Episode 45

     For the last few days, I’ve had an overriding sense of calm and satisfaction as the end of the show draws closer. Almost as though it were approaching from the horizon, its outlines are becoming more and more clear. A few of my close friends know something of the selection principles that will generate the final playlist. I’m still not ready to reveal anything definitive, wanting to let the mystery linger a little longer. I will say only that I know—as I have since the first episode of the show—what the last ECI song will be. In case anyone wants to try to figure out what it will be, here’s a vague hint: the track, which is nearly fifteen years old, will apparently be featured in a film that premieres in German theatres in late October. (And, for the record, that’s not why I picked the track.)
     “Yeah, yeah,” you say, “enough with the teasing: what do you have to say about this morning’s episode?” Lots, it turns out. First, big thanks go to Dawn, Michael and Jason for inadvertently giving me a number of ideas about artists to play on this show and in the future (especially the R&B tracks). Nothing like good friends to open one’s ears. Next, for at least two reasons, I’ve long been wanting to play the Joe Henderson track listed below on the show. One, it’s a great tune that features top-notch soloists playing with a stellar rhythm section. And two, the Henderson album’s liner notes (written by Don Heckman) provide some of the lyrical material for the second of the Digable Planets tunes below (the one after the slash). By themselves, the DP tunes are wryly self-referential, but, like the quotation I just mentioned, the external sonic and lyrical allusions are perhaps even more clever. The remainder of the cleverness here comes from a series of artist/tune pairings that might at first glance seem incompatible. The list of the examples runs throughout the entire show: Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth/Tanya Donelly, Digable Planets/Spain, UB40(!)/Fennesz, Grandaddy/D’Angelo, Bill Withers/Polyphonic Spree. As is always the case, though, the proof is in the hearing.
      Finally, though, the highlight of the show for me, and indeed the preceding day, was a gift from the mail carrier: my pre-ordered copy of Eric Matthews’ first new, full-length album in, what, nine years? For so auspicious an occasion, I had to play two tracks, one from the album proper and the other from the bonus EP that came with discs pre-ordered from the label. I haven’t given either of them a proper, concentrated listen, but I suspect that will happen later today. And one last silly observation. It didn’t occur to me until I was finalizing the playlist that there was a subtle style descriptor in the name of the last band played on this morning’s episode. After all, I have never had a reason to say the name out loud or be concerned about its pronunciation. Now that I have, I appreciate the cleverness of it.
     Are you sick of the word “clever” and its many derivatives yet? I am, so I’ll slink off to bed, leaving you to ponder the list below....

• 12:00–1:00 a.m.:
• Elk City, “Solar Girl,” Status, A Hidden Agenda
• Television Personalities, “Then a Big Boy Came and Knocked It All Down,” My Dark Places, Domino
• Carl Craig, “I Have Got Garlic Hanging on My Front Door,” Onsumothasheeat, Shadow (a remix of a track originally found on Marasma’s Signals, Freerange)
• Spleen, “Un Danse Pour Dick et Bob,” Soundtrack to Spleen, Swari Finger
• P.J. Harvey, “Goodnight,” 4-Track Demos, Island
• Devendra Banhart, “Lazy Butterfly,” Cripple Crow, XL
• Shearwater, “Hail, Mary,” Palo Santo, Misra
• The Art of Noise, “Comes and Goes,” Into Battle with the Art of Noise, ZTT
• Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth, “Carmel City,” The Main Ingredient, Elektra
• Tanya Donelly, “So Much Song,” Beautysleep, 4AD
• Islands, “Humans,” Return to the Sea, Equator
• Cowboy Junkies, “Dragging Hooks (River Song Trilogy: Part III),” Open, Latent/Zoë

• 1:00–2:00 a.m.:
• World Party, “Here Comes the Future,” Dumbing Up, Seaview
• Sly & the Family Stone, “Frisky,” Fresh, Epic
• A Certain Ratio, “Rialto,” Sextet, Factory
• Joe Henderson, “Short Story,” In ’n Out, Blue Note
• Digable Planets, “Escapism (Getting’ Free)/Appointment at the Fat Clinic,” Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space), Pendulum
• Spain, “Ten Nights,” The Blue Moods of Spain, Restless
• George Harrison, “Let It Down,” All Things Must Pass, Capitol
• UB40, “King,” Signing Off, Virgin
• Fennesz, “The Point of It All,” Venice, Touch UK
• Sinéad O’Connor, “Just Call Me Joe,” The Lion and the Cobra, Chrysalis
• The Pixies, “Ana,” Bossanova, 4AD

• 2:00–3:00 a.m.:
• Eric Matthews, “And the World Will Go,” Foundation Sounds, Empyrean
• Eric Matthews, “Million Errors,” Foundation Sounds—Limited Edition EP, Empyrean
• Grandaddy, “‘Yeah’ Is What We Had,” Sumday, V2
• D’Angelo, “Alright,” Brown Sugar, EMI
• Bill Withers, “Let Me in Your Life (Live at Carnegie Hall),” Still Bill, Columbia/Legacy
• The Polyphonic Spree, “Days Like This Keep Me Warm,” The Beginning Stages of ... the Polyphonic Spree, Hollywood
• Sam Prekop, “So Shy,” Sam Prekop, Thrill Jockey
• The Album Leaf, “Twentytwofourteen,” In a Safe Place, Sub Pop
• Massive Attack, “Butterfly Caught,” 100th Window, Virgin
• Scheer, “Face the Sun,” ...And Finally, Schism
• Dif Juz, “Gunet,” Vibrating Air EP, 4AD