Father John Misty "Only Son Of The Ladies Man"

Speaking of me inadvertently saying something unnecessarily stupid resulting in more work for me . . .

Somewhere along the line I thought it would be a great idea for mvy to have a "station blog."  Something that was less personally focused than this blog (or the ones Jess and Jer Bear write) and was instead dedicated to the things going on programming-wise.

Everyone thought it was a great idea.

So guess who's writing it most days . . .

But it suddenly became more than worth it, the moment I found video below.

See, I was putting together some posts to preview artists coming to Newport Folk Fest 2013, and when I got around to writing a post for Father John Misty I knew I wanted to find the video of him singing "Only Son Of The Ladies Man" when he appeared on David Letterman.

As I recalled, his performance was so sexy, if I were a woman I'd be afraid it would impregnate me.

As Youtube is wont to do, it put some interesting FJM-related links up next to the Letterman performance, and so I thought I'd check out one of the interviews.

Within the first few seconds, I nearly turned it off as you could see pretty early on that this interviewer was going to perform an ironic interview.  (Or is that an "ironic" interview?  Or should "ironic" be italicized?  I'm not detached enough to know.)  But I kept watching, because J Tillman (FJM's real name) was giving thoughtful, funny answers, while being sincere instead of ironic.

I won't say anymore, other than to implore you to watch this video, as I found myself crying laughing by the end.  All credit to the interviewer, who rolls with the interview as it spins from a contrived start to realness that's the exact opposite of ironic.

Enjoy!


(The interview is NSFW)


Hear "Only Son Of The Ladies Man" on Youtube.


Hear the hilarious interview on Youtube.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes "Better Days"

I always laugh to myself when I see this---and I'll try not to pick on any one group here, as this scene exists across many, many demographic groups.

You see a person.  And they really stand out in the crowd.  Something about the way they dress screams "I'm an individual!"  Maybe it's a particular, unusual haircut or jewelry.  Or a hat.  Or just a way of wearing their pants.

They are making a bold, individualistic statement.

And then you see them join a group of friends, and the friends are all dressed the same.

Like, you saw the first guy and he was wearing a vest and you thought, hmm, you don't see to many dudes wearing vests these days. and then you look at his friends and they're ALL wearing vests.

That's what trends in music can be like.  At first, you hear a band that is doing something different.  Then suddenly, 10 bands who are doing the same thing show up.

I've already written a bit about the Mumford And Sons burnout that many listeners are crabbing about.

And they are a part of this larger trend we're caught in the middle of right now.

Some friends have referred to it as "the group singing thing" but I'm otherwise not sure if it has a name.

But aren't there suddenly a dozen bands that give off a quasi-messianic vibe, thunderously strum their acoustic instruments and have the whole band join in to sing the chorus?

The Head And The Heart are a great example of this sound.

And let me say, It's a really great sound.  On the one hand, I totally love this trend.  Because I appreciate the sincerity of the singing, the democratic feel of the group-ness, the uplifting nature of it all.

But as a programming . . . yeesh, there's a lot of it.  Just to name a few:

The Lumineers
The Lone Bellow
The Kopecky Family
The David Wax Museum
Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeroes
The Low Anthem
Hey Marseilles
Fleet Foxes

I have to say, there isn't a stinker in the bunch.  I think these are all solid, respectable bands.  Real musicians with real passion.

But, as a programmer, you just can't play them all.

There are many parts to what we do.  MVY has some classic rock.  We play some jazz-influenced artists.  Harder rock.  Folkies.  Some Blues.  And R&B/Soul stuff.  But the recipe calls for a little of each.

When the new music pile skews heavily to one side, unfortunately, some good bands don't make the cut in deference to the overall sound.

The Edward Sharpe track (in the video below) was the most added song to radio stations across the country, when the numbers came out Monday.  But MVY probably won't add it.  Why?  We've got a lot of stuff on the air that is similar.

And following the Jack White corollary, there's no sense hopping in bed with a band unless we think we're going to follow them for years and albums to come.

So while "Better Days" is likely to go on to do well across the country, it won't be in the MVY mix.

Because seriously, we can't all wear vests to the party.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Father John Misty "I'm Writing A Novel"

I'd been hearing great things about this record from a few trusted sources (thanks Jen Daunt, and cousin John Pike), but finally got some time to sit with it in the mvy studio, open the CD and ingest a little more.

"Ingest" might actually be a great word here.

Father John Misty was a member of Fleet Foxes, who's now out on his own with the crazy, entertaining solo project.

In this digital age, where people barely bother with CD artwork or anything of the like, this is a double fold out case, that includes a poster-sized fold out.  One side had all the lyrics, and the other side had some crazy, entertaining "explanations" of the songs.

I like first single, because it's like a hallucinogenic, semi-sequitor-filled Dylan-type tune.

Plus, I learned the meaning of the word "Ayahuasca"! 


Hear the song on Youtube.

Fleet Foxes "Lorelai"

Ultimately, there is no way to be objective.

I try really, really hard, but I'm not made of stone.

I don't know that the Fleet Foxes record "Helplessness Blues" will be the top album of the year on mvyradio.

But if you were to listen to me or to Barbara or to Jess talk about it on the air, you wouldn't be blamed for thinking it was the number one album of 2011.

I can't totally explain why either.

But I know it's real.

I have my playlist of songs that we are considering adding to the station's rotation. And the new Fleet Foxes song "Lorelai" is on that list.

I had some ear buds in doing some writing and letting the iTunes list role.

"Lorelai" came up, and my eyes filled up with tears.

To be caught off-guard, even though I've heard the song before . . . it was just so beautiful . . .

How can we not play it? Hopefully it moves you as much as it does me.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues"

Jess Phaneuf did a Hot Seat last night, featuring songs with a Winter feel. Not necessarily songs about Winter, but songs that have that kind of cold, melancholy spirit.

My thoughts turned to "White Winter Hymnal" by Fleet Foxes, and really, to pretty much everything I'd heard from that band.

The go-to comparative point, whenever you read about this band, is Crosby Still & Nash. And for sure, you can draw a straight line between the Melodies, Harmonies and Chemistry** of the two bands.

But the one thing I hadn't really felt from Fleet Foxes was the Joy.

CSN could be grave, and even over-self-serious. But they also excelled at making songs like "Our House" and "Southern Cross" that were gorgeous and fun.

I hadn't felt that way about Fleet Foxes.

Until now.

Shortly after I left Jess behind to work on her show, I got word that Fleet Foxes has a new songs up for free download.

And yes, it's joyous. A little missing piece for me, that makes a great band, beloved.





** Can't "Chemistrys" be a word? Or "Chemistries"? Blogger spellcheck is not allowing it.