Some favourite music this week according to my Last FM page.
01) R.E.M.
One of my all-time favourite bands had a strong week in at home listening powered by a review I read on Pitchfork. Pitchfork reviewed the classic R.E.M. record ‘Reckoning.’ I don’t have that disc on my laptop but I do have a compilation of 80s era R.E.M. that has more than a couple ‘Reckoning’ cuts on it. I love the tracks “7 Chinese Bros.” “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)” and “(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville.”
02) Wilco
Wilco has a new album out now, their 7th or 8th depending who you ask. I downloaded this record because it turns out… I must have like 4 or 5 Wilco records. I never really considered myself a fan till I started paying attention to what I listen to on my playlists and when I randomize a set. If Wilco pops up, I have to stop to go check out who the band is.
Listening to new Wilco made me nostalgic for an old Wilco song I have from the Jim Carrey film, ‘Me, Myself, and Irene.’ The song is “Any Major Dude Will Tell You.” That might be the first time I ever had to stop and go, “hey what was that?”
03) Interpol
I never get tired of their first album, ‘Turn on the Bright Lights.’ To me, every song is special but I truly love the opening cut, “Untitled.”
I will surprise you sometime
I’ll come around
When you’re down
simple lyrics (that is basically it), very moody, tense and sexual.
04) Lou Reed
My weekend guy… I suppose I blogged about him yesterday a bit. Sometimes I get the song “Perfect Day” in my head so fiercly, I have to listen to Lou Reed like two or three times in a row before I can move on to the next song. Isn’t that pathetic?
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I haven’t felt very good the past couple days? weeks? but today I woke feeling chipper! I usually feel creatively bankrupt come Friday. I hop in the studio to jam out the modern rock countdown and I also have usually a fairly good ‘to-do’ list of commercial projects. By the time I go on the air at 3PM, the last thing I want to do is make a really good radio show. On top of that, I read this book that at first was inspiring, but after a few days to settle in… I asked myself some honest questions and I didn’t like the answers… damn word in a book! damn you!
What tends to happen is either or both:
The request time at 6PM rips and it makes me happy for humanity again AND/or I go out to the pub in Langford and meet so many great Zoners. Then all weekend, I can’t wait to hop on the radio again on Monday to repeat the cycle.
I was thinking about why I like making the countdown so much (which is a half truth because I also hate it). I love making the countdown because it is created in the studio. I can take some time with the breaks, add a soundtrack, find clips, use my best callers from the week. The one thing I don’t like about the show is that its not live. But live makes the show rushed.
I was thinking of trying some of the things that I like about the countdown and incorporating it into the live show. It’ll require a little more focus, but maybe I’ll give it a try and see how it sounds.
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Coral has been hard at work this weekend with her girlfriends and sister working on the invitations for our wedding. They look specatacular! Can’t wait to show them off.
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Go with yourself.
The Morning After 
It’s never pathetic to have Perfect Day in your head! Did you ever hear the version that the BBC released? it has loads of people singing it… I think it was supposed to show off how diverse the BBC is in a commercial, then everyone loved it so they released the song for charity.
that is pretty amazing!
“damn word in a book! damn you!”
What book?? Sounds interesting actually!
the book is “Ignore Everyone” http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/000932.html
It is a book about creativity and success and just doing your thing.
I just googled the lyric “I will surprse you sometime, I’ll come around … ” and your blog came up! I must have listened to Interpol’s Turn on the Bright Lights 100 hundred times and it just gets better and better and totally agree with you that the “untitled” opening track is a thing of beauty! It’s great to know there are others out there who feel the same!
Daniel
hey Daniel, thank you for finding the time to read my blog. Hope you come back and read it more often 🙂
“Any Major Dude Will Tell You” is a Steely Dan song, which can also be said for every other song on the Me Myself and Irene soundtrack. Wilco chose to cover that particular one. FYI.
It’s weird. I got to your blog because I needed an image of the “Transformer” album cover, and then I recognized the Interpol lyric and the GBU image right at the top of the page. Then I see “Reckoning” (R.E.M. is an all time favorite, all albums), Wilco, Lou Reed, just generally good things.
Then, I read what your comments on “Reckoning” and that new Wilco record and got the impression that you don’t really maybe place much importance on knowing the details or history of the stuff you listen to, but that the stuff you listen to just happens to be really good.
I have no true point here, other than to let you know that tidbit about Me Myself and Irene featuring only Steely Dan songs. Bye!
hey Crouton, love the post. Never thought it was a Steely Dan song… Always knew it as a Wilco cut. I don’t really follow Wilco too much, just know I like it when it comes on my iTunes mixes.