butnz radio

Download episode 18: the video era (49.5mb, 36m 0s; right click and save)

A video has been making the rounds online lately: three hours worth of MTV from 1983 (part one, part two). It's not the most engaging thing you can do with three hours, but if you put it in the background while you're working on something else or fast forward through some of the less entertaining videos (the Sammy Hagar video in the first half a prime candidate for skipping), it's kind of fascinating. There's a nostalgic element for some, but for those of us born in the mid-80s onward, it's false nostalgia. The MTV I grew up on rarely played videos, and that situation is getting worse. TRL has apparently been cut down to three days a week after turning in dismal ratings over the past year. People can bemoan the lack of good music or Viacom's desire to sell stock rather than prescribe what's cool--the fact is the culture has changed in some way, and the 1983 MTV the videos show is no more. This episode plays songs from that era.

The video this week is the Fixx's Saved by Zero, but unfortunately the clip doesn't allow embedding. There's a Fixx song included in the MTV set, but this video is much better than their other work.

I'm brainstorming future episodes. I want to do a podcast showcasing the Smashing Pumpkins' career through their lesser-known songs, one interlacing music with me telling a story, and another on the theme of time.

(Image from MTV, used under Fair Use.)

Download episode 17: triangle wave (45.9mb, 33m 28s; right click and save)

The title of this episode comes from one of the original "instruments" used to make music on the NES. It's been two weeks since I first thought of the idea, and now I've finally done the episode: Nintendo music. This will be one of the stranger episodes, and I talk way too much for my liking. I tried to pick interesting music that parallels the development of the technology and is familiar to most. I may do a simpler follw-up episode of my favorite songs from Nintendo games later, but considering how tedious it was putting the episode together, that won't happen for a while. I'll follow this up with a new, more traditional episode on Monday.

I first saw this clip at the beginning of the month, and it fits the theme. I've been told Princess Zelda was obnoxious in the Legend of Zelda animated series, so maybe the catchphrase was warranted. But I doubt it. I can't get enough of this clip. Which is your favorite? Mine's a toss-up between :25 and :56.



On Monday, songs from the Video era.

(Image from The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past from the SNES, used under Fair Use.)

I'm going to be gone again this weekend, but I'll post the new episode either Wednesday or Thursday. The theme is Nintendo music, and it'll be a decent-length episode to make up for the vacant past two weeks.

( Meanwhile, a 9-year-old owning Guitar Hero III )

I'm out of town this weekend, so no new episode this Monday. Which is good because I don't know what the next episode is anyway. Next episode planned for Monday the 28th.

Download episode 16: stories (53.3mb , 38m 48s; right click and save)

The theme is stories. I've been making subtle changes in the format of the podcast itself and a couple design changes. The episodes are definitely better than when I first started, and I can still see room for improvement. The long view for this podcast experiment is moving away from music, but I don't have enough content to fill a podcast of me talking. I'll be doing music until I come up with a suitable idea, which won't be for some time--I'll probably run out of episode themes before that happens.

The video is a song I almost included in lieu of the other Bragg track--Billy Bragg performing "Between the Wars" on Top of the Pops. The performance on that particular program an interesting juxtaposition--an austere anti-political song on a bouncy pop program (or programme, as it were) where the artists usually lip synch.

( Video beneath the cut )

I'm entertaining a few different ideas for next week's podcast--including one on video game music which could be an excellent train wreck. I'll try to get back to the weekly schedule.

(Image under CC license.)

Download episode 15 (29.9mb, 21m 50s; right click and save)

I'm looking to get back to the every-Monday schedule as opposed to the whenever-I-feel-like-it schedule. Hopefully I'll start with this coming Monday, but I'm not sure I'd count on it.

This week's episode is happy but sad, songs that sound cheerful but have a darker element to them lyrically. I had a long list of songs to play but I kept trimming the list and the playlist completely changed over time. It's a short episode, and honestly I'm more excited about the episodes to come and glad I have this one behind me.

The video this week is an electro-pop version from Omodaka of a Japanese folk song, "Kokiriko-Bushi." It has nothing to do with the theme, but it's a video worth sharing.

( Video behind the cut )

(Image from two images from the same user, released under a CC license.)

I've delayed too long doing the next couple episodes. I have six prepared and about three written, it's just a matter of recording and completing this first one so I can work on the others. Meanwhile, a post from Coilhouse on mix tapes.

Download up (73.2mb, 79m 58s; YouSendIt link) (Link expired.)

A belated Christmas gift, or on-time New Year's gift. This is a CD-length mix I made for a handful of people. I'll post the other half, down, when I get a chance.

I always think of mixes as 80-minute dramas in song. Each song should contribute to the overall fabric of the entire mix, and should progress in a flow that punctuates each dramatic rise and fall. The first song is generally an overture, after which the body of the mix begins. The final track should likewise be a parting shot, a memorable close to the work. I made these two mixes with the aim of being the best I'd ever done--I'm not sure I succeeded, but a lot of thought went into the songs. Both mixes are reflections upon this past year, so perhaps it's more fitting that I post it on New Year's eve rather than Christmas as I originally intended.

