Playlists | Twirl Radio

Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #807 – 12/16/2017: Special guest cohost DJ Gidget of Woody Radio!

DJ Gidget Bates

Today’s show is the final live Twirl Radio show of 2017, so we went out with a fun show. My very special guest cohost was none other than DJ Gidget Bates of Woody Radio! I’d been wanting to get her back on the show for a few years, and the opportunity presented itself, so we made the most of it. We spent an hour playing music, and engaging in, er, a “free-ranging, unmoderated” conversation. To say the least. There’s a reason I like listening to Gidget on her radio shows, and it was fully evident today–she can talk about anything, and make it sound fun and interesting. Her enthusiasm for independent music is infectious. Now I enjoy a good conversation myself, and honest to goodness, we didn’t really plan any of this out–so the topics flowed easily. We covered everything from burritos to DNA ancestry testing, all the way to the non-existent private parts of steers! Oh–and music too!

Gidget brought along some music for us to play–a couple of Christmas songs, and she gave us the great honor of announcing her top two favorite tracks of 2017, right on the show!

I’ve been a fan of Woody Radio for the past several years, and always admired their passion for music. The DJs there are all incredibly knowledgeable, and very real. Gidget has occasionally hinted that I’d be welcome there if I ever wanted to join them, and recently, I took the plunge. I’ve started my own show there (twice monthly, 1st and 3rd Tuesday nights), and was welcomed with open arms and brought into the fold. It’s a lovably quirky station, and Gidget is the ringleader. I’m proud to call myself a member of the Woody Radio family. www.woodyradio.com

December 16, 2017
Categories: Playlists . . Author: The Lids . Comments: Leave a comment

Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #806 – 12/9/2017: Jody Porter interview!

Jody Porter

On today’s show, we got to meet Jody Porter. You might recognize him as the guitarist from Fountains of Wayne. He’s currently staying in the UK, so we had an in-depth, middle of the night chat about his 2017 solo album Pacifier, a really great listen. He explained the concept behind the album, and we learned of his influences, how the album came together, and some exciting news about what he’s working on next. There’s a lot of depth to this album, and not only are the songs good, they sound great. The album was mixed on tape at Abbey Road Studios (yes, THOSE Abbey Road Studios), and Jody was incredibly pleased with the results. More info at https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/jodyporter4

Jody Porter interview
Jody Porter | Valerie Sometimes | Pacifier
Jody Porter | Armageddon Blues | Pacifier

December 9, 2017
Categories: Playlists . . Author: The Lids . Comments: 2 Comments

Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #805 – 12/2/2017: Interview doubleheader: Speed The Plough & Lost Bayou Ramblers!

Speed The Plough

On this show, we took a virtual field trip to two very interesting regions of the country for our interviews: New Jersey and New Orleans!

In the first hour, we chatted with Toni and John Baumgartner of venerable indie psych-folk band Speed The Plough! They started in the 1980s, but after a long hiatus, have been on a pretty regular recording schedule these past 5 or so years. Their new album, “And Then” (following the last release, “Now”–see what they did there?), releases this week. It was a perfect chance to catch up with them and listen to a couple of tracks off of this really diverse record. Diversity? Well, the sound ranges from quietly acoustic to full band, with occasional woodwinds and electronic sounds, so they’ve got that covered. And speaking of covers–they cover Brian Eno and a 150 year old Hungarian folk song on the same record! More info at www.speedtheplough.com.

Lost Bayou Ramblers

In the second hour–we finally get our chance to visit with Louis Michot of Cajun-rock band Lost Bayou Ramblers. Our timing was perfect for this one too, because it turns out that the band just got nominated for a Grammy Award this past week! The new album, “Kalenda”, delves into the sounds of Louisiana. For those of us not too familiar with the area, it really gives us a taste of how deep and wide the culture is there. Louis’ answer to one specific question I asked, “What is Kalenda”, pretty much summed up the whole interview and reason for the album. Kalenda is a significant cultural reference in Louisiana. More info at www.lostbayouramblers.com.

Also on today’s show: a groovy holiday track from The Bobbleheads, some very early pre-release music from Anton Barbeau (his Natural Causes album doesn’t come out until next April), and we debut The Crushing Violets on our show!

My next show will be on Woody Radio this coming Tuesday, December 5th, from 8:00-11:00 p.m. Pacific, at www.woodyradio.com.

