music is my radar

underneath the radar: week twenty

2005-05-04T20:24:00.000+10:00

So Music is My Radar has ended for the first grid of 2005. Thank you all so much for your listenership, I really appreciate it. I started off this whole experience with fear, trepidation, anxiety. I left with all those feelings intact but along the way I managed to make some really amazing friends & musical alliances. I talked to some incredibly inspiring musical figures, I indulged in some deep and meaningfuls with the least suspecting individuals. I made some mistakes, I made some improvements. I came to terms with the idea that people don't really care all that much. When I realised they did, I came to terms with the exposure. It's been a real epoch for me.

i know it's over..
For the last Radar showdown, there was a running commentary of the show, as interpreted by a huge and largely international listenership from the unofficial Bloc Party forum, alwaysnewdepths.com. You can check this out, in a thread that extended 12 pages, 166 posts and 740 views in the two hours the show went to air. Gawd. Isn't that unbelievable?

CLICK FOR OODLES OF RADAR PRAISING

The show was more or less a best of session, my favourite tracks really. Songs from the Front Row featured White Stripes covering Bobby Dylan, Muse covering Nina Simone and Queen singing in Hungarian in Nep Stadium, Budapest.. as well as some Bloc Party, live from Paris. More covers included Placebo and Supergrass covering the Smiths and the Futureheads' impressive Kate Bush cover, Hounds of Love. Electronic Ecstasy featured Ladytron, Fischerspooner, live Depeche Mode and some rare New Order.

Playlist for May 2nd
Hot Hot Heat - Get in or Get out
The Departure - All Mapped Out
Elastica - Annie
White Stripes - Lovesick (live)
Muse - Feeling Good (live)
Queen - Tavaszi Szel (live)
Bloc Party - The Marshalls are Dead (live)
The Dears - 22: Death of All Romance
Blur - Clover Over Dover
Handsome Boy Modelling School - The World is Mad
The Futureheads - Hounds of Love
Placebo - Bigmouth Strikes Again
Supergrass - Some girls are bigger than others
Ladytron - Evil
Fischerspooner - Never Win
Cranberries - When You're Gone
Depeche Mode - Shake the Disease (live at the Pasadena Rose Bowl)
Arctic Monkeys - Fake Tales of San Francisco
Bloc Party - Pioneers
Placebo - Special Needs
Interpol - Slow Hands
The Cure - Gone!
New Order - The Perfect Kiss (recorded from the video shoot)
Morrissey - There's a Place in Hell for Me and My Friends

So that's it. Fear not, Amanda of belief=function=belief shall maintain the indielove lineage for many weeks to come, catch wonderful tunes and reflections, Mondays 8pm-10pm. Before I go I'd like to extend special love and thanks to many in no particular order. This especially includes Adam, Amanda, Laur, Spiro, Nadine, Andrew, Ethan, Mez, Tina, Ang, Luke, Sharron, Karen, Adrian, Mary-Anne and all the other listeners, regular or irregular. Love you all. Goodnight, xx

radarlove: retrospective

2005-04-28T00:45:00.010+10:00

To celebrate the end of Music is My Radar (20/12/2004 - 2/5/2005), I've decided to put up the collection of interviews, audio documentaries, unaired and blooper material for everyone to download. Enjoy, enjoy!

Radio Documentary: This is for the Fans (Week Two)
Commonly described as "That Documentary about Queen", This is for the Fans is a dizzying aural collage of intimate stories from rock music's most devoted and passionate. The feature particularly concentrates on fans that express their passion through different creative methods. Characters range from the writer, who composes poetry based on the music of his favourite band, to the fashion designer who has designed clothing inspired by that shown in a video clip. These stories are contrasted by a grim narration, which indirectly associates love of music with society’s negative perception of fandom. The piece contains the underlying conclusion that love or hate can occur with the associations fans have with music, not with the music itself.

Download
Radar Documentary - This is For The Fans.mp3 (7,612MB, 25m58s at 40KBS)

Interview: Bloc Party (Week Three)
Perhaps best described as "Bloc Party's first Australian interview", recorded long prior to their worldwide recognition, Gordon Moakes discusses everything from recording to Reading.

Download
Interview - Bloc Party (8,459MB, 20m54s at 56KBS)

Interview: The Polyphonic Spree (Week Seven)
Psychedelic symphonic pop group the Polyphonic Spree join Radar on the eve of the 2005 Big Day Out. Audrey Easley discusses the group dynamic, happiness and robe envy.

Download
Interview - The Polyphonic Spree (3,204MB, 11m07s at 40KBS)

Interview: Elle Milano (Week Eight)
An interview with lead singer Adam of upcoming post pop Leicester act, Elle Milano. An amusing exploration of Girls Aloud, sampling BBC sound effects records and adventures in lo-fi.

Download
Interview - Elle Milano (8,431MB, 16m50s at 128KBS)

Unaired - Elle Milano formed a band (837kb)

Interview: Prosaics (Week Eleven)
A series of deep and meaningful discussions with Andy Comer, lead singer of New York City three piece, Prosaics. The interview covers topics ranging from the production on their impressive debut EP, Aghast Agape, their compelling lyrics and comparisons to contemporaries, as well as Interpol and the Stills in contrast to their inspiring forefathers, Joy Division.

Download
Interview - Prosaics (8,892MB, 15m18s at 80KBS)

Interview: The Dears (Week Fifteen)
A compelling interview with the Dears' frontman Murray Lightburn, considered among the most inspiring and articulate musicians of our time. A dissection on everything from philosophy to colonisation, and relationships to Morrisey, in the midst of a nation-wide tour.

Download
Interview - The Dears (6,796MB, 19m54s at 48KBS)

Unaired - Murray Lightburn on Morrissey (435kb)

Interview: Cause & Effect (Week Nineteen)
The synthpop duo of Keith Milo and Rob Rowe join Radar for a conference call, covering long distance production, song writing and those parallels to revered English band Depeche Mode.

Download
Interview - Cause & Effect (4,809MB, 16m47 at 40KBS)

So that's it. Thank you all for your love, listenership and support. Many thanks go out to G, Audrey, Andy, Adam, Murray, Keith, Rob for taking the time out for speaking to me. Many thanks in particular go out to Tina, Pauline, Mike, Daniel, Donna, Jase, John & many others who helped out with the documentary. I cannot forget the people such as David Benge, Steve Baker, Blaine Kaplan and Kate Eccles who helped out in getting in contacts with these great inspiring people. Those are all the admin people, emotional support people will come after Monday night. Do try and tune in. See you guys then :)

underneath the radar: week nineteen

2005-04-27T21:23:00.000+10:00

It was really inevitable, the week full of old school, new wave electronic ecstasy. Celebrated by airing the much anticipated interview with Rob Rowe & Keith Milo of the synthpop duo, Cause & Effect. Also indulged in playing some really awesome new and old electronic tracks (with the odd rock intermission).

nothing in this world can touch the music that i heard..
Otherwise, Songs from the Front Row featured on of my favourite New Order tracks, Dream Attack, live at a Cleveland show in 1989 and synth gods Depeche Mode performing Strangelove for their 101st show at the Pasadena Rose Bowl. Cover-ups featured an acoustic Postal Service cover by Iron and Wine and the now infamous Mash-ups sessions showcased the Futureheads collaborating with the Streets as well as the Beatles mixed in with Queen.

