#0082 – Spring Broke

I know it’s about time for Spring Break, and we’re all pretty strapped for the cash. Even with that situation, I’m all good. I hope you are, too!

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There’s no voiceover on this mix.  In fact, I really didn’t have a theme for this mix until it came to me.  These are just some tunes I’ve been rolling with for the past couple of weeks.  Then last night and again this morning, it became clear.  These songs are all about some state of dysfunction.  Broken people, broken promises, broken thoughts, broken dreams… pretty much everything but the last song which is so sweet but so earnest that it almost balances out the hour-plus of dystopian irony that precedes it.

Even the theme is kinda stretching it with the awesome power of Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up” which would be a great anthem to start pretty much any lovely day in Spring.  Closing it out with Fleet Foxes, you’d almost never guess the theme except for the dark but catchy tunes that lay betwixt them (yes, I used “betwixt”).

Steady yourself from being hamstrung by the theme of the mix.  It’s frankly just a good mix of tunes and interesting side note: I had this mix brewing for the last month or so, but as it turns out, many of these artists are rumored to be taking the stage at Lollapalooza this year (Tool, Depeche Mode, Beastie Boys, Jane’s Addiction).  That’d be pretty sweet if I called it in this mix.  Guess we’ll find out in a few months — it would be incredibly sweet to see Arcade Fire and Morrissey, but I’ve heard no rumors about either.  Still, one hopes.

I know it’s about time for Spring Break, and we’re all pretty strapped for the cash.  Even with that situation, I’m all good.  I hope you are, too!

  1. The Arcade Fire – Wake Up
  2. Morrissey – Something is Squeezing My Skull
  3. Depeche Mode – World In My Eyes
  4. Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes
  5. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – We Call Upon the Author
  6. Jane’s Addiction – Standing in the Shower
  7. Pearl Jam – Glorified G
  8. Ra Ra Riot – Dying is Fine
  9. David Bowie – Queen Bitch
  10. Book of Love – I Touch Roses
  11. Franz Ferdinand – Lucid Dreams
  12. Spacious Thoughts – N.A.S.A. (featuring Tom Waits and Kool Keith)
  13. Beastie Boys – Root Down
  14. Tool – Vicarious
  15. The Cramps – Garbageman
  16. I’ll Take Care of It – Sleep Out
  17. Sleep When I’m Dead – The Cure
  18. Fleet Foxes – Ragged Wood

#0076 – The Road Most Traveled

Just your basic mix of cover songs. Ska covers! Bluegrass covers! Metal covers! Punk covers!

Just your basic mix of cover songs. Ska covers! Bluegrass covers! Metal covers! Punk covers!

I know, it’s been done, but dammit it’s MY TURN.

It was brought to my attention though that on a few of these, the original songs may be less well known, so I’ve created a second mix containing the same playlist in the same order, but all original songs rather than the cover versions.

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01. Turisas – Rasputin (Boney M)
02. Van Canto – Kings of Metal (Manowar)
03. Dinosaur Jr. – Just Like Heaven (The Cure)
04. Melvins – Going Blind (KISS)
05. Apocalyptica – Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (Metallica)
06. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Puff The Magic Dragon (Peter Paul and Mary)
07. The English Beat – Tears of a Clown (Smokey Robinson and the Miracles)
08. Fishbone – Date Rape (Sublime)
09. Reel Big Fish – Hungry Like The Wolf (Duran Duran)
10. The Meat Purveyors – Round and Round (Ratt)
11. Iron Horse – Polar Opposites (Modest Mouse)
12. Lucero – Kiss The Bottle (Jawbreaker)
13. Ramones – Needles and Pins (The Searchers)
14. Seu Jorge – Five Years (David Bowie)
15. The Slackers – Wanted Dead Or Alive (Bon Jovi)
16. Five Iron Frenzy – It’s Not Unusual (Tom Jones)
17. The Urge – This Is Radio Clash (The Clash)
18. The Protomen – No Easy Way Out (Robert Tepper)

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#0072 – 2008 In Repose

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It had to happen, as it does just about everywhere this time of year:  a year-in-review show.  I’ve been through several iterations of this mix with a few different approaches to get to here.  It’s been difficult.  I thought about highlighting music that I discovered this year, not necessarily stuff that came out this year, but anything I discovered you’ve heard in the previous episodes. We also got in about another 43 shows of Radio Gen1us this year, which is huge.

