ECI Updates and Such...

     Some people don’t like having to check web pages and blogs for updates. Others do, but often forget. Here’s where a couple of tools, newly added to this blog, can help you. One, if you have an RSS or Atom feed reader, you can use the FeedBurner button in the sidebar to the left to subscribe to this page’s feed and thus learn about updates, postings, etc., without having to open your browser. Two, if you want to send something from this page to someone who doesn’t normally read it, you can now use the envelope icon at the bottom of any post to give that person a heads-up. S/he will get a link to that post without your having to copy and paste a URL.
     “Push it along; push it along. Push it along; yeah, push it along....”

The Joy of Mercury Rev and Dave Fridmann

     Yesterday’s mini-Dave Fridmann set (Low and the Delgados) was a compensatory, stop-gap measure. What I really wanted to do was to play tracks from the forthcoming release by Mercury Rev: The Secret Migration. Fridmann is a former member of the group and is still remarkably important in helping to craft their sonic identity.
     Earlier, I wrapped my ears around a track or two from that album, and I’ll say only this. 30 seconds in I was logging onto Amazon to order the import version. The album, inexplicably, is out in Great Britain, but won’t be released Stateside until May. With any luck my copy will arrive in time for the 8 March show. And then you can hear what I’m trying not to gush about.
     There unfortunately aren’t any song samples available for download from the band’s web page, but with any luck you’ll get a little taste less than two weeks from now....

Episode 2

The latest show has been put to bed, and hopefully I’ll be able to do the same for my body in the next few minutes. Unfortunately, I got no callers this morning, but maybe that'll change in the future. Maybe as a joke I can play that short track from The Wall, “Is There Anybody Out There?” next time round. Perhaps that’ll be the question that gets a ringing answer....
     In my rush to get to the station on time, I forgot a few CDs and my blank CDRs. Thus, I didn’t record the show--so you’ll have to use your imagination to fill in what I might have said between songs. But do you really listen to radio to hear what the DJ says? Besides, I don’t think this show was as inspired as the last. Best to have no audible record of the decline.

• 2:00–3:00 a.m.:
• Dusty Springfield, “Just a Little Lovin’,” Dusty in Memphis, Atlantic
• Everything but the Girl, “Sugar Finney,” Baby, the Stars Shine Bright, Sire/Warner Brothers
• Feist, “Let It Die,” Let It Die, Polydor
• Ron Sexsmith, “Seem to Recall,” Whereabouts, Interscope
• Dresden Dolls, “Coin-Operated Boy,” Dresden Dolls, 8 Ft.
• Marianne Faithfull, “City of Quartz,” Before the Poison, Anti
• Emmylou Harris, “Wrecking Ball,” Wrecking Ball, Warner Brothers
• Bright Eyes, “Land-Locked Blues,” I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning, Saddle Creek
• Low, “Cue the Strings,” The Great Destroyer, Sub Pop
• Delgados, “Thirteen Gliding Principles,” The Great Eastern, Mantra
• Talk Talk, “Desire,” Spirit of Eden, Nettwerk
• Blur, “Strange News from Another Star,” Blur, Virgin

• 3:00–4:00 a.m.:
• Múm, “The Land Between Solar Systems,” Finally We Are No One, Fat Cat
• Hooverphonic, “Renaissance Affair,” Blue Wonder Power Milk, Epic
• Single Gun Theory, “From a Million Miles,” Like Stars in Our Hands, Nettwerk
• Saint Etienne, “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” Foxbase Alpha, Warner Brothers
• Paco, “Satie,” This Is Where We Live, Unfiltered
• The Incredible Moses Leroy, “The 4A,” Become the Soft.Lightes, iMusic
• Matt Pond PA, “Holiday Road,” Winter Songs (EP), Altitude
• Chris Bell, “Better Save Yourself,” I Am the Cosmos, Ryko
• Big Star, “Thank You, Friends,” Third/Sister Lovers, Ryko
• Big Star, “Big Black Car,” Third/Sister Lovers, Ryko
• My Morning Jacket, “Steam Engine,” It Still Moves, ATO

Incoming

     If you’re in the WHPK listening area, you can hear the next edition of ECI on Tuesday morning, 22 February, at the regular time. Among the features will be the music of Leslie Feist (known for her work as a solo artist as well as with Toronto’s Broken Social Scene and Norway’s Kings of Convenience) and a couple of tracks by Low, who have a new recording out on Sub Pop called The Great Destroyer. If I can get my hands on it between now and then, I might also include something from Before the Poison, the latest release from Marianne Faithfull.
     It’ll be as dreamy as ever....

Episode 1

     Except for a couple of messy fades, my failure to announce the station’s phone number (773.703.8424) and one spot where I played a track other than the one I intended, I think the first show was a success. Oh, yeah, I also got my first crank call within 2 minutes of the first track’s beginning. I don’t recall ever having heard such slurred speech from anyone. (Apologies to the caller near the top of the second hour, there just wasn't enough time left for me to find a Bush Tetras song before I had to cue the track already in the player. Maybe next time.)

• 2:00–3:00 a.m.:
• David Sylvian, “Before the Bullfight,” Gone to Earth, Virgin
• Gus Gus, “Superhuman,” This Is Normal, 4AD
• Cocteau Twins, “The High-Monkey Monk,” Cocteau Twins (boxed set), Capitol
• Massive Attack, “Angel,” Mezzanine, Virgin
• Robin Guthrie, “Tera,” Imperial, Bella Union
• Violet Indiana, “Poison Gorgeous,” Roulette, Bella Union
• Sparklehorse, “Sick of Goodbyes,” Good Morning Spider, Capitol
• American Music Club, “Home,” Love Songs for Patriots, Merge
• Broken Social Scene, “KC Accidental,” You Forgot It in People, Arts & Crafts
• Magazine, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” The Correct Use of Soap, Caroline
• Gang of Four, “History’s Bunk,” The Peel Sessions, Strange Fruit

• 3:00–4:00 a.m.:
• Modest Mouse, “The Cold Part,” The Moon & Antarctica, Epic
• Jim White, “Corvair,” No Such Place, Luaka Bop
• Hank Dogs, “Daddy’s Arms,” Bareback, Hannibal
• Morsel, “Squeezebox Medicine,” I’m a Wreck, Small Stone
• Cinematic Orchestra, “Man with a Movie Camera,” Every Day, Ninja Tune
• Gomez, “Sound of Sounds,” In Our Gun, Virgin
• Robert Wyatt, “Heaps of Sheeps,” Shleep, Hannibal
• Cowboy Junkies, “Thousand Year Prayer,” Open, Latent/Zöe
• Neil Finn, “Addicted,” Try Whistling This, Work
• Electrelane, “This Deed,” The Power Out, Beggar’s Banquet
• Mercury Rev, “You’re My Queen,” All Is Dream, V2
• Scheer, “Say What You Came to Say,” … And Finally, 482/Schism

Almost There...

     A number of people have asked what the first song I would play on the show would be. I didn’t give it a lot of thought until the third person asked.
     I know now what it’ll be. If you live in the station’s limited broadcast area, you’ll know in a little less than two hours. If you don’t, well, maybe I can let you hear the recorded version of it if all goes well. Suffice it to say that the tune is by someone whose work I love so much that I named my main recording drive after her/him. It’s a geeky tribute, to be sure, but it’s a tribute nonetheless....