WYEP Music Blog

Andy here, from the Tuesday Evening Mix.

I know, it’s kind of late, but here is a list of my favorites from 2008.

1)DoDo’s - “Visiter” (French Kiss Records)

I’ve written about these guys before on here.  They are fantastic.  Their second full length was a total surprise to me.  The melodies are great, but really the best part for me is the percussion.  It’s loud, forceful, and gorgeous.  It sounds like they are just jamming away on whatever they can find to bang on.  It’s very freeing to listen to that.

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Five years ago last Tuesday, Elliott Smith died of an apparent suicide. It always seemed pretty obvious that he was rather uneasy at times with life. I’m not going to offer some long writing on why he was important or why I think he wrote such great melodies. I obviously did not know him, and don’t pretend I understood what made him so good. However, I will offer three things that come to mind immediately for me with Elliott Smith.

1)My cat. I have a cat named Adeline, who is named after his song “Sweet Adeline”. Adeline is not sweet. She’s mean, self-centered, and rude. I love her to death.

2)I saw him in concert for the first time when I was 18. The whole “Good Will Hunting” thing had just happened. He was opening for Ben Folds Five and Beck at Star Lake. He only did about 8 songs, but it was fantastic.

3)I then saw him again on Halloween about 3 years later at CMU. It was after his release “Figure 8″ came out. The band and him were in Halloween costumes. Elliott was wearing a monk outfit, but with his thin frame, and long brown hair, someone mistook him for the lord almighty and shouted, “Jesus!!” in between the first and second song. He was obviously bummed out by this. In his soft voice he said, “Awww, no. It’s just a monk outfit. It’s not Jesus… I mean… I don’t think I’m Jesus.” The tenderness with which he said it made it rather funny to me.

He is still missed.

The Dodo’s are a band that is getting alot of critical praise this year for their release “Visiter”. It’s totally deserved. They’re a duo from the San Francisco bay area, made up of Meric Long and Logan Kroeber, who seem to enjoy harmonies, percussion, and rock n’ roll with their folk music. That’s at least what I keep reading, and it’s all true. I would just add that like most good music, it holds elements of a lot more than that. I’m not going to join the superlative bandwagon on this one. I’ll just say I find it highly enjoyable.

Long is apparently rather interested in the West African style of percussion know as Ewe drumming. It’s very rhythmic, and you can hear this throughout their music. Pounding drums mixed in with Longs finger picking, that reminds you almost of bluegrass at times, makes for a rather unique sound.

I had a chance to see them this past spring at the Garfield Artworks, and their just as good live. They were playing as a trio that night, with the third member adding more percussion to the mix (xylophone, trash cans, toy pianos, etc.). It created a sound in the small venue that pounded against your chest, while the great melodies stuck in your head.

If I had to pick the best album of 2008 right now, so far, this would be it.  You can hear them on my show from time to time.  Tuesday evenings from 8pm-12am.

-Andy, Tuesday Evening Mix

Pavement had received alot of critical praise for their release “Slanted and Enchanted” in 1992. It’s still a great release, but Pavement would become more focused and sharper with the sophomore release, “Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain”.

Once again, growing up in the 90’s, I remember hearing it first when I saw the video. It was on MTV’s “120 Minutes”. The video featured the band going into a barber shop and one by one getting their haricut. Crazy things happen as each member steps up. One seems to turn into a gorilla as he sits down, while another starts drinking the blue liquid that the combs are stored in. Someone else sneezes out a kitten, and Stephen Malkmus, the leader of the band, has a crown put on him. It was goofy and fit the band perfectly. The song just makes me feel great every time I hear it to this day. It’s just one of those songs that makes you smile.

Pavement put out three more full lengths, and Stephen Malkmus has had a successful solo and fantasy baseball career. It all started for me, though, with this song.

-Andy , Tuesday Evening Mix