So I decided to highlight songs you’ve not heard (probably) on albums that came out this year:

#0069 – Waiting on a Revelation

We’re living in serious times, but we’re reminded every now and again that there’s a strong case for some optimism.  This mix is a reflection on this idea.

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Jim and I attended the rally in Grant Park, Chicago on election night last week, and it was a very moving experience.  People hugged each other — a woman came up to me on the street and offered a hug — a real, warm, longer-lasting full bodied hug.  The city of Chicago was just glowing on Tuesday night.  People have been walking taller, noticing their neighbors more — I mean, it’s not all Pollyana and people still drive like a bunch of assholes — and Cubs fans?  Well, they’re the worst (present company excluded, Jim).

Despite all the good times, the economy is showing signs that we’re still headed for shit.  We’re no closer to getting out of Iraq or avoiding further confrontation in Afghanistan than we were before.  Poverty, Health Care, Cancer, AIDS, Gay Marriage — I mean, there’s a lot of issues that require serious action and attention — yet even without doing anything, we’re reminded that as a nation whose wealth dwarfs that of almost every other nation, where the black community is a shrinking minority, we elect a minority to the highest office — something that all the other “western” nations have yet to do.

For the first time in a very long time, I actually have some sense that no matter what, we’re all going to be okay.

Some notes about this mix: The Lucero track was contributed by Jim, and it’s been one of my favorites for almost a year now. Since he never played it, I figure I have dibs on it. A fellow by the name of John Campbell suggested The Gossip after a Twitter discussion about Shazam (he used the service as he got a haircut and this cover of Wham! was what it pulled up). I had to throw a new one by The Cure, because it’s probably their best album since Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me. And I don’t talk anywhere on this mix, so just pop it in your car on your long commute or drive and just enjoy.

This mix includes…

  • Lucero – Tonight Ain’t Gonna Be Good
  • R.E.M. – Supernatural Superserious
  • INXS – Don’t Change a Thing
  • Mark Ronson – You’re All I Need to Get By
  • Stars – Take Me to the Riot
  • Band of Horses – Is There a Ghost?
  • ColdPlay – Lovers in Japan
  • Keane – Spiralling
  • Frightened Rabbit – I Feel Better
  • The Cure – Only One
  • Travis – Sing
  • Radiohead – Reckoner
  • Kings of Leon – Sex on Fire
  • The Gossip – Careless Whisper
  • Muse – Map of the Problematique
  • Liam Finn – Better to Be
  • Deerhoof – Offend Maggie
  • Beck – Gamma Ray
  • Dan Deacon – The Crystal Cat
  • Say Hi To Your Mom – The Twenty-Second Century
  • The Arcade File – Rebellion (Lies)

#0061 – File under: Year Two New

AaronCan you believe this podcast has been up for over a year?  Four different hosts and sixty shows later, we’re still doing this and the shows are only getting better.

Sorry to have disappeared for the last month or so since Iron Deejay in June, but it’s been busy.  We had a second kid.  Work’s been rough.  There’s been some summer wind-down as the weather finally gets good enough in Chicago to be a distraction.

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Nevertheless, as we are already into Year Two for Radio Gen1us, I’m going to showcase a bunch of new music that’s been on heavy rotation on the iPod:

  • Vuja De – The Orb
  • Deep Blue – Ladytron
  • Give Me a Beat – Girl Talk
  • Milk Crisis – The Go! Team
  • Keep Your Head – The Ting Tings
  • Harder Than You Think – Public Enemy
  • List of Demands (Reparations) – Saul Williams
  • Discipline – Nine Inch Nails
  • All Kinds of Stuff – The Cure
  • Inside the Fire – Disturbed
  • The One With ‘Kid’ – Local H
  • We Call Upon the Author – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
  • Chemtrails – Beck
  • Going On – Gnarls Barkley
  • 100 Days, 100 Nights – Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
  • The Modern Leper – Frightened Rabbit
  • Long Division – Death Cab for Cutie
  • Lost – Coldplay
  • Down to Earth – Peter Gabriel

