Mix Tape Thursday, 4/23/09

WTMD listeners take over the airwaves with three-to-five song sets on Thursday.

Submit your own mixtape and enter a drawing to win a pair of VIP tickets to the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, TN!

7 a.m. Bill Ritsin

This mix tape defines exactly what Bonnaroo is all about: an eclectic mix of people enjoying a weekend in the sunny mountains of Tennessee.

The selection of music combines a collection of 'Roo performers present and past, places no restriction on who can or cannot enjoy, and reaffirms that music does make the world go 'round.

My ideal mix contains Bonnaroo veterans such as TV on the Radio and Cypress Hill but also new and surely welcomed Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Phish to ensure nothing but pure enjoyment before, during, and after June 11-14.

* "Wading in the Velvet Sea," by Phish
* "Zero," by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
* "E-Pro," by Beck
* "Insane in the Brain," by Cypress Hill
* "Golden Age," by TV on the Radio


9 a.m. Katrina Balovlenkov

Falling In and Out of Love with my Ex

I recently spoke to an ex of mine, and remembering some of our favorite songs, the break up, and that bittersweet nostalgia after I talked just automatically made me think of these songs.

It's about being young and fun (goofy) and then being wiser and proud of the people you have both become independent of each other.

* "Brand New Key," by Melanie
* "First Day of My Life," by Bright Eyes
* "Such Great Heights," by Postal Service
* "Linger," by Jonatha Brooke
* "Someday You Will Be Loved," by Death Cab for Cutie


11 a.m. Bob Cohen

This June will be the 5th straight year my 19 year old son and I have gone to Bonnaroo. These are amongst my favorite songs I've heard from the first row up against the rail.

* "Betterman," by John Butler Trio
* "The Thrill is Gone," by B. B. King
* "A Million Miles from Yesterday," by Gov't Mule
* "Ain't Nothing Wrong Like That," by Robert Randolph and the Family Band
* "Yes I Will," by Michael Franti & Spearhead

Runners Up: "Is It Like Today?" by World Party;
"Where the Devil Don't Stay," by Drive By Truckers


1 p.m. Valerie Ann Lockett

I gave birth to my son on April 1, 2008, and I named him London. I have always been inspired by the music and the art that originates from London.

My beautiful baby boy is my SONshine, he makes my world brighter and he keeps me smiling. LONDON is my everything. I would love to enjoy this trip to enjoy more great music live.

WTMD stays on my radio, you all are amazing. I can't thank you enough. PEACE

* "London Calling," by The Clash
* "London," by The Smiths
* "LDN," by Lily Allen
* "Guns of Brixton," by The Clash
* "Last Train to London," by The Electric Light Orchestra


5 p.m. Megan Lahman

I picked songs that contained a certain spark of sexual tension or frustration. It might sound weird, but this mix works well.

* "Every Day is Exactly the Same," by Nine Inch Nails
I wanted something interesting so I could work in Nine Inch Nails. I find it amazing that they are a headliner of what used to be considered a "hippy" jam band festival.

* "Electric Feel," by MGMT
As for MGMT, I love their song "Electric Feel" and I felt it had the right spark to follow such a strangely sexy/sad NIN song.

* "Portions for Foxes," by Rilo Kiley
Since Jenny Lewis is performing this year's festival and her band has performed in the past, I thought Rilo Kiley's "Portions for Foxes" was a song that matched both the theme and the festival. Not to mention, it's a great segue from alternative/indie rock type fare into the singer/songwriters that follow.

* "I Want You," by Elvis Costello
I picked Elvis Costello's "I Want You" because of it's moodiness, honesty and the sound. The song was exactly what I wanted to play before my favorite Bruce Springsteen song.

* "I'm on Fire," by Bruce Springsteen
I chose this track because it's this perfect quiet finish to my set list. The angst and sexual tension is there, but it also has this sweet beauty to it, which makes the song the perfect final touch.


7 p.m. Tony Miller

I wanted to make a playlist of the best Bonnaroo performers from the past 5 years, including this year (in order). Some are bigger then others, but all in all they are genius musicians.

* "Banana Pancakes," by Jack Johnson
* "Faust Arp," by Radiohead
* "Better," by Regina Spektor
* "Flightless Bird, American Mouth," by Iron & Wine
* "Summertime Clothes," by Animal Collective

Happy E-Day

So it's Earth Day, the one day out of the year where we all try to do something good for the environment, plant a tree, car pool or take public transportation , etc. If you call my Mom and ask her what I think about Mother's Day she will confirm that I celebrate Mother's Day everyday. It's with that respect that this year I'm making an effort to celebrate Earth Day everyday.

