News and Updates | Left of the Dial

BAck On The Air

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 13:29:26 -0700

LOTD is back on the air. Fortuitously, I managed to find another old iMac G3 and was able to salvage the hard drive containing all the music and playlists for the station from the old computer. I wasn't looking forward to rebuilding the 2200 song playlist by hand. The last couple weeks of changes apparently were lost, but that won't take long to fix.

I hope that I haven't lost all my listeners!

Scott

Off The Air Temporarily

Fri, 25 Aug 2006 17:57:16 -0700

Yesterday I returned home to find that the electricity had been out during the afternoon and so the station was off the air. When I restarted the old iMac G3 that runs the station, I was met with a sad wheezing noise and thus, the computer was dead. LOTD will be off the air until I can (hopefully) recover the hard drive and transfer it to a new (old) computer.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Scott

The Minders-It's a Bright Guilty World

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 21:28:08 -0700

The Minders are one of Portland's most loved indie poppers and there new album is there best yet. I've had the chance to see them twice in the last couple of months or so, both times with Quasi, once in the courtyard of City Hall. It had been a few (several?) years since I had seen them and their show is tight and sounds like a big smile. They are out on tour in the midwest and east coast, so go check them out.

8/10/06

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 21:19:24 -0700

There are numerous Pitchfork reports and capsules on the various music blogs out there already, so I'll be brief. Had a great time in Chicago, despite the 100 degree heat and humidity. The festival was run extremely well and seemed to put the fan, and not the dollar, first. Prices were very reasonable, free water was available, beer wasn't any more expensive in a bar and was micro (Goose Island), no PBR. The music was essentially non-stop. Two adjacent stages made transitions between bands typically about 5 minutes. My highlights included The National, Art Brut, Spoon, Destroyer, Ted Leo, and Mission of Burma (essentially all the bands that I already knew and loved). I was really looking forward to seeing the Silver Jews, but their set was somewhat monotonous and essentially a downer. I guess that isn't terribly surprising given David Berman's mood disorders, but the song list could have been a little more upbeat given the large festival atmosphere. "Punks In The Beerlight" was a great opener, but it kind of went south from there.

Tomorrow night is the second to last Sleater-Kinney show. Of course, I got tickets before the second, and now final, show was added. They will be missed, but tomorrow night should be epic.

LOTD is going To Chicago

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 21:49:49 -0700

I'm off to Chicago for the Pitchfork Music Festival this weekend. Jay and I will be staying with Sarah and rocking the Windy City (some wind would be nice, will be over 90 and humid). I'm especially excited to see these bands for the first time- Silver Jews, The National, Mountain Goats, Mission of Burma. Old favorites will include Spoon, Art Brut, Ted Leo, and Yo La Tengo, and many others. Going to get some italian beef and a chicago dog.

If anyone will be in Chicago and needs tickets, we have at least one two day pass. Send an email.

Scott

LOTD In The Oregonian

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 23:38:36 -0700

K YOU

Friday, June 30, 2006

KEVIN ALLMAN

The Oregonian

Peder Horner, a radiologist at Oregon Health & Science University, couldn't find a radio station that played the kind of jazz he liked. Mary Ann Naylor and her husband, Christopher Dylan Massey, were frustrated at the lack of women's voices on Portland radio. And Scott Sallay, a medical professor, just got tired of lugging his CD collection to work.

So they all started their own radio stations -- on the Internet.

In the last few years, dozens of Web-savvy Portlanders have begun programming and broadcasting their own radio stations, most of them armed with nothing more than a home computer and a passion to share their music. They may not have the ratings or the revenues of a KXL or even a KBOO, but many of them have a cadre of loyal listeners from around the world.

"I receive fan e-mail every day," says Horner, whose Dr. Horner's Classic Jazz Corner has a daily audience of more than 1,000 listeners. "They come from all over the world: the States, Japan, France, Italy. The most memorable was a handwritten letter from a man in Kentucky who enclosed a $100 check to support the broadcast."

Church of Girl Radio, the station and Web site run by Naylor and Massey, has received fan mail from people in six continents. It features 2,300 songs, broken down in hourly rotation by genre (hip-hop, country, punk). The only rule is that the bands have to be fronted by women.

