Define: "New."

Since my iPod got run over a few months ago, my listening habits have changed drastically.  First and foremost, I've been listening to the radio while driving.  I hate most of the music on commercial radio these days, but I've found a few acceptable stations in the Boston area: WZLX has some reliable (though tired) classic rock, and WXRV is varied enough, though not what it used to be.  Mainly I'm on WERS, operated by Emerson College.  It's non-commercial, it features new and independent music, and heck, I even like their news.  It's my favorite station by a long shot; where else am I going to hear Florence + the Machine followed by Ray Charles?  However, it has two noticeable shortcomings:

1.  Anything that's not their daytime programming.  On weekdays at 7 pm, they switch over to reggae, then hip-hop at some point.  On weekends they do a cappella and children's programming.  Which is fine, I guess.  I understand that there's probably nobody else who's going to play a block of reggae music, and people like hip-hop at night.  But at 7, I'm all of a sudden stuck with two music options.  And NPR.

2.  This is hardly specific to WERS, but I think it's fairly prevalent with the deejays there: they're overly broad with describing their music as "new."  As in, "and that was the new one from A Fine Frenzy, 'Blow Away!'" despite the fact that the album it's on, Bomb in a Birdcage, was released in August, almost four months ago.  I hear this often.  I get excited for new stuff from artists, and when I hear a promo for "the new one from Andrew Bird" and I hear "Oh No" from January, I'm disappointed.


I submit that the cutoff for "new music" should be six weeks from the release date of the album.  After that, I guess it can still be "the newest" from whomever, but please, stop getting my hopes up.


And in a side note, everybody please stop referring to Phoenix as a "new band."  They've been putting out great music for almost 10 years, people.

phoenix too young
by YoungFool

Lookin' for my streetcorner girl

Top 3 songs about being in love with a prostitute:

1.  Led Zeppelin - Hey Hey What Can I Do


2.  Steely Dan - Pearl of the Quarter


3. The Police - Roxanne

Top 3 Pop Songs

... about the difficulty in writing a pop song!

1. Bruce Springstreen - Dancing in the Dark

Bruce Springsteen - Dancing In The Dark (1984)
by GMRedskins

2. David Byrne & Brian Eno - Strange Overtones


3. Mika - Grace Kelly

List! Top 3 Songs that Mention Grand Street

Grand Street, New York, NY

1. Tom Waits - I Don't Wanna Grow Up


2. Matt & Kim - Daylight


3. Bob Dylan - Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again

List #4: Hometown Edition

Top 5 Songs Musical Works with References to Massachusetts Geography:

1. Ra Ra Riot - St. Peter's Day Festival

If I go to Gloucester you know I will
Wait there for you
The Rhumb Line is waiting there too
You know it's worth the nights we wait there
It all falls apart, apart

It should be noted that The Rhumb Line is a bar in Gloucester.

2. Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

Only in the title, but another song on the album, "Walcott," is far more explicit:

Walcott
The Bottleneck
Is a shit-show
Hyannisport
Is a ghetto
Out of Cape Cod tonight

3. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear's newest album. Veckatimest is a tiny island in Gosnold, part of the Elizabeth Islands.

4. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Bridges, Squares

As I walked to Kendall Square
And crossed the river basin there
The Charles was black, the sky was blue
The view was old, the bridge was new

The Charles River separates Boston and Cambridge. Kendall Square is in Cambridge, and he's probably going over the Longfellow Bridge.

5. The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

I'm in love with modern moonlight

128 when it's dark outside

I'm in love with Massachusetts

I'm in love with the radio on

Route 128 is what the locals call I-95. I-95 is something that comes up from Noo Yawk. This song also references Stop&Shop, which was pretty much the only supermarket in Massachusetts in 1976.

List!

List #3: Top 4 songs about losing your virginity:

1) Meatloaf - Paradise By the Dashboard Light
2) Aerosmith - Walk This Way
3) Carole King - Will You Love Me Tomorrow?
4) Billy Joel - Only the Good Die Young

List

Favorite songs about someone getting hit by a car:

1. Serge Gainsbourg - Melody (Extrait de Melody Nelson)

NEW FEATURE: Lists

When the muse strikes, I shall make a list.

List #1: My Favorite Songs About Crossdressing

1. Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
2. The Kinks - Lola
3. Aerosmith - Dude Looks Like a Lady