Mix & Mash Radio Show - 23 Sept 2006

So, yeah, this weeks show. Was a a corker (even though I say so myself) There were new tracks and new bands all over the place and a general feeling of freshness in the air(waves) :-) That said, I so wanted to play the new Scissor Sisters single, I don't feel like dancin', this week. Petty it turned out to be a complete pile of old gubbins! Number 1 in the UK my arse!!!

Never mind, there were a couple of new Soulwax remixes to keep us all happy!


Hour 1 Part 1 - 20:47

The Gossip - Standing in the way of control (Soulwax remix) Go here to download this track! The second remix package of 'Standing In The Way Of Control' and here we have a lairy, synth heavy rocker from Soulwax. On the single there's also a percussive remix from Playgroup that utilizes the vocal to full effect and to round things off Headman serves up one of his dubs - Essential!!!!
Goldfapp - Satin Chic
Beck - Cell Phone's Dead (first of two tracks from Beck's soon to be released CD 'The information' coming out on Oct 3)
Roni Size - Brown paper bag (From New Forms from back in 1997 blimey almost 10 years ago...Roni Size played the Fu Bar, Auckland this Saturday.


Hour 1 part 3 - 19:33

Coldcut - True Skool (Playing Sept 28 St James, Auckland)
Basement jaxx - Hush boy (The current single)
CSS - Let's Make Love & Listen Death From Above (Brilliant)
Yoko Uno - Walking On Thin Ice - [Felix Da Housecat's Tribute Mix] An old (2003) but essential track from Felix da Housecat)


Hour 2 Part 1 - 20:42

Beck - Nausea (new beck.com) From his new album - The Information
Phoenix - Consolation prizes (A recent release from the mighty Phoenix from France)
The Rapture - Get myself into it (Current single)
Keith - Mona Lisa's Smile (Track came out a couple of weeks ago and there's some cracking remixes, one from Simian Mobile Disco) Last week's record of the week but I've grown tired of it already, funny how that happens eh!)
Jarvis Cocker - C*nts are still running the world
Jarvic Cocker quote: "I wanted you to hear it now cos It's exactly 1 year since that Live-8 thing & it was the night of that event that I wrote this song. I apologise for all the swearing but sometimes that's the only thing that seems appropriate. It's in no way a criticism of Geldof & co. but I remember thinking at the time: "Where does engaging with these politicians/businessmen really get you?" - ( 12 months on & the cunts still haven't paid up as far as I can make out) - maybe the problem is something more ..... fundamental." - Bless im!! :-)

This song (and video) is available @ http://www.myspace.com/jarvspace


Hour 2 Part 2 - 25:23

The 25 minute mix

Peter Bjorn John - Young Folks (Tomas Andersson remake
LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations (Tigas out of the trance closet mix)
North Shore Pony Club - Computer Games
Robbie Williams - Lovelight (Soulwax Ravelight dub) Unbelievable! not yet released. Not a hint of Mr Williams on this one and its all the better for it
Buy now - For sale

Silver Scrolls Report: Are the Mint Chicks the Best Band in the Land?

Mission accomplished! Last Wednesday, media pass in hand, I joined the likes of TV3 and National Radio in a VIP room at the Auckland Town Hall. We were there to interview the five nominees for the 2006 Silver Scrolls - the country's premier music award. Having blagged my way in at the last moment and therefore having done no interview prep whatsoever I listened in on the other interviews, partook of the complimentary drinks , and tried to look like I knew what I was doing.

After the interview session it was the mix and mingle. A five hundred strong crowd comprised of the nations top musos. Feeling a little braver I spoke to Chris Knox, Evermore, Cody from The Mint Chicks, Eddie Raynor from Split Enz and Ray Columbus. Listen out for "Your listening to . . . " stings from the last two on Counting The Beat.



The award ceremony itself is fantastic. Each of the nominated songs is performed by another New Zealand act. This leads to some great suprises and some cross-genre car crashes. In the latter category would be The North Shore Pony Club and Aaradhna covering Evermore's Running, while highlights were South Auckland teenagers Spacifix doing The Reduction Agents The Pool, and The Mint Chicks awesome version of Anika Moa's Stolen Hill. You should be able to hear excerpts of these performances and an interview I ended up doing with Don McGlashan in coming weeks on Counting The Beat.