Interview with Toni & John Baumgartner of Speed The Plough
Speed The Plough | Take Me | And Then
Speed The Plough | The Bitter End | And Then

Interview with Louis Michot of Lost Bayou Ramblers
Lost Bayou Ramblers | Sabine Turnaround | Kalenda
Lost Bayou Ramblers | Cote Clair Waltz | Kalenda

Felsen | White Denim Jeans | Blood Orange Moon

December 3, 2017
Categories: Playlists . . Author: The Lids . Comments: Leave a comment

Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #803 – 11/18/2017: Interview with Thor Harris of Thor & Friends!

Thor and Friends

Today’s show was supposed to have been an interview doubleheader, but alas, sometimes things happen. Today’s “thing” was a fire alarm in the KUBU 96.5 FM building, which forced me to cut short my phone call with Louis Michot of Lost Bayou Ramblers, even before the interview started. I had to evacuate from the building for several minutes, but eventually was let in, to finish up my show. So we will reschedule with him in a couple of weeks.

So here’s what did work right: we got to chat with Thor Harris of avant garde musical collective Thor & Friends! They create some peaceful, yet challenging, sonic landscapes. Thor actually builds some of the instruments himself, when he’s got a specific sound he’s looking for. Their new album, “The Subversive Nature of Kindness”, was recorded without any ego involved, but with three collaborators working together to create something peaceful and soothing for an agitated world to listen to. More information at: http://www.thorharris.org.

I also made a radio announcement at about 15 minutes into the show: I will be starting a second radio show at Woody Radio! I will be joining my friends over there, starting this coming Tuesday, November 21st, from 8:00-11:00 p.m. Pacific time. It will be a music show, similar to Twirl, and it will broadcast live on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month. Big thanks to DJ Gidget, who offered me this shot on the radio. Give a listen to it, and to the other great rock music programs there, at http://www.woodyradio.com.

Interview with Thor Harris of Thor & Friends
Thor & Friends | Carpet Creeps | The Subversive Nature Of Kindness
Thor & Friends | 90 Metres | The Subversive Nature Of Kindness

(Podcast ends here, due to fire alarm. Once safely back in the building, I played the following songs on the radio, but did not get a recording of this portion of the show):

November 19, 2017
Categories: Playlists . . Author: The Lids . Comments: Leave a comment

Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #802 – 11/11/2017: Interview with Jerome Mazza of Pinnacle Point!

Jerome Mazza

On today’s show, we got to meet hard rocker Jerome Mazza, of Pinnacle Point! Jerome’s had a really interesting music career, having sung commercial jingles for such well known companies as Coors and Pizza Hut. His all time favorite musical influence has been Steve Walsh of Kansas.

Well, in this amazing musical year of 2017, two great things happened for Jerome. He started up his own band, Pinnacle Point, which is a transatlantic collaboration with Torben Enevoldsen, who lives in Denmark. Their debut album, Winds of Change, features Jerome’s soaring vocals and keyboards, Torben’s searing guitar work, propulsive drumming and some great violin interplay. It’s easy to hear the Kansas influences, yet Jerome and Torben bring their own sound to the mix.

Steve Walsh Black Butterfly album

One fine day, After Winds of Change was recorded, Jerome was awakened to a phone call, inviting him to work on Steve Walsh’s next solo album. After making sure he was really awake and not dreaming, he jumped into the process, singing lead vocals on three of the tracks and duetting with Steve on a fourth–a career peak for him, to be sure. On today’s show, we’ll hear a Steve Walsh track and a couple of Pinnacle Point tracks. www.jeromemazza.com

Jerome Mazza interview
Pinnacle Point | Homeward Bound | Winds Of Change
Pinnacle Point | Winds Of Change | Winds Of Change

November 11, 2017
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Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #801 – 11/4/2017: Stephen “SPAZ” Schnee co-hosts!

Stephen Schnee in the Twirl studios

Today on Twirl, music writer and video blogger Stephen Schnee paid us a visit. He writes for Discussions Magazine, and has his own YouTube series called “But Is It Power Pop?”. Stephen is a recent transplant to Sacramento, and that means a musical meeting of the minds was in order.

The show was a blend of lively conversation and musical sharing. I asked Stephen a full barrage of questions, some silly and some quite serious. We learned how he got started, and about some of his favorite bands and artists.

Check out Discussions Magazine here: www.discussionsmagazine.com and But Is It Power Pop here: www.youtube.com/channel/UC6PYvSUdruFW2-ZrAIbni5g.

November 4, 2017
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Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #800 – 10/28/2017: Celebrating our 800th show! Interviews with Felsen and Jay Aston of Gene Loves Jezebel!

