Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Playlist -- Wed. 12th March

Badly Drawn Boy -- Degrees of Separation (Born in the UK)
Kingmaker -- Queen Jane (Sleepwalking)
Camera Obscura -- Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken (Let's Get Out of this Country)
Lloyd Cole -- Don't Look Back (Lloyd Cole)
MIA -- Paper Planes (Kala)
Hot Chip -- Over and Over (The Warning)
Lamb -- Fly (Fear of Fours)
Massive Attack -- Angel (Mezzanine)
Burial -- Ghost Hardware (Untrue)
Anthony and the Johnsons -- Hope There's Someone (I Am A Bird Now)
Trashcan Sinatras -- Weightlifting (Weightlifting)
Divine Comedy -- Light of Day (Victory for the Common Muse)
Radiohead -- Let Down (OK Computer)
The Cure -- Before Three (The Cure)
Depeche Mode -- Enjoy the Silence (Violator)
Kate Nash -- Foundations (Made of Bricks)
James -- Tomorrow (Singles)
British Sea Power -- Waving Flags (Do You Like Rock Music?)
Basement Jaxx -- Lucky Star (Kish Kash)
Lemon Jelly -- The Staunton Lick (lemonjelly.ky)
Elbow -- Fugitive Motel (Cast of Thousands)
Tender Forever -- Tiny Heart Clever Hand (Wider)

Friday, March 21, 2008

British Sea Power

To all in the Champaign-Urbana area, I urge you to get out to the Canopy club tomorrow night for the British Sea Power show.

Here is a fantastic opportunity to catch one of the truly unique British acts of the moment, who have decided (for reasons best known to themselves) to pop in and do a show in C-U on their otherwise pretty big-city-centric US tour. They had a great run at SXSW and are now working their way East.

Their third album, Do You Like Rock Music?, is just out, and has been garnering very strong reviews, and their live shows are renowned for their energy and...well...power. Their tendency to dress in WWI military garb, to drape the stage in greenery, and to write songs about ornithology and Victorian explorers and arctic ice sheets and whatnot has garnered them a reputation for eccentricity. But make no mistake about it -- these guys will rock you. They are a band, for goodness sake, whose cornet player sustained a major facial injury after jumping from the top of a 12-foot stack of amps and landing on his chin. THE CORNET PLAYER! Do you understand what I'm telling you?

Here are a couple of thier finest songs, as a teaser.

Carrion:


It Ended on an Oily Stage:

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Playlist -- Feb. 27, 2008

Here's what I played on the show...

The Fall -- Sparta FC (The Real New Fall EP)
Oasis -- Champaign Supernova (Definitely Maybe)
Blur -- Beetlebum (Blur)
David Bowie -- Lady Stardust (The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust)
Shudder to Think -- Hot One (Velvet Goldmine)
Ed Harcourt -- Watching the Sun Come Up (From Every Sphere)
Doves -- Pounding (The Last Broadcast)
Dubstar -- Not So Manic Now (Hello)
Kate Nash -- FOundations (Made of Bricks)
Flotation Toy Warning -- Popstar Researching Oblivion (Bluffer's Guide to the Flight Deck)
Brian Eno -- Dead Finks Don't Talk (Here Come The Warm Jets)
Jilted John --JIlted John (DIY UK Pop I)
British Sea Power -- Waving Flags (Do You Like Rock Music?)
Art Brut -- Jealous Guy (It's A Bit Complicated)
James -- Born of Frustration (Seven)
Supergrass -- Seen the Light (Life on Other Planets)
Fratellis -- Flathead (Costello Music)
The Horrors -- Sheena is a Parasite (Strange House)
McClusky -- To Hell With Good Intentions (McClusky Do Dallas)
Divine Comedy -- Perfect Lovesong (Regeneration)

The State Within

A quick recommendation for fans of top-class British TV -- a six-part BBC drama called The State Within.

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Imagine a show that combined the nailbiting, non-fascist aspects of 24 with the fast-talking inside-the-beltway realpolitiking of The West Wing, mixing in a healthy dose of ripped-from-the-headlines War on Terror shenanigans of...well...The Bush Administration, all wrapped up in some classier-than-classy BBC production values.

That's The State Within.

The series boasts a sprawling, multilinear plot that seems at first to lead everywhere before settling into an all-too-believable story centering on UK ambassador to the US Mark Brydon (Jason Isaacs -- get this man for the next Bond movie, NOW) and the aftermath of a terrorist attack that threatens to jeopardize relationships between the two countries.

All sort of skullduggery and double-crossery ensue, in a narrative that forces the viewer to lean forward and pay close attention to every scene. If you are one of those people (and I am) who tends to say "Hang on, why is he saying that to her? I thought he was with the good guys? Is that the same guy we saw planting the bomb in the last episode? etc." then this show will most likely make your head swell up to twice its normal size.

There are no big names in this production, although many involved deserve to go on to become huge in the coming years. Isaacs in particular, looking a bit like Clive Owen if someone ironed out some of those crumples from his face, manages to radiate experience and gravitas while complicating it with a little loss of control around the edges (a loss of control that only increases as things progress.)

In general, The State Within achieves a level of believability and realism that is usually lacking in shows of this genre -- a realism that encompasses both the plot itself, as well as individual scenes (the aforementioned terrorist attack, for example, is unexpectedly gripping and harrowing, trapping the viewer very much in the role of helpless bystander.) Fans of intelligent TV drama, Anglophiles, conspiracy theorists, and especially anyone who has recently read Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" will all be sitting and nodding their heads throughout.