The rest of it was synth. Really.

Playlist for April 25th
Maximo Park - Graffiti
Pulp - Babies
Elastic - Connection
Republica - Ready to Go
Chromeo - Needy Girl
Clor - Love & Pain
Cause & Effect - You Think You Know Her
Cause & Effect - Nothing Comes to Mind
Cause & Effect - She Said
New Order - Dream Attack (live)
Depeche Mode - Strangelove (live)
Cause & Effect - Another Minute
Cause & Effect Into the Light
Le Tigre - TKO
1984 - 2.4
Iron & Wine - Such Great Heights
Pet Shop Boys - Tonight is Forever
Cause & Effect - What Do You See
Yaz - Nobody's Diary
Hat Turbonegro - Get it On
Streets vs Futureheads
Beatles vs Queen - Dear Prudence/Fool on a Hill/Crazy Little Thing Called Love
LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk is Playing at My House

PS Everyone, next week is the last Music is My Radar for a while so don't forget to tune in, turn it up and rock (or should I say, synth) out. Thanks for your support :)

radarlove: cause & effect

2005-04-25T12:47:00.000+10:00

as the sun rises on the west coast of america, the sun sets on one of the last radars & the severity of el's love for synth finally comes out of the shadows
Described as a gorgeous electronic fusion of perfect pop arrangements, Cause and Effect captivate listeners with their lush sonic soundscapes and thought provoking lyrics. How was that for rock journalism hyperbole? No, but seriously, this synthpop duo has long been a new wave favourite. Their dark electronic romanticism has underscored such events such as the car ride to my school formal, plans for my international Radar music festival and my love affair with synths altogether.

Personal associations aside, their background is so interesting & their fundamental approach to music so intriguing that I recommend anyone into likes their dark, romantic new wave to check them out. Check out Cause & Effect's website for samples of their clips. Oh! And don't forget to tune in Monday night to *actually* hear the full interview with Rob Rowe and Keith Milo of Cause & Effect!

underneath the radar: week eighteen

2005-04-21T16:56:00.000+10:00

Yes, people, I'm still alive barely. After a horrific week of 15th century Russian iconography, Criminal Procedure and Medical Law takehome exams/more exams/more essays I can finally chill for a few moments and tell you what's happened with Radar this week.

Well, in a word it was crazy. Fun, but crazy. I had my ubersarcasticyetlovely brother Andrew on as well as the surlyyetslightlycalm friend Spiro as well as beautifulyetcompletelyexasperated Lauren on the line. We actually had a completely incidental and illegal feed from another radio station, so most of talk time was dead air, trying to figure out what this ghost station was talking about. Sounds weird? Yeah, well it was. Do you think my delusions of gradeur were obliterated? yeah.

Regardless I got the sweetest sms from the studio's sms line from a faithful listener during the show which cheered me up immensely, I thought she wouldn't mind if I shared it:

"Hail Queen of the Down Underground! How fares they noble brother and fair companion? The show is running well as of yet and I am much looking forward to the infamous MixUp. Love from your itty bitty fan (I'm very short you see, hehe)"

Gosh it just makes me so happy. Ha!

Despite appearances, the show actually featured some fantastic content. Songs from the Front Row featured live covers from Graham Coxon and Elliot Smith as well as a live rendition of London Calling by the Clash. Mashups featured some odd mixtures of BRMC & Basement Jaxx as well as Alanis Morrissette & the Prodigy.

el's desire to be in sixteen candles start here
There was an odd expression of the radarlovemixedtape which showcased songs from my exasperated, heartbreaking and totally sweet teen movies. Featured soundtracks included Pretty in Pink, Never Been Kissed and Donnie Darko. EY - it IS a teen movie ok?!

Playlist for April 18th
John Frusciante - Carvel
Morrissey - The More You Ignore Me the Closer I Get
The Jam - A Town Called Malice
Graham Coxon - Time for Heroes (live)
Elliot Smith - Jealous Guy (live)
Pete Doherty - Albion
The Clash - London Calling (live)
Suzanne Vega - Left of Centre
The Cardigans - Erase & Rewind
New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
Tears for Fears - Head over Heals
White Stripes - Blue Orchid
Weezer - Beverley Hills
The Stills - Killer Bees
Mclusky - There Ain't No Fool in Ferguson
New Order - Guilt is a Useless Emotion
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club vs Basement Jaxx
Alanis Morrissette vs The Prodigy
Richard Ashcroft - Check the Meaning
Cake - Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps
The Robocop Kraus - In Fact, You're Just Fiction

See you guys next week! xxx

underneath the radar: week seventeen

2005-04-13T01:33:00.000+10:00

Mmm. A weird and wonderful week, the playlists will be a testament! Many thanks for the people that tuned in this week & fledged support via email/sms/phone. I really appreciate it. For those people, as promised, here is the link to the J-Lo/Tenacious D mashup which made ears prick up all over Melbourne. It makes so much musical sense, hehe.

In other news, radarmates Bloc Party made it onto David Letterman the other night. So impressed, they never cease to astound. Their Australian tour has been announced for July, coinciding with the Splendour in the Grass festival in Byron Bay. Am I excited? Maybe, bit too numb to describe. Do check out the lineup though, acts include Queens of the Stone Age, Interpol and Moby & it's only the first announcement. Please New Order, I know you're busy with Hyde Park but cancel that and come here! I'm sorry about the things I said about Waiting for the Sirens' Call, Barney, I'm sorry! Please come!

Songs from the Front Row featured some live Jam and acoustic Cure - as well as a chorus of hysterical Melbourne fans squealing to That Ain't Bad by Ratcat. See! I do like Australian music! A HAR! Music of the Muses, which has been aptly renamed My Music is Better Than Your Music by Amanda featured the highbrow bilingual workings of the Beatles, Kent, Björn Kleinhenz and Queen. Oui, c'est vrai.