Sallay's college-rock-heavy station, Left of the Dial, has an even simpler broadcast philosophy: It's music, he says, "that I really like." Web music

While satellite radio services such as Sirius and XM Radio get a lot of press, Internet radio has been around for more than a decade and continues to grow. The largest Web-radio conglomerate, Live365 (www.live365.com) has about 10,000 stations and 2.6 million listeners a month. Those stations provide a breadth of programming that even the most ambitious satellite service can't match and, in many cases, offer music to fans with sonic experiences far too "niche" for commercial radio.

On the AM/FM dials, for instance, listeners would be hard-pressed to find a single klezmer song; on Live365, several stations play the traditional Eastern European folk music, including "Radio Free Klezmer" -- all klezmer, all the time. Captain & Tennille fan? Muskrat love still keeps them together on 81 Live365 stations, from "Gen-Xers Hit Parade" and "Those Awful '70s" to "FAIRadio," the latter of which is the most popular Portland station on Live365.

"It started at my old job, when I was looking for hold music for callers," says DJ "Nick Carson" (actually Portland State University student Les French) of FAIRadio's blen…

Goodbye Sleater-Kinney

Sun, 02 Jul 2006 20:35:27 -0700

Last week brought the news that Sleater-Kinney was going on indefinite hiatus. It was with sadness, but not surprise, that I heard the news last Tuesday. There was time when I would have been devastated when a favorite band broke up. The first time I recall feeling so sad and disappointed at a break up was for Husker Du. At the time, it was very difficult to accept that I'd never hear any new music from them. However, over the years I've come to accept that all bands will eventually break up, and when they do, it is either at the right time or too late, but rarely too early. In retrospect, Husker Du broke up while they were on top and before Bob and Grant's animosity could tarnish their legacy. In comparison, Jason and I attended the final Replacements show at Taste of Chicago in 1991. It was an embarrassment and I felt sorry for them. If they would have gone out after Pleased To Meet Me, their legend would not have been sullied and my memories would only be of them at their greatest.

Living in Portland brings an embarrassment of riches when it comes to bands and I feel fortunate to witness them. Carrie, Corin, and Janet have always been incredibly friendly, unnassuming, and humble. Sleater-Kinney will be terribly missed, but I am happy to see them go out on top and I expect that we will be hearing from them again, either together or individually. I'll leave you with two of my favorite S-K songs.

Scott

Au Revoir and The Pig

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 07:30:37 -0700

My close friend and concert-going companion Sarah is moving to Chicago for a year. We had a going away party this weekend and feasted on roast pig. We will all miss her and be looking forward to next June when she will return to Portland.

Au revior Sarah.

6/19/06

6/14/06 Big Numbers

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 21:25:39 -0700

I woke up this morning and checked the station, just as I do every morning, and was shocked to see that my total listener count was over triple a typical day. First thought was that it had to be a mistake, but then I checked the Live365 front page and saw the LOTD was a "Daily Recommendation." I expect that this designation was only for today and tomorrow will be back to normal, but I'd like to say welcome to any new listeners out there. I hope you liked what you heard.

I'm a little behind on updating this blog because my G5 iMac that I organize my music collection with was in the shop for a few days after having power issues. Fortunately, it was a known issue and the repair was on Apple.

I never got around to writing about the unfortunate passing of Grant McLennan last month, but I've been listening to a lot of the Go-Betweens over the last year and Grant's death prompted me to dig back into some of his excellent solo albums. It had been a long time since I had listened to any of them and revisiting them simply reminds me of what a truly gifted songwriter he was. I've posted two of my favorites from his solo career.

Digging through the Go-Betweens and Grant McLennan has me in an orchestral indie pop mood, so this evening most of the music I added reflects this.

The concert schedule has been a little on the slow side recently, at least for me. This weekend does bring the Twilight Singers. The Afghan Whigs were always a favorite, but I've never seen or been terribly excited about the Twilight Singers. The new album sounds more like the old Whigs albums, which is probably why I like it more than the others. I'm looking forward to seeing the new and sober Dulli. I was fortunate enough to see the Whigs around the time of their first, and essentially forgotten, album back in Oxford, Ohio at Mac and Joe's (1988?). This will only mean something to anyone who went to Miami U. I wonder if he'll remember me?

