Cuz-I-Really-Need-A-Tootin-Ipod…Radio

I get emails sometimes when I don’t update my radio and I apologise to those who miss it. It’s been a while since my last radio post and it’s not because of a lack of new music. But you know what would be helpful? If all those reading this could vote for me over at Toot’s Design Competition so I can win that Ipod! (In case you missed my earlier post, this isn’t blackmail by the way. I have legitimate reasons).

The last radio featured Snow Patrol’s “Hands Open” which had a verse that went “Put Sufjan Stevens on and we’ll play your favourite song. ‘Chicago’ bursts to life…” and that of course inevitably lead me back to Sufjan’s (Sufyan) music again. And most of the music I’ve been listening to since seems to involve a lot of pop-folk-rock mixed with the blaring horns of a swinging rythm section.

Sufjan’s “Chicago” is a spectacular ballad in my opinion. It’s off the cleverly titled “Illinoise”. But another interesting track to check out is his instrumental piece called “Out of Egypt”.

Ben Folds is also back on my play list rotation with some original songs from the Over the Hedge soundtrack. His music is unmistakable with trumpets complementing piano and easy going lyrics. All the songs more or less revolve around the movie’s story which is all about wood land animals living it up in the suburbs. So Ben Folds’ hit “Rockin’ The Suburbs” was probably a good choice for the movie but it differs from the original adding a William Shatner character dialogue which you can only be familiar with if you’ve actually lived in the suburbs. He has a bit of a “Khaaaan!!” moment towards the end (that’s a Star Trek reference). You can read those lyrics here. The more mellow “Still (in love)” is brought back but with a reprise that makes it longer and with more instrumentals. “Family of Me” is a pretty cool track although it’s too short as it was meant for the movie and “Heist” is a solid swinging piano-rock song.

Lastly, while Blink 182 are on hiatus, guitarist/singer Tom DeLonge has created Angels & Airwaves that features a bunch of musicians from punk rock bands like Offspring and Distillers. The album is not too bad but it’s not as good as Blink’s last album if that’s what we’re comparing it to. It’s kind of an attempt to depart from punk rock and try something a bit new. But only two songs really stand out: “The Gift” and “The Adventure”. The latter has a pretty nifty music video to go along with it: a variation of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: Space Odyssey and a quick montage of old World War II footage; you can check that out here. And I also recommend listening to a beautiful piano instrumental of the song that I found on Google Video. Oh and there’s also an Angels & Airwaves animated movie coming out that is somewhat “auto-biographical” and revolves around the general themes of the band.

You can check out all the songs on The Black Iris Radio this week. And don’t forget to vote for me!! (Thanks in advance)