Episode 31

     I am so ready for sleep right now, but I can’t totally commit to it until this post is complete. Another show is in the can, and more than some recent others, I’m looking forward to hearing this one. I’m still toying with transitions and fades between songs, but given the less than ideal monitoring options in the studio (what we hear is not even an approximation of the processed signal going out over the airwaves), much of what I can do is guesswork in the moment, followed by listening to the show later, and trying to correct things on the next show. I hope the time I’ve spent results in a better experience for those of you in the WHPK listening area.
     There’s not much more to be said about this morning’s show. It mildly realizes some of the promises I made in the previous post. You can, over time, expect to hear many more things that might at first seem incongruous. It’s all part of my plan for world domination. You did know about my plan, didn’t you? Oh, no, I’ve said too much....

• 12:00–1:00 a.m.:
• The The, “Soul Mining,” Soul Mining, Epic
• Lush, “De-Luxe,” Gala, 4AD
• Sherman Irby, “Big Mama’s Biscuits,” Big Mama’s Biscuits, Blue Note
• Mice Parade, “Steady as She Goes,” Bem-Vinda Vontade, Bubblecore
• The Soft Boys, “Where Are the Prawns?” Underwater Moonlight … and How It Got There, Matador
• Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins, “Born Secular,” Rabbit Fur Coat, Team Love
• Billy Bragg, “The Tracks of My Tears,” Talking with the Taxman about Poetry (Expanded Edition), Yep Roc
• Mick Karn, “The Three Fates,” Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters, Virgin
• Blue States, “Your Girl,” Nothing Changes Under the Sun, Eighteenth Street Lounge
• David Bowie, “I Have Not Been to Oxford Town,” Outside, Virgin
• Sia, “Don’t Bring Me Down,” Colour the Small One, Astralwerks
• Apostle of Hustle, “Song for Lorca,” Folkloric Feel, Arts and Crafts

• 1:00–2:00 a.m.:
• Konono N°1, “Masikulu,” Congotronics, Crammed
• Marianne Faithfull, “There Is a Ghost,” Before the Poison, Anti
• Johnny Marr & the Healers, “Something to Shout About,” Boomslang, ARTISTdirect
• Gang of Four, “I Will Be a Good Boy,” Songs of the Free, Warner Brothers
• His Name Is Alive, “Send My Face,” Detrola, Silver Mountain
• Liz Phair, “Canary,” Exile in Guyville, Matador
• New Order, “Elegia,” Low-Life, Qwest
• Cat Power, “Where Is My Love?” The Greatest, Matador
• Al Green, “Summertime,” Green Is Blues, Hi
• The Arcade Fire, “In the Backseat,” Funeral, Merge
• Cocteau Twins, “Primitive Heart,” Tishbite (II), Fontana
• Shawn Colvin, “Twilight,” Cover Girl, Columbia

Departing from Principle ... Accidentally

     In a previous post, I mentioned that at some point in the second year of ECI’s existence, I would relax my policy of not playing selections that had appeared in any previous show. I thought I hadn’t arrived at the relaxation point yet. So, imagine my surprise when, checking items for the next show, I learned moments ago that a track I played on Episode 30 — Laurie Anderson’s “Smoke Rings” — was also played way back there, on Episode 12. I mention this, of course, only because there might be someone out there with way too much time on his/her hands who might want to point that out. I’m just saying that I already know. While I am saddened and disappointed in myself, I will go on. But, frankly, I’m enjoying the variety policy as a way of avoiding falling into a rut. For now, that is all....

Episode 30

     If you’ve been paying attention to the playlists over the last several months, you might have noticed that ECI is basically a rock show with occasional R&B, country, dance/electronic or hip-hop tracks thrown in. In part, that’s because my initial idea for the show was for it to be ethereal, gauzy and showgazey. While I’m still more or less committed to that vision, there are times when it seems a bit too confining and doesn’t give me the chance to explore the breadth of things that I like and want to program.
     So this morning’s show was perhaps a sign of things to come. There are so many more pop-oriented things in this show that some of you might wonder whether the same DJ was putting it together. And I was the same person — just showing some different sides. If things keep going the way they are, it won’t be long before you hear George Michael on the show. And that’s not a threat. Think of it as a promise....

• 12:00–1:00 a.m.:
• Soul II Soul, “Feeling Free,” Keep on Movin’, Virgin
• Bob Marley and the Wailers, “Sun Is Shining,” Kaya, Island
• T. Rex, “Planet Queen,” Electric Warrior, Reprise
• Icehouse, “Hey, Little Girl,” Primitive Man, Chrysalis
• Ron Sexsmith, “Several Miles,” Ron Sexsmith, Interscope
• Edith Frost, “My Lover Won’t Call,” It’s a Game, Drag City
• Van Hunt, “Daredevil, Baby,” On the Jungle Floor, Capitol
• Gil Scott-Heron, “The Bottle,” Winter in America, Strata East
• Morcheeba, “Slow Down,” Charango, Reprise
• Lamb, “Fly,” Fear of Fours, Fontana
• EPMD, “So Wat Cha Sayin’,” Unfinished Business, Priority
• The Juan Maclean, “My Time Is Running Out,” Less Than Human, Astralwerks

• 1:00–2:00 a.m.:
• Laurie Anderson, “Smoke Rings,” Home of the Brave (Soundtrack), Warner Brothers
• Tom Waits, “Heigh Ho (The Dwarfs Marching Song),” Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, A&M
• The Books, “S Is for Evrysing,” The Lemon of Pink, Tomlab
• The Flaming Lips, “Pompeii am Götterdämerung,” At War with the Mystics, Warner Brothers
• Cassandra Wilson, “Strike a Match,” Thunderbird, Blue Note
• John Martyn, “Don’t Want to Know,” Solid Air, Island
• Donald Fagen, “What I Do,” Morph the Cat, Reprise
• Tim Buckley, “Song to the Siren,” Works in Progress, Rhino
• Siouxsie and the Banshees, “Green Fingers,” A Kiss in the Dreamhouse, Geffen
• Eurythmics, “This City Never Sleeps,” Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), RCA
• Madness, “Coldest Day,” Mad Not Mad, Geffen
• Andy Bey, “River Man,” Shades of Bey, Evidence