But how do you do that?

Tune in for eco-friendly tips throughout the day today and from here on out, making a small change everyday does so much over time.

So I challenge you be just a little more eco-friendly everyday! Tell your friends!

Do you have a lot of leftover electronics from all your spring cleaning? Wolf Trap is hosting an electronics recycling event this Saturday: Details Here

Get Friendly, Eco-Friendly.

Of Montreal Strip Down

No, no, no, there will be no frontal nudity (as, sometimes, is the case at their notorious shows), but frontman Kevin Barnes and guitarist Bryan Poole will join me in studio this Friday at 9am for an acoustic set.

I'll have to ask him why he named "An Eluardian Instance," a tune he wrote for his wife, after a French surrealist poet.

But, getting inside Kevin's head won't be easy because he's got so much going on up there, including his transsexual alter-ego, Georgie Fruit.

It's seductive, high-brow, fun, and highly unpredictable music.

Catch Of Montreal on this week's Morning Sessions!

The Duhks perform "Mighty Storm" Live at WTMD

The Duhks (http://www.duhks.com), fly down from Winnipeg, Canada, to visit the WTMD studios for the third time.

It's their first visit, however, since the band's lineup change in which brother and sister Sarah and Christian Dugas replaced singer Jessee Havey and percussionist Scott Senior, respectively.

Watch as Sarah Dugas takes command of the studio while the band tears through "Mighty Storm," a stellar single from their album, "Fast Paced World."

Mix Tape Thursday, 4/16/09

WTMD listeners take over the airwaves with three-to-five song sets on Thursday.

Submit your own mixtape and enter a drawing to win a pair of VIP tickets to the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, TN!

6 a.m. Jessica Campain

These were my favorite acts at Bonnoroo in 2007, my only time there...but I am making a 2009 mix as well for when I win these tickets! :-) Thanks guys!

• "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," by Wilco
  
• "The Hardest Button to Button," by The White Stripes
  
• "Don't You Evah," by Spoon
• "Professor," by Damien Rice
• "Tamacun," by Rodrigo y Gabriela
  

8 a.m. Laura Renner

My favorite Bonnaroo artists.

• "Measuring Cups," by Andrew Bird
  
• "Maps," by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  
• "Peacebone," by Animal Collective
• "Love and Happiness," by Al Green
• "Funeral," by Band of Horses
  

10 a.m. Allie Barnes

• "Stop the Bus," by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
  She's an amazing artist and this song live is awesome.

• "Road Song," by Steel Train
  It's the ultimate traveling song, and it reminds me of being at Bonnaroo. (And Steel Train is one of the best live bands out there.)

• "The Ark," by Dr. Dog
  

• "So Glad To See You," by Hot Chip
  This gives the mix a different vibe, and Hot Chip is one of the best bands to dance to--especially at a festival,

• "I'm Amazed," by My Morning Jacket
  MMJ is the ultimate festival band and this is the best encore song.
  
  

12 p.m. Ned Samson

The first three are side projects of different members of The Strokes. The fourth is a Strokes cover. And the last if The Strokes themselves.

• "Brandy of the Damned," by Nickel Eye
  
• "GfC," by Albert Hammond, Jr.
  
• "Brand New Start," by Little Joy
  
• "Last Nite," by Adele
• "Someday," by The Strokes
  

4 p.m. Lauren Seserko

I chose these songs because I've never been to Bonnaroo and am not able to attend this year (unless I win!). I hope to attend next year.

If I were there this year, this would be my mix tape on the drive down to get me pumped to see this amazing acts. Its pretty much a selection of my favorite Bonnaroo 2009 artists!

• "Kids," by MGMT
• "Next Messiah," by Jenny Lewis
• "L.E.S. Artistes," by Santigold
  
• "Skinny Love," by Bon Iver
• "Golden Age," by TV on the Radio
  

6 p.m. Randi Helton

These are my top five bands, with a strong song from each of them.
Each song makes me want to sing along and have fun.

• "Get Myself Into It," by The Rapture
• "Daylight," by Matt & Kim
• "Submarines of Stockholm," by A. C. Newman
• "Arms Tonight," by Mother Mother
• "Better Things," by Passion Pit
  

The Boy Least Likely To

On this day after Easter, check out this video starring bunnies, puppets and Rashida Jones. It's from our CD of the Week, The Law of the Playground by The Boy Least Likely To.