( The rest is cut--you should listen to the file before you read this. )

This is the cover for the mix.

Download episode 14 (45.6mb, 33m 14s; right click and save)

An eclectic batch of songs, as usual. I didn't mean my goal of twenty podcasts by the end of the year, but this is the sixteenth counting special episodes, and my eighteenth if you count the two CD-length mixes I've been meaning to upload since Christmas. I've uploaded nine and a half hours of music since the end of August. The episodes average thirty-four minutes in length. Here's to a new year filled with thirty-four-minute increments of music. And here's to another Casey Kasem-style introduction to a song (this week's episode, around the sixteen-and-a-half minute mark). And here's to spelling out numbers too many times in a paragraph. Eight times (counting this one, and this one: eleven).

The Rasputina song I play this week is really exciting for some reason. It's unnatural. I described it to a friend as their most danceable song, and it makes me want to bob my head each time I listen to it. I was curious about how it translates live, so that's the video--"Cage in a Cave" live in Atlanta. It's difficult to be energetic with a cello between your legs, so the music has to be all the more vibrant. When I saw Rasputina, the band was unfortunately subjected to a power outage the afternoon before their show, and being stuck in South Carolina with no electricity seemed to leave a bad taste in Melora's mouth. A tiny gig, I was a complete fanboy for Melora and Zoe Keating, second chair at the time.

( Video behind the cut )

(This week's image modified from this image and released under a CC license.)

Download episode 13 (39.8mb, 29m 00s; right click and save)

A weird theme this week, and one that was difficult to pull together, hence the short length of this podcast. I'm always expressing myself through other peoples' music, and this is sort of the gentle year-closer that I had in me. The year-end podcast I have in mind for a couple weeks has a lot more emotional trauma in it. This podcast is the complement to that, the huggable, calming half.

A couple of these songs really do have the effect of centering myself. A lyric will come to me from one of the songs and a subtle wave of calm washes over me. I don't know if this podcast even begins to share that experience, but nonetheless, the tracks are there.

The video is the Raveonettes' "Dead Sound." It's an amazingly beautiful song, and my favorite by the band.

( Video behind the cut )

I've been busy with other projects (the fruits of which will be posted after Christmas), so I haven't recorded the latest episode yet. Hopefully I'll have it up later today.

Download special episode 2 (54.3mb, 39m 36s; right click and save)

If you boil Christmas music down enough, you get a very potent mixture of sound that is somewhat palatable. There's a lot of crap Christmas music, in my opinion, and this podcast represents the small percentage that I find enjoyable. The podcast is really in two parts, the first comprised of older, more traditional Christmas songs, and the second made up of modern bands' renditions of a few Christmas songs. A smattering of quotes is the nutmeg on the eggnog, so to speak. Put this on at your awkward Christmas party to give your shindig that kick it needs or put it on in the car while driving alone in a cold car for a truly depressing (and obligatory) holiday experience. Don't worry, I kept my mouth shut for the episode.

Though meant sarcastically, my favorite Christmas memories actually occurred in the car, and they're connected to the radio. Ben Folds Five's "Brick" when I was 12. Listening to David Sedaris's "Santaland Diaries" alone in my car on a long drive. The image of a Rockwell family posing around a tree with presents feels somewhat false, the parts of Christmas I remember involve commuting on cold, gray days for the most part.

Two videos, one silly and the other beautiful. The first is a clip from Mr. Bean, the second is Raymond Briggs' The Snowman. If you've never seen The Snowman, you need to watch it, and I'd urge you to watch a better-quality version than YouTube can provide to truly appreciate the animation.


( Click for videos )

Next week are songs for centering yourself.

Download episode 12 (49.2mb, 35m 53s; right click and save)
Edit: link now fixed! That was lame.

My hosting dilemma is solved thanks to robinsena offering space and bandwidth. I'm linking to the podcast directly this week isntead of using a file-hosting site as a test of sorts.

The theme is happiness to celebrate the hundredth full-length song I've played on butnz radio. It's the second track on this episode. Thanks to the new hosting I see no reason to play another hundred over episodes to come.

This week I'm also updating the links in earlier posts, so you'll be able to download older episodes and the images will be back up. I'm only going to host the latest ten episodes, and post tracklists of episodes before then. Any episode past episode 3 will be available this week, but once I post a new episode, that episode will be removed to save space on the server. If you want older episodes, get in touch with me and I'll find a way to get it to you.

Another mixing screw-up leads to the song drowning out my intro. I wouldn't mind messing up as long as it's funnier than it is inept. Mark this one down as "inept."

This week's video is Viva Voce's "From the Devil Himself," probably the least weird video I could find for a song on this week's episode. The Ivy video was bizarre and the XTC video had Richard Branson in it running around with a pistol. This one just featues Satan.

( Video beneath cut )

(This week's image is modified from this image and released under a CC license.)

Download episode 11 (46.6mb, 33m 57s)

I am now without a webhost, meaning I can't use the image for this week and this podcast will only last for seven days until I rectify the webhost problem. This snag brings to the fore some other thoughts I've had about the podcast, and I only plan to do episodes until the end of the year. I'm aiming for twenty episodes, with a couple special episodes thrown in.

