Featured Five: "No Soap, Radio!" 3/10/12

It’s always a little hard to explain exactly why I play what I do on my show. Still, for your enjoyment, I will attempt to dissect five of my selections for you here. Hopefully, you won’t decide it’s all too much nonsense for you to handle but, if you do, I’m sorry. (Actually, no I’m not. It’s 1 until 3 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Insanity is status quo at that point in the weekend. Just embrace it.)

1). “Ich Erinnere Mich An Die Weimarer Republik” - The World / Inferno Friendship Society

I started out the show with this gem from The World / Inferno Friendship Society. The piano and brass in the intro just blew me away the first time I heard it and I’ve been meaning to include it in one of my playlists for a long while now. But, what really sold me, are the lyrics: “You think your scene’s dead? / Well, mine got killed / by some dimwit’s triumph of the will.” There’s a slightly irked, but not vitriolic, undertone to this track that makes it much more than just a bouncy, danceable number and, well, that’s typically the music to which I’m drawn.

2). “Off the Books” - Guignol & Mischief Brew

If the last track’s anger was subtle, this one lays it all out front. There is, however, a jovial revelry in the song which, paired with lyrics condemning materialism, make me think Leo Tolstoy would dig it. And, anything Leo Tolstoy would dig gets a pass by me. (What? I need a better reason than that to play something? Too bad, sometimes things don’t have to be deep.)

3). “Lovers Are Waterproof” - Herman Düne

Yes, I realize that’s a totally lame name for a song. Even the band agrees, but you’ll have to listen to it to find out how. Anyway, Herman Düne is an absolutely remarkable Swedish anti-folk pair I’ve been listening to a lot of lately. The singer’s accent adds a nice addition to the lyrics, which are in English, and make the non-native pronunciations of words like “beer” and “weed” seem completely natural. I’d put this at the top of my featured list, but then it wouldn’t be in chronological order.

4). “Candy Shop” - Fatima Spar Und Die Freedom Fries

If you guessed I picked this song purely because of the band name, you’d be half right. Fatima is Turkish, but the Freedom Fries are an Austrian group, and their sound is something else altogether. Oh, and it should be mentioned that this isn’t a cover of some awful pop-rap song but, instead, a cover of the Andrew Bird track. I’m pretty sure I’d have liked the jazzed-up version of either, but it is always good to see Andrew Bird getting some recognition.

5). “Goodnight Ladies” - Lou Reed

That’s right; I ended my show with Lou Reed’s “Goodnight Ladies.” Everything about this song makes it a perfect closing number: Lou’s voice is pure gold, the lyrics reference a T.S. Eliot poem and that final note could serve is a segue to almost anybody else’s show. Honestly, I try to end most of my shows with this song. It’s just that good.

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That's all until next week. You can find the whole playlist for the show over on the WTJU website and, if you missed the live broadcast for some reason, there's a streaming copy available for two weeks on the WTJU Tape Vaults. 

//rtpackard