Electronic Ecstasy showcased some Chicks on Speed and some mighty old skool Bomb the Bass, especially for my brother Andrew. Other tracks included the Headcleaner Rock Mix of Nothing by Depeche Mode, featured on their latest release, Remixes 81-04. Only Martin Gore can compose a song about Nothing and make it sound like a lyrical triumph. Mashups featured a mixes between Tenancious D vs J to the L to the O and The Killers' Somebody Told Me integrated with The Cure's Forest.

morrissey: there's a place in hell for me and my milk
Playlist for April 11th
Arctic Monkeys - Fake Tales of San Francisco
The Smiths - Handsome Devil
Bloc Party - Luno
The Jam - In the City (live)
Ratcat - That Ain't Bad (live)
The Cure - Friday, I'm in Love (still!)(acoustic)
Muse - Muscle Museum (Soulwax Remix)
The Thermals - Stare Like Yours
The Faint - Phone Call
The Beatles - Besame Mucho
Kent - Palace & Main
Queen - Las Palabras de Amor
Depeche Mode - Nothing (Headcleaner Rock Mix)
Chicks on Speed - We Don't Play Guitars
Bomb the Bass - Megablast
Inspiral Carpets - Dragging Me Down
Spiritualized - Out of Sight
Blur - Coffee & TV
Tenancious D v Jennifer Lopez
The Cure vs The Killers
Depeche Mode - Somebody
The Decemberists - Leslie Anne Levine
The Smiths - Suffer Little Children
Björn Kleinhenz - Out of Style
The Cure - Birdman Girl

Want to hear something? Want to say something vastly complimentary and not discouraging in the slightest? Write your message in that little Tag box!

Coming Up: The end of Radar, talks with Cause & Effect

underneath the radar: week sixteen

2005-04-05T16:50:00.000+10:00

Oo, this week was great. Condolences for those who missed, but Spiro joined me once again to speak of highly humourous and irrelevent matters. As for the musical part of the show, I introduced a high-brow musical segment which I have just christened Music of the Muses. It really just includes me ranting on about slightly pretentious musicians. This week showcased Aqualung, Smashing Pumpkins and Cat Stevens. Not that I consider Cat Stevens to be pretentious but I think to love Cat Stevens as much as I do, you can't be completely bourgeouis.

Well what can I say, she no longer likes a-sides, she gave me a tape of bootlegs and b-sides!

matt hales aka aqualung, napping on a piano, el style
Other segments included the resergence of Nice Video, Shame About the Song, featuring Gorillaz' brilliant new single, Feel Good Inc. Mashups was comparatively huge this week, including many mixed up efforts of Greenday, Oasis, Eminem, The Beatles & The Cure. In three songs. Yeah. Not to mention some Big Audio Dynamite heading up Songs from the Front Row, The Cure showing us how to do it with the sublime b-side to Friday I'm in Love, Halo and Electronic Ecstasy showcasing Moloko & lead singer Roisin's brand new solo effort. Whew.

Please be nice and leave a message on the tagboard. I know people visit & are too intimidated by the purple tape involved in leaving a message so do your bit!

Playlist for April 4th
Battle - Tendency
The Rapture - Out of the Races & Onto the Tracks
The Cure - Halo
Joy Division - Warsaw
Big Audio Dynamite - Rush (live)
Aqualung - Extra Ordinary Thing
Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm
Cat Stevens - Sad Lisa
The Bravery - Unconditional
The Killers - Andy, You're a Star
Dirty Little Secret - Guns Guns Guns
Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
Pulp - Common People
Art Brut - My Little Brother
Ash - Starcrossed
Greenday vs Oasis
The Beatles vs The Cure
Beatles mashup
The Beatles - I'm Happy Just to Dance with You <3
Roisin Murphy - Night of the Dancing Flame
Moloko - Pure Pleasure Seeker
Queens of the Stone Age - Little Sister

underneath the radar: week fifteen

2005-03-31T17:41:00.000+10:00

Exceptionally big show this week. I indulged in airing the deep philosophical musings of the Dears' Murray Lightburn (along with some beautiful tracks penned by the aforementioned group). God I sound really highbrow now..

There was also a joint gig review with the sweet Amanda (of belief=function=belief fame), discussing Sunday's Moving Units gig at the Stage. My views of the gig are tainted from the somewhat hostile interview earlier that afternoon, along with the fascinating crowd but yeah. Would have been a great concert if neither the crowd nor the band were there. No hard feelings.

Songs from the Front Row this week featured live Supergrass, New Order's first performance of True Faith & Coldplay, live in Paris. While Electronic Ecstasy featured Cause & Effect, some new Daft Punk & St Etienne.

And yes the rumours are true. I did turn 20 on air, thank you for the lovely warm wishes & presents. I had such a great day. I'm grateful anyone really cares at all cause I didn't realise it was coming in some sense. This isn't my cake, I'm just doing my thing with google image search.

HEY just cause he's dead doesn't mean i shouldn't be allowed to eat him in cake form
Playlist for March 28th
French Kicks - Young Lawyer
Q and Not U - Wonderful People
Zutons - Zuton Fever
New Order - True Faith (live)
Supergrass - Caught by the Fuzz (acoustic)
Coldplay - Trouble (live)
The Dears - Who Are You, Defenders of the Universe/Warm & Sunny Days
Cause & Effect - Nothing Comes to Mind
Daft Punk - Robot Rock
St Etienne - Avenue
The Dears - Lost in the Plot/Heathrow or Deathrow
Arctic Monkeys - Mardy Bum
Blur - End of the Century
Smiths - A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours
The Dears - 22: Death of All Romance
Queen - Dragon Attack
Damien Rice - the Professor
Brendan Benson - Emma J

PS. So where young hopeful interviewees Elle Milano got to now? Ah, on a lineup with Neil's Children in Reading! Ahar! Check out their little minifeature on the BBC website thingie! So proud..

radarlove: the dears

2005-03-25T23:28:00.000+11:00

Tune in this Monday night from 10pm to hear El chat with the lead singer of the Dears, Murray Lightburn. Based in Montreal, the group recently embarked on their first Australian tour promoting their remarkable epic, No Cities Left, highly acclaimed by such publications as the New York Times, Rolling Stone and the NME. During their Melbourne stay, Music is My Radar mused with Murray about the group's motivation, production and their inherent British influences.

UPDATE
Check out an unaired excerpt of the interview here, where Murray talks about the overwhelming awe of when he first met Morrissey
Download (435kb)

underneath the radar: week fourteen

2005-03-25T20:55:00.000+11:00

Hey guys - it's been a really big and busy week in the studios. There was a superindulgent Songs from the Front Row featuring Queen, The Buzzcocks and Ben Harper. There was also a minor Decemberists segment, both celebration of their brand new LP, Picaresque and in memory of their gear trailer which was nicked during their tour of SE Portland last week. If you find it, please return it. Otherwise there was a minor feature on awesome fiery female anti-heroines, Nellie McKay and Regina Spektor. Respek, girls, respek.

regina spektor: glug
Ah, LA's electro trio Moving Units are in town (+ expect a Radar interview soon, yeah!), be sure to catch them:

Saturday 26th March @ Ding Dong

Sunday 27th March @ The Stage on Smith St

Congrats to sweet Amanda of belief=function=belief for Best Show on SYN this week. Totally well deserved, so proud. Tune in on Monday for her 78 Saab interview - not either one of 67/68/78 Special/Saab. Don't forget Radar cause I'll be talking to Murray Lightburn from the Dears also. Stay tuned my lovely people.