Carl Filipiak and the Jimi Jazz Band perform "Memphis Walk" Live at WTMD

Click to Play

Guitarist Tom Principato joins Carl Filipiak and the Jimi Jazz Band for an in-studio performance of "Memphis Walk" during a visit to WTMD's studio (http://www.wtmd.org).

Mix Tape Thursday, 4/9/09

WTMD listeners take over the airwaves with three-to-five song sets on Thursday.

Submit your own mixtape and enter a drawing to win a pair of VIP tickets to the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, TN!

7 a.m. Joe Grice

These are all songs that I beleive have amazing female vocalists.

• "My Love," by The Bird and The Bee
  
• "The Fear," by Lily Allen
  
• "Boom," by Anjulie

9 a.m. Erik Dudziak

I'm not sure if Back Door Slam has ever played at Bonnaroo, but they should. I saw them at Artscape and have been a fan ever since. Both Ben Harper and Band of Horses are rocking out at Bonnaroo this year, and although I have never seen either live I really want to.

• "Come Home," by Back Door Slam
  
• "Shimmer and Shine," by Ben Harper & The Relentless 7
  
• "Marry Song," by Band of Horses
  

11 a.m. Trish Smith

• "Ooh, La, La," by The Faces
  This is my favorite song ever because it's not only from my favorite movie (Rushmore), but because it also reveals life lessons.

• "El Scorcho," by Weezer
  This was the first Weezer song I ever listened to, and since I'm half Korean (not half Japanese), I feel a connection to it.

• "Coffee & TV," by Blur
  This is a great song with an even better music video. Who doesn't like coffee or tv?!

• "In Between Days," by The Cure
  My favorite Cure song. It's beautiful.

• "Bittersweet Symphony," by The Verve
  "You're a slave to money then you die." What sums up life better than this?
  
  

1 p.m. David Paremske

All of these songs are groovy.

• "Helicopters," by Disco Biscuits
  
• "Maze," by Phish
  
• "Toe Jam," by BPA
  
• "Sabotage," by Beastie Boys
  

5 p.m. Dan Anderson

I think song #1 is great and it just shows how awesome WTMD is - where else would you hear a song like this? Thanks for introducing it to me! I think his voice sounds a little like Dracula's voice and that makes me think of the Dracula song in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (song #2). It's a short funny song, but it's actually pretty good. Then that song makes me think of the line "Send me all your vampires" in song #3. And of course that then makes me think of Vampire Weekend. Did you follow all of that?

• "Epilepsy is Dancing," by Antony and the Johnsons
  I think this song is great and it just shows how awesome WTMD is—where else would you hear a song like this? Thanks for introducing it to me!
  
  I think his voice sounds a little like Dracula's voice and that makes me think of the Dracula song in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It's a short funny song, but it's actually pretty good. Then that song makes me think of the line "Send me all your vampires" in the Third Eye Blind track. And, of course, that makes me think of Vampire Weekend. Did you follow all of that?
  

• "Dracula's Lament," by Jason Segal
  
  

• "I Want You," by Third Eye Blind
  
  
• "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," by Vampire Weekend
  

6 p.m. Maria Shaivitz

I picked these because they are songs that I never get tired of hearing. Thanks WTMD for all the great music you play!

• "Electric Feel," by MGMT
  

• "Stop the Bus," by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
  

• "Valerie Plame," by The Decemberists
  

• "Theologians," by Wilco

• "Heretics," by Andrew Bird
  

U2 Past and Present Come Full 360

Forgive the blurry image to the left, but it pre-dates digital cameras.

1987 Joshua Tree Tour. Rainy RFK Stadium (Bono would later dislocate his arm after an onstage wipe out). Hours hanging out with friends blasting U2 bootlegs and, you know, doing what people do before shows. I'm the guy in green, fourth from the left.

Relive some U2 memories this Friday and make some new ones, hopefully at Fed Ex Field September 29th when U2 hit DC for the 360 Tour!

Join me and other TMD types from 10am to 1pm at Slainte Irish Pub (1700 Thames St in Fells Point) where we'll test your U2 trivia knowledge and give away U2 cd's, memorabilia and, most importantly, a pair of tickets to the sold out Fed Ex Field show!

We'll be broadcasting live from down there, so come on down! We'll see if you've got what it takes to be U2's number one fan in Baltimore!

