Episode 11

     I finally had a totally relaxed, glitch-free show. I featured some of the artists from the two festivals that bracketed this morning’s show: last weekend’s Intonation Festival and this coming weekend’s Lollapalooza. Intonation was fun, though more for the shifting groups of friends with whom I braved the excessive heat, humidity, dust and hipsters. I got to hear some bands whose music I’ll have to listen to more closely (e.g., Andrew Bird, Four Tet, A.C. Newman) and many others who I may never voluntarily listen to again (e.g., Les Savy Fav, Deerhoof and Magnolia Electric Company). I still haven’t become an uncritical supporter of “indie rock,” but I never dislike or put down groups simply because they might be classified that way. That was not necessarily the case in a review written by one of my least favorite critics. For the next few days, you can check out what he had to say about the event free registration required. (The only place we agree is in our assessments of The Go! Team – with apologies to Nate for the Neneh Cherry comparisons.) Given the forecast for the coming days (increasing heat, no rain) and how exhausted I was at the end Sunday night, I think I’m going to have to sit Lollapalooza out.
     Oh yeah. The show contained a few songs that were either suggested or inspired by some special people. They know who they are (and what the songs were) ....

• 12:00–1:00 a.m.:
• Broken Social Scene, “Shampoo Suicide,” You Forgot It in People, Arts and Crafts
• Decemberists, “Leslie Anne Levine,” Castaways and Cutouts, Kill Rock Stars
• Four Tet, “Spirit Fingers,” Rounds, Domino
• Interpol, “The New,” Turn on the Bright Lights, Matador
• Blonde Redhead, “Melody,” Misery Is a Butterfly, 4AD
• Arcade Fire, “Headlights Look Like Diamonds,” Arcade Fire EP, Merge
• New Order, “The Perfect Kiss,” Low-Life, Qwest
• Bobby Womack, “Woman’s Gotta Have It,” Understanding, EMI
• Gram Parsons, “Love Hurts,” Grievous Angel, Reprise
• XTC, “Harvest Festival,” Apple Venus, TVT
• Susana Baca, “Maria Lando,” The Soul of Black Peru, Luaka Bop
• Cocteau Twins, “Road, River, and Rail,” Heaven or Las Vegas, 4AD

• 1:00–2:00 a.m.:
• Jimi Hendrix Experience, “Foxey Lady,” Are You Experienced?, MCA
• Bob Marley and the Wailers, “Satisfy My Soul,” Kaya, Island
• Hooverphonic, “This Strange Effect,” Blue Wonder Power Milk, Epic
• The Sundays, “When I’m Thinking About You,” Static and Silence, Geffen
• Cody ChesnuTT, “The Most Beautiful Shame,” The Headphone Masterpiece, Ready Set Go
• Nick Drake, “Saturday Sun,” Five Leaves Left, Hannibal
• Apartments, “She Sings to Forget You,” A Life Full of Farewells, Hot
• Sufjan Stevens, “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.,” Illinois, Asthmatic Kitty
• Esthero, “Bad Boy Clyde,” Wikked Lil Grrrls, Reprise
• Finley Quaye, “Even After All,” Maverick A Strike, Epic
• Stars, “The Big Fight,” Set Yourself on Fire, Arts and Crafts
• M. Ward, “Four Hours in Washington,” Transistor Radio, Merge
• Henry Threadgill Sextett, “The Devil Is on the Loose and Dancing with a Monkey,” Rag, Bush and All, Novus

• 2:00–3:00 a.m.:
• Mogwai, “Waltz for Aidan,” Come on Die Young,
• Spain, “Untitled #1,” The Blue Moods of Spain, Restless
• David Bowie, “Stay,” Station to Station, Virgin
• Durutti Column, “Never Known,” LC, Factory
• Prince and the Revolution, “Condition of the Heart,” Around the World in a Day, Paisley Park
• Kendra Smith, “Space Unadorned,” Five Ways of Disappearing, 4AD
• Suzanne Vega, “Marlene on the Wall,” Suzanne Vega, A&M
• The Blow Monkeys, “Wildflower,” Forbidden Fruit EP, RCA
• Do Make Say Think, “Goodbye Enemy Airship,” Goodbye Enemy Airship The Landlord Is Dead, Constellation

The ECI Philosophy

     I’m writing now only in response to something I heard a few days ago (last week?). Someone mentioned that s/he thought my show might be cool because — pace the show’s name — s/he thought it was a great idea to play music that would help people fall asleep.

     Wow.

insert befuddled scratching of head and the thought that some may understand eci to mean emi, where the “m” stands for medicine, as in a palliative.

     What I intend could not be further from either description.