Playlist for March 21st
Cake - The Distance
The Others - William
Stroke 9 - Little Black Back Pack
Kaiser Chiefs - Born to Be A Dancer
Detroit Cobras - Cha Cha Twist
The Clash - Rock the Casbah
The Cure - In Between Days
Queen - The Prophet Song (live Osaka 1976)
Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen in Love (live)
Ben Harper - Walk Away (live)
The Decemberists - Engine Driver
The Decemberists - Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect
The Spill Canvas - The Tide
Nellie McKay - David
Regina Spektor - Us
Ben Harper - Strawberry Fields
Erasure - A Little Respect
Bluebottle Kiss - Girl Genius
The Dears - Lost in the Plot
Strokes vs Christina Aguilera
Brendan Benson - Alternative to Love

underneath the radar: week thirteen

2005-03-15T20:10:00.000+11:00

el's preferred rockstar activity: napping
Since little of this activity has gone down this week, I'll have to leave you with the basics.

Playlist for March 14th
The Faint - In Concert
Moving Units - Submission
Fischerspooner - Never Win
Regina Spektor - Ghost of the Corporate Future
The Libertines - France
Josh Kelley - Smalltown Boy
Queen - The Night Comes Down
The Radio Department - Pulling Our Weight
Ben Kweller - In Other Words
Coldplay - Talk (new single!)
Franz Ferdinand - Come On Home
Travis - Happy Hang Around
Oasis - Shitelife
Oasis - Wonderwall (live 2005)
Arctic Monkeys - Dancing Shoes
Arctic Monkeys - Sticking to the Floor (live)
The Smiths - Still Ill
Ordinary Boys - Talk Talk
At the Drive In - One Armed Scissor
Kaiser Chiefs - Everyday I Love You Less & Less
Le Tigre - TKO
Bloc Party - Banquet (Phones Disco Edit)
Depeche Mode - But Not Tonight (Robert Margouleff remix)
Beatles - I Me Mine
Snow Patrol - Spitting Games
Primal Scream - Some Velvet Morning
Watchment - Stereo

underneath the radar: week twelve

2005-03-09T22:07:00.000+11:00

Man, Monday night at SYN studios went going off, no really, foshizzle. Many thanks, once again, go to DJ Spiro for coping with my untimely metamorphosis into the stressedoutindiechikfromhell. Regardless there was much hilarity & I'm so grateful.

To sample some of what Spiro had to put up with, download the following MP3:
el-goes-test-match-on-spiros-ass.mp3

In other news, I'm gonna be DJing at the Blanc Franc Music Exchange this Friday 11 March. It's a monthly indie shindig held at the Royal Derby, on the corner of Brunswick St & Alexandra Pde. I'm on straight after the band at 11pm so be sure to check it out.

As for the show, we had another radarlove mixedtape of songs to drive safely to (in memory of that 1984 Toyota I wrote off last week). If anything got across during Radar this week, let this message roam free to all the kiddies out there, drive safely and for godssake - GIVE WAY, GIVE WAY GODDAMIT!

el's next mode of transport: bed on wheels
Songs from the Front Row included Supergrass & a very exclusive radarsession of the Dears live in Melbourne. So much gratitude goes out to Amanda of belief=function=belief (Mondays 7-8.30pm) for coming to see the Dears with me last Wednesday night & helping out with the Dears' Live Radar Review. How good is this? You put radar in front of any word and it becomes a segment.

Cover-ups featured Neil Finn & Johnny Marr performing a live cover of There is a Light That Never Goes Out (can you legimately cover a song that you co-wrote?), contrasting with Peaches' cover of Electric Six's Gay Bar. That's right, I wanna take you to a..

Electronic Ecstasy showcased a track from the inserthyperbolicadjective forthcoming Fischerspooner album, Odyssey. SO GOOD. Other tracks included a George W remix of Mass Destruction by Faithless and some delicious poptrash with Cam Farrar's Wasted.

Playlist for March 7th
New Order - Crystal
Doves - Black & White Town
Peter Gabriel - Digging in the Dirt
The Decemberists - Engine Driver
Kings of Convenience - I'd Rather Dance With You Than Talk With You
Neil Finn & Johnny Marr - There is a Light that Never Goes Out (live)
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Me & Mia
Supergrass - Mary (live)
Thirteen Senses - Into the Fire
The Dears - Who Are You, Defenders of the Universe (live radar session)
Patrick Wolf - The Libertine
Arctic Monkeys - Scummy
Flamingo Crash - Ladies Say Stop
Fischerspooner - Cloud
Faithless - Mass Destruction (George W Mix)
Cam Farrar - Wasted
Mooney Suzuki vs Nelly
Blur vs Beyonce
Peaches - Gay Bar
Morrissey - Tomorrow
Blur - Colin Zeal

See you next week people :)

underneath the radar: week eleven

2005-03-02T00:58:00.000+11:00

What a great week. Loved airing my Prosaics interview, playing delicious tracks & analysing everything. Admittedly I was on a high after managing to interview singer Murray Lightburn from the Dears! Many thanks go out to David Benge for organising everything. What a thrilling afternoon, one I won't forget for a fair while! Expect the chat to be broadcast in the coming weeks, hopefully by then I'll be able to describe the experience with some coherency... ok maybe not.

In other news, much love and gratitude goes out to uksuperfanboy Adam who managed to chase up Art Brut's Eddie Argos after their gig and ask him for an interview on Music is My Radar! Man, way to impress El, my god! So fantastic, love Art Brut. If you don't know these guys, do endeavour to check out artbrut.org.uk. I'm all for serious bands and all but there are few artists that can make me grin like Eddie Argos does. So funny.

12:51 is the time my voice found the words i sought
Uni started again today so that can only mean that the original prototype for Music is My Radar, Cassettes and Chocolate Milk is back on Latrobe's SUB FM each Wednesday afternoon from 1pm. The C&C Milk Factory is a bit different to Radar so if you like the show, I suggest you listen online on the SUB website!

Playlist for Feb 28th
Pink Grease - Strip
The Strokes - 12:51
The Faint - Typing 1974-2048
The Jam - This is the Modern World
Art Brut - Modern Art
Elle Milano - Ooo Beyoncé Baby
Sunshine Trash - Velvet Suicide
Prosaics - Teeth/Crawling
Gang of Four - Natural's Not It
Dears - 22: Death of All Romance
Bloc Party - Always New Depths
Morrissey - The World is Full of Crashing Bores (live)
Prosaics - Failure/Now the Shadow of the Column
Smashing Pumpkins - 1979 (live)
Noel Gallagher & the Stereophonics - I'm Only Sleeping
One Giant Leap - My Culture
Prosaics - Tenants
Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again
Morrissey - Suedehead
Blur - Clover Over Dover
The Bravery - Out of Line
Phantom Planet - Lonely Day

Coming Up: Talks with Cause & Effect, The Dears & Moving Units!

radarlove: prosaics

2005-02-27T10:17:00.000+11:00

... is that a SMILE?!
This Monday night, I'll be talking to lead singer Andy Comer of the intensely dark and prodigal New York three piece, Prosaics about the production on their EP, Aghast Agape, their compelling lyrics and those inevitable comparisons to other postpunk New York acts. You know the ones we mean..

