We’re rooting for the sun these days, figuratively and literally, but somehow, it keeps evading us. What day is it? Will you please tell me? Oh, that’s right, it’s Wednesday and Bubble Wrap just did their show. This is where we tell you what we played. Among this week’s discoveries: CZ, Will Butler, Mode, As The Flowers Fall, and Simon Groß.
Indie Rock Turns 30 – January 8, 2020
| Music
Ok, 30 years is an arbitrary judgement on my part, but for me anyway, indie rock started in the very early 90s, which by my reckoning makes it 30 years old this year. Another decade begins. Where will the genre go? It’s a little soon to tell, but if I had to pick a band […]
Bombs and Threats of Bombs
| Songs
I woke up this morning humming “Woodstock,” the old Joni Mitchell song from back in the late ’60s. I wasn’t actually humming her version — I was humming the CSNY version which is harder and more conventionally rhythmic. Joni’s Woodstock is sadder and more desperate — “I have come here to lose the SMOG,” she […]
Caught In The Maze – October 9, 2019
| Radio
New music from Florist, Sudan Archives, The Maples, and Moon Duo. Track of the week: Sit Down Meal by Dry Cleaning. Otherwise, a quiet storm prevailed. Read on for listening notes and full playlist from Bubble Wrap.
Cataclysmic Fusion – September 25, 2019
| Radio
Orchestro Pacifico Tropical, Kokoko!, and Steve Lacy led the way on Bubble Wrap this week, taking dance music in all kinds of unexpected directions. Among the other luminaries, Modern Nature, Black Heart Saints, Magdalena Bay, and Fountain all with new and variegated tracks. And more, of course.
Keep A’Goin’ – September 18, 2019
| Radio
September is people doing everything they want to do now! the trend of this week’s list was that of a moderate forced march (Teto Lando), cheerfully midtempo (DJ Shadow/De La Soul, Canvas People) but tempered with shadows (Summer Cannibals) and glints of anger (Titus Andronicus), giving way uptempo encouragement (La Bruja De Texcoco). Read on […]
Ghost Funk – September 11, 2019
| Radio
This weeks’ playlist was leavened with a fair amount of jazz and experimental music, from the smooth 70s groove of Akira Toyoda to the adventurous (and affecting) composition of Mack Porter. Plenty of pop too, with Chaos Chaos, Lower Dens, Shredders, and even Bat for Lashes. Read on for details and full playlist.
Simon and Sunglasses – September 4, 2019
| Radio
So much good music this first week of September. Singles from Black Country, New Road, Geowulf, Blackpool Astronomy, and of course, the Weeping Bong Band. Also loved SAULT’s “Let Me Go” and Charlotte Adjigery’s “Cursed and Cussed.” Van Halen is “Hot for Teacher,” Tony Randall and Jack Klugman cover “You’re So Vain,” and civil defense preparedness continues with a spot from Tony Bennett. Read on for details and playlists.
Back and Forth – August 28, 2019
| Radio
Sometimes you just feel like listening to old music. This week, we dug way back into the archives for tracks from the ‘60s through the ‘90s, interspersing new tunes from this year. This gave us new Pixies followed by Todd Rundgren, Yo La Tengo and the Berries, and even Joni Mitchell and Donny Benét. Only […]
Time Is In The Elsewhere – August 21, 2019
| Radio
Time may be elsewhere but we are here on planet Earth, enjoying the last dregs of summer, the warm breezes, the sunny vistas, and sadly, the very first colored leaves of autumn peeping out of the greenery. Like the foliage, the music of this week pointed us toward fall – Violent Femmes, Hiss Golden Messenger, […]
Civil Defense – August 7, 2019
| Radio
Here in later summer, the music biz can get a bit slow, but not on Bubble Wrap where we grab the new tunes as fast as they bubble up. This week, a double dip of new indie and pop from The Sour Notes, The Nude Party, Lower Dens, Shannon Lay, and Luke and the Lonely, as well as new tunes from more established acts such as Haim and the New Pornographers. Interstitially, we dug back for oldies from Bruce, Fishbone, and even a civil defense warning from Groucho Marx (did you know you can survive a nuclear strike in your bunker with just three days of water? )
David Berman Is Gone
I had taken a news break and hadn’t been reading headlines at all, but that didn’t stop me from browsing music blogs. It was on such a site, a week after the fact, that I learned of the death of David Berman, the much respected if very low profile indie musician and poet.
Maybe because it fell into a total news vacuum, maybe because he was approaching my age, or because he lived alone in his city apartment, or that he died of depression in a hope-free age — whatever the reason, his death hit me harder than I would have expected. He was me. He was us. The thoughtful bohemian, endlessly creative, largely ignored.
Nothing To Lose, Nothing To Prove – July 31, 2019
| Radio
The music we play each week depends a lot on what music we come across the week before. By the luck of the draw, this week’s lineup featured a lot of women, including Erin Rae, Brijean, kellen, Julia Clara, Barrie, Kate Davis, Grace ives, and Perfect Blue. From folk to electro, sweetly sincere to slyly […]
On and Off The Grid – July 17, 2019
| Radio
As the heatwave spread across the country and the storms to come gathered force, we stayed cool with a low key assortment of tunes from Purple Mountains (David Berman) “Margaritas at the Mall” to Daisy O’Connor’s “Cookies n Weed.” Kid Creole aided and abbetted, Generationals broke their silence, and Stef Chura just had to Scream! This and more on the latest Bubble Wrap radio show.
Scaring The Children – July 10, 2019
| Radio
The theme of this week’s Bubble Wrap show was “the long song,” featuring a bunch of funk and go go, and one very long new track by Thee Oh Sees from their new album, Face Stabber. Mixed in, new tunes from The Forty Nineteens, Fruit Bats, and Kyle Craft, among others.