Blog Archives
2015
You’ve got to admit it
At this point in time that it’s clear
The future looks bright
On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
Well by seventy-six we’ll be A.O.K.
-
Donald Fagen, “I.G.Y. (What A Beautiful World)”*
2015 has been a crazy year, in the most literal sense of the word. Grab your spandex jacket and go have a great night.
* International Geophysical Year, July 1 1957 – December 31 1958
Night Sky Radio 20th Anniversary
Night Sky Radio first began broadcasting on this date* in 1995, as one of the first internet-only radio stations. Streaming began with some of the best then-current songs and then broadened into wider genres and even discussion formats. With a stunning grand total of 4 listeners. But onward the station pressed, much like the PLAY button in the booth.
There were interruptions in service and periods of dormancy… in fact, Night Sky Radio has been off the air more than on. But since 2012, the station has been streaming continuously. And since then our average listener count has broken two digits.
Here’s a look back at the first four songs ever broadcast on Night Sky Radio…
POE: “Hello” – a fitting introductory song, and it’s about computer hacking. How appropriate for an internet station –
ALICE IN CHAINS: “Heaven Beside You”– AIC has always been a favorite band around the station, who had just released their new (and final featuring Layne Staley) album at the time, this wintery song was soon released as a single but was already being played on radio stations –
THE BEATLES: “Christmas Time Is Here Again” – The Beatles Anthology had just come out and this song from 1967 was on the B-Side of the just-released “Free As A Bird” single. Also, it was only days before Christmas, so it had to be on the list –
COLLECTIVE SOUL: “December” – Take a guess.
Thanks for listening all these years, and looking forward to many more.
Just for fun, take a look at how Night Sky Radio appeared in 1995.
* Which later became significant for other reasons as well. Naturally, we celebrated at the station.
Black Friday Radio 2015
Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your Black Friday! Try not to get killed by crazed shoppers.
Bonus: A full set of The Dan in Cincinnati from 2008 –
I just found this and haven’t had time to watch much but it sounds good so far.
Rocktober Saturday Night Studio – Halloween
Some music to scare the trick-or-treaters with, along with a trick or two in the mix.
Happy Halloween!
Rocktober – Fatitude
I can make no sense of this –
The word is out, better treat me right!
Now I get it … he’s dressed up for Halloween as Weird Al. Ding dong, yo.
There’s more needing feminism here, but my favorite is this one –
“I need feminism because I need contradiction”
I can’t tell if that’s for real or a truth bomb costumed as Progressivist BuzzwordThink. Or maybe just a troll.
H/T to Goodbye America
Rocktober – Don’t Pay The Ferryman (And A Very! Important! Sponsor Message!)
Going back to the early 80s to unearth an MTV staple of the day – Chris DeBurgh’s “Don’t Pay The Ferryman,” a vaguely spookish song with allusions to Charon about a man crossing the water who is warned by mysterious voices not to pay that vulgar boatman.
And now a brief word from our sponsor –
Full demented episode here.
Rocktober – Rock, Peanuts, Travers
Sorry, no Lizard or Spock.
As Charlie Brown says every Halloween, “I’ve got to rock!” So here’s the “Peanuts” theme as interpreted in rock style by Pat Travers.
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Linus, Smiths
Peanuts and music have a long history together, as this station has show in in the past, primarily with 80s British bands. Now someone has gone and created a Tumblr called This Charming Charlie, combining the subtextual angst Peanuts comics with the hyperdepressive lyrics of The Smiths, creating a singularity of suicidal bleakness, speaking to all of us through it’s universal symbolism of nihilsm.
Hilarious, is it not? In a bleak, anti-depressant sort of way.
Yes, well. But at least it’s borrowing from one of the finest bands to ever stride across the Earth, and this station is proud to bring it to you. We hope you appreciate it.
Saturday Night Studio – Postmodern Jukebox
So where do you go to find pop hits from the last several decades covered in the style of swing and jazz standards from a bygone era? Postmodern Jukebox has that niche, uh, covered.
For example, check out this vintage jazz cover of “Lovefool” by the Cardigans –
I don’t know about you, but I’ve waited 25 years for an “Old Jack Swing” cover of New Jack Swing stylists Bell Biv Devoe –
Electronic Dance Music song “Lean On” done in the style of 70s Stevie Wonder? They got that –
…and it’s good. Far better than the original.
It might seem a bit naive to attempt covering a Talking Heads melody in vintage 40s swing style, but I guess they must be having fun. I liked it.
I have to wonder what urban, cosmopolitan feminist-y types think of PMJ’s cover of “Blurred Lines” – all the alleged rapiness with that bluegrass sound that makes the Tumblrinas teeth grind. Bonus points for a woman singing it. [Extra double bonus: listen to it at 1.25 x normal speed]
There’s also an instrumental keyboard mashup deep in the archives titled “Call Me Al, Maybe.”
This is how they remind me of how they polished an unpolishable turd with some Motown sound –
Lastly, one that sort of fits their bailiwick even before they covered it… I always liked this Fiona Apple song, but this cover suits it perfectly. Fiona should have done an alternate version in this style, because she was born sing in this style –
Thanks to my wife for discovering this.
Rocktober – Tubular Chocolate
The song “Tubular Bells” was quite popular when I was a kid. I remember it popping up all over the place, including TV commercials. It had a strange, vaguely nightmare-like vibe to it that made even mundane boring stuff seem a little creepy. I’m not sure, but I think even science fiction magazine Omni used the song in a TV ad, which definitely added to its mystique.
It was released in May 1973, and later that year was used in the movie The Exorcist. Fitting, given the eerie feel of the song. It seemed like a perfect song for a horror film. Or perhaps for Halloween time.
In 1978, the movie Halloween came out, with a sort-of-but-not-quite similar soundtrack –
Not the same song, but there’s some definite overlap.
However, a more recent (and some would say scary) song has commonalities with “Tubular Bells,” If you listen closely –
The connection occurred to me several days ago, and I thought someone should make a mashup of the two and post it on YouTube.
Apparently I am not the first to notice this, since I found this about 5 minutes ago –
nightskyradio 