Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

With the radio station's mascot being a porker, what more contrived a farewell could I come up with than Goodybe Pork Pie Hat...?  After five years in Moranbah we're moving on and so this is my last ever show for 4rfm.  Goodbye listeners... if I had any...  Two hours of playing whatever music I wanted - my only qualification being the fact I walked in off the street and asked to have my own show.  I won't get that opportunity again.  So here is my final ever tracklisting: Mingus Big Band - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat / Low - Breaker / Arthur Russell - This Is How We Walk On The Moon (Labyrinth Ear Rework) / Bob Gibson - Yes I See / Justice - Canon (Erol Alkan's Extended Rework) / Chico Buarque - Construcao / Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around / Todd Terje - Inspector Norse / Metronomy - Corinne / Battles - Ice Cream (featuring Matias Aguayo) / Josh White - St James Infirmary / Nicolas Jaar - Too Many Kids Finding Rain In The Dust / Ghostpoet - Survive It / Art Pepper - Summertime / Free Bidou - Amicalment Votre / I:Cube - Transpiration / Mujeres - Frantic / The Dillards - Banjo In The Hollow / Paul Gilbert - BRO / The Rhythm Odyssey - Move Groove (Dr Dunks Remix) / Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - Our House / Battles - UW / Nathan Fake - You Are Here (Four Tet Remix) / Cornershop - Topknot / Aloe Blacc and Joel Van Dijk - I Got The Blues / Brian Eno - The Big Ship.

Valentine's Day

In anticipation of Valentine's Day, I decided to play Stupid Cupid on my Thursday night show.  Not just the Connie Francis song, but a matchmaking game involving songs.  Pairing Romeo and Juliet (the Basement Jaxx song with the Thin White Duke remix of Avalon) didn't work quite as well as Shakespeare would have hoped.  However, Mrs Robinson and Mr Grieves fared much better, the former by the Lemonheads and the latter by the Pixies.  Dirty Harry (Gorillaz) and Sexy Sadie (Beatles) made an odd couple with a dubious future, but there was love in the air with Dr Baker (the Beta Band) and Sister Morphine (Ben Harvieu).  More surprising was the passionate union of Soldier Girl and Ramblin' Man (the Polyphonic Spree and Hank Williams, respectively), whereas the happiest date was perhaps reserved for the final couple: the Felice Brothers' Boy From Laurence County and Bob Dylan's Girl From The North Country.  More of a future for them, one would think, than the Black Keys' Psychotic Girl and Dolly Parton's Potential New Boyfriend.  If you can think of any other decent pairings, feel free to post your suggestions. 

Zappa Teaser

The music behind the moustache.  As part of 4rfm's run of 'Trax & Facts,' where an hour's show is dedicated to a single musician, I decided to showcase the man who offended Al Gore's wife, named his children Moon Unit, Ahmet and Dweezil, and left behind a legacy of music, both incredibly good and incredibly bad.  Here's the tracklisting for the show: Leather Goods / WPLJ / Tiger Roach / Hungry Freaks, Daddy / Zolar Czakl / Peaches En Regalia / Joe's  Garage / Theme From Burnt Weeny Sandwich / San Ber'dino / Dedicated To The One I Love (Ruben & The Jets) / Little Boy Blue (Tim Dawe) / Things I Wonder (The Shaggs) / Opus 1, No.3, 2nd Movement, Presto / Hot Poop / Let's Make The Water Turn Black / We Are Not Alone / Sofa No.2.

Divetime Radio

To celebrate Moranbah pool opening, tonight's show was all about the water.  Here's the tracklisting: Loudon Wainwright III - The Swimming Song / Modest Mouse - Ocean Breathes Salty / Laura Marling - Alas, I Cannot Swim / Make-Up - Wade In The Water / Feist - The Water / Bob Dylan - High Water / Woody Guthrie - Swimmy Swim / Foals - Like Swimming / Caribou - Odessa (from the album 'Swim') / Foals - Heavy Water / Suzy and the Red Stripes - Seaside Woman / Beach Boys - Cool Cool Water / The Horrors - Sea Within A Sea / Blue King Brown - Water / Kim - Wet n' Wild (Midnight Juggernauts remix) / Frank Zappa - Let's Make The Water Turn Black / Sly & The Family Stone - Swim / Custom Kings - Swimming In The Darkness / White Denim - River To Consider / Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea / Geno Washington - Water / Metronomy - The Bay / John Martyn - Back Down The River / Ani di Franco - Swim / Rennie Foster -  Devil's Water / Sandy Dillon - Float / Little Dragon - Swimming / Ramsey Lewis - Wade In The Water.

Top 100, Pt.2

Part 2 of the Top 100 preview.  Which two songs received votes for three different versions?  How did the Rolling Stones fare?  What is the greatest version of the greatest song of all time?  All these superlatives and more.  Download the show by click on the above image or title.

