Listen to favorites from recent Radio Magic w/ Kerosene Bears shows here:

KEROSENEBEARS.muxtape.com

Tonight I featured the music from bands playing at tomorrow night’s Beaux Arts Ball. These bands are The Hiss, Pine Hill Haints, and Florez/Gomez. The only song I could pull together for Florez/Gomez is a rough mix of song called “I Didn’t Know What To Say”, a recording quickly made last summer in Atlanta. So to help further represent their sound, I played a couple non-F/G tracks by Troy Stains (The Gentle Way) and Andy Deloach (The Lady Vanishes) who both play in Florez/Gomez.

Florez/Gomez - “I Didn’t Know What To Say” (rough mix)

The Gentle Way (Troy Stains of Florez/Gomez) - “A Sad Affair”

The Lady Vanishes (Andy DeLoach of Florez/Gomez) - “Call Up a Girl”

Pine Hill Haints  - “Dark Time Came to the Hill”, “I Never Thought the Day Would Come When You Could Hate Me So Dearly”, “Ghost Train”, “God Bless the Pine Hill Haints”, and “Whiskey Broke My Fall”

The Hiss - “Bomp Bomp Bomp”,  “Tell Her”, and “Don’t Leave Me Out Here”

An evening with The Beach Boys‘ legendary album Pet Sounds:

1. “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”
2. “You Still Believe In Me”
3. “That’s Not Me”
4. “Don’t Talk (Put Your Hand On My Shoulder)”
5. “I’m Waiting For the Day”
6. “Let’s Go Away For Awhile”
7. “Sloop John B”
8. “God Only Knows”
9. “I Know There’s An Answer”
10. “Here Today”
11. “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times”
12. “Pet Sounds”
13. “Caroline No”
14. “Hang On To Your Ego” (bonus track) 

Forever labeled as “that band that sounds like the Beach Boys”, The Explorer’s Club have released a lovely new single as a gift for Valentine’s Day. It’s called “Do You Love Me?” (find an mp3 at www.deadoceans.com) off their forthcoming album Freedom Wind. After playing such great music from the Beach Boys, I couldn’t resist tacking on an Explorer’s Club tune in the last couple minutes of the show. These guys are going to have a big year. Trust me.

Thanks for listening. 

MGMT - “Time to Pretend” and “Electric Feel” off the album Oracular Spectacular

British Sea Power - “No Lucifer” and “The Open Door” of the forthcoming album Do You Like Rock Music?

Of Montreal - “Cato as a Pun”, “Bunny Ain’t No Kind of Rider”, and “She’s a Rejector” off the album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

Mates of State - “Whiner’s Bio”, “Middle is Gold”, and “I  Got This Feelin’ ” off the album Team Boo 

Super Furry Animals - “Run-Away” and “Show Your Hand” off the album Hey Venus!

Beach House - “

Gila” off the forthcoming album Devotion 

If you happened to tune in last week, you would have only heard the very un-Magical sounds of WEGL’s automated music rotation. Where was the Magic that we’ve come to expect every Thursday night at 11 PM? Where was that show with something like “Propane Grizzly” in the title? Well, unfortunately, I was so sick with the flue last week, that I had no choice but to cancel. But this week, I was back with a vengeance with the last half of my Atlanta music show.

ATLANTA MUSIC SHOW PART 2

The Atlas Sound - “River Card”, “Quarantined II”, and “Winter Vacation” off the forthcoming album Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel  

The Hiss - “Don’t Leave Me Out Here” and “Cry Myself to Tears” 

Rock*A*Teens - “Car and Driver” and “Betwixt or Between” off the album Sweet Bird of Youth

Carillon Ringing - “Fisher”, “June”, and “Midmorning” 

Gnarls Barkley - “Crazy” off the album St. Elsewhere and “Run” off their forthcoming album The Odd Couple

Deerhunter - “Fluorescent Grey” and “Wash Off” off the Fluorescent Grey EP

ATLANTA MUSIC SHOW: PART 1

Snowden - “Black Eyes” and ”Good News”

Caribou -  “Melody Day”, “She’s the One,” and “Desiree” off the album Andorra

The Lady Vanishes - “Karen, Don’t Stop Him”, “Call Up A Girl”, “Eliza at the Museum”, “Wrapped In Cloth”, and “These Days At End” off their self-titled EP

