Episode 39

     I’ve checked the calendar now (well, actually, I counted weeks on my fingers), and it seems that the still not-yet-announced final episode won’t fall exactly where I had hoped. Sigh. This lowly mortal can do little at this point (if ever he might have) to affect the calendrical intersection of the beginning of the academic year, the end of the station’s summer schedule, and nice, round-numbered episodes. Things may work out in my favor, so I’ll give away nothing more until everything is certain.
     This morning’s episode might seem wonderfully jumpy if you’re scanning the playlist without actually knowing all the tunes and how they fit together into sets. Does a Pavement tune actually follow one by Fiona Apple? Do Espers really segue into Van Hunt? Does Terence Trent D’Arby lead into Talk Talk? (The answers are yes, no and yes, respectively). Of course, those of you who read the secret ECI page, know that there were some other surprises (all for me) that made this playlist into something other than what I intended. Such, I guess, are the pleasures of live radio.
     The only other thing remaining for me to say about this episode is that two of its most beautiful selections come to you via two friends with great taste and wide open ears. After going back and forth for several weeks, I finally forked over the money to buy the (import-only) Sol Seppy CD that Jason recommended to me. Suffice it to say that I’ll be playing lots more from it in the coming weeks. Ditto for the Daníel Ágúst release, whose existence I learned of through J., co-host of WHPK’s Radio Zero. Interestingly enough, his recommendation was a double shot: not only did he recommend a good CD, he did so after seeing that I had played Gus Gus on a few previous shows. Yes, kids, no matter how hip you might be, there are, in fact, other hip people who read this web page. Maybe when it’s all done, I’ll have you all by for tea. It’ll be lovely....

• 12:00–1:00 a.m.:
• Cass McCombs, “She’s Still Suffering,” PREfection, Monitor/4AD
• My Bloody Valentine, “Soft as Snow (But Warm Inside),” Isn’t Anything, Creation
• Shearwater, “La Dame et la Licorne,” Palo Santo, Misra
• M83, “Safe,” Before the Dawn Heals Us, Mute
• Vetiver, “You May Be Blue,” To Find Me Gone, Dicristina
• The Go-Betweens, “The Wrong Road,” Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express, Beggars Banquet
• Stars, “Elevator Love Letter,” Heart, Arts and Crafts
• The Finn Brothers, “Homesick,” Everyone Is Here, Nettwerk
• Fiona Apple, “O’ Sailor,” Extraordinary Machine, Epic/Clean Slate
• Pavement, “Serpentine Pad/Grounded,” Wowee Zowee, Matador
• Public Image Ltd., “Poptones,” Second Edition, Warner Brothers

• 1:00–2:00 a.m.:
• Cibelle, “Minha Neguinha,” The Shine of Dried Electric Leaves, Six Degrees
• Paul Weller, “Shadow of the Sun,” Wild Wood, Go! Discs/London
• Espers, “Widow’s Weed,” Espers II, Drag City
• Van Hunt, “No Sense of Crime,” On the Jungle Floor, Capitol
• Gus Gus, “Very Important People,” This Is Normal, 4AD
• Daníel Ágúst, “Till I Know,” Swallowed a Star, One Little Indian
• Stereolab, “Baby Lulu,” Sound-Dust, Elektra
• Elliott Smith, “No Name No. 5,” Either/Or, Kill Rock Stars
• Great Lake Swimmers, “To Leave It Behind,” Bodies and Minds, Misra
• Sol Seppy, “Love’s Boy,” The Bells of 1 2, Gronland
• The Durutti Column, “Maggie,” Keep Breathing, Artful

• 2:00–3:00 a.m.:
• Cassandra Wilson, “Poet,” Thunderbird, Blue Note
• Lamb, “Wonder,” Between Darkness and Wonder, Koch
• Love Spirals Downwards, “City Moon,” Flux, Projekt
• Richard Buckner, “Reuben Pantier,” The Hill, Overcoat
• Rain Tree Crow, “Pocket Full of Change,” Rain Tree Crow, Virgin
• Keren Ann, “Roses & Hips,” Nolita, Blue Note
• Prefab Sprout, “Dublin,” Protest Songs, Columbia
• Terence Trent D’Arby, “It Feels So Good to Love Someone like You,” Neither Fish nor Flesh, Columbia
• Talk Talk, “New Grass,” Laughing Stock, Polydor
• Low, “Condescend,” Songs for a Dead Pilot, Kranky
• Brian Eno, “By This River,” Before and After Science, EG