Playlist Additions

Chappaquiddick Skyline Breakneck Speed

Chappaquiddick Skyline Everyone Else is Evolving

Chappaquiddick Skyline Hundred Dollar Pocket

Chappaquiddick Skyline Leave Me Alone

Destroyer Bad Arts

Jay has been raving about SLF for the last few months, since he saw them as an opener. His most basic description was that they sound just like their name. We saw them with two other local bands last Thursday, and Jay was right. We described them as a combination of the Violent Femmes and the Partridge Family. Low-tech three piece with acoustic guitar, keyboards, and drums. Great energy, tough not to smile along. If I was a booker, I'd have them open for Machine Go Boom when I brought them to Portland.

This Saturday The Thermals play their first show in Portland in over a year (as far as I know). I'm looking forward to hearing what the new album is going to sound like, assuming they unveil those songs. The show is also going to be the bachelor party for our friend Mike who is coming up from Grant's Pass, OR. Should be a great time.

Here's what has been added to the new music rotation over the last couple of weeks.

Eleventh Dream Day Dissolution

Eleventh Dream Day For Martha

Eleventh Dream Day New Rules

Eleventh Dream Day The Lure

Howe Gelb Get to leave

Machine Go Boom All The Way To PA

The Twilight Singers Andiamo

The Twilight Singers I…

4/30/06 Quasi

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 20:07:06 -0700

It's been relatively slow musically the last couple of weeks. Not too many shows that I had to be at and not too much in the way of new music to get me excited. Today's post features the Portland band Quasi, comprised of Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss. Their new album "When The Going Gets Dark" continues a solid string of releases over the last 13 years. It had been a while since I saw them play, but was able to catch them about 2 weeks ago here in Portland before they left on a West Coast tour.

The show reminded my of one of my favorite Quasi songs "The Curse Of Having It All." I guess this song would be considered a deep album cut and more obscure, that would be if their whole catalog weren't already considered reasonably obscure. This song is unusual in that it is one of the few that Janet sings lead. They played it live and it brought back a song that I hadn't listened to in years. It's a simple song, just vocals, drums, and keyboards (actually, a very typical Quasi arrangement). The second song is from the new album is my favorite on the record.

I haven't been doing such a great job of posting all the new music that's being played and added to the playlist. LOTD now has a playlist of about 2000 songs. When I started broadcasting about 4 years ago, the playlist started at about 800 songs. I add new music to the playlist in two ways. Newly released music is added to a rotation such that a new song gets played at every top of the hour. I add both new and old music to the standard playlist and it has grown steadily over the years. The roots of LOTD are in the early to mid 80's post punk era. Lately, I've been thinking that I've really been diluting out that older music as new stuff is added. I like to mix the old and new and that's what this station is about for me. However, when I listen, there is now less Replacements, Husker Du, old R.E.M., etc. proportionately in the mix. I'm thinking that I may have to go back and more of the old favorites.

Here's a partial list of the new music that's been airing on LOTD over the last couple of months.

1. Calexico Cruel

2. Calexico Bisbee Blue

3. Calexico Panic Open String

4. Calexico Letter To Bowie Knife

5.Stolen from the Jackpot Records website.

http://www.jackpotrecords.com/instores.php?sess=7a2b2fdc5ae884d7d14849d11bb540a6

Sunday, April 23rd, 2006 7:00 PM

JACKPOT RECORDS/CLINTON STREET VIDEO FILM FESTIVAL NIGHT SEVEN

In the Beginning Was the End—The Music Films of Chuck Statler

Chuck attended Kent State in Ohio and found kindred spirits with fellow students Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerry Casale, the nucleus for DEVO. Their film collaborations became a hallmark of DEVO's act, and soon Stiff, TwinTone and other upstart record labels commissioned Chuck to produce films for their talent.