Grizzly Bear - “Little Brother [Electric]” off the Friend EP

Beirut - “Elephant Gun” off the Lon Gisland EP

Junior Boys - “In the Morning” and “FM” off the album So This Is Goodbye

Of all the albums of 2007 that Ben owns or has listened to thoroughly, here are his favorite 15:

15. Good Bad Not Evil by Black Lips

14. We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank by Modest Mouse

13. Person Pitch by Panda Bear

12. Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? by Of Montreal

11. God Save the Clientele by The Clientele

10. The Reminder by Feist

9. Fluorescent Grey EP by Deerhunter

8. Mirrored by Battles

7. Andorra by Caribou

6. Neon Bible by Arcade Fire

5. The Boxer by The National

4. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon

3. In Rainbows by Radiohead

2. Friend Opportunity by Deerhoof

1. Night Falls Over Kortedala by Jens Lekman

Albums I have heard bits of and wish I knew more about that might have made my list: Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem, Wierdo Rippers by No Age, † by Justice, Graduation by Kanye West, A New Chance by The Tough Alliance, Friend EP by Grizzly Bear, and Joanna Newsom and the Y’s Street Band by Joanna Newsom.

EDIT: I had put The Tough Alliance song “Silly Crimes” as number 15, but I just realized it wasn’t released in 2007. Silly me! I also remembered how great of a song “Last Kiss” by The Explorers Club is, so it takes over at #15.

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Here is Ben’s top 15 singles of 2007, as played on WEGL on November 29.

15. “Last Kiss” by The Explorers Club
14. “We’ve Got Everything” by Modest Mouse
13. “1234″ by Feist
12. “Don’t You Evah” by Spoon
11. “No Cars Go” by Arcade Fire
10. “Magic Position” by Patrick Wolf
9. “+81″ by Deerhoof
8. “Sycamore” by Bill Callahan
7. “Someone Great” by LCD Soundsystem
6. “Atlas” by Battles
5. “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” by Spoon
4. “Opposite of Hallelujah” by Jens Lekman
3. “D.A.N.C.E.” by Justice
2. “Fake Empire” by the National
1. “Melody Day” by Caribou

Top Albums of 2007 list coming soon!

As my fellow KB said in a recent post (and as I’m sure you’re hearing about wherever you go), Radiohead has self-released their new album In Rainbows a little over a week ago as an online mp3 download. And as I’m sure you know, you get to choose the price you want to pay for the album. I decided to purchase mine for 8 dollars (roughly 4 pounds). Maybe that’s cheap-ass to some, but I think it’s reasonable. Surely Radiohead deserves a decent monetary reward for the wonderful music they release. But if they give me the option, there’s no way I’m going to pay $16 for their album like I usually would in a record shop. And besides, a good percentage of that $16 probably goes to the record store, the distribution company, the record label, etc. With this self-release however, it’s pretty much all going to Radiohead. You could make a good argument for supporting your local record store by paying full price, but in this particular instance, there is no option other than to download it online directly from Radiohead. So there you have it. I don’t think I should feel guilty.

But enough of that money talk. How is the album? Well, just remember that it’s Radiohead we’re talking about, and Radiohead consistently makes some pretty exceptional albums. They certainly haven’t ended their winning streak with this release. In Rainbows has to be one of the best albums released this year, which does actually say a lot considering all the good music that has come out in 2007. However, if I compare it to other Radiohead albums, it’s hard for it to beat all their albums since The Bends. Yes, even Hail to the Thief and Amnesiac despite their less unanimous acclaim. This may sound like I’m being negative, but I’m really not. In Rainbows may not be quite as good as most of Radiohead’s other albums, but it’s still an amazing album. There’s so much more to say about this album, but for now I’ll leave the in depth album reviewing up to other music nerds out there like Andy.

I will give my humble endorsement though. Don’t wait any longer–buy the album. Yes, buy it. It will be worth your money, at the very least a few pounds.

Now if you tuned in last week to Radio Magic with Kerosene Bears on WEGL 91.1, you would have heard In Rainbows in it’s entirety in addition to some other requested Radiohead songs. Here’s the tracklisting and the rest of the songs I played:

In Rainbows

1. “15 Step”
2. “Body Snatchers”
3. “Nude”
4. “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”
5. “All I Need”
6. “Faust Arp”
7. “Reckoner”
8. “House of Cards”
9. “Jigsaw Falling Into Place”
10. “Videotape”

also…

“Exit Music (For a Film)” off the album OK Computer

“Idioteque” off the album Kid A

“Fake Plastic Trees” and “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” off the album The Bends

“Knives Out” off the album Amnesiac