Today on Twirl, we celebrated a momentous occasion: our 800th episode! Yes, we’ve been at this for a while. Access Sacramento and KUBU 96.5 FM have been very good to me, and to my show. So to celebrate, we decided to host two very special interviews.

Felsen

First up, Andrew Griffin and Dara Ackerman of Bay Area band Felsen. We go back a long way, and Andrew slipped me an advance copy of their next album, “Blood Orange Moon”. This record is quietly intense, compared with Felsen’s previous efforts, but extremely powerful. It’s also their first release on Mystery Lawn Music, with mixing by Allen Clapp. Andrew has been wanting to work with Allen for a while, and he really did a wonderful job with the sound of the record. These songs are personal, and if you listen to them in order, you’ll hear the “mission statement” in the very first lyric of the album: “I want to live where culture kills machines, and decent melodies will haunt you in your dreams”. The next 47 minutes support this sentiment. The album is due out in late January, with an accompanying CD release show in the Bay Area, and perhaps a late winter Sacramento gig as well. Our live radio interview was fun and spirited. More information at www.facebook.com/felsenlovesyou.

Gene Loves Jezebel

In the second hour, we got to meet Jay Aston of legendary band Gene Loves Jezebel. This British band has been making their own brand of great music since the 1980s. It’s a big deal when these guys get together and record, and their new album, “Dance Underwater”, is a well-crafted labor of love. The band obviously has all their chemistry intact, and these songs are fresh, timely, and current. This is also a personal record, featuring songwriting by not only Jay, but by Peter Rizzo stepping up and making his voice heard as well. These guys did it right–they put their hearts into it. Equally impressive, a successful fan pledge campaign helped them to get it made. It’s always nice to see a band who has such an engaged, loyal fan base who are willing to get involved. That’s the apex of the band-fan relationship. Jay and I chatted about some of the highlights of the record. More information at www.genelovesjezebel.co.uk.

Felsen interview
Felsen | Vultures On Your Bones | Blood Orange Moon
Felsen | White Denim Jeans | Blood Orange Moon

Jay Aston of Gene Loves Jezebel interview
Gene Loves Jezebel | Charmed Life (Never Give In) | Dance Underwater
Gene Loves Jezebel | How Do You Say Goodbye (To Someone You Love) | Dance Underwater

Dara Ackerman and Andrew Griffin of Felsen, during their Twirl Radio interview via Skype, 10/28/2017.

Here’s a bonus picture: a screen capture from today’s Skype interview with Andrew and Dara of Felsen.

Once again, a big thanks to all the great musicians and listeners who have made the first 800 episodes of Twirl Radio so much fun. We’ll see you next week, as we embark on the next 800!

October 28, 2017
Categories: Playlists . . Author: The Lids . Comments: Leave a comment

Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #799 – 10/21/2017: Interviews with Paul Lacques of Double Naught Spy Car and Duncan Faure!

Double Naught Spy Car

Today on Twirl, we had, what the folks in the world of sports call, a double-double! A second week in a row where we had doubleheader interviews. There has been so much great music released in 2017, and so few weeks remaining in this year’s calendar, that we’ve had to squeeze in extra interviews and extra music. But I’m not complaining.

Duncan Faure

First up: we got to meet Paul Lacques of L.A.-based instrumental band Double Naught Spy Car. They’ve been self-described as “providing the soundtrack for the approaching meltdown of civilization”, although I like that one critic called their sound “surf noir” music. It’s great stuff, either way. Paul and I had a fun, lively chat–and we learned the secret about creating titles for instrumental songs! doublenaughtspycar.com

And in the second hour, the legendary Bay City Rollers frontman Duncan Faure returned to the show! He released a brand new single today, “Thank You For The Photograph”, and he introduced it for us live on the air! We also caught up on what he’s been up to–it had been a couple of years since we last chatted on the show, and Duncan’s always got some great stories from his 40 plus years in the music business. jemiblue.bandcamp.com

Paul Lacques Interview
Double Naught Spy Car | Tale Of The Comet | Moof
Double Naught Spy Car | The Hesher Variation | Moof

Duncan Faure interview
Duncan Faure | Nightfall | Anthology
Duncan Faure | Thank You For The Photograph | Single release

October 21, 2017
Categories: Playlists . . Author: The Lids . Comments: Leave a comment

Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #798 – 10/14/2017: Interviews with Bradford Reed of Ohmslice and Dan Kaufman of Barbez!

