Radio Dick – Homecoming Edition
Today’s Radio Dick is shot straight from the hip from a busy guy in Cleveland. In the world of high school education, nothing spells “important” like the magical and enchanting homecoming dance. In American education, not one single night of the entire school year involves so much preparation for such little return profit. Kids spend hours determining hairstyles, attire, dates and venue decorations, all for an anticlimactic three hour rumble in the school cafeteria. Sometimes it’s important for me to think backwards and try my hardest to remember what it was like being a teenager. This always fails miserably, and because I’m the student council adviser at my school, I have to sit through the wholly uncomfortable experience each and every year. This post was actually written yesterday (Saturday) and most of the day was spent positioning spotlights on big masquerade-inspired art murals, hanging clear Christmas ornaments from the shitty tile ceiling of the cafeteria, and duct taping black construction paper like a mofo. No time for music blogging when so much is at stake, my friends. It’s, like, homecoming. It’s, like, the most important day of the year. Like, seriously.
An interesting snippet of my morning adventures does involve music, however. As thirty or forty sleepy high school kids spent their early morning decorating, I was the only smart guy with enough foresight to bring in an iPod dock and mini-stereo. Kids flocked toward the stereo trying to play Taylor Swift, T.I., and a thousand other bands that don’t even come close to my listening preference. My only requirement for allowing students to use my iPod dock was that for the last half hour, I was allowed to be DJ with my own music. In fine, impulsive fashion, the kids said “gimme gimme” and I listened to 2 1/2 hours of garbage before I could finally kick back and put in some good music of my own. Of course, none of the students had heard a single song I played, but three or four walked out with several new bands to choose from, and several bands wound up with several new fans. The few kids that were turned away by my music preference are probably at home listening to Shakira and figuring out how to tie a tie. I love my students, but it’s literally mind boggling how entrenched they are in mainstream media and music. There’s no better vantage point to witness this than in a high school setting.
All this to say that my post is not long, today. This post will hit the ether around 7 AM Sunday and with the long night I’ve got planned babysitting doesn’t allow much time for in-depth analysis. Nonetheless, we’ve got a healthy mix of new shit for your ears. We’ve got a couple remixes, including one of The xx’s “Shelter” and a Friendly Fires remix of Phoenix’s “Fences.” We’re also stoked to notice longtime Citizen Dick favorite, Dan Mangan, sitting currently at number 13 on the Elbo.ws “hot tracks” list with “Robots.” We coined this track one of our favorite tracks of 2009 way back in February when Mangan released the stellar EP that preceded his newest release, Nice, Very Nice. We defy you to listen to “Robots” and not hit repeat immediately. I still listen to it almost daily 8 months after it was released. It’s great to see people finally noticing it. Thao With The Get Down Stay down is an upcoming album we’re going to be long-form reviewing soon, and the newest leaked track “Know Better Learn Faster” is kickass. For fun, we’ve also got a Daniel Johnston cover by Soul Coughing alum, Mike Doughty, up for grabs. Enjoy the tunes this weekend folks. As you read this, you can rest assured that I’m sleeping my ass off, relieved that the homecoming nonsense is now a thing of the past. Like, I’m so glad. Yeah.
The Good Graces – Pretty New Song
Thao With The Get Down Stay Down – Know Better Learn Faster
The xx – Shelter (Them Jeans Drum Edit)
Hush Arbors – Devil Made You High
Bear In Heaven – Lovesick Teenagers
Phoenix – Fences (Friendly Fires Remix)
Mike Doughty – Casper The Friendly Ghost (Daniel Johnston Cover)
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