If you haven't heard Prosaics, do head on over to their MySpace to preview some of the passion and urgency I've been talking (read:ranting) about... Otherwise, I do recommend you all download Teeth (4.1mb) care of the lovely people at Insound.

For all those NYC people who are unable to catch the show, the interview is also available for download here (9mb). Now there are no missish excuses to miss it, hehe...

underneath the radar: week ten

2005-02-22T10:16:00.000+11:00

Much love and acknowledgement go out to all those who caught the show this week. I also extend apologetic thanks to DJ Spiro who I continue to obliterate on-air. I am so sorry. I somehow turn into missyel:djsuperbitch on air. Regardless my stomach muscles still ache from the laughing.

faux-indie-band pretend to be new order for crystal
This week's show featured tracks from New Order's forthcoming album, Waiting for the Sirens' Call. The album is officially released in Australia on March 27 through Warner - or you can always preorder the album on Amazon. You can watch the video for their new single, Krafty here. The album doesn't grab me yet, I must admit. It doesn't have the musical immediacy of 2001's Get Ready or the addictively sublime elements of Sumner's effort on Electronic's Twisted Tenderness. But I figure it's only a matter of time until it's on heavy radar rotation.

Minor rants included:

The New Morrissey Express. RIGHT. Picture this. The last of the British music publications, NME decide to publish an article about you, patching together weak evidence that you are indeed a fascist. Evidence includes waving a British flag at a festival and writing a song called the National Front Disco. You know, cause it's the type of thing that would stand up in court...

OK. As a sexy quiffed up rockstar, you swear off the magazine. You vow to never do an interview with the NME again - consequently influencing fans to never purchase the magazine. As the fine beast that you are, you manage to have some sort of an influence over the masses. In the past, you have managed to swear fans off eating meat (via Meat is Murder) and listening to insensitive radio DJs (think Panic).

Twelve years later, you need press for your new album. You decide, for some reason unbeknownst to everyone concerned, you decide to go to the last of the British music publications, the NME. Likewise, you decide to speak to Steve Wright again. WHY? Where's the love? Integrity? Conviction? You'll be promoting British Beef next, mark my words Moz.

For love of B-Sides - where artists have the opportunity to slack off and produce B grade music without consequence. A band's B-side ethic has a lot to do with how musicians produce music when they know their ever loyal circle of fans will accept almost anything.

Pressure & conformity in the music industry - specifically looked at Queen's efforts to refrain from popular trends. You'd imagine that a career spanning from 1973 to 1991, the group had pressure to conform to passing trends such as punk, funk, hip hop, new wave and disco. They did OK for five years, but the pressure really buckled with 1982's much dissed release, Hot Space. You'd hardly think that their effort to be fashionable was almost unwholly unfashionable. By that time, funk was five years out of date. Good for us that FUNK IS BACK YEAH. VIVA HOTSPACE!

Playlist for Feb 21st
The Libertines - Boys in the Band
Morrissey - National Front Disco
Art Brut - Bad Weekend
House of Love - She Shine On
The Church - The Unguarded Moment
House of Love - Loneliness is a Gun
New Order - Krafty
New Order - Dream Attack <3
New Order - Dracula's Castle
Frou Frou - Holding out for a Hero
Postal Service - Such Great Heights
Moving Units - Anyone
Bloc Party - Tulips
Oasis - Underneath the Sky
Cure - Halo
New Order - I Told You So
Interpol - Obstacle 1
The Smiths - Rubber Ring
Queen - It's Late
Rufus Wainwright - Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk
Pet Shop Boys - How Can You Expect to be Taken Seriously?

PS: More apologies for musical crankiness. I still love you, Barney, Moz & Freddie. BRIAN, however, I'm still thinking about it. Going on a Queen tour without a campy frontman. Pfft.

underneath the radar: week nine

2005-02-15T23:21:00.000+11:00

Well, Summer of SYN is ending so the station can draw a heavy sigh of relief. But don't breathe too soon because "SYN is the Word" is about to be pumped down the airwaves for the next 12 weeks. Ignore the fact that SYN is not really a word but an acronym for the Student Youth Network. Regardless, it's sure to be great. Do be tuned to 90.7FM

This week's show was really sweet. The theme was the incredibly self indulgent radarlove mixed tape of love and radar. I brought it upon myself to play uncharacteristically romantic tracks - note the departure from gloom (ie Morrissey) and sex (ie The Faint). Despite this I made no promises about the radio-friendliness of these songs. So good. Love radio.

Songs from the Front Row featured Freddie Mercury encouraging the masses to sing Love of My Life with Brian May on an acoustic twelve string. That's with Queen by the way. This provided something of a contrast to the Postal Service's efforts to create something of a live atmosphere on their KCRW studio session. Karaoke? Yeah. I think so.

Cover-ups featured Merril Bainbridge's sublime cover of Being Boring, originally penned by the Pet Shop Boys for their album, Behaviour. Other tracks included Wilco's live interpretation of Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear the Reaper, Cat Power trying out Wonderwall and Sub Pop's star act Low, in fact Dreaming Last Night That Somebody Loved Them. I am so tacky aren't I?

Fallen Figures featured the rise of INXS and the fall of Michael Hutchence.

PLUS! An unutterably bizarre collaboration leaked from the Radar Vaults - Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury. Many have disputed this track actually exists but guess what, Radar has it. And Radar played it. HA.

Playlist for Feb 14th
The Music - Breakin'
Prosaics - Teeth
Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure
Queen - Love of My Life (live - 1979)
Postal Service - Clark Gable ("live")
Erasure - My Heart, So Blue (orchestral mix)
Badly Drawn Boy - Logic of a Friend
Coldplay - Trouble
Bloc Party - Pioneers
Merril Bainbridge - Being Boring
Wilco - Don't Fear the Reaper (live)
Cat Power - Wonderwall
Low - Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved me
Frou Frou - Close Up
Moving Units - Unpersuaded
Franz Ferdinand - 40 Ft
INXS - By My Side
Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays
The Cure - A Letter to Elise
Freddie Mercury & Michael Jackson - There Must Be More to Life Than This
The Decemberists - Shiny
Depeche Mode - Policy of Truth
Broken Social Scene - Cause=Time

underneath the radar: week eight

2005-02-08T17:21:00.000+11:00

This week was a great deal of fun, did enjoy it immensely. Aired the Elle Milano interview, integrated with many great tracks. If you want to hear only the interview, scroll down to the next entry about Elle Milano & you'll be able to download the zipped audio. If you are bouncing around the UK at the moment check out their website as they've got a few dates coming up shortly.

As I came through the door last night I was informed I said something inherently stupid during the show:

"So check out ellemilano.co.uk - but the milano only has one elle, but the L has two elles"

Say it out loud, you'll see I said L like 4 times in that sentence. OK ANYWAY...