Ohmslice

On today’s show, we had an interview doubleheader, with a couple of very interesting subjects! First off, we chatted with Bradford Reed of Ohmslice. You may remember him from the 90’s band King Missile. His new project is a creative collaboration between him and poet Jane LeCroy. The sound is based on processing percussion instruments through a modular synth–a new take on electronica! The music on the “Conduit” album is fascinating and challenging, and Ohmslice truly pushes a lot of boundaries. Bradford has always been into creating new music and new instruments–one of his claims to fame is inventing an instrument called the pencilina. In our conversation, Bradford explains how a lot of this electronic magic is done. More info at www.ohmslice.net.

Barbez

After that, Dan Kaufman of Barbez paid us a return visit. Barbez is known for tackling historical subject matter, by immersing themselves in music from a certain time period. The new album, “For Those Who Came After”, is no exception, and it features resistance songs from the Spanish Civil War–a forgotton piece of history from the not too far past–and pertinent today. These songs honor the tens of thousands of idealistic young men and women who, at great personal cost to themselves, traveled to Spain to fight fascism in the 1930s. These were recorded live at performances which benefit the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives. There are snippets from interviews of actual American fighters overlaid on a couple of the songs. The music is exquisitely performed, and is thought-provoking. www.barbez.com.

We also heard some brand new tracks from Anton Barbeau, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Armoires, Chris Church, Heiskell, Lannie Flowers, and Felsen.

Bradford Reed interview
Ohmslice | Crying On A Train | Conduit
Ohmslice | Gravity | Conduit

Edward Rogers | 20th Century Heroes | TV Generation
Ruby Free | Start Of Something Big | Shades

Dan Kaufman interview
Barbez | Venga Jaleo | For Those Who Came After
Barbez | In The Beginning | For Those Who Came After

October 14, 2017
Categories: Playlists . . Author: The Lids . Comments: Leave a comment

Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #797 – 10/7/2017: Anton Barbeau interview!

Anton Barbeau

It used to be that native Sacramentan Anton Barbeau would come back to visit us from Berlin about once a year or so, bringing with him his latest release. Then he upped the schedule to twice a year visits. Well this trip, he came bearing three(!) new releases: the vinyl EP “Heaven Is In Your Mind”, the CD “Antronica 2”, and a hand-burned pre-release of his forthcoming album “Natural Causes”. Heaven Is In Your Mind contains three choice covers (David Bowie, Big Star and Traffic), and one original Anton song. Antronica 2 is the follow up to Antronica. It features synth-driven songs Anton recorded in the 1980s, and some new 2017 music as well. And Natural Causes is the next album, a mix of shimmery pop songs and what Anton calls “weirdo material”–which in my experience, have always proven to be lovably quirky. The new record could use some help from you getting it released out into the world. Anton would like it to reach new folks who aren’t yet familiar with his work. So–if you already know you want a copy, it would help tremendously if you could pre order it from his Kickstarter campaign–details are available here: Anton Barbeau “Natural Causes” Kickstarter. We got to sample several songs from Natural Causes and one from Antronica 2. www.antonbarbeau.com

The Beatles Sgt. Pepper gatefold

Of late, Anton’s been in a mood to discover and re-discover some of the greats from the classic rock era. Interestingly enough, on my recent trip to Texas, I purchased the Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” double CD re-release. You know, the one that was remixed to stereo by Giles Martin, son of the record’s producer George Martin, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1967 release. I’d been waiting for just the right moment to “unbox” it–and listen to it loudly, in its full glory. So we used the occasion of Anton’s visit to have him unwrap it, talk a little about it, and pick a song to play from it.

Robin Scott

And lastly, some sad news. A good friend of mine, Robin Scott (aka Scott Newkirk), passed away this week. Robin was a fellow DJ at KUBU 96.5 FM, Sacramento’s Voice. We go way back together–nearly 20 years. Lots of radio and musical adventures, and we always cheered on each other’s accomplishments. Robin’s show “The Next Wave” preceded mine on Saturday afternoons, and featured a blend of original 80’s music, and newer music that kept to that spirit and sound. Robin’s favorite band, hands down, was the B-52’s, so we opened the show with a tribute to Robin and “Private Idaho”, off the greatest hits disc that Robin gifted to me some years ago. We will miss you, Robin, but you live on in spirit and attitude.

Unboxing the Sgt. Pepper’s 2 CD re-mix
The Beatles | Lovely Rita | Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Anton Barbeau | Mumble Something | Natural Causes

October 8, 2017
Categories: Playlists . . Author: The Lids . Comments: Leave a comment

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