Raggedy Annie's last CB playlist!

Here's the 8/30/09 playlist (all picked by Raggedy Annie on her last Campus Buzz show!)

Such Great Heights - Iron & Wine
Not a Through Street - Anya Marina
Falling Slowly -The Frames
Turn Out The Light - New Amsterdams
You Hurt Me Still - William Fitzsimmons
Skinny Love - Bon Iver
Ballad on 3rd Avenue - Ed Hale
Give A Little Love - Noah & The Whale
Cast No Shadow - Oasis
Honest - Band of Skulls
The Book I Write - Spoon
Angeline - Howlies
One Man Wrecking Machine - Guster
She Moves In Her Own Way - The Kooks
Lilac Breeze - Eels
After Hours - We Are Scientists
Dry the Rain - The Beta Band
Pieces - Dinosaur Jr.
Munich - Editors
The Commuter - Red Collar
If You're Wondering If I Want You To (I Want You To) - Weezer
Crying Lightning - Arctic Monkeys
This Is The New Year - Death Cab for Cutie
Futures - Jimmy Eat World

We say a VERY sad but VERY warm & optimistic farewell to Raggedy Annie as she ends her time on Campus Buzz. Best of luck in all your endeavors! Tune in on Saturday 9/19 for her last show! It'll be a great time!

8/23/09

8/23/09

(REMINDER: Next week we're back to 8 pm because of the return of Pirate Primetime!)
(REMINDER 2: It's Raggedy Annie's last Campus Buzz next week! Call up with your well-wishes and requests! 8-10 pm next Sunday!)

Light of the Morning - Band of Skulls
Death by Diamonds & Pearls - Band of Skulls
Noah & the Whale The Features
Don't Wanna Cry - Pete Yorn
With All My Heart - Clem Snide
Lost Cause - Beck
The Walls Are Coming Down - Fanfarlo
Rain on Tin - Sonic Youth
In My Dreams - Eels
Confessor - Annuals
Don't Haunt This Place - The Rural Alberta Advantage
Say Please - Monsters of Folk
Newfound Mass - The Get Up Kids
Ballad on Third Avenue - Ed Hale
Taverns - Historics
Light and Day - The Polyphonic Spree
Over It - Dinosaur Jr.
I Like What You Say - Nada Surf
Jupiter Crash - The Cure
Black River Killer - Blitzentrapper
Headdress - Amazing Baby
She's Electric - Oasis
Two Birds - Regina Spektor
Chimaira - Howlies
Human - The Killers
Michael & Heather and the Baggage Claim - Fountains of Wayne
If You Would Come Back Home - William Fitzsimmons
Fields of Coal - Trail of Dead
Reruns - Holiday Shores
The Commuter - Red Collar
Love It All - The Kooks
Bend & Break - Keane
Lifeboats - Snow Patrol
Map of the Problematique - Muse
Sound of Settling - Death Cab for Cutie
Soul Meets Body - Death Cab for Cutie
Sleepwalking - The Jaguar Club
Death to the Storm - Joe Henry
No Cars Go - Arcade Fire

Something Catchy

There's something about this song that reminds me of what made music from the 50s and the 60s so great. It contains elements of pop but a kind of pop that doesn't get irritating. Its a little bit Beach Boys and its a little bit of The Ronettes. Best Coast - Something In The Way is exactly that.

Check Out Best Coast! Group to watch during 09/10

Antony & The Johnsons - Crazy in Love

A haunting, slow take on the Beyonce/Jay-Z song:

Neon Indian - I Should Have Taken Acid With You / Deadbeat Summer

To follow up on Mark's recommendation about Neon Indian, I'm gonna throw a few tracks on here that I'm digging. I've gotta thank Mark for the heads up on NI.





If you want an MP3 of "Deadbeat Summer" for your collection, you can find it HERE.

Neon Indian's Psychic Chasms comes out on October 13.

Radiohead's "Twisted Words"

Turns out that "These Are My Twisted Words" IS a Radiohead track.

Jonny Greenwood explains the track here, and you can download it (for free!) right here.

No word on a new EP/LP, however...

8/16/09 Playlist

Here's this week's playlist:

I Got Mine - Black Keys
Only To Haunt You - The Von Bondies
I Couldn't Love You - Cursive
Too Fake - Hockey
Unconditional - The Bravery
Nothing's Impossible - Depeche Mode
Triangle Walks - Fever Ray
Kiss With A Fist - Florence & the Machine
Hiroshima - Ben Folds
Ballad on Third Avenue - Ed Hale
The Commuter - Red Collar
Wordless Chorus - My Morning Jacket
Aluminum Park - My Morning Jacket
Over It - Dinosaur Jr.
Prizefighter - Eels
GfC - Albert Hammond Jr.
Acid Tongue - Jenny Lewis
Mistakes We Knew We Were Making - Straylight Run
Death To The Storm - Joe Henry
The W.A.N.D - The Flaming Lips
Don't Haunt This Place - The Rural Alberta Advantage
The Island - The Decemberists
Death By Diamonds & Pearls - Band of Skulls
Taverns - The Historics
Sleepwalking - The Jaguar Club
Daylight - Matt & Kim
Supernatural Superserious - REM
Orange Crush - REM
Black Wave/Bad Vibrations - Arcade Fire
Black River Killer - Blitzentrapper
How Does It Feel - Zeus
Train Under Water - Bright Eyes
Neon Tiger - The Killers
Pinwheels - Correatown
Summertime Clothes - Animal Collective
The Captain - Ingram Hill
Warning Sign - Coldplay
Starlight - Muse
The Kids Don't Stand A Chance - Vampire Weekend
No Better Place - Fountains of Wayne
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight - Postal Service