As for news, I've managed to semi organise an interview with the Dears who are going to be in Melbourne at the end of the month -- as well as chats from Moving Units who will be here at the end of March! So thrilled to even see either of these guys live let alone talk with them. AHH VERY HAPPY!

And for people that are interested, Bloc Party's album launch is on this Thursday night at 161 (that's 161 High Street Prahran). This means the official date for Silent Alarm is drawing closer people. Hope to see you all there.

Hopeless selfpromotional plug - I'll be DJing at the Blanc Franc Music Exchange this Friday night. It's at the Royal Derby which is at the corner of Brunswick St & Alexandra Pde. I would encourage visitors at the beginning of the night - in contrast I do *not* encourage visitors for my DJ gig at Federation Square the next night. Too. Public. Not. Indie. Enough. AGH.

Songs from the Front Row featured Dave Gahan and the devoted Depeche Mode boys live circa 1993. You know it's what any band in their right mind would do. Their lead singer is obviously too incapacitated to record an album. He's completely out of control on tour. So what do they do? Release a live album which completely rehashes their last studio effort. But whatever, I still love it.

take my hand, come back to to the land, where everything's ours, for a few hours
Songs from the Front Row also featured a rendition of Pictures of You by The Cure from their most recent tour. There was also a track from the Futureheads, doing an acoustic track which ironically far outshines the original version.

New segment Mash-ups Go Home Production's relatively famous Karma in the Life which combines the Beatles' A Day in the Life and Radiohead's Karma Police. Look out for this segment cause no doubt it'll contain more weird and wonderful combinations...

Electronic Ecstasy featured some chilled out tracks from Faithless and Frou Frou.

Playlist for Feb 7th
Richard Ashcroft - A Song for Lovers
Brendan Benson - Emma J
Charlatans - Up at the Lake
Depeche Mode - Walking in My Shoes (live 93)
Cure - Pictures of You (live 2004)
Futureheads - Meantime (acoustic)
Elle Milano - Swearing's for Arts Students
Elle Milano - All American
Elle Milano - Ooo Beyoncé Baby
Hot Hot Heat - Goodnight Goodnight
The Dears - Who are you, Defenders of the Universe?
The Strokes & Regina Spektor - Modern Girls & Old Fashioned Men
The Beatles vs Radiohead - Karma in the Life
+/- - Trapped Under Ice Floes
Elle Milano - Private Thoughts
Elle Milano - bbb burn the bigger picture
Frou Frou - Let's Go
Faithless - Evergreen
Elle Milano - La Presidente
Elle Milano - Men Are Bastards
Smiths - Back to the Old House (Troy Tate session)
Colin Meloy - I Know Very Well How I Got My Name

Just to stop all those rumours, Music is My Radar will be continuing into the first grid of 2005 on SYN. Same bat time, same bat station. How menacing those rumours were..

Coming up: Prosaics, Cause & Effect, The Dears & Moving Units.. OMG!

radarlove: elle milano

2005-02-04T14:08:00.000+11:00

Elle vs Elle
This week, El talks to lead singer Adam from Elle Milano about the mechanics of hype in an age of the unsigned indie band. Styling from Leicester in the UK, Elle Milano have sparked a wildfire of interest within the scene despite their passive publicity methods. Their music does all the promoting for them: fast, furious, darn catchy with lashings of sarcasm in their politically charged lyrics. On Monday night, we'll talk about the value of hype, confronting lyrics along with their adventures in lo-fi. Imagine - all this combined with the group's insatisable love of pop music. How can you not love this band? Check out what these guys are all about on their website..

.. or you can just download Swearing's for Arts Students

Check out how the band got together in an excerpt that didn't make the final cut due to the inordinate blandness of the question & the creatively odd answer. It also missed the final edit because the interviewer (ahem) was having a laughing fit mid sample.

Download here! (837kb)

UPDATE!
Download the whole interview here from this temporary link. It's about 8.4mb zipped. Very entertaining listen, I like it quite a lot.

underneath the radar: week seven

2005-02-02T11:53:00.000+11:00

Had a great amount of fun & music this week. Things are sure to be huge for many weeks to come so stay posted...

Featured Interview - Audrey from the Polyphonic Spree. The 3 part interview should be posted on the site shortly..

Tour News - I just heard last night that Canadian group The Dears are coming to play at St Jeromes'! It's for the St Jeromes' Laneway Festival. Check out the lineup, it's about $36 + bf. So very excited! YEA.

Songs from the Front Row featured Jack White shouting at crowd surfers during a rendition of De Ballit De Boll Weevil. Also featured Bloc Party in Amsterdam and Death Cab for Cutie doing a live cover of the Stone Roses' I Wanna Be Adored.

Electronic Ecstasy featured the work of Bernard Sumner & Johnny Marr (formally known as Electronic) and some early Cause & Effect. Synthlove? I think so..

Playlist for Jan 31st
!!! - Intensify
Blur - Charmless Man
The Dears - Warm and Sunny Days
Pulp - This is Hardcore
The Polyphonic Spree - Hold me Now
White Stripes - De Ballit De Boll Weevil (live)
Bloc Party - Positive Tension (live)
Death Cab for Cutie - I Wanna Be Adored (live)
Mclusky - To Hell with Good Intentions
Arctic Monkeys - Scummy
Libertines - Don't Look Back into the Sun
The Polyphonic Spree - Two Thousand Places
Morrissey - It's Hard to Walk Tall if You're Small
The Bravery - Fearless
Prosaics - Tenants
Electronic - Vivid
Cause & Effect - You Think You Know Her
The Polyphonic Spree - One Man Show
The Rakes - Strasbourg
The Departure - Dirty Words
A Certain Ratio - Do the Du
The Stills - Love and Death

Coming up: Elle Milano, Prosaics and Cause & Effect interviews.

radarlove: the polyphonic spree

2005-01-28T17:27:00.000+11:00

spreeing is believing
The Polyphonic Spree are in Melbourne to douse crowds with their unique brand of psychedelic symphonic pop at this year's Big Day Out. This tour follows on from one of the most radiantly happy records of 2004, Together We're Heavy. Complementing their immensely euphoric sound, The Polyphonic Spree are nothing short of a visual splendor, consisting of 24 multi-instrumentalists donned in brightly coloured choir robes.

So what's up with it all? Why all the happiness? Robes? Sun and Colours? Next Monday 31st January (10pm til midnight), I'll talk to flute player Audrey Easley about all those things and more. We even talk about robe-envy :)

Feel the love, glory & happiness and listen to Hold Me Now (4.3mb)

underneath the radar: week six

2005-01-26T06:39:00.000+11:00

Nice to be back in SYN studio for another week. Really big show with lots of great tracks and special features.

