Playlist: 2/28/09

The bulk of today's playlist featured music from the Dark Was The Nigh Compilation. However, I did play other artists not featured on it. I could not play all of the Compilation due to time restraint.

Artist- Song

1. The Union Line- Rich Man's Tune (by request)

- - - - - - -

From the Dark Was The Night Compilation:

2. The Dirty Projectors & David Byrne- Knotty Pine
3. The Books featuring Jose Gonzales- Cello Song
4. Feist & Ben Gibbard- Train Song
5. Bon Iver- Brackett, WI
6. Grizzly Bear- Deep Blue Sea
7. The National- So Far Around The Bend
8. Yeasayer- Tightrope
9. Justin Vernon & Aaron Dessner- Big Red Machine
10. Iron & Wine- Die
11. Grizzly Bear & Feist- Service Bell
12. Sufjan Stevens- You Are The Blood
13. Arcade Fire- Lenin
14. Beirut- Mimizan
15. My Morning Jacket- El Caporal
16. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings- Inspiration Information
17. Yo La Tengo- Gentle Hour
18. Stuart Murdoch- Another Saturday
19. Cat Power & Dirty Delta Blues- Amazing Grace
20. Andrew Bird- The Giant Of Illinois
21. Conor Oberst & Gillian Welch- Lua
22. Blonde Redhead & Devestations- When The Road Runs Out
23. Kevin Drew- Love vs. Porn
24. Riceboy Sleeps- Happiness

- - - - - - -

25. Nigel Samways- Haussmann/You're My Everything

Thank you to everyone who listened. I appreciate it, as always.
Be sure to tune in next week; same time, same place!

All good things,

Gabby

KUCI

I wanted to share a bit about a radio station that you may or may not be familiar called KUCI, which broadcasts from the University of California- Irvine. I grew up with this station, and I'm glad to see that it's still going, staying true to it's foundations.

You can always hear something interesting on KUCI. One show in particular that I enjoy is Sweater Weather, which broadcasts every Wednesday from 3-5 p.m. Pacific.

It's the last good thing about radio in Orange County. No mainstream rubbish, and discussion topics that actually expand your mind!? Now that's what I call good radio.

So, if you find yourself within the geographic area of Orange County, California and you're in an automobile, turn the dial to 88.9 FM.

If you're not in Orange County/not in a car that is driving through Orange County, but still feel the need to listen to KUCI while you're at home, you may do so by streaming online at www.kuci.org

Update

Avant Noise will be broadcasting on Radio23 every Saturday until March 21st. After that date, the normal rotation between Avant Noise and Dearborn will begin.

I can assure you that Dearborn will be an awesome show to listen to. I may even be playing some songs from the Dearborn Library so you can get a sneak peak at what Dj Dearborn will be playing when Dearborn starts broadcasting. You can also catch Dearborn on the awesome Hollow Earth Radio every other Thursday at 9 p.m./Friday at 4 p.m. (PST)

Stay tuned for that!

Also, this week I will be playing tracks from the Dark Was The Night compilation.

The Arts & Crafts interview will be aired at a later date.

All good things,
Gabby

Interview with Arts & Crafts coming this week

I just interviewed Chris and Ryan of Arts & Crafts. I'll be airing the interview on my radio show, most likely this Saturday.

Stay tuned...

Playlist: 2/21/09

The playlist from tonight's show:

artist- song
1. Panda Bear- Good Girl/Carrots
2. Animal Collective- Street Flash
3. Arts & Crafts- Cross Leg
4. That Ghost- Never Have Fun
5. That Ghost- I Crossed Out The Options
6. That Ghost- Top Shelf
7. Cambodia Rocks!- Unknown
8. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti- Jules Lost His Jewels
9. Sic Alps- Message From The law
10. Pavement- The Stutcliff Caterer
11. Say Panther- Oh! What Fear
12. That Ghost- I Can't Help It And I Can't Stop It
13. That Ghost- Friends In Quotations
14. School Of Seven Bells- Half Asleep
15. Sea Wolf- Song For The Dead
16. Seabear- Seashell
17. Liam Finn- I'll Be Lightning
18. Andrew Bird- Tenuousness
19. That Ghost- A Song About A Bird I Know
20. Fleet Foxes- Drops In The River
21. Geology- The River
22. The M's- Future Women
23. These United States- West Won
24. Midlake- Roscoe
25. Sufjan Stevens- The Henney Buggy Band
26. The Pioneers Of Prime Time TV- Feed The Poor
27. That Ghost- Stories In Then
28. That Ghost- Where We Ended Up After Driving For So Long

(yes, I played a lot of That Ghost today)

Thank you to all who listened. I will be back next Saturday same time, same place. Until then.

Avant Noise Radio
Saturdays
4-6 p.m. pacific
Radio23.org

_Gabby

(not so new) Music From Sufjan Stevens

I came across a track from our beloved Sufjan Stevens just now entitled "In The Words Of The Governor". To be honest, it sounds more like the White Stripes than Sufjan Stevens. It's very different from what we are used to expecting from Sufjan, but perhaps we should expect the unexpected. He has shown versatility throughout the years, so we should not expect him to stick to one thing for the rest of his musical career.