And since these films circulated among the midnight movie series so prevalent in the late 70s, it seems only fitting that we re-create that spirit tonight---Highlights of our program include rare 16mm film print screenings of Elvis Costello, , Nick Lowe, Madness, James Chance, Graham Parker Suicide Commandoes and, of course, DEVO. Also, videos with Pere Ubu, El Vez, Moldy Peaches, the Wipeouters, Stan Ridgway, and the last filmed appearance by Tiny Tim. Plus selections from Chuck's commercial spots, an 'American Splendor' clip light years before the theatrical feature, and selections from his most recent project 'Sonic Burlesque.'Chuck has also unearthed unseen footage of DEVO performing as their own opening band, DOVE--The Band of Love, as well as new footage of James Chance and the Contortions from 1979.

"There's no expiration date on weirdness."

Sarah and I saw The Minutemen "We Jam Econo" on Thursday and it was definitely one of the better music documentaries that I've seen. On Sunday, Jay, Sarah, and I saw "The Music Films of Chuck Statler." I was something like 14 years old when MTV launched and my family had cable. I remember all the videos that they played seemingly over and over because there weren't very many of them. Chuck Statler was an early pioneer in music film and this festival showed all his "best" work. Looking back, most of this stuff was truly awful, low budget, and cheesy, but at the time there was nothing to compare it to. The Devo stuff was truly great, but many of the others were truly horrible. I was extremely disappointed that I couldn't find links on the internet for some of my favorites and unfortunately, I am not good enough with words to do them justice. However, in the spirit of the moment, I'll post the Michael Stanley Band's "He Can't Love You," which I also just found out was the 45th video every played on MTV. This video is so over the top cheesy and cliche-riden that it had the audience cheering and laughing. I almost fell out of my seat laughing when it came on. Growing up in Cleveland, I was heavily exposed to MSB. Michael Stanley became a Cleveland landmark selling out huge shows for multiple consecutive nights. However, if you lived outside of Ohio (or maybe Detroit), you had never heard of him. He made a lucrative career for decades, and still plays, without making a mark outside of Cleveland. My high school friends thought that he was the king and never missed a show. I just never understood it. Here is the link to learn more about MSB.

http://www.michaelstanley.com/msb/msbmain1.htm

4/14/06 Philadelphia and My Dad Is Dead

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 14:43:25 -0700

I returned Wednesday from a week in Philadelphia and eastern Pennsylvania where I was attending a conference followed by a trip to spend some time with family. Philly was was fun, although the conference was a bore. My first night there I met up with Nick, a listener from NJ, across the river from Philly. We had good night out hoisting a few beers and geeking out about music. I've had the pleasure of meeting a few LOTD listeners over the years and it has always been fun. Good music taste is obviously a marker of good people. Later in the week I had the good fortune to go see Neko Case play at the Trocadero, conveniently located only 5 blocks from my hotel. I always try to catch a show when I travel and my luck is usually good. She was angelic as expected.

I've written briefly about My Dad Is Dead in a previous post. MDID is essentially Mark Edwards, originally from Cleveland and now in North Carolina, but over the years he's added various backing musicians. Over the last several albums his rhythm section has been Chris Burgess on bass and Scott Pickering on drums, both previously from the Cleveland band Prisonshake. My favorite Cleveland musician, Doug Gillard, has also played with him in the past. MDID has always been known for dark and gloomy lyrics (the band name was inspired by his father's death), but over the years the sound has brightened considerably. I've posted "Black Cloud" from the first MDID album "And He's Not Going To Take It Anymore" and two songs from the recent (late 2005) album "A Divided House." This juxtaposition makes the evolution most obvious and he seems to in a much better place these days.

Tonight I'm going to see Portland favorites Quasi, who have recently released the new album "When The Going Gets Dark."

3/26/06 Recent New Music

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 21:05:32 -0800

Recent playlist additions have included:

Quasi- When Going Gets Dark

Jon Langford- Gold Brick

Morrisey- Ringleader of the Torments

Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Show Your Bones

The Wedding Present- Take Fountain and assorted older stuff

The Minus 5- The Minus 5 (Gun Album)

The Rifles- Various singles

The Flaming Lips- At War With The Mystics

Destroyer- Rubies

It's been a little quiet on the live music front, both from selection of shows and business at work. Art Brut finally made it to Portland last Thursday and lived up to my high expectations. I don't think anyone walked out of that show without a big smile on their face! They formed a band and told us that we should all form bands, too, although in Portland it's already not far from that already! No complaints from me. Now if I only had the slightest bit of musical talent.

