DJ RJ's ModCast

I like when I have a theme, and yesterday, I came up with a great theme — my idols. By that, i mean the musicians who have shaped my life and my creative process in certain ways that I can see, even when others can’t.

This, of course, implies “favourite artists of all time, ever”, but doesn’t necessarily imply “current top-X favourites” — nor does it imply that these are my favourite songs by these artists, as concern for time (I try to keep these casts under an hour) and flow/matching (not necessarily “beatmatching” — I’m also sure those of you who are well up on your muso trivia as I am have caught that I’ll make little in-jokes with song order, some jokes more obvious than others, I’m sure). For example, I tend not to listen to so much Queen these days, as I can get fairly weepy (having your favourite person in the world die when you’re ten can affect you), and even so, I rarely listen to “God Save the Queen” — but making it a closer to an opening of “Star-Spangled Bologna” just struck me as incredibly amusing.

2010-03-08
The Evolution Control Committee – The Star Spangled Bologna
Marc Bolan – Dandy In the Underworld
Daucus Karota – Raw Power
Iggy & The Stooges – Gimmie Danger
Gavin Friday – Man of Misfortune
DEVO – Be Stiff
Dexys Midnight Runners – Soul Finger
Rufus Wainwright – Greek Song
Danielle Dax – Fizzing Human Bomb
Japan – Talking Drum
The Who – Armenia City In the Sky
Cat Stevens – Lovely City (When Do You Laugh?)
David Bowie – London Bye Ta-Ta
Secret Affair – Only Madmen Laugh
Prince & the Revolution – America
Marc Almond – Brilliant Creatures
Queen – God Save the Queen

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

To both listeners, if you’re hoping for Christmas music, I’m going to put that off until December 21 — in theory, I could do a new cast of Christmas music every week, and have it all different, but I want to save stuff for next year.

As for this week’s set, I know I don’t like to do any one band two weeks in a row, and i think I did that last week, too, but sometimes a set works best with a specific song or two, and it cannot be helped.

2009-12-07
Cat Stevens – Baby Get Your Head Screwed On
The Koobas – The First Cut Is the Deepest
P.P. Arnold – Angel of the Morning
Dexys Midnight Runners – My Life in England
The Kinks – Victoria
Brian Auger – Ellis Island
The Fall – Prole Art Threat
Nino Ferrer – les Blues Anti-Bourgeois
Blue Ox Babes – Yes Let’s
Manual Scan – Nothing Can Be Everything
The High Number – I’m the Face
The Jam – Down In the Tube Station At Midnight
The Inmates – Dirty Water
The Chords – The British Way of Life
Secret Affair – Streetlife Parade

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

…at least that’s how it works out in my experiences. Yes, Communists and Socialists get laid more; I’m still not 100% on how that works out, but it’s totally true.

So I’ve got a new WordPress theme for the site and I’ve decided that the cast is going to be more ‘My Week in Music” — at least until I get bored with that concept. And hey, better start that now then two weeks ago, when it would have been a lot of Leonard Cohen and Rufus Wainwright. Unfortunately, only part of the cast really fits my last week in any specific way, and that is in two ways:

1) after an entire adolesence and young adulthood spent hating Morrissey, I’m starting to like Morrissey. Thankfully, I don’t see myself turning into one of those insane pod-persons who seem dead certain that Morrissey Can Do No Wrong, musically or otherwise, but the man’s not a terrible songwriter. Of course, as a singer myself, i have to admit that I like Morrissey better as a songwriter than as a singer.

2) I have new Docs. Made in England, Oxblood red, and sized UK6 (U$ Men’s 7) — technically I’m a UK5 wide, but try finding those. Anywhere. Little Boy’s section or otherwise.

 
download link

2009-11-23
Cat Stevens – Matthew & Son
Velvet Underground – European Son
David Bowie – London Bye Ta-Ta
Dexys Midnight Runners – T.S.O.P. (The Sound of Philadelphia)
Television – (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
The Rolling Stones – Sympathy For the Devil
Franz Ferdinand – Evil and a Heathen
Powder – Magical Jack
Neil’s Children – Getting Evil In the Playground
Morrissey – Suedehead
Segue
Madness – Nightboat To Cairo
The Coventry Automatics – Concrete Jungle
Symarip – These Boots Are Made For Walking (Stompin’)
Alexei Sayle & Radical Posture – Doctor Marten’s Boots

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.