This song has more of a rock feel, which is something we haven't heard from Sufjan in a long while. (Recall the album A Sun Came, which has more "rock" moments than any of his work that preceded thereafter.)

Listen to the song (and read about the compilation that it will be a part of) here.

Edit:
Thank you to a fellow reader for catching an enormous error on my part due to a misunderstanding. This information about the song was released in 2007. I did not notice that until now. I must be more careful next time when posting information. Feel free to enjoy the song, anyway.

Avant Noise Radio

I mentioned last week that Dearborn would be broadcasting this week from 4-6 p.m., since we alternate every week. However, Dearborn will not be broadcasting this week as planned, so Avant Noise Radio will be on tomorrow from 4-6 p.m.

Listen live at www.radio23.org

Tune in!

Video: Yann Tiersen // Esther

Photo of the week

Photo: Portland Bike Ensemble
for more related photos, please click here.

The Portland Bike Ensemble chooses to create sound by utilizing the bicycle.
Interesting, to say the least.
Simply search them on youtube for a demonstration.

Video: Beirut // La Llorona

Look Around You - Music

Dead Man's Bones

I came across Dead Man's Bones last month, and immediately was intrigued by the haunting/ghostly quality of the song "In The Room Where You Sleep". The chorus of children adds a lively contrast to the deep and dark vocals. It's beautiful, nonetheless.

The band itself is a duo comprised of Ryan Gosling (yes, the actor) and Zach Shields, together making brilliant music. So far, I am loving it. It also reminds me of Arcade Fire a bit, especially the Neon Bible days.



(This video is best viewed in HD, which can be done so here.)

Ok X

I know it's been out for over a year, but I felt like blogging about Ok X: A Tribute To Ok Computer . As you might have guessed, Ok X features covers from Radiohead's Ok Computer by various bands such as Vampire Weekend, Cold War Kids, and My Brightest Diamond...to name a few.

Check it out, if you have not already.

First Radio Show

So today was my first official radio show. I'd like to thank everyone who listened. I appreciate the support quite a bit. There were some technical difficulties, but luckily all the broadcasts leading up to April 23rd are mere tests. I'm sure I can work out all the kinks by then.

I'm looking forward to solidifying a format for my show. I don't want to simply play songs for two hours, but rather share information with you all as well. I'd like to bring this blog to the airwaves, so to speak. We'll see how this goes!

I also have a couple friends that are jumping on board with Radio23, which is awesome.

I'll probably post the playlist of tonight's show some time soon.

Stay tuned!

-Gabby

Photography: Robert Doisneau

I've been meaning to post about French photographer Robert Doisneau for quite some time. His photography immediately caught my attention when I visited the Art Institute of Chicago this past summer. I came across a 2009 calendar entitled "Happiness", featuring some of his brilliant work. I promptly purchased it. (gotta love those trusty museum gift shops. The things you find...)

I am fascinated with the way Doisneau captured Parisian life, or rather, just simple human interactions in general. The Parisian backdrop makes it even more beautiful. The set of 12 photographs featured in the calendar are amazing. I couldn't find many of them online, however.

Either way, I encourage you to check out his work, and perhaps even the "Happiness" calendar, which can be found at a bookstore.

warpaint

"Wow", is all I can say at the moment as I listen to "Burgundy" by Los Angeles based band warpaint. Every once and a while, my brother would mention "David's (drummer) band is sounding really good", but I never thought much of it. Not until last night when they played at the Detroit Bar. My brother attended, but I could not, for I am not 21. I wish I could have, though. I am absolutely loving their sound. Why didn't I bother listening to them before!?

The vocals are soft and dreamy. In fact, the band as a whole produces a very dreamy effect, and I love it. Everything fits together so well. In certain instances, the music is almost haunting and ghostly.

Please listen to their dreamy/ethereal/beautiful sounds.

That is all for now.

Avant Noise Radio

I mentioned a week or two ago that I now have my own radio show on Radio23.org, and this Saturday, (Valentine's Day), will be the first official show.

While Radio23 does not officially launch until April, all of the djs will be broadcasting their shows every week leading up to the launch. It's an exciting time for us, and I am glad to be a part of the Radio23 family.

I will be broadcasting every other Saturday from4-6 p.m. PST.
I alternate with Dearborn Radio. For example, this Saturday I will be on from 4-6. Next Saturday, Dearborn will be on from 4-6.

There are tons of great shows on Radio23, so be sure to check them out!

That is all for now.

Interview: Nick Beard

My friend Erick caught up with Nick Beard of Circa Survive for an interview. (Thank you!) You can download the mp3 version of the interview here.

For now, here is the transcribed version of the interview with Nick:

Avant-Noise: Hi everybody, I’m Erick on behalf of Avant-Noise, music, arts and life blog here with Nick Beard of Circa Survive. Nick, say hi to the interwebs people.

Nick Beard: Hey!

A-N: So, here to ask a few questions, pretty much. How’s life been pretty much since the last tour you guys did?

NB: The Thrice tour?