Since we've got kind of a bootleg vibe to this post, what with the grainy photo and all, here's another RFK memory (you bet I was there for the ZOO TV Tour too!). Bono's getting down with a local to one of my favorite, underrated U2 tracks. See ya Friday.

Honeyhoney Sweetens The Air

Tune in Friday at 9am and catch the California-based duo Honeyhoney. They bring a jazzy, twangy bounce to new-wavey-type tunes; a pretty cool hybrid found on their debut First Rodeo.

Kiefer Sutherland signed them to his label Ironworks and stars in this Old Western-looking video for "Little Toy Gun."

Eulogies perform "Bad Connection" Live at WTMD

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The Los Angeles-based indie band, Eulogies (http://www.myspace.com/eulogiesmusic), stops by WTMD (http://www.wtmd.org) to perform tracks from their album, Here Anonymous.

Eulogies perform "Fight I Have Come to Like" Live at WTMD

Click to Play

The Los Angeles-based indie band, Eulogies (http://www.myspace.com/eulogiesmusic), stops by WTMD (http://www.wtmd.org) to perform tracks from their album, Here Anonymous.

The Bird and the Bee Teach Dance

Greg Kurstin's cocktail-electronica footprints are all over Lily Allen's witty tour-de-force It's Not Me, It's You. But, equally good is The Bird and the Bee- his kinetic, bossa nova, toy-tronica duo with fashion-forward singer Inara George (the late Lowell's daughter).

I keep coming back to Ray Guns are Not Just the Future, maybe because it motivates me to get out of my chair and shake it! OK, maybe it's more like chair dancing and tapping my feet, but you get the picture.

The dance hooks on this one, though, are pretty irresistible.

Just asked the buttoned-up guy doing Dance Dance Revolution in this video.

Mix Tape Thursday, 4/2/09

WTMD listeners take over the airwaves with three-to-five song sets on Thursday.

Submit your own mixtape and enter a drawing to win a pair of VIP tickets to the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, TN!

6 a.m. Gavin St. Ours

This is my mix tape to help from cold to warmer weather. and "Winter '05" . The warm keyboard in "We Gathered in Spring" and "March (A Prelude to Spring)"

• "White Winter Hymnal," by Fleet Foxes is a beautiful, curl-up-by-the-fire song.
  
• "Winter '05," by Ra Ra Riot, longs for spring.
  
• "We Gathered in Spring," by Midlake, could melt snow by itself.
• "March (A Prelude to Spring," by Jon Foreman, brings enough sunlight to make things grow.

8 a.m. Laura Abel

A brief tribute to the fellas.

• "Mr. Oysterhead," by Oysterhead
  
• "Mr. Ambulance Driver," by The Flaming Lips
  
• "Mr. Blue Sky," by Electric Light Orchestra
  
• "Mr. Maker," by The Kooks
  
• "Dear Mr. Supercomputer," by Sufjan Stevens
  

10 a.m. Brett Haley

Songs best listened to really, really loud.

• "Idioteque," by Radiohead
  
• "Ecstasy," by Rusted Root
  
• "Touch Me," by The Doors
  
• "Electric Feel," by MGMT

12 p.m. Maxi Adelstein

All of these artists will be appearing at this year's Bonnaroo, and these are the songs I am most looking forward to seeing and hearing live!

• "Soft Shock," by Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs
  
• "Skinny Love," by Bon Iver
  
• "The Engine Driver," by The Decemberists
  
• "The Youth," by MGMT
  
• "Id Engager," by Of Montreal
  

4 p.m. Natalie Neill

These are all artists that I was really hoping would make it on this year's Bonnaroo lineup that didn't. So If I could make five additions, these would be it!

• "Speak Slow," by Tegan and Sara
  
• "Ways to Make It Through the Wall," by Los Campesinos!
  
• "Too Too Fast," by Ra Ra Riot
  
• "The Fear," by Lily Allen
  
• "Rich Girls," by The Virgins
  

6 p.m. Pat Corrigan

Great music with a catch alt rock rhythm. These songs would make my commute outstanding. A little partiality to David Byrne, I know, but great music all the same.

• "Sweet About Me," by Gabriella Cilmi
  

• "Toe Jam," by The BPA
  

• "Psycho Killer," by Talking Heads

• "Not Fair," by Lily Allen
  

• "Young Folks," by Peter, Bjorn & John
  
  

Led Zeppelin Hires New Lead Singer

After an exhaustive search, Jimmy Paige and John Paul Jones have found their new lead singer to take Robert Plant's place for their summer tour.

Click on this link to find out who!