"I know so many people who think they can do it alone.."

..They isolate their heads and stay in their safety zones"

"Now how can I come on
And tell them the way that they live could be better"
-The Beach Boys 'I Know There's An Answer"

Bill Callahan's favorite Beach Boys song. With good reason. A polemic against the death of youth and light. Certainly one of the most genuinely hopeful tunes from my sixties library. It exists in my mind as a kind of broad existential counterpoint to Radiohead's 'Let Down'. A song which also speaks to the broadly disaffected masses of people caught in cycles of depredation (who knows maybe I'm one of them) The difference of course between the two songs is in attitude. Wilson boldly and perhaps naively asserts that he knows (with almost religious fervor) that there is an answer to the apathy and unhappiness around him, Thom Yorke to contrast achieves catharsis through fantasy: "Someday I am going to grow wings, A chemical reaction" and commenting on the futility of this hope for escape "Hysterical and useless, hysterical and useless"

Another lyric from the song that always does me in: "They trip through there days, and waste all their thoughts at night" and certainly for A time as I have not been blogging or up late talking and actually connecting with the friends I have around me has seemed a damning indictment. But times are changing. The lyric reminds me also of the refrain from 'Put the book back on the shelf':

"you're always looking for a sign , but boy you blow it every time, you hear a voice begin to speak, you ignore it and go softly to sleep"
The kind of lyric that keeps you up late, burning your toes a little bit.

Comments on this show... A bit awkward in some of the selection at first. The pairing were not as ideal as I like to keep things. I've been meaning to to a more definitive and chronologically diverse Dream-pop set, and there are some sketches of it in the past few shows. There's a lot of just fun silly pop and rock tracks, which feel suited for summer. Look forward to more of that and a MIX CD WITH ART COLLABORATION FROM HONOLULU VISUAL ARTISTS in the coming weeks.

and tomorrow, a few album recommendations/reviews and cute videos. Stay tuned.

PLAYLIST FOR 7-2-08


Explosions In The Sky- Yasmin The Light
Radiohead- Backdrifting
Cut Copy- Hearts On Fire
Dirty On Purpose- Like Bees
Bjork- Coccoon
Concretes- Sugar
Beta Band- Human Being
Stone Roses- Sally Cinnamon
The Virgins- Rich Girls
Supergrass- Diamond Hoo Ha Man
----mistake----
Black Kids- I'm Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You
Futureheads- Hard To Bear
Morning Benders- Damnit Anna
Metric- Raw Sugar
Broadcast- Come On Let's Go
The Foals- Balloons
Stars- Elevator Love Letter
My Bloody Valentine- Sometimes
Slowdive- Some Velvet Morning
The Notwist- Good Lies
Softlightes- Microwave song
Helio Sequence- Broken Afternoon
Cat Power- Wild is the wind
Fleet Foxes- Blue Ridge Mountains
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci- Stood On Gold
Sondre Lerche- Don't Be Shallow
Camera Obscura- Red Red Rose
Destroyer- Painter In My Pocket
Pete and the Pirates- Moving
Clinic- Free Not Free
Stereolab- Three Women
The Ladybug Transistor- Echoes
Fleet Foxes- Quiet Houses
Circulatory System- Yesterday's World
Born Ruffians- Badonkadonkey
The Little Ones- Unlock the Door
Botticellis- The Reviewer
The Kinks- Startstruck
Beatles- Good Day Sunshine
Beach Boys- I Know There's An Answer
Francoise Hardy- La Fille Avec Toi
Minders- Golden Street
King of Prussia- Spain In The Summertime
Flaming Lips- She Don't Use Jelly
Gin Blossoms- Till I Hear It From You --Yikes
Exploding Hearts- Throwaway Style
Destroyer- Watercolors Into The Ocean

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