500 Days of Summer + Hall & Oates

Much better than the Spiderman 3 montages.

New Radiohead Song?

Pitchfork and the rest of the internet are all trying their best to confirm the credibility of a supposed new Radiohead track, entitled "These Are My Twisted Words". It was posted on At Ease, a Radiohead fan site.

I've got a Youtube link posted below with the tune, but no guarantees how long it will be active before it's deleted. I'll do my best to update as new info develops:

New Flaming Lips surfaces

Surfing Pitchfork this morning and I found this:

NEW SONG from The Flaming Lips - See the Leaves

This is the second new song reportedly from their new double album, Ebryonic. The other was "Silver Trembling Hands", found here.

Look for the album to drop via Warner Brothers (who, by the way, just lost some more Superman rights to the Seigel family) on October 13 of this year. Check the newly-confirmed album art below:

What Ive Been Listening To?

Some tracks that Ive been checking out.

Ruby Suns : Kenya Dig It
White Denim : I Start To Run
Monsters of Folk : Say Please
Cage The Elephant : Back Against The Wall
The Antlers : Kettering
Neon Indian : Deadbeat Summer

Check Em Out

The Good...The Bad..And Violins

I know its a little late for a review of All Points West but I felt it was necessary.

My Top Performances:
Yeah Yeah Yeahs : Just hearing how Y Control was played live on Friday night compared to the album version blows me away.
Cage The Elephant : Their performance made me a fan.
MSTRKRFT : Ending the set with Bohemian Rhapsody was just unreal.
Arctic Monkeys : Played at least 2-4 songs from their new upcoming album "Humbug".

Disappointing Performances:
Electric Touch: Why were they there?
The National: I dont think they've reached a level of success where they should be on the main stage.

Interesting Quote I Over Heard:
"These are the most fashionable trains Ive ever seen" The light rail looked like it was stuffed to the brim with hipster kids from Brooklyn.

Whats the deal with all the bands with violins at All Points West this year. I think APW was going out of the way to find bands who featured a violin. WHY APW WHY? Whats going to be the theme next year? Brass sections?

Rilo Kiley gets a Carl's Jr. advertisement

Rilo Kiley + Teriyaki Burger + Audrina Partridge = I'm hungry NOW.

Playlist 8.9.09

Kings of Leon - Use Somebody
Weezer - Pork & Beans
Hot Chip - Ready for the FLoor
Monsters of Folk - Say Please
Depeche Mode - Wrong
Morrisssey - Black Cloud/ Irish Blood
The Thrills - Midnight Choir
Farfarlo - The walls came tumbling down
Mt St Helens Vietnam Band - Albatross, Albatross, Albatross
Holiday Shores - Reruns
Eels - Lilac Breeze
Dinosaur Jr - I want you to know
Steel Train - firecracker
Bright Eyes - arc of time
Miike Snow - Sans Soleil
Historics - The Tons
Art Brut - DC Comics and a Chocolate Milkshake
Killers - Human
Red Collar - The Commuter/ Pilgrim
Beck - E-Pro/ I think I'm in love
Howlies - angeline
we are scientists - after hours
coldplay - violet hills
tom morello, the nightwatchmen - St. Isabelle
Black Keys- I Got Mine
Jenny Lewis - See Fernando
Radiohead - There there/ Let Down
Matt & Kim - Daylight
Band of Skulls - Hollywood Bowl
My Morning Jacket - Rocketman
Guster - Keep it together
Oasis - Wonderwall
Yeah Yeah Yeah's - Zero (Mstrkrft remix)

All Points West Debrief - Scarecrow Edition

Hey readers/listeners/random trollers:

All Points West was mostly a bust for me this year. Well no, I take that back. I, MYSELF, was a bust for All Points West, meaning I failed the festival. It didn't fail me.





I only made it out to one day of the festival (I had been planning on making it to at least two days, if not three), which also happened to be the short day. The powers that were All Points West decided to hold the doors until a bit after 4 PM, and here lies my one criticism of the festival, which was otherwise bloody fantastic: I don't blame them for up until 2:30 because hellfire & brimstone (and a fair amount of water) was falling from the sky until then, but the subsequent hour-and-a-half wait as they figured out their course of action became pretty draining to the general public standing outside. Even if the bands hadn't started playing till 4, the comedy tent could have gotten some love that was robbed from it while the food and art vendors (the real victims of the shorter time frame on Sunday) could have gotten some business.