     As succinctly as possible and without coming off as morbid, I’ll explain what I’m trying to do: I’m playing music to die by. Before you start getting huffy thinking I am encouraging or valorizing suicide, I’ll say that my aim is to do something quite different, something that in the end is about affirming the value and pleasure of living — the preciousness of each moment. In short, the show comes down to a question that I ask of each song I program: If you knew this were the last thing you were ever going to hear, would you still listen to it?

Episode 10

     More than ever, I really want to hear whether what I played this morning was anywhere near what I intended. What it was, I’m not sure. In the end, it might have been inspired. The CD-Rs will tell....
     Why I am so concerned about this morning’s show?
     Well, Monday night, time got away from me as I sat in front of the stereo, trying out a few more things for the show—with the result that I found myself madly dashing out the door to make it to the station on time. I did make it ... but without my skeletal playlist and without six CDs I wanted to play. Sadly, none of those discs were in the station’s library, so I had to improvise. Thus, my normally well-thought out show gave way to something different. Better?
     (For reasons I am not at liberty to disclose, my show was 45 minutes longer this morning. That is why, if you were wondering, there’s a nearly complete fourth hour below. Oh, yeah, one more thing: I know what the songs I missed were. Expect them to figure prominently in the next show.)

• 12:00–1:00 a.m.:
• Fela, “Water No Get Enemy,” Expensive Shit, Shanachie
• Joanna Newsom, “Swansea,” The Milk-Eyed Mender, Drag City
• Tanya Donelly, “Butterfly Thing,” Whiskey Tango Ghosts, 4AD
• Anja Garbarek, “The Diver,” Smiling and Waving, Virgin
• Jim White, “The Wrong Kind of Love,” No Such Place, Luaka Bop
• Roxy Music, “Triptych,” Country Life, Virgin
• Hanne Hukkelberg, “Cast Anchor,” Cast Anchor (EP), Leaf
• Sun Kil Moon, “Carry Me Ohio,” Ghosts of the Great Highway, Jet Set
• Feist, “Lonely Lonely,” Let It Die, Polydor

• 1:00–2:00 a.m.:
• Me’shell Ndegéocello, “Aquarium,” Spirit Music Jamia: Dance of the Infidel, Shanachie
• Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, “Language of Violence,” Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury, 4th & B’way
• This Mortal Coil, “Barramundi,” It’ll End in Tears, 4AD
• Bill Withers, “Lovely Day,” Menagerie, CBS
• Ron Sexsmith, “Whatever It Takes,” Retriever, Nettwerk
• Wilco, “Reservations,” Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Nonesuch
• X, “True Love, Part #2,” More Fun in the New World, Elektra
• Broken Social Scene, “Looks Just Like the Sun,” You Forgot It in People, Arts & Crafts
• Minutemen, “History Lesson, Part II,” Double Nickels on the Dime, SST
• Isley Brothers, “Voyage to Atlantis,” Go for Your Guns, T-Neck
• Violet Indiana, “Killer Eyes,” Roulette, Bella Union
• Spoon, “My Mathematical Mind,” Gimme Fiction, Merge

• 2:00–3:00 a.m.:
• Tears for Fears, “Ideas as Opiates,” The Hurting, Mercury
• Aztec Camera, “We Could Send Letters,” High Land, Hard Rain, Sire/Reprise
• Beth Orton, “Ted’s Waltz,” Daybreaker, Astralwerks
• The Russian Futurists, “The Science of the Seasons,” The Method of Modern Love, Upper Class
• Caribou, “Lord Leopard,” The Milk of Human Kindness, Domino
• The Flaming Lips, “Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitis),” Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Warner Bros.
• R.E.M., “Perfect Circle,” Murmur, IRS
• American Music Club, “I’ve Been a Mess,” Mercury, Reprise
• Colin Newman, “I Can Hear Your...,” Commercial Suicide, Crammed
• Magazine, “The Light Pours Out of Me,” Real Life, Caroline
• Talk Talk, “Tomorrow Started,” It’s My Life, EMI
• Giardini di Mirò, “Trompsø Is OK,” Rise and Fall of Academic Drifting, Homesleep

• 3:00–3:45 a.m.:
• Red House Painters, “Medicine Bottle,” Down Colorful Hill, 4AD
• Sybarite, “The Fourth Day,” Nonument, 4AD
• David Sylvian, “Wave,” Gone to Earth, Virgin
• The Album Leaf, “The Outer Banks,” In a Safe Place, Sub Pop
• David Thomas, “What Happened to Me,” Monster Walks the Winter Lake, Twin Tone
• Aluminum Group, “We’re Both Hiding,” Happyness, Wishing Tree
• Systems Officer, “Signature Red,” Systems Officer, Ace Fu