3/8/06 Wussy

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 21:13:22 -0800

I just recently came across Wussy. This album came out in late December 2005 and features Chuck Cleaver, who sings for the Ass Ponys, one of my favorite Ohio bands. This album must have been very under the radar because I hadn't heard any mention of it. However, this whole album is rock solid. Chuck's voice is still the same, goofy and quirky, but this music is much less rootsy and more pop sounding than the Ass Ponys. There really isn't a bad song on this album and several are standouts.

I'm hoping that this album gets some traction. I just downloaded it from iTunes this evening and I'm on my 2nd listen through. It's going to be on heavy rotation for a while.

3/3/06 Steve Wynn and Robyn Hitchcock

Fri, 03 Mar 2006 21:56:58 -0800

This was a tough day. The show last night was terrific and it was one of those nights where everything just went perfectly. I got off work a little early and we arrived in Eugene about 5:45. There was no pre-sale for the show, so we didn't want to drive two hours and then get shut out. This way we got to the club around 6:30 and got stamped before grabbing dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant. The show was at Sam Bond's Garage and it was a great little club, smoke-free and intimate. It was a very relaxed atmosphere and all the bands were just hanging out mingling with each other and the crowd. They all watched each other play and didn't disappear backstage.

Steve Wynn was brilliant as always. He was the first opener and was only billed as "Special Guest." He played Portland on Wednesday, opened in Eugene on Thursday, is playing his own shows in Seattle on Friday, and then back to Eugene on Saturday. Opening this show was out of his way, but it was an opportunity to play with good friends. I've posted two live versions (not from last night, though) classic Steve Wynn songs. That's What You Always Say is The Dream Syndicate's classic. Amphetamine is from the album Static Transmissions is almost always the last song of the main set. It is truly a barn burner and a triumphant set closer.

The Minus 5 has been the backing band for Robyn Hitchcock for at least the last few years. I didn't realize this until last fall. MusicFest NW is a 3 day festival in Portland and Jay and I went to see Crooked Fingers, Robyn Hitchcock, and Colin Meloy. After Crooked Fingers, noticed a familiar face standing behind us. It took a few seconds, but we realized that it was Peter Buck, just standing there with a drink. I had to go up and say hello, but how to do it without sounding like a lovestruck fan-boy. We talked about The Minus 5 and I found out that he was there to back Robyn Hitchcock. Very cool. They are always a great show and it is simply great fun watching such pros play and have such a good time doing it. I don't have any live Minus 5 to post, though.

Robyn Hitchcock has always been interesting to me. I've never had much of his catalog, but way back in college, he was always on the radio and was always entertaining. Over the years, I've certainly developed a great deal of respect for him, but the show last fall was the first time I'd actually seen him. He's still eccentric as ever and incredibly charming. He played a few acoustic songs and then The Minus 5 came out. Peter Buck actually played guitar (plays bass in The Minus 5) which was an added treat. He moved over to drums for the final encore. I've posted a live version ofViva Sea-Tac, but this version is different than how I've heard it recently. No piano in the two shows I've seen.

That's three shows this week (Robert Pollard was Monday). Work is really getting in the way of the rock and roll. I'm going to need to use the weekend to rest.

Scott

3/1/06 Steve Wynn

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 20:17:26 -0800

I've decided to make a concerted effort to keep this site up to date. I've redesigned the site because I really like Sandvox, a new piece of web design software (for dummies; when it is out of beta I'll be able to change the the color scheme of this stylesheet). I also like that it is extremely easy to add multimedia elements, so now I'm going to play with making this an MP3 Blog. I really don't have a definite plan on what I'm going to post, but they may include new songs, old songs, underappreciated songs, songs that I'm reminded of for no apparent reason, and songs by artists that I've seen recently. The usual disclaimers apply. Songs are posted for evaluation purposes. I'm going to post songs in a lower bitrate (56k) because these shouldn't replace buying the music that you like and because I have limited bandwidth.

