17 January, 2018

Dreaming in Stereo episode 22

As you can see, with the new year comes a new naming convention for the shows. I'm not sure it really matters, but I feel that having the episodes less tied to the date might make them more listenable in the future. And it makes hiding the erratic nature of the release schedule less obvious (did I just admit that?). I'm definitely looking forward/hoping for more consistency in the coming year.

I said before that I wouldn't indulge in a "best of" show for 2017, so this is as close as we'll get. Partly it's clearing out some tracks that have been patiently waiting to get played (I've been trying to work that Autumn Sighs song in for several episodes now) and partly featuring songs that made the end of last year far more enjoyable. With that new Ride EP already on the way, I'm looking forward to what the one-eight has to offer. And I was recently going through an old computer and found some gems I'd forgotten about, so I figured it would be good to share (especially that last one).

As you can hear, I'm still working out the mic configurations, but at least now you won't have to deal with the extreme volume disparities (hopefully). One of the joys of DIY is actually having to DIY, but we should have the kinks out sooner rather than later, I'd think.

This is all less music-oriented than I'd planned, so enough of me, let's get to the music:


Spiritualized -  Medication - Pure Phase - Dedicated
Look Blue Go Purple - As Does the Sun - Time to Go: The Southern Psychedelic Movement 1981-86 - Flying Nun Records
Asobi Seksu - New Years - Citrus - Friendly Fire Recordings
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Deafcult - Stars Collide - Auras - Hobbledehoy Record Co.
The Autumn Sighs - The Autumn Sighs - Branches - Reptile Music
Amber Arcades - Right Now - Fading Lines - [PIAS] Recordings
Echo and the Bunnymen - The Back of Love - Porcupine - Sire
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Japanese Breakfast - Diving Woman - Soft Sounds from Another Planet - Dead Oceans
Ariel Pink - Feels Like Heaven - Decicated to Bobby Jameson - Mexican Summer
Alvvays - Plimsoll Punks - Antisocialites - Polyvinyl
Morrissey - Jacky's Only Happy When She's Up On the Stage - Low in High School - BMG
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Blink-182 (feat. Robert Smith) - All of This - Blink-182 - Geffen

12 January, 2018

New Songs to Tide You Over

When I first came up with the idea for Dreaming in Stereo 2.0, the idea was to replicate the radio show I used to have way back when - 2 hours a week of playing the jams and yammering on in between sets, hopefully entertaining music fans while scratching the DJ itch I've had for a while now (and since I don't foresee re-entering college any time soon, the Internet was the natural next choice). Between the technical limitations that come with relying on freeware and, well, life, the format and schedule didn't quite work out that way, but the hour-long shows are probably sufficient for the modern attention span anyway. Despite my best efforts, there are still some technical issues to be resolved, so while I set out to record a new show tonight, it was not meant to be. Hopefully I'll be back up and running again soon, unless this all turns out like some horrible Black Mirror episode.

That all being said, I don't want to leave you with nothing in the interim. So I'll share some new gems I've recently uncovered:


First things first, and you've probably already caught this by now, but the Iggy Pop/Jarvis Cocker cover of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds' Red Right Hand. The song has been used as the theme for the Netflix series Peaky Blinders (which is completely worth your time), and if you wanted to know what it felt like to watch the show, this track is actually the perfect summation. This is one of those duet teams you'd never think to put together, yet the combination works so well, and turns the brooding doom of the original and makes it manifest as some wild fever dream. And frankly, after so many years of watching Jarvis perfect his singer/songwriter persona, it's nice to see there's still a bit of the wild man left in him.

And for another take on the song, PJ Harvey contributed her version as well, which is brilliant in its own right:

After blowing us away with their return album last year, Ride are back again (already!) with a new EP, Tomorrow's Shore, coming next month. The first track, Pulsar, is a solid continuation of the gazey rock of Weather Diaries, while Catch You Dreaming, features more keyboard and electronics than I'm used to, and sounds a lot to me like Mew circa 2005 (which is not a bad thing by any means). Definitely looking forward to hear the rest of the release.


I've mentioned KEXP's blog on the show before, and it might be cheating, but they have been a great source of music, not just in the DiS format but in general. A new artist I just discovered (as in right before I started typing this entry) is Nabihah Iqbal, a British artist who's apparently making the transition from straight electronica (do they even still call it that?) to a more indie/dreampop sound, and well, damn. She's got that solid groove/rock balance that New Order struck so perfectly in the early '90s, with a nice contemporary take. Definitely worth checking out:


Monday would have been David Bowie's 71st birthday and yesterday marked the two year anniversary of his passing. I still haven't been able to bring myself to watch the Lazarus video. Perhaps this will be the year, perhaps not. I was recently tipped off to Tony Visconti's remastered edition of Lodger that came out last year (yes, I am out of touch), and thanks to Henry Rollins and his Fanatic radio show got to hear it and the original mix back to back for a nice compare/contrast. Can't say I was in love with all of it, and it all sounds a little to of the moment for me to be really comfortable with, but some of the songs got a nice kick, particularly one that's always been near and dear to my heart (at least since I started getting behind the decks):


Way back when, I got Lodger (the Rykodisc edition, to be exact) through the Columbia House CD club, back when you'd get a stupid amount of CDs for the price of one, and it completely went over my head at the time (to be fair, I was young). Giving it a re-listen, I realize now what a great album it was, and now I'm sad again that we'll never get any more new material from David (although I keep holding out hope that there's some secret unreleased album or extra songs that will see the light of day).

Speaking of Visconti, he's apparently producing a new The Good, the Bad, and the Queen album. So there's that to look forward to.