Tag Archives: DOWNLOADS

Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Last weekend I drove down out of the canyon and went to Filter magazine’s annual Culture Collide festival in Silverlake. The concept of the event and the line-up is to bring indie bands from all countries and cultures together for an intimate, LA style sound-clash.

A couple days later, I woke up buzzing to carry on with an international “indie” sound-clash of my “Idelic” own. I started with my collection of Brazilian singles and fingered through more crates to cover as many zip codes, new artists, and classics as I could muster.

Looking at my playlist, the backdrop of this radio session is definitely my upcoming trip to New York City for CMJ.

As I write this, my eyes keep wandering toward an old Frank Kozick poster on my wall. I’m proud to say my band shared this bill with The Blues Explosion, Monster Magnet, Neuroses, and the memorable Laughing Hyenas—who took the cake as the most doped out band I’ve ever shared a stage with. Hazy, but good times being in a indie band in NYC twenty years ago.

What kind of musical journey will CMJ offer your Idelic host twenty years down the road? “Indie rock,” previously known as “college rock” is now coming up on a quarter century old. The indie styles and its artists drift like 19th century hobos, town to town and now country to country.

Bands that are currently carrying on with this tradition: Hanni El Khatib, Fool’s Gold, Yacht, Portugal The Man, Blackfeet Braves, Iceage, Jirapah, Is Tropical, Zola Jesus, and King Krule. Dig on the new breed of vagrants

The Idelic Hit of the Week: King Krule – The Noose of Jah City

Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

This was a busy fucking week. At one point I called my wife to ask her what day it was. Honestly, I have been inundated with the business of music. No complaints, after all, it’s not digging ditches in the hot sun. Well, most days anyway.

Luckily for me I started the week off with a loose Idelic muse and a handful of songs. It came to mind—a vague notion—to do a playlist about “living.” With coffee and Sunday morning at hand, I stumbled upon an obscure version of Steve Miller’s “Living In The USA.” Without trying to get too deep I pulled a few records that explored my topic.

I know it’s a bit “Andy Rooney” but I looked up the word living. The wiki-definition, “the course of an individual human’s life,” gave me a cool vibes. There’s something about the word “living” in a rock n roll context, like “now we’re living . . . dig it . . . yeah” that plays to a 60′s biker fantasy that worked for me. I was onto something.

Yes, life? OK, got it!

But seriously, that sentiment felt ripe in light of the mid week news that Steve Jobs had died. I mean, let’s face it—the guy was a superstar who blew fucking minds. The fact the he mastered so much technology, but died too young, certainly weighs on this DJ’s mind and this playlist.

Ultimately Jobs’ departure makes me respect “the course.” Jobs really did something. He made a difference. His life was lived to the fullest. And so, this playlist was cut with Steve Jobs in mind.

The Idelic Hit of the Week: FIDLAR – Bummed

Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

How many of us have at one time or another made a “playlist” for a journey of some sort? I would never suggest “road-trip mixtapes” are a lost art, but with i-phones, “cloud tech” and assorted “gizmos,” it’s never been easier to access a record collection at a finger’s touch.

Every now and then I’ll stumble upon a beat up CD or even a cassette, often loosely marked. It’s these road trip mixtapes that are the muse for this week’s Idelic Hour.

Earlier in the week I was in NYC so I posed a simple rock and roll question—what do I want to listen to on my plane ride back to LA? I set out to create a playlist of songs that are really set in the “clouds.”

Jets, planes, and flying have have always been rock and roll themes. While The Rotary Connection is teaching you how to, Peter, Paul and Mary are taking off, The Horrors are “skying,” Eno is feeling warm ones coming, Be Bop Bill Nelson is waking to them. The Flaming Groovies are high flying babies while Judy Henske is unquestionably the stoned queen of the Beats.

At this end of this Fall day, Idelic “Jetplane” is a simple mixtape to be enjoyed in transit—preferably on a flight. The handful of new records come courtesy of a new breed of female vocalists. Irish singer Lisa Hannigan, Julia Stone and female fronted groups Friends and Dum Dum Girls are all high flying birds.

Relax, buckle up, recline, and dig.

The Idelic Hit of the Week: Friends – My Boo

Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

If you even remotely follow The Idelic Hour, you would know I do my fair share of “seasonal” playlists. This week’s Idelic “Summer’s Gone” playlist marks the 4th time since June I’ve saluted the weather. How could I resist? After spending a few days on the east coast I found myself day dreaming of late Summer days gone by.

There is something about the sunsets, even the smell of the flowers and plants, that makes me feel… well, “emotional” for lack of a better word.

Without question the one band the comes to mind for an end of Summer playlist is The Doors. Let’s face it—these dudes from the beach came out after sunbathers were long gone. Morrison’s classic “Summer’s Almost Gone” was not only the muse for this playlist but my muse for all September listening since I bought a cassette of “Live at the Matrix” from a bootlegger in the Tower Records parking lot in the summer of 1979.

What ever happened those parking lot transactions? I believe it was now famous pop songwriter John Shanks, who turned me onto this bootlegger. We were just kids both starting our rock n roll journeys.

So, I guess the Summer of 2011 and 70′s bootleggers have had their day. This playlist is dedicated to them and it’s a taste of a few of some of my favorite new albums of Summer 2011 and some gems from days of old. Here’s to new friends, days of Summer, and old bootleggers

The Idelic Hit of the Week: Cashier No. 9 – Lost At Sea

Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Last weekend, like many, I tuned in to check out some of the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 fanfare. Uncool as it was, the attack on the Trade Center was a great moment in history. It will always be ingrained in our psyche. I will never forget the morning of 9/11. Being a native New Yorker, the scar of the incident was deep. Not only did I loose our Towers but I lost a friend and neighbor, Barry Berenson—most likely the only Canyon resident to go down on AA flight 11.

As I watched 60 Minutes I couldn’t help but relate to the “responders” who spent time at Ground Zero. When the event occurred I was very uneasy being in LA. My urge was to be there, at Ground Zero. Finally after three weeks I made it back to New York. I remember having dinner with a friend and at some point she could feel my need to go down there.

We walked south . . . I remember it being a misty and cold night. The streets were erie and empty. There were only two other people trying to get past the police barricade. With a quiet nod the cops let the four of us pass for a quick, but obstructed view of the site. The “responders” understood our draw to history.

And so this week’s Idelic Hour is dedicated to all of us moved by that historical day in September. The playlist is not so much a memorial as salute to the idea that on any given day we can make history. Even rock n roll history which is what I’m all about doing. So, with some songs about history and a few new songs to boot, I give you Idelic “History in the Making.” Long live rock!

The Idelic Hit of the Week: Iceage – Broken Bone