shows // Left Of The Dial
indie // hiphop // noisepop // americana // antiprog
'It was like being on an old John Peel show. Like, one of the ones where he'd play the record at the wrong speed, but it was alright, 'cause he meant well.' - Sean Cumming, frontman, John Knox Sex Club
Back for a second year, Left Of The Dial takes its cue from the Replacements' paen to college radio of the same name, paying no heed to such trifles as genre, era or trendiness in its determination to bring the most eclectic tuneage into your beautiful hovel.
Think of each episode as a mix-tape from a nerdy but well-meaning muso friend, tracks chosen and sequenced to reveal connections even he never previously realised existed. From Arab Strap to Silver Jews, The Mamas And The Papas to Sons And Daughters, Band Of Horses to Horse: The Band, Wu-Tang Clan to Sly & The Family Stone, The Byrds to The Bees - if it moves, grooves or improves, and it absolutely, without doubt isn't prog, it gets in.
Also getting in, live and in person: any willing and able bands, raconteurs and polymaths, whose number in the first year alone included Brother Louis Collective, Rodge Glass, John Knox Sex Club, Three Blocks From The Wake, The French Wives, United Fruit and Popolo.
Intimidatingly pop-culture literate. Charmingly bumbling. Willing to learn from last year's mistakes. LOTD '09 ftw.
news
the hippin', the hoppin', the bippin', the boppin'
This week: white guys can't rap? Says who? You? Racist. What? Yes. Proof positive that white people hip-hop doesn't begin and end with Vanilla Ice and Asher Roth, with tracks from DJs Shadow and Format, legally blind albino convert to Islam Brother Ali, hobo beatnik Canadian weirdo Buck 65, some indie/hip-hop mash-ups featuring some combination of Jay-Z, Dead Prez, Radiohead and Grizzly Bear, and a #1 Record with more stories than J.D.'s got Salinger, Beastie Boys's seminal Paul's Boutique.
Posted at 00:19, 15th March 2010
sad and beautiful world
This week: any festivities planned for the move to the new timeslot of Tuesdays at 6pm have been superceded by the untimely death of Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous this past weekend. New tracks from Titus Andronicus, Johnny Cash and The Unwinding Hours and a Sun Kil Moon classic in the first half, then an extended tribute to Linkous himself in the second, with tracks from sometime collaborators PJ Harvey, The Flaming Lips and Teenage Fanclub, and, in the #1 Records slot, Sparklehorse's own timeless debut Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot.
Posted at 17:11, 8th March 2010
deeper into movies
This week: the Glasgow Film Festival is finishing up and the Oscars are just around the corner, so today's all about gaun tae the pickshurs. Songs about movie characters from Sonic Youth and The Specials, songs about movies in general by Yo La Tengo and The Hold Steady, a formative soundtrack in #1 Records and Chris Defends songs that have been ruined by terrible, terrible films.
Posted at 01:09, 27th February 2010
the underground velvet underground
This week: an attempt to quantify Midlake's standing as a good band following a live show that veered dangerously close to Jethro Tull; the triumphant return of Gil Scott-Heron; and proof of John Cale's total dominance of Lou Reed in the #1 Record, Sabotage/Live.
Posted at 19:37, 19th February 2010