Top 100, Pt.1

 

For the first time ever, 4RFM asked its listeners to vote for their favourite songs of all time.  In the first few weeks of voting, our listeners surprised us by putting LMFAO at number one.  We subtly suggested they were nuts and the eventual winner turned out to be Cold Chisel - Khe Sanh.  The above show, which can be downloaded via the image or by clicking on the title above, previews some of the songs which didn't quite make it.  In addition to the oldest song which received votes, there's a tune from the most voted for band, some Black Keys, some Jimmy Smith, some INXS, some Angus and Julia Stone ...and why didn't anyone vote for Madonna?

Australia Day 2012

Rinky-di-dunny.  Rinky-di-do.  Here's the tracklisting for my Off the Record show on Australia Day (8pm-10pm on 4RFM).  100% Australian.  Except for my accent.  Rocket Science - Being Followed / INXS - Mystify / The Presets - I Go Hard, I Go Home / Macromantics - Scorch / Faux Pas - Coach / Icehouse - Hey Little Girl (Infusion remix) / EK - Keep It Casual / Powderfinger - My Happiness / Meem feat. Phoenix - Wyldfour / Gurrumul - Wiyathul / Bertie Blackman - Hold Me Close / Ground Components - Hands In The Air / C.W. Stoneking - Don't Go Dancing / Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know / Faux Pas - Changes / Grinderman - (I Don't Need You To) Set Me Free / The Middle East - Jesus Came To My Birthday Party / Ground Components - As The Winter Months Approach / AC/DC - Hell's Bells / Loops Of Fury - I Need / The Easybeats - She's So Fine / The Presets - Steamworks / The Go-Betweens - Finding You / Dirty Three - Zither Player / Gurrumul - Marwurumburr / Bob Evans - From St Kilda To Kings Cross / Little Red - Rock It / Nick Cave - Into My Arms.

West to East, Pt.2

The US tour continues from Nashville to Sweet Virginia to Baltimore, Ohio, Chicago... and look out Cleveland... and then finally New York... yeah, New York... with a final stop off in Massachusetts.  Not the most direct route admittedly, but we get there in the end.  If you want to download the show, click on the title or the photo.

West to East, Pt.1

With Mr. America himself, Barrack Obama, coming to Australia it was time for our radio station to celebrate.  As you can see from this map, I took a road tour and travelled across America via song.  In the first part of this show, you'll find me going from California, taking the motorway to Roswell, stopping by a New Orleans function, and sending a letter to Memphis.  Click on the photo or title to be taken through to where you can download the show.

Christmas, Pt.2

And here's part two of the festive show...  Merry Christmas Merry Men and Merry Women and I'll be back live again (every Thursday at 8pm) from 12 January onwards.

Christmas, Pt.1

With decorations going up in October, Christmas spirit was lagging by the start of December.  To get people back in a frenzy of festive cheer, I trawled through every Christmas song ever recorded and selected only the very best for this two-hour show.  So, no Chris Rea or Last Christmas.  Rather, there's Flaming Lips, Sharon Jones, Leadbelly, Mogwai, Low, Jose Feliciano, and a replastered version of BandAid.  To download the show, click on the above title or image.

Nirvana, Pt.2

Definitely one of my favourite shows to do, I'll have to revisit Nirvana more often.  For part two, there's some Neil Young, some Foo Fighters, some fecal matter, and some Hole - the last two being rather similar.  I have a stab at Kurt's main influences, playing songs from the Replacements, Os Mutantes, Daniel Johnson and Husker Du - maybe unwise, but who's to say?  Click on the above title to download this part of the show.

Nirvana, Pt.1

To coincide with Nevermind's 20th birthday, I devoted a show to Nirvana.  Listening to songs I hadn't heard for years made me remember how much fun it was to be a Nirvana fan in the early '90s.  Your feet were to be tapped rather than dragged.  Mixed in with my favourite Nirvana songs is the first record Kurt ever bought, the first riff he ever learnt on the guitar, some Shocking Blue, some skewy jazz, some Jackson 5, and - for reasons which will be explained - 'Fortunate Son' by Creedence Clearwater.  Click on the title or the photo to download the first part of the show.

Staying 'live

The last few shows have mainly been live so there's been a fair bit of skipping and adverts appearing out of nowhere.  Unfortunately I can't upload the live shows as they're not recorded, but I'll start putting the playlists on at some point.  Recent shows have been devoted to cars, sunshine and rain, and last night's show was two hours straight of some thirsty, furry, fiery Aussie music.  Also, I'll aim to upload the Nirvana special in the next few days.

Banned, Pt.2

Here, I get carried away by my own power and indulge in a lengthy desccription of Stagger Lee after playing the version by Lloyd Price.  I also let my guard down and listen, for the first time, to Chinese Democracy.  Nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be although the Chinese, as one might expect, took exception to the lyrics and banned the whole album.  However, in the unpopularity stakes at Chinese HQ, Guns n' Roses fall short compared to Bjork.  For the Dalai Lama, who's a huge fan of the unhinged Icelander, I play the Girl's Blouse remix of Hyperballard.  Click on the above title for the download.