Songs from the Front Row featured a rare live collaboration between Ben Folds & Rufus Wainwright (singing Wham, yuhuh) & Franz Ferdinand performing an early Beatles track

Fallen Figures examined incredibly stupid rock star behaviour & its contribution to the downfall of artists, the KLF. In their short time at the top,

they managed to get around their lack of conventional promotion by indulging in extensive billboard graffiti

at 92's Brit Awards, Drummond opened blank semiautomantic fire on the crowd during their performance

there was delivery of dead animals to afterparties

a few days later their back catologue was deleted

in the early hours of the 23 August 1994, in a boathouse on Jura off the west coast of Scotland, Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond burned the assets of the foundation — £1 million in £50 notes.

last year they said they regretted it..

Apologies to the KLF but if you indulge in such recklessly stupid behaviour you don't get airplay on Radar. But what a mess, my god.

This week, Radar also looked at the Demise of Pop with special reference to how the genre died, how it lives today in mashed up genres and how we regard pure pop music now. Tracks from Head Automatica proves one of the most interesting mashed up piece, including inherently pop, indie and heavy metal influences. Rooney indicate how much the corporate pop genre is still scorned, nearly 8 years after its "offical death". I included Elle Milano too because they like pop and use it an unusual influence. That and they're very good.

Electronic Ecstacy featured Depeche Mode, Chemical Brothers, Client & Pet Shop Boys.

Playlist for Jan 24
Placebo - The Bitter End
The Departure - All Mapped Out
Bloc Party - Pioneers
Ben Folds & Rufus Wainwright - Careless Whisper (live)
Franz Ferdinand - It Won't Be Long (live)
No Standing - Drive On
Hives - Two Thousand Timing Broken Bones
Polyphonic Spree - Hold Me Now
Art Brut - Good Weekend
Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Passtimes and Lifestyles
Arkarna - Rehab
Wheat - I Met a Girl
Rooney - Popstars
Elle Milano - La Presidente
Head Automatica - Heart Beating Baby
Depeche Mode - Dream On
Chemical Brothers - Believe (feat. Kele Okereke)
Pet Shop Boys - Home & Dry
Client - Pornography (feat. Carl Barat)
Elefant - Tonight Let's Dance
The Dears - Who Are You, Defenders of the Universe?
The Smiths - Pretty Girls Make Graves
Guster - Two Points for Honesty
Bright Eyes - Lover, I Don't Have to Love

Coming up: Talks with Audrey from the Polyphonic Spree (she wears the PINK robe!), Adam from Elle Milano and the lead singer Andy from fabulously dark, intense and goodlooking New York act, Prosaics. See ya next week!

radar in the press: the guardian

2005-01-23T20:18:00.000+11:00

Who wouldn't be chuffed to see an oblique press reference to Music is My Radar in Britain's Guardian newspaper?? This was in their Guide magazine from Saturday 22nd January. OOH I SAY!

I love you guys at blocparty.net, thanks so much for hosting the interview. The Bloc Boys have also headed up a very recent issue of the New Musical Express, so very proud.

In other news, I'm talking to the flute player of the Polyphonic Spree tomorrow. Interviews with the Prosaics, Moving Units & Elle Milano coming up. I promise you - I deliver... sometimes

underneath the radar: week five

2005-01-18T18:21:00.000+11:00

Due to unforeseen technical difficulties, SYN hasn't been broadcasting the past few days. Very sad to convey that there were no radio festivities this week. I thought I'd attach a photo of how Morrissey's taking the news...

I'm sure AUTO DJ had a blast though >:(

Fear not, will be back on next week. Elle Milano interview is in the editing rooms at the moment, keep posted for the radar and the love! In the meantime, check out ellemilano.co.uk and fall in provocative and controversial love.

underneath the radar: week four

2005-01-11T20:33:00.000+11:00

This week's show was so much fun. Massive thanks to DJ Spiro for coming on Radar this week for what proved to be an excessively wild, fun and irrelevent (not irreverent) show.

Listening to it back only a few moments ago, I was reminded why I do radio solo: I am rude and I don't listen all that well. My communication skills are kind of at a minimum...

One of my favourite on air moments has to be

Spiro: (swivelling on chair, hyper) Y'know El, you have like way too much sugar.. whenever we talk on the phone you're always like, having chocolate or eating junkfood. It was never like that at my house. We never had food, blah blah blah.
El: (not really listening) OMFG, I have the BIGGEST slurpee craving right now!

SO stupid. But it's good thing I'm doing a show about MUSIC and I don't actually have to listen like, at all....

Songs from the Front Row featured the Ocean Colour Scene and Oasis. Oasis track featured Liam going off at Noel for tuning his guitar: "It dunnit matter if it's outta tune - cause you're cool!"
Radar Reviews the Faint's fantastic performance in St Kilda on 7/01/05
Electronic Ecstasy featured Le Tigre, New Order and Yaz
Oddly Special Radar Mixed Tape featured songs to drive cars to

i disappear..
Playlist for Jan 10th
Von Bondies - C'mon C'mon
Mooney Suzuki - Alive and Amplified
Radio 4 - Sink So Low
Ocean Colour Scene - The Day We Caught the Train (live)
Oasis - I am the Walrus (live)
The Faint - I Disappear
The Stills - Allison Krausse
OK GO - Hello My Treacherous Friends
The Smiths - There is a Light that Never Goes Out
Elle Milano - Private Thoughts
Prosaics - Failure
Moloko - The Time is Now
The Anniversary - Sweet Marie
MV - Ma Baker
The Roots - The Seed
Wolfmother - Woman
New Order - Everything's Gone Green
Le Tigre - Deceptacon
Yaz - Nobody's Diary
Travis - Quicksand
Franz Ferdinand - Michael
Belle & Sebastian - Step into ma office baby
Iggy Pop - The Passenger
Elvis Costello - I Don't Want to go to Chelsea

Coming up: Radarlove overdose with the Gear interview coming up. Talks with lead singer Adam from Leicester's own Elle Milano and LA's Moving Units. Thrilled? I think you should be...

underneath the radar: week three

2005-01-03T21:08:00.000+11:00

Happy New Year all! Hope you had a fantastic time bringing in the new year. God knows I enjoyed playing trashy music to the trashed out masses. Sounds like fun? Well, kind of. I am a closet pop addict.

Onto the news at hand, had an enormous week in radio at SYN studios. Aired the Bloc Party interview & indulged in so many Bloc tracks. Ahem, apologies for that but I really couldn't help myself :) If you missed the interview, scroll down cause it's available for download! Much thanks to James L of blocparty.net for hosting!

Songs from the Front Row featured live Interpol & a track from the last Smiths concert
Electronic Ecstasy featured the glitchy and sublime Postal Service & Depeche Mode
Nice Video, Shame About The Song included Weezer! Ahh so nice! You can watch their videos ici!

