PODCAST 2 "here's where the story ends..."

FUN DEFICIT (podcast)
presents PODCAST #2
"... here's where the story ends... "

1. Sky Ferriera - "Animal (Miike Snow cover)"
2. Belle and Sebastian - "A Century of Fakers"
3. Fun Deficit - "Believe (smashing pumpkins cover)"
4. Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution - "It's a Wonderful Life"
5. Kings of Convenience - "Love is no big truth"
6. The Sundays - "Here's where the story ends" (live on french radio)
7. Styrofoam - "Couches in Alleys" feat. ben gibbard
8. Fun Deficit - "Love Won't Wait"
9. Blueboy - "So Catch Him"
10. Youth Group - "Forever Young"
11. Fun Deficit - "Van, by yourself"
12. Defiance Ohio - "Road signs always look better looking over your shoulder"
13. Hauschka - "Heimat"
14. Club 8 - "Spring came, rain fell"
15. The Radio Dept. - "A Token of Gratitude"
16. Small Factory - "If you hurt me"
17. That dog. - "Being with you"
18. Fun Deficit - "Karla"


Here's a podcast for you, a mix. I made this to put my songs in a lovely context. This mix is road songs and love songs about not being in love right now.


1. Sky Ferriera - "Animal (Miike Snow cover)" - I love this girl's voice. She's only 17 years old and she sounds like Cat Power.
2. Belle and Sebastian - "A Century of Fakers" - One of my favorite belle and sebastian songs. "If you ever go lardy or go lame, I will drop you straight away."
3. Fun Deficit - "Believe (smashing pumpkins cover)" - I've been listening to a ton of Smashing Pumpkins lately, inexplicably. I just love them and I've always loved this song, so I decided to cover it and it ended up sounding a lot like the Radio Dept.,
4. Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution - "It's a Wonderful Life" I just saw Streetlight Manifesto play live and this is them acoustic. They're so relentlessly positive. I can't listen to it enough.

5. Kings of Convenience - "Love is no big truth" Not really sure if we should listen to Billy Corgan and The Pumpkins for love advice, but I listen and believe in the love advice from Kings of Convenience.
6. The Sundays - "Here's where the story ends" (live on french radio) Brad says this is one of two decent songs they'd play at the department store where he used to work. I love this song and I love the girl's voice. The lyrics are fantastic and the song is just two chords.
7. Styrofoam - "Couches in Alleys" feat. ben gibbard - This song is an open letter to Jack Kerouac. I recently proposed to one of my friends she start a band of all open letters, like this and Leonard Cohen's "famous blue raincoat."

8. Fun Deficit - "Love Won't Wait" - A new song I wrote in one day. Written for my new album, but not written about me. A response song to Radiohead's "True Love Waits."
9. Blueboy - "So Catch Him" - love blueboy. Sarah Records twee from 1995
10. Youth Group - "Forever Young" (alphaville cover) I love the Jay Z song sampling this, but this cover speaks to my indie aesthetic. Classic.
11. Fun Deficit - "Van, by yourself" - a response song to Small Factory's "if you hurt me" - reference to a car, sensitivity, and a sly joke and lack of seriousness at the end.
12. Defiance Ohio - "Road signs always look better looking over your shoulder" - I saw DOH about a month ago and I loved it. I try to pitch them to my friends as the "Arcade Fire of the Gutterpunks" but I'm still the only person I know who likes them. Maybe they're more like a "yelling Weakerthans."
13. Hauschka - "Heimat" - beautiful prepared piano. Jaw-droppingly beautiful.
14. Club 8 - "Spring came, rain fell" - I love her voice so much and when I listen to this I imagine she's only singing to me.
15. The Radio Dept. - "A Token of Gratitude" - I love minimalist love songs. All it needs to say is "Do I love you? Yes I love you. But easy come, easy go..."
16. Small Factory - "If you hurt me" - Simple and emotional, what I like. "If you hurt me I'll be angry and I'll be sad."
17. That dog. - "Being with you" - the radder girl-weezer from the 1990s. I feel like I'm their only fan now.
18. Fun Deficit - "Karla" - With all the songs about love lost, this is the song in which I get the girl.


Further Reading

Braid - "I keep a Diary"

Club 8 - Spring Came, Rain Fell

I just love their bossanova/indie pop vibe and breathy girl vocals. If you are in a band and you want me to like your music, just get a girl to sing about the weather and I will likely love it.




Also ask a poetic question like "Are we still nowhere?"

PODCAST

I made a radio show of some songs I like:

Club 8, Royksopp, acoustic and electronic mostly, indie pop. Things I like, in earnest.

Listen here:

http://soundcloud.com/fun-deficit/podcast

This is what I want: BMW 2002

I am in love with BMW 2002s. I want one in a bad way, and every day I consider putting the Fun Bus up for sale and getting one of these little charming boxy cars. Particularly, I would like an orange one. I rode in one over the summer, a lovely dark blue 1971 round-taillight model, and I loved it. In the few miles I rode, I got the feeling the car was much lighter and tossable than a comparable Volvo. I loved the aircraft-style seatbelt latches. The seats were perfect vintage car simplicity and cuteness. The small details make it really great. I truly wish cars like this were still made.

Music Review: That Dog. - Retreat from the Sun (1997)

I have always liked That Dog, ever since I first heard them, but somehow I managed to live my life without owning any of their records. That changed a few months ago when I got "Retreat from the Sun," their last album, now 12 years old.

This record is so great. Basically, it's mid-nineties "alternative" rock but all written from a female bias. This means lots of incredible harmonies from the Haden sisters who are in the band. This means lyrics only women would come up with, like "we'll have wedding rings and baby seats." The lyrics are perfect, not cliched, and give the band its own voice.

To call this album "cutesy" would not do it justice, because it packs a bite. It's actual pop-rock and this record holds its own against other records from their friends Weezer, and even Jawbreaker, who they counted as friends. It's also got the superhits "Minneapolis" and "Long Island." They name-check Low in "Minneapolis", which I truly didn't catch until around the songs's 60th listen.

This album definitely did not do well commercially. I don't think it was popular at all. I think this is because the record label released "Never Say Never" as a single. This song is ok, but "Minneapolis," "Long Island," "Being with you" and "I'm gonna see you" are all way better songs. "Never Say Never" is kind of abrasive in a bad way. The other songs are super-poppy love songs.

Music nerds are always lamenting the end of some imaginary era of music, so I suggest checking out this record for a fresh serving of mid-1990s pop-rock. I really like this album and I listen to it all the time.

Music Review: Brand New - The Devil and God are raging inside me (2006)

I've always liked Brand New. Back in the day I saw them play once in Buffalo and once in Syracuse. I even hung out with them once. One of my friends always told me he was friends with the singer's little brother.

I picked up this record sometime in 2007, which was rare for me, because it was a major label release and I'm a card-carrying indie snob. I had heard them play the song "Jesus" on TV and was really impressed. The song drones in a hypnotizing way, and the guitar parts almost sound like Explosions in the Sky. The vocals are almost stream-of-consiousness styled, but work great because there are more dynamic parts. The song starts off in an almost Pavement-level middle voice but then get into pop-punk territory toward the end. Also, I had loved Deja Entendu, and we played that heavily on WGSU.

This album has some really pretty parts and just some relentlessly heavy and abrasive parts. I love the varied production, which I consider a response to the Audiogalaxy era. The songs contrast each other really well, just like on other great records of the 00 era like "Lifted" and "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot." The songs are sad, but expansive. It's pop-punk but it's experimental and ambitious.

This record has staying power. I'm very excited to hear the follow up.