Tonight I am going to see Steve Wynn, so I thought that I'd start with something from his new album. Steve Wynn is the founder of the seminal L.A. band The Dream Syndicate and has had an exceptional career as a solo artist, although few have really heard any of it. His catalog is impressively solid without anything I would consider a weak album. His live shows are tight, full of energy and he and his band can play just about anything at anytime. I'd strongly recommend his show if you get the chance. Tomorrow night Robyn Hitchcock is playing down in Eugene, OR (about 2 hours south of Portland). The Minus 5 is both his opener and his backing band and as an added bonus, Steve Wynn is opening the show. That's a bill that I'm not going to miss, so Jay, Sarah, and I are going on a road trip. Actually, Jay was already going to be in Eugene for an environmental law conference, so he already has a hotel. Very convenient.

Let me know what you think. I'm not much of a writer, but sometimes I can pick a good song.

Scott

2/26/05 I'm Back

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 20:59:31 -0800

I've totally been ignoring updating this blog. I've added a lot of music since the last entry in October, but I haven't kept very good track of all of it to post here. Some of my favorites have included

Babyshambles

Celebrity Pilots

Comet Gain

Dolorean

The Fall

The Long Winters

The Minus 5

My Dad Is Dead

The National

Neko Case

The Rifles

Silver Jews

Steve Wynn

The Wedding Present

Keep your eyes open for The Rifles. Based on their three singles, they will definitely be one of the English buzz bands in the next several months. Think The Jam crossed with The Libertines.

My Dad Is Dead is essentially Mark Edwards. He's originally from Cleveland and has been a favorite since the late 80's. After a long hiatus he put out a new album last year and it is very good. 2005 was a good year for music from old school Cleveland indie rock. New albums from MDID and Doug Gillard in the same year was very cool.

Last week The Wedding Present was in town and put on a great show. They have a new album after David Gedge spent the last 8 years making music as Cinerama. They had always been a band that I new and I've had both Seamonsters and Hit Parade 1, but never spent much time with them. I figured that I'd refresh my memory for the show and so I also picked up their first album "George Best." Now I'm thinking "how did I miss that one?" I've been listening to it constantly for the last week. The new album "Take Fountain" is also good, but isn't going to be a classic.

This week is going to be busy and full of late nights.

10/23/05

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 20:56:01 -0800

Long time since last update.

Bob Mould | Always Tomorrow

Bob Mould | Best Thing

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | Over and Over Again (Lost & Found)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | Is This Love?

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | Heavy Metal

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | In This Home On Ice

Frank Black | I Burn Today

Frank Black | Go Find Your Saint

Frank Black | Strange Goodbye

Frank Black | Sing For Joy

Helen Love | Debbie Loves Joey

Ladytron | Destroy Everything You Touch

The New Pornographers | Sing Me Spanish Techno

Pavement | Type Slowly

Zumpano | Behind the Beehive

Zumpano | Only Reason Under the Sun

Crooked Fingers Big Darkness

Crooked Fingers You Can Never Leave

Crooked Fingers New Drink For The Old Drunk

Crooked Fingers Broken Man

Cocteau Twins Carolyn's Fingers

Steve Earle Breed (Live)

Steve Wynn And The Miracle 3 What Comes After

The New Year Gasoline

The New Year Chinese Handcuffs

Cocteau Twins Blue Bell Knoll

The Deathray Davies The Fall Fashions

The Deathray Davies I'll Sing a Sweeter Song Tomorrow

The Deathray Davies Chainsaw (Denn Die Toten Reiten Schnell)

The Polyphonic Spree Section 12 (Hold Me Now)

The Polyphonic Spree Section 14 (Two Thousand Places)

The Polyphonic Spree The Beginning Stages, Part 2 (It's The Sun)

The Polyphonic Spree The Beginning Stages, Part 7 (Hangin' Around)

Superchunk Hyper Enough

Scud Mountain Boys Grudge ****

Spoon The Beast And Dragon, Adored

Spoon Metal Detektor

The Crimea Lottery Winners On Acid

Crooked Fingers The Rotting Strip

Afghan Whigs Retarded

The Pos…