OK, so I haven’t been posting the radio episodes. I have been broadcasting! But CIDO is a home-grown affair, and arranging the recording and distribution of the show has turned out to be trickier than I had thought.

Eventually all the episodes may yet be podcast. Except today’s, which isn’t happening because of an inconveniently locked door. If I was a real rock and roll dj I would smash a window. I’ll think about it.

update: thanks to Emory (?), CIDO’s senior youth computer tech, I’ve got podcasts up now.

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Some bad musical puns inspired by the land we’ve been working, a set of tunes from the parties we’ve been holding, and some other stuff. Mostly upbeat. Go figure.

• MountainPineBeats12June2008.mp3

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More music from the clearcuts, and a goodbye to Utah Phillips

• MountainPineBeats5june2008.mp3

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CIDO steamrolled my show application through an emergency meeting of the programming committee. Their words. So Mountain Pine Beats went on the air. Yes, it’s music from the clearcuts, produced during the treeplanting season. If anyone else has done a (loosely) treeplanting-themed radio show, I’m not aware of it, and if anyone has done it while actually on a treeplanting contract, I’m especially not aware of it. What it lacks in soul it makes up for in novelty.

The first 20 minutes or so were a complete technical disaster. But hey. The last part was mostly audible. I’ve cut out the meltdown at the start, so the podcast starts midshow. I’ve left in a few of the later glitches for authenticity. Minor variations in the colour of your garment are natural and add to it’s character. Do not use your Mountain Pine Beats to break rocks or pry roots. Do not overuse your Mountain Pine Beats. Your Mountain Pine Beats is a specialized tool and if treated with care will function well for you.

• MountainPineMayBeats29May2008.mp3

Playlist

This week I finally figure out what my dj name is, and dedicate the show mostly to treeplanting, which I will now leave to go do. So this is the last show of the term. I’ll be back in town later in summer, and I’m already looking forward to doing random time slots then.

Our music server has been acting up lately, and towards the end the left audio channel drops out. Sorry about that.

All of the explicitly planting-related songs can be had for free at the Peppermill Records website.

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Playlist

This week was mostly long material left over from last week, which was a blessing because I had even leass time to prep this week.

Does anybody else think that Squarepusher East Flatbush Project remix is really remarkable?

One thing I regret: playing Rock n’ Roll with Me. It was a good goodbye to the temporary studio. But it would have made an even better goodbye, played out of the freshly unboxed vinyl collection, to the semester. Which will happen next week.

I’m sure I’ll find something to else play.

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Playlist

With end of term comes panic, sleep deprivation and anxiety, and this term is no exception. I’ll be taking advantage of my limited prep time to play some longer musical selections today.

On the menu is a Vaughn Williams piece which may be cheesy by classical standards but has long been favourite of mine. Also a complete run through Metropolis Suite 1: The Chase, by Janelle Monae. I can’t believe I’ve only once before played all of The Chase, and I think that was just during a substitute slot. And an Allman Brothers guitar vehicle that kept me on my porch with my ipod for 2 extra cigarettes. In February.

post-show analysis: I didn’t get to the either the Williams or the Allman Brothers. One of these days.

A subtheme on ice cream. Inspired by: Satan’s Ice Cream Truck

I’m committed to playing whoever the current leader is in the officially sanctioned Radiohead Remix Project. Which currently is this:

I tried to play the Radiohead remix, but the player wouldn’t load. One of these days.

I’ll be using this video as setbreak music:

It’s decent music I suppose, but the video is the hot business. By all means, set it to full screen.

Apparently that video comes from Kanye West’s Vimeo account. This seems like a good time to pause and reflect on the video for You Can’t Tell Me Nothing Zach Galifiniakis shot on his farm. I know it got a lot of play when it was at least half fresh (including right here), but it was one of the best mass media products of 2007, and worth a revisit. Well, sort of mass media. Mass media in the new sense of media. Unfortunately, since 2007 Kanye’s site has deteriorated into a partial flash blob, so I can’t link to the video. But go here and look for Can’t Tell Me Nothing – Alternate Version. And set your browser to allow pop ups. Oh fuck it, just try and remember it in your mind. Oh yeah.

OK, I just watched it again and it’s still magic.

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Playlist

A special mix tape presentation this week. I’ve been promising a mix to a friend for many months, but have failed to deliver. In part because said friend has been bouncing around in a foreign country. But still apparently catches the podcast occasionally. So here it is.

This answers the question “why do you like country?”. Over an hour of sweet rural tunes. So ease out the throttle, drop another quarter mile of furrow into the fertile earth, and turn up the speakers you duct taped to the tractor cab. Afterwards, a non-country chaser.

This week’s technical issues were intially cd-related, and then deviated into weird left/right channel drops. Word is we’ll be back into the real station in a couple weeks, so we can get back to the old familiar screw ups.

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Playlist

We’ve been having a debate on the internal wcbn mailing list about the artistic merits of playing unedited selections from movie audio tracks. Hence the Waking Life clip. I was going to do more, but didn’t have enough time to scrub around in the video trying to find appropriate scenes. Also, I was pretty satisfied with the one that got played, and how it tied into the following track, and quitting while ahead seemed reasonable.

That clip spawned a call identifying the video ranter as being someone called Alex Jones. Here’s a youtube version of Alex Jones in Waking Life:

(And if that isn’t enough Richard Linklater-animated amplified Alex Jones for your, here’s a clip from A Scanner Darkly)

Another exciting call was a producer from the CBC’s A Current Affair. I assumed at first she was calling about my weekly repurposing of the How To Think About Science clips. I recognize that the CBC is not likely to take notice of my choice of material, but what else would it be calling about? It was not about that.

Other than that, it was a bunch of music. A lot of which I really enjoyed. Where was Lee Dorsey all my life?

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Playlist

It’s the new, ultra-condensed version! From now on noon till 1pm will be dedicated to It’s Hot in Here, but don’t worry. I’ll still be doing two hours of music radio, and it will always be secretly close to my inner heart.

This week’s show featured a nostalgia-laden tribute to my former theme song, and some Reasonably Good spoken-word/music layering.

The discussion of the place of science in post-modernity society comes courtesy of CBC Idea’s series on How to Think About Science. In particular the episode with Ulrich Beck.

The poem was Allen Ginsberg’s A Supermarket in California.

• hugonaut20mar2008.mp3