But back to The Mint Chicks. They have just released their second album "Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!" which showcases their ability to make great pop skewed by a punk-brat anarchic aesthetic that means you never know where they are going next. One song by these guys contains more ideas than a whole album by many artists. If you haven't heard their material check out the songs streaming here. Their cover of Stolen Hill at the awards just confirmed their brilliance. The song was transformed from being an introspective quiet singer-songwriter piece to a tense, edgy thriller. Apparently they now want to include it in their live set.

The Mint Chicks are one of only two currently recording bands on the Flying Nun label, once the proud vanguard of intelligent indie pop in NZ (the other being The Shocking Pinks). Russell Brown of Public Address has been running a top five Flying Nun post which makes interesting reading. The predominance of old material is telling. Lets just hope that the labels 25th anniversary is marked by something better than the dire 'Under the Influence" album that was released for their 21st.

A box set is promised. Now that Flying Nun is under the wing of a multi-national conglomerate I fear the acts included will be the obvious ones like The Chills and The Straitjacket Fits. I've got no argument with that but I hope it's not at the cost of some of the great acts with out-of-print material that risk being lost to history. Let's hear it for Marie and the Atom!

Blogging slackness leads to catchup

Due to one or two internet hassles over the past three weeks I've been a bit remiss in not posting the track listing of my last three BOBcasts, so I'm about to rectify that grossness.

August 28th - WEEKEND

Janet jacson - Weekend
Black Eyed peas - Weekend
Dillinger Escape Plan - Weekend Sex Change
Dwele - Weekend Love
Bill Anderson - Wild Weekend
Ted Nugent - Weekend Warrior
Wall Of Voodoo - Lost Weekend
Unknown Prophets - The Weekend
S O S Band - Weekend Girl
Soul Seekerz - Party For The Weekend
Letter Kills - For The Weekend
Neil Young - Out On The Weekend
Ann Nesby - This Weekend
Steve Harvey - Black & White Folks Weekends (comedy)
Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Lost Weekend
Hard Fi - Living For The Weekend
Art Brut - Bad Weekend
Wet Willie - Weekeend
Sweetheart - See You On The Weekend
Terminal Head - Weekend Warriors
The Starting Line - Nights And Weekends
Rookie Of The Year - The Weekend
George Benson - Weekend In LA
Kurupt & DJ Shadow - Another Cali Weekend
Steve Warner - The Weekend
Debbie Deb - Look Out Weekends


Sept 4th - OCEAN

Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue
Quercus Circus - Ocean Dreaming
Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
Groove Collective - Ocean Floor
Lustral - Ocean
Diana Krall - How Deep Is The Ocean
Led Zeppelin - The Ocean
Pablo Cruise - Ocean Breeze
Special EFX - Oceanna
Blue October - Into The Ocean
Manic Street preachers - Ocean Spray
Sparta - While Oceana Sleeps
Toad The Wet Sprocket - Walk On The Ocean
Mae - The Ocean
Starone - Songs Of The Ocean
John Mayer - Walk On The Ocean
Monica - I Will Cross The ocean For You
Acoustic Alchemy - Oceans Apart
George Strait - Ocean Front Property
The Decemberists - Oceanside
Pain Of Salvation - Oblivion Ocean

Sept 11th - SLEEP

John Lennon - How Do You Sleep
Bon Jovi - I'll Sleep When I'm dead
Cartel - The City Never Sleeps
Cher - We All Sleep alone
Electric Soft Parade - Sleep Alone
The Corrs - Only When I Sleep
Blind Melon - Sleepyhouse
Peter Gabriel & Enigma - While The Earth Sleeps
Peter Yorn - Sleep Better
Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night
Meatloaf - Sleep On it
Brothers In Sound - Sleep Again
Garbage - Sleep Together
Controller.Controller - Sleep Over It
The Early November - My Sleep Pattern Changed
Eric Gales - Sleepy Time Time
Dave Mathews Band - Sleep To Dream Her
Texas - Sleep
Beastie Boys - No Sleep Til Brooklyn
Z Z Top - Sleeping Bag
Socratic - Sleepless Nights
My American Heart - Don't Sleep
Silverstein - Smile In Your Sleep
Fiona Apple - Sleep To Dream