With some acts canceled (like Steel Train, who did manage to get in a great acoustic set at one of the Toyota tents) and the need for some time compression on the other stages, trying to see all the acts you wanted to on Sunday became a series of scenarios like this: You leave a band's set to catch the end of another act, you walk up as the second band is finishing. Then you double back to catch the rest of the first band, only to get there and find a bunch of roadies doing a sound check. The main stage ran on schedule but the Bullet stage was off-kilter, so I bet their scheduling was mauled by this discrepancy. Even though I was irked by their handling of the late entry, I wasn't too bothered by the scheduling - I did a lot of trudging through 4-6 inches of mud, but was able to catch 3 comedians and at least a song or two of nearly 10 bands.




Speaking of mud... the dash to figure out scheduling didn't bother me too much and nor did the epic mudbath that was the festival grounds. Day 3's mud was reportedly the worst from those people I spoke to, and there were many lost flip-flops, shoes and even boots. Here's my shoes, which got retired for good after last night's festivities (and a year-and-a-half of wear & tear before yesterday too):



The mud was endearing, and anyone who expected to not have to deal with it is 1) a wuss 2) oblivious to the world around them 3) a whiner. Enough said.

DETOUR: Free Twix, free bags to carry my stuff and gorgeous balloon chains - The vendors, promotional tents and art exhibitors gave the festival a more-than-music-and-comedy feeling. None of the vending/promotion was ever forced down your throat, which was refreshing. Again, I feel bad for the craft vendors, who were stuck in a corner tent and weren't given much chance on the third day to peddle their wares... hopefully their losses on the festival weren't too substantial.





Now, for the acts. My day went as such: Todd Barry -> Christian Finnegan -> Janeane Garofalo -> Steel Train (acoustic set @ Toyota tent) -> Akron/Family -> We Are Scientists -> Elbow -> Mogwai -> Echo & The Bunnymen -> Black Keys -> Coldplay -> MGMT (fleeting glance and half a song before ditching for a late-night train ride home)

Performance Highs:

-Happening to find Steel Train just playing in a vendor tent - I don't know if it was impromptu or if they were always planning on doing a set after their mainstage show, but it was good.

-Akron/Family - never heard of them, but when I heard a baritone sax, screaming vocals, rock guitars and a flute, I was there. I'm intrigued now.

-Elbow - a beautiful breather amidst the chaos and mess of rest of the day. The air was cooling nicely, the sun was setting, and their soft sound was a nice break between the energy of We Are Scientists and Mogwai.

-Christian Finnegan - Todd Barry did well and Garofalo was her typical self, but Christian Finnegan's dramatically shortened stand-up (10ish minutes instead of 30+) was tight, moved well and was legitimately funny. Mad props to this guy.

-And of course, Coldplay. The power of their live shows comes from their ability to use light, color, crowd interaction (conversing/walking among them/big yellow balloons/etc.) to make each song feel unique and interesting. Hate them or love them, the design of their stage shows is more than four guys with instruments. I would love to have seen the whole performance, but I had to ditch early. Definitely worth seeing them again in the future.



Performance Lows:

-Echo & the Bunnymen's stage presence - ranting to a roadie about some "f***ing hamster cage" or something like that for half of your SECOND song is diva-ish and annoying. Just play the music, okay?

-The Gaslight Anthem - ...they never got to play. I don't even know if they got a "second shot"-type set at a vendor tent like Steel Train did, but consider the cancellation of GA to be probably the biggest letdown of the three days of APW - they were denied in their own backyard!

-Witnessing a painful, live, on-air interview between a college radio host and two guys from We Are Scientists - The host was incredibly unprepared (I hope it was because this was last minute), WaS's two jokers decided to capitalize on it and repeatedly threw questions back on her like the nerd in gym class. They dodged questions left and right, they criticized her vague (if moronic) statements about "rumors" and "new albums", and otherwise made for an awkward situation for everyone involved. I'm not sure which party came off worse in the end, because while the host was bombing, WaS's dudes seemed like real jerks by the end.

In the end, my one day of All Points West '09 started off hellish, but once the gates opened and the scheduling was roughly figured out, everything turned out great. The acts I saw that day were pretty much solid all the way through, with only some minor letdowns in the mix (Echo & the Bunnymen, Mogwai). The miscellany that surrounded the music and comedy were welcome additions, and the venue was downright beautiful (well, from the knees up. Below your knees everything smelled like sewage!).





As I turned around to snap photos of crowd reactions to Coldplay's "Fix You" I saw a beautiful sight - the balloon chains that floated above the festival now had LED lights turned on, so giant blue arcs of light filled the sky. Add searchlights, two cities' worth of skylines and Lady Liberty, and I felt quite a rush. Everything was in its right place at that moment.

(and yes, that means I want to see Radiohead come back next summer!)