The Contrarian

Halloween Podcast Is Here!

Some bulletpoint notes, to make it more official:

• I did my best to work in all of the requests.

• It's a good bit longer than the regular installments.

• For some reason, the selections leaned towards garage-rock sounding stuff.

• "Weird" Al Yankovic can be pretty unnerving.

• I had nary a sip of wine throughout the entire session.

The Contrarian's Corner Halloween Podcast: The Devil's Toolshed

In other news, today is a super-big day. First up, I'm heading in to the Future of Music Coalition offices to ease into my new role as Communications Director (more on that later).

Also, intrepid political contributor James P. Caldwell has been granted temporary furlough from the Naked City. He'll be swinging down to DC for a super-summit that should make the SALT II talks look like a Bratz episode. Not that I have any idea what the latter actually looks like.

Podcast tracklist below the fold:

Last Chance Halloween Podcast!

As you may recall from an earlier post, we've decided to throw open the Black Iron Gates and let our readers contribute song ideas for our The Contrarian's Corner Halloween Podcast. Our regulars have made some great suggestions so far. But lurkers are also encouraged to make a creepy contribution.

Alas, as I am on deadline, so are all of you. Today at noon is your last chance to submit your choices.

So get to it, my little ghoulies. I'll check in later.

PS: Last year's installment is available here.

New Podcast!

In honor of the wee baby ProgBlog, I recorded a special podcast, which I'm posting both here and over there.

This entry is concerned primarily with psychedelic music, although not all of the artists represented have traditionally been categorized as such. I more or less stayed on the heavy side of the aisle, so expect molten licks and melt-the-fretboard axe maneuvers. This ain't the flutes and wizards shit, oh no.

Tracklisting, etc. below the fold. Enjoy:

The Contrarian's Corner Podcast — "Psych Splatter and Guitar Gore"

New Podcast!

It's been some time in the making, but the new podcast is finally here.

You can call it a special edition, 'cause there's a holiday-inspired motif. Some may find it pretentious and interminable. Those people can go stuff a stocking.

The theme this time around is *spirituality* in music. That doesn't mean I've chosen a bunch of religious songs; far from it. The tunes in this batch were picked due to how they make me feel, which is markedly different from other material. Some challenge my assumptions of faith-based music. Others simply crack me up. A lot of it is pretty personal.

Brooke and I are going to DC tomorrow. I hate flying and am convinced of my fiery demise. If I don't make it, you can play this podcast at my funeral.

Oh, and Happy Holidays!

The Contrarian's Corner — Episode III: The Reckoning

PS: We saw GWAR on Saturday, but I'll probably write about it in the paper rather than here. My column needs some serious padding this week.

A real horrorshow.

 

As promised, here's the latest podcast.

The Contrarian's Corner — Episode II: Scary Monsters

I was gonna wait until tomorrow, but I just couldn't. This will give you extra time to download over the weekend. Tracklisting is provided in the comments field of the official Contrarian's Corner Blog, which formerly hosted the podcast.

Yes, it's a Halloween theme. I drank wine again, so it gets pretty silly. But there are some good tunes in there. Enjoy, and do let me know what you think.

PS: Local musician Rob Voland has a great new album called Springinsfeld. He and Ryan Power (who's not long for B-town) recorded it on 4-track cassette. Awesome!

You can hear some of it live — and probably snag a CD — when Voland plays 339 Pine St. on Oct. 28. The show starts at 8 p.m. and appears to be free.

Podcast #1.

Enjoy my very first podcast.

The Contrarian's Corner — Episode I: Freaks, Geeks & Sweetiepies

Caveats:

#1: I was drinking wine, so I sound friggin' stupid.

#2: There's a lot of fade-ins during songs. This is on purpose, primarily to discourage music thieving. Not that any of you good people would do such a thing. Also, it allows me to prattle about trivia and ruin some wonderful music at the same time.

#3 At one point, I mention the Beatles, calling them "Paul, George, Paul and Ringo." Yes, I'm aware there's only one Paul in the group. No need to point it out.

Other than that, I think it's pretty fun. But you tell me!