Sept 18th - RAIN

The Feelers - Rain (Kiwi Group)
The Apples In Stereo - Rainfall
Counting Crows - Rainking
Sizzla - Rain Showers
Belinda Carlisle - Summer Rain
Rolling Stones - Rain Fall Down
Garbage - Only happy When it rains
Match Box 20 - Rainmaker
The Fall - Rainmaker
LTJ Bukem - Sunrain
Stunts - Raindrops
Blind Melon - No Rain
Angeline Ball - I Cant Stand The Rain
James Blunt - Tears And Rain
The Jayhawks - Save It For A Rainy Day
Grateful dead - Box Of rain
Guns And Roses - November Rain
The Cult - Rain
Willie Nelson - Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
The Underdogs - Sittin Here In The Rain (Kiwi Group)
Tim McGraw - She's My Kinda Rain
Amanda Marshall - Let it Rain
Mondo Grosso - Tree Air & Rain On The Earth
Degrees K - Raindrop
Cascada - Cant Stop The Rain
Blue Rodeo - Rain Down On Me

...........and there you have it folks, all up to date now, time for.................?

Feedback

For once feedback on the radio is a good thing! We here at The Beach would like some feedback as what YOU would like to be listening to on your Community Radio Station. If you could take time to fill in our online survey you’ll be entered into the draw to win a TEN TRIP Fullers ferry ticket. To be in to win simply fill in the survey including your name, address, and telephone number before Friday the 29th of September and the 10 Trip could be yours.

Click here for the Beach Radio Feedback Questionnaire

And The Winner Is . . .

Of all the various NZ music awards - The Tuis, The bNets, Juice TV Music Awards?? etc - the most interesting have to be the Silver Scrolls. Running for over 40 years the Silver Scrolls are also regarded as highly credible. And that is because the nominees and winners are selected on the basis of songwriting talent rather than commercial success. Also the winner is voted on by a large panel that are songwriters themselves.

This can mean that you you get incredibly diverse selections amongst the 5 finalists. For example last year saw Evermore up against The Mint Chicks and Dave Dobbyn. The selected songs don't have to be by well known artists, they don't have to be singles and they don't have to be from a single genre.

This years final five are again an interesting mix. I will be featuring all five on Counting The Beat this Sunday. So in no particular order here they are.

First up, Evermore with Running. Evermore won the Silver Scroll last year with It's Too Late. This year they are up with a song from their latest album. These three brothers are huge in Australia and have also featured in the soundtrack of US teen telly show The OC. So, definitely a commercial song, with a pretty international flavour.

Anika Moa's Stolen Hill is the title track of her second album. She took a lot of time out to find herself after resisting record label attempts to market her as the next Bic Runga/Jewel. This track is representative of her attempt to assert her own personality through her songs.

Don McGlashan gets two tracks in the final five. Miracle Sun is the first single from his great solo album Warm Hands. McGlashan has an indisputable talent for story telling and characterisation in his lyrics. This song tells the story of a summertime visitor to Opononi during the season of Opo the Dolphin, managing to capture both the joy of the event and the melancholy of times past. This is the one that I think will win.

McGlashan is also nominated for Bathe in the River, a song from the soundtrack to the movie No. 2. It is soulful song delivered with vocal punch by Hollie Smith. Despite his talent I can't help thinking that a McGlashan win is a bit safe. Worldwide there seems to be a trend towards awards celebrating longevity and past glories - even Barry Manilow won an award last month ferr chrissakes!

Finally is the song I would like to win. The Pool is written by James Milne who performs under the name Lawrence Arabia. It is on one of two albums he has put out this year, a solo Lawrence Arabia album and the one that features this track with his band The Reduction Agents. The album, The Dance Reduction Agents, is great. It is full of 60s inspired pop songs that are interesting and unexpected. The nominated track is quite reminiscent of 'For the Benefit of Mr Kite' from the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper. The album got great reviews but no-one bought it. Put this right - get it today. You won't find The Pool here but there are downloadable tracks on MySpace.

The Silver Scroll will be announced on Sept 20th. The award ceremony is also something special. Each nominated song is performed by another top NZ music act in their own style. Unfortunately it is invite only. My aim this year is to get meself a ticket.