But, on to this week: songs that sound country. While my tastes are narrow compared to some who listen to everything (discerning, I would argue) and broad-ranging compared to some who only listen to what's on the radio, or who don't like music at all, country is something I eventually embraced after hatred in middle and high school. The broad-ranging side allows me to appreciate the twang, the narrow side focuses in on a limited number of acts who challenge what it means to "sound country." Alt-country as some would call it, which really blurs the the line with folk at times. Always challenging genres.

Enjoy the (unintentional) brief intermission in the twelfth minute. Think of creative things you can do with the unnecessary silence, like placing vegetables or bodies in there. Maybe even lay some straw in the silence for farm animals, or place some birdseed and attract some crows. If crows aren't your thing, perhaps you could erect a scarecrow in the empty space! The possibilities are endless!

( Video behind the cut )

(The image you're not seeing combines an original photo and this picture, used under a CC license.)

New podcast should be up in a couple days, the theme being songs that are somewhat country. I'm going to do this episode unscripted, and we'll see how that goes.

Download episode 10 (83.5mb, 60m 52s; right click and save)

Well, we've broken the hour mark, but just barely. Sometimes when I fathom time, like how long something has taken or how long I've been waiting for something, I revert to television shows. There are two primary lengths--a half-hour sitcom, for instance, is twenty-one or twenty-two minutes, whereas an hour-long drama can be from forty-three to forty-five, depending on when the show was made. The real charm in this is picking the television show. When waiting in line for something impatiently, "I could have watched two episodes of Star Trek!" or sitting through a boring basketball game, "Well the first half sucked, but at least it's better than two episodes of Full House." So, depending on your perspective, this week's podcast is slightly shorter than three episodes of Saved by the Bell (shudder) or an episode and a half of House.

This week's episode is a profile of Bjork's career. I've misspelled Bjork without the umlaut because LiveJournal's code doesn't allow strange characters. If you enjoy the songs on the podcast, I'd recommend watching a few of her videos on YouTube, as I mention in the podcast.

The video I'll feature in this post is "Hyper-ballad," directed my Michel Gondry. The video is almost a pitch-perfect demonstration of Michel's style, using visual effects in very simple and subtle ways while still seeming organic. While the visuals are seemingly random, they tie into the song in interesting ways, and the song evokes the video's imagery each time I listen to it, as any excellent video should.

( Video behind the cut )

I may take the next week off to work on a few new playlists, but I'll post before then with an update. Also, a final note about this week's episode--my first on-air flub (that I've noticed), just before the twenty-one minute mark.

(Image from the book Bjork, used under Fair Use.)

Podcast will be up tomorrow. Got a late start today, and I'm still writing it. This will probably be the longest episode of butnz radio ever, and shuold end up clocking in at over an hour. I don't know if that's good or bad yet.

This coming week's episode was going to be guilty pleasures described by GRE words, and it's the third time I've tried to do a guilty pleasures podcast. The playlist is ready to go, but in a bit about the SATs on the Daily Show, Demetri Martin did a similar gag, and did it better than I can. He did it with alacrity.

Nothing would have pleased me more than to use the word "ebullient" to describe a forgettable piece of 80s music, but this particular episode will have to wait. Again.

In its stead, this week's podcast will be Bjork. That's right, Bjork. Hang on to your wigs and keys.

Download episode 9 (65.5mb, 47m 45s; right click and save)

As promised, I didn't shut up, and this episode's pretty long, though that's mostly due to the number of songs this week.

I debated including "chick" in the episode title, just like I debate using it in casual conversation. Seems like a fairly benign word, as if it were once demeaning but has been taken back by feminists, but who really knows? Certainly not I. I just liked the consonance that "chick" and "rock" had.

Two videos this week. First, what do some blunt weapons, a kid flipping the bird, and a dead dog have in common? I don't know either.

Second, an older Dresden Dolls video. This or the video for "Coin-Operated Boy" marked my first encounter with them, and the video fits with this week's theme.

( Video behind the cut )

See you later.

(Image modified from these works and released under a CC license.)

Download episode 8 (33.3mb, 24m 18s; right click and save)

This is the shortest episode since the first one, and there's not much talking. I'll make up for it next week by not shutting up. Part of the problem is that I need a decent microphone--I've been getting by on a really cheap mic that makes me fix the audio in some spots. But I manage.

This week's theme is disjunction, a more abstract theme, and it allowed me to pull some songs that I haven't been able to fit in other more concrete themes. I like setting up a diverse tracklist that develops through the podcast, so it seems like a journey through the theme, beginning in one place (in this case a Spanish-language artist) and ending in another (alt-country this time). Finding a coherent way to combine my tastes might be my favorite part of doing the podcast. Like cooking with music.

This week's video is from the "Spanish-language artist" mentioned above, Julieta Venegas. The video for "Me Voy" has a Michel Gondry feel to it. I'm fairly picky about music videos, so it needs to have a hint of something visually interesting--a punch line that truly reverses your expectation, and doesn't go through the usual motions of being a joke.

( Video behind the cut )

I think that was enough similes for one post.

(Image modified from this photo and released under a CC license.)