DC Summer Mixtape: Side 1

This summer has been a strange and exciting one: moving to a new city, navigating new streets on a new bike, meeting new friends at a new job, living 3,000 miles from almost everyone I love.

This first half of the mixtape is the strange, nostalgic, mellow, melancholy side.

1. Pregnant – Elisa (Your Song)
2. Stephen Steinbrink – The Way It Is
3. Dragging an Ox Through Water – Shima Uta
4. Poppet – Tunnel Vision
5. Elvis Presley – Blue Moon
6. Dimples – Boundless Love
7. Norwegian Arms – Jitterbug
8. Ever Ending Kicks – Outside Again
9. Dark Dark Dark – Daydreaming
10. Kepi Ghoulie – Stormy Weather

Hear Side 2, too.

LISTENING NOTES:

Unknown: Karl Blau

By the time Karl Blau played, lightning had struck a transformer and cut the electricity at The Unknown. I heard they ran some serious extension cables to power all the equipment and a single stage lamp. So excuse the photo.

Karl’s set was the best I’ve ever seen from him, with a new lineup that included the Unknown house piano. That man knows how to craft a quirky little pop song.

Side note:
When I had Karl on “Phoning It In,” I asked Maggie Cat what interview questions I should ask him. Her immediate response was, “Who dresses him?” The answer is his wife, Calli Blau, who designs clothes as LoopApparel.

Next up: Ashley Eriksson!

Calvin Johnson Listens to KDVS

When K Records founder Calvin Johnson played in Davis in July, he said some nice things about KDVS — and in the world of college radio, Calvin is Indie King.

So for all us KDVS DJs and volunteers in the audience, who have spent years poring through the extensive K catalog under decades’ worth of K posters on the walls, this was a pretty great moment:

(It doesn’t quite work as a proper station ID since it’s a little too long and he never identifies himself!)

Here’s “Lord Gave Me Hell and Woman Named Judy” from the show:

 

And here’s the “Phoning It In” session he did with me the next morning, calling in from the KDVS lobby: Phoning It In ::: Calvin Johnson.

I Am Sitting in My Room

This week in my first writing class, we listened to all 45 minutes of Alvin Lucier’s “I Am Sitting in a Room,” in which he transfers an analog tape recording of his voice back and forth until his speech totally dissolves and “the resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves.”

Even though it gave me a headache for the rest of the day, I really did enjoy listening. It reminded me to dig up this 30-second loop cassette of someone’s answering machine message that Ben J gave me:

But instead of just posting the message, I thought, hey, I have two cassette decks and an hour to waste! Why not create my own version of Lucier’s piece:

(This is only every other repetition, since that was the easiest method. I did no digital editing except to uniformly boost the volume.)

Obviously, this exercise did not create as melodious a work as the original, but it was still fun. While listening to Lucier’s and while making this, I heard familiar high-pitched tweeting sounds that I eventually realized are the same analog-to-analog artifacts we have to edit out of “Phoning It In” for the podcast.

Dreamdate Acoustic

I’m just a nut for this band! They played last weekend at Luigi’s for “Charles Albright’s Dream Show,” along with Nacho Business and Knock Knock. Nice to see so many female rockers on stage!

Dreamdate played a rare acoustic set since their drummer Joe is off with Eat Skull right now. But Anna and Yea-ming held it down, including this highlight of a new song, “Nothing to Me”:

She says it’s unreleased, but really you can get a super lo-fi version of it on my “Phoning It In 2011” compilation, which you can still pledge for on the KDVS Fundraiser site for a measly $10!

(One of my favorite things about Dreamdate is that they bow in unison after every song.)

Mirah at Sophia’s

A couple months ago I was going through the “Phoning It In” archives from before I was the host, with episodes featuring CocoRosie, Rose Melberg and Jens Lekman from a bathtub in Sweden. And I thought, I better step up my game!

By the end of the night, Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn had e-mailed me back. She agreed to come on the radio, but was also like, by the way, can you help me get a show in Davis? Heck yeah!

So it was my pleasure to host her at Sophia’s Thai Kitchen last week. She opened with my favorite song, “Nobody Has to Stay,” and she closed with this here bit of audience participation.

hidden! looks like that web design class is working out really well for me

Featured KDVS Fundraiser Premium of the Day

For a $35 pledge:
1) Jake Mann + the Upper Hand – Parallel South 12″ (Crossbill)
2) Jordan O’Jordan – “Little Finger” 7″ (Electricity/Lust)
3) Firs of Prey – Keep the Lion’s Asleep 12″ (Electricity/Lust)
4) Cake – “Mustache Man” 7″ (Upbeat)

Scoop it up now before I do!

The 2011 KDVS Fundraiser + Karl Blau on the Phone

KDVS 90.3 FM is having its annual fundraiser this week, April 18 to 24. It’s the most exciting week of the year to be a DJ and a part of this freeform, community radio station. We’re asking our friends and listens to show their support for independent music and media by helping us toward our $60,000 goal.

For my show, “Phoning It In,” I call up bands from the studio and they play a live set over the phone over the radio. Nadav Carmel started it at another station, and I am proud to carry on the tradition at KDVS.

If you donate this week, you can get a copy of the Phoning It In 2011 compilation I just finished (with this cutesy handmade artwork), featuring new and unreleased songs from each guest I’ve had on the show this year. I may be biased, but it’s amazing. The complete tracklist is up on the KDVS pledge page. There’s also hundreds of music packages, T-shirts, gift certificates, artwork, everything!

To donate:

• Go online to fundraiser.kdvs.org
• Call locally (530) 754-KDVS (5387)
• Call toll-free (877) 399-KDVS (5387)

Here’s a sneak peek of my compilation, “The Wrong Stuff” by K Records artist Karl Blau from our phone session in January:

Thank you!
Elisa Rocket