A-N: Yeah. The Thrice tour.

NB: Well, for me I did the tour with Anthony, so that kept me busy and then since then we’ve just been trying to write our new album, which is hard. It’s really hard.

A-N: And how is that coming along?

NB: It’s coming.

A-N: (Redundant question) It’s coming?

NB: Yeah. It’s just, you know. You just never know when you’re done you know what I mean?

A-N: Yeah.

NB: Like, you can write forever. You can always do better than what you’ve done, so it’s kind of like…it messes with your mind, you know? You write a bunch of stuff and you’re like ‘This is good, but it can be better, let’s write more stuff. This is better, but it can be better, write more stuff, that’s even better’ and it just keeps going on and on and on so, you know, we’re working hard and hopefully when we finish it’s an album that we’re going to be proud of for the years that we tour with it.

A-N: So, so far, in it’s work in progress, do you feel like you know any kind of projected date for the release or just kind of at a certain point you’ll feel like, ‘Alright, now we can probably say something,’ as far as the release date?

NB: Yeah, I really can’t even guess because if you had asked me right after Anthony’s tour, I would have told you that it would be out in, you know, June and it just keeps going further and further back because we don’t want to stop, we want to keep working on it and we’re still trying to figure out who’s going to produce it and just all these things that still need to be put in place so we’re really just taking our time with it. This is definitely going to be the most important record that we’ve done, you know what I mean? I feel like this record has to be the best record, otherwise that’s it. You know what I mean?

A-N: Yeah.

NB: I feel like, it just has to be a good one. It has to be perfect. So we’re not going to stop until we all feel like that’s it.

A-N: So, I’ve heard something about you guys and the label and what’s the story behind that? Are you guys still on Equal Vision?

NB: No, when we signed it was just for two records so we did our two records and now…

A-N: You’re looking for something else?

NB: Yeah, I think so. They did us well, but you know, like anything else, after a while, you just want to change, you want to do something different so that’s what we’re trying to do.

A-N: Alright, cool. Well, let’s move on to, you know, you haven’t played in a while. You did those shows on the East coast and now I guess you’re doing these shows. So, how’s that been going from not playing for a while to going back to playing some shows?

NB: Yeah. Well, like I said, since I did Anthony’s tour, when we did those East coast shows, I felt fine but I feel totally jacked up after these two shows that we just did. My neck has never hurt this bad in my life. I literally feel like someone has been punching me in the back of the head for hours. I haven’t not played shows for that long in my life since I started playing music so it’s really like wow, it hurts. (laughs) But it’s cool. Shows were awesome.

A-N: Cool, you enjoy it. So, we’re going to wrap this up. What would you like to see or what do you want to do beyond the next record and stuff for the future of Circa Survive?

NB: We all want to make an impact in music. We want to, you know, do something that’s going to be remembered. I don’t know. We want to make something great that everyone…I mean, obviously, it’s never going to be that everyone loves it. You know what I mean?

A-N: Yeah.

NB: We want to go as far as we can go, we want to you know…

A-N: Do it all…

NB: We want to do it!

A-N: Keep playing music; making people happy.

NB: Yeah.

A-N: Alright, awesome, well, thanks a lot for this, man.

NB: Yeah!

A-N: Yeah!

Vegetables

If you're a fan of Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, you may have heard that they are taking a break to work on other projects. One of these projects is entitled Vegetables. Andy Fry and frontman Richard Edwards are the only Margot members in the band.

Apparently, a full-length is in the works, but there is no set date for the release. I'd venture to guess that it will be out before the year's end.

There are currently 3 tracks up, in the early demo stages. I'm curious to see what else Richard Edwards and company are brewing...

Live: Yann Tiersen

Thank you "anonymous" for letting me know that Yann Tiersen is playing the El Rey on Saturday, May 2nd via comments. I do appreciate this bit of news.

YANN TIERSEN LIVE!?!?!

Yes, I'll be there.

Confusion/Contribution/Gold

Confusion:
After an unnecessary name change to "Sannhet", I have decided to stick with Avant Noise, at least for now.

Contribution:
My friend Erick will be contributing an interview to Avant Noise. If anyone wants to ever contribute anything, feel free to ask!

Gold:
New Sinners & Saints mix entitled Gold. Listen to it. Dance.

That's all for now, folks.

Marsen Jules

Marsen Jules crafts beautiful music. It is as simple as that. I came across Marsen's music last year. As of late, I have found myself listening to it again and again. I don't know how else to describe this music other than it is simply beautiful and ethereal and dreamlike. Soothing, even.

Marsen Jules "Les Fleurs"

Arcade Fire: Lenin

I have posted various times about the Dark Was The Night compilation benefiting the Red Hot Organization. So many wonderful artists are taking part, and I cannot wait to obtain my copy. Recently, Spin.com posted "Lenin", a song that Arcade Fire is contributing to the compliation.

Listen to it here.

It's so great to hear something new from the Arcade Fire (ok, well, it's technically not new. It was cut from Neon Bible, but you get the point I'm trying to make, yes?)

I can't wait to listen to what they come up with next.