Music Picks of the Week
I've started reviewing CDs again for the radio station. Unlike WBGU-FM, however, 105.1 "The DiSC" doesn't get a whole lot of new music from record companies eager for college airplay. (This may have something to do with the fact that the station's signal barely reaches across campus, and, when school is not in session, the station broadcasts Latino news and information.) Most of the station's "new" CDs, it seems, come from the used racks of the local CD shop, which allows the station to pick out 5 titles a week from the discount bin. So much for cutting edge college radio.
Anyway, so when I say I'm "reviewing" CDs, what I'm primarily doing is listening to used CDs for any trace of potty-mouth language. Apparently the station is monitored by uptight college administrators who have deemed words like "damn" and "hell" as being too sensitive for community standards. Since the community of St. George is largely composed of either dying retirees or transplanted Californians who have driven the locals out of the housing market, you can imagine that the college's administrators would like to avoid any trace of controversy, in the hopes of garnering large amounts of said retirees' and Californians' cash donations.
I routinely ignore the administrators' standards of airplay (though I do try to be mindful of FCC guidelines), but this poor little station is in dire need of some rock & roll salvation, and, in this scenario, I am Jesus Christ. Can I get a hallelujah?
Most of my picks this time come from the deep recesses of the station's sadly neglected bin of "new arrivals," so please withhold your comments until we get done.
Joan Osborne: "Love Is Alive"
I don't know where the fuck she's been, either, but this number, from the soundtrack of a forgotten film called One Night at McCool's, might make you think that her chart-and-lung-busting debut album had been released only weeks ago, so freshly vital is her voice here. The song was originally a hit for Gary Wright back in the 70s, but it's nicely updated here with louder guitar chords and hip-hop-like bass. But it's Osborne's pipes that carry this number out of the remainder bin and into my heart.
The Coup: "Laugh, Love, Fuck"
My radio station has no rap or hip-hop library, not that this number has a chance in hell of getting airplay anyway. This is a relatively recent single from a group that gained some infamy in 2001 for an album cover that depicted the Twin Towers being blown up by one of the band members. (Eerily, this album was released only days before September 11.) But this track carries no sign of past terrors. In fact, the philosophy espoused here--"I want to laugh, love, fuck, and drink liquor/And help the damn revolution come quicker"--seems one that few religious extremists, never mind Muslim terrorists, would be willing to adopt. Which just makes this rap all the more joyful and hilarious.
The Click Five: "Pop Princess"
The radio station does have an ungodly amount of teenybopper music, and some of the DJs even play it regularly, yet another indication that I'm not in Ohio anymore. These boys have gained some success in places where music is rarely heard, including TRL, which just goes to show that investing in boy bands is always a safe bet. But I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that this ode to a teen superstar is, in fact, an ironic deconstruction of the very mechanisms that brought them to power in the world of MTV and slumber parties everywhere. Well played, clerks.
Spoon: "Carryout Kids"
This one I actually bought myself. It's part of an EP of bonus tracks that comes with this band's Gimme Fiction CD. It also serves to represent the slacker lifestyle of DJs everywhere, particularly in southern Utah. But the best part of this song is the piano that bangs out the rhythm like that demented trolley from Mister Roger's Neighborhood. In fact, one might imagine the singer as one of King Friday's douchebag sons, ordering pizza on the old man's credit card while waiting for the inheritance to kick in. This is the kind of music that will cause college administrators to wonder why test scores continue to nosedive and why alumni donations have dried up. Suckas!
We close with a joke from my late father-in-law:
Q: What is the difference between a rhinoceros and Lawrence Welk?
A: The rhino has horns in front of its asshole.
Anyway, so when I say I'm "reviewing" CDs, what I'm primarily doing is listening to used CDs for any trace of potty-mouth language. Apparently the station is monitored by uptight college administrators who have deemed words like "damn" and "hell" as being too sensitive for community standards. Since the community of St. George is largely composed of either dying retirees or transplanted Californians who have driven the locals out of the housing market, you can imagine that the college's administrators would like to avoid any trace of controversy, in the hopes of garnering large amounts of said retirees' and Californians' cash donations.
I routinely ignore the administrators' standards of airplay (though I do try to be mindful of FCC guidelines), but this poor little station is in dire need of some rock & roll salvation, and, in this scenario, I am Jesus Christ. Can I get a hallelujah?
Most of my picks this time come from the deep recesses of the station's sadly neglected bin of "new arrivals," so please withhold your comments until we get done.
Joan Osborne: "Love Is Alive"
I don't know where the fuck she's been, either, but this number, from the soundtrack of a forgotten film called One Night at McCool's, might make you think that her chart-and-lung-busting debut album had been released only weeks ago, so freshly vital is her voice here. The song was originally a hit for Gary Wright back in the 70s, but it's nicely updated here with louder guitar chords and hip-hop-like bass. But it's Osborne's pipes that carry this number out of the remainder bin and into my heart.
The Coup: "Laugh, Love, Fuck"
My radio station has no rap or hip-hop library, not that this number has a chance in hell of getting airplay anyway. This is a relatively recent single from a group that gained some infamy in 2001 for an album cover that depicted the Twin Towers being blown up by one of the band members. (Eerily, this album was released only days before September 11.) But this track carries no sign of past terrors. In fact, the philosophy espoused here--"I want to laugh, love, fuck, and drink liquor/And help the damn revolution come quicker"--seems one that few religious extremists, never mind Muslim terrorists, would be willing to adopt. Which just makes this rap all the more joyful and hilarious.
The Click Five: "Pop Princess"
The radio station does have an ungodly amount of teenybopper music, and some of the DJs even play it regularly, yet another indication that I'm not in Ohio anymore. These boys have gained some success in places where music is rarely heard, including TRL, which just goes to show that investing in boy bands is always a safe bet. But I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that this ode to a teen superstar is, in fact, an ironic deconstruction of the very mechanisms that brought them to power in the world of MTV and slumber parties everywhere. Well played, clerks.
Spoon: "Carryout Kids"
This one I actually bought myself. It's part of an EP of bonus tracks that comes with this band's Gimme Fiction CD. It also serves to represent the slacker lifestyle of DJs everywhere, particularly in southern Utah. But the best part of this song is the piano that bangs out the rhythm like that demented trolley from Mister Roger's Neighborhood. In fact, one might imagine the singer as one of King Friday's douchebag sons, ordering pizza on the old man's credit card while waiting for the inheritance to kick in. This is the kind of music that will cause college administrators to wonder why test scores continue to nosedive and why alumni donations have dried up. Suckas!
We close with a joke from my late father-in-law:
Q: What is the difference between a rhinoceros and Lawrence Welk?
A: The rhino has horns in front of its asshole.
posted by Chazzbot at 6:22 PM
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