Playlist for Jan 3rd
Futureheads - Meantime
Sons & Daughters - Broken Bones
Elle Milano - Oo Beyoncé Baby
Interpol - PDA (live in Lille 2004)
Smiths - Some Girls are Bigger Than Others (live at the Brixton Academy 1986)
Bloc Party - She's Hearing Voices/Banquet
Embrace - Gravity
Travis - Love Will Come Through
Eskimo Joe - From the Sea
Postal Service - Nothing Better
Depeche Mode - Shake the Disease
Bloc Party - Tulips
Franz Ferdinand - Dark of the Matinée
New Black - Booze Olympics
Bloc Party - Helicopter/Little Thoughts/Blue Light
Guster - So Long
Weezer - Buddy Holly
Blur - TOPMAN

Updates soon my peeps

radarlove: bloc party

2004-12-30T14:13:00.000+11:00

God Bless BLOC PARTY
It is coming up people! This Monday night, El will chat to bassist Gordon Moakes from London's Bloc Party about the music press, the group dynamic, tours & festivals, the new album & songwriting methods. Keep your ears poised to the speakers because it should be great. I love this band too much, really.

For all you international people, you can stop the fear, I'll post the interview shortly after airtime! But if you want to hear the show to air, you can click here & listen to the show streaming in your little corner of the world! You can even see your own SYN FM get a mention alongside The Guardian, John Peel, MTV & Jools Holland on blocparty.net's interview page! O the pride! The glamour!

In the meantime, get yourself acquainted with the Bloc's discography. If you're too lazy to even do that, I thoroughly recommend you listen to the relentlessly intense Banquet (3.2mb). Their forthcoming album Silent Alarm is unspeakbly beautiful, even I'm a little gobsmacked about it. The UK release date is Valentine's Day, but we have to wait til the Feb 19th. Tis too long even now - but it is worth it. Radarlove overdose.

UPDATE
Download the interview here:
Part 1: The Music Press (2.3mb)
Part 2: The Band (2.3mb)
Part 3: The New Album (1.8mb)
Part 4: Songwriting (2.2mb)

underneath the radar: week two

2004-12-29T13:40:00.000+11:00

Where it all began...

Many thanks to those who caught the show this week, it was positively huge. Bursting at the seams one might say. I did the honours of premièring my half hour radio documentary I produced for uni. As quoted by the accompanying essay:

"This is for the Fans" is an aural collage of intimate stories from rock music’s most devoted and passionate. The feature particularly concentrates on fans that express their passion through different creative methods. Characters range from the writer, who composes poetry based on the music of his favourite band, to the fashion designer who has designed clothing inspired by that shown in a video clip. These stories are contrasted by a grim narration, which indirectly associates love of music with society’s negative perception of fandom. The piece contains the underlying conclusion that love or hate can occur with the associations fans have with music, not with the music itself.

If you did miss the documentary and you do want to hear it desperately.. well, you can ask me if you really really want it. I'll probably turn you down, but there's nothing to lose in trying!

Fallen Figures featured post punk gloom and doom with Ian Curtis & Joy Division
Under Cover featured covers from Jamie Callum covering Radiohead & Ben Folds covering the Darkness. Yes, I speak true..
Electronic Ecstasy featured The Faint & New Order (new album in March!)
Nice Video, Shame About the Song featured The White Stripes & showcased their work with music video director Michel Gondry

Playlist for Dec 27th
The Strokes - Automatic Stop
Hot Hot Heat - Touch You, Touch You
Le Tigre - Deceptacon
Kings of Convenience - I'd Rather Dance With You Than Talk With You (live)
The Stills - Retour a Vega
Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better
!!! - Hello, is this thing on?
The Faint - Worked Up So Sexual
Bloc Party - Banquet
Queen - In the Lap of the Gods (revisited)
Jamie Callum - High & Dry
Ben Folds - Get Your Hands off Ma Woman
The Faint - Southern Belles in London Sing
New Order - Someone Like You
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Peel Session)
Joy Division - She's Lost Control
White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
White Stripes - Truth Doesn't Make a Noise
The Zutons - Pressure Point

Til next week my people!
Love E xx

underneath the radar: week one

2004-12-23T20:32:00.000+11:00

So mad to be back on air. For a bit of background, I'm El + I'm hosting Music is My Radar on SYN FM. Be sure to catch all festivities on 10pm - midnight on Mondays only 90.7 - but if you can't catch it, be sure to check back frequently to see what's going down each week during the summer grid.

International times for non Melbourne people, check out what time you have to listen in!

Listen online to SYN FM streaming 24/7

Background Stuff
About two years ago, I started doing radio at Latrobe Uni's SUB FM. Originally it was an outlet because their music department was shut down ten years ago. I found out that I had come to really love radio, to the point where I later named the show after two things I love excessively, Cassettes and Chocolate Milk. Admittedly, it felt weird about going through a whole summer with no radio action. So in the early summer of 2003, I came to SYN FM where I co-presented Music For the Masses on SYN FM's indie night with Fi for two grids.

Later I helped out Tony T's ever popular happy hardcore show, The Global Underground. After MT4M was wrapt up, I went on to co-present Tuesday's Hoist which used to be SYN FM's All-Australian drive time music show. During this time I also did a bit of TV producing on Channel 31's SYN TV. Once radio adventures ceased at SUB FM for the summer, I decided to present a solo show on SYN FM called Music is My Radar - and now I'm back on SUB, Wednesdays 1-3pm. So yes. El spends way too much times with ugly earphones on her head.

Week One News + Features
A completely weird week for music lovers - for me at least. The Libertines played their last gig Paris. On the same bill, PJ Harvey announced she wasn't doing live shows anymore. Queen reformed without Freddie Mercury. They plan to tour Europe April 2005 with Paul Rogers on lead vocals. Rumours circulated that Morrissey plans to tour Australia in March/April. Andy Bell of Erasure announced he was HIV Positive. Weird, sad and tragic.

The Fallen Figures of Rock closely examined the relationship between Pete Doherty and Carl Barat following the demise of the Libertines. Other features included On the Radar + tracks from the Radar vaults.

Playlist for Dec 20th
Elefant - Misfit
Interpol - Small Hands
Erasure - Ship of Fools
Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence ('04 Remix)
The Faint - Desperate Guys
Franz Ferdinand - Shopping for Blood
The Strokes - Reptilia
Bloc Party - Skeleton
The Futureheads - Hounds of Love
Gwen Stefani feat. New Order - The Real Thing
Spoon - The Way We Get By
The Libertines - Don't Look Back Into the Sun
Babyshambles - Killamingaro
The Kinks - All Day + All of the Night
The Jam - In the City
Queen - Orge Battle (Live at the Hammersmith Odeon 1975)
Prosaics - Teeth
Moving Units - Unpersuaded
Phantom Planet - First Things First
Gang of Four - Ether
Bloc Party - Staying Fat
Phoenix - Run Run Run
Razorlight - Golden Touch
Blur - Magic America
Badly Drawn Boy - Once Around the Block
The Smiths - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
The Killers - Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself (Morrissey Cover)
Radio 4 - How the Stars Got Crossed

Coming up: El's Radio Documentary about musical fandom + its sociological ties. Interview with Gordy from UK act Bloc Party. Interview with local indie act The Gear. Interview with Californian synthpop act Cause + Effect.