#0053 – File under: This is the Way the World Ends

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Aaron “Not with a whisper, but with a bang.” Heavily inspired by the post-punk sounds included in the oeuvre of director Richard Kelley in movies such as Donnie Darko and Southland Tales, this mix goes wonderfully dark without being frightening. This is a playlist I like to bike long-distances to, imagining I ride towards destiny.

  1. Echo and the Bunnymen – The Killing Moon
  2. Pet Shop Boys – West End Girls
  3. INXS – Never Tear Us Apart
  4. The Pixies – Wave of Mutilation
  5. Tears for Fears – Head Over Heels
  6. Depeche Mode – Walking in My Shoes
  7. Curve – Horror Head
  8. Siouxsie & The Banshees – Cities in Dust
  9. Moby – Chord Sounds
  10. The Cure – Fascination Street
  11. Thom Yorke – Black Swan
  12. Roxy Music – More Than This
  13. The Church – Under the Milky Way
  14. Peter Murphy – Cuts You Up
  15. Wang Chung – To Live And Die In L.A.
  16. Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
  17. The Killers – All These Things That I’ve Done

    Also folks — only two weeks left to get your mixes in for our first Iron Deejay competition. All contestants receive a free copy of Audacity software for your Mac or PC.

    #0041 – Restless Leg Syndrome

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    Gen1us icon“People with RLS feel uncomfortable sensations in their legs, especially when sitting or lying down, accompanied by an irresistible urge to move about.” Like they got ants in their pants and they just gotta dance? “…often described by people as burning, creeping, tugging, or like insects crawling inside the legs.” So, that’s a yes.

    Am I really going to mock what I’m sure is a severely inconvenient affliction, just for a title for this post? Of course not. Well, maybe a bit.

    These are the kinds of songs that interface directly with your nervous system. Prepare for a case of happy feet.

    1. Andrew Vincent and the Pirates – Bahamas
    2. Glittertind – Flaumen Gar, I Norge er Var
    3. OOIOO – uma
    4. Cloak/Dagger – JC Pays the Bills
    5. Thomas Dolby – The Key to Her Ferrari
    6. The Mountain Goats – Palmcorder Yajna
    7. The Thermals – Pillar of Salt
    8. The Slackers – Peculiar
    9. Clutch – 10,000 Witnesses
    10. Primus – Mr. Knowitall
    11. Return to Forever – Sofistifunk
    12. The Cure – Why Can’t I Be You
    13. Les Savy Fav – Dishonest Dan, Pt. 2
    14. The Dismemberment Plan – Girl O’Clock
    15. The Buzzcocks – Oh Shit
    16. Mojo Nixon – Girlfriend in a Coma
    17. Gitfiddle Jim – Paddlin’ Madeline blues
    18. The Big Bopper – Chantilly Lace
    19. Bad Brains – I Against I
    20. Fishbone – Housework

    note: there’s a bit of a glitch in the Mojo Nixon track and I apologize for that. Also, I’ll work on getting my voice levels higher for the next one.

    #0019 – File under: Imperialism

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    I was watching our President the other day and he dropped a line about avoiding World War III by keeping Iran from having a nuclear weapon. Now, whatever you think about the state of politics in the US or the world today, there’s no doubt that there’s a lot of people that just don’t like the U.S. and think we’re being too imperialistic. So this is a mix I’ve been kicking around for a while and it seems like it’s gestated long enough. This mix includes music from the soundtrack of Team America, Black Label Society, Rage Against the Machine, Front 242, The Cure, Dropkick Murphys, Sex Pistols, David Bowie, Trent Reznor, Tears for Fears, Ween, Static-X, Motörhead, Gogol Bordello, Ladytron, Outkast, Rammstein and Nine Inch Nails. Strength and Honor, citizens!