighters) so they can still maintain some dignity as an awesome act.
Highlights from In Silico for me include Mutiny and Granite, though the whole album is worth a look (at 10 tracks its quite short too).


The other album on heavy repeat on my pod is Plump DJs long-awaited new release Headthrash. Straight from the first track System Addict, well, I fell in love with breakbeat all over again.
Plump DJs last hit Japan in 2003 - could we see them again this year? Please?