Episode 016
Under Construction
The Episode
The Guest Room is under construction. The whole apartment, in fact, is mid-renovation. The records are under protective plastic and everything is covered with a thin layer of dust and a heavy dose of despair. Nevertheless, the show must go on. So we dutifully donned a hazmat suit and entered the construction zone to retrieve as much music as we could, and we have rebuilt our mixing workspace on the dining room table of our temporary residence. Alas, dear readers, our hearts were weighted with anxious disorientation, and we fear this may have influenced our music selection. So this month you are getting some righteous punk indignation and some classic 90s angst, selected in an attempt to combat the encroaching sense of doom. Proceed with appropriate caution. We close the show with a bit of meditative atmosphere that hopefully rebalances your equilibrium. Full set list is down below. The Guest Room remains spoiler-free.
Reminder that this episode and all previous episodes can be found on our Soundcloud page.
Elsewhere on the Interweb
Predictably, we have not been using our Twitter account very much. Tough to log on there when we spend a decent part of our week yelling about how social media and phone addiction is eroding both our democracy and our collective sanity. But it is there, and you should follow it, if that’s the kind of thing you’re into. Just in case we start using it effectively as a promotional tool, or if you just want to very occasionally see stabs at humor like this:
We also have an Instagram account, which until the Guest Room construction began was regularly posting our Morning Listens. We’ll hopefully be starting up again soon. If you’re looking for inspiration for something new to listen to, swing by and scroll through for a bit. You’ll find something to suit your fancy, like this newly acquired gem:
The Setlist 016
*Set 1* New Order - Temptation (7” version) // Operators - Blue Wave *Set 2* Marie at les Garçons - Rien a Dire // The Ramones - The KKK Took My Baby Away // Operation Ivy - Sound System // The Clash - Gates of the West // The Buzzcocks - Why Can’t I Touch It? *Set 3* Television - Marquee Moon *Set 4* Smashing Pumpkins - Rhinoceros // Sunny Day Real Estate - Theo B // Radiohead - How Do You? // Screaming Trees - I Nearly Lost You *Set 5* Nathan Salsburg - XII
Word of Mouth
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Department of Records
Set lists from live appearances
MITGR at SKINNER’S LOFT 1.22.23
Misha Panfilov - Baltica Calls Me // Branko Mataja - Tesko Mi Je Zaboravit Tebe // Miles Davis - The Man I Love // Larry Young - Saudia // Pharaoh Sanders - Love is Here Part 1 (Live in Paris) // Purple Mountains - Drinking Margaritas at the Mall // Local Natives - Ceilings // Air - La Femme d’argent // Brian Eno - Golden Hours // The XX - Islands // Margo Price - Radio // Jon Brion - I Believe She’s Lying // The New Pornographers - Sing Me Spanish Techno // AC Newman - Miracle Drug // Mathew Sweet - Girlfriend // Tommy Keene - Places That Are Gone // Cut/Copy - Time Stands Still // Cut/Copy - Far Away // Cut/Copy - Need You Now // New Order - Regret // Neil Young - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere // Neil Young - Looking for a Love // Neil Young - Powderfinger // Neil Young - Harvest Moon // Neil Young - I’m the Ocean // Wilco - Impossible Germany // Parliaments - All Your Goodies Are Gone // Sweet Pearl - You Mean Everything to Me // Betty Harris - Hook Line and Sinker // Betty Harris - I Don’t Want to Hear It // The Meters - Cissy Strut // Calypso King and the Soul Investigators - Gator Strut Part 1 // Willie T - Teasing You Again // The Soul Investigators - Soul Investigators Theme // Inell Young - What Do You See in Her? // The Nurons - All My Life (instrumental) // Untouchable Machine Shop - Machine Shop Part 1 // Mary J Blige - Real Love // Beastie Boys - Shake Your Rump // Lovage - To Catch a Thief // The Cure - Friday I’m in Love // Violent Femmes - I Held Her in My Arms // The Smiths - This Charming Man // Men at Work - Who Could it Be Now? // The B52s - Give Me Back My Man // The English Beat - Save it for Later // Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cities in Dust // Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love // Winston Jarrett - Poor Me Israelites (Desmond Decker cover) // Cedric Im Brooks - Mun Dun Go // Willie Williams - No One Can Stop Us (McFadden and Whitehead cover) // Dawn Penn - No No No // The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979 // PJ Harvey feat. Thom Yorke - This Mess We’re In // Radiohead - How Do You? // Buffalo Tom - Dry Land // Sunny Day Real Estate - Theo B // Velvet Underground - Femme Fatale // David Bowie - The Stars Are Out Tonight // The Notwist - Kong // Yo La Tengo - Winter A Go-Go // The National - Don’t Swallow the Cap // Mazarin - Another One Goes By
Footnotes
Assorted ephemera related to Episode 016
016.01 (05:15) Dan Boeckner is one of the last living rock and roll saints. A true believer. He plays like the music might save his life. Or yours. We missed our chance to see him tour with the short-lived indie super-group Divine Fits, so when he finally toured with his current outfit Operators, we were pressed up against the stage. They seat Sam Brown’s drum kit right up front, the better to blow you out of your fucking shoes. This was the day after Prince died and they covered “When U Were Mine” for the encore.
I have heard Dan described as “goth Springsteen.” He’s been in no less than four amazing bands - Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Divine Fits, and Operators, the last of which sounds to us like a child conceived by New Order and Nirvana while the Psychedlic Furs watched from the closet (or as we wrote at the time of the release of their first full length, like the past fucking the future in the middle of a burning dance floor.)
In any case, we give their debut LP, Blue Wave, our highest recommendation.
016.02 (11:25) Marie et les Garçons served up a bunch of New Wave/Punk Rock gems straight out of Lyon. They recorded with John Cale, and supported both Patti Smith and Talking Heads on tour legs in France, and then Marie left the band. Then they were just The Garçons.
016.03 (29:57) Re: Tom Verlaine passing. There are many people more qualified than us to explain the man’s genius and influence. So we’ll just leave you with Steve Albini’s instantly immortal tweet linking to the only eulogy you need to read: “Live your life like Patti Smith will be writing your obit.” We can’t think of a better North Star.
016.04 (57:00) Here’s a quick link to the new Landwerk recording on Nathan Salsburg’s band camp page. We can not stress enough how much we love these recordings. If you like the track we closed the show with, please consider supporting him. The vinyl editions are beautiful artifacts.
